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  <row Id="1" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="161" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:34:49.473" Score="6" ViewCount="518" Body="&lt;p&gt;When should I use &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt;? When should I use &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What is right under what context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T06:51:50.137" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T07:22:05.653" Title="When do I use &quot;can&quot; &amp; &quot;could&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;tense&gt;&lt;politeness&gt;&lt;subjunctive-mood&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:37:29.890" Score="12" ViewCount="261" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doesn't &quot;quint&quot; mean &quot;five&quot;?  What does that have to do with the meaning of &quot;quintessential&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:30:18.483" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:31:29.047" Title="Where does the &quot;quint&quot; in &quot;quintessential&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:39:40.743" Score="17" ViewCount="429" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is the correct use of these two words, and in which context should one be used rather than the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T01:06:17.343" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T22:09:55.887" Title="'shall' and 'will'" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;future-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="5" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:40:58.213" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's the fifth element after earth, air, fire, and water, so it is presumably superior to those or completing those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T19:40:58.213" />
  <row Id="6" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10600" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:41:04.000" Score="10" ViewCount="316" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think most folk happily use either &quot;while&quot; or &quot;whilst&quot;. I've a vague recollection that at one time &quot;while&quot; indicated the passing of time and &quot;whilst&quot; was essentially the same as &quot;whereas&quot; or &quot;although&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So using while for time passing...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While I was walking down the street the sun was shining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... and whilst for whereas/although...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whilst I was walking down the street I often prefer to hop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any views?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15" LastEditorUserId="15" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T11:33:39.800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T11:33:39.800" Title="When did &quot;while&quot; and &quot;whilst&quot; become interchangeable?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:41:48.600" Score="12" ViewCount="359" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I may not be coming in tomorrow... &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I might not be coming in tomorrow... &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When could I use &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:29:01.370" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:29:01.370" Title="&quot;May&quot; &amp; &quot;Might&quot;: What's the right context?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;tense&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;&lt;auxiliary-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="8" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:42:24.170" Score="15" ViewCount="352" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel uncomfortable saying sentences like the following: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;I've&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; a car&quot; instead of &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;I have&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; a car&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;They've&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; a great time&quot; instead of &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;They have&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; a great time&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;He's&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; a pen&quot; instead of &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;He has&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; a pen&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ask this because I read something like these in a book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they correct? And what is the rule? Can you use such form in a formal writing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-18T01:30:18.733" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:38:57.647" Title="Is it appropriate to use short form of &quot;have&quot; ('ve) when it means possession?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;&lt;short-form&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="9" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:42:25.120" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;quint&quot; means fifth. The &quot;quintessence&quot; is the fifth essence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fifth element was the one supposed to come after air, fire, earth, and water in the Medieval Age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T19:42:25.120" />
  <row Id="10" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:45:06.567" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems they are interchangeable, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whilst&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;whilst&lt;/a&gt; is primarily used by the British.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17" LastEditorUserId="17" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T11:30:31.217" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T11:30:31.217" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:45:14.723" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shall_and_will&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shall_and_will&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Shall and will are both modal verbs in&#xA;  English used to express propositions&#xA;  about the future. According to the New&#xA;  Oxford Dictionary of English, In&#xA;  modern English the interchangeable use&#xA;  of shall and will is an acceptable&#xA;  part of standard British and US&#xA;  English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="9" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T19:45:14.723" />
  <row Id="12" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:46:54.160" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Essence&quot; in this context is a synonym for &quot;element&quot;, and &quot;essential&quot; for &quot;elemental&quot;. In pre-atomic theory, there were four &quot;known&quot; elements or essences -- Earth, Air, Fire and Water -- and a putative fifth element (quinta essentia). The fifth element was believed to be superior to the others, and so, &quot;quintessential&quot; has come to mean something that is superior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:31:29.047" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:31:29.047" />
  <row Id="13" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:49:37.773" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is rarely appropriate to use contractions in a formal writing environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard the first construction in speech, mainly British English, but not the second.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T19:49:37.773" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="34" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:51:46.757" Score="11" ViewCount="867" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any concrete rules that say which words (parts of speech) in a title should start from a capital letter? What would be a correct capitalization for the title of this question?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T22:11:37.080" Title="Which words in a title should be capitalized?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:52:27.270" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strictly speaking, &quot;might&quot; is the simple past tense of &quot;may&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In practice, they're often used interchangeably in other tenses, as your example demonstrates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T19:52:27.270" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:54:22.990" Score="27" ViewCount="916" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like many others, I commonly find myself ending a sentence with a preposition.  Yes, it makes me cringe.  I usually rewrite the sentence, but sometimes (in emails) I just live with it.  &lt;em&gt;To&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt;... you know who you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I keep fighting myself on this one, or is it okay in some circumstances?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="29" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:28:49.680" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T19:46:20.150" Title="When is it okay to end a sentence in a preposition?" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="17" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="131" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:54:37.313" Score="15" ViewCount="350" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard lots of varying histories of the term &quot;OK&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any evidence of the true origin of the term?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:27:09.657" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T15:37:57.130" Title="Where did the term &quot;OK/Okay&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="24" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:56:14.907" Score="6" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would it be proper to say &lt;em&gt;freshman students&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;freshmen&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;freshmen students?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is worth noting that I have since learned it is more acceptable in educational circles to use the term &quot;first-year students&quot; instead of &quot;freshmen&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5" LastEditorUserId="5" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T00:15:35.210" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T00:31:11.167" Title="Proper use of the word &quot;freshman&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;pluralization&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="19" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="157" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:57:35.077" Score="4" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;In baseball, an &lt;em&gt;inning&lt;/em&gt; is a team's (or both teams', depending on context) turn to bat.  A game consists of 9 innings.  In cricket, an &lt;em&gt;innings&lt;/em&gt; is a team's turn to bat, a game consists of 2 or 4 innings.  How did this difference in singular usage arise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;inning&quot; could conceivably be derived like &quot;outing&quot;:  An outing is a time when one is out, an inning is a time when one is in (to bat/to play).  Where did the singular &quot;innings&quot; come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T02:59:11.780" Title="inning/innings singular/plural" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="20" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:57:51.940" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okay&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;, the first written usage was in 1815 and the first usage in print in 1839.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="17" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T19:57:51.940" />
  <row Id="21" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="38" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:58:03.420" Score="5" ViewCount="276" Body="&lt;p&gt;I grew up speaking British English. The words I learnt were occasionally marked off in papers, despite their being English words. Are words like &lt;em&gt;betwixt&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;trebble&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;learnt&lt;/em&gt; acceptable in papers for English classes for professors in America, specifically Texas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="33" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:34:38.337" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:34:38.337" Title="Are &quot;betwixt&quot;, &quot;trebble&quot;, etc., acceptable in American English?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="22" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:58:16.417" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Could&quot; is the subjunctive form of &quot;can.&quot; That means you use it to express possibilities and the like. &quot;I could go to the movies, but I might just stay home.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When &quot;could&quot; is used as the past-tense of &quot;can,&quot; you're talking about something you used to be able to do, but can't anymore, so whatever action you're speaking of is hypothetical. &quot;I could have gone to the movies, but I decided to stay home,&quot; or &quot;I could mow the lawn before my back injury.&quot; (Really that second sentence should say &quot;I could have mown...,&quot; but a lot of people don't bother.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The subjunctive is also used when talking about emotions, wishes, judgements, and such like. Honestly, Wikipedia is probably better at explaining the subjunctive than I.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastEditorUserId="23" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-05T21:33:10.180" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T21:33:10.180" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="23" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="39" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:58:21.220" Score="9" ViewCount="290" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that you should always place ending punctuation inside of quotes, no matter what.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any cases where it is appropriate for a sentence to end with &lt;code&gt;&quot;.&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T02:13:32.783" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T02:13:32.783" Title="Is it ever acceptable for a period to come after a quote at the end of a sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="24" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18" CreationDate="2010-08-05T19:59:54.760" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &quot;freshmen&quot; and &quot;freshman students&quot; are correct, but &quot;freshmen students&quot; is wrong. I think &quot;freshmen&quot; is the official term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="36" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T19:59:54.760" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="25" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:06:49.567" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.grammarmudge.cityslide.com/articles/article/1026513/8913.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;good description&lt;/a&gt; of when to use shall:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...shall is used for the future tense&#xA;  with the first-person pronouns I and&#xA;  We:  I shall, we shall.  Will is used&#xA;  with the first-person (again, I refer&#xA;  to traditional usage) only when we&#xA;  wish to express determination.  The&#xA;  opposite is true for the second-person&#xA;  (you) and third-person (he, she, it,&#xA;  they) pronouns:  Will is used in the&#xA;  future tense, and shall is used only&#xA;  when we wish to express determination&#xA;  or to emphasize certainty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However,growing up as a native American speaker in Colorado, I never used &quot;shall&quot; in normal speech. However, I believe in questions it has become more common, e.g. &lt;em&gt;Shall we go?&lt;/em&gt; but an American native speaker saying e.g. &quot;I shall do that for you&quot; will almost always sound affected or connote a Shakespearean context. I often have wondered in which parts of the world (England?) and which social echelons using &quot;shall&quot; in statements is actually still practiced by native speakers.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:06:49.567" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="26" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:07:19.330" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Punctuation inside quotes is a rule that was invented by American publishers and is not necessarily followed elsewhere.  The original reason had to do with typesetting mechanics and is obsolete.  Also, if you're preparing technical texts such as about computer programming, this can result in technically incorrect material.  In practice, you are at the mercy of whoever is editing or grading your material.  But to answer your question, it can certainly be &quot;acceptable&quot; in many parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:07:19.330" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="27" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:10:09.683" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that the capitalization of a title depends on the medium. In a formal medium such as an academic paper, the first word and all words other than articles (&quot;a&quot;, &quot;the&quot;, etc.) and prepositions (&quot;of&quot;, &quot;under&quot;, &quot;about&quot;, etc.) should be capitalized. However, in more casual situations (such as web logs and Q&amp;amp;A sites), only the first letter must be capitalized. Personally, I prefer to capitalize only the first letter of my headers to increase their readability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="36" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:10:09.683" />
  <row Id="28" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:10:27.763" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's the sort of nonsense up with which you should not put.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:10:27.763" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="29" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:13:44.420" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To an American ear, it sounds awkward, but in British English, this is not uncommon.  Ironically, a Brit will probably tell you that the correct form is &quot;I have &lt;em&gt;got&lt;/em&gt; a small dog&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:13:44.420" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="30" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:15:21.717" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no universal standard, but various style guides generally state that prepositions (&lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;by&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;, etc.) articles (&lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;) and conjunctions (&lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt;) are not capitalized unless one is the first word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also heard of rules where all one and two-letter words are not capitalized, so a preposition like 'at' is not capitalized, but 'about' or 'under' would be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:15:21.717" />
  <row Id="31" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:22:12.313" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Inning&quot; is actually a back-formation, caused by the mistaken belief that &quot;innings&quot; was a only a plural (and possibly by the general American tendency, to simplify spelling -- e.g. dropping the 'u' from &quot;colo(u)r&quot;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &quot;innings&quot; is actually singular as well as plural, and has been used as such since at least the early 1700s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:22:12.313" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="32" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:22:13.437" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Prepositions end up at the end of sentences that are using phrasal verbs, that is a verb plus a preposition where the preposition isn't starting a prepositional phrase.  Phrasal verbs are perfectly okay and are very common in Germanic languages, less common in something like Latin.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishonline.org.cn/en/exams-work/ielts-preparation-articles/article-eleven&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;English has several registers--levels of formality-- and phrasal verbs are not preferred in formal English&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:22:13.437" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="33" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:22:15.230" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion this is one of those stuffy rules touted by grammarians who probably should have better things to do... When you can avoid it, don't end sentences with prepositions, but if rewriting the sentence will make it grammatically tortured, it's best to break the rule for the sake of clarity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:22:15.230" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="34" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:22:50.407" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.writersblock.ca/tips/monthtip/tipmar98.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Writer's Block&lt;/a&gt; page on capitalization sums up the rules in one page which is the most useful that I have found, basically these rules from the &lt;em&gt;Chicago Manual of Style&lt;/em&gt; plus a number of minor rules which are worth reading:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always capitalize the first and the last word.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Capitalize all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions (&quot;as&quot;, &quot;because&quot;, &quot;although&quot;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lowercase all articles, coordinate conjunctions (&quot;and&quot;, &quot;or&quot;, &quot;nor&quot;), and prepositions regardless of length, when they are other than the first or last word. (Note: NIVA prefers to capitalize prepositions of five characters or more (&quot;after&quot;, &quot;among&quot;, &quot;between&quot;).)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lowercase the &quot;to&quot; in an infinitive.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:22:50.407" />
  <row Id="35" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:23:36.320" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technically, there's nothing wrong with it, although Uncle Mikey is correct that it's rarely appropriate to use contractions in formal writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only reason the second one seems strange is because most people would say &quot;They're having a great time,&quot; I suppose because they're in the middle of having it. I have said, though, &quot;I'd a great time...&quot; I just happen to speak too quickly.:)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also say &quot;I've got...&quot; rather than &quot;I have.&quot; When I'm not speaking incorrectly, I generally just say &quot;I've.&quot; So, it's not just a British thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:23:36.320" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="37" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:24:37.067" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This heavily depends on the style guide in use; they usually have a fairly exact specification.  In a formal publication you should perhaps inquire what the recommended style is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have no overruling style guide to follow, you are almost never wrong capitalizing a title just like a normal sentence.  Compare newspaper headlines from today:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;New York Times:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Senate Votes to Confirm Elena Kagan for U.S. Supreme Court&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Washington Post:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Senate confirms Elena Kagan to Supreme Court&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you capitalize normally, you are less likely to be inconsistent or wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:24:37.067" />
  <row Id="38" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:29:09.693" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Betwixt&quot; is archaic and highly marked for American English, but not technically wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Learnt&quot; is non-standard, but intelligible and probably not a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never heard or seen the word &quot;trebble&quot;, and would mark it as an error in any piece of formal writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:29:09.693" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="39" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:29:30.177" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. See the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.economist.com/research/styleGuide/index.cfm?page=805701&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Economist style guide&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the quotation does not include any&#xA;  punctuation, the closing inverted&#xA;  commas should precede any punctuation&#xA;  marks that the sentence requires.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide/q#id-3016703&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Guardian style guide&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="46" LastEditorUserId="46" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-05T20:37:27.790" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:37:27.790" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="40" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:30:56.227" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an example, in casual speech and informal writing it is common to say, &quot;Who are you going with?&quot; but in a speech or formal writing you probably want to use the more grammatically accepted correct form &quot;With whom are you going?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-05T20:43:17.107" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:43:17.107" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="41" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:32:24.257" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When is it okay to end a sentence in a preposition?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any time you please. The &quot;rule&quot; against ending sentences with a preposition is pseudo-Latin piffle with no relevance to modern English in any register.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:32:24.257" />
  <row Id="43" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:38:40.610" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Formally, &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; is the past tense of &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt;. In situations where the past tense is required, only &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; may be used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He said he might go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Subordinate clauses in English must be in the past tense if the main clause is in the past tense, so this is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incorrect:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He said he may go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here you cannot use the present tense &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; with the past tense main verb &lt;em&gt;said&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in the present tense &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; can be used interchangeably, meaning that all of the following are correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He says he may go.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  He says he might go.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  He may go.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  He might go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:38:40.610" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="44" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:38:46.600" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, wikipedia seems to give a good answer to this. I think it can be summarized as &quot;most people just make it up as they go.&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_marks#Typographical_considerations&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_marks#Typographical_considerations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're an American, periods or commas almost always go inside the quotation marks. If you're British, periods and commas only go inside if they're part of the actual quote. Unless you're a journalist, or publishing fiction. Then you do it the American way!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really don't consider one way more correct than another. I guess it just depends on what your audience expects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-19T16:46:08.763" LastActivityDate="2010-09-19T16:46:08.763" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="45" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="87" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:42:36.220" Score="4" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, it looks like a meta-question, but I'm not really sure if this title is syntactically correct. Is it better to say &quot;what's wrong &lt;strong&gt;with&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt;&quot; or &quot;what's wrong &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt;&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thx&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="49" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T05:04:21.583" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T05:04:21.583" Title="What's wrong in this question?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="46" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="45" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:44:31.940" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without knowing the context, &quot;what's wrong with something&quot; is correct. The question &quot;What's wrong in something&quot; sounds like a question you would hear in a philosophy class on existentialism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:44:31.940" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="47" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:44:47.510" Score="40" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A preposition is a perfectly reasonable word to end a sentence with. Admonitions against doing so are not something anyone needs pay heed to. It's the kind of made-up rule that is not based on the reality of the language and anguish over doing it is something no writer need suffer from. And if you don't believe me, &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004454.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;look it up&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:44:47.510" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="48" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="55" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:46:46.833" Score="30" ViewCount="894" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which pronoun should I use as a gender neutral?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Each student should save &lt;strong&gt;his&lt;/strong&gt; questions until the end.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Each student should save &lt;strong&gt;her&lt;/strong&gt; questions until the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="51" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T19:15:40.730" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T23:04:00.853" Title="Gender neutral pronoun" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="8" />
  <row Id="49" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="48" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:48:28.003" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is common to write, &quot;Each student should save his or her questions until the end&quot; or to vary his and her throughout your text. In speech you will often hear native speakers say, &quot;Each student should save their questions until the end.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:48:28.003" />
  <row Id="50" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="58" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:51:07.293" Score="13" ViewCount="464" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen a contraction of two words.  I can't see why it wouldn't be possible to contract twice.  Is it possible and how should it be punctuated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;:  Ok, to sum up the answers so far&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This appears in spoken British and American English&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is from one of the lower &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Register_%28sociolinguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;registers of English&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Even if spoken this way sometimes, it isn't really written as a double contraction, except as written speech in fiction.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And from my own googling in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category%3aEnglish_double_contractions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;, it appears most written forms are old British words, often nautical like fo'c'sle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6" LastEditorUserId="6" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-05T22:07:16.303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T16:23:42.230" Title="I'ven't a clue if this is possible. Can a word be contracted twice?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="51" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="50" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:53:47.150" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The example you give is not done in American English. You can't contract non-auxiliary &quot;have&quot;. &quot;I've not a clue if this is possible&quot; is also not grammatical in American English. It may be in British English, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I copied this from a comment I left below, because I think it clarifies what I'm trying to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've&quot; is a fine contraction, just in American English you can only use it to replace &quot;I have&quot; when &quot;have&quot; is used as an auxiliary verb (e.g. in conjunction with a past participle). &quot;I've been there&quot; is OK. &quot;I've a dog&quot; is not. In the example &quot;I'ven't a clue&quot;—&quot;I haven't a clue&quot;, the verb &quot;have&quot; is not auxiliary, so it can't be contracted with the pronoun &quot;I&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-05T23:17:58.710" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T23:17:58.710" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="53" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:56:14.633" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyone needs to have some answer to this question so they have a story to tell when it comes up. Mine is that it comes from the French &lt;em&gt;au quai&lt;/em&gt;, or &quot;to the dock,&quot; said of cotton that had been approved for loading on a ship. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:56:14.633" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="54" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="59" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:56:40.480" Score="7" ViewCount="221" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the shortest path to improve someone's comprehension of spoken English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="49" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T06:54:44.073" ClosedDate="2011-02-08T15:12:12.937" Title="Understanding spoken English" Tags="&lt;speech&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="7" />
  <row Id="55" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="48" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:56:40.670" Score="48" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Singular they&lt;/a&gt; enjoys a long history of usage in English and can be used here: &quot;Each student should save their questions until the end.&quot;. However &quot;singular they&quot; also enjoys a long history of criticism. If you are anxious about being criticized (for what is in fact a perfectly grammatical construction) you are advised to reword to avoid having to use a gender neutral singular third-person pronoun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T20:56:40.670" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="56" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="83" CreationDate="2010-08-05T20:57:34.770" Score="16" ViewCount="330" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can never figure out whether I should use &quot;who&quot; and &quot;whom&quot;. Most people use &quot;who&quot; for both colloquially, but that's not correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the rule for using &quot;who&quot; or &quot;whom&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="55" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:35:51.347" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:35:51.347" Title="Using &quot;who&quot; and &quot;whom&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;confusables&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="57" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="62" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:01:33.310" Score="5" ViewCount="420" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was growing up, if I ever said something similar to &quot;Can I go to the store with Joe?&quot;, my mom would correct me with &quot;May I go to the store with Joe?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;May I?&quot; the typical way to ask a question politely or is this just specific to where I grew up or what my mom learned?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="55" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T19:12:19.593" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T19:12:19.593" Title="How do I ask a question politely?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;politeness&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="58" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="50" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:03:30.467" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not grammatically correct, but you may hear it in speech. Native speakers tend to slur words together and leave out pieces of words even if they wouldn't write that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: I should say that double contractions are not used in writing. They may be &quot;grammatically correct&quot;, but a American professor would not allow you to use them in an essay. Typically, contractions should be avoided for formal writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="55" LastEditorUserId="55" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-05T21:33:36.623" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T21:33:36.623" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="59" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="54" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:03:59.047" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Find interesting audio podcasts or newscasts that are transcribed. Listen to them and write down what you hear, then compare it to the transcription. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://is.gd/e4OAO&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Voice of America &quot;Special English&quot; articles&lt;/a&gt; are good for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be careful getting a book and the companion audio book, as quite often the audio text that is read is an abridged version of the text in the book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-05T21:16:19.873" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T21:16:19.873" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="60" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:04:10.310" Score="6" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;Especially, what are some fun tricks and pictures that help memorizing grammar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some grammar rules are much better memorized if they are written in a fun way or even presented as a picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you know any, please post one per answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-10T21:45:08.590" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T13:28:43.873" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-05T21:04:10.310" Title="What are some good ways to help memorize grammar?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;learning&gt;&lt;fun&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="61" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:04:53.087" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While and whilst annoy me. Same goes for among and amongst. As far as I'm concerned, the number one rule should always be don't opt for the &lt;code&gt;-st&lt;/code&gt; equivalent simply because it sounds more distinguished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, I find 'whilst' more befitting when preceding a present participle. With that said, the following take on your example seems a tad more agreeable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whilst walking down the street, the sun was shining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="54" LastEditorUserId="54" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-06T08:01:58.273" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T08:01:58.273" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="62" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="57" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:05:17.890" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I learned it, &quot;may&quot; is about permission while &quot;can&quot; is about ability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;May we borrow your car?&quot;   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Can you say 'Irish wristwatch'?&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your mother was correcting &quot;Do I have the ability to go to the store with Joe&quot; to &quot;Do I have permission to go to the store...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T21:05:17.890" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="63" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="56" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:09:45.340" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Whom remains in significant use following a preposition&quot; but use in objective case is moribund. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_%28pronoun%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Wikipedia article on &quot;who&quot;&lt;/a&gt; has a detailed explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The death of &quot;whom&quot; has been tracked on Language Log over the years. For example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000777.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001437.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005054.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;It's a made-up word used to trick students.&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000779.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;As far as I'm concerned, 'whom' is a word that was invented to make everyone sound like a butler.&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-06T18:42:23.350" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T18:42:23.350" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="64" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="48" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:11:30.547" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either of your suggestions is appropriate in formal written text, with &quot;his&quot; a much more common formulation.  &quot;Their&quot; is even more common, but less accepted in the most highly pedantic communities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to avoid the question altogether, as nohat suggests, simply drop the pronoun. &quot;Each student should save questions until the end&quot; is perfectly standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="52" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T21:11:30.547" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="65" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="50" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:13:05.180" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think you can get away with &quot;I'ven't&quot; in writing either. However, I think I've read &quot;'tweren't,&quot; &quot;'twouldn't,&quot; and &quot;'twasn't&quot; before. I'm guessing, though, that double contractions like that are never technically correct. Colloquially speaking, if you're understandable, anything goes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T21:13:05.180" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="66" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="70" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:20:14.927" Score="6" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between a gerund and a participle?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="62" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T19:10:40.280" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T19:10:40.280" Title="&quot;Gerund&quot; and &quot;participle&quot;" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;gerund&gt;&lt;participle&gt;&lt;verb-forms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="67" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="50" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:24:05.813" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess this isn't entirely formal standard English, but I'm pretty sure &quot;y'all're,&quot; &quot;y'all've,&quot; and &quot;y'all'll&quot; are accepted in areas that use &quot;y'all&quot; as the second person plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="52" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T21:24:05.813" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="68" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="66" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:25:28.373" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A gerund is used as a noun, a participle as an adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Gerund:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Traveling is fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Participle:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The traveling man stopped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Purdue Online Writing Lab has good explanation sheets on &lt;a href=&quot;http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/627/01/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gerunds&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/627/02/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;participles&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T21:25:28.373" />
  <row Id="69" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="50" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:32:28.730" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would avoid doing that in any serious writing, but if you are looking for ways to do this creatively to affect a regional dialect, etc. I would suspect any text by Mark Twain would be a good source to find examples of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T21:32:28.730" />
  <row Id="70" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="66" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:34:58.493" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A gerund is a form of a verb used as a noun, whereas a participle is a form of verb used as an adjective or as a verb in conjunction with an auxiliary verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In English, the present participle has the same form as the gerund, and the difference is in how they are used. When used with an auxiliary verb (&quot;is walking&quot;), it serves as a verb and is the present participle. When used as an adjective (&quot;a walking contradiction&quot;) it is also a participle. However, when used as a noun (&quot;walking is good for you&quot;), it is a gerund.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See the Wikipedia articles on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerund&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gerund&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;participle&lt;/a&gt; for more details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T21:34:58.493" />
  <row Id="72" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="54" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:44:14.170" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Watch TV news and repeat what the announcers say.  Not only will this improve comprehension, it will also help with pronunciation.  Using closed captioning is hit or miss, as you sometimes get a phonetic rendering that misses the content entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T21:44:14.170" />
  <row Id="73" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="66" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:46:09.210" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A gerund is a present participle masquerading as a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T21:46:09.210" />
  <row Id="74" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="48" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:48:13.357" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Her is not recommended or standard. His is standard, though the recommended way would be to change &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Each student&lt;/strong&gt; should..&quot; to &quot;&lt;strong&gt;The students&lt;/strong&gt; should...&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;Students&lt;/strong&gt; should...&quot; is more abstract, and refers to students in general, rather than a specific group of students.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="62" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T21:48:13.357" />
  <row Id="75" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="149" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:51:10.937" Score="7" ViewCount="284" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am from Egypt, an Arabic country. I know the principles of English but I want to increase my skills and be able to talk/write fluent English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is that I have no time to go and take an English course anywhere, so I want to know a good way to learn English from home. Also, keep in mind that I am busy and my time to learn will be short and precious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1907" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-01T10:24:01.583" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T07:50:29.390" ClosedDate="2011-01-25T20:47:22.123" Title="What are good ways to learn English from home?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;learning&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="6" />
  <row Id="76" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="60" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:52:39.640" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, one way to learn incorrect grammar is to listen to 1970s songs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And Eric Clapton should have sung:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Lie down Sally.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bob Dylan should have sung:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Lie lady lie, lie across my big brass&#xA;  bed.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="244" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T13:28:43.873" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T13:28:43.873" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-05T21:52:39.640" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="77" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="54" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:54:40.963" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stay in a country where everyone speaks English (UK, US...) for few months. Do not go there with your friends that are not English native speakers. Do not stay alone in your room and go out to meet with other people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="24" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T21:54:40.963" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="78" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:54:53.477" Score="18" ViewCount="335" Body="&lt;p&gt;When is it appropriate to use 'that' as opposed to 'which'?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-09T03:31:25.927" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T22:18:05.213" Title="When is it appropriate to use 'that' as opposed to 'which'?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="6" />
  <row Id="79" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:56:46.440" Score="10" ViewCount="351" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that starting a sentence with 'However' is wrong. What are the grounds for this view and is it still held by a majority of pedants?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They would suggest changing &quot;However, some people are beginning to doubt this.&quot; to &quot;Some people, however, are...&quot; or &quot;Some people are, however, beginning...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="60" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:15:05.687" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:15:05.687" Title="Is it acceptable to start a sentence with 'However'?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="80" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="75" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:58:49.730" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have access to &lt;strong&gt;DVD rentals&lt;/strong&gt; which can be played in English, and your English is good enough to understand over 60% of what is being communicated in the scenes, then I think the best way to learn is to watch movies that interest you and write down phrases which you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;understand in context&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;would not have produced yourself&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Record both the English and the Arabic in flashcard style and build up a library these flashcards and carry them around wherever you go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then when you have time throughout the day waiting in traffic or lines etc., read the Arabic on the one flashcard at a time and try to come up with the English. When you get it or look at it, then imagine a context in which you would use it and create a sentence before and after it, basically making up little conversations around the new phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you are doing is transferring your much larger &lt;strong&gt;passive vocabulary&lt;/strong&gt; to your &lt;strong&gt;active vocabulary&lt;/strong&gt; and you are doing it at a &lt;strong&gt;situational phrase level&lt;/strong&gt; which is much more useful than at the &lt;strong&gt;word level&lt;/strong&gt;, since we are always in situations and speak in phrases, not words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T21:58:49.730" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="81" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="78" CreationDate="2010-08-05T21:59:29.853" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, &quot;that&quot; goes with restrictive clauses - those where the information provided in the clause is necessary to identify the subject: &quot;The beer that belongs to me&quot; (as opposed to all other beers in the world).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Which&quot; goes with non-restrictive clauses - those which give information but which do not define the subject: &quot;The beer, which was a little warm, was still tasty.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T21:59:29.853" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="82" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:00:27.403" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Shall&quot; originally indicated owing to do something. &quot;Will&quot; originally, and sometimes still, indicates a desire to do something. Eventually, they both came to indicate the future, but &quot;will&quot; usurped the place of &quot;shall,&quot; at least in my part of Virginia. As far as I can tell, &quot;'ll&quot; has since taken the place of will. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Should have included a link or two to begin with, not to mention double-checked my answer. Whoops, sorry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etymology of &quot;will&quot;: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=will&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=will&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as opposed to &quot;shall&quot;: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=shall&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=shall&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastEditorUserId="23" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T14:06:27.627" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T14:06:27.627" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="83" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="56" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:00:39.790" Score="25" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The easy way to tell which is technically correct is to substitute &quot;he&quot; and &quot;him&quot; for &quot;who&quot; and &quot;whom&quot;.  Then rearrange the word order to see which sounds right. &quot;Who were you speaking to?&quot; becomes &quot;You were speaking to he,&quot; which is clearly incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T22:00:39.790" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="84" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="79" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:02:38.430" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this advice comes from the (somewhat strange) idea that sentences should have one complete idea. If your sentence begins with the conjunction &quot;however&quot;, then it's an extension of the idea in the previous sentence and is therefore not a &quot;complete idea&quot;. The same reasoning is behind advice not to begin sentences with &quot;or&quot; and &quot;and&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course this advice is silly because sentences and &quot;complete ideas&quot; don't always line up, and there's no reason that a conjunction can't join a sentence with the previous one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-12T22:29:36.070" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T22:29:36.070" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="85" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="79" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:06:15.823" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Grammar Girl has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/starting-a-sentence-with-however.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;good article&lt;/a&gt; on this topic, basically:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is fine to use however at the&#xA;  beginning of a sentence; you just need&#xA;  to know when to use a comma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it means &quot;&lt;strong&gt;to whatever extent&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, don't use a comma:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;However wrong it is, I will say it&#xA;  loud and clearly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it means &quot;&lt;strong&gt;nevertheless&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, use a comma:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;However, I don't give a damn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-05T22:13:42.227" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T22:13:42.227" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="86" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="79" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:06:53.980" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. However, it should be done sparingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a pretty good writeup:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/starting-a-sentence-with-however.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/starting-a-sentence-with-however.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="74" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T22:06:53.980" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="87" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="45" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:07:13.013" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The choice of prepositions for this kind of expression is really arbitrary and sometimes varies by region.  Most people are used to the expression &quot;wrong with&quot; meaning a defect, whereas wrong meaning incorrect might take &quot;in.&quot; For example, the use of the Cyrillic alphabet would be wrong in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T22:07:13.013" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="88" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:10:00.903" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I was taught that if the quote has more than one sentance, then you do it like this, with a period in and a period out:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Statement:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I once heard a quote that said &quot;Stop. You can't go. If you go, you can't stop. If you stop, you can't go.&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there a quote that says &quot;Stop. You can't go. If you go, you can't stop. If you stop, you can't go.&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That isn't a real quote, by the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If it only has a phrase, or if it only has one sentance, then you do it like this:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Statement:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John said &quot;Get out of here&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did John say &quot;Get out of here&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="62" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T22:10:00.903" />
  <row Id="89" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="50" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:10:48.420" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fish 'n' chips&quot; and similar phrases with &quot;'n'&quot; technically have a double-contracted &quot;and.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T22:10:48.420" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="90" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:11:23.710" Score="19" ViewCount="725" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a native English speaker and I make a lot of mistakes (specially with prepositions), but still, there are a few things that I notice in other people's writing which really annoy me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the top of my list are the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the use of &quot;it's&quot; when it is supposed to be &quot;its&quot; and vice-versa.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the use of &quot;there&quot; and &quot;their&quot; interchangeably.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some other common mistakes that really annoy you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If possible, I think it would be nice to give also an explanation of why it is wrong, or the correct way of saying it (even though I did not do that for my examples).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="42" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T05:03:21.037" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T05:03:21.037" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-05T22:11:23.710" Title="What are the most common English usage mistakes?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;list-request&gt;" AnswerCount="17" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="11" />
  <row Id="91" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:11:37.080" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is taken from a site concerned with Album titles, but can easily be applied to other titles as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How should I capitalize album titles and band names?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please use the following standard guidelines for capitalizing artist names, record labels, album and song titles in the English language. Other rules may apply to other languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All titles should be in standard mixed case, where the first letter of each word is capitalized and followed by lower case letters, as noted below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Capitalize all nouns, verbs (including be, been, am, are, is, was, and were), adverbs, subordinating conjunctions (including if and as when it is not used as a preposition), adjectives (including so when used as an adjective), and pronouns (including he, she, we, and it). Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Love Is in the Air&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I Am the Walrus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;That Was Then, This Is Now&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You Are So Beautiful&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This Is As Good As It Gets  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not capitalize:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a. &lt;em&gt;Articles:&lt;/em&gt; a, an, the (unless part of an artist's name)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Man Who Sold the World&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In a Safe Place&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Best of The Temptations &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;b. Coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, nor, for, yet, and so&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rattle and Hum&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's Now or Never&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nothin' but a Good Time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Special Notes: The word &quot;but&quot; can function as either a conjunction, preposition, or an adverb. Most of the time, it functions as a conjunction or a preposition and should be lowercase. Much less frequently, it will function as an adverb, and should be capitalized. In that case, the word &quot;but&quot; will immediately follow a verb (without a comma), and can be replaced by other adverbs like &quot;only&quot; or &quot;just&quot; (without changing anything else or adding punctuation) and will convey the same message:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Life Is But a Dream&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ain't But a Few of Us Left&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You Are But a Draft, a Long Rehearsal for a Show That Will Never Play &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the word &quot;but&quot; is better replaced by the word &quot;except&quot;, or if it is used in a phrase that contradicts the first half of the sentence, it is not an adverb and should be lowercase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I Know You Are but What Am I&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I Don't Know What It Is but I Like It &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;c. Short prepositions: as, at, by, for, in, of, on, to, from&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Live at Woodstock&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Face to Face&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Death Cab for Cutie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pretty in Pink&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Come in from the Cold &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Special Note: The word &quot;versus&quot; (and its abbreviated form &quot;vs.&quot; or &quot;v.&quot;) is commonly left in lower case, despite its being a preposition of more than three characters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spy vs. Spy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Birds v. Worms&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Special Note: The word &quot;etcetera&quot; (and its abbreviated form &quot;etc.&quot;) is also commonly left in lower case when used to represent the phrase &quot;and so on&quot; or &quot;and so forth&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Time After Time etc. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;d. When used to form an infinitive: to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nowhere to Run&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Song I Love to Sing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reality Used to Be a Friend of Mine &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If a title is broken up by major punctuation (colon, question mark, exclamation mark, em-dash, parentheses, or quotes), treat each distinct piece of the title as a whole, and always capitalize the first and last words of each division.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Otis! The Definitive Otis Redding&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In Time: The Best of R.E.M.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock 'n' Roll Band) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In compounds formed by hyphens, capitalize each part except where the part would not be capitalized if it were a separate word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Go-Gos&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At the Drive-In&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Boy With the X-Ray Eyes &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Only use all caps for acronyms or abbreviations where common use is all caps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;R.E.M.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;N.W.A.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Capitalize contractions and slang consistent with the rules above to the extent that such clearly apply. For example, do not capitalize o' for &quot;of&quot;, or n' for &quot;and&quot;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rock 'n' Roll&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will o' the Wisp&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sweet Child o' Mine &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Proper nouns should always be capitalized appropriately. This includes parts of band names separated by the word 'and' (for example) where the two parts could stand alone, grammatically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elvis Costello and The Attractions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Huey Lewis and The News &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Always capitalize the first and last word of a title, even if it would otherwise be lowercase. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bring it On&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One Is For&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And You and I&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Greatest Hits Of &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[edit] Exceptions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case where an artist uses a nonstandard capitalization with an artistic intent, the original capitalization used by the artist should be preserved. Examples include k.d. lang (artist), Yellow mY skYcaptain (release), and &quot;tourette's&quot; - track 11 on the release In Utero.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that there are cases in which the name of an artist or album - or an entire tracklisting - is written entirely in uppercase or lowercase in the art which accompanies a release. These instances do not qualify as an exception, because they do not represent artistic intent regarding capitalization (in most cases, they are written in this manner for aesthetic purposes related to the cover art). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T22:11:37.080" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="92" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="103" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:14:13.020" Score="13" ViewCount="398" Body="&lt;p&gt;How does one correctly use a semicolon?  It is probably one of the more difficult punctuation marks to master in my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-04T01:39:18.340" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T20:45:22.810" Title="How does one correctly use a semicolon?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;semicolon&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="93" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:14:22.443" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The consensus opinion is that it likely derived from a jokey abbreviation for &quot;oll korrect,&quot; which was hilarious back in the 19th century.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T22:14:22.443" />
  <row Id="94" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="56" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:15:49.947" Score="20" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: When in doubt, use &quot;who&quot;. It's disconcerting to hear &quot;whom&quot; where &quot;who&quot; is expected, but the usage of &quot;who&quot; in situations where previously &quot;whom&quot; was standard has been increasing, especially in spoken usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Longer answer: The traditional rule is that &quot;whom&quot; was to be used in the &quot;objective case&quot;. What this means in practice (it's even controversial whether English &lt;em&gt;has&lt;/em&gt; cases), is that you  try to answer the question: if the answer is &quot;he&quot;, &quot;she&quot;, &quot;they&quot;, &quot;I&quot;, &quot;we&quot;, etc., you use &quot;who&quot;. If the answer is &quot;him&quot;, &quot;her&quot;, &quot;them&quot;, &quot;me&quot;, &quot;us&quot;, etc., you use &quot;whom&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The man who spoke yesterday…&quot; &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;the man whom spoke…&quot; (&quot;&lt;em&gt;He&lt;/em&gt; spoke&quot; is correct; &quot;Him spoke&quot; is not.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Whom did you see?&quot; &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;Who did you see?&quot; (&quot;I saw &lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, not &quot;I saw &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.) (The latter is frequently common these days, though.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Language Log &lt;a href=&quot;http://158.130.17.5/~myl/languagelog/archives/000777.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;posts&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001437.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;linked&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005054.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;above&lt;/a&gt;, as well as William Safire quoted on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_%28pronoun%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia page&lt;/a&gt;, recommend avoiding &quot;whom&quot; or recasting your sentence if it seems necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone using &quot;whom&quot; in place of &quot;who&quot; is likely to be interpreted as a hypercorrection from linguistic insecurity (and Geoff Pullum at the Language Log) agrees, while using &quot;who&quot; in place of &quot;whom&quot; is, at worst, being too colloquial (and at best, being hip and cool!). Summary: it's good to know which is which and use them correctly, but when in doubt, use &quot;who&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T22:15:49.947" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="95" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="90" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:16:54.983" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A very common error is &lt;strong&gt;not having control of verb tenses&lt;/strong&gt;, especially over-using the present tense, e.g. translating the German &quot;&lt;em&gt;Wir gehen jetzt&lt;/em&gt;&quot; to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We go now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;instead of a correct version of this, depending on the context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We're going now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We're going to go now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let's go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T22:16:54.983" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-05T22:16:54.983" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="96" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="78" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:17:09.367" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That and which are interchangeable when introducing integrated relative clauses. Although some grammar mavens (i.e., people who hold forth on such topics but know little or nothing about linguistics) and copy editors will insist otherwise, the rule is completely bogus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See, for instance: &lt;a href=&quot;http://158.130.17.5/~myl/languagelog/archives/001461.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Language Log on that vs which&lt;/a&gt;, written by the co-editor of The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Practically speaking, it is not something that any normal person will generally notice or follow in spoken English (and it's frequently ignored -- rightly -- in even literary writing). So even from that point of view it's not worth worrying about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastEditorUserId="78" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-06T01:15:32.857" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T01:15:32.857" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="97" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="108" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:17:20.240" Score="8" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess is b or c, as it seems like any example is talking about the remorse of one specific buyer, but since it is a collective term that happens universally, perhaps the possessive plural is accurate. I suppose there's potential that it's a context-sensitive decision, deciding if you are talking about an exact one buyer or buyers in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="79" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T01:17:44.957" Title="Apostrophical query: a) Buyers Remorse? b) Buyer Remorse? c) Buyer's Remorse? d) Buyers' Remorse?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="98" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:18:21.283" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only thing that goes inside quotation marks is the quotation. If the quotation contains punctuation, the punctuation should be included inside the quotation marks. If not, the punctuation is perfectly fine outside the quotation marks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="74" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T22:18:21.283" />
  <row Id="99" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="79" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:19:16.447" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no rational, linguistically valid reason for this rule. It's just a convention promulgated by misguided English writing teachers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T22:19:16.447" />
  <row Id="101" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="176" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:22:39.873" Score="6" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently hosted a French exchange student whose English was conversational but not yet fluent.  He usually only has problems with the language when trying to find an appropriate word, and occasionally has trouble with conjugations and indefinite article genders, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a good novel, magazine, etc. which would help him to pick up on some of these elements of the language better?  I know that while I was learning German, reading children's versions of stories such as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibelung&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nibelungen&lt;/a&gt; were very helpful, and I'm wondering if anyone knows of any examples of such literature in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-10T20:11:08.717" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T20:11:08.717" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-06T06:49:45.573" ClosedDate="2011-03-02T03:02:27.750" Title="Good books for English speakers learning the language" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;&lt;esl&gt;&lt;teaching-aid&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="90" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:23:59.343" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Punctuation marks such as commas &lt;code&gt;,&lt;/code&gt;, colons &lt;code&gt;:&lt;/code&gt;, and semicolons &lt;code&gt;;&lt;/code&gt; seem to give people trouble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T22:23:59.343" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-05T22:23:59.343" />
  <row Id="103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="92" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:25:12.133" Score="20" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is so complicated that you want a &lt;a href=&quot;http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;clear, concise, and humorous but useful explanation like this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When dinosaurs agree on something, they often high-five one another; dinosaurs are all about high-fives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you'd used a comma in this sentence, it would have resulted in a comma splice. If you'd used a period, you'd lose the connection between the two clauses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T22:25:12.133" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:25:52.337" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read once that &quot;whilst&quot; is preferred if you think that starting your sentence with &quot;while&quot; could change the meaning. Consider this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While I walk I don't often whistle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That could mean, &quot;I walk, but I don't often whistle&quot;, or it could mean &quot;I don't often whistle while I walk&quot;. Changing it to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whilst I walk I don't often whistle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Removes that ambiguity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I admit that the sentence itself is poorly constructed, but it does show one reason you'd use &quot;whilst&quot; over &quot;while&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="80" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T22:25:52.337" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="105" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="106" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:28:12.397" Score="7" ViewCount="318" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I know when to use &lt;em&gt;lay&lt;/em&gt; and when to use &lt;em&gt;lie&lt;/em&gt;, and what are the different forms of each verb? I'm always getting them confused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:32:47.963" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:32:47.963" Title="Difference between &quot;lay&quot; and &quot;lie&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;confusables&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="105" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:31:01.067" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The verb &lt;em&gt;lay&lt;/em&gt; is transitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You lay something on the table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The verb &lt;em&gt;lie&lt;/em&gt; is intransitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You lie on the table when you are&#xA;  operated upon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The confusion comes because the past tense of &lt;em&gt;lie&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;lay&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He lay on the table for two hours before he was operated upon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Few native speakers get this right. Most people would say, &quot;He laid on the table for two hours.&quot; Bill Clinton constantly made this mistake in speeches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T22:31:01.067" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="90" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:32:18.320" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Common mistakes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Writing &quot;woulda&quot; or &quot;would of&quot; instead of &quot;would have.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People both saying and writing &quot;mines.&quot; Example: &quot;That one's yours, but this one's mines!&quot; It should just be &quot;mine.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another common one is confusing &quot;your&quot; and &quot;you're.&quot; &quot;Your&quot; is possessive and &quot;you're&quot; is the contraction of &quot;you are.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people still insist on saying &quot;a umbrella&quot; instead of &quot;an umbrella.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people also refuse to capitalize the pronoun &quot;I.&quot; It should be &quot;why would I want to go to the store?&quot; not &quot;why would i want to go to the store?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spelling phonetically. Native English speakers tend to contract words a lot, and if they speak more than they read, they tend to make a lot of mistakes. For example, &quot;probly&quot; and &quot;rediculous&quot; instead of &quot;probably&quot; and &quot;ridiculous.&quot; (EDIT: Peter Mortensen put a link in the comments with some good examples. I'll point out, though, that &quot;extant&quot; is also a word. Here's the link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.irosetta.com/questions/433/vowel-substitutions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.irosetta.com/questions/433/vowel-substitutions&lt;/a&gt; )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, learn the exceptions to the &quot;i before e&quot; rule. A few common exceptions are weird, seize, all of the -cies plurals, and caffeine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People ignore the subjunctive case a lot. Some even believe it doesn't exist in English. It should be &quot;if I were going,...&quot; not &quot;if I was going,...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I think of more, I'll edit...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastEditorUserId="23" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T14:11:16.273" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T14:11:16.273" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-05T22:32:18.320" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="97" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:34:33.980" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it does happen to everyone, but the remorse belongs to each person individually. &quot;Buyer's remorse&quot; is the remorse experienced by a buyer. So the answer is (c).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buyer%27s_remorse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;agrees&lt;/a&gt;. Similarly the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; gives 36 examples of &quot;buyer's remorse&quot;, but &quot;buyer remorse&quot; has just 1, and there are no results for either &quot;buyers' remorse&quot; or &quot;buyers remorse&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-06T00:23:37.013" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T00:23:37.013" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="90" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:40:56.157" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most common grammatical error (as opposed to spelling errors like the ones you mention) is probably subject/verb (dis)agreement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T22:40:56.157" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-05T22:40:56.157" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="92" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:41:53.753" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simply put, a semicolon connects two complete sentences that are strongly related. By doing so, the length of the pause between the two is shorter as compared to a period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are unsure whether or not to use a semicolon, the safe bet is to avoid it; replace it with a period instead. Bear in mind that you can never exchange a semicolon with a comma or vice versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="83" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T22:41:53.753" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:52:39.777" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;may&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can use 'may' to ask for permission. However this is rather formal and not used very often in modern spoken English. We use 'may' to suggest something is possible&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;might&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We use 'might' to suggest a small possibility of something. Often we read that 'might' suggests a smaller possibility that 'may', there is in fact little difference and 'might is more usual than 'may' in spoken English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/maymight/menu.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;more..&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="81" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T22:52:39.777" />
  <row Id="113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17" CreationDate="2010-08-05T22:59:07.523" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my history class last year, I was told that it originated from US President Martin van Buren's campaign slogan, &quot;Old Kinderhook.&quot; According to Wikipedia, that's only one theory. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okay#Oll_Korrect) Etymonline says that &quot;Oll Korrect&quot; is the origin, and &quot;Old Kinderhook&quot; is how it became popular. (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=OK)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T22:59:07.523" />
  <row Id="114" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4015" CreationDate="2010-08-05T23:02:05.660" Score="15" ViewCount="482" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you want to connect two closely related sentences, you can use a semicolon or a dash. (You can also use a dash for other kinds of non-sentential relations). How would you choose whether to use a semicolon or dash?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T09:55:58.407" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T09:55:58.407" Title="When to use a semicolon and when to use a dash?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;semicolon&gt;&lt;dash&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="6" />
  <row Id="115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7" CreationDate="2010-08-05T23:02:46.003" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;May and might are historically different modal verbs which have drifted together in meaning in most types of English. This is a very common and normal process in all languages. May is still sometimes still used to ask permission, though that use is probably declining and you rarely hear it in American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T23:02:46.003" />
  <row Id="116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="48" CreationDate="2010-08-05T23:04:17.747" Score="22" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;And to round out the answers here, &lt;strong&gt;one&lt;/strong&gt; is a very proper way to encompass both male and female antecedents.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One should save one's questions until the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T23:04:17.747" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="114" CreationDate="2010-08-05T23:08:57.647" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Typically, if I'm connecting two closely related sentences, I use a semicolon; I use dashes in instances where commas would also be acceptable&amp;mdash;usually where commas would be confusing&amp;mdash;or where parentheses would also be acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="88" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T23:08:57.647" />
  <row Id="118" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="122" CreationDate="2010-08-05T23:09:02.997" Score="6" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;In most languages, gender plays a much more important role than in English. Nevertheless, it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; possible to refer to a noun using its gender.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The ship was launched on 4 October 1853. Tayleur left Liverpool on 19 January 1854, on &lt;strong&gt;her&lt;/strong&gt; maiden voyage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does one know that &quot;ship&quot; is feminine? Are there masculine nouns?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="83" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-09T20:30:00.027" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T20:30:00.027" Title="When referring to a noun, when does the gender matter?" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;gender&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="101" CreationDate="2010-08-05T23:09:29.737" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reading comics is very useful if your goal is to learn spoken, situational English. I remember a language teacher told me, &quot;you'll never becoming situationally fluent in a language by reading news and novels&quot;, it's a different kind of language. So I think comics are the best if it has to be reading material, otherwise: movies, movies, movies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T23:09:29.737" />
  <row Id="120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="118" CreationDate="2010-08-05T23:13:03.973" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always thought this was an odd and antiquated rule, and in fact the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-specific_pronoun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wiki article&lt;/a&gt; on it mentions that it is waning in use. I don't know any masculine nouns except in figurative language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T23:13:03.973" />
  <row Id="121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="114" CreationDate="2010-08-05T23:23:22.070" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, you should be aware that there are two different kinds of dashes: the &lt;em&gt;en&lt;/em&gt; dash and the &lt;em&gt;em&lt;/em&gt; dash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The em dash (—; historically, an em is precisely the width of the letter &quot;M&quot;, but now defined by the height of the font) is generally used to add a passage into the middle or end of a sentence. This is similar to using parenthesis, but should be read without adding a pause. Moreover, the em dash in fact interrupts the sentence, so no pause should be used at all; an interruption should be emphasized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This dash is also often used as a de facto interruption; for example in dialog when the speaker for some reason cannot continue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In use, the em dash is not surrounded by spaces. This is done—like this—because it otherwise uses excessive spacing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some publishers or style guidelines may instead prefer the narrower en dash (–; an en half the width of an em). This character is usually – as in this example – surrounded by spaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggestions on the use of semicolons &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/92/how-does-one-correctly-use-a-semicolon/111#111&quot;&gt;can be found as answers to this question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="83" LastEditorUserId="83" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-06T21:50:59.533" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T21:50:59.533" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="118" CreationDate="2010-08-05T23:24:51.430" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, gender matters with anaphors (Steve shaved him/*herself) and pronouns with antecedents, (Steve retrieved his/*her book).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ship example is very rare in modern English, and is probably a holdover from when English had real grammatical gender (i.e., when it was more like German).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastEditorUserId="78" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-17T05:48:12.117" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T05:48:12.117" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7" CreationDate="2010-08-05T23:38:41.843" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; is also the past subjunctive of &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt;. Because of this, in some cases these aren't interchangeable; if you're using the subjunctive to form a feeling of coniditionality, may is rather inappropriate. For example, &quot;If you were the King, then you might be able to do that.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the same way, you can use &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; to form more polite questions: &quot;Might I join you?&quot; as opposed to &quot;May I join you?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T23:38:41.843" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="124" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="127" CreationDate="2010-08-05T23:40:23.527" Score="4" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Ability&quot; and &quot;Capability&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the difference in the use of these words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="81" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T06:11:45.757" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T07:47:40.710" Title="&quot;Ability&quot; and &quot;Capability&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="125" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="133" CreationDate="2010-08-05T23:51:26.693" Score="8" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;into&quot; (one word) and &quot;in to&quot; (two words) are frequently confused.  In what situations should the former be used?  The latter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T00:18:14.200" Title="When should &quot;into&quot; be used rather than &quot;in to,&quot; and vice versa?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="118" CreationDate="2010-08-05T23:53:45.830" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, third-person pronouns are examples of gender. I have heard and used the ship example, but more for stylistic purposes than to be better understood; the same applies to countries. I would argue that gender still is as important, though simply no longer surfaces. I think there are some very interesting experiments here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example of gender occurs in the relative pronouns &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt;. We divide groups of things into these two categories based on whether or not something is animate, or as I like to think, how human-like it is. Compare: &quot;the friend, who&quot;, &quot;the dog, who/which&quot;, &quot;the shoe, which&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-05T23:53:45.830" />
  <row Id="127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="124" CreationDate="2010-08-05T23:54:10.243" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Capability implies unrealised potential, as in &quot;John is capable of winning&quot;, which implies John has the ability to win but it's not definite. It means more or less &quot;John has the talent that's needed to win.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ability, on the other hand, implies possibility. &quot;John is able to win&quot; means John is in the running to win but not necessarily that he has the skills or ability to win. It means more or less &quot;It's possible that John will win&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But here's where it gets more confusing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;John is able to read&quot; means John can read without doubt, whereas &quot;John is capable of reading&quot; means John has all the necessary brain power and whatnot to be able to read but the question of whether or not he can read at the moment is left unsaid (although the fact that someone does say &quot;John is capable of reading&quot; probably means John can't read right now).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="90" LastEditorUserId="90" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-06T06:40:46.480" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T06:40:46.480" CommentCount="14" />
  <row Id="128" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-05T23:54:47.623" Score="16" ViewCount="280" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's common to hear people say &quot;used to&quot; to indicate that they did something in the past but no longer do; for example, &quot;I used to play basketball.&quot;  How would &quot;used to,&quot; used in that context, fit into a sentence diagram?  What part of speech is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-08T15:09:18.567" LastActivityDate="2010-08-08T15:09:18.567" Title="How does the phrase &quot;used to&quot; work, grammatically?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="118" CreationDate="2010-08-06T00:05:16.170" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Clearly, gender is mandatory for personal nouns and less so for (sexed) animals. Non-living nouns that use gendered pronouns are boats and countries (the &quot;ship of state&quot;). There are probably a handful of other exceptions, but I can't think of any off hand. I will add them later if I do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the most part all non-living nouns use &quot;it&quot; and &quot;its&quot; for pronouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T00:05:16.170" />
  <row Id="130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="124" CreationDate="2010-08-06T00:06:14.813" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I can tell, these are very nearly perfect synonyms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T00:06:14.813" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17" CreationDate="2010-08-06T00:07:08.523" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the OED, it's an initialism of &lt;em&gt;oll (or orl) korrect&lt;/em&gt;, first seen in 1839, something apparently quite funny. It was reinforced by another initialism OK from the nickname of president Martin Van Buren, &lt;em&gt;Old Kinderhook&lt;/em&gt; during his electoral campaign. The verb was null-derived from this around 1882.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other ideas include that it was a Choctaw word &lt;em&gt;oke&lt;/em&gt;, meaning 'it is'; also the French and Scottish ideas as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-06T00:51:10.750" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T00:51:10.750" />
  <row Id="132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="128" CreationDate="2010-08-06T00:17:33.827" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not certain about the terminology, but I'm pretty sure &quot;used to&quot; is a set idiomatic phrase that marks verbs as being in the imperfect (past continuous) tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperfect#English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperfect#English&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T00:17:33.827" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="125" CreationDate="2010-08-06T00:18:14.200" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should use &quot;into&quot; when it's a question of location, for lack of a better word. &quot;I went into the store,&quot; &quot;We went into the field of computer science,&quot; &quot;We drank well into the morning,&quot; etc..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In to&quot; just happens sometimes. &quot;I went in to buy some milk.&quot; In that sentence the &quot;to&quot; is part of the infinitive &quot;to buy.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't sure which one to use, change the &quot;in&quot; to &quot;in order&quot; and see if it still works. &quot;I went in order to the store&quot; is wrong, but &quot;I went in order to buy some milk&quot; is good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T00:18:14.200" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="124" CreationDate="2010-08-06T00:26:23.747" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's another shade of meaning not yet touched upon. &lt;em&gt;able&lt;/em&gt; can also be of things, &quot;of a thing (esp. a boat): strong, substantial, well built; or a person who is intelligent, skillful, apt, talented, or clever (OED). Compare, &quot;It is an able ship/It is a capable ship.&quot; They are both meaningful, but I would be more likely to use the first one. Another example, &quot;She is an able tour guide/she is a capable tour guide&quot;. The second sounds contrived to me, even a little damning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also interesting to note that they entered English through different sources, and that &lt;em&gt;able&lt;/em&gt; is the older of the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T00:26:23.747" />
  <row Id="135" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="137" CreationDate="2010-08-06T00:29:36.767" Score="5" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a software developer with a bit of a linguistic slant. We were recently given some training on how to name database fields and were told to avoid adjectives in names.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then we were given an example: &quot;employee_id&quot; is considered a bad name because of the adjective. I just about exploded. &quot;employee&quot; is a noun, not an adjective. Which makes &quot;employee&quot; a determiner!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then I thought about it some more and wanted to make sure I had the right definition of &quot;determiner&quot;, which is admittedly a fuzzy definition. &quot;employee&quot; is essential to the meaning of &quot;employee ID&quot;. Then again, is this really 'short' for &quot;employee's ID&quot; (in which case the genitive noun is definitely a determiner.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a good definition of determiner out there? Is &quot;employee&quot; in this case a determiner? And why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="86" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:31:48.123" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:31:48.123" Title="&quot;Employee&quot; in the phrase &quot;employee ID&quot; is a determiner, not an adjective—right?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;part-of-speech&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="57" CreationDate="2010-08-06T00:31:45.907" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree these are largely interchangeable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can take it one step further and employ the subjunctive mood to make questions more polite. These work well if you want something of someone, rather than mere information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Might I join you?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Could you please say this?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the last example, though, note that could can't really be replaced with might, let alone may. Would is also appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T00:31:45.907" />
  <row Id="137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="135" CreationDate="2010-08-06T00:36:31.187" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a noun modifier. See the Wikipedia article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_modifier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;grammatical modifiers&lt;/a&gt; for details. Whoever wrote the example saying that &quot;employee&quot; is an adjective in the noun phrase &quot;employee ID&quot; has been confused into thinking that any word that modifies a noun is an adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not a determiner, though, either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T00:36:31.187" />
  <row Id="138" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="151" CreationDate="2010-08-06T00:39:22.677" Score="4" ViewCount="211" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read a few things someone wrote and for the first time I saw a sentence starting with &quot;in which case&quot;. This person does that very frequently, and it seemed really wrong to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some time after that I saw another person doing the same (you can see it &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.princeton.edu/~kiyotaki/papers/Evilistherootofallmoney.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, page 9, 5th paragraph). As this person is a very well-known and respected economist, who is also known for his good writing skills, I started to think that maybe it &quot;sounded&quot; weird just because I hadn't seen it before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my view &quot;in which case&quot; should be preceded by a comma, but I might be mistaken. My question is then: is it really wrong to start sentences with &quot;in which case&quot; or am I completely off?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: Here is the paragraph which contains the referred message: &quot;Evil is a strong word. You may find the moral category too severe for something as mild as breaking a promise. &lt;strong&gt;In which case&lt;/strong&gt;, you may want to change the title to &quot;Distrust is the Root of all Money&quot;. But that wouldn’t have quite the same ring.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="42" LastEditorUserId="42" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-06T09:43:44.093" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T14:20:20.187" Title="Is it wrong to start sentences with &quot;in which case&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="135" CreationDate="2010-08-06T00:42:36.837" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Determiners form a closed class in English, so I wouldn't say that employee is a determiner. &quot;the employee id&quot; would be impossible if it were a determiner, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, I wouldn't call it an adjective either. My reasoning comes from examples: a pretty person is pretty, but employee identification isn't employee. No, employee is a noun, and, probably through an adjunct, modifies the other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T00:42:36.837" />
  <row Id="143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21" CreationDate="2010-08-06T00:46:18.110" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I grew up speaking British English&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you used &quot;betwixt&quot;? Did you come here by time machine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T00:46:18.110" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="138" CreationDate="2010-08-06T00:49:46.667" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case, which is a demonstrative, a determiner. As I've demonstrated, that sequence is fine. Also consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In that case, do it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In this case, do it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In these cases…&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sequence forms a prepositional phrase, which is a fine way to start a sentence (e.g., &quot;on the way, I did it.&quot;). Above all, I think it sounds fine, have heard it, and would use it. That's what matters, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the aversion to this phrase is more a matter of style. You could easily confuse a reader; what does &quot;in which case&quot; actually refer to? By using &quot;in which case&quot;, we lose an amount of semantic information, but that's the price of brevity; another example: the situation is the same when using pronouns. This fact doesn't make it ungrammatical. The example in the linked paper reads fine to me, though is stilted and formal. I would prefer to use &quot;in this case&quot;, which seems a shade less formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-06T01:11:35.033" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T01:11:35.033" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-06T01:03:36.763" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference is one of mood and tense. kitukwfyer hits all the right noes here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The subjunctive also helps differentiate the forms in questions. Compare:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Could you run (please)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can you run?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could lends politeness to a question in a request of someone. I'd more likely say, &quot;could you help me&quot;, than &quot;can you help me?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T01:03:36.763" />
  <row Id="147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="97" CreationDate="2010-08-06T01:17:44.957" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of these except a) are grammatically correct, so it's a style decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T01:17:44.957" />
  <row Id="149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="75" CreationDate="2010-08-06T01:37:48.383" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm practicing English at home, and I use many methods as I've listed below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Listen to English Podcast; You can get it for free from iTunes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reading English novels, fictions; I start with Oxford Bookworm and now working on young adult fiction.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Watching English movie.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Talk to your friends, your family in English.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, listening and reading can help me a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are 4 things that I practice for 4 months and I find that my English skill improve dramatically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T01:37:48.383" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="135" CreationDate="2010-08-06T01:47:18.550" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How could it be an adjective? That would make &quot;dog&quot; in &quot;dog food&quot; an adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T01:47:18.550" />
  <row Id="151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="138" CreationDate="2010-08-06T02:05:43.913" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a style issue. As far as I can tell, there's nothing particularly grammatically wrong with the construction itself:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dougal says that he will beat me to within an inch of my life. In which case I will start carrying a shotgun concealed within my socks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I dislike this style of writing, which reminds me of the &quot;Yes. It is. As you say.&quot; style of &quot;copywriterese&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T02:05:43.913" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="152" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-06T02:07:07.467" Score="8" ViewCount="442" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the following example, is it appropriate to use &quot;a&quot; or &quot;an&quot; as the indefinite article, and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He ate [insert here] green apple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that in the case of just &quot;apple&quot;, it would be &quot;an apple,&quot; but I've heard conflicting answers for &quot;green apple,&quot; where the noun is separated from the article by an adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, which is more appropriate in this case:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He ate [insert here] enormous Pop-Tart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="75" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-09T20:34:26.553" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:11:47.203" Title="Use of &quot;a&quot; versus &quot;an&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="152" CreationDate="2010-08-06T02:10:37.210" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you really heard conflicting answers? I'm not aware of any controversy amongst native speakers on this issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a green apple &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is decided by pronunciation, nothing more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly for the two pronuncations of &quot;the&quot; (ði: and ðǝ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;He ate [insert here] enormous Pop-Tart.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;an&quot; is correct here, it's decided by pronuncation of the following word, nothing more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only instance of a/an controversy amongst native speakers which I'm aware of is &quot;a/an historical&quot;, with &quot;an historical&quot; plus aspirated &quot;h&quot; being preferred by some speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T02:10:37.210" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="154" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-06T02:18:30.703" Score="1" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;A particularly prominent example of a rolled &lt;em&gt;r&lt;/em&gt; user is the actor Jeremy Brett, who played &quot;Sherlock Holmes&quot; in the 1980s Granada adaptations. I've noticed that several other actors, especially from the older generation, also use the rolled &lt;em&gt;r&lt;/em&gt;. Is this something that actors are or were taught to do at drama school? If so, why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T23:42:41.067" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T23:42:41.067" Title="Are actors taught to use rolled &quot;r&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="152" CreationDate="2010-08-06T02:22:49.400" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question of &quot;a&quot; vs &quot;an&quot; is always decided by the pronunciation of the word that follows the article. Thus, various geographical regions that have different pronunciation rules may use a different article for the same word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Words that begin with a vowel sound, such as &quot;apple&quot;, &quot;egg&quot;, or &quot;hour&quot; are preceded by &quot;an&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All other words, such as &quot;cake&quot;, &quot;pie&quot;, and &quot;user&quot; (which begins with a &lt;code&gt;y&lt;/code&gt; sound), are preceded by &quot;a&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your actual question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He ate &lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt; green apple.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He ate &lt;strong&gt;an&lt;/strong&gt; enormous Pop-Tart.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Green&quot; does &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; begin with a vowel sound, so we use &quot;a&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;Enormous&quot;, on the other hand, does begin with a vowel sound, so we use &quot;an&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="3731" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T18:54:53.467" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T18:54:53.467" CommentCount="13" />
  <row Id="156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16" CreationDate="2010-08-06T02:58:40.297" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A bit similar to [Peter's answer], but with some more history:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supposedly, the saying originated with Winston Churchill, though it certainly could be apocryphal.  The original version was&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;This is the sort of bloody nonsense up with which I will not put.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... maybe.  According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/churchill.html&quot;&gt;an English professor at Washington State University&lt;/a&gt;, there are a &lt;strong&gt;lot&lt;/strong&gt; of variations on that theme out there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever the details of the story, though, the point is that the preposition rule isn't one that needs to be followed in general use.  It doesn't increase clarity or provide any other benefit; it just lets some people provide a different tone to their communication.  Or, potentially, feel superior to those who don't obey the rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T02:58:40.297" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="19" CreationDate="2010-08-06T02:59:11.780" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Innings&quot; in British usage is either singular or plural. It's just one of those words with identical singular and plural forms. It's not the only word ending with an s that's plural; consider (apart from many -ics words like physics and politics) news and (both singular and plural) means, series, species, etc. This is what Fowler's &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=Vr7muDFR6j4C&amp;amp;pg=PA441&amp;amp;dq=innings&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A Dictionary of Modern English Usage&lt;/a&gt; (British, 1926) says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Plural anomalies&lt;/strong&gt;. See -ICS for the question of whether words in &lt;em&gt;-ics&lt;/em&gt; are singular or plural. Plural names of diseases, as &lt;em&gt;mumps&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;measles&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;glanders&lt;/em&gt;, can be treated as singular or plural; &lt;em&gt;chickenpox&lt;/em&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;em&gt;smallpox&lt;/em&gt;, originally plural, are now reckoned singular. &lt;em&gt;Innings&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;corps&lt;/em&gt;, &amp;amp; some other words in -s, are singular or plural without change in spelling, but, while &lt;em&gt;corps&lt;/em&gt; has -s silent in singular and sounded in plural, &lt;em&gt;an innings&lt;/em&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;em&gt;several innings&lt;/em&gt; show no distinction, whence arises the colloquial double plural &lt;em&gt;inningses&lt;/em&gt;. For the plural of &lt;em&gt;Court Martial&lt;/em&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;em&gt;Lord Justice&lt;/em&gt;, the number of &lt;em&gt;porridge&lt;/em&gt;, &amp;amp; the difference between &lt;em&gt;pence &amp;amp; pennies&lt;/em&gt;, see the words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it was special enough to invite comment (and unusual enough to invite coinages like &quot;inningses&quot;). The OED doesn't give any special etymology; it just comes from &quot;in&quot;, as the &quot;outing&quot; you mentioned comes from &quot;out&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In American usage, &quot;inning&quot; is a back-formation from the plural &quot;innings&quot;. According to a random &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.languagehat.com/archives/002573.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;comment on languagehat&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;… &quot;innings&quot;. This is both the singular and plural form in cricket. It is also frequently seen this way in early baseball. For a time both &quot;inning&quot; and &quot;innings&quot; were seen used as singular, but by the 1870s or so the singular &quot;innings&quot; was uncommon. Nowadays it is unheard of in a baseball context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T02:59:11.780" />
  <row Id="158" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-06T03:09:51.790" Score="5" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;The apostrophe has a lot of jobs. It &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;makes things possessive,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it indicates the omissions of letters in&#xA;contractions and numbers in dates, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it is used to indicate strange&#xA;accents in dialog, and &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it indicates&#xA;plurals of words and letters.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To complicate matters, it looks almost or exactly the same as the single-quote in many fonts and in hand-writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have read of proposals to use a distinct mark of punctuation for each task. What are some of these proposals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="101" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-06T03:54:56.847" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T20:35:13.100" Title="What proposals have been made to give the apostrophe some relief?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-06T03:58:02.490" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Addition to kitukwfyer's answer. Could is consider more polite than Can, for example, when you talk to your friends you can say, &quot;Can you give me that pen?&quot;, however when you talk to your teacher you should say &quot;Could you give me that pen?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T03:58:02.490" />
  <row Id="160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="128" CreationDate="2010-08-06T04:07:43.090" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case, I'd say that the verb &lt;em&gt;use&lt;/em&gt; is selecting the infinitive as its complement, making the to infinitive the direct object. The verb is tensed, ending up &quot;used to&quot;. Another example would be &quot;hope to blah&quot;. Here is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a769837052&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;interesting paper&lt;/a&gt; on the distribution and semantic correlations between verbs that select for infinitives. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T04:07:43.090" />
  <row Id="161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-06T04:20:16.227" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since your name seems Indian, I'll also mention a common Indian-English idiosyncrasy that may clear up matters for you. There is a tendency in Indian speech to use &quot;could&quot; for &quot;can&quot;, and &quot;would&quot; for &quot;will&quot;. This is wrong (or, to avoid being prescriptive, certainly at variance with other varieties of English, and non-standard even in India). Properly, &quot;could&quot; (subjunctive) is used to express &lt;em&gt;possibility&lt;/em&gt;, things that may or may not happen, may or may not be done, etc. (to ask polite questions, for instance) — or in the past tense. If you're using it in the same sense as &quot;can&quot; (for a straightforward expression of ability), you're probably using it incorrectly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We could go (if we like / but we won't / etc.), but&lt;br&gt;&#xA;We can go (= We are capable of going / It is possible for us to go)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They could see us from the tower (if they were not blind / yesterday), but&lt;br&gt;&#xA;They can see us from the tower (=they are capable of seeing us, now)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wrong: The speaker would be coming tomorrow.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Correct: The speaker will be coming tomorrow. (The progressive is fairly common in IE, but even more natural to just say &quot;The speaker will come tomorrow.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T04:20:16.227" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="78" CreationDate="2010-08-06T04:37:01.560" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not the most authoritative/formal source ever, but the grammar book &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=oB3LkxTNHgcC&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;amp;dq=Woe+is+I&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=15BbTKOeCY_EsAPUpNnhDw&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Woe is I&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; provides an easily remembered rule of thumb that has stuck with me through the years:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Commas, which cut out the fat, go with which, never with that.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T04:37:01.560" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="152" CreationDate="2010-08-06T04:39:24.287" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;an&quot; before vowels, and &quot;a&quot; before everything else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Except for a few exceptions...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Words that begin with a consonant, but sound like they begin with a vowel, I've always understood them to be proceeded by &quot;an&quot; since they begin with a &lt;strong&gt;soft&lt;/strong&gt; sound (eg - An heirloom). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As already pointed out by another answer, &quot;user&quot; starts with a vowel, yet is preceded by &quot;a&quot; because it begins with a &lt;strong&gt;hard&lt;/strong&gt; sound. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="104" LastEditorUserId="104" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-08T03:25:20.110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-08T03:25:20.110" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="152" CreationDate="2010-08-06T04:40:33.410" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a bizarre urban legend of sorts that you're &quot;supposed to&quot; use &quot;an&quot; if the head noun in the noun phrase it determines begins with a vowel sound, rather than the first word in the noun phrase, giving rise to claims that &quot;an green apple&quot; is somehow &quot;technically&quot; correct. &lt;a href=&quot;http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2010/06/one-rule-i-refuse-to-follow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is a blog post of someone who seems to have gotten this idea. And &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2396#comment-72368&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; is the discussion on Language Log about that blog post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, the rule is that you use &quot;an&quot; if the &lt;em&gt;next word&lt;/em&gt; begins with a &lt;em&gt;vowel sound&lt;/em&gt;. Vowel &lt;em&gt;sound&lt;/em&gt; is crucial here because many words that begin with vowel letters do not begin with vowel sounds (e.g. user) and vice versa (e.g. hour).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This makes it a kind of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandhi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sandhi&lt;/a&gt; rule for &quot;intrusive N&quot; in English for indefinite articles, avoiding &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiatus_%28linguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hiatus&lt;/a&gt; between the article and the following word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T04:40:33.410" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="165" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-06T05:23:30.573" Score="6" ViewCount="295" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is site &lt;a href=&quot;http://learnyouahaskell.com&quot;&gt;learn you a haskell&lt;/a&gt; with title &quot;Learn You a Haskell for Great Good!&quot;. Does &quot;Great Good&quot; mean &quot;very very good&quot;? Does the whole phrase mean &quot;learning Haskell is good for you&quot; or &quot;learning Haskell is good for whole world&quot; or something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T10:14:02.910" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-06T05:23:30.573" Title="What does &quot;great good&quot; mean in tutorial title &quot;Learn You a Haskell for Great Good!&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="166" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-06T05:30:38.160" Score="7" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you end a sentence with a quotation that is itself a full sentence, do you use the quotation's punctuation?  The containing sentence's?  Both?  Something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this might be best illustrated with an example.  Which of the following is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John asked her &quot;Do you have the time?&quot;  She said yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John asked her &quot;Do you have the time.&quot;  She said yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John asked her &quot;Do you have the time?.&quot;  She said yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related, but not a dupe: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/23/is-it-ever-acceptable-for-a-period-to-come-after-a-quote-at-the-end-of-a-sentence&quot;&gt;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/23/is-it-ever-acceptable-for-a-period-to-come-after-a-quote-at-the-end-of-a-sentence&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastEditorUserId="513" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T23:15:59.723" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T23:15:59.723" Title="How much punctuation is appropriate when ending a sentence with a full-sentence quotation?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="165" CreationDate="2010-08-06T05:32:45.457" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a deliberate mistake, as is &quot;Learn You&quot;. I think this is based on a comedy routine by Baron Sacha Cohen called Borat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T05:32:45.457" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-06T05:32:45.457" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="166" CreationDate="2010-08-06T05:33:21.510" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I consider the first to be the most correct, although I would precede the quote with a comma and capitalise the beginning of John's sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John asked her, &quot;Do you have the time?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="80" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T05:33:21.510" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="166" CreationDate="2010-08-06T05:35:24.940" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John asked her &quot;do you have the time?&quot; She said yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a very awkward sentence, so maybe not a good example. I would write&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John asked her &quot;Do you have the time?&quot; She said &quot;Yes.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe this is the standard way to do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never seen punctuation doubled, as in ?., in printed English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T05:35:24.940" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="170" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-06T05:39:21.593" Score="3" ViewCount="278" Body="&lt;p&gt;In W. Somerset Maugham's &lt;em&gt;The Moon and Sixpence&lt;/em&gt;, there is a line about Dirk Stroeve which goes &lt;em&gt;His spaghetti were …&lt;/em&gt;. Spaghetti is plural in Italian, but was this ever a normal usage in English? Spaghetti seems to be entrenched as an uncountable (mass) noun these days. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T23:44:48.490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T23:44:48.490" Title="Was the usage &quot;Spaghetti were&quot; ever acceptable or common?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;uncountable-noun&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="152" CreationDate="2010-08-06T05:47:54.543" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As said, &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; before vowels and &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; otherwise. We know how/when, but not &lt;strong&gt;why&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;cd=1&amp;amp;ved=0CBcQFjAA&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fciteseerx.ist.psu.edu%2Fviewdoc%2Fdownload%3Fdoi%3D10.1.1.13.9035%26rep%3Drep1%26type%3Dpdf&amp;amp;ei=DJhbTO6TAovEsAPKkKydCA&amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNGj9z5toVw4L2ghgbmphAA_gb4Ndw&amp;amp;sig2=FDYo-BSfd2IYZDasUet3AA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Asudeh and Klein&lt;/a&gt;, the morpheme for the English indefinite determiner is represented by three different allomorphs ([ə], [ən], and [ej]—though I disagree with schwa slightly, it's the same in spirit), whose appearance is phonologically determined. When the morpheme is immediately followed by a segment marked by [+continuant], [ən] is selected, and if [-continuant], [ə]—the final form is uttered in isolation. —I question their use of [+continuant] instead of the traditional &quot;vowel&quot;: this doesn't handle the the case of fricatives: *&quot;an sister&quot;; or approximates: [+continuant, +sonorant], *&quot;an yacht&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's really interesting here is that they mention a work by Harris that says that this is a form of deletion, that [ən] is the underlying form and deleted where the [n] cannot fill the onset of the following syllable. This begins to explain &lt;strong&gt;why&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; won't work before vowels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, it's interesting to know that this was a source of great debate for many years. A lot of people argued that this &lt;a href=&quot;http://specgram.com/PsQ.XVI.4/06.pulju.indefinite.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;was anything but phonologically determined,&lt;/a&gt; wasting a ton of time and effort. Pay attention to phonology!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T07:46:57.683" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T07:46:57.683" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="172" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="175" CreationDate="2010-08-06T05:51:30.560" Score="11" ViewCount="415" Body="&lt;p&gt;I frequently edit questions on StackOverflow, and I always fix the &quot;i&quot; into &quot;I&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;See this &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/posts/3411889/revisions&quot;&gt;edit revision for instance&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When &lt;strong&gt;&lt;del&gt;i&lt;/del&gt; I&lt;/strong&gt; start my tomcat, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;del&gt;i&lt;/del&gt; I&lt;/strong&gt; am getting this problem.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  How could &lt;strong&gt;&lt;del&gt;i&lt;/del&gt; I&lt;/strong&gt; resolve this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I right to do so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/529/benjol&quot;&gt;Benjol&lt;/a&gt; points out an interesting thread illustrating that debate: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the MetaSO question &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/53445/can-users-please-refrain-from-making-minor-edits-to-a-question-i-post&quot;&gt;Can users please refrain from making minor edits to a question I post?&lt;/a&gt;&quot; (and &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.stackoverflow.com/posts/53445/revisions&quot;&gt;its edits&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The point of text on a site like this is to communicate.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Why do you want  to make it harder to communicate than it has to be?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  You may like writing with no capitalization, but I think it's pretty clear that people prefer reading with capitalization.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  If you don't care about making life easier for those trying to help you, why do you think anyone will bother helping you in the first place?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The article &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://everything2.com/title/Capitalize%252C+please&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Capitalize, please&lt;/a&gt;&quot; also refers to norms.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Readers of the modern English language have grown accustomed to certain norms. Paragraphs, for one. Punctuation. Consistent spelling. And, of course, capitalization. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-17T05:54:24.777" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T05:54:24.777" Title="Is it ok to use &quot;i&quot; in lowercase or should you always use &quot;I&quot; (uppercase)?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="172" CreationDate="2010-08-06T06:00:00.860" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, it really depends on what you are writing. If you are writing something formal, or if you think your audience will care, then sure. If you are texting or IMing, or being much more casual, then it's really up to you whether you want to bother or not. Capitalization, like most orthography, is just a matter of convention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T06:00:00.860" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="170" CreationDate="2010-08-06T06:00:37.130" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English it's usually an uncountable (mass) noun, with &quot;piece of spaghetti&quot; or &quot;strand of spaghetti&quot; used for the &quot;singular&quot;, but in Italian spaghetti is plural (of &quot;spaghetto&quot;), and they freely use it as such. (See &lt;a href=&quot;http://ljkrakauer.com/LJK/essays/biscottibis.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this website&lt;/a&gt;.) All the citations in the OED for &quot;spaghetti&quot; are consistent with its being used as a non-count noun, so I don't think Maugham's &quot;his spaghetti were…&quot; was ever normal usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-06T07:13:36.697" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T07:13:36.697" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="172" CreationDate="2010-08-06T06:00:46.897" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is the standard orthography of English to capitalize the first person singular pronoun, as well as in contractions like &lt;em&gt;I'm&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;I'll&lt;/em&gt;. This is not a universal property of written language, though—far from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently the capitalization of I comes from England sometime before the time of Chaucer. The typographists of the day &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03wwln-guestsafire-t.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictated this change&lt;/a&gt;; they thought that i (after being truncated from something more German-like &quot;ich&quot;) was simply too small to stand on its own and bear so much meaning. Just goes to show how much of a technology writing really is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-10T17:19:05.727" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T17:19:05.727" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="101" CreationDate="2010-08-06T06:04:58.170" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been reading books, novels as well as watching movies (without subtitles) for several years now.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;However, I can attest I am not yet fluent when it comes to &lt;em&gt;spoken&lt;/em&gt; English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only recent progress I have made comes from my new position within my company, where I am in direct contact with New York and Bangalore for Software support... &lt;em&gt;by phone&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So when it comes to &quot;talk the talk&quot;, nothing will replace the actual practice.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;That said, I agree with Edward: comics in theory, but I prefer movies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would associate &quot;reading about spoken English&quot; with formal learning material like this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freeenglishnow.com/lsei.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;free online book&lt;/a&gt; for instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T06:04:58.170" />
  <row Id="177" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="207" CreationDate="2010-08-06T06:34:04.933" Score="10" ViewCount="230" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can see in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://careers.stackoverflow.com/aboutcv&quot;&gt;about page of Stackoverflow carreer site&lt;/a&gt; that the word &quot;resumes&quot; is mentioned.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Not &quot;résumés&quot; or &quot;résumés&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should be the common practice here?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What about other words like &quot;café&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="513" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T23:39:16.613" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T23:39:16.613" Title="Should you always use accent for words from foreign language like &quot;résumé&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;diacritic&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="178" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="180" CreationDate="2010-08-06T06:43:20.190" Score="8" ViewCount="353" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a query regarding enhancing my accent, I am searching for a software in which I speak a paragraph and it compares my speech to find out whether it is accent-free or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="113" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T01:41:57.220" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T05:22:29.890" Title="How to identify whether I speak with a neutral accent or not" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;&lt;accent&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="179" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="181" CreationDate="2010-08-06T06:47:53.643" Score="3" ViewCount="245" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often hear in English conversation or movies the contraction &quot;ain't&quot; (for &quot;isn't&quot;), but I am more surprised to see it in writing (and I am not referring to a novel, where I can understand its usage: convey common oral expressions in a text)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See this &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1398559/there-aint-listbox-selectionmodenone-is-there-another-way-to-disable-selecti&quot;&gt;question (on a technical forum) for instance&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;There ain’t &lt;code&gt;ListBox.SelectionMode=“None”&lt;/code&gt;, is there another way to disable selection in a listbox?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it appropriate in that context (formal written technical question)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-10T12:56:02.477" LastActivityDate="2010-10-10T12:56:02.477" Title="Why would you write &quot;ain't&quot;? Isn't it a contraction only used in spoken English?" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="178" CreationDate="2010-08-06T06:50:31.547" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which specific accent are you looking to improve? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/research/gsound/Eng/Database/Phonetics/Englishes/Home/HomeMainFrameHolder.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this website illustrates&lt;/a&gt;, there are many of them!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;provide an overview of the variety of the sounds of the English language on various levels: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;in time&lt;/strong&gt;, with our transcriptions of historical ancestor forms of English, from present-day back to Late Modern English, Early Modern, Middle and Old English, as far back even as Proto-Germanic;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;over geographical space;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;by sociolinguistic context.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, you can try some online resources:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howjsay.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;howjsay.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fonetiks.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fonetiks.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acapela-group.com/text-to-speech-interactive-demo.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;acapela-group&lt;/a&gt;: its Text to Speech Demo allows you to listen to a small selection of different accents.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-07T23:44:55.520" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T23:44:55.520" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="179" CreationDate="2010-08-06T06:58:29.740" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Ain't&quot; is generally pretty stigmatized; it is widely used in African American Vernacular English and Southern English. If someone uses it in a more formal context, it is likely that they want to convey a casual or insouciant attitude. However, any native English speaker knows what it means, so there should be no issue in terms of communication. On the other hand you might justify not using it on the grounds that it might give non-native speakers some trouble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T06:58:29.740" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="177" CreationDate="2010-08-06T07:07:01.327" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's rare these days to see diacritics in words that were borrowed a long time ago and have become essentially &quot;nativized&quot;. That certainly includes resume and cafe. You do occasionally see them used, especially in older writing or in cases where an air of foreignness is desired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that it's ok to use them, but you should be aware that it will stand out somewhat to most readers and is not really standard anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastEditorUserId="78" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-06T09:01:22.803" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T09:01:22.803" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="183" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="201" CreationDate="2010-08-06T07:25:15.100" Score="10" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is your favorite English reference grammar, particularly in terms of accuracy and completeness? Please note I am not asking for usage guides. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the best ones?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T18:02:04.643" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-06T17:59:26.163" Title="What are some of the better English reference grammars?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="184" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="186" CreationDate="2010-08-06T07:25:37.923" Score="5" ViewCount="527" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often write what &quot;sounds&quot; right (being not a native English speaker/writer), and I believe the expression &quot;that being said&quot; to be fairly common, as opposed to a more complete form like &quot;that's been said&quot; or &quot;Having said that&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In doubt, I turn to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&amp;amp;word1=that+being+said&amp;amp;word2=that%27s+been+said&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;google fight&lt;/a&gt;, which seems to confirm the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&amp;amp;word1=that+being+said&amp;amp;word2=Having+said+that&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;common usage&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(not exactly the right reference, I know ;) )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet, I don't think that &quot;that being said&quot; is correct, especially in writing.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;That said&quot; is even more common. Is it also acceptable in writing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What expression would you use in formal writing?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(Not too formal though: like a &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2087775/how-do-i-detect-when-output-is-being-redirected/2087817#2087817&quot;&gt;technical forum&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T16:28:20.337" Title="Should I write &quot;that being said&quot; (vs. &quot;that's been said&quot; or &quot;Having said that&quot;)?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="184" CreationDate="2010-08-06T07:37:08.960" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To my ear, &quot;that's been said&quot; is actually wrong if used in this context. The other two, &quot;that being said&quot; and &quot;having said that&quot; are normal; I would say they are somewhat fossilized expressions. However, they aren't ungrammatical. For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) The car being washed, Hugo went home. (somewhat archaic sounding, but I think fine)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Having washed the car, Hugo went home. (perfect)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;That's been said&quot; will sound distinctly odd if used in the same way, probably just because it is not a recognized idiom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T07:37:08.960" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="184" CreationDate="2010-08-06T07:43:09.353" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &quot;that said&quot; and &quot;that being said&quot; are common (possibly &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; common) and perfectly grammatical, and sufficiently formal as well. &quot;Having said that&quot; is also correct, but to be correct the subject in what follows must be whoever said that (usually &quot;I&quot;). For instance, you can say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Roses are usually red. That [being] said, they are also…&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you'd have to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I like turtles. Having said that, &lt;strong&gt;I&lt;/strong&gt; will now proceed to show…&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, if you don't follow it up with &quot;I&quot;, many people wouldn't notice anything amiss these days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;That's been said&quot; is a full sentence (edit: complete clause), and it only means &quot;That has been said&quot;. Full stop. It cannot be used to introduce the rest of the sentence in the same manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-06T16:28:20.337" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T16:28:20.337" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="128" CreationDate="2010-08-06T08:40:18.367" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is more of a theoretical question, and so the answer depends a lot on what framework you prefer. &quot;Used to&quot; in this context is sometimes called a &quot;quasi-modal&quot; along with &quot;want to&quot;, &quot;ought to&quot; and so on. Some linguists consider them the result of a historical process called grammaticalization, in which common collocations take on their own somewhat idiosyncratic grammatical properties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think there are tests you can use to demonstrate that quasi-modals don't behave the same way as infinitive structures (by making them questions, for instance), but this is not my specialty. However, I think a real infinitive use of &quot;used to&quot; would be as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) The saw was used to cut the wood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't find a good article for this right now, unfortunately. Maybe someone else knows of one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T08:40:18.367" />
  <row Id="189" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="197" CreationDate="2010-08-06T09:11:47.200" Score="4" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;But according to my friend I am wrong. What do you think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="123" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T17:13:51.667" Title="I thought &quot;spare me with ...&quot; means &quot;don't bother me with the details of ...&quot;. Does it?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="189" CreationDate="2010-08-06T09:27:44.010" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct. However, I think this is an instance of an unnecessary preposition. I would say, &quot;Spare me the details&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your friend doesn't believe you, tell him or her to read these lyrics by the punk band The Offspring:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lyrics.ge/index.php?song=525866&amp;amp;name=Spare_Me_The_Details&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.lyrics.ge/index.php?song=525866&amp;amp;name=Spare_Me_The_Details&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(note: racy lyrics)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-06T09:40:26.857" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T09:40:26.857" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="183" CreationDate="2010-08-06T10:09:05.867" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please don't mark this as the answer since it is horribly out of date, but just know that H.W. Fowler, The King's English (1908) is a joy to read for its humor, wit, accuracy, and prescriptive adamancy. It is very useful for going into depth of the English language but definitely not a good choice for your first grammar text. Anyone who loves the English language should have a copy of it in their bookcase. You can find it online but do get a paper copy of it, the older and mustier the better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T10:09:05.867" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-06T17:59:26.163" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="192" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="208" CreationDate="2010-08-06T10:12:13.507" Score="11" ViewCount="871" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this sentence grammatically correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Anyone who loves the English language should have a copy of this book in &lt;strong&gt;their&lt;/strong&gt; bookcase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or should it be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Anyone who loves the English language should have a copy of this book in &lt;strong&gt;his or her&lt;/strong&gt; bookcase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T13:06:24.547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T13:06:24.547" Title="Is it correct to use &quot;their&quot; instead of &quot;his or her&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;&lt;singular-they&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="192" CreationDate="2010-08-06T11:54:18.653" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Second one  (for &lt;em&gt;writing&lt;/em&gt; purpose), if I believe the &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/they.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;THEY/THEIR (SINGULAR)&lt;/a&gt;&quot; article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A good general rule is that &lt;strong&gt;only when the singular noun does not specify an individual can it be replaced plausibly with a plural pronoun&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Everybody” is a good example.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  We know that “everybody” is singular because we say “everybody is here,“ not “everybody are here” yet we tend to think of “everybody” as a group of individuals, so we usually say “everybody brought &lt;em&gt;their&lt;/em&gt; own grievances to the bargaining table.”&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  “Anybody” is treated similarly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;However, in many written sentences the use of singular “their” and “they” creates an irritating clash even when it passes unnoticed in speech.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;It is wise to shun this popular pattern in formal writing&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T11:54:18.653" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="90" CreationDate="2010-08-06T12:23:39.863" Score="29" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have a comprehensive list here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Common Errors in English Usage&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/cover.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt; (online book)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T12:23:39.863" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-06T12:23:39.863" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="172" CreationDate="2010-08-06T13:00:35.127" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The orthography is what the orthography is, and while there are many variations allowed in certain aspects, no serious authority supports abandoning the distinction between upper and lower case.  So unless you are sticking with a rebellious all-lower case spelling, a lower case &quot;i&quot; is always wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T13:00:35.127" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="189" CreationDate="2010-08-06T13:27:44.870" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Spare me&quot; can be used to refer to anything that isn't wanted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As in, &quot;spare me your poppycock&quot;, &quot;spare me your pedantic ways&quot;, &quot;spare me your grandiloquence&quot; etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Spare me&quot; just means &quot;let me not hear/see/experience something&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="90" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T13:27:44.870" />
  <row Id="198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="75" CreationDate="2010-08-06T13:29:55.537" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anything you do in English will be useful, so using the internet to access English texts (spoken and written) will help. It is also possible to use the internet to have lessons online with qualified English teachers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="128" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T13:29:55.537" />
  <row Id="199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="54" CreationDate="2010-08-06T13:32:23.627" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simply find someone to practice with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="128" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T13:32:23.627" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="200" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="240" CreationDate="2010-08-06T13:35:12.313" Score="4" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a lot of the questions I'm seeing on ELaU, it seems the answer is ultimately arbitrary and unlikely to be resolved by poll.  Since style guides exist to settle the question for people who care not what sounds better, but just want to get with the program and follow a uniform convention, what manual of style should I use for technical writing for US Federal Government documents?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T20:05:21.923" Title="What manual of style should I use for technical writing for US Federal Government documents?" Tags="&lt;style-manuals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="183" CreationDate="2010-08-06T13:36:47.877" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find Carter and McCarthy's 2006 Cambridge Grammar of English very useful. The great advantage is that it is based on an analysis of real language (the Cambridge International Corpus), which means that its insights are evidence-based, not intuition. Any reference grammars which are not based on corpus evidence are not worth buying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="128" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T13:36:47.877" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-06T17:59:26.163" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="57" CreationDate="2010-08-06T13:40:44.267" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it matters if you use &quot;may&quot; or &quot;can&quot; - both can be polite or impolite. This is because politeness has as much to do with intonation and context as with the actual words used to build the question. The relationship between the interactants is also key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="128" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T13:40:44.267" />
  <row Id="203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="54" CreationDate="2010-08-06T13:54:45.207" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was helped a lot by watching TV Series and movies with subtitles in English. In this way you can read what's said and hearing its correct pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="18" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T13:54:45.207" />
  <row Id="204" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="213" CreationDate="2010-08-06T14:46:19.753" Score="1" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two examples from google&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Doris McCarthy exhibit speaks to the&#xA;  artist as lover of life&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A scribble that speaks to wild nature&#xA;  of art&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this use of 'speaks to' new.  I seem to have only started to hear it about a year ago, and now I hear it everywhere. Is it American?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-14T05:47:54.677" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T05:47:54.677" Title="Usage of &quot;Speaks to&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="205" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-06T15:00:16.623" Score="14" ViewCount="831" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are your favourite words and idioms in other languages that don't have good, succinct equivalents in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The issue of whether there is, or could be, a sentence on one language whose meaning could not be made known in another is a different (albeit interesting) philosophical question)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="573" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T21:49:08.870" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T07:41:21.100" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-06T16:54:09.557" Title="Favourite untranslatables" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;translation&gt;" AnswerCount="26" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-08-06T15:06:02.913" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like the website &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.logolalia.com/untranslatable/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;untranslatable&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&quot; for this kind of list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a community project formed to examine issues of untranslatability in general,&#xA;  with a specific focus on single words that require phrases, paragraphs, or pages to translate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;Fond de l'air&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is a classic of untranslatable French words/idioms.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  You simply cannot convey (at least not in English, maybe someone can help me discover a language that can) the meaning of the French word &quot;fond de l'air&quot; which is used only in the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Le fond de l'air est frais.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Fond de l'air&quot; literally means &quot;&lt;strong&gt;the bottom of the air&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; (not as in arse but more like in the bottom of the glass).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The whole sentence means that the weather is sunny and you could be tricked into thinking that it is summertime, the air is warm and in parading in your bikini when in fact the air is quite cool (not in a refreshing and welcome way) and the weather is just waiting for you to stop being on your guard to give you a nasty cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T15:06:02.913" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-06T17:01:07.363" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="177" CreationDate="2010-08-06T15:06:22.757" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The accents in &lt;em&gt;résumé&lt;/em&gt; are helpful in distinguishing it from the verb &lt;em&gt;resume&lt;/em&gt;. (The word &lt;em&gt;café&lt;/em&gt; doesn't have this problem.) I wouldn't be surprised if the dropping of accents is an artefact of typesetting--British and American printers didn't necessarily have accented forms of latin characters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T15:06:22.757" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="192" CreationDate="2010-08-06T15:09:02.720" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Certainly many usage guides have advised against use of this &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;singular &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&quot; on various &quot;logical&quot; grounds. Nevertheless, singular &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt; has long been part of the English language, and there are various posts on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.languagelog.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Language Log&lt;/a&gt; giving examples of it being used &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003572.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in the Bible&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002748.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;by Shakespeare&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1629&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;by the president&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=26&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;by the Canadian Department of Justice&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?cat=27&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;etc.&lt;/a&gt;. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cambridge.org/uk/linguistics/cgel/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cambridge Grammar of the English Language&lt;/a&gt;'s coauthor Geoff Pullum (a frequent Language Log contributor) calls the idea that &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt; must never occur with a singular antecedent &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ucsc.edu/currents/01-02/04-15/rules.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a myth&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no shortage of usage &quot;experts&quot; who advise against it, as the other answers in the question should make clear (though these days their reasoning tends away from a simple &quot;it's wrong&quot; towards something more defensive–&quot;some people will think it's wrong, so avoid it&quot;). But despite them, use of singular &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt; occurs at all levels of the language, both spoken and written, informal and formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not ungrammatical per se on the basis of analysis of actual usage using reasonable linguistic methods. But use it at your own risk of being criticized by the self-righteous but misinformed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-06T15:50:31.857" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T15:50:31.857" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="204" CreationDate="2010-08-06T15:12:52.590" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/speak_to&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; mentions 3 usages:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1/ (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix%3aGlossary#idiomatic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;idiomatic&lt;/a&gt;) To give &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/evidence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;evidence&lt;/a&gt; regarding something; to attest for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;2006 Staff of Vault, The College Buzz Book, page 176:&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This definitely speaks to the fact that at Georgetown, beginning at the admissions process, you're not a number but a real person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2/ (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix%3aGlossary#idiomatic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;idiomatic&lt;/a&gt;) To &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/address&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;address&lt;/a&gt; a particular topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1981, McGill journal of education&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Education for being speaks to what grows within the person himself&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3/ (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix%3aGlossary#idiomatic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;idiomatic&lt;/a&gt;) To &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/resonate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;resonate&lt;/a&gt; with, to strike a chord in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;His music really speaks to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All three usages don't seem particularly new. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T15:12:52.590" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="183" CreationDate="2010-08-06T15:15:37.020" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Books written in the 1700s, such as the King James Version, are very interesting to read, but don't try to learn English with it, as someone who was doing that once said&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Thus saith the neighbor of Andrew. That thou wouldst be pleased to pass the butter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe he was at some kind of school or something like that. That was while he was learning, he got a lot better of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Old English, like the Tyndale bible, say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;In the begynnynge God created heaven and erth.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is that middle English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="62" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T15:15:37.020" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-06T17:59:26.163" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="211" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="232" CreationDate="2010-08-06T15:22:32.790" Score="6" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These photos came out well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These photos came out good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the proper usage of &lt;em&gt;well&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt;, the former would be describing the quality of the taking and developing of the photo; the latter would be describing the state of the photo as a finished product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are both of these acceptable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-19T08:33:26.677" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T08:33:26.677" Title="&quot;Well&quot; and &quot;good&quot; for how photographs come out." Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;modifiers&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="211" CreationDate="2010-08-06T15:31:53.770" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Considering that &quot;You do something well, but a thing is good.&quot;, since the expression &quot;These photos came out&quot; is more about a process (of taking the photos), I would be inclined to favor the first usage: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;These photos came out well.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;( &lt;sub&gt;Plus, &quot;These photos came out good.&quot; doesn't sound as good. &quot;as well&quot;? No. &quot;as good&quot; &lt;/sub&gt; )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T15:31:53.770" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="204" CreationDate="2010-08-06T15:38:42.470" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1785&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;post&lt;/a&gt; on Language Log is interesting. It suggests that &quot;speak to [some concept]&quot; has been documented since about 400 years ago, though there's some disagreement about how long it's been used in news publishing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I think it feels awkward, as though there &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; be some neater, more established verb we could drop in instead, but &lt;em&gt;I just can't think of one&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T15:38:42.470" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="177" CreationDate="2010-08-06T15:59:53.770" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The diacritics no longer serve their purpose in most cases of providing phonetic information and it can be said that they are largely being obsoleted. There are cases where their use is important though, e.g., as a form of social signaling, just as knowing the etymological origin of English words, especially from Latin and Greek marked a person as educated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, &lt;em&gt;résumé&lt;/em&gt; is word that you will often see.. Knowing these diacritics (and probably the origin and the raison d'être) highlights you as knowledgeable, especially to a potential employer. In another case, you would never scribble a note to your neighbor to take care of the fish because you booked a night at your favorite &lt;em&gt;hôtel&lt;/em&gt;. Certain words have retained them, while many others haven't. I would say the choice to use them comes to a choice of register in a social context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-06T19:12:19.580" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T19:12:19.580" />
  <row Id="215" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="229" CreationDate="2010-08-06T16:02:14.330" Score="13" ViewCount="332" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a great chasm on these phrases in the US.  The great divide seems to be currently centered at the age of 40.  The younger generation has began shifting to &quot;on accident&quot; for unknown reasons.  What is your view?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-11T13:50:31.987" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T13:50:31.987" Title="&quot;By accident&quot; vs &quot;on accident&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="211" CreationDate="2010-08-06T16:08:22.467" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Good&lt;/strong&gt; is an adjective; &lt;strong&gt;well&lt;/strong&gt; is an adverb, which is applied to a verb.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Just as an adjective applies to a noun, so an adverb applies to the verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In British English then, the correct usage would be to use the adverb, and say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the photos came out well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a special case, the verb &quot;to be&quot; (a copular verb) typically takes an adjective, so it would be quite normal to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the photos are good / the photos were&#xA;  good / ... will be good&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&quot;To be&quot; can take an adverb too, but &quot;You are well/ill/poorly&quot; mean something quite different from &quot;You are good/bad/poor&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As another example, with someone who &quot;is slow&quot; we could say they &quot;go slowly&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In German and some other Germanic languages there is usually no special adverbial form, so it's quite common in areas where German migrants have settled (like in the US) to hear the adjective and never the adverb. For the example above, a German would simply say &quot;langsam&quot; (&quot;slow&quot;) in both cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;British English has maintained the French use of adverbs, so we make a distinction between the two forms; to my British ears, the use of an adjective (&quot;good&quot;) where I would normally hear an adverb (&quot;well&quot;) just sounds wrong. I think in American English you can get away with it, at least in speech, but it's worth knowing the rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastEditorUserId="129" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-06T16:16:20.117" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T16:16:20.117" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="215" CreationDate="2010-08-06T16:15:29.260" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He tripped on accident.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He was eaten by accident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are the forms I would use, if forced to choose between them. However, there is no grammatical difference between the two&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;, and I chose those because they &lt;em&gt;&quot;sound right&quot;&lt;/em&gt;. I don't believe there is actually a rule which states which to use, but I could be wrong about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This matter, of course, is solved if we use the word &lt;code&gt;accidentally&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; Yes, the second sentence is in passive voice, while the first is in active, but I don't think that's the root cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T16:15:29.260" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="215" CreationDate="2010-08-06T16:25:22.150" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;On accident&quot; sounds strange to me. &quot;By accident&quot; sounds better, but I can't understand how it could be much different from &quot;On purpose&quot;, albeit very strange to say &quot;By purpose&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="131" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T16:25:22.150" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="215" CreationDate="2010-08-06T16:29:49.243" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A quick Google search of &quot;fell by accident&quot; versus &quot;fell on accident&quot; suggests that &quot;by accident&quot; is used about 99% of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But with &quot;tripped by/on accident&quot; there are more results for &quot;on&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never encountered &quot;on accident&quot; until seeing this question, so I think it must be something peculiar to the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T16:29:49.243" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="211" CreationDate="2010-08-06T16:55:25.343" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ah yes, adverbial use of &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt;. Another classic prescriptivist bugbear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/good&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster writes&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Adverbial good has been under attack from the schoolroom since the 19th century...Adverbial &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; is primarily a spoken form; in writing it occurs in reported and fictional speech and in generally familiar or informal contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both examples in the original question would be what linguists call &quot;grammatical&quot; in that it is a usage used frequently by native speakers, but the long proscription of adverbial &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; by prescriptivists has resulted in what Merriam-Webster call a split in connotation: &quot;&lt;em&gt;well&lt;/em&gt; is standard, neutral, and colorless, while &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; is emotionally charged and emphatic.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T16:55:25.343" />
  <row Id="221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="215" CreationDate="2010-08-06T17:02:51.930" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/on-accident-versus-by-accident.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; which is a pretty interesting read and discussion of theories with the comments.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T17:02:51.930" />
  <row Id="222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="54" CreationDate="2010-08-06T17:05:30.337" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a word: listen. As much as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TV news presenters usually speak more clearly, and a little more slowly, than most English speakers would; though it depends on the broadcaster. State broadcasters are usually good. Obviously I'd recommend the BBC.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if you can display sub-titles, that will help to reinforce understanding, but sometimes the sub-titles lag behind the audio and omit some of the speech; and they're often misspelt on live broadcasts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Radio news broadcasts will help too - try to find a subject you understand so that you know what words to expect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T17:05:30.337" />
  <row Id="223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="114" CreationDate="2010-08-06T17:12:46.313" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Semicolon is for sentences that can stand alone but you want to emphasize their relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;En dashes are used to indicate periods of time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hyphens are used to combine open compounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Em dashes are used to disrupt the flow of a sentence and bring emphasis to the coming point.  It is a more informal and stronger version of the colon.  It can also act as a stronger version of the comma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12" LastEditorUserId="12" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-27T03:20:11.170" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T03:20:11.170" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="224" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="230" CreationDate="2010-08-06T17:53:54.457" Score="4" ViewCount="400" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read this question in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/1269/english-language-usage/3608#3608&quot;&gt;sample questions section&lt;/a&gt;. It hasn't been asked yet, now I'd like to know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard that regional dialects of English are often more closely related to provincial dialects because the comparatively well-to-do Londoner did need or want to move to a strange new land and instead people from the countryside went abroad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T18:33:21.497" Title="In what ways is Appalachian speech closer to Elizabethan English than contemporary British?" Tags="&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="225" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="226" CreationDate="2010-08-06T17:54:10.667" Score="5" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Everyone were convinced that he would go to the game.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Everyone was convinced that he would go to the game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's &quot;was&quot;, because &quot;everyone&quot; is singular, but I just wanted to check.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="50" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-06T17:59:50.767" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T18:07:44.650" Title="&quot;Everyone was convinced&quot; or &quot;everyone were convinced&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verb-agreement&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="225" CreationDate="2010-08-06T17:57:54.933" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyone agree&lt;b&gt;s&lt;/b&gt; that &lt;em&gt;everyone&lt;/em&gt; is singular and therefore singular verb forms agree with &lt;em&gt;everyone&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T17:57:54.933" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="215" CreationDate="2010-08-06T18:02:37.220" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In situations like these, I tend to lengthen out the phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Replace &quot;by&quot; with &quot;by way of a/an&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He tripped by way of an accident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;accident here adds information to the clause &quot;he tripped&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Purpose&quot; is something thought out, perhaps written down, requiring more formal thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A synonym for &quot;purpose&quot; is &quot;intent&quot;. He tripped by intent sounds better than &quot;He tripped on intent&quot;. Therefore, I would guess that although we are more comfortable with &quot;tripping 'on' purpose&quot; I wonder if &quot;tripping by purpose&quot; is actually a more accurate phrase. In addition, &quot;He tripped on...&quot; could be followed by an object as well. &quot;He tripped on a cat&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for the rambling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T18:02:37.220" />
  <row Id="228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="225" CreationDate="2010-08-06T18:07:44.650" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;comprehensive article&lt;/a&gt; on the topic on &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Grammar Girl&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are actually two issues concerning this topic: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Are the words everyone and everybody singular or plural? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;And can I use a plural pronoun (such as their) to refer to these words? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Grammarians actually agree that the words everyone and everybody are singular.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Grammar Girl [...] says, &lt;strong&gt;everyone sounds like a lot of people, but in grammar land, everyone is a singular noun and takes a singular verb&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Now, if you’re in Britain, you don’t have to worry so much about everyone and everybody because sometimes they’re considered plural.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  In Britain, it’s standard to use everyone and everybody with a singular verb and plural pronoun &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T18:07:44.650" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="215" CreationDate="2010-08-06T18:26:02.167" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;On accident&quot; (meaning &quot;accidentally&quot;) does seem to be an unusual usage that frequently appears in opposition to the much more idiomatic &quot;on purpose&quot; (meaning &quot;purposefully&quot;). These are the kinds of idioms commonly used by e.g. children in explaining why something has gone wrong:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;—&quot;You broke my toy on purpose!&quot; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  —&quot;No, it was on accident!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quick survey of the 23 incidences of &quot;on accident&quot; in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; show about half have the sense discussed here, and &quot;on accident&quot; does occur in opposition to &quot;on purpose&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;HAAS: That happens in so many cases where you're got misinformation that's either leaked on accident or on purpose. &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  — from &quot;Gunman Kills 32, Wounds 28 at Virginia Tech&quot; on &lt;em&gt;On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren&lt;/em&gt; on Fox News, 2007&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;JACOBUS: Big difference when it's on purpose and when it's on accident. &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  — from &quot;Dean, Democrats and Iowa's Deadline&quot;, on CNN, 2003&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other examples are from fiction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Dad better not see this or you'll get it. I'll tell him we were play fighting, and I slugged you on accident.&quot; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  — Evan Shopper, &quot;If I have to hit one of you, I'll hit you both&quot; in &lt;em&gt;The Massachusetts Review&lt;/em&gt;, 2003&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She was thirteen years old, called herself a &quot;gangsta ho&quot; even though all her friends were white, and had already dropped out of school. &quot;On accident,&quot; she said - she'd broken her collarbone the year before horsing around on her cousin's dirt bike and missed so much school that she simply never bothered returning. &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  — Emily Shelton, &quot;From MEMPHIS (Short story).&quot; in &lt;em&gt;Chicago Review&lt;/em&gt;, 2003&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;By accident&quot;, in contrast, has 1419 results, making it more than 100 times more common, and occurring not just in spoken and informal written English, but also in formal edited writing in academic journals, magazines, and newspapers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T18:26:02.167" />
  <row Id="230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="224" CreationDate="2010-08-06T18:26:26.423" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia mentions&lt;/a&gt; there could actually be 3 for Appalachian English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;One theory is that the dialect is a remnant of Elizabethan (or Shakespearean) English that had been preserved by the region's isolation.&lt;sup&gt;(2)(3)&lt;/sup&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Another theory suggests that the dialect developed out of the Scots-Irish and Anglo-Scottish border dialects brought to the region by some of its earliest British Isles settlers.&lt;sup&gt;(4)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Recent research suggests that Appalachian English developed as a uniquely American dialect as early settlers re-adapted the English language to their unfamiliar frontier environment. This is supported by numerous similarities between the Appalachian dialect and Colonial American English.&lt;sup&gt;(5)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can listen more about Elizabethan English in this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/recordings/individual/ulster-omagh-mckenna-stephen.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Voices recording&quot; session&lt;/a&gt;, with the following comments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The eminent Shakespearean scholar, John Barton, has suggested that Shakespeare's accent would have sounded to modern ears like a cross between a contemporary Irish, Yorkshire and West Country accent - and cites the present-day speech of the Appalachian Mountains as the most suitable model for actors attempting to imitate a period performance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Traditional dialects are above all characterised by their retention of conservative forms of speech - old-fashioned vocabulary, non-standard grammatical constructions and archaic pronunciations - long after the prestige language has changed.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  This is, of course, true of the dialects Barton refers to and explains why, for instance multiple negation - constructions such as &quot;I ain't done nothing&quot; - are perfectly acceptable in Shakespearean English and modern dialects, but not in contemporary Standard English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scribd.com/doc/23943176/Appalachian-English-and-Silas-House-s-Clay-s-Quilt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this paper&lt;/a&gt; puts the so-called proximity with Elizabethan English in perspective:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Focus of numerous rumors and myths, the language of Appalachia has been alternately&#xA;  lauded as pure and unadulterated Elizabethan English and condemned as a lazy and&#xA;  ungrammatical corruption of modern American English.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Both these accounts are far from the truth—although Appalachian students cannot read Shakespeare with any greater ease than students from Texas or Vermont, Appalachian English is a full-fledged language with rules of discourse, pragmatics, phonology, and syntax. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Michael Montgomery says, “The idea that in isolated pockets somewhere in the country people still use “Elizabethan” or “Shakespearean” speech is widely held and is one of the hardier cultural beliefs or myths in the collective American psyche.”&#xA;  (Montgomery, 1998)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The idea arose in the late nineteenth century [...]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  At one extreme it reflects nothing less than our young nation’s yearning for a stirring account of its origins, while at the other extreme the incidental fact that English colonization of North America began during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I more than four centuries ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Two things in particular are responsible for its continued vitality:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;its romanticism and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;its political usefulness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Its linguistic validity is another matter entirely.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Linguists haven’t substantiated it, nor have they tried very hard to do so, since the claim of Elizabethan English is patently based on very little good evidence.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  But this lack of support is a secondary, if not irrelevant, matter for those who have articulated the Shakespearean English idea in print—popular writers and an occasional academic—for over a century.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  It has indisputably become a powerful cultural belief and acquired mythic status.&#xA;  (Montgomery, 1998)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&#xA;(2) Michael Montgomery, &quot;How Scotch-Irish is Your English?&quot; The Journal of East Tennessee History vol. 67 (1995), 17-18.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(3) Cooper, Horton. &quot;History of Avery County&quot;, Biltmore Press, (1964),&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(4) David Hackett Fischer, Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), 653-654.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(5) Montgomery, 1002-1004.&#xA;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-06T18:33:21.497" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T18:33:21.497" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="215" CreationDate="2010-08-06T18:34:26.113" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both sound reasonable to my ear, though I like &quot;by accident&quot; better. Doing some basic corpus analysis finds that &quot;by accident&quot; is much more prevelant. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; lists 1419 occurrences of &quot;by accident&quot; vs only 23 for &quot;on accident&quot;. A quick Google comparison gives 7,030,000 hits for &quot;by accident&quot; vs 1,020,000 hits for &quot;on accident&quot;. Interesting to be sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps this is in reference to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.inst.at/trans/16Nr/01_4/barratt16.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Barratt's paper&lt;/a&gt; on the topic, and language change in general. Changes like this do happen, and it isn't unusual for usage to be clearly defined by generations (consider the verb impact). One conclusion drawn here is that people are seeking parallelism with &quot;on purpose&quot;, though it also concedes that it's hard to know for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T18:34:26.113" />
  <row Id="232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="211" CreationDate="2010-08-06T18:41:43.430" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are valid, though &quot;These photos came out well&quot; would be more common. Without going into adverbial usage of &quot;good&quot;, one &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; usefully distinguish the adverbial and adjectival meanings. Whether any of the listeners/readers will catch this distinction or gain anything from it is doubtful, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, I'd prefer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;These photos came out quickly&quot; over&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;These photos came out quick&quot; (the process happened quickly)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but would prefer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;These photos came out blurry&quot; over&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;These photos came out blurrily&quot; (the end result was blurry, not the process)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in that sense (I think) both &quot;These photos came out good&quot; and &quot;These photos came out well&quot; can be right and mean different things, but in practice, because &quot;adverbial good&quot; is so widespread (see &lt;a href=&quot;#220&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nohat's answer&lt;/a&gt;), listeners would probably be more likely to think you meant the process and were using the &quot;wrong&quot; or informal adverb than to think you were using the right adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T18:41:43.430" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="177" CreationDate="2010-08-06T18:44:07.280" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When writing people's names, it's necessary and in many cases will help with the pronunciation because names can be pronounced in a variety of ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyoncé is one example. I'm sure others can think of some more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T18:44:07.280" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="234" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="236" CreationDate="2010-08-06T18:52:24.267" Score="2" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the vein of historical linguistics, what languages (modern or dead) are considered genetically related to English? Also what differences mark a language as a genetic relative vs a language that had a developmental impact on English in its past? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To what degree are they related? Presumably most all mutual intelligibility has been lost, but when and how? What artifacts can be found in modern English from this relationship?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-06T19:08:17.730" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T09:53:40.727" Title="Genetic Relatives" Tags="&lt;history&gt;&lt;philology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="235" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="238" CreationDate="2010-08-06T19:07:57.373" Score="9" ViewCount="435" Body="&lt;p&gt;Written English vowels differ from other Latin-based orthographies. Consider what the written vowels in the romance languages represent. Also, for example, consider this simple comparision between a few German and English vowels:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA; German    English&#xA;-------------------&#xA; a = [a]   a = [e]&#xA; e = [e]   e = [i]&#xA; i = [i]   i = [aj]&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has this always been so? Is the pattern regular? When and why did the shift occur?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T21:41:51.830" Title="Written English Vowels are Odd" Tags="&lt;history&gt;&lt;philology&gt;&lt;phonology&gt;&lt;vowels&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="234" CreationDate="2010-08-06T19:08:44.407" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What linguists call &quot;genetic relatives&quot; are languages that were spoken natively by the same groups of people that later split up.  Languages constantly evolve, and historically, new languages form when two dialects become so different that they are no longer mutually intelligible. These new languages are considered genetically related. Other types of language relations—word borrowing, pidgins, creoles, etc.—are the result of the influence of non-native speakers..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English is an Indo-European language, meaning that it comes originally from the Indo-Europeans, who split up over the ages into groups, which themselves split up, and eventually, settled in what is now England.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English is in the Germanic sub-family of Indo-European, meaning it is more closely related to other languages in the Germanic sub-family, such as German and Dutch, than it is to other Indo-European languages, such as the Romance languages, which include French, or the Indo-Aryan languages, such as Hindi and Urdu. English &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; related to Hindi and Urdu, though, as they are all Indo-European languages, but English is not related at all (by currently accepted linguistic theories) to non-Indo-European languages, such as Chinese, Turkish, and Hungarian. By &quot;more closely related&quot; what is meant in particular is that the population which first English split off from populations that speak other Germanic languages more recently than they split off from populations that speek non-Germanic Indo-European languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The language which has had the greatest non-genetic influence on English is, of course, French, due to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_England&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Norman conquest of England&lt;/a&gt; in the 11th century. Many words and phrases were borrowed from French at this time, but that is a non-genetic influence because French speakers at the time of the conquest had long ago split from the population of English speakers, and so relations between the language groups at that point are necessarily non-genetic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Wikipedia article about the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_English_language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;history of the English language&lt;/a&gt; explains all this in much greater detail than I have explained it here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T19:08:44.407" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="48" CreationDate="2010-08-06T19:20:09.830" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For what it's worth, in academic writing I exclusively use the singular third person masculine &quot;he&quot;, recognized by many as gender-neutral. Many other languages do this without concern: German and Spanish come to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In everyday speech I will unconsciously use singular &quot;they&quot;. In my book, this has unquestionably drifted into very common use in all but the most formal situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T19:20:09.830" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="235" CreationDate="2010-08-06T19:29:51.183" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Starting in the 1400s, English vowels began a change known as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Great Vowel Shift&lt;/a&gt;, resulting in the change from English vowels being pronounced similarly to how the German vowels are pronounced now to how English vowels are pronounced today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The diagram in that article explains the shift much more clearly and completely than I could, but the gist of it is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;International Phonetic Alphabet&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The vowel of &lt;em&gt;time&lt;/em&gt; changed from [iː] to [aɪ].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The vowel of &lt;em&gt;see&lt;/em&gt; changed from [eː] to [iː].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The vowel of &lt;em&gt;east&lt;/em&gt; changed from [ɛː] and merged with the vowel &lt;em&gt;see&lt;/em&gt; to become ultimately [iː].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The vowel of &lt;em&gt;name&lt;/em&gt; changed from [aː] to [eɪ].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The vowel of &lt;em&gt;day&lt;/em&gt; changed from [æj] and merged with the vowel of &lt;em&gt;name&lt;/em&gt; to become ultimately [eɪ].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The vowel of &lt;em&gt;house&lt;/em&gt; changed from [uː] to [aʊ].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The vowel of &lt;em&gt;moon&lt;/em&gt; changed from [oː] to [uː].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The vowel of &lt;em&gt;stone&lt;/em&gt; changed from [ɔː] to [oʊ].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the vowel of &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt; changed from [au] and merged with the vowel of &lt;em&gt;stone&lt;/em&gt; to become [oʊ].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the vowel of &lt;em&gt;law&lt;/em&gt; changed from [ɑu] to [ɔː]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the vowel of &lt;em&gt;new&lt;/em&gt; changed from [eu]/[iu] to [juː]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the vowel of &lt;em&gt;dew&lt;/em&gt; changed from [ɛu] and merged with the vowel of &lt;em&gt;new&lt;/em&gt; to become [juː]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the vowel of &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; changed from [a] to [æ]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the vowel of &lt;em&gt;fox&lt;/em&gt; changed from [o] to [ɒ]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the vowel of &lt;em&gt;cut&lt;/em&gt; changed from [ʊ] to [ʌ]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Vowel spaces&quot;, that is, the system of vowels in a language and how they are arranged, are sensitive to changes in complex ways. When one vowel changes in how it is pronounced, due to normal language change, often several other vowels change at the same time, to keep the arrangement of the vowels in the vowel space &quot;equally spaced&quot;. Such groups of changes are known as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_shift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chain shifts&lt;/a&gt;. Keeping vowels evenly distributed in the vowel space avoids confusion as to which vowel was produced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T19:29:51.183" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="165" CreationDate="2010-08-06T19:59:23.717" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm inclined to think it's a parody of &quot;For great justice!&quot; from the badly-translated game, Zero Wing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_your_base_are_belong_to_us&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_your_base_are_belong_to_us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T19:59:23.717" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-06T19:59:23.717" />
  <row Id="240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="200" CreationDate="2010-08-06T20:05:21.923" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, before my question gets closed I better answer it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gpoaccess.gov/stylemanual/browse.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual&lt;/a&gt; is one of the better known style guides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More recently there has been a lot of talk about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.plainlanguage.gov&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;plain language&lt;/a&gt;, and this sometimes shows up in legislation.  The plain language publications tend to have a lot more about English usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are agency specific guidelines, but I'll let someone more ambitious than me track them down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T20:05:21.923" />
  <row Id="241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="235" CreationDate="2010-08-06T20:19:24.033" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other interesting references on the Great Vowel Shift:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://eweb.furman.edu/~mmenzer/gvs/seehear.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;See and Hear the GVS&lt;/a&gt; (excellent visual and audio!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://members.peak.org/~jeremy/dictionaryclassic/chapters/history.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Brief History of English&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.uoregon.edu/~l150web/weblec4.4.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;More English History&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.uoregon.edu/~l150web/grvowsh.gif&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Great Vowel Shift would probably be just an historical curiosity if it weren't for the fact that the first printing press opened in London in 1476, right in the middle of the shift!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Before the printing press was invented, the words in handwritten texts had been spelled according to the dialect of the scribe who wrote them. However, book production was slow and few people could read in any case.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The early printers used the older spellings which Middle English scribes had used. They didn't understand the significance of the pronunciation changes that had just gotten well underway.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  By the time the vowel shift was complete (about 100 years from start to finish), hundreds of books had been printed with the older spellings.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The new high volume of book production combined with increasing literacy proved to be powerful forces against spelling change.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  As a consequence, many spellings have become &quot;fixed&quot; to the Middle English pronunciation, rather than the modern ones, and we still spell the word for the earth's satellite as &quot;moon.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-06T21:41:51.830" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T21:41:51.830" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="158" CreationDate="2010-08-06T20:35:13.100" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of any serious proposals to change the English language that way, but for example the use case of separating (plural) suffixes from non-words, such as &quot;the 1990's&quot;, is handled differently in other languages, for example with a colon in Swedish or (often) with nothing at all in German.  So that can be one proposal. ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't like the similarity of apostrophe and single quotation marks, use double quotation marks, or if you want to be exceptional, French quotation marks: « ... »&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The apostrophe in the possessive 's is actually a case of omission (the more or less literal meaning of &quot;apostrophe&quot;), because way back when the genitive suffix was -es.  So that should probably stay the way it is in any case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-08-06T20:35:13.100" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="243" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="249" CreationDate="2010-08-07T03:24:14.880" Score="7" ViewCount="379" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only times I have ever heard the word &quot;die&quot; to refer to one dice are from my mother, and from my primary school English teacher. Every person I ever hear always says, &quot;give me a dice&quot; if they want one, and &quot;give me the dice&quot; if they want two. I used to &quot;correct&quot; people to say &quot;die&quot; if they meant one, but that just makes me look overly pedantic and asinine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I have personally started using &quot;dice&quot; in the singular, and &quot;dices&quot; in the plural, which people understand, and a few of the priggish ones will try and correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And on that vein of thought, I thought, why not use &quot;ox&quot; and &quot;oxes&quot; instead of the stupid &quot;oxen&quot;. Why is there such a strong pull to hold on to archaic constructs, which don't really add flavour to the language, and in fact, just make it more confusing? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-08T14:55:14.763" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T10:34:35.227" Title="Is it OK to say &quot;dice and dices&quot; instead of &quot;die and dice&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="154" CreationDate="2010-08-07T03:36:01.893" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends where the actors are from. Some drama schools would teach it, others wouldn't. But a great many people in England roll their r's since birth, and I'm not sure about Warwick, but its possible the Jeremy knew how to roll his r's a long time ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for me, I can easily roll an 'r' as can most of my Kiwi friends. So, no need to learn it in drama school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T03:36:01.893" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-07T03:36:01.893" />
  <row Id="245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="243" CreationDate="2010-08-07T05:08:55.300" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;People will understand what you mean, but it's not standard. Using dice as both singular and plural still isn't standard, but it's at least more common. &quot;Dices&quot; sounds strange to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with using nonstandard words (because they are logical or simplified) is that it distracts the listener from the content of what you're saying. I recently watched &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pbs.org/wnet/humanspark/episodes/program-three-brain-matters/video-full-episode/418/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Human Spark&lt;/a&gt; on PBS, and they described a circuit in the brain that lights up when you hear a grammatical error. If your listener's brain is busy puzzling out your curious usage, they're not thinking about what you're saying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="136" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T05:08:55.300" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="246" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="250" CreationDate="2010-08-07T06:09:15.317" Score="5" ViewCount="615" Body="&lt;p&gt;As it is common with people from my country, I have an immense difficulty with prepositions in English, especially with the use of &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the preposition indicates the position of the object it is a bit easier to decide which one to use, but as it requires thinking from me, I still say things like &quot;I put the bill &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; the fridge&quot;, &quot;my pencil is &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; my bag&quot;, etc, even though if I think about it, I would know how to say it correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, even in those cases where the preposition indicates position the decision is not always clear, as is the case for example with &quot;on the bus&quot; (you are not on top of the bus, you are inside the bus) or &quot;he is &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; bed&quot; (you are not inside the bed, you are on top of your bed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other cases are even less clear, and I believe there is no real rule to decide what should be said; the person should just know it. Two examples are &quot;&lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; a bad mood&quot;, &quot;you are &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; my mind&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my first question is whether there is really no rule to help me. The second question refers to two of the cases where I still don't know whether to use &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;good luck on/in your exam&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;in/on the list&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last one is especially important to me, as I have asked a number of native speakers, and each time I get a different answer. The only consensus seems to be the case where you say &quot;on top of the list&quot;. Apart from that, some people will say that I should say &quot;his name is in the list&quot; whereas others think I should say &quot;his name is on the list&quot;. And yeah, a couple of people did tell me that I can use either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone help me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="42" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T08:29:02.767" Title="When should I use &quot;in&quot; or &quot;on&quot;? I am especially interested in a rule for &quot;in the list&quot; versus &quot;on the list&quot;." Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="183" CreationDate="2010-08-07T06:44:00.433" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used this book when teaching English throughout the 90s, mostly for its clear and simplified verb tense diagrams which explain when to use the present progressive, past perfect, present tense, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0139436146&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Using-English-Grammar-Azar/dp/0139436146&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://books.gigaimg.com/avaxhome/75/fc/000dfc75_medium.jpeg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T06:44:00.433" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-07T06:44:00.433" />
  <row Id="248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="243" CreationDate="2010-08-07T06:57:22.153" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is correct to say, &quot;hand me the die&quot; (one) and &quot;hand me the dice&quot; (two or more).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, saying &quot;hand me the die&quot; (where I grew up in America) seemed over-correct much as saying &quot;I lay down yesterday for a nap&quot; which is also correct but most people are comfortable making the mistake &quot;I laid down yesterday for a nap&quot; or they don't even know it is a mistake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So saying &quot;hand me the dice&quot; when there is only one die on the table is in the same way common but technically incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T06:57:22.153" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="243" CreationDate="2010-08-07T08:11:27.047" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I take the real question here to be: &quot;Why do some people pedantically cling to dying forms?&quot; That's a good question. I think the answer is relatively straightforward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People who want to present an air of education and in general lay claim to upper class privilege are the ones who tend to do this. It's largely because it is an index of education and a high degree of literacy (either that or role playing games, which is somewhat different, but still primarily an upper middle class past time...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a lot more to it than that, of course. There is an intricate set of language ideologies which give rise to this kind of behavior. But the short answer is that in using such forms people attempt to identify with culturally and economically powerful (hence linguistically conservative) groups .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyone does this to some degree, of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T08:11:27.047" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="246" CreationDate="2010-08-07T08:29:02.767" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not surprised you are getting different answers to some of these, because this is just the sort of thing that tends to vary quite a bit by region. For instance, as someone raised in California, I say that I am &quot;in line&quot;, meaning I am waiting in line. Others (I believe this is a northeastern thing, but I may be wrong) say &quot;on line&quot;, which has always sounded very odd to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the reasons you get this kind of variation, I'm afraid, is precisely because there are no consistent rules. Or rather, I should say, that there are many cases where one or the other could be used depending on how you conceptualize the situation, and these are just conventional. For instance, in your bus example: on the one had you are definitely inside the bus, but on the other you have boarded and stepped onto (not on top of) the bus, so you can see how the latter may have come about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For my dialect, it's: &quot;good luck on&quot; and &quot;on the list&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though I think both variants sound fine too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T08:29:02.767" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="251" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="254" CreationDate="2010-08-07T08:41:00.140" Score="7" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is sort of a follow up to my question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/246/when-should-i-use-in-or-on-i-am-especially-interested-in-a-rule-for-in-the&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was told a while ago that the reason why we use &quot;on the bus&quot; instead of &quot;in the bus&quot; is because back in the day buses were open, that is, they didn't have a roof. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this story correct or is there another reason why the correct expression is &quot;on the bus&quot;, in spite of the fact that when one gets on the bus, he is actually &lt;em&gt;inside&lt;/em&gt; the bus?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="42" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-10T17:13:43.013" LastActivityDate="2010-10-10T17:13:43.013" Title="Origin/reason for the expression &quot;on the bus&quot; instead of &quot;in the bus&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="215" CreationDate="2010-08-07T08:43:48.090" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the original question makes pretty clear, this is a change in progress (you see this kind of stratification by age all the time with changes in progress). In the earlier stages of such a change, you can't expect to find it much in writing, so results from google, etc, are going to be misleading. It's likely there is also regional variation here as well. To me &quot;on accident&quot; (raised in northern California) is normal, though sounds slightly less formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for why this might be happening, I like ShreevatsaR's theory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T08:43:48.090" />
  <row Id="253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-08-07T09:01:13.813" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From Portuguese:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Saudade&lt;/strong&gt;: it is a noun that is akin to &quot;missiness&quot;, the feeling of missing someone. A bit like &quot;homesick&quot;, but that can be used not simply for missing home, but for when you miss someone, or something (anything).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chato&lt;/strong&gt;: similar to &quot;pain in the neck&quot;, but a bit less strong. It is the opposite of nice, used when you don't really like someone (but that person does not necessarily have to be so unbearable as a &quot;pain in the neck&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Frescura&lt;/strong&gt;: close to &quot;fussiness&quot;. It is even hard to explain, but it is used when someone is fussy about something, or particular about something, we say that the person &quot;is with frescura&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;este, esta, isto, esse, essa, isso, aquele, aquela, aquilo&lt;/strong&gt;: similar to &quot;this&quot; and &quot;that&quot;. Actually, &quot;isto&quot;, &quot;este&quot; and &quot;esta&quot; can be translated exactly as &quot;this&quot; (losing only gender information). But each of other two forms, when translated to their closest approximation, &quot;that&quot;, lose some meaning. When the thing in question is closer to the listener we use &quot;isso&quot;, &quot;esse&quot; and &quot;essa&quot;, while &quot;aquilo&quot;, &quot;aquele&quot; and &quot;aquela&quot; mean the thing is away from both. It's funny how Portuguese has no neuter pronoun (&quot;it&quot;) but it has neuter demonstratives (&quot;isto&quot;, &quot;isso&quot;, &quot;aquilo&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interesting that... I once read that our thoughts are limited by the language we speak, and I think this is so true!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="42" LastEditorUserId="470" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-13T09:46:13.863" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T09:46:13.863" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-07T09:01:13.813" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="251" CreationDate="2010-08-07T09:06:05.957" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I doubt that story. It's hard for me to imagine how one would verify it in any case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice that mass transportation generally uses &quot;on&quot;. &quot;On the bus&quot;, &quot;on the train&quot;, &quot;on the plane&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, cars and small recreational airplanes would be &quot;in&quot;. While small vehicles that are not enclosed are &quot;on&quot;: &quot;on the bike&quot; &quot;on the motorcycle&quot;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My intuition is that it has something to do with the notion of boarding or embarking. I would never say I boarded my car. But to board something is basically to &quot;step onto&quot; something. Again, it depends on how the event is conceptualized. There may be a historical explanation, but again I would be wary of them without substantial empirical support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, I think the more likely historical explanation would be that &quot;on&quot; is used for mass transit by analogy with traveling by boat -- the first form of mass transportation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T09:06:05.957" />
  <row Id="255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="251" CreationDate="2010-08-07T09:55:39.850" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is less about &quot;on the bus&quot; and more about the meaning of &lt;strong&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/get_on&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;get on&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/transitive&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;transitive&lt;/a&gt;) To &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/board&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;board&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mount&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mount&lt;/a&gt; (something), especially a vehicle.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;Please &lt;strong&gt;get on&lt;/strong&gt; the bus as quickly as possible.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  .&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/intransitive&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;intransitive&lt;/a&gt;) To enter a vehicle.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;She has no trouble getting off a bus but has difficulty &lt;strong&gt;getting on&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the antonyms for &quot;get on&quot; would of course be... &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/get_off&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;get off&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;To &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/disembark&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;disembark&lt;/a&gt; from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mass_transportation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mass transportation&lt;/a&gt;, such as a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bus&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/train&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;train&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;You &lt;strong&gt;get off&lt;/strong&gt; the train at the third stop.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.visualthesaurus.com/landing/?ad=ddc.large&amp;amp;utm_medium=large&amp;amp;utm_campaign=VT&amp;amp;utm_source=ddc&amp;amp;word=get+on&amp;amp;lang=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Visual Thesaurus illustrates&lt;/a&gt; many other definitions of &quot;get on&quot;, including a social aspect (getting along with), which is why:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the British situation comedy of the 70' was called &quot;&lt;strong&gt;On The Buses&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; (not &quot;in the buses&quot;...)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e9/Onthebuses.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You did not just get in a bus, but also on an adventure with people you were about to interact with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an association about &quot;reuniting incarcerated moms and dads with their children once a year near Mother's Day and Father's Day&quot; is called &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_15328242?IADID&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;On The Bus&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-07T11:29:37.297" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T11:29:37.297" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="256" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="279" CreationDate="2010-08-07T12:29:30.580" Score="8" ViewCount="383" Body="&lt;p&gt;See the following two sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As per my knowledge it is right.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  According to my knowledge it is right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are both the sentences right?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the difference and use of &quot;as per&quot; and &quot;according to&quot;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T13:35:55.980" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T13:35:55.980" Title="&quot;As per&quot; and &quot;According to&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-08-07T12:30:04.227" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My all-time favorite is the Dutch (and German) word &quot;gezellig&quot; (&quot;gemütlich&quot;). It can be used in any number of pleasant scenarios to describe:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The nice ambience (e.g. soft lighting, crackling fire, quiet murmur);&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Deze restaurant is gezellig.&quot; (This restaurant is cozy.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enjoyable company (e.g. when a group of friends gets along well);&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Ga je gezellig mee uit?&quot; (Will you join us sociably?)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Having enjoyed a period of time together (e.g. a pleasant evening).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Het was vandaag gezellig.&quot; (It was fun [with others] today.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When hosting tourists, I often realize how frequently the word is used to really describe anything... nice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="83" LastEditorUserId="83" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-09T14:58:34.507" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T14:58:34.507" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-07T12:30:04.227" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="258" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="265" CreationDate="2010-08-07T12:39:09.780" Score="4" ViewCount="531" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know the shortest complete sentence in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-14T19:18:40.503" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T16:20:28.847" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-07T12:39:09.780" Title="What is the shortest sentence in English language?" Tags="&lt;fun&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="259" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="269" CreationDate="2010-08-07T12:55:38.920" Score="6" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the shortest and easiest way to improve vocabulary skills? I am not interested to read words from the dictionary one by one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T13:03:00.080" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T13:03:00.080" ClosedDate="2011-02-17T16:31:29.187" Title="Improve vocabulary" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;learning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="256" CreationDate="2010-08-07T13:10:59.390" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two phrases have the same meaning but different in register.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;According to&quot; is normal register while &quot;as per&quot; connotes commercial correspondence as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The shipment will arrive prior to December first, as per our agreement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T13:10:59.390" />
  <row Id="261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="259" CreationDate="2010-08-07T13:15:30.270" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Too many learners study at the word level when they should be studying at the phrase level. Read a lot and watch a lot of movies and record phrases that you understand but wouldn't have produced. Study these phrases as flashcards and create conversations with yourself which uses these phrases to work them into your natural speech and writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-07T20:24:27.747" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T20:24:27.747" />
  <row Id="262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="258" CreationDate="2010-08-07T13:18:07.177" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would vote for &quot;I am.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T13:18:07.177" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-07T13:18:07.177" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="263" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="266" CreationDate="2010-08-07T13:32:11.873" Score="7" ViewCount="492" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;color&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;colour&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-02T10:09:25.720" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T10:10:47.077" Title="&quot;Color&quot; Vs &quot;Colour&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="264" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="272" CreationDate="2010-08-07T14:01:47.197" Score="5" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen people write &quot;God bless America&quot;, and it drives me nuts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shouldn't it be &quot;God, bless America&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="101" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T16:08:00.127" Title="What is the correct way to write &quot;God bless America&quot;?" Tags="&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="258" CreationDate="2010-08-07T14:04:15.663" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Go.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The understood subject is &quot;You&quot;. &quot;[You] go&quot; makes sense to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="101" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T14:04:15.663" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-07T14:04:15.663" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="263" CreationDate="2010-08-07T14:08:23.037" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Color&quot; is favored in the United states, and &quot;Colour&quot; is favored (I believe) everywhere else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences#-our.2C_-or&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; commenting on &quot;or&quot; vs. &quot;our&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="101" LastEditorUserId="101" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-08T14:38:07.267" LastActivityDate="2010-08-08T14:38:07.267" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="259" CreationDate="2010-08-07T15:01:07.877" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reading is an obvious path.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I remember reading around 1993 &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Zahn&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Timothy Zahn&lt;/a&gt;'s &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrawn_Trilogy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Thrawn Trilogy&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;basically episode VII, VIII and IX, set just five years after the events of Return of the Jedi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was really struggling at the time, but so fascinating by the perspective of following again  Princess Leia, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in brand new adventures that I persevered.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/dc/HeirToTheEmpire.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trick is to realize you don't need to look up &lt;em&gt;every word&lt;/em&gt; you don't know. You only need to be able to at least infer their general meaning from the &lt;em&gt;context&lt;/em&gt; of the phrase you are reading.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;That allows you to concentrate on the vocabulary that matters (i.e. the one without which you would be absolutely unable to understand what you are reading).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;And you go from there, refining your vocabulary as you read on.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second level for me was movies: especially the dialogs of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_Fiction_%28film%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pulp Fiction&lt;/a&gt; (Quentin Tarantino): the kind of lines that stuck into your head (and add to your vocabulary as well;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/82/Pulp_Fiction_cover.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbRFOS-2NqY&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Bonnie Situation&lt;/a&gt;&quot; is a classic.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;And the &quot;What does Marcellus Wallace looks like?&quot; lends itself &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBuxR4hAPKs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;for great&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMBGcN7x-Ow&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;animations&lt;/a&gt; ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-07T15:11:16.720" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T15:11:16.720" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="270" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="271" CreationDate="2010-08-07T15:44:12.147" Score="10" ViewCount="294" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct plural of &lt;em&gt;octopus&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:38:40.733" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:38:40.733" Title="&quot;Octopuses&quot;, &quot;octopi&quot;, or &quot;octo&quot;?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;pluralization&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="270" CreationDate="2010-08-07T15:48:58.523" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go  with Octopuses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is part of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plural_form_of_words_ending_in_-us#Octopus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia &quot;Plural form of words ending in -us&quot;&lt;/a&gt; article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Currently:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;octopuses is the most common form in the UK as well as the US&lt;/strong&gt;; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;octopodes is rare, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;and octopi is often objectionable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Oxford English Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order);&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  it labels octopodes &quot;rare&quot;, and notes that octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that octōpūs is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is (Latinized) Ancient Greek, from oktṓpous (ὀκτώπους), gender masculine, whose plural is oktṓpodes (ὀκτώποδες).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  If the word were native to Latin, it would be octōpēs ('eight-foot') and the plural octōpedes, analogous to centipedes and mīllipedes, as the plural form of pēs ('foot') is pedes.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  In modern Greek, it is called khtapódi (χταπόδι), gender neuter, with plural form khtapódia (χταπόδια).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T15:48:58.523" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="264" CreationDate="2010-08-07T16:08:40.643" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Grammatically, I like to think of it as &quot;May God bless America.&quot; The mood of the verb is subjunctive. The &quot;may&quot; is just dropped for conciseness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T16:08:40.643" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="270" CreationDate="2010-08-07T16:20:27.167" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Plural forms of &lt;strong&gt;Octopus&lt;/strong&gt; is: &lt;strong&gt;octopuses&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;/ˈɒktəpʊsɪz/&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;octopi&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;/ˈɒktəpaɪ/&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;strong&gt;octopodes&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;/ɒkˈtɒpədiːz/&lt;/em&gt; . See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus#Terminology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Terminology of Octopus from Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T16:20:27.167" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="274" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="280" CreationDate="2010-08-07T17:22:11.263" Score="8" ViewCount="1322" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm curious to hear from folks in the the Northeast United States (or anyone, really) an explanation of why &quot;standing on line&quot; seems preferable to &quot;standing in line&quot; in the US northeast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I imagine for many people that their reasons for preference will be that &quot;It just sounds better,&quot; just as my reasons for my preference is that  &quot;standing on line&quot; sounds too awkward to my ears.  That said, I can't even create a linguistic argument for why in might be more &quot;correct.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T19:00:40.487" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T20:57:02.943" Title="Why &quot;standing on line&quot; instead of &quot;standing in line&quot;" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;regionalisms&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="259" CreationDate="2010-08-07T17:37:17.713" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've started with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oup.com/elt/catalogue/teachersites/bookworms/?cc=global&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Bookworms&lt;/a&gt; and some of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_p_n_age_range_3?rh=n:283155,n%3a!1000,n:4,p_n_age_range:673423011|1250230011&amp;amp;bbn=4&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1281202573&amp;amp;rnid=673420011&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;young adult fiction books&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T17:37:17.713" />
  <row Id="276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="258" CreationDate="2010-08-07T17:48:29.507" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Be!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The verb &quot;to be&quot; in the imperative mood. Though it's the same number of letters as &quot;Go!&quot;, I'd say it wins as it comes first alphabetically. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T17:48:29.507" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-07T17:48:29.507" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="274" CreationDate="2010-08-07T18:03:35.723" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;Disclaimer: not exactly a Northeasterners. Like &quot;not at all&quot;.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Standing in line is the most common usage, yet &quot;on line&quot; has been used for some time now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.lunatheater.org/line_image.gif&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This &lt;a href=&quot;http://quay.wordpress.com/2006/12/20/standing-in-line-vs-standing-on-line/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;blog post comments&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many commenters have pointed out that this seems to come up a lot in New York (and New England).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I was just watching 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanely Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, released in 1968. I noticed “on line” being used and looked up and it turns out that Kubrick was born in New York.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  So take of that what you will. This also is evidence that it is definitely not a new or recent phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The debate raged on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&amp;amp;address=105x1837185#1837204&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;democraticunderground.com&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We say 'standing in line', as in &lt;strong&gt;'in a line', eg. 'part of a line'&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  '&lt;code&gt;Waiting FOR you&lt;/code&gt;' is waiting for another person to arrive or accomplish something.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  '&lt;code&gt;Waiting ON you&lt;/code&gt;' happens in a restaurant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I Stand On Line At The Bank... My Car Gets In Line At Jiffy Lube&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So unless you have to walk over and stop on a line in order to wait for your turn, ... you probably are waiting, standing &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.chiangmainews.com/images/ecmn/data/0standing-in-line-head.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T18:03:35.723" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="263" CreationDate="2010-08-07T18:09:52.393" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the OED— This word comes to us from Latin, the world &lt;em&gt;color-em,&lt;/em&gt; which was inherited by old French. The o segment was actually somewhere between [o] and [u] and was represented by the digraph &lt;em&gt;ou&lt;/em&gt; in Old French. When this syllable became accented, it became fronted, represented by eu (this the Modern French &lt;em&gt;couleur&lt;/em&gt;). The corrosponding English word of old is the ancestor of &lt;em&gt;hue&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The world was adopted directly into Middle English as &lt;em&gt;colur&lt;/em&gt;, later &lt;em&gt;colour&lt;/em&gt; from the Old French &lt;em&gt;color&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;culur&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;colur&lt;/em&gt;, later &lt;em&gt;colour&lt;/em&gt;, and finally &lt;em&gt;coulour&lt;/em&gt;, which was the preferred Anglo-French spelling. &lt;em&gt;Colour&lt;/em&gt; was eventually standardized in post Anglo-French English. Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary is credited with standardizing the latinate &lt;em&gt;color&lt;/em&gt; in American English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-09T23:45:13.500" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T23:45:13.500" />
  <row Id="279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="256" CreationDate="2010-08-07T18:25:33.473" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Though I would understand both in written and oral communication, I find the first to be pretty odd. I wouldn't ever use it, and strongly prefer the second, &quot;according to&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is this so odd? I looked a bit in the OED at the use of &quot;as per&quot; (odd in itself for combining two prepositions). It was first used in 1869 as a &quot;slang&quot; form &quot;as per usual&quot; by itself. I do however come across an entry that his the a similar meaning you're looking for here: &quot;by&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;By. 3. a. According to; as stated,&#xA;  indicated, or directed by, as per&#xA;  advice, per instructions, per invoice,&#xA;  per ledger, etc. Usually preceded by&#xA;  as.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was used as early as 1446 and as late as 1989. The difference here, I think, has been touched on: this meaning implies some obligation or requirement. No other entries seem to come close, and this matches my own mental lexicon for &quot;per&quot; and &quot;as per&quot;. It just doesn't fit in this situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-17T20:39:43.830" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T20:39:43.830" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="274" CreationDate="2010-08-07T19:58:53.007" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no linguistic reason why either one is correct. This is a normal example of language variation. There are possibly linguistic reasons why such variation in prepositions is fairly common, that being that the meaning of prepositions in many cases is notoriously hard to pin down (in some cases, they have no real meaning, acting instead as plain case markers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastEditorUserId="78" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-07T20:19:30.220" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T20:19:30.220" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="90" CreationDate="2010-08-07T20:03:48.177" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apostrophes and commas are troublesome even to native English speakers (although I'd argue the 'rules' are less strict for the latter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cue bad joke:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A panda walks into a café. He orders a&#xA;  sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun&#xA;  and proceeds to fire it at the other&#xA;  patrons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'Why?' asks the confused, surviving&#xA;  waiter amidst the carnage, as the&#xA;  panda makes towards the exit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The panda produces a badly punctuated&#xA;  wildlife manual and tosses it over his&#xA;  shoulder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'Well, I'm a panda,' he says, at the&#xA;  door. 'Look it up.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The waiter turns to the relevant entry&#xA;  in the manual and, sure enough, finds&#xA;  an explanation. 'Panda. Large&#xA;  black-and-white bear-like mammal,&#xA;  native to China. Eats, shoots and&#xA;  leaves.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Via - &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eats,_Shoots_%26_Leaves&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Eats, Shoots &amp;amp; Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="72" LastEditorUserId="1023" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-07T12:16:06.353" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T12:16:06.353" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-07T20:03:48.177" />
  <row Id="282" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="283" CreationDate="2010-08-07T22:00:56.737" Score="12" ViewCount="427" Body="&lt;p&gt;Joel Spolsky asked what rhymes with &lt;em&gt;orange&lt;/em&gt;. The official answer is, &quot;Nothing,&quot; although a creative poet can get close by using half words, just the &lt;em&gt;-nge&lt;/em&gt; part or resorting to place names and foreign words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does &lt;em&gt;orange&lt;/em&gt; somehow violate the basic phonotactics of English? (And hence we wouldn't expect other English words to rhyme with it?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:37:53.123" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:37:53.123" Title="Why does &quot;orange&quot; rhyme with (almost) nothing in English?" Tags="&lt;rhymes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="282" CreationDate="2010-08-07T22:18:40.193" Score="26" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, orange &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; rhyme with a few words: there's the word 'sporange' in botany (and related words hypnosporange, macrosporange, and megasporange) whose American pronunciation rhymes with 'orange', there's a hill 'Blorenge' in Wales, and it has been claimed (perhaps humorously) that in some dialects, 'door-hinge' is pronounced to rhyme with 'orange'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this is not what you meant; you were asking about &lt;em&gt;common&lt;/em&gt; English words. So the question is &quot;What is so special about 'orange' that no other common words rhyme with it?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.babynamewizard.com/archives/2009/11/names-that-stand-alone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Laura Wattenberg&lt;/a&gt; observes (bolding mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here's a little pet peeve of mine: nothing rhymes with orange. You've heard that before, right? Orange is famous for its rhymelessness. There's even a comic strip called &quot;Rhymes with Orange.&quot; Fine then, let me ask you something. &lt;em&gt;What the heck rhymes with &lt;strong&gt;purple&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you stop and think about it, you'll find that English is jam-packed with rhymeless common words. What rhymes with &lt;strong&gt;empty&lt;/strong&gt;, or &lt;strong&gt;olive&lt;/strong&gt;, or &lt;strong&gt;silver&lt;/strong&gt;, or &lt;strong&gt;circle&lt;/strong&gt;? You can even find plenty of one-syllable words like &lt;strong&gt;wolf&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;bulb&lt;/strong&gt;, and &lt;strong&gt;beige&lt;/strong&gt;. Yet orange somehow became notorious for its rhymelessness, with the curious result that people now assume its status is unique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, this notoriety of 'orange' is so unjustified that Wikipedia even has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_without_rhymes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;long article called &quot;List of English words without rhymes&quot;&lt;/a&gt; — and it notes that the list is seriously incomplete (among words it includes are &lt;strong&gt;music&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;month&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;depth&lt;/strong&gt;,…).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mark Lieberman at the Language Log, in a post on  &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1946&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rhymes&lt;/a&gt;, tried a quick exercise classifying words into rhyme sets, and found that his script:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;… revealed 50,344 rhyme equivalence classes (i.e. sets of rhyming words), of which 30,905 (61% of rhyme sets, 16% of words+pronunciations) are singletons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, 16% of words (about one in every six) have no rhymes at all! And among initial-stressed two-syllable words (like 'orange'), he found 26% of words had no rhymes at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though he admits there are bugs in the definition of rhyme he used, and it needs more detailed study, the general answer to &quot;What is special about orange?&quot; stands clear: &lt;strong&gt;nothing is special at all&lt;/strong&gt;. There are a great many words in English without rhymes, and for some reason 'orange' gets mentioned as if it's somehow unique. There's no reason to expect every word to have a rhyme, and it's unsurprising that many words don't — you don't have to look to whether a word violates the phonotactics of English!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-08T00:58:21.473" LastActivityDate="2010-08-08T00:58:21.473" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="258" CreationDate="2010-08-07T23:37:15.267" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;No!&quot; works perfectly, in my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-08-07T23:37:15.267" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-07T23:37:15.267" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="258" CreationDate="2010-08-08T00:14:26.080" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One could argue that in certain contexts, the single letter &quot;I&quot; is a sentence (depending on your definition of a sentence):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Who is it?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This (one letter) is the shortest possible, unless you count the &quot;empty utterance&quot;. ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-08-08T00:14:26.080" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-08T00:14:26.080" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="286" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="287" CreationDate="2010-08-08T00:57:14.270" Score="18" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one should should I use? For some reason I have always used &quot;towards&quot;, but I see some people saying &quot;toward&quot;, like &lt;a href=&quot;http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BradDelongsSemi-dailyJournal/~3/ODNHmyqJM8I/paul-krugman-on-peter-diamond.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A great deal of his work in economic&#xA;  theory has been directed &lt;strong&gt;toward&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  strengthening the foundations of our&#xA;  understanding of central banking and&#xA;  social insurance--indeed, one of my&#xA;  most advanced macroeconomic classes&#xA;  was nothing but a set of changes rung&#xA;  upon a particular model that Peter&#xA;  Diamond had advanced at...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a difference between the two? When should they be used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="42" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:40:36.147" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T00:46:20.777" Title="&quot;Toward&quot; or &quot;towards&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="286" CreationDate="2010-08-08T01:06:17.743" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/toward.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Common Errors in English Usage&lt;/a&gt; site mentions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These two words are interchangeable, but “toward” is more common in the US and “towards” in the UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some people, probably influenced by “forwards,” write “torwards” instead of the correct “towards.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/towards&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;merriam-webster&lt;/a&gt; simply list both words under the same entry, with similar ethymology:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;toward: Middle English &lt;code&gt;toward&lt;/code&gt;, from Old English &lt;code&gt;tōweard&lt;/code&gt; facing, imminent, from &lt;code&gt;tō&lt;/code&gt;, preposition, to + &lt;code&gt;-weard -ward&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;towards: Middle English &lt;code&gt;towardes&lt;/code&gt;, from Old English &lt;code&gt;tōweardes&lt;/code&gt;, preposition, toward, from &lt;code&gt;tōweard&lt;/code&gt;, adjective&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-08T01:06:17.743" />
  <row Id="288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="258" CreationDate="2010-08-08T02:32:50.707" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It obviously can't be less than three letters (**.) and still be a complete thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hi!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ho! (same as &quot;Hi&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't include responses since they require other sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="62" LastActivityDate="2010-08-08T02:32:50.707" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-08T02:32:50.707" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="274" CreationDate="2010-08-08T02:35:30.263" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It isn't used in the mid-atlantic states that I know of. It sounds New Englandish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="62" LastActivityDate="2010-08-08T02:35:30.263" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="178" CreationDate="2010-08-08T03:01:04.870" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;New England is probably the least accented.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="62" LastActivityDate="2010-08-08T03:01:04.870" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="264" CreationDate="2010-08-08T03:07:21.377" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Grammatically, I like to think of it as &quot;May God bless America.&quot; The mood of the verb is subjunctive. The &quot;may&quot; is just dropped for conciseness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree, it is a request, otherwise it would be &quot;God blesses America&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="62" LastEditorUserId="62" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T16:08:00.127" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T16:08:00.127" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="292" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="489" CreationDate="2010-08-08T08:39:01.250" Score="9" ViewCount="487" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have observed that in my work place, whenever a mail is sent to more that one person( like an information, meeting request or a notice etc.), the mail starts with the salutation &quot;Dear All&quot;. This, somehow, doesn't seem correct to me. For me, a salutation should address the reader individually, at least in its singular form, as in &quot;Dear Colleagues&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I correct in thinking that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T07:06:58.433" Title="Salutation in an Email" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;email&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="293" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="295" CreationDate="2010-08-08T08:50:32.330" Score="8" ViewCount="1330" Body="&lt;p&gt;What sentences do you suggest to end a formal letter that you expect a reply from the recipient?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the most popular ones is &quot;Looking forward to hearing from you.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="146" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-14T07:26:21.707" LastActivityDate="2010-10-16T03:41:51.550" Title="Equivalents to &quot;I'm looking forward to hearing from you.&quot;" Tags="&lt;letter-writing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="294" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="307" CreationDate="2010-08-08T09:13:07.190" Score="6" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;What if someone, who is not a native English speaker, wants to write for a blog in English, but is not sure about correctness of his writings? How he/she could ensure that the article won't annoy readers by its wrong language?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would you recommend in this case? What one should pay attention to in the first place? What resources are there online for ensuring that an article is written well enough to be published?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T22:10:32.607" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T22:10:32.607" Title="Recommendations for non-native English speaking bloggers" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;learning&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;blogging&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="293" CreationDate="2010-08-08T09:20:24.653" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That depends upon which type of letter you want to write.&#xA;I will vote for these ones:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Personal leters:&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I look forward to receiving your reply&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I look forward to hearing from you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I look forward to your early reply&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Business laters:&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need further information&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Your prompt reply would be appreciated&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;We look forward to your opinion on these matters&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-08T12:29:57.543" LastActivityDate="2010-08-08T12:29:57.543" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-08T09:20:24.653" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="294" CreationDate="2010-08-08T09:23:29.223" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the things that I usually do is to Google the exact phrase to see if native English speakers have used it before. For example sometimes you think you've heard someone saying an expression such as &quot;your best bet is to&quot;, but you're not sure, then your best bet would be googling it, within the double quotes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And also there's this highly recommended upcoming website called English Language and Usage on StackExchange which people can ask questions and expect fast answers related to the English language. Oh I just googled to see whether it's appropriate to use &quot;The&quot; before &quot;English Language&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastActivityDate="2010-08-08T09:23:29.223" />
  <row Id="298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="90" CreationDate="2010-08-08T09:36:04.337" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remembered another common mistake which bothers me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;affect&lt;/strong&gt; x effect (affect is a verb only)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and the following common spelling mistakes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;avorcado&lt;/strong&gt; instead of avocado&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;slowely&lt;/strong&gt; instead of slowly (I have seen so many people writing this! Why?)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;rediculous&lt;/strong&gt; instead of ridiculous&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="42" LastEditorUserId="42" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T03:52:55.560" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T03:52:55.560" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-08T09:36:04.337" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="292" CreationDate="2010-08-08T09:38:10.213" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless they are actually your colleagues (i.e. none of them are your bosses! or clients, or third-parties), I would stick with the neutral:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear All,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(quite common) or maybe:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear Everyone,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(less common)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just checked by looking up the emails we (as a group) receive from the hierarchy above:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;They all begin with 'Dear All' (translated in French by 'Bonjour à tous et à toutes', since the equivalent of 'all' is not gender-neutral in French.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-08T09:51:37.710" LastActivityDate="2010-08-08T09:51:37.710" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="292" CreationDate="2010-08-08T12:50:04.110" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nowadays often only &quot;All:&quot; is used - not very nice but that's the way it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2010-08-08T12:50:04.110" />
  <row Id="301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="90" CreationDate="2010-08-08T12:52:11.360" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The favorite still is &quot;If-clauses&quot; &quot;If I would...&quot; for &quot;If I was...&quot; - even native speakers start using it :-( &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2010-08-08T12:52:11.360" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-08T12:52:11.360" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="302" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="303" CreationDate="2010-08-08T13:38:43.400" Score="6" ViewCount="676" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am creating a software training video and need to refer to these brackets:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;{ }&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually call them &quot;squiggly brackets&quot; or &quot;curly brackets&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a more professional name?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-08T15:08:39.487" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T15:24:24.147" Title="What is the most professional name for &quot;squiggly bracket&quot;?" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="302" CreationDate="2010-08-08T13:47:28.107" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;em&gt;curly brackets&lt;/em&gt; is the most professional name. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracket#Curly_brackets_.7B_.7D&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracket#Curly_brackets_.7B_.7D&lt;/a&gt; for more details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T06:18:40.403" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T06:18:40.403" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="302" CreationDate="2010-08-08T13:51:32.123" Score="20" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;curly braces&lt;/strong&gt; (or 'braces' for short)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is more common than curly brackets, to design blocks in programming languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3327387/why-curly-braces/&quot;&gt;Why curly braces?&lt;/a&gt; for more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Curly braces are one means of denoting a lexical scope. Lexical scopes are blocks of code from which names do not escape&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gavilan.edu/csis/languages/parentheses.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;history and use of parentheses in programming languages, from the beginning of programming to the present day&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Bracket&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wordiq definition&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-08T14:02:20.240" LastActivityDate="2010-08-08T14:02:20.240" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="305" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="306" CreationDate="2010-08-08T14:32:54.177" Score="8" ViewCount="407" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does the phrase &quot;begging the question&quot; &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; mean? And does it even matter if I use it correctly? Almost everyone just uses it as a synonym for &quot;posing the question&quot; these days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="28" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-08T17:24:09.967" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T05:58:55.540" Title="What does the phrase &quot;Begging the question&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="305" CreationDate="2010-08-08T15:07:14.577" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It should mean avoiding the question (or “&lt;strong&gt;to improperly take for granted&lt;/strong&gt;”), when used in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begs_the_question&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;original sense&lt;/a&gt;:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a type of logical fallacy in which the proposition to be proved is assumed implicitly or explicitly in the premise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/begs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Begs the question&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;petitio principii&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, &quot;assuming the initial point&quot;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An argument that improperly assumes as true the very point the speaker is trying to argue for is said in formal logic to “beg the question.” Here is an example of a question-begging argument: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;“This painting is trash because it is obviously worthless.”&lt;/pre&gt; &#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The speaker is simply asserting the worthlessness of the work, not presenting any evidence to demonstrate that this is in fact the case&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most people now suppose the phrase implies something quite different: that the argument demands that a question about it be asked—raises the question. Although using the expression in its original sense is now rare, using it in the newer sense will cause irritation among traditionalists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;More recently, &quot;to beg the question&quot; has been used as a synonym for &quot;&lt;strong&gt;to raise the question&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;: for example, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&quot;This year's budget deficit is half a trillion dollars, &#xA; which begs the question: how are we going to balance the budget?&quot;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a complete reference on the topic: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fallacyfiles.org/begquest.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;fallacyfiles&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/529/benjol&quot;&gt;Benjol&lt;/a&gt; mentions in the comments Eric Lipert has &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericlippert/archive/2009/10/22/begging-the-question.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;blogged about this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I say &quot;begs the question&quot;, I mean it in the traditional sense of &quot;this argument is fallacious because it takes as a premise an assumption which is at least as strong as the thing being proven, and is therefore an unwarranted assumption.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This pseudo-explanation has no predictive power; it doesn't tell us anything new, it just circles back on itself. &#xA;  The explanatory assumption is stronger than the thing we are trying to investigate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Question-begging is not the act of raising more questions. Every good explanation raises more questions.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  What makes this explanation a good one is that it is testable and has predictive power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you ask &quot;why is this code thread-safe?&quot; and the answer is &quot;because it can be correctly called on multiple threads&quot;, we've begged the question. Why is it thread-safe? Because it's correct.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Why is it correct? Because it's thread-safe. Again, we have learned nothing about the nature of thread safety. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Phil Koop commented on that blog post:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The traditional meaning of &quot;begging the question&quot; is derived from an antiquated usage of &quot;beg&quot; meaning &quot;to take for granted.&quot; In that usage, a &quot;beggar&quot; was usually someone who camped on the local squire's land without permission.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When this phrase had currency, it was in the dialect of people who had an enviable station in life; they were wealthy and powerful.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The examples of its usage that survive today have been preserved because they were uttered by people who had something interesting to say and were good at saying it, but it is also true that people paid attention to what they said because of their wealth and power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So why do people now say &quot;beg the question&quot; when they mean &quot;raise the question&quot;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  As Ben says, it is quite an unnatural construction in the latter usage.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  In my opinion, the attraction is that it imitates the language of those who once did use it naturally, and the modern speakers hope that the virtues of these older speakers - intelligence, fluency, and social status - will somehow be transferred to them.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  It is just an unfortunate irony that the very misuse of the phrase should undermine the hopes that gave utterance to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Although it is true that language changes continually, this observation by itself is not an adequate guide to effective usage.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  If I wanted to communicate with the widest possible audience, I would avoid the phrase altogether.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  But in a blog for educated professionals, I see nothing wrong with promoting familiarity with the interesting ideas of the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-14T05:58:55.540" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T05:58:55.540" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="294" CreationDate="2010-08-08T17:42:24.930" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why not ask your readers to help you with copy editing? Place a short, unobtrusive notice at the very top of every new blog post:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;English is not my native language. If anyone would like to help improve the grammar and clarity of this post, your suggestions and contributions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then compare their suggestions to what you wrote. That is how you improve. Soon, you might have a few readers to submit your blog post to &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; you publish them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="28" LastEditorUserId="28" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-08T18:27:58.457" LastActivityDate="2010-08-08T18:27:58.457" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="90" CreationDate="2010-08-08T19:47:41.467" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pet peeve: using &quot;myself&quot; (or other &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflexive_pronoun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reflexive pronouns&lt;/a&gt;) instead of &quot;me&quot; (or &quot;you&quot;, etc):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The other attendees are myself and&#xA;  Steve.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The other attendees are me and&#xA;  Steve.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="46" LastActivityDate="2010-08-08T19:47:41.467" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-08T19:47:41.467" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="309" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="311" CreationDate="2010-08-09T00:45:25.340" Score="2" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/78/when-is-it-appropriate-to-use-that-as-opposed-to-which&quot;&gt;When is it appropriate to use &amp;lsquo;that&amp;rsquo; as opposed to &amp;lsquo;which&amp;rsquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't quite understand &lt;strong&gt;when &quot;that&quot; should be used instead of &quot;which&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. I've been trying to get insight on this topic for some time, only to get conflicting opinions from various people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's an example of what I mean by which word should be used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;Cars &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; have hybrid technology get great gas mileage.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;Cars &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; have hybrid technology get great gas mileage.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That example is from &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/which-versus-that.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Grammar Girl podcast about this subject&quot;&gt;a grammar podcast called &lt;em&gt;Grammar Girl&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, where the following conclusion is reached:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... you &lt;strong&gt;use &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; before a&#xA;  restrictive clause and &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; before&#xA;  everything else&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;em&gt;Grammar Girl&lt;/em&gt; explains, that means that the first option from my cars example above is correct, as not all cars have hybrid technology. In other words, if the part in question changes the meaning of the sentence, you must use &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is that the right approach to resolving this grammar dilemma?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="149" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T01:44:08.853" ClosedDate="2010-08-09T16:03:55.567" Title="When should &quot;that&quot; be used instead of &quot;which?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="292" CreationDate="2010-08-09T00:49:20.123" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find that using a non-standard, but &lt;em&gt;polite&lt;/em&gt; greeting in an email tends to be quite effective in getting people to actually read what you are writing. For instance, when writing to a group of people, it is quite common (in New Zealand) to write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;To whom it may concern,&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or, as has been mentioned:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;Dear All,&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I tend to write something off carte like (assuming that I worked at British Telecom&amp;ndash;which I don't):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;Dear BT Person,&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found that this unusual approach&amp;mdash;which also feels less impersonal&amp;mdash;can be more likely to garner an audience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But where I currently work, we have a tool to address everyone individually, we just leave a placeholder where their name is, so it will say:&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;Dear Mr. Smith,&lt;/blockquote&gt; or &lt;blockquote&gt;Dear Kevin,&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;Which I think is probably the best way to get it done if it is convenient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T00:49:20.123" />
  <row Id="311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="309" CreationDate="2010-08-09T01:44:08.853" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is no. This has already been addressed here:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/78/when-is-it-appropriate-to-use-that-as-opposed-to-which/96#96&quot;&gt;that vs. which&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T01:44:08.853" />
  <row Id="312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-08-09T01:51:30.647" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like the pronouns in Māori. For instance, in English we have the word &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt;. In Māori there are different words depending on who &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt; are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mātou&lt;/strong&gt;: The group of us, not including you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tātou&lt;/strong&gt;: The group of us, including you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Māua&lt;/strong&gt;: The two of us, not including you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tāua&lt;/strong&gt;: You and me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In English, we'd have to say the following, where one of the above words would suffice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My group&lt;/strong&gt; is going to the city.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Our group&lt;/strong&gt; is going to the city.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My friend and I&lt;/strong&gt; are going to the city.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You and I&lt;/strong&gt; are going to the city.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, for any &quot;untranslatable&quot; phrase, there is a way to put the phrase forward in any language. It just becomes a whole lot more cumbersome. It works both ways. There are indeed many phrases in English, which cannot really translate well into another language. This is why translations into other languages are very often larger than the English original, but sometimes shorter, for much the same reason. Also the translation for the same sentence can differ depending on the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, where I wrote &lt;em&gt;my friend and I&lt;/em&gt;, I could easily have written &lt;em&gt;my father and I&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;this policeman and I&lt;/em&gt;. Of course, in English, I could just use the word &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt;, if the person I was speaking to knew that I was going to go somewhere with someone else. But if they didn't, the Maori version is a lot more succinct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T07:41:21.100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T07:41:21.100" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-09T01:51:30.647" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="313" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="314" CreationDate="2010-08-09T02:05:38.973" Score="16" ViewCount="601" Body="&lt;p&gt;From some comments in the answers for &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/90/what-are-the-most-common-english-usage-mistakes&quot;&gt;common English usage mistakes&lt;/a&gt;, there's confusion around the usage of I vs. me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the sentence, &quot;the other attendees are myself and Steve,&quot; is agreed to be incorrect, there's confusion about whether the correct form is &quot;the other attendees are me and Steve&quot; or &quot;the other attendees are Steve and I.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I've always used the heuristic of removing the other people from the sentence, so I always thought &quot;the other attendee is me&quot; would be correct, instead of &quot;the other attendee is I.&quot; Is this true, or am I using a flawed heuristic?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T05:02:57.823" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T05:02:57.823" Title="When do I use &quot;I&quot; instead of &quot;me?&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="7" />
  <row Id="314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="313" CreationDate="2010-08-09T02:12:32.297" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your method of removing the others is indeed correct. At least, that is what I used to do when I was in high school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always try using &quot;I&quot; or &quot;me&quot; in the singular, for the same sentence. For instance, people might say:&#xA;&quot;Robert and me are going to town.&quot; Which is wrong, because one does not say &quot;Me am going to town.&quot; Therefore the correct way to say it is &quot;Robert and &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; are going to town.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this sentence is also wrong: &quot;The police arrested Robert and I&quot;, because if it were in the singular, one would not say &quot;the police arrested I&quot;, it is, &quot;the police arrested me.&quot; Therefore one should say, &quot;The police arrested Robert and &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T02:12:32.297" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="315" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="316" CreationDate="2010-08-09T03:45:42.367" Score="17" ViewCount="285" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that some people use &lt;em&gt;effect&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;affect&lt;/em&gt; interchangeably. What are the differences between these two and when are the proper situations to use each of them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-04T11:35:22.327" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T11:35:22.327" Title="Effect vs. Affect" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;paronyms&gt;&lt;look-alikes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="315" CreationDate="2010-08-09T03:58:00.567" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The noun is always &quot;effect&quot; -- unless in more formal or literary contexts in which case &quot;affect&quot; as a noun can mean feeling or emotion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The verb is generally &quot;affect&quot;, although &quot;effect&quot; is possible if the meaning is &quot;put into place&quot; or &quot;carry out&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some example sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;His plans had no effect on me.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;His disconsolate eyes brought on a sad affect.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;His plans affected me.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;He effected a plan to change the world.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="90" LastEditorUserId="90" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-09T05:09:26.633" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T05:09:26.633" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="315" CreationDate="2010-08-09T04:18:58.760" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/affect.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;common errors&quot; site&lt;/a&gt; mentions 3 different meanings for affect (verb):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;When “affect” is accented on the final syllable (a-FECT), it is usually a verb meaning “&lt;strong&gt;have an influence on&lt;/strong&gt;”: &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;“The million-dollar donation from the industrialist &#xA; did not affect my vote against the Clean Air Act.”&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;“&lt;strong&gt;to make a display of or deliberately cultivate.&lt;/strong&gt;”&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Occasionally a pretentious person is said to affect an artificial air of sophistication.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Speaking with a borrowed French accent or ostentatiously wearing a large diamond ear stud might be an affectation.   &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;“&lt;strong&gt;emotion&lt;/strong&gt;.” (when the word is accented on the first syllable (AFF-ect)).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  In this case the word is used mostly by psychiatrists and social scientists—people who normally know how to spell it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you &lt;em&gt;affect&lt;/em&gt; a situation, you have an &lt;em&gt;effect&lt;/em&gt; on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Less common is a verb meaning “&lt;strong&gt;to create&lt;/strong&gt;” (to cause to come into being): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;“I’m trying to effect a change in the way we purchase widgets.”&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/effect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; details:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The verb effect goes beyond mere influence; it refers to actual achievement of a final result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T04:18:58.760" />
  <row Id="318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="313" CreationDate="2010-08-09T04:48:28.833" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vincent McNabb has already answered this question but I would like to add one more point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In older-fashioned prescriptive grammars, it was stated that &quot;I&quot; should be used as the object of the verb &quot;to be&quot;, so that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is I&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;rather than &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;was held to be the correct form. This only applied to the verb &quot;be&quot;, so that, for example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Give it to I&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;was never regarded as a correct form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T04:48:28.833" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="302" CreationDate="2010-08-09T04:52:41.560" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if this counts as the most professional name, but the Unicode standard refers to them as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;LEFT CURLY BRACKET (was previously OPENING CURLY BRACKET)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;RIGHT CURLY BRACKET (was previously CLOSING CURLY BRACKET)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T04:52:41.560" />
  <row Id="320" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="322" CreationDate="2010-08-09T06:56:05.957" Score="3" ViewCount="329" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see in many of the &quot;corporate emails&quot; I receive the expression: &quot;&lt;code&gt;in regard to&lt;/code&gt;&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Sometimes, it is also written &quot;in regards to&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, to be sure: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;in regards to&quot; (with an extra 's') is incorrect, right?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; or &quot;&lt;strong&gt;with&lt;/strong&gt; regard to&quot;: are they strictly equivalent?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, the expression sounds a bit too wordy to me.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is there any simpler alternative?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If yes, is there any context when that simpler alternative should &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; been used? (i.e. when &quot;in regard to&quot; is actually more appropriate)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:48:11.533" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:48:11.533" Title="What alternative would you suggest to &quot;in/with regard(s?) to&quot;?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="320" CreationDate="2010-08-09T07:01:37.647" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;in regards to&quot; (with an extra 's') is incorrect, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that &quot;in regards to&quot; is probably a confusion of &quot;in regard to&quot; and &quot;best regards&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;in&quot; or &quot;with regard to&quot;: are they strictly equivalent?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hum, I think they probably are but wouldn't be surprised if there was a counterexample.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T07:01:37.647" />
  <row Id="322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="320" CreationDate="2010-08-09T07:10:31.540" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think only very pedantic people would consider &quot;in regards to&quot; to be actually incorrect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see any difference in meaning between &quot;in&quot; or &quot;with regard to&quot;. This is just another example where preposition meaning is so vague that variants make little or no difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You haven't given specific examples of the use you are thinking of, but &quot;In regard to x&quot; should always be replaceable by &quot;Regarding x&quot;, which in most contexts will probably sound as good or better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T07:10:31.540" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="323" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="324" CreationDate="2010-08-09T07:15:13.777" Score="9" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;This morning I read this sentence (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.economist.com/world/africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16750107&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;story&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On July 24th and again on July 29th,&#xA;  Egyptian police did shoot dead unarmed&#xA;  African migrants attempting to cross&#xA;  that border.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why &quot;did shoot&quot; and not &quot;shot&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="46" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-20T04:25:33.760" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T04:25:33.760" Title="&quot;did shoot&quot; vs &quot;shot&quot;" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;auxiliary-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="323" CreationDate="2010-08-09T07:33:08.430" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;did&quot; is there to add emphasis. Similar to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You didn't read the book.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Yes, I DID read the book.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at the context where this appears in the article, &quot;do&quot; is being used to contrast that clause with what has come before. It's kind of like a focus marker, except that it also triggers a change in verbal morphology because &quot;do&quot; takes tense here instead of the main verb &quot;shoot&quot;. Compare:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I asked for cake.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I DID ask for cake.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here it's more obvious that the tense resides in the auxiliary and leaves the main verb without tense (hence it appears in the same form as the present).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T07:33:08.430" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="325" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="328" CreationDate="2010-08-09T08:48:11.557" Score="2" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I see two variants of sentence: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;there are not any employees&quot; in department &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;there is not any employee&quot; in department&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the correct sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="81" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T22:45:12.690" Title="&quot;there are not any employees&quot; or &quot;there is not any employee&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="325" CreationDate="2010-08-09T08:56:05.967" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;There are not any employees&quot; is the correct one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T08:56:05.967" />
  <row Id="328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="325" CreationDate="2010-08-09T11:35:07.963" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as you are referring to more than one subject, I would go with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;There are not any employees&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For referring to a single instance, I would go with &quot;there is no&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;there is no employee in department&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the topic has no plural form (or is rarely used with a plural form), then I would consider &quot;there isn't any&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;There isn't any water&quot; = There is no water&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T11:35:07.963" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="329" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="330" CreationDate="2010-08-09T11:48:10.353" Score="6" ViewCount="504" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some verbs are followed by &lt;em&gt;ing&lt;/em&gt;, e.g. &lt;em&gt;I enjoy swimming&lt;/em&gt;. We can't say &lt;em&gt;I enjoy to swim&lt;/em&gt;. Likewise, some verbs are followed by &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;, e.g. &lt;em&gt;I decided to make a plan&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which particular verbs are followed by &lt;em&gt;ing&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;? Can you please provide a list for that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, which verbs can be followed by both without having the meaning changed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T08:05:47.927" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T08:05:47.927" Title="Gerund or infinitive: When to use which?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;list-request&gt;&lt;gerund&gt;&lt;infinitive&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="329" CreationDate="2010-08-09T12:04:49.603" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can find a such a list for instance in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://wps.ablongman.com/long_faigley_penguinhb_1/7/1979/506759.cw/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Penguin Handbook&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The relevant categories are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Verbs Followed by Infinitives&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most verbs are followed by infinitives. If the verb is not found in the list below it is probably followed by an infinitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Verbs Followed by Gerunds&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The verbs in the following table all need to be followed by gerunds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The students don’t enjoy going over the same rules again and again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;admit (to)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;delay &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;get used to   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;practice  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;risk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;appreciate    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;deny  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;look forward to   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;put off   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stop&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;avoid &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;discuss   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;imagine   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;recommend &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;suggest&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;be accustomed to  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dislike   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;keep (on)     &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;regret    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tolerate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;be used to    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;enjoy &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(not) mind    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;report    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;understand&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;can’t help    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;feel like &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;miss  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;resent     &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;consider  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;finish    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;postpone  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;resist     &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Verbs Followed by an Object Before the Second Infinitive Verb&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I advise you to go to school early today. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;advise    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;encourage &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;instruct  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*promise  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*want&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;allow &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*expect   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;invite    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Remind    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*warn&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*ask  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;force &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*need &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;require   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*would like&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;authorize &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;get   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;order &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;teach  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cause &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;help  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;permit    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tell   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;challenge &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hire  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;persuade  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;train  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;convince  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;inform    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*prepare  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;urge   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Words with * can be used with or without an object.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Some words can be used without an object as well as with an object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want him to go. I want to go. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Verbs Followed by Either Gerund or Infinitive&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes the meaning changes according to the verb used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He doesn’t remember giving the homework to Mr. Young.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;     He didn’t remember to give the homework to Mr. Young. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;attempt hate    start&lt;br&gt;&#xA;begin   intend  try&#xA;can (not) bear  love&lt;br&gt;&#xA;can (not) stand neglect&lt;br&gt;&#xA;continue    prefer&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(dis)like   remember     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Verbs Followed Only by the Simple Form (no -ing or to)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Four verbs are called causative verbs. They are followed by an object; the verb after the object is always in the simple form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;let&lt;/strong&gt;: They let him go on the trip (instead of “let him to go&quot;).  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I let him take my book home for one night. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;make&lt;/strong&gt;: We made her do her chores first.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I made my sister cry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;help&lt;/strong&gt;: She helped her finish her homework.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I helped him find the bookstore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;have&lt;/strong&gt;: The teacher had him stay after school.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I had my teacher explain the answers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Verbs Followed by Either the Simple Form or the Gerund (no to)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some verbs are called verbs of perception and are followed by either the simple form or the -ing form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;see&lt;/strong&gt;: I see him go.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I see him going. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;notice&lt;/strong&gt;: I notice him run to school everyday.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I notice him running to school everyday. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;watch&lt;/strong&gt;: I watch him struggle with his homework.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I watch him struggling with his homework. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;hear&lt;/strong&gt;: I hear him sing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hear him singing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Others including: look at, observe, listen to, feel, smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T12:04:49.603" />
  <row Id="331" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="336" CreationDate="2010-08-09T12:12:18.323" Score="2" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was writing a LinkedIn recommendation one day, and ended up pondering for a while which of these forms to use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;… is a great developer &lt;strong&gt;whom&lt;/strong&gt; I always&#xA;  found easy to work with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;… is a great developer &lt;strong&gt;who&lt;/strong&gt; I always&#xA;  found easy to work with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, both are basically correct in contemporary English, right? But is one or the other preferable and why? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(In this case I went with the latter, as it seemed more common (Google)  and I wanted to avoid sounding unnecessarily &quot;archaic&quot;, although I'm not sure if that would have been the case. Also note that I try to write in a &quot;friendly professional&quot; style instead of overly formal one. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T06:18:56.597" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T06:18:56.597" Title="Contemporary written usage of &quot;whom&quot; in objective case" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;whom&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="332" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="356" CreationDate="2010-08-09T12:17:36.037" Score="24" ViewCount="1947" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the end of every email, we use ending expressions like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Best regards,  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kind regards,  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yours sincerely,  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yours faithfully, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other expressions can be added to this list?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Which ones should we use/not use in which cases? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T20:14:20.213" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T13:18:37.467" Title="How to end an email" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;email&gt;&lt;list-request&gt;&lt;correspondence&gt;&lt;ending&gt;" AnswerCount="16" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="19" />
  <row Id="333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="332" CreationDate="2010-08-09T12:39:08.097" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that emails were originally designed to be written in memo style (hence From, To, Subject, etc.), for which it is standard to have no closing expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, many emails are written more to resemble a letter, for which other conventions apply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T12:39:08.097" />
  <row Id="334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="332" CreationDate="2010-08-09T12:39:43.713" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Yours sincerely&quot; and &quot;Yours faithfully&quot; now sound somewhat formal and I'd advise against them unless your email is otherwise official or formal in nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Best regards&quot; (or just &quot;Br&quot;) is, in my experience, extremely common in business emails, and a safe choice for many situations. &quot;Best wishes,&quot; is also a common alternative that falls into this category. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For informal situations or when messaging friends, I'd probably go with something lighter, such as: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cheers,   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Take care, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;:-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T12:39:43.713" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="332" CreationDate="2010-08-09T12:47:30.623" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For our corporate emails, amongst different departments, we use the &quot;neutral&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Regards,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T12:47:30.623" />
  <row Id="336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="331" CreationDate="2010-08-09T12:55:09.347" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you can read at the other question, &quot;whom&quot; is correct, but substituting &quot;who&quot; is acceptable to many.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to be more formal and satisfy the nitpickers you would probably also want to avoid the preposition at the end of the sentence.  Consider rewriting the whole thing, for example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;X is a great developer.  I always found it easy to work with him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;X is a great developer who is always easy to work with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T12:55:09.347" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="337" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="339" CreationDate="2010-08-09T13:03:06.910" Score="3" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference in expressing consent and assurance using adverbs &quot;certainly&quot; or &quot;of course&quot;? What would be more appropriate one in everyday conversation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T14:04:43.450" Title="&quot;Certainly&quot; and &quot;Of course&quot;: what is the difference?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="338" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="340" CreationDate="2010-08-09T13:30:43.720" Score="7" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some verbs can have double &quot;l&quot;s in the gerund form. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Modeling; modelling  &#xA;Traveling; travelling&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which form should we use, or which form is used more in the literature?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-09T21:37:49.923" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T21:37:49.923" Title="When is &quot;L&quot; doubled?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;gerund&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="337" CreationDate="2010-08-09T13:33:47.363" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When it comes to expressing consent and assurance, I'd say the difference certainly isn't very big. :-) When faced with a question like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can I have some more coffee?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&quot;Of course&quot; would probably be a more typical reply. But there's nothing wrong with &quot;Certainly&quot; either (although it might sound a little more formal).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, as you mention the context is &lt;em&gt;everyday conversation&lt;/em&gt;, you should also consider something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yeah, sure!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;:-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-09T14:04:43.450" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T14:04:43.450" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="338" CreationDate="2010-08-09T13:37:20.367" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, to my understading, the form with double l (e.g. &quot;travelling&quot;) is more common in British English, while in American English the spelling would be with single l (&quot;traveling&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that Irish, Australian, NZ, and Canadian varieties generally prefer the (British) double l versions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More information e.g. at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences#Doubled_consonants&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article on British/American spelling differences&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;(Do note that the opposite also happens: &quot;there are words where British writers prefer a single l and Americans usually use a double l&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, there is no all-encompassing answer to &quot;which form should we use&quot; – it depends on the context and your preferences. Due to the sheer number of American English speakers, the single l versions are overall &quot;more common in literature&quot;, of course. (But when deciding which &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; should use, do pay more attention to other factors, such as your geographical location or the preferences of your audience.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-09T13:56:29.603" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T13:56:29.603" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="337" CreationDate="2010-08-09T13:40:04.103" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Certainly&lt;/code&gt; is used for emphasizing that something is definitely true or will definitely happen: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I certainly hope you’re right.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  There certainly wasn’t any point in doing it&#xA;  now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this fashion, &lt;code&gt;certainly&lt;/code&gt; is slightly different from &lt;code&gt;of course&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When used for expressing agreement or giving permission in daily conversations, &lt;code&gt;certainly&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;of course&lt;/code&gt; have the same meaning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-We’d like you to explain your proposal to us in greater detail.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  -Certainly. / Of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T13:40:04.103" />
  <row Id="342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="313" CreationDate="2010-08-09T14:00:48.703" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This situation, where a pronoun comes after a form of the verb &quot;to be&quot;, is called a predicate nominative.  It is technically correct for formal writing, but has come to sound pompous in colloquial speech:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Who's there?&quot;&#xA;&quot;It is I, darling.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T14:00:48.703" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="343" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-09T14:05:27.910" Score="3" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for some fill in the blank type questions that if one were to fill in the blank and it sounded right to a fluent speaker, then it would have to be a proper noun, (or it would have to be a common noun).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T22:48:37.830" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T22:48:37.830" Title="Are there diagnostic tests to distinguish between proper and common nouns?" Tags="&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="332" CreationDate="2010-08-09T14:22:31.770" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually use &lt;code&gt;Best,&lt;/code&gt; for informal messages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T14:22:31.770" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="345" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="347" CreationDate="2010-08-09T14:33:09.687" Score="5" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do &lt;em&gt;all together&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;altogether&lt;/em&gt; mean the same and if not, what are the differences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T06:14:30.717" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T06:14:30.717" Title="All together vs. Altogether" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;look-alikes&gt;&lt;homophone&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="90" CreationDate="2010-08-09T14:46:18.407" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the US, there are a lot of regional differences in language that are technically usage mistakes. For example, I grew up in central Pennsylvania, and it's common to hear people use a construct like &lt;em&gt;The lawn needs mowed&lt;/em&gt; when the correct form is &lt;em&gt;The lawn needs &lt;strong&gt;to be&lt;/strong&gt; mowed.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="151" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T08:41:15.353" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T08:41:15.353" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-09T14:46:18.407" />
  <row Id="347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="345" CreationDate="2010-08-09T14:50:18.083" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. &quot;All together&quot; is used to refer to a collection of people or things that are in the sample place; for example, &quot;The spoons are all together in the left drawer.&quot; &quot;Altogether&quot; means &quot;in sum&quot; or &quot;in total&quot;; for example, &quot;Altogether, the repairs to my car cost $4000.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="151" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T14:50:18.083" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="343" CreationDate="2010-08-09T15:32:39.343" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not sure you can devise such a test, taking into account only two of the many &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.arts.uottawa.ca/writcent/hypergrammar/nouns.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;types of nouns&lt;/a&gt; (abstract, concrete, non-countable or mass, countable, collective).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only test I can think of is related to the plural form: Proper nouns rarely have a plural form (&lt;strong&gt;at least, comparatively to common nouns&lt;/strong&gt;).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you can say: &quot;I have/know many xxxxS&quot;, and that sounds right to a fluent speaker, chances are: xxxx is not a proper noun.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But that doesn't imply it is a common noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T15:32:39.343" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="154" CreationDate="2010-08-09T17:13:21.710" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many actors are taught to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/about_4586256_vocal-exercises.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;enunciate clearly&lt;/a&gt;, perhaps to ensure their lines are heard above a snuffling coughing audience, or to counter unpredictable acoustics in some theatres.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure that some actors who had trained for the stage would have then applied stage techniques to the screen, where close mics and sound stages would have made those old tricks unnecessary.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It's possible that the rolling &quot;r&quot; would be one of those tricks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T17:13:21.710" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="332" CreationDate="2010-08-09T17:31:52.257" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a contractor I tend to just use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yours,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like to think it implies their 'ownership' of me for that time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The longer versions do feel too formal for e-mail, or too loaded with meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise I use the ever popular:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Regards,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="72" LastEditorUserId="72" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-10T09:56:20.200" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T09:56:20.200" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="351" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="353" CreationDate="2010-08-09T18:11:35.360" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which of the following is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Each person's car has four wheels.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Each persons' car has four wheels.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T23:23:53.153" Title="Possession using the word &quot;each&quot;" Tags="&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="332" CreationDate="2010-08-09T18:14:01.873" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For informal e-mails:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Best, &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Regards, &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Cheers,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For formal e-mails:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Kind regards, &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Respectfully, &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Sincerely,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="83" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T18:14:01.873" />
  <row Id="353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="351" CreationDate="2010-08-09T18:14:59.097" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Each&quot; refers to a singular. Hence, it should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Each person's car has four wheels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="83" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T18:14:59.097" />
  <row Id="354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="343" CreationDate="2010-08-09T18:22:45.570" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only way I can think of doing this, is by using names. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alice visited &lt;code&gt;__________&lt;/code&gt;. Together, they had a nice time.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;__________&lt;/code&gt; is very tall. He is over six feet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could add some examples where the noun is referrer to by &quot;it&quot; to make the distinction. The problem, of course, is that referring to countries or other proper nouns (for instance a company name) isn't possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="83" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T18:22:45.570" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="355" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="358" CreationDate="2010-08-09T18:29:51.140" Score="7" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that the game which in Europe is called as &quot;Football&quot; in USA is named as &quot;Soccer&quot;. But I wonder to what extent this differentiation is strict. How people from England call their favorite game in conversations with Americans when being in USA? Is there a misunderstanding in this case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T23:36:03.797" Title="&quot;Football&quot; and &quot;Soccer&quot;" Tags="&lt;sports&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="332" CreationDate="2010-08-09T18:38:20.250" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Putting formal &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salutation_%28greeting%29&quot;&gt;salutations&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complimentary_close&quot;&gt;complimentary closes&lt;/a&gt; into an e-mail tends to make them very formal compared to most e-mails. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience working in the software industry, people who always put them into ordinary business e-mails come off as unnecessarily formal. Often foreigners have been taught in English class to do this, and the result is that I have been in meetings where foreign colleagues were ridiculed for e-mails constructed to a ceremonious level of formality. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've just looked through my most recently sent business e-mails and the only complimentary close I ever use is &quot;thanks&quot;, in about a quarter of my e-mails—mostly ones where I've asked the recipient to do something. The rest of them just end with a dash and my name. Looking through my received business e-mails, I see the same. Most e-mails have no complimentary close, and of the ones that do, nearly all of them have &quot;thanks&quot; or similar (&quot;many thanks&quot;, &quot;thank you&quot;, &quot;thanks all&quot;, etc.). I got one &quot;regards&quot; in the last week as well (out of about 250 messages).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your experience may vary, I suppose, depending on the culture of the company you work for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A colleague of mine uses an e-mail template that begins every e-mail with &quot;Heyas,&quot; and closes with &quot;Humbly&quot;. He is a quirky fellow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal recommendation (at least when corresponding via e-mail for business with Americans) is to err on the side of no complimentary close, or a very informal one. Using a formal complimentary close marks an e-mail as &lt;em&gt;extremely serious&lt;/em&gt; and if used on an e-mail that is not &lt;em&gt;extremely serious&lt;/em&gt; will make it seem out of place or even funny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T22:03:00.277" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T22:03:00.277" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="355" CreationDate="2010-08-09T18:49:29.103" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-football-and-soccer/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DifferenceBetween.net&lt;/a&gt; says that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In different football games, the&#xA;  players can use the hands, feet, or&#xA;  whole body to move the ball, while in&#xA;  soccer only the feet can be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And one answer from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_differences_between_soccer_and_football&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Answers.Com&lt;/a&gt; says&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Football is the official name for&#xA;  soccer. Soccer comes from association&#xA;  football. Football is a sport played&#xA;  with the feet and a ball. Some&#xA;  countries call football soccer [USA,&#xA;  canada] but football is the official&#xA;  and global name for football. American&#xA;  football is known as gridiron and does&#xA;  not involve controlling the ball with&#xA;  your feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One answer from &lt;a href=&quot;http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060609120350AA7CyHS&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yahoo Answers&lt;/a&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Every goal in soccer is just ONE goal&#xA;  (one point) and for football, in&#xA;  Football there are touchdowns (6&#xA;  points), field goals (3 points) and&#xA;  safeties (2 points). The matches in&#xA;  soccer last longer than in a football&#xA;  game (2 periods of 45 minutes each vs.&#xA;  4 periods of 15 minutes each).  As you&#xA;  can see, there are similarities in&#xA;  both like the use of words like&#xA;  penalty, goal, both have 11 players...&#xA;  but there are very different between&#xA;  them. More information go to&#xA;  wikipedia... A funny thing is that the&#xA;  word &quot;football&quot; is applied to Rugby&#xA;  football (Rugby union and Rugby&#xA;  league), American football, Australian&#xA;  rules football, Gaelic football and&#xA;  Canadian football.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ref: 1. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soccer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soccer&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;  2. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T18:49:29.103" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="355" CreationDate="2010-08-09T18:54:10.077" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First is a point of order—&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_for_association_football&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;it's also frequently called &quot;soccer&quot; in South Africa, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand&lt;/a&gt;, among other English-speaking places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Wikipedia article on the topic is &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_football&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Association football&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, which is the full formal name of the sport—its governing body FIFA stands for &quot;Fédération Internationale de Football Association&quot;, which in English is &quot;International Federation of Association Football&quot;. If you want to be perfectly unambiguous, just call it &quot;association football&quot;, and you can be sure that almost no one will know just what you mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience as an American, when English people are discussing soccer they call it &quot;football&quot; and when it becomes apparent there may be some confusion they clarify by calling it &quot;real football&quot;, which is delightfully arrogant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, once it's been clarified which sport is being discussed, we Americans are perfectly capable of understanding they mean &quot;soccer&quot; when they say &quot;football&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T18:54:10.077" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="355" CreationDate="2010-08-09T18:58:12.207" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm neither British nor American, but I'm fairly sure most Britons know about the word &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_football&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;soccer&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, so there wouldn't be big misunderstandings while visiting America even when they prefer to call the sport &quot;football&quot; themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I imagine they might utter some clarification ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They were playing football – oh,&#xA;  that's soccer for you guys – yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...and probably some clever or slightly condescending remark about the fact that a different word is used. Or maybe even a little rant, like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sD_8prYOxo#t=0m54s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one by John Cleese&lt;/a&gt;. ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-09T19:50:18.840" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T19:50:18.840" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="345" CreationDate="2010-08-09T19:11:49.617" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;All together&quot; means everyone or everything together. Where &quot;altogether&quot; is an adverb and means &quot;all in all,&quot; &quot;all told,&quot; or &quot;completely.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Examples:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's time to sing. All together now!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That was altogether too difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Source:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/difficulties/alltogetheraltogether.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;e Learn English Language&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;References:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/difficulties/alltogetheraltogether.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;e Learn English Language&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.educationbug.org/a/all-together-vs-altogether.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Education Bug&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.learnenglish.de/mistakes/altogethervsalltogether.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LEO Network&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T19:11:49.617" />
  <row Id="361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="338" CreationDate="2010-08-09T19:19:38.303" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;See a great answer from &lt;a href=&quot;http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100112002917AAAgNOl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yahoo Answers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The singular &quot;l&quot; in traveled is unique&#xA;  to American spelling. This does NOT&#xA;  make it wrong. It is perfectly&#xA;  acceptable as is the double &quot;l&quot; in the&#xA;  British spelling of travelled,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Oxford English Dictionary has a&#xA;  very good explanation that is not too&#xA;  far removed from the one you proffered&#xA;  to your friend&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The ruling is :-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you have a verb that ends in a&#xA;  vowel plus &quot;L&quot; and you are going to&#xA;  add an ending that begins with a vowel&#xA;  then you double the &quot;L&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;i.e., vowel + L + vowel = double LL.&#xA;  (travel + er = traveller) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Direct Quote below&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In British spelling, verbs ending in a&#xA;  vowel plus l double the l when adding&#xA;  endings that begin with a vowel (e.g.&#xA;  travel, travelled, traveller). In&#xA;  American English the l is not doubled&#xA;  (travel, traveled, traveler).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.askoxford.com/betterwriting/us/?view=uk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.askoxford.com/betterwriting/u…&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is the home page of &quot;ask the&#xA;  experts&quot; at Ask Oxford.com. Bookmark&#xA;  and it will assist you in other&#xA;  explanations for your friend,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/?view=uk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/?…&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.askoxford.com/?view=uk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.askoxford.com/?view=uk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T19:19:38.303" />
  <row Id="362" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="363" CreationDate="2010-08-09T19:27:02.670" Score="4" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often use &quot;OK&quot; in business and personal emails and phone conversations. But I often feel uncertain if it is appropriate to use it in every type of context. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please tell how universally I can use this word (if it can be called &quot;word&quot;) without annoying native English speakers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T02:13:48.930" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T02:13:48.930" Title="When is it OK to use OK?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;email&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;&lt;conversation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="362" CreationDate="2010-08-09T19:38:26.027" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's ok to use it in pretty much any email and (especially) phone conversation, even in business context. At least that's my experience from the software industry (communicating mostly with European and North American people). For formal letters and academic writing it would be a different story, of course. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you don't want to annoy people, please do &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; always write it in capital letters (&quot;OK&quot;), ok? :-) Maybe it's just me, but that seems somewhat archaic.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-19T17:02:19.887" LastActivityDate="2010-09-19T17:02:19.887" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="343" CreationDate="2010-08-09T19:50:04.410" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's rare, though not impossible, to have an article in front of a proper noun, e.g. &quot;The Alan...&quot;, &quot;A Steve...&quot;. But these are not always completely bad: &quot;The Alan with the white shirt...&quot;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, even in the latter example I think it sounds awkward enough to provide a decent heuristic, if that's what you are looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T19:50:04.410" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="365" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="366" CreationDate="2010-08-09T20:06:22.233" Score="6" ViewCount="578" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my business communication over internet text messengers, for example &quot;Google Talk&quot; or &quot;Skype&quot; I see that many people often use shorten words like &lt;em&gt;u&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;r&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; and the like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How appropriate is usage of such words in contemporary communication? Is it used in emails also? Should we avoid it as much as possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-19T12:10:04.090" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T10:40:42.210" Title="Using shortcuts such as &quot;u&quot; or &quot;r&quot;" Tags="&lt;email&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;internet&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="365" CreationDate="2010-08-09T20:26:39.390" Score="27" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the first thing to say about this is that it’s always acceptable to avoid these abbreviations... even in the shortest, most intimate SMS or instant message, a fully-spelled-out &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; would never be seen as too formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, if you are worried in the least that the person who you are corresponding with might think you are stupid, uneducated, or inappropriately informal, then using “u” or “r” in communication will give them an easy reason to believe that you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say I personally never use them, but that would be a lie. Sometimes in very hastily composed text messages on my phone I will take such a shortcut. But if I have a full (real) keyboard at my disposal and no 255-character limit, then there's no excuse for such sloppiness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if your correspondent is using them there’s no reason other than personal pride why you shouldn’t use them back to facilitate the conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-28T21:13:40.047" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T21:13:40.047" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="365" CreationDate="2010-08-09T20:27:43.413" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I would avoid shortcuts like &quot;u&quot; or &quot;r&quot; in any business emails (and in personal ones too actually). Depending on the recipient, they might make you seem more adolescent or even, um, less smart than you actually are. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At best, such shortcuts have no effect on how the recipient perceives you or the message. But considering that you do not &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; save time or anything else using them (when you are composing an email with a real keyboard, that is), is it worth taking the risk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T20:27:43.413" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="365" CreationDate="2010-08-09T20:28:10.713" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I think you've pretty much answered your own question here. Such codes have long been the norm in text messaging (and, I think, to a lesser degree in IM). Although it's not so much the case now, I think this happened because until recently most people did not have full keyboards on their phones, which makes such shortcuts very tempting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't a new thing. There are plenty of rather opaque, mostly forgotten abbreviations from the era of the telegraph. Take a look at this fascinating &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.radions.net/philcode.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;list of telegraph codes.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you scroll down to &quot;page&quot; 9 in that article, you'll find that it is recommended that beginning telegraph operators first learn the single letter codes. And what do you think &quot;U&quot; was used for? That's right, &quot;you&quot;. &quot;R&quot; for &quot;are&quot; is also listed there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people (myself included) think that using such codes in ordinary correspondence (that is, anything other than texting and IM) is pretty annoying. But certainly in TM and IM it's much more widely accepted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastEditorUserId="78" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-09T20:33:53.680" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T20:33:53.680" />
  <row Id="369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="365" CreationDate="2010-08-09T20:34:49.747" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question of whether a certain usage is appropriate depends entirely on what the audience expects. Look around you, and if most people are using it and don't seem to disapprove of such  abbreviations, feel free to use them. Conversely, if typing out full words is not much trouble to you, feel free to avoid them — especially if you suspect that even one person is going to have a slightly negative reaction to them (which is likely).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think they are perfectly acceptable in IM and text messages for informal conversations (e.g. between friends), and possibly more formal (text messenger) conversations as well, in certain contexts. I don't use them myself, because I can type fast enough and it would actually take me more time to pause and consider which abbreviations to use, but I accept that some others are used to these abbreviations, and after years of having a negative reaction to them, can successfully parse them at normal speed these days! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For emails sent to many recipients, or messages posted online where they will be read by many readers, it is always worth making your writing clear: your little time improving text is worth less than the little extra time many readers would take to stumble over unfamiliar usage. Avoiding such abbreviations is then part of such general etiquette.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T20:34:49.747" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="351" CreationDate="2010-08-09T21:17:43.873" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, the correct answer is &quot;each person's&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why? &lt;em&gt;each&lt;/em&gt; is a determiner of English representing universal quantification. This quantifier states that a predicate is true for everything or everything of a particular subset. Here, the set is all cars and the predicate is something like &quot;x has four wheels&quot;. This can then be formalized to something like: ∀xP(x), x∈{cars} and P(x)=x has four wheels. The nature of this quantification means that x must be singular in number. If it helps, think of a &lt;code&gt;foreach&lt;/code&gt; loop in various programming languages. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;'s&lt;/em&gt; is a different issue. Without delving too much into X-Bar theory, here's a simple explanation. The &lt;em&gt;'s&lt;/em&gt; too is actually a determiner and is dominated by the first &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Determiner_phrase&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Determiner Phrase&lt;/a&gt;. For example, a simple model:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[DP each person [DP 's car]].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This matches other languages (like German) nicely where the genitive is still represented by a &quot;full&quot; word. This also lets you get away with wild things like: &quot;[the man who lives over by the field and has red hair]'s car has four wheels.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-09T23:23:53.153" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T23:23:53.153" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="355" CreationDate="2010-08-09T22:21:10.277" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Melbourne, Australia and there's this sport called Footy which they believe it's &quot;the real football&quot;! Irony of it is that they mostly pass the ball with hands and sometimes kick it around the field as well! So, whenever they Aussies talk about football, visitors usually don't have any idea what they are talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T22:21:10.277" />
  <row Id="372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="323" CreationDate="2010-08-09T23:36:04.970" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an example of a English phenomenon know as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/syntax-textbook/box-modals.html#do&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;do-support&lt;/a&gt;, whereby a dummy &quot;do&quot; is inserted to ensure that an utterance has tense. It is usually restricted to utterances where the movement of the verb is somehow blocked: e.g., in a negative statement or a question. It can also be used for emphasis as noted, but isn't grammatically required. I would venture to say that this isn't as natural or forthcoming in native conversation, and does a diservice to the comprehension here. For what it's worth, I very much prefer &quot;shot dead&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-09T23:36:04.970" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="373" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="375" CreationDate="2010-08-10T02:05:12.090" Score="4" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where does the practice of using -a and -i for plural forms of -um and -us, respectively, come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Bacteria&lt;/code&gt; vs. &lt;code&gt;Bacterium&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Fungi&lt;/code&gt; vs. &lt;code&gt;Fungus&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="62" LastEditorUserId="62" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T15:50:39.080" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T15:50:39.080" Title="-um vs. -a or -i" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="373" CreationDate="2010-08-10T03:06:40.490" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It comes from people who still remember that a word is a loan word and the lending language was inflected.  Often people attempting to inflect the way Latin does do a poor job of it, so outside of the most common Latinisms, it would be better style to use ordinary plurals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T03:06:40.490" />
  <row Id="375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="373" CreationDate="2010-08-10T04:13:46.777" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These words have these plurals because they are loans words from Latin. Words that come from Latin that end in &lt;em&gt;-um&lt;/em&gt; usually have plurals in &lt;em&gt;-a&lt;/em&gt;, while those that end in &lt;em&gt;-us&lt;/em&gt; have plurals in &lt;em&gt;-i&lt;/em&gt;. This way of forming plurals is normal in Latin, and learned English preserves the native Latin plurals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T04:13:46.777" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="258" CreationDate="2010-08-10T05:12:06.560" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Q: Which is the fifth letter of the alphabet?&#xA;A: E.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="45" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T05:12:06.560" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-10T05:12:06.560" />
  <row Id="379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-08-10T05:21:06.687" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Urdu, تو، تم and آپ all are translated into English as &quot;you&quot;. Although all these words literally mean &quot;you&quot;, there is a different level of respect associated with each, and they would be used in different scenarios. &lt;em&gt;Aap&lt;/em&gt; (آپ) being the most respectful, then &lt;em&gt;tum&lt;/em&gt;(تم) and then &lt;em&gt;tu&lt;/em&gt;(تو) crossing the line into derogatory or very casual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urdu#Politeness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urdu#Politeness&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="45" LastEditorUserId="244" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T13:12:15.157" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T13:12:15.157" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-10T05:21:06.687" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-08-10T05:23:29.770" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Arabic, plural starts from three. So there is a word for one object, another word for two objects and then a word for plural. This applies to pronouns as well&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="45" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T05:23:29.770" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-10T05:23:29.770" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="381" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="382" CreationDate="2010-08-10T06:15:59.400" Score="5" ViewCount="328" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am often confused how the word &quot;English&quot; should be written in phrases such as &quot;English language&quot;, because I have seen both variants: capitalized and starting with lowercase letter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the most accepted usage: &quot;English language&quot; or &quot;english language&quot;? And what about other possible usage of the adjective &quot;english&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-27T13:51:50.427" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T13:19:31.847" Title="When should the word &quot;English&quot; be capitalized?" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="381" CreationDate="2010-08-10T06:28:36.193" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it is a proper noun, it must be capitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is an adjective derived from a proper noun, it should retain its capitalization (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalization#Adjectives&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia entry&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In English, adjectives derived from proper nouns (except the names of characters in fictional works) &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;usually&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; retain their capitalization&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  – e.g. a Christian church, Canadian whisky, a Shakespearean sonnet, but not a quixotic mission, malapropism, holmesian nor pecksniffian. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Where the original capital is no longer at the beginning of the word, usage varies: anti-Christian, but Presocratic or Pre-Socratic or presocratic (not preSocratic).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usually might explain why you see sometime &quot;english&quot; without any capitalization.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The only case of &quot;english&quot; as a common noun would be this &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/english&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary entry&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;english (uncountable)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(US) Spinning or rotary motion given to a ball around the vertical axis, as in billiards or bowling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;You can't hit it directly, but maybe if you give it some english.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T12:41:54.067" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T12:41:54.067" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="381" CreationDate="2010-08-10T06:43:19.500" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I often confused how the word&#xA;  &quot;English&quot; should be written in phrases&#xA;  like &quot;English language&quot;, because I&#xA;  meet both variants: capitalized and&#xA;  starting with lowercase letter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hmm, really? Probably just seeing mistakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the most accepted usage:&#xA;  &quot;English language&quot; or &quot;english&#xA;  language&quot;? And what about other&#xA;  possible usage of the adjective&#xA;  &quot;english&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;English language&quot; with a capital.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some uses of national adjectives which don't have to be capitalized, such as &quot;french windows&quot;. Presumably the same logic would apply to something like &quot;english muffins&quot;. However I don't have statistics as to which is more common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T06:43:19.500" />
  <row Id="384" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="388" CreationDate="2010-08-10T07:12:56.177" Score="4" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a native speaker of English, the gerund version of this sentence sounds better:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;infinitive:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When used together in chains,&#xA;  extension methods are an unprecedented&#xA;  tool &lt;strong&gt;to produce&lt;/strong&gt; extremely concise&#xA;  code.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;gerund:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When used together in chains,&#xA;  extension methods are an unprecedented&#xA;  tool &lt;strong&gt;for producing&lt;/strong&gt; extremely concise&#xA;  code.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But how can I explain to someone learning English how to decide in situations like these whether to use the infinitive or the gerund?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T13:28:05.167" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T13:28:05.167" Title="How does one know when to use a gerund or a infinitive?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;gerund&gt;&lt;verbals&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="385" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="387" CreationDate="2010-08-10T07:20:45.377" Score="3" ViewCount="604" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the rules in English language to split words at the end of a line? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where exactly must the hyphen split the word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T18:52:53.640" Title="Rules for splitting words at the end of a line" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;hyphen&gt;&lt;split&gt;&lt;rules&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="355" CreationDate="2010-08-10T08:12:12.913" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Football' is like 'corn' - its meaning is always local.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In England 'football' is a class marker, whether you use it to refer to rugby or soccer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Ireland there is a third form of Football, Gaelic Football (similar to Australian Rules, but with fewer ambulances), and again how you use football places you in a demographic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think for cultural reasons it would be quite difficult for an English person either to refer to American Football as 'Football', or to entertain an American's thoughts about soccer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T08:12:12.913" />
  <row Id="387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="385" CreationDate="2010-08-10T08:17:53.430" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, it is preferable not to split a word at the end of a line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the APA Style Guide, Section 1.A.9&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do not hyphenate (split) words at the end of a line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If possible, add another word to the line, or take one away, so you don't need to split in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact. NEVER EVER split words. However, I will give what I consider to be &lt;em&gt;ok&lt;/em&gt; guidelines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are really no proper rules as to how it should be done, when it is, so basically, use common sense.&#xA;If it must be done, try to keep the components of meaning together - this is easy with obviously compound words, such as keyboard. E.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Key-&lt;br /&gt;board.&#xA;  Super-&lt;br /&gt;market.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also easy with words with prefixes such as &quot;quasi&quot; or &quot;psuedo&quot; e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pseudo-&lt;br /&gt;science.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But mostly, splitting the words just makes them hard to read - and can lead to nightmares when the content of text is changed, because words that were once at the end of a line will no longer be at the end of a line, and everything will have to be re-done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, most word processors are not very good at automatically splitting words, so it is best to keep that feature off. It is also possible, however, to put markers in words where the word processor will be allowed to split the word. In Microsoft Word, this is done by using &lt;kbd&gt;Ctrl&lt;/kbd&gt;+&lt;kbd&gt;-&lt;/kbd&gt;. This hyphen is invisible, unless the word gets split at the end of a line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as a rule of thumb, see if the word is still easy to understand if you say it out loud with a pause where you are going to break the word. Usually, try and split it in the middle of the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Civili-&lt;br /&gt;sation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, as you can see, it just makes it harder to read. Just don't do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T08:17:53.430" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="384" CreationDate="2010-08-10T08:45:25.097" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/part_1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gerunds and Infinitives Part 1&lt;/a&gt;, if you consider &quot;to produce/for producing&quot; as a complement in your phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Both gerunds and infinitives can be used as the subject or the complement of a sentence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;However, as subjects or complements, gerunds usually sound more like normal, spoken English, whereas infinitives sound more abstract.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  In the following sentences, gerunds sound more natural and would be more common in everyday English.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Infinitives emphasize the possibility or potential for something and sound more philosophical. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If this sounds confusing, just remember that 90% of the time, you will use a gerund as the subject or complement of a sentence&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Learning is important. &lt;em&gt;normal subject&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;To learn is important. abstract subject - &lt;em&gt;less common&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The most important thing is learning. &lt;em&gt;normal complement&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The most important thing is to learn. abstract complement - &lt;em&gt;less common&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T08:45:25.097" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="389" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="391" CreationDate="2010-08-10T09:56:40.623" Score="3" ViewCount="351" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I can see from different texts, there seems to be no strict rule about putting comma after &quot;Please&quot; when it is used as an introduction to a request. Am I right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In what cases using comma after &quot;please&quot; would be correct or even compulsory? What if &quot;please&quot; is put in the end of such sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T10:17:06.410" Title="Comma after &quot;Please&quot;" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="390" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="395" CreationDate="2010-08-10T10:10:17.727" Score="1" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between following introductory phrases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;To tell the truth&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Frankly speaking&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;To be honest&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any of them more old fashioned or formal than the other or are they completely interchangable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T10:36:01.640" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T10:36:01.640" Title="Introductory phrases like &quot;to tell the truth&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;conversation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="389" CreationDate="2010-08-10T10:17:06.410" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is simply a matter of emphasis, which is why you can see it written both ways. For instance, if you had a visitor at your house, who was going to leave the house after you had left it, you might say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please don't forget to lock the door when you leave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if this particular person had a habit of leaving the door unlocked, you would want to emphasize the &quot;please&quot;, and could do it like so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please, don't forget to lock the door when you leave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which, when said out loud, has a louder &quot;please&quot; than the first example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, it emphasizes the importance of the request.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if the &quot;please&quot; is at the end of a sentence, there must always be a comma, e.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't forget to lock the door, please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T10:17:06.410" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="292" CreationDate="2010-08-10T10:29:42.463" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dear all is perfectably acceptable. So is Dear Colleagues. It depends on how formal or informal you want to be, and what is normal usage in your workplace. If in doubt, do what appears to be normal practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="128" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T10:29:42.463" />
  <row Id="393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="332" CreationDate="2010-08-10T10:30:51.450" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There seems to be a great uncertainty among business people on how to close - and address - emails. Looking at my emails, I have found that a lot of people simply have a template, which either has their name and position/contact details, or that preceded by &quot;Regards&quot;/&quot;Kind Regards&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally dislike &quot;regards&quot;, because it is obvious that no-one ever means it, and I also find it hilarious when I get a strongly worded email from a superior demanding some sort of action, which then ends in &quot;Best Regards&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found that &quot;cheers&quot;, is a very neutral ending, that is both informal and polite, and, in my experience, has been used a lot in business and informal contexts. Most of my close friends end their emails to me with &quot;cheers&quot;, and at the moment, as I am interviewing for jobs, I have found that most recruiters end their emails to me with &quot;cheers&quot;. (I am in New Zealand). One particular recruitment agent has been more creative than the others with her endings, and has used a different one with each correspondence. She has used&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cheers,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Best wishes,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take care,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All the best,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Good luck,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I particularly like the last one in that list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T10:30:51.450" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="60" CreationDate="2010-08-10T10:39:13.200" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Google &quot;grammar chants&quot; or &quot;jazz chants&quot; for lots of fun ways of using music to learn grammar. You can download some from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?docid=146250&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?docid=146250&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="128" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T10:39:13.200" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-10T10:39:13.200" />
  <row Id="395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="390" CreationDate="2010-08-10T10:40:17.897" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, they all mean &lt;strong&gt;in truth&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;actually, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;really, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;in fact, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;in reality, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;as a matter of fact, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;in actual fact, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;in point of fact, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;if truth be told&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last four are bit a bit more formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T10:40:17.897" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="396" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="430" CreationDate="2010-08-10T11:15:10.607" Score="7" ViewCount="413" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that &quot;assume&quot;, &quot;presume&quot;, &quot;suppose&quot; are similar in meaning of &lt;strong&gt;to take some facts as a truth without proof&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it seems to me that &quot;presume&quot; is more formal, &quot;assume&quot; is less formal and &quot;suppose&quot; is the most general word for this meaning. Am I right? Maybe there are other differences in meaning and usage of these words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-10T21:07:29.677" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T21:25:52.263" Title="&quot;Assume&quot;, &quot;presume&quot;, &quot;suppose&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="305" CreationDate="2010-08-10T11:19:05.827" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means that something begs for the question to be asked. Begging, as in asking, in this case, silently. Like a dog begs at a table, not by barking, but by looking intently at the food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;This year's budget deficit is half a trillion dollars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This begs the question- how are we ever going to balance the budget?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The person states that the problem is just waiting for someone to ask a certain question, and proceeds to ask it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="62" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T11:19:05.827" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="398" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-10T11:36:35.453" Score="3" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where does the word &quot;replenish&quot; come from, and what does it mean? I know it is used as a form of &quot;refill&quot;, but is that how it was originally? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="62" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:45:38.557" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:45:38.557" Title="Etymology of &quot;Replenish&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="399" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="402" CreationDate="2010-08-10T11:39:04.513" Score="4" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Also&quot; and &quot;as well&quot; seem to be quite similar in meaning, but I'd like to know shades in its meaning and usage, especially for everyday conversational language. What one will sound more natural and less formal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T12:09:42.987" Title="&quot;Also&quot; and &quot;as well&quot; for conversational context" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="398" CreationDate="2010-08-10T11:43:11.870" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means (according to my trusty New Webster's Encyclopedic Dictionary): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;to make full or complete again&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;to supply with fresh fuel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;to fill again or anew&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(intransitively) to become full or complete again&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to another dictionary (the one built-in in Mac OS X), the origin of the word can be traced to Old French (and further to Latin, of course), as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ORIGIN late Middle English (in the&#xA;  sense [supply abundantly] ): from Old&#xA;  French repleniss-, lengthened stem of&#xA;  replenir, from re- ‘again’ (also&#xA;  expressing intensive force) + plenir&#xA;  ‘fill’ (from Latin plenus ‘full’ ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on that, I don't think it has had other meanings in English earlier. As to why should one use this word instead of the less fancy &lt;strong&gt;refill&lt;/strong&gt; – I have no idea, except perhaps to show off &amp;amp; try to sound educated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-10T11:56:26.197" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T11:56:26.197" />
  <row Id="401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="396" CreationDate="2010-08-10T11:46:29.867" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Merriam-Webster dictionary states for &quot;assume&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;to take as granted or true&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And for &quot;presume&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2&gt; to expect or assume especially with confidence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;3&gt; to suppose to be true without proof&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So although, the words are mostly used interchangeably, from these definitions, someone who is &quot;presuming&quot; something is more confident than someone who is &quot;assuming&quot; something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal experience is otherwise, I have always thought of &quot;presuming&quot; something as assuming something prematurely, while &quot;assuming&quot; something would tend to have a stronger basis (though still a not very strong one).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, I would say that if my pen was stolen, I would &lt;em&gt;presume&lt;/em&gt; it was the first person that came into contact with me, if I thought he was averting his gaze. Whereas if someone had stolen something from me before, I would &lt;em&gt;assume&lt;/em&gt; it was him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suppose is supposed to be a very near synonym to both words, but in my experience, it tends to mean that someone is a bit more hesitant at accepting something, e.g. &quot;I &lt;em&gt;suppose&lt;/em&gt; you are right&quot;. Or if my wife suggested I take out the garbage more often, I might say &quot;I &lt;em&gt;suppose&lt;/em&gt; that's what I should do.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am very interested in &lt;s&gt;hearing&lt;/s&gt; reading other people's opinions on the matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T11:46:29.867" />
  <row Id="402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="399" CreationDate="2010-08-10T11:57:46.507" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Also&quot; tends to go before the verb, or as part of the verb phrase in a clause, whereas, &quot;as well&quot; tends to go at the tail of a sentence. E.g., say someone's friend has a dog, and she is talking to her mother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want to have a dog as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whereas, the following, though grammatically correct, is more uncommon:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want to have a dog, also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;also&quot; is more likely to be used like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I also want to have a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if this girl were to want a horse, and also wanted a dog, she might say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also, I want to have a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the following feel very wrong: (The first one being gramatically &quot;correct&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As well, I want to have a dog.&lt;br /&gt;I as well want to have a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though, if she were five, she would be more likely to say it that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When used in the conditional tense, &quot;also&quot; usually goes between the support verb and the main verb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would also like to have a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if she were to first and foremost want a horse:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I also would like to have a dog.&lt;br /&gt;Also, I would like to have a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the two words are not interchangeable, and both can equally be used in either formal or informal contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T11:57:46.507" />
  <row Id="403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="399" CreationDate="2010-08-10T12:09:42.987" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These two terms are &lt;strong&gt;basically the same&lt;/strong&gt;, but &quot;also&quot; is more &lt;strong&gt;flexible&lt;/strong&gt; in terms of placing. &quot;As well&quot; is a little &lt;strong&gt;restricted&lt;/strong&gt;. You would never start a sentence with &quot;as well&quot;. You almost always put &quot;as well&quot; at the end of a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another interesting case is when you add &quot;just&quot; to make &quot;just as well&quot;, then a whole new meaning can be perceived:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's beginning to rain - it's just as&#xA;  well that we brought our umbrellas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, &quot;just as well&quot; means &quot;it is a good thing&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T12:09:42.987" />
  <row Id="404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="396" CreationDate="2010-08-10T12:12:04.340" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Merriam-Webster dictionary states for &quot;assume&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;to take as granted or true&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In effect, to take it for granted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;hr/&gt;&#xA;for &quot;presume&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2&gt; to expect or assume &lt;strong&gt;especially with confidence&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;3&gt; to suppose to be true &lt;strong&gt;without proof&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In effect, to assume &lt;strong&gt;without proof.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;hr/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I assume Barak Obama is not against the US. Simply because he is president. However some people would presume otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you see the difference? I assume Obama is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; against the US simply because he is president. This is an easy assumption. Some people would say that is presumption, but it isn't because it is expected for a president to be for the US. Some people would &lt;strong&gt;assume without proof&lt;/strong&gt; (presume) that Obama is against the US. He never said so, so there is no proof. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people also presume that it was someone in the US Government that destroyed the twin towers. However, everyone assumes that Bin Laden did it simply because the media said so. Of course, using assume is also implying that it isn't absolutely proved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="62" LastEditorUserId="62" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-10T12:20:24.260" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T12:20:24.260" />
  <row Id="405" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="408" CreationDate="2010-08-10T12:21:07.427" Score="8" ViewCount="222" Body="&lt;p&gt;When should each of them be used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="45" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:45:00.383" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:45:00.383" Title="&quot;Specially&quot; vs &quot;especially&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;paronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="411" CreationDate="2010-08-10T12:43:06.133" Score="17" ViewCount="867" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am confused: on the one hand many of my native speaker-friends keep telling me that the f-word is very, very bad indeed! Much worse than the s-word for example. On the other hand I see it being used everywhere e.g. in the blogosphere, even by respectable economic blogs (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-fuck-deficit-or-will-deficit-end-fucking-us&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-fuck-deficit-or-will-deficit-end-fucking-us&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the former intensity of the word decreasing? Is its usage becoming more accepted in everyday language?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T08:25:10.077" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T21:39:49.540" Title="How bad is the f-word really?" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;&lt;expletives&gt;&lt;taboo&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="6" />
  <row Id="407" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="416" CreationDate="2010-08-10T12:46:33.490" Score="8" ViewCount="288" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both English and German are Germanic languages. Could you point me to some sources where the similarities of both languages are being examined and exemplified?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T17:32:11.723" Title="Similarities between German and English" Tags="&lt;german&gt;&lt;germanic-languages&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="405" CreationDate="2010-08-10T13:02:03.113" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;By rearranging a sentence, you can figure out what your intention is. Remember that &quot;specially&quot; and &quot;especially&quot; are &lt;em&gt;adverbs&lt;/em&gt;, so try to figure out what they mean for the verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also remember that &quot;especially&quot; is the adverb of the adjective &quot;especial&quot;, which means &quot;unique&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He has a specially made key. Making the key was special.  &lt;em&gt;(Replaced by an adjective.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The key was made especially for him. Making the key was uniquely done for him.  &lt;em&gt;(Can't be replaced by the adjective.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="83" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-13T21:39:53.650" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T21:39:53.650" />
  <row Id="409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="406" CreationDate="2010-08-10T13:51:07.270" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Relative to where and who? I wouldn't use the f word as a synonym for &quot;very&quot; in Salt Lake City, Utah.  In the Marines it's just another word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://people.howstuffworks.com/swearing.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cusswords are interesting&lt;/a&gt; neurologically, they appear to be managed by a different part of the brain than the part that is in charge of ordinary speech.  So if the f-word really did become an ordinary word, (I think the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuck&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Proto-Indo-European word was something mundane&lt;/a&gt; like &quot;to strike&quot;), it would need to be replaced by some other word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More likely, a taboo word would disappear from use than convert to the stock of ordinary words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seeing the F word on the internet probably doesn't mean it is acceptable, the internet is the lawless wild west.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6" LastEditorUserId="6" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-12T21:41:32.170" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:41:32.170" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="407" CreationDate="2010-08-10T14:44:09.250" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Wikipedia entry &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German_expressions_in_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;List of German expressions in English&lt;/a&gt;&quot; is a nice introduction.&#xA;You will find in the same category the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category%3aGerman_loanwords&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;German loanwords&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The site &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.germanenglishwords.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;www.germanenglishwords.com&lt;/a&gt; is also a very complete reference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T14:44:09.250" />
  <row Id="411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="406" CreationDate="2010-08-10T15:35:10.430" Score="28" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a difficult question, because English is in the middle of a shift of social mores with regards to obscenities and vulgarities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;traditional&quot; swear words (fuck, shit, ass, damn, etc.) have had their offensiveness gradually worn down over the past century, to the point where in many communities they're generic modifiers. Large parts of the Internet hold to this ethos. However, this shift is by no means complete or universal, as many people will still be offended by those words. Be &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; careful in unfamiliar situations with people you don't know, since you cannot easily predict how they'll react to your language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the same time, new language taboos are arising with regards to racial and some sexual epithets. You probably would not see an economics blog use the word &quot;nigger&quot; so casually, nor &quot;fag&quot;, &quot;cunt&quot;, or others. However, the social conventions regarding these are even more chaotic and context-sensitive than the conventions for the older expletives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to avoid giving offense, you should always stick to the most conservative, expletive-free register, as no one is going to be scandalized by your failure to say &quot;fuck&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T15:35:10.430" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="412" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="413" CreationDate="2010-08-10T15:43:52.930" Score="29" ViewCount="664" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should I put a comma before last item in list?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would like crackers, cheese and some soda.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I would like crackers, cheese, and some soda.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T18:23:09.267" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T06:37:23.807" Title="Comma before last item in a list" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="412" CreationDate="2010-08-10T16:16:39.390" Score="33" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using a comma before the last item in a list is known as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Comma&lt;/a&gt;, sometimes the Serial Comma. It is used before conjunctions in a list like this with three or more items. Its use is purely written style and optional. It is more common in America outside journalism, and much less common in other English speaking areas of the world. There are arguments for and against which usually come down to comprehension. Wikipedia quotes these ambiguities: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To my parents, Ayn Rand and God.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To my mother, Ayn Rand, and God.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also on that wiki page you can find lots of links to certain style guides. Comma use is something of a grey area though, and everyone has his own style. Pick what reduces ambiguity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Language log has an interesting article on how reading comprehension can be &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1311&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;improved with comma use&lt;/a&gt;, including this type.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-11T22:38:12.743" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T22:38:12.743" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="414" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="423" CreationDate="2010-08-10T16:55:08.023" Score="9" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;For instance in words Iraq and Qashqai? Are there any historical reasons for that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T16:53:29.817" Title="Why is Q used in some words instead of K or C" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="415" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-10T17:01:00.493" Score="3" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you have any words that you know are usually mispronounced but you feel it would be too pedantic to pronounce correctly. In my case I can think of ‘logo’ and ‘zoology’. I am always uncomfortable with these words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="122" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-11T10:59:56.203" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T15:51:48.990" ClosedDate="2010-08-12T02:46:50.383" Title="Pronunciation variations that have become normal" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="407" CreationDate="2010-08-10T17:02:30.197" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a pretty broad question and topic, but it's a particular area of interest for me. So bear with me as I continue to expand my answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're right when you say that both English and German are Germanic languages. But they are not so closely related to be somewhat mutually intelligible as other Germanic languages like Swedish and Danish are. Wikipedia gives a great &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_languages&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;diachronic history&lt;/a&gt; of the Germanic family from PIE.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another reason that English and German are more different today than they otherwise would be was the impact of Norman French, which ended Old English in 1066. We know these languages are somewhat different, but in which ways can they be similar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Syntax&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;German and English have a seemingly similar surface syntax, but is that really the case? An analysis of deeper structures reveals they aren't as similar as they appear&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=UWTAU8lAunoC&amp;amp;dq=andrew+carnie++Syntax+a+Generative+introduction&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;amp;source=bn&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=ZoNhTMuDO4m8sQOgydmKCA&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=4&amp;amp;ved=0CDcQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Syntax: A Generative Introduction&lt;/a&gt; Carnie's book is a good introduction to X-Bar Theory and has many useful exercises to model the structure of Modern English and German &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&amp;amp;lr=&amp;amp;id=tsN6z7bWbV4C&amp;amp;oi=fnd&amp;amp;pg=PR7&amp;amp;dq=German+syntax+compared+to+English&amp;amp;ots=ecmBBo2dK6&amp;amp;sig=8Ca1EBD6BGRMCrTnvi7O4LGPafQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=German%20syntax%20compared%20to%20English&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The syntax of early English&lt;/a&gt;: the syntax of Modern English has drifted to be sure, but knowing early syntax gives good insight to similarities, especially with negative statements and questions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;V2: The germanic languages have a farily universal (outside Modern English) phenomenon whereby the tensed verb of an utterance appers in second position&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.49.2829&amp;amp;rep=rep1&amp;amp;type=pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Verb Movement in Old and Middle English: Dialect Variation and Language Contact&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache%3aTH_aiemtAMcJ%3ascholar.google.com/+v2+in+middle+english&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=2000&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Middle English verb-second constraint:a case study in language contact and language change&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&amp;amp;lr=&amp;amp;id=C-MXVYAg2H8C&amp;amp;oi=fnd&amp;amp;pg=PA88&amp;amp;dq=v2+in+english&amp;amp;ots=3qYiPtC8qD&amp;amp;sig=slOoRkZNnyA98I70r3V2wtFw7IY#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=v2%20in%20english&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Syntactic effects of morphological change&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&amp;amp;lr=&amp;amp;id=7W1ulx7pPxwC&amp;amp;oi=fnd&amp;amp;pg=PR11&amp;amp;dq=v2+conspiracy&amp;amp;ots=DqMGw-IoJq&amp;amp;sig=URsGSgDAT_lzT1fxnRKCZW6ohF4#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The V2 Conspiracy&lt;/a&gt;: gives evidence that surface similarities are deceiving, and that the underlying deep structures of many Germanic languages are very different&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Phonetics&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.citeulike.org/group/214/article/613272&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Comparing the Phonetic Features of English, German, Spanish and French&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&amp;amp;_&amp;amp;ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED026890&amp;amp;ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&amp;amp;accno=ED026890&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Comparing the Prosodic Features of English, German, Spanish and French&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&amp;amp;_&amp;amp;ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED026889&amp;amp;ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&amp;amp;accno=ED026889&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Comparing the Vocalic Features of English, German, Spanish and French&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Phonology&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wikipedia has great charts which you can use to compare features: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_phonology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;German&lt;/a&gt; vs. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_phonology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;English&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&amp;amp;lr=&amp;amp;id=aRIPDa8L2ykC&amp;amp;oi=fnd&amp;amp;pg=PR9&amp;amp;dq=aspiration+german+english&amp;amp;ots=Gj6mygIqnk&amp;amp;sig=s1T6PdvkKjWWeWwamVH10ZDN0rw#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=aspiration%20german%20english&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Modern German Pronunciation: an introduction for speakers of English&lt;/a&gt; A great little guide for better speaking, but also has lots of phonological bits, e.g., how aspiration of the voiceless stops compares and prosodic similarities and dissimilarities &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Morphology&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ablaut: Both English and German still share the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_ablaut&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PIE Ablaut&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vocabulary&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This has already been hit on, but I'd like to add &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; so many similarities exist. It should be obvious from the onset that these genetically related languages should have a very similar vocabulary, but for every German word, there seems to be a set of two or more English words; this is again the result Norman influence on English.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Prosody&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vocative Chant: English and German share this phenomenon. You'll definitely have heard a mother figure use this calling you into dinner: &quot;Oh, child-ren! Time for Din-ner&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=TK62rcXEsNAC&amp;amp;pg=PA313&amp;amp;lpg=PA313&amp;amp;dq=vocative+chant&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=MvwCoDXh3D&amp;amp;sig=OMM37aonMXsbWD5WepT4MIKFhVE&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=84lhTPzmC4X0swOHj7lJ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=vocative%20chant&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The phonology of tone and intonation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Modern influences&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Of course, English is a huge influence on German today. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=xHVHRVpm57EC&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;amp;dq=english+influence+on+german&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=4YphTNfrI4fEsAPem-GbCA&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;English Influence on German&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=kbr2txEYSHAC&amp;amp;pg=PA1&amp;amp;dq=english+influence+on+german&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=4YphTNfrI4fEsAPem-GbCA&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=5&amp;amp;ved=0CEoQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=english%20influence%20on%20german&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Anglicisms in German&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-10T17:32:11.723" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T17:32:11.723" />
  <row Id="417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="414" CreationDate="2010-08-10T17:14:03.407" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The place names that you mention are transliterations from Arabic, and the letter Q is traditionally used in transliterations of Arabic to represent a stop sound which doesn't exist in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T17:14:03.407" />
  <row Id="418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="415" CreationDate="2010-08-10T17:36:02.357" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;realtor&lt;/em&gt; sticks out to me. The epenthesis seems rampant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also the metathesis in the word nuclear. This isn't as common in my world, but I wouldn't ever tell a certain President that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastEditorUserId="89" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-10T17:41:05.640" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T17:41:05.640" />
  <row Id="419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="415" CreationDate="2010-08-10T18:06:13.890" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have a nice &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/mispron.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;100 Most Often Mispronounced Words and Phrases in English&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some classics:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No: close | Yes: clothes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No: expresso | Yes: espresso&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No: fedral | Yes: federal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No: hi-archy | Yes: hierarchy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No: in parenthesis | Yes: in parentheses&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No: often | Yes: ofen&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But to get back to your question (&quot;usually mispronounced but you feel it would be too pedantic to pronounce correctly&quot;), one could argue for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No: pronounciation | Yes pronunciation (!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T18:06:13.890" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="420" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="426" CreationDate="2010-08-10T18:14:25.777" Score="9" ViewCount="417" Body="&lt;p&gt;What format of date is appropriate for different contexts (business, personal) in written English, nowadays?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1st of April, 2010&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;April the 1st, 2010&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;April 1, 2010&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;April 01, 2010&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;another one&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T16:00:37.460" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T16:00:37.460" Title="Date format for written English" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;date&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="421" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-10T18:16:20.530" Score="5" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a native English speaker, but have noticed that my knowledge of idioms is abysmal. Over the years I have found some websites that list idioms, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;UsingEnglish&lt;/a&gt; being the only one of which is any good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite their fairly good search engine, I often have a idiom on the tip of my tongue, but unable to find it. How can I learn more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="83" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-10T20:06:32.443" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T07:59:55.407" Title="How can I learn to use more idioms?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;learning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="420" CreationDate="2010-08-10T18:18:44.973" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the United States, it is customary to write &quot;April 1, 2010&quot;, regardless of context. This is spoken, however, as &quot;April first, 2010&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would discourage using MM/DD/YYYY (e.g. 4/1/2010) format, because this may cause confusion as the rest of the world writes the day before the month. If you really need to write dates in a consise format, I recommend YYYY-MM-DD format.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="83" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T18:18:44.973" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="414" CreationDate="2010-08-10T18:34:00.480" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a small number of words and names used in English that have Q but no U and do not correspond to a &quot;kw&quot; sound:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aqaba&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Haq&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Iraq&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Qasr&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;qat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Qatar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Qi&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Qian&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Qiao&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Qing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Qingdao&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;souq&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tariq&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... among others&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of these have a q because they are words or names that come from Arabic, which traditionally uses the letter Q to transcribe a sound that doesn't occur in English: the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_uvular_plosive&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;voiceless uvular stop&lt;/a&gt;, which sounds similar to but not quite like the sound of the letter &quot;K&quot;, and is the sound usually used when saying these words in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few of these—those starting with &quot;QI&quot;, such as &quot;Qi&quot;, &quot;Qian&quot;, and &quot;Qing&quot;—come from Chinese, where Q is the letter used to transcribe a different sound—&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_alveolo-palatal_affricate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate&lt;/a&gt;—which sounds similar to but not quite like the sound of the &quot;CH&quot;, and is the sound usually used when saying these words in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T18:34:00.480" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="421" CreationDate="2010-08-10T18:41:44.053" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer learning an idiom by seeing it in situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Movies can help discover new idioms: you now have videos with a short movie excerpt precisely for illustrating an idiom.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://vimeo.com/10135393&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;beat around the bush&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishcafe.com/videos/cut-chase-65315&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cut to the chase&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-11T05:50:48.047" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T05:50:48.047" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="385" CreationDate="2010-08-10T18:52:53.640" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vincent McNabb gives good advice generally on when to hyphenate—never if you can get away with it, and if you must, in a sensible place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the question of where to hyphenate is something that dictionaries have answered for generations. Every entry has a word split into syllables, and technically speaking, according to traditional rules of typesetting, you can hyphenate a word at any syllable boundary. For example in the Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, the entry for &quot;dictionary&quot; reads &quot;dic·tio·nary&quot;—so you could hyphenate anywhere there appears a centered dot. Of course there are various rules of thumb and heuristics to choose the best place to hyphenate, and in many cases hyphenating a word dramatically reduces readability, but in a strict answer to OP's original question, it is acceptable to hyphenate a word at any syllable boundary, and you can find all the syllable boundaries in a dictionary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T18:52:53.640" />
  <row Id="426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="420" CreationDate="2010-08-10T18:54:32.390" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The context that matters most is where you are located geographically (or which variety of English you otherwise wish to employ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Paul covered the case of the US: &quot;April 1, 2010&quot;. That would surely be understood in the UK too, but to my knowledge &quot;1 April 2010&quot; (NB: no comma) or &quot;1/4/2010&quot; would be more common there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: Based on some quick &quot;research&quot; I just did, most commonwealth countries (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) also seem to prefer &quot;1 April 2010&quot;, while in Canada &quot;April 1, 2010&quot; would be more common (probably due to US influence).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Paul mentioned, YYYY-MM-DD is pretty good for getting across universally, yet concisely. In my opinion the format often used by airlines – &quot;01 Apr 2010&quot; – is useful too; there isn't much room for misinterpretation there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-10T19:01:13.123" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T19:01:13.123" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="427" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="428" CreationDate="2010-08-10T19:09:09.847" Score="4" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which of the following is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;There were 10 people &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; went to the store.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;There were 10 people &lt;strong&gt;who&lt;/strong&gt; went to the store.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which of the following is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;There were 10 people &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; had brown hair.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;There were 10 people &lt;strong&gt;who&lt;/strong&gt; had brown hair&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T09:25:54.557" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:25:54.557" Title="Should you use &quot;who&quot; or &quot;that&quot; when talking about multiple people doing something?" Tags="&lt;relative-clause&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="427" CreationDate="2010-08-10T19:13:28.280" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;There were 10 people who went to the store.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;There were 10 people who had brown hair&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Who refers to people. That and which refer to groups or things. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/whoVwhVt.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;grammarbook&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T19:13:28.280" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="427" CreationDate="2010-08-10T21:10:17.220" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are interchangeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/that&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/that&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1 a : the person, thing, or idea indicated, mentioned, or understood from the situation  b : the time, action, or event specified  c : the kind or thing specified as follows  d : one or a group of the indicated kind &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beware of grammar books. They very often describe the authors' opinions on what grammar &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; be, rather than what grammar actually &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, I would say that it is fine to use either &quot;that&quot; or &quot;who&quot;, but &quot;who&quot; can only be used to refer to people, while &quot;that&quot; refers to things and people. One should favour the word &quot;who&quot;, if they want to clarify that it is a person, and not a thing, that they are talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jean Yates says in her book, &quot;The Ins and Outs of Prepositions&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An adjective clause can identify a noun. The clause comes right after the noun.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  ...&lt;br /&gt;TO IDENTIFY A PERSON, AN ADJECTIVE CLAUSE CAN BEGIN WITH WHO(M), THAT,&lt;BR /&gt;&#xA;  ...&lt;br /&gt;The man who(m) ...&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  The man that ....&lt;br /&gt;...&lt;br /&gt;The people who(m) ...&lt;br /&gt; The people that ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, the &quot;Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English&quot; by Douglas Biber, Susan Conrad, and Geoffrey Leech says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Three relative pronouns stand out as being particularly common in English: who, which, and that.&lt;br /&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;That and zero are the preferred choices in conversation, although relative clauses are generally rare in that register.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Fiction is similar to conversation in its preference for that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;In contrast, news shows a much stronger preference for which and who, and academic prose strongly prefers which.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So again, I say, be wary of any single grammar book as being 100% correct. They never are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-10T22:51:27.520" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T22:51:27.520" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="396" CreationDate="2010-08-10T21:25:52.263" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An assumption is technically something that must be taken for granted in order for an argument to go through. Some assumptions cannot, in principle, be proven. For instance, there is probably no way to prove that anything exists outside of my own mind, but I assume this because otherwise I would quickly die as a result of walking front of a non-existent car. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Less fancifully, if I thought that physics was a good and useful thing, then no matter how much I might doubt it, I would be forced to assume that the physical world exists if I wanted to be a physicist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Presume&quot; has about the same denotation but also the additional connotation, as mentioned in Webster's, of confidence. Note that to say someone is &quot;presumptuous&quot; commonly means that someone is overly confident of their assumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned above, I think in most contexts today &quot;suppose&quot; is used rather to express a certain amount of doubt about an assumption, and in that sense has the opposite connotation to &quot;presume&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this sense you might think that &quot;assume&quot; has relatively neutral connotations, while &quot;presume&quot; and &quot;suppose&quot;, as commonly used, have roughly opposite connotations. I think that's about right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T21:25:52.263" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="75" CreationDate="2010-08-10T22:10:08.420" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is important to stress that one of the most effective way of learning English is through practice, rather than pure study. In fact, that is how all native speakers learn it, until it gets formalised later on at school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing you need to do is keep it interesting and relevant. Seeing as you are a developer, you should try making sure that you only get books in English. And trust me, there are many more books on development in English than in any other language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing that is very useful is reading the same text that you have read before in your native language. If there are novels that you have read in Arabic, and loved, try and get the same novel in English. That way, you have some kind of reference as to the meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have been particularly studious, and know the Qur'an like the back of your hand, reading it in English will probably help you a lot as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T07:50:29.390" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T07:50:29.390" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="365" CreationDate="2010-08-10T23:51:48.433" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use of &quot;R&quot;, &quot;U&quot;, etc. is a form of shorthand, and would be most appropriate when time, message length, or ergonomics are constrained, for example with Twitter or a cell phone text message.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When there is no such constraint on the part of the person sending the message, however, it conveys a sense of laziness and casualness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastActivityDate="2010-08-10T23:51:48.433" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="433" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="435" CreationDate="2010-08-11T00:06:28.297" Score="15" ViewCount="200" Body="&lt;p&gt;When is it appropriate to use &lt;em&gt;assure&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;ensure&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;insure&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T13:15:07.017" Title="Assure vs. Ensure vs. Insure" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;look-alikes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="434" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="438" CreationDate="2010-08-11T00:08:12.567" Score="3" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;then what is the result of getting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-09T20:26:01.910" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T20:26:01.910" Title="If the result of creating is creation..." Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;analogy&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="433" CreationDate="2010-08-11T00:09:38.680" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Assure&lt;/strong&gt;: promise, as in &lt;em&gt;I assure you the car is safe to drive.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ensure&lt;/strong&gt;: confirm, as in &lt;em&gt;Ensure that you have plenty of gas in the tank before going on a long trip.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Insure&lt;/strong&gt;: protect with an insurance policy, as in &lt;em&gt;Insure the car before your trip.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T00:09:38.680" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="434" CreationDate="2010-08-11T01:05:11.983" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The result of creating is creation. The result of destructing is destruction. So if the result of giving is gift, the result of getting must be gett :-P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But seriously, the result of getting can be &quot;get&quot;. Perhaps not in U.S. English, but it is certainly quite common in British and New Zealand slang. It is quite common to hear something like &quot;what was your get?&quot; meaning &quot;how much money did you make?&quot;, although it is much more common to hear &quot;what was your catch?&quot; in reference to things gotten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mentioned &quot;gett&quot; in humour, so in all seriousness, I proffer &quot;obtainment&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-12T05:03:44.947" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T05:03:44.947" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="434" CreationDate="2010-08-11T03:54:16.980" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it's just &quot;get.&quot; I know that word exists, at least. It usually refers to children, if memory serves me aright...or maybe it meant something like &quot;ilk.&quot; I'm guessing that meaning is obsolete or it comes from &quot;begetting&quot;, but that'd be my guess. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T03:54:16.980" />
  <row Id="438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="434" CreationDate="2010-08-11T03:54:46.323" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be perfectly dry about it, the result of creating is either (a) there has been a(n act of) creation, or (b) there is now, in existence, a (new) creation. Describing the parallel conceptual relationships, the result of getting is either (a) a thing has been gotten, or (b) there is now, in my possession, a (new) thing. In the case of &lt;em&gt;getting&lt;/em&gt;, these are concepts without single word signifiers. Sorry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I guess another way to answer your question is, &quot;the result of &lt;em&gt;getting&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;thing&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="31" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-11T04:05:54.257" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T04:05:54.257" />
  <row Id="439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="421" CreationDate="2010-08-11T07:59:55.407" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;General note: I think one should avoid idioms unless familiar with their usage and frequency. Beware of overusing idioms, or using overused idioms. It is better to talk plainly than to resort to clichés. You could end up talk like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0751828/quotes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sir Desmond Glazebrook: City's a funny place, you know, Prime Minister. If you spill the beans, you open up a whole can of worms. And how can you let sleeping dogs lie if you let the cat out of the bag? Bring in a new broom, and if you're not careful you'll find you've thrown the baby out with the bathwater. If you change horses in the middle of the stream, next thing you know you're up the creek without a paddle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;James Hacker: And then the balloon goes up.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sir Desmond Glazebrook: Obviously. They hit you for six. An own goal in fact. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[… later …]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;James Hacker: He only talks in clichés. He can talk in clichés till the cows come home. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T07:59:55.407" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="433" CreationDate="2010-08-11T12:41:43.160" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To “assure” a person of something is to make him or her confident of it. According to Associated Press style, to “ensure” that something happens is to make certain that it does, and to “insure” is to issue an insurance policy. Other authorities, however, consider “ensure” and “insure” interchangeable. To please conservatives, make the distinction. However, it is worth noting that in older usage these spellings were not clearly distinguished.European “life assurance” companies take the position that all policy-holders are mortal and someone will definitely collect, thus assuring heirs of some income. American companies tend to go with “insurance” for coverage of life as well as of fire, theft, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beedictionary.com/definition/assure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;assure&quot; Definitions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;(v)&lt;/em&gt; make certain of&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;(v)&lt;/em&gt; inform positively and with certainty and confidence&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;(v)&lt;/em&gt; assure somebody of the truth of something with the intention of&#xA;  giving the listener confidence&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;(v)&lt;/em&gt; be careful or certain to do something; make certain of something&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;(v)&lt;/em&gt; cause to feel sure; give reassurance to&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;(v)&lt;/em&gt; make a promise or commitment&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beedictionary.com/definition/assure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;assure&quot; Usages:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Soon the Great Depression in the 1930s showed that democracy could not&#xA;  assure prosperity either, and the&#xA;  totalitarian creeds gathered momentum.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;In all of these markets, reform must assure transparency, prevent&#xA;  abuse, and protect the public&#xA;  interest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Conversely, oil companies might sell futures contracts to assure a&#xA;  profit against future price drops.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beedictionary.com/definition/ensure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;ensure&quot; Definitions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;(v)&lt;/em&gt; make certain of&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;(v)&lt;/em&gt; be careful or certain to do something; make certain of something&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beedictionary.com/definition/ensure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;ensure&quot; Usages:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Senator Bordallo has been fighting to ensure that the people of Guam have&#xA;  a voice in Washington.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;To ensure that as many Democrats as possible can cast their votes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;While we do not know all the details of this arrangement, the Fed&#xA;  must ensure that the plan protects the&#xA;  families that count on insurance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beedictionary.com/definition/insure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;insure&quot; Definitions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;(v)&lt;/em&gt; be careful or certain to do something; make certain of something&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;(v)&lt;/em&gt; make certain of&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;(v)&lt;/em&gt; protect by insurance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;(v)&lt;/em&gt; take out insurance for&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beedictionary.com/definition/insure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;insure&quot; Usages:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;AIG generally sells credit-default swaps, thereby promising to insure&#xA;  others against defaults.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Some facts about 1944 movie tastes, as registered at the nation's&#xA;  box-offices: A popular star does not&#xA;  insure a popular picture.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Say you buy a house and insure it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beedictionary.com/common-errors/assure_vs_ensure_vs_insure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://beedictionarycom.s3.amazonaws.com/images/header_logo.png&quot; alt=&quot;BeeDictionary&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="40" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-11T13:15:07.017" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T13:15:07.017" />
  <row Id="442" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-11T13:18:46.527" Score="8" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't like prefixing all my answers and pontifications about English usage with IMHO.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where can I find a reasonably well recognized style guide that is online that I can refer people to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first choice, &lt;a href=&quot;http://chicagomanualofstyle.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chicagomanualofstyle.org&lt;/a&gt;, is for paid subscribers only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Emphasis on well recognized, personally, I mostly do technical and office writing)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6" LastEditorUserId="6" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-11T14:34:13.723" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T06:55:21.053" Title="Where can I find a reasonably well recognized free style guide that is online?" Tags="&lt;style-manuals&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="405" CreationDate="2010-08-11T13:39:54.180" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In most contexts “specially” is more common than “especially,” but when you mean “particularly” “especially” works better: “I am not especially excited about inheriting my grandmother’s neurotic Siamese cat.” “Especial” in the place of “special” is very formal and rather old-fashioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beedictionary.com/definition/specially&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;specially&quot; Definitions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;(adv)&lt;/em&gt; in a special manner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;(adv)&lt;/em&gt; to a distinctly greater extent or degree than is common&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beedictionary.com/definition/specially&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;specially&quot; Usages:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;After 911, she organized the sale of specially designed T shirts to&#xA;  benefit a Twin Towers fund and&#xA;  spearheaded a p.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The M80 achieves its remarkable draft with a specially sculpted hull&#xA;  that lets air and water flow&#xA;  underneath to reduce wind resistance&#xA;  and generate lift.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Large, specially equipped Pave Low helicopters flew dark, low and fast&#xA;  toward the refinery from just over the&#xA;  Kuwait border.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beedictionary.com/definition/especially&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;especially&quot; Definitions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;(adv)&lt;/em&gt; to a distinctly greater extent or degree than is common&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;(adv)&lt;/em&gt; in a special manner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beedictionary.com/definition/especially&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;especially&quot; Usages:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Eat more vegetable protein, especially from beans in general and&#xA;  soybeans in particular.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;It's a wind turbine designed especially for home use.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;But American parents especially may wish to study up on the possible&#xA;  candidates.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Source:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beedictionary.com/common-errors/specially_vs_especially&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://beedictionarycom.s3.amazonaws.com/images/header_logo.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="40" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-11T17:10:34.993" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T17:10:34.993" />
  <row Id="444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="442" CreationDate="2010-08-11T13:45:50.173" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the same domain than chicagomanualofstyle (users working &quot;with magazines, newsletters, corporate reports, proposals, electronic publications, Web sites, and other nonbook or nonprint documents&quot;), you also have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.economist.com/research/styleguide/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Economist.com Style Guide&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Clarity of writing usually follows clarity of thought. So think what you want to say, then say it as simply as possible.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Keep in mind George Orwell's six elementary rules (&quot;Politics and the English Language&quot;, 1946):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Never use a long word where a short one will do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;If it is possible to cut out a word, always cut it out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Never use the passive where you can use the active.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T13:45:50.173" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="445" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="447" CreationDate="2010-08-11T13:57:07.433" Score="2" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference in the meaning when we use &lt;em&gt;'ll&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I will go to university tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'll go to university tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="155" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:43:57.890" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:43:57.890" Title="What is the difference between &quot;’ll&quot; and &quot;will&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="446" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="465" CreationDate="2010-08-11T14:02:26.403" Score="1" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;In some podcasts (it seems the speaker was from California) I heard that the word &quot;especially&quot; was pronounced with &quot;ks&quot; sound like &quot;ikspeshally&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What was it likely to be, personal way of pronouncing this word or a local dialect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T23:27:43.403" Title="Pronunciation of &quot;especially&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="6" />
  <row Id="447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="445" CreationDate="2010-08-11T14:13:28.813" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. The second form is a contraction of the first. Generally, contractions aren't appropriate for more formal writing (but as always, consider your target audience when writing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="151" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T14:13:28.813" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="398" CreationDate="2010-08-11T14:30:42.483" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Webster's 1828 dictionary gives this definition:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the transitive form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;REPLEN'ISH, verb transitive [L. re and plenus, full.] : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;To fill; to stock with numbers or abundance.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The magazines are &lt;strong&gt;replenished&lt;/strong&gt; with corn.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The springs are &lt;strong&gt;replenished&lt;/strong&gt; with water.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Multiply and &lt;strong&gt;replenish&lt;/strong&gt; the earth. Gen 1.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the intransitive form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;REPLEN'ISH, verb intransitive: To recover former fullness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Another answer gives this:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... &quot;replenish&quot; is of French/Latin origin and &quot;fill&quot; is of Anglo-Saxon/Germanic origin. Interestingly, roll the clock back a couple thousand years and they should be the same word. Germanic languages tended to turn P into F, so the ancestor of both words was probably &quot;pell&quot; or &quot;pill&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In short:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is a transitive verb (&quot;Replenish the bin.&quot;) it means &lt;strong&gt;fill&lt;/strong&gt;, if intransitive (&quot;It will replenish&quot;, it means &lt;strong&gt;refill&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="62" LastEditorUserId="62" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-20T16:40:00.460" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T16:40:00.460" />
  <row Id="449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="446" CreationDate="2010-08-11T14:48:33.033" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I checked more than 10 dictionaries and the pronunciation of &quot;especially&quot; is given as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;/ɪˈspɛʃ(ə)li, ɛ-/&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's probably the personal way of pronouncing that word for the relevant person, which seems wrong to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T14:48:33.033" />
  <row Id="450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="446" CreationDate="2010-08-11T14:53:21.650" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was born and raised in California. I've spent time in many different Californian locales, and I have never heard that pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the speaker misspoke or was trying to be cute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T14:53:21.650" />
  <row Id="451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="415" CreationDate="2010-08-11T15:51:48.990" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://phrontistery.info/wordpolls.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://phrontistery.info/wordpolls.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This site doesn't discuss &quot;correct v. incorrect&quot; pronunciations. Instead it's a poll of how people pronounce relatively common words. If you're curious about alternate pronunciations and how common they are, based on an admittedly small sample, you might find it interesting. The fellow who posts the polls also writes analyses of varying length for most of the results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T15:51:48.990" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="398" CreationDate="2010-08-11T16:22:56.880" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;transitive verb &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a : to fill with persons or animals : &lt;em&gt;STOCK&lt;/em&gt; b archaic : to&#xA;  supply fully : &lt;em&gt;PERFECT&lt;/em&gt; c : to fill&#xA;  with inspiration or power : &lt;em&gt;NOURISH&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a : to fill or build up again  b : to make&#xA;  good : &lt;em&gt;REPLACE&lt;/em&gt;  intransitive verb :&#xA;  to become full : fill up again&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T16:22:56.880" />
  <row Id="453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="446" CreationDate="2010-08-11T17:11:42.433" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was raised in California and have heard that occasionally. I do not think it is a regional dialect in the sense that there is some part of California in which everyone speaks that way. It's more likely to be a social dialect of some kind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T17:11:42.433" />
  <row Id="454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="442" CreationDate="2010-08-11T17:44:27.323" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian#Nickname&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Grauniad&lt;/a&gt;, Observer and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;guardian.co.uk&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;style guide&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;No passion in the world is equal to&#xA;  the passion to alter someone else's&#xA;  draft.&quot;&#xA;  - HG Wells&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="72" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T17:44:27.323" />
  <row Id="455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="446" CreationDate="2010-08-11T18:04:41.857" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pronunciation of &quot;especially&quot; is: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beedictionary.com/definition/especially&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;code&gt;/ə ˈspɛʃ li/&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/dictionary?langpair=en|en&amp;amp;q=especially&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;aq=f&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;code&gt;/iˈspeSHəlē/&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Listen pronunciation from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beedictionary.com/definition/especially&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BeeDictionary&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/dictionary?langpair=en|en&amp;amp;q=especially&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;aq=f&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T18:04:41.857" />
  <row Id="456" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="459" CreationDate="2010-08-11T18:14:13.537" Score="11" ViewCount="211" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is a difference between &quot;try to do&quot; and &quot;try and do&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me (non-native English speaker) asking someone &quot;try and do this&quot; seems a bit rude. To me it's like saying &quot;you can try all you want but at the end this must be done, try and fail not an option&quot;. While asking someone &quot;try to do this&quot; means I am asking you to try, if at the end you succeed it is extra bonus, if fail it's also ok. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T14:53:10.573" Title="Difference between &quot;try to do&quot; and &quot;try and do&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="456" CreationDate="2010-08-11T18:32:01.677" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no difference.  &quot;Try to&quot; is the &quot;classic&quot; version -- &quot;try and&quot; has been increasing in usage recently (and is quite the pet peeve of mine), but I've never known an English speaker to see a difference in meaning between the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T18:32:01.677" />
  <row Id="458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="456" CreationDate="2010-08-11T18:32:18.553" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe this (&quot;try and do&quot;) is more an oral expression, but has the same meaning than &quot;try to do&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In writing, I would always use &quot;try to do&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T18:32:18.553" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="456" CreationDate="2010-08-11T18:35:00.607" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Try and&quot; has largely been relegated to colloquial use, and &quot;try to&quot; is generally considered the correct form. They are basically synonymous. &quot;Try and&quot; is not really more rude, in my opinion. &lt;a href=&quot;http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxtryand.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;According to alt.usage.english&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;try and&quot; is probably older than &quot;try to,&quot; and, when used, implies success or failure of whatever action is being attempted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as speech goes though, they're the same thing. If you're writing, &quot;try and&quot; is generally discouraged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-15T14:53:10.573" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T14:53:10.573" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="460" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="461" CreationDate="2010-08-11T19:59:58.547" Score="10" ViewCount="297" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you capitalize both parts of a hyphenated word in a title?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;My Ex-Wife Hates Me&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;My Ex-wife Hates Me&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:42:44.240" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:42:44.240" Title="Do you capitalize both parts of a hyphenated word in a title?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;hyphen&gt;&lt;title&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="460" CreationDate="2010-08-11T20:06:13.323" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Capitalization of  hyphenated words in general is really more a question of style than anything else.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In other word, choose a rule and be consistent with it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://home.comcast.net/~garbl/stylemanual/c.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Garbl's writing center&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When capitalizing hyphenated words in a title, choose a style and follow it consistently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Simplest is to capitalize only the first word unless later words are proper nouns or adjectives: &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Unique benefits for part-time violinists, &#xA;All-American flag-waving techniques. &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Second is to capitalize all words except articles, short prepositions and short conjunctions: &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Over-the-Counter Acid Reducers for Sale Here, &#xA;A Matter-of-Fact Approach to Guitar Tuning, &#xA;A New Park-and-Ride Lot for Commuters. &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Optional exceptions to the second style are to lowercase the word after a prefix unless it is a proper noun or adjective and to lowercase the second word in a spelled out number: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Anti-intellectual Conduct, &#xA;Twenty-first Century Values.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, since &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ex-&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;ex-&quot; is a prefix&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;My Ex-wife Hates Me&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-11T20:14:04.817" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T20:14:04.817" />
  <row Id="462" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-11T21:56:57.907" Score="10" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some languages have a &quot;regulatory body&quot; issuing recommendations and guidelines regarding the use of that language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example in the case of Spanish it's the &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Academia_Espa%C3%B1ola&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Real Academia Española&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; whose status is recognised in all Spanish-speaking countries. The Academy, among other things, publishes a dictionary (&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diccionario_de_la_lengua_espa%C3%B1ola_de_la_Real_Academia_Espa%C3%B1ola&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DRAE&lt;/a&gt;&quot;), in print and &lt;a href=&quot;http://drae.rae.es/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;online&lt;/a&gt;, which is usually given a lot of prestige (but is not without &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Academia_Espa%C3%B1ola#Criticisms_of_the_Academy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;controversies&lt;/a&gt;, of course).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any such authorative—or at least influential—institution(s) or publication(s) for the English language? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T17:05:21.160" Title="Regulatory bodies and authoritative dictionaries for English" Tags="&lt;dictionaries&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="462" CreationDate="2010-08-11T22:24:18.030" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fortunately or unfortunately, no. There is no regulatory body like the &lt;em&gt;Real Academia Española&lt;/em&gt; (or the &lt;em&gt;Académie française&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_language_regulators&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the many others&lt;/a&gt;) deciding what is correct English; English evolves naturally with the changing usage of people. Right and wrong are decided based on describing and analyzing actual usage. (This — &quot;descriptive linguistics&quot; — is so canonical among English linguists that I've seen some of them occasionally find other languages' regulatory bodies an absurd idea. Anyway…)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Among dictionaries, the Oxford English dictionary and the Merriam-Webster dictionary are a couple of the &quot;good&quot; dictionaries (there are others), but note that these, too, have as their goal being reliable indicators of actual usage, and not regulation of, or authority over, language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T22:24:18.030" />
  <row Id="464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="446" CreationDate="2010-08-11T22:58:27.880" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that pronunciation from people with Appalachian roots, but I think it is rare there. The same people tend to pronounce &quot;nuclear&quot; as &quot;nucular&quot;, so the pattern seems to be to convert unusual (for the dialect) diphthongs to something more natural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T22:58:27.880" />
  <row Id="465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="446" CreationDate="2010-08-11T23:27:43.403" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Idaho and I hear people pronounce especially this way all of the time, and it drives me nuts! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More often than not (at least around here) it gets pronounced either &quot;ex-specially&quot; or &quot;eck-specially&quot; or &quot;eg-specially&quot;. Seriously, I'm not kidding. I hate to rip on my home state, but there are loads of people here who have their own dialect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't even ask me about &quot;creek&quot; and &quot;crick&quot;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="104" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T23:27:43.403" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21" CreationDate="2010-08-11T23:36:17.117" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never heard an American use betwixt, trebble (or aught, naught, or nought), or learnt, although:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;betwixt and between&quot; as a figure of speech would be &quot;acceptable&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;larnt&quot; is an Appalachian dialect word that would cost you points in a school paper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-11T23:36:17.117" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="467" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="468" CreationDate="2010-08-12T01:32:15.977" Score="7" ViewCount="294" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why the word &quot;mind&quot; can be used as a verb, synonym of &quot;pay attention to&quot;? It has the same etymology of the &quot;mind&quot; (centre of thought, feelings, brain) noun? When it is better to use &quot;mind&quot; in place of &quot;pay attention to&quot; (or similar phrases)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="156" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T02:14:47.540" Title="Why &quot;mind&quot; means &quot;pay attention to&quot;" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="467" CreationDate="2010-08-12T02:06:09.153" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The verb, &quot;to mind&quot; is descended from the Old English noun &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gemynd&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gemynd&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, which means &quot;thought&quot;, &quot;memory&quot;, &quot;thinking&quot;, &quot;commemoration&quot;, and &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=mind&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;intention&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. This word itself is descended from the hypothetical Proto-Indo-European word &quot;*men&quot; meaning &quot;to think&quot;, &quot;to remember&quot;, or &quot;to have one's mind aroused&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most interesting thing (for me) is that this word has cognates in Sanskrit, Latin, Ancient Greek and Russian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess the word would have originally been used in the sense &quot;to remember&quot;. E.g. when one is saying &quot;mind the kids!&quot; what they really mean is &quot;don't forget the kids!&quot;. The word, with usage, would have eventually gained its meaning of &quot;to pay attention to&quot;, simply through its continual usage in that sense. It gained this particular meaning (&quot;to take care of&quot;, &quot;look after&quot;) round about the 1690s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seeing as &quot;mind&quot; has so many meanings to do with thinking, remembering, as well as the whole idea of spiritual embodiment of one's thoughts, it only makes sense that it would have so many uses with different flavours of meaning today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for exactly how it happened; that would require a lot more research, and possibly a time machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For usage, I don't think it makes much difference whether someone were to say/write &quot;pay attention to the kids&quot; or &quot;mind the kids&quot;. The latter quote is a lot shorter, but also has a slightly different meaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warning: Opinion follows:&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;Pay attention&quot; implies that you need to watch them, but doesn't necessarily mean you must look after them as well - although it usually would. &quot;Mind the kids&quot;, implies that you must watch the kids and keep them out of danger - though if anyone were watching kids, and didn't take care to keep them out of danger, they would be a right drongo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Pay attention to...&quot; can also mean &quot;Pay especial attention to...&quot;, for instance, in the sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mind the kids, and pay attention to Sally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is obvious that the listener should look after all the kids, with special care regarding Sally, as she may be prone to being more naughty or adventerous, and likely to get into trouble/injure herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put the two phrases in the other order:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pay attention to the kids, and mind Sally especially.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Requires the extra adverb to bring the same meaning to the table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T02:14:47.540" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T02:14:47.540" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="434" CreationDate="2010-08-12T02:45:17.190" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Get&quot; has a variety of meanings, for example &quot;get drunk&quot; means &quot;become drunk&quot; or &quot;get upset&quot; means &quot;become upset&quot;. So in this case the result of a get is a &quot;becoming&quot;. It can also mean &quot;receive&quot; as in &quot;get a present&quot; or &quot;get a disease&quot;. The corresponding noun for &quot;receive&quot; is &quot;receipt&quot; but this noun also has other meanings. &quot;Get&quot; is also used in phrasal verbs, as in &quot;get over it&quot;, &quot;get on with it&quot;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T02:45:17.190" />
  <row Id="470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="170" CreationDate="2010-08-12T13:43:58.620" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That sounded a bit weird so I checked it out. The full sentence is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dirk Stroeve flattered himself on his&#xA;  skill in cooking Italian dishes, and I&#xA;  confess that his spaghetti were very&#xA;  much better than his pictures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this context his spaghetti means 'his spaghetti dishes' much like you might say 'his omelettes' : so it's normal usage. I suspect spaghetti is less of an exotic 'dish' today than it was to Maugham's readers as the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I make a follow up remark after some of the discussion below. If Maugham has just said 'his spaghettis were' he would have saved us a lot of bother :-). Maybe he just balked at the apparent double plural, but I think it would have been the better choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="122" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-14T12:14:30.413" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T12:14:30.413" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="412" CreationDate="2010-08-12T15:11:56.197" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rule: yes in English, no in German.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T15:11:56.197" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="472" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="549" CreationDate="2010-08-12T16:59:05.473" Score="8" ViewCount="383" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I &lt;em&gt;reliably&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;accurately&lt;/em&gt; identify the passive voice in writing or speech? I'm not interested in advice about whether or not to use it yet... I just want to know for sure what it is, so that I don't look as stupid as &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2524&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these people&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="513" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T21:49:58.837" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T20:19:16.100" Title="What is passive voice, really?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;passive-voice&gt;" AnswerCount="9" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="445" CreationDate="2010-08-12T17:24:34.807" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A major role of language is establishing a social context, and contractions are one of many usages to establish an informal context. Back when I was in university, informalisms were frowned upon, but the language is moving towards stuff you can say quickly, so maybe they are acceptable now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of markers of a formal context that sound unnatural to a (my) modern ear, e.g., &quot;we are not amused&quot; or &quot;it is thought that&quot;. On the other hand, the third person plural and passive voice looks better in print, which is a reason for the divergence of the written and spoken language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incidentally, saying &quot;go to university&quot; to an American as opposed to &quot;go to &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; university&quot; would establish that you're English, and therefore culturally superior to an American.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T17:24:34.807" />
  <row Id="474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="472" CreationDate="2010-08-12T17:32:16.590" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think following articles will be helpful to you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_voice&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Passive Voice - Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_passive_voice&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;English Passive Voice - Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www2.gsu.edu/~accerl/passive/PA.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Passive Voice Self-Tests&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T17:32:16.590" />
  <row Id="475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="472" CreationDate="2010-08-12T17:37:34.570" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simplest rule that I can suggest here is that the subject of the sentence is not 'Actively' doing something. He/She/It is 'Passive' i.e. it is being acted upon. the subject here is the recipient of action, rather than the doer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The child was struck by the car.&quot;&#xA;&quot; The fruit was eaten&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here,The child was acted upon by the car. Likewise for the fruit here.&#xA;HTH.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T17:37:34.570" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="476" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="491" CreationDate="2010-08-12T17:54:43.320" Score="2" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Important&quot; and &quot;significant&quot; seems to be very close in meaning when denoting that something matters much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But am I right in thinking that &quot;important&quot; is less formal word than &quot;significant&quot;? And what, if any, are other differences in usage between them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:59:05.957" Title="&quot;Important&quot; and &quot;significant&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-08-12T18:08:48.440" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English seems to have formed with only 3 or 4 words for emotions, not counting the dozens of words meaning &quot;inebriated&quot;. Fortunately, the language's facility with innovation has given us many loanwords for emotional states. Some more examples of nuanced emotions borrowed from other languages:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Angst,&#xA;Tristesse,&#xA;Schadenfreude,&#xA;Joie de vivre,&#xA;Amour fou&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T18:08:48.440" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-12T18:08:48.440" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="472" CreationDate="2010-08-12T18:18:42.367" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In simple terms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The boy &lt;strong&gt;kicked&lt;/strong&gt; the ball. Active. The ball &lt;strong&gt;was kicked&lt;/strong&gt; by the boy. Passive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are lots of related constructions, but you will need to consult a good grammar such as the &quot;Cambridge Grammar of English&quot; if you need a detailed analysis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="128" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T18:18:42.367" />
  <row Id="479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="476" CreationDate="2010-08-12T18:33:02.883" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The importance of an event or an&#xA;  occasion is how worthwhile it is in&#xA;  the scheme of things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The significance of an event or an&#xA;  occasion is the underlying meaning or&#xA;  interpretation of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic11081.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ENGLISH-TEST.NET&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T18:33:02.883" />
  <row Id="480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="445" CreationDate="2010-08-12T18:45:39.520" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if there is any difference in meaning in the words themselves, since one is a contraction of the other. But they tend to be used slightly differently, with the contracted form more likely to appear in spoken English, for example. And changing the intonation and context might change the meaning completely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="128" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T18:45:39.520" />
  <row Id="481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="365" CreationDate="2010-08-12T18:48:40.823" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the relationship between the people writing and receiving the message, and the context of the communication. In the right context &quot;U&quot; and &quot;R&quot; are fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="128" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T18:48:40.823" />
  <row Id="482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="412" CreationDate="2010-08-12T19:08:03.323" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The basic question here is about disambiguation. Does the comma give you information that you need in order to fully understand the sentence? If it does, you want to include it. If not, it's not necessary, although it can still be used. It's common in the United States, not so much in the U.K. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to the examples itrekkie listed, you could also consider this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I leave all my worldly possessions to my nieces Sarah, Jane, and Carol.&quot; This sentence implies that each niece would receive 1/3 of the estate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I leave all my worldly possessions to my nieces Sarah, Jane and Carol.&quot; This sentence could be read to imply that Sarah gets 50% of the estate, while Jane and Carol each get 25%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="162" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T19:08:03.323" />
  <row Id="483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="476" CreationDate="2010-08-12T19:13:00.940" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Important&quot; and &quot;significant&quot; are extremely close in meaning, but I think you are right that &quot;important&quot; is less formal than &quot;significant&quot;. I haven't done the research, but I think we'd find that &quot;important&quot; is an older word in English than &quot;significant&quot;, and that is the reason for the difference. If I had to bet, &quot;important&quot; entered the language around 1066, and &quot;significant&quot; came along during the renaissance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Modern English was formed from the conquest of Germanic language speakers by Norman French speakers, with later overlays of educated people using Latin and Modern French words. Therefore the social pattern is that the newer the word, the higher its status; naturally this is mostly unconscious, but speakers attempting to establish high status will tend to use words of Romance origin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that this trend it not limited to Germanic vs Romance words, or to specific historical periods. A modern example might be the status progression in &quot;teacher/instructor/guru&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T19:13:00.940" />
  <row Id="484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-08-12T19:19:38.883" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I particularly like the French phrase &lt;em&gt;l'esprit de l'escalier&lt;/em&gt; -- it literally means the spirit of the staircase, but it refers to coming up with the perfect retort to something only after you've left the room. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="162" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T19:19:38.883" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-12T19:19:38.883" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-08-12T19:23:36.143" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nu -- Yiddish word that has no real equivalent in English. Leo Rosten &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Joys_of_Yiddish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;writes&lt;/a&gt;: &quot;nu is the verbal equivalent of a sign, a frown, a grin, a grunt, a sneer.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T19:23:36.143" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-12T19:23:36.143" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="362" CreationDate="2010-08-12T19:28:33.727" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was taught in American schools that &quot;OK&quot; was the correct spelling, because it was an acronym for [various improbable figures of speech]. Suspiciously, it turned out that &quot;okay&quot; is a word from the same languages African slaves spoke, and it means &quot;OK&quot;. Early Americans didn't like to acknowledge the African contribution to American culture, which is the likely reason for the acronymic construction. Assuming we accept that theory, &quot;okay&quot; is the more correct spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T19:28:33.727" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="476" CreationDate="2010-08-12T19:36:11.010" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Significant also has implications of relative or quantifiable importance, or importance within a system. &quot;Significant&quot; is a slightly more exacting and fussy version of &quot;important&quot;, analogous to the difference between &quot;exact&quot; and &quot;precise&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T19:36:11.010" />
  <row Id="488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="456" CreationDate="2010-08-12T19:39:40.613" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Try and...&quot;, while accepted in everyday usage, always sounds wrong to me, as if the speaker is commanding you to do two things: &lt;strong&gt;try&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;something unspecified&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;and then&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;do this other thing&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T19:39:40.613" />
  <row Id="489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="292" CreationDate="2010-08-12T19:48:19.810" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me, &lt;em&gt;Dear all&lt;/em&gt; conveys laziness. A well-thought-out message should have a specific audience that the message applies to. &lt;em&gt;Dear coworkers&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Dear minions&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Dear Death-Eaters&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Dear residents&lt;/em&gt;, etc. is not that much more difficult to type. Then someone reading the message can more easily discern whether the message applies to them or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T19:48:19.810" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21" CreationDate="2010-08-12T20:02:02.977" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm American, and the &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; place I've ever seen &lt;em&gt;treble&lt;/em&gt; used was on computer speakers and car stereos (as in &lt;em&gt;bass and treble&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T20:02:02.977" />
  <row Id="491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="476" CreationDate="2010-08-12T20:05:56.697" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My American Heritage Dictionary shows the etymology of &quot;important&quot; as &quot;[&amp;lt; Lat. &lt;em&gt;importare&lt;/em&gt;, be significant]&quot;.  So it's safe to say that in general usage, some meanings overlap.  In certain technical or scientific contexts, however, the meaning of &quot;signifcant&quot; is more narrowly &quot;having a meaning [at all]&quot; (e.g., &lt;em&gt;significant digit&lt;/em&gt;), whereas &quot;important&quot; is not a word with a precise meaning in such contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T20:05:56.697" />
  <row Id="492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="456" CreationDate="2010-08-12T20:06:48.660" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Try and do&quot; is the form of &quot;try to do&quot; in my native dialect (centered in Pittsburgh, maybe), and probably wouldn't sound strange to any American or Canadian. A related construction is &quot;needs done&quot; instead of &quot;needs to be done&quot;, which is more rare outside that dialect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T20:06:48.660" />
  <row Id="493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="172" CreationDate="2010-08-12T20:08:11.993" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for justification outside of a dictionary, there are countless style guidelines that will address the issue -- you'd think. I can't find much, at least not online. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03wwln-guestsafire-t.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Me, Myself and I&lt;/a&gt;&quot; -- New York Times article on this very question. (It comes to the same conclusion -- there's no real grammatical reason for capitalizing &quot;I&quot; aside from typography.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T20:08:11.993" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="494" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="497" CreationDate="2010-08-12T20:16:21.647" Score="7" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the question &lt;em&gt;&quot;Have you got any ice cream?&quot;&lt;/em&gt; which is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yes I do&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yes I have&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or inversely&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No I don't&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No I haven't got any&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="176" LastEditorUserId="176" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-14T19:07:40.303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T10:38:10.017" Title="Answering &quot;Have you got&quot; questions with &quot;I do&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="495" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-12T20:17:01.520" Score="24" ViewCount="1830" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just received a memo which says (effectively) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As more people leave, there will be less people available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want that word to be &lt;em&gt;fewer.&lt;/em&gt; Are there guidelines for which word ought to be used when?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="142" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-23T11:25:03.017" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T11:17:34.487" Title="&quot;less&quot; vs &quot;fewer&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="496" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1112" CreationDate="2010-08-12T20:17:13.877" Score="7" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;How correct/common/proper is &quot;pretty&quot; as an adverb? It is hard for me to see, since it's my native dialect, but I say &quot;pretty often&quot; pretty often, and &quot;fairly often&quot; fairly rarely. Does &quot;pretty&quot; mark me as informal or uneducated or rustic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:23:20.663" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:26:44.130" Title="&quot;Pretty&quot; as an adverb" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="494" CreationDate="2010-08-12T20:21:33.210" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For both questions, the first options are correct since the question is in simple present tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; Since the questioner changed the tense of his question, now the following answer is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yes I have &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; Yes I have got some ice cream.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No I haven't &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; No I haven't got any ice cream.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-14T21:58:31.813" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T21:58:31.813" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="496" CreationDate="2010-08-12T20:21:47.407" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's informal, but correct. &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/pretty_1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Cambridge dictionary&lt;/a&gt; lists an adverb form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T20:21:47.407" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="495" CreationDate="2010-08-12T20:29:51.817" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fewer&quot; is used when the actual number of objects is quantifiable.  Since you can count people, &quot;fewer&quot; is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Less&quot; is used when the amount is not easily quantifiable.  You can put less salt in your soup, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="183" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T20:29:51.817" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="500" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2547" CreationDate="2010-08-12T20:34:59.433" Score="11" ViewCount="527" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard this lyric in a song the other day and it just sounded so wrong that I assumed it must be incorrect grammar, but I can't find any specific prohibition that applies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's what it's. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That rolls off your tongue with the grace of a moose in a tutu, but I can't figure out why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is clearly no problem with ending other sentences with a contraction. These sound fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I thought I could, but I can't.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Stop touching that, it will fall off if you don't.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  You say that the sky is green, but it isn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it sounds just fine if you remove the contraction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's what it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what's up with this construction? Should it be avoided?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:14:27.777" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:14:27.777" Title="Is there some rule against ending a sentence with the contraction &quot;it's&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="501" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="522" CreationDate="2010-08-12T20:36:11.880" Score="6" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;As someone who has watched a lot of subtitled Japanese animation, it seems odd to hear a word such as &lt;em&gt;ninja&lt;/em&gt; (used in the plural) in the dialogue and see it transliterated as &lt;em&gt;ninjas&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It somehow seems better to me to treat &lt;em&gt;ninja&lt;/em&gt; just like &lt;em&gt;antelope&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;bison&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;buffalo&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;caribou&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;deer&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;elk&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;fish&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;grouse&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;quail&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;reindeer&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;sheep&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;swine&lt;/em&gt;, etc., which are both singular and plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-04T10:34:33.853" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T01:09:26.970" Title="Should transliterated words from non-Romance languages ever be pluralized?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="495" CreationDate="2010-08-12T20:37:18.477" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this particular case the correct word to use is 'less', since 'people' is a mass/collective noun. It is commonly used as the plural form of 'person'. I consider this grammatically incorrect (undoubtedly it was so traditionally) though modern usage has adopted it as a sort of plural form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/150&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries Online&lt;/a&gt; explains the usage cases of 'less' and 'fewer' pretty well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Use fewer if you’re referring to people or things in the plural (e.g. houses, newspapers, dogs, students, children). For example:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  * People these days are buying fewer newspapers.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  * Fewer students are opting to study science-related subjects.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  * Fewer than thirty children each year develop the disease.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Use less when you’re referring to something that can’t be counted or doesn’t have a plural (e.g. money, air, time, music, rain). For example:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  * It’s a better job but they pay you less money.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  * People want to spend less time in traffic jams.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  * Ironically, when I’m on tour, I listen to less music.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-12T20:45:40.733" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T20:45:40.733" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="503" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="921" CreationDate="2010-08-12T20:43:59.133" Score="26" ViewCount="471" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, if I wanted to write the equivalent of &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many automated teller machines in this city.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are many ATMs in this city.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are many ATM's in this city&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (could get confused with possessive form or contraction)&#xA;  .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or just &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are many ATM in this city.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (assuming the final s is included in Machines represented y M)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:41:47.250" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:41:47.250" Title="What is the correct way to pluralize an acronym?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;acronyms&gt;&lt;pluralization&gt;" AnswerCount="6" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="495" CreationDate="2010-08-12T20:47:25.800" Score="27" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ah, &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;fewer&lt;/em&gt;. Another arrow in the prescriptivist’s quiver of pointless pedantry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's even a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fewer_vs._less&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article about the dispute&lt;/a&gt;. There is also a &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003775.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Language Log entry&lt;/a&gt; about the matter too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=2yJusP0vrdgC&amp;amp;lpg=PA592&amp;amp;pg=PA593#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage&lt;/a&gt;, a usage guide that looks carefully at the history of usage advice, the rule creating a clear separation for &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;fewer&lt;/em&gt; was invented in 1770 by Rober Baker in his book &lt;em&gt;Reflections on the English Language&lt;/em&gt;, where he wrote in a comment on &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Word is most commonly used in speaking of a Number; where I should think &lt;em&gt;Fewer&lt;/em&gt; would do better. &lt;em&gt;No Fewer than a Hundred&lt;/em&gt; appears to me not only more elegant than &lt;em&gt;No less than a Hundred&lt;/em&gt;, but more strictly proper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage authors then comment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Baker’s remarks about &lt;em&gt;fewer&lt;/em&gt; express clearly and modestly—“I should think,”, “appears to me”—his own taste and preference. It is instructive to compare Baker with one of the most recent college handbooks in our collection:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Fewer&lt;/em&gt; refers to quantities that can be counted individually.… &lt;em&gt;Less&lt;/em&gt; is used for collective quantities that are not counted individually… and for abstract characteristics. —Trimmer &amp;amp; McCrimmon 1988&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Notice how Baker’s preference has here been generalized and elevated to an absolute status, and his notice of contrary usage has been omitted. This approach is quite common in handbooks and schoolbooks; many pedagogues seem reluctant to share the often complicated facts about English with their students.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How Baker’s opinion came to be an inviolable rule, we do not know. But we do know that many people believe it is such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They then give many examples of usage of less for countable quantities, and add finally:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The examples above show native speakers and writers of English using &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; of count nouns in various constructions. &lt;em&gt;Fewer&lt;/em&gt; could have been used in many of them—at times it might have been more elegant, as Robert Baker thought—but in others no native speaker would use anything but &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regards to the example in the original question, either &lt;em&gt;fewer&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; would be perfectly grammatical, but so many people are under the spell of the rule that &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; must never be used with countable nouns that anyone who doesn’t follow the rule may be subject to criticism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit 2010-09-28:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language also weighs in on &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;fewer&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The relation between &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;fewer&lt;/em&gt; is fairly complex. In non-count singulars only &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; is possible: &lt;em&gt;Kim has less/*fewer money than Pat.&lt;/em&gt; In plural NPs we have:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [17]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  i. &lt;em&gt;She left less than ten minutes ago.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  ii. &lt;em&gt;Less/Fewer than thirty of the students had voted.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  iii. &lt;em&gt;He made no less/fewer than fifteen mistakes.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  iv. &lt;em&gt;You pass if you make ten mistakes or less/?fewer&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  v. &lt;em&gt;He took less/*fewer pains to convince us than I’d expected&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  vi. &lt;em&gt;He made fewer/less mistakes than the others.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Both [i] and [ii] have &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt; + numeral. In [i] &lt;em&gt;ten minutes&lt;/em&gt; expresses and amount of time rather than a number of individuated units, and in such cases &lt;em&gt;fewer&lt;/em&gt; is virtually impossible—just as &lt;em&gt;few&lt;/em&gt; would be in a comparison of equality: &lt;em&gt;She left as little/*few as ten minutes ago.&lt;/em&gt; Similarly with &lt;em&gt;We paid less than thirty dollars for it; She’s less than forty years old; We were going at less than ten miles an hour.&lt;/em&gt; In [ii] we are concerned with countable individuals and &lt;em&gt;little&lt;/em&gt; cannot be used in a comparison of equality (&lt;em&gt;*as little as thirty of the students&lt;/em&gt;); nevertheless, for inequality &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; is more common than &lt;em&gt;fewer&lt;/em&gt; in this construction. The same applies with percentages: &lt;em&gt;Less/Fewer than 30% of the students had voted.&lt;/em&gt; Construction [iii] has the comparative form following &lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt;: though the interpretation is count plural, &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; is here again more common than &lt;em&gt;fewer&lt;/em&gt;. Construction [iv] has &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; after a numeral: &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; is the usual form here, with &lt;em&gt;fewer&lt;/em&gt; quite marginal; this construction is widely seen in supermarkets, with the fast checkout labelled &lt;em&gt;eight items or less&lt;/em&gt;, or the like. In [v] &lt;em&gt;pains&lt;/em&gt; is plural but non-count rather than count (we can’t ask how many pains he took), and here only &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; is possible. Finally in [vi] (as also in [15ii]) the comparative occurs directly with a count plural noun: both forms are found, but &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; is subject to quite strong prescriptavist disapproval, so that &lt;em&gt;fewer&lt;/em&gt; is widely preferred in formal style, and many speakers in informal style too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[Usage manuals are divided on the issue of &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;fewer&lt;/em&gt;. Some uncompromisingly brand such forms as &lt;em&gt;less mistakes&lt;/em&gt; as incorrect, while others note that though commonly condemned they are often used by speakers of Standard English. Before the Early Modern English period (beginning around 1500) &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; was restricted to non-count NPs with &lt;em&gt;moe&lt;/em&gt; used as the comparative of &lt;em&gt;many&lt;/em&gt;. At that time &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; was used along with &lt;em&gt;fewer&lt;/em&gt; for count NPs, but came to be stigmatised and quite rare in this use: it is only within the last generation or so that it has become frequent. The current revival seems inexorable, given the strong pressure of analogy with &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt;.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-29T01:40:20.753" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T01:40:20.753" CommentCount="14" />
  <row Id="506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="472" CreationDate="2010-08-12T20:52:35.397" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Grammar Girl had a good podcast on this very topic recently: &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/active-voice-versus-passive-voice.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Active Voice Versus Passive Voice&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She had a really good definition for passive voice: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is Passive Voice?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  In passive voice, the target of the&#xA;  action gets promoted to the subject&#xA;  position. Instead of saying, &quot;Steve&#xA;  loves Amy,&quot; I would say, &quot;Amy is loved&#xA;  by Steve.&quot; The subject of the sentence&#xA;  becomes Amy, but she isn't doing&#xA;  anything. Rather, she is just the&#xA;  recipient of Steve's love. The focus&#xA;  of the sentence has changed from Steve&#xA;  to Amy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really like her debunking the myth that a sentence is automatically in passive voice if the verb is a &quot;to be&quot; verb. For example the following sentence is definitely in active voice despite what Strunk &amp;amp; White think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I am holding a pen.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="179" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-12T22:02:01.850" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T22:02:01.850" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="503" CreationDate="2010-08-12T20:55:17.403" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I vote for the first, &quot;ATMs&quot;. The second is just wrong (apostrophe is not used for plurals, ever). This is because ATM is a defined term for an AT &lt;strong&gt;machine&lt;/strong&gt;, and using it as plural &quot;automatic teller machines&quot; would be a redefinition of a common abbreviation, which one should not be trigger-happy about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The third, however, does not solve the real need to say there's more than one. It is though clear from the sentence, but might not be so in a general case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastEditorUserId="188" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-14T21:50:01.583" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T21:50:01.583" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="501" CreationDate="2010-08-12T20:56:07.107" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the pattern is that English speakers pluralize with an &quot;S&quot; when in doubt, and some of the plurals that sound doubtful in English end in &quot;A&quot; or &quot;I&quot;. As another example, I hear &quot;schemas&quot; on a daily basis, but never heard &quot;schemata&quot; except when I tried it myself a few times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T20:56:07.107" />
  <row Id="509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="434" CreationDate="2010-08-12T20:56:07.310" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was always taught that &quot;receive&quot; is usually more preferable than &quot;get,&quot; so I'd personally go with &quot;reception.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, we now have to decide what the act of getting reception is called. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="183" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T20:56:07.310" />
  <row Id="510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="501" CreationDate="2010-08-12T20:56:33.237" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We do this all the time with Latin and Greek loan-words in English. (The former is technically not a Romance language, but rather the progenitor of them.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;e.g. Octupus -&gt; Octopodes (Greek), when we typically use &quot;Octopuses&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;e.g. Peninsula -&gt; Peninsulae (Latin), when we typically use &quot;Peninsulas&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many, many more examples, in particular of Latin origin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, because these words have been around so long in the language, we anglicise their plural forms, rather than keeping the originals, out of convenience (ignorance?). Some will always insist to use the original Latin/Greek plurals, of course. With more recent loan-words, it is more common to keep the plural form of the original language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My view is that we should use the plural form of the source language when known/in common use, and anglicise the word by adding -s or -es otherwise. Each to their own, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-12T21:10:20.160" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:10:20.160" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="511" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="517" CreationDate="2010-08-12T20:58:10.953" Score="5" ViewCount="248" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need some good Website or Books that can English (Britain, USA) slang.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need it's &lt;strong&gt;explain&lt;/strong&gt; in &lt;strong&gt;detail&lt;/strong&gt; and if has some photo for more information it's better for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="190" LastEditorUserId="190" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T18:28:16.593" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T03:45:56.773" Title="where can I learn English Slang?" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="511" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:00:58.357" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="171" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:00:58.357" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="503" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:02:09.120" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first is the correct usage, in my view. The third may be quite acceptable however, since the M in ATM could equally stand for 'machine' or 'machines', though I think pluralising the actual acronym is much clearer in speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, never use an apostrophe. &lt;em&gt;'s&lt;/em&gt; should only be appended to a word to create the posessive form (&quot;of ...&quot;), never for plurals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:02:09.120" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:03:23.720" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;Volta&quot; in Greek is similar to the English word &quot;jaunt&quot;, but has a more nuanced meaning with other connotations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the late afternoon/early evening in Greece it is traditional for a family or social group of friends to go on a stroll outdoors en masse, often after a meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After a late lunch, the entire family&#xA;  took a volta down to the plaka (town&#xA;  square).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:03:23.720" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-12T21:03:23.720" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="503" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:04:27.977" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oxford Dictionary and the Economist both go for the first option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="128" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:04:27.977" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="516" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="845" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:04:43.450" Score="32" ViewCount="1953" Body="&lt;p&gt;As someone who learned English later on in life, I was taught that &lt;em&gt;different from&lt;/em&gt; is the correct grammar to use: &lt;em&gt;this is different from that.&lt;/em&gt; However, it seems these days everyone uses &lt;em&gt;different than&lt;/em&gt; instead. I know it's incorrect usage, but does the language evolve if the majority wins?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Some commented &lt;em&gt;different than&lt;/em&gt; is American English and &lt;em&gt;different from&lt;/em&gt; is British English, both are OK. IMO, this isn't like &lt;em&gt;color&lt;/em&gt; versus &lt;em&gt;colour&lt;/em&gt;, though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Than&lt;/em&gt; is used after a comparative adjective, e.g. &lt;em&gt;taller than,&lt;/em&gt; &lt;em&gt;whiter than.&lt;/em&gt; The word &lt;em&gt;different&lt;/em&gt; isn't a comparative adjective, unless used in &lt;em&gt;more different than.&lt;/em&gt; Logically, it makes no sense to say &lt;em&gt;different than.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:47:49.567" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:47:49.567" Title="&quot;Different from&quot; versus &quot;different than&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="6" />
  <row Id="517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="511" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:04:59.957" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about the &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlineslangdictionary.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;online slang dictionary&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:04:59.957" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="500" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:06:36.520" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think we're so preconditioned to expecting a word/phrase after a contraction (&quot;it's&quot; in particular), that it strikes the listener/reader as a rather unexpected/out-of-place stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if there's technically anything gramatically wrong with that sort of usage. (Obviously contractions should never be used in formal writing). Still, I think we all agree it sounds very unnatural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:06:36.520" CommentCount="13" />
  <row Id="519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="500" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:06:52.197" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, Microsoft's spell-checker liked it, and you can't get any more correct than that. Any human would find it annoying, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:06:52.197" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="511" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:06:56.003" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Urban Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;, but read what it has to say with a grain of salt, many definitions and phrases are not really usages, but people goofing off on the internet making stuff up on the spot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:06:56.003" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="521" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:09:01.757" Score="10" ViewCount="768" Body="&lt;p&gt;How does one properly use i.e. in a sentence? &#xA;(I'm not referring to Internet Explorer)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="193" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T11:27:04.797" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T11:27:04.797" Title="When do you use &quot;i.e.&quot; in a sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="501" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:11:13.107" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would you also insist that Japanese speakers pluralize English words when used in the plural? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once a word has been borrowed into a language, it adheres to the grammar for normal words in that language. We don't borrow Japanese grammar, just words, so there is no need to use a zero plural with borrowed Japanese words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is true there is a small set of animal nouns in English that have a zero plural, but they are not borrowed and are a special case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is borne out by the results in the Corpus of Contemporary American English, which has 68 incidences of &quot;ninjas&quot;. Of the 496 incidences of &quot;ninja&quot;, there are a handful of uses of &quot;ninja&quot; as a zero plural, as OP suggests, from the script for the 2003 film &lt;em&gt;The Last Samurai&lt;/em&gt;, but the vast majority are singular (or attributive) usage. So it does appear that zero-plural &quot;ninja&quot; is used, albeit uncommonly so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, &lt;em&gt;ninja&lt;/em&gt; meaning &lt;em&gt;ninjas&lt;/em&gt; is a usage that gets some use, but regular pluralized &lt;em&gt;ninjas&lt;/em&gt; is more common, and perfectly grammatical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-12T22:06:26.887" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T22:06:26.887" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="521" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:11:18.207" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume you are referring to the common abbreviation for the Latin &lt;em&gt;id est&lt;/em&gt;, which is commonly translated as &quot;that is to say&quot;.  So, think of the English when you would use it, i.e. when you're about to write &lt;em&gt;i.e.&lt;/em&gt; think to yourself &quot;that is to say&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See how I did that?  As to the stylistic issue, I would always do it as I did above: lower case, periods in place.  A common variant is &lt;em&gt;ie.&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;i.e.&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrast with &lt;em&gt;e.g.&lt;/em&gt; which is from the Latin &lt;em&gt;exempli gratia&lt;/em&gt; meaning &quot;for example.&quot;  One can construct sentences where either one is acceptable, but usually just contemplating the English meaning of each and picking the best fit is the way to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're referring to Internet Explorer, just say Internet Explorer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="171" LastEditorUserId="171" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-12T21:16:27.900" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:16:27.900" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="521" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:11:41.670" Score="21" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;via &lt;a href=&quot;http://theoatmeal.com/comics/ie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://theoatmeal.com/comics/ie&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ever done this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;When eating a squirrel taco, Bigfoot always adds extra condiments, i.e., ranch dressing&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is wrong!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I.e. is an abbreviation of a latin phrase meaning &quot;that is.&quot; &lt;strong&gt;It's not used for listing examples; it's used for clarifying a statement.&lt;/strong&gt; Think of it  as &quot;in essence&quot; or &quot;in other words.&quot; By using it above we're declaring that ranch dressing is the only condiment in existence, which is false.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the previous example, we should have used e.g., which means &quot;for example.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;The best way to take out a unicorn is with a Claymore, i.e., a directional mine which explodes shrapnel into a designated kill zone.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Another example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Eating a squirrel taco without any ranch dressing is like playing leapfrog with a unicorn, i.e. a very bad idea.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://imgur.com/IRoTb.png&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="193" LastEditorUserId="91" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T03:59:34.760" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T03:59:34.760" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="521" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:11:54.493" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;i.e.&lt;/em&gt; is an abbreviation for the Latin &quot;id est&quot;, meaning &quot;that is&quot; (or more loosely, &quot;in other words&quot;). Its English usage follows precisely as such. The abbreviation is simply used to signal that the following phrase is another way of expressing the preceding phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note: &lt;em&gt;i.e.&lt;/em&gt; is often misused to indicate an example; this is incorrect. Always use &lt;em&gt;e.g.&lt;/em&gt; in that case.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T09:01:23.900" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:01:23.900" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="521" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:11:59.003" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're referring to Internet Explorer, depending on the context you may have to indicate that it stands for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're referring to &lt;em&gt;id est&lt;/em&gt;, i.e. &quot;i.e.&quot;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://theoatmeal.com/comics/ie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Oatmeal has just published a comic on that&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all seriousness though, you use it to mean 'that is' or 'in other words' or 'in essence'. When you're explaining something, you use &lt;em&gt;i.e.&lt;/em&gt; or its synonymous English phrases when you are about to express the explanation in different terms, as a means of clarity for instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="196" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:11:59.003" />
  <row Id="527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="511" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:13:15.073" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Learn it wherever you are right now. Every geographic region has its own set of slang terms and there are many fewer globally-recognized slang words than you think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="196" LastEditorUserId="196" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-06T03:45:56.773" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T03:45:56.773" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="516" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:25:08.013" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The majority always wins, and there's always a minority that sticks to traditional correctness, and eventually disappears. The very meanings of some words in the English language (as in others) have changed so dramatically in some cases that historical speakers would never be likely to guess. There are too many to begin to list, though perhaps someone can provide a few nice examples off the top of their head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Side note: indeed, &quot;different from&quot; is the correct usage... for now!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:25:08.013" />
  <row Id="530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="503" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:26:34.520" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either of the first two is acceptable, but I would recommend the first as the apostrophe isn't needed to convey your meaning, and as such is not required.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The third is just wrong since it creates an awkward sentence that is hard to say and discomforting to read.  Most acronyms, including ATM, have a well-defined and commonly accepted meaning, which very rarely includes the pluralization.  Avoid the ambiguity and include the s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="171" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:26:34.520" />
  <row Id="531" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="535" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:29:40.963" Score="9" ViewCount="302" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've all wanted to express certain questions, rhetorical or not, with annoyance, excitement, surprise, frustration and so on. What better way than with both a question mark (?) and an exclamation mark (!), right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen two ways of punctuating such questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Where is this place?!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Who do you think you are!?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Things like &lt;em&gt;?!?&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;!?!&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;?????!!!!!&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;??!?!!?!?!!??&lt;/em&gt;, etc are irrelevant here.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is the proper way to order the two symbols? Or does each of the above two have a distinct and grammatically correct meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is the interrobang (‽) the clear winner here? ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="196" LastEditorUserId="196" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T19:32:25.213" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T19:43:04.680" Title="Is there a standard ordering for the question mark and the exclamation mark used together?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="531" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:30:52.493" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrobang&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;interrobang&lt;/strong&gt; (quesclamation mark)&lt;/a&gt;‽&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I largely kid, of course. This punctuation mark is hardly in common use - though it's perhaps acceptable in various forms of media/advertising.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all seriousness, it is strictly only legal to use a single punctuation mark at the end of a sentence/phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-12T21:40:26.477" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:40:26.477" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="533" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="534" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:32:06.380" Score="1" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;(I'm learning English, so please correct any mistakes or poor English.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When reading a post I've seen this comment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stupid idea from a bunch of guys got fame for helping people steal stuff – now they want to help you beg for money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think these guys have high hopes of gettin any real traction with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to say &quot;... guys got fame...&quot;? Hasn't he forgotten the &quot;that&quot; word, as in: &quot;... guys that got fame...&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="219" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T02:14:12.253" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T21:28:11.187" Title="Is it correct to say &quot;...of guys got fame...&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="533" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:34:27.910" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The comment probably meant&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stupid idea from a bunch of guys &lt;strong&gt;who&lt;/strong&gt; got fame for helping people steal stuff&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Bold emphasis mine.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your guess is pretty close. I'm not sure whether &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; is any less 'correct' a word to use than &lt;strong&gt;who&lt;/strong&gt;, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="196" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:34:27.910" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="531" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:34:58.907" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think if you ask the experts who would claim that they know what the “correct” way to punctuate something is, they would tell you that a sentence may only have one terminal punctuation mark—that is to say, neither “?!” nor “!?” is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, no matter what order you use, you’ll never please those people. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; has 3742 examples of “?!” and 1197 examples of “!?”. Clearly both orderings enjoy substantial usage, although it does appear that “?!” enjoys a majority of usage, probably because most sentences that get the double punctuation treatment are syntactically questions that have an exclamation point added for emphasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; I checked in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt;, and it has 121 instances of “!?” and 224 instances of “?!”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-02T22:52:11.807" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T22:52:11.807" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="500" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:36:39.500" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I already answered this but the answer didn't post...so let me try again!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess would be that your ear is tripping over the homophone -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;its = belonging to it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it's = it is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's why, when you try the same thing with the other non-homophone contractions, it sounds fine. When you try it with another homophone contraction, look at what happens:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to know if they're crazy, well, they're.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to know if they're crazy, well, they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Typing like Yoda, I am)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your ear may not recognize whether you're hearing it's or its, they're or their (or there...). So the ear expects another noun. I think that's why it sounds fine with other contractions that aren't homophones. &quot;Can't,&quot; &quot;don't,&quot; and &quot;isn't&quot; clearly sound like the words they are. &quot;It's&quot; and &quot;they're&quot; are the sources of endless confusion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="213" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:36:39.500" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="531" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:39:53.120" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like &lt;code&gt;?!&lt;/code&gt; and think interrobang is ugly, but that's just my personal aesthetic.  As others have said, there doesn't seem to be a strict rule.  Pick the one you like.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We could assume the ordering conveys information, i.e. whichever one comes first is the dominate one.  So &lt;code&gt;?!&lt;/code&gt; would be a question asked excitedly, and &lt;code&gt;!?&lt;/code&gt; would be an exclaimed question.  But that's just us making things up.  Though who knows?  Maybe it'll catch on.  That's my proposal for the rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure specific style guides and domain-specific grammars (such as chess notation, as Wikipedia notes) have more explicit meanings as well.  You could probably find one to justify whatever you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="171" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:39:53.120" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="531" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:40:52.107" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess it depends on what you want to say. In my own usage, '?!' would generally be more frequent, expressing astonishment at a particular question, kind of &quot;WTF?!&quot;: You ask a question and then use the exclamation mark to stress its unusuality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, '!?' seems much rarer, both in my own usage and what I have observed. I would say it meant something extraordinary (that you stress with the '!') but also insecurity (hence it being followed by the '?') about your assessment of it being extraordinary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, they do express different meanings, but '?!' would be a more common one than '!?'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="221" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-02T23:12:10.750" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T23:12:10.750" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="472" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:42:55.883" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I'm teaching passive vs. active voice, I use this rule of thumb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at the sentence. Can you find the person or thing doing the action? If you can't find it in the sentence, that's usually the first tip that the sentence is passive. And if you can find it - is the thing doing the action coming before or after the verb? If it's before the verb - active. If it's after the verb - passive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The popcorn was made. (passive - the person making popcorn isn't in the sentence)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The popcorn was made by me. (passive - &quot;me&quot; comes after the verb, &quot;was made&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I made the popcorn. (active - &quot;I&quot; comes before &quot;made&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are of course exceptions, but this sends to be simple and easy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="213" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:42:55.883" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="516" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:46:16.680" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Imagine modifications:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;to differ FROM&quot; is ok&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;to differ than&quot; makes no sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, if you cannot differ than something, you also cannot be different than something. It's completely not like &quot;greater than&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:46:16.680" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="495" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:48:59.877" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say &quot;fewer people&quot;; and it is indeed linked to count vs uncount nouns. 'People' is countable, unlike water, as you can talk about &quot;three people did x&quot;. So I'd disagree with Noldorin's answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="221" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:48:59.877" />
  <row Id="543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:50:31.763" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;IMO, no word is precisely translatable. Similar to codominance in genetics, all recessive synonyms eventually take part in carrying &quot;submeaning&quot; of a text, if it is targeted for a human reader.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:50:31.763" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-12T21:50:31.763" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:54:27.050" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The obvious from the French: &lt;code&gt;savoir-faire&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="171" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:54:27.050" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-12T21:54:27.050" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="533" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:54:33.023" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it sounds strange to refer to fame as a commodity in this way, so rather than adding that or who, the correct way to say this would actually be more along the lines of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stupid idea from a bunch of guys &lt;strong&gt;who became famous&lt;/strong&gt; for helping people steal stuff&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T05:50:07.453" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T05:50:07.453" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="546" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="555" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:56:31.493" Score="9" ViewCount="400" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard the phrase &quot;dry run&quot; being used with the meaning of rehearsal, experiment or test exercise in various contexts. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They did a &lt;strong&gt;dry run&lt;/strong&gt; of the demonstration before showing it to the CEO.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Practice with a &lt;strong&gt;dry run&lt;/strong&gt;. Organise a dress rehearsal within two weeks of the wedding to ensure...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;dry run&lt;/strong&gt; of the software release will be executed to ensure that the release plan is correct and clear to everybody.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;strong&gt;wet run&lt;/strong&gt; would not make sense in any of these contexts. So, why &quot;dry&quot;? Where does &quot;dry run&quot; come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T13:05:12.920" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T13:05:12.920" Title="Where does the phrase &quot;dry run&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="472" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:57:18.983" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Meaning is not always a clear indicator; but grammatically it should be easy to spot: look out for a form of 'to be' followed by a past tense form, such as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ball WAS KICKED.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The questions IS ANSWERED in the next section.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The film HAS BEEN SHOWN before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if there is an actor present, it would be in a BY-phrase, but that can be omitted (as in the examples here).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="221" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:57:18.983" />
  <row Id="548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="533" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:57:56.393" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using &lt;code&gt;that&lt;/code&gt; might make it sound okay if you change &lt;code&gt;fame&lt;/code&gt; to &lt;code&gt;famous&lt;/code&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...bunch of guys &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; got &lt;strong&gt;famous&lt;/strong&gt; for helping people...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is how one might say it out loud, though when writing I would try to avoid using &lt;code&gt;that&lt;/code&gt; in favor of the &lt;code&gt;who&lt;/code&gt; form proposed by @Ch00k.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="171" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:57:56.393" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="472" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:58:00.760" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A clause in the passive voice must have all the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A form of an auxiliary verb (usually &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;get&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The past participle of a &lt;strong&gt;transitive&lt;/strong&gt; verb&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No direct object&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The subject of the verb phrase is the entity undergoing an action or having its state changed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optionally, the agent is expressed in a prepositional phrase with &lt;em&gt;by&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:58:00.760" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="476" CreationDate="2010-08-12T21:59:05.957" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my lexicon, 'important' targets higher-level usage of the argument, while 'significant' is about lower level meaning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;This is a significant modification, therefore it's inappropriate for this important release at the moment.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T21:59:05.957" />
  <row Id="551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="406" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:00:29.107" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that the FCC's 7-dirty-word rule has recently been overturned in some degree, a sign of the times:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jul 22nd, 2010 NEW YORK CITY—Noting that, &quot;we face a media landscape that would have been almost unrecognizable in 1978,&quot; the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has struck down attempts by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to regulate so-called &quot;fleeting expletives&quot; in radio and TV broadcasts...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://news.avn.com/articles/Fuck-Yeah-2nd-Circuit-Overturns-FCC-Indecency-Rule-404717.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;read article&lt;/a&gt; (warning: expletive ahead)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T22:00:29.107" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="472" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:04:15.407" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Passive voice&lt;/em&gt; is a construction where the object of a transitive verb is moved into the subject position, and the subject is optionally moved into a prepositional phrase. In English, the passive can always be identified by &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt; + past participle&lt;/strong&gt;. Some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Active: Kim hits the ball.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  Passive: The ball is hit by Kim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Active: Grandma baked a cake.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  Passive: The cake was baked by Grandma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Active: Mr. Henry bought the painting for six million dollars.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  Passive: The painting was bought for six million dollars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All of these sentences contain a form of the verb &lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt; followed immediately by a past participle. Without that telltale, it's not a passive sentence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The prepositional phrase with &lt;em&gt;by&lt;/em&gt; is optional, as in the last sentence. However, a sentence that identifies the actor with a phrase beginning with &lt;em&gt;by&lt;/em&gt; is usually passive.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, to clear up some common misconceptions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Intransitive verbs&lt;/em&gt; are never passive, even if the subject of the verb isn't doing anything. For example, &lt;strong&gt;none of the following are passive&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The boy fell down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Six buildings burned to the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The cake is baking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of these sentences have &lt;em&gt;intransitive verbs&lt;/em&gt;, which are verbs that do not take an object. The fact that the subject of the verb isn't really &quot;active&quot; in any of these cases does not make these examples of &quot;passive voice&quot;. All of the previous are in fact &lt;em&gt;active voice&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, passive voice has hardly anything to do with the &quot;focus&quot; of the sentence. For example, the following is not passive:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We all watched John make a brilliant save.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;focus&quot; of the action here is John, but that's irrelevant to the question of active voice and passive voice. The main verb &lt;em&gt;watched&lt;/em&gt; is in the active voice, and &lt;em&gt;John&lt;/em&gt; is the object of &lt;em&gt;watched&lt;/em&gt;. The passive version of this sentence would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John was watched making a brilliant save by all of us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Which is an extremely awkward sentence.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, there are two other constructions sometimes misidentified as passive because they share some syntactic features with the passive voice, but which emphatically are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; passive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first is the &lt;em&gt;progressive&lt;/em&gt;, which consists of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt; + present participle&lt;/strong&gt;. (The present participle always ends in &lt;em&gt;-ing&lt;/em&gt;.) For example, &lt;strong&gt;none of the following are passive&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Kim is hitting the ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Grandma was baking a cake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although these contain a form of &lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt;, they aren't passive since they don't contain the past participle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second is the &lt;em&gt;perfect&lt;/em&gt;, which consists of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;to have&lt;/em&gt; + past participle&lt;/strong&gt;. For example, &lt;strong&gt;none of the following are passive&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Kim has hit the ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Grandma had baked a cake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although these contain the past participle, they aren't passive since the participle doesn't follow a form of &lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T22:04:15.407" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="292" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:04:52.100" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Salutations are not for beauty; they are a tool to alter reader's mode of understanding, often to make the message more convincing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are suggesting something formal, talking from position of rights or power, you may want to use more formal &quot;Dear Colleagues&quot; to make the argument stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are making a proposal, and want to downplay it as in &quot;hey, it's an idea, a basis for further thinking and please judge it as such&quot;, a simple 'All,' would do a better job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all cases, basic netiquette requires that meaningless text should be avoided when addressing a large group of people. It's easier to write than to read, so one should invest in brevity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastEditorUserId="188" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T07:06:58.433" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T07:06:58.433" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:05:13.220" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Schadenfreude&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://bp1.blogger.com/__m14QtuWwjI/Rmx9JZTya8I/AAAAAAAAA4g/tcekgqBZ1Pk/s400/schadenfreude.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Schadenfreude&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;German for &quot;pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T22:05:13.220" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-12T22:05:13.220" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="546" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:09:28.833" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-dry1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;World Wide Words&lt;/a&gt;, it originates from firemen doing speed competitions without carrying water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The term &lt;em&gt;run&lt;/em&gt;, more fully &lt;em&gt;fire run&lt;/em&gt;, has for at least the past century been used by local fire departments in the USA for a call-out to the site of a fire. It was once common for fire departments or volunteer hose companies to give exhibitions of their prowess at carnivals or similar events. [...] These competitions had fairly standard rules, of which several examples appear in the press of this period, such as in the &lt;em&gt;Olean Democrat&lt;/em&gt; of 2 August 1888: “Not less than fifteen or more than seventeen men to each company. Dry run, standing start, each team to be allowed one trial; cart to carry 350 feet of hose in 50 foot lengths ...”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These reports show that a &lt;em&gt;dry run&lt;/em&gt; in the jargon of the fire service at this period was one that didn’t involve the use of water, as opposed to a &lt;em&gt;wet run&lt;/em&gt; that did. In some competitions there was a specific class for the latter, one of which was reported in the &lt;em&gt;Salem Daily News&lt;/em&gt; for 6 July 1896: “The wet run was made by the Fulton hook and ladder company and the Deluge hose company. The run was made east in Main street to Fawcett’s store where the ladders were raised to the top of the building. The hose company attached [its] hose to a fire plug and ascending the ladder gave a fine exhibition.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It’s clear that the idea of a dry run being a rehearsal would very readily follow from the jargon usage, though it first appears in print only much later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T22:09:28.833" />
  <row Id="556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="420" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:10:58.520" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's now an international standard of date format, aka &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ISO8601&lt;/a&gt; - so if you care about making the world a better and less confusing place, you should only use the standard - YYYY-MM-DD, forever dropping the old local date format ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T22:10:58.520" />
  <row Id="557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="546" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:13:45.617" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Dry training&quot; in sport, such as non-running exercises for runners, probably comes from swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T22:13:45.617" />
  <row Id="558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="332" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:16:42.290" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say nothing at the end.&#xA;Unlike in Oral speech, the end of text signal can be carried out by the software.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, scrolling is tedious on mobile devices, so you may want to save on text lines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T22:16:42.290" />
  <row Id="559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="332" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:22:16.780" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just use a dash:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;-jeffamaphone&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="171" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T22:22:16.780" />
  <row Id="560" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="566" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:24:27.120" Score="3" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, Bill Henry Gates, which of following is right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Bill H.Gates&#xA;B.H. Gates&#xA;H.G. Bill&#xA;Gates Bill&#xA;B. Gates&#xA;H. Gates&#xA;BHG&#xA;HGB&#xA;GHB&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="229" LastEditorUserId="513" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T21:51:57.743" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T23:28:43.310" Title="In the format of A.B. Name, which is the given name and which is the family name?" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="152" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:25:51.283" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the answers here, consider this non-trivial example -&#xA;(from Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I think, that there's an SEP over there&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now here &quot;a SEP&quot; would do as well, but then you would have to pronounce it &quot;sep&quot; instead of &quot;es-ee-pee&quot; which is what the author meant. E, in &quot;es&quot; is a vowel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another less trivial example is &quot;an hour&quot;. 'h' is a valid and pronounced consonant, but it still doesn't count.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T22:25:51.283" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="332" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:26:17.027" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In emails within the organization I tend to use no salutation and no closes at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="226" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T22:26:17.027" />
  <row Id="563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="560" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:28:22.657" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English, the family name is always given last (except in the case of transliterated names which confuse many people).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your example, &quot;Bill&quot; and &quot;Henry&quot; are his two given names; if you used only one given name, it would be the first one, &quot;Bill&quot;. &quot;Gates&quot; is his family name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, the following are correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bill H. Gates  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;B. H. Gates  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;B. Gates  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BHG  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bill Gates  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;B. Henry Gates (rare unless the person in question has made it clear that this is his preference)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And all the others are incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T22:28:22.657" />
  <row Id="564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="79" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:28:56.803" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, but you cannot start a story with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also believe that there should be no more than one 'however' per three sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T22:28:56.803" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="565" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="587" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:36:25.270" Score="2" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is better to write this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only three people signed up: you, Jim,&#xA;  and I.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;than this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only three people signed up: you, me,&#xA;  and Jim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because &quot;I&quot; is a subject and not an object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what if I want the stress to come at the end, e.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only three people signed up: you, me&#xA;  and &quot;thehulk66&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grammatically correct would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only three people signed up: you, I,&#xA;  and &quot;thehulk66&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but it sounds jarring and takes the focus away from my intent, which is to indicate that I think it is funny that there is a person named &quot;thehulk66&quot; who has signed up to our little group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So what would be the best way to write this?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T23:47:16.503" Title="What is a better way to write: only three people signed up: you, me and &quot;thehulk66&quot;" Tags="&lt;subject&gt;&lt;object&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="560" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:37:08.530" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English, names are usually written in the format:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[First given name] [family name], e.g.&lt;br /&gt;John O'Reilly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes they are written:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[First given name] [other given names] [family name], e.g.&lt;br /&gt;John Timothy O'Reilly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When using initials, it is the same, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;J. O'Reilly, or&lt;br /&gt;J.T. O'Reilly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it is also very common, in certain situations, e.g. school roll (high school, university tutorial list etc.) to put the family name first, but this is posted with a comma, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;O'Reilly, John Timothy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And in other places, e.g. an index, it is done with initials instead, also with a comma:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;O'Reilly, J.T.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When doing three letters in a row, it is almost always the given name first, then the family name, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;JTO&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For John T. O'Reilly (that's another common way to write names).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bill Gates' TLA (three letter acronym) would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;BHG&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-12T22:45:16.773" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T22:45:16.773" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="420" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:41:36.993" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always write the month as either &quot;Apr&quot; or &quot;April&quot; and the year like 2010 to avoid any confusions. For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;01/04/10&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is way too ambiguous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1 Apr 2010&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is much clearer. Personally I prefer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;2010-04-01&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but I realize that this is because I am a geek, i.e. the chances of this format being accepted generally are pretty slim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="226" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T22:41:36.993" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="568" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="604" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:43:21.360" Score="6" ViewCount="228" Body="&lt;p&gt;At my business most of the employees use the word &lt;em&gt;inactivate&lt;/em&gt; frequently. Is this proper grammar? I've always used &lt;em&gt;deactivate&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="231" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T13:40:07.213" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T13:40:07.213" Title="Is &quot;inactivate&quot; really a word?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="568" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:46:43.837" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to OneLook, it is a word in 25 dictionaries:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onelook.com/?w=inactivate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.onelook.com/?w=inactivate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;verb:  make inactive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;verb:  release from military service or remove from the active list of military service&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T22:46:43.837" />
  <row Id="570" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="576" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:47:26.987" Score="11" ViewCount="812" Body="&lt;p&gt;I occasionally use &quot;retarded&quot; when chastising myself or other friends. I know it's not PC but am I only allowed to say stupid? How long before we can't say that anymore? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other words like &quot;ignorant&quot; don't work well because well, I don't like that word because it's misunderstood (even though it works well for how I say retarded . . for me it's like if you don't know something you should know).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="228" LastEditorUserId="91" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-12T22:53:04.297" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T13:55:39.660" Title="What is a less offensive synonym for &quot;retarded&quot;?" Tags="&lt;politeness&gt;" AnswerCount="15" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="332" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:48:31.370" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually end my mails with either &quot;Thanks,&quot; or &quot;Bye,&quot; depending on the context. For very formal mails I use just &quot;Regards,&quot;. Only if you are writing official mails (e.g to customers) you should use a more complimentary form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="156" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T22:48:31.370" />
  <row Id="573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="570" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:50:50.680" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer &quot;silly&quot;. I don't &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; you can offend anyone with that, although strictly speaking it might not be correct usage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-12T23:01:12.817" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T23:01:12.817" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="574" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="577" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:52:57.543" Score="50" ViewCount="1766" Body="&lt;p&gt;How are &lt;em&gt;i.e.&lt;/em&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;em&gt;e.g.&lt;/em&gt; pronounced? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="229" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T07:10:41.893" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T11:33:09.670" Title="How are &quot;i.e.&quot; &amp; &quot;e.g.&quot; pronounced? " Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="9" />
  <row Id="575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="574" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:56:21.937" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just pronounce the letters: &quot;Eye eee&quot; and &quot;eee gee&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never met anyone who actually said &quot;id est&quot; and &quot;exempli gratia&quot;, which is what they really stand for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T22:56:21.937" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="570" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:56:29.503" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are several examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When referring to someone who has mental retardation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking as someone with a few years of experience working with people with developmental disabilities the current politically correct term is what I just used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;They are retarded&quot; becomes &quot;They are people with developmental disabilities.&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When referring to myself&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;God, I'm so retarded&quot; becomes &quot;God, I'm so silly&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other possibilities include: foolish, dumb, and stupid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When directing it &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; someone&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;WTF, are you retarded?&quot; becomes &quot;What were you thinking?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;That was a retarded thing to do&quot; becomes &quot;That was an ill conceived thing to do&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="231" LastEditorUserId="231" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-12T23:11:06.623" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T23:11:06.623" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="574" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:56:30.470" Score="67" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;i.e.&lt;/strong&gt; stands for &lt;em&gt;id est&lt;/em&gt; (Latin), which means &quot;&lt;em&gt;that is&lt;/em&gt;&quot;. You use it to link in a deeper explanation about something.&#xA;Pronounce it &quot;eye - ee&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;e.g.&lt;/strong&gt; stands for &lt;em&gt;exempli gratia&lt;/em&gt; (also Latin), which means &quot;&lt;em&gt;for example&lt;/em&gt;&quot;. You use it to link in an example of a more generic term.&#xA;Pronounce it &quot;ee - jee&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T22:04:56.740" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T22:04:56.740" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="578" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-12T22:59:19.467" Score="5" ViewCount="417" Body="&lt;p&gt;My favourite word I would like to see more often is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;discombobulated&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's yours?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="226" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T21:34:03.733" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-14T03:39:56.463" Title="Uncommon words that should become more common" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="19" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="570" CreationDate="2010-08-12T23:04:48.723" Score="28" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps you could carry around with you this list of 125,000 Shakespearean insults, and just rattle one of those off, like: &lt;strong&gt;I'm such a bootless, beetle-headed boor-pig&lt;/strong&gt; and call your friend a &lt;strong&gt;droning, doghearted bladder&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ariel.com.au/jokes/Shakespearean_Insults.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ariel.com.au/jokes/Shakespearean_Insults.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-12T23:58:57.460" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T23:58:57.460" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="570" CreationDate="2010-08-12T23:05:38.117" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Blonde&quot; may be offensive to blondes, but not nearly so likely to get you in trouble as &quot;retarded.&quot;  &quot;Stupid&quot; is probably your safest bet -- I like &quot;pants-on-the-head stupid&quot; for emphasis and variety.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T23:05:38.117" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="570" CreationDate="2010-08-12T23:10:43.643" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tend to use &quot;idiot(ic).&quot; That was originally an actual, medical term for developmentally disabled people. It's out of official use, though, so it's as safe as &quot;stupid&quot; is at any rate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T23:10:43.643" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="495" CreationDate="2010-08-12T23:10:49.090" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember it like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Less cake (e.g. I ate less cake then I wanted)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fewer cakes (e.g. I ate fewer cakes than I wanted)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Less of one thing - fewer of many things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. Mmmm cake :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="238" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T23:10:49.090" />
  <row Id="583" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="588" CreationDate="2010-08-12T23:12:59.413" Score="5" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is only one of them correct? Are they used in different situations? Or are they interchangeable? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="238" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:47:05.327" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:47:05.327" Title="&quot;Compared with&quot; vs &quot;Compared to&quot;—which is used when?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="584" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="585" CreationDate="2010-08-12T23:13:32.813" Score="4" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, how to pronounce the following: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;dir (directory), deer or /də:/?&#xA;char (character), /kær/ or /tʃa:r/?&#xA;def (define), deff or diff?&#xA;mic (microphone), mik or mike?&#xA;var (variable), vaar or /vɛə/ or /və/?&#xA;bin (binary), binn or bine?&#xA;lic (license), lick, like, liss, lice?&#xA;dat (data), datt or date?&#xA;loc (location), lokk or /lək/?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;etc. and the general form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="229" LastEditorUserId="146" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T05:22:59.220" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T05:22:59.220" Title="How to pronounce abbreviations by prefix part?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="584" CreationDate="2010-08-12T23:17:22.107" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;dir = would say &quot;directory&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;char = /tʃa:r/ &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;def = deff &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;mic = always MIKE &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;var = vaar &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;bin = binn &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;lic = would say &quot;license&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;dat = datt &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;loc = would &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;say &quot;location&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;since lokk would mean lock&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T23:17:22.107" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2010-08-12T23:20:16.360" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;surfeit&lt;/strong&gt; n. the state of having eaten to the point of pain&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onelook.com/?w=surfeit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.onelook.com/?w=surfeit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T23:20:16.360" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-14T03:39:56.463" />
  <row Id="587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="565" CreationDate="2010-08-12T23:21:06.513" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, the rule used in English for pronouns is that you always use the objective form of a pronoun, unless the pronoun is the subject of a verb. If it’s the subject of a verb, then you use the subjective form (&lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;she&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt;). In all other cases—as the object of a verb, as the object of a preposition, or non-sententially—use the objective form (&lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;her&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;us&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;them&lt;/em&gt;). For example, the grammatical answer to the question “Who wants cookies?” is “ME!” not “I!”. By “non-sentential”, I mean pronouns standing alone, or in a list, but which are not related to verbs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the examples in OP’s question, the pronouns are used in a non-sentential list context—they are neither the subjects nor objects of a verb, so the objective case is the case that would be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course a lot of people get anxious about pronouns conjoined by &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; and think that it is always correct to use subjective forms, resulting in such hypercorrected monstrosities like “Give it to Jim and I”. I find using subjective pronouns alone to be just as monstrously ungrammatical as using them as the objects of prepositions or verbs: imagine someone answering a question “I!”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for ordering, it is traditional to list the first person last, in a kind of grammatical modesty, so I would say “Only three people signed up: you, Jim, and me”, but any ordering seems grammatical to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T23:21:06.513" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="583" CreationDate="2010-08-12T23:23:35.620" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From Strunk and White:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To compare &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; is to point out or imply resemblances between objects&#xA;  regarded as essentially of a &lt;strong&gt;different&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  order;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To compare &lt;strong&gt;with&lt;/strong&gt; is mainly to point out differences between objects&#xA;  regarded as essentially of the &lt;strong&gt;same&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thus, life has been compared &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; a pilgrimage, to a drama, to a battle;&#xA;  Congress may be compared &lt;strong&gt;with&lt;/strong&gt; the&#xA;  British Parliament. Paris has been&#xA;  compared &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; ancient Athens; it may be&#xA;  compared &lt;strong&gt;with&lt;/strong&gt; modern London.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T23:23:35.620" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="574" CreationDate="2010-08-12T23:29:00.400" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't believe this wasn't addressed in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://theoatmeal.com/comics/ie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oatmeal Comic&lt;/a&gt; but I usually say the letters or replace it with &quot;for example&quot; (and now, thanks to the comic, I'll replace it with &quot;in other words&quot; instead and use e.g. when I mean &quot;for example&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="228" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T23:29:00.400" />
  <row Id="590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="565" CreationDate="2010-08-12T23:29:16.063" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It makes it wordier and a bit clumsier, but you can also use &quot;only three people signed up: a, b, &lt;strong&gt;and also&lt;/strong&gt; c.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T23:29:16.063" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="574" CreationDate="2010-08-12T23:36:22.510" Score="32" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For &lt;code&gt;i.e.&lt;/code&gt; I usually say &quot;that is&quot;, occasionally &quot;eye-ee&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For &lt;code&gt;e.g.&lt;/code&gt; I always say &quot;for example&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T23:36:22.510" />
  <row Id="592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2010-08-12T23:37:30.810" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oh dear, I have too many to choose from! I suppose I'll take &quot;&lt;strong&gt;anodyne&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an adjective: serving to alleviate pain, or innocuous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a noun: something soothing, calming, etc., or a drug that relieves pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T23:37:30.810" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-14T03:39:56.463" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="593" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="601" CreationDate="2010-08-12T23:43:01.610" Score="4" ViewCount="445" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know it's wrong but I do it all the time or else my sentences would go on forever. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="228" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:31:23.483" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:31:23.483" Title="Why is it bad to start a sentence with &quot;and&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2010-08-12T23:43:55.090" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From dictionary.com:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;mawk·ish /ˈmôkiSH/ Adjective&#xA;1. Sentimental in a feeble or sickly way: &quot;a mawkish poem&quot;.&#xA;2. Having a faint sickly flavor: &quot;the mawkish smell of warm beer&quot;.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="171" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T23:43:55.090" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-14T03:39:56.463" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="565" CreationDate="2010-08-12T23:47:16.503" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stylistically speaking, I would tend towards &quot;you, me, and 'thehulk66.'&quot; If I were going to try to be grammatically correct, but keep the stress on the last name, I'd go with &quot;you and I and 'thehulk66.'&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T23:47:16.503" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="593" CreationDate="2010-08-12T23:50:01.490" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say it is one of those errors that is coming more into accepted use, especially in e-mails, but since most people continue to consider it an error, you are best off avoiding it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strike&gt;And&lt;/strike&gt; In addition, it is easy to correct, you can almost always &lt;strong&gt;replace it with a more formal term&lt;/strong&gt;, or just &lt;strong&gt;omit it&lt;/strong&gt;, e.g:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And, we hope to see you at the party on Tuesday!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;could become:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We hope to see you at the party on Tuesday!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-12T23:55:06.143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-12T23:55:06.143" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="568" CreationDate="2010-08-12T23:50:07.650" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dictionary.com says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;in·ac·ti·vate /inˈaktəˌvāt/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Verb: Make inactive or inoperative: &lt;em&gt;inactivate the virus&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And according to Google &lt;em&gt;deactivate&lt;/em&gt; has 8,180,000 results; &lt;em&gt;inactivate&lt;/em&gt; has 17,600,000 results, implying it is even used more.  Though there may be some specific domain in which it is used a lot on the Internet (scientific papers? military?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="171" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T13:38:59.337" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T13:38:59.337" />
  <row Id="598" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-12T23:59:08.583" Score="3" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;It happens all the time. You are in line at the grocery store, Starbucks or anywhere cashiers are employed.  Having finished a transaction, one will cheerily offer to help &quot;the &lt;em&gt;following&lt;/em&gt; customer.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure that &quot;the &lt;em&gt;next&lt;/em&gt; customer&quot; is the correct usage here, unless they call that following customer by name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this grate on anyone else's nerves, or only mine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="246" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T03:53:21.033" Title="The Following Customer" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="598" CreationDate="2010-08-13T00:00:40.313" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to OneLook it means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;adj. going or proceeding or coming after&#xA;  in the same direction, e.g. &quot;The crowd&#xA;  of following cars made the occasion&#xA;  seem like a parade&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So although it is not an incorrect word, perhaps it grates on one's nerves since it connotes the sense of people as objects flowing mindlessly toward the cashier, as if you have no choice but &quot;to follow&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It reminds me of a scene in a movie once with a tour guide directing a group of tourists to follow her, saying: &quot;We're walking... we're walking... we're stopping...&quot; The language it correct, but it's funny because it makes the relationship between the tour guide and the group seem so mechanical and impersonal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T00:46:20.407" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T00:46:20.407" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="462" CreationDate="2010-08-13T00:09:30.763" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the minds of most people, dictionaries and usage guides are a cipher to some presumed existing canonical, regulated definition of what is correct in the English language. Of course, no such canonical definition exists—grammaticality of English is governed only by the bulk of actual usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most publishers of English dictionaries long ago abandoned any idea that they might set forth what is and is not correct in English—those few that actually did ever hold such a belief were few and far between. Modern English dictionaries, for the most part, are descriptive, although most do offer some degree of usage advice and notes. &lt;a href=&quot;http://m-w.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; tend to be more descriptive than most, countenancing many usages criticized by others. The &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Heritage_Dictionary_of_the_English_Language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Heritage Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; has its “Usage Panel” of experts on language and the usage notes in the dictionary cite percentages of the Usage Panel who approve or disapprove of questionable usages. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.oed.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford English Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; is widely revered as the canonical collection of English words, and it is certainly an amazing work of scholarly endeavor, most interesting in its coverage of historical English. But of course the OED holds no more official status than any other dictionary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most regulation we have today are style guides—such as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Manual_of_Style&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Chicago Manual of Style&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AP_Stylebook&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Associated Press Stylebook&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_MLA_Style_Manual&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The MLA Style Manual&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. These are of course binding only on the writing governed by the producers of those style guides, but they are also used by many writers who are not required to follow them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then there are the professional peevologists, authors of such works as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/158297313X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dictionary of Disagreeable English&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=YtojrMr0Ft4C&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, who berate various usages and pronunciations they don’t like, citing whatever evidence supports their preferred usage or pronunciation, and ignoring the evidence that doesn’t.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, there is Strunk and White's &lt;em&gt;The Elements of Style&lt;/em&gt;, perhaps the most overrated book on usage ever written, &lt;a href=&quot;http://chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/25497&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;riddled with errors, hypocrisy, vacuous advice, and fatuous platitudes&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T17:05:21.160" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T17:05:21.160" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="593" CreationDate="2010-08-13T00:20:57.743" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What makes you think this is an error? All the greatest writers of English have started sentences with &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt;. Mark Liberman, linguistics professor at the University of Pennsylvania &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002224.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wrote about this mythical “rule” in Language Log&lt;/a&gt; in 2005:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is nothing in the grammar of the English language to support a prescription against starting a sentence with &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt;—nothing in the norms of speaking and nothing in the usage of the best writers over the entire history of the literary language. Like all languages, English is full of mechanisms to promote coherence by linking a sentence with its discourse context, and on any sensible evaluation, this is a Good Thing. Whoever invented the rule against sentence-intitial &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt;, with its a preposterous justification in terms of an alleged defect in sentential “completeness”, must have had a tin ear and a dull mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my answer to OP’s original question is “&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_%28negative%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mu&lt;/a&gt;”: your question assumes something which is false.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rule forbidding conjunctions at the beginning of sentences—“No Initial Coordinators” (NIC)—is something that even the most prickly old usage writers have rejected as Not A Real Rule. &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003723.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Arnold Zwicky wrote on Language Log&lt;/a&gt; in 2006 (emphasis added):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mark notes that the AHD [American Heritage Dictionary] note for and rejects NIC out of hand, and he provides a smorgasbord of cites (and statistics) from reputable authors.  Similarly MWDEU [Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage].  Paul Brians, collector of common errors in English, labels sentence-initial coordinators a &quot;non-error&quot;.  Bryan Garner denies, all over the place, that NIC has any validity.  Even the curmudgeonly Robert Hartwell Fiske tells his readers that there's absolutely nothing wrong with sentence-initial coordinators.  A point of usage and style on which Liberman and I and the AHD and the MWDEU stand together with Brians and Garner and Fiske (and dozens of other advice writers) is, truly, not a disputed point.  &lt;strong&gt;NIC is crap&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But still it lives on, as what I've called a zombie rule.  It's been lurking in the grammatical shadows for some time -- at least a hundred years, to judge from MWDEU.  Hardly any usage manual subscribes to it, but it is, apparently, widely taught in schools, at least in the U.S., with the result that educated people tend to be nagged by a feeling that there is something bad about sentence-initial and (and but and so).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1872&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mark Liberman wrote more recently on Language Log&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A participant using the name pointytilly links to Paul Brians' list of &quot;non-errors&quot; in defense of the view that sentence-initial and and but are &quot;grammatically correct&quot;. And indeed they are, according to essentially everyone with any plausible claim to expertise, prescriptivists and descriptivists alike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T02:33:36.743" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T02:33:36.743" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="598" CreationDate="2010-08-13T00:24:57.953" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It’s a participle being used as an adjective (like “the &lt;em&gt;walking&lt;/em&gt; dead” or “the &lt;em&gt;setting&lt;/em&gt; sun”). It’s a little unusual, in that the phrase “next customer” is the common idiom in English, but I can’t see what could possibly be &lt;em&gt;wrong&lt;/em&gt; about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T00:24:57.953" />
  <row Id="603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="593" CreationDate="2010-08-13T00:28:29.320" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strike&gt;In computer programming, the &lt;code&gt;goto&lt;/code&gt; statement is semantically legal and logically meaningfully, however if you find yourself relying heavily on it, you probably need to refactor your code. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, &lt;/strike&gt; There is nothing grammatically wrong starting a sentence with the word “and.” However, if you find yourself linking together long sentences with a string of “and”s, you probably want to rework your sentences to make what you're saying more clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="177" LastEditorUserId="177" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T03:50:24.360" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T03:50:24.360" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="568" CreationDate="2010-08-13T00:36:04.377" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 88 examples of &lt;em&gt;inactivate&lt;/em&gt; in the Corpus of Contemporary American English and 102 for &lt;em&gt;deactivate&lt;/em&gt;, showing they occur with about equal frequency. Most of the examples for &lt;em&gt;inactivate&lt;/em&gt;, though, are used in a biological context, talking about inactivating viruses, genes, and “potent mutagenic compounds”, for example. So &lt;em&gt;inactivate&lt;/em&gt; appears to be a term of art in the science of biology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T00:36:04.377" />
  <row Id="605" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="608" CreationDate="2010-08-13T00:37:53.607" Score="1" ViewCount="668" Body="&lt;p&gt;The greeting &lt;em&gt;How are you?&lt;/em&gt; is asking &lt;em&gt;How are you doing in general?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;—&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How are you?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I'm well. [&lt;strong&gt;Misunderstood the question.&lt;/strong&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;because &lt;em&gt;well&lt;/em&gt; as an adjective which means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;in good health especially after having suffered illness or injury&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would be an answer to &lt;em&gt;How are you doing physically, how is your health?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;—&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How are you?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I'm good.  [&lt;strong&gt;Misunderstood the question.&lt;/strong&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;because &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; as an adjective means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;having moral excellence or admirableness&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would be an answer to &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How would you describe your character, superman? &#xA;  I'm good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;—&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How are you?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I'm doing good. [&lt;strong&gt;Grammatically incorrect.&lt;/strong&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;because &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; is an adjective, not an adverb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;—&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How are you?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I'm doing well. [&lt;strong&gt;Correct.&lt;/strong&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;because &lt;em&gt;well&lt;/em&gt; is an adverb describing how you are doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How are you?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I'm doing fine. [&lt;strong&gt;Correct.&lt;/strong&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;because &lt;em&gt;fine&lt;/em&gt; is an adjective which means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;being satisfactory or in satisfactory condition&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why do so many people say one of the first three responses?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T08:04:05.710" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T14:07:30.743" Title="Why do so many people get this wrong? &quot;How are you? / I'm well.&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;greetings&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="495" CreationDate="2010-08-13T00:38:34.947" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strunk's 1918 edition of &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elements_of_Style&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Elements of Style&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; confirms that less is for multitude nouns and fewer is for countable nouns in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk3.html#23&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Misused Expressions&lt;/a&gt; section. So does the Chicago Manual of Style (to which I cannot link, because it's subscription only).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course there are disagreements as detailed above by @nohat, but those are a couple of well-respected style guides that can give some guidance to those of a prescriptivist bent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="143" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T00:44:02.753" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T00:44:02.753" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="605" CreationDate="2010-08-13T00:48:45.397" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm really not so sure the first is incorrect. To say that you are well is, to my understanding, a correct way of describing your health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never seen the use of &quot;well&quot; in that context formally corrected. Is it really wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I think many people simply exchange &quot;well&quot; with &quot;good&quot;, whatever the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="83" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T00:48:45.397" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="605" CreationDate="2010-08-13T00:52:00.177" Score="27" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason people give the responses you label as “wrong” is because &lt;em&gt;well&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; have more meanings than the ones you cite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster, for example, gives definitions that make sense of the three examples you label “wrong”:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For “I’m well”, there is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/well&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;well&lt;/a&gt; (adjective) 1b: being in satisfactory condition or circumstances&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For “I’m good”, there is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/good&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;good&lt;/a&gt; (adjective) 2e: free from infirmity or sorrow&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For “I’m doing good”, there is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/good&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;good&lt;/a&gt; (adverb) 1: WELL &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So they all seem fine to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T00:52:00.177" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="609" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="611" CreationDate="2010-08-13T00:53:53.997" Score="5" ViewCount="488" Body="&lt;p&gt;I frequently see statements that refer to something later in the text that use a phrase such as &quot;the below information&quot;. Is it more correct instead to say &quot;the information below&quot; (or &quot;the following information&quot;)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="189" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:40:25.680" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:38:28.250" Title="&quot;The below information&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="609" CreationDate="2010-08-13T00:58:09.387" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, &quot;the below information&quot; is incorrect, because the preposition &lt;em&gt;follows&lt;/em&gt; the noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of &quot;the following information&quot;, an adjective is used to describe the noun, which of course &lt;em&gt;precedes&lt;/em&gt; it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="83" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T00:58:09.387" />
  <row Id="613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="609" CreationDate="2010-08-13T01:07:19.337" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/below&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lists a relevant definition&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;below (adjective): written or discussed lower on the same page or on a following page&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given this, there is nothing wrong with “the below information”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T01:07:19.337" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="609" CreationDate="2010-08-13T01:45:53.567" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The New Oxford American Dictionary reports that &lt;em&gt;below&lt;/em&gt; is a preposition and an adverb. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T14:38:28.250" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:38:28.250" />
  <row Id="615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="605" CreationDate="2010-08-13T01:46:41.757" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do they get it wrong?  Perhaps sometimes because they're not really listening to the question. It seems to me that these sorts of pleasantries are often responded to by rote, which means the individual response is one of habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I'll agree that the &quot;incorrect&quot; versions grate on the ears, the &quot;correct&quot; version is perhaps a little too prescriptive for my tastes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're probably the asker in these exchanges, perhaps a workaround would be to ask a question that is less likely to elicit a rote response. &quot;How is your day going&quot; or &quot;How was your weekend&quot; or something that would nudge the respondent to respond to the question you asked instead of just spitting out a generic response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T01:46:41.757" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="568" CreationDate="2010-08-13T02:03:26.070" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The New Oxford American Dictionary reports just an example of sentence with inactivate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;inactivate ɪnˈæktəˌveɪt/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  verb [transitive]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  make inactive or inoperative: &lt;em&gt;household bleach does not inactivate the virus&lt;/em&gt; | [as adjective] (inactivated) &lt;em&gt;an inactivated polio vaccine&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside that context, I have never heard somebody using that verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T13:37:29.510" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T13:37:29.510" />
  <row Id="617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="495" CreationDate="2010-08-13T02:10:01.543" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;USAGE &lt;em&gt;Fewer&lt;/em&gt; versus &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt;: strictly speaking, the rule is that &lt;em&gt;fewer&lt;/em&gt;, the comparative form of &lt;em&gt;few&lt;/em&gt;, is used with words denoting people or countable things (&lt;em&gt;fewer members&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;fewer books&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;fewer than ten contestants&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;em&gt;Less&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, is used with mass nouns, denoting things that cannot be counted (&lt;em&gt;less money&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;less music&lt;/em&gt;). In addition, &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; is normally used with numbers (&lt;em&gt;less than 10,000&lt;/em&gt;) and with expressions of measurement or time (&lt;em&gt;less than two weeks&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;less than four miles away&lt;/em&gt;). But to use &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; with count nouns, as in &lt;em&gt;less people&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;less words&lt;/em&gt;, is incorrect in standard English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T11:17:34.487" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T11:17:34.487" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3" CreationDate="2010-08-13T02:34:58.817" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The note about the usage of shall in the New Oxford American Dictionary is the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is considerable confusion about when to use &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The traditional rule in standard English is that &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; is used with first person pronouns (&lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt;) to form the future tense, while &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; is used with second and third persons (&lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;she&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt;): &lt;em&gt;I shall be late&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;she will not be there&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  When expressing a strong determination to do something, the traditional rule is that &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; is used with the first person, and &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; with the second and third persons: &lt;em&gt;I will not tolerate this&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;you shall go to school&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  In practice, however, &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; are today used more or less interchangeably in statements (although not in questions). Given that the forms are frequently contracted (&lt;em&gt;we'll&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;she'll&lt;/em&gt;, etc.), there is often no need to make a choice between &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt;, another factor no doubt instrumental in weakening the distinction. In modern English, the interchangeable use of &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; is an acceptable part of standard U.S. and British English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I started my classes on British English, I was taught that &lt;em&gt;I shall go home&lt;/em&gt; was the future tense of &lt;em&gt;I go home&lt;/em&gt;; asking to a person living in the east coast of the USA, I learned that &lt;em&gt;I shall be late&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;I shall return&lt;/em&gt;) has a slightly different meaning from &lt;em&gt;I will be late&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;I will return&lt;/em&gt;), at least in some contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T19:50:50.317" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T19:50:50.317" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="619" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="620" CreationDate="2010-08-13T02:48:28.987" Score="5" ViewCount="507" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I explain to people that the phrase &quot;off of&quot; is grammatically incorrect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard this phrase used a lot, especially by Americans (though they aren't the only ones).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my understanding, &quot;off of&quot; should usually be replaced by &quot;off&quot;, as in,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I took the book &lt;em&gt;off&lt;/em&gt; the shelf&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as opposed to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I took the book &lt;em&gt;off of&lt;/em&gt; the shelf&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I wrong?  Or is there perhaps some simple way I can explain this to most people?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="255" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T21:46:10.240" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T22:32:21.447" Title="&quot;Off of&quot; vs &quot;off&quot;" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;phrasal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="619" CreationDate="2010-08-13T02:55:20.890" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know how you can explain to people in general that it's grammatically incorrect, but here is one idea: when you go to a James Brown tribute concert and the singer says &quot;Get up offa that thing&quot; what you could do is to trounce the security guards, climb on to the stage, pounce onto the singer, grab the microphone and say &quot;In fact you should be saying not 'get up offa that thing' but 'get up off that thing' since 'offa' is grammatically incorrect.&quot; I'm sure everyone will thank you for your grammatical corrections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being serious for a moment though, it's very difficult to decide what is or is not &quot;grammatically correct&quot;. E.g. in the UK we say &quot;outside my house&quot; but US people often say &quot;outside of my house&quot;. How can you actually decide which of these two is grammatically correct? Unfortunately it's not possible since English grammar is not a science like physics but merely a description of what people actually do, and that has changed very significantly over the years. If I was teaching someone English I would definitely say &quot;off&quot; is correct and &quot;off of&quot; is wrong, but this kind of decision is based on intuition, based on the usages of educated native speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T02:55:20.890" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="619" CreationDate="2010-08-13T03:30:22.610" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;How can I explain to people that the phrase &quot;off of&quot; is grammatically incorrect?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't, because it's not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are thousands of examples of “off of” in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;, not just in spoken English, but in magazines, newspapers, and academic journals as well. “Off of” is well-established as standard in American English. Plain “off” may be stylistically preferable in many cases, but it is simply not a rule of English grammar that if a word &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; be removed it &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; be removed. Some people seem to think that such a rule exists. It does not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T03:30:22.610" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2010-08-13T03:48:09.603" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ninjawords.com/sluttery&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;sluttery&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; n. The qualities or practices of a slut, as in slutishness, whoredom. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love this word.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="262" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T03:48:09.603" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-14T03:39:56.463" />
  <row Id="623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="598" CreationDate="2010-08-13T03:53:21.033" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's nothing wrong with it. In this case it's being used in the same context as &quot;the following day&quot; which is commonly interchanged with &quot;the next day&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People line up and follow each other just the same as the days in a week. It makes sense to me!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="262" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T03:53:21.033" />
  <row Id="624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="516" CreationDate="2010-08-13T03:56:49.380" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Different from&quot; is used in both British and American English whereas 'different than&quot; is primarily American English. Those of us who are used to the British model might be comfortable with &quot;different from&quot; but &quot;different than&quot; is an equally popular usage in American English. Please look at the Longman dictionary entry for 'different' &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/different&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="264" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T01:06:37.083" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T01:06:37.083" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2010-08-13T04:16:42.140" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inveigle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;inveigle&lt;/a&gt; v.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to win over by wiles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to acquire by ingenuity or flattery.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(I actually just used &quot;inveigle&quot; in a conversation today.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="267" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T04:16:42.140" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-14T03:39:56.463" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2010-08-13T04:17:57.693" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alacrity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;alacrity&lt;/a&gt;: promptness in response : cheerful readiness&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="267" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T04:17:57.693" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-14T03:39:56.463" />
  <row Id="627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2010-08-13T04:24:45.410" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grok&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Grok&lt;/a&gt;: To understand profoundly and intuitively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coined by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Robert A. Heinlein&lt;/a&gt; in 1961.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This week, I had to explain the meaning of it to two friends. Oh, and I had to explain &quot;meta&quot; to the same two friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T04:24:45.410" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-14T03:39:56.463" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2010-08-13T04:34:52.423" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;trenchant: energetic: effective and relevant in the pursuit or achievement of a goal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="270" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T04:34:52.423" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-14T03:39:56.463" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="629" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="631" CreationDate="2010-08-13T04:41:39.340" Score="17" ViewCount="699" Body="&lt;p&gt;A basic grammar rule is to use &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; before a vowel sound. Given that &lt;em&gt;historic&lt;/em&gt; is not pronounced with a silent h, I use “a historic”. Is this correct? What about &lt;em&gt;heroic&lt;/em&gt;? Should be “It was a heroic act” or “It was an heroic act”?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember reading somewhere that the h is sometimes silent, in which case it’s &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt;, and when the h is pronounced, it’s &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;. But then I also remember reading that it depends on which syllable is stressed. And I also think I read somewhere that it might differ between British and American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I pronounce the h, and believe that &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; is correct. I find that it sounds incorrect to use &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; and pronounce &lt;em&gt;heroic&lt;/em&gt; without the h.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how do I know when to use &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; and when to use &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; with a word beginning with the letter h? Are both acceptable or is there one that is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="269" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T21:42:19.730" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T07:45:00.503" Title="&quot;A historic...&quot; or &quot;An historic...&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="332" CreationDate="2010-08-13T04:48:24.903" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll tend to use &quot;Best regards,&quot; for anything even semi-formal, including correspondence with people in a business context whom I don't know very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I use to work at NEC, it was considered &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; way you &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; sign off your emails when dealing with any of the Tokyo managers or engineers, and so it kind of just stuck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For less formal, it'll be &quot;Thanks&quot; if appropriate, &quot;Take care,&quot; or occasionally &quot;Peace and chocolate.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Never ever&lt;/strong&gt; put it in your email signature. A colleague of mine has &quot;Regards,&quot; in his signature and it grates every time I see it. It may save you some typing, but it comes off as disingenuous. You're better off with nothing if you can't be bothered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="267" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T04:48:24.903" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="629" CreationDate="2010-08-13T04:48:45.027" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indeed, you are correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In certain accents, &lt;em&gt;history&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;hotel&lt;/em&gt;, etc. are pronounced with an &lt;em&gt;h&lt;/em&gt; sound. In those accents, &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; should be used. In other accents, such as my own, it is pronounced without an &lt;em&gt;h&lt;/em&gt; sound, and therefore starts with a vowel. In that accent, it would be correct for one to say &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Queen Elizabeth II is one such person who could correctly say &lt;em&gt;an historic event&lt;/em&gt;. President Obama is one such person who could correctly say &lt;em&gt;a historic event&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In writing, it doesn't really matter which one is used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T07:45:00.503" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T07:45:00.503" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="629" CreationDate="2010-08-13T04:52:30.903" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a traditional rule of English that &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; can be used before words that begin with an H sound if the first syllable of that word is not stressed. Indeed, some traditionalists would say it must be used before such words. Since the first syllable of &lt;em&gt;historic&lt;/em&gt; is unstressed, it is acceptable to use &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; before it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;, there are 1591 incidences of “a historic” and 428 incidences of “an historic”, showing that usage of &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; before such words is dying out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T04:52:30.903" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="633" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="638" CreationDate="2010-08-13T05:18:51.297" Score="4" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is this statement correct &lt;code&gt;Someone for president 2012&lt;/code&gt; and not &lt;code&gt;Someone for presidency 2012&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; So far my understanding is that neither of these statements are grammatically wrong. However, at this moment Google finds almost 2 million results for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com.au/search?q=%22obama+for+president+2008%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Obama for president 2008&quot;&lt;/a&gt; whereas the number for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com.au/search?q=%22obama+for+presidency+2008%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Obama for presidency 2008&quot;&lt;/a&gt; is only 40.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:16:05.513" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:16:05.513" Title="&quot;for president&quot; vs &quot;for presidency&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="634" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-13T05:24:49.277" Score="8" ViewCount="310" Body="&lt;p&gt;When writing a document that is divided into numbered sections and subsections, sometimes I would like to refer a certain subsection that has been numbered 2.3, for example.  Here the 2 represents the section number and 3 is the subsection number within section 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I refer to &quot;Section 2.3&quot; or &quot;Subsection 2.3&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, the latter seems tautological (or at least not completely necessary) since the &quot;sub-&quot; component of &quot;subsection&quot; is implied by the number 2.3 itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[PS: I picked a fairly vague tag since I cannot create a more suitable tag]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="273" LastEditorUserId="549" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-27T17:50:40.470" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T17:50:40.470" Title="Should I refer to &quot;Section 2.3&quot; or &quot;Subsection 2.3&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;structure&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="634" CreationDate="2010-08-13T05:36:36.620" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to agree with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Collins Dictionary defines &quot;subsection&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a section of a section; subdivision&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is certainly grammatically correct to use either word, and I think it is semantically correct both ways as well. However, as you say, writing &quot;Subsection 2.3&quot; it introducing redundancy, as it is (as you say) blatantly obvious that section 2.3 is a subsection of section 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say, however, that &quot;Section 2.3&quot; does not imply a subsection, it seems rather explicit that it is a subsection, to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quick search on Google for &quot;Section 2.3&quot; and &quot;Subsection 2.3&quot;: Section has 1.2 million hits. Subsection has 46,000 hits. So it definitely makes much more sense to drop the &quot;sub-&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we have the document:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Birds&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  1.1. Parrots&lt;p&gt;This is a  bunch of information about parrots.&lt;/p&gt;1.2. Hawks&lt;p&gt;This is a bunch of information about hawks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both &quot;Parrots&quot; and &quot;Hawks&quot; are sections in their own right. They are simply sections within sections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is similar to the folder metaphor in computing. A folder contains many subfolders, but each subfolder is still a complete, and real, folder in its own right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Princeton University's WordNet defines &lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=subsection&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;subsection&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(n) subsection, subdivision (a section of a section; a part of a part; i.e., a part of something already divided)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, Merriam-Webster defines &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/section&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;section&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a distinct part or portion of something written (as a chapter, law, or newspaper)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if one takes a section, then takes another logical portion of that, that is another section&amp;ndash;also a subsection&amp;ndash;that happens to be inside the original section.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g. a chapter is a &lt;em&gt;section&lt;/em&gt; of a book. A paragraph is a &lt;em&gt;section&lt;/em&gt; of a chapter. A sentence is a &lt;em&gt;section&lt;/em&gt; of a paragraph. We can logically divide anything into however we like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/subsection&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;subsection&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;one of the smaller parts into which the main parts of a document or organization are divided&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;Further details can be found in section 7 subsection 4 of the report.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the example, we can see that they have referred to section 7.4 as section 7, subsection 4.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My understanding of all this, is that we can call top-level sections, just &quot;section&quot;. But we can call non-top-level sections either &quot;section&quot; OR &quot;subsection&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T06:43:11.623" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T06:43:11.623" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="533" CreationDate="2010-08-13T05:58:07.937" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stupid idea from a bunch of guys got&#xA;  fame for helping people steal stuff –&#xA;  now they want to help you beg for&#xA;  money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think these guys have high hopes of&#xA;  gettin any real traction with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This English is &quot;slangy&quot;. Regularized into standard English it would be something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is a stupid idea from a group of people who became&#xA;  famous for helping people steal. Their new idea is basically to help you beg for&#xA;  money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think these people have very little hope of succeeding to any great extent&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T05:58:07.937" />
  <row Id="637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="634" CreationDate="2010-08-13T06:02:16.477" Score="-5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's a subsection then calling it a section is wrong. Similarly, if you see a round green fruit hanging from an apple tree, you don't usually call it a banana.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T06:02:16.477" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="633" CreationDate="2010-08-13T06:09:30.800" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually we think of &quot;president&quot; as a job description. For example if I am choosing someone, I might say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hamid is the right man for this job&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;presidency&quot; is much less common in English, so while I don't think &quot;Obama for presidency&quot; is actually &lt;strong&gt;wrong&lt;/strong&gt;, it's so unlikely in practice that it sounds odd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T06:09:30.800" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="634" CreationDate="2010-08-13T06:12:36.830" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Considering a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/section&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;section&lt;/a&gt; is already a &quot;a distinct part or portion of something written&quot;, subsection can seem redundant at first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subsection&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;definition of subsection&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a subdivision or a subordinate division of a section&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The notion of &quot;placed in or occupying a lower class, rank, or position&quot; is important, and distinct from the definition of &quot;section&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;That is why you also find subsection used in sports (&quot;subsection title&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;2.3&quot; is not &quot;a section within &quot;Section 2&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The full meaning of what is in 2.3 is &quot;subordinate&quot; to the general context presented at the beginning in section 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T06:17:46.277" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T06:17:46.277" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="629" CreationDate="2010-08-13T06:16:49.973" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's pretty hard to decide who is &quot;correct&quot;. I can offer the example of someone like newsreader Jeremy Paxman who decidedly says &quot;an historic&quot; with an aspirated &quot;h&quot;. There are also lots more television announcers who do this in the UK. It strikes me as being an example of hypercorrectness similar to blanket-removal of linking-r sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T07:37:31.967" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T07:37:31.967" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="633" CreationDate="2010-08-13T06:28:27.423" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use it both ways. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally we listen this in news&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;X person is running for presidency in yyyy elections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="282" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T06:28:27.423" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="633" CreationDate="2010-08-13T06:28:30.543" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/presidency&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Presidency&lt;/a&gt; is basically &quot;the office&quot; or &quot;the term&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the office of president&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  the term during which a president holds office&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_line_of_succession&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;United States presidential line of succession&lt;/a&gt; article employs the word presidency when listing the different criteria needed to apply or qualify for the presidency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you definitively run for (being) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/president&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;president&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(the notion of &quot;election&quot; is not part of a &quot;presidency&quot;, while a president is &quot;an elected official&quot;. You are running to be elected)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T06:28:30.543" />
  <row Id="643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2010-08-13T06:53:23.037" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maudlin -Extravagantly or excessively sentimental; self-pitying. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/maudlin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/maudlin&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="287" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T06:53:23.037" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-14T03:39:56.463" />
  <row Id="644" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="646" CreationDate="2010-08-13T07:01:21.803" Score="6" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;There seems to be some inconsistency on whether people capitalize the words &lt;em&gt;internet&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;web&lt;/em&gt; (as in &lt;em&gt;World Wide Web&lt;/em&gt;) as proper nouns. What is the official ruling on when or if these words should be capitalized?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, I am not asking about when they are the first word in a sentence or in the title of a book or other publication. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The &lt;strong&gt;web&lt;/strong&gt; is the most commonly known&#xA;  feature of the &lt;strong&gt;Internet&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T18:33:58.623" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T18:33:58.623" Title="Should the words &quot;internet&quot; and &quot;web&quot; be capitalized?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="644" CreationDate="2010-08-13T07:20:23.660" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regarding Internet, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_%28disambiguation%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia disambiguation page&lt;/a&gt; mentions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Internet is a worldwide publicly accessible system of interconnected computer networks.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Where not capitalized, internet can refer to any &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internetwork&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;internetwork&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could apply the same reasoning for Web (World Wide Web) as opposed to any &quot;web&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Although there is still the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordbiz.com/newsletter/websitespelling.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;debate about Web site vs. &quot;website&quot;&lt;/a&gt; ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you consider &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proper_noun#Proper_nouns_and_common_nouns&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;proper noun&lt;/a&gt; as referring to &quot;specific people, places, or things&quot;, Internet and &quot;the Web&quot; do qualify for their capitalize letter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T07:28:33.187" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T07:28:33.187" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="644" CreationDate="2010-08-13T07:24:50.153" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My reasoning is that there is really only one network &lt;em&gt;named&lt;/em&gt; Internet - therefore it's &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; Internet, while &quot;web&quot; is a more generic term, meaning any network (but probably referring to YouTube anyway ;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="44" LastEditorUserId="44" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-14T10:18:56.880" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T10:18:56.880" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="644" CreationDate="2010-08-13T07:27:31.817" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since the internet isn't actually the name of a real thing, it's hard to justify capitalizing it. Similarly for &quot;the web&quot;, it is referring to a concept, the collection of lots of web sites which we call &quot;the web&quot;. So I suggest that these don't need to be capitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are writing for a specific publication, then you might want to ask for the rules of that publication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T07:27:31.817" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="648" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="800" CreationDate="2010-08-13T07:40:19.277" Score="10" ViewCount="291" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember a time back in 1993 - 1994 for a couple months at our university the Internet was used as a noncount noun, so we would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you have &lt;strong&gt;Internet&lt;/strong&gt; at your university?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, the Internet has a lot of similarities to electricity and we would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you have &lt;strong&gt;electricity&lt;/strong&gt; in your house?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But gradually other people just started to say &quot;&lt;strong&gt;the Internet&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; and so our little group at the university followed suit and never thought about it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does anyone remember any official journalistic decision on this, or was our group just an early anomaly?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="513" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T04:56:39.303" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T10:56:14.373" Title="Why did the word &quot;Internet&quot; change from a noncount to count noun?" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;nomenclature&gt;&lt;count&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="649" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-13T07:42:07.943" Score="4" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often hear the usage &quot;don't got&quot; in American English as spoken on TV programmes. Recently I was watching season four of &quot;Prison Break&quot; and one character, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prison_Break_minor_characters#Roland_Glenn&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an Asian computer wizard&lt;/a&gt;, repeatedly used &quot;don't got&quot;. E.g. 9:48 into episode two:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Not if you don't got me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I've also heard from people who say that this formation is not used much in real speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How common is the &quot;I don't got money&quot; or even &quot;He don't got a dog&quot; style formation in real American speech?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T10:34:34.777" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T10:34:34.777" Title="&quot;Don't got&quot; - how common is it in American usage?" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="650" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="786" CreationDate="2010-08-13T07:51:19.047" Score="9" ViewCount="211" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The website I was referring to is hosted at &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com&quot;&gt;http://english.stackexchange.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I place the fullstop at the end?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="296" LastEditorUserId="296" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T16:41:58.833" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T17:11:34.140" Title="How should I end sentences with a URL as the last word?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="570" CreationDate="2010-08-13T07:52:52.943" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem with &quot;retarded&quot; (and equivalently &quot;developmental disabilities&quot;) is that it puts lack of professional judgement from someone who should have known better into the same category as people who act their &quot;normal&quot; self.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to keep alternatives to the facts without underhanded remarks, I'd propose&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That was a bad idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whoops, didn't think of that one!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I should cut down on the booze/drugs! [applicability dependent of workplace humor/ethic]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or the &lt;code&gt;English Gentleman&lt;/code&gt; version:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear programmer, your lack of professional judgement in circumventing the quality assurance process lead to an unfortunate incident, delivering a non-optimal product to the customer. You should be ashamed of yourself, since even a trained dog could follow the process better than you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(With apologies to all dogs on the stackexchange.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So be creative! There is no need to try to connect people's weaknesses with what you perceive negatively of others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="294" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T07:52:52.943" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="652" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="655" CreationDate="2010-08-13T07:58:41.710" Score="8" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi everyone,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially in speeches I often hear a sentence like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I stand here before you...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However during my english classes in school (I'm German) we were told that &lt;strong&gt;before&lt;/strong&gt; should only be used if you're refering to the passage of time (&lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; we arrived at the party we left our home). When refering to a location &lt;strong&gt;in front of&lt;/strong&gt; should be the choice of words (Peter is standing &lt;em&gt;in front of&lt;/em&gt; me, so I'm standing behind him).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what's the answer to my confusion? ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="297" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T14:49:31.117" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T14:49:31.117" Title="&quot;before&quot; vs. &quot;in front of&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="653" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="656" CreationDate="2010-08-13T07:59:14.673" Score="5" ViewCount="313" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably one of the most frequent grammar mistakes in the English language is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The dog sat on it's mat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since spelling checkers don't catch it, and it is even logical, since you would correctly write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The dog sat on Fluffy's mat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to explain to a learner of English how to choose between &lt;code&gt;it's&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;its&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T05:01:48.777" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T05:30:42.980" Title="What is the best way to explain how to choose between &quot;its&quot; and &quot;it's&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="654" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="899" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:02:14.747" Score="4" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it okay nowadays to use the phrase &lt;strong&gt;&quot;it's a pity&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; in the everyday conversation in the contexts like in following example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Please how do I get to airport?&quot; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;It's a pity, I don't know.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not, what would be an appropriate equivalent?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edited (added):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it follows from answers, this phrase is almost never used by native English speakers. Could you please specify how this phrase sounds for native speaker - as too formal or as archaic or anything else? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="142" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-14T15:02:12.013" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T05:59:56.187" Title="Using &quot;It's a pity&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;conversation&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="652" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:03:29.483" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you were taught is the usual way, so it's a case of being taught a heuristic rule which is 99% correct but doesn't actually apply to all cases. This is a more formal usage of &quot;before&quot;, but there are lots of other examples of &quot;before&quot; for places and locations, e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Years_Before_the_Mast&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Two Years Before the Mast&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T08:03:29.483" />
  <row Id="656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="653" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:05:13.460" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is actually really easy, do you mean &quot;it is&quot; or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frankly native speakers seem to make more mistakes with it than foreign learners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T08:05:13.460" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="657" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="692" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:10:35.427" Score="3" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen parenthetical comments that are inserted mid-sentence (like this) and I've also seen parenthetical comments that are inserted after the terminal punctuation symbol of a sentence. (Like this.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are both valid uses, and are there any more ways to use them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="196" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:48:59.303" Title="What are the correct ways to express parenthetical comments?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="658" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:12:03.550" Score="16" ViewCount="417" Body="&lt;p&gt;For reasons best not explained, I am looking for synonyms of &lt;em&gt;according to&lt;/em&gt;, as in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;According to Bryan Adams, &quot;I'm gonna run to you&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Quoth&lt;/strong&gt; Bryan Adams, &quot;Everything I do, I do it for you&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thus spake&lt;/strong&gt; Bryan Adams: &quot;Back in the summer of sixty-nine&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more absurd and antiquated the better. Please give me your suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In accordance with my understanding of the stackexchange rules, this question is set to community wiki.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T23:38:25.250" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T20:25:46.393" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-13T08:12:03.550" Title="Absurd synonyms for &quot;according to&quot;?" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;fun&gt;" AnswerCount="15" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="654" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:12:06.093" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd prefer &quot;unfortunately&quot; instead of &quot;it's a pity&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T08:12:06.093" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="660" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="662" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:13:40.367" Score="17" ViewCount="505" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello Members.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question of whether to use &lt;em&gt;if I was&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;if I were.&lt;/em&gt; Which one is incorrect or nonstandard?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="281" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:38:35.090" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:38:35.090" Title="&quot;If I was&quot; or &quot;If I were&quot;. Which is more common, and which is correct?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;subjunctive-mood&gt;" AnswerCount="7" FavoriteCount="6" />
  <row Id="661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="649" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:16:11.840" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In standard English, I think &quot;don't got&quot; has the same register as &quot;ain't&quot;. It's definitely not correct, but very common. Avoid it in any high register situations where standard English is used, e.g. an interview, a presentation, a company report.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sometimes will say &quot;ain't&quot;, e.g. &quot;that ain't worth it&quot; in informal contexts but I don't think I would ever say &quot;don't got&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T08:16:11.840" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="660" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:18:38.683" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When in doubt, always use the &lt;strong&gt;subjunctive&lt;/strong&gt; mood:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I were you...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will make you sound &lt;strong&gt;smarter&lt;/strong&gt; and it is &lt;strong&gt;technically correct&lt;/strong&gt; since &quot;the subjunctive mood is used to express a wish or possible situation that is currently not true.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T08:18:38.683" />
  <row Id="664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="649" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:33:05.653" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say the expression &lt;em&gt;I don't got...&lt;/em&gt; is generally rare in spoken AmE.  I'd think &lt;em&gt;he/she/it don't&lt;/em&gt; is even more uncommon in the general population.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are probably geographic or socioeconomic regions where both expressions are common.  A COCA query yielded zero hits for &lt;em&gt;don't got&lt;/em&gt; and 13 for &lt;em&gt;don't have&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A final observation: If you really want to say &lt;em&gt;I don't got...&lt;/em&gt; then you probably want to add a double negative.  (ie &lt;em&gt;I don't got &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt; money&lt;/em&gt;.)  I am sure there are lots of hicks who would say this daily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T08:33:05.653" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="665" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="672" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:36:09.093" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, I actually have no idea when it's okay to say well or good but once again I vaguely remember a rule about them and I don't want to sound ignorant anymore or have that memory haunt me whenever people ask me how I'm doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="228" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T08:50:22.727" Title="What can use to remember the difference between when to use &quot;well&quot; and when to use &quot;good&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="660" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:39:45.967" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think both can be said to be standard uses nowadays. I have read that American English uses the subjunctive (&quot;If I were you&quot;) more than British English. I never use &quot;If I were you&quot; but always the &quot;was&quot; formation. In the same way I would never say &quot;If he be right&quot;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T08:39:45.967" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="660" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:41:29.177" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The rule that I was taught is that &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt; is for things that &lt;strong&gt;could&lt;/strong&gt; be true but aren't, and &lt;em&gt;were&lt;/em&gt; is for things that could never be true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, &lt;em&gt;if I was an airline pilot&lt;/em&gt; is OK because conceivably I could retrain as a pilot, if I wanted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &lt;em&gt;if I were you&lt;/em&gt; is right because I will never be you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="308" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T23:43:57.697" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T23:43:57.697" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="668" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="811" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:42:00.593" Score="9" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over 10 years ago saying &quot;ain't&quot; was discouraged but it was gaining momentum. What happened? Seems like it's still discouraged. Maybe in another 10 years?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="228" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-14T01:02:13.227" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T02:02:08.580" Title="Is it okay to say and write &quot;ain't&quot; yet?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="511" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:45:15.670" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest Partridge's Dictionary of Slang, or Farmer and Henley's Dictionary of Slang, although they are both ageing now. See here &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.partridge-slang.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.partridge-slang.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T08:45:15.670" />
  <row Id="670" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="683" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:46:23.580" Score="5" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many websites use the phrase 'Forgot password?' when prompting users to renew their login passwords. Is this correct usage or should it be 'Forgotten password?'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="309" LastEditorUserId="309" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T14:53:42.413" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T01:30:00.157" Title="Is it correct to use 'Forgot password' or 'Forgotten password'" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="653" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:48:27.457" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The easiest way to remember is that you don't say &quot;he's&quot; or &quot;she's&quot; if you're talking about something someone owns. There are special words for that: &quot;his&quot; and &quot;hers&quot;. It follows, then, that there'd be a special word for the genderless &quot;it&quot; too - &quot;its&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="80" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T08:48:27.457" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="665" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:50:22.727" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a grammar perspective: You use &lt;strong&gt;well&lt;/strong&gt; when you need an &lt;em&gt;adverb&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;strong&gt;good&lt;/strong&gt; when you need an &lt;em&gt;adjective&lt;/em&gt;.  That's the big difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use &lt;strong&gt;well&lt;/strong&gt; to talk about how, or in what way something is done:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;The house is well built.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;The dinner was well prepared.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use &lt;strong&gt;good&lt;/strong&gt; when to talk about a noun or pronoun.  A &lt;strong&gt;good&lt;/strong&gt; person, place or thing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;She is a good doctor.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;The dinner was good.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T08:50:22.727" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="406" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:50:55.987" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on the circumstances and the company it varies between shocking (my Bridge Club) and background noise (the Steelworks), a former colleague of mine being the record holder for the most uses in one sentence (21).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also Field-Marshal Slim's quotation of his driver reporting that the car was unserviceable...&quot;The fucking fucker's fucked.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T08:50:55.987" />
  <row Id="674" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="789" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:52:34.983" Score="7" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because of a certain 140 character limit I've learned where I can trim characters on responses but even after all this time I still reply with &quot;Well, so and so . . .&quot; and I go back and have to delete it (even on comments to this site I start with well and then delete it). Is it because that's generally how I would speak a response and I should watch out there too or is this just me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="228" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T17:48:32.457" Title="Why am I always compelled to begin a response with &quot;Well, &quot;?" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="165" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:52:42.550" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could mean 'good' in the economic sense, where it is a noun. But somehow I doubt it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T08:52:42.550" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-13T08:52:42.550" />
  <row Id="676" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="790" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:53:35.557" Score="6" ViewCount="514" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a nonnative English speaker like me, it's always been hard to sound æ and ɛ differently. For example, &quot;salary&quot; and &quot;celery&quot; are two words that I tend to pronounce identically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it OK to go on like this or do you recommend me some practices?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T23:05:39.543" Title="Sounding &quot;æ&quot; vs. &quot;ɛ&quot; in English phonology" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;phonology&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="674" CreationDate="2010-08-13T08:55:21.950" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because it gives you time to think. Another common strategy is to prefix your response with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's a good question, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, we often write like we speak. It will always polish your English if you go back again and do as Strunk and White recommend: &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Omit needless words.&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T08:55:21.950" />
  <row Id="678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="670" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:02:03.260" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not wrong to use &quot;Forgot Password&quot; but there must be a question mark at the end. So the correct form is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Forgot password?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Forgot your password?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google, for example, does it correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/ZN36i.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:02:03.260" />
  <row Id="679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="670" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:02:41.793" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Awesome question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Forgot password?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is short for &quot;You forgot your password?&quot; which is &lt;strong&gt;simple past&lt;/strong&gt; which specifies &lt;strong&gt;something that happened at a specific time in the past&lt;/strong&gt;, namely, right when you came to the site, it was then that you &quot;realized you forgot your password&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Forgotten password?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is short for &quot;Have you forgotten your password?&quot; which is &lt;strong&gt;present perfect&lt;/strong&gt; which means &lt;strong&gt;starting at some point in the past and continuing up to and including the present&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So technically the second is correct if you are describing the psychological act of forgetting. But it sounds odd since the question is really asking, &quot;Did you just try to remember your password and you forgot it at that moment?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my vote is for &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Forgot your password?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T09:55:11.987" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:55:11.987" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="472" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:04:06.157" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Language Log has been posting a lot recently about things that are wrongly being identified as passive voice, and therefore shouldn't be used. Doubly nonsense, because passive isn't something necessarily to be avoided - the advice against it seems to come from Microsoft Word's grammar checker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="308" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:04:06.157" />
  <row Id="681" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="815" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:05:02.380" Score="6" ViewCount="264" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is one of these American and one a British spelling or are they both interchangeable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have only ever seen &quot;sync&quot; used in the computing industry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="312" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:50:11.063" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:50:11.063" Title="Which is Correct: &quot;Synced&quot; or &quot;Synched&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="605" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:06:37.290" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to take this narrow interpretation, then the question is wrong.  It should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How are you doing? / I'm doing well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are, apparently, not interested in how a person &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;, because evidently all the common answers are not acceptable to you, but in how a person is &lt;em&gt;doing&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In practice, no one really cares about the difference, but there is a fault in your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T20:11:45.607" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T20:11:45.607" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="670" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:09:46.113" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are acceptable depending on the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Forgot password&quot; could simply be an informal (shortened) way of saying &quot;I forgot my password.&quot; We commonly miss out pronouns to be succinct. In this case, the words form a &lt;em&gt;statement&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, &quot;Forgot password&quot; could be a shortened form of the question &quot;Have you forgotten your password?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Forgotten password&quot; uses the gerundive (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbal_adjective&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;attributed verb&lt;/a&gt;), and thus is also perfectly fine, in that the page is directing the user to their forgotten password. Here, the words form a &lt;em&gt;noun phrase&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:09:46.113" />
  <row Id="684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="681" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:11:08.013" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are questionable abbreviations of &quot;synchronized&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one insists on the &quot;sync&quot; neologism, then &quot;synced&quot; looks more reasonable to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:11:08.013" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="681" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:14:12.193" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;synch&lt;/code&gt; is a variant of &lt;code&gt;sync&lt;/code&gt;, and &lt;code&gt;sync (synced)&lt;/code&gt; is the one mostly used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both are the informal short form of &lt;code&gt;synchronization&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T09:19:23.693" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:19:23.693" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="668" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:20:33.493" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would never use &quot;ain't&quot; in any kind of formal communication, written or spoken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only time I could see myself using this would be when directly quoting someone else, or when attempting to mimic informal spoken use in something like a message to a friend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;You want me to give you all my beer?  That ain't gonna happen, boy!&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="317" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:20:33.493" />
  <row Id="687" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="696" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:26:45.150" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;When we can use &quot;recent past&quot;? How much past time qualifies for &quot;recent past&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="313" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:41:03.033" Title="When to use &quot;recent past&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="688" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="713" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:31:54.747" Score="14" ViewCount="510" Body="&lt;p&gt;In colloquial English, I constantly run across sentences of the form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I('d) rather my [noun] [verb]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quick Google search returns tons of examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I rather my opponents don't find out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I rather my fans not read this.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'd rather my kid die than live in poverty.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'd rather my wife made land mines than worked in the wind farm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'd rather my son was a rock star than a footballer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This always sounds wrong to me. I was taught that &quot;rather&quot; was an adverb. Which means that it can modify a verb, but it cannot be used as a verb itself. There is no such thing as &quot;to rather&quot;. Thus, the correct usage is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I('d) rather &lt;strong&gt;[verb]&lt;/strong&gt; my [noun] [verb]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, &quot;I'd rather &lt;strong&gt;prefer&lt;/strong&gt; my fans not to read this&quot;, &quot;I'd rather &lt;strong&gt;let&lt;/strong&gt; my kid die&quot;, &quot;I'd rather &lt;strong&gt;have&lt;/strong&gt; my wife make land mines&quot;, and not just &quot;I rather my bread is fresh&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when I try to correct people on this, more often than not I am told that I'm an idiot. All dictionaries I have checked, from Hornby to Merriam-Webster to Cambridge to Wiktionary, seem to support what I was taught in school, but that doesn't stop people from telling me I'm totally wrong. Am I?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:16:26.667" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:16:26.667" Title="Can &quot;rather&quot; be really used as a verb?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="689" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:32:59.240" Score="26" ViewCount="1068" Body="&lt;p&gt;While reading a book, I came across the word &lt;em&gt;I'd've&lt;/em&gt;, as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'd've argued against it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it was obvious what it meant, it left me puzzled. Is &lt;em&gt;I'd've&lt;/em&gt; a proper word?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="220" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-20T17:33:16.223" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T18:25:39.287" Title="Is &quot;I'd've&quot; proper use of the English Language?" Tags="&lt;contractions&gt;&lt;short-form&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="687" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:34:48.430" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When referring to historic and architectural resources, there is the &quot;fifty year rule&quot;, which means that the resources are younger than fifty years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="167" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:34:48.430" />
  <row Id="691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="676" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:34:52.533" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I don't know Turkish, so I'm afraid I can't give you examples of pronunciation in your native language, but this may still help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;salary: SAH - lah - ree&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;celery: CELL - lair - ree&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:34:52.533" />
  <row Id="692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="657" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:34:54.140" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would always add a comment mid-sentence, unless of course the context called for it at the end anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were to add a comment at the end then my British English education compels me to include anything that pertains to a sentence before the full stop (period), not after which I believe is the US English norm?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one were to add comments at the end of the sentence, how would multiple comments be handled?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The condition was diagnosed during triage by Miss Daniels (a nurse) after she discussed the symptoms with Dr Hanson (a visiting GP).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="317" LastEditorUserId="317" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T09:48:59.303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:48:59.303" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="693" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="701" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:35:41.847" Score="3" ViewCount="820" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always thought that you could answer &quot;it's ok with me&quot; or &quot;it's fine with me&quot; when you agree with something that somebody proposed, like a meeting time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But apparently the phrase can have a negative connotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fine%20with%20me&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; Urban Dictionary it means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I could care less.&lt;/em&gt; Usually used when&#xA;  someone is being overly dramatic and&#xA;  is explaining the extreme action they&#xA;  are planning to do in response to a&#xA;  situation that they think you should&#xA;  care a lot about, but still somehow&#xA;  you don't similar to &quot;that's just fine&#xA;  with me&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I wasn't sure if this source was reliable, I googled it and apparently the definition is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;We made our play, and I came out on top. Okay? Now, if you want to start the game up again, that's &lt;strong&gt;fine with me&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317740/quotes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Italian Job (film)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I'd never have a hookup but if that's what someone is into, &lt;strong&gt;fine with me&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;cd=1&amp;amp;ved=0CBUQFjAA&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.datingish.com%2F729462209%2Fconfessions-of-a-makeout-whore%2F&amp;amp;ei=hBBlTObPMouOjAfq1Z3lCw&amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNGuk251Zxu3eJY2tRq0SJ2FJNTVQw&amp;amp;sig2=eyNfB9SJefbMufFx_UO3bA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Comment on a blog post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I be misinterpreted when I say &quot;it's fine with me&quot; meaning that I agree with the proposal? My concern is that it can be understood as &quot;ok, i don't really care.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T13:42:33.537" Title="Usage of &quot;fine with me&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="694" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="703" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:36:20.553" Score="2" ViewCount="603" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do &lt;em&gt;in regards to&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;regarding to&lt;/em&gt; imply different meanings or is it okay to use them interchangeably?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This mail is in regards to your inquiry.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  This mail is regarding to your inquiry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T14:21:12.150" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T14:21:12.150" Title="&quot;In regards to&quot; vs &quot;regarding to&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="689" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:38:04.937" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While it has a certain logic to it, I've always found &quot;I'd've&quot; a contraction too far, preferring instead to write &quot;I would have&quot; &quot;I would've&quot; or &quot;I'd have&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thinking about it, I can't recall seeing &quot;I'd've&quot; used any kind of published text.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="317" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:38:04.937" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="687" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:41:03.033" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would depend on the subject at hand. In certain circles, anything in the Cenozoic Era might count as the 'recent past'. I've certainly used the term myself in ordinary conversation to mean 'since the last ice age'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:41:03.033" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="688" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:41:32.097" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In these examples &quot;rather&quot; stands for &quot;preferably, more readily or willingly&quot;. You are, of course, correct. However, in spoken English sometimes the &quot;'d&quot; is lost and many people make this mistake even when writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="167" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:41:32.097" />
  <row Id="698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="693" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:41:48.587" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good question. The meaning of &quot;fine with me&quot; can indeed go either way, depending on how you say it and the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a rule though, just saying&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fine with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as an answer to a question without any other niceties surrounding it could often and easily be construed as a bit defensive and aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice would be, if you use it, always &quot;pad it with politeness.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:41:48.587" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:42:19.867" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The origin of the word quint is the late 17th century; it derives from French, which took the word from Latin &lt;em&gt;quintus&lt;/em&gt; (fifth) from &lt;em&gt;quinque&lt;/em&gt; (five). In Italian, &lt;em&gt;quinto&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;fifth&lt;/em&gt;, and has the same origin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Quintessential&lt;/em&gt; derives from &lt;em&gt;quintessence&lt;/em&gt; (from Latin &lt;em&gt;quinta essentia&lt;/em&gt;), which was considered thought to fill the Universe beyond Earth. In modern physics, quintessence is a hypothetical form of dark energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T15:00:35.293" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T15:00:35.293" />
  <row Id="700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="689" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:45:34.080" Score="25" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;After reading your post, I realised that I say &quot;I'd've&quot; quite a lot in my actual speech. But I have never ever written it down, nor have I seen it written down (or, more accurately, I don't recall having ever seen it written down.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not the kind of thing that I'd feel comfortable putting into a business email, definitely not an essay (unless that was my topic, oh, and I think that will be the topic of my next essay now.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it is the sort of thing which would fit nicely in the dialogue inside a novel. And you never know, it could one day be perfectly cromulent to write that, and would perhaps embiggen the written English language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:45:34.080" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="693" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:45:39.913" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It very much depends on the tone of voice with which this is said. It can simply represent a casual way of voicing agreement, but if you're not careful, quite easily apathy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:45:39.913" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="650" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:50:25.793" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good question. It depends on the medium:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If this is on a web page, and the URL is actually a link, there's no need to do anything: it will be clickable and do the right thing.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In formatted text, use a clearly distinct font for the URL, with clearly different punctuation characters.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In plain text, you could rewrite the sentence to avoid the problem, e.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com&quot;&gt;http://english.stackexchange.com&lt;/a&gt; you can find the website I was referring to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If this is not possible or desirable, you can put a space in front of the period to avoid confusion.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, that could cause the period to move to the beginning of the next line, which is ugly. Maybe the non-breaking space character could help, but it's hard to type and many computer programs don't handle it properly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:50:25.793" />
  <row Id="703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="694" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:53:16.947" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say these are correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This mail is in regards to your inquiry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This mail is regarding your inquiry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I honestly have never seen this use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This mail is regarding to your inquiry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:53:16.947" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="676" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:58:30.940" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The /æ/ sound (which in American English is the sound present in words like &lt;em&gt;cat&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;gap&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;fan&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;man&lt;/em&gt;) is pronounced by dropping your jaw down as if you were going to say [ä]; then from that position try saying /ɛ/.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T23:05:39.543" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T23:05:39.543" />
  <row Id="705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="650" CreationDate="2010-08-13T09:58:32.297" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say there's nothing wrong with putting a full stop at the end. The only thing I'd advise caution with is allowing the full stop to actually become part of a clickable link, as that clearly wouldn't work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bad: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The website I was referring to is hosted at &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://english.stackexchange.com.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The website I was referring to is hosted at &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com&quot;&gt;http://english.stackexchange.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most things tend to do the right thing in these circumstances so I'd say it is just something to be aware of. From a grammatical (and aesthetic) point of view, the full-stop definitely ought to appear and shouldn't have a leading space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of just plain text, I'd say put the full stop there (since it does belong there) and assume that everyone knows not to actually try and type that in. I could imagine almost anyone who's had any contact with the internet will know that sites end in something like &lt;code&gt;.com&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;.info&lt;/code&gt;, not &lt;code&gt;.com.&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;.info.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For email addresses (as opposed to URLs), I'd say the same thing applies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My email address is bob@example.com.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="114" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T09:58:32.297" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="706" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="715" CreationDate="2010-08-13T10:12:00.663" Score="32" ViewCount="711" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the deal with the phrase &quot;could care less&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whilst growing up, I've always known people (parents etc) to use the phrase &quot;couldn't care less&quot;, but I've also come across people who use the phrase &quot;could care less&quot; to mean the same thing (that is, &quot;I do not care at all about that&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me &quot;couldn't care less&quot; seems a lot more logical. If I couldn't care less about something, that implies I do not care about it at all. In contrast to this, to my mind the phrase &quot;could care less&quot; seems to indicate &quot;I do care about this to some degree at least&quot;, but that's definitely not the meaning intended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's going on here? Is my (logical) analysis correct or in error?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="114" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:49:04.217" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:49:04.217" Title="&quot;Could/couldn't care less&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;conversation&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="707" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="708" CreationDate="2010-08-13T10:14:24.453" Score="10" ViewCount="496" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is with words that have forms that end both in &lt;em&gt;-zation&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;-sation&lt;/em&gt;, such as &lt;em&gt;localization&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;localisation&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many spell checkers recommend &lt;em&gt;-zation&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="313" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T14:16:21.617" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T14:16:21.617" Title="&quot;-zation&quot; vs &quot;-sation&quot;?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="707" CreationDate="2010-08-13T10:25:32.133" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;z&quot; is &lt;strong&gt;American&lt;/strong&gt;, the &quot;s&quot; is &lt;strong&gt;British&lt;/strong&gt;. As an American I always use &quot;z&quot; for these words, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://rapidbi.com/bir/organisational-organizational.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;apparently&lt;/a&gt; many UK spellcheckers do not mark it as wrong and the Oxford English dictionary even gives &quot;organization&quot; as the first spelling, saying (also organisation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet my (US English) Firefox marks the &quot;organisation&quot; variant as misspelled and suggests &quot;organization&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My advice: unless you are writing under guidelines that suggest otherwise, use the &quot;z&quot; form for these words.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T10:31:57.510" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T10:31:57.510" CommentCount="15" />
  <row Id="709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="706" CreationDate="2010-08-13T10:38:55.100" Score="21" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also think &quot;&lt;strong&gt;couldn't care less&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; is the correct form since it is more logical. Perhaps this is a meta issue in that precisely those people who say &quot;could care less&quot; could not indeed care less whether they are speaking logically or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T11:38:54.057" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T11:38:54.057" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="570" CreationDate="2010-08-13T10:49:35.103" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here in the UK we use 'thick' (as sh1t, as mince, as two short planks ...) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its a useful catch-all that is equally at home amongst teachers referring to pupils and stroppy (US - ratty) software engineers talking about end users or indeed support desk personnel. It can be as offensive or as gently teasing as the user intends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="336" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T10:49:35.103" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="711" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="730" CreationDate="2010-08-13T11:05:10.493" Score="5" ViewCount="228" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always stumble when using abbreviations in a sentence, as they inherently contain a period in them. How do I use a comma or a semicolon after an abbreviation? How about a period?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g. (This is an example of my quandary)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastEditorUserId="146" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T05:22:30.640" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T05:22:30.640" Title="Punctuation around abbreviations" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="707" CreationDate="2010-08-13T11:22:18.280" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In publishing, we usually call these -ize and -ise spellings. Some UK publishers prefer -ize, but -ise is the predominant UK style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_spelling#Language_tag_comparison&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford spelling on Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;. OED prefers -ize spellings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="341" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T11:22:18.280" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="688" CreationDate="2010-08-13T11:33:02.490" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say that rather than 'rather' being a verb here, the verb is omitted and presumed to be obvious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, pedantically speaking, this may be something to frown upon, but is certainly common. And, I agree, it is jarring to hear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T11:33:02.490" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="714" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-13T11:35:39.740" Score="9" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That is a real cool answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I learned that that was incorrect, since &quot;real&quot; is an &lt;strong&gt;adjective which can describe a noun&lt;/strong&gt;, e.g. &quot;real answer&quot; but it is not an adverb which can describe an adjective, &quot;real cool&quot;. Instead you would have to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That is a really cool answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since &quot;really&quot; is an adverb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:05:44.623" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:05:44.623" Title="Can &quot;real&quot; be used as an adverb to describe an adjective?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="706" CreationDate="2010-08-13T11:36:11.300" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard it said that &quot;could care less&quot; is meant to be ironic, but I think this is just justification for the bastardisation of an English phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here we go (from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-ico1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;World Wide Words&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There’s a close link between the stress pattern of I could care less and the kind that appears in certain sarcastic or self-deprecatory phrases that are associated with the Yiddish heritage and (especially) New York Jewish speech. Perhaps the best known is I should be so lucky!, in which the real sense is often “I have no hope of being so lucky”, a closely similar stress pattern with the same sarcastic inversion of meaning. There’s no evidence to suggest that I could care less came directly from Yiddish, but the similarity is suggestive. There are other American expressions that have a similar sarcastic inversion of apparent sense, such as Tell me about it!, which usually means “Don’t tell me about it, because I know all about it already”. These may come from similar sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="341" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T11:36:11.300" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="711" CreationDate="2010-08-13T11:41:15.207" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could avoid the problem by removing the periods (or full stops). Eg: like so. In fact, the B.B.C. has completely done away with periods in abbreviations and acronyms in its writing, as have several other publications. If you do decide to include periods within your writing, you can simply place the punctuation directly after them, unless it is a period. For instance, an abbreviation for doctor is Dr. This sentence is a new sentence, but if I was talking about a Dr. and didn't have a capital letter, it is quite obvious that it is the same sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you have at least two choices:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Put punctuation after an abbreviation just as normal, except for periods.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Write your abbreviations and acronyms without periods.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p.s. E.g. (exempli gratia) is also an acronym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T13:12:04.043" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T13:12:04.043" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="706" CreationDate="2010-08-13T11:42:38.623" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Couldn't care less, most logical one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T11:42:38.623" />
  <row Id="718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="495" CreationDate="2010-08-13T12:00:23.143" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;British Supermarkets are split on whether to describe express checkouts as '10 items or less' (Tesco) or '10 items or fewer' (Marks &amp;amp; Spencer). Seemingly the more upmarket chains use 'fewer' and the more mainstream chains using 'less'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to which is the correct usage I would agree with Scott Handelman:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Fewer&quot; is used when the actual number of objects is quantifiable. Since you can count people, &quot;fewer&quot; is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Less&quot; is used when the amount is not easily quantifiable. You can put less salt in your soup, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="309" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T12:00:23.143" />
  <row Id="719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="714" CreationDate="2010-08-13T12:08:11.113" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;real cool&quot; might be incorrect, but is used in casual conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if &quot;really&quot; is &quot;more correct&quot;, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/real.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Common Errors&lt;/a&gt; site mentions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“&lt;code&gt;Really&lt;/code&gt;” is a feeble qualifier.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  “&lt;code&gt;Wonderful&lt;/code&gt;” is an acceptable substitute for “&lt;code&gt;really great&lt;/code&gt;” and you can give a definite upscale slant to your speech by adopting the British “&lt;code&gt;really quite wonderful&lt;/code&gt;”. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Usually, however, it is better to replace the expression altogether with something more precise: “&lt;code&gt;almost seven feet tall&lt;/code&gt;” is better than “&lt;code&gt;really tall&lt;/code&gt;”.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  To strive for intensity by repeating “&lt;code&gt;really&lt;/code&gt;” as in “&lt;code&gt;that dessert you made was really, really good&lt;/code&gt;” demonstrates an impoverished vocabulary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T12:08:11.113" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="720" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="743" CreationDate="2010-08-13T12:15:41.583" Score="3" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;The name of one of the &lt;strong&gt;Ernest Hemingway&lt;/strong&gt;'s short stories is &lt;strong&gt;&quot;A man of the world&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. It seems to me that I understand the meaning of this phrase out from the context of the short story. But all the same it seems a little vague to me due to the fact that this seems to be an idiom with its own specific meaning. All the meanings of this idiom which I managed to google don't seem to fit in full for the name of the short story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could you help me to grasp the meaning of the idiom in this short story?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edited (added):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;A Man of the World&quot; Summary (from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bookrags.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bookrags.com/&lt;/a&gt; )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Blindy is a blind man that wanders among the local bars playing slot machines. He smells very bad and has a difficult time finding someone to give him a ride between bars. His favorite bar is the Pilot, where he gets along well with the bartender. The bartender explains how Blindy became blind. During a fight, his eyes were gouged out and then bitten off by his opponent, Willis Sawyer. Blindy, who refuses to be called by his previous nickname, Blacky, is content with his life and pities Willis Sawyer.....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="142" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T15:54:31.447" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T01:12:26.260" Title="&quot;A man of the world&quot;" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;literature&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="721" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="731" CreationDate="2010-08-13T12:32:09.287" Score="2" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always had trouble with the word 'Afrikaans'.  I could say it the way South Africans say it, but then I'm not sure if I'd just be saying the word with a South African accent.  After all, I don't pronounce 'Spanish' as 'ESS-PAN-YOLLL'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how do people pronounce it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="356" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T13:23:45.343" Title="How should a (North American) Native English Speaker prounounce the word 'Afrikaans'?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="722" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-13T12:32:44.967" Score="3" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;The definition that I have had in my head for most of my life is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;dt&gt;dialect&lt;/dt&gt;&#xA;&lt;dd&gt;a variation of the original language (usually regional), sometimes even using different vocabulary and grammar&lt;/dd&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;dt&gt;accent&lt;/dt&gt;&#xA;&lt;dd&gt;a discernible influence of another language (usually because the speaker is not talking in his native tongue)&lt;/dd&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet, I keep hearing about Southern, Scottish or New York accents... Shouldn't these be more accurately called &quot;dialects&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could see that the answer might not be as clear cut in the US as in the UK because there are probably far more &quot;native&quot; American speakers whose ancestors' native language was not English...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Disclaimer: I'm German myself and I'm more or less assuming that &quot;accent&quot; and &quot;dialect&quot; directly correspond to their German &quot;lookalikes&quot;: &quot;Akzent&quot; and &quot;Dialekt&quot;. Maybe the semantics of those two words are simply different in English? If so, feel free to close this question.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="347" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T15:04:07.317" Title="&quot;accent&quot; vs. &quot;dialect&quot; - is the line blurring?" Tags="&lt;dialects&gt;&lt;accent&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="722" CreationDate="2010-08-13T12:41:04.713" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One could speak what one might term &quot;Standard American English&quot; with a Southern accent, or speak the Southern dialect with a Scottish accent, the accent influencing the pronunciation of the dialect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tend to think of dialect as a difference in language that might produce a difficulty in understanding between two speakers due to the differing vocabulary or grammar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T12:41:04.713" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="722" CreationDate="2010-08-13T12:41:17.867" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say they are related (and often go hand-in-hand) but are separate things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would describe a dialect as a regional variation on a language which is differentiated from others by the use of different words (or words in different contexts). For example (bad example but the only thing I could think of), some people from more northern regions of the UK might consume a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barm_cake&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barm&lt;/a&gt;. However, me with my southern origins would most likely be eating a 'bap' or a 'roll' instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would describe an accent as differences in the actual sounds produced when pronouncing words (&quot;tow-may-tow&quot; vs &quot;tow-mar-tow&quot;). It would be perfectly possible for me to speak a more northern dialect (referring to barms and other typically northern terms) but I would still maintain my normal southern accent. The reverse would be true of someone from the north.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that makes sense...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="114" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T12:41:17.867" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="570" CreationDate="2010-08-13T12:52:43.257" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer variations on &quot;What are/were you smoking?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T12:52:43.257" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="706" CreationDate="2010-08-13T12:54:30.350" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Originally the expression was &quot;I couldn't care less&quot; which, as you pointed out, makes sense. Over time, this was confused and turned into &quot;I could care less&quot; which, of course, doesn't make sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="151" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T12:54:30.350" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="727" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="746" CreationDate="2010-08-13T12:57:23.653" Score="9" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an American who lives in Germany and hear many kinds of English spoken by many nationalities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as &quot;one can either write &lt;code&gt;organization&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;organisation&lt;/code&gt; but the main point is to be consistent&quot; I have also generally applied this rule to my speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially when I was teaching English I would make it a point to not say phrases such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Spot on!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;even though I thought it was cool. And instead of saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Shall we go?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you want to go?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can imagine if you are teaching English or if you are representing a company from London or New York or Sydney you have a certain obligation to speak as if you come from that place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In what contexts is it important to maintain your accent or dialect?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T10:18:10.080" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T14:43:31.530" Title="In what contexts is it important to maintain your accent or dialect?" Tags="&lt;dialects&gt;&lt;accent&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="711" CreationDate="2010-08-13T12:58:19.610" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go with the &quot;clarity rule,&quot; use the punctuation that makes the most sense and makes your meaning easiest to discern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In practice I try to structure my sentences to avoid having to place an abbreviation at the end, where the closing period would collide with the full stop at the end of the sentence, but otherwise use the periods and punctuate the rest of the sentence as required; if the sentence structure requires a comma or semi-colon after the abbreviation then I would place it after the period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T12:58:19.610" />
  <row Id="729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="654" CreationDate="2010-08-13T13:02:53.843" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer &quot;I'm afraid&quot; or, if I'm feeling quirky, &quot;Alas!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T13:02:53.843" />
  <row Id="730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="711" CreationDate="2010-08-13T13:09:53.080" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on the &quot;Oxford Manual of Style&quot; I changed my approach:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At the end of a sentence /don't/ add a second period.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For other punctuation still include the period. E.g. &quot;IT.?&quot; would be right.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, when I was reading Mathematics at university I was told to always add the sentence ending period whatever went before, so if an equation ended with ellipsis there would be &lt;em&gt;four&lt;/em&gt; periods together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summary: it is a matter of style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="361" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T13:09:53.080" />
  <row Id="731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="721" CreationDate="2010-08-13T13:10:55.340" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The pronunciation of &quot;Afrikaans&quot; differs from &quot;Africans&quot; in two ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Accent is on the last syllable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) The last syllable rhymes with &quot;swans&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="183" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T13:10:55.340" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="693" CreationDate="2010-08-13T13:13:07.147" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is very unlikely in the context you've given that you will be misinterpreted when you say &quot;it's fine with me&quot; meaning that you agree with a proposal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your example from the Italian Job, I bet the speaker would be happy to start the game up again.  Probably they think they will come out on top again.  It the second example, I bet the author really doesn't have a problem with other people having a hookup.  So in both cases the speaker isn't necessarily showing opposition or disinterest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T13:13:07.147" />
  <row Id="733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="720" CreationDate="2010-08-13T13:18:30.503" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We use &lt;strong&gt;A man of the world&lt;/strong&gt; as a way to describe a person with broad work and life experience.  They've seen and done many things and have a great deal of worldly experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T13:18:30.503" />
  <row Id="734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="178" CreationDate="2010-08-13T13:22:00.730" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Livemocha is a platform to study foreign languages. For its spoken language module you record yourself speaking and other users on the site provide feedback.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="373" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T13:22:00.730" />
  <row Id="735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="721" CreationDate="2010-08-13T13:23:45.343" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should pronounce it the same way English or Afrikaans speaking South Africans do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;aah-free-kaahns&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word Afrikaans is the same in English or Afrikaans whereas Spanish is an English translation of Espanol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="372" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T13:23:45.343" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="720" CreationDate="2010-08-13T13:29:52.240" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just a tip for googling phrases like this, you can use a * as a wildcard like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://is.gd/eg0aL&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;* is a man of the world&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which gives you many more examples of texts which talk about particular people who are described as being a &quot;man of the world,&quot; instead of getting pages of song titles, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T13:29:52.240" />
  <row Id="737" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="747" CreationDate="2010-08-13T13:31:36.057" Score="5" ViewCount="501" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that the words &quot;non-veg&quot; and &quot;non-vegetarian&quot; are not legal English words (i.e aren't in the dictionary). Is this true? If so, what is the right way to say that something contains ingredients that are not pure vegetarian or that someone eats meat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="375" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T02:14:24.233" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T02:14:24.233" Title="Is &quot;non-vegetarian&quot; a correct word?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;indian-english&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="737" CreationDate="2010-08-13T13:41:51.960" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something that &quot;contains ingredients that are not pure vegetarian&quot; is 'unsuitable for vegetarians' in my terminology. (This is often how you see it labelled on packages, with variations for nuts, dairy, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone that eats meat should most likely be termed an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnivore&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;omnivore&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, or possibly a &lt;em&gt;carnivore&lt;/em&gt;, though it is exceedingly rare for a human to only eat meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People would most generally know what you mean by 'non-vegetarian', though it does seem like a rather round-about way of stating they follow the dietary practices of the great majority of the human race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T13:41:51.960" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="737" CreationDate="2010-08-13T13:42:21.257" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found out that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/non-vegetarian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Macmillan dictionary&lt;/a&gt; has a definition for it. The majority of the dictionaries don't contain the &quot;non-vegetarian&quot; word but it is extensively used. If you google for the word &quot;non-vegetarian&quot; there comes up lots of results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T13:42:21.257" />
  <row Id="741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="737" CreationDate="2010-08-13T13:46:18.627" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; (which reports also words used in British English, though) doesn't report the word &lt;em&gt;non-vegetarian&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Non is added to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;adverbs (&lt;em&gt;nonuniformly&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;verbs to form adjectives (&lt;em&gt;nonskid&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;noniron&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That doesn't mean that &lt;em&gt;non-vegetarian&lt;/em&gt; is not correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To notice that the prefix &lt;em&gt;non-&lt;/em&gt; has a different connotation of &lt;em&gt;un-&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T01:37:33.900" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T01:37:33.900" />
  <row Id="742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="737" CreationDate="2010-08-13T13:48:46.827" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I have trouble with the concept of a &quot;legal&quot; word.  Remember: the dictionary has finite space in it and can only fit in words that A) were known at the time it was printed, and B) were deemed important enough to include, and C) were not deemed too inappropriate for the audience of the dictionary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, I can imagine several definitions for &quot;non-vegetarian&quot;, depending on the context, but it seems pretty clear what this word means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider that in many ways it's perfectly legitimate to create &quot;new&quot; words by adding prefixes and suffixes to existing words.  The context should make it clear what you are saying.  If the speaker and listener agree on the meaning then it is a perfectly cromulent word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T13:48:46.827" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="720" CreationDate="2010-08-13T13:52:23.900" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use &lt;em&gt;a man of world&lt;/em&gt; to mean a person who is experienced in the ways of sophisticated society, which is the same meaning that the Italian &lt;em&gt;un uomo di mondo&lt;/em&gt; has (one is the literal translation of the other).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T01:12:26.260" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T01:12:26.260" />
  <row Id="744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="722" CreationDate="2010-08-13T13:55:31.100" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've often read the definition that different dialects vary in &lt;strong&gt;what&lt;/strong&gt; they say (truck vs. lory, football vs. soccer, etc.) where, on the other hand, different accents vary in the &lt;strong&gt;way&lt;/strong&gt; a specific word is pronounced (rothic vs. non-rhotic).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="297" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T13:55:31.100" />
  <row Id="745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="654" CreationDate="2010-08-13T13:56:47.323" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I normally say &quot;I'm sorry&quot;. The only case where I would use the word pity is in &quot;for pity's sake&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T13:56:47.323" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="727" CreationDate="2010-08-13T14:03:51.767" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't come from London then I don't think you should try to speak like you come from London. If you are representing a company then I think your primary obligation is to be understood, which may involve easing up on the idioms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T14:03:51.767" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="737" CreationDate="2010-08-13T14:07:12.853" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are speaking to English speakers from India, these will perfectly normal and familiar words. In other English-speaking cultures, people probably aren't as familiar with the word, but I doubt they would have much trouble understanding what it means. So I would say it is okay to go ahead and use the word in any context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In India, a larger portion of the population (maybe even a majority?) is vegetarian, so vegetarian food is kind of the default choice, and non-vegetarian is more of an exception. Whereas in other regions, the vast majority of people eat meat, and vegetarians are the exception, so no word &lt;em&gt;quite&lt;/em&gt; like &quot;non-vegetarian&quot; has been invented. (&quot;Carnivore&quot; and &quot;meat-eater&quot; are ok substitutes for the noun, but for the adjective I think you'd need to use a phrase like &quot;meat-containing&quot; or just reword it.)  If you're interested in a linguist's brief musings on this topic, you can read &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1706&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this blog post on Language Log&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, regarding &quot;not legal English words (i.e aren't in the dictionary)&quot;: dictionaries describe how the language is used, not prescribe how it should be used. New words get added to dictionaries all the time, and old words get marked as &quot;archaic.&quot; For example, &quot;spam&quot; wasn't added to the Oxford English Dictionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-214535.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;until 2009&lt;/a&gt;, but that wouldn't have meant it was invalid to use the word in 2002.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="381" LastEditorUserId="381" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-23T17:27:35.293" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T17:27:35.293" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="707" CreationDate="2010-08-13T14:09:53.190" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports both the words, and the spelling checker used from the Mac OS X (10.6) corrects me when I write &lt;em&gt;organisation&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Considering that US English is set as first language (followed by British English), I would think that &lt;em&gt;organization&lt;/em&gt; is the American English word (even though it is not reported by the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T15:12:19.823" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T15:12:19.823" />
  <row Id="749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="737" CreationDate="2010-08-13T14:12:30.327" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think non-vegetarian is perfectly acceptable. For example there is vegetarian cheese, and if one had to label the other kind, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;non-vegetarian cheese&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would be acceptable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are words like &quot;omnivore&quot; and &quot;carnivore&quot; but I would not apply these to human beings, and I would not use them as adjectives, as in &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt; omnivore cheese&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt; cheese for omnivores&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or something (the ? here is to indicate questionable usage, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/26/should-we-have-a-standard-way-of-indicating-deliberately-malformed-sentences/28#28&quot;&gt;the meta site&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T14:37:02.327" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T14:37:02.327" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-13T14:12:49.547" />
  <row Id="750" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="752" CreationDate="2010-08-13T14:14:16.283" Score="9" ViewCount="544" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think English is unique in having a set of &quot;bad words&quot; each which has its &quot;more refined&quot; equivalent, e.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;spit -&gt; expectorate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;piss -&gt; urinate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;shit -&gt; defecate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;f*ck -&gt; fornicate/copulate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and even:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;kiss -&gt; osculate &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the origin and etymology of this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T15:23:45.030" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:33:05.633" Title="Why do words like &quot;expectorate&quot; sound more posh than words like &quot;spit&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="670" CreationDate="2010-08-13T14:17:43.123" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The past participle of &lt;em&gt;to forget&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;forgotten&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;forgot&lt;/em&gt;, in the same way the past participle of &lt;em&gt;to get&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;gotten&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;got&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In my experience, &lt;em&gt;forgotten&lt;/em&gt; as in &lt;em&gt;forgotten password&lt;/em&gt; is seen as an adjective; &lt;em&gt;Forgot password?&lt;/em&gt; is understood as &lt;em&gt;Have you forgot your password?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T01:30:00.157" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T01:30:00.157" />
  <row Id="752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="750" CreationDate="2010-08-13T14:20:08.907" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;more posh&quot; words are usually Latin (occasionally Greek) in origin. The more common sounding words are from original Anglo-Saxon (I'm sure a real linguist knows more). The more educated classes tended to be more likely to use Latin and other foreign terms, while the less educated classes used the vernacular (i.e. the vulgar, common language) of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="130" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T13:46:36.397" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T13:46:36.397" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="753" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-13T14:24:40.610" Score="3" ViewCount="460" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can say e.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word &quot;on&quot; is a monosyllable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but it seems that the word &quot;&lt;strong&gt;multisyllable&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; has been &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onelook.com/?w=multisyllable&amp;amp;ls=b&amp;amp;sourceid=Mozilla-search&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;outdated since 1913&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the correct term for a word that has two or more syllables, e.g.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The word &quot;beautiful&quot; is a _________.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T15:22:47.593" Title="What is a word called that has more than one syllable?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;nomenclature&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="654" CreationDate="2010-08-13T14:35:21.223" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before I came to Germany from America, I never said &quot;It's a pity.&quot; I would say, &quot;&lt;strong&gt;It's too bad.&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &quot;it's a pity&quot; must have been published in some basic vocabulary book here because almost all German speakers who speak English say, &quot;It's a pity&quot;. I imagine it's British originally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T14:35:21.223" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="706" CreationDate="2010-08-13T14:36:51.220" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should feel free to say either variety. &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001201.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Could care less&quot; actually occurs more frequently&lt;/a&gt;. It is an entrenched idiom. No fluent speaker will have any trouble understanding what you mean. The Oxford English Dictionary lists both with the same meaning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;care&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(4). In negative and conditional construction: a. not to care passes from the notion of ‘not to trouble oneself’, to those of ‘not to mind, not to regard or pay any deference or attention, to pay no respect, be indifferent’.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(c) Colloq. phr. (I, etc.) couldn't care less: (I am, etc.) completely uninterested, utterly indifferent; freq. as phr. used attrib. Hence couldn't-care-less-ness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(d) U.S. colloq. phr. (I, etc.) could care less = sense (c) above, with omission of negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're interested in a linguist's thoughts on the topic, you can start reading &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001182.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;, and continue with all the linked articles at the bottom of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, there are two reasons you might want to avoid &quot;could care less&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of people that peeve about &quot;could care less,&quot; and if you're worried about offending them maybe you shouldn't use the phrase. (On the other hand, now that you've read this answer and the articles I've linked to, you can confidently tell them that they're actually the ones who are wrong, and &quot;could care less&quot; is perfectly fine, and if they have a problem with it then it's because they are trying to alter the English language.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When speaking to non-fluent speakers, you should attempt to avoid idioms like &quot;could care less&quot; or &quot;raining cats and dogs&quot;. If they aren't familiar with the idiom, they might try to parse it literally.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="381" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T14:36:51.220" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="753" CreationDate="2010-08-13T14:37:27.427" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;poly&lt;/strong&gt; is usually opposite to &lt;strong&gt;mono&lt;/strong&gt;: polysyllable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;beautiful is a polysyllabic word. (not sure about this usage)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T14:37:27.427" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="757" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="762" CreationDate="2010-08-13T14:37:34.853" Score="6" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a foreign English speaker who never really studied too much English grammar other than the basics at high school, I am often struggling to use the correct form in certain phrases. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;At&lt;/em&gt; being perhaps the easiest of all forms, I find it more difficult to determine when to use &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know things are &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; the table or &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; a box. I’m &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; a house &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; street XX,YY. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But are there any rules or ways to find (other than some weird exception) when to use each form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="390" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-18T13:34:27.750" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T13:34:27.750" Title="Correct usage of ‘on’, ‘at’ and ‘in’ from a foreigner’s point of view" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;learning&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;rules&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="753" CreationDate="2010-08-13T14:37:53.323" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is called &quot;Polysyllable&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T14:37:53.323" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="753" CreationDate="2010-08-13T14:38:24.993" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe you would say it is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/multisyllabic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;multisyllabic&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;strong&gt;word&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=polysyllable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WordNet&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;polysyllable&quot; means a word having more than three syllables, so it is not correct for the general case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T14:38:24.993" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="313" CreationDate="2010-08-13T14:40:22.397" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a pronoun is the subject of a verb, then you use &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt;. Otherwise you use &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exceptions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it is the object of a linking verb (such as &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt;), traditional grammar says to use &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; but this is very formal and use of &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; is extremely widespread in all but the most formal contexts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Myself&lt;/em&gt; is used as the object of a reflexive verb (“I hurt myself”), as an intensifier (“I myself will go”), and can be used in absolutive clauses (“for my wife and myself it was a happy time”)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T14:40:22.397" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="753" CreationDate="2010-08-13T14:43:44.980" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Polysyllabic&quot; is an adjective used, e.g. for &quot;polysyllabic humour&quot;, where, for example, instead of saying &quot;coca cola&quot; one says &quot;an ebony coloured, effervescent beverage of the drinkable kind, flavoured with the frutiferous bounties of the cola plant&quot; or something. This kind of &quot;humour&quot; was used by O. Henry etc. But for common usage, I have not heard the word &quot;polysyllable&quot; on its own and I would use &quot;polysyllabic word&quot; or &quot;word with more than one syllable&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T14:43:44.980" />
  <row Id="762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="757" CreationDate="2010-08-13T14:53:24.050" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry but your question is really too general to answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure some brave person will rush in where I fear to tread, but this is a complex issue: you need to go and look at an English grammar book to find all the cases. There are lots of exceptions and funny rules and overlapping cases and context dependent cases and so on and so on. You could quite easily use all three:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My mother is &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; the shopping centre&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;= e.g. My mother is standing on top of the roof of the shopping centre&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My mother is &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt; the shopping centre&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;= e.g. My mother has gone shopping and I am at home&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My mother is &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; the shopping centre&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;= e.g. I am standing outside the shopping centre waiting for my mother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T14:53:24.050" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="658" CreationDate="2010-08-13T14:54:43.190" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some suggestions off the top of my head. They might or might not suit you, depending on the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;as per&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in virtue of&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;by authority of&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in conformity with&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T14:54:43.190" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-13T14:54:43.190" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="722" CreationDate="2010-08-13T15:01:28.230" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Scotland, they have adopted Gaelic words such as &quot;Craig&quot; (rock), &quot;Ben&quot; (hill), &quot;Glen&quot; (Valley) and &quot;Firth&quot; (fjord or inlet). There are others, of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does that make Scottish and English dialect? Well, I think in the case of Scotland, maybe. It's probably one of the more difficult to understand &quot;accents&quot; and it's perhaps different enough to be considered a dialect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing about dialects is that they're usually different enough in vocabulary to be very difficult to understand for speakers of the Standard language (most spoken variety). I don't think you could call most North American accents dialects unto themselves(Texas, California, Boston, New York), as they don't differ enough in vocabulary from each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also depends on what you're basing the dialect... more English speakers around the planet use &quot;North American&quot; English, so if we use that as a base, the Queen's English may be considered a dialect. It's all how you look at it, I guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OTOH, Japanese has quite a few &lt;strong&gt;弁&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;Ben&quot; which are considered dialects. They used different grammar-endings and are at times hard to understand. The word &quot;ben&quot; is translated as &quot;dialect&quot; although apart from a few cases, like in Aomori, most people can understand what's being said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T15:01:28.230" />
  <row Id="765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="658" CreationDate="2010-08-13T15:03:24.480" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sayeth&lt;/strong&gt; the bard Bryan Adams, &quot;Everything I do,&#xA;  I do it for you&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T15:03:24.480" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-13T15:03:24.480" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="722" CreationDate="2010-08-13T15:04:07.317" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A dialect, as rightly pointed out by Splash, is a regional variation of a language. Accent difference is only one aspect of dialect. Dialects differ from each other not merely in pronunciation or accent, but also in vocabulary, spelling and even grammar. For eg. British and American English are two different dialects of English that differ not only in pronunciation (eg. 'schedule'), but also spelling (eg.fulfil vs fulfill) and grammar (eg. 'different from' vs. 'different than').&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="264" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T15:04:07.317" />
  <row Id="767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="750" CreationDate="2010-08-13T15:04:56.597" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're longer and more difficult to spell and pronounce. Thus, they require higher education.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you utilize (use) polysyllabic vocabulary (words), you will indubitably (without fail) sound more posh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T15:04:56.597" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="768" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="769" CreationDate="2010-08-13T15:06:07.127" Score="6" ViewCount="221" Body="&lt;p&gt;When should &quot;due to&quot; be preferred over &quot;thanks to&quot;, and vice versa? When can they be used interchangeably?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T20:28:46.757" Title="Difference between &quot;due to&quot; and &quot;thanks to&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="768" CreationDate="2010-08-13T15:11:12.137" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thanks to&lt;/em&gt; has a positive connotation (unless used sarcastically). &lt;em&gt;Due to&lt;/em&gt; is more neutral - it can have both a negative and a positive connotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We postponed our vacation plans due to the oil spill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was due to Dwight's efforts that this question was asked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was thanks to Dwight's efforts that this question was asked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="373" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T20:28:46.757" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T20:28:46.757" />
  <row Id="770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="750" CreationDate="2010-08-13T15:15:51.187" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is actually an interesting term for this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;inkhorn&lt;/strong&gt; (adj): ostentatiously learned: pedantic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ironically enough, I'd consider the word itself to be a good example of an inkhorn term. It was coined during the Renaissance to criticize learned writers who favored borrowed works from Latin and Greek over &quot;vulgar&quot; English alternatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T15:15:51.187" />
  <row Id="771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="768" CreationDate="2010-08-13T15:16:47.943" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Due to: &lt;strong&gt;as a result of&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thanks to: &lt;strong&gt;with the help of&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T15:16:47.943" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="750" CreationDate="2010-08-13T15:25:33.563" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Shinto pointed out, vulgar words exist in every language. I wanted to add that the pattern you are noticing (4 letter words vs. long words ending in &quot;ate&quot;) is just a coincidence and that you have only listed verbs. For example, the noun &quot;shit&quot; corresponds to &quot;feces&quot;; the noun &quot;whore&quot; (5 letters) corresponds to &quot;prostitute&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I speculate that 4 letter words are common in vulgarity because they are easier to use, possibly due to the phonemes of the English language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="373" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T15:25:33.563" />
  <row Id="773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="688" CreationDate="2010-08-13T15:26:45.093" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case, I think &quot;would&quot; is being used as the subjunctive of &quot;will,&quot; &quot;will&quot; meaning to desire. So in the case you describe, it means something akin to &quot;wish.&quot; I admit it sounds archaic, but I'm pretty sure it's okay. I know Shakespeare uses &quot;I would it were...&quot; often enough. And as you set out in the question, we still use it today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first two sentences, as written, don't make sense. &quot;Rather&quot; is not a verb. I've never heard it used like one, either. I'm guessing if you've heard that it was a mistake, and they meant to say/ type &quot;I'd rather...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, as far as I know &quot;I rather my opponents don't find out&quot; doesn't make sense. &quot;I'd rather my opponents don't find out&quot; does. You can insert a verb into most of the sentences if using &quot;would&quot; as the subjunctive of will bothers you, but it's not necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastEditorUserId="23" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T20:48:55.333" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T20:48:55.333" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="714" CreationDate="2010-08-13T15:56:15.097" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English lists 'real' as an adverb also, but qualifies it as '&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/real_2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American English spoken'&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary has the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/real&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;following note&lt;/a&gt; for 'real as an adverb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most handbooks consider the adverb&#xA;  real to be informal and more suitable&#xA;  to speech than writing. Our evidence&#xA;  shows these observations to be true in&#xA;  the main, but real is becoming more&#xA;  common in writing of an informal,&#xA;  conversational style. It is used as an&#xA;  intensifier only and is not&#xA;  interchangeable with really except in&#xA;  that use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I, therefore, don't think it's incorrect to say something like &quot;It is a real cool answer&quot; in informal speech and writing! Here, 'real' is an intensifier, that is, an adverb qualifying an adjective!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="264" LastEditorUserId="264" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T16:20:12.877" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T16:20:12.877" />
  <row Id="775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="750" CreationDate="2010-08-13T16:05:29.223" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I remember correctly, (and it was a long time ago), in the book &quot;Grammatical Man&quot;, there was a section about randomly generated words.  The author described the attempt to program a computer for the monkeys-with-a-typewriter experiment to see how long it would take to generate the first line of a Shakespeare play.  Once letters weren't being chosen at random, but according to the actual frequency distributions of letters, then the word generator began generating a lot of cuss words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the implication is that cuss words are cuss words because &lt;em&gt;they are made of such common sounds and such common patterns.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From google books I can tell the reference is somewhere around page 117, but I can't find the exact quote, which is a pity because this is the sort of finding in scatalogical research that is so good to be true it sounds like an urband legend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a post on the Daily WTF about another computer algorithm that seems to have similar &lt;a href=&quot;http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/The-Automated-Curse-Generator.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cuss word generating&lt;/a&gt; properties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T16:05:29.223" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="776" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="781" CreationDate="2010-08-13T16:14:21.777" Score="16" ViewCount="504" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with an individual who told me that pronouncing the word &quot;either&quot; is wrong when pronounced like \ˈī-thər\ instead of \ˈē-thər\ , but I didn't argue the point because I'd done no research on it myself. So I looked the word up on Merriam Webster Online and wasn't at all surprised to find that both pronunciations are in fact legitimate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which brings me to my question: what is the history of this word? How was it pronounced in old English? Were both pronunciations common hundreds of years ago? I was unable to glean much from Merriam Webster Online apart from some small fact that the word is somehow related to &lt;em&gt;whether&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;I dug up some additional information about the origins or either, and I'm hoping that someone can shed some light upon what it means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;O.E. ægðer,  contraction of æghwæðer  &quot;each of two, both,&quot; from a  &quot;always&quot; + ge-  collective prefix + hwæðer  &quot;which of two, whether.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Modern sense of &quot;one or the other of two&quot; is early 14c.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took this directly from &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/either&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;, but I have no idea what language those words come from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="104" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T07:03:56.363" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T07:03:56.363" Title="Why are there two pronunciations for &quot;either&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="777" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-13T16:21:21.457" Score="7" ViewCount="276" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a word in English which is used to describe the technique used by authors where they describe the surroundings (like sight, sounds, smells, etc.) to make the scene more rich.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like &quot;there was fresh sand between the driveway paving stones and a diminutive sapling on the lawn&quot; to describe that the house is new.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is that word? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="137" LastEditorUserId="244" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T18:23:47.197" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T01:23:26.413" Title="What do you call the word used in prose to describe the surroundings to make prose richer?" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;literature&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="658" CreationDate="2010-08-13T16:32:34.787" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the immortal words of Bryan Adams, &quot;It cuts like a knife but it feels so right&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T16:32:34.787" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-13T16:32:34.787" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="776" CreationDate="2010-08-13T16:34:04.503" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always been told and believed that \ˈī-thər\ is the correct pronunciation, albeit both are indeed common nowadays. From what I am aware, etymologists and linguists believe this was the original pronunciation of the word too. Other contemporary Germanic languages (including the closest modern relatives, Dutch and German), suggest this pronunciation of the first syllable is correct - they have arguably been less altered/basterdised from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Germanic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Old Germanic&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_english&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Old English&lt;/a&gt; (Anglo-Saxon) we know to be an almost purely Germanic language, and thus by simple statistical analysis (as is often employed in historical linguistics) we can be quite confident that this was the historically correct pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T19:46:45.070" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T19:46:45.070" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="648" CreationDate="2010-08-13T16:41:05.730" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've only ever heard &quot;the internet&quot; and &quot;internet access&quot; used that way, but I &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; heard other networks such as &quot;NIPRnet&quot; used that way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T16:41:05.730" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="414" CreationDate="2010-08-13T16:53:29.817" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember from someplace that [older] Q words in English come from Latin words of Etruscan origin, and are always followed by a U. I guess that would probably apply to Romance languages too, but if so, then how come the French say &quot;cinq&quot; instead of &quot;cinque&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T16:53:29.817" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="706" CreationDate="2010-08-13T16:55:10.577" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could care less makes no sense.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See this rant: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/video/2010/may/20/language-usa&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/video/2010/may/20/language-usa&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="411" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T16:55:10.577" />
  <row Id="786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="650" CreationDate="2010-08-13T17:11:34.140" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.w3.org/Addressing/URL/url-spec.txt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The official specification for Uniform Resource Locators (URLs)&lt;/a&gt; has a section titled “Wrappers for URIs in plain text” which recommends using angle brackets ‘&amp;lt;’ and ‘&gt;’ for delimiting URLs when they appear in the context of a plain text message:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This section does not formally form part of the URL specification .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;URIs, including URLs, will ideally be transmitted though protocols&#xA;    which accept them and data formats which define a context for them.&#xA;     However, in practice nowadays there are many occasions when URLs&#xA;    are included in plain ASCII non-marked-up text such as electronic&#xA;    mail and usenet news messages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In this case, it is convenient to have a separate wrapper syntax to&#xA;    define delimiters which will enable the human or automated reader&#xA;    to recognize that the URI is a URI.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The recommendation is that the angle brackets (less than and&#xA;    greater than signs) of the ASCII set be used for this purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These wrappers do not form part of the URL, are not mandatory, and&#xA;    should not be used in contexts (such as SGML parameters, HTTP&#xA;    requests, etc) in which delimiters are already specified. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;Yes, Jim, I found it under &amp;lt;ftp://info.cern.ch/pub/www/doc&amp;gt; but&#xA;        you can probably pick it up from &amp;lt;ftp://ds.internic.net/rfc&amp;gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you follow this recommendation, the answer is easy: place the terminal punctuation &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; the closing angle bracket delimeter ‘&gt;’.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T17:11:34.140" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="776" CreationDate="2010-08-13T17:14:03.683" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two pronunciations sound like Before and After vowels from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Great Vowel Shift&lt;/a&gt;. My guess is that we are hearing versions from what were originally two dialects, one which made the shift and one which did not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T17:14:03.683" />
  <row Id="788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="689" CreationDate="2010-08-13T17:22:05.200" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would probably write it as &lt;strong&gt;&quot;I'd 'ave&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;, similar to the way you might write out how a cockney speaker pronounces &quot;have&quot;.  Otherwise I think most people read &lt;strong&gt;&quot;I'd have&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; and recognize that most people will swallow the 'h', but I would hazard a guess that I'd've is just bad usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="417" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T17:22:05.200" />
  <row Id="789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="674" CreationDate="2010-08-13T17:24:16.833" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, it is a context marker, showing that you are launching a story. Examples of context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Did you do your homework today?&quot;, &quot;Yes&quot; is an acknowledgment of dialog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Did you do your homework today?&quot;, &quot;Well, yes&quot; means you want to shift to a story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Did you do your homework today?&quot;, &quot;Uh, yes&quot;, another context marker, means that your answer is unofficial, off-the-record, or unverifiable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T17:24:16.833" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="676" CreationDate="2010-08-13T17:31:25.747" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a typical English vowel chart:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/mez3U.png&quot; alt=&quot;English vowel chart&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, /æ/ and /ɛ/ are quite close to each other, and so have quite a similar sound. The difference is in the degree of openness: /æ/ is “near-open” and /ɛ/ is “open-mid”. If you want to make a clear distinction between the two, you need to practice, practice, practice. When I was learning phonetics, I found the best practice was to try to make long continuous vowels that go along the axes, like /iiiiiiiieeeeeeeeɛɛɛɛɛɛɛɛææææææææaaaaaaaa/. Once I was able to master making the entire continuum, it became easier to find individual points along the continuum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T17:31:25.747" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="777" CreationDate="2010-08-13T17:34:43.853" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could it be descriptive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="162" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T17:34:43.853" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="674" CreationDate="2010-08-13T17:48:32.457" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Well&quot; is not necessarily a needless word. It's a discourse marker.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_marker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia on discourse markers.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T17:48:32.457" />
  <row Id="793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="648" CreationDate="2010-08-13T17:58:08.800" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard Internet as a non-count noun mostly from British speakers -- I can't remember ever hearing it that way from Americans.  My guess, then, would be that the American version (&quot;the Internet&quot;) became more common and drowned out other forms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T17:58:08.800" />
  <row Id="794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="192" CreationDate="2010-08-13T18:00:17.097" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Up until very recent times the natural answer would have been &quot;Anyone who loves the English language should have a copy of this book in &lt;em&gt;his&lt;/em&gt; bookcase&quot;, because &quot;his&quot; was also a gender-neutral pronoun. It turned out, however, that &quot;his&quot; could only function as a gender-neutral pronoun if it were a plot by the patriarchy or something, so we're in the process of trying out alternatives. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard serious proposals to subsitute &quot;their&quot;, &quot;his or her&quot;, &quot;her&quot;, &quot;its&quot;, and even &quot;hisorher&quot;. Of those alternatives, I use &quot;their&quot; because it sounds the most natural to me, but usually I avoid pronouns altogether, as in, &quot;This book should be book in the bookcase of anyone who loves the English language.&quot; That style has the additional advantage of making you sound formal and pedantic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T18:00:17.097" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="714" CreationDate="2010-08-13T18:01:37.593" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume when you say &quot;correct&quot; you mean &quot;standard&quot;. And I will presume that when you don't say &quot;standard&quot;, you mean US standard English. In which case, the answer is that this is not standard US English. It's common in certain dialects, I believe mainly southern dialects. There's nothing wrong with it, it's just not standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T18:01:37.593" />
  <row Id="796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="658" CreationDate="2010-08-13T18:04:30.693" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;On advice of&lt;/strong&gt; Bryan Adams, &quot;I'm Ready.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T18:04:30.693" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-13T18:04:30.693" />
  <row Id="798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="777" CreationDate="2010-08-13T18:36:48.740" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word I think you are looking for is &quot;Setting&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T18:36:48.740" />
  <row Id="799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="398" CreationDate="2010-08-13T18:39:56.003" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jonik is right, &quot;replenish&quot; is of French/Latin origin and &quot;fill&quot; is of Anglo-Saxon/Germanic origin. Interestingly, roll the clock back a couple thousand years and they should be the same word. Germanic languages tended to turn P into F, so the ancestor of both words was probably &quot;pell&quot; or &quot;pill&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T18:39:56.003" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="648" CreationDate="2010-08-13T18:43:01.473" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a point of reference, when people say &quot;The Internet&quot; they are referring to a specific network.  When it was first created people used to differentiate between &quot;The Internet&quot; and &quot;an internet&quot; because there were lots of different internets but one of them was special.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my personal experience people have more recently started saying &quot;Do you have Internet?&quot; because there is only one Internet worth talking about and its existence is assumed, and it has reached the status of a basic utility, like water or electricity or cable.  But &quot;Do you have Internet&quot; is equivalent to saying &quot;Do you have Internet access&quot;, and not equivalent to &quot;Do you have The Internet?&quot; which sounds odd, as if you're asking if I possess the Internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-22T10:56:14.373" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T10:56:14.373" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="48" CreationDate="2010-08-13T18:53:40.920" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember reading somewhere that it was recommended to use the opposite of what most people stereotype the profession as. So, for example, when talking about a chiropractor, you would use &quot;her&quot;, and when talking about a secretary, you would use &quot;his&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="427" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T18:53:40.920" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="689" CreationDate="2010-08-13T18:55:08.937" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 49 incidences of &lt;em&gt;I’d’ve&lt;/em&gt; in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; (search for &lt;code&gt;I&amp;nbsp;'d&amp;nbsp;'ve&lt;/code&gt;). All but one occur in dialogue in fiction. The other one was in a transcript of &lt;em&gt;Oprah&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn’t appear that &lt;em&gt;I’d’ve&lt;/em&gt; has any substantial contemporary usage in nonfiction writing at any level of formality. Of course, people say &lt;em&gt;I’d’ve&lt;/em&gt; all the time, but if they were to write it down, they’d probably write &lt;em&gt;I’d have&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T18:55:08.937" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="776" CreationDate="2010-08-13T19:05:26.277" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How was it pronounced in old English? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;either&lt;/em&gt; is derived from the Old English &lt;em&gt;ǣgther&lt;/em&gt;, which was a short for contracted form of &lt;em&gt;ǣg(e)hwæther&lt;/em&gt;, of Germanic origin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/resources/IOE/pronunciation.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;E-Intro to Old English - 2. Pronunciation&lt;/a&gt; reports the Old English pronunciation as it has been reconstructed from linguists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T22:48:12.163" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T22:48:12.163" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="737" CreationDate="2010-08-13T19:16:14.503" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Affixes (prefixes, suffixes, and the like) can be characterized by what linguists call “productivity”. A &lt;em&gt;productive&lt;/em&gt; affix is one that can freely be applied to most any word of the class it applies to. For example the prefix &lt;em&gt;pro-&lt;/em&gt; can be added to most any noun, common or proper: &lt;em&gt;pro-choice&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;pro-Clinton&lt;/em&gt;, even whole noun phrases, as in &lt;em&gt;pro-meat-eating&lt;/em&gt;. On the other hand, a suffix like &lt;em&gt;-ment&lt;/em&gt; is substantially less productive, and can only be applied to the set verbs it is already established as affixing to, and can’t be applied to any old verb, such as *&lt;em&gt;createment&lt;/em&gt; or *&lt;em&gt;destroyment&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The prefix &lt;em&gt;non-&lt;/em&gt; is a very productive prefix. It can be applied to most any adjective, even if the combined form is not listed in a dictionary. The meaning of any such word is plain: &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; the meaning of the base adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a mostly or frequently vegetarian context, such as in a magazine about vegetarianism, or, say, in India, the word &lt;em&gt;non-vegetarian&lt;/em&gt; is perfectly understandable and therefore grammatical. The abbreviated form &lt;em&gt;non-veg&lt;/em&gt; is not a “standard” abbreviated form and therefore would have to be considered pretty informal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are 15 incidences of &lt;em&gt;non-vegetarian&lt;/em&gt; and 8 of &lt;em&gt;nonvegetarian&lt;/em&gt; in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: an asterisk (*) appearing before a word means “not grammatical”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T19:16:14.503" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="807" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-13T19:21:08.673" Score="2" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;What sounds better, and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="128" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T20:44:11.780" Title="Is a person &quot;under contract&quot; to do something? Or &quot;contracted&quot;?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="808" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="843" CreationDate="2010-08-13T19:26:10.330" Score="8" ViewCount="345" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Prepone&quot; is a great word - it's the opposite of &quot;postpone&quot;. I was wondering if it was beginning to spread around the world at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="128" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-14T00:28:48.177" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T09:35:45.207" Title="Is &quot;prepone&quot; being used outside India?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;indian-english&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="807" CreationDate="2010-08-13T19:27:41.573" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can say &quot;a network of doctors and hospitals under contract to provide services&quot;, or &quot;the local authority will contract with a wide range of agencies to provide services&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T19:27:41.573" />
  <row Id="810" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="819" CreationDate="2010-08-13T19:28:38.013" Score="11" ViewCount="306" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Germans call it an &quot;earworm&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="128" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T14:06:55.620" Title="Is there a word in English for that catchy tune that stays in your head after you've heard it?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="668" CreationDate="2010-08-13T19:28:40.650" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;After centuries of being denigrated by schoolmarms the word “ain’t” has taken up a unusual position in the English language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a word that almost embodies the essence of informality in language. Using it means that you consider the discourse context to be one of extreme informality, or when using it in a context which is already quite formal, it serves to lighten the mood or to inject a degree of folksiness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T19:28:40.650" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="808" CreationDate="2010-08-13T19:30:34.250" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The New Oxford American Dictionary doesn't report prepone as existing word. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prepone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; reports is only used in India.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T19:30:34.250" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="777" CreationDate="2010-08-13T19:31:35.247" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Imagery&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The type of imagery from your example (&quot;there was fresh sand between the driveway paving stones and a diminutive sapling on the lawn&quot;) would be visual. You're attempting to paint a picture in the reader's mind to describe the house as being new.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use imagery to appeal to any of your reader's senses. Attempting to describe a particular smell would be one...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The acrid stench of burnt hair lingered in the air.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;Wikipedia has a decent description of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagery_%28literature%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sensory imagery&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="104" LastEditorUserId="104" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-14T04:59:56.210" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T04:59:56.210" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="810" CreationDate="2010-08-13T19:40:32.463" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English it is called &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;earworm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;sticky tune.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T19:40:32.463" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="681" CreationDate="2010-08-13T19:42:04.987" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; has 30 incidences of &lt;em&gt;synced&lt;/em&gt; and 14 of &lt;em&gt;synched&lt;/em&gt;. Over half of the incidences of &lt;em&gt;synced&lt;/em&gt; are from the magazine &lt;em&gt;PC World&lt;/em&gt;, though. &lt;em&gt;Synced&lt;/em&gt; does appear to be most commonly used in computing contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T19:42:04.987" />
  <row Id="816" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="839" CreationDate="2010-08-13T19:50:32.487" Score="3" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there cases where the possessive adjective is omitted in a sentence, or is it always used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in a sentence like &quot;Susan was walking with her hands in her pockets&quot;, is it necessary to say &quot;her hands&quot;, and &quot;her pockets&quot;? In Italian, we don't say whose hands, or whose pockets if not in a sentence like &quot;Susan was walking with her hands in Michael's pokets&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I was wondering if the use of the possessive adjective is strictly necessary in cases like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-17T00:07:06.333" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T01:05:10.353" Title="Are there cases where a possessive pronoun is omitted?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="817" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="835" CreationDate="2010-08-13T20:15:03.037" Score="5" ViewCount="493" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;yay or nay&quot; an acceptable alternative to &quot;yea or nay&quot;? I have seen it several times in recent weeks, enough to make me wonder whether it is an emerging usage or just a common typo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T13:08:11.997" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T13:08:11.997" Title="&quot;Yay or nay&quot;: yea or nay?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;eggcorn&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="818" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-13T20:19:19.640" Score="10" ViewCount="250" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard it said that clothes can be 'hung' but men are 'hanged'. Is this correct, and, if so, why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="422" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T17:35:46.680" Title="Why are clothes hung and men hanged?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="810" CreationDate="2010-08-13T20:24:30.813" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never heard of a single word, but the phrase &quot;stuck in your head&quot; comes to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="433" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T20:24:30.813" />
  <row Id="820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="808" CreationDate="2010-08-13T20:32:01.637" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't we have a word for that already: anticipate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="308" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T20:32:01.637" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="688" CreationDate="2010-08-13T20:37:41.173" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In all but your first two examples, there &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; a verb - it's the contracted &lt;code&gt;would&lt;/code&gt; in &lt;code&gt;I'd&lt;/code&gt;. So the &lt;code&gt;rather&lt;/code&gt; is modifying that &lt;code&gt;would&lt;/code&gt;, which is used as the subjunctive of 'will' in the sense of 'want'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="308" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T20:37:41.173" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="817" CreationDate="2010-08-13T20:40:02.290" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never seen that spelling of &quot;yea&quot; in that context.  I wouldn't use it personally - it looks too much like the exclamative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T20:40:02.290" />
  <row Id="823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="807" CreationDate="2010-08-13T20:44:11.780" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I generally hear &quot;under contract&quot; as an adjective and &quot;contracted&quot; as past-tense verb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The person/organization performing the activity is &quot;under contract&quot; and the person/organization requesting the activity &quot;contracted&quot; to have it done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T20:44:11.780" />
  <row Id="824" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="850" CreationDate="2010-08-13T21:11:19.250" Score="14" ViewCount="830" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my grade school days, I recall a teacher proclaiming to the class:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You should never start a sentence with the word &quot;Because&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, I've since seen lots of examples to the contrary, and done so my self that seem to be perfectly correct, grammatically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did she shorten some other rule that allows for specific exceptions?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Did she just make it up because writing sentences starting with &lt;code&gt;because&lt;/code&gt; is a little tricky for young and inexperienced minds?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is there some other reason?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="437" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:48:54.620" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T11:16:22.100" Title="Can a sentence start with &quot;Because&quot;" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="818" CreationDate="2010-08-13T21:12:11.137" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=DsQVAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA271&amp;amp;lpg=PA271&amp;amp;dq=%22to+put+to+death+by+hanging%22&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=OKb5ig_FKp&amp;amp;sig=_UI4GMWTgD8iLD-LSgMz2qL-pKs&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=TbNlTO6RBIH88Aa85oSXCA&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=9&amp;amp;ved=0CDgQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22to%20put%20to%20death%20by%20hanging%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This old reference&lt;/a&gt; in the Dictionary of the English Language (thanks, Google Books!) supports the usage you outline as correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grammar Girl &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/hanged-versus-hung.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;writes&lt;/a&gt; that this is because there are 2 different Old English words for the two meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="143" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-14T05:08:44.620" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T05:08:44.620" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="668" CreationDate="2010-08-13T21:36:48.500" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word ain't has been used and understood long enough to be accepted by the standards of any dictionary, but has not because of sobbery.  Low class people use it and therefore it is rejected. It is used for are not and am not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T21:36:48.500" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="750" CreationDate="2010-08-13T21:45:35.910" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to write words people can feel, use little ones.  &quot;The bad news was like a kick in the gut.&quot;  &quot;The disturbing information caused the individual's intestines to turn queasy.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T21:45:35.910" />
  <row Id="828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="706" CreationDate="2010-08-13T21:45:37.253" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to confirm by personal experience what Kip has already pretty well established:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I came to this country at 8, and was confused by such things as &quot;I could care less&quot;, but I noticed it occurred FAR more commonly than &quot;I couldn't care less&quot;, at least when I was a kid.  In fact only in the last few years have I heard anyone at all voice dismay over what stood out to me like a sore thumb as a kid.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you might characterize the question as being between following convention and following logic.  Only a naive view of language would lead you to believe that every expression should be logically derivative from its composite parts.  In fact natural languages are full of expressions whose meaning cannot be correctly deduced by assembling the parts according to some rules.  That's just the way it is, and we'd better get used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not to say you shouldn't use &quot;couldn't care less&quot; in speech.  But there's no basis for interpreting &quot;could care less&quot; to mean that the person cares more than the bare minimum possible, or for trying to inflict some notion of one being right and the other wrong on other speakers of the language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="443" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T21:45:37.253" />
  <row Id="829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="824" CreationDate="2010-08-13T21:47:14.397" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The rule is really made up to prevent primary school children splitting their sentences up randomly. This is just one of those rules that's made to be broken... when you know it sounds ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="444" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T21:47:14.397" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="824" CreationDate="2010-08-13T22:07:58.443" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because I don't know your teacher, I can't know her motivations. However, there is nothing wrong with starting a sentence that way if you are careful to write a complete sentence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T22:07:58.443" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="816" CreationDate="2010-08-13T22:12:17.610" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sure. I think this sentence works either way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Suzy didn't eat her breakfast today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Suzy didn't eat breakfast today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T22:12:17.610" />
  <row Id="832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="264" CreationDate="2010-08-13T22:58:05.987" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll notice you also say things like, &quot;I'd rather that he &lt;em&gt;leave&lt;/em&gt; early...&quot; (not &quot;leaves&quot;).  You are using the subjunctive mood, which isn't grammatically overt in English all that often, but does pop up here and there.  &quot;God bless America&quot; is one of these cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_subjunctive#Usage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_subjunctive#Usage&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T22:58:05.987" />
  <row Id="834" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="836" CreationDate="2010-08-13T23:11:33.377" Score="10" ViewCount="500" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure if we are going to do this on this site, but we ought to allow a little Friday fun...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the longest word you can come up with that is a real English word that doesn't use any individual letter more than once?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-13T22:00:49.920" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T22:00:49.920" Title="What is the longest word in the English language without a repeated letter?" Tags="&lt;fun&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="817" CreationDate="2010-08-13T23:12:13.687" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The words &lt;em&gt;yea&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;yay&lt;/em&gt; are homophones, meaning they are pronounced the same. &lt;em&gt;Yea&lt;/em&gt; is a somewhat specialized word (“&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yea&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;yes—used in oral voting&lt;/a&gt;”) most often used in a spoken context, so I would expect that many people would not realize there are two spellings for two different meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the spelling &lt;em&gt;yay&lt;/em&gt; for &lt;em&gt;yea&lt;/em&gt; is therefore an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggcorn&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;eggcorn&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4002&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's a discussion of it at the Eggcorn Database forum&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There were no examples of &lt;em&gt;yay&lt;/em&gt; being used for &lt;em&gt;yea&lt;/em&gt; at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;, so it doesn't seem to be an emerging usage that is getting into the kinds of edited texts used to populate that corpus. On the other hand, there are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22yay+or+nay%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;plenty of Google results&lt;/a&gt;, including some on major, presumably professionally-edited sites, like &lt;a href=&quot;http://abcnews.go.com/Health/WellnessNews/yay-nay-top-love-helpers/story?id=9809516&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ABC News&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2009/09/mantyhose_yay_or_nay.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;New York Magazine&lt;/a&gt;. Interestingly, a large portion of the top Google results were related to fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How embarrassing for them: anyone who knows that there are two spellings for the two words would instantly identify &lt;em&gt;yay&lt;/em&gt; for &lt;em&gt;yea&lt;/em&gt; as an error.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even the normally quite liberal and descriptivist Merriam-Webster dictionary has no entry at all for ‘yay’. Only &lt;em&gt;Collins English Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; has an entry for &lt;em&gt;yay&lt;/em&gt;, and it’s only for the exclamatory sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, yes, it does appear that this substitution is an emerging usage, but no authorities at all countenance it just yet, and given that there is an unimpeachable substitute, I don’t recommend that anyone use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-13T23:57:41.440" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T23:57:41.440" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="834" CreationDate="2010-08-13T23:23:09.533" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wrote a quick little Perl script to scan through the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.speech.cs.cmu.edu/cgi-bin/cmudict&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CMU Pronouncing Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;#!/usr/local/bin/perl&#xA;use warnings;&#xA;use strict;&#xA;use Data::Dumper;&#xA;my @size;&#xA;while (&amp;lt;&amp;gt;) {&#xA;    my ($word) = split /  /, $_;&#xA;    next unless $word =~ m/^[A-Z]+$/;&#xA;    my @letters = split //, $word;&#xA;    my %count;&#xA;    $count{$_}++ foreach @letters;&#xA;    next if grep { $_ &amp;gt; 1 } values %count;&#xA;    push @{$size[length($word)]}, $word;&#xA;}&#xA;print Dumper(pop @size);&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the output:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;$VAR1 = [&#xA;          'COPYRIGHTABLE',&#xA;          'UNPREDICTABLY',&#xA;          'WOLFENSCHMIDT'&#xA;        ];&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The third is debatably an English word—it’s a name—but they are all 13 letters long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T23:23:09.533" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="810" CreationDate="2010-08-13T23:34:54.367" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I call it &quot;Back in Black.&quot; :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-15T09:46:59.950" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T09:46:59.950" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="838" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="840" CreationDate="2010-08-13T23:45:42.163" Score="4" ViewCount="258" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which of the following is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The fortune 500 companys' assets are vast.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The fortune 500 companies' assets are vast.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-04T10:35:47.487" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T10:35:47.487" Title="Possessive words ending in &quot;y&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="816" CreationDate="2010-08-13T23:50:10.237" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me, it feels a bit unusual to say ?&quot;&lt;em&gt;Susan was walking with hands in pockets&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, but &quot;&lt;em&gt;Susan was walking, hands in pockets.&lt;/em&gt;&quot; seems perfectly fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English speaking people drop possessive adjectives and other pronouns all the time in their speech, but are much less likely to do so when writing things down. For someone learning English, it is probably better to keep them in, as it reduces ambiguity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But yes, English does have a huge trend of clarifying many statements which could be perfectly clear from the context. But it's not a rule which must always be followed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example: &quot;&lt;em&gt;The matron was standing there, staring at me, hands on her hips.&lt;/em&gt;&quot; Could be written as &quot;&lt;em&gt;The matron was standing there, staring, hands on hips.&lt;/em&gt;&quot; Whose hips her hands are on, is very obvious. Who she is staring at would have to be garned from context (i.e. the prior sentences).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So no, the possessive adjective is not strictly necessary, but until you intuitively understand when and where they can be dropped while retaining meaning, it is probably better to keep using them. But by all means, experiment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-14T00:04:40.363" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T00:04:40.363" />
  <row Id="840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="838" CreationDate="2010-08-13T23:50:11.610" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this would clear things up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This Fortune 500 company&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This Fortune 500 company’s assets are vast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;These Fortune 500 companies&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;These Fortune 500 companies’ assets are vast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though it’s possessive, it’s still pluralized in the normal way for nouns ending in -y.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-13T23:50:11.610" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="816" CreationDate="2010-08-14T00:15:06.503" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If Italian is like Spanish, then in cases where you don’t specify whose hands or whose pockets, as in the example in the question, you use the ordinary definite article in lieu of the possessive pronoun (the equivalent of &lt;em&gt;the hands&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;the pockets&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The substitution of the definite article for the possessive pronoun is not grammatical in English as it in Spanish and presumably Italian. That is, you can’t say “Susan was walking with the hands in the pockets”. As Vincent McNabb points out in his answer, you can in some cases use a zero article—“Susan was walking with hands in pockets”—but this has a kind of breezy or poetic feel to it. It is not really a neutral, unmarked way to say it equivalent to “Susan was walking with her hands in her pockets”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T00:15:06.503" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="48" CreationDate="2010-08-14T00:18:18.183" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;singular they&quot; sounds totally wrong to my ear.  But I am conscious of the implicit gender bias our language can have at times.  So, I prefer to choose &quot;his&quot; or &quot;her&quot; either at random, or with a bias against the stereotype: use &quot;his&quot; when most people would assume you're talking about a woman; use &quot;her&quot; when most would assume a man.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="452" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T00:18:18.183" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="808" CreationDate="2010-08-14T00:28:21.207" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is exactly one incidence for &lt;em&gt;prepone&lt;/em&gt; in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;, from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.csmonitor.com/1995/0517/17013.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this &lt;em&gt;Christian Science Monitor&lt;/em&gt; article&lt;/a&gt;, which reads:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;IN India, people created the word “prepone” as the obvious opposite of postpone. On the Internet, a form of cyber-English has sprouted with such words as “net-surfing.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I hope it surprises no one that this citation is from 1995—eons ago in Internet time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More recently, in 2008 the &lt;em&gt;Monitor&lt;/em&gt; published &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/The-Home-Forum/2008/0502/p18s01-hfes.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article discussing &lt;em&gt;prepone&lt;/em&gt; in much more detail&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it does not appear that &lt;em&gt;prepone&lt;/em&gt; has much currency outside of India. I have heard it in my day-to-day business on occasion here in the United States in the software development industry—from my colleagues from India.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T00:28:21.207" />
  <row Id="844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="516" CreationDate="2010-08-14T00:40:19.667" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Different from&lt;/em&gt; is the construction most often used in the U.S. and Britain; &lt;em&gt;different than&lt;/em&gt; (used almost exclusively in North America) is also used, especially in speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T01:05:54.323" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T01:05:54.323" />
  <row Id="845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="516" CreationDate="2010-08-14T01:23:58.873" Score="30" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You left out the construction that makes the question more interesting: &lt;strong&gt;different to&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The quick answer is that &quot;&lt;strong&gt;different from&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; is always correct and acceptable everywhere, but &quot;&lt;strong&gt;different than&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; is common in US usage (as odd as it may seem for two things to be both different than the other), and &quot;&lt;strong&gt;different to&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; is common in UK usage (as odd as it may seem to have both &quot;different from&quot; and &quot;different to&quot; mean the same thing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the useful &lt;a href=&quot;http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxdiffer.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;alt.usage.english FAQ entry&lt;/a&gt; in its entirety:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Different from&quot; is the construction that no one will object to. &quot;Different&#xA;  to&quot; is fairly common informally in the&#xA;  U.K., but rare in the U.S.  &quot;Different&#xA;  than&quot; is sometimes used to avoid the&#xA;  cumbersome &quot;different from that&#xA;  which&quot;, etc. (e.g., &quot;a very different&#xA;  Pamela than I used to leave all&#xA;  company and pleasure for&quot; -- Samuel&#xA;  Richardson).  Some U.S. speakers use&#xA;  &quot;different than&quot; exclusively. Some&#xA;  people have insisted on &quot;different&#xA;  from&quot; on the grounds that &quot;from&quot; is&#xA;  required after &quot;to differ&quot;.  But&#xA;  Fowler points out that there are many&#xA;  other adjectives that do not conform&#xA;  to the construction of their parent&#xA;  verbs (e.g., &quot;accords with&quot;, but&#xA;  &quot;according to&quot;; &quot;derogates from&quot;, but&#xA;  &quot;derogatory to&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Collins Cobuild Bank of English&#xA;  shows choice of preposition after&#xA;  &quot;different&quot; to be distributed as&#xA;  follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;                &quot;from&quot;  &quot;to&quot;    &quot;than&quot;&#xA;                -----   ----    ------&#xA;U.K. writing    87.6    10.8     1.5&#xA;U.K. speech     68.8    27.3     3.9&#xA;U.S. writing    92.7     0.3     7.0&#xA;U.S. speech     69.3     0.6    30.1&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it's safest to avoid both &quot;different to&quot; and &quot;different than&quot;, even though they have ≈30% popularity in UK and US speech respectively, and use &quot;different from&quot; exclusively. See also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-dif1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Michael Quinion's World Wide Words&lt;/a&gt; where he points out that many good writers have used the much-maligned now-grudgingly-accepted &quot;than&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-08T06:10:48.983" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T06:10:48.983" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="846" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-14T01:53:23.127" Score="3" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where can I find a good source (book or web page) of equivalences between Australian English and American English? I am looking for ordinary words, clothing-related words, food-related words, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="458" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-15T11:26:24.983" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T11:26:24.983" Title="Equivalences between Australian English and American English" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;australian-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="834" CreationDate="2010-08-14T01:59:38.757" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isogram&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wikipedia: Isogram&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="98" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-14T02:14:38.253" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T02:14:38.253" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="668" CreationDate="2010-08-14T02:02:08.580" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it will be alright to use &quot;ain't&quot; when you get a wedding invitation that has an RSVP card that has as the choices:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; [ ] I will be there.&#xA; [ ] I and a guest will be there.&#xA; [ ] I ain't coming.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="457" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T02:02:08.580" />
  <row Id="849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="834" CreationDate="2010-08-14T02:05:02.427" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usual answer (longer than nohat's discoveries, probably because the CMU dictionary doesn't contain it, but certainly a valid English word) is  &quot;&lt;strong&gt;UNCOPYRIGHTABLE&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, 15 letters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dermatology journals also contain the word &lt;strong&gt;SUBDERMATOGLYPHIC&lt;/strong&gt;, 17 letters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T02:05:02.427" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="824" CreationDate="2010-08-14T02:18:57.120" Score="34" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is appropriate when you have simply flipped the clauses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I stayed inside because it was raining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because it was raining, I stayed inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What the teacher was trying to teach was that a a subordinate clause is not a complete sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I stayed inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a complete sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because it was raining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not; the conjunction &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; makes it subordinate and therefore, it requires an associated independent clause. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="459" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T08:09:50.640" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T08:09:50.640" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="851" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="854" CreationDate="2010-08-14T02:28:21.607" Score="8" ViewCount="2500" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I hear the emphasis placed on the second syllable, and other times on the second to last syllable. I myself use both pronunciations depending on context, and it makes me wonder if there is an underlying rule that I can't quite put my finger on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="460" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-14T20:42:12.857" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T17:18:33.320" Title="Correct pronunciation of Caribbean" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="757" CreationDate="2010-08-14T02:28:33.710" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There aren’t any simple rules &lt;em&gt;per se&lt;/em&gt;, and most people, when asked why you use one preposition over another in a particular case, will usually give an explanation by analogy with a more simple example. But it can be hard to invent these analogies if you don’t already know which word to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately there is a good tool you can use when you are wondering which form to use: check for collocates using a corpus, such as the freely-available Corpus of Contemporary American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using COCA, you can search for frequent prepositional collocates before a questionable phrase using &lt;code&gt;[i*]&lt;/code&gt;, the code for prepositions. For example, if you are unsure whether you should say “in a bus” or “on a bus” you could search for &lt;code&gt;[i*] the bus&lt;/code&gt;, and you would get these incidence counts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1   ON THE BUS     1444&#xA;2   OF THE BUS     792&#xA;3   TO THE BUS     414&#xA;4   OFF THE BUS    340&#xA;5   AT THE BUS     283&#xA;6   FOR THE BUS    249&#xA;7   FROM THE BUS   179&#xA;8   IN THE BUS     170&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly the most common prepositional collocate for “the bus” is &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt;, although there are curiously some 170 examples of “in the bus”. So you click on them and you see:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They were huddled &lt;strong&gt;in the bus&lt;/strong&gt; shelter, out of the wind&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Flea Market 8 a.m. -3 p.m. Saturday &lt;strong&gt;in the bus&lt;/strong&gt; parking lot. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Optimism is a rare quality at 4 a.m. &lt;strong&gt;in the bus&lt;/strong&gt; station in Cleveland.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, so good. These are examples where &lt;em&gt;bus&lt;/em&gt; is just the beginning of a longer noun phrase to which &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; can be perfectly reasonably applied. But then:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;they were &lt;strong&gt;in the bus&lt;/strong&gt; trying to help&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some team members were still &lt;strong&gt;in the bus&lt;/strong&gt; and we were able to get them out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The eight men were separated from the women &lt;strong&gt;in the bus&lt;/strong&gt;, and driven away, along with their father's coffin.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The tourists &lt;strong&gt;in the bus&lt;/strong&gt; didn't seem to give a damn.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What the heck is going on here? I thought that you had to say “on the bus”, and that “in the bus” is wrong. Well, I guess sometimes you &lt;strong&gt;can&lt;/strong&gt; say “in the bus”, although it seems from the contexts given that you would only use “in the bus” when the bus is stationary and can be thought of as a room or building or sorts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, you can learn a lot about how to use &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; by searching through a corpus and seeing which preposition native speakers use most frequently with the noun you are wondering about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T02:28:33.710" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="834" CreationDate="2010-08-14T02:33:30.423" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the dictionaries which come with FreeBSD I find:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;14: ambidextrously&#xA;14: benzhydroxamic&#xA;15: dermatoglyphics&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T02:33:30.423" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="851" CreationDate="2010-08-14T02:40:06.023" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two pronunciations I know of are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribbean#cite_note-2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mentioned in Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;/kærɨˈbiːən/ (ka-rih-BEE-uhn)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;/kəˈrɪbiən/ (kuh-RIB-ee-uhn)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both are standard; however, there are a couple proper nouns containing the word &lt;em&gt;Caribbean&lt;/em&gt; that have a fixed pronunciation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pirates of the Caribbean&lt;/a&gt; - uses #1&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Caribbean&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Royal Caribbean&lt;/a&gt; - uses #2&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally make a sort of generalization from this and use #1 for the noun usage and #2 for the adjective usage, but there is no reason anyone else should use this rule unless they like it. Most people probably just stick to one preferred pronunciation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Billy Ocean uses #1 in his song “Caribbean Queen”, as does Bob Dylan in his song “Caribbean Wind”. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T02:40:06.023" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="851" CreationDate="2010-08-14T02:40:52.230" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the UK, the stress is usually on the second to last syllable, cariBBEan. I have heard North Americans say &quot;caRIBbean&quot; and &quot;cariBBEan&quot;. I think the first one is more common in the USA. Which one is correct? That is one of those &quot;poteyto/potahto&quot; questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T02:40:52.230" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="681" CreationDate="2010-08-14T03:21:54.927" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Synced&quot; is a little confusing for the reader since it could be pronounced like &quot;since&quot;, thus the &quot;synched&quot; spelling is probably to make it more readable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T03:21:54.927" />
  <row Id="857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="824" CreationDate="2010-08-14T03:33:52.357" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because is a conjunction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hey, I started the sentence with 'Because', and I'm sure no English Teacher would object to this!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T03:33:52.357" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="584" CreationDate="2010-08-14T04:47:00.440" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Outside of programming: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You generally don't pronounce these abbreviations, you would say the word they're abbreviating (that'd be like saying &quot;Lol&quot; in real life -- yes, people do this and I find it silly and awkward-sounding). Do people really say things like &quot;dir&quot; and &quot;deff&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Microphone is the exception here. The word is often abbreviated as &quot;mic&quot; on mixing boards, for space reasons, and it stuck. The mic/mike thing can be argued endlessly (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sambayer.com/tirades/whymike.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;and sometimes is&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&quot;Open mike tonight&quot; sounds to me like there'll be a guy named Mike whose body has velcro closures keeping his abdomen closed.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastEditorUserId="161" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T15:02:38.813" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T15:02:38.813" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="846" CreationDate="2010-08-14T04:51:11.527" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(I'm answering this because no-one else has, not because I have a good answer.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;a href=&quot;http://203.166.81.53/and/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Australian National Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; any use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There used to be quite a funny book of Australian English which was published around the sixties or seventies, but I can't seem to find it on the internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T04:51:11.527" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="584" CreationDate="2010-08-14T04:58:52.497" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just for &quot;char&quot; alone, I find &quot;care&quot;, &quot;car&quot;, &quot;char&quot;, and even &quot;shar&quot; on the internet. Maybe we should ask Dennis Ritchie?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T04:58:52.497" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="861" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-14T06:04:48.437" Score="5" ViewCount="252" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;[Following up from, but not a duplicate of, &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/170/was-the-usage-spaghetti-were-ever-acceptable-or-common&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; by another user, which was unresolved…]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Somerset Maugham's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gutenberg.org/files/222/222-h/222-h.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Moon and Sixpence&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; contains an unusual (perhaps even unique) usage of English that I'm hoping some native speaker can shed light on. Here is the sentence in bold, with some surrounding sentences for context. Dirk Stroeve has previously been described as &quot;a painter, but a very bad one&quot;. The narrator says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the evenings I went to see my&#xA;  friends.  I looked in often on the&#xA;  Stroeves, and sometimes shared their&#xA;  modest fare.  Dirk Stroeve flattered&#xA;  himself on his skill in cooking&#xA;  Italian dishes, and &lt;strong&gt;I confess that&#xA;  his &lt;i&gt;spaghetti&lt;/i&gt; were very much&#xA;  better than his pictures.&lt;/strong&gt;  It was a&#xA;  dinner for a King when he brought in a&#xA;  huge dish of it, succulent with&#xA;  tomatoes, and we ate it together with&#xA;  the good household bread and a bottle&#xA;  of red wine.  I grew more intimate&#xA;  with Blanche Stroeve…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since &lt;em&gt;spaghetti&lt;/em&gt; is (almost?) always used in English in the singular as an uncountable (mass) noun, this is unusual. What is the right interpretation of this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;His spaghetti&quot; is parallel to &quot;his omelettes&quot;. That is, it refers to the many occasions he cooked spaghetti, and means something like &quot;his &lt;em&gt;spaghetti dishes&lt;/em&gt; were better than his pictures&quot;. (The OED entry for 'spaghetti' has &lt;em&gt;&quot;1. a. A variety of pasta made in long thin strings. Occas., a dish of spaghetti.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As in the original &lt;a href=&quot;http://ljkrakauer.com/LJK/essays/biscottibis.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Italian usage&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;spaghetti&quot; in the plural here refers to multiple strands of spaghetti or pieces of spaghetti.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Something else.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(I am partial to (1.) myself, but this interpretation was described by another user as &quot;unlikely&quot; and &quot;completely absurd&quot;, so I'm trying to know for sure.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T16:42:12.400" Title="What does Maugham mean by &quot;his spaghetti were&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;uncountable-noun&gt;&lt;literature&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="834" CreationDate="2010-08-14T06:41:29.080" Score="-3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(And I'm not just making that up!)  ... I learned it as a kid, in the hopes that I could win the national spelling bee with it ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="465" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T06:41:29.080" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="863" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="865" CreationDate="2010-08-14T06:47:05.480" Score="4" ViewCount="382" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does the word &quot;block&quot; mean in the context of giving directions? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example like in the following phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Go straight down this street for two blocks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T09:35:23.387" Title="Meaning of &quot;block&quot; when giving directions" Tags="&lt;conversation&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="861" CreationDate="2010-08-14T07:01:17.133" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is highly unlikely that either 1 or 2 is correct.  I think Maugham has made an uncommon[1] choice to make &lt;strong&gt;spaghetti&lt;/strong&gt; plural.  Or if you think the speaker is expressing an opinion, he could be using the subjunctive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] COCA &amp;amp; BNC searches yield no such usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T07:01:17.133" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="863" CreationDate="2010-08-14T07:09:17.023" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A block is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_block&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;city block&lt;/a&gt;, a term used in American English for the smallest area surrounded by streets: the rectangle within the green boundary in this figure:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/City_block.PNG&quot; alt=&quot;City block&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus as a unit of distance, a &quot;block&quot; means &quot;the distance between two streets&quot;. It is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Block&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;generally&lt;/a&gt; between 1/16 and 1/8 miles (0.1 and 0.2 km) in US cities (or 1/20 mi (0.08 km) in Manhattan).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond the fact that the term is American English (but may still be understood by others), it makes sense mainly in well-planned American cities that are laid out on a grid, with &quot;blocks&quot; of this sort. European and older cities do not usually have such a consistently regular layout, so talking in terms of &quot;blocks&quot; is less useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-14T09:35:23.387" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T09:35:23.387" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="866" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="867" CreationDate="2010-08-14T07:23:22.573" Score="8" ViewCount="274" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the differences between these two phrasal verbs and what are the best situations to use each?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="368" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T15:11:41.127" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T01:18:51.370" Title="&quot;Speak to&quot; vs. &quot;Speak with&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;phrasal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="866" CreationDate="2010-08-14T07:40:52.563" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These two are more or less equivalent. They can both be used for the situation where A and B speak to each other. &quot;Speak to&quot; can also be used for the situation where A talks and B listens without speaking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T07:40:52.563" />
  <row Id="868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="866" CreationDate="2010-08-14T07:59:49.723" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen &quot;Speak to&quot; being used when there is a monologue kind of a situation, A speaks and B listens. &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/866/speak-to-vs-speak-with/867#867&quot; title=&quot;Shinto's answer&quot;&gt;Refer Shinto's answer&lt;/a&gt;. This has reference to instructing, reprimanding and situations like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Speak with&quot; is a more neutral kind of a term implying a bidirectional communication. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T07:59:49.723" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="869" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="871" CreationDate="2010-08-14T08:00:29.957" Score="4" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's the problem. Many common terms in the programmer's lexicon--i.e., used in information communication and in published texts--are identical to everyday words; others are slight 'distortions' of everyday words (so that if you saw them but weren't a programmer, you'd swear they were misspelled or used incorrectly). It's this latter category that's the focus of my question. Some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;persist&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (a verb, e.g., you 'persist' data by writing it to a RDBMS);&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;instantiate&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (invoke a function which creates an object bound to a&#xA;variable);&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;deprecate&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (e.g., replace an old feature with a new one, and leave the&#xA;old feature in the language temporarily to preserve backwards-compatability)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A colleague and i recently finished writing a book largely directed to programming though the intended audience is mostly (but not exclusively) non-programmers (for instance, marketing managers and other people who often wear ties).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our &lt;em&gt;editor&lt;/em&gt; does &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; like words like these in the text.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular, she feels strongly that terms like the ones i just recited should be replaced with a short descriptive phrase that's more consonant with the conventional business lexicon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We argue that fidelity to the language of the relevant community is what's most important--i.e., most of the concept we are trying to explain in the book are embodied in these specialist terms, and if the reader doesn't learn those terms then the book will have very little if any practical significance for them because they won't be able to communicate with the specialists who are required to implement the systems described in the book.  In addition, we contend that by providing a glossary or endnotes, the reader can easily absorb the unfamiliar terminology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arguing from the details though doesn't appear ever likely to persuade either 'side,' and so I would very much appreciate the higher-level views from this community.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="466" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T22:57:37.030" Title="Is domain-specific meaning acceptable/advisable when used in a document directed outside the domain?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="869" CreationDate="2010-08-14T08:11:51.457" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me it's obvious that you should do what the editor suggests. I can't tell you how exasperating it is to read text where the authors insist on introducing jargon words for no apparent reason, just because that is the way that the experts talk. It slows down my pace of reading and thus is highly irritating, and I usually feel like the author is just wasting my time in order to show how clever he is by using these words. Glossaries and endnotes are just really annoying. Does your message to the &quot;suits&quot; really consists of teaching them this jargon? If not, remove them as your editor suggests, or put the jargon into the endnotes/footnotes/a special section.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T08:11:51.457" />
  <row Id="871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="869" CreationDate="2010-08-14T08:15:08.783" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is interesting and something I always thought about when reading programming materials in German since this problem is solved: if it is an English word like &lt;code&gt;instantiate&lt;/code&gt; then it is a tech word and there is another German word for that same concept even if is it basically the Latin equivalent, e.g. &lt;code&gt;instanziieren&lt;/code&gt;. So you know if the English word is being used, it has the tech meaning, and if the German word is being used, it has the conventional meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I see your conundrum when writing an IT book in English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps you and the editor could just agree on a special font/color for these English words that have special IT meanings, so you would have sentences like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The managers persisted in reminding us that the data had to be &lt;strong&gt;persisted&lt;/strong&gt; in both SQL Server and MySQL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T08:15:08.783" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="658" CreationDate="2010-08-14T08:23:37.187" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As the philosopher &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8qr24_the-rolling-stones-you-cant-always_music&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jagger&lt;/a&gt; once said, &quot;You can't always get what you want.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;— &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0606035/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;House M.D.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T08:23:37.187" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-14T08:23:37.187" />
  <row Id="873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="861" CreationDate="2010-08-14T08:37:47.107" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure it's number two. After all, Spaghetti &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; an italian plural, no matter what us italian-cuisine-importing countries make of it :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A similar case is &lt;strong&gt;Zucchini&lt;/strong&gt;. It is the plural form of &lt;a href=&quot;http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zucchino&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;La Zucchina&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="239" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T08:37:47.107" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="874" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="875" CreationDate="2010-08-14T08:46:32.793" Score="1" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say you are a toy shop owner, who&lt;strike&gt;m&lt;/strike&gt; wants a slogan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastEditorUserId="307" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-15T07:28:58.500" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T07:28:58.500" Title="&quot;Toy for your kid&quot; or &quot;Toy for your kids&quot; as you don't know how many kids they have?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="874" CreationDate="2010-08-14T09:29:50.030" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you were planning to give just one toy per set of siblings, I would say &quot;toy for your kid&quot; as it would imply one toy per child.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="471" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T09:29:50.030" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="876" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="886" CreationDate="2010-08-14T10:51:16.410" Score="11" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reading different specifications and manuals I've noticed that more often and often pronouns she or her are being used when some unknown person's behavior is described.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: &quot;when user opens the first screen, let she be notified about smth&quot; or &quot;let user input her address&quot;. Actually, I've seen more versatile examples but cannot remember anything nice now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a last-years tendency? Or is it something only UK-specific? Are there any rules about it? Or, maybe, is it applicable only for written document/spoken language?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not an informant (as you've already guessed) and it's very important to me how should I write in official correspondence with British/US customers and not to hurt their feelings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="473" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T13:58:59.093" Title="Tendency of using pronouns 'she/her' when talking about a random person" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;politeness&gt;&lt;correspondence&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="877" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="881" CreationDate="2010-08-14T11:23:37.793" Score="14" ViewCount="671" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the plural form of &quot;status&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="190" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-12T11:07:40.373" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T01:11:36.180" Title="What is the plural form of &quot;status&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="6" />
  <row Id="878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="877" CreationDate="2010-08-14T11:28:04.150" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems &quot;status&quot; is uncountable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="477" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T11:28:04.150" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="876" CreationDate="2010-08-14T11:40:14.053" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This seems to be a growing trend in written texts of late. I believe that the rationale must be a desire to use gender neutral pronouns and balance out the decades (centuries?) of male only pronouns being used throughout literature and written texts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you are fairly consistent and balanced using gender specific pronouns, there should be no issues. This is assuming that you are not specifically aware of the gender of the recipient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T11:40:14.053" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="877" CreationDate="2010-08-14T11:45:14.370" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see some references to status as uncountable as well, but that doesn't make much sense to me.  I've always used statii, apparently incorrectly: Merriam-Webster, at least, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/status&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calls for&lt;/a&gt; &quot;statuses&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="143" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-14T20:34:17.493" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T20:34:17.493" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="877" CreationDate="2010-08-14T11:48:30.450" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some cases &quot;status&quot; may be accounted of countable. In those cases, the plural form can be used as &quot;statuses&quot;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/status&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MacMillan dictionary&lt;/a&gt; gives 3 definitions for &quot;status&quot;, and 2 of them are referred to as countable &amp;amp; uncountable. Personally, I would use &quot;status&quot; as the plural form instead of &quot;statuses&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T11:48:30.450" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="877" CreationDate="2010-08-14T12:33:19.033" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is definitely status - with a long &quot;u&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is because it is a Latin word under u-declination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastEditorUserId="43" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-14T15:38:52.190" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T15:38:52.190" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="824" CreationDate="2010-08-14T12:36:25.297" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say your teacher was wrong in saying that. There are perfectly grammatical sentences beginning with &quot;because&quot;. However, replying to &quot;Why didn't you go to the cinema?&quot; with &quot;Because I had to work&quot; is incorrect, obviously, because it is a fragment, not a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="481" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T12:36:25.297" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="884" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="885" CreationDate="2010-08-14T13:44:31.593" Score="10" ViewCount="243" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, is it ok to say “Anyways, I love stack exchange.&quot; or should &quot;anyway&quot; be used always?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="484" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T04:23:46.350" Title="Can &quot;Anyways&quot; be used at the beginning of a sentence?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="884" CreationDate="2010-08-14T13:51:36.520" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From Paul Brians’ book named &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Common Errors in English Usage&lt;/a&gt;&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“&lt;strong&gt;Anyways&lt;/strong&gt;” at the beginning of a&#xA;  sentence usually indicates that the&#xA;  speaker has resumed a narrative&#xA;  thread: “Anyways, I told Matilda that&#xA;  guy was a lazy bum before she ever&#xA;  married him.” It also occurs at the&#xA;  end of phrases and sentences, meaning&#xA;  “in any case“: “He wasn’t all that&#xA;  good-looking anyways.” A slightly less&#xA;  rustic quality can be imparted to&#xA;  these sentences by substituting the&#xA;  more formal &lt;strong&gt;anyway&lt;/strong&gt;. Neither expression&#xA;  is a good idea in formal written&#xA;  English. The two-word phrase “any way”&#xA;  has many legitimate uses, however: “Is&#xA;  there any way to prevent the impending&#xA;  disaster?”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you may prefer using &quot;anyways&quot; colloquially but &quot;anyway&quot; is a more formal way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-14T14:11:37.113" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T14:11:37.113" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="876" CreationDate="2010-08-14T13:58:59.093" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The pattern of using &lt;em&gt;she&lt;/em&gt; for an unknown referent in formal writing is a contemporary attempt to balance out the perceived sexism of generic &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt;. However, most English speakers find generic &lt;em&gt;she&lt;/em&gt; to be at least somewhat marked or surprising, so many of the works that I've seen that use generic &lt;em&gt;she&lt;/em&gt; specifically mention that they will be doing so in their introduction. Generic &lt;em&gt;she&lt;/em&gt; is also sometimes used to disambiguate between two participants in an action, such as in a game manual where one player is consistently called &lt;em&gt;she&lt;/em&gt; and one &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there is a third alternative which may be preferable for many occasions: singular &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When the user opens the first screen, &lt;strong&gt;they&lt;/strong&gt; should be notified of &lt;strong&gt;their&lt;/strong&gt; options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the form that most English speakers will use in speech, and it should be acceptable in all but the most formal writing. There is some prescriptivist carping against this form, despite the fact that it has &lt;a href=&quot;http://158.130.17.5/~myl/languagelog/archives/001863.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;centuries of precedent&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003572.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;divine sanction&lt;/a&gt;. These objections can be safely ignored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T13:58:59.093" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="877" CreationDate="2010-08-14T14:40:17.950" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use &lt;em&gt;statuses&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T01:11:36.180" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T01:11:36.180" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-14T14:40:17.950" />
  <row Id="888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="824" CreationDate="2010-08-14T14:40:40.943" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because you can, it doesn't mean you should...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="487" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T14:40:40.943" />
  <row Id="889" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="895" CreationDate="2010-08-14T14:53:26.433" Score="7" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some words are written without hyphens (nonaggression, nonbeliever), and some words are written with a hyphen (well-intentioned). Is there a schema in the use of a hyphen? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-17T00:07:57.283" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T00:07:57.283" Title="When to use a hyphen in writing a compound word" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="824" CreationDate="2010-08-14T15:05:14.753" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This &quot;rule&quot; comes from the same place as the &quot;rule&quot; which caused Winston Churchill to quip:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ending a sentence with a preposition is a practise up with which I will not put.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="488" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T15:05:14.753" />
  <row Id="891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="874" CreationDate="2010-08-14T15:19:10.297" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use a word that is the same for plural and singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Here's a toy for your offspring.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="179" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-14T22:35:00.863" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T22:35:00.863" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="737" CreationDate="2010-08-14T15:24:18.723" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no such thing as &quot;&lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; dictionary.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English dictionaries are almost all constructed descriptively, not normatively, in that they aim to encode language as used, rather than prescribe how language ought to be used. (If a dictionary does that well, its pronouncements may acquire normative status.) The mere fact that an &quot;English word&quot; isn't in a given (or any) dictionary doesn't mean that it isn't a word. It might well be that the lexicographers have yet to catch up with the usage that they describe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That doesn't mean that one can say whatever one likes and defend oneself by claiming that lexicography is slow. But, in any field subject to fairly quick change, it is not rare for the needs of speakers to get out front of the work of the lexicographer. It seems to me that with vegetarian diets becoming more common in many English speaking parts of the world, the vocabulary here is likely in flux. For a clearer case, consider how foolish it would have been in 1999 to insist that 'blog' wasn't really a word on the grounds that it did not appear in the OED.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="488" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T15:24:18.723" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="889" CreationDate="2010-08-14T15:32:02.753" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend the following two articles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000127.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hyphenated Compound Words&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://englishplus.com/news/news0699.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hyphenated Compounds: When and Why?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, the news in those articles isn't good. The distinction between hyphenated and non-hyphenated compounds is largely driven by convention, and while there are some rules of thumb, you have to be prepared for numerous exceptions and arbitrary differences between countries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T15:32:02.753" />
  <row Id="894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="653" CreationDate="2010-08-14T15:37:43.297" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Contractions always take an apostrophe. (You can't write 'cant' for cannot.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possesives can, but need not. (&quot;Is that &lt;em&gt;her&lt;/em&gt; book?&quot; &quot;No, its &lt;em&gt;Pat's&lt;/em&gt; book&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="488" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T15:37:43.297" />
  <row Id="895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="889" CreationDate="2010-08-14T15:49:10.283" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the following pages very helpful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/compounds.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Compound Words&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/hyphens.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rules for Hyphens Between Words &amp;amp; Hyphens with Prefixes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T15:49:10.283" />
  <row Id="896" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-14T15:58:47.487" Score="5" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some h-words need 'an' for the indefinite article (I will be there in an hour).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other h-words need 'a' for the indefinite article (It is a history of sadness).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the general rule?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="488" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T06:05:42.467" Title="When to use 'an' and when to use 'a' with words begining with 'h'?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="896" CreationDate="2010-08-14T16:12:29.787" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the &quot;h&quot; is pronounced, use &quot;a&quot;. If it is silent, use &quot;an&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is in keeping with the general rule, which is to use &quot;an&quot; for words beginning with a vowel sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T16:12:29.787" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="898" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="900" CreationDate="2010-08-14T16:59:18.283" Score="3" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there cases where the definite article is used with a plural noun, or is it a rule that the definite article is never used with the plural of a word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-15T03:06:59.983" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T12:00:24.750" Title="Definite article with plural nouns" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;learning&gt;&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="654" CreationDate="2010-08-14T17:05:42.580" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Certainly &quot;I don't know, I'm afraid&quot; is more common in England today. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say it sounds more archaic than formal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;It's a shame&quot; would often be used in other circumstances, e.g. &quot;It's  a shame that guy didn't know&quot;. Again &quot;it's a pity&quot; could be used in that circumstance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="496" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T17:05:42.580" />
  <row Id="900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="898" CreationDate="2010-08-14T17:14:07.260" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The definite article can be used with a plural noun just as it can with a singular noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The&lt;/strong&gt; boys are here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T17:14:07.260" />
  <row Id="901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="818" CreationDate="2010-08-14T17:35:46.680" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the OED, the verb &lt;em&gt;hang&lt;/em&gt; came into English from Old Norse &lt;em&gt;hengja&lt;/em&gt; with weak inflection (so, taking regular past forms).  Eventually, by analogy with other ablaut forms like &lt;em&gt;sing/sang/sung&lt;/em&gt;, the verb &lt;em&gt;hang&lt;/em&gt; changed into a few different forms (depending on the region of England), e.g. &lt;em&gt;hing/hang&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;hang/hong&lt;/em&gt;, etc. Ultimately, the &lt;em&gt;hing/hang&lt;/em&gt; form added &lt;em&gt;hung&lt;/em&gt; to complete the &lt;em&gt;sing/sang/sung&lt;/em&gt; analogy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now here's the important bit, directly from the OED:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The weak inflexion &lt;em&gt;hanged&lt;/em&gt; however&#xA;  continued in use (being the only one&#xA;  used in Bible versions from Coverdale&#xA;  to 1611, though Tindale had also&#xA;  houng); but was gradually superseded&#xA;  by &lt;em&gt;hung&lt;/em&gt; in the general sense, trans.&#xA;  and intr., leaving &lt;em&gt;hanged&lt;/em&gt; only in the&#xA;  special trans. sense (3) ‘put to death&#xA;  by hanging’, owing prob. to the&#xA;  retention of this archaic form by&#xA;  judges in pronouncing capital&#xA;  sentences. The distinction is found&#xA;  already in Shakespeare, and is&#xA;  established in the objurgatory&#xA;  expressions ‘You be hanged!’ ‘I'll be&#xA;  hanged if I do’, and the like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(At some point, obviously &lt;em&gt;hing&lt;/em&gt; fell out of use in Standard English in the present tense form.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T17:35:46.680" />
  <row Id="902" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="963" CreationDate="2010-08-14T17:44:40.050" Score="5" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; says it used to stand for &lt;em&gt;mistress&lt;/em&gt;. But you don't read it as &lt;em&gt;mistress&lt;/em&gt;, do you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the pronunciation like? I think it would depend on the expansion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="296" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:53:36.410" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:53:36.410" Title="Expansion and pronunciation of &quot;Mrs&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="902" CreationDate="2010-08-14T18:14:59.990" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is pronounced &quot;misses&quot;, though there is no standard expansion that I am aware of. Its meaning now derives from tradition rather than from any word it might stand for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T18:14:59.990" />
  <row Id="904" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="925" CreationDate="2010-08-14T18:36:39.540" Score="7" ViewCount="858" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to say &lt;em&gt;Check please&lt;/em&gt;, but my English teacher said that it's not a right way and the proper way is to say something like &lt;em&gt;Bill please.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where's the truth? :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="174" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-12T15:17:29.180" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T03:19:29.753" Title="How to ask for a bill in a restaurant politely?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;politeness&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="654" CreationDate="2010-08-14T18:45:13.890" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;It's a pity&quot; is &lt;em&gt;slightly&lt;/em&gt; old-fashioned, but I do hear it used from time to time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's a pity that he didn't spell-check his letter to the editor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's a pity that we didn't drive a stake through the vampire's heart when we had the chance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can imply a slight amount of sympathy, condescension, or (yes) pity on the part of the speaker. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastEditorUserId="161" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-17T02:48:30.853" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T02:48:30.853" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="906" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="914" CreationDate="2010-08-14T19:04:09.423" Score="6" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;As we hear in every commercial (ever?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our best price, &lt;em&gt;ever&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your thoughts please. Putting aside advertising allowances, should &quot;ever&quot; here mean &quot;all time: past present and future&quot;, or should this be interpreted as &quot;yet&quot; (past/present). In &lt;em&gt;advertising&lt;/em&gt; terms we must infer the latter (otherwise they'll contradict themselves next time they need a promotion), but from a &lt;em&gt;linguistics&lt;/em&gt; perspective: what is the correct interpretation here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3438" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T17:28:28.957" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T17:28:28.957" Title="Does &quot;ever&quot; apply to the future, or only historic?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="907" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="910" CreationDate="2010-08-14T19:12:06.240" Score="7" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I look at the definition given from the Mac OS X Dictionary (I have set American English as interface language, and the dictionary used is then the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;), I read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the /ði/ /ð(ə)/ /ði/ [called the definite article]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  adjective&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. denoting one or more people or things already mentioned or assumed to be common knowledge: &lt;em&gt;what's the matter?&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;call the doctor&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;the phone rang&lt;/em&gt;. Compare with &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • used to refer to a person, place, or thing that is unique: &lt;em&gt;the Queen&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;the Mona Lisa&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;the Nile&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • informal denoting a disease or affliction: &lt;em&gt;I've got the flu&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • (with a unit of time) the present; the current: &lt;em&gt;dish of the day&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;man of the moment&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • informal used instead of a possessive to refer to someone with whom the speaker or person addressed is associated: &lt;em&gt;I'm meeting the boss&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;how's the family?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • used with a surname to refer to a family or married couple: &lt;em&gt;the Johnsons were not wealthy&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • used before the surname of the chief of a Scottish or Irish clan: &lt;em&gt;the O'Donoghue&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never thought of an article as adjective.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is normally an article defined as adjective?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T14:04:41.477" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T15:32:42.303" Title="New Oxford American Dictionary describes &quot;the&quot; as adjective" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="907" CreationDate="2010-08-14T19:26:45.207" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's an adjective in the sense that it modifies the meaning of the noun it applies to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The pencil&quot; refers to a particular pencil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;A pencil&quot; refers to any pencil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T19:26:45.207" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="909" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="920" CreationDate="2010-08-14T19:32:15.803" Score="8" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm seeing the use of &quot;random&quot; instead of &quot;arbitrary&quot;, etc., with increasing frequency. To me, &quot;random&quot; has a specific meaning and is not synonymous with these other words. Is it correct to use it in this way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="189" LastEditorUserId="189" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-14T23:54:57.773" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T04:07:56.470" Title="The use of &quot;random&quot; to mean &quot;arbitrary&quot;, &quot;unidentified&quot;, &quot;unknown&quot;, etc." Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="907" CreationDate="2010-08-14T19:40:26.190" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is so wrong it makes my eyeballs bleed. Let's consider some syntactic tests, shall we?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adjectives can be compared with &lt;em&gt;-er&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;-est&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;most&lt;/em&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A bigger house&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  The biggest house&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  ! More the house&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  ! Most the house&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adjectives can be placed in a predicate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The house is big.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  ! House is the.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adjectives can be coordinated with &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Red and green house&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  ! The and green house&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conclusion: &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; is not an adjective. The fact that it modifies a noun does not make it an adjective, because it has none of the grammatical or morphological properties of adjectives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T19:40:26.190" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="911" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1249" CreationDate="2010-08-14T19:41:50.757" Score="10" ViewCount="763" Body="&lt;p&gt;British and Irish cinema names from a certain period seem to come from a pool that includes The Odeon, The Curzon, The Savoy, The Adelphi (maybe you can think of more). Where did theses names come from? Are they prevalent in any other Engish speaking countries?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T19:52:43.063" Title="Origin of British/Irish cinema names" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="904" CreationDate="2010-08-14T19:48:59.100" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Can I have the bill, please.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="308" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T19:48:59.100" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="904" CreationDate="2010-08-14T20:07:53.860" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think check is American, bill is British : both are fine, adding &quot;Can I have&quot; as Daniel says is certainly more polite.  A common way to ask for the bill is to just make extended eye contact with the waiter, perhaps making a 'writing a cheque' guesture. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T20:07:53.860" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="906" CreationDate="2010-08-14T20:12:59.277" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your general question: can &quot;ever&quot; apply to future?  Yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;This is the best price you will ever see.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Don't ever do that again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the standalone phrase &quot;our best price &lt;em&gt;ever&lt;/em&gt;&quot;: from a linguistics perspective, there is no single &quot;correct&quot; interpretation.  The phrase is ambiguous, such that in different surrounding contexts it could be understood as meaning &quot;for all time&quot;, or it could be understood as &quot;up to now&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a linguist interested in pragmatics, one might even note that the actual interpretation of the word &quot;ever&quot; (as well as &quot;never&quot;) is often not the literal meaning of the word — it is used as a hyperbole with relative ease.  &quot;You aren't ever home when I call!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T12:19:54.687" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T12:19:54.687" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="648" CreationDate="2010-08-14T20:32:57.763" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the mid nineties (summer of 1995, I think) I provided technical assistance to a biology convention at the University of Wisconsin - Madsion.  One of the presentations I helped was about ways to interconnect with other scientists in the discipline and I remember them talking about the &quot;World Wide Web&quot; and &quot;The Internet.&quot;  From that point on - my earliest exposure to either term - I've always thought about it as &quot;The Internet.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T20:32:57.763" />
  <row Id="916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="909" CreationDate="2010-08-14T20:57:33.803" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I typically use arbitrary when discussing planning or decision-making, or with respect to preference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Your choice of shade of blue for that chair seems arbitrary&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and random in cases where selection or ordering are the relevant aspect, or in mathematical or computer programming contexts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I'll shuffle these cards to put them in a random order&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I don't think it's necessarily incorrect to use them interchangeably in some cases; it depends on the context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I don't find the placement of these tchotchkes as pleasing when they are strewn about in such an arbitrary fashion&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I don't find the placement of these tchotchkes as pleasing when they are strewn about in such a random fashion&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even in this case, for myself, the meaning of those two sentences has a slightly different color, but in essense they are interchangeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="143" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-15T04:07:56.470" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T04:07:56.470" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="906" CreationDate="2010-08-14T21:35:23.050" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Best ever!&quot; means best yet. If you wanted to imply that the price would never get better, you would use a phrase like 'one time only!', 'never to be repeated!'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Kosmonaut says the word ever can be used in other contexts to mean 'the rest of time'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T21:35:23.050" />
  <row Id="919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="866" CreationDate="2010-08-14T21:54:13.377" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you are not sure if someone's talking to you or to himself, you can ask&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Are you talking with me, or to me?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;:)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T21:54:13.377" />
  <row Id="920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="909" CreationDate="2010-08-14T22:45:19.993" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/arbitrary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;definition of arbitrary&lt;/a&gt; does include a link with random:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;existing or coming about seemingly at random or by chance or as a capricious and unreasonable act of will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is reflected by the usage &quot;at random&quot; (by chance), which is valid.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The problem is, random is with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/random.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;other interpretations of the word &quot;random&quot;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Less widely accepted are a couple of slangy uses of the word, mostly by young people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;In the first, “random” means “unknown,” “unidentified” as in “some random guy told me at the party that I reminded him of his old girlfriend.”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The other is to use random to mean “weird,” “strange,” as in “The party at Jessica’s was so random, not what I was expecting at all!”&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Evidently in this expression randomness is being narrowed down to unlikelihood and that is in turn being connected with strangeness, though randomness in real life is usually quite ordinary and boring.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Use of either of these two expressions in formal speech or writing is likely to annoy or confuse your audience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-14T22:45:19.993" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="503" CreationDate="2010-08-14T23:55:12.423" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Chicago Manual of Style has an interesting way to address this: They omit the apostrophe, unless there are periods in the abbreviation. So this would give you &lt;code&gt;ATMs&lt;/code&gt;, or alternately &lt;code&gt;A.T.M.'s&lt;/code&gt;. (&lt;code&gt;A.T.M.s&lt;/code&gt; looks weird.) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/CMS_FAQ/Plurals/Plurals11.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chicagomanualofstyle.org, &quot;Plurals&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jhsph.edu/publichealthnews/style_manual/a.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This page&lt;/a&gt; indicates that acronyms ending in the letter &quot;S&quot; get an apostrophe, something I've seen before, but can't find in a general reference. So one would write &lt;code&gt;ATMs&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;SOS's&lt;/code&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncsu.edu/ncsu/grammar/Apostro3.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This page on the North Carolina State University website&lt;/a&gt; references AP's rule as being to always use an apostrophe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 2009 AP Stylebook's &quot;plurals&quot; entry has no section on acronyms, but mentions &quot;VIPs&quot;, I can't find anything addressing how to specifically pluralize acronyms. (The &quot;abbreviations and acronyms&quot; section is also of no help.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I omit using apostrophes unless I can't avoid it. I do use them when talking about single letters or where it would avoid confusion. (For example, SOs for &quot;Significant Others&quot; looks like an incorrectly capitalized SOS.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To paraphrase Carol Fisher Saller, the clearer usage is the correct one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastEditorUserId="161" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T05:03:45.303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T05:03:45.303" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="906" CreationDate="2010-08-15T00:03:36.150" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Ever&quot; implies that this has never happened before, or will never again, similar to the phrase &quot;at any time&quot;. Edit: Whether this is referring to the future or the past depends on context. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alas, it's all too often used as a modifier to imply something is unique, which can result in confusion. (Think of the comic book guy on the Simpsons: &quot;Best resurrection &lt;em&gt;ever&lt;/em&gt;!&quot;, ad nauseum.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastEditorUserId="161" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-15T00:11:25.073" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T00:11:25.073" />
  <row Id="923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="904" CreationDate="2010-08-15T00:16:09.760" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think anyone cares which word you use, as long as you're polite. I usually use the word &quot;check&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most servers interpret the &quot;money&quot; gesture (rub your index finger against your thumb) as &quot;I'd like to pay now&quot; and will not and bring the check.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T00:16:09.760" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="904" CreationDate="2010-08-15T01:34:30.047" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most polite ways are probably:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;May we have the bill/check, please?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Could we have the bill/check, please?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Could we get the bill/check, please?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has the meaning... &quot;Is it possible for you to give us the bill, as we're ready to leave and wish to pay&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, when the server comes by and asks if you'd like anything else, a polite response would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;No thanks, just the bill, please&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Excuse me, Bill/check please&quot; is casual and perhaps fine in casual situations, but it's still a little curt. You can't go wrong with a full sentence question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note, in Canada, I've seen the word &quot;bill&quot; used most often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note, in a Fancy restaurant, you will typically be asked if there is anything else. A simple, &quot;No thanks, I think that's all for tonight&quot; will tip the server to bring the bill. When paying, a credit card put in the envelope and left on the table will have the server silently take an bring back the completed bill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T01:34:30.047" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="874" CreationDate="2010-08-15T01:43:12.430" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;child/children is usually the more formal/correct term. But for a slogan, the slang &quot;kid(s)&quot; is fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question, it depends on the context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're advertising that you have toys for people's kids...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a slogan: &quot;Come to the Toy Box, home of the best Toys for your kids&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The plural case is always better and more generic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a promotion, &quot;Come in today and buy a new toy for your kid&quot; is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T01:43:12.430" />
  <row Id="927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="907" CreationDate="2010-08-15T03:04:20.847" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There might be a context where the definite article 'the' is used as an adjective. as in &quot; not just any lawyer, &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; lawyer. This is to emphasize the illustrious nature of the person under consideration. I have seen it being used with proper nouns as well in the same context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T03:04:20.847" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="898" CreationDate="2010-08-15T03:05:28.117" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definite article can definitely be used with plural nouns. The restriction is limited to indefinite articles only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastEditorUserId="145" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T12:00:24.750" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T12:00:24.750" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="896" CreationDate="2010-08-15T06:05:42.467" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a word begins with a vowel &lt;em&gt;sound&lt;/em&gt;, then the indefinite article to use is &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt;. If a word begins with a consonant &lt;em&gt;sound&lt;/em&gt;, then the indefinite article to use is &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a singular exception: If a word begins with an H sound &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; the first syllable of the word is unstressed, then you can use either &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;. Traditional rules says you must use &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt;, but there is so much ignorance of this exception that you will find &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; is much more common in this case. For example, in the Corpus of Contemporary American English, there are 1956 incidences of &lt;em&gt;a historical&lt;/em&gt; but only 415 incidences of &lt;em&gt;an historical&lt;/em&gt;. However, using &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; here is also unimpeachably correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T06:05:42.467" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="930" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4211" CreationDate="2010-08-15T06:12:31.557" Score="4" ViewCount="233" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me, if someone is brave, it has always meant that they face certain dangers or situations, even though doing so is something that scares the living daylights out of them. For instance, if a normally timid person, one who would normally run away from danger, were to risk his life to save a child being attacked by a dog, I would consider that person (usually considered a wimp) to be very brave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/strong&gt; defines brave:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;having or showing courage&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A rather weak definition. But, it defines courage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which tends to agree with my original premise. But, &lt;strong&gt;Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary&lt;/strong&gt; defines brave:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;showing no fear of dangerous or difficult things&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which I think is silly, because a lot of people I would consider brave, did their brave acts despite having fear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Random House Dictionary&lt;/strong&gt; defines brave much the same as M-W, but defines courage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which means that to be brave, one cannot have fear. In direct opposition to M-W, which says (in a roundabout way) that withstanding fear is brave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, this has lead me to be confused as to whether or not I use the word &quot;brave&quot; in the same sense as others. What do the words &quot;brave&quot;, and &quot;courage&quot; really mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T18:14:01.473" Title="What do &quot;brave&quot; (adj) and &quot;courage&quot; (n) really mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="931" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="934" CreationDate="2010-08-15T07:02:11.140" Score="6" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do we say &quot;Without reason&quot; or &quot;Without reasons&quot;?&#xA;(e.g. &lt;em&gt;She started laughing without (apparent) reason(s).&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;reason&quot; countable or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can we ever use a plural noun after &quot;without&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="509" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-25T03:05:49.730" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T10:27:58.377" Title="&quot;Without reason&quot; or &quot;Without reasons&quot;?" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="932" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="935" CreationDate="2010-08-15T07:28:26.647" Score="4" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say you corrected a few typos and grammar issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that considered as one change? Or several changes? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you say &quot;I like my change to the story&quot; or &quot;I like my changes to the story&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:52:30.763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:52:30.763" Title="&quot;Change&quot; or &quot;changes&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="931" CreationDate="2010-08-15T09:23:04.917" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Reason&quot; is certainly a count noun. However, it is also a verb. In the sentence &quot;She started laughing without reason&quot; could mean either &quot;she didn't have a reason to start laughing&quot;, or &quot;she starting laughing without thinking about it.&quot; In the first example, it is a noun, in the second it is a verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common way is to say &quot;bla bla bla... without reason&quot;, and it is would probably be the countable noun, most of the time, but is slightly ambiguous. It would be perfectly fine for you to say, &quot;she started laughing without reasons&quot;. It is gramatically correct, just not the most common way of putting it - which is probably a good thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to answer, your question: &quot;Yes.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T09:23:04.917" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="932" CreationDate="2010-08-15T09:28:53.910" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If all the corrections are a part of a larger purpose, or a series of steps to one end- the singular form is appropriate. However, several unconnected changes or corrections shall use the plural form of the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T09:28:53.910" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="936" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="940" CreationDate="2010-08-15T09:49:26.420" Score="6" ViewCount="657" Body="&lt;p&gt;In more and more podcasts and presentations I hear sentences such as this one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That is our strategy going forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What meaning does &quot;going forward&quot; add to the sentence, i.e. how is it different than saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That is our strategy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-15T10:18:01.553" LastActivityDate="2010-11-07T05:24:01.750" Title="What does &quot;going forward&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;buzzword&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="937" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-15T10:03:56.477" Score="13" ViewCount="341" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Australian English there has always been a distinction between &quot;pissed&quot; (intoxicated) and &quot;pissed off&quot; (angry, irritated). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed a trend towards the American usage where &quot;he was really pissed&quot; is now much more likely to mean the latter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm aware of the futility of resisting the natural evolution of language, particulary the juggernaut of American language imperialism via films and TV, but it seems a shame that &quot;I did it because I was pissed&quot; is now ambiguous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a trend in other English speaking countries where the Australian usage was common?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="512" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-15T10:31:29.077" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T22:38:21.847" Title="&quot;Pissed&quot; vs &quot;Pissed off&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;australian-english&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="936" CreationDate="2010-08-15T10:12:51.313" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would depend on the context, but basically I can't see much difference, although going forward doesn't mean there has to be a strategy guiding the action!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could argue that adding &quot;going forward&quot; suggests that the strategy is not fixed and is able to change according to future events.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility, given that this phrase is spoken more often than written,  (and depending on the intonation and context) could be an attempt to say, &quot;that is our strategy - to go forward.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just my thoughts early on Sunday morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Olaf&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T10:12:51.313" />
  <row Id="939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="936" CreationDate="2010-08-15T10:21:27.787" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seems redundant to me, given that the only direction a strategy &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; be going is forward. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="512" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T10:21:27.787" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="936" CreationDate="2010-08-15T10:29:22.903" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Going forward&quot; is almost a completely useless phrase. If one says &quot;[x] going forward&quot;, they mean &quot;[x] into the future&quot;, but it is very redundant, as one could just as easily say &quot;[x]&quot;. It seems that many business people want to sound as fancy as possible, so they use as many fancy words as possible to get the same point across. This leads to entire dialogues of contentless speech, filled with words devoid of meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A BBC article puts it &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7453584.stm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;much more poetically than me&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When someone says 'going forward' it assaults the ears just as, when a colleague starts slurping French onion soup at a neighbouring desk, it assaults the nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is a phrase that one should avoid as much as possible, as in the relatively short time it has been in use, it has been abused, hung out to dry, and abused again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As ianjs has said, it is quite redundant. Redundancy isn't a bad thing in itself, as it can help to reinforce points. But &quot;going forward&quot; is so cliché that its effect is lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The term can be useful in certain situations, such as &quot;I will be polite to you, going forward&quot;, but it sounds too much like the overused term, that it sounds nicer to say &quot;From now on, I will be polite to you&quot;, or &quot;I am going to start being polite to you.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Going forward&quot; just grates against my ears, and despite it being perfectly relevant in the above example, I would avoid using the term altogether. This is obviously a matter of opinion, but, because of the way the phrase has been used recently, it would be better to use a bit of imagination, and use different wording.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ps&lt;/strong&gt; This answer has had 4 up-votes and 3 down-votes, which means it is a very contentious issue. Take this answer with a grain of salt, and remember that English usage is subjective. This probably means that &quot;going forward&quot; annoys 4/7 people who voted on this post, and that 3/7 voters like the term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T10:17:02.730" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T10:17:02.730" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="941" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-15T10:34:03.143" Score="3" ViewCount="288" Body="&lt;p&gt;The words &quot;nineteen-hundreds&quot; to me mean strictly 1900-1909. I've noticed several times that people, invariably north American, use these words to mean &quot;the twentieth century&quot;, or 1900-1999, or something like that. Similarly for &quot;the eighteen hundreds&quot; used to mean &quot;the nineteenth century&quot; and so on. Is this an example of a misuse of words by people who have heard and then misunderstood them, similar to the misuse of &quot;diva&quot; to mean &quot;attractive woman&quot; which is now cropping up a lot, or is this actually an established usage in America? Secondly, if it is not a misuse, how would said Americans refer to the period of time 1900-1909?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:51:33.447" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:51:33.447" Title="&quot;nineteen-hundreds&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;articles&gt;&lt;date&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="937" CreationDate="2010-08-15T10:35:24.547" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In New Zealand, that distinction still exists quite strongly. But, like you, I have heard a &lt;em&gt;few&lt;/em&gt; people use &quot;pissed&quot; to mean annoyed, but the vast majority of the time, I have only heard it in the sense of being intoxicated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry too much about it though. There are so many words in English that mean &quot;drunk&quot; that it wouldn't cause too much to be lost. But yes, it is a little bit of a shame. But, we cannot stop the juggernaut that is the progression (for good or for bad) of the English language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T10:35:24.547" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="494" CreationDate="2010-08-15T10:38:10.017" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For the question &quot;Have you got any ice&#xA;  cream?&quot; which is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yes I do &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yes I have &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The traditional answer would be &quot;yes I have&quot; but &quot;yes I do&quot; is common in American usage and is gaining usage in the UK too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T10:38:10.017" />
  <row Id="944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="937" CreationDate="2010-08-15T10:39:17.363" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In Australian English there has always&#xA;  been a distinction between &quot;pissed&quot;&#xA;  (intoxicated) and &quot;pissed off&quot; (angry,&#xA;  irritated).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is exactly the same as the British usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've noticed a trend towards the&#xA;  American usage where &quot;he was really&#xA;  pissed&quot; is now much more likely to&#xA;  mean the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have not noticed that in the UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T10:39:17.363" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="941" CreationDate="2010-08-15T11:00:22.110" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although people do use it mean 1900-1909, it isn't a misuse to use it to mean 1900-1999. Another way to refer to the first decade would be &quot;just after the turn of the century&quot;, or &quot;at the turn of the century&quot;.  I would say 1920's to mean 1920 - 1929 though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do a corpus query (COCA) you'll find that 1900's is almost always preceded by 'early'.  (121 times out of 149 hits)  This qualification leads me to think that most authors think that the 1900's is a large time frame, that benefits from further qualification.  Furthermore, in many cases the context shows that &quot;early 1900's&quot; refers to years outside of 1900-1909.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastEditorUserId="298" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T09:46:04.743" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T09:46:04.743" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="930" CreationDate="2010-08-15T11:09:48.813" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Clearly there are many denotations of these terms, so any response is likely to be a subjective one, but my interpretation of the words is similar to what Mark Twain's in &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=pSMxojtVVLoC&amp;amp;lpg=PA98&amp;amp;ots=oDahz-4wOB&amp;amp;dq=Pudd%27nhead%20Wilson%27s%20Calendar%20bravery&amp;amp;pg=PA98#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pudd'nhead Wilson&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.  Except a creature be part coward it is not a compliment to say it is brave.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I interpret that to mean that doing something when you have no fear doesn't make you brave.  Depending on the situation it may make you foolish or foolhardy, but not brave. Your initial definition works for me in that sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T11:09:48.813" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="941" CreationDate="2010-08-15T11:17:06.660" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think of any &quot;hundreds&quot; term as representing the entire century and depending on the specificity demanded in the situation use &quot;early nineteen hundreds&quot; or &quot;late nineteen hundreds&quot; to reference a period.  When referring to the first decade of the twentieth century I might say &quot;the nineteen aughts,&quot; perhaps a little pretentious , but I like the sound of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth noting, though, that I rarely hear &quot;nineteen hundreds&quot; used to refer to anything later than the earliest portion of the century, perhaps because it's so recent and most people can still remember portions of the latter decades. I hear &quot;eighteen hundreds&quot; much more commonly used to refer to that entire century.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T11:17:06.660" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="936" CreationDate="2010-08-15T11:26:12.307" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your example &quot;That is our strategy going forward&quot;, by &quot;going forward&quot; I understand that the strategy used to be a different one in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is another context where the phrase is not useless nor redundant:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You left your bike outside, you didn't lock it and somebody stole it. You could then say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Going forward I will always lock my&#xA;  bike or bring it in with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Going forward&quot; here means that you will be doing something in a different way than you used to do in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T08:17:09.750" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T08:17:09.750" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="936" CreationDate="2010-08-15T11:26:39.420" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference is one of time.  Your second example: &lt;em&gt;This is our strategy&lt;/em&gt; implies the strategy is unchanged.  It was, is, and will be our strategy.  On the other hand, when one says: &lt;em&gt;This is our strategy &lt;strong&gt;going forward.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; they are implying a &lt;em&gt;change&lt;/em&gt; in strategy.  They are essentially talking about future time using the present tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T11:26:39.420" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="931" CreationDate="2010-08-15T11:37:49.127" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to a COCA query americans say &quot;without reason&quot; 21 times more often than &quot;without reasons&quot;.  Statistically speaking &lt;em&gt;She started laughing without reasons&lt;/em&gt; is odd.  According to CALD &lt;em&gt;reason&lt;/em&gt; is both countable and uncountable.  Yes one can use a plural noun after &quot;without&quot;.  Again, a COCA query provides hundreds of hits for &lt;em&gt;without&lt;/em&gt; followed by a plural noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T11:37:49.127" />
  <row Id="951" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-15T12:19:17.203" Score="2" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm after some common &quot;business speak&quot; terms, I know a few:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hit the ground running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ballpark figure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;End of play  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For those who don't know what business speak is, wikipedia defines it as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Business speak, also management speak&#xA;  refers to a particular syntax often&#xA;  used in large organizations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The tone is associated with managers of large&#xA;  corporations, business management&#xA;  consultants, and occasionally&#xA;  government. The term is typically&#xA;  derogatory, implying the use of long,&#xA;  complicated, or obscure words,&#xA;  abbreviations, or acronyms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some of these words may be new inventions,&#xA;  designed purely to fit the specialized&#xA;  meaning of a situation. &lt;strong&gt;Frequently&#xA;  management speak is used to &quot;spin&quot;&#xA;  negative situations as positive&#xA;  situations.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="176" LastEditorUserId="176" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-01T08:37:04.607" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T08:37:04.607" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-15T12:19:17.203" Title="Business speak terms" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="834" CreationDate="2010-08-15T13:43:11.870" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A popular trivia quiz question along these lines is 'what is the longest place name in Britain that doesn't repeat any letters?' Nobody has yet found one longer than 'Bricklehampton'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T13:43:11.870" />
  <row Id="953" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="980" CreationDate="2010-08-15T13:59:49.987" Score="8" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;What informal terms are used in English as money amounts? I know the following US terms and I'm curious about the rest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a grand: 1000 dollars&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  a buck: 1 dollar&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T05:47:25.860" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-15T16:17:27.597" Title="Informal terms for money amounts" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;formality&gt;&lt;finance&gt;" AnswerCount="14" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="953" CreationDate="2010-08-15T14:07:07.990" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fiver = £5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tenner = £10&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pony = £25&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monkey = £500&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bob = 1 shilling (now five new pence)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T14:07:07.990" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-15T16:17:27.597" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="955" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="956" CreationDate="2010-08-15T14:21:04.460" Score="4" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is it OK to refer to things in the sea as being &quot;under the sea&quot;? Wouldn't that really be the sea floor and below?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T04:05:22.503" Title="Why does &quot;under the sea&quot; mean &quot;in the sea&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="955" CreationDate="2010-08-15T14:34:19.407" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Under the sea&quot; is short for &quot;under the &lt;em&gt;surface&lt;/em&gt; of the sea&quot;; the phrase is meant to evoke the romantic image seeing the waves passing while standing on the deck of a ship, say. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastEditorUserId="161" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T04:05:22.503" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T04:05:22.503" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="951" CreationDate="2010-08-15T14:39:20.970" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Synergy&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Harmonize&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Utilize (used instead of &quot;use&quot;)&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;And/or&quot;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T14:39:20.970" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-15T14:39:20.970" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="941" CreationDate="2010-08-15T15:11:33.217" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the US at least, there's enough variation in the use of this term as to render it imprecise to the point of being useless. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T15:11:33.217" />
  <row Id="959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="953" CreationDate="2010-08-15T15:27:33.353" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sawbuck - $10&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Large - $1000&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Bit - 12.5 cents&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Short Bit - Dime&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Long Bit - 15 cents  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T15:27:33.353" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-15T16:17:27.597" />
  <row Id="960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="951" CreationDate="2010-08-15T15:29:43.557" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are a couple:&lt;br&gt;&#xA; - Boil the ocean&lt;br&gt;&#xA; - Greenfielding&lt;br&gt;&#xA; - Cloudwashing (one of my new favorites)&lt;br&gt;&#xA; - Low hanging fruit &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then there is the whole practice of making weird word forms (using nouns as verbs and vice versa), there is even business speak for the practice &quot;Verbing&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA; - Can you effort that?&lt;br&gt;&#xA; - Ideation  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And of course the venerable portmanteau:&lt;br&gt;&#xA; - Imagineering&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, here is an entire dictionary of business-speak: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theofficelife.com/business-jargon-dictionary-A.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Ridiculous Business Jargon Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are even more on this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freebase.com/view/user/robert/business_cliches/business_cliche&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;business cliche&lt;/a&gt; site: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="179" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-15T15:41:58.100" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T15:41:58.100" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-15T15:29:43.557" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="953" CreationDate="2010-08-15T15:30:36.163" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's the tanner (6d, 2.5p).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T15:30:36.163" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-15T16:17:27.597" />
  <row Id="962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="953" CreationDate="2010-08-15T16:16:13.527" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the growing popularity of Poker, a:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;stack of high society&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;isn't just a &quot;chip of the highest denomination&quot; (usually $10000 in chips) anymore, but also 10000 actual dollars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gamblingplanet.org/Gambling-Glossary-S&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gambling community&lt;/a&gt;, you will find many other term to designate money amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sawbuck, mentioned in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/179/johnfx&quot;&gt;JohnFx&lt;/a&gt;'s &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/953/informal-terms-for-money-amounts/959#959&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt; is one.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But you also have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dollar bet: a $100 bet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Money: $500&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nickel: $5 chip&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quarter: $25 chip&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;skin or skoon: one dollar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-01T18:08:38.730" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T18:08:38.730" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-15T16:17:27.597" />
  <row Id="963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="902" CreationDate="2010-08-15T17:03:03.520" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The title Mrs. is pronounced /ˈmɪsɪz/ (MISS-iz). It is not ever spelled out to anything in formal contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In informal contexts, it is often spelled out as “missus”. There are 258 incidences of “missus” in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;, nearly all in fiction, except for a handful in quotations in magazine and newspaper articles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T17:03:03.520" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="964" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="968" CreationDate="2010-08-15T18:01:33.917" Score="9" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;A while ago, there was an answer on &lt;em&gt;Jeopardy!&lt;/em&gt; along the following lines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the sentence &lt;em&gt;he was on fire&lt;/em&gt;, the word &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; is this part of speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The judges ruled that it was a preposition.  But I think that only works if the guy was physically located on top of a fire.  After discussing it with someone, I think it's the first half of a compound adjective.  There's a convenient parallel to the single word &quot;afire&quot; there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, who was right?  And why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-21T00:54:35.613" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T04:35:09.930" Title="What part of speech is &quot;on&quot; in &quot;on fire&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;part-of-speech&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="951" CreationDate="2010-08-15T18:16:40.093" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Raymond Chen cites numerous entries on his &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.msdn.com/search/SearchResults.aspx?q=microspeak&amp;amp;sections=2905&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;blog&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T18:16:40.093" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-15T18:16:40.093" />
  <row Id="967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="953" CreationDate="2010-08-15T19:31:59.687" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hunid Stacks - many hundred dollar bills&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T19:31:59.687" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-15T19:31:59.687" />
  <row Id="968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="964" CreationDate="2010-08-15T20:05:24.600" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The preposition &quot;on&quot; has a number different meanings, one of which is to &quot;physically be on top of something&quot;.  The preposition in the sense of &quot;on fire&quot; is one of them (from dictionary.com):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;13 . in a state or condition of; in the process of: &lt;em&gt;on strike&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;The house is &lt;strong&gt;on fire&lt;/strong&gt;!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T20:05:24.600" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="951" CreationDate="2010-08-15T20:11:30.777" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;to table&quot; an item&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;actionable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;facetime&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T20:11:30.777" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-15T20:11:30.777" />
  <row Id="970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="951" CreationDate="2010-08-15T20:58:39.853" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some overused terms I mostly dislike:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;ahead of the curve&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;at the end of the day&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;best practices&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;best-in-class&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;center of excellence&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;core competencies&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;join me in congratulating&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;leverage&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;reach out to&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;refocus our efforts&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;resources&quot; (in reference to &lt;em&gt;people&lt;/em&gt; !)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;sharpen our focus&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;thought leadership&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;touch base with&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;value proposition&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;well-positioned&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="237" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T20:58:39.853" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-15T20:58:39.853" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="953" CreationDate="2010-08-15T21:04:17.717" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are a couple more I've heard around:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;big ones&quot; ... slang for &quot;thousands&quot;.  Like &quot;ten big ones&quot; = $10,000&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;mil&quot; or &quot;mill&quot; ... short for &quot;millions&quot;.  &quot;5 mil&quot; = $5,000,000&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And here are a couple for Canada specifically.  Not amounts per se, but slang for some of our coinage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;loonie = the $1 Canadian coin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;twonie or toonie = the $2 Canadian coin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="237" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T21:04:17.717" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-15T21:04:17.717" />
  <row Id="972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="964" CreationDate="2010-08-15T21:08:16.197" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;On&quot; is a preposition, without a shadow of a doubt. &quot;On fire&quot; is a prepositional phrase which, like all prepositional phrases, can be used as an adjective or an adverb. (I'm trying to think of an adverbial usage for this one, and unfortunately I can't think of one.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="521" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T21:08:16.197" />
  <row Id="973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="688" CreationDate="2010-08-15T21:19:53.277" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Rather&quot; here is functioning as an adverb. I don't understand those who say that there is no verb. This is a classic example of a fossilized, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_expression&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fixed expression&lt;/a&gt;, of which English (and most languages) have many.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As kitukwyfer stated, &quot;would&quot; here is the subjunctive of &quot;will&quot; in its older sense of &quot;want&quot;, and the word order dates from a time when English, like German, had a stronger preference for verb-second word order, in which the finite verb is always the second phrasal element of a clause. (This can still be found in other fossilized expressions like &quot;so do I&quot; in which the word &quot;I&quot; is shifted to the end because the verb must occupy the second position.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum up, every one of these expressions has not one, but &lt;em&gt;two&lt;/em&gt; verbs. In this fixed expression, the so-called auxiliary is not really functioning as an auxiliary. It is the main verb, the subjunctive of its older meaning of &quot;want,&quot; modified by the adverb &quot;rather&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="521" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T21:19:53.277" />
  <row Id="974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="951" CreationDate="2010-08-15T21:51:30.013" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://unsuck-it.com/browse/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Unsuck It&lt;/a&gt; should have all the terms, and then some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="236" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T21:51:30.013" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-15T21:51:30.013" />
  <row Id="975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="951" CreationDate="2010-08-15T21:52:16.830" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;manage expectations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;domain knowledge&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;going forward&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;quick wins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;having a &quot;conversation&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="522" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T21:52:16.830" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-15T21:52:16.830" />
  <row Id="976" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-15T21:56:22.930" Score="3" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am fully capable of speaking, reading and writing (British-)English and my native language, but I find that I tend to mumble and muffle my voice. Furthermore, I would love to perfect my speech in all the ways possible, and I find that the science of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manner_of_articulation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;articulation&lt;/a&gt; (articulatory phonetics) would be the best ways to do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to hit up random books on Amazon, so do you know which books are the bibles within this areas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe theatre-oriented books would deal with articulation and contain some exercises?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="236" LastEditorUserId="236" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T17:04:09.193" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T18:28:57.243" Title="Books on articulation" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;speech&gt;&lt;subjective&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="977" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-15T21:57:47.513" Score="4" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I order multiple G&amp;amp;Ts which should I ask for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="522" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T18:58:30.197" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T18:58:30.197" Title="Gin &amp; Tonics vs Gins &amp; Tonic vs Gins &amp; Tonics" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="977" CreationDate="2010-08-15T22:51:02.317" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always ask for &quot;Gin and tonics&quot;. Complex phrases used as proper nouns are always a little complicated, but in most cases we treat the entire phrase as a noun an attach the plural &lt;em&gt;-s&lt;/em&gt; to the final element. This is true even in the case where the final element isn't even a noun, as in the sentence &quot;Do six sit-ups&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T22:51:02.317" />
  <row Id="979" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-15T22:54:17.460" Score="40" ViewCount="964" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The junction has a stop sign on each of the four entrances.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The junction has a stop sign on each of the 4 entrances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first is preferred, for some reason, by many English texts. Why? I haven't seen this phenomenon in other languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T07:56:54.363" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T18:32:10.590" Title="Why do English writers avoid explicit numerals?" Tags="&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="12" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="7" />
  <row Id="980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="953" CreationDate="2010-08-15T22:58:55.473" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Nickel&quot; is the commonly used term in the US for a five cent coin and based on its primary metal content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Penny&quot; is commonly used for the one cent coin. This term is borrowed from British English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Quarter&quot; is shortened from &quot;quarter dollar&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll occasionally hear something like &quot;solid quarter&quot; as in &quot;Do you have a solid quarter?&quot; when someone wants to exchange smaller coins of an equivalent amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While a &quot;bit&quot; does equal 12.5 cents, when you hear the term it will most often be used in the phrase &quot;two bits&quot; which refers to a quarter. The word comes from the practice of cutting apart old coins called &quot;Pieces of Eight&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Dime&quot; is the name that the ten cent coin actually carries. The name comes from the Old French &quot;disme&quot; which comes from the Latin &quot;decimus&quot;. It's the only modern US coin I can think of which does not indicate its value. None of them use numerals, unfortunately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &quot;bill&quot; is sometimes used for &quot;$100&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Five spot&quot; and &quot;fiver&quot; refer to a five dollar bill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes currency is referred to by the person portrayed on the bill. This is more common with &quot;Benjamin&quot; or &quot;Franklin&quot; ($100), &quot;Grant&quot; ($50) and &quot;Jackson&quot; ($20).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="189" LastEditorUserId="1631" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-08T03:19:48.630" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T03:19:48.630" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-15T22:58:55.473" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="981" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="982" CreationDate="2010-08-15T23:03:58.897" Score="4" ViewCount="450" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doesn't &quot;including&quot; imply &quot;not limited to&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="189" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T01:44:59.593" Title="&quot;Including but not limited to&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="981" CreationDate="2010-08-15T23:29:58.370" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would agree that &quot;including&quot; definitely carries the implication of &quot;not limited to&quot;; however, I think this redundant phrasing is simply used in order emphasize the fact that what follows is not intended to be a complete list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-15T23:29:58.370" />
  <row Id="983" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="987" CreationDate="2010-08-16T00:05:51.277" Score="4" ViewCount="378" Body="&lt;p&gt;This song by The Rolling Stones, &lt;code&gt;(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As a non-native speaker, I always wondered what's the exact meaning of this phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it &quot;I'm not getting any satisfaction&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; (this seems to be the most widely met translation; double negation used where single negation should have been used).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Or is it &quot;I want my satisfaction, I cannot leave without getting some&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; (makes much more sense to me).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is it something else?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I've always had troubles understanding double negation as applied to English. You know. First I was taught it's a mistake to use double negation at all, and then I see it everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="524" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-17T12:55:20.997" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T15:16:44.487" Title="&quot;I Can't Get No Satisfaction&quot; -- what's the correct meaning?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;double-negation&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="976" CreationDate="2010-08-16T00:15:42.707" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ladefoged and Maddieson’s &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0631198156&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sounds of the World’s Languages&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; is generally regarded in the field of linguistics as the standard reference for phonetics. It covers in great detail both the articulation and acoustics of nearly all sounds used in natural languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not a book that specializes in the specifics of English articulation, but it contains nearly everything you could ever want to know about how to produce every sound of every language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T00:15:42.707" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="983" CreationDate="2010-08-16T00:22:19.793" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's improper grammar. The correct version would be &quot;I can't get [any] satisfaction.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mick Jagger is saying that he is unable acquire whatever it is that would satisfy him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T00:22:19.793" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="983" CreationDate="2010-08-16T00:24:31.020" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is almost certainly the first option, with the sense of &quot;I can't get any satisfaction&quot;.  Double negation with this type of meaning is pervasive in certain dialects and registers of English, and this is almost certainly one of those cases.  It's not &quot;wrong&quot;, linguistically speaking, it is just non-standard (so if non-standard = &quot;wrong&quot; to you, then fine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I can force my brain to parse the sentence in the sense of your second example, it is awkward and unnatural to this native speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T00:24:31.020" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="983" CreationDate="2010-08-16T00:25:56.260" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason you were told it’s a mistake is because it is a usage found in dispreferred dialects. Similar to use of &lt;em&gt;ain’t&lt;/em&gt;, double negation—also known as negative concord—is quite common in many dialects of English, but it is explicitly not part of any formal register of English. Negative concord is a feature many languages, such as Spanish—just not formal English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“I can’t get no satisfaction” in formal standard English would be “I can’t get &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; satisfaction” or “I &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; get no satisfaction”. However, it’s important to note that although formal modern English does not have a negative concord rule, such a rule is not inherently “illogical” as many commenters who try to explain English’s rule claim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002192.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is a post on Language Log about “overnegation”.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T00:35:21.700" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T00:35:21.700" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="988" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="992" CreationDate="2010-08-16T00:31:49.977" Score="3" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a term for the single letter contractions as used in the following examples?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Toys 'r' us&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Stop 'n' go&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Trademarks above corrected for proper grammar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T00:50:04.463" Title="Is there a word for the single letter contractions commonly used in store names? (see examples)" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="981" CreationDate="2010-08-16T00:33:53.233" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the point of this common bit of ‘legalese’ is that in case anyone should assume that &lt;em&gt;including&lt;/em&gt; does mean ‘limited to’ they have no recourse to claim they were misled by believing the list in question was a complete list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T00:33:53.233" />
  <row Id="990" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="991" CreationDate="2010-08-16T00:35:49.500" Score="13" ViewCount="294" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one is considered correct? I say &quot;math&quot;, however I believe I heard somewhere that &quot;maths&quot; is correct. Also, should it (and &quot;mathematics&quot;) be capitalized or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="498" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T02:15:51.827" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T02:15:51.827" Title="&quot;Math&quot; or &quot;Maths&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="990" CreationDate="2010-08-16T00:37:15.053" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is simple:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Math&lt;/em&gt; is American English.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Maths&lt;/em&gt; is British English.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a common noun and should only be capitalized at the beginning of a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T00:37:15.053" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="988" CreationDate="2010-08-16T00:50:04.463" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;’n’&lt;/em&gt; is a conjunction with a listed definition of “and” given in various dictionaries, such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/%27n%27&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/%27n%27&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Random House&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The letter R in the name &lt;em&gt;Toys “R” Us&lt;/em&gt; is given with double quotation marks (not apostrophes) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.toysrusinc.com/about-us/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;on their web site&lt;/a&gt;. Their logo uses a backwards-facing letter R. Presumably the “misspelling” of the word &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; combined with reversed letter is intended to make it seem as though a child produced the logo. Misspelling homophones (the letter R and the word &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; are both pronounced the same) and producing letters which are a mirror image of the correct letter are common errors of children who are just learning to write.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first example I can comfortably just describe as a &lt;em&gt;contraction&lt;/em&gt;. The Random House dictionary calls it a “Pronunciation Spelling”. The R in &lt;em&gt;Toys “R” Us&lt;/em&gt; is not really the same thing and is better described as an &lt;em&gt;intentional error&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T00:50:04.463" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="990" CreationDate="2010-08-16T01:15:15.093" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is meant to be added to nohat's response but I can't seem to add comments (yet). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The words &quot;math&quot; and &quot;maths&quot; are both abbreviations of &quot;mathematics&quot; and are dictated by your local variation of English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="250" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T01:15:15.093" />
  <row Id="994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="619" CreationDate="2010-08-16T01:19:22.807" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simple answer? It is an Americanism similar to saying &quot;Don't forget to write me&quot; (American) as opposed to &quot;Don't forget to write to me&quot; (everywhere else).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="250" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T01:19:22.807" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="953" CreationDate="2010-08-16T01:55:01.160" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yuppie Food Stamp = $20 (spewed from ATMs at lunch time)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T01:55:01.160" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-16T01:55:01.160" />
  <row Id="996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="955" CreationDate="2010-08-16T02:15:13.717" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;At what point are you NOT under the sky? Where does the sky start? 5m above ground? 50m? 5000m? 50,000m? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under the sea starts when you are under the upper most part of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An undersea expedition is anywhere beneath the surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T02:15:13.717" />
  <row Id="997" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1003" CreationDate="2010-08-16T02:18:22.523" Score="7" ViewCount="269" Body="&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;80s the &quot;Eighties&quot;&#xA;90s the &quot;Nineties&quot;&#xA;00s the ???&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For that matter, what is the second decade called? The &quot;tens&quot; just doesn't sound right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T23:32:25.000" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T18:34:12.667" Title="What is the name of the first decade in a century?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="997" CreationDate="2010-08-16T02:23:04.713" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would call 1900-1909 the nineteen hundreds. This usage &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/941/nineteen-hundreds&quot;&gt;seems to have been corrupted though&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T02:23:04.713" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="979" CreationDate="2010-08-16T02:26:53.143" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a style preference. The Chicago Manual of Style has three pages on this topic alone, pages 380-382 in my 15th edition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T02:26:53.143" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="1000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="977" CreationDate="2010-08-16T02:32:56.373" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A gin and tonic is a drink with the gin and the tonic already mixed. It's one thing, so &quot;gin and tonics&quot; is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you ask for &quot;three gins and tonics&quot; it sounds like you want three glasses of gin plus some bottles of tonic water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you ask for &quot;three gins and tonic&quot; it sounds like you want three glasses of gin plus one bottle of tonic water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T02:32:56.373" />
  <row Id="1001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="955" CreationDate="2010-08-16T02:36:43.790" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If one looks out of the window of a train near the shore, one says &quot;I can see the sea&quot;. That does not mean &quot;I can see the sea bed&quot; or &quot;I can see under/inside the water&quot;, but &quot;I can see the surface of the sea&quot;. Thus the word &quot;sea&quot; in common English usage means &quot;the surface of the sea&quot;, and &quot;under the sea&quot; means &quot;under the surface of the sea&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly &quot;underwater&quot; means &quot;under the surface of the water&quot;, &quot;underground&quot; means &quot;under the surface of the ground&quot;, etc. etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T02:48:10.173" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T02:48:10.173" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="648" CreationDate="2010-08-16T02:38:00.823" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;WIRED magazine switched from &quot;Internet&quot; to &quot;internet&quot; in 2004:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2004/08/64596&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2004/08/64596&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="525" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T02:38:00.823" />
  <row Id="1003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="997" CreationDate="2010-08-16T03:31:07.993" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those living in early twentieth century called the years 1900-1909 &lt;strong&gt;&quot;The Aughts&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900s_%28decade%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; provides some more context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside: the Oxford English Dictionary has &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/page/describedecade_us&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an entertaining feature&lt;/a&gt; on what to call the first decade of a century.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="527" LastEditorUserId="527" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T18:34:12.667" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T18:34:12.667" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="619" CreationDate="2010-08-16T03:32:08.963" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;off of&quot; has a long history, which, according to the OED, stretches back roughly 500 years.  If you want to consider it to be &quot;wrong&quot;, then it certainly has a lot of staying power.  Here are their quotations using &quot;off of&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;?&lt;strong&gt;c1450&lt;/strong&gt; in G. Müller Aus mittelengl.&#xA;  Medizintexten (1929) 116 Take a&#xA;  sponfull of e licour..of of e fyir and&#xA;  sette it in good place tyl at it be ny&#xA;  colde, soo as ou mayst suffryn to&#xA;  holdyn er-in in hand. &lt;strong&gt;a1616&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  SHAKESPEARE Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) II.&#xA;  i. 98 A fall off of [&lt;strong&gt;1594&lt;/strong&gt; Falling off&#xA;  on] a Tree. &lt;strong&gt;1667&lt;/strong&gt; A. MARVELL Corr. in&#xA;  Wks. (1875) II. 224 The Lords and we&#xA;  cannot yet get off of the difficultyes&#xA;  risen betwixt us. &lt;strong&gt;1678&lt;/strong&gt; J. BUNYAN&#xA;  Pilgrim's Progress 49 About a furlong&#xA;  off of the Porters Lodge. &lt;strong&gt;1712&lt;/strong&gt; R.&#xA;  STEELE Spectator No. 306. 6, I could&#xA;  not keep my Eyes off of her. &lt;strong&gt;1720&lt;/strong&gt; D.&#xA;  DEFOE Mem. Cavalier 281, I had&#xA;  perswaded him off of that. &lt;strong&gt;1748&lt;/strong&gt; S.&#xA;  RICHARDSON Clarissa V. xiii. 132&#xA;  Biting my lip, [was to indicate] Get&#xA;  off of that, as fast as possible. 1775&#xA;  P. OLIVER in T. Hutchinson's Diary 7&#xA;  Dec. I. 581 A Rebell&#xA;  Pirate..taken..off of Cape Ann. &lt;strong&gt;a1805&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  in F. J. Child Eng. &amp;amp; Sc. Pop. Ballads&#xA;  (1894) V. IX. 106/2 Aff o the weather&#xA;  [read wether] he took the skin, An&#xA;  rowt his bonny lady in. &lt;strong&gt;1824&lt;/strong&gt; J. WIGHT&#xA;  Mornings at Bow St. 21 Two young&#xA;  men..were charged by a watchman with&#xA;  having ‘bother'd him on his bate,’ and&#xA;  refused to ‘go along off of it when he&#xA;  tould 'em.’ &lt;strong&gt;1843&lt;/strong&gt; T. C. HALIBURTON&#xA;  Attaché 1st Ser. II. xii. 210 The&#xA;  groom has stole her oats, forgot to&#xA;  give her water, and let her make a&#xA;  supper sometimes off of her nasty,&#xA;  mouldy, filthy beddin'. &lt;strong&gt;1868&lt;/strong&gt; HARTLEY&#xA;  Clock Alm. in Leeds Mercury Weekly&#xA;  Suppl. (1895) 5 Oct., He connot&#xA;  forshame To lift up his een off o' th'&#xA;  graand. &lt;strong&gt;1875&lt;/strong&gt; P. BROOKS New Starts in&#xA;  Life viii. 129 If you could have&#xA;  filled his pockets with gold, and&#xA;  feasted his hunger off of silver&#xA;  dishes. &lt;strong&gt;1884&lt;/strong&gt; ‘M. TWAIN’ Adventures&#xA;  Huckleberry Finn vi. 45 I'd borrow two&#xA;  or three dollars off of the judge for&#xA;  him. &lt;strong&gt;1909&lt;/strong&gt; G. GREIG Mains's Wooin' 6&#xA;  He's swallowed the dictionar', min,&#xA;  an's tryin' to get 'er aff o's&#xA;  stammack. &lt;strong&gt;a1922&lt;/strong&gt; T. S. ELIOT Waste Land&#xA;  Drafts (1971) 5 The reputation the&#xA;  place gets, off of a few barflies.&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;1962&lt;/strong&gt; F. NORMAN Guntz i. 15, I got hold&#xA;  of this very very old typewriter off&#xA;  of a friend of mine. &lt;strong&gt;1974&lt;/strong&gt; J. STUBBS&#xA;  Painted Face xxiii. 284 Get off of me,&#xA;  will you, sir? &lt;strong&gt;1990&lt;/strong&gt; B. ROCHE Poor&#xA;  Beast in Rain II. i. 44, I was hangin'&#xA;  around here all the time, gettin'&#xA;  sweet nothin' off of you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may perhaps be more common in American English nowadays, but it certainly didn't originate there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T03:32:08.963" />
  <row Id="1005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="997" CreationDate="2010-08-16T03:36:48.263" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my circle I have usually heard the previous decade referred to as &quot;the two-thousands&quot;.  As to whether it might be called that in 30 years or so, it's hard to tell.  I agree that &quot;the tens&quot; sounds weird, but isn't that because you'd say &quot;the teens&quot; instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T03:36:48.263" />
  <row Id="1006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="997" CreationDate="2010-08-16T05:07:19.063" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard &quot;the noughties&quot; (easy transition from &quot;nineties&quot;) and &quot;the two-thousands&quot; (literal interpretation of &quot;2000s&quot;) for the decade just gone. I think this is something that doesn't have a real answer as it appears to change with each century and is different depending on your location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia's entry for the 2000s echoes this inability for people to come up with a single name  for this decade (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000s_%28decade%29#Names_for_the_decade&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000s_(decade)#Names_for_the_decade&lt;/a&gt;) let alone all &quot;first decades of a century&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="250" LastEditorUserId="250" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T11:12:24.827" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T11:12:24.827" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="979" CreationDate="2010-08-16T05:15:18.677" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have also noticed when reading French and Spanish texts, that it is quite normal to write numbers below ten in full as well, e.g. &quot;los tres hombres que...&quot; instead of &quot;los 3 hombres que...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is that writing numbers in full in a European language is easier than using Roman numerals, which were the mainstay until the Arabic-Hindu number system came to Europe. Eg, it is easier to understand &quot;one hundred and fourty five&quot; than it is to understand &lt;strong&gt;CVL&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;CXLV&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;CXXXXV&lt;/strong&gt;, which are all different and valid ways of writing &lt;strong&gt;145&lt;/strong&gt;, with &lt;strong&gt;CXXXXV&lt;/strong&gt; being the most common. Clumsy. So after the vastly superior Hindu-Arabic system was adopted in Europe, the habit of writing numbers as words would have remained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English, being a European language, would have kept similar habits as per the other European languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today, it is a simply an issue of style, so it is not wrong to always write numbers with numerals or to always write them in full. For instance, APA recommends that numbers below 10 are written in full, while numbers 10 and above are written with numerals. The Chicago Manual of Style recommends that all numbers below 100 are written in full, with numbers above 100 written as numerals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both style guides prohibit mixing spelt out numbers with numbers expressed as numerals, favouring numerals for all numbers when they are mixed. But my local newspaper, quite happily mixes numbers 1-9 spelt out, and higher numbers expressed with numerals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rules in both style guides (and others) are actually a lot more comprehensive than that, but I see no reason to include them here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most high schools teach similar rules in their English classes, which leads to everybody being accustomed to writing numbers out in full. In addition, as everybody is used to seeing numbers expressed like that in their novels, newspapers, and other texts, it becomes further engrained in the psyche of English writers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T05:31:51.703" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T05:31:51.703" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1009" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1011" CreationDate="2010-08-16T06:20:04.633" Score="3" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anybody know?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="531" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T08:44:49.087" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T08:44:49.087" Title="What can a man that owns land for agriculture be called without using &quot;farmer&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;learning&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="979" CreationDate="2010-08-16T06:35:26.287" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;my opinion is that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it's longer this way&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the text is prettier&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and everybody does it this way, so it's like a custom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="531" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T06:35:26.287" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1009" CreationDate="2010-08-16T06:39:15.033" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If he works the land, you could call it an &quot;&lt;strong&gt;agricultural tenant&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; (also &quot;tenant farmer&quot; , but you don' t want the word &quot;farmer&quot; in there)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If he owns the lands, &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Agricultural Landlord&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The terms &quot;tenant&quot; and &quot;landlord&quot; are good candidates, but can also be applied for other kind of real estates than farms. Hence the &quot;agricultural&quot; qualifier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T06:39:15.033" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="54" CreationDate="2010-08-16T07:00:44.317" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I watch DVDs with subtitles which has the advantage that you may rewind and even switch the language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T07:00:44.317" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="442" CreationDate="2010-08-16T07:39:28.530" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For someone doing technical writing for the US Gov't, I have to recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sti.nasa.gov/publish/sp7084.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NASA SP-7084&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;em&gt;Grammar, Punctuation, and&#xA;Capitalization: A Handbook for Technical Writers and Editors&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="513" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T07:39:28.530" />
  <row Id="1014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="979" CreationDate="2010-08-16T07:40:41.897" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This does happen in Chinese, too. For example, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;只见老太婆飞起一脚，把那五个壮汉踢倒在地。&#xA;  &lt;br/&gt;I saw the old woman kick to the five strong men by one foot, kicking them down to the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;只见老太婆飞起1脚，把那5个壮汉踢到在地。&#xA;  &lt;br/&gt;I saw the old woman kick to the 5 strong men by 1 foot, kicking them down to the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never seen the second usage at all. One of the reason maybe, each Chinese character take the same width as the cell size, any occurrence of Arabic number or Latin character will break the overall conformity of the calligraphy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess most languages have this phenomenon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="229" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T03:57:32.847" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T03:57:32.847" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1009" CreationDate="2010-08-16T07:48:03.300" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Agricultural/Rural Land owner&quot; or just &quot;Land owner&quot; is also an alternative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="72" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T07:48:03.300" />
  <row Id="1016" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1017" CreationDate="2010-08-16T08:05:52.117" Score="17" ViewCount="766" Body="&lt;p&gt;99% of the time, I'm clear on when I should use &quot;a&quot; versus &quot;an.&quot; There's one case, though, where people &amp;amp; references I respect disagree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which of the following would you precede with &quot;a&quot; or &quot;an,&quot; and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;FAQ&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;FUBAR&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;SCUBA&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Note: I've read the questions &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/629/a-historic-or-an-historic&quot;&gt;&quot;A historic...&quot; or &quot;An historic…&quot;?&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/152/use-of-a-versus-an/164&quot;&gt;Use of &quot;a&quot; versus &quot;an&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, but the rules given there don't necessarily apply here.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Edited to add]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a shorter (and hopefully clearer) version of the question…  In written English, which is correct (and why): &quot;a FAQ&quot; or &quot;an FAQ&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some references with differing opinions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;an&lt;/code&gt;: the &lt;a href=&quot;http://blink.ucsd.edu/sponsor/ACT/staff/portal-services/working/styleguide.html#f&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;UC San Diego Editorial Style Guide&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/APStyleGuide/APSG_2009.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Apple Publications Style Guide&lt;/a&gt; (page 69)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;a&lt;/code&gt;: the &lt;em&gt;Microsoft Manual of Style for Tech Publications, 3e&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;either: the &lt;a href=&quot;http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxaanbef.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;alt.usage.english FAQ&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://styleguide.yahoo.com/word-list/f&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yahoo! Style Guide&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="513" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T04:06:48.007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T04:06:48.007" Title="Do you use &quot;a&quot; or &quot;an&quot; before acronyms?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;articles&gt;&lt;acronyms&gt;&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1016" CreationDate="2010-08-16T08:15:48.223" Score="27" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on whether the abbreviation is an acronym or an initialism. As &quot;fubar&quot; and &quot;scuba&quot; are usually pronounced as a word (making them acronyms), it would make sense to say &quot;a fubar&quot; and &quot;a scuba diver&quot;. &quot;FAQ&quot; is a bit harder, because I have heard people say it like an initialism: &quot;‹f›‹a›‹q›&quot;, while others pronounce it as an acronym /fæk/. Therefore, one should write either &quot;a FAQ&quot; or &quot;an FAQ&quot; depending on how that person pronounces it, ie, whether it is an acronym or an initialism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T09:15:17.890" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T09:15:17.890" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="1018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1016" CreationDate="2010-08-16T08:19:48.137" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Note: Some of this information may be extraneous, but take it for what you will!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, some acronyms represent nouns, others verbs or adjectives. If it represents the former, I see no problem with prefixing with an (in)definite article (a/an).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scuba&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;code&gt;scuba&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is listed as a noun (lower-case) rather than an acronym in most dictionaries these days. It is of course derived from an acronym, but has evolved into a word in its own right (&lt;code&gt;laser&lt;/code&gt; would be another example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;FAQ&lt;/code&gt; is an acronym, but is very commonly used as a noun - &quot;a list of frequently-asked questions&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;FUBAR&lt;/code&gt; has various definitions, but it's normally interpreted as an adjective (at least by the original military one).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hence, I would happily prefix &lt;code&gt;scuba&lt;/code&gt;/&lt;code&gt;SCUBA&lt;/code&gt; with &lt;code&gt;a&lt;/code&gt;/&lt;code&gt;an&lt;/code&gt;, but definitely not &lt;code&gt;FUBAR&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All these words begin with hard consonants, and thus should always be prefixed with &lt;code&gt;a&lt;/code&gt;. Saying that, some people pronounce FAQ by spelling out its letters, in which case &lt;code&gt;an&lt;/code&gt; is appropriate. I've never heard this done with the other two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T08:31:12.690" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T08:31:12.690" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="1019" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1024" CreationDate="2010-08-16T08:31:41.663" Score="1" ViewCount="258" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to say or write &lt;em&gt;an student&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;an store&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T06:29:57.637" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T08:16:49.327" Title="&quot;a&quot; or &quot;an&quot; for words that don't start with vowels but sound like they're starting with a vowel" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;learning&gt;&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="1021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1009" CreationDate="2010-08-16T09:17:58.563" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;agriculturalist, grower, rancher, market gardener, agrarian......&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T09:17:58.563" />
  <row Id="1022" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1023" CreationDate="2010-08-16T09:20:52.963" Score="8" ViewCount="221" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the original meaning of the initialism, PC (Personal Computer), it would make perfect sense to call a Mac a PC, as it is just that, a personal computer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the vast majority of people distinguish a PC from a Mac - due to clever marketing. This distinction is so embedded in people now, that both PC users, and Mac users do not consider a Mac to be a PC.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So would I be right to start referring to Macs under the blanket term &quot;PC&quot;, or would the fact that most people no longer consider the term to refer to Macs make me wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:17:03.327" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:17:03.327" Title="Is it correct to call an Apple Mac computer a PC (Personal Computer)" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="1023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1022" CreationDate="2010-08-16T09:27:56.043" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't consider you to be wrong (a Mac &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; a personal computer), but it is definitely the case that some people might be confused by using the terms in that way and it would then require further explanation. Because of that, I'm not sure there's really a definite answer to this as it will depend on the context and the knowledge of the reader. If in doubt, go for whatever phrasing is least likely to cause confusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe the term &quot;PC&quot; became the generally used expression as it stemmed from &quot;IBM-compatible PC&quot;, which gradually became more and more mainstream. However you could also argue (correctly) that a modern Mac is also an IBM-compatible PC, since they use the same CPU architecture and so on now - just to add another level of confusion ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="114" LastEditorUserId="114" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T09:45:57.693" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T09:45:57.693" />
  <row Id="1024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1019" CreationDate="2010-08-16T09:44:06.303" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Always use &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; for words which sound like they start with a vowel, and always use &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; for words which sound like they start with a consonant. The rules for &lt;em&gt;h&lt;/em&gt; are more complex, and it can be ok to use either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usage of the indefinite article preceding &lt;em&gt;h&lt;/em&gt; are &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/629/a-historic-or-an-historic&quot;&gt;discussed here&lt;/a&gt;. In particular, look at nohat's response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for &lt;em&gt;student&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;store&lt;/em&gt;, they should always be preceded with &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; and never with &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt;, because they both start with the consonant /s/ when spoken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A student, a store&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incorrect:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An student, an store&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T07:49:19.283" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T07:49:19.283" />
  <row Id="1025" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1027" CreationDate="2010-08-16T09:46:37.270" Score="8" ViewCount="529" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I see a comma &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; the proper name:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hello Mr. Black,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In order to give you....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But my native language is not English and I think that the comma in this phrase should be placed &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; the proper name: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hello, Mr. Black.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In order to give you....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the correct punctuation in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="81" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-14T14:06:26.823" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T07:47:06.880" Title="Comma place: &quot;Hello Mr. Black,...&quot; vs &quot;Hello, Mr. Black...&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;comma&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1022" CreationDate="2010-08-16T09:56:02.400" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It wouldn't make you wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it would mean that many people may be confused about your statement, or they'd think you were making a point through your choice of language.  At least that has been my experience.  If that is your intention, then call your &quot;Mac&quot; a &quot;PC&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T09:56:02.400" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1025" CreationDate="2010-08-16T09:58:03.647" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a dialogue, a pause can be used for effect, putting emphasis on the greeting, eg:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hello, Mr. Black.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Hello&quot; is said first, then a pause, then the name. Normally, people would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hello Mr. Black.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without any pauses in their speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When writing a letter or email, it is quite common to do this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hello Mr. Black,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bla bla bla...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or in a more formal situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear Mr. Black,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bla bla bla...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is uncommon to put a comma before the title even in an informal email salutation (though quite acceptable), but it would never be done in a formal letter/email.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T07:47:06.880" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T07:47:06.880" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="1028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1022" CreationDate="2010-08-16T10:28:09.757" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You wouldn't be wrong, but you would confuse others.&#xA;I would use the term &quot;Desktop Computer&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="543" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T10:28:09.757" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1029" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1030" CreationDate="2010-08-16T10:34:09.467" Score="4" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, the question is in the title. I always had the impression that &quot;talk to someone&quot; refers to situations when some information must be conveyed to someone else, while &quot;talk with someone&quot; refers to cases that involve a more complex two-sided interaction. E.g., I &quot;talk to my colleague&quot; to tell him that I'm going for a lunch break (no response is required apart from maybe an acknowledgment), while I go and &quot;talk with my colleague&quot; if I have to discuss something with him in detail. Is this correct, or is there any difference between the two phrases, or is there no difference at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="544" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T04:47:41.370" Title="Is there any difference between &quot;talk to someone&quot; and &quot;talk with someone&quot;?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;phrasal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="1030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1029" CreationDate="2010-08-16T10:41:46.260" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a similar discussion here... &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/866/speak-to-vs-speak-with&quot;&gt;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/866/speak-to-vs-speak-with&lt;/a&gt; . For what it's worth, my perception is that &quot;talk with&quot; and &quot;speak with&quot; are American forms, and &quot;talk to&quot; and &quot;speak to&quot; are British.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T10:41:46.260" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1031" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1033" CreationDate="2010-08-16T11:00:54.643" Score="8" ViewCount="274" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that to mark possession of an item you can use 's like in the following example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The user's password shall not be blank.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, is it correct to use the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The car's antenna is embedded in the windshield.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I seem to remember that possession must only be used for people but I'm not certain really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="545" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T16:19:07.983" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T16:19:07.983" Title="Is using the possessive 's correct in &quot;the car's antenna&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;rules&gt;&lt;inanimate&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1022" CreationDate="2010-08-16T11:02:27.823" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;it is going to be better, if you want people to understand what you want to say: to say Mac for Apple and PC for Microsoft&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&#xA;if you want generic names this could be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;laptop&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;desktop&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNehRSWmvJM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNehRSWmvJM&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;PC vs Mac = win vs apple :) kinda&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="531" LastEditorUserId="531" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-17T12:13:01.567" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T12:13:01.567" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1031" CreationDate="2010-08-16T11:07:10.733" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Possessor doesn't need to be a living being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The town's hall&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The university's information center&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T11:07:10.733" />
  <row Id="1034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1031" CreationDate="2010-08-16T11:07:48.233" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;The car's antenna is embedded in the windshield.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;car is in the genitive case, here in a classifying genitive. One could also write &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;The antenna of the car ...&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of the apostrophe is not dependent on the noun representing people. Using &lt;strong&gt;-'s&lt;/strong&gt; is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="222" LastEditorUserId="222" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T11:13:37.493" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T11:13:37.493" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1035" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1037" CreationDate="2010-08-16T11:14:34.247" Score="4" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Import to/ Export from&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Data can be imported to and exported from the application. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Data can be imported and exported from the application.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Data can be imported to the application and exported from it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Add to / Remove from&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The manager defined the products that should be added to and removed from the store.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The manager defined the products that should be added and removed from the store.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The manager defined the products that should be added to the store and removed from it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume that the third sentence is correct in my examples. My question is actually whether the two other sentences are correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T05:04:39.453" Title="How to combine in a sentence two verb + preposition pairs that have the same object?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="810" CreationDate="2010-08-16T11:27:19.513" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most songs, especially of the pop variety, tend to contain a &quot;hook&quot; which is designed to, well, hook into your mind. Not quite the answer to your question but a part of it. You can &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hook_%28music%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;read more about musical hooks&lt;/a&gt; on Wikipedia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="250" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T11:27:19.513" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1035" CreationDate="2010-08-16T12:22:25.800" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Examples #1 is correct in both sections, and are examples of basic parallelism. However, example #2 is wrong is both sections. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic test is if you can deconstruct your parallelism into two grammatical sentences &lt;em&gt;without adding new words&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example #1 works&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Data can be imported to and exported from the application. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;deconstructs to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Data can be imported to the application. Data can be exported from the application.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example #2 is awkward&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Data can be imported and exported from the application.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;deconstructs to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Data can be imported from the application.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Data can be exported from the application.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note the &quot;import from&quot; wordage above. This is awkward because the idiom here is &quot;&lt;strong&gt;import to&lt;/strong&gt; the application&quot; or &quot;&lt;strong&gt;export from&lt;/strong&gt; the application&quot;. Even worse is the idea of adding something &quot;from&quot; a store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="546" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T05:04:39.453" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T05:04:39.453" />
  <row Id="1038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1035" CreationDate="2010-08-16T12:25:25.777" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In both examples, (1) is also an accepted structure, although it is usually written with commas or dashes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Data can be imported to, and exported from, the application.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T12:25:25.777" />
  <row Id="1039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1025" CreationDate="2010-08-16T13:03:31.407" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I read &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hello, Mr. Black&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that I mentally need there to be a comma at the end as well, or perhaps a full stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hello, Mr. Black, how are you today?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hello, Mr. Black.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the result is that the name is emphasized.  Whether you want to do this or not depends on the circumstances, but for letter writing this is usually not what you want. If you simply want a standard greeting put the comma after the name (or a full stop if the greeting is your whole sentence).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hello Mr. Black.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hello Mr. Black, how are you today?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T13:03:31.407" />
  <row Id="1040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1031" CreationDate="2010-08-16T13:08:55.670" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Possessives in English are much more common with animate possessors, but they are not restricted to them, so no, there is no problem with &quot;the car's antenna&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@Hamid: the possessed object is generally definite, so &quot;the town's hall&quot; is unusual, and implies that there is only one hall in town. &quot;The town's concert hall&quot; is less odd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@The MYYN: the problem with saying &quot;car is in the genitive case&quot; is that that does not cover common English expressions like &quot;The girl next door's coat&quot;. Grammatical case is a concept which barely applies in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T13:08:55.670" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="911" CreationDate="2010-08-16T14:22:14.387" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Odeon is derived from the name for an ancient &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odeon_%28building%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Greek building&lt;/a&gt; used much like a contemporary convert hall.  It was used as a name for cinemas in Italy and France before the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Deutsch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Odeon chain&lt;/a&gt; was set up in the UK in the 1930s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Adelphi Theatre in London was named after a terrace of houses that used to be opposite, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelphi,_London&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Adelphi Buildings&lt;/a&gt;.  The area took the name Adelphi, and the theatre from that.  As with Odeon and Savoy, names of cinemas were often taken from existing names for theatres.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.curzoncinemas.com/venues/mayfair#/venues/mayfair/history&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Curzon in Mayfair&lt;/a&gt;, London, takes its name from the street where it is located.  As it opened in the 30s, I'd imagine that other Curzons are named after it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="490" LastEditorUserId="490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T11:47:31.980" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T11:47:31.980" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1042" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2118" CreationDate="2010-08-16T14:41:58.397" Score="3" ViewCount="725" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does the nickname &lt;em&gt;Dutch&lt;/em&gt; have any significance? I know it was Reagan's, and I'm sure I've come across it in other books/films.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also &lt;em&gt;T-Bone&lt;/em&gt;, as in &lt;em&gt;T-Bone Walker&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;T-Bone Burnett&lt;/em&gt;: what does that mean? (I realise T-bone is a steak, but why would people be named after a meat cut, and why this one?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T23:13:36.763" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T23:13:36.763" Title="American nicknames 'Dutch' and 'T-Bone'" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="727" CreationDate="2010-08-16T15:04:52.210" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a non-native English speaker point of view:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess my accent will always be Brazilian. I'm not sure if I could or should try to change that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's clear to me that accent and pronunciation are two different things, even though I'm not sure where exactly the line that separates them is. (Maybe this would be an interesting separate topic here.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, given that pronunciation is not really accent, I'd say that the way that I pronouce the words, as well as the words that I choose should match the ones of the place where I am in, because I will be better understood this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if I went to Portugal, I wouldn't try to speak Portuguese like a Portuguese. I would still speak Portuguese like a Brazilian, since in this case I would be speaking my native language. I would however avoid phrases that are spoken in Brazil only to make sure that I could be understood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T15:04:52.210" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1031" CreationDate="2010-08-16T15:27:40.737" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a cool comic about apostrophes which - at least in parts - explains how to use &lt;code&gt;'s&lt;/code&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apostrophe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apostrophe&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T15:27:40.737" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1046" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1057" CreationDate="2010-08-16T15:27:47.057" Score="4" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;In what ways these three are different?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Providing examples would be really appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="146" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-17T10:51:49.570" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T10:51:49.570" Title="&quot;Differ to&quot; vs &quot;Differ with&quot; vs &quot;Differ from&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;phrasal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="1047" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1051" CreationDate="2010-08-16T15:35:50.243" Score="5" ViewCount="382" Body="&lt;p&gt;When the phrase is used as an object, why so many native speakers are saying &quot;you and I&quot; instead of &quot;you and me&quot;? I'm not a native speaker but I thought &quot;you and me&quot; is correct. Not sure if this falls into the same category, but &quot;Just between you and me&quot; sounds more natural than &quot;Just between you and I&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="165" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:45:24.860" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:45:24.860" Title="Which is correct, &quot;you and I&quot; or &quot;you and me&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;object&gt;&lt;hypercorrection&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="1048" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1054" CreationDate="2010-08-16T15:38:57.610" Score="1" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;In dictionaries you'll often see a pronunciation guide next to words like (bakery would be beɪkəri).  Are there different standards of these pronunciation guides? Also, where can I learn how to understand the pronunciation guide?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="552" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T15:57:59.090" Title="Are there different types of Pronunciation Guides?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1049" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1077" CreationDate="2010-08-16T15:45:07.160" Score="10" ViewCount="289" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why the order of the words in &quot;so do I&quot;, or &quot;nor do I&quot; is different from the normal order?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T23:59:29.220" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T23:59:29.220" Title="Why do you say &quot;so do I&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="1050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1047" CreationDate="2010-08-16T15:50:58.407" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends from the context. As a way to check what is correct, remove &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; from the sentence, and see if it's correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You and I will go to the cinema.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is correct, as &lt;em&gt;I will go to the cinema&lt;/em&gt; is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Laura will come to the cinema with you and me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is correct, as &lt;em&gt;Laura will come to the cinema with me&lt;/em&gt; is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a general rule, &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; is used as subject, and &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; as object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T01:03:54.953" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T01:03:54.953" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1047" CreationDate="2010-08-16T15:52:36.533" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an example of &lt;em&gt;hypercorrection&lt;/em&gt;, which is when native speakers make an accidental error in their zeal to avoid a different error.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, the error that's being avoided is the error of writing &quot;you and me&quot; in subject position, as in the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You and me are going to the store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is formally incorrect, although it's very common in contemporary spoken English. Because they have been taught that this is incorrect, many people &lt;em&gt;hypercorrect&lt;/em&gt; and change &quot;you and me&quot; to &quot;you and I&quot; in all positions. That is, they incorrectly learn the rule about when to use &quot;you and I&quot;, and so produce sentences like the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You and I are going to the store. [Correct]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He'll come to the store with you and I. [Incorrect]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-21T23:32:30.083" LastActivityDate="2010-11-21T23:32:30.083" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="633" CreationDate="2010-08-16T15:53:29.780" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;So-and-so for president&quot; is simply the traditional way to do this.  We have a set usage of &quot;elect s.o. for &lt;em&gt;position title&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, where &lt;em&gt;position title&lt;/em&gt; is the title of the job, with the meaning you are intending.  It is not some other description of the position, simply because that is not how the phrase is traditionally constructed.  There aren't syntactic or morphological rules that force this to be the case -- it is decided on semantic/pragmatic grounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do the same for any type of position (items with preceding question mark = awkward at best):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;John for mayor / ?mayorship&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(&quot;and the Emmy goes to...&quot;) John for best actor / ?best acting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;John for father-of-the-year / ?fatherhood-of-the-year&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T15:53:29.780" />
  <row Id="1053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1049" CreationDate="2010-08-16T15:55:29.137" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To agree with a positive statement:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We use so + auxiliary/modal verb + pronoun:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I like tea without sugar.'&lt;br&gt;&#xA;'So do I.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To agree with a negative statement:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We use nor/neither + auxiliary/modal verb + pronoun:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I don't like tea with sugar.'&lt;br&gt;&#xA;'Nor do I.' or 'Neither do I.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To disagree with a positive statement:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We use pronoun + auxiliary/modal verb + not (-n't):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I like tea without sugar.'&lt;br&gt;&#xA;'I don't.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To disagree with a negative statement:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We use pronoun + auxiliary/modal verb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I don't like tea with sugar.'&lt;br&gt;&#xA;'I do.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T15:55:29.137" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1048" CreationDate="2010-08-16T15:55:59.700" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The pronunciation is normally given using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;International Phonetic Alphabet&lt;/a&gt;, but some other pronunciation guides are also used. For English, it is used also the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronunciation_respelling_for_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pronunciation respelling for English&lt;/a&gt;; other languages will adopt a similar system that is specific for the language, differently from the IPA that can be used for any languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T15:55:59.700" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="1055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1048" CreationDate="2010-08-16T15:57:59.090" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most dictionaries have an explanation of the formulas at the bottom of the page, or in the preface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I cheat by comparing it with the formula of a word I already know (like in this instance) 'cake' or 'berry'. I suppose you could learn the rules that way too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T15:57:59.090" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1047" CreationDate="2010-08-16T16:04:00.117" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're right when you say that &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; should be used in the nominative and &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; in English's oblique or objective case, usually as an object of the verb phrase, but also of a prepositional phrase. A case where &lt;em&gt;you and I&lt;/em&gt; is incorrect is when the pronoun is the object of the the preposition &lt;em&gt;between&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Just between you and me&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*&quot;Just between you and I&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The table is between the couch and him.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*&quot;The table is between the couch and he.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All normal rules regarding the nominative are superseded here by the preposition. People using &lt;em&gt;you and I&lt;/em&gt; in this case, after an oblique preposition, are overgeneralizing the rule that you ought to say it instead of &lt;em&gt;you and me&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T16:04:00.117" />
  <row Id="1057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1046" CreationDate="2010-08-16T16:05:23.253" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/differ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MacMillan dictionary&lt;/a&gt; gives definition of &quot;differ&quot; together with good examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1) to be different from something else&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;differ in:&lt;/strong&gt; The two animals come from the same family but differ in&#xA;  body shape and breeding habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;differ from:&lt;/strong&gt; English differs from Spanish in that it is not pronounced&#xA;  as it is written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;differ widely/significantly/greatly  (=be very different):&lt;/strong&gt; Laws on&#xA;  pollution differ widely from one&#xA;  country to another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;differ from something to something:&lt;/strong&gt; The techniques used&#xA;  differ from company to company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2) to disagree with someone about a&#xA;  subject  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;differ on/over:&lt;/strong&gt; Experts differ on the causes of the disease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;opinions/views differ:&lt;/strong&gt; Opinions differ as to the likely winner of the&#xA;  tournament.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;differ with:&lt;/strong&gt; Baker also differed with members of Congress over this&#xA;  issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;beg to differ (=disagree):&lt;/strong&gt; I beg to differ with you a bit there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T16:05:23.253" />
  <row Id="1058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1049" CreationDate="2010-08-16T16:13:52.327" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Explaining the surface behavior of this is easy, but describing why this is happening is a little harder. English generally has a SVO (Subject Object Verb) word order or syntax. The key concept here is that this word order is usually achieved through movement of words within the structure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's this structure I'm having trouble visualizing and this will require a lot more analysis to really figure out. If I had to bet, I'd say that first, this isn't an example of do-support insertion, that &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; here really is a verb, and that the &lt;em&gt;so&lt;/em&gt; is its generated complement. Finally, instead of the regular movement to get our canonical word order, &lt;em&gt;so&lt;/em&gt; is fronted (but why? again guessing, but to add emphasis to the agreement) to the position where &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; would normally move to, blocking its movement. &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; is tensed in its ordinary movement, and we end up with this strange word order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T16:13:52.327" />
  <row Id="1059" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1065" CreationDate="2010-08-16T16:17:36.523" Score="5" ViewCount="273" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/876/tendency-of-using-pronouns-she-her-when-talking-about-a-random-person&quot;&gt;related discussion&lt;/a&gt; on this forum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions is different. I'm all for gender awareness, but why hasn't a properly defined pronoun &quot;it&quot; been used instead of &quot;he/she&quot; or &quot;he or she&quot;, etc. Am I missing anything?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oxford English Dictionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It: 1. a. As the proper neuter pronoun&#xA;  of the third person singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dictionary.com:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(used to represent a person or animal understood, previously mentioned, or&#xA;  about to be mentioned whose gender is unknown or disregarded): *&lt;em&gt;It was the &#xA;  largest ever caught off the Florida coast. Who was it? It was John. The horse &#xA;  had its saddle on. *&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="165" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T19:59:15.827" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T13:40:01.207" Title="Why haven't we used &quot;it&quot; instead of &quot;he or she&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;expletives&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="584" CreationDate="2010-08-16T16:22:55.487" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't pronounce a lot of these to people normally, but when I see these abbreviations, I do pronounce a lot of them in my head. I note either idea inline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;dir  /dɪɹ/ &#xA;char /tʃaɹ/&#xA;def  /dɛf/&#xA;mic  /majk/&#xA;var  /vaɹ/ — rhymes with char&#xA;bin  /bɪn/&#xA;lic  don't pronounce in isolation&#xA;dat  don't pronounce in isolation&#xA;loc  /louk/&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T16:22:55.487" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1047" CreationDate="2010-08-16T16:29:33.513" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An alternative view is that &quot;you and me&quot; was always OK until somebody decided in the 18th century that English should be like Latin and started teaching that you have to use 'I' when you would use 'ego' in Latin. &#xA;Since the rule taught since then is hard for English speakers to grasp (since grammatical case is marginal in English), many people are unsure of where to apply it, hence the hypercorrection. &#xA;In fact, in Joseph Emonds' 1985 paper &quot;A grammatically deviant prestige construction&quot; he shows that there are slightly more complicated examples (which I cannot recall to mind) where even people who think they do know the rule are often unsure. His paper argues that English with that rule is not a possible natural language, in the sense that there is not enough information about case available to an English-speaking child to construct the rule. His claim is that the rule exists &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; as a rule learnt in school or equivalent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T16:29:33.513" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1059" CreationDate="2010-08-16T16:35:23.257" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, the use of it to refer to a person is only limited to children of unspecified sex, as reported by the NOAD too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;it |ɪt|&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  pronoun [third person singular]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. used to refer to a thing previously mentioned or easily identified: &lt;em&gt;a room with two beds in it&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;this approach is refreshing because it breaks down barriers&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;• referring to an animal or child of unspecified sex: &lt;em&gt;she was holding the baby, cradling it and smiling into its face&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;• referring to a fact or situation previously mentioned, known, or happening: &lt;em&gt;stop it, you're hurting me&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. used to identify a person: &lt;em&gt;it's me&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;it's a boy!&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T06:38:04.267" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T06:38:04.267" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1049" CreationDate="2010-08-16T16:46:37.673" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;@itrekkie:&#xA;I think you're on the right track.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that 'so' here has a different meaning from that it would have in the normal order (&quot;I do so&quot;) - it means 'also', or 'as well' and it seems to me that it can have that meaning only when fronted. The fronting is clearly for emphasis, but that in itself is not enough to explain why the fronting is obligatory for that meaning. &#xA;&quot;As do I&quot; and &quot;Nor do I&quot; don't have &quot;as&quot; or &quot;nor&quot; displaced, but they still have the inversion, and it seems to be crucial to this &quot;as well&quot; meaning. You can say &quot;As I do&quot;, but without that meaning; and for some people &quot;Nor I do&quot; exists, but it means &quot;and I do not&quot;, rather than &quot;I do not either&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Do&quot; is syntactically a full verb, but semantically it's a place holder. But it's not crucial here: &quot;So have I&quot; and &quot;So am I&quot; are normal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T16:46:37.673" />
  <row Id="1064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1059" CreationDate="2010-08-16T16:53:08.913" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shifting away from &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;she&lt;/em&gt; in general is out of the question. The idea of shifting away from two very established pronouns seems incredibly daunting. Pronouns form a closed class, and closed classes of words are very hard to modify; these two are used a lot. I would bet a dollar that &lt;em&gt;she&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt; show up in top 100 most used English words in nearly every study or count. Finally consider that you aren't just changing &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;she&lt;/em&gt; here, but also the objective and personal pronouns, which makes this even more daunting. That said, the pronouns of English &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&amp;amp;lr=&amp;amp;id=d68sHzfpWVMC&amp;amp;oi=fnd&amp;amp;pg=PR11&amp;amp;dq=english+pronoun+change+her&amp;amp;ots=TyD3seyU_p&amp;amp;sig=m6rPrzkdnbXZ9XfsRYkqy4l7AMQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=norse&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;have changed&lt;/a&gt; relatively recently. The Old Norse paradigm for &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt; was borrowed; &lt;em&gt;her&lt;/em&gt; is one remnant of the old system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Replacing the the gender-neutral &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt; seems to make sense based on the semantics posted in the question, but is probably also delayed by the reasons above. Further, in my use referring to any person as &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt;, even a baby, is considered rude. So there's that hump, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T16:53:08.913" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1059" CreationDate="2010-08-16T18:34:31.563" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that &quot;it&quot; in the case of &quot;it's me&quot; or &quot;it's John&quot; is an expletive.  Like Coline Fine commented above, it is a syntactic placeholder, because in English we can't just say &quot;is me/I am&quot; or &quot;is John/John is&quot; (which is fine in other languages, e.g. Spanish).  So, dictionary.com is being extremely misleading in the &quot;it's John&quot; example, or even outright wrong, depending on your theoretical point of view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the same expletive-it that shows up when we say things like &quot;it rains a lot here&quot;.  What rains?  The word &quot;it&quot; is here simply because we can't have a verb without some sort of a subject in English; it doesn't refer to any explicit thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I would say that we don't use &quot;it&quot; to refer to (non-infant) humans, and &quot;it's John&quot; is not a counterexample.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A hundred years ago, in English, the standard gender-neutral pronoun was clearly &quot;he&quot;, but in recent years we started finding it inherently sexist.  As a result, we are in a wishy-washy period in English where there is a need for a gender-neutral pronoun, but people aren't quite agreed on what it is.  In my observation, &quot;they/them/their&quot; is emerging as the clear frontrunner -- certainly this is true in spoken and informal speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I just got a call from someone at the doctor's office.&quot;&#xA;  &quot;Well, what did &lt;strong&gt;they&lt;/strong&gt; say?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T13:40:01.207" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T13:40:01.207" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="1066" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1074" CreationDate="2010-08-16T19:51:13.413" Score="1" ViewCount="254" Body="&lt;p&gt;In which cases should I use the subjunctive mood?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I suggest that every applicant fill out the form carefully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If she were rich, she would live on Long Island.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T20:08:53.027" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T02:40:26.510" Title="When should I use the subjunctive mood?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="1067" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1309" CreationDate="2010-08-16T19:58:14.940" Score="4" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Spending an hour in the beauty salon, Melissa got a facial with a steam mist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there cases where starting with s participial phrase is not correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T18:28:46.317" Title="When is it correct to start a sentence with a participial phrase?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;participle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="1068" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1075" CreationDate="2010-08-16T20:00:46.353" Score="2" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one of the sentences is the correct / preferable one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;May you send me a screenshot of the application you are developing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you send me a screenshot of the application you are developing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="513" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T21:57:38.893" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T06:35:14.187" Title="May versus would" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1069" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1079" CreationDate="2010-08-16T20:04:59.387" Score="2" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;When is the future perfect progressive used? I am trying to understand in which cases it should be used, but I cannot find any practice examples of sentences using that tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will have been loving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T20:58:12.143" Title="Future perfect progressive" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="1070" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1109" CreationDate="2010-08-16T20:06:38.273" Score="9" ViewCount="560" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are the three most common ways to say &quot;I think.&quot; (At least, I believe so. I mean, I think so. Um...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any subtle differences between them?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Are there situations where one of the three is more suitable than the others?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Can you say you hear a particular form all the time in the streets, while the other two are much less common?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="524" LastEditorUserId="146" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T03:05:16.253" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T19:11:45.400" Title="&quot;I believe&quot; vs &quot;I think&quot; vs &quot;I reckon&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;style&gt;&lt;preference&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="1071" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1096" CreationDate="2010-08-16T20:10:32.307" Score="4" ViewCount="228" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that English is derived mostly from German, when Anglo-Saxons (German tribes) migrated to Britain, how do you explain that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;although German has a strict correspondence between written language and spoken language (the sounds largely follow 1-1 what is written)...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;English has sooo intricate pronunciation rules, sometimes directly at odds with what is written? (Too bored to give examples, but it should be obvious).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My pet, tongue-in-cheek theory is that those tribes weren't too literate, didn't have a sound knowledge of the written form of words, so it was easy the pronunciation to follow its own independent path. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone with a more informed explanation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="565" LastEditorUserId="565" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T12:21:57.650" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T12:21:57.650" Title="Why English pronunciation differs so much from written language, compared to German?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;germanic-languages&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1072" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1142" CreationDate="2010-08-16T20:15:07.957" Score="1" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We youngsters admired our grandmother very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You ignorant don't understand what I am talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I use an adjective as appositive, as in the second sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-17T09:31:48.780" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T00:27:46.567" Title="Is correct to use an adjective as appositive?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1073" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1097" CreationDate="2010-08-16T20:21:51.997" Score="10" ViewCount="321" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the possessive of a noun ending in s?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The boys' books.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt; The boss' car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T23:24:10.850" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T23:24:10.850" Title="What is the correct possessive for nouns ending in s?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="8" />
  <row Id="1074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1066" CreationDate="2010-08-16T20:21:52.997" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, the subjunctive mood should be used in &quot;a statement contrary to fact, a wish, a mandative statement&quot; (from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ceafinney.com/subjunctive/guide.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this guide&lt;/a&gt;).  I think &quot;statement contrary to fact&quot; could also often be considered a hypothetical, so I will refer to it as that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your first example, you are expressing a wish or possibly a mandative statement, &quot;I suggest&quot; and so it follows with a subjunctive: &quot;every applicant fill&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your second example, you have constructed a hypothetical, thus you use the subjunctive mood (&quot;she were&quot;).  When you see &quot;if&quot; or &quot;whether&quot; used in a hypothetical way, it is a good bet that you want to use the subjunctive mood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And another example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I demand that you be on time at work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then we are using the subjunctive mood (&quot;you be&quot;) because this is a mandative statement (note that the imperative is something else, grammatically).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any discussion of the subjunctive mood in English, it is worth noting that this particular grammatical construction is often morphologically identical to the normal indicative, showing up only with &quot;be&quot; and in constructions involving third person (-- historically, this was not the case).  Perhaps as a result, the subjunctive mood &lt;em&gt;as something with overt morphological markings&lt;/em&gt; is disappearing from English.  (That is not to say that the subjunctive mood would cease to exist if the distinguishing morphology disappeared -- it would still be there whether it looks different from other constructions or not.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because the overt subjunctive is disappearing, you often see it looking like normal past tense: &quot;if I was ten years younger&quot;.  At the moment, this remains nonstandard, but common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T20:21:52.997" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1068" CreationDate="2010-08-16T20:22:50.530" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both of them are grammatically correct but the first one is semantically wrong. So you can use the second one but I'd prefer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Could you send me a screenshot of the&#xA;  application you are developing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even politer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you mind sending me a screenshot of the&#xA;  application you are developing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T06:35:14.187" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T06:35:14.187" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="1076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1069" CreationDate="2010-08-16T20:22:51.137" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;As of this fall, I will have been attending college for twelve years,&quot; wailed the hapless grad student.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Situations to use the future perfect progressive are unusual but not unheard of. You just have to look out for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T20:22:51.137" />
  <row Id="1077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1049" CreationDate="2010-08-16T20:23:08.813" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;With respect to information structure, this word order pattern seems to be equal to fronted adverbials, as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Into the room walked a man&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The new information / focus follows the finite verb. Similarly, in &quot;So do I&quot;, &quot;so&quot; refers to the proposition in the previous utterance, &quot;do&quot; is a dummy verb, and &quot;I&quot;, the new information, comes last.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="564" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T20:23:08.813" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1068" CreationDate="2010-08-16T20:35:15.773" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you send me a screenshot of the application you are developing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or like Mehper said&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you mind sending me a screenshot of the application you are developing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because &quot;May you...&quot; sounds funny and I think &quot;Could you...&quot; asks if they have the ability to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="567" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T20:35:15.773" />
  <row Id="1079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1069" CreationDate="2010-08-16T20:41:11.187" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, just a little preface: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I will have been loving&quot; is an awkward example because we don't generally use any of the progressives on stative verbs (except under special circumstances). Thus, we don't normally use the progressive for things like &quot;love&quot;, &quot;be&quot; (in the sense of being, rather than behaving in a certain way), &quot;think&quot; (in the sense of having an opinion), &quot;have&quot; (in the sense of possession), and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, as for the future perfect progressive, it is used to compare two things happening in the future and how they relate to each other temporally.  One event (in the future) is ongoing and another event occurs during the first one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say that tomorrow you will walk your dog from 7 - 8 AM.  Let's also say that I am planning to meet up with you at 7:30 AM.  We can express a relationship between these two events by using the future perfect progressive:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I meet up with you, &lt;strong&gt;you will have been walking&lt;/strong&gt; your dog for 30 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that, at the time of the second event (when I meet you), the first event (you walking the dog) started already and continued for 30 minutes. (It might continue for longer, though it is not required to happen).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T20:41:11.187" />
  <row Id="1080" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1081" CreationDate="2010-08-16T20:45:15.093" Score="3" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a different way to say &quot;I am done&quot; to mean that I completed a task? I am trying to avoid misunderstands with somebody who doesn't speak English as first language, and doesn't speak Italian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T23:55:41.817" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T18:23:58.197" Title="What is an alternative way to say &quot;I am done&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1080" CreationDate="2010-08-16T20:47:06.913" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I have finished&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;I am finished&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T20:47:06.913" />
  <row Id="1082" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1090" CreationDate="2010-08-16T20:48:29.780" Score="7" ViewCount="228" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read that the definite article is pronounced differently basing on the word that follow it. &#xA;Which is the exact pronunciation of &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-04-01T03:17:22.940" LastActivityDate="2011-04-01T03:17:22.940" Title="What is the pronunciation of &quot;the?&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="1083" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1087" CreationDate="2010-08-16T20:50:19.323" Score="10" ViewCount="795" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read a sentence containing the word &lt;em&gt;thy&lt;/em&gt;, but I cannot find the meaning of that word.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is it old English, or is it still used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T14:00:14.287" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T14:00:14.287" Title="What does &quot;thy&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;&lt;early-modern-english&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1083" CreationDate="2010-08-16T20:54:07.927" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, it means &quot;your&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want more detailed definition, check on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster site&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;archaic : of or relating to thee or thyself especially as possessor or agent or as object of an action —used especially in ecclesiastical or literary language and sometimes by Friends especially among themselves&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="570" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T20:54:07.927" />
  <row Id="1085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1069" CreationDate="2010-08-16T20:55:13.757" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The funny thing about this verb form is, that you put your reference point &lt;strong&gt;into the future&lt;/strong&gt;, while at the same time you are &lt;strong&gt;talking about the past&lt;/strong&gt;. Only that this past is not necessarily the past now, but might also be the future. Now. But not then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Confusing? You may can visualize this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, perfect progressive:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;|start of event......time passes....*now*&#xA;This has been V-ing for quite some time now&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, we put our reference point into the future:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;|start of event......time passes....*now*.......*then*&#xA;This will have been V-ing for quite some time then&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things can get weirder, though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;|...*now*....start of event...*then*&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You still change your reference point, but the start of the event also lies in the future. However, relative to your new &quot;now&quot;, it is past. And all with just one little word...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="564" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T20:55:13.757" />
  <row Id="1086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1083" CreationDate="2010-08-16T20:55:37.657" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Archaic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/thy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;thy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;–pronoun&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the possessive case of thou  (used as an attributive adjective before a noun beginning with a consonant sound): thy table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;thou&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;–pronoun&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Archaic (except in some elevated or ecclesiastical prose) . the personal pronoun of the second person singular in the nominative case (used to denote the person or thing addressed): Thou shalt not kill. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="165" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T20:55:37.657" />
  <row Id="1087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1083" CreationDate="2010-08-16T20:55:54.270" Score="22" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Thy&quot; is an old English word that means &quot;your&quot; in the second person singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English used to have a distinction between singular and plural in the second person, such that we had the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Singular: thou, thee, thy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plural: ye, you, your&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nowadays, we just have &quot;you&quot; and &quot;your&quot; in place of those six distinct words (which is why in nonstandard English, we have things like &quot;y'all&quot; or &quot;youse&quot; to distinguish 2nd-person plural from 2nd-person singular).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T20:55:54.270" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="1088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1069" CreationDate="2010-08-16T20:58:12.143" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The future perfect progressive tense indicates a continuous action that will be completed at some point in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Next Thursday, I will have been&#xA;  working on this project for three&#xA;  years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T20:58:12.143" />
  <row Id="1089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1083" CreationDate="2010-08-16T21:03:00.760" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;‘Thy’ is an old word meaning ‘&lt;strong&gt;your&lt;/strong&gt;’ that was used for talking or writing to &lt;strong&gt;one&lt;/strong&gt; person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T21:03:00.760" />
  <row Id="1090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1082" CreationDate="2010-08-16T21:14:56.733" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the following word starts with a vowel it's pronounced like 'thee'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For other details I would recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag4qoNzEH4w&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pronunciation of the voiced &amp;amp; voiceless &quot;TH&quot; sound. &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T21:14:56.733" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="1091" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1138" CreationDate="2010-08-16T21:19:35.223" Score="2" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a native german speaker, so I have absolutely no good intuitions when it comes to choosing the right alternative out of a candidate set. Today, one problem was: How should I call the sound-making thingy? Is it a &quot;speaker&quot; or is it a &quot;loud speaker&quot;? Is there any difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is one term more technical than the other?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is one term stylistically marked in certain contexts? If so, which?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there any useful, free, online resources that could help me answer similar questions in the future?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there any objective criteria?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I have come up with so far is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I choose &quot;loud speaker&quot;, I no longer might get the &quot;person that is speaking&quot; interpretation, but in the intended usage of the term (a manual for a technical device), such an interpretation should not arise anyways. So, it seems like an arbitrary choice to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="564" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T05:16:32.657" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T05:16:32.657" Title="Should I use &quot;speaker&quot; or &quot;loud speaker&quot; to refer to the signal-&gt;vibration-&gt;sound thingy?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1082" CreationDate="2010-08-16T21:21:44.710" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to emphasize that what follows is really a single entity, you can pronounce the in the &quot;vowel&quot; - way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;THE single most important question to answer is: If I extract out of a relative clause, do I still get a Nintendo for Christmas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="564" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-17T01:31:38.137" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T01:31:38.137" />
  <row Id="1093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1071" CreationDate="2010-08-16T21:27:44.337" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem is actually closer to the opposite of your pet theory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until the advent of the printing press, English spelling was quite free, with many different spellings being used for words; sometimes multiple spellings were used for the same word in a single sentence!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, at the same time that the spread of the printing press and published dictionaries was fixing the spellings of English words, English was undergoing a dramatic change in the way it was pronounced: the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Great Vowel Shift&lt;/a&gt;. This, combined with the fact that English spelling has never been beholden to the kind of authoritative control that other European languages have been subject to, such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Academia_Espa%C3%B1ola&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Spanish&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acad%C3%A9mie_fran%C3%A7aise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;French&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_spelling_reform_of_1996&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;German&lt;/a&gt;, resulted in English spellings being somewhat fixed by the spellings used in the 16th century, regardless of the pronunciation changes that ensued. There are a number of other things that resulted in idiosyncrasies of English spelling, such as the influence of Norman spelling restrictions due the confusability of letters written with &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minim_%28palaeography%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;minims&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_spelling#History&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Wikipedia article on English spelling&lt;/a&gt; has a more complete discussion under the “History” heading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T21:27:44.337" />
  <row Id="1094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1091" CreationDate="2010-08-16T21:33:03.267" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Loudspeaker&quot; (one word) seems a bit archaic to me. While not wrong, I feel like I would find it in the context of instructions for a &quot;Hi-Fi system&quot;. But it is the name of the device.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Loud speaker&quot; (two words) implies a person who speaks loudly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Speaker&quot; in a technical context seems clear enough. That's what I'd go with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T21:33:03.267" />
  <row Id="1095" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1102" CreationDate="2010-08-16T21:38:30.647" Score="8" ViewCount="323" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He will understand that I was not joking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He will understand I was not joking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which of the sentences is correct? Are there any specific rules about the use of &quot;that&quot; in the sentences I reported as example?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-03T10:10:22.200" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T09:42:02.113" Title="Use of &quot;that&quot; in a sentence" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="1096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1071" CreationDate="2010-08-16T21:39:57.357" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's two things that account for most of the trouble:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Great Vowel Shift.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Great Vowel Shift caused the pronunciation of English long vowels to change, and many of them to become diphthongs. This is discussed in great detail in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt;, including some nice charts. As a result, many English written vowels are not pronounced as you might expect--although the pronunciation of vowels affected by the shift is actually very regular, so long as you don't judge them by the standards of other European orthographies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;The Norman invasion&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Normans occupied England for several centuries and introduced thousands of French words into English vocabulary. The problem is that these words tended to be spelled according to French spelling conventions, which were very different from Germanic spelling conventions. This created two different, inconsistent spelling systems within the same language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To these two big factors, we add two more which afflict the language to this day:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Extreme conservativism&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English standards tend to maintain old spellings that represent the original pronunciation of a word, even if the pronunciation has changed. This is why we have a &lt;em&gt;gh&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;cough, through, bought&lt;/em&gt;, etc. Even worse, sometimes English words are spelled in a way that's supposed to reflect etymology, even if the etymology is wrong. This is why we have a &lt;em&gt;b&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;debt&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Foreign spellings&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Words borrowed from other languages into English tend to keep their spelling from the source language, even if the pronunciation goes against English rules. This is why we have &lt;em&gt;rendezvous&lt;/em&gt; pronounced, roughly, &quot;ronday-voo&quot;, which is from French and follows the French spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-17T17:19:36.633" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T17:19:36.633" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1073" CreationDate="2010-08-16T21:47:30.327" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your example sentences confuse two different problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For nouns that are plural (such as &quot;boys&quot;), the possessive formed in writing by adding an apostrophe after the plural &lt;em&gt;-s&lt;/em&gt;. This is pronounced the same as the plural and the singular possesive:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The boys' books [&lt;em&gt;boys'&lt;/em&gt; sounds like &lt;em&gt;boys&lt;/em&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For singular nouns that end in &lt;em&gt;-s&lt;/em&gt;, the possessive is formed by adding &lt;em&gt;-'s&lt;/em&gt;, just as with other nouns. This is pronounced as if the spelling were &lt;em&gt;-es&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The boss's car. [&lt;em&gt;boss's&lt;/em&gt; sounds like &lt;em&gt;bosses&lt;/em&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a partial exception for proper names that end in &lt;em&gt;-s&lt;/em&gt;. These names sometimes for their possessive by simply adding an apostrophe, and without changing their pronunciation. Thus, we often see:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Confucius' sayings&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jesus' teachings&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this doesn't apply when the name ends with a letter other than &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;, even if it's pronounced with an &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;. These names form their possessive as normal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Marx's theories&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the opposite case of a name which ends in a silent &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;, the possessive is usually formed by adding an apostrophe in writing, but the apostrophe causes the silent &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt; to be pronounced:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Camus' novels [the final &lt;em&gt;-s&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;Camus&lt;/em&gt; is not silent here]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-16T21:53:42.077" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T21:53:42.077" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="1100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1070" CreationDate="2010-08-16T23:29:23.773" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe &quot;I reckon&quot; is more commonly used in British English. I think that in American English, it's considered to be colloquial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="189" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T23:29:23.773" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1042" CreationDate="2010-08-16T23:32:23.003" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have no doubt that &quot;T-Bone&quot; comes from the steak.  I think that a cut of steak is something considered fairly rugged and manly, so for this reason it might be attractive as a nickname.  Of course that is just speculation.  Also, I notice (from Wikipedia) that T-Bone Walker got his nickname because his middle name starts with a T.  I suspect that a name like T-Bone could easily arise from this sort of connection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-16T23:32:23.003" />
  <row Id="1102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1095" CreationDate="2010-08-16T23:36:07.330" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;That&lt;/em&gt; can almost always be dropped. In your example, &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; is being used as a conjunction, i.e. it is introducing a subordinate clause as the object of the main sentence. In most situations where this is the case, it can be dropped. I cannot think of any where it can't be dropped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; is used as a demonstrative pronoun, e.g. &quot;that was a nice question,&quot; it must be kept or replaced with another pronoun, e.g. &quot;yours was a nice question.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When used as a relative pronoun, it can usually be dropped. For instance, &quot;several people read the question that you wrote&quot; can also be &quot;several people read the question you wrote&quot;. But if used in a question with &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt;, it should be kept. For example, &quot;Who was the person that wrote this question?&quot; cannot be *&quot;Who was the person wrote this question?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure I missed something, but the comments should keep me honest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T09:42:02.113" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T09:42:02.113" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1103" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1104" CreationDate="2010-08-16T23:52:04.053" Score="5" ViewCount="283" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a word to express something that is beautiful and interesting at the same time, to use in this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;____&lt;/strong&gt; stories&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you help me finding one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="256" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-04T22:30:40.077" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T22:30:40.077" Title="Read ( Beautiful + Interesting ) stories" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="9" />
  <row Id="1104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1103" CreationDate="2010-08-17T00:02:43.487" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;strong&gt;wonderful&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="524" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T00:02:43.487" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1022" CreationDate="2010-08-17T00:45:28.060" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Words like &quot;personal computer&quot;, &quot;mini computer&quot;, &quot;micro computer&quot; etc. had a meaning in the 1970s and 1980s which is almost forgotten now. At first the whole notion of &quot;personal computer&quot; was a novelty. Nowadays almost all computers are &quot;personal computers&quot; in the sense that the word originally meant, and most people don't even know what a &quot;mini computer&quot; or &quot;micro computer&quot; might refer to. In the 1980s a Mac would have been referred to as a &quot;personal computer&quot; but I'm not sure why you would want to, any more than you would want to refer to it as a &quot;micro computer&quot;. If you have to call it something, then calling it a &quot;computer&quot; is good enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T00:45:28.060" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1103" CreationDate="2010-08-17T00:52:43.003" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no common English word which means beautiful and interesting at the same time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T00:52:43.003" />
  <row Id="1108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="816" CreationDate="2010-08-17T01:05:10.353" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English, we tend to really strongly favor attributing the possessor of body parts.  (Why?  It's hard to point to a real reason.)  In any case, I find it interesting that there is a certain construction where we can often get around using the possessive for body parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have the following pattern (preceding question mark = awkward at best):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John shook his head. / ? John shook the head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am having some pain in my eyes. / ? I am having some pain in the eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I need to blow my nose. / ? I need to blow the nose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But with the following construction, we don't need the possessive:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John whacked me on &lt;strong&gt;the head&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I looked him in &lt;strong&gt;the eyes&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She kissed her boyfriend on &lt;strong&gt;the nose&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T01:05:10.353" />
  <row Id="1109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1070" CreationDate="2010-08-17T01:25:44.937" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I think&quot; is a statement of cursory conclusion, while &quot;I believe&quot; indicates a more deeply considered and committed position. Note that someone may say &quot;I think&quot; when they actually mean &quot;I believe&quot;, simply because it might be received as less confrontational. &quot;I reckon&quot; carries an ever lower level of assertion than &quot;I think&quot;, (or perhaps an even higher level of conciliation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T01:25:44.937" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="270" CreationDate="2010-08-17T01:26:20.567" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD has the following note about the plural of octopus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;USAGE The standard English plural of &lt;em&gt;octopus&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;octopuses&lt;/em&gt;. However, the word &lt;em&gt;octopus&lt;/em&gt; comes from Greek, and the Greek plural form is &lt;em&gt;octopodes&lt;/em&gt;. Modern usage of &lt;em&gt;octopodes&lt;/em&gt; is so infrequent that many people mistakenly create the erroneous plural form &lt;em&gt;octopi&lt;/em&gt;, formed according to rules for Latin plurals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T01:39:14.960" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T01:39:14.960" />
  <row Id="1111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="263" CreationDate="2010-08-17T01:30:49.323" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports the following note for the origin of the word color:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ORIGIN Middle English (as &lt;em&gt;colo(u)r&lt;/em&gt;): from Old French &lt;em&gt;colour&lt;/em&gt; (noun), &lt;em&gt;colourer&lt;/em&gt; (verb), from Latin &lt;em&gt;color&lt;/em&gt; (noun), &lt;em&gt;colorare&lt;/em&gt; (verb).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Colour&lt;/em&gt; (mostly used in British English) derives from the Old French, while &lt;em&gt;color&lt;/em&gt; derives directly from Latin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-02T10:10:47.077" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T10:10:47.077" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="496" CreationDate="2010-08-17T01:36:32.367" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that &lt;em&gt;pretty&lt;/em&gt; used as adverb is informal, and it means &lt;em&gt;to a moderately high degree, fairly&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;em&gt;he looked pretty fit for his age&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T18:28:36.753" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T18:28:36.753" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="911" CreationDate="2010-08-17T01:51:40.817" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am wondering what the music halls which preceded the cinemas were called. Similar names?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T01:51:40.817" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1070" CreationDate="2010-08-17T02:27:09.983" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd consider both &quot;I believe&quot; and &quot;I think&quot; to reflect roughly equivalent levels of (limited) confidence.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I reckon&quot; is significantly lower-confidence- more akin to &quot;I'd guess&quot; than than it is to the other two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="577" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T02:27:09.983" />
  <row Id="1115" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-17T02:37:32.657" Score="12" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I watched the murder of crows sitting on the line above my house this evening, I got wondering where all of the collective nouns for animals (pod of whales, gaggle of geese, pride of lions) came from and why we need so many.  If sheep can be a flock, why can't whales, geese, lions, and crows?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T23:59:49.823" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T23:59:49.823" Title="Terms for collections of animals" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="1116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1115" CreationDate="2010-08-17T03:19:16.497" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, very few people use most of these terms. I don't know why anyone &quot;needs&quot; them any more than anyone needs to say &quot;geese&quot; or &quot;mice&quot; instead of &quot;gooses&quot; and &quot;mouses&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T03:19:16.497" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1115" CreationDate="2010-08-17T04:01:09.563" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I very much doubt you there is a definitive answer for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Collective nouns became popular in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rodchu.blogspot.com/2009/05/collective-nouns-terms-of-venery.html&quot;&gt;14th and 15th century&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_collective_nouns&quot;&gt;exhaustive&lt;/a&gt; lists. I suspect people considered it more artful and &quot;proper&quot;, back in the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Animals in groups behave differently; the collective noun often hints at the behavior, formation or character of the group. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="92" LastEditorUserId="92" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-17T10:19:31.180" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T10:19:31.180" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="1118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1095" CreationDate="2010-08-17T04:01:38.020" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the example you gave, &quot;I was not joking&quot; is a subordinate clause. One way to think about this is that there are two sentences&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He will understand X. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;X = I was not joking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;that&quot; is not exactly a conjunction as Vincent said. A conjunction joins two independent clauses together, but here 2. is sort of the object of 1. Any time you want to use a clause as the object of a sentence, you can optionally precede it with &quot;that.&quot; However, if you want to use a clause as the subject of a sentence, it will always be preceded by &quot;that&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That I was not joking will be clear to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*I was not joking will be clear to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes clauses modify nouns. In these cases, they're called relative clauses, and what pronoun appears before the clause varies. One of the most important factors of whether or not &quot;that&quot; or &quot;which/who&quot; precedes the clause is whether the clause is &quot;restrictive&quot;. To modify somee examples from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_relative_clauses&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(Restrictive) The house that Jack built fell down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(Restrictive) The house __ Jack built fell down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(Non-restrictive) The house, which we all thought was in fine condition, fell down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first two examples, the relative clause picked out a particular house from all possible houses. In these sentences, there is a tendency to use &quot;that&quot; or nothing. In the third example, the particular house was already determined, and the relative clause simply introduced extra information. These relative clauses tend to be preceded by a wh- word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="257" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T04:01:38.020" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1042" CreationDate="2010-08-17T04:06:08.783" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Arnold Schwarznegger's character's (nick)name in the film &quot;Predator&quot; was &quot;Dutch&quot;. I once read a review which claimed this was a way to explain his accent away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for T-Bone Walker, Wikipedia tells me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Aaron &lt;strong&gt;Thibeaux&lt;/strong&gt; Walker[4] .... In 1929,&#xA;  Walker made his recording debut with a&#xA;  single for Columbia, &quot;Wichita Falls&#xA;  Blues&quot;/&quot;Trinity River Blues,&quot; billed&#xA;  as Oak Cliff T-Bone.[1] Oak Cliff was&#xA;  the community he lived in at the time&#xA;  and &lt;strong&gt;T-Bone a corruption of his middle name&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-28T23:53:29.970" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T23:53:29.970" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1120" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-17T04:18:34.283" Score="0" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;Microsoft Word loves underlining things I am typing with a green squiggle. Now sometimes it gets it right, as just now it found a mistake&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;also know as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which should be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;also known as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But one thing which I find rather annoying is its labelling of sentences as &quot;fragments&quot;. Here are two which it catches:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Things of this sort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bad timing though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am rather puzzled where this strong objection to fragments arose from. They seem quite normal parts of English to me. What does anybody else think? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(PS I don't need answers telling me how to switch off the grammar checker etc, I can do that already).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T18:22:21.107" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:22:21.107" Title="Microsoft Word's &quot;fragments&quot;" Tags="&lt;fragments&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1120" CreationDate="2010-08-17T04:30:12.460" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither of those sentences make any sense on their own; particularly the first one. I can picture how you would use the second one, but it wouldn't be a complete sentence - it would be a lead-in to a follow-up sentence. Something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He left the restaurant immediately. Bad timing though: his date arrived a minute later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you provide some context for the &quot;Things of this sort&quot; 'sentence'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="80" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T04:30:12.460" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="720" CreationDate="2010-08-17T05:15:50.477" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard it used with a slightly negative sense (in the same sense as &quot;wordly&quot;) to mean materialistic, shallow or immoral (This is an older meaning, probably originally from the Bible, where &quot;the world&quot; is sometimes used to refer to the evil in the world, in contrast to the goodness of God and spiritual things). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect Hemingway knew this meaning, though the more common meaning these days may also have been popular when he wrote (the more positive &quot;broad work and life experience&quot; or &quot;sophisticated&quot; meaning mentioned by others).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="579" LastEditorUserId="579" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-17T05:59:34.573" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T05:59:34.573" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1123" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1128" CreationDate="2010-08-17T05:34:49.723" Score="2" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is the best way to refer to a &lt;strong&gt;company that hosts your website&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My &lt;strong&gt;web host&lt;/strong&gt; supports Ruby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My &lt;strong&gt;web hoster&lt;/strong&gt; supports Ruby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My &lt;strong&gt;web hosting service&lt;/strong&gt; supports Ruby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T06:58:02.930" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T20:18:03.750" Title="Which is correct: &quot;web host&quot; or &quot;web hoster&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;internet&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="1124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1123" CreationDate="2010-08-17T05:41:57.213" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never heard &quot;web hoster&quot; and &quot;web hosting service&quot; seems verbose to me. &quot;Web host&quot; is the generally accepted term, as far as I know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T05:41:57.213" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1095" CreationDate="2010-08-17T05:57:40.787" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For relative clauses: If the missing element (which is said to be &quot;relativized&quot;) of the relative clause is the subject, &quot;that&quot; is obligatory, otherwise, it is optional:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Peter tasted the wine (that) his mother bought for him&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Peter tasted the wine that/*() had cost only 12$.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="564" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T05:57:40.787" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1103" CreationDate="2010-08-17T05:59:34.137" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;With respect to stories, (or companions) &quot;enchanting&quot; might work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other possibilities along the same line:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;alluring&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bewitching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T05:59:34.137" />
  <row Id="1127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1072" CreationDate="2010-08-17T06:09:36.347" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What makes you think these are adjectives? In the first example of yours, you even use the plural marker for nouns. So maybe these are, in fact, nouns. So now, the question becomes &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Which adjectives can become/be used as nouns&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to be not a simple matter, since semantics play an important role here. The following are all examples of what doesn't work:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*You fine should not go in there&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*You expensive should work somewhere else&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*You funny do not care whether I'm sad or not&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="564" LastEditorUserId="140" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-17T23:16:18.697" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T23:16:18.697" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="1128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1123" CreationDate="2010-08-17T06:43:46.480" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In casual speech and conversations on the internet, the usual terminology is &quot;web host&quot;. If you need a more formal description then you might want to go with &quot;web hosting service&quot;. &quot;My web hoster supports Ruby&quot; sounds distinctly odd to me. It might occur in a sentence like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Well-known web hoster doteasy today announced record profits&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incidentally one way to compare terms like this is to count the number of Google hits you get with the words in quotes. I get&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;Web host              2,800,000 hits&#xA;Web hosting service   1,000,000 hits&#xA;Web hoster               30,000 hits&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T06:43:46.480" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1103" CreationDate="2010-08-17T06:56:00.247" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;strong&gt;captivating&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="582" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T06:56:00.247" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1095" CreationDate="2010-08-17T07:19:44.933" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;This is the farmer that grew the corn&#xA;that fed the cock that crowed the morn&#xA;that woke the priest all shaven and shorn&#xA;that married the beggar all tattered and torn&#xA;that kissed the maiden all forlorn&#xA;that milked the cow with a broken horn&#xA;that tossed the dog&#xA;that chased the cat&#xA;that killed the rat&#xA;that ate the malt&#xA;that lay in the house&#xA;that Jack built.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T07:19:44.933" />
  <row Id="1131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1123" CreationDate="2010-08-17T07:43:18.090" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of the choices provided, the best way to refer to &lt;strong&gt;a company that hosts your website&lt;/strong&gt; is your third option &lt;strong&gt;web hosting service&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on a COCA[1] query &lt;strong&gt;web hosting&lt;/strong&gt; 6 times more common that &lt;strong&gt;web host&lt;/strong&gt;, and &lt;strong&gt;web hoster&lt;/strong&gt; yields no hits.  BTW, &lt;strong&gt;web server&lt;/strong&gt; is 11 times more common that &lt;strong&gt;web host&lt;/strong&gt;.  Personally, I find your third option the best: &lt;em&gt;My web hosting service supports Ruby.&lt;/em&gt;  I could just as well go with: &lt;em&gt;My web server supports Ruby.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] Google is generally accepted to be worthless as a corpus search tool.  This is why it is better to use a real corpus.  COCA is good for american english and BNC is good for british english.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastEditorUserId="298" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T11:23:49.757" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T11:23:49.757" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1120" CreationDate="2010-08-17T07:54:17.333" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sentences generally need a verb.  Neither &lt;strong&gt;Things of this sort&lt;/strong&gt; nor &lt;strong&gt;Bad timing though&lt;/strong&gt; contain a verb.  Although &lt;em&gt;timing&lt;/em&gt; may look like a verb form, but it is a gerund in this example.  Both of these are examples of nominal groups (noun phrases).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T07:54:17.333" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1133" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1134" CreationDate="2010-08-17T07:55:58.637" Score="4" ViewCount="423" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always been taught to put myself last when referring to myself in the same sentence as others but the usage of &quot;me and...&quot; seems to be everywhere these days. The misuse of the word &quot;me&quot; instead of &quot;I&quot; aside, is there some new rule I haven't heard of? Shouldn't we put ourselves last regardless of the &quot;me&quot;/&quot;I&quot; usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of &quot;correct&quot; usage: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My friends and I went for some ice&#xA;  cream. Did you see my friends and me&#xA;  at the ice cream stand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of &quot;incorrect&quot; usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Me and my friends went for some ice&#xA;  cream. Did you see me and my friends&#xA;  at the ice cream stand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;note: I was also taught that the only person who could put themselves first was the queen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="250" LastEditorUserId="250" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T00:38:17.450" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T00:38:17.450" Title="Should I Put Myself Last (&quot;me and you&quot; vs &quot;you and me&quot;)?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;politeness&gt;&lt;rules&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="1134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1133" CreationDate="2010-08-17T08:02:46.173" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference between &quot;I and my friends&quot; and &quot;my friends and I&quot; is purely a matter of courtesy - they are both &lt;em&gt;grammatically&lt;/em&gt; correct. I would tend to stick to the latter though, as it's a) more common-place, b) considered more polite, c) seems to flow better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, your example of 'incorrect' usage is incorrect solely in that the first sentence uses the accusative (objective) pronoun me, when you actually need the nominative (subjective) pronoun 'I'. The second sentence of that example is correct, since the pronoun needs to be in the accusative, as the object. You seem to understand this though; this is just to clarify.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-17T08:39:03.747" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T08:39:03.747" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1135" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1137" CreationDate="2010-08-17T08:03:25.080" Score="4" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Greeks say something that to my ears sounds like 'Elatha'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T08:17:29.260" Title="Where did the word 'Greece' come from" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1136" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2084" CreationDate="2010-08-17T08:07:06.257" Score="8" ViewCount="427" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example John F. Kennedy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson (and hence JFK, FDR, LBJ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How did this styling originate?&#xA;It seems to have ended with Nixon. I don't when it started, but there were a few in the 19th century as well.&#xA;Was it just presidents, or politicians, or the general population?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further thoughts ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was an uninterrupted stretch, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does not seem to apply to the general populace. Think of writers, film stars, jazz musicians, scientists. It was very rare. The few other American politicians I can think of from this era (Adlai Stevenson, Joe McCarthy) - I don’t know their middle initials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did these presidents adopt the middle inital only when they achieved office? Is it a style they adpoted themselves, or was it established by the press?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T21:30:36.560" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T21:48:51.797" Title="American Presidents and their Middle Initials" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="1137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1135" CreationDate="2010-08-17T08:13:56.940" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are hearing is most likely the correct Greek pronunciation of Elláda (Ελλάδα). This is the modern Greek word for the name of their country, ultimately derived from the Ancient Greek Hellás (Ἑλλάς).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The English name for the country, &quot;Greece&quot;, derives from the Latin name &quot;Graecia&quot;. Wiktionary gives a fairly full etymology:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From Latin Graecia &amp;lt; Ancient Greek Γραικός (Graikos), a character in Greek mythology, the son of Thessalos, the king of Fthia, from whom Ἑλλάς (Hellas, “Greece”) and Ἕλληνες (Hellenes, “the Greeks”) got their names.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although this entry explains the etymology of the name &quot;Greece&quot;, it is admittedly slightly confusing about the etymology of &quot;Hellas&quot;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allwords.com/word-Hellas.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This page&lt;/a&gt; gives a hypothetical etymology:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Etymology: From Ancient Greek  (Hellas&#xA;  &quot;Greece&quot;), from prefix - (el- &quot;sun,&#xA;  bright, shiny&quot;, (elios, &quot;sun&quot;)) + &#xA;  (las &quot;rock, stone&quot;). : &quot;The land of&#xA;  the sun and the rock&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not however want to common on the veracity of this source. All that is known for sure is that Hellas originally referred to a small area within Ancient Greece and only later came to refer to all Greece. &lt;a href=&quot;http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080620094823AAjGdYu&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This Yahoo answer&lt;/a&gt; gives some handy details/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T08:17:29.260" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T08:17:29.260" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1091" CreationDate="2010-08-17T08:18:02.347" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither term is more technical.  There are certain contexts where there is a difference between the two words.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;COCA&lt;/a&gt; is a good resource for answering such questions in the future.  Yes there are objective criteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking &lt;strong&gt;loudspeaker&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;speaker&lt;/strong&gt; (in the context of a stereo system) are synonyms.  However... I've heard many aficionados use the term &lt;strong&gt;loudspeaker&lt;/strong&gt; pejoratively to indicate the sound quality isn't good enough for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pejorative quality comes from the comparison to speakers used for public announcements.  (ie a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_address&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PA system&lt;/a&gt;) Speakers used in PA systems are loud, but otherwise not very good.  A corpus search shows that &lt;strong&gt;loudspeaker&lt;/strong&gt; almost always refers to sound systems used by activists, police, firefighters, stadium sports announcers, etc.  They are used in public places both outdoors and indoors where loudness is more important that their dynamic range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastEditorUserId="298" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-17T08:26:08.987" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T08:26:08.987" />
  <row Id="1139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1103" CreationDate="2010-08-17T08:21:24.833" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;strong&gt;expressive&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="368" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T08:21:24.833" />
  <row Id="1140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1103" CreationDate="2010-08-17T08:22:40.523" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's not likely any word that precisely means those two things alone, but here are a few more to add to the list that I like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Enthralling&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spellbinding&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mesmerising&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-17T08:39:45.477" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T08:39:45.477" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1133" CreationDate="2010-08-17T08:35:59.713" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should use &lt;strong&gt;you and I&lt;/strong&gt; when this acts as a subject and &lt;strong&gt;me and you&lt;/strong&gt; when this acts as an object.  The first half of your second example isn't wrong because of the word order (ie &lt;em&gt;Me and my friends&lt;/em&gt; vs &lt;em&gt;My friends and me&lt;/em&gt;) it is wrong because &lt;strong&gt;me&lt;/strong&gt; can't be the subject of the sentence.  It is grammatically wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second half of your examples are interchangeable.  Both are equally common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastEditorUserId="298" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-17T08:41:23.693" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T08:41:23.693" />
  <row Id="1142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1072" CreationDate="2010-08-17T08:57:16.633" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No you can't use an adjective in this fashion.  You need two noun(s/ phrases), so that the second noun can further define what you meant by the first.  You need to turn &lt;strong&gt;ignorant&lt;/strong&gt; into a noun like &lt;em&gt;the ignorant&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T08:57:16.633" />
  <row Id="1143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1136" CreationDate="2010-08-17T09:51:14.447" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are referring to abbreviate the middle name as in &quot;John F. Kennedy&quot;, that was general to all the population.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Nowadays, middle names are less used; you probably see the middle name used in particular contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T09:51:14.447" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1144" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1256" CreationDate="2010-08-17T09:57:59.670" Score="6" ViewCount="266" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Neither Michael nor Albert is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Neither Michael nor Albert are correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:49:16.320" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T23:20:15.703" Title="&quot;Neither Michael nor Albert is correct&quot; or &quot;Neither Michael nor Albert are correct&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="1145" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1149" CreationDate="2010-08-17T10:05:32.177" Score="3" ViewCount="275" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of the name Manhattan?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T09:47:28.097" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T09:47:28.097" Title="Origin of the name Manhattan" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1146" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1170" CreationDate="2010-08-17T10:08:09.757" Score="4" ViewCount="200" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does borough mean?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Does the word have a different meaning when used in &lt;em&gt;the five boroughs of New York City&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T05:23:58.497" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T05:23:58.497" Title="Meaning of &quot;boroughs of New York City&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1144" CreationDate="2010-08-17T10:08:29.223" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rephrase it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Not one of them is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as opposed to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Not one of them are correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;QED :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="341" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T23:20:15.703" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T23:20:15.703" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1148" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1196" CreationDate="2010-08-17T10:13:38.660" Score="4" ViewCount="343" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the etymology of the expression &quot;so far, so good&quot;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Why is the meaning of &quot;so far&quot; in that phrase different from the meaning it has in &quot;it's so far&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T02:50:37.177" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T02:50:37.177" Title="&quot;So far, so good&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1145" CreationDate="2010-08-17T10:21:46.827" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/16/nyregion/urban-tactics-i-ll-take-mannahatta.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this 2004 article&lt;/a&gt; in the New York Times, it's probably from the Lenape language word Mannahatta, with a likely meaning &quot;island of many hills.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T10:21:46.827" />
  <row Id="1150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1103" CreationDate="2010-08-17T10:25:04.903" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;strong&gt;magnificent&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="313" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T10:25:04.903" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1145" CreationDate="2010-08-17T10:33:40.140" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why not try &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan#Etymology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; first?!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The name Manhattan derives from the word Manna-hata, as written in the 1609 logbook of Robert Juet, an officer on Henry Hudson's yacht Halve Maen (Half Moon). A 1610 map depicts the name Manahata twice, on both the west and east sides of the Mauritius River (later named the Hudson River). &lt;strong&gt;The word &quot;Manhattan&quot; has been translated as &quot;island of many hills&quot; from the Lenape language.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="297" LastEditorUserId="297" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-17T12:36:36.760" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T12:36:36.760" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1148" CreationDate="2010-08-17T10:37:42.583" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know what the etymology is, but the way I interpret the saying, the meaning of &quot;so far&quot; isn't so far from the meaning you refer to, the critical difference being that in your example &quot;far&quot; is referring to physical distance and in the saying &quot;far&quot; refers to length of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T10:37:42.583" />
  <row Id="1154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1146" CreationDate="2010-08-17T10:57:32.027" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me as a Londoner, a borough simply refers to a district with the larger city that has some degree of administrative independence. I believe the usage is fairly similar elsewhere, in New York for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary gives the following definitions for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/borough&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;borough&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(obsolete) A fortified town; a town or city.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A town having a municipal corporation and certain traditional rights.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;An administrative district in some cities, e.g., London.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;An administrative unit of a city which, under most circumstances according to state or national law, would be considered a larger or more powerful entity; most commonly used in American English to define the five counties that make up New York City.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Other similar administrative units in cities and states in various parts of the world.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A district in Alaska having powers similar to a county&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first definition, although not really in use any more, is perhaps the most interesting, in that it reflects the original meaning of the word in all Germanic languages - a fortified town/city. The word &quot;borough&quot; indeed derives from the Old English &quot;burh&quot;, and is state to be &quot;Cognate with Dutch burg, German Burg, Swedish borg, Persian bur.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T10:57:32.027" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1155" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1159" CreationDate="2010-08-17T11:05:46.337" Score="20" ViewCount="343" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember being taught that the correct order of adjectives in English was something along the lines of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Opinion-Size-Age-Color-Material-Purpose&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it's been a long time and I'm pretty sure I've forgotten a few categories&#xA;(I think there were eight or nine). Can anyone fill them in?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T15:06:23.160" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T15:08:23.700" Title="Adjective order" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="6" />
  <row Id="1158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="983" CreationDate="2010-08-17T12:09:57.563" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK, since the lyrics are so hard to understand, I've translated them into standard English for you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;I can't get no satisfaction &#xA;I can't get no satisfaction &#xA;'Cause I try and I try and I try and I try &#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I repeatedly endeavour to fulfil my desires, but fail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;When I'm drivin' in my car &#xA;And a man comes on the radio &#xA;He's telling me more and more &#xA;About some useless information &#xA;Supposed to fire my imagination &#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was listening to the radio while driving my car. The information given by the radio presenter was neither useful nor interesting to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;When I'm watchin' my TV &#xA;And a man comes on to tell me &#xA;How white my shirts can be &#xA;But he can't be a man 'cause he doesn't smoke &#xA;The same cigarettes as me&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was watching a TV commercial for detergent. The presenter of the commercial did not live up to my ideals of masculinity because of his choice of tobacco brand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;I can't get no satisfaction &#xA;I can't get no girlie action &#xA;'Cause I try and I try and I try and I try &#xA;I can't get no, I can't get no&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am unable to form relationships with the opposite sex, despite my best efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;When I'm ridin' round the world &#xA;And I'm doin' this and I'm signing that &#xA;And I'm tryin' to make some girl &#xA;Who tells me baby better come back later next week &#xA;Cause you see I'm on a losing streak &#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I travel around the world taking part in various activities. During these travels, I attempted to form a friendship with a woman, but she rejected me, making an excuse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;I can't get no, I can't get no &#xA;I can't get no satisfaction &#xA;No satisfaction, no satisfaction, no satisfaction&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am unsatisfied, frustrated, in other words unfulfilled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T12:09:57.563" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1155" CreationDate="2010-08-17T12:20:37.713" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Michael Swan (Practical English Usage,&#xA;  Oxford University Press, 1997) writes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Unfortunately, the rules for&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;adjective order&lt;/strong&gt; are very complicated, and different grammars&#xA;  disagree about the details&quot; p. 8&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He does, however, go on to list some&#xA;  of the most important rules:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Adjectives of &lt;strong&gt;colour&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;origin&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;material&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;purpose&lt;/strong&gt; usually go in that order.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Colour-origin-material-purpose-noun    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;red Spanish leather riding&lt;/strong&gt; boots   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A brown German beer&lt;/strong&gt; mug    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A Venetian glass flower&lt;/strong&gt; vase&lt;br&gt;&lt;br/&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Other adjectives usually go before words of colour, origin, material and&#xA;  purpose. It is impossible to give&#xA;  exact rules, but adjectives of&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;size&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;length&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;height&lt;/strong&gt; often come first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;round&lt;/strong&gt; glass table (NOT the glass round table)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;big&lt;/strong&gt;, modern brick house (NOT a modern, big brick house)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long&lt;/strong&gt;, flexible steel poles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;tall&lt;/strong&gt;, ancient oak-tree&lt;br&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Adjectives which express &lt;strong&gt;judgements&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;attitudes&lt;/strong&gt; usually come before all others.&#xA;  Examples are lovely, definite, pure,&#xA;  absolute, extreme, perfect, wonderful,&#xA;  silly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;lovely&lt;/strong&gt;, long, cool drink&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Who's that &lt;strong&gt;silly&lt;/strong&gt; fat man over there?&lt;br&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Numbers&lt;/strong&gt; usually go before adjectives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Six&lt;/strong&gt; large eggs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;second&lt;/strong&gt; big shock&lt;br&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;next&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;last&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  most often go before one, two, three&#xA;  etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;first&lt;/strong&gt; three days&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;My &lt;strong&gt;last&lt;/strong&gt; two jobs.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;pp. 8-9&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He does not mention &lt;strong&gt;age&lt;/strong&gt;, which&#xA;  would normally go after adjectives of&#xA;  size, length and height, but before&#xA;  colour, origin, material and purpose.  &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A big &lt;strong&gt;old&lt;/strong&gt; straw hat.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A charming &lt;strong&gt;young&lt;/strong&gt; university student.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thus, a complete list could be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(article) + number + judgement/attitude + size, length,&#xA;  height + age + colour + origin +&#xA;  material + purpose + noun&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a lovely long black leather coat  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a valuable Dutch Impressionist painting  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a rustic old stone holiday cottage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[&lt;em&gt;Reference:&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-central-grammar-adjective-order.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BritishCouncil.org&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T15:08:23.700" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T15:08:23.700" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="936" CreationDate="2010-08-17T12:25:58.920" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand the term to mean &lt;strong&gt;henceforth&lt;/strong&gt;, with the implication that the strategy will be different and possibly improved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T12:25:58.920" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1103" CreationDate="2010-08-17T12:58:47.933" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer &lt;strong&gt;engaging&lt;/strong&gt;, although Mike's &lt;strong&gt;captivating&lt;/strong&gt; is a pretty close synonym and also good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="373" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T12:58:47.933" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1070" CreationDate="2010-08-17T13:03:19.483" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All three are essentially interchangeable, but many think &lt;em&gt;I believe&lt;/em&gt; reflects uncertainty on the part of the speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T13:03:19.483" />
  <row Id="1163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1115" CreationDate="2010-08-17T13:28:06.590" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes the collective noun gives you additional meaning or maybe some poetic beauty.  But most of the time it doesn't really add much.  Most people will understand the phrase &quot;A flock of crows&quot; completely and some people won't even know that they could say &quot;a murder of crows&quot;.  Then there's the connotation of the word &quot;murder&quot; which you may not even want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One advantage to using the collective nouns is that the collective implies the type of animal, so if talking about lions and gazelles you could say &quot;The gazelle was overtaken by the pride&quot; and anyone who knows that lions are in a pride would understand what you are saying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The situation is comparable to Chinese, where EVERY NOUN has a measure word.  You don't say &quot;two chopsticks&quot;, you say &quot;two sticks of chopstick&quot;.  In English we can say &quot;two beers&quot; but in Chinese you have to say &quot;Two bottles of beer&quot;.  However, there are lots of cases where a &quot;proper&quot; measure word can be replaced by a less proper one, or the generic measure word (ge 个).  If you don't know the word for &quot;small round thing&quot; you can say &quot;two ge marble&quot; if you want two marbles.  It's not 100% correct but people will understand and that's the important part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T13:28:06.590" />
  <row Id="1164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1103" CreationDate="2010-08-17T14:20:07.900" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My first thought was &lt;strong&gt;entrancing&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T14:20:07.900" />
  <row Id="1165" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1167" CreationDate="2010-08-17T14:46:37.900" Score="4" ViewCount="484" Body="&lt;p&gt;It feels natural for me to pronounce words like &quot;paths&quot; with a slight &quot;z&quot; sound at the end. Others close to me do not. What sort of accent am I mimicking? Or, am I making up my own accent?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T15:11:47.510" Title="Pronunciation of pluralized words ending in &quot;-th&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1144" CreationDate="2010-08-17T14:56:37.390" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Neither Michael nor Albert is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Subjects joined with &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;nor&lt;/em&gt; take singular verb agreement, so you also say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Either Michael or Albert is incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T14:56:37.390" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1165" CreationDate="2010-08-17T15:10:11.557" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many English words in which a final voiceless spirant (usually /f/) becomes voiced when the word is pluralized:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;loaf &gt; loaves&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;wolf &gt; wolves&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;hoof &gt; hooves&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This goes back to an Anglo-Saxon intervocalic voicing rule.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you're doing is applying the same rule to words ending in &lt;em&gt;-th&lt;/em&gt;, changing the voiceless &quot;th&quot; sound [θ] to the voiced &quot;th&quot; sound [ð]. However, since these two sounds are spelled the same in English, most people aren't aware of this alternation, and the words that alternate in this way are not marked in dictionaries as irregular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FWIW, I also pronounce &quot;paths&quot; as [pæðz]. Some other words that show this alternation, at least in my dialect:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;cloth &gt; clothes (though the plural &quot;clothes&quot; has acquired a specific lexical meaning, and the new regular plural &quot;cloths&quot; doesn't alternate in this way)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;moth &gt; moths [maðz]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T15:10:11.557" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1165" CreationDate="2010-08-17T15:11:47.510" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are describing sounds like &quot;regressive voicing assimilation.&quot; Usually when forming a regular plural, whether or not you use an -s or -z sound depends on the voicing of final sound of the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;cat -s&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;dog -z&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-z goes with voiced final sounds, and -s goes with voiceless final sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, there is also a number of words for which you add a -z and change the voicing of the final sound of the word instead. (examples from The Handbook of Historical Linguistics by Brian D. Joseph and Richard D. Janda)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;life -&gt; live -z&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;knife -&gt; knive -z&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;loaf -&gt; loav -z&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;scarf -&gt; scarve -z&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;wolf -&gt; wolve -z&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;leaf -&gt; leave -z&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, most of these involve f -&gt; v. But there are a few that have the -th sound. There isn't a way in the written language to represent a voiced -th, so I'll used -dh here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;mouth -&gt; moudh -z&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a lot of these words, there is dialectal variation, and individuals probably vary also. I believe that &quot;paths&quot; is recognized as being in variation, since the Miriam Webster online pronunciation provides both &quot;padhz&quot; and &quot;paths&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="257" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T15:11:47.510" />
  <row Id="1169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="983" CreationDate="2010-08-17T15:16:44.487" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;If you don't know by now lady, don't mess with it&quot; - Mr. Natural&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T15:16:44.487" />
  <row Id="1170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1146" CreationDate="2010-08-17T16:08:10.447" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the US, a &quot;borough&quot; is a unit of government within a state. It's kind of like a town, but in the US, a town has a specific form of government that differs a bit from that of a borough, although the exact meaning differs from state to state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reference to New York City, a borough refers to a semi-autonomous government unit within the city. Prior to 1898, &quot;New York City&quot; basically referred only to what is now called Manhattan. Brooklyn was a separate city, Queens was a county composed of smaller villages, etc. These areas joined together to form what we now know as New York City in 1898. Each borough is basically a county unto itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="151" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T16:08:10.447" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1148" CreationDate="2010-08-17T16:20:00.687" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the meanings of the phrase &quot;so far&quot; (always with the stress on the &quot;so&quot;) is &quot;up to now&quot;, with an implication that whatever (good) state of affairs is being described may not continue:&#xA; &quot;So far I haven't had any problems&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;So far, so good&quot;, like many proverbs, is made up of two abbreviated phrases set against one another. It means &quot;Up to now, everything is good&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't think of another context in which &quot;so good&quot; has this meaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T16:20:00.687" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1173" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1208" CreationDate="2010-08-17T17:18:59.627" Score="2" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assume we have a literary masterpiece that is abundant in symbolism and metaphors. Within this masterpiece, the author uses a brook running through a glade of trees to represent a couple of things within his novel. Here is where I get confused with the true difference between what is a symbol and what is a metaphor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The brook supposedly represents a character within the book, so to me this means it's a symbol. Yet the path that the brook takes through the glade is also supposed to represent various aspects of the life of the character, which to me is a metaphor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So here is my question: can an object be both a symbol and a metaphor at the same time? If not, then how does one determine which of the two it is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="104" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-12T13:35:11.580" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T21:22:05.383" Title="Is there a fine line between symbolism and metaphors in literature?" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;metaphor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1174" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1177" CreationDate="2010-08-17T17:40:08.033" Score="3" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'll be back in about half an hour&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'll be back in half hour&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is the correct sentence? Are there any differences between British English, and American English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T02:04:34.930" Title="&quot;half an hour&quot; or &quot;half hour&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="1175" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1193" CreationDate="2010-08-17T17:43:42.427" Score="3" ViewCount="221" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read that saying British English is too specific, and that I should say English English.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is that true? What do people understand when I refer to British English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="1778" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T03:46:16.937" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T15:05:31.653" Title="How should I call the English spoken in UK?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="1176" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1181" CreationDate="2010-08-17T17:44:40.537" Score="7" ViewCount="614" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm confused by why people use the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's up to yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's up to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example of this would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please feel free to contact ourselves if you have any problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please feel free to contact us if you have any problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are both of these correct?  Is there any reason for using the former?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="357" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-31T18:45:10.100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T22:41:36.707" Title="You and Yourself, Me and Myself" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1174" CreationDate="2010-08-17T17:48:35.727" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say &quot;a half hour&quot; or &quot;half an hour&quot;. The article choice depends on where in a phrase you place it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you ever say &quot;I'll be back in hour&quot;? No, because while possibly legal, the use of the article &quot;an&quot; would be needed to make it sound like a native English speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="366" LastEditorUserId="366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T02:04:34.930" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T02:04:34.930" />
  <row Id="1178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1174" CreationDate="2010-08-17T17:51:41.337" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;half-hour&quot; is commonly written with a dash and is a distinct word in the dictionary. So, &quot;a half-hour&quot; = 30 minutes = &quot;half an hour&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="373" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T17:51:41.337" />
  <row Id="1179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1133" CreationDate="2010-08-17T17:53:42.220" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Imagine the following song titles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;Bobby McGee and I&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;Mrs. Jones and I&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;:-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="357" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T17:53:42.220" />
  <row Id="1180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1175" CreationDate="2010-08-17T17:56:36.443" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think most English speakers would understand the term &quot;British English&quot; and know that you don't mean the dialect spoken primarily in America. No English speaker would use &quot;English English&quot; to denote that dialect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="151" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T17:56:36.443" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1176" CreationDate="2010-08-17T17:58:42.133" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using &quot;yourself&quot; and &quot;ourselves&quot; in these contexts is incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Yourself,&quot; &quot;ourselves,&quot; and &quot;myself&quot; are reflexive pronouns, correctly used when the subject/actor of the sentence and the object/recipient are the same person or group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I see myself&quot; is correct because I am doing the seeing and am seeing myself.  In your latter example, the subject is the implicit &quot;you&quot; and the object is (correctly) &quot;us.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched for a clear reference for this. The clearest one I found was &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflexive_pronoun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia's reflexive pronoun article&lt;/a&gt;, whose &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflexive_pronoun#Non-reflexive_usage_in_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Non-reflexive usage in English section&lt;/a&gt; indicates that the usage you refer to is &quot;non-standard,&quot; so perhaps &quot;incorrect&quot; is too strong a term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T22:41:36.707" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T22:41:36.707" />
  <row Id="1182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1176" CreationDate="2010-08-17T18:00:11.303" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both of these are incorrect. The reflexive pronouns (myself, ourselves, etc.) are only used when the pronoun is the object of a verb having the same subject, e.g:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I love myself. (Subject and direct object are both the speaker)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Give yourself a raise. (Subject is you, implied from imperative, indirect object is you).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="26" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T18:00:11.303" />
  <row Id="1183" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-17T18:04:29.203" Score="10" ViewCount="320" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen a few questions on this site relating to semi-colons, which I believe I correctly understand, but what I'm not as clear about is colons.  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The man ate the apple; it tasted good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this not correctly also written as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The man ate the apple: it tasted good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, what is the difference between the two sentences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="357" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-27T09:21:53.303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T01:21:45.003" Title="Colons and semi-colons" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;semicolon&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1184" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1187" CreationDate="2010-08-17T18:11:43.713" Score="4" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use it all the time since I work with &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denormalization&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;databases&lt;/a&gt;, but every time I write it somewhere with spell check I get the squiggly line below it.  I've seen other people spell it with an &quot;s&quot; instead of a &quot;z&quot; but neither have an entry in the Merriam Webster dictionary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/denormalized&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/denormalized&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/denormalised&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/denormalised&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this just technical jargon or am I misspelling it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="605" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T03:21:23.183" Title="Is &quot;denormalized&quot; a word?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="1185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1175" CreationDate="2010-08-17T18:19:50.467" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;British English&quot; is only too specific if you're trying to speak of &quot;English as spoken by everyone except Americans and Canadians.&quot;  I might call that &quot;Commonwealth English&quot; but I'm not sure.  I think that &quot;English English&quot; is the term that's too specific, since it leaves out the Scots and the Welsh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T18:19:50.467" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1176" CreationDate="2010-08-17T18:20:04.710" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answers stating that reflexive pronouns can only be used as the object of a verb with an identical subject are not entirely correct. Reflexive pronouns can also be used for emphasis as in “I &lt;em&gt;myself&lt;/em&gt; will go” or in absolute constructions “&lt;em&gt;myself&lt;/em&gt; a tourist, I nevertheless avoided other tourists”. These examples come from Merriam-Webster's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/myself&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;entry for &lt;em&gt;myself&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. That entry has a usage note intended to disabuse the common claim that reflexive pronouns can only be used in restricted cases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;usage&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;Myself&lt;/em&gt; is often used where &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; might be expected: as subject &amp;lt;to wonder what &lt;em&gt;myself&lt;/em&gt; will say  — Emily Dickinson&amp;gt; &amp;lt;others and &lt;em&gt;myself&lt;/em&gt; continued to press for the legislation&amp;gt;, after &lt;em&gt;as, than,&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; &amp;lt;an aversion to paying such people as &lt;em&gt;myself&lt;/em&gt; to tutor&amp;gt; &amp;lt;was enough to make a better man than &lt;em&gt;myself&lt;/em&gt; quail&amp;gt; &amp;lt;old-timers like &lt;em&gt;myself&lt;/em&gt;&amp;gt;, and as object &amp;lt;now here you see &lt;em&gt;myself&lt;/em&gt; with the diver&amp;gt; &amp;lt;for my wife and &lt;em&gt;myself&lt;/em&gt; it was a happy time&amp;gt;. Such uses almost always occur when the speaker or writer is referring to himself or herself as an object of discourse rather than as a participant in discourse. The other reflexive personal pronouns are similarly but less frequently used in the same circumstances. Critics have frowned on these uses since about the turn of the century, probably unaware that they serve a definite purpose. Users themselves are as unaware as the critics—they simply follow their instincts. These uses are standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage&lt;/em&gt; also has an extended discussion on the various uses of reflexive pronouns which &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=2yJusP0vrdgC&amp;amp;lpg=PP1&amp;amp;ots=nYxRhjC3_3&amp;amp;dq=merriam-webster%20dictionary%20of%20english%20usage&amp;amp;pg=PA647#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=myself&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;you can read on Google Books&lt;/a&gt;, giving examples of &lt;em&gt;myself&lt;/em&gt; being reasonably used in many positions other than object of a verb with an identical subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T18:20:04.710" />
  <row Id="1187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1184" CreationDate="2010-08-17T18:21:08.140" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The -s vs. -z is a British vs. American spelling convention. Anything with the suffix -ize is spelled -ise by people following British conventions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for whether or not it's a word, I believe its meaning is transparent from its productive morphology:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;normal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;normal + ize = to make normal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;de + normalize = to undo the normalization&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, using &quot;de-&quot; usually has a meaning that some previous normalization process is being undone. But I think it might still be acceptable if there was no explicit normalization process, but what you've done is take an intrinsically normal object and removed its normal property.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="257" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T18:21:08.140" />
  <row Id="1188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1184" CreationDate="2010-08-17T18:21:11.870" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not a normal word, but it's perfectly legitimate technical jargon. (If you were in the medical profession, half of the words you used would be flagged by a spellchecker.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T18:21:11.870" />
  <row Id="1189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1183" CreationDate="2010-08-17T18:23:56.450" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your example, the first one is correct but the second one is incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use a semi-colon to connect two related independent clauses.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They took the money from the vault;&#xA;  they took it quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ideas are related, the clauses stand on their own, semi-colon is OK here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use a colon to separate equal things (like an '=' sign).&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Just remember three things: be on&#xA;  time, bring the money, and come alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The things here = those three items.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T18:23:56.450" />
  <row Id="1190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1080" CreationDate="2010-08-17T18:23:58.197" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you wish to put the emphasis on the task, you could try &quot;the task is finished&quot; or &quot;the task is completed.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T18:23:58.197" />
  <row Id="1191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1175" CreationDate="2010-08-17T18:26:11.610" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have read that saying British English is too specific, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;British English is less specific than English-English (I've never come across this before).  Even inside England there are regional dialects, so where would you stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="357" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T18:26:11.610" />
  <row Id="1192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1184" CreationDate="2010-08-17T18:26:28.393" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The prefix &lt;em&gt;de-&lt;/em&gt; is a fairly productive one, and can be applied pretty freely to most verbs which it would make sense to affix it to. &lt;em&gt;Normalize&lt;/em&gt; (in the sense of databases) is one of those words. The absence of a word formed by a productive affix (such as &lt;em&gt;de-&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;non-&lt;/em&gt;) in dictionaries should not be taken as impugnment by the editors of those dictionaries that they are not, properly, words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for &lt;em&gt;-ize&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;-ise&lt;/em&gt; spellings, &lt;em&gt;-ise&lt;/em&gt; spellings are what American dictionaries would call “Chiefly British”, although it should be noted that some British language authorities, such as the Oxford English Dictionary, recommend &lt;em&gt;-ize&lt;/em&gt; spellings even for British English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T18:26:28.393" />
  <row Id="1193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1175" CreationDate="2010-08-17T18:34:04.057" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no standard term to describe the English spoken throughout the United Kingdom, because the English spoken in Northern Ireland is so different from the English spoken in Great Britain that it is usually included with &lt;em&gt;Irish English&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;Hiberno-English&lt;/em&gt;). The term &lt;em&gt;British English&lt;/em&gt; is generally used to refer to the English spoken in Great Britain, including Scotland, England, and Wales. &lt;em&gt;Welsh English&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Scottish English&lt;/em&gt; are the terms for the specific dialects spoken in those countries, and the term &lt;em&gt;English English&lt;/em&gt; is used sometimes to describe the English specifically spoken in England. Often &lt;em&gt;British English&lt;/em&gt; is used to refer to English English in contrast to Scottish, Welsh or other varieties of English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T18:34:04.057" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1175" CreationDate="2010-08-17T18:34:40.657" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would take 'British English' to refer to the varieties of English spoken in Great Britain, i.e., English, Welsh, and Scottish English, primarily. (I'm not clear on edge cases like the Isle of Man and Isle of Wight).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More loosely, it would also cover the English of Northern Ireland. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="488" LastEditorUserId="2386" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T08:54:53.397" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T08:54:53.397" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1176" CreationDate="2010-08-17T18:42:31.513" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a classic example of overcorrection as a result of learning language rules at school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Accusative pronouns have had a tough run in the past 100 years in English.  In school, we were always taught to say &quot;Sarah and I are going to the park&quot; instead of &quot;Sarah and me&quot; or &quot;Me and Sarah&quot;, and so on.  But what often either fails to be conveyed (or is lost on the student) is that this only applies to nominative case; that is, it applies to the subject of the sentence only.  Because subjects and objects and case markings are things that people don't normally explicitly think about when making a sentence (your brain pretty much computes this for you), they get it wrong when trying to apply the rule.  So, you get people saying &quot;Please see Sarah and &lt;strong&gt;I&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, even though it should be &quot;Sarah and me&quot; because it is the object of the sentence.  All of this has had the effect of (in my observation) the accusative pronoun (particularly the first-person singular pronoun) being looked at as somehow informal or uneducated sounding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another method of avoiding the accusative pronoun that people have stumbled upon is using the reflexive pronoun, and this is what you're seeing.  So, instead of saying &quot;please schedule a meeting with John, Mary, and me&quot; (which is 100% correct), some people perceive it as more educated/formal to say &quot;please schedule a meeting with John, Mary, and myself&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T18:42:31.513" />
  <row Id="1196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1148" CreationDate="2010-08-17T18:59:24.320" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an older meaning of &quot;so&quot; that used to be very common in English but has fallen out of use, where &quot;so&quot; means &quot;in this manner/condition&quot;.  We still use it when we say things like &quot;you do it like so&quot;, &quot;just-so story&quot;, &quot;it was so long (and you gesture with your hands to indicate out long)&quot;.  Actually, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/so&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the first three entries in dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt; seem to convey this meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the &quot;so far&quot; part means &quot;up to now&quot; and the &quot;so good&quot; part means &quot;it is good in this manner/condition&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T18:59:24.320" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1133" CreationDate="2010-08-17T19:08:24.847" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a tendency in informal speech and writing to use object pronouns when conjoined with other nouns or pronouns, even if serving as the subject of a verb. You never hear this usage if the subject is not conjoined; that is, no native speaker would say “me went for some ice cream” but “me and my friends went for some ice cream” is actually quite a common usage produced by native speakers of all kinds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason this happens is because what linguists would call the “unmarked” or standard, basic form for pronouns turns out to be the objective form—&lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;her&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;them&lt;/em&gt;, and the like. This is the form of the pronoun used when there is no verb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;– &lt;em&gt;Who wants a cookie?&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  – &lt;em&gt;Me&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“Me and Mrs. Jones”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“Me and Bobby McGee”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“Me &amp;amp; Julio Down by the Schoolyard”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happens is as pronouns in conjoined subjects get further and further from the verb, the impulse to change the default form into the subject form is weaker, and in informal contexts, is simply not followed. Now, in formal standard written English, subjects of verbs must be in subjective form, conjoined or not, leading to generations of schoolmarms correcting their students:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mrs. Jones &lt;em&gt;and I&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bobby McGee &lt;em&gt;and I&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Julio &lt;em&gt;and I&lt;/em&gt; Down by the Schoolyard&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and the famous musical about an excruciatingly correct teacher of English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;The King and I&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most fascinating thing of course is that generations of schoolmarms correcting students over the apparently perfectly natural use of objective pronouns in conjoined subjects has made everyone with even a little bit of formal education intensely anxious about using objective pronouns, causing them to hypercorrect and use subject pronouns even where object pronouns are correct: “just between you and I” is a commonly cited example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;As for the original poster’s actual question, there is nothing in the grammar of English &lt;em&gt;per se&lt;/em&gt; about ordering of pronouns in conjoined noun phrases. It is a kind of grammatical etiquette to put yourself last, but there is no rule of grammar governing the order. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T00:34:03.230" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T00:34:03.230" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1173" CreationDate="2010-08-17T19:28:08.953" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would think that both can be used at the same time because a symbol doesn't necessarily transcribe directly into the novel. It's more of an abstract thought whereas a metaphor is more directly given to the reader.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of it this way, if the brook wasn't a symbol for the character, but it still contained the metaphor for his life, who would it apply to? The symbol is required otherwise the metaphor doesn't belong to anyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully that makes sense, I'm not an English person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="567" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T19:28:08.953" />
  <row Id="1199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1070" CreationDate="2010-08-17T20:25:41.730" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always used &quot;I reckon&quot; to mean, &quot;I have applied a process of thought and come to this conclusion&quot;. &quot;I think&quot; is a statement of my assumptions. &quot;I believe&quot; is generally something I cannot prove or defend, specifically referring to my &quot;beliefs&quot; in a religious or spiritual context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some perspective, I am a native speaker from the Southern United States.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="608" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T20:25:41.730" />
  <row Id="1200" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-17T20:33:09.357" Score="1" ViewCount="1901" Body="&lt;p&gt;Am, Is, Are, Was, Were, Be, Being, Been&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the above words called? I think someone called them auxiliary verbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; When I learned them, my curriculum called them &quot;State of Being verbs&quot; or just &quot;Being verbs&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="62" LastEditorUserId="513" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T23:13:26.063" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T04:40:31.020" Title="Am, Is, Are, Was, Were, Be, Being, Been" Tags="&lt;auxiliary-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="398" CreationDate="2010-08-17T20:42:20.600" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported from the NOAD:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ORIGIN late Middle English (in the sense [supply abundantly]): from Old French &lt;em&gt;repleniss-&lt;/em&gt;, lengthened stem of &lt;em&gt;replenir&lt;/em&gt;, from &lt;em&gt;re-&lt;/em&gt; 'again' (also expressing intensive force) + &lt;em&gt;plenir&lt;/em&gt; 'fill' (from Latin &lt;em&gt;plenus&lt;/em&gt; 'full').&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T01:18:53.220" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T01:18:53.220" />
  <row Id="1202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1200" CreationDate="2010-08-17T20:42:45.310" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those are just forms of the verb &lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;To be&lt;/em&gt; is just one of the auxiliary verbs in English (and it's not always an auxiliary). Others are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;have&#xA;has&#xA;had&#xA;do&#xA;does&#xA;did&#xA;shall&#xA;will&#xA;should&#xA;would&#xA;may&#xA;might&#xA;must&#xA;can&#xA;could&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T20:42:45.310" />
  <row Id="1203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1200" CreationDate="2010-08-17T20:48:43.343" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The words you cited are all forms of the verb “be”, which is also known as a &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copula_%28linguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;copula&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;linking verb&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The term &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auxiliary_verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;auxiliary verb&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; applies to verbs, such as forms of &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt;, that conjoin with another verb to add syntantic or semantic information, such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_aspect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;grammatical aspects&lt;/a&gt; like the progressive aspect or perfective aspect:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;progressive aspect: &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt; + present participle (e.g. &lt;em&gt;am walking&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;perfective aspect: &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; + past participle (e.g. &lt;em&gt;have walked&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Verbs such as &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; combine to indicate future tense or conditional tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T20:48:43.343" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1200" CreationDate="2010-08-17T20:52:27.050" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To be&lt;/em&gt; is an auxiliary verb; &lt;em&gt;am&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;were&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;being&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;been&lt;/em&gt; are different tenses of the verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-19T20:15:26.500" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T20:15:26.500" />
  <row Id="1205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1183" CreationDate="2010-08-17T20:57:31.547" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Colon is a punctuation mark indicating&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;that a writer is introducing a quotation or a list of items.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;that a writer is separating two clauses of which the second expands or illustrates the first.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a statement of proportion between two numbers: a ratio of 10:1.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the separation of hours from minutes (and minutes from seconds) in a statement of time given in numbers: 4:30 p.m.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the number of the chapter and verse respectively in biblical references: Exodus 3:2.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Semicolon is a punctuation mark indicating a pause, typically between two main clauses, that is more pronounced than that indicated by a comma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your example, the colon is not what I would use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T01:21:45.003" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T01:21:45.003" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1184" CreationDate="2010-08-17T21:02:35.293" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You probably will not find the word in the dictionary, but the prefix de- is used to form words; the meaning of the word is changed as follow: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(forming verbs and their derivatives)&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;down; away: &lt;em&gt;descend&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;deduct&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;completely: &lt;em&gt;denude&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;derelict&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(added to verbs and their derivatives) denoting removal or reversal: &lt;em&gt;deaerate&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;de-ice&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;denoting formation from: &lt;em&gt;deverbal&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T01:33:06.360" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T01:33:06.360" />
  <row Id="1207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1123" CreationDate="2010-08-17T21:15:24.540" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I normally say &quot;Ruby is included in the (web) hosting service for my website&quot;; actually, I would say &quot;Ruby on Rails is included in the (web) hosting service for my website.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The difference for me is that saying &quot;the web server includes Ruby&quot; seems to mean it will never be removed; saying &quot;the hosting service includes Ruby&quot; means that it will be included until they don't change the service.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T21:15:24.540" />
  <row Id="1208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1173" CreationDate="2010-08-17T21:58:40.313" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're related, but generally a metaphor is used to draw a comparison between two distinct objects, whereas a symbol is used a stand-in for a much more complex, and generally more abstract, idea. In literature, a metaphor would typically be used in a specific instance to compare two objects, but a symbol would be used throughout the work as a major part of the theme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="151" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T21:58:40.313" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1209" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1219" CreationDate="2010-08-17T22:12:28.713" Score="12" ViewCount="421" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is to me a curious fact that the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_subjunctive&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;subjunctive mood&lt;/a&gt; of verbs in English has so nearly disappeared in modern times. In fact, even the correct form and usage of the subjunctive in Modern English barely distinguishes itself from the indicative! In many regions and dialects, the subjunctive would appear to be entirely obsolete, replaced by the indicative in all cases. (Educated speakers, certainly in Britain at least, do however still make good use of it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The present subjunctive form in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Modern English&lt;/a&gt; is (in almost all cases) virtually identical to the third-person plural present indicative (e.g. 'He were', 'She own'). This is markedly different from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Old English&lt;/a&gt;, where the subjunctive form a form was &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_subjunctive#History&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;much more easily noticeable&lt;/a&gt;. Even by the advent of Early Modern English in the 16th century, the subjunctive was already converging with the indicative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other Modern European languages, not only Romance ones such as French and Spanish, but Germanic languages related to English (e.g. Dutch/German) have a much more pronounced subjunctive form. From what I remember of my Classical Latin, word suffixes for a variety of tenses are hugely obvious in the subjunctive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: why is this convergence of the subjunctive and indicative so strongly the case in Modern English? Is it a general trend in other Germanic/Romance (or more generally Indo-European) languages? Why is its disappearance so much more apparent in English than other related languages?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T06:50:15.600" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T13:11:03.247" Title="What happened to the subjunctive?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;history&gt;&lt;subjunctive-mood&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="1211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1175" CreationDate="2010-08-17T23:39:19.640" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have read that saying British&#xA;  English is too specific, and that I&#xA;  should say English English. Is that&#xA;  true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hum, well, what do you mean by &quot;British English&quot; here? The question is a bit too vague to really answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The traditional term for the form of English pronunciation used in the south-east of England and the middle or upper classes was &quot;received pronunciation&quot;. In the recent editions of the Cambridge pronunciation dictionary (was originally Daniel Jones's dictionary) this is now called BBC English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What do people understand when I&#xA;  refer to British English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would guess that you were talking about spelling differences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-17T23:39:19.640" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1072" CreationDate="2010-08-18T00:02:16.650" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;*&lt;/code&gt; You ignorant don't understand what I&#xA;  am talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't possible, you have to nominalize the adjective somehow:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You ignoramuses don't understand what I am talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You ignorant people don't understand what I am talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Ignorant&quot; could just about function as a noun (note the &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/26/should-we-have-a-standard-way-of-indicating-deliberately-malformed-sentences/28#28&quot;&gt;question mark&lt;/a&gt; here means these are &quot;questionable&quot;) if you make it plural:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;?&lt;/code&gt; You ignorants don't understand what I&#xA;  am talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This usage could be extended:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;?&lt;/code&gt; What a bunch of ignorants!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes nouns are created from adjectives, like &quot;reds&quot; as in &quot;reds under the bed&quot; or &quot;greens&quot;, but e.g. &quot;hot&quot; somehow doesn't make it as an adjective, so we have &quot;hotties&quot; rather than &lt;code&gt;*&lt;/code&gt;&quot;hots&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T00:27:46.567" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T00:27:46.567" />
  <row Id="1213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1174" CreationDate="2010-08-18T00:11:22.450" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'll be back in about half an hour&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'll be back in half hour&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Which is the correct sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The top one is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;*&lt;/code&gt; I'll be back in half hour&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would be OK if it said &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'll be back in a half hour&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that &quot;a half hour&quot; is an American usage, British people only use &quot;half an hour&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T00:11:22.450" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1209" CreationDate="2010-08-18T00:22:22.037" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the short answer is the subjunctive became marginal when the forms distinguishing subjunctive from indicative became identical, leaving only some forms of the verb &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt; to mark the subjunctive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T00:22:22.037" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1072" CreationDate="2010-08-18T00:24:33.343" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Youngsters&quot; is a noun. As for &quot;ignorant,&quot; it would only work if you were to render it as &quot;the ignorant,&quot; an ellipsis of the noun phrase &quot;the ignorant ones&quot; or &quot;the ignorant people.&quot; (Also note that, as a nonessential appositive, &quot;the ignorant&quot; would be offset with commas.) Words derive their type, or part of speech, from the context in which they are expressed. We may label a particular usage as &quot;correct&quot; or &quot;incorrect&quot; based on our understanding of current norms, but that's often a moving target as language changes over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="609" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T00:24:33.343" />
  <row Id="1216" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-18T00:51:52.103" Score="16" ViewCount="261" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;pirate speech&quot; we hear/see/read at, for example, the website &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.talklikeapirate.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Talk like a pirate day&quot;&lt;/a&gt; consists of a rhotic dialect characterized by phrases like &quot;shiver me timbers&quot;, &quot;ooh arh me hearties&quot; and so on and so on. What is its basis in fact?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T00:59:47.453" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T09:59:17.423" Title="Pirate speech: basis in fact" Tags="&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1217" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1222" CreationDate="2010-08-18T00:55:10.333" Score="9" ViewCount="315" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English we have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;beef&quot; for &quot;cow&quot;, &quot;cattle&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;veal&quot; for &quot;calf&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;pork&quot; for &quot;pig&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;mutton&quot; for &quot;sheep&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of this separation for &quot;fish&quot;, &quot;goat&quot; or &quot;chicken&quot; (Spanish has &quot;pollo&quot; and &quot;gallina&quot;) and other poultry. Are these words used simply to distinguish the meat from the animal (i.e. to avoid saying &quot;cow meat&quot;) or is there a psychological separation to avoid the association? I doubt the latter since these words developed when people were likely less squeamish than some are today. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why are there not meat words for some animals? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some others I didn't list?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="189" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-14T23:51:03.157" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T23:51:03.157" Title="Words for meat differ from the words for the corresponding animal" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;list-request&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1218" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1229" CreationDate="2010-08-18T00:56:54.760" Score="5" ViewCount="374" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pacman's maze&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/OcDkN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is not a maze in the sense of being a place in which we get lost since we can clearly see where we are going. So what should we call the restricted environment in which Pacman operates?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clarify: I want another word to describe this rather than &lt;em&gt;maze&lt;/em&gt;. Answers claiming that this is a maze by some definition or other aren't any use to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T23:41:22.550" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T23:41:22.550" Title="Alternative to &quot;maze&quot; as a description for Pacman's environment?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="1219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1209" CreationDate="2010-08-18T01:01:11.490" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I mentioned this in another question, but just because the morphological inflection is disappearing, that doesn't mean the subjunctive mood is actually disappearing from the language.  Just like when most of our verbal inflection disappeared (now it's &quot;I go&quot;, &quot;you go&quot;, &quot;we go&quot;, &quot;they go&quot;), that doesn't mean we lost verbs for first person singular and plural, 2nd person, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nohat's short answer gives the main point -- if 9 out of 10 times the form looks identical to a MUCH more common form, then over time things might converge and regularize.  A linguist would call this &quot;paradigm leveling&quot;.  Less common words and structures tend to regularize faster than more common ones (which is why words like &quot;to be&quot; and &quot;to have&quot; are irregular in so many different languages).  The subjunctive is rare and not that distinct in English, so it is in trouble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We see the past subjunctive form only in &quot;to be&quot;, but we see the &lt;em&gt;present&lt;/em&gt; subjunctive in the third person singular form of any verb -- it has no &quot;s&quot; at the end like the indicative form.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, this is of course subjunctive:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I &lt;strong&gt;were&lt;/strong&gt; ten years younger... (often said &quot;If I was...&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this is subjunctive too:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So &lt;strong&gt;be&lt;/strong&gt; it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's important that he &lt;strong&gt;arrive&lt;/strong&gt; on time tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a bunch of examples &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ceafinney.com/subjunctive/examples.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; that include this other kind of subjunctive.  This is just anecdotal but I haven't noticed this one disappearing as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a general trend in related languages?  Well, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_grammar#The_subjunctive_mood&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in Swedish this seems to be happening&lt;/a&gt;.  In German one subjunctive form is used all over the place, and the other is used pretty much just in newspapers and journalism in general, but it is at no risk of dying out (it has legal implications akin to those that make the word &quot;allegedly&quot; so important in English journalism).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T01:01:11.490" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1217" CreationDate="2010-08-18T01:01:24.207" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Human meat has been called &quot;long pig&quot;, so you could add&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;long pig&quot; for &quot;human&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for words for meat, how about &quot;sweetbreads&quot; or &quot;tripe&quot; for offal? These seem like euphemisms to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T03:10:40.763" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T03:10:40.763" />
  <row Id="1221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1174" CreationDate="2010-08-18T01:15:03.147" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Australia we say 'half an hour'. You might hear 'a half hour', but it would sound stilted. This is probably changing with the influence of American television.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="610" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T01:15:03.147" />
  <row Id="1222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1217" CreationDate="2010-08-18T01:22:11.180" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that many of these come from the use of French in England amongst the aristocracy after the Norman conquest. Thus 'pork' (porc) is the posh word, 'pig' is the vulgar peasant (or English) word. I don't have any reference for this, but I heard it somewhere in my travels. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it does sound like a convincing story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="610" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T13:39:23.533" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T13:39:23.533" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="1223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1218" CreationDate="2010-08-18T01:26:18.473" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/maze&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/maze&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;maze (meɪz) n.&#xA;  1. a. An intricate, usually confusing network of interconnecting pathways,&#xA;  as in a garden; a labyrinth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This looks like an intricate network of interconnecting pathways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T01:26:18.473" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="1225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2010-08-18T02:19:52.633" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mother's favorite description of me when I was a tyke was &lt;strong&gt;obstreperous&lt;/strong&gt;.  I'd love it if more people knew what it meant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T02:19:52.633" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-18T02:19:52.633" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1216" CreationDate="2010-08-18T02:57:55.460" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure, but the answer is probably in &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1582974896&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this book, the Pirate Primer&lt;/a&gt;, which uses real pirates, movies, literature, etc as sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T02:57:55.460" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1217" CreationDate="2010-08-18T03:09:13.700" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cow is made up of more than its meat so referring to the muscle with a different name to the entire animal isn't that hard to swallow. How the meat is prepared and even the age of the animal can give the meat a different name too. e.g. pork, bacon and ham or lamb and mutton. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why some animals have this distinction and not others is something I'm unsure of. This is a bit of history surrounding the beef/cow words on Wikipedia: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef#Etymology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef#Etymology&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="250" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T03:09:13.700" />
  <row Id="1228" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1233" CreationDate="2010-08-18T03:48:45.583" Score="2" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you say it correctly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adult and children stories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adults and children stories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adults' and children's stories&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;other?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="256" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T02:05:09.247" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T02:05:09.247" Title="&quot;Adult and children stories&quot; or &quot;Adults and children stories&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="1229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1218" CreationDate="2010-08-18T03:49:04.567" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In gaming parlance it would be common to call it a 'board'.  Though 'board' is most commonly synonymous with 'level', there might be a sense in which it exclusively applies to the system of pathways (ie. the physical facts about the area) and not, eg., the speed at which the ghosts move. &amp;lt;shrug&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="617" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T03:49:04.567" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1228" CreationDate="2010-08-18T03:49:45.660" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adults' and children's stories&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's probably what you mean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="45" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-13T16:49:27.080" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T16:49:27.080" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1218" CreationDate="2010-08-18T04:01:31.207" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mathematically seems to be a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planar_graphs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Planar Graph&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="256" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T04:01:31.207" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1228" CreationDate="2010-08-18T04:53:53.503" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what you mean: if you said &quot;adult stories&quot; that would probably mean &quot;porn&quot;. &quot;Children's stories&quot; would usually mean &quot;stories by children&quot; rather than &quot;stories for children&quot;. The best fit for what you seem to mean is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stories for adults and children&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stories for all ages&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T04:53:53.503" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1234" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1235" CreationDate="2010-08-18T05:14:45.980" Score="7" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering which one of these expressions is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;this stuff&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;these stuff&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T00:15:21.820" Title="Is stuff plural?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1234" CreationDate="2010-08-18T05:19:57.797" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stuff is a collective noun -- it represents a group of objects.  Just as one would say &quot;this group&quot; or &quot;this pile,&quot; one would say &quot;&lt;strong&gt;this stuff&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T05:19:57.797" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1234" CreationDate="2010-08-18T05:27:22.637" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stuff is an uncountable, uncount, or mass noun so &quot;this stuff&quot; is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T05:27:22.637" />
  <row Id="1237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1218" CreationDate="2010-08-18T05:31:57.263" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another common term for the game:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/images?q=pacman+%22grid%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;client=firefox-a&amp;amp;hs=Yub&amp;amp;rls=org.mozilla%3aen-US%3aofficial&amp;amp;prmd=i&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbs=isch:1&amp;amp;ei=xm9rTJnECsfG4gaQ3I3jAg&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=mode_link&amp;amp;ct=mode&amp;amp;ved=0CA8Q_AU&amp;amp;biw=1280&amp;amp;bih=786&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pacman grid&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3938/the_pacman_dossier.php?print=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chapter 3: Maze Logic 101&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/WWzsy.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T05:31:57.263" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1234" CreationDate="2010-08-18T05:37:14.603" Score="-3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your expressions, stuff is a noun and is uncountable. I would say it is &quot;this stuff&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only time I can think of &lt;em&gt;stuff&lt;/em&gt; being plural is when it is a verb—as in &lt;em&gt;he stuffs the turkey with …&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="620" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T00:15:21.820" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T00:15:21.820" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1239" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1240" CreationDate="2010-08-18T05:42:29.197" Score="7" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the popularity and ubiquity of Google, it has become a verb to describe &quot;searching for something online&quot; and it appears in conversations and informal writing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I know if it is acceptable to use &quot;google&quot; in more formal writing? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="620" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T02:15:12.003" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T02:15:12.003" Title="Is it acceptable to use &quot;google&quot; as a verb?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="1240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1239" CreationDate="2010-08-18T05:52:01.673" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is now an official verb (since 2006), added to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/google&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;merriam-webster&lt;/a&gt; dictionary and the OED.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So I would say: yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/do-you-google.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Do you google?&lt;/a&gt; (google blog)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://web.archive.org/web/20060707062623/http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13720643/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;To Google or Not to Google&lt;/a&gt;: &quot;According to the OED, you can now Google away to your heart's content.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T05:52:01.673" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1239" CreationDate="2010-08-18T06:06:33.597" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I generally recommend the following for using newly minted words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In casual or social conversation and in non-formal writing, go for it. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In formal or professional conversation/presentation and in most professional writing, substitute a comparable but more-neutral term. &quot;I Googled 'potato' but found too many entries&quot; and &quot;I &lt;strong&gt;searched&lt;/strong&gt; 'potato' but found too many entries&quot; are practically identical in meaning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes using &quot;Googled&quot; is appropriate for your voice in business writing. This will usually be in less-formal media like project-team blogs or webcasts (where the reader expects colloquial usage).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="621" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-11T10:31:45.780" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T10:31:45.780" />
  <row Id="1242" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1264" CreationDate="2010-08-18T06:47:51.157" Score="3" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;AFAIK it is typical to refer to the country where the speaker lives as &lt;em&gt;this country&lt;/em&gt;. For example, if a person lives in Great Britain and he wants to mention weather in Great Britain, he might say &quot;weather in this country is blahblahblah&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we have a text written by a citizen of Great Britain saying something like &quot;Patent law is quite complicated in the USA. In this country blahblahblah...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What will &quot;this country&quot; naturally refer to in the second sentence - to the USA or to Great Britain? How would the author change his text so that it is clear that the second sentence also refers specifically to the USA or to Great Britain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="623" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T17:49:06.710" Title="What will &quot;this country&quot; refer to after mentioning a foreign state?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1242" CreationDate="2010-08-18T07:02:27.147" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you consider &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/this&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;this&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;the one nearer or more immediately under observation or discussion&quot;, or &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;the one more recently referred to&quot;, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;this country&quot; refers to the USA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The author should specify the country, while finding another term to mention it (to avoid repetition):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the States, ....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T07:02:27.147" />
  <row Id="1244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1216" CreationDate="2010-08-18T07:47:52.063" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recent guardian discussion&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/mar/10/pirates-notes-and-queries&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/mar/10/pirates-notes-and-queries&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(In passing, this site is a treasure trove(!) of semantic conundrums &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/category/0,,-13,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;notes and queries&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="122" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T09:59:17.423" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T09:59:17.423" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2010-08-18T07:56:21.060" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Alan Bennett word 'splother'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/2005/10/splother.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/2005/10/splother.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T07:56:21.060" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-18T07:56:21.060" />
  <row Id="1246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1218" CreationDate="2010-08-18T08:30:56.780" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some ideas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Corridors&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Passageways&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tunnels&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pathways&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Environment&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;World&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Network&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walkways&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But to be honest, maze really is the correct term, even if this is of little use to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T08:30:56.780" />
  <row Id="1247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1242" CreationDate="2010-08-18T09:07:41.277" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The author probably referred to the USA. He could have written the following to be clear:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Patent law is quite complicated in the USA. In &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; country...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; I had originally suggested also the following:&#xA;&quot;Patent law is quite complicated in the USA. In &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; country...&quot;&#xA;But Colin pointed out that it doesn't really make the sentence clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T12:09:20.970" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T12:09:20.970" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1218" CreationDate="2010-08-18T09:41:37.367" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Labyrinth&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(as already suggested by kiamlaluno in the comments)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T09:41:37.367" />
  <row Id="1249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="911" CreationDate="2010-08-18T10:18:27.847" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Savoy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Savoy cinema opened in 1920 in Bradford/UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Savoy Theatre opened in 1881 in London on the site of the old Savoy Palace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Savoy Palace was built on the land granted to Peter II, the Count of Savoy in 1246.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say that the cinema name was derived as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Count of Savoy &gt; Savoy Palace &gt; Savoy Theatre &gt; Savoy Cinema&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kingsdr.demon.co.uk/cinemas/savoy.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.kingsdr.demon.co.uk/cinemas/savoy.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savoy_Theatre&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savoy_Theatre&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savoy_Palace&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savoy_Palace&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_II,_Count_of_Savoy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_II,_Count_of_Savoy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Curzon&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently, it's just a family name. Note that this was not the original name of the cinema. The original name was &quot;Picture House&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In 1945 the cinema (previously known&#xA;  as &quot;the Picture House&quot;) was sold and&#xA;  changed its name to the &quot;Maxime&quot;.[2]&#xA;  Another change of ownership in 1953&#xA;  brought its current name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Curzon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Curzon&lt;/a&gt; (for the family name)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curzon_cinema&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curzon_cinema&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; Odeon and Adelphi are already on FordBuchanan's interesting answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T12:49:39.390" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T12:49:39.390" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1250" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1252" CreationDate="2010-08-18T10:46:01.843" Score="3" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference between using &quot;in-built&quot; or &quot;built-in&quot;? Is one more correct than the other, or does it depend on the context, or &quot;house style&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This oven comes with a built-in extractor fan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This oven comes with an in-built extractor fan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="631" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T11:58:09.853" Title="&quot;Built-in&quot; or &quot;In-built&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1251" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-18T11:08:55.633" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;My question is about ways to find out about, or remind oneself of, related concepts. Say I'm writing an article and I'm stuck finding the right expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want to say that the author is confused about a concept, but I don't want to use the word &quot;confused&quot;, for stylistic, syntactical or any other reasons. I would like to find other words like &quot;muddle&quot;, &quot;is not clear about&quot;, or &quot;does not distinguish&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want to say that I reject an objection to a given view. I would like to find other expressions like &quot;riposte&quot;, &quot;rejoinder&quot;, but also sentence templates such as &quot;Contra N.N., I hold that&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are different ways to express the concept &lt;em&gt;opposition&lt;/em&gt;? &quot;In contrast&quot;, &quot;Whereas .., ...&quot;, &quot;On the other hand&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are different ways to make an enumeration of arguments? &quot;First, ...; Second, ...&quot;, &quot;For one thing, ...&quot;, &quot;for another&quot;, ....&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm looking for is similar to a thesaurus, but many of these reference works (such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thesaurus.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;) only list expressions of roughly the same lexical category: &quot;contrast&quot; -- &quot;comparison&quot;, but not &quot;despite the similarities, ...&quot; etc. &quot;By contrast&quot; is not even listed. Often what you need is just to be pointed in the right direction. Is there anything - a dictionary, thesaurus, list of schematic sentences, web site, ... - that fits my description?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="632" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T11:46:19.267" Title="Is there a general thesaurus for conceptual fields?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;learning&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1250" CreationDate="2010-08-18T11:10:51.697" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is one of those ones where Google, whatever faults it might have, does tell you something significant:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;&quot;built-in extractor fan&quot;      643,000 results&#xA;&quot;in-built extractor fan&quot;          137 results&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Subjectively, from the first ten results, it looks like the &quot;in-built&quot; hits are largely from the UK. I've never even heard of an &quot;in-built extractor fan&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just at a guess I would think that &quot;in-built&quot; would go with &quot;ability&quot;, so I tried it on Google:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;&quot;built-in ability&quot;  216,000 results&#xA;&quot;in-built ability&quot;   75,500 results &#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T11:10:51.697" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1242" CreationDate="2010-08-18T11:38:21.200" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming the author &amp;amp; likely reader lives and works in Great Britain, &lt;em&gt;this country&lt;/em&gt; probably refers to Great Britain.  If they had written &lt;em&gt;in &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; country blah blah blah&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;There&lt;/strong&gt; blah blah blah&lt;/em&gt; I'd think they meant the USA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T11:38:21.200" />
  <row Id="1254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1251" CreationDate="2010-08-18T11:46:19.267" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not sure there is a thesaurus as complete as the one you are looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wordnik&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, which included lots of &lt;strong&gt;examples&lt;/strong&gt; for each word proposed, as well as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/about&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;related words&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (and not just synonyms or antonyms).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But the results remain close to the ones found with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thesaurus.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;www.thesaurus.com&lt;/a&gt; (thesaurus that you mention in your question).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T11:46:19.267" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1250" CreationDate="2010-08-18T11:58:09.853" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, this is written &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/words/inbuilt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;inbuilt&lt;/a&gt;&quot; and not &quot;in-built&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inbuilt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;old (1923) chiefly British synonym for built-in&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Constructed as part of a larger unit; not detachable:  a built-in cabinet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Forming a permanent or essential element or quality: a built-in escape clause&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Of course, even the most able driver in the most dynamically competent car can sometimes find his or herself in a situation where a collision is inevitable, so with this in mind the Spark was designed with high levels of passive safety inbuilt from the outset.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;—&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2010/02/08/464892.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Automotive Headlines&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T11:58:09.853" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1144" CreationDate="2010-08-18T12:08:21.393" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Neither Michael nor Albert &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; correct&lt;/em&gt; — this is the correct version per prescriptive  rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on my understanding of grammar lessons,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When connecting singular nouns, use a singular verb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Neither Jacob nor Jane &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; coming to the party.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When connecting plural nouns, use a plural verb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Neither the Jones nor the Smiths &lt;strong&gt;are&lt;/strong&gt; coming to the party.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When combining singular and plural nouns, the agreement is decided by the noun that is closer to the verb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Neither the boys nor Susan &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; coming to the party.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;⇑ Verb determined by &lt;em&gt;Susan&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Neither Susan nor the boys &lt;strong&gt;are&lt;/strong&gt; coming.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;⇑ Verb determined by &lt;em&gt;the boys&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Some books say it's better to put the plural noun closer to the verb and use the plural form of the verb.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sv_agr.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Capital Community College Guide to Grammar &amp;amp; Writing: Subject-Verb Agreement&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://esl.about.com/od/grammarintermediate/p/tip170.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;esl.about.com English Tip of the Day: 170 Neither ... nor&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="264" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T13:15:11.797" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T13:15:11.797" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1218" CreationDate="2010-08-18T12:27:38.903" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Pacman's Hell&quot; isn't exactly what you're looking for, but I think it's pretty accurate, personally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T12:27:38.903" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1259" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1261" CreationDate="2010-08-18T12:30:24.500" Score="4" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is irrespective considered a proper word but irregardless is not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="638" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T13:02:17.930" Title="Irregardless vs. irrespective" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="1260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1259" CreationDate="2010-08-18T12:39:46.163" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people use &quot;irregardless&quot; for “regardless” but many people think it is incorrect. It is probably a combination of &quot;irrespective&quot; and &quot;regardless&quot; which is sometimes used humorously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oxford Dictionary says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Irregardless means the same as&#xA;  regardless, but the negative prefix&#xA;  ir- merely duplicates the suffix&#xA;  -less, and is unnecessary. The word dates back to the 19th century, but is&#xA;  regarded as incorrect in standard&#xA;  English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T12:39:46.163" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1259" CreationDate="2010-08-18T12:40:01.750" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;ir&quot; in &quot;irrespective&quot; means &quot;not&quot;, i.e. &quot;not respective&quot;.  So &quot;irregardless&quot; would mean &quot;not regardless&quot;, which would mean the opposite of what you probably hope it would mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="637" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T12:40:01.750" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1259" CreationDate="2010-08-18T13:02:17.930" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the prefix/suffix duplication, &lt;strong&gt;irregardless&lt;/strong&gt; is used rarely.  A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;COCA&lt;/a&gt; query shows 11189 hits for &lt;strong&gt;regardless&lt;/strong&gt; and only 36 for &lt;strong&gt;irregardless&lt;/strong&gt;.  That's a reason for it to not be considered a proper word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T13:02:17.930" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1263" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1267" CreationDate="2010-08-18T13:35:22.113" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anybody ever run into the blog post tagging? Like when somebody starts posting about certain topic (for example answering certain questions like what are your 10 habits, etc) and then they tag other people to write about the topic too in their own blog. I've never started a game like that but yes, when friends tag me and when I feel like it, I do the homework and pass the tag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, I realized that the tagging game sometimes has a name. It's called award. I've got the &quot;You're Going Places, Baby!&quot; award from a dear friend of mine. The rules: describe where you think you'll be in 10 years and then pass it along to other bloggers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until now, my understanding about the 'award' usage is something given or rewarded because of certain acts (honorable acts). Is 'award' normally used in more generalized definition or is it just in that bloggers game case? For the bloggers case, I think award only means something assigned/given. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance! :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="611" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T11:38:44.293" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T11:38:44.293" Title="Award for bloggers" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1242" CreationDate="2010-08-18T13:55:57.150" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you the reader or the writer? When writing, if there is even the slightest doubt or room for interpretation, I don't use &quot;this&quot;, but repeat the proper name. I have yet to see a downside to this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are the reader, you will simply have to consider all the contextual clues, and perhaps sigh deeply at writing which distracts you from the content itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, &quot;this&quot; should properly refer to the nearer thing (the writer's country) and &quot;that&quot; to the further thing (the other country). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T13:55:57.150" />
  <row Id="1265" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1283" CreationDate="2010-08-18T14:35:25.060" Score="3" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was taught to use &quot;not at all&quot; as a rather polite, standard reply to &quot;thank you&quot;.&#xA;However, I don't see it being used at all nowadays. Can I still use it? Would it &#xA;be widely understood? Should I be aware of any differences between using it in British, &#xA;American, Canadian, and Australian English? (As in, are there better alternatives in any particular dialect?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; A (German) friend of mine who spent a year studying in Edinburgh says &quot;not at all&quot; is still fairly common there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T16:04:58.130" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T11:00:44.680" Title="Is &quot;not at all&quot; still alive and doing well?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;&lt;politeness&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="1266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1265" CreationDate="2010-08-18T14:37:03.947" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may be overly obvious, but in American English, saying &quot;you're welcome&quot; is certainly polite and standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T14:37:03.947" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1263" CreationDate="2010-08-18T14:43:02.887" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=award&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This page&lt;/a&gt; describes the etymological origin of the verb &quot;award&quot;. In a nutshell, it means to   &quot;decide after careful examination and observation&quot;. This seems to apply to the blog post tagging award you are talking about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I have not personally seen &quot;award&quot; used in this sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T14:43:02.887" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1263" CreationDate="2010-08-18T14:43:49.563" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An award is given as recognition for excellence of some kind.  As long as I can remember, awards have also been given sarcastically or playfully, as a way of teasing or having fun — think of &quot;most likely to...&quot; awards issued in high school yearbooks.  Another example is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Raspberry_Award&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Golden Raspberry Awards&lt;/a&gt; (or Razzies).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, this is definitely not limited to blogging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T14:43:49.563" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1269" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1270" CreationDate="2010-08-18T15:03:54.600" Score="18" ViewCount="1258" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it &quot;bear&quot; or &quot;bare&quot; with me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="315" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-19T01:00:24.687" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T13:43:50.847" Title="Is it &quot;bear&quot; or &quot;bare&quot; with me?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;homophone&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="1270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1269" CreationDate="2010-08-18T15:13:22.790" Score="54" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Bear with me,” the standard&#xA;  expression, is a request for&#xA;  forbearance or patience.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Bare with&#xA;  me” would be an invitation to undress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/bare.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="177" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T15:13:22.790" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1271" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1280" CreationDate="2010-08-18T15:28:52.457" Score="12" ViewCount="504" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any particular reason why days of the week are proper nouns? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T22:48:07.287" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T09:25:30.423" Title="Why are days of the week proper nouns?" Tags="&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1272" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1351" CreationDate="2010-08-18T15:31:34.687" Score="1" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder whether can we call someone a &lt;em&gt;genius boy&lt;/em&gt;? I've been using this term to describe my cousin until someone told me that the correct usage should be &lt;em&gt;boy genius&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is: Can we say &lt;em&gt;Aaron is a genius boy&lt;/em&gt;? Is it &lt;em&gt;wrong&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="304" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T09:02:52.360" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T09:02:52.360" Title="&quot;Aaron is a genius boy&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="7" />
  <row Id="1273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1271" CreationDate="2010-08-18T15:37:03.723" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They were formed from the names of old pagan gods (e.g. Friday—Freya's Day), so they are capitalized as proper nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to know where each originates from, see this page: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crowl.org/lawrence/time/days.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Seven-Day Week and the&#xA;Meanings of the Names of the Days&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-28T04:57:47.283" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T04:57:47.283" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="1275" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1282" CreationDate="2010-08-18T15:41:54.113" Score="0" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I once heard that &quot;yard&quot; in the sense of &quot;three feet&quot; had a different origin from &quot;yard&quot; in the sense of &quot;court&quot;; the two words were not related, just homonyms. Can anyone confirm this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T11:45:08.957" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T11:45:08.957" Title="Etymology of &quot;yard&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;measuring-units&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1272" CreationDate="2010-08-18T15:43:00.103" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you mean &quot;boy genius&quot; unless you are trying to create your own term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never heard &quot;genius boy&quot;, and &quot;boy genius&quot; is a standard term for &quot;whiz kid&quot;:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_genius&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_genius&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T15:43:00.103" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1272" CreationDate="2010-08-18T15:43:21.087" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are technically correct, but the idiomatic usage is &quot;boy genius&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T15:43:21.087" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1279" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-18T15:43:24.317" Score="5" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;I increasingly encounter people who misuse &quot;whenever&quot; when they really mean &quot;when&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whenever I first came to St. Louis, I lived with my Aunt Judy...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bugs me to death. Obviously they are talking about a one-time event, not &quot;every time I visited St. Louis&quot;, which would be a valid use of &quot;whenever&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a common misuse? Is this a regional thing (St. Louis, MO, USA)? This isn't a valid alternate use, is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="642" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T05:01:29.977" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T05:01:29.977" Title="Improper use of &quot;Whenever&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="1280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1271" CreationDate="2010-08-18T15:47:06.517" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A proper noun names a specific member of a group: Janet, Asia, and Cadillac are proper nouns. Proper nouns are always capitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what I find in &lt;em&gt;English Grammar&lt;/em&gt; (ISBN 0-06-467109-7).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Asia is a member of the group of the continents, in the same way January is a member of the group of months, and Monday is a member of the group of weekdays.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As per definition of proper nouns, weekday names are proper nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-19T14:26:46.343" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T14:26:46.343" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1279" CreationDate="2010-08-18T15:51:44.207" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a known dialect feature of the American South (but I can't find a reference right now). I don't know that it has a different meaning from &quot;when&quot; in your dialect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="257" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T15:51:44.207" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1275" CreationDate="2010-08-18T15:51:57.637" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the wikipedia page &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yard_%28land%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yard&lt;/a&gt; (portion of land):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word &quot;yard&quot; came from the&#xA;  Anglo-Saxon geard, compare &quot;garden&quot;&#xA;  (German Garten), Old Norse garðr,&#xA;  Russian gorod = &quot;town&quot; (originally as&#xA;  an &quot;enclosed fortified area&quot;), Latin&#xA;  hortus = &quot;garden&quot;, Greek χορτος =&#xA;  &quot;hay&quot; (originally as grown in an&#xA;  enclosed field).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the wikipedia page &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yard&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yard&lt;/a&gt; (three feet in length):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The yard derives its name from the&#xA;  word for a straight branch or rod.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A footnote gives the source for this as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;yard&quot;, A New Dictionary of English on Historical Principles, 10b, Oxford: University Press, 1928, pp. 16–17.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=yard&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; source for a full explication of both etymologies.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="177" LastEditorUserId="177" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T17:51:59.933" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T17:51:59.933" />
  <row Id="1283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1265" CreationDate="2010-08-18T15:53:03.330" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how &quot;Not at all&quot; sounds in response to &quot;thank you&quot;.  I guess I'd have to hear it in context.  I think I would understand it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some alternatives which may connote the same polite dismissal might be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't mention it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My pleasure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T15:53:03.330" />
  <row Id="1284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1275" CreationDate="2010-08-18T15:53:33.423" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word yard has origin from two different, but similar words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;from Old English &lt;em&gt;gerd&lt;/em&gt;, related to Dutch &lt;em&gt;gard&lt;/em&gt; 'twig, rod' and German &lt;em&gt;Gerte&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;from Old English &lt;em&gt;geard&lt;/em&gt; [building, home, region] from a Germanic base related to Russian &lt;em&gt;gorod&lt;/em&gt; 'town'.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T01:11:19.820" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T01:11:19.820" />
  <row Id="1285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1279" CreationDate="2010-08-18T15:55:14.517" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This usage, where it means &quot;at an unspecified/uncertain time&quot; is fairly common.  I usually hear it (and say it) in a construction more like, &quot;Whenever it was that I first came to...&quot;.  I don't know if you would also object to this structure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of being &quot;valid&quot;, the dictionary lists:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;adv.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;At whatever time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When. See Usage Note at whatever.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;conj.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;At whatever time that: We can leave whenever you're ready.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Every time that: The child smiles whenever the puppy appears.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Surely you say things like &quot;whenever you want&quot; -- this is the same &quot;whenever&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T15:55:14.517" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1265" CreationDate="2010-08-18T15:58:15.497" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that &lt;em&gt;not at all&lt;/em&gt; is a polite response to thanks, but I have never heard it being used.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I heard &lt;em&gt;no problem&lt;/em&gt; more frequently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T01:13:23.093" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T01:13:23.093" />
  <row Id="1287" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1298" CreationDate="2010-08-18T16:02:44.170" Score="4" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;My interpretation is that sentences like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Check the application output.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Verify the application is running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;have a slightly different meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any differences between &quot;to check&quot;, and &quot;to verify&quot;? Are they used in different context, or are they interchangeable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-20T16:06:44.823" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T19:36:26.997" Title="'to check' versus 'to verify'" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="1288" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1291" CreationDate="2010-08-18T16:10:23.647" Score="3" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; is used in a conjunction and in time-related sentences; &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt; in all other cases. I believe that these are correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Because I'm older than she, I should be the first chosen;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I loved her and then she died;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it rains [then] it pours;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've had more then enough;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Would you rather be a mouse then a rat?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Who, other than you, likes the color red?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or not? Can someone help me out clearing the mud? I think I'm 90% there, but I like to finally understand it completely. If you have other uses of then/than that I missed, please add yours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="640" LastEditorUserId="640" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T11:54:59.467" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:23:54.827" Title="When should you use &quot;then&quot; and when &quot;than&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1289" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1294" CreationDate="2010-08-18T16:14:37.450" Score="4" ViewCount="221" Body="&lt;p&gt;In which cases is a word, or a group of words written in italics?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is italics used in specific contexts, or it is quite normal to write words in italics?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T13:15:40.860" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T13:15:40.860" Title="Usage of italics in writing" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1288" CreationDate="2010-08-18T16:17:00.413" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two corrections:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've had more than enough.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Would you rather be a mouse than a rat?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;rather... than...&quot; and &quot;more than&quot; are fixed expressions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T16:17:00.413" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1288" CreationDate="2010-08-18T16:19:34.513" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Because I'm older than she, I should be the first chosen;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I loved her and then she died;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it rains, then it poors;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've had more than enough;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Would you rather be a mouse than a rat?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Who, other than you, likes the color red?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When there is a comparison, you use &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; means&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;at that time; at the time in question: &lt;em&gt;I was living in Cairo then&lt;/em&gt; | [after preposition] &lt;em&gt;Phoebe by then was exhausted&lt;/em&gt; | [as adjective] &lt;em&gt;a hotel where the then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, was staying&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;after that; next; afterward: &lt;em&gt;she won the first and then the second game&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;also; in addition: &lt;em&gt;I'm paid a generous salary, and then there's the money I've made at the races&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;in that case; therefore: &lt;em&gt;if you do what I tell you, then there's nothing to worry about&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;well, that's okay then&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;used at the end of a sentence to emphasize an inference being drawn: &lt;em&gt;so you're still here, then&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;used to finish off a conversation: &lt;em&gt;see you in an hour, then&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T14:23:54.827" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:23:54.827" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1287" CreationDate="2010-08-18T16:22:07.913" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;to check&lt;/em&gt; has many meanings, but one of them is &lt;em&gt;to verify&lt;/em&gt;.  Unofficially, I think &lt;em&gt;verify&lt;/em&gt; sounds more thorough and official, but that will depend on the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T16:22:07.913" />
  <row Id="1293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1289" CreationDate="2010-08-18T16:22:35.713" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Off the top of my head, italics are used for: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;book titles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;foreign words&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Latin names of species&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first and second case, you could just as well enclose the word(s) in quotes (without using italics). The third one seems to be set in stone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T16:22:35.713" />
  <row Id="1294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1289" CreationDate="2010-08-18T16:23:57.847" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Wikipedia page on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italic_type#When_to_use&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Italic type&lt;/a&gt; gives a pretty good overview, along with some examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Emphasis: &quot;Smith wasn't the &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; guilty party, it's true&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The titles of works that stand by themselves, such as books (including those within a larger series), albums, plays, or periodicals: &quot;He wrote his thesis on &lt;em&gt;The Scarlet Letter&lt;/em&gt;&quot;. Works that appear within larger works, such as short stories, poems, or newspaper articles, are not italicized, but merely set off in quotation marks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The names of ships: &quot;The &lt;em&gt;Queen Mary&lt;/em&gt; sailed last night.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Foreign words, including the Latin binomial nomenclature in the taxonomy of living organisms: &quot;A splendid &lt;em&gt;coq au vin&lt;/em&gt; was served&quot;; &quot;&lt;em&gt;Homo sapiens&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using a word as an example of a word rather than for its semantic content (see use-mention distinction): &quot;The word &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; is an article&quot;.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using a letter or number mentioned as itself:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;John was annoyed; they had forgotten the &lt;em&gt;h&lt;/em&gt; in his name once again.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When she saw her name beside the &lt;em&gt;1&lt;/em&gt; on the rankings, she finally had proof that she was the best. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Introducing or defining terms, especially technical terms or those used in an unusual or different way: &quot;Freudian psychology is based on the &lt;em&gt;ego&lt;/em&gt;, the &lt;em&gt;super-ego&lt;/em&gt;, and the &lt;em&gt;id&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;; &quot;An &lt;em&gt;even&lt;/em&gt; number is one that is a multiple of 2.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sometimes in novels to indicate a character's thought process: &quot;&lt;em&gt;This can't be happening&lt;/em&gt;, thought Mary.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Algebraic symbols (constants and variables) are conventionally typeset in italics.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Symbols for physical quantities and mathematical constants: &quot;The speed of light, &lt;em&gt;c&lt;/em&gt;, is approximately equal to 3.00×10&lt;sup&gt;8&lt;/sup&gt;&amp;nbsp;m/s.&quot;&#xA;I've seen all of these usage cases between my reading of fiction and non-fiction texts. In particular, I've seen several authors switch to italics for the length of one or even multiple paragraphs to represent the thoughts of a character. Within such paragraphs, text that is normally italicised is put in regular/upright (Roman) type.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(See also &lt;a href=&quot;http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/finetypography/ht/italic_type.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this About.com page&lt;/a&gt;, though it says very similar things to the Wiki page.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T17:01:35.680" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T17:01:35.680" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1295" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1302" CreationDate="2010-08-18T16:38:18.850" Score="3" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;From your personal experience, is &quot;par for the course&quot; widely understood, or would you recommend using a less technical term?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am particularly interested in differences between American, British, and Australian English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T14:35:02.520" Title="&quot;Par for the course&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;saying&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1296" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1395" CreationDate="2010-08-18T16:40:25.600" Score="2" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;Slang is a vivid and inventive form of English and I'd like to learn more about it. What is your favourite slang expression?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="143" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T20:28:43.380" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T02:23:22.963" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-18T16:40:25.600" ClosedDate="2010-08-20T02:26:07.137" Title="What is your favourite slang expression?" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;&lt;subjective&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="1297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1296" CreationDate="2010-08-18T16:41:28.067" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To set the ball rolling, I'd like to offer...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;flying the blue pigeon&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(stealing the lead from church roofs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T16:41:28.067" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-18T16:41:28.067" />
  <row Id="1298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1287" CreationDate="2010-08-18T16:41:30.123" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference in meaning between your two sentences is due not only to the choice of verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Check the application output&quot; would mean to see if there is output and what it is.&#xA;&quot;Verify (that) the application is running&quot; would mean that you expect the application to be running and you need to make sure that is in fact the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the sentences were identical except for the verb then I agree with Peter that the meaning would be identical. Check would simply sound more casual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="645" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T16:41:30.123" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="861" CreationDate="2010-08-18T16:42:12.400" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find it difficult to extract a precise meaning from the sentence, assuming that was is written is written correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;his spaghetti were (plural)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;brought in a huge dish of it (singular)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;we ate it (singular)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me the sentence's meaning only works as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I confess that his spaghetti &lt;strong&gt;was&lt;/strong&gt; very much better than his pictures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T16:42:12.400" />
  <row Id="1301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1272" CreationDate="2010-08-18T16:46:47.543" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can say &lt;em&gt;genius boy&lt;/em&gt; in the same way you say, for example, &lt;em&gt;ninja boy&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;ninja&lt;/em&gt; is a noun that modifies a noun); the correct expression you are asking for is &lt;em&gt;boy genius&lt;/em&gt;, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-28T04:09:04.800" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T04:09:04.800" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1295" CreationDate="2010-08-18T17:02:53.637" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Golf is played worldwide, so I would expect that the phrase -- even if not idiomatic in the local dialect -- would be readily understood by most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I can only speak with certainty for the U.S., where this is definitely a common expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T17:02:53.637" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1289" CreationDate="2010-08-18T17:07:43.707" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answers have many good examples of when to use italics, but I wanted to emphasize that on this site in particular I most frequently use italics to clarify the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use%E2%80%93mention_distinction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;use–mention distinction&lt;/a&gt;—that is, to &lt;em&gt;mention&lt;/em&gt; a word rather than &lt;em&gt;use&lt;/em&gt; it. Of course, in the previous sentence I used italics to emphasize and not for the use–mention distinction. Quotation marks are also frequently used to clarify the use–mention distinction, but I tend to reserve them for mentioning multi-word phrases and use italics for single words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T17:07:43.707" />
  <row Id="1304" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1307" CreationDate="2010-08-18T17:27:08.823" Score="4" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of the phrase &quot;the whole nine yards&quot;? Is it a reference to some game of sports I am not familiar with (as a continental European)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-25T11:22:43.100" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T11:22:43.100" Title="&quot;The whole nine yards&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;saying&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1218" CreationDate="2010-08-18T17:28:15.717" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h2&gt;MAP&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A map is seen as different routes placed &lt;em&gt;usually&lt;/em&gt; on a two-dimensional plane.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each level uses a different &lt;strong&gt;map&lt;/strong&gt; (clarification: the original Pac Man had only 1 map)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This same usage is seen in First person shooter games. Different maps are loaded, which are essentially pathways around a level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastEditorUserId="134" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T14:36:00.500" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T14:36:00.500" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1242" CreationDate="2010-08-18T17:49:06.710" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be honest, in many cases it's more clear if you omit the term &quot;in this country...&quot; completely. Adding this can actually ADD unnecessary ambiguity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Patent law is quite complicated in the&#xA;  USA. It is said that you need a lawyer&#xA;  just to decipher...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as the first sentence in the paragraph sets the context clearly, it should describe the following sentences. At least, this is what is encouraged in technical writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T17:49:06.710" />
  <row Id="1307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1304" CreationDate="2010-08-18T18:14:38.047" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a lot of exciting possibilities &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_whole_nine_yards&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;listed on Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;, but it sounds as if nobody knows for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="649" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T18:14:38.047" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="1308" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1311" CreationDate="2010-08-18T18:21:34.243" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Were I rich, I would live on Long Island.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  If I were rich, I would live on Long Island.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the first sentence still used, or is used in particular contexts (in example, to give emphasis to the sentence)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T18:33:09.570" Title="Conditional sentences not starting with &quot;if&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1067" CreationDate="2010-08-18T18:27:02.857" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's right as long as it's referring to the subject in the second part of the sentence. Else, it could be the case of a &lt;a href=&quot;http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/597/01/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;'dangling modifer'&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/597/01/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/597/01/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spending an hour in the beauty salon, Melissa got a facial with a steam mist: Right&#xA;Spending an hour in the beauty salon, a facial with a steam mist was given to Melissa: Dangling Modifier&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="264" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T18:27:02.857" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1308" CreationDate="2010-08-18T18:33:09.570" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's rarely used nowadays (in the US at least).  It will usually come off as sounding stilted in everyday speech, but possibly more educated/sophisticated in formal speaking and writing (but even then, should probably be used sparingly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T18:33:09.570" />
  <row Id="1312" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-18T18:36:41.123" Score="2" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like him working out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T19:23:17.907" Title="Grammatically speaking what role does 'him' play in this sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1313" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1489" CreationDate="2010-08-18T18:39:36.063" Score="12" ViewCount="255" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English the imperative mood is used only for the second person (differently from Italian, where what is called imperative mood is used also for the first, and third person).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How is the jussive mood rendered in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T18:37:56.203" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:37:56.203" Title="How is the jussive mood rendered in English?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;jussive-mood&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1314" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1315" CreationDate="2010-08-18T18:47:00.337" Score="3" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to say &quot;user accounts&quot; or &quot;users account&quot;, when referring to the accounts any user has on a site like this one?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In general, in the case of a noun that is used as adjective for the noun that follows, is it better to use &lt;code&gt;&amp;lt;plural-noun&amp;gt; &amp;lt;singular-noun&amp;gt;&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;&amp;lt;singular-noun&amp;gt; &amp;lt;plural-noun&amp;gt;&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T14:55:59.673" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T14:55:59.673" Title="&quot;User accounts&quot; or &quot;users account?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="1315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1314" CreationDate="2010-08-18T19:03:50.833" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;&amp;lt;singular-noun&amp;gt; &amp;lt;plural-noun&amp;gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is the way to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T19:03:50.833" />
  <row Id="1316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1314" CreationDate="2010-08-18T19:06:08.817" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You seem to have answered you own question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;... when referring to the &lt;i&gt;accounts&lt;/i&gt; any user has on a ...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One user. Multiple accounts. &quot;User accounts&quot;. &quot;Users Account,&quot; while not meaning anything at all, sounds like multiple users are using one acocunt--or like &quot;Brothers Grimm...&quot; but that doesn't work in the same way...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="651" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T19:06:08.817" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1314" CreationDate="2010-08-18T19:12:55.510" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;User accounts refers to many accounts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Users account on the other hand would refer to an account of a single (particular) user.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T19:12:55.510" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1318" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1321" CreationDate="2010-08-18T19:17:53.067" Score="2" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am still a bit confused how to receive an external phone call at work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Browsing the internet I find:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;* Hello? (informal)&#xA;* Thank you for calling Boyz Autobody. Jody speaking. How can I help you?&#xA;* Doctor's office.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of those work for me well. &quot;Hello?&quot; is certainly too informal. The second seems more for a receptionist...and the third...I don't know what's that supposed to mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are your standard phrases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheers,&#xA;Alex&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="650" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-20T09:00:57.797" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T09:00:57.797" Title="On the phone at work" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;telephone&gt;&lt;workplace&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1312" CreationDate="2010-08-18T19:23:17.907" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In terms of grammatical case, &lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt; is marked accusative.  If you want to get into syntactic theory, then it is involved in something called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECM_verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Exceptional Case Marking&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This Wikipedia article is a bit confusing, even if you know what ECM is.  Essentially, [him working out] is analysed as a clause, so the sentence is structured [I like [him working out]].  So, [him working out] forms a grammatical unit.  The Exceptional Case Marking is the fact that &lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt; is getting accusative case as a result of the verb in the main clause, even though &lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt; is in the subordinate clause (this normally doesn't happen).  So &lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt; is serving a dual role in this sentence, according to theory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T19:23:17.907" />
  <row Id="1320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1296" CreationDate="2010-08-18T19:25:01.117" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If something (a machine, computer etc.) stopped working:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's decided not to play ball today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="650" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T19:25:01.117" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-18T19:25:01.117" />
  <row Id="1321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1318" CreationDate="2010-08-18T19:32:25.730" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your job is such that you would normally be the first person reached when someone calls from outside the company, then you would normally answer by saying something along the lines of your second example (at least giving the name of the company).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not normally the first line of contact, then usually you would answer the phone by giving your particular department (e.g. &quot;human resources&quot;) and possibly giving your name, depending on how verbose you want to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not normally even the first line of contact within your department, then, depending on your work environment, you could either answer with the department, or just by saying &quot;This is Alex&quot;, or &quot;Alex speaking&quot; and possibly adding, &quot;how can I help you?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T19:32:25.730" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1272" CreationDate="2010-08-18T19:40:26.163" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that the word &quot;genius&quot; in this context is being used as an adjective, which it is not - the adjective form is &quot;ingenious&quot;. &quot;Boy genius&quot; is idiomatically preferable, as indicated elsewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="653" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T19:40:26.163" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1323" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1335" CreationDate="2010-08-18T20:09:42.787" Score="3" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/have-got-grammar.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; article and now I'm confused when 'got' can be omitted when using 'have'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could this be explained in plain English without technical terms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a different usage in past tense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastEditorUserId="519" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-19T10:20:28.687" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T10:20:28.687" Title="When can 'have' be used without got?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;tense&gt;&lt;beginner&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="1324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1123" CreationDate="2010-08-18T20:12:09.020" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Web host&quot; - The physical computer&#xA;hardware your web content is hosted on.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Web hosting service&quot; - The&#xA;product offered to a customer by a&#xA;company.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Web hosting service provider&quot; - The actual company. Shorter versions possible like &quot;Web Hosting Provider&quot; etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't agree that you could call the company the &quot;Web host&quot; and just randomly looking at some company web pages, none of them call themselves a &quot;Web host&quot; but a &quot;XYZ Provider&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just looking the google stats doesn't seem to be a good idea to me because...well, we would expect to find more references to the thing being provided than the providing company itself (you will find &quot;car&quot; more often than &quot;car manufacturer&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;hosting provider&quot; 2,030,000 results&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="650" LastEditorUserId="650" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T20:18:03.750" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T20:18:03.750" />
  <row Id="1325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1304" CreationDate="2010-08-18T20:29:18.653" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like Gaurav said, nobody knows for sure. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/the-whole-nine-yards.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is a well sourced and interesting article on the topic. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/the-whole-whole-nine-yards-enchilida.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; the author writes about the impassioned responses that the article evoked from his readers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="177" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T20:29:18.653" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1326" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1330" CreationDate="2010-08-18T20:43:46.590" Score="1" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that &quot;for all intents and purposes&quot; is the correct saying, but I often hear/see people say/write &quot;for all intensive purposes&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was under the impression that the latter is completely incorrect, but when I discussed this with some friends, we could not reach an agreement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;intensive purposes&quot; considered correct even though it is a deviation from the original turn of phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="435" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T05:01:03.067" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T05:01:03.067" Title="&quot;Intents and purposes&quot; versus &quot;intensive purposes&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;eggcorn&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1327" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1343" CreationDate="2010-08-18T20:43:57.853" Score="4" ViewCount="486" Body="&lt;p&gt;Google finds 52,000,000 matches for &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt; but non-natives simply can't look up this word.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ain%27t&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; isn't helpful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it some kind of 'wildcard' for am/is/are - not? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastEditorUserId="519" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-19T10:21:02.570" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T23:58:04.427" Title="Why is &quot;ain't&quot; not listed in dictionaries?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;beginner&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="1328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1327" CreationDate="2010-08-18T20:47:38.250" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, yes. It's almost the definitive colloquial word: every native speaker knows perfectly well what it means, but no one admits it in formal or even semi-formal usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not (as far as I know) a contraction of actual words; rather, it is a slurring of several different possibilities, which are as you listed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T20:47:38.250" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1327" CreationDate="2010-08-18T20:54:25.330" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Part of the reason it doesn't make the cut is because it is considered nonstandard (why it never earns a status as a valid alternative form is tough to say).  But if your dictionary is robust enough, you'll find it in there.  The Oxford English Dictionary says the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Negative forms colloquial and vulgar,&#xA;  found in dramatists and novels since&#xA;  17th c. are &lt;em&gt;ar'n't&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;a'n't&lt;/em&gt; = are not,&#xA;  am not, &lt;em&gt;e'n't&lt;/em&gt;, ain't = am not, is not,&#xA;  are not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T20:54:25.330" />
  <row Id="1330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1326" CreationDate="2010-08-18T20:57:49.473" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's most likely a slurring of the original phrase, but &quot;for all intensive purposes&quot; does make it clear that only the &lt;em&gt;most serious purposes&lt;/em&gt; are being considered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would probably classify it as an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggcorn&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;eggcorn&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T20:57:49.473" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1327" CreationDate="2010-08-18T21:01:13.427" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, it is listed in various dictionaries. Some quotations about its usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ain't is one of the most informal verb&#xA;  contractions in English, and its use&#xA;  in formal contexts may be criticized&#xA;  because it is associated with careless&#xA;  speech. It is, however, accepted in&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;folk and popular song lyrics, show titles, direct quotations, and&#xA;  fictional dialogue&lt;/strong&gt;. Otherwise ain't&#xA;  is best avoided, except as a&#xA;  deliberate rhetorical device and in&#xA;  allusive expressions such as &lt;em&gt;You&#xA;  ain't seen nothing yet&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The use of ain‘t was widespread in the&#xA;  18th century, typically as a&#xA;  contraction for &lt;strong&gt;am not&lt;/strong&gt;. It is&#xA;  still perfectly normal in many&#xA;  dialects and informal speech in both&#xA;  Britain and North America. Today,&#xA;  however , it does not form part of&#xA;  standard English and should never be&#xA;  used in formal or written contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, the definition of &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt; in Merriam-Webster Dictionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etymology: contraction of &lt;strong&gt;are not&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Date: 1749&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;am not : are not : is not&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;have not : has not&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;do not : does not : did not —used in some varieties of Black English&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T21:01:13.427" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1332" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-18T21:02:47.933" Score="2" ViewCount="199" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you recommend a book or specific approach that helped you develop your writing skills?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="111" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-16T10:10:09.183" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T21:17:10.567" ClosedDate="2011-02-08T02:37:02.807" Title="How to develop writing skills as a non-native English writer?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="1333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1326" CreationDate="2010-08-18T21:03:00.803" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The original idiom is &quot;intents and purposes.&quot; Intents and Purposes are both nouns in this case.  With &quot;intensive purposes&quot; intensive is an adjective that describes the intensity of the noun purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;This chainsaw is a suitable tool for the intensive purpose of cutting down this tree.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;This chainsaw serves our purpose, and is a suitable tool to carry out our intention of cutting down this tree.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it serve your purposes and satisfy your intents? Or does it satisfy your intensive purposes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="657" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T21:03:00.803" />
  <row Id="1334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1332" CreationDate="2010-08-18T21:16:39.803" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Now, I'm a native speaker, so take that into consideration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I've found that my writing skills improved as I increased reading.  I would read as much as possible - I don't really think what you read matters.  Novels, short stories, newspapers, even blogs will give you a sense of different forms and tones of written communication.  Over time, maybe you'll begin to internalize what you read and that might affect how you write.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But again, I'm a native speaker, so I'm just guessing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="378" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T21:16:39.803" />
  <row Id="1335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1323" CreationDate="2010-08-18T21:38:49.187" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can safely omit it pretty much always.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's largely a regional variety issue. As the article explains, in the UK &quot;I've got&quot; might be used more commonly where Americans would say &quot;I have&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember being taught phrases like this in elementary English classes (due to British English emphasis in Finnish schools at that time):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've got a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But rest assured, it is &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; wrong to omit &quot;got&quot; in a phrase like this and just say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have a cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also in those cases where it's used to add emphasis or indicate obligation...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've &lt;em&gt;got&lt;/em&gt; to go now!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... you can always omit it and still be perfectly understood (you can add the emphasis in other ways):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; to go now!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T21:54:21.380" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T21:54:21.380" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1336" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1337" CreationDate="2010-08-18T21:52:03.410" Score="4" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a non-native speaker (actually from Russia) and for us the articles (a, an, the) came as a thing that we just have to adopt. We do not have not similar constructions in Russian. Menus I see in programs, and other short phrases related to computer user interfaces usually lack articles (for example Open Location and something like this). I'm wondering, does it look natural for a native English speaker or is it something one is getting used to? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="661" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-19T02:57:46.487" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T02:57:46.487" Title="Absence of articles in computer-related sentences, does it look natural?" Tags="&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1336" CreationDate="2010-08-18T22:05:50.390" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This style of writing is not only used for computers.  It is also used for short notes, newspaper headlines, road signs, and many store signs.  I think it is done mostly for saving space, and English speakers are quite used to it.  I believe that it was completely natural to use this style for computers when they came along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a brief entry about this in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_articles#General_usage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;last paragraph of this Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In contexts where concision is&#xA;  especially valued, such as headlines,&#xA;  signs, labels, and notes, articles are&#xA;  often omitted along with certain other&#xA;  function words. For example, rather&#xA;  than &lt;em&gt;The mayor is attacked&lt;/em&gt;, a&#xA;  newspaper headline would say just&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;Mayor attacked&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T22:05:50.390" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1338" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-18T22:53:56.013" Score="12" ViewCount="502" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say &lt;em&gt;Microsoft have a way of bending the rules&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;I know that McLaren have won the championship&lt;/em&gt;. While this sounds strange, I believe it is correct English (sorry, I'm not native). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But when it's a small company, would you still use it this way? I.e., would you say &lt;em&gt;Bakery Johnson makes fine bread&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Bakery Johnson make fine bread&lt;/em&gt;? Is it &lt;em&gt;My book seller, Woody's, have moved&lt;/em&gt; or is it &lt;em&gt;has moved&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="640" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-19T00:04:15.597" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T13:21:27.210" Title="Is a company always plural, or are small companies singular?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="1339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1338" CreationDate="2010-08-18T23:02:02.663" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These company names are collective nouns. In general, in American English collective nouns almost always trigger singular verb agreement (after all, &quot;Microsoft&quot; is grammatically a singular noun, even if semantically it denotes an entity made up of many people). It is apparently much more common to use plural verb agreement in British English. It doesn't have anything to do with the size of the company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lots of good information here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001874.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Language Log on collective nouns, etc.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastEditorUserId="78" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T23:20:45.160" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T23:20:45.160" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1338" CreationDate="2010-08-18T23:05:07.290" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A corporate entity is a singular proper noun, so the above sentence ought to read &quot;Microsoft has a way of bending the rules&quot;. If it helps, replace the proper noun with the definite article, e.g. &quot;the company&quot; in this case, and rephrase to suit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="653" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T23:05:07.290" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1341" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1345" CreationDate="2010-08-18T23:07:55.413" Score="3" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this a comma splice?   What makes a sentence a comma splice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Being left at the altar on her wedding&#xA;  day, Pamela became furious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="662" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-18T23:18:59.233" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T01:34:12.880" Title="Is this a comma splice?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="1342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1296" CreationDate="2010-08-18T23:17:30.673" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Y'all Come Back Now&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="662" LastActivityDate="2010-08-18T23:17:30.673" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-18T23:17:30.673" />
  <row Id="1343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1327" CreationDate="2010-08-18T23:18:28.127" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The common bit of schoolyard wisdom that “&lt;em&gt;ain’t&lt;/em&gt; ain’t in the dictionary, so &lt;em&gt;ain’t&lt;/em&gt; ain’t a word” turns out to be untrue. Every online dictionary that I’ve ever looked in contained an entry for &lt;em&gt;ain’t&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ain%27t&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster Online&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Main Entry: &lt;strong&gt;ain't&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Pronunciation: \ˈānt\&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Etymology: contraction of &lt;em&gt;are not&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Date: 1749&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;1:&lt;/strong&gt; am not &lt;strong&gt;:&lt;/strong&gt; are not &lt;strong&gt;:&lt;/strong&gt; is not&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;2:&lt;/strong&gt; have not &lt;strong&gt;:&lt;/strong&gt; has not&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;3:&lt;/strong&gt; do not &lt;strong&gt;:&lt;/strong&gt; does not &lt;strong&gt;:&lt;/strong&gt; did not —used in some varieties of Black English&lt;/p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;usage&lt;/strong&gt; Although widely disapproved as nonstandard and more common in the habitual speech of the less educated, &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt; in senses 1 and 2 is flourishing in American English. It is used in both speech and writing to catch attention and to gain emphasis &amp;lt;the wackiness of movies, once so deliciously amusing, &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt; funny anymore — Richard Schickel&amp;gt; &amp;lt;I am telling you—there &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt; going to be any blackmail — R. M. Nixon&amp;gt;. It is used especially in journalistic prose as part of a consistently informal style  &amp;lt;that &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt; hay&gt; &amp;lt;two out of three &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt; bad&gt; &amp;lt;if it &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt; broke, don't fix it&amp;gt;. In fiction &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt; is used for purposes of characterization; in familiar correspondence it tends to be the mark of a warm personal friendship. It is also used for metrical reasons in popular songs &amp;lt;&lt;em&gt;Ain't&lt;/em&gt; She Sweet&amp;gt; &amp;lt;It &lt;em&gt;Ain't&lt;/em&gt; Necessarily So&amp;gt;. Our evidence shows British use to be much the same as American. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ain%27t&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Random House Unabridged&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ain't&lt;/strong&gt;   [eynt] /eɪnt/ &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. &lt;em&gt;Nonstandard except in some dialects&lt;/em&gt;. am not; are not; is not. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. &lt;em&gt;Nonstandard&lt;/em&gt;. have not; has not; do not; does not; did not. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Origin:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;  1770–80;  var. of &lt;em&gt;amn't&lt;/em&gt;  (contr. of &lt;em&gt;am not&lt;/em&gt; ) by loss of &lt;em&gt;m&lt;/em&gt; and raising with compensatory lengthening of &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;; cf. &lt;em&gt;aren't&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;—Usage note&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;  As a substitute for &lt;em&gt;am not&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;is not&lt;/em&gt;,  and &lt;em&gt;are not&lt;/em&gt;  in declarative sentences, &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt;  is more common in uneducated speech than in educated, but it occurs with some frequency in the informal speech of the educated, especially in the southern and south-central states. This is especially true of the interrogative use of &lt;em&gt;ain't I?&lt;/em&gt;  as a substitute for the formal and—to some—stilted &lt;em&gt;am I not?&lt;/em&gt;  or for &lt;em&gt;aren't I?&lt;/em&gt;,  considered by some to be ungrammatical, or for the awkward—and rare in American speech— &lt;em&gt;amn't I?&lt;/em&gt; Some speakers avoid any of the preceding forms by substituting &lt;em&gt;Isn't that so&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;true&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;the case&lt;/em&gt;) &lt;em&gt;? Ain't&lt;/em&gt;  occurs in humorous or set phrases: &lt;em&gt;Ain't it the truth! She ain't what she used to be. It ain't funny.&lt;/em&gt;  The word is also used for emphasis: &lt;em&gt;That just ain't so!&lt;/em&gt;  It does not appear in formal writing except for deliberate effect in such phrases or to represent speech. As a substitute for &lt;em&gt;have not&lt;/em&gt;  or &lt;em&gt;has not&lt;/em&gt;  and—occasionally in Southern speech— &lt;em&gt;do not&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;does not&lt;/em&gt;,  and &lt;em&gt;did not&lt;/em&gt;,  it is nonstandard except in similar humorous uses: You ain't heard nothin' yet! See also &lt;em&gt;aren't&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ain%27t&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Collins English Dictionary - Complete &amp;amp; Unabridged 10th Edition&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ain’t&lt;/strong&gt; (eɪnt)&#xA;  — &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;contraction of&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  am not, is not, are not, have not, &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; has not: &lt;em&gt;I ain’t seen it&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ain%27t&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ain't&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt; 1706, originally a contraction of am not,  and in proper use with that sense until it began to be used as a generic contraction for are not, is not,  etc., in early 19c. Cockney dialect of London, popularized by representations of this in Dickens, etc., which led to the word being banished from correct English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ain%27t&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ain't definition&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  in. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  is not. (Colloquial. Stigmatized, jocular, mock undereducated, as well as undereducated use. Its use is widespread and sometimes deliberate in educated spoken use and when writing for effect. Properly an old contraction of am not or are not. The battle against ain't was lost at least two centuries ago but is still fought in isolated areas. See also &lt;em&gt;If it ain't broke don't fix it.&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;If it ain't broke, fix it till it is.&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;That ain't hay!&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.&lt;/em&gt;) :  Saying “Ain't ain't in the dictionary” ain't so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/ain-t&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ain't short form  /eɪnt/ not standard&#xA;  am not, is not, are not, has not, or have not&#xA;  He ain't going.&#xA;  &quot;Can I have a fag?&quot; &quot;I ain't got none left.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ain't (ānt)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yourdictionary.com/ain-t&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Webster's New World College Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Informal am not&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;: a dialectal or nonstandard usage &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  a.  is not or are not &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  b.  has not or have not&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Origin: early assimilation, with lengthened and raised vowel, of &lt;em&gt;amn't&lt;/em&gt;, contr. of &lt;em&gt;am not&lt;/em&gt;; later confused with &lt;em&gt;a'nt (are not), i'nt (is not), ha'nt (has not, have not)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yourdictionary.com/ain-t&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Heritage Dictionary, 4th edition&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ain't (ānt)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;Nonstandard&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1.  Contraction of &lt;em&gt;am not.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2.  Used also as a contraction for &lt;em&gt;are not, is not, has not,&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;have not.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Usage Note:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;Ain't&lt;/em&gt; has a long history of controversy. It first appeared in 1778, evolving from an earlier &lt;em&gt;an't,&lt;/em&gt; which arose almost a century earlier as a contraction of &lt;em&gt;are not&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;am not.&lt;/em&gt; In fact, &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt; arose at the tail end of an era that saw the introduction of a number of our most common contractions, including &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;won't.&lt;/em&gt; But while &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;won't&lt;/em&gt; eventually became accepted at all levels of speech and writing, &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt; was to receive a barrage of criticism in the 19th century for having no set sequence of words from which it can be contracted and for being a “vulgarism,” that is, a term used by the lower classes, although &lt;em&gt;an't&lt;/em&gt; at least had been originally used by the upper classes as well. At the same time &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt;'s uses were multiplying to include &lt;em&gt;has not, have not,&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;is not,&lt;/em&gt; by influence of forms like &lt;em&gt;ha'n't&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;i'n't.&lt;/em&gt; It may be that these extended uses helped fuel the negative reaction. Whatever the case, criticism of &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt; by usage commentators and teachers has not subsided, and the use of &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt; is often regarded as a sign of ignorance. • But despite all the attempts to ban it, &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt; continues to enjoy extensive use in speech. Even educated and upper-class speakers see no substitute in folksy expressions such as &lt;em&gt;Say it ain't so&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;You ain't seen nothin' yet.&lt;/em&gt; • The stigmatization of &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt; leaves us with no happy alternative for use in first-person questions. The widely used &lt;em&gt;aren't I?&lt;/em&gt; though illogical, was found acceptable for use in speech by a majority of the Usage Panel in an earlier survey, but in writing there is no acceptable substitute for the stilted &lt;em&gt;am I not?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/ain-t&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Advanced Learner's Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ain't&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  a short form of 'am not', 'is not', 'are not', 'has not', or 'have not', that many people think is incorrect&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/ain-t&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Macmillan English Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ain't&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;spoken&lt;/em&gt; pronunciation /eɪnt/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a way of saying ‘am not’, ‘is not’, ‘are not’, ‘has not’, or ‘have not’. Many people consider ‘ain’t’ to be incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other dictionaries available to me at my desk include&#xA;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; that ships with Mac OS X, which also has an entry for &lt;em&gt;ain’t&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ain't |ānt| informal&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  contraction of  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;am not; are not; is not : if it ain't broke, don't fix it. [ORIGIN: originally representing London dialect.]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;has not; have not : they ain't got nothing to say. [ORIGIN: from dialect hain't.]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  USAGE The use of &lt;strong&gt;ain't&lt;/strong&gt; was widespread in the 18th century and is still perfectly normal in many dialects and informal contexts in both North America and Britain. Today, however, it does not form part of standard English and should not be used in formal contexts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, clearly, non-natives (and natives too) can look up this word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-19T00:11:48.810" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T00:11:48.810" />
  <row Id="1344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1341" CreationDate="2010-08-18T23:18:30.547" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say no, because &quot;Being left at the alter on her wedding day&quot; isn't an independent clause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be considered a comma splice if you phrased it this way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pamela was left at the altar on her&#xA;  wedding day, she was furious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="179" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-19T14:38:25.270" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T14:38:25.270" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="1345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1341" CreationDate="2010-08-19T00:30:36.637" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There was just a &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2563&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;post today on Language Log&lt;/a&gt; about constructions like this, known as &lt;em&gt;absolutives&lt;/em&gt;. In it, Mark Liberman quotes from the Cambridge Grammar of the English Language:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;pages 1265-6 of CGEL, where the followed two examples are given:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;His hands gripping the door&lt;/em&gt;, he let out a volley of curses.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;This done&lt;/em&gt;, she walked off without another word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&#xA;  The [italicized] non-finites are supplements with the main clause as anchor. [The examples shown] contain a subject, and belong to what is known as the absolute construction, one which is subordinate in form but with no syntactic link to the main clause. […]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In [none of these examples] is there any explicit indication of the semantic relation between the supplement and the anchor. This has to be inferred from the content of the clauses and/or the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;comma splice&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, is when two sentences are connected with a comma instead of a period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T00:30:36.637" />
  <row Id="1346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1348" CreationDate="2010-08-19T01:12:03.540" Score="3" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one of these sentences is gramatically correct? Would it be alright if other sentences was being used in daily conversations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let me know whenever &lt;code&gt;you&lt;/code&gt; arrive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let me know whenever &lt;code&gt;you're&lt;/code&gt; arrived.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let me know whenever &lt;code&gt;you were&lt;/code&gt; arrived.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T06:28:12.347" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T10:31:51.857" Title="&quot;Whenever you [have|are] arrived&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;present-tense&gt;&lt;present-perfect-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1346" CreationDate="2010-08-19T01:29:12.457" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best is a variation of the first:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let me know when you arrive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second two examples are incorrect, as &lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt; isn't used followed by a past participle in this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An alternate formulation (which means pretty much the exact same thing) is to use the present perfect:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let me know when you've arrived.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference in meaning between the simple present (in my first example) and the present perfect (in my second example) is very small in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-28T01:20:41.810" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T01:20:41.810" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1115" CreationDate="2010-08-19T02:43:28.987" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_noun#Terms_of_venery_.28words_for_groups_of_animals.29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; suggests that the terms derive from Medieval hunting terms.  The source cited is &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0140170960&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;An Exaltation of Larks&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T02:43:28.987" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1296" CreationDate="2010-08-19T03:39:34.267" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My favorite Britticism (that I use frequently, even though I'm a Yank) is &quot;barking&quot; as in &quot;barking mad.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="143" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-19T16:30:47.980" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T16:30:47.980" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-19T03:39:34.267" />
  <row Id="1351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1272" CreationDate="2010-08-19T04:28:26.930" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Genius&quot; and &quot;boy&quot; are both nouns. &lt;strong&gt;(Note that the adjective &quot;ingenious&quot; in present English usage is not at all related to the word &quot;genius&quot;.)&lt;/strong&gt; Take some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;*&lt;/code&gt; Genius scientist&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is wrong, instead we prefer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;scientific genius&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, both &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;boy wonder&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;wonder boy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;are acceptable, so it seems that &quot;boy&quot; can be used either as a noun modifier (noun-as-adjective) or as a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if this generalizes to other words in similar categories or not, but I am 100% sure that the accepted and upvoted answer is wrong and thoroughly misguided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T04:28:26.930" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="511" CreationDate="2010-08-19T07:41:36.643" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are two sites which are more etymology-related, but often it's the etymology of common (or not-so-common) expressions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.word-detective.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.word-detective.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.worldwidewords.org/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T07:41:36.643" />
  <row Id="1353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-08-19T07:49:11.947" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Going out on a limb here, because I don't really speak German, but there's one &quot;word&quot; I do quite like, which is &lt;code&gt;Jein&lt;/code&gt;, a mix of &lt;code&gt;Ja&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;Nein&lt;/code&gt;, which kind of means &quot;Yes and No, neither, I can't answer that&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T07:49:11.947" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-19T07:49:11.947" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1341" CreationDate="2010-08-19T08:05:48.163" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Being left at the altar on her wedding day, Pamela became furious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence is an example of a sentence starting with a participial phrase; in that case, it's correct to use the comma (which is the only way to separate the phrases, in that case).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A comma splice would occur in a sentence like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;*&lt;/strong&gt; The Taylors won a new swimming pool, however, no one in the family knew how to swin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The correct sentence is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Taylors won a new swimming pool; however, no one in the family knew how to swin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T01:34:12.880" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T01:34:12.880" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1327" CreationDate="2010-08-19T08:17:07.760" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt; is reported in the NOAD (New Oxford American Dictionary).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ain't /_eɪnt/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (informal)  contraction of&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  - &lt;em&gt;am not&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;are not&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;is not&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;em&gt;if it ain't broke, don't fix it&lt;/em&gt;. [ORIGIN: originally representing London dialect.]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  - has not; have not : &lt;em&gt;they ain't got nothing to say&lt;/em&gt;. [ORIGIN: from dialect &lt;em&gt;hain't&lt;/em&gt;.]  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;USAGE&lt;/strong&gt; The use of &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt; was widespread in the 18th century and is still perfectly normal in many dialects and informal contexts in both North America and Britain. Today, however, it does not form part of standard English and should not be used in formal contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T23:58:04.427" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T23:58:04.427" />
  <row Id="1356" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1359" CreationDate="2010-08-19T08:42:19.853" Score="1" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the etymology of &lt;em&gt;bouillon cubes&lt;/em&gt;? What other word can I use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-21T15:55:10.433" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T15:55:10.433" Title="What is the origin of bouillon cubes?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="1357" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1382" CreationDate="2010-08-19T08:54:10.730" Score="3" ViewCount="403" Body="&lt;p&gt;When is the present perfect tense is used instead of the past tense?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that the present perfect tense is used when in the sentence are present some adverbs (e.g., &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ever&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T00:51:20.927" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T00:51:20.927" Title="Present perfect tense versus past tense" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;&lt;present-perfect-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1358" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1399" CreationDate="2010-08-19T08:57:15.060" Score="2" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you returned, I had been at home since 10 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you returned, I had been at home from 5 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In such sentences, is it correct to use &lt;em&gt;since&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;from&lt;/em&gt;? When &lt;em&gt;since&lt;/em&gt; is used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="513" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T21:57:14.853" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T07:19:28.320" Title="Since versus from" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="1359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1356" CreationDate="2010-08-19T08:59:01.497" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bouillon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Wiktionary page for &lt;em&gt;bouillon&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; describes the etymology well. The immediate origin of the word is quite clearly French, and is cognate with *boil&quot; in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;First attested 1656, from French&#xA;  bouillir (“to boil”), from Old French&#xA;  boillir, from Latin bullīre, present&#xA;  active infinitive of bulliō (“I&#xA;  bubble, boil”), from bulla (“bubble”).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;bouillon cube&lt;/em&gt; is simply a bit of dehydrated bullion (broth) shaped into a cube, so it can be easily added to a liquid to quickly season a broth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Why do I feel I'm on the Food and Cooking StackExchange site..?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T08:59:01.497" />
  <row Id="1360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1357" CreationDate="2010-08-19T09:41:54.693" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are actually talking about two different things here. There is tense (past, present) and there is aspect (finished, ongoing, punctual, etc.). In English these are often somewhat hard to tell apart. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your example has a tense mismatch. The first part is past tense, while the second part is present tense. You can think of it as equivalent to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been at home since 3:00 PM, when you returned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is clearly ungrammatical, because the first part is present tense and the second is past. The &quot;returning&quot; event took place in the past, so your having been home must have occurred in the past as well. So it would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I had been at home (since X time) when you returned....&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastEditorUserId="78" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-19T10:01:42.633" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T10:01:42.633" />
  <row Id="1361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1358" CreationDate="2010-08-19T09:42:00.497" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both seem awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would write&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you returned I had been home for 10 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T09:42:00.497" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1358" CreationDate="2010-08-19T10:58:13.573" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are wrong. You use since when talking about a specific point in time. (I suppose you could use from in this case as well, but I haven't seen it in actual American usage.) For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you returned, I had been home since 3:00.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When talking about a duration, for is used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you returned, I had been home for 10 minutes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="672" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T07:19:28.320" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T07:19:28.320" />
  <row Id="1363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1357" CreationDate="2010-08-19T11:03:14.157" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The present perfect is used to show that the event's timeframe started sometime in the past and continues into the present (and possibly will continue beyond).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is also being used to denote the connection to the present. That is the focus is on having the experience of walking every day for a year.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrast this to the simple past which only shows the event happened in the past. We do not know when it started, nor do we know how it is connected to the present. Additionally, the focus is on the simple fact that the event happened, not how it changes things for you in the present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arguably, if you really want to show the event continues through the present, you'd want to use the continuous, but that's a side note.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="672" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T00:47:21.433" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T00:47:21.433" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1364" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-19T11:06:52.047" Score="8" ViewCount="556" Body="&lt;p&gt;In everyday speech, the terms &lt;em&gt;jail&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;prison&lt;/em&gt; are used interchangeably in many situations. However, my understanding is that, at least in the US, they actually refer to slightly different things. For instance, it appears to me that it would be rather unusual for an American to use the expression &lt;em&gt;federal jail&lt;/em&gt;. He'd most probably say &lt;em&gt;federal prison&lt;/em&gt; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I right? What is the correct usage of &lt;em&gt;jail&lt;/em&gt; vs &lt;em&gt;prison&lt;/em&gt;? Are there any (historical or legal) differences between the US and the Commonwealth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T23:11:00.840" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T01:51:58.523" Title="&quot;jail&quot; vs &quot;prison&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1364" CreationDate="2010-08-19T11:43:57.430" Score="25" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I consider &quot;jail&quot; to mean a temporary, local facility where suspects are held until and during trial.  In general, you can get out of jail by paying a bail bond.  &quot;Prison&quot; is where convicted felons are sent to serve their sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, there aren't a lot of federal jails--there's not much point to the local and federal governments having two jails in the same city--the feds just pay the locals for use of their jails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="675" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T11:43:57.430" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1366" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1368" CreationDate="2010-08-19T11:51:27.510" Score="8" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why are year, pound and mile in the singular form in the phrases below?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;five-year-old children &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 pound note&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 mile run&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that because they're acting as adjectives, which are always invariable in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it incorrect to say...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;five-years-old children?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 pounds note?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 miles run?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T12:05:33.190" Title="Pluralization rule for &quot;five-year-old children&quot;, &quot;20 pound note&quot;, &quot;10 mile run&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="1367" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1370" CreationDate="2010-08-19T11:52:21.313" Score="3" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;When referring to a page in a text, should the reference be e.g. &quot;see page 2&quot;, or &quot;see Page 2&quot;? Since I write &quot;see Section 2&quot;, I would lean towards the latter, but I think I have seen the former more often in the texts of others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="587" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T12:35:17.670" Title="&quot;page 2&quot; or &quot;Page 2&quot;?" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="1368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1366" CreationDate="2010-08-19T12:00:31.237" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those are called &lt;strong&gt;compound&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;hyphenated compound&lt;/strong&gt; adjectives. And adjectives don't have plural forms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional examples&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;three-story building (&lt;strike&gt;three-stories bulding&lt;/strike&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;four-wheel drive (&lt;strike&gt;four-wheels drive&lt;/strike&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;32-bit processor (&lt;strike&gt;32-bits processor&lt;/strike&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="146" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-19T12:05:33.190" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T12:05:33.190" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1367" CreationDate="2010-08-19T12:18:29.890" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a difference between &quot;page 2&quot; and &quot;Section 2&quot;.  Wherever the &quot;Section 2&quot; is located, the author most likely has actually given it the title &quot;Section 2&quot;, so that is the name of a specific section of your paper.  However, &quot;page 2&quot; is a page with the name &quot;2&quot; (not the name &quot;Page 2&quot;, unless you wrote &quot;Page #&quot; in the corner of every page).  This, I believe, is the logic for writing &quot;page 2&quot; in lowercase.  It is like the difference between &quot;Bob's &lt;strong&gt;house&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; and &quot;White &lt;strong&gt;House&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the real answer actually depends on the author and the audience (in a certain field, people might expect publications to give pages as e.g. &quot;Page 2&quot; out of tradition or whatever reason, in which case an author would follow that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-19T12:35:17.670" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T12:35:17.670" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1371" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1375" CreationDate="2010-08-19T12:24:34.447" Score="8" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;Did the word &quot;idiocracy&quot; exist prior to the release of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;movie of the same title&lt;/a&gt;, or is it a neologism coined by its screenwriters?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T13:50:13.267" Title="Origin of &quot;idiocracy&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;neologisms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="1372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1364" CreationDate="2010-08-19T12:24:43.247" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest theres only a contextual difference, but no inherent difference between the words in usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In common usage, &quot;He went to jail&quot; | &quot;He went to prison&quot; would carry the same meaning, stigma, weight. To suss out the sense I would bring up that with &quot;jail term&quot; | &quot;prison term&quot;, the only way to make them interchangeable is to qualify them; as in 'i was put in jail last night.' &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as a facility there are too many other words (ie correctional facility, rehabilitation center, etc) for there to be a clear cut difference between choosing just jail and prison. also, i would note that although there seems to be a difference in @robert 's answer, it hinges on the examples being qualified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T12:24:43.247" />
  <row Id="1373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1356" CreationDate="2010-08-19T12:26:57.530" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never heard another word to describe a bouillon cube, but there are at least three of words for the &lt;em&gt;product&lt;/em&gt; of a bouillon cube. Stock, Broth, Soup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="676" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T12:26:57.530" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1371" CreationDate="2010-08-19T12:36:46.543" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a combination of &lt;em&gt;idiot&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;democracy&lt;/em&gt;, and meant to refer to a democracy of idiots.  There are similar examples like &lt;em&gt;meritocracy&lt;/em&gt; (a democracy based on merit) or &lt;em&gt;autocracy&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T12:36:46.543" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1371" CreationDate="2010-08-19T12:48:57.347" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, the word already existed as far back as 1681, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Idiocracy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;originally meant&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Peculiarity of constitution; that&#xA;  temperament, or state of constitution,&#xA;  which is peculiar to a person;&#xA;  idiosyncrasy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it was basically an alternative form to &quot;idiosyncrasy&quot; and was just re-appropriated for its other meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, even more interestingly, I see a reference from the OED to the use of this word with the current interpretation of &quot;idiot form of government&quot; (made by an author named Thomas Sinclair) from all the way back in 1878 (and my sincere apology for the unfortunate fact that the cited quotation is antisemitic):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No Jew of them all would..set up a&#xA;  theocracy, or *idiocracy, for this is&#xA;  the exact word, more eagerly and&#xA;  remorselessly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Great question; I was surprised by what I discovered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-19T14:33:23.673" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T14:33:23.673" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1364" CreationDate="2010-08-19T13:17:55.663" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jail is a municipal level, prison is on a state/federal/provincial/territory level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will not serve life in a jail, but you will in a prison, which is more for serious crimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="680" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T13:17:55.663" />
  <row Id="1377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1271" CreationDate="2010-08-19T13:28:58.227" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They evolved from their anglosaxon/latin forms, which translated into something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sun's day, Moon's day, Tiw's day, Wodan's day, Thor's day, Fríge's day, Saturn's day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can see relations in other languages like german (&lt;code&gt;tag&lt;/code&gt; is german for day):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sonntag (sonne = sun), Montag (mond = moon), Mittwoch (&quot;mid-week&quot;), Donnerstag (donner = thor), Freitag (frei = Fríge), Samstag (again relating to Saturn).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since they were honorific names with religious meaning, they kept their proper noun status. Similar to the catholic &lt;code&gt;god&lt;/code&gt; being called &lt;code&gt;God&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="680" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T13:28:58.227" />
  <row Id="1378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1371" CreationDate="2010-08-19T13:39:27.953" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Idiocracy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt; reports the words derives from &lt;em&gt;idio-&lt;/em&gt;, and a word that is mixture of French, and Greek.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports that &lt;em&gt;idio-&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;distinct, private, personal, own&quot;; its origin is from Greek &lt;em&gt;idios&lt;/em&gt; (own, distinct).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T13:50:13.267" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T13:50:13.267" />
  <row Id="1379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="706" CreationDate="2010-08-19T13:42:50.457" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always thought that the newer &quot;could care less&quot; came about by way of casual pronunciation.  Phonemes are dropped: /kʊdnt kɛɹ/ morphs into just /kʊd kɛɹ/.  That is, the n and t phonemes are elided.  Not surprising, since d, n and t are all alveolar consonants.  As people heard it and learned the idiom, they merely continued to pronounce it the same way, and then spell it the most obvious way, based on what they thought they heard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="681" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T13:42:50.457" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1357" CreationDate="2010-08-19T14:44:56.143" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have walked downtown every day for a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;perfect&quot; part of &quot;present perfect&quot; means that the action has been completed. You are saying that your action of walking downtown every day for a year is complete (which doesn't mean that you won't keep doing it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;present&quot; bit means that the action has been completed in the present. Let's contrast it with the past tense:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I walked downtown every day for a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no longer a time frame here. This might have happened years ago, for all we know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, please refer to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/everyday.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Brian's &lt;em&gt;Common Errors&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; on the subject of &quot;everyday&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T14:44:56.143" />
  <row Id="1381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1364" CreationDate="2010-08-19T14:45:54.940" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;NOAD&lt;/em&gt; reports the following definitions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;jail /dʒeɪl/ ( British also gaol)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  a place for the confinement of people accused or convicted of a crime: &lt;em&gt;he spent 15 years in jail&lt;/em&gt; | [as adjective] &lt;em&gt;a jail sentence&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   - confinement in a jail: &lt;em&gt;she was sentenced to three months' jail&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;prison /ˈprɪzən/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  a building (or vessel) to which people are legally committed as a punishment for crimes they have committed or while awaiting trial: &lt;em&gt;he died in prison&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;both men were sent to prison&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   - confinement in such a building: &lt;em&gt;prison saves one man and hardens another&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the description, I would understand that jail is a place for temporary confinement; from the given examples, it seems there isn't much difference in using one word or the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T01:51:58.523" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T01:51:58.523" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1357" CreationDate="2010-08-19T14:49:05.400" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The present perfect is used for unfinished or undefined time.  I don't think your example is correct, since &lt;em&gt;for a year&lt;/em&gt; is understood to be a finished time.  A time period of one year.  It would have been correct if you wrote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have walked downtown every day &lt;strong&gt;this&lt;/strong&gt; year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that case you'd have unfinished time.  The time period would be up to and including now.  If you used a defined and finished time in the past like &lt;em&gt;last august&lt;/em&gt;, then you'd have to use the simple past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I walked downtown every day last August.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since last August is finished time, you have to use the simple past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T14:49:05.400" />
  <row Id="1383" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1385" CreationDate="2010-08-19T14:50:33.540" Score="3" ViewCount="298" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard somebody saying &lt;em&gt;aw, shucks&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What does that mean?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In which other cases is the word used?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-19T18:05:31.607" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T03:21:32.070" Title="What does aw mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="1384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1383" CreationDate="2010-08-19T14:53:00.680" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It that case &lt;em&gt;awe&lt;/em&gt; means nothing.  It is a particle.  Kinda like the &lt;em&gt;oh&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;Oh... that's bad.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T14:53:00.680" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1383" CreationDate="2010-08-19T15:01:46.133" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;aw&quot; in this case is an interjection with the following definition (from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;used to express mild disappointment, gentle entreaty, or real or mock sympathy or sentiment&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If something mildly bad (but not too bad) happens to someone else, you can say &quot;aw&quot;. (If it is something really bad, then it sounds rude to say &quot;aw&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T15:01:46.133" />
  <row Id="1386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-08-19T15:27:26.587" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my favorites has always been the Russian &quot;оскомина&quot; [ʌs'komʲɪnɘ], which can be defined as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;temporary toothache which you can get by biting into something extremely sour, or eating too much of something sour — especially apples or grapes —, and which you won't actually feel at all if you just stop eating, but which will make biting, chewing, or even drinking extremely painful for hours to come. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sometimes refer to it as &quot;hidden toothache&quot; or &quot;ninja toothache&quot;. It will usually go away all by itself after some time. Traditional medicine also recommends drinking milk, weak tea, or baking-soda solution to make it go away faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T15:27:26.587" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-19T15:27:26.587" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1296" CreationDate="2010-08-19T15:51:53.207" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;knee-high to a grasshopper&quot; as used to refer to oneself as a small child.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ex: &quot;I haven't been to the ocean since I was knee-high to a grasshopper.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T15:51:53.207" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-19T15:51:53.207" />
  <row Id="1388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1364" CreationDate="2010-08-19T15:55:52.237" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the United States, jails are operated by cities and counties (or equivalent). Prisons are operated by states and the federal government. Jails are generally thought of as for short-term incarceration, such as before or during trial, or for minor crimes that result in a sentence of incarceration, usually of less than one year. Prisons are for long-term incarceration for major crimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, even though there is a technical distinction in that every one of these institutions will have a name which is usually one or the other, &lt;em&gt;jail&lt;/em&gt; is a generic term that can refer to prisons or any type of “correctional facility”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-19T20:57:42.093" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T20:57:42.093" />
  <row Id="1389" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1398" CreationDate="2010-08-19T15:56:52.267" Score="11" ViewCount="902" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many suffixes that are used to create adjectives from nouns (&lt;em&gt;-al&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;-ive&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;-y&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Are there any rules used to create adjectives from nouns? In example, why is the adjective &lt;em&gt;excessive&lt;/em&gt;, and not (&lt;strong&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt;)&lt;em&gt;excessal&lt;/em&gt;, or (&lt;strong&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt;)&lt;em&gt;excessic&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-25T03:08:50.340" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T20:56:31.000" Title="Suffixes to create adjectives from nouns" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;morphology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="1390" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-19T16:15:56.293" Score="5" ViewCount="384" Body="&lt;p&gt;When is it appropriate to use &quot;titled&quot; vs. &quot;entitled&quot;?  For example, which is the correct word to use in the following sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I really liked the conclusion to&#xA;  rands’ latest blog post entitled “How&#xA;  to Run a Meeting”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="684" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-19T20:57:48.973" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T03:39:56.710" Title="&quot;titled&quot; vs. &quot;entitled&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1389" CreationDate="2010-08-19T16:19:06.540" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't be too specific about each one, but from what I've noticed, each suffix contains a bit of a meaning in itself. In some cases, more than one is possible, especially when talking about the (-ful, -less) family - in which case the one you use will depend on the meaning you wish to convey. What I gather so far on these meanings is (somewhat top-of-the-head and not nearly complete, but illustrates my point):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-ful: Filled with; full of; containing (thoughtful, insightful)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-less: Lacking; without (thoughtless, careless)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-able: Possible; has the ability (combinable, stoppable)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-ic: Consisting of (physical state); composed of (acidic, athletic)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-al: Related to; involving (verbal, local)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-y: Likened to; similar to but not exactly (crazy, rosy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="672" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T16:19:06.540" />
  <row Id="1392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1389" CreationDate="2010-08-19T16:21:49.597" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The choice of suffix depends on what the meaning of the resulting adjective is.  Different suffixes will create different meanings, some of which are nonsensical for certain words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;nonsensical is a good example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-able/-ible &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-able&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;means&lt;/a&gt;, among other things &quot;able/fit to be&quot;; &quot;able to be nonsense&quot; doesn't make a lot of sense (heh).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-ical &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-ical&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;means&lt;/a&gt; &quot;of or pertaining to&quot;; &quot;pertaining to nonsense&quot; is a much better fit for the word in question.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While we're on wiktionary, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category%3aEnglish_suffixes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;English suffixes&quot; category&lt;/a&gt; would be a good place to start digging into these meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T16:21:49.597" />
  <row Id="1393" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1437" CreationDate="2010-08-19T16:27:34.647" Score="2" ViewCount="451" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am pretty sure it shouldn't, but want to make sure that I am doing this correctly in a proposal that I am working on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should job titles like &quot;Project Manager&quot; ever be capitalized, and if so when?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular I am concerned about capitalization in sentences like this where the title refers to a specific person, not the role in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The Project Manager will&#xA;  evaluate the alternatives and offer a&#xA;  solution.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a lot more certain that it should NOT be capitalized in sentences like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;A project manager is the person who&#xA;  manages the budget and deliverable for&#xA;  a project.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T21:40:42.917" Title="Should &quot;Project Manager&quot; be capitalized?" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1390" CreationDate="2010-08-19T16:29:30.480" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Titled&quot;, I believe, typically refers to title as in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/titled&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rank or nobility&lt;/a&gt;. &quot;Entitled&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/netdict/entitled&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;means&lt;/a&gt; (for one) &quot;to give a title to&quot; or designate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T16:29:30.480" />
  <row Id="1395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1296" CreationDate="2010-08-19T16:30:33.147" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like &quot;Off the rails.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T16:30:33.147" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-19T16:30:33.147" />
  <row Id="1396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1393" CreationDate="2010-08-19T16:36:38.617" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Agreed on both counts regarding the examples in the OP. That is, job titles should be capitalized when they are taking the place of a single person (or otherwise acting as a name of an entity). However, there is no need to capitalize in other cases, and it would be strange if capitalized in the second example, unless it were in a company operations manual, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A similar example is when you capitalize &quot;dad&quot; in the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I'm going fishing with Dad tomorrow.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However you &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; capitalize it in the following version:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I'm going fishing with my dad tomorrow.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The former replaces a name, where the latter simply states the relationship of the person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="672" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T16:36:38.617" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1364" CreationDate="2010-08-19T16:46:39.180" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Jail&lt;/em&gt; is used much less commonly in the U.K. (in my experience at least), &lt;em&gt;Prison&lt;/em&gt; is almost always used in its place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="72" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T23:12:07.610" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T23:12:07.610" />
  <row Id="1398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1389" CreationDate="2010-08-19T16:56:40.353" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are asking about is morphological productivity of English suffixes.  Productivity in this sense means using morphemes to coin new words.  (It just so happens my thesis deals with morphological productivity!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a number of different aspects of the language system that influence productivity and the makeup of the lexicon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Synchronic change&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a language evolves through time, different suffixes rise in productivity and later fall in productivity.  For example (from Anshen &amp;amp; Aronoff 1999), the suffix -ment entered into the language around 1250 according to the OED, through whole-word borrowings from French (many, if not most, suffixes enter a language this way).  It converts verbs to nouns.  The number of new words coined with -ment steadily rose up until around the 16th century, when it sharply began to decline.  The OED cites only 2 new words since 1950 that were coined using -ment.  However, once a word has been derived, and has stabilized in the lexicon, it becomes fossilized.  That is to say, when we use the word &quot;electricity&quot;, we aren't actively calculating &lt;code&gt;electric + ity = electricity&lt;/code&gt; each time we use the word.  Another example of a suffix that used to be productive that is no longer productive is -th (as in &quot;warmth&quot;, &quot;length&quot;, &quot;width&quot;).  We don't make new words with this suffix. So, many of the suffixes we see in older words are no longer productive, but the word is still part of our lexicon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Phonological restrictions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other cases, two suffixes can be productive, but be restricted by phonology (that is, syllable structure and word stress).  For example, the suffixes -ize and -(i)fy both are used to create verbs, but -ify is restricted to one-syllable words, two-syllable words with an unstressed final syllable ending in a vowel (with a few rare exceptions, e.g. &quot;solidify&quot;).  For example, &quot;glorify&quot;, &quot;testify&quot;, &quot;pacify&quot;.  Of course, -ize is used in the other cases, so we get &quot;revolutionize&quot;, &quot;customize&quot;, etc.  People make this choice when creating new words without even thinking about it -- one will just sound &quot;right&quot;.  This is one of the awesome things about language!  Also, referring back to the above paragraph, these phonological restrictions may change over time and one suffix might take over in all new cases.  (This comes from Marchard 1969.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Semantic restrictions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many times, a suffix is chosen because it carries certain semantic features, like the suffix -er, which converts verbs to nouns, but also adds the meaning &quot;one who does X&quot;.  So another verb-to-noun suffix might be productive but doesn't carry that meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pragmatic restrictions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, one suffix works better in a certain situation; think of formal/informal distinctions.  I might say &quot;naivety&quot; if I wanted to sound very formal or educated, or I might say &quot;naiveness&quot; in a less formal situation.  Another example is that we have the word &quot;neurological&quot;, but it is my understanding that neuroscientists often use the word &quot;neurologic&quot; -- the alternate word distinguishes the sense of the layman's term from the nuances of the field-specific term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sometimes it is unpredictable&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, a word+suffix combo gets fossilized with a certain meaning and the same word with a different suffix gets fossilized with a different meaning.  Think &quot;historical&quot; (happened in the past) vs. &quot;historic&quot; (extra meaning of having a great impact on history -- can be said about present-day events).  It's not -ic or -ical that is adding this extra meaning, it's that the words have fossilized in the language and then developed different nuances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Addressing some of your examples&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;excessive&lt;/em&gt; was first cited at the end of the 14th century, so this is a fairly old word. The -ive suffix came from French originally.  This suffix distinguishes itself from others on semantic grounds, as explained in the OED (emphasis mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the suffix is largely used in the&#xA;  modern Romanic langs., and in English, to&#xA;  adapt Latin words in -vus, or form words&#xA;  on Latin analogies, with the sense&#xA;  ‘having a tendency to, having the&#xA;  nature, character, or quality of,&#xA;  given to (some action)’. The meaning&#xA;  differs from that of participial adjs. in&#xA;  -ing, -ant, -ent, in implying &lt;strong&gt;a permanent or habitual quality or&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;   &lt;strong&gt;tendency&lt;/strong&gt;: cf. acting, active,&#xA;  attracting, attractive, coherent,&#xA;  cohesive, consequent, consecutive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the non-words, &lt;em&gt;excessic/excessal/excessical&lt;/em&gt;, the most likely reason they were not created is because &lt;em&gt;excessive&lt;/em&gt; was already fossilized in the language and, at least thus far, there has been no special nuance or meaning that has demanded an &lt;em&gt;excessic/excessal&lt;/em&gt; form that would set it apart from &lt;em&gt;excessive&lt;/em&gt;, or cause it to replace &lt;em&gt;excessive&lt;/em&gt;.  This disallowance of synonymous coinings is also sometimes called Blocking (Aronoff 1976) or the Avoid Synonymy Principle (Kiparsky 1983).  It is something that is still being worked out by morphologists today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-19T19:48:00.530" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T19:48:00.530" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1358" CreationDate="2010-08-19T17:07:37.263" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an area which often gives difficulty between English and other European languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;over a period: &quot;for&quot;, &#xA;&quot;I have been working for two hours&quot;&#xA;(In some cases you can omit the 'for', eg &quot;I have been waiting two hours&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;from a point: &quot;since&quot;:&#xA;&quot;I have been working since 12&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;From&quot; is unusual here: I think it is only used to give emphasis to the starting point, and notice that it would take a simple past continous, not a perfect continuous:&#xA;&quot;I was waiting here from 12 o'clock!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A difficulty that French and German speakers often have is that they want to say &quot;I am here since ... &quot;, which is never idiomatic in English. There is one instance of this that actually does cause confusion some times: when an English speaker asks &quot;How long are you here?&quot; they are asking about the future, but a French or German speaker will often misunderstand that as about the past (i.e. &quot;How long have you been here?&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T17:07:37.263" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1332" CreationDate="2010-08-19T17:31:42.917" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Read as much as you can.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Write as much as you can.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be aware of the irregularities in spelling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first, reading and writing in a language other than your own is time-consuming and can be tedious and frustrating. Although I am a native English speaker, I have used the above methods to aid in learning both Spanish and Esperanto. Number 3, above, is very important when writing English because spelling is so irregular. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.innocentenglish.com/best-funny-jokes/english-is-tough-stuff-a-funny-poem-about-pronouncing-english-words.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;English is tough stuff&quot;&gt;English is Tough Stuff&lt;/a&gt; site has a poem (scroll down a bit to see it) which drives this point home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As writing becomes easier for you, go back to some of your earlier attempts and revise them. You will notice over time that you have improved and will see some of your earlier mistakes quite easily. This will build your confidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T17:31:42.917" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2010-08-19T18:15:28.823" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Impute&lt;/strong&gt;.  Ascribe, attribute, or charge an act or thought (to someone) usually in a bad or accusatory sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="687" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T18:15:28.823" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-19T18:15:28.823" />
  <row Id="1402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1390" CreationDate="2010-08-19T18:15:35.407" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Entitled&quot; would denote a usage whereby one is deserving of, as opposed to &quot;Titled&quot; where someone is already honored. &quot;Entitled&quot;, when used to refer to how something is titled, is just confusing usage. Using &quot;the article was titled ... &quot; is more concise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T18:15:35.407" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1390" CreationDate="2010-08-19T18:30:24.660" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;em&gt;NOAD&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;titled |ˈtaɪdld|&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  adjective&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (of a person) having a title indicating high social or official rank.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;entitle |ɪnˈtaɪdl| |ɛnˈtaɪdl|&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  verb [trans.] (usu. be entitled)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. give (someone) a legal right or a just claim to receive or do something:_ employees are normally entitled to severance pay_ | [trans.] &lt;em&gt;the landlord is entitled to require references&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. give (something, esp. a text or work of art) a particular title: &lt;em&gt;an article entitled &quot;The Harried Society.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   - [trans.] archaic give (someone) a specified title expressing their rank, office, or character: &lt;em&gt;they entitled him Sultan&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your example, you should say &lt;em&gt;I really liked the conclusion to rands' latest blog post entitled &quot;How to Run a Meeting&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T18:30:24.660" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1404" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3582" CreationDate="2010-08-19T18:38:29.947" Score="5" ViewCount="465" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many etymologies in dictionaries say that some word is “akin to” a word in some other language. For example, here is part of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/salt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; entry for &lt;em&gt;salt&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Main Entry: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;salt&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Etymology: Middle English, from Old English &lt;em&gt;sealt;&lt;/em&gt; akin to Old High German &lt;em&gt;salz&lt;/em&gt; salt, Lithuanian &lt;em&gt;saldus&lt;/em&gt; sweet, Latin &lt;em&gt;sal&lt;/em&gt; salt, Greek &lt;em&gt;hals&lt;/em&gt; salt, sea&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It says that &lt;em&gt;salt&lt;/em&gt; is “akin to” words in Old High German, Lithuanian, Latin, and Greek. What does that mean? Does it mean that the word is borrowed from those languages? How could a word be borrowed from more than one language?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T01:53:51.953" Title="What does “akin to” mean in etymologies in dictionary entries?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;dictionaries&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1405" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1532" CreationDate="2010-08-19T18:41:39.053" Score="12" ViewCount="419" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are some good methods for increasing the volume of words in my spoken vocabulary?  I read many fiction and non-fiction books and find that I comprehend a good vocabulary of words and write sufficiently.  However, I seem rarely able to come up with the perfect word and find that I repeat the same tired words too often, when speaking.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, what types of words should I focus on in these methods?  What parts of speech might I be more likely to actually end up using?  For example I put a bunch of hard vocabulary words on flash cards to learn them but I doubt using them in a spoken sentence would make me better understood by my peers (probably the opposite).  How can I do all this and still be understood by those around me? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="687" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T13:02:32.743" ClosedDate="2011-02-24T18:32:56.280" Title="Methods for improving your spoken vocabulary" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;learning&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;speech&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="8" />
  <row Id="1406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1404" CreationDate="2010-08-19T18:44:41.747" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;em&gt;NOAD&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;akin /əˈkɪn/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  adjective&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  of similar character: &lt;em&gt;something akin to gratitude overwhelmed her&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;genius and madness are akin&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • related by blood.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  ORIGIN middle 16th century: contracted form of &lt;em&gt;of kin&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of words, it means there is a similarity between the words, or they have a common (or shared) root.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reading what the &lt;em&gt;NOAD&lt;/em&gt; says about &lt;em&gt;salt&lt;/em&gt;, I find:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ORIGIN&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Old English &lt;em&gt;sealt&lt;/em&gt; (noun), &lt;em&gt;sealtan&lt;/em&gt; (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch &lt;em&gt;zout&lt;/em&gt; and German &lt;em&gt;Salz&lt;/em&gt; (nouns), from an Indo-European root shared by Latin &lt;em&gt;sal&lt;/em&gt;, Greek &lt;em&gt;hals&lt;/em&gt; 'salt'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; uses &lt;em&gt;related to&lt;/em&gt; where the &lt;em&gt;Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; uses &lt;em&gt;akin to&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T01:53:51.953" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T01:53:51.953" />
  <row Id="1407" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1601" CreationDate="2010-08-19T18:46:36.470" Score="5" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was a child, pretty much every children's magazine I subscribed to used to publish those little word-chain games where you had to get from one word to another — often an antonym — by replacing one letter at a time. To simplify (or complicate) things a little, you were allowed to take only a certain number of steps. So, for example, you had to build a word chain from &quot;cold&quot; to &quot;warm&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;c o l d&#xA;_ _ _ _&#xA;_ _ _ _&#xA;_ _ _ _&#xA;w a r m&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and one possible solution would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;c o l d&#xA;c o r d&#xA;w o r d&#xA;w a r d&#xA;w a r m&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I have two questions: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the English term for a word that differs from another word by just a single&#xA;letter, the length of both words being the same?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the term for such a word if the length doesn't matter? (Say, &quot;band&quot;-&quot;brand&quot;, or &quot;warm&quot;-&quot;war&quot;.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Russian, the answer to the first question is &quot;метаграмма&quot;, which I would translate,&#xA;or rather transliterate, as &quot;metagramm(e)&quot; (obviously, of Greek origin). However, searching Wikipedia — or, in fact, the entire Web — for the term &quot;metagramm(e)&quot; doesn't seem to return any meaningful results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the second question, I can't answer it in any language I am familiar with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone offer any hints?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T18:57:47.357" Title="English term for a word that differs from another one by just one letter" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;word-games&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="1408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1404" CreationDate="2010-08-19T18:58:07.007" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That word is so close to another word in another language they are practically family.  They may share a common ancestor word or just sound so alike that a relationship is imagined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="687" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T18:58:07.007" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1404" CreationDate="2010-08-19T19:17:28.090" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;i forget the word for when two words are pushed together to make one, but it means they are &quot;kin&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/kin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;def &quot;1. a person's relatives collectively; kinfolk. 2. family relationship or kinship&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. The prefix &quot;a-&quot; being akin to its usage in awash, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T19:17:28.090" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1407" CreationDate="2010-08-19T19:25:11.783" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For your first question: You could use the term &quot;minimal pair&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimal_pair&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the wikipedia article on this term&lt;/a&gt; correctly states, its main use is in phonology. Nevertheless, since the underlying principle is the same, it should be okay to use for written words, too. I have also seen it put to use for whole sentences, where the difference is &quot;a word at some position&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="564" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T19:25:11.783" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1405" CreationDate="2010-08-19T19:45:15.137" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did write the &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/259/improve-vocabulary/269#269&quot;&gt;answer you mention&lt;/a&gt;, but when it comes to &quot;spoken vocabulary&quot;, the challenge is not to learn new words, but to be able to find them at the right time in an actual conversation.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the real improvements should only come in my opinion from practice.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I know I improved some of technical field vocabulary by having to support tools and process and explain them over the phone to colleagues in London, New York or Bangalore.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I won't be really fluent in a simple conversation before having to actually sustain one or several on a daily basis. Until that time, I go on reading books and watching movies ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-18T12:04:47.950" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T12:04:47.950" />
  <row Id="1412" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1422" CreationDate="2010-08-19T19:46:24.043" Score="3" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot understand the difference between the comma and semicolon. Can you please clarify?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T18:27:59.570" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T18:27:59.570" Title="Comma versus semicolon" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="1413" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1419" CreationDate="2010-08-19T19:48:34.943" Score="10" ViewCount="1254" Body="&lt;p&gt;Slow has the adverb slowly. I tend to use &quot;fastly&quot;, as the adverb for fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is underlined in most spell checkers I use, which makes me wonder about the existence of this word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;fastly&quot; a correct word? If not, what should be used instead, and why is that different from its antonym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I apologize if my question seems trivial, English is not my first language.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="370" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-20T16:05:44.167" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T23:03:56.033" Title="Is &quot;fastly&quot; a correct word?" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1200" CreationDate="2010-08-19T19:50:33.300" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;And, to add to the terminology conundrum:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;to be&quot; is either&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;a copula verb: it asserts a property&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John is a teacher&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Peter is nice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;an auxiliary verb: it is required to encode, e.g., tense or voice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Max has been beaten up by members of this gang&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;a full-blown main verb: roughly meaning &quot;to exist&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To be or not to be: that is the question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These distinctions can become quite fuzzy. Consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is a unicorn in the garden&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this the &quot;exist&quot;-reading of the verb, or is it copula use? I currently have no definite answer for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="564" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T19:50:33.300" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1412" CreationDate="2010-08-19T19:54:14.943" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first is a comma, which is just a pause that off-sets a phrase. The second is a semi-colon, &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/semicolon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;used to indicate a major division in a sentence where a more distinct separation is felt between clauses or items on a list than is indicated by a comma, as between the two clauses of a compound sentence&lt;/a&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T19:54:14.943" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1296" CreationDate="2010-08-19T19:55:04.490" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Dumber than a bag of hamsters.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="214" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T19:55:04.490" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-19T19:55:04.490" />
  <row Id="1417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1413" CreationDate="2010-08-19T20:00:03.853" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, &quot;fastly&quot; isn't a word. &quot;Quickly&quot; is used instead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T20:00:03.853" />
  <row Id="1418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1413" CreationDate="2010-08-19T20:00:09.517" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word you're looking for is &lt;em&gt;quickly&lt;/em&gt;. Fastly is not a correct word, but there's no clear reason for this (because English is often illogical…).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="50" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T20:00:09.517" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1413" CreationDate="2010-08-19T20:01:17.703" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no need for &quot;fastly&quot; because &quot;fast&quot; is both an adjective and an adverb.  So, &quot;I ran fast&quot; is completely correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The existence of &quot;fast&quot; as an adjective does not preclude the future development of a word &quot;fastly&quot;, but it does hinder it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One might note that the corresponding adjective &quot;slow&quot; &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; take the &lt;em&gt;-ly&lt;/em&gt; suffix, but this has no impact on the behavior of &quot;fast&quot;.  (There is also no real reason why, for example, we have warm/warmth, but cool/coolness. Semantically related things sometimes have similar morphological patterns, and sometimes not.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One interesting thing worth noting (that was brought up in a comment by Jimi Oke) is that there are cases of adjectives with identical adverbs that &lt;em&gt;also&lt;/em&gt; have an &lt;em&gt;-ly&lt;/em&gt; form; for example, we have &quot;right&quot; and &quot;wrong&quot; as adjectives and adverbs, but we also have &quot;rightly&quot; and &quot;wrongly&quot;.  In such cases, the &lt;em&gt;-ly&lt;/em&gt; form has carved out its own semantic niche; the adverb &quot;right&quot; and the adverb &quot;rightly&quot; cannot be used interchangeably in every situation.  I can say &quot;turn right&quot; and &quot;rightly so&quot;, but I can't exchange them in either sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With normal adjectives that cannot become adverbs without &lt;em&gt;-ly&lt;/em&gt;, usually the &lt;em&gt;-ly&lt;/em&gt; just transparently makes the adjective adverbial — it doesn't have its own separate semantic nuances (e.g. &quot;quickly&quot; simply means &quot;in a quick manner&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T23:03:56.033" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T23:03:56.033" CommentCount="15" />
  <row Id="1420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1413" CreationDate="2010-08-19T20:04:22.750" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Though word &lt;code&gt;fastly&lt;/code&gt; used in many places (you can find many results by searching &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&amp;amp;q=fastly&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google&lt;/a&gt;) but still it is not correct.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For reference see the definition of word &lt;code&gt;fast&lt;/code&gt; from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fast&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WikiDictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See the post &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.thefreedictionary.com/postst1349_wrong---fast---adverbs-with-no--ly--ending-.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;code&gt;wrong / fast-- adverbs with no 'ly' ending&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/a&gt; to learn more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T20:04:22.750" />
  <row Id="1421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1412" CreationDate="2010-08-19T20:05:30.580" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You use a semicolon (&lt;code&gt;;&lt;/code&gt;) to create a compound sentence made of two complete sentences. For example: &lt;strong&gt;John went to school; today was his first day.&lt;/strong&gt; is equivalent to &lt;strong&gt;John went to school. Today was his first day.&lt;/strong&gt; and so is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use of a semicolon is inappropriate in any other case. The following is incorrect: &lt;strong&gt;Because John went to school; Sally was left home alone.&lt;/strong&gt; because if we split into two sentences, &lt;strong&gt;Because John went to school. Sally was left home alone.&lt;/strong&gt;, the first is a sentence fragment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, use of a comma to separate two complete sentences (&lt;strong&gt;John went to school, today was his first day.&lt;/strong&gt;) is inappropriate and is called a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma_splice&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;comma splice&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="50" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T20:05:30.580" />
  <row Id="1422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1412" CreationDate="2010-08-19T20:06:47.567" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/how_2181282_use-comma-semicolon-correctly.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;eHow&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Comma (,)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1)&lt;/strong&gt; Use a comma to separate 2 independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction such as and, but and or. The key here is to have 2 subject verb pairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Example: The students reviewed for the exam, and the teacher&#xA;  corrected the term papers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this example we have 2 subject verb pairs: &quot;students reviewed&quot; and &quot;teacher corrected.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Example: The teacher corrected the&#xA;  papers and entered the grades in the&#xA;  grade book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this example we use the coordinating conjunction &quot;and&quot; but have 1 subject and 2 verbs: &quot;teacher corrected, entered&quot;; therefore, no comma is used.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2)&lt;/strong&gt; Use a comma to separate items in a series to avoid ambiguous meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Example: Uncle willed me his property,&#xA;  houses, and warehouses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this example, we mean that uncle willed me 3 items--his houses, warehouses, and property.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Example: Uncle willed me his property,&#xA;  houses and warehouses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this example, we mean that uncle willed me 2 items--all his property, which consisted of houses and warehouses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3)&lt;/strong&gt; Use a comma with introductory elements such as subordinating clauses that come at the beginning of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Example: Because the river had&#xA;  flooded, the school closed for the&#xA;  week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The introductory element, or subordinating clause is &quot;because the river had flooded.&quot; It is introduced with the subordinating conjunction &quot;because.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Example: The school closed for the&#xA;  week because the river had flooded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this example the subordinating clause is at the end of the sentence so we do not use a comma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Semicolon (;)&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1)&lt;/strong&gt; Use a semicolon to separate 2 independent clauses in a sentence, closely related, with no coordinating conjunction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Example: The students reviewed for the&#xA;  exam; the teacher corrected the&#xA;  papers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Example: The candidates spoke to the&#xA;  crowds during Election Day; each&#xA;  candidate spoke passionately about the&#xA;  fate of the country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2)&lt;/strong&gt; Use a semicolon to separate items in a series where the series themselves contain commas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Example: We visited our relatives in&#xA;  Albany, NY; Philadelphia, PA; and&#xA;  Washington, D.C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-19T21:07:44.533" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T21:07:44.533" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2010-08-19T20:09:24.457" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;dapper&lt;/strong&gt; (n): &lt;em&gt;neat and trim in dress, appearance, or bearing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's even more fun to just use it as a synonym for &quot;cool&quot; or &quot;awesome&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="50" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T20:09:24.457" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-19T20:09:24.457" />
  <row Id="1425" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1428" CreationDate="2010-08-19T20:26:51.293" Score="3" ViewCount="254" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my grammar book (&lt;em&gt;English Grammar&lt;/em&gt;, HarperCollins Publishers), I read that &lt;em&gt;none is occasionaly treated as plural, but it is usually regarded as singular&lt;/em&gt;. Can you give me an example of sentence where &lt;em&gt;none&lt;/em&gt; is used as plural pronoun?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T20:45:25.647" Title="None as plural indefinite pronoun" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;example&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="1426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2010-08-19T20:28:21.167" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;amaranthine&lt;/strong&gt; (adj.): everlasting, immortal, eternally beautiful and unfading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T20:28:21.167" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-19T20:28:21.167" />
  <row Id="1427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1425" CreationDate="2010-08-19T20:42:50.227" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder if it is talking about &lt;a href=&quot;http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxnoneis.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;With mass nouns, you have to use the&#xA;  singular.  (&quot;None of the wheat is...&quot;)&#xA;  With count nouns, you can use either&#xA;  the singular or the plural.  (&quot;None of&#xA;  the books is...&quot; or &quot;None of the books&#xA;  are...&quot;)  Usually, the plural sounds&#xA;  more natural, unless you're trying to&#xA;  emphasize the idea of &quot;not one&quot;, or if&#xA;  the words that follow work better in&#xA;  the singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T20:42:50.227" />
  <row Id="1428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1425" CreationDate="2010-08-19T20:45:25.647" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;None&lt;/em&gt; is commonly used as a plural. You can find many examples in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;. For example, I searched for &lt;code&gt;none of the [nn2] [vv0]&lt;/code&gt; to find examples where &lt;em&gt;none&lt;/em&gt; refers to something in plural and then takes a plural verb. (&lt;code&gt;[nn2]&lt;/code&gt; matches any plural common noun and &lt;code&gt;[vv0]&lt;/code&gt; matches any simple verb not inflected for third person singular, and so must be plural if used with a plural common noun). There were 117 results that matched, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the airlines want&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the alternatives look&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the americans ask&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the answers make&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the appeals work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the articles mention&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the artists take&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the attendants remember&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the authors speak&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the averages reflect&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the bankers quit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the beads come&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the birds need&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the boys seem&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the broadcasts include&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the broadcasts use&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also searched for &lt;code&gt;none of the [nn2] [vvz]&lt;/code&gt; to find examples where the verb &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; inflected for third person singular, and there were just 57 matches, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the boys wants&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the studies reports&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the theories appears&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the things quadrupeds&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the vaccines addresses&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the women sees&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the actors knows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the alternatives meets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the authors calls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the books points&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the candidates fits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the changes seems&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the children knows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the children understands&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the clubs pumps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the codes calls&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This indicates to me that the “usually regarded as singular” traditional rule is in fact about half as common as the “occasionally treated as plural” exception.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T20:45:25.647" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="1429" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-19T20:47:20.823" Score="2" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do so many magazines and blogs put numbers into their titles?  Does it just grab people's attention?  If so why is that?  Is it just a symptom of an entropic decline of the English language?  (i.e. people are less familiar with words than numbers)  Wouldn't it be proper to spell out the number if it was specific to the topic and not just an arbitrary number?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.businessinsider.com/10-reasons-to-delete-your-facebook-account-2010-5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;10 Reasons to Delete Your Facebook&#xA;  Account&quot;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://zenhabits.net/7-ways-to-build-the-exercise-habit/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;7 Ways to Build the&#xA;  Exercise Habit&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="687" LastEditorUserId="687" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-20T13:31:05.147" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T03:44:09.627" ClosedDate="2010-08-20T19:14:58.873" Title="1 Question, Why are numbers in blog posts so prolific?" Tags="&lt;blogging&gt;&lt;title&gt;&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1009" CreationDate="2010-08-19T20:50:21.300" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Agricultural landowner&quot; is your best bet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Agricultural tenant&quot; implies that he rents the land FROM someone else (and is thus not the owner). &quot;Agricultural landlord&quot; implies that he rents it TO someone else, which may not be the case you are looking for. A landlord is a landowner but a landowner is not necessarily a landlord.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="695" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T20:50:21.300" />
  <row Id="1431" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-19T21:01:22.707" Score="74" ViewCount="3952" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quite a few words are mispronounced by under-educated people, or people learning English as a second language. Some words are often mispronounced by quite educated people who read, and began reading high-level literature before they heard the vocabulary spoken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can lead to a vocabulary dissonance, occasionally leading to the belief that there are two words (the known spelling of one, and the verbal hearing of the same) where only one exists. Epitome is a common example that springs to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answer with a word and its proper pronunciation (and potentially, the commonly mistaken punctuation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="79" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-14T23:50:37.600" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T11:06:44.730" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-19T21:01:22.707" Title="What words are commonly mispronounced by literate people who read them before they heard them?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;literature&gt;&lt;list-request&gt;" AnswerCount="104" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="42" />
  <row Id="1432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1413" CreationDate="2010-08-19T21:06:56.143" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fast&quot; is an adverb as well as an adjective, so you wouldn't use &quot;fastly.&quot; Another common adverb that doesn't follow the pattern of ending in &quot;ly&quot; is &quot;well&quot;, not the expected &quot;goodly,&quot; which is actually an adjective and means a large quantity, e.g. a goodly sum. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="697" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T21:06:56.143" />
  <row Id="1433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="270" CreationDate="2010-08-19T21:11:54.713" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Octopi is based on an incorrect assumption, that octopus is of Latin derivation, so we shouldn't use it. Octopuses sounds funny, so I wouldn't use it. Octopodes may be rare, but it's right, so perhaps it's up to us to get people used to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="697" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T21:11:54.713" />
  <row Id="1434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-19T21:16:28.880" Score="30" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Uggh, as one of the over-literates you mentioned, I have a lot of these. However, I have no idea as to how common mine are or may have been.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Facade&lt;/strong&gt; should be pronounced &quot;fuh-SAHD&quot; (/fəˈsɑːd/). At first, I pronounced it &quot;fack-AID.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T21:16:28.880" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-19T21:16:28.880" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="1435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-19T21:27:00.633" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sepulcher. Correct pronunciation is &quot;seh-pul-ker.&quot; I first said &quot;seh-puhl-chur.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T21:27:00.633" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-19T21:27:00.633" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1429" CreationDate="2010-08-19T21:31:32.977" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the style the magazine etc. implements in-house. For example, in AP style, numbers under 10 should be written out (&quot;one,&quot; &quot;two,&quot; etc.) and over 10 should just be noted by numeral (15, 97, etc.) unless it begins a sentence. So,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One hundred birds flew over the bay on March 7, 1999. (correct)&#xA;100 birds flew over the bay on March 7, 1999. (incorrect)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for blogs, it's much more eye-catching and easier on the eyes to have numerals, especially when you deal with SEO (Search Engine Optimization).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T21:31:32.977" />
  <row Id="1437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1393" CreationDate="2010-08-19T21:40:42.917" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Lee answered, when you replace a name with a pronoun, you capitalize it. However your first example is using it as an improper noun and it should simply read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;The project manager...&quot;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only job titles I can think of to capitalize are honorifics that are included with names - like royalty. I would for instance capitalize:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Her Royal Highness, Queen Victoria&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;Professor Moriarty&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="701" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T21:40:42.917" />
  <row Id="1438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-19T21:47:50.547" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Read', as in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John is dry (read: boring).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe there's a fair amount of agreement that the correct pronunciation is /rid/ (&quot;reed&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="617" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T21:47:50.547" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-19T21:47:50.547" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="1439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-19T21:53:28.780" Score="41" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had quite a few of these growing up.  The one I think is most common is &lt;strong&gt;segue&lt;/strong&gt;.  Did you know it's pronounced &quot;segway&quot;?  I didn't for a very &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T21:53:28.780" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-19T21:53:28.780" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="1440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-19T22:21:52.287" Score="28" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a hard time avoiding pronouncing the word 'gaol' with a hard 'g', when it's really a homophone for 'jail'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-08-19T22:21:52.287" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-19T22:21:52.287" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="1443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-19T22:43:09.113" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Biopic&lt;/em&gt;, which does &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; rhyme with &lt;em&gt;myopic&lt;/em&gt; (stress on &quot;o&quot;).  It's pronounced like &lt;em&gt;bio-pic&lt;/em&gt; (primary stress on &quot;bi&quot;).  Even after I found that out, I still don't like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T02:04:49.377" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T02:04:49.377" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-19T22:43:09.113" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="1444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-19T22:51:57.870" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nps.gov/yose/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yosemite&lt;/a&gt;, as in the national park in California.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the longest time I thought it was pronounced &quot;Yo-sem-ite&quot; instead of &quot;Yo-sem-i-tee&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cartoons failed me, I never made the connection to &quot;Yosemite Sam&quot; from the Bugs Bunny Show.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="1219" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T06:04:39.253" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T06:04:39.253" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-19T22:51:57.870" />
  <row Id="1449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-20T00:17:29.123" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing French words are at the top of the list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="706" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T00:17:29.123" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-20T00:17:29.123" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="1450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1413" CreationDate="2010-08-20T01:03:10.013" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fast&quot; can also mean to hold onto in a strongly, and &quot;fastly&quot; is the adverb of that word. E.g. &quot;The crew held &lt;strong&gt;fastly&lt;/strong&gt; onto the hand-rail of the boat as it rolled in the storm&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="708" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T01:03:10.013" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1451" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1455" CreationDate="2010-08-20T01:39:42.380" Score="2" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct way to pronoune &quot;niche&quot;?  I've always said and heard &quot;Nitch&quot;, but now I hear &quot;neesh&quot;, but it always sounds &quot;trendy&quot; to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="270" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T02:03:10.903" Title="Neesh or Nitch?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1452" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1476" CreationDate="2010-08-20T01:42:05.260" Score="7" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between &lt;em&gt;ethics&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;morals&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More specifically, what differentiates (if any):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a moral code vs. a code of ethics&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;ethically&lt;/em&gt; versus &lt;em&gt;morally&lt;/em&gt; (e.g. &quot;Morally, I can't (justify it), but ethically, I can.&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="709" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T12:57:28.097" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:57:28.097" Title="&quot;Ethics&quot; versus &quot;morals&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1452" CreationDate="2010-08-20T01:50:41.357" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Morals refer to an &lt;strong&gt;individual&lt;/strong&gt;'s beliefs about right &amp;amp; wrong, while ethics relate to those of a &lt;strong&gt;group&lt;/strong&gt;.  The example I'm most used to seeing is that while a lawyer likely regards murder as morally wrong, he's still ethically bound to do his best to defend the accused murderer.  The morals are his own feelings, the ethics are from the professional group he belongs to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T01:50:41.357" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1451" CreationDate="2010-08-20T01:57:53.023" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either way is correct.  &quot;Neesh&quot; is the French pronunciation and has always been used by some English speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My preference is for &quot;nitch&quot; but then I pronounce clique as &quot;click&quot; -- I like my English English and my French French.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T01:57:53.023" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1451" CreationDate="2010-08-20T01:58:15.737" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since &lt;em&gt;niche&lt;/em&gt; is a word that is directly borrowed from French, some people choose to pronounce the word using the original French pronunciation.  Merriam-Webster lists both pronunciations (as well as the halfway-between pronunciation of &quot;nish&quot; [nɪʃ]), so both are technically valid.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Phonologically speaking, there is nothing in the pronunciation &quot;neesh&quot; [niʃ] that is actually foreign to English, so to me it doesn't really sound off-putting.  A similar example would be &lt;em&gt;envelope&lt;/em&gt;, which many people pronounce &quot;onvelope&quot;, a nod to the French pronunciation (though not fully faithful anyway).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T01:58:15.737" />
  <row Id="1456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1413" CreationDate="2010-08-20T02:00:23.563" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The adverb form of fast is irregular. It is one of several exceptions, as is &quot;well&quot; as mentioned by Dena A.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;a fast runner   /    run fast&#xA;a hard worker   /    work hard&#xA;a bad smell     /    smell bad&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;etc. etc. etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T02:00:23.563" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1451" CreationDate="2010-08-20T02:03:10.903" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know the &quot;nitch&quot; pronunciation is more common in the US, whereas the &quot;neesh&quot; pronunciation is used more in the UK. Seems to be a tomayto-tomahto thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T02:03:10.903" />
  <row Id="1459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-20T02:07:48.180" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The British pronunciation of &quot;vitamin&quot; must have been based on someone reading it. Note that the word was invented by an American, and it's a contraction of &quot;vital&quot; and &quot;amine&quot;, so it should have been pronounced &quot;vai-tah-min&quot; but British people read it as &quot;vit-ah-min&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it happens, the British pronunciation has actually gone into other languages, so e.g. Japanese has a word &quot;bitamin&quot; based on the British mistaken pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;In 1912 Polish biochemist Kazimierz&#xA;  Funk isolated the same complex of&#xA;  micronutrients and proposed the&#xA;  complex be named &quot;Vitamine&quot; (a&#xA;  compound of &lt;strong&gt;&quot;vital amine&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;).[12] The&#xA;  name soon became synonymous with&#xA;  Hopkins' &quot;accessory factors&quot;, and by&#xA;  the time it was shown that not all&#xA;  vitamins were amines, the word was&#xA;  already ubiquitous. In 1920, Jack&#xA;  Cecil Drummond proposed that the final&#xA;  &quot;e&quot; be dropped to deemphasize the&#xA;  &quot;amine&quot; reference, after researchers&#xA;  began to suspect that not all&#xA;  &quot;vitamines&quot; (particularly vitamin A)&#xA;  had an amine component.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T13:05:40.417" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T13:05:40.417" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-20T02:07:48.180" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="1460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1296" CreationDate="2010-08-20T02:23:22.963" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The multisyllable &quot;damn.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="675" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T02:23:22.963" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-20T02:23:22.963" />
  <row Id="1461" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1462" CreationDate="2010-08-20T02:36:49.670" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always felt that it's something of a contradiction to be &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;highly&lt;/em&gt; ambivalent.  It's grammatically correct, as far as I know, but is it stylistically acceptable, or is my sense of linguistic style correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:12:40.793" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:12:40.793" Title="Can one be *highly* ambivalent?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;modifiers&gt;&lt;style&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="1462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1461" CreationDate="2010-08-20T03:03:58.153" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cambridge &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionaries.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=ambivalent%2a1+0&amp;amp;dict=A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;defines&lt;/a&gt; the adverb form thusly: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;having two opposing feelings at the same time, or being uncertain about how you feel &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...and &lt;em&gt;highly&lt;/em&gt; ambivalent would mean the same, but to a greater extent. While correct, the phrase is fairly empty without something to compare it to. One could be ambivalent about [x] and &lt;em&gt;highly&lt;/em&gt; ambivalent about [y]. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T03:03:58.153" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1452" CreationDate="2010-08-20T04:18:33.903" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the philosophical sense, as I understand it, morals are the standards by which an individual or group determines what is and what is not correct or proper behavior and how one decides how to act, and ethics is the study of moral problems to determine how one &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; act, not how one does or &lt;em&gt;thinks&lt;/em&gt; one should act.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Paraphrased from &lt;a href=&quot;http://philosophy.lander.edu/ethics/types.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T04:18:33.903" />
  <row Id="1466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1318" CreationDate="2010-08-20T05:15:26.853" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since all of my calls are direct calls to me I just say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;Hi/Hello, this is Josh&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="687" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T05:15:26.853" />
  <row Id="1467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="911" CreationDate="2010-08-20T05:59:52.333" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Music Halls were often different.&#xA;Palladium, Lyceum Empire are three that come to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T05:59:52.333" />
  <row Id="1468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1429" CreationDate="2010-08-20T07:16:10.183" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In programming, you can add and subtract numbers when making a list. Programmers tend to think of dates like 2010-01-30 and lists of things are usually thought of 0,1,2,3,4...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of bloggers have programming experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, if you want anything to sound more authentic, throw a number in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The law says you shouldn't have more than 3 beers per hour, or your Blood alcohol content will be too high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Section 8, subsection 3 of the criminal justice act says that your blood alchohol content can be no higher than 0.05%. Three 500mL glasses of beer in one hour will put you over the limit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or how about this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;According to a survey 74.2% of people aged 19-32 have had a sleepless night in the past 30 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastEditorUserId="134" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T03:44:09.627" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T03:44:09.627" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1469" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1470" CreationDate="2010-08-20T07:43:37.247" Score="3" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;When listing items and ending the list with &quot;etc&quot;, should there be a comma before &quot;etc&quot;? E.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;red, green, blue, etc&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;red, green, blue etc&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related question, though this one involves the word &quot;and&quot;, so I am no sure if the answer applies to this question or not: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/412/comma-before-last-item-in-a-list&quot;&gt;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/412/comma-before-last-item-in-a-list&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="587" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T02:56:38.457" Title="Comma before &quot;etc&quot;?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1469" CreationDate="2010-08-20T07:51:54.577" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there's no conjunction at the end of the list (&lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; / &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; for example), then a comma is required. Thus, the correct version is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;red, green, blue, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note that &lt;em&gt;etc.&lt;/em&gt; should include the full stop, as it is an abbreviation.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding commas before &lt;code&gt;and&lt;/code&gt; (or any conjunction) at the end of the list, that is a matter of huge debate. The subject is well-discussed on the Wiki page for the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;serial comma&lt;/a&gt;. Although it's probably fair to say that usage of the serial comma is non-standard in general, many notable institutions and publications such as Oxford and Harvard Universities strongly recommend its usage. There are certainly some good arguments for its usage, mainly in terms of consistency and unambiguity. If you want to open up this can of worms, I suggest we start another question (and make it community wiki for its subjectivity.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T07:51:54.577" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1407" CreationDate="2010-08-20T08:05:29.880" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've see pairs of words that differ by 1 &lt;em&gt;letter&lt;/em&gt; referred to as a &lt;strong&gt;word chain&lt;/strong&gt;.  A technical term for them seems to be &lt;strong&gt;orthographic pairs&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastEditorUserId="298" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-20T08:10:40.693" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T08:10:40.693" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1472" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1473" CreationDate="2010-08-20T08:10:01.257" Score="2" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a phrase such as the following: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;each apple and each orange&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to use &quot;has&quot; or &quot;have&quot; when describing properties of both apples and oranges?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="587" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-21T00:37:45.817" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T00:37:45.817" Title="Each apple and each orange [has/have]?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1472" CreationDate="2010-08-20T08:29:37.200" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;em&gt;each apple&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;each orange&lt;/em&gt; are respectively singular so it has to be &lt;strong&gt;has&lt;/strong&gt;.  If &lt;em&gt;apples and oranges&lt;/em&gt; (plural) were the subject, you could use &lt;strong&gt;have&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastEditorUserId="298" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-20T09:14:41.480" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T09:14:41.480" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="1474" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-20T09:00:15.177" Score="2" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I want to title a talk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which of these is the right usage and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Web Development Paradigms and Djangoic approach to solve them&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Web Development Paradigms and Djangoic approach to solving them&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="717" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T12:44:39.590" Title="Proper Usage of gerund form of the verb" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;gerund&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="1475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1474" CreationDate="2010-08-20T09:06:57.237" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are equivalently correct.  But if you want to sound expensive and impressive, use the gerund form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="298" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T09:06:57.237" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1452" CreationDate="2010-08-20T09:21:46.407" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the New Oxford American Dictionary puts it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can be an &lt;strong&gt;ethical&lt;/strong&gt; person without necessarily being a &lt;strong&gt;moral&lt;/strong&gt; one, since &lt;strong&gt;ethical&lt;/strong&gt; implies conformity with a code of fair and honest behavior, particularly in business or in a profession &lt;em&gt;(an ethical legislator who didn't believe in cutting deals)&lt;/em&gt;, while &lt;strong&gt;moral&lt;/strong&gt; refers to generally accepted standards of goodness and rightness in character and conduct—especially sexual conduct &lt;em&gt;(the moral values she'd learned from her mother)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="706" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T09:21:46.407" />
  <row Id="1477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1474" CreationDate="2010-08-20T09:24:22.860" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The construction is typically &quot;approach to [noun]&quot;. The gerund can be used in place of a noun here, as it can in many other situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The infinitive should not be used. It is something of a coincidence that the infinitive has the prepended word &quot;to&quot;, and that &quot;to&quot; is the appropriate preposition to use after &quot;approach&quot; here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to be clear, the following is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Web Development Paradigms and Djangoic approach to solving them&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T09:24:22.860" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1452" CreationDate="2010-08-20T09:27:51.410" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;code&gt;moral code&lt;/code&gt; is what one holds for oneself and at a high esteem, whereas the &lt;code&gt;code of ethics&lt;/code&gt; is what is enforced upon a group for its general goodness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact, one doesn't kill anyone can be his moral code whereas the non-compete agreements, that blocks an employee from working for a competition for a reasonable period of time, can a part of company's work ethic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="717" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T09:27:51.410" />
  <row Id="1479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="658" CreationDate="2010-08-20T09:30:20.980" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like the structure,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Guns n Roses would say it, &quot;Never mind the darkness, you still can find a way&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="717" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T09:30:20.980" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-20T09:30:20.980" />
  <row Id="1480" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1493" CreationDate="2010-08-20T09:41:35.150" Score="1" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read an article about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collocation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;collocation&lt;/a&gt; which includes an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can say &lt;em&gt;highly sophisticated&lt;/em&gt;, and we can say &lt;em&gt;extremely happy&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;highly happy&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;extremely sophisticated&lt;/em&gt; would be wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How can I learn to get collocations right?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there any rules or has this to be learned word by word?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T13:13:48.967" Title="How can I learn to get collocations right?" Tags="&lt;beginner&gt;&lt;esl&gt;&lt;collocation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="688" CreationDate="2010-08-20T09:42:52.000" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can “rather” be really used as a verb?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(meaning perhaps ;))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="717" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T09:42:52.000" />
  <row Id="1482" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-20T09:59:45.797" Score="17" ViewCount="646" Body="&lt;p&gt;To prevent myself from asking an obvious, silly question again, I would like to know which tools you find most useful, besides dictionaries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lextutor.ca/concordancers/concord_e.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus Concordance English&lt;/a&gt; is extremely useful to lookup &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collocation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;collocations&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Please, one tool per answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastEditorUserId="873" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-09T07:23:49.757" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T18:32:25.173" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-20T09:59:45.797" Title="What are your favorite English language tools?" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;&lt;beginner&gt;&lt;esl&gt;&lt;tools&gt;" AnswerCount="29" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="22" />
  <row Id="1483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2010-08-20T10:21:09.940" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I say, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/user/MerriamWebsterOnline&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster Online, ask the editor&lt;/a&gt;. and not sound creepy :P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="717" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T10:21:09.940" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-20T10:21:09.940" />
  <row Id="1484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2010-08-20T10:21:35.413" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h3&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary%3aMain_Page&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's great for a lot more than just definitions. It's usually the first place I go for looking up etymology, pronunciation, and often derivations/cognates of words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cross-connectedness of information in Wiktionary is really what sets it apart and makes it an excellent (if sometimes imperfect) resource.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-20T16:34:17.580" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T16:34:17.580" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-20T10:21:35.413" />
  <row Id="1485" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-20T10:54:59.487" Score="1" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The visual studio kept stucking under RDP yesterday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should 'stuck' become a present tense verb? It seems like &quot;getting stuck&quot; is too long for the modern world where it happens much more frequently to things than it used to (See, for example, Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, &quot;Share and enjoy&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-21T00:35:30.207" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T02:48:25.250" Title="Using 'stuck' as a verb" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;part-of-speech&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="1486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2010-08-20T11:00:51.543" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a minor addiction to looking up synonyms.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My condition led to the creation of a Google gadget which I will now shamelessly plug it in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/ig/directory?type=gadgets&amp;amp;url=edwardguiness.com/gadgets/anotherwordforgadget.xml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Gadget directory&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T21:01:09.053" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T21:01:09.053" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-20T11:00:51.543" />
  <row Id="1487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1485" CreationDate="2010-08-20T11:09:06.817" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems the answer should be &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt; since the usage of 'stuck' (in the case of getting, being stuck) is as a modifier. A similar case could be made for &quot;I am happy&quot;, as though 'am happy' should be a verb. It would see an equal amount of use; but structurally being a verb doesn't simplify anything or make it more concise/accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T11:09:06.817" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1488" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1543" CreationDate="2010-08-20T11:47:11.940" Score="4" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anybody know when the mistranslation &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Square#Origin_and_name&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Red Square&lt;/a&gt;&quot; made its first recorded appearance? Have there been any noteworthy attempts at establishing the correct translation &quot;Beautiful Square&quot; at some point in history? Obviously, it's too late to change the name now, but I am interested in learning how fast its use gained momentum in English-speaking countries and when the point of no return was reached.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T20:25:21.257" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T20:25:21.257" Title="First recorded appearance of the mistranslation &quot;Red Square&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;history&gt;&lt;mistranslation&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;&lt;toponyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="1489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1313" CreationDate="2010-08-20T12:13:14.747" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aside from the usage with &quot;Let's&quot;, as in 'Let's (contraction: &quot;let us&quot;) go to the theater', I am having difficulty thinking of a usage for what I understand to be the jussive mood. The use of 'shall' in Latin (as cited by @stacker 's link in the comments) does not appear to satisfy a third or first person case use of jussive; and it seems more akin to the imperative in some roundabout way. Even if I am commanding myself to go to the store, it is from the (you) person; aka 'you understood', a form of the second person. Moreover, despite the usage of us in &quot;Let's&quot;, it is more intuitive as a second person command similar to as commanding oneself is more intuitive as a second person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems the imperative, covering second person subjects, is the only relative of the jussive mood, covering other subject persons, in English usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastEditorUserId="549" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T15:16:51.433" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T15:16:51.433" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="1490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1485" CreationDate="2010-08-20T12:35:57.027" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never before encountered this use, but there do seem to be a few examples on Google. Some are probably mistypes, but it does look as if there are people using it in this way. Perhaps it will become established, but I doubt it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is clear, though, is that there is very little that you or I could do either to make it happen or to stop it happening. Change in language just happens when it happens, and it is rare that an individual can influence that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T12:35:57.027" />
  <row Id="1491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1474" CreationDate="2010-08-20T12:44:39.590" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me, the first (&quot;&quot;Web Development Paradigms and Djangoic approach to solve them&quot;) is not possible, for the reason Noldorin gave.&#xA;Also, it reads oddly without an article before &quot;Djangoic&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T12:44:39.590" />
  <row Id="1492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="105" CreationDate="2010-08-20T12:50:13.327" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Historically, &quot;lay&quot; is a causitive verb formed from &quot;lie&quot;, by a process which is now obsolete in English, but has left some other examples: &quot;rise/raise&quot; and &quot;fall/fell&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of &quot;lie&quot;, probably because both words are common and the past of &quot;lie&quot; happens to be the same as the present of &quot;lay&quot;, they have become generally confused, and for many people they are no longer distinct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know why the same has not happened to &quot;fall&quot; and &quot;fell&quot;, but it may be simply because the verb &quot;fell&quot; is not very common, being used only of trees and enemies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T12:50:13.327" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1480" CreationDate="2010-08-20T12:59:29.847" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because the basis of collocations is probabilistic based on the colloquial, and the rules are arbitrary, it seems there is not actual 'getting it right', but rather there would mostly just be a 'sounds okay.' note the computer example (powerful vs. strong computer); it's not that strong computers dont exist, they are just normally referred to as powerful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;since this isn't idiomatic (ie, a static, limited case use), the problem with giving hard, fast rules is that they would likely be localized or a compendium of adjective/noun combos you would need to memorize. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for consolation, someone from the west coast of america might say something is 'totally awesome' and someone from the atlantic northeast might say that same thing is 'wicked awesome'; but they'd both sound like fools because everybody knows that something is 'freaking awesome' here in Ohio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T12:59:29.847" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1494" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1536" CreationDate="2010-08-20T13:02:29.797" Score="2" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;It appears to me that the construction &quot;just because… doesn't mean…&quot; isn't used in literature at all. Is its use limited to colloquial speech and informal writing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that while some people seem to be up in arms about this construction, I am not jumping on that bandwagon. I rather side with &lt;a href=&quot;http://faculty.washington.edu/ebender/papers/bender_kathol01.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sober analysis&lt;/a&gt; &lt;sup&gt;[PDF]&lt;/sup&gt; than with angry Reddit rants. So, basically, I'm just looking for a quote by Poe or Twain, though I suspect the construction is younger (is it?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T06:46:32.350" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:37:06.083" Title="&quot;just because… doesn't mean…&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;literature&gt;&lt;formality&gt;&lt;construction&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1480" CreationDate="2010-08-20T13:13:48.967" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with mfg's answer; most of these are convention and there are no good rules.  However I wanted to add that in some cases you can eliminate certain combinations that don't make as much sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;highly sophisticated&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case things that are more sophisticated are often seen as better or more &quot;advanced&quot; and thus &quot;higher&quot; than the base, simple, unsophisticated things.  It makes sense to &quot;order&quot; the sophistication from high to low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;extremely sophisticated&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this is a perfectly acceptable way of expressing the thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;highly happy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case I would say happiness is not ordered and more emotion is not necessarily better than less.  However this is not a hard and fast rule, more of a guideline (the phrase highly happy might sound a bit odd to me, but I probably wouldn't consider it a mistake).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I think you have a fairly high level of freedom to choose your modifiers, and as long as you don't pick one that is really inappropriate, people will understand you, and probably won't think anything worse than &quot;This person is from out of town&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T13:13:48.967" />
  <row Id="1496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-20T13:25:26.637" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Linux.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people pronounce it &quot;LYE-nucks&quot; (I do) but, as it's based on the Swedish name Linus (Linus Torvalds is Finnish but speaks Swedish).  Thus the pronunciation should be &quot;Leenux&quot; or &quot;Lihn-ucks&quot; (/ˈlɪnəks/).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-24T15:00:44.090" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T15:00:44.090" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-20T13:25:26.637" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1494" CreationDate="2010-08-20T13:32:07.110" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports an example of sentence using &lt;em&gt;just because&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;doesn't mean&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;because /bəˈkɔz/ /biˈkɔz/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  conjunction&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  for the reason that; since: &lt;em&gt;we did it because we felt it our duty&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;just because I'm inexperienced doesn't mean that I lack perception&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply replacing &lt;em&gt;just because&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;since&lt;/em&gt; would change the sentence to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(&lt;strong&gt;*&lt;/strong&gt;) Since I'm inexperienced doesn't mean that I lack perception.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOAD reports when a phrase is informal, and it doesn't do it with that sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T14:37:06.083" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:37:06.083" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="1498" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1508" CreationDate="2010-08-20T13:35:19.867" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any sentences where &lt;em&gt;do that&lt;/em&gt; is preferable over &lt;em&gt;do it&lt;/em&gt;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The New Oxford American Dictionary reports when a phrase is informal; it doesn't do that in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The New Oxford American Dictionary reports when a phrase is informal; it doesn't do it in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-17T04:53:56.267" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T04:53:56.267" Title="&quot;do it&quot; versus &quot;do that&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1499" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1500" CreationDate="2010-08-20T13:58:18.080" Score="1" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do &lt;em&gt;plaza&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;square&lt;/em&gt; have a different meaning, when referring to the place?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;From my English studies, I recall that I was taught that plaza and square were two different kind of &quot;square&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it true? Are the words used as synonymous?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-12T15:09:09.083" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T15:09:09.083" Title="Do plaza and square have a different meaning?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="1500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1499" CreationDate="2010-08-20T14:14:48.420" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h2&gt;square&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/square&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;An open space in a town, not necessarily square in shape, often containing trees, seating and other features pleasing to the eye.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;describes&lt;/a&gt; it as &quot;a public meeting place&quot; and provides two examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Town square, an open area commonly found in the heart of a traditional town used for community gatherings.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Market square, an open area where market stalls are traditionally set out for trading.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;plaza&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/plaza&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;plaza (plural plazas)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a town’s public square.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;an open area used for gathering in a city, often having small trees and sitting benches.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaza&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;more verbose&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In modern usage, a plaza can be any gathering place on a street or between buildings, a street intersection with a statue, etc. Thus contemporary metropolitan landscapes often incorporate the &quot;plaza&quot; as a design element, or as an outcome of zoning regulations, building budgetary constraints, and the like. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;More recently plaza has been used to describe a shopping complex, similar to a shopping mall, borrowing its connotations of a center of cultural life. The name is currently even applied to a single building with some semi-public street-level areas, often with a hotel or office tower above, while mall more often refers to multiple buildings or a street. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-20T21:49:58.180" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T21:49:58.180" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1485" CreationDate="2010-08-20T14:33:17.103" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, such things are possible in language.  You are talking about taking an adjective/a past participle of a verb and re-appropriating it as the present tense of a verb with a related, but different, meaning.  This verb seems to refer specifically to programs/computers getting stuck.  Sure, this could happen.  As to whether it is likely, it really depends on circumstances -- it is similar to asking if a certain animal should evolve a sharper claw.  If there is sufficient need for it, and if there isn't a better alternative, then it will emerge -- but language change doesn't happen because people decide it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Linguistically speaking, creating a verb (to stuck) that looks like the past tense form of another verb (to stick) is not impossible.  As mentioned in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/105/difference-between-lay-and-lie/1492#1492&quot;&gt;another thread&lt;/a&gt;, we have the verbs &quot;to fall/to fell&quot;, &quot;to lay/to lie&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest obstacle I see is competing terms that already exist as verbs: &quot;to hang&quot; and &quot;to lag&quot; come to mind.  Both of these are related to &quot;getting stuck&quot; in the computer sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T14:33:17.103" />
  <row Id="1502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2010-08-20T14:37:30.073" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h3&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.forvo.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Forvo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a site for hearing pronunciations of words recorded by “ordinary” people. Many words have multiple recordings in different dialects, and each recording has votes on whether others think it is good or correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="706" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-08T22:55:08.153" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T22:55:08.153" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-20T14:37:30.073" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="1503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2010-08-20T14:40:51.177" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, the companion to &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt; is &lt;a href=&quot;http://thesaurus.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://thesaurus.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="366" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T14:40:51.177" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-20T14:40:51.177" />
  <row Id="1505" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1516" CreationDate="2010-08-20T15:28:26.003" Score="9" ViewCount="449" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that &lt;em&gt;goodbye&lt;/em&gt; comes from &lt;em&gt;God be with you&lt;/em&gt;.  Is that true?  If so how did it become &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt;?  Did &lt;em&gt;goodbye&lt;/em&gt; always have the same meaning it has now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="687" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T08:19:02.760" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T08:22:46.783" Title="Origin of the word &quot;goodbye&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1505" CreationDate="2010-08-20T15:40:02.207" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/goodbye&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;merriam-webster&lt;/a&gt; confirms what you are writing in your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Etymology: alteration of &lt;strong&gt;God be with you&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  Date: circa 1580&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/goodbye.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(Common Errors in English Usage)&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;GOOD-BY/GOOD-BYE/GOODBY/GOODBYE&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All of these spellings are legitimate; but if you want to go with the most popular one, it’s “goodbye.”&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  This spelling has the advantage of recalling the word’s origins in phrases like “God be with ye.” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T15:40:02.207" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1505" CreationDate="2010-08-20T15:46:51.457" Score="-3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quoting &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kthxbye&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;urbandictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;kthxbye: shortening of &quot;k thx bye&quot;. The K is short for OK, which is short for oll korrect, which is a facetious alteration of All Correct. thx is short for thanx which is a facetious alteration of thanks which is short for thank you. &lt;strong&gt;Bye is short for goodbye, which is an alteration of alteration of God be with you&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;em&gt;kthxbye&lt;/em&gt; is the pinnacle of English's advancement, shortening &lt;em&gt;All correct, Thank you, God be with you.&lt;/em&gt; into seven lowercase letters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T08:22:46.783" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T08:22:46.783" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1498" CreationDate="2010-08-20T15:47:06.120" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a subtle point of usage that does not have a clear answer, and I doubt that there are any usage guides that specifically address this issue. However, here's the best I can offer with my native-speaker intuition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;do it&lt;/em&gt; is the most general variation. When in doubt, use &lt;em&gt;do it&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;do that&lt;/em&gt; is most used when there's a very specific action in question&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;do that&lt;/em&gt; can also be used to contrast two different actions, e.g. &quot;Do that and not this.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As a general imperative, prefer &lt;em&gt;do it&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the two examples you give above, I strongly prefer the &lt;em&gt;do this&lt;/em&gt; variation, as an instance of my second point (we're talking about a specific action).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T15:47:06.120" />
  <row Id="1509" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1527" CreationDate="2010-08-20T15:54:13.820" Score="5" ViewCount="235" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's Friday again, how about some fun to get us into the weekend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the longest word you can come up with for which all the letters in that word are in alphabetical order? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rules:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;English words only   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can't be a name of a place, person or other proper noun.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if it contains the same letter twice in a row, that does not disqualify it.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No fair looking it up on Google!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: One more rule to help you guys out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The word can be in either ascending or descending alphabetical order.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="179" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-21T21:22:42.930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T05:13:24.437" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-20T22:45:34.493" Title="What is the longest word you can come up with that the letters are all in alphabetical order?" Tags="&lt;fun&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1498" CreationDate="2010-08-20T15:59:17.123" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, in these particular cases I think both sound a bit awkward. What you have here in the second clause is (I think) what linguists call pseudogapping, which is a type of verb phrase ellipsis (i.e., the verb in the antecedent clause is left out of the second clause). Sometimes when you leave the verb out of a clause you use &quot;so&quot; as a kind of stand in for the complement or adjunct of the verb (i.e., what comes to the right of the verb in the first clause). In this case, I think &quot;that&quot; and &quot;it&quot; are stand-ins for &quot;when a phrase is informal&quot;, but as I said normally in English you would prefer to use &quot;so&quot; for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that these examples aren't ungrammatical. But they do sound, to my ear, typical of second language English. Not that there's anything wrong with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the distinction in general between &quot;do it&quot; and &quot;do that&quot;, it's subtle. &quot;It&quot; is a pronoun, and as such when you use it you are signaling that you are referring back to something which has already been talked about or somehow referred to in the discourse. (In other words, I can point to something and say &quot;Do it!&quot; and that would be enough.) &quot;That&quot; is a word which you use to point out a particular thing in the world (the technical term is &quot;deixis&quot;), as such &quot;that&quot; is a better choice when you are distinguishing or contrasting one thing from something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastEditorUserId="78" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-20T19:36:16.693" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T19:36:16.693" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1512" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1513" CreationDate="2010-08-20T16:00:47.263" Score="3" ViewCount="508" Body="&lt;p&gt;When referring to an entity like a government body, should it be capitalized if referring to is by classification(?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g., if I write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The City of New York requires us to get a building permit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Certainly &quot;city&quot; should be capitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if I'm communicating in a context where everyone should know what city I'm referring to (the one we are in), when I write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The city requires us to get a building permit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should &quot;city&quot; still be capitalized?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="437" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-21T00:30:51.090" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T23:19:46.787" Title="Should city / state / province be capitalized" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1512" CreationDate="2010-08-20T16:09:12.183" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your second example, &quot;city&quot; should not be capitalized. Words for governmental or administrative units are only capitalized when they are used as part of a proper noun, such as the formal name of a city.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your first example is correct so long as you're referring to the &lt;em&gt;City of New York&lt;/em&gt;, as the formal name for New York. However, if I were simply using the word &quot;city&quot; to disambiguate and not as part of a formal name, I wouldn't capitalize it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We're only going to the city of New York, not the rest of the state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T16:09:12.183" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1514" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1522" CreationDate="2010-08-20T16:10:10.433" Score="6" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does one fill &lt;strong&gt;out&lt;/strong&gt; a form or does one fill &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; a form? I've gotten differing answers from all the people whom I've asked this one...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Updated:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google search results:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;fill *in* a form&lt;/code&gt; - &lt;code&gt;14,200,000&lt;/code&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;code&gt;fill *out* a form&lt;/code&gt; - &lt;code&gt;7,000,000&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="391" LastEditorUserId="391" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-20T19:32:38.293" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T20:25:01.753" Title="Does one fill out a form or does one fill in a form?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="1515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1514" CreationDate="2010-08-20T16:10:30.900" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are perfectly acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T16:10:30.900" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="1516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1505" CreationDate="2010-08-20T16:10:42.617" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The OED also says that this is a contracted form of &quot;God be with you&quot;, and explains the God-to-good transition thusly (emphasis mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A contraction of the phrase God be&#xA;  with you (or ye); see GOD n. 8. The&#xA;  substitution of good- for God may have&#xA;  been &lt;strong&gt;due to association with such&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;   &lt;strong&gt;formulas of leave-taking as good day,&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;   &lt;strong&gt;good night, etc.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a quote from 1659, we still have &quot;god&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But mum for that, his strength will&#xA;  scarce supply His Back to the Balcona,&#xA;  so God b' wy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then by 1694, we have transitioned to &quot;good&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He flings up his tail..and so bids us&#xA;  good-b'wy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T16:10:42.617" />
  <row Id="1517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2010-08-20T17:15:45.523" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h3&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; (COCA)&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a great tool for finding out how words are actually used in different registers of English, ranging from informal spoken English to formal academic written English. In &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/808/is-prepone-being-used-outside-india/843#843&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; I used it to find out if the word &lt;em&gt;prepone&lt;/em&gt; was used with any regularity in American English (it is not). In &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/629/a-historic-or-an-historic/632#632&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;, I used it to compare incidences of “an historic” with “a historic”, to see if one is used orders of magnitude more frequently than the other (almost four to one in favor of “a historic”).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also useful for researching collocates—which words frequently go with other words. For example, in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/757/correct-usage-of-on-at-and-in-from-a-foreigners-point-of-view/852#852&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; I used it to compare “on the bus” with “in the bus” (“in the bus” is used sometimes when the bus is stationary). In &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1425/none-as-plural-indefinite-pronoun/1428#1428&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; I used it the part-of-speech searching ability to compare how frequently &lt;em&gt;none&lt;/em&gt; was used with a singular and plural verb forms (two to one in favor of plural).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, COCA is a very useful tool for researching how the language is actually used, not only for debunking myths about language, but also for learning something new about how the language works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-08T23:41:53.837" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T23:41:53.837" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-20T17:15:45.523" />
  <row Id="1518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2010-08-20T17:26:36.877" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0877791325&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This book, which can be &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=2yJusP0vrdgC&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;read for free using Google Books&lt;/a&gt;, has a lot of useful usage information that is based on research into how words are actually used (as opposed to how some usage writer would like them to be used). Their commentary was helpful to me in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/495/less-vs-fewer/505#505&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; regarding &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;fewer&lt;/em&gt;. It was also useful during my research for &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1176/you-and-yourself-me-and-myself/1186#1186&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; regarding usage of the word &lt;em&gt;myself&lt;/em&gt; in non-reflexive contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T17:26:36.877" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-20T17:26:36.877" />
  <row Id="1519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="270" CreationDate="2010-08-20T17:51:21.377" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's find out from the Merriam-Webster's editor:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFyY2mK8pxk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFyY2mK8pxk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="717" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T17:51:21.377" />
  <row Id="1520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2010-08-20T17:59:10.053" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Language Log&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Language Log is a collaborative blog about language, most of whose contributors are academic linguists. It is one of the most popular blogs about linguistics, and there are often posts that directly address questions asked here. For example, there were a number of informative posts on singular &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt; I linked to in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/192/is-it-correct-to-use-their-instead-of-him-or-her/208#208&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002224.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mark Liberman’s post about the mythical rule forbidding beginning sentences with conjunctions&lt;/a&gt; was informative in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/593/why-is-it-bad-to-start-a-sentence-with-and/601#601&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; to the question “Why is it bad to start a sentence with &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt;?”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T17:59:10.053" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-20T17:59:10.053" />
  <row Id="1521" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1524" CreationDate="2010-08-20T18:02:56.833" Score="7" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;I said, &quot;Hopefully, I will get better&quot; to a friend and he said that I was using it incorrectly, stating that hopefully is an adverb meaning &quot;full of hope&quot; that modifies a verb. It sounds right, but I'm pretty sure that this usage of hopefully has become prevalent enough to be accepted for this use case. Am I right, is he right, or are we both right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="199" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T21:46:46.510" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T21:46:46.510" Title="What's the correct usage of &quot;hopefully&quot;?" Tags="&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1514" CreationDate="2010-08-20T18:12:21.060" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It appears that this is a British/American distinction. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; (COCA) reports 92 incidences of “fill out a/the/this form” and just 2 of “fill in a/the/this form”, clearly establishing “fill out” as the standard idiom in American English. I haven’t worked out how to search the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the results were reversed there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OK, I got the BNC to respond to queries—although it sure takes its sweet time—and I got 19+7=26 results for &lt;a href=&quot;http://bnc.bl.uk/saraWeb.php?qy=fill+in+a+form&amp;amp;mysubmit=Go&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;“fill in a/the form”&lt;/a&gt;,  and 5+1=6 for &lt;a href=&quot;http://bnc.bl.uk/saraWeb.php?qy=fill+out+a+form&amp;amp;mysubmit=Go&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;“fill out a/the form”&lt;/a&gt;. So it does appear that British English favors &lt;em&gt;fill in&lt;/em&gt; over &lt;em&gt;fill out&lt;/em&gt;, although not to the degree to which American English favors &lt;em&gt;fill out&lt;/em&gt; over &lt;em&gt;fill in&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-21T00:06:59.260" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T00:06:59.260" />
  <row Id="1523" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1525" CreationDate="2010-08-20T18:13:23.083" Score="4" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any connection between the name of the American Whiskey and the French monarchy, or is it just a coincidence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T18:27:54.380" Title="Bourbon Whisky, Bourbon Monarchy - is there a connection?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="1524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1521" CreationDate="2010-08-20T18:13:45.847" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disjunct_%28linguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disjunct_(linguistics)&lt;/a&gt; has a section about &quot;hopefully&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the purest sense, your friend is correct, but &quot;hopefully&quot; has been dated as a disjunct back to the 18th century, so I'd say it is prevalent enough to be considered correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="435" LastEditorUserId="435" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-20T18:21:01.853" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T18:21:01.853" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1523" CreationDate="2010-08-20T18:27:54.380" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourbon_%28whiskey%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; claims the name comes from Bourbon County, Kentucky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes and no, because Bourbon County does get its name from the French Monarchy (see Paris, Kentucky)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="435" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T18:27:54.380" />
  <row Id="1526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1509" CreationDate="2010-08-20T18:34:39.313" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;hops&quot; is the longest one I can think of without cheating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T18:34:39.313" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1509" CreationDate="2010-08-20T18:36:22.930" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK, well another Friday, another Perl script. Here’s this week’s:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;#!/usr/local/bin/perl&#xA;use warnings;&#xA;use strict;&#xA;my @alphas;&#xA;while (&amp;lt;&amp;gt;) {&#xA;    chomp;&#xA;    my @words = split /\s+/;&#xA;    foreach my $word (@words) {&#xA;        $word =~ s/[^A-Za-z]//g;&#xA;        next unless $word =~ /^[A-Za-z]{2,}$/;&#xA;        $word = uc $word;&#xA;        my @letters = split //, $word;&#xA;        my $sorted_word = join '', sort @letters;&#xA;        if ($sorted_word eq $word) {&#xA;            push @{$alphas[length $word]}, $word;&#xA;        }&#xA;    }&#xA;}&#xA;&#xA;for (1..2) {&#xA;    print join &quot;\n&quot;, @{pop @alphas};&#xA;    print &quot;\n=====\n&quot;;&#xA;&#xA;}&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This time I used as the input corpus the AGID word list from &lt;a href=&quot;http://wordlist.sourceforge.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kevin’s Word Lists&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And got this output:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;AEGILOPS&#xA;=====&#xA;BILLOWY&#xA;DIKKOPS&#xA;=====&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegilops&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Aegilops&lt;/a&gt; (length 8) is a genus of grasses, and so is proper noun and might not count. &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/billowy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Billowy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; (length 7) is definitely a commonly-used, legit word. &lt;em&gt;Dikkops&lt;/em&gt; (length 7), also known as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dikkop&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stone-curlews&lt;/a&gt;, are a South African bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T18:36:22.930" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="1528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1509" CreationDate="2010-08-20T18:42:14.120" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got &lt;strong&gt;accent&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="305" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-21T02:50:30.713" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T02:50:30.713" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1405" CreationDate="2010-08-20T19:13:08.457" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most literature is focused on plot and setting, so you don't get a lot of examples of vocabulary in the context of conversation. There are some specialists, though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a. Marcel Proust and Jane Austen are supposed to be great at relating realistic, but sophisticated, dialog. I can't completely vouch for it, though, because of drowsing off. In their combined works, the only action was [SPOILER ALERT]a girl falling off a wall.[/SPOILER ALERT]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;b. Kevin Smith's movies have characters telling each other amazingly complex things - sometimes they are exchanging monologues, but sometimes they are having real conversations. I'd start with Chasing Amy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;c. Patrick O'Brian is the master of writing dialog, IMHO. Plus, lots of stuff blows up in most of his books.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T19:13:08.457" />
  <row Id="1530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1429" CreationDate="2010-08-20T19:14:05.287" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is driven by the delicious book marking service, which puts the most book marked items on their home pages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People bookmark items that are too long to read.  So what sort of things get book marked?  &quot;80 Awesome Cookie Recipes&quot;  There is no way I'm going to be able to read that all at once. On the other hand, I don't even need to scroll down to realize I'll probably need to bookmark this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to be on the front page of Delicious, then you may want to have a title that implies &quot;I'm a really long post&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T19:14:05.287" />
  <row Id="1531" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1533" CreationDate="2010-08-20T19:51:59.437" Score="13" ViewCount="387" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So like, I had this teacher? And he's like, &quot;You're late?&quot; And I'm like,&#xA;  &quot;There's like other people late too?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always cringed at the word &quot;like&quot; strewn about in a spoken sentence. Well now I've seen it in print, right in the middle of an otherwise articulate National Geographic article. Not once, but twice. As far as I could tell it was not being used tongue in cheek. In the Feb '10 issue, in the article about the Congo Chimps. See last two paragraphs here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/02/congo-chimps/foer-text/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/02/congo-chimps/foer-text/2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Sure enough, they built their nests directly over our tents,&quot; says Morgan.&#xA;  &quot;I was like, This is great! But our trackers were like, No way, man, this&#xA;  is very bad news.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;People were like, Curiosity: Hmmm, how do you define that?&quot; says Sanz,&#xA;  34, now a professor at Washington University in St. Louis.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I read that I had to shake my head and go back to re-read those sentences. I'm just curious what people think of this, and if you have seen any other examples in like a literate context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T18:06:31.183" Title="Is Valley Girl speak like entering the language?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="1532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1405" CreationDate="2010-08-20T20:10:12.770" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a technique many language learners find useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Set yourself the task of talking about a particular topic for 5 minutes, or maybe telling a story. Record yourself doing it. Then play the recording back and see where improvements can be made. If you have someone else (e.g. a teacher) to help, so much the better. Focus on your weak vocabulary and think about how to improve it. Then do the same talk again, record again, and look again for possible improvements. Repeat the process again and again until you are satisfied. If you compare your last attempt with your first attempt you will easily be able to tell if you have really improved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if you like the technique, think of another topic, and repeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="128" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-18T13:02:32.743" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T13:02:32.743" />
  <row Id="1533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1531" CreationDate="2010-08-20T20:25:35.923" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't think of any other examples at the moment, but I can offer a few interesting comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; in the sense you are using it is a discourse particle to indicate a possible mismatch between words and meaning.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=zXgI1LcwlMAC&amp;amp;pg=PA309&amp;amp;lpg=PA309&amp;amp;dq=schourup+1985&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=rWLM4qFPOp&amp;amp;sig=yepwpZrFuHXJYWXDOb1khMfFzM0&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=D99uTNfSCIP_8AaX__D9DA&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=2&amp;amp;ved=0CBYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=schourup%201985&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This was first noted by Schourup (1985)&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare the difference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;John said, &quot;what are you, crazy?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;John was like, &quot;what are you, crazy?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sentence (1) implies an exact quote from from John, while sentence (2) is paraphrasing or giving the gist of his reaction — he didn't have to say those exact words at all.  It can even be used to recount facial expressions or emotions, e.g. &quot;and I was like (O_O)&quot;, where if you are speaking to someone you can mimic the facial expression of your story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that, in the reference I linked to above, there are other uses for &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; besides this particular function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish I could find a reference for this (and if anyone can find one, please add it to the comments), but it is well-known among linguists that adolescent girls are very often at the forefront of language change (and men are generally more conservative than women overall).  So it is no surprise that something considered to be exclusively done by adolescent girls in the early 80s could be fairly widespread in 2010 and increasing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I mentioned in the beginning, &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; also provides a useful discourse marker that other words do not replicate, which means that it has linguistic value — it provides something unique.  This leads me to believe that, once the valley-girl stigma is a thing of the past (who knows how long that will be), &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; will only proliferate more (unless something else comes along in the meantime!).  Just think how far it has come even with the stigma in existence.  People who think it is silly sometimes find themselves using it in speech in spite of themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find this word (and its viral power) fascinating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T20:25:35.923" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="1534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1494" CreationDate="2010-08-20T21:04:34.580" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’ve just discovered the wonderful Corpus of Historical American English, and you, dear reader, get see the first fruits of my research there:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Date: 1942&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Publication information: Doubleday &amp;amp; Company, Inc. 1970&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Title: Along the Street&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Author: Struthers Burt&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;Just because&lt;/strong&gt; I've had everything done for me &lt;strong&gt;doesn't mean&lt;/strong&gt; I can't get along without lots of things I've been used to. The only thing I can't face doing without is you. We can manage with what I have. I know we can.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A similar construction from 1914:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Date:  1914&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Title:  On With Torchy&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Author: Ford, Sewell, 1868-1946  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;… can't give you all the details without pullin' down a subpoena from the Attorney-General's office, and I ain't anxious to crowd Willie Rockefeller, or anybody like that, out of the witness chair. But I can go as far as to state that, as near as I could dope it out, Peter K. was only standin' on his rights, and if only him and Mr. Ellins could have got together for half an hour peaceable-like things could have been squared all around. We needed Groff every tick of the clock, and &lt;strong&gt;just because&lt;/strong&gt; he ain't always polite in statin' his views over the wire &lt;strong&gt;wa'n't any first-class reason&lt;/strong&gt; for us extendin' him an official invitation to go sew his head in a bag. Uh-huh, them was Old Hickory's very words. I stood by while he writes the message. Then I takes it out and shows it to Piddie and grins. You should have seen Piddie's face. He turns the color of green pea soup and gasps. He's got all the fightin' qualities of…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T21:04:34.580" />
  <row Id="1535" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-20T21:35:50.123" Score="8" ViewCount="361" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;em&gt;friend of mine&lt;/em&gt; can be translated to &lt;em&gt;my friend.&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;In that case, doesn't &lt;em&gt;friend of me&lt;/em&gt; make more sense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we translate &lt;em&gt;friend of mine&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;one of my friends&lt;/em&gt; then I guess &lt;em&gt;friend of mine&lt;/em&gt; makes sense for &lt;em&gt;my friends&lt;/em&gt; being &lt;em&gt;mine.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When do you say &lt;em&gt;... of mine&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;my ...&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a specific situation when you use one or the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="686" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T23:26:09.227" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T19:48:44.540" Title="Why do you say &quot;friend of mine&quot; instead of &quot;friend of me&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1494" CreationDate="2010-08-20T21:37:17.690" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found nothing from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;amp;tbs=bks:1,bkv%3aa&amp;amp;q=doesn-t-mean+twain+%22just+because%22+inauthor%3aTwain&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&amp;amp;gs_rfai=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Twain&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;amp;tbs=bks:1,bkv%3aa&amp;amp;q=doesn-t-mean+twain+%22just+because%22+inauthor%3aPoe&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=m1&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&amp;amp;gs_rfai=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Poe&lt;/a&gt;. However, google can help you find usage of this phrase in books sorted by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22just+because%22+%22doesn%27t+mean%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=FvVuTJyKOIK8lQeL7bGaDQ&amp;amp;ved=0CBoQpwU&amp;amp;source=lnt&amp;amp;tbs=bks:1,sbd:1,cdr:1,cd_min:1/1/1900,cd_max:12/31/1920&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;date&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="177" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T21:37:17.690" />
  <row Id="1537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1535" CreationDate="2010-08-20T21:55:31.483" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;X of me&lt;/em&gt; is always ungrammatical, and I don't think there are any English constructions that use &lt;em&gt;of me&lt;/em&gt;. The emphatic possessive construction is formed by &lt;em&gt;of mine&lt;/em&gt;, and the equivalent using other persons (&lt;em&gt;of yours&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;of hers&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;of Jane's&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;of the cat's&lt;/em&gt;, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There isn't a logical rule that explains why this is, and there doesn't need to be. That's just how the language works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-20T21:55:31.483" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="1538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1535" CreationDate="2010-08-20T22:49:20.463" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there a specific situation when you use one or the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Friend of mine&quot; would generally be used when you're saying something like &quot;Kim is a friend of mine,&quot; in other words, at the end of a phrase or sentence. &quot;My friend&quot; is often used when saying &quot;Kim is my friend&quot;, or in the construction, &quot;My friend, you have a rip in the back of your shirt.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T06:41:33.193" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T06:41:33.193" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1539" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-20T23:38:20.040" Score="2" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;Example: i before e, except after c.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there mnemonic devices to help remember other spelling and grammar issues? Bonus points for pointing out exceptions to the rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="79" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T13:10:59.703" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-20T23:38:20.040" Title="What mnemonics help solve common linguistic issues?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1540" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1542" CreationDate="2010-08-20T23:43:55.820" Score="2" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;Did eBay take the name from the Pig Latin word for &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T03:58:02.297" Title="Did eBay take the name from a Pig Latin word?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="1542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1540" CreationDate="2010-08-20T23:48:53.877" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. This is from an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.businessknowhow.com/manage/perfectstore.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;online excerpt&lt;/a&gt; of &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0316150487&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Perfect Store&lt;/a&gt;, which was apparently written with the full cooperation of the company:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That spring, [Pierre] Omidyar had formed a sole proprietorship for his web consulting and freelance technology work, which he had named Echo Bay Technology Group. The name was not a reference to Echo Bay, Nevada, the wilderness area near Lake Mead, or to any other real-world Echo Bay. &quot;It just sounded cool,&quot; he says. When he tried to register EchoBay.com, however, he found he was a few months too late. Echo Bay Mines, a Canadian company that mined for gold in Nevada, had gotten to it first, and was using echobay.com for its corporate home page. Omidyar registered what he considered to be the next best thing: eBay.com.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it was just his second choice, not something he did to be clever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-21T03:58:02.297" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T03:58:02.297" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1488" CreationDate="2010-08-20T23:50:08.820" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using Google Books, I was able to antedate usage of “Red Square” to refer to the square in Moscow to 1844.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is from an 1844 translation of &lt;em&gt;The Heretic&lt;/em&gt; by Ivan Ivanovich Lazhechnikov, the first use being on &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=WJ8FAQAAIAAJ&amp;amp;dq=%22red%20square%22%20moscow&amp;amp;pg=PA30#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22red%20square%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;page 30&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/47ECb.png&quot; alt=&quot;Google books image&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Look out of the window towards the Kreml, you will see the cannon-yard, the &lt;strong&gt;Red Square&lt;/strong&gt;, the shops, Várskaia Street and the Spass-v-Tchegaáskh beyond the Yaóuza.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=WVsAAAAAcAAJ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;second 1845 translation&lt;/a&gt; of the same book which also uses the translation &lt;em&gt;Red Square&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the origin of the name, as discussed in the Wikipedia article, I'm willing to bet that “Red Square” is even how Russians think of the name. I don’t get the impression that Красная (krasnaya) means anything other than &lt;em&gt;red&lt;/em&gt; in contemporary Russian. Further perusing the translation links on Wikipedia, it does appear that the translated name is universally “Red Square” (where &lt;em&gt;Red&lt;/em&gt; refers to the color).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-21T00:03:15.990" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T00:03:15.990" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="652" CreationDate="2010-08-21T00:51:02.187" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports the following definition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;before |bəˈfɔ(ə)r| |biˈfɔ(ə)r|&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  preposition, conjunction, &amp;amp; adverb&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. during the period of time preceding (a particular event, date, or time): [as prep.] &lt;em&gt;she had to rest before dinner&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;the day before yesterday&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;before the war&lt;/em&gt; | [as conj.] &lt;em&gt;they lived rough for four days before they were arrested&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;it wasn't long before I had my first bite&lt;/em&gt; | [as adv.] &lt;em&gt;his playing days had ended six years before&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;it's never happened to me before&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. in front of: [as prep.] &lt;em&gt;Matilda stood before her, panting&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;the patterns swam before her eyes&lt;/em&gt; | [as adv.] &lt;em&gt;archaic trotting through the city with guards running before and behind&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • [ prep.] in front of and required to answer to (a court of law, tribunal, or other authority): &lt;em&gt;he could be taken before a magistrate for punishment&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;a fall in the number of cases brought before the courts&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  3. in preference to; with a higher priority than: [as prep.] &lt;em&gt;a woman who placed duty before all else&lt;/em&gt; | [as conj.] &lt;em&gt;they would die before they would cooperate with each other&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you see, there are many examples where &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; doesn't have a temporal meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T05:23:54.150" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T05:23:54.150" />
  <row Id="1545" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-21T00:56:36.310" Score="12" ViewCount="415" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always heard people say something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Pronunciation is not my [for-tay]&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... but I feel that I've heard that the correct pronunciation is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Confusing people is my [fort]&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the proper way to pronounce this word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T13:55:03.240" Title="Is &quot;forte&quot; pronounced &quot;fort&quot; or &quot;for-tay&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1545" CreationDate="2010-08-21T01:02:35.160" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported by the NOAD, the pronunciation is &lt;code&gt;|ˈfɔrˌteɪ|&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;|fɔrt|&lt;/code&gt;, whenever forte means a thing at which someone excels, or loud/loudly.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In the first case, the origin of the word is from a French word &lt;em&gt;fort&lt;/em&gt; (masculine), or &lt;em&gt;forte&lt;/em&gt; (feminine), from Latin &lt;em&gt;fortis&lt;/em&gt;; in the second case the origin is the Italian word &lt;em&gt;forte&lt;/em&gt;, from the Latin &lt;em&gt;fortis&lt;/em&gt;. The difference is that in the first case the word has been borrowed from French, while in the other case the word has been borrowed from Italian; in both the cases, the word derive from the same Latin word.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In Italian, the used word is &lt;em&gt;forte&lt;/em&gt; for both the meanings; if there is any difference in the pronunciation is probably to differentiate the different origin of the English words. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-21T03:14:16.863" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T03:14:16.863" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1514" CreationDate="2010-08-21T02:32:50.813" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer, yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T02:32:50.813" />
  <row Id="1548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1509" CreationDate="2010-08-21T02:39:55.617" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you had asked about vowels in order rather than letters, then two good ones would be facetiously and abstemiously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T02:39:55.617" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-21T02:39:55.617" />
  <row Id="1549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-21T02:45:57.120" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disheveled&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always read it as dis-HEAVE-eld.  I was wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T02:45:57.120" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-21T02:45:57.120" />
  <row Id="1550" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1669" CreationDate="2010-08-21T02:55:58.627" Score="5" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct word, &lt;em&gt;plugin&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;plug-in&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Does that depend from the context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T13:09:42.753" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T13:09:42.753" Title="Is &quot;plugin&quot; the correct word?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1545" CreationDate="2010-08-21T02:56:36.363" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This source &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/forte&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/forte&lt;/a&gt; suggests that the correct pronunciation of the word in your context is 'fort', as it is derived from the French 'fort' (strong) and the 'for-tay' pronunciation appeared through confusion with the 'forte' in music meaning loud, which is Italian and correctly pronounced 'for-tay'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T02:56:36.363" />
  <row Id="1552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1469" CreationDate="2010-08-21T02:56:38.457" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since &lt;em&gt;et cetera&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;and so forth&quot;, your question is very nearly identical to the serial comma question.  However, I would say that the comma before etc. is much more prevalent than the serial comma itself, so if in doubt, include the comma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T02:56:38.457" />
  <row Id="1553" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-21T03:09:37.867" Score="3" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;We always change subject and verb positions in whenever we want to ask a question such as &lt;code&gt;What is your name?&lt;/code&gt;. But when it comes to statements like the following, which form is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I don't understand what &lt;strong&gt;are you&lt;/strong&gt; talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I don't understand what &lt;strong&gt;you are&lt;/strong&gt; talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do you know what time &lt;strong&gt;is it&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do you know what time &lt;strong&gt;it is&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do you care how &lt;strong&gt;do I feel&lt;/strong&gt; about this?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do you care how &lt;strong&gt;I feel&lt;/strong&gt; about this?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T14:31:10.657" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:31:10.657" Title="Changing subject and verb positions in statements and questions" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1553" CreationDate="2010-08-21T03:19:53.100" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In all the cases you reported, the second sentence is the correct one. It is similar to the words order in &lt;em&gt;they asked who I was&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T03:19:53.100" />
  <row Id="1555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1383" CreationDate="2010-08-21T03:21:32.070" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Aw, shucks&quot; together form an extremely mild expletive to express disappointment or frustration. Think &quot;Oh, damn&quot; for kindergartners. It's also used to indicate false modesty, something a cartoon character says while blushing after being complimented. It carries a little bit of a rustic, unsophisticated flavor. I've seen it applied to politicians affecting a humble demeanor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T03:21:32.070" />
  <row Id="1556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1407" CreationDate="2010-08-21T03:32:06.747" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lewis Carroll apparently originated the word ladders game and called it &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_ladder&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;doublets&lt;/a&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T03:32:06.747" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1390" CreationDate="2010-08-21T03:39:56.710" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to dictionary.com, 'title' as a verb means &quot;to furnish with a title; designate by an appellation; entitle.&quot;  I conclude both are acceptable.  I think I tend to use 'titled' preferentially, probably because it's shorter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T03:39:56.710" />
  <row Id="1558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1539" CreationDate="2010-08-21T03:42:44.323" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've become rather fond of the expression &quot;&lt;em&gt;an hour and a half&lt;/em&gt;&quot;; it's a quick way to remember which of the two articles &quot;a&quot; or &quot;an&quot; should I use in a situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T03:42:44.323" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-21T03:42:44.323" />
  <row Id="1559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1535" CreationDate="2010-08-21T03:56:10.957" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Mine&quot; was once used to mean &quot;my.&quot; (&quot;Mine eyes have seen the glory...&quot;) I would guess that this idiom is a holdover of that usage, although here it functions as an object rather than an adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T03:56:10.957" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1560" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-21T03:58:24.373" Score="10" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;The American convention in quotations is (typically) to place punctuation inside quoted text. But I always run into situations where the punctuation of the quote interferes with the punctuation of the sentence. How would you punctuate this (American, non technical)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When my friends ask, &quot;What do you want for your birthday?&quot;, I never know how to respond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems odd to place the last comma &lt;em&gt;outside&lt;/em&gt; the quote simply because of the question mark. Is &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; the preferred (i.e. most often accepted) standard?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="28" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-21T04:11:38.600" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T16:58:13.593" Title="How to punctuate around quotes?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="1561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1535" CreationDate="2010-08-21T04:03:57.877" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the construction&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;friend of mine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the &quot;mine&quot; means &quot;my friends&quot;, so literally&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;?&lt;/code&gt; he is [one] friend of [all my friends]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or more idiomatically,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;he is one of my friends&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I only have one friend and he is my only friend, we cannot then say &quot;he is a friend of mine&quot;, because the &quot;mine&quot; doesn't mean a group of people. If I introduce my daughter I would never say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;*&lt;/code&gt; this is a daughter of mine,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;always&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;this is my daughter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-21T04:16:01.030" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T04:16:01.030" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="1562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1535" CreationDate="2010-08-21T04:04:43.103" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The nominative form of &quot;me&quot; is &quot;I&quot;. You wouldn't say, for instance,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;He is a colleague of me.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any more than you would say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;He is I colleague.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;He is a colleague of mine&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;He is my colleague&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same goes for friends. For whatever reason, friends, colleagues, etc., are treated as possessions in English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As noted above, when it's third person, you can do this. But consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;A friend of Jane.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Jane friend.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, it doesn't work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps this use of the non-genitive is just a matter of usage. I'm not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastEditorUserId="78" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-21T05:03:54.757" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T05:03:54.757" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1563" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1573" CreationDate="2010-08-21T04:09:42.877" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I know you're feeling pretty hey sailor up here about now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;about now&lt;/em&gt; mean, in the sentence?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it an informal way of saying?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T18:23:50.670" Title="What does &quot;about now&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1560" CreationDate="2010-08-21T04:13:17.257" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Chicago Manual of Style (6.8) says that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When my friends ask, &quot;What do you want for your birthday?,&quot; I never know how to respond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is the correct form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T04:13:17.257" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1565" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1668" CreationDate="2010-08-21T04:17:29.170" Score="8" ViewCount="330" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of &lt;em&gt;holy smoke&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;To what &lt;em&gt;holy smoke&lt;/em&gt; is referring?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T21:47:16.197" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T07:04:28.897" Title="Origin of &quot;holy smoke&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1566" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-21T04:17:36.300" Score="4" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any alternative pronunciation software to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.antimoon.com/perfectp/perfectp.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PerfectPronunciation&lt;/a&gt;, be it paid or free? The said software only supports Windows while I am on another platform.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T01:42:22.393" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T01:42:22.393" Title="Pronunciation software suggestion" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1563" CreationDate="2010-08-21T04:18:17.640" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What does about now mean, in the sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;About now&quot; means &quot;at this time&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it an informal way of saying?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, this is informal speech or writing. I think this kind of writing style is common in email messages when the writer is guessing the mood of the recipient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T04:18:17.640" />
  <row Id="1568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1565" CreationDate="2010-08-21T04:19:46.767" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe this and all the other &quot;holy&quot; expressions, like &quot;holy enchiladas, Batman&quot;, etc. originate from the Roman Catholic practice of exclaiming &quot;holy Mary mother of God&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T04:19:46.767" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1272" CreationDate="2010-08-21T04:23:19.430" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Genius Boy&quot; sounds sarcastic to me:  &quot;Everything was going great until Genius Boy here turned out the lights.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T04:23:19.430" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1356" CreationDate="2010-08-21T04:27:50.860" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you said &quot;broth cube&quot;, people would look at you funny, but they'd probably know what you meant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T04:27:50.860" />
  <row Id="1571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="964" CreationDate="2010-08-21T04:35:09.930" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that the assignment of 'spatial' prepositions (on, under, into, above, etc.) to abstract situations is entirely arbitrary and varies from language to language. Within English it varies, too.  She was on drugs and under the influence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T04:35:09.930" />
  <row Id="1572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1539" CreationDate="2010-08-21T04:38:43.263" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To continue with the spelling theme, there is A RAT in 'separate'. This has helped me at times.  I wish someone would come up with one for 'definitely'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T04:38:43.263" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-21T04:38:43.263" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1563" CreationDate="2010-08-21T04:47:36.717" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;About&lt;/em&gt; suggests approximation, so at approximately this time.  Most often used as an aside to the reader. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;About now you might be wondering why you should invest in […]&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T18:23:50.670" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T18:23:50.670" />
  <row Id="1574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1560" CreationDate="2010-08-21T04:51:17.850" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find the British convention more rational and am trying to break myself of old habits. So '...birthday?&quot;, ...' looks good to me. I still swap my knife and fork when slicing meat, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T04:51:17.850" />
  <row Id="1575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="706" CreationDate="2010-08-21T05:01:08.163" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One interpretation I haven't seen here yet is that I'm doing it a favor, whatever it is, by caring just a teeny bit, BUT I COULD CARE LESS. So don't push your luck, it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T05:01:08.163" />
  <row Id="1576" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1718" CreationDate="2010-08-21T06:24:14.227" Score="1" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct way to call one of the scripts used for Chinese? Chinese simplified, or simplified Chinese?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T03:16:02.347" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T07:32:04.100" Title="Is it &quot;Chinese simplified&quot;, or &quot;simplified Chinese&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1576" CreationDate="2010-08-21T06:30:53.793" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Simplified Chinese&quot; is the normal way to describe this. But as far as I know, it refers to the system of writing, not the language. Hence it is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplified_Chinese_character&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Simplified Chinese characters&quot;&lt;/a&gt; (link to Wikipedia article).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T06:30:53.793" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="1578" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1580" CreationDate="2010-08-21T07:56:18.940" Score="5" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;This often bugs me!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="733" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T03:16:48.757" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T11:20:25.840" Title="Why are not infamous and inflammable the opposite of famous and flammable like incomplete, inactivity, inappropriate and so on?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1550" CreationDate="2010-08-21T08:05:32.977" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The correct word is plug-in.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every dictionary I can find plus wikipedia all state the word being &quot;plug-in&quot; while a few do mention they are sometimes called &quot;plugins&quot;, that just seems to be in incorrect usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/plug-in&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/plug-in&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would post more links but my rep will not allow me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if you also want to know the act of plugging something in it would be &quot;I am going to plug in the lamp.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="734" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T08:05:32.977" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1578" CreationDate="2010-08-21T08:37:43.413" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports the following definitions for &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;in- 1&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  prefix&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. (added to adjectives) not: &lt;em&gt;inanimate&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;intolerant&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. (added to nouns) without; lacking: &lt;em&gt;inadvertence&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;inappreciation&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;in- 2&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  prefix&#xA;  in; into; toward; within: &lt;em&gt;induce&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;influx&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;inborn&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I look at the origin of infamous, and inflammable, I notice that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;infamous&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  ORIGIN late Middle English: from medieval Latin &lt;em&gt;infamosus&lt;/em&gt;, from Latin &lt;em&gt;infamis&lt;/em&gt; (based on &lt;em&gt;fama&lt;/em&gt; 'fame').  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;inflammable&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  ORIGIN early 17th century: from French, or from Latin &lt;em&gt;inflammare&lt;/em&gt; (see &lt;em&gt;inflame&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both the cases, the words are not built adding the suffix &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt; to existing words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T08:37:43.413" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1550" CreationDate="2010-08-21T08:45:19.060" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Theoretically plug-in is the correct one, but practically both are widely used. (Mozilla, for example, calls them plugins)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="706" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T08:45:19.060" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1545" CreationDate="2010-08-21T09:52:09.860" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Oxford Dictionary considers both forms to be correct. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The French feminine form was substituted for the masculine in English, similar to locale, morale etc. The Pronunciation was latterly inflected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T09:52:09.860" />
  <row Id="1583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1539" CreationDate="2010-08-21T09:55:59.997" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Week vs weak.&#xA;As they say, unity is strength. Hence, two 'e's united can not be lacking in strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T09:55:59.997" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-21T09:55:59.997" />
  <row Id="1585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="884" CreationDate="2010-08-21T09:58:32.600" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any has to be followed by a singular noun. Anyways is grammatically inaccurate. Of course, dismissing a commonly used construct can be considered pedantry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T09:58:32.600" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="445" CreationDate="2010-08-21T10:00:51.257" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no difference in the meaning as written. However, when speaking, you might use &quot;I &lt;strong&gt;will&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; - with the emphasis on &quot;will&quot; - if there was any doubt as to whether the action were going to be carried out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T10:00:51.257" />
  <row Id="1587" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1591" CreationDate="2010-08-21T10:00:59.197" Score="5" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;When learning English I was told that ordinal numbers should always be used with &quot;the&quot; before them. But I often see that this is not always so strict, for example I heard the phrase &quot;April first&quot; instead of &quot;April the first&quot;. Or when installing OS Windows we could see &quot;Setup is preparing your computer for first use&quot; phrase on a screen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When should I use the definite article &quot;the&quot; before &quot;first&quot;, &quot;second&quot; and so on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="52" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-21T04:01:36.463" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T04:01:36.463" Title="Using &quot;the&quot; before ordinal numbers" Tags="&lt;numbers&gt;&lt;articles&gt;&lt;definite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1587" CreationDate="2010-08-21T10:10:11.637" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the ordinal numbers are used as adjectives where the ordering is unique and definite, definite article is used. For example: the second time, the third example, the fourth person to call. In other words, once you place an order on objects they hold a unique position in that order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;First use&lt;/em&gt; in the &quot;Setup is preparing your computer for first use&quot; phrase does not relate to ordering and hence definite article may be omitted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I think &quot;April &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; first&quot; is the correct usage. I am drawing a parallel to &quot;the First of April&quot; where the &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; has to be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T10:10:11.637" />
  <row Id="1589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1553" CreationDate="2010-08-21T10:15:27.997" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Number 2 is correct in each case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for this is that &quot;what&quot; and &quot;how&quot; are being used as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_pronoun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;relative pronouns&lt;/a&gt;. If the clause which follows it has a subject, it comes before the verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare that to a question, where the verb comes first, e.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What &lt;strong&gt;are you&lt;/strong&gt; talking about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;versus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't understand what &lt;strong&gt;you are&lt;/strong&gt; talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T10:15:27.997" />
  <row Id="1590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="445" CreationDate="2010-08-21T10:26:21.370" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may sound archaic nowadays, but I think that the correct expansion of &quot;I'll&quot; is (or rather was) &quot;I shall&quot;.  For first person, the auxiliary verb for indicating future is &quot;shall&quot; (it is a bit more complicated actually, see for example the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shall_and_will&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt;.  If you write or speak the contraction, you can &quot;leave this question open&quot;.  This is one aspect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other is that writing contractions makes your prose more informal.  For example, &quot;ain't&quot; is not really proper english; it is rather the attempt to bring a speaking accent to paper.  The same holds in principle for &quot;isn't&quot; and &quot;can't&quot;, but those have been established for a much longer time now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="735" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T10:26:21.370" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1587" CreationDate="2010-08-21T10:27:54.647" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For dates, there is a difference between British and American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;April first&quot; is fine in (spoken) American English, but is uncommon in British English, where is would either be &quot;the first of April&quot; or &quot;April the first&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incidentally, the different word order here may reflect the fact that Americans tend to write dates with the month first, so for example, 1/31 or Jan 31, compared to British 31/1 or 31 Jan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the other example given, it could be argued that the word &quot;its&quot; has been omitted, i.e. &quot;Setup is preparing your computer for &lt;strong&gt;its&lt;/strong&gt; first use&quot;; &quot;the&quot; in this case would imply that it's something else that is being used for the first time, e.g. &quot;Setup is preparing your computer for &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; first use of the new printer&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T10:27:54.647" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1539" CreationDate="2010-08-21T10:40:49.077" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We were taught the following mnemonics for remembering which prepositions are followed by which cases in German:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I HAZ A NU VÜ: accusative or dative (in, hinter, an, etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BO FUDGE: accusative (bis, ohne, für, etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;MAZ BEG SNAV: dative (mit, aus, zu, etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That last one doesn't make much sense, but I can still remember it after nearly 20 years, so it must have worked!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T10:40:49.077" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-21T10:40:49.077" />
  <row Id="1593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1539" CreationDate="2010-08-21T10:41:55.610" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another spelling one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;necessary = never eat chips; eat salmon sandwiches and remain young.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T10:41:55.610" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-21T10:41:55.610" />
  <row Id="1594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1535" CreationDate="2010-08-21T10:53:19.480" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mine&lt;/em&gt; is used to refer a thing belonging to (or a person associated with) the speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since it is about a friend (who is associated) mine must be used instead of me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adapted from &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/search?searchType=dictionary&amp;amp;isWritersAndEditors=true&amp;amp;searchUri=All&amp;amp;q=mine&amp;amp;_searchBtn=Search&amp;amp;contentVersion=WORLD&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NOAD&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The picture is mine = It is my picture. (possessive pronoun)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The picture is me = I am in the picture. (object pronoun)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastEditorUserId="519" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-21T11:10:27.287" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T11:10:27.287" />
  <row Id="1595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1553" CreationDate="2010-08-21T12:41:54.253" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The general answer is that you only move the verb ahead of the subject within a main clause.  All of your examples have &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wh-movement&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WH-movement&lt;/a&gt; within an embedded clause. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;What &lt;strong&gt;have you&lt;/strong&gt; been doing today? &lt;em&gt;(main clause)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I asked [what &lt;strong&gt;you have&lt;/strong&gt; been doing today]. &lt;em&gt;(embedded clause)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am annoyed because of [what &lt;strong&gt;you have&lt;/strong&gt; been doing today]. &lt;em&gt;(embedded clause)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Can you tell me [what &lt;strong&gt;you have&lt;/strong&gt; been doing today]? &lt;em&gt;(embedded clause)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;[What &lt;strong&gt;you have&lt;/strong&gt; been doing today] annoys me. &lt;em&gt;(embedded clause)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To know whether you are dealing with the main clause or an embedded clause, you have to think about what is the main verb of the whole sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-21T13:06:57.353" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T13:06:57.353" />
  <row Id="1596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1509" CreationDate="2010-08-21T13:54:43.030" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best I can think of is &quot;Oopsy!&quot; which isn't exactly a dictionary word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T13:54:43.030" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-21T13:54:43.030" />
  <row Id="1597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21" CreationDate="2010-08-21T14:25:27.257" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Treble&quot; (in British English at least) can mean the same as &quot;triple&quot;, as well as high in (musical) pitch, as in the opposite of &quot;bass&quot; (see also the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/treble&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary entry&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Learnt&quot; (again, British English) is an alternative past form of &quot;learned&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/learnt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary again&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Betwixt&quot; is a great word, but is somewhat archaic (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/betwixt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary, one more time&lt;/a&gt;). Despite that, either &quot;twixt&quot; or &quot;betwixt&quot; was &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379786/quotes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;used in the film Serenity&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T14:25:27.257" />
  <row Id="1598" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1612" CreationDate="2010-08-21T17:32:28.137" Score="0" ViewCount="208" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do Americans use so much redundancy? Is it because of their schooling or their every day influence? Or is it something totally different?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It was an even tie. (They reached the finish line together, making it a tie.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other countries abroad.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="62" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-06T16:13:13.083" LastActivityDate="2010-11-06T16:13:13.083" Title="Redundancy in American Usage" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;tautologies&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="13" />
  <row Id="1599" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1615" CreationDate="2010-08-21T18:17:06.627" Score="5" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Who turned off the lights?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Where do you live?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why are the words following different schemas in the two questions above?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T13:07:29.340" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T13:07:29.340" Title="&quot;Who turned off the lights?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="1600" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1603" CreationDate="2010-08-21T18:31:44.630" Score="0" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do you say &lt;em&gt;masterpiece&lt;/em&gt;, and not &lt;em&gt;piece of art&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T03:15:23.657" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T03:15:23.657" Title="Why is it &quot;masterpiece&quot; and not &quot;a piece of art&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1407" CreationDate="2010-08-21T18:57:47.357" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was able to find the answer myself, thanks to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1407/english-term-for-a-word-that-differs-from-another-one-by-just-one-letter/1471#1471&quot;&gt;help from Chris&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer to the first question is &quot;orthographic neighbor&quot;, introduced by Coltheart, Davelaar, Jonasson and Besner in 1977, or &quot;substitution neighbor&quot; in more recent research. The answer to the second question is &quot;addition/deletion neighbor&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Googling for these terms returns hundreds of relevant results, mostly papers such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.uv.es/~mperea/WPPR.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Previewing the Neighborhood: The Role of Orthographic Neighbors as Parafoveal Previews in Reading&lt;/a&gt; (PDF) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://revistas.ucm.es/psi/11387416/articulos/SJOP0808120026A.PDF&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Children Like Dense Neighborhoods: Orthographic Neighborhood Density Effects in Novel Readers&lt;/a&gt; (PDF)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://pbr.psychonomic-journals.org/content/14/3/455.full.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Phonographic neighbors, not orthographic neighbors, determine word naming latencies&lt;/a&gt; (PDF)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some great reading there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T18:57:47.357" />
  <row Id="1602" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1626" CreationDate="2010-08-21T19:07:26.633" Score="1" ViewCount="199" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of &lt;em&gt;xox&lt;/em&gt; used to mean &lt;em&gt;kisses and hugs&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T02:52:23.627" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T03:46:19.523" Title="What is the origin of &quot;xox&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1600" CreationDate="2010-08-21T19:08:57.833" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, people &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22a+piece+of+art%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;do say “a piece of art”&lt;/a&gt;, but “masterpiece” is usually a very &lt;em&gt;special&lt;/em&gt; piece (or work) of art. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masterpiece&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Quoting Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Masterpiece (or chef d'œuvre) in modern usage refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T19:08:57.833" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1605" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1610" CreationDate="2010-08-21T19:14:16.807" Score="10" ViewCount="315" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to the christening of my Cousin's first son soon. What is the proper name for his relation to me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2nd Nephew? Nephew once removed? Nothing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at the overall picture, whats the accepted rule for the naming of all of our various relations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="72" LastEditorUserId="72" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T07:53:12.770" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T17:01:13.067" Title="Descriptive names of distant relations (Kinship Terms)" Tags="&lt;names&gt;&lt;kinship-terms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="1607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1566" CreationDate="2010-08-21T19:54:33.200" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Google Translate now offers pronunciation on many words.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://translate.google.com/#auto|en|Anything%0A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Just translate an english word to english.&lt;/a&gt;  I'm not sure with how many languages it works today, but the number is bound to grow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="741" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T19:54:33.200" />
  <row Id="1608" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1618" CreationDate="2010-08-21T19:55:17.443" Score="5" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;p&gt;My question concerns when to use what of the above. Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T16:20:31.330" Title="What is the difference between &quot;proven&quot; and &quot;proved&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1608" CreationDate="2010-08-21T20:01:07.993" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/proved&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;thefreedictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Usage Note: Prove has two past&#xA;  participles: proved and proven. Proved&#xA;  is the older form. Proven is a&#xA;  variant. The Middle English spellings&#xA;  of prove included preven, a form that&#xA;  died out in England but survived in&#xA;  Scotland, and the past participle&#xA;  proven, a form that probably rose by&#xA;  analogy with verbs like weave, woven&#xA;  and cleave, cloven. Proven was&#xA;  originally used in Scottish legal&#xA;  contexts, such as The jury ruled that&#xA;  the charges were not proven. In the&#xA;  20th century, proven has made inroads&#xA;  into the territory once dominated by&#xA;  proved, so that now the two forms&#xA;  compete on equal footing as&#xA;  participles. However, when used as an&#xA;  adjective before a noun, proven is now&#xA;  the more common word: a proven talent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T20:01:07.993" />
  <row Id="1610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1605" CreationDate="2010-08-21T20:18:26.990" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your cousin's first son is your &lt;strong&gt;first cousin once removed&lt;/strong&gt;.  It is so confusing!&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/RYVwa.png&quot; alt=&quot;Kinship chart&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-21T23:37:41.387" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T23:37:41.387" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="1611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1566" CreationDate="2010-08-21T20:27:44.553" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One option I recommend to ESL students is &lt;a href=&quot;http://howjsay.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;howjsay.com&lt;/a&gt;.  This is a British English pronunciation, by the way, but often will mention the American pronunciation if it differs significantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T20:27:44.553" />
  <row Id="1612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1598" CreationDate="2010-08-21T21:34:18.667" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they do it for purposes of emphasis, for example this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That is a tiny little fish you caught there!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common issue I see is with acronyms when the word is rarely broken out in common usage and people don't think about what the letters stand for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can you tell me where the nearest ATM machine is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T21:34:18.667" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1613" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-21T21:39:57.837" Score="10" ViewCount="394" Body="&lt;p&gt;When reading to an audience, or speaking in conversation, when is it appropriate to use the original pronunciation of a foreign word versus the English pronunciation (assuming you know the appropriate pronunciation for it)? Is it considered rude, or condescending? Or is it considered a mark of being knowledgeable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the things to consider are place names. When referring to Paris, France, should it be pronounced with the silent 'S' as the French would say it, or with the 'S'? Should Hiroshima be pronounced as a Japanese speaker would pronounce it slightly more emphasis on RO, rather than the SHI? Should Mount Pinatubo be pronounced as a Filipino speaker would pronounce it with shorter stronger vowels, or the longer vowels? (e.g. Pi as is 'pick' rather than 'pea'.) Should Wichita be pronounces as the original &quot;shi&quot; rather than the modern &quot;chi&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pronounce pesos or sombrero as a Spanish speaker 'eh' or the English 'ay'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I can't think of other common words right now that aren't words taken from other languages like hurricane, boondocks, tornado, etc. which I think have (correctly) changed to English pronunciations.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="457" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T16:53:05.473" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T12:36:54.963" Title="When is it appropriate to use the original pronunciation of a foreign word versus the English pronunciation?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="12" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1560" CreationDate="2010-08-21T21:41:32.470" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The British put them outside the quotes, which seems much more logical. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The American style is to put the punctuation inside the quotes. The American version is often known as &quot;Typesetter's Quotes&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, I go with the British version, at least in informal writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interesting fact: They are called typesetter's quotes because when typesetters were laying out the typesetting blocks putting the small blocks for punctuation inside the quotes made the layout more stable and less prone to shift around. That's probably why it seems so illogical, it was done for mechanical reasons, not linguistic reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T16:58:13.593" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T16:58:13.593" />
  <row Id="1615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1599" CreationDate="2010-08-21T22:24:07.970" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, you are asking why we say &quot;who turned off the lights?&quot; instead of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*Who did turn off the lights?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or something along those lines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference is in whether the WH-word (e.g. &lt;em&gt;who/what/when/where/why/how&lt;/em&gt;) is the subject or not.  If it is the subject, then you just put the Wh-word where you would have put the subject, and nothing else about the sentence changes.  But, in any other case, we get the verb movement and possible introduction of &quot;do/does&quot; into the sentence that you are expecting:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What did you turn off?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, &quot;what&quot; is the object of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When did you turn off the lights?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, &quot;when&quot; is an adverb, again not the subject of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to know the real deep answer to why it patterns this way, there is an area of syntax called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wh-movement&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WH-movement&lt;/a&gt; that deals with these kinds of things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T22:24:07.970" />
  <row Id="1616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1613" CreationDate="2010-08-21T22:36:40.310" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Paris is the English word for the French city &quot;Paris&quot;, as Florence is the English word for the Italian city &quot;Firenze&quot;. It is the translated place name and therefore should have the English pronunciation.&#xA;That is my recommendation for translated words in general, even if the spelling is the same as in the original language. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if the word is really not English, then I'd say the speaker should use the original pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T11:05:55.393" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T11:05:55.393" />
  <row Id="1617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1613" CreationDate="2010-08-21T22:43:34.250" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, I always go with the English pronunciation, even when speaking to a knowledgeable audience. This is mainly for two reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The English pronunciation is more familiar, even to knowledgeable people. They simply hear it more often. They might &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt; how karate is pronounced in Japanese, but hearing [kəˈrɑːtiː] still makes them &lt;em&gt;feel&lt;/em&gt; better, if only subconsciously. English and Japanese are stored in two entirely different parts of their brain, and while some people &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; constantly flip switches in their brain in the middle of a sentence, nobody really &lt;em&gt;wants&lt;/em&gt; it. It is always an effort, however minor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More importantly though, I just don't see any &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; to use the original pronunciation. When I'm speaking English, I'm speaking English. If I wanted to speak French instead, I'd be speaking French. The English pronunciation of Paris is not incorrect in any way or by any measure. Yes, it's different from the French one, but so what?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we started pronouncing everything the same in all languages, languages as we know them would cease to exist. I don't want to live in that world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-21T23:06:24.200" LastActivityDate="2010-08-21T23:06:24.200" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1608" CreationDate="2010-08-21T23:27:21.840" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For complex historical reasons, prove developed two past participles: proved and proven. Both are correct and can be used more or less interchangeably: &lt;em&gt;this hasn't been proved yet&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;this hasn't been proven yet&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Proven&lt;/em&gt; is the more common form when used as an adjective before the noun it modifies: &lt;em&gt;a proven talent&lt;/em&gt; (not &lt;em&gt;a proved talent&lt;/em&gt;). Otherwise, the choice between &lt;em&gt;proved&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;proven&lt;/em&gt; is not a matter of correctness, but usually of sound and rhythm—and often, consequently, a matter of familiarity, as in the legal idiom &lt;em&gt;innocent until proven guilty&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-28T16:20:31.330" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T16:20:31.330" />
  <row Id="1620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1560" CreationDate="2010-08-22T00:39:43.690" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would write &lt;code&gt;?&quot;,&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I'm a computer programmer, and &lt;em&gt;hate&lt;/em&gt; the American punctuation convention because &lt;code&gt;Type &quot;ls *.&quot;&lt;/code&gt; means something &lt;em&gt;completely&lt;/em&gt; different than &lt;code&gt;Type &quot;ls *&quot;.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="744" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T00:39:43.690" />
  <row Id="1621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1613" CreationDate="2010-08-22T01:00:09.360" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I am talking to a native French person, it may show appreciation for his language and culture to use the French pronunciation. On the other hand, there may be cases where using the French pronunciation would feel condescending.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When speaking to an audience, I think it is appropriate to use whatever you think will be the most understood. If I am talking to a group of Americans who have very little or no knowledge of French, they may not understand if I used a foreign pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Communication is about building relationships. If I alienate someone by using a particular pronunciation, I am defeating the purpose of our interaction. To consolidate my answer to one sentence: Pronounce in whatever way will build the most solidarity between yourself and those to whom you are communicating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="745" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T01:00:09.360" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1566" CreationDate="2010-08-22T01:34:46.870" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are in OS X, opening a terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app) and typing: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;say “some english phrase”&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;will result in the default voice (Alex) to read it for you. Although it’s far from perfect it has helped me hear a more or less accurate pronunciation to certain words or phrases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="390" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T01:34:46.870" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1623" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-22T01:40:53.147" Score="4" ViewCount="260" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always thought the proper spelling was 'judgment', but I see 'judgement' all the time, even in articles, news, etc.  Merriam-Webster has 'judgement' as a variant.  But is the proper spelling 'judgment'?  I feel like I'm in the minority on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="638" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T02:51:13.503" Title="Judgment or judgement?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1623" CreationDate="2010-08-22T01:45:21.687" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both the spellings are correct; which one is used depends on the context, and the English dialect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As reported by the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In British English, the normal spelling in general contexts is &lt;em&gt;judgement&lt;/em&gt;. However, the spelling &lt;em&gt;judgment&lt;/em&gt; is conventional in legal contexts, and standard in North American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T01:29:25.060" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T01:29:25.060" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1602" CreationDate="2010-08-22T02:33:44.413" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I answered this as part of my response to your question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1604/#1625&quot;&gt;What is the category for words like &quot;X&lt;s&gt;X&lt;/s&gt;OX&quot;?&lt;/a&gt;, where I wrote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are a number of claims as to how &lt;em&gt;X&lt;/em&gt; came to stand for &quot;kiss&quot;; if you're interested you can read more at &lt;a href=&quot;http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/valentine3.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TLC Family &quot;How Valentine's Day Works&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trivia-library.com/a/why-does-x-stand-for-a-kiss.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Trivia Library on Why Does X Stand for a Kiss?&lt;/a&gt;, or the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Edited to match your change to the question title, and to include the specific line where I linked to sources covering the origins of &lt;em&gt;X&lt;/em&gt; for kiss and &lt;em&gt;O&lt;/em&gt; for hug.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="513" LastEditorUserId="513" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T03:46:19.523" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T03:46:19.523" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="1627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1565" CreationDate="2010-08-22T02:55:48.080" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always thought it was a reference to Hebrew burnt offerings, where the smoke that was ascending to Heaven symbolized the worship of the Hebrew people going to God. This smoke was considered &quot;holy&quot; because the sacrifices were made holy by the priests (as it had to be holy to be in the presence of God).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.watton.org/studies&amp;amp;stories/feasts/feasts1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reference&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T02:55:48.080" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1628" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2193" CreationDate="2010-08-22T02:56:08.157" Score="14" ViewCount="1222" Body="&lt;p&gt;In colloquial British English today you hear &quot;Cheers&quot; (to mean &quot;thank you&quot;) more often than &quot;Thanks.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the choice of one or the other determined by regional, class, or education differences, or is there some vague distinction in meaning or implication, or is this just one of those random things?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="133" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T10:50:15.603" Title="&quot;Cheers&quot; vs. &quot;Thanks&quot; in England" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="9" />
  <row Id="1629" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1631" CreationDate="2010-08-22T03:06:33.130" Score="11" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the differences between these two abbreviations? What are the appropriate situations to use each?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T11:27:41.473" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T04:04:10.803" Title="&quot;e.g.&quot; versus &quot;i.e.&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="1630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1613" CreationDate="2010-08-22T03:08:55.107" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For words which are commonly used in English (like &quot;Paris&quot;) using the foreign pronunciation is guaranteed to sound pretentious. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English has a distinctive phonetic pattern, and switching to another phonetic system in the middle of a sentence for the purpose of pronouncing a different place name would sound odd and draw attention to yourself. Imagine an American speaker switching to a British accent every time he had to say &quot;England&quot;. When speaking in an American accent, saying frahns instead of fraens (for France) is unbearably pretentious... even though frahns is the way it's pronounced in British English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more rarely used words (for example, small place names rarely mentioned in English), using foreign pronunciations won't be noticed. Nobody in America has ever heard of Ramat Gan, Israel, so pronouncing it the Israeli way (raMAT GAN) instead of the English way (RAMat GAN) won't even be noticed... but with American audiences, switching to American phonetics is always appreciated (using a hard American R instead of a gutteral or fricative will help people understand what you said).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="133" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T03:08:55.107" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1629" CreationDate="2010-08-22T03:34:12.530" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported by the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;e.g. /ˌi ˈdʒi/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  abbreviation&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  for example.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  ORIGIN from Latin &lt;em&gt;exempli gratia&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;for the sake of an example&lt;/em&gt;).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;i.e. /ˌaɪ ˈi/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  abbreviation&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  that is to say (used to add explanatory information or to state something in different words): &lt;em&gt;a walking boot that is synthetic, i.e., not leather or suede&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  ORIGIN from Latin &lt;em&gt;id est&lt;/em&gt; &quot;that is.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;E.g.&lt;/em&gt; is used in expressions similar to &lt;em&gt;including,&lt;/em&gt; when you are not intending to list everything that is being discussed.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;I.e.&lt;/em&gt; is used when what you are introducing is equivalent to or an explanation of what comes before it in the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I like root vegetables, e.g., potatoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I like root vegetables; i.e., the ones that grow underground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T04:04:10.803" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T04:04:10.803" />
  <row Id="1632" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-22T05:14:03.337" Score="2" ViewCount="424" Body="&lt;p&gt;The colleagues in my office often send email starting with &quot;Please kindly&quot;, are the two phrases a bit redundant?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="748" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T11:09:16.590" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T10:57:01.873" Title="Sentence starting with &quot;please kindly&quot;" Tags="&lt;email&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1632" CreationDate="2010-08-22T06:20:40.757" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both the adverbs are used in polite requests, and one of the meanings of &lt;em&gt;kindly&lt;/em&gt; is please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a sentence like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please kindly send me a copy of your paperwork.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;please&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;kindly&lt;/em&gt; are redundant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a sentence like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will you kindly sign the enclosed copy of this letter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;kindly&lt;/em&gt; is often used ironically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T06:20:40.757" />
  <row Id="1634" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1644" CreationDate="2010-08-22T06:29:13.453" Score="2" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will you stop here, please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the sentence express a command or exhortation?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it equivalent to say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stop here!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or does it have an additional / different meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T06:22:58.647" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T06:22:58.647" Title="Does &quot;will you stop here, please&quot; express a command or exhortation?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1635" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1663" CreationDate="2010-08-22T08:23:14.580" Score="1" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there such words as &quot;audiolized&quot; or &quot;audibilized&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; Merriam-Webster has the word &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/audibilized&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Audibilized&lt;/a&gt; indexed with no definition! &lt;strike&gt;What I was trying to achieve was to say that &lt;code&gt;something is an audibilized presentation of some other thing&lt;/code&gt;, exactly the same way we use &lt;code&gt;visualized presentation&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUqFelc84XE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; is a visualization of a sort algorithm. Therefore &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8g-iYGHpEA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; is ...? Audilization? Auralization? Sound representation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://wheelof.com/whitney/whitneyCarol.swf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This one&lt;/a&gt; as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-08T20:10:18.883" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T20:10:18.883" Title="&quot;Visualized&quot; equivalent adjective for audio" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;participle&gt;&lt;analogy&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1637" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1664" CreationDate="2010-08-22T09:11:56.043" Score="4" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Make an educated guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of &lt;em&gt;educated&lt;/em&gt; in the sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T17:45:15.327" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T22:00:53.623" Title="What does &quot;educated&quot; mean in &quot;educated guess&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="1638" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1652" CreationDate="2010-08-22T09:13:50.020" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;such requests&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;these/those requests&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, consider these sentences that are preceded from a sentence making a list of requests:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Such requests cannot be accepted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These requests cannot be accepted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between the first, and the second sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T16:33:51.660" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T16:45:39.510" Title="&quot;Such requests&quot; versus &quot;those requests&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1637" CreationDate="2010-08-22T09:14:39.053" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Synonym: reasoned. Antonym: wild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="84" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T09:14:39.053" />
  <row Id="1640" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2160" CreationDate="2010-08-22T09:19:09.083" Score="4" ViewCount="394" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;catch the sun&lt;/em&gt; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T22:48:52.503" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T04:27:28.933" Title="What does &quot;catch the sun&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1640" CreationDate="2010-08-22T09:42:57.833" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It generally means that you're looking a little sunburnt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T09:42:57.833" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1632" CreationDate="2010-08-22T09:44:22.683" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, they are redundant, as in this context, they mean essentially the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T09:44:22.683" />
  <row Id="1643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1628" CreationDate="2010-08-22T09:49:42.820" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can only speak from personal experience, but I never used &quot;cheers&quot; to mean &quot;thank you&quot; until I moved to the south west of England (having previously lived in London and the Midlands), where it seemed to be more common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's certainly not universal, though it may be hard to define exactly which parts of the country its used in, and by whom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of any particular difference in meaning from saying &quot;thanks&quot;, though it is perhaps less formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T09:49:42.820" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1634" CreationDate="2010-08-22T09:59:24.527" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will you stop here, please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is a command - but is more polite than simply using the imperative &quot;stop here&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of &quot;will&quot; is what makes it sound more like a command than a request, compared to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Polite but firm:&lt;/em&gt; Would you stop here, please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Polite:&lt;/em&gt; Could you stop here, please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;More polite:&lt;/em&gt; Would you mind stopping here, please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T09:59:24.527" />
  <row Id="1645" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1646" CreationDate="2010-08-22T10:01:59.703" Score="1" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi all,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently encountered the expression &quot;the man in the body shop&quot;, and I have absolutely no idea what it means. All help is welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="633" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T17:05:13.723" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T02:49:31.597" Title="The man in the body shop" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1645" CreationDate="2010-08-22T11:03:28.017" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/body%20shop&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;body shop&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Date: 1954&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  a shop where automotive bodies are made or repaired&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://media.lib.ecu.edu/archives/pr_display.cfm?id=300&amp;amp;CFID=176246402&amp;amp;CFTOKEN=40181712&amp;amp;jsessionid=f030e6ad44debfa4490b7c21492c617a4e69&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; for &quot;body shop&quot; context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From the sales floor to the &lt;strong&gt;body shop&lt;/strong&gt; to the office there is a resounding feeling that this Ford dealership is a good place to work.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The &lt;strong&gt;man in the body shop&lt;/strong&gt; pointed out that the air filter system overhead was something that Dean Green voluntarily installed for the welfare of the employees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so... basically &quot;the mechanic&quot;, the technician, the repairman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T12:23:44.290" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T12:23:44.290" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1645" CreationDate="2010-08-22T11:07:21.647" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without knowing the context, I can think of &lt;em&gt;body shop&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;a garage where repairs to the bodies of vehicles are carried out&lt;/em&gt;; the phrase would then refer to somebody who repairs automotive bodies. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary dates &lt;em&gt;body shop&lt;/em&gt; to 1954.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T11:07:21.647" />
  <row Id="1648" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1651" CreationDate="2010-08-22T11:21:10.220" Score="1" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;her keen intellect&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of &lt;em&gt;keen&lt;/em&gt; in the phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T16:32:41.490" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T02:36:54.913" Title="What does &quot;keen&quot; in &quot;keen intellect&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1649" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1650" CreationDate="2010-08-22T11:24:28.857" Score="3" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard many times people say &lt;em&gt;the Big Apple&lt;/em&gt; to mean &lt;em&gt;New York City&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of this nickname?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T14:17:46.117" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:17:46.117" Title="Why is New York City also called &quot;the Big Apple&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;nicknames&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1649" CreationDate="2010-08-22T11:32:43.867" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia offers some &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Apple&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;interesting reading&lt;/a&gt; on the subject, but my understanding is that nobody still knows for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The earliest citation for &quot;big apple&quot; is the 1909 book &lt;em&gt;The Wayfarer in New York&lt;/em&gt;, by Edward Martin, writing: &quot;Kansas is apt to see in New York a greedy city. . . . It inclines to think that the big apple gets a disproportionate share of the national sap&quot;. [The American journalist] William Safire considered this the coinage, but the Random House Dictionary of American Slang considers the usage &quot;metaphorical or perhaps proverbial, rather than a concrete example of the later slang term&quot;, and [Barry] Popik [, an American amateur etymologist,] likewise does not consider this the coinage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T11:32:43.867" />
  <row Id="1651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1648" CreationDate="2010-08-22T11:43:01.777" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keen is used in this sense as a stand-in for &lt;em&gt;sharp&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See usage 1a at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/keen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;, for instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usage &quot;keen&quot; for &quot;sharp&quot; is fairly common: &quot;a keen edge&quot;, &quot;a keen blade&quot;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T02:36:54.913" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T02:36:54.913" />
  <row Id="1652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1638" CreationDate="2010-08-22T11:47:14.500" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My interpretation of the difference is that &quot;Such requests cannot be accepted&quot; means &quot;requests &lt;em&gt;such as&lt;/em&gt; these&quot;, in other words the list of requests given is a representative sample of the sort of request that cannot be accepted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;These requests cannot be accepted,&quot; on the other hand, means that these &lt;em&gt;specific&lt;/em&gt; requests are, for some reason, unacceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T11:47:14.500" />
  <row Id="1653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1637" CreationDate="2010-08-22T11:50:36.957" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An alternative synonym: informed (and ill-informed, perhaps, as an autonym).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T11:50:36.957" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1648" CreationDate="2010-08-22T12:10:56.907" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although this does not represent the typical meaning of &lt;em&gt;keen&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;eager&lt;/em&gt; is the more usual interpretation), the etymology of the word shows that the word has kept its ancient meaning in this case, meaning &quot;knowledgeable&quot; or &quot;skillful&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To quote the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/keen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary page&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From Middle English kene (“bold,&#xA;  brave, sharp”), from Old English cēne&#xA;  (“bold, brave”), from Proto-Germanic&#xA;  *kōnjaz (“knowledgeable, skillful, able”), from Proto-Indo-European&#xA;  *g'enə-, *g'nō- (“to know”)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T12:10:56.907" />
  <row Id="1655" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1657" CreationDate="2010-08-22T12:55:13.790" Score="24" ViewCount="357" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a programmer, I have no problem with seeing or using &quot;and/or&quot; in technical documentation. For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can upvote an answer that satisfies me and/or mark it as accepted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's perfectly good English to me. However, if I were writing a novel, or even just an essay, or — heaven forbid — a poem, &quot;and/or&quot; would seem extremely out of place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, what should I be using instead? (I solemnly swear I will not use that knowledge to actually write a poem.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-07T11:09:00.447" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T19:15:13.933" Title="Alternatives to &quot;and/or&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="1656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-08-22T12:58:37.560" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Japanese words which mean, roughly, &quot;this&quot; and &quot;that&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I remember correctly from my beginner's class:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kore = this (object is closer to the speaker than the listener).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sore = that (object is closer to the listener than the speaker).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are = that (object is far from both the speaker and the listener).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Japanese is also full of forms which demonstrate the relative social or professional status of the speaker and listener, which have no precise counterparts in English. (See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorific_speech_in_Japanese&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;honorific speech&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T12:58:37.560" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-22T12:58:37.560" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1655" CreationDate="2010-08-22T13:22:38.947" Score="26" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are a few alternatives to the example you provided that avoid the stroke (forward slash). Pick whichever one you like!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I can upvote an answer that satisfies me, mark it as accepted, or do both.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I can do either or both of up-voting and marking as accepted the answer that satisfies me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I can do either or both of up-voting the answer that satisfies me and marking it as accepted.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are all grammatically correct, though perhaps 2. and 3. are a bit more convoluted, for the sake of logical clarity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T13:22:38.947" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1635" CreationDate="2010-08-22T14:01:42.253" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It appears that both &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=audibilized&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;audibilized&quot;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=audiolized&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;audiolized&quot;&lt;/a&gt; are being used, if only sparingly. Personally, I have never encountered either before (but I think everyone would understand them, thanks to the obvious parallel to the widely used &lt;em&gt;visualized&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T14:01:42.253" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1659" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-22T15:28:32.727" Score="8" ViewCount="233" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add emphasis to a normal verb, we use the emphatic do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He does run fast.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Do come in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Do brush your teeth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, with modal verbs this would be a grave mistake:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(*) He does can run.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(*) You do may come in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(*) I do should brush my teeth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, you can just stress the modal verb itself or introduce an adverb. In the case of &quot;should&quot; you can also cheat by replacing it with &quot;have to&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He surely can run.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; come in.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I do have to brush my teeth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But are there other possibilities to add emphasis to a modal verb? Which solution is the most elegant? Do any manuals of style address this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T02:35:18.977" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T02:35:18.977" Title="How to add emphasis to a modal verb" Tags="&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;&lt;emphasis&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1660" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1667" CreationDate="2010-08-22T16:20:13.050" Score="1" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between the words &quot;call&quot; and &quot;ring&quot; in the meaning of telephoning? For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;I will ring you back shortly.&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;I will call you back shortly.&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-22T17:47:40.860" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T05:49:16.957" Title="&quot;Call&quot; and &quot;ring&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;telephone&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="1661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1660" CreationDate="2010-08-22T16:28:34.663" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ring&lt;/em&gt; is generally used in the UK, while &lt;em&gt;call&lt;/em&gt; is used in the US.  There's no difference in meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T16:28:34.663" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1638" CreationDate="2010-08-22T16:45:39.510" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Such requests&lt;/code&gt; means 'requests of this type'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;These requests&lt;/code&gt; refers to a specific set of requests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="737" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T16:45:39.510" />
  <row Id="1663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1635" CreationDate="2010-08-22T16:52:55.350" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just based on the comparable stem, I would expect the term to be to '&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=auralize&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;auralize&lt;/a&gt;'.  I suppose the same can be said for 'audibiilze', although 'audiolize' would only seem comparable if the visual word was 'videolize'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="737" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T16:52:55.350" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1637" CreationDate="2010-08-22T17:05:05.097" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An &lt;em&gt;educated guess&lt;/em&gt; is a guess in which you take into account factors which might affect the outcome using reason. It is a term used to clarify that a guess is not one which is made “off the top of your head”—that is, guessing the first possibility that comes to mind—but rather one which, although it is still a guess, is generated by considering multiple possibilities and selecting the one thought most likely by considering those factors that a reasonable person might assume will affect the outcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T17:05:05.097" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1660" CreationDate="2010-08-22T17:46:04.857" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two words are identical in meaning here. The usage of &lt;em&gt;call&lt;/em&gt; is obvious, while the usage of &lt;em&gt;ring&lt;/em&gt; simply originated from the noise a telephone makes when you call someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ring&lt;/em&gt; is definitely a more informal word, so if in doubt, use &lt;em&gt;call&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T17:46:04.857" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1565" CreationDate="2010-08-22T18:53:55.653" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the OED, using holy with another word as an oath or expletive dates back to 1785 with &lt;em&gt;Holy Wllie&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;a hypocritically pious person&quot;. This trend continues with other words, like &lt;em&gt;cow&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;moses&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=aQg4AAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;amp;dq=KIPLING+%26+BALESTIER+Naulahka&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=4SoLP34_GZ&amp;amp;sig=Z_ca-8yMN2pYMzNFp5h5Ezhxtyo&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=GHFxTMPAL4y6sAOpl9mKCw&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=holy%20smoke&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;recorded instance&lt;/a&gt; in the OED of &lt;em&gt;holy smoke&lt;/em&gt; is from 1892 in the book &lt;em&gt;Naulahka&lt;/em&gt; by Kipling and Balestier. It was &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=vj2-JMzN_OQC&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;amp;dq=%E2%80%98SAPPER%E2%80%99+Bull-Dog+Drummond&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=sHFxTLHfKJOcsQO6o4nfDw&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=holy%20smoke&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;used again&lt;/a&gt; in 1920 in &lt;em&gt;Bulldog Drummond&lt;/em&gt; by Sapper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T18:53:55.653" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1550" CreationDate="2010-08-22T18:59:21.650" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have mentioned, most dictionaries (including the OED) list plug-in as appropriate. I'd seriously shy away from calling &lt;em&gt;plugin&lt;/em&gt; incorrect—I mean, just look how many hits you can get with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=firefox+plugins&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Firefox and plugin&lt;/a&gt;. In my experience, especially with computer programs and on the Internet, &lt;em&gt;plugin&lt;/em&gt; is much more common than &lt;em&gt;plug-in&lt;/em&gt;. Taking a descriptivist standpoint, I'd put my weight behind &lt;em&gt;plugin&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T18:59:21.650" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1659" CreationDate="2010-08-22T19:25:43.000" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could add some additional words to convey the emphasis, or rephrase slightly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Number 1:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He certainly can run fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He can definitely run fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Number 2: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please do come in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Come in, please (more of a command, to provide the additional emphasis).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You may come in now (the emphasis on &quot;may&quot; in the example suggests that the listener wasn't allowed to come in before, but can now).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Number 3:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I really must brush my teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I definitely have to brush my teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T19:25:43.000" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1628" CreationDate="2010-08-22T19:52:42.837" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Additionally it is interesting to note that many people seem to use it as a kind of farewell greeting too (or in combination like &quot;cheers, bye&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here it sounds very much like the German &quot;Tschüs&quot; (which is the informal &quot;bye&quot; in German) - I could very well imagine that in a few decades this could lead to some etymological confusion... ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T19:52:42.837" />
  <row Id="1673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1598" CreationDate="2010-08-22T19:56:07.323" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the (very few) examples you give are just general sloppiness, which can be encountered in all cultures, and not representative of anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T19:56:07.323" />
  <row Id="1674" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1676" CreationDate="2010-08-22T20:26:29.803" Score="1" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are two variations of the same sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He's not the same as he was yesterday.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He's not the same he was yesterday.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both can be encountered in colloquial speech, but I would like to know if there are any noteworthy differences in usage between the US, the UK, and Australia. Does either one sound more natural or correct, for lack of a better word, in any particular dialect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T18:24:09.787" Title="&quot;same as&quot; vs just &quot;same&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1613" CreationDate="2010-08-22T20:47:38.547" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When speaking English, keep things in English. If the words were changed when &quot;translated&quot; to English it's because they sounded out of place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="706" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T20:47:38.547" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1674" CreationDate="2010-08-22T21:23:05.510" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think I have ever heard the second version in the US before.  If I read it, I would assume it was a typo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Edit: I am not trying to assert it must be wrong everywhere; it just isn't done in the US.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T18:24:09.787" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T18:24:09.787" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="1678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1637" CreationDate="2010-08-22T22:00:53.623" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I use this expression, I mean a guess that is informed by experience and knowledge not readily apparent to the average person, rather than based on average person's information base plus some thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T22:00:53.623" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-22T22:44:02.120" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;comfortable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's pronounced “cumftible”, while I as a foreigner (furriner :) thought it was “cumfort-ible”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="762" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T22:44:02.120" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-22T22:44:02.120" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="1680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-22T22:46:39.857" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;threshold&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always thought it was “thres-hold”, just like “uphold” is “up-hold” and not “uf-old”. Eventually, turned out that “threshold” is one of the most written/spoken-wise consistent words in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="762" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T22:46:39.857" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-22T22:46:39.857" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1660" CreationDate="2010-08-22T22:49:34.580" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Ring&lt;/i&gt; is very common in Australia and New Zealand, and probably somewhat frequent in the U.K. and Ireland, but &lt;i&gt;call&lt;/i&gt; is basically always used in the U.S.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="166" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T22:49:34.580" />
  <row Id="1682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1295" CreationDate="2010-08-22T22:57:24.707" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since the words &quot;sub-par&quot; and &quot;on par&quot; are fairly common, I think people could figure out what &quot;par for the course&quot; means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="166" LastActivityDate="2010-08-22T22:57:24.707" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1684" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1702" CreationDate="2010-08-23T01:26:37.973" Score="1" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;A quick survey of the internet reveals many instances of &quot;home sweet home&quot;, no punctuation. But doesn't &quot;home, sweet home&quot; make the most sense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="763" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T03:33:40.197" Title="Punctuate: &quot;Home sweet home&quot;" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="1685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-23T01:34:06.070" Score="45" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;epitome&lt;/strong&gt; /ɪˈpɪtəmi/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="764" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T01:34:06.070" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-23T01:34:06.070" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1640" CreationDate="2010-08-23T01:44:17.393" Score="-3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well if you had big enough hands you could catch the sun in them. Without context there is no way to answer this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T01:44:17.393" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1688" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1804" CreationDate="2010-08-23T01:46:08.573" Score="2" ViewCount="279" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm typing in Microsoft Word, and it automatically separated the word T-shirt when it ran out of room:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;blah blah blah, Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, I have a T-&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  shirt&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;leaving just the letter &quot;T&quot; on one line.  This doesn't look right to me at all, or for any compound, hyphenated word, yet basically all text boxes will split words at a dash on separate lines if needed.  I would prefer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have a&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  T-shirt&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it would be fine if I was splitting words in a narrow column, like the newspaper, but is there a rule about what you're supposed to do to words like this?  Is my way always right, or Word's, or either?  (How to get Word to actually stop doing it is a totally different question...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="166" LastEditorUserId="166" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T02:22:08.330" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T13:56:47.433" Title="Is it normal to separate hyphenated words on different lines?" Tags="&lt;hyphen&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-23T01:48:03.860" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;boolean&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wrong: boo-LEEN&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Right: BOO-lee-en&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="766" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T01:48:03.860" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-23T01:48:03.860" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1688" CreationDate="2010-08-23T01:50:40.017" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't really understand your question - you mean &quot;is it normal to hyphenate a word at a point where the word already has a hyphen?&quot; I would think so, yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T01:50:40.017" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1691" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-23T01:51:57.347" Score="1" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I was talking to my boyfriend about this but I wanted to get some more opinions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Comparable.&quot; You can pronounce it as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A) Comp-er-uh-bul (which is how I usually pronounce it)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B) Com-pair-ah-bul (which usually makes me blink and tilt my head)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a specific case where one pronunciation is used over another? I tend to think that version A deals more with similarity than version B. Version B, to me, feels like it's more about the fact that two elements CAN be compared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also: can both words/pronunciations be used interchangeably (granted that my guesses toward the meanings are correct)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for the help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="765" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T01:53:33.130" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T20:55:32.560" Title="Pronunciation of comparable" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="1692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1691" CreationDate="2010-08-23T01:54:22.443" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you're discussing is word stress, whether the word stressed is as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;comp&lt;/strong&gt;-ra-ble&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;com-&lt;strong&gt;pair&lt;/strong&gt;-a-ble&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is just another potayto-potahto question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T01:54:22.443" />
  <row Id="1693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1691" CreationDate="2010-08-23T01:54:55.763" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports that the correct pronunciation in standard English is with the stress on the first syllable rather than the second.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T01:54:55.763" />
  <row Id="1694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1684" CreationDate="2010-08-23T01:57:50.250" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;HOME&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;SWEET&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;HOME&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(in cross-stitch).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T01:57:50.250" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-23T02:00:01.090" Score="61" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;hyperbole&lt;/strong&gt; /haɪˈpɜrbəli/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Evidently it's not the next step after the Super Bowl.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="763" LastEditorUserId="764" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-14T19:59:55.920" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T19:59:55.920" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-23T02:00:01.090" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="1696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1613" CreationDate="2010-08-23T02:05:32.420" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an interesting question. I've recently been rewatching &quot;The World At War&quot; and one interesting feature of the programme is the care that the narrator (actor Laurence Olivier) takes with the pronunciation of foreign words. For example he correctly pronounced Japanese names like &quot;Yamamoto&quot; and he also pronounced names like &quot;Soviet&quot; as if it was Russian. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When referring to Paris, France,&#xA;  should it be pronounced with the&#xA;  silent 'S' as the French would say it,&#xA;  or with the 'S'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, it should be pronounced as it usually is. &quot;Paris&quot; is the English name. Saying &quot;Pari&quot; sounds affected and ridiculous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should Hiroshima be pronounced as a&#xA;  Japanese speaker would pronounce it&#xA;  slightly more emphasis on RO, rather&#xA;  than the SHI?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Japanese has no emphasis (stress) at all, only pitch accent. The Japanese pronunciation of Hiroshima would be difficult to understand for English speakers, so it would be better to use the accepted English pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T02:05:32.420" />
  <row Id="1698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1655" CreationDate="2010-08-23T02:12:32.390" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;And/or&quot; is actually a fairly stupid expression, since the English words &quot;and&quot; or &quot;or&quot; aren't as exact or exclusive as this expression seems to imply. For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I like coconuts and steaks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;doesn't necessarily mean &quot;I like coconuts and steaks &lt;strong&gt;at the same time&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can upvote an answer that satisfies me and/or mark it as accepted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;could just as well be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can upvote an answer that satisfies me or mark it as accepted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the context of a normal piece of writing, there are very few people, except argumentative weirdos, who will take that to mean that you can't do both of those things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you desperately need to emphasize that both things are possible then Noldorin has answered that in detail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T02:29:15.103" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T02:29:15.103" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1635" CreationDate="2010-08-23T02:13:52.857" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the music education community, we often say &quot;audiate&quot; when referring to hearing a melody in &quot;the mind's ear&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The term was coined by music education guru Edwin Gordon, and I think it's pretty well-known amongst musicians (in addition to music &lt;em&gt;teachers&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audiation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audiation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="763" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T02:13:52.857" />
  <row Id="1700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1684" CreationDate="2010-08-23T02:16:42.833" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports &lt;em&gt;home sweet home&lt;/em&gt;. You would say &lt;em&gt;home, sweet home&lt;/em&gt; if you would put the accent on &lt;em&gt;home&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T02:16:42.833" />
  <row Id="1701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1613" CreationDate="2010-08-23T02:36:40.610" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it depends heavily on the word in question. Take composers' names for instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Hindemith&quot; is acceptable with a German or an English &quot;th&quot;. &quot;Beethoven&quot;, on the other hand, is pretty unacceptable as &quot;bee though vehn.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="763" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T02:36:40.610" />
  <row Id="1702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1684" CreationDate="2010-08-23T03:20:07.790" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it makes the most sense.  But, for one reason or another, the written version doesn't tend to bother with any punctuation at all.  The closest thing I can find to a definitive answer comes from the apparent source of this phrase.  I don't know for certain, but I think it is extremely likely that this common phrase came from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home!_Sweet_Home!&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the song of the same name&lt;/a&gt;.  As you can see in the link, the punctuation in the song's title is either &quot;Home! Sweet home!&quot; or &quot;Home, sweet home&quot;.  So, the way you want to parse the phrase at least agrees with the creator's intent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T03:20:07.790" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1703" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1814" CreationDate="2010-08-23T03:49:50.340" Score="4" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can these two verbs be used interchangeably? Or do they imply different meanings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;My employer rewarded me a trip to&#xA;  Hawaii.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;My employer awarded me a trip to&#xA;  Hawaii.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T06:01:59.020" Title="Reward vs Award" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="1704" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1722" CreationDate="2010-08-23T03:53:10.510" Score="4" ViewCount="598" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please see Title. I'm not specifically referring to which language they came from... but if they come from something else. In other words, do they come from words with other meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, do words for children come from a word that means &quot;being that comes from one's loins&quot; or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastEditorUserId="134" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T07:05:10.300" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T09:04:45.753" Title="Where do the words for daughter, son, aunt, uncle, mother, father, cousin, nephew, niece come from?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1703" CreationDate="2010-08-23T04:14:18.130" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first sentence should be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My employer rewarded me with a trip to Hawaii.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two verbs have a different meaning; &lt;em&gt;to award&lt;/em&gt; suggests that the giver is in some sense a judge, and that the thing given is deserved (&lt;em&gt;award a scholarship&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T04:14:18.130" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1706" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1724" CreationDate="2010-08-23T04:18:37.750" Score="4" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one of these sentences is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The best countries to live in are ...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Best countries to live in are ...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; The reason this question is being asked is that &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/the&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Wiktionary article&lt;/a&gt; says the definite article should be used &lt;em&gt;with a superlative, it and that superlative refer to one object: that apple pie was the best.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, what about &lt;em&gt;those apple pies were the best?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="52" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-21T04:00:52.357" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:47:18.327" Title="&quot;The&quot; for superlative refering to more than one object" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;articles&gt;&lt;definite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1706" CreationDate="2010-08-23T04:26:07.913" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using the article doesn't depend from the presence of &lt;em&gt;best&lt;/em&gt; in the sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I prefer &quot;the best countries to live in&quot;, in the same way I prefer &quot;the countries I would like to live in&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the second example you made, in both the cases the article is used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T14:47:18.327" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:47:18.327" />
  <row Id="1708" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1745" CreationDate="2010-08-23T05:09:06.170" Score="1" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose I conduct an online survey and am reporting the findings to all those who were expected to respond. Consider this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All of you who responded opined that backups are an essential overhead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What should be the punctuation around the repeated verbs (responded and opined) in this sentence? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this construct clear enough for non-native speakers?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T18:40:19.753" Title="Punctuation for and clarity of repeating verbs" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1708" CreationDate="2010-08-23T06:07:14.530" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say the proper punctuation would be &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All of you who responded opined that backups are an essential overhead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No punctuations necessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be a bit confusing for non-native speakers. Especially, the use of &quot;opined&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="769" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T06:07:14.530" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1710" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1712" CreationDate="2010-08-23T06:08:53.967" Score="2" ViewCount="323" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a native English speaker, the source of my learning is books, websites and of course movies and music.&#xA;In the movie — if I remember the name correctly — The Last Samurai, I heard that they said &quot;I bid you good morning&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I use it as a professional way to wish good morning or is it informal? Or did I just hear it wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="113" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:18:07.303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:18:07.303" Title="Formal way to wish good morning" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;formality&gt;&lt;greetings&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1710" CreationDate="2010-08-23T06:12:41.260" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the most widely accepted formal way to bid good morning is just to say &quot;Good Morning&quot;.&quot;I bid you good morning&quot; is a bit too verbose, and archaic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="769" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T06:12:41.260" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1710" CreationDate="2010-08-23T06:13:07.780" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with trex279 that &quot;I bid you good morning&quot; sounds very old fashioned and is overly formal in most cases. If you want something more formal than &quot;Good morning&quot;, you could try adding the person's name (&quot;Good morning, Mr/Mrs [name]&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="649" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T06:13:07.780" />
  <row Id="1713" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1715" CreationDate="2010-08-23T06:41:18.507" Score="3" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do these two sentences imply different meanings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our company is based in Melbourne, Australia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our company is located in Melbourne, Australia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T16:37:07.903" Title="Based vs Located" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="1714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1713" CreationDate="2010-08-23T07:01:57.793" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For how I understand it, &lt;em&gt;based at Shirley&lt;/em&gt; means the center of operations are on Shirley, while &lt;em&gt;located in Shirley&lt;/em&gt; could refer to one of the agencies of the business. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T07:01:57.793" />
  <row Id="1715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1713" CreationDate="2010-08-23T07:23:20.793" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say so, yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's subtle, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;based&quot; implies that you are speaking of a head office even though the business may have sub-offices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some employee in the US might say: &quot;Sony is based in Japan&quot; [although they probably have offices in America]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;located&quot; is simply specifying the location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The Sony head office is located in Japan&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Based in&quot; simply adds a bit of information about where the main office of a company is. Not always the case, but in many cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastEditorUserId="134" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T16:37:07.903" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T16:37:07.903" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1716" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1728" CreationDate="2010-08-23T07:28:06.573" Score="9" ViewCount="437" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it means “to carry a weapon”, but I would also like the phrase origins, if possible. So the full question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of the phrase “packing heat” and what are its origins?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="762" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-13T09:52:09.190" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T09:52:09.190" Title="What does “packing heat” mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1717" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-23T07:31:21.447" Score="7" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you listen to podcasts to improve your English? Share your favorite podcasts with us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One podcast per answer please so that we can vote on them easily. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T14:14:37.320" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T06:36:49.813" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-23T07:31:21.447" Title="What are your favorite English learning podcasts?" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="6" />
  <row Id="1718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1576" CreationDate="2010-08-23T07:32:04.100" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally, all the Chinese learners that I know, refer to it as &quot;Chinese simplified&quot; or just &quot;simplified&quot; or &quot;traditional&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&amp;amp;word1=%22Chinese+simplified%22&amp;amp;word2=%22simplified+Chinese%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;google&lt;/a&gt;, it's the most common phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T07:32:04.100" />
  <row Id="1720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1717" CreationDate="2010-08-23T07:36:08.023" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eslpod.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;English as a Second Language Podcast&lt;/a&gt;. Speaker is an english teacher, he speaks clearly and explains various less common words or idioms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Podcast consist of dialog between two people about single specific topic. After the dialog, teacher goes over each sentence and explains them. Then the dialog is repeated once again, this time in normal speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Dialog&quot; podcasts are mixed English Cafe. That is talk about US realies like cities, famous writers, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T07:36:08.023" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-23T07:36:08.023" />
  <row Id="1721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="652" CreationDate="2010-08-23T08:28:41.677" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I stand here, before you now, truthfully unafraid. Why? Because I believe something you do not? No, I stand here without fear because I remember ...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Matrix_Reloaded&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Morpheus&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="717" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T08:28:41.677" />
  <row Id="1722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1704" CreationDate="2010-08-23T08:33:05.223" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I extracted the following from the online &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Webster&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Dictionary. It's interesting to see how all these words were transformed from Latin/Greek/Old High German/Middle English to the current English words. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; I know that this does not exactly answer your question, since you actually want to know if the words derived from words with other meanings. But I think that having the full list of originating languages here may be useful as other answers to your question may refer to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DAUGHTER&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Middle English, doughter, from Old English dohtor; akin to Old High German tohter daughter, Greek thygatēr&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First Known Use: before 12th century&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SON&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Middle English sone, from Old English sunu; akin to Old High German sun son, Greek hyios&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First Known Use: before 12th century&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;AUNT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Middle English, from Old French ante, from Latin amita; akin to Old High German amma mother, nurse, Greek amma nurse&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First Known Use: 14th century&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UNCLE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin avunculus mother's brother; akin to Old English ēam uncle, Welsh ewythr, Latin avus grandfather&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First Known Use: 14th century&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MOTHER&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Middle English moder, from Old English mōdor; akin to Old High German muoter mother, Latin mater, Greek mētēr, Sanskrit mātṛ&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First Known Use: before 12th century&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FATHER&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Middle English fader, from Old English fæder; akin to Old High German fater father, Latin pater, Greek patēr&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First Known Use: before 12th century&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;COUSIN&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Middle English cosin, from Anglo-French cusin, cosin, from Latin consobrinus, from com- + sobrinus second cousin, from soror sister — more at sister&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First Known Use: 13th century&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NEPHEW&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Middle English nevew, from Anglo-French nevou, neveu, from Latin nepot-, nepos grandson, nephew; akin to Old English nefa grandson, nephew, Sanskrit napāt grandson&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First Known Use: 14th century&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NIECE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Middle English nece granddaughter, niece, from Anglo-French nece, niece, from Late Latin neptia, from Latin neptis; akin to Latin nepot-, nepos grandson, nephew — more at nephew&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First Known Use: 14th century&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reference:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.merriam-webster.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T09:04:45.753" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T09:04:45.753" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1723" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1730" CreationDate="2010-08-23T09:14:05.020" Score="8" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;Except when we use &lt;strong&gt;right&lt;/strong&gt; to denote direction, what is the difference between these two terms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, which one is the preferred construction between these two&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Am I &lt;strong&gt;right&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Am I &lt;strong&gt;correct&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="296" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T02:31:45.297" Title="&quot;right&quot; vs &quot;correct&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1706" CreationDate="2010-08-23T09:48:02.733" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The 1st and 3rd examples are correct, because when talking about superlatives, you are effectively talking about something specific, so the definite article must be used, whether the thing in question is singular or plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A noun can be omitted after &quot;the best&quot; in the 3rd example, but it is implied, i.e.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Those apple pies were the best [apple pies].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Those apple pies were the best [I've ever tasted].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T09:48:02.733" />
  <row Id="1725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1723" CreationDate="2010-08-23T11:05:28.390" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are synonyms, but I'd reserve the use of correct for either formal usage (&quot;The mathematical proof was shown to be correct&quot;) or as a verb (&quot;correct one's behavior&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The writer will otherwise risk sounding pedantic or pretentious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="546" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T11:05:28.390" />
  <row Id="1726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1635" CreationDate="2010-08-23T11:18:54.593" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there's a good single word for this. &quot;Auralise&quot;(/ze) is the most natural, and even that would give most people a double-take before they understood it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it'd be best to rephrase slightly, such as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;X is a presentation of Y in audio form&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  X is an auditory illustration of Y&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="772" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T11:18:54.593" />
  <row Id="1727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="997" CreationDate="2010-08-23T11:23:42.820" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;Noughties&quot; became a fairly standard term pretty quickly. But I've still yet to hear anyone give a good term for the decade from 2010-2019.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I had to guess what term is most likely to emerge for 2010-2019, I'd say perhaps &quot;The Teens&quot;, but I suspect actually no term will catch on until the Twenty-Twenties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="772" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T11:23:42.820" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1716" CreationDate="2010-08-23T11:27:25.500" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Heat/heater&lt;/em&gt; is slang for &quot;gun&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/heat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;definition #14&lt;/a&gt;) and &lt;em&gt;to pack&lt;/em&gt; has an informal meaning &quot;to carry, deliver, or have available for action&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pack&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;v. tr. definition #8&lt;/a&gt;).  So &quot;packing heat&quot; means that you are carrying a gun (and are ready to use it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the Oxford English Dictionary, here is the first citation for this phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1932 W. R. BURNETT Silver Eagle i. 7 ‘He don't even pack a heater.’ ‘Don't what?’ ‘He don't carry a gun.’&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the first citation I see that uses &lt;em&gt;heat&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;heater&lt;/em&gt; (from an old dictionary):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1942 L. V. BERREY &amp;amp; M. VAN DEN BARK Amer. Thes. Slang §496/6 Pack (a) heat,..to carry a gun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T11:32:55.943" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T11:32:55.943" />
  <row Id="1729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1674" CreationDate="2010-08-23T11:27:55.577" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking as an Englishman: the first sounds much more natural. The second sounds (purely subjectively to me) like an Americanism, though it's interesting to see from Kosmonaut's comment that the US also prefer the first :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="772" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T11:27:55.577" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1723" CreationDate="2010-08-23T11:38:43.890" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say that there is a subtle distinction between the two, in that &quot;correct&quot; implies that the given answer (or answers) is definitive and absolute, as might be the case, for example, with a simple maths problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast, &quot;right&quot; would be better for an answer which, although considered appropriate, is still matter of opinion (even if most people agree). This might apply, for example, to a question of ethics (&quot;is this the right thing to do?&quot;); again, using &quot;correct&quot; here would imply that there is an absolute answer that no-one could possibly disagree with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Right&quot; can still be used in places where &quot;correct&quot; would be appropriate (such as a maths problem), but not the necessarily the other way around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T11:38:43.890" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="166" CreationDate="2010-08-23T11:40:22.467" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The example given is confusing, because it uses a question mark. Let's switch to an example of &quot;I have no homework today.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John told me, &quot;I have no homework today.&quot; I smiled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems most natural to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John told me, &quot;I have no homework today&quot;. I smiled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This looks wrong, but may be acceptable in certain circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John told me, &quot;I have no homework today.&quot;. I smiled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is very wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, suppose the outer sentence is a question. Then a question mark is required, and so to avoid double-punctuating, you need to leave out the full stop from the quoted sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did I mention that John told me, &quot;I have no homework today&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did I mention that John told me, &quot;I have no homework today.&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your question is specific to when the outer sentence ends at the same place as the quoted sentence. The answer would be different if the outer sentence continues after the quoted sentence; in that case I believe it's correct to omit the terminal punctuation of the quoted sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="772" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T11:40:22.467" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1629" CreationDate="2010-08-23T11:45:11.087" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a neat way to remember which is which: &quot;e.g.&quot; and &quot;example&quot; both start with the letter &quot;e&quot; (so read &quot;e.g.&quot; as &quot;for example&quot;); and &quot;i.e.&quot; and &quot;in other words&quot; both start with the letter &quot;i&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T11:45:11.087" />
  <row Id="1733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1716" CreationDate="2010-08-23T11:47:16.560" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;EtymOnline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pack&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;offers this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sense of &quot;to carry or convey in a pack&quot; (1805) led to general sense of &quot;to carry in any manner;&quot; hence &lt;em&gt;to pack heat&lt;/em&gt; &quot;carry a gun,&quot; underworld slang from 1940s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="772" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T11:47:16.560" />
  <row Id="1734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="777" CreationDate="2010-08-23T12:02:26.953" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When overdone, this is known as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_prose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Purple prose&lt;/a&gt;. Purple prose refers to applying descriptive imagery excessively, extravagantly or unnecessarily. That may be the term you're looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're not after a disparaging term, then &quot;descriptive&quot; is probably right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="772" LastEditorUserId="772" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T16:19:08.550" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T16:19:08.550" />
  <row Id="1735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1578" CreationDate="2010-08-23T12:07:27.337" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The folklore with the term &quot;flammable&quot; was that it had to be invented precisely because people read &quot;inflammable&quot; as &quot;won't burst into flame&quot; (and granted, &quot;inflame&quot; really isn't a word you get to hear everyday). The blame should be apportioned to the safety people I suppose. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T12:07:27.337" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2" CreationDate="2010-08-23T12:17:04.980" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Somewhat missed in the answers thus far: the &quot;fifth essence&quot; is in fact identical to the &quot;æther&quot; of yore; said to be the stuff the stars and other heavenly bodies are made of. Thus, anything composed of the &quot;fifth essence&quot; had to be exceptional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T12:17:04.980" />
  <row Id="1737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1635" CreationDate="2010-08-23T13:20:29.643" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question doesn't really make sense, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What I was trying to achieve was to&#xA;  say that something is an audibilized&#xA;  presentation of some other thing,&#xA;  exactly the same way we use visualized&#xA;  presentation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hmm? Usually one would say &quot;a visualization&quot;. I'm not sure what &quot;visualized presentation&quot; is meant to be. A visualization of data etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some suggestions as answers here, frankly I think they are dubious. If you want to say this in English, &quot;represent in sound&quot; as a verb and &quot;representation in sound&quot; or &quot;sound representation&quot; would be OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T13:26:44.250" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T13:26:44.250" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1635" CreationDate="2010-08-23T13:30:34.537" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for a word that many or all of your audience will understand, why not try &quot;imagine&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="758" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T13:30:34.537" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="979" CreationDate="2010-08-23T14:20:56.057" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had the impression that while it does boil down to a matter of style, the rule of thumb was &quot;if you are writing words (i.e. English prose), use the word form, and if you are writing numbers (i.e. math) use the numerals&quot;, until the word form becomes so large as to become cumbersome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T14:20:56.057" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1740" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1742" CreationDate="2010-08-23T14:29:24.823" Score="2" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for similar words to &lt;em&gt;task&lt;/em&gt; for a document on scheduling tasks in the context of a project. My goal would be to find words that would denote meanings for three things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A word for a small atomic task of short duration that is to be done. This would be the fundamental unit. I'm thinking to: &lt;em&gt;job&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;assignment&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A word to denote that this &lt;em&gt;small task&lt;/em&gt; has been done. I'm thinking to: &lt;em&gt;work&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A word for a larger task that is made of several &lt;em&gt;small tasks&lt;/em&gt;, or even several &lt;em&gt;tasks&lt;/em&gt;. I'm thinking to: &lt;em&gt;task&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;labor&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a non native English speaker, I am having troubles finding the exact meaning of all these words, and if my hierarchy, from small to large, is correct. Do native speaker have suggestions for other words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="41" LastEditorUserId="41" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-25T11:37:03.240" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T11:37:03.240" Title="What are the possible words for a task?" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1295" CreationDate="2010-08-23T14:35:02.520" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even people who don't understand that the idiom originated in Golf have heard the phrase frequently and understand its meaning. As children learning our native language, we learn idioms long before we learn their source. Many people never do learn (or care about) the source of the phases they use daily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, I'd say that's par for the course. If you don't understand that, I suppose I could take another tack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T14:35:02.520" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1740" CreationDate="2010-08-23T14:44:36.120" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my software development projects I use &quot;todo&quot; for the smallest unit of work, &quot;task&quot; for the next highest, which might be comprised of several todos, and &quot;milestone&quot; for the next, which is typically comprised of several tasks.  A project, then, is made up of several milestones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know these are not stylistically elegant, but they are fairly commonly understood on the software projects I've worked on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T14:44:36.120" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1740" CreationDate="2010-08-23T15:20:12.347" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a [fairly] complete list, you might check out the synonyms listed here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://thesaurus.com/browse/task&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://thesaurus.com/browse/task&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="366" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T15:20:12.347" />
  <row Id="1744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1717" CreationDate="2010-08-23T16:04:07.413" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing&lt;/a&gt;. Mignon Fogarty tackles grammar, punctuation, word choice, style, and other topics in short segments, usually with a mnemonic or other memory trick to help the listener remember the lesson.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="758" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T16:04:07.413" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-23T16:04:07.413" />
  <row Id="1745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1708" CreationDate="2010-08-23T16:11:02.693" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe your sentence is correct as written. However, I would rephrase it for clarity:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All of the respondents opined that backups are an essential overhead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="758" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T16:11:02.693" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1746" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1748" CreationDate="2010-08-23T16:22:26.737" Score="3" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been learning English for many years already, using many ways available for me. It is mostly reading, as I have very few opportunities to use English in real communication. Due to this fact my vocabulary is rather one-sided: I can read fast and without problems but to find out the proper word in real conversation is really hard for me. My live expressions are full of book-learned words and phrases. I guess I often use formal and archaic words instead of simple spoken ones. I simply don't feel the difference between them as a native speaker does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any online resources that could help find out the most appropriate words for the contemporary usage, helping to sound less artificial, formal and archaic? Or, maybe, other advices for the learners like me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T21:36:51.620" Title="Finding out the proper word out of book-learned vocabulary" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;conversation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="1747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1717" CreationDate="2010-08-23T16:45:50.807" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two podcasts geared towards Japanese speakers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishpod101.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;EnglishPod101.com&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;eChat Vancouver. Fantastic podcast, but not sure if you can still download the episodes. They're off the air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both these are for Japanese speakers, though. I'm not sure if you're looking all English podcasts or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T16:45:50.807" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-23T16:45:50.807" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1746" CreationDate="2010-08-23T16:54:14.397" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only way that you can learn contemporary informal usage is the same way that you learned the formal, bookish language: constant exposure. In other words, find someone(s) you can talk to a lot, who will help you with your language and expose you to more modern idioms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other thing that might help is watching television, particularly sitcoms, talk shows and other informal formats. Avoid imitating news shows, documentaries and the like, since they tend to use a much more formal register than is common in everyday speech. (And don't mimic sitcoms &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; closely, lest you start talking solely in catch-phrases and cliches.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T16:54:14.397" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1749" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1766" CreationDate="2010-08-23T17:15:52.410" Score="5" ViewCount="680" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any subtle differences between &quot;somebody&quot; and &quot;someone&quot;, or can they be used completely interchangeably? Similarly, can you imagine a situation in which you would prefer &quot;anybody&quot; to &quot;anyone&quot; or vice versa?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="146" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T11:03:22.887" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T23:59:50.583" Title="&quot;Somebody&quot; vs &quot;someone&quot;, &quot;anybody&quot; vs &quot;anyone&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1746" CreationDate="2010-08-23T17:16:20.930" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If most of your opportunity to be exposed to English is by reading, then you may want to find some books which are aimed at younger readers, say 10 - 14 years old, published somewhat recently. These will generally have a simpler, more conversational vocabulary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although JSBangs advises against watching the news in English, I would recommend reading the news in English. While I can't speak for all English-language newspapers, I do know that newspapers in the US attempt to keep the vocabulary to about a 5th grade level, which equates to a normal 10 year old being able to read it without much difficulty. As an added bonus, many newspapers can be read over the Internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T17:16:20.930" />
  <row Id="1751" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1753" CreationDate="2010-08-23T17:21:58.157" Score="1" ViewCount="268" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always been confused when citing like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;The windows misted over from the heat and the smoke inside.” (Hemingway 1) &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the period go inside the quotes? (as in above?) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or after the citation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;The windows misted over from the heat and the smoke inside” (Hemingway 1). &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="780" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T18:10:05.757" Title="Where does the period go in a MLA in-text citation?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1752" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1771" CreationDate="2010-08-23T17:26:27.760" Score="4" ViewCount="421" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many say that &quot;prefer X to Y&quot; has a more formal ring to it than &quot;prefer X over Y&quot;. Are there any dialects where you wouldn't use &quot;prefer X to Y&quot; in colloquial speech at all? Conversely, are there any manuals of style that discourage using &quot;prefer X over Y&quot; in formal writing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-09T22:03:15.040" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T22:03:15.040" Title="&quot;Prefer X to Y&quot; vs &quot;prefer X over Y&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1751" CreationDate="2010-08-23T17:32:51.293" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second is correct, the period &lt;a href=&quot;http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;goes after&lt;/a&gt; the citation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T17:32:51.293" />
  <row Id="1754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1749" CreationDate="2010-08-23T17:34:45.237" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is little or no difference between the &lt;em&gt;-one&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;-body&lt;/em&gt; variants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there is a major difference between &lt;em&gt;somebody&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;anybody&lt;/em&gt;--&lt;em&gt;anybody&lt;/em&gt; is one of the &quot;negative valency&quot; words in English, which is required when the main verb of the sentence is negated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I haven't seen anybody. [Correct]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;!&lt;/strong&gt; I haven't seen somebody. [Incorrect]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conversely, in sentences in which the main verb is affirmative (not negated), the preferred pronoun should be &lt;em&gt;somebody&lt;/em&gt; and not &lt;em&gt;anybody&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I saw somebody in the hall. [Correct]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;!&lt;/strong&gt; I saw anybody in the hall. [Incorrect]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In subject position, you should prefer &lt;em&gt;somebody&lt;/em&gt; when a particular person is implied, although you don't know who it is. &lt;em&gt;Anybody&lt;/em&gt; can be used when you have no particular person in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Somebody called me on the phone. [Correct]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;!&lt;/strong&gt; Anybody called me on the phone. [Incorrect]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt; Somebody can come to the party. [Not exactly incorrect, but very strange--it implies that there is a single, unnamed person that can come to the party.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Anybody can come to the party. [Correct]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T17:34:45.237" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1740" CreationDate="2010-08-23T17:55:28.120" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/task&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;task&lt;/a&gt;&quot; for small pieces of work and &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/project&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;project&lt;/a&gt;&quot; for the work that is made up of smaller tasks. When a small task (or a project) is done, you could mark it &quot;completed&quot; or &quot;finished&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T17:55:28.120" />
  <row Id="1756" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1759" CreationDate="2010-08-23T18:05:53.670" Score="1" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just out of curiosity, I was wondering about the history of the term &quot;bum&quot; meaning a homeless person, not the UK version referring to someone's posterior. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus: If you know the background on &quot;Hobo&quot; that would be interesting too, and does it have any relation to the town Hoboken, New Jersey?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T22:12:34.600" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T02:22:39.187" Title="What is the origin of the colloquial term &quot;bum&quot; meaning a homeless person?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="1757" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1763" CreationDate="2010-08-23T18:08:59.500" Score="2" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I want to report that a function name needs to start with a prefix, I write &lt;em&gt;the function name must be prefixed with&lt;/em&gt;; when I do so, the spelling and grammar checker suggests me to rewrite the phrase using &lt;em&gt;prefixed to&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;prefaced with&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How should I write the sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="161" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T20:52:02.670" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T19:13:30.083" Title="What should I use instead of &quot;prefixed with&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;passive-voice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="1758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1751" CreationDate="2010-08-23T18:10:05.757" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest you check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.easybib.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;EasyBib.com&lt;/a&gt;. I used it extensively when I was in school and it is super handy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can either give it a URL, ISBN #, or just fill in the relevant details in a form and it will automatically generate a properly formatted citation in a number of different styles, including MLA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T18:10:05.757" />
  <row Id="1759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1756" CreationDate="2010-08-23T18:18:51.763" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobo#Etymology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; offers some speculation on the origin of Hobo. It would seem the etymology revolves around railroads or migrant workers, and that it originated in California.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Author Todd DePastino has suggested that it may come from the term hoe-boy meaning &quot;farmhand,&quot; or a greeting such as Ho, boy!. Bill Bryson suggests in Made in America that it could either come from the railroad greeting, &quot;Ho, beau!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the origin of Bum, it seems to come from the German word for loafer (bummler), which comes from loaf (bummeln), presumably from the unemployed trying to obtain bread. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bum#Etymology_2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1864, Back-formation from bummer., from German Bummler (“loafer”), from bummeln (“loaf”)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="435" LastEditorUserId="435" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T18:27:16.940" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T18:27:16.940" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1756" CreationDate="2010-08-23T18:22:28.433" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports that bum is synonym of vagrant (a person without a settled home or regular work who wanders from place to place and lives by begging), and that &lt;em&gt;to bum&lt;/em&gt; means to travel, with no particular purpose or destination. On the list of the phrases, it lists also &lt;em&gt;on the bum&lt;/em&gt; to mean &lt;em&gt;traveling with rough provisions and with no fixed home&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dictionary reports that the origin of the word is probably from bummer, and that bummer derives perhaps from German &lt;em&gt;Bummler&lt;/em&gt;, from &lt;em&gt;bummeln&lt;/em&gt; (stroll, loaf around).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For &lt;em&gt;hobo&lt;/em&gt;, the same dictionary reports that its origin is late 19th century, but the word it derives from is unknown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T18:28:30.650" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T18:28:30.650" />
  <row Id="1762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1757" CreationDate="2010-08-23T18:30:38.493" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hope this will be explanatory:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The string “__” must be prefixed to function names.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Function names must be prefixed by (or with) the string “__”.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T18:30:38.493" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1757" CreationDate="2010-08-23T18:30:48.820" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are talking specifically about a prefix.  You need to use the word &lt;em&gt;prefix&lt;/em&gt;, because &lt;em&gt;precede&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;preface&lt;/em&gt; do not have to mean that something is actually attached.  &lt;em&gt;Prefix&lt;/em&gt; is the only thing that means this.  There is nothing wrong with &lt;em&gt;prefixed with&lt;/em&gt; in this context.  As a linguist who deals with prefixes and suffixes as a central part of my work, this phrase is something I use regularly.  However, if you want an alternative, you could say something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The function name must have ### as a prefix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T18:30:48.820" />
  <row Id="1764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1757" CreationDate="2010-08-23T18:33:32.700" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, I believe the original usage &quot;must be prefixed with&quot; is the best available construction here, and you should ignore the software's recommendation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I would guess that your grammar checker is flagging that phrase for passive voice, even though its suggestions don't address that issue. To recast in active voice, you could either use something like what you have in your question -- &quot;the function name must start with a prefix&quot; -- or &quot;you must prefix the function name with...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="782" LastEditorUserId="782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T19:13:30.083" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T19:13:30.083" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1752" CreationDate="2010-08-23T18:33:44.823" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My brain does not differentiate the two:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I prefer sleeping to working&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I prefer sleeping over working&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sounds the same to me- perhaps &quot;prefer/to&quot; flows slightly better. On the other hand &quot;prefer/to&quot; is more likely to be ambiguous:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I prefer sleep to work&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conversation the word &quot;rather&quot; seems more common than &quot;prefer&quot; but others may have different experience. Either way- I would be shocked if anyone criticized your usage of &quot;prefer/to&quot; versus &quot;prefer/over&quot; in any unambiguous context- formal or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="645" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T18:33:44.823" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1749" CreationDate="2010-08-23T18:34:51.280" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While M-W doesn't provide any hints on difference between the two, my understanding is that &lt;em&gt;someone&lt;/em&gt; is used more for hinting at a particular person, for sarcasm or otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g. I don't think I've ever heard the phrase &quot;special somebody&quot;, as opposed to &quot;special someone&quot;. &lt;em&gt;Somebody&lt;/em&gt; sounds more generic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="44" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T18:34:51.280" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1708" CreationDate="2010-08-23T18:40:19.753" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If this is something you want non-native speakers to understand, it seems like it could be much more straightforward:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Everyone felt that backups are an essential expense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They already responded to the survey and they know that these results came from respondents, and that these respondents gave their opinion, so why make it so wordy, and why use less common words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T18:40:19.753" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1749" CreationDate="2010-08-23T18:46:24.330" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;, both the words are used to mean &lt;em&gt;person of importance or authority&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;a small-time lawyer keen to be someone&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;I'd like to be somebody&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;nobodies who want to become somebodies&lt;/em&gt;); in definition of &lt;em&gt;somebody&lt;/em&gt;, it's reported that it means &lt;em&gt;some person&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;someone&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T18:46:24.330" />
  <row Id="1769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1740" CreationDate="2010-08-23T18:51:37.860" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the corporate environment where I work, projects are broken down into tasks and activities, and tasks are the basic unit.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The terms, tasks and activities, are often used interchangeably. The specific terminology varies from place to place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="742" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T18:51:37.860" />
  <row Id="1770" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1774" CreationDate="2010-08-23T19:02:31.003" Score="1" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Reserved SQL words are written in uppercase.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Reserved SQL words are written in uppercase letters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would the first sentence be understood? Would the second sentence be preferable, or more correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-27T12:26:28.177" LastActivityDate="2010-09-27T12:26:28.177" Title="&quot;Reserved SQL words are written in uppercase&quot; or &quot;reserved SQL words are written in uppercase letters&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1752" CreationDate="2010-08-23T19:08:18.810" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=2yJusP0vrdgC&amp;amp;lpg=PP1&amp;amp;pg=PA760#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=prefer&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage (MDEU) suggests&lt;/a&gt; that &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; is the ordinary word used to construct comparisons using &lt;em&gt;prefer&lt;/em&gt;: “when it is used to compare two things in the same sentence, the second […] is usually introduced by &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;.” They note that &lt;em&gt;over&lt;/em&gt; (“Nine out of ten dentists prefer &lt;em&gt;Crest&lt;/em&gt; over the competitors”), and &lt;em&gt;rather than&lt;/em&gt; (“He prefers to stand rather than to sit”) are also used. &lt;em&gt;Rather than&lt;/em&gt; is especially helpful when the compared items are infinitive clauses beginning with &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;, therefore avoiding the problem of too many &lt;i&gt;to&lt;/i&gt;s ( * “He prefers to stand to to sit”). &lt;em&gt;Above&lt;/em&gt; can also be used (“Prefers this brand above all others”), although they note that &lt;em&gt;above&lt;/em&gt;, along with &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt;, were noted by the OED as being used formerly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;MDEU notes that some commenters have criticized constructions with &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;rather than&lt;/em&gt;, and suggests ultimately that plain &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt; (“He would have preferred to fast than carry it”) is awkward because it is unfamiliar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With respect to colloquial speech, I think that in some informal registers you wouldn’t use the verb &lt;em&gt;prefer&lt;/em&gt; at all (which is a formal word), and would use &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; and a compatible syntactic comparative construction: “I like sleeping more than working”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T19:08:18.810" />
  <row Id="1772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1070" CreationDate="2010-08-23T19:11:45.400" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an example...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a sheriff in the deep south says, &quot;I reckon I'm takin' you to jail.&quot;, it means he's &lt;em&gt;definitely&lt;/em&gt; taking you to jail. There is no question in that sheriff's mind. He doesn't think or believe, he knows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;;~)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And an up vote for Anthony.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="742" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T19:11:45.400" />
  <row Id="1773" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1775" CreationDate="2010-08-23T19:26:46.977" Score="0" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;Between &lt;em&gt;Drupal Planet&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;Planet Drupal&lt;/em&gt;, which one is correct?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I would think &lt;em&gt;Planet Drupal&lt;/em&gt; is correct, in the same way &lt;em&gt;Planet Earth&lt;/em&gt; is correct. Which one would be the interpretation of &lt;em&gt;Drupal Planet&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T22:35:05.760" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T22:35:05.760" Title="&quot;Drupal Planet&quot; versus &quot;Planet Drupal&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="1774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1770" CreationDate="2010-08-23T19:33:22.627" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think both of these would be equally understandable and well-formed, although in the context of SQL and programming, I think the idea of &lt;em&gt;uppercase&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;lowercase&lt;/em&gt; is common enough that the first example would be slightly preferred.  But nobody would ever find it strange to see your second example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T19:33:22.627" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1773" CreationDate="2010-08-23T19:37:33.133" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Planet Drupal&lt;/em&gt; tells me this is a planet that is definitely named &lt;em&gt;Drupal&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Drupal Planet&lt;/em&gt; tells me this is a planet that has &lt;em&gt;Drupal&lt;/em&gt; as a central feature of the planet in some way, but that &lt;em&gt;Drupal&lt;/em&gt; isn't necessarily the name of the planet.  Earth could, for example, be considered &quot;the human planet&quot; or &quot;the water planet&quot; by outsiders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this distinction in mind, if you wanted to name a website either &lt;em&gt;Planet Drupal&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Drupal Planet&lt;/em&gt;, both would be compatible with the idea of &quot;a whole lot of Drupal stuff going on here!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T19:37:33.133" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1752" CreationDate="2010-08-23T19:38:07.093" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would you like a ride?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;No thanks, I prefer to walk&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't use &quot;prefer over&quot; in this case. Over is used when there are two clear choices in the phrase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of over as setting a list of preferences and putting on over top the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I prefer jogging over running and walking&quot;&#xA;&quot;I prefer fish over beef and chicken&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In these two examples, the meaning could be slightly ambiguous and sound like you're comparing two things, not three.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I prefer jogging to running and walking&quot; &#xA;&quot;I prefer fish to beef and chicken&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T19:38:07.093" />
  <row Id="1777" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1778" CreationDate="2010-08-23T19:45:59.717" Score="11" ViewCount="243" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following always puzzles me as a non-native speaker. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When somebody asks the question &quot;Do you mind if...&quot;, there seem to be two possible responses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Sure&quot; and &quot;No, not at all&quot;, which both mean that the person doesn't mind.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Actually, I do mind&quot;, which means that the person does mind.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is this so confusing? Especially, how come people reply &quot;Sure&quot; to this question, if that could be understood to mean that they &lt;em&gt;for sure do mind&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="783" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T18:56:40.590" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T18:56:40.590" Title="Answering the question: Do you mind if...?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;negation&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="1778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1777" CreationDate="2010-08-23T19:54:38.420" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Do you mind...&quot; is a polite way of asking &quot;Can you....&quot; For this reason, it's usually acceptable to respond to the semantic intent of the question by answering &quot;Yes (I can do that)&quot;, rather than responding to the grammatical form with &quot;No (I don't mind)&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Native speakers sometimes get confused by this, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T19:54:38.420" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1777" CreationDate="2010-08-23T19:58:13.357" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Sure&quot; isn't answering the question as asked; it's answering an implied question, namely: &quot;is it OK with you if...&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;No, not at all&quot; is answering the question, taken literally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T19:58:13.357" />
  <row Id="1780" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1791" CreationDate="2010-08-23T20:45:05.197" Score="2" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have blocked the user account, and deleted the comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I blocked the user account, and deleted the comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is preferable, or more correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T21:54:28.720" Title="&quot;I have blocked the user account&quot; versus &quot;I blocked the user account&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1780" CreationDate="2010-08-23T21:01:05.697" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are correct, although I would consider the comma optional. The word &quot;have&quot; is unnecessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would personally choose the second sentence, unless context dictated otherwise. (For example, if the text surrounding the example sentence was particularly formal.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T21:01:05.697" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1780" CreationDate="2010-08-23T21:13:20.900" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If this was a software message, as it seems it may be, I would not use that tense.  Instead I would say: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The user account has been blocked and&#xA;  all comments deleted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise in a regular conversation the latter sentence (minus the comma) would be correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="687" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T21:13:20.900" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1777" CreationDate="2010-08-23T21:27:40.720" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd rather try to circumvent the problem. How about something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*&quot;Do you mind if I open the window?&quot;&#xA;&quot;Go on.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*&quot;Do you mind if I take a piece of cake?&quot;&#xA;&quot;Serve yourself.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first case it's useful to smile if you think it sounds rude. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="706" LastEditorUserId="706" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-23T22:48:32.963" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T22:48:32.963" />
  <row Id="1784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1749" CreationDate="2010-08-23T21:32:15.507" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think nowadays they're perfect synonyms. Trying to find a difference would be like trying to find an inner meaning to some weird movie which the producer made just for fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="706" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T21:32:15.507" />
  <row Id="1785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1746" CreationDate="2010-08-23T21:36:51.620" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to sound natural and native is to learn some non-formal/informal expressions and phrasal verbs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 useful resources for ya:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/phrasal-verbs/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-The book &quot;A year in the life of an ESL student&quot; is also quite useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Books. From my experience I can say that Stephen King's books usually contain a lot of phrasal verbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking of compiling a list myself...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="706" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T21:36:51.620" />
  <row Id="1786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1780" CreationDate="2010-08-23T22:06:19.227" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have blocked the user account, and deleted the comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the present perfect tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I blocked the user account, and deleted the comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the past tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Which one is preferable, or more correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either one is correct. There is a difference between the two, but without context it would be silly to try to explain it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T22:06:19.227" />
  <row Id="1787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1770" CreationDate="2010-08-23T22:40:43.490" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think both sentences say the same thing, the former with fewer words, and so I'd prefer that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, most books that I've read tend to state the language first, such as &quot;C++ reserved words&quot; or &quot;Reserved words in SQL&quot;.  &quot;Reserved SQL words&quot; sounds awkward to me, although I don't know why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="737" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T22:40:43.490" />
  <row Id="1788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1688" CreationDate="2010-08-23T22:47:52.967" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was first learning to write in school, it was indicated to our class that if you start writing a word that is too long to fit on a line, and find you need to split it, the convention was to hyphenate between syllables, and move the second part of the word to the next line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long story short: yes, it is acceptable to do this with already-hyphenated words, or even to split and hyphenate long words to separate lines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="737" LastActivityDate="2010-08-23T22:47:52.967" />
  <row Id="1789" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1792" CreationDate="2010-08-23T23:30:25.830" Score="1" ViewCount="227" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reading &lt;em&gt;English Grammar&lt;/em&gt; (HarperCollins College Outline, published by HarperResource, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers) I found a chapter (&lt;em&gt;Sentence Basics&lt;/em&gt;) that explains that in English there are different sentence patterns; in particular&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Subject, verb, direct object, object complement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Subject, verb, indirect object, direct object&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chapter reports the following example for the patterns:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Alice called Charles Professor Miller.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Alice gave Charles the rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between the two kind of sentences?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What is the difference between the object complement in the first case, and the indirect object in the second case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: The question, which could appear silly, comes from the fact in my first language there is only the object complement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T06:44:19.593" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T06:44:19.593" Title="Sentence patterns" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1780" CreationDate="2010-08-24T01:15:25.967" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have said, neither is more correct, nor is either more preferable in an objective sense. If you were to indicate &lt;em&gt;when&lt;/em&gt; you blocked the account you &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; use the latter, but otherwise either is perfectly fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, personally, I would prefer the latter in most cases - it's less formal and sounds (to me) more like natural speech, and is (slightly) less verbose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I, too, would drop the comma in this context, for whatever that's worth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; use the former if I had blocked the comment before and had to do so again: &quot;I have previously blocked the user account...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T01:15:25.967" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1789" CreationDate="2010-08-24T01:24:02.407" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the first, &quot;Professor Miller&quot; is modifying &quot;Charles&quot; and is not being acted upon - it's an adjective, and a compliment to the direct object, Charles, who is being called Professor Miller.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second, &quot;the rabbit&quot; is the direct object - it's being acted upon, that is to say, it's being given.  Given to whom? Why to Charles, the indirect object of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T01:24:02.407" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1793" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1799" CreationDate="2010-08-24T02:14:27.440" Score="6" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like in this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The influence of the Titnaeus among early philosophical thinkers was pervasive, &lt;strong&gt;if only&lt;/strong&gt; because it was the sole dialogue available in Europe for almost 1,000 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Emphasis added.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="786" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-13T09:31:52.023" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T09:30:23.573" Title="What does &quot;if only&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1789" CreationDate="2010-08-24T02:14:35.347" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In many other languages, what we call the indirect object exists as the dative case. The direct object complement is a fairly unusual construct in English and could be easily misinterpreted. (Did they mean &quot;Charles &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt;  Professor Miller&quot;?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T02:14:35.347" />
  <row Id="1795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1777" CreationDate="2010-08-24T02:16:42.270" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;People seem to want to answer in the affirmative when granting permission (me included), so I usually ask the question that way: &quot;Is it OK if I...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T02:16:42.270" />
  <row Id="1796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1756" CreationDate="2010-08-24T02:22:39.187" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also note the similar use meaning &quot;to ask for a handout; beg,&quot; for instance, &quot;Can I bum a cigarette?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T02:22:39.187" />
  <row Id="1797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1723" CreationDate="2010-08-24T02:31:45.297" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always make sure to use 'correct' when someone is asking about directions.  Otherwise it's like Laurel and Hardy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Them: So I go left on Elm Street?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Me: Right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Them: Oh, I'm sorry. So I turn RIGHT on Elm. Then-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Me: No, no, you go LEFT on Elm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Them: Huh?!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T02:31:45.297" />
  <row Id="1798" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1807" CreationDate="2010-08-24T02:32:38.573" Score="6" ViewCount="977" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sometimes have heard somebody replying with &lt;em&gt;Why, thank you.&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;Thank you&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of the first phrase? What is the difference between the two phrases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T01:02:01.133" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T01:02:01.133" Title="Meaning of &quot;Why, thank you&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1793" CreationDate="2010-08-24T02:35:06.913" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most reasonable parsing of that particular sentence would be that &quot;it was the sole dialogue available in Europe for almost 1,000 years&quot; could plausibly be the only reason for &quot;The influence of the Titnaeus among early philosophical thinkers&quot; being &quot;pervasive&quot;, without explicitly excluding any other reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T02:35:06.913" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1645" CreationDate="2010-08-24T02:49:31.597" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When your car breaks down, you take it to the shop (rarely referred to as a garage any more.) When your car gets dented in a fender-bender, you take it to the body shop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T02:49:31.597" />
  <row Id="1801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1629" CreationDate="2010-08-24T03:01:05.910" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please see &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; most authoritative source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://theoatmeal.com/comics/ie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Oatmeal.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T03:01:05.910" />
  <row Id="1802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1613" CreationDate="2010-08-24T03:13:54.513" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the appropriate degree of anglicization is highly variable and extremely arbitrary; it basically amounts to what people are used to. For instance, often when NPR mentions van Gogh, they add a disclaimer that they know that &quot;van go&quot; is far from the Dutch pronunciation, but that they are sticking with the familiar anglicized pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, it was NPR reporters like Maria Hinojosa who started a trend of maintaining the &quot;foreign&quot; pronunciation of their names even for American audiences. (Well, I guess Gerry Rivers went back before that, but that was before my time.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T03:13:54.513" />
  <row Id="1803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1635" CreationDate="2010-08-24T03:20:06.413" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest audible, sonic , or simply audio. I realize these lack the 'made into' suffix, but I think your listeners will stumble less over these than auralize or audibilized. To me audibilized suggests that some imperceptible sound was amplified to the point of audibility, rather than translated from another sensory modality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T03:20:06.413" />
  <row Id="1804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1688" CreationDate="2010-08-24T03:28:36.020" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a modern word processor with paragraph justification, there is rarely if ever any reason to split words between lines, unless they are truly giganto-sesquipedalian. A word like 'T-shirt' should  never be split.  How to get Word to act this way is a topic for another Stack Exchange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T03:28:36.020" />
  <row Id="1805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1684" CreationDate="2010-08-24T03:33:40.197" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;People tend to punctuate an expression to match their pronunciation.  I've heard this one spoken with and without a 'verbal comma.' I've never heard anyone truly exclaim this, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T03:33:40.197" />
  <row Id="1806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1634" CreationDate="2010-08-24T04:11:42.830" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are not equivalent sentences because of the &quot;here.&quot; &quot;Stop here, please,&quot; would be a request of a taxi driver, possibly, while &quot;Stop it!&quot; means stop whatever you're doing right now, with no reference to location. As Steve notes, there's a whole spectrum of politeness to these requests.  Rule of thumb: the more syllables in the statement, the more polite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T04:11:42.830" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1798" CreationDate="2010-08-24T04:12:09.553" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Why&lt;/em&gt; is used here as an interjection. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/why&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;—used to express mild surprise, hesitation, approval, disapproval, or impatience &amp;lt;&lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt;, here's what I was looking for&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, the extra &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;Why, thank you&lt;/em&gt; is used mainly to avoid appearing too abrupt in one's thankfulness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T04:12:09.553" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1808" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-24T05:21:16.797" Score="1" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always avoided using the common phrase &quot;the exact same&quot; because it sounds incorrect to me (unless perhaps a comma were inserted thus: &quot;the exact, same&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:45:07.543" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:45:07.543" Title="Shouldn't &quot;the exact same&quot; always be &quot;exactly the same&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1629" CreationDate="2010-08-24T05:25:46.010" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;e.g. = for example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i.e. = specifically&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T05:25:46.010" />
  <row Id="1811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-24T05:39:38.050" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Worcestershire, as in the sauce. The obvious pronunciation is &quot;wor-chest-er-shy-er&quot;, but apparently the correct pronunciation is &quot;werst-er-sher&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastEditorUserId="34" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T06:49:56.897" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T06:49:56.897" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-24T05:39:38.050" CommentCount="18" />
  <row Id="1812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1660" CreationDate="2010-08-24T05:49:16.957" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard &quot;give * a ring&quot; in the US, but never &quot;ring *&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T05:49:16.957" />
  <row Id="1814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1703" CreationDate="2010-08-24T06:01:59.020" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct verb to use really depends on the meaning of the corresponding noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Award (n): a recognition of a personal achievement, e.g. a scholarship for winning a science fair, a plaque for volunteering 100 hours of community service&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reward (n): compensation or incentive for doing something, e.g. cash for returning a lost wallet, getting to stay up late for tidying one's bedroom&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T06:01:59.020" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-24T06:12:03.577" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Quark&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Murray Gellman insisted on &lt;code&gt;kvork&lt;/code&gt; pronunciation, while it was supposed to rhyme with 'bark' in the original poem, &quot;Three quarks for Muster Mark!/Sure he hasn't got much of a bark/And sure any he has it's all beside the mark.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ridiculously, outside english it is pronounced as &lt;code&gt;kvark&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T06:12:03.577" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-24T06:12:03.577" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="648" CreationDate="2010-08-24T06:18:59.990" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably since IPv6 spawned creation of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Internet2&lt;/a&gt; :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'the internet' would refer to the old, more popular internet, the one with insufficient host address space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, kidding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T06:18:59.990" />
  <row Id="1817" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1878" CreationDate="2010-08-24T07:08:02.233" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen &quot;determine&quot; used for two completely different meanings:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Zeus' mood will determine tomorrow's weather. (determine = control, dictate)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weather forecaster will determine tomorrow's weather. (determine = forecast, predict)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these meanings used equally often, or is one much more common than the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastEditorUserId="34" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-23T06:41:55.607" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T06:41:55.607" Title="Which definition is more used for &quot;determine&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1818" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1859" CreationDate="2010-08-24T07:51:20.913" Score="8" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aside from the syllable count what else do I need consider when writing a Haiku?&#xA;I'm referring to the English imitation of a Haiku.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been told that the first two lines should be descriptions and the third line should be the conclusion. But I've noticed that this is not always true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does a Haiku need to be about nature? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="792" LastEditorUserId="792" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T06:13:24.763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T22:04:10.633" Title="What are the rules in composing a Haiku? (aside from the syllable count)" Tags="&lt;literature&gt;&lt;poetry&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1819" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1825" CreationDate="2010-08-24T08:12:02.870" Score="2" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Standard GPL would require that those applications be GPL'd (or compatible licensing), whereas LGPL requires only the library's source to be made available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the use of words like &lt;em&gt;GPL'd&lt;/em&gt; common to other acronyms?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is the meaning of such words understandable from common people?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T20:45:42.050" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T20:45:42.050" Title="Past participle of a verb created from an acronym" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;participle&gt;&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1820" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1821" CreationDate="2010-08-24T08:23:28.133" Score="8" ViewCount="492" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for a list of all English words that are their own antonyms. Off the top of my head, I can only think of &quot;either&quot;, &quot;fast&quot;, &quot;to dust&quot; and &quot;to lease&quot;, but there must be dozens more. Can you provide a link to a comprehensive list, if such exists?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, what are such words most commonly called? I like the term &quot;Janus word&quot; I once heard, but is that widely understood?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Edited by popular demand to make it absolutely clear that this is not a community wiki poll.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-14T23:49:39.573" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T11:00:43.267" Title="English words that are their own antonyms" Tags="&lt;list-request&gt;&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="1821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1820" CreationDate="2010-08-24T08:51:04.790" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you're referring to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-antonym&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Auto-antonyms&lt;/a&gt;. They are not the same word but a homograph (a word of the same spelling) that is also an antonym. I guess, Janus word is also acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a list on Wikipedia: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_auto-antonyms_in_English&amp;amp;oldid=386138047&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;List of Auto-antonyms in English&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="792" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-25T11:00:43.267" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T11:00:43.267" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1820" CreationDate="2010-08-24T08:51:53.540" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In certain dialects of English, &quot;learn&quot; is its own antonym -- it's used to mean &quot;teach&quot; as well as &quot;learn&quot; just as in Dutch. &quot;That'll learn you kids to stay off my lawn!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Strictly not an antonym, because that would be &quot;unlearn&quot;, but then neither is &quot;lease&quot; which you suggest in your original post.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="634" LastEditorUserId="634" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T09:54:00.510" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T09:54:00.510" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="1823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="282" CreationDate="2010-08-24T08:54:02.703" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The inimitable Tom Lehrer rhymed orange:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Eating an orange&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  While making love&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Makes for bizarre enj-&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  oyment thereof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="634" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T08:54:02.703" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1824" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1832" CreationDate="2010-08-24T08:58:44.427" Score="5" ViewCount="377" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is more correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. &lt;strong&gt;First,&lt;/strong&gt; thy eyes gaze deep into my soul. &lt;strong&gt;Second,&lt;/strong&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are four reasons why all should hail the Hypno-Toad. &lt;strong&gt;Firstly,&lt;/strong&gt; his eyes gaze deep into your soul. &lt;strong&gt;Secondly,&lt;/strong&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="634" LastEditorUserId="634" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T09:55:44.207" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T14:33:11.547" Title="&quot;Firstly&quot; or &quot;first&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="1825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1819" CreationDate="2010-08-24T08:59:55.937" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is generally understood, although it might probably also be spelled &lt;em&gt;GPLed&lt;/em&gt;. A non-tech example is &lt;em&gt;&quot;He OD'd last night.&quot;&lt;/em&gt; (OD = overdose, specifically of drugs.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="634" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T08:59:55.937" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1820" CreationDate="2010-08-24T09:12:55.040" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several names for these. &quot;Contradictanym&quot; is one you see in a few places. There's another list of several examples here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://toothycat.net/wiki/wiki.pl?Contradictanym&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://toothycat.net/wiki/wiki.pl?Contradictanym&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="772" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T09:12:55.040" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1827" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1829" CreationDate="2010-08-24T09:14:34.150" Score="6" ViewCount="230" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello, I have heard different versions of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is a Forward Slash / and this is a Backslash \&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is a Forward Slash \ and this is a Backslash /&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is it? Why? Can you back up your claim?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW: I'd go with version 1, but I live in Germany and Germans sometimes have a strange interpretation of the English language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="793" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T04:59:36.163" Title="Forward slash vs back slash" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1818" CreationDate="2010-08-24T09:22:43.977" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Use the first two lines&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  To establish the context;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Then go for the kill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-25T02:46:41.947" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T02:46:41.947" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1827" CreationDate="2010-08-24T09:24:25.097" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a Forward Slash (or simply Slash) / and this is a Backslash \&lt;br&gt;&#xA;See Articles: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slash_%28punctuation%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Slash&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backslash&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Backslash&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The backslash was based on the slash. The backslash wasn't introduced until the 1960s while the slash dates back to very very long ago (according to Wikipedia it goes back to the days of ancient Rome).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never been confused since this is a computing/programming convention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="792" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T09:24:25.097" />
  <row Id="1830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1827" CreationDate="2010-08-24T09:28:23.153" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first one is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assume that the slash is a standing stick man.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;/ : Here he is leaning forward and this is a forward slash.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;\ : Here he is leaning back and this is a backslash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T09:28:23.153" />
  <row Id="1831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1824" CreationDate="2010-08-24T09:36:53.480" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think one is more correct than the other. Though I prefer &quot;First&quot; because &quot;Firstly&quot; sounds a little old English.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The important part is you remain consistent. If you use firstly, you must use secondly, thirdly, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I found an exception (with regards to the consistency part)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The older standard is first, secondly,&#xA;  thirdly, etc.The Oxford English Dictionary gives the following quote from Johnson's Dictionary, which didn't include word firstly: ‘Some late authors use Firstly for the sake of its more accordant sound with secondly, thirdly, etc.’&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="792" LastEditorUserId="792" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-25T01:18:52.027" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T01:18:52.027" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1824" CreationDate="2010-08-24T10:13:50.550" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think either one is OK. Some (American) people object to firstly, secondly etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eric Partridge (&quot;Usage and Abusage&quot;) says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;firstly&lt;/strong&gt; is traditionally said to be inferior to &lt;em&gt;first&lt;/em&gt;, even when &lt;em&gt;secondly&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;thirdly&lt;/em&gt; ... follow it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T10:43:32.753" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T10:43:32.753" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1827" CreationDate="2010-08-24T10:25:15.910" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is a Forward Slash / and this is a Backslash \&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think / is just a slash, and the terminology &quot;forward slash&quot; was only invented to distinguish it from the \ mark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that there are other names for &quot;/&quot;. For example, page 38 of &quot;The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The filesystem forms a tree, the beginning of which is the &lt;em&gt;root directory&lt;/em&gt;, sometimes referred to by the name &lt;strong&gt;slash&lt;/strong&gt;, spelled with a single solidus character (/)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T10:25:15.910" />
  <row Id="1834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1824" CreationDate="2010-08-24T10:31:06.187" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are correct, however, there is &quot;overcorrectness&quot; in using &lt;em&gt;firstly&lt;/em&gt; because it seems more like an adverb than &lt;em&gt;first&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go on the length principal: both have the same meaning, but &lt;em&gt;firstly&lt;/em&gt; is two characters longer than &lt;em&gt;first&lt;/em&gt;. The language will eventually evolve to do without the longer equivalent; I'd use &lt;em&gt;first&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="794" LastEditorUserId="794" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-25T19:02:12.610" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T19:02:12.610" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1818" CreationDate="2010-08-24T10:37:05.450" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The idea of a haiku in English doesn't really make that much sense. First of all, you might want to note that the whole idea of seventeen syllables is a bogus one. A Japanese haiku consists of seventeen moras (beats) rather than seventeen syllables. E.g. Tokyo (&quot;To-u-kyo-u&quot; in Japanese) is four moras but two syllables. A haiku should have seventeen of these moras, not seventeen syllables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One rule I can think of is that traditionally Japanese haiku had to start with a &quot;seasonal word&quot; (&quot;kigo&quot; in Japanese). But there are no &quot;seasonal words&quot; in English. Nowadays the haiku printed on tea cans in Japan don't have seasonal words so that is purely a traditional arrangement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-25T01:16:29.930" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T01:16:29.930" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1613" CreationDate="2010-08-24T10:37:31.923" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm fully bilingual in English and Spanish (I grew up in both England and Spain, and I speak both with transparency).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I speak in Spanish and mention an English word (like &quot;iPod&quot;, &quot;Google&quot;, &quot;Pokémon&quot;), I consciously dumb it down to how a Spaniard would say it. It is much easier for them to understand, as they are used to the dumbed-down pronounciation, and would perhaps not understand it if I said it to them as an Englishman would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also get an odd look, and feel like I'm being condascending if I spoke &quot;correctly&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="794" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T10:37:31.923" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1808" CreationDate="2010-08-24T10:37:56.073" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In British English, yes. &quot;The exact same&quot; sounds (to my British ears, at least) like an American phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T10:37:56.073" />
  <row Id="1838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1688" CreationDate="2010-08-24T10:41:30.057" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know whether it's normal, but I'd say it's incorrect, or at least ambiguous. &lt;code&gt;T-shirt&lt;/code&gt; is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; &lt;code&gt;Tshirt&lt;/code&gt;. Splitting the word on the hyphen leads to ambiguity. It should be kept on one line to indicate that the hyphen is indeed part of the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="794" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T10:41:30.057" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1817" CreationDate="2010-08-24T10:42:55.910" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first example looks correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't recognise the meaning illustrated by the second example. To me (as a British English speaker), it looks like it's saying that the weather forecaster can control the weather!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T10:42:55.910" />
  <row Id="1840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1628" CreationDate="2010-08-24T10:46:27.303" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Cheers&quot; is easier to pronounce than &quot;thanks&quot;; its second syllable just rolls off the toungue, rather than jarring like the &quot;k&quot; in thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The laziness of man should never be underestimated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="794" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T10:46:27.303" />
  <row Id="1841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1691" CreationDate="2010-08-24T10:51:34.110" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I pronounce it as &lt;em&gt;com-&lt;strong&gt;pa&lt;/strong&gt;-ra-ble&lt;/em&gt;. It is more consistent with other similar adjectives ending in &lt;em&gt;-able&lt;/em&gt;, in that its emphasis is the syllable before the &lt;em&gt;-able&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="794" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T10:51:34.110" />
  <row Id="1842" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1857" CreationDate="2010-08-24T10:52:40.283" Score="2" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;Explaine me (non English speaking user) please what does the word &quot;cinemaddict&quot; really mean? What synonyms does it have?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="795" LastEditorUserId="513" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T23:12:05.410" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T15:01:52.837" Title="What does word cinemaddict mean?" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;neologisms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1842" CreationDate="2010-08-24T10:56:20.700" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would assume it refers to a person who commonly visits the cinema to watch movies (a cinema addict).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I am aware, it is not an actual word and is likely something used occasionally by people in a colloquial context. However, I can't find much supporting evidence around the net for this assumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; as requested, another term which essentially means the same thing might be '&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/moviegoer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;movie-goer&lt;/a&gt;' (person who visits the movies). Having said that, I think the exact word you might use could change depending on the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit 2:&lt;/strong&gt; asking for a domain name is probably another question in itself, and it's such an open-ended question I'm not sure how much I can necessarily help you. Perhaps some kind of variation depending on the person's name?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;JoeWatchesMovies.com&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ThoughtsOnFilms.com / ThoughtsOnMovies.com&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't checked whether those (or any like it) are available though. I'm sure others might be able to offer more (and better) suggestions, but its a little outside the topic of this site really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="114" LastEditorUserId="114" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T11:20:31.290" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T11:20:31.290" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1632" CreationDate="2010-08-24T10:57:01.873" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What would you prefer me to ask you? &lt;em&gt;Please, would you kindly pass me the magazine&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;pass me the magazine&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;please, kindly&lt;/em&gt; adds a layer of &quot;politeness&quot; (for want of a better word), and, although effectively it is redundant, it changes the sentence from a request to an order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="794" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T10:57:01.873" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="979" CreationDate="2010-08-24T11:02:14.423" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Switching from letters to numbers is jarring. It almost shouts out as you, as numbers are often as tall as uppercase letters in typefaces. I much prefer to write and read &lt;em&gt;I have six passports&lt;/em&gt; than &lt;em&gt;I have 6 passports&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can come accross as overly lazy as well, along the lines of &lt;em&gt;I have six pprts&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="794" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T11:02:14.423" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="406" CreationDate="2010-08-24T11:10:30.347" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It used to be very bad, and because of this it has been overused lately, eroding it's superlative offensive status.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="794" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T11:10:30.347" />
  <row Id="1847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1842" CreationDate="2010-08-24T11:24:59.153" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone who is addicted to cinemas (or movies)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T11:24:59.153" />
  <row Id="1848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1817" CreationDate="2010-08-24T11:28:56.557" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second meaning is often used (to the point of overuse) in the natural sciences: &quot;This experiment allows us to determine the charge of the electron.&quot; Obviously no experiment will allow the experimenter to &lt;em&gt;dictate&lt;/em&gt; the charge of the electron.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="634" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T11:28:56.557" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1842" CreationDate="2010-08-24T11:34:10.717" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Cinemaddict&quot; sounds like it is a kind of pun made from &quot;cinematic&quot; and &quot;addict&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T11:34:10.717" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1824" CreationDate="2010-08-24T12:27:05.010" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Three answers come to mind&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Strictly it should be &quot;Firstly&quot;, because that is an adverb, and in these quotations it is modifying a clause (i.e. a verb).  some English users will feel uncomfortable with this.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Practically / pragmatically, it could be &quot;First&quot;, because most English users will understand perfectly well what this means, and will not feel uncomfortable with it.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Poetically (as in the Shakesperean quotation) it can be anything the author likes, because rules of syntax and grammar are frequently bent or broken for poetic effect.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I would use &quot;Firstly&quot;, for the first reason.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the record:  I'm English, so my English may well differ from American English.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="798" LastEditorUserId="798" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T14:33:11.547" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T14:33:11.547" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1818" CreationDate="2010-08-24T12:49:13.937" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;poetic aspects&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;should fall gently, from the page&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;like leaves in autumn&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T12:49:13.937" />
  <row Id="1852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1817" CreationDate="2010-08-24T12:56:00.567" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second sentence about the forecaster sounds &quot;off&quot; to my ears as well. If you'll excuse my lapsing into jargon for a few moments, nobody considers weather &quot;deterministic&quot;. Certainly one can forecast, predict, or even hazard a guess, but certainly not determine something which has a &quot;random&quot; nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T12:56:00.567" />
  <row Id="1853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1019" CreationDate="2010-08-24T13:19:23.530" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The quickest way to remember the rule for this: &quot;an hour and a half&quot;. Thus, &quot;a&quot; for something with an initial consonant sound, and &quot;an&quot; otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T13:19:23.530" />
  <row Id="1854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1688" CreationDate="2010-08-24T13:56:47.433" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way to stop a text editor doing this is to use a special character called a &quot;Non-breaking hyphen&quot;. That said, modern versions of MS Office don't seem to break at normal hyphens: Word 2007 keeps both halves of &quot;T-shirt&quot; or &quot;auto-update&quot; on the same line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="772" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T13:56:47.433" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1817" CreationDate="2010-08-24T14:03:24.363" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, I think the word &lt;em&gt;determine&lt;/em&gt; is being used here in both cases in the sense of &quot;to decide&quot; or &quot;to resolve&quot;.  The difference is: in the first case, Zeus is deciding what the weather &lt;strong&gt;will&lt;/strong&gt; be (as it is under his direct control), and in the second case, the weatherman is deciding what the weather &lt;strong&gt;should&lt;/strong&gt; be (a prediction).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T14:03:24.363" />
  <row Id="1856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1842" CreationDate="2010-08-24T15:40:39.867" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/portmanteau+word&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;portmanteau word&lt;/a&gt; created from &quot;cinema&quot; and &quot;addict&quot;, but I've never heard it used before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="179" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-25T15:01:52.837" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T15:01:52.837" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="1857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1842" CreationDate="2010-08-24T16:17:09.220" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Film buff&quot; is fairly common term for a person who is a fan of cinema.  A few years ago there was a documentary &lt;a href=&quot;http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0281724/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cinemania&lt;/a&gt;, but I've never heard the terms cinemaddict or cinemanic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="490" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T16:17:09.220" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1858" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-24T16:53:56.827" Score="8" ViewCount="860" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does “a couple” mean to you, and what does “a few” mean to you?  Is there a proper way to use it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was striking to hear that “a couple” meant two (2) to someone.  My reaction was, “how/why do you make a short word longer by adding an extra syllable to just say ‘two?’”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think Few: 2-3, Couple 4-6, Several 7+.  What are your thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T17:46:20.647" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T02:30:30.793" Title="&quot;Couple&quot; vs. &quot;Few&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="1859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1818" CreationDate="2010-08-24T16:58:17.680" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simple answer is that if Haiku is not about nature, it is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senry%C5%AB&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Senryu&lt;/a&gt;. I've heard different views on whether the Japanese definition is different than the non-Japanese ones, and whether the syllable counts can differ.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There seems to be some subjectivity on definitions, in English poetry at least. I think the following is Senryu, but you could make a case for it being Haiku:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bugs fall like rain upon my code&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  compiler shrieks like the wind&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      Blue Screen&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-25T02:45:49.200" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T02:45:49.200" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1858" CreationDate="2010-08-24T17:00:55.830" Score="24" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple is usually two (a married couple), or sometimes 'about two' if you are being vague (a couple of dozen, a couple of inches). A few is more than a couple, but not as many as several.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T17:00:55.830" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1861" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1872" CreationDate="2010-08-24T17:06:06.017" Score="0" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I am writing a sentence where both a noun and an adjective are used as modifiers, shall I write first the adjective, or the noun?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's a nice C code snippet.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (&lt;strong&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt;) It's a C nice code snippet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the same &quot;rule&quot; valid for the following sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Reserved SQL keywords are written in uppercase.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  SQL reserved keywords are written in uppercase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T17:40:41.887" Title="Adjectives and nouns: which modifier should be written first?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="1862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1858" CreationDate="2010-08-24T17:12:12.803" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Couple&lt;/em&gt; is used to mean &lt;em&gt;an indefinite small number&lt;/em&gt; in informal sentences, while &lt;em&gt;few&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;a small number of&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Michael hoped Angie would be better in a couple of days.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  We got some eggs. Would you like a couple?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I will recount a few of the stories told me.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Many believe it but only a few are prepared to say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T17:12:12.803" />
  <row Id="1863" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3352" CreationDate="2010-08-24T17:14:51.590" Score="5" ViewCount="280" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I've heard American TV commentators say &quot;[a person] was literally decimated&quot; and &quot;[a Senator] was literally thrown under the bus&quot;. In the first case I think the person was not actually 10% killed, but in the second, I believe they meant that 57 members of the US Senate carried #58 onto Constitution Avenue and threw him under a (hopefully moving) bus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are usages like these normal or acceptable now? I find them grating, myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-19T17:33:55.020" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T13:00:12.113" Title="&quot;Literally&quot; and &quot;Decimate&quot; misuse" Tags="&lt;colloquial&gt;&lt;semantic-shift&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="1864" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1873" CreationDate="2010-08-24T17:17:16.737" Score="6" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a non-native speaker, I found Stephen Colbert's book title &quot;I Am America (And So Can You!)&quot; a little hard to dissect. Why so can you? Why isn't it &quot;So Are You&quot;? What's the full phrase that &quot;And So Can You&quot; implies?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="165" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T01:48:04.813" Title="Please explain &quot;I Am America (And So Can You!)&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;book-title&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1863" CreationDate="2010-08-24T17:20:27.830" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are becoming increasingly common, and it annoys me too. Since persistent misusers always get their way in the end, I expect literally and decimate to go the way of ultimate and panacea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T17:20:27.830" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="1866" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1868" CreationDate="2010-08-24T17:24:35.883" Score="8" ViewCount="237" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I have few friends.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I have a few friends.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought &quot;few&quot; means just one, two or even none. &quot;A few&quot; typically means more than two. However it seems to me some people say &quot;few&quot; when they really mean &quot;a few&quot;, am I right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="165" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-12T11:10:10.177" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T16:00:28.927" Title="&quot;A few&quot; vs. &quot;few&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;determiners&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="1867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1864" CreationDate="2010-08-24T17:27:02.573" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a satirical joke. The title is deliberately confusing, that's the whole point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T17:27:02.573" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1866" CreationDate="2010-08-24T17:35:26.137" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I have a few friends&quot; is just the same as saying &quot;I have some friends&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I have few friends&quot;, however, implies that you have &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; a few friends (as opposed to many). In some contexts (not always!), it can also imply that you don't feel very well about it, that you wish you had more friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, note that there is a very common expression &quot;quite a few&quot;, which is a trap for foreign learners because it looks like it could mean &quot;rather few, very few&quot;, &lt;em&gt;but it does not&lt;/em&gt;. It means the exact opposite thing: &quot;a large or significant number, many&quot;. So, saying &quot;I have quite a few friends&quot; is the same as saying &quot;I have quite a lot of friends&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's have a look at one more example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;A few people think that smoking is healthy.&quot;&lt;br&gt;= Some people think that smoking is healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Few people think that smoking is healthy.&quot;&lt;br&gt;= Only a few people, a very small number, think that smoking is healthy; most think that it is not.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Quite a few people think that smoking is healthy.&quot;&lt;br&gt;= Many people, a (surprisingly) large number, think that smoking is healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T11:58:44.720" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T11:58:44.720" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1866" CreationDate="2010-08-24T17:35:58.007" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;few&lt;/em&gt; = not very many, with a focus on the fact that this number is (remarkably) small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;a few&quot; = not very many, but at least more than one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your examples (1) and (2) are talking about the same number of friends, but (1) focuses on the fact that this is a small number and carries a negative connotation, like you don't have as many as one should/could have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also have this apply to something that it is bad to have a lot of and reverse the connotations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I have few enemies. (it is somewhat noteworthy how small the number is; good connotation)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I have a few enemies. (I don't have a large number of enemies, but I have more than one)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T17:35:58.007" />
  <row Id="1870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1598" CreationDate="2010-08-24T17:39:20.797" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most American dialects use constructions like that one there, and so, do many others in the rest of the English-speaking world, such as Cockney and Scots. Therefore, the outlier may be Standard English, which did not become the standard until around 300 years ago. Wikipedia has a good article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_negative&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;double negatives&lt;/a&gt;, a closely related form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own opinion is that the reason the redundancy survives is meter; which of the following sounds better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I can get no Satisfaction&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I can't get no Satisfaction&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I cannot get any Satisfaction&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I can't get any Satisfaction&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T17:39:20.797" />
  <row Id="1872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1861" CreationDate="2010-08-24T17:40:41.887" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In all of the cases that you mention above, the noun in apposition should come nearest to the head noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's a nice C code snippet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Reserved SQL keywords are written in uppercase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This example is completely ungrammatical:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;!&lt;/strong&gt; It's a C nice code snippet. [Incorrect]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your second example is grammatical both ways, but there is a subtle difference in meaning, because the sentences are parsed in different ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;{Reserved {SQL keywords}} are written in uppercase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;{{SQL reserved} keywords} are written in uppercase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because nouns must appear closer to the head than adjectives, the entire phrase &quot;SQL reserved&quot; in the second example is parsed as a noun phrase modifying &quot;keywords&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T17:40:41.887" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1864" CreationDate="2010-08-24T17:45:30.023" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a play on titles from self help programs which utilize ellipsis. For example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I lost 20 pounds in 4 days, and so can you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a kind of strange ellipsis, because just tacking on &quot;[lose 20 pounds in 4 days]&quot; doesn't really create a grammatical sentence, but it's something like that. The ellipsis would be clearer if the sentences were&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I lost 20 pounds in 4 days, and you can [lose 20 pounds in 4 days] too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am America, and you can [be America] too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt; And the ellipsis is not so great with &quot;to be&quot; either. Here's some discussion from language log&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004522.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004522.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="257" LastEditorUserId="257" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T17:53:03.853" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T17:53:03.853" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1864" CreationDate="2010-08-24T17:46:47.150" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It follows the form&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; I &amp;lt;verb&amp;gt; &amp;lt;rest of predicate&amp;gt;, and so can you!&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; I use computers, and so can you!,&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the &quot;...so can you&quot; means &quot;you can use computers, too.&quot;  The part where it becomes confusing, and funny, is that the verb is not an action verb, but &quot;am.&quot;  So &quot;...so can you&quot; means &quot;You can be America too&quot; in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="166" LastEditorUserId="166" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T17:52:12.213" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T17:52:12.213" />
  <row Id="1875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1863" CreationDate="2010-08-24T18:00:18.947" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Merriam-Webster Online dictionary give these senses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;literally&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;2&lt;/strong&gt; : in effect : virtually &amp;lt;will &lt;em&gt;literally&lt;/em&gt; turn the world upside down to combat cruelty or injustice — Norman Cousins&amp;gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;with the following usage note:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since some people take sense 2 to be the opposite of sense 1, it has been frequently criticized as a misuse. Instead, the use is pure hyperbole intended to gain emphasis, but it often appears in contexts where no additional emphasis is necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and for &lt;em&gt;decimate&lt;/em&gt;, they have the following senses, with no usage note:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/decimate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;decimate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;3 a&lt;/strong&gt; : to reduce drastically especially in number &amp;lt;cholera &lt;em&gt;decimated&lt;/em&gt; the population&amp;gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;b&lt;/strong&gt; : to cause great destruction or harm to &amp;lt;firebombs &lt;em&gt;decimated&lt;/em&gt; the city&amp;gt; &amp;lt;an industry &lt;em&gt;decimated&lt;/em&gt; by recession&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T18:00:18.947" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1819" CreationDate="2010-08-24T18:16:47.757" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, I think these are generally understandable to people.  Converting nouns to verbs on the fly with no morphological markings or suffixes is quite common in English today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example that came to mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;EOL'd. (End-Of-Life, referring to product lines)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T18:16:47.757" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1817" CreationDate="2010-08-24T18:19:32.603" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second sense of &lt;em&gt;determine&lt;/em&gt; is not “to forecast or predict”, but rather to “find out by investigation, reasoning, or calculation”, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/determine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sense 4 in Meriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;. Merriam-Webster gives other examples of this sense: “&amp;lt;&lt;em&gt;determine&lt;/em&gt; the answer to the problem&amp;gt; &amp;lt;&lt;em&gt;determine&lt;/em&gt; a position at sea&amp;gt;”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we take a look at the first ten results in newspapers for &lt;em&gt;determine&lt;/em&gt; in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;, we see this sense occurs in six of them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;jobs. // And so we acted robustly. And now it's time to &lt;strong&gt;determine&lt;/strong&gt; whether or not this pro-growth package will actually work. // The checks will start  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;onto Floor 10 -- - incognito, of course -- - and set out to &lt;strong&gt;determine&lt;/strong&gt; whether it was truly what women want. // You know: Mirrors that make  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;astronomy. Its original mission was to find a way for sailors at sea to &lt;strong&gt;determine&lt;/strong&gt; longitude. Unlike latitude, which uses the equator as a starting position, there  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sharpton stood with members of Officer Ridley's family and called for an investigation to &lt;strong&gt;determine&lt;/strong&gt; whether the shooting was justified. //' Just as we are calling on the  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;// Win or lose -- and the status of West's sore back could largely &lt;strong&gt;determine&lt;/strong&gt; the outcome -- the future in New Orleans appears bright. The core players --  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;, they lifted all sanctions. // Whether Clayton can do that hard work could &lt;strong&gt;determine&lt;/strong&gt; if Flenoury can go to one of his two choice schools, Georgia or Duke  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;worked with Kerviel was released after being questioned. Two investigating judges are trying to &lt;strong&gt;determine&lt;/strong&gt; what, if anything, Kerviel's colleagues and superiors knew about his unauthorized trades  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;because of my race? Sure. &quot; // He doesn't think race will &lt;strong&gt;determine&lt;/strong&gt; who wins the election, however. Obama said most voters will make their choice  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;confluence within the monument boundary, so right now Dinosaur is an incredible lab to &lt;strong&gt;determine&lt;/strong&gt; the impact dams have on rivers. &quot; // Kleinschnitz, who started rowing the  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fight and every team gives it -- for a while. But early results can &lt;strong&gt;determine&lt;/strong&gt; where a team keeps fighting all season and how confidently it battles in the close  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only uses which are not the sense meaning “to find out” are #5, #6, #8, and #10. So, from this admittedly small sample it does appear that both senses enjoy approximately equally robust usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T18:19:32.603" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-24T18:19:32.603" />
  <row Id="1879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1864" CreationDate="2010-08-24T18:20:16.347" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a joke on mistakes made with the English language by foreign countries.  If you look at the book there are many more jokes about the book being printed in some Asian country and it seems to make fun of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.engrish.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;engrish&lt;/a&gt; type mistakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="687" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T18:20:16.347" />
  <row Id="1880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1863" CreationDate="2010-08-24T18:37:26.547" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports the following note in the usage section:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In recent years, an extended use of &lt;em&gt;literally&lt;/em&gt; (and also &lt;em&gt;literal&lt;/em&gt;) has become very common, where &lt;em&gt;literally&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;literal&lt;/em&gt;) is used deliberately in nonliteral contexts, for added effect: &lt;em&gt;they bought the car and literally ran it into the ground&lt;/em&gt;. This use can lead to unintentional humorous effects (&lt;em&gt;we were literally killing ourselves laughing&lt;/em&gt;) and is not acceptable in formal English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In formal sentences, &lt;em&gt;literally&lt;/em&gt; should be used as in &lt;em&gt;I told him I never wanted to see him again, but I didn't expect him to take it literally.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T19:37:43.153" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T19:37:43.153" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="911" CreationDate="2010-08-24T19:52:43.063" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe there are a number of Odeon cinemas in the US, but never heard tell of the others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the very early cinema chains in the US was the Biograph Theater, and I believe they spread to other English-speaking countries. There are at least two left in the US, in Washington DC, and Chicago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T19:52:43.063" />
  <row Id="1882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-24T20:15:52.190" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Place names from the early US are an endless source of confusion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Many places in the US are named &quot;Berkeley&quot; and are pronounced &quot;Burkly&quot;, but they are all(?) named after Sir William Berkeley, whose name is(was?) pronounced like Charles   Barkley, the basketball player.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cairo, Illinois is pronounced &quot;KAY-row&quot;, not like the place with the pyramids.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Versailles, Kentucky is pronounced &quot;ver-SAILS&quot;, not like the place with the palace.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T20:15:52.190" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-24T20:15:52.190" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="1883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1691" CreationDate="2010-08-24T20:32:50.973" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two pronunciations in question are (in IPA):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;/ˑkɑmp(ə)rəbəl/ (KOM-pruh-buhl)/(KOM-puh-ruh-buhl)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;/kəmˑp(æ/ɛ)rəbəl/ (kuhm-PARE-uh-buhl) [approximately]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pronunciations for this word are given in dictionaries in four ways, as far as I can tell: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(a) both are given in the order #1, #2, with no comment&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yourdictionary.com/comparable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Webster’s New World&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(b) both are given in the order #1, #2, but the second is noted as “less common” with a notation like “also”, or “or, sometimes”,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/comparable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/comparable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Random House&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(c) both are given in the order #1, #2, but the second is noted as U.S.-only&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/comparable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cambridge Advanced Learner’s&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/comparable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(d) only #1 is given&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yourdictionary.com/comparable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Heritage&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/comparable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Collins&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/comparable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Macmillan&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No dictionary I looked in lists pronunciation #2 first. Nor does any support different meanings for different pronunciations. Generally speaking, #1 is the traditional and unimpeachably correct pronunciation. #2 is commonly used, but if you use it, you should not be surprised if you are criticized or corrected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Addendum&lt;/strong&gt;: the user-provided pronunciation site Forvo has seven pronunciations for &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.forvo.com/word/comparable/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;comparable&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. The two pronunciations which are pronounced like #2 are rated –3. The rest, which are pronounced like #1, are rated 0, 1, or 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T20:55:32.560" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T20:55:32.560" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1884" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1889" CreationDate="2010-08-24T20:39:18.240" Score="5" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a book that explains how to speak in standard American English (&lt;em&gt;American Accent Training&lt;/em&gt; — Barron's).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does the term &lt;em&gt;standard American English&lt;/em&gt; refer to?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is there a region in the United States of America that has a pronunciation similar, or closer to standard American English (in the same way standard Italian is derived from a dialect spoken in Tuscany)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T21:09:14.587" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T21:09:14.587" Title="Standard American English" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="1885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1863" CreationDate="2010-08-24T20:42:32.493" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;With regards to &lt;em&gt;decimation&lt;/em&gt;, the original meaning is derived from a practice in the military of Ancient Rome. Quoted from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimation_%28Roman_army%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A unit selected for punishment by&#xA;  decimation was divided into groups of&#xA;  ten; each group drew lots (Sortition),&#xA;  and the soldier on whom the lot fell&#xA;  was executed by his nine comrades,&#xA;  often by stoning or clubbing. The&#xA;  remaining soldiers were given rations&#xA;  of barley instead of wheat and forced&#xA;  to sleep outside of the Roman&#xA;  encampment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because the punishment fell by lot,&#xA;  all soldiers in the group were&#xA;  eligible for execution, regardless of&#xA;  the individual degree of fault, or&#xA;  rank and distinction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, this word has been so greatly abused over time (perhaps through ignorance) that its more general meaning of &quot;to destroy&quot; or &quot;to severely harm&quot; is now virtually accepted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T20:42:32.493" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1886" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1892" CreationDate="2010-08-24T20:43:01.937" Score="1" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my travels in USA (I pass most of the time on Suffolk County, Long Island), I noted that the pronunciation used from a teenager sounds different from the pronunciation used from an adult.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does such difference exist, or is it just my impression?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T20:56:36.730" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T03:16:29.190" Title="Is there a difference between the pronunciation of a teenager, and the pronunciation of an adult?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1884" CreationDate="2010-08-24T20:45:15.493" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people will point to the Midwest as the location where Standard American English is spoken. But, most dialectology work has found that there is no region without a regional accent (for example see the Atlas of North American English). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the most part, when your average commentator, or even a linguist, refers to Standard American English, what they mean is &quot;speech which has no salient regional or dialectal markers.&quot; That is, Standard American English is largely negatively defined. There is no &lt;code&gt;x&lt;/code&gt; such that Standard English sounds like &lt;code&gt;x&lt;/code&gt;. Rather there is &lt;code&gt;a&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;b&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;c&lt;/code&gt; such that Standard English does &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; sound like &lt;code&gt;a&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;b&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;c&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="257" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T20:45:15.493" />
  <row Id="1888" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1909" CreationDate="2010-08-24T20:48:00.153" Score="1" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you prefer to stay home, or do you want to come with us?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Should I prepare dinner, or are we going to go to the restaurant?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are the questions correctly written?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is there a preferred way to write such questions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:40:52.497" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:40:52.497" Title="Questions containing &quot;or&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1884" CreationDate="2010-08-24T20:48:46.510" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;“Standard” American English (SAE), when used to describe accents, is identical to the term “General American English”, and means American English spoken without any clear regional dialect markers. Sociolinguists tell us that this means essentially English spoken in the north midlands region, like Iowa, but in reality it is spoken all over the country, even in places where many people speak with what others would describe as “heavy” or “thick” accents. SAE is the English used by most television and radio broadcasters—that is, those who don’t speak with an identifiable regional accent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In truth, a “standard” American accent is defined more by why it isn’t than what it is. It does not have the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Cities_Vowel_Shift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Northern Cities Vowel Shift&lt;/a&gt;, New England non-rhoticity, features of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_dialect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;New York English&lt;/a&gt;, or any of the phonological features of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_American_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Southern American English&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is some debate as to whether speakers with or without the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_the_low_back_vowels#Cot-caught_merger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cot-caught merger&lt;/a&gt; (that is, whether or not the words &lt;em&gt;cot&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;caught&lt;/em&gt; are pronounced differently) are speaking SAE, but most would consider that not a defining characteristic of SAE.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T20:48:46.510" />
  <row Id="1890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1886" CreationDate="2010-08-24T20:50:33.783" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to this will massively depend upon where in the United States you travel. Most dialects in the US are undergoing changes in progress, and are they not all changing in the same way (again, see the Alas of North American English).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a language changes, by definition that means that the children in a community speak differently from the adults. However, &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; they speak differently will depend on the direction of the change. So, in the American West, there is a particular change that has making short-a sound backer, so that &quot;cat&quot; is sounding more and more like &quot;cot&quot;. In the Great Lakes region, the exact opposite is happening, where &quot;cot&quot; is sounding more and more like &quot;cat&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both the West and the Great Lakes Region, children sound different from adults, but in completely opposite ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="257" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T20:50:33.783" />
  <row Id="1892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1886" CreationDate="2010-08-24T20:58:21.277" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_change#Types_of_language_change&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This is actually common across languages&lt;/a&gt;.  Younger generations speak differently from older generations, and not only in vocabulary and syntax, but also in pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-25T03:16:29.190" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T03:16:29.190" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1884" CreationDate="2010-08-24T20:58:38.763" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all (as an American), I have no idea what &quot;standard American&quot; means--there are distinct regionalisms, but no one of them is &quot;standard.&quot; While it's probably not disputed that there's an American dialect (usage, spelling, etc.), there's no &quot;standard&quot; American accent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Off the top of my head, I can think of a number of regional accents (Northeastern, Southern, Midwestern) that can be broken down further (Texas has an accent that is distinct from a deep Southern accent, even though both can be called &quot;Southern&quot;; Boston is known for its non-rhotic &quot;r&quot; sounds, but the same type of non-rhoticity can be found throughout northern New England).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As other answers have stated, there are distinct markers that identify particular regions that, when none are present, the speaker could be said to be speaking &quot;without an accent&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T20:58:38.763" />
  <row Id="1894" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1898" CreationDate="2010-08-24T21:05:21.633" Score="1" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to speak of New York dialect, or should I use a different term when referring to the particular pronunciation used in New York?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T22:40:28.870" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T23:24:53.687" Title="Is it correct to speak of New York dialect?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;&lt;accent&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="1895" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-24T21:05:58.953" Score="6" ViewCount="428" Body="&lt;p&gt;Listening to old recordings, there is a distinct accent that radio and television announcers used that is different from a modern-day &quot;Standard American&quot; or neutral accent. It seems that over the course of fifty years pronunciation has shifted. Is this a documented phenomenon? Or is it more a function of broadcast media being less focused on proper enunciation and diction?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Possibly related, I've noticed some old books spell &quot;Hello&quot; as &quot;Hullo&quot;. Is this a reflection of the same thing?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T22:43:13.690" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T19:40:06.257" Title="Is there a 1950's American accent" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;accent&gt;&lt;shift&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="1896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1894" CreationDate="2010-08-24T21:07:28.467" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you mean New York City? If so, I think it'd be more correct to speak of accents (Brooklyn accent, etc.). Also note that Long Islanders also have a distinct accent that isn't normally associated with the city (e.g., &quot;kwafee&quot; for coffee, &quot;drua&quot; for &quot;drawer&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="151" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T21:07:28.467" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1894" CreationDate="2010-08-24T21:15:01.110" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In discussing English, we don't usually make a big distinction between dialects and accents. For day to day discussions, people will probably understand and appreciate &quot;New York accent&quot;, and if you're talking to linguists, &quot;New York dialect&quot; or &quot;New York English&quot; will probably be better. But there's no very firm distinction between the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="257" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T21:15:01.110" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1895" CreationDate="2010-08-24T21:23:03.480" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pronunciation in America certainly has changed a lot since the 1950s, but to identify exactly what has changed depends on where you are (see my answer &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1886/is-there-a-difference-between-the-pronunciation-of-a-teenager-and-the-pronunciat/1890#1890&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;).  It's also probable, but I don't know the solid facts, that standards of &quot;house pronunciation&quot; at broadcasting companies have also changed. What was once considered good pronunciation is no longer, so they have changed with the times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="257" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T21:23:03.480" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1900" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1904" CreationDate="2010-08-24T21:26:46.000" Score="5" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1884/standard-american-english/1889#1889&quot;&gt;references&lt;/a&gt; to the American Midwest as being the home of the least accented form of American English.  I always think of the Northern Midwest as having an accent that I associate with Canadians and that the West Coast (California, Oregon, Washington) is the closest to &quot;Standard American English.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the features of the &quot;West Coast&quot; accent (if any)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="513" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-24T23:32:56.530" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T04:06:06.030" Title="What is a West Coast (U.S.) accent?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;accent&gt;&lt;shift&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2010-08-24T21:38:07.067" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placeholder_name&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Zillion&lt;/a&gt;, and related placeholder names like &quot;gazillion&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Military terms like &quot;Oh Dark Thirty&quot; and &quot;Whiskey Tango Foxtrot&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metasyntactic_variable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Metasyntactic variables&lt;/a&gt;, especially &quot;garply&quot; and &quot;plugh&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T21:38:07.067" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-24T21:38:07.067" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1888" CreationDate="2010-08-24T21:38:33.400" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's written correctly. I'm not sure what you think could be incorrect, though. If you're worried about the usage of the comma before &quot;or&quot;, your usage is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="151" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T21:38:33.400" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-24T21:39:16.147" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Behemoth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always stress the first syllable (BEE-heh-moth), even after hearing it with the stress on the second syllable (buh-HEE-muth). I just can't get seem to get past it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T21:39:16.147" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-24T21:39:16.147" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1900" CreationDate="2010-08-24T21:44:36.267" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Atlas of North American English has a rather broad definition of the West. Its primary characteristics are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The merger of words sounding like &lt;em&gt;cot&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;caught&lt;/em&gt; (they're pronounced the same)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The fronting of /uw/, as in &lt;em&gt;boot&lt;/em&gt; but not /ow/, as in &lt;em&gt;boat&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No monophthongization of /ay/, as in &lt;em&gt;ride&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, these features more or less distinguish the West from its neighboring dialects, but don't do much to specifically define the West. There are also some finer grained distinctions within the West that would make a broad and complete definition impossible. For example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Apparently &lt;em&gt;fill&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;feel&lt;/em&gt; are pronounced the same in Salt Lake City, per &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&amp;amp;sid=3058039&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this stupid criminal story&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is a distinct vowel shift occurring in Northern California (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stanford.edu/~eckert/vowels.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;academic description&lt;/a&gt;) some features were stereotyped in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCF3ywukQYA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Shoes video&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="257" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T00:41:06.703" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T00:41:06.703" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2010-08-24T22:01:18.780" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Quean&lt;/strong&gt;, if only because too many people already use &quot;bitch&quot;, &quot;slut&quot;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T22:01:18.780" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-24T22:01:18.780" />
  <row Id="1906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1894" CreationDate="2010-08-24T22:14:18.263" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There used to be distinct New York neighborhood accents (you can hear them in old movies), but my guess is they've been mostly homogenized. Here are some examples of stereotypical accents:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bronx: Groucho Marx. Harpo also.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brooklyn: Three Stooges, e.g., &quot;woik&quot; for &quot;work&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Midtown/Upper West Side: Humphrey Bogart (is that the generic New York accent?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Garment District: hard &quot;G&quot;, as in &quot;Long G-eye-land&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weird diphthong Mipadi identified as from Long Island seems to stretch from there down to Philadelphia. In Philly they say &quot;fwawth&quot; for &quot;fourth&quot; and &quot;twawk&quot; for &quot;talk&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T22:14:18.263" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1908" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-24T22:32:48.740" Score="3" ViewCount="639" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are these &quot;words&quot; moving out of the elitist slang stage and into popular usage? It is hard for me to tell, because in the techie culture I work in they are ubiquitous. However, I've tried them out with my journalistic hat on and did not get yelled at. If the consensus is they are now acceptable usages, I'll say them more often, and &quot;w00t&quot; too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In response to comments, I'll clarify the preceding paragraph. The class of word I'm talking about is acronyms that become (What do we call it?), normal words with an independent meaning. The most famous examples are &lt;em&gt;OK&lt;/em&gt;, for which the origin may be lost, and &lt;em&gt;snafu&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;fubar&lt;/em&gt;, whose origins are known by few that say them. I posit that &lt;em&gt;FYI&lt;/em&gt; is also now a &quot;normal&quot; word, just a bit newer than the preceding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next ones on my list are &lt;em&gt;BTW&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;LOL&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;WTF&lt;/em&gt;, which I think are following the same process as &lt;em&gt;OK&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;FYI&lt;/em&gt;, but are not so far along. How far along are they, though? I'm pretty sure I can't use them in a political speech or a grant proposal, but how about, say, a user manual, or a non-technical blog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T20:46:08.600" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T20:46:08.600" Title="Use or misuse? FYI, BTW, LOL, WTF" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="1909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1888" CreationDate="2010-08-24T23:17:44.400" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your approach to writing these two-in-one questions is correct.  You write the first question, add a comma and &quot;or&quot; and then ask the second one with a question mark at the end.  Multiple options can be separated with commas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="809" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T23:17:44.400" />
  <row Id="1910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1858" CreationDate="2010-08-24T23:17:50.237" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;couple = 2&#xA;few = 3&#xA;several = 4 or more&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T23:17:50.237" />
  <row Id="1911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-08-24T23:17:53.480" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following have stuck as English loanwords, albeit in niche jargon:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zeitnot (German): being short of time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sabaki (Japanese): having the initiative, and &quot;on a roll&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Schwerpunkt (German): &quot;point of attack&quot;, but more like, the best place to chop a tree to bring it down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aji (Japanese): potential energy, in the sense that a rock in your hand has more of it than a rock on the ground.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mook (Chinese): a form of cannon fodder used in movies; and on software projects to pad the roster when you get paid by the hour.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T23:17:53.480" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-24T23:17:53.480" />
  <row Id="1912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="406" CreationDate="2010-08-24T23:22:50.447" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pretty f---ing bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="809" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T23:22:50.447" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1894" CreationDate="2010-08-24T23:24:53.687" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia, for example, goes on about the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_dialect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;New York dialect&lt;/a&gt; for pages, so I don't see why it wouldn't be &quot;correct&quot;. :-) Then again, if you particularly want to point to the &lt;em&gt;pronunciation&lt;/em&gt;, then maybe &lt;em&gt;New York accent&lt;/em&gt; might be a slightly preferable term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastActivityDate="2010-08-24T23:24:53.687" />
  <row Id="1914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1858" CreationDate="2010-08-25T01:35:59.263" Score="-9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was striking to hear that “a&#xA;  couple” meant two (2) to someone. My&#xA;  reaction was, “how/why do you make a&#xA;  short word longer by adding an extra&#xA;  syllable to just say ‘two?’”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, that would be almost as crazy as repeating the word in brackets with a digit, like &quot;two (2)&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think Few: 2-3, Couple 4-6, Several 7+. What are your thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you are barking up the wrong tree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T01:35:59.263" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-25T01:36:39.810" />
  <row Id="1915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1864" CreationDate="2010-08-25T01:48:04.813" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always took &quot;I Am America&quot; to be hubris inflated for comic effect, and the &quot;(And So Can You!)&quot; part to be a backhanded slash at Americans who can't even speak their own language good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T01:48:04.813" />
  <row Id="1916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1824" CreationDate="2010-08-25T02:23:19.010" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports the following note:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;First&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;second&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;third&lt;/em&gt;, etc., are adverbs as well as adjectives: &lt;em&gt;first, dice three potatoes; second, add the bouillon.&lt;/em&gt; _Firstly_, &lt;em&gt;secondly&lt;/em&gt;, etc., are also correct, but make sure not to mix the two groups: &lt;em&gt;first, second, third&lt;/em&gt;; not &lt;em&gt;first, secondly, thirdly&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T02:23:19.010" />
  <row Id="1919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1184" CreationDate="2010-08-25T03:21:23.183" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It qualifies as a word if other people know what you mean by it. When I say &quot;consistification&quot;, everyone knows exactly what I mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T03:21:23.183" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="931" CreationDate="2010-08-25T04:21:32.137" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the phrase &quot;without reason&quot;, reason is a noun. Reasons can be counted so &quot;without reasons&quot; is grammatical. However, it is not idiomatic; the English idiom is to use &quot;without reason&quot;. Note also that this is a formal usage which is uncommon in everyday conversation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She laughed without reason &lt;em&gt;(formal register)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;contrasted with&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She started laughing for no apparent reason &lt;em&gt;(informal, everyday register)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T04:21:32.137" />
  <row Id="1921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1404" CreationDate="2010-08-25T05:19:59.747" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;akin&quot; simply means &quot;similar to&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="814" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T05:19:59.747" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="931" CreationDate="2010-08-25T05:36:56.387" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;reason&lt;/em&gt; most definitely can be countable: &quot;give me five reasons why it isn't&quot;, but it can also be uncountable, &quot;Reason is Man's greatest ally&quot;. Which are we dealing with? We can't quite pin it on &lt;em&gt;without&lt;/em&gt; either; off the top of my head, &quot;life is awful without friends&quot; or &quot;you can't do that without grounds to do so&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my ear, making reason plural is unquestionably wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*She started laughing without (apparent) reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She started laughing without (apparent) reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't think of a single grammatical ground for invalidating the first. The fact that we can find other instances of without and a plural noun should prove it possible. Despite this,it is simply not said. I don't think you wouldn't be understood if you said it, but it would raise eyebrows and red pens. This isn't really an idiomatic phrase, perhaps in use, but not in the sense of compositionally; there is certainly something to be had from the meaning of just these words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am assuming here that we're after the &lt;em&gt;without reason&lt;/em&gt; that means something like &quot;without justification&quot;. The OED suggests that this meaning comes from the Middle French &lt;em&gt;sans raison&lt;/em&gt;, from the Old French &lt;em&gt;sanz reisun&lt;/em&gt;—the first recored use was in a1387. I'm no expert in French, but Google translates this as unjustifiably, which seems like a good start. I'd be interested to hear the modern version from a native speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This construction is not without companions. Compare to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;without rhyme or reason&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;without reason or measure&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;without friendship/companionship, justification&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other examples; these things do exist. It's almost as if these things, especially in the abstract, exist beyond count. Also compare, &quot;she said it without justification&quot; not *&quot;she said it without justifications&quot;, but &quot;she said it without grounds&quot; not *&quot;she said it without ground&quot;. In cases like &lt;em&gt;without reason&lt;/em&gt;, the plural is unnecessary and muddles the meaning. I'm stil not entirely sure why–input?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T05:36:56.387" />
  <row Id="1923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1888" CreationDate="2010-08-25T06:00:59.810" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you're doing here is combining two questions or two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction, which conjoins two or syntactically identical units. The comma before the conjunction (when dealing with two clauses) is stylistic and optional, though I'd personally recommend it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your examples look perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T06:00:59.810" />
  <row Id="1924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1908" CreationDate="2010-08-25T07:12:40.447" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just my personal opinion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference between acronyms and abbreviation is that acronyms can be pronounced like a word and abbreviations are typically pronounced letter by letter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes abbreviations have been extended in spoken English, like SCSI became &quot;scasi&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Laser (origin: acronym for &quot;light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation&quot;) is a good example of an acronym which has been accepted as a word. I doubt that &quot;FYI&quot; or &quot;BTW&quot; can be accepted as a word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether the usage of these these abbreviations is appropriate depends on your readship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a user manual which is considered as a formal document you shouldn't use them at all (of course technical abbreviations would be OK).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a non-technical blog you could probably use &quot;BTW&quot; and &quot;LOL&quot;. But what's the point to use &lt;em&gt;vulgar slang&lt;/em&gt; like &quot;WTF&quot;? This is rather a matter of how want to be perceived by your readers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-25T07:33:06.193" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T07:33:06.193" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1925" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1947" CreationDate="2010-08-25T08:50:54.663" Score="26" ViewCount="1143" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which way of writing the word: &quot;Email&quot; or &quot;e-mail&quot; is correct? Both variants seem to be in wide use. If both ones are okay, maybe there is a difference in contexts they have been used (one is more formal than the other)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:41:29.563" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:41:29.563" Title="&quot;Email&quot; or &quot;e-mail&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="14" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="1926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1925" CreationDate="2010-08-25T08:59:05.523" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I generally use &quot;email&quot;. &#xA;I think people who work with technology use &quot;email&quot; and people who write about it use &quot;e-mail&quot; (though this isn't a standard).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google, Yahoo and Apple use &quot;email&quot;.&#xA;USAToday, CNN and the New York Times use &quot;e-mail&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to wikipedia:&#xA;There are several spelling variations that occasionally prove cause for surprisingly vehement disagreement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;email is the form required by IETF&#xA;Requests for Comment and working&#xA;groups. This spelling also appears in&#xA;most dictionaries.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;e-mail is a form recommended by some&#xA;prominent journalistic and technical&#xA;style guides.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more on: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Email&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="792" LastEditorUserId="792" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-25T09:06:02.403" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T09:06:02.403" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1925" CreationDate="2010-08-25T09:28:32.537" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports that the word is &lt;em&gt;e-mail&lt;/em&gt;, but also &lt;em&gt;email&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/e-mail#English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; has a voice for &lt;em&gt;e-mail&lt;/em&gt; where it's reported &lt;em&gt;email&lt;/em&gt; as alternative spelling, and the following note:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The spellings &lt;em&gt;e-mail&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;email&lt;/em&gt; are both in common use. The use of &lt;em&gt;email&lt;/em&gt; is now more widespread, likely due to one less character and thus making it easier to write or type, and is becoming a standardized usage for most businesses and Internet users. In general, the hyphenated form is more likely to be considered proper by those who follow strict grammatical rules; however, as a recently coined word, it remains an unsettled matter at this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T09:28:32.537" />
  <row Id="1928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1925" CreationDate="2010-08-25T09:29:27.843" Score="24" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are correct and common. I'd recommend the shorter and simpler &lt;strong&gt;email&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There seems to be a tendency to drop hyphen as a newly coined word becomes more and more commonplace:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;electronic mail → e-mail → email&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is what I've read earlier somewhere, and looking around I now found at least this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/email.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;quote by Donald Knuth&lt;/a&gt; to support the claim:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Newly coined nonce words of English&#xA;  are often spelled with a hyphen, but&#xA;  the hyphen disappears when the words&#xA;  become widely used. For example,&#xA;  people used to write &quot;non-zero&quot; and&#xA;  &quot;soft-ware&quot; instead of &quot;nonzero&quot;&#xA;  and &quot;software&quot;; the same trend has&#xA;  occurred for hundreds of other words.&#xA;  Thus it's high time for everybody to&#xA;  stop using the archaic spelling&#xA;  &quot;e-mail&quot;. Think of how many&#xA;  keystrokes you will save in your&#xA;  lifetime if you stop now! The form&#xA;  &quot;email&quot; has been well established in&#xA;  England for several years, so I am&#xA;  amazed to see Americans being overly&#xA;  conservative in this regard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you ignore that, overwhelming evidence seems to suggest that &quot;email&quot; is the form that everyone is likely to eventually settle upon (so you might just as well go with that now):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most dictionaries use &quot;email&quot;; see the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email#Spelling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Spelling&quot; section&lt;/a&gt; in Wikipedia's Email article&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do also note the title of that article...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3aEmail#More_data_on_on_.22email.22_vs_.22e-mail.22%3a_Providers_and_client_software&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This note&lt;/a&gt; on the Wikipedia talk page points out that &quot;email&quot; is used almost unanimously by both email web service providers and client software authors, Microsoft being a lone proponent of &quot;e-mail&quot;.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;More recently even Microsoft seems to have given in (partially)! Although &lt;a href=&quot;http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Outlook&lt;/a&gt; is still called an &quot;e-mail&quot; management tool, &lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmail.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hotmail&lt;/a&gt; now claims to be &lt;em&gt;The efficient way to do &lt;strong&gt;email&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, if you deliberately want to sound ultra-formal or ceremonial, go with &quot;electronic mail&quot;. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-25T14:52:34.463" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T14:52:34.463" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="1929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="931" CreationDate="2010-08-25T09:50:37.827" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is &lt;em&gt;without reason&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Reasons&lt;/em&gt; is used in sentences like &lt;em&gt;the prime minister resigned for personal reasons&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports also the following phrases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;beyond all reason&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;he indulged Michael beyond all reason&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;by reason of&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;persons who, by reason of age, are in need of care&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;for some reason&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;for some reason she likes you&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;listen to reason&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;the child is usually too emotionally overwrought to listen to reason&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;it stands to reason&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;it stands to reason that if you can eradicate the fear, the nervousness will subside&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T09:50:37.827" />
  <row Id="1930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="931" CreationDate="2010-08-25T10:27:58.377" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Googlefight says 103.000 hits for &quot;without reason&quot; and only 6.670 hits for &quot;without reasons&quot;:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&amp;amp;word1=%22without+reason%22&amp;amp;word2=%22without+reasons%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&amp;amp;word1=%22without+reason%22&amp;amp;word2=%22without+reasons%22&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T10:27:58.377" />
  <row Id="1931" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1934" CreationDate="2010-08-25T12:01:47.453" Score="5" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is correct?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;* &quot;There are no comments.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;* &quot;There is no comment.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which would you use for a web application, i.e. what to display when a blog post or an article has no comment attached?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, I am trying to fix an application that says: &quot;There is no comments&quot; ! Would that ever be right??  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More generally speaking, it feels wrong to have a plural after the negative no/none or with the preposition &quot;without&quot; (see my previous question).  Those words imply zero, i.e. less than 1, while plural is 2 or more. Yet, I know that phrases like &quot;There are no comments.&quot; or &quot;He is without friends.&quot; are common. It seems illogical to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are the majority of people making a grammar mistake when using such expressions, or else can you explain why this is correct?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="509" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T15:12:51.990" Title="There are no comments / There is no comment." Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="1932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1931" CreationDate="2010-08-25T12:09:24.147" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Which would you use for a web application, i.e. what to display when a blog post or an article has no comment attached?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would use &lt;em&gt;there are no comments&lt;/em&gt;. As far as I can see, in such cases the plural form is preferred. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are no menu links yet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are currently no styles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are currently no effects in this style.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are no fields yet added.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only cases where it's used the singular noun is in sentences like: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is currently no content classified with this term.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is not enough memory available to PHP to change this theme's color scheme.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is no new syndicated content from the site.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/V409r.png&quot; alt=&quot;Projects by kiamlaluno&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Actually, I am trying to fix an application that says: &quot;There is no comments&quot; ! Would that ever be right??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;There is no comments&lt;/em&gt; is not correct. There must be an agreement between the verb and the subject / object. In the same way you don't say &lt;em&gt;there are no cow&lt;/em&gt;, you don't say &lt;em&gt;there is no comments&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-25T12:42:03.777" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T12:42:03.777" />
  <row Id="1934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1931" CreationDate="2010-08-25T12:23:15.100" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;No comments&quot; is correct, and this construction is common in English.  For example, we get singular agreement for number for the value of 1, and plural agreement for anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 pizzas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1.5 pizzas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 &lt;strong&gt;pizza&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;0.5 pizzas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;0 pizzas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This extends to &quot;no&quot; as well.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using &quot;no&quot; combined with a singular is possible, but implies that there would only be either one of that thing, or nothing.  This is much more rare (though it comes up from time to time).  You might read in the newspaper, &quot;When asked about the situation, the press secretary had no comment.&quot;  Here it is singular because you either have a comment about a matter, or you don't.  If you say a lot of things, it is still considered one comment (at least in the journalistic sense of the word).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T12:23:15.100" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="1935" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1936" CreationDate="2010-08-25T12:50:25.283" Score="2" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a CMS I am using, when a user with the right permission tries to delete a comment that is not found (probably because another user with permission to delete comments deleted the comment before the first user could complete the operation), the CMS output the following warning message:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There do not appear to be any comments to delete, or your selected comment was deleted by another administrator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the sentence correct?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is it the accepted way to write such sentences?&#xA;What is the difference with &lt;em&gt;it seems there are no comments to delete&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;there are no comments to delete&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-25T14:45:30.043" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T14:46:53.197" Title="&quot;There do not appear to be any comments to delete.&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1935" CreationDate="2010-08-25T14:31:16.580" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see nothing wrong with that sentence. It explains what the issue is and informs the user that the comment cannot be deleted because it doesn't exist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could write that sentence any number of different ways, but I don't really see any advantages/disadvantages between any of the possible options really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it was a CMS I wrote, it would probably say something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The comment you attempted to delete no&#xA;  longer exists. It may have been&#xA;  deleted by another administrator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer the second half of your question, the only difference between the two snippets you provides is certainty. The first version does not state &lt;em&gt;definitively&lt;/em&gt; that there are no comments, only that it &lt;em&gt;appears&lt;/em&gt; that way. The second one states simply that there are none.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="114" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T14:31:16.580" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1937" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1940" CreationDate="2010-08-25T14:43:40.913" Score="2" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports the following definition for &lt;em&gt;Middle America&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Middle America |ˈˌmɪdl əˈmɛrəkə|&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1 the middle class in the U.S., esp. when regarded as a conservative political force.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • the Midwest of the U.S.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2 the North American region that includes Mexico and Central America, and often the West Indies.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  DERIVATIVES&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Middle American noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Middle-American adjective  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is &lt;em&gt;Midwest&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;the Midwest of the U.S.&lt;/em&gt; written capitalized?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare it with the following definition given for &lt;em&gt;northeast&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;adjective&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1 lying toward, near, or facing the northeast.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • (of a wind) coming from the northeast: &lt;em&gt;there was a strong northeast wind&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2 of or denoting the northeastern part of a specified country, region, or town, or its inhabitants: &lt;em&gt;northeast Baltimore&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;em&gt;northeast Baltimore&lt;/em&gt; _northeast_ is not capitalized. What is the difference between the two cases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I write &lt;em&gt;Middle American&lt;/em&gt; to mean an American person of the middle class, why cannot I write &lt;em&gt;middle American&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-25T15:00:50.063" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T15:01:20.870" Title="&quot;The Midwest of the U.S.&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="1938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1935" CreationDate="2010-08-25T14:46:53.197" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence is grammatically correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the meaning may not be exactly what you have in mind. It means the same as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Apparently, there are not any comments&#xA;  to delete, or you selected ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your application knows that there are no comments to delete, then there's no need to say &quot;apparently&quot; nor &quot;appear to be&quot;. Moreover, it can confuse the user.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if the system is displaying &quot;appear to be&quot; because users may get the message in two conditions (1. no comments to delete and 2. other admin deleted the selected comments), then it should actually display two separate messages depending on the condition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are not any comments to delete.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Another administrator has already deleted the selected comment.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T14:46:53.197" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1937" CreationDate="2010-08-25T14:58:41.533" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Midwest&lt;/em&gt; is a proper noun in that context, so it must be capitalized. Unlike &lt;em&gt;northeast&lt;/em&gt;, it is not a standard direction; it is referring to a specific region of the U.S.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Northeast&lt;/em&gt; is both a direction and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_of_the_United_States#Interstate_regions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a region&lt;/a&gt;. When it is a direction, it is not capitalized unless it is used as part of a proper name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class#Middle_America&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Middle America&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is a proper name, thus both words are capitalized. &lt;em&gt;The middle of America&lt;/em&gt; would not be capitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T14:58:41.533" />
  <row Id="1940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1937" CreationDate="2010-08-25T15:01:20.870" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference between northeast Baltimore and Middle America is that &quot;Middle America&quot; is the name of a particular notion that has extra connotations outside of just the fact that it is in the middle of America.  As you can see, it carries with it the concept of the middle class and conservative ideas.  So, this whole phrase is the name of a thing that is greater than the sum of its parts, and it is capitalized.  The northeast of Baltimore, on the other hand, is not the name of a specific region in the sense of being defined and carrying any extra meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This happens all over the place.  If I talk about living in east St. Louis (and the reader knows I am not being careless in my capitalization), then they would assume I probably mean the eastern region of the city of St. Louis.  But if I say I live in East St. Louis, then they know that is the name of a different town located next to St. Louis, in a different state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T15:01:20.870" />
  <row Id="1941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1931" CreationDate="2010-08-25T15:12:51.990" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are all suitable for a website:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;There is one comment.&#xA;There are two comments.&#xA;There is half a comment.&#xA;There are 0.5 comments.&#xA;There are no comments.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think of comment in the case &lt;em&gt;there is no comment&lt;/em&gt; as being short for commentary then you will find it easier to understand how it works and what it means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;There is no comments&quot; is not correct in any situation where comments is the plural of comment. &lt;em&gt;There is no news&lt;/em&gt;, however, is correct because there is no singular version of news.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="818" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T15:12:51.990" />
  <row Id="1942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1925" CreationDate="2010-08-25T15:25:10.520" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using &quot;email&quot; is fine and probably more common in English, but do be aware that many languages that borrow from English only use &quot;e-mail&quot; because &quot;email&quot; is already a different word in Dutch, French, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="166" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T15:25:10.520" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1628" CreationDate="2010-08-25T15:39:36.113" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some discussion here &lt;a href=&quot;http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/03/cheers.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/03/cheers.html&#xA;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I think it's more usage than demographics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;'Thanks' expresses more gratitude.&#xA;'Cheers' to the guy who passes the salt, 'thanks' to the guy who donates a kidney.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;'Thanks' also has more gravitas (though less than 'Thank you').&#xA;An interviewer is unlikely to say 'Cheers, Prime Minister'.&#xA;David Cameron is unlikely to say 'I would like to say cheers to the British public for electing me'.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I can't think of circumstances where 'Thanks' would be considered too formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(These points are probably true of all colloquialisms.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T19:43:02.047" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T19:43:02.047" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1944" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1948" CreationDate="2010-08-25T16:27:25.000" Score="2" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;USAGE&#xA;  1 &lt;em&gt;Kind of&lt;/em&gt; is sometimes used to be deliberately vague: &lt;em&gt;it was kind of a big evening&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;I was kind of hoping you’d call&lt;/em&gt;. More often it reveals an inability to speak clearly: &lt;em&gt;he’s kind of, like, inarticulate, you know?&lt;/em&gt; Used precisely, it means &lt;em&gt;sort&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;type&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;em&gt;a maple is a kind of tree&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2 The plural of &lt;em&gt;kind&lt;/em&gt; often causes difficulty. With &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;, speaking of one kind, use a singular construction: &lt;em&gt;this kind of cake is my favorite&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;that kind of fabric doesn’t need ironing&lt;/em&gt;. With &lt;em&gt;these&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;those&lt;/em&gt;, speaking of more than one kind, use a plural construction: &lt;em&gt;these kinds of guitars are very expensive&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;those kinds of animals ought to be left in the wild&lt;/em&gt;. Although often encountered, sentences such as &lt;em&gt;I don’t like these kind of things&lt;/em&gt; are incorrect. The same recommendations apply to &lt;em&gt;sort&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;sorts&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For which reason is &lt;em&gt;I don’t like these kind of things&lt;/em&gt; incorrect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T21:47:34.620" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T21:47:34.620" Title="What is wrong with &quot;I don’t like these kind of things&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;verb-agreement&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="1945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1925" CreationDate="2010-08-25T16:28:17.683" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Time for a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&amp;amp;word1=email&amp;amp;word2=e-mail&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Fight&lt;/a&gt;!!! Okay, it would appear, surprisingly enough... that e-mail took round 1!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, this issue is far from resolved, but I would go with e-mail if you're writing anything that will end up in print. In addition, everywhere in Outlook (an e-mail client) the word shows up as e-mail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For now... &quot;&lt;strong&gt;e-mail&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; appears to be the correct spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T16:28:17.683" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1925" CreationDate="2010-08-25T16:30:19.213" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer &quot;&lt;strong&gt;email&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think including the hyphen in the shortened version is incorrect since &quot;&lt;strong&gt;e-mail&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; is ostensibly derived from the unhyphenated &quot;&lt;strong&gt;electronic mail&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T16:30:19.213" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1925" CreationDate="2010-08-25T16:51:46.917" Score="30" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;em&gt;e-mail&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;email&lt;/em&gt; are in standard use at this point, although &lt;em&gt;e-mail&lt;/em&gt; retains a vast majority of usage in edited, published writing according to my research using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; (COCA). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the current results counts in COCA for various categories of English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;           e-mail  email&#xA;spoken     3535    711&#xA;fiction    789     285&#xA;magazine   5421    471&#xA;newspaper  6046    192&#xA;academic   3675    897&#xA;total      21696   2831&#xA;total(excl spoken)&#xA;           19531   1845&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously the “spoken” totals don’t represent any kind of &lt;em&gt;actual&lt;/em&gt; usage but rather the policies of the organizations that transcribed the spoken data, so I also included a total that excludes the spoken examples. So, in (edited, published) fiction, magazines, newspapers, and academic writing we find that the traditional &lt;em&gt;e-mail&lt;/em&gt; outnumbers incidences of &lt;em&gt;email&lt;/em&gt; by more than 10 to 1. COCA includes data starting from 1990.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that we have established that &lt;em&gt;e-mail&lt;/em&gt; retains the position of preferred usage by a very large margin, let’s look at trends over time. These numbers are in incidences per million words (rather than total incidences):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;     e-mail  email&#xA;1990  0.15    0.00&#xA;1991  2.46    0.05&#xA;1992  1.67    0.00&#xA;1993  5.49    0.05&#xA;1994 10.40    0.24&#xA;1995 16.11    1.71&#xA;1996 22.41    2.14&#xA;1997 51.71    2.09&#xA;1998 38.15    1.62&#xA;1999 50.33    4.67&#xA;2000 85.98    6.37&#xA;2001 83.75    7.03&#xA;2002 95.29    3.38&#xA;2003 94.35    5.23&#xA;2004 79.68    4.51&#xA;2005 72.53    5.58&#xA;2006 72.38   10.09&#xA;2007 85.20   14.18&#xA;2008 68.26   26.56&#xA;2009 97.37   33.23&#xA;2010 87.93   26.66&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a graphical representation showing the data over time:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/0Nk2I.png&quot; alt=&quot;graph comparing e-mail vs email between 1990 and 2010&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The blue and red lines show the frequency of incidence for &lt;em&gt;e-mail&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;email&lt;/em&gt; per million words. The orange line shows the ratio of incidence between &lt;em&gt;e-mail&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;email&lt;/em&gt; over the same period. From these results, we see that &lt;em&gt;e-mail&lt;/em&gt; was on a meteoric rise in the 1990s and by 2000 it has locked in at between 70 and 100 incidences per million words. &lt;em&gt;Email&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, saw very little usage until 2005, when its use soared up to about 30 incidences per million words over the last few years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does all this tell us? We see a word whose spelling is in transition. It is not clear whether &lt;em&gt;email&lt;/em&gt; will eventually reach and surpass &lt;em&gt;e-mail&lt;/em&gt;. For the time being, &lt;em&gt;e-mail&lt;/em&gt; has retained its position as the preferred usage by a factor of three to one over the past few years. The numbers can change very quickly and &lt;em&gt;email&lt;/em&gt; may win out in five years, or it may stay a minority usage for a long time. Only time will tell. In the meantime, you are in good company if you use &lt;em&gt;e-mail&lt;/em&gt;. That’s what I use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T16:51:46.917" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1944" CreationDate="2010-08-25T16:58:26.377" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;these&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;those&lt;/em&gt; are determiners that select for a plural count (and can be compared to &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;). Note, there are some determiners which don't have to agree with the count of their noun (e.g. &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*I don't like these kind of things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't like this kind of thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't like these kinds of things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first is ungrammatical, the next two are good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T16:58:26.377" />
  <row Id="1949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1218" CreationDate="2010-08-25T17:08:39.493" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since Pac-Man can run off on side and onto the other, then it's a cylinder. This is a common game-pay feature in at least one direction (if you could also run off the top to the bottom, then it would be a torus).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Map, maze, grid, world, and playing area are all terms I would associate with where Pac-Man lives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="366" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T17:08:39.493" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1950" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1963" CreationDate="2010-08-25T17:11:09.523" Score="2" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would the following sentences be correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You were more concerned with being&#xA;  pedantic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I felt you were being pedantic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You wanted to have a pedantic&#xA;  conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="605" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T18:14:37.603" Title="Question about proper use of &quot;pedantic&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-08-25T17:15:52.713" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wabi-sabi&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;A Japanese aesthetic that derives from imperfection and transience&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="244" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T13:16:39.373" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T13:16:39.373" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-25T17:15:52.713" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1136" CreationDate="2010-08-25T17:15:57.767" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My understanding is that this is entirely a personal preference - in the realm of performance, to distinguish between similarly-named individuals, and in the realm of politics because maybe it &quot;sounds better&quot;. &quot;John Kennedy&quot; &lt;em&gt;sounds&lt;/em&gt; (to me) far less important than &quot;John F Kennedy&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I use my middle initial on &quot;official&quot; documents, and leave it out on more rudimentary ones. Likewise, I'll sign an email with merely my first name or my initials when it's in reply or informal, and use my first and last names when it's more formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="366" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T17:15:57.767" />
  <row Id="1953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-25T17:37:45.317" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;recipe&quot;? First time I saw it, I thought &quot;ree-sipe&quot;, not &quot;reh-sih-pee&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="366" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T17:37:45.317" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-25T17:37:45.317" />
  <row Id="1954" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1959" CreationDate="2010-08-25T17:38:07.030" Score="8" ViewCount="548" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a learner of English I know that &lt;em&gt;yes&lt;/em&gt; is a standard variant and other two are informal, spoken words. I know nothing more about it, and try always use the &lt;em&gt;yes&lt;/em&gt; variant, just not to sound inappropriate. But I'd like to be able not to sound too formal in a casual conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could you help me understand the differences between these words and the contexts in which it is okay to use them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T00:30:37.450" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T18:16:26.490" Title="&quot;Yes&quot;, &quot;Yeah&quot;, &quot;Yep&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;conversation&gt;" AnswerCount="6" />
  <row Id="1955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1954" CreationDate="2010-08-25T17:51:31.833" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In spoken (and informal written) English, I generally use &lt;em&gt;yeah&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;yup&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mostly use &lt;em&gt;yes&lt;/em&gt; when additional emphasis is needed, possibly with additional words as confirmation, e.g. if someone said I hadn't completed a task, I might reply &lt;em&gt;Yes, I did.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In formal written English, &lt;em&gt;Yes&lt;/em&gt; should be used. You might see this, for example, on application forms which have Yes/No tick boxes or similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T00:31:53.203" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T00:31:53.203" />
  <row Id="1957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-25T18:02:05.117" Score="21" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Awry /əˈrī/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wrong: AWE-ree&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right: uh-RY&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Omnipotent /ämˈnipətənt/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wrong: Omni-Potent&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right: omNIPPOtent (think &quot;hippo&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="822" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T20:34:52.677" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T20:34:52.677" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-25T18:02:05.117" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="1958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1954" CreationDate="2010-08-25T18:06:16.320" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Yes&lt;/em&gt; is not a formal word; you can use it in both formal and informal contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There aren't differences in the definitions given for &lt;em&gt;yeah&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;yeh&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;yep&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;yup&lt;/em&gt;; all those words are defined as &lt;em&gt;exclamation &amp;amp; noun nonstandard spelling of yes, representing informal pronunciation.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at the examples provided from the &lt;em&gt;Werriam-Webster Online&lt;/em&gt;, it seems that &lt;em&gt;yeah&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;yep&lt;/em&gt; are used in two different cases. &lt;em&gt;Yep&lt;/em&gt; is used when it's the only word in the answer; &lt;em&gt;yeah&lt;/em&gt; is used in the other cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's really what she said?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Yep.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That looks good.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Yeah, I think so too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T00:32:27.513" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T00:32:27.513" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1954" CreationDate="2010-08-25T18:06:48.087" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct that &quot;yeah&quot; and &quot;yep&quot; are informal variants of &quot;yes.&quot; In conversation among friends, any form is appropriate, but &quot;yep&quot; has a slightly dismissive tone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Did you find your wallet?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Yeah, I left it in the other room.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As opposed to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Did you get directions to the theater?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Yep.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second example, you're implying that you've already got directions and you don't need to spend time hearing them again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T18:06:48.087" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1908" CreationDate="2010-08-25T18:07:23.813" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I say &quot;BTW&quot; and &quot;lol&quot; but only &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; informally. I pronounce BTW as &quot;B T dub&quot; or even &quot;B T dubs&quot; as a joke toward the acronym itself. It's the same with &quot;lol,&quot; I only use it to make fun of the plague of people using these words incessantly to mask their inability to effectively communicate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would never use these acronyms in anything mildly formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="822" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T18:07:23.813" />
  <row Id="1961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1863" CreationDate="2010-08-25T18:11:59.387" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;People often use the word &quot;literally&quot; when they really mean &quot;virtually.&quot; As in, &quot;Many people in America have smart phones, netbooks, or laptops virtually attached to their hips.&quot; Obviously people don't actually have laptops attached to their hips via some leather case with a belt loop, thus you cannot say that they &lt;em&gt;literally&lt;/em&gt; have them attached to their hips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="822" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T18:11:59.387" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1623" CreationDate="2010-08-25T18:14:23.253" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I looked in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; (COCA), and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; (BNC), and found this data:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;COCA:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1        JUDGMENT   15116&#xA;2        JUDGEMENT  584&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ratio in American usage: 25 to 1 in favor of &lt;em&gt;judgment&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BNC:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1        JUDGMENT   3220&#xA;2        JUDGEMENT  2441&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ratio in British usage: 1.3 to 1 in favor of &lt;em&gt;judgment&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, it does appear that while &lt;em&gt;judgment&lt;/em&gt; is more common in both British and American English, &lt;em&gt;judgement&lt;/em&gt; enjoys a substantial percentage of usage in British English, but much less in American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Addendum&lt;/strong&gt;: per ShreevatsaR’s suggestion, I searched the BNC again, this time excluding all the spoken sections (“S_*”) as well as the two written legal sections: “W_nonac_law”, “W_ac_law_edu”, and got these results&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1        JUDGEMENT  2053&#xA;2        JUDGMENT   1317&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do now find the numbers inverted: the ratio of &lt;em&gt;judgment&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;judgement&lt;/em&gt; is just 0.64. Although many of the examples remaining of &lt;em&gt;judgment&lt;/em&gt; are in fact in a legal context anyway, we do find, though, that the spelling &lt;em&gt;judgment&lt;/em&gt; nevertheless enjoys considerable usage in non-legal contexts. Here are a few examples: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“Efficiency at work is decreased and &lt;strong&gt;judgment&lt;/strong&gt; impaired, with possible serious results.”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“There I had him as a charming, affectionate colleague of mature &lt;strong&gt;judgment&lt;/strong&gt;.”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“It is not pleasant for a human being to pass &lt;strong&gt;judgment&lt;/strong&gt; on another and say that he is evil through and through without any redeeming features”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“&lt;strong&gt;Judgment&lt;/strong&gt; of humorous writing is even more subjective than with any other kind.”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T02:51:13.503" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T02:51:13.503" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1950" CreationDate="2010-08-25T18:14:37.603" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All three are syntactically correct and all seem fine to me as semantically correct. The third one seems a little fuzzy, but I am perfectly fine with calling other non-human things pedantic (e.g., &lt;a href=&quot;http://linux.die.net/man/1/gcc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gcc&lt;/a&gt;). I'd argue that one down to a style issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T18:14:37.603" />
  <row Id="1964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1136" CreationDate="2010-08-25T19:14:09.823" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess is that this convention derives from the US military, which mandates reference by first name, middle initial, and last name, to the point that Eisenhower changed his name from David Dwight to Dwight David in order to conform&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenhower#cite_note-3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;*&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T19:14:09.823" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1954" CreationDate="2010-08-25T19:18:15.057" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use yeah or yep/yup when speaking casually.  I tend to use yep/yup when it is being spoken by itself.  I also would correspondingly use nope in the same way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did you do it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yeah, I did it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T19:18:15.057" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1966" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1967" CreationDate="2010-08-25T19:50:55.687" Score="3" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;Title says it all really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="829" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-25T20:41:16.420" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T21:19:52.497" Title="What's the difference between &quot;regime&quot; and &quot;regimen&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;look-alikes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1966" CreationDate="2010-08-25T19:56:05.433" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A regime usually refers to a system of government.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A regimen is a plan that one adheres to (i.e. regimented).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People misuse regime a lot of the time when they mean regimen, especially relating to diets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="737" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T19:56:05.433" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1895" CreationDate="2010-08-25T20:26:44.687" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd guess that the &quot;50's accent&quot; you hear had much to do with the technology of AM and shortwave radio. Precise diction and a somewhat clipped style for words and phrases helped to overcome the crackle and hiss of static in radio reception. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As microphone and broadcast technology improved, it became less crucial to speak distinctly. If you spoke like a 40s or 50s newscaster in ordinary conversation today, people would think you were being overly formal or precise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also remember that many movie and television stars of that era got their start in theater. (Many still do!) And on stage without a microphone you speak differently so that your voice will carry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="828" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T20:26:44.687" />
  <row Id="1969" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1970" CreationDate="2010-08-25T20:35:39.893" Score="3" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even though the phrase &lt;em&gt;pardon my French&lt;/em&gt; is used much more often, I do constantly run across &lt;em&gt;pardon me French&lt;/em&gt; as well. What's the deal with that? Wikipedia does have an entry on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardon_my_French&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pardon my French&lt;/a&gt;, but it doesn't mention the variant with &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; at all. Urban Dictionary has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/browse.php?character=P&amp;amp;page=51&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;entries on both variants&lt;/a&gt;, but sure enough it doesn't bother to explain why they coexist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It appears to me that &lt;em&gt;pardon me French&lt;/em&gt; must be the original expression, and &lt;em&gt;pardon my French&lt;/em&gt; a later variation thereof, since there's no reason why anybody should be willingly tampering with the perfectly fine &lt;em&gt;my&lt;/em&gt;. Then again, what do I know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm asking you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Which one is the original phrase?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Either way, what's up with the &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; variant? I can't think of any other phrase in contemporary English where &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; is used to mean &lt;em&gt;my&lt;/em&gt;, can you?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T14:15:42.953" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:15:42.953" Title="&quot;Pardon me French&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1969" CreationDate="2010-08-25T21:13:40.887" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports that &lt;em&gt;Pardon my French&lt;/em&gt; is an informal phrase used to apologize for swearing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some regions, &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; is used to mark ownership; Wiktionary reports the following example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And give us back me cigarette!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;my&lt;/em&gt; seems similar to the colloquial use of &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Me and my friends played a game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T06:23:48.617" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T06:23:48.617" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="1971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1966" CreationDate="2010-08-25T21:19:52.497" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, the two words have the same ultimate etymology, from Latin &lt;em&gt;regimin&lt;/em&gt;, meaning “position of authority, direction, set of rules”. In many cases, either word can be used, and their meanings have substantial overlap:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/regime&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;regime&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;1 a&lt;/strong&gt; : &lt;em&gt;regimen&lt;/em&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;b&lt;/strong&gt; : a regular pattern of occurrence or action (as of seasonal rainfall)&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;c&lt;/strong&gt; : the characteristic behavior or orderly procedure of a natural phenomenon or process&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;2 a&lt;/strong&gt; : mode of rule or management&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;b&lt;/strong&gt; : a form of government &amp;lt;a socialist &lt;em&gt;regime&lt;/em&gt;&amp;gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;c&lt;/strong&gt; : a government in power&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;d&lt;/strong&gt; : a period of rule&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/regimen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;regimen&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;1 a&lt;/strong&gt; : a systematic plan (as of diet, therapy, or medication) especially when designed to improve and maintain the health of a patient&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;b&lt;/strong&gt; : a regular course of action and especially of strenuous training &amp;lt;the daily &lt;em&gt;regimen&lt;/em&gt; of athletes&amp;gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;2&lt;/strong&gt; : government, rule&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;3&lt;/strong&gt; : &lt;em&gt;regime&lt;/em&gt; &lt;sup&gt;1c&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The definitions reference each other in several places reflecting the substantial overlap in the two words’ meanings. However, the two words are frequently used differently, so let’s look at what collocates (frequent neighbor words) using the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These words most commonly appear before &lt;em&gt;regimen&lt;/em&gt; (function words like &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; excluded)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;EXERCISE   116&#xA;TRAINING   109&#xA;TREATMENT   80&#xA;DAILY       65&#xA;WORKOUT     39&#xA;DRUG        38&#xA;FITNESS     36&#xA;STRICT      33&#xA;MEDICAL     24&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whereas these words commonly appear before &lt;em&gt;regime&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;MILITARY       449&#xA;COMMUNIST      383&#xA;IRAQI          232&#xA;AUTHORITARIAN  203&#xA;OLD            200&#xA;DEMOCRATIC     156&#xA;TALIBAN        145&#xA;CASTRO         139&#xA;NAZI           139&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From these results we can see clearly that sense 2 of &lt;em&gt;regime&lt;/em&gt;, the one having to do with government, is the most salient one for that word (at least when it is used with an attributive). However, if we look up the frequent collocates for &lt;em&gt;regimen&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;regime&lt;/em&gt;, we do find some (albeit fewer) results:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;EXERCISE   20&#xA;TRAINING    6&#xA;TREATMENT   9&#xA;DAILY       4&#xA;WORKOUT     6&#xA;DRUG        6&#xA;FITNESS     4&#xA;STRICT      8&#xA;MEDICAL     1&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From this we can conclude that indeed the sense of &lt;em&gt;regime&lt;/em&gt; meaning “a systematic plan” or “regular course of action” is also a current usage, and not one that merits criticism for being a “misuse”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T21:19:52.497" />
  <row Id="1972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-25T21:23:06.470" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, I heard someone on NPR pronounce &quot;secreted&quot;, as in to have concealed or hidden something. Never having heard the word spoken before, I've always assumed it is pronounced secret-ed and not secrete-ed as he said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="831" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T21:23:06.470" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-25T21:23:06.470" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-25T21:58:56.880" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Arkansas&lt;/strong&gt; - Americans may get it right, but to most of the rest of the world it looks like &quot;Are Kansas&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Potpourri&lt;/strong&gt; - I've heard it called Pot-pour-ee. Though, admittedly, it's not common&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;nuclear&lt;/strong&gt; - Many say &quot;Nyuu-kyuh-lur&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;foyer&lt;/strong&gt; - It's &quot;foy-ay&quot;. Not &quot;foy-er&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Leicester square&lt;/strong&gt; - (Less-ter square) Only added because it's a famous place in London, otherwise place names are always unpredictably difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best I could come up with at the moment. Of course, there are Britishisms, or Scottish words like &lt;em&gt;ceilidh&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;niobh&lt;/em&gt; (pronounced &quot;Kay-lee and Neeve&quot; respectively) but these words aren't common enough to enter into most people's regular lexicon and are borrowed from other languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T21:58:56.880" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-25T21:58:56.880" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="1974" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1977" CreationDate="2010-08-25T21:59:01.403" Score="5" ViewCount="245" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Xenophobia&lt;/em&gt; refers to the irrational fear or hatred of foreigners. But recently I've seen people displaying (in newspaper articles and other places) an irrational fear or hatred of their own countrymen. Is there a word for that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T20:30:58.587" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T20:30:58.587" Title="Word meaning the reverse of 'Xenophobia'" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1975" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1979" CreationDate="2010-08-25T22:27:50.897" Score="5" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading the poem &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_His_Coy_Mistress&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;To His Coy Mistress&quot;&lt;/a&gt; by Andrew Marvell when something struck me as odd. Let me quote two passages:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thou by the Indian Ganges' side&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Of Humber would complain. I would&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Love you ten years before the Flood,&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But at my back I always hear&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  And yonder all before us lie&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Deserts of vast eternity.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Thy beauty shall no more be found,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  My echoing song: then worms shall try&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  That long preserved virginity,&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, am I supposed to read &lt;em&gt;flood&lt;/em&gt; as [fluːd], &lt;em&gt;eternity&lt;/em&gt; as [ɪˌtɜː.nəˈtaɪ̯], and &lt;em&gt;virginity&lt;/em&gt; as [vɜː(r)ˌdʒɪ.nəˈtaɪ̯]? Was one supposed to do so back in the 17th century? Or is this, and has always been, some sort of purely &quot;visual&quot; rhyme? The rest of the poem rhymes perfectly in contemporary English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess I could sum it up in one question: What is the term for this type of rhyme?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-13T21:11:23.457" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T21:11:23.457" Title="Rhyming conventions of Early Modern English" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;early-modern-english&gt;&lt;rhymes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1976" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1988" CreationDate="2010-08-25T22:39:38.293" Score="7" ViewCount="381" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there rules of thumb for pinpointing British accents regionally?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What other accents do Americans tend to mistake for British?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there good online resources that can help with this? Audio samples would be essential.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;Also, is there such a thing as a &quot;neutral&quot; British accent, analogous to American broadcaster's midwest pronunciation that is perceived to be the most free of regional characteristics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="460" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T01:31:32.813" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T17:47:01.830" Title="Identifying British accents" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;accent&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="1977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1974" CreationDate="2010-08-25T22:42:16.370" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/xenophobia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Antonyms&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;xenomania&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;xenophilia&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;xenophily&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;allophilia &lt;em&gt;(more general)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is, however, not exactly what you are looking for, since being attracted to foreigners does not imply hating your compatriots. &lt;em&gt;Allophilia&lt;/em&gt; won't fly at all, because it's an antonym for all kinds of prejudice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think your best bet is just to be specific: anti-Americanism, anti-Canadianism, anti-Ukrainian sentiment, anti-Irish sentiment, sinophobia, lusophobia and so forth:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Americans are increasingly displaying anti-Americanism.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Sinophobia is on the rise in China.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Russian teenagers are showing signs of anti-Russian sentiment. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will be understood by far more people than any generic term for &quot;irrational fear or hatred of one's own countrymen&quot; we can come up with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T00:03:57.820" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T00:03:57.820" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1908" CreationDate="2010-08-25T22:49:11.143" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm curious about the reason for calling these &lt;em&gt;acronyms&lt;/em&gt; &quot;elitist,&quot; but a general answer to your question is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;yes, these acronyms are being assimilated into more general use, but&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;no, these acronyms are not becoming words with significantly different meaning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the reference to SNAFU, FUBAR and OK, the argument to be made is whether the original meaning, not the origins, is lost. &quot;OK&quot; is deceiving in that, while almost no one could state what the earliest-recorded expansion of the acronym is, we still use it in the same general meaning. The expansions of the other two can be sussed out with a bit of work, as they come from actual words rather than colloquial satire. These, too, are still used with the same general meaning, though we choose to ignore the masked vulgarity. Further, the expansion of shorter acronyms, such as FYI and BTW, will quite possibly remain in the common understanding until the words actually fall out of use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snafu and Fubar &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; assimilated further than will &quot;FYI&quot;, &quot;BTW&quot; and their ilk. &quot;FOO-bar&quot; and &quot;SNA-foo&quot; can be pronounced as words. Will people actually start saying &quot;FWEE&quot; or &quot;BE-twa,&quot; outside the ironic &quot;B-T-DUB&quot; that Tonza offers? I'm uncertain, but I have a feeling the answer is &quot;no.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;OK,&quot; IIRC, may be in the extreme minority as it has actually been turned into the word &quot;Okay.&quot; &quot;LOL&quot; is sometimes made &quot;LOLing&quot; or &quot;loling&quot; as it can actually be pronounced coherently as a word-construction, but I don't see the same fate for these other acronyms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1908/use-or-misuse-fyi-btw-lol-wtf/1924#1924&quot;&gt;stacker's opinion&lt;/a&gt;, I don't believe this to be a difference between acronyms and abbreviations. Acronyms are built using the initial letter of all or most of the non-articles in a phrase. An abbr. is a shortened version of a word, where a number of characters are lopped off from the end (and sometimes inside) the word. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, FYI, SCSI (Small Computer System Interface, pronounced &quot;scuzzy&quot;) is an acronym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="621" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T22:49:11.143" />
  <row Id="1979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1975" CreationDate="2010-08-25T22:50:24.217" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;flood&lt;/em&gt; are or were rhyming pairs in some dialects of English. This is not surprising, as /ʊ/ (as in &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt;) and /ʌ/ (as in &lt;em&gt;flood&lt;/em&gt;) are similar vowel sounds. I think in some dialects of modern British English, the two vowels are merged. The general term for words that &lt;em&gt;almost&lt;/em&gt; rhyme is called &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slant_rhyme&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;slant rhyme&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. Words that are spelled like they might rhyme but are not are called &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_rhyme&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;eye rhymes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the second passage, I think it is just a rhyming pattern of AABC DDBC.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T22:50:24.217" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1980" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1987" CreationDate="2010-08-25T23:15:08.100" Score="2" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I have two tasks, called &quot;Design&quot; and &quot;Development&quot;, what are the relationships between the two called?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly, this is a &lt;em&gt;type&lt;/em&gt; of dependency, but I need to be more specific.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, I need to be able to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In this relationship, &quot;Design&quot; is the &lt;strong&gt;A&lt;/strong&gt; and &quot;Development&quot; is the &lt;strong&gt;B&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife and I have been discussing this for quite some time now, and here are the few we have come up with, and why they don't work for me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Depender/Dependee&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;Feels awkward, and doesn't really disambiguate the parties involved.  Also implies that the dependee provides something to the depender, whereas this is not necessarily always the case in project tasks.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dependent/Surrogate&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;Awkward and implies providing some sort of utility.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Parent/Child&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;Incorrect.  The &quot;Design&quot; task &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; have children tasks, like &quot;Write-up&quot; or &quot;Gather Requirements&quot;, but &quot;Development&quot; is not a child of &quot;Design&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Predecessor, Precursor, etc. / Successor&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;Has hierarchy implications that make it quasi-incorrect.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the best we have right now is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Prerequisite/???&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;Project tasks are related in exactly the same way that some educational courses are.  This does &lt;em&gt;imply&lt;/em&gt; providing some sort of utility, but not necessarily and the relationship is well understood.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="727" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-12T11:18:22.457" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T11:18:22.457" Title="In a project, what is the relationship between dependent tasks called?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1981" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1984" CreationDate="2010-08-25T23:35:12.303" Score="1" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that any term, grammatical or not, becomes valid if there is common usage. I'm not concerned about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google and Photoshop are both commonly used as verbs. Given that the terms map fairly well to verbs (web searching and image editing), I can follow the logic of their use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this work for Facebook, though? What verb is it replacing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="269" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T10:56:24.077" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T10:56:24.077" Title="Is &quot;facebook&quot; as a verb different from &quot;google&quot; or &quot;photoshop&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;eponyms&gt;&lt;metonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1981" CreationDate="2010-08-25T23:38:02.417" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't really &lt;em&gt;replace&lt;/em&gt; any other verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of it like &quot;skiing,&quot; which means the act of using skis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that (for the present day, at least) all of these terms still pertain to the act of using the specific item to which they refer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people do say &quot;Google that with Bing,&quot; but this is just to satirize the usage of &quot;Google&quot; as a verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="727" LastEditorUserId="727" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-25T23:48:47.110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-25T23:48:47.110" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1981" CreationDate="2010-08-25T23:39:56.343" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;common verb =&gt; official translation  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;google&lt;/em&gt; =&gt; “search the internet (using the Google brand search engine)”&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;photoshop&lt;/em&gt; =&gt; “edit digital images (using the Adobe Photoshop brand image editing software)”&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;facebook&lt;/em&gt; =&gt; “communicate (using the Facebook brand social networking website)”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: to note that the parenthesized items can in some cases be replaced with something more generic, i.e. “using any search engine”, “using any image editing software”, “using any social networking website”. This is the usage that the owners of the trademarks fear (and object to) because substantial usage of that type constitutes a generic use of their trademarks, which could be grounds for being forced to forfeit the trademark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T00:54:52.227" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T00:54:52.227" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="1984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1981" CreationDate="2010-08-25T23:40:32.520" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www3.merriam-webster.com/opendictionary06/newword_search.php?word=facebook&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;whole list&lt;/a&gt; of suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;to book engagements via facebook&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;to put something up on facebook &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;to look up someone's personal information using Facebook&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;to look someone up on a social website, to find one's information on a social website&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;To upload a photograph to Facebook so that it may be viewed by others.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;To create an event entry on facebook&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;To get on a facebook website.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;1.to search for another person through the online directory know as facebook 2. to send a message through the online directory know as facebook&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;To add someone to your list of friends on the &quot;facebook.com&quot; website.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Judging by the list, you can't predict which verb &quot;to facebook&quot; might or might not end up replacing. Right now, it's just a shorthand for many different things to different people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T10:23:29.980" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T10:23:29.980" />
  <row Id="1985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1980" CreationDate="2010-08-25T23:51:10.243" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I thought &quot;Prerequisite&quot; as soon as I saw the example. As far as the inverse goes, the &quot;B&quot; in &quot;Development is the B&quot; portion of your question, I would propose a couple of terms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Product&lt;/strong&gt; if A in whole or in part &lt;strong&gt;becomes&lt;/strong&gt; B, as in the product of a chemical reaction.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dependent or Dependency&lt;/strong&gt; if B just requires A to exist. In software, when program A relies upon the presence of program B, then &quot;A is a dependency of B&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you drop the &quot;Prerequisite&quot;, you could use &lt;strong&gt;Predecessor / Successor&lt;/strong&gt;, which states only that A comes before B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="701" LastEditorUserId="701" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T19:33:09.933" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T19:33:09.933" />
  <row Id="1986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-25T23:55:23.200" Score="25" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ennui /änˈwē/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine my surprise at learning that it's pronounced &quot;ahn-wi&quot; and not &quot;eh-new-ee&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="701" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T20:46:00.653" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T20:46:00.653" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-25T23:55:23.200" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="1987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1980" CreationDate="2010-08-25T23:59:32.163" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Prerequisite - Co-requisite - Post-requisite -- &#xA;Where task A is the prerequisite and task B can either be a co-requisite or post-requisite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a project manager I have often used predecessor/successor, but usually where there is a chronological order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Project tasks are related in exactly the same way that some educational courses are. This does imply providing some sort of utility, but not necessarily and the relationship is well understood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this in mind, one of my college chem classes was a prerequisite and an associated chem lab was a co-requisite. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="742" LastEditorUserId="742" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T23:04:53.833" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T23:04:53.833" />
  <row Id="1988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1976" CreationDate="2010-08-26T00:13:52.793" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check &lt;a href=&quot;http://accent.gmu.edu/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; out in relation to the accent question. I find it extremely interesting to hear accents from different places. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="745" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T00:13:52.793" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1989" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1992" CreationDate="2010-08-26T00:31:24.027" Score="2" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am learning the Java struts 2 by reading a book titled &quot;struts 2 in action&quot; and I encountered the phrase &quot;Go Tiger!&quot;. I can't figure out what it means; can anybody give me the answer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you have the pleasure of using Java 5 or higher, we highly recommend using generics to type your collections and maps. Besides being a recommended best practice, the Struts 2 type conversion mechanism can use generics-based typing to learn the correct target type for the conversions. If you do this, you don't have to use the properties file configuration. This is a big bonus for Java 5 users. Go Tiger!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="833" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-27T09:32:52.980" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T09:32:52.980" Title="What does the phrase “Go Tiger!” mean?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="1990" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1991" CreationDate="2010-08-26T00:36:58.600" Score="8" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;I invented a word using medical terminology, Latin and maybe a bit of Greek. (I'm not honestly sure of the etymology of all the morphemes.) Considering that this word is primarily not of English origin, what language is it? Can I call it an English word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taking it a step further, what about medical terminology? Can it be called English when it really is no more than a compilation of Latin morphemes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="745" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-12T11:14:36.760" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T11:14:36.760" Title="If I invent a word, what language is it?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;neologisms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="1991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1990" CreationDate="2010-08-26T00:56:59.047" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you use the word when speaking English, then it is an English word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T00:56:59.047" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="1992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1989" CreationDate="2010-08-26T01:06:48.907" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;“Tiger” is the code name for Java 5. Thanks to the additional context from RegDwight, we can see that “Go Tiger!” is an exclamation saying something along the lines of “Hooray for Tiger! (because we get this bonus from it)”. “Go ___!” is a common exclamation intended to express approval and encouragement to a team or an individual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T01:25:21.207" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T01:25:21.207" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1976" CreationDate="2010-08-26T01:32:40.693" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also, is there such a thing as a&#xA;  &quot;neutral&quot; British accent, analogous to&#xA;  American broadcaster's midwest&#xA;  pronunciation that is perceived to be&#xA;  the most free of regional&#xA;  characteristics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Cambridge pronunciation dictionary calls it &quot;BBC English&quot;. Previously the term &quot;received pronunciation&quot; was in use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T01:32:40.693" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="1994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1974" CreationDate="2010-08-26T01:56:50.857" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would it not be simpler to say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;that person is prejudiced against foreigners&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;that person is prejudiced against his own country&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;rather than to try to misappropriate yet another medical term?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A phobia once meant a medical condition. Unfortunately xenophobia's medical use as &lt;strong&gt;fear&lt;/strong&gt; of foreigners has been corrupted by use as a kind of fancy synonym for racism. Similarly for silly words like &lt;strong&gt;homophobia&lt;/strong&gt;, which means &quot;prejudice against homosexuals&quot; rather than &quot;&lt;strong&gt;fear&lt;/strong&gt; of homosexuals&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Medical words are often subjected to this kind of mistreatment. Take &quot;nutritional value&quot;, which, to a nutritionist, means &quot;the number of calories in a food&quot;. This word has been corrupted in common usage to the extent that people say things like &quot;McDonald's food has no nutritional value&quot; as a way of claiming that McDonald's food is not healthy. The speaker wants to add credibility to her claim about healthiness by using a fancy &quot;medical&quot; word which she actually doesn't understand, in effect saying that a type of food high in calories contains no calories at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T02:03:42.330" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T02:03:42.330" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="1995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1974" CreationDate="2010-08-26T02:13:22.180" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not a word, but phrases frequently (mis-)used: &lt;strong&gt;self-loathing&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;self-hating&lt;/strong&gt;. For instance, Wikipedia has an article called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-hating_Jew&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;self-hating Jew&lt;/a&gt; (whatever the validity of the term).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T02:13:22.180" />
  <row Id="1996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1990" CreationDate="2010-08-26T02:34:19.347" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;jbese. That's what it should be called.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T02:34:19.347" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1997" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2006" CreationDate="2010-08-26T03:02:12.287" Score="1" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;Was someone just trying to be funny by being ironic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12" LastEditorUserId="513" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T04:17:46.830" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T13:04:05.190" Title="What is the story behind the word &quot;hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;neologisms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="1998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1997" CreationDate="2010-08-26T03:55:19.127" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It was an ironic way to say &lt;em&gt;the fear of long words&lt;/em&gt; with a long word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T03:55:19.127" />
  <row Id="1999" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-26T04:36:48.127" Score="18" ViewCount="940" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't remember the one I'm thinking of, but there's a word that in American English has done a 180 and its meaning is now the negation of the one in British English. What words are there that have opposite (not just different) meanings in different regions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T20:31:14.203" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T02:45:04.583" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-26T04:36:48.127" Title="What words have opposite meanings in different regions?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="8" />
  <row Id="2000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1999" CreationDate="2010-08-26T05:04:18.467" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These were on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_auto-antonyms_in_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;auto-antonym list&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;chuffed&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;    In British slang this has come to mean &quot;pleased&quot;, synonymous to &quot;puffed up&quot;; an older definition, also colloquial is &quot;displeased, upset&quot;. Specifically, &quot;chuff&quot; is the sound of exhaust being emanated, as from a train engine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;discursive&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;    In essay structure, it can mean either to be rambling or freeform (American usage), but also can mean to be strictly structured (British usage).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;momentarily&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;    In British usage, means &quot;only for a brief moment&quot; but may be in the past or present- the lightning lit the room momentarily. In American usage, means &quot;soon&quot; but may be persistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="792" LastEditorUserId="792" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T05:17:30.647" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T05:17:30.647" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-26T05:04:18.467" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1717" CreationDate="2010-08-26T06:36:49.813" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Found in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/54/understanding-spoken-english&quot;&gt;another answer&lt;/a&gt; on this site: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Voice of America Special English&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="115" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T06:36:49.813" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-26T06:36:49.813" />
  <row Id="2002" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2004" CreationDate="2010-08-26T08:12:15.260" Score="9" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a plethora of words for user accounts, like &lt;em&gt;logon&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;login&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;signon&lt;/em&gt;, and also the action of &lt;em&gt;logging in&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;logging on&lt;/em&gt;) or &lt;em&gt;signing in&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any usage guidelines here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T00:25:05.687" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T00:25:05.687" Title="Logging in or on?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2002" CreationDate="2010-08-26T09:12:05.823" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're all synonyms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="706" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T09:12:05.823" />
  <row Id="2004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2002" CreationDate="2010-08-26T09:42:38.687" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found some infomation on &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/questions/406016/ui-terminology-logon-vs-login&quot;&gt;Stackoverflow&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is particularly useful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;login, logout, logon, and logoff are&#xA;  nouns or adjectives&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;log in, log out, log on, log off are&#xA;  verbs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for developers, this will probably be helpful in deciding which term to use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Just an observation, but the more&#xA;  casual the site, the more likely it’s&#xA;  going to use Sign in/Sign out. The&#xA;  paradigm of a visitor making an&#xA;  announcement of presence to a casual&#xA;  gathering of people. More formal sites&#xA;  tend to want you to Log in and Log&#xA;  out. The wording suggests the clocking&#xA;  in for work; The paradigm of a person&#xA;  with an accredited level of&#xA;  authentication accessing a secure&#xA;  terminal and leaving a record of that&#xA;  visit in a log.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://t.co/H6xsV7N&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="792" LastEditorUserId="792" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T09:50:17.510" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T09:50:17.510" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2005" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2030" CreationDate="2010-08-26T11:04:57.740" Score="4" ViewCount="423" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do &lt;em&gt;in future&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;in the future&lt;/em&gt; imply different meanings? If so, using which one is grammatically correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:13:08.857" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:13:08.857" Title="&quot;in future&quot; vs &quot;in the future&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;determiners&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1997" CreationDate="2010-08-26T12:47:30.790" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sesquipedalian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sesquipedalian&lt;/a&gt; means having many syllables, and you'll probably know what &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;phobia&lt;/a&gt; means. Thus, &quot;sesquipedaliophobia&quot; is an irrational fear of words with many syllables. The prefixes &quot;hippopoto-&quot; and &quot;monstro-&quot;, as you might guess, are not there to add anything in terms of meaning, in fact they are rather nonsensical. Their only purpose is to make the word longer, in a witty and cruel, sarcastic twist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Etymology&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From &lt;em&gt;hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian&lt;/em&gt;, an extension of &lt;em&gt;sesquipedalian&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;monstrum&lt;/em&gt; &quot;monster&quot; and a truncated, misspelled form of &lt;em&gt;hippopotamus&lt;/em&gt;, intended to exaggerate the length of the word itself and the idea of the size of the words being feared; combined with &lt;em&gt;phobia&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I guess the answer to your question is yes, you can say that someone was trying to be funny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T13:04:05.190" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T13:04:05.190" />
  <row Id="2008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-26T13:39:45.217" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;ubuntu |oǒ'boǒntoō|&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always thought it was oo-BUN-too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ubuntu.com/project/about-ubuntu&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="838" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T13:39:45.217" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-26T13:39:45.217" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2009" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2010" CreationDate="2010-08-26T14:33:17.990" Score="3" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following sentence is the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Accordingly, in the next few chapters, which deal specifically with the tags, we’ll spend a lot more time on the OGNL expression language. On to chapter 6! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your answers or comments are appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="833" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T00:17:55.060" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T00:17:55.060" Title="What does the phrase &quot;on to&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2009" CreationDate="2010-08-26T14:43:05.253" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means, roughly, &quot;proceed to&quot;, but has more of a tone of encouragement or excitement rather than a command. You can think of it as having an implicit &quot;Let's move&quot; at the beginning, as in &quot;(Let's move) on to chapter 6!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="151" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T14:50:30.720" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T14:50:30.720" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2005" CreationDate="2010-08-26T14:48:12.487" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may see &quot;in future&quot; when &quot;future&quot; is modifying a noun for which &quot;in&quot; is an appropriate preposition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fore example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in future &lt;code&gt;______&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;plays&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;events&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="727" LastEditorUserId="727" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T15:02:00.383" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T15:02:00.383" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="2012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2005" CreationDate="2010-08-26T14:53:42.957" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both forms are possible. &quot;In future&quot; is often used in reprimands:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In future please sign and date your letters&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very general, talking about all times from now onwards. You can &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;amp;q=%22in+future+please+take+care%22&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&amp;amp;gs_rfai=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;find many examples on Google&lt;/a&gt; (search for &quot;in future please take care&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In the future&quot; is more neutral and more specific:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the future I would like to go to Australia, but now I don't have enough money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T15:00:34.237" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T15:00:34.237" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="2013" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-26T15:04:04.547" Score="7" ViewCount="263" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do reporters (and sometimes police officers) say that somebody was going at a &lt;em&gt;high rate of speed&lt;/em&gt; when they actually mean &lt;em&gt;high speed&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In physics, speed is already the rate of distance over time, otherwise known as velocity. Rate of speed is velocity over time, otherwise known as acceleration. By saying &lt;em&gt;high rate of speed&lt;/em&gt; they would be implying picking up more speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a social reason for using &lt;em&gt;high rate of speed&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;high speed&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="457" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T00:14:14.077" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T01:38:47.923" Title="&quot;high rate of speed&quot; or &quot;high speed&quot; to mean going fast" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;&lt;hypercorrection&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2013" CreationDate="2010-08-26T15:32:43.003" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because more words = more official-sounding. It's a bad phrase that has taken root in irrelevant situations. Adding &quot;rate&quot; adds nothing in most contexts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the word rate also means &quot;value&quot; or &quot;number&quot;. From &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionaries.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=rate%2a1+0&amp;amp;dict=A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cambridge&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;rate (MEASUREMENT)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;noun &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a measurement of the speed at which something happens or changes, or the number of times it happens or changes, within a particular period &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T15:32:43.003" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2013" CreationDate="2010-08-26T15:41:57.757" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;High rate of speed is redundant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speed is a rate of movement (without specific direction). High velocity would be speed with a direction. Acceleration is the change in speeds (for example, you gain speed or lose speed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You wouldn't say high rate of speed, you would say &quot;high speed&quot; or a &quot;high rate of change in speed&quot; to mean &quot;acceleration.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="680" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T15:41:57.757" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1925" CreationDate="2010-08-26T15:50:28.080" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's actually  &lt;code&gt;EMail&lt;/code&gt; when you wish to list information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;eg,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;   Phone: +1 858 651 4478&#xA;   Fax:   +1 858 651 1102&#xA;   EMail: presnick@qualcomm.com&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And e-mail when you are writing it in a normal line of text, such as this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2822.txt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The technical document that specifies what e-mail is uses it this way.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been abused because it's a buzzword/slang for the electronic mail framework. I'm willing to argue origin of the terminology supersedes abuse of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="680" LastEditorUserId="680" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-27T13:08:40.490" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T13:08:40.490" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2018" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2043" CreationDate="2010-08-26T16:21:52.797" Score="12" ViewCount="346" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm curious if there is a decent website where it is possible to talk (preferably chat) with English speakers in order to improve my English. I know there are tons and tons of forums and chats but so far I've found only chats where nothing is really discussed. Discussions with correcting of each other would be really helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for a suggestion and I hope that even so the question is rather marginal for this forum it would not be closed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="37" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-15T13:54:41.653" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T13:54:41.653" Title="Chatting with English speakers" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;&lt;internet&gt;&lt;subjective&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="2019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2013" CreationDate="2010-08-26T16:37:13.597" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm often subjected to the management buzz phrase 'accelerating momentum' (google it). That's 3 derivatives in.&#xA;It hurts my head!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T16:37:13.597" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="2020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2013" CreationDate="2010-08-26T17:03:18.587" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The very first sense for the noun &lt;em&gt;rate&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; is “reckoned value : valuation”. The word has more meanings than the one used in physics. One could therefore make the argument that a &lt;em&gt;rate of speed&lt;/em&gt; is a speed which is &lt;em&gt;reckoned&lt;/em&gt; (i.e. by measuring or reasoned estimation) rather than guessed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T17:03:18.587" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16" CreationDate="2010-08-26T17:26:13.077" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not only is it perfectly fine to end a sentence with a preposition, it's often impossible to avoid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://snarkygrammarguide.blogspot.com/2010/08/ending-sentences-with-prepositions.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://snarkygrammarguide.blogspot.com/2010/08/ending-sentences-with-prepositions.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T17:26:13.077" />
  <row Id="2022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2018" CreationDate="2010-08-26T17:39:07.830" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Free Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; is my go-to language forum.  The English forum is pretty lively for a small forum, and if you make it known that you want to see corrections, people are pretty happy to oblige and are generally knowledgable.  There are several foreign as well as native speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It isn't a chat, but several forum members have started up personal chats for this express purprose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best of luck to you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="809" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T17:39:07.830" />
  <row Id="2023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2009" CreationDate="2010-08-26T17:42:16.547" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is generally used  as an mild enthusiastic exclamation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is implied that some subject is moving on to whatever is described.  In this case, &quot;Here we go, we are moving on to chapter 6!&quot; is equivalent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="809" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T17:42:16.547" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2005" CreationDate="2010-08-26T17:51:24.923" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference is only in whether &lt;em&gt;future&lt;/em&gt; is a noun or an adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;In the future, please be more careful&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Please be more careful in the future&lt;/em&gt; both use &lt;em&gt;future&lt;/em&gt; as a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;In future activities, please be more careful&lt;/em&gt; uses &lt;em&gt;future&lt;/em&gt; to modify the noun &lt;em&gt;activities.&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my knowledge is it not correct to say &lt;em&gt;in future&lt;/em&gt; in the place of &lt;em&gt;in the future.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="809" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T00:21:30.250" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T00:21:30.250" />
  <row Id="2025" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2028" CreationDate="2010-08-26T18:30:02.817" Score="5" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which phrase is more formal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;so long as&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;as long as&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;So long as Google Voice allows free long distance in North America, I will use it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As long as Google Voice allows free long distance in North America, I will use it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm leaning toward 'as long as' but I have no justification.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T14:50:48.900" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T14:50:48.900" Title="&quot;So long as&quot; vs. &quot;As long as&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="2026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1990" CreationDate="2010-08-26T18:46:07.547" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Language is a consensus between the speaker and listener.  Lots of English words (arguably most of them, but let's not get too technical) originate from other languages.  Words like &quot;orange&quot; or &quot;beef&quot; or &quot;feng shui&quot;.  Because the speaker and listener are speaking the same language, and the words are understood, the words can be considered part of that language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T18:46:07.547" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2005" CreationDate="2010-08-26T18:47:38.470" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;In future&lt;/em&gt; is how they say it in the UK and India. It is common and considered normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In future, we will avoid water beds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In American English, &lt;em&gt;In future&lt;/em&gt; sounds strange; &lt;em&gt;in the future&lt;/em&gt; is preferred or at least will get you fewer strange looks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastEditorUserId="107" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T15:02:10.187" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T15:02:10.187" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2025" CreationDate="2010-08-26T18:52:08.983" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know that the distinction between these two is formality. I think that &quot;so long as&quot; indicates a logical predication, and &quot;as long as&quot; indicates a specific time interval.  Take your two examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;So long as Google Voice allows free long distance in North America, I will use it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this could be paraphrased as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My use of Google Voice is conditional upon free long distance calls in North America.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your second example was&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As long as Google Voice allows free long distance in North America, I will use it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could be paraphrased as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For the duration of time that Google Voice allows free long distance in North America, I will be using it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thinking about it, I think that both &quot;so long as&quot; and &quot;as long as&quot; are used for the conditional reading, but only &quot;as long as&quot; can be used for the duration reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="257" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T18:52:08.983" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2025" CreationDate="2010-08-26T19:41:44.067" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both the phrases mean &lt;em&gt;during the whole time that&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/em&gt; reports that the most used phrase is &lt;em&gt;as long as&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;as long as&lt;/em&gt; is used more in magazines and newspapers than in academic texts; &lt;em&gt;so long as&lt;/em&gt; is used more in academic texts than magazines and newspapers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T19:41:44.067" />
  <row Id="2030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2005" CreationDate="2010-08-26T20:02:04.853" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He would be more careful in future.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  They plan on getting married in the near future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first sentence, &lt;em&gt;in future&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;from now on&lt;/em&gt;; the &lt;em&gt;NOAD&lt;/em&gt; reports that its use is chiefly British.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In the second sentence, &lt;em&gt;in the future&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;the time or a period of time following the moment of speaking or writing&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T20:02:04.853" />
  <row Id="2031" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2033" CreationDate="2010-08-26T20:20:08.793" Score="6" ViewCount="270" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't for the life of me figure out where to use &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; and where to use &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; (and where there is no article at all). Is there a simple rule of thumb to memorize? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The standard one &lt;em&gt;if a person knows which item you are talking about then use &quot;the&quot;&lt;/em&gt; doesn't clear things up for me as I have no idea whether or not they know.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T00:11:39.707" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T14:05:35.937" Title="Are there any simple rules for article usage (&quot;a&quot; vs &quot;the&quot; vs none)" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="2032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2031" CreationDate="2010-08-26T20:30:03.047" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Eat an apple before going to the cinema.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence is not referring to a particular apple; it can be a random one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Follow the President.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence is not referring to a random president.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference is not between talking of something the other person knows, or not.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In the second example, the person I am talking to could know all the presidents present in the meeting, but he will understand to which president I am referring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Albert taught himself to play the violin.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Worry about the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, the article is used to make a generalized reference to something rather than identifying a particular instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They placed the African elephant on their endangered list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;African elephant&lt;/em&gt; is referring to the whole species, not to a single elephant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She is a McFry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence is referring to a member of the family McFry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T22:02:57.020" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T22:02:57.020" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2031" CreationDate="2010-08-26T20:52:38.517" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, if you insist on the rule being simple, here you are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a = some, any&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the = this, that&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two simple examples. Note that you just wrote &quot;...if &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; person knows which item you are talking about...&quot;. You didn't write &quot;...if &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; person knows...&quot;. And that's correct, because you are not pointing to &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; person, you are talking about &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; person in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, my answer starts with &quot;if you insist on &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; rule being simple&quot;. That's because you asked for a rule (= any rule), and I am now talking about &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; rule. We are talking about &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I can't think of a (= any) simple rule of thumb when not to use an (= any) article at all, but here are some suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't put an (= any) article before a (= any) noun if the (= that) noun is preceded by:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a number&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a possessive adjective (&quot;my&quot;, &quot;his&quot;, &quot;our&quot;...)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a &quot;no&quot;, &quot;some&quot; or &quot;any&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a &quot;this&quot;, &quot;that&quot;, &quot;these&quot; or &quot;those&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Give me a chair! (= any chair you like)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Give me the chair! (= this chair)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Give me that chair! (no article, you already specified which chair you mean)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Give me my chair! (no article)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Give me five chairs! (no article)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Give me some chairs! (no article)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Give me the chairs! (= these chairs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Give me these chairs! (no article)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Give me a reason to hit you! (= any reason will do)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Give me no reason to hit you! (no article because of &quot;no&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Give me no reason to hit you with a chair! (= any chair) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Give me no reason to hit you with the chair! (= this chair) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T21:07:47.237" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T21:07:47.237" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2018" CreationDate="2010-08-26T21:09:31.930" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about good old &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;IRC&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I found this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/how_5130009_learn-english-chat-room.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;, albeit on a trashy site, could at least contribute some ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastEditorUserId="519" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-26T21:38:10.090" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T21:38:10.090" />
  <row Id="2035" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-26T21:17:02.540" Score="3" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does &lt;em&gt;going to&lt;/em&gt; only express an intention and &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; some kind of prediction that doesn't necessarily happen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;Thanks for all your answers. I asked this question because I always fail to complete exercises like this from an ESL book:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We  will fly to Venice in June. (Correct: But, how can I be sure that I'm not sick in June?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Philipp will be 15 next Wednesday (Correct: Since his birthday is a fixed day, this will happen).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They will get a new computer. (Wrong: Why?, If I need a new computer, I simply get a new one)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In 2020 people are going to buy more hybrid cars.  (Wrong, Why? Who can tell for sure).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T06:07:15.300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T09:39:48.107" Title="When do I have to use 'will' instead of 'going to'?" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;&lt;future-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2035" CreationDate="2010-08-26T21:43:09.003" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using &lt;code&gt;will&lt;/code&gt; (or &lt;code&gt;shall&lt;/code&gt;) is the proper way to form the actual future tense, and is completely generic. IT can be used in &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; case in which you wish to refer to the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_to&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;code&gt;Going to&lt;/code&gt; + verb&lt;/a&gt; is a shortcut construct that is commonly used in many situations. It is typically used to express occurrences in the &lt;em&gt;near&lt;/em&gt;-future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many cases however, particularly in colloquial speech, the two constructs are virtually interchangeable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_to&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; has some additional notes on usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Going-to future is used when the&#xA;  speaker wishes to express certainty&#xA;  about the future based on evidence or&#xA;  fact from the present or the speaker's&#xA;  opinion: &quot;If you do not stop, you are&#xA;  going to be caught by the police and&#xA;  hauled back to jail.&quot; &quot;Our houses are&#xA;  going to be swept away by the&#xA;  impending storm.&quot; While the &quot;will&quot; and&#xA;  &quot;going to&quot; constructions are often&#xA;  interchangeable, only the &quot;going to&quot;&#xA;  construction can denote former future&#xA;  intention (e.g. &quot;I was going to eat&#xA;  dinner, but decided not to&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T21:43:09.003" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="2038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2025" CreationDate="2010-08-26T22:09:33.267" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case, you should use &quot;as long as,&quot; since you are talking about a duration of time. More here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://snarkygrammarguide.blogspot.com/search/label/as%20long%20as%20vs.%20so%20long%20as&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://snarkygrammarguide.blogspot.com/search/label/as%20long%20as%20vs.%20so%20long%20as&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T22:09:33.267" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2005" CreationDate="2010-08-26T22:14:38.317" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;In future&lt;/em&gt; is much more common in the UK and Ireland, as in &lt;em&gt;In future, be more careful.&lt;/em&gt; In the US, we would tend to say &lt;em&gt;In the future, be more careful.&lt;/em&gt; They mean exactly the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T00:22:16.503" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T00:22:16.503" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-26T22:18:31.767" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Paradigm |&lt;strong&gt;par&lt;/strong&gt;-&lt;em&gt;uh&lt;/em&gt;-dahym|&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've winced a couple times when people have said |&lt;strong&gt;par&lt;/strong&gt;-&lt;em&gt;uh&lt;/em&gt;-&lt;strong&gt;di&lt;/strong&gt;-jum|&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="845" LastActivityDate="2010-08-26T22:18:31.767" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-26T22:18:31.767" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2035" CreationDate="2010-08-26T22:27:03.870" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported by the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;To be going to&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;to intend or be likely or intended to be or do something; be about to&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am going to be late for work.&#xA;  She is going to have a baby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Will&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; are used to express the future tense, and the following notes apply:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The traditional rule in standard English is that &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; is used with first person pronouns to form the future tense, while &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; is used with second and third persons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I shall be late.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  She will not be there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When expressing a strong determination to do something, the traditional rule is that &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; is used with the first person, and &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; with the second and third persons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will not tolerate this.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  You shall go to school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In practice, however, &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; are today used more or less interchangeably in statements (although not in questions). Given that the forms are frequently contracted ( we'll, she'll, etc.), there is often no need to make a choice between shall and will, another factor no doubt instrumental in weakening the distinction. In modern English, the interchangeable use of &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; is an acceptable part of standard U.S. and British English.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-27T12:27:18.420" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T12:27:18.420" />
  <row Id="2042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1999" CreationDate="2010-08-26T23:14:53.617" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;public school&quot; has opposite meanings in the U.S. and England: a public school in England is equivalent to a private school in the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="189" LastEditorUserId="2559" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T01:09:47.913" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T01:09:47.913" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-26T23:14:53.617" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2018" CreationDate="2010-08-26T23:34:37.657" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use Skype. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, I have found &lt;a href=&quot;http://livemocha.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LiveMocha social network&lt;/a&gt;: Membership is completely free (extended features are not free of course). The FAQ says that membership includes lots of free features: chat, flashcards, messaging, making friends, and more. I have never seen chat, but I have got audio feedbacks, explanations from the native speakers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe, it will help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="81" LastEditorUserId="81" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-21T00:28:18.907" LastActivityDate="2010-11-21T00:28:18.907" />
  <row Id="2044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-27T00:48:32.930" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Moot&lt;/strong&gt;, as in &lt;em&gt;The point is moot.&lt;/em&gt;  I often hear people say &lt;em&gt;The point is mute.&lt;/em&gt;  Not only mispronounced, but misunderstood. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="848" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T07:39:38.723" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T07:39:38.723" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-27T00:48:32.930" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1655" CreationDate="2010-08-27T01:45:49.117" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think and/or is stupid. The reason is that there are two types of &quot;or&quot;s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Inclusive Or: Please give me a taco and/or a burrito&#xA;(I'm saying I will accept a taco, a burrito, or both.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Exclusive Or: Please give me either a taco or a burrito.&#xA;(I will accept a taco or a burrito but not both.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is using plain-old &quot;or&quot; isn't very explicit about which is meant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or: Please give me a taco or a burrito.&#xA;(I will accept a taco or a burrito but maybe? not both...)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people need to be explicit that &lt;em&gt;inclusive&lt;/em&gt; or is meant and not &lt;em&gt;exclusive&lt;/em&gt; or. In my last sentence, which or is meant is ambiguous. Am I expecting to get exactly one thing? Or would both be acceptable? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But yes to answer your question we can try to phrase the inclusive or without use of and/or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Please give me either a taco or a burrito or both&#xA;(Hmm kind of clunky... I'm going to stick with using and/or.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conclusion: and/or has naturally evolved to fill an unfilled niche in English...the explicit inclusive or. Why fight progress?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="154" LastEditorUserId="154" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-28T03:52:48.237" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T03:52:48.237" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1999" CreationDate="2010-08-27T01:47:55.343" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The American word &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;fanny&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; refers to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fanny&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;opposite side of the body in England&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T01:47:55.343" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-27T01:47:55.343" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="2047" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2048" CreationDate="2010-08-27T03:15:57.820" Score="2" ViewCount="368" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have received an email with the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The meetings will be discussing on this early next week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have two questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We should use &lt;em&gt;will discuss&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;will be discussing&lt;/em&gt;, right? I don't know the purpose of the future continuous here, or the general purpose of the future continuous tense.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should we use &lt;em&gt;will discuss the matter&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;will have discussion on this matter&lt;/em&gt; (I guess that was a mistake to use &lt;em&gt;will discuss on&lt;/em&gt; here)?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="748" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T00:06:24.027" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T15:24:54.900" Title="&quot;will discuss the matter&quot; OR &quot;will discuss on this matter&quot;?" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;email&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="2048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2047" CreationDate="2010-08-27T04:21:52.423" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Will be discussing this&lt;/em&gt; would work. There is some time in the meetings next week when we will, in fact, be discussing this.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Either &lt;em&gt;will discuss the matter&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;will have a discussion on the matter&lt;/em&gt; is correct. But they have slightly different connotations: &lt;em&gt;will discuss&lt;/em&gt; could span some time, while &lt;em&gt;will have a discussion&lt;/em&gt; refers to a particular discrete event.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Will be discussing on this&lt;/em&gt;, as you have said, is incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's another issue here which you have not asked about: a native speaker would be rather unlikely to say that a meeting will discuss anything, since it is not a person. The phrasing would more likely be &lt;em&gt;we will discuss this in the meetings&lt;/em&gt;, or perhaps &lt;em&gt;the meetings will include a discussion on this&lt;/em&gt;, or something to that effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T04:21:52.423" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="2049" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2052" CreationDate="2010-08-27T06:24:40.570" Score="6" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Stack Overflow / Stack Exchange sites have all a &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/badges/13/yearling&quot;&gt;&quot;yearling&quot; badge&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Active member for a year, earning at least 200 reputation.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  This badge can be awarded multiple times. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So each year, if the reputation has progressed at least from 200 points, you get a &quot;yearling&quot; badge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yearling?show=0&amp;amp;t=1282888950&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster defines yearling&lt;/a&gt; as &lt;strong&gt;one that is a year old&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Which makes sense on your first year participating to one of those sites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But does &lt;em&gt;yearling&lt;/em&gt; still apply for your second, third or more years of participation to come?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If not, what would be a better term for that kind of achievement?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T00:04:07.307" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T20:36:11.333" Title="Is the word &quot;yearling&quot; appropriate for a recurring event?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1509" CreationDate="2010-08-27T07:19:45.360" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;ALMOST&lt;/strong&gt; had it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="313" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T07:19:45.360" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-27T07:19:45.360" />
  <row Id="2051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2049" CreationDate="2010-08-27T08:18:00.133" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A yearling is a term which I'd associate with horses. I assumed that the stackoverflow usage was a joke rather than a serious name. Why not just call it the &quot;two/three/four year&quot; badge or just give two, three or four yearling badges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-27T10:52:16.670" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T10:52:16.670" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2049" CreationDate="2010-08-27T08:37:12.700" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As adjective, the NOAD defines &lt;em&gt;yearling&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;having lived or existed for a year; a year old&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Dictionary.com defines the adjective as meaning &lt;em&gt;of a year's duration or standing&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For recurrent events, &lt;em&gt;yearly&lt;/em&gt; is the word I would use. If you interpret &lt;em&gt;existed for a year&lt;/em&gt; as using a relative reference, then &lt;em&gt;yearling&lt;/em&gt; could be used to describe the badge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T08:37:12.700" />
  <row Id="2053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="114" CreationDate="2010-08-27T09:10:01.620" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;On &lt;em&gt;Comma Sense&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Richard Lederer and John Shore&lt;/em&gt; — ISBN 0-312-34255-1) it's reported that the dash is used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to set off a though or explanatory remark with a sentence: &lt;em&gt;If I remember well — bear in mind I have been on New York City 5 years ago — Central Park is close to Fifth Avenue.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to introduce an appositive: &lt;em&gt;When I frequented the ITIS — the secondary school on Cantore Street — I was still a teenager.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to signify a sudden change in thought: &lt;em&gt;We are going to — what's that burning smell?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;before the citation of an author or source of a quotation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the other cases, a different punctation should be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T09:10:01.620" />
  <row Id="2054" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2055" CreationDate="2010-08-27T09:49:11.333" Score="5" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always mixed them up, and use the wrong one on other sites on StackExchange. And the questions is edited by another person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When should I use &lt;strong&gt;&quot;is&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; and when should I use &lt;strong&gt;&quot;are&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I write &quot;Is there any ...&quot; and sometimes I write &quot;Are there any&quot;, and I guess that one of them is wrong. Is there any good rule of thumb for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="851" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:25:19.600" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:25:19.600" Title="When should I use &quot;is&quot; and when should I use &quot;are&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;verb-agreement&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2054" CreationDate="2010-08-27T10:25:41.723" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sometimes I write &quot;Is there any ...&quot;&#xA;  and sometimes I write &quot;Are there any&quot;,&#xA;  and I guess that one of them is wrong.&#xA;  Is there any good rule of thumb for&#xA;  this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, the rule of thumb is &quot;use 'is' for singular and 'are' for plural&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Singular:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is&lt;/strong&gt; there any &lt;strong&gt;caffeine&lt;/strong&gt; in decaffeinated coffee?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plural:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are&lt;/strong&gt; there any &lt;strong&gt;words&lt;/strong&gt; that rhyme with orange?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the reason why the first sentence is in the singular form is that caffeine is a non-countable noun. You wouldn't ask &quot;how many caffeines are there...?&quot;, but &quot;how much caffeine is there...?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-27T10:32:53.523" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T10:32:53.523" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2056" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2070" CreationDate="2010-08-27T10:59:50.133" Score="10" ViewCount="621" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been learning English for many, many years now and think I have acquired quite some mastery. Yesterday I saw just another English (American) flick and thought it was a different language, but definitly not English. I had to turn the (English) subtitles on... :-(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is it so very hard to understand movies - and do you have a panacea to it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-27T12:10:47.617" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T16:47:56.980" Title="Why are movies so hard to understand (and what can you do about it)?" Tags="&lt;speech&gt;&lt;listening&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="2057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2056" CreationDate="2010-08-27T12:06:52.333" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to feel the same. I'm not a native English speaker either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I got used to reading the subtitles when I was younger and didn't speak English. And even when my English became good enough to understand most of what was being said in the movies, I would still turn subtitles on because I didn't want to miss any lines. That's how you become dependent on the subtitles. Start turning them off more often and you will notice that gradually you will be missing less and less lines. That worked for me. You can try that with a TV series. As you become familiar with the characters and stories, you will be able to guess more often what they said when you missed a word. And then you will notice your improvement over the episodes. When you feel that you missed an important line, rewind a bit and listen again. Learning a language really requires a lot of commitment!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T12:06:52.333" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-27T13:07:45.587" Score="39" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;colonel /ˈkərnl/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has to be the worst word for me - I know that is pronounced ker-nil, but EVERY time I read it the pronunication in my head is col-o-nel. How is &lt;em&gt;colonel&lt;/em&gt; &quot;ker-nil&quot; anyway?! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="854" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T20:31:38.420" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T20:31:38.420" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-27T13:07:45.587" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="2059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2056" CreationDate="2010-08-27T13:44:31.093" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I felt this way when I started to watch the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Wire&lt;/a&gt;, and English is my first language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It got better after a while, though I still struggled with the gangster slang.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is all anyone can advise, I think; it gets easier with practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastEditorUserId="588" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-27T14:05:22.907" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T14:05:22.907" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="381" CreationDate="2010-08-27T13:59:11.283" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you mean spin on a billiards ball, it should be capitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T13:59:11.283" />
  <row Id="2061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2049" CreationDate="2010-08-27T14:02:17.970" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have pointed out, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/yearling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;yearling&lt;/a&gt; does not have a use for recurring events. Other than on StackOverflow.com, it seems to only be used (in American English) when referring to the age of animals, especially horses. For a recurring event, the word you should probably use is either &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/annual&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;annual&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/annual&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;anniversary&lt;/a&gt;, or &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/yearly&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;yearly&lt;/a&gt;. As a native speaker of American English, I am much more likely to use &quot;annually&quot; than &quot;yearly&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would not, however, surprise me, if StackOverflow continued with the humor and referred to users who have been participating for two to three years as &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/toddler&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;toddler&lt;/a&gt;s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastEditorUserId="573" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-28T13:28:54.993" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T13:28:54.993" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2056" CreationDate="2010-08-27T14:08:06.710" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's not just English-language movies. I'm a native English-speaker, and my Spanish is pretty good, but I had to turn on the Spanish-language subtitles for the movie &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.clubcultura.com/clubcine/clubcineastas/guillermodeltoro/ellaberintodelfauno/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;El Laberinto del Fauno&lt;/a&gt;&quot; (Pan's Labyrinth). This helped me understand that the word was &quot;un hada&quot; (fairy) and not &quot;un nada&quot; and &quot;sofocarlos&quot; (quell them), not &quot;sobrecarlos&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="817" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T14:08:06.710" />
  <row Id="2063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2056" CreationDate="2010-08-27T14:15:33.903" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know exactly what you mean, but frankly I think it is less a matter of accents or dialects and just that the sound mixing of a lot of recent movies is especially bad. They have so much going on with the soundtrack and bass heavy sound effects that the dialogue gets drowned out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good example of this was &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1188729/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pandorum (2009)&lt;/a&gt;, nobody had any pronounced accent yet I had to turn on the subtitles for half of the movie because it seemed like everyone was mumbling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Funny side note: I have a friend who claims to have learned/practiced his English after he moved to the US by watching Stallone/Schwarzenegger action movies. Not exactly the language teachers I'd suggest.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T14:15:33.903" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2049" CreationDate="2010-08-27T14:18:25.053" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming it refers to the account on the site and not the person who created it, one could argue it is technically accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T14:18:25.053" />
  <row Id="2065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2035" CreationDate="2010-08-27T14:44:21.000" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are three main future tenses in English, &quot;will&quot;, &quot;going to&quot; and present continuous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will future is used for two things, prediction and spontaneous promises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will never walk on the moon (prediction)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'll ring you tomorrow (spontaneous promise)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going to future is used for predictions, especially based on immediate evidence, and plans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He's going to fall! (prediction, based on immediate evidence)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm going to buy a new car next year. (plan)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your question was particularly about when not to use will, let me give a couple of instances. We don't say things like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;?&lt;/code&gt; I'll buy a new car next year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;when we talk about plans, so that is one case where &quot;will&quot; is not used. Also if I saw someone tottering on a roof I probably would not say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;?&lt;/code&gt; He'll fall&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;we normally use &quot;going to&quot; when there is some kind of immediate evidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, the other future, present continuous used for the future, is used for appointments and other fixed plans:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm having lunch with Megan Fox tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a lot more details but as I said in the comments you'd better look in a grammar book, because this site isn't exactly chock-a-block with ESL teaching experts. For complete details I strongly recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0521532892&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;English Grammar in Use&quot; by Raymond Murphy&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T14:44:21.000" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-27T14:50:45.550" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Texas where they LOVE to name places with spellings that imply a common pronunciation, but have a completely different one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some real examples:&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Manor&lt;/strong&gt; - Pronounced &lt;strong&gt;&quot;May-ner&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. A city near my home. The town is named after a family with that pronunciation of their name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Elgin&lt;/strong&gt; - Pronounced with a hard G. Another nearby city. The famous basketball player who pronounced it with a soft-g throws everyone off on that one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bois d' Arc&lt;/strong&gt; - Pronounced &lt;strong&gt;&quot;bo dark&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. A street named after a local variety of tree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Manchaca&lt;/strong&gt; - Pronounced &lt;strong&gt;&quot;man shack&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. A city named after some Native American word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pedernales&lt;/strong&gt; -Pronounced &lt;strong&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://inogolo.com/pronunciation/d1109/Pedernales&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pur-deh-NAH-liss&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. A nearby river. Probably &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bexar&lt;/strong&gt; - Pronounced &lt;strong&gt;&quot;bear&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. The county containing San Antonio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may think some of these are just a result of local accents, but no. They are the official pronunciations of these places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="179" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T22:44:58.160" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T22:44:58.160" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-27T14:50:45.550" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="2067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2056" CreationDate="2010-08-27T14:57:32.697" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Television and films are probably the toughest listening you will ever encounter as a foreign language learner, so if you can beat that then you can be confident you have mastered the language. You might like to note that the people who translate film subtitles don't work from listening to the film but from a written script.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problems with listening to foreign language films are kind of obvious if you think about them: the speech is very fast, the vocabulary may be unfamilar, etc. The solution to the problems is just to practice listening, increase your vocabulary, etc. Can always watch the DVD with the &quot;hard of hearing&quot; subtitles turned on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T14:57:32.697" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-27T14:59:14.190" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For quite a long time I pronounced persimmon as &quot;PER-simmon&quot; instead of the correct &quot;per-SIM-mon&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T14:59:14.190" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-27T14:59:14.190" />
  <row Id="2070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2056" CreationDate="2010-08-27T15:55:18.397" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a native English speaker (American) and have trouble with American movies. The younger the actors, usually the worse it is. I believe it has to do with mumbling and slurring and rapid speech (sometimes dependent on the way the actor does the character, rather than the actor's natural speech patterns). It also has to do with hearing loss that comes with aging (I'm past the middle of life). It further has to do with the content, if it is a topic I am not familiar with, or if the dialog has little lead-up (if I'm anticipating what's going to be said based on the plot or the visuals, it's easier to comprehend. I found the same thing to be true when attending university lectures; if I'd already read the text I could keep up with what was said much better).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I do about it is, have a good sound system at home that I can turn up, adjust the bass &amp;amp; treble if necessary, and I try not to have other distractions while watching something (such as running the dishwasher). If I go to a movie, especially one where there are likely to be children, I prefer to go to a second-run theater (cheaper, too), after they've had the movie a while so there will be fewer people in the audience. Also helps to go at off times. I've found that going to the late movie (9 or after) does not seem to significantly reduce the number of children in the audience, who actually are noisier because they are more tired (at least until/unless they fall asleep).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T15:55:18.397" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-27T15:55:35.193" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Inventory. I (and no doubt many others who spent a significant amount of time playing text adventures), thought it was in-VENT-uh-ree, not IN-vuhn-tree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="855" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T15:55:35.193" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-27T15:55:35.193" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="2072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1136" CreationDate="2010-08-27T16:10:53.857" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As warren said, I believe it is personal preference. But those preferences are influenced by cultural trends, which change over time. As traditions were abandoned (starting in the 1960's), lots of behaviors were simplified, and I think this is just one manifestation of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I slightly disagree with kiamlaluno. I don't think middle names are less used if that is meant to imply that people don't have them. People mostly do still have them in America, but the norm is to simplify one's moniker. This is in keeping with the simplification of lots of customs in public and private life (acceptable dress, proper letter styles and forms of address, to name just two areas).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We referred to Bill Clinton, not William J. Clinton, because &quot;Bill&quot; sounds more like just a regular guy (so regular folks will vote for him), whereas &quot;William J.&quot; is a stuffy old person (because the use of the full first name and middle initial is an outdated custom) to whom no modern person would particularly relate and therefore would not support. Mr. Clinton presented himself not as a member of the establishment with lots of traditional expertise as his strength, but as a regular person in touch with the trials of the common or average person (&quot;I feel your pain.&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T16:10:53.857" />
  <row Id="2073" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2081" CreationDate="2010-08-27T17:25:05.543" Score="1" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;English is not my first language but I am always trying to learn more and more of it, so please bear with my mistakes and help me learn from it and grow my English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe I often make the wrong usage of the &quot;knew&quot;, and I would like to know what is the proper usage of this past-tense form and what should I be aware of when using it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I knew it existed but not that it could be used like that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I did not knew how to make these.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Only those who knew the truth would stand it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best regards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="856" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:49:41.453" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:49:41.453" Title="Proper use of &quot;knew&quot; and what must I consider when using it?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-27T17:31:27.980" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Carotid.  It is a big artery in the neck. Not sure where the stress goes, but it goes in an unnatural place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T17:31:27.980" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-27T17:31:27.980" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="2075" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-27T17:51:37.933" Score="6" ViewCount="310" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to find out how come we say &lt;em&gt;lucky me&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;stupid us&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;lucky I&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;stupid we&lt;/em&gt;. My understanding is that this is not a recent invention, but a relic from the distant past where it was a dative construction. However, I don't see the &lt;em&gt;reason&lt;/em&gt; for using any case other than the nominative in this construction to begin with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He went surfing. → Lucky him went surfing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I got pulled over. → Stupid me got pulled over.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;They bought a house. → Thoughtless them bought a house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is rather intriguing. After thinking about it for a while, I couldn't come up with any other language, Germanic or otherwise, where simply introducing an adjective would dictate a change of grammatical case. This appears to be an English peculiarity. How far can it be traced back? Can anyone comment on its background? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T23:36:51.743" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T02:59:52.597" Title="&quot;Stupid me&quot; and &quot;lucky her&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;morphology&gt;&lt;old-english&gt;&lt;case&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2056" CreationDate="2010-08-27T18:56:34.067" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Shinto Sherlock's answer, but I might add &quot;telephone conversations&quot; to that list as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My French is good enough that I can sometimes be mistaken for a native speaker (at least until I make a gender error -- English brains aren't wired to store genders for nouns), but I find certain French films quite difficult to follow. Even some English-language films can be relatively difficult for me, and I'm a native speaker. (And while I'm in my 40s and long past peak hearing, I've found this to be the case for my whole life, even though I have always tested normal for hearing sensitivity.) I think there must be something about the lack of actual interaction with the &quot;interlocutor&quot; that makes comprehension so difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="857" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T18:56:34.067" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1976" CreationDate="2010-08-27T19:08:05.840" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;is there such a thing as a &quot;neutral&quot; British accent&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that both BBC English and Received Pronunciation are artificial attempts to impose a &quot;neutral&quot; accent where there was previously none. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think of BBC English as analogous to inventing Canberra as the capital of Australia to avoid offending the good people of Sydney and Melbourne.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, Received Pronunciation was an attempt by one, particularly privileged, class of people to unilaterally declare their accent as The Neutral One.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't believe there is a neutral British accent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="858" LastEditorUserId="858" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-27T21:23:39.610" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T21:23:39.610" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1969" CreationDate="2010-08-27T19:11:47.907" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English people—especially Londoners—use &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; colloquially in place of &lt;em&gt;my&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="858" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T23:35:12.500" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T23:35:12.500" />
  <row Id="2079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1895" CreationDate="2010-08-27T19:40:06.257" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might find &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; in Wikipedia to be elucidating, though I don't like the term itself, as &quot;Mid-Atlantic English&quot; to me signals the accents spoken between New Jersey and Washington, D.C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, it's true that there's a now-largely-disappeared dialect that was spoken both by the upper classes of the Eastern Seabord and by Hollywood actors and actresses wanting to appear upper class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="857" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T19:40:06.257" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2054" CreationDate="2010-08-27T19:50:19.937" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A common cause of confusion - even for native speakers of English - arises when using a collective noun in phrases such as &quot;a group of people&quot; or &quot;a team of engineers&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In such cases, the verb should agree with the collective noun. &quot;A group&quot; is singular even though it contains many people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="858" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T19:50:19.937" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2073" CreationDate="2010-08-27T20:10:43.293" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second example is incorrect usage. When using the &quot;I did not&quot; construction, the verb (&quot;to know&quot;) should generally be conjugated as the infinitive form of the verb, less the &quot;to&quot;. So the correct formulation would be &quot;I did not know how to make these.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="857" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T20:10:43.293" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1514" CreationDate="2010-08-27T20:25:01.753" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an Englishman living in the US for almost 20 years, &quot;fill out&quot; still sounds jarring to my ears. I had never heard it used before I came to America. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I rarely hear &quot;fill in&quot; on this side of the Atlantic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="858" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T20:25:01.753" />
  <row Id="2083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2075" CreationDate="2010-08-27T20:39:09.807" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As for an etymology, I don't know where or when the origination of this slang construction came from. However, it appears that the construction is a subordinate declarative object clause. Rather than being formal and saying &lt;em&gt;he is lucky&lt;/em&gt; (which would be nominative case), it's reduced to &lt;em&gt;lucky him&lt;/em&gt; due to the verb's removal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To isolate the clause though, Think about it in conversational context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I got pulled over.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Lucky you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further reduced, take your question a step further with adding to the above conversation &lt;em&gt;Again.&lt;/em&gt; Neither of the last two are actual sentences obviously, but poetically and conversationally they work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like in all of the examples though the noun of the clause is an object, a reference rather than an active subject of a predicate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T23:40:30.417" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T23:40:30.417" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1136" CreationDate="2010-08-27T21:48:51.797" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Safire's Political Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; by William Safire says this under initials, presidential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A contribution made by newspaper-headline writers to American history. Before 1932, the President was referred to in headlines as the President, or by his last name, occasionally by his nickname (&quot;Teddy,&quot; &quot;Cal&quot;), once by his initials (T.R. for Theodore Roosevelt). Presidents, in signing brief memos, would often use the initial of their first name (A. Lincoln).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Franklin D. Roosevelt initialed memos &quot;FDR&quot; and his staff referred to him that way. This proved a boon to headline writers, saving six spaces on both &quot;Roosevelt&quot; and &quot;President.&quot; Use of initials was terse but not disrespectful, as &quot;Frank&quot; might have been. English newspapers had long followed the practice: Gladstone was headlined as &quot;GOM&quot; (Grand Old Man). Following FDR, HST was immediately adopted as short for Harry S Truman. Though Eisenhower initialed short notes &quot;DE,&quot; his nickname was short and famous enough to take the place of initials, though &quot;Ike&quot; was considered too familiar for &lt;em&gt;The New York Times&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Irreverent headlines writers who referred to John F. Kennedy as &quot;Jack&quot; before his election quickly switched to &quot;JFK&quot; afterward. Ted Sorensen wrote: &quot;JFK - as he persuaded the headline writers to call him, not to imitate FDR but to avoid the youthful 'Jack.'&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even before his association with FDR [I think he means JFK], LBJ was preoccupied with initials: Lady Bird Johnson, Lynda Bird and Luci Baines all carried the same initials, as did his ranch [and his dog Little Beagle Johnson]. &quot;All the Way With LBJ&quot; was used as a preconvention slogan in 1960, but achieved little national recognition. Johnson became LBJ outside his own circle only after he became President. In 1964 he used his initials in campaign advertising: &quot;USA for LBJ.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jimmy Carter avoided using his initials because &quot;J.C.&quot; is usually associated with Jesus Christ. Richard Nixon's last name was short, which meant headline writers did not need &quot;RN&quot;; miffed, the former President used initials as the title of his 1978 memoirs. Jerry Ford's name was even shorter, doing away with the need for a gruff &quot;GRF.&quot; Neither Reagan nor the elder Bush used their initials widely, but initialese cropped up with the Clinton term as FOB--not &quot;freight on board,&quot; but &quot;Friends of Bill.&quot; Headline writers seized on the middle inital of the younger Bush's name, both because it differentiated him from his father and because the irreverent, drawling &quot;Dubya&quot; came with him from Texas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also some interesting discussion of this question at: &lt;a href=&quot;http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=496230&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Straight Dope&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="860" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T21:48:51.797" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2056" CreationDate="2010-08-27T21:55:00.257" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a native speaker, been taking (American) English seriously for only 1 year (after 8 of &quot;School English&quot;) and usually have no problem watching American movies. In fact, I hate subtitles. That video with quotes from &quot;The Wire;&quot; I understood almost everything. Though I think it's impossible not to have trouble understanding some African Americans talking. I also took a look at the Sopranos, and that was already harder for me (i.e. took more concentration to understand). &lt;em&gt;I watched a lot of videos and movies on my computer with headphones, and that seemed to have helped me with the gradual elimination of subtitles.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think there are a lot of things to consider, like the person talking, the quality of the audio, the volume, your concentration etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, as far as American English goes. When it comes to British English...that's another story. British English goes from hard to comprehend to plain irritating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="706" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T21:55:00.257" />
  <row Id="2086" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2249" CreationDate="2010-08-27T22:01:42.847" Score="2" ViewCount="313" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a diatribe is defined as &lt;em&gt;a forceful and bitter verbal attack against someone or something.&lt;/em&gt; I had previously understood it to mean something more along the lines of &lt;em&gt;drawn out, longer than it needs to be, impassioned persuasion.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in a friendly letter, &lt;em&gt;My [diatribe] begins here.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any alternatives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="861" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T00:00:42.137" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T22:04:29.080" Title="What's a word similar in usage to &quot;diatribe,&quot; but not as harsh?" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2075" CreationDate="2010-08-27T22:07:18.870" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's happening is the subject pronoun (&quot;&lt;code&gt;I&lt;/code&gt;&quot;) is being replaced by the object pronoun (&quot;&lt;code&gt;me&lt;/code&gt;&quot;).  It seems to be that when you begin the subject with an adjective (&quot;&lt;code&gt;Stupid me&lt;/code&gt;&quot;) there's an implication that you're answering the question of who the adjective refers to.  Who is stupid?  Me.  In this case, it makes more sense as an object pronoun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't think of a precise set of rules for this situation, but this appears to be what I'm doing when I intuitively speak those sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="809" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T22:07:18.870" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2086" CreationDate="2010-08-27T22:13:06.553" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps &lt;em&gt;discourse&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the first &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/discourse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dictionary.com definition&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Communication of thought by words; talk; conversation: earnest and intelligent discourse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="809" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T00:01:47.673" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T00:01:47.673" />
  <row Id="2089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2086" CreationDate="2010-08-27T22:13:22.997" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;rambling speech&quot; or &quot;rambling argument&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-31T15:07:45.067" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T15:07:45.067" />
  <row Id="2090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2086" CreationDate="2010-08-27T22:13:48.000" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Litany&quot; or &quot;polemic&quot; would work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="847" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T22:13:48.000" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2086" CreationDate="2010-08-27T22:14:20.357" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;rant?  screed?  panegyric?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T22:14:20.357" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1976" CreationDate="2010-08-27T22:34:28.743" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There was a PBS/BBC tv show back in the '80's called &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Story of English&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. Also has an updated companion book.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was quite the good program. One interesting thing that was done in the show, was to compare various British accents to American accents. For example comparing American Southern accents, to accents in specific parts of Great Britain. Anyway, it was a long time ago when I saw the program; but it was quite fascinating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="742" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T22:34:28.743" />
  <row Id="2093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2075" CreationDate="2010-08-27T23:28:08.987" Score="-3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He went surfing. → Lucky him went&#xA;  surfing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't sound very natural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I got pulled over. → Stupid me got&#xA;  pulled over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might occur, but I would punctuate it &quot;Stupid me - got pulled over&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They bought a house. → Thoughtless&#xA;  them bought a house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't sound natural at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically you're putting an exclamation like &quot;lucky me!&quot; into the object of a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After thinking about it for a while, I&#xA;  couldn't come up with any other&#xA;  language, Germanic or otherwise, where&#xA;  simply introducing an adjective would&#xA;  dictate a change of grammatical case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a bogus question, you've invented a bunch of far-fetched sentences and then posed a question on the basis of a grammar which you yourself seem to have invented. &quot;Lucky me!&quot; etc. are exclamations, they're not used as the subject of sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-27T23:28:08.987" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="2094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2086" CreationDate="2010-08-27T23:30:43.110" Score="-7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I had previously understood it to mean&#xA;  something more along the lines of&#xA;  &quot;drawn out, longer than it needs to&#xA;  be, impassioned persuasion.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You were wrong, I don't think it ever means that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For example, in a friendly letter, &quot;My&#xA;  [diatribe] begins here.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example what? What are you talking about, your misuse of diatribe or what the word actually means to everyone else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What's a word similar in usage to “diatribe,” but not as harsh?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similar to your misunderstanding of diatribe or similar to what it actually means? If you look at the other answers to the question, nobody seems to be clear what you're asking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T00:07:33.400" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T00:07:33.400" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="2095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2086" CreationDate="2010-08-28T01:11:07.013" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Harangue&quot; might work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Merriam-Webster, &quot;diatribe&quot; is listed as a synonym and &quot;lecture&quot; as a definition, so it seems to be defined pretty broadly. I understand it to be more long-winded and emotional than a lecture, but not as strong as the OED's definition of &quot;diatribe.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not totally sure about the persuasive bit, though. Maybe &quot;pitch&quot; would work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T01:11:07.013" />
  <row Id="2096" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2480" CreationDate="2010-08-28T02:11:05.217" Score="3" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am curious to know when &lt;em&gt;whatever&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;whenever&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;wherever&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;whoever&lt;/em&gt; first started being used as interrogative words. Merriam-Webster, etymonline and dictionary.com offer no hints. Wikipedia doesn't even mention them as interrogatives, completely ignoring the fact that there are countless books titled &lt;em&gt;Whatever happened to X?&lt;/em&gt;. TheFreeDictionary.com points out that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[c]ritics have occasionally objected to the one-word form, but many respected writers have used it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and leaves it at that (well, thanks for nothing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T20:25:48.610" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T20:25:48.610" Title="Whatever happened to &quot;what ever&quot; and whenever did it happen?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;interrogatives&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2097" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2101" CreationDate="2010-08-28T02:13:25.443" Score="4" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this sentence, should &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; be &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt;&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On April 13, 2009, Lugo admitted he &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; the father of a child conceived with Viviana Carrillo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="786" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T23:52:50.323" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T23:52:50.323" Title="Should we use past tense here?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2097" CreationDate="2010-08-28T03:16:00.880" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would prefer &quot;is&quot; unless he has stopped being the father sometime since conception.  While the child &lt;strong&gt;was&lt;/strong&gt; conceived, he &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; the father.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T03:16:00.880" />
  <row Id="2100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2096" CreationDate="2010-08-28T04:18:43.187" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.etymonline.com&lt;/a&gt; also doesn't give much explanation besides giving a general century of the first use. However, it does mention that &lt;em&gt;whatever&lt;/em&gt; is a variant of &lt;em&gt;whatsoever&lt;/em&gt; as well as a construction of &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;ever&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T23:55:58.900" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T23:55:58.900" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2097" CreationDate="2010-08-28T08:59:00.610" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On April 13, 2009, Lugo admitted he is the father of a child conceived with Viviana Carrillo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2097/should-we-use-past-tense-here/2099#2099&quot;&gt;Boofus McGoofus&lt;/a&gt; got this right. I am just going to expand on his answer. The heuristic rule taught to ESL learners is that the past tense should be used for indirect quotations, as in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lugo: &quot;I admit I am the father of a child conceived with V.C.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indirect quotation form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On April 13, 2009, Lugo admitted he &lt;strong&gt;was&lt;/strong&gt; the father of a child conceived with Viviana Carrillo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, this rule doesn't have to be applied in the case that the situation is still true, so &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; can be used. However, in a sentence like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On April 13, 1801, Lugo admitted he was the father of a child conceived with Viviana Carrillo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;is&quot; would be a little strange because both Lugo and his child are long since gone. So basically the heuristic rule can be broken in the case that the quoted fact is still true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T08:59:00.610" />
  <row Id="2104" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-28T13:40:05.530" Score="0" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;The past tense of &lt;em&gt;to occur&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;occurred&lt;/em&gt; (not &lt;em&gt;occured&lt;/em&gt;), but the past tense of &lt;em&gt;to listen&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;listened&lt;/em&gt; (not &lt;em&gt;listenned&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why? Which is the general rule that is applied to make the past tense of a verb?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T15:42:46.160" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T17:13:23.777" Title="Why do you write &quot;occurred&quot;, and &quot;listened&quot;?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2105" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2110" CreationDate="2010-08-28T14:09:42.870" Score="8" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Definitely&quot; seems to be one of the most frequently typoed words in written English on the internet -- enough to bring somebody to create &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;s&gt;Simon&lt;/s&gt; Google says, in a completely unscientific manner:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;defini tely&lt;/code&gt; ×105,000,000 (43.4%)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;defina tely&lt;/code&gt; ×&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;80,000,000 (33.0%)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;define t ly&lt;/code&gt; ×&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;21,900,000 (&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;9.0%)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;defina t ly&lt;/code&gt; ×&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;18,300,000 (&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;7.6%)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;defi ant ly&lt;/code&gt; ×&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;15,900,000 (&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;6.6%)¹&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;definant ly&lt;/code&gt; ×&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;858,000 (&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;.4%)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;definent ly&lt;/code&gt; ×&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;217,000 (&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;.1%)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is this the case? What are the reasons behind these misspellings? Are those mistakes limited to the Internet, or are they also present in hand-written English as well?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;¹defiantly, according to the Wiktionary, also is another, correctly-spelt word.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="865" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T04:59:53.520" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T04:59:53.520" Title="Why is &quot;definitely&quot; so frequently typoed?" Tags="&lt;internet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-28T14:22:36.290" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mishap&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Who hasn't said mish-ap instead of mis-hap?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="375" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T14:22:36.290" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-28T14:22:36.290" />
  <row Id="2107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2105" CreationDate="2010-08-28T14:24:22.997" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you think of any other words that end in &lt;em&gt;-itely&lt;/em&gt; that are pronounced the same? I think the majority of them end in &lt;em&gt;-ately&lt;/em&gt;, e.g. &lt;em&gt;alternately&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;indiscriminately&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;fortunately&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;intimately&lt;/em&gt;. Therefore, people uninterested in spelling irregularity will intuitively spell it “definately” because it seems more plausible if you don’t know better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Just thought of one: &lt;em&gt;infinitely&lt;/em&gt;... but it’s definitely rarer!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="764" LastEditorUserId="764" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-28T14:40:56.897" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T14:40:56.897" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2104" CreationDate="2010-08-28T14:35:02.180" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Occur&lt;/em&gt; has its stress on the final syllable (o-CUR) but &lt;em&gt;listen&lt;/em&gt; (LIS-en) has its stress on the first syllable. If the verb ends in the pattern &lt;em&gt;consonant-vowel-consonant&lt;/em&gt;, the final consonant is doubled in the case of verbs like re&lt;b&gt;fer&lt;/b&gt; and oc&lt;b&gt;cur&lt;/b&gt; and be&lt;b&gt;gin&lt;/b&gt; where the stress is on the final syllable (re&lt;b&gt;ferr&lt;/b&gt;er, re&lt;b&gt;ferr&lt;/b&gt;ing, re&lt;b&gt;ferr&lt;/b&gt;ed, oc&lt;b&gt;curr&lt;/b&gt;ence, oc&lt;b&gt;curr&lt;/b&gt;ed, be&lt;b&gt;ginn&lt;/b&gt;ing), or one syllable words (big -&gt; bigger, sin -&gt; sinner) but not in the case of verbs like &lt;b&gt;list&lt;/b&gt;en or &lt;b&gt;brok&lt;/b&gt;er (listened, listener, brokered, etc.), where the stress is non-final.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T17:13:23.777" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T17:13:23.777" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="2110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2105" CreationDate="2010-08-28T15:00:35.887" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely is pronounced as &lt;code&gt;defIn@tli&lt;/code&gt; where the @ indicates a schwa sound. A schwa sound could easily be any letter in English so it's easy to misspell it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T15:00:35.887" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2111" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-28T15:32:36.013" Score="3" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just discovered today that the 'lumpen' in lumpenproletariat means 'rag' (in German). I had always assumed, from the sound of it, that it meant something like 'undifferentiated mass'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you suggest similar words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T22:36:58.060" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-28T15:32:36.013" Title="Words misunderstood due to incorrect associations" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2112" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2114" CreationDate="2010-08-28T15:43:46.283" Score="6" ViewCount="240" Body="&lt;p&gt;When is it appropriate to use the terms &lt;em&gt;Dear Sir or Madam&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;To whom it may concern&lt;/em&gt;?  The rules I was taught state that &lt;em&gt;Dear Sir or Madam&lt;/em&gt; should be used when you're writing a letter to a person about something that person has direct involvement in (e.g. returning a defective product to a customer service department).  By the same rules, &lt;em&gt;To whom it may concern&lt;/em&gt; would be used for situations in which the recipient is a third party to the topic of the letter (e.g. regarding a letter of reference or recommendation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Was I taught correctly?  Is the rule actually something else?  Or is this one of those situations where many people have an opinion but there is no real rule?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T23:50:36.773" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T23:50:36.773" Title="&quot;Dear Sir or Madam&quot; versus &quot;To whom it may concern&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;letter-writing&gt;&lt;salutation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2111" CreationDate="2010-08-28T16:46:43.277" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Great question!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always assumed the Latin phrase &lt;em&gt;in camera&lt;/em&gt; meant &quot;in public&quot; (probably because of the English phrase &quot;on-camera&quot;), rather than its actual meaning of in private, or behind closed doors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="866" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T16:46:43.277" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-28T16:46:43.277" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2112" CreationDate="2010-08-28T17:18:43.623" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there is a &quot;black and white&quot; rule there. With that out of the way, here's my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;To whom it may concern&quot; is used where the letter is issued for use by someone without regards to who receives it, whether a person, or an institution etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Dear Sir or Madam&quot; is a more specific address.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T17:18:43.623" />
  <row Id="2115" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2163" CreationDate="2010-08-28T18:19:11.310" Score="4" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;Medieval punctuation was different from the one we use now; for example, Medieval punctuation included &lt;em&gt;punctus&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;punctus versus&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;punctus flexus&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When did their equivalent in modern English emerge?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T06:36:22.020" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T00:05:51.340" Title="When did modern punctuation emerge?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2116" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2126" CreationDate="2010-08-28T18:28:18.880" Score="16" ViewCount="382" Body="&lt;p&gt;I generally know how to use a hyphen, but when should I use an en-dash instead of an em-dash, or when should I use hyphen instead of an em-dash?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-04T14:15:31.730" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T14:15:31.730" Title="When should I use an em-dash, an en-dash, and a hyphen?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;hyphen&gt;&lt;style&gt;&lt;dash&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="10" />
  <row Id="2117" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2122" CreationDate="2010-08-28T18:37:22.993" Score="11" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mark's generosity in this crisis seems to more than make up for his earlier stinginess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should those sentences always be avoided, or are there cases where they are valid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:30:53.683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:30:53.683" Title="Are split infinitives grammatically incorrect, or are they valid constructs?" Tags="&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;infinitive&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1042" CreationDate="2010-08-28T18:47:48.583" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dutch, not an uncommon nickname, seems to be used for a variety of reasons. It could be because a person is connected to Holland, or because a person is of German descent. Here, &quot;Dutch&quot; is from &quot;Deutsch,&quot; the German-language word for &quot;German.&quot; Other reasons are more idiosyncratic. Here are some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ronald Reagan&lt;/strong&gt;, 40th President of the United States&#xA;As a boy, Reagan's father nicknamed his son &quot;Dutch&quot;, due to his &quot;fat little Dutchman&quot;-like appearance, and his &quot;Dutchboy&quot; haircut; the nickname stuck with him throughout his youth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dutch Schultz&lt;/strong&gt;, notorious gangster&#xA;His old associates dubbed him &quot;Dutch&quot; Schultz in honor of a deceased strong-arm thug who was notorious for dirty fighting at the turn of the century.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dutch Ruppersberger&lt;/strong&gt;, U.S. congressman&#xA;Dutch is legally part of his name: Charles Albert Dutch Ruppersberger III, but it wasn't always. When Rep. Charles Albert Ruppersberger III (D-Md.) first ran for Congress in 2002, he decided that his 13-letter last name was too long to put on a bumper sticker. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides, he says, he needed something catchier, something that would stick in people’s heads. So he opted for his lifelong nickname: Dutch. But there was one hitch: It wasn’t his real name, so he couldn’t put &quot;Dutch&quot; on the ballot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;When you market yourself, you have to make sure that you have the same name on the ballot, so I needed ‘Dutch’ on the ballot,&quot; he said in an interview. &quot;So what I did is I legally -- I’m a lawyer -- I legally added Dutch to my name. So I would go by C -- period -- A -- period -- Dutch, and all of the bumper stickers would say, ‘Go Dutch.’ So legally I added Dutch to my name.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But why did he choose &quot;Dutch&quot;? The Maryland Democrat’s nickname has been --Dutch-- since the moment of his birth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;--When I was born ... the doctor came out and said to my father, ‘You have a big blond Dutchman,’ -- he said. --So they started calling me ‘Dutch,’ and when my mother and he would write letters, he’d ask, ‘How’s the Dutchman doing?’ I’ve been called Dutch all of my life.--&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dutch Fehring&lt;/strong&gt;, Stanford's winningest baseball coach.&#xA;It was during his freshman year in high school that he earned the nickname --Dutch,-- because he was of German descent.  After Fehring returned a kickoff 60 yards for a touchdown, a local sportswriter tabbed him --The Flying Dutchman-- and the nickname stuck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="860" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T18:47:48.583" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2119" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2127" CreationDate="2010-08-28T18:53:34.543" Score="3" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there cases where a period is placed inside parentheses? In which cases the period (or a comma) should be placed inside the parentheses?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T20:43:10.860" Title="In which cases is a comma/period placed inside or outside of parentheses?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="2120" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2138" CreationDate="2010-08-28T18:55:27.657" Score="3" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep to write &lt;em&gt;dataset&lt;/em&gt;. Is that correct, or should I write &lt;em&gt;data set&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T20:19:38.873" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T20:19:38.873" Title="Which is correct, &quot;dataset&quot; or &quot;data set&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2121" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2128" CreationDate="2010-08-28T18:59:24.657" Score="9" ViewCount="230" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am used to write &lt;em&gt;feedback is welcome&lt;/em&gt;. Is that correct, or should I write &lt;em&gt;feedback is welcomed&lt;/em&gt;? Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T20:45:27.400" Title="Which is correct: &quot;feedback is welcome&quot; or &quot;feedback is welcomed&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2117" CreationDate="2010-08-28T19:00:52.913" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only thing that should be avoided is awkwardness. Putting adverbial phrases between the infinitive complementizer &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; and the infinitive can sometimes be awkward, but it is certainly never ungrammatical or “invalid”. Even the most conservative and staunchest prescriptivist commenters admit that there is nothing inherently ungrammatical about so-called “split” infinitives, which have been attested in all forms of written English for &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002054.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;at least seven hundred years&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, in many cases, putting the adverbial phrase in the intervening position is the only grammatical place to put it, such as in the example in the original poster’s question. There are a couple posts on Language Log discussing these “obligatorily split infinitives”: (“&lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000901.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Obligatorily split infinitive&lt;/a&gt;”), (“&lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002180.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Obligatorily split infinitive in real life&lt;/a&gt;”).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-28T21:05:53.960" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T21:05:53.960" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="2123" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2130" CreationDate="2010-08-28T19:14:31.887" Score="1" ViewCount="279" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I forgot&lt;/em&gt; versus &lt;em&gt;I had forgot&lt;/em&gt;. What is the difference between the two phrases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="869" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-28T20:26:57.347" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T21:48:30.077" Title="&quot;I forgot&quot; versus &quot;I had forgot&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;learning&gt;&lt;tense&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="2125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1404" CreationDate="2010-08-28T20:25:25.157" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When they indicate that a word comes from a language, it indicates a direct, known relationship between the two words. When they switch to saying &quot;akin to,&quot; the entry indicates that there is likely an indirect relationship between the word in question and the word its akin to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quick look up indicates that English originated from a West German dialect, which I'm sure relates to Old High German in some manner. Going to the example in salt, the entry indicates that there is the Old English word and the Old High German word. However, there's at least one language in between those two that the etymology flows through. Since the Old High German is only akin to the Old English, all the ancestor words from the Old High German are also akin to the present-day word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, there's a link in the etymological chain missing. The term &quot;akin to&quot; recognizes that fact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="870" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T20:25:25.157" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2116" CreationDate="2010-08-28T20:39:55.240" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An em-dash is typically used to act as a comma or parenthesis to separately out phrases&amp;mdash;or even just a word&amp;mdash;in a sentence for various reasons (i.e. an appositive).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An en-dash is use to connect values in a range or that are related. Saying &quot;in years 1939&amp;ndash;1945&quot; or &quot;New York beat Los Angeles 98&amp;ndash;95&quot; are both examples where an en-dash should be used (as I did explicitly in the examples). A good rule of from here is when you're expressing a &quot;to&quot; relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A hyphen is used to join words in a compound construction, like &quot;em-dash,&quot; or separate syllables of a word, like during a line break.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, a minus sign is distinct from all three of the above. 4 &amp;minus; 2 = 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to use the correct dash or hyphen in StackExchange comments, just use the appropriate HTML entity: &amp;amp;mdash; for em-dash, &amp;amp;ndash; for en-dash, an &amp;amp;minus; for the minus sign. The hyphen is, of course, on your keyboard directly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="870" LastEditorUserId="870" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T17:40:53.520" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T17:40:53.520" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="2127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2119" CreationDate="2010-08-28T20:43:10.860" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://wps.ablongman.com/long_faigley_penguinhb_1/0,7325,506571-,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Penguin Handbook&lt;/a&gt; says it more clearly than I could:&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Examine the material enclosed by parentheses. Is it an entire sentence? If so, place the period inside the closing parenthesis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;If the parenthetical material is part of another sentence, place the period outside the closing parenthesis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Sometimes the parenthetical material is part of a longer sentence part that will be set off by a comma, colon, or semicolon. These pieces of punctuation always come after the parenthetical material, never before it or inside the parentheses.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/parentheses.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Brian's &lt;em&gt;Common Errors&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracket#Parentheses_.28_.29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Except that my examples were going to involve monkeys and saxophones. Theirs are pretty boring.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T20:43:10.860" />
  <row Id="2128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2121" CreationDate="2010-08-28T20:45:27.400" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are both correct, but the sense is a little different. In the first one 'welcome' is being used as an adjective. The second one is a passive construction--'feedback is welcomed (by us)'. Even though they mean basically the same thing, I like the first one better. The active voice is simpler and sounds stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="860" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T20:45:27.400" />
  <row Id="2129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2120" CreationDate="2010-08-28T20:57:03.993" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dataset&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; says they are equivalent, but neither &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dataset&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; nor &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dataset&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt; has an entry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that information, I guess I would classify &lt;em&gt;dataset&lt;/em&gt; as technical jargon, but it's really not much of a jargon term. Any technical audience would have no problem with it; a non-technical audience should still easily understand its meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T20:57:03.993" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2123" CreationDate="2010-08-28T21:08:29.580" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I forgot&quot; is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simple-past&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;simple past&lt;/a&gt;, expressing an action which took place once. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I had &lt;em&gt;forgotten&lt;/em&gt;&quot; is is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/past-perfect-simple&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;simple past perfect&lt;/a&gt;, used to express an action taking place before a certain time in the past. This tense emphasizes what happened, not the duration thereof. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I had forgot&quot; is generally considered bad grammar, at least in my part of the US, because the correct past participle of &quot;forgot&quot; is &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/irregular-verbs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;forgotten&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/tenses&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/tenses&lt;/a&gt; for examples of all English tenses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T21:08:29.580" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2131" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2134" CreationDate="2010-08-28T21:10:09.527" Score="6" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually put a space before, and after &lt;em&gt;/&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We review a module / theme per user.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct, or should I remove the spaces before the slash?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T20:34:46.280" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T20:34:46.280" Title="Should I write &quot;comma/period&quot; or &quot;comma / period&quot;?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;slash&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="2132" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2136" CreationDate="2010-08-28T21:22:35.457" Score="7" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why isn't the present tense used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am wondering if you would like to come for dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="786" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T17:20:01.053" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T20:54:19.547" Title="Why is the past tense used in &quot;I was wondering if you would like to come for dinner?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2075" CreationDate="2010-08-28T22:10:18.547" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interesting question. My guess at what is going on is that the construction of the phrase [adjective] + [objective pronoun] is  thought of as a unit so it can be used a subject of the sentence similar to a proper noun, like in these sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stupid John. He dropped the camera. Stupid me. I dropped the camera.&#xA;Stupid John dropped the camera. Lucky John caught it before it hit the floor. &#xA;Stupid me dropped the camera. Lucky me caught it before it hit the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am referring to myself in the third person with this construction. (It is 'Stupid me drops the camera.' and 'Lucky me catches the camera.') It would not be as clear or personal if I use my name instead of a pronoun referring to myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This still doesn't answer the question of why it is &quot;lucky me&quot; instead of &quot;lucky I&quot;. In English an object pronoun identifies a person more than the subject pronoun, like in the following.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Me Generation not The I Generation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;MobileMe not MobileI&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Despicable Me not Despicable I&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Marley and Me not Marley and I&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Who is there? Me. not Who is there? I&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You, Me, and Everyone not You, I, and Everyone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What, me worry? (Mad magazine slogan)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arnold Zwicky writing on the Language Log in a post called &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001762.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Here Comes the Accusative&quot;&lt;/a&gt; discusses the use of accusative pronouns:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;English verbs in finite clauses agree&#xA;  with nominative subjects, but default&#xA;  to third-person singular otherwise;&#xA;  this sort of defaulting is very well&#xA;  known in other languages, and can be&#xA;  seen elsewhere in English (either it's&#xA;  Poor me is going to suffer for this or&#xA;  you can't say it at all; but certainly&#xA;  *Poor me am going to suffer for this is just out, as, for that matter, is&#xA;  *Poor I am going to suffer for this).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ok, but what licenses accusative&#xA;  subjects? Putting aside some&#xA;  well-known complexities like&#xA;  coordinate subjects and also putting&#xA;  aside a slew of normative&#xA;  prescriptions, the basic rule for&#xA;  nominative/accusative choice in&#xA;  English is: nominative for subjects of&#xA;  finite clauses, accusative otherwise.&#xA;  This rule has to be understood&#xA;  literally: only subjects of finite&#xA;  clauses; things understood, or&#xA;  interpreted, as subjects of such&#xA;  clauses don't count. So free-standing&#xA;  pronouns are accusative, even when&#xA;  they're interpreted as subjects: Who&#xA;  did that? Me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thomas Grano in his &lt;a href=&quot;http://home.uchicago.edu/~tgrano/uht.pdf&amp;amp;pli=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;honors thesis&lt;/a&gt; at Stanford University further explains the adjective + pronoun construction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2.2.1 Adjective + pronoun&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...in some very limited contexts a&#xA;  pronoun can be modified by an&#xA;  adjective, and in such cases the&#xA;  pronoun must be accusative. According&#xA;  to CGEL [Cambridge Grammar of the English &#xA;  Language] pronouns can combine only&#xA;  with a handful of adjectives (lucky,&#xA;  poor, and silly are cited)...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;CGEL observes that the pronoun in such&#xA;  contexts must be accusative, but&#xA;  erroneously claims that it can never&#xA;  occur in subject position. On the&#xA;  contrary Google Groups turn up such&#xA;  examples as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Silly me forgot to bring a jacket. oh&#xA;  poor him had to suffer with some&#xA;  chocolate and caramel ice cream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As these examples show, the nominative&#xA;  case required by the finite verb is&#xA;  overridden by the pronoun's&#xA;  combination with an adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="860" LastEditorUserId="860" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-31T02:59:52.597" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T02:59:52.597" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2131" CreationDate="2010-08-28T22:11:07.850" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should remove the spaces. Unless, of course, you are quoting a poem, in which case the slash indicates a line break. (^_^)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We review a module&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  theme per user.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Moras are hard to count.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia has &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slash_%28punctuation%29#In_English_text&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;more info&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are usually no spaces either before or after a slash. Exceptions are in representing the start of a new line when quoting verse, or a new paragraph when quoting prose. The Chicago Manual of Style (at 6.112) also allows spaces when either of the separated items is a compound that itself includes a space: &lt;em&gt;Our New Zealand / Western Australia trip&lt;/em&gt;. (Compare use of an en dash used to separate such compounds.) &lt;em&gt;The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing&lt;/em&gt; prescribes &quot;No space before or after an oblique when used between individual words, letters or symbols; one space before and after the oblique when used between longer groups which contain internal spacing&quot;, giving the examples &quot;n/a&quot; and &quot;Language and Society / Langue et société&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T13:25:23.907" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T13:25:23.907" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2117" CreationDate="2010-08-28T23:39:33.350" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should those sentences always avoided, or are there cases where they are valid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A native speaker who hasn't been taught that split infinitives are &quot;wrong&quot; will not actually notice that there is something ungrammatical about &quot;&lt;b&gt;to boldly go&lt;/b&gt; where no man has gone before&quot;. Thus it is very hard to argue that split infinitives are actually mistakes. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dictionary_of_Modern_English_Usage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fowler's &quot;A Dictionary of Modern English Usage&quot; (link to Wikipedia article)&lt;/a&gt;, the notion that split infinitives are grammatically wrong originated from an application of Latin grammar (where it isn't even possible to split an infinitive) to English in the eighteenth century.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own opinion is that there is no need to avoid them. I'd like to refer you to this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-23994,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;notes and queries (Guardian newspaper) discussion&lt;/a&gt; for more discussion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A funny quote from Fowler, via &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide/s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Guardian style guide&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The English-speaking world may be&#xA;  divided into (1) those who neither&#xA;  know nor care what a split infinitive&#xA;  is; (2) those who do not know, but&#xA;  care very much; (3) those who know and&#xA;  condemn; (4) those who know and&#xA;  distinguish. Those who neither know&#xA;  nor care are the vast majority, and&#xA;  are happy folk, to be envied.&quot; (HW&#xA;  Fowler, Modern English Usage, 1926)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-28T23:52:00.200" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T23:52:00.200" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2132" CreationDate="2010-08-28T23:49:08.137" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using the past tense is a way of offering flexibility in an invitation or request. You don't need to feel compelled to accept because it is being phrased as a passing thought. A whim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastActivityDate="2010-08-28T23:49:08.137" />
  <row Id="2137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2132" CreationDate="2010-08-28T23:49:41.637" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference between&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wonder if you'd like to come for dinner&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was wondering if you'd like to come for dinner&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is that the second sounds more hesitant. It's used to make the invitation less direct and thus more polite. &quot;I wonder if you'd like to come for dinner&quot; sounds like something your boss would say, it's almost like an order to come to dinner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's nothing wrong with the grammar in the second form; if you are wondering now then you must have been wondering for at least a small period of time beforehand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T00:03:13.027" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T00:03:13.027" />
  <row Id="2138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2120" CreationDate="2010-08-29T03:05:31.357" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As @mmyers notes, &lt;em&gt;dataset&lt;/em&gt; does not appear in any dictionaries. However, there are 172 incidences in the Corpus of Contemporary American English, and all but a handful are in the “academic” section, representing formal academic writing. Its lack of appearance in dictionaries is probably because it is a fairly new coinage, the two examples from the Corpus of Historical American English are from 2001. Nothing from before then. Interestingly, the British National Corpus has 51 incidences, dating from the 1980s to the mid 1990s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T03:05:31.357" />
  <row Id="2139" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2148" CreationDate="2010-08-29T03:28:32.830" Score="8" ViewCount="419" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen people say both 0.25 mile and 0.25 miles. Should we use plural or singular for a fraction of a mile?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="165" LastEditorUserId="179" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-02T14:27:29.650" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T16:00:21.870" Title="0.25 mile or 0.25 miles?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="2140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2139" CreationDate="2010-08-29T05:26:22.260" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends how you say it. You'd say &quot;nought point two five miles&quot; (plural) but &quot;a quarter of a mile&quot; (singular)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="866" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T05:26:22.260" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2139" CreationDate="2010-08-29T05:54:45.160" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd leave it singular unless talking about a range such as &quot;0.25 - 2 miles&quot;. In a table, for example, the heading would be the same regardless of the units. You can always abbreviate as &quot;mi&quot; and avoid the issue. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2139/0-25-mile-or-0-25-miles/2140#2140&quot;&gt;Simon's answer&lt;/a&gt; is also good. Also note that it's actually more awkward to say 0.25 mile than &quot;point two five of a mile&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastEditorUserId="161" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-24T16:00:21.870" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T16:00:21.870" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1535" CreationDate="2010-08-29T07:00:26.333" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine = One friend of my many ones&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend of me = A piece of me called &quot;friend&quot; !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T07:00:26.333" />
  <row Id="2143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2132" CreationDate="2010-08-29T07:10:24.437" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I was wondering&quot; gives the other more freedom to accept or refuse because it has the feeling that I will not get embarrassed if you refuse my invitation because I &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and not I &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;am&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; ! That was in the past! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T07:10:24.437" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2139" CreationDate="2010-08-29T07:14:46.067" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For reasons I'm not too sure about, we usually say &quot;0.25 miles&quot; rather than &quot;0.25 mile&quot;. If you Google for both terms, there are about 700,000 &quot;0.25 miles&quot; but less than 100,000 &quot;0.25 mile&quot;, and the first few hits for &quot;0.25 mile&quot; give things like &quot;0.25 mile swim&quot; or &quot;0.25 mile wireless setup&quot;, where the &quot;mile&quot; is forced to singular anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T07:14:46.067" />
  <row Id="2145" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2146" CreationDate="2010-08-29T07:18:46.217" Score="4" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a website profile, I would like to mention the topics I am interested in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one I should use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Interested topics: Technology, Reading, etc.  (Does it talk about the past?)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Interesting topics: Technology, Reading, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though this question looks simple, I think I have fundamental problem of understanding these kind of words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="874" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T23:21:52.497" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T23:21:52.497" Title="Interested topics or Interesting topics?" Tags="&lt;beginner&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="2146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2145" CreationDate="2010-08-29T07:23:13.503" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Which one I should use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Interested topics: Technology, Reading, ...etc. does it talk about the past?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Interesting topics: Technology, Reading, ...etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grammatically, the correct answer is &quot;interest&lt;b&gt;ing&lt;/b&gt; topics&quot;. See the bottom of this answer though for a suggestion for improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Even though this question looks simple, I think I have fundamental problem of understanding these kind of words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many learners of English as a second language have problems getting the distinction between ing and ed adjectives right. But the basic rule is actually very simple. &quot;Interested&quot;, &quot;bored&quot;, &quot;frightened&quot;, and all the other -ed adjectives describe an emotion. &quot;Interesting&quot;, &quot;boring&quot;, &quot;frightening&quot;, and all the other -ing adjectives describe the &lt;strong&gt;cause&lt;/strong&gt; of an emotion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This book is bor&lt;b&gt;ing&lt;/b&gt; (cause of emotion) =&gt; this book causes me to feel bor&lt;b&gt;ed&lt;/b&gt; (emotion)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This person is frighten&lt;b&gt;ing&lt;/b&gt; (cause of emotion) =&gt; this person causes me to feel frighten&lt;b&gt;ed&lt;/b&gt; (emotion)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, &quot;these topics are interesting&quot; =&gt; &quot;interesting topics&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I am interested in these topics&quot; =&gt; &quot;topics I am interested in&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Interested topics: Technology, Reading, ...etc. does it talk about the past?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here &quot;interested&quot; is an adjective formed from the past participle, so it does not describe the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if your question was about how to phrase this, a better way would be to ditch the word &quot;topics&quot; and just use &quot;interests&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Interests: technology, reading, goldfish keeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T07:36:53.527" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T07:36:53.527" />
  <row Id="2147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2139" CreationDate="2010-08-29T08:05:00.713" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If we followed the definition of &quot;plural&quot;, the correct usage would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;0.25 mile&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;0.5 mile&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;0.9 mile&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.0 mile&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.3 mile (or 1.3 miles, according to Wiktionary note below)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.0 miles&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.2 miles&#xA;..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the definition is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Plural:&lt;/strong&gt; of, relating to, or constituting a&#xA;  class of grammatical forms usually&#xA;  used to denote more than one or in&#xA;  some languages more than two&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plural&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plural&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as Shinto pointed out in his answer here, people usually use the plural form for 0.25.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pl.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an interesting note from the Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; about the usage of plural for fractions (and decimals) in general:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While the plural form generally refers&#xA;  to two or more persons or things, that&#xA;  is not always the case. The plural&#xA;  form is often used for zero persons or&#xA;  things, &lt;strong&gt;for fractional things in a&#xA;  quantity greater than one&lt;/strong&gt;, and for&#xA;  people or things when the quantity is&#xA;  unknown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This does support the usage of plural for 0.25 though, since it is less than one. But if that is how people use it, we definitely can't say that it is incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T08:16:58.500" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T08:16:58.500" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2139" CreationDate="2010-08-29T08:56:55.470" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;0.25 miles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rule I follow is that you use the singular only when talking of exactly &lt;strong&gt;one mile&lt;/strong&gt;. You'd also say half &lt;strong&gt;a mile&lt;/strong&gt;, quarter of &lt;strong&gt;a mile&lt;/strong&gt;, etc., but in these cases it's as though you're still talking of &quot;a mile&quot; first, and then taking half or quarter of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me say something further, with the caveat that it may be my own idiosyncratic usage: use the singular only when talking of the natural number 1, that is, when you're essentially &quot;counting&quot; miles and there's a single one of them. Use the plural in all other cases, even for the real number 1.0: just like &quot;0.9 miles&quot; or &quot;1.1 miles&quot;, also say &quot;1.0 miles&quot; (but &quot;1 mile&quot;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Mathematically, natural numbers (&quot;counting numbers&quot;) are a subset of real numbers, but more properly what we have is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclusion_map&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;inclusion map&lt;/a&gt;, so it &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; make sense to distinguish between 1 and 1.0, actually. And the distinction between natural numbers and real numbers does have applications elsewhere in English: consider &quot;fewer than&quot; versus &quot;less than&quot;. You'd say &quot;fewer than five items&quot; but &quot;less than 5.0 inches&quot;, since a length doesn't have to be an integer number of inches, you're not counting but assigning a real value.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another aside: the SI standard for symbols is to use the same symbol for singular or plural, so you'd write &quot;2 km&quot; even if you were reading it as &quot;2 kilometres&quot;. Of course, since you're using miles, you probably don't care about this. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T08:56:55.470" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2149" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2169" CreationDate="2010-08-29T10:50:08.383" Score="4" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;p&gt;In linguistics, there is this certain group or class of verbs that can be used as &lt;em&gt;We &amp;lt;VERB&amp;gt; you to come.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Verbs like &lt;em&gt;to expect&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;to want&lt;/em&gt; are in this class:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We expect you to come.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We want you to come.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but most verbs aren't:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*We eat you to come.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*We type you to come.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*We grow you to come.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know the name for this class of verbs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T02:19:41.383" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T03:15:46.180" Title="Linguistic name for verbs like 'want', 'expect', 'beg', ..." Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2149" CreationDate="2010-08-29T11:31:26.963" Score="-5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't actually know but this page gives some names:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://homepages.uwp.edu/canary/grammar_text/37-vb-ditr.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://homepages.uwp.edu/canary/grammar_text/37-vb-ditr.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Bigamous transitives&quot;, &quot;ditransitives&quot;, and &quot;complex transitive verbs&quot; are the suggestions there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found it by googling for &quot;verb takes direct and indirect object&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T11:31:26.963" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-30T06:13:05.077" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2152" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2364" CreationDate="2010-08-29T15:47:52.430" Score="11" ViewCount="250" Body="&lt;p&gt;In contracts numbers are usually written twice: in numerical and literal form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand the vast majority of text in a typical contract can be safely deleted without impacting the core message due to the typical insane amount of repetition and unnecessary verboseness, but I don't really understand what's the point of writing some (not even all) numbers twice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You agree to these Terms of Use on&#xA;  behalf of yourself and, at your&#xA;  discretion, for &lt;strong&gt;one (1)&lt;/strong&gt; minor child&#xA;  for whom you are a parent or guardian&#xA;  and whom you have authorized to use&#xA;  the account you create on the Service.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's very inconsistent, sometimes they appear in only numerical form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...] WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF SECTIONS &lt;strong&gt;1, 2 OR 9&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes only literal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...] includes &lt;strong&gt;two&lt;/strong&gt; components [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="877" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T23:28:55.007" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T23:43:31.463" Title="Why are numbers usually written twice in contracts?" Tags="&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2153" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5472" CreationDate="2010-08-29T16:17:15.593" Score="11" ViewCount="369" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a recent blog entry, Jeff Atwood &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2010/08/vampires-programmers-versus-werewolves-sysadmins.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;quotes&lt;/a&gt; his sysadmin Kyle:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Should the developers have access to the production environment, and if they do, to what extent?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My understanding is that this sentence is only perfectly grammatical if it's parsed as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Should the developers have access to the production environment, and if they do [already have access to the production environment], to what extent [is it okay for them to have it]?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, that is not what Kyle is actually asking. It's fairly obvious that he expects the question to be parsed as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Should the developers have access to the production environment, and if they &lt;strike&gt;do&lt;/strike&gt; [should], to what extent?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And sure enough, that's exactly how I parsed it when I first read it. As in, I didn't even blink at the &quot;do&quot; kicking out a modal verb. It was only upon reading the sentence for a third or fourth time that it struck me as odd. It should also be noted that Kyle is a native speaker. So the construction can't be &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; ungrammatical after all, does it? Must we correct Kyle, and if we don't, why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; both people who have answered so far say that they do, in fact,&#xA;read Kyle's question as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Should the developers have access to the production environment?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;If they already have access, to what extent is it OK for them to have it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks like I have to explain why this reading makes little sense — at which I only hinted above — even when no context whatsoever is provided (and Kyle's post is well over a thousand words long).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This interpretation means that if developers already have access, the first question doesn't apply. We will throw it away just for them. But the first question is universal, it must not be thrown away. It is more general, more important. If we come to the conclusion that developers, in general, should not have access to the production environment, it also applies to those developers who already do have access. In fact, it applies to them &lt;em&gt;more than to anyone else&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, Kyle cannot possibly be asking: &quot;Should the developers have access to the production environment? Oh, and if your developers already have access, never mind, forget that question, let's just discuss how much access is okay.&quot; Much rather, he is asking: &quot;Should the developers have access to the production environment? And if and only if the answer to that question is 'yes', how much access should they have?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T15:24:22.930" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T20:03:03.863" Title="Should Kyle be corrected, and if he doesn't, why?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="2154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2153" CreationDate="2010-08-29T17:55:45.990" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Compare the sentence with &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(&lt;strong&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt;) If the developers should have access to the production environment, they should have limited access.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If&lt;/em&gt; already introduce a conditional sentence, and &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; is not necessary.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The sentence should be written as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the developers have access to the production environment, they should have limited access.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I interpret the sentence you wrote as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should the developers have access to the production environment, and if they do [have access to the production environment], to what extent [is it okay for them to have it]?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first part of the question asks if developers should have access to production environment; the second part takes the assumption the developers have already access to the production environment, and asks to which extension should the access be allowed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T17:55:45.990" />
  <row Id="2155" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-29T18:33:02.367" Score="1" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could you please help find a plug-in for Firefox that supports the following functions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Showing translation of a word by a simple shortcut (like Shift + Right click).&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Allowing to modify list of dictionaries (by giving links to web dictionaries).&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Storing the words into personal vocabulary for later reference.&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Allowing to type in the word for translation.&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a large list of plug-ins for Firefox that have some of the functionality above, but after quite a long time I wasn't able to find one that satisfies all of the requirements. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you know some good plug-ins that do not satisfy the requirements, but are good in some other sense, this is also very welcome!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance! Sorry if my question doesn't fit the thematics of this site, but it is very important for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2010-10-24T08:28:35.470" ClosedDate="2011-03-02T03:00:57.423" Title="Firefox plugin for English learners" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2152" CreationDate="2010-08-29T21:02:34.780" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's done to reduce the chances that something might be interpreted ambiguously. That and attorneys are paid (effectively) by the word. Another place you will see this duplication is for the amount written on a check. It's done for the same reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to why it's not consistent, I have no idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="189" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T21:02:34.780" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="2157" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2159" CreationDate="2010-08-29T21:34:56.610" Score="1" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems &lt;em&gt;amongst&lt;/em&gt; is quite often used as a synonym for &lt;em&gt;among&lt;/em&gt; but it is supposed to sound more &lt;em&gt;distinguished&lt;/em&gt;. Is there any difference in the meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T18:32:18.880" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T18:32:18.880" Title="What is the distinction between &quot;among&quot; and &quot;amongst&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2157" CreationDate="2010-08-29T22:11:13.603" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Among&quot; is much more common in modern writing, at least in American English, so that probably explains why &quot;amongst&quot; &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; sound more &quot;distinguished&quot;. (See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailywritingtips.com/among-vs-amongst/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; which discusses the matter.) But there is absolutely no difference in meaning. (See e.g. Wiktionary: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/among&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;among&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/amongst&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;amongst&lt;/a&gt;.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also of note, the New Oxford American Dictionary lists &quot;amongst&quot; as &lt;em&gt;chiefly British&lt;/em&gt; variant of &quot;among&quot;. It does seem to be somewhat more common in British English (but still clearly less common than &quot;among&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-29T22:17:44.887" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T22:17:44.887" />
  <row Id="2159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2157" CreationDate="2010-08-29T22:37:28.000" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is similar to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6/when-did-while-and-whilst-become-interchangeable&quot;&gt;relation between “while” and “whilst”&lt;/a&gt;, or between “amid” and “amidst”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with &quot;whilst&quot;, &quot;amongst&quot; is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;chiefly British&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;while using &lt;em&gt;whilst&lt;/em&gt; runs the risk of sounding pretentious, it can sometimes add a literary or ironically formal note to a piece of writing&quot; [&lt;em&gt;American Heritage Guide&lt;/em&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The general consensus among scholars of English is that &lt;em&gt;whilst&lt;/em&gt; is an unnecessary and archaic word whose primary usage is by Britons who prefer what they perceive as a more 'noble' word&quot; [&lt;em&gt;Strunk and White&lt;/em&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;recommended against by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/tools_and_services/specials/style_guide/article986718.ece&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Times Online Style Guide&lt;/a&gt;: &quot;amid, not amidst; similarly among, not amongst&quot;, by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide/a&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Guardian Style Guide&lt;/a&gt;: &quot;among not amongst&quot;, and by [Hansard Association of Canada]: &quot;among (no -st)&quot;. And some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tameri.com/edit/usage.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tameri Guide&lt;/a&gt; says: &quot;among / amongst - In American English use &lt;em&gt;among&lt;/em&gt; to mean within a group. &lt;em&gt;Amongst&lt;/em&gt; is antiquated for in the middle of a situation or gathering.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, the summary seems to be that &quot;amongst&quot; is slightly pretentious (or &quot;distinguished&quot; as you say), but is common in Britain, and its meaning is almost identical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T22:37:28.000" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="2160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1640" CreationDate="2010-08-29T23:10:55.020" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard Americans use this phrase.  It generally means &lt;em&gt;sunbathe&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;I'm gonna catch some sun this weekend&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-08-29T23:10:55.020" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="2161" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2164" CreationDate="2010-08-29T23:41:41.287" Score="1" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is phrase that I really liked and was quite articulate, but I can't think of it.  This is in response to a debate when analyzing one's position or paradigm.  Other ways:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;crucial fallacy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;serious mistake&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;flagrant error&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pivotal blunder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;grave misunderstanding&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;critical misconception&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12" LastEditorUserId="12" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T02:39:13.763" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T04:20:34.907" Title="What is the most eloquent way to transition into pointing out a major flaw in someone's thinking?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;subjective&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1217" CreationDate="2010-08-29T23:54:04.767" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What are some others I didn't list?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venison&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Venison&lt;/a&gt; for deer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squab_%28food%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Squab&lt;/a&gt; for pigeon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat_meat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chevon&lt;/a&gt; for goat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carabeef&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Carabeef&lt;/a&gt; for buffalo&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannibalism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Long pig&lt;/a&gt; for human&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T00:17:35.507" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T00:17:35.507" />
  <row Id="2163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2115" CreationDate="2010-08-30T00:05:51.340" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Modern punctuation, designed to&#xA;  clarify syntactic structures rather&#xA;  than to indicate breathings, is&#xA;  largely a Renaissance invention,&#xA;  developing during the first&#xA;  generations of the printing press, and&#xA;  codified in the eighteenth century&#xA;  (about the same time that&#xA;  capitalization and spelling became&#xA;  fixed in more or less their current&#xA;  form).&#xA;  Among the earliest works showing&#xA;  &quot;modern&quot; punctuation is Francis&#xA;  Bacon's &lt;em&gt;Essays&lt;/em&gt;. An interesting early&#xA;  discussion of the nature of modern&#xA;  punctuation can be found in Ben&#xA;  Jonson's &lt;em&gt;English Grammar&lt;/em&gt; (composed ca.&#xA;  1617, printed posthumously in 1640).&#xA;  Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century&#xA;  punctuation practice varies&#xA;  considerably, but tends to be &quot;heavy&quot;;&#xA;  current &quot;light&quot; punctuation is largely&#xA;  the invention of H. G. and F. G.&#xA;  Fowler, The King's English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ualberta.ca/~sreimer/ms-course/course/punc.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ualberta.ca/~sreimer/ms-course/course/punc.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T00:05:51.340" />
  <row Id="2164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2161" CreationDate="2010-08-30T00:13:53.630" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dire mistake&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fatal flaw&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or if not, I guess you could find the &lt;a href=&quot;http://thesaurus.com/browse/critical&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adjective&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://thesaurus.com/browse/error&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;noun&lt;/a&gt; you're looking for in a good thesaurus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T00:13:53.630" />
  <row Id="2165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2153" CreationDate="2010-08-30T00:19:55.757" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;&quot;Should the developers have access to the production environment, and if they do, to what extent?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My understanding is that this sentence is only perfectly grammatical if it's parsed as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;&quot;Should the developers have access to the production environment, and if they do [already have access to the production environment], to what extent [is it okay for them to have it]?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not my understanding at all, you seem to be confusing the &quot;if&quot; in the second half of the sentence with the &quot;should&quot; for some reason. I think it's perfectly OK to break it into two sentences, like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Should the developers have access to the production environment?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;If they have access, to what extent is it OK for them to have it?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T00:19:55.757" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2166" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2171" CreationDate="2010-08-30T01:11:17.460" Score="7" ViewCount="862" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one of these adjectives is correct? I can see that both of them is being used, I'm just not sure which one is gramatically correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T09:23:28.640" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T09:23:28.640" Title="&quot;More clear&quot; vs &quot;Clearer&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;comparative&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2166" CreationDate="2010-08-30T01:35:08.113" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are grammatically correct. (&quot;More clearer&quot;, however, would be wrong.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T01:35:08.113" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2168" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2170" CreationDate="2010-08-30T01:39:58.883" Score="4" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the differentiator between these two phrases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-19T23:54:04.060" LastActivityDate="2010-09-19T23:54:04.060" Title="&quot;that of which you&quot; vs &quot;that which you&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2149" CreationDate="2010-08-30T01:45:15.953" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Within theoretical linguistics, these are called Exceptional Case Marking verbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECM_verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECM_verb&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You&quot; is actually the subject of &quot;to come.&quot;  In most cases, infinitives can't have subjects, but verbs like &quot;beg&quot; and &quot;expect&quot; allow their infinitive complements to have subjects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, I don't believe that &quot;eat&quot; is an ECM verb, but if it was, what would &quot;We eat you to come&quot; mean? You should choose your sentences carefully so that they &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; mean something, because otherwise you might accidentally think something is impossible just because it doesn't make sense. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I will eat [the tomato growing in the yard].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*I will eat [the tomato to grow in the yard].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I expect [the tomato to grow in the yard].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; There is another class of verbs which look sort of like ECM verbs, but have a slightly different structure. These are called Object Control verbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We persuaded you [&lt;code&gt;PRO&lt;/code&gt; to come].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/syntax-textbook/ch9.html#oc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/syntax-textbook/ch9.html#oc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="257" LastEditorUserId="257" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T03:15:46.180" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T03:15:46.180" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2168" CreationDate="2010-08-30T01:59:59.300" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are not two variants of the same phrase. &quot;Of&quot; is simply a preposition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;... that which you own ...&quot;&lt;br&gt;→ You own something.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;... that of which you are the owner ...&quot;&lt;br&gt;→ You are the owner &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; something, that's where the preposition comes from.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, you could encounter &quot;that in which you&quot;, &quot;that under which you&quot;, &quot;that from which you&quot;, and theoretically even &quot;that out from behind which you&quot;. The possibilities are (almost) endless!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T02:07:55.263" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T02:07:55.263" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2166" CreationDate="2010-08-30T02:19:45.097" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The basic rules of forming comparatives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One syllable words take -er:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;clear -&gt; clearer&#xA;sweet -&gt; sweeter&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Multisyllable words take &quot;more&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;incredible -&gt; more incredible (not &quot;incredibler&quot;)&#xA;horrible -&gt; more horrible (not &quot;horribler&quot;)&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two-syllable words ending in consonant + y take &quot;ier&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;happy -&gt; happier&#xA;pretty -&gt; prettier&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both &quot;more clear&quot; and &quot;clearer&quot; are acceptable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your answer is more clear than mine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your answer is clearer than mine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would have thought that &quot;clearer&quot; was more common, but I find &quot;more clear than&quot; is actually much more common on Google than &quot;clearer than&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T04:10:25.883" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T04:10:25.883" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2161" CreationDate="2010-08-30T02:32:05.157" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the most eloquent way to point out a flaw in someone's thinking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since thinking is such a broad activity it is difficult to believe that there is one single word which hits this target infallibly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iep.utm.edu/fallacy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;list of fallacies&lt;/a&gt; from the &quot;Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy&quot;. There is also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/appeal-to-spite.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; from the &quot;Nizkor project&quot; which has been knocking around the internet for some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T02:32:05.157" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1706" CreationDate="2010-08-30T02:33:37.947" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Now, what about &quot;Those apple pies were the best&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an Americanism which sounds very odd to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T02:33:37.947" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2174" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2176" CreationDate="2010-08-30T02:49:58.213" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, in this sentence where the subject is qualified by a clause:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The assumption that a new airport will for sure make Tudor a flight hub is highly dubious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought we could move &lt;em&gt;highly dubious&lt;/em&gt; to the head of the sentence but I forgot the general rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="786" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T03:45:45.147" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T03:45:45.147" Title="What are rules to reverse the position of subject and predicative when the former is too long." Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2174" CreationDate="2010-08-30T02:53:16.430" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know what the rules are, but you could say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is a highly dubious assumption that a new airport ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think you can move &quot;highly dubious&quot; to the very front of the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;*&lt;/code&gt; Highly dubious is the assumption that a new airport ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(* here means the sentence is &quot;highly dubious&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T02:53:16.430" />
  <row Id="2176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2174" CreationDate="2010-08-30T03:25:20.193" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Two thoughts, depending on what you are actually thinking of&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thought 1: heavy CP shift?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you don't mean moving all the way to the front of the sentence, but just farther left?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The assumption is highly dubious [that a new airport will for sure make Tudor a flight hub].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Theoretically, this is known as a &quot;heavy CP shift&quot; (the CP is the chunk that I bracketed).  This is basically the same thing as the more common &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_NP_shift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;heavy NP shift&lt;/a&gt;.  The &quot;heaviness&quot; is the length of the constituent chunk of words; if the phrase gets too long, it is possible to  &quot;shift&quot; it to the right.  This makes it easier to parse the sentence.  There is no set rule to how long the phrase must be, but the longer it gets, the stronger the &quot;urge&quot; to do the shift.  The shifting is constrained by constituency, so we can't just shift some portion of a phrase or shift into the middle of another phrase, we can only shift proper chunks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thought 2: focus?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can move &quot;highly dubious&quot; to the very front of the entire sentence, but this is not done because the other portion is too long; rather, it is done if you want to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_%28linguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;focus&lt;/a&gt; the &quot;highly dubious&quot; element of the sentence.  Basically, this is done in order to say that a certain element is new information or something you want to give particular attention to.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T03:38:22.640" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T03:38:22.640" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2155" CreationDate="2010-08-30T04:32:07.530" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2444/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FoxLingo&lt;/a&gt; is one addon but probably does not have all the features you want.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at the &lt;code&gt;English Language Arts and Reference Materials&lt;/code&gt; at this browserland article on&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.browserland.com/add-ons/the-best-firefox-add-ons-for-e-learning-100-firefox-add-ons-for-students/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Best Firefox Add-ons for E-Learning&lt;/a&gt; -- you might like some of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, there is &lt;a href=&quot;https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/81591/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WordStash&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;WordStash can be described as half flash card, half dictionary and &lt;strong&gt;a new breed of dictionary that provides you with interactive tools to learn the words that you lookup&lt;/strong&gt;. It is built with an intuitively ajaxed interface that allows for real time interaction which eliminates the clutter of most dictionaries and gives you the definition you want faster and clearer. &lt;strong&gt;Some features include&lt;/strong&gt;: choose you own theme, &lt;strong&gt;save words online, create lists of words&lt;/strong&gt;, and spell checker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;ps: this &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; more suitable on Superuser (you would have probably got answers faster there); but, guess there is no harm posting here.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="157" LastEditorUserId="157" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T04:38:18.673" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T04:38:18.673" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2178" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2179" CreationDate="2010-08-30T06:11:50.563" Score="6" ViewCount="438" Body="&lt;p&gt;Words like &quot;sky&quot; and &quot;money&quot; have &quot;ies&quot; as a plural suffix (i.e. &quot;skies&quot; and &quot;monies&quot;) but other words like &quot;monkey&quot; and &quot;Emmy&quot; do not (&quot;monkeys&quot; and &quot;Emmys&quot;). Is there a rule dictating the use of &quot;ies&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="250" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T19:55:32.587" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T19:55:32.587" Title="When should a singular word ending in &quot;y&quot; end in &quot;ies&quot; plurally?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;rules&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="2179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2178" CreationDate="2010-08-30T06:15:41.363" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's determined by the letter before the y:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;monk&lt;b&gt;ey&lt;/b&gt;: vowel + y =&gt; monkeys&#xA;s&lt;b&gt;ky&lt;/b&gt;: consonant + y =&gt; skies&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exception: proper nouns like &quot;Emmy&quot; sometimes form the plural by adding &quot;s&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monies I don't know about, so hopefully someone else can fill in that detail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T13:33:06.493" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T13:33:06.493" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2180" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2182" CreationDate="2010-08-30T11:15:12.200" Score="1" ViewCount="247" Body="&lt;p&gt;Less/fewer, too much/too many, amount/number... When people get these things wrong, it bugs me. But I cannot think of a situation where mistaking a mass noun for a count noun (or vice versa) would ever introduce any kind of ambiguity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there such a case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:26:50.457" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T03:31:56.977" Title="Mass nouns and counts nouns. Does getting it wrong ever matter?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;comparative&gt;&lt;uncountable-noun&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="19" />
  <row Id="2181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2180" CreationDate="2010-08-30T12:25:54.983" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The classic example (which is probably an urban myth) is a foreign learner saying &quot;I ate a chicken last night&quot; when he meant &quot;I ate some chicken last night&quot;. Mistaking chicken (the meat) for a countable noun makes it sound like he ate an entire bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T12:34:34.130" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T12:34:34.130" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2180" CreationDate="2010-08-30T13:13:41.287" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you are correct in that if a noun is unambiguously mass or count then the qualifier doesn't matter, the meaning can be taken from the noun. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However compare: I ate too much fish vs. I ate too many fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the noun is ambiguous in that way, then the meaning must be taken from the qualifier. So if you mistook &quot;fish&quot; for a term that was always mass or common, then you could produce an ambiguous statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Inspired by Shinto's example)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="122" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T14:23:09.170" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T14:23:09.170" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2183" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2185" CreationDate="2010-08-30T13:50:57.587" Score="3" ViewCount="397" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I would like to request you to refrain from shouting.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I would like to request of you to refrain from shouting.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I would like to request from you to refrain from shouting.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Something else?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="764" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-31T01:30:06.307" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T11:54:14.990" Title="Which preposition should be used after the verb “request”?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2183" CreationDate="2010-08-30T13:56:42.913" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;3 is out: one might request an item from a person, but not generally a behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 is correct but the &quot;of&quot; is unnecessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 just sounds better than the others because it is less wordy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the most direct is, &quot;Please refrain from shouting.&quot; Why make it complicated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastEditorUserId="720" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-01T15:57:14.770" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T15:57:14.770" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2183" CreationDate="2010-08-30T14:04:46.417" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is another obvious one to add to your list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“I would like to request you refrain from shouting.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think there are people who use all three forms you suggested. It's a little difficult to say which one is correct but as kajaco said 3. sounds a bit odd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T14:04:46.417" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="2186" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2188" CreationDate="2010-08-30T15:09:14.403" Score="2" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does the phrase &lt;em&gt;up to&lt;/em&gt; mean in the following?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That sketchy character is &lt;em&gt;up to&lt;/em&gt; something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That sneak is &lt;em&gt;up to&lt;/em&gt; no good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does that differ from &lt;em&gt;up to it&lt;/em&gt; in the following?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm sick, but if I'm &lt;em&gt;up to it&lt;/em&gt; I may do the dishes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I feel like I'm &lt;em&gt;up to&lt;/em&gt; my ears, trying to learn all these English idioms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there other uses of this phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-31T01:12:01.820" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T01:12:01.820" Title="&quot;Up to&quot; vs &quot;up to it&quot;" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="2187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="302" CreationDate="2010-08-30T15:24:24.147" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always thought &lt;code&gt;{&lt;/code&gt; was officially a brace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;[&lt;/code&gt; is a bracket&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;(&lt;/code&gt; is a parenthesis&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With &quot;bracket&quot; also referring to any one of the three.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T15:24:24.147" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2186" CreationDate="2010-08-30T15:27:55.730" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are all established meanings/idioms for &quot;up to&quot;.  The first two sentences use &quot;up to&quot; with the meaning, &quot;devising or scheming; occupied with&quot;.  The next sentence with &quot;up to it&quot; has the meaning &quot;having adequate powers or ability for; capable of; equal to&quot;.  The final sentence has the meaning &quot;as far as or approaching (a certain part, degree, point, etc.)&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got these from &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this dictionary.com entry&lt;/a&gt;, which also has examples of many other uses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T15:27:55.730" />
  <row Id="2189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1640" CreationDate="2010-08-30T15:43:45.173" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A corner of a garden, or a balconey can 'catch the sun' if its correctly positioned and not overshadowed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T15:43:45.173" />
  <row Id="2190" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2206" CreationDate="2010-08-30T17:19:39.553" Score="2" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;A company has the words &lt;em&gt;This order will ship on 9/14/2010 from our Virginia location&lt;/em&gt; on their website.  The user could request a ship date in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The internal, recommended replacement is &lt;em&gt;This order is requested to ship on 9/14/2010 from our Virginia location&lt;/em&gt; but the readability of the statement is in question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the correct way to combine a requested ship date and a location statement in a single sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="775" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T19:51:29.217" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T02:51:01.170" Title="Requested ship date" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2190" CreationDate="2010-08-30T17:33:52.067" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like &lt;em&gt;Shipment from our Virginia location on 9/14/2010, as user requested.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="156" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-31T01:07:30.110" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T01:07:30.110" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2190" CreationDate="2010-08-30T18:46:16.297" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This order is scheduled to ship on 9/14/2010 from our Virginia location, per customer request.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="460" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-30T23:40:56.773" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T23:40:56.773" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1628" CreationDate="2010-08-30T19:14:49.987" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Cheers' has two main uses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For expressing appreciation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For toasting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have generated a small graph that plots my understanding of its usage here in the UK.  I lumped class and education level together as, in this case, they probably &lt;em&gt;roughly&lt;/em&gt; correlate. This will upset posh people as they know that class has &lt;strong&gt;nothing&lt;/strong&gt; to do with where you went to uni, and will upset some educated people as posh people are all inbred thickies who only went to school for the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_football&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rugger&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fagging&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fagging&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/hiENF.png&quot; alt=&quot;This is the sort of nonsense the British middle class obsess about.&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things to note about the graph:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The propensity to use cheers as 'thanks' is level at the start and drops off a cliff at the end. This is because blue collar/working class use it for everything and properly posh landed gentry types wouldn't dream of saying it. Not in public anyway.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When toasting it's fairly universal. There's a dip at the middle class, purely because they might use words from other languages such as salute or na zdrovyeh. The upper classes wouldn't use bloody forrin words but the dip is maintained as they might toast The Queen!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could tweak this graph for hours - for example should the thanking line actually drop to zero as chavs/the underclass never say anything remotely resembling cheers or thank you?  Does the thanking line actually have a more subtle convex gradient? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I won't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two final things to note, are that it can also depend on familiarity between to the two parties conversing and the perceived formality of the occasion. If you know someone well, everyone is more more likely to use it. If you don't know someone at all, in informal conversation you can use 'cheers, thank you' as a handy catch all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a really good book on things like this, I recommend Kate Fox's &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0340818867&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Watching the English&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T19:14:49.987" CommentCount="17" />
  <row Id="2194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="365" CreationDate="2010-08-30T20:51:51.153" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My suggestion is simple: avoid them as much as possible.&#xA;Don't get the bad habit of shortening words, I've seen a lot of people ending up using K instead of C (one letter for one letter shortening) in Italian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel that the only situation when such shortenings should be allowed are SMS and IM, but only with friends. By all means avoid them when contacting clients!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="896" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T20:51:51.153" />
  <row Id="2195" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2203" CreationDate="2010-08-30T20:52:27.343" Score="3" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you pronounce &quot;would've&quot;, &quot;should've&quot; and &quot;could've&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T16:07:58.543" Title="How do you pronounce &quot;would've&quot;, &quot;should've&quot; and &quot;could've&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1628" CreationDate="2010-08-30T20:55:56.123" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I spent many summers in Woking (Surrey) and &quot;cheers&quot; is pretty common in that area.&#xA;For example, everyone said &quot;cheers&quot; to the bus driver when getting off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have doubts about which one using, just go with &quot;thanks&quot; and you'll be fine everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="896" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T20:55:56.123" />
  <row Id="2198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2195" CreationDate="2010-08-30T21:02:53.357" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;wood-uv, shud-uv, cud-uv.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="902" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T21:02:53.357" />
  <row Id="2199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2013" CreationDate="2010-08-30T21:17:42.573" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is classic &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/genteelism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;genteelism&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speed is the rate of change of position.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although &quot;Rate of speed&quot; is technically meaningless, it does, however, usually convey the intended meaning (for better or worse).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="895" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T21:17:42.573" />
  <row Id="2201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2195" CreationDate="2010-08-30T22:25:37.930" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you listen closely, sometimes you'll hear me say &quot;wooda&quot;. However, I usually say &quot;wood'-uv&quot; with the second syllable very abbreviated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pronunciation leads to a common spelling error: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/couldof.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;would of&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="189" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T22:25:37.930" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2186" CreationDate="2010-08-30T22:33:22.797" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of these are examples of &quot;be up to&quot; rather than &quot;up to&quot; alone. &quot;Be up to&quot; is something called a phrasal verb, and it has two meanings. See Kosmonaut's answer for definitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T22:33:22.797" />
  <row Id="2203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2195" CreationDate="2010-08-30T22:34:10.130" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In IPA, that's&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would've - /wʊdəv/ - WOULD-uhv&lt;br&gt;&#xA;should've - /ʃʊdəv/ - SHOULD-uhv&lt;br&gt;&#xA;could've - /kʊdəv/ - COULD-uhv &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where &quot;uhv&quot; is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwa&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;schwa sound&lt;/a&gt; followed by a V sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frequently, in fast or informal speech, the V sound will be &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elision&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;elided&lt;/a&gt; (omitted), and the results will sound like &quot;would-a&quot;, &quot;should-a&quot;, &quot;could-a&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: I will note that “woulda, shoulda, coulda” (and the same words in different orders) is a very informal idiom that refers dismissively to regretting missed opportunities. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; has about 23 examples of all three of them used together, mostly in fiction and spoken English, but also in quoted speech in a few newspaper and magazine articles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-31T16:07:58.543" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T16:07:58.543" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1545" CreationDate="2010-08-30T22:47:12.127" Score="20" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to be perfectly and unimpeachably correct, you will pronounce the word  &lt;em&gt;forte&lt;/em&gt;, meaning something that is one’s strong point, identically to the word &lt;em&gt;fort&lt;/em&gt;, and reserve the FOR-tay pronunciation only for the musical term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people don't know about this distinction and pronounce it FOR-tay for all senses, both the “strong point” sense as well as the musical term. Most people will not notice or care if you do that. In fact, if you say that some subject is or is not your “fort”, people will look at you quizzically and perhaps even ask “do you mean FOR-tay?”. On the other hand, if you use the pronunciation “FOR-tay” those of us who know the difference may judge you to be ignorant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In either case, you take a risk of some sort. Bryan Garner came up with the name “skunked term” for words like this, in his 1998 &lt;em&gt;Dictionary of Modern American Usage&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When a word undergoes a marked change from one use to another … it’s likely to be the subject of dispute. Some people (Group 1) insist on the traditional use; others (Group 2) embrace the new use.… Any use of [the word] is likely to distract some readers. The new use seems illiterate to Group 1; the old use seems odd to Group 2. The word has become “skunked.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is to find a substitute word or phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-31T01:00:30.733" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T01:00:30.733" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="2205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1858" CreationDate="2010-08-30T23:13:24.647" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We discussed this in a linguistics course I took in college. I was astonished to learn that some people distinguish &quot;several&quot; and &quot;a few&quot;. My professor was astonished that some people would think they were the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some people, &quot;a few&quot; and &quot;several&quot; are synonymous, with neither one meaning more than the other, but for others, &quot;several&quot; is more than &quot;a few&quot;. Both &quot;a few&quot; and &quot;several&quot; are more than &quot;a couple&quot;, which means two or about two. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T23:13:24.647" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2190" CreationDate="2010-08-30T23:14:37.157" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;This order is requested to ship on 9/14/2010 from our Virginia location&quot; but the readability of the statement is in question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem here seems to be that the sentence reads as if the order itself has been requested to do something, when in fact the customer has requested the &lt;em&gt;company&lt;/em&gt; to ship the order on &lt;em&gt;date&lt;/em&gt; from &lt;em&gt;location&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could turn it into an active sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The customer has requested shipment on &lt;em&gt;date&lt;/em&gt; from &lt;em&gt;location&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-08-30T23:14:37.157" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1628" CreationDate="2010-08-31T00:07:00.673" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If memory serves, &lt;em&gt;cheers&lt;/em&gt; was exclusively for toasting in the days of my youth. The secondary usage—as an expression of thanks—began to creep in during the 70s and 80s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I first encountered it London but it gradually spread throughout the British isles, perhaps as a result of the popularity of &lt;em&gt;EastEnders&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="858" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T00:07:00.673" />
  <row Id="2208" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2209" CreationDate="2010-08-31T01:56:27.960" Score="2" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use a CMS (content management system) where a post, or comment is visible to all the users (if there aren't other restrictions) when it is flagged as &lt;em&gt;published&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What verb should I use to mean that I changed the status of a post from &lt;em&gt;published&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;unpublished&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dictionary reports that &lt;em&gt;unpublished&lt;/em&gt; is only an adjective; therefore, I could not write &lt;em&gt;I unpublished the post&lt;/em&gt;. I usually write &lt;em&gt;I marked the post as unpublished&lt;/em&gt;, but it doesn't sound right to my ears (and it seems using more words than needed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-31T15:26:42.873" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T03:46:22.470" Title="Does the verb &quot;unpublish&quot; exist?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2208" CreationDate="2010-08-31T02:05:09.043" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It’s not listed in any dictionaries, but its meaning is plain from the component morphemes, and is formed by the same process that gives us &lt;em&gt;undo&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;unbend&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;undress&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;unfreeze&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;unfold&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster gives &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/un-&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a definition for &lt;em&gt;un-&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;: “do the opposite of: reverse (a specified action) … in verbs formed from verbs.” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T02:05:09.043" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2208" CreationDate="2010-08-31T02:23:10.470" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The dictionary reports that&#xA;  unplublished is only an adjective;&#xA;  therefore, I could not write I&#xA;  unpublished the post. I usually write&#xA;  I marked the post as unpublished, but&#xA;  it doesn't sound right to my ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the conventional sense, &lt;b&gt;unpublished&lt;/b&gt; means &quot;not yet published&quot; rather than &quot;withdrawn from publication&quot;. Therefore using &quot;unpublish&quot; as a verb to mean &quot;withdraw from publication&quot; sounds fairly odd to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What verb should I use to mean that I&#xA;  changed the status of a post from&#xA;  published to unpublished?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;withdraw&quot; works as a verb here: &quot;I published the article&quot;, &quot;I withdrew the article&quot;. However, when you're referring to a specific operation on a computer or web service, &quot;unpublish&quot; might clarify that you're talking about the operation itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-31T13:56:41.800" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T13:56:41.800" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2211" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-31T02:39:38.847" Score="2" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Use it for lifting, prying, removing,&#xA;  bashing, demolishing and most&#xA;  importantly, against zombies and&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;headcrabs&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's that stuff?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T02:51:06.707" Title="What does &quot;headcrabs&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2212" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2254" CreationDate="2010-08-31T02:40:53.947" Score="5" ViewCount="340" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Talented&lt;/em&gt; derives from &lt;em&gt;talent&lt;/em&gt;, which is not a verb in Modern English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has &lt;em&gt;talent&lt;/em&gt; ever been used as verb? Are there any words ending in &lt;em&gt;-ed&lt;/em&gt; that derive from words once used as verb that is not used nowadays?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T06:17:15.487" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T06:20:36.717" Title="Do adjectives ending in &quot;-ed&quot; derive from words that were once used as verbs?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;suffix&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="2213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2211" CreationDate="2010-08-31T02:51:06.707" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A headcrab is a parasitic alien monster, from the PC game series &lt;em&gt;Half-Life&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headcrab&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headcrab&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="911" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T02:51:06.707" />
  <row Id="2215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2212" CreationDate="2010-08-31T03:30:30.880" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Similar to &lt;em&gt;talented&lt;/em&gt; are &lt;em&gt;gifted&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;winged&lt;/em&gt; as in &lt;em&gt;a bird is a winged creature&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nouns can be turned into adjectives by adding &quot;-ed&quot;, but it seems they need a modifier, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;kind hearted&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ten toed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;five fingered&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;long necked&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;evil eyed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;heavenly minded&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;long legged&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="860" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T06:20:36.717" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T06:20:36.717" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="2216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2183" CreationDate="2010-08-31T03:33:23.397" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about &quot;for&quot;?  An RFP is a &quot;request for proposal.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T03:33:23.397" />
  <row Id="2217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1545" CreationDate="2010-08-31T03:38:24.730" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In common American usage I have always heard &quot;for-tay&quot; because saying &quot;fort&quot; sounds like another word spelled f-o-r-t meaning a temporary dwelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T03:38:24.730" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1628" CreationDate="2010-08-31T03:48:12.643" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is funny that class has anything to do with it.  I have heard it used as &quot;goodbye&quot; mostly from my British friends (all educated) who don't mind hanging out with Americans (also educated).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T03:48:12.643" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1858" CreationDate="2010-08-31T03:53:37.037" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have used a couple to mean two or three, several to mean 3+ and few to mean -3 or any number that emphasizes something smaller than expected.  &quot;There were only a few people&quot; can easily mean twenty when a hundred were expected.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T03:53:37.037" />
  <row Id="2220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1900" CreationDate="2010-08-31T04:06:06.030" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;West coast accent can also include the word &quot;aunt&quot; being pronounced &quot;ant&quot; rather than &quot;aw-nt&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some word are used more than others like &quot;like&quot; and the style is considered more informal than the East Coast, Midwest, or South.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;West Coasters often say &quot;pop&quot; when others say &quot;soda&quot; and in parts of the South every soft drink is a &quot;Coke.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T04:06:06.030" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1908" CreationDate="2010-08-31T04:11:01.183" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In spoken English I have heard F-Y-I but not OMG, LOL, or WTF except when specifically emulating texting style or teasing someone about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T04:11:01.183" />
  <row Id="2222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2161" CreationDate="2010-08-31T04:20:34.907" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My boyfriend reads a lot but only attended one semester of college so he knows words that he hasn't heard pronounced.  When he mispronounces one, I wait until we are alone and say something like, &quot;I have only heard that word pronounced X.&quot;. That way he can can save face, and I am not over-assuming, because some words are pronounced in more than one way. To be sure, there have been times when my pronunciation wasn't the most common either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the same tact should be taken with any difference of thought, because you can not always be certain you yourself have all the information.  &quot;Have you considered&quot; is another respectful way to present a difference of opinion.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T04:20:34.907" />
  <row Id="2223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2208" CreationDate="2010-08-31T04:24:23.357" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I published my comment, and removed it the next day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T04:24:23.357" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1640" CreationDate="2010-08-31T04:27:28.933" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you live in the the Northwest, you may leave work a little early during the winter in order to &quot;catch the sun.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T04:27:28.933" />
  <row Id="2225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2180" CreationDate="2010-08-31T04:40:13.277" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some words have different meanings depending on count/ noncount usage.  If you turn in &quot;a paper&quot;, it means you have given the teacher an assignment, while simply having &quot;some paper&quot; means you have plain paper with nothing on it.  I have two papers, means I have two assignments.  I have two pieces of paper means I have two pages. I have a chicken means I have a bird, and I have some chicken means I have some bird meat.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most words only have one meaning and usage, so confusing the two just sounds awkward rather than truly confusing like the paper and chicken examples.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T04:40:13.277" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1954" CreationDate="2010-08-31T04:50:51.757" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually people write yes, unless it is informal writing, then yeah and yep can be used.  In spoken English yes is always appropriate, but with friends and relations yeah and yep are frequently used.  Sometimes the words can carry more meaning by their tone and repetition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mother: &quot;Did you you do your homework yet?&quot;&#xA;Child: &quot;yeah, yeah, yeah.&quot; (The homework not done, but the child is tired of being told about it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T04:50:51.757" />
  <row Id="2227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2049" CreationDate="2010-08-31T04:58:37.547" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;yearling&quot; is almost exclusively used for young animals like sheep, goats and deer and certainly not used for repetitive things.  For badges, you can have your first-, second- and third-year pins.  An annual gathering is something that happens once a year, you can celebrate an anniversary each year too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T04:58:37.547" />
  <row Id="2228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2086" CreationDate="2010-08-31T05:04:03.743" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A digression can be used if you are off-topic.&#xA;A lecture if you are very thorough. &#xA;A speech if it is well-rehearsed and given frequently.&#xA;If I am passionate, I may get on my soap box.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T05:04:03.743" />
  <row Id="2229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2035" CreationDate="2010-08-31T05:10:00.203" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going to be late tomorrow.  I will be late tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally use them interchangeably, but the second way of saying it seems more forceful.  (Native English speaker in America) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T05:10:00.203" />
  <row Id="2230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2183" CreationDate="2010-08-31T07:25:13.343" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to request &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; you to refrain from shouting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-01T23:23:21.063" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T23:23:21.063" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="2231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2086" CreationDate="2010-08-31T07:25:55.040" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about &lt;em&gt;critique&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="896" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T07:25:55.040" />
  <row Id="2232" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2241" CreationDate="2010-08-31T08:30:44.523" Score="1" ViewCount="342" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard many (rather most) people, especially in the USA, saying: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't know nothing about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that correct? I always get a weird feeling hearing this and feel the correct one would be saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't know anything about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="918" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-24T14:10:40.170" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T14:10:40.170" Title="Which is correct — &quot;nothing&quot; or &quot;anything&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2232" CreationDate="2010-08-31T08:59:53.683" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct one is the second. The first one might be used, for instance, by the (educated) speakers just in order to give their speach a pleasant rustic flavor. It sounds even better with &quot;ain't&quot; instead of &quot;don't&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="919" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T08:59:53.683" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2234" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-31T09:12:12.967" Score="2" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicates:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1047/which-is-correct-you-and-i-or-you-and-me&quot;&gt;Which is correct, &amp;ldquo;you and I&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;you and me&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/313/when-do-i-use-i-instead-of-me&quot;&gt;When do I use &amp;ldquo;I&amp;rdquo; instead of &amp;ldquo;me?&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one of the below sentences is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John and me are working on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John and I are working on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="918" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-31T21:03:26.513" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T21:03:26.513" ClosedDate="2010-08-31T22:30:34.403" Title="What to use - 'I' or 'Me' ?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2234" CreationDate="2010-08-31T09:34:40.987" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To work is the verb here; I am working; John is working. You'd never say: &quot;Me is working&quot; right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;John and me.&quot; Is generally accepted it seems in common parlance, certainly where I'm from anyway. But really it's incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="921" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T09:34:40.987" />
  <row Id="2236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1858" CreationDate="2010-08-31T10:17:54.033" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;And in similar lines&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Handful&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The amount that a hand can hold. A small, undefined number or quantity: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;only a handful of people on the&#xA;  street.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="313" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T10:17:54.033" />
  <row Id="2237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2232" CreationDate="2010-08-31T10:28:09.700" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second example is the grammatically correct one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the first is common in certain dialects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T10:28:09.700" />
  <row Id="2238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2232" CreationDate="2010-08-31T11:58:17.583" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American English&lt;/em&gt; reports that &lt;em&gt;anything&lt;/em&gt; is used&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;in negative, or questions to refer to a thing, no matter what.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Has she found anything?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Nobody was saying anything. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;without negative, for emphasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Albert was ready for anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Nothing&lt;/em&gt; is used in sentences like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She said nothing.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  There's nothing we can do.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  They found nothing wrong.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using &lt;em&gt;nothing&lt;/em&gt; (which means &lt;em&gt;not anything&lt;/em&gt;) in a sentence with a negative is to use a double negation. I imagine the double negation can be used in some particular cases to give emphasis to the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T11:58:17.583" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2234" CreationDate="2010-08-31T12:04:50.140" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;John and I are working on it. Both are subjects (John is working on it. I am working on it.) Therefore, John and I are working on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T12:04:50.140" />
  <row Id="2240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2232" CreationDate="2010-08-31T12:08:50.787" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Logically speaking, the negative of negative is positive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the first sentence may be translated as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know nothing = I know something&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, some american slangs use this formula to strengthen the negation not to negate the negation!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T12:08:50.787" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2232" CreationDate="2010-08-31T12:10:38.090" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second one is correct for most dialects of English. The first one is a double negative, or as we call it in linguistics, exhibits negative concord.  Wikipedia has a pretty good article on double negatives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_negative&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_negative&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most prescriptive grammarians will tell you that a double negative is incorrect because it is &quot;illogical.&quot; However, there are many languages that operate just fine using double negative obligatorily. For instance, almost all Romance languages have obligatory negative concord:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Italian:&lt;/strong&gt; Non so niente.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;French:&lt;/strong&gt; Je ne sais pas.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Double negatives &lt;em&gt;used&lt;/em&gt; to be grammatical in English, but there was a grammatical change sometime during Middle English. The Wikipedia article gives a sentence from a 1644 letter by Oliver Cromwell (emphasis is added by me).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A little after, he said one thing lay upon his spirit. I asked him what it was. He told me it was that God had &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; suffered him to be &lt;strong&gt;no more&lt;/strong&gt; the executioner of His enemies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The double negative is still used in many modern dialects, but it is typically very stigmatized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="257" LastEditorUserId="257" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-31T16:13:03.780" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T16:13:03.780" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1999" CreationDate="2010-08-31T12:13:55.907" Score="24" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The verb &lt;strong&gt;to table&lt;/strong&gt;, when applied to parliamentary procedure, has opposite meanings in the US and UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_%28parliamentary_procedure%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;From Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;In the United States, the motion to lay on the table (often simply &quot;table&quot;)...is a proposal to &lt;em&gt;suspend&lt;/em&gt; consideration of a pending motion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;In the United Kingdom and the rest of the English-speaking world, a motion to place upon the table...is a proposal to &lt;em&gt;begin&lt;/em&gt; consideration of a proposal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T12:13:55.907" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-31T12:13:55.907" />
  <row Id="2243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2234" CreationDate="2010-08-31T12:22:31.737" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;She said hi to me and John --&gt;  here, &lt;em&gt;John&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; are objects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;John and I said hi to her  --&gt; here, &lt;em&gt;John&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; are subjects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T12:22:31.737" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2244" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2262" CreationDate="2010-08-31T13:54:53.677" Score="8" ViewCount="271" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;that'd&quot; an appropriate contraction of &quot;that&quot; and &quot;would&quot;? I &lt;em&gt;say&lt;/em&gt; it, but I'm not sure if it's a legitimate contraction in written form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="897" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T02:15:31.767" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T02:15:31.767" Title="&quot;that&quot; + &quot;would&quot; = &quot;that'd&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2244" CreationDate="2010-08-31T14:11:54.270" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Insofar as any contractions are suitable for formal written English, I'd put &quot;that'd&quot; towards the more casual end of the spectrum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T14:11:54.270" />
  <row Id="2246" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2247" CreationDate="2010-08-31T14:17:09.330" Score="9" ViewCount="620" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was aware of this and &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/808/is-prepone-being-used-outside-india&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; stackexchange post discuss the same. There is no &lt;em&gt;prepone&lt;/em&gt; in English. Ok, then how do I say &lt;em&gt;Our meeting is preponed&lt;/em&gt; in correct way? What is the correct word/phrase for &lt;em&gt;prepone&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="918" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T18:50:29.410" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T18:50:29.410" Title="How do I say &quot;Our meeting is preponed&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;neologisms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="2247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2246" CreationDate="2010-08-31T14:21:52.253" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our meeting has been brought forward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our meeting has been rescheduled for an earlier time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't worry too much. English is my first language and I liked the word when I first heard it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unlike other apparent malapropisms (or eggcorns) this word is succinct, clear in meaning, and it fills a hole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless I've misunderestimated the question?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastEditorUserId="588" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-31T14:43:44.810" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T14:43:44.810" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2208" CreationDate="2010-08-31T14:24:04.540" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you can see from other answers, there are differing opinions on whether it could be, would be, should be misunderstood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, why not just use &quot;hide&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say yourself that the comment is either &quot;visible&quot; to users or not. Well, the opposite of &quot;visible&quot; is &quot;hidden&quot;. Don't give yourself a hard time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T14:24:04.540" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2086" CreationDate="2010-08-31T14:27:00.217" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, I would use either &quot;rant&quot; if I am complaining about something but not attacking the recipient, or &quot;rambling&quot; if I'm just taking way too many words to say something. The point of a friendly letter is to be friendly. Ramblings tend to get skimmed over if the reader thinks it is not worth the effort to read so much text. If you are truly writing a friendly letter try to be concise while also being respectful of the reader. There really shouldn't be diatribes, rants, or ramblings in a friendly letter unless you know the other party very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T14:27:00.217" />
  <row Id="2250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2246" CreationDate="2010-08-31T14:29:24.550" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to what &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2246/then-how-do-i-say-it-our-meeting-is-preponed/2247#2247&quot;&gt;Ed Guiness said&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our meeting has been moved to this afternoon.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(Assuming, obviously, that the original time was later than &lt;em&gt;this afternoon&lt;/em&gt;, e.g. tomorrow morning.)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or if you want to give emphasis to the &quot;preponing&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our meeting has been moved to an earlier time/date: [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But go ahead and use &quot;prepone&quot; if you have reason to believe that the people you are addressing are familiar with the term (or at least wouldn't object to using it). :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-31T18:54:50.263" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T18:54:50.263" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2246" CreationDate="2010-08-31T14:29:47.733" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our meeting has been moved up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-31T15:02:07.597" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T15:02:07.597" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="2253" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2257" CreationDate="2010-08-31T14:37:53.003" Score="4" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the quote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...Not poppy, nor mandragora,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Which thou &lt;strong&gt;owedst&lt;/strong&gt; yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Shakespeare&lt;/code&gt; - &lt;em&gt;Othello&lt;/em&gt; III.iii&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really can't find any clear definition of this word, here.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;From context, all I can assume is that it means to ingest or consume?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="926" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-13T21:08:43.850" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T16:55:02.790" Title="The definition of &quot;Owedst&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;&lt;early-modern-english&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2212" CreationDate="2010-08-31T14:54:06.473" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Has talent ever been used as verb? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are no signs of this in any dictionary, etymology dictionary, or online resource I have checked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do adjectives ending in “-ed” derive from words that were once used as verbs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, not necessarily. Someone is talented because he has &lt;em&gt;talent&lt;/em&gt;, not because he was talented by someone or has talented something. As Daniel points out in his answer, there are lots of such constructions: five-fingered, long-legged, lighthearted, etc. These words are not derived from verbs, they are derived from nouns, as Kosmonaut explains in full detail in his answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are there any words ending in -ed that derive from words once used as verb?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. One example is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=sacred&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;sacred&quot;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;sacred&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;c.1300, from pp. of obsolete verb &lt;em&gt;sacren&lt;/em&gt; &quot;to make holy&quot; (early 13c.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-13T23:43:01.767" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T23:43:01.767" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2086" CreationDate="2010-08-31T15:01:13.823" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Pontification&quot; may work in some situations. One of my favorite words, actually ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T15:01:13.823" />
  <row Id="2256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2212" CreationDate="2010-08-31T15:10:48.543" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://oed.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;OED&lt;/a&gt; makes a clear distinction between the &lt;em&gt;-ed&lt;/em&gt; that forms adjectives and the &lt;em&gt;-ed&lt;/em&gt; that forms the past participle (and, naturally, any past participle can be used as an adjective).  The adjective-forming &lt;em&gt;-ed&lt;/em&gt; (which gives the meaning &quot;possessing, provided with, characterized by&quot;) definitely does not have any inherent verb-related qualities, or require that there ever was some verb counterpart at any point in time.  You can go straight from noun to adjective, like in your example with &lt;em&gt;talent&lt;/em&gt;.  Even in cases where there is a verb form, e.g. &lt;em&gt;feathered&lt;/em&gt;, there is nothing about &quot;feathered bird&quot; that suggests that this &lt;em&gt;feathered&lt;/em&gt; came from the verb (i.e. nobody ever feathered the bird).  Compare that to &quot;fallen soldier&quot;, where adjective &lt;em&gt;fallen&lt;/em&gt; clearly did come from the past participle &lt;em&gt;fallen&lt;/em&gt; (i.e. the soldier did fall).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason the adjective suffix looks like the past suffix is because they originally came from the same etymological root.  The OED says (modified to have less abbreviations):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;-ed&lt;/em&gt; is appended to nouns in order to form adjs. connoting the possession or the presence of the attribute or thing expressed by the noun. The function of the suffix is thus identical with that of the Latin participle suffix &lt;em&gt;-tus&lt;/em&gt; as used in &lt;em&gt;caudtus&lt;/em&gt; (tailed), &lt;em&gt;aurtus&lt;/em&gt; (eared), etc.; and it is possible that the Teutonic &lt;em&gt;-ôjo-&lt;/em&gt; may originally have been from &lt;em&gt;-ôo-&lt;/em&gt; (see past ppl. -ed), the suffix of past participles of verbs in &lt;em&gt;-ôjan&lt;/em&gt; formed upon nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The OED also says that there are many cases where it is impossible to tell 100% for certain which &lt;em&gt;-ed&lt;/em&gt; adjectives were originally from past participles of verbs that later disappeared, and which were just formed straight from nouns, but surely there are some of the former.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-31T15:16:10.510" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T15:16:10.510" />
  <row Id="2257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2253" CreationDate="2010-08-31T15:14:07.517" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a second person past tense form of &quot;to owe.&quot; To give a parse of the morphology:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;owe - d   -  st&#xA;owe - past - 2sg&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;-d&quot; or &quot;-ed&quot; is the usual past tense (and participle) marking we know and love today. The &quot;-st&quot; is the second person singular agreement morpheme, which we no longer have in Modern English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for its meaning, &quot;owed&quot; sort of makes sense, but this might be a more archaic use for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Here is the advanced search page for Open Search Shakespeare:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/search/search-advanced.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/search/search-advanced.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you select Regular Expression and search &lt;code&gt;.*edst&lt;/code&gt;, you'll find a lot more examples with more easily recognizable verbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="257" LastEditorUserId="257" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-31T15:23:11.067" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T15:23:11.067" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2244" CreationDate="2010-08-31T15:16:52.853" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would certainly be acceptable in written dialogue—as you point out, you &lt;em&gt;say&lt;/em&gt; it, so it can be written as a representation of what you/a character &lt;em&gt;says&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With text being used more and more for conversation—i.e., chatting and informal emails—I would consider that'd to be acceptable in casual text-based conversation but not in formal letters, papers, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="928" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T15:16:52.853" />
  <row Id="2259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2244" CreationDate="2010-08-31T15:20:27.613" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is certainly acceptable in the sense that any native speaker would understand it.  So, I think that would characterize it as legitimate.  In formal writing, most contractions are avoided anyway — though if I were somewhere between formal and informal, I would definitely get rid of &lt;em&gt;that'd&lt;/em&gt; before I would get rid of &lt;em&gt;it's&lt;/em&gt;.  So it is on the &quot;more informal&quot; end of the contraction formality spectrum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T15:20:27.613" />
  <row Id="2260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2253" CreationDate="2010-08-31T15:27:17.897" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;-st&quot; is a verb ending that indicates second person singular. It is still present in contemporary German, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=owe&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;owe&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      O.E. agan (pt. ahte) &quot;to have, own,&quot; from P.Gmc. *&lt;em&gt;aiganan&lt;/em&gt; &quot;to possess&quot; [...]. Sense of &quot;to have to repay&quot; began in late O.E. with the phrase &lt;em&gt;agan to geldanne&lt;/em&gt; lit. &quot;to own to yield,&quot; which was used to translate L. &lt;em&gt;debere&lt;/em&gt; (earlier in O.E. this would have been &lt;em&gt;sceal&lt;/em&gt; &quot;shall&quot;); by late 12c. the phrase had been shortened to simply &lt;em&gt;agan&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;own&lt;/em&gt; (v.) took over this word's original sense. An original Germanic preterite-present verb (cf. &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;dare&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt;, etc.). New past tense form &lt;em&gt;owed&lt;/em&gt; arose 15c. to replace &lt;em&gt;oughte&lt;/em&gt;, which developed into &lt;em&gt;ought&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T15:27:17.897" />
  <row Id="2262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2244" CreationDate="2010-08-31T15:51:10.110" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many incidences of &lt;em&gt;that’d&lt;/em&gt; meaning “that would” in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&amp;amp;q=6251061&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;SPOKEN    208  (2.39/million words)&#xA;FICTION   384  (4.7/million words)&#xA;MAGAZINE   58  (0.67/million words)&#xA;NEWSPAPER  48  (0.57/million words)&#xA;ACADEMIC    3  (0.04/million words)&#xA;TOTAL     701  (701/million words)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is most common in spoken English and fiction, so the idea that it’s more for informal registers has merit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-19T18:01:06.647" LastActivityDate="2010-09-19T18:01:06.647" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2263" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2266" CreationDate="2010-08-31T15:52:22.223" Score="0" ViewCount="677" Body="&lt;p&gt;I thought that irrehensible was a word like &quot;morally irrehensible&quot; would mean something so bad it is beyond forgiveness, or &quot;irrehensibly damaged&quot; would be damaged beyond hope of repair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of the dictionaries I've tried looking up this word in like it.  Am I spelling this wrong? Or thinking of a different word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: If I google &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22morally+irrehensible%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;morally irrehensible&quot;&lt;/a&gt; I get 75 results all being used as a really terrible act.  It says &quot;did you mean &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22morally+rehensible%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;morally rehensible&lt;/a&gt;&quot; which gives 195 results all seeming to have the same meaning.  So it seems like every 3rd or 4th time this word is used, people incorrectly add in the &quot;ir-&quot;.  Not sure why this is such a common mistake, but irrehensible is how I've always heard it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="552" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:56:07.600" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:56:07.600" Title="irrehensible/irrehensibly" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2253" CreationDate="2010-08-31T15:55:56.753" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apparently there is an archaic sense of 'owe' meaning to possess or to own: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/owe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;owe in merriam-webster&lt;/a&gt;. The object of 'Owedst' is the sleep, which the subject enjoyed (or 'owned'), not the concoctions that he could have ingested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T15:55:56.753" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2263" CreationDate="2010-08-31T15:57:28.703" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you mean &quot;reprehensible&quot; (deserving censure because it's so bad). The antonym would be &quot;irreprehensible&quot; (deserving no censure).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="902" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T15:57:28.703" />
  <row Id="2267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2263" CreationDate="2010-08-31T16:07:12.507" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Several uses of this word on google, but it looks to me like a recent confusion of irredeemable (beyond redemption), with reprehensible (deserving blame) and perhaps also  irresponsible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also be thinking of irreparable (beyond repair).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="122" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-01T06:54:42.033" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T06:54:42.033" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2153" CreationDate="2010-08-31T16:13:27.690" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this statement suffers in part from being able to be interpreted in more than one way.  I don't know the context in which it was said, but it is feasible that some or all of the developers already had access, and that access (or the extent of it) was being questioned:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Should the developers have access to the production environment, and if they do, to what extent?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Should the developers (even) have access to the production environment, and if (some of them already) do, to what extent (should they have it)?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll admit that was not my initial reading of it, but it does make sense.  My initial reading of it was assuming no developers currently have access:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Should the developers have access to the production environment, and if they do, to what extent?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read as (simplest interpretation/better restatement of intent):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Should the developers have access to the production environment, and, if so, to what extent should they have access?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, what I think is implied by the way it is phrased is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Should the developers have access to the production environment, and if they do (at some future point have access because we have decided they should and have given them access), to what extent (should they have access)?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is the shift in time from now to a later point that causes most of the confusion because both points are referred to with present tense verbs.  If you assume no developers currently have access to production, the statement is asking &lt;strong&gt;in the present&lt;/strong&gt; if they should.  Then, in the same breath, the statement is referring to a future point when they have access or might have access also &lt;strong&gt;in the present&lt;/strong&gt;.  I don't think it's technically incorrect, but much of the meaning has to be inferred since it relies on the reader to supply the missing words that could have provided clarification.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="931" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T16:13:27.690" />
  <row Id="2269" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2270" CreationDate="2010-08-31T17:18:26.130" Score="5" ViewCount="280" Body="&lt;p&gt;Occasionally, I will hear or read coworkers using &quot;myself&quot; in place of &quot;me,&quot; as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you have any questions, you can contact Gimli or myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have sent the list to Legolas, Glorfindel, Aragorn, and myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sticks out to me every time I hear it, and seems like an attempt to sound more professional than if they were to say &quot;Gimli or me&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems wrong because you would not say &quot;You can contact myself.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also wonder if &quot;myself&quot; is an attempt to avoid the confusion of &quot;me&quot; versus &quot;I&quot; in a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this a valid use of &quot;myself&quot;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Has anyone else experienced this, or is it a Midwestern regional idiom?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="572" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:56:31.343" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:56:31.343" Title="Use of &quot;myself&quot; in business-speak" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2269" CreationDate="2010-08-31T17:35:34.810" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This usage is justified by the usage notes in Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage and the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary. See my answer to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1176/you-and-yourself-me-and-myself/1186#1186&quot;&gt;You and Yourself, Me and Myself&lt;/a&gt; for a discussion of the grammaticality of &lt;em&gt;myself&lt;/em&gt; in non-reflexive constructions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This usage probably comes from discomfort people have with selecting pronoun case in coordinates. There is a rule in informal English that you always use accusative case in coordinations of pronouns regardless of syntactic position (“My brother and me are hardly on speaking terms these days.”—you can find many examples like this in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;), but there is also a rule in standard formal English that those kinds of coordinations are ungrammatical and you must use the nominative case. As a result, people are uncomfortable using either &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; because their intuition leads them to say &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; but the formal grammar they learned in school draws them towards &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt;, so they “split the difference”, as it were, and use &lt;em&gt;myself&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Shinto Sherlock correctly points out that the second example usage in the question is in fact a perfectly normal use of reflexive &lt;em&gt;myself&lt;/em&gt;. I’m not sure either why it would be a surprising usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-01T03:01:51.740" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T03:01:51.740" />
  <row Id="2271" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-31T17:53:19.513" Score="3" ViewCount="329" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sometimes see square brackets used while quoting.  My assumption is that they are replacing a pronoun with what the object of the pronoun, but I never know for sure because I don't usually get to see what the original quote looks like before the modification.  What are these called and what are the rules of use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="552" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-08-31T18:22:52.837" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T20:08:27.007" Title="What is the proper use of [square brackets] in quotes?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="2272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2271" CreationDate="2010-08-31T17:59:40.817" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are used to indicate that a direct quote has been edited — to fit the surrounding information, or to add context that does not show up within the scope of the quote.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.byui.edu/english/mlaguide/integrating%20sources.htm#changing_quotations&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This page&lt;/a&gt; has a more detailed description.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T17:59:40.817" />
  <row Id="2273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2246" CreationDate="2010-08-31T18:31:08.383" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just on a whim I checked the dictionary, and it turns out that &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prepone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;prepone&lt;/em&gt; is in the dictionary&lt;/a&gt;!  I might personally still avoid it just because many people might be confused by it (or at least take a moment to parse it), but technically it is a perfectly &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cromulent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cromulent&lt;/a&gt; word. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I then checked the OED and found that this word was coined in 1913.  Here is the quote, which comes from the New York Times:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For the benefit mainly of the legal profession in this age of hurry and bustle may I be permitted to coin the word ‘prepone’ as a needed rival of that much revered and oft-invoked standby, ‘postpone’.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T18:31:08.383" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2274" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2277" CreationDate="2010-08-31T18:40:39.517" Score="2" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; I read that one of the meaning of &lt;em&gt;anticipate&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;come or take place before (an event or process expected or scheduled for a later)&lt;/em&gt;. In which context is &lt;em&gt;anticipate&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;anticipated&lt;/em&gt;) understood to have that meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(&lt;strong&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt;) The meeting has been anticipated to this morning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T06:40:42.363" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T06:40:42.363" Title="In which context does &quot;anticipated&quot; mean &quot;came or took place before&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;contexts&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="2275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1706" CreationDate="2010-08-31T18:42:08.240" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think there may be some confusion embedded in your question as it relates to comment on the wiktionary article. I think the usage they are alluding to would be of the following structures:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;X is the tallest&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;X is tallest&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that wiktionary is pointing out that using the definite article with a superlative is preferable to a) not using an article at all, or b) using an indefinite article such as 'a' or 'an' considering those do not make sense. So yes, in your examples, #1 is the best, but I am guessing you already knew that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T18:42:08.240" />
  <row Id="2276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2274" CreationDate="2010-08-31T18:49:20.473" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Typically it refers simply to having fore-thought of an occurence, or one's expectation of something before it happens. Your example might be better phrased &quot;The meeting had been anticipated &lt;strong&gt;since&lt;/strong&gt; last week&quot; or &quot;I anticipated his every move in that chess game.&quot; In each case the sentence is referring to preparation, or precognition, of an event. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically anticipated will be tied together with a sentence like this &quot;I anticipated his drive down the middle of the basketball court, so I planted my feet and took the foul.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, the example could be tied to your question better if phrased as 'The meeting anticipated the budget shortfall.' In which case you are still dealing in the same sense and basic usage of normal &quot;anticipate&quot;, but rather than a mental anticipation it is an event/object that is in advance of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastEditorUserId="549" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-01T13:22:38.640" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T13:22:38.640" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2274" CreationDate="2010-08-31T18:50:17.777" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is that definition from the OED with some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To observe or practise in advance of the due date; to cause to happen earlier, accelerate.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1534 MORE On the Passion Wks. 1557, 1308/1 Christe dyd anticipate the tyme of eatynge his Paschall lambe. 1625 MEADE in Ellis Orig. Lett. I. 307 III. 190 The funerall..is anticipated, and shall be on Thursday. 1751 CHAMBERS Cycl. s.v. Anticipation, Anticipating a payment means the discharging it before it falls due. 1818 SCOTT Hrt. Midl. (1873) 17 To anticipate by half an hour the usual time of his arrival. 1819 BYRON Juan II. lii, Some leap'd overboard..As eager to anticipate their grave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This use strikes me as obsolete, but at the very least, it is quite rare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T18:50:17.777" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="365" CreationDate="2010-08-31T19:32:19.963" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people suggest avoiding shortcuts such as these and I fully agree.  However, there are some shortcuts that may be more appropriate depending on the circumstances.  People often abbreviate long words and phrases such as &quot;By the way (BTW)&quot;, &quot;without (w/o)&quot;, or other longer words.  These words and phrases are much longer than &quot;you&quot; or &quot;are&quot; and thus it seems (to me, anyway) less lazy to use the shortcuts.  If a coworker sent me the following in an email&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;BTW are you going to handle the new feature? We need a version w/o validation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would be perfectly happy reading it, but if they wrote&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;BTW r u going 2 handle the new feature? We need a ver w/o val&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would look juvenile to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T19:32:19.963" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2274" CreationDate="2010-08-31T19:40:34.543" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the old saw puts it, &quot;John and Jane anticipated marriage&quot; does not mean the same as &quot;John and Jane expected to be married&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T19:40:34.543" />
  <row Id="2280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2271" CreationDate="2010-08-31T20:08:27.007" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are simply used to add contextual clarity where the meaning is unclear. This is &lt;strong&gt;not only in quotes&lt;/strong&gt;, but that's its most common usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Original: &quot;I returned there yesterday, 2 hours after it happened&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Quote: The criminal admitted: &quot;I returned [to the crime scene] yesterday, 2 hours after [the murder] happened&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Square brackets are not ONLY used in quotes. They are used often in translation. For example, the bible. Although not all bibles do this, one notable bible that did do this was &quot;The Geneva Bible&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Geneva Bible translators gave particular attention to retaining the flavor and sense of the original Hebrew. Words that the translators considered to be necessary additions were shown in italics, and text that had been added for grammatical clarity appeared in square brackets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: &lt;a href=&quot;http://watchtower.org/e/bible/da/chapter_001.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Daniel 1:7&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And to them the principal court official went assigning names. So he assigned to Daniel &#xA;  [the name of] Bel‧te‧shaz′zar; and to Han‧a‧ni′ah, Sha′drach; and to Mish′a‧el, &#xA;  Me′shach; and to Az‧a‧ri′ah, A‧bed′ne‧go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Square brackets, whether part of a quote or just in text simply mean: &quot;Added for contextual accuracy&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T20:08:27.007" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2234" CreationDate="2010-08-31T20:13:53.870" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It puzzles me how so many people are confused by this. The rule is perfectly simple: you use the same word you would use if the &quot;John and&quot; bit wasn't there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="308" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T20:13:53.870" />
  <row Id="2283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="689" CreationDate="2010-08-31T20:33:00.317" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I routinely use (and receive) multiply-contracted words in SMS messages as a conveniencing shorthand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it should be used in current formal writing of any sort, though the opportunities for multiply-contracted words to promulgate would be interesting to watch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="366" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T20:33:00.317" />
  <row Id="2284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2049" CreationDate="2010-08-31T20:36:11.333" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the context of stackexchange, &quot;yearling&quot; could be issued 12 months from when the account was opened. Then, if the account is more-or-less stagnant for 12 months, it could be issued again 18 months after the first one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That seems flaky to me. &quot;Yearling&quot; implies one-year-old, not &quot;did something in a year; then did it again in another year on the same site&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="366" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T20:36:11.333" />
  <row Id="2285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="689" CreationDate="2010-08-31T20:52:12.580" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I admit that I use &quot;I'd've&quot; in everyday conversation without even thinking about it but have never considered writing it and don't recall ever seeing it written, although it does remind me that in elementary school, we used to sing a song called &quot;If I knew you were coming, I'd've baked a cake....baked a cake....baked a cake...&quot;  Wow, that was a blast from the past! :)  Putting three words together into one word via contraction just looks weird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="931" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T20:52:12.580" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2286" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2290" CreationDate="2010-08-31T21:08:38.927" Score="7" ViewCount="272" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the beginning of a sentence is obvious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm referring to the following examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A handful of earth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The earth under this house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The earth beneath my feet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What on earth?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The heavens above and the earth below.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The earth moved.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We returned quickly to earth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lower: 1,2,3,4&#xA;Upper: 7&#xA;Not sure: 5,6&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T06:10:56.787" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T06:10:56.787" Title="When is it correct to capitalise 'earth'?" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="2287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2286" CreationDate="2010-08-31T21:18:40.757" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would write &lt;em&gt;Earth&lt;/em&gt; when referring to the planet where we live because it is a proper noun (like &lt;em&gt;Mars&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;Venus&lt;/em&gt;, for example).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;, it's reported that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The earth is the third planet from the sun in the solar system, orbiting between Venus and Mars at an average distance of 90 million miles (149.6 million km) from the sun, and has one natural satellite, the moon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The definition for &lt;em&gt;earth&lt;/em&gt; as a noun starts with&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(also &lt;em&gt;Earth&lt;/em&gt;) the planet on which we live; the world: &lt;em&gt;the diversity of life on earth&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the example phrases you wrote, I would write them as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A handful of earth.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The earth under this house.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The earth beneath my feet.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  What on earth?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The Heavens above and the Earth below.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The earth moved.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  We returned quickly to Earth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wrote &lt;em&gt;earth&lt;/em&gt; on the fourth phrase because it's a way of saying, which has a different meaning from &lt;em&gt;What is happening on Earth?&lt;/em&gt; I am actually not 100% sure on how I would wrote &lt;em&gt;earth&lt;/em&gt; in that case.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In &lt;em&gt;the earth moved&lt;/em&gt; I wrote &lt;em&gt;earth&lt;/em&gt; because the word is not referring to the planet (I suppose it is the sentence you say when there have been a quake).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-01T14:22:01.647" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T14:22:01.647" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2288" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2314" CreationDate="2010-08-31T22:10:03.143" Score="3" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I want to introduce a 'pause' between lines of dialogue from the same person by inserting a line spacing, how should I use the quotation marks correctly to indicate continued dialogue? I really don't want to write it in a gossipy &quot;he said, she said&quot; way!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that closing quotations aren't always placed on the end of a line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the rules?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="939" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T13:10:38.120" Title="How should I use quotation marks in sections of multi-line dialogue?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="2289" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2300" CreationDate="2010-08-31T22:15:07.570" Score="0" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is their difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please provide an example (or two if the use as verb or adjective differentiates their meanings).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="941" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T15:47:31.277" Title="'Clean' vs 'Clear'" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2286" CreationDate="2010-08-31T22:29:16.803" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, I would write &lt;em&gt;earth&lt;/em&gt; when referring to soil, the ground, or land as opposed to sea. I would capitalize &lt;em&gt;Earth&lt;/em&gt; when referring to the planet (and even more specifically, our planet; there are many earths out there). In short: if it's a proper noun, it should be capitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1. A handful of earth.&#xA;2. The earth under this house.&#xA;3. The earth beneath my feet.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree that &lt;em&gt;earth&lt;/em&gt; should not be capitalized here. However, I could come up with contexts in which I &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; capitalize it even in these sentences, though they would be rather poetic or sci-fi (read: far-fetched).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;4. What on earth?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would capitalize &lt;em&gt;Earth&lt;/em&gt; here. To me, this question is equivalent to &quot;What on this planet?&quot;, &quot;What in this world?&quot;, &quot;What on Mother Earth?&quot;, and not to &quot;What on soil?&quot; or &quot;What on land?&quot;. (If you want a comprehensive, highly scientific study, then I am happy to report that out of the first 30 Google results for &quot;What on Earth&quot;, Earth is capitalized in 25 cases.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;5. The heavens above and the earth below.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Soil, ground, land as opposed to the sky. No need to capitalize. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; as Neil Fein points out in the comments, this &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; refer to the planet in certain contexts, in which case I would capitalize it (cf. 1, 2, and 3).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;6. The earth moved.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends. Did the Earth (proper noun) move around the Sun (proper noun), or did the earth (soil, ground) move because there was an earthquake? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;7. We returned quickly to earth.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with you that here it should be capitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-01T02:00:24.233" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T02:00:24.233" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="2291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2031" CreationDate="2010-08-31T22:31:52.790" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;More broadly, an interesting colloquial usage of &quot;the&quot; that I've seen is related to subject familiarity. &quot;Learn the computer once and for all&quot;, belies a lack of familiarity with computing in general by lumping hardware, software, networking, work, leisure, etc., into an arms-length abstraction &quot;the computer&quot;. Not that there's anything wrong with this. Being totally unfamiliar with sports, I might say &quot;the baseball&quot; (referring to the game), because I am essentially warning my listener not to expect any depth from me on that one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not entirely sure what mechanism at play, but whether used whimsically or unconsciously, it seems to be a concise and reliable construct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T22:31:52.790" />
  <row Id="2292" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-08-31T22:51:38.977" Score="5" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;This odd sentence appears in the article &lt;em&gt;Contest of the Century&lt;/em&gt; in the current issue of &lt;em&gt;The Economist&lt;/em&gt; (August 21-27). Should the author have written &lt;strong&gt;third&lt;/strong&gt; instead of &lt;strong&gt;second&lt;/strong&gt;, or is it fine as it stands?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="138" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T01:15:54.827" Title="India's army, in numbers, is second only to China's and America's." Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2293" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2301" CreationDate="2010-08-31T23:01:51.497" Score="2" ViewCount="254" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course whatever follows would seem to be precisely the thing that isn't to be mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I'm assuming that the phrase must have evolved from something more complete/cumbersome, like &quot;and of course I don't need to tell you ...&quot;, or &quot;and of course we know ...&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="460" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-01T01:18:51.263" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T05:43:59.310" Title="What is the origin of the phrase &quot;not to mention ...&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="2294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2292" CreationDate="2010-08-31T23:04:33.677" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Second&lt;/em&gt; means also &lt;em&gt;subordinate or inferior in position, rank, or importance&lt;/em&gt;; the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; uses &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I t was second only to Copenhagen among Baltic ports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the sentence you wrote &lt;em&gt;second&lt;/em&gt; is not referring to the position in a list; the sentence can be also written as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;India's army, in numbers, is inferior only to China's and America's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-01T00:13:50.920" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T00:13:50.920" />
  <row Id="2296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-08-31T23:39:52.043" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Misled&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was a kid I thought it was pronounced like &quot;tiled&quot; :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="943" LastActivityDate="2010-08-31T23:39:52.043" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-31T23:39:52.043" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="90" CreationDate="2010-08-31T23:43:52.163" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find a lot of people use &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt;, such as  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If it's later then six, don't call me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whereas it should be  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If it's later than six, don't call me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="943" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T08:38:36.120" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T08:38:36.120" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-08-31T23:43:52.163" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2286" CreationDate="2010-09-01T01:03:43.203" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, if you can replace earth with 'dirt' or 'land' or any common noun - lower case.&#xA;If you can replace Earth with Duluth or Mars or any proper noun then capitalize it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T01:03:43.203" />
  <row Id="2299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2292" CreationDate="2010-09-01T01:15:54.827" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My theory would be that the key here is the &quot;numbers&quot;. Note the plural. The way I interpret this is as follows. If we take one number — say, the number of soldiers —, then India is second only to China (but not to the US). If we take a different number — say, that of nuclear warheads —, then India is second only to the US (but not to China). In other words, on some accounts India's army is second only to China's, and on others only to America's. So, I guess, the author just took a shortcut there by summing it up the way he did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Also, on a tongue-in-cheek side note, I can't help but notice that we have the idiom &quot;second to none&quot;. Something in me says that if things can be second to none, they can also be second to two, or second to ten, or in fact second to any number.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T01:15:54.827" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2289" CreationDate="2010-09-01T01:30:51.843" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Clean&lt;/em&gt;, as adjective, means&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Free from dirt, marks, or stain (&lt;em&gt;the room was spotlessly clean&lt;/em&gt;).  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Morally uncontaminated; pure; innocent (&lt;em&gt;clean living&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Free from irregularities; having a smooth edge or surface (&lt;em&gt;a clean fracture of the leg&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Clear&lt;/em&gt;, as adjective, means&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Easy to perceive, understand, or interpret (&lt;em&gt;the voice on the telephone was clear and strong&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Free of anything that marks or darkens something (&lt;em&gt;the clear glass of the French windows&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;the day was fine and clear&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;I looked into her clear gray eyes&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Free of any obstructions or unwanted objects (&lt;em&gt;with a clear road ahead, he shifted into high gear&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could be confused between the meaning 1 for &lt;em&gt;clean&lt;/em&gt;, and the meaning 2 for &lt;em&gt;clear&lt;/em&gt;. A &lt;em&gt;clean glass&lt;/em&gt; is a glass that is not dirt; a &lt;em&gt;clear glass&lt;/em&gt; is a glass that doesn't contain any substances that make it opaque.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-01T12:24:49.870" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T12:24:49.870" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2293" CreationDate="2010-09-01T02:07:02.970" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;rhetorical&lt;/em&gt;, as opposed to etymological, origin is the device known as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.uky.edu/AS/Classics/rhetoric.html#37&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;praeteritio&lt;/a&gt;  or paraleipsis, meaning pretended omission for rhetorical effect, because in saying we won't mention X, of course we just did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T02:07:02.970" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2274" CreationDate="2010-09-01T02:27:06.273" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hackneypublications.com/sla/archive/001076.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt;'s an example (in a legal context) of &lt;em&gt;anticipate&lt;/em&gt; being used to mean &lt;em&gt;predate&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Turning to the instant case, the court wrote that “because Nike's AJXV anticipated the invention asserted in claims 5 and 6 of the '215 Patent and predates plaintiffs' original patent application by more than one year, claims 5 and 6 are invalid under the statutory ‘on-sale bar’ codified at section 102(b) of title 35 of the United States Code,” wrote the court. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T02:27:06.273" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2269" CreationDate="2010-09-01T02:35:26.800" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This always strikes my ear as an obnoxious affectation, as though &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; is too small to be important, so I'll puff it up to &lt;em&gt;myself&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T02:35:26.800" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2190" CreationDate="2010-09-01T02:51:01.170" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The order has a requested ship date of 9/14 from our Virginia location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T02:51:01.170" />
  <row Id="2305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2269" CreationDate="2010-09-01T02:56:42.040" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have sent the list to Legolas, Glorfindel, Aragorn, and myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hum, that seems like a completely legitimate use of myself to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I sent it to myself&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;rather than&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I sent it to me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(set to community wiki, yes this is a comment on the question but the comment box is hopeless for writing comments in.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T02:56:42.040" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-01T02:56:58.263" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2306" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-01T03:12:19.943" Score="2" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stephen King (author of &quot;The Shining&quot;) in his book &quot;On Writing&quot;, writes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;American grammar doesn`t have the&#xA;  sturdiness of British grammar (a&#xA;  British advertising man with a proper&#xA;  education can make magazine copy for&#xA;  ribbed condoms sound like the Magna&#xA;  goddam Carta), but it has its own&#xA;  scruffy charm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm interested to know what King means by &quot;sturdiness&quot; here. Can anyone give some examples or more insight into what exactly King is talking about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-01T11:15:24.103" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T11:15:24.103" Title="What are the specifics of King's quote?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-09-01T03:13:20.277" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was in a spelling bee, the enunciator said AT-wit-ter, as in &quot;The birds were all atwitter.&quot; (should be a-TWIT-ter)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastEditorUserId="67" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-04T00:30:29.223" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T00:30:29.223" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-01T03:13:20.277" />
  <row Id="2308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2180" CreationDate="2010-09-01T03:18:22.720" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was recently in a grocery store where the express lane was marked &quot;10 Items or Fewer.&quot;  I made a mental note that that was a classy chain, so in a marketing sense, getting it right made a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T03:18:22.720" />
  <row Id="2309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2208" CreationDate="2010-09-01T03:19:58.897" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the computer/internet context, &quot;unpublish&quot; here is just as inevitable as &quot;unfriend&quot; is on Facebook.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T03:19:58.897" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2310" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2312" CreationDate="2010-09-01T03:24:31.433" Score="1" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've all heard the phrase that usually goes along the lines of &quot;blah blah did something behind my back&quot;. I've always thought that from your back's point of view, anything behind you is in front of it therefore behind your back is in front of you. Is this just another unnecessary redundancy and should we all just say &quot;behind me&quot; or am I reading too much into this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="250" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T05:55:27.603" Title="Isn't behind your back in front of you?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="2311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2310" CreationDate="2010-09-01T03:34:52.567" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've always thought that from your&#xA;  back's point of view, anything behind&#xA;  you is in front of it therefore behind&#xA;  your back is in front of you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that was true then it would be impossible to be behind anything. For example if one said that something is &quot;behind my house&quot;, of course it is actually in front of one of the surfaces of my house so it could not be &quot;behind my house&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's much the same as doing something &quot;in front of my eyes&quot; rather than &quot;in front of me&quot;. I think this is called &quot;the power of idiom&quot; or something like that; once a phrase becomes an idiom it doesn't have to make sense any more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T03:34:52.567" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2310" CreationDate="2010-09-01T03:40:26.240" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;code&gt;behind your back&lt;/code&gt; is redundant, but not nonsensical.  Something that's behind your back is behind you -- not just behind your toes or your nose, but even further to the rear -- behind your furthest back part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T03:40:26.240" />
  <row Id="2313" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2336" CreationDate="2010-09-01T03:49:33.563" Score="4" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;and only have different pronunciations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="12" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T06:26:30.650" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T06:26:30.650" Title="Why are the past and present tenses of &quot;read&quot; spelt the same?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;&lt;present-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2288" CreationDate="2010-09-01T04:00:47.460" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you are quoting multiple paragraphs, closing quotations go only at the end of the entire quotation. Beginning quotes should be placed at the beginning of each paragraph, though; otherwise it would be hard to tell at a glance that the quotation was still ongoing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/quotation_marks.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Common Errors&lt;/em&gt; by Brians&lt;/a&gt; (one of my new favorites) says it this way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When quoting a long passage involving more than one paragraph, quotation marks go at the beginning of each paragraph, but at the end of only the final one. Dialogue in which the speaker changes with each paragraph has each speech enclosed in its own quotation marks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-01T13:10:38.120" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T13:10:38.120" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="90" CreationDate="2010-09-01T05:26:28.577" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In writing, the ones I notice the most are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;you're&lt;/em&gt; (should only be used as a contraction for &lt;em&gt;you are&lt;/em&gt;) and &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; (possesive)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;alot&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;a lot&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;everyday&lt;/em&gt; versus &lt;em&gt;every day&lt;/em&gt; (courtesy of a pedantic ex, the first is a modifier, the second is a phrase)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incidentally, some of the ones that get an unfair break are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;alright&lt;/em&gt; - it is a word, albeit somewhat recent&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;irregardless&lt;/em&gt; - it's an unpopular word but legitimate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T08:40:18.023" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T08:40:18.023" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-01T05:26:28.577" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2289" CreationDate="2010-09-01T05:38:54.863" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They have subtile differences.  &quot;Clear the table&quot;, means to take away plates or papers, while &quot;clean the table&quot; means to wipe it.  &quot;Cleaning up&quot; may include both clearing and cleaning in the general sense.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T05:38:54.863" />
  <row Id="2318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2293" CreationDate="2010-09-01T05:43:59.310" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although it's still not clear what it means to ask for the etymology of the phrase, I can give some early examples of its usage. (Found through looking on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22not+to+mention%22&amp;amp;#q=%22not+to+mention%22&amp;amp;tbs=bks%3A1%2Cbkv%3Af%2Ccdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A1%2F1%2F1600%2Ccd_max%3A12%2F31%2F1699&amp;amp;fp=76eef410a5edc076&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Books&lt;/a&gt; for the 1600s. If you try this yourself, be sure to check the dates and not trust Google.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hsc_AAAAcAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA224&amp;amp;dq=%22not+to+mention%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt;'s &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Somner&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;William Somner&lt;/a&gt; in 1640 (BTW, 'ſ' is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;long s&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;… their workes like themſelves ſpeaking Engliſh. The learned, I know, can further ſatisfie themſelves in the point from &lt;em&gt;Bertherius&lt;/em&gt; in his &lt;em&gt;Pithanon&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;Morinus&lt;/em&gt; of late, in &lt;em&gt;Eccleſiaſtica Exercitationes&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;not to mention&lt;/strong&gt; divers others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So here it's very much the literal meaning: there are &quot;divers others&quot;, but they have not been mentioned. You can find &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=TSk3AAAAMAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PR5&amp;amp;dq=%22not+to+mention%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;many&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=khYrAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA125&amp;amp;dq=%22not+to+mention%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;other&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=P7YsAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA42&amp;amp;dq=%22not+to+mention%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;usages&lt;/a&gt; of this type, where &quot;not to mention&quot; is not a rhetorical device of pretended omission, but used merely to point out that certain things have not been explicitly mentioned by name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From here it's a small step (since the form is superficially very similar) to the many usages where the others &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; mentioned by name (a random example: &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=9r8sAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;q=%22not+to+mention%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this from 1698&lt;/a&gt;). (I'm not claiming this is how it happened, though.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rhetorical usage is also seen in &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=BA1rtuphC1cC&amp;amp;pg=PA28&amp;amp;dq=%22not+to+mention%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a 1682 work&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Boyle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Robert Boyle&lt;/a&gt;, part of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan_and_the_Air-Pump&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;his disputes&lt;/a&gt; with &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Thomas Hobbes&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For, &lt;strong&gt;not to mention&lt;/strong&gt; that it is ſtill by many learned men doubted whether the Terreſtrial Globe it ſelf have it; nor to examine whether or no he aſſigns a good Natural cauſe of it; it is not always true that…  (p. 28)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  […]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  For, &lt;strong&gt;not to mention&lt;/strong&gt; that the Argumentation is invalid, unleſs by &lt;em&gt;Fluidum&lt;/em&gt; he mean &lt;em&gt;Omne fluidum&lt;/em&gt;, I reply … (p. 83)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T05:43:59.310" />
  <row Id="2319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1404" CreationDate="2010-09-01T05:46:48.387" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at the M-W dictionary, I noticed that they have both &quot;from&quot; and &quot;akin to&quot; references for words.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;from&quot; references seem to imply a direct inheritance or borrowing, but doesn't distinguish between the two.  For instance, &quot;stone&quot; is shown as coming from Middle English &quot;stan&quot;, while entree is shown as coming from the French entree.  (Please forgive me for leaving out the accents and macrons).   The former is an inheritance from Old English, while the latter is a direct borrow from French.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Akin to, however, seems to refer to other languages that have similar words, possibly due to a shared past, possibly due to an origin not definitively proven.  M-W does not seem to specify this, but when drawing links between languages as diverse as Slavic, Germanic, and Greek languages, it's arguable that a common ancestry is implied rather than a direct inheritance or borrowing relationship.  However, looking up words like banana or yam, they use &quot;from&quot; to show the direct relation to Spanish or Portugese and say &quot;of African origin&quot;, but &quot;akin to&quot; to describe the most likely African language source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, for the M-W team at least, &quot;from&quot; seems to mean &quot;we know where it came from and we can prove it&quot;, while &quot;akin to&quot; seems to mean &quot;these words sure seem related, but we can't prove exactly how they're tied together.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T05:46:48.387" />
  <row Id="2320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2310" CreationDate="2010-09-01T05:55:27.603" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;went behind my back&quot; is to emphasize hidden and sneaky behavior.  You can not say &quot;in front of my back&quot; because that seems like you could face your own back, but you cannot.  Your back in this sense is a noun.  Think backache.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This phrase is more of a saying than literally meaning physically behind you.  It means that you were not consulted, but excluded from a decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T05:55:27.603" />
  <row Id="2321" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2326" CreationDate="2010-09-01T06:17:34.537" Score="11" ViewCount="296" Body="&lt;p&gt;Traditionally a &lt;strong&gt;billion&lt;/strong&gt; in American English means 10&lt;sup&gt;9&lt;/sup&gt; (&lt;code&gt;1,000,000,000&lt;/code&gt;, a thousand million) while in British English it means 10&lt;sup&gt;12&lt;/sup&gt; (a million million) with &lt;strong&gt;milliard&lt;/strong&gt; meaning 10&lt;sup&gt;9&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this still the case or has the world aligned itself to the American way? I'm not a native English speaker and I don't remember hearing or seeing the word &lt;em&gt;milliard&lt;/em&gt; recently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case what are the common names of the powers of 10?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="953" LastEditorUserId="953" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-01T12:18:47.573" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T22:11:49.850" Title="Billion and other large numbers" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="2322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-09-01T06:22:16.523" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Names are tricky too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Freud is pronounced froid, when it looks like frude.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wagner is vagner which is different in English names pronounced whagner.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Euler looks like u-ler rather than oiler.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Job in the Bible is Johb, not job like work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sade the singer sounds like sha-day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eritrea looks like e-REE-tria rather than er-re-TREE-a.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All of the Spanish names and French-spelled native names in America.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Versailles, Kentucky is pronounced ver-sales rather than ver-sigh.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a teacher I have heard &quot;infrared&quot; pronounced in-frared rather than infra-red. I heard &quot;stomach ache&quot; pronounced &quot;stomatch atch&quot; by non-native speakers rather than stomik ake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastEditorUserId="244" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-26T11:17:51.620" LastActivityDate="2010-09-26T11:17:51.620" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-01T06:22:16.523" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-09-01T06:27:48.007" Score="21" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Greenwich is grenitch not green-witch&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T06:27:48.007" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-01T06:27:48.007" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2321" CreationDate="2010-09-01T06:40:55.667" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The American usage also includes commas in the numerals.&#xA;Thousand= 1,000&#xA;Million= 1,000,000&#xA;Billion= 1,000,000,000&#xA;Trillion= 1,000,000,000,000&#xA;Quadrillion= 1,000,000,000,000,000&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kilobytes is 1,000 bytes&#xA;Megabytes is 1,000,000 bytes or 1,000 kilobytes&#xA;Gigabytes is 1,000,000,000 bytes or 1,000 megabytes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use the style best understood by your audience.  Also consider what you are enumerating, if it is dollars and miles in the U.S. or pounds and kilometers in the UK.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T06:40:55.667" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2306" CreationDate="2010-09-01T06:56:02.667" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sturdy here is more about style, I think.  He is saying that the British style sounds more formal to American ears so even simple ad copy seems important, like a piece of a legal document. King is also being a bit ironic by adding the mild swearword his example, as if to prove his point that American writers, like himself, are &quot;scruffy&quot; and &quot;charming&quot; because we don't take ourselves too seriously.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T06:56:02.667" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2321" CreationDate="2010-09-01T07:59:04.597" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this still the case or has the&#xA;  world aligned itself to the American&#xA;  way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least Britain seems to have largely aligned itself that way. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales#Notes_on_current_usage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Quoting Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;, which has an excellent entry on the topic (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Long and short scales&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[In the UK,] &quot;billion&quot; has meant 10&lt;sup&gt;9&lt;/sup&gt; in most&#xA;  sectors of official published writing&#xA;  for many years now. The UK government,&#xA;  the BBC, and most other broadcast or&#xA;  published mass media, have used the&#xA;  short scale in all contexts since the&#xA;  mid-1970s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Before the&#xA;  widespread use of &quot;billion&quot; for 10&lt;sup&gt;9&lt;/sup&gt;,&#xA;  UK usage generally referred to&#xA;  thousand million rather than&#xA;  milliard. &lt;strong&gt;The long scale term&#xA;  &quot;milliard&quot;, for 10&lt;sup&gt;9&lt;/sup&gt;, is obsolete in&#xA;  British English&lt;/strong&gt;, though its&#xA;  derivative, &quot;yard&quot;, is still used as&#xA;  slang in the London money, foreign&#xA;  exchange and bond markets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't say that the &lt;em&gt;world&lt;/em&gt; has done so, however, as the list of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales#Long_scale_countries&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;long-scale  countries&lt;/a&gt; is rather long. For example, in Finnish the only word we use for 10&lt;sup&gt;9&lt;/sup&gt; is &lt;em&gt;miljardi&lt;/em&gt;, while 10&lt;sup&gt;12&lt;/sup&gt; is &lt;em&gt;biljoona&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you could well say that about the &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales#English_language-speaking_countries_and_regions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;English-speaking world&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; which now almost universally uses &quot;billion&quot; for 10&lt;sup&gt;9&lt;/sup&gt;, according to that Wikipedia article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-01T08:15:45.817" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T08:15:45.817" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2327" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2334" CreationDate="2010-09-01T08:02:52.837" Score="5" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over time I developed this rule where if a title or a proper name is followed by a common noun that represents the class of the entity I am referring to, then I use the definite article. In Example 1, the title of a publication in the first sentence is followed by the noun &quot;whitepaper&quot;, thus the definite article in front of it. Is this a valid rule?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example 1:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;Advanced programming in Java&quot; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;whitepaper&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; was an excelent read.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Advanced programming in Java&quot; was an excellent read.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example 2:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Microsoft Office 2010 &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;product&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; was released last year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Microsoft Office 2010 was released last year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="957" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:40:44.983" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:40:44.983" Title="Definite article with proper nouns, titles followed by a common noun" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="2328" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-01T08:15:36.470" Score="8" ViewCount="315" Body="&lt;p&gt;The apostrophe is frequently abused in the English language. It would appear that the education system isn't up to the job and not enough people know how to use them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my favourite examples was this warning sign outside a Dogs' Trust:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;DOGS TRUST CUSTOMERS ONLY&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It paints a frightful picture without the apostrophe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm looking for are comical or downright silly examples of where an apostrophe has been left out or inserted wrongly that's altered the meaning of the phrase or sentence, so that I can feed these back to people in attempt to show the value of the humble apostrophe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="958" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T05:44:44.210" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T05:44:44.210" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-01T11:10:19.363" Title="Comical examples of abused apostrophes?" Tags="&lt;apostrophe&gt;&lt;fun&gt;&lt;signage&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2329" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2332" CreationDate="2010-09-01T08:28:50.163" Score="7" ViewCount="543" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normal practice is to end emails with a &lt;em&gt;Thanks&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Regards&lt;/em&gt;. My question is should there be a comma or a period or nothing after &lt;em&gt;Thanks/Regards&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thanks,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      John Doe&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      John Doe&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      John Doe&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen all three versions as part of email signatures. Which among these three is correct? Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="630" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T18:18:13.573" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T18:18:13.573" Title="Comma/period after &quot;Thanks&quot;/&quot;Regards&quot; in email signatures" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;email&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2328" CreationDate="2010-09-01T09:13:16.187" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw once a shop near Portsmouth owned by a Mr King who called his business &quot;Kings Bed's&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T09:13:16.187" />
  <row Id="2332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2329" CreationDate="2010-09-01T09:44:19.617" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you consider it to be a phrase that simply spans two lines, I'd say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Thanks,&#xA;John Doe&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is correct. Without the comma it would imply that you're thanking John Doe. It's certainly the one I use personally, not that that's a particularly good back-up for this answer. I can't say I've ever seen anyone use it with a &lt;code&gt;.&lt;/code&gt;, that just looks wrong to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="958" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T09:44:19.617" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-09-01T10:17:55.053" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some technical words that are commonly mistaken:&#xA;SCSI: Correct: scuzzy. Wrong: Sexy ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T10:17:55.053" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-01T10:17:55.053" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2327" CreationDate="2010-09-01T11:29:09.977" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is.  This is because the &lt;code&gt;&quot;Advanced programming in Java&quot; whitepaper&lt;/code&gt; phrase forms a syntactic unit, with &lt;code&gt;whitepaper&lt;/code&gt; as the head of the unit.  The definite article for a phrase always corresponds to the head of the phrase, so using the definite (or indefinite) article for these phrases makes perfect sense and is correct English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T11:29:09.977" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2329" CreationDate="2010-09-01T11:39:23.890" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Thanks.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;form tends to seem vaguely abrupt, clipped, perfunctory, and rude to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="572" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T11:39:23.890" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2313" CreationDate="2010-09-01T11:46:36.963" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's probably not easy to answer exactly why this happened (past and present being identical in spelling), because I don't think anyone ever set out to do things this way.  Like most standard English words, &lt;em&gt;read&lt;/em&gt; was not always spelled this way.  The OED lists, for example, &lt;em&gt;rædde, redis, redys, reeds, reids, redds, reed, red, redd&lt;/em&gt;, etc. over the course of written English history.  The OED does briefly touch on the past/present spelling issue:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The present-day spelling of the past tense and past participle forms is analogous to the present tense; the spelling &lt;em&gt;red&lt;/em&gt; for past tense and past participle is found only in isolated instances in the modern period and was perhaps avoided because it coincided with the standard spelling of &lt;em&gt;red&lt;/em&gt; adj.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, that is not a terribly satisfying answer, but it could be the correct one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T11:46:36.963" />
  <row Id="2337" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-01T11:57:56.917" Score="5" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should there be any difference in the pronunciation of (the suffixes in) &quot;Pakistan&quot; and &quot;Afghanistan&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed that Obama treats the words quite differently, pronouncing &quot;Pakistan&quot; like PUH-KIST-UHN, but pronouncing &quot;Afghanistan&quot; in an American way, with the end syllable &quot;-stan&quot; as in &quot;stand&quot; or &quot;stance&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T14:26:34.147" Title="Different pronunciations of &quot;Pakistan&quot; versus &quot;Afghanistan&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2337" CreationDate="2010-09-01T12:38:47.423" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, their actual (native) pronunciations have a similar final syllable. Roughly, PAH-ki-STAHN and uf-GHAH-ni-STAHN, where &quot;AH&quot; stands for the vowel of 'a' in &quot;father&quot;. (The 't' is also closer to dental, as in &quot;pasta&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(IPA: /pɑːkistɑːn/ and /ɐfɣɑːnistɑːn/, but these are the IPA vowels I use for Indian languages, and may not be perfect.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Language Log had &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1183&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a post on this&lt;/a&gt;; the comments may have some helpful discussion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T12:38:47.423" />
  <row Id="2340" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2342" CreationDate="2010-09-01T12:49:05.787" Score="6" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;In many books, I've seen the word 'spook' used to mean some kind of spy. Definition 5 on &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/spook&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary.reference.com&lt;/a&gt; confirms this usage, but is not very helpful about the origin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know how this definition came about? More details (does it only refer to American spies? only spies friendly to the speaker?) would also be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="388" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T17:25:38.980" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T20:42:06.183" Title="Why are spies called &quot;spooks&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2340" CreationDate="2010-09-01T13:01:59.617" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=spook&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Meaning &quot;undercover agent&quot; is attested from 1942. [...] The verb is first recorded 1867 in sense of &quot;to walk or act like a ghost&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T13:01:59.617" />
  <row Id="2342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2340" CreationDate="2010-09-01T13:02:45.680" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the OED:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.). An undercover agent; a spy.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1942 BERREY &amp;amp; VAN DEN BARK Amer. Thes. Slang §458/16 ‘Spotter.’ (One who spys upon employees.).. &lt;em&gt;Silent eye, spook, spotter&lt;/em&gt;. Ibid. §765/7 &lt;em&gt;Rat, rubber heel, spook, spotter,&lt;/em&gt; a person employed to detect irregularities. 1954 People (Austral.) 3 Nov. 24/1 The &lt;em&gt;spooks&lt;/em&gt; were senior constables who wore no uniform, worked in pairs and followed constables about the city and suburbs to see if they did their work properly. 1961 &lt;em&gt;John o' London's&lt;/em&gt; 20 Apr. 434/1 The idea of making a living as a spy ‘spook’ in current Washington slang is repugnant to most of us. 1966 R. THOMAS &lt;em&gt;Spy in Vodka&lt;/em&gt; (1967) vi. 50 I'd like him to get out of the spook business. 1979 L. PRYOR &lt;em&gt;Viper&lt;/em&gt; i. 9 ‘My training was also in espionage at the CIA farm.’.. ‘A spook,’ I said in wonder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This suggests the word would be mainly used in reference to American spies, but I think the 1954 reference is Australians talking about constables, so at least occasionally it has referred to any undercover person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not much information on why exactly the word was chosen, but it probably was an easy jump from &quot;ghost that haunts people&quot; to &quot;mysterious secret agent who spies on people&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T20:42:06.183" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T20:42:06.183" />
  <row Id="2343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="381" CreationDate="2010-09-01T13:19:31.847" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Always.  (what? my answer can't be 7 characters long???  &lt;em&gt;That&lt;/em&gt; seems arbitrary....)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="931" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T13:19:31.847" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-09-01T13:43:35.997" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Corollary&lt;/strong&gt; [&lt;strong&gt;kawr&lt;/strong&gt;-&lt;em&gt;uh&lt;/em&gt;-ler-ee, &lt;strong&gt;kor&lt;/strong&gt;-; especially Brit., &lt;em&gt;kuh&lt;/em&gt;-&lt;strong&gt;rol&lt;/strong&gt;-&lt;em&gt;uh&lt;/em&gt;-ree]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have always pronounced and heard this word as KOR-uh-lar-ee but recently found out that my wife pronounces it kor-AW-lar-ee (I guess like the Brits, if dictionary.com is to be believed).  I thought this might have been from her growing up in a small town, but how often are people saying &quot;corollary&quot; in a small town anyway??  Where she picked up the British pronunciation, I'll never know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="931" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T13:43:35.997" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-01T13:43:35.997" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2380" CreationDate="2010-09-01T14:10:39.643" Score="5" ViewCount="349" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed that my American friends tend to use the past perfect form when they use the verb 'mention' in its past form, almost despite of the context of the sentence. I hear them say &quot;You had mentioned&quot; a lot more often even in situations where the use of simple past would have been perfectly fine.&#xA;Have you noticed it too and is it one of those unwritten rules, or is there a more formal explanation to it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like there was more verbs like that, but I am having a hard time remembering it now. If I do, I will edit the post and likely change the title to accommodate other verbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="957" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-07T23:32:51.507" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T23:32:51.507" Title="You had mentioned vs you mentioned?" Tags="&lt;past-tense&gt;&lt;past-perfect&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2286" CreationDate="2010-09-01T14:19:22.053" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia%3aManual_of_Style_%28capital_letters%29#Celestial_bodies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia Manual of Style&lt;/a&gt;, it appears your examples should be as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A handful of earth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The earth under this house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The earth beneath my feet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What on Earth?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The heavens above and the Earth below.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Earth moved.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We returned quickly to Earth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I believe 5 and 6 could have either capitalization, depending whether you mean the planet Earth, or just the dirt below your feet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastEditorUserId="573" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-01T14:49:30.477" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T14:49:30.477" />
  <row Id="2348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2337" CreationDate="2010-09-01T14:26:34.147" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They should be pronounced the same, the -stan suffix means &quot;land of&quot;, &quot;home of&quot; or &quot;nation of&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So:&#xA;Pakistan = Land of the Paki's&#xA;Afghanistan = Land of the Afghani's&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same applies for Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and any number of other countries in that region of the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect that Obama pronounces Afghanistan differently because people wouldn't know where he was talking about if he said it in a way that doesn't conform with how the US media has been pronouncing it. It's probably this same reason that the Iraq is pronounced eye-rak rather than ee-rak which is closer to the Arabic, people might think they are talking about another country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="963" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T14:26:34.147" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2349" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2358" CreationDate="2010-09-01T14:36:44.457" Score="3" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today upon hearing reports about how Hurricane Earl was going to hug the Eastern Seaboard I couldn't help but think how strange this phrase is. Is &quot;seaboard&quot; used in any other contexts? What is the origin of this phrase? Does anyone in the US west coast considered their coastline the &quot;Western Seaboard&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="154" LastEditorUserId="154" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-01T16:18:05.167" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T16:18:05.167" Title="What is the origin of the phrase &quot;Eastern Seaboard&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="2350" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-01T14:38:31.920" Score="6" ViewCount="312" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between a &quot;commentor&quot; and a &quot;commentator&quot;? Is &quot;commentor&quot; or &quot;commenter&quot; a legal English word?&#xA;-h.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="964" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-08T12:17:59.760" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T13:16:10.963" Title="&quot;Commentor&quot; vs &quot;Commentator&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;suffix&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2328" CreationDate="2010-09-01T14:39:35.540" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if it is comical, but I used to always find myself next to the same catering truck on my morning commute and it drove me crazy. Emblazoned on the side of the truck was the name of the catering company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Triny's Food's&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What drives me crazy about seeing this type of thing is that not only did the owner of the truck get it wrong, but presumably they hired someone to paint the truck who didn't question it either. If I were a little younger and more rebellious I would have followed the truck and surreptitiously painted over the apostrophe in an act of grammar Nazi vandalism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T14:39:35.540" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-01T14:39:35.540" />
  <row Id="2352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2350" CreationDate="2010-09-01T14:55:59.323" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One difference is that as far as Merriam-Webster is concerned, the word &quot;commentor&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commentor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;does not even exist&lt;/a&gt;. Same goes for &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commenter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;commenter&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that this has sparked some discussion, I feel like I have to expand on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do see the word &quot;commenter&quot; (but not &quot;commentor&quot;) being used on Reddit, blogs, or actually &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=commenter+site%3Astackoverflow.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;right here on StackExchange&lt;/a&gt; sites. Ex-user points out in his answer that it seems to be an online thing, and I agree with him on that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I think that Ex-user is not entirely right that &quot;commentator&quot; sounds like someone who comments on sports. There are, for example, political commentators. Everyone is familiar with them, these guys are all over the news networks 24/7, but they usually don't comment on sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back to Merriam-Webster, my understanding is that they are usually not too slow to catch up with the latest trends. They have a special section &lt;a href=&quot;http://nws.merriam-webster.com/opendictionary/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;New Words &amp;amp; Slang&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, a collection of user-submitted words. There you can find, for example, not one but five proposed meanings of the verb &quot;to facebook&quot;. However, even that dedicated section doesn't mention &quot;commenter&quot;, although blogs and online forums predate Facebook.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that being said, there is no question that morphologically, &quot;commenter&quot; makes perfect sense. A killer is someone who kills, a driver is someone who drives, and a commenter is someone who comments. The &quot;-er&quot; is a so-called &lt;em&gt;agent noun suffix&lt;/em&gt;, and it is very common in English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, the agent noun suffix &quot;-or&quot;, while it does exist, is not common at all. Wiktionary lists as few as twelve terms that were derived using this suffix, and offers the following &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-or#Usage_notes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;usage notes&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;English generally appends this suffix where Latin would do it—to the root of a Latin-type perfect passive participle. For other words, English tends to use the suffix &lt;em&gt;-er&lt;/em&gt;. Occasionally both are used (&lt;em&gt;computer&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;computor&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on where you live, you may have never encountered the word &quot;computor&quot; at all. However, I bet you have seen the word &quot;computer&quot; many times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The word &quot;commenter&quot; is pretty common online, so if you use it, people should understand you. In formal writing, you might wish to use &quot;commentator&quot; instead.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you want to be on the safe side, you probably should not use &quot;commentor&quot; at all, though nobody can forbid you to do so.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, the English language is constantly evolving, so both of the above recommendations may become obsolete as time passes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-07T13:16:10.963" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T13:16:10.963" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="2353" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2366" CreationDate="2010-09-01T14:59:29.577" Score="12" ViewCount="502" Body="&lt;p&gt;When communicating with foreign cultures, the gender of the addressed person is  not always clear from the name. What would be a professional way to address someone in this situation. (Dear Mr or Ms SomeForeignName looks awkward).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A hack I generally use is to do a google image search for the name, but this isnt always accurate in all cultures. Whats the solution here&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="45" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T01:03:49.427" Title="Addressing someone with a known name and unknown gender" Tags="&lt;salutation&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2346" CreationDate="2010-09-01T15:00:32.027" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;past tense&lt;/em&gt; is used to &lt;em&gt;denote an action completed prior to some past point of time specified or implied&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She had gone by then.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  When Sheila returned home, Mark had been in his room for 10 minutes.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  When they arrived we had already started cooking.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He was very tired because he hadn't slept well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all these sentences, the past perfect is used for an action that is completed prior of the other actions (&lt;em&gt;to start cooking&lt;/em&gt; was already complete before &lt;em&gt;they arrived&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of the past perfect is not limited to some verbs, or a category of verbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T15:00:32.027" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2355" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2357" CreationDate="2010-09-01T15:01:17.700" Score="2" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok well I just asked about the phrase &quot;Eastern Seabord&quot; in another qusetion. I used the sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is &quot;seaboard&quot; used in other contexts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought this didn't sound very good so I changed it to &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is &quot;seaboard&quot; used in other context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should context ever be pluralized? Or is it a mass noun?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="154" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-04T10:36:36.063" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T10:36:36.063" Title="Should I say &quot;context&quot; or &quot;contexts&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="2356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-09-01T15:04:21.087" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pseudo&lt;/em&gt; is also one of the mispronounced words. Some people say it Pee-see-doo, where the correct pronunciation is soo-doe (american) or sew-doe (English) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T15:04:21.087" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-01T15:04:21.087" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2355" CreationDate="2010-09-01T15:06:01.533" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/context#Noun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Context&lt;/em&gt; is not a mass noun, and takes the plural &lt;em&gt;-s&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T15:06:01.533" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2349" CreationDate="2010-09-01T15:18:22.320" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://oed.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;OED&lt;/a&gt; has the following general meaning of &lt;em&gt;seaboard&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The line where land and sea meet, the coastline; the sea-shore or the land near the sea, esp. considered with reference to its extent or configuration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first citation of this &lt;em&gt;seaboard&lt;/em&gt; is from 1788:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The Gnats are almost as troublesome here, as the moschetoes in the low-lands of the sea-board.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The OED doesn't seem to draw this connection, but I imagine this meaning came about as an extension of another meaning for &lt;em&gt;seaboard&lt;/em&gt;, which is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;With prepositions &lt;em&gt;a, at, on, to seaboard&lt;/em&gt;, on or to the seaward side (of a ship, etc.). Obs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you connect that meaning with other sea terms like &lt;em&gt;overboard&lt;/em&gt;, it would make sense that the seaward side of a ship would be called a &lt;em&gt;seaboard&lt;/em&gt;.  And then saying that the coastline is essentially the &lt;em&gt;seaboard&lt;/em&gt; of a landmass is a small jump.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nowadays, it seems like &quot;Eastern Seaboard&quot; has become an idiom or set name for a certain region, and we don't really use it in the general sense at all (although I don't know anyone in the fishing industry).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T15:18:22.320" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2360" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2363" CreationDate="2010-09-01T15:29:19.843" Score="5" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;bank&lt;/em&gt; used to mean both &lt;em&gt;the shoreline of a pond, swamp, estuary, reservoir, or lake&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;a financial intermediary that accepts deposits and channels those deposits into lending activities&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the word has the same origin when it is used with those meanings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T06:10:40.970" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T06:10:40.970" Title="Does &quot;bank&quot; in the &quot;the bank of the river&quot; and &quot;the bank where I have my money&quot; have the same origin?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="2361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2360" CreationDate="2010-09-01T15:34:06.637" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both words are related to &quot;bench&quot; and refer to a heaping up, of dirt alongside a river, and an actual counter or bench where a moneychanger conducts business.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T15:34:06.637" />
  <row Id="2362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2289" CreationDate="2010-09-01T15:47:31.277" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;clean an object = remove anything that makes it dirty&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;clear an object = remove anything that hinders it from being obvious &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T15:47:31.277" />
  <row Id="2363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2360" CreationDate="2010-09-01T16:03:56.930" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=bank&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;to the rescue&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;bank (1)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      &quot;financial institution,&quot; late 15c., from either O.It. &lt;em&gt;banca&lt;/em&gt; or M.Fr. &lt;em&gt;banque&lt;/em&gt; (itself from the O.It. word), both meaning &quot;table&quot; (the notion is of the moneylender's exchange table), from a Germanic source (cf. O.H.G. &lt;em&gt;bank&lt;/em&gt; &quot;bench&quot;); see &lt;strong&gt;bank (2)&lt;/strong&gt;. [...] &lt;em&gt;Bank holiday&lt;/em&gt; is from 1871, though the tradition is as old as the Bank of England. [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;bank (2)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      &quot;earthen incline, edge of a river,&quot; c.1200, probably in O.E. but not attested in surviving documents, from a Scandinavian source such as O.N. &lt;em&gt;banki&lt;/em&gt;, O.Dan. &lt;em&gt;banke&lt;/em&gt; &quot;sandbank,&quot; from P.Gmc. *&lt;em&gt;bangkon&lt;/em&gt; &quot;slope,&quot; cognate with *&lt;em&gt;bankiz&lt;/em&gt; &quot;shelf.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T16:03:56.930" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2152" CreationDate="2010-09-01T16:34:07.843" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its done to make any tempering with the document difficult. Maybe one can change the number in one place but it wont be easy reflecting the change in the other representation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="45" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T16:34:07.843" />
  <row Id="2365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2353" CreationDate="2010-09-01T17:02:55.047" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you know their first name or initial you could go with 'Dear Jalumi Smith', just leave out the title. Then just asked them for their preferred title.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T17:02:55.047" />
  <row Id="2366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2353" CreationDate="2010-09-01T17:03:08.277" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Working part-time in customer support, I have to deal with the same situation very often, and I often have to google for &quot;awkward&quot; names, too. What I usually end up with when nothing helps, is either of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I just drop the &quot;Mr/Ms&quot; altogether. &quot;Dear Maria Cannavaro&quot;, &quot;Dear Wei Li&quot;, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the person is located in the US, I assume that they do not object to being addressed by their first name. &quot;Dear Maria&quot;, &quot;Dear Alex&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I might sometimes use a simple &quot;Hi there&quot; or &quot;Hi&quot;, but usually only if the person has previously contacted me using a similar informal address. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, sometimes people do ask me for a license key in a formal, polite way, but sign as &quot;B. Smith&quot;. In that case, they either don't really care how I address them, or they &lt;em&gt;don't want&lt;/em&gt; me to figure out their gender or full name for some reason, which I must respect. Not one of these people has ever objected to my use of &quot;hi&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-01T18:00:22.063" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T18:00:22.063" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2367" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2382" CreationDate="2010-09-01T18:03:30.090" Score="3" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He did &lt;strong&gt;nothing*&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is the correct question tag for the sentence above?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;didn't he?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;did he?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the effect of using nothing for negation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T18:17:17.930" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T18:17:17.930" Title="About question tags" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="2368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2367" CreationDate="2010-09-01T18:15:15.047" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_question#Negation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;English tag questions may contain a negation, but need not. When there is no special emphasis, the rule of thumb often applies that a positive sentence has a negative tag and vice versa:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; French, &lt;strong&gt;isn't&lt;/strong&gt; she?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She's &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; French, &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; she?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These are sometimes called &quot;balanced tag questions&quot;. However, it has been estimated that in normal conversation, as many as 40%-50% of tags break this rule. &quot;Unbalanced tag questions&quot; (positive to positive or negative to negative) may be used for ironic or confrontational effects:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do&lt;/strong&gt; listen, &lt;strong&gt;will&lt;/strong&gt; you?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Oh, &lt;strong&gt;I'm&lt;/strong&gt; lazy, &lt;strong&gt;am&lt;/strong&gt; I?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Jack: I refuse to spend Sunday at your mother's house! Jill: Oh you &lt;strong&gt;do&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;do&lt;/strong&gt; you? We'll see about that!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Jack: I just won't go back! Jill: Oh you &lt;strong&gt;won't&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;won't&lt;/strong&gt; you?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Patterns of negation can show regional variations. In North East Scotland, for example, positive to positive is used when no special effect is desired:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;This pizza's fine, &lt;strong&gt;is it&lt;/strong&gt;? (standard English: This pizza's delicious, &lt;strong&gt;isn't it&lt;/strong&gt;?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T18:15:15.047" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2369" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2422" CreationDate="2010-09-01T20:47:26.367" Score="3" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;When people see the acronym &lt;strong&gt;FAQ&lt;/strong&gt;, I wonder if they really know what it stands for or whether they just understand the concept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true for most native English speakers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="970" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T20:45:55.543" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T20:45:55.543" Title="Is the meaning of the acronym &quot;FAQ&quot; generally understood?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2370" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-01T21:14:47.330" Score="6" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a document where someone is suggesting we have a bulleted list with only one item.  That sounds absurd to me.  Doesn't a &quot;list&quot; imply more than one item?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="971" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T03:37:39.510" Title="A list with only one item" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2370" CreationDate="2010-09-01T21:33:38.200" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking as a programmer, no. A list can even contain no items at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; on a more serious note, let's say I take a piece of paper and a pen, and make my grocery list. And then it just so happens that all I need is milk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That piece of paper with a single word on it would still be my grocery list, and not my grocery word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-01T21:42:05.133" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T21:42:05.133" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="2373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2370" CreationDate="2010-09-01T21:39:30.823" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you are getting hung up on semantics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure, it may not technically be a &quot;list&quot; at that point, but unless you are referring to it as such in the narrative, why fight it? I mean, it is just a formatting element at that point and technically not a grammar issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T21:39:30.823" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2374" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2375" CreationDate="2010-09-01T22:07:01.283" Score="3" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of the phrase &quot;from hunger&quot;, as in, &quot;This xyz is from hunger&quot;? From the context I found it in, it appears to mean either very good, or very bad, but it's hard to tell which.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The context in which I read this expression…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I'm going into the city. On the way back I'll get you the biggest jar of Samoy&#xA;      I can find.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Mal rolled his eyes and shook his head. &quot;Samoy pickles are from hunger.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;ndash;Michael Marshall Smith, &lt;em&gt;Spares&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase occurred later in a discussion of firearms but I can't find it just this minute (dead tree books - difficult to do a full text search).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-02T12:04:34.590" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T08:37:28.557" Title="What does &quot;from hunger&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="2375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2374" CreationDate="2010-09-01T22:13:32.410" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;TheFreeDictionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/from+hunger&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(strictly) from hunger&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Sl. very mediocre; acceptable only when nothing else is available. &lt;em&gt;This kind of entertainment is from hunger. The singer was strictly from hunger.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/42/messages/1523.html&quot;&gt;this discussion&lt;/a&gt; over at ThePhraseFinder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-01T22:19:47.277" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T22:19:47.277" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2328" CreationDate="2010-09-01T22:19:35.780" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is ironic rather than comical, but years ago there were a few Kroger grocery stores that I shopped in that had signs above their magazine and book sections. One store's sign said &quot;Kroger proudly salutes it's readers.&quot; and another's said &quot;Kroger proudly salutes its' readers.&quot; These were professionally printed or painted signs rather than handwritten or store-printed. They were in place over a period of years without correction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always wondered what that sentence really means (without the errors). I don't think it had any meaning; it was just marketing fluff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="189" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T22:19:35.780" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-01T22:19:35.780" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2374" CreationDate="2010-09-01T23:07:18.243" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would appear to be a synonymn in that case for &quot;by&quot; or &quot;due to&quot; or &quot;because of&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The patient died from hunger&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The patient died due to hunger&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T23:07:18.243" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2350" CreationDate="2010-09-01T23:11:30.377" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My own feeling about this is that &quot;commenter&quot; is a new word used to mean the people who make comments on internet blogs or forums etc. If you say someone is a &quot;commentator&quot; it sounds like they are the person who comments on sports games as you watch them on the television, hence the necessity for the new word. However, strictly speaking, the person who writes comments on blogs is actually a &quot;commentator&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-01T23:11:30.377" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2321" CreationDate="2010-09-01T23:35:02.897" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ha! you guys want confusion... try Japan. They work in units of 10000. Despite their close ties with America... they haven't gone all American.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;百 = 100 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;千 = 1000 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;万 = 10000 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;億 = 1,0000,0000&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And so on...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, you end up with number like 5000万, which is 5000,0000 (or 50,000,000 how we'd write it)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be like saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 hundred&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 thousand&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 ten-thousand&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 ten-thousand&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;100 ten-thousand&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1000 ten-thousand&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 billion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastEditorUserId="134" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-28T22:11:49.850" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T22:11:49.850" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="2380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2346" CreationDate="2010-09-02T02:03:58.337" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that these are politeness forms that don't seem to relate directly or literally to the standard point in time corresponding to the tense being used.  It seems to me that what &quot;I was wondering&quot; and &quot;You had mentioned&quot; have in common is that they soften the statement by moving it farther into the past.  &quot;I was wondering ... [but I'm only now bringing it up because it's not that urgent]&quot; &quot;You had mentioned ... [but maybe you wouldn't mention it now, so we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to].&quot;  &quot;I thought&quot; for &quot;I think&quot; would be another form that I think fits this pattern: &quot;I thought ... [but now that you have said something else, I might be open to persuasion].&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="973" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T02:03:58.337" />
  <row Id="2381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2350" CreationDate="2010-09-02T03:06:13.560" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports that the meaning of &lt;em&gt;commentator&lt;/em&gt; is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;commentator |ˈkɑmənˌteɪdər|&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  A person who comments on events, esp. on television or radio.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • A person who writes a commentary on a text.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For &lt;em&gt;commenter&lt;/em&gt;, it reports only that it is a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/em&gt; reports that &lt;em&gt;commenter&lt;/em&gt; has been used between 2005&amp;ndash;2010 more than the previous years (a ratio of 10:1). The word is used more on newspapers, and magazines, where it is used in sentences like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is no humanity reading a book on a computer,&quot; wrote an anonymous commenter on the popular site ParentDish.com.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even in academic context, the word is used with reference to who comments on a website.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[…] a school-board member in his home state of Nevada, from Charles Krauthammer to a commenter on a blog or a caller to a radio show.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-02T15:16:06.860" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T15:16:06.860" />
  <row Id="2382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2367" CreationDate="2010-09-02T04:12:33.817" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He did nothing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Which is the correct question tag for&#xA;  the sentence above:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;didn't he?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;did he?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hum, I think either one is possible. My interpretation of this is that if you said&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He did nothing, did he?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it would mean that you think that I've said that he did nothing and you want me to confirm that. If you said&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He did nothing, didn't he.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it would mean that you assert that he did nothing and you expect me to confirm that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the effect of using nothing for negation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My interpretation is that if you said&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He didn't do anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it sounds more neutral (less emphatic) than if you said&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He did nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T04:12:33.817" />
  <row Id="2383" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-02T04:46:51.743" Score="2" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which sentence is correct? Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He was laid up with fever yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He was laid down with fever yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He was laid down by the malaria parasite last month.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="601" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T01:41:54.127" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T01:41:54.127" Title="Is &quot;laid down&quot; a proper term?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2370" CreationDate="2010-09-02T05:01:03.070" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A list can have only one item, or even no items.  However, you're doing more than just typing in some text into your document: you're creating something that people need to read and understand.  For &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; purpose, it may very well be absurd to only have one item in your list; you have to judge based on the context of what you're writing and the expected audience.  Conversely, you could use a single-item list as emphasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if this bullet-point ends up displayed at the bottom of the page and the preceding text is ambiguous about how many items there may be, then it would be natural to become confused when arriving on the next page and a new paragraph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Particularly if this is a rough draft to which you expect to later add items, then you should keep the solitary bullet-point; polish in later revisions as the content becomes more concrete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T05:01:03.070" />
  <row Id="2385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2383" CreationDate="2010-09-02T05:08:04.303" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was laid up with fever yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the correct sentence, but I can't quite explain it technically.  I can't recall or construct a sentence that doesn't involve sickness.  You may think of it as the fever forced him to lay down in bed and rest.  (Perhaps ironically, &quot;lay down&quot; is right there too.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Laid down&quot; has its own meaning, as in &quot;to lay down the law&quot; (&quot;to establish the law, perhaps forcefully and with no room for negotiation&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Laid up&quot; may be related to &quot;laid off&quot;, meaning to be fired from a job, usually due to impersonal reasons such as a company-wide downsizing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T05:14:55.903" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2369" CreationDate="2010-09-02T05:14:11.970" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Among the community of StackExchange users, &lt;code&gt;faq&lt;/code&gt; probably has more inconographic meaning than &lt;code&gt;meta&lt;/code&gt; but less than &lt;code&gt;log&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="975" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T05:14:11.970" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2353" CreationDate="2010-09-02T05:44:54.560" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given our construction of gender, 'tis usually a far greater sin to falsely assign a gender than to avoid formal address. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="975" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T05:44:54.560" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2383" CreationDate="2010-09-02T07:02:47.130" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This link says &quot;immobilized for recuperation or repairs&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/laid+up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/laid+up&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And half of the links on the first two pages of Google seem to refer to ships (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22laid+up%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.google.com/search?q=&quot;laid+up&quot;&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This link talks about &quot;laying up&quot; a flag, which is certainly a usage I've never come across before (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-11096604&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-11096604&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To add to Roger Pate's list of phrasal verbs, there is also &quot;laid out&quot;, which is what you get if you're laid up for too long ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T07:02:47.130" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2389" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2390" CreationDate="2010-09-02T07:18:39.427" Score="13" ViewCount="820" Body="&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster lists both &lt;em&gt;ˈrüt&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;ˈrau̇t&lt;/em&gt; as possible pronounciations for route but only&#xA;&lt;em&gt;ˈrau̇-tər&lt;/em&gt; for router. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it really wrong to pronounce router as &lt;em&gt;'rüter&lt;/em&gt; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T13:48:14.630" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T21:47:43.507" Title="How to pronounce 'router'?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2389" CreationDate="2010-09-02T07:23:22.740" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two different kinds of things called a &quot;router&quot;, with two different pronunciations, originating from two different verbs &quot;route&quot; and &quot;rout&quot;. The confusing part of this is that the two pronunciations overlap the two different things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/GQzl5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;router&lt;/strong&gt; as above (computer thing, from verb &quot;route&quot;), or anything else which routes something, is &quot;rooter&quot; or &quot;rowter&quot; depending on how you pronounce &quot;route&quot; (US English has both &quot;root&quot; and &quot;rowt&quot;, British English has only &quot;root&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/zCe4i.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;router&lt;/strong&gt; (woodworking tool, from verb &quot;rout&quot;, an electrical one is shown above) is &quot;rowter&quot;, never &quot;rooter&quot;, in both the US and the UK and other countries. The dictionary entry may be referring to the wood tool only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-02T10:40:26.263" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T10:40:26.263" CommentCount="15" />
  <row Id="2391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2383" CreationDate="2010-09-02T07:49:25.820" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A ship being &quot;laid down&quot; is one whose construction has recently been started. A ship might also be &quot;laid up&quot; meaning to be temporarily disused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T07:49:25.820" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2383" CreationDate="2010-09-02T08:43:59.440" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I got asked this question and I want&#xA;  to know which sentence is correct and&#xA;  why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was laid up with fever yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was laid down with fever yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was laid down by the malaria&#xA;  parasite last month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe the usual term here is &lt;em&gt;laid low&lt;/em&gt;. A google search for &lt;em&gt;laid low by fever&lt;/em&gt; gives me 10,000 results, compared to ten or so each for &lt;em&gt;laid down by fever&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;laid up by fever&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T23:59:33.907" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T23:59:33.907" />
  <row Id="2393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2389" CreationDate="2010-09-02T10:19:45.160" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports that &lt;em&gt;router&lt;/em&gt; has two different meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;router 1 /ˈraʊdər/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  A power tool with a shaped cutter, used in carpentry for making grooves for joints, decorative moldings, etc.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  router 2 /ˈraʊdər/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  A device that forwards data packets to the appropriate parts of a computer network.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both the cases, the pronunciation is the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As comparison, the pronunciation of &lt;em&gt;route&lt;/em&gt; (as reported from the NOAD) is /rut/, /raʊt/; the pronunciation of &lt;em&gt;rout&lt;/em&gt; is /raʊt/.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In British English, the word is pronounced /ˈraʊtə/ when it has the first meaning, and /ˈruːtə/ in the second case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T13:21:23.807" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T13:21:23.807" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="2394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2383" CreationDate="2010-09-02T10:28:49.640" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking for &lt;em&gt;laid&lt;/em&gt; in the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;, I noted that &lt;em&gt;lay [someone] low&lt;/em&gt; is reported between the phrases listed under &lt;em&gt;lay&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;lay someone low (of an illness) reduce someone to inactivity.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    • bring to an end the high position or good fortune formerly enjoyed by someone: &lt;em&gt;she reflected on how quickly fate can lay a person low.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking for &lt;em&gt;laid low by&lt;/em&gt; in the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/em&gt;, I notice it is used also in sentences like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They were laid low by divorce, only to meet a wonderful new partner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/em&gt; there isn't track of the phrase &lt;em&gt;laid low from&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-02T10:41:07.760" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T10:41:07.760" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2395" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2396" CreationDate="2010-09-02T10:42:22.437" Score="3" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference, and when should I use which?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="315" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T10:49:12.820" Title="&quot;began&quot; vs &quot;begun&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2395" CreationDate="2010-09-02T10:49:12.820" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;began&lt;/em&gt; = simple past form of the verb&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;begun&lt;/em&gt; = past participle form of the verb&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I began to run.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I have begun to run.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T10:49:12.820" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2389" CreationDate="2010-09-02T12:56:41.620" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where I live both things are called &quot;rowter&quot; even though we say &quot;root&quot; 66, so if they lived in the U.S. That would be standard.  If they said &quot;rooter&quot; it might sound like a thing used to clean drains.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T12:56:41.620" />
  <row Id="2398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2374" CreationDate="2010-09-02T13:06:26.963" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;By saying a food item is &quot;from hunger&quot; they are insulting the food because it is so bad that the speaker is concluding that it must have been derived from the lack of pickiness that only fends off starvation and not the enjoyment of eating. Metaphorically, the concept can be used for other things.  Personally, I have never heard this phrase used before, and it has a condescending tone that makes me not want to use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T13:06:26.963" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2353" CreationDate="2010-09-02T13:16:39.137" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For Wei Li, I would not break up the name and say Dear Wei or Dear Li, because some people use reverse order with surname first, and some people have compound names.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T13:16:39.137" />
  <row Id="2400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2355" CreationDate="2010-09-02T13:20:38.723" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;another context&quot; not &quot;other context&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T13:20:38.723" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2328" CreationDate="2010-09-02T13:26:23.903" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mens and womens on restroom doors.  Just use a picture!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T13:26:23.903" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-02T13:26:23.903" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2370" CreationDate="2010-09-02T13:30:38.487" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be grammatically correct, or correct in certain casual documents such as a grocery list (I am unaware of any grocery-list police), but is not a best or even good practice in more formal documents (anything involving an outline, for instance)--with one exception, discussed below. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a correct example (I use numbers/letters only for ease of reference; a bulleted list follows the same logic):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Foods&#xA;1. Vegetables&#xA;    a. carrots&#xA;    b. potatoes&#xA;2. Fruits&#xA;    a. strawberries&#xA;    b. oranges&#xA;3. Grains&#xA;    a. rice&#xA;    b. wheat&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's an example of what not to do:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;U.S. History&#xA;1. Pre-Revolution&#xA;    a. Early Settlers&#xA;2. Revolution&#xA;    a. &quot;No Taxation without Representation&quot;&#xA;    b. Colonial Warfare&#xA;3. Constitutional Congress&#xA;4. Civil War&#xA;    a. States' Rights&#xA;    b. Slavery&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with the second example (where the first item has only one sub-item) is that without a second sub-item, the two levels are essentially equal. If the only thing I'm going to say about pre-Revolutionary times is to discuss the early settlers, then those terms are both referring to the same topic and I'm being redundant in the outline. Note item 3, which has no sub-items. That is the correct way to handle the case of only one item: pick one term and put it at the appropriate level of the outline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, as Roger Pate says, in a rough draft there may be an overriding reason to make a one-item list (as a visual cue to think further about the list), but this would need to be corrected if you never add to the list. This is the one exception mentioned above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastEditorUserId="720" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-03T03:37:39.510" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T03:37:39.510" />
  <row Id="2403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1925" CreationDate="2010-09-02T13:38:19.943" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some journalists are using the AP Stylebook which as of 2007, when the edition I have was printed, uses e-mail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T13:38:19.943" />
  <row Id="2404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2139" CreationDate="2010-09-02T14:05:28.530" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;.25 miles or a quarter of a mile. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T14:05:28.530" />
  <row Id="2405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2132" CreationDate="2010-09-02T14:07:21.480" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering, and now I am asking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T14:07:21.480" />
  <row Id="2406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2408" CreationDate="2010-09-02T14:19:13.443" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whether the term &quot;Graduate applicant&quot; mean &quot;a person who applies to get graduated&quot; or &quot;a graduate who applies for something&quot;? If it is the second one, how can we term the person who applies for a graduation program?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="981" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T00:04:39.487" Title="&quot;Graduate applicant&quot;" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="2407" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2475" CreationDate="2010-09-02T14:24:03.660" Score="3" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would write &lt;em&gt;a couple of &lt;/em&gt;. I often read/hear &lt;em&gt;a couple &lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assumed this was an American English thing (I'm British), and just a convenient shortening of the phrase for speaking. It's easier to say &lt;em&gt;a couple minutes&lt;/em&gt; vs &lt;em&gt;a couple of minutes.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, this doesn't seem to restrict the number of things to two - but just a small amount. Less than 'a few', in my mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="980" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-02T15:35:20.457" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T20:52:50.223" Title="Why is 'a couple of &lt;things&gt;' often shortened to 'a couple &lt;things&gt;'?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="2408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2406" CreationDate="2010-09-02T14:31:49.040" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Kosmonaut said, the phrase is probably ambiguous as it stands, though the context will probably determine which is meant. To avoid confusion, I would suggest using the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone who is in the process of graduating is known as a &quot;graduand&quot;. That's what you are referred to as on your graduation day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone applying to a graduate programme could be a &quot;graduate school applicant&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And perhaps &quot;graduate job applicant&quot; to refer to a graduate, applying for something else...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-02T17:14:18.950" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T17:14:18.950" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="2409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2407" CreationDate="2010-09-02T15:11:56.197" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear both more or less interchangeably here in the US Midwest, and recall that to be the case in the US Appalachian Region where I grew up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I wouldn't use the abbreviated version in any sort of formal context, but in daily speech I use both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, while I generally try to use &quot;couple&quot; to mean two, I wonder if the shortened form is related somehow to the relaxation of that rule, and to the fact that when one is considering &quot;a few&quot; it's not &quot;a few of&quot; (&quot;She lives a few miles from here&quot; vs &quot;She lives a few of miles from here&quot; vs &quot;She lives a couple of miles from here&quot;). Perhaps with the blurring of the lines between &quot;couple&quot; and &quot;few&quot; the surrounding structure also changed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's an &lt;a href=&quot;http://linguistlist.org/issues/11/11-202.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;interesting thread&lt;/a&gt; regarding possibly origins of the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="143" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-02T15:20:40.587" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T15:20:40.587" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2410" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-02T15:14:26.397" Score="9" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am reading a book titled &lt;em&gt;Struts 2 in action&lt;/em&gt;, and there is this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That about covers it for aspects of OGNL that are commonly used in Struts 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I am confused by it is the structure of the sentence and the means of &#xA;'That about covers it'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="833" LastEditorUserId="573" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-04T02:17:23.153" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T10:03:25.827" Title="What is the meaning of 'That about covers it'?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="2411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2410" CreationDate="2010-09-02T15:28:19.093" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;That about covers it&quot; means &quot;that's pretty much everything there is to say about it&quot;, or simply &quot;that almost covers it&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; now that you have added a bounty, it's obvious that the above explanation doesn't help you that much. So I went out and dug up that quote &lt;a href=&quot;http://struts2-java.blogspot.com/2008/09/ognl-4.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in context&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As you can see, each filtering or projection simply returns a new collection for your use. This convenient notation can be used to get the most out of a single set of data. Note that you can combine filtering and projection operations. &lt;strong&gt;That about covers it for aspects of OGNL that are commonly used in Struts 2.&lt;/strong&gt; In the next section, we’ll cover some of the advanced features that might help you out in a pinch, but, still, we recommend keeping it simple unless you have no choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As we can see from the context, &quot;that about covers it&quot; can be simply replaced with &quot;so much&quot;. As in, &quot;So much for the most common aspects of OGNL used in Struts 2&quot;. Or even: &quot;These are the most common aspects of OGNL used in Struts 2&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What the author is saying is: &quot;In this chapter here, we have covered some common, simple stuff. Chances are, that's all you will ever need. Yes, there is also more advanced, complicated stuff — and in fact, we will cover it in the next chapter, so do read on if you want to know more — but still, the simple stuff mentioned above will be probably enough for most people in their everyday work. Keep it simple!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-23T10:03:25.827" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T10:03:25.827" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2412" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-02T15:34:08.387" Score="1" ViewCount="268" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/896/when-to-use-an-and-when-to-use-a-with-words-begining-with-h&quot;&gt;When to use &amp;#39;an&amp;#39; and when to use &amp;#39;a&amp;#39; with words begining with &amp;#39;h&amp;#39;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which words starting with 'h' need &quot;an&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="986" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T15:53:11.657" ClosedDate="2010-09-02T16:26:53.807" Title="Silent 'h' words" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2413" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2415" CreationDate="2010-09-02T15:37:37.707" Score="7" ViewCount="849" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the expression &quot;coming down the pike&quot; or &quot;coming down the pipe&quot;?  I've always used pike, but I've heard a few people use pipe recently. I can see how both could make sense, but which is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="987" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-13T21:05:48.127" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T21:05:48.127" Title="Coming down the ( pike | pipe ) ?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2413" CreationDate="2010-09-02T15:51:38.407" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms has &lt;a href=&quot;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/coming+down+the+pike&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an entry on &quot;coming down the pike&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, and says that it's &quot;based on the literal meaning of pike (a large road)&quot;. It does not have an entry on &quot;coming down the pipe&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, Google returns &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22coming+down+the+pike%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;7 million results&lt;/a&gt; for the former, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22coming+down+the+pipe%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;5 million results&lt;/a&gt; for the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, the expression with &quot;pike&quot; is the original one, but the &quot;pipe&quot; variant cannot be labeled as &quot;wrong&quot; at this point in time. Both are widely used and understood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-02T17:05:03.600" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T17:05:03.600" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2412" CreationDate="2010-09-02T15:53:11.657" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your title answers your question.  If you start a word with a vowel &lt;strong&gt;sound&lt;/strong&gt;, ignoring spelling, then you use &quot;an&quot;.  If you start a word with a consonant sound, you use &quot;a&quot;.  So if you know when an &quot;h&quot; is silent, then you know when to use &quot;an&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This goes in the opposite direction for words starting with &quot;u&quot;.  If it starts with an [u] sound or some other vowel sound, then it gets &quot;an&quot;.  But if it starts with a [j] (&quot;y&quot;) &lt;strong&gt;sound&lt;/strong&gt;, like &lt;em&gt;user&lt;/em&gt;, it gets &quot;a&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T15:53:11.657" />
  <row Id="2417" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2418" CreationDate="2010-09-02T15:56:34.443" Score="3" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;I learn that when we are telling a story, we should use past tense. What if in our story there's an event that will happen after the story being told? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When he called me last night, I was in the middle&#xA;  of preparing my itinerary for my next&#xA;  travelling adventure which&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;will/would(?)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; be in the coming month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should we use there? Present future or past future?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="611" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T15:59:58.870" Title="Narrative Tenses (For Things That Haven't Happened Yet)" Tags="&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="2418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2417" CreationDate="2010-09-02T15:59:58.870" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In formal writing, you should make the tenses agree. &quot;Would be in the coming month&quot; means that the event would happen in the month after he called you. &quot;Will be in the coming month&quot; reads as if the event will happen in the month after the reader reads the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T15:59:58.870" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2413" CreationDate="2010-09-02T16:09:22.670" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basing on the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;coming down the pipe&lt;/em&gt; is more used when speaking, and in magazines; it is also used more frequently since 2000.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You can find the expression in sentences like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And there is a big concern about what's coming down the pipe.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  […] sold on the DVD recorders, because there are some newer technologies coming down the pipe soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Coming down the pike&lt;/em&gt; is also found in the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;It is used more frequently when speaking, and in magazines; it is used more frequently between 1995&amp;ndash;2000 and 2005&amp;ndash;2010.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is used in sentences like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We know that there's debt and deficit coming down the pike. &#xA;  […] contributor Janice Lieberman went to Las Vegas to find out what's coming down the pike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Comparing &lt;em&gt;coming down the pipe&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;coming down the pike&lt;/em&gt;, the most used phrase (as reported by the CoCA) is &lt;em&gt;coming down the pike&lt;/em&gt;, which is used more frequently in all the 1995&amp;ndash;2010 period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports that the phrase &lt;em&gt;coming down the pike&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;appear on the scene&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;come to notice&lt;/em&gt;. The NOAD doesn't report the meaning of &lt;em&gt;coming down the pipe.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-02T16:14:52.610" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T16:14:52.610" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="653" CreationDate="2010-09-02T16:18:38.533" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Print this out, perhaps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apostrophe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apostrophe&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="984" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T16:18:38.533" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2406" CreationDate="2010-09-02T17:24:02.643" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My initial assumption on hearing the phrase was equivalent &quot;graduate school applicant.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would call someone currently matriculated who is applying for their degree a &quot;bachelor's degree candidate&quot; or &quot;PhD candidate,&quot; etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would find it confusing as &quot;a graduate who applies for something&quot; unless it was in a very specific context. What did this applicant graduate from? With what degree? It's too vague to be useful unless the context provides more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this is admittedly based solely on my own usage (Northeastern United States).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="928" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T17:24:02.643" />
  <row Id="2422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2369" CreationDate="2010-09-02T18:24:45.530" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hard to precisely answer this question, but in my experience (native English speaker from the USA) it is generally understood what &lt;strong&gt;FAQ&lt;/strong&gt; stands for (&quot;frequently asked questions&quot;), at least, so long as the person is familiar with what an FAQ is in concept.  I have heard of people knowing the abbreviation but not knowing what it stands for, but this seems to be enough of an exception that it's considered noteworthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="809" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T18:24:45.530" />
  <row Id="2423" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2424" CreationDate="2010-09-02T19:10:00.310" Score="5" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/531/is-there-a-standard-ordering-for-the-question-mark-and-the-exclamation-mark-used&quot;&gt;Is there a standard ordering for the question mark and the exclamation mark used together?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When writing an exclamation-question like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What you you mean, I'm fired&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't you think you've done ENOUGH today&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should you end the sentence with ?!, !? or just ! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's grammatically correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's acceptable for casual usage (where grammar is less important)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it just preference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;WHAT'S THE ANSWER?! &amp;lt;-- my preference&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:14:04.817" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:14:04.817" ClosedDate="2010-09-03T15:50:28.387" Title="Using Multiple Sentence Stoppers?!" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;question-mark&gt;&lt;exclamation-mark&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2423" CreationDate="2010-09-02T19:37:30.823" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, there is the linguists approach and then there is the standard, formal written English approach.  A linguist would just say that double punctuation exists and probably varies based on pragmatic issues, for example, if the text is both a question and emphatic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to write standard, formal written English, you wouldn't use double or multiple final punctuation, or all caps for that matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And since you seem to be asking about usage in casual environments, then it depends on what your peers are doing. If you are writing on a internet forum where it is expected and acceptable style, then that the precedent that you follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T19:37:30.823" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2425" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-02T20:34:20.597" Score="5" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a thinly veiled rant, I realize, but if anybody can rationalize &quot;emails&quot; for me in such a way that I can stop grabbing people who say it, and asking them if they've ever gone to their mailsbox to retrieve the mails left for them by the mailsman... I would very much appreciate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize it's probably pure laziness, but maybe someone can rationalize this in such a way that I can stop cringing every time I see it used in a professional setting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="991" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T20:28:43.847" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T20:28:43.847" Title="Explanation for &quot;emails&quot;?" Tags="&lt;email&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2426" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-02T20:38:32.747" Score="4" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dictionaries I've looked at don't distinguish between these two words (when used as an adverb). But is there some real historical, grammatical or regional difference between them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="990" LastEditorUserId="990" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-03T18:48:06.070" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T18:48:06.070" Title="Backward and backwards" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2425" CreationDate="2010-09-02T20:42:08.950" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use both &quot;emails&quot; and &quot;email&quot; in the following manner:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I need to check my &lt;strong&gt;email&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I sent you several &lt;strong&gt;emails&lt;/strong&gt;, to which you have yet to respond.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My rationalization for #2 is that &quot;emails&quot; is short for &quot;email messages&quot;. I would never, however, say &quot;I need to check my emails,&quot; because in &quot;I need to check my email,&quot; the word &quot;email&quot; is a collective noun (to me at least).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also point out that this is the usage I have seen in business in  the New England and Midwestern regions of the US (American English). Usage in British English may be different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T20:42:08.950" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2425" CreationDate="2010-09-02T20:57:24.003" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/email?show=0&amp;amp;t=1283460354&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;e-mail&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;[...]&lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2 b&lt;/strong&gt;: an e-mail message &amp;lt;sent him an e–mail&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/e-mail&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;agrees&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;e-mail&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;em&gt;countable and uncountable&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;plural&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;e-mails&lt;/strong&gt;)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [...]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. (&lt;em&gt;countable&lt;/em&gt;, see &lt;em&gt;Usage notes&lt;/em&gt; below)&lt;br&gt;A message sent via an e-mail system. &#xA;  &lt;em&gt;I am searching through my old e-mails. He sent me several e-mails last week to that effect.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usage notes read as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As a contraction of &lt;em&gt;electronic mail&lt;/em&gt;, some feel that &lt;em&gt;e-mail&lt;/em&gt; should follow the same pluralization rules and be uncountable, prohibiting the forms &lt;em&gt;e-mails&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;an e-mail&lt;/em&gt;. Others feel that it is not necessary for &lt;em&gt;e-mail&lt;/em&gt; to maintain grammatical similarity to &lt;em&gt;mail&lt;/em&gt;, and prefer to pluralize the term as a countable noun. This issue is hotly debated, but it is seldom considered incorrect to use the uncountable form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To all this, I will add that it's rather cumbersome to say &quot;X pieces of email&quot; every time you could just as well say &quot;X emails&quot;. You could call that laziness or sloppiness, if you wish, but that's how it often starts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See it this way: even &lt;em&gt;water&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;cheese&lt;/em&gt; can be countable in context. And you probably don't cringe when you hear someone ordering &lt;em&gt;two coffees&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if only there were such thing as &lt;em&gt;electronic letters&lt;/em&gt; in addition to &lt;em&gt;electronic mail&lt;/em&gt;... Alas, that didn't quite catch on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-02T21:24:42.507" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T21:24:42.507" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="2429" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4183" CreationDate="2010-09-02T21:16:47.467" Score="13" ViewCount="294" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often see questions on Stack Exchange sites which I presume are written by non-native English speakers who use the word &quot;doubt&quot; in place of the word &quot;question&quot;. Is this a case of misunderstanding the correct meaning or are people being taught that this is correct usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="189" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T01:28:46.263" Title="A question regarding the use of &quot;doubt&quot; to mean &quot;question&quot;." Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2425" CreationDate="2010-09-02T21:32:17.590" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While the verb email is a direct analog to the verb mail, the noun email is a direct analog to the noun letter, and can therefore be pluralized... yes, I retrieve the letters left for me by the mailman, and if you sent me two messages via email, I would read both those emails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="928" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T21:32:17.590" />
  <row Id="2431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2425" CreationDate="2010-09-02T21:42:32.997" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is mostly unfortunate that the original evangelists of email decided to use the metaphor of the postal service to describe the new electronic message format. Instead of thinking of email as literally electronic post, think of it as bad PR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An email message is not carried to your computer by little electronic ponies across the electric Wild West, nor is it trudged to your terminal by little electronic men and women wearing their little electronic blue shorts. Thankfully, there aren't electronic post offices at which you have to go and wait for hours while someone's electronic child wails behind you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than sharing the word &quot;mail&quot; and serving to transport thoughts between a rhetor and audience, physical post and electronic messages are two wildly different things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;email&quot; is part of a living usage set. Just because Random House and Britannica can't keep up with how a word is used does not mean that such usage is wrong. Have a Google for a gent named Philip Gove (or have a read about him &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.polyseme.net/websters-third-or-viral-impact-phillip-gove&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;) and you'll be introduced to the centuries-old conflict between prescriptive and descriptive dictionaries and their ability to stay relevant to living languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The noun &quot;email,&quot; today, has a commonly accepted usage roughly framed as &quot;a message transported electronically&quot; Something more specific is of course necessary (involving mailserver protocols and all that) but this is what people mean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'd likely not want to throttle someone for saying &quot;I sent three messages yesterday,&quot; because that's a common usage. Just as common usage has progressed from &quot;Web site&quot; to &quot;web site&quot; to &quot;website,&quot; so to has it progressed from &quot;E-mail&quot; to &quot;e-mail&quot; to &quot;email.&quot; The word itself no longer requires its original expansion because, frankly, the usage is common knowledge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If such ruminations aren't adequate, however, you might instead rationalize it by telling yourself that such persons are using &quot;a letter&quot; as the metaphor for &quot;an email,&quot; and therefore are in the clear when saying &quot;letters&quot;/&quot;emails.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(To note, the above-linked essay is from my own hand. I'm not hit-trolling, just that it draws from some 18 other sources on the topic of Mr. Webster, Mr. Gove and the tendency for prescriptive dictionaries to become minimized and irrelevant.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="621" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T21:42:32.997" />
  <row Id="2432" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2434" CreationDate="2010-09-02T21:43:51.237" Score="3" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't completely understand its meaning in the sentence below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because of its lack of theaters, the city came, ironically, to be viewed as an &lt;strong&gt;unimpressed&lt;/strong&gt; theater town, and that reputation led entrepreneurs to believe that it would be shrewd to build new theaters there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="786" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T01:09:56.943" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T01:09:56.943" Title="What does &quot;unimpressed&quot; mean in this sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="2433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2429" CreationDate="2010-09-02T21:47:21.457" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at some of the questions listed in mmyers's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22doubt+about%22+site%3Astackoverflow.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;suggested search on Google&lt;/a&gt;, I'd suggest that &quot;doubt&quot; is being as a synonym for &quot;uncertainty&quot;, which is valid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1679693/doubt-about-tinymce-content-css&quot;&gt;Doubt about TinyMCE content css&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1935716/doubt-about-navigationbar&quot;&gt;Doubt About NavigationBar&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1189098/basic-doubt-about-sensor-usage&quot;&gt;Basic doubt about sensor usage&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T21:47:21.457" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2432" CreationDate="2010-09-02T22:07:09.320" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the context, I'd judge it to mean &lt;em&gt;undeveloped&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;untapped&lt;/em&gt; (as in an &lt;em&gt;untapped market&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No dictionary that I've found so far lists this sort of meaning, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-03T06:00:07.030" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T06:00:07.030" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2425" CreationDate="2010-09-02T23:54:27.937" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is a thinly veiled rant, I&#xA;  realize, but if anybody can&#xA;  rationalize &quot;emails&quot; for me in such a&#xA;  way that I can stop grabbing people&#xA;  who say it, and asking them if they've&#xA;  ever gone to their mailsbox to&#xA;  retrieve the mails left for them by&#xA;  the mailsman... I would very much&#xA;  appreciate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In English, when a noun modifies a second noun, the first noun is always singular. For example, the shop which sells shoes is a &quot;shoe shop&quot; rather than a &quot;shoes shop&quot;. Similarly, regardless of whether mail is countable or uncountable, the box where the mail(s) are is a &quot;mail box&quot; and similarly for &quot;mail man&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-02T23:54:27.937" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2437" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2442" CreationDate="2010-09-03T01:38:24.880" Score="3" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it's correct from a view of grammar, but is it clear?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="786" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T03:22:03.840" Title="Is this correct : &quot;the bigger a dream is, the harder is to achieve.&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2157" CreationDate="2010-09-03T01:45:12.247" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a historical perspective of &lt;em&gt;among&lt;/em&gt; vs &lt;em&gt;amongst&lt;/em&gt; in American English, I did an analysis using the Corpus of Historical American English (COHA).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found that since even as far back as 1810, &lt;em&gt;among&lt;/em&gt; was many times more common than &lt;em&gt;amongst&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/tW2Bu.png&quot; alt=&quot;chart showing the incidence of use of &amp;quot;among&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;amongst&amp;quot; since 1810&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;        AMONG   AMONGST Ratio&#xA;1810    439.38  47.41   9.26766505&#xA;1820    536.44  26.27   20.42025124&#xA;1830    593.99  34.63   17.15246896&#xA;1840    593.64  35.52   16.71283784&#xA;1850    562.6   19.43   28.95522388&#xA;1860    516.92  21.93   23.57136343&#xA;1870    457.33  16.97   26.94932233&#xA;1880    456.98  17.87   25.57246782&#xA;1890    492.07  19.9    24.72713568&#xA;1900    435.12  12.35   35.23238866&#xA;1910    377.13  11.37   33.16886544&#xA;1920    364.94  6.59    55.37784522&#xA;1930    345.13  6.67    51.74362819&#xA;1940    334.03  7.19    46.45757997&#xA;1950    317.42  7.29    43.54183813&#xA;1960    315.72  5.17    61.06769826&#xA;1970    324.12  7.6     42.64736842&#xA;1980    354.4   5.33    66.49155722&#xA;1990    287.46  6.8     42.27352941&#xA;2000    266     4.9     54.28571429&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From this data, we see that both &lt;em&gt;among&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;amongst&lt;/em&gt; have been becoming less frequently used overall since 1810, but that &lt;em&gt;among&lt;/em&gt; has always been much more common. The ratio of &lt;em&gt;among&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;amongst&lt;/em&gt; started at about 10 to 1 in 1810 and had risen to about 50 to 1 by 1920, and it has been pretty stable there since then. &lt;em&gt;Amongst&lt;/em&gt; is definitely much less common than &lt;em&gt;among&lt;/em&gt; in American English, but it is in no danger of dying out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T01:45:12.247" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2439" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2441" CreationDate="2010-09-03T02:25:41.217" Score="3" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;What preposition should I use in the expression &quot;put &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;/strong&gt; the backseat&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence goes like this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have a few items on my plans, item A is the least important one, so I will put it  &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;/strong&gt; the backseat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I use &quot;at&quot; or &quot;onto&quot; here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="304" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-13T09:39:06.143" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T09:39:06.143" Title="Put &quot;At&quot; the Backseat or Put &quot;Onto&quot; the Backseat?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="2440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2439" CreationDate="2010-09-03T02:30:24.867" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well you could save yourself some trouble by saying you are going to postpone it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not familiar with this idiom about back seats. There is an idiom &quot;to put on the back burner&quot; which also means to postpone or delay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T02:30:24.867" />
  <row Id="2441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2439" CreationDate="2010-09-03T03:16:55.227" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the idiom you are looking for is &lt;em&gt;to take a backseat&lt;/em&gt;, which means to be in a position of less importance or a position of not being in control. If you’re in the driver’s seat, you’re in control of the car; if you’re in the back seat, you’re not in control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some examples of this idiom from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“The sandwich was gooey from cheese and crisp from the grill, though the ham &lt;strong&gt;took a backseat&lt;/strong&gt; to the other ingredients.”&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  “Search and rescue &lt;strong&gt;had taken a backseat&lt;/strong&gt; to all the duties of a sheriff to serve and protect”&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  “Problems of the developing world, which have often &lt;strong&gt;taken a backseat&lt;/strong&gt; at G-8 summits, look likely to be pushed to the sidelines yet again”&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  “But questions like these &lt;strong&gt;take a back seat&lt;/strong&gt; to more pressing concerns”&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  “Whatever biological imperatives this trip began with, they’re now &lt;strong&gt;taking a back seat&lt;/strong&gt; to male pride”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There aren’t any idiomatic uses of &lt;code&gt;put * the backseat&lt;/code&gt; in the COCA so I don’t think the idiom you thought you were trying to use is one that is in common use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are speaking literally about placing objects or people into the back seat of a vehicle, you can use &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;into&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;onto&lt;/em&gt;, depending on the circumstance. You can only use &lt;em&gt;into&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;onto&lt;/em&gt; for motions, while &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; can be used for either state or motion. Generally, you use &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;into&lt;/em&gt; for people, and &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;onto&lt;/em&gt; for objects, although sometimes people are &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; a backseat, though typically only if they are not sitting normally. Also, both &lt;em&gt;back seat&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;backseat&lt;/em&gt; appear to be in equally common use. Examples from COCA:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“He takes the sleeping child and places him &lt;strong&gt;in the backseat&lt;/strong&gt; for the woman.”&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  “When riding &lt;strong&gt;in the backseat&lt;/strong&gt; with two other people, you may sit on either side but never on the ‘hump.’”&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  “They drove him twenty miles to a hospital, my mother sitting &lt;strong&gt;in the back seat&lt;/strong&gt; with the old man’s head in her lap.”  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;On&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“You can disassemble the tripod and place it &lt;strong&gt;on the backseat&lt;/strong&gt; of your car.”&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  “Roy dropped a bag &lt;strong&gt;on the back seat&lt;/strong&gt;.”&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   “If he got lucky and made it there with a lot of time to spare, his laptop was &lt;strong&gt;on the back seat&lt;/strong&gt;, and he had a ton of paperwork to catch up on.”&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  “I took Alice along to sit &lt;strong&gt;on the back seat&lt;/strong&gt; and steady those boxes all the way to Greenville”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Into&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“She climbed &lt;strong&gt;into the back seat&lt;/strong&gt; and the car rolled forward and stopped again.”&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  “The woman picked up a woven basket and hopped &lt;strong&gt;into the back seat&lt;/strong&gt;.”&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  “He envied the young officer who had pushed the guy &lt;strong&gt;into the back seat&lt;/strong&gt; and slammed the door shut before reporting in on the radio”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Onto&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“She tucked the phone more securely into a pocket of her purse, unlocked the door, and slid the cat carrier &lt;strong&gt;onto the backseat&lt;/strong&gt;.”&#xA;  “Perhaps the detective imagined her thrown &lt;strong&gt;onto the back seat&lt;/strong&gt; after being made unconscious in some manner.”&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  “Then Dad and I hurried out to load my Washington Stars &lt;strong&gt;onto the back seat&lt;/strong&gt; of the Studebaker.”&#xA;  “The young thin guy tossed his bag &lt;strong&gt;onto the back seat&lt;/strong&gt; and slid right in after it.”&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  “Larry settled Alison &lt;strong&gt;onto the backseat&lt;/strong&gt;, climbed in behind the steering wheel, and sat, staring through the windshield. He didn’t speak; Alison was deep in exhausted sleep.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-03T03:22:22.917" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T03:22:22.917" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2437" CreationDate="2010-09-03T03:22:03.840" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it's not grammatical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more correct version would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The bigger a dream is, the harder it is to achieve&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But a version that sounds more natural to my ear is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The bigger the dream, the harder to achieve&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="513" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T03:22:03.840" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="2443" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2453" CreationDate="2010-09-03T03:27:22.697" Score="5" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was just reading a news article about a couple of &lt;em&gt;French men&lt;/em&gt; and was wondering what (if any) the difference between that and &lt;em&gt;Frenchmen&lt;/em&gt; is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="250" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T06:40:02.350" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T23:56:25.203" Title="Is there a difference between &quot;Frenchmen&quot; and &quot;French men&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;demonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="2444" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2446" CreationDate="2010-09-03T05:09:09.087" Score="6" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say we are talking about the indigenous pukapuka who live in Pluto.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is correct: &quot;the pukapuka people&quot; or &quot;the pukapuka peoples&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read somewhere the usage of &quot;peoples&quot; in this context, and it has surprised me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="996" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T18:14:17.150" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T18:14:17.150" Title="&quot;People&quot; or &quot;peoples&quot; when referring to an indigenous population?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;pluralization&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2443" CreationDate="2010-09-03T05:35:46.557" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically a French man is a Frenchman and vice-versa, so the meaning is the same. Stylistically the word &lt;em&gt;Frenchman&lt;/em&gt; seems a little old-fashioned. It's something I would avoid using, perhaps because it is associated with unacceptable terms like &lt;em&gt;Chinaman&lt;/em&gt; for &lt;em&gt;Chinese man&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T23:56:25.203" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T23:56:25.203" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2444" CreationDate="2010-09-03T05:39:21.273" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Peoples&quot; means a group of populations. So for example &quot;the native American peoples&quot; means the tribes that were living in America before Columbus. &quot;the pukapuka peoples&quot; would mean &quot;the group of tribes/groups collectively known as pukapuka&quot;, whereas &quot;the pukapuka people&quot; would mean &quot;the group of people known as (the) pukapuka (tribe/group/etc.)&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T05:39:21.273" />
  <row Id="2447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2443" CreationDate="2010-09-03T07:09:50.783" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A Frenchman could mean a French ship. That seems an odd usage since ships are usually referred to as 'she', but there you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T07:09:50.783" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2448" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-03T07:23:09.270" Score="1" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Gribble&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nancy Gribble&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero_Wolfe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nero Wolfe&lt;/a&gt; (at least the TV version played by Maury Chaykin) both use British pronunciations like &quot;tomahto&quot; and &quot;shedule&quot; rather than &quot;tomayto&quot; and &quot;skedule&quot;, and yet both seem to be Americans (although Nero Wolfe originated from Montenegro). How unusual is it for Americans to use &quot;British&quot; pronunciations, and what kind of reaction does this get?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T07:37:31.423" Title="How unusual are Nancy Gribble and Nero Wolfe?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="2449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2426" CreationDate="2010-09-03T07:31:49.057" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/backward.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Paul Brians offers this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As an adverb, either word will do:&#xA;  “put the shirt on backward” or “put&#xA;  the shirt on backwards.” However, as&#xA;  an adjective, only “backward” will do:&#xA;  “a backward glance.” When in doubt,&#xA;  use “backward.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This appears to be from a book &quot;Common Errors in English Usage&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that &quot;toward&quot; is considered US and &quot;towards&quot; is considered UK, so this may be the same. (Incidentally I looked in four reference books and didn't find anything about &quot;backward&quot; and &quot;backwards&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-03T07:37:46.110" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T07:37:46.110" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2450" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2451" CreationDate="2010-09-03T08:11:47.113" Score="1" ViewCount="451" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been using the following phrases but I am still not confident that they are grammatically correct and sound right:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;in regards with something&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;with regards to something&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;regarding something&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also heard/read people using an arbitrary combination of the above (e.g. &quot;in regards to&quot;). Are those correct? If yes - are they equivalent or the usage depends on context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="998" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:14:29.840" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:14:29.840" Title="&quot;with regards to, in regards with, regarding, etc&quot; - correct or not?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2450" CreationDate="2010-09-03T08:37:18.587" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have been using the following&#xA;  phrases but I am still not confident&#xA;  that they are grammatically correct&#xA;  and sound right:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;in regards with something&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;in regard to&quot; is the right way here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;with regards to something&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is OK. Somehow I have the feeling that &quot;with regard to&quot; is more normal though. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/regards.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Paul Brians seems to back this up&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;regarding something&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is OK, e.g. film title &quot;Regarding Henry&quot;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have also heard/read people using an&#xA;  arbitrary combination of the above&#xA;  (e.g. &quot;in regards to&quot;). Are those&#xA;  correct? If yes - are they equivalent&#xA;  or the usage depends on context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's much easier to answer your question if you put in some examples you've seen. Anyway I hope the above is enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that there is a completely different usage &quot;regards to&quot; as in &quot;give my regards to old Broadway and tell them I will soon be there&quot; etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-03T09:08:58.153" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T09:08:58.153" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2443" CreationDate="2010-09-03T08:53:25.360" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Frenchman&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;a person, especially a man, who is French by birth or descent&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;New OXford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;); a &lt;em&gt;French man&lt;/em&gt; is a man who is from France.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-03T13:31:33.747" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T13:31:33.747" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="2453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2443" CreationDate="2010-09-03T09:01:34.417" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;Frenchmen&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; could refer to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frenchmen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;French people&lt;/a&gt; collectively, including French women. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;National Stereotypes in Perspective:&#xA;  Americans in France, Frenchmen in&#xA;  America&lt;/em&gt; [&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/9042013656&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It seems that many lower-class Englishmen still harbour a Napoleonic dislike of Frenchmen  [&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=329821&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can, of course, also refer to any smaller group of French persons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Where would you take a couple of&#xA;  Frenchmen [in L.A. area]? [&lt;a href=&quot;http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/497043&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;3&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;French men&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; refers just to men from France (all of them or a specific group, depending on context), but not women. Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;French men are three times more likely than French women to kill themselves [&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,649715,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;4&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that is the principal difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in the context of a news article about a couple of people, using &quot;French men&quot; at least makes it clear right away that all of them were men. Using &quot;Frenchmen&quot; would have left that unspecified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-03T10:00:05.037" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T10:00:05.037" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2454" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-03T09:06:52.440" Score="3" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for books that would help me develop further my language skills (&lt;em&gt;e.g.&lt;/em&gt; enrich my vocabulary).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently I read (and I was very pleased with the translation):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alexandre Dumas, &lt;em&gt;The Count of Monte Cristo&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Umberto Eco, &lt;em&gt;The Name of the Rose&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bearing in mind that there are virtually hundreds of books matching the criterion of &lt;em&gt;improving further my language skills&lt;/em&gt; I will lay down few more points to narrow down the possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'd be happy to embark on a journey with classic English literature. I don't know (or at least am not consciously aware of) most of the authors. My wild guess would be Dickens, Conrad, Joyce...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm also keen on reading English translations of other classics that feature refined language (&lt;em&gt;e.g.&lt;/em&gt; Eco).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm open to school-like suggestions - books that are being read during the course of education and studies.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that this question is not a duplicate, as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/101/good-books-for-english-speakers-learning-the-language&quot;&gt;other one&lt;/a&gt; seems to be pertaining more to the intermediate learners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="960" LastEditorUserId="960" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-03T10:27:15.237" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T10:27:15.237" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-03T09:06:52.440" ClosedDate="2010-09-17T03:13:42.817" Title="Good books for enhancing language skills (BrE)" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;subjective&gt;&lt;book-title&gt;" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2455" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-03T09:20:25.743" Score="4" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trouble_in_Triplicate#Before_I_Die&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nero Wolfe &quot;Before I die&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, the gangster's sidekick asks for spaghetti and gravy. After Wolfe's chef Fritz prepares him spaghetti with the type of gravy used for roast beef, it turns out that the gangster meant tomato sauce when he said gravy. Looking on the internet there is a lot of confirmation that some Italian-Americans use &quot;spaghetti and gravy&quot; to mean spaghetti with a tomato-based sauce, for example discussions like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://southjersey.momslikeme.com/members/JournalActions.aspx?g=437439&amp;amp;m=3625596&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://southjersey.momslikeme.com/members/JournalActions.aspx?g=437439&amp;amp;m=3625596&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the bottom there is an answer like so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think the Italian Immigrants in New&#xA;  Jersey put their own spin on a lot of&#xA;  things.... [Gravy] is an Italian&#xA;  American invention. I never heard red&#xA;  sauce called gravy until I roomed in&#xA;  college with my Italian roomate from&#xA;  Hoboken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also find at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2008/01/sunday-gravy-anyone-have-a-great-recipe-for-i.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2008/01/sunday-gravy-anyone-have-a-great-recipe-for-i.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Gravy is one of those words where&#xA;  Italian immigrants picked the closest&#xA;  word to their native word. My father&#xA;  was born in Naples (Italy, not&#xA;  Florida) and called it gravy. That's&#xA;  good enough for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone confirm or deny this? What is the origin of using gravy to mean spaghetti sauce?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Apologies for yet another spaghetti question.)&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-12T15:32:16.377" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T15:32:16.377" Title="Spaghetti and gravy" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2457" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2458" CreationDate="2010-09-03T12:10:17.220" Score="3" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have a feeling that you are angry with me.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I have a feeling that George Washington was commander in chief of the Continental Army.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can &lt;em&gt;I have a feeling that&lt;/em&gt; be used to introduce a fact?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If it can be used, what is the difference between the the following sentences, and the previous ones?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think that George Washington was commander in chief of the Continental Army.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  George Washington was commander in chief of the Continental Army.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I know George Washington was commander in chief of the Continental Army.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-03T18:31:53.323" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T23:15:40.927" Title="Can &quot;have a feeling that&quot; be used to state a fact?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2457" CreationDate="2010-09-03T12:48:01.403" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence &quot;I have a feeling that George Washington was Commander in Chief&quot; is not equivalent to &quot;I know that George Washington was Commander in Chief&quot; nor &quot;George Washington was Commander in Chief&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first sentence, you are stating that you have a belief about a certain fact.  The fact may be false.  Sometimes this form is used to correct information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: &quot;So George III was the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;B: &quot;Well, I have a feeling George Washington was the Commander in Chief.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this example B is correcting A using a less-strong assertion of the facts, however the implied meaning is &quot;George Washington was the Commander in Chief&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence &quot;I know George Washington was Commander in Chief&quot; asserts the speaker's knowledge of the fact.  The sentence &quot;George Washington was Commander in Chief&quot; merely states the fact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes the &quot;feeling&quot; form is used when the speaker is unsure about the facts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I have a feeling it's going to rain today.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare this to &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;It's going to rain today.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second form asserts it as true that it will indeed rain today.  The first merely states the speaker's belief, and suggests that the speaker acknowledges some doubt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-03T18:32:48.860" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T18:32:48.860" />
  <row Id="2459" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2462" CreationDate="2010-09-03T13:01:07.793" Score="16" ViewCount="680" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are some examples of awkward sounding but grammatically correct sentences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="988" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:15:05.953" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:15:05.953" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-03T13:01:22.107" Title="Awkward sounding but grammatically correct sentences?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="9" />
  <row Id="2460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2455" CreationDate="2010-09-03T13:02:26.760" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I googled &quot;Gravy Etymology&quot; and found &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.ca/books?id=AoWlCmNDA3QC&amp;amp;pg=PT552&amp;amp;lpg=PT552&amp;amp;dq=spaghetti+and+gravy+etymology&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=sRZBBkdBLR&amp;amp;sig=ZPnQXC4RnBzTjlX7UAA9spQQzu4&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=Lu-ATNC_Msndnge8xJyqAQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=7&amp;amp;ved=0CDMQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=spaghetti%20and%20gravy%20etymology&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this link&lt;/a&gt; which says that &quot;gravy is a subset of sauces made from meat essence&quot; and it goes on to say that Italian-Americans use the word to refer to tomato-and-meat sauce.  Other forums I saw suggested that unless the sauces has a meat base it shouldn't be called gravy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T13:02:26.760" />
  <row Id="2461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2459" CreationDate="2010-09-03T13:52:58.727" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which we will not put.&quot; --Winston Churchill&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T13:52:58.727" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-03T13:52:58.727" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2459" CreationDate="2010-09-03T14:12:08.670" Score="35" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="990" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T14:12:08.670" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-03T14:12:08.670" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="2463" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2465" CreationDate="2010-09-03T14:44:48.797" Score="4" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could the expression &lt;em&gt;unless someone lives under a rock&lt;/em&gt; be used in a formal setting? If no, what are some alternatives that could be used instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="941" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-06T11:52:00.180" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T11:52:00.180" Title="&quot;Unless someone lives under a rock&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2463" CreationDate="2010-09-03T14:52:58.680" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You would probably not use this in a formal setting, but that is probably due to the fact that it would be considered rude.  The problem with suggesting a formal alternative is that the sentiment itself is rude.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unless you live under a rock, you know that circles are round. (=unless you are totally ignorant!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some formal alternatives might therefore be things like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;It should be quite obvious that circles are round.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;It goes without saying that circles are round.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;It is a well-known fact that circles are round.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T14:52:58.680" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="2465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2463" CreationDate="2010-09-03T14:59:08.490" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This answer is a kind of extended comment on Kosmonaut's answer. I would have said that &quot;unless you live under a rock&quot; tends to be used with situations where the person who lives under the rock is out of touch with current events. Googling for the phrase gives things like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unless you live under a rock, you’re more than aware about the Federal Election Campaign that’s currently taking place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unless you live under a rock, you’ve heard the word blog used sometime&#xA;  in the last couple of years&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unless you live under a rock, you probably have been inundated with news of the upcoming iPhone 3GS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unless you live under a rock, you may have heard that starlet Lindsay Lohan is in a little bit of trouble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;etc. It's not used so much with things like &quot;circles are round&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Could the expression in the title be&#xA;  used in a formal setting? If no, what&#xA;  are some alternatives that could be&#xA;  used instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how to answer the question you posed since I don't know exactly what &quot;in a formal setting&quot; means. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You want alternatives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unless you are totally out of touch with the real world&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unless you never read a newspaper&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unless you have been lost in the Himalayas&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;etc. I could easily go on all night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T14:59:08.490" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2466" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-03T15:01:02.370" Score="0" ViewCount="287" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/92/how-does-one-correctly-use-a-semicolon&quot;&gt;How does one correctly use a semicolon?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering about the difference between just ending the sentence and starting a new one based on the same subject and using a semicolon to branch the two sentences together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone help me on this one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T15:18:18.093" ClosedDate="2010-11-20T13:23:09.710" Title="How Would One Use A Semicolon (;) ?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="2467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2459" CreationDate="2010-09-03T15:03:16.720" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/500/is-there-some-rule-against-ending-a-sentence-with-the-contraction-its&quot;&gt;&quot;It is what it's&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T15:03:16.720" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-03T15:03:16.720" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="2468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2459" CreationDate="2010-09-03T15:06:04.143" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Amn't I?&quot; grates on my ears...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="984" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T15:06:04.143" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-03T15:06:04.143" />
  <row Id="2469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="92" CreationDate="2010-09-03T15:18:18.093" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1002" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T15:18:18.093" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2470" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-03T15:29:06.193" Score="5" ViewCount="414" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not only is my seventh grader using this phrase, but her teachers are as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose it means &lt;em&gt;I totally agree with you and you totally agree with me&lt;/em&gt; but it sounds like there is a subtle &lt;em&gt;Is that okay?&lt;/em&gt; at the end with the right part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="775" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-06T12:04:19.853" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T21:38:06.063" Title="What does &quot;I know, right?&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2471" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2472" CreationDate="2010-09-03T15:51:57.980" Score="4" ViewCount="362" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry if it's a trivial question, but when someone uses &lt;em&gt;what's up&lt;/em&gt; as a greeting I have no idea what they want to hear. What are the possible answers and what does this question mean exactly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-03T19:35:00.787" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T07:22:28.707" Title="What is an appropriate response to &quot;what's up&quot; greeting?" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;&lt;greetings&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2471" CreationDate="2010-09-03T16:17:15.267" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;“What’s up?” is a greeting whose meaning is mostly irrelevant in that the asker doesn’t want an answer to the literal question which means something like “What is new?” or “What’s happening (right now/in your life)?”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simplest response if you don’t have information you want to share immediately with the asker is probably just to say something like “not much”, “not too much”, or “hey (man/dude)”. If you’re offered “what’s up” in response to a greeting of your own, you should read it as a request for you to proceed to the content part of what you want to talk about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T16:17:15.267" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2470" CreationDate="2010-09-03T16:37:34.327" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that it doesn't signify &lt;em&gt;is that okay?&lt;/em&gt; so much as &lt;em&gt;tell me more.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also suggests empathy in addition to agreement.  To me, it seems roughly equivalent to &lt;em&gt;I totally agree with you, you know?&lt;/em&gt;  In addition to sharing the opinion, it also subtly connotes that both parties arrived at the same conclusion, possibly in the same way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="809" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-06T11:49:09.843" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T11:49:09.843" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2474" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-03T17:23:13.357" Score="3" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started getting at this question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2459/awkward-sounding-but-grammatically-correct-sentences&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; but the way I asked doesn't quite get at my point.  I decided to leave that question as is because it asks something interesting in its own right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I am really wondering is if you are aware of any grammatical errors that seem preferable to their more correct alternative?  In other words, grammatical rules that some of us follow that seem to make language unnecessarily awkward sounding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, I've personally always found &lt;em&gt;Who is this story about?&lt;/em&gt; preferable to &lt;em&gt;Whom is this story about?&lt;/em&gt; even though it's technically less correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Made community wiki as this is obviously very subjective&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="988" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:17:08.120" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:17:08.120" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-03T17:24:47.667" Title="Grammatically correct sentences with a less correct but often preferable alternative" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2407" CreationDate="2010-09-03T19:15:24.427" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://linguistlist.org/issues/11/11-202.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Linguist List thread&lt;/a&gt; that @cori linked to has a couple discussions of what’s going on here. For example, one commenter says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;couple&lt;/em&gt; is coming into the English list of indefinite numbers,&#xA;  just below &lt;em&gt;few&lt;/em&gt;. … If&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;couple&lt;/em&gt; with this meaning is new in the language, I suspect that it&#xA;  is picking up the grammar of the semantically adjacent word &lt;em&gt;few&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did a search in the Corpus of Historical American English for &lt;code&gt;A COUPLE OF [N*]&lt;/code&gt; and for &lt;code&gt;A COUPLE [N*]&lt;/code&gt;, to search for incidences of these two idioms (&lt;code&gt;[N*]&lt;/code&gt; means some kind of noun). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/M8rNu.png&quot; alt=&quot;COHA chart showing incidences of A COUPLE OF vs A COUPLE since 1910&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From these results, we see that A COUPLE OF is much more common than A COUPLE, although it should be noted that there are incidences of &lt;code&gt;A COUPLE [N*]&lt;/code&gt; dating all the way back to 1820 in the corpus. Interestingly, both terms have been on the rise throughout the twentieth century, and the ratio between them has been decreasing, meaning that &lt;code&gt;A COUPLE [N*]&lt;/code&gt; is becoming relatively more common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-03T20:52:50.223" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T20:52:50.223" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2470" CreationDate="2010-09-03T19:37:14.040" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="About 20 years ago there was an idiom that I observed that people used for agreement with a statement. &quot;I know that's right!&quot; with particular emphasis on &quot;that's&quot;. I wonder if what you're asking about is a combination of a shortening of that with the fairly recent tendency among some to make every statement sound like a question (with a rising pitch) as if the speaker lacks confidence in what they're saying." OwnerUserId="189" LastEditorUserId="189" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-06T21:29:13.270" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T21:29:13.270" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2470" CreationDate="2010-09-03T19:51:43.110" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Slightly OT, but it reminds me of the similar (but not identical) Canadian English phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's cool, eh?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a sentence softener... and a way to get general acceptance from the person you are speaking with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, best described with an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;girl 1: That's girl's outfit is SO ugly!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;girl 2: OMG, how does she even live with herself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;girl 1: I know, right? She is SOooo uncool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I know&quot; can be a strong statement, so adding the question &quot;right?&quot; is a way of getting general acceptance from the other person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastEditorUserId="134" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-03T19:57:06.727" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T19:57:06.727" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2474" CreationDate="2010-09-03T19:53:57.467" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are probably thinking of are things like suggestions like these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hopefully&lt;/em&gt; cannot be used to mean &lt;em&gt;it is to be hoped that&lt;/em&gt;, and you must use &lt;em&gt;it is to be hoped that&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You must use nominative pronouns after linking verbs rather than accusative: &lt;em&gt;It is I&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;It’s me&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Those are they&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;That’s them&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You cannot end sentences with a preposition, so must pied-pipe them to earlier in the sentence: &lt;em&gt;This is the kind of nonsense up with which I will not put&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;…which I will not put up with&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You cannot put a word between the infinitive subordinator &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; and the infinitive itself: &lt;em&gt;We expect it to more than double&lt;/em&gt; must be replaced with something like &lt;em&gt;We expect it more than to double&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of these are real rules of English grammar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="1093" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-07T12:06:48.757" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T12:06:48.757" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-03T19:53:57.467" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2096" CreationDate="2010-09-03T20:03:06.867" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50284130?single=1&amp;amp;query_type=word&amp;amp;queryword=whatever&amp;amp;first=1&amp;amp;max_to_show=10&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;OED's online entry&lt;/a&gt; on the interrogative form of &lt;em&gt;whatever&lt;/em&gt;, the earliest entry for the pronoun usage as a single word is from 13—: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;13.. Seuyn Sag. (W.) 3514 Son, what may al this noys be,..&lt;strong&gt;Whateuer&lt;/strong&gt; sal it sygnyfy? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, their first listed example of the two-word version is from 14—. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first pronoun usage they have in the modern spelling:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1823 Spirit Publ. Jrnls. 409 &lt;strong&gt;Whatever&lt;/strong&gt; possessed her, I know no more than the child unborn. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the adjectival usage, the first example is in the two-word form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;c1375 Cursor M. 321 (Fairf.) &lt;strong&gt;Quat euer&lt;/strong&gt; e haly gaste wille, e fader and sone wil tyte fulfil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first instance of the single-word form appears in 1456,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1456 SIR G. HAYE Law Arms (S.T.S.) 228 &lt;strong&gt;Quhatever&lt;/strong&gt; sik men dois, it is comperit to the dede of a beste. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and, with the spelling moving through Shakespeare's contraction &lt;em&gt;whatere&lt;/em&gt; and Milton's more descriptive &lt;em&gt;Whate're&lt;/em&gt; (notice the apostrophe), we see the first modern-spelling usage in Swift's &lt;em&gt;Gulliver's Travels&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1726 SWIFT Gulliver IV. v, It is a Maxim among these Men, That &lt;strong&gt;whatever&lt;/strong&gt; has been done before may legally be done again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever happened to &quot;what ever&quot; appears to have started happening a long while ago. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="621" LastEditorUserId="621" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-03T20:09:44.060" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T20:09:44.060" />
  <row Id="2481" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2483" CreationDate="2010-09-03T22:46:15.080" Score="2" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apparently the two opposite meanings of &lt;em&gt;to cleave&lt;/em&gt; have different roots: the &lt;em&gt;to adhere&lt;/em&gt; meaning comes from one old English root (&lt;em&gt;clifian&lt;/em&gt;) and the &lt;em&gt;to cut&lt;/em&gt; meaning comes from a different old English word (&lt;em&gt;cleofan&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_auto-antonyms_in_English#C&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;According to this wikipedia page&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, in the expressions &lt;em&gt;to run the gauntlet&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;to throw down the gauntlet&lt;/em&gt;, the word &lt;em&gt;gauntlets&lt;/em&gt; in question has quite different provenances: in the fist case it is from an old Norse word for a passage (if my memory serves), while in the second case it is from the French &lt;em&gt;gant&lt;/em&gt; (glove).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other examples of this fascinating phenomenon do you know of?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-30T10:28:09.827" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T10:28:09.827" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-03T22:46:28.143" Title="Examples of different roots (and different meanings) coming to be spelled the same" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;list-request&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="2482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2474" CreationDate="2010-09-03T22:50:10.620" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;It is I.&quot; ------    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T22:50:10.620" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-03T22:50:10.620" />
  <row Id="2483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2481" CreationDate="2010-09-03T22:54:56.453" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=bear&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bear&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=lead&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lead&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=row&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;row&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1275/etymology-of-yard&quot;&gt;yard&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More examples can be found on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_homographs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;list of English homographs&lt;/a&gt; over at Wikipedia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then there are the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitonym&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;capitonyms&lt;/a&gt; (august/August, march/March, polish/Polish).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-03T23:16:22.570" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T23:16:22.570" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-03T22:54:56.453" />
  <row Id="2484" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2492" CreationDate="2010-09-03T23:15:27.083" Score="9" ViewCount="359" Body="&lt;p&gt;English nouns which don't denote people or animals with natural gender do not (apart from a few rare examples) use &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_gender#Grammatical_vs._natural_gender&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;grammatical gender&lt;/a&gt;. So for example, &quot;table&quot; is always an &quot;it&quot; in English, whereas it could be masculine or feminine in another language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is English missing out by not using genders in this way? If so, are there sentences which cannot be translated into English without losing some of their meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T06:12:20.670" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T17:36:55.477" Title="Are there sentences in languages which use grammatical gender that lose meaning when translated into English?" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;gender&gt;&lt;translation&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2457" CreationDate="2010-09-03T23:15:40.927" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes people say this about something they know darn well although it's not an objective fact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;When I saw the jurors faces, I had a feeling the defendant was not going to like their verdict.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using this phrase to correct someone strikes me as obnoxiously sarcastic: &quot;Well, personally, I had the feeling this was Tuesday, but you're entitled to your opinion.&quot;  Unless the fact in question is somewhat obscure, eg, the capital of Assyria, or the average airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T23:15:40.927" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2486" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2510" CreationDate="2010-09-03T23:26:43.637" Score="12" ViewCount="573" Body="&lt;p&gt;English nouns — other than those with natural gender, e.g. people or animals — do not generally have &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_gender#Grammatical_vs._natural_gender&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;grammatical gender&lt;/a&gt;, and so are referred to as &quot;it&quot; rather than &quot;he&quot; or &quot;she&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, modern English has its roots in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_French&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Norman French&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Anglo-Saxon (Old English)&lt;/a&gt;, both of which used grammatical gender for their nouns. In addition, other modern languages related to these continue to use grammatical gender today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, how come English doesn't?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-28T12:19:41.260" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T23:54:51.663" Title="Why don't English nouns have grammatical gender?" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;history&gt;&lt;gender&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2432" CreationDate="2010-09-03T23:34:41.290" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this context, I would take this to mean &quot;not easily impressed, jaded.&quot;  But it doesn't matter, because it's meant to be wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T23:34:41.290" />
  <row Id="2488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2471" CreationDate="2010-09-03T23:36:35.013" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to be unconventional, you can reply &quot;the sun&quot; or &quot;me, barely.&quot; That usually gives people pause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T23:36:35.013" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2484" CreationDate="2010-09-03T23:36:59.880" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This isn’t really an answer to the question, but I wanted to point out that &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_gender&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;grammatical gender&lt;/a&gt; is but one type of noun class system, and non-Indo-European languages often have completely different and far more complex systems of noun classes. One example from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noun_class&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article on noun classes&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Dyirbal language is well known for its system of four noun classes, which tend to be divided along the following semantic lines:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I — animate objects, men&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  II — women, water, fire, violence&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  III — edible fruit and vegetables&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  IV — miscellaneous (includes things not classifiable in the first three)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which brings to mind Borges’s “&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_Emporium_of_Benevolent_Knowledge%39s_Taxonomy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge’s Taxonomy&lt;/a&gt;”:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These ambiguities, redundancies, and deficiencies recall those attributed by Dr. Franz Kuhn to a certain Chinese encyclopedia called the Heavenly Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge. In its distant pages it is written that animals are divided into&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (a) those that belong to the emperor;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (b) embalmed ones;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (c) those that are trained;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (d) suckling pigs;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (e) mermaids;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (f) fabulous ones;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (g) stray dogs;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (h) those that are included in this classification;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (i) those that tremble as if they were mad;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (j) innumerable ones;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (k) those drawn with a very fine camel's-hair brush;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (l) etcetera;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (m) those that have just broken the flower vase;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (n) those that at a distance resemble flies &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The linguist George Lakoff discussed Borges in view of Dyirbal in his book &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.virtualschool.edu/mon/SocialConstruction/LakoffWomenFireDanger.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Women, Fire and Dangerous Things&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Borges of course, deals with the fantastic. These not only are not natural human cateogires—they could not be natural human categories. But part of what makes this passage art, rather than mere fantasy, is that it comes close to the impression a Western reader gets when reading descriptions of nonwestern languages and cultures. The fact is that people around the world categorize things in ways that both boggle the Western mind and stump Western linguists and antropologists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This brings me back to original question—what a strange idea it is to me, as a native English speaker, that one would assign gender to inanimate objects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T23:36:59.880" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="2490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2486" CreationDate="2010-09-03T23:51:30.693" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;However, modern English has its roots in Norman French and Anglo-Saxon (Old English), both of which used grammatical gender for their nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe the differences between the genders used in the Norman French and the Old English caused everyone to get frustrated and give up on grammatical genders (this is just my speculation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T23:54:51.663" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T23:54:51.663" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2328" CreationDate="2010-09-03T23:52:03.357" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The lot at the hospital marked &quot;Physician's Parking.&quot;  Which physician, I wonder, has the lot all to him/herself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T23:52:03.357" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-03T23:52:03.357" />
  <row Id="2492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2484" CreationDate="2010-09-03T23:53:02.177" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, obviously you can't translate many things &lt;em&gt;literally&lt;/em&gt;, as you would constantly end up with sentences such as &quot;it gave it to it&quot; in English, where in the source language with genders you have a perfectly clear &quot;she gave it to him&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are usually easy ways around this, the most obvious one being: kick out the pronouns and replace them with nouns. &quot;The cat gave it to the kitten.&quot; If anything, you &lt;em&gt;gain&lt;/em&gt; meaning by doing that (though you might waste quite a few syllables if you're translating a poem).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, this question sounds a lot like &quot;How could one possibly translate from English to a language that doesn't have articles?&quot; To which any professional translator should answer: &quot;Without breaking a sweat&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Disclaimer: I am a native speaker of two languages, one with genders but without articles, and one with genders &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; articles.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's an example I should have thought of right away. It is still not quite what you are looking for, but I'm getting closer step by step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine any TV show where several candidates compete for whatever the prize is. The host is about to announce who is going to proceed to the next round. He says, &quot;I have good news for one of you&quot;, or &quot;The last one to reach the final is...&quot;, or something to that extent. Now, in many languages with genders he could give a subtle hint by using either the female or the male form of &quot;one&quot; (&lt;em&gt;un/une&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;einer/eine&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;один/одна&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;um/uma&lt;/em&gt;, etc.). In English, the equivalent would be something along the lines of &quot;I have good news for a male candidate&quot;, or &quot;The last one to reach the final is a female, and her name is...&quot;. Which, of course, wouldn't be anywhere as succinct, and not subtle at all. The closest you could get to that kind of hint in English would be &quot;I have good news for you guys&quot;, or &quot;The last one of you gals to reach the final is...&quot;, but that still doesn't quite cut it (even if we ignore for a moment that &lt;em&gt;guys&lt;/em&gt; does not necessarily refer to males).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, in order to avoid giving any hints accidentally, in those languages it is quite common for the host to say &quot;I have good news for one or one of you&quot;, or &quot;The last one or one to reach the final is...&quot;, where the first &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; is the male form, and the second &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; is the female form. When translating that into English, you'd just drop one of the &lt;em&gt;ones&lt;/em&gt;, so that &lt;em&gt;one or one&lt;/em&gt; become &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; — which, of course, is &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; succinct without losing meaning, but the original expression is not really translatable &quot;as is&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit 2.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's yet another example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In German, a language with grammatical genders, there is quite a lot of confusion going on whenever you want to say that Angela Merkel is the first chancellor to do something. Normally, Angela Merkel is referred to as &lt;em&gt;die Bundeskanzlerin&lt;/em&gt;, a female form of the noun &lt;em&gt;der Bundeskanzler&lt;/em&gt;, or &quot;female chancellor&quot; for short. So, naturally, the first thing you try is &quot;&lt;em&gt;Angela Merkel ist die erste Bundeskanzlerin, die X macht&lt;/em&gt;&quot; (&quot;Angela Merkel is the first female chancellor to do X&quot;). However, that sounds kind of pointless, because Merkel is the first female chancellor &lt;em&gt;ever&lt;/em&gt;, so no matter what she does, she can't help being the first female chancellor to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to avoid that pointlessness, journalists sometimes use the male form of chancellor: &quot;&lt;em&gt;Angela Merkel is der erste Bundeskanzler...&lt;/em&gt;&quot;. Grammatically, this is probably the most sensible thing to do. However, to many Germans this sounds strange, and even funny, much like saying &quot;Angela Merkel is the first man to do X&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to avoid &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; confusion, some political commentators bring the adjective &lt;em&gt;weiblich&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;female&quot;) into the equation: &quot;&lt;em&gt;Angela Merkel ist der erste weibliche Kanzler, der X macht&lt;/em&gt;&quot;. However, this brings us right back to where we started (&quot;Merkel is the first female chancellor to do X&quot;), in addition to introducing yet another bit of humor, because the sentence now reads much like &quot;Merkel is the first female man to do X&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As if that weren't enough already, some political commentators completely overdo it by using &lt;em&gt;both&lt;/em&gt; the adjective &quot;female&quot; &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; the female noun, as in &quot;&lt;em&gt;Angela Merkel ist die erste weibliche Bundeskanzlerin, die...&lt;/em&gt;&quot; (&quot;Merkel is the first female female chancellor to...&quot;). This, of course, is the most stupid thing they could possibly do, but it's also the funniest, since it sounds much like &quot;Angela Merkel is the first female woman to do X&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am fairly confident I could come up with lots of similar examples in other languages with grammatical genders (say, French or Russian). By not having genders, English completely avoids that type of confusion, but it also misses out on all the humor associated with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T15:43:22.047" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T15:43:22.047" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2111" CreationDate="2010-09-03T23:55:44.033" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many of these have come to light in the newly semi-literate internet age [waves cane feebly]:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kitten caboodle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tow the line&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I'll think of some more)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-03T23:55:44.033" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-03T23:55:44.033" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2406" CreationDate="2010-09-04T00:04:39.487" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;By rights the phrase &quot;graduate applicant&quot; ought to mean an applicant [for anything] who is a graduate, that is, who holds at least a bachelor's degree.  This is very different from an applicant for graduation, but would include grad school applicant as a subset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T00:04:39.487" />
  <row Id="2495" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2529" CreationDate="2010-09-04T00:10:52.983" Score="2" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is the context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This chapter covers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Generating HTML with UI component tags&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Building forms and beyond&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Snazzing it up with templates and themes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Surveying the components&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="833" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T20:48:19.103" Title="What are the meanings of ' and beyond' in 'beyond' in 'Building forms and beyond'?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="2496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2495" CreationDate="2010-09-04T00:20:01.417" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Building forms and beyond&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;means &quot;Building forms and more things you can do related to building forms&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T00:20:01.417" />
  <row Id="2497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2383" CreationDate="2010-09-04T00:23:45.633" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;After she caught him fooling around, she laid down the law in no uncertain terms.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T00:23:45.633" />
  <row Id="2498" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2500" CreationDate="2010-09-04T01:34:15.030" Score="5" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;In another question this example of semicolon usage is given:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When dinosaurs agree on something, they often high-five one another; dinosaurs are all about high-fives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I have also seen the following style before, where the second part acts like a regular sentence with the first word capitalised:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When dinosaurs agree on something, they often high-five one another; Dinosaurs are all about high-fives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can see the reasoning: the semicolon is bridging two sentences. Which one, if any, is correct? Is it simply a style issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[NB. I couldn't create 'semicolon' tag]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1008" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-04T01:36:53.410" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T01:51:09.100" Title="Should the second part of a semicolon-separated sentence be capitalised?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;semicolon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2498" CreationDate="2010-09-04T01:37:57.620" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Chicago Manual of Style (6.57 - 6.62) uses a small letter after the semicolon, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mildred intends to go to Europe; her plans, however, are still quite vague.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T01:37:57.620" />
  <row Id="2500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2498" CreationDate="2010-09-04T01:51:09.100" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you say yourself, the semicolon is &lt;em&gt;bridging&lt;/em&gt; the gap between two sentences; they become one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semicolon#English_usage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exceptionally succinct on this:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;English usage&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Semicolons are followed by a lower case letter, unless that letter is the first letter of a proper noun. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T01:51:09.100" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="2501" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2821" CreationDate="2010-09-04T02:29:11.610" Score="5" ViewCount="367" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how well known &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangier,_Virginia#Isolation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tangier Island&lt;/a&gt; is outside the Chesapeake region. To make a long story short, Tangier Island is an isolated fishing community in the Chesapeake bay. It has been mostly isolated for hundreds of years. You constantly hear that the accent has remained unchanged since the 17th century. This accent is often cited as an example of what an Elizabethan accent would sound like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is — without audio recordings, how can one make conclusions about how the accent has changed? What do we truly know about the Elizabethan accent that we can use to infer that the Tangier accent is very close? Is it actually close or has it just evolved down its own line?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="154" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-08T22:25:05.327" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T10:11:21.290" Title="Tangier island accent — Is accent truly unchanged since Elizabethan period? How would we know?" Tags="&lt;accent&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2502" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2535" CreationDate="2010-09-04T03:30:02.983" Score="24" ViewCount="568" Body="&lt;p&gt;While perusing ShreevatsaR's answer to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2157/what-is-the-distinction-between-among-and-amongst&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, it occurred to me that my own verbal usage is out of step with what I see in current American literature. When speaking in the past tense, I prefer to use the following forms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dreamt (past tense of &lt;em&gt;to dream&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;leapt (past tense of &lt;em&gt;to leap&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;swept (past tense of &lt;em&gt;to sweep&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lit (past tense of &lt;em&gt;to light&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when reading recently written novels, I see the more regular conjugation of the past tenses, which instead yields &lt;em&gt;dreamed&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;leaped&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;sweeped&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;lighted&lt;/em&gt;. Is it a difference of dialect (US - New England), register (university education), or (possibly) my age (early forties)? I am especially irritated by &quot;lighted&quot; because it takes so much more effort to say than &quot;lit&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T16:27:10.327" Title="Dreamed vs. Dreamt, Leaped vs. Leapt, Lighted vs. Lit" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2503" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2504" CreationDate="2010-09-04T03:32:06.817" Score="4" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;While writing a proposal at work today I needed to mention a list of things and within that list were multi-part items. It seems like replacing the comma with a semi-colon in this situation would make the sentence easier to understand, but is it correct usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With standard punctuation this could get confusing:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some of my favorite things to do are&#xA;  camping, playing football and&#xA;  baseball, watching Laurel and Hardy&#xA;  Movies, and traveling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Proposed alternative. Is this acceptable usage?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some of my favorite things to do are&#xA;  camping; playing football and&#xA;  baseball; watching Laurel and Hardy&#xA;  Movies; and traveling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-04T14:16:44.583" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T14:16:44.583" Title="Is it proper usage to replace a comma in a list with a semi-colon in this situation (see details)?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;semicolon&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2503" CreationDate="2010-09-04T03:39:45.730" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Chicago Manual of Style offers these pieces of advice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6.21&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;Semicolons within series.&lt;/em&gt; When elements in a series involve&#xA;  internal punctuation, or when they are&#xA;  very long and complex, they should be&#xA;  separated by semicolons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6.60&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;In a series.&lt;/em&gt; When items in a series involve internal punctuation, they should be separated by semicolons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this acceptable usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;Some of my favorite things to do are&#xA;    camping; playing football and&#xA;    baseball; watching Laurel and Hardy&#xA;    Movies; and traveling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the specific case of this example sentence, no it isn't, because the semicolon isn't really necessary. Try blowing it up a bit and the semicolon starts to be more useful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some of my favourite things to do are&#xA;  camping with my best friends in isolated,&#xA;  lonely woods; playing football,&#xA;  baseball, eating sausages, offering&#xA;  ridiculous advice on question-and-answer websites;&#xA;  watching Laurel and Hardy, Arnold&#xA;  Schwarznegger, or Sylvester Stallone&#xA;  movies, and travelling to the&#xA;  farthest-flung corners of the globe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-04T04:17:37.423" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T04:17:37.423" />
  <row Id="2505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1659" CreationDate="2010-09-04T04:09:59.237" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is more difficult to do in writing than in speech. In speech you can make the verb, noun, or preposition &lt;em&gt;slightly&lt;/em&gt; louder than normal. In my examples, the words in all capital letters denote the emphasis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Verbs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He CAN run. (He is able to run, even if you doubt it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He can RUN. (He can run very quickly)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You MAY come in. (You are permitted to come in. Maybe you did not know if you were allowed to enter)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I SHOULD brush my teeth. (I would prefer to brush my teeth right now. However, it is not an absolute necessity and I can engage in other activities first.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I should BRUSH my teeth. (Instead of letting them rot)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nouns/Prepositions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may come IN. (Said this way, the sentence expresses irritation. Perhaps you did not enter quickly enough)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I should brush my TEETH. (As opposed to my hair)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above emphasis is used the way I have described it in spoken American English in the regions in which I have lived. There may be regional variation of which I am unaware. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For written English, I agree with Steve Melnikoff's suggestion that you find adjectives or adverbs to get the point across more clearly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T04:09:59.237" />
  <row Id="2506" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2508" CreationDate="2010-09-04T04:26:14.497" Score="3" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have to update my file names&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What an English speaker understands?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have to update names of a single file&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have to update names of many files&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the rule here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="732" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T07:22:18.093" Title="How do you understand this in English?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2506" CreationDate="2010-09-04T04:36:45.410" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you sure they didn't mean&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have to update my filenames&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/filename&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; filename is a noun defined as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A name given to a computer file to&#xA;  distinguish it from other files, often&#xA;  containing an extension that&#xA;  classifies it by type.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So when they said they had to update their filenames, they may have had to go through a list of files on their computer and correctly rename each one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="154" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T04:36:45.410" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2506" CreationDate="2010-09-04T04:37:17.437" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since a single file is understood to have only a single name (in most cases), I would interpret this as &quot;I have to update names of many files&quot;. The existence of the plural (names) gives the impression that there is meant to be many of &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt;, and files is the more logical choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T04:37:17.437" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2484" CreationDate="2010-09-04T04:49:36.650" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goethe.de/lhr/prj/mac/spw/en1728783.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; gives a number of possible answers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In 1994, the city of Buchholz had to put up with this reproach from the local newspaper, the Oldenburgische Volkszeitung. The 34,000 inhabitants of this small community had resolved that, henceforth, all official documents would use only the feminine grammatical form. The mayor Joachim Schleif became the butt of the media’s language hysteria&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Again and again, grotesque new locutions were used so as to make gender-sensitive language ridiculous. Now Mitglieder (members) and Mitgliederinnen( [“members” in the feminine grammatical form) appeared at meetings, Grüninnen (member of the Green party in the feminine grammatical form; something like “she-Green”) pursued a sustainable politics, and suddenly one spoke even of Menschinnen (feminine grammatical form of the generic noun for “human beings”), Bürgerinnensteigen (pun, using the feminine grammatical form for the German word for “pavement”) Nichtraucherinnenabteilen (“non-smoking compartment” in the feminine grammatical form), Amtsmänninnen (“office-holder” in the feminine grammatical form) and Erstsemestlerinnen (“freshwomen”). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In these cases, the feminine grammatical gender is used &lt;em&gt;improperly&lt;/em&gt; in order to create humor. In the native language, where the correct gender is obvious, the humor is obvious. In English, the joke requires additional explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T04:49:36.650" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2486" CreationDate="2010-09-04T05:08:30.400" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_in_English#Historical_development&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; (citing &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&amp;amp;lr=&amp;amp;id=U5FDi8WksqYC&amp;amp;oi=fnd&amp;amp;pg=PA70#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;A history of the English language&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Richard M. Hogg and David Denison) suggests that the loss of gender in English was &quot;due to a general decay of inflectional endings and declensional classes by the end of the 14th century&quot; as evidenced by increasing use of the gender-neutral identifier &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%C3%BEe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;þe&lt;/a&gt; (the or thee). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Why&quot; is, of course, a difficult question to answer here. It seems that whatever pressures had influence over the evolution of the English language, the net result was a loss of accents, inflections and declensions. The above sources indicate that grammatical gender is like another form of inflection or declension, so it gradually disappeared from the language at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T05:08:30.400" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="2511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="658" CreationDate="2010-09-04T05:26:55.777" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bryan Adams &lt;strong&gt;has indicated that&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;[it] Cuts Like a Knife&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T05:26:55.777" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-04T05:26:55.777" />
  <row Id="2512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="658" CreationDate="2010-09-04T05:57:20.473" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As per Bryan Adams, &quot;It cuts like a knife&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="649" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T05:57:20.473" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-04T05:57:20.473" />
  <row Id="2513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2471" CreationDate="2010-09-04T07:22:28.707" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on the tone in which it's asked - with the right tone, it can be synonymous with &quot;What's wrong?&quot;, where, with a less concerned tone, it's more of a &quot;How are you?&quot;.&#xA;I'd reply very similarly to either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1010" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T07:22:28.707" />
  <row Id="2514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2350" CreationDate="2010-09-04T07:34:10.847" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A commentator is someone who commentates. A commenter is someone who comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A commentary would consist of many comments, normally as an event unfolds (be it sports, political, etc.) It would also be valid to have a commentary on a written text which may be explanatory notes, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1010" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T07:34:10.847" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="2516" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2523" CreationDate="2010-09-04T08:10:27.690" Score="12" ViewCount="866" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my school and university I was taught to say &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Not at all&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Don't mention it&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; in response to &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Thank you!&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. Now I rarely hear these phrases, but rather something like &lt;strong&gt;&quot;You're welcome&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&quot;It's OK&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&quot;My pleasure&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&quot;No problem&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My real life conversational experience is very poor. I often listen to some English learning podcasts, watch some films in English. So I listen to dialogs, which are probably not from modern real life world. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How native English speakers tend to respond to &quot;Thank you!&quot; now? What I should care about, when choosing from the available options?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="179" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-04T18:18:35.450" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T04:59:22.293" Title="Response to &quot;Thank you!&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;politeness&gt;&lt;esl&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2517" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2520" CreationDate="2010-09-04T09:21:48.577" Score="8" ViewCount="695" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know what is the recommended way to use Re: in the subject line of an email.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use Re: in the subject line as a shortform of 'in regards to'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever I have used Re:, people have told me that Re: is only to be used  when replying to an incoming email and shouldn't be used when starting a new email thread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember being taught that &lt;strong&gt;Re&lt;/strong&gt; is an preposition, which means “in the matter of, with reference to.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also observed that I get immediate responses if I use Re: in the subject line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, should I continue to use Re: in the subject line or is that  incorrect usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1011" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T06:08:36.637" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T06:08:36.637" Title="Regarding Re: ; what is the correct usage in an email subject line?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;email&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2517" CreationDate="2010-09-04T09:38:16.213" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Re:&lt;/em&gt; in the subject line of an email means &quot;&lt;strong&gt;reply&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; or &quot;&lt;strong&gt;response&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;. Always. So in this context don't use it when you mean &quot;regarding&quot;, but when you're replying to an email. Most email applications will add &lt;em&gt;Re:&lt;/em&gt; to the subject automatically for you when you click the Reply button.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you're right about the preposition. It does exist and means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;with regard to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/re&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/re&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in the subject line of an email specifically, nobody would interpret it with this meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-04T09:44:09.633" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T09:44:09.633" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2506" CreationDate="2010-09-04T09:47:53.780" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no rule, but e.James has identified there is a clear implied plural here, and I agree that is how I would read it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the &lt;em&gt;question&lt;/em&gt; is wrong really, it should say &quot;how would you correcly write this sentence to be grammatically accurate and unambiguous&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the single word &quot;filenames&quot; were used, that would be fine, and mean many names of many files. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the words are separated, they are simply two nouns and need something to connect them - a possessive, in other words. Then you either have &quot;file's names&quot; or &quot;files' names&quot; to be grammatically accurate, and all ambiguity is lost. That's why grammar works!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1012" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T09:47:53.780" />
  <row Id="2520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2517" CreationDate="2010-09-04T10:01:18.327" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=re&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymology Online&lt;/a&gt; indicates that this has been is use as &quot;with reference to&quot; since 1707:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;with reference to,&quot; 1707, from L. in&#xA;  re &quot;in the matter of,&quot; ablative case&#xA;  of res &quot;matter, thing.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fowler does &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=Vr7muDFR6j4C&amp;amp;lpg=PP1&amp;amp;dq=Fowler%27s%20Modern%20English%20Usage%20re&amp;amp;pg=PA484#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=Fowler%27s%20Modern%20English%20Usage%20re&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;object to it&lt;/a&gt;, as the Etymology Online page indicates. He also indicates that it's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=Vr7muDFR6j4C&amp;amp;lpg=PA444&amp;amp;dq=%22popularized%20technicalities%22&amp;amp;pg=PA445#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22popularized%20technicalities%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;popularized technicality from Law&lt;/a&gt;, where it is used from the Latin to mean &lt;a href=&quot;http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/RE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;in the matter of&quot;&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/In+Re&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;in regard to&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in general the usage for which you are using it is correct from a grammatical standpoint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, common usage is that when &quot;RE:&quot; is the beginning of an email subject line it specifically relates to a reply, and using it otherwise will probably be confusing to email users, many of whom may not be familiar with the term's history or denotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would likely be less confusing if you were to use it in a subject line of an email, but not at the beginning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;My comments re: suitability of&#xA;  unicorns in marketing materials&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;instead of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;RE: unicorns in marketing&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T10:01:18.327" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1338" CreationDate="2010-09-04T10:02:41.187" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is most people's tendency to infer the people at the company as those doing the action described (&quot;bending the rules&quot;) and therefore the plural sounds correct when that is the message you are trying to put across.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it is the company as a single corporate entity, the singular works better (&quot;Microsoft has bought Acme Widgets&quot;, &quot;Acme has a great policy on renewable energy&quot;). For this reason I would say &quot;Woody's has moved&quot; as I presume the entire company, stock and staff all went together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may find that some smaller companies deliberately use the plural when they want to emphasise the personal nature of things, real people doing/making stuff, or they will tend towards the singular when they want to sound bigger and more businesslike. &quot;Acme recycles used paper&quot; sounds like a corporate policy rather than the whim of one or more members of staff, even if there is only one person there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also leads to me to think about the corporate &quot;we&quot; - &quot;At Microsoft, we write great software&quot; is only true of a very small proportion of their staff who are actually developers/testers/project managers (arguably), and not of &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; staff such as sales and marketing etc. (I'm not getting into a debate about the proportion of MS software which is or is not great, save it for techcrunch).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1012" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T10:02:41.187" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2355" CreationDate="2010-09-04T10:06:37.183" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Example: 'The word &quot;seaboard&quot; can be used in the context of a coastline; it may also be used in (many) other contexts.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When there's one, it's context, when more than one (or possibly so) it's plural - contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using &quot;any other context&quot; or &quot;another context&quot; sounds to me like you are pre-suposing there is only one other, although it would not be very clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1012" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T10:06:37.183" />
  <row Id="2523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2516" CreationDate="2010-09-04T10:07:19.130" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In common conversation in the US Midwest I rarely hear &quot;Not at all&quot; or &quot;Don't mention it.&quot;  &quot;No problem&quot; is &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; common, and &quot;You're welcome&quot; is also pretty well-used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use &quot;Not at all,&quot; &quot;Don't mention it,&quot; and &quot;No problem&quot; when the activity I'm being thanked for was really no big deal.  I use &quot;My pleasure&quot; when emphasizing that I'm happy to be of assistance (often in a customer service context), and &quot;You're welcome&quot; when the action prompting the thanks was a little bit of a bother.  In essence I use different phrases to indicate how &quot;thanks-worthy&quot; the activity was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's probably not common usage, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I misrepresented what I originally meant, so here's a little clarification.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone thanks me for something I always do (for instance I always cook dinner in our house) then I would say &quot;No problem&quot; or &quot;My pleasure&quot; depending on context. If I did a chore that was someone else's responsibility, I would say &quot;You're welcome&quot; even if I was happy to have done it, because it took an extra effort on my part, not because it was a &quot;bother.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="143" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T12:28:02.730" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T12:28:02.730" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="2524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2517" CreationDate="2010-09-04T10:58:21.410" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2822.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RFC 2822&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;Internet Message Format&quot; says,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When used in a reply, the field body MAY start with the string &quot;Re: &quot; (from the Latin &quot;res&quot;, in the matter of) followed by the contents of the &quot;Subject:&quot; field body of the original message.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that's the official answer.  Note that this specifically links &quot;Re&quot; to a reply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do find the explanation for the origin of the phrase suspicious, for the following reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Subject&quot; already means &quot;in the matter of&quot;, more or less, so the &quot;Re&quot; would be redundant.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Internationalized versions of email programs typically translate &quot;Re&quot; to an abbreviation of the translation of &quot;Reply&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nobody knows that &quot;Re&quot; means &quot;Res&quot;, so it's useless to try to make your communication dependent on it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The original RFC 822 did not contain the specification of &quot;Re&quot;, although it did show an example using it.  RFC 2822 was published in 2001, but clearly &quot;Re&quot; was in wide use throughout the 1990s, with most people &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; thinking that it meant &quot;Res&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you ignore the parenthetical remark in the standard, what is says is correct and actual practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T10:58:21.410" />
  <row Id="2525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2516" CreationDate="2010-09-04T13:21:25.017" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How native English speakers tend to&#xA;  respond to &quot;Thank you!&quot; now? What I&#xA;  should care about, when choosing from&#xA;  the available options?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a shop, if the assistant says &quot;thank you&quot;, I usually say &quot;thank you&quot; back to them. Another thing is that quite a lot of the time it isn't necessary to reply to &quot;thank you&quot; with any particular &quot;response&quot; phrase. For example in a dialogue like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: Here's your key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;B: Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: See you next week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;there isn't really any need to say any set phrase after the &quot;thank you&quot;. I think in normal English discourse we often don't reply to &quot;thank you&quot; in any special way. (I don't have any statistics about this, but that is my strong impression.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-04T14:52:57.950" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T14:52:57.950" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18" CreationDate="2010-09-04T14:19:28.890" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can also say &quot;freshers&quot;, although I'm not sure if it's proper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T14:19:28.890" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2516" CreationDate="2010-09-04T14:21:50.590" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think you'll have any issues with any of these replies in normal conversation, so I wouldn't let it concern you.  There is a relatively new study that claims people who say things such as &quot;no problem&quot; in reply to &quot;thank you,&quot; are essentially saying that the thanker's issue was somehow beneath the responder, but I doubt if anyone actually feels like that. It's all a big to-do about nothing, really.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone thanks you, just be sincere about it--show that you appreciate their acknowledgement of whatever it is that you have done for them in whatever fashion you find comfortable. Heck, use Spanish; say, &quot;de nada.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1013" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T14:21:50.590" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2470" CreationDate="2010-09-04T14:29:30.523" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it doesn't mean anything, it's just become an expression, because young people seem to enjoy talking in &quot;code&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T14:29:30.523" />
  <row Id="2529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2495" CreationDate="2010-09-04T14:34:13.420" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means the author wanted to talk about building forms plus some other stuff that is related, but is either (a) less important and so shouldn't be mentioned in the sub-heading, or (b) involves several different topics that cannot easily be summarized in one or two words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T14:34:13.420" />
  <row Id="2530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18" CreationDate="2010-09-04T14:43:20.483" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at the definition of &lt;em&gt;freshman&lt;/em&gt; on the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American English&lt;/em&gt;, I find two examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We invited the freshmen.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [as adjective] A freshman second baseman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In English, when a word is used as adjective, it is not used the plural of that word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(&lt;strong&gt;*&lt;/strong&gt;) We invited the freshmen students.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T14:43:20.483" />
  <row Id="2531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2517" CreationDate="2010-09-04T14:48:30.947" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;In regards to&quot; is telling you what the subject of the email is. There's already a label that says &quot;Subject&quot;. Why would you need the extra phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T14:48:30.947" />
  <row Id="2532" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2542" CreationDate="2010-09-04T15:59:19.750" Score="4" ViewCount="327" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any patterns to observe in choosing the correct prefix to use?  There are other prefixes as well, but these are usually the ones I mix up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As in &lt;em&gt;unbelievable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;disproportionate&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;asymmetric&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;intolerable&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Un and In are probably the ones I more most frequently mix.  Is there anything to look for there?  Like &lt;em&gt;untolerable/intolerable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;unedible/inedible&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;unexact/inexact&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;unappropriate/inappropriate&lt;/em&gt;, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize these are all &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt;, but why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1018" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-04T16:38:19.087" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T17:47:02.520" Title="Negation prefixes: un-, dis-, a-, in-, ..." Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;prefixes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2516" CreationDate="2010-09-04T16:07:33.073" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You're welcome!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Not a problem!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are probably your most common and casual replies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="766" LastEditorUserId="766" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-04T20:20:55.730" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T20:20:55.730" />
  <row Id="2534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2516" CreationDate="2010-09-04T16:10:10.607" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;You're welcome&quot; is the only correct response to &quot;Thank you&quot; in American English &lt;em&gt;as far as I'm concerned&lt;/em&gt;. It grates on my nerves to have someone respond to me using &quot;no problem&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="189" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T16:10:10.607" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2502" CreationDate="2010-09-04T16:27:10.327" Score="38" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did some research using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coha/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Historical American English&lt;/a&gt; to see if I could track the history of these words. Each of these words has a different story to tell. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;&lt;em&gt;DREAMED&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;DREAMT&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/8xHlx.png&quot; alt=&quot;COHA results comparing 'dreamed' and 'dreamt'&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AkifeicKYWtgdFR6UUZEaUZEMmY3dWpLZDYwU0VvdGc&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;gid=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;See the raw data (Google Docs)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the early 1800s, &lt;em&gt;dreamt&lt;/em&gt; was more common than &lt;em&gt;dreamed&lt;/em&gt; but by the mid-1800s, &lt;em&gt;dreamed&lt;/em&gt; was much more common and has stayed so since. While there is nothing wrong with continuing to use &lt;em&gt;dreamt&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;dreamed&lt;/em&gt; is definitely the more common form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;&lt;em&gt;LEAPED&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;LEAPT&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/afdEd.png&quot; alt=&quot;COHA results comparing 'leaped' and 'leapt'&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AkifeicKYWtgdEVrdTZpWHhReE0zRXJnRXhLS1dvZmc&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;output=html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;See the raw data (Google Docs)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Leaped&lt;/em&gt; has long been more popular than &lt;em&gt;leapt&lt;/em&gt;, though &lt;em&gt;leaped&lt;/em&gt; has been in decline since 1900, and &lt;em&gt;leapt&lt;/em&gt; has been on the increase since 1950, and today they are about equally common. It is likely that if the current trends continue, &lt;em&gt;leapt&lt;/em&gt; will become decisively more common than &lt;em&gt;leaped&lt;/em&gt; within a decade or two. Indeed, in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;leapt&lt;/em&gt; has 484 incidences for 2005-2010 and only 460 for &lt;em&gt;leaped&lt;/em&gt;. So, both are about equally common these days and you are in good company if you prefer &lt;em&gt;leapt&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;&lt;em&gt;SWEEPED&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;SWEPT&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither COCA nor COHA have any results for &lt;em&gt;sweeped&lt;/em&gt;, nor does any dictionary I checked list &lt;em&gt;sweeped&lt;/em&gt; as a possible past tense form for &lt;em&gt;sweep&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Sweeped&lt;/em&gt; doesn’t appear to have had any currency in American English since 1810. Google reports only 43,000 results for &lt;em&gt;sweeped&lt;/em&gt; compared with 78,000,000 for &lt;em&gt;swept&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;&lt;em&gt;LIGHTED&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;LIT&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/Qy88y.png&quot; alt=&quot;COHA results comparing 'lighted' and 'lit'&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AkifeicKYWtgdG1FWkRKMFlYWk9YNTduZkdQcGV4M2c&amp;amp;output=html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;See the raw data (Google Docs)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently, &lt;em&gt;lighted&lt;/em&gt; was much more popular than lit, from the early 1800s until about 1940. During this time &lt;em&gt;lit&lt;/em&gt; was steadily gaining popularity, while &lt;em&gt;lighted&lt;/em&gt; began a precipitous decline in 1940. Today, &lt;em&gt;lit&lt;/em&gt; is much more popular than &lt;em&gt;lighted&lt;/em&gt;, so if you prefer &lt;em&gt;lit&lt;/em&gt;, you are in very good company. However, there would be trouble objecting to &lt;em&gt;lighted&lt;/em&gt; on historical grounds, as &lt;em&gt;lighted&lt;/em&gt; was by far the most common form until the 1940s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T16:27:10.327" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2532" CreationDate="2010-09-04T16:32:23.077" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fowler says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The general principle that &lt;em&gt;un-&lt;/em&gt; is English and belongs to English words, and in- is Latin and belongs to Latin words, does not take us far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a lot more which &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=Vr7muDFR6j4C&amp;amp;lpg=PA262&amp;amp;dq=fowler%20modern%20english%20usage%20uncertainty&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;pg=PA262#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=fowler%20modern%20english%20usage%20uncertainty&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;you can read in Google books&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T16:32:23.077" />
  <row Id="2537" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2540" CreationDate="2010-09-04T17:21:14.257" Score="3" ViewCount="461" Body="&lt;p&gt;Metric names are sometimes abbreviated, e.g. Kilogram as kilo, megabyte as mega and nanosecond as nano.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to add an &quot;s&quot; as suffix to the plural form of abbreviations? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The total weight is 10 kilo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(as kilo is here an abbreviation of kilograms)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The total weight is 10 kilos&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;The questions is restricted to the abbreviations, not the metric symbols. It's clear to me that symbols like km (for kilometers), s (for seconds), etc. do &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; end with 's' in plural.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first comments and answers here brought to my attention that 'mega' and 'nano' are not really common abbreviations. Moreover, they are probably incorrect. I'm sure I've heard them already, but it's possible that it was always from non-native speakers like me.  Correct common abbreviations (besides &quot;kilo&quot; for &quot;kilogram&quot;) are &quot;meg&quot; for &quot;megabytes&quot; and &quot;gig&quot; for &quot;gigabytes&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-04T18:10:21.537" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T00:10:42.020" Title="Plural of abbreviated metric names: nano, kilo, mega" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="2538" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-04T17:29:27.153" Score="6" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following is the full sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One could argue, convincingly, that this is no big deal and that I'm just a whiner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="833" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-04T17:42:40.633" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T17:42:40.633" Title="Why is &quot;no&quot; used in a phrase like &quot;this is no big deal&quot; instead of &quot;not&quot;?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="2539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2537" CreationDate="2010-09-04T17:36:29.807" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports, &lt;em&gt;kilo&lt;/em&gt; is a noun used as abbreviation of &lt;em&gt;kilogram&lt;/em&gt; and, rarely, of &lt;em&gt;kilometer&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The same is not true for &lt;em&gt;mega&lt;/em&gt;, which is not used as noun.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Nano&lt;/em&gt; is informally used as a noun, to mean &lt;em&gt;nanotechnology&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking for &lt;em&gt;nanos&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;megas&lt;/em&gt; in the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/em&gt; I found that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;nanos&lt;/em&gt; is used more in fiction, and in the newspapers; in the last case, in all the cases they are referring to the iPod Nano.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;megas&lt;/em&gt; is used in fiction (&lt;em&gt;It was supposed to be just warehouses and megas, not living space, so they didn't attach it to the Port dome […].&lt;/em&gt;), and magazines and newspapers; in the last case, the sentences make reference to the last name of a person (&lt;em&gt;Mr. Megas&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-04T18:06:31.403" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T18:06:31.403" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2537" CreationDate="2010-09-04T17:38:33.417" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am only familiar with the abbreviation of &lt;em&gt;kilogram&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;kilo&lt;/em&gt;, and this is indeed pluralized as &lt;em&gt;kilos&lt;/em&gt;. I have heard &lt;em&gt;mega&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;megas&lt;/em&gt; from foreigners but they strike me as ungrammatical, as does &lt;em&gt;nano&lt;/em&gt; from &lt;em&gt;nanosecond&lt;/em&gt; (why not for &lt;em&gt;nanometer&lt;/em&gt;?). Here’s what I found in the Corpus of Contemporary American English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the incidences of &lt;em&gt;nanos&lt;/em&gt; were references to one of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;iPod nano&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A surname &lt;em&gt;Nanos&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In science fiction, references to something like &lt;em&gt;nanorobots&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, &lt;em&gt;nano(s)&lt;/em&gt; is not a commonly-used abbreviated form for &lt;em&gt;nanosecond&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;nanometer&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for &lt;em&gt;megas&lt;/em&gt;, the only examples in COCA were three uses as a name, and one use in science fiction: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So after the Port dome went up they built this lean-to partial dome that tilts up against the Port dome like a crescent cupping a bigger arc: the Curve. It was supposed to be just warehouses and &lt;strong&gt;megas&lt;/strong&gt;, not living space, so they didn't attach it to the Port dome very well and now the Curve pulls away from the Port dome a little more every year, and a little more gas and garbage falls into the Curve but nobody seems to give a damn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s unclear from even this much context what a &lt;em&gt;mega&lt;/em&gt; is, but I’m pretty sure it’s not a megabyte.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I checked also for uses of &lt;em&gt;gigas&lt;/em&gt; for &lt;em&gt;gigabytes&lt;/em&gt; but all the &lt;em&gt;gigas&lt;/em&gt; in COCA are species names, where it presumably means “very large”: &lt;em&gt;Strombus gigas&lt;/em&gt; (a sea snail), &lt;em&gt;Crassostrea gigas&lt;/em&gt; (an oyster), &lt;em&gt;Angelica gigas&lt;/em&gt; (a flowering plant).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in conclusion, don’t use &lt;em&gt;mega&lt;/em&gt; as an abbreviation for &lt;em&gt;megabyte&lt;/em&gt;. I understand this is common in some languages, such as Spanish, but it is not used in English. Use instead &lt;em&gt;MB&lt;/em&gt; as the abbreviation for &lt;em&gt;megabyte&lt;/em&gt;. However, &lt;em&gt;kilo&lt;/em&gt; for &lt;em&gt;kilogram&lt;/em&gt; is perfectly idiomatic, although in American English, the things most often measured in kilos are cocaine and heroin. The top 10 most common collocates for &lt;em&gt;kilo&lt;/em&gt; are: &lt;em&gt;cocaine&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;hundred&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;per&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;five&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;heroin&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;fifty&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;weighed&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;pounds&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ten&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;half&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: as pointed out in the question’s comments, &lt;em&gt;meg(s)&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;gig(s)&lt;/em&gt; are the common used spoken abbreviations for &lt;em&gt;megabyte(s)&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;gigabyte(s)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T17:38:33.417" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2538" CreationDate="2010-09-04T17:40:22.467" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American English&lt;/em&gt; reports, &lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt; (used as adjective) means &lt;em&gt;not any&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is no excuse.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  No two plants are alike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T17:40:22.467" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="2542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2532" CreationDate="2010-09-04T17:47:02.520" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Agreeing with the answer Shinto Sherlock gave from Fowler, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-unv1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;World Wide Words&lt;/a&gt; says,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In general, words take un- when they&#xA;  are of English (Germanic) origin and&#xA;  in- if they come from Latin. (The&#xA;  forms im-, il-, and ir- are variations&#xA;  on in-.) Apart from that, there’s&#xA;  really no good guide to which one you&#xA;  should choose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following the link will give you an expanded discussion of this topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="860" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T17:47:02.520" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2516" CreationDate="2010-09-04T18:17:57.803" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only one that is fairly standard is &quot;You're welcome&quot; the others, in my opinion, are just variants of the same sentiment. That is, it is customary to demure somewhat and make it as if the thing you are being thanked for wasn't worthy of the thanks. It's weird, but who knows where these things get started?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T18:17:57.803" />
  <row Id="2544" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2602" CreationDate="2010-09-04T18:25:09.970" Score="64" ViewCount="3938" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the past &amp;#8212; or at least, when I was in elementary school &amp;#8212; periods/full stops were followed by two spaces.  Lately, it's become more and more common to see just one space.  In the modern world, should we still use two spaces between sentences, or is just one okay?  Does it depend on the situation?  Or are both acceptable, with the choice simply coming down to personal preference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T14:44:36.647" Title="How many spaces should come after a period/full stop?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="15" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="16" />
  <row Id="2545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2544" CreationDate="2010-09-04T18:48:23.313" Score="46" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are still acceptable, though the two-space style has been falling out of favor with the advent of variable-width fonts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/spaces.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Common Errors&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;However, when justified variable-width type is set for printing it has always been standard to use only one space between sentences. Modern computers produce type that is more like print, and most modern styles call for only one space after a period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Chicago Manual of Style agrees in these two Q&amp;amp;A segments: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/CMS_FAQ/OneSpaceorTwo/OneSpaceorTwo01.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/CMS_FAQ/OneSpaceorTwo/OneSpaceorTwo01.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/CMS_FAQ/OneSpaceorTwo/OneSpaceorTwo03.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/CMS_FAQ/OneSpaceorTwo/OneSpaceorTwo03.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The latter states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The view at CMOS is that there is no reason for two spaces after a period in published work. Some people, however—my colleagues included—prefer it, relegating this preference to their personal correspondence and notes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, it basically falls to personal preference, but one space is becoming more and more prevalent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(It's worth noting that all HTML renderers I know of automatically condense multiple spaces into one, so it would actually take some effort to get the double-space style to render on the web.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T18:48:23.313" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2546" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2548" CreationDate="2010-09-04T19:05:17.803" Score="6" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;Greetings,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone criticized me for using the word &quot;premises&quot; to denote a set of assumed &quot;propositions&quot;, due to its connotation with houses and buildings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that correct? If so, what should be the proper plural form of &quot;premise&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1020" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T20:13:57.527" Title="What's the correct plural form of &quot;premise&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="500" CreationDate="2010-09-04T19:08:00.030" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; covered in the &lt;em&gt;Cambridge Grammar of the English Language&lt;/em&gt; (CGEL), as it turns out, in Chapter 18, “Inflection Morphology and Related Matters”, section 6, “Phonological reduction and liaison”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The form &lt;em&gt;’s&lt;/em&gt;, representing either &lt;em&gt;has&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;, along with &lt;em&gt;’m&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;am&lt;/em&gt;), &lt;em&gt;’re&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt;), &lt;em&gt;’ve&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt;), &lt;em&gt;’ll&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt;), and &lt;em&gt;’d&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt;) are called &lt;strong&gt;clitics&lt;/strong&gt;, and they are a variant of what are known as &lt;strong&gt;weak forms&lt;/strong&gt; of words, which are pronunciations of words like &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;from&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;, etc. (about fifty in total) with a reduced vowel, such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwa&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;schwa&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the discussion of weak and strong forms, CGEL points out that there are certain grammatical contexts that require strong forms, and one of those contexts is something called &lt;em&gt;stranding&lt;/em&gt;, where the object of a phrase is &lt;em&gt;preposed&lt;/em&gt; (moved before the phrase). These are examples they give of stranding requiring strong forms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a. &lt;em&gt;Who did you give it&lt;/em&gt; [&lt;em&gt;to __&lt;/em&gt; ]&lt;em&gt;?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  b. &lt;em&gt;We’ll help you if we&lt;/em&gt; [&lt;em&gt;can __&lt;/em&gt;].&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  c. &lt;em&gt;They want me to resign, but I don’t intend&lt;/em&gt; [&lt;em&gt;to __&lt;/em&gt;].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In each of these cases, the word in the brackets has a weak form, but it cannot be used in this context because its object has been &lt;em&gt;stranded&lt;/em&gt;. Of course, in written English, there is no difference between weak and strong forms—it’s only a spoken difference—but clitics &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; distinguished in written English, and the restriction on weak forms also extends to clitics. (There are additional restrictions on clitics, but they are not relevant to this discussion).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, thus we can say that the second &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; in the sentence &lt;em&gt;It is what it&lt;/em&gt; [&lt;em&gt;is __&lt;/em&gt;] cannot be reduced to either a weak form or to a clitic because of the restriction to strong forms in cases of syntactic stranding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T19:08:00.030" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2546" CreationDate="2010-09-04T19:15:50.720" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/premise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster give&lt;/a&gt; an example using &lt;em&gt;premises&lt;/em&gt;: &amp;lt;the basic &lt;em&gt;premises&lt;/em&gt; of the argument&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not think there is anything wrong with this use of &lt;em&gt;premises&lt;/em&gt;. I don’t find homophony or having multiple meanings to be valid reasons to criticize use of a word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-13T20:13:57.527" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T20:13:57.527" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2544" CreationDate="2010-09-04T20:06:36.073" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to be a stickler about this in my own writing and when editing others writing as well, but especially as the computer has taken the place of the typewriter in my writing (showing my age a bit) and as the brevity of twitter has influenced my other writing (in a good way, mostly) I've come to see the 2nd space as a waste of space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One nail in the second space's coffin, for me, was watching &lt;a href=&quot;http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/TheChannel9Team/Bill-Hill-There-is-only-one-space-after-a-period/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this video&lt;/a&gt; with Microsoft's ex-typography guru, Bill Hill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-04T21:17:08.247" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T21:17:08.247" CommentCount="16" />
  <row Id="2550" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2558" CreationDate="2010-09-04T20:29:27.130" Score="6" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;Googling both sentences I find many references with or without &lt;em&gt;-s&lt;/em&gt;. Should I add the &lt;em&gt;-s&lt;/em&gt; to the verb after &quot;that&quot;? Is it considered a third person singular?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm searching for a rule to apply to the verb after &quot;that&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example could be this:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;people that work (56,100,000 hits)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  people that works (710,000 hits)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="726" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T14:57:22.487" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T01:16:48.143" Title="&quot;Something that work&quot; or &quot;something that works&quot;?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="2551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2484" CreationDate="2010-09-04T20:33:51.837" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a joke in French that it's pretty much impossible to translate into English because of this problem:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So one guy says to another &quot;Regard, le mouche&quot;. The other guy replies &quot;C'est &lt;em&gt;la&lt;/em&gt; mouche&quot;. The first guy turns, impressed: &quot;You've got &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; eyes.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OK. It's not a great loss to the English language, but still...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T20:33:51.837" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="2552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2550" CreationDate="2010-09-04T21:33:12.560" Score="-5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simple answer for this:  &lt;em&gt;Something&lt;/em&gt; in this case, is singular.  This means that the verb should be plural, &lt;em&gt;works&lt;/em&gt;.  If you were to switch it around and use &lt;em&gt;Some things&lt;/em&gt;, you would then use the singular verb &lt;em&gt;work&lt;/em&gt;.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1013" LastActivityDate="2010-09-04T21:33:12.560" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2553" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2555" CreationDate="2010-09-04T22:17:03.080" Score="5" ViewCount="312" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two related questions about the word &quot;naïve&quot; and its relatives. The first is, shouldn't it be &quot;naïf&quot; if the subject is male? I've been told that it's correct to use the correct ending of foreign words when applied to objects in English with determinate gender (i.e. people). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, if not, is the diaeresis absolutely necessary? If &quot;naïve&quot; has become an English word, is the accent still compulsory? (I'm sure there are examples of foreign words whose accents have atrophied away as they become English words)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, should the noun from &quot;naïve&quot; be &quot;naïvety&quot; or &quot;naïveté&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T18:29:50.877" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T18:29:50.877" Title="Naïve, naïf, naïvety, naïveté" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;foreign-words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="2554" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2588" CreationDate="2010-09-04T22:21:44.757" Score="5" ViewCount="299" Body="&lt;p&gt;What rules of thumb govern when to pluralise a foreign word as it should be in the original language and when it should be pluralised as an English word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, you'd get some funny looks using &quot;octopodes&quot; or &quot;lemmata&quot; in normal conversation. (I don't know what contexts would allow mention of cephalopods and mathematics, but you know...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T04:39:01.740" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T07:40:00.407" Title="Plurals of foreign words" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;foreign-words&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="2555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2553" CreationDate="2010-09-04T23:00:31.930" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports that the meaning of the words is the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;naive /nɑˈiv/ (also naïve)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  adjective&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (of a person or action) showing a lack of experience, wisdom, or judgment: &lt;em&gt;the rather naive young man had been totally misled&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • (of a person) natural and unaffected; innocent: &lt;em&gt;Andy had a sweet, naive look when he smiled&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • of or denoting art produced in a straightforward style that deliberately rejects sophisticated artistic techniques and has a bold directness resembling a child's work, typically in bright colors with little or no perspective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;naif /naɪˈif/ /nɑˈif/ (also naïf)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  adjective&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  naive or ingenuous.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  a naive or ingenuous person.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is true that the first word derive from the French word that is the feminine word of &lt;em&gt;naïf&lt;/em&gt;, but from the dictionary I get they have different meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;naive&lt;/em&gt; is used only as adjective.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;naif&lt;/em&gt; has the same meaning of &lt;em&gt;naive&lt;/em&gt;, but it means also &lt;em&gt;ingenuous&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T02:38:53.963" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T02:38:53.963" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2554" CreationDate="2010-09-05T00:05:29.267" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't seem to me there are any rules of thumb for how to pluralize a foreign word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports that both &lt;em&gt;lemmata&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;lemmas&lt;/em&gt; are the plural of &lt;em&gt;lemma&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;If I check on the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/em&gt;, and I search for &lt;em&gt;lemma*&lt;/em&gt;, I notice that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The word is used mostly in academic contexts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In an academic context, the word &lt;em&gt;lemmata&lt;/em&gt; is never used; in one case, the word used is &lt;em&gt;lemmae&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Other examples of lemmae held to be doublets, and furnished with catchwords, but which actually occur three […].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If then I search for &lt;em&gt;lemma*&lt;/em&gt; in the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Historical American English&lt;/em&gt;, I notice that the word &lt;em&gt;lemmata&lt;/em&gt; is used for the first time in the 1900s; for the other years, before or after, the CoHA doesn't report the word &lt;em&gt;lemmata&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For &lt;em&gt;octopus&lt;/em&gt; the NOAD reports that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The standard English plural of octopus is octopuses. However, the word octopus comes from Greek, and the Greek plural form is octopodes. Modern usage of octopodes is so infrequent that many people mistakenly create the erroneous plural form octopi, formed according to rules for Latin plurals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking for &lt;em&gt;octop*&lt;/em&gt; in the CoCA, I found out that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Words starting with &lt;em&gt;octop&lt;/em&gt; are used with higher frequency in fiction and magazines.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In magazines, where words starting with &lt;em&gt;octop&lt;/em&gt; are used with an incidence of 3.14 per million, I find only three examples of text using _octopodi; in the other cases, the used words are &lt;em&gt;octopus&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;octopuses&lt;/em&gt;. I also found the word &lt;em&gt;octopusan&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;Octopussy&lt;/em&gt; (the title of a James Bond movie).&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If such a quality as intelligence can arise both in human beings and in the octopusan eight-armed sea animal without a bone in its body, then perhaps there is a course and […].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A search for &lt;em&gt;octop*&lt;/em&gt; in the CoHA gives the following results:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Octopodi&lt;/em&gt; is used through the years with a variable incidence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Octopodes&lt;/em&gt; is used in one case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In addition to being unspellable (octopuses, octopusses, octopoi, octopi, octopodes?), it conjured up every old horror cliche.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are a few instances of words like &lt;em&gt;octopoid&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;octopodous&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Barney said, struggling free of the perfumed octopoid embrace, &quot;just take your client aside for a moment then I'll be […]&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  […] Philharmonic Society, which, as I have already pointed out, is within the octopodous grip of the BBC even to the extent of having to satisfy that totalitarian body […].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T01:09:52.997" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T01:09:52.997" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2554" CreationDate="2010-09-05T00:25:16.033" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What rules of thumb govern when to&#xA;  pluralised a foreign word as it should&#xA;  be in the original language and when&#xA;  it should be pluralised as an English&#xA;  word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think there are any rules at all. For example &quot;spaghetti&quot; is a plural in Italian but we use it as an uncountable noun in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going through a list of Japanese words which have come into English (note that Japanese has no notion of plurals, uncountables, etc.), I see mostly cases where English has put whatever it finds convenient onto the word: &quot;kimono&quot; -&gt; &quot;kimonos&quot;, &quot;satsuma&quot; -&gt; &quot;satsumas&quot;, &quot;miso&quot;/&quot;tofu&quot; -&gt; uncountable, as well as formations of nouns into adjectives, like &quot;nashi&quot; -&gt; &quot;nashi pears&quot;, &quot;samurai&quot; -&gt; &quot;samurai warriors&quot;, &quot;shika&quot; -&gt; &quot;sika deer&quot;, etc. Words which are specific to learners of the language, like &quot;kanji&quot;, tend to be used in English with plurals without &quot;s&quot;, e.g. &quot;Remembering the Kanji&quot; rather than &quot;remembering the kanjis&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks like English is grafting these words onto itself in whatever way it finds most convenient, with the foreign plural being restricted to those who wish to demonstrate their knowledge of the foreign language (&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/170/was-the-usage-spaghetti-were-ever-acceptable-or-common&quot;&gt;&quot;spaghetti were&quot;&lt;/a&gt; type of usages).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T01:33:13.337" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T01:33:13.337" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2550" CreationDate="2010-09-05T00:27:50.073" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;em&gt;English Grammar&lt;/em&gt; (ISBN 0-06-467109-7), &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt; is listed in the indefinite pronouns always used as singular, together with &lt;em&gt;somebody&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;someone&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;each&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;either&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;everybody&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;anyone&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The correct phrase is &lt;em&gt;something that works.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T01:16:48.143" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T01:16:48.143" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2550" CreationDate="2010-09-05T00:37:40.237" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Googling both sentences i find a lot of references with or without -s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't expect to find this, but you are right:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;&quot;something that work&quot;     159,000 hits&#xA;&quot;something that works&quot; 38,500,000  hits&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the weakness of Googling, that wrong stuff, if repeated often enough, starts to look legitimate. The correct one is &quot;something that works&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it considered as third person singular?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A verb after &quot;something&quot; should be in the third person singular form, yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T00:59:59.610" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T00:59:59.610" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2553" CreationDate="2010-09-05T00:49:57.093" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've been told that it's correct to&#xA;  use the correct ending of foreign&#xA;  words when applied to objects in&#xA;  English with determinate gender (i.e.&#xA;  people).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm suspicious about this. It sounds like hypercorrectness or whatever the word is, generally trying to come across as high-falutin'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Second, if not, is the diaeresis&#xA;  absolutely necessary? If &quot;naive&quot; has&#xA;  become an English word, is the accent&#xA;  still compulsory? (I'm sure there are&#xA;  examples of foreign words whose&#xA;  accents have atrophied away as they&#xA;  become English words)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where you need to reach for the reference books. For example, the &quot;Oxford Writers' Dictionary&quot; gives naïve as the correct form. Incidentally it also says not to use &quot;naif&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Third, should the noun from &quot;naive&quot; be &quot;naivety&quot; or &quot;naivete&quot;? (with an accute accent)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the Oxford Writers' Dictionary, &quot;naïvety&quot; is right. But then after that it gives naïveté as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T00:49:57.093" />
  <row Id="2562" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-05T02:03:12.153" Score="8" ViewCount="414" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the UK there are a lot of insulting words which end in -er, like this: scrubb&lt;b&gt;er&lt;/b&gt; (slut), toss&lt;b&gt;er&lt;/b&gt; (masturbator), chanc&lt;b&gt;er&lt;/b&gt; (untrustworthy person), pooft&lt;b&gt;er&lt;/b&gt; (homosexual), wank&lt;b&gt;er&lt;/b&gt; (masturbator, generally despicable person), nutt&lt;b&gt;er&lt;/b&gt; (insane), pos&lt;b&gt;er&lt;/b&gt; (affected/overdressed person). I think it’s a relatively modern British phenomenon because it seems like American English doesn't have all these -er insults. Can anyone give any insight into this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(p.s. I am creating a plural tag &quot;insults&quot; since plural is winning votes over at meta.english.stackexchange.com; please &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/72/should-we-prefer-singular-or-plural-in-tags&quot;&gt;give your vote on whether tags should be plural or singular&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T11:56:04.843" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T11:56:04.843" Title="Are -er insults a British phenomenon?" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;insults&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2544" CreationDate="2010-09-05T02:15:09.253" Score="26" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bringhurst&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Robert Bringhurst&lt;/a&gt; has this to say about the subject in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elements_of_Typographic_Style&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Elements of Typographic Style&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2.1.4&amp;emsp;&lt;em&gt;Use a single word space between sentences.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the nineteenth century, which was a dark and inflationary age in typography and type design, many compositors were encouraged to stuff extra space between sentences. Generations of twentieth-century typists were then taught to do the same, by hitting the space character twice after every period. Your typing as well as your typesetting will benefit from unlearning this quaint Victorian habit. As a general rule, no more than a single space is required after a period, a colon or any other mark of punctuation. Larger spaces (e.g., &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En_(typography)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;en&lt;/a&gt; spaces) are &lt;em&gt;themselves&lt;/em&gt; punctuation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The rule is usually altered, however, when setting classical Latin and Greek, romanized Sanskrit, phonetics or other kinds of texts in which sentences begin with lowercase letters. In the absence of a capital, a full &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En_(typography)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;en&lt;/a&gt; space&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Em_(typography)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;M&lt;/a&gt;/2) between sentences will generally be welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I first read this many years ago, I had always used two spaces after every period (as I had been instructed by my middle-school typing teacher). Since then, however, I&amp;rsquo;ve observed that a single space after a period is used in almost all professionally typeset materials (books, magazines, etc.), and I&amp;rsquo;ve changed my habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I continue to use two spaces after a period when writing in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monospaced_font&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;code&gt;monospace&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/a&gt; font, because I feel &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monospaced_font&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;monospaced&lt;/a&gt; text is more readable this way, but I use a single space whenever I&amp;rsquo;m using a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typeface#Proportional_font&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;proportional&lt;/a&gt; font.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1025" LastEditorUserId="1025" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T02:59:58.227" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T02:59:58.227" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2544" CreationDate="2010-09-05T06:43:46.880" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For most uses, there's no need for a double space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A well defined font will handle the spacing between characters with kerning, and adding a double space should be unnecessary. If the font you use has such poor kerning that you can't see the period or sentence structure without two spaces, just use a better font. For normal prose, it's just something you shouldn't need to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, if you're composing concrete poetry or advertising copy, you may have to worry after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1027" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T06:43:46.880" />
  <row Id="2565" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-05T08:23:49.273" Score="3" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that it would be really cool to be able to speak as though I was from the Victorian era. How can I learn to do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="293" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T12:18:11.833" Title="How can I speak as though I was from the Victorian era?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2544" CreationDate="2010-09-05T08:47:15.770" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As aluded to by one of the respondents, the reason (most likely) that a single space has become common place is due to the fact that HTML won't allow two sequential spaces without a bit of special plumbing, so the second space got lost in a lot of online writing.  However now that we are used to it I think it's probably here to stay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My preference would be for two as I find it a good visual cue of a sentence end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1030" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T08:47:15.770" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2565" CreationDate="2010-09-05T08:53:36.803" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Read lots of Charles Dickens novels and copy the words and phrases used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T08:53:36.803" />
  <row Id="2569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2544" CreationDate="2010-09-05T09:20:04.610" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wasn't even aware of this rule at all. Mind you, I'm 28 years old and Norwegian. Is this an English thing, or is it an earlier rule in other languages as well?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1035" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T09:20:04.610" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2544" CreationDate="2010-09-05T09:57:11.383" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that four or so observations have not yet made it into this thread, so let's add them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Much printed writing (magazines, newspapers) is done with full-width left and right aligned text. This induces a natural (or not) length space after the period which is different in size in each sentence. Here the use of double spaces after periods should be avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The habit of adding an extra space for visible clarity comes mostly from monospaced fonts. Since about all typewriters used to be monospaced and further in history, type setting used to be monospaced too, the extra space had a benefit. Now many (older?) people still have this habit.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In type setting, kerning has always been very important. Kerning is about how much particular letters or punctuation should be apart. A dot should be closer to its preceding letter, double &quot;ff&quot; should be kerned closer than double &quot;dd&quot; for instance and the space before a capital should be larger than a space before a small letter. This automatically introduces a larger space between full stop and first letter in next sentence. Watch closely: a next sentence starting with a quotation character should get a smaller space.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;With the introduction of computer type writing (not type setting!) and proportional fonts, a heated debate was and is going on about kerning and the inability to add kerning to fonts or the reluctance of font designers to do so. However, in proportional fonts and online editing, one &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; leave kerning (and thus: spacing) to the rendering engine, whether to paper or to screen. Screen however has limited possibilities, but with text, kerning is on its way back due to better support in text writers and has always been around for professional type setters (LaTeX and some Adobe products).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conclusion: double space after a full stop is a cosmetic habit of the typewriting age and before, and should not be used in online writing or proportional / kerned writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="640" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T09:57:11.383" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2010-09-05T10:24:06.603" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h3&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The British National Corpus (BNC) is a 100 million word collection of samples of written and spoken language from a wide range of sources, designed to represent a wide cross-section of current British English, both spoken and written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also searchable with a less elaborate interface &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-08T22:55:36.153" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T22:55:36.153" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-05T10:24:06.603" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="2572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2544" CreationDate="2010-09-05T11:10:21.993" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always thought that an extra space following the period at the end of a sentence and before the start of a new one, as opposed to a single space after a comma or a semicolon, etc. is there to emphasize a slightly longer pause in the rhythm of a language…  And typesetting environments like &lt;sup&gt;T&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;sub&gt;E&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;X&lt;/sup&gt; has always handled that elegantly, only wider-spread applications like office productivity suits, etc. do not known, how to handle it correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1036" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T11:10:21.993" />
  <row Id="2573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2544" CreationDate="2010-09-05T11:35:46.233" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I dropped my old school days/typewriter habit of typing two spaces after a period after I read about fonts in &lt;em&gt;The Mac is not a Typewriter&lt;/em&gt; by Robin Williams. That was way back in 1991. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Robin explained what many have said above: typewriter monospaced fonts needed the second space to compensate for not being able to use proportional fonts. In typesetting with proportional fonts, using one space after a sentence has always been the norm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a wonderful book and she also points out some other stylistic customs to follow in manuscripts for a professional appearance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an amazon.com review says: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;What is important for the non professional typist to know [is to] use &quot;smart&quot; quotes, don't space twice after a period, italicize instead of underlining, create a long (em) dash by typing [shift + option + -]&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find it very odd that there are apparently so many folks who didn't &quot;get the memo&quot; on this even after all these years. heheh&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's about appearance, not about html coding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1045" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T17:01:59.837" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T17:01:59.837" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2562" CreationDate="2010-09-05T12:01:00.967" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;American English doesn't have &lt;em&gt;these&lt;/em&gt; -er insults, but don't think it lacks -er insults all together. Wikipedia has &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category%3aPejorative_terms_for_people&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a list of pejoratives for people&lt;/a&gt;, and on the list I saw these -er examples that I'm familiar with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ambulance chaser (scummy lawyers)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bible thumper&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Breeder (against straight people from gay people)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carpetbagger&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;City slicker&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cracker&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Holy roller&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hoosier&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loser&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mother fucker&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pecker&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="257" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T12:01:00.967" CommentCount="13" />
  <row Id="2575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2565" CreationDate="2010-09-05T12:18:11.833" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That time knew many playwrights and many of their plays are still performed, often using the original texts, phrases and sometimes even accents. Joining one of those theaters is your best chance in practicing Victorianish. Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_drama#Victorian_era_and_later&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nice starting point at WikiPedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="640" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T12:18:11.833" />
  <row Id="2576" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2577" CreationDate="2010-09-05T13:00:12.693" Score="12" ViewCount="305" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently saw someone intentionally use &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://gaming.stackexchange.com/posts/6918/revisions&quot;&gt;eachother&lt;/a&gt;&quot; instead of &quot;each other&quot;.  In what circumstances would this be correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1048" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T23:45:57.953" Title="Is &quot;eachother&quot; correct?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2576" CreationDate="2010-09-05T13:05:03.637" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my view this is not a valid alternate for &quot;each other&quot; under any circumstances. I would go as far as saying it's plain incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying that, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/eachother&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; lists it as a &quot;non-standard spelling&quot;, though that's an understatement. Neither the OED nor Webster's lists it at all. I have certainly never seen it used by any native speaker of English in my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T13:05:03.637" />
  <row Id="2578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2576" CreationDate="2010-09-05T13:07:50.043" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never come across &quot;eachother&quot; before, and would dare to claim it isn't ever correct, but more like a spelling mistake. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, to put it more &quot;descriptively&quot; (as seems to be customary), &quot;eachother&quot; at least is not standard in any common variety of English. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some statistical evidence: The &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; (COCA) finds 10 occurrences of &quot;eachother&quot; (versus 56,000 for &quot;each other&quot;). Also historically it has enjoyed only very sporadic use: &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coha/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Historical American English&lt;/a&gt; (COHA) lists 24 (vs 60,000) occurrences in material from 1810 to 2009. I wouldn't say this qualifies &quot;eachother&quot; as correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T23:45:57.953" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T23:45:57.953" />
  <row Id="2579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2576" CreationDate="2010-09-05T14:06:29.273" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't remember seeing this before. If I was given some English text to correct and saw &quot;eachother&quot; I would certainly change it to &quot;each other&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, looking at the Wiktionary there are quite a few examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1826, G. H. C. Egestorff (translator),&#xA;  Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (author),&#xA;  Klopstock's Messiah (Der Messias),&#xA;  canto XIV, lines 94–6, page 427:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The pilgrims to the heavenly Salem,&#xA;  who / By nature for &lt;strong&gt;eachother&lt;/strong&gt; were&#xA;  design’d, / In this life oft are near,&#xA;  yet do not meet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1921 April, Charles Johnston,&#xA;  &quot;Tao-Teh-King: An Interpretation of&#xA;  Lao Tse's Book of the Way and of&#xA;  Righteousness&quot;, part I (of VIII), in&#xA;  The Theosophical Quarterly, volume&#xA;  XVIII, The Theosophical Society, page&#xA;  347:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lao Tse is seeking to make clear the&#xA;  relation of the unmanifested and the&#xA;  manifested Logos to &lt;strong&gt;eachother&lt;/strong&gt;, as&#xA;  poles of the same Being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google books turns up a lot more hits, including the above, which seem to date back a fair way. An interesting one is &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=e28PAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PT210&amp;amp;dq=%22eachother%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=aKODTOKlHIa2vQP_5YSOBA&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=5&amp;amp;ved=0CDsQ6AEwBDgo#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22eachother%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this English grammar book&lt;/a&gt; from 1814.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;strong&gt;8,900,000&lt;/strong&gt; hits for &quot;eachother&quot; on Google compared to &lt;strong&gt;135,000,000&lt;/strong&gt; for &quot;each other&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it seems to be a kind of minority/historical spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T14:06:29.273" />
  <row Id="2580" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-05T14:50:16.260" Score="1" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/q/2544/1035&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; on this site. I wasn't aware of this rule at all, is it just an English thing or does it apply to other languages as well?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1035" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T15:20:48.103" ClosedDate="2010-09-05T16:56:34.660" Title="Is it only the English language which has a double space between sentences?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="979" CreationDate="2010-09-05T14:53:28.057" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have a source, so this might be an useless answer, but in Norwegian the rule is the same, however only up to and including twelve. 13 on the other hand should be written with explicit numerals. No clue as to why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1035" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T14:53:28.057" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2580" CreationDate="2010-09-05T15:20:48.103" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a holdover from typewriter days. If you're still putting two spaces, you're doing it incorrectly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T15:20:48.103" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2583" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2584" CreationDate="2010-09-05T15:39:59.383" Score="7" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;When applying for English teaching jobs, I want to describe myself as a &quot;native speaker of English who has an American accent&quot; since most companies in Europe want native speakers to teach English courses and they usually have a preference for one accent or another (American, British, Australian, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the best term for this, e.g. &quot;I am a...&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;American native speaker of English (good?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;American English native speaker (good?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;native speaker of American English (best?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;native American English speaker (&quot;native American&quot; could be confused with being an American Indian)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T16:25:51.657" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T07:04:50.803" Title="What is the best term to describe a &quot;native English speaker who is an American&quot;?" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2583" CreationDate="2010-09-05T15:51:25.980" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;American English native speaker&quot; actually sounds a bit odd to me, though I am not a native speaker of American English myself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would go with &quot;native speaker of American English&quot;, as I have just done. If you read &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/39/nohat&quot;&gt;nohat&lt;/a&gt;'s full disclosure, he seems to agree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edit:&lt;/em&gt; I see that you have edited your question, so you seem to agree yourself now that &quot;native speaker of American English&quot; is the way to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing: I read &quot;American native speaker of English&quot; as &quot;someone who is a native speaker of English and lives in the US&quot;. That could easily apply to a native Scot who moved to the States.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T15:59:32.427" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T15:59:32.427" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="2586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2583" CreationDate="2010-09-05T16:38:32.210" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is a &lt;em&gt;little&lt;/em&gt; confusing. You ask for the term referring to a &quot;native English speaker who is an American,&quot; and that doesn't quite describe the same category of things as a &quot;native speaker of American English.&quot; It's worth noting that the term in your question, &quot;native English speaker who is an American,&quot; does, I assume, describe what you're wanting to describe, so I wonder why you just don't go with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Horace said, &quot;I strive to be brief and I become obscure.&quot; I think that the struggle between brevity and obscurity is part of the difficulty here, especially because graceful brevity usually signifies a beautiful expression. Sometimes, though, the requirement of accuracy messes with brevity or beauty. But I acknowledge that other requirements might be important in your case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, it might be helpful to know what you mean, precisely, by American English. Take, for example, a man raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and a young woman raised in Santa Monica, California: they'll both speak American English, but not with the same dialect. Certainly, native speakers of American English wouldn't think so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1007" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T16:38:32.210" />
  <row Id="2587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2544" CreationDate="2010-09-05T17:11:58.060" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When using a word processor, my father inserts a line break after every line (and two between paragraphs). Needless to say, it messes up word wrapping. Two spaces after each period is similar -- a useless anachronism from the bad old typewriter days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1056" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T17:11:58.060" />
  <row Id="2588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2554" CreationDate="2010-09-05T18:02:07.640" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;General rule of thumb is that words which obviously originate from Latin and are not in frequent use might be given the Latin plural (e.g. alumnus/alumni with 22m Google hits). More common Latin words usually have an English plural (e.g. campus/campuses 122m; bonus/bonuses 108m). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For languages other than Latin (and perhaps French), English plural is almost always used, even for rare words (e.g. klutz 5m), except where plural is the predominant or only form (e.g. spaghetti). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is completely unscientific, my intuition as a native speaker (American). Counterexamples are welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1056" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T18:02:07.640" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2589" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2590" CreationDate="2010-09-05T18:11:04.280" Score="3" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...absolutely 100% our doing, not the Restaurant's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...absolutely 100% our doing, not the Restaurants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first one feels right, but looks a little odd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's the first, because you would say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...the Restaurant's doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;even thought it might not look right.  And, I think you have to show possession, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone clarify, and hopefully point me to a resource?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="10" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T18:19:11.573" Title="Order of sentence and using 's" Tags="&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2589" CreationDate="2010-09-05T18:19:11.573" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...absolutely 100% our doing, not the&#xA;  Restaurant's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...absolutely 100% our doing, not the&#xA;  Restaurants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first one feels right, but looks a&#xA;  little odd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't look in the slightest bit odd to me. The only odd thing there is the capital letter in Restaurant. Anyway, the top one is the correct answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can someone clarify, and hopefully point me to a resource?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gosh, I don't have any resources except my own wild guesses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T18:19:11.573" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2550" CreationDate="2010-09-05T18:33:28.423" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;3rd person singular verb should match the 3rd person singular noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He/she/it works.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He/she/it who/which/that works. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1056" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T18:33:28.423" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2583" CreationDate="2010-09-05T18:44:01.163" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a funny line in the film &quot;A River Runs Through It&quot; where the narrator describes how he learnt to &quot;write the American language&quot;. Maybe you could say &quot;native speaker of the American language&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T18:44:01.163" />
  <row Id="2593" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2604" CreationDate="2010-09-05T19:10:21.207" Score="7" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the best way to call an artist that is not famous?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Emergent artist&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;New artist&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any other&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="256" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T20:44:36.433" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T07:05:12.273" Title="Best way to call an artist that is not famous" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1981" CreationDate="2010-09-05T19:12:42.043" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never heard &quot;Facebook&quot; used as a verb (&quot;to facebook&quot;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Photoshop means &quot;edit a photograph&quot;, and Google means &quot;search the web&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Facebook provides too many diverse functions to be easily verbed. Would the verb be transitive or intransitive (e.g. &quot;I facebooked all day&quot; vs &quot;I'll facebook you&quot;)? In the former case, does it mean &quot;update my profile&quot;, &quot;look at friends pictures&quot; or &quot;search for new friends&quot;...? In the latter case, does it mean &quot;add as friend&quot;, &quot;send a message&quot;, &quot;write on the wall&quot;, &quot;ping&quot;...? It is unclear. There is no single defining activity that Facebook is used for or a clear result it produces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, spreadsheet or database program names (&quot;1-2-3&quot;, &quot;Excel&quot;, &quot;Oracle&quot;, &quot;MySql&quot;) are rarely used as verbs. These programs, like Facebook can be used for diverse tasks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1056" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T19:12:42.043" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2593" CreationDate="2010-09-05T19:31:06.720" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am told that in the jargon of music critics musicians are either &quot;young&quot; or &quot;distinguished&quot;, the break-point being about thirty-five years of age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T19:31:06.720" />
  <row Id="2596" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2627" CreationDate="2010-09-05T19:34:38.223" Score="12" ViewCount="319" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed the other day when serving the public that when asking for something, people were saying &quot;Can I get an xyz, please&quot;. The previous time I had such a job it was &quot;Could I have an xyz&quot;, or &quot;May I have...&quot; if they were being very polite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know when this trend started and what caused it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="305" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T20:52:51.323" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T06:54:55.067" Title="Why is &quot;can I get&quot; replacing &quot;could I have&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="2597" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2603" CreationDate="2010-09-05T19:50:50.230" Score="5" ViewCount="237" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does bodkins in &quot;odd's bodkins&quot; mean the same as bare bodkin, which appears in Hamlet?  (Other than being plural in the first example)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="568" LastEditorUserId="568" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T21:18:29.023" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T04:52:15.087" Title="Bodkins and bodkin - Same word different context?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="2598" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-05T20:24:07.290" Score="7" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;The motto for the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trutv.com/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TruTV channel&lt;/a&gt; has always bugged me: &lt;em&gt;Not reality, actuality.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least from online dictionaries I have looked up these words on, they seem equivalent. The definitions even reference one another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ac·tu·al·i·ty&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The state or fact of being actual; reality.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Actual conditions or facts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;re·al·i·ty&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The quality or state of being actual or true.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;One, such as a person, an entity, or an event, that is actual:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The totality of all things possessing actuality, existence, or essence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;That which exists objectively and in fact.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this motto just silly, or is there really some connotation to these words that I am not aware of that makes them distinct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T21:56:32.663" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T20:53:57.423" Title="Is there a connotational difference between &quot;Reality&quot; and &quot;Actuality&quot;?" Tags="&lt;connotation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1981" CreationDate="2010-09-05T20:24:49.317" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using trademarks as verbs is almost always discouraged by the trademark holder, as it risks genericizing the trademark. This is why, for example, Microsoft never describes a PowerPoint presentation as &quot;a PowerPoint&quot;, but uses the generic term &quot;slideshow&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1060" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T20:24:49.317" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2598" CreationDate="2010-09-05T21:54:39.403" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe there is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110002772747/en/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;distinction quite apparent in journalism&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In sum, &quot;actuality&quot; is regarded as a fundamental criterion of news selection that governs both the mass media's and the individuals' construction of reality.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The shared &quot;actuality&quot; among social members, I suppose, would create a feeling of being present and a moment of participating in a common reality, and, therefore, function as the basis for making up that common reality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trutv.com/about/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Considering that&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;truTV is television's destination for real-life stories told from an exciting and dramatic first-person perspective and features high-stakes, action-packed originals that &lt;strong&gt;give viewers access to places and situations they can't normally experience&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;, one can understand the goal of TruTv for reporting an &quot;actuality&quot; in order to help the viewers to rebuild the reality of the reported situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T21:54:39.403" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2598" CreationDate="2010-09-05T21:56:15.050" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm aware of no distinction between the two.  It appears that the folks at truTv are trying to distance themselves from &quot;reality tv.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;truTV isn't reality, its new slogan&#xA;  states. It's actuality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Reality has a connotation of not&#xA;  being real, of being phony,&quot; said Marc&#xA;  Juris, executive vice president and&#xA;  general manager of truTV. &quot;We felt&#xA;  that because [our programming] was&#xA;  real, we couldn't call it reality.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/television/2004097354_trutv01.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/television/2004097354_trutv01.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T21:56:15.050" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="2602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2544" CreationDate="2010-09-05T23:43:47.777" Score="29" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, I feel a few of the other answers here (and even the question) are a bit simplistic: there's more to this issue than is indicated by the latest editions of the &lt;em&gt;Chicago Manual of Style&lt;/em&gt; or Bringhurst's &lt;em&gt;The Elements of Typographic Style&lt;/em&gt;. In lieu of a very long answer, let me point to the (long) Wikipedia articles on exactly this issue:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_spacing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sentence spacing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_sentence_spacing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;History of sentence spacing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_spacing_in_language_and_style_guides&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sentence spacing in language and style guides&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_spacing_in_the_digital_age&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sentence spacing in the digital age&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My (inadequate) summary would be something like the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The traditional typesetters' convention was to use a (single) longer space between sentences than between words. For instance, CMoS 1911 still recommends a 3-em space between words and an em-quad between sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;With the introduction of the typewriter (invented in the late 19th century), many typographical niceties were lost: the typewriters produced monospaced (fixed-width) text, and the only choice was between one space and two. Many people felt a single space wasn't sufficient to see the gap between sentences at a glance, so double spacing came into vogue.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Today, with proportional (variable-width) fonts, two spaces is no longer necessary, and can look distractingly too wide. Modern tools allow more choice than between exactly &quot;one space&quot; or two. In particular, TeX and LaTeX have got it right since the 1980s: they typeset a &lt;em&gt;slightly&lt;/em&gt; longer space between sentences (though this can be turned off). HTML ignores multiple consecutive spaces anyway. (Sometimes fonts try to be smart and have the period character itself have a wider space following it, but this isn't ideal: there can be periods within a sentence, because of abbreviations etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even shorter summary (my opinion):&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Don't use two spaces unless you're using a fixed-width font like a typewriter. If forced to choose only between one space and two, choose one. But if your typesetting system supports it, have a wider space between sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-05T23:49:06.780" LastActivityDate="2010-09-05T23:49:06.780" />
  <row Id="2603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2597" CreationDate="2010-09-06T01:01:11.723" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19960925&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Maven's Word of the Day&lt;/a&gt; gives the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Odd's bodkins is a mild profane oath,&#xA;  which literally means 'God's dear&#xA;  body!' It's now archaic, but was used&#xA;  as an exclamation like God damn! or a&#xA;  host of others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The usual form of the second word is&#xA;  bodikin, which is a diminutive of body&#xA;  (the diminutive suffix -kin is found&#xA;  in such other words as lambkin). The&#xA;  expression occurs in Shakespeare&#xA;  (Hamlet: &quot;Odds bodikins, man,&quot; with a&#xA;  variant reading from the Quarto of&#xA;  &quot;bodkin&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/trivia/show/27381-a-william-shakespeare-947-william-shake&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this site&lt;/a&gt; tells me that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the &quot;bare bodkin&quot; referenced in &quot;To be, or not to be?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A dagger (or its blade).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T01:01:11.723" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2593" CreationDate="2010-09-06T01:08:46.647" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the best way to call an artist&#xA;  that is not famous?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends. If the artist is from the past, they might be referred to as a &quot;little-known artist&quot;, a &quot;lesser-known artist&quot;, or even &quot;a lesser artist&quot; (this is derogatory). If it's a present-day artist, they might be an &quot;emerging artist&quot; (not &quot;emergent&quot;, that is a buzz-word), or &quot;a lesser-known artist&quot;. &quot;New artist&quot; is possible, for example &quot;an exhibition by new artists&quot;, but its use would be restricted to a certain kind of person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T01:08:46.647" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2596" CreationDate="2010-09-06T01:57:55.820" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Schools no longer focus on grammar. In the US this started in the 80's, so many kids today aren't getting much reinforcement at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1060" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T01:57:55.820" />
  <row Id="2606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2596" CreationDate="2010-09-06T02:35:28.217" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the question about the difference between 'Can I ...' &amp;amp; 'Could I ...' and 'May I ...' &amp;amp; *Might I ...'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will not address the difference between &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; as this has been discussed in the comments on the question (they are now part of idiomatic English for better or worse).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;May&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; are known as &lt;strong&gt;modal auxiliary verbs&lt;/strong&gt;. According to the &lt;em&gt;Oxford Guide to English Grammar&lt;/em&gt;, 'with modal verbs, we express ideas such as actions being possible or necessary' (p. 78) and 'the modal verbs are &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ought to&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;dare&lt;/em&gt;' (p. 113). In most cases, modal auxiliary verbs do not have tenses, and &lt;em&gt;The Cambridge Guide to English Usage&lt;/em&gt; asserts that 'May I have a cup of tea?' and 'Might I have a cup of tea?' are grammatically the same, with the second '[seeming] overanxious to let the other party determine your right to the simplest of drinks' (p. 340).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short: 'Can I ...' &amp;amp; 'Could I ...' are part of idiomatic English, but I wouldn't recommend them. The difference between 'May I ...' &amp;amp; 'Might I ...' is not grammatical but stylistic. All things considered, it is probably better to use 'May I ...' rather than any of the other alternatives as it is definitely correct and does not show overanxiousness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T02:35:28.217" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2597" CreationDate="2010-09-06T02:45:13.457" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Oxford English Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; defines &lt;em&gt;(God's, ods) bodkins&lt;/em&gt; as 'God's dear body!: an oath' and shows &lt;em&gt;bodikin&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;bodikie&lt;/em&gt; as alternate spellings. The &lt;em&gt;Oxford English Reference&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, defines a &lt;em&gt;bodkin&lt;/em&gt; as 'a blunt thick needle with a large eye used esp. for drawing thick tape, etc. through a hem' and various similar things. I believe that the previous poster's definition of this as 'a dagger (or its blade)' would be reasonable in the poetic context of &lt;em&gt;Hamlet&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-06T09:31:29.523" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T09:31:29.523" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2608" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-06T03:04:48.193" Score="5" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are the words &quot;everybody&quot; and &quot;everyone&quot; interchangable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1066" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T07:30:05.327" Title="Is there a reason to use &quot;everyone&quot; instead of &quot;everybody&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2608" CreationDate="2010-09-06T06:37:00.540" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either one would work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T06:37:00.540" />
  <row Id="2610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2593" CreationDate="2010-09-06T06:46:52.717" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use a more particular description, such as &quot;Bill Smith, a painter from Springfield, Ore.,&quot;  Also age doesn't seem to be a factor since many artists never become famous outside of their communities, but work for many years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T06:46:52.717" />
  <row Id="2611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2583" CreationDate="2010-09-06T07:04:50.803" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our home dictionary proclaimed to be of the American language, but I feel that is overstating the differences.  What we speak is a form of English, since it shares the majority of the words and structure.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your question is what to call yourself depends on who is asking. &quot;I am an American&quot; usually works if you are white, but if you aren't, some folks want more of an explanation.  In China, were I taught, Americans with Chinese heritage were called &quot;overseas Chinese&quot;.  If you are trying to secure a teaching or translating job then use &quot;native English speaker from America.&quot;   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T07:04:50.803" />
  <row Id="2612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2550" CreationDate="2010-09-06T07:19:15.650" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lots of people type &quot;your&quot; when they mean &quot;you're&quot; but that doesn't mean it is a viable variant, just a common mistake.  Likewise &quot;something that works&quot; is the correct grammar here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T07:19:15.650" />
  <row Id="2613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2608" CreationDate="2010-09-06T07:30:05.327" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on whom you are addressing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hi everyone = Hi to each one of you&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hi everybody = Hi to all of you at once &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T07:30:05.327" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2554" CreationDate="2010-09-06T07:40:00.407" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think Latin and French words are trickiest.  The word cousin is French, but we have dropped the French variants for plural and gender, while we have retained it for fiancé and fiancée.  Many native American words are spelled with French spelling conventions because French speakers used them before English speakers, but are pluralized as if they were English. Most words use Enlish rules, but some retain their variations such as alumni, alumnea, alumna.         &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T07:40:00.407" />
  <row Id="2615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2553" CreationDate="2010-09-06T08:04:39.713" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since English generally does not have many gender specific words, insisting on them with foreign words may be a lost cause.  As for nouns, fiancée and fiancé are used, but many gender specific nouns are being dropped in English. Mailman is replaced with letter carrier, actress with actor etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Accents are usually only used when the foreign look is appealing or when mispronunciation would result without one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T08:04:39.713" />
  <row Id="2616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2516" CreationDate="2010-09-06T08:12:05.690" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;You're welcome&quot; was taught to me in school (NW America) as polite, but &quot;no problem&quot; and &quot;don't metion it&quot; are common between friends.  My tech support guy always texts &quot; np&quot; after I thank him for fixing my computer at work.  It seems self-effacing and generous to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T08:12:05.690" />
  <row Id="2617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2596" CreationDate="2010-09-06T09:11:11.080" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This happened in Ireland about 10 years ago. It's ubiquitous now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Discussions here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/06/can-i-get-latte-grande.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;separatedbyacommonlanguage&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://strawberryyog.blogspot.com/2007/06/can-i-get.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;strawberryyog&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;It's assumed to be an American influence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-06T12:42:28.520" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T12:42:28.520" />
  <row Id="2618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2598" CreationDate="2010-09-06T09:47:00.717" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When we see things the way they &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;actually&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; are, this is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;reality&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Actuality&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is stronger than &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;reality&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; in that it is something abstract, a fact, that existed even before we knew it was there. It never has been subject to being true or false. Whereas what I see as &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;reality&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; now may have been seen as imaginary before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The following dialog may make my point clear:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Do you see that black car over there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Actually&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, it is not black, it is blue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Let me see. Oh yeah, you are right, it &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is blue.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastEditorUserId="873" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-07T07:38:06.393" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T07:38:06.393" />
  <row Id="2619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2484" CreationDate="2010-09-06T10:38:18.163" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When speaking english, I often find myself having to add female/male or even names to help the listener understand that I’m talking about a man or a woman. In english you can’t just say: “I have a new friend” because the listener has no idea if it is male or female (not that it always matters but still…)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This type of confusion can be seen among new english students (that speak spanish), as they are not sure if it’s he/she. This is a small example in a sea of situations that can arise from the lack of gender in the English language. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="390" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T10:38:18.163" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="979" CreationDate="2010-09-06T13:55:48.950" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally numbers up to twenty are written as a word, because it is just one word. Go any further then twenty and you are dealing with compound words, which I guess people dont like very much. So numbers greater than twenty are written as numerals&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="45" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T13:55:48.950" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2622" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2623" CreationDate="2010-09-06T15:04:23.393" Score="2" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following is the context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Despite my fastidious coding habits, I&#xA;  have made a silly mistake and typed +=&#xA;  when I meant to type +. As a result,&#xA;  when concatUnsafe is called, it will&#xA;  modify the arguments out and s1, which&#xA;  may come as surprise to the userwho&#xA;  would expect a concatenation function&#xA;  to modify one of the source strings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;const to the rescue.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="833" LastEditorUserId="303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-07T14:59:25.137" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T14:59:25.137" Title="What is the structure of the sentence 'const to the rescue' ?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;structure&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="2623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2622" CreationDate="2010-09-06T15:14:33.023" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;em&gt;X&lt;/em&gt; to the rescue&quot; is an idiom that means that &lt;em&gt;X&lt;/em&gt; is coming to save us from a bad situation.  It means that &lt;em&gt;const&lt;/em&gt; will be the solution to the problem.  Using this idiom is a more playful and informal way of saying this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T15:14:33.023" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2622" CreationDate="2010-09-06T15:57:29.607" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can be thought as omitting a couple of words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;const&lt;/code&gt; [is coming] to the rescue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, &lt;code&gt;const&lt;/code&gt; will save you from making the programming mistake described in the text. (By the look of it, the author is talking about strings in C, which are indeed a potential minefield - so tread carefully!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T15:57:29.607" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2625" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2628" CreationDate="2010-09-06T16:37:31.157" Score="6" ViewCount="419" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume that the following sentences are grammatically correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He resents your being more popular than he is. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Most of the members paid their dues without my asking them. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;They objected to the youngest girl's being given the command position.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;What do you think about his buying such an expensive car?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;We were all sorry about Jane's losing her parents like that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm still getting used to this possessive gerund structure. It sounded me so weird at first. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the structure used in both formal and informal contexts? Are there any alternative structures that result in the same meaning and are more frequently used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Examples taken from &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammartips.homestead.com/possessivewithgerund.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://grammartips.homestead.com/possessivewithgerund.html&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:17:50.363" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:17:50.363" Title="Gerund preceded by possessive pronoun (e.g. &quot;He resents your being more popular than he is&quot;)" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;gerund&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="2626" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2629" CreationDate="2010-09-06T16:52:13.530" Score="6" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a non-native English speaker and sometimes it's hard for me to pick up the right word in some situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could you, please, explain when it's better to use &lt;strong&gt;&quot;goodbye&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; for ending a conversation, when &lt;strong&gt;&quot;bye&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; fits well, and is it appropriate to use &lt;strong&gt;&quot;bye bye&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; at all? When is it better to use other options, for example &lt;strong&gt;&quot;see you soon&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&quot;see you later&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; and the like?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-08T14:11:02.073" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T22:48:01.007" Title="&quot;Good bye&quot;, &quot;Bye&quot;, &quot;Bye bye&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;interjections&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2596" CreationDate="2010-09-06T17:14:30.837" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know the question is tagged “British English”, but for some historical perspective in  American English, this kind of request, formulated as “Can I get”, is not exactly some new invention. Here is a passage from a &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=nJAoY15RE6oC&amp;amp;lpg=PA3&amp;amp;dq=%22Lizzy%20Glenn%22%20%22Can%20I%20get%20some%22&amp;amp;pg=PA3#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;novel written in 1859&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Have you any work, sir?” was repeated in a still lower and more timid voice than that in which her request had at first been made. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Yes, we have,” was the gruff reply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“&lt;strong&gt;Can I get&lt;/strong&gt; some?”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And here’s one from &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=TEQe--ikVNIC&amp;amp;lpg=PP1&amp;amp;dq=joe%20the%20hotel%20boy&amp;amp;pg=PA85#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22can%20I%20get%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a 1906 novel&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Then our hero entered the place. “&lt;strong&gt;Can I get&lt;/strong&gt; a room here for the night?” he asked of the clerk behind the desk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And here, from a 1938 &lt;em&gt;Time&lt;/em&gt; magazine article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At one ticket counter a soft-voiced woman had the ear of a clerk. “&lt;strong&gt;Can I get&lt;/strong&gt; two tickets to Boston?” she inquired. The clerk asked who the other passenger was. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“He’s in a hearse outside,” the woman explained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T17:14:30.837" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2625" CreationDate="2010-09-06T17:56:24.500" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounded weird to me when I first heard about this usage too, in the context of a grammar lesson in middle school. Much like the linked page with the examples in the question does, the teacher taught us that using possessive pronouns (also known as &lt;em&gt;genitives&lt;/em&gt;) is the only grammatical way to mark subjects of gerund clauses. And indeed, it is the the more traditional, formal way to do it, even though using object pronouns (&lt;em&gt;accusatives&lt;/em&gt;) is also quite common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is discussed in the &lt;em&gt;Cambridge Grammar of the English Language&lt;/em&gt;, in chapter 14 “Non-finite and verbless clauses”, section 4.3. The main thrust of this section is to lay waste to the traditional distinction between gerund and present participle clauses, and argue that they all belong to a single inflectional category, calling them all gerund-participles. However, there is a paragraph explaining use of genitives with gerunds:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is one respect in which ‘gerund’ and ‘present participle’ clauses differ in their internal form: with ‘gerunds’ the subject may take genitive case, with plain or accusative case a less formal alternant, but with ‘present participles’ the genitive is impossible and pronouns with a nominative–accusative contrast appear in nomiative case, with accusative an alternant restricted to informal style. Compare then:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [39]  i. &lt;em&gt;She resented &lt;strong&gt;his/him/*he&lt;/strong&gt; being invited to open the debate.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;ii. &lt;em&gt;We appointed Max, &lt;strong&gt;he/him/*his&lt;/strong&gt; being much the best qualified of the candidates.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What this is saying is that the constructions that are traditionally known as gerunds (as in example 39i) can take either the genitive (&lt;em&gt;his&lt;/em&gt;) or the accusative (&lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt;) as subject, noting that accusative is “a less formal alternant”. The nominative (&lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt;) is not possible as the subject of a gerund. They add that in participial clauses that can have a subject, there is a similar situation: both the nominative (&lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt;) and accusative (&lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt;) are possible, with the accusative being less formal, but the genitive (&lt;em&gt;his&lt;/em&gt;) is not possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The link where the original poster’s examples come from exhibits the common problem in grammar advice of confusing informal style with incorrect grammar. The versions of the examples with accusative instead of genitive (e.g. &lt;em&gt;What do you think about &lt;strong&gt;him&lt;/strong&gt; buying such an expensive car?&lt;/em&gt;) are perfectly grammatical and simply just a less stuffy style than those with the genitive. If you want my advice, you will find many examples of gerunds with accusative subject even in formal academic writing, so you should feel free to use whichever of the two formulations that seems most natural to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T17:56:24.500" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2626" CreationDate="2010-09-06T18:56:23.640" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, the &quot;see you ...&quot; variants mean that you plan to meet the person you are talking to again, whereas the &quot;bye&quot; variants tend to imply that you don't plan to see the person again any time soon.  So &quot;see you ...&quot; is often appropriate around family, friends, or the office, because you would normally see the other person again soon on some predictable schedule.  &quot;Bye ...&quot; variants may be more appropriate when seeing someone off to a journey or in a shop to the cashier that you don't know.  A colleague saying &quot;bye&quot; around the office might mean that he is going on vacation or is changing jobs.  (The origin of &quot;goodbye&quot; is &quot;God be with you&quot;, so arguably the other person ought to be going on a significant journey that you have to wish such support.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This distinction is probably lost on many people, but I have seen people startled when the wrong variant is used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the &quot;bye&quot; variants, I'd say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;goodbye&quot;: quite formal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;bye&quot;: casual, sometimes nearly meaningless&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;bye bye&quot;: more familiar, sometimes sarcastic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As always, however, it also depends on context and taste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T18:56:23.640" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="2630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2625" CreationDate="2010-09-06T19:46:24.420" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to comment on common usage (in British English, at least):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples 1, 2 and 4, which use possessive pronouns, look OK, but are somewhat formal. I'd be more likely to use the accusative forms, namely:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He resents &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; being more popular than he is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most of the members paid their dues without &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; asking them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What do you think about &lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt; buying such an expensive car?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can believe that examples 3 and 5, which use nouns, may be grammatically correct, but they look wrong, and I do not recall seeing or hearing that particular construction used. I would drop the &quot;-'s&quot; in both cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T19:46:24.420" />
  <row Id="2631" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2633" CreationDate="2010-09-06T20:55:37.253" Score="4" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw a sentence like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Wilkinson is contesting the release, and threatened to sue should it be released.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could understand it but do you know what do they call this kind of use of &quot;should&quot; in grammar? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="786" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-28T15:31:57.553" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T15:31:57.553" Title="A special use of &quot;should&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2632" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2639" CreationDate="2010-09-06T20:59:41.523" Score="11" ViewCount="530" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not too long ago, Apple Computer used the phrase &quot;Think Different&quot; as an ad slogan. Is this a grammatical error (that is, it should be &quot;Think Differently&quot;), or are they trying to say something else (and what would it be)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T04:00:23.757" Title="Apple's Old Slogan, &quot;Think Different&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;slogan&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2631" CreationDate="2010-09-06T21:10:43.010" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This use of &quot;should&quot; appears to be called &lt;em&gt;expressing the conditional mood&lt;/em&gt;. The New Oxford American Dictionary describes it in the following way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(formal) expressing the conditional&#xA;  mood&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(in the first person) indicating the consequence of an imagined event:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;if I were to obey my first impulse, I should spend my days writing letters&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;referring to a possible event or&#xA;  situation&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;if you should change your&#xA;  mind, I'll be at the hotel&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;should&#xA;  anyone arrive late, admission is&#xA;  likely to be refused&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I added emphasis to the part most relevant to your question.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often, at least to my ear, this use of &quot;should&quot; carries a connotation of improbability.  Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the [unlikely] event that you should&#xA;  need to complain, please email the management team directly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-06T21:18:31.440" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T21:18:31.440" />
  <row Id="2634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2632" CreationDate="2010-09-06T21:40:54.910" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is a grammatical error, but you can bet your bottom dollar that the copywriter, ad agency, and Apple all knew it and liked it. Toying with grammar is, after all, a way to think different. Ly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to your alternative, whether they're trying to say something else, I think you're correct there, too. What they're trying to say is &quot;buy our stuff, not Microsoft's and Dell's.&quot; The grand irony is, of course, that following mass advertising is hardly being different, no matter how you spell it, but I'm typing this on a MacBook and my iPhone is plugged in next to it, so you'll find no judgment from me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1007" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T21:40:54.910" />
  <row Id="2635" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2655" CreationDate="2010-09-06T22:02:32.943" Score="6" ViewCount="321" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;You know what thought did&quot; is a catch-phrase addressed to someone who has just made a stupid mistake and attempted to excuse himself by saying &quot;But I thought...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know the origin of this saying; in particular, does anyone know what thought actually did?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T00:16:28.593" Title="Where did &quot;You know what thought did!&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;&lt;catch-phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2635" CreationDate="2010-09-06T22:46:07.127" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com.tr/books?id=Nm3jbg0JalMC&amp;amp;pg=PA511&amp;amp;lpg=PA511&amp;amp;dq=english+old+sayings+%22You+know+what+thought+did%22&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=tYG5uJyLyH&amp;amp;sig=qp2VZJxcwrX2e9iY5OYt3X_t7_Q&amp;amp;hl=tr&amp;amp;ei=DW2FTMj3N86EswaFz_yaBQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=2&amp;amp;ved=0CBsQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22You%20know%20what%20thought%20did%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Dictionary of Catch Phrases&lt;/a&gt; states that the original form of &quot;You know what thought did?&quot; is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What did thought do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and was exemplified in 1738.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;LADY ANS:  I thought you did just now.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  LORD SP:   Pray, Madam, what did thought&#xA;  do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also seen in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eastbournehouse.co.uk/Lincolnshire%20Sayings.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lincolnshire Traditional Sayings And Proverbial Expressions&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When a child says &lt;code&gt;I thought so and&#xA;  so&lt;/code&gt; the adult may respond with: &lt;code&gt;You&#xA;  know what thought did? He only thought&#xA;  he did.&lt;/code&gt; A teenager, however, may&#xA;  reply &lt;code&gt;Ah, but when he looked he had!&lt;/code&gt;&#xA;  -a riposte which has the effect of counteracting the adult's attempt to&#xA;  control behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-07T07:28:13.983" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T07:28:13.983" />
  <row Id="2637" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2643" CreationDate="2010-09-06T22:49:59.383" Score="7" ViewCount="330" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to figure out &lt;strong&gt;how to use &quot;not only... but also&quot; properly&lt;/strong&gt;. Basically, my goal is to combine two clauses by using &quot;not only&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For negations, I've figured out two styles that both sound correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;He knew that if he fractures his finger, not only would he not be able to compete in the water polo tournament, he would not be able to take the SAT on Monday, either.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;He knew that if he fractures his finger, neither would he be able to compete in the water polo tournament, nor would he be able to take the SAT on Monday.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I don't know how to form a sentence that does not include a negation while using &quot;not only&quot;. Here are a few possibilities that I've considered:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thanks to his remarkable performance on the SAT, not only was he accepted into Harvard, but he was also given a full scholarship.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thanks to his remarkable performance on the SAT, not only was he accepted into Harvard, but he was given a full scholarship.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thanks to his remarkable performance on the SAT, not only was he accepted into Harvard, he was given a full scholarship.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thanks to his remarkable performance on the SAT, not only was he accepted into Harvard, he was also given a full scholarship.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In those four possibilities, I'm varying &lt;strong&gt;the usage of &quot;but&quot; and &quot;also&quot; in the last clause&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the proper usage&lt;/strong&gt; of &quot;not only&quot;? Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="149" LastEditorUserId="149" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T19:33:28.990" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T19:33:28.990" Title="What is the proper usage of &quot;not only... but also&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2632" CreationDate="2010-09-06T22:56:15.890" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, it's certainly not the first time an adjective is used as an adverb in American English. I'd call it informal, but not necessarily ungrammatical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="706" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T22:56:15.890" />
  <row Id="2639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2632" CreationDate="2010-09-06T22:58:03.547" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/em&gt; claim that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/different?show=1&amp;amp;t=1283813816&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;different&lt;/em&gt; as an adverb&lt;/a&gt; dates at least as far back as 1744.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-06T22:58:03.547" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2640" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2641" CreationDate="2010-09-06T23:19:13.977" Score="5" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;On a road trip, my wife and I drove by &quot;Kings Dominion&quot;. We debated whether this should in actuality be &quot;King's Dominion&quot;. It seemed that it ought to be possessive (or the plural possessive). Upon doing a little more research we found the origin of the &quot;Kings Dominion&quot; name. To quote the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_Dominion&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The park was named after its sister park, Kings Island in Kings Mills, Ohio, which opened in 1972. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which leads to the question, is it typical in the English language for a place name to lose the possessive in English? I wonder why that is...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="154" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T00:34:48.113" Title="Is it common for place names to lose the possessive?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="2641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2640" CreationDate="2010-09-06T23:34:27.587" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names has a longstanding policy dating back to 1890 to discourage the use of possessive forms and especially apostrophes in place names. This is discussed in &lt;a href=&quot;http://geonames.usgs.gov/domestic/faqs.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;their FAQ&lt;/a&gt; (question 18):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I have heard that the use of the apostrophe “s”, such as Pike’s Peak (Pikes Peak in the database) to show possession is not allowed in geographic names, so why are there many such entries in the GNIS Database?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Since its inception in 1890, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names has discouraged the use of the possessive form—the genitive apostrophe and the “s”. The possessive form using an “s” is allowed, but the apostrophe is almost always removed. The Board's archives contain no indication of the reason for this policy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://geonames.usgs.gov/docs/pro_pol_pro.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;USBGN’s editorial guidelines&lt;/a&gt; expand on the matter:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Apostrophes suggesting possession or association are not to be used within the body of a &#xA;  proper geographic name (Henrys Fork: not Henry's Fork). The word or words that form a &#xA;  geographic name change their connotative function and together become a single &#xA;  denotative unit. They change from words having specific dictionary meaning to fixed &#xA;  labels used to refer to geographic entities. The need to imply possession or association no &#xA;  longer exists. Thus, we write &quot; Jamestown&quot; instead of &quot; James' town&quot; or even &#xA;  &quot;Richardsons Creek&quot; instead of &quot; Richard's son's creek.&quot; The whole name can be made &#xA;  possessive or associative with an apostrophe at the end as in &quot; Rogers Point's rocky &#xA;  shore.&quot; Apostrophes may be used within the body of a geographic name to denote a &#xA;  missing letter ( Lake O' the Woods) or when they normally exist in a surname used as &#xA;  part of a geographic name (O'Malley Hollow).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the official name of U.S. places, even when it has a genitive &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;, never has an apostrophe, by fiat of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, which is a part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Australia, a similar board—Committee for Geographical Names in Australasia—has made a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.icsm.gov.au/cgna/consistent_pnames.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;similar ruling&lt;/a&gt; about apostrophes in place names:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4.12. GENITIVE APOSTROPHE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  In all cases of place names containing an element that has historically been written with a final -’s or -s’, the apostrophe is to be deleted, e.g. Howes Valley, Rushcutters Bay, Ladys Pass. This is to facilitate the consistent matching and retrieval of placenames in database systems such as those used by the emergency services.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don’t know about any official rule in Britain, but the tendency is widespread there. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe#Omission&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article about apostrophes&lt;/a&gt; mentions these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is a tendency to drop apostrophes in many commonly used names such as St Annes, St Johns Lane, and so on.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  In 2009 a resident in Royal Tunbridge Wells was accused of vandalism after he painted apostrophes on road signs that had incorrectly spelt St John's Close as St Johns Close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second sentence there includes a link to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1207301/Punctuation-hero-branded-vandal-inserting-apostrophes-street-signs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; about a man in England who decided that the tradition of excluding apostrophes from place names should be reversed by painting in apostrophes onto public signs, and was (correctly, IMHO) branded a vandal. If I were the reporter for that story, I would not have been so forgiving and deferential to what the perpetrator considered to be “correct English”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-07T00:34:48.113" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T00:34:48.113" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="2642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2637" CreationDate="2010-09-07T00:35:13.277" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure of the official usage but as a writer, I find that &quot;not only...but also&quot; usually sounds ugly. There's better ways to structure a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The version I much prefer is the last:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thanks to his remarkable performance on the SAT, not only was he accepted into Harvard, he was also given a full scholarship.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1080" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T00:35:13.277" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2637" CreationDate="2010-09-07T01:05:13.613" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the bottom one, this is how I would form it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thanks to his remarkable performance on the SAT, he was not only accepted into Harvard, but also given a full scholarship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-07T01:47:43.340" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T01:47:43.340" />
  <row Id="2644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2632" CreationDate="2010-09-07T01:53:41.853" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyone's assuming that this is &quot;think differently&quot; with the -ly dropped off, but note that there are also formations like &lt;strong&gt;think fruit&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;think pink&lt;/strong&gt;, and &quot;think different&quot; could belong to that group. In other words &quot;What should I think about this product?&quot; &quot;Think (that it is) different&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, &quot;think differently&quot; is a terrible slogan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T01:53:41.853" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2645" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2646" CreationDate="2010-09-07T02:58:29.500" Score="2" ViewCount="260" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wrote that sentence in my composition but I really feel that it doesn't sound natural.  What will you write to express the meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="786" LastActivityDate="2010-10-30T04:10:29.310" Title="A real important dream, like XXX, is worth every possible effort to guard." Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2645" CreationDate="2010-09-07T03:54:12.957" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, use &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt;, an &lt;strong&gt;adverb&lt;/strong&gt;, instead of &lt;em&gt;real&lt;/em&gt;, an &lt;strong&gt;adjective&lt;/strong&gt;. I'm sure you know the difference, but basically, adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, or other verbs and an adjective describes a noun: &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; describes the adjective &lt;em&gt;important&lt;/em&gt;, which in turn describes &lt;em&gt;dream&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, as &lt;em&gt;important&lt;/em&gt; is quite a strong word, you could leave out the word &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is nothing wrong with your phrase 'every possible effort to guard', it is just not idiomatic. You could use a more common turn of phrase, like 'is worth protecting at all costs'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;An important dream, like one day being Prime Minister,&#xA;is worth protecting at all costs.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T03:54:12.957" />
  <row Id="2647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2632" CreationDate="2010-09-07T04:00:23.757" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One possibility we're forgetting here is the that the adjective may be a &lt;strong&gt;substantive adjective&lt;/strong&gt;. Substantive adjectives are adjectives which are used alone without the noun they are describing. For example, &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;bad&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;ugly&lt;/em&gt; in this sentence, 'The &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt;, the &lt;em&gt;bad&lt;/em&gt;, and the &lt;em&gt;ugly&lt;/em&gt;, which is really, 'The good &lt;em&gt;people&lt;/em&gt;, the bad &lt;em&gt;people&lt;/em&gt;, and the ugly &lt;em&gt;people&lt;/em&gt;.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, Apple's slogan, 'Think different', would be read 'Think different things', and is thus a perfectly grammatical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T04:00:23.757" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2648" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2651" CreationDate="2010-09-07T05:24:47.590" Score="2" ViewCount="258" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I pronounce &lt;kbd&gt;@&lt;/kbd&gt; symbol: At / At the rate?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Can I use it in a sentence? Please explain with an example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="40" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T14:56:01.917" Title="How to pronounce @ symbol?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2649" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2656" CreationDate="2010-09-07T05:25:56.197" Score="3" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can the term &quot;volunteer work&quot; be applied to answering questions on Stack Exchange or Stack Overflow trilogy sites?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="623" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T05:25:30.337" Title="Can answering questions on Stack Exchange sites be called volunteer work?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2649" CreationDate="2010-09-07T05:32:06.303" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can the term &quot;volunteer work&quot; be&#xA;  applied to answering questions on&#xA;  Stack Exchange or Stack Overflow&#xA;  trilogy sites?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose so, since it's work, you are not being paid for it and are not obliged to do it, but most people take volunteer work to mean work done for a charitable cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T05:32:06.303" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2648" CreationDate="2010-09-07T05:32:34.163" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How can I pronounce @ symbol: At / At the rate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;at mark&quot;, &quot;at sign&quot;, or &quot;at symbol&quot; is its usual name. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_sign&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; its official name is &quot;commercial at&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can I use it in a sentence? Please explain with an example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has no function in English sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T05:32:34.163" CommentCount="13" />
  <row Id="2652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2648" CreationDate="2010-09-07T06:36:16.100" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not know much about English grammar, but I hate it when people call this thing MONKEY.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1085" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-07T14:56:01.917" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T14:56:01.917" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2648" CreationDate="2010-09-07T07:27:59.663" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Classic computer software programmers call it &lt;strong&gt;Null Character&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="732" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T07:27:59.663" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="2655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2635" CreationDate="2010-09-07T07:51:51.927" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This was a common one in our house while I was growing up.  The next line was &quot;Followed a muck cart, and &lt;em&gt;thought&lt;/em&gt; it was a wedding&quot;.  I've no source, but a quick googling suggests we weren't the only ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1087" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T07:51:51.927" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2649" CreationDate="2010-09-07T07:58:29.073" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Volunteer work, being charitable, requires abstract intent to do the good without expecting a direct personal gain except for the self satisfaction feeling which could be worth more than money to some people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this applies to the professional participants who have the real capacity to answer questions correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, the non-professional participants should be classified as learners not volunteers (although they may sometimes have valuable participations).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastEditorUserId="873" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-07T13:58:14.313" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T13:58:14.313" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1999" CreationDate="2010-09-07T08:55:18.277" Score="21" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I may be mistaken on some of these, but:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Homely&lt;/strong&gt; apparently means &quot;ugly&quot; in the US, but &quot;pleasant&quot; in the UK&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Table&lt;/strong&gt; means &quot;propose&quot; in the UK, but &quot;set aside&quot; in the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Quite&lt;/strong&gt; means &quot;completely&quot; in the US, but often means &quot;slightly&quot; in the UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read somewhere that &lt;strong&gt;Bomb&lt;/strong&gt; is a failure in the US, but can be a success in the UK (although I have only ever heard the US meaning here in England).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Citation&lt;/strong&gt;: a note accompanying an award and (in the USA) a written record of an infraction : praise and penalty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Gas&lt;/strong&gt; seems to be a liquid in the US (petrol), but is always a gas in the UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wicked&lt;/strong&gt; can mean both good and bad, but I don't know if that is a regional thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Walk to the shops&lt;/strong&gt; is supposed to be a good thing in the UK, but a friend from the US was horrified when I suggested it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-15T00:27:31.003" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T00:27:31.003" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-07T08:55:18.277" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="2658" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2698" CreationDate="2010-09-07T09:56:49.900" Score="2" ViewCount="425" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, what is the difference between the following two sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I had a bad day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I had had a bad day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="293" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-07T23:30:36.643" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T20:15:00.167" Title="What does &quot;had had&quot; mean? How does this differ from &quot;had&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;past-perfect&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2637" CreationDate="2010-09-07T09:58:19.873" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd use the one with the &quot;not only/but/also&quot; construct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thanks to his remarkable performance&#xA;  on the SAT, &lt;strong&gt;not only&lt;/strong&gt; was he accepted&#xA;  into Harvard, &lt;strong&gt;but&lt;/strong&gt; he was &lt;strong&gt;also&lt;/strong&gt; given a&#xA;  full scholarship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;not only [fact A] but [fact B]&quot;. When you start with &quot;not only&quot; you're indicating that two facts A and B will be presented. Fact A is something that is already good enough (or bad enough) by itself and fact B makes it even better (or even worse). In general, this construct expresses that expectations have been exceeded positively (or negatively). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Including &quot;also&quot; as part of fact B is how we emphasize that fact B occurred in addition to fact A.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-07T12:35:40.263" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T12:35:40.263" />
  <row Id="2661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2658" CreationDate="2010-09-07T11:00:22.117" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first sentence uses the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_past&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;simple past&lt;/a&gt; of the verb &quot;to have&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second sentence uses the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluperfect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pluperfect&lt;/a&gt; (past perfect).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T11:00:22.117" />
  <row Id="2662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2658" CreationDate="2010-09-07T11:13:26.880" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure, but as the schoolboy put it...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I had 'had', where I would have had 'had had', if 'had had' had had the teacher's approval.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T11:13:26.880" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2658" CreationDate="2010-09-07T11:17:12.747" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I had eaten my breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the past perfect form of the verb &lt;em&gt;eat&lt;/em&gt;. This uses the past participle (3rd form) of the verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, just substitute the verb &lt;em&gt;eat&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I had had my breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T07:23:59.287" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T07:23:59.287" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2649" CreationDate="2010-09-07T11:39:48.370" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you read one of Daniel Pink's books for eg. Surprising Science of Motivation, you would discover that an intrinsic motivator of a sense of mastery, autonomy and purpose drive us all to contribute here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reputation scores are extrinsic motivators that certify the sense of mastery among peers. I feel that anything driven by something that pleases you in some way is not volunteer work. It is certainly not charity. This is true even if you are a professional.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastEditorUserId="145" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-08T05:25:30.337" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T05:25:30.337" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2665" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2675" CreationDate="2010-09-07T11:56:24.840" Score="7" ViewCount="245" Body="&lt;p&gt;What should the correct response be (from someone not overtly religious) if someone says &quot;God bless&quot; when parting company?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Bye now&quot; or &quot;Bye&quot; doesn't seem an adequate response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="984" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T06:30:26.780" Title="Response to &quot;God Bless&quot; when parting company." Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;politeness&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2666" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2697" CreationDate="2010-09-07T12:03:45.550" Score="3" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine announced her pregnancy via email. I wanted to tell her how pleased I was to hear she was going to have a baby, as this was something she'd wanted for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was about to say &quot;I've never been happier to hear someone's pregnant&quot;, but then realised that of course I had been even happier when my own wife found she was pregnant. I wanted to imply that that was the only time I had been happier to hear such an announcement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wrestled with putting it succinctly for a few moments before writing &quot;&lt;strong&gt;you're the person I've been second happiest to hear is pregnant ever&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I shuddered as I sent it, as I could see it was poor English. However, I was in a rush and knew she would understand what I meant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope you can see what I was aiming for: I didn't want to mention my wife explicitly, and I wanted to use &quot;second-most&quot; in some way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even with hindsight, I struggle to put this into a single brief sentence. What should I have written?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1093" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T16:15:24.977" Title="How can I structure this sentence correctly?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2666" CreationDate="2010-09-07T12:09:38.100" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course you were happier at the birth of your own child, but that goes without saying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words almost everyone prefers an inaccurate pleasantry to something accurate but less effusive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be lovely to hear &quot;I've never been happier...&quot; from a friend, accurate or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Years ago my mother used to say to me, she'd say, &quot;In this world, Elwood, you must be&quot; -- she&#xA;  always called me Elwood -- &quot;In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.&quot;&#xA;  Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;James Stewart&lt;/strong&gt; as Elwood P. Dowd,&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;Elwood P. Dowd's 'Philosophy' of Life&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastEditorUserId="588" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-07T12:18:57.030" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T12:18:57.030" />
  <row Id="2668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2665" CreationDate="2010-09-07T12:26:45.360" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could respond with a Jewish farewell, illustrating that not everyone sees the world the same way, but also probably alienating your friend&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Shalom!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you could be polite and simply say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;you too!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T12:26:45.360" />
  <row Id="2669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2665" CreationDate="2010-09-07T13:03:59.020" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The origin of &quot;goodbye&quot; (hence &quot;bye&quot;) is &quot;God be with you&quot;, so it is about on the same level.  I think &quot;goodbye&quot; (or perhaps &quot;goodbye to you, too&quot;) could be appropriate, just &quot;bye&quot; perhaps not so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T13:03:59.020" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2648" CreationDate="2010-09-07T13:52:05.283" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;At,&quot; as in, &quot;my email address is name at domain dot com.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="928" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T13:52:05.283" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2665" CreationDate="2010-09-07T14:01:01.360" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Be well,&quot; said with a smile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="928" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T14:01:01.360" />
  <row Id="2672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2459" CreationDate="2010-09-07T14:05:25.377" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jim opens a cafe selling fish and chips. He has a sign made. It arrives and it says &quot;fishandchips&quot;. So he rings up the sign company and says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;You need to put more space between &quot;fish&quot; and &quot;and&quot; and &quot;and&quot; and &quot;chips&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T14:05:25.377" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-07T14:05:25.377" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2666" CreationDate="2010-09-07T14:06:37.830" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people refer to the couple as being pregnant and not just the woman. If you find that usage acceptable, you could have said &quot;I've never been happier to hear that another couple is pregnant&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you could have said &quot;Except for my wife's pregnancy, I've never been happier to hear that someone is pregnant!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think if you try to say &quot;second-most&quot; or not mention your wife you are always going to have a sentence that sounds too stilted or make the compliment sound back-handed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T14:06:37.830" />
  <row Id="2674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2010-09-07T14:07:41.383" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=absquatulate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Absquatulate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;meaning to abscond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T14:07:41.383" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-07T14:07:41.383" />
  <row Id="2675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2665" CreationDate="2010-09-07T14:14:21.580" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it comes down to A) how religious the other person is, B) how religious you are, and C) how much you want to avoid potentially insulting the person.  If they are very religious and you are not, and you want to avoid any hint of insult to their religion or any potential conflict, better just say something religious or at least agreeing back:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Thanks, same to you&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't stand to say something that even acknowledges their beliefs, I think it at least doesn't hurt to acknowledge their sentiment, so you could just say &quot;Thanks, bye.&quot; That's probably what I'd do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T14:14:21.580" />
  <row Id="2676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2666" CreationDate="2010-09-07T14:34:01.050" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could've said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is the happiest news I heard for a long time!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This way you implicitly mean that you've had happier news but that was a long time ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T14:34:01.050" />
  <row Id="2677" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2703" CreationDate="2010-09-07T14:36:41.270" Score="8" ViewCount="263" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you please clarify the relation and differences between these nouns? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, is it proper to use &quot;persons&quot; instead of &quot;people&quot;? Are they the same? As I believe that &quot;people&quot; is plural, how come there exists the plural of the plural (=peoples)? Does it have any usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-27T11:03:46.867" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T11:03:46.867" Title="Person, Persons, People, Peoples" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2658" CreationDate="2010-09-07T14:43:51.360" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are asking about the difference between these. If you are asking about &lt;em&gt;meanings&lt;/em&gt;, then the first is a simple statement of fact that stands alone. The second implies another thought coming with it, such as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I had had a bad day at work already, when I got home and discovered the basement was flooded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T14:43:51.360" />
  <row Id="2679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2666" CreationDate="2010-09-07T14:47:08.273" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could leave off the comparisons and just say, &quot;I couldn't be happier for you.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T14:47:08.273" />
  <row Id="2680" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2699" CreationDate="2010-09-07T14:58:43.290" Score="2" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was looking for an alternative to &quot;unanimous&quot; and had found &quot;concordant&quot; in the thesaurus. What would be the best way to use this word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in an essay it would be okay to say &quot;the texts had unanimously agreed on how &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;. Would this be the same for &quot;concordant&quot;, as in &quot;the texts had been concordant on how &lt;strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;_&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could any examples of the word be listed below?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T17:41:07.627" Title="How Can I Use &quot;Concordant&quot; In A Sentence?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="2681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2677" CreationDate="2010-09-07T15:00:29.590" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference between &quot;people&quot; and &quot;peoples&quot; has been answered here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2444/people-or-peoples-when-referring-to-an-indigenous-population&quot;&gt;People or peoples when referring to an indigenous population?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Persons would be used as a the plural of person when you are not referring to a group collectively but to a collection of individuals. For example, &quot;Many people like ice cream,&quot; but &quot;Corporations are considered persons under the U.S. Consitution.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="990" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-07T20:28:19.477" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T20:28:19.477" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-09-07T15:24:41.890" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a young 1st-grader, I came home to tell my parents that I would be learning &quot;MATH-ma-tics.&quot; Made sense to me that it would rhyme with arithmatic!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much later I had similar experiences with &quot;array&quot; and &quot;piezoelectric.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="990" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T15:24:41.890" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-07T15:24:41.890" />
  <row Id="2683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2459" CreationDate="2010-09-07T15:28:58.500" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_while_John_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_a_better_effect_on_the_teacher&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T15:28:58.500" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-07T15:28:58.500" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2684" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2690" CreationDate="2010-09-07T15:32:54.467" Score="2" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is correct: &quot;give me an offer&quot; vs. &quot;make me an offer&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there some difference in meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1096" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T16:12:13.907" Title="&quot;give me an offer&quot; vs &quot;make me an offer&quot;" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="2685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2684" CreationDate="2010-09-07T15:37:46.247" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Which is correct: &quot;give me an offer&quot; vs. &quot;make me an offer&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are both correct phrases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T15:37:46.247" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2680" CreationDate="2010-09-07T15:40:04.240" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the texts had been concordant on how _&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Er, probably something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the texts concorded on how ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would be more natural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's difficult to use the past perfect without any context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The texts had concorded on how to make the perfect omelette, yet Sarah discovered that despite all their advice, she could indeed make an omelette without breaking eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-07T15:45:47.263" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T15:45:47.263" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2677" CreationDate="2010-09-07T15:43:59.340" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In British English at least, &quot;persons&quot; is generally considered a more formal word than &quot;people&quot;, e.g. it is often used in formal announcements or notices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Persons wishing to carry on hand luggage should consult the steward beforehand&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2677/person-persons-people-peoples/2681#2681&quot;&gt;Doug's answer&lt;/a&gt; for more considerations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T15:43:59.340" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2689" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-07T16:02:03.807" Score="6" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been taught to use the &lt;em&gt;if I had&lt;/em&gt; form in conditional clauses referring to the past:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the president had asked me, I would have told him the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I can tell though, the &lt;em&gt;would have&lt;/em&gt; construct is sometimes used in conditional clauses as well, so it wouldn't be incorrect to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the president would have asked me, I would have told him the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between the two and the proper use of the latter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="957" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T21:54:33.770" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T20:30:22.467" Title="Would have in conditional clauses" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;conditional-mood&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2684" CreationDate="2010-09-07T16:12:13.907" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Make me an offer&quot; is more idiomatic. But you might also say &quot;Give me a quote&quot; or &quot;Give me a price&quot;, if you were buying something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T16:12:13.907" />
  <row Id="2691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2689" CreationDate="2010-09-07T16:31:19.090" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second example is wrong - but, sadly, is frequently heard nowadays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first example is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T16:31:19.090" />
  <row Id="2693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2689" CreationDate="2010-09-07T16:48:44.967" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first sentence is the right one. The only other correct equivalent that I know for the first one is &quot; Had the President asked me, I would have told him the same thing&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="264" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T16:48:44.967" />
  <row Id="2694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2666" CreationDate="2010-09-07T17:06:05.067" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I couldn't be happier to hear you're pregnant!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this tense, you're talking about the here and now as well as future, instead of from going back into the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, one day you &quot;COULD&quot; end up being happier... but you can deal with that later. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Why say today what you could say tomorrow?&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastEditorUserId="134" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-14T16:15:24.977" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T16:15:24.977" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="274" CreationDate="2010-09-07T17:07:05.153" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've lived in southern Maine for nine years, and I've never heard anybody say &quot;standing on line.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1098" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T17:07:05.153" />
  <row Id="2696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="824" CreationDate="2010-09-07T17:09:26.793" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because you asked this question here, I'm obliged to say yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T17:09:26.793" />
  <row Id="2697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2666" CreationDate="2010-09-07T17:12:00.237" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To rephrase without losing any of the meaning and disregarding the pragmatics of the questioner’s sentiment, I might say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Of all the times that hearing news of a pregnancy has made me happy, yours ranks second. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I think this formulation casts more light on the awkwardness of the sentiment than the questioner would have wanted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with the other answerers that although your intentions are kind, this is going to be an uncomfortable thing to hear, no matter how unawkwardly you phrase it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T17:12:00.237" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2658" CreationDate="2010-09-07T17:35:56.310" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Had' is the past form as well as the past participle of 'have'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first sentence is in the simple past tense which typically has this form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Subject + past form of verb&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;had&lt;/strong&gt; (past tense of have) a bad day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I  &lt;strong&gt;reached&lt;/strong&gt; (past tense form of 'reach') the office late.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simple past is used normally to denote an action that is completed in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second sentence is in the past perfect tense which has this form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Subject + had + past participle of verb&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If two non-consecutive events happened in the past, this tense is used to show the first event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;By the time we arrived, &lt;strong&gt;the party &lt;em&gt;had begun.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;= The party began. Then we arrived.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;By the time we arrived, they &lt;strong&gt;had eaten&lt;/strong&gt; all the food!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;= They ate all the food; then we arrived.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;had had&lt;/strong&gt; a bad day already, and I arrived home to find that it &lt;strong&gt;had been&lt;/strong&gt; robbed! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;= I was having a bad day. During the day my home was robbed. Then I arrived home and found out about the robbery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Refer to Kajaco's example as well. Here, the past perfect is used to show which incident/action happened first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="264" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-08T01:39:24.460" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T01:39:24.460" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2680" CreationDate="2010-09-07T17:41:07.627" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;The texts were concordant on the proper use of quotation marks.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The movie's opening-weekend gross was fairly concordant with box-office returns for that genre.&quot; (example from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/concordant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;merriam-webster.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say &quot;unanimous&quot; means perfect, universal agreement, while &quot;concordant&quot; means general compatibility of opinion or ideas with perhaps some differences on specifics. Better synonyms for concordant would be &quot;harmonious&quot; or &quot;nonconflicting.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="990" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T17:41:07.627" />
  <row Id="2700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-09-07T17:46:01.080" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many mythological names. The one that stands out for me is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terpsichore&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Terpsichore&lt;/a&gt; (rhymes with &quot;hickory&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="990" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T17:46:01.080" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-07T17:46:01.080" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2701" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2702" CreationDate="2010-09-07T18:38:10.650" Score="7" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering about the origins of a particular word and while my first thought was to ask the ELU community, I decided I should do the work myself.  The problem is that I have no good thoughts on where to start.  I'd love to see some suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-14T22:07:42.003" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T22:07:42.003" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-07T18:38:10.650" Title="What are some good sites for researching etymology?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;research&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2701" CreationDate="2010-09-07T18:44:03.983" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://etymonline.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;etymonline&lt;/a&gt; is a great resource for looking up specific words.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you are at a university, you might have &lt;a href=&quot;http://oed.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;OED&lt;/a&gt; access, which is the most in-depth and hardcore etymology resource (if you can get to it).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://takeourword.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Take Our Word For It&lt;/a&gt; is a fun website for browsing through and learning about etymologies in a more entertaining, less structured way. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-07T18:50:01.847" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T18:50:01.847" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-07T18:44:03.983" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2677" CreationDate="2010-09-07T19:46:27.073" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dreaded &lt;em&gt;Elements of Style&lt;/em&gt; have this to say on this matter:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;people&lt;/em&gt; is not to be used with words of number, in place of &lt;em&gt;persons&lt;/em&gt;. If of &quot;six people&quot; five went away, how many &quot;people&quot; would be left?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So at least in formal or technical discourse you might want to prefer &quot;persons&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also observed that &quot;persons&quot; is generally and widely used in official documents, highway signs, etc. in Britain, Canada, and the U.S.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In informal contexts, however, &quot;people&quot; is probably preferable, especially as it will allow you to steer clear of the, er, people from all walks of life who will try to tell you that &quot;persons&quot; is not a valid word at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But as both your question and Strunk point out, you should avoid mixing them too much, because there is no exact correspondence between &quot;person&quot;/&quot;persons&quot; and &quot;people&quot;/&quot;peoples&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T19:46:27.073" />
  <row Id="2704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2665" CreationDate="2010-09-07T21:32:06.317" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a friend in college who liked to respond to &quot;God bless&quot; with &quot;Goddess protect&quot;. As I recall he did so just to be different from us other geeks who would sometimes respond with &quot;Live long and prosper&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously, though, I think that a polite &quot;Thank you&quot; should be sufficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="457" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T21:32:06.317" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2705" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2779" CreationDate="2010-09-07T22:18:24.013" Score="12" ViewCount="439" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this correct grammar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What if there was a Stack Overflow on… &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shouldn't it be &quot;what if there &lt;strong&gt;were&lt;/strong&gt; a Stack Overflow on…&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="371" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T04:07:59.260" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T04:07:59.260" Title="&quot;Was&quot; versus &quot;were&quot;—word usage in Stack Overflow Ad Image" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;subjunctive-mood&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2706" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2707" CreationDate="2010-09-07T22:19:04.837" Score="3" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am currently reading a book, where I found the following sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;The X can be also applied to Y&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later in the book, I find&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;The X may alternatively be spread over two Y&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is relative to the different ordering of modal verb + adverb + infinitive, as in &quot;can be also&quot; &lt;em&gt;vs.&lt;/em&gt; &quot;may alternatively be&quot;, and what is the exact rule. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1100" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T22:25:41.287" Title="Rule about order in modal + adverb + to be" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2706" CreationDate="2010-09-07T22:25:41.287" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most common word order is &lt;em&gt;modal + adverb + verb&lt;/em&gt;. The ordering &quot;The X can be also applied to Y&quot; sounds very artificial to me, and I much prefer &quot;The X can also be applied to Y&quot;, with the adverb moved to the position immediately following the modal verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google reports a similar result. There are 938,000,000 results for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=%22can+also+be%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;can also be&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, but only 14,400,000 results for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?aq=f&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=%22can+be+also%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;can be also&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. Keeping in mind that the magnitude of results that Google reports for queries like these can be extremely inaccurate, this nonetheless shows that &quot;can also be&quot; is preferred by a ratio of over 10:1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T22:25:41.287" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2705" CreationDate="2010-09-07T22:31:38.920" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since that's proposing a hypothetical situation, yes it should be &lt;strong&gt;were&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1101" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T22:31:38.920" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2705" CreationDate="2010-09-07T22:37:01.160" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not a native speaker, but indeed it is a conditional and therefore &quot;were&quot; should be used. However, I hear the incorrect form more often than the correct one, so I guess that &quot;was&quot; is a colloquial, albeit grammatically incorrect form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1100" LastActivityDate="2010-09-07T22:37:01.160" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="516" CreationDate="2010-09-08T00:17:58.930" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you look in the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), you will find that &lt;em&gt;different than&lt;/em&gt;, despite objections to its being “illogical” and “incorrect”, is in fact a very common and therefore standard usage in American English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;                TOTAL  SPOKEN  FICTION  MAGAZINE  NEWSPAPER  ACADEMIC&#xA; DIFFERENT FROM &#xA;      raw count  12420   1970     1804      2469       1744      4433&#xA;    per million         22.61    22.07     28.33      20.88     53.46&#xA; DIFFERENT THAN &#xA;      raw count   3453   1726      367       358        624       378&#xA;    per million         19.81     4.49      4.11       7.47      4.56&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&amp;amp;q=6106713&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Raw results page&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From this we can see that, indeed, &lt;em&gt;different from&lt;/em&gt; is more common than &lt;em&gt;different than&lt;/em&gt;, but by a ratio of less than 4 to 1, meaning that &lt;em&gt;different than&lt;/em&gt; enjoys substantial minority usage. Further dividing up the usage, we see that &lt;em&gt;different than&lt;/em&gt; is almost as common as &lt;em&gt;different from&lt;/em&gt; in spoken English (22.61 incidences per million words for &lt;em&gt;different from&lt;/em&gt; versus 19.81 for &lt;em&gt;different than&lt;/em&gt;), but much less common in written forms. When a usage is more common in spoken English, that is usually a sign that it is less formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For another perspective, let’s look at the historical development of &lt;em&gt;different than&lt;/em&gt; using data from the Corpus of Historical American English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coha/?c=coha&amp;amp;q=6106812&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;COHA results page&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/ddDVU.png&quot; alt=&quot;Graph showing incidences of 'different than' and 'different from' since 1890&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here we see that &lt;em&gt;different than&lt;/em&gt; is a relatively new development in American English, only coming into any significant usage starting in the 1960s. It is probably this relative newness that makes usage commenters object to &lt;em&gt;different than&lt;/em&gt;. But the rise of &lt;em&gt;different than&lt;/em&gt; is probably inexorable, and the COCA data, which divides up incidences over the last 4 half-decades, shows that the ratio in favor of &lt;em&gt;different from&lt;/em&gt; was 4.4 to 1 for 1990–1994, but had dropped to 2.9 to 1 by 2005–2010.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in conclusion, yes &lt;em&gt;different from&lt;/em&gt; is more common than &lt;em&gt;different than&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;different than&lt;/em&gt; is less formal than &lt;em&gt;different from&lt;/em&gt;, probably because it is a relatively recent development. However, &lt;em&gt;different than&lt;/em&gt; occurs with significant frequency even in formal academic writing, so to write it off as simply “incorrect” is to ignore the facts. If current trends continue, &lt;em&gt;different than&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;different from&lt;/em&gt; will be equally common within a few decades.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T00:17:58.930" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="2711" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2713" CreationDate="2010-09-08T01:41:29.673" Score="2" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I have to choose between three things, do I have three choices? I have always thought of a &quot;choice&quot; as being either the act of choosing or the result of said choosing, but &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; one of the options from which to choose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone tells me I have two choices, I tell them &quot;No, I have one &lt;em&gt;choice&lt;/em&gt;. I have two &lt;em&gt;options&lt;/em&gt;.&quot; Am I right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1102" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T01:49:31.533" Title="Is a &quot;choice&quot; the result of choosing or something to choose from?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="2712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2711" CreationDate="2010-09-08T01:47:50.857" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I have to choose between three&#xA;  things, do I have three choices?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, in my experience &quot;choice&quot; is widely used in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I&#xA;  have always thought of a &quot;choice&quot; as&#xA;  being either the act of choosing or&#xA;  the result of said choosing, but not&#xA;  one of the options from which to&#xA;  choose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really? If I google for &quot;you have three choices&quot; I find 700,000 results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If someone tells me I have two&#xA;  choices, I tell them &quot;No, I have one&#xA;  choice. I have two options.&quot; Am I&#xA;  right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not familiar with this particular rule, but it sounds like pedantry to me, especially since the way you frame the question makes it seem like many people are saying &quot;choice&quot; rather than &quot;option&quot; to you, and so you must already be aware that &quot;choice&quot; meaning &quot;option&quot; is a common usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T01:47:50.857" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2711" CreationDate="2010-09-08T01:49:31.533" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Merriam-Webster dictionary says &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/choice&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;both&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;choice&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;1&lt;/strong&gt; : the act of choosing : selection &amp;lt;finding it hard to make a &lt;em&gt;choice&lt;/em&gt;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;2&lt;/strong&gt; : power of choosing : option &amp;lt;you have no &lt;em&gt;choice&lt;/em&gt;&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T01:49:31.533" />
  <row Id="2714" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2716" CreationDate="2010-09-08T02:25:44.447" Score="4" ViewCount="312" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work for a financial services provider and we deal with &quot;Financial Advisors&quot; all the time. Increasingly, I'm seeing people send emails and so forth with the term &quot;Financial Adviser&quot; and the terms &quot;Advisor&quot; and &quot;Adviser&quot; seem to be increasingly interchangeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which then raises the question: what is the difference between Adviser and Advisor &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="235" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-08T12:16:55.317" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T12:16:55.317" Title="What is the difference between Adviser and Advisor and are both interchangeable?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;suffix&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2714" CreationDate="2010-09-08T03:06:47.580" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The nearest reference book to my computer, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0192826697&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Oxford Writers' Dictionary&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, says &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;advis/er&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; -or; &lt;strong&gt;ory&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T03:06:47.580" />
  <row Id="2716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2714" CreationDate="2010-09-08T03:52:09.513" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are right. This is how the &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0010380#m_en_gb0010380&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford dictionary entry&lt;/a&gt; explains the usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The spellings adviser and advisor are&#xA;  both correct. Adviser is more common,&#xA;  but advisor is also widely used ,&#xA;  especially in North America. Adviser&#xA;  may be seen as less formal, while&#xA;  advisor often suggests an official&#xA;  position&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="264" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T03:52:09.513" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2717" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2718" CreationDate="2010-09-08T03:53:03.163" Score="3" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I kind of feel like the first comma in the sentence below should be a semi-colon.  Does anything else in there read funny?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As you’ll see in my enclosed resume, I&#xA;  have the educational background,&#xA;  professional experience and track&#xA;  record for which you are searching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="605" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-08T04:09:39.853" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T07:21:45.843" Title="Should I reformat this sentence?" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;structure&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2717" CreationDate="2010-09-08T04:06:20.010" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As you’ll see in my enclosed resume, I have the educational background, professional experience and track record you are looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The clauses in this sentence are not &quot;independent enough&quot; to warrant a semicolon.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The &quot;for which&quot; sounds a bit complicated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/look%20for&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;look for&lt;/a&gt;&quot; (make sure, ascertain, anticipate or expect) is better than &quot;a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/search&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;search&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T04:06:20.010" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2717" CreationDate="2010-09-08T04:06:30.213" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I kind of feel like the first comma in the sentence below should be a semi-colon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You think it should be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;As you’ll see in my enclosed resume&lt;b&gt;;&lt;/b&gt; I have the educational background, professional experience and track record for which you are searching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;? No, that is definitely wrong, that should not be a semicolon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T04:06:30.213" />
  <row Id="2721" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2723" CreationDate="2010-09-08T04:30:55.550" Score="3" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;New-car buyers often fear that they're getting a &quot;Friday afternoon&quot; vehicle!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does a &quot;Friday afternoon&quot; vehicle mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1104" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-18T13:24:37.683" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T13:24:37.683" Title="&quot;Friday afternoon&quot; vehicle" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="2722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2721" CreationDate="2010-09-08T04:42:03.467" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A car made on a Friday afternoon when everyone wants to get home early.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T04:42:03.467" />
  <row Id="2723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2721" CreationDate="2010-09-08T04:44:12.123" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's based on the belief that auto workers get lazy at the end of the work week and don't pay much attention to their work. So, they end up making more mistakes and produce a lower quality product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/143350.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/143350.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T04:44:12.123" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="660" CreationDate="2010-09-08T05:41:00.907" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, &quot;if I was&quot; &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; be valid for the past, I guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;If I was wrong, please forgive me&quot;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That aside, I think @Shinto is right that in British English - at least spoken - both are acceptable and probably equally common. (The 'were' version sounds more 'educated'.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T05:41:00.907" />
  <row Id="2725" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2726" CreationDate="2010-09-08T06:19:27.737" Score="4" ViewCount="268" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have encountered &lt;em&gt;wherein&lt;/em&gt; several times in many texts, and the general meaning of the texts was quite evident given the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I do not know the exact meaning of &lt;em&gt;wherein&lt;/em&gt;; a dictionary search returns &quot;How, or in what way; Where, or in which location; During which&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wherein&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what are the contexts it can be used in, and is there any weird way it is being used sometimes? (I realised by now that English can be tricky.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, are there any differences concerning this word between American and British English (my preferred)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1106" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-18T13:23:27.357" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T03:13:55.037" Title="What does &quot;wherein&quot; mean exactly?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;&lt;contexts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2725" CreationDate="2010-09-08T06:47:30.140" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Wherein' is generally only used in formal writing. The &lt;em&gt;Oxford English Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; gives the following senses and quotes. I have given the most recent quote, from which you can tell that the word is no longer generally used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In what (thing, matter, respect, etc.)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1891&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;em&gt;Oh, Britannicus! wherein have we offended?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In which (place, material thing, writing, etc.)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1888&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;em&gt;Peering keenly into the shadow wherein she stood&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In, at, during, or in the course of which (time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1819&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;em&gt;Length of days Wherein to act the deeds which are the stewards Of their revenue.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In which (matter, fact, action, condition, etc.); in respect of which.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1889&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;em&gt;There began a round of pleasure for Julia wherein she was the central figure.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Into which.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1585&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;em&gt;We came to an anker very nigh the castle, wherin when our patrone would followe vs [etc.].&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T06:47:30.140" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-09-08T06:53:20.037" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is more mis-read than mis-pronounced, but as a child, I read &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magician%27s_Nephew&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Magikan's Newph&lt;/a&gt; by C.S.Lewis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Off-topic, but mis-&lt;em&gt;heard&lt;/em&gt; stuff is often fun too (e.g. Harold be thy name - &lt;em&gt;can't find a decent link for that one&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T06:53:20.037" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-08T06:53:20.037" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-09-08T06:55:22.487" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Rendezvous' is one that comes to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="264" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T06:55:22.487" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-08T06:55:22.487" />
  <row Id="2729" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-08T07:03:50.173" Score="1" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Like humans beings We incur into mistakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Like humans beings We make mistakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the correct sentence in British English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1107" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-29T19:59:29.347" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T19:59:29.347" Title="make vs incur in this sentence" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2729" CreationDate="2010-09-08T07:12:31.640" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find the second one at least easier to understand:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Like human beings We make mistakes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The subtleties of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incur&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;incur&lt;/a&gt; (&quot;bring down upon oneself&quot;, &quot;run into&quot;) might be correct depending on the general context, but it is easier to relate to the &quot;act of making mistake&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As an aside, I believe you can &quot;incur mistake&quot;, not &quot;incur into mistake&quot;. It (&quot;incur mistakes&quot;) seems however very rarely used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-08T10:47:22.057" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T10:47:22.057" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="2731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="660" CreationDate="2010-09-08T07:17:22.367" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Younger people would never use 'were', here in Australia at least. From the point of view of grammar, both are OK nowadays. It's interesting to note, that IELTS would accept both while TOEFL would be very reluctant to accept 'was'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1110" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T07:17:22.367" />
  <row Id="2732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2717" CreationDate="2010-09-08T07:21:45.843" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a simple rule regarding semicolons: they are used instead of full stops. Can you put a full stop in this sentence? No. Hence, no semicolon!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1110" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T07:21:45.843" />
  <row Id="2733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2729" CreationDate="2010-09-08T07:24:48.357" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your second sentence is normal and natural, but you don't want a capital W in the &quot;we&quot;. The first doesn't look right to me and would certainly sound strange even if it was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T07:24:48.357" />
  <row Id="2734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2705" CreationDate="2010-09-08T07:39:12.053" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Was&quot; is the indicative, &quot;were&quot; is a subjunctive. Since it's a hypothetical, it should properly be &quot;were&quot;. But the subjunctive is effectively deprecated in English, so I expect that &quot;was&quot; is perfectly acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T07:39:12.053" />
  <row Id="2735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="824" CreationDate="2010-09-08T08:21:08.440" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can be more poetic to begin with &quot;because&quot;.  Consider: &quot;The world turns me on because it is round.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="637" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T08:21:08.440" />
  <row Id="2736" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2737" CreationDate="2010-09-08T08:39:58.557" Score="1" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1016/do-you-use-a-or-an-before-acronyms&quot;&gt;Do you use &amp;ldquo;a&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;an&amp;rdquo; before acronyms?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I am clear about the usage of 'an' and 'a' on most cases, but I am not sure how they are applied in front abbreviations. I heard that, whether vowel or consonants, abbreviations are always used with the 'an' article. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone confirm this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1111" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T18:36:26.883" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T18:36:26.883" ClosedDate="2010-09-08T11:05:12.797" Title="an SQA or a SQA?" Tags="&lt;articles&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2736" CreationDate="2010-09-08T08:48:39.680" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are using a TLA that starts with a consonant sound, you should use 'a'. If the ABR begins with a vowel, it's an ABR.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This does lead to some small difficulty in your case because it depends on how it is habitually pronounced. If you spell it out, it should be an S-Q-A. But if you call it a SKWA, then it would be a SKWA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes both possibilities exist: an SQL script, or a SQL script, depending on whether you say ess-kew-ell, sequel or squeal. I've no idea what to do then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T08:48:39.680" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2729" CreationDate="2010-09-08T12:06:58.633" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither; both sentences contain errors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;1 &amp;amp; 2: it should be &lt;em&gt;human beings&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;humans beings&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;1 &amp;amp; 2: &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt; does not begin with a capital letter, unless it's at the beginning of a sentence (or unless you're the Queen, referring to herself in very formal documents!)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;1 &amp;amp; 2: as matter of style, I'd be inclined to separate the two clauses with a comma after &lt;em&gt;beings&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;1 &amp;amp; 2: unless you're an alien, comparing yourself to humans (as in  &lt;em&gt;we are like human beings&lt;/em&gt;), do you mean &quot;as&quot;, rather than &quot;like&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;1: it should be &lt;em&gt;incur mistakes&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;incur into mistakes&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of meaning, &lt;em&gt;incur&lt;/em&gt; is typically used to refer to something which you bring upon yourself, e.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you submit your tax return after the deadline, you will incur a penalty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So sentence 2 is probably closer to what you mean. With corrections, it should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As human beings, we make mistakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T12:06:58.633" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="979" CreationDate="2010-09-08T12:34:28.347" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Further to other answers, one reason you may wish to write out large numbers in full is if the meaning or pronunciation needs to be clarified. For example, does 123 represent &quot;one hundred and twenty-three,&quot; or &quot;one-two-three&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1008" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T12:34:28.347" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2740" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2764" CreationDate="2010-09-08T13:08:37.237" Score="4" ViewCount="290" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the standard Irish/British pronunciation is as in Louis the king. But musicians seem to say &quot;Lewis&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard people say Joe Louis as in the king as well. Surely this is wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T17:17:41.963" Title="How to pronounce Louis Armstrong?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;names&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="2741" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2751" CreationDate="2010-09-08T13:13:44.493" Score="4" ViewCount="261" Body="&lt;p&gt;I presume this must be an exception to &quot;pronounce it like the locals&quot;, since what I hear is something like 'Norlin'. Or is this just the movies?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a mistake to attempt to pronounce it like a local?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T22:50:26.797" Title="How to pronounce New Orleans?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;names&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2740" CreationDate="2010-09-08T14:02:25.180" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jazzprofessional.com/interviews/Louie%20Bellson_12.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;He preferred that his name be pronounced Louie.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T14:02:25.180" />
  <row Id="2743" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2753" CreationDate="2010-09-08T14:05:59.230" Score="9" ViewCount="344" Body="&lt;p&gt;There has been some disagreement in my other online searches, and in my own education.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming that I do &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; know if the individual addressed is married, when should I use &lt;code&gt;Miss Brown&lt;/code&gt;, and when should I use &lt;code&gt;Ms. Brown&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1115" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-13T21:03:28.597" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T11:21:44.883" Title="When is it appropriate to use the titles &quot;Miss&quot; as opposed to &quot;Ms.&quot;?" Tags="&lt;greetings&gt;&lt;honorifics&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2741" CreationDate="2010-09-08T14:08:00.060" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The CMU Pronouncing Dictionary gives the following two pronunciations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;NEW-ORLEANS  N UW0 AO1 R L IY0 N Z&#xA;NEW-ORLEANS(1)  N Y UW1 AO1 R L IY0 N Z&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.speech.cs.cmu.edu/cgi-bin/cmudict&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for the key for these pronunciation codes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T14:08:00.060" />
  <row Id="2746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2743" CreationDate="2010-09-08T14:09:59.483" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Assuming that I do not know if the individual addressed is married, when should I use Miss Brown, and when should I use Ms. Brown?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might use &quot;Miss&quot; to address a female child under the age of thirteen. Otherwise, if you don't know if they are married, then Ms. is a convenient get-out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T14:09:59.483" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="2747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2740" CreationDate="2010-09-08T14:13:30.233" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe you have already seen this information, but I found this note &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Armstrong#cite_note-0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;at the bottom of the Wikipedia page on him&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;^ He preferred that his name be&#xA;  pronounced Louie. &quot;It's like Louis&#xA;  Armstrong - he spelled his name Louis,&#xA;  but he liked it to be said as Louie,&quot;&#xA;  recalls Louie Bellson &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Armstrong#cite_note-0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;. Armstrong&#xA;  was registered as &quot;Lewie&quot; for the 1920&#xA;  U.S. Census. On various live records&#xA;  he's called &quot;Louie&quot; on stage, such as&#xA;  on the 1952 &quot;Can Anyone Explain?&quot; from&#xA;  the live album In Scandinavia vol.1.&#xA;  It should also be noted that &quot;Lewie&quot;&#xA;  is the French pronunciation of &quot;Louis&quot;&#xA;  and is commonly used in Louisiana.&#xA;  However, when referring to himself in&#xA;  &quot;Hello Dolly!,&quot; he pronounces his name&#xA;  as &quot;Lewis&quot; (&quot;Hello, Dolly. This is&#xA;  Lewis, Dolly&quot;), pronouncing the 's'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T14:13:30.233" />
  <row Id="2748" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2750" CreationDate="2010-09-08T14:14:22.667" Score="3" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me with next:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which kind of sentence is more correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a. We decided to present you Jim, Department Manager of Sam, as a contact person for ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;b. We decided to present you Jim, Department Manager which employs Sam, as a contact person for ... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1109" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-08T15:31:41.820" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T15:31:41.820" Title="Which kind of sentence is more correct?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2743" CreationDate="2010-09-08T14:18:33.363" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think 'Miss' and 'Mrs' as titles are now relics.&#xA;Only use them if the person concerned has stated a preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Added reference&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See here for example: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide/m&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Guardian Style Guide&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conformance with common usage is important, but also there is a political point that a woman's marital status should carry no more significance than a man's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="122" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-08T15:49:32.053" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T15:49:32.053" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2748" CreationDate="2010-09-08T14:20:16.357" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither of those sentences sounds quite right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I've understood correctly, perhaps something like this might be appropriate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We've decided to appoint you, Jim, as a contact person for Sam, given that you're his department manager.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; The questioner has clarified that the context is introducing one person to another. In that case, perhaps this would be appropriate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is Jim, Sam's department manager. He'll be the contact for X.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastEditorUserId="303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-08T14:38:40.807" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T14:38:40.807" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2741" CreationDate="2010-09-08T14:30:57.610" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The “local” pronunciation does indeed often have some sounds which are elided, but you don’t have to imitate that part of the local way of saying it. The key is to stress the &lt;em&gt;Or&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;Orleans&lt;/em&gt; and not the &lt;em&gt;leans&lt;/em&gt;. The preferred local pronunciation is something like “new OR-linz” or “new OR-lee-uhnz” and the dispreferred pronunciation is something like “new or-LEENZ”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the dictionaries I looked in, though, list all the pronunciations I have given here without any usage notes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T14:30:57.610" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2741" CreationDate="2010-09-08T14:31:26.877" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would prefer to listen &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/new%20orleans&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/new%20orleans&lt;/a&gt; .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IMHO you shouldn't pronounce it like 'norlin' just because you heard that in a movie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T14:31:26.877" />
  <row Id="2753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2743" CreationDate="2010-09-08T14:35:53.317" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=BEHFyMCdwssC&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The American Heritage Book of English Usage&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Using Ms. obviates the need for the guesswork involved in figuring out whether to address someone as Mrs. or Miss: you can’t go wrong with Ms. Whether the woman you are addressing is married or unmarried, has changed her name or not, Ms. is always correct. And the beauty of Ms. is that this information becomes irrelevant, as it should be — and as it has always been for men.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-09T21:48:24.900" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T21:48:24.900" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2754" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2755" CreationDate="2010-09-08T15:09:15.510" Score="5" ViewCount="426" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to add a sentence that starts with &quot;Indeed&quot; in order to complete a previous statement such as in the example below?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The political crisis has a negative&#xA;  influence on the economy. &lt;strong&gt;Indeed&lt;/strong&gt;,&#xA;  foreign investments have never been as&#xA;  low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this sentence grammatically correct? Is it recommended to start a sentence with &quot;indeed&quot; in a research paper?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1117" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:19:49.940" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:19:49.940" Title="Can I start a sentence with &quot;Indeed&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2754" CreationDate="2010-09-08T15:30:30.043" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this sentence grammatically correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, the sentence is OK. The meaning is something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The political crisis has a negative influence on the economy. &lt;strong&gt;You can see that this is true, because, for example&lt;/strong&gt;, foreign investments have never been as low.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it recommended to start a sentence with &quot;indeed&quot; in a research paper?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think &quot;recommended&quot; is the right choice of words&amp;mdash;that makes it sound like you should use it whether or not it is called for&amp;mdash;but it should be acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-08T17:14:51.883" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T17:14:51.883" />
  <row Id="2756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2754" CreationDate="2010-09-08T15:33:24.157" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indeed you can. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T15:33:24.157" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2757" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2760" CreationDate="2010-09-08T15:45:52.530" Score="8" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simon Jenkins, in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/07/defence-budget-expensive-showing-off&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Guardian online newspaper&lt;/a&gt;, writes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How can the British Tommy, the jolly&#xA;  tar or the air ace confront the&#xA;  dreaded foreigner, when a defence&#xA;  secretary cannot say boo to George&#xA;  Osborne? Be a man, Fox, they cry. &lt;strong&gt;The&#xA;  black spot is under the plate.&lt;/strong&gt; The&#xA;  pistol is in the gents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I googled for the exact phrase, and the only hit is this article. Googling for &quot;black spot under plate&quot; just gets me a lot of stuff about toenails. What on earth could he mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-08T15:51:52.740" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T20:59:35.640" Title="What does &quot;The black spot is under the plate&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2758" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2762" CreationDate="2010-09-08T15:47:39.270" Score="4" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Britain (or perhaps just Scotland) the names &quot;Sara&quot; and &quot;Sarah&quot; are pronounced different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Sara: Sah-rah (&quot;a&quot; as in &quot;bat&quot;)&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Sarah: Se-rah (&quot;a&quot; as in &quot;air&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the US and Canada, Sarah and Sara are both pronounced like &quot;Sarah&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, there are other examples which are pronounced the same in North America (NA).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Marry is pronounced like Mary and Merry (&quot;a&quot; as in &quot;air&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Harry like Hairy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Barry like Berry&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Carry like Jim Carrey&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question: Is there truly no distinction between the two pronunciations of Sarah/Sara in NA?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How did English lose its open &quot;a&quot; sound when tied with an &quot;r&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-18T14:06:59.250" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T12:56:38.517" Title="Pronunciation of names that end in &quot;h&quot;" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;names&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2758" CreationDate="2010-09-08T16:05:38.470" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a native speaker of American English, I have no distinction between the pronunciations of Sara/Sarah (unless a particular Sara/Sarah requests a different pronunciation for her own name, of course). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The open &quot;a&quot; as in &quot;bat&quot; would be signaled by two &quot;r&quot;s—Sarra or Sarrah I would assume to be pronounced Sah-rah. I've never seen that, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="928" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T16:05:38.470" />
  <row Id="2760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2757" CreationDate="2010-09-08T16:33:32.367" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps the black spot is an allusion to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Spot_%28Treasure_Island%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Treasure Island&lt;/a&gt;? Perhaps the meaning is that (Liam) Fox (defence secretary) should quit (i.e. accept the black spot).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T16:33:32.367" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2758" CreationDate="2010-09-08T16:55:17.060" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this question is a little bit confused. First of all, there &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; a phenomenon in some varieties of American English called the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-language_vowel_changes_before_historic_r#Mary-marry-merry_merger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mary-marry–merry&lt;/em&gt; merger&lt;/a&gt;, where all or some of the words &lt;em&gt;Mary&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;marry&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;merry&lt;/em&gt; are pronounced the same; that is, the vowels  /e/, /æ/, and /ɛ/ are all merged before the sound /r/. In some varieties of American English, there is no merger, and all of the words &lt;em&gt;merry&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;marry&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;Mary&lt;/em&gt; are pronounced differently. In some other varieties, two of them are pronounced the same (which two depends on which variety). In other varieties, all three are merged and pronounced the same. There is a discussion of the merger and an associated map in &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=qa4-dFqi6iMC&amp;amp;pg=PA56&amp;amp;lpg=PA56&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=MohlWvGcFw&amp;amp;sig=cwM5ADMrGMUFl5aTfafeKC4vCw0&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=qr2HTNjCPMWBlAffh7mjDg&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=10&amp;amp;ved=0CE0Q6AEwCQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The atlas of North American English&lt;/em&gt;, page 56&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the names spelled &lt;em&gt;Sarah&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Sara&lt;/em&gt;, as far as I know, in all dialects of American English, they are pronounced the same, regardless of whether &lt;em&gt;Mary&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;marry&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;merry&lt;/em&gt; are pronounced differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference, in my own speech, I pronounce them all the same (in the way that those who pronounce them differently say &lt;em&gt;Mary&lt;/em&gt;), but I can produce the three-way distinction if necessary—usually only to demonstrate this phenomenon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T16:55:17.060" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1605" CreationDate="2010-09-08T17:01:13.067" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's very easy to determine the relationship in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, find your common ancestor.  Siblings have the same father, cousins have the same grandfather, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Same grandfather means First cousin.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Same great-grandfather means second cousin.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Same great-great-grandfather means third cousin.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not in the same generation, pick the shortest one, then the generation distance is how many times removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your cousin's child is your first cousin, once-removed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;That person's child is your first cousin, twice removed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The labels work the same in both directions so &quot;first cousin, once removed&quot; identifies the relationship to the speaker irrespective of whether that person is in the younger generation or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T17:01:13.067" />
  <row Id="2764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2740" CreationDate="2010-09-08T17:17:41.963" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a cool question.  One of my favorite musicals is &quot;Hello Dolly&quot; (the movie version, with Barbara Streisand)...When Louis Armstrong was in that movie and sang with the theme song with her.  When she says &quot;Hello, Louis/Well hello, Louis/Its so nice to see you back where you belong.../Your lookin' swell, Louis...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The entire time she pronounces his name as &quot;Lewis&quot;...and you would think that in the movie they would have directed Streisand to sing his name in the way he would have liked it...but its hard to say if Armstrong preferred that or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1122" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T17:17:41.963" />
  <row Id="2765" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2766" CreationDate="2010-09-08T17:37:23.463" Score="6" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any rule you think is valid that discourages the use of a certain word to start a sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because I suspect the answer is no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it would be good to have a blanket answer to this kind of question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:41:16.463" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:41:16.463" Title="Is there any valid rule discouraging the use of a certain word to start a sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2765" CreationDate="2010-09-08T18:13:50.853" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, with certain words it's simply impossible to start a grammatical sentence: one such word that comes to mind is &quot;ago&quot;. It always comes after other words (e.g. &quot;one hour ago&quot;), never at the beginning of a sentence or clause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Before someone points it out: note the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use%E2%80%93mention_distinction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;use-mention distinction&lt;/a&gt;. A sentence like  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'Ago' is a word you cannot start a sentence with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;starts with the word &quot;'ago'&quot; and not with the word &quot;ago&quot;.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if your question &quot;Is there any valid rule &lt;em&gt;discouraging&lt;/em&gt; the use of a certain word to start a sentence?&quot; (emphasis mine) implicitly restricts attention to words that &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; grammatically start sentences, then it's not clear what it would take for a rule that discourages something grammatical to be &quot;valid&quot;. Certainly there exist people who disapprove of certain words starting sentences for their own idiosyncratic reasons, such as the &quot;but&quot; I started the previous sentence with. Are these &quot;rules&quot; valid? I wouldn't consider them valid, but I don't know what valid means to you. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T18:13:50.853" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2757" CreationDate="2010-09-08T18:38:15.207" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One possible explanation is that the two sentences are related:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The black spot is under the plate. The pistol is in the gents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taken together, this could imply a loaded and ready weapon aimed at a very specific spot on the male anatomy (the &quot;gents&quot;). The &quot;black spot&quot; and &quot;plate&quot; in this case would be a spot of gunpowder on the firing plate (also called a pan). See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flintlock_mechanism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;flintlock&lt;/a&gt; on Wikipedia for details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The implied meaning in this case would be along the lines of &quot;you are in a &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; tight situation&quot;. A similar expression in North America would be &quot;balls in a salad ringer&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T18:38:15.207" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2459" CreationDate="2010-09-08T20:14:30.640" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That that exists exists in that that that that exists exists in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="863" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T20:14:30.640" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-08T20:14:30.640" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2770" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2771" CreationDate="2010-09-08T21:39:37.743" Score="4" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do the names of chemical elements need to be capitalized?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in running text should it be &lt;em&gt;hydrogen&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Hydrogen&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1123" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-12T11:12:40.527" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T11:12:40.527" Title="Capitalization of chemical element names" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="2771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2770" CreationDate="2010-09-08T21:46:30.667" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_symbol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chemical symbols&lt;/a&gt; always begin with a capital letter, the names of chemical elements do not. In running text, you should be writing &lt;em&gt;H&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;O&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Cl&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Fe&lt;/em&gt;, etc., but &lt;em&gt;hydrogen&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;oxygen&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;chlorine&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;iron&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-08T21:57:09.243" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T21:57:09.243" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2772" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2776" CreationDate="2010-09-08T21:58:01.567" Score="13" ViewCount="461" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dictionary.com lists &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gay&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;eight meanings&#xA;of &quot;gay&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, with &quot;merry, lively&quot; as&#xA;the first entry. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Microsoft &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tgdaily.com/games-and-entertainment-features/51450-microsoft-apologizes-over-xbox-live-gay-snafu&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;banned an&#xA;Xbox user&lt;/a&gt; for listing &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Gay,_West_VirginiaBlockquote-&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Fort&#xA;Gay&quot;&lt;/a&gt; (a real place) as his&#xA;hometown: &lt;Blockquote&gt; &#xA;Xbox Live considered the term &quot;gay&quot; absolutely inappropriate in any context. &#xA;&lt;/Blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a non-native English speaker, my question is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contemporary English, does &quot;gay&quot; always mean &quot;homosexual&quot;? Is British and American English the same in this respect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1125" LastEditorUserId="1125" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-08T22:08:17.823" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T12:25:50.623" Title="Does &quot;gay&quot; still include the meaning &quot;merry&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2773" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2775" CreationDate="2010-09-08T22:08:55.327" Score="5" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;I mean how far should we flow on with the current called &quot;common usage&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a fear that the &lt;em&gt;real&lt;/em&gt; English is going do disappear someday?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, as for me, I like common English myself. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-08T22:34:04.120" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T05:57:04.673" Title="How dangerous is the acceptance of common usage on traditional English?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="2774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2772" CreationDate="2010-09-08T22:09:36.553" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;strong&gt;contemporary&lt;/strong&gt; English, I would say that yes, &lt;em&gt;gay&lt;/em&gt; means homosexual only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its original meaning was, as you mention, &lt;em&gt;merry&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;lively&lt;/em&gt;, and you will certainly see it used this way if you look at written English from a few decades ago. However, it's very unlikely you'd see it used that way today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T22:09:36.553" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="2775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2773" CreationDate="2010-09-08T22:25:39.830" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally feel that the idea of a &quot;real&quot; version of any active language is unrealistic. Language evolves in order to meet the needs of communication, and that landscape is always changing. In the days of Old English, we didn't have laptops, rockets, cars, and mp3 players. The language had to change to include words describing those things. Likewise, people are constantly finding new ways to describe more intangible things like emotions, colors, and even philosophical concepts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An inactive language like Latin can certainly have a solid definition, since it is no longer evolving. I would suggest that any language &lt;em&gt;currently in use&lt;/em&gt; can not have a &quot;real&quot; version. It can only have a particular lexicon at a particular point in time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would add that it is normal, and desirable, for a language to resist change to &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; degree. If a language changed from one day to the next, for example, it would be very difficult to communicate in that language. I'm sure there is a happy medium somewhere in the middle; a language that is flexible enough to change as required, but not so fluid as to be incomprehensible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T22:25:39.830" />
  <row Id="2776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2772" CreationDate="2010-09-08T22:30:09.213" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that the word &lt;em&gt;gay&lt;/em&gt; means ‘homosexual’ only, with two caveats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A lot of people, especially young people, use &lt;em&gt;gay&lt;/em&gt; as a generic adjective meaning ‘bad’ or ‘lame’. This is, of course, considered inappropriate and rude by polite society, but use of &lt;em&gt;gay&lt;/em&gt; in this way is pervasive in situations where there are a lot of young people, such as video gaming communities (like XBox Live).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;People are definitely aware that &lt;em&gt;gay&lt;/em&gt; used to mean ‘happy’, ‘merry’, or ‘lively’. The theme song to &lt;em&gt;The Flintstones&lt;/em&gt; talks about a &lt;em&gt;gay old time&lt;/em&gt;, and many people know that this usage at one time was predominant. There is a similar situation with the word &lt;em&gt;queer&lt;/em&gt;. Some people might use &lt;em&gt;gay&lt;/em&gt; to mean ‘merry’, but only in a tongue-in-cheek or double-entendre kind of way. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&amp;amp;q=6121377&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;, for example, has two examples of “gay old time”, one from 1993, and one from 1994. There is one more example that is from the big screen adaptation of &lt;em&gt;The Flintstones&lt;/em&gt;, also released in 1994.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-28T22:39:37.247" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T22:39:37.247" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="2777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2758" CreationDate="2010-09-08T22:48:20.677" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My two cents: As an Australian English speaker, I pronounce 'Sara' as I pronounce 'Tara' -- 'S-ah-ra'/'T-ah-ra' and 'Sarah' as 'S-air-a'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T22:48:20.677" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2741" CreationDate="2010-09-08T22:50:26.797" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about the lovely French pronunciation? It's definitely not how the locals pronounce it, but it does seem a lot more beautiful. :P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-08T22:50:26.797" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2705" CreationDate="2010-09-09T01:05:49.473" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Prescriptively, you're correct, this should be &lt;em&gt;were&lt;/em&gt; since this is being expressed with the subjunctive mood. Descriptively, I think you'll find both in the wild. In informal speech, most people I know would prefer &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt; in this case (and those that don't are sticklers for the subjunctive). I do think that you are much more likely to see &lt;em&gt;were&lt;/em&gt; written though, especially in formal writing. Either form is correct, and the subjunctive forms are far from dead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more interesting question, I think, is whether or not the subjunctive mood is still being used and if the two forms have simply collapsed together. Is this a meaningful distinction? How could this be tested?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T01:05:49.473" />
  <row Id="2780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2459" CreationDate="2010-09-09T01:17:05.357" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about some semantic awkwardness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Colorless green ideas sleep furiously&quot; —&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorless_green_ideas_sleep_furiously&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Noam Chomsky&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T01:17:05.357" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-09T01:17:05.357" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2765" CreationDate="2010-09-09T01:32:41.603" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there any valid rule discouraging the use of a certain word to start a sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a rule (can't say if it is valid or not) that numbers, no matter how long, at the start of a sentence should be written out in words,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Seven thousand, four hundred and seventy-six trombones led the big parade&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so some people avoid putting numbers there. Also, it's a bit odd to capitalize terms which are computer commands which won't work if they are capitalized:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Ls&lt;/code&gt; is how you get a listing of your files&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so some people might avoid putting those terms at the start of sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T01:32:41.603" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2773" CreationDate="2010-09-09T01:40:06.773" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Real&lt;/em&gt; English, as it was known 50 years ago, is dead today.  And &lt;em&gt;real&lt;/em&gt; English, as it was known 100 years ago, was dead 50 years ago.  So, in my opinion, to fear the end of &lt;em&gt;real&lt;/em&gt; English is like fearing the end of &lt;em&gt;real&lt;/em&gt; music.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T01:40:06.773" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2773" CreationDate="2010-09-09T01:48:58.790" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I mean how far should we flow on with&#xA;  the current called &quot;common usage&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there a fear that the real English&#xA;  is going do disappear someday?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;By the way, as for me, I like common&#xA;  English myself. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the influence of the internet, television, films, and the ability to hear and view the speech of people who lived over a hundred years ago, English is probably changing much less and becoming much more standardized than it ever has been in the past. I can watch films from seventy years ago and understand everything they say. Dialect forms of the language are gradually disappearing all over the place. If anything, the homogenization of the language is a more likely outcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-09T15:56:54.823" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T15:56:54.823" />
  <row Id="2784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2010-09-09T01:50:07.850" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Microsoft Word's autocorrecter, grammar checker, and spelling checker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T01:50:07.850" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-09T01:50:07.850" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2010-09-09T01:51:41.480" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chicago_Manual_of_Style&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chicago Manual of Style&lt;/a&gt; is really useful, especially looking at the example sentences of correctly-typeset English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="244" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T14:25:23.020" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T14:25:23.020" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-09T01:51:41.480" />
  <row Id="2786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2010-09-09T01:52:49.970" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Practical English Usage&quot; by Michael Swan is very handy if you need to justify edits to a non-native speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T01:52:49.970" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-09T01:52:49.970" />
  <row Id="2787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2010-09-09T01:54:21.523" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;English Grammar in Use&quot; by Raymond Murphy is very nice for ESL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T01:54:21.523" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-09T01:54:21.523" />
  <row Id="2788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2010-09-09T01:55:53.627" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fowler's Modern English Usage (original book or the second edition edited by Sir Ernest Gowers) is fun to read and educational. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't recommend the new edition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T01:55:53.627" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-09T01:55:53.627" />
  <row Id="2789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2010-09-09T02:01:32.893" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chambers_Dictionary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chambers Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;, famous for its humorous definitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T02:01:32.893" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-09T02:01:32.893" />
  <row Id="2792" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2804" CreationDate="2010-09-09T04:57:56.513" Score="2" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I made a metaphor in title.  Can you understand it?  Is there any more natural way to say the same meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="786" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T14:02:21.560" Title="The road to a political ideal, usually must be paved by blood." Tags="&lt;metaphor&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2793" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-09T08:38:45.693" Score="3" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could you recommend your reference English tools useful to improve your English every day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I constantly use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordreference.com/enit/test&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wordreference&lt;/a&gt; for translations    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.it/search?hl=en&amp;amp;as_q=%22do+you+like+it%3F%22&amp;amp;as_epq=&amp;amp;as_oq=&amp;amp;as_eq=&amp;amp;num=10&amp;amp;lr=&amp;amp;as_filetype=&amp;amp;ft=i&amp;amp;as_sitesearch=&amp;amp;as_qdr=all&amp;amp;as_rights=&amp;amp;as_occt=any&amp;amp;cr=&amp;amp;as_nlo=&amp;amp;as_nhi=&amp;amp;safe=images&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google&lt;/a&gt; with double quotes to test if my sentences are kinda correct&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howjsay.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Howjsay&lt;/a&gt; for English pronunciation  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="726" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-09T14:32:14.900" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T14:32:14.900" Title="English tools for non-English-speaking people" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;&lt;tools&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="2794" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-09T08:52:58.890" Score="8" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember reading somewhere that if a unit is abbreviated as &lt;em&gt;one character&lt;/em&gt;, there must not be a space between the number and the unit (e.g., &lt;em&gt;5m&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;26K&lt;/em&gt;). If the unit is abbreviated as &lt;em&gt;two or more Characters&lt;/em&gt;, there must be a space between the number and the unit (e.g., &quot;10 km&quot;, &quot;USD 5&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can you please help me find the source again?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this recommendation correct?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T11:44:41.750" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T11:44:41.750" Title="Punctuation with units" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;measuring-units&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2792" CreationDate="2010-09-09T09:16:54.290" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The road to a political ideal must usually be paved by blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Minor reordering makes it clearer to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T09:16:54.290" />
  <row Id="2796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2792" CreationDate="2010-09-09T09:44:13.860" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The road to a political ideal must usually be paved with blood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A little more clarity here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="984" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T09:44:13.860" />
  <row Id="2797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2010-09-09T09:55:20.253" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Google timeline e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=vuvuzela&amp;amp;num=100&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;lr=&amp;amp;safe=active&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;tbo=1&amp;amp;as_qdr=all&amp;amp;tbs=tl:1,tll:2010/01,tlh:2010/12&amp;amp;ei=d66ITMDvBMLAswbVhIjXCg&amp;amp;ved=0CIMDEMkBKAE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;vuvuzela&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T09:55:20.253" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-09T09:55:20.253" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2798" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-09T10:59:14.377" Score="1" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2743/when-is-it-appropriate-to-use-the-titles-miss-as-opposed-to-ms&quot;&gt;When is it appropriate to use the titles &amp;ldquo;Miss&amp;rdquo; as opposed to &amp;ldquo;Ms.&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This must be an age-old question and it seems that today's usage tends to Mrs for the unknown, where it used to be Ms in a more Victorian past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any formal preferred use and does it matter whether it's American English or British English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Dear Ms Clifford,&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Dear Mrs Clifford,&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="640" LastEditorUserId="640" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-10T11:10:03.187" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T11:10:03.187" ClosedDate="2010-09-09T12:48:08.683" Title="Would you prefer Ms or Mrs in a letter salutation when the marital status is unknown?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;salutation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2798" CreationDate="2010-09-09T11:04:58.603" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ms would be the best to use. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T11:04:58.603" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2793" CreationDate="2010-09-09T11:08:46.347" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Google Translate is what I use when I'm learning Chinese-It has romanization of the characters so I can understand it. For languages like English, it would be harder since it's unnecessary for such systems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Checking on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dictionary.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt; everyday for the word of the day, marking it down and looking up the definition could definitely help you improve your vocabulary. One every day would mean 365 words in a year. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T11:08:46.347" />
  <row Id="2801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2765" CreationDate="2010-09-09T11:12:37.837" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because is also another word that you should not start a sentence with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T11:12:37.837" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2802" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2803" CreationDate="2010-09-09T11:16:51.167" Score="4" ViewCount="397" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember in English classes when my teacher had used this sort of system when correcting essays in the class. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never asked her about what it was and just complied and made the revisions to my essay according to the markings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm quite interested in this subject now—I've illustrated a reference of it and linked to it below. Can anyone tell me the name of this system, and where can I learn more about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/idR5O.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-09T11:24:20.917" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T14:22:23.470" Title="Symbols/Markings in Correcting Grammar/English in Essays Used by Teachers?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="2803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2802" CreationDate="2010-09-09T11:31:28.997" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~bstahl/CORRECTION_MARKS.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This paper (PDF)&lt;/a&gt; lists what it calls the &quot;British standard institution proof correction marks&quot;. I can see your &quot;Capitalise&quot; mark on the list, but not the other two. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster offers &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/mw/table/proofrea.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this list&lt;/a&gt; of proofreaders' marks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Courtesy of Kosmonaut, taken from &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/290/what-should-our-logo-and-site-design-be-like/293#293&quot;&gt;his answer to a totally unrelated question&lt;/a&gt; on meta, here's a link to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.colorado.edu/Publications/styleguide/symbols.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Proofreader’s and Editor’s Symbols&lt;/a&gt; over at University of Colorado. All three of your symbols are on that list. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-10T14:22:23.470" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T14:22:23.470" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2792" CreationDate="2010-09-09T11:52:13.783" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Only use a metaphor if it is likely to generate a fresh image. &quot;The road to X is paved with Y&quot; is too stale to do this now. Ask yourself what image are you intending to generate - how can you pave something with a liquid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also using 'blood' to stand for human sacrifice is so last century.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact you can't do better than to read &lt;a href=&quot;http://orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Politics and the English Language&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T11:52:13.783" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2794" CreationDate="2010-09-09T13:30:29.657" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In &lt;em&gt;Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing&#xA;  and Editing&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When symbols are used, the prefix    symbol and unit symbols are run&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  together:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;5 cm&#xA;7 hL&#xA;4 dag&#xA;13 kPa&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When a symbol consists entirely of    letters, leave a full space between&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  the quantity and the symbol:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;45 kg not 45kg&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When the symbol includes a non-letter    character as well as&#xA;  letter, leave no    space:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;32°C not 32° C or 32 °C&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;However, the International System of&#xA;  Units, or SI, requires a space to be&#xA;  used to separate the unit symbol from&#xA;  the numerical value, and this also&#xA;  applies to the symbol for the degree&#xA;  Celsius, as 32 °C. The only exceptions&#xA;  to this rule in the SI are for the&#xA;  symbols for degree, minute and second&#xA;  for plane angle, as 30° 22′ 8″.&#xA;  Wikipedia's style guide also&#xA;  follows the SI standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For the sake of clarity, a hyphen may    be inserted between a numeral&#xA;  and a    symbol used adjectivally:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;35-mm film&#xA;60-W bulb&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;However, some other style guides,&#xA;  including Wikipedia's, deprecate&#xA;  hyphenation in these cases. The SI&#xA;  allows a hyphen between the numeral&#xA;  and the unit only when the name of the&#xA;  unit is spelled out, as 35-millimetre&#xA;  film.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_%28punctuation%29#Spaces_and_unit_symbols&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_%28punctuation%29#Spaces_and_unit_symbols&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T13:30:29.657" />
  <row Id="2806" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2807" CreationDate="2010-09-09T13:39:33.160" Score="6" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does &quot;Red tape&quot; refer to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1114" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-09T14:38:58.173" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T14:38:58.173" Title="What does &quot;Red tape&quot; refer to?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2806" CreationDate="2010-09-09T13:45:59.667" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Definition:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  Official routine or procedure marked&#xA;  by excessive complexity which results&#xA;  in delay or inaction .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example:&lt;/strong&gt; You would not believe the red tape involved in getting the required permits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Origin:&lt;/strong&gt; From the red tape formerly used to bind legal documents in England&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First Known Use:&lt;/strong&gt; 1736&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/red-tape?show=0&amp;amp;t=1284039920&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-09T13:53:44.037" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T13:53:44.037" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2809" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2816" CreationDate="2010-09-09T14:43:07.483" Score="5" ViewCount="250" Body="&lt;p&gt;When is it better to use &lt;strong&gt;passive&lt;/strong&gt; voice in writing and speech? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When is it better to use &lt;strong&gt;active&lt;/strong&gt; voice in writing and speech?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="344" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T00:55:53.310" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T00:55:53.310" ClosedDate="2011-02-17T20:21:38.003" Title="When to use passive and active voice" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;speech&gt;&lt;style&gt;&lt;passive-voice&gt;&lt;active-voice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2765" CreationDate="2010-09-09T14:46:50.383" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In school we were taught &quot;Never begin a sentence with 'and', 'but', or 'so'&quot;. But I do anyway. And so do a lot of other people. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1102" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T14:46:50.383" />
  <row Id="2811" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2830" CreationDate="2010-09-09T14:59:13.257" Score="6" ViewCount="276" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering about how ellipses are used in essays. Are there any examples that I could see?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-09T16:10:33.960" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T01:12:07.773" Title="What Are The Uses of Ellipses in Essays?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;ellipsis&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2812" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2824" CreationDate="2010-09-09T15:04:43.470" Score="15" ViewCount="366" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is it &quot;your Majesty&quot;, but &quot;my Lord&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T20:46:06.873" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T05:03:29.437" Title="Why is it &quot;your Majesty&quot;, but &quot;my Lord&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;honorifics&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="2813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2812" CreationDate="2010-09-09T15:11:48.550" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Explaining &quot;my lord&quot; is easy, &quot;my lord&quot; is the person who is the lord of me. &quot;Your lord&quot; would be the person who is the lord of you rather than me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The function of the possessive (your, her, his) in &quot;your majesty&quot; or &quot;her majesty&quot; or &quot;his royal highness&quot; seems to be to indicate that the noun indicates a person, but this is some kind of archaic or rare usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T15:11:48.550" />
  <row Id="2814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2811" CreationDate="2010-09-09T15:20:54.387" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I quote a long passage I might elide some irrelevant parts, and in their place I put ellipses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I quote a long passage, like when I quote from an old email or when I quote from a taxation bill to illustrate a nuanced legal point, I might elide some irrelevant parts, and in their place I put ellipses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;becomes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I quote a long passage ... I might elide some irrelevant parts, and in their place I put ellipses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastEditorUserId="588" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-09T18:01:58.423" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T18:01:58.423" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="2815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2809" CreationDate="2010-09-09T15:21:07.743" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill published &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/passivevoice.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this very good, Creative Commons licensed write-up&lt;/a&gt; on what passive voice is, why it might be discouraged, and when it is &quot;okay&quot; to use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1115" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T15:21:07.743" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2809" CreationDate="2010-09-09T15:21:30.220" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is quite a big question but the basics of when to use the passive run something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the following kind of sequence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;E.T. is a film about an alien and a boy. &lt;strong&gt;It was directed by Steven Spielberg in 1981&lt;/strong&gt;. Its most memorable scene is the one where the boy and alien fly on a bicycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it sounds odd to say &quot;Steven Spielberg directed it in 1981&quot;, because the focus of interest is the film E.T. rather than Spielberg. We might also imagine a sequence like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;E.T. is a film about an alien and a boy. &lt;strong&gt;It was released in 1981&lt;/strong&gt;. Its most memorable scene is the one where the boy and alien fly on a bicycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here we don't even care who released it, we are only interested in the date.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrast this to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Steven Spielberg was born in 1942. As a boy he owned a movie camera. &lt;strong&gt;He directed his first movie, Jaws, in 1976&lt;/strong&gt;. He also acted in &quot;The Blues Brothers&quot; as the Cook County Clerk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast to the above case, here it sounds odd to say &quot;Jaws was directed by him in 1977&quot; since the focus of the narrative is Spielberg rather than Jaws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In neither case would changing passive to active or vice-versa create a grammatical mistake, though, this is more a matter of style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-09T15:46:15.313" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T15:46:15.313" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2802" CreationDate="2010-09-09T16:41:58.103" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've generally heard these symbols (and more) referred to as &lt;strong&gt;proofreaders' marks&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;copyeditors' marks&lt;/strong&gt;, and they're taught in copyediting classes. They are becoming less common as more copyediting is done electronically, using track changes in Word or other word processing programs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="928" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T16:41:58.103" />
  <row Id="2819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2812" CreationDate="2010-09-09T16:57:13.670" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would venture that lord is a title while Majesty comes from the adjective majestic. So &quot;your majesty&quot; means &quot;you who are majestic&quot;, while &quot;my lord&quot; means &quot;the lord of me&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T16:57:13.670" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2501" CreationDate="2010-09-09T17:33:34.413" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's how you could possibly tell. Get someone from Tangier Island to read Elizabethan poetry. If everything rhymes then the rumour about the accent may have some truth. I believe this method is used to deduce how period accents may have sounded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1136" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T17:33:34.413" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="45" CreationDate="2010-09-09T17:46:14.110" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps it's just my own idiolect, but to me &quot;What's wrong in something&quot; implies that the speaker refers to a collection of things, one of which is presumably wrong.  &quot;In&quot; denotes that the item in question is in some way contained.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;What's wrong with something&quot; may be used for a group, but may also be used for an individual item&amp;mdash;&quot;What's wrong with Paul?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1137" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T17:46:14.110" />
  <row Id="2823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1976" CreationDate="2010-09-09T17:47:01.830" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pin pointing British accents I would say would only come from familiarity and experience.&#xA;Coming from the UK with a fairly neutral East Midlands accent and being a fairly regular visitor to the States in the past, my accent has been confused in order of frequency as Australian, South African, NZ, French and Russian.  The most common response to hearing my voice in the States is &quot;Cool accent... Where are you from?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would urge caution regarding using BBC news readers as a source of a neutral British accent as in recent years some regional accents have been quite commonly used. The current anchor for the 6 o'clock BBC news, Hugh Edwards is Welsh and his accent is quite distinctive.  Better examples would be Moira Stewart or Sophie Rayworth.  I agree that Richard Dawkins is a little on the posh side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1136" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T17:47:01.830" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2812" CreationDate="2010-09-09T18:13:49.813" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, some etymology. I'll try to keep it short.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lord&lt;/em&gt; has deep Germanic roots. Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=lord&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;lord&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  M.E. &lt;em&gt;laverd&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;loverd&lt;/em&gt; (13c.), from O.E. &lt;em&gt;hlaford&lt;/em&gt; &quot;master of a household, ruler, superior,&quot; also &quot;God&quot; (translating L. &lt;em&gt;Dominus&lt;/em&gt;, though O.E. &lt;em&gt;drihten&lt;/em&gt; was used more often), earlier &lt;em&gt;hlafweard&lt;/em&gt;, lit. &quot;one who guards the loaves,&quot; from &lt;em&gt;hlaf&lt;/em&gt; &quot;bread, loaf&quot; + &lt;em&gt;weard&lt;/em&gt; &quot;keeper, guardian, ward.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Majesty&lt;/em&gt; was borrowed, ultimately from Latin and together with its meaning. Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=majesty&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;majesty&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt; &#xA;  c.1300, &quot;greatness, glory,&quot; from O.Fr. &lt;em&gt;majeste&lt;/em&gt; &quot;grandeur, nobility,&quot; from L. &lt;em&gt;majestatem&lt;/em&gt; (nom. &lt;em&gt;majestas&lt;/em&gt;) &quot;greatness, dignity, honor, excellence,&quot; from stem of &lt;em&gt;major&lt;/em&gt; (neut. &lt;em&gt;majus&lt;/em&gt;), comp. of &lt;em&gt;magnus&lt;/em&gt; &quot;great.&quot; Earliest Eng. sense is of God, reference to kings and queens (late 14c.) is from Romance languages and descends from the Roman Empire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majesty#Origin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adds&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Originally, during the Roman republic, the word &lt;em&gt;maiestas&lt;/em&gt; was the legal term for the supreme status and dignity of the state, to be respected above everything else. [...] It was first assumed by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, who believed that, as an emperor, &#xA;  he deserved a style greater than Highness, which had been used by preceding emperors and &#xA;  kings. Soon, King Francis I of France and King Henry VIII of England followed his example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I take from all this is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;lord&lt;/em&gt;, originally and all throughout its history, referred to some&lt;i&gt;one&lt;/i&gt;, a person (or a personification of God, as opposed to God as an abstract concept). It's only natural to refer to my guardian, my ruler and my master as, well, &lt;em&gt;my&lt;/em&gt; guardian, ruler and master rather than &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;his&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;her&lt;/em&gt; guardian, ruler and master. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;majesty&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, always referred to some&lt;i&gt;thing&lt;/i&gt;, a concept, &#xA;a trait that was attributed &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; someone — much like &lt;em&gt;highness&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;honor&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;excellence&lt;/em&gt;. When I am talking about a king (or a judge), I attribute majesty (or honor) to him rather than to myself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-09-09T18:13:49.813" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="2825" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2829" CreationDate="2010-09-09T23:47:41.047" Score="6" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quoting from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2010/05/on-working-remotely.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jeff Atwood's blog&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[I expanded the team] by adding Kevin, who I didn't know, but had built amazing &#xA;  stuff for us without even being asked to, from Texas. And again by adding Robert, &#xA;  in Florida, who I also didn't know, but spent so much time on every single part &#xA;  of our sites that I felt he had been running alongside our team the whole way [...].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These two sentences struck me as odd. In each of them, the &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;overloaded&quot;, &#xA;for lack of a better word. It serves as an object (&quot;who[m] I didn't know&quot;), but&#xA;also as a subject (&quot;who had build&quot;/&quot;who spent&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, this is a deliberate ellipsis&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;; the author didn't want to use &quot;who&quot; twice, as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I expanded the team by adding Kevin, who(m) I didn't know, but who had built amazing &#xA;  stuff for us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I constantly run into this type of ellipsis&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; on the Web. I've also noticed the pronoun &quot;that&quot; being overloaded in the same manner on countless occasions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is threefold:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the term for this kind of ellipsis&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;?&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this a &quot;valid&quot; thing to do in formal writing? Do any manuals of style address this, or can you perhaps even quote, say, Twain pulling off this stunt (other than in jest)?&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How recent is this phenomenon? I would guess that it probably wasn't anywhere as widespread back when English was still wearing a tight corset of grammatical cases.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; Edit: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2825/ellipsis-that-results-in-one-word-serving-as-both-subject-and-object/2829#2829&quot;&gt;nohat makes a strong case&lt;/a&gt; for this not being an ellipsis, but I am leaving my original wording as a courtesy to future visitors who might have a similar question without knowing the correct term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:44:22.390" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:44:22.390" Title="Ellipsis that results in one word serving as both subject and object" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;ellipsis&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2826" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2827" CreationDate="2010-09-10T00:19:40.133" Score="6" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;Inspired by &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2811&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;: What is the correct term to use when describing the &quot;three dots&quot; (…), ellipsis or ellipses? And are either of these terms considered plural?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if I wanted to say &quot;the &lt;strong&gt;x&lt;/strong&gt; is/are in the wrong location&quot;, which sentence is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The ellipsis is in the wrong location.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The ellipsis are in the wrong location.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The ellipses is in the wrong location.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The ellipses are in the wrong location.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My gut instinct would be &lt;code&gt;#4&lt;/code&gt;, with &lt;code&gt;#1&lt;/code&gt; a close second. &lt;code&gt;#3&lt;/code&gt; seems likely to be wrong, and &lt;code&gt;#2&lt;/code&gt; is a wild card.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T23:26:10.140" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T23:26:10.140" Title="Ellipsis or Ellipses?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;verb-agreement&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="2827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2826" CreationDate="2010-09-10T00:25:49.987" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is &lt;em&gt;ellipsis&lt;/em&gt; because the three dots (. . .) are considered a single punctuation mark. &lt;em&gt;The Cambridge Guide to English Usage&lt;/em&gt; says this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Both grammarians and editors make use&#xA;  of this term. In grammar, ellipsis&#xA;  means the omission of a word or words&#xA;  which would complete or clarify the&#xA;  sentence. In punctuation practice,&#xA;  ellipsis refers to the mark, usually a&#xA;  set of three dots (. . .), which&#xA;  shows where something has been&#xA;  consciously omitted from a quotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: You might say 'the ellipsis mark is in the wrong location' to avoid any ambiguity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T00:25:49.987" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2825" CreationDate="2010-09-10T00:46:25.837" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll break down the first sentence to analyse the grammar:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'I (subject) expanded (verb) the team (object) [indirect object #1]'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1: 'by adding (verb) [object #2]'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2: 'Kevin, [relative subordinate clause #3], [relative subordinate clause #5]'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3: 'who (object; should be &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt;) I (subject) didn't know (verb), but [implied &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt;] had built (verb) amazing stuff (direct object) for us (indirect object) [adverbial clause #4]'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4: without [implied &lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt;] (subject) even being asked to [implied &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt;] (verb) [implied &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt;] (object)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5: 'from Texas'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may be another way of breaking down this sentence, but this will suffice here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This shows that &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; should be &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; as it is the indirect object of the verb &lt;em&gt;expanded&lt;/em&gt;, while the subject of the verb &lt;em&gt;had built&lt;/em&gt; does not need to be explicitly stated. This sort of ellipsis is perfectly valid in all contexts, except when the meaning needs to be communicated to reduce ambiguity as much as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This type of ellipsis is called 'ellipsis in the grammar of the sentence' or 'grammatical ellipsis' in &lt;em&gt;The Cambridge Guide to English Usage&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T00:46:25.837" />
  <row Id="2829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2825" CreationDate="2010-09-10T01:04:41.557" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, although sometimes &lt;em&gt;ellipsis&lt;/em&gt; is used to describe “conjunction reduction” I don’t agree with the analysis that describes coordination of lower-level constituents as &lt;em&gt;ellipsis&lt;/em&gt;. Consider these examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1 a. [I want a dog] but [I don’t want a cat]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;b. I [want a dog] but [don’t want a cat]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;c. I want [a dog] but [not a cat]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In English, you can use the coordinators &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; not only to coordinate whole clauses, as in &lt;em&gt;1a&lt;/em&gt;, but also VPs (verb phrases), as in &lt;em&gt;1b&lt;/em&gt; and NPs (noun phrases) as in &lt;em&gt;1c&lt;/em&gt;. I don’t really think of coordinating smaller constituents as ellipsis for coordination of larger constituents. Rather, I prefer to reserve the term &lt;em&gt;ellipsis&lt;/em&gt; for cases when something is actually being left out, syntactically speaking, as in these examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2 a. John can play the guitar; Mary can __, too.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;b. Jessica had five dollars; Monica __, three.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, on to your actual question, which is about is whether you can coordinate unlike constituents, in particular whether you can coordinate complements of &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; when the complements are both object and subject. Coordination of unlike constituents is known as &lt;em&gt;syllepsis&lt;/em&gt;, and happens when the coordinated constituents are not parallel in meaning or in grammar. Some examples of where the constituents are semantically unlike, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllepsis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;from Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;3 a. He carried [a strobe light] and [the responsibility for the lives of his men].&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;b. She lowered her standards by raising [her glass], /&#xA;  [Her courage], [her eyes] and [his hopes].&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;c. Mr. Jones took [his coat] and [his leave].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples of where the constituents are grammatically unlike, from Language Log:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;4 &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003574.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a.&lt;/a&gt; CIA interrogators [stripped naked] and [played earsplitting music to] Abu Zubaydah, the first henchman of Osama bin Laden captured by US after the September 11 attacks there five years ago, according to a media report.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002256.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;b.&lt;/a&gt; She lets the &quot;pops&quot; freeze partway before placing a Popsicle stick in the middle, and freezes them till [firm] and [someone wants a quick snack].&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002056.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;c.&lt;/a&gt; She wants [an engagement ring] and [her boyfriend to stop dragging his feet].&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;d. I called [her a whore] and [myself a cab].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here’s a delightful &lt;a href=&quot;http://writebadlywell.blogspot.com/2009/11/learn-about-syllepsis-then-refuse-to.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;example of intentional use of syllepsis from Joel Stickley&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Joe Stockley was in an expensive sports car and deep trouble. This time, he had really let his mouth and his exotic foreign lover run away with him and it was getting beyond a joke and his immediate circle of friends in the form of rumours and speculation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As he ran a red light, the conversation back in his mind and away from his troubles, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of rising panic and the soft matte finish of his hand-stitched leather steering wheel. Angelica had been absolutely right and his wife for fifteen years, so why was he running scared, these kind of risks and this deadly gauntlet of illicit entanglements?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s weird, to be sure: it’s the kind of thing that spurs linguists to write multiple essays about it. I haven’t seen discussion of examples like the one you cite in Jeff Atwood’s writing, where the conjunction is both and object and a subject with &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt;, but when I read it, it seemed slightly awkward though not entirely ungrammatical. I think part of the reason most people don’t use &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; is because they have trouble identifying when it is needed, and this is because people don’t find a useful grammatical distinction between subordinate clauses that are objects or subjects. A logical result of this loss of meaningful distinction would be a concomitant loss in noticing coordination of grammatically unlike constituents with &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt;. That is, since people don’t notice or care that there is a different syntactic form in &lt;em&gt;who I didn’t know&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;who had built amazing stuff for us without even being asked to&lt;/em&gt;, then they aren’t likely to notice or care that coordinating them might be syntactically questionable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think most people would agree that the “surprising” effect that syllepsis gives is not appropriate in most formal writing because it draws attention away from the content of the writing and towards the cleverness of the writer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the history of syllepsis with &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt;, searching for that would be quite tedious using COHA because it doesn’t have the ability to do searches for complex syntactic structures. I’m sure that it’s not very common even today but was completely impossible before &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; became synonymous with &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; for many speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-10T16:38:41.563" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T16:38:41.563" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2811" CreationDate="2010-09-10T01:12:07.773" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two types of ellipsis (examples from &lt;em&gt;The Cambridge Guide to English Usage&lt;/em&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ellipsis in the grammar of a sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They took glasses from the bar and [they took] plates from the tables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ellipsis in punctuation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He wanted no more of it . . . But having said that . . .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T01:12:07.773" />
  <row Id="2831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2743" CreationDate="2010-09-10T01:16:18.513" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A rather strange point was raised in the accepted answer to this question. Personally, I wish this information were relevant for both men and women, but the fact is, it is a feature of our language that men are always styled 'Mr' unless they have some other title or style, and women have the privilege of being styled 'Miss' or 'Mrs'. Some women will be seriously offended if you don't address them by their preferred title. In business correspondence, 'Ms' is almost always appropriate, but in social correspondence, one would do well to try to find out what the lady in question prefers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T01:16:18.513" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="2832" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2846" CreationDate="2010-09-10T02:46:47.070" Score="6" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;The tournament is open for &quot;anyone&quot; or &quot;everyone&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="304" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T13:24:37.707" Title="Open for &quot;Anyone&quot;, or Open for &quot;Everyone&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2832" CreationDate="2010-09-10T03:37:00.047" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The distinction is not important in this case. &lt;em&gt;Everyone&lt;/em&gt; means every person, without exception and &lt;em&gt;anyone&lt;/em&gt; means any person, without discrimination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T03:37:00.047" />
  <row Id="2834" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-10T06:51:20.720" Score="2" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can anyone please give a detailed pronunciation method for the word &lt;em&gt;laboratory&lt;/em&gt;? I mean, is it labo-ra-tory or labo-ra-to-ry?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1143" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-10T14:37:19.623" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T14:37:19.623" Title="Pronunciation of the word &quot;laboratory&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2834" CreationDate="2010-09-10T07:19:59.750" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The CUVPlus electronic dictionary (based on the Oxford Learners' Dictionary) gives&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;laboratory: l@'b0r@trI (which is lə'bɒrətrɪ in IPA)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The CMUdict electronic dictionary (American English) gives&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LABORATORY  L AE1 B R AH0 T AO2 R IY0&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2741/how-to-pronounce-new-orleans/2744#2744&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt; for a link to the key to the pronunciation codes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T07:19:59.750" />
  <row Id="2836" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2837" CreationDate="2010-09-10T07:21:42.787" Score="6" ViewCount="496" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I often talk with friends using phone and.. i'm not sure how to pronounce correctly word 'beach'. Some people hear it as a 'bitch'... It really makes me upset!&#xA;How to pronounce this words correctly? What is the difference in pronunciation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1144" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T09:49:35.343" Title="How to pronounce 'beach' and 'bitch'? What's the difference?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2836" CreationDate="2010-09-10T07:25:25.570" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Beach contains a long i vowel and bitch contains a short i vowel. These two are an example of a minimal pair, a pair of words which is almost the same except for one sound (in this case the long/short i sound). There is &lt;a href=&quot;http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/wordscape/wordlist/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a huge list of computer-generated minimal pairs at John Higgins's website&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T07:25:25.570" />
  <row Id="2838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2832" CreationDate="2010-09-10T07:26:30.817" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually a tournament would be &quot;open to everyone&quot; or &quot;open to anyone&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me there is a marginal difference that &quot;open to everyone&quot; sounds slightly more friendly or more welcoming than &quot;open to anyone&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T07:26:30.817" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2836" CreationDate="2010-09-10T07:56:16.163" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;drop the B and you have your answer... Bitch rhymes with itch and Beach rhymes with each&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T07:56:16.163" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2836" CreationDate="2010-09-10T08:16:46.080" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are like me, you need to listen to the two words to understand the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This video explains how to pronounce &quot;beach&quot; and &quot;bitch&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIiSnpDDcAA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Real ESL Video #22 - Bitch or Beach? Pronouncing i and e!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you know how to pronounce &quot;reach&quot; and &quot;rich&quot;? It's the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T08:16:46.080" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2834" CreationDate="2010-09-10T09:39:11.500" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually |ˈlæbrəˌtɔri| in American English and |ləˈbɒrətri| in British English&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="706" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T09:39:11.500" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2842" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2844" CreationDate="2010-09-10T11:17:59.323" Score="5" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which word should I use in the following context? Is &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; required before &lt;em&gt;data&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Any algorithm first reads data, processes (the) data and finally [outputs|puts out] the processed data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-11T12:40:16.827" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T12:40:16.827" Title="Which would be correct: &quot;outputs&quot; or &quot;puts out&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;esl&gt;&lt;beginner&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2834" CreationDate="2010-09-10T11:23:37.207" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/laboratory&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam Webster&lt;/a&gt; provides MP3 recordings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T11:23:37.207" />
  <row Id="2844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2842" CreationDate="2010-09-10T12:03:29.270" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any algorithm first reads the data, processes the data and finally outputs the processed data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T12:03:29.270" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2773" CreationDate="2010-09-10T12:13:43.200" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phenomenon of &quot;Globish&quot; (global English) was discussed on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00stlrh&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BBC Radio 4's Start The Week in June 2010&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'Globish' has been described as 'the&#xA;  worldwide dialect of the third&#xA;  millennium'. The term was first used&#xA;  to describe a functional English,&#xA;  perfectly adapted as the global&#xA;  language of commerce, technology and&#xA;  education. In his history of this&#xA;  global phenomenon, Robert McCrum&#xA;  argues that while the British Empire&#xA;  is long dead, its language is now&#xA;  extending its influence further and&#xA;  further. But Globish has transcended&#xA;  the legacy of empire and is set to&#xA;  become the lingua franca of&#xA;  globalisation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T12:13:43.200" />
  <row Id="2846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2832" CreationDate="2010-09-10T12:15:53.860" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a subtle distinction, as noted  that's likely unimportant -- unless you're at all concerned about subconscious reactions from speakers of American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Anyone&quot; does have some negative connotations and usages attached to it that people don't necessarily think about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;em&gt;Anyone&lt;/em&gt; can do that.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;They'll take &lt;em&gt;anyone&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your purposes either would probably be fine, but &quot;everyone&quot; will be perceived as more inclusive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="933" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T12:15:53.860" />
  <row Id="2847" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2848" CreationDate="2010-09-10T12:22:20.390" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/172/is-it-ok-to-use-i-in-lowercase-or-should-you-always-use-i-uppercase&quot;&gt;Is it ok to use &amp;ldquo;i&amp;rdquo; in lowercase or should you always use &amp;ldquo;I&amp;rdquo; (uppercase)?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is using &lt;strong&gt;i&lt;/strong&gt; instead of &lt;strong&gt;I&lt;/strong&gt; for first person singular noticed as a bad syntax error or is it acceptable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="726" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T12:50:19.377" ClosedDate="2010-09-10T13:09:41.577" Title="Is using i instead of I for first person singular really bad?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2847" CreationDate="2010-09-10T12:50:19.377" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For anything formal, it is totally unacceptable, and even informally, many people look at it as lazy or sloppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T12:50:19.377" />
  <row Id="2849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2836" CreationDate="2010-09-10T13:13:47.557" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My slavic language speaking colleagues all have this problem, because these languages do not make a distinction between tense vowels and lax vowels.  The sound in &lt;em&gt;beach&lt;/em&gt; is a tense [i], and the sound in &lt;em&gt;bitch&lt;/em&gt; is a lax [ɪ].  These sounds differ in two major ways.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, the sounds are made in slightly different places in the mouth.  The sound in [ɪ] is very close to [i], but is a little bit towards [e] (like the sound in &quot;day&quot;).  So if you say [i] and hold it and then move your mouth to make [e], then somewhere along that path is something close to the sound [ɪ].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, the sounds differ in length.  All tense vowels are slightly longer, and lax vowels are slightly shorter.  If you have trouble figuring out the right way to articulate the sound, then the vowel length can be very helpful to at least help distinguish these sounds — even if it is not perfectly native sounding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T13:13:47.557" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2832" CreationDate="2010-09-10T13:24:37.707" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;every&quot; as in &quot;each and every&quot; is a reference to elements in a set and can be taken as the intention to include all elements in the set; &quot;any&quot; is more a universal concept and implies no distinction at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T13:24:37.707" />
  <row Id="2851" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2852" CreationDate="2010-09-10T14:08:13.527" Score="6" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say it's 5:00 PM in a city, rush hour, hard to get a taxi. What do you say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;It's hard to get a taxi at &lt;strong&gt;this period/this clock/this hour&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can bypass it by saying &quot;now&quot;. But what's the way to express it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-10T14:41:31.507" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T14:41:31.507" Title="It's hard to get a taxi &quot;at this period&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="2852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2851" CreationDate="2010-09-10T14:22:22.097" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say &quot;..at this time of day.&quot; or &quot;...at this hour.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T14:22:22.097" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2853" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2854" CreationDate="2010-09-10T14:40:38.053" Score="7" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does the word &quot;marketese&quot; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="81" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-10T19:16:58.000" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T19:16:58.000" Title="What does the word &quot;marketese&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="2854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2853" CreationDate="2010-09-10T14:45:01.007" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a derogatory term referring to texts that use unnecessary, meaningless marketing (buzz)words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Jacob Nielsen &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;puts it&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;marketese&quot; [is] the promotional writing style with boastful subjective claims (&quot;hottest ever&quot;) that currently is prevalent on the Web.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T14:45:01.007" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2853" CreationDate="2010-09-10T14:58:57.723" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a similar word used in legal circles&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffery&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;puffery&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;  ... frequently used to denote the exaggerations reasonably to be expected of a seller as to the degree of quality of his product, the truth or falsity of which cannot be precisely determined.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Marketing claims are often puffery, and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;marketese&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is the language of these claims. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We should all be saddened that legal action cannot be taken against those committing acts of puffery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T14:58:57.723" />
  <row Id="2856" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2857" CreationDate="2010-09-10T15:16:12.740" Score="12" ViewCount="351" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is some English word that begins with &quot;con&quot; and means &quot;a community of experts in a certain field&quot;. I am not able to recollect that word. Can someone please help me? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1152" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T03:02:01.663" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T04:00:09.667" Title="English word that means &quot;a community of experts&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="2857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2856" CreationDate="2010-09-10T15:22:53.687" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you thinking of &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cognoscenti&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cognoscenti&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;–plural noun, singular -te /-ti/ &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;  persons who have superior knowledge and understanding of a particular field, esp. in the fine arts, literature, and world of fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T15:22:53.687" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2858" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2860" CreationDate="2010-09-10T15:29:04.457" Score="5" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to say something like &quot;that's such a cooler design&quot;. Is there more valid expression that expresses the same thing? Or is this okay English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess &quot;that design is so much cooler&quot; would work, but it's not as succinct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to say that something is cooler than something else, but without explicitly mentioning that other thing, since it is common knowledge between me and the person I am saying it to. So I don't want to use &quot;that design is cooler than X&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="427" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:45:40.923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:45:40.923" Title="Is &quot;such a cooler&quot; proper English?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;comparative&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2858" CreationDate="2010-09-10T15:41:07.620" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;That's such a cooler design&quot; sounds odd, even in the context you provide. I would go with &quot;that design is so much cooler&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T15:41:07.620" />
  <row Id="2861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2858" CreationDate="2010-09-10T15:55:44.570" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear that phrase all of the time and have used it as well. Whether or not it is &quot;proper&quot; depends on your audience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is proper English to use with my coworkers. It isn't proper English to use in an interview with a company with collared-shirt employees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T15:55:44.570" />
  <row Id="2862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2858" CreationDate="2010-09-10T16:35:22.330" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never heard that sort of sentence construction; it sounds very odd to me.  You could certainly say, &quot;that is such a cool design.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you use &quot;cooler&quot; then you are comparing it to something.  You don't necessarily have to say what you are comparing it to in the same sentence, but it should be given in the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also say, &quot;that is a much cooler design.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am curious where this sentence is common.  As I said, I have never heard it, and I have lived in the North East US and Northern California.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="433" LastEditorUserId="433" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-10T20:15:16.700" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T20:15:16.700" />
  <row Id="2863" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2864" CreationDate="2010-09-10T17:30:15.933" Score="6" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should I say that an engine can output 552 horsepower or 552 horsepowers? I've heard people use both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is just &quot;horsepower&quot;, what is the justification for the nonstandard pluralization? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="388" LastEditorUserId="388" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-10T18:28:54.410" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T05:14:00.337" Title="How do I pluralize &quot;horsepower?&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="2864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2863" CreationDate="2010-09-10T17:49:38.130" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always understood it to be &lt;em&gt;552 (units of) horsepower&lt;/em&gt;, where &lt;em&gt;units of&lt;/em&gt; is understood and rarely spoken. But &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/horsepower&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/horsepower&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; both list &lt;em&gt;horsepower&lt;/em&gt; as the actual plural form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, &lt;em&gt;horsepowers&lt;/em&gt; is definitely not standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T17:49:38.130" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="2866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2863" CreationDate="2010-09-10T19:41:41.207" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear sometimes says horsepowers when feigning technical ignorance. If you've heard it from him, he's just trying to be funny. He also uses carbon dioxides which is equally meaningless. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Horsepower is always correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T19:41:41.207" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2867" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2870" CreationDate="2010-09-10T19:55:10.073" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm making a database, establishing the fields where data is entered. The database stores a list of school systems that our company has worked with. So there's a field for the year we started working with them; but I'm drawing a blank as to how to summarize that in a small phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a better phrasing for the title of the field, rather than &quot;YearWeStartedWorkingWith&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T17:04:42.717" Title="Better phrasing for &quot;year we started working with [them]&quot;?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="2868" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2869" CreationDate="2010-09-10T20:03:09.927" Score="4" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose you were presenting two different conditions.  Which of the following is preferred?  Does it matter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the flower is red, it may be a&#xA;  rose.  On the other hand, if it is&#xA;  blue, it may be a violet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the flower is red, it may be a&#xA;  rose.  If, on the other hand, it is&#xA;  blue, it may be a violet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="433" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T22:21:13.133" Title="Which is preferred, &quot;On the other hand, if ...&quot; or &quot;If, on the other hand, ...&quot;?" Tags="&lt;preference&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="2869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2868" CreationDate="2010-09-10T20:10:20.837" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are perfectly grammatical and widely used. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google returns &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22on+the+other+hand,+if%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;51 million&lt;/a&gt; results for &quot;on the other hand, if&quot; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22if,+on+the+other+hand%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;94 million&lt;/a&gt; results for &quot;if, on the other hand&quot;, suggesting that on the Web, the latter is preferred by a factor of approximately 2. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, Google Books paints a different picture, with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22on+the+other+hand,+if%22&amp;amp;tbs=bks:1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;3 million&lt;/a&gt; results for &quot;on the other hand, if&quot;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22if,+on+the+other+hand%22&amp;amp;tbs=bks:1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2 million&lt;/a&gt; results for &quot;if, on the other hand&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-10T20:31:53.627" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T20:31:53.627" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2867" CreationDate="2010-09-10T20:10:57.107" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am assuming you want a short, concise field label, correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How about one of these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Worked With Since&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Partner Since (if you consider the school systems partners)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Since Year&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Year Started&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="433" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T20:10:57.107" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2871" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2953" CreationDate="2010-09-10T20:21:41.290" Score="5" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a programmer I use the word Authentication and the word Authorisation in my code. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to find nice abbreviations or alternative words for each of them that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;are not ambiguous and &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;has reasonably large 'psychological distance' between. i.e. they don't look too similar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i.e 'Auth' is not OK because it is ambiguous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment I have just removed some letters&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Authtictn&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Authristn&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1157" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T11:01:02.550" Title="Short alternatives of the word Authentication and the word Authorisation" Tags="&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2871" CreationDate="2010-09-10T20:29:14.530" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suppose you could take the approach taken when abbreviating &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalization_and_localization&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;'internationalization' as 'i18n'&lt;/a&gt; (and 'localization' as 'l10n':&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'authentication' =&gt; 'a12n'&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'authorization' = &gt; 'a11n'&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is to keep the first and last letters of the word, and replace all of the interior letters with a number representing the count of the letters removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, looking at 'a12n' and 'a11n', you may not know the meaning right away, so this is probably not the best solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="433" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T20:29:14.530" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2871" CreationDate="2010-09-10T20:29:49.877" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;authent.&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;authoris.&lt;/em&gt;?  I would say that your current versions are fairly difficult to read, and also not particularly easy to tell apart from one another at a glance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T20:29:49.877" />
  <row Id="2874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2871" CreationDate="2010-09-10T20:31:18.663" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could think of replacing the word 'authentication' with 'identification', since in this context, I think they are probably equivalent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could then substitute 'authorization' with 'permission'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, abbreviate as 'ident' and 'perm'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="433" LastEditorUserId="433" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-10T23:17:44.720" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T23:17:44.720" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2875" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-10T20:50:49.387" Score="3" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to pronounce &quot;Qty&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;ku-ti-ai&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;ku-ti-why&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1109" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-10T21:18:23.987" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T21:18:23.987" Title="Correct pronunciation of &quot;Qty&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="2876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2875" CreationDate="2010-09-10T21:01:30.160" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's an abbreviation for &quot;quantity&quot;, and I would pronounce it by saying the actual word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;kwan - teh - tee&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T21:01:30.160" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2877" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2878" CreationDate="2010-09-10T21:19:03.433" Score="5" ViewCount="260" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the right thing to say ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You are welcome&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You are welcomed&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You welcome&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1158" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T22:57:53.630" Title="&quot;You are welcome&quot; or &quot;You are welcomed&quot; or &quot;You welcome&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="2878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2877" CreationDate="2010-09-10T21:22:15.097" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;You are welcome,&quot; though it's usually shortened to &quot;You're welcome.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="928" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T21:22:15.097" />
  <row Id="2879" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-10T21:33:08.037" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymology concerns the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T00:36:16.477" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T00:36:16.477" />
  <row Id="2880" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-10T21:33:08.037" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="The history and languages of origin of words and phrases." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T05:33:23.763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T05:33:23.763" />
  <row Id="2881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2856" CreationDate="2010-09-10T21:40:31.797" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another commonly used term is graybeards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T21:40:31.797" />
  <row Id="2882" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2887" CreationDate="2010-09-10T21:49:33.603" Score="7" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the diference between &quot;license&quot; and &quot;licence&quot;? Are both variations accepted in US and UK?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1159" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T13:13:32.940" Title="License and licence" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="2883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2842" CreationDate="2010-09-10T21:54:43.957" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Outputs would be the most common term. But &quot;generates&quot; is also used, especially for results that are not necessarily meant to be human readable, such as compiler output, and other intermediate or low level data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T21:54:43.957" />
  <row Id="2884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2882" CreationDate="2010-09-10T21:57:29.533" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&amp;amp;q=6146638&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; has 10263 incidences for &lt;em&gt;license&lt;/em&gt; and just 91 for &lt;em&gt;licence&lt;/em&gt;. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/?c=bnc&amp;amp;q=6146642&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt;, in contrast, has 4217 for &lt;em&gt;licence&lt;/em&gt; and 333 for &lt;em&gt;license&lt;/em&gt;. Of those, 129 were for noun uses of &lt;em&gt;license&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From this we can say that in the United States, the spelling &lt;em&gt;license&lt;/em&gt; is nearly universal and &lt;em&gt;licence&lt;/em&gt; is virtually unknown (with a ratio of more than 100 to 1 in favor of &lt;em&gt;license&lt;/em&gt;). In Britain, the spelling &lt;em&gt;licence&lt;/em&gt; is much more common than &lt;em&gt;license&lt;/em&gt;, but the more common spelling is only about 13 times more common, so &lt;em&gt;license&lt;/em&gt; is a small minority but not unknown spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T00:43:14.240" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T00:43:14.240" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2010-09-10T22:06:56.980" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Google word translation, the translation is displayed in a tooltip after you position the mouse pointer over a word. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/intl/en/toolbar/ff/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;google toolbar&lt;/a&gt; includes this feature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T22:06:56.980" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-10T22:06:56.980" />
  <row Id="2886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2868" CreationDate="2010-09-10T22:21:13.133" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First one, because the second one is too wordy and awkwardly phrased. Both sentences should say &quot;might&quot; rather than &quot;may,&quot; because they're about condition, not permission.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T22:21:13.133" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2882" CreationDate="2010-09-10T22:56:17.237" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In British English license is the verb and licence is the noun. American English uses license for both noun and verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T22:56:17.237" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="2888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2877" CreationDate="2010-09-10T22:57:53.630" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the right thing to say ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;You are welcome&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;You are welcomed&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;You welcome&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the context, any one of them could be the right thing to say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T22:57:53.630" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7" CreationDate="2010-09-10T22:58:47.753" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the present tense, they are interchangeable, though there is a subtle difference implied in the likelihood of the thing happening (you coming in tomorrow, in this case):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most of the time “might” and “may” are&#xA;  almost interchangeable, with “might”&#xA;  suggesting a somewhat lower&#xA;  probability. You’re more likely to get&#xA;  wet if the forecaster says it may rain&#xA;  than if she says it might rain; but&#xA;  substituting one for the other is&#xA;  unlikely to get you into trouble—so&#xA;  long as you stay in the present tense.&#xA;  (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/may.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="433" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T22:58:47.753" />
  <row Id="2890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2871" CreationDate="2010-09-10T23:41:59.193" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would chose a synonym&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/authenticate?show=0&amp;amp;t=1284161390&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;authenticate&lt;/a&gt; synonyms: attest, authenticate, avouch, testify (to), vouch (for), witness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/authorization&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;authorization&lt;/a&gt; synonyms: allowance, authorization, clearance, concurrence, consent, granting, green light, leave, license (or licence), sanction, sufferance, warrant&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(As a non-native speaker) I would chose &lt;em&gt;attest&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;grant&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2010-09-10T23:41:59.193" />
  <row Id="2891" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2892" CreationDate="2010-09-11T00:22:38.997" Score="4" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;This the last paragraph of a composition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In sum, protecting the environment should always be &lt;strong&gt;an important concern&lt;/strong&gt; of all the countries. However, when it's possible to minimize the harm to environment in the exploitation of these valuable natural resources in the wilds, it is at best unwise and at worst heartless to leave all the treasures sleeping in the bleak wilderness while billions of people are suffering from extreme poverty and starving to death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not quite sure about &quot;an important concern&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW : Do you think there's any other problem in this paragraph?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="786" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T02:15:53.373" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T02:15:53.373" Title="Is it OK to say &quot;an important concern&quot;?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="2892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2891" CreationDate="2010-09-11T01:08:08.740" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, &quot;an important concern&quot; is fine in such context. The New Oxford American Dictionary gives the following as one definition for &quot;concern&quot; as a noun: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a matter of interest or importance to&#xA;  someone:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    &lt;em&gt;oil reserves are the concern of the Energy Department&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    &lt;em&gt;the survival of an endangered species is of concern to wildlife biologists&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as for the preposition to go with it, this would sound &lt;em&gt;slightly&lt;/em&gt; better to me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In sum, protecting the environment&#xA;  should always be an important concern&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; all the countries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(But &quot;of&quot; seems to be fine too. Googling similar phrases using &quot;of&quot; vs &quot;to&quot; didn't reveal compelling evidence either way. Maybe some of the native speakers here can weigh in on this one?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T01:08:08.740" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2863" CreationDate="2010-09-11T05:14:00.337" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Horsepowers&lt;/em&gt; is possible in some very limited contexts, but otherwise &lt;em&gt;horsepower&lt;/em&gt; is standard. Here are &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&amp;amp;q=6148110&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;two examples of &lt;em&gt;horsepowers&lt;/em&gt; in the Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In general, Yamaha’s direct-injection motors have been considerably quieter and smoother-running than their competition’s, though Evinrude’s new E-TEC might challenge that. The motor lists for $12,750. Though the variety of &lt;strong&gt;horsepowers&lt;/strong&gt; and induction systems makes an apples-to-apples comparison of new 2004 motors impossible, this one would probably qualify as “Editor’s Choice,” a motor likely to make a lot of folks with bass and walleye rigs in the popular 17- to 19-foot range very happy.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  — &lt;em&gt;Outdoor Life&lt;/em&gt;, 2003&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As of the model year 1994, all of the so-called “saltwater series” engines are limited to the 150-to 250-horsepower range, but in fact many (if not most) of the same materials and finish processes are also used in the lower &lt;strong&gt;horsepowers&lt;/strong&gt;, too.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  — &lt;em&gt;Field and Stream&lt;/em&gt;, 1994&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both these examples, &lt;em&gt;horsepowers&lt;/em&gt; refers to the horsepower ratings of different models of motor. In the second example, the horsepower ratings of engines is used as a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonym&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;metonym&lt;/a&gt; for the engines themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T05:14:00.337" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2010-09-11T13:55:38.827" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wordnik&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1162" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T13:55:38.827" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-11T13:55:38.827" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2794" CreationDate="2010-09-11T15:05:46.507" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This recommendation is not correct. See for example the answer to &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.irosetta.com/questions/364/quantity-unit-spacing-for-adjectives&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Quantity-unit spacing for adjectives&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="244" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T15:05:46.507" />
  <row Id="2897" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2900" CreationDate="2010-09-11T15:32:06.427" Score="4" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Get out of your own head&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;How do I get out of my own head.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kindly explain this idiom!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1104" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T17:24:04.423" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T17:24:04.423" Title="&quot;Get out of your own head&quot;" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-09-11T16:44:34.320" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Russian &lt;em&gt;razbliuto&lt;/em&gt;: the feeling you have for someone you once loved, but now do not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="928" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T16:44:34.320" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-11T16:44:34.320" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="2900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2897" CreationDate="2010-09-11T16:58:58.047" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;More context would help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I interpret it to mean, Stop looking at things from such a self-centered point of view. Look at the whole picture. It's not all about you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, if one were continually upset by minor rudeness from others, a way to get out of your own head is to stop focusing on your own hurt feelings but instead to consider what difficulties the other person struggles with, which will help you to overlook the petty rudeness and instead have compassion for the other person, even thinking of ways to encourage them and/or lessen their burdens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T16:58:58.047" />
  <row Id="2901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2867" CreationDate="2010-09-11T17:04:42.717" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Inception&quot; means the beginning of something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T17:04:42.717" />
  <row Id="2902" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2937" CreationDate="2010-09-11T20:45:48.680" Score="8" ViewCount="293" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a non-native speaker, I wonder what the rules are for preferring one of &quot;mandatory&quot;, &quot;obligatory&quot; or &quot;compulsory&quot; over the others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; yields examples such as these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mandatory: 4865 cases&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;mandatory safety nets around trampolines&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;mandatory health care reform&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;mandatory sentence for first-degree murder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unemployment sent me a letter, said this was a mandatory class.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To stave off matting, daily brushing with a paddle brush is mandatory.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He believes he can fill the role of rangy wing scorer that seems almost mandatory for championship teams.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Self-deprecation is mandatory here&quot;, he said.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Compulsory: 1060 cases&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;compulsory health insurance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;states that prohibit compulsory unionism&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;compulsory celibacy for the clergy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;added to the school curriculum as a compulsory second language&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;U.S. imperialism can be thought of as a system of compulsory heterosexuality&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My landlord and mother made my weekly visits to the center compulsory if I was to continue running my business rent free from her basement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Obligatory: 808 cases&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the obligatory happy ending&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when the obligatory compliments were out of the way&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I would hang up on my father after the obligatory five minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the laptop computer has become nearly obligatory on campus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Mandatory&quot; is presumably related to &quot;mandate&quot; and used when it's a matter of law or regulation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Obligatory&quot; is presumably related to &quot;obligation&quot; and used when it's a matter of moral, social or other obligation rather than law. (Like &quot;the obligatory happy ending&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Compulsory&quot; seems to mean that you are forced to do something, but the forcing mechanism is unspecified?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this approximately correct, and are there other rules of thumb for when to use which term?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There seems to be some cases where the terms are interchangeable: &quot;Mandatory health insurance&quot; and &quot;compulsory health insurance&quot; would be equally acceptable, wouldn't it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would &quot;school curriculum compulsory second language&quot; read the same if we substitute &quot;mandatory&quot; or &quot;obligatory&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1125" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-12T21:14:16.030" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T21:53:24.377" Title="Mandatory, obligatory, compulsory" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2903" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2907" CreationDate="2010-09-11T21:57:47.107" Score="6" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi all,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm a moderator at another StackExchange site and a debate has come up about the usage of the trademarked name for which I site is about, i.e. &lt;em&gt;WordPress&lt;/em&gt;. Note as a trademark it is spelled in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CamelCase&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CamelCase&lt;/a&gt; and thus we wanted our guidelines to be that you render it in CamelCase or we'll probably edit it so that it will be consistent (we don't expect that people will all notice this nor are we trying to get people to &lt;em&gt;obey&lt;/em&gt;, we just want to let them know that we'd prefer they do it this way and if they don't we'll probably edit it for them as we are writing our answers.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course there is always at least one person who takes issue when a group tries to create order partly in this case because of a dust-up created by the founder of WordPress who recently added a function to WordPress to CamelCase the name in content on people's sites and has dismissed the outcry about it from a group of passionate people as not his concern. Ignoring whether he should or should not have done that (I see these two issues as orthogonal) my view is that for our site if WordPress is cased as &lt;em&gt;WordPress&lt;/em&gt; by its founder it makes our site appear more of an authority if we are generally consistent in that usage. But this one individual wants to debate that and part of his argument is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Spoken professionally, names should be&#xA;  written orthographically correct.&#xA;  Correct me if I'm wrong, but to my&#xA;  best knowledge in English (both BE and&#xA;  AE), this means with an uppercase&#xA;  first letter per each word -the rest&#xA;  lowercase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm aware that companies can get very&#xA;  &quot;creative&quot; to break the &quot;burdening&quot;&#xA;  constraints of language for their own&#xA;  and their products names. But to make&#xA;  everything well read- and&#xA;  understandable, authors should first&#xA;  aim for an orthographically correct&#xA;  writing instead of fulfilling the&#xA;  marketing needs of a specific company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'd like to know if it would be considered more proper in written English and why to use casing such as Mcdonalds, Powerpoint, Thinkpad, Jpmorgan, Ebay, L'oreal, Conocophillips, Unitedhealth, Wellpoint, Pepsico, and Fedex OR the casing that follows their trademarks; i.e. McDonalds, PowerPoint, ThinkPad, JPMorgan, eBay, L'Oreal, ConocoPhillips, UnitedHealth, WellPoint, PepsiCo, and FedEx and relatedly would be be easier to read/more understandable?  Note his last statement seems to imply he is really just trying to use this his statement on the &quot;proper&quot; way to do it in English (which is ironic as he's a non-native speaker) in order to justify his apparent desire to be &lt;em&gt;&quot;anti-marketing.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I am coming here hoping for support that CamelCase for trademarks is the correct form in English usage but will be open minded in hearing your opinions and might even change my mind as I often do when presented with better evidence.  Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Mike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1164" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-11T22:42:14.643" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T18:41:30.270" Title="How Should Trademarks be Written?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;trademarks&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2903" CreationDate="2010-09-11T22:28:02.843" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some names, including many names starting with Mc- or O'-, should have more than one capital letter in them (such as &lt;em&gt;McDonald&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;O'Donnell&lt;/em&gt;). It would be wrong to write &lt;em&gt;Mcdonald&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;O'donnell&lt;/em&gt;.  Essentially, I think that the person whose name it is gets to decide how it should be spelled or capitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume that this principle would carry over to other proper nouns, including names of companies or products.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="433" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T22:28:02.843" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="2905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1999" CreationDate="2010-09-11T22:40:46.577" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=bI0ZAQAAIAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA20&amp;amp;lpg=PA20&amp;amp;dq=%22the+water-shed+of+the+country+between+the+two+seas%22&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=_-3PTBp_Or&amp;amp;sig=sYxD57YeHb4iT9tv9wr0gpRKmNU&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=PQGMTInoJY_64Aa0ooCNCg&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=3&amp;amp;ved=0CBgQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22the%20water-shed%20of%20the%20country%20between%20the%20two%20seas%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;watershed&lt;/strong&gt; started out in 1803&lt;/a&gt; meaning the dividing line between two drainage basins (etymologically, the place where the waters separate). Many references still indicate this as the modern British meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time, the word slipped to mean the slope down which the water flow until it settled to mean a drainage basin, the opposite of the original meaning. This usage is prevalent in American references, but the shift in meaning could be observed in Britain through the 19th century, as shown by OED citations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To the south-west of Kington the lower beds of the Old Red Sandstone (…) have been the sub-aqueous water-shed, down which the coarse detritus has been swept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, &lt;em&gt;The Silurian system, founded on geological researches&lt;/em&gt;, 1839)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Watershed” is a word which has been borrowed from German geographers. The verb &lt;em&gt;scheiden&lt;/em&gt; signifies “to separate,” and &lt;em&gt;die Wasserscheide&lt;/em&gt; is simply the “water-separation” or the “parting of the waters” — the old &lt;em&gt;Divortium aquarum&lt;/em&gt;. But many writers, looking at the common meaning of the English verb “to shed” have used the term “watershed” to denote the surface from which the waters are shed, or the slope along which they flow. (…) To avoid all ambiguity, it is perhaps best to set aside the original meaning of &quot;watershed,&quot; and employ the term to denote the slope along which the water flows, while the expression &quot;water-parting&quot; is employed for the summit of this slope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/Book/PhysioG.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Thomas Henry Huxley, &lt;em&gt;Physiography: An Introduction to the Study of Nature&lt;/em&gt;, 1881&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In its figurative meanings, the word always indicates a dividing line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1165" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T22:40:46.577" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-11T22:40:46.577" />
  <row Id="2906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2152" CreationDate="2010-09-11T22:52:30.093" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I do this in almost all of my writing, even emails&lt;/strong&gt;, and I do it so that it's easier to scan the document and see the numbers. It's just one of the techniques I use to make my writing easier to read. In a multiline paragraph it is easy to miss the one and the two and the three but it's a lot more difficult to miss the one (1) and the two (2) and the three (3). I'm no expert on English even though I am a native speak (at my university we would commonly self-identify with the phrase &lt;em&gt;&quot;I are an en-ga-neer!&quot;&lt;/em&gt;) but I have extensive experience in written communication and there are many things I've learned to do that make it easier to communicate, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Use of Headings to Denote Sections&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use bullet points to delineate multiple points,&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use of many paragraphs with lots of white space also to improve ability to be read by scanning,&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bolding of certain phrases&lt;/strong&gt; for emphasis, &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;And of course &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;writing numbers twice (2x)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; so they are more easily seen.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note I wrote the above paragraph long to emphasize the point, not because it was clearer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in summary I've no idea if it is &lt;em&gt;correct&lt;/em&gt; or not, but &lt;strong&gt;I personally do it for clarity to help the reader&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1164" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T22:52:30.093" />
  <row Id="2907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2903" CreationDate="2010-09-11T23:27:27.090" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are so many exceptions.  Names don't always get caps all the way through, e.g. &quot;Osama bin Laden&quot;, &quot;Giancarlo di Donato&quot;, &quot;Martin van Buren&quot;.  &quot;L'Hôpital's rule&quot;.  We respect the capitalization of people's names based on the way that they write them, so how is this any different?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, on whose authority does he consider this rule orthographically &quot;correct&quot;?  All newspapers write brand names like &lt;em&gt;iPhone&lt;/em&gt; and not &lt;em&gt;Iphone&lt;/em&gt;.  Is it really easier to read words if I see them written one way in every professional publication, commercial, and product labeling, and then another way when a random website writes about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly, someone is just annoyed at the ways that companies capitalize things nowadays.  Sure, it wasn't popular in the past, but in the past we basically didn't have acronyms either (for example).  There are always new innovations taking place in language and orthography.  So, there is no basis in this being objectively &quot;correct&quot;, nor does popular usage dictate that this person's rule is reflective of actual usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T23:27:27.090" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="2908" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6191" CreationDate="2010-09-11T23:35:01.193" Score="11" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is &lt;strong&gt;the correct use of the term &lt;em&gt;&quot;related?&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;  For example, should I use it like  &lt;em&gt;computer related&lt;/em&gt;, or is it more proper to use &lt;em&gt;computer-related&lt;/em&gt; (where the word &lt;em&gt;&quot;computer&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is just part of my example?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are the cases where it is used in one form and case in another form, or should it always be used in only one way? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1164" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T00:53:23.217" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T00:53:23.217" Title="Should I use &quot; related&quot; or &quot;-related&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;hyphen&gt;&lt;compounds&gt;&lt;modifiers&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2909" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-11T23:44:32.360" Score="18" ViewCount="599" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/45/do-we-need-a-site-manifesto/64#64&quot;&gt;the comments on this answer&lt;/a&gt; where several users claimed that Strunk &amp;amp; White's &lt;em&gt;&quot;Elements of Style&quot;&lt;/em&gt; was &lt;em&gt;&quot;misinformed, hypocritical, and wrong&quot;&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;&quot;flat-out wrong or totally misleading&quot;&lt;/em&gt; so I'd love to get a delineated list of where it is wrong (&lt;em&gt;note:&lt;/em&gt; I have no position on this or axe to grind, I've just used it for years and would love to learn what I've been doing wrong thanks to it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1164" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-14T23:53:35.467" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T19:51:09.607" Title="What is Wrong in Strunk &amp; White's &quot;Elements of Style?&quot;" Tags="&lt;list-request&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="7" />
  <row Id="2910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2909" CreationDate="2010-09-11T23:45:43.720" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This article &lt;a href=&quot;http://chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/25497&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;50 years of stupid grammar advice&quot;&lt;/a&gt; is one recent example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T23:45:43.720" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2794" CreationDate="2010-09-11T23:46:32.450" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're typesetting SI units, it seems logical to follow the conventions of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bipm.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bureau international des poids et mesures&lt;/a&gt;. From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bipm.org/en/si/si_brochure/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SI Brochure&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bipm.org/en/si/si_brochure/chapter5/5-3-2.html#5-3-3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;§5.3.3&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The numerical value always precedes the unit, and a space is always used to separate the unit from the number. (…) The only exceptions to this rule are for the unit symbols for degree, minute, and second for plane angle, &lt;code&gt;°&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;′&lt;/code&gt;, and &lt;code&gt;″&lt;/code&gt;, respectively, for which no space is left between the numerical value and the unit symbol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bipm.org/en/si/si_brochure/chapter5/5-3-7.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;§5.3.7&lt;/a&gt; goes on to say that “When it is used, a space separates the number and the symbol &lt;code&gt;%&lt;/code&gt;.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In practice, it is quite common to see non-alphabetic units such as &lt;code&gt;%&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;°C&lt;/code&gt; typeset without an intervening space. I've never seen a rule that distinguished between single-letter units and longer units.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the rule doesn't specify how wide the space should be. Some references recommend a normal inter-word space, while others recommend a thin space. In any case, the space is nonbreakable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These rules need not apply to currencies, especially when they are written before the number. Specifying that single-character currencies don't take a space ($42, £42, €42) while multiple-character currencies do (AUD 42, A$ 42) doesn't feel completely outlandish, maybe that's what you remember?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1165" LastActivityDate="2010-09-11T23:46:32.450" />
  <row Id="2912" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2919" CreationDate="2010-09-12T03:11:25.467" Score="3" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;The complete sentence is :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Had&lt;/strong&gt; Einstein used his spare time on something more useful for the society, the improvement of our knowledge of the nature of the universe would have been greatly delayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I move &quot;Had&quot; to the head of the sentence to make it a little uncommon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="786" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T06:51:27.947" Title="Can we say &quot;Had Einstein used his spare time on something more useful for the society, ...&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2908" CreationDate="2010-09-12T03:51:44.440" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is more proper to use &lt;em&gt;computer-related&lt;/em&gt;. You are using a hyphen to combine two words that act as a single modifier together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I think both ways are acceptable, because I don't know an example where &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; using the hyphen with these words causes ambiguity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T03:51:44.440" />
  <row Id="2914" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2915" CreationDate="2010-09-12T04:10:54.657" Score="5" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the title suggests, where can get the list of diminutive forms of people's first names? Like Mike for Michael and Dave for David.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S: I can't create tags at the moment so please help add the tags, thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1168" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-14T23:48:57.810" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T23:48:57.810" Title="Where can I get the list of diminutive forms of first names?" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;nicknames&gt;&lt;list-request&gt;&lt;diminutive&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2914" CreationDate="2010-09-12T04:27:48.990" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The lists at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nireland.com/anne.johnston/Diminutives.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Diminutives and Alternative Names for the Most Common English Christian Names&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thinkbabynames.com/search/1/diminutive&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Think Baby Names&lt;/a&gt; might be a good start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T04:27:48.990" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2448" CreationDate="2010-09-12T05:08:55.020" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a native speaker of American English who has been exposed to a variety of media, it is generally unheard of for an American to say &quot;tomahto&quot; and &quot;shedule&quot; rather than &quot;tomayto&quot; and &quot;skedule&quot;. The &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; time I've ever come across &quot;tomahto&quot; pronunciation with any regularity is when people say something such as &quot;Tomayto, tomahto&quot;, generally implying that we agree on an issue even though we may have a different approach. A tomato is a tomato no matter how you pronounce it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible that there are certain registers in the US which use the British pronunciations, but I haven't run into any American born persons in the last four decades which do so, even after extensive travel around my country and in varying social situations with people from all walks of life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the reaction of Americans to British pronunciations, I don't believe this part of the question is definitively answerable without conducting research which accounts for register, education, and class. I tried various Google searches to attempt to find such research, to no avail. I can only tell you my own reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If an American uses the British pronunciations of &quot;tomato&quot; or &quot;schedule&quot;, the reaction is ultimately dependent upon the situation and how well I know the person. It might just be a goof, or that person may think that using the British pronunciations somehow make them sound more intelligent. This only applies to native speakers. I expect non-native speakers from countries such as India to use the British pronunciations because that is what they were taught in school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastEditorUserId="573" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-12T14:30:52.117" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T14:30:52.117" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-12T14:30:52.117" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2908" CreationDate="2010-09-12T06:02:25.630" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hyphenation is tricky. There are two cases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This book is computer(*)related. &lt;em&gt;(without a noun)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is a computer(*)related book. &lt;em&gt;(before a noun)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think most authorities would say that 2. should be hyphenated. However, in case 1. it's not quite so clear. The Chicago Manual of Style says it should be open (not have a hyphen), as in &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This book is computer related.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe this is the American style, whereas the British style is to add a hyphen regardless:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This book is computer-related.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also says &quot;the first place to look is in the dictionary&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T06:02:25.630" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2912" CreationDate="2010-09-12T06:03:44.770" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes you can say that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T06:03:44.770" />
  <row Id="2919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2912" CreationDate="2010-09-12T06:51:27.947" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is a proper conditional statement, so yes, you can certainly frame it like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T06:51:27.947" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2920" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-12T14:12:32.880" Score="4" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tend to misuse commas in large way.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever I draft a professional mail, I get engrossed in the points, and somewhere along the way I get the feeling that this sentence is too long. I then start putting in commas to separate out thoughts. This often leads me to situations where I start using &quot;He has done well, but a lot remains&quot; etc.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How do I stop this usage and start using the English language properly?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;P.S.&lt;/strong&gt; English is not my native language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1174" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T18:31:33.623" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T22:16:27.217" Title="Tending to misuse comma" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2921" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-12T14:21:33.023" Score="5" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can someone point me to good online resources to learn how to write mails? I am not looking to learn the etiquettes, rather the intricacies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1174" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T23:14:51.350" Title="Good resources to learn how to write mails." Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;learning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2920" CreationDate="2010-09-12T14:47:23.443" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the risk of sounding overly obvious, how about separating thoughts by using periods? Just try breaking up an overly long sentence into a few shorter ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, having long sentences is not &quot;improper&quot; in and of itself. Yes, sometimes it is a matter of comprehensibility, but above all it is a matter of style. Having extremely short sentences can be weird, too: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He has done well. But a lot remains. At least I think so. You might disagree. And that's okay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But again, that is not &quot;wrong&quot;, either. It's a question of style. There are many respected writers who are famous for their long sentences, or their love for commas, semicolons, parentheses or dashes. There are also many respected writers who are famous for short sentences, or for not touching a particular punctuation mark with a ten-foot pole. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T22:16:27.217" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T22:16:27.217" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2920" CreationDate="2010-09-12T16:22:22.197" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think the commas are the problem; instead, the problem is probably knowing the best places to put sentence boundaries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As RegDwight says, there is no actual grammatical rule that says a sentence must only be a certain maximum/minimum length or contain a maximum number of clauses, or else it is wrong.  So, there can be certain circumstances where a very long sentence is the best kind of sentence for something.  However, I find that this is a reasonable rule of thumb for constructing a sentence (a &quot;rule of thumb&quot; is something that is helpful, but shouldn't be considered unbreakable):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't have more than two independent clauses in a single sentence.  (And remember that having &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt;, etc. doesn't always mean you have two independent clauses.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at these three examples (independent clauses are in brackets):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;[Having a good memory, I remembered the way to get home], but [I have had a poor sense of direction for as long as I can remember].&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;[I am tired and hungry in the afternoon], and [because of this, I make a lot more mistakes at my job].&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;[I try not to create run-on sentences], [but it is difficult to avoid doing so], [and my friends always make fun of me for it].&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In (1-2), we only have two independent clauses, and I think most people would agree that these sentences do not run on too long.  In (3), there are three independent clauses, which breaks the rule of thumb; some people might say that this sentence is not too long, and some might say it is.  I break this rule of thumb all the time — the point is that if you follow this rule, you have a reasonable amount of expressive freedom without having to worry if your sentence might be too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to show a connection between two complete sentences, but using a comma violates the rule of thumb, you can use the semi-colon.  For example, you could repair (3) by doing the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I try not to create run-on sentences, but it is difficult to avoid doing so; my friends always make fun of me for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T16:22:22.197" />
  <row Id="2924" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-12T17:31:43.823" Score="9" ViewCount="452" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are stories for children and for adults. But when I say &quot;adult stories&quot; people tend to think they are erotica/porn stories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is a good way to refer to adult stories?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example of adult stories: Lovecraft's, Poe's, Kafka's, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="256" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T03:28:09.147" Title="&quot;Adult stories&quot; but not porn" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="2925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2924" CreationDate="2010-09-12T17:39:29.780" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard the word 'literature' used in this case, although it does not specifically exclude kids' lit, and in some situations would exclude books written for adults but not to a high standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="52" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T17:39:29.780" />
  <row Id="2926" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-12T17:52:39.113" Score="6" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read the following lines somewhere on the Web:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained, you will suffer defeat.” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After reading those lines five times, I still don't understand what the writer is exactly trying to say here. Could someone please explain the meaning of these lines in simple words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1152" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-10T13:59:19.543" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T15:43:35.020" Title="What does this quote/excerpt mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2926" CreationDate="2010-09-12T18:10:58.913" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you know yourself, but do not know the enemy, you will lose (at least) as often as you will win. You will win (at most) 50 battles out of 100. However, if you know both yourself and the enemy, you will win many more battles, perhaps all 100 out of 100, so you shouldn't be afraid to fight them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short: if you know your enemy, don't be afraid to fight; if you don't know your enemy, be warned that you might lose. Even shorter: know your enemy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-12T18:43:07.323" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T18:43:07.323" />
  <row Id="2928" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-12T19:10:33.247" Score="4" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if someone could help me find a word based off of my description.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like a word that means something along the lines of &quot;fleeting, wandering and prone to drifting off&quot; or something like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to describe thought in a &quot;Men fear thought&quot; analysis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trying to breakdown the line &quot;Men fear though more than ruin&quot; I was trying to assert that thought is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; as it is &quot;fleeting, wandering and prone to drifting off&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone has some insight into a particularly helpful word, or one that seems to fit well, please let me know!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also like for the word to possibly carry a little bit of a negative connotation, so it can be tied into the analysis of &quot;more than ruin&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I think the word should have its emphasis on &quot;prone to drifting off&quot; and also &quot;leading to other kinds of malicious thoughts/things&quot; if you know what I mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1179" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-29T09:45:36.250" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T11:47:08.343" Title="Word to describe &quot;fleeting, wandering and prone to drifting off&quot; of thought" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2928" CreationDate="2010-09-12T19:22:08.010" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/elusive&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;elusive&lt;/a&gt;&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T19:22:08.010" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2924" CreationDate="2010-09-12T19:27:28.717" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, if you don't specify something as children's or young adult, it'll be assumed that you mean adult level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that isn't the case, you could go with upper-level or higher-level stories. You could try &quot;mature,&quot; but you might end up with the same problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a site at &lt;a href=&quot;http://answers.unshelved.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://answers.unshelved.com&lt;/a&gt; using the old StackExchange system for librarians. They might have some better ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T19:27:28.717" />
  <row Id="2931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2926" CreationDate="2010-09-12T19:32:33.180" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Art_of_War&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WikiQuote&lt;/a&gt;, here are some alternative translations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;If you know others and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know others but know yourself, you win one and lose one; if you do not know others and do not know yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Know your enemy and know yourself, find naught in fear for 100 battles. Know yourself but not your enemy, find level of loss and victory. Know thy enemy but not yourself, wallow in defeat every time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Literal translation: Know [the] other, know [the] self, hundred battles without danger; not knowing [the] other but know [the] self, one win one loss; not knowing [the] other, not knowing [the] self, every battle must [be] lost&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The author is making three points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you understand yourself &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; your enemy, you will be far more likely to win any battle.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you understand yourself, but not your enemy, you have roughly a 50/50 chance of winning.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you understand neither yourself nor your enemy, you will probably lose every battle.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Understand&quot; in this case probably means being aware of a person's strengths, weaknesses and motivations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T19:32:33.180" />
  <row Id="2932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2928" CreationDate="2010-09-12T19:34:35.857" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question changed a little, so I'm changing my answer. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Desultory might work, but it might be a bit of a stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definition of DESULTORY&#xA;1: marked by lack of definite plan, regularity, or purpose &#xA;2: not connected with the main subject&#xA;3: disappointing in progress, performance, or quality   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastEditorUserId="23" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-12T20:08:56.663" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T20:08:56.663" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2933" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-12T20:10:13.853" Score="10" ViewCount="269" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the cricket ground Lord's is a possessive, what if you want to describe something belonging to Lord's? Would you say &quot;I was very impressed by Lord's's customer services&quot;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't look right, so what is the correct way of writing it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1180" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T23:54:53.590" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T23:54:53.590" Title="Possessive of a word that's already possessive?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2928" CreationDate="2010-09-12T20:19:32.730" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Meandering might work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meandering: to wander aimlessly or casually without urgent destination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T20:19:32.730" />
  <row Id="2935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2928" CreationDate="2010-09-12T20:23:04.680" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I thought of a third possibility that covers the transition part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Capricious: governed or characterized by caprice : impulsive, unpredictable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I think of something better, I obviously have no compunction against adding another answer. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T20:23:04.680" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2933" CreationDate="2010-09-12T20:51:49.030" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you kind of answer your own question. If &quot;Lord's&quot; already &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; a possessive, then there's no need to turn it into a possessive even further. I would just say &quot;Lord's customer services&quot;, much like I would say &quot;McDonald's burgers&quot; and &quot;Ben &amp;amp; Jerry's ad slogan&quot; and not &quot;McDonald's's burgers&quot; and &quot;Ben &amp;amp; Jerry's's ad slogan&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T20:51:49.030" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2902" CreationDate="2010-09-12T21:53:24.377" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you mostly have it right, but for further exemplification, here are the most common immediately following collocates for each these words from the COCA:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most common collocates for &lt;em&gt;mandatory&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1   TESTING      151   &#xA;2   MINIMUM      125   &#xA;3   RETIREMENT   107   &#xA;4   MINIMUMS     100   &#xA;5   REPORTING    87    &#xA;6   SENTENCES    78    &#xA;7   EVACUATION   74    &#xA;8   SENTENCING   74    &#xA;9   DISCLOSURE   63    &#xA;10  ARBITRATION  56    &#xA;11  SPENDING     41    &#xA;12  DRUG         36    &#xA;13  SENTENCE     35    &#xA;14  EVACUATIONS  32    &#xA;15  ARREST       27    &#xA;16  PRISON       27    &#xA;17  COUNSELING   26    &#xA;18  OVERTIME     24    &#xA;19  RECYCLING    23    &#xA;20  BUSING       22    &#xA;21  SANCTIONS    22    &#xA;22  INSURANCE    21    &#xA;23  SERVICE      21    &#xA;24  HIV          20    &#xA;25  RELEASE      20    &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most common collocates for &lt;em&gt;compulsory&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1   EDUCATION       86&#xA;2   MILITARY        53&#xA;3   SCHOOL          31&#xA;4   SCHOOLING       21&#xA;5   STERILIZATION   19&#xA;6   LICENSING       18&#xA;7   ATTENDANCE      18&#xA;8   NATIONAL        16&#xA;9   SERVICE         15&#xA;10  MILITIA         14&#xA;11  MEMBERSHIP      14&#xA;12  JURISDICTION    11&#xA;13  HEALTH          11&#xA;14  HETEROSEXUALITY 10&#xA;15  LABOR           10&#xA;16  ARBITRATION     9 &#xA;17  LICENSE         9 &#xA;18  FIGURES         9 &#xA;19  PROCESS         9 &#xA;20  PUBLIC          9 &#xA;21  RETIREMENT      8 &#xA;22  DISPUTE         7 &#xA;23  ARMY            7 &#xA;24  VOTING          6 &#xA;25  INSURANCE       6 &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most common collocates for &lt;em&gt;obligatory&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1   SERVICE          10 &#xA;2   NATURE           8  &#xA;3   STOP             8  &#xA;4   REFERENCE        6  &#xA;5   STRUCTURE        5  &#xA;6   CELIBACY         4  &#xA;7   EXCHANGE         4  &#xA;8   VISIT            4  &#xA;9   READING          4  &#xA;10  MILITARY         4  &#xA;11  QUESTION         4  &#xA;12  SLAP             3  &#xA;13  NOD              3  &#xA;14  RETURNS          3  &#xA;15  BASIC            3  &#xA;16  PERIOD           3  &#xA;17  UPON             3  &#xA;18  PHOTO            3  &#xA;19  BOOK             3  &#xA;20  EARLY            3  &#xA;21  PARTHENOGENESIS  2  &#xA;22  PREPOSITION      2  &#xA;23  PILGRIMAGES      2  &#xA;24  HAGGLING         2  &#xA;25  ALTRUISTIC       2  &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, &lt;em&gt;mandatory&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;compulsory&lt;/em&gt; have much stronger collocates. The collocates for &lt;em&gt;mandatory&lt;/em&gt; are more things that are simply required by law, policy, or rule, whereas &lt;em&gt;compulsory&lt;/em&gt; is more for specifically things that someone must do (e.g. education, military, sterilization). &lt;em&gt;Obligatory&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, doesn’t have much of a strong affinity for certain things, and can be used generally for anything that is required by social custom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T21:53:24.377" />
  <row Id="2938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2933" CreationDate="2010-09-12T23:09:19.150" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you really need the &lt;strong&gt;genitive case&lt;/strong&gt; (possessive), you could say: 'I was very impressed by the customer service of Lord's' or '. . . by the Lord's cricket ground's customer service'. You could also consider &lt;em&gt;Lord's&lt;/em&gt; as an &lt;strong&gt;adjective&lt;/strong&gt; describing &lt;em&gt;customer service&lt;/em&gt;, which would make it '. . . by Lord's customer service'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T23:09:19.150" />
  <row Id="2939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2921" CreationDate="2010-09-12T23:14:51.350" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as the etiquette goes, check out the web site of Debretts: &lt;a href=&quot;http://debretts.co.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://debretts.co.uk/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular, you might want to look at:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Forms of Address&lt;/em&gt; (http://www.debretts.com/forms-of-address.aspx) which shows in detail how to address different people on letters;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Everyday Etiquette: Communication&lt;/em&gt; (http://www.debretts.com/etiquette/communication.aspx) which gives a detailed explanation of the etiquette of many forms of communication, including face-to-face, by technology, online, and written; and&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Letters&lt;/em&gt; (http://www.debretts.com/etiquette/communication/written/letters.aspx).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have any particular questions, I'd be more than happy to address them specifically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T23:14:51.350" />
  <row Id="2940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2924" CreationDate="2010-09-12T23:17:28.037" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are right, the word &lt;em&gt;adult&lt;/em&gt; has come to have an erotic connotation. You might want to use &lt;em&gt;mature&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;advanced&lt;/em&gt;, or even &lt;em&gt;sophisticated&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T23:17:28.037" />
  <row Id="2941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2924" CreationDate="2010-09-12T23:29:34.447" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard people say &quot;It is for {age} and above&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1158" LastActivityDate="2010-09-12T23:29:34.447" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2903" CreationDate="2010-09-12T23:37:57.000" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of innovations in capitalization and punctuation invented by trademark owners for use in proper nouns, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eliminating the space between words, resulting in internal capital letters that correspond to word boundaries (“WordPress”, “ValuJet”)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When the first word is a single letter, lowercasing it but capitalizing the second letter, corresponding to the first letter in the second word (“iPod, eBay”)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using capital and lowercase letters arbitrarily (“deviantART”, “Mitsubishi i MiEV”)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not capitalizing initial letters (“first direct”, “craiglist”)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using all capital letters for non-acronyms (“LEGO”, “BEER-NUTS”)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using nonstandard punctuation marks (“Macy*s”, “M•A•C”) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using sentence termination punctuation marks in a name (“Yahoo!”, “Guess?”)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And even crazier things, like specifying that a name must always appear in a certain typeface, type weight, or color. The point of all these unusual treatments is to make the trademarks stand out; that is, to draw attention to the unusualness of the trademark in order to make it more memorable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, from the standpoint of the conventions of standard written English, all of these things violate the conventions, and there is no reason why you, as a writer, cannot simply adhere to the conventions. Trademarks are &lt;em&gt;words&lt;/em&gt; and there are rules about how to use capital letters, lowercase letters, and punctuation when writing words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The first &lt;em&gt;word&lt;/em&gt; of a sentence always has an initial capital letter, whether or not it would be capitalized elsewhere in the sentence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Proper nouns, which trademarks are a subcategory of, have a capital initial letter in each word which is part of the proper noun.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The only punctuation marks that can appear as part of a word is the apostrophe (’) and the hyphen (–). All other punctuation is for connecting words, phrases, and sentences together.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the perspective of correctness in writing, there is nothing &lt;em&gt;wrong&lt;/em&gt; with adhering to these conventions strictly and reformatting all trademarks to make them compliant: &lt;em&gt;Word&amp;nbsp;Press&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;Wordpress&lt;/em&gt;), &lt;em&gt;Deviant&amp;nbsp;Art&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;I&amp;nbsp;Pod&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;I-Pod&lt;/em&gt;), &lt;em&gt;Macy’s&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Yahoo&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Lego&lt;/em&gt;, etc. If you are someone who is deciding on formatting standards for writing, this a perfectly reasonable and unimpeachably correct paradigm to establish. However, if you look at how professionally-editing publications are handling these kinds of cases nowadays, you will find yourself in a distinct minority if you take as hard-line an approach as that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, most publications have compromised, and are allowing some innovative treatments that are not too distracting: the first two kinds of innovations, internal capitals at (former) word boundaries (as in “ValuJet”), and a single lowercase initial followed by a capital letter (as in “iPod”). The justification is that these are close enough to the normal rules, with a capital letter at (or near) the beginning, and not too many other capital letters, that they can be tolerated, although most probably insist that things like “iPod” can never appear at the beginning of a sentence, or if they must, then they are capitalized: “IPod”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the other innovations, they have generally been ruled too unusual to be kept in respectable published prose. It would seem like too much bending over backwards to please the trademark owner and not enough caring about not being confusing or misleading to their readers. In my opinion, writing should be composed for the benefit of the reader, not for the benefit of the capitalization whims of the person who invented the thing you’re writing about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, were I to participate in the argument the original poster mentioned, I would insist that if you are going to use the strict traditional conventions, then &lt;em&gt;WordPress&lt;/em&gt; should be rendered as &lt;em&gt;Word Press&lt;/em&gt;, because you have eliminated a space from the phrase &lt;em&gt;Word Press&lt;/em&gt;, not added a capital letter to the nonexistent word &lt;em&gt;Wordpress&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-13T18:41:30.270" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T18:41:30.270" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2924" CreationDate="2010-09-13T02:35:53.977" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;em&gt;non-children’s literature&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="764" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T02:35:53.977" />
  <row Id="2944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2933" CreationDate="2010-09-13T03:51:33.960" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suppose if one is very concerned, one could contact them for advice on the matter. I looked at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lords.org/lords-ground/about-lords/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;their web site&lt;/a&gt; and found that they use the following kinds of forms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the &lt;strong&gt;Lord's Shop&lt;/strong&gt; provides everything from unique &lt;strong&gt;Lord's souvenirs&lt;/strong&gt; to cricket bats and equipment, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;.. visit the &lt;strong&gt;Lord's Tavern Bar &amp;amp; Brasserie&lt;/strong&gt;, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it seems &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2933/if-the-cricket-ground-lords-is-a-possessive-what-if-you-want-to-describe-someth/2936#2936&quot;&gt;RegDwight's answer&lt;/a&gt; is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T03:51:33.960" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2945" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2950" CreationDate="2010-09-13T04:18:18.130" Score="4" ViewCount="200" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a feeling the sentence in the title is a bit unnatural. But I don't know how improve it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="786" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T12:46:27.213" ClosedDate="2010-09-13T13:24:07.140" Title="I don't have a car so I prefer to live near a supermarket." Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7" CreationDate="2010-09-13T05:43:23.130" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All the above answers are correct, but there is another perspective to it. &quot;May&quot; and &quot;Might&quot;, both are used to denote probability. &quot;May&quot; is used when the event is more likely to take place. &quot;Might&quot; is used when the overall probability of the event is less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;John is not severely sick and he is planning to go to office. We can use &quot;may&quot; in this case. - &quot;John may come.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;John is severely sick and he is planning to go office. We can use &quot;might&quot; in this case. -&quot;John might come to office.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1184" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T05:43:23.130" />
  <row Id="2947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2924" CreationDate="2010-09-13T06:35:35.610" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would &lt;em&gt;fiction&lt;/em&gt; do it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="248" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T06:35:35.610" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2924" CreationDate="2010-09-13T07:55:39.203" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on your audience: if you're talking to children you could say &quot;stories for grown-ups&quot;, and if you're talking to teenagers or adults you could follow GBackMania's advice and use &quot;for {age} and older&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T07:55:39.203" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2924" CreationDate="2010-09-13T09:09:18.200" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Stories for adults&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google this phrase and you will notice that the most of the results are not about erotic stories. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.biblestoriesforadults.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bible Stories for Adults&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/33/27/24_md_nocturnes_2010_07_02_bk.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Scary Stories for Adults&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=w6dj-uAUMr8C&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;amp;dq=%22stories+for+adults%22&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=xPCnJ8oGaD&amp;amp;sig=1-umsXrT9eG_trvQ3oVTzOKMtNo&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=O-mNTOS9LKqQ4gadsOXXCg&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=9&amp;amp;ved=0CEIQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Christmas Stories for Adults&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you google &quot;adult stories&quot;, then most results are erotic stories or porn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T09:09:18.200" />
  <row Id="2950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2945" CreationDate="2010-09-13T09:16:42.917" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since I don't have a car, I prefer to live near a supermarket.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T09:16:42.917" />
  <row Id="2952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1338" CreationDate="2010-09-13T10:27:57.577" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The plural always look wrong to me. Would you ever say &quot;Microsoft are a big company&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T10:27:57.577" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2871" CreationDate="2010-09-13T11:01:02.550" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've worked with IETF people and developers who spend a lot of time on Apache, who tend to use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;AuthN - Authentication&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  AuthZ - Authorization&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll find these abbreviations in a lot of IETF technical documents.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Yes, I know British spelling prefers &lt;strong&gt;s&lt;/strong&gt; over &lt;strong&gt;z&lt;/strong&gt; (authorisation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="129" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T11:01:02.550" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2945" CreationDate="2010-09-13T11:41:32.963" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer to live near a supermarket because I don't have a car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T11:41:32.963" />
  <row Id="2955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2945" CreationDate="2010-09-13T11:44:37.380" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would flip it around, starting with the statement first, then the explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I like to live close to the supermarket because I don't have a car.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1189" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T11:44:37.380" />
  <row Id="2956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2945" CreationDate="2010-09-13T12:46:27.213" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's nothing wrong with the logic or grammar of your sentence, so it's just a question of style. Personally, I don't think there's anything &quot;unnatural&quot; about your sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T12:46:27.213" />
  <row Id="2957" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2960" CreationDate="2010-09-13T13:02:17.293" Score="21" ViewCount="334" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.future-perfect.co.uk/grammartips/grammar-tip-web-site-website.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Future Perfect's &quot;Is it Web site or website?&quot;&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since the World Wide Web is a proper&#xA;  noun, we use initial upper-case&#xA;  letters, as we would with your&#xA;  surname, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As for writing ‘Web site’ as one word,&#xA;  it is true that this is seen a great&#xA;  deal, but then, so is the spelling&#xA;  ‘recieve’ which is just plain wrong!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I disagree. Languages change over time, and I think 'website' has now become the accepted spelling. A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=website&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google search for 'website'&lt;/a&gt; returns almost 3 billion results, including &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.royal.gov.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the official website of the British Monarchy&lt;/a&gt;. If 'website' is good enough for Her Majesty, it's good enough for me :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:51:29.150" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:51:29.150" Title="Is it Web site or website?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2957" CreationDate="2010-09-13T13:18:30.203" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/words/website&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;website&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is at least mentioned in &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/website&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Heritage Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Its definition actually mentions &quot;webpage&quot;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Collins English Dictionary - Complete &amp;amp; Unabridged 10th Edition 2009 does include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;World English Dictionary&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  website  (ˈwɛbˌsaɪt)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;— n&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  a group of connected pages on the World Wide Web containing information on a particular subject&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T13:18:30.203" />
  <row Id="2959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1338" CreationDate="2010-09-13T13:21:27.210" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;British English treats collective nouns (corporations, departments, etc.) as plural. American English treats them as singular. The size of the group is irrelevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="928" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T13:21:27.210" />
  <row Id="2960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2957" CreationDate="2010-09-13T14:06:43.910" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As for writing ‘Web site’ as one word, it is true that this is seen a great deal, but then, so is the spelling ‘recieve’ which is just plain wrong!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They do not actually provide an argument against &lt;em&gt;website&lt;/em&gt; as one word.  The fact that orthographical errors exist at all is not exactly compelling evidence.  Consider this evidence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, similar compound words exist, both in terms of use and official definition: &lt;em&gt;streetcar&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;doorman&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;jailhouse&lt;/em&gt;.  There are hundreds of these.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2957/is-it-web-site-or-website/2958#2958&quot;&gt;As VonC mentioned&lt;/a&gt;, both &quot;website&quot; and &quot;Web site&quot; are offered in most dictionaries.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Regarding capitalization, many words derived from proper nouns do not retain capitalization, e.g. narcissist, sodomy, atlas, echo, siren. &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1271/why-are-days-of-the-week-proper-nouns/1276#1276&quot;&gt;This was touched on previously regarding days of the week&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is safe to say that &lt;em&gt;website&lt;/em&gt; is clearly used hands-down more often than &lt;em&gt;Web site&lt;/em&gt;, so I think it should certainly be regarded as at least a valid variant.  (And it is, by most authorities on standard English.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-13T14:55:14.073" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T14:55:14.073" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2957" CreationDate="2010-09-13T16:28:54.370" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to try to keep it as formal as it originally was, i.e., &quot;Web site&quot;, but I think at this point, &quot;website&quot; (or even &quot;webpage&quot;) has become pretty commonly accepted, especially in light of other compound words like &quot;streetcar&quot; (essentially echoing Kosmonaut's thoughts on the matter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1192" LastEditorUserId="1192" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T17:04:30.203" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T17:04:30.203" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="2963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1228" CreationDate="2010-09-13T17:49:02.700" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work in children's book publishing, and the standard within the industry would be children's stories, and would refer to stories written for children, usually written by adults. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the kid's lit world we do use the term &quot;adult books&quot; to refer to non-porn books written for those over 18, but I admit that's not common usage outside this niche.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="928" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T17:49:02.700" />
  <row Id="2964" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2970" CreationDate="2010-09-13T18:11:12.233" Score="21" ViewCount="439" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to my grammar book (but at variance to the answer to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1073/what-is-the-correct-possessive-for-nouns-ending-in-s&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;), the correct expression is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;James's car&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The grammar book allows exceptions for historical nouns, so the examples in the answer to the above-linked question would pass muster.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'm sure that I learnt at school (which, admittedly, was a while ago) that for a singular (proper) noun ending in 's', the apostrophe went after the 's' and there was no additional 's'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't wish to start a flame war on which is correct (though my question doesn't really make sense if my grammar book is wrong)!  What I'm curious about is &lt;em&gt;when&lt;/em&gt; the change occurred.  So:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When did &lt;code&gt;James's&lt;/code&gt; become the correct form and &lt;code&gt;James'&lt;/code&gt; the incorrect one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1194" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T02:16:10.550" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T02:16:10.550" Title="When did it become correct to add an 's' to a singular possessive already ending in 's'?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;history&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2964" CreationDate="2010-09-13T18:27:37.773" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was taught grammar in school in the 90s and early 2000s in the northeastern United States, I was taught James's, to differentiate it from the plural possessive. (That's James's book; that's the Bryants' car.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="928" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T18:27:37.773" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="2966" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2968" CreationDate="2010-09-13T19:12:10.027" Score="12" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is correct, &quot;politics &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; out of scope&quot; or  &quot;politics &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; out of scope?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="45" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T16:25:31.130" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:25:31.130" Title="Politics: singular or plural?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2966" CreationDate="2010-09-13T20:26:41.887" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct form is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Politics is out of scope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Politics&lt;/em&gt;, like &lt;em&gt;mathematics&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;linguistics&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;economics&lt;/em&gt;, and other domains ending in -&lt;em&gt;ics&lt;/em&gt;, is syntactically singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T20:26:41.887" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2969" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3371" CreationDate="2010-09-13T20:36:19.570" Score="4" ViewCount="464" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can anyone point me to a (more or less) complete list of English paronyms (affect/effect, farther/further, alternately/alternatively, interested/interesting, corrupted/corrupt, adopt/adapt, continuous/contiguous...)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia has a list for everything, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paronym&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;not for paronyms&lt;/a&gt;. Google is not exceptionally helpful, either. After trying out half a dozen different search strings, I have learned quite a lot about French, German, and even Russian paronyms, but close to nothing about English ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any pointers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-14T23:48:35.203" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T16:38:22.300" Title="List of English paronyms" Tags="&lt;paronyms&gt;&lt;list-request&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2964" CreationDate="2010-09-13T21:07:58.680" Score="27" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since, 1810, forms like &lt;em&gt;James’s&lt;/em&gt; (which I will call type A) have generally been more commonly used than forms like &lt;em&gt;James’&lt;/em&gt; (type B), &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coha/?c=coha&amp;amp;q=6179109&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;according to my research&lt;/a&gt; using the Corpus of Historical American English (COHA).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I compared a number of names ending in &lt;em&gt;-s&lt;/em&gt; looking for possessive forms with and without a final &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;. Here is a graph comparing incidences of type A and type B forms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/xTHlh.png&quot; alt=&quot;graph showing forms with and without apostrophe since 1810&quot;&gt;. &#xA;The y-axis shows the difference in incidence between types A and B. If it is above 0, that means that type A was more common in that period; if below 0, that means type B was more common. The raw data used to generate the chart is in &lt;a href=&quot;https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AkifeicKYWtgdGVsa2ZXSHEwSzBoakRrVHE4VWZwVVE&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;single=true&amp;amp;gid=0&amp;amp;output=html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Google Spreadsheet&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here’s the same data, shown cumulatively:&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/I1ntF.png&quot; alt=&quot;same data, shown cumulatively&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the 14 names tested, type A has been more common throughout the period beginning in 1810, except for the decades starting in 1850, 1940, and 1950. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, it is quite clear that type A forms (e.g. &lt;em&gt;James’s&lt;/em&gt;) predominate, and have done so for nearly two hundred years. Nevertheless, type B forms are also quite common, and during the 1930s to the 1960s, a number of names had more incidences using type B. But since 1970, most names have had a majority of usage in type A. As for the original question’s example of &lt;em&gt;James&lt;/em&gt;, throughout almost the entire period, excluding 1820, incidences of &lt;em&gt;James’s&lt;/em&gt; has strongly outnumbered incidences of &lt;em&gt;James’&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-17T08:52:16.973" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T08:52:16.973" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="2971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2964" CreationDate="2010-09-13T22:07:10.207" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My recollection from school (UK, 1980s) is that the apostrophe-only version is used for Biblical names, and the apostrophe-plus-s is used for everything else. According to this rule, you would write &quot;Jesus' friends and Seamus's friends&quot; because the name Jesus appears in the Bible but the name Seamus does not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T22:07:10.207" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="2972" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2974" CreationDate="2010-09-13T22:26:23.327" Score="2" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking at a couple of books on Amazon and the they have some weird parts in the title.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;see:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0735611319&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0735611319/ref=cm_rdp_product&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/073560505X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.co.uk/Code-Hidden-Language-DV-MPS-General/dp/073560505X&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have a clue what the phrase &quot;DV-Undefined&quot; and the phrase &quot;DV-MPS General&quot; mean in book titles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1157" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T23:04:34.340" Title="What does the phrase &quot;DV-Undefined&quot; and the phrase &quot;DV-MPS General&quot; mean in book titles" Tags="&lt;book-title&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2972" CreationDate="2010-09-13T23:04:34.340" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know what &quot;DV&quot; stands for, but looking through the books listed when searching Amazon for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/s?search-alias=books&amp;amp;keywords=dv-mps&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dv-mps&lt;/a&gt; showed that &quot;MPS&quot; almost definitely stands for &quot;Microsoft Press Series.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(My first guess for &quot;DV&quot; was &quot;digital version&quot; until I saw the results were all printed books.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last word in the group appears to stand for what series the books are in. For instance, common series groups are Programming, Designing, and Inside—each of which relates to a particular Microsoft Press series of books.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in this case, &quot;Undefined&quot; means the series isn't defined, and &quot;General&quot; means that it's just a general (i.e., non-series) book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only real differences between the two books you linked:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The hardcover&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;published in 1999&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;doesn't have an edition number&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;costs more&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The paperback&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;published in 2000&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;is listed as the second edition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;costs less&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which book is &quot;better&quot; is a matter of personal preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="513" LastActivityDate="2010-09-13T23:04:34.340" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2975" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2986" CreationDate="2010-09-14T01:24:13.473" Score="10" ViewCount="377" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anyone please suggest a word for &quot;person who loves to do knowledge sharing&quot;. So far I have &quot;educator&quot; in my mind. Is there any other better word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="874" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T14:02:04.473" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T19:47:15.007" Title="Word for person who loves to do knowledge sharing" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2957" CreationDate="2010-09-14T01:29:00.980" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To my mind, &quot;web site&quot; has its roots in the metaphor of the web as a place (along with the web-usage of terms like &quot;addresss&quot; and &quot;home&quot;). As that conceptualization becomes less useful (especially as younger generations are raised with the web being a much greater portion of the fabric of their lives) the importance of terms that directly reflect the place metaphor diminishes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As such, &quot;website&quot; is not just acceptable but preferable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T01:29:00.980" />
  <row Id="2977" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2979" CreationDate="2010-09-14T04:01:45.267" Score="8" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, &quot;file system&quot; and &quot;related&quot;. Is it &quot;file system-related&quot;? It will appear as if it is a compound of &quot;file&quot; and &quot;system-related&quot;, won't it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1199" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T00:52:37.383" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T00:52:37.383" Title="How to connect a word and a phrase with a dash?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;hyphen&gt;&lt;modifiers&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2978" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-14T04:14:27.383" Score="4" ViewCount="590" Body="&lt;p&gt;I overheard my manager asking &quot;What are you up to?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does that idiom mean? Is it an informal/negative way of asking??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thank you :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1104" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-15T13:04:10.963" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T14:25:22.983" Title="What does &quot;What are you up to?&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2977" CreationDate="2010-09-14T04:23:55.083" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very good question and is one that troubled me for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is what the Fowler brothers say in their &lt;em&gt;Kings English&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TEXT 1:&lt;/strong&gt; Within the last ten days two &lt;em&gt;Anglo-South Americans&lt;/em&gt; have been in my office arranging for passages to New Zealand.—Times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SUGGESTION 1:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;Anglo-South-Americans&lt;/em&gt; is the best that can be done. What is really wanted is Anglo-SouthAmericans, to show that South goes more closely with America. But it is too hopelessly contrary to usage at present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TEXT 2:&lt;/strong&gt; The proceeds of the recent London-New York loan.—Times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SUGGESTION 2:&lt;/strong&gt; London and New-York loan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TEXT 3:&lt;/strong&gt; A good, generous, King Mark-like sort of man.—Times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SUGGESTION 3:&lt;/strong&gt; King-Mark-like, in default of KingMark-like. But the addition of -like to compound names should be avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TEXT 4:&lt;/strong&gt; The Fugitive Slave-law in America before the rebellion.—H. Sidgwick. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SUGGESTION 4:&lt;/strong&gt; Fugitive-Slave law&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In answer to your question, based on Fowler's advice (which I find practical and logical), I would write &lt;em&gt;filesystem-related&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;file-system-related&lt;/em&gt;, e.g., 'Please remember that this is a filesystem-related job.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T04:23:55.083" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2978" CreationDate="2010-09-14T04:29:42.990" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means, 'What are you doing?' and is similar to the phrase, 'He's up to something'. Yes, it is generally informal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T04:29:42.990" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2981" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2987" CreationDate="2010-09-14T04:49:01.293" Score="4" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;The current version of a sentence I'm writing has the structure:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Computing [such and such] is the most computationally expensive part of [algorithm].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the moment, I cannot think of a better phrase to replace &quot;computationally expensive&quot;.  I know it is legitimate to say this (&quot;computationally expensive&quot; has been published numerous times).  However, it sounds a little informal to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some alternatives to &quot;computationally expensive&quot; in the above sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="273" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-18T14:18:43.933" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T14:18:43.933" Title="Alternatives to &quot;computationally expensive&quot;?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;jargon&gt;&lt;alternative&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="2982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2981" CreationDate="2010-09-14T05:12:32.743" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess you could say it takes up a lot of CPU time, memory, or both. Which is also more precise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1063" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T05:12:32.743" />
  <row Id="2983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1083" CreationDate="2010-09-14T05:23:49.013" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Not really answering the question, but adding some cultural context.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One (maybe the only) place most people meet these words nowadays is in old hymns:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thine&lt;/em&gt; be the glory&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Great is &lt;em&gt;thy&lt;/em&gt; faithfulness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How great &lt;em&gt;thou&lt;/em&gt; art&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just a closer walk with &lt;em&gt;thee&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Oh come all &lt;em&gt;ye&lt;/em&gt; faithful&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastEditorUserId="529" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-07T05:42:16.190" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T05:42:16.190" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="2984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-09-14T05:31:36.007" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;agate&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I know it is pronounced &lt;strong&gt;ag-it&lt;/strong&gt;, I so badly want to say &lt;strong&gt;ag-gat&lt;/strong&gt; whenever I see it in print.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="179" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-17T15:35:19.707" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T15:35:19.707" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-14T05:31:36.007" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2981" CreationDate="2010-09-14T05:35:16.490" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;resource intensive, CPU intensive, Memory intensive&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="45" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T05:35:16.490" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2975" CreationDate="2010-09-14T06:03:59.247" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;maven&quot;? According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maven&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A maven (also mavin) is a trusted expert in a particular field, who seeks to pass knowledge on to others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Admittedly, &lt;a href=&quot;http://onelook.com/?w=maven&amp;amp;ls=a&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;many dictionaries&lt;/a&gt; define the word merely as something like &quot;an expert&quot;, but the meaning is in flux, and the &quot;person who loves to share knowledge&quot; meaning is getting more common.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T06:03:59.247" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2981" CreationDate="2010-09-14T06:46:03.687" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct answer will depend on your audience. For a highly technical audience such as engineers and programmers, you could keep the original sentence or use one of the more precise terms suggested by &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2981/alternatives-to-computationally-expensive/2985#2985&quot;&gt;Midhat&lt;/a&gt;. Everyone in that audience will immediately understand your message because they are already familiar with the underlying concepts. To them, the important information is the &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; and the &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt;, and your sentence delivers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a less technical audience that is still somewhat familiar with the technology, I would choose a term that has more specific meaning for the members of that audience:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We can improve [algorithm] by making [such and such] more efficient&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;[such and such] requires more (time/memory) than any other part of [algorithm]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;[algorithm] does not meet our needs because it spends so much time on [such and such]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a non-technical audience like high-level management, the technical details should be an afterthought. If you are worried that the term &quot;computationally expensive&quot; is overkill for your audience, you should probably remove the other technical details as well. This does not imply that your audience is too stupid to understand what you are saying, just that they are more interested in other things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We can improve [business application] by spending more money on [resource] (for [algorithm])&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastEditorUserId="1009" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-14T06:59:36.010" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T06:59:36.010" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="2988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-09-14T06:49:39.917" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The one that always gets me is &lt;strong&gt;quay&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I still tend to pronounce it &quot;kway&quot;, even though I know the correct pronuciation is &quot;key&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1200" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T06:49:39.917" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-14T06:49:39.917" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2989" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2990" CreationDate="2010-09-14T07:22:50.337" Score="5" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;The title says it all. For example, 'wake &lt;em&gt;up&lt;/em&gt;', 'throw &lt;em&gt;up&lt;/em&gt;', etc. . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1202" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T09:44:20.207" Title="Why do we use 'up' as adverbs for verbs?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;phrasal-verbs&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2989" CreationDate="2010-09-14T08:17:00.450" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;wake up&quot; and &quot;throw up&quot; are &lt;strong&gt;phrasal verbs&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A phrasal verb is a combination of a&#xA;  verb and a preposition, a &lt;strong&gt;verb and an&#xA;  adverb&lt;/strong&gt;, or a verb with both an adverb&#xA;  and a preposition, any of which are&#xA;  part of the syntax of the sentence,&#xA;  and so are a complete semantic unit.&#xA;  Sentences may contain direct and&#xA;  indirect objects in addition to the&#xA;  phrasal verb. Phrasal verbs are&#xA;  particularly frequent in the English&#xA;  language. A phrasal verb often has a&#xA;  meaning which is different from the&#xA;  original verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrasal_verbs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrasal_verbs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice that &quot;throw up&quot; and &quot;throw&quot; have different meanings. &quot;Throw up&quot; means to &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/phrasal-verbs/throw+up.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;vomit&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, while &quot;throw&quot; means &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/throw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;to propel through the air by a forward motion of the hand and arm&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And &quot;wake&quot; means &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wake&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;to be or remain awake&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, while &quot;wake up&quot; means to &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/phrasal-verbs/wake+up.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stop sleeping&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-14T08:24:10.013" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T08:24:10.013" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2978" CreationDate="2010-09-14T09:05:18.000" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;What are you up to?&quot; means &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;What have you been doing lately?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you add an adverb to the end of the phrase, for instance,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;What are you up to tonight?&quot; &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; &quot;What&#xA;  are you up to this summer?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it can be interpreted as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;What are you planning to do tonight?&quot;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; &quot;What are you planning to do this&#xA;  summer?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-15T14:25:22.983" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T14:25:22.983" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="2992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2989" CreationDate="2010-09-14T09:15:36.473" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think these two have the images of moving our body up, rising the upper body from the bed.  Throw up has an image of having the food going from the stomach up to the throat and give it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1204" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T09:15:36.473" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="2993" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-14T09:32:08.060" Score="3" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which free and not free program would you advice for someone wanting to enrich and correct scientific articles written for peer-review journals (before submission)? I'm fairly fluent in English, but I often get stuck using the same synonyms over and over again as it is not my mother-language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got a demo of &quot;Grammarian&quot; which did a nice job, but before deciding to pay anything, I'd like to know which other programs are available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1205" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T18:19:48.423" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:19:48.423" ClosedDate="2011-03-23T22:42:17.937" Title="Best English grammar and vocabulary checking program" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="2994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2989" CreationDate="2010-09-14T09:44:20.207" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bruno's right, they're phrasal verbs. Just think of how many phrasal verbs you can construct from &quot;to get&quot;: get up, get down, get on, get off, get over, get under, get by, get through ...etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I imagine it must be tough for non-native speakers of English to learn these. I suppose you just have get down to work and put up with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T09:44:20.207" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2978" CreationDate="2010-09-14T09:47:58.633" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another example of a &lt;strong&gt;phrasal verb&lt;/strong&gt; -- see &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2989/why-do-we-use-up-as-adverbs-for-verbs&quot;&gt;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2989/why-do-we-use-up-as-adverbs-for-verbs&lt;/a&gt; for more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T09:47:58.633" />
  <row Id="2996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2993" CreationDate="2010-09-14T10:05:59.040" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you tried the grammar features in Microsoft Word or OpenOffice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T10:05:59.040" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="2997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2501" CreationDate="2010-09-14T10:11:21.290" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard the same thing about people living in the Appalachian Mountains. According to Bill Bryson in &quot;The Mother Tongue&quot;, this is a common misconception.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T10:11:21.290" />
  <row Id="2998" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3022" CreationDate="2010-09-14T10:19:35.660" Score="42" ViewCount="5189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw the following statement on &lt;a href=&quot;http://ui.stackexchange.com/questions/1464&quot;&gt;http://ui.stackexchange.com/questions/1464&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Supporting multiple languages can&#xA;  break the user interface, because most&#xA;  languages need more space than english&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to be a gross generalisation. Does anyone have any data on this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-14T12:27:17.513" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T20:05:12.457" Title="Do most languages need more space than English?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="18" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="17" />
  <row Id="2999" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3001" CreationDate="2010-09-14T10:37:25.470" Score="5" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this correct? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the candys 're in the box, the&#xA;  womens're at the car&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know '&lt;strong&gt;you're&lt;/strong&gt;', '&lt;strong&gt;we're&lt;/strong&gt;', '&lt;strong&gt;they're&lt;/strong&gt;' are valid usages, but can it be used for nouns?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1202" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:46:18.880" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:46:18.880" Title="Contraction for 'are' with nouns" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2999" CreationDate="2010-09-14T10:41:17.273" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it's not correct. You'd have to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the candies are in the box, the women are at the car&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T10:41:17.273" />
  <row Id="3001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2999" CreationDate="2010-09-14T10:43:05.887" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;the candys 're in the box&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not usually considered correct but it is sometimes encountered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;the womens're at the car&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's wrong for other reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I know 'you're', 'we're', 'they're' are valid usages, but can it be used for nouns?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, not usually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T10:43:05.887" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2998" CreationDate="2010-09-14T10:46:47.350" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This seems to be a gross generalisation. Does anyone have any data on this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have data but it should be easy to get some from one of these open source projects which has been translated into many languages. A Chinese friend told me that Chinese is much more compact than English, so that is probably a counterexample, although I am just going by what he told me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T10:46:47.350" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2993" CreationDate="2010-09-14T10:50:41.570" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I asked a similar question on the &quot;Web Applications&quot; stack exchange site, so please refer to the answers there:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/440/is-there-a-web-application-to-check-english&quot;&gt;http://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/440/is-there-a-web-application-to-check-english&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(my user name there is &quot;Kinopiko&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T10:50:41.570" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3004" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3011" CreationDate="2010-09-14T10:58:00.500" Score="0" ViewCount="277" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8/is-it-appropriate-to-use-short-form-of-have-ve-when-it-means-possession&quot;&gt;Is it appropriate to use short form of &amp;ldquo;have&amp;rdquo; (&amp;#39;ve) when it means possession?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel uncomfortable saying sentences like the following: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;I've&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; a car&quot; instead of &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;I have&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; a car&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;He's&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; a pen&quot; instead of &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;He has&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; a pen&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ask this because I read something like that in a book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they correct? and what is the rule?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-18T01:35:36.480" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T01:35:36.480" ClosedDate="2010-09-14T22:51:06.967" Title="&quot;I have&quot; = &quot;I've&quot;. Is that always correct?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="3005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2998" CreationDate="2010-09-14T11:00:26.313" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was involved in translating a GUI from English to German, French, Norwegian and Spanish; we had to increase the size of most of the text labels to make the translations fit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I remember, all the languages had at least a couple of terms that were longer than the corresponding English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know whether &quot;most languages need more space&quot; holds for general text, but I'm pretty sure it holds for GUIs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think part of the reason is that computer and GUI terminology comes from English, and many other languages haven't settled on a local terminology yet and may need multiple words where English has one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few examples from Norwegian:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;quit: &quot;avslutt&quot; (4 chars vs 7)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;upload: &quot;last opp&quot; (6 chars vs 8)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;URL: &quot;nettadresse&quot; (lit. &quot;net address&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plus of course that GUI layout is constrained by the maximum length of the term in any of the target languages, it doesn't help if other terms are shorter than the corresponding English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1125" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T11:00:26.313" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2978" CreationDate="2010-09-14T11:04:56.833" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;What are you up to?&quot;    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;                = &quot;What do you intend to do?&quot; &#xA;&#xA;                = &quot;What are you willing to do?&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And about it being formal or not, &lt;em&gt;as far as I know&lt;/em&gt;, it is more friendly than formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastEditorUserId="873" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-14T11:12:18.083" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T11:12:18.083" />
  <row Id="3008" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3025" CreationDate="2010-09-14T12:08:55.743" Score="7" ViewCount="244" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/praxis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary.reference.com&lt;/a&gt; the word &lt;em&gt;praxis&lt;/em&gt; means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;practice, as distinguished from theory; application or use, as of knowledge or skills. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently saw &lt;a href=&quot;http://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/2652/signs-that-you-are-too-addicted-to-roleplaying/2658#2658&quot;&gt;another stackexchange post&lt;/a&gt; &lt;sup&gt;now deleted&lt;/sup&gt;, which used &lt;em&gt;praxis&lt;/em&gt; in place of &lt;em&gt;practice&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When it interferes with one's chosen religious praxis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a proper usage of the word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1048" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-04-01T01:33:30.627" LastActivityDate="2011-04-01T01:33:30.627" Title="Use of the word &quot;praxis&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;paronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="3010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8" CreationDate="2010-09-14T12:22:12.677" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think both of them are correct&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1109" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T12:22:12.677" />
  <row Id="3011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8" CreationDate="2010-09-14T12:25:59.827" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think what you feel uncomfortable with is contraction of &quot;have&quot; as a main verb. When it's an auxiliary verb in, say, a perfect, contraction feels fine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've had a car before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But contraction of main verb &quot;have&quot; meaning to own or possess feels weirder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;?And I've a car right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I have a feeling that people will contract main verb have in British English, but take that with a grain of salt. Americans faced with some kind of strange usage are far too willing to blame it on British English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="257" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T12:25:59.827" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8" CreationDate="2010-09-14T12:31:21.870" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are both strictly correct but both slightly inelegant. The second especially could be confused with &quot;He &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; a pen&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people like to avoid contractions like that in formal writing, but most people probably won't mind (or even notice).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's probably wise to favour the contraction if you want to emphasise another part of the sentence: &quot;I've &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; been so insulted!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="117" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T12:31:21.870" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3013" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3017" CreationDate="2010-09-14T12:35:11.160" Score="1" ViewCount="288" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do the TOEFL and IELTS tests require significantly different levels of proficiency to pass? Are universities, immigration departments, etc. more likely to require the one over the other? Is there any other important difference I should know about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="634" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T18:12:27.997" ClosedDate="2010-09-14T22:53:25.657" Title="What's the difference between TOEFL and IELTS?" Tags="&lt;esl&gt;&lt;test&gt;&lt;toefl&gt;&lt;ielts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8" CreationDate="2010-09-14T12:38:01.210" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;I've a car&quot; is fine, but unusual on its own: as part of a longer sentence it's unexceptionable: &quot;I've a car in the garage&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect this is for prosodic reasons: &quot;I've a car&quot; has no word you can stress, other than &quot;car&quot;, so people tend to change it to either &quot;I have a car&quot; or &quot;I've got a car&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other case is different: I can't think of any examples where I would expect to find &quot;he's a pen&quot;, though I would rate it as perfectly grammatical. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T12:38:01.210" />
  <row Id="3015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3008" CreationDate="2010-09-14T14:06:13.613" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Religious practice&quot; is far more common than &quot;religious praxis&quot; (500 000 vs. 15 000 results in Google). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, I've rarely seen &quot;praxis&quot; used by native English speakers in any context. I've heard it most commonly used by German speakers to mean &quot;work placement&quot;, the equivalent of &quot;stage&quot; in French.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T14:06:13.613" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2998" CreationDate="2010-09-14T14:13:04.677" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A point of reference from the website I maintain.  The files where we store the translations have the following sizes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;English: 200k&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Portuguese: 208k&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spanish: 209k&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;German: 219k&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the translations are out of date, that is, there are strings in the English file that aren't yet in the other files.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For Chinese, the situation is a bit different because the character encoding comes into play.  Chinese text will have shorter strings, because most words are one or two characters, but each character takes 3-4 bytes (for UTF-8 encoding), so each word is 3-12 bytes long on average.  So visually the text takes less space but in terms of the information exchanged it uses more space.  This &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=93&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Language Log post&lt;/a&gt; suggests that if you account for the encoding and remove redundancy in the data using compression you find that English is slightly more efficient than Chinese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T14:13:04.677" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3013" CreationDate="2010-09-14T14:14:54.943" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is a bit misguided. Both the TOEFL test and the IELTS test give grades of proficiency and there is no &quot;pass&quot; score for either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found a table comparing scores in the two tests by googling for &quot;TOEFL IELTS comparison&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://secure.vec.bc.ca/toefl-equivalency-table.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://secure.vec.bc.ca/toefl-equivalency-table.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are thinking of doing one of these tests for career purposes, you should find out what is required for the particular job or course you are applying for. IELTS was originally a qualification for Australian universities, but it's now used in the UK as well. TOEFL is more of an American qualification and tends to be used by American universities for admission.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-15T05:08:52.120" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T05:08:52.120" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3018" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-14T15:07:14.430" Score="2" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is a memorable no-pun-intended sentence you have ever used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is mine - &quot;Let us go dutch to cheer Dutch! - No pun intended&quot; (Before a Dutch world cup soccer game)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1158" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T21:08:28.483" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-14T15:07:14.430" Title="What is a memorable no-pun-intended sentence you have used?" Tags="&lt;fun&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3019" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3020" CreationDate="2010-09-14T15:08:05.803" Score="6" ViewCount="766" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/09/14/cnet.youtube.instant.creator/index.html?hpt=C2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;recent article on CNN&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Aboukhadijeh, who is from Sacramento, California, said he's been blown away by how quickly his tool went viral and is grateful for all the supportive feedback.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I'm amazed and &lt;strong&gt;humbled&lt;/strong&gt; by all the attention it's received. So thank you,&quot; he said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TheFreeDictionary shows the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/humbled&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;definition of &quot;humbled&quot;&lt;/a&gt; as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;hum·bled, hum·bling, hum·bles&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. To curtail or destroy the pride of; humiliate.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. To cause to be meek or modest in spirit.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  3. To give a lower condition or station to; abase. See Synonyms at degrade.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of these definitions seem to apply:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Being the author of something that is widely appreciated would seem to be cause for pride, rather than to curtail or destroy it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;His &quot;modesty,&quot; or expectation that he would only have a small audience for his work, seems to be a pre-existing condition that is merely &lt;strong&gt;revealed&lt;/strong&gt; by the event, not something that is &lt;strong&gt;caused&lt;/strong&gt; by the event.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He created a tool that was rapidly used and appreciated by many, with the result being that he found himself in a higher condition or station than he was before.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a subtlety I'm missing here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="572" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T16:14:39.997" Title="Meaning of &quot;I am humbled&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;politeness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3019" CreationDate="2010-09-14T15:59:44.323" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mariam-Webster's dictionary lists humbled as &quot;To make humble&quot;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/humble?show=0&amp;amp;t=1284479649&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Humble&lt;/a&gt; is listed as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;not proud or haughty : not arrogant or assertive&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which makes a little more sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still though, it's not exactly the clearest of constructions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think he's expressing the feeling that the tool and the community surrounding it have become bigger than himself, and he feels lower in station than all the people who took the time to promote/use the tool he wrote.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1209" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T15:59:44.323" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2998" CreationDate="2010-09-14T16:29:05.133" Score="85" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking as a translator, I can share a few rules of thumb that are popular in our profession:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hebrew texts are usually shorter than their English equivalents by approximately 1/3.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spanish and Portuguese texts are longer than their English counterparts by about 1/5 to 1/4.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scandinavian languages are pretty much on par with English. Swedish is a tiny bit more compact.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whether or not Russian is more compact than English is subject to heated debate, and if you ask five people, you'll be presented with six different opinions. However, everybody seems to agree that the difference is just a few percent, whether this way or the other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So much for &lt;em&gt;complete texts&lt;/em&gt;, on &lt;em&gt;average&lt;/em&gt;, as a &lt;em&gt;rule of thumb&lt;/em&gt;. Obviously, when you are working on a GUI, you mostly have to deal with translating &lt;em&gt;individual words&lt;/em&gt;, which changes the picture dramatically. I am not aware of any universal research on the subject, but I will actually go out on a limb and say that it would be worthless to you, precisely because of being universal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, let's have a look at English itself. A very popular estimate for the average length of English words is 5 letters (or 5.2, or 5.3, or 5.1). I will not expressly address the validity of that estimate here, though I will link to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreelibrary.com/On+word-length+and+dictionary+size-a0189832222&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this tiny bit of intriguing research&lt;/a&gt;. Much rather, I will focus on saying that &lt;em&gt;your mileage will always vary&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It all depends on what application you are writing, and for which target audience. You might be writing a text editor for children, a web browser for everyone, or a worst-case execution time analyzer for the aerospace industry. Sometimes, your menu entries will read &quot;Open&quot;, &quot;Edit&quot;, &quot;Save&quot; and &quot;Quit&quot;. Other times, they will read &quot;Crossing reduction&quot; and &quot;Simulated annealing&quot;. Add into the equation that &quot;Quit&quot; is not necessarily short in all languages, and &quot;simulated annealing&quot; is not necessarily long, and you've got yourself a complete mess, no matter what the universal research says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, there is something to be said about the units in which one measures the average word/text length. Traditional research and urban legends alike usually focus on the number of letters. But for a GUI designer, that kind of information is rather useless, because he measures the screen real estate in pixels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a simple example, in terms of letters, &quot;貓&quot; is 66% shorter than &quot;cat&quot; (which is what it means) and 75% shorter than &quot;neko&quot; (which is its Kun reading). But in terms of pixels, you don't save anywhere as much space. So, whether or not your menu items in Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Farsi or Urdu will end up being shorter than their English counterparts depends on how you define &quot;shorter&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tricky part is that to one extent or another, this is true for &lt;em&gt;every&lt;/em&gt; pair of languages, even for those that use the same alphabet. You have the English word &quot;illicitly&quot;, and you translate it into Phantasese, and you get &quot;mamwowo&quot;. Now what? It's two letters shorter, yet it no longer fits. (Unless, of course, you are using monospaced fonts everywhere, which is highly unlikely.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I would like to specifically address the myth that German words are oh-so-long. All those awfully long German words are only that long because they correspond to &lt;em&gt;many&lt;/em&gt; words in other languages. &quot;Kontroll&amp;shy;fluß&amp;shy;graph&amp;shy;visualisierungs&amp;shy;software&quot; is no longer than its English counterpart, &quot;control flow graph visualization software&quot;, and the famous &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizit%C3%A4tenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Donau&amp;shy;dampf&amp;shy;schiffahrts&amp;shy;elektri&amp;shy;zitäten&amp;shy;haupt&amp;shy;betriebs&amp;shy;werk&amp;shy;bau&amp;shy;unter&amp;shy;beamten&amp;shy;gesell&amp;shy;schaft&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&#xA;is considerably shorter than its English translation. Yep, you heard that right, that monster of a word actually &lt;em&gt;saves space&lt;/em&gt;. German words can be long &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; succinct at the same time, and English recognizes that by borrowing (&lt;em&gt;kindergarten&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;wunderkind&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;doppelganger&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;wanderlust&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;zeitgeist&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;schadenfreude&lt;/em&gt;...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; I want to add that when it comes to GUIs (or news headlines), English loves to cheat by dropping articles. &quot;Export file&quot; rather than &quot;export the file&quot;, &quot;import image&quot; rather than &quot;import an image&quot;, and so forth. Many languages can't do that because they don't have articles to begin with. If there's any advantage Russian does have over English in normal prose, it's not having &quot;a&quot;s, &quot;an&quot;s, &quot;the&quot;s (and &quot;to&quot;s) scattered all over the place. When it comes to GUIs, Russian loses that advantage, and an English expression that was longer than its Russian equivalent might suddenly become shorter. German is even better at that game: it has lots of articles to drop, none of them shorter than 3 letters, and quite a few that are 4 or 5 letters long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-14T18:57:38.970" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T18:57:38.970" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="3023" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3027" CreationDate="2010-09-14T16:50:19.570" Score="3" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this correct [article 'a' after the verb]?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Ate &lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt; cheese burger last night?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR is this right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Ate cheese burger last night?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1202" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T17:30:49.320" Title="Proper construct of the sentence" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3023" CreationDate="2010-09-14T16:58:56.087" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;[I|you|we] ate &lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt; cheeseburger last night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T16:58:56.087" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3008" CreationDate="2010-09-14T17:11:36.700" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;praxis&lt;/em&gt; is definitely an extremely formal academic word. Using it in general prose elevates that prose to a formal academic style. Some people may be taken aback by use of the word, which is likely unfamiliar to many. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are just 454 total incidences of &lt;em&gt;praxis&lt;/em&gt; in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&amp;amp;q=6190638&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;, 394 of them in academic texts, where it occurs with a frequency of 4.75 incidences per million words. In texts for general audiences, like magazines, newspapers, and fiction, it occurs with a frequency of 0.24 incidences per million words, which makes it about as common in those contexts as the word &lt;em&gt;limn&lt;/em&gt;, which the &lt;em&gt;Baltimore Sun&lt;/em&gt; recently used in a headline, to &lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-09-07/news/bs-md-limn-headline-20100907_1_headline-front-page-dictionaries&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some uproar&lt;/a&gt;. It did not occur at all in the corpus of spoken English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That takes care of the word &lt;em&gt;praxis&lt;/em&gt; itself, but what about the term &lt;em&gt;religious praxis&lt;/em&gt;? Here are the top 20 collocates—words that frequently appear nearby—with frequency of incidence near &lt;em&gt;praxis&lt;/em&gt; from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&amp;amp;q=6190544&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1   THEORY         26&#xA;2   II             18&#xA;3   THEOLOGY       15&#xA;4   CHRISTIAN      13&#xA;5   SOCIAL         13&#xA;6   POLITICAL      12&#xA;7   ANALYSIS       10&#xA;8   MUSIC          10&#xA;9   EXAMINATION    9&#xA;10  TESTS          8&#xA;11  TEST           7&#xA;12  FEMINIST       6&#xA;13  STUDIO         6&#xA;14  SCORES         6&#xA;15  FORM           6&#xA;16  CHURCH         6&#xA;17  PRIMACY        5&#xA;18  THEOLOGICAL    5&#xA;19  ECOLOGICAL     5&#xA;20  REVOLUTIONARY  5&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see a few themes of words here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;religion (&lt;em&gt;theology&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;christian&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;theological&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;church&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;examination (&lt;em&gt;examination&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;tests&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;test&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;II&lt;/em&gt;—“Praxis II” seems to be the name of a test)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;music (&lt;em&gt;music&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;studio&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;scores&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some examples of &lt;em&gt;praxis&lt;/em&gt; being used in a religious context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The character of these reflections in Kasper's 1962 article on Vatican I, written as a 29-year-old priest-theologian, has echoes in his 1999 article on the theology and &lt;strong&gt;praxis&lt;/strong&gt; of the bishop's office, written five years after becoming the bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He has given an increasingly important place to &lt;strong&gt;praxis&lt;/strong&gt; in theology, indicating that all theory must give rise to transformative &lt;strong&gt;praxis&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This underscores the &lt;strong&gt;praxis&lt;/strong&gt; of the church as a distinct society, constituted by peace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;religious&lt;/em&gt; itself as a collocate is just outside the top 20, with 4 incidences, but it is not absent from the corpus. Here is an example from &lt;em&gt;Commentary Magazine&lt;/em&gt;, in an article titled “&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/the-madoff-scandal-and-the-future-of-american-jewry-14640&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Madoff Scandal and the Future of American Jewry&lt;/a&gt;”:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Samuel G. Freedman, the &lt;em&gt;New York Times&lt;/em&gt; veteran among whose books is the provocative &lt;em&gt;Jew vs. Jew&lt;/em&gt;, wrote powerfully about the manner in which the power elite of Modern Orthodoxy had accepted Madoff as one of its own, even though Madoff was himself not Orthodox. According to Freedman, the connections in this insular world were intense:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;Their leaders and members overlap like a sequence of Venn diagrams. They are bound by religious &lt;strong&gt;praxis&lt;/strong&gt;, social connection, philanthropic causes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Religion is certainly one of the topics that the word &lt;em&gt;praxis&lt;/em&gt; is most commonly used in, so in the right context, the term &lt;em&gt;religious praxis&lt;/em&gt; is, as far as I am concerned, perfectly proper to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-14T17:17:55.573" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T17:17:55.573" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8" CreationDate="2010-09-14T17:26:11.593" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is definitely an American English/British English thing, as you can't do it in American English but you can in British English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In American English, you can't contract &quot;have&quot; if you are using it as a plain (not a &quot;helping&quot; or &quot;auxiliary&quot;) verb. &quot;I've a dog&quot; and &quot;They've a great time&quot; are not grammatical in American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a number of other restrictions on contractions of &quot;have&quot; besides the one you cite. For example, you can't use contracted &quot;have&quot; followed by &quot;not&quot;: &quot;I've not been there&quot; is not grammatical in American English even though &quot;I've been there&quot; is—if you want to contract, you have to say &quot;I haven't been there&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/50/ivent-a-clue-if-this-is-possible-can-a-word-be-contracted-twice/51#51&quot;&gt;discussed this&lt;/a&gt; in a question about &lt;em&gt;I’ven’t&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-18T01:32:07.873" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T01:32:07.873" />
  <row Id="3027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3023" CreationDate="2010-09-14T17:30:49.320" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there were an enormous cheeseburger and you cut it up and served pieces of it to separate people, then you could say you “ate cheeseburger” last night. Otherwise, &lt;em&gt;cheeseburger&lt;/em&gt; is a count noun and you have to use a count determiner like &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, we do write &lt;em&gt;cheeseburger&lt;/em&gt; as a single word, not separately as &lt;em&gt;cheese burger&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T17:30:49.320" />
  <row Id="3028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3018" CreationDate="2010-09-14T17:48:53.170" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unintentional puns are much more funny when the occur, rather than being recounted later.  I had a roommate that wrote them down and tried to tell them to her friends, but nobody laughed the second time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Listen, to one.  When I got a pet kitten to surprise my mother, but my brother told her and let the cat out of the bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See, not funny.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T17:48:53.170" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-14T17:48:53.170" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="824" CreationDate="2010-09-14T17:58:12.633" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use it for emphasis.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Did you skip school just because you were sick?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Because I was vomiting.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Oh, sorry.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T17:58:12.633" />
  <row Id="3030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="258" CreationDate="2010-09-14T18:04:25.363" Score="-3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The shortest, yet still profound scripture is, &quot;Jesus wept.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T18:04:25.363" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-14T18:04:25.363" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2998" CreationDate="2010-09-14T18:13:32.110" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Japanese needs less space than English, but usually use larger text or require higher resolution displays. Chinese is similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The fox jumped over the moon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;キツネは月を飛び越えた。&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think I'd rather eat eggs than fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;魚より卵を食べると思います。&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few reasons for this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Subjects are often dropped and understand in context&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pronouns are mostly used when context isn't clear&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are no spaces between letters&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grammatical particles are one character long を、は、が、の、へ&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shorter text is seen as more &quot;beautiful&quot; (Note: Haiku)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying all this, most websites originally written in English are translated into Latin languages. Asian language websites will have their own design anyway, so I think for &quot;practical&quot; purposes, the statement that most languages need more space than English is fairly accurate, in context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are better reasons to keep text short. Shorter sentences are much easier to digest on the web. Most users like short concise points on the web. In addition, English language websites are read by a large audience of non-English language speakers, so using shorter, simpler language makes your content more accessible to a wider audience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is more than a matter of semantics and percentage differences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastEditorUserId="134" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-14T18:18:53.223" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T18:18:53.223" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3013" CreationDate="2010-09-14T18:16:16.290" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a nutshell:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;American English - TOEFL&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;British English - IELTS&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="706" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T18:12:27.997" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T18:12:27.997" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="3033" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-14T19:07:32.637" Score="6" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use of &quot;Fixing to ...&quot; at the beginning of a sentence is prevalent in southern USA. Is this the right usage?  And is this only a southern US thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fixing to call her.&#xA;Fixing dinner.&#xA;Fixing to leave the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1158" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T14:11:39.903" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T14:11:39.903" Title="&quot;Fixing to...&quot; at the beginning of a sentence" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="3034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2999" CreationDate="2010-09-14T19:15:45.897" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are the top 21 &lt;em&gt;’re&lt;/em&gt; forms in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&amp;amp;q=6192023&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;               TOT      SPOKEN   FICTION   MAGAZINE  NEWSPAPER  ACADEMIC&#xA;1   YOU'RE     244694   108878   65509     44733     22486      3088&#xA;2   WE'RE      195472   117655   26890     19939     28368      2620&#xA;3   THEY'RE    169989   94821    22991     23922     25776      2479&#xA;4   WHAT'RE    777      12       721       24        17         3&#xA;5   THERE'RE   442      169      211       23        33         6&#xA;6   HOW'RE     393      135      234       13        9          2&#xA;7   WHO'RE     189      18       130       29        11         1&#xA;8   WHERE'RE   142      2        129       5         4          2&#xA;9   WHY'RE     66       4        60        2                    &#xA;10  YE'RE      56                51        4                    1&#xA;11  THAT'RE    33       7        20        3         3          &#xA;12  'RE        24                22                  2          &#xA;13  YOUR'RE    19       3        7         6         1          2&#xA;14  HERE'RE    18       3        9         4         1          1&#xA;15  IFYOU'RE   15                          14                   1&#xA;16  PEOPLE'RE  15                14        1                    &#xA;17  HELL'RE    14                14                             &#xA;18  GUYS'RE    11                10        1                    &#xA;19  OWE'RE     10                1                   9          &#xA;20  THINGS'RE  10                10                             &#xA;21  THOSE'RE   10                10                             &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, forms other than &lt;em&gt;you’re&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;we’re&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;they’re&lt;/em&gt; are quite rare in comparison. For the most part, they occur primarily in fiction, although &lt;em&gt;there’re&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;how’re&lt;/em&gt; occur with some frequency in spoken English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, the two examples given in the original question are not correct because the plural of &lt;em&gt;candy&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;candies&lt;/em&gt; not &lt;em&gt;candys&lt;/em&gt; and the plural of &lt;em&gt;woman&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;women&lt;/em&gt; not &lt;em&gt;womens&lt;/em&gt;. There were no examples of &lt;em&gt;candies’re&lt;/em&gt; in COCA, but there was one example of &lt;em&gt;women’re&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T19:15:45.897" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3035" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-14T20:52:07.733" Score="10" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend was noting that his daughter would occasionally start sentences with the phrase &quot;I mean, &quot; simply for emphasis, not for clarification:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Friend:  How was the Miley Cyrus concert?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Friend's daughter: I mean, it was the best concert ever!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have typically seen &quot;I mean&quot; used to join two statements - for example, as a correction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This juice is orange.  Well, I mean, more of a yellowish-orange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or for clarifying emphasis:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This juice is orange.  I mean, it's the most neon orange you've ever seen!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, his daughter's usage seems to combine the two parts of the &quot;emphasis&quot; example, creating a single independent statement that begins with &quot;I mean&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I mean, this juice is the most neon orange you've ever seen!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ksat.com/family/4742542/detail.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;teen girls are leading language change&lt;/a&gt;, has &quot;I mean&quot; just been co-opted as an interjection?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="572" LastEditorUserId="572" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-11T13:14:40.940" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T13:14:40.940" Title="Starting an independent statement with &quot;I mean, ...&quot;" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3018" CreationDate="2010-09-14T20:57:21.287" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.punliners.com/daily.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;www.punliners.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can make a valid pun in a language, it usually means you have a strong grasp of that language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T21:08:28.483" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-14T20:57:21.287" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3033" CreationDate="2010-09-14T21:01:44.027" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fixing to ...&quot; &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; common usage in the southern US, meaning &quot;about to&quot; or &quot;preparing to&quot;  do something, but rarely if ever at the beginning of a sentence.  Perhaps in answer to a question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Whatcha doin', Pa?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fixin' to hunt me some possum.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-14T21:01:44.027" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3038" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3039" CreationDate="2010-09-14T21:21:59.840" Score="3" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are some uncommon but valid portmanteau words that people use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turducken&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Turducken&lt;/a&gt; is a portmanteau of turkey, duck, and chicken or hen. People outside US are not familiar with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1158" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-14T23:46:26.287" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T14:44:10.840" Title="What are some uncommon but valid portmanteau words that people use?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;portmanteau-words&gt;&lt;list-request&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3038" CreationDate="2010-09-14T22:06:16.593" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are a few that have entries in the Merriam-Webster Online dictionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/advertorial&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;advertorial&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;advertisement&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;editorial&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/agitprop&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;agitprop&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;agitation&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;propaganda&lt;/em&gt;) [originally from Russian]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alphanumeric&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;alphanumeric&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;alphabetic&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;numeric&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/avionics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;avionics&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;aviation&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;electronics&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beefalo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;beefalo&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;beef&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;buffalo&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/biopic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;biopic&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;biographical&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;motion picture&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bit&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;binary&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;digit&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blaxploitation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;blaxploitation&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;blacks&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;exploitation&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Bollywood&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bollywood&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Bombay&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;Hollywood&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brunch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;brunch&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;breakfast&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;lunch&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cablecast&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cablecast&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;cable&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;broadcast&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/carjack&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;carjack&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;car&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;hijack&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chortle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chortle&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;chuckle&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;snort&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cineplex&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cineplex&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;cimena&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;complex&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/codec&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;codec&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;coder&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;decoder&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/digerati&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;digerati&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;digital&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;literati&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/docudrama&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;docudrama&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;documentary&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;drama&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dramedy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dramedy&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;drama&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;comedy&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ebonics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ebonics&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;ebony&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;phonics&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/edutainment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;edutainment&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;education&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;entertainment&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emoticon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;emoticon&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;emotion&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;icon&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fantabulous&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fantabulous&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;fantastic&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;fabulous&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/franglais&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;franglais&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;français&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;anglais&lt;/em&gt;) [french][french]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Frankenfood&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Frankenfood&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Frankenstein&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;food&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/freeware&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;freeware&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;free&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;software&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/frenemy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;frenemy&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;friend&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;enemy&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gaydar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gaydar&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;gay&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;radar&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ginormous&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ginormous&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;gigantic&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;enormous&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/guesstimate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;guesstimate&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;guess&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;estimate&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/infomercial&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;infomercial&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;information&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;commercial&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/infotainment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;infotainment&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;information&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;entertainment&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/liger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;liger&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;lion&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;tiger&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/malware&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;malware&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;malicious&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;software&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meld&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;meld&lt;/a&gt;, meaning &lt;em&gt;merge&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;blend&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;melt&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;weld&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mockumentary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mockumentary&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;mock&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;documentary&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/modem&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;modem&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;modulator&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;demodulator&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moped&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;moped&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;motor&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;pedal&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/motel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;motel&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;motor&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;hotel&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/napalm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;napalm&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;naphthene&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;palmitate&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/netizen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;netizen&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;net&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;citizen&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/newscast&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;newscast&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;news&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;broadcast&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pixel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pixel&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;picture&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;element&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/radome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;radome&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;radar&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;dome&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/redox&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;redox&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;reduction&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;oxidation&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shareware&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;shareware&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;share&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;software&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/simulcast&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;simulcast&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;simultaneous&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;broadcast&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sitcom&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sitcom&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;situation&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;comedy&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/skort&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;skort&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;skirt&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;shorts&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/skyjack&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;skyjack&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;sky&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;hijack&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/smog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;smog&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;smoke&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;fog&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/soundscape&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;soundscape&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;sound&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;landscape&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Spanglish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Spanglish&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Spanish&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;English&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/squiggle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;squiggle&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;squirm&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;wriggle&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stagflation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stagflation&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;stagnation&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;inflation&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sysop&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sysop&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;system&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;operator&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tangelo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tangelo&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;tangerine&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;pomelo&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/televangelist&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;televangelist&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;television&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;evangelist&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thermistor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;thermistor&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;thermal&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;resistor&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tigon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tigon&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;tiger&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;lion&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transceiver&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;transceiver&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;transmitter&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;receiver&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transponder&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;transponder&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;transmitter&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;responder&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vlog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;vlog&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;video&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;blog&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/voxel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;voxel&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;volume&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;pixel&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/webisode&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;webisode&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;web&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;episode&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-29T18:17:42.030" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T18:17:42.030" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="3040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1999" CreationDate="2010-09-15T00:13:08.863" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nonplussed&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;nonplussed&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; generally means &quot;bewildered&quot;, but means &quot;unfazed&quot; in the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/moot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;moot&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; means &quot;able to be discussed&quot; in the UK, but means &quot;irrelevant&quot; in the US, leading to ambiguity about the phrase &quot;a moot point&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T00:13:08.863" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-15T00:13:08.863" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="3041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3035" CreationDate="2010-09-15T04:44:50.960" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ironically, &quot;I mean&quot; might not mean anything, except just an interjection , as you pointed out in the question itself. I believe that it is largely some sort of a Word-Whisker, inherent devoid of a semantic significance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T04:44:50.960" />
  <row Id="3042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2998" CreationDate="2010-09-15T08:00:58.777" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Semitic languages in common writing don't have written vowels, so even if the words were of the same length as in English, they would take less characters. Hebrew, for example, uses letters that are not more complicated, visually, than Latin letters, and the words look shorter because they miss the vowels. For example ירושלים contains 7 letters and is read as ye-ru-sha-la-yim - 11 sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, when the vowels are written, as in children books, the words are still shorter visually because the vowels are dots above or below the actual letters. So the previous example will look like &amp;#01497;&amp;#01456;&amp;#01512;&amp;#64309;&amp;#01513;&amp;#01464;&amp;#01500;&amp;#01463;&amp;#01497;&amp;#01460;&amp;#01501;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my experience, in GUI, Semitic texts are shorter than English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This answer looks not very related to English. Hope it is interesting anyway :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1208" LastEditorUserId="1208" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-15T08:07:46.457" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T08:07:46.457" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2998" CreationDate="2010-09-15T08:08:25.707" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I write for a computer magazine and I check word count quite often. Since I have requests in terms of character count, including spaces, I have to consider my average word length with tools that do not report character size.&#xA;My average word length in Italian is slightly over 6 chars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1220" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T08:08:25.707" />
  <row Id="3044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2998" CreationDate="2010-09-15T08:21:34.997" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It very much depends on what languages you plan to use. I can give a clear comparison for example of the Gnome desktop. I am a native Bulgarian speaker and English is my second language. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here in Bulgaria, many of the programs, targeted for government work are translated in Bulgarian (no option for English) and I can say that Bulgarian menus are nearly double the width of English ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example the three common tasks: Cut, Copy, Paste are translated like: Изрежи (Izreji), Копирай (Kopirai), Постави (Postavi) or Вмъкни(vmakni) (this depends on the translator), but it's generally much longer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also Tools is translated as Инструменти(Instrumenti) and Settings are translated as Настройки(Nastroiki). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you can see that simple words, used in English for common tasks are much longer in Bulgarian, and this is just a single example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said, you can try it on the Gnome desktop or any other popular opensource application, which offers different languages, if you want. You can easily change languages there and compare for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1224" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T08:21:34.997" />
  <row Id="3045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2998" CreationDate="2010-09-15T08:33:38.153" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From personal experience:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;French seems to range from 1 - 1.5x the length of a comparable English text.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Russian refuses to be consistent and varies wildly.  I'd allow for &lt;em&gt;up to&lt;/em&gt; 2x the length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hello.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Здравствуйте.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1217" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T08:33:38.153" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2998" CreationDate="2010-09-15T09:24:35.180" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is of course a big generalisation. I would say it differently: Supporting multiple languages can break the user interface, because for almost any language there WILL be a string that needs more space than English&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I mean is, &quot;the average world length&quot; may be close to English, but some particular words/expressions might be surprisingly long when translated, and these are the strings which might get cut in GUI. There might be a few such strings in the whole project, but they will annoy users a lot&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it's not about languages needing more space, it's about particular translated strings that cannot fit. See &quot;Hello/Здравстсвуйте&quot; example above&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1233" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T09:24:35.180" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3047" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3073" CreationDate="2010-09-15T09:41:00.223" Score="4" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm always wondering when I want to write a sentence with &lt;em&gt;provide&lt;/em&gt;. What is the correct way to say/write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to provide someone with something&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to provide someone something&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to provide something to someone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or another?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference in usage between American and UK English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="41" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-15T22:15:48.427" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T22:15:48.427" Title="What are direct and indirect objects to &quot;provide&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;object&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3047" CreationDate="2010-09-15T09:51:34.280" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm always wondering when I want to&#xA;  write a sentence with provide. What is&#xA;  the correct way to say/write&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;to provide someone with something&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;to provide someone something&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;to provide something to someone&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm dubious about 2. only, 1. and 3. seem OK to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T09:51:34.280" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3049" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-15T11:58:22.550" Score="3" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Y has 1250 fans&quot; means there are 1250 &lt;code&gt;X&lt;/code&gt; for which &lt;code&gt;X&lt;/code&gt; is fan of &lt;code&gt;Y&lt;/code&gt;. If there are 12 &lt;code&gt;Y&lt;/code&gt; for which the &quot;X is a fan of Y&quot; relationship holds for a given &lt;code&gt;X&lt;/code&gt;, what's a word or phrase to say &quot;X has 12 &lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;_&quot; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, if &quot;X is a fan of Y&quot;, then what's the equivalent way of saying this with Y as the subject and X as the object (&quot;Y &lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;_ X&quot;) ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1235" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T03:00:20.160" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T04:51:46.183" Title="Inverse of &quot;being a fan of&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3049" CreationDate="2010-09-15T12:02:27.227" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think English has any word which is the inverse of &quot;fan&quot; - apart from the phrase &quot;is a fan of&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;X is a fan of 12 people&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Y has a fan in X&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1236" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T12:02:27.227" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="90" CreationDate="2010-09-15T12:28:51.470" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seen too often, often by native English speakers: &lt;strong&gt;loose&lt;/strong&gt; vs. &lt;strong&gt;lose&lt;/strong&gt;, e.g. &quot;Did you loose your dictionary?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1236" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T12:28:51.470" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-15T12:28:51.470" />
  <row Id="3052" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3054" CreationDate="2010-09-15T13:05:33.333" Score="2" ViewCount="474" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one should I prefer? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it worth it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does it worth it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, is the following form (without &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt;) correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it worth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T13:09:58.110" Title="&quot;Is it worth it?&quot; vs. &quot;Does it worth it?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3049" CreationDate="2010-09-15T13:07:56.680" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Y has 1250 fans&quot; means there are 1250&#xA;  X for which X is fan of Y. If there&#xA;  are 12 Y for which the &quot;X is a fan of&#xA;  Y&quot; relationship holds for a given X,&#xA;  what's a word or phrase to say &quot;X has&#xA;  12 __&quot; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3049/inverse-of-being-a-fan-of/3050#3050&quot;&gt;Jeffrey Kemp&lt;/a&gt; and ShreevatsaR pointed out in an answer and a comment, there is not really one distinct answer to this question. But there are lots of possible words you could use depending on the context. For example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;X has twelve &lt;strong&gt;idols&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;X has twelve &lt;strong&gt;heroes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;X has twelve &lt;strong&gt;favourite stars&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T13:07:56.680" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3052" CreationDate="2010-09-15T13:09:28.987" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Which one should I prefer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it worth it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does it worth it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Is it worth it?&quot; is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Additionally, is the following form (without it) correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it worth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, that's wrong, worth always needs another word, like &quot;worth twenty pounds&quot; or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T13:09:28.987" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3056" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3057" CreationDate="2010-09-15T14:50:51.887" Score="3" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I do not know if anything is getting created when the contract gets uploaded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this sentence warrant a comma after &quot;when&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1241" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-15T23:52:49.510" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T23:52:49.510" Title="Do I need a comma after &quot;when&quot; in this example?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3056" CreationDate="2010-09-15T15:01:28.590" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A comma is typically used to separate sub-clauses or items in a list. It is definitely not used after the word &quot;when&quot; in a situation like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T15:01:28.590" />
  <row Id="3058" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3063" CreationDate="2010-09-15T15:09:03.083" Score="7" ViewCount="266" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would an English-speaking but non-technical audience be familiar with the terms &lt;em&gt;URL&lt;/em&gt; (in the sense of &lt;em&gt;link&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;web address&lt;/em&gt;) and &lt;em&gt;GUI&lt;/em&gt; (Graphical User Interface), for example in a manual aimed at end users?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not, are there alternatives to GUI for referring to &quot;the part of the program you can see and interact with, including content, menus, buttons etc.&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is it perhaps better to just refer to a GUI as &quot;the program&quot;, since there is no visible distinction between the program and the GUI for the person using it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1125" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T02:13:24.507" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T22:43:25.227" Title="Do &quot;normal people&quot; know the terms URL and GUI?" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3059" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-15T15:11:58.857" Score="7" ViewCount="383" Body="&lt;p&gt;If &quot;errored&quot; is not a valid word, then how should I say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The program errored at line 44&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess I could say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The program threw an error at line 44&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But why is &quot;errored&quot; wrong? Is there a better alternative?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1243" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:38:43.620" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:38:43.620" Title="Is &quot;errored&quot; correct usage?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3060" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-15T15:14:13.940" Score="9" ViewCount="500" Body="&lt;p&gt;Troubleshooted is not a word, but troubleshot is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this really the correct word to use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always feel like saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I troubleshooted it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I troubleshot it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just for some reason doesn't sound right to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1243" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T15:57:13.910" Title="Troubleshooted or Troubleshot?" Tags="&lt;past-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3059" CreationDate="2010-09-15T15:24:37.533" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To use &quot;errored&quot; you would have to consider error a verb, but the dictionary doesn't.  &quot;Error&quot; is a noun, used to mean mistake.  You wouldn't say &quot;The program mistaked at line 44.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your usage &quot;threw an error&quot; is correct, because it uses error as a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1248" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T15:24:37.533" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3059" CreationDate="2010-09-15T15:29:56.197" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the program threw an error&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;though I'd be more inclined to use &quot;caused&quot;, as &quot;threw&quot; sounds a little odd (though it is used in the context of exceptions in C++).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(You might also want to provide a more information than merely saying that an error has occurred!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T15:29:56.197" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3058" CreationDate="2010-09-15T15:32:15.870" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. &quot;Normal people&quot; won't understand these terms. Thats my experience from user training. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some alternatives could be  : Graphical User Interface,  User Interface , Program Interface, Program Screen, Program Window. Also you can replace program with application if you think that would sound better for your audience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;URL could be link, web link, web address, internet address, network address&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also as you are writing a manual, you might as well use these terms and include a glossary&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="45" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T15:32:15.870" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="3064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3059" CreationDate="2010-09-15T15:33:05.843" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can actually say &quot;The program erred at line 44&quot;, but it's not very idiomatic. &quot;Err&quot; also occurs in the saying &quot;To err is human, to forgive is divine&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for the correct idiom, you could say &quot;the program encountered an error at line 44&quot; or &quot;the program hit an error at line 44&quot;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T15:33:05.843" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="3065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3035" CreationDate="2010-09-15T15:40:36.760" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I mean&quot;, like other discourse particles, is tough to nail down.  But every discourse element does serve a function, it is just normally a function that is a bit different from other types of words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is some current theory on what &quot;I mean&quot; means.  All of my information comes from &lt;a href=&quot;http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166%2802%2900027-9&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fox Tree &amp;amp; Shrock (2002)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The paper has a slightly different focus, so I am picking out part of the article that summarizes some of the literature that explores possible discourse functions of &lt;em&gt;I mean&lt;/em&gt; (so don't consider this a complete summary of that paper).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I mean&lt;/em&gt; may be used more by some speakers, and in some kinds of talk, because these speakers, or these speakers in these situations, are more willing or able to make adjustments on the fly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I mean&lt;/em&gt; may be more common in thoughtful and opinionated talk...if speakers are being more careful about expressing exactly what they mean to express, and so using &lt;em&gt;I mean&lt;/em&gt; to adjust their speech. This may also be true of narratives. On the other hand, &lt;em&gt;I mean&lt;/em&gt; may be more common in conversations than in interviews, if speakers are talking more spontaneously in conversations. If talk is planned in advance, or considered carefully before articulating, as it might be in interviews, there is less need for on-the-spot adjustments. Likewise, &lt;em&gt;I mean&lt;/em&gt; may be linked with positive politeness because using it reminds conversational participants of more casual talk. At the same time, it may be linked to negative politeness by decreasing face threat; saying &lt;em&gt;I mean&lt;/em&gt; may be like saying &quot;I'm not committed to what I just said and will adjust if you are offended.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article also mentions some research into &quot;I mean&quot; as a device used to assist turn management in a conversation (i.e. how the back-and-forth of a conversation is managed).  Specifically, &quot;I mean&quot; can be used when Speaker A takes another turn talking, and wants to indicate that Speaker A is &quot;skipping&quot; what Speaker B just said and continuing the thought that Speaker A was conveying before Speaker B talked.  For example, imagine this spontaneous spoken conversation, where each line almost interrupts the one before it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: Cats aren't the most loving pets, are they?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;B: Personally I find dogs more annoying than cats...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: &lt;strong&gt;I mean&lt;/strong&gt;... they can't even really be trained and they just hang out on their own....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The above is my example — I hope it's clear what I am talking about.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other uses mentioned in the article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repair:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I mean&lt;/em&gt;'s use in repair conforms with its basic meaning to forewarn upcoming adjustments. With a broad view of repair that extends beyond local phonological or syntactic adjustments, this basic meaning can accommodate many of the other observations, such as that &lt;em&gt;I mean&lt;/em&gt; forewarns parenthetical remarks or a change of mind (Erman, 1987: 175). The forewarning adjustments function treats the predictability or the local-globalness of repairs as irrelevant, so the conflicting findings presented earlier pose no threat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Monitoring:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The forewarning adjustments function also sits well with speakers' increased monitoring of addressee comprehension after an &lt;em&gt;I mean&lt;/em&gt;. If speakers have just forewarned an adjustment, they might seek an acknowledgement of understanding from the addressee after the adjustment has been made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Organizational:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Forewarning adjustments can also account for &lt;em&gt;I mean&lt;/em&gt;'s uses in topic shifts, such as introducing commentary, justification, phrasal level modification, and new information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T15:40:36.760" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="3066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3060" CreationDate="2010-09-15T15:41:31.103" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The etymology of troubleshoot - the words trouble+shoot - mean that it follows the same rules as shoot itself.  The past-particple of which is shot, not shooted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I troubleshot it&quot; is correct, even if it sounds odd.  That's English for you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1248" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T15:41:31.103" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3058" CreationDate="2010-09-15T15:53:36.427" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of technical or so called technical do not know meanings of these words.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Samples for word like SQL or CSS if you write out full word there is a huge chance to be misunderstanding.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1085" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-26T21:01:27.903" LastActivityDate="2010-09-26T21:01:27.903" />
  <row Id="3068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3059" CreationDate="2010-09-15T15:54:36.557" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say errored &lt;em&gt;IS&lt;/em&gt; a word.  It's the past tense of the verb &quot;to error&quot;.  I've seen (well, mostly heard) this word used to mean&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to operate incorrectly,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to display an error message,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to encounter an unexpected error,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to halt unexpectedly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since this seems to be a relatively recent usage of the word (I can't find any authoritative samples of it) it might be considered too informal or slangy.  Also, some people might not be sure what precisely you are trying to say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/error#Verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www3.merriam-webster.com/opendictionary/newword_display_alpha.php?letter=Er&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster (new words, slang)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T15:54:36.557" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="3069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3058" CreationDate="2010-09-15T15:56:49.463" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;URL is significantly more commonly recognized than GUI, but there are many &quot;normal people&quot; who are fairly clueless as to both of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="928" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T15:56:49.463" />
  <row Id="3070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3060" CreationDate="2010-09-15T15:57:13.910" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/troubleshoot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;troubleshoot&lt;/a&gt; is the verb in the infinitive form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Present&lt;/strong&gt;: I troubleshoot it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Simple Past&lt;/strong&gt;: I troubleshot it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Present perfect&lt;/strong&gt;:  I have troubleshot it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T15:57:13.910" />
  <row Id="3071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3058" CreationDate="2010-09-15T16:00:40.450" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normal people might now know these words.  In the case of GUI I have to wonder why you would use the word at all; is there any other UI the user might also be using, that is non-graphical? It's probably best to refer to &quot;the program&quot; or specific items in the GUI such as particular menus or dialogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For URL a lot of people probably know it but you could say &quot;link&quot; or &quot;address&quot;.  Or define the URL in the introduction to the sections that use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;First, copy the website's address (the URL) to your clipboard by pressing CTRL-C...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you can use the word URL later on (include it in a glossary, maybe?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snarky side-note: will &quot;normal people&quot; even read this help text or manual? :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T16:00:40.450" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3072" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3078" CreationDate="2010-09-15T17:09:30.840" Score="6" ViewCount="514" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is &quot;to get&quot; sometimes used where &quot;to be&quot; could be used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The video got uploaded to the web site.&quot;  vs. &quot;The video was uploaded to the web site.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;He got thrown in the pool.&quot; vs. &quot;He was thrown in the pool.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;We got caught!&quot; vs. &quot;We were caught!&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that usage correct? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T08:37:36.730" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T08:42:50.393" Title="Usage of &quot;get + past participle&quot; (get-passive)" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;passive-voice&gt;&lt;past-participle&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3047" CreationDate="2010-09-15T17:11:37.137" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All three are actually correct in English usage, ambiguous as that seems. No matter how you word it, the thing you are providing is the actual, functional direct object, while the person or thing you're providing it to is the indirect, even though the words might not make that obvious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would be less ambiguous in a language that had a separate dative case (like Latin or, I believe, Russian), where the thing or person you were giving something to would always be suffixed differently than the thing you were providing (which would be in the accusative case), and the word order wouldn't matter because noun cases would tell you which was which.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T17:11:37.137" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3059" CreationDate="2010-09-15T17:21:47.633" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen it enough in computing contexts that I consider it acceptable there. I wouldn't use it in other domains myself, though, except possibly in a geeky tongue-in-cheek way (e.g., &quot;my DVD player errored out on that scratched disk.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="857" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T17:21:47.633" />
  <row Id="3075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3072" CreationDate="2010-09-15T17:24:53.990" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usage is correct, if not always formal. Using &quot;to get&quot; puts a more active spin on the result. While the use of &quot;to be&quot; creates a passive-voice construction, the use of &quot;to get&quot; creates an active-voice construction with an implied subject -- that is, it emphasizes that someone specifically caused the action, rather than that it just happened on its own somehow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="7" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T17:24:53.990" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3072" CreationDate="2010-09-15T17:25:44.243" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This usage is &lt;em&gt;correct&lt;/em&gt;, but &lt;em&gt;informal&lt;/em&gt;. It is freely used (and extremely common) in less formal kinds of writing and speaking, but is avoided in the most formal forms of writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for &quot;why&quot;, I don't think there is any explanation other than the fact that get + &amp;lt;past participle&gt; is slowly displacing be + &amp;lt;past participle&gt; for the passive construction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T17:25:44.243" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3072" CreationDate="2010-09-15T17:26:05.907" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Both forms (i.e. &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;get&lt;/em&gt; forms followed by past participle) are grammatically correct.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The video got uploaded to the website&#xA;  [by a user].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is passive voice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In a sentence using active voice, the&#xA;  subject of the sentence performs the&#xA;  action expressed in the verb.&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/539/01/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(source)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in this case, the subject of the sentence, &quot;the video&quot;, wasn't the thing performing the action.  The unnamed user (or whomever performed the action) did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="433" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T08:42:50.393" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T08:42:50.393" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3072" CreationDate="2010-09-15T18:39:31.027" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use forms of &lt;em&gt;get&lt;/em&gt; instead of forms of &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt; as an alternative way to formulate the passive voice. Passive voice clauses constructed with &lt;em&gt;get&lt;/em&gt; are less formal than those formed with &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt;, but otherwise have the same meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you can’t use &lt;em&gt;get&lt;/em&gt; for stative uses of the passive voice, where the passive indicates the result of an action. You can only use it for eventive passives, where the passive indicates an action. Here are examples of the stative passives where &lt;em&gt;get&lt;/em&gt; is not grammatical:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;100 votes &lt;strong&gt;are&lt;/strong&gt; required to pass the bill&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   * 100 votes &lt;strong&gt;get&lt;/strong&gt; required to pass the bill&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;He &lt;strong&gt;was&lt;/strong&gt; rumored to be a war veteran.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   * He &lt;strong&gt;got&lt;/strong&gt; rumored to be a war veteran&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;The plums &lt;strong&gt;were&lt;/strong&gt; intended for breakfast.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   * The plums &lt;strong&gt;got&lt;/strong&gt; intended for breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;A vacuum &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; abhorred by nature.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   * A vacuum &lt;strong&gt;gets&lt;/strong&gt; abhorred by nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T18:39:31.027" />
  <row Id="3080" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3081" CreationDate="2010-09-15T23:25:34.720" Score="2" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always forget how to express a list within a sentence. Let's say I have the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I attached two files, files and database. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I use a &quot;-&quot; or a &quot;;&quot; instead of the comma?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please advise me. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1268" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-15T23:46:44.957" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T23:46:44.957" Title="How to express a list within a sentence?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;list&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3080" CreationDate="2010-09-15T23:36:42.690" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A colon &lt;code&gt;:&lt;/code&gt; is a good way to introduce a list. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I have attached two files: files and database.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-09-15T23:36:42.690" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3082" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-16T00:14:39.037" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T00:14:39.037" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T00:14:39.037" />
  <row Id="3083" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-16T00:14:39.037" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="Requests for lists of words, phrases, or other information." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T00:14:39.037" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T00:14:39.037" />
  <row Id="3084" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-16T00:15:44.230" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T00:15:44.230" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T00:15:44.230" />
  <row Id="3085" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-16T00:15:44.230" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="English as spoken in North America" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T00:15:44.230" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T00:15:44.230" />
  <row Id="3086" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-16T00:16:06.023" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;British English is the form of English spoken in the United Kingdom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T15:55:38.267" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T15:55:38.267" />
  <row Id="3087" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-16T00:16:06.023" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="English spoken in the United Kingdom" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T01:29:25.700" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T01:29:25.700" />
  <row Id="3088" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-16T00:17:51.947" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T00:17:51.947" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T00:17:51.947" />
  <row Id="3089" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-16T00:17:51.947" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="Use of the semicolon, the &quot;;&quot; symbol." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T00:17:51.947" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T00:17:51.947" />
  <row Id="3090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2969" CreationDate="2010-09-16T00:21:44.460" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can find a partial list by looking under the &quot;look-alike&quot; tag on this site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/look-alikes&quot;&gt;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/look-alikes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the site grows, the list may become more complete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T00:21:44.460" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3091" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3093" CreationDate="2010-09-16T02:45:06.433" Score="8" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct word for &quot;happening every minute&quot;? How do you pronounce it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1271" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T02:58:03.553" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T14:38:28.963" Title="Weekly, Daily, Hourly --- Minutely...?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3091" CreationDate="2010-09-16T02:59:36.610" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Every minute&quot; or &quot;once a minute&quot; is correct. There isn't a single word for this. &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3091/weekly-daily-hourly-minutely/3093#3093&quot;&gt;RegDwight points out &quot;minute by minute&quot; and &quot;on a minute-by-minute basis&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, but note that &quot;on a minute-by-minute basis&quot; means something different from &quot;every minute&quot; - &quot;he updates his blog on a minute-by-minute basis&quot; - he updates his blog very frequently, perhaps not actually every minute - as opposed to &quot;he updates his blog every minute&quot; - he actually updates his blog every single minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T03:11:20.417" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T03:11:20.417" />
  <row Id="3093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3091" CreationDate="2010-09-16T03:04:03.950" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;minutely&quot; does exist, but in the meaning &quot;every minute&quot; it's archaic (see e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/minutely&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/minutely&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language&lt;/a&gt;). The modern meaning is twofold: &quot;in great detail, in a minute manner, with attention to detail&quot; or &quot;into tiny pieces&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you are looking for is &quot;minute by minute&quot;, &quot;once a minute&quot;, &lt;strike&gt;&quot;on a minute-by-minute basis&quot;&lt;/strike&gt; (thanks to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3091/weekly-daily-hourly-minutely/3092#3092&quot;&gt;Shinto Sherlock&lt;/a&gt; for setting the record straight on this one), or simply &quot;every minute&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T14:38:28.963" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T14:38:28.963" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3058" CreationDate="2010-09-16T05:12:11.137" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Only confirming what others (and yourself) have said.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Far more people will understand &lt;em&gt;web address&lt;/em&gt; than URL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Or is it perhaps better to just refer to a GUI as &quot;the program&quot;, since there is no visible distinction between the program and the GUI for the person using it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, yes, yes. For the vast majority of non-technical users, this is very obviously the case. the GUI &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; the program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T05:12:11.137" />
  <row Id="3095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3059" CreationDate="2010-09-16T07:02:38.937" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, I prefer to say &quot;the program failed at line 44&quot;, although I really like &quot;the program erred at line 44&quot; as suggested by Shinto Sherlock above :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="649" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T07:02:38.937" />
  <row Id="3096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3059" CreationDate="2010-09-16T07:23:26.763" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may choose one of the following options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The program &lt;strong&gt;returned&lt;/strong&gt; an error at line 44&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The program &lt;strong&gt;generated&lt;/strong&gt; an error at line 44&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The program &lt;strong&gt;encountered&lt;/strong&gt; an error at line 44&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The program &lt;strong&gt;reached&lt;/strong&gt; an error at line 44&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The program &lt;strong&gt;gave&lt;/strong&gt; an error at line 44&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T07:23:26.763" />
  <row Id="3098" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3120" CreationDate="2010-09-16T09:06:09.473" Score="3" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one should be used? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To me, it makes no difference, but I'm not really sure why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For me, it makes no difference, but I'm not really sure why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="929" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T11:11:08.207" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T14:16:01.763" Title="Expressing an opinion: to me or for me?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2998" CreationDate="2010-09-16T09:27:56.623" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In case of UI labels, English has an advantage of being a reference language. Many many short terms have become a convention and have a clear meaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other languages often do not have widely accepted one-word equivalents of words like &lt;code&gt;default&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;properties&lt;/code&gt; or even &lt;code&gt;apply&lt;/code&gt;. Often, unwieldy multiple-word phrases are necessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, UI labels may often be longer in other languages, even if normal, full-sentence text is not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm so used to standard English UI terminology that I find most UIs in my native language generally painful to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1056" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T09:27:56.623" />
  <row Id="3100" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3114" CreationDate="2010-09-16T09:43:14.863" Score="5" ViewCount="336" Body="&lt;p&gt;This picturesque expression, meaning 'not a very good shot with a rifle' or (of a footballer) unable to score any goals, has cropped up a few times recently in my reading. Does anyone know where it originated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T11:12:44.160" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T17:20:50.520" Title="What is the origin of &quot;Couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3098" CreationDate="2010-09-16T12:17:35.387" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hmm, tough one. Rearranging the sentences helped me see this a little more clearly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It makes no difference &lt;em&gt;to me&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This suggests there is no effect on me materially, emotionally, financially ...etc. That is, &lt;em&gt;nothing will happen to me&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It makes no difference &lt;em&gt;for me&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This suggests that &lt;em&gt;I have no strong opinion on this&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't explain this in terms of grammar or style, it's just a feeling that the sentences provoked when I said them to myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T12:17:35.387" />
  <row Id="3103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2998" CreationDate="2010-09-16T12:26:58.840" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Microsoft develop Windows in English, German and Chinese at the same time to test UI. I think German has the longer words in Western languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T12:26:58.840" />
  <row Id="3104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2998" CreationDate="2010-09-16T12:38:31.720" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've studied foreign languages for a while, and in my experience I noticed that latin languages such as Italian or French, for example, have longer words and a more complex way to make sentences. Often the same sentence have an evident difference in length if you compare anglo-saxon and latin languages.&#xA;Furthermore the writing and speaking style change a lot. English is more colloquial and direct, having less complex grammatical structures, irregular verbs, pronouns etc...&#xA;Another big advantage of english (in terms of lightness) is the habit of taking a word and turn it into a verb. For example if I want to ask you to search a term on google for me, I would say &quot;Google this term for me, please&quot;. In Italian I would say: &quot;Per piacere, potresti cercare questo termine su Google per me?&quot; or something like &quot;Potresti farmi la cortesia di cercare questo termine per me su Google?&quot;.&#xA;As you can notice, italian way is more complex and long.&#xA;By the way, If you are running a blog, I think that 3 or 4 lines more in a post don't change the world. If your goal is to show a sentence into a box, yes it could be a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T12:38:31.720" />
  <row Id="3106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3098" CreationDate="2010-09-16T12:41:43.890" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;According to me&quot; I would follow Antony Quinn's interpretation... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T12:41:43.890" />
  <row Id="3107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3100" CreationDate="2010-09-16T12:51:13.950" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-ways-to-search-by-date-on-google/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google's daterange feature&lt;/a&gt;, I did a search for pages dated 2000 to 2003 [1], and found the earliest verifiable mention of this phrase in a story in The Independent called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/my-side-by-david-beckham-with-tom-watt-582046.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;My Side By David Beckham with Tom Watt&lt;/a&gt; dated &lt;strong&gt;3 October 2003&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;in a league  where half the native players, to quote Dave Bassett, couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google finds no mention of this phrase from 1970 to 2000 [2]. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With more time and more refined searches you may be able to find earlier mentions of this phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Technical note&lt;/em&gt;: I used &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onlineconversion.com/julian_date.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.onlineconversion.com/julian_date.htm&lt;/a&gt; to convert Georgian to Julian dates:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Couldn%27t+hit+a+cow%27s+arse+with+a+banjo+daterange:2451804-2452899&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Couldn%27t+hit+a+cow%27s+arse+with+a+banjo+daterange:2451804-2452899&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Couldn%27t+hit+a+cow%27s+arse+with+a+banjo+daterange:2451804-2452899&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Couldn%27t+hit+a+cow%27s+arse+with+a+banjo+daterange:2451804-2452899&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T17:20:50.520" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T17:20:50.520" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2998" CreationDate="2010-09-16T13:37:29.997" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To agree with Kai: verbs in german are longer than in english most of the times - which also is an agreement to the GUI-remark of j-g-faustus :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For complete texts I have quite a problem to answer your question, as I recommend to consider style / tonality. When translating an english text to german, I have to use more words most of the time. Otherwise, it wouldn't sound that polite or straightforward or even won't be as understandable as the english origin... I would consider english (in comparison to french or germen, the only other languages I know und use quite well) as a language who makes it easy to transport the emotion or attitude within... while usually saving words, compared to german.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where german language uses adjectives and subordinate clauses (a lot!), english comes up with simply structured, well-sounding sentences. Maybe we need also a cultural apporach on that: germans tend to explain and are driven by complexity, americans really love short and smart sentences. Advertisement slogans in the US assure a certain benefit or performance - in Germany, advertisements aim on really subtle emotional seduction or have to declare &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; the benefit will happen. Otherwise, the ad is not as trustworthy (as it would be / is in angloamerican culture - I can only compare those 2 due to personal experience)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Lerne das neue Twitter.com kennen&#xA;Eine einfachere, schnellere, und gehaltreichere Twitter-Erfahrung.&quot;&#xA;...really is a strange use of language for german users. There surely are slogans in german, being as short and powerful - but with totally different content. So I can not compare the both of them... and return to the beginning of my comment ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regards, liqui&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T13:37:29.997" />
  <row Id="3110" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3111" CreationDate="2010-09-16T13:44:21.310" Score="6" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;p&gt;What preposition should we use to start a sentence where we first explain a purpose and then a method to achieve it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example 1&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Purpose = pass the exams&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Method = study a lot&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In order to pass the exams, you have to study a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To pass the exams, you have to study a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;*For passing the exams, you have to study a lot. &lt;em&gt;(incorrect - see accepted answer)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example 2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Purpose = find an object in the database&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Method = run a SQL query &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In order to find the object in the database, users have to run a SQL query.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To find the object in the database, users have to run a SQL query.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;*For finding the object in the database, users have to run a SQL query. &lt;em&gt;(incorrect - see accepted answer)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-17T08:36:00.013" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T08:36:00.013" Title="&quot;In order to...&quot;, &quot;To...&quot; or &quot;For...&quot;" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="3111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3110" CreationDate="2010-09-16T13:56:24.713" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;For passing&quot; and &quot;for finding&quot; are not correct. &quot;In order to&quot; and &quot;To&quot; are correct, but I favour &quot;To&quot; because it is more concise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To pass the exams, you have to study a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To find the object in the database, users have to run a SQL query.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more natural way of saying this is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You have to study a lot to pass the exams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Users have to run a SQL query to find the object in the database.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T13:56:24.713" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3112" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-16T14:35:18.390" Score="6" ViewCount="3047" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many people in my area use the word &quot;agreeance&quot; and I find it irksome. Dictionary.com seems to be in agreement with me (har har): &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/agreeance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/agreeance&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Main Entry:  agreeance&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Part of Speech:  n&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Definition:  the act of agreeing&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Example:  Usage of the site constitutes agreeance with these terms.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Usage:  considered obsolete and a bastardization of 'agreement'&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you use it? Do you think it's acceptable or obsolete?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T04:59:06.220" LastActivityDate="2011-04-01T05:07:32.370" Title="&quot;Agreement&quot; versus &quot;agreeance&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;paronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3112" CreationDate="2010-09-16T14:52:08.830" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's an interesting question. Even though the word &quot;agreeance&quot; appears in some dictionaries as a synonym for &quot;agreement&quot;, it is in the error list of the book &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/book.html&quot;&gt;Common Errors in English Usage&lt;/a&gt;&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;agreeance/agreement &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you agree with someone you are in agreement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is on page 8 of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wmjasco.com/89-9sample.pdf&quot;&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt; sample of the book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be on the safe side, I will keep using &quot;agreement&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T14:57:40.353" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T14:57:40.353" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3100" CreationDate="2010-09-16T14:56:48.247" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it is an Irish slang phrase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You couldn't hit a cow's arse with a&#xA;  banjo (phr): bad aim, woeful&#xA;  hurler/darts player/soccer player etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Below are some Google findings which make me think this way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jackeen.com/jackeen_files/slang/slang.htm#y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dublin Slang&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.irishslang.co.za/irishn_z.htm#y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Everyday English and slang in Ireland&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/voices/atilazed/misc.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BBC - Northern Ireland - Voices&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.irishcelticjewels.com/irish_vocabulary.htm#y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Irish Vocabulary, Everyday English and Slang on Irish Celtic Jewels&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scribd.com/doc/20354917/English-and-Slang-in-Ireland&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Everyday English and Slang in Ireland (scribd.com)&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also came accross an interesting forum &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thegoalposts.com/showthread.php?t=86970&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;thread&lt;/a&gt; which mentions this phrase. Here is an excerpt:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jackie Milburn:  - My dad used to say&#xA;  &quot;son, yer couldn't hit a cow's arse&#xA;  with a shovel&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Juande the Spurrier:&#xA;  - There is a shovel that is called a banjo, because it's shaped like the&#xA;  musical instrument. Seems a farmer&#xA;  might be more likely to have a shovel&#xA;  than a banjo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With further research, I found out that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wwmm.org/storie/storia.asp?id_storia=191&amp;amp;pagina=17&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;banjo&lt;/a&gt; is a shovel type indeed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Banjo (as a shovel):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/pZCFA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Banjo (as a musical instrument):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/rv2fP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T15:07:07.897" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T15:07:07.897" />
  <row Id="3115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2998" CreationDate="2010-09-16T15:08:54.893" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just translate the terms 'Play Now&quot;, 'Instant Play', 'Visit Site' or even 'Click Here' - all common call to actions on the web, and see the results. some are much shorter and some are much much longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am responsible for a large portfolio of multi language sites with some carrying 29 languages and although mostly the design side runs smoothly, there are times where stuff just simply doesn't fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think one of the major problems is that we are always direct translating english to all the other languages, when in fact if we reworked the messages in our creative to properly fit each market, perhaps things would be a little different - 29 times the work, but perhaps a better level of conversion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1292" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T15:08:54.893" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2998" CreationDate="2010-09-16T15:49:34.483" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;good article, but there's something to take into account, from a translator perspective, to write in a &quot;non-native&quot; language often results in longer text, that's because you use the safest way to say an idea that looked simpler in your native language. I'm a native spanish speaker and every time I try to translate something to english I end up with longer paragraphs (an example of this is what I just wrote, to say the same idea in spanish, maybe I'd have used a couple of lines)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T15:49:34.483" />
  <row Id="3117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3112" CreationDate="2010-09-16T16:06:12.677" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think that &quot;agreeance&quot; is a commonly accepted word. That's not to say that it's not used in certain circles or regions, but I don't remember that I have ever heard it or read it, and it strikes me as odd. I would never use it myself. When you say &quot;people in my area&quot; do you mean a geographic area or a particular occupation or discipline? I'm curious about this group that uses the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1296" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T16:06:12.677" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3118" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3122" CreationDate="2010-09-16T16:09:33.653" Score="2" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;Specifically - what kind of bow? I assume it refers to an archer's bow, but I guess it could relate to a bow used to play a stringed instrument (like a violin).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I've heard it used in the sense of an additional skill, as well as a new achievement - I'm not sure that it makes so much sense in the latter but that probably depends on the origin...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1297" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T19:54:18.920" Title="What is the origin of the phrase &quot;another string to your bow&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;metaphor&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3019" CreationDate="2010-09-16T16:14:39.997" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it's an expression to be over-analyzed. It's simply a polite, modest way of saying that he was not expecting such a great reception for his work. It's true that analytically what he said is probably not literally what he meant, but being humbled by something seems to mean in this context that something has made you feel a bit undeserving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1296" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T16:14:39.997" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3098" CreationDate="2010-09-16T16:31:40.143" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the general (most widely-applicable) one would be &quot;to me&quot;.  To my knowledge, it can be used in any of these cases where &quot;for me&quot; is used, and in some where &quot;for me&quot; can't be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For me, this is not a difficult problem.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To me, this is not a difficult problem.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of the above are fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But look at the following pair:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;*For me, he is an idiot.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To me, he is an idiot.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first example doesn't work as a way to express opinion, but &quot;to me&quot; still works fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T16:31:40.143" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3098" CreationDate="2010-09-16T16:34:47.097" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I basically agree with Antony Quinn's answer, with one slight difference. &lt;em&gt;for me&lt;/em&gt; implies that your decision will not affect me. &lt;em&gt;to me&lt;/em&gt; means I don't much care what you decide, even if it does affect me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Illustration: My employer considers switching from issuing pay checks every week to issuing them once a quarter. This affects me, and I don't want it to happen, so I might say, It makes a difference for me (because my cash flow cannot handle this). (Sorry that I couldn't think of an example that kept the &quot;no difference&quot; idea.) However, if my employer considers switching from weekly to biweekly pay checks, it still affects me, but not in any way that matters to me (because my cash flow can handle this), so I might say, It makes no difference to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastEditorUserId="720" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-18T14:16:01.763" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T14:16:01.763" />
  <row Id="3122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3118" CreationDate="2010-09-16T19:46:59.303" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;John Ayto gives &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com.tr/books?id=BC8_tRvBSvsC&amp;amp;pg=PA339&amp;amp;lpg=PA339&amp;amp;dq=%E2%80%9Canother+string+to+your+bow%E2%80%9D&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=0evFAxgVcG&amp;amp;sig=dNimCn8LW26KL233nlavsxEHY3s&amp;amp;hl=tr&amp;amp;ei=HXKSTIuhLpSaOKqlzfIH&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CBMQ6AEwADge#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%E2%80%9Canother%20string%20to%20your%20bow%E2%80%9D&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the answer&lt;/a&gt; in his book named &quot;From the horse's mouth: Oxford dictionary of English idioms&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;have a second string to your bow:&lt;/strong&gt; have an alternative resource that you can make use of if the first one fails. &lt;em&gt;British.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Info: &lt;strong&gt;This is a metaphor from archery&lt;/strong&gt; [emphasis added]; related expressions include &lt;em&gt;have several strings to your bow&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;add another string to your bow&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Second string&lt;/em&gt; can also be used on its own to mean simply &quot;an alternative resource or course of action&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T19:54:18.920" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T19:54:18.920" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3123" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3126" CreationDate="2010-09-16T20:45:57.187" Score="6" ViewCount="232" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the plural of the word &quot;index&quot;? It seems that there are two that are acceptable: &quot;indexes&quot; and &quot;indices&quot;. I happen to prefer &quot;indices&quot; but I was wondering if one was generally preferred over the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am using &quot;index&quot; as a programming term to indicate the position of an element in a array.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="595" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T22:35:36.470" Title="What is the plural of the word &quot;index&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="3124" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-16T20:54:58.423" Score="11" ViewCount="276" Body="&lt;p&gt;My English teacher just asked us to write a random sentence in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Off the top of my head I wrote &quot;I like to eat apples and bananas&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She highlighted &quot;apples&quot; and said: &quot;man, this is blatantly wrong&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Uh, what's wrong, M'am?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;It should be &lt;em&gt;bananas and apples&lt;/em&gt;. English people always enumerate things in reverse alphabetical order. Always. Just like when they enumerate parts of the body, they always converge to the heart. Always. We do that automatically, without even thinking about it. Not doing it is wrong&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Granted, I'm not a native speaker, but I've never heard anything like this before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bullshit or what?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1300" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:52:33.080" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T01:07:11.627" Title="Which is right, &quot;bananas and apples&quot; or &quot;apples and bananas&quot; or both?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="3125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3123" CreationDate="2010-09-16T20:57:56.660" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I happen to prefer &quot;indices&quot; but I was wondering if one was generally preferred over the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Who are you writing for? That should be the first consideration. For example, opening the Oxford Writers' Dictionary, I find that it tells me to use the plural &quot;indexes&quot;. So if you're writing for Oxford University Press you'd better use &quot;indexes&quot;. If you're writing only to please yourself you can use whatever plural you like, so in theory you could be like those people who write &quot;unixen&quot; and say &quot;indexen&quot; I suppose, although that might make your writing less popular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;indices&quot; is common enough that it doesn't come across as at all an eccentric choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T20:57:56.660" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3123" CreationDate="2010-09-16T21:00:35.820" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0406760#DWS-045648&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;plural of index: &lt;strong&gt;indexes&lt;/strong&gt; or&#xA;  especially in technical use&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;indices&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The plural of index is usually spelled&#xA;  indexes, but can also be spelled&#xA;  indices (as in the original Latin) in&#xA;  subjects like science and medicine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, technically I'd use &lt;strong&gt;indices&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T21:00:35.820" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3127" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3145" CreationDate="2010-09-16T21:02:57.183" Score="7" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there rules of usage when using the ampersand &quot;&amp;amp;&quot; instead of &quot;and&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they completely interchangeable? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ampersand seems more casual, but I'm not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T02:45:30.750" Title="When to use &amp; instead of &quot;and&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3123" CreationDate="2010-09-16T21:10:29.463" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a computer array, I'd probably use something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;index values&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different meaning, but in computer terms the sentences could probably be rewritten so that the plural &quot;indexes/indices&quot; isn't necessary. Though, I'd have to see your example to see if it could be re-written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying that, I'd probably use &quot;indexes&quot; over indices if you're writing to a general audience. &quot;indices&quot; sounds more... stuffy. ^_^&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T21:10:29.463" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3127" CreationDate="2010-09-16T21:11:44.450" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are there rules of usage when using the ampersand &quot;&amp;amp;&quot; instead of &quot;and&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked through a couple of reference books and both of them said that the ampersand should only be used in company names.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are they completely interchangeable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meaning-wise I think they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The ampersand seems more casual, but I'm not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's an abbreviation so one might use it more in less formal writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T21:11:44.450" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3124" CreationDate="2010-09-16T21:19:33.197" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think your teacher is either &quot;full of it&quot; or &quot;misinformed&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it may be true that in English we usually enumerate parts of the body from the outside in, I'd suspect it has more to do with creating a physical starting point that is furthest from our eyes and looking for a way to create a list without forgetting something. I doubt this is limited to English, but is more of a &quot;human&quot; thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For random objects, I'd suspect people probably sort from easiest to recall to most difficult, or from most to least favorite, from biggest to smallest, by what sounds right or just randomly... or according to a set phrase, rhyme or song that's established culturally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's raining cats and dogs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;strawberry rhubarb pie&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They fight like cats and dogs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They're playing a game of cat and mouse&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'll have a ham and cheese sandwich&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you like some cheese and crackers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm having a wine and cheese party&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I feel like a rum and coke&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'll take a Coke and Lime&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some of those examples, the more important element is stated first, but in many, the order has been established naturally, with less importance to order. Saying that, I'm sure there are certain patterns you could find based on how things sound together, or how many syllables there are... but the opposite is not wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T01:01:34.597" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T01:01:34.597" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3131" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3184" CreationDate="2010-09-16T21:31:21.350" Score="7" ViewCount="263" Body="&lt;p&gt;English (other than American English) has a clear differentiation between the two words. Both are about translocating something. In &quot;bring&quot; the something of somebody is moved to where the speaker is currently situated. &quot;Take&quot; is used to translocate something or somebody to a place that the speaker is not currently at. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You cannot “bring” your books to school if you are currently at home. You can only &lt;strong&gt;take&lt;/strong&gt; them to school. Most of the time one can get the meaning from the context of the sentence but it can get very confusing when the other party is on the telephone and you do not know their location. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does American English not differentiate and when did it lose the differentiation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="705" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T05:25:56.023" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T00:24:50.847" Title="&quot;Bring&quot; vs. &quot;take&quot; in American English" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="3132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3059" CreationDate="2010-09-16T21:36:40.493" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Outside of the context of computer programs. errored is common expression in legal documents. For example, &quot;We find the lower court erred in finding Larry Flint guilty of causing undue pain and suffering of Jerry Falwell&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1209" LastEditorUserId="1209" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-17T05:05:21.220" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T05:05:21.220" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3131" CreationDate="2010-09-16T21:39:49.190" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because Americans are lazy? (This is coming from an American)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, I think &quot;proper&quot; English of all forms should make the distinction, but it's just not use colloquialy because there's usually enough context around the word to make the meaning clear, and people just don't care enough to be correct about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was taught English in the Midwestern United States, and we were taught to make the distinction. But outside of formal writing I rarely see anyone give it a second thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1209" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T21:39:49.190" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3123" CreationDate="2010-09-16T22:35:36.470" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would strongly prefer indexes. I have problem with asking speaker of English a knowledge of Latin and its morphological system. It is different from irregular verbs, which come from strong/weak verbs, a part of Old English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T22:35:36.470" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3135" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3137" CreationDate="2010-09-16T22:52:37.483" Score="7" ViewCount="255" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many names seem to get a &quot;y&quot; or &quot;ie&quot; at the end when the speaker wishes to denote a hint of familiarity, intimacy, or tenderness. Examples can be seen not just in names, but in terms like &quot;Puppy&quot;, &quot;Kitty&quot;. Close friends of Robert might call him &quot;Bobby&quot; whereas, if you think about it, it's hard to imagine &quot;Bobby&quot; used in a more formal setting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of this practice? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="154" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T23:15:41.040" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T23:52:22.290" Title="Origin of &quot;y&quot; or &quot;ie&quot; diminutive suffix to denote intimacy/tenderness? (ie Bob-&gt;Bobby, Dad-&gt;Daddy, Doug-&gt;Dougie)" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;modifiers&gt;&lt;suffix&gt;&lt;diminutive&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3136" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3138" CreationDate="2010-09-16T22:57:37.323" Score="4" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;The title is an excerpt from a GRE question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Those who fear the influence of television&#xA;  deliberately ---- its persuasive power,&#xA;  hoping that &lt;strong&gt;they might keep knowledge of its&#xA;  potential to effect social change from being&#xA;  widely disseminated&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;promote&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;underplay&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;excuse&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;laud&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;suspect&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't quite understand the structure and meaning of the &lt;strong&gt;bold&lt;/strong&gt; part of the sentence, could you explain it for me? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="786" LastEditorUserId="786" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T23:07:24.893" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T14:04:49.670" Title="They might keep knowledge of its potential to effect social change from being widely disseminated." Tags="&lt;gre&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3135" CreationDate="2010-09-16T23:00:42.270" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;-y&quot; is a suffix for forming diminutive nouns, and Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-y#Etymology_2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;has an entry&lt;/a&gt; dedicated to it, though it doesn't say anything about etymology other than &quot;from Middle English and Scots&quot;. Thankfully, The Free Library &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreelibrary.com/On+the+origin+of+the+English+diminutive+suffix+-y,+-ie-a092803251&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;provides lots of further insight&lt;/a&gt;, but the bottom line is that nobody really &lt;em&gt;knows&lt;/em&gt; for sure, and &quot;the etymology of the diminutive suffix -y, -ie [will] most certainly remain controversial&quot;. The same suffix exists in modern German, where it is spelled as &quot;-i&quot; (Mami, Papi, Mausi, Steffi, Susi, Schumi), but again, the connection to English is unclear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-16T23:52:22.290" LastActivityDate="2010-09-16T23:52:22.290" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3136" CreationDate="2010-09-16T23:02:42.033" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The bold part of the question is saying that these people are worried about other people realizing that TV has the ability to change society, and they don't want that knowledge being spread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence could be reworded as a question as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What do those who fear the influence&#xA;  of television do to keep knowledge of&#xA;  its potential to effect social change&#xA;  from being widely disseminated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, you would be looking for a word that will not cause people to notice the power of television.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, lets look at the possible choices:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;promote&lt;/strong&gt; - Promoting the power of television would certainly not keep the knowledge of its ability to change the world from spreading.  It would have the opposite effect.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;underplay&lt;/strong&gt; - Underplaying the power would fit quite nicely, as it is the opposite of promote.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;excuse&lt;/strong&gt; - This wouldn't really fit, since the people we are talking about think it is a bad thing that TV has so much power.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;laud&lt;/strong&gt; - This is a synonym or 'praise', so it is similar to 'promote', and wouldn't fit for the same reasons.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;suspect&lt;/strong&gt; - The people are already convinced that TV is too powerful, and 'suspecting' it would not help to keep this power secret from society at large.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I would choose 'underplay'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="433" LastEditorUserId="433" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-17T06:28:52.220" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T06:28:52.220" />
  <row Id="3139" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3141" CreationDate="2010-09-16T23:52:47.123" Score="11" ViewCount="597" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aside from proper noun usage, like &quot;We're on a mission from God&quot;, when should &quot;God&quot; be capitalized? A few examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;That's a god awful question.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Oh my god!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No god-damn way.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He played the part of the cannibal god&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It occurs to me that whenever used for decisive emphasis, by referencing deity, it is effectively functioning as a proper noun as well? For comparison:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;That's a &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; awful question.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Oh my &lt;em&gt;stars&lt;/em&gt;!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(no viable equivalent)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He played the part of the cannibal &lt;em&gt;chief&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PLEASE, no rants or tangents. This is a grammar question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-17T15:18:33.230" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T20:05:43.347" Title="When should the word &quot;God&quot; be capitalized?" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3139" CreationDate="2010-09-17T00:12:42.320" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I opened my &quot;Oxford Writers' Dictionary&quot; yet again and found &lt;strong&gt;God-awful&lt;/strong&gt;, so they think that it should be capitalized and hyphenated. However they also use &lt;strong&gt;godlike&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;godless&lt;/strong&gt;. There are several other examples in the dictionary, so it seems to be case-by-case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think anyone would suggest capitalizing &quot;god&quot; in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He played the part of the cannibal god&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T00:12:42.320" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3139" CreationDate="2010-09-17T01:36:58.623" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To summarize the proper noun/common noun usage, I think the easiest way to handle the situation is to capitalize the word &lt;em&gt;god&lt;/em&gt; when it is used as a proper name as the name of the god of a monotheistic religion, such as the god of Christianity or Judaism, and not capitalize it when it is used as a common noun:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Christians are supposed to follow what God wants them to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Christians are supposed to follow what their god wants them to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;a href=&quot;http://atheism.about.com/od/doesgodexist/a/capitalization.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; from the About.com site about agnosticism and atheism discusses the issue of when to capitalize &lt;em&gt;god&lt;/em&gt; quite cogently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for usage of the examples in the question, I looked in the Corpus of Contemporary American English and here’s what I found.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;God-awful&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;  72 god-awful&#xA;  71 godawful&#xA;  28 God-awful&#xA;  10 Godawful&#xA;   7 god awful&#xA;   7 God awful&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, the hyphenated uncapitalized and unspaced uncapitalized forms are about equally common. The hyphenated capitalized form was the next most common, but significantly less common, followed by other rare variants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Oh my God&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the first 1000 results for &lt;em&gt;oh my god&lt;/em&gt;, they were divided like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; 710 Oh my God&#xA; 139 Oh my god&#xA;  95 oh my God&#xA;  38 oh my god&#xA;  10 OH MY GOD&#xA;   7 Oh My God&#xA;   1 Oh my GOD&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All variations of capitalization are used, but “Oh my God” is the most common by quite a large margin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Goddamn&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the first 1000 incidences of &lt;em&gt;goddamn&lt;/em&gt;, they were divided like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; 770 goddamn&#xA; 218 Goddamn&#xA;  38 God damn&#xA;  27 god damn&#xA;  18 god-damn&#xA;  17 God-damn&#xA;  12 GODDAMN&#xA;   3 God-Damn&#xA;   2 God Damn&#xA;   1 GOD DAMN&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;183 examples of &lt;em&gt;Goddamn&lt;/em&gt; occurred after punctuation—only 35 occurred after a word. Lowercase &lt;em&gt;goddamn&lt;/em&gt; is dramatically more common. For the spaced variation, capitalization was more common than not, but for the hyphenated variation, they were equally divided between capitalizing and not. For &lt;em&gt;goddamn&lt;/em&gt;, the unspaced variation is much more common than the variants with space and hyphen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Cannibal god&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the final example, there were, of course, no incidences of &lt;em&gt;cannibal god&lt;/em&gt; in the COCA, but I think this works best the same way as Roman, Greek, Norse, and Hindu gods—as a common noun, lowercased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T01:36:58.623" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="3142" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3143" CreationDate="2010-09-17T01:56:25.470" Score="6" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does either imply a lesson, or a fantastical setting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="577" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-08T12:35:29.677" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T12:35:29.677" Title="What's the difference between a fable and a parable?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3142" CreationDate="2010-09-17T02:02:18.967" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My understanding is that a fable involves (speaking) animals or other mythical creatures, while a parable does not. A moral is typical for both genres.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia is more accurate in its wording:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;fable&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is a succinct story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized (given human qualities), and that illustrates a moral lesson (a &quot;moral&quot;), which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;parable&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is a brief, succinct story, in prose or verse, that illustrates a moral or religious lesson. It differs from a fable in that fables use animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as characters, while parables generally feature human characters. It is a type of analogy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster basically agrees, but has a few points to add:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;parable&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;: example; specifically: a usually short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;fable&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;: a fictitious narrative or statement: as&lt;br&gt; &#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt;: a legendary story of supernatural happenings&lt;br&gt; &#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;b&lt;/strong&gt;: a narration intended to enforce a useful truth; especially: one in which animals speak and act like human beings&lt;br&gt; &#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;c&lt;/strong&gt;: falsehood, lie&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-17T02:12:42.200" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T02:12:42.200" />
  <row Id="3145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3127" CreationDate="2010-09-17T02:45:30.750" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are very, very few acceptable uses of &lt;strong&gt;&amp;amp;&lt;/strong&gt; in proper written English. Here are some of them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;amp;&lt;/strong&gt; is especially common when joining names to indicate a firm or a partnership, for example, a law firm:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; Baker &amp;amp; McKenzie&#xA; Abercrombie &amp;amp; Fitch&#xA; Crosby Stills Nash &amp;amp; Young&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In abbreviations, when abbreviating &quot;and&quot;, &lt;strong&gt;&amp;amp;&lt;/strong&gt; is often used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; AT&amp;amp;T (American Telephone and Telegraph)&#xA; P&amp;amp;L (profit and loss)&#xA; R&amp;amp;D (research and development)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One rare usage is on envelopes addressed to a couple:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; Mr. &amp;amp; Mrs. Jackson&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;amp;c.&lt;/strong&gt; is a rare and somewhat archaic looking abbreviation for etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that it is vanishingly rare to see &lt;strong&gt;&amp;amp;&lt;/strong&gt; in formal written English, although of course in informal email, text messages, notes, and handwriting, anything goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="133" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T02:45:30.750" />
  <row Id="3146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3142" CreationDate="2010-09-17T03:00:52.360" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My observations - not an authority's formal definitions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most famous fables (Aesop's) all feature animal protagonists, but I don't believe that has ever been a requirement, Wikipedia notwithstanding. Any fictitious story with an implied or explicit moral, or lesson, and which is obviously contrived for the purpose of communicating that moral or lesson can be referred to as a fable. Example: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.userfocus.co.uk/fable/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.userfocus.co.uk/fable/index.html&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A parable is not necessarily contrived, but usually contains a relatively specific analogy. A fable is more vague and illustrates a more general principle or concept. The parables in the New Testament (per my poor memory) are all things that &quot;could have actually happened like that&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Apparently the root of &quot;parable&quot; is from the Greek &quot;to compare&quot;, so a specific analogy is definitely implied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastEditorUserId="597" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-18T00:47:18.357" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T00:47:18.357" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2858" CreationDate="2010-09-17T03:18:24.683" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &quot;cooler&quot; is a styrofoam case for keeping drinks cold on picnics, at the beach, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Such a cooler&quot; means &quot;A cooler just like that&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;The beer would stay a lot colder if you bought such a cooler.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying &quot;That's such a cooler design&quot; does not sound like something a native speaker would say although colloquially you might get away with it if you don't mind sounding like you're a teenager:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;Pretending to be gay is, like, *so* five-minutes-ago&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;It's, like, um, *such* a cooler design, ya know?&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that &quot;such&quot; modifies &quot;cool&quot; in the same way that &quot;-er&quot; does, and they clash a little bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="133" LastEditorUserId="133" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-17T14:29:31.923" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T14:29:31.923" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3148" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3149" CreationDate="2010-09-17T05:41:01.620" Score="5" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I am writing a poem, I might use the word &lt;code&gt;peaches&lt;/code&gt; to symbolize all fruit. Is there a specific word for this type of symbolism?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T06:16:10.060" Title="What is the word to describe a single object to represent the many?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3148" CreationDate="2010-09-17T06:06:45.790" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's called &lt;strong&gt;metonymy&lt;/strong&gt;. For example, &lt;em&gt;sword&lt;/em&gt; for war or &lt;em&gt;Washington&lt;/em&gt; for the U S Government.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cf. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonym&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonym&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastEditorUserId="1065" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-17T06:16:10.060" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T06:16:10.060" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3150" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3154" CreationDate="2010-09-17T06:37:59.517" Score="10" ViewCount="312" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen 'Muslim' and 'Islamic' both used as adjectives to describe things relating to Islam.  Is there a nuanced difference between the two words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that 'Muslim' can also be used as a noun, as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Muslims as the people who practice Islam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, are the following sentences both correct?  Are they equivalent?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Quran is the Muslim holy book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Quran is the Islamic holy book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that I have written this question, and tried to think of examples, perhaps Islamic is only an adverb?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would both of these sentences be correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Islamic people practice Islam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Muslim people practice Islam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="433" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T09:46:31.670" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T09:46:31.670" Title="What is the difference between 'Muslim&quot; and 'Islamic'?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3150" CreationDate="2010-09-17T06:51:37.930" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are roughly equivalent in meaning when used adjectivally, although I find people who respect Muslims calling them &quot;Muslim&quot; and people who don't respect Muslims calling them &quot;Islamic.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1311" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T06:51:37.930" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-09-17T07:19:23.417" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Askance. Not ASK-ance, but a-SKANCE. When you look askance at someone, you're giving them a sideways look, not a questioning one, as I used to think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1311" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T07:19:23.417" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-17T07:19:23.417" />
  <row Id="3153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-09-17T11:08:50.657" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I too had several of these while growing up.  Two that spring to mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Integer&lt;/strong&gt; — pronounced with a soft ‘g’, but I used a hard ‘g’.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Elite&lt;/strong&gt; — rhymes with ‘delete’, but I would rhyme it with ‘delight’.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1273" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T11:08:50.657" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-17T11:08:50.657" />
  <row Id="3154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3150" CreationDate="2010-09-17T12:38:20.953" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Muslim&quot; or &quot;Moslem is always referring to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a man&lt;/a&gt;, meaning &quot;one who submits&quot;, with a female form &quot;Muslima&quot;, while &quot;Islamic&quot; denotes &quot;belonging to Islam&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, instead of saying&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Muslim people practice Islam&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;one can also say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Muslims practice Islam&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but not &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Islamics practice Islam&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and it would be more correct to say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;The Quran is the Muslim's holy book&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Arabic, &quot;Muslim&quot; is the participle of the verb with the infinitive &quot;Islam&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-17T16:24:33.993" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T16:24:33.993" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="3155" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3172" CreationDate="2010-09-17T13:28:31.430" Score="5" ViewCount="395" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people pronounce the &lt;strong&gt;S&lt;/strong&gt; in &lt;em&gt;Islam&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;strong&gt;Z&lt;/strong&gt;, and others pronounce it as &lt;strong&gt;S&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T07:20:33.113" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T07:20:33.113" Title="What is the correct pronunciation of the word &quot;Islam&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="14" />
  <row Id="3156" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3183" CreationDate="2010-09-17T13:37:57.923" Score="3" ViewCount="283" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is my understanding that the contraction &lt;code&gt;y'all&lt;/code&gt; was considered correct American English in times past.  At what point was this word removed from valid American English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1048" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:58:00.617" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:58:00.617" Title="When did y'all become improper?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="3157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3136" CreationDate="2010-09-17T14:04:49.670" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sentence is a bit tricky to read because of its clauses.  Here is how I read it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Those (who fear the influence of television) deliberately ---- its persuasive power, hoping that they might keep knowledge (of its potential to effect social change) from being widely disseminated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can eliminate the clauses to get an easier-to-read sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They deliberately ---- is power hoping that they might keep knowledge from being widely disseminated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sentence doesn't say the same thing precisely, because it doesn't say who &quot;they&quot; are nor what knowledge they are trying to suppress, but it illustrates the parsing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T14:04:49.670" />
  <row Id="3158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3131" CreationDate="2010-09-17T14:09:41.273" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I speak Canadian English, so I don't know if this answer is relevant to you.  But I would that your definition of &quot;bring&quot; allows a little lee-way, at least for colloquial use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Take your books to school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;?Bring your books to school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second sentence is technically only correct if the speaker is at school, right? But given that this imperative statement is being told to someone, when they perform the action they are doing both, taking their books and bringing them to school.  So I don't see it as strictly wrong for the parent to tell their child (while at home) to bring their books to school (when they next go to the school).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that &quot;He brought his books to school&quot; is correct no matter where the speaker is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T14:09:41.273" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3124" CreationDate="2010-09-17T14:16:45.563" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No difference I see, young padavan. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1316" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T14:16:45.563" />
  <row Id="3160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3124" CreationDate="2010-09-17T14:51:08.777" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many word pairs that are usually stated in certain orders.  Using them in the uncommon order is not necessarily wrong but it sounds odd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Good and Evil&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Apples and Oranges&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Men and Women&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ladies and Gentlemen&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you just have to memorize the order for each possible pair.  Your teacher's assertion that the pairs have to be in reverse alphabetical order is simply false.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for organizing the body parts by direction, I don't think people follow specific rules.  I would probably start at the top and work my way down.  I can't see how converging in the middle would help unless you also have to go clockwise or counter-clockwise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T14:51:08.777" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3161" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3162" CreationDate="2010-09-17T15:10:31.337" Score="12" ViewCount="378" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are zero and null perfect synonyms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1317" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-24T15:16:33.720" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T15:16:33.720" Title="Is there a real difference between null and zero?" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3161" CreationDate="2010-09-17T15:19:24.223" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'null' is qualitative, representing the absence of quantity. Closer to the word 'void' than the number 'zero'. Example: he reduced it to nil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'zero' is quantitative. Example: he got zero on his exam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1114" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T15:19:24.223" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="3163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3161" CreationDate="2010-09-17T15:48:32.373" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not just null and zero too. What about &quot;nothing&quot;,&quot;naugt&quot;,&quot;none&quot; etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Zero is usually a noun. Zero is a number.&#xA;Zero can refer to the symbol &quot;0&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Null is usually an adjective (Null set, Null argument, Null pointer, *a nullity). Null is a not a number, usually has a different symbol each time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Programmers are forced to make these distinctions all the time (although, 'null' is often modelled as the number 0). Although it is important in programming, the distinction is more to do with logic and mathematics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They do have quite different roles in language although I guess in a few cases they are the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/zero.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;History of Zero&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1318" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T15:48:32.373" />
  <row Id="3164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3161" CreationDate="2010-09-17T16:09:17.217" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, they are not the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In an everyday language context, 'null' can mean that something is meaningless, as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The agreement became null when Sam failed to fulfill his side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a programming/data context (though I still think this is a language question, rather than a programming question), 'null' can mean the absence of information.  If you are wondering how many apples there are, 'null' means 'I don't know'.  'Zero' means that you know that there aren't any apples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Zero always refers to a quantity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="433" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T16:09:17.217" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3161" CreationDate="2010-09-17T16:13:19.383" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a difference between a cheque(check) with $0.00 and a NULL(VOID) check?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A $0.00 cheque will put exactly $0.00 into your bank account. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A check with VOID written on it will not be processed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference may be subtle, but there is a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;0 represents an integer in the set of all integers (called the set Z in mathematics)&#xA;NULL is not an integer, and it could represent the absence of things that aren't even numbers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A NULL and VOID Check for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A NULL Marriage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A NULL Agreement&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T16:13:19.383" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="3166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3139" CreationDate="2010-09-17T16:35:44.520" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a biblical point of view, the distinction is simple (in English).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;God (in English) came to be written to represent the Monotheistic God of the bible, whereas &quot;god&quot; represented the polytheistic gods of the surrounding nations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pharaoah is called a &quot;god&quot;. Ba'al was called a &quot;god&quot;. Silver idols are called &quot;gods&quot;, money is called a &quot;god&quot;, Satan is called a &quot;god&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is of note, however, that in the original Hebrew, there is no capitalization present. Rather, they referred to &quot;God&quot; as el-o-him (God), or by his personal name YHWH (Commonly known as Jehovah in English, likely pronounced Yah-weh in Hebrew). This name distinguished him from the gods of the surrounding nations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In THAT context, you COULD make an argument that depending on what &quot;god&quot; you mean, it could be capitalized. However, given that the bible's capitalization in English was added later (perhaps for clarity when reading) I would think lowercase is perfectly acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(How's that for a long-winded rant that ends where it began?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T16:35:44.520" />
  <row Id="3167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3155" CreationDate="2010-09-17T16:58:32.647" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Islam&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; (and consequently all words derived from it) is pronounced correctly with an &lt;strong&gt;S&lt;/strong&gt; not a &lt;strong&gt;Z&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the importance of this distinction is that &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Izlam&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; in Arabic means &quot;&lt;em&gt;getting dark&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, whereas &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Islam&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; (with S) means &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;submission&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T16:58:32.647" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3168" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-17T17:02:49.703" Score="3" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like storing gasoline to create an artificial demand and sell it a higher price later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="137" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-17T17:14:36.980" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T05:39:18.647" Title="Word for when people store scarce resources to increase demand and sell at higher price" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="3169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3168" CreationDate="2010-09-17T17:05:01.463" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Hoarding' is the word that comes to my mind.  That at least covers the storage of scarce resources, but I'm not sure if it is really the right word to include selling it at a higher price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How about 'Price-fixing'?  That would be a collection of 'competitors', artificailly increasing the price by some means (possibly by limiting supply).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="433" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T17:05:01.463" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3168" CreationDate="2010-09-17T17:50:18.593" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Profiteering&lt;/strong&gt; can be used here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/profiteer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cambridge Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;profiteer  (noun):   a person who takes&#xA;  advantage of a situation in which&#xA;  other people are suffering to make a&#xA;  profit, often by selling at a high&#xA;  price goods which are difficult to&#xA;  get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;profiteering  (noun):&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;The pharmaceutical company has been charged with profiteering from the&#xA;  AIDS crisis.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/profiteer?view=uk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;profiteer  (verb): make or seek to&#xA;  make an excessive or unfair profit,&#xA;  especially illegally: &lt;em&gt;seven food&#xA;  merchants were charged with&#xA;  profiteering.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-17T18:01:28.643" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T18:01:28.643" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3155" CreationDate="2010-09-17T17:51:09.823" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at the other answers, I would like to intervene. Whatever the correct pronunciation in Arabic is, we are talking about English here. Merriam-Webster &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/islam&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lists&lt;/a&gt; quite a few variations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;\is-ˈläm, iz-, -ˈlam, ˈis-ˌ, ˈiz-ˌ\&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also provides two audio recordings, one for /ɪsˈlɑːm/ and one for /ɪzˈlæm/.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Islam#Pronunciation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pronunciation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;enPR: ĭs-läm', IPA: /ɪsˈlɑːm/, SAMPA: /Is&quot;lA:m/&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;enPR: ĭz-läm', IPA: /ɪzˈlɑːm/, SAMPA: /Iz&quot;lA:m/&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;enPR: ĭz'lăm, IPA: /ˈɪzlæm/, SAMPA: /&quot;Izl{m/&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, with all due respect to other languages, we just don't pronounce &lt;em&gt;matador&lt;/em&gt; the way it is pronounced in Spanish, &lt;em&gt;sputnik&lt;/em&gt; the way it is pronounced in Russian, or &lt;em&gt;kindergarten&lt;/em&gt; the way it is pronounced in German. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T17:51:09.823" CommentCount="15" />
  <row Id="3173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3139" CreationDate="2010-09-17T17:52:22.737" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two elements are at play here.  The first is the grammatic issue of proper noun versus regular noun. In general, &quot;God&quot; with a capital G is a proper noun, whereas &quot;god&quot; is not.  This is very similar to &quot;mom&quot; or &quot;dad&quot;. (&quot;Did Mom say not to eat any cookies?&quot; vs. &quot;Your mom said not to eat the cookies.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second influence comes from a Christian tradition of capitalizing the &quot;G&quot; any time the god in question is &lt;em&gt;the God&lt;/em&gt; of the Bible, even when &quot;god&quot; is a regular noun in the sentence.  This same practice is often used with personal pronouns referencing God as well (&quot;You&quot;, &quot;He&quot;).  This practice is not a hard and fast rule of &lt;strike&gt;grammar&lt;/strike&gt; orthography, though it is a common practice, particularly among Christians.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="803" LastEditorUserId="803" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-17T20:05:43.347" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T20:05:43.347" />
  <row Id="3174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3038" CreationDate="2010-09-17T18:16:30.153" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lewis Carrol made this into an art form. One of my favorites from &quot;Alice in Wonderland&quot; was &quot;Frumious&quot; it is a combination of &quot;Fuming&quot; and &quot;Furious&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T18:16:30.153" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3175" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3180" CreationDate="2010-09-17T18:30:27.140" Score="4" ViewCount="399" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always fear my conversation sounds like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;— What would you like to drink, sir?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  — I will take some cock, thanks.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  — &lt;em&gt;ROFL&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any tips on how to pronounce &lt;em&gt;Coke&lt;/em&gt; so it is not mistaken for anything? :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-17T20:24:24.863" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T01:24:54.430" Title="How to pronounce &quot;Coke&quot; so it is not mistaken for another word?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2998" CreationDate="2010-09-17T18:38:10.070" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;FWIW, here's an article I wrote on the topic: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.w3.org/International/articles/article-text-size&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.w3.org/International/articles/article-text-size&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And one aspect of the implications of that for Web designers is linked from the bottom of the page: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-resizing-backgrounds.en.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Background images that support localization&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-17T18:44:52.737" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T18:44:52.737" />
  <row Id="3177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3175" CreationDate="2010-09-17T18:38:52.517" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It rhymes with &quot;poke&quot; and &quot;joke&quot;, not &quot;pock&quot; and &quot;jock&quot;. It's a long &lt;em&gt;o&lt;/em&gt; sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you could just switch to Pepsi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T18:38:52.517" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3178" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3181" CreationDate="2010-09-17T19:50:27.660" Score="9" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes people are referring to mechanical objects as &quot;she&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I love my car. She always gets the best service.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any rules when it is appropriate to use &quot;she&quot; instead of it, and is &quot;he&quot; ever used in such context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-15T08:05:17.027" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T08:05:17.027" Title="Referring to objects as &quot;she&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2998" CreationDate="2010-09-17T20:05:12.457" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my experience working with an application translated to multiple languages, some languages do need a bit more space in GUIs than English. Comparing English, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, the differences were not that big most of the time. In Dutch however, some labels did need a lot more space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1323" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T20:05:12.457" />
  <row Id="3180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3175" CreationDate="2010-09-17T20:12:00.270" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Coke&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced /kəʊk/ in British English and /koʊk/ in American English. &lt;em&gt;Cock&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced /kɒk/ in British English and /kɑk/ in American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, it is the vowel sounds that are different. The two sounds are distinguished in two ways: (1) by one being a diphthong and the other being a monophthong, (the vowel sound changes quality in a diphthong and remains stable in a monophthong), and (2) the position of the tongue is different. The “long O” sound of &lt;em&gt;Coke&lt;/em&gt; is a diphthong, whereas the “short O” sound of &lt;em&gt;cock&lt;/em&gt; is a monophthong, and it is pronounced with the tongue in a lower position. Here is a vowel diagram for British English:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/MbPm8.gif&quot; alt=&quot;British English vowel diagram&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see the vowel sound of &lt;em&gt;Coke&lt;/em&gt; starts with the tongue in the position for /ə/, which is in a middle neutral position, and it moves up and slightly back to the position for /ʊ/. The vowel sound of &lt;em&gt;cock&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, is pronounced with the tongue very low and very far back in the mouth, and it doesn’t move during the production of the sound. The differences in American English are similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/wordscape/wordlist/socksoak.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is a page discussing all the pairs of words in English that differ only by these sounds, which suggests that this sound pair is a frequent difficulty for non-native speakers of English. I would suggest looking up those word pairs in an online dictionary, like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; and listening carefully to the recordings for each pair of words to hear the differences between them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-18T01:04:27.243" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T01:04:27.243" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="3181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3178" CreationDate="2010-09-17T20:37:38.243" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_gender#Animate_and_inanimate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_gender#Animate_and_inanimate&lt;/a&gt; :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The pronoun &quot;she&quot; is sometimes used to&#xA;  refer to things which can contain&#xA;  people such as countries, ships, or&#xA;  vehicles, or when referring to certain&#xA;  other machines. This, however, is&#xA;  considered a stylistically marked,&#xA;  optional figure of speech. This usage&#xA;  is furthermore in decline and advised&#xA;  against by most journalistic style&#xA;  guides such as the Chicago Manual of&#xA;  Style.[9] If used, the terms she, her,&#xA;  and hers are always used, regardless&#xA;  of the entity's name - for example,&#xA;  &quot;The U.S.S. John F. Kennedy (CVA-67)&#xA;  was laid down October 22, 1964. She&#xA;  was launched on April 1, 1967...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;He&quot; in reference to an inanimate object has not, as far as I'm aware, ever been common usage in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="857" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T20:37:38.243" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3156" CreationDate="2010-09-17T20:40:03.110" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It was never considered &quot;proper&quot; English; however, as cited above, it fills the need of the otherwise-absent second-person plural. It's very common vernacular in the South and some of the West of the United States. I'm not aware of it commonly being used outside the United States.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="857" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T20:40:03.110" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3131" CreationDate="2010-09-17T20:42:31.060" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I disagree that American English has lost the distinction between &lt;em&gt;bring&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;take&lt;/em&gt;; it’s just that the distinction is different. In American English, &lt;em&gt;bring&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;take&lt;/em&gt; are not complementary—instead, &lt;em&gt;bring&lt;/em&gt; is not obligatorily bound to the location of the speaker, whereas &lt;em&gt;take&lt;/em&gt; is. That is, the location binding of &lt;em&gt;bring&lt;/em&gt; is what Merriam-Webster calls “&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bring&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;toward the place from which the action is being regarded&lt;/a&gt;”; one should consider that the place where the utterance is made is not always the same as the place from which the action is being regarded (especially in e.g. a telephone conversation). &lt;em&gt;Take&lt;/em&gt; meaning &lt;em&gt;convey&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, is always to a location that is not where the speaker is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can say “Bring your books to school”, whether you are at school or at home, but you can only say “Take your books to school” if you are not at school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T20:42:31.060" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3168" CreationDate="2010-09-17T20:57:57.203" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is the very definition of &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornering_the_market&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cornering the market&lt;/a&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastEditorUserId="67" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-18T05:04:38.483" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T05:04:38.483" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3156" CreationDate="2010-09-17T21:05:15.137" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An argument for the superiority of &quot;y'all&quot; over &quot;you guys,&quot; which fills the same grammatical niche in other parts of the US that &quot;y'all&quot; does in the South.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Economical: one word, one syllable.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nonsexist.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gracefully takes a possessive. &quot;Is that you guys's new minivan?&quot; vs. &quot;Is that y'all's new Tesla roadster?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T21:05:15.137" />
  <row Id="3187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3175" CreationDate="2010-09-17T22:48:16.907" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What would you like to drink, sir?&#xA;  — I will take some cock, thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe it's the &quot;take&quot; as well. &quot;I'd like a coke&quot; or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry but it's very difficult to teach pronunciation via typing words into a computer so it's hard to make a suggestion, except if you exaggerate the vowel enough &quot;coke&quot; will not sound anything like &quot;cock&quot; to a native speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/wordscape/wordlist/socksoak.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/wordscape/wordlist/socksoak.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is a list of minimal pairs for this vowel pair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T22:48:16.907" />
  <row Id="3188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3178" CreationDate="2010-09-17T22:51:56.583" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are there any rules when it is appropriate to use &quot;she&quot; instead of it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, there are absolutely no rules for this, you would have to pick it up. It's basically a colloquialism used by a minority of people. A more useful rule is that you don't have to use this, you can always say &quot;it&quot; rather than &quot;she&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... is &quot;he&quot; ever used in such context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no &quot;rule&quot; to stop me saying &quot;My Dell laptop is very nice. He lets me read the internet&quot; if I want to, and there probably is someone in the whole wide world who actually does speak like this, but it's not a common pattern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T22:51:56.583" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3124" CreationDate="2010-09-17T22:54:29.263" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;English people always enumerate things in reverse alphabetical order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the scale of language evolution, it hasn't been long since a significant part of the population became literate. Therefore this rule doesn't make any sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't to say that “apple and bananas” and “bananas and apples” are strictly equivalent. For example, “apples and oranges” is an established idiom, and “apples and bananas” might be favored for the similarity. But it has nothing to do with the spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1165" LastActivityDate="2010-09-17T22:54:29.263" />
  <row Id="3190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3175" CreationDate="2010-09-18T01:24:54.430" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Refer to it as Coca-cola.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T01:24:54.430" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3178" CreationDate="2010-09-18T02:00:44.993" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gender is also used in English to refer to certain abstract ideas or institutions. For example, 'The Church always protects her own', or 'Justice unleashed her judgement'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T02:00:44.993" />
  <row Id="3192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3168" CreationDate="2010-09-18T02:47:36.683" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornering_the_market&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cornering the Market&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is the best term if you're actually buying so much of the item that prices go up. It rarely happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stockpiling&lt;/strong&gt; implies that you're stocking up on something, without necessarily implying that you plan to profit from that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Profiteering&lt;/strong&gt; is simply a value-laden term for increasing prices when demand goes up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hoarding&lt;/strong&gt; implies keeping a disproportionate share of something for oneselve, not necessarily for profit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="133" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T02:47:36.683" />
  <row Id="3193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2909" CreationDate="2010-09-18T02:49:08.697" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I apologize if this is more a commentary than an answer to the original question; there is not room in the comments. I'll be neither surprised or offended if I get negative votes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've been told that &lt;em&gt;The Elements of Style&lt;/em&gt; has been “Roundly criticized by academic linguists” (plural), and that much of its content is “flat-out wrong or totally misleading”, but not one example has been given, and the only reference presented so far is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/25497&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;essay by Mr. Pullum.&lt;/a&gt;  That reference demands a response, and since the actual students of language here have not chimed in, I feel I must say something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have only a &lt;em&gt;Third Edition&lt;/em&gt; of &lt;em&gt;The Elements of Style&lt;/em&gt;. I do not have easy access to the original and other versions as Mr. Pullum does. I majored in sciences, not English, and have no training in grammar beyond high school many decades ago. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I am not qualified to enumerate the grammatical errors in &lt;em&gt;The Elements of Style&lt;/em&gt;, it appears to me that the criticisms are overblown, given that the operative word in the title is “Style”, not “Grammar”. When this small book for students in need of writing guidance was published there apparently was no similarly concise grammar reference. Guidelines of essential grammar were therefor included, but make up only the first brief chapter out of five – about 1/6th of the total pages in the book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the mid 1980s there has been an &lt;em&gt;Elements of Grammar&lt;/em&gt;. For advice on style, The &lt;em&gt;Elements of Style&lt;/em&gt; is useful. For rules of Grammar &lt;em&gt;The Elements of Grammar&lt;/em&gt; might be more appropriate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although not qualified as an expert judge of the grammatical advice in &lt;em&gt;The Elements of Style&lt;/em&gt;, I do feel qualified to analyze Mr. Pullum's essay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pullum's stated thesis appears to be that a) Strunk and White don't understand grammar and b) their advice on using it is incorrect.  He then proceeds to criticize the book's advice on style, rather than grammar, and towards the end of his piece criticizes the book for not following its (supposedly incorrect) advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many of Mr. Pullum's criticisms fail when taken in context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Do not inject opinion&quot; he calls silly.  “Reminder 17” spells out very clearly and by concrete example that it is gratuitous opinion that S&amp;amp;W are warning against.  For more than one reason he might be advised to re-read this paragraph carefully.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The advice to &quot;Be clear&quot; Pullum calls “vapid”. In his case this is true, since he says no more. S&amp;amp;W, on the other hand, spend an entire page describing both the importance of clarity and ways in which one might fail to achieve clarity, with helpful suggestions for the beginning writer.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Omit needless words.&quot; Then, says Pullum, “The students who know which words are needless don't need the instruction.” I'm grateful not to have an unhelpful professor like Pullum who presumes that I already know as much as he does. For the rest of us, S&amp;amp;W continue with a page and a half of specific examples of typical excess verbage. These are close relatives of what George Orwell described as  “less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated henhouse. ”  (“Politics and the English Language”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Do not explain too much&quot;  In his previous complaint, Mr. Pullum did not explain too much, or even enough. Neither, apparently, did he read enough. For those troubling to read more of “Reminder 11” than simply its heading, S&amp;amp;W make it crystal clear that they are warning specifically against excessive use of adverbs, a lá &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Swifty&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tom Swift.&lt;/a&gt; Considering that Strunk's little book was contemporaneous with Swift's popularity, that this was a concern should be no surprise, but the advice is as valid as ever.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pullum devotes four paragraphs to discussing the stylistic implications of using the passive voice, then finally gives three examples of an incorrect identification of the passive voice. These are the only mention of actual errors in grammar I find in his complaint against S&amp;amp;W.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He says that “writing tutors” ignore S&amp;amp;W's balancing moderation, then blames S&amp;amp;W rather than those tutors. Then, after raving for four paragraphs, he lets us know he's not really concerned about that. Perhaps he could have spared us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He cites the works of authors who were both popular in the days of Strunk and who remain esteemed today, to show that S&amp;amp;W “base their grammar claims on intuition and prejudice rather than established literary usage”. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This point is worth considering, but if “literary usage” is indeed the final arbitrator, perhaps we don't need &lt;em&gt;The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Geoffrey K. 'no axe to grind' Pullum, 2002)&lt;/em&gt; any more than we need &lt;em&gt;The Elements of Style&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;The Elements of Style&lt;/em&gt; at least notes that “language is perpetually in flux” and (in my 1979 edition) “by the time this paragraph sees print, uptight, ripoff, rap, dude, vibes, copout, and funky will be the words of yesteryear”. (Hey, Dude, they got a few of 'em right!) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We novices are well advised to pay close attention to established usage to avoid jarring the reader and distracting from our message. Those writers whose work is still popular after a century did not achieve their greatness by slavish attention to “the rules of grammar” - the servant rather than the overseer of effective communication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After further fault finding with S&amp;amp;W's advice on style (still not grammar), and for the book's failing to follow its own advice, Pullum then says “The book's contempt for its own grammatical dictates seems almost willful” but “I'm not nitpicking the authors' writing style”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe the spirit of S&amp;amp;W is contained in the masterfully subtle “Reminder 8”:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;8.Avoid the use of qualifiers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rather, very, little, pretty&#xA;  – these&#xA;  are the leeches that infest the pond&#xA;  of prose, sucking the blood of words.&#xA;  The constant use of the adjective&#xA;  little (except to indicate size) is&#xA;  particularly debilitating; we should&#xA;  all try to do a little better, we&#xA;  should all be very watchful of this&#xA;  rule, for it is a rather important one&#xA;  and we are all pretty sure to violate&#xA;  it now and then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mr. Pullum would do well to read this carefully, (if not very carefully, at least pretty carefully), loosen up a bit, and perhaps learn a lesson important for any writer: don't take yourself too seriously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I find the useful advice on how to improve my writing in &lt;em&gt;The Elements of Style&lt;/em&gt; to far outweigh whatever flaws it may contain in strict formalistic grammar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mr. Pullum repeatedly states that it is not the style but the grammatical advice with which he finds fault, then continues to devote most of his essay to criticisms of style, rather than grammar. He deliberately or through laziness excludes the context which would show those criticisms to be invalid. He notes the failure of readers to heed S&amp;amp;W's own counterpoints to their suggestions, then blames this “damage” on S&amp;amp;W. Finally, after mentioning his scholarly life, he can't refrain from referring to S&amp;amp;W, deceased and unable to respond, as “bumblers” and their rules “misbegotten”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While &lt;em&gt;The Elements of Style&lt;/em&gt; undoubtedly has flaws, now that I've seen an example of Mr. Pullum's work I'm not inclined to look to him as an alternative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T02:49:08.697" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2909" CreationDate="2010-09-18T04:30:03.747" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Full disclosure up front:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prior to my registering on this site, my knowledge about S&amp;amp;W was limited to being vaguely familiar with the sequence of characters, &quot;Strunk &amp;amp; White&quot; — and even that only thanks to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/badges/12/strunk-white&quot;&gt;StackExchange badge&lt;/a&gt; of the same name.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't feel like buying any book for the sole purpose of discussing it here — or on any SE site, for that matter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that out of the way, here are my two cents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This whole discussion boils down to one simple question: Which references should we be using to back up advice provided on this site? To me, the answer is startlingly obvious: there are numerous resources that are considered authoritative &lt;em&gt;by both sides of the debate at hand&lt;/em&gt;. Whether or not a particular user agrees with S&amp;amp;W, they certainly won't mind if we instead refer to The Chicago Manual of Style, Merriam-Webster, The Oxford English Dictionary, or The Corpus of Contemporary American English, to name but a few.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Really, this question belongs on &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;meta&lt;/a&gt;. It should be noted that the original comment quoted by the OP in his very first sentence &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; from meta. This follow-up question should be migrated there.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-18T05:01:00.423" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T05:01:00.423" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="3195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3049" CreationDate="2010-09-18T04:51:46.183" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Remember that fan derives from &quot;fanatic,&quot; which usually implies exclusivity, so it's hard to truly be a &quot;fan&quot; of 12 unrelated people or things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T04:51:46.183" />
  <row Id="3196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2812" CreationDate="2010-09-18T05:03:29.437" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very succinctly, majesty, grace, honor, and royal highness are &lt;em&gt;qualities&lt;/em&gt; of the exalted person being addressed, while lord, liege, and king are titles describing the superior relationship of the one addressed (superior to me, that is).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T05:03:29.437" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3035" CreationDate="2010-09-18T05:22:17.417" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use of this phrase for emphasis is not in any way new. Witness Bertie Wooster in &lt;em&gt;The Rummy Affair of Old Biffy&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The blighter's calm amazed and shocked me. It seemed to indicate that there must be a horrible streak of callousness in him. I mean to say, it wasn't as if he didn't know Honoria Glossop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T05:22:17.417" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3131" CreationDate="2010-09-18T05:34:05.263" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;American English does differentiate, just differently from British English.  I would say that part of the distinction in English is that &quot;bring&quot; puts the emphasis on the object going &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; somewhere (with you) and &quot;take&quot; puts the emphasis on the object coming &lt;strong&gt;from&lt;/strong&gt; somewhere (with you).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagining two people in a living room speaking to each other, no-one speaking grammatically would say, &quot;Bring your sister from her room to the car.&quot;  Americans and Brits alike would say, &quot;Take your sister from her room to the car.&quot;  The phrase &quot;from her room&quot; requires &quot;take.&quot;  However, Americans might say, &quot;When your sister leaves her room, bring her to the car.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Take&quot; also has an additional meaning that &quot;bring&quot; does not have.  One can take something away from another person or location.  &quot;Bring&quot; does not work in this context at all.  Thus, &quot;Take your sister from her room,&quot; if the goal is to remove her from her room and without any specific destination.  &quot;Take the toy from your sister&quot; only works with &quot;take.&quot;&#xA;American and British English agree on this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1334" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T05:34:05.263" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2773" CreationDate="2010-09-18T05:57:04.673" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would hold French up as a counterexample. Despite having a body to safeguard &quot;the true French,&quot; they have not been able to bar such barbarisms as &lt;em&gt;le weekend&lt;/em&gt;. Language is our friend, not our slave; it helps us out in unexpected ways, but we don't own it, now should we want to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T05:57:04.673" />
  <row Id="3200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2516" CreationDate="2010-09-18T06:21:36.863" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read that many in the UK find &quot;You're welcome&quot; grating, preferring the &quot;Not at all&quot; kind of response. I find &quot;No problem&quot; annoying, for reasons I can't quite verbalize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T06:21:36.863" />
  <row Id="3201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2665" CreationDate="2010-09-18T06:30:26.780" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll often reply, &quot;Take care.&quot; Sounds a little warmer than &quot;bye,&quot; and not particularly religious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T06:30:26.780" />
  <row Id="3202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="90" CreationDate="2010-09-18T06:40:54.960" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not annoying, but a sure tipoff to a non-native speaker: misuse, particularly underuse of articles.  She went to house to get sweater. &quot;House&quot; and &quot;sweater&quot; need something to specify them further, even though &quot;the house&quot; adds zero information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T06:40:54.960" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-18T06:40:54.960" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2596" CreationDate="2010-09-18T06:54:55.067" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Subjunctive-Slayer strikes again! I learned that &quot;Could I...&quot; was the polite request variant of the subjunctive, so this trend combines a rise in informality and terminal decline of the subjunctive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T06:54:55.067" />
  <row Id="3205" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3206" CreationDate="2010-09-18T11:05:05.357" Score="6" ViewCount="200" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read this &lt;a href=&quot;http://theoatmeal.com/blog/clapalong&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;at oatmeal&lt;/a&gt;:    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hey, he is clapping along to the music! How&#xA;  quaint! I should too. I would not want&#xA;  to &lt;strong&gt;look like a square&lt;/strong&gt;! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another one:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You Won't &lt;strong&gt;Look Like a Square&lt;/strong&gt; With&#xA;  B-Side's Cubic, Steam-Punk Jewelry &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Emphasis added.) Now, what does it mean by looking &lt;em&gt;like a square&lt;/em&gt;? Amazingly, Google doesn't know what that means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="530" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T13:08:22.727" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T13:08:22.727" Title="What is the meaning of &quot;to look like a square&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3205" CreationDate="2010-09-18T11:11:48.673" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A Google search for &lt;strong&gt;define:square&lt;/strong&gt; gives me as one meaning&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a formal and conservative person with old-fashioned views&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which is what &quot;square&quot; means in your example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T11:11:48.673" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3033" CreationDate="2010-09-18T12:31:42.483" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's also appeared in song titles, most notably &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-Feel-Like-I%27m-Fixin%27-to-Die%3a&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die is the&#xA;  second album by the influential San&#xA;  Francisco psychedelic rock group&#xA;  Country Joe and the Fish, released in&#xA;  1967. The title track remains one of the most popular Vietnam protest songs&#xA;  from the 1960s and originally appeared&#xA;  in a 1965 7&quot; EP titled Rag Baby: Songs&#xA;  of Opposition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T12:31:42.483" />
  <row Id="3208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3033" CreationDate="2010-09-18T13:40:09.100" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this the right usage? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For &quot;fixing to (do something)&quot;, that depends.  If I am writing an academic paper or a business-related email, then no.  If I am in Boston, or Chicago, or San Francisco and I don't want to sound out of place, then no.  But if I am living in the South of the US and I am having casual conversation, then &quot;fixing to&quot; might often be just the right word to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fixing dinner&quot; is much more prevalent than &quot;fixing to (do something)&quot;.  I say this because I don't think it would feel out of place in any of the (northern and eastern US) places I have lived (though I would imagine it would get the heaviest use in the South).  Still, I probably wouldn't personally use that phrase in formal, written English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T13:40:09.100" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2909" CreationDate="2010-09-18T17:48:04.660" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the spirit of answering the original question the way he wanted it to be answered, I will summarize the grammar points of Pullum’s essay:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Passive voice&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Elements&lt;/em&gt; strongly advises against the passive voice. Pullum has two objections to this: (1) in many cases the passive voice really is superior to the active voice and so a general rule to err on the side of the active voice is ill-advised and (2) &lt;em&gt;Elements&lt;/em&gt; (shockingly, in my opinion) misidentifies the passive voice in several example sentences, leading generations of people to be unable to correctly identify the passive voice. What he really objects to, though, is the fact that many writing tutors and teachers ignore the moderation they add that “that the writer should entirely discard the passive voice” which is “frequently convenient and sometimes necessary”, and simply put wholesale bans on the passive voice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Split infinitives&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Elements&lt;/em&gt; says split infinitives “should be avoided unless the writer wishes to place unusual stress on the adverb”. Pullum objects to this because there is no reason to avoid splitting infinitives, and furthermore, putting adverbs between &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; and the verb actually &lt;em&gt;de&lt;/em&gt;-emphasizes the adverb. So the advice is bad and the exception is incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Verb agreement with &lt;em&gt;none&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Elements&lt;/em&gt; says “With &lt;em&gt;none&lt;/em&gt;, use the singular verb when the word means ‘no one’ or ‘not one’”. Pullum then gives several examples of how &lt;em&gt;none&lt;/em&gt; often takes a plural verb from significant literary works contemporaneous with the publication of &lt;em&gt;Elements&lt;/em&gt;. The claim that &lt;em&gt;none&lt;/em&gt; with a plural verb is ungrammatical is flat-out wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;&lt;em&gt;However&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Elements&lt;/em&gt; says a sentence should not begin with &lt;em&gt;however&lt;/em&gt; in its connective adverb sense (“when the meaning is ‘nevertheless’”), but this restriction is simply invented, and Pullum says “good authors alternate between placing the adverb first and placing it after the subject” and “The evidence cannot possibly support a claim that &lt;em&gt;however&lt;/em&gt; at the beginning of a sentence should be eschewed. Strunk and White are just wrong about the facts of English syntax.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Relative clause subordinators &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Elements&lt;/em&gt; says that restrictive relative clauses must never be introduced with &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt;, which Pullum objects to: “There was never a period in the history of English when &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; at the beginning of a restrictive relative clause was an error”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pullum concludes with the idea that &lt;em&gt;Elements&lt;/em&gt;’ popularity has led to “a nation of educated people who know they feel vaguely anxious and insecure whenever they write &lt;em&gt;however&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;than me&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt;, but can’t tell you why”, and that the syntactic wrongness and lack of evidence-based advice makes it an “overopinionated and underinformed little book that put so many people in this unhappy state of grammatical angst.” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T17:48:04.660" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="3210" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-18T20:16:49.340" Score="3" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I truly hope I'm not asking this question in the wrong place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found myself extensively refercing parts of theses and dissertations for my own research paper. [The IEEE editorial style manual][1] suggest that they should be referenced in the following form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] J. K. Author, “Title of thesis,” M.S. thesis, Abbrev. Dept., Abbrev. Univ., City of Univ., Abbrev. State, year.&#xA;[2] J. K. Author, “Title of dissertation,” Ph.D. dissertation, Abbrev. Dept., Abbrev. Univ., City of Univ., Abbrev. State, year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a 120 page paper that I reference heavily and I find it unusual that there aren't any suggestions or examples that attempt to reference parts of theses or dissertations. I feel like readers would be dissinterested to pursue the paper to locate the source information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps I am confused about how frequently are references pursued by readers? When reading internet articles, or PDFs from research papers that aren't published in an academic institution, I enjoy how authors place hyperlinks to provide further reading on information that readers might wish to pursue further. Could it be that readers aren't really engaged into further pursuing references and that it's not an issue if I don't reference parts of these or dissertations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1341" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T20:52:06.700" Title="Citing parts of a thesis or dissertation using IEEE referencing" Tags="&lt;research&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3211" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3214" CreationDate="2010-09-18T20:31:51.380" Score="11" ViewCount="621" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a friend from the southern US who uses the phrase &quot;might could&quot; quite often. He'll say, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I might could do that this weekend. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I first heard him say this it made me do a double take. I wasn't sure, though, if its incorrect or correct but just not idiomatic outside the southern US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="154" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:34:16.547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T17:39:31.523" Title="Is &quot;might could&quot; a correct construction?" Tags="&lt;dialects&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="3212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3211" CreationDate="2010-09-18T20:43:01.973" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it is not a valid grammatical construction, but it is (as I understand) fairly common in the Southern US. The reason for this is because both are verbs, and unless one of them is a linking verb, you cannot have two verbs next to each other. In addition, the usage is redundant:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/could&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Could - Used to show the possibility that something might happen.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/might&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Might - Used to indicate conditional or possible actions.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be like trying to say &quot;the cat feline&quot; or &quot;he ate consumed food&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regretablly, I must disagree with &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3211/is-might-could-a-correct-construction/3214#3214&quot;&gt;Kosmonaut's response&lt;/a&gt;.  Although I accept that it is used in several(?) dialects of English, that does not make it a &quot;correct construction&quot; in English in general. Considering that the question referred to English as a whole, I must maintain that because it is not considered valid in most regions, then we cannot put forward that it is a valid construction. Furthermore, (and as a side note), I fail to see how it being valid in German has any bearing on the subject. For example, in Latin, the phrase &quot;Ad Roma aquam portat.&quot; is perfectly valid, but to say &quot;To Rome the water he carries&quot; is awkward at best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-19T05:46:22.897" LastActivityDate="2010-09-19T05:46:22.897" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="3213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3210" CreationDate="2010-09-18T20:52:06.700" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Citing specific pages of a long source is quite common. There are two ways of doing it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cite the page number(s) along with the reference number in the body of the text, e.g. [12, pp140-142], or [Smith 90, pp140-142].&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Give each reference in the body of the text a different number, and then list them using &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibid.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ibid&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[12] J. K. Author, &quot;Title of thesis&quot;, ... , pp140-142.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[13] Ibid., p42.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[14] Ibid., pp10-12.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T20:52:06.700" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3211" CreationDate="2010-09-18T21:33:30.990" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a construction that is restricted to certain dialects of US English.  In Standard English, it is not grammatical. (This construction is also often stigmatized, which means you would want to be especially careful before using it — you could be judged!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this construction is used systematically in certain dialects of American English.  To describe it clearly, I want to define a few linguistic terms I will use to sort out a crucial three-way distinction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/regional-voices/grammatical-variation/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;grammatical&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/strong&gt; A usage is systematic and acceptable within a certain dialect, standard or not. (Often, &quot;grammatical&quot; is used outside of linguistics as shorthand for &quot;used in Standard English&quot;. Note that the linguistic definition is broader than the layman's definition!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;speech error:&lt;/strong&gt; In contrast to &lt;em&gt;grammatical&lt;/em&gt; statements, speech errors are random and unpredictable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;standard&lt;/strong&gt;: This usage is grammatical in a standard form of English.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People who use this &quot;might could&quot; construction are not making a speech error — within this dialect, it is grammatical.  Informally, this is used throughout the southern US, but has not spread to any other region I am aware of.  Interestingly, it so happens that the same construction is standard in German.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A description of how this works:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is going on in &quot;might could&quot; constructions is a process called &quot;modal stacking&quot;, where multiple modal verbs (e.g. &quot;could&quot;, &quot;should&quot;, &quot;might&quot;, &quot;would&quot;, etc.) can be stacked on top of each other.  &lt;em&gt;Each added modal verb contributes towards the overall meaning of the sentence.&lt;/em&gt;  In Standard English, to convey the same meaning, we have to use another construction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I might &lt;strong&gt;could&lt;/strong&gt; do that. --&gt; I might &lt;strong&gt;be able&lt;/strong&gt; to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are doing effectively the same thing in standard English in terms of semantics, it's just that we have to change things around to get around a syntactic restriction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These constructions are not redundant by definition (they are only redundant if you stack them redundantly!).  Neither &quot;I might do that&quot; nor &quot;I could do that&quot; would have the same meaning as &quot;I might could do that&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other constructions include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I might should do that. (= &quot;Maybe I should do that&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I used to could do that. (= &quot;I used to be able to do that&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To sum up:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Modal stacking is not sloppy, meaningless, or redundant; linguistically, it is a systematic process (which I think is really cool!).  It is just non-standard in English — something one would avoid using outside of this particular dialect group, especially because (like many features of Southern English) it carries a certain stigma outside of where it is used.  But within that group, it is a productive and useful construction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This answer has been edited to clarify my use of &quot;grammaticality&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T17:39:31.523" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T17:39:31.523" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="3215" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-18T22:04:02.267" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1095/use-of-that-in-a-sentence&quot;&gt;Use of &amp;ldquo;that&amp;rdquo; in a sentence&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's all in the title. Should I use &quot;that&quot; as a connector, or should I refrain from using it ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1100" LastActivityDate="2010-09-18T22:04:02.267" ClosedDate="2010-09-18T22:10:23.123" Title="&quot;I'm sure I can do it&quot; or &quot;I'm sure THAT I can do it&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3211" CreationDate="2010-09-19T00:20:18.757" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wasn't sure, though, if its&#xA;  incorrect or correct but just not&#xA;  idiomatic outside the southern US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This construction would be considered incorrect (a grammatical mistake) in most varieties of English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2010-09-19T00:20:18.757" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3217" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3253" CreationDate="2010-09-19T02:08:47.803" Score="8" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always used &quot;inherent&quot; and &quot;intrinsic&quot; interchangeably. Dictionary.com doesn't offer much help in distinguishing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-19T11:27:22.157" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T10:03:31.483" Title="Is there a subtle difference between &quot;inherent&quot; and &quot;intrinsic&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3218" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3219" CreationDate="2010-09-19T05:34:33.710" Score="6" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I know that in modern English, the word &quot;google&quot; is considered a proper verb now. Can the same be said for the word &quot;tweet&quot; (i.e. to post a 140-char message to Twitter)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1342" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-19T11:25:42.193" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T15:15:22.003" Title="Is &quot;tweet&quot; a proper verb now?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;neologisms&gt;&lt;internet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3218" CreationDate="2010-09-19T05:40:28.363" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tweet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Why not?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tweet&lt;/em&gt; was already a verb meaning &quot;to chirp&quot;, and many people are using the secondary definition of &quot;posting to Twitter&quot;. Is there a good reason to not consider it a valid usage considering its adoptance by a great amount of people? English is an evolving language, after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-19T05:47:22.910" LastActivityDate="2010-09-19T05:47:22.910" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="3220" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3222" CreationDate="2010-09-19T06:42:15.967" Score="5" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;When reading grammar, I find the names of the tenses kind of weird to me;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Present simple&lt;/strong&gt; and not &lt;strong&gt;simple present&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;past simple&lt;/strong&gt; and not &lt;strong&gt;simple past&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;present continuous&lt;/strong&gt; and not &lt;strong&gt;continuous present&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this contradict with the &quot;&lt;em&gt;adjective noun&lt;/em&gt;&quot; ordering rule or is it an exception (or something else)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-19T14:04:41.293" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T13:52:40.980" Title="Why &quot;present simple&quot; and not &quot;simple present&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3217" CreationDate="2010-09-19T09:34:53.350" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When trying to distinguish between nearly synonymic words, dictionaries - because they try to encompass all usages of the term - yield poor discriminability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is better to look at how the terms appear in actual use to flush out the subtle differences in the minds of the users. As a rough first pass using the &quot;compare&quot; feature of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; can give a picture of collocates to your two words of interest. If the words lived in the minds of speakers as wholly interchangeable you'd expect to see nearly identical collocates, in this case they don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, that site doesn't produce nice &quot;click me&quot; links, so go there, pick Display &gt; Compare, and put your two words in the two &quot;search string&quot; boxes just below. The rest of the defaults are fine, and press search. And then click around on various bits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The words are used in pretty disjoint contexts therefore they aren't precisely interchangeable, however defining the relevant contexts is a toughy. For everyday speech, most listeners will not balk at using them as if they were interchangeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="975" LastActivityDate="2010-09-19T09:34:53.350" />
  <row Id="3222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3220" CreationDate="2010-09-19T09:49:13.623" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think &quot;present simple&quot; or &quot;past simple&quot; contradict the &quot;adjective noun&quot; ordering rule;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can consider &quot;&lt;em&gt;present&lt;/em&gt;&quot; and &quot;&lt;em&gt;past&lt;/em&gt;&quot; (the two morphologically distinct tense forms of the English tense system) as &lt;em&gt;qualifying&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_aspect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;grammatical aspects&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (progressive or perfect).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Hence &quot;&lt;em&gt;past&lt;/em&gt; simple&quot; or &quot;&lt;em&gt;present&lt;/em&gt; continuous&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it is &lt;strong&gt;more a usage&lt;/strong&gt; than a strict grammatical rule here:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Present simple can also be referred as &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Present_simple&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Simple Present&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To rephrase the first part (about adjectives) a bit more clearly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_aspect#English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The English Grammatical aspect Wikipedia entry&lt;/a&gt; mentions:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;The English tense-aspect system has two tenses, present and past, which are morphologically distinct.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My point is that &lt;strong&gt;the tenses act as qualifier&lt;/strong&gt; (like adjectives do) for the grammatical aspects (same wikipedia entry: aspects beings &quot;simple&quot;, &quot;progressive&quot;, &quot;perfect&quot;, ...).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if the tenses are considered as adjectives, they are rightly placed in front of the aspects they qualify.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T11:54:06.357" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T11:54:06.357" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2909" CreationDate="2010-09-19T10:50:02.183" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: I never intended or expected this answer to be voted so high, so I didn't bother stating up-front the bleeding obvious: that if you suffer from the delusion that &lt;em&gt;The Elements of Style&lt;/em&gt; is a book of grammar rules rather than a book about two guys' preferences, well, you're wrong. For a tedious list of rules in the book that aren't grammar rules, see (thanks to Robert Bixler's answer) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/ETfinalProof.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; by Pullum which a slightly better version of &lt;a href=&quot;http://chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/25497&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;that silly rant&lt;/a&gt;. Of course I &lt;em&gt;strongly&lt;/em&gt; disagree with the tone of the essay, its false claims about the book, its idea that the faults of the American education system can be blamed on a single book, and its insinuations about the authors' character (seriously!), for which see the rest of this answer.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Preliminary note: the first edition (1918) by Strunk is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bartleby.com/141/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;available online&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, so you can read the book and judge for yourselves. It's a short book, with mostly sound advice, worth reading once. It's terse and concise.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frankly, there's not all that much wrong with the book. And except for a few people like Pullum (the linguist and author of &lt;a href=&quot;http://chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/25497&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;that rant&lt;/a&gt;), the book is still beloved by most, and is recommended by writers across the spectrum from Stephen King to Steven Pinker. But it is important to understand what the book is and isn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most importantly, it's a style guide, not a grammar textbook or reference. The authors do not claim to teach grammar; the book should not be used to learn grammar. They make absolutely no claims about English syntax, but at best about what sounds good style to them. The very fact that some issue is a matter of &lt;em&gt;style&lt;/em&gt; implies that there are multiple alternatives that are perfectly grammatical and in use, even by great writers. It is the &lt;em&gt;job&lt;/em&gt; of the authors of a style guide to recommend one alternative over others; the book is &lt;em&gt;supposed&lt;/em&gt; to be opinionated. Indeed, &lt;a href=&quot;http://orwell.ru/library/others/style/english/e_fore&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;White's introduction to the book&lt;/a&gt; even says&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I treasure &lt;em&gt;The Elements of Style&lt;/em&gt; for [...] the audacity and self-confidence of its author. [...] He had a number of likes and dislikes that were almost as whimsical as the choice of a necktie, yet...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &lt;em&gt;of course&lt;/em&gt; the book is idiosyncratic; that's one of the endearing things about it. Pullum seems to have confused it for a book on grammar — odd, since he wrote &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cambridge_Grammar_of_the_English_Language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an excellent grammar book&lt;/a&gt; and knows what they look like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&quot;Rules&quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a book like this, it's implicit that you, the reader, must consider each element of style advice as the opinion of the author, not follow it blindly, and use your own good sense and examples from good writing. If you find that your considered opinion on something they advocate is different, you just ignore the advice and move on — at least it has made you think. The function of the style guide is to draw your attention to these matters of style, so whenever you are about to use of the constructions mentioned, you can consider both what you wrote and the alternative, and pick whatever sounds better. (So hypothetically, even a book that inverted all the rules would still be quite useful, since it would draw attention to the same matters.) Accordingly, Strunk and White freely violate their advice whenever an alternative is better, as all good writers do, and as the reader is expected to do. Instead of seeing them as setting an example, Pullum calls the authors &quot;hypocritical&quot; for &quot;flaunting the fact that the rules don't apply to them&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[More generally, his unjustified annoyance with the book seems to arise from his rabid intolerance for anyone stating a &quot;rule&quot; based on their preference unless it's already a rule of grammar... in which case they wouldn't need to state the rule at all, would they? :-) Elsewhere, he has written another rant on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_and_the_English_Language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;George Orwell's famous essay&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.resort.com/~prime8/Orwell/patee.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Politics and the English Language&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, again over-obsessing on just one of Orwell's rules, his one against cliches: &quot;Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.&quot; He needlessly points out the obvious fact that this is often infeasible and that Orwell violated his rule, and calls the essay &quot;dishonest and stupid&quot;.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&quot;limp platitudes&quot; and vacuous advice?&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The majority of the book, and certainly the most memorable part, deals with those vague little things that make up &quot;style&quot;: &quot;Use definite, specific, concrete language&quot;, &quot;Omit needless words&quot;, &quot;Keep related words together&quot;, &quot;Do not overstate&quot;, and, most ineffable of all, &quot;Be clear&quot;. These are all followed by a little explanation that is generally good, but ultimately, you just have to keep the principles in mind. These &quot;limp platitudes&quot; (so called by Pullum) have in fact been the most useful parts of the book to most writers; even &lt;a href=&quot;http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/happy-birthday-strunk-and-white/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one of the writers allegedly criticizing the book&lt;/a&gt; (though I'll note that besides Pullum they all say it's a useful book, just misapplied and overrated) says: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Any young person prone to getting tattoos might consider having a few of these permanently engraved where they can readily be seen: Omit needless words. Use concrete language. Be clear. Avoid fancy words. Revise and rewrite. Pure gold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for a few specific points from Pullum's rant:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&quot;Use the active voice&quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strunk &amp;amp; White advocate &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk5.html#11&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;using the active voice&lt;/a&gt;. This obviously doesn't mean anything as silly as the idea that they want to rid the English language of the passive voice. The passive voice is often a better choice as S&amp;amp;W say themselves, but the point they make — that the active voice is generally more direct and vigorous, and that direct and vigorous writing is generally preferable — &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; true. In fact, if you &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk5.html#11&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;look&lt;/a&gt;, their advice is quite qualified: here's a passage from Pullum's rant itself:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After this unpromising start, there is some fairly sensible style advice: The authors explicitly say they do not mean &quot;that the writer should entirely discard the passive voice,&quot; which is &quot;frequently convenient and sometimes necessary.&quot; They give good examples to show that the choice between active and passive may depend on the topic under discussion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed they do. Pullum then goes to falsely claim that they misidentify the passive voice three out of four times. But they do nothing of the sort; what they give are not examples of passive usage, but examples of how transitive verbs in the active voice can be used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many a tame sentence of description or exposition can be made lively and emphatic by substituting a transitive in the active voice for some such perfunctory expression as &lt;em&gt;there is&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;could be heard&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There were a great number of dead leaves lying on the ground.  --&gt; Dead leaves covered the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The sound of the falls could still be heard. --&gt; The sound of the falls still reached our ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The reason that he left college was that his health became impaired. --&gt; Failing health compelled him to leave college.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was not long before he was very sorry that he had said what he had. --&gt; He soon repented his words. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, as they say, they are giving (good) examples of how active &lt;em&gt;transitive&lt;/em&gt; verbs can make sentences more forceful (or Strunk's strangely preferred &quot;forcible&quot;). This has nothing to do with the grammatical categories of active and passive voice of course, but as this is not a grammar textbook, and as stylistically this is the same thing of making sentences more direct, this is the logical place to put it in this famously terse book. It should be obvious that they aren't giving four examples of converting a sentence from passive voice to active voice. (Why would you expect them to do such a thing? Is this a grammar textbook for children? It is obvious that they assume the reader knows what the active and passive voice are; it probably never occurred to Strunk that someone who does not know may read his &quot;little book&quot;.) The structure of the section is clear: first they say why the active voice is often preferable, then they show when it is not, then they move on to other related matters. They wouldn't have returned to harp on the first point again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;&quot;None of us&quot;, &quot;that-which&quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pullum claims that S&amp;amp;W claim that &quot;None of us are perfect&quot; is a grammar mistake. Of course, since it's not a grammar book and they do not claim of anything in the book that it's a grammatical mistake, Pullum's claim is trivially false. (Indeed their only pronouncements explicitly on grammar seem to be to say that something &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; grammatical: they say of &quot;A group of us taxpayers protested&quot; that &quot;The wording, although grammatically defensible, is rarely apt&quot;, and elsewhere, &quot;There is nothing wrong with the grammar...&quot;) But I'll go further and note this on their section about &quot;none&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A plural verb is commonly used when &lt;em&gt;none&lt;/em&gt; suggests more than one thing or person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; None are so fallible as those who are sure they're right.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This is kind of tautologous anyway; &lt;em&gt;none&lt;/em&gt; suggests a plural when used with &quot;are&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, of &quot;which&quot; and &quot;that&quot; — a tiny note in a section on misused words — what they say is (bolding mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The use of &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; for &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;is common in written&lt;/strong&gt; and spoken language (&quot;Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass.&quot;). &lt;strong&gt;Occasionally &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; seems preferable to &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, as in the sentence from the Bible. But it would be a convenience to all if these two pronouns were used with precision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you see they're expressing a view (idiosyncratic, if you like) not on right and wrong, but on what would be &quot;convenient to all&quot; because of &quot;precision&quot; (a dream of keeping words separate, against the tide of usage). Showing, as Pullum does, that &quot;which&quot; is common for restrictive clauses  in written and spoken language only reiterates what they already said. (The breed of anti-prescriptivist linguists from which Pullum comes seems to hold that no one ought to express a preference about language, just accept established usage.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Admittedly, parts of the book are outdated — some of what sounded better in 1918 sounds worse in 2010, and the book hasn't everywhere caught up. Ideally, another book dispensing the kind of style advice for which S&amp;amp;W is noted would take its place, the kind of advice on composition that goes beyond mere grammar or &lt;em&gt;Chicago Manual of Style&lt;/em&gt; advice — but none of its critics appear to have made recommendations (that I'm aware of); &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bartleby.com/141/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the book&lt;/a&gt; is still useful. Now, there is a lot of valid criticism to be made about the book being handed out with &quot;follow these [blindy]&quot;, its tips being treated as inviolable rules, producing &quot;nervous cluelessness&quot; in students about grammar, about Microsoft Word highlighting every use of the passive or nonrestrictive &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; as a grammar mistake, and so on and on. Apparently, in the United States, this quirky little book has become &quot;the primary vehicle through which grammar was taught to college students and presented to the general public&quot;. While I recoil in horror at such lunacy (if such a thing is indeed true), all of these seem failures of the education system to me. Blaming such misuse on the book itself, and calling its authors an assortment of names (&quot;bumblers&quot;, &quot;incompetents&quot;, etc.) names is just mean-spirited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T19:51:09.607" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T19:51:09.607" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3217" CreationDate="2010-09-19T11:24:21.260" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;New Oxford American English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quality that is &lt;strong&gt;inherent&lt;/strong&gt; is a permanent part of a person's nature or essence (: an inherent tendency to fight back).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Intrinsic and essential are broader terms that can apply to things as well as people. [...] an &lt;strong&gt;intrinsic&lt;/strong&gt; quality is one that belongs naturally to a person or thing (: her intrinsic fairness; an intrinsic weakness in the design).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So theoretically inherent has to do with a person and intrinsic with either a person or thing but...that's REALLY nitpicky. In fact, the very definition of inherent, according to the same dictionary is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;inherent |ɪnˈhɪrənt| |ɪnˈhɛrənt|&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;existing in something as a permanent, essential, or characteristic attribute : any form of mountaineering has its inherent dangers | the symbolism inherent in all folk tales.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster considers them synonyms. So it's really up to whatever you choose to believe. I doubt most people would perceive any difference, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="706" LastActivityDate="2010-09-19T11:24:21.260" />
  <row Id="3225" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3226" CreationDate="2010-09-19T14:56:41.930" Score="6" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always been interested in the word &lt;em&gt;preposition&lt;/em&gt; and at times, had used it correctly. How would one use it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T16:51:16.873" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T16:51:16.873" Title="How would one use the word preposition?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3225" CreationDate="2010-09-19T15:01:46.347" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prepositions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Simply put&lt;/a&gt;, a preposition indicates a relation between things mentioned in a sentence.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in the above sentence, &lt;em&gt;between&lt;/em&gt; is a preposition. There's the noun &quot;relation&quot;, and the noun &quot;things&quot;. The word &quot;between&quot; introduces a relation between them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/preposition#Noun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;defines &quot;preposition&quot; as follows&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A closed class of non-inflecting words typically employed to connect a noun or a pronoun, in an adjectival or adverbial sense, with some other word: a particle used with a noun or pronoun (in English always in the objective case) to make a phrase limiting some other word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/preposition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Definition of PREPOSITION: a function word that typically combines with a noun phrase to form a phrase which usually expresses a modification or predication&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are still not quite sure what that all means, there's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_prepositions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;list of English prepositions&lt;/a&gt; over at Wikipedia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as Kosmonaut points out in his comment, prepositions usually come before the words they modify — hence the name, &quot;pre&quot; + &quot;position&quot;. However, note that there are mechanisms in place that allow prepositions to be &quot;detached&quot; from the words they modify; see, for example, these questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1035/&quot;&gt;How to combine in a sentence two verb + preposition pairs that have the same object?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/16/&quot;&gt;When is it okay to end a sentence in a preposition?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can browse the full list of &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/prepositions&quot;&gt;questions tagged &quot;prepositions&quot;&lt;/a&gt; for further insight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-19T23:50:51.990" LastActivityDate="2010-09-19T23:50:51.990" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3220" CreationDate="2010-09-19T15:06:37.003" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess as to why there is variation is because Latin was the original language of education (among European languages).  In Latin, it would be natural to use the order &quot;present simple&quot;.  With formal descriptions of English grammar that came later, some people translated these terms literally into English, retaining Latin word order, while others preferred to translate in a way that follows standard English order (as VonC said, both orders are used in English).  Also agreeing with VonC, I don't think it truly violates &lt;em&gt;adjective noun&lt;/em&gt; ordering, only because it has crystalized as a set phrase — like an idiom.  People use the &quot;present simple&quot; order because it is (one version of) the name of this term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have a source on the history of Latin grammarians and their influence on English grammarians, so that is why I say it is a &quot;guess&quot;, but if anyone does have a source, do let me know!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-09-19T15:06:37.003" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3205" CreationDate="2010-09-19T15:37:12.737" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It began in the 1960's (I believe, or possibly earlier) and is the opposite of being &quot;hip&quot; or &quot;with it&quot;. There is a definite negative connotation which is missing from Ex-user's Google definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2010-09-19T15:37:12.737" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3229" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3231" CreationDate="2010-09-19T17:40:58.280" Score="8" ViewCount="386" Body="&lt;p&gt;What emotional association does the word &lt;strong&gt;&quot;hack&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; have nowadays in the first place: &lt;strong&gt;negative or positive&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it more for doing something illegally or without permission?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or for doing something in a quick, clumsy and inelegant, though functional and practically efficient way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or doing something in a very clever, non-obvious, admirable fashion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree that context gives the exact meaning used, but I wonder what basic connotation the word has by itself for a native English speaker (not only for a software industry person). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a &quot;slang&quot; word and should its usage be restricted?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just for note: English isn't my native language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-16T12:24:18.363" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T08:20:06.907" Title="Term &quot;hack&quot; — is it more positive, or more negative?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;connotation&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3230" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3236" CreationDate="2010-09-19T17:59:33.897" Score="3" ViewCount="432" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &quot;don't&quot; and &quot;do not&quot; in the English literature as well as spoken English? Are they same? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same question goes for &quot;wouldn't&quot; and &quot;would not&quot;, &quot;couldn't&quot; and &quot;could not&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="109" LastEditorUserId="109" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-29T10:27:41.387" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T05:17:35.203" Title="Difference between &quot;don't&quot; and &quot;do not&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="3231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3229" CreationDate="2010-09-19T18:00:19.017" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are essentially two distinct ways of how &quot;to hack&quot; (as a verb) or &quot;hacker&quot; (person who &lt;em&gt;hacks&lt;/em&gt;) is used in the context of computing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more traditional&amp;mdash;and &lt;strong&gt;positive&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;mdash;meaning emphasises the cleverness of the activity. Some examples about this use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_%28programmer_subculture%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hacker subculture&lt;/a&gt; article on Wikipedia&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://catb.org/jargon/html/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Jargon File&lt;/a&gt; – a glossary of hacker slang, which &quot;illuminates many aspects of hackish tradition, folklore, and humor&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;People who work on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Linux kernel&lt;/a&gt; (generally speaking very smart and capable programmers), are commonly called &quot;(Linux) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/#source=hp&amp;amp;q=kernel+hacker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kernel hackers&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this context, another word, &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cracker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cracker&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; (see definition 8), is often used in place of &quot;hacker&quot; to refer to those who &quot;break computer security without authorization&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other&amp;mdash;&lt;strong&gt;negative&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;mdash;meaning, which is probably more recent (but not at all new) and more widespread, emphasises the illegality or lack of permission. In other words, &quot;hacker&quot; in this sense is the same as what &quot;cracker&quot; means in the hacker subculture mentioned above. :-) Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_%28computer_security%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hacker (computer security)&lt;/a&gt; article on Wikipedia states that &quot;In common usage, a hacker is a person who breaks into computers and computer networks&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yes, as you suggest, &quot;to hack&quot; can indeed &lt;strong&gt;also&lt;/strong&gt; mean &quot;to put together something that is clumsy and inelegant yet (somewhat) functional&quot;. (And &lt;em&gt;as a noun&lt;/em&gt; &quot;a hack&quot; means the result of such work, i.e. a quick, somewhat ugly (possibly temporary) solution to a programming problem.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But note that &quot;hacker&quot;, to my understading, is rarely used in this sense of &quot;to hack&quot;, i.e. to mean &quot;someone who does quick inelegant solutions&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To sum it up&lt;/strong&gt;, all three meanings you described indeed exist, and if you use the word you should be careful to establish the context clearly to avoid misunderstandings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When talking with people outside the IT / software industry, &quot;hacking&quot; will most likely be understood to have the negative connotation (cracking illegally into systems). On the other hand, be aware that if faced with an audience full of (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.perturb.org/display/Dilbert___Unix.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bearded&lt;/a&gt;) UNIX users, using the word &quot;hacker&quot; in the negative way could well earn you their disrespect. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-19T18:50:49.613" LastActivityDate="2010-09-19T18:50:49.613" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3232" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3237" CreationDate="2010-09-19T18:02:18.263" Score="8" ViewCount="351" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many different ways to ask people to repeat what they have just said. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Huh?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sorry?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pardon?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What's that?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Say that again, please&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I beg your pardon?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've ordered them according to my understanding of their level of formality. I'd classify interjection &quot;huh?&quot; as the least formal and phrase &quot;I beg your pardon&quot; as the most formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from the formality that you decide to imply, are there any other factors involved when you choose which one of these phrases you will use? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:21:14.490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:21:14.490" Title="Asking people to repeat what they said" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;conversation&gt;&lt;formality&gt;&lt;pragmatics&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="3233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3232" CreationDate="2010-09-19T18:04:33.633" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer &lt;code&gt;sorry&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from that i use  &lt;code&gt;can you repeat?&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="109" LastActivityDate="2010-09-19T18:04:33.633" />
  <row Id="3234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3229" CreationDate="2010-09-19T19:17:29.783" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think all three meanings are essentially the same. To me, hacking associates with clever solutions, exploitation of obscure features (or bugs) of a system to one's benefit. Hacking is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.outpost9.com/reference/jargon/jargon_44.html#SEC51&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an appropriate application of ingenuity&lt;/a&gt;, whether it results in doing something:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;illegally or without permission&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in a quick, clumsy and inelegant, though functional and practically efficient way, or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in a very clever, non-obvious, admirable fashion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would say the term isn't positive or negative, it's all about knowing your audience and your intended meaning, and then deciding whether to use the word or not. (Which basically applies to any piece of verbal communication.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="45" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-19T21:20:18.960" LastActivityDate="2010-09-19T21:20:18.960" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3235" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-19T19:27:28.213" Score="8" ViewCount="334" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the differences between trite, cliché, and passé? They seem to all have a similar denotation, but what are the subtleties of their connotations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only difference I really see is that cliché is an expression that has become trite or passé, whereas trite and passé can be related to anything, e.g. ideas, words, fashion, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’d love to hear your thoughts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1347" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T17:04:23.870" Title="Connotations of trite, passé, and cliché" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;connotation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3230" CreationDate="2010-09-19T20:18:19.323" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Don't&quot;, &quot;wouldn't&quot; and &quot;couldn't&quot; are &lt;strong&gt;contractions&lt;/strong&gt; of &quot;do&quot;, &quot;would&quot; and &quot;could&quot; with &quot;not&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contraction_%28grammar%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia page on Contraction&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An informal type of contraction occurs&#xA;  frequently in speech and writing, in&#xA;  which a syllable is substituted by an&#xA;  apostrophe and/or other mode of&#xA;  elision, e.g., can't for &quot;cannot&quot;,&#xA;  won't for &quot;will not&quot;. Such&#xA;  contractions are often either&#xA;  negations with not or combinations of&#xA;  pronouns with auxiliary verbs, e.g.,&#xA;  I'll for &quot;I will&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The contractions (e.g. don't) and the full phrases (e.g. do not) have the &lt;strong&gt;same meaning&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Contractions are &lt;strong&gt;more frequent in speech than writing&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Contractions are &lt;strong&gt;more frequent in informal than formal contexts&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is not always the case that you can replace &quot;don't&quot; or &quot;can't&quot; etc. with &quot;do not&quot; or &quot;cannot&quot; directly; e.g. &quot;Why can’t I?&quot; (See nohat's comments below)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-20T08:49:03.713" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T08:49:03.713" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="3237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3232" CreationDate="2010-09-19T20:39:26.660" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A more accurate order of formality (least to most) would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Huh?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What's that?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Come again?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Say that again, please&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sorry?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excuse me?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pardon?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I beg your pardon?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are of course many more variations on these. A few of these are a lot more common than offers, in particular &lt;em&gt;pardon&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;sorry&lt;/em&gt; which may be used in anything from casual to formal speech. &lt;em&gt;Huh?&lt;/em&gt; or even &lt;em&gt;what?&lt;/em&gt; are often considered quite rude unless you are speaking casually to a peer/acquaintance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in comments, several of these phrases are more commonly used ironically than directly/literally, most notably &quot;Excuse me?&quot; or &quot;I beg your pardon?&quot; - either is used to express disbelief or indignity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-19T20:45:39.247" LastActivityDate="2010-09-19T20:45:39.247" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3229" CreationDate="2010-09-19T22:48:45.823" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One definition of &lt;em&gt;hack&lt;/em&gt; -- not the oldest, but arguably the most prevalent in places other than the Internet -- is (&lt;em&gt;OED&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A person whose services may be hired for any kind of work required of him; a common drudge, esp. a literary drudge, who hires himself out to do any and every kind of literary work; hence, a poor writer, a mere scribbler.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this sense, it is certainly a negative term (cf. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_hack&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_hack&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-19T22:48:45.823" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3239" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3240" CreationDate="2010-09-20T01:08:39.450" Score="5" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language: Transformations) is a language that, according to the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; first sentence in the specification (found at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt20/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt20/&lt;/a&gt;), is primarily designed for transforming one XML document into another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="833" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-22T16:18:03.703" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T18:25:08.723" Title="What is the meaning and usage of the word &quot;very&quot; in the following sentence?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="3240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3239" CreationDate="2010-09-20T01:16:46.067" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here, the word &quot;very&quot; is used to put additional emphasis on the word it modifies: &quot;first&quot;. It's a shorthand for saying&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;XSLT is a language that, according to the specification — &lt;em&gt;in fact, not just any place in the specification, but the first sentence of it&lt;/em&gt; —, is primarily designed for transforming one XML document into another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;XSLT is a language that is primarily designed for transforming one XML document into another — that's what the specification at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt20/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt20/&lt;/a&gt; says &lt;em&gt;right&lt;/em&gt; in its first sentence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T01:16:46.067" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3239" CreationDate="2010-09-20T01:19:31.357" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case, &quot;very&quot; is used to give emphasis to &quot;the first sentence.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1347" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T01:19:31.357" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3168" CreationDate="2010-09-20T04:38:51.910" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I stated in a comment earlier to moioci, &quot;cornering the market&quot; merely means having complete control of it, not necessarily by hoarding a commodity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few examples, quickly found:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://simonbramfitt.com/2010/03/dell-set-to-corner-the-market-for-desktop-virtualization-hardware.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dell set to corner the market for desktop virtualization hardware&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/ad-networks/6639.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Apple trying to corner market on location-based advertising?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_02/wallybently030102.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Is a Silver Market Corner Underway?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://io9.com/5055415/romeros-undead-island-trying-to-corner-the-market-on-water-zombi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Romero's Undead Island Trying To Corner The Market On Water Zombies&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pcworld.com/article/156603/will_microsoft_corner_the_desktop_security_market.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Will Microsoft Corner the Desktop Security Market?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And even:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/24&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/24&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My &quot;source&quot; is obvious: widespread, common usage. The definition given in Wikipedia is a narrow one applying to a specific domain. The term has much much broader use. Please, people! Wikipedia is not the holy scriptures! At least look a &lt;em&gt;little&lt;/em&gt; bit further!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The proper answer would be a combination of all the terms Joel mentioned:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Hoarding and Stockpiling with an intention to Profiteer and Corner the Market&quot;. I know of no single word in English for this, but &quot;Cornering the market&quot; is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; it. Perhaps you could assemble one in German?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-20T05:39:18.647" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T05:39:18.647" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3232" CreationDate="2010-09-20T05:12:11.547" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could also use the more drawn out, but seemingly more formal (to me):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm sorry, I missed that (last thing).  Could you please repeat yourself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="371" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T05:12:11.547" />
  <row Id="3244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3168" CreationDate="2010-09-20T05:14:49.560" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbitrage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Arbitrage&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is a related term for taking advantage of difference in prices, and may include storing something for later sale. For instance, if the arbitrageur can secure storage for less than the difference in price between buying today and a contract for sale in the future. This might occur when the market is expecting the price of the commodity to increase dramatically, and therefore prices for future contracts are still high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it does not relate to trying to increase demand by lowering supply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1348" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T05:14:49.560" />
  <row Id="3245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2856" CreationDate="2010-09-20T05:33:58.900" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Intelligentsia&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;: intellectuals who form an artistic, social, or political vanguard or elite &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1349" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-20T16:12:51.017" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T16:12:51.017" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3217" CreationDate="2010-09-20T05:50:25.527" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The uses of these two words definitely overlap, but I do think that, at times, there is a subtle difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, &lt;em&gt;intrinsic&lt;/em&gt; is more frequently used when the property is unique or unexpected, while &lt;em&gt;inherent&lt;/em&gt; is more frequently a property that would be expected or common. Ergo, &lt;em&gt;intrinsic&lt;/em&gt; implies a certain uniqueness that &lt;em&gt;inherent&lt;/em&gt; does not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also believe intrinsic is also more frequently used to refer to properties of nature-related subjects or naturally-occurring properties, for instance, a precious metal, a mountain view, etc. In this sense, an &lt;em&gt;intrinsic&lt;/em&gt; property would be considered a &quot;universal truth&quot; for that subject, and would be true for any instance of the subject. Still, for &lt;em&gt;intrinsic&lt;/em&gt;, the property is somewhat special or unique, per my first statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1348" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T05:50:25.527" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3232" CreationDate="2010-09-20T07:25:11.403" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A small addition to the earlier answer of &lt;strong&gt;Noldorin&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;em&gt;for which I agree&lt;/em&gt;, is that some phrases may lead to an impression that &lt;em&gt;you did not like&lt;/em&gt; what has been said and that you want the speaker to &lt;em&gt;rephrase it&lt;/em&gt; or even &lt;em&gt;change it allover&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following phrases give me that feeling:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What's that?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Come again?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Say that again, please&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T07:25:11.403" />
  <row Id="3248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2856" CreationDate="2010-09-20T08:02:58.130" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Connoisseur(s)&lt;/em&gt;, maybe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is originally a french word, BTW.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1350" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T08:02:58.130" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3249" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3250" CreationDate="2010-09-20T08:47:28.737" Score="9" ViewCount="521" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering what is the &lt;em&gt;best&lt;/em&gt; way to express that an email contains an attachment. I'd like to have a formal example, and an informal example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;informal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Attached you can find the document... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;too formal? too old school?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please find enclosed the document... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="929" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:23:35.280" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:23:35.280" Title="Email attachment" Tags="&lt;email&gt;&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3249" CreationDate="2010-09-20T08:56:43.990" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most email applications will have a clear indication (e.g. a clip icon) when the email has attachments. So you don't really have to explain that. Instead, you can focus on describing what exactly is attached to the email. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The attached file is the document that&#xA;  you requested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The attachment is a draft Power&#xA;  Point presentation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These can be used in formal and informal emails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T08:56:43.990" />
  <row Id="3251" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-20T09:57:38.290" Score="4" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how to punctuate the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Besides the managers, Pete, John and Eric, also the secretary, Mary, came along to the meeting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I messed up completely with comma usage. My idea's to fixed are the following&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Besides the managers (Pete, John and Eric), also the secretary (Mary) came along to the meeting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Besides the managers -Pete, John and Eric- also the secretary -Mary- came along to the meeting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first one looks good, but I have the feeling that the parenthesis disrupt the flow of the reading. The second one looks not very slick. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you suggest as punctuation for this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="783" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T12:51:53.557" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T14:44:39.963" Title="How should this sentence be punctuated?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3235" CreationDate="2010-09-20T10:02:12.730" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can give an insight as a French native speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;trite&lt;/code&gt; is not a French word an cannot really comment on its subtleties, but the roots of the words are the same than triviality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Cliché&lt;/code&gt; comes from a photographic language. A &lt;code&gt;cliché&lt;/code&gt; in French is simply a snapshot taken with your camera.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Passé&lt;/code&gt; is the name for the past. All things that has happened before belongs to the &lt;code&gt;passé&lt;/code&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Te summarize, I'd make these distinctions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;trite&lt;/code&gt;  ~ superficial&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;cliché&lt;/code&gt; ~ commonplace&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;passé&lt;/code&gt;  ~ outdated&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="41" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T10:02:12.730" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3217" CreationDate="2010-09-20T10:03:31.483" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not know about English usage, but coming from Latin there are some differences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;inherent: to hang on something, adhere to s., stick to s.,  (lat. inhaerens)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;intrinsic: to come from the inside, immanent (lat: intrinsecus, &quot;within&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T10:03:31.483" />
  <row Id="3254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3251" CreationDate="2010-09-20T10:06:13.610" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I first thought that Pete, John and Eric were not the managers, and that all of them, plus Mary attended the meeting with the managers. I'd suggest to use column and semi-columns in addition to commas, as follows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Besides the managers: Pete, John and&#xA;  Eric; the secretary: Mary, came along&#xA;  to the meeting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It makes the roles very explicit at first read.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="41" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T10:06:13.610" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3255" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3257" CreationDate="2010-09-20T10:33:15.203" Score="8" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to say &quot;What was your name?&quot; ? The reason i am asking this is, generally the name of the person will not change. One should say &quot;What is your name?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://variationsonnormal.com/2010/05/26/sorry-what-was-your-name-again/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://variationsonnormal.com/2010/05/26/sorry-what-was-your-name-again/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="530" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T05:46:48.557" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T05:46:48.557" Title="Is it correct to say &quot;What was your name?&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3251" CreationDate="2010-09-20T11:00:27.013" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't need so many commas. You can say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Besides the managers Pete, John and Eric, the secretary Mary came along to the meeting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T11:00:27.013" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3255" CreationDate="2010-09-20T11:04:07.350" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question is in the past tense because the person forgot the other person's name. Notice that he actually wrote &quot;&lt;em&gt;Sorry&lt;/em&gt;, what was your name &lt;em&gt;again&lt;/em&gt;?&quot;. It means &quot;You've already told me your name, but I can't remember what it is. Can you repeat?&quot; and not that the name may have changed. If the person used the present tense (i.e. &quot;What is your name?&quot;), it would not have been clear that he knew that he had already asked that before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-20T13:00:14.637" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T13:00:14.637" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="3258" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-20T11:37:23.463" Score="7" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;In news about English and &quot;Commonwealth&quot; team sports (e.g., rugby, cricket), I occasionally hear the visiting team being referred to as &quot;tourists&quot; (e.g., &quot;the tourists won the match ...&quot;).  This usage is listed in very few dictionaries, probably because it is almost unknown in North America, and those are the sources I have available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering what the connotations of that usage are.  Does it simply mean &quot;one who tours&quot; in the very original sense of the word, or does it have sarcastic undertones, likening the visiting team to sightseers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, what constitutes a tour?  If an English football team plays a match in another English town or, say, in Italy, are they also &quot;tourists&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="21" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-01T09:21:43.047" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T10:00:38.567" Title="&quot;Tourists&quot; for visiting sports team" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3259" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3266" CreationDate="2010-09-20T12:23:14.457" Score="5" ViewCount="370" Body="&lt;p&gt;On my sport team, when we communicate we would like to use first name plus initial last name initial, e.g. John S. for John Smith, however I always wonder how I should abbreviate some of the Gaelic / Irish / Italian names.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;McDonald (M.? MD.? McD?)&#xA;Macdonald (M.? MD.?)&#xA;O'Donnell (OD.?)&#xA;D'Arco (DA.?)&#xA;LaPat (LP.? L?)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="165" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T22:47:22.633" Title="How would you abbreviate surnames starting with Mc/O/D?" Tags="&lt;abbreviations&gt;&lt;surnames&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="3260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3259" CreationDate="2010-09-20T12:47:03.117" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since using the first name + last name initial is the convention chose by your team, you should also agree on what the convention should be for these surnames on your question. As long as the chosen convention is followed by everybody, it should work for you guys, shouldn't it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T12:47:03.117" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3112" CreationDate="2010-09-20T13:56:08.713" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Agreeance comes from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/agreeance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Old French agréance&lt;/a&gt; and would therefore be expected to be used in areas with (former) French influence. It is also used in New Zealand. But it is commonly viewed as outdated and even wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T13:56:08.713" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3230" CreationDate="2010-09-20T14:12:49.113" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;@Bruno - I would agree with Ether, that &quot;Do NOT walk on the grass&quot; conveys the instruction more clearly than &quot;DON'T walk on the grass&quot;.&#xA;I suppose it's a matter of personal choice, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T14:12:49.113" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3264" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3265" CreationDate="2010-09-20T14:47:35.927" Score="7" ViewCount="232" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of the word &lt;em&gt;yummy&lt;/em&gt;, as in &lt;em&gt;This food is yummy&lt;/em&gt;? All I can find are dates of known first uses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T15:01:54.730" Title="Origin of the word &quot;yummy&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3264" CreationDate="2010-09-20T14:56:17.623" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=yummy&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;yummy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt; &#xA;  &quot;delicious,&quot; 1899, from baby talk. &lt;em&gt;Yum-yum&lt;/em&gt; as an exclamation of pleasure is recorded from 1878.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From &lt;em&gt;yum&lt;/em&gt;, the sound of smacking the lips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Collins English Dictionary says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From &lt;em&gt;yum-yum&lt;/em&gt;, of imitative origin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yummy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Origin of YUMMY: &lt;em&gt;yum-yum&lt;/em&gt;. First Known Use: 1899.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyone seems to agree that this is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onomatopoeia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;onomatopoeia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-20T15:01:54.730" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T15:01:54.730" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3259" CreationDate="2010-09-20T15:29:04.040" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your last initial is your last initial.  The only situation where this becomes relevant is if there are 2 John Ms on the team. Then it could be very useful to abbreviate one John McD. vs plain John M.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do wonder about Dutch &quot;van&quot; names, like Greta van Susteren. I could very easily see this abbreviated as GvS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T15:29:04.040" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="3267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="50" CreationDate="2010-09-20T15:32:47.407" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two of my favorite double contractions are &quot;couldn't've&quot; and &quot;shouldn't've&quot;, both of which are flagged by my spell checker, but seem completely correct to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="572" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T15:32:47.407" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3249" CreationDate="2010-09-20T15:44:43.220" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For informal emails you could use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've attached...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more formal emails you could write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please find attached...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a discussion of enclosed vs attached please see:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/22264-difference-between-enclosed-attached.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/22264-difference-between-enclosed-attached.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastEditorUserId="1146" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-20T15:51:25.790" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T15:51:25.790" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3161" CreationDate="2010-09-20T16:23:51.720" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;null&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;zero&lt;/code&gt; are used in many contexts where they have different meanings.  In math you can have a set with no items in it (a null set) or you can have a set with a zero in it ({ 0 }) which are not the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In programming some languages make null the same as zero (C++) but some don't (Java).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In databases a record might have a null value in one field or it might have a zero and these are not the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Zero is can be used to indicate a counted quantity whereas null cannot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T16:23:51.720" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3249" CreationDate="2010-09-20T17:30:31.080" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may keep it concrete and polite (usable in formal/informal speech)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You may refer to the attached document for details&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Please refer to the attached document&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kindly refer to the attached document&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will also cover your back against users arguing they missed it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1114" LastEditorUserId="1114" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-20T18:02:11.233" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T18:02:11.233" />
  <row Id="3271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1531" CreationDate="2010-09-20T18:06:31.183" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, I want to acknowledge that Kosmonaut’s answer is a good summary of what is called “quotative&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt;”—use of the word &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; to introduce a quotation. As he explains, it fills a unique role in English not easily replaced by other words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, what I wanted to note is there is a difference between quotative &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; and “filler &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt;”. Filler &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; is the one that people frequently object to, where the word &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; is added without adding syntactically to the sentence. In the original question’s examples, only the first &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; (“So &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt;, I had this teacher”) is filler &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt;. In all the other examples, &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; plays an actual syntactic role. If you take it out, the sentences don’t make sense. The like added at the end of the question (“in &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; a literate context”) is an example of filler &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;quotative&lt;/em&gt; like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can understand objecting to filler &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt;—it is a hesitation word like &lt;em&gt;um&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;uh&lt;/em&gt; that adds nothing to the discourse, although presumably spoken unconsciously. But objecting to quotative &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; is more complex because although it is a new construction in English, it serves a specific semantic role for which no other construction can quite substitute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T18:06:31.183" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2470" CreationDate="2010-09-20T19:27:11.843" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Emphatic agreement in a youthful, maybe feminine register.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1361" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T19:27:11.843" />
  <row Id="3273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3205" CreationDate="2010-09-20T19:32:04.767" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The antithesis of &quot;hip&quot;.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_%28slang%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; about it gets a bit rambling but captures the essentials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1361" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-20T21:00:08.413" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T21:00:08.413" />
  <row Id="3274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2470" CreationDate="2010-09-20T21:38:06.063" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that &quot;right?&quot; is a way of creating a bond between the two people talking. I usually hear it in the context of sharing some fact that you wouldn't tell someone to his/her face, e.g. &quot;How does she even live with herself?&quot; from Atomix's example. It's like saying, &quot;Right? We share this idea and therefore we are similar and should be friends.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1347" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T21:38:06.063" />
  <row Id="3275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3161" CreationDate="2010-09-20T23:24:01.900" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The words have very different meanings.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In math, I can do an equation, such as subtract two numbers, and get zero.  If I don't answer the question, it could be considered null.  If the question were an elementary test, zero could be the correct answer, worth points, whereas not answering the question does not result in a correct answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, one can indicate that a computation has been done, the other that it has not been done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="728" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T23:24:01.900" />
  <row Id="3276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3225" CreationDate="2010-09-20T23:30:48.687" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A preposition is a word you should not end a sentence with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="728" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T23:30:48.687" />
  <row Id="3277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3235" CreationDate="2010-09-20T23:41:53.857" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some example sentences from the &lt;em&gt;Oxford English Corpus&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have come to the conclusion that he is a tired &lt;strong&gt;cliché&lt;/strong&gt; in search of a point.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just my luck, I was being stalked by a tired &lt;strong&gt;cliché&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You have written a &lt;strong&gt;cliché&lt;/strong&gt;, a worn-out metaphor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with all questions of connotation, one must go by the evidence, and one can only make an educated guess. I would say that &lt;em&gt;cliché&lt;/em&gt; has a negative connotation and, in keeping with its definition, is something over-used and well-worn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It seems almost &lt;strong&gt;trite&lt;/strong&gt; to say it is a major disaster but it is difficult to find words to express the significance of this second attack.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quibbling about definitions of freedom is a &lt;strong&gt;trite&lt;/strong&gt; response to a serious issue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is more than the &lt;strong&gt;trite&lt;/strong&gt; truism that there is a thin line between love and hate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Trite&lt;/em&gt; definitely also has a negative connotation -- I think all these words do -- but it has an entirely different implication than &lt;em&gt;cliché&lt;/em&gt;: something that is trite is something that is not deep or meaningful enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What you think is in style one season may be viewed as &lt;strong&gt;passé&lt;/strong&gt; the next, especially by the hardcore fashionistas.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most unpolished is the dialogue, which is often so clunky and forced that Rudnick smears the awkward moments with &lt;strong&gt;passé&lt;/strong&gt; humor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Out in the seats I imagine we're all feeling the same fear -- that our jobs are drying up, that they can be done for a fraction of our wages by someone more desperate somewhere else, that our hard-won skills are &lt;strong&gt;passé&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Passé&lt;/em&gt; is used to show that something has passed its use-by date, that it was once appropriate and worthwhile, but is no longer. Again, it has a negative connotation, but refers to something that was once in widespread use, but should not be used today because it has lost its effectiveness. This is different from a cliché in that a cliché is most often a phrase, whereas anything can be passé.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are just my interpretations of a very small set of data. Feel free to make your own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T23:41:53.857" />
  <row Id="3278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3258" CreationDate="2010-09-20T23:50:07.670" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A visitor to a country is often known as a tourist and it is in this sense that a sports team is called a &lt;em&gt;tourist team&lt;/em&gt;, it means the same as a &lt;em&gt;visiting team&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-20T23:50:07.670" />
  <row Id="3279" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3280" CreationDate="2010-09-21T03:49:45.307" Score="4" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;(I'm not sure if the title is absolutely correct, so feel free to fix it)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it siutable to enumerate verbs without modal verb?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;File already should be created and contain some data&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in comparison to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;File already should be created and should contain some data&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1167" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-01T01:15:49.683" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T01:15:49.683" Title="Modal words and enumeration" Tags="&lt;modal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3279" CreationDate="2010-09-21T04:00:45.243" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not positive, but my reflexive feeling about this is that the modal in the first example would indeed apply to both &quot;created&quot; and &quot;contain&quot;. The second sentence feels clunkier, but is logically unambiguous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="857" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T04:00:45.243" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3281" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3284" CreationDate="2010-09-21T07:38:58.747" Score="7" ViewCount="327" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should there be a space before a percent sign or not?&#xA;Essentially, should you write &lt;strong&gt;20%&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;20 %&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if there is any consensus about this or not. Is one way more common than the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1323" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T09:17:03.687" Title="Should there be a space before a percent sign or not?" Tags="&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3281" CreationDate="2010-09-21T08:52:47.653" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When the symbol % is used, there should be no space. When the &quot;percent&quot; word is used, there should be space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/16/ch09/ch09_sec018.html?para=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chicago Manual of Style Online&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fewer than 3 percent of the employees&#xA;  used public transportation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;With 90–95&#xA;  percent of the work complete, we can&#xA;  relax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A 75 percent likelihood of&#xA;  winning is worth the effort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Her&#xA;  five-year certificate of deposit&#xA;  carries an interest rate of 5.9&#xA;  percent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only 20% of the ants were&#xA;  observed to react to the stimulus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The&#xA;  treatment resulted in a 20%–25%&#xA;  increase in reports of night&#xA;  blindness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The manual explicitly advices the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Note also that no space appears&#xA;  between the numeral and the symbol %.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T09:17:03.687" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T09:17:03.687" />
  <row Id="3283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3279" CreationDate="2010-09-21T08:55:51.677" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's possible to do that - though the word order in the examples is incorrect. It should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;File should already be created and contain some data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T08:55:51.677" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3281" CreationDate="2010-09-21T08:56:15.780" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percent_sign#Spacing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;According to Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; there is no consensus on this in English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There is no consensus as to whether or&#xA;  not to include a space between the&#xA;  number and percent sign in English&lt;/strong&gt;.&#xA;  Many authorities prescribe that there&#xA;  should be a space, whilst others&#xA;  advise against it. The brochure of the&#xA;  International System of Units declares&#xA;  in chapter 5: &quot;a space separates the&#xA;  number and the symbol %&quot;. The ISO 31-0&#xA;  standard also specifies a space, and&#xA;  the TeX typesetting system encourages&#xA;  using one. This is in accordance with&#xA;  the general rule of adding a&#xA;  non-breaking space between a numerical&#xA;  value and its corresponding unit of&#xA;  measurement. However, style guides –&#xA;  such as the Chicago Manual of Style –&#xA;  commonly prescribe to write the number&#xA;  and percent sign without any space in&#xA;  between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T08:56:15.780" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="981" CreationDate="2010-09-21T09:29:46.987" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is not really anything implying that &quot;including&quot; does &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; also mean &quot;but not limited to&quot;, unless you specify by saying &quot;including but &lt;strong&gt;limited&lt;/strong&gt; to&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is redundant and actually looks quite ugly with the compulsory use of this phrase in for example EULAs and similar documents, but lawyers will probably keep using it, &quot;just to be safe&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1323" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T09:29:46.987" />
  <row Id="3286" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3287" CreationDate="2010-09-21T10:53:22.047" Score="4" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the past tense for the word &quot;earn&quot;, &quot;earned&quot; or &quot;earnt&quot; and does the word &quot;earnt&quot; even exist?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="235" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T12:45:25.460" Title="Is &quot;Earnt&quot; a real word?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3286" CreationDate="2010-09-21T10:55:57.393" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/earnt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;earnt&quot; is correct but not common:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is an uncommon (&amp;lt;0.5% as common&#xA;  as earned in the British National&#xA;  Corpus) but entirely acceptable&#xA;  alternative form of the simple past&#xA;  and past participle earned. Still&#xA;  considered to be incorrect by many,&#xA;  who are largely unaware of the&#xA;  historical development of the English&#xA;  language. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Earned&quot; is much more common. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/earned&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merrian-Webster online dictionary&lt;/a&gt; doesn't even have an entry for &quot;earnt&quot;. The entry for &quot;earned&quot; is here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/earned&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/earned&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the same Wictionary page,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Other verbs which can be&#xA;  conjugated in this way are: learn&#xA;  (learnt), dream (dreamt), spell&#xA;  (spelt).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it should be noted that &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/learnt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;learnt&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dreamt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dreamt&lt;/a&gt;&quot; and &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spelt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;spelt&lt;/a&gt;&quot; are more common  than &quot;earnt&quot;. See comments below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T12:45:25.460" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T12:45:25.460" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3288" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3290" CreationDate="2010-09-21T11:36:35.087" Score="7" ViewCount="456" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one of these two statements is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our staff do ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our staff does ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;staffs&lt;/em&gt; correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-01T01:12:30.440" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T01:12:30.440" Title="Is staff plural?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;verb-agreement&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3286" CreationDate="2010-09-21T11:42:30.040" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, &quot;earnt&quot; is common in Australian English (and is probably common in other areas as well).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1369" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T11:42:30.040" />
  <row Id="3290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3288" CreationDate="2010-09-21T11:45:55.140" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Staff (when meaning a group of employees) is a collective noun with no plural. So, it's &quot;our staff do good work&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When referring to a group of sticks, it's &quot;staffs&quot; in American English and &quot;staffs&quot; or &quot;staves&quot; everywhere else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1369" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T11:45:55.140" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3288" CreationDate="2010-09-21T12:24:15.110" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In British English, one can say &quot;our staff do&quot;, because they use plural verbal agreement to emphasize when an entity is made up of a group of people, whether this entity itself is marked as plural or not.  This is also true of companies, bands, sports teams and other things which are commonly used in plural forms as well as singular forms.  The verbs are usually plural for one band or many bands (&quot;Many bands play at the festival&quot; as well as &quot;Radiohead are a band&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In American English, one says &quot;our staff does&quot;, because in our grammar, we are not concerning ourselves with whether an entity is made up of many people or not.  Since &lt;em&gt;staff&lt;/em&gt; is singular, we treat it grammatically as singular.  It is no different for us than a stick-staff in terms of grammar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1338/is-a-company-always-plural-or-are-small-companies-singular&quot;&gt;As RegDwight pointed out, this was discussed previously with regards to company names&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-22T00:42:30.753" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T00:42:30.753" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="50" CreationDate="2010-09-21T13:32:36.010" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nobody seems to have mentioned it, but what you'd be more likely to here in BritEng is &lt;code&gt;&quot;I 'aven't&quot;&lt;/code&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Steve Melnikoff commented, &quot;I've not&quot; is sometimes used in the UK, though his example reads strangely to me; I'd have suggested something like &lt;code&gt;&quot;I've not seen him before&quot;&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T13:32:36.010" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3293" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-21T13:58:17.350" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This tag should be used for questions asking about nuances of meaning and definitions of words.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(For questions relating to the origin of a word, its evolution over time, or the earliest known citation, the &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/etymology&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'etymology'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;etymology&lt;/a&gt; tag should be used.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-10T12:06:36.787" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T12:06:36.787" />
  <row Id="3294" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-21T13:58:17.350" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="Definitions and nuances of meaning in a word or phrase." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T13:58:17.350" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T13:58:17.350" />
  <row Id="3295" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-21T14:00:38.243" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T14:00:38.243" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T14:00:38.243" />
  <row Id="3296" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-21T14:00:38.243" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="e.g. &quot;he&quot;, &quot;she&quot;, &quot;I&quot;, &quot;them&quot;, &quot;us&quot;, etc." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T14:00:38.243" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T14:00:38.243" />
  <row Id="3297" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-21T14:04:49.377" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This tag should refer to basic questions regarding the sounds, intonation, stress, etc. of words or phrases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For technical questions relating to sound patterns and phonology, use the &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/phonology&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'phonology'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;phonology&lt;/a&gt; tag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-10T12:10:04.590" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T12:10:04.590" />
  <row Id="3298" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-21T14:04:49.377" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="The sounds, intonation, and stress of how words are uttered or produced." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T20:12:12.963" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T20:12:12.963" />
  <row Id="3299" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-21T14:06:35.800" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This tag is for technical linguistic questions about the sound patterns of English.  For more basic questions of pronunciation, use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/tags/pronunciation/info&quot;&gt;&lt;code&gt;pronunciation&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/a&gt; tag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T14:06:35.800" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T14:06:35.800" />
  <row Id="3300" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-21T14:06:35.800" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="Technical questions about the sound patterns of English." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T14:06:35.800" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T14:06:35.800" />
  <row Id="3301" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-21T14:10:03.807" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use this tag for questions about sets of words. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few sample questions that are a good fit for this tag:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/578/uncommon-words-that-should-become-more-common&quot;&gt;Uncommon words that should become more common&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/q/1115/1547&quot;&gt;Terms for collections of animals&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/953/informal-terms-for-money-amounts&quot;&gt;Informal terms for money amounts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/13915/words-for-different-types-of-leatherworking&quot;&gt;Words for different types of leatherworking&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This tag should be distinguished from:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/word-choice&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'word-choice'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;word-choice&lt;/a&gt; &amp;mdash; for questions about choosing a word from a set of alternatives&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/single-word-requests&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'single-word-requests'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;single-word-requests&lt;/a&gt; — for questions about finding a word to fit a meaning, when you don't yet have any alternatives to choose from &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/meaning&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'meaning'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;meaning&lt;/a&gt; &amp;mdash; for definitions and nuances of meaning in a word or phrase.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T18:35:11.880" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T18:35:11.880" />
  <row Id="3302" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-21T14:10:03.807" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="Sets of words or words with specialized meanings that have to be learned." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T21:57:36.330" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T21:57:36.330" />
  <row Id="3303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3220" CreationDate="2010-09-21T14:11:44.523" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;in simple present:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Affrimative: Subject+Verb(s)&#xA;i/you/we/they  walk&#xA;he/she/it       walks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Negative:&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;S+don't/Doesn't+infinitive&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i/you/we/they  don't  walk&#xA;he/she/it      doesn't walk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interrogative Sentence:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Do- I/you/we/they  walk?&#xA;Does- he/she/it    walk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T14:11:44.523" />
  <row Id="3304" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-21T14:25:05.140" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This tag should refer to words or phrases that are non-standard and informal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T14:25:05.140" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T14:25:05.140" />
  <row Id="3305" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-21T14:25:05.140" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="Non-standard, informal speech" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T14:25:05.140" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T14:25:05.140" />
  <row Id="3306" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3308" CreationDate="2010-09-21T15:06:38.753" Score="10" ViewCount="284" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you want to take advantage of some other Spring-fu, like some of its aspect-oriented features, then you’ll need to use this heavy-handed, direct object management technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="833" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-08T13:09:12.580" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T13:09:12.580" Title="Can anyone tell me what the suffix &quot;-fu&quot; stands for in the following sentence?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;suffix&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3306" CreationDate="2010-09-21T15:14:29.677" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;fu&lt;/code&gt; in Chinese means &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200601/25/eng20060125_238295.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;blessing or good fortune&lt;/a&gt;. Here it would be something like a great feature of the Java library Spring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T15:14:29.677" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3306" CreationDate="2010-09-21T15:15:45.363" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It stands for &quot;(advanced) skill&quot;. There are lots of similar constructions, such as &quot;Script-Fu&quot;, &quot;Google-Fu&quot;, and so on. Wiktionary has &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-fu&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an article on the suffix -fu&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Etymology&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  From kung-fu&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Suffix&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. (&lt;em&gt;slang&lt;/em&gt;) Expertise; mastery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;My google-fu is weak!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Aragorn uses Ranger-fu to figure out that Sam and Frodo have taken a boat.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T15:23:09.363" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T15:23:09.363" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3309" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3318" CreationDate="2010-09-21T15:18:47.600" Score="6" ViewCount="329" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regarding actions taken in the past, besides the differences those two tenses have semantically, my teacher shared that it could be a British vs American English case. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When talking about past action, British prefers present perfect because they take into account that the effect from their past action still happens until now. As for American, they prefer to state the action only. It happened in the past, so past tense it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have had dinner [British]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;vs &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I had dinner. [American]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope to hear it from the native speakers, both British and American. What do you think about this? Is it true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is, I don't think it can apply to all cases of past actions. There have to be cases when both style agree to use the same tenses. Could you please help me define the situation when this kind of difference applies and when doesn't?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd appreciate any comments about the question to make it clearer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance. :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="611" LastEditorUserId="611" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T15:27:45.057" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T20:55:21.367" Title="When Will &quot;Present Perfect vs Past Tense&quot; Cases Be Affected By Culture?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;&lt;present-perfect-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3310" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-21T15:42:22.477" Score="1" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi, can you give me a hand with English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is always drumming his fingers on the desk. (Negative emotion.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is there present continuous, not present simple?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On Sunday morning at nine o'clock, he'll get the car out and wash it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is it future tense, not present simple? What is the difference between the first sentence and this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to know when to use &lt;em&gt;used to&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;would?&lt;/em&gt; How can I know the differences between them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you very much!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1374" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-29T19:49:42.947" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T19:49:42.947" ClosedDate="2010-09-21T19:40:23.320" Title="Is always drumming, he'll get the car out and wash it on Sundays, would and used to" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3310" CreationDate="2010-09-21T17:31:53.453" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the first, I believe it's because he is continuing to always do it constantly. He isn't literally, but it's exaggerated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the second, it's because this is only one time that he's doing it, and it's in the future that he's going to do it. If it was present simple it would be a general statement and the first part wouldn't agree with it. In the first he's constantly doing it not just once in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the third I had to check. &lt;code&gt;Used to&lt;/code&gt; means that it's something that you did do, but don't any more. &lt;code&gt;Would&lt;/code&gt; has a few different meanings though. You can say &lt;code&gt;I would eat that cookie if it wasn't all the way over there.&lt;/code&gt;, which is what I was thinking, but I believe you mean it like &lt;code&gt;He would spend hours playing Pong.&lt;/code&gt; In which case they're basically synonyms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1325" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T17:31:53.453" />
  <row Id="3312" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3314" CreationDate="2010-09-21T18:03:50.973" Score="10" ViewCount="355" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen it spelled both ways.  Are both correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="803" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T20:18:43.437" Title="Y'all or ya'll?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="3313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3312" CreationDate="2010-09-21T18:09:31.587" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Y'all is a contraction of &quot;you all&quot;, so I would assume that &lt;em&gt;y'all&lt;/em&gt; is the correct spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y%27all&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; gives some background on the topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T18:09:31.587" />
  <row Id="3314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3312" CreationDate="2010-09-21T18:11:14.490" Score="27" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It should be the first: &quot;Y'all&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contractions, apostrophes represent where letters were taken out. &quot;Y'all&quot; is a contraction of &quot;you all&quot;. the &quot;ou &quot; was taken out, so you put an apostrophe were it used to be, giving you &quot;y'all&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1325" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T18:11:14.490" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3251" CreationDate="2010-09-21T18:15:46.003" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Besides the managers, Pete, John, and Eric, the secretary, Mary, came along to the meeting.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though your idea with the dashes would work too, but only use it once:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Besides the managers--Pete, John, and Eric--the secretary, Mary, came along to the meeting.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That sets the list of three apart a little more cleanly from the flow of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="803" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T18:15:46.003" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3316" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3325" CreationDate="2010-09-21T18:53:48.750" Score="7" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;To have&quot; seems to fill a lot of different needs in the English language, apart from its literal meaning of possessing something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's an integral part of perfect and perfect progressive verb tenses: &lt;em&gt;I have run&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;I had run&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;I had been running&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;I will have been running&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also indicates need: &lt;em&gt;I have to eat&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;I had to leave&lt;/em&gt; (or is this another tense of some sort?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This leads to forms of &lt;em&gt;to have&lt;/em&gt; showing up multiple times in a sentence, and yet it makes perfect sense: &lt;em&gt;I had to have had at least three apples.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How did this come about?  I've noticed &lt;em&gt;avoir&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;tener&lt;/em&gt; also have these same uses in French &amp;amp; Spanish, respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="803" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-01T01:09:06.023" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T01:09:06.023" Title="The all-powerful &quot;to have&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="3317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3309" CreationDate="2010-09-21T19:01:51.853" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simple past tense is definitely more common here in the States.  Though I still do hear the present perfect specifically in response to making decisions or responding to questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;Would you like some dinner?&quot;&#xA;&quot;No thanks, I've already had dinner.&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;Since I have already had dinner, I can do this while you eat.&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding &quot;already&quot; seems necessary, somehow, to keep it sounding conversational.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="803" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T19:01:51.853" />
  <row Id="3318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3309" CreationDate="2010-09-21T19:35:21.583" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think, in formal usage, you will find that American and British are basically identical.  We each use both of those constructions in the appropriate situation.  Obviously, there is a semantic difference between these two constructions and neither dialect exclusively uses one or the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not certain, but I think what you are referring to is the fact that American English speakers can sometimes use simple past in places where one normally uses present perfect.  So, as a US English speaker, I would correctly say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(1) I've never gone to a tennis match before, but I am going to one today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, sometimes I say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(2) I never went to a tennis match before, but I am going to one today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not say that this second example is standard US English — in any formal situation I would use the present perfect.  But, I suspect it is common in speech and I do it quite often.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could be the very beginning of a semantic shift in the present perfect construction in English.  Perhaps (2) will be preferred in several hundred years.  (Such things are not unheard of; German now uses the present perfect form to indicate simple past in speech.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a non-native speaker asked me about this, I would never recommend to use the construction in (2), because (1) is right in every situation and never sounds strange or formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T20:55:21.367" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T20:55:21.367" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3319" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-21T19:50:52.683" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_prepositions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;List of English prepositions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T19:50:52.683" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T19:50:52.683" />
  <row Id="3320" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-21T19:50:52.683" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="Function words like &quot;to&quot;, &quot;over&quot;, &quot;through&quot;, &quot;in&quot;." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T19:50:52.683" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T19:50:52.683" />
  <row Id="3321" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-21T19:53:36.503" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This tag should refer to how words are written, and not how words are actually pronounced.  For the latter, use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/tags/pronunciation/info&quot;&gt;&lt;code&gt;pronunciation&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/a&gt; tag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T19:53:36.503" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T19:53:36.503" />
  <row Id="3322" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-21T19:53:36.503" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="The writing of words using letters." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T19:53:36.503" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T19:53:36.503" />
  <row Id="3323" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-21T19:54:53.523" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T19:54:53.523" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T19:54:53.523" />
  <row Id="3324" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-21T19:54:53.523" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="Questions that are useful for people learning English as a second language." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-21T19:54:53.523" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T19:54:53.523" />
  <row Id="3325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3316" CreationDate="2010-09-21T20:00:40.820" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, a little side note: &lt;em&gt;To have&lt;/em&gt; in English (as in other languages such as French, Spanish, and Italian) is an auxiliary verb most commonly used for forming the simple/continuous perfect and pluperfect tenses, among others. The other mean example of an auxiliary verb is &lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt;, which is used very similarly in other European languages. (&lt;em&gt;To do&lt;/em&gt; is another, though rather more specific to English perhaps.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the history/origin of auxiliary verbs goes, in particular &lt;em&gt;to have&lt;/em&gt;, I'm afraid I don't know - this is rather a specialty of a historical linguist. However, I can tell you that the use of auxiliary/compound verbs (certainly in forming various past tenses) was &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; apparent in Classical Latin, which utilized only word suffixes for changing verb mood and tense. Since however the use of the auxiliary to form the perfect and pluperfect tenses is present in the three main Romance languages of today (French, Spanish, Italian), this suggests that the origin most likely lies with Vulgar Latin, i.e. the vernacular tongue spoken during the late period of the Roman Empire and early Middle Ages, which evolved into the various modern Romance languages. Whether English developed this compound verb form (auxiliary + principal verb) independently via a Germanic route, I do not know, but it is quite possible that it inherited this form from Norman French.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apologies for the bit of speculation, hopefully it provides some useful information, or perhaps at least a starting point for further research!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T20:00:40.820" />
  <row Id="3326" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-21T23:20:09.250" Score="8" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've grown up on a farm, and my dad and his dad, apparently, always used &quot;cattle&quot; to refer to both the singular and plural forms of the domestic bovine. I've always assumed it's how the word &quot;deer&quot; is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I've heard people say that this is incorrect and the singular is just &quot;cow&quot;, but this has always offended us as a cow is a mother cattle, and is incorrect if you're referring to a steer, a bull, or a heifer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is cattle singular as well as plural? If not, is there some general, non-gender-specific word that should be used instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1325" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T21:55:13.470" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T21:55:13.470" Title="Can cattle be singular?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3326" CreationDate="2010-09-21T23:37:14.263" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;em&gt;Oxford English Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;cattle&lt;/em&gt; is the plural of &lt;em&gt;cow&lt;/em&gt; in US English and &lt;em&gt;cow&lt;/em&gt; refers to 'the female of any bovine animal'. However, it also mentions that &lt;em&gt;cow&lt;/em&gt; can also refer to 'a domestic bovine animal, regardless of sex or age'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are no entries in the &lt;em&gt;Oxford English Corpus&lt;/em&gt; of &lt;em&gt;cattle&lt;/em&gt; being used as a singular noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that it is fine to refer to both the male and female as cows, and also that I can see no evidence that &lt;em&gt;cattle&lt;/em&gt; can be used as a singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-21T23:37:14.263" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3288" CreationDate="2010-09-22T00:03:24.347" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I disagree with Kosmonaut. In BrE, &lt;em&gt;staff&lt;/em&gt; is used as both a singular and a plural for purposes of agreement, although plural is certainly more popular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some examples with singular (from the &lt;em&gt;Oxford English Corpus&lt;/em&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Since the newspaper staff is inundated with these letters everyday, they have no choice but to publish at least some of them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;An intelligence staff is organic to the brigade and its subordinate battalions and squadron.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDITED: Removed useless example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastEditorUserId="1065" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-22T01:08:53.017" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T01:08:53.017" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3329" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3330" CreationDate="2010-09-22T00:12:06.727" Score="8" ViewCount="352" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;thee&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;thou&lt;/em&gt; and how are they used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="803" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T14:56:10.023" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T15:00:43.653" Title="Difference between Thee and thou?" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;early-modern-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3329" CreationDate="2010-09-22T00:12:38.457" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thee&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;thou&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;thine&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;thy&lt;/em&gt;) are Early Modern English second person singular pronouns.  &lt;em&gt;Thou&lt;/em&gt; is the subject form (nominative), &lt;em&gt;thee&lt;/em&gt; is the object form, and &lt;em&gt;thy/thine&lt;/em&gt; is the possessive form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before they all merged into the catch-all form &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;, English second person pronouns distinguished between nominative and objective, as well as between singular and plural (or formal):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;thou&lt;/em&gt; - singular informal, subject (&lt;em&gt;Thou art here.&lt;/em&gt; = &lt;em&gt;You are here.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;thee&lt;/em&gt; - singular informal, object (&lt;em&gt;He gave it to thee.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;ye&lt;/em&gt; - plural or formal, subject&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; - plural or formal, object  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, when the first English translations of the Bible were being made, the informal &lt;em&gt;thee&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;thou&lt;/em&gt; were used specifically in reference to God to indicate an approachable, familiar God, but as the language changed this paradoxically brought &lt;em&gt;thee&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;thou&lt;/em&gt; to sound &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; formal to the modern English speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="803" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T14:59:10.187" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T14:59:10.187" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3331" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3332" CreationDate="2010-09-22T02:00:30.660" Score="9" ViewCount="388" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prepare to write a cover letter to several banks. The application is online and I need to submit it to each employer.&#xA;So how could I write in the salutation of the cover letter. I don't have the contact of HR people. Could I write something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To whom it may concern,  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear Citibank HR,  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1380" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-28T16:04:00.443" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T16:13:02.940" Title="Salutation in cover letter" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;salutation&gt;&lt;letter-writing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3331" CreationDate="2010-09-22T02:10:08.237" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Debrett's (http://www.debretts.com/etiquette/communication/written/letters/general-rules.aspx):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The sign-off depends on the salutation. As a broad rule, if you addressed the letter to 'Dear Mr Debrett' the sign off is 'Yours sincerely'. If addressed to 'Dear Sir/Madam', then 'Yours faithfully' is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't know the name of the person to whom you are writing, start with 'Dear Sir/Madam' and end with 'Yours faithfully'. However, I would strongly urge you to find out the name of the HR manager. Individually addressed letters are obviously more personalised and, while it won't make a huge difference, will appear better than standardised ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT (CLARIFICATION): The only traditionally appropriate way to start a letter to an unknown person is 'Dear Sir/Madam'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T02:10:08.237" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3331" CreationDate="2010-09-22T02:18:56.217" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can get by with To Whom It May Concern, Dear Citibank, or Dear Sir or Madam, but only one of the above.  If I understand, you are proposing to use a double salutation, which would seem weird to me as the recipient. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-22T11:04:10.857" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T11:04:10.857" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3316" CreationDate="2010-09-22T02:53:00.367" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Have&lt;/code&gt; is one of the verbs of being. The verbs of being are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Am&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Was&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Were&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Being&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Been&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Has&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Had&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shall&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;May&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Might&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Could&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Would&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The verbs of being are &quot;special&quot; in that they can exist as helper verbs when placed in a supporting position (I have gone to the show), and also as primary verbs when placed in a more normal position: (I have measles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of the verbs of being have a multitude of uses in English because they are used to convey state and changes of state, which exist quite often in real world scenarios.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1209" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T02:53:00.367" />
  <row Id="3335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2924" CreationDate="2010-09-22T03:28:09.147" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about &quot;general fiction&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="256" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T03:28:09.147" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3336" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3341" CreationDate="2010-09-22T03:31:35.180" Score="5" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one sounds better and/or is grammatically right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Artists shall make a living making art.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Artists shall make a living &lt;strong&gt;by&lt;/strong&gt; making art.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or any other formulation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="256" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:39:37.613" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:39:37.613" Title="Artists shall make a living (by) making art" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3337" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3339" CreationDate="2010-09-22T06:18:11.930" Score="5" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;If posed with the subject question, given that I will not do the action in question, then what is the correct answer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No, I will not do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yes, I will not do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;#1 sounds better to me, but #2 is more logical. #1 sounds somewhat paradoxical in context of the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="45" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-02T19:34:10.457" LastActivityDate="2010-10-02T19:34:10.457" Title="Response to &quot;Would you not do it?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;interrogatives&gt;&lt;affirmatives&gt;&lt;negation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3338" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-22T07:25:06.297" Score="1" ViewCount="302" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can anyone suggest a good name for a short meeting of 30 minutes just after the lunch in any software company for the members of a team? You can say intrateam. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-23T13:18:24.067" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T13:18:24.067" Title="One word for many words" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3337" CreationDate="2010-09-22T08:25:53.160" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use the first one as &quot;No&quot; asserts negativity. The following &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes-no_question#How_such_questions_are_answered&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia post&lt;/a&gt; could be helpful here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=vnZN19-acqoC&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;amp;dq=Joseph+Evans+Grimes&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=DyP6Au8Fi-&amp;amp;sig=QORr42J0z5ApEDIsj-75CRFvNvg&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=uLuZTPDtKc-ysAb-842KDw&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CBUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Grimes&lt;/a&gt;, the answer&#xA;  &quot;yes&quot; asserts a positive answer and&#xA;  the answer &quot;no&quot; asserts a negative&#xA;  answer, irrespective of the form of&#xA;  the question. But in fact simple &quot;Yes&quot;&#xA;  or &quot;No&quot; word sentence answers to&#xA;  yes-no questions can be ambiguous in&#xA;  English. For example, a &quot;Yes&quot; response&#xA;  to the question &quot;You don't beat your&#xA;  wife?&quot; could mean either &quot;Yes, I don't&#xA;  beat my wife.&quot; or &quot;Yes, I do beat my&#xA;  wife.&quot; depending from whether the&#xA;  respondent is replying with the&#xA;  truth-value of the situation, or is&#xA;  replying to the polarity used in the&#xA;  question. This ambiguity does not&#xA;  exist in languages that employ echo&#xA;  answers. In the Welsh language, for&#xA;  example, the response &quot;ydw&quot; (&quot;I am&quot;)&#xA;  has no such ambiguity when replying to&#xA;  a question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T08:25:53.160" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3338" CreationDate="2010-09-22T09:27:09.337" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Post-prandial parley&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastEditorUserId="1146" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-22T09:44:42.647" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T09:44:42.647" />
  <row Id="3341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3336" CreationDate="2010-09-22T09:48:08.470" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are both correct, and both sound fine. The word &quot;by&quot; is implied in the first sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incidentally, the use of &quot;shall&quot; suggests that these are instructions. Is that the intention? If the intention is to state that this is how artists generally make a living, it would be better to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Artists make a living [by] making art.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T09:48:08.470" />
  <row Id="3342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3235" CreationDate="2010-09-22T09:48:48.443" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h3&gt;My answer:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, cliché is an extravagant expression that becomes burdensome and people stop listening to the speaker as s/he trundles through a speech or conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The extravagant expression was catching and a good eye opener, but now concise economical use of language is desired (like an obvious fact that needs no introduction or flourish). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is my impression the word cliché. I am not familiar with the usage of passé. The word trite, I find interesting in certain phrases. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The connotation of a word is not absolute, but relative to the context and the way the words form and are delivered in speech and writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Trite&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The word&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;“Oh, you speak such trite” (it's connotation depends on the person receiving it)&#xA;= [your speak is irrelevant]. &#xA;To what is my speak irrelevant? Why is it irrelevant? Does it matter? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Why tell of one of their trite?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is it trite to inform one of their trite speak?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;“Not, if it gets you to change the subject or entertain me with things that interest.” [light connotation]&#xA;What interests you what does not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Of my answer:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dictionary is based on culture and culture the experience of individuals; therefore personal impressions of the usage of words can be a good barometer test. I am one such barometer, a single point in a continuum.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1383" LastEditorUserId="1383" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-22T17:04:23.870" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T17:04:23.870" />
  <row Id="3343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-09-22T09:51:38.423" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also dug up some good ones here&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://alinagatti.vox.com/library/post/razbliuto-my-new-favorite-word.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://alinagatti.vox.com/library/post/razbliuto-my-new-favorite-word.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reverse cases here&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.proz.com/forum/linguistics/22232-illunga_tops_ten_toughest_words_that_leave_translators_tongue_tied.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;proz&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="122" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-23T15:21:13.337" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T15:21:13.337" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-22T09:51:38.423" />
  <row Id="3344" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3345" CreationDate="2010-09-22T09:55:46.653" Score="1" ViewCount="258" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I pronounce 'Gaudi' (the architect)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T10:16:34.203" Title="How do I pronounce 'Gaudi' (the architect)?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3344" CreationDate="2010-09-22T10:16:34.203" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;au&quot; in Spanish is pronounced like English &quot;ow&quot; (how, cow ...etc) and there's an accent on the &quot;i&quot; to indicate emphasis, so you pronounce it as &quot;gow-DEE&quot;. However, most native English speakers would not be aware of the emphasis on the &quot;i&quot;, so you most commonly hear &quot;GOW-dee&quot; in English-speaking countries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T10:16:34.203" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-09-22T10:39:46.193" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although a particle and not a word or idiom, there's the &lt;strong&gt;French untranslatable &quot;ne&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; in the subjunctive mood. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Je ne doute pas qu'il &lt;strong&gt;n&lt;/strong&gt;'ait raison = I do not doubt that he is right&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember this giving me nightmares in A-level French :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T10:39:46.193" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-22T10:39:46.193" />
  <row Id="3348" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3351" CreationDate="2010-09-22T11:34:59.063" Score="11" ViewCount="291" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was answering something on Super User and wrote &lt;code&gt;OSes&lt;/code&gt; as part of my normal flow without really thinking about it. On a re-read I decided that it didn't look right, so I changed it to &lt;code&gt;OSs&lt;/code&gt;, which still felt incorrect. I also considered &lt;code&gt;OS's&lt;/code&gt;, but that didn't feel right either, so I thought I'd ask on here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this specific case, what is the written plural form for &lt;code&gt;OS&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The intention is to mean multiple &lt;code&gt;Operating Systems&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, is there a general rule for the plural form of an initialism that ends with the letter S?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1384" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T17:05:42.400" Title="Plural of an initialism that ends with the letter S" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3349" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3350" CreationDate="2010-09-22T12:05:04.087" Score="5" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently and very annoyingly noticed the word actor used for female actresses in the Indian print media. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a few questions :&lt;br/&gt;&#xA; a) Is this the correct usage of the word?&lt;br/&gt;&#xA; b) Is this an international phenomenon or just the just a bunch of snobby Indians trying to&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      'change' the world?&lt;br/&gt;&#xA; c) Are you aware of the origins, time and purpose of this change?&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1385" LastEditorUserId="1385" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-22T12:15:32.487" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T12:38:08.717" Title="Female Actor or Actress" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3349" CreationDate="2010-09-22T12:38:08.717" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;a) It's correct to use the term &quot;actor&quot; for males and females&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;b) It's an international phenomenon&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;c) For origins and purpose of the change, see the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actor#Terminology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia entry for actor&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word actor refers to a person who acts regardless of gender, while actress refers specifically to a female person who acts; therefore a female can be referred to by either term. The Oxford English Dictionary states that originally &quot;actor&quot; was used for both sexes. The English word actress does not derive from the Latin actrix, probably not even by way of French actrice; according to the Oxford English Dictionary, &lt;strong&gt;actress was &quot;probably formed independently&quot; in English&lt;/strong&gt;. As actress is a specifically feminine word, &lt;strong&gt;some groups assert that the word is sexist&lt;/strong&gt;. Gender-neutral usage of actor has re-emerged in modern English, especially when referring to male and female performers collectively, but actress remains the common term used in major acting awards given to female recipients and is common in general usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T12:38:08.717" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3348" CreationDate="2010-09-22T12:45:53.223" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=oses&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;search on Google for OSes&lt;/a&gt; returns results from several established websites such as infoworld.com, osnews.com and linux.com, which suggests &lt;strong&gt;OSes&lt;/strong&gt; is the accepted form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastEditorUserId="1146" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-22T16:44:14.903" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T16:44:14.903" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1863" CreationDate="2010-09-22T13:00:12.113" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For what it's worth; the Oatmeal really shines in getting across what the word &quot;literally&quot; means. &lt;a href=&quot;http://theoatmeal.com/comics/literally&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://theoatmeal.com/comics/literally&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="984" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T13:00:12.113" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3353" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3356" CreationDate="2010-09-22T13:23:53.287" Score="4" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is the correct way to compare two values or quantities? Apart from 'greater than', or 'lower than', could you say something like &lt;strong&gt;'1 is close to 2, but far from 9'&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1386" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T14:54:53.180" Title="How to compare quantities and values?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3155" CreationDate="2010-09-22T13:30:37.323" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If native English speaking Muslims (of whom there are many) favour 'Isslam', then this pronunciation has some authority. You are an authority on the pronunciation of your own religion, just as you are on the pronunciation of your own name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be interesting to know the Native English speaking Muslim pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="122" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-22T14:51:05.843" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T14:51:05.843" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3329" CreationDate="2010-09-22T14:08:34.740" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Great answer from keithjgrant. Put otherwise, &lt;em&gt;thou&lt;/em&gt; is closely equivalent to the French &lt;em&gt;tu&lt;/em&gt; or the German &lt;em&gt;du&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;ye&lt;/em&gt; is like the French &lt;em&gt;vous&lt;/em&gt; or the German &lt;em&gt;Sie.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="857" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T15:00:43.653" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T15:00:43.653" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3353" CreationDate="2010-09-22T14:54:53.180" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For quantities, you really need to compare them from a more relative view. I think it is incorrect to say &quot;x is close to y&quot; and &quot;z is far from y&quot;. You need a point of reference when discussing distance, so saying &quot;x is closer to y than z&quot; is correct. Of course, you can define what it is to be &quot;close&quot;. If you say &quot;x is close to y if |x - y| &amp;lt; epsilon&quot; for some epsilon, then it could work out, but otherwise it is meaningless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1382" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T14:54:53.180" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3357" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3360" CreationDate="2010-09-22T16:50:14.683" Score="7" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;A copy editor friend of mine once told me that instead of saying, for example, &quot;I'm anxious to see the new movie&quot;, I should say &quot;I'm eager to see the new movie&quot;.  This seemed logical to me -- after all, there's no anxiety involved in my desire to see the new movie.  But I've noticed that almost no one, including speakers whose language skills I admire, talks this way.  Most people (in my experience) say &quot;anxious to&quot; even in situations when they are clearly feeling eager and not anxious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm interested to hear other people's opinions on this.  Is it a British/American difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ADDED:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nohat's response below answers my question:  The non-anxious sense of &quot;anxious to&quot; is common enough to have made it into at least some dictionaries.  I note that the New Oxford American Dictionary (bundled with Mac OS X) &lt;em&gt;doesn't&lt;/em&gt; include this sense of &quot;anxious to&quot;.  In fact they have a usage note that reads&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Anxious and eager both mean 'looking forward to something,' but they have different connotations. Eager suggests enthusiasm about something, a positive outlook: : I'm eager to get started on my vacation. Anxious implies worry about something: : I'm anxious to get started before it rains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So apparently there is not consensus amongst dictionary editors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastEditorUserId="1388" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-23T01:51:01.063" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T01:51:01.063" Title="&quot;anxious to&quot; versus &quot;eager to&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="3358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3357" CreationDate="2010-09-22T17:23:15.790" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where are you located? This may be a British/American difference, or it may just be a matter of regional dialect. I'm a native speaker of American English (New England region, primarily Connecticut) and would always say &quot;eager to&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T17:23:15.790" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3359" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3608" CreationDate="2010-09-22T18:25:34.480" Score="3" ViewCount="299" Body="&lt;p&gt;A manuscript I'm currently editing has brought up a new (to me) problem - There's a character who speaks in archaic forms (&quot;thee&quot; and &quot;thou&quot;, essentially). I've noted to the writer that this is coming across oddly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After some thought, I realized that the problem is that the character's speech is a mix of modern and archaic English. Can anyone point out any references to using this kind of grammar effectively? The only fairly complete one I've found is at a site on fantasy art, so I'm not sure this is a good source for language advice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elfwood.com/farp/thewriting/glarchthou/glarchthou.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fantasy Art Resource Project: 'Thou' in Archaic Grammar&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T22:50:15.180" Title="Archaic grammar" Tags="&lt;early-modern-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3357" CreationDate="2010-09-22T20:20:36.157" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anxious&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; give sense 3 for &lt;em&gt;anxious&lt;/em&gt;: “ardently or earnestly wishing &amp;lt;anxious to learn more&amp;gt;”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T20:20:36.157" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="3361" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3367" CreationDate="2010-09-22T20:41:14.373" Score="1" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;bought up&quot; and not &quot;brought up&quot; the correct expression to use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;code&gt;From anyone who was bought up in the late 80s/early&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1241" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T21:55:54.053" ClosedDate="2010-09-22T22:40:47.270" Title="Brought v/s Bought" Tags="&lt;confusables&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3361" CreationDate="2010-09-22T20:41:34.967" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. That's a typo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="133" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T20:41:34.967" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3364" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3366" CreationDate="2010-09-22T21:14:37.983" Score="5" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does &lt;strong&gt;NSFW&lt;/strong&gt; mean anything else other than &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Not Suited For Work&quot;?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1241" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T21:28:25.533" Title="Abbreviations: What does NSFW mean?" Tags="&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3364" CreationDate="2010-09-22T21:27:07.623" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always taken it to mean &lt;em&gt;Not &lt;strong&gt;Safe&lt;/strong&gt; For Work&lt;/em&gt;. It usually marks web links that you may not want to click on if you are using your cubicle computer. The sounds and/or images that ensue will most likely offend someone nearby and get you fired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T21:27:07.623" />
  <row Id="3366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3364" CreationDate="2010-09-22T21:28:25.533" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, &lt;strong&gt;NSFW&lt;/strong&gt; stands for &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Not safe for work&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's usually used next to links/emails with content which is not appropriate to be opened in work environment (i.e. on a network monitored by employers, or in an open space with clear visibility). Such content may include nudity, profanity, inappropriate/sex-related jokes (pictures with captions/presentations), etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, you may see &lt;strong&gt;SFW&lt;/strong&gt; used in similar fashion to specifically indicate content which is safe for work even though the title of the content may suggest otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1118" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T21:28:25.533" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3361" CreationDate="2010-09-22T21:55:54.053" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless this refers to people who were purchased in the late 80s, it's definitely a typo.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="809" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T21:55:54.053" />
  <row Id="3368" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3369" CreationDate="2010-09-22T23:36:45.237" Score="19" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;When &lt;em&gt;a/an&lt;/em&gt; precedes a parenthetical aside (sometimes seen in informal/conversational writing), should the vowel rule depend on the first word in parentheses, or the next word in the &quot;regular&quot; flow of the sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I need a (memorable) idiom (preceding an &lt;em&gt;m&lt;/em&gt; word; use &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I need an (memorable) idiom (preceding an &lt;em&gt;i&lt;/em&gt; word; use &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="803" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T04:05:56.043" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T04:05:56.043" Title="&quot;a/an&quot; preceding a parenthetical statement" Tags="&lt;articles&gt;&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="3369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3368" CreationDate="2010-09-22T23:47:40.287" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;a/an&lt;/em&gt; rule is based purely on sound. Would you say the words inside the parentheses if you were reading the sentence out loud? If yes, then you use the first word in the parentheses to decide whether or not to use &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;. If not, then—wait, what do you mean you wouldn’t say the words in parentheses?!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-22T23:47:40.287" />
  <row Id="3370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="495" CreationDate="2010-09-23T06:49:01.197" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a mathematician's point of view:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;use &quot;fewer&quot; for integer quantities (anything that can be counted)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;use &quot;less&quot; for real quantities (anything that can be measured)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="34" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T06:49:01.197" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2969" CreationDate="2010-09-23T12:03:34.407" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;After some more searching, I found this &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.about.com/od/words/a/UsageGlossary.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Index of Commonly Confused Words&lt;/a&gt; over at About.com. It's not perfect, but it's a good start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as has been mentioned on meta, there are at least two books on the subject: &quot;Who's Whose: A No-Nonsense Guide to Easily Confused Words&quot; by Philip Gooden and &quot;NTC's Super-Mini Dictionary of Easily Confused Words&quot; by Deborah K. Williams. I am not in a position to recommend or dismiss either, but I am listing them for the sake of completeness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, as has been pointed out in the other answer, one day we will probably have our very own comprehensive list of &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/look-alikes&quot;&gt;questions tagged &quot;look-alikes&quot;&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/paronyms&quot;&gt;&quot;paronyms&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; yet another great resource (&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/90/what-are-the-most-common-english-usage-mistakes/195#195&quot;&gt;courtesy of VonC&lt;/a&gt;) is the online book &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Common Errors in English Usage&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-07T12:30:10.710" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T12:30:10.710" />
  <row Id="3372" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3374" CreationDate="2010-09-23T12:37:57.177" Score="4" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;How should I properly use the word &lt;em&gt;vice versa&lt;/em&gt; in writing?  Is that even the correct spelling?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1048" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T14:24:10.700" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:24:10.700" Title="Proper representation of &quot;vice versa&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3373" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3375" CreationDate="2010-09-23T12:44:22.310" Score="4" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;strong&gt;uppercase&lt;/strong&gt; a valid verb?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Could I say for example &quot;you should use your password uppercased&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="726" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:16:49.450" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:16:49.450" Title="Is it correct to use &quot;uppercased&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3372" CreationDate="2010-09-23T12:50:58.653" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Vice versa&quot; is surely correct, see e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vice+versa&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;. Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vice_vers%C3%A2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;suggests&lt;/a&gt; that you could write &quot;vice versâ&quot; if you wanted to expressly mark the ablative case, and they even provide a quote, but that is actually the first time I see that spelling in an English context (we don't have the ablative case, after all).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't like the expression itself for some reason, you can go with the English equivalent &quot;the other way round&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-23T13:01:49.570" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T13:01:49.570" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3373" CreationDate="2010-09-23T12:55:04.880" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it is not a verb in any common dictionary, nor generally accepted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use the following instead:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You should use an upper-case password.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T12:55:04.880" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3359" CreationDate="2010-09-23T12:57:49.913" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I only skimmed the link you posted, but it seems quite useful. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thou&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; also has a worthwhile discussion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T12:57:49.913" />
  <row Id="3377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3220" CreationDate="2010-09-23T13:52:40.980" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess would be that the reason &quot;Present&quot; was put before &quot;Simple&quot; is because that's the main concept, which is further extended by the adjectives &quot;simple&quot;, &quot;progressive&quot; and &quot;perfect&quot;. It's also easier to organize mentally as categories of tenses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Present simple&#xA;Present progressive&#xA;Present perfect&#xA;&#xA;Past simple&#xA;Past progressive&#xA;Past perfect&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone then would naturally tend to see them as the 3 different forms of the &quot;Present&quot; tense, instead of the 3 different tenses of the &quot;Simple&quot; form as below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Simple present&#xA;Simple past&#xA;Simple future&#xA;&#xA;Progressive present&#xA;Progressive past&#xA;Progressive future&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The latter doesn't emphasize the main categories which should be the tenses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1114" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T13:52:40.980" />
  <row Id="3378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="274" CreationDate="2010-09-23T13:54:27.110" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Standing on line implies that you are standing on something.  Since the line is composed of people, isn't it more likely that you are standing in the line, not on it?  I think the use of the phrase &quot;on line&quot; as it relates to the internet has become so common, that it may have migrated to being used to describe standing in line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T13:54:27.110" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3379" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3381" CreationDate="2010-09-23T14:43:23.763" Score="6" ViewCount="306" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the terms &lt;em&gt;bracket&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;brace&lt;/em&gt; used interchangeably. Is there a difference, and what is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="315" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-13T22:34:40.083" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T22:34:40.083" Title="Bracket vs brace" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3379" CreationDate="2010-09-23T14:49:20.163" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Square brackets &lt;code&gt;[]&lt;/code&gt; are often simply called &lt;em&gt;brackets&lt;/em&gt;, while curly brackets &lt;code&gt;{}&lt;/code&gt; are often called &lt;em&gt;braces&lt;/em&gt; (in the US, at least).  Someone using the term &lt;em&gt;braces&lt;/em&gt; for square brackets is making a mistake, because most people will assume that person means curly brackets.  So, these terms are not interchangeable, although braces are a type of bracket.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T14:49:20.163" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3379" CreationDate="2010-09-23T15:36:30.510" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Brackets&quot; is used interchangeably for various symbols:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;angle brackets for &amp;lt;&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;round brackets for ()&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;curly brackets for {}&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;square brackets for []&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and more, some of which are only used in certain regions or cultures&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more specific &quot;braces&quot; and &quot;parentheses&quot; are almost never used for other than {} and (), respectively.  Mathematics has several more (subtle) variations in addition and is formalized more than other fields.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I prefer &quot;braces&quot; for {}, &quot;parens&quot; (informally or in the context of programming) or &quot;parentheses&quot; for (), and plain &quot;brackets&quot; for [], though &quot;square brackets&quot; is sometimes required to be explicit about the latter.  This gives you a one-word name for any of those common symbols.  (And don't get me started on the problems of angle brackets for grouping... :P)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To provide a non-text counterpoint, &lt;a href=&quot;http://photo.stackexchange.com/q/948/1467&quot;&gt;&quot;bracketing&quot;&lt;/a&gt; in photography is taking multiple exposures &lt;em&gt;around&lt;/em&gt; a given value (which value—white balance, ISO, aperture, etc.—depends on what you're targeting).  This shows the use of &quot;bracket&quot; to mean &quot;surrounding,&quot; which lines up nicely with the text symbols above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T19:07:21.447" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3382" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3383" CreationDate="2010-09-23T15:46:24.457" Score="5" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example 1:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This will depend on whether he's&#xA;  suitable for the job. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This will depend on whether he's&#xA;  suitable for the job &lt;strong&gt;or not.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This will depend on whether &lt;strong&gt;or not&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  he's suitable for the job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example 2:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is still not defined whether we're&#xA;  following that approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is still not defined whether we're&#xA;  following that approach &lt;strong&gt;or not&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is still not defined whether &lt;strong&gt;or not&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  we're following that approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Or not&quot; doesn't really seem to be needed to complement &quot;whether&quot;. Why do people use it then? Is it redundancy and nothing more? Or is it for emphasis? Or are there cases when &quot;or not&quot; is required for the sentence to be grammatical?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-23T15:55:48.967" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T15:55:48.967" Title="&quot;Whether or not&quot; vs. &quot;whether&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3382" CreationDate="2010-09-23T15:52:40.733" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The addition of the &quot;or not&quot; is neither logically nor grammatically required. I think it's often used conversationally for emphasis. I definitely wouldn't use it in writing myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="857" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T15:52:40.733" />
  <row Id="3384" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3577" CreationDate="2010-09-23T15:54:20.873" Score="2" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there anything wrong with mixing contracted with uncontracted phrases in the same sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'm&lt;/strong&gt; not sure &lt;strong&gt;it is&lt;/strong&gt; possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&quot;I'm&quot; is contracted, but &quot;it is&quot; is not). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;am not&lt;/strong&gt; sure &lt;strong&gt;it's&lt;/strong&gt; possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&quot;I am&quot; is not contracted, but &quot;it's&quot; is). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that it is not grammatically incorrect. But is it not recommended?  Or is there any other reason to not use it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T21:56:26.557" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T21:56:26.557" Title="Mixing contracted and uncontracted phrases in the same sentence" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3384" CreationDate="2010-09-23T15:57:43.593" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One valid use is when you want to emphasize one word:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; sure it's possible&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T15:57:43.593" />
  <row Id="3386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-09-23T16:06:35.970" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;minuscule is often mispronounced and misspelled as miniscule.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;err is often mispronounced as &quot;air&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;long-lived and short-lived are too often pronounced with a short I sound.  It means long or short LIFE, not as in the verb to live.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1397" LastEditorUserId="1397" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-23T19:30:54.373" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T19:30:54.373" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-23T16:06:35.970" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="3387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3379" CreationDate="2010-09-23T16:15:53.257" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not sure about other contexts, but in texts about programming you will often find these terms used as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;braces: {}&#xA;parentheses: ()&#xA;brackets: []&#xA;angle brackets: &amp;lt;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1390" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T16:15:53.257" />
  <row Id="3388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3229" CreationDate="2010-09-23T16:17:10.227" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The answer:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;A hack (of a person; writer) means unoriginal (this part, I used ODE).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;My impression&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;If one is a hack; it's means: you lack inspiration, distinction or originality. It may also imply a person that does not think outside the box, the parameters of the media, norm or common insight/sense; that they need to explore beyond the boundary to bring originality and freshness to their work.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The connotative&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;It depends on the person, being sensitive to feedback, or attached to a personal style.&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1383" LastEditorUserId="1383" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-24T17:31:50.287" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T17:31:50.287" />
  <row Id="3389" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3391" CreationDate="2010-09-23T16:22:25.273" Score="5" ViewCount="227" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the implication of using &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; versus &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; in writing a specification document?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, lets say I have the paragraph, &quot;upon by all parties involved.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All information between persons involved in this project &lt;strong&gt;will&lt;/strong&gt; be kept confidential and limited distribution of information only to persons agreed upon by all parties involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have I just exposed myself legally to allow a breach of confidentiality because I didn't use &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt;? What would use of &lt;em&gt;shall/will&lt;/em&gt; in this paragraph imply?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related, but does not fill my need: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3/shall-and-will&quot;&gt;&amp;#39;shall&amp;#39; and &amp;#39;will&amp;#39;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="680" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T23:11:12.823" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T23:11:12.823" Title="&quot;Shall&quot; and &quot;will&quot; in legal requirements" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="3390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3312" CreationDate="2010-09-23T17:07:41.900" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say it is a moot point, since the kind of people who believe that 'correct' is a meaningful word in this sort of question will generally not accept the word, however spelt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T17:07:41.900" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3389" CreationDate="2010-09-23T19:19:10.483" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RFC 2119&lt;/a&gt; is the standard here. If something must happen, you need to use Shall. So although not necessary legally, but logically you have exposed yourself to a breach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="45" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T19:19:10.483" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3392" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3394" CreationDate="2010-09-23T21:39:27.663" Score="6" ViewCount="505" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say I'm promoting a product. Which is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;[Product] let's you [do something awesome].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;[Product] lets you [do something awesome].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or neither?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="171" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-24T11:03:14.303" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T11:03:14.303" Title="&quot;Let's&quot; vs. &quot;lets&quot;: which is correct?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;&lt;transitive-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3392" CreationDate="2010-09-23T21:58:34.230" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second one is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Let's&lt;/em&gt; is a contraction of &lt;em&gt;let us&lt;/em&gt;. &quot;Let's go to the ballgame today!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lets&lt;/em&gt; is the third-person singular simple present indicative form of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/let&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;let&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; -- but of course we all knew that already....&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It means &lt;em&gt;allows&lt;/em&gt;, which looks like what you want to convey here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T21:58:34.230" />
  <row Id="3394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3392" CreationDate="2010-09-23T21:59:53.223" Score="22" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Let’s&lt;/em&gt; is the English cohortative word, meaning “let us” in an exhortation of the group including the speaker to do something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lets&lt;/em&gt; is the third person singular present tense form of the verb &lt;em&gt;let&lt;/em&gt; meaning to permit or allow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the questioner’s examples, the sentence means to say “Product (allows/permits you to) do something awesome”, so the form with &lt;em&gt;lets&lt;/em&gt; is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T21:59:53.223" />
  <row Id="3395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3348" CreationDate="2010-09-23T22:20:08.043" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When the word &lt;em&gt;sounds&lt;/em&gt; like it ends in an &quot;s&quot; or &quot;sh&quot; (e.g., witch), you make it plural by adding &quot;es.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And Antony, it's spelled &quot;D'oh.&quot; :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1403" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T22:20:08.043" />
  <row Id="3396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3251" CreationDate="2010-09-23T22:44:55.887" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to disagree with ShreevatsaR. His suggestion is incorrect. Let's break things down. Here it is in its original form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Besides the managers, Pete, John and Eric, also the secretary, Mary, came along to the meeting.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, let's simplify this to the basics. Let's get rid of the lists of people and of a few extraneous words—&lt;em&gt;also&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;along&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Besides the managers, the secretary came to the meeting.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, let's begin to add the folks back in. At this point, it should be clear that the people are appearing parenthetically. When you insert a parenthetical item into a sentence, you offset it with commas. This is a simple trick I use to explain to people who are struggling with comma usage how to use them or where to put them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mary is parenthetical, so we add her back in, set off with commas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Besides the managers, the secretary, Mary, came to the meeting.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The managers are also parenthetical, so let's add them back in, too, set off with commas, of course:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Besides the managers, Pete, John, and Eric, the secretary, Mary, came to the meeting.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is correct. If you don't like the way it reads, then you should just rewrite it. Let me throw out a couple ideas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Not only Pete, John, and Eric (managers) came to the meeting, but also Mary (secretary).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Both managers (Pete, John, and Eric) and the secretary (Mary) came to the meeting.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not saying these are better (or even all that good!), only that you might consider some alternatives if you don't like the original.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1403" LastEditorUserId="1403" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-24T14:44:39.963" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T14:44:39.963" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3035" CreationDate="2010-09-23T23:19:40.683" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I mean&quot; used in that way, is, like totally, you know, bogus, dude! I mean, way out there!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1403" LastActivityDate="2010-09-23T23:19:40.683" />
  <row Id="3398" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3399" CreationDate="2010-09-24T02:00:45.387" Score="1" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Affirm   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cajole   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Insist   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pronounce &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shout   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's your opinion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="786" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-01T23:12:37.043" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T23:12:37.043" Title="What is the antonym of &quot;abjure&quot;?" Tags="&lt;antonyms&gt;&lt;homework&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3398" CreationDate="2010-09-24T02:29:12.610" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Err... did you look at a dictionary?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;abjure: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=define:abjure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=define:abjure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think now? :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two most likely are insist and affirm. But &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;amp;q=define%3aaffirm&amp;amp;btnG=Search&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;affirm&lt;/a&gt;'s is closer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;confirm: establish or strengthen as with new evidence or facts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1209" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T02:29:12.610" />
  <row Id="3400" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-24T05:10:31.960" Score="2" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2139/0-25-mile-or-0-25-miles&quot;&gt;0.25 mile or 0.25 miles?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When writing out a quantity and then a noun what is the correct form for decimals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1 day&#xA;2 days&#xA;.5 days?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that if you were to say &quot;half day&quot; then the singular is reasonable but if you were to day &quot;point five days&quot; that also seems correct.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1405" LastEditorUserId="1405" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-24T05:18:00.993" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T05:48:41.357" ClosedDate="2010-09-24T13:17:01.493" Title="Plural for decimals?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="3401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3400" CreationDate="2010-09-24T05:48:41.357" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are right, one would say 'half a day'. One would also say '.5 of a day', but '.5 days'. The difference is that in the '.5 days', the verb &lt;em&gt;day&lt;/em&gt; is described by a number other than &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt;, in the other example, you've effectively got 'one .5 of a day', which means that &lt;em&gt;day&lt;/em&gt; is qualified it with &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt;, thus making it is singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T05:48:41.357" />
  <row Id="3402" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3415" CreationDate="2010-09-24T06:51:51.770" Score="9" ViewCount="450" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the King James version of the Bible there is a verse like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Lord is my strength, and my fortress, and my song. And He is become my salvation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it still feasible to use &quot;is become&quot; instead of &quot;has become&quot; and what is the semantic difference? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T01:49:45.133" Title="&quot;Is become&quot; vs &quot;has become&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="3403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2155" CreationDate="2010-09-24T07:45:04.817" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well it is not a FireFox plugin, but I have found &lt;a href=&quot;http://wordweb.info/free/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WordWeb&lt;/a&gt; as a very useful tool to understand meaning of new words. It works with all the softwares which show ay kind of text. It can tell you you synonyms, it can tell you the usage of particular word and it has link to online dictionaries. And to start it you can configure a hot key of your taste. I guess you will find it useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1406" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T07:45:04.817" />
  <row Id="3404" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3411" CreationDate="2010-09-24T08:15:41.517" Score="4" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;The etymologies of &quot;goon&quot; that I've looked up seem to center on &lt;em&gt;Alice the Goon&lt;/em&gt;, a &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=goon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;slow-witted and muscular (but gentle-natured) character&quot;&lt;/a&gt; created by E.C. Segar (Popeye's daddy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it seems like at least one of the senses of the word, as in &quot;hired company goons&quot;, could very well be derived from the Hindi word &lt;em&gt;gunda&lt;/em&gt; (pronounced &lt;em&gt;goon-daa&lt;/em&gt;) meaning hoodlum or bully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any insights or information on this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="82" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T12:32:38.010" Title="Etymology of &quot;goon&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3405" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3406" CreationDate="2010-09-24T09:27:51.707" Score="4" ViewCount="263" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, which of the following sentences is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;My eyes are paining.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;There is a pain in my eyes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1409" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-24T15:06:17.680" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T15:06:17.680" Title="Is &quot;pain&quot; a noun or a verb?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3405" CreationDate="2010-09-24T09:41:30.900" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sentence 2 is correct: &quot;there is a pain in my eyes&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pain can be a noun or verb, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The pain is terrible = noun&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It pains me to see you this way = verb&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more details please see:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pain&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T09:41:30.900" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="234" CreationDate="2010-09-24T09:53:40.727" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisian_languages#Old_Frisian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Frisian&lt;/a&gt; is considered to be the closest &quot;living&quot; relative to English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Frisian is the language most closely related to English and Scots&lt;/strong&gt;, but after at least five hundred years of being subject to the influence of Dutch, modern Frisian in some aspects bears a greater similarity to Dutch than to English; one must also take into account the centuries-long drift of English away from Frisian. Thus the two languages have become less mutually intelligible over time, partly due to the marks which Dutch and Low German have left on Frisian, and partly due to the vast influence some languages (in particular French) have had on English throughout the centuries. Although intelligibility is often strained between the two languages (especially spoken), the Northumbrian dialect of English bears a striking similarity to Frisian in many ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One rhyme demonstrates the palpable similarity between Frisian and English: &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Butter, bread, and green cheese is good English and good Fries&lt;/strong&gt;,&quot; which is pronounced more or less the same in both languages (Frisian: &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Bûter, brea, en griene tsiis is goed Ingelsk en goed Frysk&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T09:53:40.727" />
  <row Id="3409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3373" CreationDate="2010-09-24T10:53:54.917" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apparently, it is acceptable to some people:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/uppercased&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam Webster: Uppercased&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="628" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-24T11:05:04.007" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T11:05:04.007" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3404" CreationDate="2010-09-24T11:18:39.360" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary gives us information on etymology of &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/goon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Goon&lt;/a&gt;&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Etymology 1&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Shortened from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gooney&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;gooney&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, from&#xA;  obsolete &lt;em&gt;gony&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;simpleton&quot;, c.1580),&#xA;  of unknown origin. &lt;em&gt;Gony&lt;/em&gt; was applied&#xA;  by sailors to the albatross and&#xA;  similar big, clumsy birds (c.1839).&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Goon&lt;/strong&gt; first carried the meaning &quot;stupid person&quot; (c.1921).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The meaning of &quot;hired thug&quot; (c.1938) is largely influenced by the&#xA;  comic strip character Alice the Goon&#xA;  from the &lt;em&gt;Popeye&lt;/em&gt; series.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The &quot;fool&quot; sense was reinforced by the popular radio program, &lt;em&gt;The Goon&#xA;  Show&lt;/em&gt;, starring Spike Milligan and&#xA;  Peter Sellers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Etymology 2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Diminutive slang for flagon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T11:18:39.360" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3404" CreationDate="2010-09-24T12:32:38.010" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The English word &lt;em&gt;goon&lt;/em&gt; and the Hindi word &lt;em&gt;gunda&lt;/em&gt; have a similar meaning and form, but are etymologically unrelated; the similarity is just a coincidence. Such pairs are called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_cognate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;false cognates&lt;/a&gt;; there are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_cognate#Examples&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;many&lt;/a&gt; examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=goon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; you linked to says that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;sense of &quot;hired thug&quot; first recorded 1938 (in ref. to union &quot;beef squads&quot; used to cow strikers in the Pacific northwest). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While there are indeed many English words that originated in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Sanskrit_origin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sanskrit&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Hindi_or_Urdu_origin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hindi&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category%3aHindi_loanwords&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;etc.&lt;/a&gt; (don't believe everything on Wikipedia, though), most of these words came into English during &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Raj&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British colonial rule&lt;/a&gt; and would be unlikely to make their first appearance in the Pacific northwest circa 1938.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T12:32:38.010" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3402" CreationDate="2010-09-24T12:40:55.583" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nobody has directly answered the question yet:&#xA;The use of 'be' rather than 'have' to form the past of some intransitive verbs (&quot;I am come&quot;, &#xA;&quot;I am become&quot; etc) is archaic in Modern English, and used only for special effects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-28T15:58:39.193" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T15:58:39.193" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3413" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3414" CreationDate="2010-09-24T14:00:04.053" Score="5" ViewCount="247" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of the time one or the other feels better, but every so often, &quot;which&quot; vs &quot;what&quot; trips me up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what's the exact difference and when should you use one or the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1412" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T15:04:51.857" Title="&quot;which&quot; vs &quot;what&quot; - what's the exact difference and when should you use one or the other?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3413" CreationDate="2010-09-24T15:04:51.857" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Which&quot; is more formal when asking a question that requires a choice between a number of items. You can use &quot;What&quot; if you want, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, you can replace the usage of &quot;which&quot; with &quot;what&quot; and be OK grammatically. It doesn't always work the other way around, however. There needs to be a context of choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Which/What flavor of ice cream do you want?&lt;/code&gt;&#xA;Either is fine, but which is better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Which/What do you want for dessert?&lt;/code&gt; &quot;Which&quot; only works in the context of being presented with choices (e.g. a dessert cart right in front of you).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T15:04:51.857" />
  <row Id="3415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3402" CreationDate="2010-09-24T15:11:54.500" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The use of &quot;is become&quot; here relates to verbs of motion/transition; verbs of motion would take &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt; while other verbs would take &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt;.  There is no such grammatical distinction in English perfect forms anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English began with this distinction, as did sibling languages like German (as Cindi pointed out originally in a now-deleted answer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is what happened after that.  This is an excerpt from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://oed.com.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;OED&lt;/a&gt;'s discussion of auxiliary &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In early ME., [&lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; extended its use to the verb &lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt;, as in &quot;have been&quot;, like French]. Verbs of motion and position long retained the earlier use of the auxiliary &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt;; and &quot;he is gone&quot; is still used to express resulting state, while &quot;he has gone&quot; expresses action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is talking about English retaining the auxiliary &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt; for motion verbs, like present-day German.  Originally, the verb &quot;to be&quot; also used &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt; as an auxiliary for the perfect, e.g. &quot;it is been cold&quot;, but changed to &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; in early Middle English.  (German still uses &quot;ist gewesen&quot;, or &quot;is been&quot;, today.)  After this change, the other motion verbs still retained the &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt;-auxiliary for perfect.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Modern English, the motion distinction completely faded out, and &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt; was replaced with &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; across the board, except in a very specific case.  The OED describes this case:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;in intr. vbs., forming perfect tenses, in which use it is now largely displaced by &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; after the pattern of transitive verbs: &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt; being retained only with &lt;em&gt;come&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;go&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;rise&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;set&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;fall&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;arrive&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;depart&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;grow&lt;/em&gt;, and the like, when we express the condition or state now attained, rather than the action of reaching it, as ‘the sun is set,’ ‘our guests are gone,’ ‘Babylon is fallen,’ ‘the children are all grown up.’&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind that &lt;em&gt;become&lt;/em&gt; is not intransitive, so &quot;is become&quot; doesn't work anymore, with any meaning, in present-day English (— except, of course, in poetic use).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-25T02:35:53.963" LastActivityDate="2010-09-25T02:35:53.963" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2139" CreationDate="2010-09-24T15:34:53.833" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's really not complicated or confusing if you think of it in terms of being a fraction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, as soon as you go into decimal, you're changing units into partial units.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;0.25 would actually be 25 units of &quot;hundredth-miles&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T15:34:53.833" />
  <row Id="3417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-09-24T17:19:56.317" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always struggle to explain the Spanish &quot;cursi&quot; to my English-speaking friends. It is an adjective that you apply to a person (or, rarely, a thing) that is trite, corny, presumptuous and baroquely embellished. You would say it of a little girl with a pretty dress full of lacy ribbons and a silly voice that acts as if she were the queen of the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1304" LastEditorUserId="1304" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-03T20:37:18.790" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T20:37:18.790" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-24T17:19:56.317" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3418" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-24T18:13:36.660" Score="7" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you ever had a case where you felt compelled to include strange things like a double &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; in a sentence? If so, then what did you do to resolve this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, I never knew whether it was acceptable grammar. However, what I did learn was that it was a &lt;em&gt;logic distractor&lt;/em&gt;, could lead to confusion, and therefore should be reworded to avoid this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1416" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T07:37:19.447" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T07:37:19.447" Title="How do you handle &quot;that that&quot;? The double &quot;that&quot; problem" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16" CreationDate="2010-09-24T18:24:13.060" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As easily as ending a sentence in a preposition may roll of your tongue in conversation and be comprehended, unfortunately it is not always comprehended as such when read. Often it looks like an unschooled individual is at work here. However, the heart of the matter is that it is a &lt;em&gt;logical distractor&lt;/em&gt;, could lead to confusion, and therefore is to be avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can sometimes cheat by adding &quot;do so&quot; on the end of some cases, I have found. However, it is best to rewrite the material to avoid the logical distractor when necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, in an email, depending upon whom you are writing, it is perfectly acceptable in my humble opinion to end in a preposition as long as it is about 90% obvious that the meaning of the sentence will not be lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1416" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T18:24:13.060" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3418" CreationDate="2010-09-24T18:36:23.823" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course it is acceptable &lt;em&gt;grammar&lt;/em&gt;. The rules of English grammar are the very reason why such &quot;strange things&quot; happen in the first place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, whether or not you actually end up using a double &quot;that&quot; or rewording it, is a different question. But it is a question of &lt;em&gt;style&lt;/em&gt;. Read: personal preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, more often than not, I don't find a double &quot;that&quot; to be distracting or leading to confusion at all. Quite the contrary: it is a) perfectly self-explanatory and b) it certainly leads to &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; confusion than leaving one of those &quot;that&quot;s out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T18:36:23.823" />
  <row Id="3422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2977" CreationDate="2010-09-24T19:10:30.917" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're looking at a compound &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compound_modifier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;compound modifier&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, a compound modifier (a two-word phrase that is used as an adjective) is hyphenated when it appears before the noun it is modifying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;brick-oven&lt;/strong&gt; pizza was cooked in a brick oven.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Love is a &lt;strong&gt;two-way&lt;/strong&gt; street.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hyphen is there to prevent confusion on which words are being modified. There may be more important reasons, but this is the more-important reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each of the components of a compound adjective can itself be a compound word. It is common in this case to use an &quot;en dash&quot; to keep things well organized:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I plan to open a &lt;strong&gt;brick-oven–pizza&lt;/strong&gt; restaurant.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All &lt;strong&gt;file-system–related&lt;/strong&gt; software has to be cleared by IT.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="990" LastEditorUserId="990" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-24T19:50:15.770" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T19:50:15.770" />
  <row Id="3423" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3432" CreationDate="2010-09-24T19:47:31.933" Score="6" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;On a &lt;a href=&quot;http://xkcd.com/214/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiki-walk&lt;/a&gt; the other day, I stumbled across the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/devil_movie_poster_02.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;movie poster&lt;/a&gt; for &lt;em&gt;Devil.&lt;/em&gt; The tagline on the poster is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Five strangers trapped. &lt;strong&gt;One of them is not what they seem.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The writer was obviously using a singular &quot;they&quot; to avoid specifying the gender of the Mole, so as not to give away part of the plot. Sometimes singular &quot;they&quot; works for me, sometimes it doesn't. In this case, it really struck me as jarring, but I can't come up with a better alternative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="990" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-15T08:05:02.563" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T08:05:02.563" Title="Rewrite this grammatically troubling movie poster" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;singular-they&gt;&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3424" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3430" CreationDate="2010-09-24T19:48:49.203" Score="7" ViewCount="412" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen the word &lt;em&gt;Succonded&lt;/em&gt; used on several websites, but can't find a definition anywhere.  I believe it may have to do with &quot;being assigned to&quot;.  Can anybody point me to a dictionary definition - nothing seems to surface! Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples phrases off Google search:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The war came along, Marconi was&#xA;  succonded to the effort, and my&#xA;  granddaddy went to work&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dr. Dominic Otieno the DSWT veterinary&#xA;  officer succonded by KWS treating the&#xA;  Zebra&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Try and find people in your business&#xA;  who can be succonded to your project&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Senoir lawyers will be succonded to&#xA;  serve night courts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1417" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T00:30:23.363" Title="Is &quot;Succonded&quot; a real word?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="3425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3418" CreationDate="2010-09-24T19:55:36.543" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think that that is a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, it would still make sense if one of the &quot;that&quot;s in the previous sentence were omitted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: In response to Reg's comment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a &quot;that&quot; is omitted, it's the first one that is removed. Replacing the second &quot;that&quot; with &quot;it&quot; may clarify things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't think that &lt;strong&gt;it&lt;/strong&gt; is a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't think &lt;strong&gt;it&lt;/strong&gt; is a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hence saying &quot;I don't think that is a problem&quot; is fine - as long as you're familiar with this particular usage of the word &quot;that&quot;. If not, then it could obviously cause confusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastEditorUserId="303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-24T21:26:53.570" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T21:26:53.570" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3418" CreationDate="2010-09-24T20:42:33.037" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are three very different uses of &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Subordinating &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;: “I know &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; this is the answer.”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Demonstrative pronoun &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;: “&lt;em&gt;That&lt;/em&gt; is not the answer.”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adjectival &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;: “&lt;em&gt;That&lt;/em&gt; answer is not it.”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Double &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; occurs because the first &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; is the subordinating &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;, and the second &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; is a demonstrative pronoun or adjectival &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;. That is, if you subordinate a clause that begins with pronominal or adjectival &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;, you get &lt;em&gt;that that&lt;/em&gt;, as in “you know that that &lt;em&gt;that that&lt;/em&gt; from the previous sentence was different from the one in this sentence.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T20:42:33.037" />
  <row Id="3428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3423" CreationDate="2010-09-24T21:26:30.050" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The highlighted sentence is perfectly grammatical in standard modern English, though you probably acknowledge this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to avoid the usage of the singular genderless pronoun 'they', then perhaps it would be appropriate (and near equivalent) to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of them is not what it seems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where 'it' is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expletive#Syntactic_expletives&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;expletive pronoun&lt;/a&gt; and does not refer to any particular object/noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-27T13:07:43.060" LastActivityDate="2010-09-27T13:07:43.060" CommentCount="15" />
  <row Id="3429" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3437" CreationDate="2010-09-24T21:30:56.533" Score="6" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often in spoken English, I see one sentence or phrase &quot;set up&quot; another much like an interjection.  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I forgot to ask.  Did you find that book I told you about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do you generally punctuate this?  I've seen a comma used for this, but I that's only correct if it can be argued that &lt;em&gt;I forgot to ask&lt;/em&gt; is a proper interjection (can it be?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I use a colon?  Semi-colon?  Does it matter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="803" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-28T16:17:04.543" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T20:50:58.660" Title="A phrase as an interjection" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3424" CreationDate="2010-09-24T21:31:15.230" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a mis-spelling; it should be &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/second#Etymology_3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;seconded&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;to second&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(transitive, UK) Transfer temporarily to alternative employment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(transitive) To assist.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/secondment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;secondment&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;secondment&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;the process or state of being seconded, the temporary transfer of a person from their normal duty to another assignment&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T21:31:15.230" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3423" CreationDate="2010-09-24T21:41:26.373" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's really awkward. Using &quot;he or she&quot; (or something similar) just isn't as catchy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of them is not what he or she seems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, it may require rewriting a little:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of them is not as expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of them is different from the rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-09-24T21:41:26.373" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3423" CreationDate="2010-09-25T00:03:56.970" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think RegDwight’s observation that using singular &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt; so close to plural &lt;em&gt;them&lt;/em&gt; is jarring. I would have just rephrased it by avoiding the first &lt;em&gt;them&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Five strangers trapped. One is not what they seem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-25T00:03:56.970" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3423" CreationDate="2010-09-25T01:50:56.743" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that 'one of them is not what &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt; seems' is perfectly acceptable. It depends to whom one is trying to appeal. If one is trying to appeal to modern society, &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt; would be best, but if one is just trying to have a grammatically defensible position, &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt;, which was previously used as the gender neuter pronoun, is absolutely correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-25T01:50:56.743" />
  <row Id="3436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3429" CreationDate="2010-09-25T01:53:22.530" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use a comma:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I forgot to ask, 'Did you find that book I told you about?' (comma, direct speech)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One could rewrite it using indirect speech as well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I forgot to ask whether you found that book I told you about (indirect speech)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-25T01:53:22.530" />
  <row Id="3437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3429" CreationDate="2010-09-25T02:41:53.823" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can certainly use a colon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I forgot to ask: did you find that book I told you about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technically, using a semi-colon would not be grammatically incorrect (both parts being complete sentences), but it wouldn't really fit the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-09-25T02:41:53.823" />
  <row Id="3438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3423" CreationDate="2010-09-25T03:01:42.350" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the cost of changing the meaning, we can avoid saying something awkward:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Five strangers trapped. Not all of them are what they seem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would this change make the film seem less or more exciting? :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-09-25T03:01:42.350" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3439" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-25T03:06:59.243" Score="3" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a tough time with the title, sorry if it sounds stupid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an example of what I am wondering about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wonder why or how someone could kill a person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this sentence we have two questions, &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt;. They both require different supporting words: &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt;. Here I have chosen &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt;, but &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; also sounds fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is correct? Does the order of &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; in my sentence matter? Finally, what is the name for &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; in this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="105" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T05:49:59.567" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T05:49:59.567" Title="Would or Could, in a list of questions, is the first verb always the correct choice?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="503" CreationDate="2010-09-25T03:14:35.600" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using &lt;code&gt;'s&lt;/code&gt; to pluralize something is called a &quot;Greengrocer's apostrophe&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the battle against the Greengrocer's apostrophe is one we're bound to lose - even if grammar of the general population improved, we'd still occasionally be facing nouns which have a mixture of upper and lower case, for which adding an &lt;code&gt;s&lt;/code&gt; by itself at the end would be confusing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastActivityDate="2010-09-25T03:14:35.600" />
  <row Id="3441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3423" CreationDate="2010-09-25T05:36:54.563" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Five strangers trapped, and four of them are just what they seem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2010-09-25T05:36:54.563" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="3442" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-25T15:53:58.470" Score="4" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to download an English dictionary -- &lt;strong&gt;not just a &lt;a href=&quot;http://wordlist.sourceforge.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;word list&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; -- in a structured format such as TXT, XML, or SQL. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, I need &lt;strong&gt;phonetic pronunciation&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;parts of speech&lt;/strong&gt; (definition is not required).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Surprisingly, I can't find this online anywhere. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wiktionary.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; is available &lt;a href=&quot;http://download.wikimedia.org/enwiktionary/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;for download&lt;/a&gt;, but it only the mediawiki articles themselves. Crawling all articles and extracting the phonetics and parts of speech would be a huge exercise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this available anywhere? I don't mind paying. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: cross-posted &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3794454/where-can-i-obtain-an-english-dictionary-with-structured-data&quot;&gt;on StackOverflow&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="527" LastActivityDate="2010-09-25T19:35:04.510" Title="Where can I obtain an English dictionary with structured data?" Tags="&lt;dictionaries&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3442" CreationDate="2010-09-25T16:07:28.370" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ask around on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.omegawiki.org/Meta%3aMain_Page&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Omega Wiki&lt;/a&gt;, formerly known as the Ultimate Wiktionary or WiktionaryZ. Basically, they collect data from all the various wiktionaries, and make it available in a relational database.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-09-25T16:07:28.370" />
  <row Id="3444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3442" CreationDate="2010-09-25T19:35:04.510" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dict.org/w/databases/dict&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these databases&lt;/a&gt; formatted for the DICT protocol servers and clients, but I don't think they meet your criteria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="189" LastActivityDate="2010-09-25T19:35:04.510" />
  <row Id="3445" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3466" CreationDate="2010-09-25T21:55:01.063" Score="4" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am in the process of writing a paper on Shakespeare's Macbeth, and I want to take a quotation from the following passage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  And live a coward in thine on esteem,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Letting &quot;I dare not&quot; wait upon &quot;I would&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Like the poor cat i' the adage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I only want to take the first three lines of the passage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is written, &quot;Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life / And live a coward in thine on esteem, / Letting &quot;I dare not&quot; wait upon &quot;I would&quot;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I punctuate the end (&lt;em&gt;...&lt;/em&gt;)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1425" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-28T16:01:46.457" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T16:01:46.457" Title="How do I take a partial quotation that ends with a question mark (but not within my quote)?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3439" CreationDate="2010-09-25T22:19:15.860" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either is correct, depending on the intended meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1) I wonder why or how someone could kill a person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is asking two questions, of course. The first is: &quot;I wonder why someone could kill a person.&quot;. This is a somewhat odd question if taken literally. The appropriate (though rather trite) response might be &quot;Because we are all physical beings and are thus capable of killing.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second question is: &quot;I wonder how someone could kill a person.&quot;. To this, a valid response might be, &quot;With the use of a weapon such as a gun or knife, or one of various other means.&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2) I wonder why or how someone would kill a person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, taking the first question: &quot;I wonder why someone would kill a person.&quot;. To this, a valid response might be, &quot;Perhaps because that person is an enemy in war.&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second question being, of course: &quot;I wonder how someone would kill a person.&quot; This is quite similar to the second question of version 1, though with a subtle difference. It implies a specific intention that someone would kill another person, or similarly, what would be a &lt;em&gt;likely&lt;/em&gt; means of killing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, the order of &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; is not really a matter of grammar, so either way round is acceptable. However, I would tend to put &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; first as it is the more direct/superficial interrogative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-09-25T22:19:15.860" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="3447" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3483" CreationDate="2010-09-26T04:08:28.517" Score="14" ViewCount="389" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider the sentence &quot;I can run faster than 15 miles per hour.&quot; It is clear and to my eyes obviously grammatically correct. Now let me present some variations that have given me trouble for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I am faster than 15 miles per hour. – To me this is clearly incorrect. Directly comparing &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; to a speed doesn't seem right. We need to compare &lt;em&gt;my speed&lt;/em&gt; to a speed, or me to &lt;em&gt;another person&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I can run faster than him. – Compared to the base sentence, there is a distinct shift in meaning of the comparison. While before I named a speed faster than which I can run, now I am naming a person. It doesn't seem quite right. I realize the parts of speech can change, but my initial objection is that &quot;him&quot; is not a speed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I can run faster than he. – Is &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; the correct way to say it? Am I overcorrecting here? Is it proper to just say &quot;faster than he&quot; or need I say &quot;... faster than he is&quot; or &quot;... faster than he can run?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I am faster than him. – With &quot;am&quot; instead of &quot;can run&quot; it now seems correct. But is it?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I am faster than he. – I'm in doubt here. It doesn't seem wrong to me to say, &quot;I am faster than he is&quot; or even &quot;I am faster than he is fast.&quot; (Though I suppose that is a given since I could hardly properly compare to some other category as in &quot;I am faster than he is smart.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;My speed is faster than his. – Hmm. This seems more proper as &quot;my speed is greater than his.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So which of these constructions is correct and which is incorrect? Is there a general rule that I can follow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last, does my question even make sense? I hope you can understand what I am driving at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Corrections of my grammar in this post are welcome. I suspect I may need some commas before introducing quotes but I am not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1421" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T21:57:07.400" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T21:57:07.400" Title="I can run faster than _____. (1) him (2) he?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3448" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3460" CreationDate="2010-09-26T04:27:17.380" Score="8" ViewCount="539" Body="&lt;p&gt;First let me state the obvious—based on my own experience—that hordes of people are confused about certain basic grammar principles. For example, I so often see mistakes in choosing the pronoun to use with direct objects, especially when introduced by &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; with another person, as in &quot;the only people who passed the test were Anna and I.&quot; Another one is the near 100% usage of &quot;lay&quot; instead of &quot;lie&quot; (and &quot;laid&quot; instead of &quot;lay&quot;) nowadays, even in published sci-fi books that most certainly had professional editors proofread them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you see these kinds of changes as predictors of the future? Will they become &quot;correct&quot; after enough people have used them long enough?  Both of these problems drive me bonkers, and I fight my own little battle against them when possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that dictionaries are descriptive rather than prescriptive. They're technically history books. But grammar and style books seem less so, to me. Those seem as though they ought to be prescriptive in order to reduce the erosion of structured and meaningful language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this tension between &quot;what people are doing&quot; and &quot;what people should be doing,&quot; are we doomed to forever bear these errors just because too many people don't know the proper way? Is it worth fighting against them? Do I capitulate to the people who are quick to accept any mass public usage as a fait accompli?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't imagine for a second that my own writing is error free. The difference with me is that when I do learn I have something wrong in my mind, I immediately change once I clearly understand it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also am not imagining that language is static or ignorant that today's correctness is all too often yesterday's error. The whole point of my question here, then, is: &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; there value in slowing the change, and if so, how is that done and how effectively?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way to look at what I'm trying to ask is that in a way I am hoping to define the limits of pedantry. If being pedantic is slavish adherence to outdated rules in the face of actual and foregone changed reality, then when do we conclude that a change &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; a foregone conclusion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Poking fun at my own errors to highlight supposed pedantry on my part is to miss everything I am trying to say.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may not be an easy question, but since language change actually does or does not happen, and every person acts with more or less intention in regards to language change, there must be an answer. What I wanted to explore is the value in efforts to teach the &quot;proper way&quot; vs. the opposite end of the spectrum where any new usage is not just accepted but welcome or even sought out. You know, I'm reminded of something: the conservative/liberal scale:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;   |------+------+------+------+------+------|&#xA;radical              moderate             radical&#xA;liberal                                 conservative&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The funny thing about those at the ends of the spectrum is that they both want things to change. The radical liberal wants language to change to something new quickly, just for the sake of newness or evolution or some other not-necessarily-realistic ideal. Similarly, the radical conservative wants things to change just as much, but back to the way it used to be, just for the sake of sameness or continuity or some other just-as-not-necessarily-realistic ideal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not particularly asking where we &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; be on this scale as that's purely subjective. I'm trying to ask about something purely practical and real-world: what is actually effective? Is language change inevitable, and how fast? Are efforts to reduce its rapid morphing either effective or worthwhile in any measure? All these things considered, what position with respect to language evolution is livable, practical, and sensible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel free to edit my grammar. No comment necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 3&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something that may be of interest to both my supporters and detractors: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7E-aoXLZGY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this 'Kinetic Typography' video by Stephen Fry&lt;/a&gt;. I enjoyed it. I don't disagree with him, but I am not sure I am wholehearted in this lack of disagreement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1421" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T22:10:17.553" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T22:10:17.553" Title="Grammar errors entering the general population—Are we doomed?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="17" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3447" CreationDate="2010-09-26T05:06:26.523" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I can run faster than he.&quot; is technically correct, because it is short for &quot;I can run faster than he can run.&quot;  In fact, you are comparing your speed to his speed, not to him personally. This shortening of the sentence is called an elliptical construction, because the remainder of the &quot;he&quot; clause is understood.  The tendency is to treat &quot;than&quot; as a preposition.  (See also &lt;a href=&quot;http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10616FD3B550C768DDDA80994DA494D81&amp;amp;scp=4&amp;amp;sq=safire%20kinder%20gentler%20nancy&amp;amp;st=cse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Safire&lt;/a&gt; on this point.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-26T05:06:26.523" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3450" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3461" CreationDate="2010-09-26T05:44:34.273" Score="5" ViewCount="446" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A garden path sentence is one that is exceptionally hard for the reader to parse. English is especially prone to this because it is an analytical language and so many words can be many different parts of speech. I read that as a person reads a sentence, he builds up a likely meaning for each word and a meaning for the whole sentence word by word, then if a &quot;disambiguating word&quot; appears that changes the meaning, he switches to the new meaning and continues. When the disambiguating word is far away from the ambiguous word, the sentence can be very difficult to understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The classic garden path sentence, as far as I am aware, is &quot;The horse raced past the barn fell.&quot; The ambiguous word is &lt;em&gt;raced&lt;/em&gt; and the disambiguating word is &lt;em&gt;fell&lt;/em&gt;. For those who don't think this is a perfectly grammatical sentence, the meaning is the same as &quot;The horse [that was] raced past the barn fell.&quot; Or perhaps more clearly using a different word, &quot;The horse driven past the barn fell.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I ask my question, since these things are so cool (to me, anyway), here are a few more examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The old man the boats.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;While Anna dressed the baby spit up on the bed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The man returned to his house was happy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fat people eat accumulates.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She told me a little white lie will come back to haunt me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We painted the wall with cracks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Question – My Own Garden Path Sentence&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After enjoying these and many other garden path sentences I read about, I invented one of my own. Recently I told it to a friend, but he didn't really get my example garden path sentences (the horse, the old, and Anna) and argued that they and mine were not correct grammar. So I submit it to you for your analysis:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;The men run through the arches screamed.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As explanation, the men were stabbed in the feet, possibly as a form of torture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I swear I had several others I invented five to ten years ago, but I can't remember them. Perhaps I will invent some new ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that sentence correct grammar? As well as the others?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel free to edit my grammar. No comment necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1421" LastEditorUserId="1421" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-27T16:47:59.187" LastActivityDate="2010-09-27T16:47:59.187" Title="Are these garden path sentences grammatically correct?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1770" CreationDate="2010-09-26T06:01:09.840" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wait a minute. Isn't it &quot;upper case&quot; when used as a noun and &quot;uppercase&quot; when used as an adjective? Or am I incorrect in my hypercorrectness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1421" LastActivityDate="2010-09-26T06:01:09.840" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3452" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3454" CreationDate="2010-09-26T07:34:52.777" Score="6" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;The adverb &quot;quite&quot; has the following meanings &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quite&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1: wholly, completely (&quot;not quite&#xA;  finished&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2: to an extreme : positively &quot;quite&#xA;  sure&quot; —often used as an intensifier&#xA;  with a &quot;quite a swell guy&quot; &quot;quite a&#xA;  beauty&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;3: to a considerable extent : rather&#xA;  (&quot;quite near&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My understanding is that #1 and #2 conflict with #3. For example, when you say &quot;She's quite right&quot;, do you mean &quot;She's completely right&quot; or &quot;To a considerable extent, she's right&quot;? Notice that in the latter case you're not saying that she is &lt;em&gt;completely&lt;/em&gt; right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example is &quot;I'm quite sure&quot;. Does it necessarily mean &quot;I'm &lt;em&gt;completely&lt;/em&gt; sure&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the word really have conflicting meanings that can possibly cause ambiguity? Or am I missing something?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-26T07:42:35.540" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T18:22:51.357" Title="Ambiguity of &quot;quite&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;ambiguity&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3448" CreationDate="2010-09-26T07:37:43.943" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, we're doomed. In fact, I don't think the types of errors you are pointing out aren't even worth worrying about, given that even the BBC can't seem to correctly choose between &quot;to&quot; and &quot;too&quot;. &quot;There's&quot; (instead of &quot;there are&quot;) seems to be used and accepted by more or less everybody these days. And don't get me started on its/it's, there/they're, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, we're doomed. Luckily, in almost all cases, it doesn't really matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1402" LastEditorUserId="1402" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-26T14:47:52.887" LastActivityDate="2010-09-26T14:47:52.887" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3452" CreationDate="2010-09-26T07:41:31.953" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, you're not missing anything - the word has ambiguous definitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1402" LastActivityDate="2010-09-26T07:41:31.953" />
  <row Id="3455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3450" CreationDate="2010-09-26T08:24:32.423" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All the sentences are grammatically correct, including your own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could make the meaning clearer by adding punctuation, but this might spoil the fun. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The men, run through the arches, screamed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-26T08:24:32.423" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3456" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3462" CreationDate="2010-09-26T09:36:28.827" Score="4" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across the following phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was wondering if you might be able to give me some advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a natural construction for a conversational context? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I use the following instead in order to sound less formal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was wondering if you could give me some advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is it less polite?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or which phrase would be better to use instead? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-27T15:14:19.860" LastActivityDate="2010-09-27T15:14:19.860" Title="How do I ask for advice politely?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;politeness&gt;&lt;conversation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="3457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-09-26T12:18:17.040" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cacophony&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until about two years ago, I was pronouncing it Cack-ah-phoney. I finally found out after saying it in front of my friends and they all burst out laughing. :(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="105" LastActivityDate="2010-09-26T12:18:17.040" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-26T12:18:17.040" />
  <row Id="3458" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-26T14:11:07.600" Score="2" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I realise my question isn't really about English language and usage, but this is the closest there is to a literature exchange site, so I'll give it a shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often when a play is described the number of acts will be considered among its most important attributes, mentioned often before even the genre of the play. For example, the Wikipedia entry on 'The Mikado' begins 'The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts...'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is the number of acts considered so vitally important as to be included in the first sentence of a description? It seems decidedly insignficant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&#xA;Wyatt&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1427" LastActivityDate="2010-09-26T14:11:07.600" ClosedDate="2010-09-27T14:35:14.293" Title="Why is the number of acts in a play so significant?" Tags="&lt;literature&gt;" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3448" CreationDate="2010-09-26T15:07:19.837" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are not doomed. We've never been in a better position. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just think of the fact that we can now ask a question like yours and immediately have people reading, answering and discussing it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of the Wikipedias, all the online dictionaries, the blogs about languages, writing, etc. This is all new. For people who want it, there has never been a better moment to be prepared to read, write and speak correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-09-26T15:07:19.837" />
  <row Id="3460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3448" CreationDate="2010-09-26T15:56:48.830" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are most likely &quot;doomed&quot; in that these changes are more or less inevitable.  But we are not &quot;doomed&quot; in the sense that the language is actually breaking or somehow falling apart.  Languages have been around for thousands of years, evolving and changing; no language has ever evolved itself into a corner or created a construction that makes the language non-functional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many of the &quot;correct&quot; English words and constructions that we use today got their start as stupid-sounding &quot;mistakes&quot;.  Our case and gender systems have almost vanished completely, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, if I am not mistaken, a couple hundred years ago, &quot;the only people who passed the test were Anna and I&quot; would have been the pedantically correct version, and &quot;Anna and me&quot; would have been the sloppy &quot;wrong&quot; version; it used to be that the copula would have nominative case on both sides (e.g. &quot;it is I&quot;, not &quot;it is me&quot;).  Maybe that puts things into perspective a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find certain things silly, there is nothing wrong with feeling that way and avoiding them — and not all variations become mainstream.  But, it is pointless to try to make any significant effort to stop these changes.  Mainly because it is inevitable, but also because you'd only be protecting a momentary instance of a thing that is constantly in flux.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Edit: I should also add that I don't even necessarily agree with you in the case of &lt;em&gt;lay&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;lie&lt;/em&gt;.  Most people don't even know the correct paradigm for conjugating these verbs.  I interpret the changes in popular usage to mean that these verbs are undergoing regularization; the old paradigm seems to be inherently confusing and I welcome the change: the language is fixing itself.  I thought this might also be an interesting point of view to consider.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Addendum based on the question's first edit:&lt;/strong&gt; I recommend reading up on Standard Arabic to consider attempts to stop language change in its tracks.  Because Muslims believe that the Arabic used in the Quran is holy, they have attempted to maintain this version of Arabic.  This Standard Arabic is the only &quot;official&quot; Arabic, it is the only one they learn in schools, and it is the only one they write in.  But, in day-to-day use, you can't stop language change.  Instead, every region has evolved a distinct dialect (and these &quot;dialects&quot; really stretch the definition of that word to its breaking point).  In many cases, they are not mutually intelligible (for example, Moroccan Arabic and Baghdad Arabic), and &lt;em&gt;nobody in the Middle East actually speaks Standard Arabic as a first language&lt;/em&gt;.  Most people have an imperfect command of it anyway except for the most highly educated.  Most of the time, if speakers of different dialects want to communicate, they speak in a simplified hybrid of their own dialects and Standard Arabic (leaving off things like case marking that exists in SA).  The Standard form has become different enough from their spoken language that they can't actually manage to follow the rules automatically.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This also means that if I want to learn useful Arabic, I have to learn Standard Arabic to read and for some TV programs, and I have to learn another language in order to actually communicate with the people around me.  There is not much practical benefit to this system (but they aren't doing it for practical reasons).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If for some reason we decide to freeze English as it is now and make a concerted effort to maintain this form as it is, we will inevitably end up with the same messy diglossia situation that they experience now in the Middle East.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Addendum after second edit&lt;/strong&gt;: I can't keep up with this moving target :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-23T15:45:10.290" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T15:45:10.290" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="3461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3450" CreationDate="2010-09-26T17:32:20.210" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is how the example sentences are grammatical:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The old man the boats.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The old [people] [man/serve on] the boats&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;While Anna dressed the baby spit up on the bed.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;While Anna [got] dressed, the baby spit up on the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The man returned to his house was happy.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The man [who was returned to his house] was happy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fat people eat accumulates.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;[The fat that people eat] accumulates&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;She told me a little white lie will come back to haunt me.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;She told me [that] [a little white lie will come back to haunt me].&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We painted the wall with cracks.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;We painted the wall [that has] cracks.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-26T17:32:20.210" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="3462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3456" CreationDate="2010-09-26T17:53:37.767" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In practice, they're usually the same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;might be able to&quot; is a bit more formal -- perhaps because it implies more hesitation on the part of the asker if this is an appropriate time and place and topic for the question. The &quot;if you could&quot; might be read to imply that you doubt the ability of the person being questioned to help you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="162" LastActivityDate="2010-09-26T17:53:37.767" />
  <row Id="3463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3331" CreationDate="2010-09-26T18:10:19.840" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is also possible to address a letter to a position title. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear Human Resources Manager:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear Human Resources Director:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I would avoid using the abbreviation, since it is less formal.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not include the company's name in the title—it should instead be listed in the address above the salutation (if you are including those) or in the body of the letter. (&lt;em&gt;I would be an asset to Citibank because . . .&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="162" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-28T16:13:02.940" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T16:13:02.940" />
  <row Id="3464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3448" CreationDate="2010-09-26T19:06:50.393" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Language evolution is good. Don't wanna end up like Latin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="706" LastActivityDate="2010-09-26T19:06:50.393" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3456" CreationDate="2010-09-26T23:19:17.107" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think 'might be able to' is very good style, personally. Further, 'might be able to' just means 'could'. There is some difference between &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt;, i.e., between 'I was wondering if you would give me some advice' and 'I was wondering if you could give me some advice'. In most situations, I would use &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt;, as usually the person you're asking is capable of giving you advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-26T23:19:17.107" />
  <row Id="3466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3445" CreationDate="2010-09-26T23:26:58.680" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could punctuate thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life / And live in a coward in thine on esteem, / Letting &quot;I dare not&quot; wait upon &quot;I would&quot; . . . ?'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is then obvious that you are quoting a question, but not including the entire sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-09-26T23:26:58.680" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3452" CreationDate="2010-09-27T00:20:51.897" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;its not that ambiguous, as all its meanings refer to bringing something close to the subject (almost: #1) or used to refer closeness to the object (#2 and #3).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1429" LastActivityDate="2010-09-27T00:20:51.897" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3448" CreationDate="2010-09-27T00:38:37.447" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You asked, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If being pedantic is slavish adherence to outdated rules in the face of actual and foregone changed reality, then when do we conclude that a change is a foregone conclusion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My answer: &lt;em&gt;change&lt;/em&gt; has always been &lt;em&gt;a foregone conclusion&lt;/em&gt;. Trying to stop English from changing is like trying to stop the tide.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A possibly-relevant quote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   - &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Nicoll&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;James Nicoll&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="513" LastActivityDate="2010-09-27T00:38:37.447" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3452" CreationDate="2010-09-27T01:42:45.220" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When it's used with an absolute, like correct or complete, people generally mean #1 or #2.  When someone says, &quot;Quite nice, I'm sure,&quot; watch out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-27T01:42:45.220" />
  <row Id="3470" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-27T11:14:38.203" Score="8" ViewCount="345" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm quite unsure regarding the usage of single quotation marks (') and double quotation marks (&quot;) in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had thought that &quot;s were usually used to quote sentences from passages/given sources, nouns/things (&quot;Westminster Bridge&quot;, &quot;alliteration&quot;, or &quot;voice&quot; regarding its usage in poetry), as well as some less common/important to being snarky and using them to indicate a sarcastic remark. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone had told me today that you were supposed to refer to things with two inverted commas (&quot;) instead of one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct? Could someone explain the usages between the two different types of quotation marks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-08T12:40:35.827" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T12:26:47.070" Title="What's the Difference in Usage Between Using Single and Two Quotation Marks/Inverted Commas?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3470" CreationDate="2010-09-27T12:04:25.190" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is simply a question of style. Wikipedia has a huge &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark#Usage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article on the subject&lt;/a&gt;. The three passages most relevant to your question are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Quotations and speech&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;Single or double quotation marks denote either speech or a quotation. &lt;em&gt;Neither style—single or double—is an absolute rule&lt;/em&gt;, though double quotation marks are preferred in the United States, and both single and double quotation marks are used in the United Kingdom. A publisher’s or author’s style may take precedence over national general preferences. The important rule is that the style of opening and closing quotation marks must be matched[.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Irony&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;To avoid the potential for confusion between ironic quotes and direct quotations, &lt;em&gt;some style guides&lt;/em&gt; specify single quotation marks for [irony], and double quotation marks for verbatim speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use–mention distinction&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Either quotation marks or italic type can emphasize that an instance of a word refers to the word itself rather than its associated concept. [...] A three-way distinction is &lt;em&gt;occasionally&lt;/em&gt; made between normal use of a word (no quotation marks), referring to the concept behind the word (single quotation marks), and the word itself (double quotation marks). [...] In common usage, there &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; be a distinction between the single and double quotation marks in this context; often, single quotation marks are used to embrace single characters, while double quotation marks enclose whole words or phrases[.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Emphasis mine. Read the entire article for further insight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-27T12:17:59.680" LastActivityDate="2010-09-27T12:17:59.680" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3472" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-27T16:25:07.820" Score="9" ViewCount="273" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a ardent believer in proper grammar and I like to portray that belief in my own writing, whether casual or professional. My biggest problem is that my fingers sometimes type differently than my mind commands. I always proofread any email before sending it, but more often than not I read what I meant to type, not what I actually typed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One measure to combat these errors is to reread your writing after waiting, but that is not always possible in the day-to-day of the business world; sometimes emails require an immediate response. What are some other tactics I can use to better self edit my writing and catch more of my errors?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1347" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-28T16:18:42.333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T00:41:24.277" Title="Editing your own writing" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;editing&gt;" AnswerCount="12" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1925" CreationDate="2010-09-27T16:33:14.333" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For personal use, both forms are perfectly acceptable. However, in professional use, check with your company to see if they have a style guide and what it says for email. My company specifies email as the &quot;proper&quot; use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1347" LastActivityDate="2010-09-27T16:33:14.333" />
  <row Id="3474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3472" CreationDate="2010-09-27T16:52:32.450" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The obvious answer is to use a spelling/grammar checker.&#xA;If your e-mail software doesn't have one, type and check your mail in an application that does before copying it on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(you would have caught that 'a ardent' above!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-09-27T16:52:32.450" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3472" CreationDate="2010-09-27T16:52:46.067" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I've found helpful (but still not 100% fool proof - sigh) is to train myself to be vigilant when it comes to certain mistakes. Some I simply make more often than others, and now, most of the times, as soon as I write them a mental alarm goes off and I do a quick double check. Things like &quot;then&quot; vs &quot;than&quot;, &quot;live&quot; vs &quot; life&quot;, &quot;send&quot; vs &quot;sent&quot;, etc. When in a hurry I at times forget, but overall this has reduced the number of slip-ups quite a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1412" LastActivityDate="2010-09-27T16:52:46.067" />
  <row Id="3476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3472" CreationDate="2010-09-27T17:51:24.840" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taking time out works best for me. This can be as short as 5 minutes and can be combined with a coffee break, short walk or toilet stop, anything to get away from the screen. Leaving it overnight is even better. I find this saves time in the long-run, even in the &quot;day-to-day of the business world&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-27T17:51:24.840" />
  <row Id="3477" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3479" CreationDate="2010-09-27T18:04:59.657" Score="2" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;This came up in describing an input to a function:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A handle to the daemon who's name is desired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Daemon is a type of process on a system.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Somehow, &quot;who's&quot; just doesn't seem right because it's not a who, but a what. Could one say &quot;... the daemon what's name is desired&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1430" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-28T09:55:52.473" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T09:55:52.473" Title="Referring to some attribute of an inanimate object — use &quot;who's&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;inanimate&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3477" CreationDate="2010-09-27T18:18:33.840" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's just spelt wrong. It should be 'whose', which doesn't need to refer to a person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Who's' is short for 'who is'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-09-27T18:18:33.840" />
  <row Id="3479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3477" CreationDate="2010-09-27T18:24:44.960" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is wrong, but not because a daemon is a thing rather than a person - &quot;who's&quot; doesn't indicate possession, it's a contraction of &quot;who is&quot;. You need &quot;whose&quot;, which is a possessive pronoun and adjective, like his, hers, etc. So, just like you'd say &quot;his name&quot;, you'd say &quot;whose name&quot;, or &quot;its name&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1402" LastActivityDate="2010-09-27T18:24:44.960" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3480" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3484" CreationDate="2010-09-27T18:33:06.917" Score="8" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was looking up the rule about italicizing foreign phrases and found an apparent consensus that the criterion is if the phrase is familiar. Well, who gets to decide that? I know perfectly well what &quot;fait accompli&quot; means, and I don't know French. So I recently chose to not italicize it, but someone had a different opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a summary of my findings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia%3aManual_of_Style_%28text_formatting%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;suggests&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Loanwords or phrases that have common use in English, however—praetor, Gestapo, samurai, esprit de corps, e.g., i.e.—do not require italicization. If looking for a good rule of thumb, do not italicize words that appear in Merriam-Webster Online.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The University of Minnesota &lt;a href=&quot;http://www1.umn.edu/urelate/style/italics.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;recommends&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Italicize isolated words and phrases in a foreign language if they are likely to be unfamiliar to the reader.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Capital Community College Foundation Guide to Grammar &amp;amp; Writing &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/italics.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If a word or phrase has become so widely used and understood that it has become part of the English language — such as the French &quot;bon voyage&quot; or the abbreviation for the latin &lt;em&gt;et cetera&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;etc.&quot; — we would not italicize it. Often this becomes a matter of private judgment and context. For instance, whether you italicize the Italian &lt;em&gt;sotto voce&lt;/em&gt; depends largely on your audience and your subject matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;University of Sussex Guide to Punctuation &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/department/docs/punctuation/node35.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;notes&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you are not sure which foreign words and phrases are usually written in italics, consult a good dictionary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fait accompli&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fait%20accompli&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;appears unitalicized in Merriam-Webster Online&lt;/a&gt;. I was not able to find an online English dictionary that was different. I don't have access to the OED.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;fait accompli&quot; likely to be familiar to readers here? Is this a good guideline to use for choosing whether to italicize it? Or is the fact that it is in English dictionaries unitalicized enough? Or is the fact that it is in English dictionaries—at all—enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I recognize that italics are appropriate when referring to a phrase rather than instantiating it—in any language. I've instead chosen in this question to use quotes to clearly separate the issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edits to correct grammar welcome. No comments necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1421" LastEditorUserId="1421" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-27T21:50:27.923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T20:42:16.867" Title="fait accompli – to italicize, or not to italicize." Tags="&lt;style&gt;&lt;foreign-words&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3481" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-27T19:49:20.787" Score="5" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;The newest versions of the two word processors I use, Word and Google Docs, both default to 1.15 line spacing. Is this a new trend, and if so, why? Did some important style guide start calling for 1.15 line spacing? It looks funny to me, so I'm curious what precipitated the change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: This question is not intended to be about Google Docs or MS Word&amp;mdash;I just cited those as evidence of what seems to be a trend. What I'm curious about is what is driving the change to 1.15.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Regarding the conjecture that MS did this to make Calibri more readable: I don't know, it doesn't look more readable to my eye. In fact, it looks funny to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is Calibri at the once-standard 1.00 line spacing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/CKAS8.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And here it is with 1.15 line spacing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/i849P.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find the extra space distracting. In fact that's what made me check the line spacing to begin with&amp;mdash;it looked broken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="138" LastEditorUserId="138" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-28T15:18:10.383" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T15:18:10.383" ClosedDate="2010-09-28T15:12:48.880" Title="What is up with 1.15 line spacing?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3447" CreationDate="2010-09-27T21:34:56.183" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You find both accusative pronouns (&lt;em&gt;me/him/her/them&lt;/em&gt;) and nominative pronouns (&lt;em&gt;I/he/she/they&lt;/em&gt;) in this syntactic position in standard English. The forms with the nominal genitive pronouns (&lt;em&gt;mine/yours/hers&lt;/em&gt; etc.) are a red herring because they stand for something possessed rather than the person themself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The traditional rule for comparison with a person is that you must use nominative. However, according to my research, accusative is more common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; for this syntactic structure, followed by a comma or a period to ensure we are not looking for cases like &lt;em&gt;faster than he &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, with a verb following the pronoun, in which case nominative is obligatory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There were &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&amp;amp;q=6367695&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1046 results for the accusative pronouns&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&amp;amp;q=6367699&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;450 for nominative pronouns&lt;/a&gt;, more than 2 to 1 in favor of accusative pronouns—the “traditionally wrong” form. Both forms are standard, so my advice to a writer choosing between these forms is to consider that the “traditionally correct” form is unimpeachably correct but a bit formal. Choose the form that best matches tone and formality level of your writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the curious, the queries looked like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;[jjr*] than me|him|her|us|them .|,&#xA;[jjr*] than I|he|she|we|they .|,&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where&lt;code&gt;[jjr*]&lt;/code&gt; means any comparative adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-27T21:34:56.183" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="3484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3480" CreationDate="2010-09-27T22:04:50.410" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this is a case where authors can decide for themselves where to draw the line.  Or, if the writing is for a certain publication, the editors will have a policy for whether a given word should or should not be italicized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-27T22:11:33.637" LastActivityDate="2010-09-27T22:11:33.637" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3485" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3487" CreationDate="2010-09-27T22:36:29.093" Score="6" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1425/none-as-plural-indefinite-pronoun&quot;&gt;None as plural indefinite pronoun&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was programming when it suddenly struck me that I did not know if &quot;none&quot; should be singular or plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fore instance, should I write &quot;none is yellow&quot;, or &quot;none are yellow&quot;, if I know nothing more about what &quot;none&quot; refers to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1425/none-as-plural-indefinite-pronoun&quot;&gt;this related question&lt;/a&gt;, it came out that in many instances &quot;none&quot; as a plural indefinite pronoun is completely acceptable. However, that didn't really teach me when to use it as singular or plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1432" LastEditorUserId="1432" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-29T00:13:59.010" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T05:11:39.680" ClosedDate="2011-01-08T21:24:43.670" Title="Should &quot;none&quot; as a pronoun be used as singular or plural?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3481" CreationDate="2010-09-28T02:05:51.500" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Microsoft made quite a few changes to default settings in Office 2007, which I'd guess would be from readability testing. The extra space probably makes the average user better able to read the default Calibri which also was added recently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google Docs is probably doing it just to match Microsoft Office so that users of one can more consistently switch to the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1209" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T02:05:51.500" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3485" CreationDate="2010-09-28T02:07:19.047" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;None&quot; should be plural. If the target of the word &quot;none&quot; was singular, it would be &quot;it&quot;, rather than &quot;none&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1209" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T02:07:19.047" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3448" CreationDate="2010-09-28T02:28:11.200" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doomed! Doomed, I tell you!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a never-ending complaint. Periodically, some one &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/13/AR2010091304476.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt; sounds off about it.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The king is dead. Long live the King. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Get over it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grammar and spelling are the servants of communication, but are far from essential. &quot;Ugh!&quot; Once meant (and still could mean) &quot;Hey Ogg! Look out for that sabre-tooth tiger!&quot;. Language is great fun, but don't mistake the content for the container.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T02:28:11.200" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3489" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-28T03:25:34.783" Score="2" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fictionary, adequately described &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictionary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, is a favorite with both the school age kids and the “grown ups” in our extended family. We often use &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0806504986&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt; Mrs. Byrnes Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we had a Japanese &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wwoof.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt; Woofer&lt;/a&gt; staying with us we played Cooperative &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrabble&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Scrabble&lt;/a&gt;, in which tiles were not hidden and everyone worked together to find the most interesting or highest scoring word. It was effective and appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any others that you have used and enjoyed with either native or non-English speakers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the game is simple, please describe the rules in enough detail to allow one to play, or include a link. (We can all Google for it, but doing it a single time now will obviate the need for the many people who read your post to do it in the months and years to come. Thanks!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T22:24:26.047" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T22:24:26.047" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-29T01:47:06.077" Title="Educational word games?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;games&gt;&lt;educational&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3489" CreationDate="2010-09-28T04:20:23.253" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my favorites is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreelibrary.com/A+wordy+digression%3a+the+game+of+HIPE-a0200778798&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HIPE&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T04:20:23.253" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-28T14:45:48.937" />
  <row Id="3491" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3494" CreationDate="2010-09-28T06:57:24.157" Score="13" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;How should I phrase it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This question has been asked at SO.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This question has been asked on SO.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="304" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-28T12:44:46.863" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T14:59:09.923" Title="This question has been asked at/on SO?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="3492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3491" CreationDate="2010-09-28T08:14:14.367" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This question has been asked &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; SO.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That sounds a lot better to me than &quot;at SO&quot; or &quot;in SO&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T08:14:14.367" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3489" CreationDate="2010-09-28T08:20:32.303" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not a board game, but still:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kongregate.com/games/gabob/clockwords-prelude&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Clockwords&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's an (extremely addictive) Flash game where you have to type words to stop spiders from entering your laboratory. You get extra points for using letters shown at the bottom of the screen (and you won't get away with just typing the same word over and over again). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T08:20:32.303" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-28T08:20:44.080" />
  <row Id="3494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3491" CreationDate="2010-09-28T09:04:06.780" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Prepositions are tricky. You can put something &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; a book or read something &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; a newspaper, but you always put something &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; the internet or find something &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; a certain website. Unfortunately, I don't think there is a general rule that can be applied here, but when it comes to the internet and websites, &quot;on&quot; is the most common preposition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only time you might see &quot;at&quot; used is when describing the full URL for a website: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found this &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stackoverflow.com/faq&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.stackoverflow.com/faq&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Please visit our website &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com&quot;&gt;http://english.stackexchange.com&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;At&quot; tends to be used with specific locations, i.e. when something is &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt; the top of the page, or &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt; the end of an article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-28T09:39:42.333" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T09:39:42.333" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3495" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-28T10:09:10.423" Score="14" ViewCount="367" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which phraseologism can be used to express 'showing all the hidden stuff' (it's supposed that nobody should find that out, some scandal things)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="473" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T18:20:30.200" Title="Is there any idiomatic expression with the meaning 'show all the hidden stuff'?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="10" />
  <row Id="3496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3495" CreationDate="2010-09-28T10:33:44.173" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lift the curtain on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T10:33:44.173" />
  <row Id="3497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3495" CreationDate="2010-09-28T10:41:51.350" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/blow+the+lid+off&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Blow the lid off&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T10:41:51.350" />
  <row Id="3498" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3500" CreationDate="2010-09-28T11:12:36.020" Score="6" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm considering using the term &quot;salutary&quot; in a technical document I'm writing to refer to something beneficial.  Here's the context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Salutary side effects of our model are to harness idle computational resources as opposed     to provisioning additional fixed infrastructure and to scale resource supply commensurate with demand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, is this correct usage of the term, or should salutary be reserved for situations that refer to things which are beneficial to a being's physical health only?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1163" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T05:50:44.560" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T05:50:44.560" Title="Should the term &quot;salutary&quot; be used only in reference to physical health?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3499" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3553" CreationDate="2010-09-28T11:51:00.793" Score="1" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;How would embedded quotations be used when quoting from passages/sources within an essay? What would be the difference between normal quotations and embedded quotations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-20T19:01:29.570" LastActivityDate="2010-10-20T19:01:29.570" Title="How are embedded quotations used?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3498" CreationDate="2010-09-28T12:05:10.980" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question: 'salutary' isn't just about health. However it does have other connotations you don't need. For example it's often used when something bad happened but we learned a &lt;em&gt;salutary&lt;/em&gt; lesson. Or, things were going wrong, so these new procedures are &lt;em&gt;salutary&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best thing in a technical document is to make the sentence easily read and understood. To that end you're better off just saying 'beneficial' or better still 'positive' which works well with 'side-effects'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think your sentence would read better, something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our model has two positive side&#xA;  effects: you don't need additional&#xA;  fixed infrastructure (because idle&#xA;  computational resources are&#xA;  harnessed), and resources scale with&#xA;  demand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this is all a matter of taste, and I may have completely distorted the meaning!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="122" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-28T16:07:13.917" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T16:07:13.917" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3498" CreationDate="2010-09-28T13:05:11.457" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, from a dictionary definition (this one from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Oxford_American_Dictionary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NOAD&lt;/a&gt;)...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;salutary&lt;/strong&gt; |ˈsalyəˌterē|&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   adjective&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (esp. with reference to something unwelcome or unpleasant) &lt;strong&gt;producing&#xA;  good effects&lt;/strong&gt;; &lt;strong&gt;beneficial&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    &lt;em&gt;a salutary reminder of where we came from&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(archaic) health-giving: &lt;em&gt;the salutary&#xA;  Atlantic air&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...it's quite clear that &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt;, you don't need to reserve the word just for physical health references. (Unless &lt;em&gt;archaic&lt;/em&gt; is the style you aim for :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your example about side effects is fine; this is proper and accepted use of the word. &lt;strong&gt;However&lt;/strong&gt;, I wholeheartedly agree &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3498/should-the-term-salutary-be-used-only-in-reference-to-physical-health/3500#3500&quot;&gt;with cindi&lt;/a&gt; that it's best to go with a common, readily understood expression (e.g. &quot;good side effects&quot; or &quot;positive side effects&quot;), especially in the context of a technical document.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T13:05:11.457" />
  <row Id="3502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3495" CreationDate="2010-09-28T13:21:53.857" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/let+the+cat+out+of+the+bag&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;let the cat out of the bag&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1442" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T13:21:53.857" />
  <row Id="3503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3495" CreationDate="2010-09-28T14:51:14.343" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Spill the beans&quot; or just &quot;Spill it.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T14:51:14.343" />
  <row Id="3504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3489" CreationDate="2010-09-28T14:52:18.843" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quiddler, which is a card-based game combining Scrabble with gin rummy. Could easily be played open-hand, like your cooperative Scrabble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bananagrams, which has players each making their own Scrabble-like grid, with an emphasis on speed as well as properly-spelled words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="928" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T14:52:18.843" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3491" CreationDate="2010-09-28T14:59:09.923" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think &lt;code&gt;at StackOverflow&lt;/code&gt; is wrong; that is, I don't think you must always say &quot;on [some website name]&quot;.  &lt;code&gt;at&lt;/code&gt; can be used for fairly broad locations, such as &quot;at home&quot;.  However, I can think of one connotation of &lt;code&gt;at&lt;/code&gt; that I don't think occurs with &lt;code&gt;on&lt;/code&gt;, which is the distinction between related things with the same name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;in the New York Times&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, in the paper&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;on the New York Times&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This only makes sense for the website&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;at the New York Times&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could be referring to the organization itself, eg, the workplace, the company, etc.  But if it's clear from the context that you are referring to the website, I don't think it's wrong to use &lt;code&gt;at website&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T14:59:09.923" />
  <row Id="3506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3489" CreationDate="2010-09-28T15:03:13.860" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boggle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Boggle&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; definitely deserves to be on this list. It can be a lot of fun; however, it only really works as a learning tool if you look up the words others get/ones that you guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T15:03:13.860" />
  <row Id="3507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2891" CreationDate="2010-09-28T15:48:21.527" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One other problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't quite understand&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;when it's possible to minimize the&#xA;  harm ..., it is at best ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you mean ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;while it's possible to minimize the&#xA;  harm ..., it is at best ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I prefer whilst, but see &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6/when-did-while-and-whilst-become-interchangeable&quot;&gt;while v whilst&lt;/a&gt; )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T15:48:21.527" />
  <row Id="3508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3485" CreationDate="2010-09-28T15:50:26.550" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The traditional answer is that 'none' should be construed with a singular verb (the rationalisation I remember being given is that it is a contraction of 'no one'). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ordinary people usually ignore this and construe 'none' with a plural. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the answer is &quot;plural is more common, but some people will criticise you for using it in formal contexts&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T15:50:26.550" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="3509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3472" CreationDate="2010-09-28T16:09:33.857" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try reading the text out loud. It forces you to read it in a different way, and you may catch other problems &lt;strike&gt;the&lt;/strike&gt; than you would from just reading it normally. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastEditorUserId="161" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-29T18:42:19.057" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T18:42:19.057" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3510" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-28T17:09:33.253" Score="11" ViewCount="296" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is related to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/495/less-vs-fewer&quot;&gt;previous one&lt;/a&gt; on less-vs-fewer. I prefer using &lt;em&gt;fewer&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; when referring to discrete items. Something sounds off about &lt;em&gt;less than ten people&lt;/em&gt;, in my opinion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what about the flip side? The phrase &lt;em&gt;more than ten people&lt;/em&gt; doesn't sound quite right either. If &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; are natural antonyms, then what word relates to &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; the same way &lt;em&gt;fewer&lt;/em&gt; relates to &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="138" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-08T17:01:16.710" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T17:01:16.710" Title="'less' is to 'fewer' as 'more' is to what?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;analogy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="3511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3510" CreationDate="2010-09-28T17:11:54.037" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no distinction: &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; is to &lt;em&gt;fewer&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; is to &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; water; &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; dogs; &lt;em&gt;less/fewer&lt;/em&gt; dogs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 items or &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt;; 10 items or &lt;em&gt;less/fewer&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; bell to answer; one &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; bell to answer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;weighing 100 pounds &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt;; weighing 100 pounds &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;500 words or &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt;; 500 words or &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; than 10,000 miles; &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; than 10,000 miles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-28T17:44:48.050" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T17:44:48.050" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="3512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3495" CreationDate="2010-09-28T18:14:29.690" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;uncover the skeletons in the closet or, similarly, show where the bodies are buried&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T18:14:29.690" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3495" CreationDate="2010-09-28T19:28:16.813" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The criminal fraternity might say 'peach', 'rat', 'grass' or 'cough'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T19:28:16.813" />
  <row Id="3514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3429" CreationDate="2010-09-28T20:33:03.843" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could punctuate this in a few ways, in decreasing levels of formality&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colon_%28punctuation%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;colon&lt;/a&gt; (:)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I forgot to ask: did you find that book I told you about?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dash&lt;/a&gt; (–)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I forgot to ask—did you find that book I told you about?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ellipsis&lt;/a&gt; (…)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I forgot to ask…did you find that book I told you about?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The colon is the most formal, the ellipsis quite informal. I personally would use a dash. The ellipsis here is used to indicate a pause or an unfinished thought, which some purists might object to (claiming that an ellipsis can only be used to indicate something which has been left out).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-28T20:50:58.660" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T20:50:58.660" />
  <row Id="3515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3510" CreationDate="2010-09-28T20:57:04.590" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;less is to fewer as greater is to more&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="938" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T20:57:04.590" />
  <row Id="3516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3495" CreationDate="2010-09-28T21:32:04.780" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8028351/Magistrate-OBE-found-defrauding-charity-after-lover-blew-whistle.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Telegraph&lt;/a&gt;: &quot;A married magistrate was discovered defrauding a charity she worked for after her lover of 10 years blew the whistle.&quot; More common is the noun form: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;whistleblower&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you want to describe an outsider discovering secrets or an insider revealing them? Most idioms that I can think of lean one way or the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="136" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T21:32:04.780" />
  <row Id="3517" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-28T21:36:44.790" Score="1" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you think of a situation or question where the phrase &quot;will have been going to go&quot; is the best, most natural, or clearest response (or included in said response)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm asking this probably somewhat silly question just for fun. It comes from my past musings on English's complexity and my observation of how difficult it must be for some people to grasp the meaning of multiple helping verbs. I imagine this phrase is one that very few non-native English speakers would be able to understand very quickly (and for that matter, perhaps not very many native English speakers, either).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I thought I'd ask if anyone can think of how this could actually be a good way to express something, and not just be a contrived &quot;difficult English&quot; phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1421" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T07:48:54.877" Title="Make &quot;Will have been going to go&quot; correct" Tags="&lt;fun&gt;&lt;auxiliary-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3518" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-28T21:44:28.880" Score="7" ViewCount="379" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that Americans do not say &quot;and&quot; when speaking numbers: for example, 150 would be pronounced &quot;one hundred fifty&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I and most other British-English speakers would pronounce it &quot;one hundred and fifty&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen a few different arguments on the net about which is &quot;better&quot;, and something that is often asserted on the American side is that the &quot;and&quot; represents a decimal point - so &quot;one hundred and fifty&quot; would be interpreted as 100.50.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This struck me as odd, since although I see a lot of American movies and TV, I don't think I've ever heard anyone actually do this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question: is this &quot;and = decimal point&quot; actually used in the USA, and can anyone cite some examples (maybe on youtube?)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1450" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T03:15:34.850" Title="American vs. British English: meaning of &quot;One hundred and fifty&quot;" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;speech&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3518" CreationDate="2010-09-28T22:21:11.530" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I learned this “rule” (in first grade, I believe), it was explained that &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; separates the whole part from the fractional part: 2⅔=&lt;em&gt;two and two thirds&lt;/em&gt;. The word &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; would only represent the decimal point in decimal numbers when they are read out in the formal “fractional” reading of decimals, as 2.3=&lt;em&gt;two and three tenths&lt;/em&gt;, or 1.75=&lt;em&gt;one and seventy-five one-hundredths&lt;/em&gt;. That is, according to this rule, &lt;em&gt;*one hundred and fifty&lt;/em&gt; is ungrammatical because, if it is supposed to mean 150, it should be &lt;em&gt;one hundred fifty&lt;/em&gt;, and if it is supposed to be mean 100.50, it should be &lt;em&gt;one hundred and fifty one-hundredths&lt;/em&gt;. The rationale behind the rule is that you should only have one &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; in a phrase, so if the number were 403⅞, you wouldn’t say &lt;em&gt;four hundred &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; three &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; seven eighths&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, most of the time the decimal point is read as &lt;em&gt;point&lt;/em&gt;: 2.3=&lt;em&gt;two point three&lt;/em&gt;; 1.75=&lt;em&gt;one point seven five&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;one point seventy-five&lt;/em&gt;; 100.50=&lt;em&gt;one hundred point five zero&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;one hundred point five oh&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;one hundred point fifty&lt;/em&gt;. The fractional reading of decimal numbers also starts to become a bit ridiculous if there are more than three digits after the decimal point: nobody would say 3.14159265=&lt;em&gt;three and fourteen million one hundred fifty-nine thousand two hundred sixty-five one hundred millionths&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you have undoubtedly observed, many Americans don’t follow the rule about &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; only being used to separate whole and fractional parts, and insert &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; just before the units of a number less than one hundred, although the forms without &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; are quite common too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;457 &lt;em&gt;four hundred fifty-seven&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;four hundred and fifty-seven&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2001 &lt;em&gt;two thousand one&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;two thousand and one&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1,000,001 &lt;em&gt;one million one&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;one million and one&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T22:21:11.530" />
  <row Id="3520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1405" CreationDate="2010-09-28T23:26:54.843" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your vocabulary has outpaced your diction (skill at word selection); traditionally this would be rectified at a finishing school, or in the study of poetry and drama or a classical language. A keen interest in words will help you improve your diction: try cultivating an enthusiasm for cryptic crossword puzzles, proofreading &amp;amp; editing prose, or relax by browsing the OED. Most of all is to be confident that you have correctly chosen the the word which best conveys your meaning, so you &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; be familiar with the meanings of the words you wish to use, including the meanings you do &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; intend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Constantly ensure your utterances eschew words which are not readily comprehended by your intended audience. Make sure you speak clearly and plainly in the manner which gets your point across in the most direct fashion. An overly-verbose onslaught of verbiage can render you as indecipherable as like a really hard to understand thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1452" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T23:26:54.843" />
  <row Id="3521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3518" CreationDate="2010-09-28T23:55:51.810" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an American, I've never heard of the 'and' indicating a decimal.  Except when writing a check (cheque).  In that case, when writing out the words, we use &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;One hundred fifty and no/100 for 150.00 &#xA;One hundred and 50/100 for 100.50&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, as you notice, the decimal parts are not spelled out.  As for spoken usage, both sound correct which probably means that we use both are in common usage.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="728" LastActivityDate="2010-09-28T23:55:51.810" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3485" CreationDate="2010-09-29T01:30:57.373" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;None&quot; means &quot;not one,&quot; so it is singular.  In formal English, it is almost always treated as a singular pronoun, for example, &quot;there is none that doeth good, no, not one&quot; (Romans 3:12, KJV).  However, it is often used as if it were a plural in colloquial English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1456" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T01:30:57.373" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3472" CreationDate="2010-09-29T07:23:37.327" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Funny no one's mentioned this yet, but &lt;em&gt;print it out and read it on paper&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, any change of format helps. I've noticed that here on StackExchange - I catch a lot more errors if I read the generated html than if I read the markdown. Is it the difference between Arial and Courier?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's just that changing the layout of the words you've typed forces your mind to read them, but I'm not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T07:23:37.327" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3495" CreationDate="2010-09-29T07:33:00.713" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;how about &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;unhide all&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="873" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T07:33:00.713" />
  <row Id="3525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3489" CreationDate="2010-09-29T07:35:27.973" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In days gone by, I played &lt;strong&gt;lots&lt;/strong&gt; of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrabble_variants#Take_Two&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Take Two&lt;/a&gt;, which is a great Scrabble variant (I think this is the Bananagrams that another answerer referred to).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Tiles are placed face-down in the&#xA;  middle of the table in a communal pool&#xA;  and each player is given a small&#xA;  number of face-up starting tiles. From&#xA;  their starting tiles, each player&#xA;  tries to build his own valid Scrabble&#xA;  grid—players do not use each other's&#xA;  grid or tiles. When a player&#xA;  successfully uses all of her face-up&#xA;  tiles, she shouts &quot;take two&quot;, and&#xA;  every player takes two more tiles.&#xA;  Play continues until there are no more&#xA;  tiles left to draw. In some variants,&#xA;  the person who creates the first&#xA;  complete grid when all the tiles run&#xA;  out is the winner. In others, a&#xA;  calculation based on word length is&#xA;  used to determine the winner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tactically, I think you probably get the highest scores by knowing all possible three-letter-words (because you can build 'steps' where all tiles count twice), so it might not really develop your vocabulary :)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T07:35:27.973" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-29T07:35:27.973" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3517" CreationDate="2010-09-29T07:48:54.877" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I can't think of an example for your exact phrase, but I can think of one with similar construction, and circumstances in which I might use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: I'm on holiday, writing a postcard to someone who I know is also going on holiday in the near future and in all likelihood won't be reading my missive until they get back from their holiday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that situation, I &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; exchange the standard &quot;I hope you had a good holiday&quot; with &quot;I hope you will have had a good holiday&quot;. Yes, it's convoluted, but more temporally correct. (I wouldn't write it to a non-native speaker though).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T07:48:54.877" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3359" CreationDate="2010-09-29T07:56:45.810" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, if you want really archaic, you could start &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gen1&amp;amp;version=KJV&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;at the beginning&lt;/a&gt; and work through from there :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T07:56:45.810" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3528" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-29T09:57:19.237" Score="3" ViewCount="240" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually I hear -qwoyz (IPA: /-kwɔɪz/) but sometimes I hear -qwoz (IPA: /-kwɔːz/).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the colour different from the mineral?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example -qwoz seems to be de rigueur for the experts on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiques_Roadshow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Antiques Roadshow&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="122" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-29T12:53:24.117" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T19:39:37.783" Title="How do I pronounce &quot;turquoise&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3529" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-29T10:38:39.710" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This tag refers to questions concerning verbs. A verb is a word that expresses an action, occurrence, or a state of being, for example: &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;make&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;jump&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;speak&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;happen&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;trust&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-29T10:38:39.710" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T10:38:39.710" />
  <row Id="3530" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-09-29T10:38:39.710" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="Words that express an action, occurrence, or a state of being" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T21:55:37.923" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T21:55:37.923" />
  <row Id="3531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3528" CreationDate="2010-09-29T10:45:47.713" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;qwoyz is definitely the dominant pronunciation in England.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1093" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T10:45:47.713" />
  <row Id="3532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3528" CreationDate="2010-09-29T12:38:03.933" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either is acceptable, though the former (&lt;em&gt;qwoyz&lt;/em&gt;) is certainly more standard in Britain (and I believe in U.S. English too).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The latter resembles the original French pronunciation much more closely, and is in this sense also acceptable. (Desirable even, if you want to sound posh!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-29T14:36:16.830" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T14:36:16.830" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3533" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3534" CreationDate="2010-09-29T13:36:14.903" Score="7" ViewCount="277" Body="&lt;p&gt;The suffix &quot;-erior&quot; is used in many words that seem to indicate position:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Superior&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inferior&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anterior&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Posterior&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, with my Google-fu, I can't find a real definition or etymology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does &quot;-erior&quot; mean?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;From what language does it come?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="727" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T13:49:11.937" Title="What does the suffix &quot;-erior&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;suffix&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3533" CreationDate="2010-09-29T13:41:59.103" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your Google-fu probably fails because the suffix is &quot;-ior&quot;, not -&quot;erior&quot;. For example, there are the words &quot;excelsior&quot;, &quot;senior&quot;, &quot;junior&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;-ior&lt;/em&gt; formerly also &lt;em&gt;-iour&lt;/em&gt; — F. &lt;em&gt;-ieur&lt;/em&gt;, † &lt;em&gt;-iour&lt;/em&gt; — L. &lt;em&gt;iōrem&lt;/em&gt;, nom. &lt;em&gt;-ior&lt;/em&gt;, suffix of compar. of adj., as in &lt;em&gt;anterior&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;exterior&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;inferior&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;interior&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;junior&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;posterior&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;senior&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ulterior&lt;/em&gt;. In &lt;em&gt;warrior&lt;/em&gt; the ending has another origin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, it comes from Latin via French.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-29T13:49:11.937" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T13:49:11.937" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3518" CreationDate="2010-09-29T14:34:21.243" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I speak Canadian English and over here I'd say both usages are common and nobody ever says &quot;and&quot; when they mean &quot;decimal&quot; or &quot;point&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as nohat's answer, where the &quot;rule&quot; is that you can only use and for fractional parts, I've never been taught that rule as far as I can recall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T14:34:21.243" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3536" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3540" CreationDate="2010-09-29T15:50:21.957" Score="6" ViewCount="252" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend is writing a paper for his Criminal Justice class and has asked me to take a look the the rough draft and point out any grammatical errors that I can spot. &#xA;The first thing that jumped at me was the subject of his paper: &quot;How and why child is become criminal&quot;. I suggested that he instead write: &quot;How and why &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; child &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;becomes&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; criminal&quot;. &#xA;He told me that nothing was wrong with the way the subject is writen. It has been submitted to and approved by his Professor, reviewd by his entire class and none pointed that out to him. He refered me to the Openheimer quote of the Bhagavad Gita and some Bible verses to support his point. Still I find it difficult to beleive that this is the proper way to use the verb become in Modern English.&#xA;Please help settle our dispute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1466" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:48:33.470" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:48:33.470" Title="Is &quot;How and why child is become criminal&quot; proper english?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;tense&gt;&lt;determiners&gt;&lt;verb-forms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="3537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3536" CreationDate="2010-09-29T16:30:09.677" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it's not correct. Your version is correct. No question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1402" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T16:30:09.677" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3538" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3539" CreationDate="2010-09-29T17:26:04.857" Score="10" ViewCount="433" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've used &quot;kinda&quot; as a word basically meaning &quot;kind of&quot; just run together. I wouldn't use it formally, but I noticed that Microsoft Word's spellchecker says that it isn't a word. I searched some and it seems that I'm not the only one who uses it, but it doesn't seem to be too popular. So is it an actual word? How accepted is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1325" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T14:51:52.737" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T14:51:52.737" Title="Is &quot;kinda&quot; a word?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="3539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3538" CreationDate="2010-09-29T17:46:46.187" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you said, it means &quot;kind of&quot;. It's very informal and you won't find it in dictionaries. In formal contexts, you can use &quot;rather&quot; with the same meaning, e.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was rather cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;kind of&quot; is in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kind-of&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; dictionary (see below). &quot;Kinda&quot; is not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Definition:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1: to a moderate degree &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2: in a way that approximates : more&#xA;  or less &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Synonyms:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;enough, kindly [chiefly Southern],&#xA;  fairly, like, moderately, more or&#xA;  less, pretty, quite, rather,&#xA;  relatively, something, somewhat, sort&#xA;  of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-30T18:52:44.277" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T18:52:44.277" />
  <row Id="3540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3536" CreationDate="2010-09-29T17:51:52.987" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Provided that we accept the &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3402/&quot;&gt;archaic &lt;em&gt;is become&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; as grammatical use of the present perfect—which I would not for something so prosaic as a paper for a criminal justice course—there are still two problems with the proposed title: (1) present perfect is not right in this context for a paper title and (2) the subject noun phrase is not properly determined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am assuming that the paper is about the general principles by which children become criminals. For a title like this, you can’t use a past construction, such as the present perfect or the simple past. Generalities about how a process occurs must be described in the simple present tense, as this sentence does. If you use the past or present perfect, you necessarily are discussing a particular instance of something or a process which is no longer occurring: “How and why a child became criminal” or “How and why a child has become criminal” would have to describe a particular instance of a child becoming a criminal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, the subject “child” is not determined. It would be fine as a plural—“children”—or  with a determiner—“a child”. The original questioner’s suggestion to determine “criminal” as “a criminal” is fine, but so is leaving it as a simple adjective “criminal”. Any of the following would be grammatical:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How and why a child becomes a criminal  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How and why a child becomes criminal  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How and why children become criminal   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How and why children become criminals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T17:51:52.987" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3541" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-29T17:59:25.113" Score="3" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do the sentences &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She might be only 28, but Jodie&#xA;  Whittaker....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My parents would have walked along the&#xA;  Barrow&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;wrongly suggest doubt, or are they normal usage? Are there names for these constructions?&#xA;Taken from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/0929/1224279906425.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Irish Times&lt;/a&gt; .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I googled &quot;would have spent their time&quot;. &#xA;Many cases were counterfactuals (&quot;... otherwise they would have spent their time...”)&#xA;But plenty simply describe past events, as the in the usage sited above.&#xA;I couldn't detect a regional bias.&#xA;As an Irish-English speaker this usage is unremarkable for example I might say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is the exact spot where Caesar&#xA;  would have crossed the Rubicon&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the intention is to evoke the event rather than just record it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:46:16.017" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:46:16.017" Title="Use of 'might', 'would' and doubt" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;&lt;irish-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3541" CreationDate="2010-09-29T18:16:05.540" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having skimmed now the linked article, I would say that the first construction is perfectly grammatical and normal-sounding to me as a speaker of American English, though &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; would work equally well as &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; in that sentence. Merriam-Webster says for &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/might&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;might&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; that it can be “a polite alternative to &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt;”, and their definition of &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/may&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;may&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; gives as part of sense 3 “used in auxiliary function expressing … concession &amp;lt;he &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; be slow but he is thorough&amp;gt;”, which I suppose is the sense here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second sentence, though, with the implication that the parents did walk along the Barrow, is strange to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T18:16:05.540" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3489" CreationDate="2010-09-29T18:48:10.137" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/Articulate-Fast-Talking-Description-Game/dp/B00006L99R&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Articulate&lt;/a&gt; is my favourite board game because it combines language, imagination and team work so well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The fast talking description game. Describe as many words as possible to your teammates in 30 seconds. You can't say &quot;rhymes with&quot; or &quot;sounds like&quot;. For 4 to 20+ players.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00009R61B/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?pf_rd_p=103612307&amp;amp;pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&amp;amp;pf_rd_t=201&amp;amp;pf_rd_i=B00006L99R&amp;amp;pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&amp;amp;pf_rd_r=0MWDPPKPJ17XCSH2G8MZ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;children's version&lt;/a&gt; that works well for non-native English speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T18:48:10.137" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-29T18:48:10.137" />
  <row Id="3544" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3548" CreationDate="2010-09-29T19:27:00.390" Score="5" ViewCount="246" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a difference between these two words? To me, it seems that &quot;Undistinguishable&quot; is more where you can't tell what it is, and &quot;Indistinguishable&quot; seems to be where they're the same. It seems a lot of places list them as synonyms though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1325" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T05:14:05.727" Title="&quot;Undistinguishable&quot; vs &quot;Indistinguishable&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="3545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3528" CreationDate="2010-09-29T19:39:37.783" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The pronunciation reported by the NOAD is /ˈtərˌk(w)ɔɪz/; I guess both are acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T19:39:37.783" />
  <row Id="3546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3538" CreationDate="2010-09-29T19:44:22.483" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that &lt;em&gt;kinda&lt;/em&gt; is an informal contraction of &lt;em&gt;kind of&lt;/em&gt;; it was first used in the early 20th century, and it was originally an American English alternation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Kind of&lt;/em&gt; is an informal phrase for &lt;em&gt;rather&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T19:44:22.483" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3544" CreationDate="2010-09-29T19:47:22.100" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never seen &quot;undistinguishable&quot; before.  My spell-check flags it as an error and suggests &quot;indistinguishable&quot;.  I suspect it's a typo or a case of misspelling a word in a logical way.  I can't imagine that its meaning would be different from &quot;indistinguishable&quot;.  The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) lists only 8 hits for &quot;undistinguishable&quot; and 1000+ hits for &quot;indistinguishable&quot;.  I'd stick to the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-30T09:26:18.190" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T09:26:18.190" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3544" CreationDate="2010-09-29T19:50:42.627" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a native English speaker, and I've never heard of &quot;undistinguishable&quot;. I &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=undistinguishable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;searched for undistinguishable&lt;/a&gt; and Google replied with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did you mean: indistinguishable  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3aindistinguishable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Princeton University's WordNet defines indistinguishable&lt;/a&gt; as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;identical: exactly alike; incapable of being perceived as different; &quot;rows of identical houses&quot;; &quot;cars identical except for their license plates&quot;; &quot;they wore indistinguishable hats&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;not capable of being distinguished or differentiated; &quot;the two specimens are actually different from each other but the differences are almost indistinguishable&quot;; &quot;the twins were indistinguishable&quot;; &quot;a colorless person quite indistinguishable from the colorless mass of humanity&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To convey the sense of &quot;you can't tell what it is&quot;, you could use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3aindecipherable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;indecipherable&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3ainscrutable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;inscrutable&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastEditorUserId="1146" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-29T19:56:57.790" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T19:56:57.790" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3536" CreationDate="2010-09-29T21:38:54.773" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;@Nohat and @gkrogers have already given excellent answers for correcting the grammar of the mentioned title. I'd like to suggest completely changing the title, though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Making of the Criminal Child&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has much more punch to it. Variations on plurality or definiteness would work fine. There's an even more minimalistic title available, too:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Child Criminals&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you could play up the change from one kind to another, rather than how the base creature simply gains an attribute:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;When Children Become Criminals&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of artistic variation is available here. In my mind, &quot;How and why children become criminals,&quot; while adequate and certainly descriptive, somewhat misses the opportunity for a &lt;strong&gt;great&lt;/strong&gt; title.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1421" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T21:38:54.773" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2772" CreationDate="2010-09-29T22:04:37.367" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In commonly used English today, &quot;gay&quot; has become interchangeable with &quot;homosexual&quot; and most readers will understand it in that way, either as an adjective or as a noun. Though I'm not a fan of the plural form 'gays'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As always, though, context is the most important thing because the english language is fabulously ambiguous towards the meaning of &quot;gay&quot;. There are certain phrases, which admittedly are not in common usage, but where the reader would understand that the word gay would not mean homosexual. Unless there was a clear double meaning. e.g. &quot;gay hue&quot;, or &quot;gay abandon&quot;. Also, applying &quot;gay&quot; to transient things, such as a mood, would probably alert the reader to the fact you did indeed mean 'happy'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, &quot;gaily&quot; and &quot;gaiety&quot; would not be generally understood as pertaining to homosexuality though they are usually only used in archaic contexts. Unless perhaps the writer meant &quot;gaiety&quot; in terms of stereotypical homosexual behaviour, e.g. &quot;there was much gaiety&quot; could mean &quot;everyone was acting in a very camp manner&quot;, or perhaps something like &quot;there were many men who were proud to be gay&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, because I am caught between favouring clear and concise language and loving the use of flowery, overblown and overwrought, archaic language, I try to reserve the word gay for when I mean merry. I also enjoy the possibilities of secondary meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1474" LastActivityDate="2010-09-29T22:04:37.367" />
  <row Id="3551" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3554" CreationDate="2010-09-30T02:38:11.357" Score="2" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;To clarify: what I mean is that in Australia for instance there is a trend in English to use words that do not distinguish between men and women. E.g. Chairperson instead of Chairman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question relates to whether or not English is (both in terms of the adoption of new words and the adoption of words into common usage) moving away from distinguishing between masculine and feminine gender terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1429" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-30T08:44:33.613" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T08:44:33.613" Title="Is the English Language becoming more generic, in the sense that English is distinguishing less between masculine and feminine?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3551" CreationDate="2010-09-30T04:15:18.443" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;masculine and feminine tenses&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Masculine versus feminine versus neuter are genders, not tenses. Past, present, past prefect, etc, are tenses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just because English uses the neuter gender, while several latin-based languages assign genders, has nothing really to do with how &quot;general&quot; an idea that can be expressed in the language is. The word for &quot;map&quot; in Spanish (&quot;Él mapa&quot; -- interesting word because it's masculine yet still ends in &quot;a&quot; -- tripped me up quite a bit in my Spanish classes) is masculine. That doesn't mean that there's anything inherently &quot;male&quot; conveyed about the map, just that the word map is masculine. It's just something you have to remember about the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English is similar, but more so for it's pronunciation. You can always pronounce a Spanish word because the language itself is phonetic. However, in English there are a few general patterns, but there are plenty of oddballs with respect to pronunciation -- &quot;pterodactyl&quot; anyone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: The short and sweet answer to your question is: &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt;, English is not &quot;more general&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1209" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T04:15:18.443" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3499" CreationDate="2010-09-30T04:17:57.077" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simply change the double quotes in the source text into single quotes to indicate that it is an inner quotation. Otherwise there is no difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note that if you are writing, say, a research paper, you might want to quote the original source of the quote as well in, say, a &quot;works cited&quot; page. That depends on a ton of things though)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1209" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T04:17:57.077" />
  <row Id="3554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3551" CreationDate="2010-09-30T04:43:41.997" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I doubt that this move towards gender-neutral terms for professions is enough to risk the loss of gender from English completely.  We still retain it in our pronouns (he, she, it), and while there is a trend towards using &quot;they&quot; as the neutral 3rd-person singular, the gendered pronouns seem to be going strong.  We still have kinship terms like &lt;em&gt;mother&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;father&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;uncle&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;aunt&lt;/em&gt;, etc. that are gendered, and that show no signs of being replaced.  So, I think we have a long way to go still before there would be a real likelihood of English becoming genderless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible in theory for English (or any language) to lose all grammatical gender over time?  Yes.  Grammatical gender is not present in a majority of the world's languages.  Also, English used to have fully grammatical gender for masculine, feminine, and neuter, like German, and what we have today is all that remains.  So these things can certainly come and go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We won't see it in our lifetimes, in any case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T04:43:41.997" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3485" CreationDate="2010-09-30T05:11:39.680" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wow, all wrong. &quot;None,&quot; when used as an indefinite pronoun, can be either plural or singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;None are right,&quot; and &quot;None is right&quot; are both correct. However, the former is more widely used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1481" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T05:11:39.680" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3556" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3568" CreationDate="2010-09-30T06:26:15.567" Score="1" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference in nuance between these two expressions, any examples of where one would be more appropriate (or even just sound better?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(On reflection, I'm not sure I'd ever say All the night, but someone just asked me the question)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-08T13:44:31.980" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T21:58:04.123" Title="Is there any difference between &quot;All the night&quot; and &quot;All night long&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;time&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="3557" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3559" CreationDate="2010-09-30T08:06:37.490" Score="8" ViewCount="289" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometime, I am not sure if I use a specific word correctly. I would like to get some sample sentences to learn from. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is there a online sample sentence database/search engine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1482" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-30T09:37:53.143" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T18:52:39.097" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-30T08:06:37.490" Title="Is there an online sample sentence database or search engine?" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="3558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3557" CreationDate="2010-09-30T09:21:47.297" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lots of dictionaries offer sample phrases. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cover&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cover#Verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;, and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/cover&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Free Online Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; come to mind. Complete sentences are usually provided to &lt;a href=&quot;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/blow+the+lid+off&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;put expressions in context&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then, of course, there is Google. It allows you to search for sample sentences by using the operators &lt;strong&gt;*&lt;/strong&gt; (wildcard) and &lt;strong&gt;~&lt;/strong&gt; (similar word or synonym). For example, if you are not sure which preposition to use in the phrase &quot;he has not covered himself &lt;strong&gt;__&lt;/strong&gt; glory&quot;, you can use the search string &quot;not ~covered * glory&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T18:52:39.097" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T18:52:39.097" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-30T09:21:47.297" />
  <row Id="3559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3557" CreationDate="2010-09-30T09:23:01.400" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try using a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_corpus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;corpus&lt;/a&gt;. For example, a search for &lt;strong&gt;copper&lt;/strong&gt; in the &lt;strong&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/strong&gt; returns 50 random sentences -- simply refresh the page to see another random sample:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bnc.bl.uk/saraWeb.php?qy=copper&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://bnc.bl.uk/saraWeb.php?qy=copper&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T09:23:01.400" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-30T09:23:01.400" />
  <row Id="3560" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3561" CreationDate="2010-09-30T10:21:01.323" Score="3" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct form when we have a rate for each currency in a list of currencies. For example if currencies are EUR, GBP and USD there will be a rate (buy and sell) for each one of these currencies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="334" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T12:17:43.000" Title="Currency Rates or Currencies Rates" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3560" CreationDate="2010-09-30T10:27:26.060" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Currency rates&quot; is the preferred form. Personally, I would say that it is the only correct form, but Google does return about 15,000 hits for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22currencies+rates%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;currencies rates&quot;&lt;/a&gt; (vs. 1,600,000 hits for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22currencies+rates%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;currency rates&quot;&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; seeing that your question is tagged &quot;British English&quot;, I searched the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus (BNC)&lt;/a&gt; and got the following results:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;   4 - currency   rates&#xA;   1 - currency   rate&#xA;   0 - currencies rates&#xA;   0 - currencies rate  (actually, 1, but &quot;rate&quot; is being used as a verb)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3560/currency-rates-or-currencies-rates/3563#3563&quot;&gt;Noldorin suggests in his answer&lt;/a&gt;, there is the more popular term &quot;exchange rate&quot;, for which Google returns 12,400,000 hits and BNC offers the following stats: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1192 - exchange rates&#xA; 408 - exchange rate&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, for the sake of completeness:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;  14 - foreign    exchange rates&#xA;   6 - foreign    exchange rate&#xA;   4 - currency   exchange rate &#xA;   2 - currency   exchange rates&#xA;   0 - currencies exchange rate&#xA;   0 - currencies exchange rates&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-30T12:17:43.000" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T12:17:43.000" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3562" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3565" CreationDate="2010-09-30T11:31:13.800" Score="1" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please, help me to understand the difference in meaning between &quot;various&quot; and &quot;different&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Various methods of inter-process communication are available in Windows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to build this sentence like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Different methods of inter-process communication are available in Windows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the second sentence correct?&#xA;If yes, what would be the difference between the two?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastActivityDate="2010-10-03T15:19:01.533" Title="&quot;Various&quot; - &quot;Different&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3560" CreationDate="2010-09-30T11:49:04.170" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usual term is &lt;em&gt;exchange rate&lt;/em&gt;. If you want to be unambiguous, say &lt;em&gt;foreign exchange rate&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T11:49:04.170" />
  <row Id="3564" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3567" CreationDate="2010-09-30T12:46:56.613" Score="2" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am writing some software documentation. There are data structures that are organized in trees and every element in the structure can be child or parent &quot;to&quot;/&quot;of&quot; every other element.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a native speaker and my instincts are pretty divided on the matter themselves, so I guess I have to turn to higher powers to answer that question. Hence, I turn to you:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is it &quot;to&quot; or &quot;of&quot; in that case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1489" LastEditorUserId="1489" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-09-30T13:15:46.600" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T20:45:59.080" Title="Can something be a parent or child &quot;to&quot;/&quot;of&quot; something?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="3565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3562" CreationDate="2010-09-30T12:56:16.413" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are synonyms. Similar to what RegDwight pointed out, there is usually a connotation of many with &quot;various,&quot; whereas &quot;different&quot; often refers to distinctions between 2 things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1490" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T12:56:16.413" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3564" CreationDate="2010-09-30T13:13:04.803" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sometimes see 'father to' or 'parent to', but I don't think it is the natural expression, which would be 'parent of' in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A Google search turns up 900,000,000 'parent to' and 1,200,000,000 'parent of' but that would contain a lot of irrelevant matches and I don't know how to narrow it down to what we want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T13:13:04.803" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3564" CreationDate="2010-09-30T13:13:07.080" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Of&quot; is the preposition you are looking for. You can also use the possessive &lt;em&gt;'s&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;X is a parent of Y&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Y is a child of X&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;X is Y's parent&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Y is X's child&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T13:13:07.080" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3556" CreationDate="2010-09-30T13:23:34.550" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those are mainly two different ways of saying the same thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;the&quot; in the first phrase can be dropped because it is meaningless since &quot;night&quot; is understood as being singular. Thus, the only real difference in the two phrases is the addition of the word &quot;long&quot; in the second.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;long&quot; in the second phrase might carry a negative connotation. Someone who had to take care of a fussy baby all night might use the 2nd phrase, while someone woke up well rested might simply use the first phrase like this: &quot;I slept all the night.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1490" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T13:23:34.550" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3569" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3573" CreationDate="2010-09-30T13:46:58.230" Score="3" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the title says — is &quot;could've&quot; or &quot;should've&quot; standard English or is it slang and should correctly be spelled &quot;could have&quot; and &quot;should have&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1492" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:50:00.580" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:50:00.580" Title="Is &quot;could've&quot; or &quot;should've&quot; standard English?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3538" CreationDate="2010-09-30T15:11:58.250" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiktionary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; contains such words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kinda&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;entry for kinda&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;code&gt;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kinda&lt;/code&gt;) includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;kinda&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(colloquial) kind of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I kinda hafta do this right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's kinda funny.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="244" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T15:11:58.250" />
  <row Id="3571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3569" CreationDate="2010-09-30T15:13:33.490" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Slang eventually becomes standardized, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, it's not incorrect to write them with the contractions. Writing could've and should've is standard, even if the spellcheckers say differently. The contractions just emphasize the pronunciation of the words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1493" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T15:13:33.490" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3572" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3579" CreationDate="2010-09-30T15:29:12.270" Score="4" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often a country will have regions called &quot;provinces&quot; or &quot;states&quot;. Other times they are called &quot;territories&quot; and &quot;protectorates&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there a generic term for these words? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there a full list of words that belong to this group? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What makes them different from each other?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="680" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-01T09:55:10.850" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T00:10:43.277" Title="What are: province, territory, protectorate, state...?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3569" CreationDate="2010-09-30T16:16:20.797" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Contractions are generally considered &lt;em&gt;informal&lt;/em&gt;, but have long been part of standard English. Because they are informal, most style guides—which tend to be guides for formal styles of written English—advise against using them. This of course makes sense, because if you are trying to write in a formal style, using informal words, like contractions, makes your writing seem less formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coha/?c=coha&amp;amp;q=6418521&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Historical American English&lt;/a&gt; has incidences of &lt;em&gt;should’ve&lt;/em&gt; dating to 1910, &lt;em&gt;could’ve&lt;/em&gt; dating to 1880, and &lt;em&gt;would’ve&lt;/em&gt; dating to 1830. A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=could%27ve%2BOR%2Bshould%27ve%2BOR%2Bwould%27ve&amp;amp;num=100&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=orKkTOG8OoOC8gbY0omLAg&amp;amp;ved=0CBgQpwU&amp;amp;source=lnt&amp;amp;tbs=bks:1,cdr:1,cd_min:1/1/1700,cd_max:12/31/1799&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Book Search&lt;/a&gt; shows incidences of all three from 1800–1810.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the record, &lt;em&gt;slang&lt;/em&gt; is “very informal usage in vocabulary and idiom that is characteristically more metaphorical, playful, elliptical, vivid, and ephemeral than ordinary language.” Contractions with &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; are informal, sure, but they are also ordinary, and so are not really &lt;em&gt;slang&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T16:16:20.797" />
  <row Id="3574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3472" CreationDate="2010-09-30T16:32:14.977" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One way I have found effective is to put the text into a &lt;strong&gt;different&lt;/strong&gt; program and with a different line length, font, font size, and general formatting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if the text is already in the email client:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Paste it into a word processor program (I use OpenOffice) and read on-screen.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Export from the word processor as PDF and read it in a PDF reader (I use Foxit Reader)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="244" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T16:32:14.977" />
  <row Id="3575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3572" CreationDate="2010-09-30T16:56:58.570" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several questions in this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if there is a specific term for these words.  I'll say &quot;region words&quot; for now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for a list, I can add&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;barony&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;canton&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;city&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;commissary&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;county&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;department&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;district&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dominion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;duchy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;earldom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;empire&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;intendancy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;kingdom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;municipality&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;prefecture&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;principality&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;region&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shire&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;town&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;township&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;village&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ward&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The various definitions of these words tends to depend on which nation is using them.  In Canada we have &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_%28Canada%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;provinces and territories&lt;/a&gt;; they have different roles and their governments derive their authority from different sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our provinces are similar to US states, but our constitution is very different and so the provinces have different rights and responsibilities than the states do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastEditorUserId="1720" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-09T15:52:38.893" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T15:52:38.893" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-30T19:09:08.303" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3557" CreationDate="2010-09-30T17:00:55.643" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BYU Corpus Collection&lt;/a&gt;. You will probably find most useful the up-to-date &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;, along with other corpora, such as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coha/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Historical American English (COHA)&lt;/a&gt;, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BYU-BNC: British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt;, and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/time/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TIME Corpus of American English&lt;/a&gt;. You can search for sentences with specific words, limit results by formality level (spoken, magazine, newspaper, fiction, academic), search by word class, and find common collocates for words, along with many other features.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T17:00:55.643" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-09-30T17:00:55.643" />
  <row Id="3577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3384" CreationDate="2010-09-30T17:06:39.057" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there anything wrong with mixing contracted with uncontracted phrases in the same sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, there isn't. You can freely write a word contracting it, and write another one without to contract it.&#xA;As reported by Mr. Shiny and New, sometimes a word is written without to contract it to put emphasize on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T17:06:39.057" />
  <row Id="3578" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3580" CreationDate="2010-09-30T17:28:44.037" Score="6" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct way to use infinitive after the verb &quot;help&quot;: with or without &quot;to&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please, help me to understand this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please, help me understand this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T11:21:09.627" Title="&quot;Help to do&quot; or &quot;help do&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3572" CreationDate="2010-09-30T17:32:49.007" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good general name for the entire group of such regions would be &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_division&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;administrative division&lt;/a&gt;. The linked Wikipedia article has a comprehensive list, which also includes towns and cities, neighborhoods, an the like. The differences between these divisions all come down to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Size of the region&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Type of government&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Local language/naming conventions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastEditorUserId="1009" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-10T00:10:43.277" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T00:10:43.277" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="3580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3578" CreationDate="2010-09-30T18:52:08.240" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The particle &quot;to&quot; is not &lt;em&gt;wrong&lt;/em&gt; in this sentence, but it is unnecessary. I would recommend against using it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;to understand&quot; can be interpreted as a special case of the infinitive; a kind of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinitive#Impersonal_constructions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;future infinitive or impersonal future tense&lt;/a&gt;. In that context, the first sentence means, essentially, &quot;please help me develop an understanding of this (in the future)&quot;. While that may be technically correct, it adds nothing to the meaning of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To add some weight to my argument, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;COCA&lt;/a&gt; lists 142 entries for &quot;help me understand&quot; versus only 18 for &quot;help me &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; understand&quot;. The results are similar for other constructions involving &quot;help me ...&quot; versus &quot;help me to ...&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that the confusion stems from the way you &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; use the infinitive in other cases, for example: &quot;I want to understand this&quot;, or &quot;I am trying to understand this&quot;. In these cases, the particle is an absolute neccesity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastActivityDate="2010-09-30T18:52:08.240" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3581" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-09-30T20:53:55.370" Score="7" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given the &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/09/good-subjective-bad-subjective/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;recent blog post&lt;/a&gt; that some kinds of subjective questions are OK on Stack Exchange sites, I thought I would try to formulate a good subjective question about usage to see what kinds of arguments people find persuasive and why. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, for questions about a usage dispute:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What basis do you use for deciding what is correct or grammatical?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why do you find some arguments persuasive and others not? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does the pervasiveness of a usage affect your opinion of it? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What kinds of authorities on usage do you respect and who do you find to be not authoritative?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T16:31:35.870" Title="What usage arguments are persuasive?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1404" CreationDate="2010-09-30T21:30:34.407" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, a brief lesson in historical linguistics. Language families arose at some point in the past from what linguists call proto-languages, which is a term that refers to a language that is reconstructed rather than one that is attested. There is debate over whether language families all derive back to a single proto-language or if several proto-languages developed independently. In either case, as the group forming the speakers of a proto-language grows over time, it eventually splits into two or more separate groups whose language started out the same and then over time became mutually unintelligible. Those two “child” languages are related in the family tree of languages. The child languages can then grow and split as well. In the history of English, there have been several splits, but two are significant: first, the proto-Indo-European language split into various languages forming the subfamilies of Indo-European, such as the Germanic languages (proto-Germanic) and the Romance languages (Latin). The Germanic languages also split, eventually resulting in English being a separate language from the other Germanic languages, such as German, Swedish, and Dutch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A word becomes part of a language in two ways: (1) it inherits them from ancestor languages; (2) they borrow them from contemporary foreign languages. For example, the English word &lt;em&gt;brother&lt;/em&gt; derives in a direct lineage back through proto-Germanic to the proto-Indo-European root &lt;em&gt;*bʰréh₂tēr&lt;/em&gt;. This is an inherited word. The other way a word enters a language is to be borrowed from a contemporary foreign language. This is like the English word &lt;em&gt;croissant&lt;/em&gt; which was borrowed from the French word &lt;em&gt;croissant&lt;/em&gt;. That is, when the word &lt;em&gt;croissant&lt;/em&gt; became a part of English, it was copied from people who were speaking a foreign language—French. Even though French and English are related—both being Indo-European languages—the word &lt;em&gt;croissant&lt;/em&gt; was borrowed from French because the word entered English after French speakers and English speakers split apart long enough for their languages to be not mutually intelligible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, French also has a word for &lt;em&gt;brother&lt;/em&gt; that derives from the proto-Indo-European root &lt;em&gt;*bʰréh₂tēr&lt;/em&gt;: that French word is &lt;em&gt;frère&lt;/em&gt;. This is where the word &lt;em&gt;akin&lt;/em&gt; comes in. The English word &lt;em&gt;brother&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;strong&gt;akin&lt;/strong&gt; to the French word &lt;em&gt;frère&lt;/em&gt; because both languages inherited those words from their ancestor languages, and they both ultimately derive from the same root in their closest common ancestor language, proto-Indo-European.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, when a dictionary etymology says “word A in language L1 is &lt;strong&gt;akin to&lt;/strong&gt; word B in language L2”, that means that neither word A nor word B were borrowed into their respective language and both word A and word B derive from the same root word in L1 and L2’s common ancestor language. That is, when &lt;em&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/em&gt; say about &lt;em&gt;salt&lt;/em&gt; that it is “akin to Old High German &lt;em&gt;salz&lt;/em&gt; salt, Lithuanian &lt;em&gt;saldus&lt;/em&gt; sweet, Latin &lt;em&gt;sal&lt;/em&gt; salt, Greek &lt;em&gt;hals&lt;/em&gt; salt, sea” they mean that the English word &lt;em&gt;salt&lt;/em&gt; and those other words from related languages all come from the same root in their common ancestor language, proto-Indo-European.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of other terms you might find:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;derivative&lt;/strong&gt;: a derivative is a word that is derived from a root word. Both &lt;em&gt;brother&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;frère&lt;/em&gt; are derivates of &lt;em&gt;*bʰréh₂tēr&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;reflex&lt;/strong&gt;: a reflex is a sound in a descendent language that corresponds to a sound in the ancestor language. For example, the proto-Indo-European sound /bʰ/ has the reflex sound /b/ in English and /f/ in French, which is why the English derivative is &lt;em&gt;brother&lt;/em&gt; and the French derivative is &lt;em&gt;frère&lt;/em&gt;. Similarly, the proto-Indo-European root &lt;em&gt;*bʰudʰ-no-&lt;/em&gt; has derivative &lt;em&gt;bottom&lt;/em&gt; in English and &lt;em&gt;fond&lt;/em&gt; in French, and &lt;em&gt;*bʰerǵʰ-&lt;/em&gt; meaning “fort” has derivatives &lt;em&gt;burg&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;borough&lt;/em&gt; in English and &lt;em&gt;fort&lt;/em&gt; in French. (The English word &lt;em&gt;fort&lt;/em&gt; was borrowed later from French).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-01T17:54:36.227" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T17:54:36.227" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3583" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-01T03:36:21.123" Score="1" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;My English teacher doesn't like infinitives and she wants me to replace most if not all of them in my essays. Writing them is habitual for me and I always catch myself writing them but I'm always unsure of how to revise it without sounding awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some ways I can replace infinitives in my sentences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1498" LastActivityDate="2010-10-02T17:39:19.607" Title="Some techniques to replace infinitives?" Tags="&lt;infinitive&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3583" CreationDate="2010-10-01T03:57:13.397" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;He liked to eat bananas &amp;rarr; He liked eating bananas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="138" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T03:57:13.397" />
  <row Id="3585" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3588" CreationDate="2010-10-01T07:51:02.877" Score="4" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across this sentence today in a wait screen for a twitter client:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did you know that this wait is actually Twitter's fault, not ours? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;Did&quot; correct usage in this case? I didn't know it earlier, but I became aware of it as I read it. Hence this seems logically correct. But a &quot;Do you know...&quot; sounds more natural in this case. What tense would be correct in this case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="45" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-01T10:02:01.143" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T18:58:25.710" Title="Tense for an event that is about to occur as the reader reads" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;tense&gt;&lt;interrogatives&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="3586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3585" CreationDate="2010-10-01T08:50:25.773" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the &quot;did you know / do you know&quot; usage is not about the event (already passed or about to happen), but more about the &lt;strong&gt;intent of the question&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;do you know... ?&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;: I don't know, but I hope you do and that you can answer me...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;did you know... ?&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;: I already know, but I think you might not know, so I inform you of...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note, as &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/300/regdwight&quot;&gt;RegDwight&lt;/a&gt;, when a subordinate &quot;that&quot; is involved, the asker &lt;em&gt;knows&lt;/em&gt; about what he/she is asking in both cases (&quot;do you know &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;&quot; or &quot;did you know &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;&quot;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference is then more an &lt;strong&gt;enforcement vs. information&lt;/strong&gt; one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;do you know that ... ?&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;: I do know, but and you should really take that into account&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;did you know that... ?&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;: I already know, but I think you might not know, so I inform you of..., feel free to ignore it however.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3585/tense-for-an-event-that-is-about-to-occur-as-the-reader-reads/3588#3588&quot;&gt;RegDwight's answer&lt;/a&gt;(+1) illustrates that is really more about interpreting a usage than determining an precise &quot;correctness&quot;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-01T12:29:07.953" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T12:29:07.953" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3578" CreationDate="2010-10-01T09:01:32.157" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you may find there is also a difference here between US and GB English (a field worth writing a book about!). From experience, I'd say &quot;help...to&quot; is more prevalent in British English and less common in the US. &#xA;As a British translator (from German) I've sometimes had &quot;help to + infintive&quot; corrected to just &quot;help + infinitive&quot; by US editors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1500" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T09:01:32.157" />
  <row Id="3588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3585" CreationDate="2010-10-01T09:15:08.527" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; I was going to edit my answer but then I noticed that &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3585/tense-for-an-event-that-is-about-to-occur-as-the-reader-reads/3606#3606&quot;&gt;nohat had posted a better one&lt;/a&gt; in the mean time. So, right now I am contemplating simply deleting my answer, but I will start by giving nohat a +1 and editing my answer as intended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, you are right that tenses matter. &quot;Do you know Amy?&quot; or &quot;Do you know where I can get a cheap PC?&quot; are grammatically certainly not the same as &quot;Did you know Amy?&quot; or &quot;Did you know where I can get a cheap PC?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the question at hand, &quot;Did you know that this wait is actually Twitter's fault, not ours?&quot;, is different from the aforementioned examples in that the intent of the asker is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; to get an answer from you, but rather to provide you with a piece of information. What they are actually saying is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This wait is Twitter's fault, not ours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's all. But note how much harsher it sounds. Rephrasing this as a question is simply a more polite way to convey the same information. In short: the question is &lt;em&gt;rhetorical&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As such, theoretically it could be worded in pretty much any way the asker chooses: &quot;Did you know that...&quot;, &quot;Do you know that...&quot;, &quot;Would you like to know that...&quot;, &quot;May we draw your attention to the fact that...&quot;, &quot;Would you mind if we mentioned that...&quot;, etc. However, out of the multitude of all possible templates the &quot;Did you know that...&quot; one has emerged to be the most popular one. It is extremely common in spoken conversation (which I originally failed to mention), and it is now a well-established template for messages displayed during loading times, from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;KDE&lt;/a&gt; to video games.  As nohat succinctly puts it, it's &quot;a pretty standard formula&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, as to why the standard formula has become the one that uses the past and not the present tense, I don't know for certain. However, I will point out that the past tense is often used to make things sound (even) more polite. For example, note the difference between saying &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2132/&quot;&gt;&quot;I was wondering if&quot; versus &quot;I am wondering if&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-01T18:58:25.710" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T18:58:25.710" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3589" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3591" CreationDate="2010-10-01T09:24:50.860" Score="-3" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My mom and dad are really nice. They always try to be tolerant and p _ _ _ _ _ _ with my brother and me. Mum's more i _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ than dad — she sometimes shouts at us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that they are &quot;pretend&quot; and &quot;intolerant&quot;, but the second doesn't fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1501" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-01T15:28:31.497" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T15:28:31.497" Title="Which are the words?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;homework&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3572" CreationDate="2010-10-01T09:31:33.060" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;ISO 3166-2:2007 is &quot;Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions - Part 2: Country subdivision&quot;.  So you can assume that &quot;subdivison&quot; is a neutral and accepted term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T09:31:33.060" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3589" CreationDate="2010-10-01T09:46:57.147" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go with &quot;patient&quot; and &quot;impatient&quot;, respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T09:46:57.147" />
  <row Id="3592" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3600" CreationDate="2010-10-01T11:55:48.193" Score="3" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am confused about using the word &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt;. I often hear it being used in many contexts that sound wrong to me - but I'm not sure if it's me or them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me give some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: Where were you yesterday evening?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  B: I was at the coffee house.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  A: Hey, I was there &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt;; how come we didn't meet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess the correct usage here would be &lt;code&gt;I was also there&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;I was there too&lt;/code&gt;, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How about this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: Did you complete that task?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  B: No, but I am doing that &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; is used here to stress on the fact that he is doing &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; (and not something else). I guess this usage stems from an equivalent usage in Hindi and other Indian languages. What's the correct way to express this? I feel &lt;em&gt;I am still working on that&lt;/em&gt; is not the same - it sounds more like &lt;em&gt;I haven't figured out how to do it&lt;/em&gt;, as opposed to &lt;em&gt;this is a difficult task, it'll take some time&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: How many questions have you asked in this forum?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  B: I have asked only one question.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  C: I have asked one question only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Who is correct - B or C?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I'm with B on this one, but I don't know if C is correct too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: In case you haven't guessed it already, I'm not a native English speaker :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="464" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:39:32.767" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:39:32.767" Title="Using the word 'Only'" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;indian-english&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3593" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3594" CreationDate="2010-10-01T12:06:54.363" Score="5" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does &quot;moving right along&quot; mean ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does this slang stand for ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1503" LastActivityDate="2010-10-03T14:59:39.647" Title="What does &quot;moving right along&quot; mean ?" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3593" CreationDate="2010-10-01T12:18:33.967" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means &quot;enough of that topic, let's go to the next topic since we are under time constraints&quot;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="677" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T12:18:33.967" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3592" CreationDate="2010-10-01T12:19:24.120" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first instance looks plain wrong. Maybe the speaker wanted to Say &lt;code&gt;I was there only yesterday&lt;/code&gt;, which can imply &lt;code&gt;I was also there yesterday&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;#2 seems correct&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;#3 seems correct either way&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="45" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T12:19:24.120" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2010-10-01T12:30:15.063" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onelook.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;OneLook&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acronymfinder.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Acronym finder&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="81" LastEditorUserId="81" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T18:23:06.613" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T18:23:06.613" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-10-01T12:30:15.063" />
  <row Id="3597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3581" CreationDate="2010-10-01T13:26:46.513" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a linguist but I do read Language Log and speak a couple languages.  So here are my guidelines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it sounds natural to me (vague), if I can understand it, if I can parse it, or if I recognize it as an established usage then I consider it correct and/or grammatical.  Some things are correct but don't appear grammatical, and some things are grammatical but don't appear correct.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I don't immediately recognize it as grammatical, a reasoned logical explanation might convince me, in which case I'd revise my opinion, but otherwise an argument based on the actual usage would convince me.  Other arguments I find unpersuasive because I've concluded that language arises from how people use it, and thus if you see it being used it's part of the language.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm not sure what is meant by &quot;opinion&quot; in this question.  But the pervasiveness of a usage affects my acceptance of it as part of the language.  There may still be problems with it; for example lots of people say &quot;nucular&quot; when they mean &quot;nuclear&quot;.  I consider that pronunciation wrong, yet accept that it's part of the language.  Is that a contradiction? :)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm not informed enough to answer this question reliably.  I trust Language Log because the writers there seem to be honest and they do not seem to be prescriptivists. But for all I know they could be lying to me.  Language Log has conditioned me to reject Strunk &amp;amp; White and by extension be suspicious about any book which tells me how to write.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T13:26:46.513" />
  <row Id="3598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3592" CreationDate="2010-10-01T13:54:53.427" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Midhat that #1 is completely wrong and #3 is fine either way. (For #3, answer C is less common and sounds very slightly stilted or overly formal, but still grammatically unobjectionable.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For #2, I would say, &quot;I am working on that &lt;em&gt;exclusively&lt;/em&gt;.&quot; Meaning: I am not finished with that task, but I have made it my highest (and only) priority and will work on nothing else until it is finished. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="990" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T13:54:53.427" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3592" CreationDate="2010-10-01T14:19:43.830" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Only is an interesting word in that it can change the meaning of sentence depending on its placement. Take, for example, the sentence &lt;code&gt;I love her&lt;/code&gt;. Putting &lt;code&gt;only&lt;/code&gt; in all the different places in the sentence changes the meaning completely:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Only I love her&lt;/code&gt;: I am the only person that loves her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;I only love her&lt;/code&gt;: Love is the only feeling I have for her, nothing else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;I love only her&lt;/code&gt;: She is the only person I love.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;I love her only&lt;/code&gt;: Same as the previous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back to the question at hand, I agree with both other posters that #1 is wrong, #2 is correct but awkward, and #3 is correct either way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would correct #2 by saying, &quot;I am only doing that&quot; or &quot;I am only working on that.&quot; In conversation, I would probably stress it with, &quot;I am only working on that—nothing else.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1347" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-01T15:12:14.643" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T15:12:14.643" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3592" CreationDate="2010-10-01T14:34:54.177" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example 1&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;seems to be legitimate Indian English, see&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Something which Indian English has&#xA;  that is not found in other varieties&#xA;  of English is the use of only and&#xA;  itself to emphasize time and place. It&#xA;  comes from the Hindi word hi and&#xA;  produces sentences like &quot;I was in&#xA;  Toledo only&quot; and &quot;Can we meet tomorrow&#xA;  itself?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;extract from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.languageinindia.com/junjul2002/baldridgeindianenglish.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;language in India&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More discussion on 'only' in Indian English here &lt;a href=&quot;http://dustinfreeman.org/blog/?p=386&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dustin Freeman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example 2&lt;/strong&gt; is probably Indian English too. You could say you are concentrating on that task, if you wanted to be better understood by a foreign audience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example 3&lt;/strong&gt;: either is correct, I would think the 2nd is more colloquial&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think you be misunderstood with any of these colloquialisms. To me they are colourful additions to the language&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T14:34:54.177" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3601" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3605" CreationDate="2010-10-01T15:24:17.213" Score="7" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will illustrate this question with an example, since I think it's much easier to see what I'm asking there, rather than from an abstract question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a native English speaker. I was, for a while, an expatriate living in Luxembourg. On wikipedia articles about Luxembourg and Luxembourg-related things, the adjective &quot;Luxembourgian&quot; was often used. I edited this out whenever I saw it, since it was a word that no one (native speaker or otherwise) ever says in the English speaking community in Luxembourg. (Luxembourgish or sometimes Luxembourgeois are accepted). However, despite my fairly limited efforts, &quot;Luxembourgian&quot; still gets used on wikipedia, and I've heard people (when forced to guess what the adjective might be) plump for this ugly sounding word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So here's the question: do the native English speakers living in or near Luxembourg have some kind of privileged status when determining what constitutes correct usage for Luxembourg related words? Or to put it another way, if enough people who know very little about Luxembourg think it's probably &quot;Luxembourgian&quot;, does that trump the ex-pats considered opinion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="879" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T19:04:09.740" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T19:04:09.740" Title="Whose usage determines correctness?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;descriptivism&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="3602" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3614" CreationDate="2010-10-01T15:29:15.897" Score="12" ViewCount="352" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my own reading of older books (eg. 18th, 19th century) in various styles (novels, philosophical treatises, scientific publications), it seems that sentences were longer back then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there good hard data on this? Have sentences in fiction shrunk faster than sentences in, say philosophy journals? (I expect so). What explanations can be given for this trend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T18:37:54.787" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T18:37:54.787" Title="Is there a historical trend towards shorter sentences?" Tags="&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3603" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-01T15:49:07.220" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a native British English speaker and I am considering teaching English to children in other countries (probably Poland). What are the best qualifications to get and what are the best courses to take (UK based or online)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="201" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T15:49:07.220" ClosedDate="2010-10-01T17:22:11.313" Title="Teaching English in a foreign (non-English speaking) country" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3592" CreationDate="2010-10-01T16:32:31.227" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Change the punctuation on #1 and it becomes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Hey, I was there; only how come we didn't meet?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The speaker is saying, I was there, too, but since I didn't see you, either there are special circumstances (you were wearing a disguise and hiding in a dark corner, or you popped in and out for only a minute), or you weren't really there and I've blown your alibi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T16:32:31.227" />
  <row Id="3605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3601" CreationDate="2010-10-01T17:01:54.820" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few issues I want to address here. First is the question of distinguishing &lt;em&gt;preferred&lt;/em&gt; usages from &lt;em&gt;correct&lt;/em&gt; usages. Correctness or grammaticality is a question of overall usage by all native speakers of a language. It is indefensible to label common usages from native speakers as “incorrect”—the closest we can get is to label some usages “nonstandard”, where speakers of the standard language nearly universally condemn a particular usage at a particular formality level. It is important not to confuse informal usage with incorrectness, but it is certainly reasonable to call for example &lt;em&gt;ain’t&lt;/em&gt; non-standard for formal English. At the same time, while I believe it is indisputable that using both &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;fewer&lt;/em&gt; for count nouns is standard English, individuals certainly can have preferences, using only &lt;em&gt;fewer&lt;/em&gt; for count nouns and reserving &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; only for non-count nouns. Deciding on such preferences is up to the individual writer or the organization the writer is writing for, but don’t forget that individual or institutional usage preferences are just that—preferences—and deviation from those preferences does not constitute “incorrectness”, because using dispreferred usages is still grammatical English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next is the question of whether the usage of a group which is more closely connected to a topic (“in-group” usage) gets more weight in preferring a usage. I think there is a strong argument against following in-group preferences because often in-group usage is highly jargony and the general speaker or writer will usually want to avoid jargon or group-specific language. For example, the general writer may prefer to use the word &lt;em&gt;hacker&lt;/em&gt; to describe people who breach computer security even though the in-group preference is for &lt;em&gt;cracker&lt;/em&gt; for the simple reason that the lay audience will find discussion of “computer crackers” and not “computer hackers” to be puzzling. It is my belief that consideration of the reading audience outweighs consideration of the group being discussed. However, not everyone agrees with this philosophy, and some people may feel compelled to respect a connected group’s preferences. An example of this is in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3155/what-is-the-correct-pronunciation-of-the-word-islam&quot;&gt;this question about the pronunciation of &lt;em&gt;Islam&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, where some posters expressed a preference for respecting Muslims by pronouncing the word the way they would prefer to; that is, as closely to the original Arabic as possible. I, personally, don’t find such arguments to be persuasive, but many people do use that kind of criteria to guide them in selecting a preferred usage, and I think that is a defensible thing to do, even if it results in confusing or misleading the audience. Remember I am only addressing now the criteria for preference and not the criteria for correctness, so I am careful to distinguish the legitimacy of choosing a preferred usage from labeling dispreferred usages as “incorrect”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally we get to the example posed in the original question. Even if you want to use emulation of in-group preference as a criterion for which usage to prefer, amateur linguistic analysis of the sort “it was a word that no one (native speaker or otherwise) ever says in the English speaking community in Luxembourg” tends not to be very reliable. Such statements are more often wrong than they are right, being victims of multiple cognitive biases, such as confirmation bias and expectation bias. Statements like that are a big red flag—in my experience people only come to such hard-edged conclusions as a defense mechanism for coping with the cognitive dissonance from encountering counter-examples. I generally assume the opposite to be true until I see some kind of authoritative support or statistical analysis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T17:01:54.820" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3585" CreationDate="2010-10-01T17:06:50.037" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;“Did you know…?” is a pretty standard formula for presenting potentially new (usually trivial) information to people. It’s dressing up the presentation of the new information in a question for politeness, which in the context of a real conversation would give the listener an easy opportunity to respond with “No, I didn’t know that—thank you so much for telling me”, or something like that. It’s a polite way to convey information without sounding teacherish, especially if there is a substantial likelihood that the listener already knows that information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Do you know…?” would not be a substitution with the same meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-01T17:13:50.910" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T17:13:50.910" />
  <row Id="3607" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3609" CreationDate="2010-10-01T21:47:35.367" Score="2" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;How should &lt;em&gt;hypokeimenon&lt;/em&gt; be pronounced?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. For the curious, a sci-fi book I'm reading used several words I did not know. When I looked them up, I also ran across &lt;em&gt;hypokeimenon&lt;/em&gt; and wondered about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;supernal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dolose&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;haecceity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;morological&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;accipitrine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;limbus&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Odobenus rosmarus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These last six were within two pages. I only knew anything about one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1421" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-02T14:39:59.707" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T13:34:59.583" Title="Pronunciation of &quot;hypokeimenon&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3359" CreationDate="2010-10-01T22:50:15.180" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What year?  I assume this is 100+ years ago. After you decide on the year, go find the books published that year in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Guttenburg&lt;/a&gt;.  Read those and absorb the manner of speech. More importantly, decide what your readers can put up with. I can't bear to read authentic archaic anything. &quot;He said 'What's up?' in a quaint Kentish dialect.&quot; work great for me as a reader.  On the otherhand, the thee's and thou's are just as much an intellectual speedbump as if someone replaced all the she's and he's with ze (one of the proposals for a gender neutral pronoun!)  In any case, as a reader, the fact someone is saying hither and thither at all is what sounds wrong, not that they are failing to use it to mean &quot;to here&quot; and and &quot;to there&quot;, or in the case of thee and thou, if they are using it in the nominative or accusative slot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6" LastActivityDate="2010-10-01T22:50:15.180" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3607" CreationDate="2010-10-01T23:32:39.893" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Material_substratum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Greek in origin&lt;/a&gt;, used by Aristotle to describe &quot;something which can be predicated by other things, but cannot be a predicate of others&quot;. To be certain of the &lt;em&gt;correct&lt;/em&gt; pronunciation, we would have to consult someone who speaks native ancient Greek, which may be difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best reference that I could find was this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NskAaSocM_c&amp;amp;t=01m23s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt; of a Greek speaker discussing metaphysics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gentleman at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.forvo.com/word/%E1%BD%91%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%BA%CE%B5%CE%AF%CE%BC%CE%B5%CE%BD%CE%BF%CE%BD/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this link&lt;/a&gt; (a male from Netherlands) pronounces it something like HAY-PO-KAAAY-MEN-ON, drawing out the AA sound between &lt;em&gt;hypok&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;menon&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a native English speaker, my first instinct is to pronounce it HIGH-PO-KAY-MEN-ON. I would treat the &lt;em&gt;hypo&lt;/em&gt; prefix as identical in sound to its use in &quot;hypodermic&quot; or &quot;hypoallergenic&quot;. I am less certain about the &lt;em&gt;kei&lt;/em&gt; portion, but KAY sounds more correct than KEE. To my eye, the final &lt;em&gt;menon&lt;/em&gt; could only be pronounced MEN-ON. Again, this is only my interpretation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T13:34:59.583" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T13:34:59.583" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3610" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3613" CreationDate="2010-10-02T03:21:39.533" Score="2" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does it mean and where would I use it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-02T12:26:49.540" LastActivityDate="2010-10-02T19:30:51.587" Title="Usage of &quot;shall we?&quot;" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3611" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-02T06:07:03.990" Score="4" ViewCount="321" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the following sentence grammatically correct and does it make any sense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Humans made god to live in pieces and not peace.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was posted by some atheist in response to this quote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;God made us to live in peace and not pieces.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1507" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T14:32:10.870" Title="Does the following sentence make any sense?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="6" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="3612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3611" CreationDate="2010-10-02T11:00:31.450" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it makes sense, but it would be easier to understand if we added &quot;for them&quot;, like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Humans made god &lt;em&gt;for them&lt;/em&gt; to live in&#xA;  pieces and not peace.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some languages such as Galician have a form of the infinitive called the conjugated infinitive, in which an infinitive (such as &quot;to live&quot;) can be modified to point to a specific person and number; it would look something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Humans made god to-live-them in&#xA;  pieces and not peace.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English does not have that kind of construction and instead needs to add a couple of words to the infinitive &quot;to live&quot; as in my example above to achieve the same effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether or not the sentence is understandable when eliding those two words is another matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1304" LastEditorUserId="1304" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-02T11:42:19.067" LastActivityDate="2010-10-02T11:42:19.067" />
  <row Id="3613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3610" CreationDate="2010-10-02T13:17:13.443" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are in a situation where a group is gathering to do something (go out for lunch, start a meeting, etc.), &quot;Shall we?&quot; would mean something like &quot;Are we now all ready and is it now time to proceed with what we are here for?&quot;.  (Or more simply, &quot;Should we now proceed?&quot;, but that explains &quot;shall&quot; in terms of &quot;should&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-10-02T13:17:13.443" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3602" CreationDate="2010-10-02T14:53:41.537" Score="29" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Writing for an internet audience means writing short, easily-consumed sentences that can be rapidly skimmed for content, and which don't force the reader to continue slogging through a wordy explanation when a short bullet point would have sufficed, because reading on a screen is unnatural and tiring, not to mention that contemporary literary tastes tend toward the clear and plebian in lieu of the florid purple prose of yesteryear, the equivalents of whose borderline poetic constructions in modern form tend to read as overly complex at best and run-ons at worst, again, in large part because they don't follow one of the simple rules of modern literature: information is paramount, and how information is presented has become much less important than what it actually is&amp;mdash;temporarily disregarding standards of readability and good taste&amp;mdash;so the obvious choice is minimalism and succinctness (and the epitome of this is Twitter, which a comment already mentioned) especially because it's significantly easier to write many brief sentences than one long one that retains even a modicum of comprehensibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(You have no idea how hard that was to do.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-10-02T14:53:41.537" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="3615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3611" CreationDate="2010-10-02T16:23:46.677" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; My original interpretation was incorrect. See Comments by Colin Fine and Benjol, plus the &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3611/does-the-following-sentence-make-any-sense/3669#3669&quot;&gt;answer posted by Mr. Shiny and New&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The confusion regarding these two sentences revolves around the phrase &lt;em&gt;to live in pieces&lt;/em&gt;, which must be interpreted based on context. This phrase exists implicitly in the original sentence, and explicitly in the atheist's response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I originally though that &lt;em&gt;to live in pieces&lt;/em&gt; really meant &lt;em&gt;to die&lt;/em&gt;, used in contrast to living in peace. Colin Fine pointed out that it probably means &lt;em&gt;to live in disparate groups&lt;/em&gt;, and I agree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first part of the original sentence makes sense on its own: &lt;em&gt;God made us to live in peace&lt;/em&gt;. The second part makes some sacrifices in order to keep the quote short and to make use of the rhyming between &lt;em&gt;peace&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;piece&lt;/em&gt;. The fragment &lt;em&gt;not in pieces&lt;/em&gt; is missing both subject and verb, which implies that they should be borrowed from the first part of the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;God made us to live in peace and not [to live in] pieces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sentence conveys two ideas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;God made humans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;God wants/expects humans to live in harmony&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence written by the atheist is intended to contradict the meaning of the original sentence using the same basic structure, but flipping some of the parts. Following the same logic as above, his response should be interpreted as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Humans made god&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Humans use god as an excuse for conflict&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastEditorUserId="1009" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-05T06:00:56.633" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T06:00:56.633" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3583" CreationDate="2010-10-02T17:39:19.607" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might like &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/384/how-does-one-know-when-to-use-a-gerund-or-a-infinitive/388#388&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; to a question on infinitives vs. gerunds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-10-02T17:39:19.607" />
  <row Id="3617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3610" CreationDate="2010-10-02T19:30:51.587" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Shall&lt;/em&gt; is used in questions indicating offers or suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Shall I send you the book?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Shall we go?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-10-02T19:30:51.587" />
  <row Id="3618" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3619" CreationDate="2010-10-02T20:01:03.413" Score="3" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the dictionary, artist could be a painter, singer, dancer, or actor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I think maybe writers could be considered artists as well.  What's your opinion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm writing a composition about art and artists, and I'm not sure if a writer is appropriate as an example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="786" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-03T11:19:55.460" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T10:33:55.100" Title="Could the word &quot;artist&quot; be used to refer to a writer?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="3619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3618" CreationDate="2010-10-02T20:31:41.230" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think if someone thought about it they would agree that writers are artists but the common thought of &quot;artist&quot; is a painter, singer, dancer, actor. A writer is not the first example that would spring to many minds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1347" LastActivityDate="2010-10-02T20:31:41.230" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3620" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3621" CreationDate="2010-10-02T20:35:44.700" Score="3" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed allot is usually used as an adjective (as in, your allotted amount), and allocate is more often used as a verb (as in, i will allocate some resources). Any other notable differences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1510" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T14:59:53.557" Title="What's the practical difference between allot and allocate?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3620" CreationDate="2010-10-03T00:46:01.053" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Wiktionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/allot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Allot&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/allocate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Allocate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allot should only be used when a collection of items is divided up into equal-sized chunks (&quot;lots&quot;), and then distributed. Allocate is more general in that it describes distribution, but has no requirement that the total set of items be divided into lots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, allocate is more likely to be used in cases like computer memory, where a program asks for a given amount of memory from the free store, and that amount of memory is returned. But allot is more likely to be used in cases such as a &quot;allot each person 50 pounds of grain per month&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1209" LastActivityDate="2010-10-03T00:46:01.053" />
  <row Id="3622" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-03T12:35:08.863" Score="4" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Am I interpreting the results correctly?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Do I interpret the results correctly?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do they have the same meaning? Are both or just one correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1512" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-03T13:00:44.260" LastActivityDate="2010-10-03T18:37:17.430" Title="'Am I interpreting' vs 'Do I interpret'?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="3623" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3628" CreationDate="2010-10-03T13:22:56.567" Score="7" ViewCount="260" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This document does not cover the SDK interfaces nor any other reference material.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the above is correct, but my grammatical checker in Microsoft Word underlines &lt;code&gt;nor&lt;/code&gt; and suggests &lt;code&gt;or&lt;/code&gt;. Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="377" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T23:30:43.967" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T23:30:43.967" Title="Should I use 'or' or 'nor'?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="3624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3622" CreationDate="2010-10-03T14:34:59.263" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Certainly either is correct, and they are equivalent in meaning.  You're much more likely to hear #1, though.  You might hear #2 in a confrontational context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-10-03T14:34:59.263" />
  <row Id="3625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3623" CreationDate="2010-10-03T14:41:39.447" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My ear agrees with Word on this one. Two other possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;This document covers neither the SDK interfaces nor any other reference material.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;This document does not cover the SDK interfaces, nor does it include any other reference material.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-10-03T14:41:39.447" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3593" CreationDate="2010-10-03T14:59:39.647" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It also means &quot;making good progress,&quot; in reference to a lengthy project, like constructing a building, writing a book, planning a wedding, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-10-03T14:59:39.647" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3562" CreationDate="2010-10-03T15:19:01.533" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For this usage, I think &quot;various&quot; is better, because &quot;different&quot; implies a comparison. Different from what?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: &quot;OSX provides certain methods for inter-process communication, while different methods of inter-process communication are available in Windows.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Different&quot; is certainly used colloquially to mean &quot;various,&quot; but I would avoid that in formal or technical contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="67" LastActivityDate="2010-10-03T15:19:01.533" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3623" CreationDate="2010-10-03T15:44:24.243" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the two options are negative (neither this nor that) then use &quot;nor&quot;. Otherwise, use &quot;or&quot;. Your example sentence can be reworded to read, &quot;This document covers &lt;em&gt;neither&lt;/em&gt; the SDK interfaces &lt;em&gt;nor&lt;/em&gt; any other reference material.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NOTE&lt;/strong&gt;: In my experience, Word's grammar checker is mediocre at best. It has a tendency to look at a sentence and suggest the opposite of the correct word. It was especially bad with [your/you're] in versions up to and including 2003, so I just keep it turned off and rely on thorough proof-reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2010-10-03T15:44:24.243" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3622" CreationDate="2010-10-03T16:20:09.830" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If both of those sentences were coming from a native English speaker, then I'd say that they &lt;strong&gt;don't&lt;/strong&gt; convey the same meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;#1 is seeking confirmation that the speaker's interpretation of the results up to this point in time has been correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;#2 sounds a little strange in this context, but is asking for clarification as to whether the speaker should, as a future action, interpret the results correctly (as opposed to, say, deliberately producing an inaccurate interpretation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more natural usage of the construction from #2 might be, for example, if someone is asking for directions: &quot;Do I go left or right?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coming from a non-native English speaker, I might interpret #2 as meaning the same as #1, on the grounds that some languages don't distinguish between the present continuous (#1) and the simple present (#2) in the same way as English, so it may be difficult for the speaker to know which form is appropriate in cases like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-10-03T16:20:09.830" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3622" CreationDate="2010-10-03T18:37:17.430" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think #2 is valid and equivalent to #1, but #2 is less common, not only because English is prone to using the present progressive where other languages would use simple present, but also because #2 is somewhat archaic and sounds more formal. Another common construction with basically the same meaning would be &quot;have I interpreted these results correctly?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For #2, consider a person making a statement about what they've just heard, followed by &quot;do I understand you correctly?&quot; All of these phrases have the same meaning in context: seeking affirmation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-10-03T18:37:17.430" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3480" CreationDate="2010-10-03T21:22:54.397" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The OED has examples both in italicized form (from 1845) and non-italicized form (from 1895).  If you are using naturalization as a standard, it lists &lt;em&gt;fait accompli&lt;/em&gt; as a &quot;not naturalized, alien&quot; word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'd agree with you that a word's presence in dictionaries isn't a great gauge of how well an audience understands it as native.  Even so, I'd assume that most readers here would be relatively familiar with &lt;em&gt;fait accompli&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I doubt there's much you could do to change this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="52" LastActivityDate="2010-10-03T21:22:54.397" />
  <row Id="3632" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3634" CreationDate="2010-10-03T22:15:56.057" Score="2" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;The profits that the corporation earns from the exclusive-supplier agreements with the universities are_&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;_&lt;/strong&gt;, because the terms of agreements that they are inclined  to protect the universities’ interests are generally_&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;explicable……..flouted&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;unclear……….publicized&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;predictable……….scrutinized&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;declining…….ignored&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;surprising…..enforced&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people prefer &quot;predictable ... scrutinized&quot;, but I feel &quot;surprising ... enforced&quot; is more appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's your opinion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="786" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T03:06:06.057" Title="A controversial GRE question." Tags="&lt;gre&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3618" CreationDate="2010-10-04T00:38:10.277" Score="-7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I could use the word &quot;communist&quot; to refer to Barry Obama. Some might argue about that just like they might about your artist question. Personally, I'd much rather argue about whether Obama could be called a communist than to argue about whether a writer is an artist. This isn't just because I have strong opinions about Obama. Take a secretary for instance; she takes dictation and writes an office memo, but who's going to say she has artistic merit on this basis? Yet, we can say she's a writer. When writing a composition, it is best to stick to stuff that you can make clear, strong argumentation about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1490" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T00:38:10.277" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3632" CreationDate="2010-10-04T02:10:19.000" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would argue that if the profits are surprising, then the word &quot;because&quot;  doesn't make sense. If the terms are enforced, then that &lt;em&gt;contradicts&lt;/em&gt; the fact that it is surprising and &quot;because&quot; would not be the right word. Since the word &quot;because&quot; is mandated by the exam, it's not the right choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if the terms are scrutinized, then it therefore logically follows that one can predict the profits. This choice fits the sentence better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T02:10:19.000" />
  <row Id="3635" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3655" CreationDate="2010-10-04T04:09:15.860" Score="4" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one of these sentences is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I don't bother to study.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I don't bother studying.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-04T12:39:47.077" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T21:53:05.870" Title="&quot;I don't bother to do&quot; vs &quot;I don't bother doing&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;infinitive&gt;&lt;participle&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="3636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3618" CreationDate="2010-10-04T04:10:56.450" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Language is meant to convey meaning or emotion, and linguistic art would be a happy use of the tools created to record events or write royal decrees. In calling a writer an artist, would you be misleading the reader? If so, is the deception or misdirection serving a purpose? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to make the point that writers can be artists, it seems appropriate to acknowledge that some writers have gone beyond clarity and craft, creating a thing that someone, somewhere would define as art. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T04:10:56.450" />
  <row Id="3637" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-04T04:12:10.210" Score="4" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do both mean exactly the same or do they have slightly different meanings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="70" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T13:18:02.943" Title="Is there any difference between 'often' and 'frequently'?" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3638" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3644" CreationDate="2010-10-04T05:08:54.737" Score="10" ViewCount="396" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question asks it all really. When referring to a master's degree, do you use an apostrophe or not? That is, is it &quot;a master's&quot; or &quot;a masters&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1516" LastEditorUserId="1516" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-04T08:55:05.433" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T08:55:05.433" Title="Is there an apostrophe in a master's degree?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="3639" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3643" CreationDate="2010-10-04T05:13:30.153" Score="5" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;A plurality of deacons is called a diaconate. What is the reason for this vowel change (&quot;e&quot; to &quot;i&quot;) for these words? Are there any other words that illustrate this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T14:20:23.650" Title="Diaconate vs. Deacon" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3640" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3642" CreationDate="2010-10-04T05:20:23.930" Score="6" ViewCount="505" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read an article recently where the author used &quot;substract&quot; instead of &quot;subtract&quot;.  I'm more familiar with the latter word but after doing a bit of googling, it seems that both words are being used, although &quot;subtract&quot; seems more mainstream than the other. Which of the two is more appropriate? Is &quot;substract&quot; even acceptable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1269" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T09:43:35.273" Title="Subtract vs Substract" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3640" CreationDate="2010-10-04T05:44:39.267" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never heard of &quot;substract&quot; and, more to the point, neither has my edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. Even if it is a word, assuming that it means the same as &quot;subtract&quot; I can't see any point in preferring it over the better known word, apart from showing off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1402" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T05:44:39.267" />
  <row Id="3642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3640" CreationDate="2010-10-04T06:10:11.140" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Subtract&quot; is the word. Though the obsolete word &quot;substract&quot; &lt;em&gt;did&lt;/em&gt; exist, any occurrence you see these days is most likely just a common mistake, formed by analogy either with &quot;abstract&quot; or with other languages whose corresponding words do have two ‘s’s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many recent dictionaries do not list &quot;substract&quot;. Of &quot;substract&quot;, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_Dictionary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Century Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (1891) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/words/substract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;said&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;An erroneous form of &lt;strong&gt;subtract&lt;/strong&gt;, common in vulgar use.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; of 1913 &lt;a href=&quot;http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.sh?WORD=substract&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;called it&lt;/a&gt; &quot;obsolete&quot;, while the even older version of 1828 &lt;a href=&quot;http://machaut.uchicago.edu/?action=search&amp;amp;resource=Webster%27s&amp;amp;word=Substract&amp;amp;quicksearch=on&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;said&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Note.--Substract was formerly used in analogy with abstract. But in modern usage, it is written according to the Latin, subtract. See this word and its derivatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, I know people who find &quot;substract&quot; very annoying. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T06:10:11.140" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3639" CreationDate="2010-10-04T06:46:17.730" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;deacon&lt;/em&gt; is an anglicization of the borrowed Latin word &lt;em&gt;diacon&lt;/em&gt; (which itself was originally Greek), so the vowel change is the other way around.  Over time, &lt;em&gt;diacon&lt;/em&gt; became &lt;em&gt;deacon&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for the difference in the vowels between &lt;em&gt;deacon&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;diaconate&lt;/em&gt; is likely because of when these two words were borrowed.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Deacon&lt;/em&gt; has been around in English for some time; the earliest uses in the OED date back to 1000 AD (early Middle English).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Diaconate&lt;/em&gt; was not borrowed at that time, nor was &lt;em&gt;diaconate&lt;/em&gt; in any way derived from &lt;em&gt;deacon&lt;/em&gt; when it entered English.  Instead, it was borrowed directly from Latin; in particular, there is one OED reference in the 1700s and everything else is from the mid-1800s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, &lt;em&gt;deacon&lt;/em&gt; has been around since the Middle English period and has been through a thousand years of vowel change, while &lt;em&gt;diaconate&lt;/em&gt; entered the language fairly recently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example of this: &lt;em&gt;pope&lt;/em&gt; (from Old English) and &lt;em&gt;papal&lt;/em&gt; / &lt;em&gt;papacy&lt;/em&gt; (1400s): all came from Latin &lt;em&gt;papa&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-04T14:20:23.650" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T14:20:23.650" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3638" CreationDate="2010-10-04T07:26:37.337" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always use &quot;master's degree&quot;. Read the following &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailywritingtips.com/masters-degree-or-masters-degree/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; for more details:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Masters Degree or Master’s Degree?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;by Maeve Maddox&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer this question, I’ve consulted the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, and some university dissertation guidelines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking generically, you would write &lt;strong&gt;master’s degree&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jack has finally earned his master’s&#xA;  degree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking of a specific degree, you would capitalize &lt;strong&gt;Master&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He holds a Master of Fine Arts from&#xA;  State University.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to abbreviating academic degrees, you’d better check the style book that governs your work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, here is what the guidelines say on the site of Ohio University:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Use periods when abbreviating academic&#xA;  degrees.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Ex. Dr. Bond received her&#xA;  A.B., M.A., and Ph.D. from the&#xA;  University of Pennsylvania. –&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ohio.edu/publications/editor.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ohio University&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Northeastern University, like the MLA guide, prefers to drop the periods:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Punctuating degrees: Do not include periods in degree abbreviations. [Ex. BS, BA, MA, PhD] The single exception is Hon. for Honorary. –&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.northeastern.edu/toolkit/messaging/style3.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Northeastern University&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: Not all universities use the same abbreviations for the master’s degree:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Harvard University and the University&#xA;  of Chicago for instance, use A.M. and&#xA;  S.M. for their master’s degrees and&#xA;  MIT uses S.M. for its master of&#xA;  science degrees. Master of Science is&#xA;  often abbreviated MS or M.S. in the&#xA;  United States, and MSc or M.Sc. in ;&#xA;  Commonwealth nations and Europe.&#xA;  –&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master%27s_degree&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T07:26:37.337" />
  <row Id="3645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3637" CreationDate="2010-10-04T08:24:21.373" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They have the same meaning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://thesaurus.com/browse/frequently&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://thesaurus.com/browse/frequently&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T08:24:21.373" />
  <row Id="3646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3635" CreationDate="2010-10-04T08:25:43.067" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Number 2 is correct: I don't bother studying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T08:25:43.067" />
  <row Id="3647" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-04T09:08:40.733" Score="6" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like visibility combines show/hidden, what's the word that combines inclusion/exclusion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: &#xA;The problem is inspired by the VIM reference manual:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A character motion is either inclusive or exclusive.  When inclusive, the&#xA;      start and end position of the motion are included in the operation.  When&#xA;      exclusive, the last character towards the end of the buffer is not included.&#xA;      Linewise motions always include the start and end position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know what's the right word to use for describing the inclusive/exclusive property of a character motion, which I thought is like visibility to show/hidden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As RegDwight said, I am looking for the hypernym for inclusion/exclusion for this content/condition. Sorry for my poor and misleading English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1482" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-02T21:34:27.690" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T21:34:27.690" Title="What's the word that combines inclusion/exclusion?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;hypernyms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="3648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3647" CreationDate="2010-10-04T09:33:28.567" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Inclusion is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inclusion?show=0&amp;amp;t=1286184014&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;act of including&lt;/a&gt; and exclusion is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exclusion&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;act of excluding&lt;/a&gt;. Therefore these two words are not an indicative of state like visibility (shown or hidden).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that the states are actually &quot;included&quot; and &quot;not included&quot;. You could then use the word &quot;Included&quot; itself or maybe the sentence &quot;Is included?&quot; to indicate what you need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-06T14:55:43.640" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T14:55:43.640" />
  <row Id="3649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3647" CreationDate="2010-10-04T09:34:06.193" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is not quite symmetrical, which might not be helping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;shown/hidden == included/excluded&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;show/hide == include/exclude&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, I think that a possible answer would be &lt;code&gt;inclusion (included/excluded)&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T09:34:06.193" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3564" CreationDate="2010-10-04T09:44:45.113" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Poets differ on this too :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/My_Heart_Leaps_Up_When_I_Behold&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wordsworth&lt;/a&gt; said &lt;strong&gt;of&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;My heart leaps up when I behold&#xA;A Rainbow in the sky:&#xA;&#xA;So was it when my life began;&#xA;So is it now I am a man;&#xA;So be it when I shall grow old,&#xA;Or let me die!&#xA;&#xA;The Child is father of the man;&#xA;And I could wish my days to be&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Child_is_father_to_the_man&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gerard Manley Hopkins&lt;/a&gt; said &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;‘THE CHILD is father to the man.’&#xA;How can he be? The words are wild.&#xA;Suck any sense from that who can:&#xA;‘The child is father to the man.’&#xA;No; what the poet did write ran,&#xA;‘The man is father to the child.’&#xA;‘The child is father to the man!’&#xA;How can he be? The words are wild.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T09:44:45.113" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3647" CreationDate="2010-10-04T10:13:25.180" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I understand you correctly, you are looking for a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyponymy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hypernym&lt;/a&gt; of &lt;em&gt;inclusion&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;exclusion&lt;/em&gt;. Without further context, it is quite hard — if not impossible — to provide a definite answer. There are lots of potential candidates (say, &lt;em&gt;composition&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;content&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;form&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;comprehension&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;constitution&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;policy&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;condition&lt;/em&gt;...). Going by etymology alone, &lt;em&gt;in-/ex-&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;claudere&lt;/em&gt; (shut in/out), &lt;em&gt;closure&lt;/em&gt; would be yet another candidate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; now that you have provided some context, you have actually answered your own question. Look at the very first sentence of the quote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A character motion is either inclusive or exclusive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in this case, the hypernym of &lt;em&gt;inclusive/exclusive&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;strong&gt;motion&lt;/strong&gt;. The visibility can be either &quot;show&quot; or &quot;hide&quot;; the motion can be either &quot;inclusive&quot; or &quot;exclusive&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-04T11:35:30.180" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T11:35:30.180" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3652" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3656" CreationDate="2010-10-04T10:25:56.313" Score="3" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a Europhile living in England, it really bothers me when journalists refer to mainland Europe as &quot;Europe&quot;. We're &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; Europe! But I appreciate that it offers a neat shorthand for referring to the continent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there an alternative that doesn't offend my inclusive sensibilities?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T18:34:48.703" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T18:34:48.703" Title="How to refer to &quot;mainland Europe&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;geography&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="3653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3618" CreationDate="2010-10-04T10:33:55.100" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is some overlap between artists and writers, but not all writers are artists. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, Shakespeare is certainly an artist, but a person making a living writing as a writer of technical articles for MSDN probably is not (even if they authored a few books). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, the line is subjective and can be disputed. Are bad poets artists? What about exceptionally good technical writers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1056" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T10:33:55.100" />
  <row Id="3654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3652" CreationDate="2010-10-04T10:44:30.677" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Continental Europe&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Continental Europe, also referred to&#xA;  as mainland Europe or simply the&#xA;  Continent, is the continent of Europe,&#xA;  explicitly excluding European&#xA;  islands. &lt;strong&gt;Notably, in British&#xA;  English usage, the term means Europe&#xA;  excluding the United Kingdom, the Isle&#xA;  of Man, the Channel Islands, Ireland&#xA;  and Iceland.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Europe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Europe&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, here in England you may have heard &quot;continental breakfast&quot; as a reference to the kind of breakfast that is common in most countries in Continental Europe: croissants, butter, coffee, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-04T10:56:50.747" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T10:56:50.747" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3635" CreationDate="2010-10-04T11:58:16.673" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Antony Quinn is correct, but I think it could do with a little more explanation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No. 1 is perfectly understandable, but would not be used by a native English speaker. However, compare the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) I won't bother to look for it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) I won't bother looking for it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my view 3 is just as acceptable as 4.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the difference in the two cases is to do with whether it is a specific or a general statement: to my intuition the &quot;-ing&quot; form is strongly preferred for a general sense, but not when a specific occasion is being referred to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note that the almost synonymous phrase &quot;can't be bothered&quot; prefers the &quot;to&quot; form, though the &quot;-ing&quot; form is also found. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T11:58:16.673" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3652" CreationDate="2010-10-04T12:35:25.553" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Continent&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the United Kingdom, the Continent&#xA;  is used to refer to the mainland of&#xA;  Europe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(..)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A famous, perhaps apocryphal, British&#xA;  newspaper headline once read &quot;Fog in&#xA;  Channel; Continent Cut Off&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(..)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Derivatively, the adjective&#xA;  &quot;Continental&quot; refers to the social&#xA;  practices or fashion of continental&#xA;  Europe, as opposed to those in&#xA;  Britain. Examples include breakfast&#xA;  and, historically, long-range driving&#xA;  before Britain had motorways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Europe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Europe&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T12:35:25.553" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3657" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3664" CreationDate="2010-10-04T13:03:06.110" Score="3" ViewCount="322" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hope someone, once and for all, can clarify (with examples) the difference in usage of &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;would have&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;will have&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-04T14:57:10.960" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T14:57:10.960" Title="Explanation for usage of &quot;Would&quot;, &quot;Would have&quot;, &quot;Will&quot;, &quot;Will have&quot;" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3637" CreationDate="2010-10-04T13:18:02.943" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I would put more of a regular scheme to frequently, as the word comes from the same stem as frequency (a sine curve of certain wave length, therefore repeating itself in a certain pattern). Often would denote more of an irregularity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe this is a déformation professionel, as I am programmer with a math background, or I derive it from German and Latin languages, for example French:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;fréquenter quelquechose would mean to regularly go somewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore I would hear this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I frequently go to the gym - usually I go there several times a week on the same days each week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I often go to the gym - I go there as often as I can, but can't keep a clear schedule&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T13:18:02.943" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3657" CreationDate="2010-10-04T13:34:46.397" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Would&quot; has two meanings and I'm not sure which you mean, but one is a modal verb and conditional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;ex. I would wash the car if the water was working.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other one is past tense and basically just means &quot;used to&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;ex. He would plow the field with team of horses in just days.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Will&quot; is for certain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;ex. The next year will be 2011.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding &quot;have&quot; to the end just makes them the perfect tense, which kinda references the past too. I'm not sure it works with the conditional type of would, but I could be wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;ex. He would have taken me, but he had a flat tire.&#xA;ex. It will have been gone for a whole month by tomorrow.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1325" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T13:34:46.397" />
  <row Id="3660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3657" CreationDate="2010-10-04T13:41:46.233" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.e-education.psu.edu/styleforstudents/c3_p52.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;From Commonly Misused Terms and Phrases&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“Will” suggests strong probability or future likelihood. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Would” implies the same, but is typically used when the probability is more hypothetical.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The articel &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.britishcouncil.org/burma-library-services-learn-english-online-english-language-article-will-you-or-would-you.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Will you or would you?&lt;/a&gt; gives a few examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/book-page/verbs-will-have-or-would-have&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Will have or would have&lt;/a&gt; you might find useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T13:41:46.233" />
  <row Id="3661" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3665" CreationDate="2010-10-04T13:53:56.027" Score="13" ViewCount="708" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a programmer, I often have to use this expression: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Set the application up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or something like that. But I'm not sure what the correct grammar is, and what this grammatical area is called in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1426" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T15:21:18.850" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T15:21:18.850" Title="&quot;Set up something&quot; vs &quot;Set something up&quot; vs &quot;Setup something&quot;" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="3662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3661" CreationDate="2010-10-04T14:13:31.720" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Setup&quot; is noun, not a verb, so you wouldn't &quot;Setup something&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Set up something&quot; keeps the two parts of the expression (set and up) together, so that seems clearest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other wording might work better: Install or initialize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T14:13:31.720" />
  <row Id="3663" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3670" CreationDate="2010-10-04T14:17:20.827" Score="6" ViewCount="563" Body="&lt;p&gt;When is it appropriate, if at all, to use the suffix &lt;code&gt;ish&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She was a largish woman&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=define%3a+largish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google&lt;/a&gt; the word &lt;em&gt;largish&lt;/em&gt; is defined as &lt;em&gt;somewhat large&lt;/em&gt;. However, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/largish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; seems to redirect the search phrase to &lt;em&gt;large&lt;/em&gt; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen people abuse this quite a bit. When does one draw the line when using this suffix? Or does it have no place in formal english?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1023" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T21:03:12.013" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T21:03:12.013" Title="Usage of the suffix &quot;ish&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;suffix&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="3664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3657" CreationDate="2010-10-04T14:32:02.990" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is quite broad, and I find it quite hard to come up with an answer that is comprehensive yet succinct, technically impeccable yet easy-to-understand. At the risk of failing miserably, I'll give it a try nonetheless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Will&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; are auxiliary verbs used to form different &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_tense&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tenses&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Will&lt;/em&gt; is used to form Future Simple, to describe something that takes place in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I will be there.&lt;br&gt;⇒ I am not there. But I plan to be there at some point in the future.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I will do that.&lt;br&gt;⇒ I am not doing it right now. But I plan to do it at some point in the future.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Will have&lt;/em&gt; is used to form Future Perfect, to describe something that not simply takes place in the future, but is completed (&quot;perfected&quot;) at some reference point in the future (which is usually specified).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I will have done that by the end of the week.&lt;br&gt;⇒ I will do that, and at the reference point (end of the week), my action will be over; I will be able to say &quot;I have done it&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Would&lt;/em&gt; is a past-tense form of &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt;. If you are writing about past events, you can use it to indicate something that was in the future &lt;em&gt;at that point in time&lt;/em&gt;, but is not necessarily in the future &lt;em&gt;right now&lt;/em&gt;. In other words, you use &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; to preserve the future aspect when talking about the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She said that she would visit me.&lt;br&gt;⇒ This is the same as: She said, &quot;I will visit you&quot;. It's called making verb tenses &quot;agree&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I thought she would have visited me by now, but she hasn't.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Would&lt;/em&gt; is also used as a modal verb to indicate a conditional or subjunctive mood, or to &quot;soften&quot; what is being said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I would love to see that movie.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;If I had a hammer, I would use it as often as possible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Would you give me that book, please?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize that I have omitted a few things (say, Future Perfect Continuous). Again, that was a conscious decision for the sake of simplicity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T14:32:02.990" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3661" CreationDate="2010-10-04T14:43:51.473" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &quot;set up something&quot; and &quot;set something up&quot; are perfectly correct English, as &quot;set up&quot; is a phrasal verb.  As kajaco mentions, &quot;setup something&quot; is just a spelling error (although it is fairly common).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of the two correct phrases, I don't think one is inherently more clear than the other, if the &lt;code&gt;something&lt;/code&gt; part is short enough.  But, it is important not to let the two words separate too far.  That is, when the &lt;code&gt;something&lt;/code&gt; part gets longer, it becomes increasingly worse to separate &quot;set&quot; and &quot;up&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, these sound good, because &quot;all of your accounts&quot; is short enough:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I will &lt;strong&gt;set&lt;/strong&gt; all of your accounts &lt;strong&gt;up&lt;/strong&gt;. / I will &lt;strong&gt;set up&lt;/strong&gt; all of your accounts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the following only really works if you don't separate the phrasal verb components:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;?I will &lt;strong&gt;set&lt;/strong&gt; a table of all the people who haven't logged in since May &lt;strong&gt;up&lt;/strong&gt;. (sounds awkward)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I will &lt;strong&gt;set up&lt;/strong&gt; a table of all the people who haven't logged in since May.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are a non-native speaker, you might ask, &quot;what is the line between too long and not too long?&quot;  Well, there is no clear line that can be given as a rule.  But I would say that if the &lt;code&gt;something&lt;/code&gt; part is more than 5 words, you might want to play it safe and keep &quot;set&quot; and &quot;up&quot; together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T14:43:51.473" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3666" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3667" CreationDate="2010-10-04T15:26:22.983" Score="5" ViewCount="508" Body="&lt;p&gt;In British English vocabulary, most words with 'z's are replaced with 's's. For example, capitalization to capitalisation. Industrialization to industrialisation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But for some words, like citizen, for example, it has a z instead of a s. Why is this like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T22:57:36.360" Title="Why Isn't Citizen 'Citisen' in British English?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="3667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3666" CreationDate="2010-10-04T15:35:06.530" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a suffix that is written only as &lt;em&gt;-ize&lt;/em&gt; in American English and often &lt;em&gt;-ise&lt;/em&gt; in British English (but not always, as ShreevatsaR points out in the comments).  This suffix attaches to a large number of words, thus the s/z alternation shows up in a large number of words.  &lt;em&gt;Citizen&lt;/em&gt; does not have the &lt;em&gt;-ize/-ise&lt;/em&gt; suffix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-05T14:21:30.897" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T14:21:30.897" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3663" CreationDate="2010-10-04T15:54:58.260" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding the &quot;ish&quot; suffix to a word X is a colloquial way to say that something is &quot;somewhat&quot; X, &quot;approximately&quot; X, &quot;rather&quot; X, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;She was a largish woman. ⇒ She was a rather large woman.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;She will be here by fiveish. ⇒ She will be here by any time close to five o'clock.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The boy is fiveish. ⇒ The boy is five years old or about that age.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The interior has niceish plastics covering the dash and the doors ⇒ The interior has rather nice plastics covering the dash and the doors.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The exam went well, ish. ⇒ The exam went fairly well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;See Wictionary page here.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-05T10:32:09.373" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T10:32:09.373" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3611" CreationDate="2010-10-04T15:56:26.230" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say it is grammatical and how much sense it makes depends on your interpretation of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Humans made god to live in pieces and not in peace&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;means, to me, that humans invented gods to reinforce living in separate groups that maintain non-peaceful relations with other groups.  It's not the clearest way to say that but it does closely match the original sound-bite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T15:56:26.230" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3663" CreationDate="2010-10-04T16:40:52.140" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you could make the argument that the &lt;em&gt;-ish&lt;/em&gt; suffix should not be used in formal English to create ad-hoc words on the spot, like &quot;largish&quot;.  There is nothing grammatically wrong — you will, of course be understood — but it has a definite informal connotation. However, there are a number of established words, e.g. &lt;em&gt;impish&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;boorish&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;devilish&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;sheepish&lt;/em&gt;, etc., where &lt;em&gt;-ish&lt;/em&gt; is accepted in all contexts, including formal ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T16:40:52.140" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3661" CreationDate="2010-10-04T17:32:03.590" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Somebody did a pretty extensive analysis of this at &lt;a href=&quot;http://notaverb.com/setup&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Setup&quot; Is Not a Verb&lt;/a&gt;.  You can probably guess from the title what the conclusion was!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1525" LastActivityDate="2010-10-04T17:32:03.590" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3672" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3680" CreationDate="2010-10-05T01:36:25.360" Score="3" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear and read the term &quot;borrow off&quot; frequently however I say &quot;borrow from&quot; as that makes more sense to me. Is it grammatically incorrect to say, &quot;may I borrow the book off your friend&quot;? In my mind this sounds as though the book is on the friend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: The use of &quot;off&quot; and &quot;from&quot; isn't solely related to the word &quot;borrow&quot;. I hear &quot;off&quot; used in sentences like &quot;I bought it off eBay&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="250" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T21:58:38.770" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T21:58:38.770" Title="Should we say &quot;borrow from&quot; instead of &quot;borrow off&quot;?" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;phrasal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3672" CreationDate="2010-10-05T05:10:16.527" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an American English speaker, I have never heard &lt;code&gt;borrow off&lt;/code&gt;, always &lt;code&gt;borrow from&lt;/code&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.beedictionary.com/common-errors/borrow_off_vs_borrow_from&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;online usage guides&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;code&gt;borrow from&lt;/code&gt; is standard.  The sites on the first page of google results for &lt;code&gt;&quot;borrow off&quot;&lt;/code&gt; that aren't usage guides or completely irrelevant (such as &quot;borrow off-limits&quot; or &quot;borrow off-campus&quot;) are from the .au domain (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mortgage.net.au/first-home-buyers/is-it-a-good-idea-to-borrow-off-parents-for-a-deposit/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;example 1&lt;/a&gt;; &lt;a href=&quot;http://brisbanetimes.domain.com.au/real-estate-news/should-i-borrow-off-my-mortgage-to-invest-20100531-wozf.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;example 2&lt;/a&gt;) -- perhaps this is an Australian colloquialism? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In response to your question, this is not an issue of grammatical correctness; English prepositions often don't make sense when interpreted spatially (your example of the book being on your friend).  But &lt;code&gt;borrow from&lt;/code&gt; is certainly nonstandard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="52" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T05:10:16.527" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3663" CreationDate="2010-10-05T05:26:29.780" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an aside, sometimes (in British conversational English at least), people use 'ish' on it's own: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;So, are you happy with your new job?&quot;&#xA;&quot;Ish.&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T05:26:29.780" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3675" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-05T08:24:50.553" Score="7" ViewCount="408" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one of the following sentences is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Here is the details you requested.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Here are the details you requested.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having googled &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com.au/search?q=%22here%20is%20the%20details%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Here is the details&quot;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com.au/search?q=%22here%20are%20the%20details%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Here are the details&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, I've got 18m+ results for the former and 11m+ results for the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="146" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-05T10:53:45.540" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T14:12:27.703" Title="Is &quot;details&quot; singular?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3675" CreationDate="2010-10-05T09:17:59.877" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Grammar&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Details&quot; is plural. &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/details&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Detail&lt;/a&gt;&quot; is singular.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In sentences like &quot;here [to be] [something]&quot;, [to be] is the verb and [something] is the subject.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sv_agr.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The words there and here are never subjects.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The verb has to agree with its&#xA;subject. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/subjectVerbAgree.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Here are the details you requested&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; is the correct one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Usage&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As noted by Colin Fine and  Kosmonaut in their comments below and by Piet Delport in his answer, &quot;here is [plural]&quot; is commonly used in casual English. Maybe it is more used than the grammatical form where the subject agrees with the verb (to be confirmed). Refer to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3675/is-details-singular/3681#3681&quot;&gt;Piet Deport's answer&lt;/a&gt; for a possible explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-05T17:08:08.663" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T17:08:08.663" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3611" CreationDate="2010-10-05T10:19:49.727" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;God made us to live in peace and not in peaces&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would propose that the original writer is talking about God (of a monotheistic religion). Answering from a Christian view point, this sentence would mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Apart from God, and as most of us experience and feel in real life, we are but patchwork, incomplete, something missing. Sometimes we feel shattered into pieces, most the time we don't feel complete and at peace with ourselves. Yet in a living relationship with God we find peace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I am not going to debate the statement here. But it will give trhe necessary context for the interpretation of the answer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Humans made god to live in pieces and not peace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Men, in the opinion of the atheist most probably &lt;code&gt;invented god&lt;/code&gt;, but it could be interpreted as well as &lt;code&gt;turned god into a being&lt;/code&gt; to be what he likes it to be, a patchwork to take parts and leave others. As man interprets and defines god at wish, god himself cannot live in peace, as he contradicts himself depending on definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence itself is grammatically correct, but hard to interpret without context. Which is OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T10:19:49.727" />
  <row Id="3680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3672" CreationDate="2010-10-05T13:29:35.360" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is colloquial grammar used in England, and occurs with other verbs that indicate acquisition; &quot;steal off&quot; and &quot;hear off&quot; are other common examples. It is technically incorrect from a purist's perspective, but is nonetheless in frequent use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The replacement of &quot;from&quot; with &quot;off&quot; carries a slightly stronger sense of the act of taking, but the construction carries a distinctly lower-class sense and is to be avoided in polite or formal situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T13:29:35.360" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3675" CreationDate="2010-10-05T14:15:58.263" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ralph Rickenbach is right: this question is not really about &lt;em&gt;&quot;details&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, but about the phrase &lt;em&gt;&quot;Here is ...&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Details&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is definitely plural: you'll say &lt;em&gt;&quot;The details are ...&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, never  &lt;em&gt;&quot;The details is ...&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Here is ...&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, is very closely associated with the contraction &lt;em&gt;&quot;Here's ...&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, and is commonly used even with normal plurals (instead of the cumbersome &lt;em&gt;&quot;Here're ...&quot;&lt;/em&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Here's the [details/things/people/objects/...] you want.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1546" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T14:15:58.263" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3611" CreationDate="2010-10-05T14:29:50.537" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's just somebody trying to sound clever; not really worth analysing. &quot;God&quot; should have a capital &quot;G&quot; though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1548" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T14:29:50.537" />
  <row Id="3683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3611" CreationDate="2010-10-05T14:32:10.870" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Humans made god to live in pieces and not peace.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a manifest ambiguity, which makes it a poor sentence. Does god live one way or the other; or do humans?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1549" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T14:32:10.870" />
  <row Id="3684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2484" CreationDate="2010-10-05T16:41:52.650" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Cosí fan tutte&quot; (Title of an opera by Mozart). A concise English translation is &quot;That's what they all do&quot; - except that this does not convey that it is all females only. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T16:41:52.650" />
  <row Id="3685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2111" CreationDate="2010-10-05T17:11:21.183" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just learned that colloquial has nothing to do with location. I suppose I head the word before I saw it, and extrapolated from examples that were associated with a locality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix%3aGlossary#colloquial&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T17:11:21.183" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-10-05T17:11:21.183" />
  <row Id="3686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2484" CreationDate="2010-10-05T17:36:55.477" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One example from German literature that would be very hard to translate accurately is &quot;das Mensch&quot;. It is grammatically incorrect on purpose. &quot;Mensch&quot; is male, not neuter. The intended meaning is that this person is a mere thing and not a real human being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1390" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T17:36:55.477" />
  <row Id="3687" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3688" CreationDate="2010-10-05T18:45:09.820" Score="1" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please, help me understand how to build a sentence in an email to sound natural, clear, and polite. (I am not a native speaker of English.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Description of the situation&lt;/strong&gt;: I send a product inquiry to a company and got a reply with some technical details and the contact information of their distributor company. They ask me to contact the distributor for purchasing information. They also have copied the distributor's email address in this reply email (in &quot;cc&quot; field) so the distributor will know that I might be contacting them (and explicitely wrote me about this in the email). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question&lt;/strong&gt;: I assume that I shouldn't reproduce all the details they already should be aware of. (Please, correct me about this if I am wrong.) &lt;strong&gt;How in my email to the distributor, before asking for purchasing details should I refer to the fact that they already know the essence of the question from the received copy of vendor's reply to me?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mean just the help on correct wording of the phrase. Something like: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;..as you already know from the copy of the email from &quot;X&quot; company to me you received yesterday..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T14:04:06.957" Title="Starting email question" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;email&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3687" CreationDate="2010-10-05T19:22:26.780" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on the size of the vendor, your assumption may not be entirely warranted.  If there are several people who may potentially receive the email at the distributor (as may happen with a shared departmental mailbox) the person who receives your email may not be aware of all the facts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Accordingly, it may be wise to refer to the previous email at the beginning of your email (...&quot;per the email from Mr. Customer sent yesterday regarding WidgetCo Widgets&quot;) and reiterate any key facts that you need to rely upon to make your point (...&quot;we require, as stated previously, forty-two Widgets within a week&quot;).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By referring unambiguously to the email at the beginning, you can ensure that the person who receives your email will be reminded (if they had forgotten); will research (if they are a different person who did not initially receive the other email); or will delegate to the appropriate person (if someone else has the responsibility for this transaction).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if it is the same person, the phrasing mentioned above should be usable; it never hurts to ensure that your intentions are clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T19:22:26.780" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3635" CreationDate="2010-10-05T21:53:05.870" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my (UK) perspective, &quot;bother to study&quot; sounds correct, and &quot;bother studying&quot; sounds colloquial. However, the implied casualness of &quot;I don't bother&quot; seems to establish a preference for the colloquial version.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1556" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T21:53:05.870" />
  <row Id="3690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2111" CreationDate="2010-10-05T22:30:23.940" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Gattopardo (Italian) as Leopard (English)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The title of the well-known Italian&#xA;  novel Il Gattopardo was rendered in&#xA;  English as &quot;The Leopard&quot;, in which the&#xA;  translator was led astray by a false&#xA;  friend; Italian gattopardo, while&#xA;  being the cognate of &quot;leopard&quot;, in&#xA;  fact refers to other felines (the&#xA;  American ocelot, the African serval&#xA;  and an extinct type of Italian&#xA;  wildcat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_friend&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_friend&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T22:30:23.940" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-10-05T22:30:23.940" />
  <row Id="3691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2111" CreationDate="2010-10-05T22:32:58.927" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/tCYBj.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DutchEnglishfalsefriend.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DutchEnglishfalsefriend.png&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T22:32:58.927" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-10-05T22:32:58.927" />
  <row Id="3692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2111" CreationDate="2010-10-05T22:36:58.060" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Gift (Scandinavian languages) = Poison (English)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't be too happy when you get a gift in Scandinavia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T22:36:58.060" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-10-05T22:36:58.060" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3672" CreationDate="2010-10-05T23:34:43.453" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Off&quot; generally carries the connotation of removal in American English. So to &quot;borrow off&quot; someone is to remove (with permission) the item in question from the object of the sentence. It's not technically correct, but definitely in common usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard it more often used when the speaker doesn't think the object will miss the subject of the preposition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1561" LastActivityDate="2010-10-05T23:34:43.453" />
  <row Id="3694" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3722" CreationDate="2010-10-06T00:34:24.717" Score="0" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering why I always hear &quot;some&quot; in questions, although according to English grammar there should always be &quot;any&quot;. At least the one I'm looking at uses &quot;some&quot;. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why are &lt;strong&gt;some&lt;/strong&gt; organizations using X?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Are there &lt;strong&gt;any&lt;/strong&gt; organizations using X?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it due to the different nature of these questions? Open-ended vs. closed-ended?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1426" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-06T08:46:48.730" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T10:23:31.760" Title="&quot;Any&quot; or &quot;some&quot; in various questions?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;determiners&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3695" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3696" CreationDate="2010-10-06T01:17:05.707" Score="2" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is the whole sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Being the type to point fingers, this person decides to run a git blame to see who last modified this line of code.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="833" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-06T11:43:47.857" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T11:43:47.857" Title="What is the meaning of &quot;being the type to point fingers&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3695" CreationDate="2010-10-06T01:24:15.243" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being someone who blames or accuses. The idiom is visual ..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1563" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T01:24:15.243" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="533" CreationDate="2010-10-06T01:29:26.423" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd prefer &quot; .. guys who &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;won&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; fame ..&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1563" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T01:29:26.423" />
  <row Id="3698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3687" CreationDate="2010-10-06T01:37:51.077" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given the possibilities and complications munin mentions, I'd just forward the reply I got from the company (which hopefully has my original message at the bottom; if not, I'd copy/paste it at the very end so the entire communication is there). Then in the body of the email (after the greeting) you can refer to the previous emails with a parenthetical statement such as &quot;(see below)&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason the reference should go after the greeting is that putting it before is sort of like the RE: line in a letter, which is handled by the SUBJECT line in an email. However, the main point of your email is not that it's about other emails, the main point is you are interested in purchasing widgets. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2517/regarding-re-what-is-the-correct-usage-in-an-email-subject-line&quot; title=&quot;Regarding Re: ; what is the correct usage in an email subject line?&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; for more about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastEditorUserId="720" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-06T14:04:06.957" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T14:04:06.957" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3694" CreationDate="2010-10-06T01:42:02.347" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Some&quot; implies we are looking for more than one. In your example, we want to know why some organizations are using the frobisher widget, when our experience with it has been terrible (for instance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Any&quot; means, we are wondering if even one exists that meets the criteria. Carrying the example further, we want to know if any other organization is using frobisher widgets, or did they all switch to wozgood widgets because they're better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not know what grammar you are referring to that says &quot;there should be always &quot;any&quot;.&quot; I've never heard any such thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T01:42:02.347" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3700" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3714" CreationDate="2010-10-06T02:24:35.283" Score="5" ViewCount="403" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you greet multiple recipients in an e-mail?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming they're both male, I just use &quot;Sirs&quot;, but it seems a bit informal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1269" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T11:08:44.347" Title="Addressing multiple recipients in an e-mail" Tags="&lt;email&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3700" CreationDate="2010-10-06T02:35:57.903" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Email is still sufficiently young that formal conventions have not emerged.&#xA;I find it useful to imagine myself in the mind of the recipient and ask what information I need to give them in the greeting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the email is really to be sent with equal priority to a number of recipients and they regard themselves as part of a group (fellow developers for example), then I would use&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dear All,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If, actually, the email is a mailshot to a number of individuals who don't know each other, then its an individual email.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dear Sir,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or possibly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dear Sir (or Madam),&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, I prefer to use the convention that Sir is neuter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And lastly, if an email is really to a single individual, but with a few more individuals copied in (such as a question to an individual developer, but where I want the email trail to be visible to the group), then I would use&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dear Bob (Alice, Charlie, Dilbert)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last one is not a convention I have seen elsewhere, but I find it works for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1565" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T02:35:57.903" />
  <row Id="3702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3700" CreationDate="2010-10-06T03:23:08.413" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's kind of a carryover from my medievalist hobby, but I really like using &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Greetings,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or even&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Greetings!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for emails to a group of people. It's also really handy for addressing a single person when you're unsure of that person's gender and/or title.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T03:23:08.413" />
  <row Id="3703" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3711" CreationDate="2010-10-06T03:55:56.833" Score="4" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;A laundry detergent brand is currently running an ad campaign with the tagline &quot;Style is an option. Clean is not.&quot; Obviously, what they &lt;em&gt;mean&lt;/em&gt; is that cleanliness is required while stylishness is not; but the way I interpret the tagline, what they're actually &lt;em&gt;saying&lt;/em&gt; is that stylishness is available as a possible choice, but cleanliness is impossible &amp;mdash; it's not on the menu. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before I drive my family nuts[1] by muttering &quot;option&lt;i&gt;al&lt;/i&gt;, option&lt;i&gt;al&lt;/i&gt;, option&lt;i&gt;&lt;strong&gt;al&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &quot; every time the commercial comes on, can y'all confirm that my distinction between &lt;i&gt;option&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;optional&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp; is grounded in reality?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;option (n): an available item that can be chosen (or not).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;optional (adj): not required; elective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] Yeah, yeah, I know, too late... :p&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-06T04:52:13.903" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T16:02:46.620" Title="Option vs. Optional" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3705" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3706" CreationDate="2010-10-06T06:20:50.017" Score="1" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the dictionary, a &lt;strong&gt;cynic&lt;/strong&gt; is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a person who believes that only selfishness motivates human actions and who disbelieves in or minimizes selfless acts or disinterested points of view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alice is a cynic. She uses Bob as an example to illustrate her point of view. What's the best term (preferably a single word) she can use to describe Bob?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could say that Bob is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;_&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, given the definition above, you could say that Bob is selfish. However, I believe that this doesn't sum up all of the things Alice believes about him...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="427" LastEditorUserId="427" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-06T15:45:39.983" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T16:22:55.807" Title="What is the subject of a cynic called?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3705" CreationDate="2010-10-06T06:48:12.190" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on the definition of &lt;em&gt;cynic&lt;/em&gt;, some words to describe Bob would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/selfish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;selfish&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Holding one’s self-interest as the standard for decision making&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Having regard for oneself above others’ well-being&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/greedy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;greedy&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Having &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/greed&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;greed&lt;/a&gt; (a selfish or excessive desire for more than is needed or deserved, especially of money, wealth, food, or other possessions); consumed by selfish desires&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/egotistical&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;egotistical&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Believing oneself to be better and more important than others&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for a single word to describe all possibilities, I think &lt;strong&gt;selfish&lt;/strong&gt; is the best choice. &lt;em&gt;Egotistical&lt;/em&gt; implies thinking highly of oneself, but this does not necessarily translate into selfish behavior. &lt;em&gt;Greedy&lt;/em&gt; is also a good choice, but tends to relate specifically to material possessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; If you are flexible on the single-word requirement, a suitable phrase would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yourdictionary.com/self-serving&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;self-serving&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Serving one's own interests, especially without concern for the needs or interests of others&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Exhibiting concern solely for one's own interests: a speech full of self-serving comments&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastEditorUserId="1009" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-06T16:22:55.807" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T16:22:55.807" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="3707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3705" CreationDate="2010-10-06T07:07:13.613" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cynic is a person that believes these attributes to be true for humanity, not for a single person or group. If she - Alice - would only believe it to be true for Bob, then she would not be a cynic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If Alice believes that selfishness motivates Bob, Bob would be an egoist or plain selfish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If Alice believes, and is correct with her believe, that Bob believes  that only selfishness motivates human actions and disbelieves in or minimizes selfless acts or disinterested points of view, then Bob would be a cynic no matter whether Alice was one or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-06T07:12:20.943" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T07:12:20.943" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3708" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3712" CreationDate="2010-10-06T07:22:16.243" Score="7" ViewCount="240" Body="&lt;p&gt;I thought only &lt;em&gt;edible&lt;/em&gt; was correct, even Google suggested &lt;em&gt;edible&lt;/em&gt; when I did a search to see which one was more popular on the internet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edible&lt;/em&gt;: 17.2 million&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Eatable&lt;/em&gt;: 2.2 million&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first results are from dictionaries, the meaning being &quot;that can be eaten&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1570" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T14:09:57.280" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:09:57.280" Title="Is there a difference between &quot;eatable&quot; and &quot;edible&quot;?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3647" CreationDate="2010-10-06T07:23:01.117" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In light of your update, I would suggest either just &lt;code&gt;motion&lt;/code&gt; (as &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3647/whats-the-word-that-combine-inclusion-exclusion/3651#3651&quot;&gt;RegDwight suggested&lt;/a&gt;), or if that doesn't have the precision you need (insofar as it can refer to the entire action as well as the property of inclusivity/exlusivity of the action), you could use &lt;code&gt;motion type&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;motion mode&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When there is no ready-made hypernym available, you gotta build it yourself!  :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For that reason I would also suggest explicitly defining the phrase before using it.  E.g. if you are updating the VIM manual and want to refer to &lt;code&gt;motion type&lt;/code&gt; later, then I would add the following sentence before the final sentence in your snippet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This property of a character motion is called its &lt;em&gt;motion type&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1569" LastEditorUserId="1569" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-06T12:16:00.463" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T12:16:00.463" />
  <row Id="3710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3703" CreationDate="2010-10-06T07:32:05.903" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The domain we are talking about that option and optional point to is not a black and white, or better not a binary one. The set contains {required, optional, not available} and the corresponding nouns for option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, the context defines whether &quot;clean is not an option&quot; would point to &quot;clean is not even available&quot; or &quot;clean is a requirement and therefore we do not even need to talk about it&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Context understanding depends heavily on the hearer. Even though in the context of advertisement the intention of the speaker is clear, I do understand your position. Depending on your environment and personal situation, you instinctively might tend to the other interpretation — and the advertisement does not work for you. Too bad for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do I mean: Let's say you are in customer support or a mom, &quot;This is not even an option!&quot; would mean more like &quot;no way&quot;, &quot;that is not included or available&quot;, &quot;don't even think of talking about or expecting that&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, while semantically they are correct, it might be a bad choice for an advertisement because of the ambiguity of interpretation by the hearer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-12T16:02:46.620" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T16:02:46.620" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3703" CreationDate="2010-10-06T07:33:23.067" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would agree with your interpretation of the difference between the two. From Wiktionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/option&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;option&lt;/a&gt; (n): One of the choices which can be made&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/optional&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;optional&lt;/a&gt; (adj): Not compulsory; left to personal choice; elective&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the definition of &lt;em&gt;option&lt;/em&gt;, the advertisement tagline reads:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Style is [one of the choices which can be made]. Clean is not [one of the choices which can be made].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This implies that there are some choices available to the customer, and that one of the available choices is &quot;style&quot;. It also states that &quot;clean&quot; is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; one of the available choices. To be fair to the advertisers, this does not mean that &lt;em&gt;clean&lt;/em&gt; is not part of the product. It could be included by default and therefore not &lt;em&gt;an option&lt;/em&gt;. At any rate, this does not quite convey the intended meaning of the tagline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using &lt;em&gt;optional&lt;/em&gt; would be a much better choice: &quot;Style is optional. Clean is not.&quot; Based on the above definition, this sentence would read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Style is [not compulsory]. Clean [is compulsory].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that advertiser &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; wants to use the phrase &lt;em&gt;an option&lt;/em&gt;, a similar meaning could be found in the sentence: &quot;Style is an option. Dirty is not.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: it appears that you are not alone in questioning this tagline:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timesunion.com/living/article/Tide-ad-delivers-wrong-message-671349.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.timesunion.com/living/article/Tide-ad-delivers-wrong-message-671349.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/lifestyle/news-five-stupiest-advertising-slogans&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/lifestyle/news-five-stupiest-advertising-slogans&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastEditorUserId="1009" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-06T07:40:14.937" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T07:40:14.937" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3708" CreationDate="2010-10-06T07:53:38.000" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think eatable is more often used to mean palatable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bnc.bl.uk/saraWeb.php?qy=eatable&quot;&gt;eatable sample usage&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whereas edible is more often used in relation to plants etc that are not poisonous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bnc.bl.uk/saraWeb.php?qy=edible&quot;&gt;edible sample usage&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there is an overlap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I learnt the sample usage trick from &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3557/is-there-an-online-sample-sentence-database-or-search-engine/3559#3559&quot;&gt;Anthony Quinn&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="122" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-06T09:00:55.710" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T09:00:55.710" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3713" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3717" CreationDate="2010-10-06T08:18:42.217" Score="3" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I spell &quot;ratio 1:1&quot; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I spell &quot;ratio 1 to 1&quot; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1503" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T17:52:46.293" Title="How do I spell &quot;ratio 1:1&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3700" CreationDate="2010-10-06T08:35:54.877" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't know the recipients' names, I refer you to the other answers. However, if you &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; know their names, then I will add that I would actually just write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear John,&lt;br&gt;Dear Jack,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been using this formula for more than a decade. So far, nobody has complained. For me, this approach has quite a few advantages. First of all, it is more personal than simply &quot;Greetings&quot; or &quot;Hi all&quot;. Secondly, if one of those people is the main recipient and the other is CC, or if one of them has a higher rank (say, he is the boss of the other), I can reflect that in my address by mentioning him first. Lastly, this formula can be easily adapted to many situations. If some (or all) of the recipients are female I simply write: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear John,&lt;br&gt;Dear Jane,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I need to make it more formal, I simply write: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear Mr. Smith,&lt;br&gt;Dear Ms. Black,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I can easily extend it to three or even four people:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear Mr. Smith,&lt;br&gt;Dear Ms. Black,&lt;br&gt;Dear Mr. Blunt,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, when I am addressing more than four people, I often &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; use something like &quot;Greetings&quot;, &quot;Hi everybody&quot;, &quot;Dear clients&quot;, &quot;Dear colleagues&quot;. However, even then I sometimes set the most important recipient apart by writing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear Prof. Black,&lt;br&gt;Dear colleagues,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear Mr. President,&lt;br&gt;Dear Members of the Committee,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T08:35:54.877" />
  <row Id="3715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3708" CreationDate="2010-10-06T08:46:35.133" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always assumed it's like the difference between &quot;readable&quot; and &quot;legible&quot;. The former is a measure of how comfortable it is to read (e.g. short lines are more readable than long lines), and the latter simply whether it can be read at all, or not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As cindi says, like the difference between palatable and not poisonous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1571" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T08:46:35.133" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3700" CreationDate="2010-10-06T09:00:12.920" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are working together on a project, then I rather like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear team&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be appropriate even if the recipients include people from both your company and the client. It's a subtle reminder that you are all working towards a common goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More generally, I'd just use&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear all,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or just&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1571" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T09:00:12.920" />
  <row Id="3717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3713" CreationDate="2010-10-06T09:25:20.780" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In speech this is obviously always pronounced &quot;ratio one to one.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In writing, it is a matter of style. Anything of a technical nature should always be written in the 1:1 form, but when writing prose, fiction or something informal, you should certainly consider writing it as it would be spoken:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The mix was applied in a one-to-one ratio.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of hyphenation and words instead of numerals makes the sentence flowing and readable, and encourages the reader's eye to see this as a single, commonly-occurring term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that for the purpose of clarity ratios should generally be stated in the same clause and the same order as the two sets being compared:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Boys and girls were present in a ratio of 3:2.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T09:25:20.780" />
  <row Id="3718" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3721" CreationDate="2010-10-06T09:58:47.333" Score="4" ViewCount="337" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that the singular of data is datum. I know that data is a plural. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, common usage of the word &quot;data&quot; suggests it is used as a &quot;collection of data&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here is [the collection of] data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In which case, is the word &lt;em&gt;data&lt;/em&gt; now a singular again, or still the plural? If so, what is the correct use of the word &lt;em&gt;data&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;datum&lt;/em&gt; now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1573" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-09T13:16:12.177" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T13:20:57.580" Title="Where are the &quot;data&quot;? I only have one &quot;datum&quot;." Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3719" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-06T10:06:21.733" Score="3" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been changing 'drafty' for 'draughty', or because of my confusion, removing the word altogether while subbing online articles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd appreciate guidance on which term is correct for UK English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1574" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-07T09:05:52.253" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T09:05:52.253" Title="Which is correct: 'Drafty' or 'draughty'?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="3720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3700" CreationDate="2010-10-06T10:13:16.420" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I rarely begin emails with a salutation. If I do, it is usually just the name - I have never transferred the pointless 'Dear' to emails. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I wanted to put one in a group email, I suppose I would start with a word like &quot;friends&quot;, or &quot;people&quot;, or &quot;folks&quot;, depending on the context and formality. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T10:13:16.420" />
  <row Id="3721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3718" CreationDate="2010-10-06T10:14:27.170" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, there are two conflicting usages. For example, a Google search for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22the+data+suggest%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;the data suggest&quot;&lt;/a&gt; returns 10,000,000 results, but a search for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22the+data+suggests%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;the data suggests&quot;&lt;/a&gt; still returns almost 2,000,000 hits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/data#Noun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;data&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;uncountable or plural noun&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. Plural form of &lt;em&gt;datum&lt;/em&gt;: pieces of information.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. &lt;em&gt;(uncountable, collectively)&lt;/em&gt; information.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  3. A collection of object-units that are distinct from one another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Usage notes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This word is more often used as an uncountable noun with a singular verb than as a plural noun, with singular datum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/data?show=0&amp;amp;t=1286359917&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Definition&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1: factual information (as measurements or statistics) used as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or calculation &amp;lt;the data &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; plentiful and easily available — H. A. Gleason, Jr.&amp;gt; &amp;lt;comprehensive data on economic growth &lt;strong&gt;have&lt;/strong&gt; been published — N. H. Jacoby&amp;gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Usage Discussion&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Data&lt;/em&gt; leads a life of its own quite independent of &lt;em&gt;datum&lt;/em&gt;, of which it was originally the plural. It occurs in two constructions: as a plural noun (like &lt;em&gt;earnings&lt;/em&gt;), taking a plural verb and plural modifiers (as &lt;em&gt;these&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;many&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;a few&lt;/em&gt;) but not cardinal numbers, and serving as a referent for plural pronouns; and as an abstract mass noun (like &lt;em&gt;information&lt;/em&gt;), taking a singular verb and singular modifiers (as &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;little&lt;/em&gt;), and being referred to by a singular pronoun. &lt;strong&gt;Both constructions are standard.&lt;/strong&gt; The plural construction is more common in print, perhaps because the house style of some publishers mandates it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Emphasis mine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T10:14:27.170" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="3722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3694" CreationDate="2010-10-06T10:23:31.760" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is true that in general in English, 'some' is replaced by 'any' in negative and interrogative contexts. &#xA;But it is not as simple as that: 'Some' can be used in interrogative contexts, and is then 'marked' as linguists say: choosing it rather than the default conveys some meaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would disagree with kajaco about just what nuance is conveyed: to me the choice of 'some' rather than 'any' is meant to exclude 'all'. So&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why are any organisations using X&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;may be appropriate even if all organisation are doing so (though the question is perhaps a little unlikely if everybody is doing so); whereas&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why are some organisations using X&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;implies &quot;and others are not&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T10:23:31.760" />
  <row Id="3723" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3724" CreationDate="2010-10-06T10:32:53.053" Score="10" ViewCount="311" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you search google for &quot;fuscia&quot; it asks &quot;did you mean fuschia?&quot;. The correct spelling of the word is &quot;fuchsia&quot;. (This was pointed out on the xkcd blog a while ago.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So enough people are spelling fuchsia wrong that it's polluting Google's autocorrection algorithms. Now this got me thinking. If you're serious about your descriptivism, then it seems like you have to accept &quot;fuschia&quot; as a legitimate alternative spelling. Lots of people use it, so it's right, right? What do you think of this? &lt;em&gt;Is&lt;/em&gt; &quot;fuschia&quot; acceptable? Is there some way to discount those misspellings and insist on the correct spelling? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't some anomaly of the way google's autocorrection works. There are 10m hits for fuchsia, 4m for fuschia... Is this enough usage to make &quot;fuschia&quot; a legitimate alternative spelling? If not, what criteria do you use to decide when a misspelling becomes acceptable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T18:32:38.847" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T19:01:34.313" Title="Descriptivism and widespread misspelling" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;descriptivism&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3723" CreationDate="2010-10-06T10:54:36.267" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, I feel that am not in a position to decide such things, so I gladly leave the decision to people whose whole &lt;em&gt;job&lt;/em&gt; it is to make such decisions. When a respected authority known for its descriptivism (say, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fuschia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;) starts listing &quot;fuschia&quot; as a legitimate alternative spelling, I will be more inclined to accept it myself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Until then, I am heavily biased towards &quot;fuchsia&quot;. (Even doubly so because I am one of those few people who actually pronounce it [ˈfʊksja] rather than [ˈfjuːʃə]. In other words, as far as I am &lt;em&gt;personally&lt;/em&gt; concerned, I just can't misspell the &quot;chs&quot; as &quot;sch&quot;; if anything, I am likely to misspell the word as &quot;fuxia&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-06T13:37:37.530" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T13:37:37.530" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="3725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3723" CreationDate="2010-10-06T11:07:45.627" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, misspellings or nonstandard grammar may become acceptable if they simplify things.  So &quot;thru&quot; instead of &quot;through&quot; or &quot;learned&quot; instead of &quot;learnt&quot; work.  This might apply in this case, but it's not very obvious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in this case there is the overriding principle that the name is derived from a proper name, because the plant was named after a guy named &quot;Fuchs&quot;.  And you need a much stronger case to change that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T11:07:45.627" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="3726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3700" CreationDate="2010-10-06T11:08:44.347" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I am addressing a few people who are well known to me, I would generally use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear John, Bill, Jack,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I am addressing a lot of people, or people who are not familiar to me, I would go with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear All,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1576" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T11:08:44.347" />
  <row Id="3727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3719" CreationDate="2010-10-06T12:03:11.827" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/draughty&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The free dictionary&lt;/a&gt; says &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;draughty US, drafty&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;drafty [ˈdrɑːftɪ]&#xA;  ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the usual US spelling of draughty&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T12:03:11.827" />
  <row Id="3728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3719" CreationDate="2010-10-06T12:07:44.450" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Draft&lt;/em&gt; is principally an American English variant that, like many other such simplified spellings, has entered the British English lexicon as an increasingly acceptable alternative spelling. &lt;em&gt;Draft&lt;/em&gt; is also considered the standard British English spelling for certain definitions such as a technical drawing, a preliminary or rough version, or the act or result of &quot;drawing&quot; from or upon something (e.g. a Military Draft.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Draughty&lt;/em&gt; is preferable for British English as this is the more common spelling when referring to a current of air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T12:07:44.450" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3718" CreationDate="2010-10-06T12:51:57.323" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Datum&quot; is an irrelevant, because it is simply not true in modern English that 'datum' is the singular of 'data': even those who use 'data' as plural do not refer to one of the individual pieces of data as a datum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edited:&lt;/strong&gt; Apparently I was wrong in this. I do not recall ever having met the usage, so I was generalising inadvisedly. Sorry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have always used 'data' as a mass noun, so said 'the data is'. I am aware that many (most?) academic publishers insist on 'the data are'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-08T10:52:04.963" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T10:52:04.963" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1539" CreationDate="2010-10-06T13:10:59.703" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some occasionally memorable spelling aids here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/misspelled.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;your dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T13:10:59.703" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-10-06T13:10:59.703" />
  <row Id="3731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3713" CreationDate="2010-10-06T13:40:12.610" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hmm, not sure how correct this is but I read &lt;code&gt;a:b&lt;/code&gt; as &quot;a &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; to b&quot;. And &lt;code&gt;a:b::c:d&lt;/code&gt; as &quot;a is to b &lt;strong&gt;as&lt;/strong&gt; c is to d&quot;. Probably British English (else it's Indian :))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="124" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T13:40:12.610" />
  <row Id="3732" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3735" CreationDate="2010-10-06T13:48:48.250" Score="2" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of the phrase &quot;laying a fuse&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1580" LastEditorUserId="1914" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-17T21:08:12.587" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T21:08:12.587" Title="What is the meaning of &quot;laying a fuse&quot;?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3732" CreationDate="2010-10-06T13:58:17.753" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What comes to my mind is Wile E. Coyote pouring a trail of gunpowder on the floor leading up to a powder keg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T13:58:17.753" />
  <row Id="3734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3732" CreationDate="2010-10-06T14:00:23.180" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A little more context would help.  The only thing that springs to mind is the act of placing a piece of fuse cord to connect some explosives to the point from which you want to trigger the explosion.  That's hardly a common expression, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T14:00:23.180" />
  <row Id="3735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3732" CreationDate="2010-10-06T14:04:37.240" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Literally, &lt;em&gt;to lay a fuse&lt;/em&gt; means to place a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fuse#Noun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cord that, when lit, conveys the fire to some explosive device&lt;/a&gt;. The next step, as Al Everett points out in his comment, would be to actually &quot;light the fuse&quot;, which is the more common idiom for &quot;preparing to cause trouble, trying to damage or ruin something&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T14:04:37.240" />
  <row Id="3736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3647" CreationDate="2010-10-06T14:07:09.840" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use &quot;inclusivity&quot;, 'though many might say this is stretching its proper meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T14:07:09.840" />
  <row Id="3737" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3739" CreationDate="2010-10-06T14:34:27.277" Score="3" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Me and Larry had a meeting today.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Larry and me had a meeting today.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I and Larry had a meeting today.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Larry and I had a meeting today.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the third one is wrong (because it doesn't sound right). Which of the rest have the correct grammar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usage: writing a mail to a third person telling him this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="296" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:49:23.017" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:49:23.017" Title="Which of these sentences use the correct grammar?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3738" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3746" CreationDate="2010-10-06T14:41:25.427" Score="3" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen many comments on different blogs and forums where English native speakers spelled &lt;code&gt;you're&lt;/code&gt; as &lt;code&gt;your&lt;/code&gt;. I'm not a native speaker, but I know and understand the difference between the two. Why is there a confusion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My initial guess is that &lt;code&gt;your&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;you're&lt;/code&gt; have similar pronunciation and because I carry some accent from my native language (Romanian) I can identify the difference better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edit&lt;/em&gt; (thanks Chris): The same can be asked for other homophones: &lt;code&gt;there/their/they're&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;its/it's&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1580" LastEditorUserId="1580" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-06T15:00:12.947" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T16:23:27.897" Title="Your vs. you're. Why the confusion?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;homophone&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3737" CreationDate="2010-10-06T14:42:37.583" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The traditionally correct sentence is &quot;Larry and I had a meeting today&quot;. To know whether to use the nominative case (&quot;I&quot;) or accusative (&quot;me&quot;), remove &quot;Larry&quot;: you'd say &quot;I had a meeting&quot;, not &quot;Me had a meeting&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These days, especially in informal usage, &quot;Larry and me had a meeting today&quot; is also common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(There's also another traditional English rule—or just politeness—of naming the first person last, so you name Larry before naming yourself.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T14:42:37.583" />
  <row Id="3740" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3743" CreationDate="2010-10-06T14:43:19.767" Score="0" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am working on translating a software and its documentation to English. This software basically organizes and stores technical documents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A document may consist of a set of various files, stored on a server. Usually, only one user will work on a document, while others could download its files.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to have a name for this set of files, relative to the document. I am thinking of &lt;em&gt;body of the document&lt;/em&gt; but I am not sure that it sounds OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;May I have your suggestions, 1¢ or more?&#xA;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1487" LastEditorUserId="1487" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-06T15:11:46.700" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T15:11:46.700" Title="Need a proper English expression to reflect a concept" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3737" CreationDate="2010-10-06T14:44:38.413" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, both the third and fourth are &lt;em&gt;technically&lt;/em&gt; correct (because &quot;I&quot; is in the subjective case, which is correct for the sentence's subject), but it is generally considered polite to list one's self last.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first two are incorrect because &quot;me&quot; is in the objective case; therefore it can be used as an object (as in &quot;Larry met &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; today&quot;), but not as a subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-06T14:51:09.100" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T14:51:09.100" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3738" CreationDate="2010-10-06T14:54:37.923" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The confusion is that in many UK (and probably US) schools the difference is not taught.  The use of the apostrophe is considered by many to be totally confusing and so it is omitted in many places where it is required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a name for the addition of extra apostrophes in places where they are not needed.  These are &quot;Grocers' Apostrophes&quot; which refers to the common sight on market stalls and grocers' shops where the price labels may erroneously refer to &quot;Banana's&quot; or Apple's&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1578" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T14:54:37.923" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3740" CreationDate="2010-10-06T15:01:47.520" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use the word &quot;library&quot; for everything then the word &quot;collection&quot; for the categories within it.  A &quot;volume&quot; for an individual file. The workable file called the &quot;master&quot; while the others are &quot;read-only&quot; Does that help?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T15:01:47.520" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3740" CreationDate="2010-10-06T15:07:28.127" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your explanation is a little bit vague, but &lt;em&gt;body of the document&lt;/em&gt; is definitely not appropriate as this would usually refer to the core content of the document itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The term &lt;em&gt;consist in&lt;/em&gt; is ungrammatical and slightly confusing (&lt;em&gt;consist of&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;exist in&lt;/em&gt; are grammatically correct but have opposite meanings in this context.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are trying to refer to a set of files that supports and contributes to a central document, you may be looking for a term like &lt;em&gt;supporting fileset&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are trying to refer to a set of files that contains this document along with a number of others, you may wish to refer to the document's &lt;em&gt;parent repository&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope I've understood your question correctly!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T15:07:28.127" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3738" CreationDate="2010-10-06T15:10:28.137" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that the same goes for all languages. Native speakers that do not take the time to learn their own language properly, or that do not read much, tend to misspell homophones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In French, for instance, many people will replace infinitive form (« &lt;em&gt;manger&lt;/em&gt; », &lt;em&gt;to eat&lt;/em&gt;) with past participle (« &lt;em&gt;mangé&lt;/em&gt; », &lt;em&gt;eaten&lt;/em&gt;), or confuse « &lt;em&gt;ses&lt;/em&gt; » and « &lt;em&gt;ces&lt;/em&gt; » (his,her vs these).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Astonishingly enough, foreigners that study the language do not have this homophony problem in their “source language” and therefore are aware of a grammatical difference. It sounds like people assume translation is mathematically speaking an &lt;em&gt;injective&lt;/em&gt; thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1487" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T15:10:28.137" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3738" CreationDate="2010-10-06T15:29:43.373" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You just need to think about how you learned your native language. By ear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Children learn how to speak their native tongue first, and only then learned the grammar and spelling. Thus, many will &quot;sound&quot; a word out to spell it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English language learners, on the other hand, usually learned how to spell a word first, and focused on pronunciation later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T15:29:43.373" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3581" CreationDate="2010-10-06T16:11:59.853" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a great question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Combination of ear, what I've gleaned by formal study and by learning from colleagues (I'm an editor), opinions by informed people (see next points), and -- importantly -- context. Your question doesn't explicitly ask about this, but the appropriateness of usage  will depend on whether we're talking about conversation, emails, cover letters for a job, or Supreme Court rulings. :)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Arguments are persuasive if (as in any context) they reflect knowledge and experience and provide specific and reasoned evidence for their POV. Perhaps the best way to answer is to address the opposite: arguments are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; persuasive if a) they obviously reflect just a personal opinion (&quot;I really hate it when people say &lt;strong&gt;_&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;); b) they provide no particular evidence (historical and/or practical); c) the person opining has no particular expertise or experience in thinking about usage; d) it's easy to find counterevidence among native speakers. For me personally, &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; argument that reflects a belief that English is in decline or is being &quot;ruined&quot; has no credibility, since that is a kind of litmus test for  all of the previous.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sure. How else would you establish usage guidelines? But again, it's about context -- maybe everyone &lt;em&gt;says&lt;/em&gt; &quot;I was just laying there&quot;. Arguing with your friends about it in conversation is dumb, but that doesn't mean one shouldn't respect the distinction between &lt;em&gt;lie&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;lay&lt;/em&gt; in formal written communucations.  The trick is taking into account the pervasiveness of usage in the context you're interested in.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Good: &lt;em&gt;Garner's Modern American Usage&lt;/em&gt; [http://astore.amazon.com/theslotaspotforc/detail/0195382757]. Garner meets all the criteria listed above for persuasiveness. Good: the usage notes in AHD and M-W, ditto. Good: The style guide(s) from my work, which are written by professional editors and ditto. &#xA;Bad: &lt;em&gt;The Elements of Style&lt;/em&gt;, which is vague, is full of personal opinion, and effectively represents two people's opinions about &quot;rules&quot; that are over 100 years old and some of which were never real rules to begin with. Bad: Any reference that lays out &quot;rules&quot; without explanations based on actual usage, including examples. Bad: Any reference that purports to be anything other than the author's opinions about usage or that does not acknowledge that usage is contextual and to some extent arbitrary.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1584" LastEditorUserId="1584" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-06T16:31:35.870" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T16:31:35.870" />
  <row Id="3748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3623" CreationDate="2010-10-06T16:20:53.070" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Does not cover&quot; is a single verbal unit, so we effectively ignore the &quot;not&quot; when considering the rest of the sentence structure.  That implies we should use &quot;or&quot; to link the noun phrases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T16:20:53.070" />
  <row Id="3749" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3761" CreationDate="2010-10-06T16:54:49.817" Score="3" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just soliciting people's musings. Assume for a moment that an author &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; know how to use &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; correctly. In an email (specifically), does using &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; correctly make the author sound stuffy and formal, or would you say that in email, using &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; conversationally -- iow, potentially &quot;ungrammatically&quot; -- is ok? For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hey, thanks, I chatted with the guy whom you said would be calling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-vs-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hey, thanks, I chatted with the guy who you said would be calling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1584" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T14:25:52.857" Title="Use &quot;whom&quot; in emails?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3750" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-06T17:04:33.370" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am translating a German text into English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It contains a sentence that translates roughly to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the middle of life, you stand alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm unsure about &quot;middle&quot; here, and can't think of a more fitting substitute. &quot;Life&quot; is related to the time span of a single human life. Therefore, &quot;center&quot; is out of the question of course. Or is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you use &quot;middle&quot; in this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have a better idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="239" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-07T09:24:09.150" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T09:34:02.970" Title="&quot;In the middle&quot; of a time span – will &quot;middle&quot; work? Better ideas?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;translation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="3751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3749" CreationDate="2010-10-06T17:09:59.620" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion using 'whom' in any context now is archaic. It's gone the way of 'thee' and 'thou'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Afterword: this does not mean substituting 'who' for 'whom'. That won't work, you have to iron things out. So in your example &amp;amp; nohat's below I'd write...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;/.. the guy you said would call / ..one of those people giving him orders his entire life.../...about who shot Melissa and where.../...about where Melissa was shot and who shot her..../...any priest subject to an allegation of sexual abuse should be reported to the civil authorities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That way you don't sound like a butler - see nohat's answer here &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/56/using-who-and-whom/63#63&quot;&gt;using who-and-whom/63#63&lt;/a&gt; . Read this, it has great links!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="122" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-07T14:25:52.857" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T14:25:52.857" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3750" CreationDate="2010-10-06T17:19:38.823" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a word 'midlife' that refers to same - 'In midlife, you stand alone'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sample uses: &lt;a href=&quot;http://bnc.bl.uk/saraWeb.php?qy=midlife&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;midlife&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T17:19:38.823" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3750" CreationDate="2010-10-06T17:47:02.987" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A similar phrase in English would be &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_age&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;middle age&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Middle age is the period of age beyond young adulthood but before the onset of old age ... usually considered to occur approximately between the ages of 40 and 60&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;At middle age, you stand alone.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that this phrase &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; indicate a specific time period in a person's life. If you are looking to describe &lt;em&gt;everything&lt;/em&gt; between birth and death, a more correct sentence would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;In life, you stand alone.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the intended time frame is from the end of childhood to the beginning of old age, I would go with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;As an adult, you stand alone.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;In adulthood, you stand alone.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastEditorUserId="1009" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-06T18:00:27.770" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T18:00:27.770" />
  <row Id="3754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3452" CreationDate="2010-10-06T18:22:51.357" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many languages have words with more than one meaning and English is no exception. That is without considering tone. English is made more difficult by the geographical spread of the user base leading to words having different meanings in different cultures or locales, including between England and Scotland.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considered from a standard English English perspective, your examples 1 and 3 give the two meanings normally attributed to the word &quot;quite&quot;, however in example 2 you mix both, as &quot;quite sure&quot; would come under example 1, while the others would come under example 3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1589" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T18:22:51.357" />
  <row Id="3755" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3759" CreationDate="2010-10-06T20:21:59.703" Score="5" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;TLA&lt;/code&gt; is an acronym for Three Letter Acronym. Is it also an abbreviation, since it abbreviates the original phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-06T21:16:51.127" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T23:16:12.910" Title="Difference between an acronym and abbreviation?" Tags="&lt;abbreviations&gt;&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="3756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3749" CreationDate="2010-10-06T20:29:42.430" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people don't know how to use &quot;whom&quot; and get it entirely wrong, but that doesn't mean it's archaic. Correct use of who/whom/whose is just as important as he/him/his, she/her/hers and it/it/its.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your example, &lt;em&gt;&quot;the guy whom you said would be calling&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, is not correct. The simplest way to see that is to replace &quot;who&quot; with &quot;he&quot;; your example then becomes, &quot;you said &lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt; would be calling&quot;, which is obviously wrong. The correct form would be, &quot;you said &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt; would be calling&quot;, so the original should be, &quot;&lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; you said would be calling&quot;.&#xA;(See also &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/56/using-who-and-whom#answer-83&quot;&gt;moioci's answer here&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, in an informal email, I would be inclined to skip the whole issue and use: &quot;I chatted with the guy you said would be calling.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1590" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T20:29:42.430" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3755" CreationDate="2010-10-06T20:33:11.630" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An acronym is a type of abbreviation that is pronounced as a word (e.g. SCUBA, LASER).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following article is worth a look:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acronym-guide.com/difference-between-acronyms-and-abbreviations.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Difference Between Acronyms and Abbreviations (and Acrostics)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-06T21:49:54.407" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T21:49:54.407" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3755" CreationDate="2010-10-06T21:09:44.520" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An acronym (sometimes called an initialism) is simply a word formed by taking letters (usually the first) of each word in a phrase to form an abbreviation. Acronyms are thus a subset of abbreviations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Examples of acronyms:&lt;/strong&gt; CEO (cheif executive officer), AIDS (auto-immune deficiency system), FAQ (frequently asked questions), CD-ROM (compact-disk read only memory) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Notice that they may be pronounced as words themselves or spelt out depending on the case.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Examples of abbreviations that are not acronyms:&lt;/strong&gt; Mr. (Mister), Prof. (Professor), op. (opus), mm (millimeters),&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T21:09:44.520" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3755" CreationDate="2010-10-06T23:16:12.910" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An &lt;em&gt;acronym&lt;/em&gt; (as the term is commonly used) is a term that is formed from the initial letters of some longer name and is pronounced differently than the expanded form. Examples of &lt;em&gt;acronyms&lt;/em&gt; as the term is commonly used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;FBI, which stands for &lt;em&gt;Federal Bureau of Investigation&lt;/em&gt;, but is pronounced &lt;em&gt;ef-bee-I&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;NATO, which stands for &lt;em&gt;North Atlantic Treaty Organization&lt;/em&gt;, but is pronounced &lt;em&gt;NAY-toe&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;IUPAC, which stands for &lt;em&gt;International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry&lt;/em&gt;, but is pronounced &lt;em&gt;I-U-pak&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An &lt;em&gt;abbreviation&lt;/em&gt; is written differently from the expanded form but is pronounced the same. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mr., which stands for &lt;em&gt;mister&lt;/em&gt; and is pronounced &lt;em&gt;mister&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ft., which stands for &lt;em&gt;feet&lt;/em&gt; and is pronounced &lt;em&gt;feet&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc., which stands for &lt;em&gt;et cetera&lt;/em&gt; and is pronounced &lt;em&gt;et cetera&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether the form is pronounced as a “word” or as letter names or as some combination of the two is a red herring. The key difference is whether the abbreviated form is pronounced differently from the expanded form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T23:16:12.910" />
  <row Id="3760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3718" CreationDate="2010-10-06T23:29:38.927" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word 'data' has become &quot;overloaded.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you write a program in certain programming languages, the structure of the language allows you to assign a different meaning to a symbol than the language would normally use; this practise is referred to as &quot;overloading&quot; the symbol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jargon terms for a concept often overload existing English words; this is because the people who invented the jargon either did not want to or were unable to construct neologisms to cover the concept (or the concept was close enough to the original that neologism would have confused the issue).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;data&quot; that you feed to a computer, regardless of the number of items, is just such an overloaded concept.  While the original word (which is still used in statistics and scientific circles) did indeed have &quot;datum&quot; as a singular form of &quot;data,&quot; computer science has overloaded the meaning to where any sort of information, whether singular or plural, is &quot;data.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least, that's my interpretation of the matter; your mileage may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T23:29:38.927" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3749" CreationDate="2010-10-06T23:42:37.763" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, it depends entirely upon the intended audience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a business email, especially one in a 'formal' office (e.g. a government office, a Fortune 100 company, or any office that has people regularly appearing in suit jackets) it is, I think, entirely appropriate to use &quot;whom.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a personal email, the expectations are rather lower; it depends on your audience and your relationship with them--regardless of my ability, my SO and I have built a sort of private jargon that bears little resemblence to properly written English; &quot;whom&quot; does not often appear in our private correspondance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a business email in a less-than-formal setting (or an informal email between close business associates in a more formal setting) similar guidelines may apply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I work in an office more to the formal side of the continuum, I have been known to use 'whom' on occasion; nobody has complained yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-06T23:42:37.763" />
  <row Id="3762" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3764" CreationDate="2010-10-07T01:40:54.333" Score="0" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the proper wording here, neither one sounds right to me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://chevrahumanitarian.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chevra&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;an&lt;/strong&gt; humanitarian&#xA;  organization...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://chevrahumanitarian.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chevra&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt; humanitarian&#xA;  organization...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My instinct says it follows the same rule as &quot;an hour&quot;, but the 'h' sound is more pronounced in 'humanitarian', so I'm unsure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="185" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T02:01:19.367" Title="A/An question: 'a humanitarian' or 'an humanitarian'?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3763" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-07T01:59:11.400" Score="1" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any good books or articles on the etymology of dermatology-related terminology and/or cutaneous condition names?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following list is an example of some of the conditions/terminology I am referring to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cutaneous_conditions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cutaneous_conditions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1594" LastActivityDate="2010-11-06T09:44:56.917" Title="Are there any good books or articles on the etymology of dermatology-related terminology and/or cutaneous condition names?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3762" CreationDate="2010-10-07T02:01:19.367" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on your accent, because the &quot;a/an&quot; pattern is completely phonological.  Some dialects don't pronounce the [h] very strongly or at all in cases where it is followed by [j] (the &quot;y&quot; sound), like in &quot;humanitarian&quot; [hjumæn...], &quot;humor&quot;, or &quot;huge&quot;.  In my dialect, the [h] is definitely pronounced so I would write &quot;a&quot;, and I believe this is the most common pronunciation in the US (though I am not certain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T02:01:19.367" />
  <row Id="3765" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3767" CreationDate="2010-10-07T03:23:59.000" Score="0" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a sample context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As you might expect, the framework also provides some convenience&#xA;  classes to make the task of writing custom validators &lt;strong&gt;all the more&lt;/strong&gt; agreeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Emphasis added.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="833" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-07T08:13:14.837" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T08:13:14.837" Title="What does &quot;all the more&quot; mean and how is it used?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3763" CreationDate="2010-10-07T03:44:20.123" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dermatitis?match=fr#Etymology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/dermatitis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FreeDict&lt;/a&gt; extensively. I find that breaking down scientific terms into their Greek and Latin roots helps me understand and remember the concepts that they represent. They lack any historical insight into the origins of the terms, however I found that this information could sometimes be found buried within a course textbook or a professor's brain. Also try searching for individual terms via Google, sometimes you get a hit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry I couldn't give you a solid hardcover. I hope someone else knows because I've been looking for a good scientific dictionary for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1582" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-07T09:22:49.050" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T09:22:49.050" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3765" CreationDate="2010-10-07T03:52:29.820" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The general answer seems to be that &lt;em&gt;all the more&lt;/em&gt; is an idiomatic way to say &lt;em&gt;even more&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/all_the_more&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/all_the_more&lt;/a&gt;). Of course, that raises the question of the comparative -- even more than what? My sense is that in the phrase &lt;em&gt;all the more&lt;/em&gt;, this is often (always?) left implied, and that &lt;em&gt;all the more&lt;/em&gt; is really just an intensified version of &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1584" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T03:52:29.820" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3768" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3795" CreationDate="2010-10-07T04:27:13.693" Score="3" ViewCount="326" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &quot;get&quot; and &quot;take&quot;? Both are used to describe receiving something. By intuition I mostly guess which one to use, but would like to know some rule which will stick in my head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-07T08:10:13.950" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T18:05:28.310" Title="Difference between &quot;get&quot; and &quot;take&quot;" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2597" CreationDate="2010-10-07T04:52:15.087" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Um I believe that in Hamlet Shakespeare could have also been referencing the body definition. As I have heard knives described as naked blades in the case they are not covered. So Shakespeare could be saying that the body/blade of the dagger is not covered or is unsheathed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1596" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T04:52:15.087" />
  <row Id="3770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3750" CreationDate="2010-10-07T04:56:36.240" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not part of your question, but I wonder about the intended meaning of &quot;you stand alone&quot;. I don't know the whole context, but as it stands, what is conveyed leans towards &quot;you are on your own, there is no-one with you&quot;. If what you are trying to say is &quot;you are independent and no longer dependent on others for your identity&quot;, you might want to consider something like &quot;you are your own person&quot;, &quot;you stand on your own two feet&quot;... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T04:56:36.240" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3768" CreationDate="2010-10-07T05:04:29.087" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my sense, &lt;em&gt;take&lt;/em&gt; will denote some action from the subject, whereas &lt;em&gt;get&lt;/em&gt; is more passive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1487" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T05:04:29.087" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3719" CreationDate="2010-10-07T05:10:14.747" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is entirely subjective, and coming from a BritEng, but I see these differences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Draft I would use for being taken into military service, for a preliminary drawing.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Draughts I would use for the game (that's checkers for AmEng, I believe)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For the windy variety, I'd be comfortable with either.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draught_and_draft#Miscellaneous_spelling_differences&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia seems to agree&lt;/a&gt;, and has more detail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T05:10:14.747" />
  <row Id="3773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3768" CreationDate="2010-10-07T06:09:05.190" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I take from you. You get from me.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first sentence would be construed as I don't require your permission to 'get' something. The second sentence would mean that unless I give, you cannot 'take' something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Take' would seem authoritative when used in a 'person as a subject' setting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1595" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T06:09:05.190" />
  <row Id="3774" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3775" CreationDate="2010-10-07T06:58:38.020" Score="3" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To eat&lt;/em&gt; is like &lt;em&gt;to feed to yourself&lt;/em&gt;; is there a similar word for &lt;em&gt;to wear?&lt;/em&gt; For example, I wear pants, but when I do the same activity to another person, what is the word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, is there a name for such concept, related words &lt;em&gt;eat/feed?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If &lt;em&gt;feed&lt;/em&gt; is xonym (due to lack of any terminology on my part) of &lt;em&gt;eat&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;dress&lt;/em&gt; seems to be xonym of &lt;em&gt;wear&lt;/em&gt; as VonC explained but still it doesn't quite fit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Father eat banana -&gt; Father feed me banana&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Father wear shirt -&gt; Father dress me shirt&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but &lt;em&gt;Father dress me shirt&lt;/em&gt; isn't quite right; it looks like I need to add a &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;May be I am expecting too much from English and I anyway know too little of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1597" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-09T12:49:27.907" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T12:49:27.907" Title="'Eat' is to 'feed' as 'wear' is to...?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;analogy&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3774" CreationDate="2010-10-07T07:42:48.500" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go with &quot;dress&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;wear&quot; being like &quot;dressing oneself&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;&quot;feed&quot; and &quot;dress&quot;: properly reflexive verbs&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The concept of a verb applied to oneself reminds me of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflexive_verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;reflexive verbs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (a verb whose semantic &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theta_role&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;agent and patient&lt;/a&gt; (typically represented syntactically by the subject and the direct object) are the same.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More specifically, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflexive_verb#Properly_reflexive&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Properly reflexive verb&lt;/a&gt;,  where the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_%28linguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;agent&lt;/a&gt; is simultaneously the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_%28linguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;patient&lt;/a&gt;. The verb is typically &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transitive_verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;transitive&lt;/a&gt;, and can be used in non-reflexive meaning as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Peter bathes himself.&#xA;  Peter bathes the cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, &quot;feed&quot; or &quot;dress&quot; would be a properly reflexive verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;&quot;eat&quot; and &quot;wear&quot;: common ambitransitive verbs&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambitransitive_verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ambitransitive verb&lt;/a&gt; is a verb that can be used both as intransitive or as transitive without requiring a morphological change. That is, the same verb form may or may not require a direct object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the subject of the intransitive form of the verb is an agent (like the subject of the transitive form), so that the verb aligns the syntactic roles S and A, then the verb is a common ambitransitive with an optional object, and the intransitive version is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unergative_verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;unergative verb&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question which remains is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;What would you call the relationship between:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;properly reflexive verbs and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;common ambitransitive verbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;I'm getting the feeling that the answer is waaay more simpler than this detailed grammatical analysis ;) &lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-07T11:25:01.513" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T11:25:01.513" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="3776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3718" CreationDate="2010-10-07T08:19:07.277" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have said, &quot;data&quot; is often used these days as an uncountable noun, either in the singular or plural. However, it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; still also used as the plural of &quot;datum&quot;. This answer is just to show that &quot;datum&quot; is also still a part of English, provoked by another answer that strangely claims that it isn't. (Too long for a comment.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking through Google News gives, from recent news results:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10276/1091893-373.stm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pittsburgh Post-Gazette&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (US), October 2:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The most interesting &lt;strong&gt;datum&lt;/strong&gt; to me in the National Journal/Pew poll is…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/10/science_journalists_no_more_si.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Scienceblogs&lt;/em&gt; (Pharyngula)&lt;/a&gt; (US), October 1:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;…a superficial news item about one &lt;strong&gt;datum&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tomchivers/100047630/is-exoplanet-gliese-581g-really-the-home-of-alien-life-maybe-and-then-again-maybe-not/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Telegraph&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (UK), September 30 (reported speech):&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;… with a single &lt;strong&gt;datum&lt;/strong&gt;, you can’t say anything about…&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/views/recommendations/-Stay-with-what-you-have-of-Mahindra-Satyam-Rajesh-Jain/articleshow/6641385.cms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Economic Times&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (India), September 28:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;…going to define the &lt;strong&gt;datum&lt;/strong&gt; from which Mahindra…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nationalreview.com/exchequer/247825/70-percent-myth-consumer-economy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;National Review Online&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (US), September 27:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;God defend us from a man of one &lt;strong&gt;datum&lt;/strong&gt;, particularly if that man is an economist, and particularly if the &lt;strong&gt;datum&lt;/strong&gt; is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nbcwashington.com/around-town/events/The-Fight-for-Freedom-103743239.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;NBC Washington&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, (US) September 24 [actually quoting &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/books/review/Tanenhaus-t.html?_r=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The New York Times&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (US), August 19]:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;…a capacious but intricately ordered narrative that in its majestic sweep seems to gather up every fresh &lt;strong&gt;datum&lt;/strong&gt; of our shared millennial life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/bias_at_the_times_book_review.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Columbia Journal Review&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (US), September 21:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Of course, as the authors of the article are quick to point out, a crucial &lt;strong&gt;datum&lt;/strong&gt; is missing: the percentage of all published fiction written by men versus women.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/9/21/hauser-hausers-case-data/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Harvard Crimson&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (US), September 21:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Researchers in some labs are irresponsibly subjective in their analyses: any turn of the head is counted as a positive &lt;strong&gt;datum&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All these (and many more; I got tired) in a span of two weeks. Among these publications are national and local newspapers, student magazines, and blogs. There also appear to exist standard phrases like &quot;poverty datum line&quot; and &quot;chart datum level&quot; (of rivers). Of course, there are also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreelibrary.com/_/search/Search.aspx?By=0&amp;amp;SearchBy=4&amp;amp;Word=datum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;plenty of occurrences&lt;/a&gt; in the classical literature. (It occurs several times in the Sherlock Holmes canon I read as a child. :-))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure, &quot;datum&quot; not the most common of words, but claims that it's not a part of modern English, or that you need to wear a toga to use it, seem unjustified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T08:19:07.277" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3750" CreationDate="2010-10-07T09:34:02.970" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about &quot;In life, you are alone.&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1595" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T09:34:02.970" />
  <row Id="3778" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-07T10:44:44.297" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;A petition is a request, usually by a group of people, for a specific cause.&#xA;What is the noun (no gerunds please) for the 'action of requesting a vacation'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1599" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-07T10:49:47.950" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T13:36:52.500" Title="Better word for 'petition' when the request is a vacation" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3778" CreationDate="2010-10-07T10:52:15.877" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've worked in HR, and never seen anything other than an &quot;application&quot; for (annual) leave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T10:52:15.877" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3780" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3781" CreationDate="2010-10-07T11:42:54.947" Score="6" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which of the following is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Himalaya is home to diverse flora.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Himalaya is home for diverse flora.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or are both wrong, and there can be a better structure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1600" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:49:56.027" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T22:15:35.797" Title="&quot;home to&quot; or &quot;home for&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3780" CreationDate="2010-10-07T11:46:08.307" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are widely used and understood. There's even a third alternative, &quot;home of&quot;. None of the three is &quot;wrong&quot; in and of itself. However, I would say that they mean slightly different things, and in your particular example, I would use &quot;to&quot;. For me, it implies that the diverse flora is already there, while &quot;for&quot; would imply that the diverse flora is kind of wandering around looking for a home, and now we can offer it one at the Himalayas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Google stats look as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22home+to+diverse%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;home to diverse&quot;&lt;/a&gt; — 287,000 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22home+of+diverse%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;home of diverse&quot;&lt;/a&gt; — 47,000 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22home+for+diverse%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;home for diverse&quot;&lt;/a&gt; — 14,000 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T22:15:35.797" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T22:15:35.797" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3774" CreationDate="2010-10-07T12:11:15.640" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To extend VonC's example a little, note the object of &quot;eat&quot; becomes an indirect object of &quot;feed&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I eat carrots.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I feed myself on carrots.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I feed my son on carrots.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I wear pants&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I dress myself in pants&quot; (or 'with'?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I dress my son in pants&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;('Pants' is a plural noun; strictly speaking it's &quot;a pair of pants&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T12:11:15.640" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1710" CreationDate="2010-10-07T12:35:57.837" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not an native English speaking person, I have lived in the southern US and in Canada and therefore would propose &quot;good morning, sir&quot; and &quot;good morning, ma'am&quot;. This works especially well by the way if you forgot a persons name, is very polite and uplifting. Don't try it in New York though, unless you want to provoke an outbreak of amusement. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T12:35:57.837" />
  <row Id="3784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3778" CreationDate="2010-10-07T13:36:52.500" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Requisition is the word I see fits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1599" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T13:36:52.500" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3785" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3788" CreationDate="2010-10-07T14:02:25.000" Score="3" ViewCount="378" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the dictionary definitions (e.g. in Merriam-Webster) , &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/should&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;should&quot; is the past of &quot;shall&quot;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/might&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;might&quot; is the past of &quot;may&quot;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But are these modal verbs really used as such? I know they are frequently used with other meanings (as confirmed by their other definitions in the dictionary), but my question is if they are really used with their original meaning of past tense for &quot;shall&quot; and &quot;may&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I give two examples below. Do the present and past versions have the &lt;strong&gt;exact&lt;/strong&gt; same meaning (except for the tense, of course)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) MAY / MIGHT&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Present:&lt;/strong&gt; When he is at school, he may not go to the bathroom without asking for permission.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Past:&lt;/strong&gt; When he was at school, he might not go to the bathroom without asking for permission.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) SHALL / SHOULD&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Present:&lt;/strong&gt; He thinks that they shall go the restaurant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Past:&lt;/strong&gt; He thought that they should go the restaurant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T19:11:55.707" Title="&quot;Should&quot; as past of &quot;shall&quot; / &quot;Might&quot; as past of &quot;may&quot;" Tags="&lt;past-tense&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="3786" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3787" CreationDate="2010-10-07T14:12:27.510" Score="3" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence: &quot;It took me all of ten minutes to find out&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does &quot;all of&quot; mean here exactly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it mainly used in a sarcastic context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1603" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-07T16:56:10.967" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T16:56:10.967" Title="&quot;It took me all of ten minutes to find out&quot; - what does &quot;all of&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3786" CreationDate="2010-10-07T14:18:43.943" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here, &quot;all of&quot; means &quot;as few as&quot;, &quot;merely&quot; or &quot;just&quot;. It doesn't have to be used sarcastically in general, and more context is needed to be able to say whether it's being used sarcastically in this particular case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a few examples of the idiom being used in non-sarcastic context, found by quick googling:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;What's incredibly sad is how quickly I was able to concoct that message — it took me all of two or three minutes. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Except for steaming the green beans, it took me all of about 2 minutes to put together.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;It took me all of two seconds after I first arrived at the [product name] website to say, “I've gotta have it”.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-07T14:25:54.200" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T14:25:54.200" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3785" CreationDate="2010-10-07T16:00:22.290" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both of the past-tense examples sound somewhat archaic, but that is to some extent because the use of &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; in the present-tense sentences does also, imo. (The use of present-tense &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; in the second sentence sounds formal, but not archaic.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably the last person I heard use &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; with these specific meanings was my grandmother, who learned English as a foreign language about 100 years ago (literally). If your questions is whether you should :-) use the words with these meanings, I would say no, as it will simply be confusing. To convey the past-tense sense of these, you might have to come up with workarounds:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When he was at school, he was not allowed to go to the bathroom ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He thought that they would go to the restaurant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hmm, that second one is tricky, but it's the result of substituting the non-archaic &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; for &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; in the present tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1584" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T16:00:22.290" />
  <row Id="3789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3780" CreationDate="2010-10-07T16:01:46.680" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CORPUS OF CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN ENGLISH&lt;/a&gt; has:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;13,109 &quot;home to&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5,348 &quot;home for&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;4,778 &quot;home of &quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;42 &quot;home for many&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;19 &quot;home of many&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;0 &quot;home to many&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="423" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T16:01:46.680" />
  <row Id="3790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3774" CreationDate="2010-10-07T16:17:44.363" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Clothe&quot; is another possibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T16:17:44.363" />
  <row Id="3791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3785" CreationDate="2010-10-07T16:20:40.860" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dictionary is technically correct (as &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; be expected) but you &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; consider that informal english does not necessarily conform to the proper and exact denotations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the example above, &quot;might&quot; is used for the past-tense construction of &quot;may&quot; in a manner which is perhaps more familiar to persons who are not in the habit of reading Dickens.  Mike Pope is correct in asserting that few people currently are in the habit of using the proper past-tense constructions of those words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Off the top of my head, the only use of the word &quot;might&quot; in reference to the past-tense of &quot;may&quot; rather than as an indicator of probability or the completely unrelated denotation of strength is in the (archaic but still current) poem &quot;Star Light, Star Bright&quot; where it is used to rhyme with &quot;night.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Should&quot; is a similar case; it is somewhat conflated with &quot;shall&quot; but with the same probablistic connotations that &quot;might&quot; is burdened with; most uses that I see in current language are (unhappily) people applying wishful thinking to functioning of processes, e.g., &quot;Rebooting the computer &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; fix the problem.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is still proper to use these words in their appropriate functions, I think, provided that you make clear from the context your intended meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastEditorUserId="1552" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-08T15:37:08.203" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T15:37:08.203" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3738" CreationDate="2010-10-07T16:23:27.897" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think people get confused because the apostrophe is used in possessives as well as contractions, but in this case the possessive &lt;code&gt;your&lt;/code&gt; has no apostrophe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T16:23:27.897" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2969" CreationDate="2010-10-07T16:38:22.300" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;recurring and reoccurring &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;comprise and compose (different, but many people use comprise when they should use compose)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1397" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T16:38:22.300" />
  <row Id="3794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3713" CreationDate="2010-10-07T17:52:46.293" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The pronunciation/spelling-out of &quot;1:1&quot; is &quot;one to one&quot; or &quot;one-to-one.&quot; I just wanted to add that you wouldn't say &quot;ratio one-to-one.&quot; You would either say &quot;a ratio &lt;strong&gt;of&lt;/strong&gt; one-to-one&quot; or &quot;a one-to-one ratio.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T17:52:46.293" />
  <row Id="3795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3768" CreationDate="2010-10-07T18:05:28.310" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hard to say. Generally, &lt;code&gt;take&lt;/code&gt; denotes an active action, like &quot;I took his cheese,&quot; while &lt;code&gt;get&lt;/code&gt; denotes a passive one, like &quot;I got my paycheck today.&quot; Besides that, you just have to memorize which one to use where. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of take:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I take a shower.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I take it that you're going. (Meaning: From what I can tell, you are going.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I take my pills daily. (Action of consuming.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I took your cheese. (Physical removal of an object.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The main point I took away from that was... (understanding a concept)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I took her to the opera. (Conducting someone.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I took up doing cocaine. (to start a habit)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of get:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I got my paycheck. (Received from someone else giving it to you.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I get you. (As in, I understand you).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I didn't get that, please repeat it. (As in, I didn't hear).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get out of here.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get dressed. Take your time. (From PyroTiger).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get up!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get a life.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could go on. You can check dictionary.com's entries on &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/take?r=75&amp;amp;src=ref&amp;amp;ch=dic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;take&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/get?r=75&amp;amp;src=ref&amp;amp;ch=dic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;get&lt;/a&gt; for more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T18:05:28.310" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3796" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-07T18:53:02.097" Score="7" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is &lt;em&gt;walri&lt;/em&gt; not the correct pluralization of &lt;em&gt;walrus?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1608" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-09T12:40:55.770" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T12:40:55.770" Title="Why is walri not the correct pluralization of walrus?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3796" CreationDate="2010-10-07T18:59:34.857" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Only some words of Latin extraction ending in &lt;em&gt;-us&lt;/em&gt;, which were second declension nouns in Latin, take &lt;em&gt;-i&lt;/em&gt; as plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Walrus&lt;/em&gt; comes from Dutch, and is akin to Danish and Norwegian &lt;em&gt;hvalros&lt;/em&gt;. It is not a Latin second declension noun, so there is no reason it would be pluralized with &lt;em&gt;-i&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The plural of &lt;em&gt;walrus&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;walruses&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; I just want add an additional note to clarify that even in cases where an English word does come from a Latin second declension noun, its plural might not necessarily end in &lt;em&gt;-i&lt;/em&gt;. For example, the plural of &lt;em&gt;campus&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;campuses&lt;/em&gt; not &lt;em&gt;campi&lt;/em&gt;, and the plural of &lt;em&gt;bonus&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;bonuses&lt;/em&gt; not &lt;em&gt;boni&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-08T20:16:15.657" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T20:16:15.657" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3798" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3799" CreationDate="2010-10-07T20:39:53.440" Score="9" ViewCount="244" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a long time I was wondering why there is &lt;em&gt;I win&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;I won&lt;/em&gt;. I met such usage in a lot of games and movies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, it's logically to say &lt;em&gt;I won&lt;/em&gt;, because this &lt;em&gt;winning&lt;/em&gt; action is done already. &lt;em&gt;I win&lt;/em&gt; for me seems like &lt;em&gt;I'm winning right now&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So please, clarify this for me. Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1609" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T19:10:11.027" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T19:10:11.027" Title="Why &quot;I win&quot; instead of &quot;I won&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3798" CreationDate="2010-10-07T20:58:31.923" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The statement &quot;I win&quot; is typically used to declare that the subject has just won the game. Before the statement, it may well not be known that a &quot;win&quot; has occurred. Indeed, because the action is so extremely recent in the past, it is effectively considered the present. While you technically may be right in that the win occurred in the past, language does not make this distinction. Call it an idiomatic usage case, if you will. I wouldn't over-analyse the reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T20:58:31.923" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3439" CreationDate="2010-10-07T23:23:46.263" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Would&quot; infers motive (love, money, jealousy, etc.), whereas &quot;could&quot; infers method (with a gun, knife, radiation poisoning, etc.). Noldorin answered this in a more detailed manner, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: In my opinion, there isn't a &quot;correct&quot; use here -- it depends on what you mean. &quot;Could&quot; and &quot;would&quot; are two entirely separate questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1610" LastActivityDate="2010-10-07T23:23:46.263" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3801" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3802" CreationDate="2010-10-08T03:00:10.153" Score="4" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I wish to say something along the lines of &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Consider the bear &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; scratches his head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that I could instead say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Consider the bear &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; scratches his head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am unsure which of these is correct, if it even matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know a rule which makes this clear?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="105" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T19:14:39.837" Title="&quot;That&quot; or &quot;which&quot;? Does it matter?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="3802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3801" CreationDate="2010-10-08T03:16:01.123" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;That&lt;/em&gt; is restrictive, it limits / restricts / specifies the identity of the subject.  Using your example, the bear that scratches his head refers to one specific bear -- &quot;the bear that scratches his head&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Which&lt;/em&gt; is non-restrictive, meaning it refers to something incidental about the subject.  &quot;Consider the bear, which scratches its head&quot; refers to the bear (could be a single bear, could be the species), which &lt;em&gt;happens&lt;/em&gt; to scratch its head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: ShreevatsaR has pointed out that this is a convention, not a grammar rule.  In the end it doesn't &quot;matter&quot;, use the convention if it appeals to you.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=2yJusP0vrdgC&amp;amp;lpg=PP1&amp;amp;ots=nYxVmez4W1&amp;amp;dq=merriam%20webster%20dictionary%20of%20english%20usage&amp;amp;pg=PA894#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=that%20which&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is MW's take (thanks, nohat).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1614" LastEditorUserId="1614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-08T18:58:25.383" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T18:58:25.383" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="3803" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3805" CreationDate="2010-10-08T06:20:20.223" Score="1" ViewCount="261" Body="&lt;p&gt;How is &lt;em&gt;rationale&lt;/em&gt; used in a sentence? Can it be used in place of &lt;em&gt;logic?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-09T13:25:08.077" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T13:28:41.530" Title="How would you use rationale in a sentence?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3798" CreationDate="2010-10-08T06:22:18.360" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h2&gt;I'm winning&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;I'm winning&lt;/em&gt; this time.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;I've won&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;I've won&lt;/em&gt; this time. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T06:22:18.360" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="3805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3803" CreationDate="2010-10-08T06:32:37.433" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The rationale behind all this is...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would think that &lt;em&gt;rationale&lt;/em&gt; could rather be replaced by &lt;em&gt;reasoning&lt;/em&gt; than &lt;em&gt;logic&lt;/em&gt;, but both are certainly possible. &lt;em&gt;Rationale&lt;/em&gt; highlights more the deduction process than the set of rules behind it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Rationale&lt;/em&gt; is derived from Latin &lt;em&gt;ratio&lt;/em&gt;, which is the human reason, brain, wit, understanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at &lt;em&gt;rational&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;rationality&lt;/em&gt;: in philosophy, &lt;em&gt;rationality&lt;/em&gt; is the exercise of reason, a key method used to analyze the data gained through systematically conducted observations (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationality&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wiki&lt;/a&gt;). In economics and such, a &lt;em&gt;rational decision&lt;/em&gt; is one that is optimal given the available information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, a sentence using &lt;em&gt;rationale&lt;/em&gt; would list the information and reasoning that led to a decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-09T13:27:23.033" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T13:27:23.033" />
  <row Id="3806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3803" CreationDate="2010-10-08T06:34:49.080" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rationale can sometimes be used in place of reason or logic. (It is not a drop-in replacement that would work in all cases)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Corpus:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The rationale the President gave for going in to Afghanistan was to keep a weak state from turning into another al Qaeda haven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The rationale is she wants to be president.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;His rationale is the equivalent to stating that our AP European history classes in the state of Arizona.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="45" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-09T13:28:41.530" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T13:28:41.530" />
  <row Id="3807" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3828" CreationDate="2010-10-08T08:05:09.853" Score="2" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've encountered different usages of &lt;code&gt;preposition + Home&lt;/code&gt; and I want to learn which of them are correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Back home&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Back &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt; home&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Back &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; home  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T14:54:27.143" Title="Prepositions used with &quot;Home&quot;" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3807" CreationDate="2010-10-08T08:36:44.723" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When &quot;home&quot; is behaving like an adverb expressing direction, you don't need a preposition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I shall be arriving / going / coming /&#xA;  leaving home late this evening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm going back home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that most verbs expressing direction require a preposition (e.g. &quot;to&quot;) before the noun, but not when the noun is &quot;home&quot;. When the noun is &quot;home&quot;, you don't &lt;em&gt;have to&lt;/em&gt; use the preposition. You &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; use a preposition with &quot;home&quot; (it's not incorrect), but this usage is less common:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm going to home. I'm going back to&#xA;  home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once you arrive home, no more direction is suggested. In this case &quot;at&quot; is then the appropriate preposition to use with home:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will you be at home tonight or are you&#xA;  going out? No, I'll be at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reference: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv240.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Prepositional use for common nouns without articles (BBC Learn it!)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T08:36:44.723" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3809" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3810" CreationDate="2010-10-08T08:37:39.357" Score="1" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wish to notify my colleagues that they may start testing because I have prepared the  environment. Among the many ways to say this, I wonder whether I can say simply &lt;em&gt;Testing started&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Testing has been started&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel that passive voice is not appropriate here, but others vote for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one would be the correct version: one of these two or a different one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1058" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T01:32:11.597" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T01:32:11.597" Title="&quot;Testing started&quot; versus &quot;testing has been started&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;passive-voice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3809" CreationDate="2010-10-08T08:45:55.320" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Intuitively, both your propositions do not say what you intend. If you wanted to inform the customer that your colleagues have started testing or that the testing phase has begun, both would be OK. Passive voice would then emphasize the fact that there was an (undisclosed) actor involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To express availability of the test environment I would say &quot;Testing may be started&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T08:45:55.320" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3811" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3813" CreationDate="2010-10-08T09:03:44.073" Score="3" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;in this sentence :  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;effective sales management is a great democrat for smaller firms  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;what does the word &lt;strong&gt;democrat&lt;/strong&gt; mean?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="679" LastEditorUserId="380" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-08T15:09:53.453" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T13:11:25.280" Title="What does the word democrat mean in this sentence?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3812" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-08T09:18:38.423" Score="5" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know &lt;em&gt;et voila&lt;/em&gt; is a French interjection and means &lt;em&gt;there it is.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very much used in the US. Why is the use of &lt;em&gt;et voila&lt;/em&gt; so popular in the US? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which historical fact has made it so popular? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="929" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-09T13:22:16.477" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T13:22:16.477" Title="Interjection &quot;et voila&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;history&gt;&lt;foreign-words&gt;&lt;interjections&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="13" />
  <row Id="3813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3811" CreationDate="2010-10-08T09:23:40.083" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A great democrat&lt;/em&gt; would mean a great means to give you equal opportunities. In democracy everybody has the same chance, rights, weight, or vote. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, a great democrat would make sure that all have a leveled playing field.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-09T13:11:25.280" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T13:11:25.280" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="3814" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3827" CreationDate="2010-10-08T09:24:41.810" Score="6" ViewCount="211" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &quot;Lots&quot; and &quot;A lot&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've got &lt;strong&gt;a lot of&lt;/strong&gt; apples&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I've got &lt;strong&gt;lots of&lt;/strong&gt; apples&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T12:59:17.840" Title="Difference between &quot;Lots of&quot; and &quot;A lot of&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3815" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3817" CreationDate="2010-10-08T09:39:21.507" Score="5" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At the beginning of the century.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  In the beginning of the century.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to clearly distinguish when to use &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-09T12:29:43.840" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T12:29:43.840" Title="Using &quot;at&quot; or &quot;in&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3814" CreationDate="2010-10-08T09:45:26.003" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no difference. They have the same meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="929" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T09:45:26.003" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3815" CreationDate="2010-10-08T10:44:01.867" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, &quot;at&quot; marks a spot and &quot;in&quot; marks a space. Obviously, there are idiomatic exceptions, but this really isn't one.  The beginning of a period of time is a &quot;spot&quot;, the period of time itself is rather &quot;spacious&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T10:44:01.867" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="3818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3439" CreationDate="2010-10-08T10:51:06.040" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to &quot;is the first verb always the correct choice?&quot; is &lt;strong&gt;No&lt;/strong&gt;. The reason is the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you choose &quot;I wonder why and how someone &lt;strong&gt;could&lt;/strong&gt; kill a person.&quot;, you're saying the same as &quot;I wonder why someone could kill a person and how someone could kill a person.&quot; You don't mean that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if you choose &quot;I wonder why and how someone &lt;strong&gt;would&lt;/strong&gt; kill a person.&quot;, you're saying the same as &quot;I wonder why someone would kill a person and how someone would kill a person.&quot; You don't mean exactly that either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only solution that I can think of is to rebuild the sentence, otherwise you won't be expressing what you mean clearly. Something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I wonder why someone would kill a person and also how someone could do it.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T10:51:06.040" />
  <row Id="3819" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3820" CreationDate="2010-10-08T11:29:44.333" Score="6" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between velocity and speed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In meteorological data I found them used like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;wind velocity: speed including direction&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;wind speed: just plain speed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T09:48:18.923" Title="Velocity vs. speed" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="6" />
  <row Id="3820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3819" CreationDate="2010-10-08T11:33:13.780" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I would agree with the meteorological definition, that's the one I was taught in my physics class as well. Wikipedia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velocity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In physics, velocity is the rate of change of displacement (position). It is a vector physical quantity; both magnitude and direction are required to define it. The scalar absolute value (magnitude) of velocity is speed [...]. For example, &quot;5 meters per second&quot; is a scalar and not a vector, whereas &quot;5 meters per second east&quot; is a vector.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; so much for the &lt;em&gt;difference&lt;/em&gt; between velocity and speed, since that is what you are expressly asking for. However, for the sake of completeness, I think I should add that &quot;velocity&quot; and &quot;speed&quot; sometimes &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; used interchangeably. For example, Merriam-Webster &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/velocity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Definition of VELOCITY&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;1 a&lt;/strong&gt; : quickness of motion : speed &amp;lt;the &lt;em&gt;velocity&lt;/em&gt; of sound&amp;gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;b&lt;/strong&gt; : rapidity of movement &amp;lt;[my horse's] strong suit is grace &amp;amp; personal comeliness, rather than &lt;em&gt;velocity&lt;/em&gt; — Mark Twain&amp;gt; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;c&lt;/strong&gt; : speed imparted to something &amp;lt;the power pitcher relies on &lt;em&gt;velocity&lt;/em&gt; — Tony Scherman&amp;gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;2&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  : the rate of change of position along a straight line with respect to time : the derivative of position with respect to time&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;3 a&lt;/strong&gt; : rate of occurrence or action : rapidity &amp;lt;the &lt;em&gt;velocity&lt;/em&gt; of historical change — R. J. Lifton&amp;gt;&lt;br&gt; &#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;b&lt;/strong&gt; : rate of turnover &amp;lt;the &lt;em&gt;velocity&lt;/em&gt; of money&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-08T11:44:00.150" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T11:44:00.150" />
  <row Id="3821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3812" CreationDate="2010-10-08T12:33:25.147" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know what's made it popular, but I am interested that there are many instances where people render it in writing as &quot;wallah!&quot; (cf. &quot;Voilà! Ear spellings&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005052.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link text&lt;/a&gt;) This suggests that people are not using it out of a sense of knowing what the French actually means, but as an idiomatic phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1584" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T12:33:25.147" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3822" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3823" CreationDate="2010-10-08T12:34:52.830" Score="7" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I ask the following question to someone:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are you available tonight for a drink?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does &lt;em&gt;tonight&lt;/em&gt; refer to &lt;em&gt;this evening&lt;/em&gt; and/or &lt;em&gt;this night&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not, what would be considered the beginning of the night and the end of the evening? Do they overlap?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="929" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-09T13:29:33.400" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T17:27:58.593" Title="Tonight and this evening" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;time&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3822" CreationDate="2010-10-08T12:42:05.400" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that this really depends on the context and common understanding between speaker and hearer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are you available for a drink tonight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would understand tonight as starting after work (if asked by a coworker) and lasting through something reasonable, like midnight nowadays. If the person asked works in a bar at night, it might mean &quot;right now&quot;, no matter whether it is 6pm or 5am.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Asking &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Where will you sleep tonight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tonight will denote the normal sleeping period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best is to further specify if necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-09T17:27:58.593" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T17:27:58.593" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3824" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3825" CreationDate="2010-10-08T13:21:13.330" Score="14" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tried looking on Google, but there are some fairly contradictory results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought I'd ask you guys so we could get an authoritative answer on the subject!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1622" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T13:23:25.070" Title="What is the plural form of zero?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3824" CreationDate="2010-10-08T13:23:25.070" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;em&gt;zeros&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;zeroes&lt;/em&gt; are acceptable, see e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/zero&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zero#Noun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/zero&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TheFreeDictionary&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T13:23:25.070" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3815" CreationDate="2010-10-08T14:43:55.797" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer the question: I would never say &quot;in the beginning of the century&quot;. I think Peter Eisntraut's argument is essential correct: &quot;the beginning of the century&quot; is notionally a point, not a period (even though in practice, &quot;at the beginning of the century&quot; may in context cover a period of several years). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact the only instance I can think of of &quot;In the beginning&quot; is the opening of St John's Gospel. That phrase is now archaic, and would not be used except in imitation of that specific use. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T14:43:55.797" />
  <row Id="3827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3814" CreationDate="2010-10-08T14:44:53.747" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think informally, they have the same meaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the phrase &quot;a lot&quot; refers to an indeterminate unit of measure (which may in certain contexts actually be determinate, e.g. land measurements).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, technically, &quot;lots of&quot; should be more than &quot;a lot of&quot;, since the latter refers to a single unit of measure, and the former refers to multiple units of the same measure (if used in the same context).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T14:44:53.747" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3807" CreationDate="2010-10-08T14:54:27.143" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a native speaker of American English, I would only ever say &quot;back home&quot; and never insert a preposition between the two. I would say, &quot;I'm going back home&quot; when someone asks, for example, how I will spend my vacation. In this case, &quot;home&quot; refers to where I was raised. If I just say &quot;I'm going home&quot;, this could just mean the place I live now OR the place I was raised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use &quot;at&quot; with &quot;home&quot; as in, &quot;I am spending the night at home&quot; or &quot;Cooking at home is less expensive than eating out.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to use &quot;back to&quot; in the above context, you might tack &quot;my house&quot; on the end of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Q&lt;/strong&gt;: Where to you want to go after dinner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A:&lt;/strong&gt; Let's go back &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; my house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also use at in this context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Q:&lt;/strong&gt; Where did you say the blueprints were?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A:&lt;/strong&gt; I left them back &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; my house &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;OR&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; I left them back &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; the house (implies&#xA;  everyone knows which house is being&#xA;  spoken about, but you do not&#xA;  necessarily own it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot speak for how the above usage may differ in British English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T14:54:27.143" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3819" CreationDate="2010-10-08T15:43:16.443" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Physics makes a distinction between these two words, but in non-physics contexts people don't usually need the distinction or can infer it from context, and thus those words are synonyms.  Actually it's not uncommon for technical jargon to assign synonyms to similar concepts in a way that makes them not synonymous anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of speed and velocity as synonyms: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I ran around the block at a high velocity&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I ran around the block at a high speed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were speaking informally, you could say either word and the sentence would mean the same thing to your listener (note: velocity sounds pretentious to me here).  However technically once you've run around the block and returned to your starting point your net velocity is zero because your displacement is zero.  A pedantic purist who would insist that &quot;velocity&quot; is incorrect in this sentence should assume that the speaker is simply referring to their instantaneous velocity and not their net velocity.  Of course anything which has speed has velocity as well, but usually we just don't care about the direction part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T15:43:16.443" />
  <row Id="3830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3814" CreationDate="2010-10-08T16:17:07.407" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both phrases are very informal; however, there is a denotation for &quot;lot&quot; that indicates &quot;a group&quot; e.g. &quot;a job lot&quot; or, at an auction, one &quot;unit&quot; that is being bid upon.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not a very common definition outside of certain markets; dictionary.com gives it as &quot;11. a distinct portion or parcel of anything, as of merchandise: The furniture was to be auctioned off in 20 lots.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, it is entirely possible that &quot;a lot of apples&quot; could refer to a specific grouping of apples being sold or auctioned; if one purchases several of these, then one might refer entirely correctly to &quot;lots of apples.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To avoid confusion, it may be better to use &quot;many&quot; and the verb &quot;to have,&quot; e.g. &quot;I have many apples.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will almost certainly be understood with either of your phrases, but as they are colloquial they may not translate as precisely to non-native speakers as you may wish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T16:17:07.407" />
  <row Id="3831" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3842" CreationDate="2010-10-08T16:27:14.203" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;If &lt;em&gt;pronunciation&lt;/em&gt; pairs with &lt;em&gt;sound&lt;/em&gt;, which word should &lt;em&gt;spelling&lt;/em&gt; pair with?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-09T12:42:34.597" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T12:42:34.597" Title="If ‘pronunciation’ pairs with ‘sound’, which word should ‘spelling’ pair with?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;analogy&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3831" CreationDate="2010-10-08T16:31:54.860" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my mind, appearance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1610" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T16:31:54.860" />
  <row Id="3833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2993" CreationDate="2010-10-08T16:51:18.877" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Isn't the question really about a thesaurus? Perhaps I'm not understanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS Anyway, perhaps this is what you're looking for -- ?  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.whitesmoke.com/?&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.whitesmoke.com/?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1584" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T16:51:18.877" />
  <row Id="3834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3831" CreationDate="2010-10-08T18:46:44.487" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I said &quot;sight&quot; earlier but that's not right. (In that case you'd have said &quot;hearing&quot; not &quot;sound&quot;). Maybe &quot;vision&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T18:46:44.487" />
  <row Id="3835" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3839" CreationDate="2010-10-08T18:47:56.320" Score="5" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering whether there is a difference between these two expressions. I never know which one to use. Google seems to return the same amount of results for both, so I suppose there might be a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;What are the alternatives for this project?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;What are the alternatives to this project?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1426" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-08T19:24:57.457" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T19:36:08.980" Title="&quot;Alternative to&quot; vs &quot;Alternative for&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;determiners&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3822" CreationDate="2010-10-08T18:54:44.237" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends. I think they overlap for the beginning of the night/evening, but &quot;tonight&quot; goes further. So you can say &quot;I'm dining in this evening&quot;, meaning you probably won't stay up too late, but if you say &quot;I'm going to go out tonight&quot;, it could mean that you won't stay late, but it could be 2am or 5am also. You would never use &quot;this evening&quot; for going out until 2am, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T18:54:44.237" />
  <row Id="3837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3801" CreationDate="2010-10-08T19:14:39.837" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One practical, grammatical difference is that, in writing, 'which' will be preceded by a comma (or other visual pause).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T19:14:39.837" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3838" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3840" CreationDate="2010-10-08T19:27:48.443" Score="3" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the plural of virus &quot;viruses&quot; or &quot;virii&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T22:29:59.667" Title="&quot;viruses&quot; or &quot;virii&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3835" CreationDate="2010-10-08T19:36:08.980" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me these two statements have different meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What are the alternatives to this project?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means &quot;What other projects could we do instead?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What are the alternatives for this project?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means &quot;In the context of this project, what choices do we have about how to solve it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T19:36:08.980" />
  <row Id="3840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3838" CreationDate="2010-10-08T19:37:45.960" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plural_form_of_words_ending_in_-us#Virus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rather large section&lt;/a&gt; dedicated to this question. The verdict is: &quot;The English plural of 'virus' is 'viruses', not 'viri'&quot;. Merriam-Webster &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/virus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;agrees&lt;/a&gt;, as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/virus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;does&lt;/a&gt; TheFreeDictionary. Wiktionary offers the following &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/virus#Usage_notes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;usage notes&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The plural is often believed to be &lt;em&gt;viri&lt;/em&gt; or even &lt;em&gt;virii&lt;/em&gt;, but neither is correct Latin and both are neologistic folk etymology. The word has no plural in Latin as it is a mass noun, like &lt;em&gt;oxygen&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;sunlight&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T19:37:45.960" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="3841" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3844" CreationDate="2010-10-08T19:52:51.060" Score="13" ViewCount="250" Body="&lt;p&gt;At what point does &lt;em&gt;next Tuesday&lt;/em&gt; mean &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the next Tuesday that will come to pass  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and no longer &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the Tuesday &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; the Tuesday that will come to pass`?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, when does the meaning switch back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-09T12:37:23.320" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T17:53:04.163" Title="What day is next Tuesday?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3831" CreationDate="2010-10-08T20:14:15.853" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There a couple of implied analogies here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A word’s &lt;strong&gt;pronunciation&lt;/strong&gt; is how it &lt;strong&gt;sounds&lt;/strong&gt;, so a word’s &lt;strong&gt;spelling&lt;/strong&gt; is how it ___.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;looks&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;appears&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A word’s &lt;strong&gt;pronunciation&lt;/strong&gt; is what &lt;strong&gt;sound&lt;/strong&gt; it makes when used, so a word’s &lt;strong&gt;spelling&lt;/strong&gt; is what ___ it makes when used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;shape&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;appearance&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;visual manifestation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T20:14:15.853" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3841" CreationDate="2010-10-08T20:17:27.590" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;next-Tuesday&quot; would be better said as &quot;Tuesday of next week&quot;. Thus, the answer to your question would be &quot;on Tuesday&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1414" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T20:17:27.590" />
  <row Id="3844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3841" CreationDate="2010-10-08T20:20:58.797" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me, “next Tuesday” means the Tuesday that comes next week. For example, on Monday, October 11 and Wednesday, October 13, “next Tuesday” means October 19. Whereas on Monday, October 18, “next Tuesday” means October 26. “This Tuesday” refers to the Tuesday that comes this week, which on Wednesday would refer to yesterday, and on Monday refers to tomorrow. Similarly, “Last Tuesday” is the Tuesday that came last week. Without any descriptors, day names by themselves mean the next such day in the future unless used in the past tense. “He will do it on Tuesday” means the next time there is a Tuesday, which on Monday would mean “tomorrow” but on Wednesday would mean the following Tuesday. In the past tense, day names mean the last such day which occurred. “He did it on Tuesday” means the most recent day that was a Tuesday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not everyone may agree with this analysis, but in my experience this is what most people mean when they use “this”, “last”, and “next” with day names.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-08T20:50:35.207" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T20:50:35.207" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3841" CreationDate="2010-10-08T22:13:38.993" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My preferred use is to specify &quot;this coming Tuesday&quot; or &quot;the Tuesday after next&quot; when I talk about days, specifically because of the ambiguity of what &quot;next Tuesday&quot; could be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's just my preference, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T22:13:38.993" />
  <row Id="3846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="78" CreationDate="2010-10-08T22:18:05.213" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In British English usage the two are largely interchangeable, with the restrictive/non-restrictive distinction being indicated only by the presence or absence of a comma preceding the pronoun in question. This more often manifests itself as a restrictive &quot;which&quot; rather than a non-restrictive &quot;that&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only dissent that one may encounter in the UK tends to be a result of over-familiarity with the Americanish preferences of the Microsoft Word grammar checker, especially in earlier versions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1625" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T22:18:05.213" />
  <row Id="3847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3841" CreationDate="2010-10-08T22:25:36.473" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This clearly has no definitive answer - usage varies between speakers. To me, &quot;next Tuesday&quot; means (strictly) the next instance of a Tuesday, although I just wouldn't use it on Sunday or Monday (preferring the day after tomorrow/tomorrow or an unqualified &quot;Tuesday&quot;, which generally refers to the current week, past or present). However, I accept that this is personal and that others may sometimes mean &quot;the next Tuesday but one&quot;, bizarre as that may seem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This assumes that I know what day it is, which cannot always be relied on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1625" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T22:25:36.473" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3838" CreationDate="2010-10-08T22:29:59.667" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking as a descriptivist, I would have to say that &quot;virii&quot; does indeed exist, in English rather than bad Latin, but only as a whimsical or jocular form (and particularly in an IT context). Strictly &quot;viruses&quot; for an unmarked usage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1625" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T22:29:59.667" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2626" CreationDate="2010-10-08T22:48:01.007" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that &quot;bye bye&quot; is overused by many non-native speakers - much of my experience is with Italians who may take the repetition as analogous with the familiar but otherwise unremarkable &quot;ciao ciao&quot; (NB that in English, unrepeated &quot;ciao&quot; is used for &quot;goodbye&quot;, but not, as in Italian, for &quot;hello&quot;). It is childish and best avoided in most circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1625" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T22:48:01.007" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3815" CreationDate="2010-10-08T22:55:51.727" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;In ~&quot; is Just Plain Wrong. Acceptable usages would be &quot;at the beginning of the century&quot; or &quot;in the early years [etc.] of the century&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In the beginning&quot; as a collocation does not take a referent - it refers to some (contextually defined) absolute start (the beginning of the story, the creation of the world, etc.). It is familiar as the opening words of Genesis and of the gospel of John in the King James Bible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1625" LastActivityDate="2010-10-08T22:55:51.727" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3851" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3852" CreationDate="2010-10-09T05:58:21.290" Score="4" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;What other words are like &quot;independence&quot; in British English where you replace the 'a' with an 'e'? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-02T22:03:35.657" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T22:03:35.657" Title="Independance or Independence?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3851" CreationDate="2010-10-09T06:43:02.053" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I reject your premise that &quot;independance&quot; is the American spelling; it's the French one. Both in British and in American English, &quot;independence&quot; is spelled with an &quot;e&quot;. (There's even a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_%28United_States%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;federal holiday&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T06:43:02.053" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3853" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3873" CreationDate="2010-10-09T12:35:59.230" Score="4" ViewCount="255" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;‘Now take huntin'…’ ‘Oh, &lt;em&gt;bull&lt;/em&gt;-fightin' — that's &lt;em&gt;quite&lt;/em&gt; a different kettle of fish.…’ Italics bred italics. Dropped g's fell as thick as confetti.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Jan Struther, &lt;em&gt;Mrs Miniver&lt;/em&gt;, 1939; 4th chapter, “The Eve of the Shoot”)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The location is a shooting-party hosted by Lady Chervil. From that and other clues, the context is definitely upper-class British society. So the dropped g's are not a sign of a working-class accent. What do they mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1165" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T23:01:59.027" Title="Dropped g's in upper-class 1930s Britain" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;accent&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3814" CreationDate="2010-10-09T12:59:17.840" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The expressions &lt;em&gt;a lot of&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;lots of&lt;/em&gt; are used before nouns to mean &lt;em&gt;a large number or amount of.&lt;/em&gt; In common with other words denoting quantities, &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; itself does not normally function as a head noun, meaning that it does not itself determine whether the following verb is singular or plural. Thus, although &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; is singular in &lt;em&gt;a lot of people&lt;/em&gt;, the verb that follows is not singular. In this case, the word &lt;em&gt;people&lt;/em&gt; acts as the head noun and, being plural, ensures that the following verb is also plural: &lt;em&gt;a lot of people were assembled&lt;/em&gt; (not &lt;em&gt;a lot of people was assembled&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;A lot of&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;lots of&lt;/em&gt; are very common in speech and writing, but they still have a distinctly informal feel and are generally not considered acceptable for formal English, where alternatives such as &lt;em&gt;many&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;a large number&lt;/em&gt; are used instead.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Written as one word, &lt;em&gt;alot&lt;/em&gt; is incorrect, although not uncommon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T12:59:17.840" />
  <row Id="3856" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3861" CreationDate="2010-10-09T13:05:01.563" Score="1" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I have an example of memo-writing? What actually is memo writing? Please explain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1478" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-09T13:12:51.180" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T14:36:39.183" Title="Please help me with memo writing" Tags="&lt;letter-writing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3857" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3902" CreationDate="2010-10-09T13:04:54.890" Score="6" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;Alfred Bester's short story &lt;em&gt;The Demolished Man&lt;/em&gt; (the original version serialized in Galaxy magazine in 1952, not the novel published in 1963) may have been the first instance of SMS-speak, featuring characters named “T8” (for “Tate”) and “$$son” (for Jackson).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wait, how is “$$son” short for “Jackson”?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Randall Garrett, who wrote a review in verse using similar shortcuts (such as “Mr. Hassop has gone in2 th@ mor* his hide” — pronounce * as “asterisk”), has this to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also, there’s a character in the original called “$$son.” Now, I could have sworn&#xA;  that was “Dollarson” and I wrote the verse accordingly. But when the book came out, it was&#xA;  spelled “Jackson.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Obscure, Alfie,” says I.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“That’s why I changed it,” says he.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(from the introduction to said review in the collection &lt;em&gt;Takeoff!&lt;/em&gt;, by Randall Garrett, Donning, 1979.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately Garrett does not reveal the connection. What is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I realize the answer may or may not be on-topic, since it could be a reference to then-current events rather than a pun.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1165" LastEditorUserId="1009" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-10T03:46:40.497" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T11:32:21.297" Title="Jackson = $$son: pun or topical reference" Tags="&lt;quotes&gt;&lt;history&gt;&lt;homophone&gt;&lt;pun&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="3858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3819" CreationDate="2010-10-09T13:06:07.753" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the NOAD:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;velocity /vəˈlɑsədi/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun ( pl. -ties)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  the speed of something in a given direction : the velocities of the emitted particles.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • (in general use) speed: &lt;em&gt;the tank shot backward at an incredible velocity.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • (also velocity of circulation) Economics the rate at which money changes hands within an economy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;speed /spid/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1 rapidity of movement or action: &lt;em&gt;the accident was due to excessive speed&lt;/em&gt; | figurative &lt;em&gt;they were bemused by the speed of events&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;  • the rate at which someone or something is able to move or operate: &lt;em&gt;the car has a top speed of 147 mph.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • each of the possible gear ratios of a bicycle or motor vehicle.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • the sensitivity of photographic film to light.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • the light-gathering power or f-number of a camera lens.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • the duration of a photographic exposure.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2 informal an amphetamine drug, esp. methamphetamine.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  3 informal something that matches one's tastes or inclinations: &lt;em&gt;oak tables and chairs are more his speed.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  4 archaic success; prosperity: &lt;em&gt;wish me good speed.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general use, velocity is a synonymous of speed, but in some cases the words have different meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T13:06:07.753" />
  <row Id="3859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3718" CreationDate="2010-10-09T13:20:57.580" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the NOAD:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;data /ˈdædə/ /ˈdeɪdə/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun [treated as sing. or pl.]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  facts and statistics collected together for reference or analysis. See also &lt;em&gt;datum&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • Computing the quantities, characters, or symbols on which operations are performed by a computer, being stored and transmitted in the form of electrical signals and recorded on magnetic, optical, or mechanical recording media.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • Philosophy things known or assumed as facts, making the basis of reasoning or calculation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;USAGE&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;Data&lt;/em&gt; was originally the plural of the Latin word &lt;em&gt;datum&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;something (e.g., a piece of information) given.&lt;/em&gt; _Data_ is now used as a singular where it means &lt;em&gt;information&lt;/em&gt; : &lt;em&gt;this data was prepared for the conference.&lt;/em&gt; It is used as a plural in technical contexts and when the collection of bits of information is stressed: &lt;em&gt;all recent data on hurricanes are being compared&lt;/em&gt;. Avoid &lt;em&gt;datas&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;datae&lt;/em&gt;, which are false plurals, neither English nor Latin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T13:20:57.580" />
  <row Id="3861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3856" CreationDate="2010-10-09T14:36:39.183" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Purdue university in their online writing lab defines memo writing like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Memos have a twofold purpose: they bring attention to problems and they solve problems. They accomplish their goals by informing the reader about new information like policy changes, price increases, or by persuading the reader to take an action, such as attend a meeting, or change a current production procedure. Regardless of the specific goal, memos are most effective when they connect the purpose of the writer with the interests and needs of the reader.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Choose the audience of the memo wisely. Ensure that all of the people that the memo is addressed to need to read the memo. If it is an issue involving only one person, do not send the memo to the entire office. Also, be certain that material is not too sensitive to put in a memo; sometimes the best forms of communication are face-to-face interaction or a phone call. Memos are most effectively used when sent to a small to moderate amount of people to communicate company or job objectives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They include the following segments into a memo:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;heading with to, from, date, subject&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;opening with purpose&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;context with circumstance, background, event, cause&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;task list&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;summary for longer memos&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;discussion with supporting material, rationale for the tasks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;closing (courtesy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;attachments&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They even give you a &lt;a href=&quot;http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/590/04/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sample&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;cited from &lt;a href=&quot;http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/590/01/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T14:36:39.183" />
  <row Id="3862" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3872" CreationDate="2010-10-09T16:59:34.547" Score="3" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I know &lt;em&gt;about&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;around&lt;/em&gt; can be used when we estimate something, for example, &lt;strong&gt;I'll arrived around 3:00 PM&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;I'm here about 10 minutes&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know, are there any rules or idioms when to use about or around?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-09T17:14:36.813" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T22:51:11.273" Title="When to use around and about?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3863" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-09T17:24:17.883" Score="0" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi. I have some question. Please say noun, adjective, and adverb of these verbs, thanks: grow, remember, and die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need it tonight, please help me!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1627" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T20:59:04.650" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T20:59:04.650" ClosedDate="2010-10-09T21:38:41.143" Title="Adjective &amp; adverb of these verbs" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;homework&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3863" CreationDate="2010-10-09T18:00:53.943" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These deadly homework questions bring forth within me a growing desire to call to remembrance the question on '&lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/333/how-to-deal-with-homework-questions&quot;&gt;how to deal with homework questions&lt;/a&gt;' in meta. This growth is big enough to spur the wish to put the question to death. But remembering to look at the close votes I see it is already dying, almost dead indeed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T18:00:53.943" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3480" CreationDate="2010-10-09T18:37:41.280" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it depends on who your target is.  Ask yourself if they would know for sure or not and write accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="896" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T18:37:41.280" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3866" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3867" CreationDate="2010-10-09T19:54:52.420" Score="2" ViewCount="281" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the differences between narrative and descriptive writing? While writing either what should we keep in mind?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1478" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-09T20:20:58.350" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T20:56:35.750" Title="What are the differences between narrative and descriptive writing?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3866" CreationDate="2010-10-09T20:56:35.750" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Narrative writing tells a story or part of a story. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Descriptive writing vividly portrays a person, place, or thing in such a way that the reader can visualize the topic and enter into the writer’s experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thewritingsite.org/resources/genre/narrative.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thewritingsite.org/resources/genre/descriptive.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in narrative writing, the reader is perfectly capable to tell you the plot of the story, while in descriptive writing there does not have to be a plot, but something has become very easy for the reader to visualize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's look at the Lord of the Rings. The way J.R.R.R. Tolkien describes a hobbit is very descriptive, and the reason the movies were so successful was not only because the story was told correctly (the book being narrative writing also), but because the readers did not have to come up with their own imagination of a hobbit (or other figures, places, and such). They were described in detail, giving everybody a very close framework of imagination to work from. Therefore everybody could relate to and agree upon the characters and the make-up of the artists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T20:56:35.750" />
  <row Id="3868" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3871" CreationDate="2010-10-09T21:05:31.830" Score="6" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always been taught that metaphors and similes both draw a parallel between two disparate ideas/thoughts/objects, but that a simile is a more explicit comparison using the word &quot;like&quot; or &quot;is&quot;, whereas a metaphor's connection is more implicit. For example, &quot;His injured ankle burned like a hot stove&quot; is a simile, where as, &quot;His injured ankle was a hot stove of pain&quot; is a metaphor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I recently heard a colleague note that similes &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; nothing more than a special kind of metaphor. In other words, all similes are metaphors. This seems to contradict what I was always taught (and &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-similes-metaphors.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;what I've read online&lt;/a&gt;, for what that's worth). Can anyone straighten me (or my colleague) out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-26T12:53:31.893" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T12:53:31.893" Title="Similes and Metaphors - are similes a subset of metaphors?" Tags="&lt;metaphor&gt;&lt;figures-of-speech&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3869" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3870" CreationDate="2010-10-09T21:13:21.623" Score="5" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does &lt;em&gt;way too long&lt;/em&gt; mean &lt;em&gt;a lot too long&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;slightly too long?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does &lt;em&gt;way too&lt;/em&gt; stand for a huge or small measure?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1503" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-10T01:38:11.857" LastActivityDate="2010-10-10T01:38:11.857" Title="Does &quot;way too long&quot; mean &quot;a lot too long&quot; or &quot;slightly too long&quot;?" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3869" CreationDate="2010-10-09T21:45:04.077" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an adverb, &quot;way&quot; means &quot;to a great degree&quot;. So &quot;way too long&quot; means &quot;very/extremely long&quot;. I also found the following information on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Way%20Too&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Urban Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Way too:&lt;/strong&gt; A phrase originating from Welland, Ontario, Canada. The phrase&#xA;  means to do/be something to a great&#xA;  extent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T21:45:04.077" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3868" CreationDate="2010-10-09T22:43:15.103" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Wikipedia article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Metaphor&lt;/a&gt; agrees with your colleague:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Metaphor also denotes rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via association, comparison or resemblance (e.g., antithesis, hyperbole, metonymy and &lt;strong&gt;simile&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;em&gt;which are all types of metaphor&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(emphasis added)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article cites &quot;The Oxford Companion to the English Language (1992) pp.653–55&quot; as a reference for the above information, but I don't have access to that publication to verify the statement directly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Well, it turns out that I &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; have access to that reference. Here it is, from p. 653, paragraph 2:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;METAPHOR&lt;/strong&gt; ... (1) All figures of speech that achieve their effect through association, comparison, and resemblance. Figures like antithesis, hyperbole, metonymy, simile are all species of metaphor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastEditorUserId="1009" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-09T23:21:45.007" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T23:21:45.007" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3862" CreationDate="2010-10-09T22:51:11.273" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When used to indicate an approximate time (your first example), &quot;around&quot; is more common. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When used to indicate an approximate duration, either will do, but &quot;about&quot; is probably commoner. No particular difference in register, though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing that your first example should be &quot;I'll arrive around 3 pm&quot; while your second should be &quot;I've been here [for] about/around ten minutes&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(British usage)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1625" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T22:51:11.273" />
  <row Id="3873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3853" CreationDate="2010-10-09T23:01:59.027" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are a characteristic affectation of an upper-class (or would-be upper-class) accent from the first half of the 20th century, not much heard since 1950 or so. The terminal Ns are quite clearly enunciated. &quot;Huntin', shootin' and fishin'&quot; is a common(ish) phrase used to describe a certain category of people likely to attend country-house parties, who are pretty much the likely users. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1625" LastActivityDate="2010-10-09T23:01:59.027" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3874" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3888" CreationDate="2010-10-10T08:36:33.227" Score="4" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been looking for a word that means kickassiness, but haven't come across one. Is this an accepted word? If not, what word can be used in its place?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="397" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T05:51:09.613" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T05:51:09.613" Title="Is kickassiness an accepted word?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3874" CreationDate="2010-10-10T09:34:45.893" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although it's rarely used in slang, it's neither an accepted nor a proper word. Instead, I would use &quot;awesomeness&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-10-10T09:34:45.893" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3876" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-10T12:51:29.863" Score="7" ViewCount="309" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is a single word to describe &quot;beating someone brutally&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1599" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T18:38:19.450" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T04:23:11.110" Title="What is a single word to describe beating someone brutally?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3876" CreationDate="2010-10-10T14:04:19.967" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you find yourself in a thuggish neighborhood (and hip-hop slang is accepable):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=merc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;merc&lt;/a&gt; or to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=merk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;merk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be warned: these definitions use coarse language that may be offensive to the reader (urbandictionary.com).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-10-10T14:04:19.967" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3879" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3881" CreationDate="2010-10-10T14:23:30.730" Score="2" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know the correct expression to point out the essence of this business model. I'm talking about web servers that gather users (offering and consuming services) and that charge them commissions based either on just having an account or per service provided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;example:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;$10 a month for your membership - then provide you services on youtself&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;account is free, but we want 10% of your revenue from provided services&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to dictionaries, &quot;commissioning&quot; doesn't have the meaning coming from &quot;commission&quot; so that I can't call it &quot;Models based on commissioning&quot; . What is the right word/expression or name of this web business model? Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1426" LastEditorUserId="1426" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-11T19:51:05.010" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T19:51:05.010" Title="Business model based on commission charging" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3880" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3884" CreationDate="2010-10-10T15:04:06.490" Score="4" ViewCount="402" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is the entire sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To this end&lt;/strong&gt;, we create two properties files with the correct root bundle name and the correct locale endings, one for English and one for Spanish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Emphasis added.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="833" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-10T17:11:00.397" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T02:18:06.220" Title="What is the meaning of the phrase &quot;to this end&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="3881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3879" CreationDate="2010-10-10T15:04:47.653" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Commission-based model&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-10-10T15:04:47.653" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3880" CreationDate="2010-10-10T15:50:30.977" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means &lt;em&gt;&quot;To accomplish the previously stated goal&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2010-10-10T15:50:30.977" />
  <row Id="3883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3876" CreationDate="2010-10-10T16:54:38.823" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Thrash&quot; is a good word, and looking at a thesaurus gives many others including &lt;em&gt;batter&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;clobber&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;maul&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;paste&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;pound&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;pummel/pommel&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;wallop&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;assault&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;bash&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;drub&lt;/em&gt;, etc. Meanings depend on context and some of these can be informal/mild/humorous; before using a word, look up its meaning and examples of usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus Indian-English slang word: &lt;strong&gt;thulp&lt;/strong&gt;, probably derived from &quot;&lt;b&gt;th&lt;/b&gt;rash/&lt;b&gt;th&lt;/b&gt;ump to a p&lt;b&gt;ulp&lt;/b&gt;&quot;. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-10-10T16:54:38.823" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3880" CreationDate="2010-10-10T19:27:37.390" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The definition in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/end#to-this-end&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MacMillan Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To this end&lt;/strong&gt; (Formal): &lt;strong&gt;in order to achieve a particular aim&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;He wanted to discuss his position, and&#xA;  arranged a meeting to this end.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-10T19:50:11.400" LastActivityDate="2010-10-10T19:50:11.400" />
  <row Id="3885" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3887" CreationDate="2010-10-10T22:55:06.333" Score="3" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an adverb, what is the difference between &lt;em&gt;forward&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;forwards&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T00:05:48.060" Title="Forward vs Forwards" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3851" CreationDate="2010-10-10T23:23:47.637" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;definately&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;persistance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;compatability&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dependant (depending on context)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;existance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;recommandation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;extant (depending on context)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tendancy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;avarage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;deterrant &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;occurance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;referance &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;elimanate &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;accessability &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;efficiant &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;simplar&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;promenant&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;privilage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;inadvertantly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;turbulance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are &lt;strong&gt;all&lt;/strong&gt; misspellings (some more common than others), just as &lt;em&gt;independance&lt;/em&gt; is. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.irosetta.com/questions/vowel-substitutions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="244" LastEditorUserId="244" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-31T10:38:16.053" LastActivityDate="2010-10-31T10:38:16.053" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="3887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3885" CreationDate="2010-10-11T00:05:48.060" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;OED&lt;/em&gt; says this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The present distinction in usage between forward and forwards  is that the latter expresses a definite direction viewed in contrast with other directions. In some contexts either form may be used without perceptible difference of meaning; the following are examples in which only one of them can now be used: ‘The ratchet-wheel can move only forwards’; ‘the right side of the paper has the maker's name reading forwards’; ‘if you move at all it must be forwards’; ‘my companion has gone forward’; ‘to bring a matter forward’; ‘from this time forward’. The usage of earlier periods, and of modern dialects, varies greatly from that of mod. standard English. In U.S. forward is now generally used, to the exclusion of forwards, which was stigmatized by Webster (1832) as ‘a corruption’.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T00:05:48.060" />
  <row Id="3888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3874" CreationDate="2010-10-11T00:46:00.393" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't say something is &quot;kick-assy&quot;, you say something is &quot;kick-ass.&quot; So I think the correct form would be &quot;kick-assness&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You wouldn't use this in any formal setting, though. I agree with awesomeness as an alternative. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T00:46:00.393" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1239" CreationDate="2010-10-11T00:47:56.133" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's acceptable. This leads to some fun sentences, like &quot;A few years back, I googled something on altavista and found ...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T00:47:56.133" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3880" CreationDate="2010-10-11T02:18:06.220" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's worth mentioning that this is not so much a figure of speech as it is a perfectly regular phrase involving a less common meaning of the word &quot;end&quot; as a synonym for &quot;objective&quot;. This is most often seen in the saying, &quot;The ends do not justify the means.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1635" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T02:18:06.220" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1485" CreationDate="2010-10-11T02:48:25.250" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The idiomatic phrase is &lt;em&gt;to get stuck&lt;/em&gt; (to hang, to bog down, to stop), where the verb is &lt;em&gt;to get&lt;/em&gt;, so that's the term that needs to be modified for time -- hence &lt;em&gt;got stuck,&lt;/em&gt; *kept getting stuck,* etc. &lt;em&gt;Stuck&lt;/em&gt; is, as noted, an adjective in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's true that &lt;em&gt;to stick&lt;/em&gt; is also a verb, and it's arguable that in some circumstances, &lt;em&gt;to stick&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;to get stuck&lt;/em&gt; might be synonymous. Not here, though, because in the context (computers), we don't say that the computer or program &lt;em&gt;stuck&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1584" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T02:48:25.250" />
  <row Id="3892" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3899" CreationDate="2010-10-11T03:25:36.980" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am thinking of the title of my chart, since the concept is there but the output is a bit too clumsy, I wonder if I can get any inspiration from here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chart is about showing a trend of a certain kind of infection rate in hospital. The chart can be adjusted to show the bars of all &quot;January&quot;, &quot;February&quot;, etc... from 2007-2010, all &quot;Quarter 1&quot;, &quot;Quarter 2&quot;, etc... from 2007-2010, and the bar for yearly data (2007-2010).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the monthly and quarterly bars can be grouped together, as their all refer to the &quot;specific month/quarter&quot; (I wonder if &quot;specific&quot; is the appropriate term here) across the years, but the yearly bars is a bit different. It is put here because of technical issue, they consider yearly bars as &quot;specific year&quot; across the years, but year itself does not include subsets of years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I can think of &quot;Same Month/Quarter/Year Comparison of XXX Infection&quot;, I wonder if this can properly deliver my message. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Sorry if this question is considered off-topic here, as I can't think of any other relevant site for this)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="748" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T08:02:34.593" Title="How to present the idea of &quot;Same Month/Same Quarter/Yearly Comparison&quot; in a less clumsy way?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3893" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-11T03:44:46.123" Score="4" ViewCount="709" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I want to show the comparison between rate in 2010 Jan and 2009 Jan, which of the following should I use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Comparison of rate between 2010 Jan and its prior month.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Comparison of rate between 2010 Jan and its previous month.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="748" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-11T09:33:33.533" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T09:33:33.533" Title="&quot;Prior&quot; vs &quot;previous&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="3894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3893" CreationDate="2010-10-11T03:59:37.207" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Oxford Corpus of English&lt;/em&gt; lists several example sentences for &lt;em&gt;prior&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She visited me on the day prior to her death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mrs Scott had to spend two weeks in hospital, including a week prior to the Caesarian birth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For &lt;em&gt;previous&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The month previous to publication . . .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The starting grids are based on a reversal of the finishing order of the previous race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;em&gt;prior&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;previous&lt;/em&gt; have similar definitions: 'existing or occurring before in time or order' and 'existing or coming before in time, order, or importance' respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From these two points (examples of usage in English and dictionary definition), I can see no evidence that either word is more or less appropriate in your context. However, I would say the following sound better:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Comparison of rate between January 2010 and the prior month.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Comparison of rate between January 2010 and the previous month.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, I would use &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;its&lt;/em&gt;, although your sentences are grammatical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Now that I understand that the OP was talking about comparing January 2009 and January 2010, I offer these suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Comparing the rates of January 2010 and the prior January.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Comparing the rates of January 2010 and the previous January.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also agree that it would be easier, and perhaps better, just to say 'Comparing the rates of January 2009 and January 2010.*&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastEditorUserId="1065" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-11T05:04:24.063" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T05:04:24.063" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3893" CreationDate="2010-10-11T04:53:13.330" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, neither &lt;em&gt;previous&lt;/em&gt; nor &lt;em&gt;prior&lt;/em&gt; work in this context for what you want to express, because both expressions imply December 2009.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, 'between' is a bit vague, because while the context implies you are comparing the rates of the two months, 'between' carries the idea of comparing the rates for the whole period between those two months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why not simply 'Comparison of rates: Jan 2010 and Jan 2009'?  It is not especially clever, but it is shorter than the two phrases you propose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastEditorUserId="529" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-11T05:43:08.650" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T05:43:08.650" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3893" CreationDate="2010-10-11T06:00:55.767" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither &quot;previous&quot; nor &quot;prior&quot; are correct here, because they would refer to December 2009.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to use a business analysis buzzword, you could use &quot;year over year&quot;, as in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Year-over-year comparison of rates for January&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are addressing normal people, however, I'd suggest simply&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Comparison of rates between January 2010 and January 2009&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T06:00:55.767" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3892" CreationDate="2010-10-11T07:58:58.737" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's difficult to be elegant when trying to represent multi-dimensional information in a linear sentence. I might suggest something like &quot;Comparison of Infection Rate by Month, Quarter or Year.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I suspect you're doing this in Excel or a similar spreadsheet application. Have you considered including the relevant sample period in the title, so it changes dynamically to show only the word Month/Quarter/Year as appropriate? There are plenty of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ozgrid.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56931&amp;amp;page=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tips&lt;/a&gt; online explaining how.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T07:58:58.737" />
  <row Id="3898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3893" CreationDate="2010-10-11T08:01:02.953" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general for comparing corresponding periods across years you use the expression &lt;a href=&quot;http://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=6674&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;year on year&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T08:01:02.953" />
  <row Id="3899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3892" CreationDate="2010-10-11T08:02:34.593" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general for comparing corresponding periods across years you use the expression &lt;a href=&quot;http://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=6674&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;year on year&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T08:02:34.593" />
  <row Id="3900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3874" CreationDate="2010-10-11T10:06:21.130" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/words/kickassiness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wordnik&lt;/a&gt; turns up zilch, and Google shows a measly 300 something hits. There doesn’t really seem to be a need for this word. Futhermore, I agree with @Claudiu. “&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/words/kickassness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;kickassness&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;” seems to be the term you’re looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1637" LastEditorUserId="1637" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-11T12:43:16.853" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T12:43:16.853" />
  <row Id="3901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3874" CreationDate="2010-10-11T11:27:56.500" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say &quot;kick-assery&quot; is a lot better than kickassiness since &quot;kick-ass&quot; stems from a verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="677" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T11:27:56.500" />
  <row Id="3902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3857" CreationDate="2010-10-11T11:32:21.297" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slang_terms_for_money&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slang_terms_for_money&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...the $20 bill [can be referred to] as a &quot;double sawbuck,&quot; &lt;strong&gt;or a &quot;Jackson&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="677" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T11:32:21.297" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3903" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-11T11:59:32.250" Score="10" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;19th century English texts occasionally use germanic-style number words, such as &quot;four-and-twenty&quot;, but the same text would also have the modern &quot;twenty-four&quot; in places (see e.g. Conan-Doyle for several examples). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How did the usage of germanic-style numbers change historically? When did the germanic forms fall out of use? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I have asked this question previously on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wissenslogs.de/wblogs/blog/sprachlog/sprachmythen/2010-02-27/verz-hlt#comment-14789&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sprachlog&lt;/a&gt; (German) and got a short &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wissenslogs.de/wblogs/blog/sprachlog/sprachmythen/2010-02-27/verz-hlt#comment-14799&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;answer by A.Stefanowitsch&lt;/a&gt;, but would appreciate any additional input.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1638" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T17:20:01.053" Title="19th century English texts occasionally use germanic-style number words, such as &quot;four-and-twenty&quot;. When did this fall out of use?" Tags="&lt;numbers&gt;&lt;history&gt;&lt;research&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3903" CreationDate="2010-10-11T12:36:06.047" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As requested, this is my summary translation of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wissenslogs.de/wblogs/blog/sprachlog/sprachmythen/2010-02-27/verz-hlt#comment-14799&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt; by A.Stefanowitsch, the host of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wissenslogs.de/wblogs/blog/sprachlog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sprachlog&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'seven-and-twenty years' corresponds to the original germanic pattern. In Old English this was the usual way of forming complex number words. The influence of Norman French brought in the modern form and displaced the original pattern, which survived until about 1700 [Weinstock 1999]. It has been suggested that the switch began with the high numbers and progressed downwards [Weinstock 1999], and an informal corpus analysis gave a first confirmation [Diller 2005, S. 105]. The original germanic form still survives in dialects, especially in references to age and time [Cahill und Gazdar 1997], which fits the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wissenslogs.de/wblogs/blog/sprachlog/sprachmythen/2010-02-27/verz-hlt#comment-14789&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;examples in Sherlock Holmes&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;CAHILL, Lynne und Gerald GAZDAR. 1997 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/research/groups/nlp/polylex/polynode16.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A lexical analysis of numeral expressions in Dutch, English and German.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;DILLER, Hans-Jürgen (2005) Rezension zu Weinstock 2003. Anglia -- Zeitschrift für englische Philologie 123.2, S. 104-106.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;WEINSTOCK, Horst (1999) Historical and comparative aspects of numerals between twenty-one and twenty-nine. In Uwe Carls und Peter Lucko (Hgg.), Form, function and variation in English: Studies in honour of Klaus Hansen. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, S. 65–77. [Neuabdruck 2003 in Horst Weinstock, Kleine Schriften: Ausgewählte Studien zur alt-, mittel- und frühneuenglischen Sprache und Literatur. Heidelberg: Winter].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1638" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T12:36:06.047" />
  <row Id="3905" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3906" CreationDate="2010-10-11T12:44:10.580" Score="4" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the correct term to use for &quot;positioning&quot; elements in a graphic user interface?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if I say: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Where should we position the button A?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that a correct (and professional) way to say it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1503" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-11T12:57:31.117" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T15:15:27.437" Title="&quot;Position&quot; as verb to use in graphical user interface discussions?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3905" CreationDate="2010-10-11T12:51:25.290" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both “placement” and “position(ing)” are used e.g. in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://library.gnome.org/devel/hig-book/2.32/hig-book.html#design-window&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gnome Human Interface Guidelines&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Analogously, both “to place” and “to position” should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;/EDIT: the &lt;a href=&quot;http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511258.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines&lt;/a&gt; almost exclusively use “placement” at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1637" LastEditorUserId="1637" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-11T15:15:27.437" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T15:15:27.437" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3876" CreationDate="2010-10-11T13:28:47.807" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding to ShreevatsaR's answer, you have &lt;strong&gt;trounce&lt;/strong&gt;, which seems similar to thrash - it can mean to either beat severely or to defeat in a game/battle. Maybe you could also use &lt;strong&gt;pulverize&lt;/strong&gt;, which literally means to turn to dust, but can be used to mean to beat to a pulp. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T13:28:47.807" />
  <row Id="3908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3903" CreationDate="2010-10-11T13:35:38.683" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It still survives in some well-worn expressions, mostly cultural heritage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/380400.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Threescore and ten&lt;/a&gt; (&quot;score&quot; being 20, that makes 70, which is one's allotted lifespan)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Four and twenty (as in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sing_a_Song_of_Sixpence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;blackbirds&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are probably others (I'm leaving this answer open for additions)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T13:35:38.683" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-10-11T13:35:38.683" />
  <row Id="3909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3874" CreationDate="2010-10-11T13:41:24.220" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English - natural language in general, is &quot;productive&quot;, which is to say that it happily accommodates new words derived from existing ones on standard patterns. Slang and familiar language are by nature more productive than formal language. Thus, if you use &quot;kickassiness&quot;, people (at least, people who understand &quot;kick-ass&quot;) will mostly understand you even if they have not heard it before. Whether or not they adopt it themselves is in the lap of the gods, of course (and the answers by  @Epago and @Claudiu suggest that it is unlikely because slightly more natural alternatives already have some currency). It is also unlikely to impress English teachers, judges in courts of law, or prospective employers, of course, but you probably already knew that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1625" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T13:41:24.220" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3910" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3921" CreationDate="2010-10-11T13:50:20.263" Score="4" ViewCount="315" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it's okay to end a sentence with a preposition. That seems to be the consensus &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/16/when-is-it-okay-to-end-a-sentence-in-a-preposition&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I think that when who is the object of a preposition, it should technically be whom, e.g. &quot;To &lt;strong&gt;whom&lt;/strong&gt; it may concern...&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is it acceptable to use whom and have a preposition at the end of the sentence? Which of the following sentences are okay:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Who are you talking to?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whom are you talking to?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To whom are you talking?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T15:25:23.123" Title="Prepositions at the end of sentence and whom" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;whom&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3911" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3916" CreationDate="2010-10-11T13:54:12.770" Score="2" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should e.g. and i.e. have periods, e.g. &quot;e.g.&quot;, or no periods, eg &quot;eg&quot;? Should they be italicized, &lt;em&gt;e.g.&lt;/em&gt; &quot;&lt;em&gt;i.e.&lt;/em&gt;&quot; or not, eg &quot;i.e&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T14:15:17.837" Title="Correct spelling/italicization of e.g., i.e.?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;italics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3903" CreationDate="2010-10-11T14:00:26.647" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Counting in scores is not strictly the same phenomenon as the units-before-tens count, but does seem to share some of the same &quot;flavour&quot;. It appears in formal speech in, for instance, the Gettysburg Address (&quot;Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth ...&quot;) and in the biblical &quot;three score years and ten&quot; noted by @Benjol). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In British literature of the interwar period (this post is too informal and time too short for me to investigate sources, but I'm thinking of the &lt;em&gt;Swallows and Amazons&lt;/em&gt; books by Arthur Ransome and &lt;em&gt;Cold Comfort Farm&lt;/em&gt; by Stella Gibbons as good prospects), both counting in scores and the one-and-twenty forms would seem to be noted as low-status rural dialect markers. Another literary instance, Poem XIII of AE Housman's &lt;em&gt;A Shropshire Lad&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;When I was one-and-twenty&quot; (1896) is also rural in setting. Lincoln's use thirty years before was probably something of an archaic rhetorical flourish as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1625" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T14:00:26.647" />
  <row Id="3913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2792" CreationDate="2010-10-11T14:02:21.560" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with cindi that this metaphor is kind of cliche. If you insist on using it, though, it sounds better like this: &quot;Roads to political ideals are usually paved with blood.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T14:02:21.560" />
  <row Id="3914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="776" CreationDate="2010-10-11T14:06:26.437" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A usage note on my part. I heard it's incorrect to say &quot;me neither&quot; - the &quot;correct &quot;version is &quot;Neither do I&quot;. When pronouncing &quot;me neither&quot;, it seems really strange to say the ī version. For the &quot;correct&quot; version, the ī version sounds better, but the ē version works too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T14:06:26.437" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3915" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3943" CreationDate="2010-10-11T14:07:29.170" Score="10" ViewCount="304" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that &quot;me neither&quot; is incorrect. Instead one should say &quot;neither do I.&quot; People definitely say &quot;me neither&quot; conversationally, but is it technically incorrect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:30:15.867" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:30:15.867" Title="Is &quot;Me neither&quot; incorrect?" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3911" CreationDate="2010-10-11T14:15:17.837" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In formal contexts, I would go with &quot;e.g.&quot; and &quot;i.e.&quot;, with two periods and without a whitespace. The spellings without periods are quite popular, but informal. For example, Merriam-Webster does not have an entry for either &quot;eg&quot; or &quot;ie&quot;. Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/e.g.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;marks &quot;eg.&quot; and &quot;eg&quot; as informal&lt;/a&gt;, and offers the following &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/e.g.#Usage_notes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;usage notes&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Opinion is mixed about whether this term should be italicized as although it is Latin, it has become part of standard English, and whether it should be written with a separating space &quot;e. g.&quot; as it was originally two separate words.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also offers the following &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/i.e.#Usage_notes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;usage notes for &quot;i.e.&quot;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Opinion is mixed about whether the abbreviation should be italicized, or whether there should be a separating non-breaking space as in &lt;strong&gt;i. e.&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ie&lt;/strong&gt; is often found in current usage, and is perhaps now considered acceptable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I would argue that there's no need whatsoever to italicize &quot;e.g.&quot; or &quot;i.e.&quot;. Both expressions are extremely common in English, and have been for a long time. They are full-fledged citizens of the English language, and as such, they do not have to be italicized as if they were foreign words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T14:15:17.837" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3917" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-11T14:23:57.977" Score="3" ViewCount="240" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always had trouble dealing with quotes ending in question marks. Any solution has been awkward. What's the best way to use it? Examples (which are probably wrong):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Did you know how he asked me &quot;how do you do?&quot;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After he said &quot;Do I know you?&quot;, we hit him with some bricks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Fool!&quot; he exclaimed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T19:49:02.187" Title="Handling quotes ending in exclamation or question marks" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3918" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-11T14:26:08.290" Score="4" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He fell down when he was playing in the field.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He was playing in the field when he fell down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1640" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-12T15:21:26.097" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T16:23:34.537" Title="&quot;he was playing when he fell&quot; or &quot;he fell when he was playing&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;homework&gt;&lt;relative-clause&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3918" CreationDate="2010-10-11T14:43:13.163" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are correct; you would choose according to context. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first suggests that the fall is the topic (i.e. you are explaining the circumstances of a fall, for example to a doctor) while the second suggests his play is the topic (you are describing his play in the field, and mention the fall as the next event in a sequence.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ambiguity of the sentence structure arises because &quot;when&quot; has slightly different meanings in the two contexts. In the first sentence, you use &quot;when&quot; to introduce the answer to a potential question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;When did he fall down?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;He fell down&lt;/em&gt; when &lt;em&gt;he was playing in the field.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second sentence, the word &quot;when&quot; is actually used in place of the now-uncommon &quot;whereupon,&quot; meaning &quot;at which time&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;He was playing in the field,&lt;/em&gt; whereupon &lt;em&gt;he fell down.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In speech however, the second sentence could convey the same meaning as the first, provided emphasis is place on the first clause, especially the gerund and noun &lt;em&gt;playing&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;field&lt;/em&gt;. In this case the sentence-reversal is used to emphasise the circumstance of the fall by bringing it to the beginning of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T14:43:13.163" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3918" CreationDate="2010-10-11T14:44:10.973" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Grammatically, both are equally correct, but stylistically, the second construction can be used for greater effect. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I was walking down the street with my mom when she got hit by a truck.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He was playing piano when he dropped dead.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare that with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;My mom got hit by a truck when we were walking down the street.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He dropped dead when he was playing piano.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T14:44:10.973" />
  <row Id="3921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3910" CreationDate="2010-10-11T15:02:52.273" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference between the who/whom debate and the preposition-ending debate is that the former has its root in a long tradition of English grammar, while the latter arose from the editorial labours of an extremely picky generation of classicists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of Subject/Object pronouns (who/whom, thee/thou) has largely atrophied, but until barely a century ago they were prevalent and common. It was second nature to most native speakers to use them appropriately. They came to England from Saxon and Norman (Germanic and Romantic languages) whose modern counterparts still employ them. However, since their use is understood but largely ignored in modern English, they are now considered an optional nicety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for prepositional endings, there was no such rule in medieval English. It was only the belief of those linguists who were educated in Latin and convinced that Latin is the true root of English (and therefore English grammar should conform with Latin) that caused this phenomenon to arise, in spite of there being no evidence of such a rule in earlier English writings. However, the myth prevailed to the point where it was accepted as &quot;correct&quot; grammar, and the resultant torturous grammatical constructions that have been perpetrated in the name of correctness make one feel ill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in summary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Who are you talking to?&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;This is unambiguous and commonly used, and therefore mostly acceptable.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Whom are you talking to?&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;&lt;em&gt;This is a pleasant nicety, but not necessary. Certainly acceptable.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To whom are you talking?&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;This is &quot;correct&quot;, but will get you a filthy look and possibly a kick in the nuts in all but the most snobbish company.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a really damning and amusing exposition of the whole issue, I strongly recommend Bill Bryson's excellent book, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_Tongue_%28book%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Mother Tongue&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T15:02:52.273" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3915" CreationDate="2010-10-11T15:15:08.827" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is incorrect in almost every example, for three reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, &lt;em&gt;Me&lt;/em&gt; is the object personal pronoun and is therefore only to be used when the speaker is the object of the verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, &lt;em&gt;Neither&lt;/em&gt; is part of the &lt;em&gt;Neither/nor&lt;/em&gt; construction (like &lt;em&gt;either/or&lt;/em&gt;) and should not be used to indicate the second of two objects in such a construction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, it is back to front. Neither/nor should precede the subject/object it is modifying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The grammatically correct phrase is usually &quot;Nor I,&quot; which efficiently expresses inclusion with the previous speaker in the following case:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I have no idea.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;[Neither you] nor I [has any idea].&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you replace the phrase in the above sentence with &quot;Me neither,&quot; the error becomes obvious. The exception to the &quot;Me/I&quot; switch occurs when the preceding speaker is talking of himself/herself as the object of a verb rather than the subject. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;He didn't give me anything.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Nor [did he give] me [anything].&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T15:15:08.827" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="3923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3910" CreationDate="2010-10-11T15:25:23.123" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's acceptable.  It's a little odd because 'whom', almost uniquely amongst pronoun forms, has fallen out of common usage in the last century or so, so using it at all sounds strange to the modern ear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Who are you talking to?&lt;/strong&gt;  Technically&#xA;incorrect but ubiquitous these days,&#xA;so mostly acceptable through usage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Whom are you talking to?&lt;/strong&gt;  Technically&#xA;correct but will get you funny looks,&#xA;because people who are pedantic about&#xA;'who/whom' are expected to be&#xA;pedantic (incorrectly) about terminal&#xA;prepositions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To whom are you talking?&lt;/strong&gt;  Completely fine, but&#xA;considered a bit posh.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T15:25:23.123" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3879" CreationDate="2010-10-11T15:33:22.823" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say the first model is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_cost&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fixed cost&lt;/a&gt; and the second one is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_rata&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pro rata&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T15:33:22.823" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3917" CreationDate="2010-10-11T15:44:30.503" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The rule is that there is one and only one punctuation mark associated with the speech fragment, and it goes inside the quotes.  It doesn't matter whether it logically belongs there or not, that's where it goes.  So...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Did you know how he asked me &quot;how do you do?&quot;?&lt;/strong&gt;  The final question mark is wrong; the question mark in the quotes does duty both for the quoted greeting and the sentence as a whole.  Yes, that means you can't tell just from the punctuation whether the quote or the sentence is a question (or, as in this case, both).  It's usually obvious from the wording, but sometimes you might need to rephrase to eliminate ambiguity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case you also need a capital 'H' on the second &quot;how&quot; and a comma after &quot;me.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;After he said &quot;Do I know you?&quot;, we hit him with some bricks.&lt;/strong&gt;  By the same token, the comma after the quotes is wrong; the question mark does duty for it.  You do, however, need a comma after &quot;said.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Fool!&quot; he exclaimed.&lt;/strong&gt;  Spot on.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T15:44:30.503" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3926" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3927" CreationDate="2010-10-11T16:29:35.183" Score="4" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1366/pluralization-rule-for-five-year-old-children-20-pound-note-10-mile-run&quot;&gt;Pluralization rule for &amp;ldquo;five-year-old children&amp;rdquo;, &amp;ldquo;20 pound note&amp;rdquo;,  &amp;ldquo;10 mile run&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do people say &quot;I was on a fifty foot yacht&quot; as opposed to saying &quot;I was on a fifty feet yacht&quot;? Is their usage correct? If so why? What are other instances when the singular is used instead of the plural like that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1643" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T16:33:44.057" ClosedDate="2010-10-12T06:08:40.733" Title="When do you use &quot;foot&quot; as opposed to &quot;feet&quot; and why?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3926" CreationDate="2010-10-11T16:33:44.057" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is standard grammar (British and American) in &quot;quantity-unit noun&quot; constructs. E.g.,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;an eight-year old boy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T16:33:44.057" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3928" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-11T17:02:45.757" Score="0" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Amount of records that sql query return per one query, if &quot;value = &quot;0&quot;&quot; sql query return all records&#xA;If value = &quot;0&quot; then more computer memory will be used&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1644" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T17:23:18.070" ClosedDate="2010-10-11T19:02:58.227" Title="Please check sentence" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3928" CreationDate="2010-10-11T17:23:18.070" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are at least two sentences here, possibly three, and attempting to jam the whole lot into one is very confusing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Amount&quot; should be &quot;Number.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Articles are missing throughout: &quot;an SQL query,&quot; &quot;the records,&quot; etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;SQL&quot; should be in capitals.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The distinction between &lt;em&gt;&quot;value = &quot;0&quot;&quot;&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;value = &quot;0&quot;&lt;/em&gt; isn't clear (and doesn't make much sense from an SQL point of view, either).  This probably wouldn't matter if you split the sentence up into simpler sentences, but as written it appears to have some significance that I can't fathom.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T17:23:18.070" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3930" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-11T18:04:39.690" Score="3" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is your favorite English language-related comic? I like this one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.smbc-comics.com/comics/20100826.gif&quot; alt=&quot;comic&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm modelling this on StackOverflow's &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/questions/84556/whats-your-favorite-programmer-cartoon&quot;&gt;equivalent question&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T18:04:39.690" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-10-11T18:04:39.690" ClosedDate="2010-10-12T07:01:53.043" Title="Best English language comic" Tags="&lt;fun&gt;&lt;pop-culture&gt;" />
  <row Id="3931" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3941" CreationDate="2010-10-11T18:14:03.543" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I quote someone in a context where a blockquote is appropriate and there isn't lead-in prose which identifies the source, how should it be typeset?  I'm quoting a saying or remark, as would be done in a &quot;list of quotes&quot; or the front matter for a book or chapter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would this example be improved?  Is there anything wrong with it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...&#xA;  &lt;br&gt;&amp;emsp; &amp;mdash; Fred Nurk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This varies by which style guide is being used and is essentially a trivial problem, so please qualify answers with any details about when they'd be appropriate.  I'm assuming an audience of the general population, much like for this site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T02:14:52.857" Title="How should blockquoted quotations be formatted?" Tags="&lt;quotes&gt;&lt;typography&gt;&lt;typesetting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3917" CreationDate="2010-10-11T19:49:02.187" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;British&lt;/strong&gt; rules more or less follow common sense logic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the punctuation logically belongs inside the quote, this is where you put it. Otherwise, it shall be put outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Where is the milk?” he asked his cat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide/q&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Guardian style guide&lt;/a&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/quotation.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;“Quotation marks” on grammar.ccc.commnet.edu&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1637" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T19:49:02.187" />
  <row Id="3933" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3939" CreationDate="2010-10-11T22:11:06.313" Score="7" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know &lt;em&gt;per annum&lt;/em&gt; is from Latin, but what are the real-world differences between these two phrases? Is one used in certain contexts and the other in other contexts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T23:14:47.240" Title="&quot;Per year&quot; vs &quot;Per annum&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3934" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3937" CreationDate="2010-10-11T22:22:03.757" Score="6" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;My spell checker shows that both &quot;time zone&quot; and &quot;timezone&quot; are correctly spelled. Which one of these is the correct one to use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="427" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T22:57:37.190" Title="&quot;Time zone&quot; vs. &quot;Timezone&quot;" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3934" CreationDate="2010-10-11T22:37:14.327" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;time zone&quot; is most common. Google backs me up in this case - googling &lt;code&gt;&quot;time zone&quot; -timezone&lt;/code&gt; (that is, websites with only time zone in them) gives 12.6 million results, but &lt;code&gt;timezone -&quot;time zone&quot;&lt;/code&gt; gives only 6.3 million.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T22:37:14.327" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3931" CreationDate="2010-10-11T22:41:56.847" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have answered it yourself: it should be done as per the style guide for the publisher or publication in question, or in whichever manner whoever is paying you or marking you likes it. A commonplace solution seems to be a couple of ems indent left and right, a half-line space before and after, and a point or so smaller type than the body text. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1625" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T22:41:56.847" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3934" CreationDate="2010-10-11T22:52:05.337" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There seem to be three spellings: &lt;em&gt;timezone&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;time-zone&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;time zone&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Oxford English Dictionary defines &lt;em&gt;time-zone&lt;/em&gt;,&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; but curiously, also uses the &lt;em&gt;time zone&lt;/em&gt; spelling.&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; At the same time, &lt;em&gt;timezone&lt;/em&gt; is the favored spelling in the US (unless talking about multiple &lt;em&gt;time zones&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All three seem to be equally correct, but I would use &lt;em&gt;time zone&lt;/em&gt;, except for a singular usage in the US for an American audience, in which case I would use &lt;em&gt;timezone&lt;/em&gt;. Personally, I feel &lt;em&gt;time-zone&lt;/em&gt; is a bit outdated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; See &lt;em&gt;time&lt;/em&gt;, def. 60a&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; Ibid. 27a&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt; See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/timezone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/timezone&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-11T22:57:37.190" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T22:57:37.190" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3933" CreationDate="2010-10-11T23:12:24.147" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Per annum&lt;/em&gt; is used in financial contexts to mean &lt;em&gt;for each year.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T23:12:24.147" />
  <row Id="3939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3933" CreationDate="2010-10-11T23:14:47.240" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;em&gt;Oxford Corpus of English&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PER ANNUM&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For 30 years, it had gone remorselessly ahead, at about 80% per annum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An Elan bond, where the bondholder can exercise the right to be repaid in 18 months, currently yields 19 per cent per annum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;With this fresh impetus, the total edible oil processing capacity, including vanaspati, is expected to cross 20 million tonne per annum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PER YEAR&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We can currently get about 5% per year from investing in long-dated gilts, so we might aim to get 6% per year from the property.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Penetration of digital has hit 20 % in a year, with incremental revenue per subscriber at $22 per year and growing, he said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This still leaves teachers $3,000 per year short of accountants, $17,000 short of computer systems analysts, and $25,000 short of engineers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These example sentences are representative of the most common uses of these two phrases and, as one can see, there is no real difference between &lt;em&gt;per annum&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;per year&lt;/em&gt; in usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As kiamlaluno says, &lt;em&gt;per annum&lt;/em&gt; is traditionally used more in financial contexts than &lt;em&gt;per year&lt;/em&gt;, but these sentences show that &lt;em&gt;per year&lt;/em&gt; is also perfectly acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T23:14:47.240" />
  <row Id="3940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3874" CreationDate="2010-10-11T23:56:59.347" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kickassiness&lt;/strong&gt; uses the often-sarcastic &lt;em&gt;-iness&lt;/em&gt; ending (compare &quot;truthiness&quot;, &quot;maverickiness&quot;, and the phonetically similar &quot;helpy&quot;); so, analogously to those words, it gives the impression that something is trying to &lt;em&gt;pose as&lt;/em&gt; kickass but is not succeeding.  I'd probably go with &quot;kickassness&quot; or &quot;kickassitude&quot; if that was not the desired impression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the above are perfectly cromulent productions from the base word; don't let any prescriptivist tell you different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1475" LastActivityDate="2010-10-11T23:56:59.347" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3931" CreationDate="2010-10-12T02:14:52.857" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For this kind of styling, you should check out your favourite news sources, as they constantly use blockquotes, though they are more prone to use inline quotes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BBC, for instance often does it something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fred Nurk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And sometimes like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fred Nurk: &quot;Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, consult a manual of style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I think the way you have done it originally is fine. The main point is to be clear and concise. And do try to keep consistent within a work, or within a publication. If you are writing for a publication do it the same way the publication normally does it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T02:14:52.857" />
  <row Id="3942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3623" CreationDate="2010-10-12T04:02:55.240" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess is Word interprets this as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;This document does not cover [either] the SDK interfaces or any other reference material.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't study French or Spanish. [Equivalent to Word's preference].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*I don't study French nor Spanish. [Equivalent to your sentence].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I study neither French nor Spanish. [Equivalent to moioci's first rewrite].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;?I study neither French or Spanish.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="52" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T04:02:55.240" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3915" CreationDate="2010-10-12T06:41:07.800" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Me neither&lt;/code&gt; is idiomatic English.  It is a set phrase, as @cindi said. The OED has it as colloquial, originally USA, meaning &lt;code&gt;nor I&lt;/code&gt;.  Among the many examples from COHA:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Hast thou a wife?&quot; &quot;No.&quot; &quot;Me neither.&quot; (Hemingway)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I don't understand, Queen,&quot; said the Prosecutor finally. &quot;Me neither,&quot; groaned Dakin. (Ellery Queen)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I don't want to ever get married,&quot; Rita said. &quot;Me neither,&quot; Toad Tarkington agreed fervently.&quot; (Stephen Coonts)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The earliest citations, as far as I can tell, are often in the dialogue of characters who do not speak completely standard English, especially before ca. 1930. This pattern no longer seems to hold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To this American English speaker, &lt;code&gt;Me neither&lt;/code&gt; seems perfectly natural.  Not formal, but not incorrect either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="52" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T06:41:07.800" />
  <row Id="3944" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3945" CreationDate="2010-10-12T09:10:35.410" Score="7" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the type of sentence exemplified below called? Is it appropriate to use it in a scientific paper and formal written English in general?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The more pronounced the variation, the&#xA;  more the waste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The more you give the more you get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T05:34:17.987" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T05:34:17.987" Title="What are sentences like &quot;the longer X, the more Y&quot; called and can they be used in formal written English?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="3945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3944" CreationDate="2010-10-12T09:21:23.620" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if there's a name for such sentences themselves, but they are surely appropriate in formal English: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=%22the+more%22&amp;amp;qs_version=NIV&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bible search results for &quot;the more&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bnc.bl.uk/saraWeb.php?qy=the+more&amp;amp;mysubmit=Go&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus search results for &quot;the more&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/the#Adverb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Adverb&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1.&lt;/strong&gt; With a comparative or &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; and a verb phrase, establishes a parallel with one or more other such comparatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The hotter, the better.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The more I think about it, the weaker it looks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The more money donated, the more books purchased and the more happy children.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;It looks weaker and weaker, the more I think about it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2.&lt;/strong&gt; With a comparative, and often with &lt;em&gt;for it&lt;/em&gt;, indicates a result more like said comparative. This can be negated with &lt;em&gt;none&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;It was a difficult time, but I’m the wiser for it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;It was a difficult time, and I’m none the wiser for it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'm much the wiser for having had a difficult time like that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The corresponding Merriam-Webster entry reads &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the?show=1&amp;amp;t=1286875332&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;as follows&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1&lt;/strong&gt; : than before : than otherwise —used before a comparative &amp;lt;none &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; wiser for attending&amp;gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;2 a&lt;/strong&gt; : to what extent &amp;lt;&lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; sooner the better&amp;gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;b&lt;/strong&gt; : to that extent &amp;lt;the sooner &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; better&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T09:21:23.620" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3946" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-12T12:12:15.220" Score="1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/338/when-is-l-doubled&quot;&gt;When is &amp;ldquo;L&amp;rdquo; doubled?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the spell checkers are correcting it to be single &lt;code&gt;l&lt;/code&gt;, from the other side many official technical documents/standards are using double &lt;code&gt;l&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="147" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T13:14:58.043" ClosedDate="2010-10-12T14:09:06.933" Title="Signalling or signaling?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3947" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3948" CreationDate="2010-10-12T12:48:01.423" Score="4" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've a quick question about grammar within a sentence. I'd also like to know why it is like that if someone could provide an answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Along with fishing, &lt;em&gt;I enjoy frequently writing.&lt;/em&gt; While the ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Along with fishing, &lt;em&gt;I frequently enjoy writing.&lt;/em&gt; While the ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Along with fishing, &lt;em&gt;I enjoy writing frequently.&lt;/em&gt; While the ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T15:11:00.197" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T15:11:00.197" Title="Which one is grammatically correct? Why?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3947" CreationDate="2010-10-12T13:07:07.097" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not really a question of grammar, but a question of what you mean to communicate. I assume that what you mean is that you enjoy writing and that you frequently write. In your sentence it should be clear that &quot;frequently&quot; (or any adverb that you choose) refers to &quot;writing&quot; and not to &quot;enjoy&quot; or &quot;enjoy writing&quot;. Compare the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I enjoy frequently writing&quot; - it may be interpreted as if what you enjoyed was to &quot;write frequently&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I enjoy writing frequently&quot; - same as above.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I frequently enjoy writing&quot; - it may be interpreted as if you frequently enjoyed writing (but not always enjoyed writing).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, it's better if you split your sentence to avoid misinterpretation. I suggest something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Besides fishing, I also enjoy writing. I frequently write.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-12T17:14:03.543" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T17:14:03.543" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3946" CreationDate="2010-10-12T13:14:58.043" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two Ls in British English, one in American English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1625" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T13:14:58.043" />
  <row Id="3950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="877" CreationDate="2010-10-12T15:14:06.597" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always though that &lt;em&gt;status&lt;/em&gt; should not be used as plural, but I notice that &lt;em&gt;statuses&lt;/em&gt; is reported from the CoCA in sentences like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Young people across a wide range of socio-economic statuses increasingly value choosing their own spouses, and individual choice [...].&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [...], but those with higher threat statuses need even more conservation.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   Certain references were also made about specific types of sexual activity including individuals' virginity statuses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Statuses&lt;/em&gt; is used in academic context, with a frequency of 192 (compared with a frequency of 3 and 4 in magazines and newspapers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T15:14:06.597" />
  <row Id="3951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3918" CreationDate="2010-10-12T16:23:34.537" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wouldn't:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;He fell down WHILE he was playing in the field.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;He was playing in the field when he fell down.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;be both correct and viable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="896" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T16:23:34.537" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3903" CreationDate="2010-10-12T17:20:01.053" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It hasn't completely fallen out of use (or at least, it hadn't twenty years ago). I had a colleague throughout the 80's who would habitually say 'five and twenty to' for times. He was probably in his 40's. (in Cambridge, the original one). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T17:20:01.053" />
  <row Id="3953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-10-12T18:10:28.830" Score="28" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;victuals&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always thought it was VICK-chew-als, while it is actually VITT-les.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="52" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T18:10:28.830" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-10-12T18:10:28.830" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3944" CreationDate="2010-10-12T19:45:21.167" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that what you're looking for is covered by the concept of parallelism.  There are a number of rhetorical devices that use parallel structures to provide emphasis to a relationship; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americanrhetoric.com/figures/anaphora.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Anaphora&lt;/a&gt; is one that looks promising as a formal term.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's my opinion that it's very much valid to use in formal english, especially as it has a greek name attached and is a formal rhetorical structure ;-P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T19:45:21.167" />
  <row Id="3956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-10-12T23:14:46.737" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have this problem with character names in novels. Example, Hermione I pronounced as &quot;her-mee-own&quot;, Egwene from Wheel of Time as &quot;Egg-ween&quot;, etc. I realize I just gloss over the names really and don't even fully pronounce them in my head anyway. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About actual words... I generally have disagreements with people. Like I'll think &quot;niche&quot; should be pronounced &quot;neesh&quot;, not &quot;nitch,&quot; and &quot;clique&quot; as &quot;cleek,&quot; not &quot;click.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-12T23:14:46.737" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-10-12T23:14:46.737" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="3957" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3958" CreationDate="2010-10-13T01:07:27.993" Score="3" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the sentence &quot;She is a special needs child.&quot; (referring to someone with a disability), what parts of speech are the words &quot;special needs&quot;? Are both adjectives on their own, or do they only form an adjective together (and what is that called)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1659" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T01:25:30.497" Title="Part of Speech question" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;part-of-speech&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3957" CreationDate="2010-10-13T01:25:30.497" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Special needs&lt;/em&gt; is an &lt;strong&gt;attributive adjective&lt;/strong&gt; (an &lt;strong&gt;adjectival phrase&lt;/strong&gt;). In fact, it could be written &lt;em&gt;special-needs&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T01:25:30.497" />
  <row Id="3959" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3967" CreationDate="2010-10-13T01:29:27.017" Score="5" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to say that we cannot represent 23 in Roman as both IIIXX and XIIIX. &#xA;The correct representation for 23 in Roman is XXIII.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I write like this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;XXIII, neither IIIXX nor XIIIX, represents 23 in roman.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is it correct grammar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1660" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T23:40:53.150" Title="XXIII, neither IIIXX nor XIIIX, represents 23. Is it correct grammar?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3959" CreationDate="2010-10-13T01:38:38.610" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say &quot;The Roman numeral for 23 is XXIII. Variations like IIIXXX and XIIIX, although logical, would not be correct.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1584" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T01:38:38.610" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3959" CreationDate="2010-10-13T01:43:47.960" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see no reason for it to be incorrect: 'neither IIIXX, nor XIIX' is known as &lt;strong&gt;dependent clause&lt;/strong&gt;, so you have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(subject) (dependent clause) (transitive verb) (direct object) (adverbial phrase)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is the same, in my opinion, as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In Roman, XXIII — not IIIXX or XIIX — represents 23&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, adverbial phrases can be moved around reasonably freely. However, I do like Mike Pope's rewording.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-13T12:27:35.707" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T12:27:35.707" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="3962" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3963" CreationDate="2010-10-13T01:59:37.347" Score="6" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;not eating or drinking&quot; equal to &quot;not eating or not drinking&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1660" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-13T09:49:16.717" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T09:49:16.717" Title="Is &quot;not eating or drinking&quot; equal to &quot;not eating or not drinking&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3962" CreationDate="2010-10-13T02:27:06.747" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. 'Not eating or drinking' is the same as saying 'not eating and not drinking'. Consider it this way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Not [eating or drinking]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[Not eating] or [not drinking]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a person is '[not eating] or [not drinking]', then he is either not eating or he is not drinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: To clairfy, what we have here is a &lt;strong&gt;parallel construction&lt;/strong&gt;. From &lt;em&gt;The Cambridge Guide to English Usage&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The use of nor is probably declining, even in its core domain of coordinating two negative phrases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Compare:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The gallery will not be open on Sundays or public holidays.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The gallery will not be open on Sundays nor public holidays.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Both sentences are perfectly acceptable English, but the first shows that nor is not really needed to extend the negation over to 'public holidays.' Rather it may seem to overdo the expression of the negative for the purposes of a simple announcement. This use of nor for the second coordinate underscores the parallelism of the two phrases, and in the context of fine writing, with more extended coordinates, it would have its place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastEditorUserId="1065" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-13T03:25:06.717" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T03:25:06.717" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="3964" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3968" CreationDate="2010-10-13T02:54:25.257" Score="0" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3962/is-not-eating-or-drinking-equal-to-not-eating-or-not-drinking&quot;&gt;Is &amp;ldquo;not eating or drinking&amp;rdquo; equal to &amp;ldquo;not eating or not drinking&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am confused in inferring a sentence of pattern &quot;X is not Y or Z&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it the same as &quot;X is not Y or X is not Z&quot; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;OR&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it the same as &quot;X is not Y or X is Z&quot; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1660" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T12:56:21.853" ClosedDate="2010-10-13T13:02:19.483" Title="What do you infer from this sentence &quot;X is not Y or Z&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3965" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3966" CreationDate="2010-10-13T10:01:49.130" Score="3" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would appreciate your help phrasing the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am looking for elements&#xA;   &lt;strong&gt;which/whose/... size/sizes is/are&lt;/strong&gt; relatively large.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1664" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T10:15:33.910" Title="'Which', 'whose' or something else?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="3966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3965" CreationDate="2010-10-13T10:08:12.113" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Whose&lt;/em&gt; is the way to go here. Merriam-Webster defines it &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;as follows&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;of or relating to whom or which especially as possessor or possessors&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Which&lt;/em&gt; wouldn't work, because it doesn't indicate possession. It would work, however, if the phrase read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am looking for elements which are relatively large (in size).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the &quot;size is&quot; vs &quot;sizes are&quot;, I would say that both are grammatically correct, though the singular is preferred. The Google stats look as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;are * whose sizes are&quot; — 94,700 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;are * whose size is&quot; — 1,020,000&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Searching the British National Corpus returns &lt;a href=&quot;http://bnc.bl.uk/saraWeb.php?qy=whose+size+is&amp;amp;mysubmit=Go&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;four results&lt;/a&gt; for &quot;whose size is&quot; (one of which is actually used with a plural noun, &quot;segments whose size is&quot;), but &lt;a href=&quot;http://bnc.bl.uk/saraWeb.php?qy=whose+sizes+are&amp;amp;mysubmit=Go&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;none&lt;/a&gt; for &quot;whose sizes are&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-13T10:15:33.910" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T10:15:33.910" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3959" CreationDate="2010-10-13T12:14:54.947" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that it is probably grammatical, but because 'neither' is not common introducing a clause like that, it is very confusing: it is not clear on first reading what the relationship is between the main clause and the parenthetical phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from the suggestions already made, 'but' would mend it, as it makes the relationship between them clearer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;XXIII, but neither IIIXX nor XIIIX, &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T12:14:54.947" />
  <row Id="3968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3964" CreationDate="2010-10-13T12:56:21.853" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Language only partly follows the rules of logic: there are other dimensions, most importantly that of pragmatics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;X is not Y or Z&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is formally ambiguous, and in certain contexts, or in certain tones of voice, it might mean one of your examples. But the normal pragmatic meaning is &quot;X is neither Y nor Z&quot;, or expanding, &quot;X is not Y and X is not Z&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T12:56:21.853" />
  <row Id="3969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1209" CreationDate="2010-10-13T14:11:02.670" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Part of the answer is that the subjunctive ended up with almost no functional load. &#xA;In most of its uses it is distinguished syntactically from other constructions, so morphological distinction is redundant. (e.g. 'Long live the King!', 'I demand that he be silenced' &#xA;The major exception to this is in conditionals, where it traditionally distinguishes &lt;em&gt;irrealis&lt;/em&gt; (counter-factual) from &lt;em&gt;realis&lt;/em&gt; conditions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;If I _was_ there, I don't remember&quot; (realis)&#xA;&quot;If I were there, I would give him a piece of my mind (irrealis).&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But even there, &lt;em&gt;realis&lt;/em&gt; antecedents are relatively infrequent, and in any case it appears that English speakers are often unaware of the distinction, though it is alive and well in some languages. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the only case in which the choice of subjunctive verb alone makes a difference to the meaning is one where the difference is not now widely appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T14:11:02.670" />
  <row Id="3970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3959" CreationDate="2010-10-13T14:16:22.290" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if it's correct grammar, but it sounds awkward to me. It's like saying &lt;em&gt;he, neither she nor it, is going to the store.&lt;/em&gt; It just doesn't sound right. I would instead say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;XXIII represents 23 in roman, but IIIXX and XIIIX do not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-13T22:29:51.000" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T22:29:51.000" />
  <row Id="3971" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3972" CreationDate="2010-10-13T15:03:46.997" Score="3" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the following grammatically correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The introduction of this assignment had made me rethink many previous ideas that I had held on to in previous assigned projects. &lt;em&gt;For one, I had mainly&lt;/em&gt; be using Illustrator to...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:54:44.127" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T22:51:10.880" Title="Is this grammatically correct?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3971" CreationDate="2010-10-13T15:11:27.227" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is correct, as &lt;em&gt;for one&lt;/em&gt; references back to &lt;em&gt;ideas&lt;/em&gt;. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/forone.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;People often say “for one” when they mean “for one thing”: “I really want to go to the movie. For one, Kevin Spacey is my favorite actor.” (One what?) The only time you should use “for one” by itself to give an example of something is when you have earlier mentioned a class to which the example belongs: “There are a lot of reasons I don’t want your old car. For one, there are squirrels living in the upholstery.” (One reason.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, as I commented on the question, it would be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For one, I had mainly been...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T18:39:16.733" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T18:39:16.733" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3973" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3975" CreationDate="2010-10-13T15:22:53.970" Score="2" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking of some Program, which is the correct sentences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;Retrieves and let you print ..&quot; &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;Retrieves and lets you print ..&quot; &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="726" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T15:30:07.213" Title="&quot;Retrieves and let you print&quot; or &quot;Retrieves and lets you print&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="3974" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4008" CreationDate="2010-10-13T15:27:56.630" Score="4" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Each of the first ten whole numbers is written on a card.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence will be used to support the following question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Find the probability that a card taken at random has a label of an even number.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1660" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T07:38:34.037" Title="Is there a simpler sentence than this?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="3975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3973" CreationDate="2010-10-13T15:30:07.213" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second one is correct, &quot;retrieves and lets&quot;. Both verbs refer to the same singular noun, &quot;program&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T15:30:07.213" />
  <row Id="3976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3974" CreationDate="2010-10-13T15:35:37.450" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is a card with a number for each&#xA;  whole number from 1 to 10.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T15:35:37.450" />
  <row Id="3977" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4005" CreationDate="2010-10-13T15:36:14.267" Score="4" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the differences in meaning and usage between &lt;strong&gt;&quot;to start&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;&quot;to get started&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any cases in which these variants are not interchangeable? I feel that there are. For example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.silverlight.net/getstarted/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt; looks less natural with its &lt;strong&gt;Start&lt;/strong&gt; tab than it would with a &lt;strong&gt;Getting Started&lt;/strong&gt; tab. I cannot see why there is a difference. Could you please explain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="1065" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-14T05:43:28.227" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T05:43:28.227" Title="&quot;To start&quot; vs &quot;to get started&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="3978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3974" CreationDate="2010-10-13T15:37:04.310" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe not relevant for spoken language or non mathematical settings, but the term &lt;code&gt;whole number&lt;/code&gt; is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_number&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ambiguous&lt;/a&gt;. In this case I think you mean the natural numbers or non-negative integers, starting at 1 ( {1,2,3,4...} ). Whole numbers (usually including the negative integers as well) do not have a notion of first, unless you define an order to them like { 0, 1, -1, 2. -2, ...}, used to show their countability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But to your question. I would phrase it like this (edited based on comments):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The numbers 1 through 10 are written on a card each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are ten cards numbered 1 to 10, one number on each card.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-14T06:13:23.283" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T06:13:23.283" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="3979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3977" CreationDate="2010-10-13T15:50:14.637" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;To get started (on sth)&lt;/code&gt; is more like &lt;code&gt;to start off (with sth)&lt;/code&gt;. &lt;code&gt;To start&lt;/code&gt; gets me thinking in the direction of starting an engine. In the case of a web page or so, this would be used if there were a process or wizard and I wanted to go (back) to the beginning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Get started&lt;/code&gt; as in your example implies that it is me that gets started by somebody else (imperative passive), get equipped, get a starter or beginning lecture. One could replace it with &lt;code&gt;start here&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-13T16:53:38.817" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T16:53:38.817" />
  <row Id="3981" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-13T15:54:44.363" Score="11" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a discussion with some people today on hyphen and dashes. They had concluded that hyphen, which is used to link two connecting words (book-bag) is the longer line – instead of the shorter line -, and that the shorter line is for the dash, which is used to continue an argument/show something within a passage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true? Is there really a difference between the line length in the hyphen and dash symbols? I had always thought that they were of the same length. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supposedly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hyphen : – &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dash.... : -&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Dots used to space out to show the difference in length.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T23:30:20.817" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T23:30:20.817" Title="Is Hyphen Really the Longer – line instead of the shorter dash - line?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3982" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3985" CreationDate="2010-10-13T15:55:40.837" Score="6" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a hard one to look up. Where (and when!) did the expression &quot;who da man&quot; start?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is it started either in written form after the popularization of the internet (because that would jibe with it being intentionally misspelled) or in imitation of some popular icon (who?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any idea how one would look such a thing up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1666" LastEditorUserId="1666" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-13T16:04:25.963" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T20:15:07.417" Title="The origins of &quot;Who da Man&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="3983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3981" CreationDate="2010-10-13T15:56:59.333" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is the other way around. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyphen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The hyphen ( ‐ ) is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a single word. It should not be confused with dashes ( –, —, ― ), which are longer and have different uses, and with the minus sign ( − ) which is also longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T15:56:59.333" />
  <row Id="3984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3981" CreationDate="2010-10-13T15:57:47.230" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, a hyphen is shortest, then comes the minus sign, then the n-dash, then the m-dash, which is the longest (in this list).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T15:57:47.230" />
  <row Id="3985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3982" CreationDate="2010-10-13T16:06:44.147" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22who+da+man%22&amp;amp;num=100&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;lr=&amp;amp;safe=active&amp;amp;tbo=1&amp;amp;output=search&amp;amp;tbs=tl:1&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=Ote1TIGiL8K5jAfnvvy1Aw&amp;amp;ved=0CBkQpwU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;google timeline&lt;/a&gt; gives any clues.&#xA;Chicago Tribune used it in 1993, so it predates the web.&#xA;A lot of the early references seem to be from golf!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Digging deeper, it's maybe an offshoot from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?num=100&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;lr=&amp;amp;safe=active&amp;amp;tbo=1&amp;amp;tbs=tl%3A1&amp;amp;q=%22you+da+man%22&amp;amp;btnG=Search&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=g10&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&amp;amp;gs_rfai=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;'You da man!'&lt;/a&gt; which goes back to 1990 and does seem to be a thing shouted on golf courses. That reference is from another Chicago newspaper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="122" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-13T16:34:27.007" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T16:34:27.007" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3986" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-13T16:11:50.083" Score="4" ViewCount="250" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between &lt;em&gt;in the &lt;strong&gt;last&lt;/strong&gt; 3 months&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;in the &lt;strong&gt;past&lt;/strong&gt; 3 months&lt;/em&gt; if there is any?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-08T13:13:56.757" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T13:13:56.757" Title="&quot;In the last 3 months&quot; vs &quot;in the past 3 months&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;time&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="3987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3986" CreationDate="2010-10-13T16:23:01.153" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today is Oct. 13, 2010.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be argued that in the &lt;em&gt;last&lt;/em&gt; 3 months would be intuitively understood as the time frame from 8/13/2010 to 10/12/2010, while in the &lt;em&gt;past&lt;/em&gt; three months would mean July, August, and September. Some (see comments) see it exactly the other way around. Therefore there seems to be no difference between the two, but if you want to be precise, you need to add something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;in the last three calendar months&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or use another formulation like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;during/within the last 90 days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-14T11:46:10.270" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T11:46:10.270" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3977" CreationDate="2010-10-13T16:29:15.130" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;To start&quot; is an active construction, while &quot;to get started&quot; is a passive one.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some schools of thought that object to the use of passive verbs in formal writing, though that opinion is somewhat antiquated.  Both are acceptable, but they do carry slightly different connotations--the emphasis is in different places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T16:29:15.130" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3989" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3991" CreationDate="2010-10-13T18:04:32.727" Score="3" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this a grammatically correct/formal way to ask the question of this type? Here is an example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hey, did you check if the payment went through?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the better way to rephrase it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T09:07:55.317" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T13:35:34.883" Title="&quot;Did you check if […]&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="3990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3989" CreationDate="2010-10-13T18:05:39.227" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please, make sure your payment went through before [whatever].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="896" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T18:05:39.227" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="3991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3989" CreationDate="2010-10-13T18:18:50.057" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think yours works. This might sound nicer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hey, did you check whether the payment went through?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T18:18:50.057" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="3992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3981" CreationDate="2010-10-13T19:36:08.283" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hyphen and dash are at least three distinct characters, and the hyphen is the shortest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hyphens “-” are primarily used in compound words (a 20-year-old co-ed) and when a word is broken at the end of a line (which explains why word breaking is called hyphenation). Hyphens are always very short, narrower than most letters. There is never a space between the hyphen and a word fragment that it joins (though there may be a space on one side in constructs like “pre- and post-conference activities”).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;En-dashes “–” are mostly used to express a range (1932–1945). They are sometimes used as super-hyphens (a Los Angeles–New York flight). In these uses, there is no space before or after. They are so named because they are as wide as a lowercase “n” in most fonts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Em-dashes “—” are sentence punctuation — often parenthetical — as shown in this sentence. They are at least as wide as an ”m”, occasionally even wider. There is no consensus as to whether to surround them by spaces.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Another similar character is the minus sign. It is typically about one en wide and thicker than a hyphen or dash, but this is dictated by the choice of mathematical font which can be chosen separately from the main text font.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are many more somewhat similar characters and other uses of these characters; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash#Dash-like_characters&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia has a list&lt;/a&gt; as well as a lot of minutiae on these characters and their uses.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1165" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T19:36:08.283" />
  <row Id="3993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3982" CreationDate="2010-10-13T20:15:07.417" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(I must admit I don't really understand the causal link between &lt;em&gt;intentional misspelling&lt;/em&gt; and the internet. And as cindi says, the expression I've heard is 'You da man')&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it happens, 'da' is not really a misspelling at all, but an attempt at rendering African American pronunciation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;You the man&quot; instead of &quot;you're the&#xA;  man,&quot; and the pronunciation &quot;You da&#xA;  man,&quot; are both intended to reflect a&#xA;  common Black English usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19990910&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This source&lt;/a&gt; goes into more detail about the meaning of 'Man' in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T20:15:07.417" />
  <row Id="3994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="714" CreationDate="2010-10-13T20:59:32.290" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Real cool&quot; sounds fine to me, although it is definitely a bit slangy. Even more slangy would be &quot;mad cool,&quot; as in: &quot;That song is mad cool.&quot; Also interesting is that &lt;strong&gt;mad&lt;/strong&gt; has become a new count noun, which is normally thought a very closed category. For example, if you say &quot;There's mad people here,&quot; that can either mean that there are angry people there or, in slang, there's tons of people here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T20:59:32.290" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="3995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3986" CreationDate="2010-10-13T22:40:26.707" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that there is no distinction. If one wanted to say 1 August---1 October, one could say 'the last three calendar months' or 'the past three calendar months', I suppose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T22:40:26.707" />
  <row Id="3996" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-13T22:51:56.340" Score="5" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps people will think that I'll physically visit them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-14T07:52:01.397" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T15:09:47.977" Title="Does &quot;see you this weekend&quot; in email express &quot;will write another email this weekend&quot;?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;email&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="3997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3996" CreationDate="2010-10-13T22:57:43.933" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any time I've ever said &lt;em&gt;see you this weekend&lt;/em&gt;, I've meant that I would physically see that person. However, it is usually used when there are already plans in place. I would never write &lt;em&gt;see you this weekend&lt;/em&gt; unless the recipient and I had made plans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T15:09:47.977" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T15:09:47.977" />
  <row Id="3998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3996" CreationDate="2010-10-13T22:58:49.720" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. It means you will actually see them with your eyes. It doesn't have to be a physical visit - it could be via a video chat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It probably could also mean within an MMORPG, since you are seeing a representation of the person (their avatar).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-10-13T22:58:49.720" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="3999" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4003" CreationDate="2010-10-14T02:02:49.343" Score="7" ViewCount="300" Body="&lt;p&gt;What would the best word be to describe a frog-lover that ends with the -phile root? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T03:18:36.020" Title="-phile word for someone who loves frogs" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="941" CreationDate="2010-10-14T02:32:41.987" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never known &quot;nineteen hundreds&quot; to mean anything but the 20th century. I come from a Computer Science background, so I understand why logically it would seem to be &quot;nineteen hundreds&quot; --&gt; 1900-1909, &quot;nineteen hundred and tens&quot; --&gt; 1910-1919, etc., but I haven't heard it used to refer only to 1900-1909.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to how to refer to that particular period... what about nineteen-ohs? Like &quot;twenties, tens, ohs...&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T02:32:41.987" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3996" CreationDate="2010-10-14T02:42:30.590" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I once read an article where a blind person was ok with the idiom, and was bemused when her able-bodied colleagues tried to avoid the phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T02:42:30.590" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3999" CreationDate="2010-10-14T03:13:02.030" Score="26" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word for the fear of frogs is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phobia-fear-release.com/batrachophobia.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;batrachophobia&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, although Wikipedia suggests it is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_of_frogs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;ranidaphobia&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.  However, the suffix &lt;em&gt;-phile&lt;/em&gt; is Greek, and there is a &quot;rule&quot; that the components for such a word should all be from the same root language, rather than mixing root languages.  (This is really more of a common style choice and not a grammatical requirement.)  The Classical Greek word for frog is &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2354&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;batrachos&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (and &lt;em&gt;rana&lt;/em&gt; is Latin).  So, following that logic, the Greek word for frog should be used (rather than Latin or anything else).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I think the purist answer for someone who loves frogs would be &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;batrachophile&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The don't-care-about-mixing-Latin-and-Greek answer would be &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;ranidaphile&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (with the advantage that this connects with &lt;em&gt;ranidae&lt;/em&gt;, the scientific term for the most common frog family).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The who-cares-about-disguising-English-with-smart-sounding-words-from-dead-languages answer is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;frogophile&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-14T03:18:36.020" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T03:18:36.020" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="4004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3996" CreationDate="2010-10-14T04:47:47.120" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I must admit that when text-chatting with people, I have on occasion said &quot;See you later&quot;, which admittedly sounded (!) a bit weird, but &quot;type to you later&quot; sounded even more awkward. On the telephone, I would clearly say &quot;speak to you later&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess a more accurate  alternative would be &quot;chat with you later&quot;, or more generically &quot;communicate with you later&quot;, but the &quot;... to you later&quot; formulation is very ingrained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T04:47:47.120" />
  <row Id="4005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3977" CreationDate="2010-10-14T04:49:55.483" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think to some degree &quot;to get started&quot; is a weasel phrase.  Either you start something, and then it runs, or you don't.  &quot;Get started&quot; implies, start it, but don't expect any results yet, because you're still starting and not actually doing yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, the language is full of weasel phrases that add color and fuzziness, attempting to reflect the nuances of reality.  Feel free to use them when it feels natural, but when you need clarity, use a different phrase, such as &quot;start the planning phase&quot; or &quot;Silverlight installation tutorial&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A similar phrase is &quot;to finish up&quot; vs. &quot;to stop&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T04:49:55.483" />
  <row Id="4006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3971" CreationDate="2010-10-14T06:27:29.357" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I had mainly been&quot; is fine, in the context you're using it.  I might question whether or not the &quot;mainly&quot; adds any useful information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in the first sentence, instead of &quot;had&quot; I would use &quot;has&quot;.  The introduction has, in the present, made you rethink previously held ideas.  Saying &quot;The introduction had made me rethink&quot; seems to indicate you're saying something about a change of mind in the past.  That may be what you meant, in which case I suggest taking out the &quot;had&quot; altogether -- &quot;the introduction made me rethink&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The third &quot;had&quot; in those two sentences is OK, I think.  However, I'd suggest removing the &quot;on to&quot;, i.e. &quot;rethink many previous ideas that I had held in previous assigned projects&quot;.  Also, when you're saying that you are rethinking ideas, the context indicates that they are no longer ideas you hold now.  So, you can remove the first &quot;previous&quot;.  &quot;... rethink many ideas I had held in previous assigned projects.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1669" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T06:27:29.357" />
  <row Id="4007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3986" CreationDate="2010-10-14T06:52:22.363" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Surely 'in the last three months' refers to the last three months of a particular period, i.e. 'In the last three months of his reign' while 'in the past three months' means the three months that have just past, i.e. 'In the past three months we have had a wide variety of weather?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1670" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T06:52:22.363" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3974" CreationDate="2010-10-14T07:38:34.037" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;The [ten] numbers 1 to 10 are written on one card each.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(That would be my suggestion; other alternatives may be &quot;Each of the numbers 1 to 10 is written on a separate card&quot;, or even &quot;The ten numbers 1 to 10 are written on ten cards, one number on each card.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T07:38:34.037" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4009" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4012" CreationDate="2010-10-14T08:05:03.750" Score="22" ViewCount="1406" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Chuck Norris can lead a horse to water &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; make it drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read this on chucknorrisfacts.com.  What I think this sentence means, is: Chuck Norris can take his horse to where the water is and then his horse will drink the water. So, what is funny about this? Isn't it something pretty normal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="530" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-14T08:18:05.227" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T18:57:25.643" Title="What does it mean, 'Chuck Norris can lead a horse to water AND make it drink'? Why is it funny?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;fun&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="4010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4009" CreationDate="2010-10-14T08:14:57.830" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is related to the idiom:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You can lead a horse to water, but you&#xA;  can't make it drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meaning:&lt;/strong&gt; People, like horses, will&#xA;  only do what they have a mind to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Something that you say which means you&#xA;  can give someone the opportunity to do&#xA;  something, but you cannot force them&#xA;  to do it if they do not want to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the sentence you refer to is a joke which points out the determination (decisiveness) of Chuck Norris.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T08:14:57.830" />
  <row Id="4011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4009" CreationDate="2010-10-14T08:17:38.907" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answers.com/topic/you-can-lead-a-horse-to-water-but-you-can-t-make-it-drink&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;idiom in English&lt;/a&gt;: You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Even favorable circumstances won't force one to do something one doesn't want to, as in &lt;em&gt;We've gotten all the college catalogs but he still hasn't applied&lt;/em&gt; --you can lead a horse to water. This metaphoric term dates from the 12th century and was in John Heywood's proverb collection of 1546. It is so well known that it is often shortened, as in the example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The whole notion here is that Chuck Norris has superpowers, making possible the impossible even. These jokes are only funny when you hear many of them in a row and one seems to outdo the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T16:31:31.723" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T16:31:31.723" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="4012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4009" CreationDate="2010-10-14T08:25:44.887" Score="55" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/you-can-lead-a-horse-to-water.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink&quot;&lt;/a&gt; is an English proverb. If you want the horse to drink, the most you can do is lead it to water; after that, the horse drinks only if it wants to. More generally, the proverb is used in the senses of &quot;there's only so much you can do&quot; or &quot;people will do what they want&quot; or &quot;you can't help people who don't want to be helped&quot;. This proverb is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/you-can-lead-a-horse-to-water.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one of the oldest in English&lt;/a&gt;, having been recorded in &lt;em&gt;Old English Homilies&lt;/em&gt;, 1175:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hwa is thet mei thet hors wettrien the him self nule drinken&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [who can give water to the horse that will not drink of its own accord?]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &quot;Chuck Norris can lead a horse to water AND make it drink&quot; simply reverses the proverb: Chuck Norris can do something which the proverb says is impossible. (The humour is partly from the appropriation of a commonplace proverb for Chuck Norris purposes.) Something similar would be &quot;Chuck Norris can eat his cake and have it too&quot;, reversing the proverb &quot;You can't eat your cake and have it too&quot;. (Once you eat your cake, you'll no longer have it with you: this proverb is these days more commonly stated as &quot;you can't have your cake and eat it too&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T08:25:44.887" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4013" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4014" CreationDate="2010-10-14T10:23:18.053" Score="4" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the phrase &quot;fake teeth&quot; correct? I googled it and found out that it is used. But my English tutor says that this phrase is incorrect and the book from Hillside Press had this phrase as a mistake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what is true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1672" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T21:59:02.980" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T21:59:02.980" Title="Is &quot;fake teeth&quot; correct?" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4013" CreationDate="2010-10-14T10:27:15.560" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe your English tutor wants you to say &quot;&lt;strong&gt;false teeth&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; instead. Google count is 85K for &quot;fake teeth&quot; and 442K for &quot;false teeth&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that in the Wikipedia, both &quot;false teeth&quot; and &quot;fake teeth&quot; redirect to the page on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_teeth&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dentures&lt;/a&gt;. However, in general, while &quot;false teeth&quot; is used as a synonym for dentures, &quot;fake teeth&quot; is more for things like vampire teeth that people wear in Halloween for fun.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-14T14:27:55.440" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T14:27:55.440" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="114" CreationDate="2010-10-14T11:29:47.787" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think I was ever taught a clear-cut rule, and as a non-native speaker, I am probably spoiled to some extent by the usage of dashes in other languages. That being said, following nothing but my intuition I would use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;a semicolon&lt;/em&gt; when the sentences express related, yet independent (especially grammatically independent) thoughts; they could well stand on their own, separated by a period.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;a dash&lt;/em&gt; when the second sentence backs up the first one, nails it down to something, restates or amplifies it, provides reasons or examples, or when the second sentence could not stand on its own &quot;as is&quot; for grammatical reasons.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will try to demonstrate my point by rewording the notorious examples from &lt;a href=&quot;http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Oatmeal&lt;/a&gt; accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;My aunt had hairy knuckles; she loved to wash and comb them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;My aunt had hairy knuckles — she suffered from hirsutism.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;When dinosaurs agree on something, they'll often high-five one another; dinosaurs are all about high-fives.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;When dinosaurs agree on something, they'll often high-five one another — they cannot talk and have to resort to gestures.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I gnaw on old car tires; it strengthens my jaw so I'll be better conditioned for bear combat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I gnaw on old car tires — to strengthen my jaw so I'll be better conditioned for bear combat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, this is just my two cents, and I'm only putting them in because the other answers so far seem to miss the point of your question by focusing on non-sentential relations and sometimes not even mentioning semicolons at all. I don't know whether my answer comes close to being correct or not, but I hope it will at least serve as a turning point for getting the discussion back on topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T11:29:47.787" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4016" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4017" CreationDate="2010-10-14T12:01:56.970" Score="4" ViewCount="595" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering what's the difference between:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It can easily be obtained, and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It can be easily obtained.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, what's the prefered way to write it? If there's any...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I googled for both options between quotes and it returned almost the same result (38 million for &quot;can be easily&quot; and 34 million for &quot;can easily be&quot;), so statistically both have similar usage from the people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; Typo: I modified the second point which was read as &quot;it easily can be obtained&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="778" LastEditorUserId="778" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-14T15:43:24.590" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T15:43:24.590" Title="&quot;can easily be&quot; vs &quot;can be easily&quot;: what's the difference?" Tags="&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4016" CreationDate="2010-10-14T12:25:18.987" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go with &quot;it can be easily obtained&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;It can easily be obtained&quot; sounds fine, too, but &quot;it easily can be obtained&quot; doesn't. The complete Google stats look as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22it+can+be+easily+obtained%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;it can be easily obtained&lt;/a&gt;&quot; — 2,100,000&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22it+can+easily+be+obtained%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;it can easily be obtained&lt;/a&gt;&quot; — 400,000&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22it+can+be+obtained+easily%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;it can be obtained easily&lt;/a&gt;&quot; — 289,000&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22it+easily+can+be+obtained%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;it easily can be obtained&lt;/a&gt;&quot; — 8,410&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Searching the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; returns these results:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it can easily be — 40 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it can be easily — 20 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it easily can be — 0 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-14T12:31:59.373" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T12:31:59.373" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4013" CreationDate="2010-10-14T13:17:53.737" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any language teacher that say a phrase is &quot;incorrect&quot; has no understanding of how language actually works. You can say that a term is more common and is the accepted way of saying a thing but if enough people use a word or phrase &quot;incorrectly&quot; then it becomes the accepted standard and the meaning changes. Language is not math and there are no &quot;correct&quot; answers. In language might makes right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T13:17:53.737" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4020" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4192" CreationDate="2010-10-14T13:35:24.730" Score="0" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a test question to see whether the &lt;a href=&quot;http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/22469/quotes&quot;&gt;Quote&lt;/a&gt; proposal is necessary or if the questions can as easily be placed here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(after Chris' comment)&lt;/em&gt; this is a presentation about the British politics from 1979 - 2010 covering the rise and fall of all three major poliitical parties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note - this is not real, this is only a test to see if this question fits here or the Quote proposal (see above) should take off. But I'll still upvote good answers! =:-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1682" LastEditorUserId="1682" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-14T18:59:15.737" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T09:21:08.570" Title="I have a presentation on English political history next week. Anyone know some good quotes?" Tags="&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4021" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4023" CreationDate="2010-10-14T13:52:21.997" Score="3" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello, I am writing a software documentation. I have this issue: I am talking about a generic user of the software.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Should I say “his preferences”, “his/her preferences” or “its preferences”?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1487" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T11:55:22.290" Title="Should I use his/her or its?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4022" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4195" CreationDate="2010-10-14T13:58:36.493" Score="2" ViewCount="232" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is my second (and final) test question for &lt;a href=&quot;http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/22469/quotes&quot;&gt;Quotes&lt;/a&gt; (to see if that proposal is necessary or if we can add them here).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(based on comments below)&lt;/em&gt; this is a weekly meeting I am chairing of my group in which we are updated on company wide initiatives and exciting projects (and some dull ones) that affect us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: this is not real, only a test question (see Quotes proposal above). But I will (and have) upvote(d) good answers! =:-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1682" LastEditorUserId="1682" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-14T19:02:42.907" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T12:17:50.910" ClosedDate="2010-10-21T17:39:47.733" Title="What's a funny quote to start a meeting with?" Tags="&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4021" CreationDate="2010-10-14T14:10:14.780" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The links Reg supplied are good advice, but be aware that gender-neutral language used at length can start to become clunky and unnatural to the ear.  One trick I have seen to avoid that problem is to assign genders to particular use cases.  In your case, you might refer to a generic user using male pronouns, while an administrator gets female pronouns.  Obviously this only works when you have a reasonably good mix of cases or relative importance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T14:10:14.780" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4022" CreationDate="2010-10-14T14:18:24.807" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why not literaly translate a foreign proverb to have a funny effect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In French, for example, we say &lt;em&gt;ça ne casse pas trois pattes à un canard&lt;/em&gt; to express something is rudimentary.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Literaly, in English, this means &lt;em&gt;it does not break three legs of a duck&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1487" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T14:18:24.807" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4025" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4027" CreationDate="2010-10-14T14:28:48.457" Score="4" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can say &quot;Bob and I are going&quot; instead of &quot;I'm going and Bob is going.&quot; I want to say something like &quot;This is a waste of my time and Bob's time,&quot; but only saying &quot;time&quot; once. I can't say &quot;our&quot; because I'm introducing the other person's name in this sentence. The best I can think of is &quot;This is a waste of me and Bob's time,&quot; but that seems incorrect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T21:59:36.490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T21:59:36.490" Title="How to phrase &quot;my time and Bob's time&quot; more succinctly?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="4026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4025" CreationDate="2010-10-14T14:33:09.047" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;This is a waste of &lt;strong&gt;my and Bob's time&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T14:33:09.047" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4025" CreationDate="2010-10-14T14:33:51.433" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bob's and my time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or (less common)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bob's time and mine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T14:33:51.433" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4029" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4034" CreationDate="2010-10-14T14:52:46.830" Score="4" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;Proper usage guidelines and examples are appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T15:33:31.337" Title="What is the difference between scent and odor?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4030" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4039" CreationDate="2010-10-14T15:05:43.337" Score="1" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For this specific item, it only required a local inquiry without forwarding the question to a higher echelon for a judgment call. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-14T15:50:04.587" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T15:25:54.413" Title="Is this a proper usage of the word &quot;echelon&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="4031" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4038" CreationDate="2010-10-14T15:07:42.613" Score="8" ViewCount="661" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to tell a colleague of mine I'm doing something that will prevent her from getting &quot;ununderstandable&quot; errors. I have:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...so that you will not get unnecessary, [ununderstandable] errors.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After googling &quot;ununderstanable&quot;, I see that there is such word, but still I'm looking for something that sounds better.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1671" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-14T15:28:07.773" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T20:13:30.277" Title="What is a good replacement for &quot;ununderstandable&quot;?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;prefixes&gt;" AnswerCount="7" />
  <row Id="4032" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4082" CreationDate="2010-10-14T15:11:01.643" Score="9" ViewCount="468" Body="&lt;p&gt;Upon answering the telephone, the person calling asks if Joan is available. If Joan is the person who answered the phone, should she say &quot;This is her&quot; or &quot;This is she&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="766" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T07:44:22.447" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T07:44:22.447" Title="&quot;This is her&quot; or &quot;This is she&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4029" CreationDate="2010-10-14T15:11:40.997" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/odor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster entry for &quot;odor&quot;&lt;/a&gt; contains:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;a.&lt;/strong&gt; a quality of something that stimulates the olfactory organ :&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;scent&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;b.&lt;/strong&gt; a sensation resulting from    adequate stimulation of the olfactory &#xA;  organ : &lt;strong&gt;smell&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to that definition, an odor can be a scent or a smell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dictionary then gives two examples for &quot;odor&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The cheese has a strong odor.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This deodorant prevents bad odor from occurring.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The entry for &quot;scent&quot; has the following examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The flower has a wonderful scent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The dogs followed the fox's scent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The prisoner escaped because the dogs lost his scent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the definition of &quot;odor&quot; and on the examples, while &quot;scent&quot; is always associated with a living being that produces the smell, &quot;odor&quot; can also be associated with other smells (e.g. as the ones produced by cheese and that the deodorant prevents in the examples above).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-14T15:33:31.337" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T15:33:31.337" />
  <row Id="4034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4029" CreationDate="2010-10-14T15:16:18.773" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Odor&lt;/em&gt; has a few meanings that &lt;em&gt;scent&lt;/em&gt; doesn't: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a characteristic, strong quality&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;esteem or reputation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conversely, &lt;em&gt;scent&lt;/em&gt; has a few meanings that are not covered by &lt;em&gt;odor&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the sense of smell, or figuratively the power of detection&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a trace left by an animal, or figuratively any trail that can be followed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, &lt;em&gt;scent&lt;/em&gt; works as a verb, while &lt;em&gt;odor&lt;/em&gt; doesn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For further details and examples, see:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Merriam-Webster: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;scent&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/odor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;odor&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wiktionary: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;scent&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/odor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;odor&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Free Dictionary: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/scent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;scent&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/odor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;odor&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For finding more sample sentences, I refer you to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3557/is-there-an-online-sample-sentence-database-or-search-engine/3576#3576&quot;&gt;these resources&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T15:16:18.773" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4021" CreationDate="2010-10-14T15:16:50.143" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've written a lot of software documentation and even authored a few style guides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; suggest using his/her throughout the text. In the generic case, refer to the user as &quot;they&quot;, which serves as a somewhat suitable gender-neutral pronoun if you use it intermittently. Try to to strike a good mix between &quot;the user&quot; and &quot;they.&quot; Using one over the other consistently starts to sound redundant and somewhat forced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The user enters text and clicks 'done'. They have the option of saving to a file or the network.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option you may consider is changing the voice to the second person (&quot;you&quot;) in parts of the document (or even the entire text). Talk to them directly. Put &lt;em&gt;them&lt;/em&gt; in the use cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Enter the text and click 'done'. You can save the text to a file or the network.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="28" LastEditorUserId="28" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T19:26:56.837" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T19:26:56.837" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4031" CreationDate="2010-10-14T15:20:04.003" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello, &lt;em&gt;enigmatic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;abstruse&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;obscure&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;cabalistic&lt;/em&gt; sound good to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1487" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T15:20:04.003" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4032" CreationDate="2010-10-14T15:21:59.953" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either the subjective (she) or objective (her) would be ok, I think. Personally I'm inclined to answer &quot;This is he&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="984" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T15:21:59.953" />
  <row Id="4038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4031" CreationDate="2010-10-14T15:25:03.473" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incomprehensible&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;incomprehensible&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unfathomable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;unfathomable&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T15:25:03.473" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4030" CreationDate="2010-10-14T15:30:11.097" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds perfectly fine to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/echelon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;agrees&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Definition of ECHELON&lt;br&gt;[...]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;2 a&lt;/strong&gt; : one of a series of levels or grades in an organization or field of activity &amp;lt;involved employees at every echelon&amp;gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;b&lt;/strong&gt; : a group of individuals at a particular level or grade in an organization &amp;lt;the upper echelons of the bureaucracy&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T15:30:11.097" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4030" CreationDate="2010-10-14T15:30:15.670" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your usage is correct. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/echelon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Echelon&lt;/a&gt; is defined as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A level or rank in an organization, profession, or society.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on this definition, your statement reads:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;This specific item only required a local inquiry without forwarding the question to a higher [level or rank in the organization] for a judgment call.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T15:30:15.670" />
  <row Id="4041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4032" CreationDate="2010-10-14T15:32:45.847" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;This is she&quot; is short for &quot;This is she who is speaking&quot;, and so I believe it is more formal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;This is her&quot; probably isn't technically correct, but it is used enough to be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T15:32:45.847" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4025" CreationDate="2010-10-14T15:38:26.410" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is a waste of my time and Bob's&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T15:38:26.410" />
  <row Id="4043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4031" CreationDate="2010-10-14T16:29:58.180" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My recommendations are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;difficult-to-understand&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;impossible-to-understand&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;opaque&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;obtuse&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T16:29:58.180" />
  <row Id="4044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4031" CreationDate="2010-10-14T16:54:17.797" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...so that you will not get&#xA;  unnecessary &lt;strong&gt;cryptic&lt;/strong&gt; error messages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T16:54:17.797" />
  <row Id="4045" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-14T16:56:44.177" Score="0" ViewCount="386" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicates:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1/&quot;&gt;When do I use &amp;ldquo;can&amp;rdquo; &amp;amp; &amp;ldquo;could&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7/&quot;&gt;May &amp;amp; Might: What&amp;rsquo;s the right context?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you explain the most prominent differences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-15T08:01:13.023" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T08:01:13.023" ClosedDate="2010-10-15T01:51:36.680" Title="can vs could and may vs might" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4046" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4047" CreationDate="2010-10-14T17:18:41.753" Score="3" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, take a look at the following sentence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There’s nothing to see — no one can handle you, dear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the general guidelines?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-14T17:31:31.460" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T19:33:51.487" Title="Confusion between colon and dash" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;dash&gt;&lt;colon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4046" CreationDate="2010-10-14T19:33:51.487" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dashes, in the context that you seem to be using, are used for (emphasized) parenthetical clauses--much like the two prior, but with special emphasis drawn to them.  As demonstrated, parentheses are used for parenthetical clauses with diminished emphasis, and commas for parenthetical clauses--and appositives--with more-or-less equal emphasis with the rest of the statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Colons, on the other hand, are used: when building a list, to separate parts of a title, in the salutation of formal letters, and occasionally to introduce quotations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T19:33:51.487" />
  <row Id="4048" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4053" CreationDate="2010-10-14T19:50:25.030" Score="5" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can someone tell me which, if any, of the following sentences are correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;When she walked in, he was laying on the bed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;When she walked in, he was laid on the bed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;When she walked in, he lay on the bed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, the first two seem correct, but I am frequently confused as to when it is acceptable to use the progressive tense when referring to past events.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To just clarify the purpose of my question.  My intended meaning for this sentence is that &quot;he&quot; was already on the bed when &quot;she&quot; walked in.  If none of the above sentences convey this meaning then how is this correctly phrased?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="357" LastEditorUserId="357" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T16:08:32.907" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T16:08:32.907" Title="Use of past and progressive tense" Tags="&lt;past-tense&gt;&lt;progressive-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4009" CreationDate="2010-10-14T20:05:07.073" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well i guess Chuck Norris is so physically capable that he can &quot;force&quot; a horse to drink water no matter what, even if it doesn't want to, so you'd better watch out if you mess with Chuck Norris... haha&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1698" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T20:05:07.073" />
  <row Id="4050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4048" CreationDate="2010-10-14T20:15:31.613" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The 1st and 2nd ones are correct, but they mean different things. The 1st means that he was already on the bed when she walked in. The 2nd means that as she was walking in, someone was placing him on the bed. The 3rd one sounds weird to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T20:15:31.613" />
  <row Id="4051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2010-10-14T20:28:11.083" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Susurration&lt;/strong&gt;: Tiffany Aching's favourite word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T20:28:11.083" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-10-14T20:28:11.083" />
  <row Id="4052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4048" CreationDate="2010-10-14T20:28:34.780" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All three are correct, but they have different meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first case, &quot;he&quot; was already on the bed, laying, at the time that &quot;she&quot; walked into the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second case, &quot;he&quot; was being laid (presumably by a third party, assuming that &quot;he&quot; was incapacitated in some fashion) on top of the bed at the time that &quot;she&quot; walked into the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the third case, simultaneous actions occurred:  &quot;she&quot; entered the room, and &quot;he&quot; lay (down) on the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T20:28:34.780" />
  <row Id="4053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4048" CreationDate="2010-10-14T20:40:22.227" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These examples are a minefield, because &lt;em&gt;lay&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;lie&lt;/em&gt; have the most confusing similar meanings and even overlapping past tense forms.  Many people do not use them in the standard (&quot;correct&quot;) way, and don't even know the right way.  You don't always use the same verb between &lt;em&gt;lay&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;lie&lt;/em&gt; in your examples, and you don't always use the right one in the right place, so I will try to explain those as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technically speaking, the correct way to form the first sentence is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When she walked in, he was lying on the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The grammarian standard rule is that &lt;em&gt;lie&lt;/em&gt; is used when the actor or subject of the sentence is the one who is lying down (which is what is happening in your sentence).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, with this correction in mind, on to the answer: technically all of your sentences are correct, but they all mean a different thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You use the past progressive when you want to describe an event in the past that took place during another event in the past.  So, in your first sentence, &quot;she walked in&quot; is one event that happened, and &quot;he was lying on the bed&quot; means that the walking-in happened &lt;strong&gt;during&lt;/strong&gt; the lying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your second sentence, you are have two simple past tense verbs.  This time, &quot;was laid&quot; is a passive construction in the past tense (past tense of &quot;lay&quot;, specifically).  Since the sentence is passive, it means that someone laid &quot;him&quot; on the bed — he didn't do it himself — so the past tense of &lt;em&gt;lay&lt;/em&gt; (rather than the past tense of &lt;em&gt;lie&lt;/em&gt;) is the correct verb to use.  So, this sentence means that at the moment she walked in, someone or something laid him on the bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your third sentence, you again have two past tense verbs.  The verb &lt;em&gt;lay&lt;/em&gt; is the simple past form of &lt;em&gt;lie&lt;/em&gt;, so you are saying that the walking-in and the lying happened at the same moment in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T20:40:22.227" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1858" CreationDate="2010-10-14T20:41:29.797" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think Few: 2-3, Couple 4-6, Several&#xA;  7+. What are your thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitely not. &lt;em&gt;Couple&lt;/em&gt; is certainly fewer than &lt;em&gt;few&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pair&lt;/strong&gt;: Two which go together, a matching couple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Couple&lt;/strong&gt;: Often used with roughly the same definition as &lt;em&gt;pair&lt;/em&gt;, with some specific idioms, such as &lt;em&gt;the happy couple&lt;/em&gt; (newlyweds). Sometimes used just to mean two, any two, not necessarily a pair. Sometimes, informally, used to mean &lt;em&gt;few&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Few&lt;/strong&gt;: A smallish group. &lt;em&gt;There were a few washers in the bottom of the screw drawer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Very few&lt;/strong&gt;: A small number, smaller than expected. More than two, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Few enough&lt;/strong&gt;: A small group, probably but not necessarily smaller than expected. Still more than two. &lt;em&gt;&quot;So was it a big crowd?&quot; &quot;Nah, there were few enough of us.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Quite a few&lt;/strong&gt;: Several, more than expected. &lt;em&gt;There were quite a few people at the party. It was a fair[-sized] crowd.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Several&lt;/strong&gt;: A large number, but not necessarily larger than expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd rarely use the word &lt;em&gt;few&lt;/em&gt; on its own. It would almost always be &lt;em&gt;very few&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;quite a few&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For what it's worth, I'm Irish, with English parents, and listen to more BBC Radio 4 than anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T20:41:29.797" />
  <row Id="4055" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4057" CreationDate="2010-10-14T20:44:10.377" Score="6" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there an adjective that begins with the prefix &lt;em&gt;omni&lt;/em&gt; that means &lt;em&gt;all-hearing?&lt;/em&gt; I thought that an aural counterpart to &lt;em&gt;omnipresent&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;omnipotent&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;omniscient&lt;/em&gt; must exist, but after a few minutes of Googling, I've failed to find any synonyms for &lt;em&gt;all-hearing.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="36" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-21T01:49:11.503" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T01:49:11.503" Title="&quot;omni&quot;-prefixed word for &quot;all-hearing&quot;" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;analogy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4055" CreationDate="2010-10-14T20:47:07.937" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Omniaural? (Maybe this just means, &quot;can be heard everywhere&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T20:47:07.937" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4055" CreationDate="2010-10-14T20:48:37.197" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The logical construction would be along the lines of omnaudient (given the Latin verb &quot;to listen&quot; is &quot;audio&quot;) but I've never seen it used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T20:48:37.197" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1083" CreationDate="2010-10-14T21:02:33.050" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it's still used in parts of Yorkshire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I me my mine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thou thee thy thine (You you your yours)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He him his his&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She her her hers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We us our ours&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ye you your yours (You you your yours)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They them their theirs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T21:02:33.050" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="578" CreationDate="2010-10-14T21:34:03.733" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;panoply&lt;/strong&gt;, meaning a wide array. People use &lt;em&gt;plethora&lt;/em&gt; for this nowadays but technically &lt;em&gt;plethora&lt;/em&gt; means an over-excess, not just a bunch. So &quot;a plethora&quot; of food means there's too much of it and it might go bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T21:34:03.733" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-10-14T21:34:03.733" />
  <row Id="4060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23" CreationDate="2010-10-14T21:43:40.323" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer I remember for British English is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the quoted material forms a complete sentence (even if it's broken out of), even if it is not a complete sentence in the original source, and there is a punctuation mark before the opening quote, then the full stop should go inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I think&quot;, he said &quot;that would be a good idea.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The full quote forms a complete sentence and starts with a capital letter, even though it's broken out of to interject the &lt;em&gt;he said&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think there were even more subtleties in the article in &lt;em&gt;The Right Word at the Right Time&lt;/em&gt;. (It's a rather excellent Readers Digest book.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T21:43:40.323" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4009" CreationDate="2010-10-14T22:26:38.470" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dynamics of the joke have been explained so I won't rehash that but I don't see the meta-joke being mentioned here so I'll explain it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A kind of meta-joke, a joke above the jokes, is to tell a series of really unfunny jokes. So while the jokes in and of themselves aren't funny the string of jokes clearly not meant to be funny can be funny. If it's just one joke you might say, &quot;Meh, that wasn't funny.&quot; But a barrage of really stupid jokes, if they are ridiculously unfunny like the one above, is funny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally it's kind of an inside joke that some people actually find the unfunny jokes funny. That's a meta-joke on top of the meta-joke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. I don't find Chuck Norris jokes funny either, but I get it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1702" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T22:26:38.470" />
  <row Id="4062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="325" CreationDate="2010-10-14T22:45:12.690" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd use &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are no employees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T22:45:12.690" />
  <row Id="4063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="707" CreationDate="2010-10-14T23:02:25.657" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The US requires &lt;em&gt;-ize&lt;/em&gt;. The UK accepts both, but (with the OUP as the main exception) prefers &lt;em&gt;-ise&lt;/em&gt;. And this is one of the few cases where &quot;international&quot; English follows the US convention. The ISO favours &lt;em&gt;-ize&lt;/em&gt; spellings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inbuilt computer dictionaries set to UK English rarely support &lt;em&gt;-ize&lt;/em&gt;. Feel free to overrule them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T23:02:25.657" />
  <row Id="4064" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4065" CreationDate="2010-10-14T23:36:01.673" Score="3" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;When referring to more than one chamber of commerce, would it be correct to say chambers of commerce?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T23:55:02.310" Title="Chambers of Commerce?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4064" CreationDate="2010-10-14T23:46:34.027" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My intuition is that the plural is &lt;em&gt;chambers of commerce&lt;/em&gt;, and the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&amp;amp;q=6679359&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;backed up my intuition&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE   145&#xA;CHAMBERS OF COMMERCES  1&#xA;CHAMBER OF COMMERCES   0&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-14T23:55:02.310" LastActivityDate="2010-10-14T23:55:02.310" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4066" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4072" CreationDate="2010-10-14T23:53:33.903" Score="3" ViewCount="291" Body="&lt;p&gt;We seem to be stuck at an impasse on this issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is Funnest a word or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, does it mean &quot;most fun&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1704" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T23:59:43.740" Title="Is Funnest a word?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4066" CreationDate="2010-10-15T02:50:53.677" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that every English speaker would understand you, it's fine. It's a word. Don't worry too much about what dictionaries say, they are trying to report on the language, not prescribe it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="133" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T02:50:53.677" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4068" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4101" CreationDate="2010-10-15T03:40:54.883" Score="4" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is exactly the difference between nouning an adjective different ways? Some only have one form, but others have both. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hilarious: &lt;strong&gt;hilarity&lt;/strong&gt; vs. &lt;strong&gt;hilariousness&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;virtuous: &lt;strong&gt;virtuosity&lt;/strong&gt; vs. &lt;strong&gt;virtuousness&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;clandestine: &lt;strong&gt;clandestinity&lt;/strong&gt; vs. &lt;strong&gt;clandestineness&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, what causes some to only have one form, like cheap --&gt; &lt;strong&gt;cheapness&lt;/strong&gt;, and what causes others to have two? And some have none, it seems. For example, accomplished --&gt; * &lt;strong&gt;accomplishedness&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastEditorUserId="1606" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-15T04:42:23.320" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T17:41:07.133" Title="differences between different noun forms of same adjective" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4068" CreationDate="2010-10-15T05:18:43.983" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-ness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; explains the ness suffix rather well, and links to several other suffixes, several of which are often used to make an adjective into a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for accomplished, it is the past tense of the verb accomplish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1706" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T05:18:43.983" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="707" CreationDate="2010-10-15T05:42:06.197" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You often hear people say that &lt;em&gt;-ize&lt;/em&gt; is American and &lt;em&gt;-ise&lt;/em&gt; is British. While it is certainly true that &lt;em&gt;-ise&lt;/em&gt; has become dominant in Britain, &lt;em&gt;-ize&lt;/em&gt; is the older spelling, and it once was dominant everywhere. Americans have retained it, while the British have increasingly - since the mid-20th-century I think - favoured &lt;em&gt;-ise&lt;/em&gt;. Why, I don't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Last time I checked, both the (British) Oxford and Collins dictionaries gave &lt;em&gt;-ize&lt;/em&gt; as the first spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm British and I always use the &lt;em&gt;-ize&lt;/em&gt; spelling, not least because the letter &lt;em&gt;z&lt;/em&gt; is so underused, but also because it more accurately indicates its pronunciation (and &lt;em&gt;-ise&lt;/em&gt; is plain ugly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1711" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T05:42:06.197" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4025" CreationDate="2010-10-15T07:28:57.823" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a waste of time, both for Bob and myself&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1712" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T07:28:57.823" />
  <row Id="4072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4066" CreationDate="2010-10-15T07:33:57.440" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taken from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/funnest&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Funnest&lt;/em&gt; is a regular superlative of the adjective &lt;em&gt;fun&lt;/em&gt;. However, the use of &lt;em&gt;fun&lt;/em&gt; as an adjective is itself still often seen as informal or casual and to be avoided in formal writing, and this would apply equally to the superlative form. Merriam-Webster, however, gives &lt;em&gt;fun&lt;/em&gt; as an adjective without comment, and states that &lt;em&gt;funner&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;funnest&lt;/em&gt; are ‘sometimes’ used. Because of the remaining stigma, &lt;em&gt;most fun&lt;/em&gt; may be preferred in formal writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1712" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-15T07:52:12.440" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T07:52:12.440" />
  <row Id="4073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4031" CreationDate="2010-10-15T07:42:55.303" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer &lt;strong&gt;unintelligible&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1713" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T07:42:55.303" />
  <row Id="4074" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4076" CreationDate="2010-10-15T10:00:19.883" Score="3" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I have learnt, present perfect continuous should be used when we want to describe some activity which lasted for concrete period of time and is not finished still.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, &quot;I've been waiting for her for 2 hours already&quot; or &quot;How long have you been waiting for her?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These constructions (especially the question form, where 'have' cannot be shortened) look and sound rather complicated. That's why I wonder whether it's acceptable to use present continuous (especially in speech).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another logical argument to use present continuous in question form is the analogy with questions which doesn't touch time aspects like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What are you waiting for? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Who are you waiting for? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why are you waiting for her? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;but &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How long have you been&#xA;  waiting for her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is it acceptable to ask&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How long are you waiting for her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing: does present perfect continuous add some additional hidden value, like expectation for results or anything else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="473" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T05:53:59.157" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T05:53:59.157" Title="Can you replace the present perfect continuous with present continuous when a concrete time period is specified?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;present-perfect-tense&gt;&lt;continuous-mode&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4075" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-15T10:00:21.247" Score="42" ViewCount="1033" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have looked in a number of places, with contradicting results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Urban Dictionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=zomg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;provides&lt;/a&gt; a whopping 73 &quot;explanations&quot;, of which I will quote just a few. (Original spelling and punctuation preserved.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;ZOMG is a varient of the all-too-popular acronym &quot;OMG&quot;, meaning &quot;Oh My God&quot;.&#xA;  ZOMG originated from the imageboard 4chan.org and one of it's members Zardoz.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though 4chan is &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; Internet meme machine, I would like to see supporting&#xA;evidence for this particular claim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;zOMG is a varient of the all-too-popular acronym &quot;OMG&quot;, meaning &quot;Oh My God&quot;. The &quot;z&quot; was originally a mistake while attempting to hit the shift key with the left hand, and type &quot;OMG&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first sentence is copied verbatim from the previous (and older) explanation,&#xA;with the &quot;Z&quot; changed into a &quot;z&quot;. It appears that the author hasn't quite thought&#xA;it through — if you mistakenly hit &lt;code&gt;z&lt;/code&gt; instead of &lt;code&gt;Shift&lt;/code&gt;, you'll end up with &quot;zomg&quot;,&#xA;not with &quot;zOMG&quot;. Besides, there's the &lt;code&gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/code&gt; key between the &lt;code&gt;Z&lt;/code&gt; and the left shift key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A more enthusiastic (if not sarcastic) way of saying OMG. The Z doesn't stand for anything, but rather is added onto the O, thus making it pronounced &quot;ZOH MY GOD!!1&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doesn't address the origin and is not very convincing anyway — why &quot;Z&quot; and not &quot;S&quot;, &quot;X&quot;, &quot;W&quot;, &quot;J&quot;, or in fact any letter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;ZOMG was the ruler of the planet XYRZON until 2451 AD, when he was overthrown&#xA;  by KFOP after the battle of SHMUR.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;zombies! oh my god!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is actually the most convincing so far, since over at the Wiktionary I am told that &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ZOMG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;ZOMG&lt;/em&gt; is an initialism&lt;/a&gt;. Then again, I am not told anything about etymology, and in the usage notes for &lt;em&gt;OMG&lt;/em&gt;, I am told that &lt;em&gt;ZOMG&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;emphatic, in the same sense of &lt;em&gt;LOLZ&lt;/em&gt;&quot;. Which contradicts the idea that it's an initialism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Talk%3aZOMG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;talk page for &lt;em&gt;ZOMG&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, there's only this brief exchange:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This entry should be amended to note that the &quot;z&quot; is added emphasis from the common&#xA;  typo committed when hitting the &quot;shift&quot; key. [Unsigned, but the history attributes this to&#xA;  Adjwilli, 19:50, 4 November 2008]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Except that it's not: see &lt;a href=&quot;http://members.optusnet.com.au/weizrules/zomg/zomgfaq.txt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&amp;#91;1&amp;#93;&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;  Unfortunately, although this FAQ is accurate, the fact that it has not been cited in&#xA;  a reliable source means that we cannot include it on Wiktionary. Shii 14:21, 12 December 2008 (UTC)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That last link is dead, so I went to archive.org and dug up an old &lt;a href=&quot;http://web.archive.org/web/20050211075538/http://members.optusnet.com.au/weizrules/zomg/zomgfaq.txt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;copy of the page&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ZOMG was originally coined in January 2003 by two individuals, James Curbo and Matthew Milan, over ICQ&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The following chat log may or may not be exact, so apocraphycal information has been used to recreate this event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hannibal Smith:  d00der!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Rick Feynman:  zomg!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Hannibal Smith:  ZOMG!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Rick Feynman:  fag! ZOMG!&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can see why reliable sources are hesitant to cite this FAQ, especially given the fact that it was written by Matthew Milan himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, over at The Free Dictionary, I am told that &lt;a href=&quot;http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/ZOMG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;ZOMG&lt;/em&gt; is an acronym&lt;/a&gt; with the&#xA;following definitions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Zoh My God! &lt;em&gt;(gaming, World of Warcraft)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Zombies Oh My God&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Zeus, Oh My God&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Zerg! Oh My God!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Zebras on my Grass &lt;em&gt;(gaming clan)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I am utterly confused. Some of these suspiciously look like backronyms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, can anyone, by any chance, provide a definite answer on the origin of &lt;em&gt;ZOMG&lt;/em&gt;? Or is it lost forever?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-16T02:15:05.687" Title="What is the origin of ZOMG?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;fun&gt;&lt;internet&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="12" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="4076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4074" CreationDate="2010-10-15T10:31:33.507" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say 'I'm waiting two hours', and no one would misunderstand you. I don't think there is any loss of meaning, but you might sound a little foreign. I think this usage is standard in some types of American-English. I could imagine a character on Seinfeld going 'Two hours I'm waiting - what is it with these people?’&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In speech (but not in formal writing) you can say 'How long've you...'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, there is a context where &quot;I am waiting two hours&quot; means something completely different (thanks Claudiu, Kosmonaut). If the issue was for example how long you were prepared to wait for a delayed flight, then you would say 'I'm waiting two hours (then I'm going home!)&quot; to mean &quot;I will wait two hours only&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if the context is unclear, you need the 'have been waiting' construction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="122" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-15T14:15:02.910" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T14:15:02.910" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4074" CreationDate="2010-10-15T12:38:17.870" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, the present continuous cannot be used in that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the questioner notes, because the examples both refer to an activity which started at a particular point in the past, and is still ongoing (in this case, waiting), the (present) perfect continuous must be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the present continuous as shown in the final example would still be understood, but it sounds wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T12:38:17.870" />
  <row Id="4078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4075" CreationDate="2010-10-15T13:16:33.053" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm partial to the shift key+z typo answer.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're typing OMG really fast (cause you're so excited) you're going to slip and hit zOMG the &lt;strong&gt;&amp;lt;&lt;/strong&gt; key isn't between shift and Z on most US keyboards.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside of any of the other possible origins, the typo is the most likely because it's most easily 'discovered' by small groups of people who are instant messaging each other.  Most likely it has risen out of a parallell evolution because of our natural tendencies (as opposed to being invented or &quot;first coined&quot; by anyone).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, we all invent it ourselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1719" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T13:16:33.053" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4079" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4090" CreationDate="2010-10-15T13:51:53.473" Score="5" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;The obvious, yet overly broad, answer is to &lt;strong&gt;WRITE&lt;/strong&gt; and to &lt;strong&gt;READ&lt;/strong&gt;  texts of great writers are ways to become a better writer.  However, one can write on the same level, making the same stylistic, grammatical mistakes, and thereby perennially maintain a boring style. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;In my own experience, I noticed the following recurring errors:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Miss words and fail to identify them immediately during a proofread, thereby making the content less appealing. I frown upon a poorly/ungrammatically written text and articles. Hence,I suspect other feel the same way about mine when it's poorly delivered. I only identify some errors a day later.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I poorly, sometimes illogically, structure the text. I usually begin writing  from a simple idea, and keep going with other ideas that emerge as the story  unfolds. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mess up verb tenses.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use words and expressions (especially colloquial )inappropriately.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;What I do to improve:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Follow this forum&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I've been keeping a text file with  interesting expressions (the file is actually called expressions.txt) that I find in online articles, ebooks, forums, blogs, etc. When I write my own post, I oftentimes refer to it. Over the years, it has grown to a fairly big file&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Subscribed to multiple words of the day sites (twitter, firefox pluggin, email digest, newsreader feeds)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, I rarely write recreationally, limited to scant contributions to online discussions. My writing is comprised of reports (very specific to my work), e-mails, twits... and text messages =)&#xA; - Read blogs of great and entertaining writers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please share  techniques that have been working for you.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Relentlessly looking forward to this Q&amp;amp;A site: &lt;a href=&quot;http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/1623/writing&quot;&gt;http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/1623/writing&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1446" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-15T18:01:17.570" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T19:06:07.793" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-10-15T14:52:19.170" ClosedDate="2011-01-28T15:32:34.590" Title="Tips and Tricks to Become a Better and More Prolific English Writer" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="12" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="6" />
  <row Id="4080" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-15T13:54:00.130" Score="2" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3402/is-become-vs-has-become&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Is become&amp;rdquo; vs &amp;ldquo;has become&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a famous quote from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Robert_Oppenheimer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;J. Robert Oppenheimer&lt;/a&gt; after the successful detonation of the first nuclear weapon. The quote comes from the Bhagavad Gita, a sacred Hindu scripture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This quote has bothered me since I first read it. Is it grammatically correct to say &lt;em&gt;Now I am become death&lt;/em&gt;? Shouldn't the quote say &lt;em&gt;Now I have become death&lt;/em&gt; or just &lt;em&gt;Now I am death&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1720" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:55:19.490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:55:19.490" ClosedDate="2010-10-15T14:54:53.097" Title="&quot;Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;translation&gt;" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4081" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4153" CreationDate="2010-10-15T14:16:50.523" Score="3" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any rules for which words are allowed to have &lt;code&gt;-er&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;-est&lt;/code&gt; endings? Being a native speaker, I do it by ear, but what distinguishes &lt;strong&gt;free/freer/freest&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;calm/calmer/calmest&lt;/strong&gt;, and &lt;strong&gt;speedy/speedier/speediest&lt;/strong&gt; from &lt;strong&gt;watchful/*watchfuller/*watchfullest&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;creative/*creativer/*creativest&lt;/strong&gt; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastEditorUserId="677" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T06:18:06.337" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T06:18:06.337" Title="Rules for single-word comparatives and superlatives" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;rules&gt;&lt;comparative&gt;&lt;superlative&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4032" CreationDate="2010-10-15T14:18:33.710" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Traditional grammarians prefer the nominative (&quot;she&quot;) for the complement of the verb &quot;to be&quot;.  Most usage in my experience prefers the accusative (&quot;her&quot;) and regards the verb as having a direct object rather than a complement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect the traditional grammarians, as they often did, have misapplied a rule of Latin grammar.  In Latin, &quot;esse&quot; takes a complement in the nominative case, but Latin declines the verb strongly enough that it doesn't bother with a pronoun as the subject of a verb unless needed for emphasis.  &quot;It is she&quot; in Latin would be &quot;illa id est&quot;, which looks far more natural than the English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that it's &quot;c'est lui&quot; in French, so there isn't a general rule for a complement of &quot;to be&quot; being in the nominative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Explanation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A normal (transitive) verb, like say &quot;have&quot; has a direct object, which is in the accusative case.  So, for example, &quot;I have her&quot; uses &quot;her&quot; as a direct object, and &quot;her&quot; is in the accusative case, where &quot;she&quot; is in the nominative case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Latin, the verb &quot;esse&quot; (&quot;to be&quot;) is special; it doesn't have a &lt;em&gt;direct object&lt;/em&gt; in the &lt;em&gt;accusative&lt;/em&gt; case, it has a &lt;em&gt;complement&lt;/em&gt; in the &lt;em&gt;nominative&lt;/em&gt; case.  English grammarians in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries adopted a number of rules of Latin grammar into English; this was one of them. In Latin, &quot;it is she&quot; and &quot;she is it&quot; are both the same thing &quot;id illa est&quot; or &quot;illa id est&quot; can both be translated either way - the point being that the &quot;is&quot; (&quot;est&quot;) just equates to things to each other - it's like in maths you can have x=y or y=x and they both mean the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English, though, takes word-order very seriously, and a pronoun after a verb is very strongly marked as being in the accusative case and you don't get the benefit that you get in Latin from the exception - there's still one before the verb and one after; you don't get to make clear that it's commutative.  So you have a special-case for a verb, which you get no useful benefit from.  It's hardly surprising that most English speakers have reverted to &quot;it is her&quot; rather than &quot;it is she&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1265" LastEditorUserId="1265" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-16T08:47:26.620" LastActivityDate="2010-10-16T08:47:26.620" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4079" CreationDate="2010-10-15T14:22:04.620" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing my high school English teacher pounded into us is the importance of a logical transition between paragraphs. As you are reading and taking notes (good idea), pay attention to how writers transition from one idea to the next. Do they smoothly take you through their thoughts or does one idea seem to spring out of nowhere to surprise you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1347" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T14:22:04.620" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-10-15T14:52:19.170" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3038" CreationDate="2010-10-15T14:44:10.840" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Crocoduck&amp;amp;oldid=387804009&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Crocoduck&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T14:44:10.840" />
  <row Id="4085" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4087" CreationDate="2010-10-15T15:17:52.663" Score="6" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the following definitions of &quot;quite a few&quot; in dictionaries: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quite-a-few?show=0&amp;amp;t=1287154843&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster:&lt;/a&gt; &lt;strong&gt;many&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quite_a_few&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary:&lt;/a&gt; An indefinite and somewhat large number; more than a few &lt;strong&gt;but fewer than a lot&lt;/strong&gt;; a fair number of. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;quite a few&quot; less than &quot;many&quot;?  My understanding is that &quot;a lot&quot; and &quot;many&quot; are synonyms. If that's the case, then the dictionary definitions above conflict. What's the actual meaning of this expression?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elyrics.net/read/b/beatles-lyrics/another-girl-lyrics.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;She's sweeter than all the girls and I've met quite a few.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; I'm also curious about the origin of this expression. The last thing that a non-native English speaker would expect was that &quot;quite&quot; and &quot;few&quot; combined would result in &quot;somewhat large number&quot; or &quot;many&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-15T15:28:39.830" LastActivityDate="2010-10-16T20:23:20.280" Title="What is the proper usage of &quot;quite a few&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4030" CreationDate="2010-10-15T15:25:54.413" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds ok to me and the other answers referenced the definition of echelon as evidence.  But I would caution that most people would probably say &quot;level&quot; instead. In my experience &quot;echelon&quot; is not a commonly used word especially in this context. My quick search of the Corpus of Contemporary American English doesn't find any matches for &quot;higher echelon&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T15:25:54.413" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4085" CreationDate="2010-10-15T15:42:36.087" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Quite a few&lt;/code&gt; expresses that the speaker was impressed or astonished by the number, as they would have expected less. Or the speaker wants to emphasize on the fact that it was &quot;more than you would think&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet I do not think that there is an order involved that &lt;code&gt;quite a few&lt;/code&gt;would be less than &lt;code&gt;many&lt;/code&gt;. The intended effect is different. One could call it understatement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T15:42:36.087" />
  <row Id="4088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3996" CreationDate="2010-10-15T16:06:05.713" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;See you later&quot; has become an idiom which is often exactly equivalent to &quot;goodbye&quot;.  But &quot;See you [at some specific time/place]&quot; implies to me that we are going to meet.  If we have an appointment to meet online (chat room, video call, online-game, etc), I would understand your intent (and I would say this to someone else). However if I was going to write someone a message on the weekend I wouldn't say this. An email is not a meeting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T16:06:05.713" />
  <row Id="4089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4075" CreationDate="2010-10-15T16:17:16.357" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll go for the &quot;Zerg OMG&quot; suggestion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For players of Starcraft, one of the fastest ways to lose in a multiplayer game was for someone playing as the Zerg to create a lot of very low-level units straight away and attempt to rush your base before you had sufficient defences in place to protect yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were playing with allies and this happened, you would need to get a message out to them pretty quickly if you were going to survive. &quot;OMG Zerg Rush&quot; would take a lot of typing time that you might otherwise be using to marshall your troops, but once everyone is familliar with it &quot;ZOMG&quot; gets the message across much faster. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That would be in keeping with the 1999 or thereabouts coining as well - I seem to recall that was when Starcraft first came out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I first saw it on SomethingAwful, which was a kind of 4chan's natural predecessor, from my limited understanding of 4chan and what it does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T16:17:16.357" />
  <row Id="4090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4079" CreationDate="2010-10-15T16:28:38.557" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always been an exceedingly prolific reader; I've found that reading as broad a selection of authors as I can find has helped build a tolerably well-rounded writing style.  Some of the &quot;classics&quot; may help; they're regarded as classics for a reason, and that reason is often good writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also help to read absolutely wretched writing from time to time; writing that jars your senses and which you instantly dislike can show you what &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; to do in your own writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for output, I'm going to be joining the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nanowrimo.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NaNoWriMo&lt;/a&gt; crowd this November.  Having a distinct goal and deadline—and a number of other people who are striving for the same thing—can help awaken competitive urges.  My fiancée enjoyed doing that last year, so this year we're doing it together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-15T18:47:57.360" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T18:47:57.360" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-10-15T16:28:38.557" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="706" CreationDate="2010-10-15T16:36:58.570" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't use &lt;em&gt;Could care less&lt;/em&gt; outside of the USA. In the USA it's just one of those things. Language doesn't have to be logical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T16:36:58.570" />
  <row Id="4092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4075" CreationDate="2010-10-15T16:39:20.103" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Internet memes often have no one true source.  ZOMG and related expressions can probably be traced back to early text chats; TLA* and ETLA** expressions have been used in networked chats since at least the early UNIX days--back when most users connected to a mainframe via a dumb terminal, it was possible to text-message other users on the same system in an IM-like fashion.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the well-known 4chan is a very prominent source of memes, it is not the be-all and end-all.  Ultimately, memes arise via the actions of two or more people communicating, which can happen in a much wider area than a single forum--consider the most recent &lt;a href=&quot;http://xkcd.com/802/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Community Map&lt;/a&gt; and contrast the size of the SMS and Email worlds to the size of the 4chan segment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I had to make a guess, I would think that the origin of ZOMG is close to that of &lt;a href=&quot;http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/mbj/smiley/smiley.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The First Smiley&lt;/a&gt;, but I doubt that any canonical answer will be found.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Three Letter Acronym&#xA;**Extended Three Letter Acronym.  Sometimes, this is FLA for Four (or Five) Letter Acronym, but that's just not as funny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T16:39:20.103" />
  <row Id="4093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="79" CreationDate="2010-10-15T16:41:03.117" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;However you parse the rule, this usage is correct. However, this may not be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think both are fine, but they are different cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T16:41:03.117" />
  <row Id="4095" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4099" CreationDate="2010-10-15T17:17:53.353" Score="2" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;to tire&quot; is to become exhausted. &quot;tired&quot; means exhausted. &quot;tiredness&quot; is the state of being exhausted. Similarly, &quot;to accomplish&quot; means to complete a goal (let's say), &quot;accomplished&quot; means completed, &quot;*accomplishedness&quot; is the state of being accomplished? What should go there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More generally, how do you noun adjectives that you can't add &lt;code&gt;-ness&lt;/code&gt; to? Related to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4068/differences-between-different-noun-forms-of-same-adjective&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T17:52:46.100" Title="How to say &quot;the quality of being accomplished&quot;?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;morphology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4096" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4098" CreationDate="2010-10-15T17:22:51.997" Score="5" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have only ever seen the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrobang&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;interrobang&lt;/a&gt; discussed as a novelty; I've never seen it used in context.  Is there a situation in which its use is acceptable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1614" LastActivityDate="2010-10-16T11:25:28.787" Title="When can I use an interrobang‽" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="4097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4079" CreationDate="2010-10-15T17:22:57.923" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your writing is colourful and engaging, and your dedication to be commended but there is also a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/george-orwells-5-rules-for-effective-writing/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;less is more&lt;/a&gt; school of thought, especially when you are trying to communicate rather than entertain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The homework that you are doing is making you a better reader as much as a better writer, which is an important goal in itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T17:22:57.923" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-10-15T17:22:57.923" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4096" CreationDate="2010-10-15T17:30:03.997" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I've seen, it's more an experimental thing than any sort of formally accepted marking.  Thus, for informal writing where you can be sure that the reader/recipient knows your intent, it should be acceptable.  For more formal writing or business communications, especially those where irony or sarcasm would be badly construed, it's best to be more cautious and make your intentions clear in another fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, I'd like for it to appear more often, so—especially online—feel free to spread it around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-16T11:25:28.787" LastActivityDate="2010-10-16T11:25:28.787" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4095" CreationDate="2010-10-15T17:31:36.367" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on context, I would go with &lt;em&gt;completeness&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;perfection&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;accomplishment&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;achievement&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;consummation&lt;/em&gt;. Or even an idiom such as &lt;em&gt;being home and dry; in the bag; signed and sealed; wrapped up; signed, sealed, delivered&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer the general question of how I would noun adjectives that I can't add -ness to, I wouldn't noun them simply for the sake of nouning. I'd just look for an existing synonym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-15T17:52:46.100" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T17:52:46.100" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4095" CreationDate="2010-10-15T17:36:10.417" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually, when referring to an action that has been accomplished, a synonym such as &quot;completed&quot; is used.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, you could render it with a phrase similar to, &quot;having been accomplished...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rendering verbs as nouns (more properly referred to as gerund forms, IIRC) is tricky business in English, given the number of irregular constructions that the language is burdened with.  It's probably best, if you have any doubts, to use an equivalent phrase.  While it may not be the most ideal or concise way of going about things, using a phrase is often a safer choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T17:36:10.417" />
  <row Id="4101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4068" CreationDate="2010-10-15T17:41:07.133" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suffixes -&lt;em&gt;ness&lt;/em&gt; and -&lt;em&gt;ity&lt;/em&gt; are roughly synonymous, but they have different etymologies.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are two &lt;strong&gt;roughly synonymous&#xA;  suffixes&lt;/strong&gt;, -&lt;em&gt;ness&lt;/em&gt; and -&lt;em&gt;ity&lt;/em&gt;, which&#xA;  are typically used for forming&#xA;  abstract nouns from adjectives, as in&#xA;  example below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;generous + -&lt;em&gt;ness&lt;/em&gt; = generousness&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;generous + -&lt;em&gt;ity&lt;/em&gt; = generosity &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The first suffix, -&lt;em&gt;ness&lt;/em&gt;, is&#xA;  etymologically native, while -&lt;em&gt;ity&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  entered the language as a result of&#xA;  contact with French during the Middle&#xA;  English period.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(..)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In addition, the meaning of words in&#xA;  -&lt;em&gt;ity&lt;/em&gt; is often not entirely compositional, i.e., not deductible&#xA;  from the meanings of the base and the&#xA;  suffix. Thus, it is both&#xA;  phonologically and semantically more&#xA;  opaque than -&lt;em&gt;ness&lt;/em&gt; (cf. Riddle 1985:&#xA;  443–444; Aronoff and Anshen 1998:&#xA;  246).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was extracted from the article &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&amp;amp;source=web&amp;amp;cd=4&amp;amp;ved=0CC8QFjAD&amp;amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Foa.doria.fi%2Fbitstream%2Fhandle%2F10024%2F42336%2Fproducti.pdf%3Fsequence%3D3&amp;amp;rct=j&amp;amp;q=ness%20ity%20suffix&amp;amp;ei=I5K4TPDPFtaSjAfLxMThDg&amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNHTQZEtf_7oygHtOSJC3hsFivOoyg&amp;amp;sig2=cC0HE_PlJCPiV15Sl7ompA&amp;amp;cad=rja&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PRODUCTIVITY OF THE SUFFIXES -NESS AND -ITY&#xA;IN 17TH-CENTURY ENGLISH LETTERS: A SOCIOLINGUISTIC APPROACH&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T17:41:07.133" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4102" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4104" CreationDate="2010-10-15T18:01:29.897" Score="2" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Drawing an equivalence between X and Y&lt;/em&gt; is a standard English expression which runs into problems when X and/or Y is itself a comma-delimited list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Slave_jed, &quot;slavery&quot;, in BDSM terms,&#xA;  really should be written in inverted&#xA;  commas. It's a completely different&#xA;  thing to real slavery. Drawing an&#xA;  equivalence between torture, false&#xA;  imprisonment, and rape on the one hand&#xA;  and a sexual kink on the other is&#xA;  highly insulting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the quote above, I framed X and Y with &lt;em&gt;on the one hand&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;on the other&lt;/em&gt;. Is this the best way to fix this or is there a more elegant phrasing I could have used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T18:28:29.163" Title="On the one hand ... on the other ..." Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4102" CreationDate="2010-10-15T18:08:57.010" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two possible ways to fix this without changing the structure would be to use a semicolon, or to place the commas differently:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Drawing an equivalence between torture, false imprisonment, and rape on the one hand; and a sexual kink on the other is highly insulting.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Drawing an equivalence between torture, false imprisonment and rape on the one hand, and a sexual kink on the other is highly insulting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I would go with the second option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a somewhat related note, this reminds me of the Language Log entry &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1311&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;When commas are crucial to comprehension&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T18:08:57.010" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4102" CreationDate="2010-10-15T18:10:16.290" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you wanted to be more clear, you could rephrase with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Drawing an equivalence between &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; torture, false imprisonment, and rape &lt;em&gt;of real slavery&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;the consensual&lt;/em&gt; sexual kink &lt;em&gt;of the BDSM same-named version&lt;/em&gt; is...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;on one hand/on the other hand&quot; phrasing isn't really necessary, but if that's your preferred style then your existing usage looks fine to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Though I would use &quot;from&quot; instead of &quot;to&quot; in the prior sentence ;-p&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastEditorUserId="1552" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-15T18:28:29.163" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T18:28:29.163" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4096" CreationDate="2010-10-15T18:26:13.643" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: no.  Longer answer: at the risk of your reputation.  Exclamation marks should be used sparingly anyway, and I for one tend to class interrobangs along with multiple exclamation marks as (to quote Terry Pratchett) a sign of mental instability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T18:26:13.643" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4031" CreationDate="2010-10-15T18:47:40.777" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apparently &quot;inscrutable&quot; is fewer than 15 letters long&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1729" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T18:47:40.777" />
  <row Id="4107" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4112" CreationDate="2010-10-15T19:05:39.820" Score="2" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was writing, and this happened:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was a beautiful afternoon in mid-autumn, all chill air and dazzling sunlight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;X, all Y&lt;/em&gt; considered archaic? I use this construction occasionally, but it seems slightly purple if not actually downright old-fashioned. Then again, the more I speak with people from other areas, the more I realise why people call New England speech quaint!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some reason I associate this usage of &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; with the use of &lt;em&gt;full&lt;/em&gt; as an adverb meaning &lt;em&gt;fully&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;the embodiment of&lt;/em&gt;; to me, &lt;em&gt;X, all Y&lt;/em&gt; implies &lt;em&gt;X is wholly given to or characterised by Y.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chaucer provides the first example that comes to mind of the use of &lt;em&gt;full&lt;/em&gt; I've mentioned:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bifel that in that sesoun, on a day,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Redy to wenden on my pilgrymage&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  To Caunterbury &lt;strong&gt;with ful devout corage&lt;/strong&gt;,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, &lt;em&gt;with full(y) devout heart/spirit.&lt;/em&gt; Thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T15:19:54.250" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T15:19:54.250" Title="Is this usage of &quot;all&quot; considered archaic?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4079" CreationDate="2010-10-15T19:06:07.793" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking from own experience, participating in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia%3aContests#Writing_contests&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia writing contests&lt;/a&gt; or similar challenges is a great way to improve your writing. Before the whole Internet thing happened, I would have never dreamt of targeting an audience that big. I highly recommend it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T19:06:07.793" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-10-15T19:06:07.793" />
  <row Id="4109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2269" CreationDate="2010-10-15T19:19:35.393" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's quite commonly used here in the States; &quot;myself&quot; and &quot;yourself&quot; seem to denote only slightly more formal equivalents of &quot;me&quot; and &quot;you&quot;, particularly in groups and formal situations. Consider it explication: &quot;and/or myself&quot; is like &quot;and/or even me&quot;, both somewhat implying that the listener might not otherwise have expected the inclusion of the speaker in the group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nor is &quot;myself&quot; limited to the last element of a list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;You can get in touch with myself or Jimmy when you've completed the work.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T19:19:35.393" />
  <row Id="4110" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4111" CreationDate="2010-10-15T19:44:15.627" Score="3" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;In high school English, it was imparted to us that in formal American English when speaking about an indefinite party, we should use the word &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt;.  For example, &quot;One should cover his or her mouth when he or she has to cough&quot;.  This seems a bit stilted and awkward--before this instruction was given to us, I believe most of us would have used &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;--&quot;You should cover your mouth when you have to cough.&quot;  In formal and business writing, which word should one (or you) use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1730" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T20:06:44.063" Title="Is It More Appropriate To Use &quot;One&quot; or &quot;You&quot; When Speaking Of An Indefinite Person?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4110" CreationDate="2010-10-15T19:57:36.707" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are fine, but the second-person &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; sounds more direct and thus less polite than the third-person &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;— almost like an order as opposed to a hint. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I wanted to both use &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; and sound polite, I would go with the simple alternative:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please cover your mouth when you have to cough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, if you need a shorter alternative for the rather cumbersome &quot;his or her&quot; and &quot;he or she&quot;, there's the &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/48/gender-neutral-pronoun&quot;&gt;singular &quot;they&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-15T20:06:44.063" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T20:06:44.063" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4107" CreationDate="2010-10-15T20:16:39.780" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't class it as archaic; it's uncommon, to be sure, but still sometimes used.  Applying purple to your prose is not always a bad thing, especially if you're trying to set a mood for a scene; the key is to use such descriptions in moderation and to blend them smoothly into the surrounding narrative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Unless you're writing deliberate homage to '30s pulps, in which case your prose should go between purple and ultraviole(n)t.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T20:16:39.780" />
  <row Id="4113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4066" CreationDate="2010-10-15T21:24:01.580" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't use &quot;funnest&quot; anywhere but in the most colloquial setting.  Certainly I would not use it in anything written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1731" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T21:24:01.580" />
  <row Id="4114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3495" CreationDate="2010-10-15T21:28:30.567" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're letting someone in on the secret goings-on, you can be said to &quot;open the kimono.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1731" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T21:28:30.567" />
  <row Id="4115" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4116" CreationDate="2010-10-15T21:39:22.687" Score="2" ViewCount="889" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which spelling is considered more correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1034" LastActivityDate="2010-10-16T20:47:43.370" Title="Benefiting vs. Benefitting" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4115" CreationDate="2010-10-15T21:45:00.380" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both spellings are considered to be correct; given the pattern of American English to prefer the shorter of alternate spellings (see color vs. colour; aluminum vs. aluminium), I would sumrise that in the US the single-t version would be correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I see that the two-t version appears more often in searches, so it has popularity going for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T21:45:00.380" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4117" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4118" CreationDate="2010-10-15T22:16:54.650" Score="5" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;raise&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;rise&lt;/em&gt;? When and how should I use each one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1734" LastEditorUserId="1552" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-15T22:25:42.223" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T16:13:26.407" Title="What is the difference between raise and rise?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;confusables&gt;&lt;transitive-verbs&gt;&lt;intransitive-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4117" CreationDate="2010-10-15T22:25:26.157" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Raise&quot; when used as a verb is transitive:  it requires that you have a direct object, a noun of some kind that you are applying the verb to.  For example, &quot;I must raise &lt;em&gt;an objection&lt;/em&gt;&quot;—&quot;an objection&quot; is the object that the subject (I) is using the verb to act upon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Rise&quot; on the other hand, is an intransitive verb:  it does not require a direct object; your sentence can be complete without one.  &quot;Please rise&quot; is entirely correct and complete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-15T22:53:17.750" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T22:53:17.750" />
  <row Id="4119" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-15T22:31:18.090" Score="4" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, I started using just 'That' instead of 'The fact that' at the beginning of some sentences. What is your opinion on this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The fact that he answered the question wrong shows...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;That he answered the question wrong shows ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is better style? 1 or 2?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="70" LastEditorUserId="70" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-16T06:01:20.893" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T08:57:56.307" Title="'The fact that' versus just 'That'" Tags="&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4120" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4121" CreationDate="2010-10-15T22:32:28.170" Score="2" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cringe when someone does not follow the &lt;em&gt;rule&lt;/em&gt; of naming the first person last: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Who went to the party?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   - Me, Bobby, Sally, and Joe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is surprisingly common in informal spoken American English. I admit have a strong cultural bias against this practice. My native language is Spanish and listeners in informal situations often reply with &lt;em&gt;el burro por delante&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;the donkey in front&lt;/em&gt;) to correct the speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another post (&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/q/3737/1720&quot;&gt;Which of these sentences use the correct grammar?&lt;/a&gt;) partially covers this topic but the answers do not conclude whether it is proper grammar or just proper manners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1720" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T22:43:43.513" Title="Is naming the first person last proper grammar or just proper manners?" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4120" CreationDate="2010-10-15T22:42:19.663" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a matter of style, or manners, if you will. Grammatically, all of the following are equally fine: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Jack and I went to the store.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I and Jack went to the store.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I and that stupid moron went to the store.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T22:42:19.663" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4120" CreationDate="2010-10-15T22:43:43.513" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's my understanding that, rather than being a necessity of grammar, it is a necessity of politeness that relegates the speaker to the end of a list of that sort in the English language.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would note that, properly, one must change the case of the first-person pronoun to account for proper parsing--hence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bobby, Sally, Joe, and I went to the party.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, &quot;Bobby,&quot; &quot;Sally,&quot; &quot;Joe,&quot; and &quot;I&quot; are all equivalent subjects for the &quot;went to the party&quot; predicate--any single one of them can be used as a valid subject for the sentence.  The same does not apply to &quot;me&quot; because it's the wrong case--it's not proper to say &quot;Me went to the party&quot;*&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not to say that native speakers use this standard all the time, especially people who are not used to watching their language for clarity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, this form of politeness does lead to an amusing grammatical difficulty if the list of persons is in the predicate of the sentence, &lt;em&gt;viz&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The party was fun for Bobby, Sally, Joe and I.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I, myself, was taught that this form was the polite one to use, despite the fact that &quot;The party was fun for I&quot; is not a valid construction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Unless you're the Cookie Monster, but he's never been known for proper grammar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-15T22:43:43.513" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4119" CreationDate="2010-10-16T00:29:30.557" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, I like 2 better in writing, although both are possible. In spoken language, I would only use 1. One often hears &quot;the fact that&quot; vilified as being redundant, mostly because Strunk &amp;amp; White say it's never acceptable. It's true that it is often used unnecessarily to inflate a writer's style. However, it's not always inappropriate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The police confronted him with the fact that he hadn't been where he said he was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="634" LastActivityDate="2010-10-16T00:29:30.557" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4075" CreationDate="2010-10-16T02:15:05.687" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Zoinks, Oh my god! is what I always thought it stood for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1735" LastActivityDate="2010-10-16T02:15:05.687" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4119" CreationDate="2010-10-16T03:37:41.920" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the &quot;the fact&quot; doesn't add to the sentence, remove it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1731" LastActivityDate="2010-10-16T03:37:41.920" />
  <row Id="4126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="293" CreationDate="2010-10-16T03:41:51.550" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just on a hunch, is this for a cover letter when applying to a job?  If so, don't just saying &quot;looking forward to hearing from you&quot;, but be even more specific and say something like &quot;I'm looking forward to working with you&quot;, or &quot;I'll be glad to answer any questions about my resume.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1731" LastActivityDate="2010-10-16T03:41:51.550" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4127" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4140" CreationDate="2010-10-16T07:55:06.043" Score="4" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where did the phrase &quot;three-fingered salute&quot;, meaning to press CTRL-ALT-DELETE on the keyboard, come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the &quot;two-fingered salute&quot; appears to be a mainly British gesture, I suspect the three-fingered variety is British too. But suspicion isn't evidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="1914" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-17T21:07:59.467" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T21:07:59.467" Title="Where did the &quot;three fingered salute&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;jargon&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="4128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4127" CreationDate="2010-10-16T13:34:38.567" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me, that's a euphemism for &quot;flipping someone off&quot;. The adaptation to Ctrl-Alt-Del would seem to echo the feelings one may have when having to recover from a hung application. I imagine that this connection may have weakened after Win2k gave Ctrl-Alt-Del a broader application.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1668" LastActivityDate="2010-10-16T13:34:38.567" />
  <row Id="4129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4032" CreationDate="2010-10-16T16:53:34.270" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think,that This is she-it is right!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1738" LastActivityDate="2010-10-16T16:53:34.270" />
  <row Id="4130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4127" CreationDate="2010-10-16T17:57:16.573" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the IT world, there are a number of amusing jargon terms for commonly-performed routines.  In this case, the 'salute' is (likely; I have no canonical reference for this, as the Jargon File merely calls it a synonym for the Vulcan Nerve Pinch) intended ironically as a mark of (dis)respect towards Mr. Gates' most well-known products.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The earliest reference I've been able to locate comes from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guzu.net/hp48/docs/hp-faq.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an FAQ from 1994&lt;/a&gt;, where the familiarity with the term indicates that it's been in common use for some time.  I suspect that if I had access to usenet archives that the initial usage would be found sometime earlier, probably in the comp.sci newsgroups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This bit of jargon has held up rather well, as it's still very much in common use today amongst IT professionals; the usage as an authentication prerequisite in windows-environment systems (which I've thought to be a spectacular joke, personally) has only rendered the use of the term more common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-16T17:57:16.573" />
  <row Id="4131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4085" CreationDate="2010-10-16T20:23:20.280" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found (quite) a few idioms using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/quite+a+few&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;idioms browser&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;quite a few&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;quite a few and quite a lot; quite a bit; quite a number&#xA;much or many. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Do you need one? I have quite a few. I have quite a bit—enough to spare some. How many? Oh, quite a number.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;quite a few a large number &lt;em&gt;We watched quite a few of the World Cup matches on TV&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006&#xA;McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2010-10-16T20:23:20.280" />
  <row Id="4132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4115" CreationDate="2010-10-16T20:47:43.370" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Google found 12.900.000 (approximately) matches for benefiting , but only 1.210.000 for benefitting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam Webster lists both as correct spelling&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/benefitting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/benefitting&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/benefitting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/benefitting&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2010-10-16T20:47:43.370" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4133" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4134" CreationDate="2010-10-16T21:39:17.673" Score="3" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello, I have a question. Is &lt;em&gt;plantingly&lt;/em&gt; an adverb form &lt;em&gt;plant&lt;/em&gt;?&#xA;Can you give me a example sentence from it?&#xA;Thanks ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: This use of &lt;em&gt;plantingly&lt;/em&gt; came from the following quote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Firstly I [would like] to thank you for taking the time from your [busy] schedule to help we &lt;strong&gt;plantingly challanged&lt;/strong&gt; Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1627" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T15:15:05.517" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T03:48:25.943" Title="Is &quot;plantingly&quot; an adverb?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;analogy&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4133" CreationDate="2010-10-16T22:29:08.577" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;On its own, the word &lt;em&gt;plantingly&lt;/em&gt; is not a &quot;real&quot; word (not much evidence of use, not in dictionary).  However, in this particular sentence, &lt;em&gt;plantingly&lt;/em&gt; is being used in the phrase &quot;plantingly challenged&quot;.  This is a phrase that was formed by analogy with other phrases of the form &quot;&lt;strong&gt;_&lt;/strong&gt;_ly challenged&quot;, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;mentally challenged (mental difficulties)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;academically challenged (academic difficulties)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;financially challenged (financial difficulties)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;socially challenged (social difficulties)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of &quot;plantingly challenged&quot;, the phrase is supposed to mean that the person has difficulty with planting.  The &lt;em&gt;-ly&lt;/em&gt; suffix was added to this word in order to maintain the form of other &quot;&lt;strong&gt;__&lt;/strong&gt;_ly challenged&quot; phrases (and in this case, the use is intended to be playful or humorous).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-17T03:24:28.843" LastActivityDate="2010-10-17T03:24:28.843" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4135" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4139" CreationDate="2010-10-17T11:39:04.070" Score="2" ViewCount="306" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I'm studying A-level English (well, only AS-level).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Paper 1 mostly includes reading a small paragraph/extract from a novel and then &quot;commenting on the style and language&quot; of the author.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I am decent at English, quite good at writing essays and English &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; my first language and we use it at home, but this commentary thing really seems more like snooty talk from people like wine tasters or something!?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example commentary:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A comical picture is created of the boys running as they only are running&#xA;  in the garden yet they are &quot;worn out&quot; (from extract) and &quot;panting&quot;. ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another commentary about some punctuation:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The colon in line 2 sets up an expectation in the sentence that the&#xA;  writer will explain why he was unable to sleep. The then goes on to give&#xA;  this expected explanation. The dash leads to us to expect additional&#xA;  information...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not cursing it, being a computer programmer, IMO, it's &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; subjective and that's why I heard bad things about English, but I had to take it up and I don't have much time until the exams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone just have some nice quick tips on how I could get better at &quot;seeing&quot; the little (random) nuances of English extracts and commenting on them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1742" LastEditorUserId="1742" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-17T19:37:10.933" LastActivityDate="2010-10-17T19:37:10.933" Title="tips for commentaries in A-level English" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4136" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4138" CreationDate="2010-10-17T15:53:55.623" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi, I started this site &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lenguahelp.co.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.lenguahelp.co.uk/&lt;/a&gt; which gives examples of words, and their Spanish translation.&#xA;Obviously time is a major constraint, but would it be of use if I coded it so people could add examples? Or is it the type of thing that is already done well by dictionary sites and/or the likes of WordReference? I don't know whether to invest more time into this or not? Thanks in advance for any advice/comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1744" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T07:59:13.483" Title="Would a website giving examples of English usage be helpful to foreign learners?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4135" CreationDate="2010-10-17T16:19:25.023" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The examples from your questions are mainly about the intent of the author, but I would imagine a commentary at an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/ec/gce.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;AS-level (Advanced Supplementary) English language&lt;/a&gt; includes more than that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;intent of the author&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;purpose of the text&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;targeted audience&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you can come with elements of style from the text helping you to comment on those three topics, basically helping to identify various types of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clause&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;clause&lt;/a&gt; relationships, that would be a good start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(Beside that, I am not familiar enough with this exercise to add any more meaningful advice, English being &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; my first language here)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-10-17T16:19:25.023" />
  <row Id="4138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4136" CreationDate="2010-10-17T17:09:15.333" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The collaborative space is already well represented with the wikipedia family.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For dictionary, you have: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary%3aMain_Page&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (but English word to English definition/content or &quot;another language to another language&quot;, not like your project where you define the English word in another language).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a collaborative project to produce a free-content multilingual dictionary.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Designed as the lexical companion to Wikipedia, the encyclopaedia project, Wiktionary has grown beyond a standard dictionary and now includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a thesaurus, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a rhyme guide, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;phrase books, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;language statistics and &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;extensive appendices.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that kind of collaborative project (Wiktionary) may have some ideas for your project.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-10-17T17:09:15.333" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4135" CreationDate="2010-10-17T19:14:17.843" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds pretty similar to my IB English class I took in high school, specifically the unseen commentary. We did have a slightly wider range of things to write about, but talking about style and such was still a big part of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question says you just have to &quot;comment,&quot; which implies you don't need an argument. If that's the case, ignore whatever I might say about one. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, as far as &quot;commenting on the style and the language&quot; goes, one thing you can try is to do is learn the literary features. Those are just vocabulary terms you can throw out to make yourself sound smarter. I never liked them, personally, and it cost me a few points in the class. There are a lot of them. Some of the ones I heard tossed around a lot were diction, juxtaposition, personification, irony...you probably already know a bunch. Here's a list of some if it seems like something that'd help. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flashcardexchange.com/flashcards/list/371503&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.flashcardexchange.com/flashcards/list/371503&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My English teachers fondly referred to the writing process of such essays as &quot;BS-ing,&quot; and encouraged us to do the same. If you can BS some evidence for whatever argument/ analysis you're making, it's correct. You want to say Jane Eyre's really an alien invader? If you can find evidence in the text, go for it. She spends time looking at the stars at some point? Quote it, and say it's nostalgia for her homeworld. IB likes quotes. Looks like this &quot;A-level&quot; English does, too. Try to integrate quotes into the analyses themselves. That makes them really happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need specific examples of how to apply whatever literary features to your analysis/ argument/ thing, try looking at it like a form of characterization. If you have lots of short, choppy sentences, or even one-word sentence fragments, what does that say about the entity it describes? Same thing for word-length. Even look at the letters. Are there lots of sharp, hard consonants, or is the language used softer? For punctuation, what is predominant? Periods, dashes, commas, or semi-colons? How does it change the rhythm of the passage? Is it episodic or flowing? Is there a lot of alliteration? Is the passive voice used? Does it vary depending on what's being described? Is there a protagonist and are they explicitly named or do they remain anonymous and impersonal? Are there multiple paragraphs? Do they vary in length or style? etc., etc.....You get the idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use the term characterization absurdly broadly. I treat setting as a character. It makes more sense to me that way. So, to me, in your first example, I'd think you could equivalently say &quot;The author uses irony to create an air of levity by having the boys 'worn out' and 'panting' despite the supposedly meager exertions possible to them in the close confines of the garden.&quot; If you have an argument, try to relate your example back somehow, or at least do so in every paragraph, for every group of examples. This'll help you and whoever's grading you remember what you're supposed to be writing and and prove that you've stayed focused and on-topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as getting the argument itself, I always used the inexorability of fate as my fall-back thesis. You should have an idea of what topics you're comfortable arguing beforehand. The passage itself can be bent to your argument, whatever it is. When in doubt, just write a thesis statement like &quot;The author emphasizes (some vague impression you got reading it) through the use of feature#1, feature#2, and feature#3.&quot;  It's not perfect, but it's serviceable, and it might manage to get you started writing &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt;, which, generally speaking, is better than nothing. Just try to leave some room so you can go back and change it if you need to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, yes, commentaries do tend to sound completely full of it because they are. Sometimes you can find something you actually care about to argue, but usually it's just BS that you've already written three essays about. The commentaries are subjective in the sense that there's no &lt;em&gt;right&lt;/em&gt; answer. Anything you write can be considered correct. It's just the manner in which you make your argument that they care about, for the most part. Complete insouciance might get you docked a little, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sincerely hope, somewhere in there, you found something useful. I also hope I will someday learn to be concise. Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-10-17T19:14:17.843" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4127" CreationDate="2010-10-18T03:15:57.193" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Esteemed writer &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Petzold&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Charles Petzold&lt;/a&gt; used the term in a &lt;em&gt;PC Magazine&lt;/em&gt; article back in 1986. He &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.charlespetzold.com/blog/2010/04/Inventing-the-Three-Finger-Salute.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;suspects he was the first&lt;/a&gt;, and I suspect he's right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="138" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T03:15:57.193" />
  <row Id="4141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4136" CreationDate="2010-10-18T07:59:13.483" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think people have a lot of difficulty with how words are actually used in real-life situations. Dictionaries tend to be lacking in that area. Example sentences may help, but there's a lot of connotation and contextual rules that they can't teach. Most words have subtleties and shades of meaning that non-native speakers don't pick up, but are very obvious to native speakers (even if they don't consciously realize it). Non-native speakers also tend to have a lot of trouble with idioms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also the question of dialects and regional differences, which would really benefit from user submissions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1745" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T07:59:13.483" />
  <row Id="4142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3675" CreationDate="2010-10-18T08:04:54.313" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say them to yourself and see if they sound correct to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, &lt;em&gt;here are the details you requested&lt;/em&gt; will always sound 'correct'. I might say &lt;em&gt;here's the details you requested&lt;/em&gt; conversationally or in an informal setting, but I can't see &lt;em&gt;Here is the details you requested&lt;/em&gt; ever being right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1745" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-18T14:12:27.703" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T14:12:27.703" />
  <row Id="4143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2999" CreationDate="2010-10-18T08:10:53.283" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We would write &lt;code&gt;The candies are in the box&lt;/code&gt;. If a native English speaker says that sentence out loud, they may pronounce it so it sounds more like &lt;code&gt;The candies're in the box&lt;/code&gt;. (But we would never write it that way.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We would write &lt;code&gt;The cars are in the parking lot&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a native English speaker says it out loud, it might end up sounding like &lt;code&gt;The cars're in the box&lt;/code&gt; (but we would never write it that way).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1745" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T08:10:53.283" />
  <row Id="4144" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4147" CreationDate="2010-10-18T09:15:19.993" Score="6" ViewCount="379" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to use &quot;softwares&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are various video conversion&#xA;  softwares in the market.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="1755" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-13T17:39:42.947" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T23:55:22.647" Title="Plural form of &quot;Software&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4145" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4148" CreationDate="2010-10-18T09:24:09.007" Score="3" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do some nouns in English not take the plurality suffix in the plural form? Could you give me a list of plural nouns which don't take &quot;-(e)s&quot; suffix? For example, I know about &quot;fish&quot; and &quot;sheep&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T20:11:13.207" Title="Irregular plurality situations in English" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4146" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4149" CreationDate="2010-10-18T09:26:04.150" Score="6" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;We use &quot;the news is good&quot; instead of &quot;the news are good.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the rationale behind this? Are there similar situations in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T16:23:59.777" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:23:59.777" Title="&quot;The news is good.&quot; Why?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;present-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4144" CreationDate="2010-10-18T09:32:45.293" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For all I know, &lt;em&gt;software&lt;/em&gt; is uncountable, so it's perfectly fine to say &quot;there is various software&quot;. If you don't like how that sounds (I know many people who don't), you can always go with &quot;there are various software packages&quot;, &quot;there are various pieces of software&quot; or something like that. An even simpler alternative would be &quot;programs&quot;. Depending on the context of your sample sentence, even &quot;video converters&quot; might work, if it's already clear that you are talking about software.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; I have checked &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/software&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/software&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/software&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Free Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;, and none of them mentions &quot;softwares&quot; at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-18T09:38:51.813" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T09:38:51.813" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4145" CreationDate="2010-10-18T09:45:45.870" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is actually quite broad. Irregular plural forms can arise for a variety of reasons. Wikipedia has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_plural#Irregular_plurals&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;huge section&lt;/a&gt; on the subject, with six subsections: &quot;Nouns with identical singular and plural&quot;, &quot;Irregular -(e)n plurals&quot;, &quot;Ablaut plurals&quot;, &quot;Irregular plurals from Latin and Greek&quot;, &quot;Irregular plurals from other languages&quot;, and &quot;Words better known in the plural&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary has a list of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category%3aEnglish_nouns_with_irregular_plurals&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;English nouns with irregular plurals&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, there are nouns that (depending on context) can be countable and uncountable, e.g. &lt;em&gt;water&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;cheese&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2425/explanation-for-emails&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;email&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-18T10:01:30.123" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T10:01:30.123" />
  <row Id="4149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4146" CreationDate="2010-10-18T10:11:11.700" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;News&lt;/em&gt; is uncountable and is used with singular verbs. The &lt;em&gt;-s&lt;/em&gt; is there because etymologically, it used to be a plural form. Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=news&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;late 14c., plural of &lt;em&gt;new&lt;/em&gt; (n.) &quot;new thing,&quot; from &lt;em&gt;new&lt;/em&gt; (adj.), q.v.; after Fr. &lt;em&gt;nouvelles&lt;/em&gt;, used in Bible translations to render M.L. &lt;em&gt;nova&lt;/em&gt; (neut. pl.) &quot;news,&quot; lit. &quot;new things.&quot; Sometimes still regarded as plural, 17c.-19c.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to other nouns like this, I have looked through a number of Wiktionary and Wikipedia categories, and the closest I could come to similar examples is &lt;em&gt;measles&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;billiards&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet another interesting (but not really similar) case is &lt;em&gt;species&lt;/em&gt;. Wikipedia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_plural&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Specie&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;species&lt;/em&gt; make a fascinating case. Both words come from a Latin word meaning &quot;kind&quot;, but they do not form a singular-plural pair. In Latin, &lt;em&gt;specie&lt;/em&gt; is the ablative singular form, while &lt;em&gt;species&lt;/em&gt; is the nominative form, which happens to be the same in both singular and plural. In English, &lt;em&gt;species&lt;/em&gt; behaves similarly—as a noun with identical singular and plural—while &lt;em&gt;specie&lt;/em&gt; is treated as a mass noun, referring to money in the form of coins (the idea is of &quot;[payment] in kind&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-18T10:25:16.300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T10:25:16.300" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4150" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4152" CreationDate="2010-10-18T10:36:49.943" Score="6" ViewCount="227" Body="&lt;p&gt;The title says it all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should one use &lt;em&gt;Theroux's works&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Theroux' works&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="240" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T11:12:48.697" Title="What is the correct possessive form of names ending in &quot;x&quot;?" Tags="&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4144" CreationDate="2010-10-18T11:05:18.917" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I avoid that by saying &lt;em&gt;&quot;software products&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T11:05:18.917" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4150" CreationDate="2010-10-18T11:12:48.697" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Different sources say different things. Wikipedia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe#Nouns_ending_with_silent_.E2.80.9Cs.2C.E2.80.9D_.E2.80.9Cx.E2.80.9D_or_.E2.80.9Cz.E2.80.9D&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sums it up as follows&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The English possessive of French nouns ending in a silent &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;x&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;z&lt;/em&gt; is rendered differently by different authorities. Some prefer &lt;em&gt;Descartes'&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Dumas'&lt;/em&gt;, while others insist on &lt;em&gt;Descartes's&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Dumas's&lt;/em&gt;. Certainly a sibilant is pronounced in these cases; the theoretical question is whether the existing final letter is sounded, or whether &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt; needs to be added. Similar examples with &lt;em&gt;x&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;z&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;em&gt;Sauce Périgueux's main ingredient is truffle; His pince-nez's loss went unnoticed; “Verreaux('s) eagle, a large, predominantly black eagle&lt;/em&gt;, Aquila verreauxi,...” (OED, entry for “Verreaux”, with silent &lt;em&gt;x&lt;/em&gt;; see &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verreaux%27s_eagle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Verreaux's eagle&lt;/a&gt;); in each of these some writers might omit the added &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;. The same principles and residual uncertainties apply with “naturalised” English words, like &lt;em&gt;Illinois&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Arkansas&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For possessive plurals of words ending in silent &lt;em&gt;x&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;z&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;, the few authorities that address the issue at all typically call for an added &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;, and require that the apostrophe precede the &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;em&gt;The Loucheux's homeland is in the Yukon; Compare the two Dumas's literary achievements&lt;/em&gt;. The possessive of a cited French title with a silent plural ending is uncertain: “&lt;em&gt;Trois femmes's&lt;/em&gt; long and complicated publication history”, but “&lt;em&gt;Les noces'&lt;/em&gt; singular effect was 'exotic primitive'...” (with nearby sibilants &lt;em&gt;-ce-&lt;/em&gt; in noces and &lt;em&gt;s-&lt;/em&gt; in singular).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T11:12:48.697" />
  <row Id="4153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4081" CreationDate="2010-10-18T11:52:36.370" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;IIRC, one-syllable adjectives or two-syllable adjectives words ending on &quot;y&quot; have comparatives with -&quot;er&quot;, all other adjectives use &quot;more/most&quot;. Let's see if I can find a source for that though....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hmmm does English SE count as a source? :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2166/&quot;&gt;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2166/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="677" LastEditorUserId="677" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-18T12:00:57.433" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T12:00:57.433" />
  <row Id="4154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="810" CreationDate="2010-10-18T14:06:55.620" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jingle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said which, I prefer to use &quot;earworm&quot; these days because &quot;jingle&quot; has such an overwhelming association with advertising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T14:06:55.620" />
  <row Id="4155" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4163" CreationDate="2010-10-18T14:54:47.160" Score="1" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear a lot of people use 'can able to' in their daily talk. I believe it's entirely wrong. Both 'can' and 'able to' hold the same meaning. Where do I get more information on the same and also the exact places where I should use 'can' and where I should use 'able to'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1749" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:54:44.287" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:54:44.287" Title="Is the usage &quot;can able to&quot; wrong? I believe it's wrong. But where can I find some reference on the same?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;indian-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4157" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-18T15:18:07.273" Score="4" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say I'm on a road trip and I'm going to Hawaii. Is it correct to call Hawaii the target of the trip? How about the destination of the trip? The end point of the trip? Which is best, and what are the nuances of each?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What if I was flying by plane instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And what if I was walking to the video store down the block — is the video store my 'destination' or what?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1603" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-13T12:35:07.437" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T12:35:07.437" Title="Target vs Destination" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4157" CreationDate="2010-10-18T15:26:54.023" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, when you are yourself in movement, the object of your movement is referred to as your destination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are throwing or shooting something, the point to which you are aiming is the target.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Destinations are things you want to keep intact when you get there; targets are things you want to perforate or explode ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T15:26:54.023" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4157" CreationDate="2010-10-18T15:30:18.857" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Target&lt;/em&gt; is something you try to hit; a mark you aim at when shooting, or figuratively a goal or objective of your actions. Destination is a place where you want to arrive. In both of your examples (Hawaii and the video store), I would go with &lt;em&gt;destination&lt;/em&gt;. I would only call Hawaii a target in the context of war, or if it were a node in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph_theory&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;directed graph&lt;/a&gt;. In the context of flying by plane, &lt;em&gt;target&lt;/em&gt; sounds especially scary, because it brings 9/11 to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further reading:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Merriam-Webster definitions: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/target&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;target&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/destination&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;destination&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wiktionary definitions: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/target&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;target&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/destination&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;destination&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-18T15:37:19.603" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T15:37:19.603" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="445" CreationDate="2010-10-18T17:22:04.983" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are differences between &lt;em&gt;'ll&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt;, and there are occasions in English when you cannot make contractions, but there's no great difference in the examples you've given. A very slight difference of mood, perhaps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T17:22:04.983" />
  <row Id="4162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="420" CreationDate="2010-10-18T17:28:43.337" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd usually go for 1st April 2010.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(That's &lt;a href=&quot;http://ie.php.net/manual/en/function.date.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;code&gt;jS F Y&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T17:28:43.337" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4155" CreationDate="2010-10-18T17:48:45.867" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is Indian English. If you are talking to the rest of the world you should check out&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mindyourenglish.com/articles/essential-english/2010/01/26/indian-english.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mind your English&lt;/a&gt;. Otherwise it's fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T17:48:45.867" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2429" CreationDate="2010-10-18T18:00:54.760" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sure I remember reading something about &lt;em&gt;doubt&lt;/em&gt; being used this way in parts of northern England in times past. My memory, however, is vague.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T18:00:54.760" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4165" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-18T18:31:34.180" Score="5" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear FAQ(s) pronounced like a word in &quot;FACK(s)&quot;, while I go letter by letter. In usage, what is more common?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Similar to SQL vs Sequel)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1752" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T19:06:59.437" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T10:40:57.657" Title="What is the commonly accepted pronunciation of FAQ?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;&lt;acronyms&gt;&lt;common-pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4165" CreationDate="2010-10-18T18:57:19.640" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that the more common one is &quot;fæk&quot;. According to Wikipedia, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since the acronym FAQ originated in&#xA;  textual media, its pronunciation&#xA;  varies; &quot;fack,&quot; &quot;fax,&quot; &quot;facts,&quot; and&#xA;  &quot;F.A.Q.&quot; are commonly heard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T10:40:57.657" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T10:40:57.657" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2429" CreationDate="2010-10-18T19:01:47.113" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In most cases when this happens the person is really a non-native English speaker as you said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some languages that grew from Latin the word that is used for doubt can also be used for question. &lt;em&gt;Dúvida&lt;/em&gt; is the Portuguese for doubt, but it can also be used as question. For example, when kids at school say to the teacher &lt;em&gt;Eu tenho uma dúvida&lt;/em&gt; (which word-by-word would translate as &quot;I have a doubt&quot;), they mean that they want to ask a question to the teacher  about what has been taught. And if I go to a store in Brazil and say &lt;em&gt;Eu tenho uma dúvida sobre esse produto&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;I have a doubt about this product&quot; in word-by-word translation), what I mean is that I want to make a question about the product. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same happens with &lt;em&gt;duda&lt;/em&gt;, which is the Spanish word for doubt. It may also be the case in other languages, but I'm not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, when you give a presentation and native Portuguese speakers say &quot;I have doubts about what you said&quot;, don't think that they don't quite believe in what you said. They may just have questions to ask you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-18T19:29:02.987" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T19:29:02.987" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4165" CreationDate="2010-10-18T19:41:08.690" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a general sense, initialisms and acronyms are most properly pronounced as the letters, e.g. &quot;Eye Arr Ess&quot; or &quot;Arr Pee Jee&quot; rather than &quot;Erse&quot; or &quot;R'pug.&quot;  Pronouncing the letters individually rather than coming up with a pronunciation for something that is not an actual word avoids misunderstandings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, especially in contexts where the given acronym or initialism will be used often (FAQ in a web context; various military acronyms) there will often be an accepted pronunciation that the community recognizes for use within the community.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T19:41:08.690" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="4169" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4170" CreationDate="2010-10-18T19:50:58.540" Score="4" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How long have you known this referee and in what capacity&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm filling my university application I met this question which befuddled me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it mean &quot;are you familiar with the referee&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="786" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T04:43:04.083" Title="What does &quot;capacity&quot; mean in this question?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4169" CreationDate="2010-10-18T20:00:42.157" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. This is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/capacity?show=0&amp;amp;t=1287431603&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fourth definition for &quot;capacity&quot; in the Merriam-Webster dictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;duty, position, role&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, possible answers to &quot;in what capacity&quot; here would be, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I worked with the referee at company XYZ, where we were both software developers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The referee was my Maths teacher at school.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And an answer to the full question &quot;How long have you known this referee and in what capacity&quot; would be, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I worked with [name] from January 2007 to March 2009 at company XYZ, where we were both software developers. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T04:43:04.083" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T04:43:04.083" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4145" CreationDate="2010-10-18T20:11:13.207" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The largest category of non-inflected English plurals are common animal names, although this is not particularly predictable (sheep, deer). There is also a related class which use both an inflected and an uninflected form (fish/fishes), of which in some cases the uninflected form is only used in collective situations: six elephants, a herd of elephant, but again, they need to be learnt case by case. This form seems to apply most commonly to game animals. See also &quot;head&quot; in &quot;twenty head of cattle&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1625" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T20:11:13.207" />
  <row Id="4172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4169" CreationDate="2010-10-18T20:19:08.823" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bruno probably has the correct answer, but in this case I read &quot;in what capacity?&quot; as &quot;in what way and to what extent?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T20:19:08.823" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4173" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-18T21:17:13.200" Score="6" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At the end of the evening, the bar was almost empty, with only [I/?] and a very cheerful and pleasant lady I met in the last minutes of the meeting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the correct form in this case? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My assumption would be to say &quot;I&quot;, and also to invert the two subjects, as in the following wrong case, followed by the correct form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(*) me and her went to the pub&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;she and I went to the pub&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If my assumption is correct, I have a different problem. I end up with the phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At the end of the evening, the bar was almost empty, with only a very cheerful and pleasant lady I met in the last minutes of the meeting and I.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, the need to detail information about the lady pushes the &quot;and I&quot; too far to be reasonably meaningful in the context. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1100" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:57:32.283" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:57:32.283" Title="Doubt about the subject in this phrase: I, me, or myself?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="4174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4173" CreationDate="2010-10-18T21:22:53.457" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A plausible alternative could be rendered &quot;...and myself.&quot;  I, personally, would render it as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was left alone in the pub at the end of the night with a cheerful and pleasant lady whom I had met during the last minutes of the meeting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T21:22:53.457" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4173" CreationDate="2010-10-18T21:46:01.107" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Part of the problem is that the clause after &quot;with&quot; is not complete. A shorter sentence makes it more obvious: &quot;The house was empty, with only a dog.&quot; With only a dog what? I'd re-write is as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At the end of the evening, the bar was almost empty, with only me and a very cheerful and pleasant lady I met in the last minutes of the evening remaining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T21:46:01.107" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4173" CreationDate="2010-10-18T22:52:25.217" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is as straightforward as this: in English, prepositions never take nominative case (which is what &quot;I&quot; is).  Since the pronoun in question is modified by &quot;with&quot; (a preposition), the correct case is definitely accusative &quot;me&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, if two or more phrases are connected with a conjunction (like &quot;me and a pleasant lady&quot;), and all of those are treated as one unit that the preposition modifies (as is the case in your example), then every conjoined element in that unit gets the same case distributed throughout.  So, with or without the &quot;pleasant lady&quot;, the pronoun should be &quot;me&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of &quot;myself&quot; is a somewhat recent addition to English.  It is likely that this sprang out of people's generally uneasiness in using &quot;me&quot; in any conjoined phrase, because of learning enough about pronouns to know that &quot;me and John are going to the park&quot; is informal and poor English, but not enough to be sure when &quot;me&quot; is okay to use.  So &quot;myself&quot; is a way to avoid using &quot;me&quot;.  This avoidance has become common enough that &quot;myself&quot; is on the verge of being a standard alternate way to express this.  (But from a linguistic standpoint, it is quite odd!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-10-18T22:52:25.217" />
  <row Id="4177" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4179" CreationDate="2010-10-18T23:53:44.360" Score="2" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;At my English lesson the native English speaker couldn’t tell what is correct and promised to search it for us!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He told us that if James is one person then we should write &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;James' Book&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but if we had many James he didn't know to tell us what to write...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1672" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T08:26:29.480" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T08:26:29.480" Title="Plural name apostrophe position" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4177" CreationDate="2010-10-19T00:26:21.097" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, see my answer &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2964/when-did-it-become-correct-to-add-an-s-to-a-singular-possessive-already-ending&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; regarding the correct way to make a possessive of a name ending in S. (Short version, both &lt;em&gt;James’&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;James’s&lt;/em&gt; can be considered correct).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For possessive plurals of names ending in S, you first have to form the plural. Like any noun ending in S, the plural adds -ES, so one James, two Jameses. For possessive, just add an apostrophe: &lt;em&gt;Jameses’&lt;/em&gt;. This formation common for last names (“keeping up with the Joneses’ spending habits”) but can also be used for first names. For example, the dog belonging to James Smith and James Jones would be &lt;em&gt;the Jameses’ dog&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T00:26:21.097" />
  <row Id="4179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4177" CreationDate="2010-10-19T00:32:12.810" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is something that's not 100% settled in English orthography, so it tends to be set down in usage guides. For example, here's what the &lt;em&gt;Chicago Manual of Style&lt;/em&gt; (14th Ed) has to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;6.24 The general rule for the possessive of nouns covers most proper nouns, including most names ending in sibilants.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples they give include &lt;em&gt;Kansas's&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Ross's land&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;Jones's reputation&lt;/em&gt;. Exceptions include &lt;em&gt;Jesus'&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Moses'&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By this, it would seem reasonable that possessive of the plural would be &lt;em&gt;James'&lt;/em&gt;, as with common nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that this is not the entire story, but might (?) be the relevant bits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1584" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T00:32:12.810" />
  <row Id="4180" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4191" CreationDate="2010-10-19T02:26:26.700" Score="7" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a difficulty to digest any sentence using the word &lt;em&gt;until&lt;/em&gt;, especially when it is used to express something related to a point of time or space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the physics examination, I have a sentence as follows&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A force is acting on a box until t = 10 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can we infer from that statement whether or not the force is still acting at t = 10 seconds?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1660" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T15:04:01.887" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T16:55:54.137" Title="&quot;A force is acting on a box until t = 10 seconds&quot;. Is the force still acting on the box at t = 10 seconds?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4180" CreationDate="2010-10-19T03:05:29.540" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think with &quot;until&quot; there is some implication that there is a &lt;em&gt;change&lt;/em&gt; in the situation at t = 10. This may or not be a change in whether the force is still acting. I think additional info to remove ambiguity will be needed in the next phrase sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="579" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T03:05:29.540" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4165" CreationDate="2010-10-19T06:02:15.397" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have only ever heard it pronounced 'Eff Ay Que'.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However it does seem to be one of those phrases that will never have a 'proper' pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="523" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T06:02:15.397" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2429" CreationDate="2010-10-19T07:54:30.637" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is Indian English. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://web.archive.org/web/20080309071050/http://www.numenorean.net/blog/archives/2006/07/vishys_indian_e_33.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Vishy's Indian English Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;July 12, 2006&lt;br&gt;Vishy's Indian English&#xA;  Dictionary: doubt&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;doubt. /DOWT/. A question asking for&#xA;  clarification. In standard English and&#xA;  American, the noun doubt is&#xA;  uncountable and refers to a lack of&#xA;  complete trust in something. Doubt may&#xA;  be expressed as simply as doubting&#xA;  someone's abilities or as profoundly&#xA;  as someone doubting their own&#xA;  religious faith. Not so in India. In&#xA;  India, doubt can be used as a&#xA;  countable noun. When a school teacher&#xA;  goes over an intricate concept in&#xA;  class, she invariably leaves some&#xA;  students with doubts in their mind&#xA;  about their understanding of the&#xA;  material just covered. Students ask&#xA;  her questions to get a better&#xA;  understanding of the concept and each&#xA;  such question is called a doubt. It is&#xA;  entirely normal to hear a statement&#xA;  like &quot;I have just one doubt, miss&quot; or&#xA;  &quot;If you have any doubts before the&#xA;  exam tomorrow, come see me in the&#xA;  staff room&quot;. The doubts in the&#xA;  aforementioned sentences are not as&#xA;  much rooted in a lack of faith as in a&#xA;  lack of understanding. Attentive&#xA;  readers would have encountered the&#xA;  Indian English sense of doubt a fair&#xA;  bit on online message boards in&#xA;  threads started by Indians. Titles&#xA;  such as &quot;Visual Basic .NET/Oracle&#xA;  doubt&quot; are not uncommon for threads on&#xA;  programming-related message boards. It&#xA;  is my understanding that this sense is&#xA;  mostly prevalent in southern India,&#xA;  but I could be wrong on this count.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T22:55:16.933" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T22:55:16.933" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4184" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4194" CreationDate="2010-10-19T08:03:05.390" Score="5" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The following link includes a guide&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;_ how to use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I fill in the blank? &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;about&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T14:50:15.857" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T14:53:40.123" Title="Which preposition to use here?" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="4185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4184" CreationDate="2010-10-19T08:13:00.407" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;People would in general use &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/on?show=0&amp;amp;t=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;many definitions of &quot;on&quot; in the Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; dictionary. The definition to support &quot;on&quot; as the preposition choice in this case is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Used as a function word to indicate&#xA;  the subject of study, discussion, or&#xA;  consideration (a book on insects)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T08:13:00.407" />
  <row Id="4186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-10-19T08:28:47.343" Score="22" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Late addition, but one I've just learned of: &lt;strong&gt;viscount&lt;/strong&gt;. Apparently it's pronounced &lt;strong&gt;VYE-count&lt;/strong&gt;. Who knew?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1571" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T08:28:47.343" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-10-19T08:28:47.343" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4187" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-19T08:34:29.527" Score="5" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;A Brazilian friend speaks English very well, but has a very unique habit: it seems often that she needs to use &quot;for&quot; but she instead uses &quot;to&quot;, and vice-versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The present is &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; Thomas. &lt;em&gt;(should be &quot;for&quot;)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Say hello &lt;strong&gt;for&lt;/strong&gt; your wife. &lt;em&gt;(should be &quot;to&quot;)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried looking in the dictionary to specifically determine which definitions she's confusing, and it seems that she's mixing up using &quot;to&quot; as a consequence and &quot;for&quot; to indicate a purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I help her find a way of remembering to use them correctly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: We recently ran into a better example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You started working on a fix &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; that problem. &lt;em&gt;(should be &quot;for&quot;)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="83" LastEditorUserId="83" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-20T16:11:25.417" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T23:55:35.620" Title="Rule for using &quot;for&quot; vs. &quot;to&quot;" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;confusables&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1413" CreationDate="2010-10-19T08:36:22.190" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This reminds me of how small children extrapolate grammatical constructions in seemingly logical ways, except English is not always that logical. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my daughter (3¾) will correctly say &quot;I colour in neatly&quot; or &quot;I'll do it carefully&quot;, but then also &quot;It comes lastly&quot; &quot;I can hop bigly&quot; &quot;Go farly&quot; &quot;Squeeze me hardly&quot; etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1571" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T08:36:22.190" />
  <row Id="4189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4184" CreationDate="2010-10-19T08:37:19.910" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why not &lt;em&gt;a guide to&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I checked Google search; the following are the results:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;guide on&lt;/em&gt; -&gt; 1,910,000,000&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;guide to&lt;/em&gt; -&gt; 1,940,000,000&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1112" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T14:53:40.123" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T14:53:40.123" />
  <row Id="4190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4184" CreationDate="2010-10-19T08:46:53.663" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To&lt;/em&gt; sounds clumsy because of the other &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;On&lt;/em&gt; is fine, &lt;em&gt;about&lt;/em&gt; is OK but two syllables so not as concise as &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1756" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T14:51:24.873" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T14:51:24.873" />
  <row Id="4191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4180" CreationDate="2010-10-19T08:59:45.083" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As ShreevatsaR says, the question is meaningless in the context of physics.  So here are other examples with &lt;em&gt;until&lt;/em&gt; where the time boundary can be interpreted:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my ear, &lt;em&gt;I was at the office until 5 PM&lt;/em&gt; includes the boundary -- it implies &lt;em&gt;I was at the office &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt; 5 PM.&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;em&gt;I won't see you until I get home&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, seems to me to allow situations in which &lt;em&gt;I'll see you &lt;strong&gt;as&lt;/strong&gt; I get home&lt;/em&gt;, thus excluding the boundary.  Reasonable people may disagree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the context, &lt;em&gt;until now&lt;/em&gt; can include or exclude &lt;em&gt;now&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Expanding the company will change what until now has been a friendly culture.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Until now, scientists didn't know why gravity matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Until today&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;until tomorrow&lt;/em&gt; both change their situation at some point &lt;em&gt;during&lt;/em&gt; the boundary condition/day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summary: &lt;em&gt;until&lt;/em&gt; has no specific effect on the boundary.  The boundary determination, in the rare cases where it has a meaning, is a semantic and contextual issue of the sentence, rather than of &lt;em&gt;until.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="52" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T15:06:27.707" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T15:06:27.707" />
  <row Id="4192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4020" CreationDate="2010-10-19T09:10:59.320" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;meta&lt;/a&gt; at the moment has only little traffic (there are only 96 questions so far), but there are more than 300 users on meta. I think that test questions like this one should be posed as discussion on meta instead of possible clutter in the parent site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at the Quote proposal, I can definitively see some overlap. I would allow questions of this pattern: &quot;I need to say something to the effect of ...&quot;, while questions like &quot;What is the origin of ...&quot; have been asked on this site already. As for gathering quotes like you propose I agree with @Kosmonaut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &quot;never, never, never, never give up&quot; (Winston Churchill) defining the site and building the community.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T09:21:08.570" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T09:21:08.570" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4193" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4199" CreationDate="2010-10-19T12:09:10.730" Score="3" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;English is not my native language. I have constantly been trying to add as more words as possible to my active vocabulary. But there are words which I understand but don't try to use myself. One of them is &lt;strong&gt;&quot;have got&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; instead of just plain &lt;strong&gt;&quot;have&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always use &lt;strong&gt;&quot;have&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a good way of learning and using English. Or am I missing something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="142" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-20T09:27:18.077" LastActivityDate="2010-10-20T14:40:09.753" Title="Could I always use &quot;have&quot; (and never use &quot;have got&quot;)?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;esl&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4184" CreationDate="2010-10-19T12:10:56.327" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Generally&lt;/em&gt; speaking, I personally prefer &quot;guide to&quot; over &quot;guide on&quot;; &quot;guide about&quot; sounds rather strange to me (though not ungrammatical).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, mohang's Google results are very different from what I'm seeing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22guide+to%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;guide to&quot;&lt;/a&gt; — 171,000,000&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22guide+on%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;guide on&quot;&lt;/a&gt; — 6,530,000&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22guide+about%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;guide about&quot;&lt;/a&gt; — 485,000&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If I add an article in front of &quot;guide&quot; to make sure that I only get results where it is a noun, the picture is the same: 119,000,000 vs 4,730,000 vs 252,000 for &quot;a&quot;, and 15,500,000 vs 2,380,000 vs 156,000 for &quot;the&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I checked the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus (BNC)&lt;/a&gt;, and it seems to agree:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;guide to      1612&#xA;guide on        39&#xA;guide about      4&#xA;&#xA;guide to how    41&#xA;guide on how     6&#xA;guide about how  1&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, as Rocquie points out, two &quot;to&quot;s in rapid succession are not everybody's thing. I actually agree, so &lt;em&gt;in this particular case&lt;/em&gt;, I would probably go with &quot;on&quot; (as Bruno suggests) or with &quot;to&quot; + gerund:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a guide on how to use it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a guide to using it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The BNC stats look as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;guide on how to     6&#xA;guide to how to     4&#xA;guide about how to  0&#xA;&#xA;guide to using/getting/making     3/4/7&#xA;guide on using/getting/making     0/0/0&#xA;guide about using/getting/making  0/0/0&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T12:16:19.320" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T12:16:19.320" />
  <row Id="4195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4022" CreationDate="2010-10-19T12:17:50.910" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Winston Churchill:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Martin Luther:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Steh schnell auf, &#xA;  mach's Maul auf,&#xA;  hör bald auf.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Quickly stand up, open your mouth up, soon shut up&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T12:17:50.910" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4196" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4197" CreationDate="2010-10-19T12:25:08.333" Score="5" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say you have a large 20,000+ company with many different sections, or areas. Say for example Apple would have a section for iOS development, one for Mac, one for HR, one for support, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the better word to call these different sections: organizations or departments? I'm thinking &quot;Organization&quot; should only refer to the topmost level, the entire company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1759" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T18:45:52.930" Title="Large company: Made up of organizations or departments?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4196" CreationDate="2010-10-19T12:45:14.147" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the context of Apple, I would agree that &lt;em&gt;departments&lt;/em&gt; is the better word. HR is a department, as is Support. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, an entity &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; comprise several organizations, but in that case I would call that entity itself an &lt;em&gt;organization&lt;/em&gt; (or, in case the entity is commercial, &lt;em&gt;corporation&lt;/em&gt;). As a simple example, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;UN&lt;/a&gt; is an organization, but so are its agencies such as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Truce_Supervision_Organization&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;UNTSO&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Health_Organization&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WHO&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at the Merriam-Webster definitions, I see that &lt;em&gt;organization&lt;/em&gt; is an &quot;association, society&quot;, while &lt;em&gt;department&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;a major division of a business&quot;. HR, Support, and iOS Development are certainly major divisions of Apple, but they can't be labeled as societies or associations in their own right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T12:52:21.707" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T12:52:21.707" />
  <row Id="4198" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-19T12:53:38.287" Score="0" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1866/a-few-vs-few&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;A few&amp;rdquo; vs. &amp;ldquo;few&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A few observations are evident.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Few observations are evident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1760" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T14:47:03.860" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T14:47:03.860" ClosedDate="2010-10-19T13:06:29.350" Title="&quot;Few&quot; / &quot;A Few&quot; - Which is correct?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4193" CreationDate="2010-10-19T13:11:16.383" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Have got&quot; is used when you possess something or when you must do something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I have got ten dollars. (I possess ten dollars.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I have got to go. (I must go.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can't be used in place of &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; in all cases.  On the other hand, &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; can be used in any place where we use &quot;have got&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I have ten dollars.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I have to go.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither of these sound strange or formal/informal.  So, your strategy of only using &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; is a good one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Of course, there is also &quot;have got(ten)&quot;, which is the present perfect tense form of the verb &lt;em&gt;get&lt;/em&gt;.  In US English, there is a difference between &quot;have got&quot; (as above) and &quot;have gotten&quot; (past perfect), while in British English, both are generally &quot;have got&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T14:29:25.000" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T14:29:25.000" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4200" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4230" CreationDate="2010-10-19T15:24:13.940" Score="3" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could anybody describe me difference between &lt;em&gt;I've added&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;I added?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1109" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-21T01:32:45.427" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T01:34:20.920" Title="Difference between &quot;I've added&quot; and &quot;I added&quot;" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="4201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4200" CreationDate="2010-10-19T15:33:02.120" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One is a contraction for &quot;I have added&quot; while the other is &quot;I added.&quot;  The emphasis is in a slightly different place, depending on your usage.  We would need a little more context to make any more meaningful comparison.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T15:33:02.120" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4200" CreationDate="2010-10-19T15:36:28.503" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I've added&lt;/em&gt; is present perfect, while &lt;em&gt;I added&lt;/em&gt; is past tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;present perfect&lt;/strong&gt; is a grammatical combination of the present tense and the perfect  aspect, used to express a past event that has present consequences. An example is &quot;I have eaten&quot; (so I'm not hungry). Depending on the specific language, the events described by present perfects are not necessarily completed, as in &quot;I have been eating&quot; or &quot;I have lived here for five years.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The present perfect is a compound tense in English, as in many other languages, meaning that it is formed by combining an auxiliary verb with the main verb. For example, in modern English, it is formed by combining a present-tense form of the auxiliary verb &quot;to have&quot; with the past participle of the main verb. In the above example, &quot;have&quot; is the auxiliary verb, whereas the past participle &quot;eaten&quot; is the main verb. The two verbs are sometimes labeled &quot;V1&quot; and &quot;V2&quot; in grammar instruction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Present_perfect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;past tense&lt;/strong&gt; (abbreviated pst) is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment (in an absolute tense system), or prior to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future (in a relative tense system).&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Present_perfect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt; Not all languages mark verbs for the past tense (Mandarin Chinese, for example, does not); in some languages, the grammatical expression of tense is mixed with the expression of mood and/or aspect (see Tense-aspect-mood).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Past_tense&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T15:36:28.503" />
  <row Id="4203" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-19T15:38:39.123" Score="3" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any good resources for Indian-English speakers that explain the Indian idiosyncrasies that might confuse American &amp;amp; British English ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What advice would you give to an Indian-English speaker communicating with people from outside India?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="122" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T16:01:59.947" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T18:05:32.807" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-12T17:14:21.397" Title="Advice &amp; Resources for Indian-English Speakers" Tags="&lt;indian-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4187" CreationDate="2010-10-19T15:45:49.813" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One possibility, understanding that prepositions have very slippery and often idiosyncratic meanings ... have her think of &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; as indicating a destination:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I sent the present to him.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I gave the present to her.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whereas &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; can indicate or &quot;for the good of&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I did it for her.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The present is for him.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you think this might help? Note that we're likely to find many cases where these simplistic definitions don't work, alas. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1584" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T15:45:49.813" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4205" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4206" CreationDate="2010-10-19T16:29:55.113" Score="5" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are more Google matches for the first sentence, but the last one sounds better to me. Which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="423" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T09:18:47.173" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T09:18:47.173" Title="&quot;Not bad either&quot; versus &quot;not bad neither&quot;" Tags="&lt;negation&gt;&lt;double-negation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4205" CreationDate="2010-10-19T16:39:57.200" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't use no double negatives, as a general case.  While the use of &quot;not bad, either&quot; is a bit on the informal side, in order to maintain proper logical sense, if you wish to use &quot;neither&quot;, you must not use &quot;not.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The food was good.  The drink was also good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Becomes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The food was good; the drink was not bad, either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Neither the food nor the drink was bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T16:39:57.200" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="689" CreationDate="2010-10-19T18:13:26.547" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I write &lt;em&gt;I'd've&lt;/em&gt; fairly frequently. I also use other rarely written contractions, such as &lt;em&gt;should've&lt;/em&gt;. And, occasionally, words like &lt;em&gt;wouldn't've&lt;/em&gt;, which is another triple contraction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's interesting that I'm the only person here to use &lt;em&gt;I'd've&lt;/em&gt;. I like that contraction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T18:13:26.547" />
  <row Id="4208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="689" CreationDate="2010-10-19T18:25:39.287" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only place in which I've seen double-apostrophe contractions is in Charles Dickens' work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, they do have cromulence, and are technically acceptable for formal speech. ;-p&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1552" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T18:25:39.287" />
  <row Id="4209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4203" CreationDate="2010-10-19T18:27:45.600" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mindyourenglish.com/articles/essential-english/2010/01/26/indian-english.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This website&lt;/a&gt; might be an example of what you're looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T18:27:45.600" />
  <row Id="4210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4196" CreationDate="2010-10-19T18:45:52.930" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, 'departments' is the better word, but it's not always that simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider a company that is bought out by our large company.  Initially it is an entirely separate organisation, but as time goes by it merges into the parent company (sharing HR resources, IT provision and so on) and becomes more recognisable as a part of the company and more easily thought of as a department.  On the other hand Business Units function in many ways like separate organisations, for all that they draw on the same underlying product technology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T18:45:52.930" />
  <row Id="4211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="930" CreationDate="2010-10-19T18:46:47.360" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Courage is reckoned the greatest of&#xA;  all virtues; because, unless a man has&#xA;  that virtue, he has no security for&#xA;  preserving any other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Samuel Johnson, quote provided by Vincent McNabb in the comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Courage is not simply one of the&#xA;  virtues, but the form of every virtue&#xA;  at the testing point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;C.S. Lewis, sourced on Wikiquote.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my mind, &lt;em&gt;at the testing point&lt;/em&gt; implies a test. There's no test if you don't feel fear. I like the M-W definition you give. Note, though, that the Cambridge dictionary says that bravery is defined by not &lt;em&gt;showing&lt;/em&gt; fear. It says nothing about not &lt;em&gt;experiencing&lt;/em&gt; fear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Off the top of my head, I'll say that both a brave person and a courageous person may experience fear. The brave person won't show the fear; the courageous person might. The brave are, then, a subset of the courageous. Take that with a grain of salt: I just made it up, but it sounds roughly right to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastEditorUserId="1696" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-20T22:50:11.883" LastActivityDate="2010-10-20T22:50:11.883" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="406" CreationDate="2010-10-19T18:53:21.417" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is good evidence that &quot;bad language&quot; is stored in a separate part of the brain: witness the case of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.plos.org/wonderland/2010/09/02/when-a-deaf-man-has-tourettes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;deaf man with Tourettes syndrome who swears in ASL&lt;/a&gt;. And swear words in foreign languages don't set off the same triggers in the brain, so it's very hard to judge how bad they are in context. Foreign language learners should generally avoid swearing until someone else has done so first. That's my advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The actual question, How bad is the F-word? has a very &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHRDfut2Vx0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;context-dependent&lt;/a&gt; answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T18:53:21.417" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4187" CreationDate="2010-10-19T19:24:46.287" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem is that both &quot;for&quot; and &quot;to&quot; translate to Portuguese in these cases as &lt;em&gt;para&lt;/em&gt;.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The present is &lt;strong&gt;for&lt;/strong&gt; Thomas.&quot; --&gt; &lt;em&gt;O presente é &lt;strong&gt;para&lt;/strong&gt; o Thomas.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Say hello &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; your wife.&quot; --&gt; &quot;&lt;em&gt;Diga oi &lt;strong&gt;para&lt;/strong&gt; a sua esposa.&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a native Portuguese speaker (I'm Brazilian too), I'd say that there's no simple rule of thumb to always avoid this confusion. You can explain to her what Mike Pope said &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4187/rule-for-using-for-vs-to/4204#4204&quot;&gt;in his answer&lt;/a&gt;; that should help. But it's only by listening and repeating the appropriate usage that we will naturally learn to use these prepositions correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my advice for her... I mean, my advice to her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-29T15:09:57.323" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T15:09:57.323" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="332" CreationDate="2010-10-19T20:01:35.303" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Business Email/Letter Closings:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;  Best Regards,&#xA;  Cordially,&#xA;  Enjoy,&#xA;  Enthusiastically,&#xA;  Good Wishes,&#xA;  Many Thanks,&#xA;  Most Sincerely,&#xA;  Regards,&#xA;  Sincerely,&#xA;  Thank You,&#xA;  With Confidence.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Informal Email/Letter Closings:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;  Adios,&#xA;  Blessings,&#xA;  Cheerio,&#xA;  Cheers,&#xA;  God Bless,&#xA;  Gotta Boogie,&#xA;  Grace and Peace,&#xA;  Have Fun,&#xA;  Health and Happiness,&#xA;  Keep the Faith,&#xA;  Later Vader,&#xA;  Later Alligator,&#xA;  Lots of Love,&#xA;  Onward and Upward,&#xA;  Over and Out,&#xA;  Peace, Love &amp;amp; Happiness,&#xA;  Peace &amp;amp; Blessings,&#xA;  Rock On,&#xA;  See ya,&#xA;  Smell ya Later,&#xA;  SMILE,&#xA;  TA TA,&#xA;  Toodles,&#xA;  Your Friend,&#xA;  Dream BIG.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T20:01:35.303" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4216" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4228" CreationDate="2010-10-19T20:24:25.373" Score="1" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The boy's innate goodness will withstand the challenges because unless &lt;em&gt;he himself&lt;/em&gt; wants to turn evil, [...].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My teacher thinks that commas should set off the word &quot;himself&quot;, but I disagree. Who is right, and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-19T20:37:59.193" LastActivityDate="2010-10-20T14:30:39.233" Title="Usage of &quot;he himself&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4216" CreationDate="2010-10-19T20:30:46.613" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think commas are necessary here, but they could serve to emphasize that phrase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T20:30:46.613" />
  <row Id="4218" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-19T20:50:11.857" Score="7" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often hear that other languages like Russian, Romanian, French, etc, have words that are more &quot;powerful&quot; or evoke more feelings than English ones. Example: &quot;war&quot; doesn't sound that bad, really, but in Romanian, &quot;razboi&quot; with a hard rolled r and an accent on the 2nd syllable sounds more powerful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some English words that are evocative? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-21T01:46:59.653" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T16:01:25.310" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-10-19T22:28:55.883" Title="Visceral English words" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4219" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4220" CreationDate="2010-10-19T21:11:23.967" Score="8" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having studied Latin at High School and not being a native English native speaker, I have trouble understanding what's the point of Pig Latin. The text transformation &quot;rules&quot;, indeed, bring to something that is nowhere near the spelling or the pronunciation of &quot;real&quot; Latin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Youay ootay, Utebray, ymay onsay_ vs _Tu quoque, Brute, fili mi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of Pig Latin? Is it really aimed to be some form of &lt;em&gt;latinorum&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="865" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-20T08:58:13.463" LastActivityDate="2010-10-20T08:58:13.463" Title="What's the origin of Pig Latin?" Tags="&lt;fun&gt;&lt;history&gt;&lt;word-games&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4219" CreationDate="2010-10-19T21:52:06.020" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.straightdope.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Straight Dope&lt;/a&gt; has a pretty good &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2163/whats-the-origin-of-pig-latin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;explanation&lt;/a&gt;. It's just word-play with no real relation to actual Latin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2010-10-19T21:52:06.020" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4221" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4222" CreationDate="2010-10-20T02:21:37.873" Score="5" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;In video games when the makers increase the power of something it is sometimes refereed to as  a &lt;em&gt;buff&lt;/em&gt;.  If they decrease the power of something it is called a &lt;em&gt;nurf&lt;/em&gt; or a &lt;em&gt;de-buff&lt;/em&gt;.  This also applies to player abilities to temporarily increase or decrease their power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where do these terms come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="552" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-21T01:55:20.157" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T01:55:20.157" Title="&quot;Buff&quot; and &quot;Nurf&quot; from video games etymology" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4221" CreationDate="2010-10-20T08:12:21.237" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia gives info on origin and context of both terms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerf_%28computer_gaming%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nerf (computer gaming):&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In video gaming a nerf is a change to&#xA;  a game that reduces the desirability&#xA;  or effectiveness of a particular game&#xA;  element. The term is also used as a&#xA;  verb for the act of making such a&#xA;  change.The opposite of nerf is buff&#xA;  (in one of that term's two usages).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The term originated with Ultima&#xA;  Online, and refers to the Nerf brand&#xA;  of toys which are soft and less likely&#xA;  to cause serious injury.It is used in&#xA;  the context of virtual worlds such as&#xA;  MMORPGs (like UO) and MUDs, but has&#xA;  become a part of the general&#xA;  vocabulary of gamer slang and can be&#xA;  found in various places where&#xA;  adjustment of power levels from one&#xA;  version of a game to the next is&#xA;  relevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buff_%28computer_gaming%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Buff (computer gaming):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Buff is a term used in some video&#xA;  games, especially MMORPGs and MUDs, to&#xA;  describe increases in the power of a&#xA;  game element. There are two main&#xA;  usages. The first describes a&#xA;  permanent (or at least indefinite)&#xA;  increase in power levels as a result&#xA;  of adjustments to game mechanics,&#xA;  usually in pursuit of game balance. In&#xA;  this usage, buff is the opposite of&#xA;  nerf. The second usage of buff&#xA;  describes an effect (usually cast as a&#xA;  spell) that temporarily enhances a&#xA;  player.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read the linked articles for more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary has an entry for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=buff&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;buff&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; as well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1570s, &lt;em&gt;buffe&lt;/em&gt; leather, from M.Fr. &lt;em&gt;buffle&lt;/em&gt; &quot;buffalo&quot; (15c., via It. from L. &lt;em&gt;bufalus&lt;/em&gt;; see &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;buffalo&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;). The color term comes from the hue of buffalo hides (later ox hides); association of &quot;hide&quot; and &quot;skin&quot; led c.1600 to &lt;em&gt;in the buff&lt;/em&gt;, and use of buff or suede to polish metal led to sense of verb &quot;to polish with a buff&quot; (1885). Related: &lt;em&gt;Buffed&lt;/em&gt;;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;buffing&lt;/em&gt;. Buff-colored uniforms of N.Y.C. volunteer firefighters since 1820s led to &#xA;  meaning &quot;enthusiast&quot; (1903).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Buffs are men and boys whose love of fires, fire-fighting and firemen is a &#xA;  predominant characteristic. [N.Y. &quot;Sun,&quot; Feb. 4, 1903]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Adj. meaning &quot;well-built, hunky&quot; is from 1980s, from sense &quot;polish, make attractive.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-20T08:23:31.273" LastActivityDate="2010-10-20T08:23:31.273" />
  <row Id="4223" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-20T10:38:19.710" Score="3" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;How bad is the usage of the word &lt;em&gt;suck&lt;/em&gt; in English? Is this &quot;bad boy&quot; language or commonly used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1317" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-21T01:45:19.453" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T08:02:07.683" Title="Why do you suck at XYZ?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="4224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4223" CreationDate="2010-10-20T11:09:13.303" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is certainly colloquial, and there are formal settings in which I wouldn't use it. Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/suck&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;marks it&lt;/a&gt; as &quot;colloquial&quot;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/suck&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; even as &quot;slang&quot;. That being said, the word is not as &quot;bad-boy&quot; as &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/406/how-bad-is-the-f-word-really/411#411&quot;&gt;many others&lt;/a&gt;, and is even acceptable in formal writing, depending on your audience. One famous example that immediately comes to mind is &lt;a href=&quot;http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050811/REVIEWS/50725001&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Roger Ebert's review of &quot;Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo&quot;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...] Rob Schneider [(director and leading actor)] took offense when Patrick Goldstein of the &lt;em&gt;Los Angeles Times&lt;/em&gt; [wrote that the movie was] &quot;sadly overlooked at Oscar time because apparently nobody had the foresight to invent a category for Best Running Penis Joke Delivered by a Third-Rate Comic.&quot; Schneider retaliated by attacking Goldstein [in an open letter]: &quot;[...] Maybe you didn't win a Pulitzer Prize because they haven't invented a category for Best Third-Rate, Unfunny Pompous Reporter Who's Never Been Acknowledged by His Peers.&quot; [...] Schneider is correct, and Patrick Goldstein has not yet won a Pulitzer Prize. Therefore, Goldstein is not qualified to complain that Columbia financed &quot;Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo&quot; [...] As chance would have it, I &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; won the Pulitzer Prize, and so I am qualified. Speaking in my official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize winner, Mr. Schneider, your movie sucks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, Mr. Ebert, an acclaimed and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Ebert&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;well-respected film critic with an impressive record&lt;/a&gt;, went on to publish an entire book titled &quot;Your movie sucks&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-20T11:38:47.233" LastActivityDate="2010-10-20T11:38:47.233" />
  <row Id="4225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4223" CreationDate="2010-10-20T12:17:52.143" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the 1980s and 90s &quot;suck&quot; was considered foul language and was used to create a shocking effect.  As it has gotten to be more mainstream, it still retains an informal feel to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now it depends on how you use it.  It is much less offensive and kind of even friendly to greet bad news shared by a pal with &quot;wow, that sucks&quot;, but still pretty mean to say &quot;you suck.&quot; American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson sings a cute love song that says &quot;My life would suck without you.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-10-20T12:17:52.143" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4226" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-20T12:43:53.553" Score="14" ViewCount="385" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just stumbled upon a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/food/comments/dp55x/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reddit post titled&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My wife and I's seafood collaboration dinner. How does it look?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure enough, the top comment immediately points out that it should be &quot;my wife's and my&quot;. However, a cross-post to the Grammar subreddit produced &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/grammar/comments/dpei2/my_wifes_and_my_just_checking/c11xh6j&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the following comment&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's fine as it is written. &quot;my wife and I&quot; is a noun phrase, functioning as a subjective pronoun in the singular and made possessive with the apostrophe. It is exactly the same as &quot;our&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It seems weird because you would never use &quot;I's&quot; on its own but it is not on its own here - it is part of a noun phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's a rather intriguing argument. Does it hold any water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-20T12:45:50.673" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T10:28:22.047" Title="My wife and I's seafood collaboration dinner" Tags="&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;&lt;noun-phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4226" CreationDate="2010-10-20T13:58:17.423" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.  The apostrophe is not what makes a possessive.  It marks (slightly by accident) the old genitive case &lt;em&gt;-es&lt;/em&gt; ending, which is not the route that &quot;I&quot; follows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The correct version of the noun phrase argument is &quot;My wife and my,&quot; and it's actually the right thing to use in this particular case because it implies we are talking about a joint effort between my wife and myself.  &quot;My wife's and my&quot; implies that each of us made separate efforts.  The point is a bit moot when discussing a singular thing (the seafood collaboration dinner), but still.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Wikipedia article on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe#Possessive_apostrophe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;possessive apostrophe&lt;/a&gt; discusses this in more depth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-10-20T13:58:17.423" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="4228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4216" CreationDate="2010-10-20T14:30:39.233" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a comma would be wrong there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Deletes justification on the basis of it being a rearrangement of &quot;he wants himself to turn evil&quot;, which is wrong because &quot;he himself wants Fred to turn evil&quot; is just as valid a sentence.  At least I realised that before I posted.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Himself&quot; here is actually an intensifier rather than a reflexive pronoun (the &lt;a href=&quot;http://wals.info/feature/description/47&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;World Atlas of Language Structures&lt;/a&gt; notes that they are often identical).  As such it very much belongs with the noun phrase it is intensifying (&quot;He&quot;), and splitting them with a comma would weaken that relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-10-20T14:30:39.233" />
  <row Id="4229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4193" CreationDate="2010-10-20T14:40:09.753" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are at least three different phrases here, with different usage patterns&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I have [got] to&quot; = &quot;I must&quot; : in British usage, &quot;got&quot; is usual, and omitting it is rather formal. I think this is less true in N.America&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I have got&quot;, the perfect of &quot;I get&quot;, in different senses (eg &quot;get&quot; = &quot;obtain&quot;, &quot;get to&quot; = &quot;reach&quot;). &quot;Got&quot; obviously cannot be omitted. Americans often prefer &quot;gotten&quot; in this sense, but until recently this was unknown in the UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I have [got]&quot; = &quot;I possess&quot;. &quot;Got&quot; is normal in colloquial UK English, but is, or used to be, frowned on by prescriptive teachers. It is particularly common in the negative and interrogative (&quot;Have you got?&quot;, &quot;I haven't got&quot;), I believe for prosodic reasons: Americans say &quot;Do you have?&quot; and &quot;I don't have&quot;, but until quite recently these were not used in the UK except in a habitual sense; so the alternative &quot;Have you?&quot; wouldn't take the forceful stress pattern of &quot;have you got?&quot; &#xA;I don't know how common this use is in N. America. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-10-20T14:40:09.753" />
  <row Id="4230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4200" CreationDate="2010-10-20T16:12:44.307" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The key to the difference is &quot;that has present consequences&quot;. &#xA;If you are regarding the event as complete in the past, use &quot;I added&quot;; if you are considering its present relevance (eg the state of whatever you have added to) use &quot;I have added&quot;. &#xA;Note that there may not be any difference in the event: you can describe the same event either way, but you are focussing on different aspects of it. &#xA;Generally you cannot use the perfect with a explicit time, unless that time is a period which includes the present:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I saw him yesterday&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I saw him today&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  *I have seen him yesterday&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I have seen him today  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The * means unacceptable)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, the difference between &lt;em&gt;I didn't see him today&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;I haven't seen him today&lt;/em&gt; is that the first implies that the possibility of seeing him is over (perhaps he was only here this morning) whereas the second doesn't. I believe that North American usage is not the same in this regard, though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-21T01:34:20.920" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T01:34:20.920" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4232" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4234" CreationDate="2010-10-20T22:07:47.797" Score="4" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any meaningful difference between, say, &quot;Frequency as a percent of the total&quot; and &quot;Frequency as a percentage of the total&quot;? Is one considered more correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Dictionary.com gives &quot;percentage&quot; as the second definition of &quot;percent&quot;, which smacks of circular reasoning.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-21T03:16:01.627" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T03:16:01.627" Title="What's the difference between &quot;percent of&quot; and &quot;percentage of&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4232" CreationDate="2010-10-20T22:21:36.027" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, if you have a number as an adjective, such as &lt;em&gt;five percent of cases go unsolved,&lt;/em&gt; &lt;em&gt;76 percent of them voted in favor,&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;50 percent of coin throws land on heads,&lt;/em&gt; you use &lt;em&gt;percent of.&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have &lt;em&gt;roughly the same percentage of men and women,&lt;/em&gt; &lt;em&gt;a low percentage chance of failure,&lt;/em&gt; or a &lt;em&gt;policy meant to decrease the percentage of drivers without insurance from 25% to 15%,&lt;/em&gt; &lt;em&gt;percentage of&lt;/em&gt; is more common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in your example, I personally would use &lt;em&gt;frequency as a percentage of the total&lt;/em&gt; in a sentence.  The other would be perfectly understandable too, and I may favor it (not sure though) as a graph title.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="52" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-21T01:27:47.877" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T01:27:47.877" />
  <row Id="4235" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4725" CreationDate="2010-10-21T00:09:27.563" Score="5" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've tasked myself with writing more letters (of the dead tree variety); because of this, I was intrigued by a certain take on complimentary closes, whilst enjoying a re-read of Dracula:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;Your loving&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Mina&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;...no more just at present from your loving&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Lucy&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a name for this (admittedly subtle) variation on the usual complimentary close, wherein the signature is an extension of the close itself? I don't recall ever having seen this used in modern writing, but I'm curious as to when it fell out of favour. Naturally, it's rather hard to search for this sort of thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance from your faithful&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jon&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-21T01:24:28.780" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T16:27:11.713" Title="Descriptive complimentary closes" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;letter-writing&gt;&lt;correspondence&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4236" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4273" CreationDate="2010-10-21T03:12:28.830" Score="4" ViewCount="405" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where should I use will and where I should not use would instead? Please clarify with examples. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I would like to go.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I will go.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I will be going.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I won't go.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please tell me where I should use which of the above?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1749" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T14:28:44.783" Title="Difference between would and will? What's the right usage?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="4237" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4239" CreationDate="2010-10-21T03:42:35.313" Score="1" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, is my question right? Does &lt;em&gt;amongst&lt;/em&gt; fit here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please differentiate the above phrases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1749" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T10:25:30.123" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T10:25:30.123" Title="'I was using', 'I have used', 'I have been using', 'I had used' - what is the difference amongst these?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1706" CreationDate="2010-10-21T04:10:03.870" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both of your original sentences are correct, though with different nuances. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The best countries to live in are X, Y, Z.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This enumerates those countries that are best to live in. Or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The best countries to live in have lots of cheese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that, out of the finite definite set of best countries to live in, they all have lots of cheese. This, however:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Best countries to live in have lots of cheese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sounds more like you're giving guidelines for finding best countries. That is, look for countries with lots of cheese, and you will find some of the best among them. Maybe it makes more sense with another example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Best practices include documenting your code and having large test suites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T04:10:03.870" />
  <row Id="4239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4237" CreationDate="2010-10-21T04:12:00.767" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have used cocaine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I took cocaine at least once sometime in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was using cocaine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the past, I was a habitual user of cocaine. EDIT: As the comment says, this can also mean a process in the past, e.g. &quot;I was using cocaine when the accident happened&quot; can mean &quot;I was not looking at the road since I was snorting cocaine.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have been using cocaine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting some time in the past, and including today, I use cocaine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I had used cocaine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With my reference point at a time in the past, by that point, cocaine was already taken by me. Better example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;By the time I met my girlfriend, I had used cocaine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So when meeting the girlfriend, you took cocaine by then already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BONUS: You missed one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I had been using cocaine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meaning, with a reference point in the past, starting a time before then up to the reference point, I was habitually using cocaine up to and including that point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why not put in some other wonky tenses?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will have used cocaine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will have been using cocaine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.verbix.com/webverbix/English/use.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is a link conjugating it in all its tenseful glory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastEditorUserId="1606" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-21T17:10:53.800" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T17:10:53.800" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="4240" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4263" CreationDate="2010-10-21T04:43:06.797" Score="4" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following line is from a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cojjVDdtB8g&amp;amp;t=1m05s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Halo 2 teaser&lt;/a&gt; (female voice at around 1:11, the link is to 1:05):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Admiral, tell your men to hold their positions. Reinforcements are &lt;strong&gt;on the spoke&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only definition I know of and the only one Google is turning up is the typical tire/wheel spokes, but I don't see how that fits in the sentence. What does &quot;on the spoke&quot; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1776" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-21T18:21:19.967" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T18:21:19.967" Title="What does &quot;on the spoke&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4241" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4248" CreationDate="2010-10-21T04:52:28.703" Score="4" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One big ass mistake America.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking it should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One big ass mistake, America.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="605" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-21T08:35:26.307" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T05:32:46.677" Title="What punctuation is this sentence missing?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4241" CreationDate="2010-10-21T05:39:40.620" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How it should be punctuated depends on the message.  If one is telling America that it has made a big ass mistake, it should have the comma.  If one is saying that America &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; one big ass mistake (perhaps one is British), a colon would probably be best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One big ass mistake: America.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T05:39:40.620" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4240" CreationDate="2010-10-21T06:11:02.453" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would rather go with &quot;reinforcements are &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/on_the_spot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;on the spot&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, but pronounced with a weird accent making it sound like &quot;on the spoke&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;on the spot&quot; would fit with the current situation, which calls for reinforcements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;right here (&quot;on the spot&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;right now (&quot;right away&quot;, again &quot;on the spot&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T06:11:02.453" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4236" CreationDate="2010-10-21T06:48:45.473" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use &quot;would&quot; when there is a condition attached. &quot;I would go &lt;em&gt;if X and Y.&lt;/em&gt;&quot; Sometimes the &quot;if&quot; is implicit, as in &quot;I would go [if I was available], but I need to go to a meeting.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Will&quot; should be used when something will certainly happen in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1382" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T06:48:45.473" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4223" CreationDate="2010-10-21T08:02:07.683" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seth Stevenson wrote about &lt;em&gt;suck&lt;/em&gt; back in 2006 in &lt;em&gt;Slate&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.slate.com/id/2146866&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.slate.com/id/2146866&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a similar note, and just for amusement, here are some similar thoughts about &lt;em&gt;pimp&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;a href=&quot;http://evolvingenglish.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_archive.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://evolvingenglish.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_archive.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1584" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T08:02:07.683" />
  <row Id="4246" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4247" CreationDate="2010-10-21T08:54:30.220" Score="7" ViewCount="215" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;The ask is that you provide me with...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started hearing &quot;ask&quot; being used as a noun a few years ago.  Is this a recent trend?  Is it an East Coast thing, unique to North America, or just unique to the in-house vocabulary of telecommunications companies?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T00:36:32.750" Title="Can or should &quot;ask&quot; ever be used as a noun?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="4247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4246" CreationDate="2010-10-21T09:14:07.713" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Living in Europe, I have never encountered the usage myself, and neither Merriam-Webster nor Wiktionary even mention the mere possibility of &quot;ask&quot; being used as a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, Raymond Chen, a senior Microsoft programmer (Redmond, WA), blogged about the noun &lt;em&gt;ask&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2004/01/07/48304.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;on January 7th, 2004&lt;/a&gt;, saying that it had gained momentum in the year before:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ask (as a noun)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This has taken over Microsoft-speak in the past year or so and it drives me batty. &quot;What are our key asks here?&quot;, you might hear in a meeting. Language tip: The thing you are asking for is called a &quot;request&quot;. Plus, of course, the thing that is an &quot;ask&quot; is usually more of a &quot;demand&quot; or &quot;requirement&quot;. But those are such unfriendly words, aren't they? Why not use a warm, fuzzy word like &quot;ask&quot; to take the edge off?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Answer: Because it's not a word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have yet to find any dictionary which sanctions this usage. Indeed, the only definition for &quot;ask&quot; as a noun is &lt;em&gt;A water newt [Scot. &amp;amp; North of Eng.]&lt;/em&gt;, and that was from 1913!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Answer 2: Because it's passive-aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These &quot;asks&quot; are really &quot;demands&quot;. So don't guilt-trip me with &quot;Oh, you didn't meet our ask. We had to cut half our features. But that's okay. We'll just suffer quietly, you go do your thing, don't mind us.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we stop right here, whether you subscribe to Mr. Chen's prescriptive approach or prefer to just let languages evolve, your suspicions seem to be confirmed to some extent (rather recent trend, technology company, though not exactly East Coast).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, digging deeper, here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001331.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Language Log post&lt;/a&gt; from August 7th, 2004 (the plot thickens). And finally, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=340&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;excellent follow-up&lt;/a&gt; from July 10th, 2008 (the plot takes an unexpected U-turn):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I opined that the noun &lt;em&gt;ask&lt;/em&gt; was likely to be venerable, probably going back to Old English. And so it is and does, but the full story is more interesting than a simple survival of a lexical item from a millennium ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...] A natural innovation in Old English would have been to create a noun directly from the verb &lt;em&gt;ask&lt;/em&gt; (or its pre-OE forebear); that would have been a useful thing to have, and so it happened. Yes, a nouning of a verb. [...] The crucial point here is that the noun &lt;em&gt;request&lt;/em&gt; wasn't around then. According to the &lt;em&gt;OED&lt;/em&gt;, it appeared in Middle English, in the 14th century (when borrowings from Old French began swarming into the language), and, about 200 years later, we got the verb &lt;em&gt;request&lt;/em&gt; (a verbing, either in English or in Old French, it's hard to tell). So a noun &lt;em&gt;ask&lt;/em&gt; was a good thing to have while we were waiting for the French-based &lt;em&gt;request&lt;/em&gt; to arrive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;OED&lt;/em&gt; has three early cites, between roughly 1000 and 1230, and then a huge gap until these two cites:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1781&lt;/strong&gt; T. TWINING &lt;em&gt;Let.&lt;/em&gt; 8 Dec. in &lt;em&gt;Recreat. &amp;amp; Stud.&lt;/em&gt; (1882) 108, I am not so unreasonable as to desire you to..answer all my asks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1886&lt;/strong&gt; ‘CAVENDISH’ &lt;em&gt;Whist&lt;/em&gt; 127 When your three comes down in the next round, it is not an ask for trumps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That post is chock-full of such revelations, which boil down to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[The] noun &lt;em&gt;ask&lt;/em&gt; seems to have been innovated on a number of different occasions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of which the current technology-company speak is just one. Highly recommended reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-21T17:09:27.347" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T17:09:27.347" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="4248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4241" CreationDate="2010-10-21T10:46:27.620" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There should be a hyphen between &quot;big&quot; and &quot;ass&quot;, as the two words together form an adjective, applied to &quot;mistake&quot;. (See also Ophiuroid's comment referring to xkcd).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There should certainly be something before &quot;America&quot;; I agree with Boofus' answer on that issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T10:46:27.620" />
  <row Id="4249" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4253" CreationDate="2010-10-21T11:13:47.403" Score="5" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is actually one of my recurrent errors: a misuse of &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please explain the difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference between &lt;em&gt;this weekend&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;that weekend&lt;/em&gt; is where I erred most recently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-22T00:06:35.497" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T00:06:35.497" Title="Difference between ”this weekend” and ”that weekend”." Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4251" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4258" CreationDate="2010-10-21T12:13:43.577" Score="10" ViewCount="523" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does the prefix &lt;em&gt;atta&lt;/em&gt; mean? What is it trying to abbreviate? &lt;em&gt;What a&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/attaboy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; claims that it stands for &lt;em&gt;that's a&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;that's the&lt;/em&gt;, but I do not see the resemblance to &lt;em&gt;atta&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1720" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T15:31:22.167" Title="What does the &quot;atta&quot; mean in &quot;attaboy&quot; and &quot;attagirl&quot;?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4251" CreationDate="2010-10-21T12:16:35.097" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It comes from &quot;That's a good boy,&quot; through a series of shortenings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;That's a good boy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;That's a boy. (or, &quot;That's the boy&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'at's a boy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;atta boy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="727" LastEditorUserId="727" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-01T15:31:22.167" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T15:31:22.167" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4249" CreationDate="2010-10-21T12:26:22.707" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I shall try to explain it. &quot;This weekend&quot; it's weekend in future...in this week for example. Now, it's 23 and 24 of October. &quot;That weekend&quot; - weekend in the past. For example, if you talk about &quot;yesterday weekend&quot; you say &quot;that weekend&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1782" LastEditorUserId="1782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-21T12:40:08.547" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T12:40:08.547" />
  <row Id="4254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4180" CreationDate="2010-10-21T12:28:25.293" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I know, until means that the situation have changed right after the expressed condition. In other words, at t=10 the situation is the same that t=9, (force is being applied at t=9, so it is also true to t=10) and it has changed right after that (so at t&gt;10 the force is not being applied anymore).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T12:28:25.293" />
  <row Id="4255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3259" CreationDate="2010-10-21T12:30:05.430" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Ireland. The simple last initial form is the most commonly used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;McDonald &amp;gt; M.&#xA;MacDonald &amp;gt; M.&#xA;Macdonald &amp;gt; M. (this is a Scottish name)&#xA;O'Brien &amp;gt; O.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other option (which I prefer) is to include the entire surname up to the second capital letter, thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;McDonald &amp;gt; McD.&#xA;MacDonald &amp;gt; MacD.&#xA;Macdonald &amp;gt; M. (no change there)&#xA;O'Brien &amp;gt; O'B.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never seen&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;McDonald &amp;gt; MD&#xA;MacDonald &amp;gt; MD&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might see&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;O'Brien &amp;gt; OB&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but that's probably just people having trouble with apostrophes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people introduce spaces and write O'Brien as O Brien, MacDonald as Mac Donald, and McDonald as Mc Donald. This seems iffy to me in English, though the prefixes do derive from independent Irish words. But if a man is going to give his surname as Ó Briain, I would expect his sister's surname to be Ní Briain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T12:30:05.430" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4256" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-21T12:31:41.980" Score="0" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/14/which-words-in-a-title-should-be-capitalized&quot;&gt;Which words in a title should be capitalized?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Initial caps, otherwise known as title case, e.g. &quot;When Using Inital Caps, Which Words Should Be Left Un-capitalised?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which words should be un-capitalised?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt; I gather this differs between UK and US ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="341" LastEditorUserId="341" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-21T12:38:38.147" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T13:25:19.870" ClosedDate="2010-10-21T14:41:49.997" Title="When using initial caps, which words should be left un-capitalised?" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="4258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4251" CreationDate="2010-10-21T12:39:25.347" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=attaboy&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;agrees&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1909, from common pronunciation of &quot;that's the boy!&quot; a cheer of encouragement or approval.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/attaboy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;throws in&lt;/a&gt; a &quot;probably&quot; for good measure:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;probably alteration of &lt;em&gt;that's the boy&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;First Known Use: 1909&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most extended discussion I was able to find is in the Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Partridge&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Eric Partridge&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;attaboy!&lt;/strong&gt; Go it!: US (— 1917); anglicised in 1918. (F. &amp;amp; G.) The &lt;em&gt;OED&lt;/em&gt; and Collinson&#xA;  derive it from &lt;em&gt;that's the boy!&lt;/em&gt;, but possibly it represents &lt;em&gt;at her, boy!&lt;/em&gt;, where&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;her&lt;/em&gt; is sexless; probably, however, it is a corruption of the exclamatory US &lt;em&gt;staboy&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  recorded by Thornton. Dr Douglas Leechman, that eminent anthropologist and notable contributor&#xA;  to the &lt;em&gt;Dictionary of Canadian English&lt;/em&gt;, wrote to me in 1969: 'Everybody, except the pundits,&#xA;  knows that this is &quot;That's the boy&quot;—&quot;'at's a boy&quot;—&quot;atta boy&quot;.'—2. Hence, an approbatory&#xA;  exclam. from ca. 1931, as in D.L. Sayers, &lt;em&gt;Murder Must Advertise&lt;/em&gt;, 1933, '&quot;Picture of&#xA;  nice girl bending down to put the cushion in the corner of the [railway] carriage. And&#xA;  the headline [of the advertistement]? '&lt;em&gt;Don't let them pinch your seat&lt;/em&gt;.'&quot; &quot;Attaboy!&quot;&#xA;  said Mr Bredon [Lord Peter Wimsey].'—3. (As &lt;em&gt;Attaboy&lt;/em&gt;) an Air Transport Auxiliary&#xA;  'plane or member: WW2, then nostalgic. (Jackson.) Suggested by the intitials and punning&#xA;  on senses 1 and 2. See Ancient and Tattered Airmen or Aviators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T12:39:25.347" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4249" CreationDate="2010-10-21T12:52:23.640" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This weekend means the next weekend. That weekend refers to a specific past weekend (like when you're telling some story)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T12:52:23.640" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4256" CreationDate="2010-10-21T13:05:26.403" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Title case conventions can vary among different authors or publications.  But the most common rule is the following (from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yourdictionary.com/grammar/capitalization/rules-for-capitalization-in-titles.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;yourdictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In Titles: Do Capitalize&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Nouns (man, bus, book)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Adjectives (angry, lovely, small)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Verbs (run, eat, sleep)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Adverbs (slowly, quickly, quietly)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Pronouns (he, she, it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Subordinating conjunctions (as, because, that)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In Titles: Do Not Capitalize&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Articles: a, an, the&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Coordinating Conjunctions: and, but, or, for, nor, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Prepositions (fewer than five letters): on, at, to, from, by, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said, this can vary from text to text; you will find exceptional uses here and there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T13:05:26.403" />
  <row Id="4262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4256" CreationDate="2010-10-21T13:25:19.870" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.suite101.com/content/how-to-write-in-title-case-a73866&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Suite101&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There seem to be some undisputed rules:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;First and last word&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Nouns and verbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;No periods or exclamation points&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some are quite common:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Significant parts of speech of or more than four or five letters. Pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Lowercasing of minor parts of speech. Articles and words shorter than four or five letters.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They add additional rules according to The Chicago Manual of Style and the Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications. See the article itself for copyright reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T13:25:19.870" />
  <row Id="4263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4240" CreationDate="2010-10-21T13:27:19.077" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Knowing next to nothing about Halo, is the Spoke a place, perhaps?  I don't have any audio here at work to check the teaser.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Aha!  Following the link to the transcript, it's clear that the action is taking place on a Ring Habitat, a wheel-shaped space station.  The tradition in SF is to use the same nomenclature for Ring Habitats as you would for a wheel, so the outer rim is connected to the central hub by spokes.  &quot;Reinforcements are on the spoke&quot; therefore means &quot;Master Chief is on (in?) the (a?) corridor between centre and the edge.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastEditorUserId="1579" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-21T15:01:58.657" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T15:01:58.657" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4264" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4269" CreationDate="2010-10-21T14:56:05.100" Score="12" ViewCount="585" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of the phrase &lt;em&gt;I'll take a raincheck&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastEditorUserId="1778" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T03:13:36.673" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T03:13:36.673" Title="Meaning of &quot;raincheck&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4265" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4280" CreationDate="2010-10-21T15:04:06.170" Score="5" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English, unlike in many other languages, signatures are typically very different from ordinary handwriting. A signature will often display all kinds of wild flourishes and elision of forms and what have you. A person usually starts out writing their name in print or in cursive, and develops the style of their signature over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But how exactly &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; a signature develop? How did mine go from a shaky, juvenile cursive rendition of &quot;Jonathan William Purdy&quot; to something that looks more like &quot;Joth Wm Pdy&quot;? (And then only if you turn your head and squint.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mainly I'm looking for research articles, books, and online resources on which strokes and series of characters can be elided, and what flourishes are common and allowable. This is a broad topic, and though I have a pretty clear concept of what I'm looking for, I'm finding difficulty describing it. Please ask any clarifying questions that come to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T21:46:32.113" Title="How does a signature develop?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;letter-writing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4264" CreationDate="2010-10-21T15:09:20.090" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll take a rain check  (American, British &amp;amp; Australian informal) also I'll get a rain check (American informal)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something that you say when you cannot accept someone's invitation to do something but you would like to do it another time (often + on ) I'll take a rain check on that drink tonight, if that's all right. I won't play tennis this afternoon but can I get a rain check? (American informal)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1785" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T15:09:20.090" />
  <row Id="4267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4265" CreationDate="2010-10-21T15:15:56.987" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A signature (from Latin signare, &quot;to sign&quot;) is a handwritten (and sometimes stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname or even a simple &quot;X&quot; that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a signature is a signatory. Similar to a handwritten signature, a signature work describes the work as readily identifying its creator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mostly signatures are used because it is use as identity entity. Different people use different signatures and it is up to the person to decide how his/her signature should be. Normally there is no rules, but it must be unique. Nowadays signatures are not reliable, but optional methods such as fingerprints, voice identifications used. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1785" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T15:15:56.987" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4264" CreationDate="2010-10-21T15:17:36.413" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rain_check&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rain check:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(idiomatic)&lt;/em&gt; In social interactions, a polite way to&#xA;  turn down an invitation, with the&#xA;  implication one is simply postponing&#xA;  it and that another time would be&#xA;  acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I can't go with you to the museum this Saturday, but can I take a rain&#xA;  check and go some other day?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Etymology&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The expression may have originated in&#xA;  the era of open-air markets where the&#xA;  occurrence of significant rain usually&#xA;  required a vendor to pack up their&#xA;  goods and leave. The term may also be&#xA;  based on the issuing of tickets to&#xA;  claim property such as a coat or hat&#xA;  check. Before 1889, US baseball fans&#xA;  were issued a new ticket if rain was&#xA;  heavy enough to cause a game to be&#xA;  postponed. Abner Powell added a&#xA;  detachable stub called a rain check&#xA;  that year. This quickly became a&#xA;  standard practice for all major league&#xA;  teams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/rain+check&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rain check (on something):&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;a reissuance of an invitation at a later date.&lt;/strong&gt; (Said to someone who has&#xA;  invited you to something that you&#xA;  cannot attend now, but would like to&#xA;  attend at a later time. *Typically:&#xA;  get ~; have ~; take ~; give someone&#xA;  ~.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;We would love to come to your house, but we are busy next Saturday. Could&#xA;  we take a rain check on your kind&#xA;  invitation? Oh, yes. You have a rain&#xA;  check that's good anytime you can come&#xA;  by and visit.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-21T15:23:57.787" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T15:23:57.787" />
  <row Id="4269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4264" CreationDate="2010-10-21T15:21:01.840" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The literal sense of rain check, which is an Americanism, is first found in the 1880s in reference to a baseball game. The practice of giving a rain check to a ticketholder was formalized in 1890 in the constitution of the National League. In other words, if it rained (something the purchaser had no influence over) and the game was postponed, the ticket holder could come back for another game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T15:21:01.840" />
  <row Id="4270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4218" CreationDate="2010-10-21T16:01:25.310" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;After re-reading this question, I think what you're really after is the concept of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_symbolism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sound symbolism&lt;/a&gt;. On Google Books, you'll find a reasonably complete copy of a book entitled &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=Uov84NavOR8C&amp;amp;lpg=PP1&amp;amp;dq=sound%20symbolism&amp;amp;pg=PP1#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sound Symbolism&lt;/a&gt;, a good read on the theory in general. It's pretty dense, but has a lot of good information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for a list of English words, I found it difficult to come up with a satisfactory list of &quot;powerful&quot; words, so here instead are &lt;a href=&quot;http://kennethhunt.com/archives/001203.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the 70 most beautiful words in English&lt;/a&gt; as determined by a poll over 40000 native and non-native speakers, carried out by the British Council in 2004.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T16:01:25.310" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-10-21T16:01:25.310" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4246" CreationDate="2010-10-21T16:29:46.783" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase 'big ask' is beloved of sport commentators in Britain. Any difficult task is always a big ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22big+ask%22&amp;amp;num=100&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;lr=&amp;amp;safe=active&amp;amp;tbo=1&amp;amp;output=search&amp;amp;tbs=tl:1&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=8wHATJuQAoqRjAeb1MWICg&amp;amp;ved=0CBgQpwU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;google timeline&lt;/a&gt; throws up for 'big ask', steady growth sine 2000 or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think I ever heard 'ask' as a noun outside of this phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T16:29:46.783" />
  <row Id="4272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4180" CreationDate="2010-10-21T16:55:54.137" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Ophiuroid that the conditions at the moment of the &lt;em&gt;until&lt;/em&gt; depend on the context. Here are two examples using the sentence in question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first example, the condition changes prior to the specified moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All of the boxes should be undisturbed&#xA;  throughout the entire process. But—as&#xA;  you can see from the sensor data—this&#xA;  is not the case for most runs. A force&#xA;  is acting on a box until t = 10&#xA;  seconds. At that point, the data show&#xA;  the anomalous force has disappeared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second example, the condition changes after the specified moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Once you disable the alarm you enter&#xA;  the gallery, but then wait before&#xA;  touching any of the boxes. A force is&#xA;  acting on a box until t = 10 seconds.&#xA;  After that, it is safe to grab the&#xA;  box that was moving and exit the gallery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1727" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T16:55:54.137" />
  <row Id="4273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4236" CreationDate="2010-10-21T17:24:56.550" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would like to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use this when it is not certain that the condition (you going) is possible or will occur. This form is often found as the first of 2 independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction, usually with the second indicating why the first will not occur (e.g. &quot;I would like to go, but I have plans already.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use this when it is certain that you will be going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will be going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is synonymous with the previous case; indicates certainty that you will go. These 2 forms are pretty interchangeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I won't go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the opposite of the previous 2; it indicates that you are certain you are not going, unless it's followed by a subordinating conjunction that suggests a possible change of the intent of the first clause (e.g. &quot;I won't go unless you do&quot; or &quot;I won't go until noon.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1787" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T17:24:56.550" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="4274" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4275" CreationDate="2010-10-21T18:37:33.970" Score="3" ViewCount="200" Body="&lt;p&gt;If someone says &lt;em&gt;the Yankees are going to lose&lt;/em&gt;, and everyone starts believing it, including the players, and it actually happens... what is the word for that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1788" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-22T00:03:13.113" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T06:56:41.470" Title="What word means &quot;to speak something into existence&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4274" CreationDate="2010-10-21T18:38:29.323" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-fulfilling_prophecy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Self-fulfilling prophecy&lt;/a&gt;. (I am not aware of a single-word equivalent in English.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T18:38:29.323" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4274" CreationDate="2010-10-21T20:13:10.800" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember my cousin, who is a psychologist, mentioned about the term &quot;Pygmalion effect&quot;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_effect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is a definition from Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;Pygmalion effect&lt;/strong&gt;, or&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Rosenthal effect&lt;/strong&gt;, refers to the phenomenon in which the greater the&#xA;  expectation placed upon people, often&#xA;  children or students and employees,&#xA;  the better they perform. The effect is&#xA;  named after Pygmalion, a Cypriot&#xA;  sculptor in a narrative by Ovid in&#xA;  Greek mythology, who fell in love with&#xA;  a female statue he had carved out of&#xA;  ivory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Pygmalion effect is a form of&#xA;  self-fulfilling prophecy, and, in this&#xA;  respect, people with poor expectations&#xA;  internalize their negative label, and&#xA;  those with positive labels succeed&#xA;  accordingly. Within sociology, the&#xA;  effect is often cited with regards to&#xA;  education and social class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T20:13:10.800" />
  <row Id="4279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4274" CreationDate="2010-10-21T20:57:01.807" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Besides the already mentioned self-fulfilling prophecy, the closest things that come to my mind are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lack of confidence&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;diminished self-esteem&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which are rather the cause to make that happen what you described.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastEditorUserId="519" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-22T06:56:41.470" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T06:56:41.470" />
  <row Id="4280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4265" CreationDate="2010-10-21T21:46:32.113" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First I thought about what to write. Both of my full names? That's too long... being a CS person I settled on first initial and last name. Then I just wrote it out in cursive. I kept writing it out in cursive... at first I wrote it neatly, but then I got lazier and lazier. Nowadays, I realize that almost never is a signature &lt;em&gt;actually&lt;/em&gt; looked at, so I lose interest around the fourth letter and just make some random scribbles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume other people go through a similar process?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T21:46:32.113" />
  <row Id="4281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4249" CreationDate="2010-10-21T21:51:07.747" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;if you look at the word &quot;weekend&quot; as &quot;week end&quot; or &quot;end of the week&quot;, it would make a lot more sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;e.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm paying poker this weekend = I'm&#xA;playing poker at the end of this (current)&#xA;week. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We went swimming last weekend &#xA;= We went swimming at the end of last week&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm going to Mexico next&#xA;weekend = I'm going to Mexico at the&#xA;end of next week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Makes complete sense when you look at it this way, doesn't it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1791" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T21:51:07.747" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4274" CreationDate="2010-10-21T22:15:57.400" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Yankee's nascent loss...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="460" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T22:15:57.400" />
  <row Id="4283" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4284" CreationDate="2010-10-21T22:16:37.890" Score="1" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/56/using-who-and-whom&quot;&gt;Using who and whom&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can usually guess which to use where, but I can never explain it to others, is there a simple explanation (with examples) that makes sense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1791" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T00:02:18.577" ClosedDate="2010-10-22T00:17:44.950" Title="Is there a simple explanation on where to use &quot;who&quot; vs &quot;whom&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="4284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4283" CreationDate="2010-10-21T22:32:42.797" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, you use &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; if it's the subject or another name for it and &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; if it's not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Who is that?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Who&lt;/em&gt; is the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It will go to whomever wins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Whomever&lt;/em&gt; is the object of the preposition &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; here, not the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bob is who we were thinking about before.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since Bob is the subject and &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; is referring to Bob, then it's &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You meant whom?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Whom&lt;/em&gt; is the direct object here, so still not the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1325" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-22T00:02:18.577" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T00:02:18.577" />
  <row Id="4285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4066" CreationDate="2010-10-21T22:53:31.323" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 2 cents, do not use &quot;funnest&quot;, replace it with &quot;the best&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g.: &quot;That was the funnest party ever!&quot; vs &quot;That was the best party ever!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the nit-picky, the best way of saying the above would be &quot;That was the most fun I've ever had at a party&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p.s. English is not my first language&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1791" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T22:53:31.323" />
  <row Id="4286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4066" CreationDate="2010-10-21T23:59:43.740" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported by the NOAD, &lt;em&gt;fun&lt;/em&gt; is used as adjective in informal contexts; its superlative is &lt;em&gt;funnest&lt;/em&gt;, while &lt;em&gt;funner&lt;/em&gt; is its comparative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-10-21T23:59:43.740" />
  <row Id="4287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4264" CreationDate="2010-10-22T00:19:19.347" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;NOAD reports:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;rain check (also raincheck)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  A ticket given for later use when a sports event or other outdoor event is interrupted or postponed by rain.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • A coupon issued to a customer by a store, guaranteeing that a sale item that is out of stock may be purchased by that customer at a later date at the same reduced price.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PHRASES&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;Take a rain check&lt;/em&gt;—said when politely refusing an offer, with the implication that one may accept it at a later date: &lt;em&gt;I can’t make it tonight, but I’d like to take a rain check&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T00:19:19.347" />
  <row Id="4288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4246" CreationDate="2010-10-22T00:36:32.750" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that &lt;em&gt;ask&lt;/em&gt; is also a noun:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;noun [in singular]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. a request, especially for a donation: &lt;em&gt;an ask for more funding&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. the price at which an item, especially a financial security, is offered for sale: [as adjective] &lt;em&gt;ask prices for bonds&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T00:36:32.750" />
  <row Id="4289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="981" CreationDate="2010-10-22T01:44:59.593" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is ambiguous is some cases to just write &quot;including&quot;, if you also mean &quot;not limited to&quot; (although I agree it does not make a nice sentence). An example from a play that I am working on at the moment (listing props);&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Scary Creatures (can include);&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Mummy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Vampire&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Frankenstein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Goblin &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This to me says that you are limited to those listed, while the next example explicitly states that you are not limited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Options for Scary Creatures (can include, but not limited to);&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Mummy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Vampire&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Frankenstein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Goblin &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to say that in some cases it is necessary to use the term, though I don't think it is a nice way of doing it. So the answer to the question has to be &quot;no&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1793" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T01:44:59.593" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4290" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11756" CreationDate="2010-10-22T01:50:39.580" Score="3" ViewCount="260" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am writing a list of props and found myself writing &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...including, but not limited to...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(and here in context):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Options for Scary Creatures (can include, but not limited to);&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Mummy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Vampire&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Frankenstein's Monster&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Goblin &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;C'thulu&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is this: Is there a nicer way to write this phrase. I want to say, &quot;here is a list of scary creatures that you can include, but if you want to use something else, then go for it&quot;, but in a nicer way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1793" LastEditorUserId="1793" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T07:35:03.773" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T08:11:17.667" Title="How to simplify this: &quot;can include, but not limited to&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4290" CreationDate="2010-10-22T05:35:46.993" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A full sentence may better introduce this list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Options for Scary Creatures would include, for instance:&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Mummy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Vampire&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Frankenstein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Goblin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That would make the possibility of using other terms implicit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T05:35:46.993" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4292" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4299" CreationDate="2010-10-22T09:02:55.503" Score="5" ViewCount="304" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fora vs Forums&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that the word &quot;forums&quot; is more acceptable than &quot;fora&quot; because anyone can understand its meaning today and that English is a living language so it's adapting, but except for what opinion each of us have for it, the real question is: &lt;strong&gt;What is the correct form to use?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two points to consider about it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why the plural form of this Latin word should be excluded? I.e. why &quot;data&quot; instead of &quot;datums&quot;, &quot;bacteria&quot; instead of &quot;bacteriums&quot;, &quot;alumni&quot; instead of &quot;alumnuses&quot;, &quot;media&quot; instead of &quot;mediums&quot; and so on?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why people use the plural form when they usually mean their singular one? The word &quot;fora&quot; refers to several places for discussion but usually the people name their web board as &quot;forums&quot;, even if they mean just one.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1800" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-22T09:18:28.067" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T15:15:36.643" Title="What is the correct plural form of the word &quot;forum&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="4293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4292" CreationDate="2010-10-22T10:32:48.577" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;1/ The article on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2139/what-is-the-plural-of-penis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;plural of... humf... err... penis&lt;/a&gt; is enlightening (emphasis mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The English-style plural is usually acceptable and often preferred.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  When you don't know what the Latin plural is and don't have a dictionary handy, you should choose the English-style plural rather than try to guess. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In English &lt;strong&gt;&lt;code&gt;-ums&lt;/code&gt; is sometimes preferred&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Forums&lt;/strong&gt; (or fora), gymnasiums (or gymnasia), podiums (or podia), but bacteria (not bacteriums), phyla (not phylums).  Seers are mediums but radio and television are two media.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Data is the plural of datum in Latin and English. English also has the plural form datums, but only in the cartographic sense&lt;/strong&gt; (meaning a reference point). In English, purists still rail against using data and media with a singular verb. &lt;strong&gt;These are instances of usages that began as mistakes but are now so common that they are arguably correct&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Another example of the same evolution is agenda. In Latin (and sometimes in English) it is the plural of agendum  (meaning &quot;a thing that needs to be done&quot;) but is now almost invariably treated as a singular in English (meaning &quot;a list or set of things that need to be done&quot;), with the correct English plural agendas.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Plural forms that take a further pluralization (correctly or incorrectly) are called &quot;double plurals.&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Other examples include the incorrect forms alumnis and bacterias and the correct operas. One caution--quorum is a genitive plural pronoun in Latin. The English plural is quorums, never quora. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2/ &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Talk%3adata&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The talk about uncountable usage on Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; put the usage of a plural form in perspective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's not particularly unusual for a word to change from countable to uncountable as it is borrowed across languages:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;virus&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;in Latin was a word meaning &quot;slime&quot; and uncountable, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;but in English used for specific objects and thus countable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Similarly, as datum changed meaning from &quot;gift&quot; to &quot;information&quot;, the pressure may have pushed data into a collective form (just as we generally say this information and not these informations—foreign speakers don't always catch this)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T10:32:48.577" />
  <row Id="4294" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4295" CreationDate="2010-10-22T13:31:25.557" Score="1" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1/when-do-i-use-can-could&quot;&gt;When do I use &amp;ldquo;can&amp;rdquo; &amp;amp; &amp;ldquo;could&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a company, the HR asked me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;em&gt;Could you please sign here&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know whether it is correct or &quot;&lt;em&gt;Can&lt;/em&gt; &quot; should be used or simply &quot;&lt;em&gt;Please sign here&lt;/em&gt;&quot; is sufficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When to ideally use &lt;em&gt;Could&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1804" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T13:50:12.093" ClosedDate="2010-10-24T11:47:14.310" Title="Correct usage of &quot;Could&quot; and &quot;Can&quot;." Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4294" CreationDate="2010-10-22T13:50:12.093" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strictly logically speaking, asking &quot;Can you sign here?&quot; would be sufficiently answered by &quot;yes&quot; with no further action required. &quot;Yes, I am able to.&quot; However, we generally understand that as a request in English, so we'll say &quot;Yes&quot; and sign. (I think in Russian, it's more common to use the imperative: &quot;Sign here, please&quot;, and if you say &quot;Can you sign here?&quot; they'll say &quot;of course&quot; in a surprised way, but then do it anyway).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, saying &quot;Could you please sign here?&quot; instead is just a way to make the sentence more polite by making it less direct. The same happens in French - instead of saying &quot;I want a cheese sandwich&quot; at a restaurant (je veux), you say &quot;I would like a cheese sandwich&quot; (je voudrais) - again using the conditional, similar to English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, both are socially correct, the latter is more polite, and technically speaking you can say &quot;Yes,&quot; do nothing, and look like a douche.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T13:50:12.093" />
  <row Id="4296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4290" CreationDate="2010-10-22T13:51:37.797" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Options for Scary Creatures, e.g.:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mummy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vampire &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Frankenstein's Monster&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Goblin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T13:51:37.797" />
  <row Id="4297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4236" CreationDate="2010-10-22T14:28:44.783" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;will&quot; and &quot;won't&quot; express a certainty that it is or isn't going to happen; in the case of &quot;I will&quot; and I won't&quot;, this is really expressing a firm intention. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I will be going&quot; is still an intention, but a little more vague.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Would&quot; has several meanings, but in &quot;I would like&quot; it is simply a less plain, politer way of saying &quot;I want&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I would go&quot; is usually conditional: &quot;I would go if I could&quot;, of &quot;I would go if I thought there was any point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a rather literary use of this to mean habituality in the past: &quot;Every week I would go to a concert&quot;. In everyday speech &quot;used to&quot; is more common in this sense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T14:28:44.783" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4298" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4302" CreationDate="2010-10-22T14:54:14.900" Score="4" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently writing an application which displays historic events happening on this actual day. (So say, today is October 1st, the application displays events from the past which also happened on October 1st).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do you call such a thing? I Germany we call it a &quot;Kalenderblatt&quot; (Calendar sheet), because such information was printed on the back of (daily-) calendar sheets. Is there such a word in English? What would be the best title for such an Application? I selected &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Today in History&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;, is this appropriate? I thought of &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Historic events&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;, but this doesn't imply the relevance for today. &lt;strong&gt;&quot;On This Day&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; also came to my mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, how would you write &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Today in History&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; in the application-title? Capitalized &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Today In History&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another question on the same application: Does the sentence &lt;strong&gt;&quot;150 years ago today: Something happened&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; sound better than &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Today, 150 years ago: Something happened&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. So, where to put the &quot;today&quot;? Does this sentence make sense (in the context explained above?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1806" LastEditorUserId="1806" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-22T15:16:20.000" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T21:49:00.973" Title="&quot;Today in history&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4292" CreationDate="2010-10-22T15:15:36.643" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This lack of respect for the language of origin not a phenomenon unique to English.  When a word is borrowed into one language from another, unexpected things can happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would argue that, for many examples you've given in your question, the actual perception of a singular-plural relationship is messy in practice, and the application of the plural is inconsistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Data: Using &lt;em&gt;data&lt;/em&gt; as a collective noun with singular agreement is more common than using it with plural agreement.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3718/where-are-the-data-i-only-have-one-datum&quot;&gt;More in another thread from this site&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alumni: I have heard as many people also use &lt;em&gt;alumni&lt;/em&gt; for the singular, or even &lt;em&gt;alum&lt;/em&gt;, as I have heard use &lt;em&gt;alumnus&lt;/em&gt; for the singular.  I imagine my experience with this word is typical (at least in the US), though certainly not universal.  In any case, it is messy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Media: The words &lt;em&gt;media&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;medium&lt;/em&gt; don't even seem to correspond in any meaningful in actual English usage.  The word &lt;em&gt;media&lt;/em&gt; has forked off and become a different word entirely.  The word &lt;em&gt;media&lt;/em&gt; is clearly used as a collective singular noun, as shown in newer constructions like &lt;em&gt;multimedia&lt;/em&gt; (not &lt;em&gt;multimedium&lt;/em&gt; even though we don't say &lt;em&gt;multistages&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;multicores&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;multicycles&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;multistories&lt;/em&gt;, etc.).  You will find few people who will ever say &quot;Mass Medium&quot;.  We talk about someone having &quot;media savvy&quot; even though we wouldn't say &quot;computers savvy&quot; (even though they can work with more than one computer).  This is because, in English, these sorts of constructions always use the singular noun, whether it is collective or not.  The way that &lt;em&gt;media&lt;/em&gt; is used is evidence of how the word is actually parsed, perceived, and used by English speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example of how foreign language morphology often doesn't mesh well: people try to pluralize &lt;em&gt;octopus&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;virus&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;octopi&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;viri/virii&lt;/em&gt;, respectively.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plural_form_of_words_ending_in_-us#Mass_noun_in_Latin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Virus&lt;/em&gt; was a mass noun in Latin, where we got the word&lt;/a&gt;.  The word &lt;em&gt;octopus&lt;/em&gt; comes from Greek and would take the plural form &lt;em&gt;octopodes&lt;/em&gt; in Greek.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main point is this: there is only a weak, inconsistent application of this &lt;em&gt;-us&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;-a&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;-us&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;-i&lt;/em&gt; to begin with.  So &lt;em&gt;forums&lt;/em&gt; (like &lt;em&gt;statuses&lt;/em&gt; and others) is a word even though we also sometimes have this other rule.  Our language seems to continually push us towards either dropping the foreign pluralization in some way or another, or reanalyzing the plural as another distinct word.  So I see this confusion as the language trying to mash these words around to make them fit our language naturally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we hadn't become so darn literate and knowledgeable in the past few centuries, I imagine these plurals would have regularized by now :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T15:15:36.643" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4300" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4306" CreationDate="2010-10-22T15:18:18.783" Score="2" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you write the word semi transparent (meaning partially transparent)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;semitransparent&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;semi-transparent&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;semi transparent&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found each of them on the Internet and none of them in my English dictionary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1806" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T15:50:38.713" Title="semi transparent, what in between?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="4301" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4314" CreationDate="2010-10-22T15:20:10.267" Score="0" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is more correct, &quot;it fit really well&quot; or &quot;it fitted really well&quot;?  The short form is something I encountered when moving to the US, I never heard it in the UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T22:52:58.310" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T22:52:58.310" Title="Why the shortening of &quot;fitted&quot; to &quot;fit&quot;?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="4302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4298" CreationDate="2010-10-22T15:27:13.200" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Today in history&quot; is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22today+in+history%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;certainly fine&lt;/a&gt;, though personally, I would go with &quot;on this day&quot; rather than with &quot;today&quot;. I'm not sure why, perhaps I am biased by looking at &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia's front page&lt;/a&gt; too often. (This would be actually a non-issue in German, where it's perfectly fine to say &quot;today 150 years ago&quot;, &quot;yesterday in two weeks&quot; or &quot;tomorrow three years ago&quot;, but I digress.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to capitalization, generally speaking, I wouldn't capitalize prepositions in titles (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/14/which-words-in-a-title-should-be-capitalized&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;), but it &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; depend on the context in which your application will be made available. (E.g. if you make it available for a platform or through an app store where all words in titles are capitalized come hell or high water.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, as to the name of the app, that's a matter of personal preference, and my guess is as good as anybody's. &quot;Calendar sheet&quot; might work, as might &quot;date sheet&quot;, &quot;this day in history&quot; or &quot;tear-off calendar&quot;. (Also, I am not a lawyer, so I have no idea whether there might be any legal issues with any particular title.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-22T15:51:17.173" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T15:51:17.173" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4298" CreationDate="2010-10-22T15:30:11.027" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most traditional term for this application is &lt;strong&gt;&quot;This day in History&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Today in History&quot; is perfectly understandable but it sounds just a bit off. &quot;Today&quot; suggests this specific day in time, as in October 1st, 2010 (to use your example)&amp;hellip; rather than &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; October 1st of &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; year. For example, one would not likely say &quot;Today in 2008&amp;hellip;&quot; to mean October 1st, 2008. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="28" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T15:30:11.027" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4300" CreationDate="2010-10-22T15:41:39.157" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;American Heritage Dictionary Fourth Edition&lt;/em&gt; includes “semitransparent”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“semi-”, in this case, is being used a prefix rather than a word. Because of this, I would not use “semi transparent”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding “semi-transparent”, my understanding is that the hyphen tends to be dropped and the word elements combined to form a derivative word according to how common the combination is. Therefore, if I had not been able to locate it in the dictionary, then I would likely have used the hyphenated prefix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1727" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T15:41:39.157" />
  <row Id="4306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4300" CreationDate="2010-10-22T15:43:24.927" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; has 4 mentions of &lt;em&gt;semitransparent&lt;/em&gt;, and none of either &lt;em&gt;semi-transparent&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;semi transparent&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary has an entry for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/semitransparent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;semitransparent&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, but not for &lt;em&gt;semi-transparent&lt;/em&gt;. Merriam-Webster has an entry for &lt;a href=&quot;http://mw4.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/semitransparent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;semitransparent&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and says that the first known use was in 1731.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Google seems to be rather unreliable here: searching for &quot;semi transparent&quot; matches &lt;em&gt;semitransparent&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;semi-transparent&lt;/em&gt;, and vice versa.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T15:43:24.927" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4298" CreationDate="2010-10-22T15:44:23.890" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd stick with Robert's answer, and say &quot;This day in history&quot; or &quot;on this day&quot; (the important is to use &quot;this day&quot; instead of &quot;today&quot; because, as Robert said, Today suggests this specific day, present).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And in the second question, I'd use &quot;150 years ago&quot;, because &quot;today&quot; is implicit (150 years ago means 150 past years from today), or &quot;Exactly 150 years ago&quot; if you want to give emphasis on that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T15:44:23.890" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4300" CreationDate="2010-10-22T15:50:38.713" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know &quot;semi-transparent&quot; and &quot;semitransparent&quot; are both used, but normally I see it written as &quot;translucent&quot;. Anyway, unless if you're writing a formal document, it doesn't matter because everyone will get it, and I wouldn't look at a dictionary because language changes faster than dictionary publications. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T15:50:38.713" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="4309" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4380" CreationDate="2010-10-22T16:08:18.237" Score="5" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;English is a germanic language. The other big germanic language is of course German.&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;My question:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Which native English speakers are the closest to German&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(a) accent-wise (South Africa?)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(b) German words and phrases (US? e.g. &quot;to schlep&quot; for &quot;to carry&quot;)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(c) grammar-wise (US again? e.g. slang &quot;If I would&quot; for &quot;If I was&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T07:42:37.037" Title="Which native English speakers are linguistically the most &quot;germanic&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;accent&gt;&lt;germanic-languages&gt;&lt;german&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="4310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4298" CreationDate="2010-10-22T16:38:42.860" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen &quot;Today in History,&quot; &quot;This Week in History&quot; and so on quite a lot in newspaper and newsletter columns, serving exactly the same purpose you are intending, so it would seem to be a reasonable title to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's perfectly fine to reference dates relative to yesterday, today and tomorrow, they just take a slightly different form to references to explicit dates.  Given that today is the 22nd of October, we could say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;21st of October last year&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;30th of October [implicitly this year]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a year ago yesterday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a week tomorrow&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Today&quot; is uncommon in phrases like this because it's usually implicit: &quot;a week ago&quot; doesn't need &quot;today&quot; to tell you when the date is relative to.  It most often occurs when you want to emphasize that the dates match: &quot;ten years ago today&quot; is a valid alternative to &quot;exactly ten years ago&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I forgot to say that &quot;Today, 150 years ago&quot; is essentially the same pattern and works perfectly well in the context you suggest.  It's less common in running speech purely because &quot;150 years ago today&quot; flows better, but it has the right gravitas for a heading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;On This Day&quot; also works in this context, but in general speech it would be a formal, perhaps even pompous, substitute for &quot;today.&quot;  It suggests that the speaker is making a speech rather than conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastEditorUserId="1579" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-22T16:48:34.667" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T16:48:34.667" />
  <row Id="4311" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-22T20:37:49.390" Score="4" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;Think of a sugar dispenser. It provides an equal &quot;dose&quot; of sugar every time you push its button.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my native language, Bulgarian, we have a specific word for this kind of object. The literal &quot;translation&quot; of it would be &quot;dosator&quot;/&quot;dosager&quot;. The general word 'dispenser' doesn't capture the fact that the dose is equal each time. So is there a precise word for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I needed that kind of word for a metaphor in a class name in a computer program I'm writing)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1603" LastActivityDate="2010-10-24T18:40:55.860" Title="Word for &quot;device that provides constant doses of a liquid/dust/substance&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="4312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4311" CreationDate="2010-10-22T20:47:44.287" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word “dispenser” does connote that the amount dispensed is measured and consistent. I think it may, in fact, be the word you’re looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It probably doesn’t carry that meaning as strongly as your original word, but I don’t know of another English word that would serve that purpose any better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1727" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-23T08:01:56.723" LastActivityDate="2010-10-23T08:01:56.723" />
  <row Id="4313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4311" CreationDate="2010-10-22T20:57:33.877" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can come up with a few: Doser... Meter (from the verb &quot;to mete&quot;, but might be too confused with the measurement). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think Dispenser is accurate, actually. They usually dispense one unit of stuff at a time, e.g. one pill. Is there another word in Bulgarian for dispenser vs. &quot;dosator&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T20:57:33.877" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4301" CreationDate="2010-10-22T21:31:20.907" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The definition of 'fit' used here is given by the OED (5.a.) as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To be of the right measure or proper shape and size for; to be&#xA;  correctly shaped or adjusted to. Said esp. of dress; also fig.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the two earliest quotes for this definition in the past tense uses 'fit'; the other uses 'fitted'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a1691 BOYLE Firmness Wks. 1744 I. 278 As much of the stone, as was contiguous to the &#xA;  marchasite..fitted the marchasite so close as if [etc.].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1795 BURNS Song, Last May, a braw wooer, And how her new shoon fit her auld schachl't feet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So both forms have been in use for a long time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Searching COCA, COHA, and the BNC for &quot;fit well&quot; vs. &quot;fitted well,&quot; I found &quot;fit well&quot; outnumbering &quot;fitted well&quot; by 20:1 in COCA (indicating American usage), 8:3 in the COHA (indicating older American usage), and by 2:1 in the BNC (for you Brits).  So either is fine, on both sides of the Atlantic, but &quot;fit well&quot; is much more common in modern American usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="52" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T21:31:20.907" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4298" CreationDate="2010-10-22T21:49:00.973" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main page of the English language &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; uses &quot;On this day...&quot; but I've also seen &quot;Today in history...&quot;. A native speaker should easily understand what you mean. If non-native speakers will be reading your text, I would go with the &quot;On this day...&quot; usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T21:49:00.973" />
  <row Id="4316" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-22T22:27:26.613" Score="4" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never seen the construction before, except in Spanish for dialogue and Toni Morrison uses a variaton in &lt;em&gt;Beloved&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;;—&quot; for denoting a strong pause (well that's we decided in my English class).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does Henry Adams use &quot;:—&quot;? Is this grammatically correct? How can I incorporate this in my own sentences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Among senses, smell was the strongest:—the smell of hot pine-woods and sweet-fern in the scorching summer noon; of new-mown hay; of ploughed earth&quot; - Henry Adams in &lt;em&gt;The Education of Henry Adams&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1498" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:56:01.440" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:56:01.440" Title="Henry Adam's use of punctuation, &quot;:—&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4317" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-22T22:32:13.890" Score="3" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is this type of phrase called? What parts of speech does it employ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Situation: your brother does something silly. You say to him: &quot;You and your crazy antics...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was brought up cause I wanted to apply it to something besides &quot;you&quot;, in this case, someone's company. I said &quot;Oh, your company and its crazy exams...&quot; That seems to work but is a bit stranger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-23T16:18:10.563" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T11:04:11.633" Title="Name for phrase where you just state a noun" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4316" CreationDate="2010-10-22T22:33:13.443" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't seen that used before. Reading your example sentence, I treat it just like a regular —. You can probably do whatever you want in your own books, but I would just use —.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T22:33:13.443" />
  <row Id="4319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4301" CreationDate="2010-10-22T22:52:27.577" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think there are two separate verbs here that are the same in the present tense but different in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To fit the way clothing fits. &quot;This outfit fits me fine. Did that outfit fit you? Yes it fit me.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To fit as in to equip. &quot;We fit our men with the best rifles. I was fitted with the best equipment.&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastEditorUserId="1606" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-25T12:20:45.363" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T12:20:45.363" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="869" CreationDate="2010-10-22T22:57:37.030" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on what the domain is. If you were writing a popular science book on physics you would of course use words and phrases like &lt;strong&gt;black hole&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;electron&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;quark&lt;/strong&gt;, and &lt;strong&gt;quantum tunnelling&lt;/strong&gt;. That is because there are no alternatives. An explanation of what a black hole is should be included, either in a glossary or on the first occurrence of the phrase (or, ideally, both), but you can't use that explanation in place of the phrase throughout, because if you did the book would be three times as thick and completely unreadable. Physics jargon is useful and necessary, because it's describing genuinely complicated things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some of the liberal arts, by contrast, I rather suspect the jargon is made up to dress fairly simple concepts in fancy language to make it seem more important. I imagine it would be quite easy to write a book on art history without including a single jargon word anywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that's one good reason to use jargon: used correctly, for the right purpose, it simplifies the text. Does that apply to programming? You could certainly drop the verb-meaning of &lt;em&gt;persist&lt;/em&gt;, and perhaps all the examples you give, without making your text more complicated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other good reason to use jargon is, as you say in your question, to familiarise the reader with that jargon. To that end, I would suggest using both terms together the first few times, and later in the book dropping the explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This feature has been &lt;code&gt;depricated&lt;/code&gt; (it has been replaced but is preserved for the sake of compatibility; it may be dropped in later versions of the specification).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This has now been &lt;code&gt;depricated&lt;/code&gt;  (it's on the way out).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This function is no longer recommended for use, and will probably shortly cease to exist, as it was officially depricated in version 2.4.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note that the word &lt;em&gt;depricated&lt;/em&gt; is no longer marked as a technical term here. Nor is it defined, as such, but it's easy to work out the meaning from the context.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Version 3 of the standard depricated a large number of functions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(No explanation at all.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This strategy does, of course, reply on the assumption that your readers will start at the beginning and read through to the end, which is not the way all textbooks or reference manuals are supposed to be read. If you're writing a book with independent chapters which may be read in any order, you'll have to go with no jargon or with explanations throughout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option is to use a glossary and to also include extracts from the glossary as blurb text in the margin alongside the use of the words. This means there's a definition to hand wherever a technical word is used, and also a handy list in the back of the book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-10-22T22:57:37.030" />
  <row Id="4321" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4322" CreationDate="2010-10-23T00:10:40.400" Score="6" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I regularly find myself confused by phrases of the form &quot;x if y&quot;. For example, in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://app.tech.pentontech.com/e/es.aspx?s=1481&amp;amp;e=39693&amp;amp;elq=cbe558a735d3418fb221c7876e4fe951&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2010-10-22 issue&lt;/a&gt; of his newsletter, Paul Thurrott writes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Well, if you're Wall Street Journal technology maven and Apple lover Walter Mossberg, you simply write an unfair review that ignores the product's best features and harps on &lt;strong&gt;obvious if little-needed&lt;/strong&gt; functional miscues such as the lack of copy and paste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's another example, from a &lt;a href=&quot;http://movies.tvguide.com/movie-news/DVD-Tuesday-Pans-7996.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TV guide article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Best known in the U.S. for &lt;strong&gt;formulaic, if handsome, genre films&lt;/strong&gt; like Mimic (1997) and Blade II (2002), del Toro&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usage of 'if' in these examples confuses me. What is the intended meaning of these sentences? Can I just substitute &quot;if&quot; with &quot;though&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1807" LastEditorUserId="1807" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-23T04:06:43.470" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T03:17:06.623" Title="Need help understanding phrases of the form &quot;x if y&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4321" CreationDate="2010-10-23T01:58:24.933" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ah awesome word! It fits under defintion 3 at &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/if?r=75&amp;amp;src=ref&amp;amp;ch=dic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt; (the World English Dictionary part) and definition 4 at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/if&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam&lt;/a&gt;. I like Merriam's better:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;: even though : although perhaps; &lt;em&gt;an interesting if untenable argument&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it can be used both as a way to make a good quality not as strong, or show some saving grace of a good quality. &lt;em&gt;an interesting if untenable argument&lt;/em&gt; says that although the argument is interesting, it is untenable. On the other hand, from your TV guide article, &lt;em&gt;formulaic if handsome genre films&lt;/em&gt; says that the films are formulaic, but at least they're handsome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just connected this to a Russian word, зато, which I think can only be used to make bad situations better. &lt;em&gt;тупая зато красивая&lt;/em&gt; = stupid but pretty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-23T01:58:24.933" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4311" CreationDate="2010-10-23T02:01:33.317" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/regulator&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;regulator&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A device that controls or limits something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="433" LastActivityDate="2010-10-23T02:01:33.317" />
  <row Id="4325" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4330" CreationDate="2010-10-23T17:12:50.930" Score="4" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;Learning and using English I'm always confused about what word to use for referring to things that have been described by me a few sentences earlier: &quot;that&quot; or &quot;this&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Confusion comes from the fact that only the equivalent of &quot;this&quot; is always used in my native language for such referring. But I've noticed that in English for such referring &quot;that&quot; is used as often as &quot;this&quot; (or maybe even more often).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples for illustrating (just tried to google something appropriate to convey my idea better):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We assess local... the demographics of the local population. What are the natural traffic drivers in the area. Things like cinemas and pubs and retail and office and &lt;strong&gt;all that type of things&lt;/strong&gt; and we now put together a bit of a matrix and actually give a weighted score to each of the things we know help our business. That helps us decide in a more scientific fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The problem of Cervantes' origin became after that into a tough matter. Some experts believed that the Cervantes from Alcázar, in the times of the Lepanto Battle, was in the age of a child, more concerned about gathering nests and &lt;strong&gt;that type of things&lt;/strong&gt; than about fighting as a soldier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and for &quot;this&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I believe lot of people who involved fishery industries in Mexico Gulf are suffering now but as for economic issues, U.S government and other countries will support them and give an utmost response to it. Important thing is that we learn from this mistake and make sure &lt;strong&gt;this type of things will never happen in the future&lt;/strong&gt; and protect nature environment thus we have to take this technology to get energy from water very seriously. I really hope this technology will be available and used for everybody as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a rule describing proper usage of these words in cases like this? &lt;em&gt;(or should I have written &quot;..in cases like &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;?)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastActivityDate="2010-10-24T08:14:36.423" Title="Using &quot;that&quot; and &quot;this&quot; interchangeably" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;esl&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4325" CreationDate="2010-10-23T17:18:21.760" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have often asked myself that (or is it &quot;this&quot;?) question.  Most usage books I've read give a rule about use of this and that when the speaker is referring to objects that are nearby in space or time.  But this question is about usage of this or that when referring to a concept or idea.  I have found very few usage books that state the rule for this situation.  The one rule that I found somewhere states to use &quot;that&quot; when the writer is simply referring backwards to make reference to a previously stated idea, but to use &quot;this&quot; when the writer is referring to a previously stated idea and making a new statement about the idea.  I don't know if that is the correct rule, though.  If it is, then I think the correct usage for the above sentence is &quot;this&quot; because the sentence refers back to the concept and says something new about it:  it is  not a problem.  But I'm not really sure and I hope we can get an answer.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-10-23T17:18:21.760" />
  <row Id="4327" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4329" CreationDate="2010-10-23T21:14:50.380" Score="2" ViewCount="215" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every time I see this expression, I can't help thinking it's grammatically wrong. Is it grammatically acceptable? Why is it used extensively in this form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T20:58:45.743" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T20:58:45.743" Title="&quot;Till death do us part&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4327" CreationDate="2010-10-23T21:47:30.453" Score="-3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a colloquial expression. It would be more correct, if you changed until. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-10-23T21:47:30.453" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4327" CreationDate="2010-10-23T22:23:47.997" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase is quite old: it was part of the Book of Common Prayer from 1662 (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eskimo.com/~lhowell/bcp1662/occasion/marriage.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.eskimo.com/~lhowell/bcp1662/occasion/marriage.html&lt;/a&gt;).  (For all I know, it could be older even than that.)  But fixing it as the official language of a ceremony cemented the phrase in that form, even as the language changed around it.  It's probably best viewed as idiomatic; you wouldn't want to say something else using the same form without a very good reason, but that particular phrase is a widely recognized feature of the language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note, by the way, that the form in the BCP really was with &quot;till&quot; rather than &quot;until&quot;; this isn't surprising, since &quot;till&quot; is actually the older of the two words.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2010-10-23T22:23:47.997" />
  <row Id="4330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4325" CreationDate="2010-10-24T08:14:36.423" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;This&quot; is analagous to &quot;here, whereas &quot;that&quot; is analagous to &quot;there&quot;. If you mentally substitute this/that with &quot;this here&quot; or &quot;that there&quot;, one will often seem to be the obvious choice. Another way of thinking about it is if you imagine actually showing the other person the thing you are talking about, would you point to it, or hold it up to show them? If you would point to it, use &quot;that&quot;; if you would hold it up to show them, use &quot;this&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a concept or idea introduced a few sentences before, I think the key thing is whether it was introduced by you or the person you're talking to. If you introduced it, you're &quot;holding&quot; the idea - use &quot;this&quot;. If they introduced it, they're &quot;holding&quot; it - use &quot;that&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your last sentence (&quot;Is there a rule describing proper usage of these words in cases like this?&quot;) &quot;this&quot; sounds much more natural and correct. I think that's because you are presenting some examples for consideration, so you can imagine that you are holding them in your hand/head and showing them to the target of your question, hence &quot;this&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, if I were to then refer to your examples I could use either &quot;this&quot; or &quot;that&quot;. Both would sound fine, but have different implications. &quot;This&quot; implies that I have taken your examples/concept/idea into my own headspace to examine and consider close-up, and am still considering them. &quot;That&quot; implies that they are with you, rather than me; either because I'm considering and commenting on them from &quot;over here&quot;, as &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; examples, or possibly that I've brought them into my own headspace, considered them, and have given them back to you prior to commenting on them. Either way, the implication is that they are your examples - I haven't taken on shared custody of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1402" LastActivityDate="2010-10-24T08:14:36.423" />
  <row Id="4331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4311" CreationDate="2010-10-24T08:27:02.637" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My OED lists two definitions for dispenser: 1 a person or thing that dispenses something (e.g. medicine, good advice. and 2 an automatic machine that that dispenses an item &lt;em&gt;or a specific amount of something&lt;/em&gt; (e.g. cash).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I think &quot;dispenser&quot; might be the word you're looking for, although I understand your reservations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1402" LastActivityDate="2010-10-24T08:27:02.637" />
  <row Id="4332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4311" CreationDate="2010-10-24T18:40:55.860" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps &lt;code&gt;injector&lt;/code&gt; is the word you are looking for. See the article here...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injector . I suspect it would depend on what is being administered and in what way, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-10-24T18:40:55.860" />
  <row Id="4333" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4334" CreationDate="2010-10-24T19:38:03.130" Score="1" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was going to pick you tomorrow from the airport (not a big deal to me,&#xA;  really), but remembered that tomorrow I'll be teaching the class, which ends at&#xA;  8.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in above example, I am trying to say that earlier I planned to pick you up (tomorrow), but now I remember that I have prior commitments tomorrow, and hence can longer do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the best way to say something like this and use &lt;em&gt;I was going&lt;/em&gt; expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thnkas&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T02:40:56.800" Title="&quot;I was going to&quot; expression. How to use it correctly?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="4334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4333" CreationDate="2010-10-24T22:02:15.020" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds fine the way you have it (except for the &quot;pick you &lt;em&gt;up&lt;/em&gt; tomorrow&quot; part). I guess you could change it to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I had planned to pick you up tomorrow […].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and it sounds a little more formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T02:06:51.763" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T02:06:51.763" />
  <row Id="4336" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-25T02:28:26.780" Score="3" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in the process of creating a parser which, using a few dictionaries (English language words, places and acronyms), splits the domain name into a set of potential phrases and attempts to decide which phrase is the most likely to be correct according to the intentions of the person who registered the domain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current rules are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The place name must be at least 4 characters long.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A maximum of 2 place names can occur in a phrase and must be adjacent&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Acronyms must be at least 3 characters in length&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Priority (in order) is:&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;least number of words&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;highest average character length&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;highest maximum word length&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, &lt;em&gt;refundslondon&lt;/em&gt; extracts to &lt;em&gt;refunds london&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;refunds lon don&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;refunds lond on&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't seem to work too badly at the moment, but from an English-language perspective, it would be nice to know if there was a way to determine (a) the validity of the sentence structure and (b) if certain words appear out of place, particular with respect to words that technically can't really go on the end of a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;my&lt;/em&gt; probably shouldn't go at the end of a sentence&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; probably shouldn't go at the start or end of a sentence&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...and so forth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any assistance would be appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1821" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T17:36:46.297" Title="How to determine the English structural validity of a domain name" Tags="&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="4337" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4338" CreationDate="2010-10-25T04:05:28.243" Score="3" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife was working on her lines for a play (Dracula) set in the early 1900's and one line caught my eye. It referred to the &lt;strong&gt;desanguination&lt;/strong&gt; of the vampire's victims. I'd always heard the term as &lt;strong&gt;exsanguination&lt;/strong&gt; and never heard of desangination. A few quick Google searches seem to indicate that desanguination is perhaps more archaic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The questions are these:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1) Is desanguination considered archaic? For how long? Which word would have most likely been used by a doctor (the character in the play) circa 1900?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Are there any subtle differences in meaning between the two? If so, which seems more relevant to the results of a vampire attack?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How's that for a topical question on Halloween week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="179" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T16:14:31.910" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T16:14:31.910" Title="Exsanguination or Desanguination?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;archaic&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="4338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4337" CreationDate="2010-10-25T04:55:43.730" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As your google search probably indicated, &quot;desanguination&quot; is used very, very rarely.  Perhaps more strikingly, the OED doesn't have a single reference to it, which suggests that it isn't being used much historically, either.  By contrast, the OED gives several citations for the word &quot;exsanguinate&quot; in the mid-1800's, so the word was certainly in use by 1900.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T04:55:43.730" />
  <row Id="4339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4337" CreationDate="2010-10-25T09:33:01.553" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exsanguination is commonly used in the Emergency Medical field.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1814" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T09:33:01.553" />
  <row Id="4340" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4341" CreationDate="2010-10-25T10:44:02.727" Score="2" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the definition found at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ravel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; and elsewhere, it seems that &lt;em&gt;to ravel&lt;/em&gt; has completely opposite meanings; i.e. it means to unravel, to disentangle as well as to entangle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's going on here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1823" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-25T11:03:40.627" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T11:03:40.627" Title="ravel: opposite meanings?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4340" CreationDate="2010-10-25T10:54:08.707" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ravel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;to the rescue&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1580s, &quot;to untangle, unwind,&quot; also &quot;to become tangled or confused,&quot; from Du. &lt;em&gt;ravelen&lt;/em&gt; &quot;to tangle, fray, unweave,&quot; from &lt;em&gt;rafel&lt;/em&gt; &quot;frayed thread.&quot; The seemingly contradictory senses of this word (&lt;em&gt;ravel&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;unravel&lt;/em&gt; are both synonyms and antonyms) are reconciled by its roots in weaving and sewing: as threads become unwoven, they get tangled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also this related question: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1820/english-words-that-are-their-own-antonyms&quot;&gt;English words that are their own antonyms&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T10:54:08.707" />
  <row Id="4342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4317" CreationDate="2010-10-25T11:04:11.633" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a noun phrase: that's all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this context, it is serving as a complete utterance, as is quite common in ordinary speech. Whether you regard it as a &quot;sentence&quot; or not is a matter of definition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T11:04:11.633" />
  <row Id="4343" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4344" CreationDate="2010-10-25T13:02:18.993" Score="3" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, it's my first question and I'm not sure if this subject can be asked in here, but here it goes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On past January I was on my vacations in London taking some photos of London Bridge when I made a joke with some foreigner photographers (Germans I think) : I was holding a very common Sony camera, and I told a something like that: &quot;let me teach you how to take photos with my professional camera&quot;. Everyone laughed and one of them offered me to take a panoramic photo for me using my memory card on his camera. I was very pleased, said &quot;Thanks so much!&quot; and left. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this situation, was &quot;thanks&quot; appropriate to politely demonstrate that I was very pleased with what they did?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1771" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-25T13:39:36.030" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T13:49:37.957" Title="Is &quot;thanks&quot; appropriate to be polite in this situation?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4343" CreationDate="2010-10-25T13:25:34.997" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many phrases that you could have used to thank them. Here are a few of them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Thank you&quot; / &quot;Thanks&quot; / &quot;Thank you&#xA;very much&quot;. These are all polite enough.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Cheers!&quot;. More informal, but still polite enough. This would have been valid because you were in the UK. But it doesn't apply to the US, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Thank you very much. That was very kind!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on your description of the situation, I think that #3 would have better expressed to them what you felt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-25T13:49:37.957" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T13:49:37.957" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4343" CreationDate="2010-10-25T13:44:49.757" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds polite to me.  As a native speaker (Canadian English) I probably would have said the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T13:44:49.757" />
  <row Id="4346" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-25T14:27:49.457" Score="2" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems the noun derived from the verb &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/disable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;disable&lt;/a&gt;&quot; is &lt;strong&gt;disablement&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/#q=%22the+disablement+time%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disablement time&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&quot; or &quot;disablement duration&quot; sounds a little awkward to me though. &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/#q=%22the+disable+time%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disable time&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&quot; sounds better, and also gives much more Google hits. But would you say that is correct or acceptable? How about &quot;disabling time&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Or is my question misworded; are you even supposed to use a noun in such context?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Background: I'm trying to decide the name of a setting that specifies the time for which a certain software functionality is disabled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T05:56:52.417" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T05:56:52.417" Title="Using &quot;disable&quot; as a noun" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="4347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4346" CreationDate="2010-10-25T14:31:48.267" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree, it does sound better, though, naturally &lt;em&gt;disable&lt;/em&gt; is  used as a verb. Hence &quot;disable time&quot; suggests that a subject is trying to disable time (whatever that means).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/disable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/disable&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;strong&gt;disable&lt;/strong&gt; can NOT be used as a noun in formal English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T14:31:48.267" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4346" CreationDate="2010-10-25T14:35:33.660" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/disable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; only mention &lt;em&gt;disable&lt;/em&gt; as a verb. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After seeing the background you provided, I would go with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answers.com/topic/idle-time&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;idle time&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22idle+time%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;898,000 Google hits&lt;/a&gt; vs 36,000 hits for &lt;em&gt;disable time&lt;/em&gt;). The Business Dictionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/idle-time.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;suggests&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;waiting time&lt;/em&gt; as an alternative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; as pointed out in the comments by Kosmonaut and Bruno, yet another alternative would be &lt;em&gt;disabled time&lt;/em&gt; or perhaps &lt;em&gt;time disabled&lt;/em&gt; (with a participle rather than the infinitive form).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-26T08:49:55.157" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T08:49:55.157" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4346" CreationDate="2010-10-25T15:14:49.597" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm trying to decide the name of a&#xA;  setting that specifies the time for&#xA;  which a certain software functionality&#xA;  is disabled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If what you want is to report on the total&#xA;time that a functionality was disabled, I&#xA;would go with &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Time Disabled&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If what you want is a way to configure the elapsed time before a functionality is automatically disabled by the system, I would go with &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Time to Disable&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T15:14:49.597" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3218" CreationDate="2010-10-25T15:15:22.003" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't see why not. As another example, lots of people have been using the word &quot;text&quot; for years (meaning, of course, &quot;to send a text message.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1787" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T15:15:22.003" />
  <row Id="4351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2964" CreationDate="2010-10-25T16:10:23.107" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't speak to when, but I can say that The Elements of Style specifically says to use the James's form.  Since that is taken as gospel by (who knows, hundreds, thousands, millions?) of writers, I'm sure it has an effect on modern trends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1827" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T16:10:23.107" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4352" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-25T16:10:42.497" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sometimes see this kind of usage of &quot;like so much&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Her flawlessly crafted facade hides a real person that's usually breaking like so much fine china in order to keep up the deception.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In staking out the line between poem and prose, [Danielewski] treats our traditional lexis like so much Silly Putty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seems kind of archaic / quaint to me. What does it mean exactly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1603" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T16:46:42.490" Title="&quot;__ like so much fine china&quot; phrase" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4353" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4357" CreationDate="2010-10-25T16:16:03.273" Score="10" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen a pattern in a couple of titles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Asimov has a book called &quot;Through a Glass, Clearly&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Philip Dick wrote &quot;A Scanner Darkly&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Star Trek has the episode &quot;In a Mirror, Darkly&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Agatha Christy wrote the story &quot;In a Glass, Darkly&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Curiously, 3 of the 4 are sci-fi. Any reason for the commonality of phrasing? Does it have some sort of meaning? Anyone know how it originated? Is it used in spoken English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1603" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T16:45:14.107" Title="Through a Glass, Clearly / A Scanner Darkly / In a Mirror, Darkly / etc" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;&lt;book-title&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4354" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4355" CreationDate="2010-10-25T16:20:51.047" Score="3" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am writing a sentence like so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I bought the Dell laptop because not only did I find the price appealing but I also liked the  the fact that the laptop had an integrated webcam.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my use of &quot;.. not only .. but also ...&quot; appropriate? Is there a better way to phrase such a sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1828" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T17:11:01.133" Title="How should I phrase &quot;Not only but also..&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4354" CreationDate="2010-10-25T16:33:49.430" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds better to me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I bought the Dell laptop not only because I found the price appealing, but also because I liked the fact that the laptop had an integrated webcam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just moved the 'not only' up front. This pretty much cascaded to all the other changes: not splitting up &quot;but also,&quot; keeping the tenses more consistent ('I found' vs. 'did I find'), etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T16:33:49.430" />
  <row Id="4356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4337" CreationDate="2010-10-25T16:42:26.607" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could the difference be that, if one exsanguinates, their blood flows out of their body as a result of a wound; if one is a victim of desanguination, their blood is drawn out of their body and sucked in by another (the vampire)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1830" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T16:42:26.607" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4353" CreationDate="2010-10-25T16:45:14.107" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It originates from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Through_a_glass,_darkly_%28phrase%29#.22Through_a_glass.2C_darkly.22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1 Corinthians 13:12&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T16:45:14.107" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="4358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4352" CreationDate="2010-10-25T16:46:42.490" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does sound like an affected phrase to me. It's a metaphor that compares the former object with the latter object as being similar. It's meant humorously, I think. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To translate: In the first phrase, her 'real' inner person is actually a fragile thing, prone to breaking easily, much in the same way that fine china breaks easily. In the second phrase, Danielewski treats our vocabulary like Silly Putty, meaning that he molds it very easily into whatever shape he wants. I think it's meant as a compliment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T16:46:42.490" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4354" CreationDate="2010-10-25T17:11:01.133" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is my use of &quot;.. not only .. but also ...&quot; appropriate? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your phrasing sounds grammatical and idiomatic to me. I believe it is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there a better way to phrase such a sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a stylistic tradition in English for brevity. This is often promulgated by the famous dictum “omit needless words”. It may be that your sentence does not sound right to you because of the large number of words used to express a simple idea. Following that school of thought, you could try something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I bought the Dell laptop for the price and the integrated webcam.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The brevity rule—like all style rules—is controversial, and many of the ideas from your original version that I have left out may have been necessary and intentional. The best sentence for this situation is likely to be something between your version and mine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1727" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T17:11:01.133" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4336" CreationDate="2010-10-25T17:36:46.297" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tag the words with their parts of speech. Use a Markov model to see which parts of speech are most likely to follow other parts of speech (NOUN - VERB - ADVERB is probably more likely than ADVERB - NOUN - VERB). Use the probabilities to help determine which sentence is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T17:36:46.297" />
  <row Id="4361" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4371" CreationDate="2010-10-25T17:53:21.533" Score="5" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a user finishes an order on my website, what's the correct way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Your order is now &lt;strong&gt;complete&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Your order is now &lt;strong&gt;completed&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1832" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-26T12:29:10.250" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T05:42:25.733" Title="Should I say &quot;Your order is now complete&quot; or &quot;Your order is now completed&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="4362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4361" CreationDate="2010-10-25T18:00:41.717" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second sentence is absolutely right. It is the Passive Voice. In the first sentence it is the Active Voice. I think it's correct, too. But I like the other version more..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The finished product will be ready and available after two weeks have passed. It will be completed in two weeks. The finished product will be ready and available after two weeks have passed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The product will be worked on during a period of two weeks, making it finished, ready, and available at the end of the two-week period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first case, you are allowing for the possibility that work on the product may not start until 10, 11, maybe 12 days after you utter the statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second case, you may be saying the same thing as in the first case, OR, you may be saying that work on the product will be carried on during the entire two-week period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T18:00:41.717" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4363" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-25T18:01:32.480" Score="11" ViewCount="376" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lots of people have wondered why English seems to be one of very few languages with such irregular spelling, far from its pronunciation. The answers include the Norman invasion, and the Great Vowel Shift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ok, cool. But why did all those &lt;em&gt;other&lt;/em&gt; languages not have the same thing happen to them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;German, Spanish, Italian, all Slavic languages, etc. They don't have a silent 'e', they don't have the day/date poke/soak treat/tree vowel dualities, etc. They still ascribe vowels the same sounds they ascribed them many centuries ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it because England had more trade contact and colonies? Or because they're on an isolated island? Or why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1603" LastEditorUserId="1603" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-25T18:10:56.573" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T11:14:52.950" Title="Why did only English undergo the Great Vowel Shift, making pronunciation stray so far from spelling?" Tags="&lt;history&gt;&lt;phonology&gt;&lt;great-vowel-shift&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4363" CreationDate="2010-10-25T18:08:48.073" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You will find a lot of information about the History of English spelling and pronunciation, notably their vast differences in this article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Histengl/spelling.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Spelling and Standardization in English: Historical Overview&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T18:08:48.073" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4365" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-25T18:10:36.543" Score="6" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English, a doubled consonant most commonly means &quot;shorten the previous vowel&quot;, where &quot;shorten&quot; means map phonemes like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;[aɪ] -&gt; [i]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;[oʊ] -&gt; [ɔ]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, fury is pronounced [fjʊri] but add another 'r' and you get [fəri].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, obviously this doesn't make much orthographic sense. So there must have been some historical reason for it. Anyone know?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Relatedly, when a [k] sound shortens the previous vowel, the doubling is not even written 'kk', but rather 'ck' ('cracking') - why? This feature is in many Germanic languages too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1603" LastEditorUserId="1603" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-07T19:00:14.450" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T16:10:56.123" Title="How did the &quot;double consonant to shorten vowel&quot; thing come about? (furry vs fury)" Tags="&lt;history&gt;&lt;phonology&gt;&lt;phonemes&gt;&lt;orthography&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4366" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4368" CreationDate="2010-10-25T20:08:07.300" Score="3" ViewCount="301" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the No Doubt song Oi to the World are the following &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.metrolyrics.com/oi-to-the-world-lyrics-no-doubt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;words&lt;/a&gt; spoken:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He'd say &quot;Oi to the punks and Oi to the skins&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But Oi to the world and everybody wins&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what does the phrase mean? It seems to mean &quot;screw them&quot; in the first 2 instances, but that doesn't fit in with the last one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T14:17:47.860" Title="What does &quot;oi to ___&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4367" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4372" CreationDate="2010-10-25T20:17:38.433" Score="9" ViewCount="396" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am constantly reading comments and documents from people who use the verb &lt;em&gt;redact&lt;/em&gt; to refer to the act of &lt;em&gt;deleting&lt;/em&gt; or otherwise &lt;em&gt;censoring&lt;/em&gt; content.  This never &lt;em&gt;seemed&lt;/em&gt; correct to me, but until today it never actually occurred to me to look up the &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/redact&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary definition&lt;/a&gt;.  I just did, and this is what it says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;–verb (used with object)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;1.&lt;/strong&gt; &amp;nbsp; to put into suitable literary form; revise; edit.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;2.&lt;/strong&gt; &amp;nbsp; to draw up or frame (a statement, proclamation, etc.). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nowhere does this seem to indicate anything about &lt;em&gt;deletion&lt;/em&gt;.  I suppose that, in a very limited set of circumstances, redaction in the context of &quot;editing for publication&quot; might indeed involve the deletion of certain content, but that aspect seems incidental rather than fundamental.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I accept that plenty of &quot;common English&quot; hasn't made it to the dictionaries or style guides yet, so I'm wondering if maybe I missed a memo, because the &quot;delete&quot; definition seems to come up almost everywhere I look.  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...before sharing board minutes (or shareholder or committee minutes) with auditors or other third parties, carefully review the minutes and &lt;strong&gt;redact (delete)&lt;/strong&gt; sections containing privileged information to avoid waiving the attorney-client privilege. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allbusiness.com/finance-insurance/1067728-1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[AllBusiness]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The term &lt;strong&gt;redaction&lt;/strong&gt; may not be a household term, but is often used in the legal community. &lt;strong&gt;It's the practice of removing confidential or sensitive data before giving the document to others.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timeatlas.com/useful_utilities/free/microsoft_word_redactions_and_solutions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[ProductivityPortfolio]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;On &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.synonyms.net/synonym/redact&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;synonyms.net&lt;/a&gt;, it is actually defined as &quot;edit&quot; but has several &quot;delete&quot; synonyms listed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;cast, &lt;strong&gt;edit out&lt;/strong&gt;, edit, blue-pencil, &lt;strong&gt;cut&lt;/strong&gt;, redact, put, frame, couch, &lt;strong&gt;delete&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Adobe Acrobat even has a feature named &lt;a href=&quot;http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Acrobat/9.0/Professional/WS866F7022-9062-4d81-8BD4-1248493988C1.w.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Search and Redact&lt;/a&gt; that &lt;em&gt;deletes&lt;/em&gt; results.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So... what exactly is going on here?  Is this usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inane corp-speak parroted by people who have no idea what it means?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jargon that escaped from the legal profession and made it into common use?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The result of most types of redaction being deletion, leading to natural confusion due to frequent use?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A more mundane form of confusion - possibly with the similar-sounding &lt;em&gt;retract&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Just another case of the dictionary being at odds with the informal/spoken language?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, what I'm trying to understand is: &lt;strong&gt;Is this really an acceptable usage of the word, and if so, then what is its real origin and/or justification?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Note: I'm having a little trouble making sense of the tagging conventions here, so please feel free to retag this if necessary.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1833" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T05:58:16.283" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T05:58:16.283" Title="Is &quot;redact&quot; an acceptable substitute for &quot;delete&quot; or &quot;omit?&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4366" CreationDate="2010-10-25T20:37:59.053" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;oi:&lt;/strong&gt; —noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;a type of punk rock featuring violent, racist lyrics, associated esp. with skinheads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;oi&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;oy:&lt;/strong&gt; —interjection&lt;br&gt;&#xA;used to express surprise, pain, grief, worry, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;oi&lt;/strong&gt; (World English Dictionary):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;— interj&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1. (Brit ) a cry used to attract attention, esp in an aggressive way&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;— adj&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2. of or relating to a form of &lt;strong&gt;punk&lt;/strong&gt; rock popular esp among &lt;strong&gt;skinheads&lt;/strong&gt; in the late 1970s and 1980s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Word Origin &amp;amp; History:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;oi:&lt;/strong&gt; 1962, vulgar or working class pronunciation of &lt;em&gt;hoy&lt;/em&gt; a call or shout to attract attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;oy&lt;/strong&gt;: Yiddish exclamation of dismay, 1892, Amer.Eng. Extended form oy vey  (1959) includes Yiddish vey , from Ger. Weh  &quot;woe&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia entry for &lt;strong&gt;Oi!&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Oi! is a working class street-level subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and associated subculture had the goal of bringing together &lt;strong&gt;punks&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;skinheads&lt;/strong&gt; and other non-aligned working class youths (sometimes called &lt;em&gt;herberts&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in that song, it must have been used as a music subgenre.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T20:37:59.053" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4367" CreationDate="2010-10-25T20:39:40.123" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meaning &quot;edit&quot; doesn't necessarily conflict with the sense of &quot;deleting or censoring&quot;.  Government documents which are &quot;redacted&quot; &lt;em&gt;were&lt;/em&gt; edited for presentation, in that some content was removed before they were presented.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you have a document which you are forced to give to someone else (such as when a government responds to a freedom-of-information request) any edits to the document defeat the purpose of the request, and thus the only edit that can be made is to remove (censor) content.  Hence it's not wrong to say that the document was &quot;redacted&quot; when what is meant was the document was &quot;censored&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T20:39:40.123" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4367" CreationDate="2010-10-25T20:40:12.383" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's certainly the way I see it widely used. Perhaps it comes more from this version of the definition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;to compose or draft (an edict, proclamation, etc)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;to put (a literary work, etc) into appropriate form for publication&lt;/strong&gt;; edit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a confidential government document is &lt;em&gt;redacted&lt;/em&gt; for public use, it is being &quot;put into appropriate form for publication&quot;, per the second definition. Practically speaking, though, this normally entails &lt;em&gt;removing&lt;/em&gt; still-confidential or secret information. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I imagine this is why its come to be synonymous with &quot;delete&quot; or &quot;remove the good parts&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="642" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T20:40:12.383" />
  <row Id="4371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4361" CreationDate="2010-10-25T21:58:45.157" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer &quot;Your order is complete&quot;; the &quot;now&quot; doesn't add anything.  The second sentence uses a present-tense verb with a past-tense adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1814" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T21:58:45.157" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4367" CreationDate="2010-10-25T22:46:00.057" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Merriam-Webster Online dictionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/redact&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gives a third sense of &lt;em&gt;redact&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3&lt;/strong&gt;: to obscure or remove (text) from a document prior to publication or release&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is now the most common meaning of the word, as a quick perusal of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&amp;amp;q=6875388&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;incidences in COCA for variants of &lt;em&gt;redact&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; will confirm. The dictionaries at dictionary.com appear to be behind the times by not including this sense of the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-25T22:54:09.550" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T22:54:09.550" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1512" CreationDate="2010-10-25T23:19:46.787" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I saw &lt;em&gt;the City&lt;/em&gt; I would assume that what was meant was the City of London (which is not at all the same thing as London City). In other contexts, &lt;em&gt;city&lt;/em&gt; should be spelled with a lowercase &lt;em&gt;c&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-10-25T23:19:46.787" />
  <row Id="4375" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-26T00:07:50.590" Score="0" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how to word this question, rather which part to emphasize, but here it goes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does a simile look 'like'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1788" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-26T12:53:50.410" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T12:53:50.410" ClosedDate="2010-10-26T13:24:16.423" Title="What does a simile look like?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;figures-of-speech&gt;" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="4376" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-26T04:31:16.890" Score="2" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should the common usage &quot;Webmasters&quot; be gender neutered into a separate webmistresses to describe female web site admin professionals?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically why do we really need a term like web mistresses? Is it due to PC standards that say you shouldn't refer to a woman by a inherently male term?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like to think that common usage comes from the way people prefer to use English. So if they stick to the term Webmaster, they are not necessarily doing so due to an inherent byass towards a male term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1429" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-26T09:15:42.317" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T15:45:40.133" Title="Should the common usage &quot;Webmasters&quot; be gender neutered into a separate webmistresses to describe female web site admin professionals?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;gender&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2856" CreationDate="2010-10-26T04:34:37.963" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Convicts: community of experts in crime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1429" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T04:34:37.963" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4376" CreationDate="2010-10-26T04:48:26.803" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my personal experience working at various web companies, both males and females were referred to as webmasters. Regardless of whether 'webmaster' has gender connotations, the term is becoming obsolete, so this will probably end up a moot point over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1837" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T04:48:26.803" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4363" CreationDate="2010-10-26T06:34:12.257" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Only Middle English underwent the Great Vowel Shift because that name specifically refers to a historical shift in English. Other languages have had shifts, either unnamed or of different names. Notable named examples are the &lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Grimm%27s_law&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;first Germanic sound shift&lt;/a&gt;, the &lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/High_German_consonant_shift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;second Germanic sound shift&lt;/a&gt;, and the &lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Northern_cities_vowel_shift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;northern cities vowel shift&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Great Vowel Shift seems to be more prominent than it really is because of the peculiarities which it introduced into spelling, but this isn't a feature of English so much as it is a historical accident of a shift occurring after the introduction of the printing press. English being one of the most-studied language in historical linguistics magnifies the apparent significant of the Great Vowel Shift too, and the grandiosity of the name can be attributed to that more than anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1613" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T06:34:12.257" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="4380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4309" CreationDate="2010-10-26T07:42:37.037" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no really good answer to this question, but we can take a stab at it if we accept some very broad generalisations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English is a Germanic language by virtue of being descended from Proto-Germanic (which is a matter of geography and historical migration patterns). Setting aside the question of English dialects for a moment, among &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; the Germanic languages we can say that a language is &quot;more Germanic&quot; if it has undergone fewer changes since splitting from Proto-Germanic. The ideal way to do this would be to do a detailed inventory of linguistic changes apparent in a language and analyse how many steps might have been taken to get from Proto-Germanic to the modern language, but that's a load of work. A very broad generalisation that is less work would be to look at how many forks in the family tree exist between a language and Proto-German. &lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Germanic_languages&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This is much easier to see.&lt;/a&gt; (As an amusing aside, you can see from the family tree that Swedish is—among several others—&quot;more Germanic&quot; than modern German.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By analogy, we can say that the English dialect that is closest to Proto-Germanic is the English dialect that is closest to an earlier branch in the family tree. Or, put another way, the &lt;em&gt;oldest&lt;/em&gt; dialect of English will be the closest to Proto-Germanic, and hence the &quot;most Germanic&quot; dialect of English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can quickly rule out any English dialect outside of the British Isles, since English dialects in the rest of the world are descended from some form of British Isles English, and hence would be at least one more step removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, such a detailed analysis of English dialects is also prohibitively complicated, but at least it gives us the conceptual framework to figure out that &quot;oldest British Isles English dialect&quot; is what we're looking for. So, we'll have to go with anecdote and hearsay: the &lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Geordie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Geordie&lt;/a&gt; dialect is the oldest dialect in the British Isles, according to current opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1613" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T07:42:37.037" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4363" CreationDate="2010-10-26T11:14:52.950" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I started off by posting a series of comments scattered all over the page, but I thought I should sum them up in a standalone answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, there &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; been similar shifts in many other languages. And they are even happening right now as we speak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But first things first. Since you mentioned Slavic languages, as the most obvious example, in Old Church Slavonic, an o was an o. In contemporary Russian, it can be anything from a schwa to an ʌ to an ɔ, depending on the position relative to the stressed syllable (e.g. &lt;em&gt;молоко&lt;/em&gt;, milk, /məɫɐˈko/ or /məlʌˈkɔ/; &lt;em&gt;водоворот&lt;/em&gt;, swirl, /vədəvʌˈro̞t/). Also, in Old Church Slavonic, there were a number of nasal sounds, which are absent in pretty much all contemporary Slavic languages with the notable exception of Polish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, don't get me started on German. If you don't &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt; how to correctly pronounce &lt;em&gt;Soest&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Troisdorf&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Huonker&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Pankow&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Laermann&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Hueck&lt;/em&gt;, you &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; pronounce them wrong. It happens to native German speakers all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking of Germanic languages, the most notable vowel shifts happened in German and Dutch (Wikipedia even &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift#Other_languages&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mentions them&lt;/a&gt; in the article on the Great Vowel Shift). It's just that there was at least some concerted effort to keep the spelling consistent with the (changing) pronunciation. The pronunciation shifts were accompanied by spelling shifts, if you will. Hence the popular but wrong assumption that there weren't pronunciation shifts to begin with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, what made the pronunciation stray so far from spelling in English was not the Great Vowel Shift; it was the absence of the accompanying Great Spelling Update.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, it's always a bit harder to explain the &lt;em&gt;absence&lt;/em&gt; of something rather than its presence, though vehomzzz does provide an interesting link &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4363/why-did-only-english-undergo-the-great-vowel-shift-making-pronunciation-stray-so/4364#4364&quot;&gt;in his answer&lt;/a&gt;. On a more general note, I will say that spelling reforms are the domain of politicians, one of the most prominent and recent examples being the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_orthography_reform_of_1996&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;German orthography reform of 1996&lt;/a&gt;, kicked off by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kultusministerkonferenz&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Conference of Ministers of Culture&lt;/a&gt; and later monitored by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwischenstaatliche_Kommission_f%C3%BCr_deutsche_Rechtschreibung&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;International Commission for German Orthography&lt;/a&gt;. English, however, traditionally &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/462/regulatory-bodies-and-authoritative-dictionaries-for-english&quot;&gt;lacks such regulatory bodies&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyhow, vowel shifts happen all the time, especially on the dialect level. Now that I have zeroed in on German, I'll just take Bavarian as an example. In Bavarian, &lt;em&gt;viel&lt;/em&gt; is not pronounced as /fiːl/ and &lt;em&gt;ein Haufen&lt;/em&gt; is not pronounced /aɪ̯n ˈhaʊ̯fm̩/. But again, there is some effort to keep the spelling consistent with the pronunciation, so if you came up with the crazy idea to write a &lt;a href=&quot;http://bar.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauptseitn&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia in Bavarian&lt;/a&gt;, you would spell &lt;em&gt;viel&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;vui&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;vei&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;vii&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;fui&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;ein Haufen&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;a Haufa&lt;/em&gt;, to reflect the actual pronunciation. And there are also Wikipedias in Ripuarian, Plattdeutsch, Alemannic... It's hard to imagine, say, standalone Australian, Canadian or Texan Wikipedias where the spelling mirrors the local dialect in such a manner. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess I can sum these ramblings up as follows: vowel shifts happen all the time. Spelling conventions are a question of politics and culture. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T11:14:52.950" />
  <row Id="4382" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-10-26T12:14:23.360" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way that words and phrases are used in English (e.g. formal vs. informal, British vs. American, etc.). Valid questions cover, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whether a certain word occurs in formal or informal contexts or in written or verbal English.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Differences between British and American usage, or other regionalisms&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The meaning and contexts in which one can use a certain idiom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T21:48:22.907" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T21:48:22.907" />
  <row Id="4383" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-10-26T12:14:23.360" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="Usage is the way words and phrases are used in English (e.g. formal vs. informal, British vs. American, etc.)" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T02:22:39.940" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T02:22:39.940" />
  <row Id="4384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4376" CreationDate="2010-10-26T13:43:01.547" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Webmaster, to me, can mean a person of any sex. Additionally, 'mistress' has the connotation to me of an S&amp;amp;M mistress, or a concubine, etc., not of a female master, so saying Webmistress sounds pretty strange to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T13:43:01.547" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4386" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4399" CreationDate="2010-10-26T14:40:04.293" Score="6" ViewCount="230" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do we have a situation where the past of &quot;to blow&quot; is &quot;blew&quot;, but of &quot;to glow&quot; is &quot;glowed&quot;? And don't say &quot;flew&quot; if you mean &quot;it flowed&quot;. The poem &lt;a href=&quot;http://womenshistory.about.com/library/etext/poem1/blp_cary_phoebe_lovers.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lovers, by Phoebe Cary&lt;/a&gt; has many examples of these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How did these differences originate? Did &quot;blow&quot; and &quot;glow&quot; come from etymologically distinct backgrounds that have just come to be spelled and pronounced the same way? Is there a general rule for words like these?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T17:38:31.190" Title="Origin of different past tenses for verbs with the same endings?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;history&gt;&lt;conjugation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4376" CreationDate="2010-10-26T14:51:16.013" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a strong tendency in recent English to eliminate gender-specific words. For example, most female actors do not want to be called 'actresses' (though there are a few that do want to).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this reason, and because of Claudiu's point as well, I would suggest not coining any new words in &quot;-mistress&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T14:51:16.013" />
  <row Id="4389" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4395" CreationDate="2010-10-26T14:52:24.983" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the infinitive of the verb when I say &quot;I should go,&quot; or &quot;I shall go&quot;? Is it a verb actually, now that I think about it? If not, what is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T15:40:51.193" Title="Infinitive of 'shall', 'should'?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4390" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-26T14:54:20.257" Score="1" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the infinitive of the verb I use when I say &quot;I might go,&quot; or &quot;May I come with you&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think in German it's &quot;dürfen.&quot; Is there one in English? If not, why not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T16:01:08.110" Title="Infinitive of 'may', 'might'?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4391" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4393" CreationDate="2010-10-26T15:20:13.050" Score="2" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You only understands me well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You only understand me well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1467" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-26T16:08:19.017" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T16:08:19.017" Title="Understands or understand" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2047" CreationDate="2010-10-26T15:24:54.900" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;will discuss&quot; and &quot;will be discussing&quot; are equally usable in almost all cases, but there are difference of nuance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Principally, &quot;will be discussing&quot; focuses on the continuity of the discussions, whereas &quot;will discuss&quot; does not; but neither necessarily says anything about how long the discussions take. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there is another dimension: &quot;will be discussing&quot; is more tentative and less forceful, and may be used to be polite, or to mollify, or even to distance the speaker from the discussion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T15:24:54.900" />
  <row Id="4393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4391" CreationDate="2010-10-26T15:26:50.433" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You &lt;strong&gt;understand&lt;/strong&gt; me... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You&quot; is the &lt;strong&gt;second person&lt;/strong&gt; singular and second person plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will only find suffix &quot;s&quot; in conjugations in the present tense for the &lt;strong&gt;third person singular&lt;/strong&gt;. For example:&#xA;He &lt;em&gt;understands&lt;/em&gt; you well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: The position that you chose for &quot;only&quot; in your sentences may not be expressing correctly what you mean. &quot;Only you understand me well&quot; sounds better to me (if that's what you meant).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-26T15:33:51.990" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T15:33:51.990" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4390" CreationDate="2010-10-26T15:34:20.550" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;May&lt;/em&gt; is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modal_verb#List&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;modal verb&lt;/a&gt;, so it is &quot;defective&quot; in that it does not have the usual infinitive with &quot;to&quot;. &lt;em&gt;Might&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/might#Verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;is a past-tense form of &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;— though, as Wikipedia puts it, it has &quot;acquired an independent, present tense meaning&quot;. A very similar thing happened in German, where &lt;em&gt;möchte&lt;/em&gt; has a life of its own, and many native speakers don't realize that it started off as the subjunctive form of &lt;em&gt;mögen&lt;/em&gt; (etymologically, that's the German equivalent of &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt;, but it has drifted away to mean &quot;to like&quot; in contemporary German).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-26T16:01:08.110" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T16:01:08.110" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4389" CreationDate="2010-10-26T15:37:46.040" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Shall&quot; and &quot;Should&quot; are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modal_auxiliary_verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;modal verbs&lt;/a&gt; and don't have infinitive forms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice that &quot;to should&quot; and &quot;to shall&quot; don't exist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only verb in your sentences that has an infinitive form is &quot;go&quot;, for which the infinitive is &quot;go&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's because your sentence follows the typical structure of a sentence with modal verbs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[subject] [modal verb] [infinitive of&#xA;  main verb]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T15:37:46.040" />
  <row Id="4396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4389" CreationDate="2010-10-26T15:40:51.193" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sure it is a verb, see e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shall&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shall#Verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Should&lt;/em&gt; is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/should#English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;past-tense form of &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T15:40:51.193" />
  <row Id="4397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4376" CreationDate="2010-10-26T15:45:40.133" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Kosmonaut said, &quot;webmistress&quot; is the complete opposite of gender neutral.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; an actual trend toward gender neutrality in occupational terms: &lt;em&gt;flight attendant&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;stewardess&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;mail carrier&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;postman&lt;/em&gt;, that sort of thing. There is also some tendency toward avoiding the -ress form of some occupations; &lt;em&gt;actor&lt;/em&gt; for both genders instead of &lt;em&gt;actor/actress&lt;/em&gt; is the most prominent example, but people do still use &lt;em&gt;actress&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T15:45:40.133" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4390" CreationDate="2010-10-26T15:47:27.337" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When using the words &quot;may&quot; and &quot;might&quot; as conditional helper verbs, I do not believe there is an infinitive that starts with &quot;to&quot;, the way most other English verbs do. One way of rephrasing &quot;I might go&quot; or &quot;I may go&quot; is &quot;It is possible that I will go&quot;, which indicates a helper verb, not an infinitive phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;May I come with you?&quot; is a different use of the word &quot;may&quot;, which indicates asking for permission. The equivalent infinitive phrase to be used in the form &quot;to [verb]&quot; for that verb might be &quot;to have permission&quot;. This is not the case in some other languages, in which case there is a infinitive that is conjugated. For example, in Spanish, the verb &quot;poder&quot; is often used to express the same sentiment as &quot;can&quot; and &quot;may&quot; in English, and is best translated as &quot;to be able&quot;, although it's also used as &quot;to have permission&quot;. &quot;¿Puedo venir contigo?&quot; can be translated as &quot;Can I come with you?&quot; (do I have the ability to?) or &quot;May I come with you?&quot; (do I have permission to come?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some possible reasons for this; my best guess is that English is sometimes structured differently, and it uses &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auxiliary_verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;helper verbs&lt;/a&gt;, which I don't think really exist in other languages (at least, those with which I'm familiar.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1787" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T15:47:27.337" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4386" CreationDate="2010-10-26T17:36:42.163" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The name for the difference is &quot;strong&quot; versus &quot;weak&quot; verbs.  Strong verbs have a vowel change in the past, weak verbs add -ed.  (Life gets slightly more complicated: for instance, there are irregular weak verbs, but that's not relevant to this question.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It basically has to do with how frequently the words are used (or were used in the past).  We learn to use these other past forms by hearing them repeated.  If we don't hear one enough, the strong past form (the one not formed with -ed) sounds &quot;wrong&quot; to us, and we use the -ed form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see this with young children of the right age, who routinely try to use -ed on strong verbs.  When a word is used rarely enough, people grow up without ever getting comfortable using the strong past form, and continue to use -ed.  They then pass that on to their children, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So over time, strong verbs become weak if they're used infrequently.  You can see this dynamic in play today with words that are on the edge of the necessary frequency; for instance, what is the past of &quot;dive&quot;: &quot;dived&quot; or &quot;dove&quot;?  Quite possibly in a generation or two, &quot;dove&quot; will sound archaic and &quot;dived&quot; will be standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T17:36:42.163" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4386" CreationDate="2010-10-26T17:38:31.190" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reasons are indeed historical. In Old English, &lt;em&gt;glow&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;glowan&lt;/em&gt;) was a weak verb, while &lt;em&gt;blow&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;blawan&lt;/em&gt;) was a (class VII) strong verb. Wikipedia has a nice &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English_morphology#Verbs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;section on Old English verbs&lt;/a&gt;. One of the key passages is probably this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The linguistic trends of borrowing foreign verbs and verbalizing nouns have greatly increased the number of weak verbs over the last 1,200 years. Some verbs that were originally strong (for example &lt;em&gt;help&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;holp&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;holpen&lt;/em&gt;) have become weak by analogy; most foreign verbs are adopted as weak verbs; and when verbs are made from nouns (for example &quot;to scroll&quot; or &quot;to water&quot;) the resulting verb is weak. Additionally, conjugation of weak verbs is easier to teach, since there are fewer classes of variation. In combination, these factors have drastically increased the number of weak verbs, so that in modern English weak verbs are the most numerous and productive form (although occasionally a weak verb may turn into a strong verb through the process of analogy, such as &lt;em&gt;sneak&lt;/em&gt; (originally only a noun), where &lt;em&gt;snuck&lt;/em&gt; is an analogical formation rather than a survival from Old English).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Flow&lt;/em&gt; is actually interesting in that it is yet another example of a strong verb becoming a weak verb. In Old English, &lt;em&gt;flow&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;flowan&lt;/em&gt;) was a class VII strong verb, just as &lt;em&gt;blow&lt;/em&gt;. (In contemporary German, both are still strong verbs: &lt;em&gt;blasen&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;— &lt;em&gt;blies&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;fliessen&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;— &lt;em&gt;floss&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see for yourself, all this leads to a rather sad answer to your last question: no, there isn't a general rule for words like these. You pretty much have to learn them by heart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, how the verb classification in Old English came about is a different story entirely, and I really hope that that is out of the scope of this question. We would have to dig deeper into Proto-Germanic or perhaps even Proto-Indo-European to find an answer, if it can be found at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T17:38:31.190" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4401" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4402" CreationDate="2010-10-26T17:39:26.667" Score="5" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &quot;case in point&quot; is something like a relevant example. How does the phrase break down literally, though? For example, &quot;with bated breath&quot; makes sense because &quot;to bate&quot; means to hold, so &quot;with bated breath&quot; means with breath held in anticipation. What about &quot;case in point&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T17:56:50.080" Title="Literal breakdown of the phrase &quot;case in point&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4401" CreationDate="2010-10-26T17:56:50.080" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;In point&lt;/em&gt; comes from French. World Wide Words &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-cas1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;explains it as follows&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[I]t was once possible to say &lt;em&gt;in point&lt;/em&gt; by itself, meaning something appropriate, relevant or pertinent, but it survives only in phrases like this one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It derives from the French &lt;em&gt;à point&lt;/em&gt;, meaning the same as &lt;em&gt;à propos&lt;/em&gt;, something relevant or to the point. The first example of the English form seems to be this from 1658: “Some play or other is in point”. It was beginning to look old fashioned by the time this next was published in 1888: “I recall another humble incident somewhat in point”. [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here’s an example cited in the Oxford English Dictionary from 1769 that shows how the modern set phrase &lt;em&gt;case in point&lt;/em&gt; may have come about: “Some case or cases, strictly in point, must be produced”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T17:56:50.080" />
  <row Id="4403" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-26T18:40:56.560" Score="0" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1016/do-you-use-a-or-an-before-acronyms&quot;&gt;Do you use &amp;ldquo;a&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;an&amp;rdquo; before acronyms?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should you use An or A with acronyms which sound like they start with a vowel when read literally?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...is covered in an FAQ located at....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...is covered in a FAQ located at...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I read the sentence I pronounce eff-eh-queue but I'm not sure if most people do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="377" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T18:40:56.560" ClosedDate="2010-10-26T18:49:42.307" Title="An or A with acronyms which sound like they start with a vowel?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;acronyms&gt;" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4404" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4406" CreationDate="2010-10-26T21:30:52.030" Score="1" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2009/11/04/9917052.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Good advice comes with a rationale so you can tell when it becomes bad advice. &lt;strong&gt;If you don't understanding why&lt;/strong&gt; something should be done, then you've fallen into the trap of cargo cult programming, and you'll keep doing it even when it's no longer necessary or even becomes deleterious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The person who wrote this is a very smart fellow which usually writes well, so this makes me wonder if it's an idiom I don't know instead of a simple (and ugly) mistake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="996" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T21:56:20.363" Title="Is &quot;you don't understanding why&quot; just a mistake or yet another not widely known idiom?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4405" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11784" CreationDate="2010-10-26T21:32:59.123" Score="4" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always thought that Short-sighted means that you fail to look far into the future when planning. I thought near-sighted meant that your focusing ability in your eyes becomes less powerful as you move further from the object you are looking at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed thesaurus.com has them as essentially meaning the &lt;a href=&quot;http://thesaurus.com/browse/near-sighted&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;same&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://thesaurus.com/browse/short-sighted&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;thing&lt;/a&gt;; multiple things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the correct definitions of these phrases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="766" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T14:01:45.717" Title="Short-sighted and Near-sighted" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4404" CreationDate="2010-10-26T21:56:20.363" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, this isn't an idiom, probably just a typo.  It should probably read, &quot;If you don't &lt;em&gt;understand&lt;/em&gt; why...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="194" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T21:56:20.363" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4407" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-26T22:00:17.380" Score="9" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know I learned the difference between the usage of &lt;strong&gt;farther&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;further&lt;/strong&gt; in school, but I can never remember where each one should be used.  Can someone help me out here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="194" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-27T04:04:46.587" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T08:24:52.003" Title="When should &quot;farther&quot; and &quot;further&quot; be used?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4405" CreationDate="2010-10-26T22:23:39.863" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you look at dictionary.com's definitions (&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nearsighted&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nearsighted&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/shortsighted&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;shortsighted&lt;/a&gt; ), they do pretty much mean the same thing. I think &quot;shortsighted&quot; is used slightly more often to mean &quot;failing to plan,&quot; but they can both be used that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-26T22:23:39.863" />
  <row Id="4409" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-26T22:45:17.613" Score="3" ViewCount="303" Body="&lt;p&gt;Originally in the monstrous question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4385/compound-sentences-the-punctuation-and-mooore&quot;&gt;Compound sentences, the punctuation and mooore&lt;/a&gt;, which I am now trying to split up, I wrote the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So lucky I am to find this site!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And suddenly I got pondering on the correct verb tense to be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am embarrassed by the fact that the site is something I have already found, but the sentence contains not a trace of a past tense. Maybe it would be more correct to write &quot;So lucky I am to have found this site&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1840" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T23:06:52.830" Title="&quot;I am lucky to find...&quot; vs &quot;I am lucky to have found...&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4407" CreationDate="2010-10-26T23:00:43.180" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;F&lt;b&gt;a&lt;/b&gt;rther&lt;/em&gt; is used for dist&lt;b&gt;a&lt;/b&gt;nce. &lt;em&gt;F&lt;b&gt;u&lt;/b&gt;rther&lt;/em&gt; is used for all other p&lt;b&gt;u&lt;/b&gt;rposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I ran farther than he did. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;After giving him the gift, I wished to further express my gratitude by hugging him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-27T08:24:52.003" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T08:24:52.003" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4411" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4414" CreationDate="2010-10-26T23:10:51.747" Score="3" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following Martha's advise I am splitting up a question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4385/compound-sentences-the-punctuation-and-mooore&quot;&gt;Compound sentences, the punctuation and mooore&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's put what I said / wrote something in the past. And now I want to elaborate some key points of spoken / written. So I start:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What I wanted to say [is/was/are/were] ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What form of the verb &quot;to be&quot; should I use after the word &quot;say&quot;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What difference does the use of present/past form make to the meaning, if both are allowed?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there any case when I should use plural form of the verb?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1840" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T14:13:00.940" Title="Should I say 'What I wanted to say is' or 'What I wanted to say was'?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4409" CreationDate="2010-10-26T23:46:31.233" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, &quot;to have found&quot; is the right form to use.  You found the site in the past, you are done finding it, and you are reflecting on this past event from the present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, &quot;So lucky I am&quot; is an unusual construction; it's not ungrammatical, but it makes you sound like you're overacting.  The normal phrasing of your full sentence would be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am so lucky to have found this site!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To further illuminate the use of present perfect instead of simple past here, consider these alternatives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I luckily found this site!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was so lucky to find this site!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1475" LastEditorUserId="1475" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-03T20:24:08.797" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T20:24:08.797" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="4414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4411" CreationDate="2010-10-27T01:46:18.440" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the tenses should agree here. So you can have either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What I wanted to say was...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What I want to say is...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think generally I'd use slight re-wordings of either one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What I meant to say was...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What I'm trying to say is...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those sound most natural. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are all pretty equivalent, conversationally. That is, when in the midst of a conversation, if you want to re-word something you just said, you can use any one and the meaning is the same. Think of it this way: you can either say, &quot;What I meant to say just a second ago was ...&quot;, where you're re-wording what just happened, or you can say &quot;The thought I'm trying to get across right now is...&quot;, meaning the way you expressed yourself just now was not accurately getting across your thoughts, so you're going to try to explain them again. Either way, the eventual meaning is, &quot;I'm going to say something right now to try to better convey a thought I want to express.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're referring to a conversation in the past, though, and you're trying to explain &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; conversation, you should use the past tense versions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastEditorUserId="1606" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-27T14:13:00.940" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T14:13:00.940" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4415" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-27T02:38:13.220" Score="2" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are adjectives, of course, but is there a more specific term?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="138" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T14:24:28.917" Title="Is there a term for words indicating capability, such as edible, manageable, etc?" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4416" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4417" CreationDate="2010-10-27T05:13:36.593" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/653/what-is-the-best-way-to-explain-how-to-choose-between-its-and-its&quot;&gt;What is the best way to explain how to choose between &amp;ldquo;its&amp;rdquo; and &amp;ldquo;it&amp;#39;s&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hello,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am always confused when is the usage of its or it's appropriate. Basically when should I use its and not it's (and vice versa).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T04:57:23.460" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T04:57:23.460" ClosedDate="2010-10-27T13:39:20.667" Title="When is it appropriate to use &quot;its&quot; and not &quot;it's&quot; (and vice versa)?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4416" CreationDate="2010-10-27T05:25:50.493" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Its&quot; is a possessive pronoun like &quot;his&quot; or &quot;her&quot;, while &quot;it's&quot; is the short form for &quot;it is&quot; or sometimes &quot;it has&quot;. Trying to replace it with &quot;her&quot; or &quot;it is/has&quot; helps. I use &quot;her&quot; because for many &quot;his&quot; and &quot;he's&quot; sound to much alike, and &quot;he's&quot; would be a test case for &quot;it's&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-27T05:30:53.920" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T05:30:53.920" />
  <row Id="4418" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4430" CreationDate="2010-10-27T07:16:27.470" Score="2" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following Martha's advise I am splitting up a question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4385/compound-sentences-the-punctuation-and-mooore&quot;&gt;Compound sentences, the punctuation and mooore&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When I describe consequences of some actions one can take, what form of the verb &quot;will&quot; should I use?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If both are generally allowed, how do they change the meaning?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Changes [will/would] not be reflected in the tree structure until the node is manually toggled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To understand the context, suppose one have performed actions that indirectly affect a tree structure. In an amicable way, these changes should be reflected in the structure. But they would not for some reason, and one must take an additional action for them to appear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that I don't know whether these action have been taken by anyone or whether anyone will ever perform them. It's just about that such actions exist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1840" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T09:46:28.710" Title="&quot;Changes would not be reflected&quot; vs. &quot;Changes will not be reflected&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;tense&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4419" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4433" CreationDate="2010-10-27T07:31:28.513" Score="7" ViewCount="230" Body="&lt;p&gt;When should I use &quot;in the internet&quot; and when &quot;on the internet&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T19:51:35.230" Title="&quot;in the internet&quot; and &quot;on the internet&quot;" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;internet&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4420" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4424" CreationDate="2010-10-27T07:44:36.607" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following Martha's advise I am splitting up a question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4385/compound-sentences-the-punctuation-and-mooore&quot;&gt;Compound sentences, the punctuation and mooore&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider the following fragment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;child nodes of a story representing its sub categories&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I intended this fragment for anyone to understand that a story has sub categories, and these sub categories are displayed as child nodes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the relation between child nodes, sub categories and a story clear and unambiguous?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How else could I construct the fragment so that it could be used as a subject of a sentence?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The story and the sub category are just terms, which may not make any sense to you but they do for those whom it's designated to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1840" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T09:29:05.730" Title="How to describe relations between objects unambiguously?" Tags="&lt;structure&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4421" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4423" CreationDate="2010-10-27T08:10:19.400" Score="1" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following Martha's advise I am splitting up a question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4385/compound-sentences-the-punctuation-and-mooore&quot;&gt;Compound sentences, the punctuation and mooore&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of the items that needed a further development was a research on child nodes of a story representing its sub categories being updated the moment the list of sub categories is changed through edit page for stories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The part from the beginning of the sentence to the word &quot;research&quot; is more or less clear. And then I would like to clarify what the research was about.&#xA;Other facts that you might need:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The research is complete.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Child nodes represents sub categories of a story.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The research was investigating a possibility of establishing the update mechanism.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The mechanism is designated to update child nodes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The update must take place every time when the list of sub categories is changed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to the questions themselves:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is my usage of passive voice (being updated) to describe what this research was about correct?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What other options (all you can think of) are possible? How do they change the meaning?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are going to suggest to split this sentence into several, see a question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4429/how-to-rephrase-a-sentence&quot;&gt;How to rephrase a sentence?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1840" LastEditorUserId="1840" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-27T09:45:28.780" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T09:45:28.780" Title="Constructing compound sentences" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;tense&gt;&lt;structure&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4421" CreationDate="2010-10-27T08:29:22.583" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of the items that needed a further&#xA;  development was a research on child&#xA;  nodes of a story representing its sub&#xA;  categories being updated the moment&#xA;  the list of sub categories is changed&#xA;  through edit page for stories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this sentence looks grammatically correct, it is too long to be clearly understood. It is possible to split it in shorter sentences and keep the same meaning. That's what I recommend. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of the items that needed further&#xA;  development relates to the child&#xA;  nodes. The child nodes represent the&#xA;  subcategories of a story. They need&#xA;  to be updated when the subcategory&#xA;  list is changed via the Edit page for&#xA;  stories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your questions about that sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is my usage of passive voice (being updated) to describe what this&#xA;  research was about correct? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it was wrong, but it wasn't very clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What other options (all you can think&#xA;  of) are possible? How do they change&#xA;  the meaning&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See if you like the change that I made in the sentences above on the clause that included &quot;being updated&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-27T08:52:43.827" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T08:52:43.827" />
  <row Id="4424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4420" CreationDate="2010-10-27T08:29:27.077" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would prefer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;child nodes representing a story's sub-categories&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or maybe something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;child nodes of a story representing this story's sub-categories&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your construction &quot;representing&quot; could refer back to &quot;a story&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But more likely I would not use this phrase like this. Rather I would introduce child nodes in a dedicated sentence and refer back to the definition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A story has sub-categories, and these categories are displayed as child nodes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;aforementioned child nodes&lt;/em&gt; or even only &lt;em&gt;child nodes&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-27T09:29:05.730" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T09:29:05.730" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4425" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-27T08:56:10.187" Score="4" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tend to use &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; when it's a suggestion I don't have a strong opinion on, i.e. it could be done in many other ways than the one I'm suggesting and it can still happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You should stop by that gas station to go to the bathroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, I usually use &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; for things that &lt;strong&gt;have to&lt;/strong&gt; happen in a certain way; any other way would make that thing not to happen. The problem is that some people find this usage harsh, as they receive it like if I'm giving them an order. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You must cross the street to get to that store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, it's just a depiction of reality, not an order. But I'm neither a native speaker nor a regular person. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what's the proper use for &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt;? Does this use differ among the English dialects?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="996" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T23:19:02.940" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T23:19:02.940" Title="When must one use &quot;should&quot; and when should one use &quot;must&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4426" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4440" CreationDate="2010-10-27T09:22:05.433" Score="0" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following Martha's advise I am splitting up a question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4385/compound-sentences-the-punctuation-and-mooore&quot;&gt;Compound sentences, the punctuation and mooore&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of the items that needed a further development was a research on child nodes of a story representing its sub categories being updated the moment the list of sub categories is changed through edit page for stories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did I miss any prepositions obligatory for sentences that complex?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel like it's not the right way to use English anyway, please see questions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4421/constructing-compound-sentences&quot;&gt;Constructing compound sentences&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4429/how-to-rephrase-a-sentence&quot;&gt;How to rephrase a sentence?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1840" LastEditorUserId="1840" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-27T09:46:07.780" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T17:42:04.193" Title="Prepositions in a compound sentence" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;structure&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4416" CreationDate="2010-10-27T09:28:13.390" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;it's&lt;/em&gt; = &lt;em&gt;it is&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;is has&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;its&lt;/em&gt; = &lt;em&gt;belonging (or pertaining) to it&lt;/em&gt;, in the same way that &lt;em&gt;his&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;belonging to him&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T09:28:13.390" />
  <row Id="4428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4411" CreationDate="2010-10-27T09:28:52.220" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you wanted to say something different &lt;strong&gt;at the time you said it&lt;/strong&gt;, you should say &quot;What I wanted to say &lt;strong&gt;was&lt;/strong&gt;...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've later reconsidered what you said and now wish you had said it differently, you should say &quot;What I should have said &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt;...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1814" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T09:28:52.220" />
  <row Id="4429" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4432" CreationDate="2010-10-27T09:44:33.037" Score="0" ViewCount="271" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following Martha's advise I am splitting up a question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4385/compound-sentences-the-punctuation-and-mooore&quot;&gt;Compound sentences, the punctuation and mooore&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of the items that needed a further development was a research on child nodes of a story representing its sub categories being updated the moment the list of sub categories is changed through edit page for stories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I indeed wanted to practice compound sentences (see a question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4421/constructing-compound-sentences&quot;&gt;Constructing compound sentences&lt;/a&gt;), another reason why this sentence is so complex is that I don't know how to split it into smaller parts.&#xA;Could you help me with it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need the context please read a post from the second link.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1840" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T14:22:07.283" Title="How to rephrase a sentence?" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;structure&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="4430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4418" CreationDate="2010-10-27T09:46:28.710" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.differencebetween.net/language/difference-between-would-and-will/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for a definition of the difference between &quot;will&quot; and &quot;would&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will is a definite statement, which means that you use it when you are certain that the future action is going to take place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would is an English modal verb and has many different uses, which include: invitations, requests, asking permission, talking about preferences and making arrangements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in your case, let me make an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were writing a requirements analysis, use &quot;would&quot;. You are requesting a certain behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are writing a user manual or describing existing functionality, the consequence of the action is implemented and definite. Therefore use will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T09:46:28.710" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4429" CreationDate="2010-10-27T10:05:23.047" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me give it a try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of the items that needed further development was research on child node behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Child nodes are defined as follows: a story has sub-categories, and these categories are displayed as child nodes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should these child nodes get updated when the list of subcategories is changed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should this happen whenever a story is changed using the Edit page? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or even:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I needed to further research child node update behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Child nodes are used to display the subcategories of a story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should they be updated whenever the list of subcategories changes as a story is edited using the Edit page?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or maybe you want to express this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I needed to further research child node update behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Child nodes are used to display the subcategories of a story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My question was: should they be updated whenever the list of subcategories changes as a story is edited using the Edit page?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-27T13:55:26.563" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T13:55:26.563" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4429" CreationDate="2010-10-27T10:06:51.440" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a native speaker, so there will sure be mistakes, but I would write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of the items that needed more work was research on story child nodes updating. The child nodes represent story sub categories and should be automatically updated when the list of sub categories is changed on the story edit page.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1842" LastEditorUserId="1842" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-27T14:22:07.283" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T14:22:07.283" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="4433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4419" CreationDate="2010-10-27T10:24:34.670" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would always use &quot;on&quot;. At least if you are talking about the contents you can find on it. If you're talking about its hardware structure for instance, then, &quot;in&quot; can maybe fit in some cases, I guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1317" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T10:24:34.670" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="4434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4419" CreationDate="2010-10-27T10:55:10.853" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'On the internet' would refer to data/items/websites that one can find there. &#xA;as Pierre said, the 'Internet' can also be seen as a web of hardware elements like routers and switches. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;that switch is 'in the internet' &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1848" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T10:55:10.853" />
  <row Id="4435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4425" CreationDate="2010-10-27T11:40:40.553" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, &quot;must&quot; is more imperative than &quot;should&quot;, which is often used as more of a suggestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both give some scope for choice, since if if was an order then you'd drop them completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However these can both be used in speech such that these guidelines don't apply. In particular in a passive aggressive command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1849" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T11:40:40.553" />
  <row Id="4436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4409" CreationDate="2010-10-27T11:52:15.870" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;I am lucky to have found this site&quot; &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is better than &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;I am lucky to find this site&quot;; &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but I think &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;I was lucky to find this site&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is more idiomatic than either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T11:52:15.870" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4437" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-27T12:15:38.613" Score="1" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi Everyone,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone replied to me with: &quot;Just wanted to confirm my hunch.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is this expression usually used for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&#xA;Wadih&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1114" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T12:28:33.800" Title="Just wanted to &quot;confirm my hunch&quot;" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4437" CreationDate="2010-10-27T12:28:33.800" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your example, &lt;strong&gt;hunch&lt;/strong&gt; means a feeling that something is true or will happen, although you do not know any definite facts about it.&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/hunch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;*&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in your example, it's about confirming his feeling/instinct about something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/hunch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Idioms section of Free Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;have a hunch&lt;/strong&gt; (that something is the case) and &lt;strong&gt;have a hunch about&#xA;  something&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;to have an idea about what did, will,&#xA;  or should happen; to have a feeling&#xA;  that something will or should happen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I had a hunch that you would be here when I arrived. I have a hunch about&#xA;  the way things will happen.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T12:28:33.800" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4425" CreationDate="2010-10-27T13:02:36.783" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is my take on sentence #2.  The word &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; can mean both your order and a necessity enforced by something else (physics, regulations, conventions, and so on).  Therefore, if there is a possibility of confusion of the meaning of &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt;, I think that &lt;em&gt;have to&lt;/em&gt; is preferred when you mean a necessity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in sentence #2, I do not think that the meaning of &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; is ambiguous (unless you are in an unlikely situation where the store can be reached with or without crossing the street and you might be telling someone not to go to the store without crossing the street).  Therefore I find nothing wrong about sentence #2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I am not a native speaker of English.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastEditorUserId="1755" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-27T15:06:12.260" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T15:06:12.260" />
  <row Id="4440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4426" CreationDate="2010-10-27T13:36:25.363" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Grammatically this sentence parses. No missed prepositions. There are two indefinite articles that might be superfluous:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of the items that needed further development was research on child nodes...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And yes, I do think that this sentence needs rephrasing (rule of brevity). See my answers on the corresponding questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T13:36:25.363" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4441" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4443" CreationDate="2010-10-27T14:06:27.707" Score="0" ViewCount="408" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&amp;lt;name&amp;gt; want a cookie! &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&amp;lt;name&amp;gt; wants a cookie!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which version is &lt;strong&gt;correct&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;why&lt;/strong&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="715" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-27T14:41:32.173" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T14:41:32.173" Title="&quot;Want&quot; vs &quot;wants&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4441" CreationDate="2010-10-27T14:11:40.727" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If &lt;em&gt;name&lt;/em&gt; is singular, then use &lt;em&gt;wants&lt;/em&gt;. If &lt;em&gt;name&lt;/em&gt; is plural, then use &lt;em&gt;want&lt;/em&gt;. The tricky part is that some names can be treated as &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1338/is-a-company-always-plural-or-are-small-companies-singular&quot;&gt;collective nouns&lt;/a&gt;, so that both &lt;em&gt;Microsoft want a cookie&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Microsoft wants a cookie&lt;/em&gt; can be correct, depending on whom you ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T14:11:40.727" />
  <row Id="4444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4441" CreationDate="2010-10-27T14:16:04.950" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is how you conjugate the verb &quot;to want&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I   want     We   want&#xA;You want     You  want&#xA;He  wants    They want&#xA;She wants&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So with a name, it depends whether it's plural or a collective noun, like RegDwight said. Generally, &quot;Billy wants a cookie.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to add one thing, though. Someone might be acting like a little kid. Say their name is Johnny. Then they might say, &quot;Johnny want a cookie!&quot; That isn't correct, but it conveys a sense of childishness and impatience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T14:16:04.950" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4429" CreationDate="2010-10-27T14:20:17.933" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An answer is already accepted, but let me try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One item that needed further development was updating the child nodes of a story. These nodes, representing the story's subcategories, must be updated the moment the list of subcategories is changed via the edit page for stories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T14:20:17.933" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4415" CreationDate="2010-10-27T14:24:28.917" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if there is an existing word, but why not use a short phrase? &lt;strong&gt;Capability adjectives&lt;/strong&gt;, or &lt;strong&gt;capability-indicating adjectives&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T14:24:28.917" />
  <row Id="4447" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4448" CreationDate="2010-10-27T14:27:54.487" Score="2" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does &lt;strong&gt;CT&lt;/strong&gt; mean anything in an editorial context? A slashdot article summary is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For some time now, rumors have been floating around that Sony was working on a concept for a mobile phone that also serves as a bona fide portable games console... For Sony buffs, you'll be interested to know that there's no Memory Stick slot here, but there is support for microSD cards.&quot; &lt;strong&gt;CT&lt;/strong&gt;: Which would all be well and good if it was real.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like the last sentence was tacked on after the article was already published. Is it just the initials of an editor or something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T14:43:08.613" Title="What does CT stand for in the context of a news article?" Tags="&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4447" CreationDate="2010-10-27T14:43:08.613" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like the initials of the editor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T14:43:08.613" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4426" CreationDate="2010-10-27T17:42:04.193" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An item for further development is&#xA;  research on [child nodes of a story (re-word?)]&#xA;  that display sub-categories'&#xA;  updates whenever the list of sub-categories is changed on the edit page&#xA;  for stories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I can tell this might be a better phrased articulation of what you're saying. I take it to mean that: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A list of X [subcategories] exists, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Somewhere else, updates to X are displayed, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Changes to X (or the list of x) are related to &quot;child nodes&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and More research is called for regarding that system (though I don't know what part needs research).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's another option for the front end:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An item for further [research/development] is how [child nodes of a story (re-word?)]&#xA;  display updates to the sub-categories whenever the list of sub-categories is changed on the edit page for stories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T17:42:04.193" />
  <row Id="4450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4405" CreationDate="2010-10-27T18:13:12.687" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Considering that Myopia and the adjective myopic can be &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/myopic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;used to refer to both the Ophtamalogical condition as well as the mental condition&lt;/a&gt; I think that you can feel comfortable using these terms interchangeably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T18:13:12.687" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3495" CreationDate="2010-10-27T18:20:30.200" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Shine a light on&quot; and &quot;Lift the veil&quot; can fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T18:20:30.200" />
  <row Id="4452" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4454" CreationDate="2010-10-27T18:40:16.493" Score="15" ViewCount="482" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/q/4241/549&quot;&gt;From a comment here,&lt;/a&gt; In frequent usage, 'arse' and 'ass' are often interchangeable when used to refer to buttocks or to a person of dubious charms. However, although 'to arse about' has a vague connection to 'make an ass of oneself', many of the threads of meaning derived &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/arse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;from arse are not present in ass&lt;/a&gt;. Likewise, ass has a donkey-referring component that arse does not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite common perception, are these words more deviant than common usage indicates?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: It appears they have (someone look this up with an authoritative dictionary please) different origins, &lt;em&gt;asinus&lt;/em&gt; (Greek) for ass, and &lt;em&gt;ærs&lt;/em&gt; (Old English) or &lt;em&gt;orros&lt;/em&gt; (Greek) for arse&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastEditorUserId="549" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-28T15:06:34.530" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T23:05:37.313" Title="How to differentiate &quot;arse&quot; and &quot;ass&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4452" CreationDate="2010-10-27T19:59:08.250" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Arse&lt;/em&gt; is the British word, and &lt;em&gt;ass&lt;/em&gt; is the American/Canadian word.  Idioms formed from &lt;em&gt;arse&lt;/em&gt; are going to be British idioms, while idioms formed with &lt;em&gt;ass&lt;/em&gt; (referring to buttocks) are American/Canadian.  The dictionary entry you link to says &quot;arse or ( US ), ( Canadian ) ass&quot;.  So, these words don't often overlap in usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-27T20:17:12.207" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T20:17:12.207" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="4454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4452" CreationDate="2010-10-27T21:00:34.530" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rather than getting confused, let me post an answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In both British and American English, the word &quot;ass&quot; is used for &quot;donkey&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For &quot;buttocks&quot;, British English uses &quot;arse&quot;, while American English uses &quot;ass&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In British English, the two words are &lt;em&gt;not interchangeable&lt;/em&gt;. &quot;Arse&quot; means only &quot;buttocks&quot;, while &quot;ass&quot; means only &quot;donkey&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In American English, there is only one word, &quot;ass&quot;, so the question of interchangeability does not arise.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The idiom about &quot;making an ass of oneself&quot; is present in both varieties and refers to the &quot;donkey&quot; sense. (Also, &quot;don't be an ass&quot;, etc.) Unrelated to this, there is &quot;arse about&quot; in British English, but no &quot;ass about&quot; in American English.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Usage: The word is less acceptable than in British English, even when referring to donkeys, because of its other sense, considered vulgar.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(Aside: A similar but different situation occurs with &quot;cock&quot;, sometimes considered vulgar in American English which prefers &quot;rooster&quot; for one of its senses. The British phrase &quot;cock up&quot; is not used in American English.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-10-27T21:00:34.530" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="4455" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4464" CreationDate="2010-10-27T22:41:51.383" Score="1" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard the phrase &quot;flip your script&quot; or &quot;flip the script&quot; in various hip-hop songs. What does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T09:00:17.857" Title="Meaning of &quot;Flip the script&quot;?" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4456" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4457" CreationDate="2010-10-28T01:42:51.857" Score="1" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the part of speech of &quot;Tater Salad&quot; in the sentence 'They call me &quot;Tater Salad.&quot;'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about &quot;crazy&quot; in &quot;They call me crazy.&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For that matter, is &quot;me&quot; the object of the verb &quot;call&quot; in both of those sentences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="189" LastEditorUserId="189" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-28T23:29:15.963" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T23:29:15.963" Title="They call me &quot;Tater Salad.&quot; What is the part of speech of &quot;Tater Salad&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;part-of-speech&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4456" CreationDate="2010-10-28T03:29:07.520" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The verb is an attributive ditransitive:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ditransitive_verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ditransitive_verb&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tater Salad is a proper noun. It's in direct object position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what POS Crazy is in sentence 2.  I'm too lazy to think up many tests, but it seems to fail some tests for nouns and adjectives, eg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;* They call me crazier. &#xA;* They call me craziest.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;means, this sentence looks wrong. Adjectives usually take -er and -est.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nouns usually can be plural or take &quot;the&quot; or &quot;an&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;They call me a crazy. &#xA;? They call me the crazy. &#xA;They call us crazies.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my incomplete research says, crazy in that position acts more like a noun, but isn't the best example of a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you prefer POS by authority, then crazy is an adjective, because that is probably what the dictionary says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T03:29:07.520" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4458" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4460" CreationDate="2010-10-28T03:52:16.330" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;I thought this might have already been asked, but apparently not.  Is using the phrase &quot;one another&quot; considered equivalent to the phrase &quot;one and other&quot;?  Is one of the two considered right and the other wrong?  To give an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;The two computers were situated relatively close to one and other.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;The two computers were situated relatively close to one another.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1163" LastEditorUserId="380" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-28T15:52:36.220" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T15:52:36.220" Title="One Another or One And Other" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;eggcorn&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4456" CreationDate="2010-10-28T04:07:31.240" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The form of both of those sentences is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Subject   Attributive-Ditransitive-Verb   Direct-Object   Object-Complement&#xA; They                 call                    me            &quot;Tater Salad&quot;&#xA; They                 call                    me            crazy&#xA; She                  painted                 the house     blue&#xA; He                   appointed               Bob           chief bottle washer&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.suite101.com/content/constructions-of-the-english-predicate-a112227&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reference&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="189" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T04:07:31.240" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4458" CreationDate="2010-10-28T04:51:50.020" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first, &quot;one and other&quot; sounds quite wrong to me.  If it's a construction that's in use, it's one I've never seen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second, &quot;one another&quot;, is standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T04:51:50.020" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3258" CreationDate="2010-10-28T06:50:31.110" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that the term is predominantly used for cricket. Perhaps because of all the major international sports the participating countries in the main are very dispersed (in particular from a British perspective). So cricketing teams would traditionally have to travel long distances for an international fixture. And once you have made a long trip it would make sense to arrange a series of fixtures (a &quot;tour&quot;) rather than a one-off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no sarcastic intent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If an English football team plays a one-off match in another English town or a nearby country then that is never referred to as a tour because they'll return home straight after the match.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="368" LastEditorUserId="368" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-26T10:00:38.567" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T10:00:38.567" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4462" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4463" CreationDate="2010-10-28T08:12:09.130" Score="5" ViewCount="208" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;of&quot; always supposed to be pronounced with the v sound (like &quot;ov&quot;)? Or does it depend on the region (e.g. US, UK) or maybe on the word that follows the preposition? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, how would you pronounce the title of this question?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T21:17:49.613" Title="Pronunciation of &quot;of&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="4463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4462" CreationDate="2010-10-28T08:26:30.810" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English (well, OK, UK, US, Australian and NZ English, at least, but I suspect all English), &quot;of&quot; is pronounced with the 'v' sound, as &quot;ov&quot;. This helps to distinguish it from &quot;off&quot;, a separate word (meaning &quot;not on&quot;), pronounced with the 'f' sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1402" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-01T21:17:49.613" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T21:17:49.613" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="4464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4455" CreationDate="2010-10-28T09:00:17.857" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To turn a situation around by using what was said/done against you against the other. Maybe best understood like this: I am exchanging roles with my counterpart, taking on his part of the script.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are possible explanations in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Flip%20The%20Script&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;urban dictionary&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T09:00:17.857" />
  <row Id="4465" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-28T09:00:31.707" Score="15" ViewCount="499" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am having a discussion with colleagues about a recent news article relating to new words in the dictionary (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11637125&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cleggmannia? really?&lt;/a&gt;) and got onto the subject of evolution of language, and how many words Shakespeare 'invented'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having never given the statistic a second thought until now, it occurs to me that it is bizarre to imagine someone who, at the time a successful popularist playwright, would just stick words of ambiguous meaning (to his audience at least) into his works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it not a more sensible suggestion that he was simply the earliest recorded individual to write these words down, and that they were probably very much in common use at the time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1857" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T19:04:14.320" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T19:04:14.320" Title="Did Shakespeare really invent 1700 words?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="4466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4465" CreationDate="2010-10-28T09:59:06.370" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This was on my list of questions to ask at this site! I don't have an answer but I do have some thoughts and further questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Most of these words seem to be variants.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;If you look at the list here at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/resources/shakespeare-words.htm&quot;&gt;Words Shakespeare invented&lt;/a&gt;, most of these are variations. For example amazement is a variant of amaze. It’s a little more credible to vary an existing word than introduce a completely new one. Also could it be true that there was a lot more improvisation in the language generally at the time due to the lack of a literate populace and established written standards and dictionaries. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First to use in print isn't the same as invent&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;If this was the dawn of English language publishing then presumably Shakespeare was just in the right place at the right time for be the first to print with many English Words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What of Shakespeare's Rivals?&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;If Shakespeare was in the right place at the right time then so surely were Marlowe and Jonson - I haven't seen similar claims for them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does every language have its Shakespeare?&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I've heard Luther being called the father of German. Would Homer be the same for Ancent Greek? What about other languages?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="122" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-28T16:31:22.093" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T16:31:22.093" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4467" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4468" CreationDate="2010-10-28T13:06:39.437" Score="2" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is &lt;em&gt;for the better or worse&lt;/em&gt;? I remember hearing this a few times before but am not really 100% sure on the exact meaning of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T17:54:56.020" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T17:54:56.020" Title="What is &quot;For the better or worse&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="4468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4467" CreationDate="2010-10-28T13:17:59.770" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/for+better+or+worse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Usually this is said, &quot;for better or (for) worse&quot;&lt;/a&gt; (without &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;).  This phrase is used to indicate that a fact you are mentioning is not necessarily a good thing or bad thing.  Often it is used if you say something, and you do not want to imply that you think it is a good thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nowadays, anybody can easily publish articles on the Internet, for better or worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T13:17:59.770" />
  <row Id="4469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4467" CreationDate="2010-10-28T13:18:45.450" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The idiom is &quot;for better or worse&quot; - is it this you mean? If so, it just expresses this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If a situation exists or happens for better or for worse, it exists or happens whether its results are good or bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/for+better+or+worse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This comes from an idiom &quot;for the better/worse&quot;, which means &quot;to produce improvement/decline&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is not what you are looking for, there is a phrase &quot;for the better part&quot;, which means &quot;for more than half but not all&quot;. This is used sometimes like: &quot;for the better or worse part [of my life]&quot;, which would be &quot;more than half my lifetime, but using better is somewhat misleading, as the time really was not good, but bad&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T13:18:45.450" />
  <row Id="4470" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4476" CreationDate="2010-10-28T13:33:57.263" Score="5" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;How should &lt;em&gt;often&lt;/em&gt; be pronounced in formal speech? &quot;off-ten&quot; or &quot;of-fen&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T15:05:18.250" Title="Pronunciation of &quot;often&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="4471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4467" CreationDate="2010-10-28T13:35:03.160" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usual way it's heard is &quot;for better or for worse.&quot; To break it down:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;for better&quot; means that something happened and the result is good. &quot;He quit using drugs, for better.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;for worse&quot; means something happened and the outcome is bad. &quot;We re-elected our president, for worse.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Putting them together, it means the result can go either way. &quot;The new legislation has passed, for better or worse.&quot; Meaning, it was probably a controversial law, we don't know what the outcome will be, but it has happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T13:35:03.160" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4462" CreationDate="2010-10-28T13:43:07.453" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends. Formally it's always &quot;ov.&quot; But it can be shortened to &quot;a&quot;, like if you say someone is a &quot;piece a shit&quot;, or &quot;cream a the crop.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some following words lend themselves better to shortening. For example, saying &quot;I've heard a him&quot; is less common (for me anyway) than &quot;I've heard ov him.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T13:43:07.453" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4470" CreationDate="2010-10-28T13:44:32.150" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my dialect, it's &quot;I of-en go to the store.&quot; If you say &quot;off-ten&quot; it's like you are enunciating particularly clearly for some reason. It's possible that &quot;off-ten&quot; is normal in other regions, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T13:44:32.150" />
  <row Id="4474" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4477" CreationDate="2010-10-28T14:12:49.740" Score="6" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;What English language variety (AmE, BrE, and the like) better to choose when translating to English (or building it from scratch) an E-Commerce site which intends to operate globally? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is American English a standard choice for such a use? Or is there a trend for some artificial mix of different varieties of English to become such a standard?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="142" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-30T17:32:27.717" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T21:35:55.910" Title="English Language Variety for Global E-Commerce" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;internet&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4462" CreationDate="2010-10-28T14:17:58.597" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; is often pronounced weakly, and the /v/ sound at the end of &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; is sometimes pronounced as [f].  The phrase “of course” is a typical example.  I think that the /v/ in the word &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; is often pronounced as [f] before an unvoiced consonant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly speaking, this came as a surprise to me.  As a foreign speaker, I learned the following “rule” at school: the word &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; in the phrase &lt;em&gt;of course&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced with the “f” sound.  (A similar “rule” is that the word &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;have to&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced with the “f” sound.)  Learning it as a rule had given me a (wrong) impression that English speakers are &lt;em&gt;aware&lt;/em&gt; of it.  However, while looking for a material to back up this “rule,” I learned that this is merely a variation of the actual sound of the same phoneme /v/.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T14:17:58.597" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4470" CreationDate="2010-10-28T14:27:39.697" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Should&quot; is inappropriate in the question. Both pronunciations occur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the 19th century /ɔ:fn/ (&quot;aufn&quot;) was the normal pronunciation, so in &lt;em&gt;The Pirates of Penzance&lt;/em&gt;, there is an elaborate joke on the confusion of 'often' and 'orphan'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T14:27:39.697" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4474" CreationDate="2010-10-28T14:35:59.393" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even though I'm a Brit I would have to vote for American English.  I've lived here (the US) for 12 years, and there have been just too many words that translate OK from American English to British English but not the other way round, examples include; mail/post, dumpster/skip.  It is also a lot easier to explain American English spelling, I give you the letter 'u' as an example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T14:35:59.393" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4470" CreationDate="2010-10-28T14:38:55.660" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a lot of variation because of the specific sounds involved. &quot;o&quot; in this case can be pronounced as [&amp;nbsp;a&amp;nbsp;], [&amp;nbsp;ɔ:&amp;nbsp;] or [&amp;nbsp;ɑ:&amp;nbsp;]. &quot;en&quot;, while usually just a syllabic [ n ], can also be pronounced [&amp;nbsp;ɪn&amp;nbsp;]. In Southern American and urban English accents, &quot;en&quot; frequently becomes a syllabic [&amp;nbsp;m&amp;nbsp;], especially when followed by a word that begins with a bilabial consonant. In any accent, the &quot;t&quot; is usually elided, but when present it's usually a true sharp [&amp;nbsp;t&amp;nbsp;] rather than, say, a flap [&amp;nbsp;ɾ&amp;nbsp;]. Of course, not all combinations of these sounds are valid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T14:38:55.660" />
  <row Id="4479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="727" CreationDate="2010-10-28T14:43:31.530" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I leave some British in my accent as a sanity preservation device:-)  What really bugs me is when people keep telling me I'm saying it 'wrong' even though the meaning is completely clear, so I get my own back my continuing to say &quot;shh-edule&quot; instead of &quot;sked-ule&quot; for schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do, however, try and use American words when I know them just to avoid confusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T14:43:31.530" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2321" CreationDate="2010-10-28T14:48:40.447" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always assumed it was just so the Americans can say they have more billionaires:-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T14:48:40.447" />
  <row Id="4481" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-28T14:57:30.217" Score="6" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep second guessing myself on this one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On one hand it seems like it should because the word Boolean is derived from the name of George Boole, the inventor of Boolean logic. However, the term as it is commonly used is not meant to imply something is like George Boole in any way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose the same question could be asked for any technical term that is named for its inventor, for example Cartesian coordinate systems (René Descartes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the titular question stands; should I capitalize &lt;strong&gt;Boolean&lt;/strong&gt; when using it to refer to 2 state logic or variables in a computer program?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Clarification:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;By &quot;...or variables in a computer program...&quot; I don't mean the actual code of a program.  I meant in documentation that refers variables in a computer program.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example &quot;Implement a variable using the the Boolean data type for the particular programming language that you are using.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="179" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T20:26:37.570" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T09:49:39.217" Title="Should the word Boolean be capitalized?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4482" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4485" CreationDate="2010-10-28T15:03:51.740" Score="2" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;Loosely defined, sabermetrics is the study/usage/development of baseball statistics. I get the &quot;metrics&quot; part of the word, and I know what a saber is. But, what do sabers have to do with baseball? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My only idea is that the baseball bat is kind of like a saber, but that seems to be a stretch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T15:21:54.503" Title="Why is Baseball Statistics called &quot;Sabermetrics&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4470" CreationDate="2010-10-28T15:05:18.250" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen the common pronunciation change in my region (American English) in the last 20 years or so. As a kid, we never pronounced the &quot;t&quot;, but this has become much more common. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Current dictionaries will give both pronunciations. An old Funk and Wagnall's I have from the early 90s lists only the /ɔ:fn/ (&quot;aufn&quot;) pronunciation. I also notice that the younger generation is more likely to pronounce the &quot;t&quot;. But for some reason, in &quot;soften&quot; the &quot;t&quot; is not pronounced. It gets weirder though because we do pronounce the &quot;t&quot; in both &quot;soft&quot; and &quot;oft&quot;, so I would just go with whichever pronunciation of &quot;often&quot; you prefer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T15:05:18.250" />
  <row Id="4484" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4490" CreationDate="2010-10-28T15:20:17.560" Score="1" ViewCount="232" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the origin of the word 'jive'? I'm partly confused because I thought &quot;to jive&quot; meant &quot;to go well with,&quot; like &quot;that approach jives well with me.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then someone called me a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jive+turkey&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;jive turkey&lt;/a&gt;. Is that the same &quot;jive&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/jive?r=75&amp;amp;src=ref&amp;amp;ch=dic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt; it's defined as &quot;deceptive, exaggerated, or meaningless talk&quot;, &quot;to engage in kidding, teasing, or exaggeration,&quot; etc. That works for &quot;jive turkey&quot; but not for what I originally thought &quot;jive&quot; meant. I think that meaning exists, though, as evidenced by the all-powerful &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=jive#sclient=psy&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;source=hp&amp;amp;q=%22that+jives%22&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&amp;amp;gs_rfai=&amp;amp;pbx=1&amp;amp;fp=ddfbf15c2e2f4021&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;google&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastEditorUserId="1606" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-28T18:40:02.360" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T18:40:02.360" Title="Origin of 'jive', 'jive turkey'" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4482" CreationDate="2010-10-28T15:21:54.503" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to be an acronym, like SCUBA: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;S(ociety for) A(merican) B(aseball) R(esearch) + -metrics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sabermetrics?r=75&amp;amp;src=ref&amp;amp;ch=dic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T15:21:54.503" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4481" CreationDate="2010-10-28T15:23:38.870" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When programming, you refer to &quot;a boolean variable,&quot; or &quot;a bool&quot;/&quot;a boolean&quot; for short.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When talking about the concept, I think it used to be Boolean logic, but boolean logic seems fine to me nowadays. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T15:23:38.870" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4487" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4494" CreationDate="2010-10-28T16:10:31.863" Score="2" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;What Does 'Share and Share Alike' Mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T17:38:08.917" Title="What Does 'Share and Share Alike' Mean?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4474" CreationDate="2010-10-28T16:11:40.643" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the company is based in an English speaking country then I think it would be a mistake to try to ape a different variety of English. I would try to sound natural whilst being mindful of words &amp;amp; idioms that might trouble people from other countries. Avoid asking people for their 'Zip Code' for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it’s just an eCommerce site then I would have thought it possible to be completely neutral in this regard. Similarly, if you are translating from an existing foreign language site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T16:11:40.643" />
  <row Id="4489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4487" CreationDate="2010-10-28T16:18:19.407" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Share and everyone gets a piece. Share and share alike and everyone gets a piece the same size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T16:18:19.407" />
  <row Id="4490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4484" CreationDate="2010-10-28T16:24:26.093" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the &quot;to go well with&quot; meaning is actually a corruption of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jibe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;jibe&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;a completely different sound alike. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T16:24:26.093" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4481" CreationDate="2010-10-28T16:36:50.950" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia capitalizes &lt;em&gt;Boolean&lt;/em&gt;, as does &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Boolean&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; (both as an adjective and as a noun). &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boolean&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; and the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language  capitalize the adjective and don't have an entry for the noun. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What Wiktionary does &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; capitalize is the noun &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bool&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;bool&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. M-W and AHD don't have an entry for &lt;em&gt;bool&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A search in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; returns 94 cites for &lt;em&gt;Boolean&lt;/em&gt;, but sadly only 50 randomly selected ones are displayed at a time, so I just hit &quot;reload&quot; a few times. The results that I got each time showed the following distribution:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Boolean 30 28 30 26&#xA;boolean 19 21 18 22&#xA;BOOLEAN  1  1  2  2&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A search for &lt;em&gt;bool&lt;/em&gt; did not return a single result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-28T16:47:56.433" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T16:47:56.433" />
  <row Id="4492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4467" CreationDate="2010-10-28T17:08:04.700" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;None of these answers so far mention the obvious, that it's an archaic construction from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_vows&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Book of Common Prayer Marriage vows&lt;/a&gt; which include the commitment &quot;...for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health,...&quot; : all different ways of saying &quot;come what may&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T17:08:04.700" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="189" CreationDate="2010-10-28T17:13:51.667" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In an absolute sense, your friend is correct: &quot;spare me with...&quot; doesn't really mean anything. Thus it doesn't mean &quot;don't bother me with the details of...&quot;, but this is about as useful as saying that it doesn't mean &quot;the sky is blue&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you were doubtless intending to say is &quot;spare me the details [of...]&quot;, which does indeed mean &quot;don't bother me with the details [of...]&quot;. &quot;Spare me [x]&quot; is an idiom meaning &quot;I don't want to be bothered with [x], so kindly leave [x] out of any further conversation.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T17:13:51.667" />
  <row Id="4494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4487" CreationDate="2010-10-28T17:38:08.917" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4487/what-does-share-and-share-alike-mean/4489#4489&quot;&gt;what cindi said&lt;/a&gt;, The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms provides some background:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;share and share alike&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mete out or partake of something equally, as in &lt;em&gt;Mom told the children to share and share alike with their Halloween candy&lt;/em&gt;. This term, first recorded about 1566, alluded to the equal apportioning of spoils and soon was broadened to include equal sharing in the costs of a venture and other undertakings or possessions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Phrase Finder &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/316750.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adds&lt;/a&gt; that the 1566 cite is to be found in the comedy &lt;em&gt;Damon and Pythias&lt;/em&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Edwardes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Richard Edwardes&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let vs into the Courte to parte the spoyle, share and share like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It goes on to say that the first recorded appearance of the phrase using the word &lt;em&gt;alike&lt;/em&gt; is probably this one from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Crusoe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Robinson Crusoe&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, 1719:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He declar'd he had reserv'd nothing from the Men, and went Share and Share alike with them in every Bit they eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T17:38:08.917" />
  <row Id="4495" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4509" CreationDate="2010-10-28T18:40:44.513" Score="1" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where did the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jive&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;jive style of slang&lt;/a&gt; come from? It sounds pretty funny... specially from that scene in Airplane.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T00:46:48.563" Title="Origin of jive slang" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4496" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4498" CreationDate="2010-10-28T18:54:12.130" Score="2" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/equanimity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;etymology of &quot;equanimous&quot;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1600–10; &amp;lt; L aequanimitās, equiv. to aequ(us) even, plain, equal + anim(us) mind, spirit, feelings + -itās -ity&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;aequus&quot; sounds a lot like &quot;aqua&quot;... and I can see how calm water is even and plain. is there any relation between the two? if not, where does each come from, if they can be traced further back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T19:09:33.423" Title="any relation between &quot;equanimous&quot; and &quot;water&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4497" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4499" CreationDate="2010-10-28T19:08:18.127" Score="3" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to write a business email and, as English is not my first language, I'm having a bit of trouble coming up with a really polite way of saying the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hi, It's been a week since I e-mailed you asking you for the documentation, and you haven't replied yet. I'm in a hurry, so, would you please send them to me as soon as possible?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what I've come up with so far:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am looking forward to receiving these documents, as they are essential to our development. Would you please forward them as soon as possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I feel that &quot;Would you please forward them as soon as possible&quot; is not polite enough. Is it? Are there any other options here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1868" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-28T19:17:42.170" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T19:26:57.807" Title="Politely asking &quot;Why is this taking so long??&quot;" Tags="&lt;email&gt;&lt;politeness&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4496" CreationDate="2010-10-28T19:09:33.423" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is really more about Latin than English, but anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Aqua&lt;/em&gt; comes from the (reconstructed/hypothetical) Proto-Indo-European &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix%3aProto-Indo-European_%2Aak%CA%B7%C4%81-&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;*akʷā-&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;water&quot;, whence the Old English &lt;em&gt;ǽ&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;river&quot;, and a few others (follow the link).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Aequus&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, is of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=equal&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;unknown&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aequus#Latin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;origin&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T19:09:33.423" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4497" CreationDate="2010-10-28T19:26:57.807" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you come up with is polite enough. Another option is something along the lines of, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hope to move forward on this project next week. Please send the requested documentation by Friday; if that is not possible, please let me know when I can expect to receive the documentation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a little more pointed but gives a deadline (useful) while acknowledging that their timescale may not be the same as yours (polite).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="928" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T19:26:57.807" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4500" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-28T20:31:04.063" Score="1" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some words that have similar sounds, though they seem to not share any particular root, and have general connotation. For example, gl-, in gleam, glitter, glisten, has something to do with shiny things. That's the only one I can think of, but I saw an article with one or two other similar &quot;root&quot;s. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a name for words/sounds/roots like these? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a good resource for a list of them? Could be fun to learn them all and use them for poetic effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T09:32:15.877" Title="Name and list of words with common sounds that share common meanings" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4501" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-28T20:52:01.057" Score="0" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3288/is-staff-plural&quot;&gt;Is staff plural?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It always sounds wrong to me when people refer to a a proper team/group/band/etc in plural form, e.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nirvana are the creators of grunge.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The Avalanche are on the road to the Stanley Cup this year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, this sounds correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nirvana is the creator of grunge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the name is plural, it sounds correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Foo Fighters are on tour this year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the rule for this? I seem to be hearing this more and more these days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1869" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-28T21:29:09.437" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T21:29:09.437" ClosedDate="2010-10-28T22:31:32.023" Title="Is the usage of &quot;are&quot; correct when referring to a team/group/band?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4481" CreationDate="2010-10-28T20:59:57.570" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's &quot;Boolean.&quot; You wouldn't call a political dystopia &quot;orwellian,&quot; would you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="701" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T20:59:57.570" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4503" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4506" CreationDate="2010-10-28T21:13:55.697" Score="5" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can say &quot;sartorial&quot; to mean &quot;of or pertaining to tailors of their trade.&quot; Is there an equivalent for carpenters?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-29T21:25:47.433" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T21:25:47.433" Title="Word for referring to the arts of the carpenter" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;analogy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4503" CreationDate="2010-10-28T22:18:36.410" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless the reader has a Latin dictionary on hand (or they search the web and hit this page) 'lignarial' would be inscrutable to most readers (unless that is your goal!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if we are using other languages to justify crafting words, 'carpenteria' means carpentry in Spanish, and the -al ending is a common way to turn nouns into adjectives, so may I suggest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;carpenterial&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, the -or agent noun suffix is common in describing people in a given line of work: actor, governor, navigator, etc. Compare 'gubernatorial':&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;carpentorial&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose the only added benefit these made up words would have when your readers see them is that they can probably guess what they mean. Again it depends on context. I would advise against using any of these unattested words in formal writing, for example (even 'lignarial' — and 'lignarial' carries a certain feeling of veracity which may cause folks to look the word up, leading to more frustration when they inevitably cannot find anything about it except this web page).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-29T20:51:36.543" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T20:51:36.543" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4503" CreationDate="2010-10-28T22:29:18.467" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, since &lt;em&gt;sartorial&lt;/em&gt; comes from the Latin word &lt;em&gt;sartor&lt;/em&gt;, then I guess the word pertaining to carpenters would be &lt;em&gt;lignarial&lt;/em&gt;, coming from the Latin word for carpenter, &lt;em&gt;lignarius&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not an attested word of course, but if your goal is obfuscation of the same sort as &lt;em&gt;sartorial&lt;/em&gt;, then &lt;em&gt;lignarial&lt;/em&gt; is the word you want to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-10-28T22:29:18.467" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4507" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-28T23:43:20.237" Score="2" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I get an example of statement that can be said to be Hofstadterian?&#xA;Also please provide a small comment with the statement if possible. thankyou.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1429" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T05:19:56.390" Title="Can I get an example of statement that can be said to be Hofstadterian?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4507" CreationDate="2010-10-29T00:35:49.897" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hofstadt talked about levels of recursion in his book &quot;Goedel Escher Bach&quot; - a book which expounds upon many other things, such as strange loops (which are these peculiar not-really-thinking-though-somehow-becoming-conscious-through-entanglement &quot;things&quot; (for lack of a better word (though English does have many words)) that are repeatedly referred to in the book) and various scientific disciplines like Computer Science and logic (which are pretty related to each other, of course) - so if one were to be asked about a Hofstadterian statement, one could say it is very convoluted, deeply nested, and hard-to-parse but maybe not so hard to understand once you've read through it a few times =).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T00:35:49.897" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4495" CreationDate="2010-10-29T00:46:48.563" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;jive style of slang&quot; is a dialect of English, most commonly known as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_Vernacular_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;African-American Vernacular English&lt;/a&gt;.  Americans might have heard in the 90s about Ebonics, which is the same thing.  I don't think it is really appropriate to call it &lt;em&gt;jive&lt;/em&gt; anymore.  You can see from the Wikipedia page that it has many names, partly because it is a sensitive topic for many, and some names have become stigmatized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its precise origins &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_Vernacular_English#Origins&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;are not entirely clear&lt;/a&gt;.  Some speculate that it was English that was heavily influenced by West African languages, some believe that influence was minimal.  In either case, it shares many features of Southern American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T00:46:48.563" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4510" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-29T01:37:38.637" Score="29" ViewCount="657" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is “cannot” spelled as one word whereas other similar constructions such as “do not,” “will not,” “shall not,” “may not” and “must not” are spelled as two words (unless they are contracted as “don’t” and so on)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I know that languages are not always logical, so I would not be too surprised if there is no known reason for this.  But I am asking this in the hope that there is some explanation.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T18:19:24.820" Title="Why is “cannot” spelled as one word?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;&lt;negation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="6" />
  <row Id="4511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4507" CreationDate="2010-10-29T05:19:56.390" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;On the grounds that sentences written by Hofstadter are surely &quot;Hofstadterian&quot;, here's a random sentence from &lt;em&gt;Gödel, Escher, Bach&lt;/em&gt; (p. 130):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The proverbial German phenomenon of the &quot;verb-at-the-end&quot;, about which droll tales of absentminded professors who would begin a sentence, ramble on for an entire lecture, and then finish up by rattling off a string of verbs by which their audience, for whom the stack had long since lost its coherence, would be totally nonplussed, are told, is an excellent example of linguistic pushing and popping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T05:19:56.390" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4512" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4513" CreationDate="2010-10-29T05:32:38.730" Score="4" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I am not a native English speaker, I am a bit curious to know the meaning of this sentence which I heard in Nelly Furtado's song &quot;Powerless&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'Cause this life is too short to live it just for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Life is too short to spend it with you, meaning that I don't want to waste time on you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Life seems too short and I want some more to spend it with you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it is a bit of an awkward question but I thought this was the best place to ask it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="113" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T04:12:30.090" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T04:12:30.090" Title="Meaning of the sentence from the song &quot;Powerless&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;lyrics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4512" CreationDate="2010-10-29T05:42:10.327" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it means &quot;Life is too short to live it the way you want me to.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The song &quot;Powerless&quot; is all about living your life the way you want it to, and not letting others dictate you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="792" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T05:42:10.327" />
  <row Id="4514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4510" CreationDate="2010-10-29T08:05:49.427" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The double &quot;&lt;strong&gt;n&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; is the best and likeliest explanation for why this convention long ago became established. Problems of clarity or pronunciation would seem to arise with the other modal forms you list (since they don't end in &lt;strong&gt;n&lt;/strong&gt;) should you drop the space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="368" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T08:05:49.427" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4515" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4517" CreationDate="2010-10-29T08:52:28.457" Score="2" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I read the &lt;em&gt;To Kill a Mockingbird&lt;/em&gt; book.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I read the book &lt;em&gt;To Kill a Mockingbird&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More complicated example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I think you should read the &lt;em&gt;No Silver Bullet - Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering&lt;/em&gt; paper.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I think you should read the paper &lt;em&gt;No Silver Bullet - Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="191" LastEditorUserId="191" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-29T09:40:14.070" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T09:47:03.253" Title="&quot;I read the To Kill a Mockingbird book&quot; vs. &quot;I read the book To Kill a Mockingbird&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4510" CreationDate="2010-10-29T09:01:32.490" Score="20" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=cannot&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;c.1400, from &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; (v.) + &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;. O.E. expressed the notion by &lt;em&gt;ne cunnan&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't really help, but it is a good starting point. The OED supplies the 1400 cite as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cursor M. (add. to Cott.) p. 959. 105 And þou þat he deed fore cannot sorus be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also defines &lt;em&gt;cannot&lt;/em&gt; as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the ordinary modern way of writing &lt;em&gt;can not&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cannot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cannot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; agree, by defining &lt;em&gt;cannot&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;can not&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailywritingtips.com/cannot-or-can-not/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Daily Writing Tips&lt;/a&gt; expand on this, their bottom line being:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There’s no difference in meaning between &lt;em&gt;cannot&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;can not&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Funnily enough, they come to that conclusion after quoting two resources that say something slightly different:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Washington State University language site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These two spellings [cannot/can not] are largely interchangeable, but by far the most common is “cannot” and you should probably use it except when you want to be emphatic: “No, you can not wash the dog in the Maytag.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;AskOxford:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Both &lt;em&gt;cannot&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;can not&lt;/em&gt; are acceptable spellings, but the first is much more usual. You would use &lt;em&gt;can not&lt;/em&gt; when the ‘not’ forms part of another construction such as ‘not only.’&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That last point is especially interesting. A very similar concern is being raised on the Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Talk%3acannot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Talk page for &lt;em&gt;cannot&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Maybe our current definition is wrong or incomplete. To me, &quot;cannot&quot; and &quot;can not&quot; are different words. &quot;I can not sit down&quot; means you have the option of not sitting down, but &quot;I cannot sit down&quot; means you don't have the option of sitting down. &quot;can not&quot; is rarely used baldly like that, it's usually used with &quot;only&quot; - &quot;I can not only get to the school, I can get there in 10 minutes!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To the extent that &quot;can not&quot; is an acceptable way, at all, of writing &quot;cannot&quot; (also written &quot;can't&quot;) - I bet it is only because it is such a common mistake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That post goes on to link to &lt;a href=&quot;http://alexfiles.com/cannot.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this blog&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My public school teachers said &lt;em&gt;can not&lt;/em&gt; was the correct form, and that &lt;em&gt;cannot&lt;/em&gt; was a corruption. A friend of mine from a previous generation was taught the opposite.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [...]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Here's the explanation: If I can not do something, then I can also do it. I can not write these words if I choose (and you may think I shouldn't), but I also can, and am, writing them. What I cannot do is know who will read them, or what they will think. I can imagine such things, but I'm limited by my experience and perceptions. So this is the rule: if you either could or could not do something, then you use two words, because you can leave out the second word if you so choose. If you could not do something no matter how much you desired or tried, then you use one word, cannot. There is no other option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sometimes both are true. Witness:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I cannot change the world.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I can not change the world. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Languagehat &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.languagehat.com/archives/000876.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chimes in&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[The Merriam-Webster definition of &lt;em&gt;cannot&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;can not&lt;/em&gt;] is appalling for two quite distinct reasons: from a copy-editing point of view because it implies that &lt;em&gt;cannot&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;can not&lt;/em&gt; are interchangeable, and from a lexicographical point of view because it's a lousy definition. The definition of &lt;em&gt;cannot&lt;/em&gt; should be either &quot;the negative form of &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt;&quot; (as the AHD &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yourdictionary.com/cannot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;has it&lt;/a&gt;) or a periphrasis like &quot;is not able to.&quot; The only context in which &lt;em&gt;can not&lt;/em&gt;, two words, occurs is as an emphatic alternative: &quot;You can do it, or you can not do it.&quot; In that case, it is clearly two separately spoken words, with the &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; given special emphasis, and equally clearly it means something very different from &lt;em&gt;cannot&lt;/em&gt;, namely &quot;have the option of not (doing something).&quot; The only acceptable form for the unabbreviated negative of &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; (or, if you prefer, for the expansion of &lt;em&gt;can't&lt;/em&gt;) is &lt;em&gt;cannot&lt;/em&gt;, one word. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take from all that what you will. Some of it is probably justification in hindsight, and certainly none of it actually explains how that 1400 cite came about and why this particular spelling prevailed over &lt;em&gt;can not&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;canot&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;cant&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;can non&lt;/em&gt;. As you say yourself, languages are not always logical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T09:01:32.490" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4515" CreationDate="2010-10-29T09:19:22.310" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is based on the question before the edit, when &lt;em&gt;Winnie-the-Pooh&lt;/em&gt; was the first example. But it does hold for the new example as well. are multiple books on Winnie the Pooh:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When We Were Very Young (1924) · Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) · Now We Are Six (1927) · The House at Pooh Corner (1928) · Return to the Hundred Acre Wood (2009)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie-the-Pooh#References_in_other_media&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am now in a dilemma: there is a book with that exact title, and therefore I would prefer &quot;I read the book &lt;em&gt;Winnie-the-Pooh&lt;/em&gt;&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the book is of great fame, I would only say &quot;I read &lt;em&gt;Winnie-the-Pooh&lt;/em&gt;, as people would know that it was a book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the majority of people would probably not be aware that there is a book of that exact title, but know that there are multiple books on Winnie the Pooh available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first form would emphasize on &quot;you know, &lt;em&gt;the one and only&lt;/em&gt; book about Winnie the Pooh&quot;. There might be several books (or papers), but one stands out. Like talking about &lt;em&gt;the SQL paper&lt;/em&gt; would lead me back to the original SQL proposal by Edgar Frank Codd. Or &lt;em&gt;the C++ book&lt;/em&gt; would certainly point to Bjarne Stroustrup's &quot;The C++ Programming Language&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, if there is a reference paper on a subject, or the book is of great fame (maybe only within the audience you are talking to), I would use the first form. Otherwise I would use the second. I even would insert something like &quot;called&quot; or &quot;titled&quot; in the second form, but that just might be me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your second example I would also use the second form, as it pinpoints one definitively defined paper. And the title is so long that the short term memory is under stress parsing the sentence, waiting for the subject you are talking about ;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Summary&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the book or paper is of great fame:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I read &lt;em&gt;To Kill a Mockingbird&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is rather unknown, part of a series, or available on several medias (book, comics, e-book):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I read the book &lt;em&gt;Winnie-the-Pooh&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is a reference of a whole class of books or papers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I read the C++ book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-29T09:47:03.253" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T09:47:03.253" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4500" CreationDate="2010-10-29T09:32:15.877" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know what to call &lt;em&gt;gl-&lt;/em&gt; in contemporary English (it's not even a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morpheme&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;morpheme&lt;/a&gt;), but in all of your three words, it descends from the same Proto-Indo-European base with the meaning &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=glisten&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;to shine, glitter, glow, be warm&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two good resources for browsing Proto-Indo-European roots and identifying English words with common origins are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix%3aList_of_Proto-Indo-European_roots&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=4IHbQgz1nZYC&amp;amp;pg=PA29&amp;amp;lpg=PA29&amp;amp;dq=ghel-+indo-european&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=1OUBrY4qXR&amp;amp;sig=54ULoC_0-IzTD4SqdBUywanQU5w&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=4Pw_TKOcJZGWsgPknvntDA&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=2&amp;amp;ved=0CBgQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T09:32:15.877" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4515" CreationDate="2010-10-29T09:45:08.980" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;book colon title&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1814" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T09:45:08.980" />
  <row Id="4520" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4549" CreationDate="2010-10-29T10:07:58.807" Score="3" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;urban dictionary&lt;/a&gt; writes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;GEIL (Guy-el)  The best colloquial&#xA;  word ever established by the German&#xA;  language. It has slowly assimilated&#xA;  itself into English speaking culture,&#xA;  particularly the Southeast of America.&#xA;  These cities such as: Charleston,&#xA;  Charlotte, Atlanta, and Chattanooga&#xA;  the word 'GEIL' is used frequently and&#xA;  interchangeably between the people&#xA;  whom reside there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Simple in Context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Im so Geil! (Fucked up)  Wanna get&#xA;  Geil? (Wanna get wasted/fucked&#xA;  up/nutty/lit..etc)  She's fucking&#xA;  Geil! (She is hot and DTF) Brad, im so&#xA;  fucking GEIL!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hey Chad, you down to get GEIL&#xA;  tonight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hey is that Wendy Brown over there by&#xA;  the bartop? Yea, it is chad. Damn,&#xA;  she's GEIL.she's GEIL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;she's GEIL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My questions:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this true and are there other areas where this word is known and used?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there only the sexual connotation or could it also be used like &quot;that's cool&quot; (because the meaning in German has changed that way over the years)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How taboo is it? mild or strong (I guess peergroup dependent...)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T17:41:31.527" Title="Where and how is G*** used?" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;&lt;expletives&gt;&lt;taboo&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4521" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4523" CreationDate="2010-10-29T10:20:51.430" Score="8" ViewCount="233" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Don't&quot;, &quot;wouldn't&quot;, &quot;couldn't&quot; and &quot;isn't&quot; are all contractions of &quot;do not&quot;, &quot;would not&quot;, &quot;could not&quot; and &quot;is not&quot;... So what's &quot;won't&quot; a contraction of?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It appears to be &quot;will not&quot;, but if so, why isn't it &quot;&lt;strong&gt;willn't&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;? (And if there's no good reason, has it &lt;em&gt;ever&lt;/em&gt; been &quot;willn't&quot; at any point in history?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="603" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T10:32:28.437" Title="What is &quot;won't&quot; a contraction of?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4522" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-29T10:23:54.793" Score="9" ViewCount="329" Body="&lt;p&gt;When do you use commas and when do you use parentheses to provide more detail about something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The suspect, Tom Wilson, is now being charged with murder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The suspect (Tom Wilson) is now being charged with murder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;John Smith, a member of the jury, agreed with the verdict.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;John Smith (a member of the jury) agreed with the verdict.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The first example, the one about the fox, is the more valid one.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The first example (the one about the fox) is the more valid one.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize that the first example, the one that uses parentheses, is probably more valid in this case (if anyone has a better example, please include it), but when, if ever, would you favor parentheses?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I realize that dashes are sometimes used for similar situations, so I'd appreciate information on these as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The children—who are wearing shoes—will go on the trip&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The children, who are wearing shoes, will go on the trip&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The children (who are wearing shoes) will go on the trip&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="427" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T12:42:39.383" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T12:42:39.383" Title="Parentheses vs. double commas vs. dashes to provide additional detail" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;comparison&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="4523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4521" CreationDate="2010-10-29T10:32:28.437" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/won%27t&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Abbreviation of &lt;em&gt;wollnot&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;woll&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;, negations of archaic form of &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology agrees:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;XVII. contr. of &lt;em&gt;wonnot&lt;/em&gt;, assim. of &lt;em&gt;wol not&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to other forms, Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=won%27t&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;only mentions &lt;em&gt;wynnot&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;first recorded mid-15c. as &lt;em&gt;wynnot&lt;/em&gt;, later &lt;em&gt;wonnot&lt;/em&gt; (1580s) before the modern form [&lt;em&gt;won't&lt;/em&gt;] emerged 1660s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T10:32:28.437" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4524" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4537" CreationDate="2010-10-29T10:41:55.320" Score="4" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reading blog entries about computing I often see &quot;like so&quot; instead of &quot;like this&quot;. Is this correct english? It sounds to me like a word by word translation from german ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1881" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T13:26:41.293" Title="is &quot;like so&quot; correct?" Tags="&lt;mistranslation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4525" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-29T11:29:58.500" Score="2" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi all,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know how words that share the same root (e.g., &quot;network&quot;, &quot;networks&quot;, &quot;networking&quot;) are called and would also like to know if the shortest one of them has a specific name (e.g., &quot;network&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks a lot&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1883" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T11:57:17.660" Title="How are called words that share the same root?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4526" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-10-29T11:51:09.400" Score="4" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;CP Snow (author of &quot;The Two Cultures&quot;) was said to have disliked the word &quot;television&quot; because it was a mixture of Greek and Latin roots. Is there any particular reason to dislike words like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also be interested in other examples (polyamory, vinopolis...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T23:38:25.973" Title="Words with roots from different languages" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4525" CreationDate="2010-10-29T11:57:17.660" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would call &lt;em&gt;network&lt;/em&gt; a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_stem&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;stem&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;networks&lt;/em&gt; (noun or verb) an &quot;inflected form&quot;, &lt;em&gt;networking&lt;/em&gt; (participle) an &quot;inflected form&quot;, and &lt;em&gt;networking&lt;/em&gt; (noun) a &quot;derived term&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Root&quot; is not the same as &quot;stem&quot; in my book; &lt;em&gt;network&lt;/em&gt; has two roots, &lt;em&gt;net&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;work&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T11:57:17.660" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4528" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4529" CreationDate="2010-10-29T12:13:01.667" Score="4" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does it have to sound like in &lt;em&gt;ginger&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;finger&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1885" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-29T12:58:43.590" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T12:58:43.590" Title="How to pronounce &quot;integer&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4528" CreationDate="2010-10-29T12:13:50.043" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a soft 'g', as in ginger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T12:13:50.043" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4522" CreationDate="2010-10-29T12:31:15.480" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always felt like parenthesis should be used to provide details which are not &quot;directly&quot; related to the meaning of the sentence. In the other words, what's between parenthesis can be ignored without jeopardizing the meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your first example (Tom Wilsons), I think it depends more on the context: In the current text, are they more than one suspect? If Yes, I think double commas are more appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1887" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T12:31:15.480" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="4531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4452" CreationDate="2010-10-29T13:05:23.740" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that there is also a difference in &quot;feel&quot; between the British English word &quot;arse&quot; and the American English word &quot;ass&quot; in its &quot;buttocks&quot; sense.  The British version is vulgar but does not have the sexual overtones of the American version.  No British man would never describe a desirable woman as a &quot;nice piece of arse&quot; (I hope).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="637" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T13:05:23.740" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4522" CreationDate="2010-10-29T13:06:14.177" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The suspect, Tom Wilson, ... and The suspect (Tom Wilson) both imply that there is just one suspect. However, I agree with @RegDwight; Using no punctuation implies that there could be more suspects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="461" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T13:06:14.177" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4533" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4540" CreationDate="2010-10-29T13:17:56.563" Score="3" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;English is not my native language so I have gone through the pain of learning the difference between &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt;. However, it is common in the U.S. to refer to someone wearing a hat as &lt;em&gt;X in the hat&lt;/em&gt;. A notable example is the children's book &lt;em&gt;The Cat in the Hat&lt;/em&gt; by &lt;em&gt;Dr. Seuss&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the latter example, we know that the cat is not &lt;em&gt;inside&lt;/em&gt; the hat but instead the hat is &lt;em&gt;on top&lt;/em&gt; of the cat. Why is it acceptable to say &lt;em&gt;The Cat in the Hat&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is the expression &lt;em&gt;X in the Hat&lt;/em&gt; acceptable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1720" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T13:54:09.620" Title="The X in the hat" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4534" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4535" CreationDate="2010-10-29T13:18:24.127" Score="5" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a native English speaker and this question has been bothering me for a long time. I saw this sentence on my text book. However, I don't know what's the meaning of it. And I don't even know whether it's a correct sentence (in terms of syntax). Could somebody help me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1890" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T20:59:07.163" Title="&quot;A tax is a tax is a tax.&quot; What does this sentence mean?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4534" CreationDate="2010-10-29T13:26:15.853" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may be related to the sentence &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_rose_is_a_rose_is_a_rose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Gertrude Stein. According to Wikipedia&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;A rose is a rose is a rose&quot; is probably her most famous quote, often interpreted as meaning &quot;things are what they are,&quot; a statement of the law of identity, &quot;A is A&quot;. In Stein's view, the sentence expresses the fact that simply using the name of a thing already invokes the imagery and emotions associated with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quoting Wikipedia again, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_identity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;law of identity&lt;/a&gt; article claims that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In logic, the law of identity states that an object is the same as itself: A ≡ A. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1720" LastEditorUserId="1720" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-29T13:31:57.173" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T13:31:57.173" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4534" CreationDate="2010-10-29T13:26:24.433" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is just a reinforcement:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A tax is a tax, and there is no way around that fact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A tax is a tax, nothing more and nothing less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A tax is a tax, and will be one forever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things are what they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T13:26:24.433" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4524" CreationDate="2010-10-29T13:26:41.293" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Like so&quot; is completely valid English, and it comes from an older sense of the word &lt;em&gt;so&lt;/em&gt; that is gradually falling out of use in English.  It should come as no surprise that &lt;em&gt;so&lt;/em&gt; is a Germanic word and that the German &lt;em&gt;so&lt;/em&gt; comes from the same place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This meaning of &lt;em&gt;so&lt;/em&gt; in English is &quot;in this manner/condition&quot;.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/so&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dictionary.com touches on this meaning in the first three entries&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of the places that we use &lt;em&gt;so&lt;/em&gt; with this sort of meaning are in idiomatic phrases, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are &lt;strong&gt;so&lt;/strong&gt; inclined...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is &lt;strong&gt;so&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So&lt;/strong&gt; let it be done.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I, for one, have said &quot;like so&quot; from time to time throughout my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T13:26:41.293" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4538" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4794" CreationDate="2010-10-29T13:36:46.623" Score="1" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some time ago I asked &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2056/why-are-movies-so-hard-to-understand-and-what-can-you-do-about-it&quot;&gt;Why are movies so hard to understand (and what can you do about it)?&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my surprise even many native speakers answered that they had difficulties understanding some movies and series. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which films/series do you think are extremely good to understand (I don't mean learning videos or the like but &quot;normal&quot; films/series)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I for myself often find many of the Star Trek episodes (e.g. Voyager) very good to understand. Counterexamples, which are even for native speakers incomprehensible, are also welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastEditorUserId="142" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-07T20:23:21.250" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T09:34:13.403" Title="Films/Series that are extremely good to understand (and that are not...)" Tags="&lt;speech&gt;&lt;esl&gt;&lt;listening&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4539" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4541" CreationDate="2010-10-29T13:38:52.487" Score="4" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often hear the word &lt;em&gt;vertice&lt;/em&gt; (pronounced VER-tee-cee) used as the singular of &lt;em&gt;vertices&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;vertex&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;vertice&lt;/em&gt; an acceptable singular for &lt;em&gt;vertices&lt;/em&gt;? If so, how is it pronounced?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On the other hand, is &lt;em&gt;vertexes&lt;/em&gt; an acceptable plural for &lt;em&gt;vertex&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1720" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T14:37:04.123" Title="Singular of vertices" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="4540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4533" CreationDate="2010-10-29T13:39:24.203" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wearing a piece of clothes can be expressed like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He looked good in his trench coat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They debated about running &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/12/barefoot.running/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bare or in shoe&lt;/a&gt;s. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it does not really matter whether the whole body or just small parts of it are actually &quot;in&quot; the piece of clothing. Therefore it seems perfectly valid to say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cat in the Hat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-29T13:54:09.620" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T13:54:09.620" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4539" CreationDate="2010-10-29T13:44:09.957" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The singular is &lt;strong&gt;vertex&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vertex&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster dictionary entry for vertex&lt;/a&gt;, both &lt;em&gt;vertices&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;vertexes&lt;/em&gt; can be used as the plural of &lt;em&gt;vertex&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Vertice&lt;/em&gt; is not listed as a word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ver·tex&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;noun \ˈvər-ˌteks\&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;plural ver·ti·ces\ˈvər-tə-ˌsēz\ also&#xA;  ver·tex·es&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same happens with &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/index&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;index&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, for example, where the plural can be both &lt;em&gt;indices&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;indexes&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the same dictionary, &lt;em&gt;vertex&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;index&lt;/em&gt; both originated from Latin:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vertex&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Middle English, top of the head, from&#xA;  Latin vertic-, vertex, vortic-, vortex&#xA;  whirl, whirlpool, top of the head,&#xA;  summit, from vertere to turn&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Index&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Latin indic-, index, from indicare to&#xA;  indicate First Known Use: 1561&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Explanation for the two forms of plural from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-ind2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;World Wide Words&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Index is one of those rare oddball&#xA;  words with two different plurals in&#xA;  English. English copied the original&#xA;  Latin plural at first, making indices.&#xA;  As with a lot of other Latin plurals,&#xA;  the standard English way of marking&#xA;  the plural, using -s or -es, has&#xA;  progressively been taking over, making&#xA;  indexes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(..)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Other words retain their Latin&#xA;  plurals, but we have to work at&#xA;  remembering them because the English&#xA;  plural marker has otherwise so few&#xA;  exceptions: apices (of apex), corpora&#xA;  (of corpus), helices (of helix),&#xA;  matrices (of matrix), &lt;strong&gt;vertices&lt;/strong&gt; (of&#xA;  vertex) and many others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice that based on the last paragraph above, the author of the article does not consider &lt;em&gt;vertexes&lt;/em&gt; a valid plural of &lt;em&gt;vertex&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, &lt;em&gt;vertices&lt;/em&gt; is much more used  than &lt;em&gt;vertexes&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&amp;amp;word1=vertices&amp;amp;word2=vertexes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;12.600.000 occurrences of &lt;em&gt;vertices&lt;/em&gt; vs. 26.700 occurrences of &lt;em&gt;vertexes&lt;/em&gt; in Google&lt;/a&gt;. My Firefox's spell checker disagrees though. It doesn't know &lt;em&gt;vertices&lt;/em&gt; but it does know &lt;em&gt;vertexes&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for &lt;em&gt;vertex&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;vertice&lt;/em&gt;, there are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&amp;amp;word1=vertice&amp;amp;word2=vertex&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2.680.000 occurrences of vertex in Google and 130.000 occurrences of &lt;em&gt;vertice&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These numbers also lead to a possible explanation for why people sometimes say &lt;em&gt;vertice&lt;/em&gt;. The plural form &lt;em&gt;vertices&lt;/em&gt; is more than 4 times more used than the correct singular form &lt;em&gt;vertex&lt;/em&gt;. So it's possible that people derive &lt;em&gt;vertice&lt;/em&gt; from &lt;em&gt;vertices&lt;/em&gt; because they hear the plural form &lt;em&gt;vertices&lt;/em&gt; much more often than the singular form &lt;em&gt;vertex&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-29T14:37:04.123" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T14:37:04.123" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4539" CreationDate="2010-10-29T13:57:32.783" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither Merriam-Webster nor Wiktionary have an entry for &lt;em&gt;vertice&lt;/em&gt;, and I have never encountered it myself. Then again, I am heavily biased, working a lot with &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph_theory&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;graphs&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; has 44 cites for &lt;em&gt;vertex&lt;/em&gt;, 19 for &lt;em&gt;vertices&lt;/em&gt;, but none for &lt;em&gt;vertice&lt;/em&gt; (well, it does have exactly one, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://bnc.bl.uk/saraWeb.php?qy=vertice&amp;amp;mysubmit=Go&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;judge for yourself&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that being said, I think it is only natural for someone who encounters the plural form &lt;em&gt;vertices&lt;/em&gt; for the first time in his life to derive the singular form as &lt;em&gt;vertice&lt;/em&gt;. Looking at your location and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando,_Florida#Demographics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;its demographics&lt;/a&gt;, I think that Spanish influence could be yet another factor in your immediate environment, the Spanish word for &lt;em&gt;vertex&lt;/em&gt; being &lt;em&gt;vértice&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the plural form, &lt;em&gt;vertices&lt;/em&gt; is much more common, but &lt;em&gt;vertexes&lt;/em&gt; is not incorrect, see e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vertex&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vertex&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;. The BNC has 5 cites for &lt;em&gt;vertexes&lt;/em&gt; (but again, 19 for &lt;em&gt;vertices&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T13:57:32.783" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="4543" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4544" CreationDate="2010-10-29T13:59:25.967" Score="2" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4521/what-is-wont-a-contraction-of&quot;&gt;What is &amp;ldquo;won&amp;#39;t&amp;rdquo; a contraction of?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/q/4510/1720&quot;&gt;Why is &quot;cannot&quot; spelled as one word?&lt;/a&gt; post brought back another oddity I noticed when learning English. The contraction &lt;em&gt;won't&lt;/em&gt; seems to break a common pattern in similar contractions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;cannot&lt;/em&gt; =&gt; &lt;em&gt;can't&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;do not&lt;/em&gt; =&gt; &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;should not&lt;/em&gt; =&gt; &lt;em&gt;shouldn't&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;would not&lt;/em&gt; =&gt; &lt;em&gt;wouldn't&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In these examples, the &lt;em&gt;o&lt;/em&gt; sound in &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; is dropped and the letter &lt;em&gt;o&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt; in the case of &lt;em&gt;cannot&lt;/em&gt;) is replaced with an apostrophe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;em&gt;will not&lt;/em&gt; =&gt; &lt;em&gt;won't&lt;/em&gt; drops &lt;em&gt;ill&lt;/em&gt; from &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; and replaces it with the &lt;em&gt;o&lt;/em&gt; from &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;. This contraction is probably derived from shifts in speech rather than writing. How did the contraction &lt;em&gt;won't&lt;/em&gt; emerge?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1720" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T14:12:31.587" ClosedDate="2010-10-29T17:01:51.093" Title="Why is &quot;will not&quot; contracted as &quot;won't&quot;?" Tags="&lt;contractions&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;&lt;negation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4543" CreationDate="2010-10-29T14:05:01.013" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The building pattern you are proposing is not what happened. As you can see &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4521/what-is-wont-a-contraction-of/4523#4523&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;will not&lt;/em&gt; was built from &lt;em&gt;woll + not&lt;/em&gt;, which assimilated to &lt;em&gt;wonnot&lt;/em&gt; and then to &lt;em&gt;won't&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of &lt;em&gt;woll&lt;/em&gt; comes from the Proto-Indo-European stem &lt;em&gt;wel-&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;wol-&lt;/em&gt;, refelcted still in the German verb &lt;em&gt;wollen&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;em&gt;to will, desire, wish&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-29T14:12:31.587" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T14:12:31.587" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4545" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4547" CreationDate="2010-10-29T14:51:29.260" Score="4" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which of the following is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;In almost all cases, ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Almost in all cases, ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1760" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-29T18:33:04.980" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T21:15:19.563" Title="&quot;In almost&quot; vs &quot;Almost in&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="4546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4545" CreationDate="2010-10-29T15:14:42.387" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think both are technically correct, but the former sounds much better. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=%22in+almost+all+cases%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;In almost all cases&quot;&lt;/a&gt; also seems to have more google hits than &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=%22almost+in+all+cases%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;almost in all cases&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T15:14:42.387" />
  <row Id="4547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4545" CreationDate="2010-10-29T15:15:48.893" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;In almost all cases&quot; sounds better to me, &lt;strong&gt;as &lt;em&gt;almost&lt;/em&gt; refers to &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;:  &quot;almost all&quot;.&#xA;It also occurs much more often than the second sentence (21M vs. 137K in Google). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think &quot;almost in all cases&quot; is grammatically incorrect thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T15:15:48.893" />
  <row Id="4548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4526" CreationDate="2010-10-29T15:18:40.330" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only reason would be if you're a linguist, or interested in etymology of words and such, and if you have a feeling that when creating a new word you should only use roots from a similar language. Anthropophagous and hominivorous, not anthropovorous or hominiphagous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, once a word is in the language and has become a new concept, the way the word was formed doesn't really matter anymore. In daily speech I doubt many people care how the word &quot;television&quot; was formed and that it was bad to combine a Greek root with a Latin one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T15:18:40.330" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4520" CreationDate="2010-10-29T17:41:31.527" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't heard geil spoken by English or American speakers at all. I know what it means from some German rap songs I listened to, but it definitely is not common in English. You can un-asterikize the title =P. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Funny though, how if you &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=geil&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;google geil&lt;/a&gt;, the links are pretty harmless, except for the ads, which are all about &quot;Nude XXX Pictures - Free!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T17:41:31.527" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4534" CreationDate="2010-10-29T20:59:07.163" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good example of usage of this is when a government replaces one tax with another. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, the old 11% tax was only on goods, but the new 7% tax is on goods &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; services. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One person says the new tax means people will pay less taxes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A person could counter and say: &quot;It doesn't matter, really. A tax is a tax is a tax.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or in other words, what they &quot;call&quot; the tax is irrelevant, and doesn't change the fact that I'm still paying a tax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or maybe, a government gets rid of a restaurant tax, but the restaurant adds mandatory tipping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;A tax is a tax is a tax&quot; would imply that the speaker still feels that he's paying a tax on the food/service. &quot;Call it a tip if you want, a tax is a tax is a tax&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T20:59:07.163" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4551" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4552" CreationDate="2010-10-29T21:48:58.287" Score="3" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;I seem vaguely to recall that a long time ago, 'servicing' was something a bull did to a heifer or a boar to a sow. But it seems to be creeping in to general usage as a synonym for 'serving'. Has anyone else noticed this, and, if so, could they shed any light on to why this should be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-29T22:52:48.450" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T22:52:48.450" Title="'Services' or 'Serves'?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4551" CreationDate="2010-10-29T21:52:11.827" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed it as well, and it usually makes me smile due to the distinct sexual connotation that people seem to have all but dropped. I think it just comes from &quot;verbing the noun&quot;, honestly. &quot;To service&quot; is understood as &quot;to provide a service to&quot;, which is effectively the same as &quot;to serve&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T21:52:11.827" />
  <row Id="4553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4187" CreationDate="2010-10-29T23:55:35.620" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a spanish speaker and I sometimes confuse them too, because we use the word &quot;para&quot; with both meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this example &quot;Say hello to your wife&quot; and in all the sentences where you have &quot;dative case&quot; you should use &quot;to&quot; I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1816" LastActivityDate="2010-10-29T23:55:35.620" />
  <row Id="4554" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4565" CreationDate="2010-10-30T00:01:37.437" Score="3" ViewCount="442" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi, I've read a grammar rule.&#xA;If you use a preposition and then a verb, it must end with &quot;ing&quot;&#xA;Is it always true, or there are exceptions??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1816" LastActivityDate="2010-10-30T09:28:08.083" Title="Verbs ending with &quot;ing&quot; after prepositions" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;rules&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4554" CreationDate="2010-10-30T00:40:58.883" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to generally work. Be careful when you use &quot;to&quot;. It might be denoting the infinitive:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm going to kill him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or it might be used as a preposition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am used to crying all day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, the technical term for &quot;a verb ending in -ing&quot; is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerund&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gerund&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-10-30T00:40:58.883" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4556" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4655" CreationDate="2010-10-30T01:41:46.260" Score="4" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the enthusiastic question of &quot;Who wants ice-cream?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the more correct negative response? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) &quot;Not I&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) &quot;Not me&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither response is a sentence. The first response of &quot;not I&quot; sounds stuffy, like it should be followed with an indignant sniff. The second sounds like American idiom and acceptable for casual speech.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you say? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1894" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T18:23:20.457" Title="Who wants ice-cream?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4556" CreationDate="2010-10-30T02:23:15.663" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say either “I don’t” or “not me.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not know whether “not me” is grammatically correct or not.  If “not me” is acceptable, I guess that “not I” should be the grammatically correct form because “who” in the question is the subject.  But even if so, “not I” sounds like a phrase for the sake of grammatical correctness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastEditorUserId="1755" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-30T02:33:28.400" LastActivityDate="2010-10-30T02:33:28.400" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4558" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4711" CreationDate="2010-10-30T03:27:59.913" Score="0" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can look up the etymology for indubitably... but how did a word like this, which pretty much exactly parallels &quot;undoubtedly,&quot; come into use? This might be an unanswerable question, but how did two words with such parallel meanings, the only nuance distinguishing them being that you sound more pretentious if you say &quot;indubitably&quot;, come to coexist?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T10:35:56.140" Title="Usage evolution of &quot;indubitably&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4559" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4564" CreationDate="2010-10-30T03:52:32.717" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to be fair without being reasonable? Or vice versa?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-10-30T17:31:11.020" Title="Fair and Reasonable: Is there a difference?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2645" CreationDate="2010-10-30T04:10:29.310" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say that &lt;em&gt;protecting at all costs&lt;/em&gt; is a bit of a cliché. It's fine, but there's no harm in looking for a variant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with &lt;em&gt;worth every possible effort to guard&lt;/em&gt; is that the reader is expecting the last word to be &lt;em&gt;achieve&lt;/em&gt;. The sudden appearance of &lt;em&gt;guard&lt;/em&gt; throws the reader, who then has to read the sentence again to understand the subtle difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;An important dream, such as becoming Prime Minister, is well worth guarding.&lt;/em&gt; The &lt;em&gt;guard&lt;/em&gt; is still at the end of the sentence, and the construction &lt;em&gt;is well worth achieving&lt;/em&gt; is still possible, but the reader is less likely to be expecting it, and therefore is less likely to be thrown by encountering &lt;em&gt;guarding&lt;/em&gt; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;An important dream, such as becoming Prime Minister, should be guarded with every sinew.&lt;/em&gt; Maybe the language here is a bit flowery, but it could be an option, depending on what effect you're going for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note: My use of &lt;em&gt;such as&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; is probably just a personal preference.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-10-30T04:10:29.310" />
  <row Id="4561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="50" CreationDate="2010-10-30T04:17:22.170" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't use &lt;em&gt;I'ven't&lt;/em&gt; in speech or writing. &lt;em&gt;I've not&lt;/em&gt; perhaps, &lt;em&gt;I haven't&lt;/em&gt; more likely. I do use, in both speech and writing, &lt;em&gt;I'd've&lt;/em&gt;. I'd've thought this would be more common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-10-30T04:17:22.170" />
  <row Id="4562" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4563" CreationDate="2010-10-30T05:00:55.983" Score="2" ViewCount="284" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could anyone give me an explanation of the meaning of &quot;get one's finger in the air&quot; and the usage of it? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1895" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-30T08:16:43.820" LastActivityDate="2010-10-30T08:16:43.820" Title="What's the meaning of &quot;get one's finger in the air&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4562" CreationDate="2010-10-30T05:26:59.523" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You &quot;get your finger in the air&quot; means to &quot;go with the crowd&quot;, &quot;go with the flow&quot;. You want to see, where the wind is coming from - usually by wetting the finger before. A person &quot;putting his finger in the air&quot; is unlikely to come up with original, individual ideas or solutions. And decisions are made unscientifically, without backing evidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The &quot;finger in the air&quot; approach to enterprise-wide IT where you have no clear view of cost or quality is to go with Microsoft.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stick a finger in the air of local politics these days, and you'll probably detect a strong wind pushing against new health care reform efforts like Measure ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.proz.com/kudoz/english_to_french/general_conversation_greetings_letters/1152773-stuck_their_fingers_in_the_air.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-10-30T05:26:59.523" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4559" CreationDate="2010-10-30T05:41:33.810" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It for sure is possible to be fair without being reasonable. Sometimes one would do things that seem dumb, against all reason, yet are fair in the sense of fair play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And many times people decide to be reasonable, even if it is not fair to somebody else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And of course there are the &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fair&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;many other uses of &lt;em&gt;fair&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; that cannot be replaced at all with reasonable: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She has fair/not dark hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Her fair (free from blemish) reputation was ruined by gossip. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and many more. Have a look at the word &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/reasonable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;reasonable&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; too for comparison.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-10-30T05:41:33.810" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4554" CreationDate="2010-10-30T09:28:08.083" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is kind of tricky, let's see if I can explain...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Claudiu pointed out already, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerund&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gerund&lt;/a&gt; is the term. However, expanding on what he said, &quot;a verb ending in -ing&quot; is not necessarily a gerund; it could be a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participle#English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;present participle&lt;/a&gt;. A gerund is an -ing form used as a &lt;em&gt;noun&lt;/em&gt; (more precisely, as the head of a noun clause; it might still behave as a verb within the clause itself). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, the rule you read is kind of okay, yet it is also kind of backwards. Being able to be preceded by a preposition is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerund#Double_nature_of_the_gerund&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nominal characteristic&lt;/a&gt;, not a verbal one. You can't really put a preposition in front of a verb — once you do that it needs to start functioning as a noun, and &quot;normal&quot; verbs can't do that. So you need a verb form that works as a noun. And that would be the gerund.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what about this, you say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/mFXcm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&amp;quot;Your shipment of fail has arrived&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, yeah, the verb &lt;em&gt;fail&lt;/em&gt; somehow managed to start working as a noun all by itself. But again, the whole point is that when it acts as a noun it is, well, a noun; it is no longer a verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-30T09:28:08.083" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4566" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-10-30T15:09:48.707" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;This tag is for questions about whether a language feature—such as a word, phrase or grammatical construct—is &lt;strong&gt;acceptable&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;correct&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;common&lt;/strong&gt; (as opposed to unacceptable, erroneous or obsolete).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For further info, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/320/tag-for-questions-about-whether-a-language-feature-is-acceptable-common&quot;&gt;this meta question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-30T15:09:48.707" LastActivityDate="2010-10-30T15:09:48.707" />
  <row Id="4567" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-10-30T15:09:48.707" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="Questions about correctness or commonness of a construct, phrase or word." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-30T15:09:48.707" LastActivityDate="2010-10-30T15:09:48.707" />
  <row Id="4568" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4589" CreationDate="2010-10-30T16:08:41.953" Score="8" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm reading a novel based in ye olde pirate-times, and I have come across the author's usage of &quot;cannon&quot; (without the &quot;s&quot;) to refer to multiple cannons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;The ship boasted 32 cannon onboard.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this just an archaic usage that the author is employing for purposes of story-telling? Also, how/why did this evolve to &quot;cannons&quot; in modern usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T02:41:10.920" Title="&quot;Cannon&quot; as plural" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4569" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4570" CreationDate="2010-10-30T16:14:20.230" Score="2" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been reading a book just now. Here is one sentence from it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As a result, hosting in IIS 5/6 is notorious for instability and the frequent need to reset the server or IIS 5/6.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could you please give me a reason why instability is not prefaced with an article, while the need is?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1840" LastActivityDate="2010-10-30T16:46:47.773" Title="Articles in conjuctions" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;articles&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4569" CreationDate="2010-10-30T16:40:06.767" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The instability&lt;/em&gt; would point to a definite, previously defined instability. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, omitting the article would express that hosting in IIS 5/6 just introduces &lt;em&gt;all kinds of instability&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;instability in general&lt;/em&gt;. It might show up differently all the time, the system is just instable. Therefore no definite article. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using an indefinite article, like &lt;em&gt;notorious for an instability&lt;/em&gt;, would point to just one kind or instance of instability that would be further defined in the text following.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the sentence tells you:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As a result, hosting in IIS 5/6 is notorious for instability in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for &lt;em&gt;the need to reset&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;the need&lt;/em&gt; is defined and is a singular need, the need to reset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this does not depend on the conjunction. You could omit either of the two phrases with no change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-30T16:46:47.773" LastActivityDate="2010-10-30T16:46:47.773" />
  <row Id="4571" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4575" CreationDate="2010-10-30T16:42:02.740" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;The same sentence as in question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4569/articles-in-conjuctions&quot;&gt;Articles in conjuctions&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As a result, hosting in IIS 5/6 is notorious for instability and the frequent need to reset the server or IIS 5/6.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I understood from comments on my other questions, hosting requires no article because it's an activity. And I think that the word server follows the definite article because it's not just any server, but the one something has been hosted in.&#xA;On the other hand, the result of something not being quoted here is sole, absolutely specific and given later in this sentence. However, the indefinite article is used in front of the word result. Could you explain why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would also be very cognitive to know why the definite article precedes the need.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1840" LastActivityDate="2010-10-30T17:51:27.600" Title="Articles when talking about something certain, yet unmentioned before." Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4571" CreationDate="2010-10-30T16:53:00.200" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;See my answer on your other question about omitting the article before &lt;em&gt;instability&lt;/em&gt; and having one in &lt;em&gt;the need&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for &lt;em&gt;a result&lt;/em&gt;: There were possibly many results, and one of them is this. There is no special reason to single this one out, or one would say &lt;em&gt;the most important result&lt;/em&gt; or something like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt; I stand corrected by RegDwight and agree that &lt;em&gt;as a result&lt;/em&gt; is another way of saying &lt;em&gt;therefore&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hosting&lt;/em&gt; is an activity, but the sentence is talking about &lt;em&gt;hosting in IIS 5/6 in general&lt;/em&gt;, therefore no article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Reset the server&lt;/em&gt; would be pointing to the fact that IIS 5/6 are hosted on a server, and it is that server that needed rebooting. Rebooting any other server would not help the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-30T17:51:27.600" LastActivityDate="2010-10-30T17:51:27.600" />
  <row Id="4575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4571" CreationDate="2010-10-30T17:36:10.267" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here, &quot;as a result&quot; is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/as_a_result&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;conjunction&lt;/a&gt; and a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_phrase&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;set phrase&lt;/a&gt;. Contrary to what Ralph says, it doesn't really imply that the result is one of many and that there is no special reason to single this one out (in fact, it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; being singled out immediately). Nor does the conjunction &quot;as a result&quot; mean that the result is unknown or unspecified. Much rather, it is just yet another way of saying &quot;therefore&quot;, &quot;thus&quot;, &quot;hence&quot;, &quot;consequently&quot;. Even if there is just this one sole, specific result, it doesn't matter. Set phrases are called &quot;set&quot; for a reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to why there's a definite article before the &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; (and none before &lt;em&gt;instability&lt;/em&gt;), that's what &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4569/articles-in-conjuctions&quot;&gt;your other question&lt;/a&gt; is about, so I won't be addressing it here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-10-30T17:36:10.267" />
  <row Id="4576" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4580" CreationDate="2010-10-30T17:36:33.437" Score="4" ViewCount="259" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a bit confused. Is it correct to use &quot;me too&quot; and &quot;I too&quot;? (Also with other pronouns.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if I want to say that Juan gives a present to Ana and I give a present to Ana:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Juan gives a present to Ana, [me/I] too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or if I want to say that Juan gives a present to Ana and Pedro gives a present to Ana:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Juan gives a present to Ana, [him/he] too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1816" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-31T00:38:20.707" LastActivityDate="2010-10-31T00:38:20.707" Title="Is it correct to use &quot;me too&quot; and &quot;I too&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;rules&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4577" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4582" CreationDate="2010-10-30T19:10:51.883" Score="7" ViewCount="257" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have an idea? Close friends? I usually see this term in stories where the friends were best friends and then they fight for some reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1478" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-26T22:51:37.633" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T01:13:09.033" Title="What does 'fast friends' mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4578" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4579" CreationDate="2010-10-30T19:12:29.150" Score="2" ViewCount="395" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct in a sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He don't &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He doesn't&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess &quot;he doesn't&quot; should be correct because &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt; is third person singular but I've seen some people using &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt;. Which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1467" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-31T00:34:15.093" LastActivityDate="2010-10-31T00:34:15.093" Title="&quot;He don't&quot; or &quot;he doesn't&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4578" CreationDate="2010-10-30T19:44:26.340" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;He doesn't&lt;/code&gt; is correct, because it is the contraction of &lt;code&gt;He does not&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;code&gt;He don't&lt;/code&gt; is incorrect, because it it the contraction of &lt;code&gt;He do not&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Subject-Verb agreement requires that &lt;code&gt;he&lt;/code&gt; goes with &lt;code&gt;does&lt;/code&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;He don't&lt;/code&gt;, however, is slang and certainly used in many places, but you would never see it in professional writing, because of Subject-Verb agreement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2010-10-30T19:44:26.340" />
  <row Id="4580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4576" CreationDate="2010-10-30T20:13:38.680" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I write, I would not use any of these “[pronoun] too,” and I would write&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Juan gives a present to Ana, and so do I.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Juan gives a present to Ana, and so does he.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When speaking informally, I may say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Juan gives a present to Ana, and me too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but this is ambiguous because “me too” can mean both “I give a present to Ana, too” and “Juan gives a present to me, too.”  I would never use “I too” in the informal context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(By the way, all of these examples have a separate issue: using the simple present sounds strange because it implies Juan, Pedro or I give a present to Ana &lt;em&gt;routinely&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;em&gt;Added&lt;/em&gt;: Kosmonaut pointed out in a comment that the simple present is used also when you are narrating the situation (thanks!).  That is a more plausible context in which these sentences are used than people give a present routinely.  See Kosmonaut’s comment to this answer.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastEditorUserId="1755" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-30T23:55:41.493" LastActivityDate="2010-10-30T23:55:41.493" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4577" CreationDate="2010-10-30T20:28:34.440" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fast&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;fast&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [...]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;2&lt;/strong&gt; : firmly loyal &amp;lt;became &lt;em&gt;fast&lt;/em&gt; friends&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fast#Adjective&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Of people: steadfast, with unwavering feeling. (Now only in set phrases like &quot;fast friend&quot;.) [from 10th c.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etymonline provides &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=fast&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some background&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;O.E. &lt;em&gt;fæst&lt;/em&gt; &quot;firmly fixed, steadfast, secure, enclosed,&quot; probably from P.Gmc. *fastuz (cf. O.Fris. &lt;em&gt;fest&lt;/em&gt;, O.N. &lt;em&gt;fastr&lt;/em&gt;, Du. &lt;em&gt;vast&lt;/em&gt;, Ger. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fest#German&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;fest&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-30T20:38:16.567" LastActivityDate="2010-10-30T20:38:16.567" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4583" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4584" CreationDate="2010-10-31T17:45:05.137" Score="1" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder if I should use a word ending with &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;, in a domain name like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;www.artisthomepage.com&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;www.artistshomepage.com&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English is not my native language, so I decided to ask here first. The main problem is second answer seems to be more &quot;correct&quot;, while the first one is much easier to write and pronounce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="663" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T21:33:55.193" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T21:33:55.193" Title="Which choice is better for a domain name?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="4584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4583" CreationDate="2010-10-31T18:23:25.550" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Choosing a good domain name has many factors, and English is only one of them.  Therefore, I am not sure if you are asking your question on the right website.  However, here is my take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not think that www.artisthomepage.com (without s) is much easier to write or pronounce than www.artistshomepage.com (with s).  (Some people might first read “artisthomepage” as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;artis&lt;/a&gt;-&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;thome&lt;/a&gt;-page or “artistshomepage” as artist-&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhuvan_Shome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;shome&lt;/a&gt;-page, but I do not think that it is likely enough to care about.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the &lt;em&gt;name&lt;/em&gt; of the website is “Artist’s Homepage” or “Artists’ Homepage,” the domain name should be www.artistshomepage.com (with s) rather than www.artisthomepage.com (without s).  Similarly, if the &lt;em&gt;name&lt;/em&gt; of the website is “Artist Homepage” (which sounds a little strange), you should omit “s” also in the domain name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If neither is the case, I do not think that it matters much whether the domain name is www.artisthomepage.com or www.artistshomepage.com.  Using one letter less might be better on smartphones, but I do not think that it is a big deal, either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastEditorUserId="1755" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-10-31T18:36:58.020" LastActivityDate="2010-10-31T18:36:58.020" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4585" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4586" CreationDate="2010-10-31T19:51:22.123" Score="2" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between the following?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;room's window&#xA;room's windows&#xA;rooms' window&#xA;rooms' windows&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm mainly interested in the last two constructs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1580" LastActivityDate="2010-10-31T21:25:04.717" Title="Genitive plurals" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4585" CreationDate="2010-10-31T21:25:04.717" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;room's window &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A window belonging to a room. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;room's windows &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Multiple windows belonging to a room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;rooms' window&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A window belonging to multiple rooms (probably a window connecting two rooms)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;rooms' windows&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Multiple windows belonging to multiple rooms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The plurality of &lt;em&gt;windows&lt;/em&gt; distinguishes how many different windows there are.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The location of the apostrophe in &lt;em&gt;rooms&lt;/em&gt; distinguishes how many different rooms there are.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;code&gt;'s&lt;/code&gt; signifies that there is only one room and that &lt;code&gt;room&lt;/code&gt; is in the genitive case.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;code&gt;s'&lt;/code&gt; should be thought of as &lt;code&gt;rooms&lt;/code&gt;, with the apostrophe indicating it is in the genetive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2010-10-31T21:25:04.717" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4522" CreationDate="2010-11-01T00:31:41.510" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Nitpick: the plural of 'parenthesis' is 'parentheses'.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Parentheses are used for digressions - things that could be completely removed without affecting the meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Commas and dashes are for setting off clauses that, while not vital to the meaning, serve to provide a fuller picture. Which to use depends partly on the length of the clause&amp;mdash;for example, if the clause itself contains a comma, you kind of have to use a dash&amp;mdash;and partly on its importance: at least in my perception, a comma-delineated clause is more important to understanding the meaning than a dash-delineated one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of your examples, I'd use a comma for these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The suspect, Tom Wilson, is now being charged with murder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;John Smith, a member of the jury, agreed with the verdict.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure about this one, but I'd lean toward commas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The first example, the one about the fox, is the more valid one.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd almost certainly use parentheses for this one, or at best dashes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The children (who are wearing shoes) will go on the trip.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-23T00:21:07.280" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T00:21:07.280" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="75" CreationDate="2010-11-01T01:26:35.373" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think all was said here.&#xA;watch movies and series, listen to music, reading books, reading news on internet sites, chat and talk with other people over internet&#xA;&quot;Practice makes the master&quot; :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1906" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T01:26:35.373" />
  <row Id="4589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4568" CreationDate="2010-11-01T02:41:10.920" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not know English well enough to say anything about the question from my personal experience.  However, a quick look at dictionaries suggests that it may not be the case that the plural form of “cannon” &lt;em&gt;evolved&lt;/em&gt; from “cannon” to “cannons.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) (&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50032514&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cannon, &lt;em&gt;n.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/a&gt; 2b; the linked page requires subscription) lists the use of “cannon” as a collective noun and as plural, but it does not state that this use is obsolete.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cannon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; also lists both “cannons” and “cannon” as the plural forms of the noun “cannon.”  (I do not personally know whether the construct such as “32 cannon” is correct in the modern English.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The first quotation of “cannons” cited in OED is in 1525, which is earlier than the first quotation of “cannon” as a collective noun or plural in 1596.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T02:41:10.920" />
  <row Id="4590" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7258" CreationDate="2010-11-01T05:20:40.097" Score="3" ViewCount="338" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's certainly poor style, if not actually wrong, to join independent clauses with a comma when a semicolon or other punctuation would have sufficed. But interjections are usually offset from other clauses by commas, as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;Dang, what do we do now?&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that this naturally applies to certain longer phrases, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;I don't know, what &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; we do?&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In which &quot;I don't know&quot; functions as a single interjectory unit. According to usual style, that comma ought to be replaced, but to replace it subtly changes the pacing of the sentence, doesn't it? So, does a comma used in this fashion count as a splice or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Valid examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm sorry, who are you?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What the heck, you only live once.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're welcome, it was my pleasure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Invalid examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm sorry about that, what can I do?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What the heck is going on, these zombies are ruining my earlier example.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are of course very welcome, I'd be happy to lend you my shotgun.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:00:09.333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:00:09.333" Title="Is it a splice comma if an interjection-phrase is involved?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;comma&gt;&lt;interjections&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4556" CreationDate="2010-11-01T05:29:57.050" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Not I&quot; is the grammatically correct way to say it (it's a way of rephrasing &quot;I do not.&quot;) However, in common parlance (as opposed to formal), you will probably hear &quot;not me&quot; more often, though it's grammatically incorrect (it might be rephrased as &quot;me do not.&quot;) As for why it became so common, I couldn't tell you. And yes, in casual conversation, it can sometimes sound awkward and perhaps a bit snooty. But it's not the only case where the grammatically correct way of saying something sounds that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TL; DR version: &quot;Not me&quot; probably won't get you funny looks in casual conversation. If you're writing an essay or giving a speech, use the grammatically correct form, &quot;Not I.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1787" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T05:29:57.050" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4592" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-01T05:45:25.750" Score="4" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the context of the discussion in &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericlippert/archive/2010/10/29/asynchronous-programming-in-c-5-0-part-two-whence-await.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; blog post and comments on using &lt;code&gt;await&lt;/code&gt; as a keyword for a potentially asynchronous operation in C#5, I wondered if there is any real difference between await and wait? Already as a dictionary definition, but also in common usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T06:00:39.860" Title="Is there a real difference between wait and await?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4592" CreationDate="2010-11-01T06:00:39.860" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To await is to wait for, but at least to my mind &quot;await&quot; carries a stronger connotation of &lt;em&gt;expectation&lt;/em&gt; than &quot;wait&quot;. I can wait for the bus, but I eagerly await your response. Etymonline indicates that both were originally an active, hostile sort of waiting, and it seems to me that &quot;await&quot; has retained more of this meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T06:00:39.860" />
  <row Id="4595" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-01T14:18:11.167" Score="4" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1095/use-of-that-in-a-sentence&quot;&gt;Use of &amp;ldquo;that&amp;rdquo; in a sentence&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some of the rules surrounding the word &quot;that&quot; and its inclusion or omission in a sentence? For example, &quot;My boss mentioned that you needed help,&quot; vs. &quot;My boss mentioned you needed help.&quot; Is either form more correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry if this seems rudimentary, but I've always felt a little self-conscious about my own usage of this word due to some fuzzy but persistent high school English class memories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1218" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T14:22:00.930" ClosedDate="2011-03-26T17:48:37.487" Title="When is &quot;that&quot; superfluous?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="4596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1095" CreationDate="2010-11-01T14:22:00.930" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your sentence is unclear or difficult to parse for the listener/reader without &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;, then insert it; otherwise, feel free to omit it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The understanding of your audience is always priority #1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T14:22:00.930" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4597" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-01T14:29:33.303" Score="4" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it incorrect to phrase a comparison in the following way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Men are prone more than women to depression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or must the adjective always follow &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Men are more prone than women to depression. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-01T14:35:41.067" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T14:20:20.110" Title="formation of comparisons" Tags="&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;comparative&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4597" CreationDate="2010-11-01T14:33:29.880" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The adjective always follow &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T14:33:29.880" />
  <row Id="4599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4597" CreationDate="2010-11-01T14:33:56.230" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The preferred word order is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Men are more prone than women to depression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T14:33:56.230" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4597" CreationDate="2010-11-01T14:43:08.020" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those two word orders mean two different things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Men are prone &lt;strong&gt;more&lt;/strong&gt; than women to depression.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Men are &lt;strong&gt;more&lt;/strong&gt; prone than women to depression.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sentence (2) means that men have a higher susceptibility to depression than women do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sentence (1) means that men are susceptible to depression more often than women.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, you can't use the word order in (1) if you mean (2).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T14:43:08.020" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="4601" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4602" CreationDate="2010-11-01T14:43:42.383" Score="0" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you explain differences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1a) Hadn't we better wait up for the slower ones? &#xA;                     vs.&#xA;1b) Hadn't we better wait for the slower ones?&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;2a) The apple fell from the tree.&#xA;                     vs.&#xA;2a) The apple fell down from the tree.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1901" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T01:42:12.207" Title="wait vs wait up, fall vs. fall down" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4601" CreationDate="2010-11-01T15:24:58.277" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;1)&#xA;I believe the correct usage of &lt;em&gt;wait up&lt;/em&gt; applies to the type of scenario where you don't lie &lt;em&gt;down&lt;/em&gt; to sleep, but instead wait &lt;em&gt;up&lt;/em&gt; for someone to come home. It has just moved into a more general usage to mean the same as &lt;em&gt;wait&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;Don't wait up for me, sweetie - I'll be working late tonight&quot;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) &#xA;An apple cannot fall &lt;em&gt;up&lt;/em&gt; from a tree, so using &lt;em&gt;fell down&lt;/em&gt; is a stylistic choice for a writer/speaker. There is no real difference between &lt;em&gt;fell from a tree&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;fell down from a tree&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T15:24:58.277" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4603" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4616" CreationDate="2010-11-01T15:59:39.680" Score="4" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just a whimsical question...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When one says that they have &quot;lost the rag&quot; - it usually means they've gotten impatient or lost their temper. But what does the 'rag' refer to and how did the phrase originate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="984" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T22:31:14.090" Title="Whimsical: &quot;Lost the rag&quot;. Origins and just what is &quot;the rag&quot; anyway?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4604" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4605" CreationDate="2010-11-01T17:33:03.360" Score="8" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always been intrigued by the word usage in the title of this &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times_They_Are_a-Changin%27_%28song%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bob Dylan song&lt;/a&gt;. Wikipedia mentions that the song was influenced by Irish and Scottish ballads:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dylan recalled writing the song as a deliberate attempt to create an anthem of change for the moment. In 1985, he told Cameron Crowe: &quot;This was definitely a song with a purpose. It was influenced of course by the Irish and Scottish ballads ...'Come All Ye Bold Highway Men', 'Come All Ye Tender Hearted Maidens'. I wanted to write a big song, with short concise verses that piled up on each other in a hypnotic way. The civil rights movement and the folk music movement were pretty close for a while and allied together at that time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there a dialect where the form a-&amp;lt;&lt;em&gt;gerund&lt;/em&gt;&gt; is common? e.g. a-&lt;em&gt;cooking&lt;/em&gt;, a-&lt;em&gt;cleaning&lt;/em&gt;, etc. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If so, in what context would you use the form a-&amp;lt;&lt;em&gt;gerund&lt;/em&gt;&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1720" LastEditorUserId="1720" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-01T17:47:09.090" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T18:06:02.193" Title="The times they are a-changin'" Tags="&lt;dialects&gt;&lt;gerund&gt;&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4604" CreationDate="2010-11-01T18:06:02.193" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;a-&quot; prefix is a poetic construction that's a holdover from Middle English &quot;y-&quot;, which is derived from Old English &quot;ge-&quot;, a prefix attached to present and past participles. The usage is still current in German, but in English it's now used almost exclusively in poetry&amp;mdash;normally music lyrics&amp;mdash;since it provides a convenient way to fill out a syllable and tweak the stress pattern of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English doesn't have any widely-spoken dialects that still use this, but I'd suspect that there are some people out there, speaking something more like Frisian, who still have it in their speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T18:06:02.193" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="4606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="953" CreationDate="2010-11-01T20:25:19.133" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tonne = Hundred&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least in Ireland!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="984" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T20:25:19.133" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-01T20:25:19.133" />
  <row Id="4607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="953" CreationDate="2010-11-01T20:51:46.810" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the US, a “C-note” or “C-spot” refers to US$100.00.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the British television shows that I’ve watched, a “quid” is £1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1727" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T20:51:46.810" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-01T20:51:46.810" />
  <row Id="4608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="953" CreationDate="2010-11-01T21:26:04.503" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In casinos, a quarter is $25, a penny is $1, a dollar is $100, etc =). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In USA at least, you can say &quot;kay&quot; to mean thousand, e.g. five kay = 5K = 5000.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T21:26:04.503" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-01T21:26:04.503" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="953" CreationDate="2010-11-01T21:28:18.070" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Quid&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;British slang for £1&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That costed me 12 &lt;strong&gt;quid&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(12 pounds) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T21:28:18.070" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-01T21:28:18.070" />
  <row Id="4610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="355" CreationDate="2010-11-01T23:36:03.797" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The name &lt;em&gt;soccer&lt;/em&gt; is derived from Association Football in the same way that &lt;em&gt;rugger&lt;/em&gt; is derived from Rugby Football. In other words, it has its origin in the upper class slang of boys' boarding schools. For this reason, among others, many English people dislike that name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wrote a little &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A52724801&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;taxonomy&lt;/a&gt; of football, which I'll attempt to reproduce here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The insets are descendants, not varieties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Association Football (soccer)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rugby Football (rugger)&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;American Rules Football&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Canadian Rules Football&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gaelic Football (Gaelic)&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Australian Rules Football&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;International/Compromise Rules Football&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-11-01T23:36:03.797" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4611" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4755" CreationDate="2010-11-02T00:15:10.050" Score="5" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say something (a bill, a task request) has a deadline of May 1st. It's pretty clear that on May 2nd, it's overdue. What's less clear, and is leading to some arguments where I work, is: at what point is it &lt;em&gt;&quot;due&quot;&lt;/em&gt;? As soon as it's assigned/generated? Two weeks before the deadline? Midnight on April 30th?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: to clarify, the debate centers around &lt;strong&gt;when is it correct to &lt;em&gt;start&lt;/em&gt; using the term &lt;em&gt;&quot;due&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. We've been using it to label tasks about 2 weeks to a month before the due date, and some people are saying that that is misleading, because those tasks are only &lt;em&gt;&quot;available&quot;&lt;/em&gt; that early, but aren't &lt;em&gt;due&lt;/em&gt; until... well, some nebulous time closer to the due date. (Which leaves the rest of us wondering why the word &lt;em&gt;&quot;overdue&quot;&lt;/em&gt; bothers to exist.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-05T15:45:07.633" LastActivityDate="2010-11-05T16:28:27.693" Title="When does the time window start for the term &quot;due&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="4612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4611" CreationDate="2010-11-02T01:11:18.797" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The multiple definitions of &quot;due&quot; make several of you right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/due&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster Online&lt;/a&gt; has as its first definition &quot;owed or owing.&quot; So as soon as the service is rendered, payment is &quot;due.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fifth definition is &quot;having reached the date at which payment is required.&quot;  Under that definition, the bill becomes &quot;due&quot; on May 1.  (I believe that general practice is to consider the payment &quot;overdue&quot; if it has not been received by close of business on the date shown as the &quot;due date&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T01:11:18.797" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4601" CreationDate="2010-11-02T01:42:12.207" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While &quot;wait up&quot; has the &quot;kid/spouse being out late&quot; context of Chris Dwyer's answer, there's another one that appears in Baha's question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrases &quot;wait up,&quot; &quot;slow up,&quot; and &quot;hold up&quot; are often used as an instruction to a person/group of people to stop/slow/wait for others.  I haven't heard it used quite as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hadn't we better wait up for the slower ones?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as in the original question, but have said&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Wait up!  We're missing Theresa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;many times.  (And yes, it's always Theresa.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T01:42:12.207" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4614" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4615" CreationDate="2010-11-02T05:42:03.250" Score="0" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1498" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T08:05:35.157" Title="&quot;into&quot; vs. &quot;in to&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="4615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="125" CreationDate="2010-11-02T08:05:35.157" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is explained in the book called &quot;Common Errors in English Usage&quot; by Paul Brians:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Into” is a preposition which often&#xA;  answers the question, “where?” For example, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“Tom and Becky had gone far into the cave before they realized they were&#xA;  lost.”&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sometimes the “where” is metaphorical,&#xA;  as in, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“He went into the army”&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“She went into business.”&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It can also refer by analogy to time: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“The snow lingered on the ground well into April.”&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In old-fashioned math talk, it could&#xA;  be used to refer to division: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“Two into six is three.”&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In other instances where the words&#xA;  “in” and “to” just happen to find&#xA;  themselves neighbors, they must remain&#xA;  separate words. For instance, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“Rachel dived back in to rescue the struggling boy.”&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here “to” belongs with “rescue” and&#xA;  means “in order to,” not “where.” (If&#xA;  the phrase had been &lt;em&gt;“dived back into&#xA;  the water,”&lt;/em&gt; “into” would be&#xA;  required.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Try speaking the sentence concerned&#xA;  aloud, pausing distinctly between “in”&#xA;  and “to.” If the result sounds wrong,&#xA;  you probably need “into.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Then there is the 60s colloquialism&#xA;  which lingers on in which “into” means&#xA;  “deeply interested or involved in”: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“Kevin is into baseball cards.”&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is derived from usages like &lt;em&gt;“the&#xA;  committee is looking into the&#xA;  fund-raising scandal.”&lt;/em&gt; The&#xA;  abbreviated form is not acceptable&#xA;  formal English, but is quite common in&#xA;  informal communications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T08:05:35.157" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4603" CreationDate="2010-11-02T08:28:48.863" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/rag&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Free Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; has some info on this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;lose one's rag:&lt;/strong&gt; to lose one's temper suddenly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[probably back formation from&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;RAGGED&lt;/strong&gt;, from Old English &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;raggig&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; ; related to Old Norse &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;rögg&lt;/em&gt; tuft&lt;/strong&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T08:28:48.863" />
  <row Id="4617" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4619" CreationDate="2010-11-02T08:32:32.420" Score="3" ViewCount="377" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would tend to write double-l, but Google gives me more single-l, so I'm guessing it's an Atlantic divide thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I guess all the other *full words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-02T14:54:47.340" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T14:54:47.340" Title="Successfull/successful - is this a UK/US difference?" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4618" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4621" CreationDate="2010-11-02T08:45:33.980" Score="4" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;— Where are you going?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  — I'm going to Paris.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;— Where are you going to?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  — I'm going to Paris.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure the first one is correct, but what about the second?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1885" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-04T13:32:29.730" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T13:32:29.730" Title="is &quot;Where are you going to?&quot; correct" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4617" CreationDate="2010-11-02T09:14:17.063" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say &lt;em&gt;successfull&lt;/em&gt; is a typo. Neither &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/successfull&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; nor &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/successfull&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; mention it as an alternative spelling. The British National Corpus has &lt;a href=&quot;http://bnc.bl.uk/saraWeb.php?qy=successful&amp;amp;mysubmit=Go&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;10695 cites for &lt;em&gt;successful&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and exactly one for &lt;em&gt;successfull&lt;/em&gt;. According to OneLook, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onelook.com/?w=successful&amp;amp;ls=a&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;33 dictionaries&lt;/a&gt; have an entry for &lt;em&gt;successful&lt;/em&gt;, but only Wordnik has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/words/successfull&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;few cites&lt;/a&gt; for &lt;em&gt;successfull&lt;/em&gt; (without a definition).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; by popular request, I will add that the adverb &lt;em&gt;successfully&lt;/em&gt; is written with two L's. &lt;em&gt;Successfuly&lt;/em&gt; would be incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-02T10:03:23.850" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T10:03:23.850" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4620" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4654" CreationDate="2010-11-02T09:54:58.203" Score="3" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always try to remember to use &quot;cannot&quot; when applicable as in &quot;I cannot take an umbrella&quot; (because I do not have one).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also thought that the problem with &quot;I can not take an umbrella&quot; was that it was ambiguous: it could also mean that I could decide not to take an umbrella. Trying to write unambiguously most of the time, I would therefore never use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I see it claimed that it is in fact not ambiguous, and only carries the second meaning. Usually I would accept such advice at face value and start using &quot;can not&quot; when the second meaning is unambiguously meant, but this comes from a style guide I have other reasons not to respect very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does &quot;can not&quot; have a single unambiguous meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I have read &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4510/why-is-cannot-spelled-as-one-word&quot;&gt;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4510/why-is-cannot-spelled-as-one-word&lt;/a&gt; but my question is more about current usage. The length of the answer to that question does confirm my prejudice a bit, though)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1095" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T18:02:18.643" Title="Is &quot;can not&quot; unambiguous?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4618" CreationDate="2010-11-02T09:56:52.033" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Never end a sentence with a preposition, unless you're Winston Churchill.  It's occasionally acceptable, but only if the sentence would be horrible if rearranged to avoid it.  &quot;Where are you going?&quot; is a fine sentence; the &quot;to&quot; is not needed (either at the beginning or end).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.” ~ Winston Churchill &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1814" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T09:56:52.033" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4597" CreationDate="2010-11-02T09:59:35.353" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would actually go with either of the two following wordings:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Men are prone to depression more than women.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Men are more prone to depression than women.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of the above sound much more natural to me than your second sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Men are more prone than women to depression. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which, in turn, still sounds more natural than your first one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Men are prone more than women to depression.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T09:59:35.353" />
  <row Id="4624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4618" CreationDate="2010-11-02T12:25:21.903" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The “to” in “Where are you going to?” sounds superfluous to me just because “Where are you going?” is perfectly fine and I cannot think of any reason to add “to” to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason why “Where are you going to?” sounds strange is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; because the sentence ends with a preposition.  For example, there is nothing wrong with the sentence “Who are you talking to?”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T12:25:21.903" />
  <row Id="4625" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4628" CreationDate="2010-11-02T12:33:59.950" Score="1" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between oblige and obligate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speculating, is the latter an Americanism of the British former? Or is there any distinction about what/who has caused someone to be oblig(at)ed to do something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1439" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T12:44:57.240" Title="What is the difference between &quot;to oblige&quot; and &quot;to obligate&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4626" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-02T12:35:09.093" Score="8" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm quite fond of internal pluralisation, such as passers-by, mothers-in-law, or even &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4064/chambers-of-commerce&quot;&gt;Chambers of Commerce&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I've recently realised that I've no idea how to indicate possession in such a case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither &quot;Mothers-in-law's&quot; nor &quot;mothers'-in-law&quot; seem right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a corrct way of doing this, or should it just be avoided?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1922" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T13:43:36.663" Title="How to indicate possession by e.g. passers-by, mothers-in-law" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4627" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4629" CreationDate="2010-11-02T12:43:09.707" Score="1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to indicate that one approach to solve a problem is less preferred than another approach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to phrase it correctly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it grammatically correct to state it this way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Modeling x and y is a less preferred approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T09:07:11.793" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T09:07:11.793" Title="&quot;A less preferred approach&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;comparative&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4625" CreationDate="2010-11-02T12:44:57.240" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither is more correct than the other. They're both common words. In fact, they're sometimes different words. For instance, to oblige someone is to do something for them that they want you to do. &quot;She asked me to pick up dinner, and I obliged her by getting some lasagna from a little Italian place down the street.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not the same as obligating someone, which means to make them HAVE to do something (or feel that they have to). &quot;Although the statue was meant as a birthday gift, he obviously felt obligated to get me something expensive in return, despite my protestations.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a dialect aspect to it as well. What's wrong with &quot;obligate&quot;? In US English nothing is wrong with it. In Australian English everything is wrong with it. Here's how I'd have put it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Although the statue was meant as a birthday gift, he obviously felt obliged to get me something expensive in return, despite my protest.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my dialect &quot;oblige&quot; is fairly common but &quot;obligate&quot; is never heard. The distinction that Uriel mentions is not made in Australian English. We use &quot;oblige&quot; for both meanings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T12:44:57.240" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="4629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4627" CreationDate="2010-11-02T12:48:35.753" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is grammatically correct. I would say &quot;X is a less &lt;em&gt;preferable&lt;/em&gt; approach than Y&quot;, but &quot;X is a less &lt;em&gt;preferred&lt;/em&gt; approach than Y&quot; is valid, too. The former indicates that the preference is based on objective standards, while the latter implies that there is a specific person or group that actually does the preferring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T12:48:35.753" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="4630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4626" CreationDate="2010-11-02T12:49:35.343" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Mothers-in-law's&quot; is a correct form.  I am quoting the rule used in American grammar:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also add an apostrophe followed by an s to the end of a singular compound noun that ends in any letter except s. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Queen of England's carriage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;King of Spain's castle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Prime Minister of Canada's question&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;mother-in-law's recipe&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T13:43:36.663" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T13:43:36.663" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4617" CreationDate="2010-11-02T13:11:28.423" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Only &lt;code&gt;full&lt;/code&gt; is spelled with two &lt;code&gt;ll&lt;/code&gt;s. The rest of &lt;code&gt;*full&lt;/code&gt; words are spelled with only one &lt;code&gt;l&lt;/code&gt;: helpful, successful, skillful, beautiful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1580" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T13:11:28.423" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4632" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4641" CreationDate="2010-11-02T13:35:31.703" Score="3" ViewCount="344" Body="&lt;p&gt;When would you use each? I understand &quot;condescend&quot; has another meaning of &quot;voluntarily lower oneself&quot; (Babylon definition). But in the &quot;look upon other&quot; meaning, which would you prefer in which situation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1923" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T04:51:21.497" Title="Condescending vs Patronizing" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4633" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4636" CreationDate="2010-11-02T13:37:14.823" Score="10" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;Within Biology, there are some biological terms that differ between the British English and American English dictionary. For example, oestrogen and oesophagus, as well as oestriol. Is there anything in particular that makes this so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T14:21:13.893" Title="Oestrogen and Oesophagus - Why Are They Spelled Like This in British English?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4634" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4658" CreationDate="2010-11-02T14:04:41.303" Score="3" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a comment on &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4590/is-it-a-splice-comma-if-an-interjection-phrase-is-involved&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; where I refer to a list of 3 examples deemed 'valid'. I said: &quot;I think the last valid example is not.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence sounds kind of strange (I did that on purpose). Is it grammatically correct? I sit just like some kind of pun?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:57:12.093" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:57:12.093" Title="is this sentence grammatically correct? punny?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;pun&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4620" CreationDate="2010-11-02T14:09:24.907" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cannot is not the same as &quot;can not&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I cannot go&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Means you are unable to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can not go&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Means you are able to not-go, that is, you CAN avoid going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably you should always use cannot and never try to make sentences with the &quot;can not&quot; sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T14:09:24.907" />
  <row Id="4636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4633" CreationDate="2010-11-02T14:15:34.570" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;oestrogen&lt;/em&gt; comes from the Latin word &lt;em&gt;oestrus&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;oesophagus&lt;/em&gt; is a Latin word as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;oe&lt;/em&gt; spelling in Latin originally represented a diphthong [oj] (&quot;oy&quot;), but then later (in Latin) became a long vowel [ee].  When we borrowed such words into English, it was pronounced more like [i], [e], or [ɛ] (depending on the word), following English pronunciation rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And since we pronounce them like &quot;estrogen&quot; and &quot;esophagus&quot;, the US English spelling was changed to reflect the English pronunciation more closely, by dropping the &lt;em&gt;o&lt;/em&gt;.  In British English, the connection to the original Latin spelling was retained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Something similar to this happened with, e.g., &lt;em&gt;encyclopaedia&lt;/em&gt; (British) / &lt;em&gt;encyclopedia&lt;/em&gt; (US).)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-02T14:21:13.893" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T14:21:13.893" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4637" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-02T14:19:14.570" Score="5" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never liked the use of &quot;to grow [x]&quot; to mean &quot;to make [x] bigger&quot;, rather than in the agricultural sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I justified in this at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If so, can we make the SE team reword our social media banner?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1922" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T14:27:19.157" Title="&quot;Help us grow this site&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;transitive-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4634" CreationDate="2010-11-02T14:24:32.963" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's grammatically correct, and a little humorous, but not a pun: a pun is generally a play on the sound or meaning of a word or phrase. What you wrote is effectively the same as saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;I think the last &quot;valid&quot; example is in fact not.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note the quotes (referring to the original post) and the use of a term such as &quot;in fact&quot; (showing contrast), both of which can be omitted because it's clear from context, and it's wittier to be terse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T14:24:32.963" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4637" CreationDate="2010-11-02T14:27:19.157" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't see any problem with using &lt;em&gt;grow&lt;/em&gt; as transitive verb for things not related to agriculture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grow?show=0&amp;amp;t=1288707767&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;definition from the Merriam-Webster dictionary for &lt;em&gt;grow&lt;/em&gt; as transitive verb&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt; : to cause to grow  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;b&lt;/strong&gt; :to let grow on the body &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;: &lt;strong&gt;to promote the development of&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;start a business and grow it successfully&lt;/em&gt; — J. L. Deckter &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second definition is the one being used on the banner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T14:27:19.157" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4618" CreationDate="2010-11-02T14:29:34.650" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both examples are pretty much acceptable in colloquial speech, though the former avoids the hanging preposition, so is preferable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would consider three variants that are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Where are you going?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To where are you going? (grammatically correct but a bit redundant)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Whither go you? (archaic, but I love how precise and short it is)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T14:29:34.650" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4632" CreationDate="2010-11-02T14:30:13.163" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is something of a circular definition at work here: to patronise someone is to behave condescendingly toward them, and to condescend is to behave in an arrogant manner by patronising those whom you consider inferior. I'd say they're fully denotationally equivalent. Connotation-wise, however, there is a slight difference: &quot;patronising&quot; implies behaving as a parent does toward a child, while I think &quot;condescending&quot; is more general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T14:30:13.163" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4634" CreationDate="2010-11-02T14:40:29.767" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edited: I rewrote the answer completely after reading the other question.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the way you write this question, I guess that your intent was to say “The last example you labeled as ‘valid’ is not actually valid.”  However, in the context of the other question, I would not understand the sentence “The last valid example is not” that way at all.  (I do not know whether it is said to be “grammatically correct” or not, but that is irrelevant.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I see the sentence “The last valid example is not,” I somehow expect that something &lt;em&gt;which appeared before that sentence&lt;/em&gt; is elided after the word “not.”  Probably the word “valid” in the same sentence is too close to the location of the ellipsis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the current case, the conversation went like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You know, is it an error or not? – Jon Purdy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think the last valid example is not. – Claudiu&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would interpret the last sentence as “I think the last valid example is not an error,” and I would never imagine that anything else might be intended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastEditorUserId="1755" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-02T15:59:52.163" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T15:59:52.163" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="4643" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4673" CreationDate="2010-11-02T15:16:15.010" Score="8" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been intrigued by the word &lt;em&gt;o'clock&lt;/em&gt; since I learned English. Although there is an equivalent to this word in my native language (Spanish &lt;em&gt;en punto&lt;/em&gt; meaning &lt;em&gt;on point&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;on the dot&lt;/em&gt;) I want to know the origin of the term &lt;em&gt;o'clock&lt;/em&gt;, especially why it has an apostrophe. Is it meant to contract &lt;em&gt;on the clock&lt;/em&gt; or something similar? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1720" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T05:17:45.747" Title="What phrase is &quot;o'clock&quot; contracting?" Tags="&lt;contractions&gt;&lt;time&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4643" CreationDate="2010-11-02T15:24:25.883" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it's &quot;of the clock&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T15:24:25.883" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4645" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4646" CreationDate="2010-11-02T15:24:53.987" Score="4" ViewCount="278" Body="&lt;p&gt;In written English (mainly online) I often come across sentences ending with a question or an exclamation mark with a space before it. Is it always just an error or a typo? Or there are cases when it is a correct English, for example after closing parentheses or some other punctuation marks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T16:16:17.193" Title="A space before a question or an exclamation mark. Can it be correct?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4645" CreationDate="2010-11-02T16:16:17.193" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English, it is always an error. There should be no space between a sentence and its ending punctuation, whether that's a period, a question mark, or an exclamation mark. There should also be no space before a colon, semicolon, or comma. The only punctuation mark that sometimes needs to be preceded by a space is a dash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see this error most often with people who never really learned to type. In handwriting, spacing is more, um, negotiable and subject to interpretation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T16:16:17.193" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4647" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4650" CreationDate="2010-11-02T16:20:05.820" Score="0" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;turn them all off&quot; 84,800 results&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;turn all them off&quot; 63,200 results&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;both are correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="423" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T16:26:21.767" Title="&quot;turn them all off&quot; or &quot;turn all them off&quot;?" Tags="&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4647" CreationDate="2010-11-02T16:22:53.903" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Turn them all off&quot; and &quot;Turn all of them off&quot; are both correct, but there's a slight difference in meaning, or at least in emphasis. &quot;Turn all them off&quot; is informal usage at best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T16:22:53.903" />
  <row Id="4650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4647" CreationDate="2010-11-02T16:26:21.767" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second is INCORRECT. (unless that was a typo)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;turn all &lt;strong&gt;of&lt;/strong&gt; them off&quot; is correct, however. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stress is different in these two phrases, however. For most uses, the difference between these two is quite subtle, so nothing to worry about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second phrase you can put the emphasis on &quot;THEM&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, you could say: &quot;Turn all of THEM off&quot; (pointing to a specific set of light switches)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the first phrase in like manner sounds awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T16:26:21.767" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4651" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-02T17:16:23.487" Score="0" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/531/is-there-a-standard-ordering-for-the-question-mark-and-the-exclamation-mark-used&quot;&gt;Is there a standard ordering for the question mark and the exclamation mark used together?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially in informal writings -- blogs, forums, etc -- I come across &lt;strong&gt;?!&lt;/strong&gt;  and  &lt;strong&gt;!?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do they mean and what is the proper usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T17:16:23.487" ClosedDate="2010-11-02T17:37:00.700" Title="what are the correct usages of ?! and !?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4652" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4653" CreationDate="2010-11-02T17:25:14.140" Score="2" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a good few words in English that come from names:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To &lt;strong&gt;jimmy&lt;/strong&gt; a lock is to break it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To &lt;strong&gt;jack&lt;/strong&gt; someone is to rob them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To &lt;strong&gt;peter&lt;/strong&gt; out is to become tired.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;john&lt;/strong&gt; is a bathroom, or one who buys the services of a lady of the evening.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any connection between how they formed or a common history among them? As an aside, does it happen in other languages?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T16:31:23.177" Title="History/connection/origin of using names as verbs/nouns?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="4653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4652" CreationDate="2010-11-02T17:36:29.757" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the meanings you cite, &lt;em&gt;jimmy&lt;/em&gt; is from 1848, &lt;em&gt;jack&lt;/em&gt; is American English from 1904, &lt;em&gt;peter out&lt;/em&gt; is miners' slang from 1846, and the two &lt;em&gt;johns&lt;/em&gt; are from 1932 and 1911, respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only connection I was able to find between any two of them is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=john&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;john&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;toilet,&quot; 1932, probably from &lt;em&gt;jack&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;jakes&lt;/em&gt;, used for &quot;toilet&quot; since 16c. (see &lt;strong&gt;jack&lt;/strong&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the aside, yes, it does happen in other languages, too. As the most obvious example off the top of my head, the Russian derogative term for a German is &lt;em&gt;фриц&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Fritz&lt;/em&gt;), and the German derogative term for a Russian is &lt;em&gt;Iwan&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Ivan&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4652/history-connection-origin-of-using-names-as-verbs-nouns/4683#4683&quot;&gt;seanyboy's answer&lt;/a&gt; made me revisit &lt;em&gt;peter out&lt;/em&gt;, and it is indeed not clear whether it is connected to the name &lt;em&gt;Peter&lt;/em&gt; at all. Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=petered&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;peter (v.)&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;cease, stop,&quot; 1812, of uncertain origin. To &lt;em&gt;peter out&lt;/em&gt; &quot;become exhausted,&quot; is 1846 as miners' slang.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/peter#Etymology_2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adds&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Various speculative etymologies have been suggested. One suggestion is that it comes from &lt;em&gt;peter&lt;/em&gt; being an abbreviation of &lt;em&gt;saltpeter&lt;/em&gt;, the key ingredient in gunpowder – when a mine was exhausted, it was “petered”. Other derivations are from &lt;em&gt;St. Peter&lt;/em&gt; (from sense of “rock”), or French &lt;em&gt;péter&lt;/em&gt; (“to fart”).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-03T13:37:01.337" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T13:37:01.337" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4620" CreationDate="2010-11-02T18:02:18.643" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Can not&quot; is &lt;strong&gt;ambiguous&lt;/strong&gt; and should be avoided. If you write &quot;I can not take an umbrella&quot; you can be interpreted in two opposite ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;That you cannot take an umbrella (because you forgot to buy one, for example).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;That you can &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; take an umbrella (meaning, for example, that you are allowed to go without an umbrella).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/cannot.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Common Errors in English Language&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These two spellings [&lt;em&gt;cannot&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;can&#xA;  not&lt;/em&gt;] are largely interchangeable, but&#xA;  by far the more common is “cannot” and&#xA;  you should probably use it except when&#xA;  you want to be emphatic: “No, you can&#xA;  not wash the dog in the Maytag.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T18:02:18.643" />
  <row Id="4655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4556" CreationDate="2010-11-02T18:23:20.457" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, in English, accusative (also known as “objective”) pronouns (like &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt;) are the “default” form. That is, unless there is a specific syntactic rule requiring use of a different case, such as nominative (&lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt;), genitive (&lt;em&gt;my/mine&lt;/em&gt;), or reflexive/intensive (&lt;em&gt;myself&lt;/em&gt;), in English you use the accusative case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the syntactic context where a pronoun is not serving a role relative to an explicit verb, such as when it is the simple answer to a question, or if one is labeling something, such as a photo, accusative pronouns are standard. “Who wants to come?” “Me.” Nominative pronouns are impossible here—you cannot answer the question “Who wants to come?” with “I”, nor would anyone label a photo “I”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This holds even if negated: “Who wants ice cream?” “Not me.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to use the highest register, most formal English, however, you should avoid the question of what case to use with pronouns standing alone, and use a complete sentence: “I do not want ice cream.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T18:23:20.457" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4656" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-02T18:31:41.227" Score="7" ViewCount="366" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd always thought that words like &quot;physics&quot; and &quot;mathematics&quot; were singular: after all, we say &quot;physics &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; the study of…&quot; etc. But apparently, according to the comments &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4146/the-news-is-good-why&quot;&gt;on this question about &quot;news&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, each of these words is actually a &quot;plural noun [usually treated as singular]&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What makes these words plural? Is it the fact that they end in s? (Surely &quot;bus&quot; is not plural?) Is it history? (Were they used as plural at some time? How far back in history does one go to decide whether a noun is singular or plural?) Is it the fact that they don't have any distinct forms treated as plural?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most importantly, why do we even have a grammatical category of &quot;plural nouns treated as singular&quot;? What purpose does it serve, and how are such nouns functionally distinguishable from nouns that are actually singular? When/if the reason is history, is there a rationale for saying &quot;plural nouns treated as singular&quot; rather than &quot;singular nouns that were formerly plural&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; My question isn't just about &quot;-ics&quot; words, but all words in the category &quot;plural nouns treated as singular&quot; (assuming that the category isn't just -ics words).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T09:41:05.920" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T09:41:05.920" Title="What is the difference between a &quot;singular noun&quot; and a &quot;plural noun treated as singular&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4656" CreationDate="2010-11-02T18:46:40.710" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=-ics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this to say&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;-ics&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;in the names of sciences or disciplines (&lt;em&gt;acoustics&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;aerobics&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;economics&lt;/em&gt;, etc.) it represents a 16c. revival of the classical custom of using the neuter plural of adjectives with &lt;em&gt;-ikos&lt;/em&gt; (see &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt;) to mean &quot;matters relevant to&quot; and also as the titles of treatises about them. Subject matters that acquired their names in English before c.1500, however, tend to remain in singular (e.g. &lt;em&gt;arithmetic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;logic&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, at some point in history, there were such things as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=physic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;physic&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (meaning &quot;natural science&quot;), &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=mathematic&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;mathematic&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (meaning &quot;mathematical science&quot;), etc. that were later turned into plural forms but kept being treated as singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; having looked in a few more places, it appears that in contemporary English, it still makes some sense to have both the suffix &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; and its plural form &lt;em&gt;-ics&lt;/em&gt;. According to the Collins English Dictionary, the former has kind of specialized in forming adjectives, while the latter is happily forming nouns:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;-ic&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;suffix forming adjectives&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;of, relating to, or resembling: &lt;em&gt;allergic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Germanic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;periodic&lt;/em&gt;. See also &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [...]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[from Latin &lt;em&gt;-icus&lt;/em&gt; or Greek &lt;em&gt;-ikos&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; also occurs in nouns that represent a substantive use of adjectives (&lt;em&gt;magic&lt;/em&gt;) and in nouns borrowed directly from Latin or Greek (&lt;em&gt;critic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;music&lt;/em&gt;)]&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;-ics&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;suffix forming nouns (functioning as singular)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;indicating a science, art, or matters relating to a particular subject: &lt;em&gt;aeronautics&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;politics&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;indicating certain activities or practices: &lt;em&gt;acrobatics&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[plural of &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt;, representing Latin &lt;em&gt;-ica&lt;/em&gt;, from Greek &lt;em&gt;-ika&lt;/em&gt;, as in &lt;em&gt;mathēmatika&lt;/em&gt; mathematics]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key here is that they are not just two unrelated suffixes. Much rather, one is etymologically a plural form of the other. As the American Heritage Dictionary succinctly puts it, &lt;em&gt;-ics&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;&lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;-s&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-02T19:24:46.963" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T19:24:46.963" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4634" CreationDate="2010-11-02T19:06:37.657" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is an example of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis_%28linguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ellipsis&lt;/a&gt;. You are &lt;em&gt;eliding&lt;/em&gt; the word &lt;em&gt;valid&lt;/em&gt; at the end of the sentence “I think the last valid example is not &lt;s&gt;valid&lt;/s&gt;.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is perfectly grammatical. It might be considered a kind of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use%E2%80%93mention_distinction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;use–mention distinction&lt;/a&gt; pun if you had put the word &lt;em&gt;valid&lt;/em&gt; in quotation marks, as in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think the last “valid” example is not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, the first instance of the word &lt;em&gt;valid&lt;/em&gt; is a mention but the elided second instance is a use. That is, you weren’t saying the example was valid, but just using the word &lt;em&gt;valid&lt;/em&gt; as a label that someone else used for the example. In the second clause, you use ellipsis to refer back to the word &lt;em&gt;valid&lt;/em&gt; but this time you mean to use the word &lt;em&gt;valid&lt;/em&gt; for its meaning and not as a label.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is definitely wordplay entailing multiple meanings, which is what a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pun&lt;/a&gt; is, but usually a pun uses two different meanings of a word; whereas in this case, you are punning use and mention of a word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T19:06:37.657" />
  <row Id="4659" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-02T19:51:06.070" Score="3" ViewCount="391" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there an English word meaning &quot;the use of uncommon words&quot; or similar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1927" LastEditorUserId="1927" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-02T20:02:57.213" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T21:57:59.837" Title="Word meaning &quot;use of uncommon words&quot;" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="4660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4659" CreationDate="2010-11-02T20:01:57.837" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on what you mean by &quot;uncommon&quot;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/lexiphanicism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lexiphanicism&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is the use of excessive terminology, while &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/patavinity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;patavinity&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is the use of local or provincial words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I hope you are not just looking for &lt;em&gt;slang&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;jargon&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-02T20:19:59.070" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T20:19:59.070" />
  <row Id="4661" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4668" CreationDate="2010-11-02T20:23:06.860" Score="1" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference in meaning  in these 3 sentences. The answer was partially touched  on in this &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7/may-might-whats-the-right-context&quot;&gt;post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;it might be funny&#xA;&#xA;it could be funny&#xA;&#xA;it may be funny, &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1446" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-02T22:29:09.557" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T03:31:26.640" Title="&quot;it could vs might vs may be funny&quot; -- what is the correct usage?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4662" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4674" CreationDate="2010-11-02T20:39:00.280" Score="9" ViewCount="355" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sure everyone here has heard the expression &quot;right up the Wazoo&quot;, meaning &quot;in large or excessive quantities, to disgusting excess&quot;. I was wondering if anyone knew exactly where &quot;the Wazoo&quot; actually is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T23:40:04.390" Title="Right up the Wazoo" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4659" CreationDate="2010-11-02T20:51:56.230" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the category of similar words, there's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sesquipedalian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sesquipedalian&lt;/a&gt;, meaning prone to using long words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T20:51:56.230" />
  <row Id="4664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4659" CreationDate="2010-11-02T22:01:24.360" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the uncommon words are being used specifically to obscure meaning, then &quot;obfuscation&quot; might apply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T22:01:24.360" />
  <row Id="4665" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4667" CreationDate="2010-11-02T23:18:34.747" Score="4" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;They only stamp academic documents&lt;/em&gt; versus &lt;em&gt;they stamp academic document only&lt;/em&gt;: which one is correct and what are the implications of the non-correct form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Context: university office that does other businesses but also stamps academic documents.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1928" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T17:50:16.527" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T17:50:16.527" Title="Usage of 'only' with a verb" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4665" CreationDate="2010-11-02T23:38:44.660" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are correct and convey the same meanings. However, the first one, &quot;They only stamp academic documents,&quot; sounds better, as the word that &quot;only&quot; is modifying (&quot;stamp&quot;) is closer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm confused by the context you mention, though. This sentence says that there is a university office which does &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; stamp other businesses - they &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; stamp academic documents. That's the opposite of what you said in the &quot;context&quot; part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-11-02T23:38:44.660" />
  <row Id="4667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4665" CreationDate="2010-11-03T01:21:17.200" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on the context you give, I think what you're looking for is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;They stamp only academic documents.&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i.e. they do a variety of other things, but as far as stamping goes, it's limited to academic documents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first example you gave implies that they don't do anything &lt;em&gt;besides&lt;/em&gt; stamping academic documents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second example is more ambiguous and could mean either—I would avoid using a construction like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T01:21:17.200" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4661" CreationDate="2010-11-03T03:31:26.640" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All three phrases indicate that the source (the person who is speaking or writing the sentence) does not find the subject (it) very funny. The subtle differences between the three are all about tense (either present or future) and degree of confidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It might be funny&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Low confidence, present or future tense:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In this context, the word &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; indicates either: (1) a small chance that the subject &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; funny, or (2) a small chance that it &lt;em&gt;will be&lt;/em&gt; funny in the future. If the second meaning is intended, it would normally be followed by a condition of some sort: &lt;code&gt;It might be funny if...&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It may be funny&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Medium confidence, present or future tense:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This phrase is very similar to the first one, except that it implies a greater chance that the subject is funny or will be funny in the future. Without any context, I would interpret this to mean: &lt;code&gt;It is possible that someone else would find it funny.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It could be funny&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;High confidence, future tense:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This phrase absolutely refers to the future. Two things are being said: (1) The subject, in its current form, is not funny. (2) There is a good chance of it becoming funny, as long as something changes. &lt;code&gt;It could be funny, as long as no one is offended.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T03:31:26.640" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4669" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4671" CreationDate="2010-11-03T04:22:07.903" Score="4" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;The terms &lt;em&gt;topic&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;subject&lt;/em&gt; can be used to describe what a sentence refers to. What are the proper terms for the &quot;source&quot; (the person who is speaking or writing) and &quot;destination&quot; (the person who is listening or reading) when referring to a particular phrase used in communication?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if Ann were to tell Bob: &quot;The sky is blue&quot; What general term would I use to describe Ann or Bob in relation to that sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they were speaking out loud, I might call Ann &lt;em&gt;the speaker&lt;/em&gt;, and Bob &lt;em&gt;the listener&lt;/em&gt;. If Ann had written to Bob, I might call Ann &lt;em&gt;the writer&lt;/em&gt; and Bob &lt;em&gt;the reader&lt;/em&gt;. In both cases, I might also call Bob &lt;em&gt;the audience&lt;/em&gt;. Ann could be described as &lt;em&gt;using&lt;/em&gt; the sentence to communicate with Bob. The trouble with all of these options is their actual use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The source of the sentence&quot; - implies text, not a person&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;The sentence speaker&quot; - excludes writing, sounds wrong&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;The sentence writer&quot; - excludes speaking&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;The person who used the sentence&quot; - too verbose&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The sentence destination&quot; - a tagline for your local jail?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;The sentence listener&quot; - an upcoming Hollywood movie?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;The sentence reader&quot; - excludes listening&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;The audience of the sentence&quot; - could imply more than one person, too verbose&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T14:29:15.530" Title="Is there a proper way to refer to the &quot;source&quot; and &quot;destination&quot; of a phrase used in communication?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4670" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-03T04:44:34.897" Score="2" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;In the Eden story, The Snake engages Eve in dialog.&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IN this sentence, should the word &quot;Snake&quot; be capitalized? Should the word &quot;The&quot; be capitalized? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume that only if &quot;The Snake&quot; is a proper noun it gets capitalized, am I correct? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I know if &quot;The Snake&quot; is a proper noun or a regular noun?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="177" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T19:00:03.073" Title="How to tell the difference between proper nouns and regular nouns (in certain ambiguous cases)?" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4669" CreationDate="2010-11-03T04:55:37.907" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can talk about an author and his or her audience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether written or spoken, Ann is the author of the sentence &quot;The sky is blue.&quot; Bob is Ann's audience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="177" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-03T14:29:15.530" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T14:29:15.530" />
  <row Id="4672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4670" CreationDate="2010-11-03T05:04:33.553" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;pre&gt;&quot;the snake&quot;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;Snake&quot;&lt;/code&gt; is not a proper noun because outside of that context, it is impossible to say which snake is &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; snake. E.g. &lt;code&gt;&quot;God&quot;&lt;/code&gt; is a proper noun because I can use it in any context and it is understood that I am talking about the monotheistic god.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;code&gt;&quot;the&quot;&lt;/code&gt; is not capitalized because it is simply a descriptive article distinguishing the fact that it was a unique snake as opposed to just any snake; it is not attached to the noun in question. Even if the noun it describes were a proper noun, e.g. &lt;code&gt;&quot;He ate the Moon&quot;&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;&quot;the&quot;&lt;/code&gt; is not capitalized. Only capitalize the word &lt;code&gt;&quot;the&quot;&lt;/code&gt; if it is part of the noun in question, e.g. &lt;code&gt;&quot;The Beatles&quot;&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T05:04:33.553" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4643" CreationDate="2010-11-03T05:12:17.423" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0224079948&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Time-traveller's Guide to Medieval England&lt;/a&gt; 'of the clock' was used to describe time when it was being sliced in 24 equal parts (hours) of the day. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was used to differentiate the practice, used equally as much, of using &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_time&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;solar time&lt;/a&gt;, whereby the 7th hour would shift in actual time, however would always be 7/12ths of a solar day after sunrise, and the length of an hour would increase in summer and decrease in winter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1930" LastEditorUserId="1930" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-03T05:17:45.747" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T05:17:45.747" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4662" CreationDate="2010-11-03T05:25:25.890" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;em&gt;up&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;out&lt;/em&gt; can be used in conjunction with &lt;em&gt;the wazoo&lt;/em&gt;, and both imply too much of something. In this context, the wazoo is a slang term for the anus. The etymology of the term is uncertain. I have always felt that &lt;em&gt;up the wazoo&lt;/em&gt; implied a more unpleasant situation than &lt;em&gt;out the wazoo&lt;/em&gt;, but I'm sure that is simply a matter of personal preference. [cough].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary has identical definitions for each term, and also makes note of the similarity to the phrase &lt;em&gt;up/out the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/out_the_ying_yang&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ying-yang&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; [sic].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/up_the_wazoo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;up the wazoo&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1. (vulgar, idiomatic) up the ass; excessive or excessively; too much&lt;br&gt;&#xA;e.g.: &lt;em&gt;I'd go, but I'm sure they will charge up the wazoo for tickets.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/out_the_wazoo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;out the wazoo&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1. (vulgar, idiomatic) out the ass; excessive or excessively; too much&lt;br&gt;&#xA;e.g.: &lt;em&gt;I planted a few seeds and had radishes out the wazoo within a month.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cjr.org/language_corner/out_the_wazoo.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; in the Columbia Journalism Review provides some possible explanations for the origin of both the phrase and the word itself:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... the venerable Oxford English Dictionary weighs in. While it professes not to know the origin of “wazoo,” it says that others suspect it may come from the French oiseau, or bird, through a Louisiana Creole term, “razoo,” for raspberry. (Those with particularly fertile dirty minds may be able to make the connection.) It’s almost exclusively American.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The OED’s first two citations are telling in themselves. The first, in 1961, is from a University of California, Berkeley publication: “Run it up yer ol’ wazoo!” Its second citation is from a publication not known for its use of slang, The Wall Street Journal, in 1971: “Golf itself is quite safe, the greatest risk being the possibility of a long drive plunking some poor fellow in the wazoo.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/09/wazoo-story.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;post&lt;/a&gt; on grammarphobia.com mentions another possibility:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang suggests that “wazoo” as a euphemism might be a variation on “gazoo” and “kazoo,” which had been put to similar uses in the 1960s. The OED also notes the similarities between the terms, and has citations for this slang usage of both “gazoo” (1965) and “kazoo” (1973).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wazoo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; offers a different explanation but, sadly, offers no reference or citation of any kind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Slang for anus Originally derived from the Pama-Nyungan languages (the family of Indigenous Australian languages), and thought to refer to the anus of an animal, particularly the kangaroo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T05:25:25.890" />
  <row Id="4675" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4676" CreationDate="2010-11-03T05:29:11.377" Score="6" ViewCount="401" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Wow! Diwali party, that sounds great; on the lighter note, who is sponsoring it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I correct in using &quot;on the lighter note&quot;? I am using it as saying something funny/witty.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Please let me know, if it is wrong, the correct usage of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="530" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:00:48.317" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T07:17:46.487" Title="&quot;On a lighter note&quot;: what is the meaning of this and how to use it?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4675" CreationDate="2010-11-03T05:36:09.567" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. &lt;em&gt;On a lighter note&lt;/em&gt; generally means &lt;em&gt;&quot;On a less serious topic.&quot;&lt;/em&gt; In addition, the phrase is typically used with the word &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;, not the word &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many people have died during the War in Afghanistan. On a lighter note, where should we have lunch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T07:17:46.487" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T07:17:46.487" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4677" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4685" CreationDate="2010-11-03T06:22:42.937" Score="4" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any error in the following statement? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scenario :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Earlier, I have informed the other person that the event is not yet approved but later on I realized that I am wrong and I need to convey it. So I used the following statement. But had a doubt whether &quot;is&quot; or &quot;was&quot; should be used and whether &quot;already&quot; should be placed before &quot;approved &quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am sorry it is approved already!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1919" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:01:46.723" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:01:46.723" Title="Any error in the following statement?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4677" CreationDate="2010-11-03T06:37:44.723" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the correct grammar would be &quot;already approved&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the punctuation depends on what you're sorry for. The current punctuation implies you're sorry the &quot;it&quot; was approved this early, as if you've missed the opportunity before it was approved.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the sentence was directed towards someone opposing the approval, and the speaker was implying &quot;There's nothing that can be done, it's already approved&quot;, the correct punctuation would be &quot;I'm sorry, it is already approved&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1923" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-03T09:44:42.483" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T09:44:42.483" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4677" CreationDate="2010-11-03T12:19:02.197" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would agree with RegDwight for the most part. However, I don't think there is anything wrong with using &quot;approved already&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could say &quot;I'm sorry, but it's been approved already!&quot;, if you are implying that there is nothing that can be done now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If on the other hand, you're sorry about the approval itself, you'd say &quot;I'm sorry, it's approved!&quot; I think &quot;already&quot; is implied and redundant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1934" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T12:19:02.197" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4677" CreationDate="2010-11-03T12:57:08.947" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you need &quot;I'm sorry, but it &lt;strong&gt;has&lt;/strong&gt; already been approved.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I'm sorry, but it &lt;strong&gt;has&lt;/strong&gt; been approved already.&quot; is also valid, but you still need the phrase &quot;has been approved&quot; instead of &quot;is approved&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1935" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T12:57:08.947" />
  <row Id="4683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4652" CreationDate="2010-11-03T13:23:01.263" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If &quot;peter out&quot; is miners slang, then it's possible that Peter refers to Saltpetre, instead of a specific person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although it doesn't seem to apply to any of the examples you cited, names as verb/nouns regularly come from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyming_slang&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cockney Rhyming Slang&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jimmy - To urinate.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Vera's - Cigarette papers.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Barney - Trouble  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1935" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T13:23:01.263" />
  <row Id="4684" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4686" CreationDate="2010-11-03T14:03:25.530" Score="5" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;Googling for the origin of &quot;&lt;em&gt;A penny for your thoughts,&lt;/em&gt;&quot; I have only found &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_two_cents_%28idiom%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the origin of a likely-related phrase&lt;/a&gt; &quot;&lt;em&gt;my two cents&lt;/em&gt;&quot; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/penny_for_your_thoughts&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;simple dictionary entries&lt;/a&gt; for &quot;&lt;em&gt;a penny for your thoughts.&lt;/em&gt;&quot; What is the exact origin and meaning of this phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1585" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T14:23:13.107" Title="what is the origin of the phrase &quot;a penny for your thoughts&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4677" CreationDate="2010-11-03T14:22:41.593" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think any of the other answers quite conveys the point that what you're sorry for is that you gave incorrect information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm sorry, I was wrong: it has actually been approved already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or slightly less explicitly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm sorry, it has actually been approved already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think both the &quot;already&quot; and the &quot;actually&quot; are needed to make it clear that you're not sorry about the approval.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T14:22:41.593" />
  <row Id="4686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4684" CreationDate="2010-11-03T14:23:07.160" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Googling further, I found this quote from &quot;The Dictionary of Clichés&quot; by James Rogers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;penny for your thoughts&lt;/strong&gt; — &quot;What's on your mind? (Usually said to someone who is looking pensive.) The saying is from a time when the British penny was worth a significant sum. In 1522, Sir Thomas More wrote (in 'Four Last Things'): 'It often happeth, that the very face sheweth the mind walking a pilgrimage, in such wise that other folk sodainly say to them a peny for your thought.'&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly, Google Books &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=NWfsmnTI1LMC&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;doesn't seem&lt;/a&gt; to have scanned that book just yet, but they do have a copy of &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=6X2RcwdGshsC&amp;amp;pg=PP2&amp;amp;dq=john+heywood%27s+collection+of+proverbs&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=gG_RTJjpBsXssgbfm4mzCw&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=snippet&amp;amp;q=peny&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Proverbs and Epigrams of John Heywood&lt;/a&gt; from 1562 that has this cite:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fréend (quoth the good man) a peny for your thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T14:23:07.160" />
  <row Id="4687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4684" CreationDate="2010-11-03T14:23:13.107" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase means &quot;Tell me what you are thinking.&quot;, and the implication is that you're willing to pay money to know what they are actually thinking. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looks like the phrase is at least 400 years old, and so getting a precise etymology may be hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In 1522, Sir Thomas More wrote (in&#xA;  'Four Last Things'): 'It often&#xA;  happeth, that the very face sheweth&#xA;  the mind walking a pilgrimage, in such&#xA;  wise that.other folk sodainly say to&#xA;  them a peny for your thought.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/285556&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/285556&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1935" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T14:23:13.107" />
  <row Id="4688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2544" CreationDate="2010-11-03T14:24:53.430" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;one space normally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1936" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T14:24:53.430" />
  <row Id="4689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4652" CreationDate="2010-11-03T14:36:12.307" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always taken it for granted that in the case of Peter, the reference was to Peter denying Christ - That is, he wimped out and despite previous protestations about the strength of his support faded away...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(EDIT: The use of &quot;Peter&quot; as a popular euphemism for penis is even more obvious....)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's help to look at the cultural context here. Since most English speakers across time will have had knowledge of the stories in the Bible even when there was little or no other literature available and the majority were illiterate, this obvious and widely shared reference makes sense to me as a probable source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Likewise, the fact that &quot;John&quot; is probably the most common man's name is reason enough for it to be used for a generic male customer. (&quot;Sheila&quot;, on the other hand, may have a more interesting story behind it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Note also - lyric from &lt;em&gt;Guys and Dolls&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you spot a John&lt;br&gt;&#xA;waiting out in the rain&lt;br&gt;&#xA;chances are he's insane&lt;br&gt;&#xA;as only a John can be for a Jane  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case &quot;John&quot; does not refer to a customer and a professional relationship, merely an ordinary male, and a romantic relationship. Again, simply indicate 'a man' by the most common name of 'a man'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There will always be exceptions but I suspect that usually the simplest common archetype or cultural touchstone is a safe bet for a source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastEditorUserId="597" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-04T14:04:09.630" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T14:04:09.630" />
  <row Id="4690" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4691" CreationDate="2010-11-03T14:50:39.293" Score="2" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this example (no pun intended, of course):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;I shouldn't see one woman on Twitter today being that it's National Sandwich Day&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it mean that I'm NOT  likely to see &lt;strong&gt;any&lt;/strong&gt; or just &lt;strong&gt;one&lt;/strong&gt; woman?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1446" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-03T15:01:59.670" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T15:01:59.670" Title="Meaning of &quot;shouldn't see one woman&quot;: singular or multiple" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4690" CreationDate="2010-11-03T15:00:29.667" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means you're not likely to see &lt;strong&gt;any&lt;/strong&gt; woman on Twitter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technically it &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; mean that you're not likely to see &lt;em&gt;only one&lt;/em&gt; woman on Twitter, but I think the tongue-in-cheek context favors the first meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T15:00:29.667" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4670" CreationDate="2010-11-03T15:08:23.000" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The author of the passage determines if &quot;snake&quot; is a proper noun, that is, if the snake's name is The Snake. If it is then &quot;The Snake&quot; should be capitalized.  If, instead, it could be any snake, but happens to be this one, and the snake's name is actually Bob, but that isn't important enough to even note, the author may write &quot;the snake said ...&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: The Snake might have multiple names, but if the author puts the capital letter on Snake then that is a signal to the reader that this snake is important, and indeed later if you see the words &quot;The Snake&quot; in the same work you might infer that it is the same snake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wikibin.org/articles/ivo-shandor.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;the architect [who designed this building] was either a certified genius or authentic wacko.&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(any architect)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0234215/quotes?qt0283087&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;I am the Architect. I created the Matrix.&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(character is named the Architect)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T15:08:23.000" />
  <row Id="4693" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4694" CreationDate="2010-11-03T15:28:35.457" Score="10" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider the following phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the fruit is an apple, it should be given to children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the comma after &lt;em&gt;apple&lt;/em&gt; necessary? Is it optional? Is it wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1937" LastEditorUserId="1937" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-03T20:42:06.733" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T20:42:06.733" Title="&quot;If&quot; with implicit &quot;then&quot; question: Should a comma be used?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4693" CreationDate="2010-11-03T15:55:06.187" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In that case, the comma is optional. According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma#Separation_of_clauses&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia page on Comma&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In English, a comma is generally used&#xA;  to separate a dependent clause from&#xA;  the independent clause if the&#xA;  dependent clause comes first: &lt;em&gt;After I&#xA;  brushed the cat, I lint-rollered my&#xA;  clothes&lt;/em&gt;. (Compare &lt;em&gt;I lint-rollered my&#xA;  clothes after I brushed the cat&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(..)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While many style guides call for&#xA;  commas, many authors omit them,&#xA;  particularly with short sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two paragraphs that I extracted from the article apply to your sentence. It's a short sentence with a dependent clause (&lt;em&gt;if the item is an apple&lt;/em&gt;) and an independent clause (&lt;em&gt;it should be given to children&lt;/em&gt;), where the dependent clause comes first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-03T16:25:35.677" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T16:25:35.677" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4695" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-03T18:20:08.397" Score="1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;... or more specifically is there a particular name for a verb in the past tense? for example the train has &lt;em&gt;arrived&lt;/em&gt;, whereas the process of achieving the state would be to &lt;em&gt;arrive&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1941" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T03:57:21.573" Title="what type of word would used to define having achieved a state?..." Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4695" CreationDate="2010-11-03T18:29:18.837" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Has arrived&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is simply an example of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbtenseintro.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;present perfect tense&lt;/a&gt;. If that's not what you were after, you'll need to clarify your question a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T18:29:18.837" />
  <row Id="4697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4670" CreationDate="2010-11-03T19:00:03.073" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strictly speaking, if your sentence has '&lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; [common noun]', then [common noun] should not be capitalized. So,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the Eden story, the snake engages Eve in dialog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the Eden story, Snake engages Eve in dialog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;because in the latter, 'Snake' is being used as the name of that particular snake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note that 'the' should not be capitalized in either case.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, however, it can be a perfectly valid stylistic choice to capitalize Snake as a sort of &quot;important word&quot; marking. A parallel would be a using &quot;the Queen&quot; and &quot;Queen Elizabeth II&quot; interchangeably in a document.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-03T19:00:03.073" />
  <row Id="4698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-04T03:32:41.640" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It was many years before I figured out that Arkan-SAW and Arkan-SAS were actually the same place:-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T03:32:41.640" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-04T03:32:41.640" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4695" CreationDate="2010-11-04T03:57:21.573" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you're talking about the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/participlepast.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;past participle&lt;/a&gt;. Example: to learn -&gt; learned, to break -&gt; broken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T03:57:21.573" />
  <row Id="4700" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4701" CreationDate="2010-11-04T04:11:23.980" Score="3" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;On a Physics specification, it says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;6.7 Know how to use two permanent magnets to produce a uniform magnetic field pattern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isn't it &quot;produce &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; uniform magnetic field&quot;, or is the existing &quot;produce &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; uniform magnetic field pattern&quot; correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T23:01:56.877" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T23:01:56.877" Title="Is it &quot;a uniform&quot; or &quot;an uniform&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;articles&gt;&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4700" CreationDate="2010-11-04T04:25:24.877" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;uniform&lt;/em&gt; begins with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatal_approximant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;palatal approximant /j/&lt;/a&gt;. The palatal approximant is a consonantal sound, even though the letter itself is a vowel. Since we use the pronunciation of the word following the article to determine whether we use &quot;a&quot; or &quot;an&quot;, and because it is pronounced starting with a consonant, we use &quot;a&quot;. Thus, the original sentence is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just for the sake of completeness, the letter &quot;u&quot; can also have a vowel sound, such as in the word &quot;umbrella&quot;, which begins with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_back_unrounded_vowel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;open-mid back unrounded vowel /ʌ/&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T22:31:36.817" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T22:31:36.817" />
  <row Id="4702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2544" CreationDate="2010-11-04T04:34:35.990" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;LaTeX handles this in the most aesthetically pleasing way. This typesetting software uses somewhere between a space and a space and a half for intra-sentence spaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="846" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T04:34:35.990" />
  <row Id="4703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4632" CreationDate="2010-11-04T04:51:21.497" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Patronize and condescend both denote superiority but are slightly different.  To patronize someone could be used to denote a feeling of superiority to someone that isn't overt.  Condescension on the other hand is usually overt. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="846" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T04:51:21.497" />
  <row Id="4704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4583" CreationDate="2010-11-04T05:07:54.103" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another factor to consider when choosing whether to add an &quot;s&quot; in a domain name is unexpected words this may create.  Consider the following two domain names:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;BioinformaticTools.com&#xA;BioinformaticsTools.com&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When saying and spelling the second domain without capitalization there is an unfortunate second interpretation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;bioinformatic *stools* .com&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider such negative connotations your &quot;s&quot; can generate.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="846" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T05:07:54.103" />
  <row Id="4705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4700" CreationDate="2010-11-04T06:18:35.783" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's &quot;&lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; uniform magnetic field pattern&quot;. See waiwai933's post for the technicalities, but essentially the 'u' in uniform is pronounced and treated like a 'y'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1402" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T06:18:35.783" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4706" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4707" CreationDate="2010-11-04T06:53:58.923" Score="3" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw a tutorial on TV. The tutorial was like this: Take your snap sitting on chair, another standing on left side of chair and then last one standing on the right side of the chair. Now, use photoshop to merge these three pics. After everything it will be three look alike  on the pic.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Now, i want to search this tutorial on web but i don't know what to write. How to create ??? in photoshop . Please suggest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt; I tried &quot;body-double&quot; and doppelganger but it is not the word i am looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="530" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T07:39:00.130" Title="What is the word for this?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4706" CreationDate="2010-11-04T07:39:00.130" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Clone&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.instructables.com/id/Clone-Yourself-Using-Adobe-Photoshop/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Clone Yourself Using Adobe Photoshop&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T07:39:00.130" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4708" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4709" CreationDate="2010-11-04T09:50:51.753" Score="5" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, it is the only word where &lt;em&gt;wo&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced as &lt;em&gt;wee&lt;/em&gt;. What is the reason for this? Does it have to do with the origin of the word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="740" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T11:18:19.710" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T11:18:19.710" Title="Why is &quot;women&quot; pronounced the way it is?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="4709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4708" CreationDate="2010-11-04T09:55:05.453" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=woman&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;explains&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;woman&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;late O.E. &lt;em&gt;wimman&lt;/em&gt; (pl. &lt;em&gt;wimmen&lt;/em&gt;), lit. &quot;woman-man,&quot; alteration of &lt;em&gt;wifman&lt;/em&gt; (pl. &lt;em&gt;wifmen&lt;/em&gt;), a compound of &lt;em&gt;wif&lt;/em&gt; &quot;woman&quot; (see &lt;em&gt;wife&lt;/em&gt;) + &lt;em&gt;man&lt;/em&gt; &quot;human being&quot; (in O.E. used in ref. to both sexes; see &lt;em&gt;man&lt;/em&gt;). Cf. Du. &lt;em&gt;vrouwmens&lt;/em&gt; &quot;wife,&quot; lit. &quot;woman-man.&quot; The formation is peculiar to English and Dutch. Replaced older O.E. &lt;em&gt;wif&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;quean&lt;/em&gt; as the word for &quot;female human being.&quot; &lt;strong&gt;The pronunciation of the singular altered in M.E. by the rounding influence of -w-; the plural retains the original vowel.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Emphasis added.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T09:55:05.453" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4618" CreationDate="2010-11-04T10:30:18.603" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's worth checking out the other preposition threads on the site. I especially like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3910/prepositions-at-the-end-of-sentence-and-whom&quot;&gt;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3910/prepositions-at-the-end-of-sentence-and-whom&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which states ending on a preposition is acceptable usage, and only frowned on because of an over-exertion of Latin rules by grammarians. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1935" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T10:30:18.603" />
  <row Id="4711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4558" CreationDate="2010-11-04T10:35:56.140" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is actually a subtle distinction between the two words: undoubtedly means &quot;not doubted&quot; whereas indubitably means &quot;&lt;em&gt;beyond&lt;/em&gt; doubt&quot; i.e. that which &lt;em&gt;cannot&lt;/em&gt; be doubted as opposed that which &lt;em&gt;is not&lt;/em&gt; doubted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This answer serves to illustrate, in part, the more general question you've raised. There is a phenomenal plethora of synonyms in English (Hungarian takes the trophy, though) and it is largely due to the language's mongrel heritage, in turn caused by successive waves of conquerors and invaders putting down roots in the land. We have roots in a number of Celtic, West Germanic and Romance languages, and so an extraordinary arsenal of vocabulary has been available to us. As a result, we have been able to use these synonyms to inject the language with subtler shades of meaning than would be afforded by a single linguistic root. Why this quality is more apparent in English than in some other languages is not entirely clear (we're certainly not unique in our mongrel heritage) and the debate continues among linguists today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding &quot;pretentious&quot; synonyms, I believe this has its origins in the days when French was the language of the court and Latin that of the clergy, while common old guttural, germanic, dialectic English was the language of the peasantry. The association of Romance languages (and therefore longer words of latin-style inflection) with the higher classes of society has stuck with us, and the hangover of this can be observed, for example, in the extensive use of French in &quot;legalese.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T10:35:56.140" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3249" CreationDate="2010-11-04T11:52:38.960" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Informal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please see the attached document.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Formal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please find attached the &#xA;  agreement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="740" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T11:52:38.960" />
  <row Id="4714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1925" CreationDate="2010-11-04T11:57:46.007" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Email. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSHAR15384620070921&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Thousands of hyphens perish as English marches on&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="740" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T11:57:46.007" />
  <row Id="4715" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4716" CreationDate="2010-11-04T14:11:59.587" Score="26" ViewCount="1829" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear my older coworkers use this idiom/phrase occasionally. It seems to maybe be a humorous way to get out of a conversation. Even as a native English speaker I've never figured out the exact situation you would use this phrase. It almost sounds like it may have once been a punchline to a joke in a movie or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm curious what is the exact meaning/usage of this phrase/idiom? Where does it originate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="154" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T07:29:53.143" Title="Origin &amp; Exact Meaning of the phrase &quot;I have to go see a man about a dog&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4715" CreationDate="2010-11-04T14:19:31.030" Score="26" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia actually has &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_a_man_about_a_dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an article&lt;/a&gt; dedicated to this phrase. It says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The earliest confirmed publication is the 1866 &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dion_Boucicault&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dion Boucicault&lt;/a&gt; play &lt;em&gt;Flying Scud&lt;/em&gt; in which a character knowingly breezes past a difficult situation saying, &quot;Excuse me Mr. Quail, I can't stop; I've got to see a man about a dog.&quot; In a listing for a 1939 revival on the NBC Radio program &lt;em&gt;America's Lost Plays&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Time&lt;/em&gt; magazine observed that the phrase is the play's &quot;claim to fame&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/see_a_man_about_a_dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adds&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The most common variation is to &quot;see a man about a horse&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Almost any noun can be substituted as a way of giving the hearer a hint about one's purpose in departing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The inversion to &quot;see a dog about a man&quot; eliminates any lingering uncertainty about whether the hearer is being put off.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A shorter variant is to &quot;see a man&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the exact situation in which you would use this phrase, it suggests:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Used as an excuse for leaving without giving the real reason (especially if the reason is to go to the toilet, or to have a drink)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back to Wikipedia again,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;During Prohibition in the United States, the phrase was most commonly used in relation to the consumption or purchase of alcoholic beverages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;World Wide Words has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-see1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;additional info&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This has been a useful (and usefully vague) excuse for absenting oneself from company for about 150 years, though the real reason for slipping away has not always been the same. [...] From other references at the time [around 1866] there were three possibilities: 1) [the speaker] needed to visit the loo [...] 2) he was in urgent need of a restorative drink, presumed alcoholic; or 3) he had a similarly urgent need to visit his mistress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Of these reasons [...] the second became the most common sense during the Prohibition period. Now that society’s conventions have shifted to the point where none of these reasons need cause much remark, the utility of the phrase is greatly diminished and it is most often used in a facetious sense, if at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-04T14:32:26.380" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T14:32:26.380" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4717" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4720" CreationDate="2010-11-04T15:31:15.713" Score="3" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that &quot;conservatism&quot; is the more commonly used term, but is &quot;conservativism&quot; a less preferred, but legitimate word, or just a misspelling?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;www.dictionary.com has &quot;conservativism&quot;, but I'm not sure I view them as a credible source. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="577" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-04T15:46:31.763" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T15:46:31.763" Title="Is &quot;conservativism&quot; a word?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;diction&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1925" CreationDate="2010-11-04T15:37:20.040" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;E-mail&lt;/em&gt; is short for &quot;electronic mail.&quot; Usually for words of this form -- a compound word in which the first word is shortened to a single letter -- the hyphen remains. Compare, for example, &lt;em&gt;U-boat&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also think keeping the hyphen makes more sense given the pronunciation of the word: EE-mail, not em-AIL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;E-mail&lt;/em&gt; is still considered standard English in formal writing, but give it a few years, and &lt;em&gt;email&lt;/em&gt; will probably take over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T15:37:20.040" />
  <row Id="4719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4717" CreationDate="2010-11-04T15:41:04.237" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conservativism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster does not contain &lt;em&gt;conservativism&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, and I'd say that's a pretty credible source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T15:41:04.237" />
  <row Id="4720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4717" CreationDate="2010-11-04T15:42:29.443" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conservativism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;does not list&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;conservativism&lt;/em&gt;, but Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/conservativism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;does&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;conservativism&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Alternative form of &lt;em&gt;conservatism&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Conservativism&lt;/em&gt; is surely not a typo (as, say, &lt;em&gt;consrvetism&lt;/em&gt; would be). It is legitimately formed from the adjective &lt;em&gt;conservative&lt;/em&gt; and the suffix &lt;em&gt;-ism&lt;/em&gt;. However, as you say yourself, &lt;em&gt;conservatism&lt;/em&gt; is the much more commonly used term. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; has 474 cites for &lt;em&gt;conservatism&lt;/em&gt;, but only 3 for &lt;em&gt;conservativism&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, there are languages (e.g. German) in which the equivalent of &lt;em&gt;conservativism&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Konservativismus&lt;/em&gt;) is pretty much as common as the equivalent of &lt;em&gt;conservatism&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Konservatismus&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T15:42:29.443" />
  <row Id="4721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4652" CreationDate="2010-11-04T15:44:44.487" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your second question, yes, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_%28linguistics%29#Verb_conversion_in_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;verbification&lt;/em&gt; does occur in other languages.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T15:44:44.487" />
  <row Id="4722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4583" CreationDate="2010-11-04T15:50:08.937" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whichever name you choose, you should probably buy the other one and have it redirect to your site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T15:50:08.937" />
  <row Id="4723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4626" CreationDate="2010-11-04T15:57:53.353" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest avoiding it. No matter how you put it, half of your audience will think you got it wrong and be distracted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try &quot;the recipes of the mothers-in-law.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T15:57:53.353" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4724" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-04T16:20:39.583" Score="1" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm fairly sure it's the former, but it sounds even more stilted than the usual cases in which &quot;I&quot; is less common, but more correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="577" LastActivityDate="2010-11-05T02:56:37.530" Title="&quot;If it were I&quot; or &quot;If it were me&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;diction&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4235" CreationDate="2010-11-04T16:27:11.713" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jon, I hope I've understood your question, and that I'm not just rambling :)  I don't know the name you were looking for, but perhaps I can say a few words on why the more flourished sign-offs have all but disappeared.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It started to drop away in 1950 (plus or minus a few years).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Many things changed after WWII. There was a major cultural shift away from the strict disciplinarian ways of the authoritarian structures which were seen to have precipitated the terrible world-wars. Egalitarianism was the catch-cry.  Telephones were becoming a matter of course, and they were cheap. Television broke parochial boundaries.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Formality started to make way for familiarity.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prior to 1950, writing a letter was a special moment in which you could reach out to otherwise unreachable friends and relatives.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every word, every letter, was crafted as well and as thoughtfully as possible.  The art of prose existed then; poetry was well appreciated then; oratory existed then.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even the act of having to handle ink (by dipping or filling a cartridge), and the feeling of the bend and flex of the pen's nib was somehow personal and intimate.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A person's handwriting was a thing of pride and presentation. It was as unique as the person who wrote it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today it is all Times New Roman 12pt Regular, on a QWERTY keyboad... all rather mundane and boring and non-descript... and of course you can Tweet or SMS if you prefer.. or IM in &quot;abridged English&quot;... or bypass it all and voice-chat to anyone, anywhere, anytime... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: The wind-out you wrote above would more typically be as follows:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanking you in advance.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yours faithfully&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  ...A FLOURISHED SIGNATURE&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1950" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T16:27:11.713" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4652" CreationDate="2010-11-04T16:31:23.177" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;But part of the answer which hasn't been clearly stated that I can find, is that most of your examples are not from names: they just happen to be similar to names. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are words (particularly slang) which comes from names, but just because a word resembles a name you cannot assume that it comes from the name. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T16:31:23.177" />
  <row Id="4727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4724" CreationDate="2010-11-04T16:43:54.600" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's &quot;if it were me&quot;, as opposed to &quot;if I were it&quot;. Compare: &quot;If I were him&quot; sounds good, but &quot;If I were he&quot; does not. The first pronoun is in the nominative case, the last one in the accusative. Also, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4556/who-wants-ice-cream/4655#4655&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T16:43:54.600" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4728" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-04T17:06:59.487" Score="7" ViewCount="267" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just asking out of idle curiousity. There are some words that just always seem to be found together, such as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;strong, silent type&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;cool, calm and collected&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;cheap and cheerful&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you think of others? Does their alliterativeness doom them to the status of cliché?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Unrelated: How is it possible that 'cliché' and 'alliteration' do not yet exist as tags on the site? (As a new user I can't create tags.)&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1571" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-04T18:23:36.107" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T03:58:45.983" Title="What other alliterative phrases have become inseparable?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;alliteration&gt;&lt;cliche&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4728" CreationDate="2010-11-04T17:15:26.650" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;alas and alack&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bear the brunt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;born and bred&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;with courage and conviction&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fit as a fiddle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hearth and home&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;kit and kaboodle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;life and limb&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;now or never&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;spick and span&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vim and vigor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;zig and zag&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T17:15:26.650" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4590" CreationDate="2010-11-04T17:20:25.513" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on the sentence, you could separate it into two sentences or use a colon, semi-colon, or (my favorite) a dash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm sorry -- who are you?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What the heck? You only live once.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're welcome; it was my pleasure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T17:20:25.513" />
  <row Id="4731" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4732" CreationDate="2010-11-04T17:39:30.597" Score="1" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a never ending  barrage of doubts about a difference in meaning using auxiliary  verbs &lt;strong&gt;would&lt;/strong&gt; as opposed &lt;strong&gt;will&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've just written this sentence, and once gain was unsure whether I should have used would as opposed to will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(BTW,is this sentence  correct: &quot;&lt;em&gt;I've just written this sentence, and once gain was unsure whether I should  have used&lt;/em&gt;&quot; ?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T18:02:52.687" Title="&quot;Hopefully you’d make some time for me.&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4731" CreationDate="2010-11-04T17:51:07.800" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;code&gt;Hopefully you would make some time for me&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;Hopefully you will make some time for me&lt;/code&gt; are grammatical, but they mean different things. The first is conditional on something else occurring before you making time for me even becomes an issue - &quot;If I were to come to your city in February, hopefully you would make some time for me.&quot; The second assumes that you and I will definitely be in the same place at the same time, so the only question is whether you're too busy or not - &quot;When I come for the interview tomorrow morning, hopefully you will make some time for me.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I think what you might actually want to say is &quot;Hopefully you &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; make some time for me&quot;, or even better, &quot;Hopefully you &lt;em&gt;will be able to&lt;/em&gt; make some time for me.&quot; This is because both the &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; constructions are asking about willingness, not ability - &quot;Hopefully you will condescend to make some time for me&quot; - which is not the sort of thing you'd routinely ask someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(For your other question, try &quot;I just wrote the following sentence, and once &lt;b&gt;a&lt;/b&gt;gain, I was unsure whether I should have used...&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-04T18:02:52.687" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T18:02:52.687" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4733" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4734" CreationDate="2010-11-04T18:07:17.680" Score="8" ViewCount="297" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;read -&gt; reader&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hate -&gt; hater&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hit -&gt; hitter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;meditate -&gt; meditator&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;collect -&gt; collector&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the rule? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T18:55:13.637" Title="What's the rule for adding -er vs. -or when nouning a verb?" Tags="&lt;morphology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4733" CreationDate="2010-11-04T18:32:03.367" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This has been previously touched on here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2350/commentor-vs-commentator&quot;&gt;“Commentor” vs “Commentator”&lt;/a&gt;. I'll try to expand on that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;em&gt;-er&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;-or&lt;/em&gt; are so-called &quot;agent noun suffixes&quot;, and Wiktionary has entries for both:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-er#Etymology_1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;-er&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-or#Suffix&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;-or&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, &lt;em&gt;-er&lt;/em&gt; is much more common in English (which should come as no surprise since it has deep Germanic roots, see the link) and can be easily attached to any English verb to form the corresponding noun (&lt;em&gt;drive&lt;/em&gt; — &lt;em&gt;driver&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;run&lt;/em&gt; — &lt;em&gt;runner&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;drink&lt;/em&gt; — &lt;em&gt;drinker&lt;/em&gt;, etc.). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The suffix &lt;em&gt;-or&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, comes from Latin, and is used much more seldom, basically where Latin would do it. Just try building the words &lt;em&gt;drivor&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;runnor&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;drinkor&lt;/em&gt;, and see for yourself. In fact, Wiktionary lists only a handful of terms that were derived using this suffix, such as &lt;em&gt;actor&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;author&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;sculptor&lt;/em&gt;, and goes on to provide the following usage notes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;English generally appends this suffix where Latin would do it—to the root of a Latin-type perfect passive participle. For other words, English tends to use the suffix &lt;em&gt;-er&lt;/em&gt;. Occasionally both are used (&lt;em&gt;computer&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;computor&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etymonline has additional info on the origin and usage of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=-er&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;-er&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=-or&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;-or&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; courtesy of Martha, here's a link to &lt;a href=&quot;http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/10/agentive-suffixes-er-and-or-and-little.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a post on the &quot;Separated by a common language&quot; blog&lt;/a&gt; that provides further details and addresses the differences between US and UK English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The -or suffix is primarily found in words derived from Latin, whereas -er can be put on the end of just about any verb that involves an agent (a 'doer' of the 'action'). But Latin-derived words differ in how strongly they are associated with the -or suffix. Latin-derived verbs that end in -ate, for example, almost always take the -or suffix. So we have dictator, but not a variant *dictater, alternator but not *alternater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Things are less clear-cut with other Latin-derived verbs. For example, in my job, I advise students and convene courses, and when I spell out those roles, I'm an &lt;em&gt;advisor&lt;/em&gt; and a &lt;em&gt;convenor&lt;/em&gt;, but when my UK university spells them, I'm often an &lt;em&gt;adviser&lt;/em&gt; (which just looks wrong to me) and a &lt;em&gt;convener&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;  [...] The -or form is stronger in the US than the UK, though there's considerable variation within each country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-04T18:55:13.637" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T18:55:13.637" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4735" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-04T18:54:19.033" Score="3" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to express something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She had asked him why he had done it, but he had replied dissatisfactorily; he said that he didn't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also thought, maybe &quot;dissatisfyingly?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to keep the stem &quot;satisfy&quot; to express this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1951" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T22:00:03.667" Title="Is &quot;dissatisfactorily&quot; the correct adverb for not satisfying?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4735" CreationDate="2010-11-04T18:58:45.947" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Making it into an adverb seems... forced, so I would word around it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She had asked him why he had done it, but his &#xA;  reply had been unsatisfactory - he said he didn't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Unsatisfying&lt;/code&gt; is another possibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-04T22:00:03.667" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T22:00:03.667" />
  <row Id="4737" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4738" CreationDate="2010-11-04T19:13:03.283" Score="7" ViewCount="259" Body="&lt;p&gt;What rules of the English language allow the first t in patient to make a sh sound?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is it pā'shənt and not pā'tənt?  Are there any other words where t behaves in this way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1952" LastActivityDate="2010-11-05T01:18:42.383" Title="What rules of the English language allow the first t in patient to make a sh sound?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4737" CreationDate="2010-11-04T19:20:41.710" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the second time today, I feel reminded of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghoti&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;ghoti&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. There's an interesting essay linked from that Wikipedia page, and I humbly direct you to it: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zompist.com/spell.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Hou tu pranownse Inglish&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to read the entire thing (but I recommend it!), the rule you are looking for is number 14 on that list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;14.&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;ci&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;ti&lt;/em&gt; becomes $ before a vowel: &lt;em&gt;gracious&lt;/em&gt; = grä$@s, &lt;em&gt;nation&lt;/em&gt; = nä$@n.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rule 14 shows another reason &lt;em&gt;ghoti&lt;/em&gt; is a fraud: &lt;em&gt;ti&lt;/em&gt; only fricativizes when it's followed by a vowel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, the Wikipedia page itself has this linguistic analysis:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The /ʃ/ sound can be spelled eleven ways in English: &lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;sh&lt;/b&gt;irt, &lt;b&gt;s&lt;/b&gt;ugar, &lt;b&gt;ch&lt;/b&gt;ute, ac&lt;b&gt;ti&lt;/b&gt;on, i&lt;b&gt;ss&lt;/b&gt;ue, o&lt;b&gt;ce&lt;/b&gt;an, con&lt;b&gt;sci&lt;/b&gt;ous, man&lt;b&gt;si&lt;/b&gt;on, &lt;b&gt;sch&lt;/b&gt;wa, an&lt;b&gt;xi&lt;/b&gt;ous,&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;spe&lt;b&gt;ci&lt;/b&gt;al&lt;/i&gt;. Some speakers of English do not use /ʃ/ in all of those words. For example, &lt;em&gt;issue&lt;/em&gt; may be pronounced as /ˈɪsju/ by some speakers of British English. This phoneme is spelled &lt;em&gt;ti&lt;/em&gt; only when the &lt;em&gt;ti&lt;/em&gt; comes before a vowel in certain suffixes, as in &lt;em&gt;nation&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;initial&lt;/em&gt;. Thus, this phoneme does not actually occur at the end of English words with the spelling &quot;ti&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-04T19:31:38.063" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T19:31:38.063" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4737" CreationDate="2010-11-04T20:30:36.970" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What makes you think it is a &lt;strong&gt;rule&lt;/strong&gt;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Languages are not designed to a set of rules laid down by a designer. That idea was tried with Esperanto, and it doesn't work.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Language is organic. It grows and shifts with the tides of time and change.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English is an evolving entity, and many of its seemingly strange rules, only exist in the wishful mind of non-native speakers.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know of any native speaker who has ever thought much about Engiish spelling, other than &quot;I am good at spelling&quot;, or &quot;I am not very good at spelling&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What many non-native English speakers fail to realize is that &lt;strong&gt;English is English&lt;/strong&gt;. It has not requirement to behave as they may expect! and it doesn't!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is English spelling hard for a non-native speaker? Yes, but that is just the way it is!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is English spelling hard for a native speaker?  Not especially, but it is a &lt;strong&gt;learnt&lt;/strong&gt; art; learnt over many years.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many of the quirky spellings come from the pronunciations of the French, German, Latin, Gaelic, etc. root languages... and believe it or not, there is an underlying rhythm; a series of patterns based somehow on the different root languages.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the rule? you ask...  You have asked the wrong question.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps a better question is how do I deal with all the unusual spellings?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The answer is: Remember them. Remember each and every one of them!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to learn English, well that is how every native English speaker has learnt them;  by memorizing them...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;There is fundamentally no other way..&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The spelling of words is not an automatic process..  I had to learn each and every word.  All native English speakers had to learn each and every word.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is simply a parallel discipline! ... jus like speaking is discipline.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As as for all that utter nonsense about  &lt;strong&gt;ghoti&lt;/strong&gt;, it is an absolute waste of time! You are missing the point, and wasting your time with what  &lt;strong&gt;non-native&lt;/strong&gt; speakers see as conflicting spellings.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;There is no conflict! ... because the primary rule of spelling  English words is &lt;strong&gt;MEMORY&lt;/strong&gt;!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Slowly, slowly, the patterns reveal themselves.. (even if it is unconsciously)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: Mathew.. I hadn't noticed that you were in the US... I'm so used to dealing with non-native speakers in language-exchange environments, where many seem to think that Engish spelling is based on a few simple logical rules...  Oh well, my answer may be more appropriate for ESL readers of this question.. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1950" LastEditorUserId="1950" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-05T01:17:39.030" LastActivityDate="2010-11-05T01:17:39.030" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4728" CreationDate="2010-11-04T22:02:16.480" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Filling in some letters joshdick missed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dearly departed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Goodness gracious (thanks for the tip)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;jump for joy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;mop and maw (a child making a face)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pride and prejudice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;road rage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And some duplicates:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always avoid alliteration&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hems and haws&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastEditorUserId="1606" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-06T02:08:20.250" LastActivityDate="2010-11-06T02:08:20.250" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4603" CreationDate="2010-11-04T22:31:14.090" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know what the origin of the term is at all- almost certainly belonging to a trade where one would use a rag a lot and reflecting the intense annoyance of having lost something you &lt;em&gt;just had a moment ago&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a term, &quot;rag haulers&quot; for sailing boats. Given how many terms are of nautical origin there may be a sailing connection here, but like most widely used but rarely recorded terms it would be very easy to extrapolate it's story in a hundred different ways. Rag is also cockney rhyming slang for &quot;fag&quot; ( as in cigarette ) but I would be very surprised if the phrase didn't predate the cigarette by a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unrelated but I'm struck by the similarity between &quot;rag&quot; and &quot;rage&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2010-11-04T22:31:14.090" />
  <row Id="4742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4737" CreationDate="2010-11-05T01:18:42.383" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason something pronounced [ʃ] (&quot;sh&quot;) would ever get the spelling &quot;ti&quot; is because of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatalization&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;palatalization&lt;/a&gt;. Basically, the &quot;io&quot; diphthong contains a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatal_approximant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;palatal consonant [j]&lt;/a&gt; (&quot;y&quot; sound), which, in certain cases, pulls the place of articulation of other consonants towards it (e.g. t-&gt;ʃ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The palatalization process is no longer active in these words spelled with &quot;ti&quot; (nowadays it is just 100% /ʃ/), but palatalization is active in some British dialects, for pronunciations of words like &quot;Tuesday&quot;: /tjuzdeɪ/ (&quot;Tyoozday&quot;) comes out as [tʃuzdeɪ] (&quot;Choozday&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note that in most dialects of American English, we just say [tuzdeɪ] (&quot;toozday&quot;), because we don't have a palatal consonant in that context at all.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-05T01:18:42.383" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4743" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4750" CreationDate="2010-11-05T02:19:30.243" Score="5" ViewCount="282" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of the idiom &quot;wearing the &amp;lt; role &gt; hat&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an example from the post &lt;a href=&quot;http://physicianpracticeseminars.com/?p=1809&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Getting things done when you wear multiple hats&lt;/a&gt; in &lt;em&gt;PookieMD's Blog&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wear many hats, and I suppose you do as well.  I wear my small business owner hat when I run/manage my company, ExtraMD, my doctor hat when I play doctor, and my consultant hat when I head off to multiple meetings that seem to define the EHR consultant world I live in.  Of course, I wear my mother hat, wife hat, Girl Scout leader hat, and the hat that seems to get worn the least–the self hat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and another example from Jean Scheid's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.brighthub.com/office/project-management/articles/58404.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Many Hats of a Project Manager&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As the owner of a small auto dealership, many of my managers wear more than one hat. My service director is also my parts director and my finance manager is also my sales manager. In the business office, my controller has an added responsibility of obtaining registrations for the vehicles we sell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1720" LastEditorUserId="1914" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-17T21:07:51.027" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T21:07:51.027" Title="Origin of idiom &quot;wearing the &lt; role &gt; hat?&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4715" CreationDate="2010-11-05T02:30:45.070" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience it is a double-layered rhyming slang phrase.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I have to see a man &lt;strong&gt;about a dog&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; is a thinly veiled semi-polite phrase which is used to excuse yourself from your current company, because you have to &lt;strong&gt;take a bog&lt;/strong&gt;; where &quot;take a bog&quot; means to &quot;take the time (out from the current situation) to defecate&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may not be the original meaning, but then again, it may well be... because vulgar slang always pre-dates general public references to such phrases... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, that's my two cent's worth... but excuse me, I have to see a man about a dog... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1950" LastActivityDate="2010-11-05T02:30:45.070" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4724" CreationDate="2010-11-05T02:56:37.530" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you stated in the question, “if it were me” is more common.  I would use this form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, which is &lt;em&gt;correct&lt;/em&gt; seems to be a common topic of debate.  See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subject_complement#It_is_I.2FIt_is_me&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; for an analogous question about whether “it is I” or “it is me” is correct.  Using “me” is more common, but some grammarians consider using “I” is the correct form.  I am pretty sure that those grammarians consider that “if it were I” is the correct form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastActivityDate="2010-11-05T02:56:37.530" />
  <row Id="4746" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-05T09:21:25.037" Score="0" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dictionary in the question can be used online &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, but I cannot find abbreviations, used in it. For example, I don't understand the meaning of the following:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;verb [I or T],&lt;br&gt;&#xA;verb [T not continuous],&lt;br&gt;&#xA;verb [I + to infinitive],&lt;br&gt;&#xA;verb [L],&lt;br&gt;&#xA;noun [C],&lt;br&gt;&#xA;noun [S],&lt;br&gt;&#xA;noun [U],&lt;br&gt;&#xA;[R] &amp;lt; an example&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Where can I find them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1834" LastActivityDate="2010-11-05T09:21:25.037" ClosedDate="2010-12-09T14:09:22.250" Title="Abbreviations of &quot;Cambridge Advanced Learner's dictionary&quot;" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;&lt;dictionaries&gt;" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4747" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4748" CreationDate="2010-11-05T10:30:39.253" Score="3" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is weightage an English word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We use it a lot in India, but I couldn't find it in my Oxford Dictionary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2010-11-05T10:43:15.417" Title="Is weightage an English word?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4747" CreationDate="2010-11-05T10:43:15.417" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was able to find it in the Collins English Dictionary, which marks it as &lt;em&gt;Indian&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;weightage&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;chiefly (Indian)&lt;/em&gt; another name for &lt;em&gt;weighting&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; has 259 cites for &lt;em&gt;weighting&lt;/em&gt;, but not a single one for &lt;em&gt;weightage&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-05T10:43:15.417" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1925" CreationDate="2010-11-05T10:53:34.500" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Email&quot; is an annoyance to me, like &quot;softwares&quot;. Ick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The entry in the OED is for &quot;email&quot;. My Internet company was involved in getting the OED online and I got to know the OED's Chief Editor. In 1997 I pleaded with him to change the entry to &quot;e-mail&quot;, because it's a shortened form of electronic mail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He said that the OED entry reflected what people used now which, back in 1997, had moved to email. Bah.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1976" LastActivityDate="2010-11-05T10:53:34.500" />
  <row Id="4750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4743" CreationDate="2010-11-05T10:59:22.447" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/41/messages/15.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;related discussion&lt;/a&gt; over at The Phrase Finder:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think it comes from a time (not long ago) when everyone wore hats, and many of those hats were specific to a given trade, official position or function. So someone who had several roles would have several hats and would wear the appropriate one for the occasion. [...] &quot;which hat will you be wearing?&quot; would mean &quot;in which capacity will you be attending?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, it's just speculation without citing any sources, so I have looked it up in the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, and here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=9re1vfFh04sC&amp;amp;pg=PA703&amp;amp;dq=wear+another+hat&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=H-XTTPTiDoHIswae0sDjBA&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=wear%20another%20hat&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;what it has to say&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;wear another hat&lt;/strong&gt; Also, &lt;strong&gt;wear a different hat&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;two hats&lt;/strong&gt;; &lt;strong&gt;wear more than one hat&lt;/strong&gt;. Function in a different or more than one capacity or position, as in &lt;em&gt;I'm wearing another hat today; yesterday I was a housewife, today I'm an attorney&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;I wear two hats—are you asking me as a member of the city council or as a storeowner?&lt;/em&gt; This metaphoric expression alludes to headgear worn for different occupations. [Mid-1900s]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it's indeed a metaphor, and a relatively young one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-05T11:59:14.837" LastActivityDate="2010-11-05T11:59:14.837" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="574" CreationDate="2010-11-05T13:41:19.780" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;and as for the pronunciation of the Latin:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;i.e. = id est&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;e.g. = &#xA;IgzemplI gra:tI&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(NB a: is pronounced like the &quot;a&quot; in car or can't)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but remember - as has been mentioned here; it's much better practice to use the English long-forms in speech:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i.e. - &quot;that is&quot; / &quot;or&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;e.g. - &quot;for example&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1979" LastActivityDate="2010-11-05T13:41:19.780" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4590" CreationDate="2010-11-05T14:12:24.133" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ahh the humble and under-used em dash (note the line utilized in &quot;under-used&quot; this is an &quot;en&quot; dash, ~half the width than the em (—) dash you require).  This is the most appropriate way to punctuate independent clauses requiring the subtle pause of a comma, where greater emphasis needs to be placed on the subsequent component; however, don't overuse this crafty hyphen, it has a horrid reputation for being misplaced: changing the tempo or meaning of your sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1979" LastEditorUserId="1979" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-07T15:15:35.283" LastActivityDate="2010-11-07T15:15:35.283" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4590" CreationDate="2010-11-05T15:39:36.277" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that technically speaking, these &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; indeed comma splices:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm sorry, who are you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You're welcome, it was my pleasure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This, however, is not:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What the heck, you only live once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Because &quot;what the heck&quot; is not a complete sentence.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I don't think using a comma with any of these is &lt;em&gt;incorrect&lt;/em&gt;. Trying to punctuate them with something other than a comma would inevitably change their meaning, which would be way more incorrect than just living with a slight run-on sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-05T15:39:36.277" />
  <row Id="4754" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4756" CreationDate="2010-11-05T16:23:19.320" Score="6" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I once heard a word, derived from Latin or Greek elements, construed to describe a person who has an obsession with being published. What word might that have been? For example, what would you call some who has an inexplicable need to blog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="177" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T22:07:32.707" Title="Word that means &quot;obsession with publishing&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4611" CreationDate="2010-11-05T16:28:27.693" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on your revised question...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, one doesn't refer to a task as being &quot;due&quot; without including a date.  There are several statuses one might use for a task (&quot;planned&quot;,&quot;in progress&quot;,&quot;complete&quot;,&quot;overdue&quot;), but &quot;due&quot; isn't generally one of them.  Instead, one refers to a task as being &quot;due on March 1&quot; meaning it should be completed by March 1.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the &quot;this task is due two weeks out&quot; status, I would use &quot;due soon&quot; rather than &quot;due.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-11-05T16:28:27.693" />
  <row Id="4756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4754" CreationDate="2010-11-05T16:34:39.027" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone who is obsessed with writing is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/words/graphomaniac&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;graphomaniac&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, from Greek &lt;em&gt;graphein&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;write&quot;, and &lt;em&gt;mania&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;madness&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One who is constantly writing, either letters to friends or to the newspapers, or stories and works of fiction, driven thereto either by an exaggerated idea of the importance of what he writes or by an insane impulse. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To round it up, here's a link to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphomania&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article on graphomania&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Outside the psychiatric definitions of graphomania and related conditions, the word is used more broadly to label the urge and need to write excessively, whether professional or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, as far as blogs are concerned, how about &lt;em&gt;blogomaniac&lt;/em&gt;? You probably won't find it in any dictionary (yet), but it is pretty much self-explanatory, and as a free bonus, it sounds and looks very similar to &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/logomaniac?r=66&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;logomaniac&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, someone who is obsessed with words or talking, from Greek &lt;em&gt;logos&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;word&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-05T17:53:23.973" LastActivityDate="2010-11-05T17:53:23.973" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4754" CreationDate="2010-11-05T17:18:39.070" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Blogomaniac&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4754/word-that-means-obsession-with-publishing/4756#4756&quot;&gt;RegDwight’s answer&lt;/a&gt; is fine, but another option is &lt;em&gt;blogaholic&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;blogoholic&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastActivityDate="2010-11-05T17:18:39.070" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4405" CreationDate="2010-11-06T00:11:06.507" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to my copy of the OED:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;short-sighted&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;adj.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;1&lt;/strong&gt; having short sight. &lt;strong&gt;2&lt;/strong&gt; lacking imagination or foresight.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;near-sighted&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;adj.&lt;/em&gt; esp. &lt;em&gt;US&lt;/em&gt; = short-sighted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1402" LastActivityDate="2010-11-06T00:11:06.507" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3959" CreationDate="2010-11-06T00:21:58.193" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you really want to use that construction, then &quot;XXIII, not IIIXX or XIIIX, represents 23 in Roman numerals&quot;, but other respondents have suggested more elegant forms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incidentally (and I know you didn't say this, but still...) but neither IIIXX or XIIIX &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; represent 23, so I wouldn't say &quot;although logical&quot;, as per Mike Pope's suggestion. IIIXX and XIIIX would represent 17, although they both break the rules of Roman numeral syntax, I believe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, &quot;roman&quot; should be capitalised: &quot;Roman&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1402" LastEditorUserId="1402" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-01T23:40:53.150" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T23:40:53.150" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4760" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-06T04:07:27.140" Score="1" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for resources on how to identify negative writing, and how to change it to positive writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance taking a statement like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It has been annoying me for some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and changing it to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It has been concerning me for some time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Example from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tonecheck.com/beta&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ToneCheck&lt;/a&gt; website.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1988" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-06T06:09:40.590" LastActivityDate="2010-11-07T16:02:02.090" Title="Resources for identifying/substituting emotionally negative writing?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;tone&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4761" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4768" CreationDate="2010-11-06T10:26:08.517" Score="7" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it chainsaw-equipped or chainsaw equipped? And with what kind of former words to use &quot;-&quot; properly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="722" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T04:54:58.147" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T04:54:58.147" Title="Chainsaw-equipped or chainsaw equipped?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;hyphen&gt;&lt;compounds&gt;&lt;modifiers&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="4762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4761" CreationDate="2010-11-06T11:25:40.530" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what i know, hyphen [-] is used to combine (make-up) words. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you would have given a sentence you're working on, it would have made a lot more sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've got a chainsaw-equipped truck, i'll cut your wood up in no time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've got a chainsaw equipped with a [insert a word] for better productivity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this makes sense, if not - VOTE IT DOWN :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p.s. ... here's a way to use a hyphen: english-speaking-russian-national&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1791" LastActivityDate="2010-11-06T11:25:40.530" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4708" CreationDate="2010-11-06T11:55:28.290" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, here in the Midwest of the US, we don't pronounce it 'wee'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the singular form, 'woman', we use a sound similar to the word &quot;wool&quot;.  The IPA is: &lt;strong&gt;`wʊ̈-mən&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the plural form, 'women', we use the pronunciation that RedDwight has in his answer, with a sound similar to the word 'it' or 'win'.  The IPA is: &lt;strong&gt;`wɪ-mən&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in neither case does a long &quot;e&quot; sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="727" LastActivityDate="2010-11-06T11:55:28.290" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4764" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4765" CreationDate="2010-11-06T14:12:26.597" Score="1" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello.&#xA;I have some question.&#xA;1. What is adverb from &quot;snow&quot; (v)? (for example snowingly).&#xA;2. What is adverb from &quot;exam&quot; (n)? (for example examinably).&#xA;3. What is adverb form &quot;ripe&quot; (adj)? (for example ripely).&#xA;4. What are adverb and verb from &quot;farm&quot; (n)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope my questions are understandable. But if these aren't, please say to me for explain these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1994" LastActivityDate="2010-11-06T15:25:48.780" Title="Help in making verb, verb and adverb from a word" Tags="&lt;homework&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4764" CreationDate="2010-11-06T15:25:48.780" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;snow&quot; (v): if you mean the word, describing the weather, then adjective from it is &quot;snowy&quot;.  There is a verb &quot;farm&quot;, which means &quot;to use land for growing crops and/or raising animals as a business&quot;. I'm not sure that there are any adverbs from the words you have listed. But if I would need to write adverbs I would form them by adding &quot;-ly&quot; to the corresponding adjectives: &quot;snowily&quot;, &quot;ripely&quot;. It is hard to imagine, what can adverbs formed from &quot;farm&quot; and &quot;exam&quot; mean (i.e. use them in a sentence).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disclaimer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Don't rely on my answer too much since I'm not a native English speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1834" LastActivityDate="2010-11-06T15:25:48.780" />
  <row Id="4766" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4767" CreationDate="2010-11-06T17:12:42.260" Score="6" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct way to direct a request:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Would you please &lt;strong&gt;e-mail me&lt;/strong&gt; the check?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Would you please &lt;strong&gt;e-mail to me&lt;/strong&gt; the check?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thx &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-11-07T12:22:12.357" Title="&quot;e-mail me&quot; or &quot;e-mail to me&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4766" CreationDate="2010-11-06T17:44:22.450" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;E-mail me the check&quot; sounds right to me, and &quot;e-mail to me the check&quot; does not.  &quot;E-mail the check to me&quot; however, does sound correct.  This is typical of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ditransitive_verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ditransitive&lt;/a&gt; verbs in English: there is a choice between &quot;me&quot; as a direct object (without a preposition) and an indirect object (with a preposition), but the choice is often dictated by things like word order and whether or not the objects are pronouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-07T12:22:12.357" LastActivityDate="2010-11-07T12:22:12.357" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4761" CreationDate="2010-11-06T18:47:27.920" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hyphens are used to connect words when it's unclear which words are modifying which other words. Connecting the two words that modify each other with a hyphen can make a big difference in the meaning of a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare these different ways of using a hyphen with the same words: A &quot;big-time traveller&quot; is someone who travels a lot. A &quot;big time-traveller&quot; is a large person who can move through time. Very different meanings! Without the hyphen, &quot;big time traveller&quot; could have either meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A similar example is &quot;a man-eating cow&quot;. With the hyphen the phrase describes a cow that eats people. Without the hyphen, it describes merely a man eating cow meat: &quot;a man eating cow&quot;. (Note that &quot;a man eating-cow&quot; would not be correct, because hyphens and verbs work differently: &quot;a man cow-eating&quot; is technically correct but sounds strange.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common way you will see hyphens used is to combine two words into a single adjective. Examples are &quot;English-speaking Russian&quot;, &quot;chainsaw-equipped truck&quot;, &quot;beer-loving vegetarian&quot;, &quot;man-eating bear&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1613" LastActivityDate="2010-11-06T18:47:27.920" />
  <row Id="4769" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4780" CreationDate="2010-11-07T05:03:43.303" Score="8" ViewCount="221" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read in some sources that there are more words in the Eskimo/Inuit language to describe types of snow that have arisen out of necessity.  I've also read in other sources that this is just urban legend and that they really don't have any more words for snow.  What is the correct metric used to measure if they have more words (for example do we count only single words such as snow, sleet, powder and not include compound words like snow-drift)? Do they actually have more words for snow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1685" LastActivityDate="2010-11-07T16:30:17.447" Title="Do the Eskimo/Inuit languages really have more words for snow than English" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;foreign-words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="936" CreationDate="2010-11-07T05:24:01.750" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Going for a blast into the real past&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thinking to myself, time is not only going forward, but time can also go backward.Time doesn't actually go forward, it can also go backwards as well, too, as we just don't experience it that way, as time travel is possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the best answer is to say that it's our perceptions and/or the nature of our existence that keeps time going forward and of course, also backwards, as well, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing makes time go foward, but we can still go backward. We create time by existing, but we can still go backward to it, I hope. I mean the earth will never end but, we'll still read time going backwards as time travel is also non-fiction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Time doesn't move forward or backwards the why there is such thing as time travel, as time travel is possible! Time is man made and it is our way of dating the past, present, and future. Time is an measurement and measurements do not and sometimes change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it may be that time moves forward and backward at exactly the same speed and everything is, and is moving from organized to not only chaos and vice-versa, always meeting at this moment, which will be great. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can see from the three tests we have applied that time has to be accepted as a full dimension, despite the limitation which we experience of time going is not only one way. &#xA;Time never goes one way for us &#xA;Spilled milk probably does unspill, you can go back to see Great-Grandma, events begin and end, everything doesn't have a cause and an effect in time, we can still go back to the past, which will happen but, thank god we don't remember the future. &#xA;We look forward and of course, also backward in time, and we normally not only progress at the same rate as everyone else does. Actually that depends on how fast we are moving, because if we travel at extremely slow speeds near the speed of light, we can slow our time travel down, which shows that time is actually linked to other dimensions and is not totally independent in its operation. &#xA;The interesting thing however is that no known laws of physics show that time should move just forward, but it should also move backward, isn't that great. All equations of time show that it should move backwards as easily as forward. Just as we can run a video backwards, so time should be able to run backwards also, which is what will happen. So why does time go only one way, but time never goes only one way? &#xA;Tie-down roper William MacLeod, considered one of the world's leading physicists believes the answer lies in entropy, &quot;The past is for sure the direction to go back to of only the 1996-2010.&quot; Entropy is not only the process of disorder or decay in the universe, where everything never loses order and energy as time progresses. Another way of putting this is that the forward and also of course, backward motion of time is actually the increasing disorder of the universe. Time can go backwards because matter and energy can also become more ordered, which will be great, and we really need help to also make time go backwards so we can watch the whole 1996-2010 rodeo seasons so we can re-live and watch the whole same runs again forever and ever to find out how it really happened. &#xA;A length of string which represents one dimension may seem to indicate that we could go either forward or backward along it. But there would still be enough space in sideways terms for us to turn around to go back. The same could happen with one-dimensional time. Once roper time's rate was set at the beinning of the universe perhaps its never one dimension does allow us to slow down or stop in order to turn around and go back in time, and it can happen, it can happen again, I hope. The one direction of time does also only does go backwards, it not only sometimes keeps going at the same rate, but time can run both forwards and backwards, and scientists really say that you can travel back in time, you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1997" LastActivityDate="2010-11-07T05:24:01.750" />
  <row Id="4771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4769" CreationDate="2010-11-07T06:24:11.880" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not really, it's more of an urban legend.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskimo_words_for_snow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskimo_words_for_snow&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1923" LastActivityDate="2010-11-07T06:24:11.880" />
  <row Id="4772" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4773" CreationDate="2010-11-07T10:18:49.087" Score="5" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do &lt;code&gt;give up&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;give in&lt;/code&gt; imply different meanings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastActivityDate="2010-11-07T18:31:44.490" Title="&quot;give up&quot; vs &quot;give in&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4772" CreationDate="2010-11-07T12:41:32.713" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Give up&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;give in&lt;/em&gt; do have similar meanings that are very close to &lt;em&gt;surrender&lt;/em&gt;. However, compare the examples of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/give%20up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;give up&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/give%20in&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;give in&lt;/a&gt; from the the Merriam-Webster dictionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;don't give up on the project &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;forced to give up his job&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;refused to give up her efforts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;give in and have some chocolat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;after withstanding hours of begging, their father finally gave in and let them go to the amusement park&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;give in his resignation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice how the examples of &lt;em&gt;give in&lt;/em&gt; express something that happens after insistance or entreaty. This doesn't happen in the examples of &lt;em&gt;give up&lt;/em&gt;, where the meaning is closer to &lt;em&gt;quit&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;abandon&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;It should be noted that the last example of &lt;em&gt;give in&lt;/em&gt; above (&quot;give in his resignation&quot;), in particular, is actually a case where it means &lt;em&gt;deliver&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;submit&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;hand in&lt;/em&gt;. It therefore illustrates a definition of &lt;em&gt;give in&lt;/em&gt; that is very different than &lt;em&gt;give up&lt;/em&gt;. Another example of &lt;em&gt;give in&lt;/em&gt; with that meaning, from &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/give+in?r=66&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;please give in your timecards&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-07T17:08:48.747" LastActivityDate="2010-11-07T17:08:48.747" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4774" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4775" CreationDate="2010-11-07T13:05:17.470" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The guarantees made by constructors and destructors offer a nice way to let the compiler &lt;em&gt;clean up after&lt;/em&gt; you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="833" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-08T09:40:12.693" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T09:40:12.693" Title="What is the meaning of the phrase &quot;clean up after&quot; and when and how to use it?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4774" CreationDate="2010-11-07T13:32:47.250" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/clean-up-after&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Macmillan&lt;/a&gt; dictionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;clean up after someone&lt;/strong&gt;: to clean a place after someone has made it dirty or messy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Residents have been told to clean up&#xA;  after their dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example (closer to the one in your question), desctructor functions in some programming languages let you remove from memory the variables that are no longer needed by the computer program, i.e. to perform a clean up when the program no longer needs to use an object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-07T13:38:33.873" LastActivityDate="2010-11-07T13:38:33.873" />
  <row Id="4776" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4778" CreationDate="2010-11-07T14:59:52.050" Score="6" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which of the following sentences is correct in the formal context?  Both?  If possible, please also explain &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; each of these sentences is correct/incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I do not know where the best place to ask this question is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I do not know where is the best place to ask this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T21:59:54.650" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T21:59:54.650" Title="“I do not know where … is” vs. “I do not know where is …”" Tags="&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;relative-clause&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4365" CreationDate="2010-11-07T15:11:08.830" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Right,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This happens to be a very interesting question, unfortunately I think I can only help in part, but we'll see!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're right, there is a historic reason for the differing orthography; if we look at the etymologies of the words, we find two very different historical roots. We will start (for no specific reason) with fur, whence inflected to form furry.  We get our &quot;fur&quot; from the middle English furre and furren, which in-turn we obtained from the Old French &quot;fuerrer&quot; (where earlier writings replace the &quot;ue&quot; with an &quot;o&quot;, but thats irrelevant here), the French may well have obtained this from the Old High German &quot;fotar&quot; (the most probable explanation for the earlier use of an &quot;o&quot; in the French) of little importance yet great interest, this comes from the Gothic for lining &quot;fodr&quot;, anyway, the crux of it is: furry was never borne out of a linguistic rule upon inflecting fur, instead it was transported via its root from the Old French — fuerrer, I'm afraid I can't give you an answer as to why the Old French chose to duplicate the &quot;f&quot; found from the Old High German — only regional adoptions of OHG dialect will likely be responsible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for Fury, we again look to the French / Middle French, this time the word is &quot;furie&quot; but their scavenging is not from Old High German, as in the case of fur — instead from the Latin furia, this all boils down neatly to the Greek stem &quot;thor&quot; whence &quot;thorub&quot; (the former to hurry or rush, the latter a tumult).  The transportation of the pronunciation along with the single &quot;r&quot; construction explains the classic rule's retention. fury {fjʊri}&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully this goes some way if not all the way to answering your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1979" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-09T16:10:56.123" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T16:10:56.123" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4776" CreationDate="2010-11-07T15:34:30.620" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first one is correct in formal and informal contexts.  The second sentence would not be used by a native speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason is that there is a difference in the way that English handles &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/WH-word&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wh-words&lt;/a&gt;, when they are in the main clause vs. when they are in the embedded clause.  The structure also depends on whether the wh-word is the subject or the object in its clause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the main clause, we use the basic order: wh-word verb &lt;strong&gt;__&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Where is&lt;/strong&gt; the best place to ask this question?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is true when the wh-word is the subject or the object, although you'll notice we use &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do-support#Questions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;do-support&lt;/a&gt; when the wh-word is the object (when the main verb is not &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Who &lt;strong&gt;told&lt;/strong&gt; you that?  (&lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; is the subject, no do-support)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Who &lt;strong&gt;did&lt;/strong&gt; you &lt;strong&gt;tell&lt;/strong&gt;? (&lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; is the object, use do-support)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the wh-word is inside of an embedded clause, the verb doesn't move to the front of the sentence; only the wh-word moves.  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I was wondering [who you &lt;strong&gt;told&lt;/strong&gt;]? (corresponds to &quot;who did you tell?&quot; in main clause)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I was wondering [who &lt;strong&gt;told&lt;/strong&gt; you]? (corresponds to &quot;who told you?&quot; in main clause)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(In other languages, this pattern is not the same; it is an arbitrary feature of English.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-07T15:41:51.620" LastActivityDate="2010-11-07T15:41:51.620" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4760" CreationDate="2010-11-07T16:02:02.090" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately the two words you cite are not really synonymous - so a good thesaurus probably wouldn't help you, secondly, &quot;concerning&quot; may appear positive when presented next to &quot;annoying,&quot; but it certainly wouldn't be regarded as part of the antonymous group from &quot;annoying&quot; (e.g. agreeable).  The result of this is that unfortunately - short of a good grasp of the English language - there is no lexical aid!  I'm sure you're able to spot a negative word when you see one - if not look it up in a strong dictionary and you should soon gain a feel for the word's connotations (be them negative or positive).  Then an equally strong thesaurus will at least offer up some alternatives which may be better suited to your application.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1979" LastActivityDate="2010-11-07T16:02:02.090" />
  <row Id="4780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4769" CreationDate="2010-11-07T16:30:17.447" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not at all. Read this great paper, &lt;a href=&quot;http://users.utu.fi/freder/Pullum-Eskimo-VocabHoax.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax&lt;/a&gt; for the full details. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The summary is: some researcher noted that, in English, we have some &quot;snow&quot; words with the same root, like &quot;snowstorm,&quot; &quot;snowfall,&quot; but these words have words with different roots in the Eskimo language, much like we have &quot;river&quot; and &quot;stream.&quot; It was then misunderstood and taken from there, leading to more and more ridiculous claims, each one only looking at the one claim prior to it and not the initial source, which most people forgot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-11-07T16:30:17.447" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4781" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4782" CreationDate="2010-11-07T17:46:11.320" Score="5" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;Santa Claus is a man, right? In this case, he may not be fine with the fact that people call him &lt;em&gt;Santa&lt;/em&gt;, which is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordreference.com/es/en/translation.asp?spen=santa&quot;&gt;Spanish&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordreference.com/pten/santa&quot;&gt;Portuguese&lt;/a&gt; word for &lt;strong&gt;female&lt;/strong&gt; saint names.  For example, Santa Barbara and Santa Monica (Barbara and Monica are both female names). Saint Nicholas is by the way translated as &lt;em&gt;San Nicolas&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;São Nicolas&lt;/em&gt;, respectively, in these languages, as &lt;em&gt;San&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;São&lt;/em&gt; are the words for male saint names.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where does &lt;em&gt;Santa&lt;/em&gt; in Santa Claus come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-11-07T17:58:25.793" Title="Where does &quot;Santa&quot; in Santa Claus come from?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4781" CreationDate="2010-11-07T17:58:25.793" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The name &quot;Santa Claus&quot; comes from a dialect of Dutch, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Santa+Claus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;where the word was &quot;Sante Klaas&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, it was not a feminine suffix; the word evolved into &lt;em&gt;Santa&lt;/em&gt;, which only coincidentally looks like the feminine form of &lt;em&gt;saint&lt;/em&gt; in some languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The Dutch word does come from the same origins as the Spanish and Portuguese, incidentally; most Germanic languages borrowed this Romance word and made it their own.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-07T17:58:25.793" />
  <row Id="4783" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4789" CreationDate="2010-11-07T18:17:30.227" Score="5" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a word that means &quot;more well&quot;, in the same way that &quot;better&quot; means &quot;more good&quot;? In common parlance most people just use &quot;better&quot; for this purpose, but this seems incorrect and is a nagging irritation for me, since &quot;better&quot; is an adjective while &quot;well&quot; is an adverb, and so strictly speaking can't be used in the same sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize there isn't a commonly used word for this but it'd be interesting to know if there's one that's become archaic and has fallen into disuse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1721" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:00:39.610" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:00:39.610" Title="Is there a comparative form of &quot;well&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;comparative&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4772" CreationDate="2010-11-07T18:31:44.490" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Give up indicates cessation as well as forfeiture, whereas give in denotes surrender to something (perhaps temptation in the chocolate example above) or a person or persons (the children in the example of the father above).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2004" LastActivityDate="2010-11-07T18:31:44.490" />
  <row Id="4785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4783" CreationDate="2010-11-07T18:49:21.277" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well can be modified with an appropriate adverb such as &quot;exceedingly&quot; to indicate a comparison.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2004" LastActivityDate="2010-11-07T18:49:21.277" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4786" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4787" CreationDate="2010-11-07T19:04:56.353" Score="2" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;On an online typing tutor site I came across the following phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We're now going to move on to words who's first letter originates on the top row.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can &quot;who&quot; normally be used in this way (to refer not only to people)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="1755" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-07T19:34:57.007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T01:30:44.403" Title="Using &quot;who&quot; for things (nonliving beings)" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;relative-clause&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4786" CreationDate="2010-11-07T19:33:50.050" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, no.  The sentence which you quoted must be a typo of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We’re now going to move on to words &lt;strong&gt;whose&lt;/strong&gt; first letter originates on the top row.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for the following two reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The word “who” only refers to living beings.  For non-living beings, “which” is used instead.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The word “who’s” is the contraction of either “who is” or “who has”, but either way, “who’s first letter originates on the top row” is incorrect because it contains two verbs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The relative pronoun “whose” can refer to non-living beings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, I doubt that “(whose) first letter originates on the top row” is a usual way to state that the first letter in a word is in the top row of the keyboard.  However, I will not try to write more about it because I am not completely sure and this is not the topic of this question anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastEditorUserId="1755" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-08T01:30:44.403" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T01:30:44.403" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4783" CreationDate="2010-11-07T20:00:52.383" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Oxford English Dictionary says the following.  Historically, the comparative of the adverb “well” was “&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50021082&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bet&lt;/a&gt;” (the link requires subscription) whereas the comparative of the adjective “good” has been “better”.  The use of the word “better” as an adverb appeared around the 13th century, and it superseded “bet” by around 1600.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Kosmonaut writes in a comment on the question, in modern English, the word “better” is used as both an adjective and an adverb.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/better&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster dictionary&lt;/a&gt; agrees on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastActivityDate="2010-11-07T20:00:52.383" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4790" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4810" CreationDate="2010-11-08T00:18:11.487" Score="1" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;One want to ask a question in regard to a person's suggestion to contribute:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tina: &quot;You should get laid more than once a year&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tom:  &quot;the best you &lt;strong&gt;could&lt;/strong&gt; say?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;should I use &lt;strong&gt;can&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;could&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1446" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-08T12:02:40.260" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T15:07:13.220" Title="&quot;the best you could say&quot; vs &quot;the best you can say&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4791" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-08T00:46:04.287" Score="4" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;Initially my question was if is it &quot;focussed&quot; or &quot;focused&quot;, but since this applies to a lot of words there is supposed to be a rule when to double the consonant?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="315" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T01:18:44.510" Title="focussed or focused? The double consonant" Tags="&lt;orthography&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4791" CreationDate="2010-11-08T01:15:00.300" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the rule is that you double the final consonant when both of the following are true:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the consonant ends a stressed syllable or a one-syllable word&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the consonant is preceded by a single vowel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As 'cus' is not the stressed syllable, it would not be doubled according to this rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe the 'stressed' requirement is relaxed in some situations under British English, however.  Indeed, I found references to 'focussed' with an 'especially British' tag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T01:15:00.300" />
  <row Id="4793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4791" CreationDate="2010-11-08T01:18:44.510" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both spellings are used depending on the variety of English.  According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/focussed&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The spelling &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/focused&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;focused&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; is much more common in the US; however, the spelling &lt;em&gt;focussed&lt;/em&gt; is sometimes used in the UK and Canada, and is especially common in Australia and New Zealand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the website of a UK-based company &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.future-perfect.co.uk/grammartips/grammar-tip-focussed-focused.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Future Perfect&lt;/a&gt;, the general rule is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The official requirements are that we ‘double a single consonant letter at the end of any base where the preceding vowel is spelled with a single letter and stressed’.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Here, if the preceding vowel is the only vowel in the word, it is counted as stressed.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I do not know how the spelling “focussed” fits this rule.  Maybe it is an exception to the rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T01:18:44.510" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4538" CreationDate="2010-11-08T03:41:44.680" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a TV series maniac and a person who learns English, I would like to recommend to watch almost any sitcoms, such as &quot;Friends&quot;, &quot;How I met your mother&quot;, &quot;Two and a half men&quot;. Also, &quot;Futurama&quot; and &quot;Lost&quot; were surprisingly easy to understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1167" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-08T09:34:13.403" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T09:34:13.403" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4795" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4796" CreationDate="2010-11-08T04:40:44.093" Score="3" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose there is a Department of English (note: the name is not &lt;em&gt;English Department&lt;/em&gt;) at Abc University. I want to know the correct use of capital letters in these sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The Department of English at Abc University is really old.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The English Department of Abc University is really old.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The English department of Abc University is really old.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know 1. is correct, but I am not sure about 2 and 3. I am also confused about the appropriateness of the usage of &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; in 2 and 3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-08T09:21:56.570" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T09:21:56.570" Title="Correct Usage of Capital Letters" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4795" CreationDate="2010-11-08T06:21:16.453" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Names should be capitalized, so if you refer to the department by it's &quot;official&quot; name,&lt;code&gt;The Department of English&lt;/code&gt; you should capitalized the first word and all subsequent &quot;non connecting&quot; words (so not &lt;code&gt;and&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;or&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;of&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;in&lt;/code&gt; etc). However if you're just describing the department, in you case, &lt;code&gt;The English department&lt;/code&gt;, you should only capitalize the names, so &lt;code&gt;English&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;Abc&lt;/code&gt; etc.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;To answer you question, I believe (1) and (3) are good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1923" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T06:21:16.453" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4797" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-08T08:38:15.827" Score="2" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've come across &quot;like many another&quot; in a GMAT question. Its use is similar to &quot;Like many other&quot; e.g. &quot;Like many another in his class, John is thirteen years old.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has 1M hits in google (compare to 135M for &quot;like many other&quot;).&#xA;I would like to know if it's a mistake or an uncommon but standard phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2010" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:35:08.403" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:35:08.403" Title="Is the phrase &quot;Like many another&quot; correct in standard English?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;look-alikes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4797" CreationDate="2010-11-08T09:50:22.963" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I'm not mistaken, &lt;code&gt;another&lt;/code&gt; is a contraction of &lt;code&gt;an other&lt;/code&gt;, but since &lt;code&gt;an&lt;/code&gt;/&lt;code&gt;a&lt;/code&gt; mean singular, saying &lt;code&gt;many another&lt;/code&gt; would seem incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1923" LastEditorUserId="1923" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-08T22:16:50.660" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T22:16:50.660" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4799" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4801" CreationDate="2010-11-08T09:53:58.637" Score="3" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over the years I've stuck fast to a possibly self-invented rule that enumerating pairs of things in an out-of-order fashion requires a &quot;respectively&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;…where x, y, and z are &quot;ecks&quot;, &quot;why&quot;, and &quot;zed&quot;, respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I begin to tire of this redundant usage where it's clearly obvious (or is it?) that the pairs match up n-to-n in the lists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this rule I follow a real rule? Can I drop it in what seem to me, the writer, to be patently obvious cases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2012" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T18:15:57.000" Title="When can a redundant &quot;respectively&quot; be dropped?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4797" CreationDate="2010-11-08T10:24:11.453" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Compare 1M and 135M, I don't think &quot;like many another&quot; is a &lt;em&gt;standard&lt;/em&gt; phrase. I haven't seen it before until now in this question, and I don't think it's correct either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2013" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T10:24:11.453" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4799" CreationDate="2010-11-08T10:26:08.877" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it's clearly obvious in all situations that the pairs match up. I guess the main purpose of &lt;em&gt;respectively&lt;/em&gt; is precisely to remove any potential ambiguity. Observe:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Jane and Joe are beautiful and smart.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Jane and Joe are beautiful and smart, respectively.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Japanese, Italians, and Russians are good at making sake, grappa, and vodka.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Japanese, Italians, and Russians are good at making sake, grappa, and vodka, respectively.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I suppose you should always double-check whether you would still be saying the same thing if you dropped &lt;em&gt;respectively&lt;/em&gt; (or any word, for that matter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T10:26:08.877" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4802" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4805" CreationDate="2010-11-08T11:45:51.327" Score="3" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm learning English. Unfortunately I have some obstacles in writing and speaking. In particular I often note that there are too many &quot;of&quot;-s in my sentences. For instance I want to get rid of them in the phrase &quot;quality of this approach to the conundrum of enhancing my vocabulary&quot; and I don't know if I can write &quot;word memorization&quot; instead of &quot;memorization of the words&quot;. However &quot;of&quot; is a very common preposition and thus it's not a good keyword for googling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you know any hints and grammar rules I can use for reconstruction of sentences to lower the usage of &quot;of&quot; or any links I can make a use of for finding this information or some good keywords for searching?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1834" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-24T18:01:05.550" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T18:01:05.550" Title="Where can I find a list of ways to get rid of the preposition &quot;of&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4797" CreationDate="2010-11-08T11:56:05.943" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/many+another&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Free Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; as well as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/many&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; say that &quot;many a/another&quot; expresses &quot;each of a large indefinite number&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;many a man&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;many another day will come&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In German it would be translated as &quot;so manch&quot;, &quot;manch ein&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T11:56:05.943" />
  <row Id="4804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4797" CreationDate="2010-11-08T11:57:25.137" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Many a&quot; is an idiom, a fossilised remnant of a construction which is no longer productive in English. I would say it has a rather archaic flavour itself, and would not be used in formal contexts. &#xA;&quot;Many another&quot; is an extension of this, and feels odd to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T11:57:25.137" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4802" CreationDate="2010-11-08T12:01:38.807" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Of&quot; can be alternated with possessives and adjectives.  (quality of approach and variety of sentences) &quot;This approach's quality can be improved by using sentence variation in order to enhance vocabulary and style.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T12:01:38.807" />
  <row Id="4806" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4808" CreationDate="2010-11-08T13:15:39.057" Score="9" ViewCount="230" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do we refer to people as &lt;em&gt;guinea pigs&lt;/em&gt; when discussing the subjects of an informal experiment? Surely mice, rabbits and rats are much more common experimental subjects. Indeed, it's rare that you'll hear of real guinea pigs being used experimentally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T07:02:20.343" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T07:02:20.343" Title="Why is &quot;guinea pig&quot; used as the colloquial term for test subjects?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4806" CreationDate="2010-11-08T13:25:35.757" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not know much about biology, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinea_pig#Scientific_research&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; states that guinea pigs have been often used in scientific experiments since the 17th century or before.  It also explains that now they are not used as often as before:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since the middle 20th century, they have been replaced in laboratory contexts primarily by mice and rats.  This is in part because research into the genetics of guinea pigs has lagged behind that of other rodents, although geneticists &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ernest_Castle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;W. E. Castle&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewall_Wright&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sewall Wright&lt;/a&gt; made a number of contributions to this area of study, especially regarding &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_pigment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;coat color&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T13:25:35.757" />
  <row Id="4808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4806" CreationDate="2010-11-08T13:39:03.397" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Guinea pigs might not be the most common experimental subjects today, but we have to look at how common they were when the term was first coined, which was many decades ago, as Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=guinea+pig&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;points out&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the extended sense of &quot;one subjected to an experiment&quot; it is first recorded 1920, because they were commonly used in vivisection experiments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia seems to be &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinea_pig&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;backing that up&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Biological experimentation on guinea pigs has been carried out since the 17th century. The animals were frequently used as a model organism in the 19th and 20th centuries, resulting in the epithet &quot;guinea pig&quot; for a test subject, but have since been largely replaced by other rodents such as mice and rats. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking further, I found this essay on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.comfycavies.com/info/history/history.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;History of the Guinea Pig&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Guinea pigs have also played a very important role in the field of medical research, and although most pet lovers today may cringe at the thought of animals being used in laboratory research, the historic and important contribution of guinea pigs to science cannot be overlooked. Guinea pigs are often used as a metaphor for any subject of scientific experimentation (e.g. &quot;human guinea pigs&quot;), and this idea persists even though guinea pigs are no longer commonly used as modern experimental animals, as rats and mice (which breed quicker) have replaced them. In 1890 the antitoxin for diphtheria was discovered using guinea pigs in the research, and as a result the lives of millions of children have been saved. The guinea pig's wide variety of hair types and colours have also made them a prime choice for studies of genetics and heredity. During the 20th century a special strain of smooth-coated white guinea pigs called Duncan-Hartley were bred specifically for laboratory work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Adolf_von_Behring&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Emil Adolf von Behring&lt;/a&gt; actually won the (first ever) Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1901 for developing a serum therapy against diphtheria. He used guinea pigs in his experiments, though later the serum was extracted from sheep and then horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-08T13:54:18.930" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T13:54:18.930" />
  <row Id="4809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4597" CreationDate="2010-11-08T14:20:20.110" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you are expressing a comparison in a particular quality between the two sets, you should use a &lt;strong&gt;comparative&lt;/strong&gt; construction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many adjectives have natural comparative equivalents: &quot;good&quot; and &quot;better,&quot; &quot;dumb&quot; and &quot;dumber.&quot; However, many more adjectives lack any natural comparative; there is no such word as &quot;beautifuler&quot; or &quot;proner.&quot; In such cases we form a comparative using the strict construction: &lt;strong&gt;more [adjective]&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can give rise to ambiguity in sentences that could be modified in other ways by including the word &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt;. The example you present could use this modifier to indicate the &lt;em&gt;frequency&lt;/em&gt; rather than the &lt;em&gt;extent&lt;/em&gt; to which men are prone to depression when compared to women. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a moot point in this particular case due to that fact that the word &lt;em&gt;prone&lt;/em&gt; is used here to express a potential for, rather than an actual, occurrence and therefore frequency and extent are conceptually conflated (I think Kosmonaut touched on this.) If we were to take a clearer example, this issue might be more obvious:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Boys are more accurate than girls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Boys are accurate more than girls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might almost be able to &quot;hear&quot; the missing word in the second sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Boys are accurate more [&lt;em&gt;often&lt;/em&gt;] than girls&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...meaning their answers or endeavors are accurate more of the time, regardless of how much &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; accurate. This does not carry the same meaning as the first sentence, which states that a boy's endeavors or answers are, in general, nearer to exact or correct, regardless of how frequently. The adjective &lt;em&gt;accurate&lt;/em&gt; is not itself being measured and compared for the two sets here, so the &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; modifier is used elsewhere to modify the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, when framing a comparative sentence, one should use the standard construction of &lt;strong&gt;more [adjective]&lt;/strong&gt; as though it is a single comparative adjective, provided it is the quality itself that you wish to compare. If you wish to compare the frequency of occurrence of an arbitrary but uniform quality, you do not need to modify the adjective but should otherwise modify the sentence to make clear what you are comparing. If there is little distinction between the two concepts (as in your example) then I would recommend the standard &lt;strong&gt;more [adjective]&lt;/strong&gt; as it is more natural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T14:20:20.110" />
  <row Id="4810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4790" CreationDate="2010-11-08T15:07:13.220" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't really come up with any form involving &quot;the best you could say&quot; that sounds at all like something a native speaker would say.  Depending on what exactly you're trying to get across, one of the following might be appropriate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Don't you have anything better to say?&quot; - Ralph's suggestion is a good one, here, especially if you're wanting to chastise someone for being impolite, crude, etc.  In my head, this feels like something a mother would ask of her child to scold them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Is that the best you could come up with?&quot; This is a bit closer to your original phrasing, and can have a similar meaning to the phrase above, but with a more condescending/taunting overtone.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;While I don't think it's what you're going for, there are some common phrases that are used in response to rude statements, again usually to scold children.  E.g. &quot;If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all&quot;.  These probably aren't appropriate in this context, but I thought I'd mention them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T15:07:13.220" />
  <row Id="4811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4799" CreationDate="2010-11-08T18:15:57.000" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;respectively&quot; in those sentences isn't redundant. You &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; argue that it's unnecessary (in which case I'd disagree&lt;sup&gt;*&lt;/sup&gt;), but &lt;em&gt;&quot;redundant&quot;&lt;/em&gt; means that the word is repeating something you've already said. Think of the classic examples of redundancy &quot;ATM machine&quot; or &quot;PIN number&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;*&lt;/sup&gt; As RegDwight has demonstrated, when you're listing nouns and their adjectives separately, the &quot;respectively&quot; is actually necessary. Otherwise, the reader has no reason to think there's a one-to-one correspondence between the lists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T18:15:57.000" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4812" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4813" CreationDate="2010-11-08T19:36:09.580" Score="10" ViewCount="414" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading a Harry Potter book the other day and one of the characters greets Harry by saying &quot;Wotcher, Harry&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is &quot;Wotcher&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T13:46:09.410" Title="British slang? Wotcher" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="4813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4812" CreationDate="2010-11-08T19:44:43.047" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Theory 1: It's a contraction of &quot;what are you up to&quot; or &quot;what are you doing&quot;. Basically, the last part (up to/doing) is completely dropped, and the rest is smushed together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Theory 2: it's short for &quot;what cheer&quot;, purportedly 17th century slang for &quot;what's up&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?defid=1058973&amp;amp;term=wotcher&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?defid=1058973&amp;amp;term=wotcher&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=561511728&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MSN Encarta dictionary&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/wotcher&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;freedictionary.com&lt;/a&gt; support Martha's second theory that wotcher is contraction of &quot;what cheer&quot;. It is a slang (U.K.) that means the same as &lt;em&gt;hello&lt;/em&gt;. It should be noted that it is not clear whether the slang is still in use anywhere in the U.K.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-09T10:32:08.980" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T10:32:08.980" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-08T19:47:02.563" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'could' is not the past tense of 'can'. In modern English modal verbs are tenseless. That's why they can all operate in all time sequences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2015" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T19:47:02.563" />
  <row Id="4815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7" CreationDate="2010-11-08T19:54:32.350" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As it is with all the modal pairings, 'might' is not the past tense of 'may', nor is 'may' the present tense of 'might'. All modal verbs in modern English are tenseless. As tenseless verbs, modals are able to operate in any time sense, past, present or future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to their epistemic [level of certainty meanings] and their deontic [social meanings] they are never interchangeable. They, like all modals, have their nuances and those nuances are expressed by choosing one or the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2015" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T19:54:32.350" />
  <row Id="4816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3785" CreationDate="2010-11-08T20:20:47.433" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My apologies if this shows up odd. I'm not familiar with the functions above the YOUR ANSWER box&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;According to the dictionary&#xA;  definitions (e.g. in Merriam-Webster)&#xA;  , &quot;should&quot; is the past of &quot;shall&quot; and&#xA;  &quot;might&quot; is the past of &quot;may&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But are these modal verbs really used&#xA;  as such? I know they are frequently&#xA;  used with other meanings (as confirmed&#xA;  by their other definitions in the&#xA;  dictionary), but my question is if&#xA;  they are really used with their&#xA;  original meaning of past tense for&#xA;  &quot;shall&quot; and &quot;may&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, they are not used that way, Bruno. That's very perceptive of you. In modern English, the modal verbs are tenseless. They have neither past or present tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I give two examples below. Do the&#xA;  present and past versions have the&#xA;  exact same meaning (except for the&#xA;  tense, of course)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1) MAY / MIGHT&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Present: When he is at school, he may&#xA;  not go to the bathroom without asking&#xA;  for permission.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Past: When he was at school, he might&#xA;  not go to the bathroom without asking&#xA;  for permission.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2) SHALL / SHOULD&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Present: He thinks that they shall go&#xA;  the restaurant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Past: He thought that they should go&#xA;  the restaurant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are not examples of past and present tense. Your examples have nothing to do with tense. The backshifting that occurs in examples like these [may --&gt; might; will --&gt; would; can --&gt; could] have nothing to do with an actual tense change, eg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to jump over the line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I jump*&lt;em&gt;ed&lt;/em&gt;* over the line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only reason for this backshifting in your examples is to denote that the speech is not a direct quote. As an example, lets use my example above, about the 'jumping'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A: I'm going to jump over the line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B: [to C] What did he say, C?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;C: He said [that] he &lt;strong&gt;was&lt;/strong&gt; going to jump over the line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What C said doesn't constitute a finished action, which would trigger the use of true past tense usage. Again, the only reason for the backshift to the past tense FORM &quot;was&quot;, is to tell the listener, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I'm not vouching that this is exactly what he said, I'm only giving you a general description of the event&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of 'said' does denote a true past tense. What he said is finished, past, hence the use of a real past tense, as opposed to the use of a past tense FORM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We know that this isn't a past time event because even in a semantic sense, it doesn't describe a past event. The event hasn't happened yet. A is still standing there waiting his turn to jump over the line. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also know it isn't a real past event because native speakers have a choice as to whether we backshift or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;C could also say [note 'could' describes a future potential event, NOT a past one]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;C: He said [that] he &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; going to jump over the line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice the use of &quot;is&quot; rather than &quot;was&quot;. Native speakers often maintain the present tense FORM when the event is current, happening right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to review. Modal verbs are tenseless verb forms. Their jobs are to add emotive senses to speech and writing and in the SPECIAL case of REPORTED SPEECH, they also are used to mark speech as reported.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2015" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T20:20:47.433" />
  <row Id="4817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4812" CreationDate="2010-11-08T20:37:08.380" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wotcher:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meaning&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A colloquial greeting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Origin&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'Wotcher' is so strongly associated&#xA;  with the south of England, and&#xA;  especially London, that it is often&#xA;  assumed to be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/cockney-rhyming-slang.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cockney Rhyming&#xA;  Slang&lt;/a&gt;. Some commentators have&#xA;  attempted to find tortured rhymes for&#xA;  the extended 'wotcher cock' slang form&#xA;  - 'what's your clock?', 'watch your back' etc. In fact, 'wotcher' long&#xA;  predates CRS and is a contraction of&#xA;  the earlier greeting phrase 'what&#xA;  cheer?'. In that form, it became part&#xA;  of the everyday English language in&#xA;  the early Middle Ages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please read the related &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/wotcher.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;phrases.org.uk&lt;/a&gt; page for more info.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T20:37:08.380" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2132" CreationDate="2010-11-08T20:54:19.547" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why isn't the present tense used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if you would like to come for dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;=========================&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only word indicating tense in your example is 'am'. But in this situation, it's really only a present tense FORM. This FORM is used to be more direct, in this case, it could [note 'could' is a future] be taken as rather abrupt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Past tense FORMS, &quot;I &lt;strong&gt;was&lt;/strong&gt; wondering&quot; are used in English to be more indirect and therefore more polite, softer, less challenging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Do&lt;/strong&gt; you want something to eat?&quot; versus &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Did&lt;/strong&gt; you want something to eat?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tense FORMs as opposed to the actual use of tense to mark time are simply different grammatical/pragmatic animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2015" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T20:54:19.547" />
  <row Id="4819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="105" CreationDate="2010-11-08T21:19:55.800" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The notion that most native speakers are making a mistake about how to use language is ludicrous in the extreme. To paraphrase the linguist, Dwight Bolinger, the only possible way that language can be made and defined is by how native speakers, in the broad sense, use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To suggest that the majority are making a mistake completely rules out the idea that languages can change. As we all know, languages do change, so that makes the other notion fatuous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, it isn't an issue of language change. It's simply another bad prescription; actually using 'bad' is redundant for a prescription is always bad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;M-W&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;lay&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usage Discussion of LAY&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;lay has been used intransitively in the sense of “lie” since the 14th century. The practice was unremarked until around 1770; attempts to correct it have been a fixture of schoolbooks ever since. Generations of teachers and critics have succeeded in taming most literary and learned writing, but intransitive lay persists in familiar speech and is a bit more common in general prose than one might suspect. Much of the problem lies in the confusing similarity of the principal parts of the two words. Another influence may be a folk belief that lie is for people and lay is for things. Some commentators are ready to abandon the distinction, suggesting that lay is on the rise socially. But if it does rise to respectability, it is sure to do so slowly: many people have invested effort in learning to keep lie and lay distinct. Remember that even though many people do use lay for lie, others will judge you unfavorably if you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lay&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lay&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2015" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T21:19:55.800" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4820" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4821" CreationDate="2010-11-08T21:39:43.017" Score="4" ViewCount="392" Body="&lt;p&gt;I apologize for what could be construed as an inappropriate question. But as I was spell-checking an e-mail to a person, the word  &lt;strong&gt;vaginas&lt;/strong&gt; resulted in a grammatical error, whereas &lt;strong&gt;vagina&lt;/strong&gt; didn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the correct form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T23:28:35.887" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T23:28:35.887" Title="What is the plural form of vagina?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4820" CreationDate="2010-11-08T21:46:52.180" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The plural of &lt;em&gt;vagina&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;vaginas&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vagina?show=0&amp;amp;t=1289252852&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some dictionaries also list &lt;em&gt;vaginae&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; in addition to &lt;em&gt;vaginas&lt;/em&gt;, which I have never personally heard before).  I don't know why your spellchecker would have marked it wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T21:46:52.180" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1780" CreationDate="2010-11-08T21:54:28.720" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have blocked the user account, and deleted the comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I blocked the user account, and deleted the comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is preferable, or more correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;============================&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are differences between NaE and BrE. For NaE, this is the present perfect of current relevance/importance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often, unless the speaker wishes to illustrate that a past action is important to the current situation, the simple past is used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a myth that we never use a past time adverbial with the present perfect and most often that is true, the reason, the &quot;job&quot; of the present perfect is not to reflect on the past and using past time adverbs would take away from that ideal. However, there are situations where this is not followed. As I said they are not at all common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2015" LastActivityDate="2010-11-08T21:54:28.720" />
  <row Id="4823" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4824" CreationDate="2010-11-09T03:01:48.953" Score="29" ViewCount="2338" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which term correctly identifies those who enjoy and are involved with programming and technology, &lt;em&gt;geek&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;nerd&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2019" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-09T14:45:27.387" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:44:39.603" Title="&quot;Geek&quot; vs. &quot;Nerd&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="9" FavoriteCount="15" />
  <row Id="4824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4823" CreationDate="2010-11-09T06:53:07.087" Score="21" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most probable term would be &quot;geek&quot;, as in &quot;computer geek&quot; (roughly &quot;computer whiz&quot;).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(not the US geek from fifty years ago, as the lowest form of circus performer, who did horrible, demeaning things).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Even though a geek is not necessarily smart or into computers, but can be in general a &quot;weird person&quot;, the only usage of geek I know in French culture is related to computer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=14688&amp;amp;page=5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;thread mentions&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Nerd&quot; has several meanings/usages.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;One is that of a studious intellectual, meant to be negative but carrying a whiff of envy. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The other is &quot;awkward pain in the neck&quot;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One (non-official) difference between nerd and geek (in the computer field) could also be in term of general activity:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Nerd&quot; = producer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Geek&quot; = consumer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eg. a nerd &lt;em&gt;creates&lt;/em&gt; video games, a geek &lt;em&gt;plays&lt;/em&gt; the video games.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But those two terms  certainly cannot be limited to this simple interpretation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, I thought the remark from John Hodgman was quite accurate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Comedian John Hodgman recently spoke at a Washington DC press dinner, following Barack Obama, touting Obama as the first Nerd President, since Obama had admitted to collecting comic books and being a fan of Star Trek. Obama's Nerd intellectualism was contrasted to the &quot;Jock&quot; mentality that had defined the Bush years.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  In the midst of this speech Hodgman suddenly referred to Obama as a geek, quickly adding this aside:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;And to those who say, 'Wait, there's a difference between nerds and geeks,' I answer, 'Shut up, nerd!'&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nicely &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=401&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;illustrated by phdcomics&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/0x0vV.gif&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-09T07:01:48.280" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T07:01:48.280" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4823" CreationDate="2010-11-09T09:26:55.880" Score="48" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;VonC's answer is more to the point, but I just can't resist the urge to post this Venn diagram, so I'm marking this CW:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/KW5Zs.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/comments/6e1d8/girl_geeks_on_the_rise/c03lc65&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Image credit.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T09:26:55.880" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-09T09:26:55.880" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4826" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-09T10:14:38.107" Score="4" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am writing a manual for user to use a web application.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the function requires user to key in the date, and then the number of weeks before that date, the number of weeks needs to be smaller than 52 weeks and greater than 25 weeks. But I think the phrase &quot;smaller than 52 weeks and greater than 25 weeks&quot; is a bit too clumsy, is the following OK?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Number of weeks for data retrieval is limited within 25 to 52 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if &lt;em&gt;limited within&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;limited between&lt;/em&gt; is grammatically correct. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="748" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T01:45:34.457" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T01:45:34.457" Title="How to deliver the meaning of &quot;within a specified range&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4826" CreationDate="2010-11-09T10:19:41.337" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I absolutely had to choose between these two alternatives, I would pick &quot;limited between&quot;, but generally speaking, I would go with &quot;limited to&quot;, as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The number of weeks for data retrieval is limited to 25–52.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Notes: that's an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;en dash&lt;/a&gt;, I've added a &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;, and I don't repeat the word &lt;em&gt;weeks&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; does not have a single cite for &quot;limited between&quot; or &quot;limited within&quot;, but it has 1343 cites for &quot;limited to&quot;, including several cites for value ranges, e.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;[...] limited to 1 to 1.5p on a pint of beer [...]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;[...] limited to 15 to 18 per cent for a transitional period [...]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It even has &lt;a href=&quot;http://bnc.bl.uk/saraWeb.php?qy=limited+to+between&amp;amp;mysubmit=Go&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;two cites&lt;/a&gt; for &quot;limited to between&quot; (but again, &lt;a href=&quot;http://bnc.bl.uk/saraWeb.php?qy=limited+between&amp;amp;mysubmit=Go&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;none&lt;/a&gt; for just &quot;limited between&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-09T10:46:12.347" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T10:46:12.347" />
  <row Id="4828" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4836" CreationDate="2010-11-09T10:24:54.760" Score="4" ViewCount="323" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a rule, which states that one must or must not use comma before &quot;then&quot; in a sentence like this:&#xA;&lt;Blockquote&gt; If you can read this, then you might want to answer this question.&lt;/Blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1636" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-10T16:05:47.830" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T15:37:13.440" Title="Comma in compound/complex sentences" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4823" CreationDate="2010-11-09T10:25:52.577" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither &quot;geek&quot; nor &quot;nerd&quot;.  We're your boss; call us sir.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1814" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T10:25:52.577" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3578" CreationDate="2010-11-09T11:21:09.627" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember reading a good while ago (I think in a book published by the Reader's Digest called &lt;em&gt;The Right Word at the Right Time&lt;/em&gt;) that it is correct to use &lt;em&gt;help to&lt;/em&gt; when an inanimate object is providing the help, and merely &lt;em&gt;help&lt;/em&gt; when a person is providing the help. I'm not at all sure how well that advice matches actual usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T11:21:09.627" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4828" CreationDate="2010-11-09T13:37:15.267" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I didn't find some official rule, but, from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/43501-comma-before-then.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this thread&lt;/a&gt;, if you are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;making some kind of list (when two actions are sequential for instance)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;using &quot;then&quot; with the meaning of &quot;as a result/in that case&quot;,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;, then you need a comma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you can read this, then you might want to answer this question.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (sequence)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Sir, ssshh -- there's no talking in the library.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;Oh. I'll be quiet, then.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (or) &quot;Oh. Then, I'll be quiet.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (consequence)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, apart from &quot;then&quot; as &quot;an indication of time&quot;, a comma should be used in front of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I am going to the library to find that book. I will read it &lt;strong&gt;then&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other usages are mentioned in &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=660173&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this thread&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As a filler, comma before and after:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Well, then, what do you propose we do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T13:37:15.267" />
  <row Id="4832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4826" CreationDate="2010-11-09T14:16:13.263" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's your audience?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ask because mathematicians, engineers and scientists have a precise way of communicating non-inclusive ranges:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;x is in (25, 52)&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;25 &amp;lt; x &amp;lt; 52&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a sufficiently technical audience, they'll know what that means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T14:16:13.263" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4826" CreationDate="2010-11-09T14:17:22.767" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would a simple:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;number of weeks (range: 25 to 52)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;be enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T14:17:22.767" />
  <row Id="4834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3389" CreationDate="2010-11-09T14:17:48.700" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Forgive my late input, however - at least in Britain - the court would unlikely look too closely at the words used, instead more emphasis will be placed on the underlying &quot;thrust&quot; of the statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both words you identify imply the same thing, that something will be done. there is little need to worry further about the semantics.  It would be much more prudent to re-word the entire &quot;term&quot; so that the provision is expressly conveyed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Any information relating to this&#xA;  project will remain confidential and&#xA;  will not be released to third parties&#xA;  without prior agreement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or a variation thereof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1979" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T14:17:48.700" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4823" CreationDate="2010-11-09T14:24:35.683" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster defines them thusly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Geek&lt;/strong&gt; - an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field or activity&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nerd&lt;/strong&gt; - one slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say they're virtually synonyms. I've certainly heard them used interchangeably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T14:24:35.683" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4828" CreationDate="2010-11-09T15:52:52.310" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use comma in that sentence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the general recommendation  for sentences with a dependent clause followed by an independent clause. In your sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dependent clause: If you can read this&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Independent clause: [then] you might want to answer this question.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma#Separation_of_clauses&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia page on Commas&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In English, a comma is generally used&#xA;  to separate a dependent clause from&#xA;  the independent clause if the&#xA;  dependent clause comes first: After I&#xA;  brushed the cat, I lint-rollered my&#xA;  clothes. (Compare I lint-rollered my&#xA;  clothes after I brushed the cat.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that it doesn't mean that it is wrong to not use comma in this case. As noted by the same page:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While many style guides call for&#xA;  commas, many authors omit them,&#xA;  particularly with short sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T15:52:52.310" />
  <row Id="4837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4826" CreationDate="2010-11-09T15:56:13.917" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &quot;limited within&quot; and &quot;limited between&quot; sound to me like in a certain time interval, data retrieval is limited (so if it's now 53 weeks since [something], retrieval is unlimited, while last week, it was limited). Naturally, this makes no sense in context, so there's definitely a problem somewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best solution is probably something like what VonC suggested: label the field with text that identifies the nature of the value to be entered, and then separately provide a range of valid values.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T15:56:13.917" />
  <row Id="4838" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4839" CreationDate="2010-11-09T16:12:20.920" Score="4" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to express that I constrained something too much such that it is contradictory now. At first sight, &lt;em&gt;over-constrained&lt;/em&gt; seems to fit, but I am not sure whether it is fine to use in a scientific publication. Can you help me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2014" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T14:07:57.360" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:07:57.360" Title="A word for the meaning of &quot;over-constrained&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4838" CreationDate="2010-11-09T16:18:44.647" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen &lt;code&gt;over-constrained&lt;/code&gt; used several times in scientific publications, referring to a system constrained to such a point that a solution does not exist.  So I think you're fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(As an example, there's a paper entitled &quot;A brief overview of over-constrained systems&quot; by Michael Jampel published in Springer's Lecture Notes in Computer Science. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.springerlink.com/content/pt32u02713633376/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;See it here&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T16:18:44.647" />
  <row Id="4840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4838" CreationDate="2010-11-09T16:39:45.310" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never used this word, but I think that “overconstrained” (for a system of equations) is used in two slightly different meanings:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are more constraints than the degree of freedom.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are more constraints than the degree of freedom and there are no solutions because of that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, we can call a system of linear equations with 10 variables and 11 equations “overconstrained” in the sense 1, but it may have a solution if some of the equations are redundant.  If you need a precise meaning, I think that you should define the meaning which you intend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T16:39:45.310" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4826" CreationDate="2010-11-09T17:38:31.997" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd re-write it like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Number of weeks for data retrieval must be between 25 and 52.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T17:38:31.997" />
  <row Id="4842" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5043" CreationDate="2010-11-09T18:17:21.077" Score="2" ViewCount="357" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a native speaker of English, and I don't know how many times I've wanted to say &quot;happilier&quot; instead of &quot;more happily&quot;, or &quot;happiliest&quot; instead of &quot;most happily&quot;. Is there any record of such comparative/superlative adverbs (-lier, -liest) being used, even if it is in weird experimental literature?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interesting problems arise with words already ending in &quot;-ly&quot;, e.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;sillily&lt;/code&gt;: in a silly manner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;sillilier&lt;/code&gt;: in a sillier manner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;sillilily&lt;/code&gt;: in a manner suggesting a silly manner (double-adverb)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;sillililiest&lt;/code&gt;: in a manner suggesting the silliest manner possible&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Typeset in fixed-width not because I think it's right, but because otherwise it's impossible to read &quot;sillililiest&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T16:51:02.457" Title="Comparative and superlative adverbs?" Tags="&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;comparative&gt;&lt;superlative&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4843" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5020" CreationDate="2010-11-09T19:09:36.577" Score="7" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why are the words happy and lucky so closely related, historically? Looking at the etymology, the &lt;strong&gt;hap&lt;/strong&gt; in &lt;strong&gt;happy&lt;/strong&gt; is the same as in &lt;strong&gt;happenstance&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;happen&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;hapless&lt;/strong&gt;, etc. The etymology, according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hap?r=75&amp;amp;src=ref&amp;amp;ch=dic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt; is &quot;ME &amp;lt; ON happ luck, chance.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What also makes me ask this is that it seems to be the case in other languages, as well. For example, in German, &lt;strong&gt;gluecklich&lt;/strong&gt; still means both happy and lucky. In Russian, &lt;strong&gt;счастливый&lt;/strong&gt; is the same - both happy and lucky. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did people use to think that happiness meant good luck?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T00:44:15.657" Title="History: Relationship between happy and lucky" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4844" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4845" CreationDate="2010-11-09T19:28:41.810" Score="2" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect my verbs do NOT agree =) In the below sentence, I'm trying to say that I've asked this girl out for drinks in the past. However, every time I'd ask, she would agree at first and later bail out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've asked this girl (BTW, she is a lawyer) out for drinks several times; she is 7, nothing special. She would express  interest at first, and later  bail out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please suggest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The source of my post: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/seduction/comments/e3m3g/dealing_with_a_flake/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.reddit.com/r/seduction/comments/e3m3g/dealing_with_a_flake/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1446" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-09T19:42:49.920" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T19:42:49.920" Title="Verb agreement in the sentence" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="4845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4844" CreationDate="2010-11-09T19:41:42.810" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That sounds good to me, actually. The &quot;She would do this&quot; construction implies a repeated action in the past for me. &quot;She would eat ice cream daily when she was bored at home.&quot; Likewise &quot;I have asked several times&quot; is a repeated action in the past. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T19:41:42.810" />
  <row Id="4846" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-09T20:18:28.113" Score="6" ViewCount="400" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does the word &quot;rich&quot; mean in the reactionary sarcastic phrase &quot;That's rich!&quot; (Google shows 67M hits).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take it to mean &quot;rich&quot; as in &quot;rich in irony&quot;. What it is the source of the phrase and how long has it been used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T03:55:44.760" Title="&quot;Rich&quot; as in &quot;That's rich:&quot; rich in irony?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4847" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4848" CreationDate="2010-11-09T20:35:59.230" Score="3" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am writing an email to my work colleagues regarding a current project. I am the lead for the project, and also one of the workers. I want to describe an activity that I think the whole group should take part in, but I am not in a position to say &quot;do it this way&quot;, and even if I was, that's not how I would want to act. What is the best way to express this idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My current draft reads as follows, but I don't think it sounds right:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would like for us all to &lt;em&gt;X&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T15:03:23.543" Title="How to express a group suggestion? &quot;I would like for us all to ...&quot;" Tags="&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;letter-writing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4847" CreationDate="2010-11-09T20:51:21.413" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Let's do &lt;em&gt;X&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How about we do &lt;em&gt;X&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I think it'd be a good idea to do &lt;em&gt;X&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;X&lt;/em&gt; is a good option, don't you think?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope one of those helps. It's hard for me to understand what sentiment exactly you're trying to express, but I understand why you'd want to be vague.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastEditorUserId="1914" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-10T15:03:23.543" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T15:03:23.543" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4846" CreationDate="2010-11-09T20:56:07.873" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the sense of &quot;entertaining, amusing&quot; is recorded from 1760, so it's been around for a long, long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=rich&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T20:56:07.873" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4850" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4851" CreationDate="2010-11-09T21:02:43.500" Score="2" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;all of you are sitting here with me in my den&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;you all are sitting here with me in my den&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And a  general form: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;you all&lt;/em&gt;   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;all of you&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the proper usage? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T02:31:15.303" Title="&quot;all of you&quot; vs &quot;you all&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4850" CreationDate="2010-11-09T21:21:38.073" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;“You-all”—also occurring as “y’all”—is a second-person plural pronoun that occurs in some regional versions of US English. It is used by some speakers to eliminate the ambiguity caused by the Standard English “you”, since “you” does not differentiate between singular and plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“All of you” is a noun-phrase that may be used in Standard English when the ambiguity of “you” by itself would be confusing or misleading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In most contexts “all of you” would be considered the correct phrasing. Some listeners or readers perceive “you-all” to be incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1727" LastEditorUserId="1727" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-09T21:27:32.403" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T21:27:32.403" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4847" CreationDate="2010-11-09T21:54:25.830" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I would like us all to &lt;em&gt;X&lt;/em&gt;&quot; is how I would write it. The &quot;for&quot; really isn't necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T21:54:25.830" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4823" CreationDate="2010-11-09T22:32:43.420" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Obligatory &lt;a href=&quot;http://xkcd.com/747/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;xkcd reference&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/geeks_and_nerds.png&quot; alt=&quot;The definitions I grew up with were that a geek is someone unusually into something (so you could have computer geeks, baseball geeks, theater geeks, etc) and nerds are (often awkward) science, math, or computer geeks. But definitions vary.&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-09T22:32:43.420" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4846" CreationDate="2010-11-09T23:01:33.057" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm familiar with the word being used in the phrase &quot;That's a bit rich coming from you&quot;, here's a definition I found:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/That%27s+rich&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/That%27s+rich&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;That's (a bit) rich!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;something that you say when someone&#xA;  criticizes you to show that you do not&#xA;  think they are being fair because they&#xA;  are as bad as you. &quot;I'm greedy? That's a&#xA;  bit rich, coming from you!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cambridge Idioms Dictionary, 2nd ed.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2030" LastEditorUserId="2030" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-10T17:59:05.623" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T17:59:05.623" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4855" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4860" CreationDate="2010-11-09T23:03:15.990" Score="7" ViewCount="326" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between these two phrases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T13:54:37.177" Title="&quot;Have you seen this?&quot; vs &quot;Did you see this?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4855" CreationDate="2010-11-10T00:32:38.527" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference is pretty subtle, but the &quot;did you...&quot; version implies more of an event, i.e. something that needs to be seen just once, perhaps because it's temporary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Have you seen [insert movie title]?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did you see last night's [insert TV show name] episode?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: note that there's nothing &lt;em&gt;wrong&lt;/em&gt; with &quot;Have you seen last night's episode?&quot;, or with &quot;Did you see the movie?&quot;, but there is a (slight) difference in meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-10T04:24:49.193" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T04:24:49.193" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4850" CreationDate="2010-11-10T01:00:22.093" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are technically correct, but the second (&quot;you all&quot;) is less preferable because of the ambiguity of whether you mean &lt;em&gt;y'all &lt;sup&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;* or simply &lt;em&gt;you all&lt;/em&gt;. Of course, if you're writing in a context where &quot;y'all&quot; is acceptable, then this isn't a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can slightly rephrase #2 to avoid the ambiguity, but keep more-or-less the same meaning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You are all sitting here with me in my den.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the &quot;you all are&quot;/&quot;you are all&quot; constructions mean something slightly different than the &quot;all of you are&quot; construction. The latter places emphasis on the fact that &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; of you are sitting here, as opposed to just &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; of you. The former put a very slight emphasis on &lt;em&gt;sitting&lt;/em&gt; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;*&lt;/sup&gt; As in, the slightly-redundant informal version of the 2nd person plural pronoun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-10T02:31:15.303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T02:31:15.303" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4820" CreationDate="2010-11-10T01:46:27.547" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you already have the word and want to check it, use &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiktionary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;, either by constructing the URL (append the word to &lt;code&gt;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/&lt;/code&gt;) or use a Google search restricted to that site (&lt;code&gt;site:en.wiktionary.org&lt;/code&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A negative result is not always reliable (the word may not actually exist, is not yet added or is actively kept out of Wiktionary - like &lt;code&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/code&gt; itself!). In this case there is a positive result:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vaginas&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;English&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Noun&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;vaginas&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Plural form of vagina. The other plural being vaginae.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="244" LastEditorUserId="244" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T20:56:49.690" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T20:56:49.690" />
  <row Id="4859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2725" CreationDate="2010-11-10T03:13:55.037" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tend to agree that use of  wherein as not very popular in the Computer Science texts I read. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Naveen &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2031" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T03:13:55.037" />
  <row Id="4860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4855" CreationDate="2010-11-10T05:16:44.170" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4855/have-you-seen-this-vs-did-you-see-this/4856#4856&quot;&gt;Martha's answer&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The simple past (&quot;Did you see this&quot;) refers about an event in the past&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The present perfect (&quot;Have you seen this&quot;) suggests a link with the present time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If &quot;this&quot; is something you could have seen but cannot anymore now (you should have been there seeing &quot;this&quot; at the time, but it wouldn't have the same impact if you see it again now), then &quot;Did you see&quot; is more appropriate.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is about an event that happened &lt;em&gt;once&lt;/em&gt; in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If &quot;this&quot; is something you can check it out whenever you want, &quot;Have you seen&quot; is more to the point, because it suggests that, if you haven't seen it in the past, you could consider seeing it now or in the near future.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is about an event which can happen again or is still relevant in the present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-10T13:54:37.177" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T13:54:37.177" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4861" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-10T05:26:34.630" Score="6" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;To which extent is &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; interchangeable with &lt;em&gt;simply&lt;/em&gt;, as in the example?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's becoming more than just annoying.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  It's becoming more than simply annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; synonym of &lt;em&gt;simply&lt;/em&gt; in just any case or are there situations where the two adverbs convey slightly different meanings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, Google gives 1,800,000,000 results for &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; and only 295,000,000 results for &lt;em&gt;simply&lt;/em&gt;. Is one preferred over the other? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2032" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T14:57:13.577" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T15:14:13.383" Title="&quot;Just&quot; versus &quot;simply&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4861" CreationDate="2010-11-10T06:01:30.387" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second sentence sounds odd and is incorrect. &quot;Just&quot; and &quot;Simply&quot; do not have the same meaning, however, these can be interchanged in most situations; though not in this one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1933" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T06:01:30.387" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="4863" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-10T06:18:14.093" Score="2" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I come across people using &quot;all the&quot; in sentences instead of &quot;all&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: &#xA;&quot;Select the type of user to view all the users of that type. All the users of the selected role are displayed.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually strike out 'the' after 'all'. Is there any justification that I can give my team on why &quot;the&quot; seems out of place in the above example? Are there any rules of grammar for or against using the article after &quot;all&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1595" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T12:02:53.493" Title="difference between 'all' and 'all the'" Tags="&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="4864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4863" CreationDate="2010-11-10T06:39:25.237" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This has nothing to do with &quot;all&quot; and everything to do with &quot;the&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should use &quot;the&quot; wherever a definite article is required. (&quot;The&quot; is a definite article as opposed to &quot;a/an&quot; which are indefinite articles)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EXAMPLE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if I say, &quot;&lt;em&gt;Let's read the book&lt;/em&gt;,&quot; I mean a &lt;strong&gt;specific book&lt;/strong&gt;. If I say, &quot;&lt;em&gt;Let's read a book&lt;/em&gt;,&quot; I mean &lt;strong&gt;any book&lt;/strong&gt; rather than a specific book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's another way to explain it: The is used to refer to a specific or particular member of a group. For example, &quot;I just saw the most popular movie of the year.&quot; There are many movies, but only one particular movie is the most popular. Therefore, we use the.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: You can say, &quot;Lets read all the books.&quot; This is because you know which lot of books you are referring to. On the other hand, &quot;Let's read all books&quot; - sounds odd!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1933" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T06:39:25.237" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4865" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4867" CreationDate="2010-11-10T07:02:59.630" Score="1" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please help me with useful answer the question: &quot;All going ok with smth so far?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1109" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T07:43:47.927" Title="Answering the question &quot;All going ok with smth so far?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4866" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4872" CreationDate="2010-11-10T07:14:56.577" Score="2" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where did English get all its plural forms? Why are there so many nouns that are outside the rules?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most nouns get an &quot;s&quot; when pluraziled&#xA;Pass me a cup. The store has a sale on cups!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some nouns don't change when pluralized&#xA;Check out that deer! Look at that herd of deer!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some nouns have their own special plural forms&#xA;Lets eat a goose! I was chased away by a gaggle of geese!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you get some latin plural forms thrown in for good measure...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What gives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="154" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T11:47:19.293" Title="Why is there so much diversity in how English nouns are pluralized?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4865" CreationDate="2010-11-10T07:43:47.927" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can be tough finding an answer to what is not exactly formulated as question (except for the final '&lt;code&gt;?&lt;/code&gt;')&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A question would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is everything (going) ok with xxx so far?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To which usefull answers would include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;Yes&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;No&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;It's none of your business&quot; ;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T07:43:47.927" />
  <row Id="4868" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4869" CreationDate="2010-11-10T08:05:28.223" Score="5" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard it in a recent TV episode. Someone walks with a limp (probably a ruptured Achilles' heel), and the doctor mentions that he had the accident “blowing a dismount on a keg stand”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="762" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T09:53:33.830" Title="What does “blow a dismount” mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="4869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4868" CreationDate="2010-11-10T09:53:33.830" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Blowing&quot; in this sense means getting wrong, screwing up, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;a dismount&quot; is an attempt to get off something (&quot;The part of a routine in which the gymnast detaches from an apparatus.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had no idea what a &quot;keg stand&quot; is, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keg_stand&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia helped me out&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1922" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T09:53:33.830" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4870" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4879" CreationDate="2010-11-10T10:07:09.013" Score="2" ViewCount="286" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read few sentences which has &quot;have had&quot;. I would like to know in what kind of situations we will have to use this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1919" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T14:17:46.647" Title="When to use &quot;have had&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;learning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4871" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4883" CreationDate="2010-11-10T10:19:37.653" Score="3" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a formal email of the kind where you begin with &quot;Dear Mr. Surname&quot; and finish with &quot;Best regards&quot;, for example, should we use the following contractions? Or are the non contracted forms more appropriate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We have -&gt; We've&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We would -&gt; We'd&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is -&gt; There's&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-10T15:40:48.490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T04:13:29.357" Title="Should contractions be avoided in formal emails?" Tags="&lt;contractions&gt;&lt;email&gt;&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4866" CreationDate="2010-11-10T11:11:23.770" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is all down to the fact that English is a language of acutely mongrel lineage. It has substantive roots in Celtic, Romance and Germanic languages (to name a few) and a grammar that lends itself well to the adoption of &quot;loan words&quot; (non-native words adopted into the native tongue.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;standard&quot; means of pluralising a noun is to append -s, with some conventional variations (eg -f becomes -ves, -y becomes -ies) for convenience in spelling and pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However latin-based words tend to pluralise in the latin fashion, so for example &lt;em&gt;bacterium&lt;/em&gt; becomes &lt;em&gt;bacteria&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;cactus&lt;/em&gt; becomes &lt;em&gt;cacti&lt;/em&gt;. Similarly greek-based words will adopt the equivalent pluralisation appropriate for the original root.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still other words of Saxon or earlier origin have lovely, earthy plurals that defy the &quot;conventions&quot; due to their traditional forms being maintained. Geese, Mice and Children owe their unusual conjugations to their ancient roots, and to the fact that they are common words whose everyday repetition keeps them from slipping into bland conformity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, words which do not pluralise are those which relate to herding, hunting and the counting of animals. These words tend to be saxon (germanic) or celtic in origin owing to the presence of farming and hunting in Britain long before the Norman invasion. This can be inferred by the fact that sheep, cattle and game do not pluralise, while whales, sparrows and elephants (seldom hunted or farmed in Britain!) definitely do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect these tend to be a contraction of the traditional counting forms for such cases (&quot;head&quot; of cattle, &quot;brace&quot; of partridge, &quot;shoal&quot; of fish) but this doesn't really answer the question of why such plurals take the same form as the singular. It could be that when counted in such a way, the animals being counted were considered an uncountable, continuous quantity (similar to water or money) that could only be &quot;counted&quot; when quantified with their associated counter, so &lt;em&gt;cattle&lt;/em&gt; would be rendered an uncountable noun by its quantifying counter &lt;em&gt;head&lt;/em&gt;. It's interesting however to note that &lt;em&gt;bird&lt;/em&gt; pluralises to &lt;em&gt;birds&lt;/em&gt;, while &lt;em&gt;aircraft&lt;/em&gt; does not pluralise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly for the non-native speaker, this makes learning the &quot;rules&quot; of English an arbitrary and frustrating affair. However, spare a thought for the Japanese, who do not have plurals for any but a few unique nouns, and must instead learn a separate counting-suffix and corresponding character (kanji) for almost every class of noun imagineable. There are in fact entire volumes of the things, and it would be nigh-on impossible for any person to learn them all. Wikipedia lists a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_counter_word#Full_list_of_counters&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;choice selection&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T11:11:23.770" />
  <row Id="4873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4866" CreationDate="2010-11-10T11:47:19.293" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;PyroTyger's answer is a good one, but there are some bits to add. &#xA;Most older Indo-European languages have several different ways of forming plurals, because they have several different noun classes (known as 'declensions'). &#xA;These have often been significantly reduced in modern languages, but German for example still has several different ways of producing plurals, and Welsh has lots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The relevance of this is that Anglo-Saxon (Old English) had several different schemes. In a way the spread of '-s' (apparently from French) has &lt;em&gt;simplified&lt;/em&gt; the inherited system, as there are rather few words that continue the inherited AS plurals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T11:47:19.293" />
  <row Id="4874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4863" CreationDate="2010-11-10T12:02:53.493" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a limited universe of discourse (eg a particular system), there may be little to choose between &quot;all the users&quot; and &quot;all users&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a context which is not so limited, there could be a great difference, as Prateek explained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T12:02:53.493" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="4875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4855" CreationDate="2010-11-10T12:19:50.050" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a difference between UK and US usage in this case (though I believe that the difference has been diminishing over the past few decades). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my (UK) idiolect, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Did you see this?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is very unlikely, because &quot;did you see&quot; implies that the opportunity for seeing it has passed, which is inconsistent with &quot;this&quot;. Without &quot;this&quot; (eg &quot;Did you see what he did?&quot;) the implication is that he has stopped doing it. &quot;Did you see this yet?&quot; is impossible in my idiolect for the same reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Have you seen this?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;implies that you still could see it even if you haven't yet. Thus Martha's &quot;Have you seen last night's episode?&quot; to me implies that the episode is still available in some way and you could still see it. I would not say &quot;Have you seen last night's performance of the play?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I say, I believe that this distinction is not there (or at least not as strong) in US English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T12:19:50.050" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4843" CreationDate="2010-11-10T12:47:29.120" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Surely, it's not that 'happiness' means 'good luck', so much as that if you have good luck you are expected to be happy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seems straightforward to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T12:47:29.120" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4877" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-10T13:31:20.067" Score="4" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I reference to the next sentence or sentences using the term &lt;em&gt;following&lt;/em&gt;, is the preferred way to use a colon or a full stop?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Consider the sentence 'I wash the clothes'. Replacing the letter &lt;em&gt;h&lt;/em&gt; with the letter &lt;em&gt;o&lt;/em&gt; in the previous sentence results in the following sentence. I waso toe clotoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2014" LastEditorUserId="2014" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-10T15:39:38.803" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T15:39:38.803" Title="A colon after &quot;following&quot;" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;colon&gt;&lt;period&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4878" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-10T13:52:49.130" Score="1" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2018/chatting-with-english-speakers&quot;&gt;Chatting with English speakers&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to improve my English. Are there any chat rooms (specifically for learning English) or toll-free numbers (so I can talk) which tell me my mistakes when I went wrong with grammar, so I can learn easily?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2036" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-10T15:08:50.887" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T12:19:31.457" ClosedDate="2010-11-10T21:07:34.683" Title="Is there any website to learn English?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;learning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="4879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4870" CreationDate="2010-11-10T14:17:46.647" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Have had&quot; is using the verb &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Present_perfect#English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;present perfect tense&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider the present tense sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have a lot of homework.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that I have a lot of homework now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, we use the present perfect tense to describe an event from the past that has some connection to the present.  Compare the following two sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;had&lt;/strong&gt; a lot of homework this week. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;have had&lt;/strong&gt; a lot of homework this week. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I only say &lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt;, this means that &quot;having a lot of homework this week&quot; is a completed event, either because there is no expectation of more homework, or because the week is over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I say &quot;have had&quot;, I connect the event to the present, so it is possible that I might have more homework, and I could say something like this on, e.g., a Wednesday (in the middle of the week).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example will illustrate the importance of the connection to now:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;had&lt;/strong&gt; a lot of homework last year.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;*I &lt;strong&gt;have had&lt;/strong&gt; a lot of homework last year. (this sentence is bad!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first sentence here, using &lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt;, the sentence is fine.  But using &quot;have had&quot;, the sentence is ungrammatical, because &quot;last year&quot; is always a completed event that is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; connected to the present.  But, as we know, the present perfect tense means that there &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; a connection to the present.  So, the sentence sounds wrong, because the verb and the time are contradicting each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T14:17:46.647" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4861" CreationDate="2010-11-10T15:03:43.233" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Just&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;simply&lt;/em&gt; have some overlapping meanings, but definitely do not overlap in all meanings.  In your example, it is a case where they have essentially the same meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; (the adverb) can also mean &quot;only now&quot;.  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How long have you been here?  — I just got here. (=I arrived right now.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Simply&lt;/em&gt; cannot be used in this instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note: I assume that we are only talking about &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; as an adverb; &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; can be used as an adjective too, meaning &quot;right&quot; or &quot;fair&quot;.  I don't think you are concerned about that one, because it is clearly totally different in usage.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T15:03:43.233" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4877" CreationDate="2010-11-10T15:06:45.573" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Colon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using a period misses the opportunity to connect the two sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, avoid overusing colons in your writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T15:06:45.573" />
  <row Id="4883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4871" CreationDate="2010-11-10T15:08:17.460" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In formal writing, do not use contractions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T15:08:17.460" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4884" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4887" CreationDate="2010-11-10T15:53:19.087" Score="3" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just received an email that included the phrase&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;soup-to-nuts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;meaning &quot;end-to-end.&quot; Are there any other alternatives to this? eg cradle-to-grave? I want to include some in the reply email.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2039" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T17:48:58.130" Title="end-to-end alternatives" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;alternative&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="4885" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4886" CreationDate="2010-11-10T15:55:06.697" Score="13" ViewCount="282" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my blog (which is about programming) I often use reserved words from different programming languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When column is nullable in both tables, this query won't return a match of two NULLs for the reasons described above: no NULLs are equal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, &lt;code&gt;NULL&lt;/code&gt; is a programming language keyword.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For numerous reasons, I mark them with &lt;code&gt;&amp;lt;code&amp;gt;&lt;/code&gt; tag so they are rendered with a fixed width font, not translated into the foreign languages by Google Translate, can easily be seen on the page etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the example above, which would be the best way to mark the plural?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;NULL&lt;/code&gt;s&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;NULL&lt;/code&gt; s&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;NULL&lt;/code&gt;'s&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;NULLs&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;NULLS&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Option 1 looks ugly on the page (the word and the plural marker are rendered in different colors and fonts)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Option 2 adds a space between the word and the plural marker&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Option 3 looks nicest but is not correct&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Options 4 and 5 may leave the reader under impression that &lt;code&gt;NULLS&lt;/code&gt; is a reserved word (which is not true) and this may be confusing. Also, Google Translate would leave the word as is which would be definitely wrong in other languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be the least of 5 evils?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2038" LastEditorUserId="1914" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-19T15:19:50.360" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T15:19:50.360" Title="Marking plural of code words" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4885" CreationDate="2010-11-10T15:59:44.823" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely don't use an apostrophe or a capital S to pluralize &lt;code&gt;NULL&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a programmer, I'd suggest formatting it as &lt;code&gt;NULL&lt;/code&gt;s. I think your readers will understand that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also recommend considering rewriting sentences like that to obviate the need to pluralize &lt;code&gt;NULL&lt;/code&gt;. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When column is nullable in both tables, this query won't return a match of two &lt;code&gt;NULL&lt;/code&gt; values for the reasons described above: no &lt;code&gt;NULL&lt;/code&gt; values are equal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T15:59:44.823" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4884" CreationDate="2010-11-10T16:03:16.957" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to include a similar phrase in your reply email just for fun, you can use the following Latin phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin_phrases%3a_A#Ab_ovo_usque_ad_mala&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;ab ovo usque ad mala&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's basically the same thing as soup-to-nuts, except that it literally translates to &quot;from the egg to the apples&quot;. This was the typical main meal in ancient Rome, where the phrase was created.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T16:03:16.957" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4884" CreationDate="2010-11-10T16:04:01.473" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;em&gt;from A to Z&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T16:04:01.473" />
  <row Id="4889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4885" CreationDate="2010-11-10T16:52:58.897" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't have to pluralize these code words, because you can always write them as adjectives. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How to compare &lt;code&gt;NULL&lt;/code&gt; values&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not write too many nested &lt;code&gt;while&lt;/code&gt; blocks.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Make sure that you map the &lt;code&gt;getDatabasePrimaryKey()&lt;/code&gt; methods.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-11T05:28:21.140" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T05:28:21.140" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="4890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4878" CreationDate="2010-11-10T17:12:48.433" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.curso-de-ingles.de/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This one&lt;/a&gt; is a good site to learn English. You have to choose if you speak German, French, Spanish or Italian to start learning the grammar and doing exercises on the site. You can also use their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.curso-de-ingles.de/chat/frameset_chat.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chat&lt;/a&gt; for practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another good site is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sharedtalk.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Shared Talk&lt;/a&gt; from Rosetta Stone. You have to log in to use the text chat and the audio chat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1816" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-12T12:19:31.457" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T12:19:31.457" />
  <row Id="4891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2018" CreationDate="2010-11-10T17:17:53.600" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A good chat room is this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.curso-de-ingles.de/chat/frameset_chat.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;site&lt;/a&gt;. The chat is for people who learn english and other languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another good text and voice chat is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sharedtalk.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Shared Talk&lt;/a&gt; from Rosetta Stone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1816" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T17:17:53.600" />
  <row Id="4892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4884" CreationDate="2010-11-10T17:48:58.130" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From alpha to omega&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T17:48:58.130" />
  <row Id="4893" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4894" CreationDate="2010-11-10T21:51:22.020" Score="22" ViewCount="581" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know smileys are not part of written language (yet), and any questions about them are irrelevant to linguistics and are kind of not serious. So take my question with a smiley then. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It bugs me every time I'm facing this situation: if an insertion in parentheses ends with a smiley, what should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp :) ) can be annoying.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp :)) can be annoying.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp :) can be annoying.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't like any of the above. Any (clever) suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2044" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T11:42:55.630" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T11:42:55.630" Title="Smileys in text with parentheses" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;parentheses&gt;" AnswerCount="12" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="4894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4893" CreationDate="2010-11-10T21:55:05.240" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I couldn't resist but post this!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.xkcd.com/541/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/ted_talk.png&quot; alt=&quot;The IAU ban came after the 'redefinition of 'planet' to include the IAU president's mom' incident.&quot; title=&quot;The IAU ban came after the 'redefinition of 'planet' to include the IAU president's mom' incident.&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But seriously, I generally avoid ending a bracketed expression with an emoticon. One solution could however be to use square brackets:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A lot of insertions in parentheses [well, if it's not Lisp :)] can be annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though it's rather non-standard, it at least &lt;em&gt;looks&lt;/em&gt; better. I'm sure almost any reader would understand it too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="529" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T09:03:01.000" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T09:03:01.000" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="4895" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4898" CreationDate="2010-11-10T21:55:58.353" Score="5" ViewCount="233" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a joke from the TV series &quot;Friends&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;— Can I borrow this? My milk's gone bad.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  — I hate that. I once had a thing of half-and-half. Stole my car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking that it has something to do with the ambiguity of &quot;gone bad&quot;, but I don't understand what &quot;I once had a thing of half-and-half&quot; means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T06:35:12.863" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T06:35:12.863" Title="Don't understand the joke: my milk's gone bad..." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;jokes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4896" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4908" CreationDate="2010-11-10T21:56:48.103" Score="4" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm fairly sure there is a word or phrase to describe arguing emotively from an extreme, or biased, point of view as if your view is fact, but I can't remember what it may be. (I am wanting to use this word or phrase in a reply, I promise it is not a crossword clue.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any hints?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1930" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-11T09:02:55.817" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T09:02:55.817" Title="Using or arguing a biased opinion as fact" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4893" CreationDate="2010-11-10T22:14:06.590" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It’s the twenty-first century!  We have a much better alternative to old ASCII emoticons: Unicode!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp ☺) can be annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;… well, ok, I admit that I do not always like this, either. ☹&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T22:14:06.590" />
  <row Id="4898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4895" CreationDate="2010-11-10T22:35:01.710" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Half and half is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.food.com/library/half-and-half-445&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a mixture of half milk and half cream.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that the joke (as you believe) is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My milk has gone bad&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;That happened to me once. My ('irrelevant to the joke' choice of) milk was so bad that it stole my car&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not a particularly good joke, &lt;strong&gt;edit&lt;/strong&gt; (though now I think I remember it from Friends, I think the delivery would have saved it. Chandler, if I am not wrong) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1930" LastEditorUserId="1930" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-11T00:15:01.410" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T00:15:01.410" />
  <row Id="4899" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4901" CreationDate="2010-11-10T22:40:04.923" Score="2" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;How should I interpret the following lyric from America: &lt;code&gt;we ain't had no time to drink that beer&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1580" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T04:18:41.580" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T04:18:41.580" Title="Double negation" Tags="&lt;lyrics&gt;&lt;double-negation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="4900" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6645" CreationDate="2010-11-10T22:45:01.750" Score="3" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the lyrics of &lt;em&gt;Friends Will Be Friends&lt;/em&gt; by &lt;em&gt;Queen&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Another red letter day&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  So the pound has dropped and &lt;strong&gt;the children are creating&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;, what does the highlighted sentence mean? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2038" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-12T15:35:10.723" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T15:35:10.723" Title="The children are creating" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4899" CreationDate="2010-11-10T22:48:34.680" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using correct grammar, this means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We haven't had any time to drink any (that?) beer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to know what 'that' is referring to out of context, but quite likely 'the' or 'any' would work in place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T22:48:34.680" />
  <row Id="4902" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4903" CreationDate="2010-11-10T22:51:30.297" Score="3" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every now and then - usually when talking with an older individual or someone from the United States Midwest or South - I hear the word &quot;spell&quot; used to mean a short period of time, such as: &quot;Come sit down and rest a spell.&quot; I've also heard it used as a verb, like, &quot;When Pete arrives he will spell Tito, who has been working since dawn.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the history and origins of this meaning and use of the word spell? And is it a colloquialism or can it be used in more formal settings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T23:20:17.793" Title="What is the etymology of the word &quot;spell&quot; when used to mean a short period of time?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4902" CreationDate="2010-11-10T23:20:17.793" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spell&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; gives the origin of this meaning as &quot;probably alteration of Middle English &lt;em&gt;spale&lt;/em&gt; substitute, from Old English &lt;em&gt;spala&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=spell&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; says the first recorded use of &lt;em&gt;spell&lt;/em&gt; to mean an &quot;indefinite period of time&quot; is in 1706.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, M-W does not list this usage of &lt;em&gt;spell&lt;/em&gt; as a colloquialism or slang, so I think it's appropriate for formal writing, wherever it is appropriate to use such a vague word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T23:20:17.793" />
  <row Id="4905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4895" CreationDate="2010-11-10T23:31:24.800" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The joke turns on two different means of the phrase &quot;goes bad.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When milk &quot;goes bad,&quot; it spoils. When a person &quot;goes bad,&quot; they commit a crime, such as stealing a car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As johnc mentioned, half and half is a mixture of milk and cream, and it can also spoil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T23:31:24.800" />
  <row Id="4906" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4907" CreationDate="2010-11-10T23:31:50.977" Score="2" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I frequently see people write &quot;all this&quot;, instead of &quot;all of this&quot;. Is this a grammatically correct phrase? My intuition tells me that it's wrong (the spoken phrase &quot;all this&quot; is really a contraction of &quot;all of this&quot;); but I'm having a hard time finding any evidence to support the claim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="911" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:03:29.217" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:03:29.217" Title="Is it correct to use &quot;all this&quot; instead of &quot;all of this&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="4907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4906" CreationDate="2010-11-10T23:39:40.183" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an example of what linguists call &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis_%28linguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ellipsis&lt;/a&gt;, or elliptical construction. Wikipedia defines it as &quot;the omission from a clause of one or more words that would otherwise be required by the remaining elements.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's fine to omit words in this manner so long as your audience understands what you're saying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T23:39:40.183" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4896" CreationDate="2010-11-10T23:40:26.817" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term you are looking for seems to be &lt;strong&gt;hyperbole&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbole&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia entry&lt;/a&gt; defines it pretty well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hyperbole ... is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hyperbole&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; simply defines it as &quot;extravagant exaggeration&quot;, which is perhaps the most generic meaning. Most commonly the word is used in the context of a debate/argument.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It evidently refers more to the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device, but emotion/persuasion often goes hand in hand, so it's pretty appropriate for the case you're considering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T23:40:26.817" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4896" CreationDate="2010-11-10T23:41:01.447" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you're actually thinking of a logical fallacy, known as the appeal to misleading authority, or ipse dixit. &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fallacyfiles.org/authorit.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.fallacyfiles.org/authorit.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This occurs when someone incorrectly assumes an opinion to be fact. In contrast, hyperbole is an exaggerated statement &lt;strong&gt;not intended&lt;/strong&gt; to be taken as fact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2047" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T23:41:01.447" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="4910" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4912" CreationDate="2010-11-10T23:54:36.150" Score="6" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where does the idiom &quot;Let's roll!&quot; come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2019" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T17:36:14.783" Title="Where does &quot;Let's roll!&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4896" CreationDate="2010-11-10T23:56:44.547" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps you mean &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://begthequestion.info/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;begging the question&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Begging the question&quot; is a form of logical fallacy in which a statement or claim is assumed to be true without evidence other than the statement or claim itself. When one begs the question, the initial assumption of a statement is treated as already proven without any logic to show why the statement is true in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A simple example would be &quot;I think he is unattractive because he is ugly.&quot; The adjective &quot;ugly&quot; does not explain why the subject is &quot;unattractive&quot; -- they virtually amount to the same subjective meaning, and the proof is merely a restatement of the premise. The sentence has begged the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, the term &quot;begging the question&quot; is commonly misused to mean, &quot;to raise the question.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2010-11-10T23:56:44.547" />
  <row Id="4912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4910" CreationDate="2010-11-11T00:05:33.057" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;Let's roll&quot; has been in use as early as 1908, but achieved a special connotation on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;September 11th, 2001&lt;/a&gt;, as they were &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Beamer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Todd Beamer&lt;/a&gt;'s final words before rushing the cockpit on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_93&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;United Airlines Flight 93&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let%27s_roll&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; cites a possible origin of the word from 1908:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The phrase may have its origins as early as 1908 in the cadence song now called &quot;The Army Goes Rolling Along&quot;, which likely extended into tank usage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same Wikipedia page also provides several other uses of the phrase in pop culture, including the 1950 Hemingway novel &lt;em&gt;Across the River and into the Trees&lt;/em&gt; and its use in 50s and 60s police television shows such as Adam-12 and (the original) Dragnet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastEditorUserId="1631" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-11T17:36:14.783" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T17:36:14.783" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4910" CreationDate="2010-11-11T00:06:53.750" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.translationdirectory.com/glossaries/glossary014_l.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Glossary of Colloquialisms&lt;/a&gt; mentions &quot;Let's roll&quot; as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A term to move and start an activity, attack, mission or project.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A symbol of heroism and initiative in danger.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The phone line from Flight 93 was still open when a GTE operator heard Todd Beamer say: &quot;Are you guys ready? Let's roll!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It defines its history as follow:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Let's roll&quot; was in common use on 1950s and 1960s police television shows such as &quot;Adam-12&quot; and (the original) &quot;Dragnet&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But its usage on 9/11 changed its meaning&lt;/strong&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Todd Beamer, a passenger on the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93, called his wife on the plane's seat back GTE airfone after the flight was hijacked. Through that phone and other phone contacts with the ground, the passengers learned that two other hijacked planes had been crashed into the World Trade Center.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  As a result, some of the passengers apparently decided to storm the cockpit. Beamer spoke his last known words to the group, overheard via the phone connection: &quot;Let's roll&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The catchphrase became especially known and popular after being used by President George W. Bush in a speech to AmeriCorps volunteers and during his 2002 State of the Union Address. Profiteers soon tried to lay claim to it as a trademark, even though the phrase was in common use long before September 11.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In early 2002, United States Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper ordered that one airplane in each USAF squadron and all USAF demonstration planes would bear an image of an eagle on an American flag with the words &quot;Let's Roll&quot; and &quot;Spirit of 9-11&quot;, to remain until the first anniversary of the attack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The phrase was also used as the title of a Neil Young song about the flight. It was also used by Lisa Beamer, widow of Todd, in a 2003 book titled &quot;Let's Roll: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T00:06:53.750" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4893" CreationDate="2010-11-11T00:07:12.813" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe these ones:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;:-P)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;:-{)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;:-()&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;:-)-:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="81" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T00:07:12.813" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4893" CreationDate="2010-11-11T00:08:32.180" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sure there is not a defined standard as yet, however I find that putting a space between the smiley and the close parentheses makes it look less like a double parentheses mistake (though it can look jarring at the same time :) )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would certainly, as a pedant, NOT drop the last parentheses (especially where I am not at the end of a sentence :) as it is ambiguous as to whether the parenthesed clause has completed yet, although I would readily admit a mid bracket smiley is particularly jarring and ugly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1930" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T00:08:32.180" />
  <row Id="4916" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4918" CreationDate="2010-11-11T00:13:34.720" Score="2" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the following, does the word &quot;that&quot; belong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;He said that we should go fishing.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2019" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T00:27:00.920" Title="Use of the word &quot;that&quot;:" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4899" CreationDate="2010-11-11T00:17:43.140" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_negative&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;double negative&lt;/a&gt; in slang is generally redundant, i.e. it is a single negation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;We aint had no time&quot; actually means &quot;We aint had time&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, &lt;a href=&quot;http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Double_negative&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;to quote uncyclopedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A double negative doesn't occur when&#xA;  no two forms of non-negation aren't&#xA;  not used in no not-same unsentence.&#xA;  Not in no languages no non-double&#xA;  unnegative doesn't resolve not to a&#xA;  non-negative, while in no others it&#xA;  doesn't not resolve to no&#xA;  not-positive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... and so on :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1930" LastEditorUserId="1930" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-11T00:22:49.750" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T00:22:49.750" />
  <row Id="4918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4916" CreationDate="2010-11-11T00:27:00.920" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This usage of &quot;that&quot; is correct and belongs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;That&quot; sets off a dependent clause but could be left off without ambiguity:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;He said we should go fishing.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This basically means the same thing and the &quot;that&quot; is implicit: &quot;we should go fishing&quot; acts as a dependent clause, telling us what was said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T00:27:00.920" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4919" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4937" CreationDate="2010-11-11T02:13:29.017" Score="2" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which word to use when we ask for help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some conditions:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1) we know that the person asked is able to do it&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2) we don't know if the person asked is able to do it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2049" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T15:04:35.207" Title="Can/May/Will you help me with this?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4919" CreationDate="2010-11-11T02:37:41.923" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can you help me with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technically, this asks if it is physically possible for the other person to help. However, it is commonly used to mean &quot;Will you help me with this?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;May you help me with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is equivalent to &quot;Are you permitted to help me with this?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will you help me with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the one you probably want—it basically asks whether or not the other person is going to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T02:37:41.923" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="4921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4899" CreationDate="2010-11-11T02:57:46.060" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think this is actually a double negative. For example, in French to say &quot;I don't know&quot;, you say &quot;je &lt;strong&gt;ne&lt;/strong&gt; sais &lt;strong&gt;pas&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot; Both the &quot;ne&quot; and the &quot;pas&quot; mean 'no' in a sense, but you have to use them together to convey the sense of 'no'. I think in this case, &quot;ain't... no&quot; is a similar construction. And it just means &quot;no&quot; or &quot;didn't&quot;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T02:57:46.060" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4896" CreationDate="2010-11-11T03:07:21.890" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a &lt;strong&gt;Fallacious Argument&lt;/strong&gt;, of which there are many varieties, find one here that fits your specific case... could well be Argument By Laziness (or Argument By Uninformed Opinion)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.don-lindsay-archive.org/skeptic/arguments.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.don-lindsay-archive.org/skeptic/arguments.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2017" LastEditorUserId="2017" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-11T03:17:21.817" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T03:17:21.817" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4321" CreationDate="2010-11-11T03:17:06.623" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes you can for those examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1429" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T03:17:06.623" />
  <row Id="4924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4919" CreationDate="2010-11-11T03:28:24.543" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would actually offer a couple additional options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under condition 1 (that you know that the person is able to help, but you're unsure if they will):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you help me with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Under condition 2 (you're unsure if that person is able to help):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Could you help me with this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are similar in meaning to will and can respectively, but are a more polite way of asking.  I would especially recommend these if you're in more formal setting, talking to strangers, etc.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T03:28:24.543" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4823" CreationDate="2010-11-11T03:51:55.623" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Geek or Nerd = People who are passionate about something and laughed at by people who are NOT willing to take the time or effort find something to be passionate about and in fact trying their best to poke fun at people who care about something :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2050" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T03:51:55.623" />
  <row Id="4926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4900" CreationDate="2010-11-11T04:21:58.163" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Creating as in &quot;creating havoc&quot;, i.e. helping to make the day even worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T04:21:58.163" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4929" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5538" CreationDate="2010-11-11T08:11:14.557" Score="1" ViewCount="246" Body="&lt;p&gt;Right now we're studying a piece on drama (Disclosure: This is for school, but not necessarily for an essay or homework - It's just further study on other literary techniques that are used within drama texts.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As drama texts are part of English Literature (Short stories, etc), they share some literary techniques with normal English Literature as well as English Poetry; However, it appears to me that there are numerous different techniques utilised for drama texts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could anyone list commonly used techniques for drama texts please?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, the words that I've compiled in my techniques list are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sub-text&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bathos&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dramatic Irony&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hyperbole&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Comic Relief&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Juxtaposition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T14:55:13.660" Title="Common Literary Techniques for Drama Texts?" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;literature&gt;&lt;poetry&gt;&lt;drama&gt;&lt;literary-techniques&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4930" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4956" CreationDate="2010-11-11T09:27:55.490" Score="2" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for a database of English synonyms (text file or anything convertible to it). I am learning English and want to use this data in my job. I think everyone who is learning English wants to know more than just &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; variant of a word. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help is welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="81" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-11T09:53:12.243" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T03:00:08.570" Title="English synonyms" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4931" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4940" CreationDate="2010-11-11T09:39:00.237" Score="1" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;As title, the grammar here sounds alien to me. I wonder if it is correct. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="748" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T22:47:04.297" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T22:47:04.297" Title="&quot;Select time range through the calendar icons&quot;.... Is it correct?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="243" CreationDate="2010-11-11T10:34:35.227" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dice&lt;/em&gt; as a singular noun is both &lt;strong&gt;common and correct&lt;/strong&gt;. It even appears in dictionaries as a synonym for &lt;em&gt;die&lt;/em&gt;. In the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dice?show=0&amp;amp;t=1289471226&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster's entry for &lt;em&gt;dice&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Definition of DICE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;a :&lt;/strong&gt; die &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;b :&lt;/strong&gt; a gambling game played with dice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the plural form, yes, it is also correct to say &lt;em&gt;dices&lt;/em&gt;. This is supported by the same dictionary entry:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;plural: &lt;em&gt;dice&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(..)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;plural: also &lt;em&gt;dices&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T10:34:35.227" />
  <row Id="4934" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-11T11:55:29.870" Score="2" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen twice in in 30 minutes how someone had said that they wanted advise on [...] subject, or how they needed advise on [...].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T18:30:08.557" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:30:08.557" Title="Can &quot;advise&quot; be used with the definition of &quot;advice&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="4935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4934" CreationDate="2010-11-11T12:56:08.473" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences#-ce.2C_-se&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;both American and British English&lt;/a&gt;, 'advice' is the noun and 'advise' is the verb. Both your examples are incorrect, because they use 'advise' as a noun. It would be correct to say &quot;I want/need to be advised on X&quot; or &quot;I want/need advice on X&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T12:56:08.473" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4893" CreationDate="2010-11-11T14:11:31.283" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tend to leave a space on both sides, like this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;A lot of insertions in parentheses ( well, if it's not Lisp :) ) can be annoying.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;also, using dashes is worth trying&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;A lot of insertions in parentheses -- well, if it's not Lisp :) -- can be annoying.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2052" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T14:11:31.283" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4919" CreationDate="2010-11-11T14:20:16.857" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As waiwai993 answered, Can/May/Will have different meanings.  However asking someone if they &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; help you usually implies that you would like their help, and it gives the person an opportunity to decline without being rude.  Maybe they are able to help in theory, but can't right now because they are too busy.  In that case they can say that they can't help. If they simply don't want to help they can just decline without a reason.  So I would always use &quot;Can you help me with this&quot; or &quot;Could you help me with this&quot; unless I needed a more specific case (such as I &lt;strong&gt;KNOW&lt;/strong&gt; that they CAN, but I am forcing to answer whether they WILL or not, or I know that they are ABLE, but maybe their mother won't let them*).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;*&lt;/em&gt; Note: I think it's very unusual to use &quot;May you help me&quot; and would probably never say that under any circumstances, unless I was trying to be ironic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T14:20:16.857" />
  <row Id="4938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4934" CreationDate="2010-11-11T14:23:36.683" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aside from the issue of advise vs advice (a Verb form vs. a noun form), there is also an issue of verb-agreement: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;I've seen twice in in 30 minutes how someone had said that they wanted on advise on [ ] subject, or how they needed advise on&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;How someone had said&lt;/em&gt; is incorrect. Instead, it should be &lt;em&gt;has said&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T08:46:13.527" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T08:46:13.527" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4893" CreationDate="2010-11-11T14:28:01.887" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use &lt;a href=&quot;http://superuser.com/q/52671/35237&quot; title=&quot;How do I create Unicode smilies like ٩(•̮̮̃•̃)۶&quot;&gt;٩(•̮̮̃•̃)۶ Unicode smileys&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1824" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T14:28:01.887" />
  <row Id="4940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4931" CreationDate="2010-11-11T15:27:33.700" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why not 'select time range using the calendar icons'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2053" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T15:27:33.700" />
  <row Id="4941" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4946" CreationDate="2010-11-11T15:50:35.167" Score="4" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I say &quot;Please find my yesterday’s and today’s daily reports in the documents.&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1109" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T21:38:17.123" Title="Can I say &quot;Please find my yesterday’s and today’s daily reports in the documents.&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="4942" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4945" CreationDate="2010-11-11T15:57:35.603" Score="2" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just exactly what is a bibs and a bobs? And where the heck did that expression come from, anyway?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T18:58:22.137" Title="bibs and bobs - what does it mean and where does it come from?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4941" CreationDate="2010-11-11T16:13:09.007" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can use a possessive pronoun followed by a word with 's (i.e. the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxon_genitive&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;saxon genitive&lt;/a&gt;). For example, &quot;my last year's tax refund&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can use 's in more than one word in the same sentence. For example, &quot;Here you can review yesterday's, today's and tomorrow's horoscope.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, I would reword your sentence to make it sound more natural:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please find my daily reports from&#xA;  yesterday and today  in the documents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-11T17:03:54.403" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T17:03:54.403" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="4944" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-11T16:19:31.437" Score="0" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3602/is-there-a-historical-trend-towards-shorter-sentences&quot;&gt;Is there a historical trend towards shorter sentences?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reading older works, say from the 19th or 18th century, I get the general impression that sentences in prose works were, at least on average, longer than they are today. Is this true? Has there been, say, less decrease in works of fiction than other works? If it is true that there has indeed been a decrease, have sentences always been getting shorter, or did they attain their maximum length somewhere in between?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, it would also be interesting to know whether there has been change across decades.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T16:19:31.437" ClosedDate="2010-11-11T21:25:46.673" Title="How has the average length of sentences changed over centuries?" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4942" CreationDate="2010-11-11T18:58:22.137" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the original version of this idiom is &quot;bits and bobs&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It means the same as &quot;odds and ends&quot;, which means &quot;bits and pieces, remnants, leftovers&quot;. A &quot;bit&quot; was a coin (three-penny bit) and a &quot;bob&quot; was a shilling or twelve pence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary has a page for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bits_and_bobs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bits and bobs&lt;/a&gt; as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T18:58:22.137" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4941" CreationDate="2010-11-11T21:37:12.023" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, you cannot say &quot;Please find my yesterday’s and today’s daily reports in the documents.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please find yesterday’s and today’s daily reports in the documents. (as suggested by Steve Melnikoff)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, you can also say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please find my daily reports from yesterday and today in the documents. (as suggested by Bruno Rothgiesser)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T21:37:12.023" />
  <row Id="4947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4941" CreationDate="2010-11-11T21:38:17.123" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general English disallows using two different direct possessives together in the some noun phrase. Using possessive &lt;em&gt;my&lt;/em&gt; and possessive &lt;em&gt;tomorrow's&lt;/em&gt; to modify the word &lt;em&gt;reports&lt;/em&gt; results in a sentence that I find ungrammatical. One of the possessives must be demoted to a prepositional phrase, and since &lt;em&gt;my&lt;/em&gt; cannot be so demoted (since *&lt;em&gt;of me&lt;/em&gt; is ungrammatical for other reasons), you have to move &lt;em&gt;tomorrow&lt;/em&gt; to a prepositional phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please find my daily reports from yesterday and today in the documents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This is the same corrected version that Bruno gave, but unlike Bruno I find the original to be ungrammatical, and the corrected version to be necessary, not just stylistically preferred.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T21:38:17.123" />
  <row Id="4948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="286" CreationDate="2010-11-11T21:42:40.443" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say they are interchangeable. I've stopped using &quot;towards&quot; altogether and started just using &quot;toward.&quot;     It definitely is smoother in sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1429" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T00:29:17.173" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T00:29:17.173" />
  <row Id="4949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4474" CreationDate="2010-11-11T21:52:06.280" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yeah it depends on your target market. Alot of sites that initially targetted Australia from O.S. (international E-Commerce sites) used a common US English site wide.&#xA;Later incarnations with .com.au specific sub sites have started to offer a more natural british english spelling, to appeal to the local population.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think if your trying to get market share anywhere but the US, you will find that UK English will seem less incongrous to readers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1429" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T21:52:06.280" />
  <row Id="4950" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4952" CreationDate="2010-11-11T22:00:06.287" Score="3" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you are in the pub, ordering a drink from a bartender, which of the following is the correct way to say it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;When both of you're stand by the bar ordering a drink, and a bartender asks to pay now or open a tab.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;When both of you're stand at the bar ordering a drink, and a bartender asks to pay now or open a tab.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-15T11:58:32.570" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T11:58:32.570" Title="Does one stand by or at the bar?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2772" CreationDate="2010-11-11T22:42:11.367" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyone saying that gay only means homosexual are wrong. &#xA;There are still people whose last name is gay, therefore your answers are invalid, since those people definately don't have their last name for the reason that it has/had that meaning.&#xA;Therefore it at least has a dual meaning, even if it is generally only used for a single meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1429" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T22:42:11.367" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="4952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4950" CreationDate="2010-11-11T22:52:52.913" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question directly: both &lt;code&gt;by&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;at&lt;/code&gt; are viable options for setting someone's location.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;at&lt;/code&gt; would imply a very very close proximity to the bar (think, able to touch it) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;by&lt;/code&gt; would imply proximity, but could just be the general vicinity of it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this particular case, I would choose &lt;code&gt;at&lt;/code&gt; since it's likely that they're physically quite close if they're talking to the bartender (barring yelling from several feet back).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are a couple other things with your phrasing that bother me.  I would likely word it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When both of you are standing at the bar ordering a drink, and a bartender asks you to pay now or open a tab.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your use of the &quot;you're&quot; contraction seems alien here.  I think it's because &lt;code&gt;you&lt;/code&gt; isn't the subject, but rather the object of the preposition &lt;code&gt;of&lt;/code&gt;.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the verb &lt;code&gt;stand&lt;/code&gt; should be &lt;code&gt;standing&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I believe &lt;code&gt;asks to pay now&lt;/code&gt; is incorrect (at the least, it sounds very odd).  You could say &lt;code&gt;asks if you want to pay now&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;asks you to pay now&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-11T22:52:52.913" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4953" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-12T01:30:35.857" Score="6" ViewCount="312" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is something that has always bugged me.  I am never sure where to place the question mark, or whether to place it at all when the end of the sentence does not finish with a question, or a number of questions from the begining&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The question nagging me is to what&#xA;  extent can we encapsulate all what we&#xA;  observe in nature into a set of simple&#xA;  computational rules, within which we&#xA;  can leverage our existing knowledge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should the final full-stop (period) be replaced by a question mark? Or perhaps even the comma?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1823" LastEditorUserId="1823" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-12T01:40:44.770" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T17:41:42.800" Title="Position of question mark when sentence doesn't end with question" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;question-mark&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="4954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3602" CreationDate="2010-11-12T01:57:41.180" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the answer is definitely yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quick google search turned up &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=x9cEAQAAIAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA34&amp;amp;lpg=PA34&amp;amp;dq=sentence+length+history&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=li3zHJGcK2&amp;amp;sig=IUX5esiU4YpFeBcGhlzfZYUCkvc&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=IJ7cTOKWM4L_8Ab294SZCQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CBcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=sentence%20length%20history&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this book result&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;The History of the English paragraph,&quot; by Edwin Herbert Lewis, where it says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In view of the &lt;strong&gt;now well known fact&lt;/strong&gt;(1) that the English sentence has decreased in average length at least one half in three hundred years the question arises whether the length of the paragraph has decreased increased or remained stationary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The citation is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(1) The fact was definitely demonstrated by Professor L. A. Sherman, in his &lt;em&gt;Analytics of Literature&lt;/em&gt;, Boston, 1892.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another google search turned up the book, and I found a certain &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=SWe0U_zp6M8C&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;amp;dq=sherman+analytics+of+literature&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=w7EqWPFKJP&amp;amp;sig=4gy68Z8374f9PFerCdcp5EUUrMg&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=Op7cTIb9CsG88gaUtJTfBQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CBYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chapter XIX&lt;/a&gt; titled &quot;The Literary Sentence-Length In English Prose.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=SWe0U_zp6M8C&amp;amp;ots=w7EqWPFKJP&amp;amp;dq=sherman%20analytics%20of%20literature&amp;amp;pg=PA259#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;page 259&lt;/a&gt; he supplies some hard data from various book sources, which I've converted to text here and filled in with full names, book titles, and dates. This shows the average number of words in between periods for the first few hundred periods:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Robert Fabyan, &quot;Chronicle&quot;, written 1516-1559&#xA;First   hundred periods: 68.28&#xA;Second     &quot;       &quot;   : 66.68&#xA;Third      &quot;       &quot;   : 56.12&#xA;Fourth     &quot;       &quot;   : 65.77&#xA;Fifth      &quot;       &quot;   : 58.26&#xA;Average:                 63.02&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;Edmund Spenser, &quot;A View of the Present State of Ireland&quot;, written 1590s&#xA;First   hundred periods: 49.78&#xA;Second     &quot;       &quot;   : 50.24&#xA;Third      &quot;       &quot;   : 53.67&#xA;Fourth     &quot;       &quot;   : 47.56&#xA;Fifth      &quot;       &quot;   : 47.88&#xA;Average:                 49.83&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;Richard Hooker, &quot;Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie&quot;, written 1594-1597&#xA;First   hundred periods: 43.98&#xA;Second     &quot;       &quot;   : 40.90&#xA;Third      &quot;       &quot;   : 37.12&#xA;Fourth     &quot;       &quot;   : 41.63&#xA;Fifth      &quot;       &quot;   : 43.40&#xA;Average:                 41.41&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;Thomas Babington Macaulay, &quot;Essay on History&quot;, written 1828&#xA;First   hundred periods: 23.23&#xA;Second     &quot;       &quot;   : 21.26&#xA;Third      &quot;       &quot;   : 25.95&#xA;Fourth     &quot;       &quot;   : 22.20&#xA;Fifth      &quot;       &quot;   : 19.65&#xA;Average:                 22.46&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;William Ellery Channing, &quot;Self-Culture&quot;, written 1838&#xA;First   hundred periods: 25.15&#xA;Second     &quot;       &quot;   : 25.51&#xA;Third      &quot;       &quot;   : 25.38&#xA;Fourth     &quot;       &quot;   : 26.80&#xA;Fifth      &quot;       &quot;   : 25.84&#xA;Average:                 25.74&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;Ralph Waldo Emerson, &quot;Address before the Senior Class in Divinity College&quot;, written 1838&#xA;First   hundred periods: 18.06&#xA;Second     &quot;       &quot;   : 20.15&#xA;Third      &quot;       &quot;   : 21.01&#xA;Fourth     &quot;       &quot;   : 24.18&#xA;Fifth      &quot;       &quot;   : 19.52&#xA;Average:                 20.58&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The time periods are: Fabyan (? - 1513), Spenser (1552-1599), Hooker (1554-1600), Macaulay (source written in 1828), Channing (source written in 1838), and Emerson (1803-1882). To round it off, by my own reckoning, the preface to Sherman's book (1892) has an average of 24.77 words for its 168 sentences. There seems to be a gap of sources in the 1700s, so I wonder if those sentences were around 30-40 words long on average. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He goes on to show that the authors are pretty consistent within their own works, so these numbers are pretty indicative of an author's style. Furthermore, Sherman demonstrates that the number of predicates per sentence has also decreased with time. Unfortunately he does not claim to know the cause of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastEditorUserId="1606" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-12T02:38:58.257" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T02:38:58.257" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="4955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4953" CreationDate="2010-11-12T02:51:13.827" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could have a question mark at the end of your sentence... if it were an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrogative_sentence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;interrogative one&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But I find it rather descriptive, and not so much a request for information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, with other punctuations, you could make it more like a dialog, in which a question would more naturally be presented:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The question nagging me is: &quot;to what extent can we encapsulate all what we observe in nature into a set of simple computational rules, within which we can leverage our existing knowledge?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T02:51:13.827" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4930" CreationDate="2010-11-12T03:00:08.570" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have this &lt;a href=&quot;http://sourceforge.net/projects/brit-thesaurus/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British English thesaurus - th_en_GB&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/xZjmn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;intended mainly for use with OpenOffice, but should also be customizable to use with other projects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Extract from the th_en_BG_final.dat file (10.8Mo):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;100|2&#xA;(adj)|hundred|a hundred|c|cardinal|one hundred&#xA;(noun)|hundred|c|centred|century|large integer|one c&#xA;1000|2&#xA;(adj)|thousand|a thousand|cardinal|k|m|one thousand&#xA;(noun)|thousand|chiliad|g|grand|k|large integer|m|one thousand|thou|yard&#xA;\[...\]&#xA;abdomen|2&#xA;(noun)|venter|belly|body part|stomach&#xA;(noun)|abdominal cavity|bodily cavity|cavity|cavum&#xA;abdominal|2&#xA;(adj)|body part&#xA;(noun)|abdominal muscle|ab|skeletal muscle|striated muscle&#xA;\[...\]&#xA;etc&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T03:00:08.570" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4957" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4958" CreationDate="2010-11-12T06:27:05.310" Score="10" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;When starting a word with a vowel, the preceding &quot;a&quot; becomes an &quot;an&quot;. I often find that when writing words that start with letter &quot;N&quot; or &quot;M&quot;, I will pronounce them &quot;EN&quot;, &quot;EM&quot;, etc. (This is because in programming, letters are often pronounced in certain terms.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, when writing a question on SO, do I write &quot;an NSString&quot; or, &quot;a NSString&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2019" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T18:37:40.220" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:37:40.220" Title="&quot;A&quot; vs. &quot;An&quot; in writing vs. pronunciation" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4957" CreationDate="2010-11-12T07:20:20.940" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The choice of &lt;code&gt;a&lt;/code&gt; vs. &lt;code&gt;an&lt;/code&gt; is actually based on the phonetics of the start of a word, not the orthographic representation.  This is why you say things like &lt;code&gt;an honorable solider&lt;/code&gt; (the h is silent, so phonetically it begins with the vowel sound).  Similarly, you would say &lt;code&gt;a one-eyed pirate&lt;/code&gt; as &lt;code&gt;one&lt;/code&gt; phonetically begins with the &lt;code&gt;w&lt;/code&gt; sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in the case of your example, it would be &lt;code&gt;an NSString&lt;/code&gt; since phonetically it's &lt;code&gt;en-es-string&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T07:20:20.940" />
  <row Id="4959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="808" CreationDate="2010-11-12T09:35:45.207" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cant you just say &quot;pull forward&quot; or &quot;advance&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2063" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T09:35:45.207" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4950" CreationDate="2010-11-12T10:01:56.083" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In British use, &quot;at the bar&quot; is the invariable idiom for &quot;standing near the bar being served or waiting to be served&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you said &quot;by the bar&quot; it would suggest that you are physically near the bar, but not necessarily for service (maybe you have been served, and are standing or sitting there enjoying your drink).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know whether or not this distinction is familiar in N America. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T10:01:56.083" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4823" CreationDate="2010-11-12T11:12:54.303" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone reasonably famous once said &quot;Nerds are simply Geeks who earn lots of money&quot; I think it was in the context of Bill Gates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2066" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T11:12:54.303" />
  <row Id="4962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4823" CreationDate="2010-11-12T11:32:33.997" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My definition of a Geek is that its somebody that is very interested in something and knows a lot about that subject, but also knows a lot or just as much about many other subjects. ie computers AND maths AND physics AND chemistry AND politics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A Nerd however goes VERY deep on one subject and has a cursory interest in other subjects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What this means is that geeks do some really interesting things in some fields, and manage to cross fields really easily. But the focused advances in most fields come from the hardcore Nerds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus a Nerd is a very hardcore focused Geek.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2067" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T11:32:33.997" />
  <row Id="4963" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4964" CreationDate="2010-11-12T11:42:46.383" Score="1" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;Am I correct that &lt;em&gt;grounds&lt;/em&gt;, although sounding plural, is actually singular?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More specifically, which is better:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I view Fedora as a testing grounds for new ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I view Fedora as testing grounds for new ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2068" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-12T11:51:39.247" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T14:43:43.623" Title="Is &quot;grounds&quot; (as in a chunk of land) singular or plural?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4963" CreationDate="2010-11-12T12:38:03.653" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Under the definition to which you refer, it is almost exclusively used to denote a tract or area of land given over to a specific purpose, or the area surrounding and belonging to a building or event, and in such cases &lt;em&gt;grounds&lt;/em&gt; is used rather than &lt;em&gt;ground&lt;/em&gt;. It is not exactly singular as it conjugates as any other standard plural. &lt;em&gt;Grounds&lt;/em&gt; can however refer to a single specific tract or domain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your specific example you could use either the singular &lt;em&gt;ground&lt;/em&gt; or the plural &lt;em&gt;grounds&lt;/em&gt;, but if you use the latter then you should conjugate appropriately and omit the indefinite article &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe the singular &lt;em&gt;testing ground&lt;/em&gt; would be more appropriate as you are referring specifically to the environment in which you test (rather like referring to the type of soil in which you might plant a tree) as opposed to the domain in which you test (like referring to the gardens in which the tree is planted.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T12:38:03.653" />
  <row Id="4965" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4966" CreationDate="2010-11-12T13:33:15.633" Score="4" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;learnt&quot; UK English and &quot;learned&quot; US? Is it that simple?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm used to using &quot;learnt&quot; but my US spellchecker says it is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1682" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T16:21:35.113" Title="When do you use &quot;learnt&quot; and when &quot;learned&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="4966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4965" CreationDate="2010-11-12T14:25:40.723" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/learnt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;marks&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;learnt&lt;/em&gt; as &quot;chiefly British&quot;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/learnt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; as &quot;UK&quot;, adding that &lt;em&gt;learned&lt;/em&gt; is the &quot;Standard US English spelling&quot;. Quoting nohat's comment from &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3723/&quot;&gt;elsewhere&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coha/?c=coha&amp;amp;q=6611030&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[The Corpus of Historical American English] shows&lt;/a&gt; that &lt;em&gt;learned&lt;/em&gt; has always been more common than &lt;em&gt;learnt&lt;/em&gt; in American English. At least, since 1810.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it's not like &lt;em&gt;learnt&lt;/em&gt; is completely unheard of in Americal English, but &lt;em&gt;learned&lt;/em&gt; has always been more popular, and according to the COHA timetable, the usage of &lt;em&gt;learnt&lt;/em&gt; has been on a more or less steady decline since 1820:&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/gW9cK.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;(X axis: year, Y axis: incidences per million words.)&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nowadays, according to the Corpus of Contemporary American English, &lt;em&gt;learnt&lt;/em&gt; is most popular in the  context of fiction and academic publications, and least popular in newspapers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;           learned   learnt     RATIO&#xA;&#xA;SPOKEN        9370       18     520.6&#xA;FICTION       9624       88     109.4&#xA;MAGAZINE     11924       18     662.4&#xA;NEWSPAPER     9224        6    1537.3&#xA;ACADEMIC      8921       96      92.9&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's more, even the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; has more cites for &lt;em&gt;learned&lt;/em&gt; than for &lt;em&gt;learnt&lt;/em&gt;. The stats look as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;           learned   learnt     RATIO&#xA;&#xA;SPOKEN         161      291       0.6&#xA;FICTION       1066      409       2.6&#xA;MAGAZINE       341      171       2.0&#xA;NEWSPAPER      459      151       3.0&#xA;NON-ACADEMIC   778      321       2.4&#xA;ACADEMIC       837      273       1.6&#xA;MISC          1588      537       3.0&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is worth noting that Merriam-Webster, Wiktionary, the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, and Collins English Dictionary all list &lt;em&gt;learned&lt;/em&gt; as both a verb form and an adjective, but &lt;em&gt;learnt&lt;/em&gt; only as a verb form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, here's a related question: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2502/&quot;&gt;Dreamed vs. Dreamt, Leaped vs. Leapt, Lighted vs. Lit&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-12T15:39:42.940" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T15:39:42.940" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4963" CreationDate="2010-11-12T14:43:43.623" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Grounds&quot;, as in the area of land attached to an institution, is plural&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Testing ground&quot; is more common than &quot;Testing grounds&quot;, and is singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T14:43:43.623" />
  <row Id="4968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4919" CreationDate="2010-11-12T15:04:35.207" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As for me, I sometimes fell a bit shy talking to people, so I prefer polite variants like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can you please help me with...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can I ask you for help with...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you can just say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I need your help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have much experience in communikation with englishmans, but I think those variants can be used in different situations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2071" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T15:04:35.207" />
  <row Id="4969" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4970" CreationDate="2010-11-12T15:10:54.380" Score="2" ViewCount="759" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think atleast is an actual word,  but I've found many instances of its usage. A simple google search for &lt;em&gt;atleast&lt;/em&gt; reveal  13,100,000 hits. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of &lt;em&gt;atleast&lt;/em&gt; and is it different from &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T15:54:19.120" Title="at least vs atleast" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4969" CreationDate="2010-11-12T15:15:16.230" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is incorrect to write 'at least' as one word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(You have to be careful using Google to justify things: (1) people make mistakes, and (2) sometimes Google tries to be smarter than you, e.g. it will actually search for the corrected version, not the misspelling you entered. The latter doesn't seem to be the case here, it's just something to keep in mind.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[I just did my own Google query, and of the top results for &quot;atleast&quot;, three are this same question asked on various forums, and one is the title of a page, formatted with &quot;at&quot; much smaller than &quot;least&quot; &amp;ndash; so visually it's two words, despite appearing as a single word to a search spider.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-12T15:54:19.120" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T15:54:19.120" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4971" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4974" CreationDate="2010-11-12T15:38:54.577" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in German the word &lt;code&gt;sophisticated&lt;/code&gt; is sometimes used as Anglicism in order to describe a very fashionable person, e.g. carrying a dog in a handbag (&quot;It-Girl&quot;). However, when looking up the word in a dictionary, I get rather normal (unsophisticated) results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, whether it is possible to use the word in formal texts such as a technical paper? Can someone help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2014" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T16:19:10.240" Title="Is &quot;sophisticated&quot; appropriate in formal documents?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4972" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4978" CreationDate="2010-11-12T16:13:07.547" Score="2" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;You should go&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;you ought to go&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I rarely, almost never use &lt;strong&gt;ought to&lt;/strong&gt; form &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T22:22:29.243" Title="what is the difference between &quot;should&quot; and &quot;ought to&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="4973" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4979" CreationDate="2010-11-12T16:18:37.993" Score="1" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;At work, sometimes I have to send people password reminders. Our experience shows that about half the time when people think they don't remember their password, they're actually mistyping their login name, so our practice is to always send both. But I never know how to introduce it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your login credentials are:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Username: jsmith&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Password: 123abc&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That &quot;doubled&quot; colon just bugs the heck out of me. Is there a better way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;(And before you ask: yes, we send passwords as cleartext, and yes, that's secure enough for our purposes.)&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T20:58:44.587" Title="Introducing a paragraph that also contains colons" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4971" CreationDate="2010-11-12T16:19:10.240" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, &lt;code&gt;sophisticated&lt;/code&gt; is standard American English, and suitable for formal contexts. It can have a range of (related) connotations depending on context. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a technical setting, you might describe an algorithm, machine, proof, or logical argument as &quot;sophisticated&quot;. This carries connotations of complexity, refinement, and being highly-developed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any of the following would be valid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Naively, we would expect &lt;code&gt;foo&lt;/code&gt;, but a more sophisticated analysis suggests that &lt;code&gt;blah&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Mammals display sophisticated social behavior.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;By using a sophisticated language model, we increase our speech-recognition accuracy by 17%.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In non-technical contexts (like your example of a socialite), there are also connotations of being worldly or cosmopolitan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English gets this word directly from Latin (via Greek), based on the familiar &quot;soph&quot; root (meaning &quot;wisdom&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know only a couple dozen words of German, so I can't claim authority, but two minutes on Google turns up other non-cognate German words with the same meaning. If I had to bet, I'd guess that the borrowing went from English--&gt;German rather than the reverse. (Of course, German could have appropriated the Latin in parallel, but I think Latin roots are pretty rare in German. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that.))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1955" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T16:19:10.240" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4965" CreationDate="2010-11-12T16:21:35.113" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In American English, &quot;learned&quot; is the usual spelling; &quot;learnt&quot; is too rare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In British English, both &quot;learned&quot; and &quot;learnt&quot; exist for the verb, but the adjective (as in &quot;the learned professor&quot;) is always &quot;learned&quot;. (Sometimes, especially archaically, &quot;learnéd&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T16:21:35.113" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4976" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5034" CreationDate="2010-11-12T16:21:53.060" Score="2" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even though I've been living in US and using English for over a decade, I still feel somewhat uncomfortable with articles, sometimes missing them altogether.  In my native language, articles simply do NOT exist. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please suggest how you've overcome this problem. I would especially appreciate the an advice from  someone like me --whose native language doesn't have articles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T16:37:34.283" Title="Would someone recommend an ultimate guide on how to use articles (a, an the or none at all)" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="4978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4972" CreationDate="2010-11-12T16:31:09.583" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Semantically, there is no real difference between the two constructions, and they can be used interchangeably. I agree with you that &quot;should&quot; has become the far more common construction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even back to the Old English (and earlier Proto-Germanic), the words carry a nearly identical sense of obligation. As such, I'd be hard pressed to articulate even a minor connotative difference between the two forms in modern usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1955" LastEditorUserId="1955" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-12T16:48:49.517" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T16:48:49.517" />
  <row Id="4979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4973" CreationDate="2010-11-12T16:39:14.660" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your credentials are as follows.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Username: jsmith&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Password: 123abc&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please use the following credentials.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Username: jsmith&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Password: 123abc&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, these rewordings still kind of ask for a colon, but at least they &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; handle a period at all, as opposed to &quot;your credentials are&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T16:39:14.660" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4972" CreationDate="2010-11-12T16:41:59.180" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference, in so far as there &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; one at all, lays with how much the speaker agrees with the obligation. I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;You should go&lt;/em&gt; implies that the speaker (as well as possibly other people) thinks you should go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;You ought to go&lt;/em&gt; implies that, while there is clearly an obligation to go on your part, the speaker &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; not agree with it. Or at least reserves the right to not agree with it, even if he does think it's a good idea in the instant case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This difference is very, very subtle, and may only exist in my mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T16:41:59.180" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4953" CreationDate="2010-11-12T17:32:20.170" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A question within a sentence should be preceded by a comma, and end with a question mark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am wondering, how long has that fish statue been there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are three important issues that this committee must address. What was the chairman doing in that YouTube video? is not among them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a question is particularly long or complex, then for clarity it could begin with a capital letter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the daydreams of my youth I would look at the clouds and wonder, Will I find happiness and fulfillment soon after getting a business administration degree, or must I amortize my well-being return on investment over the next seven to ten calendar years?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence in the original question ends with a subordinate clause that does not, by itself, ask a question (“within which we can leverage our existing knowledge”). This is modifying a noun phrase that is part of the question (“set of simple computational rules”). Therefore, this subordinate clause is part of the original question, and should end with a question mark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Putting all of this together, I would punctuate the sentence like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The question nagging me is, To what extent can we encapsulate all what we observe in nature into a set of simple computational rules, within which we can leverage our existing knowledge?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Some of this advice is based on &lt;em&gt;The Chicago Manual of Style 15th Edition&lt;/em&gt; §6.55 and §6.71.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1727" LastEditorUserId="1727" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-12T17:41:42.800" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T17:41:42.800" />
  <row Id="4982" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4983" CreationDate="2010-11-12T18:04:10.780" Score="4" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;You both ordered drinks&lt;/em&gt; or  &lt;em&gt;You both ordered a drink&lt;/em&gt; or in  stated differently:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Both of you ordered a drink&lt;/em&gt; or  &lt;em&gt;Both of you ordered  drinks&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;should a drink be in its plural form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-12T21:33:03.343" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T00:32:21.893" Title="&quot;You both ordered drinks&quot; or&quot; You both ordered a drink&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4982" CreationDate="2010-11-12T19:17:12.970" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both singular &amp;amp; plural sound correct to my ear. There's a slight difference in meaning, or at least emphasis:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You both ordered drinks.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Both of you ordered drinks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These don't specify how many drinks were ordered - the possibility is left open that one or both of you ordered several drinks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You both ordered a drink&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Both of you ordered a drink&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here it's pretty strongly implied that there was only one drink per person. (Especially with the latter, it could even be argued that there was a single drink which you shared. My opinion is that such an interpretation would be incorrect, but I don't have anything to support my belief.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T19:17:12.970" />
  <row Id="4984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4656" CreationDate="2010-11-12T20:50:52.453" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I still haven't seen any examples that aren't &lt;em&gt;-ics&lt;/em&gt; words (besides 'news'), but let me post a tentative answer for the &lt;em&gt;-ics&lt;/em&gt; case: I remembered something I had quoted in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/19/inning-innings-singular-plural&quot;&gt;inning/innings singular/plural&lt;/a&gt; question, and looked up Fowler. Under &lt;em&gt;-ics&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=Vr7muDFR6j4C&amp;amp;pg=PA250&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the book says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;-ics.&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;strong&gt;1.&lt;/strong&gt; Among the names of sciences, arts, or branches of study, are a few words in &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; that rank as real English; the chief are &lt;em&gt;logic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;magic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;music&lt;/em&gt;, &amp;amp; &lt;em&gt;rhetoric&lt;/em&gt;; but the normal form is &lt;em&gt;-ics&lt;/em&gt;, as in &lt;em&gt;acoustics&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;classics&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;dynamics&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ethics&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;mathematics&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;physics&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;politics&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;tactics&lt;/em&gt;. The substitution of &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; for &lt;em&gt;-ics&lt;/em&gt; … &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2.&lt;/strong&gt; Grammatical number of &lt;em&gt;-ics&lt;/em&gt;. This is not so simple a matter as it is sometimes thought. The natural tendency is to start with a fallacy: We say Mathematics &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; (&amp;amp; not &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt;) a science; therefore &lt;em&gt;mathematics&lt;/em&gt; is singular. But the number of &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; there is at least influenced, if not (whether legitimately or otherwise) determined, by that of &lt;em&gt;a science&lt;/em&gt;. The testing should be done with sentences in which there is not a noun complement to confuse the issue:—&lt;em&gt;Classics are&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;is, now taking a back seat&lt;/em&gt; ; &lt;em&gt;Conics is&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;are, easier than I expected&lt;/em&gt; ; &lt;em&gt;What are&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;is, his mathematics like?&lt;/em&gt; ; &lt;em&gt;Politics are&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;is, most fascinating&lt;/em&gt; ; &lt;em&gt;Your heroics are&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;is, wasted on me&lt;/em&gt; ; &lt;em&gt;Athletics are&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;is, rampant in the big schools&lt;/em&gt; ; &lt;em&gt;Tactics are&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;is, subordinate to strategy&lt;/em&gt;. &amp;emsp; The rules that emerge are: &amp;ensp;(1) Singular for the name of a science strictly so used; &lt;em&gt;Metaphysics&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;Acoustics&lt;/em&gt;, deals &lt;em&gt;with abstractions&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;sound&lt;/em&gt;. &amp;ensp;(2) Plural for those same names more loosely used, e.g. for a manifestation of qualities; often recognizable by the presence of &lt;em&gt;his&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;, &amp;amp;c.:&amp;emsp; &lt;em&gt;His mathematics&lt;/em&gt; are &lt;em&gt;weak&lt;/em&gt; ; &lt;em&gt;Such ethics&lt;/em&gt; are &lt;em&gt;abominable&lt;/em&gt; ; &lt;em&gt;The acoustics of the hall&lt;/em&gt; are &lt;em&gt;faulty.&lt;/em&gt; &amp;ensp;(3) Plural for names denoting courses of action or the like : &lt;em&gt;Heroics&lt;/em&gt; are &lt;em&gt;out of place&lt;/em&gt; ; &lt;em&gt;Hysterics&lt;/em&gt; leave &lt;em&gt;me cold&lt;/em&gt;. &amp;ensp;(4) The presence of a singular noun complement often makes the verb singular: &lt;em&gt;Mathematics&lt;/em&gt;, or even &lt;em&gt;Athletics&lt;/em&gt;, is &lt;em&gt;his strong point.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So that long discussion very well illustrates the circumstances in which &lt;em&gt;-ics&lt;/em&gt; words are sometimes used as singular and sometimes plural (though I wouldn't say &quot;His mathematics are weak&quot;, for some reason). Note that it seems to be discussing &lt;em&gt;when&lt;/em&gt; a certain &lt;em&gt;-ics&lt;/em&gt; word is singular and when it's plural, not saying that it's &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; plural and discussing when it's &lt;em&gt;treated&lt;/em&gt; one way or the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, along with RegDwight's useful answer, my hypothesis for my original question is this: if a singular word X exists (e.g. &lt;em&gt;mathematic&lt;/em&gt;), and the word Y is formed from X by the normal rules of English pluralisation, then word Y is called &quot;plural&quot;, &lt;em&gt;even if it has never been used in the plural&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, all this still doesn't answer the latter question of what purpose this category serves etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T20:50:52.453" />
  <row Id="4985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4973" CreationDate="2010-11-12T20:58:44.587" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don’t necessarily need colons in the list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favorite form of the property/value list has right-aligned property names, two spaces, and left aligned values.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Your login credentials are:&#xA;  Username  jsmith&#xA;  Password  123abc&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course it looks better with more values.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Your login credentials are:&#xA;         Domain  Initech&#xA;       Username  jsmith&#xA;       Password  123abc&#xA;  Password Hint  cba321 spelled backward&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A simple table would also look nice, if you are already sending e-mails in rich text or HTML. (I tend to use plain text, but that’s just me.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1727" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T20:58:44.587" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="4986" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4998" CreationDate="2010-11-12T20:59:44.987" Score="0" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;The English article for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraguay&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Paraguay&lt;/a&gt; in Wikipedia mentions that &lt;em&gt;Paraguay&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced as &lt;a href=&quot;http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/En-us-Paraguay.ogg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;/ˈpɛərəɡweɪ/&lt;/a&gt;, which matches the pronunciation recommended by &lt;a href=&quot;http://visual.merriam-webster.com/pronunciation.php?id=society/politics/flags/33308&amp;amp;title=Paraguay&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;. However, &lt;a href=&quot;http://inogolo.com/pronunciation/Paraguay&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;inogolo&lt;/a&gt; recommends &lt;a href=&quot;http://inogolo.com/audio/Paraguay_3647.mp3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;/paɾaˈɣwai/&lt;/a&gt; which is similar to the Spanish and Guarani pronunciations. I have heard both pronunciations in the U.S. but I could not find the preferred pronunciation in other places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I am a native Spanish speaker, I prefer /ˈpɛərəɡweɪ/ since it seems more natural in U.S. English. This is analogous to pronouncing Florida as &lt;a href=&quot;http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/En-us-Florida.ogg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;/ˈflɒrɪdə/&lt;/a&gt; instead of the Spanish-based /flo.ˈri.da/.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does one region prefer one pronunciation over the other? Is there a pronunciation that is preferred overall?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question also applies to the pronunciation of Uruguay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1720" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T04:52:23.593" Title="Pronunciation of Paraguay" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4986" CreationDate="2010-11-12T23:10:11.440" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I invariably pronounce it /paɾaˈɣwai/. It is indeed much closer to the actual Spanish pronunciation. This seems to be the standard pronunciation in Britain English in general, from my experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-12T23:30:05.730" LastActivityDate="2010-11-12T23:30:05.730" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="4988" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4997" CreationDate="2010-11-12T23:56:40.523" Score="6" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;When people like something more than something else, it's common for me to hear them say they like it &quot;better&quot; than something else. Is this proper English? I've always thought the word &quot;more&quot; fits better, but I'm not sure whether or not use of the word &quot;better&quot; is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2077" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:05:18.997" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T01:24:27.877" Title="Do You Like Something More or Better?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4986" CreationDate="2010-11-13T00:54:03.280" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I dont know if it answer your question but there is a good &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.forvo.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;page&lt;/a&gt; where people upload the pronunciation of words in ther languages. You can try it. Maybe you find something useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1816" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T00:54:03.280" />
  <row Id="4990" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4992" CreationDate="2010-11-13T01:40:33.730" Score="1" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got an &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/q/4170367/251311&quot;&gt;answer to my comment&lt;/a&gt; at Stack Overflow, and I don't get what it means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've googled and looked over several dictionaries with no help. Seems like it is some specific slang/phrasal verb, which I cannot find.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a screenshot of that little conversation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/wSmmh.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1167" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T10:06:58.563" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T10:06:58.563" Title="What does &quot;urge to kill&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;phrasal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="4991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4990" CreationDate="2010-11-13T02:31:47.730" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An urge is a desire to do something. To kill is to take somebody's life away. So to have an urge to kill means to have a strong desire to take someone's life away =).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ah yes I didn't finish. It of course is ironical! The gist is that the idea seems so terrible to OMG Ponies that it inspires a blood-thirsty death rage in him. Given the demeanour of someone whose handle represents child-like amazement with miniature horses, I'd say that you're safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastEditorUserId="303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-13T11:03:11.833" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T11:03:11.833" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4990" CreationDate="2010-11-13T03:02:33.437" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Claudiu's answer is good. The original source of the quote posted by &lt;strong&gt;OMG Ponies&lt;/strong&gt; is actually from &lt;em&gt;The Simpsons&lt;/em&gt;. It's from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.snpp.com/episodes/2F03.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Treehouse of Horror V&lt;/a&gt;; one of the Halloween episodes specifically. In this episode, Homer's &quot;urge to kill&quot;—i.e. his violent tendencies—are tapered by the Television working and/or showing a TV show that makes him want to kill (the episode was a spoof on the Steven King book/film The Shining, in which the character Jack tries to murder his family). It is, of course, a very tongue in cheek saying. It essentially means that one is extremely bothered and/or annoyed by something, so much so that it makes you want to &quot;kill&quot; something. The author of the post definitely means you no harm. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2080" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T03:02:33.437" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="4993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4988" CreationDate="2010-11-13T03:11:07.937" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;More is, to me, the better of the two. Perhaps you could avoid all ambiguity and instead of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I like Dogs more. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I like Cats better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you can try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I prefer Dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2080" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T03:11:07.937" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4994" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-13T03:37:57.303" Score="3" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's this funny gap I tried to write a paper once upon a time when I studied linguistics, and I'd like to know if anyone has insight into it. The construction in question is the possessive determiner with 's in English. It's a noun phrase made up of a noun phrase followed by 's, and its extremely liberal in the noun phrases it allows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Jack's house&#xA;Tom and Mary's music collection&#xA;several stories' endings&#xA;the bus's headlights&#xA;the guy I talked to yesterday's cat&#xA;a lighthouse in the bay's coordinates&#xA;don't you know who's snide comment&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there are certain noun phrases that are not allowed -- those that end in personal pronouns:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;*all of us's friend (a friend of all of us)&#xA;*you and me's picture (a picture of you and me)&#xA;*the gift I gave to them's receipt&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyhow, I'd appreciate any thoughts on this and/or pointers to papers that discuss it. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2081" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T17:55:54.403" Title="*all of us's friend" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="4995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4846" CreationDate="2010-11-13T03:55:44.760" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stephen Sondheim's &quot;Send in the Clowns&quot; begins with &quot;Isn't it rich?&quot;, so I date it to 1973. Just kidding, of course, but it is a particularly good use of it with the &quot;rich in irony&quot; meaning given the context it is sung in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2081" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T03:55:44.760" />
  <row Id="4996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4994" CreationDate="2010-11-13T04:36:33.390" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The plural first-person possessive is &quot;our&quot;.  He is our friend. &#xA;The singular possessive is &quot;my&quot; second-person is &quot;your&quot;. &quot;Your and my picture, or our picture.&quot;&#xA;Third-person plural possessive is &quot;their&quot;. Although, it is actually the receipt of the gift, it should be it's receipt. &quot;I gave them it's receipt.&quot; &quot;It is their gift.&quot;     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T04:36:33.390" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="4997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4988" CreationDate="2010-11-13T04:41:42.107" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use either, both are short versions of comparisons.  I like cats better than dogs, but dogs more than pigs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T04:41:42.107" />
  <row Id="4998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4986" CreationDate="2010-11-13T04:52:23.593" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's to do with American English spelling and pronunciation conventions getting mixed up with foreign words and their different conventions.  The standard spelling and pronunciation of vowels in American English conflicts with Spanish spelling and pronunciation.  The a's in &quot;paragraph&quot; look like the ones in Paraguay, similar spelling means similar pronunciation, unless you have taken Spanish or are exposed to it.      &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T04:52:23.593" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="4999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4982" CreationDate="2010-11-13T04:55:17.257" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first way can mean multiple drinks, the second a single drink each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T04:55:17.257" />
  <row Id="5000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4988" CreationDate="2010-11-13T11:09:17.683" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There may be a US/UK distinction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I like cats better than dogs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...sounds like to an Americanism to my British ears. I'd be more likely to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I like cats more than dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'd agree that both are acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T11:09:17.683" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5001" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5012" CreationDate="2010-11-13T12:10:08.130" Score="3" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are three fundamental parts &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; the &amp;lt;locale&amp;gt; header.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="833" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-13T18:17:01.477" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T19:11:37.107" Title="Why use the prep &quot;to&quot;, why not others like &quot;of&quot; in the following sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5002" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-13T13:55:19.607" Score="0" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a specific term for &lt;strong&gt;the first stanza&lt;/strong&gt; in a poem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2082" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T06:18:12.600" Title="What is the first stanza in a poem called?" Tags="&lt;poetry&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5003" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5009" CreationDate="2010-11-13T14:03:07.800" Score="1" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should I read it as [dɪˈrɪv.ə.tɪv] or [dɪˈrɪv.ɪ.tɪv]? I have heard it as [dɪˈrɪv.ə.tɪv] in this context, but Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary says, that this word should be pronounced as [dɪˈrɪv.ɪ.tɪv], when used as a noun, and pronunciation [dɪˈrɪv.ə.tɪv] is only for the adjective &quot;derivative&quot;. However it doesn't refer to a mathematical meaning of this word, just for general one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1834" LastEditorUserId="1834" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-13T22:14:16.780" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T22:14:16.780" Title="How to read &quot;derivative&quot; in the phrase &quot;f' is a derivative of f&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5004" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5037" CreationDate="2010-11-13T15:07:37.707" Score="8" ViewCount="265" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking through the dictionary, I chanced upon an idiom which attracted my attention: &quot;Queen Anne is dead!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dictionary says that it means something about &quot;The thing you've just said is well-known, you won't interest anyone with it&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't stop wondering, where does that phrase come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2071" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-14T04:55:03.517" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T16:45:51.640" Title="Where does the idiom &quot;Queen Anne is dead!&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4144" CreationDate="2010-11-13T15:26:15.663" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use &lt;em&gt;programs&lt;/em&gt; instead:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;There are various video conversion programs in the market.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Software&lt;/em&gt;, in my opinion, is better used as the general &lt;em&gt;concept&lt;/em&gt; (as opposed to &lt;em&gt;hardware&lt;/em&gt;, say). All of the &lt;em&gt;programs&lt;/em&gt; on my PC are &lt;em&gt;software&lt;/em&gt;. My &lt;em&gt;hardware&lt;/em&gt; consists of a CPU, memory, fans, screen, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and also I can't resist to refer to the recently common half-joke &lt;em&gt;codes&lt;/em&gt; (as in &quot;plz show me the codes&quot; so frequent in certain programming forums).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2084" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T15:26:15.663" />
  <row Id="5006" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5011" CreationDate="2010-11-13T16:21:55.783" Score="4" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/qWoPU.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Stick no bills' sounds awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shouldn't it be something like 'Do not stick any bills'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="296" LastEditorUserId="296" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-17T05:42:00.740" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T05:42:00.740" Title="Is STICK NO BILLS correct English?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;negation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="5007" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-13T16:27:32.530" Score="6" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the motivation behind capitalizing the first letter of each word except prepositions in news, articles and blog post titles?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1171" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T01:50:56.960" Title="Why Should One Capitalize Titles When Publishing?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;articles&gt;&lt;title&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5007" CreationDate="2010-11-13T16:40:13.350" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's convention? But really, a title is meant to stand out - it is in some sense the most important text on a page - and capital letters help do this. With regards to prepositions, they're of lesser importance within the title itself, and hence don't really need to stand out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's really as simple as that, I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T16:40:13.350" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5003" CreationDate="2010-11-13T16:56:58.637" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't speak for Britain, but in all of my five semesters of American calculus and calc-related math classes, I have only ever heard [dɪˈrɪv.ə.tɪv] in that context...or any context now that I think about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just googled derivative noun pronunciation and ended up here (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxfordadvancedlearnersdictionary.com/dictionary/derivative_1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.oxfordadvancedlearnersdictionary.com/dictionary/derivative_1&lt;/a&gt;), the &quot;Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary.&quot; It seems to agree that [dɪˈrɪv.ə.tɪv] is the only pronunciation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure there has to be a British math geek around here somewhere who knows for certain....:)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T16:56:58.637" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5003" CreationDate="2010-11-13T17:37:12.837" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not know why Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary distinguishes the two pronunciations, but I doubt that anyone uses [dɪˈrɪv.ə.tɪv] and [dɪˈrɪv.ɪ.tɪv] to mean different things.  The difference between the two is an unstressed vowel, and I think that this difference is too small to convey different meanings when you speak at the normal speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T17:37:12.837" />
  <row Id="5011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5006" CreationDate="2010-11-13T17:48:45.760" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are correct English.  I am sure that &quot;stick no bills&quot; was chosen because it is shorter and more to the point than &quot;do not stick any bills&quot;, which is often done with signage.  We also have &quot;no smoking&quot; instead of &quot;do not smoke&quot;, and &quot;no turn on red&quot; instead of &quot;do not turn on red&quot;, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T17:48:45.760" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5001" CreationDate="2010-11-13T19:11:37.107" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Idiom? The following two variants are pretty much synonymous:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are three parts &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; the  header.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are three parts &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; the  header.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for this is, pretty much, just because those are the constructions allowed by English. The use of &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; follows pretty closely the locative meaning of &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt;. The use of &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; is licensed by a general English idiom &quot;There is X to Y&quot;, meaning &quot;Y consists of X.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I find the following to be slightly awkward:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are three parts &lt;strong&gt;of&lt;/strong&gt; the  header.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect that the reason is because we expect the trailing prepositional phrase to be a sentential prepositional phrase and not part of a noun phrase, and &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; is never used to head sentential prepositional phrases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T19:11:37.107" />
  <row Id="5013" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5014" CreationDate="2010-11-13T20:17:14.433" Score="2" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am filling a reference form and I met 2 questions that I am not sure how to answer : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The applicant’s overall rank is &lt;strong&gt;__ out of &lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Please describe the comparison group: &lt;strong&gt;__&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the applicant is my colleague and I am comparing him with other engineers who works in the same area, how should I answer this 2 questions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="786" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T23:19:40.817" Title="How to answer &quot;The applicant’s overall rank is ? out of ? &quot;" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5013" CreationDate="2010-11-13T23:19:40.817" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first question is asking how large the group of engineers who work in the same area is and where the person fits into that group if you were to order them from best to worst.  So if there are 20 engineers in the group, and the person is the 3rd best engineer of those 20 you would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The applicant's overall rank is 3 out of 20.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second question is asking you to describe what constitutes the group of engineers who work in that same area.  For example, something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The comparison group is comprised of all software engineers who are actively working in embedded software.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This way it's clear with whom you're comparing him so that any bias based on group composition can be taken into account.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T23:19:40.817" />
  <row Id="5015" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-13T23:38:02.140" Score="6" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just read something where a phrase was described as &quot;ironical&quot;. To me the word &quot;ironical&quot; jars terribly. It just doesn't sound right at all. I would have said &quot;ironic&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;ironical&quot; a feature of US English? Or am I just missing something? Where would you use it over &quot;ironic&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="364" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T01:39:26.590" Title="ironic vs ironical" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5015" CreationDate="2010-11-13T23:48:53.727" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a native speaker of American English, I'll say that it's at least not a widely used variant.  I was actually surprised to see that it's given credence as an acceptable term in several dictionaries.  However, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://english-usage-mcallister.blogspot.com/2006/06/ironic-vs-ironical.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;blog entry here&lt;/a&gt; does an excellent job describing my feelings on it, so I won't reinvent the metaphorical wheel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T23:48:53.727" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4144" CreationDate="2010-11-13T23:55:22.647" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just a note to clear up any confusion: I believe the answer provided by &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4144/plural-form-of-software/4147#4147&quot;&gt;RegDwight&lt;/a&gt; is correct; &lt;strong&gt;but&lt;/strong&gt; I also want to point out that &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; the word &quot;software&quot; is uncountable, there is no such thing as a &quot;plural form.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I mean is this: don't misinterpret the accepted answer to imply that the following sentence is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The company Microsoft produces many software.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above is problematic for the same reason that the following sentence is problematic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My bottle is full of many water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So again: to answer your question directly, there &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; no plural form. Software is like water; you can have &quot;a lot&quot; of it, but you can't have &quot;many&quot; (or &quot;dozens&quot;, or &quot;hundreds&quot;, etc.) of it. You can, however, as the other answers have already indicated, have &quot;many &lt;em&gt;pieces&lt;/em&gt; of it&quot; (just like you can have &quot;many &lt;em&gt;bottles&lt;/em&gt; of water&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2087" LastActivityDate="2010-11-13T23:55:22.647" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4982" CreationDate="2010-11-14T00:05:19.637" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My preferred phrasing for the situation I think you're describing is &quot;each of you ordered a drink.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But none of the four you listed sound wrong to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T00:05:19.637" />
  <row Id="5019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4982" CreationDate="2010-11-14T00:32:21.893" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not really &lt;em&gt;disagreeing&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4982/you-both-ordered-drinks-or-you-both-ordered-a-drink/4983#4983&quot;&gt;Martha&lt;/a&gt;, exactly; but I do believe it would be much better in this scenario to make the pluralization of &lt;em&gt;drink&lt;/em&gt; agree with that of the subject(s) of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Both&quot; is &lt;em&gt;plural&lt;/em&gt;. Therefore I consider this sentence to be ambiguous:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;OK&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You both ordered a drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason it's ambiguous (to me) is that &lt;em&gt;both&lt;/em&gt; is plural, but &lt;em&gt;drink&lt;/em&gt; is singular. The above sentence &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; be interpreted to mean that, between two people, a single drink was ordered (perhaps the two decided to share).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Martha remarked that &quot;My opinion is that such an interpretation would be incorrect&quot;; and I suppose this is where we are in disagreement. Personally I feel that while such an interpretation would certainly be &lt;em&gt;odd&lt;/em&gt; in the context of everyday conversation, from a rigid grammatical standpoint, it would actually be the &lt;em&gt;most correct&lt;/em&gt; interpretation.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following option is clearer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Better&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You both ordered drinks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly more than one drink was ordered, total. However, I have to concede that there is still some ambiguity in the above sentence since it is not entirely evident whether each individual ordered one drink or multiple drinks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I consider this last option to be the best of all:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Best&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Each of you ordered a drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though it's surprising to many people, &quot;each&quot; is singular. When the subject of your sentence is &quot;each,&quot; it is as if you are referring to every individual within the group and making the same statement in each case—something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Person 1 ordered a drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Person 2 ordered a drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above is completely unambiguous, at least when it comes to the number of drinks ordered by the individuals comprised by the word &quot;both&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2087" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T00:32:21.893" />
  <row Id="5020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4843" CreationDate="2010-11-14T00:44:15.657" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;May not be entirely correct, but I do believe that historically &quot;luck&quot; and &quot;happiness&quot; were much closer to synonymous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recall that before many of modern technological and medical advances, one's entire status and well-being was attributed to how the gods favored them. In Europe, especially, the Catholic Church took a good amount of time to ingrain in people that if they were unhappy it was the will of god. As such it makes sense that if you are a &quot;lucky&quot; person, you are also a &quot;happy&quot; person. What person who is unhappy would ever consider themselves lucky? What person who is unlucky would ever consider themselves happy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are suggestions that &quot;luck&quot; was borrowed from the German &quot;glück&quot; as a gambling term some time before the 15th century. This would suggest that the word &quot;luck&quot; originated first and &quot;happy&quot; derived from it. In fact, all accounts point to the fact that in English and similar languages the evolution of the word &quot;happy&quot; began with &quot;luck&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=happy&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=happy&amp;amp;searchmode=none&lt;/a&gt; :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;mid-14c., &quot;lucky,&quot; from hap &quot;chance, fortune;&quot; sense of &quot;very glad&quot; first recorded late 14c. Ousted O.E. eadig (from ead &quot;wealth, riches&quot;) and gesælig, which has become silly. O.E. bliðe &quot;happy&quot; survives as blithe. From Greek to Irish, a great majority of the European words for &quot;happy&quot; at first meant &quot;lucky.&quot; An exception is Welsh, where the word used first meant &quot;wise.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note the Welsh exception, proving that this isn't necessarily a rule, although for the most part a common pattern in the 10th to 15th centuries for &quot;luck&quot; to be equated with &quot;happiness&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2088" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T00:44:15.657" />
  <row Id="5021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5015" CreationDate="2010-11-14T01:39:26.590" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; shows 4253 occurrences of “ironic” and 134 occurrences of “ironical”, that is 32 to 1.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; shows 703 and 88, respectively, that is 8 to 1.  These results support the feeling that “ironical” is less common than “ironic,” but they do not suggest that the word “ironical” is a feature of American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) does not state any regional preference of the word “&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50121211&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ironic&lt;/a&gt;” or “&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50121212&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ironical&lt;/a&gt;” (the links require subscription).  Interestingly, the definition of “ironic” in the OED is just:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pertaining to irony; uttering or given to irony; of the nature of or containing irony; = IRONICAL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and detailed definitions are given for “ironical.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T01:39:26.590" />
  <row Id="5022" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5028" CreationDate="2010-11-14T01:44:37.153" Score="5" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am puzzled on how to pronounce &lt;em&gt;cha-&lt;/em&gt; words. For example, I know that &quot;chameleon&quot; or &quot;chamomile&quot; are pronounced with a hard &quot;c&quot; like in &quot;camel&quot;, not with a soft &quot;c&quot; like in &quot;change&quot;. &quot;Charity&quot;, on the other hand, is pronounced as in &quot;change&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there some rule to infer the correct pronunciation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1100" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-16T16:48:37.450" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T16:48:37.450" Title="Rules to pronounce &quot;cha-&quot; words" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5007" CreationDate="2010-11-14T01:50:56.960" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree to Noldorin that the capitalization of titles is convention that titles are meant to stand out.  I would like to add that the title of a book, an article, etc. is the “name” of the book, the article, etc.  Because content words in a proper name are capitalized in English, this may also be part of the reasons to capitalize titles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T01:50:56.960" />
  <row Id="5024" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5030" CreationDate="2010-11-14T02:43:13.290" Score="2" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can &quot;drive someone home&quot; be used when the vehicle is a motorbike? Can I use &quot;ride someone home&quot; with the same meaning as &quot;drive someone home&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2089" LastEditorUserId="2089" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-14T11:41:25.090" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T11:41:25.090" Title="Can &quot;drive someone home&quot; be used when the vehicle is a motorbike?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5025" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5031" CreationDate="2010-11-14T02:59:06.240" Score="2" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is it correct to say e-mail me , whereas with the word mail. we say/write mail to me? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1446" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-14T03:32:38.843" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T06:05:58.273" Title="email me and mail to me." Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5025" CreationDate="2010-11-14T03:07:56.640" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Correct&quot;?  That's just what many people use.  If that makes it &quot;correct&quot;, so be it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of us can't generate that construct.  We just just say &quot;send me mail&quot;, always. Well, or &quot;mail me&quot;, I guess.  I never say &quot;email&quot; at all, really.  &quot;Mail&quot; means email.  &quot;Snail-mail&quot; is postal mail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2085" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T03:07:56.640" />
  <row Id="5028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5022" CreationDate="2010-11-14T03:20:50.333" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, there really isn't. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you know the language that the word comes from, you can sometimes make a better guess, like &lt;em&gt;chorus&lt;/em&gt; is from Greek, so it’s a &lt;strong&gt;/k/&lt;/strong&gt; sound there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there isn't really a hard and fast rule.  Usually, though, it's like in &lt;em&gt;church&lt;/em&gt;, so guess that way if you have to guess; the sound is &lt;strong&gt;/tʃ/&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wait, I take that back.  There is one rule. Words beginning with &quot;chr&quot; are always with a &lt;strong&gt;/k/&lt;/strong&gt; sound. &lt;em&gt;chronological, chrysoprase, Chris&lt;/em&gt;. So are words beginning with &quot;chl&quot;: &lt;em&gt;chloroplast&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The imported French word &lt;em&gt;chaise&lt;/em&gt; has a softer sound, just a &lt;strong&gt;/ʃ/&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect most (maybe all?) words beginning with &quot;chy&quot; come from Greek, and so have a hard sound there.  They're all uncommon and rare.  For example, &lt;em&gt;chyle&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;strong&gt;/kaɪl/&lt;/strong&gt;, &amp;lt; Fr. &lt;em&gt;chyle&lt;/em&gt; (= Ital. &lt;em&gt;chilo&lt;/em&gt;, Sp. &lt;em&gt;quilo&lt;/em&gt;):-L. &lt;em&gt;chȳlus&lt;/em&gt;, a. Gr. &lt;em&gt;χῡλός&lt;/em&gt; juice (of plants, animals, decoctions).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2085" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T03:20:50.333" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="5029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5025" CreationDate="2010-11-14T05:41:13.850" Score="-4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;email me&quot; is technically incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;E-mail&quot; is short for &quot;Electronic Mail&quot;. Electronic is an adjective, so mail in this context must be a noun (as opposed to the idiomatic verb, such as &quot;I will mail you a letter&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since mail, in this context, is a noun we need a verb for the sentence. The sentence &quot;email me&quot; is lacking a verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will make more sense if you expand the word email:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Electronic Mail me&quot; makes no sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To correct the sentence we need to add a verb. So the correct version is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Send me an e-mail&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively we can apply the idiomatic verb &quot;mail&quot;, since in modern English we use many nouns as verbs (example: &quot;I'll text you after class&quot;, &quot;I phoned my father last night&quot;, etc). In this case you'd have to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Mail me an e-mail&quot;, or simply &quot;Mail me&quot; (assuming they understand that you would prefer an e-mail to courier mail)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2088" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T05:41:13.850" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="5030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5024" CreationDate="2010-11-14T05:49:33.370" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well the original definition of &quot;to drive&quot; was to compel something to move by force.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, the phrase &quot;I drive my friend&quot; could have an entirely different connotation if you add &quot;to succeed in sports&quot;. Now you're driving him morally, not within a car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word drive is, in this way, very flexible. The original definitions extends to metaphors and analogies, meaning any time you're influencing something towards a certain ends you can consider it driving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, yes- you can grammatically say you &quot;drive you friend&quot; on a motorbike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason it sounds strange is because any time you're talking about a motorbike you expect to hear the word &quot;ride&quot;, not &quot;drive&quot;. This is simply a common cultural pattern. In your specific case, however, saying you &quot;ride someone home&quot; is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; the same as &quot;drive someone home&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;To ride&quot; is to be in or on something that is moving. Thus, if you &quot;ride your friend home&quot;, you're on your friend's back and riding him like a horse =)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to use the word ride, try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I gave my friend a ride home&quot;, or &quot;I rode my friend home on my bike&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the second is acceptable because the preposition &quot;on&quot; clearly identifies the direct object (the object being ridden), which leaves the other noun (&quot;my friend&quot;) to be the indirect object - one who is affected by the act of you riding the bike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2088" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T05:49:33.370" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5025" CreationDate="2010-11-14T06:05:58.273" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only person I know who says &quot;mail to me&quot; is very much &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; a native speaker of English. &quot;Write mail to me&quot; is only marginally better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;Mail me that package.&lt;br&gt;Email me that report.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;Please [write|send] me a letter.&lt;br&gt;Please [write|send] me an email.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;Write me!&lt;br&gt;Email me!&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;I got lots of mail.&lt;br&gt;I got lots of letters.&lt;br&gt;I got lots of emails.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;Nobody ever sends me any mail.&lt;br&gt;Nobody ever sends me any email.&lt;br&gt;Nobody ever writes [to] me.&lt;br&gt;Nobody ever emails me.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;Please mail that card to me.&lt;br&gt;Please email that picture to me.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, there &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; some differences between how the word &lt;em&gt;&quot;mail&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is used vs. how the word &lt;em&gt;&quot;email&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is used, but that difference &lt;strong&gt;isn't&lt;/strong&gt; that &lt;em&gt;&quot;mail&quot;&lt;/em&gt; takes &lt;em&gt;&quot;to&quot;&lt;/em&gt; while &lt;em&gt;&quot;email&quot;&lt;/em&gt; doesn't. It's more that &lt;em&gt;&quot;email&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is used as the electronic equivalent of not just &lt;em&gt;&quot;mail&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, but also &lt;em&gt;&quot;letter&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T06:05:58.273" />
  <row Id="5032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4409" CreationDate="2010-11-14T06:07:09.280" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the case of finding this site, &quot;So lucky I am to find this site&quot; would be incorrect. In fact, when referring to anything that can only be found once this is not correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason is simple: by putting &quot;to find&quot; in the present tense you are suggesting that you are lucky every time that it occurs, and also that it occurs regularly. I could, for instance, say &quot;So lucky I am to find quarters in the couch cushions!&quot;. I find quarters pretty much every week, so it's okay to put this in present tense. You don't find this site every week, though. You &lt;strong&gt;found&lt;/strong&gt; it once in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But now there's one other question that I've seen debated: the difference between past perfect tense and past preterit tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider the two sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;So lucky I am to have found this site!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;So lucky was I to find this site!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first these both sound like past tense, so they should be acceptable, right? But there's one important difference- the word &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt;. It's made even more confusing in this instance because &quot;found&quot; is both the perfect tense and the past tense for this verb. An example where these two would be different would be &quot;eaten&quot; and &quot;ate&quot;. &quot;Eaten&quot; is perfect tense, &quot;ate&quot; is past tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what's the difference between past perfect and past preterit? The past preterit means that something happened and is no longer happening. The past perfect means that something happened, is no longer happening, but still has an affect on the present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, consider the following two:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I lost my keys&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I have lost my keys&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first sentence we don't know if the keys are still lost, or if they have already been found. You could easily follow this sentence with &quot;but I found them under my bed&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second sentence the keys are still lost. It does &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; make sense to say &quot;I have lost my keys, but I found them&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as far as finding this site is concerned, if you are still active and posting on this site then it's correct to say &quot;So lucky I am to &lt;strong&gt;have found&lt;/strong&gt; this site&quot;, since the site is still found in the present. If you forget how to find this site in the future, though, and you think back fondly on your wonderful memories here, you would want to say &quot;So lucky &lt;strong&gt;was&lt;/strong&gt; I to &lt;strong&gt;find&lt;/strong&gt; this site&quot;. Because at this point we can no longer tie the verb into the present, so we are left with one recourse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that, like the keys example, &lt;em&gt;any time&lt;/em&gt; you can use past preterit you can also use past perfect tense. Meaning both are currently correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2088" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T06:07:09.280" />
  <row Id="5033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5002" CreationDate="2010-11-14T06:18:12.600" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it's just called the &quot;introduction&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also heard several idiomatic terms like &quot;hook&quot;, &quot;clinger&quot;, or &quot;catch&quot; - all suggesting that the beginning of the poem (or any literary piece in the case of many of these terms) should be interesting enough to grab the reader's attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise you could just refer to it as &quot;the first stanza&quot;. I'm sure anyone would understand this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2088" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T06:18:12.600" />
  <row Id="5034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4976" CreationDate="2010-11-14T06:37:03.140" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if I can help a lot, but I will explain what I can. I spent two months in Japan and there are no articles in Japanese. Phrases like &quot;give me the book&quot; and &quot;give me a book&quot; translate exactly the same. As such when the Japanese students were learning English they never understood article adjectives, and I often found myself struggling to explain the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, whether or not you need an article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An article adjective is used to specify a single one of many possible items. The term &quot;article&quot; is defined as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/article&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/article&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;an individual object, member, or portion of a class; an item or particular: an article of food; articles of clothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore you generally do not use an article if you are talking about more than one thing. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I think dogs are cute&quot; - here, &quot;dogs&quot; refers to every dog on earth&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I own two dogs&quot; - here, &quot;dogs&quot; only refers to two. But two is still more than one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an exception to this rule when using the article &quot;the&quot;, which I will discuss later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also do &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; use an article if another part of the sentence has already made it clear that you are talking about one thing. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;That dog is ugly&quot; - the term &quot;that&quot; implies that you are speaking about one specific dog&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;My dog is cute&quot; - the term &quot;my&quot; specifies a single dog&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are talking about one object and it's not already clear that you are talking about one object, then you need an article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I want a dog&quot; - this means you only want &lt;strong&gt;one&lt;/strong&gt; dog, not many&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I saw the dog at work&quot; - this means you only saw &lt;strong&gt;one&lt;/strong&gt; dog&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, there are two different types of articles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The definite article - &quot;the&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The indefinite articles - &quot;a&quot; and &quot;an&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference here is subtle, but important. The definite article is only used if the speaker and the listener both know &lt;strong&gt;which&lt;/strong&gt; object in specific you are talking about. A phrase like &quot;the book&quot; has no meaning unless the person hearing it knows which book the speaker is talking about. For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I need a book&quot; - this implies that &lt;strong&gt;any&lt;/strong&gt; book is good enough. I don't care which book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I need the book&quot; - this implies that there is only one specific book I want. If you don't know which book I want, the word &quot;the&quot; compels native English speakers to ask for clarification&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is probably the hardest part of articles for foreign speakers to understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note that since &quot;the&quot; is used to imply that the listener knows which one the speaker is talking about, you can use &quot;the&quot; with plural nouns if the listener knows every one that the speaker is talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I think the dogs are cute&quot; - this doesn't mean that you think all dogs in the world are cute, but there is a group of dogs whom you think are cute. It also implies that the listener knows which dogs you think are cute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, the difference between &quot;a&quot; and &quot;an&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is actually one of the easiest rules to remember. If the next word starts with a vowel sound, you need to use &quot;an&quot;. If the next word does not start with a vowel sound, you need to use &quot;a&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A vowel in this case refers to A, E, I, O, and U. It does not include Y.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to note that I said if the next word starts with a vowel &lt;strong&gt;sound&lt;/strong&gt;. This is the reason behind many words that seem like exceptions. For instance, even though the word &quot;unicycle&quot; starts with the letter U, it's pronounced &quot;yu-nih-sy-kuhl&quot;. It starts with a Y sound. Therefore you would say &quot;a unicycle&quot;, even though it starts with a vowel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;99% of the time, however, if a word starts with a vowel then you will use &quot;an&quot; instead of &quot;a&quot;. Keep in mind one very important part of this rule: which word you use depends on the &lt;strong&gt;next word&lt;/strong&gt;, not the noun which is being modified. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I saw &lt;strong&gt;an&lt;/strong&gt; eagle&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I saw &lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt; bald eagle&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though we are talking about &quot;eagle&quot; each time, when the next word is the adjective &quot;bald&quot; you need to use &quot;a&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks to RegDwight for pointing out my mistake with the article &quot;the&quot; =)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2088" LastEditorUserId="2088" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-14T16:37:34.283" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T16:37:34.283" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5035" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-14T08:23:21.587" Score="11" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a speed sign on a nearby reservation that has a 7 in the middle of it. I know native languages were primarily spoken and not written but I have never seen a word with a numeral in it before and am curious. Anyone know of other examples of this? I can't remember the word but I searched it years ago on google and had 0 results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2091" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T10:04:22.223" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T14:00:23.143" ClosedDate="2011-02-06T15:19:01.280" Title="Numeral inside a word?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;numerals&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5035" CreationDate="2010-11-14T08:54:35.867" Score="24" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to assume you're in Canada and leave near some &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%E1%B8%B5wx%CC%B1w%C3%BA7mesh&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sḵwx̱wú7mesh&lt;/a&gt; (Squamish) people, who speak the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%E1%B8%B5wxw%C3%BA7mesh_language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sḵwx̱wú7mesh language&lt;/a&gt;. The use of the digit 7 as a letter is delightfully peculiar to this language, and simply indicates a glottal stop (the same sound represented by the apostrophe-like &lt;code&gt;ʻ&lt;/code&gt; character in Hawaiian) which occurs in most varieties of English as a substitute for a sharp T in the middle or especially at the end of a word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, if you're not familiar with IPA, the best approximation I can come up with for how to pronounce the name in the language itself is &quot;sk-who'-mush&quot;, where the apostrophe denotes a glottal stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T08:54:35.867" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5004" CreationDate="2010-11-14T10:11:21.447" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't heard the expression myself but a quick Google search led me to this answer, I can't really tell how reliable is the source:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.allexperts.com/q/German-Language-1585/2009/2/Idiomatic-expressions.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.allexperts.com/q/German-Language-1585/2009/2/Idiomatic-expressions.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The relevant part from the answer would be:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the death of Queen Anne was officially hushed up for a while [...] News had leaked out,&#xA;  so when at last there was an official announcement of the Queen's death, the crowd chanted in derision &quot;Queen Anne is dead - didn't you know?&quot;  and to this day &quot;And Queen Anne is dead&quot; is a standard rejoinder to somebody who bears stale news or states the obvious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1923" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T10:11:21.447" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5038" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-14T12:36:28.040" Score="3" ViewCount="336" Body="&lt;p&gt;In an &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5025/email-me-and-mail-to-me/5029#5029&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt; to another question, steven_desu argued that it was “technically incorrect” to use the word “e-mail” or “email” as a verb because it stands for “electronic mail.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not argue whether he is right or not because I am not interested in whether the word is “technically correct” or not.  As long as I am concerned, it is enough to know that the use of “e-mail” as a verb is widely accepted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, his answer has certainly pointed out an interesting fact: when people use “e-mail” as a verb, they no longer care about the fact that the word was originally an abbreviation for “electronic mail,” which is a noun phrase.  “Please e-mail me” is fine, but “please electronic mail me” is simply wrong.  Although “please &lt;em&gt;electronically&lt;/em&gt; mail me” may be ok, I do not think that people consider “please e-mail me” as a short form for “please electronically mail me.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is: what are other examples of words like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The word is originally an abbreviation for a noun or a noun phrase, and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It can be used as a verb (or, even better, another part of speech!) in a way that the original word/phrase cannot substitute for the abbreviation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:51:13.290" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T20:16:07.277" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-23T20:40:42.453" Title="Abbreviations for nouns / noun phrases used as non-nouns" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;verbing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5038" CreationDate="2010-11-14T13:25:04.440" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spec&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As a noun, it appeared as a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=specification&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;short form of specification&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is now also used as a verb. Meaning is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spec&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;to write specifications for&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When you use it is as a verb (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://cars.uk.msn.com/blog/inside-track-blogpost.aspx?post=17ae2e6a-e75e-433a-a53b-aba24de67284&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;spec your Ferrari&lt;/a&gt;), you can't replace the short form &lt;em&gt;spec&lt;/em&gt; with the originating noun's long form &lt;em&gt;specification&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-14T14:23:29.163" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T14:23:29.163" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-14T13:32:36.617" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5040" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5041" CreationDate="2010-11-14T13:39:30.787" Score="3" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;Last week I was attending a communications training program.  The trainer said that the term 'come again' has sexual meaning in American English.  I was surprised as I have seen many Americans using the term in movies and meetings.  Is there any such negative sense to the phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2093" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-14T16:34:09.823" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T07:56:02.037" Title="About the usage of term 'come again'" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5040" CreationDate="2010-11-14T14:17:58.227" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sure, this phrase has sexual connotations, inasmuch as the word &lt;em&gt;come&lt;/em&gt; has sexual connotations.  But only someone being intentionally perverted would think of sex when hearing the phrase &quot;come again&quot;, or another phrase with &lt;em&gt;come&lt;/em&gt; in it, in day-to-day situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-14T21:08:02.607" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T21:08:02.607" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5040" CreationDate="2010-11-14T16:32:20.310" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this expression inherited a sexual connotation after it was used by &lt;em&gt;Sebastian&lt;/em&gt;  (character) in the movie &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0139134/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cruel Intentions&lt;/a&gt;. Otherwise it doesn't carry a questionable meaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1446" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-14T16:37:55.530" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T16:37:55.530" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4842" CreationDate="2010-11-14T16:51:02.457" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as your &lt;code&gt;silly&lt;/code&gt; experiment, your problem arises in that &lt;code&gt;ly&lt;/code&gt; is used to convert an adjective into an adverb, with the definition &quot;in a [adjective] manner&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, &lt;code&gt;sillily&lt;/code&gt; is a word (&quot;in a silly manner&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as &quot;in a sillier manner&quot;, there are two rules for forming a superlative from an adverb. If the adverb was formed by adding &lt;code&gt;ly&lt;/code&gt; to an adjective, you must use &lt;code&gt;most&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;more&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In a sillier manner&quot; -&gt; &lt;code&gt;more sillily&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In the silliest manner&quot; -&gt; &lt;code&gt;most sillily&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If an adverb is the same as the adjective form, you can make a superlative using &lt;code&gt;er&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;est&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In a faster manner&quot; -&gt; &lt;code&gt;faster&lt;/code&gt; (ex. &quot;He ran faster&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In the fastest manner&quot; -&gt; &lt;code&gt;fastest&lt;/code&gt; (ex. &quot;He ran fastest&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for &lt;code&gt;sillilily&lt;/code&gt;, this is entirely nonsense. The reason is that our &lt;code&gt;ly&lt;/code&gt; rule only applies to adjectives. You can not apply &lt;code&gt;ly&lt;/code&gt; to an adverb and expect a &quot;double adverb&quot;. An attempt to apply the rule directly would result in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In a sillily manner&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice that since &lt;code&gt;manner&lt;/code&gt; is a noun, it should not have an adverb describing it. In your examples the word &quot;suggesting&quot; came out of nowhere. Nothing in the grammatical construction implied that there was suggestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of &lt;code&gt;sillililiest&lt;/code&gt; we encounter both of the above problems simultaneously. First, you attempted to make an adverb from an adverb by adding &lt;code&gt;ly&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;sillily&lt;/code&gt; -&gt; &lt;code&gt;sillilily&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you attempted to appliest &lt;code&gt;est&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;er&lt;/code&gt; to make a superlative&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;sillilily&lt;/code&gt; -&gt; &lt;code&gt;sillililiest&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of these can not be done. The first because &lt;code&gt;ly&lt;/code&gt; only applies to adjectives, not adverbs. The second because to make a superlative from an adverb which was formed by adding &lt;code&gt;ly&lt;/code&gt;, you must use more or most. Again- you introduced the word &quot;suggesting&quot; which came out of nowhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2088" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T16:51:02.457" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4994" CreationDate="2010-11-14T17:55:54.403" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simple rule is just that pronouns follow different rules from nouns. You can take any noun phrase and apply an &lt;code&gt;'s&lt;/code&gt; in order to make it possessive. You can not do the same with a pronoun. Every pronoun has its own possessive form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;I&lt;/code&gt; -&gt; &lt;code&gt;my&lt;/code&gt;&#xA;&lt;code&gt;you&lt;/code&gt; -&gt; &lt;code&gt;your&lt;/code&gt;&#xA;&lt;code&gt;he&lt;/code&gt; -&gt; &lt;code&gt;his&lt;/code&gt;&#xA;&lt;code&gt;she&lt;/code&gt; -&gt; &lt;code&gt;her&lt;/code&gt;&#xA;&lt;code&gt;we&lt;/code&gt; -&gt; &lt;code&gt;our&lt;/code&gt;&#xA;&lt;code&gt;you all&lt;/code&gt; (second person plural) -&gt; (someone help me on this one)&#xA;&lt;code&gt;they&lt;/code&gt; -&gt; &lt;code&gt;their&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note also that &lt;code&gt;they&lt;/code&gt; is sometimes used as a singular gender-ambiguous pronoun. In this case it is still converted as the plural to &lt;code&gt;their&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at all three of your examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;*all of us's friend (a friend of all of us)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since &lt;code&gt;us&lt;/code&gt; is a pronoun (in this case, it's the objective form of &lt;code&gt;we&lt;/code&gt;) we need to use a pronoun possessive instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;all of our friend&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;*you and me's picture (a picture of you and me)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, we see two pronouns (&lt;code&gt;me&lt;/code&gt; is the objective form of &lt;code&gt;I&lt;/code&gt;). So the correct form is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;your and my picture&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;*the gift I gave to them's receipt&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one is a little different, since the problem doesn't lie with the usage of pronouns. The object in particular is &quot;the gift&quot;, which we referenced directly without the use of the word &quot;it&quot;. The problem with this sentence is the existence of the word &quot;gave&quot;. Once you add a verb this is no longer a noun phrase, but is now an independent clause. As a clause you must either give it its own sentence, introduce a conjunction, or make it part of a prepositional phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I gave them the gift. Its receipt... (new sentence)&#xA;I gave them the gift, and its receipt... (conjunction)&#xA;the receipt of the gift I gave to them (prepositional phrase)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that in the first two cases we had to introduce the pronoun &quot;it&quot;. We could also substitute &quot;it&quot; with the word &quot;the gift&quot; (&quot;the gift's receipt...&quot;). The reason that we had to do this becomes obvious if you consider the rest of the sentence. The receipt is part of a separate clause, so in order to reference something in a previous clause we must either use a pronoun or repeat the object we are bringing back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On final note, if you wanted the receipt to be part of the predicate then you would follow the same rules:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;They lost the gift's receipt. It was the gift I gave to them. (new sentence)&#xA;(Someone help me on making this into a conjunctive phrase, please)&#xA;They lost the receipt of the gift I gave to them&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2088" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T17:55:54.403" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5045" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5046" CreationDate="2010-11-14T19:02:15.303" Score="3" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On most of the accounts, life of a farmer is very hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the use of the phrase 'on most of the accounts' right here? If not, what will be the best substitution?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2005" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-14T19:07:18.437" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T19:44:00.433" Title="&quot;on most of the accounts&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5045" CreationDate="2010-11-14T19:44:00.433" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you're probably looking for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;By most accounts, the life of a farmer is very hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would mean that according to most people, a farmer's life is very hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise I'm not sure what &lt;code&gt;on most of the accounts&lt;/code&gt; would mean in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T19:44:00.433" />
  <row Id="5047" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5050" CreationDate="2010-11-14T20:11:47.223" Score="3" ViewCount="289" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between the subject words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2095" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T14:09:17.027" Title="Idiot vs stupid" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5047" CreationDate="2010-11-14T21:05:52.187" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Idiot is a noun. Stupid is an adjective. So let's compare the same parts of speech... Note: this is all just my opinion, so we'll see based on the number of upvotes whether other people use the words the same way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;idiot vs. stupid person&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a &lt;strong&gt;stupid person&lt;/strong&gt; is just somebody who isn't very smart or intellectual. It's not their fault. It's same as saying &quot;he's a bit slow.&quot; You could have a person who is hard-working but stupid, for example.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An &lt;strong&gt;idiot&lt;/strong&gt;, on the other hand, is worse. It means someone who does idiotic/stupid things, like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ilOoHtaq9c&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;having friends shoot fireworks into their face&lt;/a&gt;. It's more of a behavior thing. Someone can be intelligent but purposefully (or subconsciously) act like an idiot all the time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;idiotic vs. stupid&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are more similar in meaning. They just describe things or situations where, for example, unfavorable things happen for avoidable reasons, or when something doesn't work out, example: &quot;Having that meeting was a &lt;strong&gt;stupid&lt;/strong&gt; idea.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, I think &lt;strong&gt;idiotic&lt;/strong&gt; just means stupid, but to a higher degree. If having the meeting was a stupid idea, then it was just a waste of time and nothing got done. If having the meeting was an &lt;em&gt;idiotic&lt;/em&gt; idea, then perhaps the result was starting a war or someone getting killed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other adjectives meaning stupid/idiotic: &lt;strong&gt;retarded&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;moronic&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;dumb&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T21:05:52.187" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5047" CreationDate="2010-11-14T21:22:35.780" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Compare the examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Idiot (noun) vs. stupid (noun)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only an idiot would invest in the company back in the 90's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Idiot = a person affected with extreme mental retardation (offensive).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was a genius at math, but a total stupid when it came to women.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Total stupid = antonym of genius.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Stupid (adjective)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That was a stupid idea!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: &lt;em&gt;Idiot&lt;/em&gt; can't be used as an adjective. &lt;em&gt;Idiotic&lt;/em&gt; is the adjective. For &lt;em&gt;idiotic&lt;/em&gt; (adjective) vs. &lt;em&gt;stupid&lt;/em&gt; (adjective), refer to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5047/idiot-vs-stupid/5049#5049&quot;&gt;Claudiu's answer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-14T21:35:59.213" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T21:35:59.213" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="884" CreationDate="2010-11-14T21:54:58.450" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it makes sense to the reader then of cause it can.&#xA;However it is not correct English to use it that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1429" LastActivityDate="2010-11-14T21:54:58.450" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5052" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5062" CreationDate="2010-11-14T21:57:22.020" Score="2" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aren't some articles missing in the following sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... when traditional pattern of landscape became established.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is it something else that is wrong with this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hedge&amp;amp;oldid=395519337#History&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Context&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="244" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:06:12.740" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:06:12.740" Title="Missing articles?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;articles&gt;&lt;determiners&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5052" CreationDate="2010-11-14T22:13:30.757" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you write &quot;the traditional patterns&quot;, you're referring to specific patterns. There was no article in that case because the author meant traditional patterns in general. But I think I would have written &quot;&lt;strong&gt;traditional patterns&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; (plural) instead of &quot;traditional pattern&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I like cats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I like cats in general.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I like the cats that I have at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-15T20:00:59.250" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T20:00:59.250" />
  <row Id="5054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4812" CreationDate="2010-11-15T02:33:21.700" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported by others, &quot;wotcher&quot; (or, as I've seen elsewhere, &quot;watcha&quot;) is a greeting that has been used for a long time in the UK. It is certainly still in use in North Kent, though in a rather more middle-class accent than in the East End.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2097" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T02:33:21.700" />
  <row Id="5055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="846" CreationDate="2010-11-15T05:07:15.907" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the question should really be what are the Equivalences between Australian English and British English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because Australian English is derived from British English and has far more in common with it than it does with US English.&#xA;In fact, apart from colloquialisms and a few differences in common phrases Australian and British English are very close indeed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1429" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-15T11:25:17.560" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T11:25:17.560" />
  <row Id="5056" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5064" CreationDate="2010-11-15T09:07:11.797" Score="5" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;In another &lt;a href=&quot;http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=171643&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;forum&lt;/a&gt; I read the following amazing thing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In the middle 1980s, when I was in the Navy, the submarine I was in operated out of Holy Loch, Scotland. Our Xerox copier needed maintenance and the American Xerox tech was on leave. So a tech came out of Glasgow. I had a junior yeoman, an Alabama Black, escort the Glaswegian. The two of them were reduced to writing notes to each other. They had no trouble reading the other's written English, but the two accents were so strong that their spoken English was mutually incomprehensible. However, if you had asked either of them, they would have told you that they were speaking their native language, English.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you had similar (comparably extreme) experiences? Please, &lt;em&gt;only native English speakers&lt;/em&gt; (obviously there are many examples from or with non-native speakers)!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T10:54:17.963" Title="Communicate via written notes - although native speakers?" Tags="&lt;accent&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="5057" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-15T10:45:39.700" Score="1" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/660/if-i-was-or-if-i-were-which-is-more-common-and-which-is-correct&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;If I was&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;If I were&amp;rdquo;. Which is more common, and which is correct?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen different usage of the phrase 'If..was' and 'If..were'.  But I find it difficult to understand when to use which.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;e.g. If I were the President of the United State, I would get the hell out of Iraq.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This looks correct. Can I use 'If I was' here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a rule?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2093" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T10:45:39.700" ClosedDate="2010-11-15T14:41:55.563" Title="Difference between 'If ..was' and 'If ...were'" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5058" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5059" CreationDate="2010-11-15T11:25:05.643" Score="5" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a comprehensive list on the web where I can find the names of common symbols? Google unfortunately doesn't search on symbols, so it is pretty much useless there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, what is &lt;code&gt;`&lt;/code&gt; called (the symbol to the left of &lt;kbd&gt;1&lt;/kbd&gt; on US keyboards)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="45" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-16T16:13:40.910" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T16:13:40.910" Title="Finding out the names of symbols" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;symbol&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5058" CreationDate="2010-11-15T11:31:22.810" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;`&lt;/code&gt; is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_accent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;grave accent&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/60/index.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;U+0060&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Resources I can recommend: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.unicode.org/charts/#symbols&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Unicode Code Charts&lt;/a&gt;, Wikipedia: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punctuation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Punctuation&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacritic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Diacritic&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-15T11:38:30.870" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T11:38:30.870" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5060" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5061" CreationDate="2010-11-15T12:00:49.307" Score="6" ViewCount="517" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I just re-watched &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVN_0qvuhhw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this great comedy by Tim Minchin&lt;/a&gt;, and here are the questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How bad/offensive is the g-word&#xA;really (other than being an anagram of the n-word)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are alternatives? Is &quot;redhead&quot;&#xA;more appropriate?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2099" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T12:32:15.493" Title="Only a ginger can call another ginger ginger" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;expletives&gt;&lt;taboo&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5060" CreationDate="2010-11-15T12:53:26.487" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It appears to be getting more offensive, and the amount of offence caused seems to be geographic. I think the offence really depends where you are in the world. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that, it's quite a subjective question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here in the UK, it's still quite widely used, but politicians / celebrities that use the phrase (or phrases like it) get criticised. The criticism isn't enough to get someone fired, but an apology is probably needed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See the recent news article about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-11658228&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Harriet Harman calling someone a ginger rodent&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW, there's also a fair bit of pushback against how offensive the use of ginger is in comparison to other racial slurs. There's no history of slavery associated with red hair, and this fact is increasingly mentioned in conversations about &quot;ginger&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think this gets to the root (ha) of the issue here in the UK though. Ginger hair is associated with the underclasses. If that association gets stronger, then maybe the word will be seen as being more offensive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the best I can give you is &quot;We'll see&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1935" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T12:53:26.487" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="5062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5052" CreationDate="2010-11-15T13:06:48.467" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, there is a missing article, or more likely a missing plural. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T13:06:48.467" />
  <row Id="5063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5038" CreationDate="2010-11-15T13:19:14.207" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/blog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Blog&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Involuntary_commitment#United_Kingdom&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Section&lt;/a&gt;. Airmail. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's one of the many ways English enriches itself. I don't know what &quot;technically incorrect&quot; might mean in this context, but I can find no meaning in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-17T12:42:12.813" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T12:42:12.813" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="5064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5056" CreationDate="2010-11-15T13:30:08.797" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/review96/ftrainspotting.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Washington Post article&lt;/a&gt;, the film &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trainspotting_%28film%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Trainspotting&lt;/a&gt;, which is set in Edinburgh, had to have some of its dialogue redubbed with weaker accents for the benefit of American audiences (subtitles having been ruled out).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T13:30:08.797" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5047" CreationDate="2010-11-15T14:09:17.027" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The current meanings aside for a second, I heard that 'Idiot' along with 'Moron' and 'Imbecile' were used as tachnical classifications of mental retardation by Henry Goddard's and that all these terms seeped into general usage as different ways of saying stupid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; for instance says &quot;The term 'idiot' was used to refer to people having an IQ below 30&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1860" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T14:09:17.027" />
  <row Id="5066" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5067" CreationDate="2010-11-15T14:54:08.893" Score="6" ViewCount="228" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;TRWTF is they were running as root, at a nuclear sciences research facility!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;TRWTF is that the World Cup was in South Africa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the detailed meaning of the above sentences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many catchphrases like &quot;IMHO&quot; in  English?&#xA;Be thankful to any advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1911" LastEditorUserId="1911" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-16T02:07:02.340" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T02:07:02.340" Title="What's the meaning of 'TRWTF '?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;acronyms&gt;&lt;catch-phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5066" CreationDate="2010-11-15T14:59:55.507" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The real &quot;What the F***&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is really bad about this, where they really blew it was...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/what_the_fuck&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WTF&lt;/a&gt; is an abbreviation in its own right and could also mean  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What in the world, what in God's name&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore TRWTF would express&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The reason one might exclaim &quot;What in the world is this&quot;, is that they were running as root, at a nuclear sciences research facility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-15T19:50:03.830" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T19:50:03.830" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5068" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5071" CreationDate="2010-11-15T15:14:24.553" Score="3" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;How should this expression be used, and what is its origin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1009" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-15T17:34:07.650" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T17:34:07.650" Title="How to use Lo and behold expression" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5068" CreationDate="2010-11-15T15:24:05.627" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Origin, from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lo_and_behold&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The lo from the expression likely originated from the shortening of the word loke, commonly seen in Middle English texts. Its presence in literature can be traced as far back as the 1800s. The literal meaning of the expression is &quot;look and see&quot;, and it is always used as if in the imperative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds archaic and a bit strange, so use it to get a kind of like.. overly formal/surprised effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And then, lo and behold, she returned!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Carine tried her luck at the lottery and, lo and behold, won $1,500 last month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hartington... had just told us how hard he had worked all the morning... when, lo and behold! M. Deshayes himself appeared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T15:24:05.627" />
  <row Id="5070" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5075" CreationDate="2010-11-15T15:25:07.710" Score="11" ViewCount="275" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the expression &quot;(someone is a) &lt;strong&gt;bad loser&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; valid?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If it is valid, is it equal to &quot;&lt;strong&gt;sore loser&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, or does it have a different meaning and/or use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1800" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:56:57.310" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:56:57.310" Title="Is &quot;bad loser&quot; a valid expression?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5068" CreationDate="2010-11-15T15:25:09.970" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is an interjection with literal meaning &quot;look and see&quot;. It is used to demonstrate &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lo_and_behold?show=0&amp;amp;t=1289834685&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;surprise&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lo+and+behold&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the first known use was in 1808&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the etymology, according to the Wiktionary, &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lo_and_behold&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;lo&lt;/em&gt; originated from the shortening of the word loke, commonly seen in Middle English texts&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some interesting examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs/lo-and-behold&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; Bob Dylan's song (1967).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=eJIRgj9LtpMC&amp;amp;pg=PA1588&amp;amp;dq=%22lo+and+behold%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=clPhTMn3G9KwhAfu5Mi7DQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=9&amp;amp;ved=0CEwQ6AEwCDgK&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;We kept falling back, kept falling back, and lo and behold, after the '88 election, we found ourselves in the worst recession since the Great Depression.&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Bill Clinton, &lt;em&gt;William J. Clinton&lt;/em&gt; (1998)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dZnvmwOUNngC&amp;amp;pg=PA147&amp;amp;dq=%22lo+and+behold%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=clPhTMn3G9KwhAfu5Mi7DQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=4&amp;amp;ved=0CDUQ6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22lo%20and%20behold%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;When the woman went to pick it up - lo and behold! - the cat was sitting quite comfy inside the cave.&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Rudyard Kipling, &lt;em&gt;Just so stories for little children&lt;/em&gt; (1989)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=AQAkexXE_RUC&amp;amp;pg=PA111&amp;amp;dq=%22lo+and+behold%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=clPhTMn3G9KwhAfu5Mi7DQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=8&amp;amp;ved=0CEcQ6AEwBzgK&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;But when she opened the door, lo, and behold! Jack wasn't there!&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Arthur Rackham, &lt;em&gt;English fairy tales&lt;/em&gt; (1994)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-15T16:00:21.810" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T16:00:21.810" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5066" CreationDate="2010-11-15T15:26:19.883" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ralph's answer has got the meaning. As to the origin... there is a website, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thedailywtf.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;www.thedailywtf.com&lt;/a&gt;, which has daily posts of really idiotic and messed up coding practices. Usually the story is obviously terrible in a certain way. However, people say &quot;Well, the &lt;em&gt;real&lt;/em&gt; wtf is...&quot; meaning, the thing that is &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; messed up.. and they point out something more subtle/funny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T15:26:19.883" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5070" CreationDate="2010-11-15T15:30:24.587" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Sore loser&quot; is a more common idiom to describe someone who acts badly when they don't win.  But &quot;bad loser&quot; can also be used to describe this, and is transparent in meaning.  I have heard &quot;bad loser&quot; from time to time, but &quot;sore loser&quot; is much more common, simply because it is an idiom that has been around a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T15:30:24.587" />
  <row Id="5074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5068" CreationDate="2010-11-15T15:42:59.130" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lo&lt;/em&gt; comes from Middle English, where it was a short form of &lt;em&gt;lok&lt;/em&gt;, imperative of &lt;em&gt;loken&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;to look&quot; (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=lo&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lo#Interjection&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;). To &lt;em&gt;behold&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/behold&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;means&lt;/a&gt; &quot;to see, to look at&quot; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=behold&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;comes&lt;/a&gt; from Old English &lt;em&gt;bihaldan&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;give regard to, hold in view&quot; (compare to &lt;em&gt;behalten&lt;/em&gt; in contemporary German). So the literal meaning of the phrase is &quot;Look and see!&quot;, but nowadays it is used as a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_phrase&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;set phrase&lt;/a&gt; and an interjection to express surprise. Merriam-Webster &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lo_and_behold?show=0&amp;amp;t=1289835255&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt; that the first recorded appearance is from 1808. Wiktionary adds that it is &quot;often used ironically or humorously&quot;, and the Cambridge Idioms Dictionary marks it as &quot;humorous&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T15:42:59.130" />
  <row Id="5075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5070" CreationDate="2010-11-15T16:07:17.803" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Bad loser&quot; does indeed mean the same as &quot;sore loser&quot;, but I'd suggest that the former is more common in the UK, whereas the latter is more common in the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T16:07:17.803" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5076" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5096" CreationDate="2010-11-15T17:34:03.743" Score="2" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I used the word &lt;em&gt;morally&lt;/em&gt; as an adjective formed from the noun &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;moral&lt;/a&gt;. The concept I wanted to describe was that some statement is &lt;em&gt;morally&lt;/em&gt; correct if you are able to agree with it intuitively but you don't necessarily have evidence or proof for it. So the statement would be a &lt;em&gt;moral&lt;/em&gt; of some precise story (meaning evidence or proof).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then it was pointed out to me that this might not be correct because &lt;em&gt;morally&lt;/em&gt; is usually understood as referring to &lt;em&gt;morality&lt;/em&gt;. So I looked it up in the dictionary and, indeed, I weren't able to find the meaning I wanted. So my questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Is it correct to use word &lt;em&gt;morally&lt;/em&gt; in the meaning I referred to above?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;More generally, how do I know that words I form (e.g. by deriving adjectives from nouns) are correct? Is it enough to look in the dictionary and by not finding the word there, could I conclude that the word (or some special meaning of the word) indeed does not exist?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2090" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-15T17:42:44.783" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T06:19:10.170" Title="Is it possible to form adjective &quot;morally&quot; by deriving it from the noun &quot;moral&quot; (as in &quot;of the story&quot;)?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;dictionaries&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5076" CreationDate="2010-11-15T18:04:45.147" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yes, it is correct. Merriam-Webster lists &lt;em&gt;morally&lt;/em&gt; as the adverb for of &lt;em&gt;moral&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Checking a dictionary is a pretty good way to be sure. You could also search a corpus (or Google it) to see if anyone else uses the word.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T18:04:45.147" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5056" CreationDate="2010-11-15T18:11:54.103" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I once visited Edinburgh, and was unable to understand many of the locals.  (I'm a native English speaker from Boston.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T18:11:54.103" />
  <row Id="5079" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5080" CreationDate="2010-11-15T18:45:11.297" Score="2" ViewCount="338" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct way to say it: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;it's not a big deal to me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;it's not a big deal for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, should I use &quot;it's &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;&quot; or &quot;it's &lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt;&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-16T09:38:04.700" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T09:38:04.700" Title="&quot;it's not a big deal to me&quot; vs &quot;it's not a big deal for me&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5079" CreationDate="2010-11-15T18:50:46.223" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either is acceptable.  I would probably choose &quot;for me&quot;, personally, but I would not think it strange to hear someone speak either form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your second question, I would say that &quot;It's no big deal for me&quot; carries more emphasis on 'no' than &quot;It's not a big deal for me.&quot;  Both are equally acceptable, and the difference is very subtle (in fact, some people may disagree with me on that difference in the first place).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="433" LastEditorUserId="433" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-15T19:01:39.300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T19:01:39.300" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5081" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-15T19:03:39.660" Score="0" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK, I just posted this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/seduction/comments/e6dek/how_do_you_reply_to_im_not_interested_in_dating/c15o4vj&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dude, get this: she's walking all over&#xA;  your. Making remarks such as &quot;I'm not&#xA;  interested in dating anyone right now&quot;&#xA;  to a person (you), who is obviously&#xA;  interested, is hurting. Tell me&#xA;  honestly, did you feel good when she told&#xA;  you that? Probably not. Furthermore,&#xA;  her statement implied that she had&#xA;  known you were interested, and by&#xA;  making that remark, she put you in&#xA;  your wussy place, so-to-speak. So you&#xA;  get the control back. You care too&#xA;  much what she'd think or whether it&#xA;  works. It's life! And in life, you&#xA;  want to do the right thing, walk&#xA;  confidently, and never let anyone walk&#xA;  over you. Don't give sh$t, and don't&#xA;  take other people's sh$t.... Oh, the&#xA;  only time she would catch your bluff,&#xA;  is when she'll be making love to you.... I think&#xA;  you're fine with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if my verbs agree when I used them in the past tense. Please correct it if you see issues. thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T19:03:39.660" ClosedDate="2010-11-15T20:21:18.670" Title="Verb agreeement in the past -tense sentence" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5082" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5087" CreationDate="2010-11-15T20:03:04.100" Score="5" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to give a piece of software a name but for non-native English speakers it's sometimes hard to avoid awkward associations with names because you don't live with the language. Sometimes word meanings and connotations can be really diverse depending on the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, does the word &quot;&lt;strong&gt;thumbtick&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; have any awkward, strange or bad connotations that would make it inappropriate as a software name?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am intentionally not giving away the purpose of the software, so as to not introduce any bias.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE: The purpose of this software should be a simple easy to use time tracking webapp with mobile phone interface support. The main screen has a button named &quot;tick&quot; to start and stop actions quick and easy and create time-sheets which can be filled with further information later on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2103" LastEditorUserId="2103" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-23T18:05:07.357" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T18:05:07.357" Title="What could the word &quot;thumbtick&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;names&gt;&lt;connotation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5082" CreationDate="2010-11-15T20:11:20.490" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, as a compound, I can't say I've ever heard &lt;code&gt;thumbtick&lt;/code&gt; in any context.  However, decomposing it into &lt;code&gt;thumb&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;tick&lt;/code&gt; would lead me to believe it's a parasitic insect that attaches to your thumb.  Assuming that's NOT what it is, you may want to avoid associating it with the insect ticks which generally have a bad reputation as disease-carrying parasitic nuisances.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Out of curiosity, what is the software, and how did it lead you to choose that name?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T20:11:20.490" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5084" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5086" CreationDate="2010-11-15T20:46:10.307" Score="6" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, you’ll use a higher-level model called ASP.NET AJAX. ASP.NET AJAX gives you a set of server-side components and controls that you can use when designing your web page.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This does not seem correct to me, at least in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="932" LastEditorUserId="932" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-15T21:02:23.687" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T10:11:17.887" Title="Is it proper to start a sentence with the word that ended the last sentence?" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5084" CreationDate="2010-11-15T20:56:20.190" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. You just did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know of any rule forbidding it and even if there was it likely is simply a best practice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with most things, avoid it if it makes the sentences hard to read or sound awkward, even if it is technically correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="179" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-15T21:47:08.433" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T21:47:08.433" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5084" CreationDate="2010-11-15T20:56:35.973" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I'm not aware of a particular grammatical rule that would prohibit this, as a matter of style, I would prefer not to do what you're suggesting there, especially with something like &lt;code&gt;ASP.NET AJAX&lt;/code&gt;.  I would suggest something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Instead, you’ll use a higher-level model called ASP.NET AJAX. This toolkit gives you a set of server-side components and controls that you can use when designing your web page.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can replace &lt;code&gt;toolkit&lt;/code&gt; with something more appropriate if you prefer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T20:56:35.973" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5082" CreationDate="2010-11-15T23:00:45.437" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thumb&lt;/em&gt; is associated with the literal thumb; &lt;em&gt;to thumb through&lt;/em&gt;, in the sense of reading or searching; and &lt;em&gt;to thumb&lt;/em&gt;, referring to hitchhiking. There's also &lt;em&gt;thumbs up&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;thumbs down&lt;/em&gt; for approval or disapproval, as in voting. A &lt;em&gt;tick&lt;/em&gt; is a small mechanical sound (as of a clock), a short period of time, a parasitic insect, or another name for a &lt;em&gt;tickmark&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;checkmark&lt;/em&gt;, indicating that something has been seen, selected, or verified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see any way in which these meanings could be combined that would be offensive or excessively awkward, especially given that the intended meanings should be apparent from the software itself, or, say, from its logo. If your logo were a thumbs-up sign and a tickmark in a box, &quot;thumbtick&quot; would obviously refer specifically to those two concepts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thumbtick&lt;/em&gt; also looks a lot like &lt;em&gt;thumbtack&lt;/em&gt;, a pin for posting paper on a board, which could be another good association if your software involves bulletin-type information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T23:00:45.437" />
  <row Id="5088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5079" CreationDate="2010-11-15T23:01:55.560" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All the variations you list are correct. Stylistically, I would go with either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's not a big deal to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's no big deal for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning is just barely different between these: the &quot;for me&quot; construction carries more of a 'volunteering for a task' implication than the &quot;to me&quot; version. So &quot;The choice of stuffing for this year's turkey is really not a big deal to me&quot;, but &quot;Cooking Thanksgiving dinner is no big deal for me.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-15T23:01:55.560" />
  <row Id="5089" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5093" CreationDate="2010-11-16T03:43:35.990" Score="6" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I'm looking for is a word to describe &quot;compliance with unspoken resistance&quot; or something of the like.  In other words, one complies, unwillingly.  However, the unwillingness, is not stated outright, it is partially implied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking &quot;submission&quot;, but I'm not sure if it carries the full weight of what I would like to say..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1179" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T07:15:10.533" Title="Word to describe &quot;compliance with unspoken resistance&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5090" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5091" CreationDate="2010-11-16T04:23:18.680" Score="7" ViewCount="706" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was writing a email, and I started off with&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am writing to inform you of certain errors...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, is this use outdated or awkward in emails (assuming that I don't know the recipient)? What about formal correspondence (e.g. letters)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T11:33:29.670" Title="Is &quot;I am writing to inform you&quot; awkward or outdated?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;email&gt;&lt;letter-writing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5090" CreationDate="2010-11-16T05:00:01.457" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't believe it outdated, but very much reserved to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://esl.about.com/cs/onthejobenglish/a/a_basbletter.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;business letter&lt;/a&gt; (where it is one of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eslgold.com/business/letters_phrases.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;common phrases&lt;/a&gt;: &quot;&lt;code&gt;I am writing to inquire about ...&lt;/code&gt;&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://158.132.164.193/ELSC/material/Writing/appln.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;application letter&lt;/a&gt; (&quot;&lt;code&gt;I am writing to apply for the position of ...&lt;/code&gt;&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-Colloquial-%28Informal%29-Writing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;guide on writing style&lt;/a&gt; will advise you to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Avoid stage directions.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Do not commence a letter by telling the recipient what you plan to do in the letter or begin an essay by telling the reader what the paper will discuss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;code&gt;I am writing to you to ask you to ...&lt;/code&gt;&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   &quot;&lt;code&gt;This paper is going to talk about how ...&lt;/code&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you only want to express the intent in a less formal way, a simple &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;code&gt;I would like to inform you of ...&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; is enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T05:00:01.457" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5089" CreationDate="2010-11-16T05:53:31.307" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Acquiescence&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/acquiescence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(Passive assent or agreement without protest.)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should be noted that the word does necessarily cover the intended meaning of unwillingness. Some definitions actually indicate &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onelook.com/?other=web1913&amp;amp;w=Acquiescence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;quiet satisfaction&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acquiescing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;… the tender understanding with which he had &lt;em&gt;acquiesced&lt;/em&gt; to her wish not to consummate their relationship out of wedlock.&lt;/a&gt; Dorothy West, &lt;em&gt;The Wedding&lt;/em&gt; (1995)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=17bAKRvHBkcC&amp;amp;pg=PA339&amp;amp;dq=Acquiescence&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=Bx7iTPvvK8SIhQeW-_nODQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=6&amp;amp;ved=0CEMQ6AEwBTgU#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=Acquiescence&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Some rape statutes, for example, use consent in both factual and legal senses, referring sometimes to &lt;em&gt;acquiescence&lt;/em&gt; that may or not be a defense depending upon whether it is voluntary…&lt;/a&gt; Peter Westen, &lt;em&gt;The logic of consent: the diversity and deceptiveness of consent&lt;/em&gt; (2004)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-16T07:06:43.943" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T07:06:43.943" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5089" CreationDate="2010-11-16T06:15:09.867" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Resignation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/resignation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the quality or state of being resigned : submissiveness&lt;/a&gt; / &lt;a href=&quot;http://vocabulary-vocabulary.com/dictionary/resignation.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an unresisting acceptance of a change or fate you don't necessarily like&lt;/a&gt; / &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Resignation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;state of uncomplaining, utter frustration&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=_wT_c9Hk1_kC&amp;amp;pg=PA5&amp;amp;dq=%22with+resignation%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=qCHiTKGhCZGKhQesr62qDQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=9&amp;amp;ved=0CEwQ6AEwCA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;You can just keep on trying to survive, day to day, in an unsatisfying marriage—I call this adjusting with &lt;em&gt;resignation&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/a&gt; Jeffry H. Larson, &lt;em&gt;The Great Marriage Tune-Up Book: A Proven Program for Evaluating&lt;/em&gt; (2002)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=7eq8sztgTs8C&amp;amp;pg=PA43&amp;amp;dq=complied+with+resignation&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=NC7iTK6eKMWwhAf1ptm1DQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=6&amp;amp;ved=0CEEQ6AEwBQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A Christian knocked the cap into the mud, crying, &quot; 'Jew! Get off the pavement!'&quot; &quot;'And what did you do?'&quot; asked the young Freud. The father told how he complied with &lt;em&gt;resignation&lt;/em&gt;, stepping off the sidewalk to retrieve his cap.&lt;/a&gt; François Ansermet, &lt;em&gt;Biology of freedom: neural plasticity, experience, and the unconscious&lt;/em&gt; (2007)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=FCMGAAAAQAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA87&amp;amp;dq=%22with+resignation%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=DSPiTOyPJ4rPhAfnjNnGDQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=3&amp;amp;ved=0CC4Q6AEwAjgU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;... and the benefits of their example (who have persisted in doing their duty with &lt;em&gt;resignation&lt;/em&gt; to the Divine Will, amids.&lt;/a&gt; Samuel Richardson, &lt;em&gt;Pamela; or, Virtue rewarded&lt;/em&gt; (1816) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-16T07:15:10.533" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T07:15:10.533" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5094" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5104" CreationDate="2010-11-16T09:20:16.557" Score="4" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which of the following sentences is better to use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Where it is concluded that the report is incorrect it will be returned.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;If the report is incorrect then it will be returned.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or do they mean the same thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These sentences will be used for a description of activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="201" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-16T09:30:30.730" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T14:22:05.620" Title="Is it better to start a sentence with &quot;If&quot; or &quot;Where&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="5095" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5101" CreationDate="2010-11-16T09:24:24.650" Score="4" ViewCount="1893" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a difference between these two expressions and should one of them be preferred?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2014" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-16T09:31:47.763" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T13:51:05.923" Title="&quot;For this purpose&quot; vs &quot;To this purpose&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="5096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5076" CreationDate="2010-11-16T10:03:05.493" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are likely to be misunderstood if you use it in that way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think part of the problem is that you are using (or at least defining) the noun &lt;em&gt;moral&lt;/em&gt; in an odd way. To me it is not the 'proof' or 'evidence' of a story: it is the &lt;strong&gt;lesson&lt;/strong&gt; that is embodied in the story. (Perhaps you mean that the story is 'proof' or 'evidence' of the moral - that makes more sense, but I would not think of it as either 'proof' or 'evidence', just as 'exemplification').&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I think for you the link to 'moral' is &quot;I don't have a story to back this belief up&quot;. I am fairly confident that you will not be understood in that sense unless you give a lot of context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T10:03:05.493" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5084" CreationDate="2010-11-16T10:11:17.887" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a recognised &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anadiplosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rhetorical device&lt;/a&gt;. That said, when you are not going for rhetoric it may be best if you avoided it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T10:11:17.887" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5090" CreationDate="2010-11-16T11:33:29.670" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is clearly redundant and circumspect. However, it sounds polite, and some situations do call for social niceties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am writing to inform you that I'm writing to inform you that I'm writing to inform you of certain errors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please address the following errors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were to act on the information, I'd prefer the more direct style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1056" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T11:33:29.670" />
  <row Id="5099" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5117" CreationDate="2010-11-16T12:41:21.483" Score="1" ViewCount="318" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;OK, things are going well, both of you are enjoying each other's company,&#xA;  and both of you are attracted to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the usage of &quot;both of you&quot; correct? Sounds a bit off to me.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW what part of the language &quot;both of you&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T17:58:31.573" Title="multiple usages of &quot;both of you&quot; in the same sentence" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5100" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5105" CreationDate="2010-11-16T13:33:51.437" Score="2" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This second part would hopefully come in handy tonight.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  This second part will hopefully come in handy tonight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T01:19:21.640" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T01:19:21.640" Title="Should I use &quot;will&quot; or &quot;would&quot; when I suggest that something will/would come in handy?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5095" CreationDate="2010-11-16T13:51:05.923" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on what you mean &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/purpose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;by &lt;strong&gt;purpose&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;something that one hopes or intends to accomplish =&gt; &quot;to this purpose&quot; (as in &quot;to this end&quot;, &quot;to this intent&quot;, &quot;to this objective&quot;, &quot;to this target&quot;, ...)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the action for which a person or thing is specially fitted =&gt; &quot;for this purpose&quot; (as in &quot;for this function&quot;, &quot;for this job&quot;, &quot;for this position&quot;, &quot;for this task&quot;, ...)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, you will find both meanings in this gide &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://abacus.bates.edu/~ganderso/biology/resources/writing/HTWsections.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Structure, Format, Content, and Style of a Journal-Style Scientific Paper&lt;/a&gt;&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In scientific studies, the use of this word (&lt;strong&gt;significant&lt;/strong&gt;) implies that a statistical test was employed to make a decision about the data; [...].&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Limit the use of the word &quot;significant&quot; to this purpose only&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Organize your presentation so your reader will understand the logical flow of the experiment(s); &lt;strong&gt;subheadings work well for this purpose&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T13:51:05.923" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5102" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5114" CreationDate="2010-11-16T13:58:04.760" Score="2" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the word &lt;em&gt;divest&lt;/em&gt; used in the meaning &quot;strip&quot; or &quot;deprive&quot;? This word is in the GRE high-frequency word list, and my workbook says that it means &quot;strip or deprive&quot;. Also, Wiktionary has &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/divest&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an article&lt;/a&gt; with the same meaning. But I've checked a couple of dictionaries (Cambridge and Collins) and I've failed to find this meaning of the word &lt;em&gt;divest&lt;/em&gt;, only &quot;to sell something, especially business, part of business or to stop taking part in a business activity&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In which meaning is the word &quot;divest&quot; usually used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1834" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-16T14:31:43.963" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T17:38:40.887" Title="Can &quot;divest&quot; mean &quot;strip or deprive&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5102" CreationDate="2010-11-16T14:05:30.007" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just checked news.google.com for the most prominent and authoritative usages of the word, and it appears that  &lt;strong&gt;divest&lt;/strong&gt;, in most cases, implies &lt;em&gt;to strip something/someone&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It also plans to divest its carbon blacks unit that is used in the rubber and tire industries&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;after agreeing to divest four psychiatric hospitals to win antitrust clearance. Psychiatric Solutions have moved on, and its stock has ceased trading.... &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T14:05:30.007" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5094" CreationDate="2010-11-16T14:08:12.767" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your examples, the sentence starting with &lt;strong&gt;&quot;if&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; is easier to understand. But it always depends on the context of what's being written as well as target audience. I find &quot;where&quot; is used more often in formal writings, but not always. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1446" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-16T14:17:57.173" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T14:17:57.173" />
  <row Id="5105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5100" CreationDate="2010-11-16T14:11:08.660" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Will&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The subjunctive mood (&lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt;) is probably not appropriate in this sentence, since you reasonably expect the second part to come in handy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T14:11:08.660" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5094" CreationDate="2010-11-16T14:13:57.643" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you use &lt;em&gt;where&lt;/em&gt;, the sentence is harder to parse. You run the risk of confusing your audience, who might think that you're talking about a location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T14:13:57.643" />
  <row Id="5107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5094" CreationDate="2010-11-16T14:22:05.620" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Where&quot; is making a more general statement. In particular the statement with &quot;if&quot; would be appropriate whether we were talking about a particular report right now, or about any report which might happen to be produced; &quot;where&quot; would be appropriate only in the latter case. &#xA;Apart from that, I agree with vehomzzz and joshdick&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T14:22:05.620" />
  <row Id="5108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5070" CreationDate="2010-11-16T15:05:52.200" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Poor&quot; loser is frequently heard, and to my mind more precise than &quot;sore&quot;. Being &quot;sore&quot; is a symptom of being poor at, bad at, ungraceful at, losing. It describes the resulting condition rather than the ability. &quot;Bad&quot; is certainly common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T15:05:52.200" />
  <row Id="5109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5056" CreationDate="2010-11-16T15:08:33.587" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a speaker of (I suppose) mid-Atlantic U.S. English, I once had a non-conversation with a New Yorker...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T15:08:33.587" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5058" CreationDate="2010-11-16T15:12:03.850" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;On my keyboard, the &lt;em&gt;tilde&lt;/em&gt; is also to the left of the &quot;1&quot; (shifted, to be sure...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T15:12:03.850" />
  <row Id="5111" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5116" CreationDate="2010-11-16T15:12:49.800" Score="9" ViewCount="431" Body="&lt;p&gt;People often refer to the country US as America and to the people from the US as Americans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, that's the only case in the world where a continent's name is used for a country's name (let me know if I'm wrong). Why does that happen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="740" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T15:20:03.720" Title="Why are the United States often referred to as America?" Tags="&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5111" CreationDate="2010-11-16T15:20:06.013" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_for_U.S._citizens#Development_of_the_term_.22American.22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; has a good section on how U.S. citizens came to be known as Americans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's interesting to note that in other languages, U.S. citizens are not so easily confused with other inhabitants of North and South America. For example, some Spanish-speaking people use the term &lt;em&gt;norteamericanos&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T15:20:06.013" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5102" CreationDate="2010-11-16T15:26:45.113" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It surely can; the first meaning listed by &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/divest?&amp;amp;qsrc=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt; (which is identical to the definition in &lt;em&gt;Websters Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; &amp;copy;1983) is &quot;to strip of clothing, ornament, etc.&quot; The sell-off-as-in-commerce definition is listed last. As you noted, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/divest&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; doesn't give any current definition other than &quot;to strip, deprive, or dispossess of something&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, if you look at the roots, the word literally means 'remove clothing', so the usage in commerce is pretty figurative. Edit (thanks, RegDwight): &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=divest&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt; dates the economic sense only to 1955. The same site says the earliest meaning (1560s) was exactly the general &quot;strip of possessions&quot; that you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-16T17:38:40.887" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T17:38:40.887" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5111" CreationDate="2010-11-16T15:33:15.017" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's actually just the result of using half of the country's full name to save time. The country is officially called &quot;The United States of America&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, if you think about it, something like &quot;The United States&quot; doesn't quality as an unambiguous country name. There were many city-states in Europe, a lot of which united under the rules of different kings. These were united states, as well. Japan has several prefectures which are essentially states in their own right. These are united under the Japanese government. We could use united states (or united prefectures) to refer to these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Western world was named after Amerigo Vespucci, which led to the continents being named &quot;North America&quot; and &quot;South America&quot;. At first America was a collection of several colonies, each with their own currency and government. When several states within North America all united to form a single government, they called themselves the &quot;United States of America&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people abbreviate this as &quot;United States&quot;, others as &quot;America&quot;, others as &quot;USA&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2088" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T15:33:15.017" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5111" CreationDate="2010-11-16T15:37:12.063" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a topic that leads to huge debates (and often flamewars) online whenever it is brought up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Logically, it makes perfect sense to use &quot;America&quot; and &quot;Americans&quot; for this country.  The name of the country is &quot;United States of America&quot;.  Why would it be strange to shorten this?  It is common to shorten the official name of a country — most people don't even know the official names for the various countries.  For example, the official name of Mexico is &quot;Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos&quot;, which means &quot;The Mexican United States&quot;; nobody is surprised that it is referred to as &quot;Mexico&quot;.  People would be surprised if you called them the &quot;EUM&quot;.  (Also, this example shows that even &quot;United States&quot; is not a unique term to one country.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Australia is officially known as &quot;The Commonwealth of Australia&quot;, but we are happy to simply call them &quot;Australians&quot;, even though it is also the name of a continent.  Depending on how you do your geography, the Australian continent also contains other countries aside from the &quot;COA&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I just want to point out that there is no single continent called &quot;America&quot;.  There is one called &quot;North America&quot; and another called &quot;South America&quot;, which are sometimes collectively referred to as &quot;The Americas&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the strange thing is not that people from the USA call themselves &quot;Americans&quot;, it is actually more strange that the full official name or an acronym is used so often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T15:37:12.063" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="5117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5099" CreationDate="2010-11-16T15:45:05.917" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your sentence is correct in the sense of being understandable, but you're right that it sounds awkward. I think it's because &quot;both of&quot; is unnecessary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;OK, things are going well: you are enjoying each other's company, &#xA;  and you are attracted to each other...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;('Both of you' is a noun phrase, I think.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T15:45:05.917" />
  <row Id="5118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5111" CreationDate="2010-11-16T17:27:33.013" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before the War of Northern Aggression (1861–1865), we referred to our Republic as &quot;These United States of America&quot; and people called themselves citizens of the state they lived in.  After it was demonstrated that the individual states had been assimilated, the reference changed to &quot;The United States of America&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1814" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T17:27:33.013" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="516" CreationDate="2010-11-16T17:36:45.407" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Different from: A is different from B means that they are dissimilar in some way(s).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different than: A is different than B means that they are different objects. They may be similar or dissimilar (albeit we usually use it when we're remarking about their dissimilar qualities).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2120" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T17:36:45.407" />
  <row Id="5120" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-16T17:47:42.347" Score="4" ViewCount="387" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that I can do a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=adjective+for+integrity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;google search for this&lt;/a&gt;, but I wanted to see what stackexchange folks would answer. I'm looking for the adjective form for the word &quot;integrity.&quot; I'd like to say something like &quot;Be [word I'm looking for]&quot; instead of &quot;Be a person of integrity.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2123" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T19:47:32.313" Title="What is the adjective form for the word &quot;integrity?&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="5121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5099" CreationDate="2010-11-16T17:58:31.573" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Both of&quot; is a determiner (specifically a quantifier) used in noun phrases. It is syntactically equivalent to &quot;all of&quot;, &quot;most of&quot;, &quot;some of&quot; etc. (The 'of' can sometimes be omitted from all (of) these phrases, but that depends on the definiteness and specificity of what follows: it is required here).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find &quot;both of&quot; awkward here not just because of the repetition, but also because of &quot;each other&quot;: to me, that already implies both, so it is redundant in both cases. It is nevertheless grammatical. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T17:58:31.573" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5120" CreationDate="2010-11-16T17:58:46.553" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know of an adjective form of &lt;code&gt;integrity&lt;/code&gt;, so I can't solve your issue directly.  However, depending on if your use case allows it, you might consider the phrase &lt;code&gt;Have integrity&lt;/code&gt;.  Obviously if you're trying to offer a set of parallel &lt;code&gt;Be X&lt;/code&gt; statements, this won't work, but if you're looking for a concise two-word imperative sentence, I think it carries the meaning you're looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T17:58:46.553" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="5123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5120" CreationDate="2010-11-16T18:02:03.353" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking in some dictionaries, it seems there is no such word. There is &lt;code&gt;integer&lt;/code&gt; in German, though, and &lt;code&gt;íntegro&lt;/code&gt; in Spanish, both of which have the intended meaning. English translations that come up are &lt;code&gt;upright&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;honourable&lt;/code&gt;, but nothing like &lt;code&gt;integer&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;integral&lt;/code&gt; or anything like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2127" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T18:02:03.353" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5120" CreationDate="2010-11-16T18:03:23.120" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, if you don't like what you have so far (Yahoo Answers' &quot;there is no noun [sic!] with the same root, use 'upright'&quot;, or the many suggestions in that &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=279469&amp;amp;highlight=integrity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WordReference thread&lt;/a&gt; — &quot;a good sort&quot;, &quot;decent bloke&quot;, &quot;a man of integrity&quot;, &quot;a man of good character&quot;, &quot;principled&quot;, &quot;reasonable&quot; and whatnot), then how about this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Be a mensch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mensch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;defines &lt;em&gt;mensch&lt;/em&gt; thusly&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a person of integrity and honor&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary even &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mensch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;has a few cites&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1960&lt;/strong&gt;, The Apartment:&lt;br&gt;Doctor Dreyfuss &lt;em&gt;[to C. C. Baxter]&lt;/em&gt;: Be a mensch!&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2005&lt;/strong&gt;, Alan Hollinghurst, &lt;em&gt;The Line of Beauty&lt;/em&gt;, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 428:&lt;br&gt; &#xA;  Lionel Kessler, relaxing perhaps on a Louis Quinze day bed, garlanded all round with lines of beauty, seeing welcome proof that his clever maligned young friend was a mensch.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2008&lt;/strong&gt; December 28, George Solomon, “My Little Red Book”, &lt;em&gt;The Washington Post&lt;/em&gt;, page D01:&lt;br&gt; &#xA;  Olie Kolzig: Goalie for the Washington Capitals who spent most of 16 seasons between the pipes for the team until being released in 2008. Had the longest career of any Capital. Now plays for Tampa Bay. The ultimate mensch, in my book.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T18:03:23.120" />
  <row Id="5125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5120" CreationDate="2010-11-16T18:03:28.050" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Virtuous&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;a href=&quot;http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/virtuous&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Having or showing virtue, &lt;strong&gt;especially moral excellence&lt;/strong&gt;: led a virtuous life.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that &lt;em&gt;integrity&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/integrity?view=uk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the quality of being honest and  having &lt;strong&gt;strong moral principles&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be virtuous!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-16T18:16:56.110" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T18:16:56.110" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2928" CreationDate="2010-11-16T18:47:57.593" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/words/fugacious&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fugacious&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Passing away quickly; evanescent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fleeing, or disposed to flee; fleeting; transitory.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fleeting, fading quickly, transient.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T18:47:57.593" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2928" CreationDate="2010-11-16T18:51:12.067" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/words/transitory&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;transitory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Existing or lasting only a short time; short-lived or temporary&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Passing without continuing; lasting only a short time; unstable and fleeting; speedily vanishing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Occurring or done in passing; cursory&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T18:51:12.067" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5128" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5130" CreationDate="2010-11-16T18:59:48.990" Score="7" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct way of pronouncing the &lt;code&gt;i&lt;/code&gt; in &quot;short-lived&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Particularly, I'm looking for whether it's a short or long sound for this vowel. I've heard it both ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-16T19:18:20.557" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:01:57.013" Title="Pronunciation of &quot;Short-lived&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5128" CreationDate="2010-11-16T19:30:40.737" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both short and long i are acceptable. AHD gives the following &lt;a href=&quot;http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/short-lived&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;usage note&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;The pronunciation (-laɪvd) is etymologically correct since the compound is derived from the noun life, rather than from the verb live. But the pronunciation (-lɪvd) is by now so common that it cannot be considered an error. In the most recent survey 43 percent of the Usage Panel preferred (-lɪvd), 39 percent preferred (-laɪvd), and 18 percent found both pronunciations equally acceptable.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/short-lived&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; agrees with that usage. Other dictionaries (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/words/short-lived/pronunciations#&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wordnik&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/short-lived?r=66&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;) list both pronunciations without comment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I almost always use the short i like in 'give'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(I'd give the two pronunciations slightly different connotations, something like short-i = it was around for a short time and it's already dead/gone, long-i = it's still around but won't be for long.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-16T19:36:24.213" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T19:36:24.213" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5128" CreationDate="2010-11-16T19:31:34.810" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I checked a couple dictionaries which list both the long and short &lt;code&gt;i&lt;/code&gt; as correct pronunciations.  Anecdotally, I've typically heard the short &lt;code&gt;i&lt;/code&gt;, and that's how I pronounce it.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T19:31:34.810" />
  <row Id="5132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5120" CreationDate="2010-11-16T19:47:32.313" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Integrous&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/integrous&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/integrous&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allwords.com/word-integrous.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.allwords.com/word-integrous.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't pass a spell-checker, but there are over 500,000 hits for it on Google, most of which are using it precisely as you defined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="932" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T19:47:32.313" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5133" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-16T20:02:46.547" Score="0" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a meeting that I think should be moved to an earlier time. What is the best way to say it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g. if I wanted to move it to a later time, I can use the word &quot;delay&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I would like to delay the meeting&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I say the oposite? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I would like to &lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;_ the meeting&quot; (to&#xA;  advance? to precede? none of them&#xA;  sound right)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2135" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T03:45:07.427" Title="How to say: &quot;I will try to move it to an earlier time&quot; or what is the opposite of &quot;delay&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5133" CreationDate="2010-11-16T20:46:45.200" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My few cents: In actual practice I would probably just say or write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Can we move our meeting on April 23rd&#xA;  on 7 p.m. up to 5 p.m.? I'm unable to&#xA;  make it at 7 p.m.&quot; or &quot;Can we move our&#xA;  meeting on April 23rd from 7 p.m. to 5&#xA;  p.m.?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this was a much higher boss (or one that required a lot of deference) I would write: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would it be&#xA;  convenient for you to move/reschedule&#xA;  our meeting on April 23rd from 7 p.m.&#xA;  to 5 p.m.? I am unable to make a 7&#xA;  p.m. appointment on that date.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To reschedule for an earlier time (or &quot;moving the meeting up) brings up the possibility of changing the date as well as the time, in my mind. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-19T03:45:07.427" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T03:45:07.427" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5135" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-16T20:50:21.203" Score="2" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;How are you supposed to answer a question like this (assuming you're from Minnesota)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You are a Minnesotan, no?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you supposed to give the same answer as your answer to this question or give the opposite answer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You are a Minnesotan, yes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1376" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T12:52:27.107" Title="Answering questions with a negation at the end" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;negation&gt;&lt;interrogatives&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5136" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5138" CreationDate="2010-11-16T22:19:36.970" Score="2" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quoting &lt;a href=&quot;http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Classic_WTF_-_Enter_the_Matrix.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DailyWTF&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Matrix! No, not the the uburbulous deprodication errebelously conceived by “The Architect”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the accepted definition of the following words in the above quote?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;uburbulous&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;deprodication&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;errebelously&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1429" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-17T10:23:37.700" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T10:23:37.700" Title="What is the accepted definition of the following words in this sentence?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;dictionaries&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5135" CreationDate="2010-11-16T22:43:13.067" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Give the same answer as if it had a &quot;yes&quot; at the end.  The &quot;no&quot; at the end means the person thinks the answer is probably &quot;yes&quot;.  (It's like saying &quot;I'm pretty sure you are a Minnesotan, unless you take this opportunity to deny it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T22:43:13.067" />
  <row Id="5138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5136" CreationDate="2010-11-16T22:48:09.787" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;None of those are actual English words. I'd say what is going on is that these are intentional &quot;caricatures&quot; of English words, used for humorous effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Uburbulos&quot; appears to just a jumble of endings and roots that results in the same meaning as &quot;urban&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Deprodication&quot; is a mashing together (perhaps) of depredation and &quot;reproduction&quot;, with further liberties taken with the resulting form. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Errebelous&quot; appears to be a true portmanteau of &quot;erroneous&quot;, and &quot;libelous&quot;. (That is, a word made by conflating two other words; a phenomenon popularized by Louis Carroll--see &lt;em&gt;Jabberwocky&lt;/em&gt;. The canonical example is &quot;smog&quot;=&quot;smoke&quot;+&quot;fog&quot;.) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this particular example is over the top for the sake of humor, this sort of thing &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; one way in which language evolves. So, don't expect to see &quot;deprodication&quot; in a dictionary any time soon (or ever!), but be aware that this same phenomenon occurs in less extreme forms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1955" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T22:48:09.787" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="5139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2928" CreationDate="2010-11-16T23:47:30.857" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That would be, like, &quot;spacing out&quot;, man.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2010-11-16T23:47:30.857" />
  <row Id="5140" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5154" CreationDate="2010-11-17T02:57:11.167" Score="2" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is it that authors will use fragments in writing to emulate speech, but it is considered grammatically incorrect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2019" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:31:40.640" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:31:40.640" Title="Fragments in speech vs Fragments in novels?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;fragments&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5141" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5145" CreationDate="2010-11-17T03:01:43.860" Score="2" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the usage of the word &quot;fine&quot; correct in the following sentence? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This works fine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that the author of the statement wanted to say that something was working, but not working well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2019" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T15:31:27.173" Title="&quot;This works fine&quot; Is this correct?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="5142" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-17T03:23:26.187" Score="4" ViewCount="554" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which word goes in the blank (&lt;em&gt;their&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;its&lt;/em&gt;)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The stones are small, but &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;/strong&gt; value is great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is &lt;em&gt;their&lt;/em&gt; but my child's paper says it is &lt;em&gt;its&lt;/em&gt;. Which is correct and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2142" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T12:01:50.600" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T12:01:50.600" Title="Correct usage of pronoun: &quot;their&quot; vs &quot;its&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="5144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5142" CreationDate="2010-11-17T04:03:35.903" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I may be wrong here, but I think 'its' and 'their' both are incorrect.  As per my knowledge, non living things cannot take possessive pronouns unless its a case of 'Personification'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2093" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T04:03:35.903" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5141" CreationDate="2010-11-17T04:08:03.107" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that in case of written English, the sentence does not indicate the mood of the author.  It's more related to spoken emotion here.  The author may grudgingly say 'This works fine' to indicate it's not as well as he had expected, or in an exciting tone, he may say  'This works fine!' to indicate his pleasure.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2093" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T04:08:03.107" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5146" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-17T04:34:25.030" Score="0" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/152/use-of-a-versus-an&quot;&gt;Use of &amp;ldquo;a&amp;rdquo; versus &amp;ldquo;an&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In spoken English we do say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; unhappy person&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I never here anyone say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He has &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; user account&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a lot of exposure to overseas students in Australia, and I am thinking that it is because of textbooks and lack of spoken English that this is now becoming a trend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone please tell me if this is correct or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It makes me so mad I want to ride away on an unicorn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2143" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T06:01:15.107" ClosedDate="2010-11-17T09:53:55.433" Title="A becomes an before a word beginning with a vowel, does this apply to u?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="660" CreationDate="2010-11-17T04:57:35.397" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://unenlightenedenglish.com/2009/05/was-vs-were&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://unenlightenedenglish.com/2009/05/was-vs-were&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2093" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T04:57:35.397" />
  <row Id="5148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5060" CreationDate="2010-11-17T05:05:45.403" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for the question, I think it's a good one.  Here's what I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Alternatives:  &quot;Redhead&quot; is right, I think - it seems to be the analogue of &quot;blonde&quot; or &quot;brunette&quot;.  What you'd be looking for is a straightforward descriptive term, and that would be it.  A term like &quot;ranga&quot; obviously has a large (derogatory) evaluative (value judgment) flavour to it: &quot;you've got red hair, and that's a bad thing&quot;; which is obviously the analogue of &quot;you've got black skin, and that's a bad thing.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) If you follow such an analysis then there is still a case for considering &quot;ginger&quot; to have a strong evaluative flavour.  My argument is the following.  Consider the usage.  The usage I'm familiar with is &quot;he/she &lt;em&gt;is a ginger&lt;/em&gt;&quot; and almost never, e.g., &quot;he/she &lt;em&gt;has ginger hair&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;  So the implication is a conceptual reduction of the person to &quot;a ginger&quot; rather than, e.g., someone with ginger hair.  It says &quot;what you are is a ginger.&quot;  Like saying someone is &quot;a black&quot;, and defining &lt;em&gt;what they are&lt;/em&gt; by the colour of their skin.  Of course, on the same analysis, &quot;ranga&quot; is a terrible word - which is indeed common currency here in Australia (like &quot;bunga&quot;, for the indigenous).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But certainly, context is important.  As someone mentioned, the history of oppression of darker skinned races makes discriminating along those lines much more severe than discrimination along the lines of hair colour.  Still, the analogy between the two is pretty significant.  I would certainly never use the word...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2144" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T05:05:45.403" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5149" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5152" CreationDate="2010-11-17T05:58:48.280" Score="3" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;This word just came naturally to me while writing some prose. Will it be understood by English speakers/readers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T06:02:21.080" Title="Is &quot;gobload&quot; a valid word?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5146" CreationDate="2010-11-17T06:01:15.107" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whether you use &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; is entirely decided by the &lt;strong&gt;sound&lt;/strong&gt; of the following word, and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the &lt;strong&gt;spelling&lt;/strong&gt; of the following word. Words like &lt;em&gt;user&lt;/em&gt; are pronounced with an initial &quot;y&quot; sound (a palatal glide), and so it's correct to say &lt;em&gt;a user&lt;/em&gt;. Saying &lt;em&gt;an user&lt;/em&gt; is incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T06:01:15.107" />
  <row Id="5151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2928" CreationDate="2010-11-17T06:01:49.147" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well the answer to your title could be 'daydreaming', but I'm not so sure after having read the body of your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T06:01:49.147" />
  <row Id="5152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5149" CreationDate="2010-11-17T06:02:21.080" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not without a hyphen: &lt;em&gt;gob-load&lt;/em&gt;. Without the hyphen, I parsed it as &quot;go bload&quot;, which of course makes no sense. However, I expect that most native speakers of English will understand &quot;gob-load&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T06:02:21.080" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5142" CreationDate="2010-11-17T06:05:37.193" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the sentence you gave, &lt;em&gt;their&lt;/em&gt; is correct. The antecedent of the underlined pronoun is &lt;em&gt;the stones&lt;/em&gt;, which is a plural noun phrase. Therefore the correct statement is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The stones are small, but their value is great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T06:05:37.193" />
  <row Id="5154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5140" CreationDate="2010-11-17T07:07:31.767" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As mentioned in &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/620/1/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sentence Fragments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You may have noticed that newspaper and magazine journalists often use a dependent clause as a separate sentence when it follows clearly from the preceding main clause, as in:. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The current city policy on housing is incomplete as it stands. &lt;strong&gt;Which is why we believe the proposed amendments should be passed&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is &lt;strong&gt;a conventional journalistic practice, often used for emphasis&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For academic writing and other more formal writing situations, however, you should avoid such journalistic fragment sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fragments are grammatically incorrect, since they:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;are incomplete sentences. Usually, fragments are pieces of sentences that have become disconnected from the main clause.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Some fragments [...] are written as main clauses but lack a subject or main verb&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T07:07:31.767" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5141" CreationDate="2010-11-17T10:00:19.657" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fine is an adjective, not an adverb.  It should say something like: &quot;This works well.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1814" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T10:00:19.657" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5141" CreationDate="2010-11-17T10:05:31.370" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While, as jcarmody says, fine is an adjective rather than adverb, phrases such as this are fine for informal contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T10:05:31.370" />
  <row Id="5157" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5163" CreationDate="2010-11-17T10:30:41.467" Score="1" ViewCount="410" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the email were to be addressed to a specific person, you could write &quot;Dear [Name]&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But is it appropriate to write &quot;Dear [Team / Department / Company]&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, &quot;Dear Service Desk,&quot; and &quot;Dear Microsoft,&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="740" LastEditorUserId="740" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-17T10:38:42.790" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T12:35:44.263" Title="How to start a formal email addressed to a deparment/team/company?" Tags="&lt;email&gt;&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5056" CreationDate="2010-11-17T10:54:17.963" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in southern New Hampshire. I know a number of people, largely males in their 50s or older, who have thick New England accents that even some &lt;em&gt;locals&lt;/em&gt; have difficulty understanding. I have not ever met, nor do I suspect I will ever meet, anyone who can do even a passable imitation of an old Yankee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T10:54:17.963" />
  <row Id="5159" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-17T11:05:36.600" Score="3" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just want a confirmation because it sounds weird to me...&#xA;Is the following sentence correct, or is there a better word than &quot;used&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This picture is used twice in this book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't tell you why but this &quot;used&quot; doesn't seem to be right at all...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1317" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T05:39:20.643" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T05:39:20.643" Title="Proper usage of the verb &quot;use&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5159" CreationDate="2010-11-17T11:34:39.263" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is correct and acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You understandably resist it because &quot;used&quot; is so often employed in English as a convenient verb when there is often a more specific verb that will better describe the action. Your discomfort at such linguistic abuse marks you out as someone who understands the language at an intuitive level rather than one who simply parrots phrases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case at least, &quot;used&quot; is probably correct. You could say &lt;em&gt;printed&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;reproduced&lt;/em&gt;, but it all depends on context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T11:34:39.263" />
  <row Id="5161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5159" CreationDate="2010-11-17T11:35:43.033" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds fine to me. A picture can be &lt;em&gt;used&lt;/em&gt; to illustrate a point, or it can be &lt;em&gt;used&lt;/em&gt; in the sense that you take someone's work, whether a physical picture or a computer file, and &lt;em&gt;use&lt;/em&gt; it in your work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to alternatives, you could say &quot;this picture appears twice&quot; or &quot;this picture can be found twice&quot;, or something like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T11:35:43.033" />
  <row Id="5162" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5169" CreationDate="2010-11-17T12:07:56.600" Score="5" ViewCount="490" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once in a while I see phrases like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/big-picture.html#faq-6.16&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Think&quot; is not a four-letter word&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and just about any word can be where &quot;think&quot; is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-letter_word&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;I looked up the Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; and looks like it says that &quot;four-letter word&quot; means slang words with mostly negative meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does &quot;four-letter word&quot; mean here? Does it mean something like &quot;it's not that bad to think once in a while&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="623" LastEditorUserId="368" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T22:39:00.047" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T22:39:00.047" Title="What does &quot;X is not a four-letter word&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;swearing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5157" CreationDate="2010-11-17T12:35:44.263" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's within your own company you can use simply &quot;Colleagues,&quot;. If specifically your own team, then &quot;Team,&quot;. (i.e. no &quot;Dear&quot; or &quot;Hi&quot; needed)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's not your place of work, then the usual &quot;Hi&quot; or &quot;Hello&quot; will do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2154" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T12:35:44.263" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="92" CreationDate="2010-11-17T12:39:03.247" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A great book for questions like this is the pocket-sized classic &quot;The Elements of Style&quot; by William Strunk. Pick it up on Amazon for a couple of quid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2154" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T12:39:03.247" />
  <row Id="5165" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5177" CreationDate="2010-11-17T12:48:52.197" Score="1" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it a correct, commonly used way to state that something is different, but only marginally?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The night did happen but it unfolded&#xA;  slightly different.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T15:33:04.410" Title="is &quot;slightly different&quot; correct way to draw a comparison" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5135" CreationDate="2010-11-17T12:52:27.107" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unlike French and German, English does not have a word meaning &quot;Yes, in contrast to what you have just asked or suggested&quot;. This does sometimes lead to confusion, but generally the answer is to the positive question, even where the question was asked negatively. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Don't you want to go?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Yes&quot; (I do)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;No&quot; (I don't).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This tendency is if anything stronger where the negative is in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_question&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tag question&lt;/a&gt;, as here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T12:52:27.107" />
  <row Id="5167" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5172" CreationDate="2010-11-17T13:14:50.853" Score="2" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which of the following is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The program persists the data &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; the database.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The program persists the data &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; the database.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In&lt;/strong&gt; feels a little more natural to me, but I have no particular basis for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1439" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-17T14:07:34.183" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T14:38:59.750" Title="Which preposition follows &quot;persist&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5167" CreationDate="2010-11-17T13:19:13.297" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would have choosen both. I mean &quot;Into&quot; :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1317" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T13:19:13.297" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5162" CreationDate="2010-11-17T13:21:30.143" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Idiomatically a &lt;em&gt;four-letter word&lt;/em&gt; is a swearword, considered rude and unacceptable in certain contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The implication is here is that &lt;em&gt;thinking&lt;/em&gt; and coming up with original solutions to problems is not to be frowned upon in the same way, and indeed is acceptable and encouraged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1439" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T13:21:30.143" />
  <row Id="5170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5167" CreationDate="2010-11-17T13:32:53.610" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Despite RegDwight's comment that &lt;em&gt;persist&lt;/em&gt; can be transitive with a direct object, which I didn't know either, I'd suggest that such usage is unusual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regard to the actual question, the use of &lt;em&gt;persist&lt;/em&gt; suggests that the data was in the database before, and that the program doesn't change that; hence &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; should be used here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The program causes the data to persist in the database.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; In light of the comments below, note this answer applies to &lt;em&gt;persist&lt;/em&gt; in its normal, non-programming, contexts. For its use in a programming context, &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; is still correct, but the verb can be used transitively, as in the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastEditorUserId="303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-17T14:38:59.750" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T14:38:59.750" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="5171" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5181" CreationDate="2010-11-17T13:54:24.583" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am getting some gifts engraved for my wedding party and I can't decide whether to use commas or not. Should it be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thank you Neil&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  for being our Usher&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thank you, Neil,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  for being our Usher&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the second option is correct but doesn't look quite right, probably due to being separated over two lines. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as once the engraving is done that's it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2155" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-17T14:03:49.070" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T15:37:45.620" Title="Confused as to whether I should use commas or not" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5167" CreationDate="2010-11-17T14:00:47.047" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The program persists the data &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; the&#xA;  database.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is what I would say in general:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;save the object in the database&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;update the object in the database&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;persist the object in the database&lt;/strong&gt; (same as &lt;em&gt;save&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;update&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;load the object from the database&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;write the object to a file&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;read the object from a file&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T14:00:47.047" />
  <row Id="5173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5142" CreationDate="2010-11-17T14:28:18.703" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5142/correct-usage-of-pronoun-their-vs-its/5153#5153&quot;&gt;JSBangs's answer&lt;/a&gt; is probably correct, but I wanted to clarify that in some cases it may be incorrect, depending on the context.  It depends what the pronoun &quot;it&quot; is meant to refer to.  If &quot;it&quot; refers to the stones, then it should be &quot;they&quot; since there are multiple stones.  However, consider the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The ring was quite impressive, solid gold with many fine rubies. The stones were small, but its value was great because of its age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this example &quot;the stones&quot; refers to the rubies, which are small, but the ring is nevertheless still valuable.  In this example &quot;it&quot; refers to the ring and it using &quot;their&quot; instead would change the meaning of the sentence.  So depending on the context, either word might be correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T14:28:18.703" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5174" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5180" CreationDate="2010-11-17T14:37:58.300" Score="1" ViewCount="257" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of the time, I use &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;well&lt;/em&gt; interchangeably. However, on many occasions I would find &lt;em&gt;well&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; a misfit. Please suggest the proper usage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-19T08:30:49.687" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T08:30:49.687" Title="What is the difference between &quot;good&quot; and &quot;well&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5175" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5176" CreationDate="2010-11-17T14:58:48.583" Score="2" ViewCount="260" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I use a computer command like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;bind keystroke macro&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I refer to that keystroke as being bound to that macro. Is it also correct to say that they are bonded?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I bind a bunch of twigs together, they are bound, but I don't think they are bonded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can &quot;bound&quot; and &quot;bonded&quot; be used interchangeably? Under what circumstances?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="189" LastEditorUserId="189" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T05:52:43.147" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T05:52:43.147" Title="&quot;bound&quot; or &quot;bonded&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5175" CreationDate="2010-11-17T15:07:19.123" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Bound&lt;/em&gt; is the past tense of &lt;em&gt;bind&lt;/em&gt;, while &lt;em&gt;bonded&lt;/em&gt; is the past tense of an entirely different word, &lt;em&gt;bond&lt;/em&gt;. I don't believe I've ever met a situation where the two words could be used interchangeably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T15:07:19.123" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5165" CreationDate="2010-11-17T15:24:36.870" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Different&lt;b&gt;ly&lt;/b&gt;, different&lt;b&gt;ly&lt;/b&gt;, different&lt;b&gt;ly&lt;/b&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry, that missing adverb just bugs me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what this sentence means, but grammatically, it should be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The night did happen, but it unfolded slightly differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that &quot;slightly different&quot; is a perfectly good &lt;em&gt;adjective&lt;/em&gt; phrase. It just can't be used as an &lt;em&gt;adverb&lt;/em&gt; phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The third frog was slightly different [from the first two].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The third frog jumped slightly differently [than the first two].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-17T15:33:04.410" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T15:33:04.410" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5141" CreationDate="2010-11-17T15:31:27.173" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like others, I would assume the bare sentence to have a positive connotation. To get across a sense of disappointment, I'd write something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I suppose this works fine...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or in a context which allows more informality,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I suppose this works OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T15:31:27.173" />
  <row Id="5179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5174" CreationDate="2010-11-17T15:35:34.343" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Good&lt;/em&gt; is an adjective. It is used with nouns, e.g. &quot;He is a good &lt;strong&gt;dog&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Well&lt;/em&gt; is the adverb form of &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt;. It is used with verbs, e.g. &quot;He &lt;strong&gt;plays&lt;/strong&gt; the piano well&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Confusingly, &lt;em&gt;well&lt;/em&gt; can also be an adjective, meaning &lt;em&gt;in good health&lt;/em&gt;, e.g. &quot;a well &lt;strong&gt;person&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; (someone who is not sick).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are examples where exceptions to these may be used informally, e.g. &quot;I'm &lt;strong&gt;doing&lt;/strong&gt; good&quot; (&lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; with a verb).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T15:35:34.343" />
  <row Id="5180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5174" CreationDate="2010-11-17T15:36:36.217" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Formally speaking, &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; is an adjective and &lt;em&gt;well&lt;/em&gt; is an adverb.  So in formal speech or writing, you would want to maintain this distinction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Informally, English speakers can often use an adjective in place of an adverb.  This is especially clear for words that take an &lt;em&gt;-ly&lt;/em&gt; suffix to form an adverb.  For example: &quot;that guy walks strange&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even informally, this does not go the other way. We can't use words that are clearly adverbs as adjectives: &quot;he's a strangely guy.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the same for &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;well&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;This thing works pretty good.  (Informally fine)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;This thing works pretty well.  (Informally and formally fine)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He is a good speaker. (Informally and formally fine)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;*He is a well speaker. (Bad anytime)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a certain special situation, namely talking about health, where &lt;em&gt;well&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; have different nuances, but both can be used as adjectives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am well. (=healthy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am good. (can mean healthy, also &quot;not evil&quot;, skilled, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T15:36:36.217" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5171" CreationDate="2010-11-17T15:37:45.620" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In formal writing, it would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thank you, Neil, for being our usher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But an engraving has less space available, so it's expected that you cut unnecessary punctuation, as you would in a newspaper headline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you'd like to omit the commas to make it less cluttered, I say go ahead and do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T15:37:45.620" />
  <row Id="5182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5175" CreationDate="2010-11-17T15:38:51.500" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe you mean &quot;bounded&quot;? In any case, the answer is no:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;bound&lt;/strong&gt; - past of &lt;strong&gt;to bind&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;bonded&lt;/strong&gt; - past of &lt;strong&gt;to bond&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;bounded&lt;/strong&gt; - past of &lt;strong&gt;to bound&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in each case it's a different verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T15:38:51.500" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5175" CreationDate="2010-11-17T15:39:50.313" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In programming, we say that the keystroke is &lt;em&gt;bound&lt;/em&gt; to the macro, not &lt;em&gt;bonded&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T15:39:50.313" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5140" CreationDate="2010-11-17T15:49:38.107" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on what you mean by grammatically incorrect. Sentence fragments are not part of formal English, but formal English is only used in certain specific areas, such as professional correspondence or scholarly papers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside of those areas, sentence fragments are common. So long as the audience understands the point, there's no reason to frown on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't speak formal English when we talk in our day-to-day lives. Therefore, it makes sense that novels will use sentence fragments when emulating speech, as you said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also worth noting, I think, that some sentences that appear to be fragments are actually examples of elliptical construction. For example, the sentences &quot;Fire!&quot; and &quot;Two tickets, please,&quot; convey complete ideas, even though they've left out some words. They're not fragments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T15:49:38.107" />
  <row Id="5185" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5188" CreationDate="2010-11-17T17:28:31.613" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where does the word &lt;em&gt;puppet&lt;/em&gt; come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2019" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-18T09:14:38.647" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T09:14:38.647" Title="Where does the word &quot;puppet&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5186" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5187" CreationDate="2010-11-17T17:28:31.877" Score="4" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;In all the examples I've seen they seem to be the same sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of ə:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a in about&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a in comma&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of ʌ:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;u in run&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;o in won&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to decipher the difference between these sounds but they seem identical to me.  Is it because of my dialect (American English), or is there a very subtle difference that I should look out for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="682" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T17:38:24.937" Title="In IPA, what is the difference between ə and ʌ?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;phonemes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5186" CreationDate="2010-11-17T17:38:24.937" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English, the only real difference between these two is that [ʌ] occurs in stressed syllables, and [ə] occurs in unstressed syllables.  There is a slight acoustic difference between the two ([ʌ] is supposed to be a tiny bit lower and possibly backer than [ə]), but it is so slight that it is virtually indistinguishable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note that many full vowels become [ə] when unstressed in English (e.ɡ. [sɔlɪd], but [səlɪdɪfaɪ]).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This distinction is only for English, in other languages these phonemes can pattern completely differently.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T17:38:24.937" />
  <row Id="5188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5185" CreationDate="2010-11-17T18:03:06.577" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=puppet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myetymology.com/english/puppet.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;myEtymology&lt;/a&gt; mention:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1520s (implied in puppetry), &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;from Old French poupette, dim. of poupée &quot;doll&quot; (13c.), &#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;from Vulgar Latin root *puppa, &#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;from Latin pupa &quot;girl, doll&quot; (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pupil&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pupil&lt;/a&gt;).  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Metaphoric extension to &quot;person whose actions are manipulated by another&quot; first recorded 1540s&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More details in this &lt;a href=&quot;http://podictionary.com/?p=230&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Word of the day&quot; entry&lt;/a&gt;, including about the related word puppy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the middle ages lap dogs were also called &lt;strong&gt;&lt;code&gt;poupée&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; because they were thought of as playthings—not working dogs.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;code&gt;Poupée&lt;/code&gt; morphed to puppy and so with time any little dog began to be called a puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-loerzel/chicago-puppeteer-city_b_634493.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;origin of the word &lt;strong&gt;puppeteer&lt;/strong&gt; is more recent&lt;/a&gt; (1915). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-17T18:08:11.093" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T18:08:11.093" />
  <row Id="5189" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5191" CreationDate="2010-11-17T18:08:54.980" Score="1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sexy, let’s go to AC for the whole night this or the following Friday night. We can leave around 8-9 pm and come back &lt;strong&gt;in early am.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-08T13:45:50.217" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T13:45:50.217" Title="in early am or at early am (time)" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;time&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5162" CreationDate="2010-11-17T18:16:46.387" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It simply means &quot;[X] is not a swear word.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The implication is that you have been avoiding [X], and the speaker is assigning a (highly unlikely, as the speaker is well aware) cause to that avoidance. As such, it's a form of hyperbole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T18:16:46.387" />
  <row Id="5191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5189" CreationDate="2010-11-17T18:31:40.847" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard it used as &quot;in &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; early am&quot;. But it really isn't that much longer to use the much less awkward &quot;early in the morning&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T18:31:40.847" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5162" CreationDate="2010-11-17T19:20:25.153" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a popular song by the band &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cake_%28band%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cake&lt;/a&gt; called &lt;strong&gt;Friend Is a Four Letter Word&lt;/strong&gt; on their album &lt;em&gt;Fashion Nugget&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Excerpt:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; But to me, coming from you,&#xA;&quot;Friend&quot; is a four-letter word,&#xA;&quot;End&quot; is the only part of the word&#xA; That I heard...&#xA; Call me morbid, or absurd,&#xA;&#xA; But to me, coming from you,&#xA;&quot;Friend&quot; is a four-letter word.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Mostly unrelated, but as the question has already been answered I thought it was an interesting example)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2045" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T19:20:25.153" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5189" CreationDate="2010-11-17T20:01:40.547" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In casual conversation (and since they called you &lt;em&gt;sexy&lt;/em&gt;, I'll assume this is pretty casual), &lt;em&gt;am&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;a.m.&lt;/em&gt;) is used to mean &lt;em&gt;morning&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, this is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T20:01:40.547" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5194" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-17T20:41:22.587" Score="1" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1425/none-as-plural-indefinite-pronoun&quot;&gt;None as plural indefinite pronoun&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;because none of them sound/s like the obvious choice to me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2135" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-08T21:25:30.347" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T21:25:30.347" ClosedDate="2011-01-08T21:25:13.670" Title="&quot;none of them sound right&quot; or &quot;none of them sounds right&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5196" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5197" CreationDate="2010-11-17T21:01:24.217" Score="3" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just heard the phrase: &quot;spit and baling wire&quot;. I cannot find it anywhere—can you help give me a reference, the origin...and the meaning? Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T14:19:59.907" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:20:36.210" Title="&quot;Spit and baling wire&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5196" CreationDate="2010-11-17T21:07:11.700" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means something cobbled together or a makeshift solution. For example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My old car is so old and broken down, it only gets by held together with &lt;em&gt;spit and baling wire&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Baling wire is wire used to hold together bales of hay. Little pieces of hay often fall off bales, as baling wire cannot keep every little piece of hay together. And of course, spit doesn't really hold much of anything together. I hope that conveys the makeshift nature of the idiom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T14:20:36.210" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:20:36.210" />
  <row Id="5198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5194" CreationDate="2010-11-17T21:12:15.993" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my dictionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is sometimes held that none can take only a singular verb, never a plural verb: : none of them is coming tonight, rather than : none of them are coming tonight. There is little justification, historical or grammatical, for this view. None is descended from Old English nān, meaning ‘not one,’ and has been used for around a thousand years with both a singular and a plural verb, depending on the context and the emphasis needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2166" LastActivityDate="2010-11-17T21:12:15.993" />
  <row Id="5200" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5203" CreationDate="2010-11-17T22:53:31.723" Score="2" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4791/focussed-or-focused-the-double-consonant&quot;&gt;focussed or focused? The double consonant&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the time, final consonants double when adding -ed or -ing to the end of a verb who's penultimate letter is a vowel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stop -&gt; stopping&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;grab -&gt; grabbing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;mar -&gt; marring&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;run -&gt; running&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But sometimes, the consonant is not doubled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;label -&gt; labeling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;madden -&gt; maddening&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;book -&gt; booking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any way to tell whether it will be necessary to double the letter in a generic way, or is this another case of English's general rule of &quot;you must memorize all cases separately&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I realized a few minutes ago this also relates to pluralizing nouns in some cases, although an example escapes me at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="682" LastEditorUserId="682" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-17T23:29:54.080" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T06:07:06.707" ClosedDate="2010-11-18T08:39:13.840" Title="Is there any rhyme or reason to when one should double the last consonant when adding -ed or -ing?" Tags="&lt;suffix&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5201" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5247" CreationDate="2010-11-18T05:33:06.933" Score="2" ViewCount="272" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Supposably&quot; sounds awful (to my ear) and I'm surprised at how often I hear it said.  How often would it have to be used within the general population for it to become an acceptable alternative pronunciation to the correct word &quot;supposedly&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-18T15:55:27.667" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T17:14:24.080" Title="If enough people say &quot;supposably&quot; instead of &quot;supposedly&quot;..." Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;descriptivism&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5200" CreationDate="2010-11-18T06:06:29.747" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In at least some cases, using a single consonent could indicate that the vowel had a hard sound - like if the word ended in an e - whereas the double consonant indicates that it's a soft sound. This is particularly true considering that a word that ends in e is likely to lose the e when its turned into a gerand (and ends in ing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, rake becomes raking. If it had become rakking, then the a would have had a soft sound instead of a hard one, thereby changing the pronounciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, generally-speaking, the fact that it's a double consonant instead of a single consonant indicates that the vowel is soft. Now, English being English, such a rule is not applied 100% consistently, but in the three examples that you gave, you can see that the double consonant isn't needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having a single l in labeling would not imply a hard e any more than it would in label. Having a double b, however, would indicate a soft a, so there's only one. The same goes for maddening. You wouldn't have a hard e would only one n, so the double n is not necessary. However, because a is soft, you have two d's rather than one. In the case of booking, there is no hard and soft oo sound, so only the one k is required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the general rule has to do with making sure that the vowel preceding the double consonant is soft. So, in words where the vowel is hard or it's not the first vowel and is soft regardless, only a single consonant is required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2170" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T06:06:29.747" />
  <row Id="5203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5200" CreationDate="2010-11-18T06:07:06.707" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not certain of the underlying linguistic rule, but there is a loose English pronunciation rule, explicitly taught in schools to help remember spellings, that says certain vowels that are separated from 'e' or 'i' by only a single consonant will change their pronunciation. When the original pronunciation of the vowel must be maintained, the consonant doubles to put the following vowel far enough away to not trigger this rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that 'e' as a first vowel is immune to this change, as is the 'oo' in &quot;book&quot;. (And note that &quot;label&quot; can be spelled either &quot;labelled&quot; or &quot;labeled&quot;, depending on local standards, but this is not a matter of pronunciation and is a purely orthographic issue.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stop → stopping (pron: &quot;stahping&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*stop → stoping (pron: &quot;stohping&quot;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stoping&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the removal of ore from a mine&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;grab → grabbing (pron: &quot;grahbing&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*grab → grabing (pron: &quot;graybing&quot;, not a word)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;mar → marring (pron: &quot;mahring&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*mar → maring (pron: &quot;mayring&quot;, which perhaps has to do with female horses)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;run → running (pron: &quot;ruhning&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*run → runing (pron: &quot;rooning&quot;, which might be &quot;to inscribe with runes&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Where the * indicates a transformation that a native speaker would judge &quot;wrong&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The complementary transformation can be seen when the original word is already structured with a 'e' or 'i' following a vowel with a single consonant between. Since the pronunciation of the first vowel is already altered by the second vowel, the consonant does not get doubled in the gerund form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rake → raking (pron: &quot;rayking&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pale → paling (pron: &quot;payling&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1613" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T06:07:06.707" />
  <row Id="5204" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5205" CreationDate="2010-11-18T06:56:02.313" Score="2" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;A particular kind of sentence seems a bit strange to me... it might be, for example, &quot;How interesting it was to see him go!&quot; or... &quot;How dreadful I felt when I heard those words.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they grammatically correct? And if so, what are the parts? It seems like they're missing something.. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:59:26.130" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:59:26.130" Title="What is the grammatical structure of this sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;interjections&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5204" CreationDate="2010-11-18T07:19:28.980" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are grammatically correct. It's a sort of interjectory phrase, intended to call attention to the particular intensity of a description. This construction is often used for poignancy in poetic language, as well as in compliments to younger individuals (&quot;How smart you are!&quot;, &quot;How tall he's gotten!&quot;), but I'm not sure that there's actually a name for it. In conversation, a person may say something like &quot;How interesting...&quot; as a prompt for you to go on&amp;mdash;though it may often be heard in a sarcastic tone for its opposite meaning. That usage is short for &quot;How interesting that is!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your examples are akin to &quot;It was so interesting to see him go!&quot; and &quot;I felt so dreadful when I heard those words&quot;, but with slightly more emphasis on the sentiment than on the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T07:19:28.980" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5201" CreationDate="2010-11-18T07:24:09.007" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Supposably &quot;supposably&quot; means someone might suppose;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;supposedly &quot;supposedly&quot; means someone really does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T07:24:09.007" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="5207" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5213" CreationDate="2010-11-18T10:41:54.517" Score="3" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm drawing a picture that I want to dedicate to a friend of mine. What's the proper way to write the dedication if I want to point out that I'm the author?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking: &quot;To {my friend's name} by {my name}.&quot;, but I'm not sure if that's correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2171" LastEditorUserId="2171" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-18T10:53:24.473" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T14:13:27.373" Title="Writing a dedication" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5208" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5212" CreationDate="2010-11-18T11:35:55.417" Score="16" ViewCount="309" Body="&lt;p&gt;In context, when would it be appropriate to use &quot;answer&quot; or &quot;response&quot;? I always tend to use &quot;answer&quot; personally, but I have always this nagging feeling I could be wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-19T06:07:05.817" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T06:07:05.817" Title="&quot;answer&quot; versus &quot;response&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="5209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5208" CreationDate="2010-11-18T11:39:17.117" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;response&quot; requires something you are responding to and it doesn't have to contain an answer. You can respond to a question without answering it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2171" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T11:39:17.117" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5210" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5211" CreationDate="2010-11-18T12:20:28.220" Score="5" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;A relatively modern dictionary (I don't know which one, because we've cut out the pages and used them as wallpaper in our bathroom, but I know it's less than 20 years old) indicates that &quot;R's&quot; is one correct plrualization of &quot;R&quot;, as is &quot;Rs&quot;, but whichever dictionary this is it's kid of a no-name brand, so I'm not sure I trust it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always wondered what the best way to pluralize single characters or numerals (&quot;2's&quot; or &quot;2s&quot;).  What's correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="1914" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-18T15:46:29.927" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T15:46:29.927" Title="Is &quot; 's &quot; ever correct for pluralization?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5210" CreationDate="2010-11-18T12:30:28.467" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe#Use_in_forming_certain_plurals&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Wikipedia page&lt;/a&gt;:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;It is generally acceptable to use apostrophes to show plurals of single&#xA;  lower-case letters, such as &lt;em&gt;be sure to&#xA;  dot your i's and cross your t's&lt;/em&gt;. Some&#xA;  style guides would prefer to use a&#xA;  change of font: &lt;em&gt;dot your&lt;/em&gt; i&lt;i&gt;s and cross&#xA;  your&lt;/i&gt; t&lt;i&gt;s&lt;/i&gt;. Upper case&#xA;  letters need no apostrophe &lt;em&gt;(I got&#xA;  three As in my exams)&lt;/em&gt; except when&#xA;  there is a risk of misreading, such as&#xA;  at the start of a sentence: &lt;em&gt;A's are&#xA;  the highest marks achievable in these&#xA;  exams.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;For groups of years, the apostrophe at the end cannot be regarded as&#xA;  necessary, since there is no&#xA;  possibility of misreading. For this&#xA;  reason, most authorities prefer &lt;em&gt;1960s&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  to &lt;em&gt;1960's&lt;/em&gt; (although the latter is&#xA;  noted by at least one source as&#xA;  acceptable in American usage), and&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;90s&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;'90s&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;90's&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;'90's&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The apostrophe is sometimes used in forming the plural of numbers (for&#xA;  example, &lt;em&gt;1000's of years&lt;/em&gt;); however, as&#xA;  with groups of years, it is&#xA;  unnecessary: there is no possibility&#xA;  of misreading. Most sources are&#xA;  against this usage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The apostrophe is often used in plurals of symbols. Again, since there&#xA;  can be no misreading, this is often&#xA;  regarded as incorrect. &lt;em&gt;That page&#xA;  has too many &amp;amp;s and #s on it.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Finally, a few sources accept its use in an alternative spelling of the&#xA;  plurals of a very few short words,&#xA;  such as &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ex&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;yes&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt;, which become&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;do's&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ex's&lt;/em&gt;, etc. In each case,&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;dos&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;exes&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;yeses&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;yesses&lt;/em&gt;) and &lt;em&gt;noes&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  would be preferred by most&#xA;  authorities. Nevertheless, many&#xA;  writers are still inclined to use such&#xA;  an apostrophe when the word is thought&#xA;  to look awkward or unusual without&#xA;  one.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1923" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-18T15:03:30.047" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T15:03:30.047" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5208" CreationDate="2010-11-18T12:39:39.717" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Response&lt;/em&gt; is a very broad term, and includes all reactions to a stimulus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Answer&lt;/em&gt; is more specifically a &lt;em&gt;response&lt;/em&gt; to a direct question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One can always &lt;em&gt;respond&lt;/em&gt; to anything (an event, an injury, a letter, a speech, a question...) but one can only &lt;em&gt;answer&lt;/em&gt; a question. As Emanuil said, it's also possible to respond to a question without actually answering it; listen to politicians being interviewed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T12:39:39.717" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5207" CreationDate="2010-11-18T13:49:17.427" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a Painter, I find that it is a good thing to have a standard signature that sets the piece apart as distinctly yours. I take this cue from Egon Schiele; check out his paintings and look at how he signs/endorses his works. As to writing a dedication, writing it on the work itself seems like it would take away from the piece itself. Giving a gift of art, and ensuring its value seems to be important to professionalism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, if you properly mount or mat the piece, I would think that the surrounding border would be fair game to write whatever you want. An elegant signature on the piece, and a &quot;To {la la}, {yada yada message}&quot; on the framing sounds like a professional solution that reinforces the personal meaning in gifting the art.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T13:49:17.427" />
  <row Id="5214" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5216" CreationDate="2010-11-18T14:05:46.183" Score="7" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;salad days&lt;/em&gt; mean? I've heard the term used to describe past better days, but what does that have to do with salad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, when was the phrase coined?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T13:23:27.220" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T13:23:27.220" Title="What does &quot;salad days&quot; mean, and when was it coined?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5207" CreationDate="2010-11-18T14:13:27.373" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest separating the dedication from your signature. As for the dedication itself, you could mirror book dedications with something like, &quot;To John Smith, who was always there for me,&quot; or simply, &quot;To John Smith.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T14:13:27.373" />
  <row Id="5216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5214" CreationDate="2010-11-18T14:35:11.527" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It refers to the time of youth when one was naive and inexperienced, and therefore happy and optimistic - in other words, when one was &quot;green,&quot; as in &quot;unripe&quot; or &quot;not yet mature.&quot; It's a bit of a convoluted pun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like so many English idioms, the term was coined by Shakespeare in the 17th century (Antony and Cleopatra.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T14:35:11.527" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5217" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5218" CreationDate="2010-11-18T15:04:53.040" Score="1" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;this&lt;/strong&gt; people or &lt;strong&gt;these&lt;/strong&gt; people?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different sources suggest different ways. What's the right way and why?&#xA;thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T15:27:30.963" Title="this people or these people?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5217" CreationDate="2010-11-18T15:27:30.963" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I too have seen some conflicting articles on this.  In general, I use it as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I'm using &lt;code&gt;people&lt;/code&gt; as the plural of person, then I treat it as plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These people are going to be the death of me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If &lt;code&gt;people&lt;/code&gt; is referring to a community, cultural group, etc. then I treat it as singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This indigenous people was subjugated by invaders from afar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll also note that used in this last sense, &lt;code&gt;peoples&lt;/code&gt; (meaning multiple cultural groups, or what have yoU) is also valid and would then be plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These indigenous peoples were all prospering at the turn of the century.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T15:27:30.963" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5219" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5221" CreationDate="2010-11-18T17:20:04.710" Score="0" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/125/when-should-into-be-used-rather-than-in-to-and-vice-versa&quot;&gt;When should &amp;ldquo;into&amp;rdquo; be used rather than &amp;ldquo;in to,&amp;rdquo; and vice versa?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was recently submitting (&quot;checking in&quot;) some data to a database and composed an email to my team informing them of the submission. What's the proper grammar to use here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The changes are checked into the database&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The changes are checked in to the database&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the rule of thumb for proper usage between the two? Is there even a difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2178" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T17:34:43.503" ClosedDate="2010-11-18T19:31:35.317" Title="&quot;into&quot; versus &quot;in to&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5219" CreationDate="2010-11-18T17:34:43.503" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case, definitely write it as separate words, because the &quot;in&quot; is actually part of the idiom &quot;checked in&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that's probably as close as you're gonna get to a rule of thumb: write &lt;em&gt;into&lt;/em&gt; as one word, unless it's actually functioning as two different words - for example, if the &quot;in&quot; is part of an expression such as &quot;checked in&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T17:34:43.503" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5222" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-18T17:48:18.700" Score="0" ViewCount="242" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you hear someone mispronounce it, what's the word or phrase that gets so butchered it halts your train of thought? Mine is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nucular&lt;/strong&gt; for &lt;em&gt;nuclear&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I even had a physics professor in college who referred to the center of an atom as the &quot;nuculus&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One mispronunciation per answer, please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2178" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T04:56:17.923" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T04:56:17.923" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-18T18:23:10.853" ClosedDate="2010-11-18T19:49:17.970" Title="What's the most annoying mispronunciation you've heard?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;fun&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="5223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5222" CreationDate="2010-11-18T18:09:50.543" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't &lt;em&gt;axe&lt;/em&gt; me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T18:09:50.543" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-18T18:23:10.853" />
  <row Id="5224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5222" CreationDate="2010-11-18T18:11:14.427" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Idear&lt;/strong&gt; for &lt;em&gt;idea&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T18:11:14.427" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-18T18:23:10.853" />
  <row Id="5225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5222" CreationDate="2010-11-18T18:11:56.860" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;X-presso&lt;/strong&gt; for &lt;em&gt;espresso&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T18:11:56.860" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-18T18:23:10.853" />
  <row Id="5226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5222" CreationDate="2010-11-18T18:12:32.710" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Li-berry&lt;/strong&gt; for &lt;em&gt;library&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T18:12:32.710" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-18T18:23:10.853" />
  <row Id="5227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5222" CreationDate="2010-11-18T18:14:15.827" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ignant&lt;/strong&gt; for &lt;em&gt;ignorant&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T18:14:15.827" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-18T18:23:10.853" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5222" CreationDate="2010-11-18T18:15:53.640" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should of&lt;/strong&gt; for &lt;em&gt;should have&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T18:15:53.640" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-18T18:23:10.853" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5222" CreationDate="2010-11-18T18:33:04.763" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Finna&lt;/strong&gt; for &lt;em&gt;fixing to&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1787" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T18:33:04.763" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-18T18:33:04.763" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5222" CreationDate="2010-11-18T18:39:42.227" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warsh&lt;/strong&gt; for &lt;em&gt;wash&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1787" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T18:39:42.227" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-18T18:39:42.227" />
  <row Id="5231" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5272" CreationDate="2010-11-18T18:43:28.817" Score="3" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;My mother used to correct me all the time when I was younger about &quot;bringing&quot; a toy to a friend's house versus &quot;taking&quot; it. Which is correct, and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2178" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T02:31:57.073" Title="&quot;Bring&quot; versus &quot;take&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5231" CreationDate="2010-11-18T18:50:19.870" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One possible answer is that you &quot;bring&quot; things to the place you are now, and &quot;take&quot; things to the place to which you're going.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you &quot;take&quot; the toy to your friend's house, but once you're there you can be said to have &quot;brought&quot; the toy along with you.  It's pretty subtle though, I don't think it's an especially crucial difference!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ETA: I've just thought of a good example.  Suppose you are in a room with your toy.  Your mother could tell you &quot;take it over there!&quot; and then &quot;bring it back over here!&quot;... but the other way round would sound pretty odd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastEditorUserId="2181" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-18T19:02:10.260" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T19:02:10.260" />
  <row Id="5235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5222" CreationDate="2010-11-18T18:53:21.723" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To-may-to for to-mah-to ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only joking, American friends!  (ETA: Yes, I know it's not &lt;i&gt;really&lt;/i&gt; a mispronunciation.  In the immortal words of Fred Astaire, let's call the whole thing off!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastEditorUserId="2181" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-20T19:52:29.187" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T19:52:29.187" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-18T18:53:21.723" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5201" CreationDate="2010-11-18T19:04:42.113" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to know someone who said &quot;assumably&quot; instead of &quot;presumably&quot; and even that sounded wrong to my ear.  But just like &quot;supposably&quot; I can't see any &lt;i&gt;reason&lt;/i&gt; for it to be considered wrong, it's just not particularly common usage!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T19:04:42.113" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5222" CreationDate="2010-11-18T19:14:38.670" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Schedule&lt;/em&gt; with '&lt;strong&gt;sh&lt;/strong&gt;' instead of '&lt;strong&gt;sk&lt;/strong&gt;'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T19:14:38.670" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-18T19:14:38.670" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1287" CreationDate="2010-11-18T19:36:26.997" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Verify&lt;/em&gt; assumes the thing you're checking has a truth value: &quot;The application is running&quot; is either a true statement or a false statement, so you can say &quot;Verify that the application is running.&quot; &quot;The application output&quot;, on the other hand, is neither true nor false, so &quot;Verify the application output&quot; doesn't really mean anything, unless you're using &quot;application output&quot; as shorthand for &quot;The application output is correct.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Check&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, makes no assumptions about what you're looking at. It could be a true/false thing, or it could be a collection of things with no single truth value, such as a quiz with 7 correct answers and 3 incorrect ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T19:36:26.997" />
  <row Id="5239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5214" CreationDate="2010-11-18T20:02:01.470" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just agreeing with @PyroTyger, with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.enotes.com/antony-and-cleopatra-text/act-scene-5#saladdays&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the actual quote&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Charmian: By your most gracious&#xA;  pardon, I sing but after you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cleopatra: My &lt;strong&gt;salad days&lt;/strong&gt;, When I was&#xA;  green in judgment, cold in blood, To&#xA;  say as I said then!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1995" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T20:02:01.470" />
  <row Id="5240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5201" CreationDate="2010-11-18T20:06:45.177" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suppose (heh heh) that if everyone who heard it thought that the &quot;supposably&quot; distortion of &quot;supposedly&quot; was better, then, like all successful memes, it would become adopted into common usage and become the dominant pronunciation. However, it would have a long battle to get there. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, we'll have syllabub replacing syllable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1995" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T20:06:45.177" />
  <row Id="5241" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5244" CreationDate="2010-11-18T20:13:53.143" Score="4" ViewCount="215" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a 'bulleted' list should items that happen to be complete sentences end with a period?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1376" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T20:36:16.820" Title="Periods for bullet point items" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;list&gt;&lt;period&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5189" CreationDate="2010-11-18T20:14:31.810" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with other posters - &quot;a.m.&quot; can be used, jocularly, as an exact substitute for &quot;morning&quot;.  So if you want to use it like this, check that your sentence still sounds right if you swap out &quot;a.m.&quot; and swap in &quot;morning&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's all very slangy of course :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T20:14:31.810" />
  <row Id="5243" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5246" CreationDate="2010-11-18T20:26:07.220" Score="3" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;When writing out emails I often find myself replacing semicolons with hyphens or dashes. For example, &quot;Let's meet up at the pub - or would you rather go to a restaurant?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel this is wrong, but I don't know why. Would someone care to explain, please?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1995" LastEditorUserId="1914" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-18T21:22:16.767" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T02:22:20.993" Title="How does one correctly use a &quot;-&quot; outside of hyphenation - if at all?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;hyphen&gt;&lt;dash&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5241" CreationDate="2010-11-18T20:36:16.820" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia%3aManual_of_Style#Bulleted_and_numbered_lists&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Wikipedia style guide&lt;/a&gt; mandates the following approach, which seems sensible to me given that they do have to maintain a large body of text from disparate authors. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Use the same grammatical form for all&#xA;  elements in a list, and do not mix the&#xA;  use of sentences and sentence&#xA;  fragments as elements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When the elements are complete sentences, they are formatted using&#xA;  sentence case and a final period.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When the elements are sentence fragments, they are typically&#xA;  introduced by a lead fragment ending&#xA;  with a colon. When these elements are&#xA;  titles of works, they retain the&#xA;  original capitalization of the title.&#xA;  Other elements are formatted&#xA;  consistently in either sentence case&#xA;  or lower case. Each element should end&#xA;  with a semicolon, with a period&#xA;  instead for the last element.&#xA;  Alternatively (especially when the&#xA;  elements are short), no final&#xA;  punctuation is used at all.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1995" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T20:36:16.820" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5243" CreationDate="2010-11-18T20:36:17.353" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that would qualify as a &quot;dash&quot; rather than a &quot;hyphen&quot;.  It seems to have a legitimate role in punctuation, to signify the breaking off from one train of thought, to start on another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, it's easy to overuse such a device.  You don't want people thinking your thought processes are always jumping around all over the place!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T20:36:17.353" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5243" CreationDate="2010-11-18T20:39:01.520" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's not a hyphen, it's an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(em) dash&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A dash is a punctuation mark. It is similar in appearance to a hyphen, but a dash is longer and it is used differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you can use it, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/dashes.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this site&lt;/a&gt; explains how:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In informal writing, em dashes may replace commas, semicolons, colons, and parentheses to indicate added emphasis, an interruption, or an abrupt change of thought. [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1951" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T20:39:01.520" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5201" CreationDate="2010-11-18T20:59:13.417" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This phenomenon happens all the time. What we call &quot;language&quot; is nothing more than the words that people are actually using. When enough people use a word or pronunciation or spelling for a long enough time, it becomes part of the language. How long this takes is hugely variable, and depends largely on how useful people find the new construction to be. Thus, new tech jargon is assimilated very quickly. Other things (like &quot;gaol&quot; becoming &quot;jail&quot;) take hundreds of years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Supposably&quot; is very far from the point of becoming standard English. The reason that &quot;supposable&quot; sounds so wrong is that you expect the &quot;-able&quot; adjectival ending to be used with transitive verbs--the object of the transitive verb becomes the thing described by the &quot;-able&quot; adjective. Typical usage of &quot;suppose&quot; isn't really transitive, so &quot;supposable&quot; sounds wrong. The first step toward &quot;supposable&quot; becoming accepted is for transitive usage of &quot;suppose&quot; to become common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1955" LastEditorUserId="1955" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-19T17:14:24.080" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T17:14:24.080" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5248" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5250" CreationDate="2010-11-18T21:04:36.367" Score="2" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello everybody,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm Italian so I don't know English very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While listening to Bob Dylan songs I've heard some strange use of progressive tense (is that the correct term?), the title of this question is one example. Why &quot;the times are a-changing&quot; and not &quot;the times are changing&quot;? I heard other examples (always in Bob's songs), but now I cannot find any.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this some sort of ancient English? Slang? Metric trick? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for your answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2183" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-19T08:26:47.977" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T08:26:47.977" Title="The times are a-changing? Why a-?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;progressive-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5133" CreationDate="2010-11-18T21:05:45.687" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;I would like to bring the meeting forward to...&quot;. This is based on &lt;a href=&quot;http://encarta.msn.com/thesaurus_561570679/delay.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an accepted antonym of delay&lt;/a&gt; &quot;bring forward&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1995" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T21:05:45.687" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5248" CreationDate="2010-11-18T21:12:44.033" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is archaic or dialectical.  You would hardly ever use it in modern, spoken English, so I wouldn't worry about it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it is used, it's almost always in highly idiomatic ways, I can't think of many... but here's one that sprang to mind: &quot;Hurry up people, the clock's a-ticking!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like Bob Dylan probably used it for metrical effect... certainly I don't think you'll find anyone who could find any difference in meaning between Bob's lyric and just &quot;the times are changing&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T21:12:44.033" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5248" CreationDate="2010-11-18T21:25:34.720" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indeed, this sort of usage is highly idiomatic. I have the sense it is more typically seen in Southern, Southwester, rural, and folksy dialects. (I'd say you'd see this construction correlated with swallowed final &quot;g&quot;s--runnin', jumpin', etc.)  Compared to &quot;changing&quot;, then, &quot;a-changing&quot; evokes a rustic, or perhaps populist sense, which is likely the tone that Dylan is trying to achieve by using this form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Off the top of my head, I'd say that this usage &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; limited to progressive tenses (with the present active participle). However, I wouldn't completely rule out seeing this occasionally with a past participle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One rule of thumb when I studied Latin verse was to never assume that the reason for a particular construction was to &quot;make the meter work out&quot;. I'd say the same guideline applies here. There are enough ways to say things using varied meter that it is customary to give the poet (or songwriter) credit for having some deeper reason for using the words that (s)he chooses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1955" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T21:25:34.720" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5252" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5253" CreationDate="2010-11-18T22:20:04.907" Score="4" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;I mean, why isn't it pronounced &quot;blue-d&quot; rather than &quot;blud&quot;. And this applies to &quot;flood&quot; too, but not &quot;glood&quot; or &quot;clood&quot; I imagine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1995" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T22:33:36.990" Title="Why is blood pronounced the way it is?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5252" CreationDate="2010-11-18T22:33:36.990" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the same reason that &quot;flood&quot; is pronounced the way it is!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More helpfully, I found this somewhere on the internet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;It might be worth bearing in mind that English spelling often records the pronunciation 600 years ago. And at that time, blood, flood, food and book would have all been pronounced with the same vowel. However, pronunciations have changed since then, so the spellings are a little unhelpful for learners of English today!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By Shakespeare's time, all of these words had the 'oo' vowel as in food (the traditional vowel with the lips rounded, not the fewd pronunciation mentioned by Fish). What happened was that the vowels of blood and flood shortened in the 16th century and had the vowel sound of put. Accents in southern England changed this sound to the one in putt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Book, look and foot, however, had the shortening occurring later, and the put vowel remained, and did not change to the putt vowel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And food did not shorten its vowel.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sounds plausible to me!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-18T22:33:36.990" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5254" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5333" CreationDate="2010-11-18T22:45:54.993" Score="6" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;The letters &quot;ough&quot; can be pronounced a ridiculous number of different ways in English.  Here is a possibly-incomplete list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tough, enough&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cough, trough&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bough, plough&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;though, dough&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;thought, bought&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;through&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;thorough, borough&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and weirdos like hiccough, hough, lough.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two questions: (1) can anyone else think of any other letter combination in English that's anywhere near this crazy and (2) how do non-English speakers cope with trying to learn a language as messy as this??!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-18T23:58:55.200" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T16:54:23.293" Title="Most pronunciations for one English letter sequence?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;fun&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5255" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5257" CreationDate="2010-11-19T00:03:43.560" Score="1" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do the letters &quot;Rx&quot; have to do with medicine prescriptions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T14:34:37.633" Title="Rx for Prescriptions" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5255" CreationDate="2010-11-19T00:32:36.310" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's because doctors have terrible handwriting...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, actually, I think it stands for the Latin &quot;recipe&quot;, a Latin imperative form meaning &quot;take&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T00:32:36.310" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5255" CreationDate="2010-11-19T00:33:51.770" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Rx&lt;/code&gt; means &quot;prescription&quot;, for example an &quot;&lt;em&gt;Rx&lt;/em&gt;-only drug&quot; is one available only on prescription. It is derived loosely from the Latin &lt;em&gt;recipe&lt;/em&gt;, to take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_prescription#Format_and_definition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1439" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T00:33:51.770" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-19T01:12:05.870" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Buoy&lt;/b&gt;.  The number of people I meet who pronounce this boo-ee (instead of boy, as I pronounce it) staggers me.  Is &quot;buoyant&quot; to be pronounced &quot;boo-ee-ant&quot; also?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T01:12:05.870" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-19T01:12:05.870" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-19T01:17:01.497" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hiccough&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently this is not pronounced to rhyme with cough, but in exactly the same way as &quot;hiccup&quot;.  Which fooled me for many years, for obvious reasons!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T01:17:01.497" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-19T01:17:01.497" />
  <row Id="5260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5243" CreationDate="2010-11-19T02:22:20.993" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The symbol you used in your example is indeed a hyphen, but you are using it to function as an em dash. So technically, you're using the wrong symbol. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The hyphen ( - ) should only appear in compound words and phrases (as in, eight-year-old, ex-wife, stick-in-the-mud, a part-time job, etc.). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The em dash ( — ) is best explained by the Chicago Manual of Style: Em Dashes are used to set off an amplifying or explanatory element and in that sense can function as an alternative to parentheses (second and third examples), commas (fourth and fifth examples), or a colon (first example)—especially when an abrupt break in thought is called for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It was a revival of the most potent image in modern democracy—the revolutionary idea.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The influence of three impressionists—Monet, Sisley, and Degas—is obvious in her work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The chancellor—he had been awake half the night—came down in an angry mood.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She outlined the strategy—a strategy that would, she hoped, secure the peace.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My friends—that is, my former friends—ganged up on me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2188" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T02:22:20.993" />
  <row Id="5261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-19T05:00:08.517" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Accuracy (Ack-urah-see)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I first learned the word, (in first grade, from a pokemon game,) I thought it was Akyur-uh-see).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2019" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T05:00:08.517" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-19T05:00:08.517" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5262" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5263" CreationDate="2010-11-19T06:16:00.023" Score="1" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thinking of how I've finally paid my loan, I told myself that from now on, I'll get extra &quot;free cash&quot; each month. But this idiom always made me curious. The fact that both words contradict each other gives it quite a comical effect, to which it is often used. How and when did the idiom &quot;free cash&quot; come to be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; It seems one corner case is not addressed by the actual answers. if the terms is related to taking money from an ATM or taking a loan without interest, why does some comics or cartoon character use the idiom when finding some money that they didn't earn (i.e. found on the street, in the house of the neighbour, given as a reward,...). Unfortunately my foggy memory can't replace it in context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-20T07:23:07.783" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T10:10:07.453" Title="The origin of the &quot;free cash&quot; idiom." Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5262" CreationDate="2010-11-19T08:34:16.890" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Free&lt;/em&gt; in this context refers to associated charges. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some ATMs charge a fee or commission for withdrawing cash; others don't charge and give you your cash &lt;em&gt;free of charge&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A loan with zero interest would be considered &lt;em&gt;free money&lt;/em&gt;; a loan at a small rate of interest could be considered &lt;em&gt;cheap money&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/cheap-money.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for a definition of &lt;em&gt;cheap money&lt;/em&gt;, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Answer to edit in the question:&lt;/strong&gt; in the example of a cartoon character who finds some money on the street the meaning is still the same, the money is free in the sense that the character &lt;em&gt;didn't have to do anything&lt;/em&gt; to get it. I would not consider the case of a reward to be &lt;em&gt;free&lt;/em&gt;, since they've done something to earn the money – it's a payment rather than a gift, if you will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe slightly related: see &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/freeloader&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;freeloader (&lt;em&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1439" LastEditorUserId="1439" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-22T10:10:07.453" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T10:10:07.453" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5264" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5267" CreationDate="2010-11-19T08:53:59.067" Score="7" ViewCount="522" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen many people use the phrase &quot;My Bad&quot; in Internet forums. What does it exactly imply and is it a proper English phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2189" LastEditorUserId="1914" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-19T13:53:10.857" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:36:53.803" Title="Is &quot;My Bad&quot; a correct English phrase?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="5265" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5266" CreationDate="2010-11-19T08:59:39.437" Score="0" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1016/do-you-use-a-or-an-before-acronyms&quot;&gt;Do you use &amp;ldquo;a&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;an&amp;rdquo; before acronyms?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got the following sentence from the book I'm reading:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You can take a database-first approach&#xA;  by first creating a SQL Server&#xA;  database schema.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I learned, I think it should be &quot;&lt;strong&gt;an&lt;/strong&gt; SQL Server database schema&quot;, not &quot;&lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt; SQL Server database schema&quot;. So which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2089" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T09:10:52.010" ClosedDate="2010-11-19T13:56:14.750" Title="&quot;An SQL Server database schema&quot; or &quot;a SQL Server database schema&quot;?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5265" CreationDate="2010-11-19T09:10:52.010" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This depends, I would think, on your pronunciation of &lt;em&gt;SQL&lt;/em&gt;. It &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;can be pronounced&lt;/a&gt; as &quot;sequel&quot;, or spelled out as &quot;S-Q-L&quot;. That perhaps doesn't help in written English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&amp;amp;word1=%22a+sql%22&amp;amp;word2=%22an+sql%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;thoroughly scientific survey of Google&lt;/a&gt; throws up many more hits for &quot;an SQL&quot; than &quot;a SQL&quot;. This is also the form used on that Wikipedia article and elsewhere, such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa936677%28SQL.80%29.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Microsoft SQL Server documentation&lt;/a&gt; entitled &quot;Executing an SQL Query&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1439" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T09:10:52.010" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5264" CreationDate="2010-11-19T09:34:27.217" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, &quot;my bad&quot; is a proper English phrase. It is an apology; when you say &quot;my bad&quot;, you're basically saying, &quot;I admit a mistake&quot; or &quot;my fault, sorry for that&quot;. Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/my_bad&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(colloquial) (idiomatic)&lt;/em&gt; My fault; mea culpa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Yes, I realize the humvee isn't supposed to be parked in the heirloom flowerbed. My bad.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also links to &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002693.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Language Log entry&lt;/a&gt;, which provides further insight:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The authoritative discussion of the phrase &quot;my bad!&quot; at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000111&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Random House site&lt;/a&gt; says it originates in pick-up basketball as a phrase used by young urban players when admitting to an error. It has spread to other domains and is now used widely to mean something like &quot;I admit that I have made a mistake.&quot; It was nominated for &quot;word of the year&quot; (not that it's a word, it's clearly a phrase) in 1999, but in fact it was already &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001927.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;at least twenty years old&lt;/a&gt; by then. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T09:34:27.217" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5268" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-19T10:04:37.763" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the context of &quot;How deep\ly should I study smth.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="722" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T10:15:28.170" Title="&quot;How deep&quot; or &quot;How deeply&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5268" CreationDate="2010-11-19T10:15:28.170" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In that context, it's &lt;em&gt;deeply&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Deep&lt;/em&gt; is an adjective, so can only be used to describe the quality of a noun:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How deep is the water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Deeply&lt;/em&gt; is an adverb, so can only be used to modify a verb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Were you thinking deeply?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Deep&lt;/em&gt; is often used instead of &lt;em&gt;deeply&lt;/em&gt;, to the extent that it is largely accepted without comment. However, I've never heard it the other way around. &quot;What a deeply question&quot; is just plain wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T10:15:28.170" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5270" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-19T11:42:54.643" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;Report length could be measured in number of words or pages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="158" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T13:37:51.057" ClosedDate="2010-11-19T14:12:41.070" Title="What report length warrants an executive summary?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5271" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5306" CreationDate="2010-11-19T11:58:45.810" Score="3" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrum_%28development%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;scrum&lt;/a&gt; (a project management methodology often used for software development), there are &lt;strong&gt;user stories&lt;/strong&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;items&lt;/em&gt;) which team members split into smaller &lt;strong&gt;tasks&lt;/strong&gt; when they start working on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To describe that &quot;splitting into tasks&quot;, in Finnish I'd simply say something like &quot;Taskitetaan se.&quot; (&quot;Let's split it into tasks.&quot; And yes, that's a horrible anglicism.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be a shorter way to say that in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm tempted to just &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/verbed-but-not-every-noun-would-like-to-stay-that-way/388240&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;verb&quot; the noun&lt;/a&gt;, and use something like &quot;Let's task it&quot;. How acceptable or understandable would you find that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T05:59:12.007" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T05:59:12.007" Title="Shorter way to say &quot;split [user story] into tasks&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5231" CreationDate="2010-11-19T12:06:07.250" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your mother is right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It boils down to knowing the definitions of the words. The definition of &lt;em&gt;bring&lt;/em&gt; from dictionary.com is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;to carry, convey, conduct, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;or cause&#xA;  (someone or something) to come with&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;,&#xA;  to, or toward the speaker: Bring the&#xA;  suitcase to my house. He brought his&#xA;  brother to my office.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bringing with&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; involves &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;coming to&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Taking with&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; involves &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;going away from&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you were talking to your mother, your were going away from her. That is why it was correct to say that you were taking something with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your were talking with your friend over the phone, it would be correct to use bringing, because you were going toward him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bringing or taking is relative to the (future, present, or past) presence or absence of &lt;strong&gt;a person&lt;/strong&gt; at the destination to which something shall be, is, or has been brought or taken. This person is not the bringer/taker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be a person to whom the bringer/taker tells what bringing or taking he/she shall do, is doing, or did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could also be a person who tells to a third person what bringing or taking the bringer/taker shall do, is doing, or has done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the person shall be, is, or was &lt;strong&gt;present&lt;/strong&gt; at the destination while the bringer/taker shall be, is, or was on his/her way, &lt;strong&gt;bring&lt;/strong&gt; is the appropriate word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the person shall be, is, or was &lt;strong&gt;absent&lt;/strong&gt; from the destination while the bringer/taker shall be, is, or was on his/her way, &lt;strong&gt;take&lt;/strong&gt; is the appropriate word&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="158" LastEditorUserId="158" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-21T02:49:44.343" LastActivityDate="2010-11-21T02:49:44.343" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5271" CreationDate="2010-11-19T12:17:07.953" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'd be better off talking about &quot;breaking it down&quot; rather than &quot;splitting it.&quot; This carries a stronger sense of deconstructing the problem into its conceptual components. So:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let's break it down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Might sound bad in other contexts, but works fine here!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T12:17:07.953" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5201" CreationDate="2010-11-19T12:23:50.757" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Supposably and supposedly have different meanings, because their suffixes have different meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-ably means it is possible. -edly means it has been done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supposably is not an alternative pronunciation of supposedly. Supposably and supposedly are two different words. It can only be said of a single word that it has alternative pronunciations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="158" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T12:23:50.757" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5270" CreationDate="2010-11-19T13:00:03.713" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an odd question. Length is far from the only - or even the most important - factor in determining whether or not an Executive Summary is necessary. Subject, audience, technical level and intended purpose are all more important factors than length (it's not the size, but what you do with it...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any paper or report which forms, or is likely to form, part of a common-interest collection or journal should have an ES; this applies no matter how long or short. Some reports do not require an ES no matter how long, because all likely readers will already be aware of the nature of the contents and will be expected to peruse the report fully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, if the readership might need an ES in order to decide if the report is worth them reading, then an ES is necessary, even if the report is only a couple of pages. If the readership already knows what the report will contain, then an ES is not necessary, even if the report is several hundred pages. (Of course, it is very bad form not to include &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; form of summary for a report of this length.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T13:00:03.713" />
  <row Id="5276" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5278" CreationDate="2010-11-19T13:04:09.797" Score="3" ViewCount="315" Body="&lt;p&gt;During a conversation yesterday, I couldn't come up with the opposite of &lt;em&gt;interesting&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Initially she was very interesting,&#xA;  and I enjoyed her company. However, a&#xA;  few months later, she became [BUM] &#xA;  &lt;em&gt;not interesting&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Not interesting&lt;/em&gt; is what I came up with. What is the opposite of &lt;em&gt;interesting&lt;/em&gt; that I should have used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-19T13:18:36.280" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T18:15:23.430" Title="What is the opposite of &quot;interesting&quot; in &quot;This person is interesting&quot;?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="5277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5276" CreationDate="2010-11-19T13:12:01.713" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stopped being interesting? Became &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/boring&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;boring&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tiresome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tiresome&lt;/a&gt;, or even a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nuisance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nuisance&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T13:12:01.713" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5276" CreationDate="2010-11-19T13:12:44.063" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.synonym.com/antonym/interesting/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This site&lt;/a&gt; list a few antonym, from which my favourite in your context should be dull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T13:12:44.063" />
  <row Id="5279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5276" CreationDate="2010-11-19T13:13:09.277" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It somewhat depends on what you meant by &quot;interesting.&quot;  How about &quot;boring&quot; or &quot;tedious&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T13:13:09.277" />
  <row Id="5280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5276" CreationDate="2010-11-19T13:17:58.930" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;em&gt;loads&lt;/em&gt; of antonyms to &quot;interesting&quot;. If you don't mind being blunt about a person (which is traditionally a problem if you're English) then my favourites, grouped according to similar implication, include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Uninteresting (grammatically better than &quot;not interesting&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dull, boring&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Common, undistinguished, unremarkable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plain (of unexceptional appearance)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ordinary (not exactly damning, but hardly a compliment)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pedestrian, prosaic (similar to Ordinary, but slightly more insulting)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tedious, insipid, banal, vapid (of uninteresting attitudes or actions)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vanilla&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like Vanilla especially, as it's a colourful term to describe a distinct lack of uniqueness; it's used especially when referring to a lack of sexual adventurousness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T13:17:58.930" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5270" CreationDate="2010-11-19T13:37:51.057" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: any report you want people to read.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long answer: any report that isn't itself an executive summary needs an executive summary.  Even if the readers know what the report will contain, you need the summary to say that there aren't any surprises, or to point out where the limits and caveats of the conclusions are in the body of the report.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T13:37:51.057" />
  <row Id="5282" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5284" CreationDate="2010-11-19T14:16:25.590" Score="0" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everything is in the question, so I copy/paste:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Das Keyboard Refurbished Professional Model S: what does &quot;Refurbished&quot; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you very much&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1674" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T14:31:07.267" Title="Das Keyboard Refurbished Professional Model S: what does &quot;Refurbished&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5282" CreationDate="2010-11-19T14:20:49.610" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/refurbish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;to refurbish&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;To rebuild or replenish with all new material; to restore to original (or better) working order and appearance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/refurbish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;refurbish&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;to brighten or freshen up&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Collins English Dictionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;refurbish&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;to make neat, clean, or complete, as by renovating, re-equipping, or restoring&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T14:20:49.610" />
  <row Id="5284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5282" CreationDate="2010-11-19T14:23:21.317" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Refurbished&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;returned and/or used item which the factory has spruced up to like-new condition, or so they would have you believe&quot;. It's different from second-hand in that generally, it comes with a manufacturer's warranty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of the dictionaries I checked have this meaning - they only give the more literal &quot;renovated, restored&quot; definitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T14:23:21.317" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="5285" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5389" CreationDate="2010-11-19T14:27:17.117" Score="2" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;If &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/comrade&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Comrade&quot;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/camaraderie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;camaraderie&quot;&lt;/a&gt; are from Spanish and French, why did the Russians and particularly Soviets (and later the Chinese and South Africans), come to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comrade&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adopt Comrade for usage&lt;/a&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, does using camaraderie carry the same socio-political baggage as Comrade might? In contemporary usage, has the term &quot;Comrade&quot; lost any or all socio-political baggage it may once have had?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T14:19:19.827" Title="Cross Origins of Comrade and Camaraderie" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="5286" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5288" CreationDate="2010-11-19T14:28:26.180" Score="5" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know the meaning of the phrase, but where exactly does it come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2165" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T14:44:42.477" Title="Origin of &quot;Turns the Table&quot; idiom" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5282" CreationDate="2010-11-19T14:31:07.267" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Refurbished in this usage likely means the product was bought by someone and returned due to a defect, or recalled; the manufacturer &quot;fixed&quot; the problem and is re-selling the item. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The original problem may range from something generally inconsequential to very important, but typically the warranty @Martha refers to should cover the product for some time AND you should get quite a bit of cash knocked off the price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T14:31:07.267" />
  <row Id="5288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5286" CreationDate="2010-11-19T14:44:42.477" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=table&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;to the rescue&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Figurative phrase &lt;em&gt;turn the tables&lt;/em&gt; (1630s) is from backgammon (in O.E. and M.E. the game was called &lt;em&gt;tables&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T14:44:42.477" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5289" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5291" CreationDate="2010-11-19T14:48:14.750" Score="0" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I’ve added changes/fixes which we discussed yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I’ve added changes/fixes about which we discussed yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1109" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-19T14:56:31.123" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T17:11:09.080" Title="&quot;which we discussed&quot; vs &quot;about which we discussed&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5289" CreationDate="2010-11-19T14:49:30.040" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;about&quot; is unnecessary, just like the &quot;after&quot; in &quot;After having spoken with him...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1787" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T14:49:30.040" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5289" CreationDate="2010-11-19T14:52:38.883" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't need the &lt;code&gt;about&lt;/code&gt;.  However, I would probably also remove the &lt;code&gt;which&lt;/code&gt; and add a &lt;code&gt;the&lt;/code&gt; making it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've added the changes/fixes we discussed yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T14:52:38.883" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-19T15:34:26.070" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;Dickensian&quot;.  I read this word many times before I heard someone say it.  I always pronounced this with the accent on the first syllable, exactly as it is with &quot;Dickens&quot;.  Then I heard someone else say it with the accent on the second syllable.  And then I heard another person say it that way.  And then I had a person 'correct' me when I said it with the accent on the first syllable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, this doesn't really answer your question, because I think it should be pronounced with the accent on the first syllable.  It doesn't make sense to me that you would pronounce &quot;Dickensian&quot; with an accent on a different syllable than the accented syllable in &quot;Dickens&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1376" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T15:34:26.070" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-19T15:34:26.070" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-19T16:27:51.500" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rapport&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pronounced ra-PORE, not ra-PORT. French, but not obviously so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1955" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T16:27:51.500" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-19T16:27:51.500" />
  <row Id="5294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5271" CreationDate="2010-11-19T16:41:33.373" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Let's divide it.&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would imply that the user story is to be divided up into smaller tasks that should be be allocated to an individual. When a group divides the spoils everyone gets a share, when a group breaks something down it's just a pile of smaller bits without a sense of ownership.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just my 2p.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1995" LastEditorUserId="1995" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-19T17:21:08.910" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T17:21:08.910" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5285" CreationDate="2010-11-19T17:06:24.563" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would imagine that &quot;camarade&quot;, being French, sounded highly Revolutionary to English ears, following the bloody events in France in 1789.  When the Russians had their own popular revolution and started addressing each other as &quot;tovarisch&quot;, the French word would have seemed a convenient and comprehensible analogue to English ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is all supposition, really, I'm by no means an expert in revolutionary history; but I suspect that all uprisings of the people against the aristocracy became conflated in the minds of unrevolutionary types such as the British, and the terminology became conflated too, accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T17:06:24.563" />
  <row Id="5296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5289" CreationDate="2010-11-19T17:11:09.080" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Discuss&quot; is transitive; you discuss a thing, you never discuss about a thing.  As such, &quot;about which we discussed&quot; is simply incorrect.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare to &quot;talk&quot;.  You talk about a thing, you never &quot;talk a thing&quot;.  So the opposite would be true and you would have to say &quot;the thing about which we talked&quot;, in this case.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T17:11:09.080" />
  <row Id="5297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5276" CreationDate="2010-11-19T17:19:40.330" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Meriam Webster posts these antonyms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;boring&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;drab&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dry&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dull&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;heavy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;monotonous&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tedious&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;uninteresting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2195" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T17:19:40.330" />
  <row Id="5298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5276" CreationDate="2010-11-19T18:15:23.430" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm starting to think this is actually a really interesting question.  All of the answers so far have assumed that she stopped being interesting &lt;i&gt;and became irritating&lt;/i&gt;.  But what if she just stopped being interesting because you'd learned everything there was to learn about her, and the initial mystery and intrigue was gone?  She hasn't become dull, or tiresome, or boring, as such; it's just that you have ceased to be an explorer of exciting new territory, and she is now a known quantity to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case you might be able to say &quot;initially I found her interesting, but after a while she became over-familiar (and I grew bored)&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T18:15:23.430" />
  <row Id="5299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5264" CreationDate="2010-11-19T18:16:56.673" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's proper English &lt;em&gt;slang&lt;/em&gt;.  I wouldn't go so far as to say it was proper English.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will certainly be effective in irking English teachers, haters of textspeak, and other grammar purists!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T18:16:56.673" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5264" CreationDate="2010-11-19T18:37:19.937" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a slang, &lt;em&gt;faux&lt;/em&gt; apology.  It says, &quot;I was wrong, but I'm too haughty to actually apologize for my error.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2196" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T18:37:19.937" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1655" CreationDate="2010-11-19T19:15:13.933" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's always &quot;any or all&quot; or &quot;any and all&quot; when preparing a list and either is much less verbose.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T19:15:13.933" />
  <row Id="5302" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5303" CreationDate="2010-11-19T19:16:31.687" Score="8" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;When writing an instruction about connecting to a computer using ssh, telnet, etc., I'm not sure what spacing to use in this familiar spoken phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;Log in to&lt;/strong&gt; host.com&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;Log into&lt;/strong&gt; host.com&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;Login to&lt;/strong&gt; host.com&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe this is entirely subjective or the realm of industry jargon, but I couldn't think of anywhere else to ask.  Any insight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="198" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T09:50:07.467" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T09:50:07.467" Title="&quot;log in to&quot; or &quot;log into&quot; or &quot;login to&quot;" Tags="&lt;programming&gt;&lt;jargon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5302" CreationDate="2010-11-19T19:27:58.363" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would write “Log in to host.com.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that “login” is a noun (as in “login screen”).  I would find the words “loginned” and “loginning” awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for “Log in to host.com” versus “Log into host.com,” I would use the former because I think that “log in” is a fixed phrase.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5219/into-versus-in-to/5221#5221&quot;&gt;Martha’s answer&lt;/a&gt; to another question is also related.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Added&lt;/em&gt;: The &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA)&lt;/a&gt; lists 65 occurrences of “log in to” and 58 occurrences of “log into,” both including inflected forms and excluding the Spoken section.  (The queries used are &lt;code&gt;[log].[v*] in to&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;[log].[v*] into&lt;/code&gt;.)  Since “log in to” is also used in context like “log in to download it,” the actual number of occurrences of “log in to [host]” is slightly smaller than 65.  In any case, it suggests that the phrase “log into” is also used commonly, although I am not sure how good it is to use COCA to compare technical terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastEditorUserId="1755" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-19T19:58:29.067" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T19:58:29.067" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="5304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5302" CreationDate="2010-11-19T19:28:37.257" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The verb is &lt;em&gt;log in&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Log in to host.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Login#Spelling_confusion&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia page for Login&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spelling confusion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The verbs are two words: &lt;em&gt;log in&lt;/em&gt; and&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;log out&lt;/em&gt;, whereas the nouns are &lt;em&gt;login&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  and &lt;em&gt;logout&lt;/em&gt; (often used like adjectives&#xA;  in compound nouns).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T19:28:37.257" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="5305" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5307" CreationDate="2010-11-19T19:46:36.497" Score="2" ViewCount="258" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the origin and meaning of it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-19T21:17:38.997" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T19:48:36.180" Title="What does the expression &quot;The eagle flies at midnight&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5271" CreationDate="2010-11-19T19:53:32.190" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work in a scrum environment. When we break down a user story we always say &quot;Lets task it out&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2165" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T19:53:32.190" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5305" CreationDate="2010-11-19T19:54:13.027" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never heard it before, certainly not as some kind of common phrase - but it &lt;i&gt;sounds&lt;/i&gt; to me like the sort of line you'd hear in a cheesy wartime spy movie.  Some sort of code phrase to inform your accomplices of your plans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T19:54:13.027" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5308" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-19T20:28:02.953" Score="5" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;Help -- I need backup in pressing my case that the phrase 'choose from one of four options' is grammatically incorrect. Is there some resource that can prove my case -- that the incorrect phrase should be replaced with one of the below: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Choose one of four options&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Choose from four options&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2197" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:34:43.007" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:34:43.007" Title="Please help prove that 'choose from one of four options' is wrong..." Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5308" CreationDate="2010-11-19T20:34:12.270" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dunno if it's grammatically incorrect, sounds more logically incorrect to me, but to be honest I did have to think about it a bit. I think in conversation I wouldn't even have noticed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T20:34:12.270" />
  <row Id="5310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5308" CreationDate="2010-11-19T21:02:54.367" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As in the other responses, this isn't a case of being &lt;em&gt;grammatically&lt;/em&gt; wrong, rather it is &lt;em&gt;semantically&lt;/em&gt; wrong. Noam Chomsky long ago observed that grammatically valid constructions can still be &quot;wrong&quot; because of the meaning of the particular words used. (&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorless_green_ideas_sleep_furiously&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Colorless green ideas sleep furiously&lt;/a&gt;.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be correct (if odd) to ask someone to &quot;...choose from three out of four options&quot;--meaning that there are four total options, but you are limiting the choice to being between a subset of them. Thus, the problem with &quot;chose from one out of four&quot; is not that it is wrong grammatically, but instead that when the subset is restricted to consist of one option, there is no choice to be made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your case, any of the suggestions in Martha's comment are a better way of communicating your intent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1955" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T21:02:54.367" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5305" CreationDate="2010-11-19T21:21:00.773" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's one of the stereotypical spy code phrases used in bad and/or spoof movies. I've seen it credited to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088286/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Top Secret&lt;/a&gt;, but not having seen that movie, I can't vouch for the assertion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also seen it as &quot;the rooster crows at midnight&quot;, or &quot;the eagle flies at noon&quot;. Alas, my Google-fu is not up to finding a definitive source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-20T07:40:42.757" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T07:40:42.757" />
  <row Id="5312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5285" CreationDate="2010-11-19T21:43:26.050" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I'm a native speaker in the sense of being born &amp;amp; raised (&amp;amp; schooled) in the US, but my first language was actually Hungarian. My parents have a well-justified distaste for All Things Soviet, which the last 20 years have not erased. So my reactions are perhaps not typical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The origin of &quot;comrade&quot; and the justification (or lack thereof) for its Communist associations is, I think, largely irrelevant. The fact remains, there is such an association. It might be looked upon as &quot;antique&quot; by younger generations, but it has not gone away. Bottom line: I would not suggest using the word &quot;comrade&quot; as a generic synonym for &quot;friend&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Camaraderie, for whatever reason, does not carry any Cold War-era connotations that I know of in English. (I think it might in German.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-19T21:43:26.050" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5313" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-20T06:44:15.230" Score="3" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Wikipedia (disclaimer: of course I realize that Wikipedia should not be regarded as an absolute authority, but I generally consider it to be a fairly accurate and reliable resource):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun . . .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess I can understand how the words &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; fit this description. But what about words such as &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;those&lt;/em&gt;, etc.? It seems these serve essentially the same function (specifying definiteness), but unless I'm mistaken, they are categorized as demonstrative adjectives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find this &lt;em&gt;particularly&lt;/em&gt; puzzling in light of the following two excerpts from Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Every noun must be accompanied by the article, if any, corresponding to its definiteness, and the lack of an article (considered a zero article) itself specifies a certain definiteness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[. . .]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In languages having a definite article, the lack of an article specifically indicates that the noun is indefinite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that, in light of the above two statements, an expression such as &quot;those boots&quot; should somehow be considered indefinite (since there is no article), but isn't this absurd?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2087" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T06:00:48.730" Title="Why are words such as &quot;that&quot; and &quot;those&quot; not considered articles?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5313" CreationDate="2010-11-20T06:57:07.837" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;That&quot; and &quot;those&quot; (in their capacity as pronouns) are not &quot;indefinite pronouns&quot;, but &quot;demonstrative pronouns&quot;.  The fact that they have a category of pronouns other than the &quot;indefinite&quot; category does, I think, suggest that they are indeed definite!  And when they become adjectively, I doubt that they lose their definiteness in the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;In languages having a definite article, the lack of an article specifically indicates that the noun is indefinite.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The children run&quot; has a definite article.  &quot;Children like to run&quot; is an example of an indefinite noun.  &quot;My children like to run&quot;?  I think we're in the realms of the definite again.  I suspect &quot;the lack of an article &lt;i&gt;or another part of speech in place of the article&lt;/i&gt;&quot; would be a better, um, definition of indefiniteness!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T06:57:07.837" />
  <row Id="5315" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-20T07:18:13.457" Score="7" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;My only option is 'eighteen and something' but I feel that it will not do when reading aloud formal texts, e.g. citations from legal documents included into some fiction books.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2201" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T21:09:44.213" Title="How to read aloud a sentence like 'In the year 18.. they decided to move to Bricktown'" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5316" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-20T09:12:33.587" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of &lt;code&gt;This menu will be shown to all users but john&lt;/code&gt; ?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Does it mean &lt;code&gt;This menu will be shown to all users except john&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;This menu will be shown only to john&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="530" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-20T13:31:51.260" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T13:31:51.260" Title="What is the meaning of 'This will be shown to all users but john' ?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5317" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5319" CreationDate="2010-11-20T09:22:48.607" Score="2" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;Excuse my stupid question, but do &quot;favorite&quot; and &quot;favourite&quot; mean the same thing? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1467" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-20T13:31:14.460" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T12:31:47.830" Title="Favorite vs Favourite" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="5318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5316" CreationDate="2010-11-20T10:12:27.430" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your case, &quot;but&quot; means &quot;except&quot;. So, your sentence means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This menu will be shown to all users&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;except&lt;/em&gt; John.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T10:12:27.430" />
  <row Id="5319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5317" CreationDate="2010-11-20T10:21:09.313" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They have the same meaning, but &lt;strong&gt;favourite&lt;/strong&gt; is used in British English, Australian English, New Zealand English and Canadian English whereas &lt;strong&gt;favorite&lt;/strong&gt; is used in American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T10:21:09.313" />
  <row Id="5320" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5331" CreationDate="2010-11-20T11:13:54.613" Score="6" ViewCount="252" Body="&lt;p&gt;When should one use something like &quot;conducting experiments in orbit&quot; vs. &quot;conducting experiments on orbit&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2203" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-20T18:50:54.117" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T18:50:54.117" Title="&quot;in orbit&quot; vs. &quot;on orbit&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5321" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5323" CreationDate="2010-11-20T11:26:28.200" Score="3" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a game (Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare), when a soldier (Gaz) asks his commander (Captain Price) about the &quot;rules of engagement,&quot; he is answered &quot;crew expendable.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As they are fighting on a ship, I have two translations in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The ship crew (the enemy) are expendable; i.e. you can kill whomever you want.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The team crew are expendable; i.e. the team should fulfill their objective, even at the cost of their lives.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which translation is right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2042" LastEditorUserId="2042" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-20T23:02:44.473" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T23:02:44.473" Title="The Meaning of &quot;Crew Expendable&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5321" CreationDate="2010-11-20T12:30:13.007" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you read the &lt;a href=&quot;http://callofduty.wikia.com/wiki/Crew_Expendable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wiki on Call of Duty&lt;/a&gt;, definitely the former: the ship crew can be engaged.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/Zyq3a.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://callofduty.wikia.com/wiki/Crew_Expendable/Trivia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;trivia on that episode&lt;/a&gt; also include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This mission contains many references to the Aliens series of films: &lt;strong&gt;These include the title, &quot;Crew Expendable&quot; (in reference to a line from the first film)&lt;/strong&gt;, and the lines &quot;I like to keep this for close encounters&quot;, &quot;Check those corners&quot;, &quot;Stay Frosty&quot; and &quot;Soldier, we are leaving&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/synopsis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;imdb on Aliens&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ripley queries Mother for advice on destroying the alien, but in the process discovers that &quot;&lt;strong&gt;the company&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; (unnamed in this film, but identified in the sequels as Weyland-Yutani) had recognized the signal as a warning and &lt;strong&gt;wanted one of the alien creatures brought back for study, considering the crew expendable&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T12:30:13.007" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5324" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-20T12:50:52.160" Score="5" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Computer Science papers (and I'm sure that in papers in many other fields, too), we often have to describe a new tool or method that has a name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's talk for instance about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eclipse.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Eclipse&lt;/a&gt;, and its wide adoption among programmers. Which of these sentences is better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Eclipse development environment has been widely adopted among programmers. &lt;em&gt;(name first)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The development environment Eclipse has been widely adopted among programmers. &lt;em&gt;(name last)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eclipse, the development environment, has been widely adopted among programmers. &lt;em&gt;(description between commas)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of all three, the first looks better, but why? Also, the last one is similar to this other sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;John, the new intern, was always late.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, when do I use each of these structures?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2205" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-20T13:29:05.257" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T19:54:15.957" Title="When talking about something, where do we place its name in the sentence?" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;structure&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5315" CreationDate="2010-11-20T12:52:36.083" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually that kind of approximation is referenced as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;In the eighteen hundreds, they decided to...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be refined, if there is any addition clue about that period, into:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;In the &lt;em&gt;early&lt;/em&gt; eighteen hundreds, they decided to...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;In the &lt;em&gt;late&lt;/em&gt; eighteen hundreds, they decided to...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T12:52:36.083" />
  <row Id="5326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5320" CreationDate="2010-11-20T14:44:04.597" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;In orbit&quot; specifies the &lt;em&gt;location&lt;/em&gt; where the experiments take place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;On orbit&quot; (which should be &quot;on orbits&quot; to be grammatical), specifies the &lt;em&gt;subject&lt;/em&gt; of the experiments. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The astronauts conducted a number of interesting experiments (while) in orbit.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Kepler performed many experiments on (the) orbits (of heavenly bodies).&quot;* &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*In both examples, the parenthetical words are not necessary to be grammatical, but help to make the meaning clear, and the sentences sound more natural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1955" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T14:44:04.597" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5324" CreationDate="2010-11-20T15:13:42.153" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that the first example sounds the most natural. However, I believe that this is due to some conflation of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apposition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;appositive nouns&lt;/a&gt; and genuine adjectives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first two sentences, &quot;Eclipse&quot; functions adjectivally as a noun (restrictively) in apposition to &quot;The development environment&quot;. Typically, a restrictive appositive follows the noun it restricts (and so your second example is most correct, in some sense. However, the adjectival sense is so strong, and English favors adjective-before-noun word ordering to such a degree that the first example does sound better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the third example, &quot;Eclipse&quot; is the subject of the sentence with &quot;the develop environment&quot; functioning as a non-restrictive appositive. As such, it is truly parallel to you &quot;John the intern&quot; example. I'd say that it sounds less natural because it omits an actual adjective to emphasize the adjectival nature of the phrase. For instance, &quot;Eclipse, the most popular development environment,&quot; sounds just like &quot;John, the new intern,&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1955" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T15:13:42.153" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5315" CreationDate="2010-11-20T16:17:01.087" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I upvoted you because it's a good question, and I don't really know &lt;i&gt;how&lt;/i&gt; to answer it.  I suspect that, at the time that this device was commonplace, no one really anticipated that their work would be read aloud (much less the explosion of the audiobook format may decades later!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; read this kind of thing out loud to my family, I usually say &quot;In the year eighteen[mumble mumble mumble]&quot; but that's a humorous decision, not an informed one...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T16:17:01.087" />
  <row Id="5329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5317" CreationDate="2010-11-20T17:09:37.090" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, they mean the same thing. From Wiktionary's entry on &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/favorite&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;favorite&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;English&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Alternative forms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(Commonwealth English) favourite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="244" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T17:09:37.090" />
  <row Id="5330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5320" CreationDate="2010-11-20T17:36:58.873" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've thought about this question some more and decided that it's very interesting, so I've upvoted it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, I'd like to say that I completely concur with Res's answer.  &quot;In orbit&quot; is such a well-used and well-understood phrase in its own right that &quot;experiments in orbit&quot; can only really mean &quot;experiments that take place while circling the earth&quot;.  Which means that if you want to talk about experiments concerning bodies' orbits, you have to use another word: &quot;about&quot; or &quot;on&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However!  &lt;i&gt;Elsewhere&lt;/i&gt;, &quot;to experiment in something&quot; does NOT mean to experiment in a location.  &quot;Experiments in social marketing&quot; is the same as &quot;social marketing experiments&quot;.  &quot;Experiments in chemistry&quot; sounds a bit more stilted than &quot;chemistry experiments&quot;, but I think most people would agree it means the same thing.  So I fully understand why someone might try to say &quot;experiments in orbit&quot;, to mean &quot;experiments in the field of orbits&quot;.  But because it sounds so much like &quot;experiments taking place in outer space&quot;, I think native English speakers would steer clear of such a phrasing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;To experiment on&quot;, conversely, conventionally means that you are experimenting in order to see the resulting effects in the object of the experiment.  &quot;Experiment on animals&quot; is probably the most common usage of this, sadly.  To &quot;experiment on an orbit&quot; might mean to do various things to an orbiting body to see how its orbit changes from one test to the next.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this has clarified things a little bit, and not just confused them further!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T17:36:58.873" />
  <row Id="5331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5320" CreationDate="2010-11-20T18:42:24.377" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;in orbit&quot; is the common English phrase to refer to things and locations that are orbiting; this is the phrase that everyone should be familiar with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;on orbit&quot; appears to be a phrase with an identical (or nearly identical) meaning, but is used by those in the actual space industry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://goes.gsfc.nasa.gov/text/databook/section17.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is an informational packet (PDF)&lt;/a&gt; from the NASA website called &quot;&lt;strong&gt;On-Orbit&lt;/strong&gt; Mission Operations&quot;.  Aside from the evidence in the title, this sentence also appears:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The operational events occurring &lt;strong&gt;on orbit&lt;/strong&gt; are grouped into two categories: daily operations and periodic operations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/library/SatelliteFragHistory/13thEditionofBreakupBook.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is another informational packet (also PDF)&lt;/a&gt; called &quot;History of &lt;strong&gt;On-Orbit&lt;/strong&gt; Satellite Fragmentations&quot;, with the following excerpt:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As of November 21, 2000, this object had been &lt;strong&gt;on orbit&lt;/strong&gt; 5 years and 121 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3anasa.gov+%22on+orbit%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here are the results of a Google search on the nasa.gov website&lt;/a&gt; that show numerous uses of &quot;on orbit&quot;, which all seem to correspond to having a meaning identical to &quot;in orbit&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One other bit of insight comes from this excerpt from &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=Bq6vSIqlnxUC&amp;amp;pg=PA19&amp;amp;lpg=PA19&amp;amp;dq=%22on+orbit%22&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=h8QYhzRBp3&amp;amp;sig=g_yoXUTx02AKM_ijYHpEU-f1_bk&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=jA_oTIfaLoH78Aaw95mYDQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=10&amp;amp;ved=0CGEQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22on%20orbit%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Orbit: A Novel&lt;/a&gt;&quot; (which may or may not be accurate, but acknowledges the industry-specific use and possibly their original logic for doing so):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Everyone keeps saying 'on' orbit instead of 'in' orbit. Is that a space thing?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Yep. Mainly started at NASA, but there's good scientific reason to call it that. In brief, we have to get on speed and altitude to be there, so we're &lt;strong&gt;on orbit&lt;/strong&gt;, like being on a perch.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the answer for when to use one and the other depends on what you want to say and who your audience is.  If you want to give the common meaning of &quot;in orbit&quot;, then say &quot;in orbit&quot;, but if you are speaking with an audience familiar with the jargon of the space industry, and you want to sound knowledgeable, use &quot;on orbit&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T18:42:24.377" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5332" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5334" CreationDate="2010-11-20T19:21:27.853" Score="7" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;I drank a little to much last night, and one of my friends suggested &quot;the hair of the dog&quot; to cure my hangover. Where did this saying come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2165" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T16:21:19.513" Title="The saying &quot;Hair of the Dog&quot;" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5254" CreationDate="2010-11-20T19:27:26.287" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Answer to (2):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We memorize each exceptional word.  In the grand scheme of things, this is actually not a huge number of words.  Consider Chinese and Japanese, who have a large number meaning-based characters that provide little to no information about their pronunciation at all.  If memorizing the pronunciation of thousands of characters is possible, then memorizing English words with exceptional spelling seems almost trivial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T19:27:26.287" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5332" CreationDate="2010-11-20T19:31:50.257" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The full phrase is &quot;the hair of the dog that bit you&quot; (from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_of_the_dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The expression originally referred to a method of treatment of a rabid dog bite by placing hair from the dog in the bite wound. The use of the phrase as a metaphor for a hangover treatment dates back to the time of William Shakespeare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T19:31:50.257" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5335" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5343" CreationDate="2010-11-20T19:48:04.933" Score="4" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm reading some textbook selections for my linguistics class and the author mentioned a &quot;linguistic framework&quot; and I don't know what that term is referring to. I've tried checking on Google but every site it sends me to talks about a particular linguistic framework but none have an actual definition of what one is. Does anyone have a concise definition?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1551" LastEditorUserId="1914" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-20T21:38:57.463" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T21:52:10.917" Title="What is a linguistic framework?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;linguistics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5305" CreationDate="2010-11-20T19:48:36.180" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's this 'answer' to be found ... &lt;a href=&quot;http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070822173707AAiQHG9&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070822173707AAiQHG9&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but my personal suspicion is that it belongs in the same category as 'my postilion has been struck by lightning' ( &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_postillion_has_been_struck_by_lightning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_postillion_has_been_struck_by_lightning&lt;/a&gt; )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T19:48:36.180" />
  <row Id="5337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5324" CreationDate="2010-11-20T19:54:15.957" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would think it is a matter of the information you are intending to supply. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first example &quot;The Eclipse development environment has been widely adopted among programmers&quot; would mean the Eclipse development environment, as opposed to some other development environment, has been widely adopted by programmers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second &quot;The development environment Eclipse has been widely adopted among programmers&quot; would suggest that Eclipse is a development environment, as opposed to, say, a compiler, and has been widely adopted by programmers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The third example &quot;Eclipse, the development environment, has been widely adopted among programmers&quot; would give the impression that Eclipse, that you have never heard of, is a development environment and has been widely adopted by programmers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T19:54:15.957" />
  <row Id="5338" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5339" CreationDate="2010-11-20T20:34:05.490" Score="6" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do we call cinema The Seventh Art? Why not sixth or fifth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2209" LastEditorUserId="133" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-20T21:07:29.690" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T21:07:29.690" Title="Why do we call cinema The Seventh Art?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5338" CreationDate="2010-11-20T21:06:51.283" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hegel first &lt;a href=&quot;http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classification_des_arts&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;classified&lt;/a&gt; five arts in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/works/ae/index.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lectures on Aesthetics&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Architecture&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sculpture&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Painting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Music&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Poetry&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 1911, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricciotto_Canudo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ricciotto Canudo&lt;/a&gt; wrote &lt;strong&gt;The Birth of the Sixth Art&lt;/strong&gt; arguing that Cinema was #6; later he redefined dance as #6, making cinema the seventh art.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The term is much more common in French than in English today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="133" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T21:06:51.283" />
  <row Id="5340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5315" CreationDate="2010-11-20T21:09:44.213" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;Eighteen blippety blip?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="133" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T21:09:44.213" />
  <row Id="5341" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5346" CreationDate="2010-11-20T21:25:18.930" Score="8" ViewCount="320" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having now received my second downvote (&lt;em&gt;sob&lt;/em&gt;!) for suggesting that &quot;to-mah-to&quot; is a better pronunciation of &quot;to-may-to&quot; - I was only joking, honest! - I've gotten to thinking about alternative, regionally valid pronunciations of the same words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually think &quot;to-may-to&quot; (American) is a better pronunciation of the fruit than &quot;to-mah-to&quot; (British style).  It makes perfect logical sense for tomato to rhyme with potato.  On the other hand, I much prefer the British pronunciation of &quot;buoy&quot; (boy) than the American boo-ee.  If you're not going to pronounce &quot;buoyancy&quot; boo-ee-ancy, then it starts to seem like the boo-ee pronunciation is just the result of (age-old) ignorant mispronunciation, eventually enshrined into the language by use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;British English itself is a morass of regional pronunciations - &quot;book&quot; is pronounced completely differently depending on whether you're in the North or South of England.  The Southern pronunciation is probably deemed &quot;correct&quot;, but is there really any reason for that, other than the fact of the seats of political and financial power being located in the south?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What goes for pronunciation goes for spelling, also.  As a student of Latin, it always bugs me when I see the spelling &quot;miniscule&quot; - any Latinist will tell you that it should technically be &quot;minuscule&quot;.  Imagine my horror then when I looked in the dictionary and discovered that &quot;miniscule&quot; is now a legitimate spelling of the word: not because of any valid pedigree,  but simply because so many people now spell it that way that there's no point in fighting it any more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the question is, does any of it matter?  Is there any sense in declaring that there is a &quot;correct&quot; English spelling, grammar and pronunciation?  In cases where the meaning is completely clear to any hearer or reader - &quot;to-mah-to&quot;/&quot;to-may-to&quot;, &quot;miniscule&quot;/&quot;minuscule&quot; then maybe it doesn't matter at all.  Maybe we should embrace a language that admits tailoring to a speaker or writer's personal taste and style, and let people split infinitives and end sentences with prepositions all they like, as long as the meaning that they are trying to convey remains obvious.  Is there any strong argument for linguistic purism?  I'd like to hear any opinions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T07:02:12.330" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T07:02:12.330" ClosedDate="2011-02-03T11:23:03.460" Title="How much does how we pronounce things matter?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="5342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5341" CreationDate="2010-11-20T21:36:54.237" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First and foremost, it matters that the people listening to you understand what you're trying to say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that, pronunciation can betray your nationality, class or level of education. It's up to you what you want to broadcast about yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T21:36:54.237" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5335" CreationDate="2010-11-20T21:52:10.917" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A linguistic framework is a structure and/or set of rules that someone uses when analyzing a linguistic unit (word, phrase, sentence, paragraph, etc). It basically gives you a method of organizing language into categrories and relationships.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_Generative_Description&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Functional Generative Description&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-11-20T21:52:10.917" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2018" CreationDate="2010-11-21T00:30:14.613" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look at this: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.interpals.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Inter Pals&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (it is 100% Free at this moment as I have read on the start page)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="81" LastEditorUserId="81" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-21T00:41:43.490" LastActivityDate="2010-11-21T00:41:43.490" />
  <row Id="5346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5341" CreationDate="2010-11-21T01:51:55.307" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Joshdick is right that how a person speaks (or writes) can have significant social importance.  Even if &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.barnsdle.demon.co.uk/spell/mini.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;miniscule&lt;/a&gt;&quot; is now common, I wouldn't want to spell the word that way in, say, the cover letter on a job application, because it might create a bad impression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I don't think there's a coherent way to define what is &quot;linguistically pure&quot;.  Spelling and pronunciation are matters of historical accident (see, for instance, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel#History_and_origins&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the history of the word &quot;colonel&quot;&lt;/a&gt;).  The fact that a particular spelling has a historical pedigree doesn't give it any particular moral authority.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people seem to conflate practical questions about what ways of speaking and writing are effective, or persuasive, or beautiful, with ideological questions about what's &quot;correct&quot; or &quot;pure&quot;.  It makes a lot of sense to worry about how to write in way that's appropriate for one's audience and whether one's writing will achieve its goals.  In my experience, worries about the &quot;purity&quot; of language are usually a proxy for these practical goals, but it's a lot easier, and less controversial, to simply talk directly about what achieves these goals, and put aside the infinitely subjective worry about what's &quot;pure&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(As an aside, you implied in your question that split infinitives and ending sentences with prepositions were matters of linguistic impurity; this is a bit ironic given that neither of those rules has a particularly distinguished historical pedigree---both were made up whole cloth in the middle of the 1800s.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastEditorUserId="133" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-21T02:53:26.930" LastActivityDate="2010-11-21T02:53:26.930" />
  <row Id="5347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3239" CreationDate="2010-11-21T03:05:36.193" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is used in the sense of &quot;true&quot;. &quot;Very&quot; is derived from a Latin word which means true. It is the root of veritas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="158" LastActivityDate="2010-11-21T03:05:36.193" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="48" CreationDate="2010-11-21T11:27:24.950" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not my area of expertise, I'm not using it, and just learned about its existence today, so just for reference from Wikipedia's &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spivak_pronoun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Spivak pronoun&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;Spivak pronouns&lt;/strong&gt; are a proposed set of gender-neutral pronouns in English devised by Michael Spivak. They are not in widespread use, but have been employed in gender-neutral language by some people who dislike the more common alternatives &quot;he/she&quot; or singular they.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The (new) Spivak pronouns are formed from the pronoun &quot;they&quot; by dropping the &quot;th&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are two variants of the Spivak pronouns in use, as shown in the declension table below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/03aJU.png&quot; alt=&quot;Spivak&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2215" LastActivityDate="2010-11-21T11:27:24.950" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5349" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5355" CreationDate="2010-11-21T11:37:00.590" Score="5" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can anyone explain the difference between thus and hence and when should we use one and not the other? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2216" LastActivityDate="2010-11-21T16:56:56.333" Title="What is the difference between hence and thus" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="5350" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5354" CreationDate="2010-11-21T16:19:43.400" Score="3" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does the former have a typo or are they synonyms? Do they always have the same meaning? Please enlighten me as I am confused on this matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-21T16:37:13.003" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T15:18:48.513" Title="miniscule vs. minuscule" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="5351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5349" CreationDate="2010-11-21T16:23:47.427" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel 'hence' refers to going forward, while 'thus' is a logical end to a statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2093" LastActivityDate="2010-11-21T16:23:47.427" />
  <row Id="5352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5350" CreationDate="2010-11-21T16:42:23.823" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Minuscule is the generally accepted and earliest form. Miniscule appeared later, and is regarded by some as an error, and others as a variant. If you use minuscule, no-one will be bothered, but if you write minicsule, some people will think it is a mistake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See these references for more... &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miniscule&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miniscule&lt;/a&gt; , &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/miniscule&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/miniscule&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.barnsdle.demon.co.uk/spell/mini.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.barnsdle.demon.co.uk/spell/mini.html&lt;/a&gt; .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-11-21T16:42:23.823" />
  <row Id="5353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5350" CreationDate="2010-11-21T16:51:13.890" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would imagine &quot;miniscule&quot; became prevalent because everyone made a false association between it the more common word &quot;miniature&quot;.  When in fact it's more like &quot;minus&quot;.  (A similar word that everyone gets wrong by coming to a false conclusion about its derivation is &quot;supercede&quot; instead of the actual correct word &quot;supersede&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Brian Hooper says, some people will think you've made a mistake if you spell it &quot;miniscule&quot;, but miniscule is now listed as a legitimate variant in dictionaries, simply because spelling it this way is now so common.  As an ex-Latin-student it really annoys me to see this spelling, but what can you do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-21T16:51:13.890" />
  <row Id="5354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5350" CreationDate="2010-11-21T16:52:05.950" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word was originally &lt;em&gt;minuscule&lt;/em&gt;, borrowed from French.  The &lt;em&gt;minuscule&lt;/em&gt; spelling has always been the preferred spelling.  However, &lt;em&gt;miniscule&lt;/em&gt; is not as simple as a typo.  According to the OED, the first citation of the &lt;em&gt;miniscule&lt;/em&gt; variant is from 1871, so this is a form that has been around quite a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The OED says the following about &lt;em&gt;miniscule&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Variant of MINUSCULE adj., probably arising partly from shift of stress from the second to the first syllable, and partly from association with MINIATURE adj., MINIMUM adj., etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, there are two reasons that &lt;em&gt;miniscule&lt;/em&gt; persists as a variant.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first is the shift in stress.  In English, unstressed vowels are often reduced to schwa, [ə], no matter what the fully stressed vowel would have been.  &lt;em&gt;Minuscule&lt;/em&gt; used to always be pronounced with stress on the second syllable (containing the &quot;u&quot;), and was therefore unambiguously an [u] sound.  When &lt;em&gt;minuscule&lt;/em&gt; began to get stress on the first syllable, it was no longer clear from hearing the word what the second vowel was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second was the existence of semantically similar words that contained the spelling &lt;em&gt;mini&lt;/em&gt;, such as &lt;em&gt;miniature&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;minimum&lt;/em&gt;.  The word &lt;em&gt;mini&lt;/em&gt; is associated with small things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, a person spelling the word &lt;em&gt;minuscule&lt;/em&gt;, having no auditory cues to indicate the spelling &quot;minu&quot;, and knowing other smallness words contain &quot;mini&quot;, has every logical reason to think the spelling should be &quot;miniscule&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-21T16:52:05.950" />
  <row Id="5355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5349" CreationDate="2010-11-21T16:56:56.333" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Hence&quot; means &quot;from here&quot;.  &quot;Get thee hence!&quot; is old English for &quot;get out of here&quot;.  &quot;Henceforwards&quot; is &quot;from this time on&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Thus&quot; means &quot;in this way&quot;.  In older English, you might say &quot;he opened the door thus&quot;, while demonstrating the action.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In logical senses, you can use them in similar contexts.  &quot;If x is true, then y is true.  X is true.  Hence, y is also true.&quot;  &quot;If x is true, then y is true.  I have proved x is true.  Thus, I have proved y to be true also.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of them as &quot;based on this fact&quot; and &quot;in this way&quot; and you can't go far wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-21T16:56:56.333" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5356" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5364" CreationDate="2010-11-21T20:42:07.687" Score="6" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between a phrase and a clause? I tried looking this in dictionary but can not identify the difference. It would be great if there is an example  and formula of what makes a phrase and a clause. Thanks heaps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2216" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-22T09:36:51.460" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T09:36:51.460" Title="What is the difference between a phrase and a clause?" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;construction&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5357" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5358" CreationDate="2010-11-21T21:33:09.360" Score="5" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm (reasonably) sure these are wrong:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I would of won. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I could of done that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and are likely so common because if you phonetically transcribe &quot;would've&quot;, &quot;could've&quot;, etc, that's what you get.  Nevertheless, I commonly make that mistake over and over again.  How can I definitively correct this error?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2223" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T04:55:08.330" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T04:55:08.330" Title="How to remember using &quot;have&quot; instead of &quot;of&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;homophone&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5357" CreationDate="2010-11-21T22:43:58.397" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Remove the modal verb (&lt;em&gt;would, could, should&lt;/em&gt;, etc.) from the sentence, and see if it still makes sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I would have won. -&gt; I have won. (works!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;*I would of won. -&gt; I of won. (nope, that's not right...)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can be sure that if the sentence is supposed to have &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt;, then you can always remove the modal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-21T22:43:58.397" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5359" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-21T23:02:44.310" Score="0" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1047/which-is-correct-you-and-i-or-you-and-me&quot;&gt;Which is correct, &amp;ldquo;you and I&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;you and me&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was in primary school, I was advised by my English teacher to use &quot;you and I&quot; instead of &quot;you and me.&quot; I know some people out there still use &quot;You and me.&quot; Can anyone explain why we should use &quot;you and I&quot; and what is wrong with &quot;you and me&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2216" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T12:33:34.097" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T12:33:34.097" ClosedDate="2010-11-21T23:31:11.490" Title="&quot;You and I&quot; versus &quot;you and me&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="5360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5357" CreationDate="2010-11-21T23:10:51.373" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, &quot;of&quot; should &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; ordinarily come before a verb, or any part of a verb.  If it does in one of your sentences, it should almost certainly be &quot;have&quot; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The closest you legitimately get is something like &quot;I'm tired of running&quot;; I believe &quot;running&quot; there is what's called a gerund, that is to say a noun derived from a verb.  But it's always &quot;I should &lt;i&gt;have&lt;/i&gt; run&quot;, never &quot;should of&quot;.  (In fact, &quot;of&quot; will never actually follow &quot;would&quot; or &quot;should&quot; in grammatical English, so that's another way you can check to see if you should replace it with &quot;have&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastEditorUserId="2181" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-22T01:42:18.267" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T01:42:18.267" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="5361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1047" CreationDate="2010-11-21T23:15:06.517" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;You and I&quot; is the subject.  &quot;You and me&quot; is the object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You and I hate Phil.&quot;  &quot;Phil hates you and me.&quot;  &quot;Phil is hated by you and me.&quot;  All of these are grammatically correct.  (No offence to Phil.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It really winds me up when people &lt;i&gt;hypercorrect&lt;/i&gt; because they think that &quot;you and me&quot; is always wrong.  &quot;Phil hates you and I.&quot;  NO!  This is worrying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to work out if you should be using &quot;you and I&quot; or &quot;you and me&quot; is to take away the &quot;you and&quot; and see if the sentence sounds right with just I or me.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I hate Phil.&quot;  Sounds good.  &quot;Me hate Phil.&quot;  Sounds like a caveman talking!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Phil hates me.&quot;  Sounds good.  &quot;Phil hates I.&quot;  Sounds ridiculous!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-21T23:15:06.517" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5362" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5363" CreationDate="2010-11-21T23:54:50.447" Score="1" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I knew that admire can be used in phrases like &quot;admire somebody&quot; or &quot;admire somebody for something&quot;, but recently I have found the following sentence in my Collins dictionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you emulate something or someone, you imitate them because you admire them a great deal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the meaning of &quot;admire them a great deal&quot; is &quot;admire them, because they've made a great deal&quot;? Would it have a different meaning, if I wrote &quot;admire them for a great deal&quot; or &quot;admire their great deal&quot;? What are other examples of the use of admire in the same way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1834" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-22T00:03:43.680" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T00:55:33.803" Title="How is &quot;admire&quot; used in &quot;to admire them a great deal&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5362" CreationDate="2010-11-22T00:08:47.637" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Admire&lt;/em&gt; is not being used in a special way in this sentence.  The cause of your confusion is that the phrase &quot;a great deal&quot; is not actually an argument of the verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, &quot;a great deal&quot; is functioning as an adverb in this phrase — its form is much like the more common adverb phrase, &quot;a lot&quot;.  Saying &quot;you admire them a great deal&quot; is like saying &quot;you admire them very much&quot; or &quot;you admire them greatly&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-22T00:55:33.803" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T00:55:33.803" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5356" CreationDate="2010-11-22T00:37:50.923" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer: clauses contain a subject and its verb, while phrases do not.  Note that phrases may contain nouns and verbals, but won't have the noun as the verb's actor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The long answer: see &lt;a href=&quot;http://writing-program.uchicago.edu/resources/complex-sentences.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt; from the University of Chicago which has several examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T00:37:50.923" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5365" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-22T02:55:06.337" Score="3" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of the word &quot;rain-maker&quot;? How did this originate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2189" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-22T09:38:53.923" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T09:38:53.923" Title="What is the meaning of the word &quot;rain-maker&quot;? How did this originate?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5366" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5382" CreationDate="2010-11-22T03:21:51.097" Score="11" ViewCount="371" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2224" LastEditorUserId="1914" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-22T14:51:36.933" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T17:21:17.020" Title="&quot;Filename&quot;, &quot;File Name&quot; or &quot;FileName&quot;?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5367" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5372" CreationDate="2010-11-22T03:27:14.760" Score="7" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was watching an episode of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friends&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FRIENDS&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; where Ross talks about &lt;strong&gt;counting mississippily&lt;/strong&gt;. &#xA;I did not get the joke. Why would someone say &lt;strong&gt;mississippi&lt;/strong&gt; after every number? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there some story behind it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="296" LastEditorUserId="296" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-22T15:41:45.197" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T01:01:46.370" Title="Why does one count MISSISSIPPILY?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1628" CreationDate="2010-11-22T04:01:32.823" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was raised in Britain but have been living in Canada and Seattle for the past few years.  I wasn't much of a &quot;cheers&quot; person in the UK, but I've started using it in North America a lot... simply because the locals here expect and enjoy it from someone with a British accent!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most prevalent use of it I remember from the UK is that one of my friends used to sign his emails off with it, i.e. &quot;Cheers, Dom&quot;.  He wasn't really thanking or toasting anyone, but I liked it a lot!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T04:01:32.823" />
  <row Id="5369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5367" CreationDate="2010-11-22T04:04:48.933" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very good question!  I've always assumed that it was for the purposes of spacing out numbers while playing hide-and-seek.  If you don't ensure that the numbers are a good distance apart, then obviously the seeker just burbles &quot;onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightninetennnnnnnnahundred... ready or not, here I come&quot;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastEditorUserId="2181" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-23T01:01:46.370" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T01:01:46.370" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="5370" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5377" CreationDate="2010-11-22T04:09:55.947" Score="5" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;In case you don't know, in British English, the little red-with-black-spots insect is not called a &quot;ladybug&quot;, as in North America, but a &quot;ladybird&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems rather a poor act of classification, all things considered.  Does anyone know why the ladybird was given such a name?  Was it purely whimsical, or is there any reason why this insect should seem more avian than the rest of its kin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a possibly related note, why was President Johnson's wife called Lady Bird Johnson?  I guess Lady Bug Johnson might have been insufficiently dignified for the First Lady of the United States...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T17:28:47.230" Title="Why &quot;ladybird&quot;?" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5370" CreationDate="2010-11-22T04:18:40.257" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why they called it a bird, I can't answer.  The etymology though is (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coccinellidae#Etymology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;from Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The name &quot;ladybird&quot; originated in the Britain where the insects became known as &quot;Our Lady's bird&quot; or the &quot;Lady beetle&quot;. Mary (Our Lady) was often depicted wearing a red cloak in early paintings and the spots of the seven spot ladybird (the most common in Europe) were said to symbolise her seven joys and seven sorrows. Common names in other European languages have the same association (the German name Marienkäfer translates to &quot;Marybeetle&quot; or, literally, Mary-chafer). In the United States the name was adapted to &quot;ladybug&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T04:18:40.257" />
  <row Id="5372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5367" CreationDate="2010-11-22T04:30:50.587" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Mississippi&lt;/code&gt; is one of several phrases used to approximate 1 second for the purposes of informal time keeping.  That is, if you count to 5 &lt;code&gt;Mississippily&lt;/code&gt;, then you've counted 5 seconds.  Outside North America, as you might image, this is usually not very common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In English, I've heard several different methods of doing this.  E.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Elephant&lt;/code&gt;  i.e. &lt;code&gt;1-elephant&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;2-elephant&lt;/code&gt;, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Postfixing 1000 to the number.  i.e. &lt;code&gt;1-1000&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;2-1000&lt;/code&gt;, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adding 1000 to the number.  i.e. &lt;code&gt;1001&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;1002&lt;/code&gt;, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other languages, they have similar constructs, but adjust for appropriate time.  For example, in some German speaking areas, they just say &lt;code&gt;einundzwanzig&lt;/code&gt; (German for 21) over and over.  I find this one particularly interesting because they don't actually include the current count in the number, but rather must keep it in their head.  I've heard of a variation where they start at 21 and go up.  I'm not sure what happens when they hit 30, since it has substantially fewer syllables than 29.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T04:30:50.587" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5367" CreationDate="2010-11-22T04:32:38.647" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;People count &quot;1-Mississippi, 2-Mississippi&quot; because that way your count includes the approximate seconds so that you can space out the numbers better. Otherwise you might count 1, 2, 3 too fast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="630" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T04:32:38.647" />
  <row Id="5374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5366" CreationDate="2010-11-22T04:53:10.840" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Filename&lt;/em&gt; is in my experience the most common and in my opinion the best looking. &lt;em&gt;File name&lt;/em&gt; is also acceptable, but I would only use it rarely, perhaps in a parallel construction such as &lt;em&gt;the file name and size&lt;/em&gt;. I find word-medial capital letters distracting and unpleasant anywhere but program source code, so I would never even think of &lt;em&gt;FileName&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; if that's the reason you're asking, in program source I would still use &lt;code&gt;Filename&lt;/code&gt; for a class or &lt;code&gt;filename&lt;/code&gt; for a variable, not &lt;code&gt;FileName&lt;/code&gt; nor &lt;code&gt;fileName&lt;/code&gt;, respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The British National Corpus has 240 cites for &lt;em&gt;filename&lt;/em&gt; and 72 cites for &lt;em&gt;file name&lt;/em&gt;. It's not possible to search case-sensitively, but several reloads of the random sample of specific entries gave me no matches for &lt;em&gt;FileName&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastEditorUserId="1506" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-22T08:23:21.940" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T08:23:21.940" />
  <row Id="5375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5366" CreationDate="2010-11-22T05:58:49.420" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;None of them. &quot;filename&quot; is not a proper noun, and thus should not be capitalized. If you begin a sentence with the word, then it should be &quot;Filename&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1391" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T05:58:49.420" />
  <row Id="5376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5313" CreationDate="2010-11-22T06:00:48.730" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eldros got it right in his comment. &lt;em&gt;This&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;these&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;those&lt;/em&gt; are derived from various inflections of the demonstratives &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=this&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;þes&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=that&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;þæt&lt;/a&gt; in Old English, which were used both as adjectives and as pronouns, just like their modern forms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could argue that since demonstrative adjectives are never used with an article (*the this hat), they are roughly equivalent to articles, but articles specify &lt;em&gt;definiteness&lt;/em&gt; while demonstratives specify &lt;em&gt;location&lt;/em&gt;, which &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; imply definiteness, but only incidentally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, I can say &quot;those apples&quot; whether or not I've already mentioned the apples in question. If the apples are definite, then a demonstrative simply provides emphasis or clarification:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;I bought some apples last week. Those apples were really good.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if the apples are indefinite, it gives them a location and makes them definite as a side-effect:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;Hand me those apples next to you.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T06:00:48.730" />
  <row Id="5377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5370" CreationDate="2010-11-22T07:21:30.733" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=ladybird&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ladybug&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;1690s, from &lt;em&gt;lady&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;bug&lt;/em&gt;. The &quot;lady&quot; is the Virgin Mary (cf. Ger. cognate &lt;em&gt;Marienkäfer&lt;/em&gt;). In Britain, now usually &lt;em&gt;ladybird beetle&lt;/em&gt; (1704), through aversion to the word &lt;em&gt;bug&lt;/em&gt;, which there has overtones of sodomy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to Lady Bird Johnson, that nickname was given to her by her nurse, as Wikipedia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Bird_Johnson#Early_life&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;explains&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Though she was named for her mother's brother Claud, during her infancy, her nurse, Alice Tittle, commented, she was as &quot;purty as a ladybird&quot; [...]. That nickname virtually replaced her actual first name for the rest of her life. Her father and siblings called her Lady, though her husband called her Bird, which is the name she used on her marriage license. During her teenage years, her schoolmates had called her Bird, though mockingly, since she reportedly was not fond of the name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Responding to your comment, I will add that both of her parents were natives of Alabama and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/AV.hom/images/ladybird/B9790/B9790.shtm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nurse&lt;/a&gt; was an African American. The Corpus of Historical American Language has these stats for &lt;em&gt;ladybird&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;ladybug&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/1hMn0.png&quot; alt=&quot;COHA stats&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;(X axis: year, Y axis: incidences per million words.)&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-22T17:28:47.230" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T17:28:47.230" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5378" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5400" CreationDate="2010-11-22T07:34:56.733" Score="15" ViewCount="532" Body="&lt;p&gt;Formally, is it correct to write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A number of questions has been asked here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A number of questions have been asked here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a non-native speaker of English, I would prefer the former: the subject seems to be &quot;number&quot;, therefore the verb ought to be singular, I'd say. However, the latter seems more common, and therefore I believe that my gut feeling is just plain wrong — but I would really like to have a definite answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, is it the same for &quot;a myriad of&quot;, &quot;a plethora of&quot;, and so on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1989" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:07:16.323" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:07:16.323" Title="A number of questions &quot;has been&quot; or &quot;have been&quot; asked?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;verb-agreement&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="5379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5365" CreationDate="2010-11-22T07:45:23.327" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rain-maker&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;rainmaker&lt;/strong&gt; originates from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=rainmaker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;native American tribal magicians&lt;/a&gt; (etymonline) and has come into English language around 1775.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is used of a professional that is great in his field (seemingly magical) or somebody  believed to be able to produce rain. Especially somebody generating a great deal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/rainmaker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Free Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T07:45:23.327" />
  <row Id="5380" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-22T08:26:52.700" Score="1" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;Below is a part of a message from a girl that I met yesterday for the first time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am really busy this week and weekend, maybe speak again in a couple of weeks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a native English speaker so I am not sure if &quot;maybe&quot; means &quot;polite no&quot; :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2231" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-22T08:44:26.407" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T08:44:26.407" ClosedDate="2010-11-22T13:39:50.340" Title="maybe = polite no?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5378" CreationDate="2010-11-22T08:46:14.843" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just looking at the words themselves, you would logically conclude that the former construction is preferable, but you're correct in observing that no one uses them that way, &lt;em&gt;because they're wrong&lt;/em&gt;. Technically, yes, the subject is singular, but there are &lt;em&gt;many&lt;/em&gt; phrases in English that are used to describe amount, such as &quot;a lot&quot;, &quot;a bunch&quot;, and &quot;a few&quot;, which are singular but &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; used as though they were plural. It's neither colloquial nor informal to say &quot;a number have been asked&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is some disagreement on whether &quot;none&quot; should be used as singular or plural, since it was originally a contraction of the word for &quot;not&quot; and that for &quot;one&quot; or &quot;any&quot;. Generally speaking, both &quot;none is&quot; and &quot;none are&quot; are correct, but the latter is, again, more common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastEditorUserId="1506" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-22T19:52:17.650" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T19:52:17.650" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5366" CreationDate="2010-11-22T10:28:11.463" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The original form of the word was &quot;file name&quot;, as in the name of a file. These days (and probably for a good few years), the compound &quot;filename&quot; is widely accepted and perhaps most commonly used. Either is of course perfectly acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not, however, capitalise letters in the middle of a word, under any circumstances. (Unless you are writing variable names in code.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T10:28:11.463" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5383" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5387" CreationDate="2010-11-22T11:25:24.503" Score="6" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;[I'm not much of an expert in English usage, just an armchair boffin, so I hope I'm not out of line asking what may be a dumb question, to the regulars here...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to figure out the form of the verb &lt;em&gt;entered&lt;/em&gt; in a passage such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Did John make the cut?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Yes, he is entered in the race as the eighth man.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, John was entered into the race in the past but it isn't past participle (&quot;he has been entered&quot;; &quot;he was entered&quot;) and it certainly isn't past tense (&quot;he entered&quot;). In fact, in this usage, it is essentially an adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a form that I am not familiar with or is it just bad English (albeit in somewhat common use)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2234" LastEditorUserId="2234" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-22T11:33:39.583" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T09:27:02.830" Title="The verb form of &quot;Is entered in the race&quot;" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;tense&gt;&lt;part-of-speech&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="5384" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5386" CreationDate="2010-11-22T11:38:18.257" Score="3" ViewCount="387" Body="&lt;p&gt;My concept of the three is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Allegory:&lt;/strong&gt; A story in which ideas are symbolized as people.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Parable:&lt;/strong&gt; A short story designed to teach a moral or religious lesson.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fable:&lt;/strong&gt; A short story in which animals or objects speaks a story, to teach a moral or religious lesson.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If these concepts of mine are correct then can we say that every &lt;strong&gt;fable&lt;/strong&gt; is a &lt;strong&gt;parable&lt;/strong&gt; but the vice-versa may not be true? Can we relate the idea of the &lt;strong&gt;allegory&lt;/strong&gt; likewise? Or am I wrong completely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1873" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-22T11:52:21.173" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T15:02:38.303" Title="Difference between &quot;allegory&quot;, &quot;fable&quot; and &quot;parable&quot;" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5383" CreationDate="2010-11-22T11:41:04.010" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no dumb question. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the passive form of the verb &lt;em&gt;to enter&lt;/em&gt;. The sentence can be understood as such:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Yes, he is entered in the race as the eighth man &lt;em&gt;[by the officials]&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whereas the perpetrator of the action is implied in the passive form (here the officials). With the passive form, the subject of the sentence is not the one doing the action, when comparing with the active form. The active form of the sentence would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Yes, The officials enter him in the race as the eighth man.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems I was a bit of base with my answer, as ShreevatsaR pointed. To know which kind of passive is used in this case, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5383/the-verb-form-of-is-entered-in-the-race/5387#5387&quot;&gt;the answer of PyroTyger&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-23T09:27:02.830" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T09:27:02.830" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5384" CreationDate="2010-11-22T12:37:20.100" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The concept of &lt;strong&gt;allegory&lt;/strong&gt; you are talking about is called &lt;em&gt;personification&lt;/em&gt; and has been mainly used in literature in medieval times and the baroque.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other types of allegories, like in the Hebrew Bible, let's say Psalm 80, talking about the vine that stands for Israel. Things, as the vine, and actions can be allegorical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In arts there are many allegorical pictures. A personification would be Justice as a blindfolded woman with scales.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fables are a subcategory of allegories, as are parables. Both probably are characterized by shortness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All three categories are forms of writing, art, or spoken utterance that encourage readers to look for meanings beyond what is said.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the difference between fable and parable: the fable, as the OP says, has animals, plants, or objects acting. It therefore has to anthropomorphize, while a parable draws its images from human interaction mostly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore a fable most the time is more schematic in build and easier to decipher. Parables often allow for different ways of deciphering. Looking at Kafka, Brecht, or biblical parables, it is clear that there is often a key, hint, or explanation needed to decipher the parable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might be because a fable describes something that is naturally not possible, as the actors are anthropomorphized, creating its moral effect using striking simplification, while the parable describes a naturally possible incident, allowing for more complexity due to acquaintance, creating its moral or parabolic effect through surprise. Fable and parable therefore have much in common and overlap greatly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-22T15:02:38.303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T15:02:38.303" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5383" CreationDate="2010-11-22T12:48:10.610" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a great question, thankfully with a deceptively straightforward answer!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an example of a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_passive_voice#Stative_passives&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;stative passive&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; construction. &lt;em&gt;Stative&lt;/em&gt; passives describe a state rather than the result of an action (&lt;em&gt;eventive&lt;/em&gt; passive.) Confusion arises because, in English, no distinction is made between the two types of passive construction. Other languages, such as Japanese, make this distinction clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T12:48:10.610" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-22T13:32:20.930" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://inogolo.com/prtag/commonly+mispronounced&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://inogolo.com/prtag/commonly+mispronounced&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1989" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T13:32:20.930" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-22T13:32:20.930" />
  <row Id="5389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5285" CreationDate="2010-11-22T14:19:19.827" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did a quick search of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;COCA&lt;/a&gt; and found that people are using Comrade in many different ways in modern speech and writing. Most notably, the first page of results seems to split between &quot;Comrade&quot; as a title, which suggests a connotation of membership in some organization, and its use in a military sense; soldiers and their comrades.  In the second sense it seems to be used for its original purpose and not with any cold-war baggage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line: I'd say this word can be used in certain contexts without any political connotations, but the word still carries those other senses and meanings should you choose to use them. And given that your reader might add political connotations where you don't want them, I'd be careful when using this word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an an aside, the Chinese word tóngzhì (同志), which literally means comrade, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_China&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;has taken on a second meaning, which is &quot;homosexual&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T14:19:19.827" />
  <row Id="5390" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5391" CreationDate="2010-11-22T14:27:26.273" Score="26" ViewCount="2251" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference? Or is there any? Which would be more British English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1662" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-22T21:02:13.593" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T20:23:02.543" Title="'Gray' vs 'Grey'" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="5391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5390" CreationDate="2010-11-22T14:32:49.487" Score="34" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; has 5445 cites for &lt;em&gt;grey&lt;/em&gt; and 1092 cites for &lt;em&gt;gray&lt;/em&gt;. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coha/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Historical American English&lt;/a&gt;, on the other hand, paints the following picture:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/YVJCY.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;(X axis: year, Y axis: incidences per million words.)&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After seeing these stats, it should come as no surprise that Wiktionary marks &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/grey&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;grey&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; as &lt;em&gt;British, Canadian&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gray&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;gray&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; as &lt;em&gt;US&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-22T14:56:06.487" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T14:56:06.487" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5392" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5395" CreationDate="2010-11-22T15:13:54.850" Score="10" ViewCount="330" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are 4 types of abbreviations I know for &quot;versus&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;v&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;v.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I generally use the last one in the list, but I want to stick to one and use only that one. Which one is more proper (or more prevalent), and why? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Extra question: Which one should be preferred in scientific papers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T12:12:59.747" Title="How should I abbreviate &quot;versus&quot;?" Tags="&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5341" CreationDate="2010-11-22T15:16:35.003" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pronunciation can affect how people interpret your words. People often hold stereotypes about speakers with given accents and judge them by how they speak without listening to what they say. For example, the US souther accent is often thought to imply lower education or intelligence, since people who are not from the South consider many features of that accent to be &quot;incorrect&quot; English. In reality a highly educated and intelligent person from the South will simply have learned the local language as a child, just like everyone everywhere, and their accent has no bearing on anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T15:16:35.003" />
  <row Id="5394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5392" CreationDate="2010-11-22T15:46:18.177" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello Mehper,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I allways use &quot;vs.&quot; (i don't know if this is very usefull jeje) but i quote here an answer from Yahoo Answers that maybe help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Spell out the word versus unless&#xA;  you're reporting game scores, when you&#xA;  would use vs.; when you're citing&#xA;  legal documents, use the abbreviation&#xA;  v. (with the period)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HTH!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2232" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T15:46:18.177" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5392" CreationDate="2010-11-22T15:49:50.997" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In legal contexts, the abbreviation &quot;v.&quot; is used.  Elsewhere, the most common is &quot;vs.&quot;.  In formal contexts (e.g. scientific papers), it is probably best to have the period at the end of the abbreviation.  I assume you would be using this abbreviation in graphs/charts/titles and things like that; the abbreviation would be appropriate in these places, but not within normal prose of the paper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T15:49:50.997" />
  <row Id="5396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5378" CreationDate="2010-11-22T15:58:32.767" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All true comments, however, there are two issues that I have with both statements.  The first issue I have is the phrase 'A number' does not really convey any information at all as both 'zero' and 'infinity' are numbers.  The second issue I have is, as I recall both high school and college english professors admonishments, the tense of 'have been' (past participal I think?) should rarely be used.  The statement would sound better as 'Large amounts of questions are asked here daily.' or 'Many people asked many questions on this site.' or even 'Many questions were asked here.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2239" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T15:58:32.767" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5397" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-22T16:12:39.530" Score="4" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know it means to go to sleep but where did it originate from. I'm looking for first use. Just curious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2240" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T16:25:24.023" Title="Origin of 'hit the sack'?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5397" CreationDate="2010-11-22T16:24:20.917" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mattresses used to be stuffed full of hay, or were sacks full of hay. Thats why we say &quot;hit the hay&quot; or &quot;hit the sack.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2165" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T16:24:20.917" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5397" CreationDate="2010-11-22T16:25:24.023" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the entry for &lt;em&gt;sack&lt;/em&gt; on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=sack&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Slang meaning &quot;bunk, bed&quot; is from 1825, originally nautical. The verb meaning &quot;go to bed&quot; is recorded from 1946.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T16:25:24.023" />
  <row Id="5400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5378" CreationDate="2010-11-22T16:27:29.950" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;The number&quot; is singular. &quot;A number&quot;, however, is plural, and takes a plural verb. Thus, for both informal and formal usage, the following is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A number of questions have been asked here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See the usage note not quite halfway down the page at &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/number&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;, or this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailywritingtips.com/is-number-singular-or-plural/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;daily writing tip&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T16:27:29.950" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5366" CreationDate="2010-11-22T16:36:57.037" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, I would say &quot;filename&quot;, as that is what I have seen used in most software development textbooks. That's not to say that this is the standard by which all words should be measured, but given that the word is generally used in relation to computers I would imagine that it is safe to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2242" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T16:36:57.037" />
  <row Id="5403" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5424" CreationDate="2010-11-22T17:56:55.787" Score="3" ViewCount="274" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between Media  and Press, I think that press for newspapers and media for TV, can anyone give us details about that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2209" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T16:31:00.420" Title="What's the difference between Media and Press" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="5404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5390" CreationDate="2010-11-22T18:27:07.973" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the Associated Press (AP) Styleguide, 'grey' is only used in the word 'greyhound' -- otherwise the appropriate use is always 'gray'.  In America, anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2197" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T18:27:07.973" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5403" CreationDate="2010-11-22T18:31:54.710" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;The press&quot; is used to describe both reporters and news outlets or media. It would make sense that &quot;the press,&quot; at some point, referred exclusively to reporters for paper-based news media (because they're produced using printing presses) and also to that news medium itself, but it seems to be used for reporters representing any news media nowadays, as well as for the media.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To throw a little grammar into the mix, &quot;media&quot; is plural and refers to all the news media: magazine, newspaper, Internet, TV, radio, etc. Each of those is a news &quot;medium.&quot; To me, that's the more interesting part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to summarize, &quot;the press&quot; is typically used to refer to the people who gather the news, but can also refer to news outlets. News &quot;media&quot; are ways of distributing news.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1403" LastEditorUserId="1403" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-22T19:00:48.767" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T19:00:48.767" />
  <row Id="5406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5409" CreationDate="2010-11-22T18:49:48.790" Score="3" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to describe an object that is:&#xA;a pair of &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;round/rounded earrings, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;made of wood/wooden, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;with bosses of brass/brass bossed?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I put it in a single statement?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that it could be right to say &quot;round wooden earrings with bosses of brass&quot; but I'm not sure, since I'm not a native speaker of English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2252" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T17:56:53.700" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T17:56:53.700" Title="Join more adjectives to one word" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5407" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5410" CreationDate="2010-11-22T19:02:05.980" Score="15" ViewCount="374" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Pennsylvania_accent#Features&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Central Pennsylvania dialect of English&lt;/a&gt; (and possibly elsewhere), the following construction is possible:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;This car needs washed. (=needs to be washed)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The room needs cleaned. (=needs to be cleaned)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It appears that, if a verb like &lt;em&gt;needs&lt;/em&gt; is followed by a passive construction in the infinitive, the &quot;to be&quot; portion is left out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This construction sounds so unnatural to my ear that I have no intuition as to the extent to which it can be extended to other words and contexts.  If anyone here is a native speaker of this dialect of English, perhaps they can help to explain the limits on its use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My basic question is: how productive is this particular construction among those who use it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be more specific, can this construction be used with any verb (if that verb can be immediately followed by a passive construction, of course)?  That is, would (any of) the following be acceptable, for example?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;At this restaurant, we always wait seated. (=wait to be seated)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;My kid hates picked last in sports. (=hates to be picked)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;We all want loved. (=want to be loved)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this construction is restricted, then which verbs can be used, aside from &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: What I am really hoping for here is that there is someone who happens across this question that can say, &quot;I actively use this construction, and here's what I can and can't say.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-10T15:27:51.107" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T00:29:22.167" Title="Central Pennsylvanian English speakers: what are the limitations on the &quot;needs washed&quot; construction?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;regionalisms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="5408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5403" CreationDate="2010-11-22T19:17:52.923" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;media&quot; also encompasses things that are not news related. Phenomenon and the people involved in them that are purely entertainment are also part of the &quot;media&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2254" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T19:17:52.923" />
  <row Id="5409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5406" CreationDate="2010-11-22T19:31:50.140" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;round wooden earrings with brass bosses&quot; is the most natural way of saying this to the English ear, although you could say &quot;brass bossed round wooden earrings&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal thought  is it's probably better to put whatever you consider to be the most important features first qualifying them after with the less important ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2254" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T19:31:50.140" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5407" CreationDate="2010-11-22T20:22:03.450" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard the &quot;needs washed&quot; construction so many times that it sounds completely normal to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your other three examples, however, don't sound familiar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm having a tough time thinking of a set rule for dropping &quot;to be.&quot; I think it could work with &lt;em&gt;want&lt;/em&gt; in addition to &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt;, e.g. &quot;The baby wants changed.&quot; But I can't think of other verbs that it would work with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edit:&lt;/em&gt; I actively use this construction. I was just telling my roommate the other day that &quot;That lightbulb needs changed,&quot; and he understood me because he grew up in south central Pennsylvania, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it works with &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt;, and I'm pretty sure it can work with &lt;em&gt;want&lt;/em&gt;, too. (E.g., The dog wants fed.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm heading back to my hometown this weekend, so I'll try to remember to ask people while I'm there. But it's kind of hard to talk about this sort of thing with people who've spoken that way their whole life and don't even know that other people talk differently. A lot of folks I know from there don't understand that most people would find the following very grating: &quot;We're going to the mall. Do you want to come with?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Update:&lt;/em&gt; I polled a few friends while I was back in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. They confirmed the construction with &lt;em&gt;needs&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;wants&lt;/em&gt;, but they couldn't think of any other verbs it could work with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastEditorUserId="1914" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-13T21:55:10.060" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T21:55:10.060" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="5411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5317" CreationDate="2010-11-22T21:16:49.403" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not a stupid question. No single person knows everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;ou&quot; is a common British spelling, whereas in American English, we simply use the &quot;o.&quot; For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;favourite vs. favorite&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;colour vs. color&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;labour vs. labor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;honour vs. honor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;..and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1403" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T21:16:49.403" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5231" CreationDate="2010-11-22T21:39:23.870" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's all a matter of perspective. It boils down to what's in the speaker's head (i.e., his perspective). For example, if my focus is on myself, I might say &quot;I'll bring the beer with me.&quot; However, if our focus is on the party and its location, I might say, &quot;Are you going to take beer?&quot; I bring something along with me, but I take something to the destination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1403" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T21:39:23.870" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5231" CreationDate="2010-11-22T23:12:31.880" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is simply a matter of direction. You would bring towards but take away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2269" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T23:12:31.880" />
  <row Id="5415" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5416" CreationDate="2010-11-22T23:14:05.430" Score="4" ViewCount="245" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between &quot;cabinet&quot; and &quot;cupboard&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2270" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T15:47:48.577" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T15:47:48.577" Title="What's the difference between &quot;cabinet&quot; and &quot;cupboard&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5415" CreationDate="2010-11-22T23:21:53.517" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cupboard is a closed piece of furniture with one or more doors and possibly shelves. A cabinet is more like a closet, and might be built into a wall or a separate piece of furniture. Cabinets are typically considered general-purpose storage, while cupboards are more for food and dishes. The two are somewhat interchangeable, and you might say that a cupboard is a type of cabinet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-11-22T23:21:53.517" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1016" CreationDate="2010-11-23T00:02:16.170" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the issue could be clarified by asking different questions or by rephrasing the original question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question one is this: when should I use modifiers in front of nouns? By modifiers, I mean articles, demonstratives, and possessive pronouns (there may be others). Here are some examples: a, and, the, my, this, that, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question two is (to narrow it down to the original poster's topic of interest): how do I know when to use the article &quot;a&quot; vs. when to use the article &quot;an.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, first for question one. When you're talking about a thing in general, you don't preface it with any kind of modifier. On the other hand, when you're talking about a thing with some degree of specificity or need to modify it in some way, you throw one of the aforementioned gizmos in front of it. I think the best way to make this clear is with a list of examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;School is fun.&#xA;I go to a big school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cars are dangerous.&#xA;My car is big.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Buildings are tall.&#xA;The building I work in is old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apples are grown in Washington.&#xA;An apple a day keeps the doctor away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cats are furry.&#xA;The cat is black.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bricks are red.&#xA;A brick flew through my window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SCUBA diving is neat.&#xA;A SCUBA tank is made of aluminum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SQL Server is Microsoft's enterprise RDBMS.&#xA;Our SQL Server box is very powerful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FAQs are helpful.&#xA;That FAQ is huge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for question two. I'm not going to address when to use some of these, like &quot;my,&quot; &quot;these,&quot; and &quot;that.&quot; I'll just explain when to use &quot;a&quot; vs. &quot;an.&quot; It's really quite simple. You use &quot;a&quot; when the word which follows sounds like it starts with consonant, and you use &quot;an&quot; when the word which follows sounds like it starts with a vowel. Let me give a few examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article &quot;a&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a nut&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a car&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a boat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a SQL database&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a FAQ&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article &quot;an&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an apple&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an honorable man&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an udder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an S.Q.L. database&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an F.A.Q.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, in some cases, there are multiple options on how to pronounce something, as with FAQ and SQL. So, which is better? Which one is correct? In short, how do you pronounce potato or tomato? It's personal preference, whether written or spoken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1403" LastEditorUserId="1403" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-23T05:22:24.913" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T05:22:24.913" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="5418" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-23T00:05:09.780" Score="11" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of us have had the experience of stumbling over a new fact or bit of knowledge and then finding several more references to it in the near future.  For example, you see a strange word which you're forced to look-up and then the next day the same word appears in the headline of your local paper.  There's a term for this phenomenon but I've been unable to track it down.  Can anyone help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2279" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-23T00:12:58.413" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T03:35:29.307" Title="Word meaning coincidence of reference to the unusual" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5419" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-23T00:12:02.203" Score="4" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anyone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anything&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anytime&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anywhere&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Everyone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Everything &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Every time&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Everywhere&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No one&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nothing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No time&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nowhere&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Someone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Something&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sometime&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Somewhere&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is there a discrepancy? Is there any rule for determining when to use a single word vs. two words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="427" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-23T09:07:58.793" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T14:19:50.630" Title="Why are some words combined into a single word while others stay as two words?" Tags="&lt;compounds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5418" CreationDate="2010-11-23T00:14:20.750" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you might be thinking of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;synchronicity&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T00:14:20.750" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5421" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-23T02:22:57.563" Score="6" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I came across your and Mr X's publication&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I came across you and Mr X's publication&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1823" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-23T09:34:17.757" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T09:34:17.757" Title="you or your when using two subjects" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;subject&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5231" CreationDate="2010-11-23T02:31:57.073" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In english the original meaning has been lost due to users bad use, so know it doesnt &quot;sound&quot; incorrect to say so, eventhough it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you take spanish as a example you will see that the difference between taking and bringing is crutial and cant be exchanged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2283" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T02:31:57.073" />
  <row Id="5423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5421" CreationDate="2010-11-23T02:59:49.003" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;You&quot; sounds wrong and &quot;your&quot; awkward.  Turn it around: I came across &quot;Charlie Manson reconsidered&quot; by you and Mr. X.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2284" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T02:59:49.003" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5403" CreationDate="2010-11-23T03:03:23.260" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These days, &quot;press&quot; would have a strong traditional-media connotation, likely excluding bloggers, since new-media publishers neither own nor use industrial printing equipment.  &quot;Media&quot; would include basically anyone who writes or speaks for an audience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2284" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T03:03:23.260" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5383" CreationDate="2010-11-23T04:01:08.173" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be simpler than that.  I believe &quot;Entered in the race&quot; is an old-fashioned adjectival phrase, with &quot;entered&quot; an ordinary past participle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2284" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T04:01:08.173" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5421" CreationDate="2010-11-23T05:02:24.087" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;CMOS 16th edition says in 7.22 that it depends on whether you mean the nouns as a single unit or as discrete units; that is, whether the object possessed is the same or different for those two nouns. Since you're talking about two authors responsible for a single publication, not two authors of multiple publications, the nouns are a single unit. &quot;I came across you and Mr. X's publication&quot; is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there's no question that it is awkward because it's in the second person. (Compare to this third-person sentence: &quot;I came across Dan and Steve's publication.&quot;) Reworking the sentence is definitely the way to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2286" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T05:02:24.087" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5419" CreationDate="2010-11-23T05:28:54.330" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pure convention. Unfortunately, there isn't a logical reason why some of those are written as a single word, and some aren't. It's essentially a matter of tradition. Consider especially the case of &quot;no one&quot;, which is very clearly a single phonological word with a single word stress, but which has never been accepted as a compound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T05:28:54.330" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5428" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-23T06:22:14.567" Score="3" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I occasionally hear someone use the phrase &quot;my one friend&quot; to mean &quot;one of my friends&quot;. To me it sounds like they only have one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where is this form used most?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="189" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T14:10:34.940" Title="Where are phrases such as &quot;my one friend&quot; used?" Tags="&lt;regionalisms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5407" CreationDate="2010-11-23T07:09:57.610" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's more correct to consider &lt;em&gt;&quot;This room needs cleaned&quot;&lt;/em&gt; as a variant of &lt;em&gt;&quot;This room needs cleaning&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, instead of (or at least in addition to) &lt;em&gt;&quot;This room needs to be cleaned&quot;&lt;/em&gt;. This gives a pretty good guide for when the construction is appropriate: if standard English would use &lt;em&gt;wants|needs|requires + gerund&lt;/em&gt;, the Central PA dialect is likely to use &lt;em&gt;wants|needs|requires + past tense&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The cat wants fed.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note that I haven't actually heard anyone use this with 'requires'.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T07:09:57.610" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="5430" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5432" CreationDate="2010-11-23T07:26:06.460" Score="5" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;My question is simple. Is the following sentence correct? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They don't watch TV often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My English teacher has told me that the only correct option is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They don't often watch TV. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is she right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2293" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-23T09:15:08.210" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T14:37:14.057" Title="Place of &quot;often&quot; in the sentence" Tags="&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-23T07:53:52.943" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question calls for a mention of &lt;a href=&quot;http://ncf.idallen.com/english.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Chaos&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Gerard Nolst Trenité:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dearest creature in creation&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Studying English pronunciation,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I will teach you in my verse&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will keep you, Susy, busy,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Make your head with heat grow dizzy;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Tear in eye, your dress you'll tear;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Queer, fair seer, hear my prayer.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ncf.idallen.com/english.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;…&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1637" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T07:53:52.943" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-23T07:53:52.943" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5430" CreationDate="2010-11-23T07:55:31.737" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think she is wrong. &quot;They don't often watch TV&quot; certainly isn't the &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; correct option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As just one piece of evidence you could consider the Google result counts for these phrases (switched to &quot;I&quot; to get more representative data):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://google.com/#q=%22I+don%27t+often+watch+TV%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;I don't often watch TV&lt;/a&gt;&quot;:  22,500&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://google.com/#q=%22I+don%27t+watch+TV+often%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;I don't watch TV often&lt;/a&gt;&quot;: 59,600 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T07:55:31.737" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5430" CreationDate="2010-11-23T08:27:36.260" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/word-order/adverb-position&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this site&lt;/a&gt;, an adverb of frequency should be placed before the main verb, in this case watch. So her sentence is correct, in a purist way, but not the only option. It can also be placed at the end, and still be accepted by native english-speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-23T14:37:14.057" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T14:37:14.057" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="5434" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5435" CreationDate="2010-11-23T08:45:23.740" Score="3" ViewCount="278" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short form is pronounced as &quot;yoll&quot;, but what is the actual spelling? Is it &quot;y'all&quot;? Any official mention of the spelling?&#xA;Example useage: &quot;Where are you-all going&quot;.&#xA;Pronounced as &quot;Where are yoll going&quot;.&#xA;Would it be written as &quot;Where are y'all going&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2294" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T14:29:23.103" Title="How do you write the short form of &quot;you all&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5434" CreationDate="2010-11-23T08:49:44.580" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would it be written as &quot;Where are y'all going&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. The apostrophe is used to stand for the letters left out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="158" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-23T14:12:27.983" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T14:12:27.983" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5437" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5439" CreationDate="2010-11-23T10:40:34.250" Score="2" ViewCount="230" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think not, but look on this Wikipedia link about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parental_leave&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;parental leave in different countries&lt;/a&gt;, scroll down to the large table and look under Romania. I don't think this is a real word, I tried doing an online dictionary search and all that was returned was &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Urban Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;. So this says to me: &quot;I'm not a real word!&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2101" LastEditorUserId="2101" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-23T11:12:33.757" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T16:53:57.003" Title="Is 'disabilitated' a real word?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="5438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5437" CreationDate="2010-11-23T11:11:52.057" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It actually says &lt;code&gt;disabilitated&lt;/code&gt;, but for my money, no, it's not a 'real' word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should be disabled, I guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T11:11:52.057" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5437" CreationDate="2010-11-23T11:22:47.117" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is one of those words like &quot;preventetive&quot; — which appears to be for people who are, to quote Shakespeare, &quot;full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse.&quot; Some people will invariably choose a longer word when a shorter one would do, even if there is a shorter version (preventive, disabled) of the same word. Possibly they are so deluded as to think it makes them sound smarter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T11:22:47.117" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5437" CreationDate="2010-11-23T12:08:37.297" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have both &lt;em&gt;disabled&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;debilitated&lt;/em&gt; with related but distinct meanings, but as others have said, jamming them together does not make a real word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T12:08:37.297" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5428" CreationDate="2010-11-23T12:41:37.987" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very much conversational and typically at the start of a story:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My one friend had this cat named Hubcap and one day...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So also the kind of thing you might hear in a stand-up comedy routine. I would suggest it is perhaps more likely to turn up in certain dialects or modes of speaking, but I'm not sure which ones or where it originates. In most places you would be more likely to hear &quot;one of my friends&quot; or &quot;my friend&quot; instead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T12:41:37.987" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5442" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5450" CreationDate="2010-11-23T12:48:37.897" Score="9" ViewCount="340" Body="&lt;p&gt;We pronounce 1923 as nineteen twenty-three; but 1900 as nineteen hundred. Why isn't year 2000 pronounced as twenty hundred instead of two thousand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the rules for pronunciation of years in English? Does it change according to the first two digits of year? Could you give examples for special cases, if any?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T17:13:16.900" Title="Pronunciation of years in English" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;date&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="5443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5442" CreationDate="2010-11-23T13:13:57.200" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The logic apparently lies in grouping the digits in a way that's easy to visualize (mentally) and/or pronounce. Since there are always two zeroes in nineteen hundred, saying 'hundred' makes sense. 2000 has three zeroes, which is visually easier to recognize and split as two and 'thousand'.&#xA;Reg has given an example. There don't seem to be any other logical reasons for this trend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2294" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T13:13:57.200" />
  <row Id="5444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5442" CreationDate="2010-11-23T13:23:26.720" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are no rules, only loose conventions, formed for brevity, convenience and ease of mental parsing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The convention has been modified for the years 2000-2009 (two thousand and nine), just as it has for 1000-1009, probably for the reason Nav mentions - it just parses nicely that way to an English speaker. You can expect every year from 2010 (twenty-ten) onwards to soon revert to the conventional form in common parlance, which has the advantage of being shorter and distinguishes centuries from one another very clearly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Worth noting is the fact that the years 1-999 are usually suffixed with &quot;AD&quot; to make it clear that we are talking about a year rather than an arbitrary figure. Post-1000 years do not require this verbal signposting as the use of this unusual convention makes it clear that these are years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T13:23:26.720" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4812" CreationDate="2010-11-23T13:46:09.410" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two observations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The very first word of the Rolling Stones' &quot;Jumpin' Jack Flash&quot; and &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I distinctly remember when the Brit soap opera &quot;Eastenders&quot; was introduced in the US, the host of the show explained what the term meant, because it was used in the show's dialog and American audiences needed to be educated about it.  As an aside, British readers might be amused to know that PBS, which aired the series in America, was torn about whether to run the show with subtitles, as the East End accents (and some words like Nick Cotton's use of &quot;blancmange&quot;) were difficult for Americans to process.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2306" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T13:46:09.410" />
  <row Id="5446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5430" CreationDate="2010-11-23T14:10:00.357" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your English teacher could try to make an argument that &quot;they don't often watch TV&quot; would be preferable in writing, or in more formal situations.  I am not sure that even this would be true, but it is at least an arguable position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, she is just wrong if she says it is the only correct option.  Both of your sentences are perfectly acceptable English.  They would be understood by any native speaker, and neither one sounds awkward or unusual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T14:10:00.357" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5428" CreationDate="2010-11-23T14:10:34.940" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, when someone says &quot;my one friend&quot; its meaning is contextual. Consider the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I'm 101 years old and my one friend just died.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, it's likely the speaker truly means he had but a single friend left. For clarification, he might have said &quot;my one &lt;em&gt;remaining&lt;/em&gt; friend,&quot; but the listener would understand that he is now bereft of friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, the nominal phrase &quot;my one friend&quot; introduces the notion that the speaker desires to emphasize specificity in some special context. It's similar in construction to &quot;this one guy even asked me if I would give &lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt; some money after I asked to borrow five bucks&quot; or &quot;this one moron held the rabbit by its ears&quot; or &quot;this one lucky bastard hit his flush on the river and sucked out on me&quot;: it intensifies the focus on a particular subject, and alerts the listener that what follows is of special note. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to your actual question, I don't think there is a regional flavor to this locution. I have heard it all over the U.S., but it's always an informal usage and I want to say it has a working-class feel to it, but that's probably not accurate to several decimal places. I think you are more likely to hear it said by a person who also says &quot;she goes&quot; to mean &quot;she said,&quot; as in &quot;I asked my one friend to stop texting my boyfriend a gazillion times a day, and she goes, 'Yeah, right, bitch. I'll text whoever the hell I want.'&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T14:10:34.940" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-23T14:17:47.183" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Queue&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never known how to pronounce this. On the rare occasions when it comes up in conversation, I generally say &quot;Qu... K... Line.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2307" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T14:17:47.183" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-23T14:17:47.183" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5419" CreationDate="2010-11-23T14:19:50.630" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Language is always changing, and most often in the direction of simplification. You can even see the evolution happening before your own eyes. &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/already&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;All ready&quot; became &quot;already&quot;&lt;/a&gt;; &quot;all right&quot; is in the process, through usage and repetition, of becoming &quot;alright&quot; (if not in fact &quot;a'ight&quot;). It is &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/alright&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;already accepted&lt;/a&gt; as an informal alternative to &quot;all right&quot; and I predict that it will supplant the two-word version altogether (!) except in the most formal writing (e.g., academic papers) within the lifetimes of many of us. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T14:19:50.630" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5442" CreationDate="2010-11-23T14:20:53.530" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For one thing, &quot;Two Thousand&quot; is shorter to say than &quot;twenty hundred&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1899: eighteen ninety-nine (shorter than one thousand eight hundred ninety-nine)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1900: nineteen hundred (shorter than one thousand nine hundred)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1901: nineteen oh one (shorter than nineteen hundred one, shorter than one thousand nine hundred one)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1999: nineteen ninety nine (shorter than one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2000: two thousand (or 2 &quot;K&quot;?) (shorter than twenty hundred)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2009: two thousand nine (shorter than twenty hundred nine)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2010: twenty ten (shorter than two thousand ten)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically when the number has three zeros it is shorter to say &quot;thousand&quot; than &quot;hundred&quot;.  Once there are fewer than three zeros it's shorter to say &quot;Y thousand X&quot; for Y00X and &quot;Y hundred X&quot; for YYXX.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T14:20:53.530" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5434" CreationDate="2010-11-23T14:29:23.103" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In formal settings, &quot;you all&quot; is never contracted to &quot;y'all&quot; (or hyphenated). It is pronounced just like it looks: &quot;you all&quot;, with no contraction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, &quot;you&quot; has come to function as both a singular and plural second-person pronoun. &quot;You all&quot; is typically used only when the number is ambiguous, or to emphasize that you're talking about a group of people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare &quot;You are my friend.&quot; with &quot;You are my friends.&quot; The plurality of the object tells you whether the pronoun is singular or plural, without ever resorting to &quot;you all&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Y'all&quot; is a construction limited to a couple of American dialects, particularly Southern and Western speakers. I've heard it pronounced to rhyme with &quot;wall&quot; (approximately--the vowel gets slightly drawn out/duplicated). There is a joke poking fun at non-prestige dialects to the effect of &quot;Remember, &lt;em&gt;y'all&lt;/em&gt; is singular, &lt;em&gt;all y'all&lt;/em&gt; is plural.&quot; There is actually a bit of truth to that for the heaviest examples of the dialect. In typical usage, I believe, &quot;y'all&quot; is used as both a singular and plural pronoun--nicely mirroring &quot;you&quot; in the standard dialect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1955" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T14:29:23.103" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5366" CreationDate="2010-11-23T14:44:00.733" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any two words (such as 'file name') used together for long enough periods of time end up with a single meaning in our collective language. When that happens, you can combine the two, though it's not advisable for formal usage.&#xA;Words such as, for example, 'himself' are older, and common examples from the computer age include 'username', 'email', and 'desktop'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For formal usage, consider spacing the words or using a hyphen, where appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2308" LastEditorUserId="2308" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-23T14:49:36.063" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T14:49:36.063" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5454" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5456" CreationDate="2010-11-23T14:44:22.227" Score="12" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a difference between the words transform (noun) and transformation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me describe my problem. I have a mathematical model which I can transform into a better model with help of a data matrix. Should I call this matrix a transform, or should I call it a transformation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example sentence where I would use this is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To recognize with the optimized model, first the transform(ation) is applied and then the likelihoods are calculated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="783" LastEditorUserId="1914" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-23T15:19:10.223" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T20:47:08.093" Title="Transform or transformation?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;mathematics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5454" CreationDate="2010-11-23T15:04:30.657" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, it is more convenient to use &quot;transformation&quot;. One of the reasons is &quot;transform&quot; is used usually as a verb, and rarely as a noun. For example, we say &quot;linear transformation&quot; instead of saying &quot;linear transform&quot;. Another reason is &quot;transform (noun)&quot; was first used in 1853 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transform%5B2%5D&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;]&lt;/a&gt; whereas &quot;transformation&quot; was first used in 15th century &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transformation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;]&lt;/a&gt;. So I would prefer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To recognize with the optimized model,&#xA;  first the transformation is applied&#xA;  and then the likelihoods are&#xA;  calculated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T15:04:30.657" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5454" CreationDate="2010-11-23T15:08:16.660" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the particular domain you're referencing, both transform and transformation have an established history of usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, we speak of the &lt;code&gt;Hough transform&lt;/code&gt; or the &lt;code&gt;Fourier transform&lt;/code&gt;.  We also talk about &lt;code&gt;affine transformations&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;homothetic transformations&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of any specific rules, but in general, I've noticed that &quot;named&quot; objects tend to be referenced as the &lt;em&gt;foo&lt;/em&gt; transform, while unnamed or otherwise generic ones use the &lt;em&gt;foo&lt;/em&gt; transformation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, I would probably use transformation since it appears you're referring to a generic transformation matrix.  So:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To recognize with the optimized model, first the transformation is applied and then the likelihoods are calculated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T15:08:16.660" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5350" CreationDate="2010-11-23T15:18:48.513" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm surprised no one has mentioned this, but &lt;em&gt;minuscule&lt;/em&gt; has its origin in lettering, as in writing letters of the alphabet. The &quot;minus&quot; in this case means less, not small, and it means lower-case letters. It is the opposite of &lt;em&gt;majuscule&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T15:18:48.513" />
  <row Id="5458" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5459" CreationDate="2010-11-23T15:38:38.380" Score="16" ViewCount="340" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I hear statements like &quot;It was a great deal for he and I&quot; and &quot;Call Karen and I in the morning,&quot; I die a little. Such solecisms, as Twain said in another context (Cooper's prose style), &quot;grate upon the fastidious ear.&quot; Moreover, I know that these things will likely become accepted usage in time, if that hasn't already happened. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As someone who tries to be careful with words and speech, I feel almost a moral obligation to hold the line against this kind of decline. I'm not a word snob; I say &quot;ain't&quot; when it works for emphasis, and so on. I've tried suggesting the grammatical alternative to the above constructions, but even when I phrase my suggestion in the gentlest possible way it never works well and I almost always wind up feeling pedantic and priggish at best, and at worst I feel I've alienated someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the general opinion here? Is it best to just let these things slide or to take up the fight? In sum, is there a good way to promote good grammar, or at least protect it from the most egregious violations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="1914" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-23T21:26:19.110" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T18:23:29.130" Title="Is it ever worth the time and effort to correct someone else's grating grammatical mistakes?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;hypercorrection&gt;&lt;solecisms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="5459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5458" CreationDate="2010-11-23T15:55:58.533" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is nothing wrong with having gut reactions to the way that people say things.  I am completely aware that the standard/educated version of a language is arbitrary (i.e. is no more &quot;correct&quot; in any real sense than any dialect), and even still, I have pet peeves and things that irk me about people's language usage.  I think these are unavoidable, just like my reaction to certain fashion choices that people make in their outfits.  But, like with fashion, there is very little objective truth to my judgment about any of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I try not to actually challenge people on uses that bother me; aside from the arbitrariness of language, every bit of evidence suggests that stopping language change in any significant way is like going to the beach and trying to stop the tide from coming in.  There was a more in-depth discussion about this &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3448/grammar-errors-entering-the-general-population-are-we-doomed/&quot;&gt;in a previous question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I do believe there is a certain time and place where standards and clarity are important.  In formal contexts, information is often supposed to be presented in a certain way, and, generally, these conventions benefit everyone.  Also, following certain language conventions in these situations can eliminate ambiguity.  If I am asked to proofread an academic paper that my colleague has written, I would make corrections for things that I would never object to otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-27T20:13:25.000" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T20:13:25.000" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5437" CreationDate="2010-11-23T16:53:57.003" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use this general rule: &#xA;If you can remove the prefix and the word still works, you might be ok. For your word: disabilitated, if we remove dis- we have abilitated, which is not a word. Thus, disabilitated is also not a word. You pretty much have to have a valid word to start with in order to be able to add prefixes to it and still be ok. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1490" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T16:53:57.003" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5442" CreationDate="2010-11-23T17:13:16.900" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the main reason is a rhythm of pronunciation. That's why we use &quot;two thousand ...&quot; instead of &quot;twenty ...&quot;. Also I have heard a two songs with &quot;two thousand twelve&quot;. So the change will occur in 2013.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2312" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T17:13:16.900" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5458" CreationDate="2010-11-23T17:15:39.680" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many people take offense when you try to correct their grammar or pronunciation (or spelling, in a written document). Given that it's impossible to tell just how offended someone might be, and given that many people aren't likely to change how they speak even if they accept your correction, I recommend biting your tongue unless you know the listener wants your feedback.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a coworker who mispronounces words all the time. He is a native speaker, but certain words are just wrong in his mouth. The most grating is when the mispronunciation leads to a different word (my worst peeve: he says aTTRIBute instead of ATTribute, which makes it a verb instead of a noun). But if I correct him, will he get upset? Best not risk it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastEditorUserId="380" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T18:23:29.130" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T18:23:29.130" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5366" CreationDate="2010-11-23T17:21:17.020" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;AHD&lt;/em&gt; has an entry for “filename”, so it is, at least, an established American English word. Thus it is “correct” for some situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1727" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T17:21:17.020" />
  <row Id="5464" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5476" CreationDate="2010-11-23T18:54:36.770" Score="4" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the correct order:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lessons are not currently being offered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lessons are currently not being offered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="909" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-23T18:57:39.797" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T20:23:00.420" Title="&quot;currently not&quot; or &quot;not currently&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;negation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5465" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5468" CreationDate="2010-11-23T19:17:53.793" Score="3" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;It probably is correct since the article is from &lt;a href=&quot;http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&amp;amp;sid=aEOcF1yyr2XU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bloomberg.com website&lt;/a&gt;. However, I am not sure what it really means and why it's correct&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mark Twain once quipped that “everyone complains about the weather&#xA;  but nobody does anything about it.”&#xA;  Many &lt;strong&gt;analysts would have us view the&#xA;  dramatic increase&lt;/strong&gt; in inequality with&#xA;  a similar spirit -- as a natural&#xA;  condition that we should accept&#xA;  without complaint. We should be&#xA;  skeptical of this view -- and not just&#xA;  because it’s obsolete even with regard&#xA;  to the weather.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-23T19:51:29.297" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T19:51:29.297" Title="&quot;Would have us view&quot; -- is it correct?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5466" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5481" CreationDate="2010-11-23T19:20:50.423" Score="8" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is grammatically correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can only do so much in this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can do only so much in this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T02:01:03.757" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T02:01:03.757" Title="Correct position of &quot;only&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="5467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5464" CreationDate="2010-11-23T19:25:01.253" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are the stats from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus (BNC)&lt;/a&gt;, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA)&lt;/a&gt;, and Google:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;                                BNC    COCA       Google&#xA;&#xA;ARE NOT CURRENTLY (BEING)     18 (1)  70 (8)   72.6M (21.9M) &#xA;ARE CURRENTLY NOT (BEING)      4 (0)  17 (0)   10.1M ( 9.6M)  &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T19:25:01.253" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5465" CreationDate="2010-11-23T19:35:30.607" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, the phrase &quot;would have us view&quot; is correct. It occurs frequently in the general form, where &quot;view&quot; is substituted by any appropriate verb. I have encountered the term most recently in the form of &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The media would have us believe there&#xA;  was a mysterious launch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the context of the quoted article, what the author wants to convey is that many analysts &lt;strong&gt;want to make us see&lt;/strong&gt; the dramatic increase in inequality in a similar light to Twain's quip. They &lt;strong&gt;want us to believe&lt;/strong&gt; that the rise is comparable to the uncertainty of the weather - everyone complains about both, but no one does anything about either of them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T19:35:30.607" />
  <row Id="5469" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5470" CreationDate="2010-11-23T19:49:54.767" Score="2" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone wrote to me. I'm writing him back. I want to say, in formal speech, that I'm glad that he wrote to me. How do I do that? I guess I can just say &quot;I'm glad to hear from you&quot; but maybe you could suggest a more elegant expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2171" LastEditorUserId="2171" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-24T09:47:06.823" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T09:47:06.823" Title="Expressing contentment about receiving a letter" Tags="&lt;letter-writing&gt;&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5469" CreationDate="2010-11-23T19:54:07.557" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am glad to receive your letter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I was happy to read your letter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thank you for your kind/informative/helpful letter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T19:54:07.557" />
  <row Id="5471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5466" CreationDate="2010-11-23T19:57:25.740" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The latter is probably what you mean to say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can eat only so much in one sitting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means just what you think: In one sitting, you're only able to eat until you're full.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can only eat so much in one sitting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This implies that in this situation, you can only eat, as if you're compelled to do so. This is usually not what someone intends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T19:57:25.740" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2153" CreationDate="2010-11-23T20:03:03.863" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I'm trying to capture a vague thought flitting around in my head; apologies if the result is incomprehensible.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think we accept the should-does construction because there are situations where &quot;do&quot; is the appropriate question word, even though the verb isn't (or doesn't appear to be) &quot;do&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He loves hiking, doesn't he?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The affirmative of this is &quot;He does love hiking&quot; --&gt; hence the &quot;do&quot; in the question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I think what happens is that our brain tries to autocorrect the non-parallel constructions by substituting &quot;do&quot; for the modal verb, and if the result is grammatical, we accept it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should Kyle be corrected, and if he doesn't, why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Kyle does be corrected&quot; doesn't work, so the autocorrect fails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should the developers have access to the production environment, and if they do, to what extent?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Do the developers have access&quot; is perfectly reasonable grammatically, so we don't even blink at this unless someone points it out. [Note that the autocorrect only applies to the grammar: I interpreted this as Kyle intended, i.e. &quot;&lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; they have access, and &lt;em&gt;if yes&lt;/em&gt;, to what extent?&quot;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So the construction can't be that ungrammatical after all, does it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Does be ungrammatical&quot; - nope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Must we correct Kyle, and if we don't, why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Don't correct Kyle&quot; - sure, no problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Now we just need to wait for some pedant to come up with a suitable counterexample, and the whole house-of-cards theory will come crashing down... &amp;lt;grin&amp;gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T20:03:03.863" />
  <row Id="5473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5464" CreationDate="2010-11-23T20:05:30.130" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't see any difference between the two. The meanings of those two sentences are clear and identical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As RegDwight shows, the former construction is more common, so if you have to choose, I'd go with that one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T20:05:30.130" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="5474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5466" CreationDate="2010-11-23T20:14:13.990" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are both grammatically correct, and both mean the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(However, &quot;in this time&quot; doesn't sound quite right in this context. &quot;In the time available&quot; might be better).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T20:14:13.990" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5475" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5480" CreationDate="2010-11-23T20:15:25.220" Score="6" ViewCount="354" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what these are called, but how can I form a word like &quot;quadruple&quot; for any number I want? Like 5× as much is quintuple, what is 31× as much or 147× as much? I want to know how they are formed so I can make my own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, how do I construct the prefixes, such as unicycle, bicycle, tricycle, quadricycle? I figured out 12 is duodeci-, but how can I form any prefix like this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-30T18:36:55.667" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T20:49:11.713" Title="How to form single, double, triple... and uni-, bi-, tri-... words?" Tags="&lt;numbers&gt;&lt;morphology&gt;&lt;mathematics&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5464" CreationDate="2010-11-23T20:23:00.420" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two sentences are equally correct, and mean the same thing, but the emphasis is slightly different: &lt;em&gt;... are currently not...&lt;/em&gt; emphasizes &quot;currently&quot;, while &lt;em&gt;...are not currently...&lt;/em&gt; emphasizes &quot;not&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're including the word &quot;currently&quot; because the lack of lessons is a temporary situation, you could write &lt;em&gt;&quot;Lessons are currently not being offered.&quot;&lt;/em&gt; If, on the other hand, you're including the word &quot;currently&quot; just to soften the blow, then you might write &lt;em&gt;&quot;Lessons are not currently being offered.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the difference in emphasis is pretty subtle, and many people will completely miss it. So if one of the sentences flows better for you, it might be the better choice, regardless of its emphasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T20:23:00.420" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5477" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-23T20:42:45.737" Score="6" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes hyphenated, sometimes not. Most commonly heard in car commercials, eg &quot;Introducing the all-new 2010 Cadillac SRX Crossover&quot;. I've only heard it since moving to the US so perhaps it is a North American thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the &quot;all&quot; actually convey any specific meaning? Am I losing anything by interpreting &quot;the all-new 2010 model&quot; as &quot;the 2010 model&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2315" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T22:47:20.087" Title="Meaning of &quot;All-new&quot; in advertising-speak" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5477" CreationDate="2010-11-23T20:46:08.877" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;all-new&quot; in advertising simply emphasizes that the product is completely new.  It is not simply a new name or small iteration from the previous model — everything about it is new, so it must really be worth buying!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Naturally, in the world of advertising, what they say is prone to extreme exaggeration!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-23T22:47:20.087" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T22:47:20.087" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5454" CreationDate="2010-11-23T20:47:08.093" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As @Dusty said, this is relevant to your specific domain... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I felt that there was a more specific difference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You use a transform to perform a transformation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, if you're outlining the model of which you speak it would be &quot;transform&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;However, if you're referring to the actual effect (in runtime, so to speak), its transformation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2317" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T20:47:08.093" />
  <row Id="5480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5475" CreationDate="2010-11-23T21:12:35.500" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usual way is just to find the Latin root and add the suffix: quintuple, sextuple, septuple, nonuple, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For numbers beyond eight or nine, the &lt;em&gt;-uple&lt;/em&gt; constructions sounds rather strained, if not downright silly. (Duodecuple? Really?) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend &lt;em&gt;-fold&lt;/em&gt; as an alternative (&quot;a ninety-fold increase&quot;), or substitute another counter noun altogether: an &quot;eighty-one piece orchestra&quot;; &quot;a sixteen-part vocal arrangement&quot;; &quot;a 48-pin connector.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T21:12:35.500" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="5481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5466" CreationDate="2010-11-23T21:18:54.183" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the given example there's not much difference. But there can be a great deal of difference in other constructions involving the same idea. Consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I only eat fish when I'm sick.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I eat fish only when I'm sick.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I eat only fish when I'm sick.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I submit that the first sentence is a bit ambiguous, and could be clarified in the direction of the second or third. Two and three mean entirely different things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T21:18:54.183" />
  <row Id="5482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5477" CreationDate="2010-11-23T21:19:50.470" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a unique phenomenon that occurs in the auto industry. Any particular model (e.g. a Toyota Camry) undergoes significant redesign every five to ten years. In other years, the changes from one model year to the next are very small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frequently when a car model is described as &quot;all-new&quot;, that is referring to a major engineering refresh/redesign, as opposed to minor year-to-year changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1955" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T21:19:50.470" />
  <row Id="5483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5477" CreationDate="2010-11-23T21:55:03.217" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, &quot;all-new&quot; does convey a specific meaning, and the specific meaning is: &quot;we want you to buy one and will say anything to try to convince you to do so.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I respectfully disagree with Kosmonaut to the extent that I believe &quot;all-new&quot; doesn't really mean the car is totally redone. It may not even mean it is mostly redone. It may only mean they have put a new name on an old product, with possibly a few cosmetic changes. Really, advertising-speak is such an ocean of waffle-words that you can't take anything from it to reliably mean anything at all. And I say that as someone who wrote advertising copy before I found a better life. The art of writing such copy is to make the reader &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; the words mean much more than they do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-23T21:55:03.217" />
  <row Id="5484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5415" CreationDate="2010-11-23T22:28:55.723" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In British English, a cupboard can be what Americans would call a 'closet'.  See: &lt;a href=&quot;http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2009/09/cupboards-and-closets.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cupboards and closets&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2319" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-24T05:31:33.837" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T05:31:33.837" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5458" CreationDate="2010-11-24T00:58:35.040" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does the grammatical faux pas compromise or endanger the communication, or is it merely annoying? (Annoying to you personally, of course. The speaker, and no doubt many others are perfectly happy with it.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Language can be a delight, but it is also, and to many, merely a means to an end. If you are with friends who enjoy language for its own sake and who want to improve their understanding and usage of it, a courteous and appropriate correction will be appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are with strangers or persons with whom you have only a business relationship, then as long as the communication is not jeopardized you're probably best advised to bite your tongue and realize that you are a member of a small minority. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless, of course, you really do wish to be viewed as a snob.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T00:58:35.040" />
  <row Id="5486" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5488" CreationDate="2010-11-24T01:46:45.577" Score="3" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read a book and came across &quot;caught you unawares&quot;. I kept thinking it's supposed to be &quot;caught you unaware&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this an acceptable form or was that a typo or something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="792" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T05:59:35.067" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T05:59:35.067" Title="Is &quot;caught you unawares&quot; correct?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5486" CreationDate="2010-11-24T02:04:54.417" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's the correct form, &quot;unawares&quot;is the adverb form of the adjective  &quot;unaware&quot; and caught calls for an adverb complement rather than an adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2254" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T02:04:54.417" />
  <row Id="5488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5486" CreationDate="2010-11-24T02:05:40.867" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a correct form.  &lt;code&gt;Unawares&lt;/code&gt; is an adverb meaning &quot;while not aware of something&quot; or &quot;by surprise&quot;.  &lt;code&gt;Caught&lt;/code&gt; needs an adverb complement, so &lt;code&gt;unawares&lt;/code&gt; fits nicely.  It turns out &lt;code&gt;unawares&lt;/code&gt; was actually Random House's word of the day several years back, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000619&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; does a nice job of explaining it.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T02:05:40.867" />
  <row Id="5489" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5494" CreationDate="2010-11-24T03:40:41.460" Score="2" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;On our website's homepage we have the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We make our software to be as flexible as possible so you can maintain and visualize the data that is important to YOU.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my friends insists it should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We make our software as flexible as possible so you can maintain and visualize the data that is important to YOU.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one of these is grammatically correct and why? Are both wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case anyone's interested, our beta homepage is &lt;a href=&quot;http://intellectpersonified.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://intellectpersonified.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2320" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T02:01:31.323" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T02:01:31.323" Title="which is correct &quot;to be as flexible as possible&quot; or just &quot;as flexible as possible&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;infinitive&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5490" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5518" CreationDate="2010-11-24T05:48:15.167" Score="9" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;Or is it region specific? I was always taught that when ending a quotation, that punctuation remains inside of the quote.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think he said, &quot;we should go to the store.&quot;&#xA;  Are you sure he said, &quot;we should go to the store?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As opposed to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think he said, &quot;we should go to the store&quot;. Are you sure he said, &quot;we should go to the store&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is just an arbitrary example off of the top of my head, and it's hard for me to come up with an example for the second usage because it looks completely wrong to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually got into a small argument with my girlfriend earlier this year because she uses something similar to the second example, and said that's how she was taught (which is why I ask if it's region-specific.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, is there a correct usage for ending a quotation with punctuation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="739" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T13:32:02.297" Title="Is it correct to use &quot;punctuation outside of the quotations&quot;, or &quot;inside?&quot;" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5489" CreationDate="2010-11-24T05:49:47.667" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both look correct to me, though the first is rather stilted.  (Unnecessary words are usually poor style, too.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T05:49:47.667" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5486" CreationDate="2010-11-24T05:50:07.727" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry, couldn't resist:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bananas in pyjamas&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    Are coming down the stairs&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    Bananas in pyjamas&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    Are coming down in pairs&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    Bananas in pyjamas&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    Are chasing teddy bears&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    'Cause on Tuesdays&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    They all try to&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    Catch them unawares&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T05:50:07.727" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5490" CreationDate="2010-11-24T05:52:15.573" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To the best of my knowledge, it is American custom to always put the final punctuation before a closing quotation mark, while British custom allows for the second usage that you illustrated above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T05:52:15.573" />
  <row Id="5494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5489" CreationDate="2010-11-24T05:52:37.633" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure about the grammatical rules, but your friend is right in terms of style. 1) definitely reads like it was literally translated from another language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastEditorUserId="529" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-24T06:45:23.220" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T06:45:23.220" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5466" CreationDate="2010-11-24T07:41:58.863" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Only I eat fish when I'm sick&quot;&#xA;means &quot;Only &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, and nobody&#xA;else, eat fish when I'm sick&quot;. In this case, only is an &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;adjective&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, qualifying the pronoun which directly follows it, I.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I only eat fish when I'm sick&quot;&#xA;    means &quot;I only &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;eat&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; fish when&#xA;    I'm sick. That is the only thing I&#xA;    do with fish when I'm sick&quot;. In this case, only is an adverb, qualifying the verb which directly follows it, eat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I eat only fish when I'm sick&quot;&#xA;    means &quot;I eat only &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;fish&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; when&#xA;    I'm sick; I eat nothing else beside&#xA;    fish&quot;. In this case, only is an &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;adjective&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, qualifying the noun which directly follows it, fish.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I eat fish only when I'm sick&quot;&#xA;    means &quot;I eat fish only &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;when&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;    I'm sick; when I am not sick, I do&#xA;    not eat fish.&quot; In this case, only is an &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;adverb&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, qualifying the adverbial clause which directly follows it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="158" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T07:41:58.863" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5496" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5883" CreationDate="2010-11-24T08:41:13.167" Score="4" ViewCount="296" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between &quot;harrowing&quot; and &quot;poignant&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2270" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T15:48:40.777" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T21:57:12.510" Title="What's the difference between &quot;harrowing&quot; and &quot;poignant&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="5497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5496" CreationDate="2010-11-24T09:18:51.953" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Odd question as these words are not often synonymous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Briefly, &lt;em&gt;harrowing&lt;/em&gt; means very distressing while &lt;em&gt;poignant&lt;/em&gt; means emotionally moving or powerful. Poignancy is not necessarily negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T09:18:51.953" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5490" CreationDate="2010-11-24T09:30:03.003" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The convention is universal for &lt;em&gt;direct quotations&lt;/em&gt;; British English places the punctuation inside the quotation marks just as other forms of English. (Parentheses work in a similar fashion.) There are however variations in British publishing practice when not making a direct quote, but the conventions are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark#Punctuation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;not entirely straightforward&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something I find interesting is the marked tendency of programmers to place punctuation outside quotations and parentheses due to a familiarity with the programming convention of &quot;nesting&quot; punctuation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope you were able to reconcile your differences...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T09:30:03.003" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5490" CreationDate="2010-11-24T10:27:05.913" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It varies (at least between the UK and the US), but in your example the question mark should go outside the quotes, otherwise it alters the meaning of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1402" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T10:27:05.913" />
  <row Id="5500" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-24T10:44:41.797" Score="3" ViewCount="208" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a discussion I'm having with a colleague, we're trying to think of complimentary words that sound ugly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any that rhyme with chunky (or anything else for that matter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2101" LastEditorUserId="2101" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-25T14:49:43.297" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T16:42:07.020" Title="What word is complimentary, but sounds like &quot;chunky&quot;?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;phonology&gt;&lt;rhymes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5501" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5512" CreationDate="2010-11-24T10:55:21.690" Score="6" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The rows should be copied and pasted&#xA;  to the spreadsheet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does that sound right? If not, how could we reword the sentence? I ask because &quot;to&quot; applies to &quot;paste&quot; but not to &quot;copy&quot;. The logical preposition to follow &quot;copy&quot; would be &quot;from&quot;, but I don't see how it would fit in this sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="1914" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-24T13:35:59.297" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T13:36:29.233" Title="Preposition to follow &quot;copy and paste&quot;" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="6" />
  <row Id="5502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5490" CreationDate="2010-11-24T11:01:48.627" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My UK-centric interpretation would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think he said, &quot;we should go to the store&quot;. Are you sure he said, &quot;we should go to the store&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first sentence is a statement, correctly terminated with a period; the second sentence is a question, thus the last character should be a question mark. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, consider a statement that quotes a question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think he said, &quot;Should we go to the store?&quot; Are you sure he said, &quot;Should we go to the store&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My understanding is that, in the first sentence, the question mark &lt;em&gt;within&lt;/em&gt; the quotation is effectively used to 'terminate' the sentence. in the second, because the wrapper statement is a question itself, its question mark is used to terminate the sentence. Unlike other cultural differences, I think this approach is common to both [British] English and American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, personally (being a 'logical' person), I would offer an alternative to the first sentence in this latest example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think he said, &quot;Should we go to the store?&quot;. Are you sure he said, &quot;Should we go to the store&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quite simply, I really don't like terminating a sentence with a quotation mark, so I add an 'incorrect' period after the first sentence. Yes, it means I'll go to grammar hell, but my time on earth will be that bit more comfortable! ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See: &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/quotation.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/quotation.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T11:01:48.627" />
  <row Id="5503" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-24T11:06:12.820" Score="0" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please advise which version of the question is correct, and what's the rule governing it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2325" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T12:55:26.607" Title="What kind of stuff is it? vs What kind of stuff it is?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5504" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5508" CreationDate="2010-11-24T11:17:55.160" Score="2" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;The appendix is what is appended to something. How do we call something that is prepended to something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2328" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-24T11:29:50.847" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T11:34:40.967" Title="What is the counterpart of an appendix?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5501" CreationDate="2010-11-24T11:18:15.130" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it should be: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;The rows should be copied then pasted to the spreadsheet.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it describes a series of actions pertaining to one object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2101" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T11:18:15.130" />
  <row Id="5506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5504" CreationDate="2010-11-24T11:20:21.390" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Accordingly to &lt;a href=&quot;http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/prepend&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/prepend&lt;/a&gt; there is no such thing as &quot;to prepend&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The correct English word is &quot;prefix;&quot; for example, &quot;the header is prefixed to the packet.&quot; See prefix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;prefix:&#xA;  The beginning or to add to the beginning&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2328" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T11:20:21.390" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5503" CreationDate="2010-11-24T11:33:06.973" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct form is &quot;What kind of stuff is it?&quot; This is because the order of the subject and verb is reversed in a question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="634" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T11:33:06.973" />
  <row Id="5508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5504" CreationDate="2010-11-24T11:34:40.967" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When describing parts of a book, the &quot;preface&quot; or &quot;prologue&quot; are common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="634" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T11:34:40.967" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5503" CreationDate="2010-11-24T11:45:42.300" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Almost always if you are asking a question about a thing you will end with &quot;is it?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only format of question I can think of ( probably others can come up with other counter-examples ) that would end with an &quot;it is&quot; would be one where the question is of the format &quot;do you know what kind of thing it is?&quot; In most cases a native speaker would be more specific and use &quot;this&quot; or &quot;that&quot; to refer to the object being asked about rather than &quot;it&quot;, so a real question might be &quot;do you know what kind of wood this is?&quot; If you look at it, the question is phrased so that it is about the person being asked as much as the object so the format would start &quot;do you know&quot;, &quot;can you tell me&quot; or similar. Although conventionally you would expect someone asked this question to tell you about the object you are asking about, they could legitimately simply answer &quot;yes&quot; or &quot;no&quot; as the question is about them. I mention this as an exception - it is not very common. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T11:45:42.300" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5501" CreationDate="2010-11-24T11:59:42.660" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The rows should be copied from, then pasted to, the spreadsheet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This way, the prepositions fit with their respective verbs, and the commas help keep them separate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T11:59:42.660" />
  <row Id="5511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5500" CreationDate="2010-11-24T12:03:46.227" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;pulchritude&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds horrible (to me, at least) - but &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pulchritude&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;means beauty&lt;/a&gt; (see also: pulchritudinous).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for complimentary words that sound rhyme with chunky: how about &quot;funky&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/funky&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Definition of funky&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastEditorUserId="303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-26T16:42:07.020" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T16:42:07.020" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5501" CreationDate="2010-11-24T12:28:31.577" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a unique situation in my opinion, because &quot;copy and paste&quot; has attained the status of a compound verb in common parlance, so can be conjugated as such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that the sentence you have proposed is both clear and flowing, and would be accepted without comment by 99% of English speakers, whereas the &quot;correct&quot; alternatives would be a little clunky to read. Therefore I would stick with what you've got.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T12:28:31.577" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5503" CreationDate="2010-11-24T12:55:26.607" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The scope of your question is not altogether clear. Given complete sentences, your second example is not a standard English question form, at least in writing. It is a declaration. Nevertheless, adding a question mark at the end of a declaration automatically turns it into a question. Consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;This is a soufflé.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;This is a soufflé?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both sentences are identical but for the punctuation. But the second has a meaning rather opposite from the first. It may suggest that the speaker doubts  that the item on the plate is, in fact, a soufflé, and it may be intended as a rebuke to a waiter for presenting it as such. Or it may mean that the speaker (having never seen such a dessert before, perhaps) is unsure what it is and is asking for further clarification. In either case the question mark trumps word order and automatically makes the sentence a question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@glenatron posits a situation in which your examples are used as parts of larger sentences, and his answer makes sense and sheds light on the subject, but it's not clear this is really what you asked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, in the inner-city African-American dialect it is common to reverse copula and subject. Instead of &quot;What am I gonna do with a beat-up old truck like this?&quot; you are likely to hear &quot;What I'm gonna do with a beat up old truck like this?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T12:55:26.607" />
  <row Id="5514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5501" CreationDate="2010-11-24T13:09:39.997" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is nothing wrong with &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The rows should be copied and pasted&#xA;  to the spreadsheet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You appear to be considering the two verbs to form a single action, and yet they are two separate operations that can be performed upon the subject (rows). First the rows are copied and then they are pasted. What they are copied from is not stated, but is likely to be understood. If you are really worried about clarity here you could write &quot;The rows should be copied from the one spreadsheet and pasted to the other spreadsheet.&quot; But the meaning of your example is clear, and what is really happening there is an omission of extra (and probably unnecessary) syntax. The rows in question are probably referenced already and their identity understood by the addressee. If they are not, the specifier should be added.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T13:09:39.997" />
  <row Id="5515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5501" CreationDate="2010-11-24T13:14:30.023" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence as you use it pertains a little different meaning than the alternatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The rows should be copied and pasted to the spreadsheet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the spreadsheet is only the recipient of the copied data. It is perfectly OK to say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The rows should be copied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;from&lt;/em&gt; is only necessary if a source is specified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The rows should be copied from, then pasted to, the spreadsheet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The rows should be copied from and pasted to the spreadsheet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In these cases the spreadsheet is both source and target for the copied rows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The rows should be copied then pasted to the spreadsheet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this gives a time dimension that is not relevant in your original sentence. Of course the copying will usually take place before the pasting (especially when you are talking about the clipboard in todays operating systems), but it might be that the copy-past is done intertwined, reading and writing blocks at the time, which is probably true when copying files. Will say, using &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; adds implementation or prozess specific knowledge that might not be necessary in the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T13:14:30.023" />
  <row Id="5516" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5517" CreationDate="2010-11-24T13:25:11.077" Score="3" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the phrase is usually used for when a team goes out and plays really badly, but I am not certain why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2165" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T15:14:18.187" Title="Origin and meaning of &quot;Lay an Egg&quot; idiom" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5516" CreationDate="2010-11-24T13:29:11.007" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This was show-biz parlance in the 1920s, and it referred to a show that closed quickly after opening. The most famous usage was by &lt;strong&gt;Variety&lt;/strong&gt; (a show-biz newspaper) in 1929 after the stock market crashed: &quot;Wall Street Lays An Egg&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some sources I have seen say that the original meaning came from the number 0, which is what is put up on a scoreboard when a team fails to score. It resembles an egg, and is still today called a &quot;goose egg,&quot; so by extension when a team scores zero it &quot;lays an egg.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T13:29:11.007" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5490" CreationDate="2010-11-24T13:32:02.297" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In American English, commas and periods go inside the quotation marks. Semi-colons, question marks and exclamation marks go inside the quotation marks only if they're part of the quotation. E.g.,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;What time is it?&quot; he asked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did he really say, &quot;I don't care&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your example should be the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think he said, &quot;we should go to the store.&quot; Are you sure he said, &quot;we should go to the store&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T13:32:02.297" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="5519" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5521" CreationDate="2010-11-24T13:35:10.917" Score="2" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is more correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am going to classify these faults into 4 categories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am going to classify these faults in 4 categories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am going to classify these faults as 4 categories.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last one makes the least sense to me. However, the first two are being used by a lot of people. Are both okay?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2005" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-24T13:53:11.267" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T13:53:11.267" Title="Classify into 4 categories or in 4 categories?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5501" CreationDate="2010-11-24T13:36:29.233" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; sounds right there, and &lt;em&gt;into&lt;/em&gt; could work, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The rows should be copied and pasted into the spreadsheet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T13:36:29.233" />
  <row Id="5521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5519" CreationDate="2010-11-24T13:39:24.427" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Into&lt;/em&gt; is the most common, and it makes the most sense, as you are (metaphorically) putting faults into boxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am going to classify these faults into 4 categories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T13:39:24.427" />
  <row Id="5522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5519" CreationDate="2010-11-24T13:47:20.743" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are different flavors to each version.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am going to classify these faults&#xA;  into 4 categories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the most precise, and uses the word &lt;em&gt;classify&lt;/em&gt; to mean &quot;divide into classes&quot;; it is what you would use if you were writing in a scientific or technical style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am going to classify these faults in&#xA;  4 categories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is less precise, and uses &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; as one might use &lt;em&gt;among&lt;/em&gt;. There is nothing wrong with stating the sentence in this way, but there is a sense that other categories may exist among which the faults could be distributed, but that the speaker may be making an arbitrary distinction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am going to classify these faults as&#xA;  4 categories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one is really a poor construction, in my opinion. It equates faults with categories, or implies that a transformation may be made that turns faults into categories by the process of classification. It is inferior in logic and meaning to the other two. Your first choice is the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T13:47:20.743" />
  <row Id="5523" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5526" CreationDate="2010-11-24T13:47:42.637" Score="2" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;We wanted to use this as a T-shirt quote, but I feel that &quot;if winning isn't everything then why do they keep score&quot; is wrong. The correct sentence should be &quot;if winning isn't everything then why do they keep &lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt; score&quot;.&#xA;However, a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&amp;amp;client=firefox-a&amp;amp;hs=Emc&amp;amp;rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&amp;amp;q=if+winning+isnt+everything+then+why+do+they+keep+score&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&amp;amp;gs_rfai=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google search&lt;/a&gt; shows that I may be wrong. Only &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&amp;amp;client=firefox-a&amp;amp;hs=Imc&amp;amp;rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&amp;amp;q=%22if+winning+isnt+everything+then+why+do+they+keep+a+score%22&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&amp;amp;gs_rfai=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one person&lt;/a&gt; agrees with my sentence. Is the first sentence just incorrect American grammar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2294" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:01:16.817" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:01:16.817" Title="Is &quot;if winning isn't everything then why do they keep score&quot; a correct sentence?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5523" CreationDate="2010-11-24T13:52:36.183" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll want to add the apostrophe to &lt;em&gt;isn't&lt;/em&gt; and a question mark to the end, but there's really nothing wrong with putting such a sentence on a T-shirt. T-shirts and bumper stickers are pretty much exempt from formal rules, and no one expects them to be models of English grammar and usage anyway. I wouldn't worry about pleasing the editors on this one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T13:52:36.183" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5523" CreationDate="2010-11-24T13:56:01.703" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Keep score&quot; is a (slightly) idiomatic expression that means &quot;keeping track of the score&quot;.  It is not ungrammatical to use this phrase on a T-shirt (or anywhere else).  If the T-shirt had the text &quot;keep a score&quot;, it might actually give the impression that the shirt was not made by a native English speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This is speaking as someone from the US; I don't know for certain if the expression might be different in the UK.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T13:56:01.703" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="5526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5523" CreationDate="2010-11-24T13:57:21.030" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, both are correct.  As any good dictionary (or even &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/keep_score&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; :-) will tell you, &quot;keep score&quot; is a perfectly good verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T13:57:21.030" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="5527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2459" CreationDate="2010-11-24T14:12:43.263" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as awkward-&lt;em&gt;sounding&lt;/em&gt; is concerned, I submit there are few sentences &lt;em&gt;spoken&lt;/em&gt; in English that sound more awkward than:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ed had edited it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is very hard to say in the rapid flow of conversation, and results in a sound something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ed&amp;#601;ded&amp;#601;d&amp;#601;dit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try it for yourself, speaking quickly, and you'll see what I mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T14:12:43.263" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-24T14:12:43.263" />
  <row Id="5528" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5529" CreationDate="2010-11-24T14:21:28.307" Score="2" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the longest word in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T09:00:09.833" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T09:00:09.833" Title="Longest word in English" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5528" CreationDate="2010-11-24T14:25:35.610" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis&lt;/em&gt; takes the prize, I believe. It's a miner's lung disease. Outside of a doctor's office in a coal-mining community, however, one tends to hear it only when people are discussing the longest word in the English language — perhaps only slightly less often than one hears &lt;em&gt;antidisestablishmentarianism&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-24T14:29:38.803" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T14:29:38.803" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5530" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5532" CreationDate="2010-11-24T14:28:52.663" Score="5" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20101122_geopolitical_journey_part_5_turkey?utm_source=GJourney&amp;amp;utm_medium=email&amp;amp;utm_campaign=101123&amp;amp;utm_content=readmore&amp;amp;elq=0389b035764b4e1a8330d0f6c576d6df&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a Stratfor article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The second step was to break the hold of Ottoman culture on Turkey itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it mean to maintain the Ottoman culture or to break it from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-24T14:37:24.227" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T15:13:44.617" Title="Meaning of &quot;The second step was to break the hold of Ottoman culture on Turkey itself.&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5531" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5537" CreationDate="2010-11-24T14:30:12.100" Score="4" ViewCount="510" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see these to expression are used almost identically in different contexts. Is there a difference between I have &lt;strong&gt;got&lt;/strong&gt; and I have &lt;strong&gt;gotten&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T20:42:59.837" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T20:42:59.837" Title="&quot;I've got&quot; vs &quot;I've gotten&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5530" CreationDate="2010-11-24T14:30:24.540" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means to &lt;strong&gt;break the hold&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;reduce the influence&lt;/strong&gt; of Ottoman culture on Turkey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T14:30:24.540" />
  <row Id="5533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5528" CreationDate="2010-11-24T14:33:48.503" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That depends on what you consider to constitute a &quot;word&quot; - Robusto's answer of &lt;em&gt;Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis&lt;/em&gt; would be the one usually given.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are chemical names that far exceed this (the full name for &lt;em&gt;Titin&lt;/em&gt;, for example, would be 189,819 characters long.) However, these are generally &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/longestword&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;not considered&lt;/a&gt; to be genuine &quot;words&quot; in the sense of vocabulary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T14:33:48.503" />
  <row Id="5534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5531" CreationDate="2010-11-24T14:38:33.087" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I try to avoid the &quot;have got&quot; constructions whenever possible. Usually where you feel like saying &quot;I have got&quot; you could substitute the simpler &quot;I have&quot; and no one would be the wiser. Unless you're speaking informally and using &lt;em&gt;got&lt;/em&gt; for emphasis, as in &quot;I have &lt;em&gt;got&lt;/em&gt; to get out of this place,&quot; you can usually just drop that &lt;em&gt;got&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for &lt;em&gt;gotten&lt;/em&gt;, I see no harm in using it informally in sentences like &quot;I have gotten quite good at archery,&quot; although if you want to speak more formally you could say &quot;I have become quite good at archery.&quot; Still, who would use the latter when boasting about archery prowess in a bar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T14:38:33.087" />
  <row Id="5535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5531" CreationDate="2010-11-24T14:39:31.213" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have got to go - I have to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;whereas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have gotten to go. - I have been&#xA;  permitted to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;gotten is archaic &amp;amp; should be avoided except in typical phrases such as &quot;ill-gotten wealth&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T14:39:31.213" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5531" CreationDate="2010-11-24T14:40:40.853" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, &quot;have got&quot; is the present perfect form of &quot;to get&quot; in UK English, while &quot;have gotten&quot; is the US English version.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, even in US English, &quot;have got&quot; is used in certain instances, namely to mean present tense &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; (in the sense of possession, or to mean &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I have got a lot of friends. (=I have a lot of friends)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I have got to go now. (=I have to go now/I must go now)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T14:40:40.853" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="5537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5531" CreationDate="2010-11-24T14:43:09.570" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Gotten&lt;/strong&gt; is the &lt;em&gt;past-participle&lt;/em&gt; of &lt;strong&gt;get&lt;/strong&gt;, which forms the &lt;em&gt;present perfect&lt;/em&gt; in the phrase &quot;I have gotten,&quot; indicating the present effect of a past event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Got&lt;/strong&gt; is the &lt;em&gt;simple-past&lt;/em&gt; form of &lt;strong&gt;get&lt;/strong&gt;, used when describing past events, and the phrase &quot;I have got&quot; is not grammatically correct as it stands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T14:43:09.570" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4929" CreationDate="2010-11-24T14:55:13.660" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, there are a few tricks you may find used here and there. The most definitive list I've seen ( if not the most technical or academic ) is to be found at &lt;a href=&quot;http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TV Tropes&lt;/a&gt; - but be very careful- time vanishes on that site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T14:55:13.660" />
  <row Id="5539" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5546" CreationDate="2010-11-24T15:00:10.510" Score="8" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;When speaking precisely or technically, one would say that &quot;Homo erectus and homo sapiens are two species of hominid&quot; rather than &quot;Homo erectus and homo sapiens are two species of hominids.&quot; The &lt;em&gt;hominid&lt;/em&gt; here should be singular because we are speaking about instances of a single class (&quot;class&quot; being used here in its broader sense, not in the sense of taxonomic grouping).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now let's consider more common parallel constructions replacing the word &lt;em&gt;species&lt;/em&gt; with other words. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Tide and Wisk are two brands of detergent.&#xA;Tide and Wisk are two brands of detergents.&#xA;&#xA;Cats and dogs are two types of pet you can buy at Pets-R-Us.&#xA;Cats and dogs are two types of pets you can buy at Pets-R-Us.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel that using the singular noun to specify the class is more grammatically correct, but sounds stilted in conversation. Almost everyone I hear making these constructions uses the plural form. What are your thoughts about singular vs. plural here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a more extreme example that may help clarify the issue. Consider the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;It was my first attempt at calming an angry crowd, and I just &#xA;stood there while people were hurling all kinds of insults at me.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here I think the singular &lt;em&gt;insult&lt;/em&gt; sounds strange, if not downright wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Further Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just noticed in &lt;em&gt;A Treasury for Word Lovers&lt;/em&gt; (Morton S. Freeman, 1983) a section entitled &quot;Types of Errors.&quot; This is a book about (American) English usage by an English professor and editor, which purports to be a &quot;practical guide for serious writers and readers.&quot; I wish I could say this discovery satisfies the question, but in fact I now feel somewhat farther from the truth, if there is any single &quot;truth&quot; in this matter, although at least I don't have to worry about being wrong when using the plural form of the class in these constructions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T02:02:06.580" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T02:02:06.580" Title="Types of things vs. types of thing" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="5540" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5544" CreationDate="2010-11-24T15:00:33.373" Score="9" ViewCount="235" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard that the verb &lt;em&gt;go&lt;/em&gt; used to be &lt;em&gt;wend&lt;/em&gt; in olden days. I am curious if there is any historical or other explanation why the past form of &lt;em&gt;wend&lt;/em&gt;, i.e. &lt;em&gt;went&lt;/em&gt;, is still in use while the simple present and past participle forms are gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any idea or link to some resources which deal with this fact?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2005" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-24T16:50:59.310" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T16:50:59.310" Title="{wend, went, went} changed into {go, went, gone}" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5540" CreationDate="2010-11-24T15:12:10.747" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Etymonline.com (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=go&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;entry for &lt;em&gt;go&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;),&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Old English past tense [for go]&#xA;  was &lt;em&gt;eode&lt;/em&gt;, of uncertain origin but&#xA;  evidently once a different word&#xA;  (perhaps connected to Goth. &lt;em&gt;iddja&lt;/em&gt;); it&#xA;  was replaced 1400s by &lt;em&gt;went&lt;/em&gt;, formely&#xA;  past tense of &lt;em&gt;wenden&lt;/em&gt; &quot;to direct one's&#xA;  way&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that &lt;em&gt;wend&lt;/em&gt; is still a verb. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/wend?view=uk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Definition from the Oxford dictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;go in a specific direction, typically&#xA;  slowly or by an indirect route.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T15:12:10.747" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5530" CreationDate="2010-11-24T15:13:44.617" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;The second step was to get rid of the Ottoman cultural influence over the nation of Turkey.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Break the hold of&lt;/em&gt; is being used metaphorically; for a literal use of the phrase, imagine a pair of wrestlers, Sam and Joe. Sam grabs the Joe's arm and holds onto it. Joe then twists in a particular way and &lt;em&gt;breaks the hold&lt;/em&gt;, i.e. forces Sam to let go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T15:13:44.617" />
  <row Id="5543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5516" CreationDate="2010-11-24T15:14:18.187" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;OED&lt;/em&gt; says &quot;&lt;strong&gt;lay&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;em&gt;v.&lt;/em&gt; ... 9. ... figurative phrase &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;to lay an egg&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, used in various colloquial senses, specifically: (a) (of an aircraft) to drop a bomb; (b) orig. U.S. (of a performer or performance) to flop.&quot; with earliest citation for sense (a) from 1927 and for sense (b) the 1929 &lt;em&gt;Variety&lt;/em&gt; headline quoted by Robusto.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This phrase thus seems to be unrelated to the &quot;zero&quot; sense of the word &lt;em&gt;egg&lt;/em&gt;, though it's possible that its use in sporting contexts is influenced by it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;OED&lt;/em&gt; says of the latter: &quot;&lt;strong&gt;duck's egg&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;em&gt;n.&lt;/em&gt; The egg of a duck; hence, in Cricket, the zero or ‘0’ placed against a batsman's name in the scoring sheet when he fails to score; no runs; hence, generally in school-boy slang, ‘nought’&quot; (earliest citation 1863).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2175" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T15:14:18.187" />
  <row Id="5544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5540" CreationDate="2010-11-24T15:16:17.903" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;FreeDictionary seems to support this, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Wend&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. Yet &lt;em&gt;wend&lt;/em&gt; (Old English &lt;em&gt;wendan&lt;/em&gt;) still is a word in modern English, meaning to proceed, go one's way, move, travel. It is related to gr. &lt;em&gt;wenden&lt;/em&gt;: turn around, &lt;em&gt;sich wenden an jmd&lt;/em&gt;: go to somebody for help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia shows that &lt;em&gt;went&lt;/em&gt; comes from &lt;em&gt;wendan&lt;/em&gt;, while &lt;em&gt;go&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;gone&lt;/em&gt; are based on &lt;em&gt;gon&lt;/em&gt;. They became synonyms in the 15th century and merged:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Development of a new preterite&#xA;  In Middle English, ēode evolved into ȝede, yede, and yode. By the 15th century in southern England, wende (wend) had become synonymous with go, but its infinitive and present tense forms had ceased to be in frequent use. This was also true of the various ēode-derived preterites of go, thus a variant preterite of wend absorbed the function. After went became established as the preterite of go, wend took on a new preterite, wended. In Scotland and northern England, yede was gaed, regularly formed by suffixing -ed to a variant of go. Due to the influence of the region, southern English forms constitute the standard language of England, and so went is the standard English preterite. Spencer used yede to mean go with yode as its preterite form but as dialect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_%28verb%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-24T15:27:49.537" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T15:27:49.537" />
  <row Id="5545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5539" CreationDate="2010-11-24T15:23:35.780" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that the singular is not only correct, but I also think it sounds far better too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cats and dogs are two types of pets you can buy at Pets-R-Us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually stumbled over the this example; it just doesn't feel right when I say it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[PS I'm British - I'm not sure if there are some cultural variations here]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T15:23:35.780" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5539" CreationDate="2010-11-24T15:37:46.140" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an interesting question, particularly because of this dichotomy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;This is a type of apple. (not &lt;em&gt;apples&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;These are two types of apples. (not &lt;em&gt;apple&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that the construction of the form &quot;two types of apple&quot; sounds more than stilted; it just plain sounds awkward, and I would be surprised that it sounds familiar and normal to anyone (at least speaking for US English).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea that a plural form would be used for a class is actually not strange at all in English.  To express the fact that I like things belonging to the &quot;apple&quot; class, I would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I like apples.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not be able to use the singular to express this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;*I like apple.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;*I like an apple.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;*I like the apple.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying &quot;I like apples&quot; doesn't even imply that I am talking about multiple apples; one could say this, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I like apples, although I've only ever had one in my life.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, saying &quot;I like all sorts of apples&quot; seems to jive perfectly with the rest of English grammar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that the strange case is actually this one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;This is a type of apple. (not &lt;em&gt;apples&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying &quot;this is a type of apples&quot; is definitely not natural or familiar.  It seems that, in phrases like &quot;type(s) of X&quot; (&quot;kind(s) of X&quot;, etc.), there is generally number concord between the &lt;em&gt;type&lt;/em&gt;-word and the class itself.  Why that is, I don't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T15:37:46.140" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-24T15:37:59.147" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;lieutenant&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a word that is pronounced logically by Americans, but in Britain we pronounce it as &quot;lef-tenant&quot; which is not at all obvious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T15:37:59.147" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-24T15:37:59.147" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5458" CreationDate="2010-11-24T15:39:46.803" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the other good comments posted, I'd say that familiarity should probably be a major factor in determining the best course of action. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I might wince, but generally I'd let these 'mistakes' pass without comment, unless I felt particularly familiar with the person speaking. A casual acquaintance or an general colleague will go unmolested, but a family member, a close friend or colleague will more readily be 'corrected'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of my wife, saying &quot;We &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt; doing this or that..&quot; (**), I throw myself to the ground, kicking and shouting &quot;WE WERE.. WE WERE!&quot;, not that it seems to do any good. OK, I'm joking, but I've been sorely tempted! ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;** I (snobbishly) used to think it was a sign of a poor education, but in the case of my wife it isn't - it's a regional thing. A lot of people in the area we live say it, and even worse, none are seemingly even remotely aware of the fact!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T15:39:46.803" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5500" CreationDate="2010-11-24T17:27:12.567" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spunky&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spunky&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That was the first word that came to mind when I read the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rhymezone.com/r/rhyme.cgi?Word=chunky&amp;amp;typeofrhyme=perfect&amp;amp;org1=syl&amp;amp;org2=l&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;results from a rhyming dictionar&lt;/a&gt;y:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;One syllable:&lt;/strong&gt; clunky, funky, hunky, junkie, junky, monkey, punky, spunky&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(See the link for words with more syllables, like &quot;grease monkey&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My, this seems like the kind of site I could have spent a lot of time answering questions on!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1333" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T17:27:12.567" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4802" CreationDate="2010-11-24T17:33:58.813" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You really need to consider not two, but three forms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;word memorization&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;memorization of (the) words&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;memorizing (the) words&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all but technical writing, 3) is much the most common. (Personally I would prefer it even in technical writing, but some people seem to think that abstract nouns make their writing more impressive.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;is unusual in any context, unless the topic is the memorization, and &quot;of the words&quot; is almost incidental, eg &quot;The memorization of the words was a major feat for this actor&quot; - but even then, 3. would be more natural for me. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Note: I've put (the) in parenthesis because 2. and 3. are grammatical both with and without 'the', but the meaning is different. 1. is ambiguous in this respect - another reason why I would avoid it. ]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T17:33:58.813" />
  <row Id="5551" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5553" CreationDate="2010-11-24T17:49:05.727" Score="5" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a native speaker. I hope I have a more or less accurate understanding of what the phrase &quot;count your blessings&quot; &lt;em&gt;means&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;not everything is bad, you should not really complain&quot;, is that so?), but I am struggling to understand the &lt;em&gt;literal&lt;/em&gt; meaning. I only know &lt;em&gt;bless&lt;/em&gt; from the context of &quot;God bless monarch/country&quot; and when someone sneezes, but I can't really connect that verb to the countable noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of the phrase &quot;count your blessings&quot;? Is it known when and in what context it was first used?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2092" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T04:19:39.883" Title="Etymology of &quot;count your blessings&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5552" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5554" CreationDate="2010-11-24T17:57:41.183" Score="5" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;I get this mixed up so often. Should I say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Me and Rob are going swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I and Rob are going swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the latter sounds REALLY awkward and I'd probably never say it that way but&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rob and I are going swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sound perfectly fine (confusing because &lt;em&gt;Rob&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; aren't grammatically different here).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the original sentence both &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Rob&lt;/em&gt; are the subject, so why use the accusative &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also why do we say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She and Rob are going swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but not:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I and Rob are going swimming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Somebody please explain, thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2334" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T02:03:31.473" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T02:03:31.473" Title="When do I use &quot;me&quot; and when &quot;I&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;&lt;object&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5551" CreationDate="2010-11-24T17:59:23.740" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To bless&lt;/em&gt; properly means to bestow favor on something, with a strong implication of divine favor and luck. &lt;em&gt;Blessing&lt;/em&gt; is a straightforward verbal noun derived from that, and it indicates those things which one has received from others without deserving it, and again has a strong connotation of those things acquired by good luck or providence. So the phrase &lt;em&gt;count your blessings&lt;/em&gt; is an invitation to reconsider all of the things that you have which are going well, all of the ways in which you have been &lt;em&gt;blessed&lt;/em&gt;, rather than focusing on the negative aspects of your life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The phrase &quot;God bless you&quot; following a sneeze is literally an invocation for God to bless the person who has sneezed, i.e. to protect them from disease and demonic influence. However, the phrase has become completely conventionalized, so a person saying it does not necessarily believe in God or demons.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T17:59:23.740" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5552" CreationDate="2010-11-24T18:08:16.603" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider you only have one person: you. How would you write it? &quot;&lt;em&gt;Me am swimming&lt;/em&gt;&quot; or &quot;&lt;em&gt;I am swimming&lt;/em&gt;&quot;? &quot;&lt;em&gt;He saw I&lt;/em&gt;&quot; or &quot;&lt;em&gt;He saw me&lt;/em&gt;&quot;? I hope we both agree the latter is the correct way to phrase the sentence in both cases. If we wanted to add another person, we'd simply write their names: &quot;&lt;em&gt;Rob and I are swimming&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, &quot;&lt;em&gt;He saw Rob and me&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, we don't say &quot;&lt;em&gt;I and Rob are swimming&lt;/em&gt;&quot; because this is a positive action and the factor of politeness arises. Therefore, we have to put the other person(s) before us. If we wanted to say that we killed someone, we'd write &quot;&lt;em&gt;I and Rob have killed him&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, because this is a negative action, and we put ourselves before the other persons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2310" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T18:08:16.603" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="5555" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5556" CreationDate="2010-11-24T18:32:40.503" Score="5" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Up to scratch&lt;/em&gt; is used to mean &lt;em&gt;of acceptable quality&lt;/em&gt;. Does anyone know why &lt;em&gt;scratch&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T13:21:02.573" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T13:21:02.573" Title="Why the scratch in &quot;up to scratch&quot;?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5555" CreationDate="2010-11-24T18:42:39.197" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A google search &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/9/messages/53.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;shows:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The phrase used in pugilists' fights. A line was scratched on the ground to which the contestants had to put their forward foot before the fight could begin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Oxford Engl. Dict. confirms his story. Under &quot;scratch&quot; (noun): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'Sporting.' A line or mark drawn as an indication of a boundary or starting-point; in Cricket, a 'crease' (obs.); in Pugilism, the line drawn across the ring, to which boxers are brought for an encounter. Hence in various phrases (often fig.), as 'to come up to the scratch,' 'to bring to the scratch,' 'to toe the scratch,' etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-25T00:04:40.937" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T00:04:40.937" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5555" CreationDate="2010-11-24T18:44:00.940" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many figurative senses (e.g. &lt;em&gt;up to scratch&lt;/em&gt;) are from sporting use for &quot;line or mark drawn as a starting place,&quot; attested from 1778.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is also where we get the phrases &lt;em&gt;starting from scratch&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;cooking from scratch&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=scratch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source 1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/9/messages/53.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T18:44:00.940" />
  <row Id="5558" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5561" CreationDate="2010-11-24T19:27:15.273" Score="2" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why don't you go pay for them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's pretty common in USA to form this question in this form. However, I suspect that we need &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; or &quot;and&quot; between &lt;strong&gt;go&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;pay&lt;/strong&gt;. Why one is correct and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why don't you &lt;em&gt;go pay&lt;/em&gt; for them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why don't you &lt;em&gt;go to&lt;/em&gt; pay for them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why don't you &lt;em&gt;go and&lt;/em&gt; pay for them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T23:00:16.447" Title="go pay in &quot;Why don't you go pay for them&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5558" CreationDate="2010-11-24T19:39:14.227" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an elliptical construction with &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; missing. It is widely understood that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why don't you go pay for them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;means the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why don't you go to pay for them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Too often for my taste, people say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why don't you go and pay for them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strictly speaking, this isn't what is literally meant, but people say it often enough that everyone knows that it means the same thing. Don't use it in formal English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, all three sentences mean the same thing to an English listener. The first sentence is just a shorter way to say the same thing as the second, and the last sentence is less formal but means the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T19:39:14.227" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="5560" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5565" CreationDate="2010-11-24T19:46:45.390" Score="15" ViewCount="249" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to understand a paragraph from a tax manual, and for the life of me I can't seem to understand what they are saying.  The paragraph in question is from page 4 of publication 4681&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The amount of nonrecourse debt in excess of the FMV of the property subject to the nonrecourse debt to the extent nonrecourse debt in excess of the FMV of the property subject to the debt is forgiven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an academic question for me now, rather than something I need to know the legal meaning of.  It is the worst piece of double-speak that I have encountered, and I was curious as to what the author was trying to get across.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The acronym &quot;FMV&quot; stands for &quot;fair market value&quot;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="848" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T14:35:40.377" Title="Can this convoluted bit of &quot;tax speak&quot; be deciphered into plain English?" Tags="&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="5561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5558" CreationDate="2010-11-24T20:07:03.083" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of constructions using &lt;strong&gt;go &amp;lt;verb&amp;gt;&lt;/strong&gt; in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Go get it.&#xA;Go put on your shoes.&#xA;Go tell it on the mountain. &#xA;Go ask for your money back.&#xA;Go [expletive deleted] yourself.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's common enough in English that the &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; need not be added, and actually gives it an awkward feel if you do add it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T20:07:03.083" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5531" CreationDate="2010-11-24T20:22:10.943" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Gotten is probably the most&#xA;  distinctive of all the AmE/BrE&#xA;  grammatical differences, but British&#xA;  people who try to use it often get it&#xA;  wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is not simply an alternative for&#xA;  have got. Gotten is used in such&#xA;  contexts as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;They've gotten a new boat.   (= obtain)&#xA;&#xA;They've gotten interested.   (= become)&#xA;&#xA;He's gotten off the chair.   (= moved)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But it is not used in the sense of possession (= have).  AmE does not &#xA;  allow&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;*I've gotten the answer.&#xA;&#xA;*I've gotten plenty. &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;but uses &lt;em&gt;I've got&lt;/em&gt; as in informal BrE.  The availability of &lt;em&gt;gotten&lt;/em&gt;  does however mean&#xA;  that AmE can make such distinctions as the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;They've got to leave  (they must leave)&#xA;&#xA;They've gotten to leave  (they've managed to leave).&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=J4kYd1-AXX4C&amp;amp;pg=PA311&amp;amp;dq=%22Gotten+is+probably+the+most+distinctive+of+all%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=snPtTO7TNsuGhQe-rM3MDA&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CCMQ6AEwAA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Cambridge Encyclopedia of English Language&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-24T20:31:14.600" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T20:31:14.600" />
  <row Id="5563" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5570" CreationDate="2010-11-24T20:42:03.897" Score="8" ViewCount="274" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the differences between the terms &quot;How come ... we eat breakfast?&quot; and &quot;Why ... do we eat breakfast?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The words phrase based in &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; seems really awkward to me, and I don't understand this convention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="680" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-24T20:54:20.917" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T16:13:01.760" Title="&quot;How come&quot; vs &quot;Why?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5560" CreationDate="2010-11-24T20:49:34.793" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;IANAL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, after reading a bit about non-recourse debts and US tax law, I've realized that this might be a sentence fragment.  Specifically, it refers to an amount, but that sentence no verb.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, a non-recourse debt is a debt which is secured against collateral (usually property) such that if the borrower defaults the lender can only take the collateral and nothing else; the rest of the debt is &quot;forgiven&quot;. For tax purposes a forgiven debt is treated as income.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this fragment says &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The value of the debt which exceeds the value of that debt's collateral property, which was seized when the debt was forgiven&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or something along those lines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T20:49:34.793" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="5565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5560" CreationDate="2010-11-24T20:58:52.353" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hoo boy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The amount of nonrecourse debt in excess of the FMV of the property&#xA;  subject to the nonrecourse debt to the extent nonrecourse debt in&#xA;  excess of the FMV of the property subject to the debt is forgiven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some substitutions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;X = nonrecourse debt&lt;br&gt;&#xA;X' = debt&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Y = the FMV of the property&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Z = Y subject to the X&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Z' = Y subject to the X'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This gives us:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The amount of X in excess of Z to the extent X in excess of Z' is forgiven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding the missing words (I think):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[Enter] the amount of X [which is] in excess of Z, to the extent&#xA;  [that] X in excess of Z' is forgiven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which I think can be translated to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Enter the forgiven portion of the difference between X and Z&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...Which is as far as I can get without knowing more about what the heck a nonrecourse debt is, and what does it mean to be subject to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T20:58:52.353" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-24T21:35:12.460" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It turns out that Doc Brown was right, in a way. The historically accurate way to pronounce the prefix giga- is with a j-sound (as in jigabyte). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this is the best example of a collective &quot;say it before you heard it&quot;. It seems the people in the circles the prefix came into first use (mainly the sciences) didn't ever take a class in ancient greek (not that I ever have either), or recognize that other words with the same etymology (giant and gigantic are pronounced jiant and jigantic) are inconsistent with this pronunciation. But the pronunciation has stuck so what can you do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as an afterthought - &lt;strong&gt;Colonel&lt;/strong&gt;. Who the hell came up with that? It took me years to recognize that Colonel and &quot;Kernel&quot; is the same rank. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2330" LastEditorUserId="2330" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-24T22:27:40.810" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T22:27:40.810" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-24T21:35:12.460" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5567" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5568" CreationDate="2010-11-24T22:50:29.753" Score="5" ViewCount="324" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where does the expression &quot;ta&quot; come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia has only &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;ta!&quot;, slang, Exclam. Thank you! {Informal}, an expression of gratitude&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but no additional information or links about its genesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have only ever heard it from englishmen and -women. Is it used anywhere else in the world? How did it come about? What is its history?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="239" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T14:41:07.000" Title="Where does &quot;ta!&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;history&gt;&lt;linguistics&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="5568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5567" CreationDate="2010-11-24T22:57:14.137" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ta&lt;/strong&gt;:   1772, &quot;natural infantile sound&#xA;  of gratitude&quot; [Weekley].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it is most probably the imitative of baby talk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ta&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;em&gt;Chiefly British&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Used to express thanks.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  ETYMOLOGY:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Baby-talk alteration of &quot;thank you&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T22:57:14.137" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5558" CreationDate="2010-11-24T23:00:16.447" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a BrE speaker, I would say 'go and' in all of the examples Robusto gives (expect possibly for the last one?!). To my ears, the use of 'go' followed by an verb without &lt;em&gt;and/to&lt;/em&gt; sounds odd and I think that most BrE speakers would identify it as an 'Americanism'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2339" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T23:00:16.447" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5563" CreationDate="2010-11-24T23:00:55.477" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;How come...we eat breakfast?&quot; is less formal. As Robusto commented, it's a contraction of something like: &quot;How does it come to be that ...?&quot; or &quot;How has it come to pass that...?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it's not as confrontational. &quot;How come you turned up late?&quot; is softer than &quot;Why did you turn up late?&quot;. It is a subtle mechanism that allows us to drop the 'do' verb from the question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The latter is something your boss might ask. It is a very direct question expecting a direct answer, with the emphasis on &quot;&lt;em&gt;you doing&lt;/em&gt;&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The former is something your work colleague might ask. It is softer because it acknowledges that '&lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt; came to be' that you were late. The emphasis is shifted off &quot;&lt;em&gt;you doing&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1157" LastEditorUserId="1157" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-25T01:14:45.893" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T01:14:45.893" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-24T23:02:03.913" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Years ago, I was familiar with (and sometimes used) the spoken word &lt;strong&gt;superfluous&lt;/strong&gt;. I also sometimes read the word spelled “superfluous” but pronounced it /SOO-per-FLOO-us/. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had &lt;em&gt;no idea&lt;/em&gt; that these were the same word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1727" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T23:02:03.913" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-24T23:02:03.913" />
  <row Id="5572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5567" CreationDate="2010-11-24T23:24:43.887" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would have said it was just a shortening of &quot;thanks&quot;. It was in common use in the days of my youth in Northern England.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also used as an abbreviation for &quot;thanks&quot; in internet chat rooms.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2254" LastActivityDate="2010-11-24T23:24:43.887" />
  <row Id="5573" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5574" CreationDate="2010-11-24T23:36:25.847" Score="3" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between &quot;fluctuate&quot; and &quot;teeter&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2270" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T15:49:23.240" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T15:49:23.240" Title="What's the difference between &quot;fluctuate&quot; and &quot;teeter&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5573" CreationDate="2010-11-25T00:27:30.533" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fluctuate = vary with time. Think graph, chart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Teeter:&#xA;(1) go back and forth (between the same two things/values). Think teeter-totter.&#xA;(2) be on the verge of something - the current little wiggles/variations are likely to soon change into a huge plummet. Think cartoon character balanced on the edge of the cliff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T00:27:30.533" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5567" CreationDate="2010-11-25T01:11:50.467" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thank you... Thanks... Tanks...ta&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T01:11:50.467" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5560" CreationDate="2010-11-25T01:22:58.013" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I am assuming this is a definition of a type of debt or an explanation of a value. Ok. So now let's give this a whirl:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our value is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The amount of nonrecourse debt in&#xA;  excess of X.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;X is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the FMV of the property subject to Y&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Y is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the nonrecourse debt to the extent [that] Z is forgiven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Z is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;nonrecourse debt in excess of the FMV of the property subject to the debt &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least, that's the best I can do. I think this is intentionally obtuse to give attorneys something to argue over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="608" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T01:22:58.013" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-25T01:39:34.433" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Goon Show&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mispronounced as the &quot;Go On Show&quot; by the Governor of the BBC (or maybe it was a BBC Head of Department)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3aF5J18dFh3WIJ%3ascaryduck.blogspot.com/2003_10_01_archive.html+BBC+governor+to+ask+what,+exactly,+this+%E2%80%9CGo+On+Show%E2%80%9D&amp;amp;cd=4&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ct=clnk&amp;amp;gl=uk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Quote:&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Those Crazy People”, leading one BBC&#xA;  governor to ask what, exactly, this&#xA;  &quot;Go On Show&quot; was all about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1157" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T01:39:34.433" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-25T01:39:34.433" />
  <row Id="5578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5523" CreationDate="2010-11-25T01:53:11.057" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Casual English is appropriate for a t-shirt since wearing clothing with phases on them is pretty casual. The term &quot;keeping score&quot; can have the meaning to keep track, but may a negative connotation of holding grudges.      &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T01:53:11.057" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5560" CreationDate="2010-11-25T03:25:51.217" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4681.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the publication&lt;/a&gt; you referenced, I noticed two words that you left out that clear up the sentence a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Liabilities include:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • The amount of&#xA;  nonrecourse debt in excess of the FMV&#xA;  of the property subject to the&#xA;  nonrecourse debt to the extent&#xA;  nonrecourse debt in excess of the FMV&#xA;  of the property subject to the debt is&#xA;  forgiven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to add parentheses to help us understand the structure of this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Liabilities include   &#xA;(  &#xA;    (  &#xA;       (the amount of nonrecourse debt)  &#xA;       in excess of the FMV  &#xA;    )  &#xA;    of the property &#xA;    subject to the  &#xA;        (nonrecourse debt)  &#xA;)  &#xA;to the extent [that]  &#xA;(  &#xA;    (  &#xA;        (nonrecourse debt)  &#xA;        in excess of the FMV  &#xA;    )  &#xA;    of the property subject to the debt is forgiven.  &#xA;)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In (somewhat) plain English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Take the property that is subject to nonrecourse debt and find the Fair Market Value.  Now find the amount of nonrecourse debt. Subtract the nonrecourse debt from the FMV. Even if the nonrecourse debt is forgiven, you must include it for tax purposes (in this instance, determining insolvency).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Disclaimer:&lt;/em&gt; I am not an attorney nor accountant and am not qualified in any way to give any legal or financial advice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-25T04:01:41.307" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T04:01:41.307" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5580" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-25T04:14:53.013" Score="15" ViewCount="415" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our proofreader, a native speaker of American English, just won't let me use this word. Every single time I try to sneak it onto one of our sites, she replaces it with &lt;em&gt;three times&lt;/em&gt;. Now, I do realize that &lt;em&gt;thrice&lt;/em&gt; is quirky, but how quirky is it really? Is it awfully archaic? Is there a chance that native speakers won't understand it at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I could just search a corpus or five, but I don't feel like looking at cold stats (or the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thrice#Usage_notes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary usage notes&lt;/a&gt;, for that matter). Instead, I am asking members of this community for their very personal, highly subjective, extremely biased opinions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-01T00:08:48.543" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T09:25:53.443" Title="How common is &quot;thrice&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;subjective&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="5581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5551" CreationDate="2010-11-25T04:19:39.883" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase owes much of its popularity to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/o/countyou.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; song by the same name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1490" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T04:19:39.883" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5580" CreationDate="2010-11-25T04:28:20.983" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In fundamentalist Christian circles, &quot;thrice&quot; is relatively common. I hear or read the phrase &quot;thrice holy&quot; in reference to God probably 3 times a year. I go to church about 3 times a week. I never hear or read it outside of that context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1490" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T04:28:20.983" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5580" CreationDate="2010-11-25T04:34:19.697" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thrice is somewhat common in America, but is generally considered pretentious. Sometimes it's used in a quirky sense by legit peeps, but as Flotsam related, &quot;thrice&quot; is used throughout The Bible and a lot of Americans may not use or understand it outside of that context. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2344" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T04:34:19.697" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="5584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5580" CreationDate="2010-11-25T06:39:37.213" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A NYTimes search reveals it is fairly &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3anytimes.com+-intitle%3a%22thrice%22+thrice&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;common in the US&lt;/a&gt;. I also tried with &lt;a href=&quot;http://google.com/search?q=site%3aguardian.co.uk+-intitle%3a%22thrice%22+thrice&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Guardian&lt;/a&gt;(UK) and &lt;a href=&quot;http://google.com/search?q=thrice+site%3atheage.com.au&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Australian&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://google.com/search?&amp;amp;q=site%3atimesofindia.indiatimes.com+thrice&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Indian&lt;/a&gt; papers. It is fairly common IMO. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1162" LastEditorUserId="1162" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-25T23:09:40.483" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T23:09:40.483" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5585" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5593" CreationDate="2010-11-25T07:03:04.483" Score="6" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference in the meaning of these words? Which one of them is used the most in everyday conversation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my vocabulary for both words I've found essentially the same meaning: &quot;difficult to do and needing a lot of effort&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1834" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T12:10:42.807" Title="What is the difference between &quot;onerous&quot; and &quot;arduous&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;learning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5585" CreationDate="2010-11-25T07:13:23.520" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that &lt;em&gt;&quot;onerous&quot;&lt;/em&gt; implies more of a mental difficulty, while &lt;em&gt;&quot;arduous&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is a physical difficulty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That contract placed an &lt;em&gt;onerous&lt;/em&gt; duty on me because I had to tabulate the reports every day.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Moving the furniture upstairs was an &lt;em&gt;arduous&lt;/em&gt; labour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the distinction is usually fairly transparent in context, so you can generally use either word without loss of meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T07:13:23.520" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2010-11-25T11:03:13.713" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find &lt;a href=&quot;http://wordweb.info/free/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WordWeb&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://mvark.blogspot.com/2008/04/wordweb-my-desktop-english-teacher.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;invaluable&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The software has a full dictionary and thesaurus for American, British, Canadian, Australian, Indian, and global English.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also provides synonyms, antonyms, related words, text &amp;amp; audio pronunciations for words you look up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2348" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T11:03:13.713" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-25T11:03:13.713" />
  <row Id="5588" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5589" CreationDate="2010-11-25T11:20:38.360" Score="5" ViewCount="284" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A total of 10 payments were made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A total of 10 payments was made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is correct? Or can both be correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2340" LastEditorUserId="865" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T21:48:21.503" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T21:48:21.503" Title="Is &quot;a total of 10 payments&quot; singular or plural?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;verb-agreement&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5588" CreationDate="2010-11-25T11:38:31.100" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since &quot;payment&quot; is countable, I would go with &quot;were&quot; to reinforce the notion that there was &lt;em&gt;more than one&lt;/em&gt; payment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://able2know.org/topic/124747-1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This thread&lt;/a&gt; contains more examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Number, majority and total are singular if preceded by the, but plural if preceded by a.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A number of people believe he is innocent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A majority of residents want the town to reduce the recreation fee.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A total of 15 people were arrested for burglary last month in our town.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, this is not a strict rule, and if the focus is specifically on the fact of something being a total, you would use &quot;was&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;A total of five cars is impossible: you must have miscounted.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-25T11:43:41.753" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T11:43:41.753" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-25T11:49:27.793" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Height sounds like high+t, which is logical I suppose, but I used to think it rhymed with eight. Like another poster, I got 'recipe' wrong too, rhyming it with 'ripe'. And when I told a native speaker about that, he said that 'recipe' followed a common pattern, like 'Hebrides' - that's how I learned that wasn't pronounced he-brides. ;p&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And how is a poor foreigner supposed to know whether 'ea' is pronounced 'ee' or as 'ea' in 'bear'? For example, if an activity wears you out (ea), you get weary (ee). Yeah, that makes sense(!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2355" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T11:49:27.793" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-25T11:49:27.793" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5591" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5600" CreationDate="2010-11-25T11:58:09.307" Score="5" ViewCount="215" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi all,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Armenian, we have an expression which literally can be translated as &quot;You talked|told|said from my heart&quot;, and means &quot;I really loved what you said&quot;, &quot;I really excited about what you said, since I thought the same&quot; and expresses an emotional solidarity. In English, what is the idiomatic equivalent for it? Thanks in advance. kh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2256" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T14:28:46.950" Title="Is there an idiomatic equivalent of &quot;I really loved what you said&quot;?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5591" CreationDate="2010-11-25T12:09:39.513" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would &quot;You spoke my mind&quot; be the equivalent of it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2294" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T12:09:39.513" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5585" CreationDate="2010-11-25T12:10:42.807" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me the difference lies in their origins. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Onerous&quot; means &quot;burdensome&quot; - not necessarily difficult or physically hard, but unwelcome and required of one. (Maybe unpleasant, or just taking time away from other things)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Arduous&quot; means &quot;requiring effort&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These may overlap in many cases, but to me are quite different. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T12:10:42.807" />
  <row Id="5594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5591" CreationDate="2010-11-25T12:32:31.037" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;You took the words out of my mouth&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2358" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T12:32:31.037" />
  <row Id="5595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5591" CreationDate="2010-11-25T12:51:52.613" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might say &quot;I couldn't have said it better.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T12:51:52.613" />
  <row Id="5596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5567" CreationDate="2010-11-25T13:01:40.713" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a term originates in northern English dialects as &quot;ta&quot; appears to, I often begin by looking at nordic languages as much of northern England was conquered by the Vikings and the parts of the language endure both in words and in the overall sound - if you listen the geordie accent has a definite scandinavian cadence to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at modern Danish and Norwegian we see that &quot;Thanks&quot; translates as &quot;Tak&quot; or &quot;Takk&quot; respectively, so it seems to me quite plausible that this provides an origin for &quot;Ta&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T13:01:40.713" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5588" CreationDate="2010-11-25T13:26:35.363" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;A total of ten payments were made&quot;. VonC has provided the reasoning, so I'm posting because I was taught not to use a number in the kind of sentence you've used. i.e: use 'ten' instead of '10'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2294" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T13:26:35.363" />
  <row Id="5598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-25T13:32:27.947" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Iron (mispronounced by some as I-run)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dais (mispronounced by some as dias)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Greenwich (mispronounced by some as green witch) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;niche (mispronounced by some as nike)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;orchid (mispronounced by some as or-cheed)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maoist (mispronounced by some as may-ost)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Debris (mispronounced by some as deb-ris)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tupple (mispronounced by some as tyu-ple)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2294" LastEditorUserId="2294" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-10T06:17:25.477" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T06:17:25.477" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-25T13:32:27.947" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5591" CreationDate="2010-11-25T13:36:22.060" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tend to exclaim &quot;BRAINTWIN!&quot; at moments like these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2101" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T13:36:22.060" />
  <row Id="5600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5591" CreationDate="2010-11-25T13:41:28.187" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;WARNING: This answer is for mature audiences. Reader discretion is advised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think JBanana comes closest to the intent of your idiom, at least as you express it in English. (I would add &quot;right,&quot; however, as in &quot;You took the words &lt;em&gt;right&lt;/em&gt; out of my mouth.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get closer to the poetry of the original would require, well, poetry; and in post-ironic America, at least, flowery or sentimental language is likely to produce unintended consequences, not the least of which is that someone in the group would feel obliged to make a joke about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would probably say something like, &quot;I couldn't agree more.&quot; That is much less poetic, but sums up the feeling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, there are some slangy expressions that might hit at the heart of what you are trying to get across, though in different ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Young people in the last dozen or so years who are influenced by hip-hop culture might simply say, &quot;Word!&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Older people (in informal situations and among friends) might say &quot;Fuckin' A!&quot; or &quot;Fuckin' A right!&quot; to expression strong agreement and emotional solidarity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-25T14:28:46.950" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T14:28:46.950" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5567" CreationDate="2010-11-25T14:18:01.090" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My compact version of &lt;em&gt;The Oxford English Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; lists it as &quot;An infantile word expressing thanks,&quot; and dates its first reference from 1772, unless my eyes deceive me (I am momentarily unable to locate the magnifying glass that came with the tome).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank god for Eric Partridge. He quotes the same &lt;em&gt;OED&lt;/em&gt; reference, only in larger type. Here is the entry:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ta!&lt;/strong&gt;; rarely &lt;strong&gt;taa!&lt;/strong&gt;  Thanks!: coll., orig. and mainly nursery: 1772,&#xA;  Mrs Delany, 'You would not say &quot;ta&quot; to&#xA;  me for my congratulation,' O.E.D. Ex a&#xA;  young child's difficulty with &lt;em&gt;th&lt;/em&gt; and&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;nks&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-25T14:37:05.450" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T14:37:05.450" />
  <row Id="5602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5560" CreationDate="2010-11-25T14:35:40.377" Score="-3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Send us all your money and don't complain.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T14:35:40.377" />
  <row Id="5603" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5608" CreationDate="2010-11-25T15:50:54.843" Score="12" ViewCount="328" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Wiktionary shows &lt;em&gt;whereäs&lt;/em&gt; as a valid alternative spelling of the word &lt;em&gt;whereas&lt;/em&gt; (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/where%C3%A4s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It gives the following quotations to illustrate the usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1&lt;/strong&gt; Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses,&#xA;  Report of Proceedings  — Milan (1905)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;After a dry season, the influence of heavy rains becomes manifest more&#xA;  quickly and more progressively in the&#xA;  less wooded basin, &lt;strong&gt;whereäs&lt;/strong&gt; the reverse&#xA;  is found in the basin which has a&#xA;  larger forest area.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2&lt;/strong&gt; Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift&#xA;  (1984)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Notice that since the range of χ is limited by (5), &lt;strong&gt;whereäs&lt;/strong&gt; that of x is&#xA;  unlimited, the transformation (6) does&#xA;  not cover the whole of the space-time&#xA;  represented by (1&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3&lt;/strong&gt; Hiroyuki Sonoki et alii, Heart and Vessels — Nipradilol, a new&#xA;  β-adrenergic blocker, reduces left&#xA;  ventricular remodeling following&#xA;  myocardial infarction in spontaneously&#xA;  hypertensive rats (1997)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;...after MI, &lt;strong&gt;whereäs&lt;/strong&gt; propranolol promotes it.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That was the only dictionary where I found the word (with that spelling) though. And a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=where%C3%A4s&amp;amp;ie=utf-8&amp;amp;oe=utf-8&amp;amp;aq=t&amp;amp;rls=org.mozilla%3aen-GB%3aofficial&amp;amp;client=firefox-a#sclient=psy&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;client=firefox-a&amp;amp;hs=TTz&amp;amp;rls=org.mozilla%3aen-GB%3Aofficial&amp;amp;q=where%C3%A4s&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&amp;amp;gs_rfai=&amp;amp;pbx=1&amp;amp;fp=dc6e1eca89c74660&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google search for &lt;strong&gt;whereäs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; returns only 209 pages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that really a valid spelling of the word &lt;em&gt;whereas&lt;/em&gt;? If yes, where did it come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T20:28:08.637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T20:28:08.637" Title="&quot;Whereäs&quot; as an alternative spelling of &quot;whereas&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;diacritic&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="5604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3232" CreationDate="2010-11-25T15:53:45.507" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be worth adding here that an expression derived from military radio communications has been creeping into the broader language, at least in America: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Say again?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is spoken as a question (i.e., with a rising intonation) and is a terse and unequivocal request for clarification.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T15:53:45.507" />
  <row Id="5605" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5609" CreationDate="2010-11-25T16:03:15.043" Score="1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;Turkeys say, &quot;gobble&quot;. We also &quot;gobble&quot; down a lot of turkey on Thanksgiving. This is just a bit of idle musing, but are the two meanings of this word somehow related via the American &amp;amp; Canadian holidays?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="803" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T16:26:51.550" Title="Gobble gobble - Are the two meanings related?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5605" CreationDate="2010-11-25T16:17:21.007" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;O.E.D.&lt;/em&gt; lists &quot;gobble&quot; as a noun meaning &lt;em&gt;mouth&lt;/em&gt;, and &quot;gobbling&quot; as &lt;em&gt;gorging&lt;/em&gt;, the latter dating from 1630. Still, I would not be surprised if the verb form meaning the sound a turkey makes is at least in some sense onomatopoeic.  Where the two senses may be related is likely to be a confusion of the two. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T16:17:21.007" />
  <row Id="5607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5603" CreationDate="2010-11-25T16:22:59.113" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dieresis (two dots over a vowel) is used to distinguish pronunciation when two vowels together might be blended into a single phoneme, as in &lt;em&gt;cooperate&lt;/em&gt; / &lt;em&gt;coöperate&lt;/em&gt;. Theoretically it can be used in any such instance, but in practice it is rarely seen and has an archaic feel to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-25T16:43:41.873" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T16:43:41.873" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5603" CreationDate="2010-11-25T16:23:08.240" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English occasionally uses a trema (the two-dot diacritical mark over the &quot;a&quot; in &lt;em&gt;whereäs&lt;/em&gt;) to signify &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trema_(diacritic)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;diaeresis&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Diaeresis&lt;/em&gt; means that a vowel combination that normally would form a digraph is instead pronounced as two separate vowels. In the case of &quot;whereäs&quot;, the additional trema gives us the familiar &lt;em&gt;where-as&lt;/em&gt; pronunciation, rather than &lt;em&gt;were-ease&lt;/em&gt; which would be suggested by the &quot;ea&quot; digraph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like so many aspects of English, usage of trema disappears as the original word becomes so commonly used that the diaeresis is understood. Thus &lt;em&gt;whereas&lt;/em&gt; is now the typical spelling, rendering &lt;em&gt;whereäs&lt;/em&gt; extremely uncommon, as you discovered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The canonical example of an English word which includes a trema in the &quot;standard&quot; spelling is &lt;em&gt;naïve&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1955" LastEditorUserId="1955" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-26T14:41:17.697" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T14:41:17.697" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="5609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5605" CreationDate="2010-11-25T16:26:51.550" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=gobble&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;gobble (1)&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;  &quot;eat fast,&quot; c.1600, probably partly echoic, partly frequentative of &lt;em&gt;gob&lt;/em&gt;, via &lt;em&gt;gobben&lt;/em&gt; &quot;drink something greedily.&quot; Related: &lt;em&gt;Gobbled&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;gobbling&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;gobble (2)&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;  &quot;turkey noise,&quot; 1680, probably imitative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Free Dictionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gobble&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;agrees&lt;/a&gt;. So it appears that these are actually two unrelated words that just happen to be spelled identically (much like &lt;em&gt;cleave&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T16:26:51.550" />
  <row Id="5610" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5614" CreationDate="2010-11-25T16:42:58.410" Score="14" ViewCount="622" Body="&lt;p&gt;My college-age son and his friends use the terms &quot;retarded&quot; and &quot;gay&quot; pretty much interchangeably to mean substandard, bad, lame (in the sense of ineffectual or weak) or just plain wrong. I've suggested that he might want to be careful about where he uses such language, but he clearly isn't worried about being offensive with those terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now add this to the equation: Last night we watched a recorded version of Comedy Central's &quot;A Tribute to Sam Kinison.&quot; Comedy Central censors a lot of words, including names of body parts (although, curiously, they let &quot;dick&quot; remain unbleeped), terms for sex acts, and so on. And we could clearly see that the word &quot;retarded&quot; had been bleeped (it's a very easy word to lip-read). Note that Comedy Central does not censor the word &quot;nigger&quot; on the Dave Chapelle show, although this is a word Jon Stewart goes to great lengths to avoid saying on his own show (also, of course, on Comedy Central).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I wonder: is the word &quot;retarded&quot; really &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; offensive? How about &quot;gay&quot; in the context described above?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T10:55:20.557" Title="Just how offensive are the terms &quot;retarded&quot; and &quot;gay&quot;?" Tags="&lt;speech&gt;&lt;offensive&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="6" />
  <row Id="5611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4264" CreationDate="2010-11-25T16:54:36.543" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because literal rainchecks don't exist in the UK as the phrase has gained some use in Britain via film, tv etc here it's at least sometimes taken to mean 'no' rather than 'not now, but later'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2364" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T16:54:36.543" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5610" CreationDate="2010-11-25T17:25:07.570" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The person to ask would be someone who was bullied for being retarded, attacked for being gay or who has had to help deal with the fallout from those things. Children have no moral sense and very little sense of proportion. They use terms offensively because their peers do. It's find and it's funny until they run into someone who has been abused or victimised in a way that relates to those words and then it can be horribly offensive. It's like tasteless jokes- they are funny until you happen to tell one in the wrong company and suddenly they are deeply embarrassing. Given that one can rarely be certain of the company one is in, I prefer to stay on the right side of what I consider good taste to save on tears and blushes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the same time these terms are changing- the word &quot;gay&quot; to mean something is rubbish is very common among schoolkids ( and on South Park ) and I doubt that many people who consider themselves gay would really be able to complain too much about that change unless they think of themselves as being frivolous and light hearted, seeing as that is what the term meant to almost everyone until a couple of generations ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Likewise psychologists and teachers don't use &quot;retarded&quot; as a description of a person any more partly because it has gained offensive connotations, possibly also because it always had them and probably in a few years it will be a relatively harmless term. But right now I would still consider it offensive - there are still people who were branded with it around after all - and I'd explain that to my children if I had any. It wouldn't stop them of course- nothing stops kids swearing at each other - but I'd want them to know nonetheless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T17:25:07.570" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5610" CreationDate="2010-11-25T18:29:34.300" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a number of gay and bisexual acquaintances and friends, and of those near my age (19), none has ever expressed a terrible amount of offence over &quot;gay&quot; as a pejorative. It's seen as pretty mild: saying &quot;that's gay&quot; is on the order of saying &quot;that sucks&quot;; similarly, saying &quot;that's retarded&quot; is pretty close to saying &quot;that's damn stupid&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only people I've known to've been offended by these terms have been discriminated against, or have worked closely with others who have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T18:29:34.300" CommentCount="17" />
  <row Id="5614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5610" CreationDate="2010-11-25T20:29:35.070" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a touchy and complicated issue. There is no simple answer. I'm gay and I probably would be far more offended by the use of &quot;retarded&quot; than by the use of &quot;gay&quot; that you're describing. The problem is not if you are offending anyone but if you &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; offend someone, and where and when. &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; personally don't mind people using the word &quot;gay&quot; that way, in great part because I think it's stupid, but not directly harmful; I think that is more damaging to the person saying it than to the concept of being gay. (Equating &quot;gay&quot; to something bad won't make being gay bad. South Park uses the word &quot;gay&quot; that way. When Cartman calls lame things &quot;gay&quot;, Stone and Parker are mocking Cartman, not gay people.) I'm offended by the use of the word &quot;retarded&quot; for the same reason: as &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; am not retarded, if I were not offended, I'd be latently approving of the word being used that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, in short, by using these words, you're always in danger of offending people, even if you haven't so far. Imagine: you meet someone you're getting along with. Let's call them person A. That person is with a friend of their own, let's call them person B. Your friend is with you. Your friend uses the words &quot;gay&quot; and &quot;retarded&quot; the way you described. Person B is offended by these words, either because a relative of his is retarded, or gay. Person A can offer you a job, or a piece of advice, or help you move, or anything of the sort. Person B later tells person A, &quot;I don't like the sort of people that guy,&quot; (meaning you), &quot;is hanging out with.&quot; Person A is now far less likely to help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it really a risk you want to take? From your question, it appears you are rather young. That leads to another issue: do you want to get used to that language? If using those words that way is not an issue now, do you want not to notice it when it becomes an issue to do so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of bicycles and helmets. Someone might say they don't see the point of wearing a bicycle helmet because they've never come close to having an accident, but they wear them anyway. Maybe the two are related. Maybe the &lt;em&gt;type&lt;/em&gt; of person who is so careful they've never come close to have an accident is the same &lt;em&gt;type&lt;/em&gt; of person who wears a helmet. When you're in the process of falling down, it's too late to start wearing one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You've never had a problem with that type of language and you probably won't until it's too late to do anything about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have much advice to give, just a little. Don't try to change others. It generally fails to change anyone and alienates those who try to make others change. But don't change yourself either. You seem to think there's something wrong with using these words this way, despite much evidence that there is. My advice is: don't wait for the evidence to come along. Stay wary of that kind of language and don't start using it. If one day you run into a situation where it's clear that you're right, it will be too late to do anything about it. And if you never run into such a situation, what do you have to lose by being ready for it? The fun of using a few offensive word? I think it's a pretty good deal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2370" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T20:29:35.070" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="5615" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5617" CreationDate="2010-11-25T20:38:36.767" Score="5" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between the following sentences? Basically, I would like to understand how the meaning changes with the usage of &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; in each of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; speaks English. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He speaks &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; English.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He speaks English &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2372" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-26T11:39:56.037" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T19:05:03.527" Title="different usage of the word &quot;only&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5616" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-25T20:58:11.857" Score="1" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;For turning a sentence into a negative in French, one should add &lt;strong&gt;&quot;ne&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; before the verb and &lt;strong&gt;&quot;pas&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; after the verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm happy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Je suis heureux&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not happy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Je &lt;strong&gt;ne&lt;/strong&gt; suis &lt;strong&gt;pas&lt;/strong&gt; heureux&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually for turning a sentence into a negative, it's necessary to perform two changes to the sentence. I did not see such rule in others Indo-European languages like English, German or Italian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's interesting that the roots of Italian and French are similar:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Italian Language:&lt;/strong&gt; Indo-European &gt; Italic &gt; Romance &gt; Italo-Western &gt;&#xA;  Italo-Dalmatian &gt; Italian&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;French Language:&lt;/strong&gt; Indo-European &gt; Italic &gt; Romance &gt; Italo-Western &gt;&#xA;  Western Romance &gt; Gallo-Iberian &gt;&#xA;  Gallo-Romance &gt; Gallo-Rhaetian &gt; Oïl &gt;&#xA;  French&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What happens to the French language which causes this sort of negative sentence is originated in &quot;Italo-Western&quot; section afterward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can somebody explain this to me? Why negative sentences are so different in French than all other Indo-European languages? (Including English)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What exactly is the difference between &quot;ne&quot; and &quot;pas&quot;?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2371" LastEditorUserId="2371" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-26T07:08:30.003" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T07:08:30.003" ClosedDate="2010-11-26T06:00:09.927" Title="Why are negative sentences so different than other Indo-European languages?" Tags="&lt;negation&gt;" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5615" CreationDate="2010-11-25T21:04:20.403" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only the trees were somewhat damaged&#xA;  by last year's storm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meaning:&lt;/strong&gt; Nothing except the trees was somewhat damaged by last year's storm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The only trees were somewhat damaged by last year's storm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meaning:&lt;/strong&gt; The few trees which existed were somewhat damaged by last year's storm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The trees were only somewhat damaged by last year's storm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meaning:&lt;/strong&gt; The trees were not completely damaged by last year's storm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The trees were somewhat damaged only by last year's storm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meaning:&lt;/strong&gt; The trees were somewhat damaged by nothing except last year's storm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The trees were somewhat damaged by last year's only storm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meaning:&lt;/strong&gt; The trees were somewhat damaged by the one storm which occurred last year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fortunecity.com/bally/durrus/153/gramch20.html#7&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2371" LastEditorUserId="2371" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-26T06:53:56.080" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T06:53:56.080" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5580" CreationDate="2010-11-25T21:19:58.063" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only instance I can think of when someone used &lt;code&gt;thrice&lt;/code&gt; on TV was when Mr. Burns, who is often portrayed using out-of-date language, uses the word &quot;thrice&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'If I tap my belt buckle, not once, twice, but thrice. . .'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is intentionally used by the writers because it sounds funny to the viewers, even though they understand it.  I'd say that in Canadian English for sure, and all the American English I've heard on TV and in person, people generally don't use the word thrice. (I did a COCA search and it showed that the word &lt;code&gt;twice&lt;/code&gt; is far more commonly used but I'm not very adept at searching it so I think more analysis is needed.  Also it could just be that people more often talk about two of something than they talk about three of something).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T21:19:58.063" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5619" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5620" CreationDate="2010-11-25T21:41:30.263" Score="3" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, I found the following sentence written by a native English speaker (UK) so I'm going to assume that he knows how to put it the right way, although I wouldn't use this form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I now have a bit more time to fix bugs&#xA;  etc but I'm open to offers if anyone&#xA;  wants to help maintain this module&#xA;  with me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct or is the question mark misused here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2252" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-25T22:41:04.670" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T05:32:08.803" Title="Is the question mark misused in affirmative sentences?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;question-mark&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="5620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5619" CreationDate="2010-11-25T22:25:08.477" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In written speech this is a questionable usage. Nevertheless, when speaking, people frequently end declarative sentences with a rising intonation to invite the listener to consider the sentence as an invitation to agreement or action. One hears this kind of thing especially in the southern United States.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Anyway, I had this Chrysler? It had a four-barrel carburetor?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the speaker is making declarations about a car, but making them sound like questions so that the listener will respond (probably nodding or saying &quot;uh-huh&quot;) in a way that indicates interest in and understanding of the story being related.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your example sentence were spoken this way, listeners would likely interpret it as a request for help, not merely a statement of a condition. But if you write it, you should leave out the question mark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T22:25:08.477" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5621" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5622" CreationDate="2010-11-25T22:46:19.170" Score="3" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the movie 'V for Vendetta' you have for example (bold part):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Evey: Who are you?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;V. : Who? Who is but the form following the function of what and what I am is a man in a mask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Evey: Well I can see that.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;V. : Of course you can, I’m not questioning your powers of observation, I’m merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Evey: Oh, right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;V. : But on this most auspicious of nights, permit me then, in lieu of the more commonplace soubriquet, to suggest the character of this dramatis persona.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;V. : &lt;strong&gt;Voila!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;In view humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of&#xA;  the “vox populi” now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin, van guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it’s my very good&#xA;  honour to meet you and you may call me V.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Evey: Are you like a crazy person?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;V. : I’m quite sure they will say so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do you call sentences like this?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;And do you know some other ones?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2375" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T18:25:40.253" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T18:25:40.253" Title="Repeating the consonant in many words in a sentence or phrase" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5621" CreationDate="2010-11-25T23:00:07.323" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The technique itself is called &lt;em&gt;alliteration&lt;/em&gt;. I'm not sure what I would call an alliterative sentence other than, well, an alliterative sentence. Wikipedia has &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliteration&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an article on alliteration&lt;/a&gt;, listing quite a few examples (and mentioning &lt;em&gt;V for Vendetta&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T23:00:07.323" />
  <row Id="5623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5621" CreationDate="2010-11-25T23:09:52.850" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with RegDwight that it's alliteration, surely, but I would put it down more as a verbal tour de force, similar to Cyrano de Bergerac's coruscation of repartee in Rostand's play of the same name. When he is insulted by an oaf, who tells him he has a big nose, he responds with a speech that purports to be an 'assistance' to the oaf but is at once a profound mockery and a demonstration of how much better a verbal duelist Cyrano is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ah, no, young man, that is not enough!&#xA;  You might have said, dear me, there&#xA;  are a thousand things ... varying the&#xA;  tone ... For instance ... Here you&#xA;  are: — Aggressive: &quot;I, monsieur, if I&#xA;  had such a nose, nothing would serve&#xA;  but I must cut it off!&quot; Amicable: &quot;It&#xA;  must be in your way while drinking;&#xA;  you ought to have a special beaker&#xA;  made!&quot; Descriptive: &quot;It is a crag! ...&#xA;  a peak! ... a promontory! ... A&#xA;  promontory, did I say? ... It is a&#xA;  peninsula!&quot; Inquisitive: &quot;What may the&#xA;  office be of that oblong receptacle?&#xA;  Is it an inkhorn or a scissor-case?&quot;&#xA;  Mincing: &quot;Do you so dote on birds, you&#xA;  have, fond as a father, been at pains&#xA;  to fit the little darlings with a&#xA;  roost?&quot; Blunt: &quot;Tell me, monsieur,&#xA;  you, when you smoke, is it possible&#xA;  you blow the vapor through your nose&#xA;  without a neighbor crying &quot;The chimney&#xA;  is afire!&quot;?&quot; Anxious: &quot;Go with&#xA;  caution, I beseech, lest your head,&#xA;  dragged over by that weight, should&#xA;  drag you over!&quot; Tender: &quot;Have a little&#xA;  sun-shade made for it! It might get&#xA;  freckled!&quot; Learned: &quot;None but the&#xA;  beast, monsieur, mentioned by&#xA;  Aristophanes, the&#xA;  hippocampelephantocamelos, can have&#xA;  borne beneath his forehead so much&#xA;  cartilage and bone!&quot; Off-Hand: &quot;What,&#xA;  comrade, is that sort of peg in style?&#xA;  Capital to hang one's hat upon!&quot;&#xA;  Emphatic: No wind can hope, O lordly&#xA;  nose, to give the whole of you a cold,&#xA;  but the Nor-Wester!&quot; Dramatic: &quot;It is&#xA;  the Red Sea when it bleeds!&quot; Admiring:&#xA;  &quot;What a sign for a perfumer's shop!&quot;&#xA;  Lyric: &quot;Art thou a Triton, and is that&#xA;  thy conch?&quot; Simple: &quot;A monument! When&#xA;  is admission free?&quot; Deferent: &quot;Suffer,&#xA;  monsieur, that I should pay you my&#xA;  respects: That is what I call&#xA;  possessing a house of your own!&quot;&#xA;  Rustic: &quot;Hi, boys! Call that a nose?&#xA;  You don't gull me! It's either a prize&#xA;  parrot or a stunted gourd!&quot; Military:&#xA;  &quot;Level against the cavalry!&quot;&#xA;  Practical: &quot;Will you put up for&#xA;  raffle? Indubitably, sir, it will be&#xA;  the feature of the game!&quot; And finally&#xA;  in parody of weeping Pyramus: &quot;Behold,&#xA;  behold the nose that traitorously&#xA;  destroyed the beauty of its master!&#xA;  and is blushing for the same!&quot; — That,&#xA;  my dear sir, or something not unlike,&#xA;  is what you could have said to me, had&#xA;  you the smallest leaven of letters or&#xA;  wit; but of wit, O most pitiable of&#xA;  objects made by God, you never had a&#xA;  rudiment, and of letters, you have&#xA;  just those that are needed to spell&#xA;  &quot;fool!&quot; — But, had it been otherwise,&#xA;  and had you been possessed of the&#xA;  fertile fancy requisite to shower upon&#xA;  me, here, in this noble company, that&#xA;  volley of sprightly pleasentries,&#xA;  still should you not have delivered&#xA;  yourself of so much as a quarter of&#xA;  the tenth part of the beginning of the&#xA;  first ... For I let off these good&#xA;  things at myself, and with sufficient&#xA;  zest, but do not suffer another to let&#xA;  them off at me!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the character of V, I feel the alliteration is not the object of the exercise, it is merely the vehicle. He is intent on displaying verbal prowess to mock, to bait, and to show how much smarter he is than his opponent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-25T23:52:38.933" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T23:52:38.933" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5624" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5626" CreationDate="2010-11-25T23:09:58.200" Score="2" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was playing cards this evening and found myself referring to the deuce and the trey. I was wondering, do any of the other pip card ranks have special names?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T23:24:37.567" Title="Deuce and trey - do any other kinds of pip cards have special names?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5619" CreationDate="2010-11-25T23:16:37.400" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While the sentence is not technically a question, the use of a question mark indicates that the speaker is inviting a response from others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that respect, the question mark conveys the speaker's meaning in a way that could not otherwise be indicated in writing without the use of additional words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'd say that this use of the question mark is correct when recording informal speech like this - but formally, it should really be reserved for actual questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T23:16:37.400" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5624" CreationDate="2010-11-25T23:24:37.567" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Texas Hold'em, many opening, pre-flop hands (two cards), when paired, seem to have special names:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Twos: Deuces, ducks&#xA;Threes: Treys, crabs&#xA;Fours: Sailboats&#xA;Fives: ?&#xA;Sixes: ? &#xA;Sevens: Canes, walking sticks&#xA;Eights: Snowmen&#xA;Nines: ?&#xA;Jacks: Hooks&#xA;Queens: Ladies (and other, less elegant synonyms)&#xA;Kings: Cowboys&#xA;Aces: Bullets, Pocket Rockets&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, some unpaired hands have special names:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Ace-King: Big slick&#xA;King-jack: Kojak&#xA;5-10: Ben Franklin or Woolworth's or dime store (from 5 &amp;amp; 10 cent store)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-25T23:24:37.567" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5610" CreationDate="2010-11-26T01:17:31.453" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally don't find either offensive. But I generally lose respect for anyone who wears out terms. In your sons case, it doesn't sound like it's a matter of prejudice. That would be a different matter. If people would worry less about words and more about the message, we'd be in better shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1490" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T01:17:31.453" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5628" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5631" CreationDate="2010-11-26T02:12:46.663" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know which of the two is more correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;This site is not meant merely to determine the popularity of specific tools.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;This site is not merely meant to determine the popularity of specific tools.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cant these be safely used interchangeably?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2380" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-26T14:16:35.573" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T14:16:35.573" Title="&quot;not meant merely to&quot; vs &quot;not merely meant to&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5629" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5645" CreationDate="2010-11-26T03:00:29.823" Score="2" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey, I'd need a synonym for &lt;em&gt;used&lt;/em&gt; in this phrase, because the meaning is from the &quot;long term&quot; point of view, something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What technologies should be &lt;strong&gt;employed&lt;/strong&gt; in a project for it to succeed in following 10 years?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I use &lt;em&gt;used&lt;/em&gt; it seems like we take advantage of this technology right know; that's not the meaning I need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm using this kind of sentence very often in a documentation and I need a substitution for &lt;em&gt;often&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1426" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T10:18:23.980" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T10:19:30.830" Title="How do I say &quot;what technologies should be *used* in a project&quot;?" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="5630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5629" CreationDate="2010-11-26T03:34:10.087" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Implemented&lt;/em&gt; would give the sense of being used when the technologies need to be used, not before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T03:34:10.087" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="5631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5628" CreationDate="2010-11-26T03:39:33.187" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first implies that the scope of your site is greater than simply determining the popularity of tools, and it could be construed as dismissing such a low goal as not worthy of consideration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second affirms that the site &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; meant to determine tool popularity, which may be a laudable goal in itself, but that the site then goes beyond that worthy expectation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If determining the popularity of specific tools is an idea you wish to affirm, then go with the second. Otherwise go with the first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T03:39:33.187" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5619" CreationDate="2010-11-26T03:59:09.770" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I now have a bit more time to fix bugs etc but I'm open to offers if anyone wants to help maintain this module with me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sentence/question is different than a statement and different than the &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/High_rising_terminal&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;up-talking&lt;/a&gt;&quot; that happens when people occasionally (or all the #$! time) raise the pitch of their sentences and phrases. If the person said &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I now have a bit more time to fix bugs etc but I'm open to offers if anyone wants to help maintain this module with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;they are merely stating that they have time and are open to offers for help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By raising the pitch at then end (spoken) or adding the question mark (written) they are implying a question: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would anyone like to offer to help me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hear this type of usage commonly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We will proceed with the next item on the agenda, unless there are any questions? no? Ok, moving along...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T03:59:09.770" />
  <row Id="5634" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5652" CreationDate="2010-11-26T05:15:31.823" Score="8" ViewCount="393" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should I always use 'despite' instead of 'despite of'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="137" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-26T13:37:06.903" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T16:18:18.090" Title="is it &quot;despite&quot; or &quot;despite of&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="5635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5619" CreationDate="2010-11-26T05:32:08.803" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is something you see very often in spoken language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As we talk, we are making a syntactic structure. It's common for syntactic structures to change, or be re-analyzed, as we go along. So in this case, &quot;if anyone wants to help maintain this module with me?&quot; is reanalyzed, on the fly, as &quot;Does anyone want to help maintain this module with me?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In careful writing, since readers can go back and check what you said previously, this sort of on the fly reanalysis is discouraged.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T05:32:08.803" />
  <row Id="5636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5621" CreationDate="2010-11-26T05:51:56.203" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are lots of sentences here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) In view humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a fragmentary sentence.  Consider &quot;A humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate&quot; ... and what? The whole verb phrase is missing. This is poetic language. To my knowledge there is not a specific word for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(2) This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the “vox populi” now vacant, vanished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;This dog, no mere poodle, is a an example of the &quot;poodle&quot; breed, (which is) now vanished.&quot; There's nothing particularly odd about that one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(3) However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin, van guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;However, this poodle has vowed to defeat the cats, (who) are at the forefront of vice and (graciously allow?) the oppression of those who make their own choices.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing syntactically odd here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(4)  The only verdict is vengeance; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(5) a vendetta, held as a votive not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another fragment. There isn't a top level verb phrase here. &quot;A poodle, doing doggy things, for doggy things are useful and ought to be done as often as possible.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not to say that there's anything wrong with these sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="78" LastEditorUserId="78" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-26T06:18:04.223" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T06:18:04.223" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5634" CreationDate="2010-11-26T05:56:26.063" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. The word &lt;em&gt;despite&lt;/em&gt; is a preposition which takes a noun as its object, and doesn't require &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Despite of&lt;/em&gt; is incorrect, and sounds distinctly non-native.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(You're probably getting confused by the similar phrase &lt;em&gt;in spite of&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;In spite of&lt;/em&gt; means basically the same thing as &lt;em&gt;despite&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T05:56:26.063" />
  <row Id="5638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5634" CreationDate="2010-11-26T05:56:48.230" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you say &quot;despite of&quot;, it sounds like you are conflating &quot;despite&quot; and &quot;in spite of&quot;.  &quot;Despite of&quot; is not a phrase, but these other two are.  Their meanings are basically the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T05:56:48.230" />
  <row Id="5639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5500" CreationDate="2010-11-26T06:29:00.990" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/puissant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;puissant&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It means &lt;em&gt;powerful, mighty, potent&lt;/em&gt;, and sounds exactly the opposite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1635" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T06:29:00.990" />
  <row Id="5640" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5641" CreationDate="2010-11-26T07:02:50.220" Score="0" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is version is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5366/filename-file-name-or-filename&quot;&gt;filename or file name&lt;/a&gt; helped me a little, but didn't answer my questions, please see below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;program &amp;lt;filename&amp;gt; - where &amp;lt;filename&amp;gt; is the file name you want to process&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;program &amp;lt;filename&amp;gt; - where &amp;lt;filename&amp;gt; is the name of the file you want to process&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I know, &quot;file&quot; becomes like an adjective in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is it normal to use the short version in technical documentation (end-user);&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to &lt;code&gt;the&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;a&lt;/code&gt; articles with the short versions. &lt;code&gt;the name of a file&lt;/code&gt; == &lt;code&gt;a file name&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;the name of the file&lt;/code&gt; == &lt;code&gt;the file name&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to use a compound form, like &quot;application executable file name&quot; (&quot;the name of the executable file of the application&quot;)?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2256" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:02:59.260" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:02:59.260" Title="&quot;file name&quot; or &quot;name of the file&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;compounds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5640" CreationDate="2010-11-26T07:18:36.113" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I think that the second line is a better explanation in the context shown, but there are plenty of other places where the simpler 'filename' (or 'file name') would be used in documentation without problem.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yes, using the articles as shown is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Compound sequences of nouns like 'application executable file name' are used quite a lot, but often don't make for good reading.  On the other hand, neither does the form using 'of the' if it is repeated often.  That's why people tend to end up using a shorthand - 'application' or 'application executable' for the example, depending on exactly what is being discussed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T07:18:36.113" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5629" CreationDate="2010-11-26T07:29:03.823" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should try to make the phrase more active:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What technologies should the project use for it to succeed over the next 10 years?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also think that &lt;em&gt;use&lt;/em&gt; is a perfectly sensible word to use in the context; short, sweet, simple.  If you need an alternative, then &lt;em&gt;employ&lt;/em&gt; is probably one of the better options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T10:19:30.830" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T10:19:30.830" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5640" CreationDate="2010-11-26T07:50:31.920" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your first example would make me think that it is the filename that will be processed, for example by changing the file extension. The second clearly states that the file is being processed that is identified by that filename.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Correct.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I agree with &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5640/file-name-or-name-of-the-file/5641#5641&quot;&gt;Jonathan Leffler&lt;/a&gt;. Correct, but hard to read.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T07:50:31.920" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5644" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5663" CreationDate="2010-11-26T08:54:53.140" Score="1" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is more about the suggestion I am asking here. Please share your ideas/experience which will help me. I am working as a project manager and want to present most of the time about project or technology. I used mixed tenses for the same kind of information which suits sometimes correctly and interpreted the meaning sometimes incorrectly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2388" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-27T01:16:58.100" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T01:16:58.100" Title="What is the correct tense to be used in Technical Presentation most of the time?" Tags="&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5629" CreationDate="2010-11-26T09:20:03.320" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What technologies should be &lt;strong&gt;adopted&lt;/strong&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Examples&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=OkKJ2JGMcCAC&amp;amp;pg=PA50&amp;amp;dq=adopt+Hibernate&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=7HnvTO-HDZK0hAeww8X2Cw&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CCYQ6AEwAA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Originally conceived by IBM in 1997, the EJB 1.0 and 1.1 specifications were &lt;strong&gt;adopted&lt;/strong&gt; by Sun in 1999.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;Spring Persistence with Hibernate&lt;/em&gt; (2010)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=YpeP0ok0cO4C&amp;amp;pg=PT356&amp;amp;dq=adopt+Hibernate&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=7HnvTO-HDZK0hAeww8X2Cw&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=2&amp;amp;ved=0CCwQ6AEwAQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;To get the benefits of ORM for non-J2EE applications, programmers typically &lt;strong&gt;adopt&lt;/strong&gt; an alternative ORM framework, the most popular of which is Hibernate.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;MySQL stored procedure programming&lt;/em&gt; (2006)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=Ddwyg3ADVCEC&amp;amp;pg=PA266&amp;amp;dq=adopt+Hibernate&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=7HnvTO-HDZK0hAeww8X2Cw&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=7&amp;amp;ved=0CEgQ6AEwBg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Unfortunately, users with Rails experience who &lt;strong&gt;adopt&lt;/strong&gt; Grails are in for a few surprises because the tools are really quite different&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;The definitive guide to Grails&lt;/em&gt; (2009)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; nothing wrong with &lt;em&gt;use&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;employ&lt;/em&gt; though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T09:20:03.320" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5646" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-26T10:45:34.650" Score="0" ViewCount="200" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I learn to write better descriptive essays? Please suggest some online resources, books, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2391" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T00:49:26.447" Title="Descriptive writing- Cambridge English language tips and resources?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5629" CreationDate="2010-11-26T11:14:00.943" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;What technologies should be &lt;strong&gt;leveraged&lt;/strong&gt; ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2393" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T11:14:00.943" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5648" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-26T11:49:18.057" Score="1" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does it mean before or after? Or does it mean both before and after? For example, do not drink or eat &lt;em&gt;within&lt;/em&gt; an hour of these pills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2095" LastEditorUserId="2095" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-26T14:48:12.777" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T11:07:25.150" Title="What does the expression &quot;within&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5648" CreationDate="2010-11-26T12:06:10.203" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Within&lt;/em&gt; is a single word. In the sense of your example, it means something like &lt;em&gt;during&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;before the end of&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;do not drink or eat &lt;em&gt;during&lt;/em&gt; the hour after you take these pills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;do not drink or eat &lt;em&gt;before the end of&lt;/em&gt; an hour after you take these pills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider also:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want to have been promoted within a year of joining the company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want to live within five miles of the office.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Within the boundary of my lands, I am king.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See definition on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/within?show=1&amp;amp;t=1290773085&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1439" LastEditorUserId="1439" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-26T12:19:47.880" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T12:19:47.880" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5648" CreationDate="2010-11-26T12:06:16.537" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;do not drink or eat with in an hour of these pills&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Within' means inside some sort of time frame... so this sentence literally means that you must wait until an hour after eating before taking the pills, and must not eat until an hour after taking the pills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, this is very usual advice - I don't think it was intended this way; it could mean you need to wait for an hour after eating before taking the pills, or it could mean that you have to wait for an hour after taking the pill to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would interpret it as the latter, but it isn't entirely clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastEditorUserId="2302" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-08T11:07:25.150" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T11:07:25.150" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5646" CreationDate="2010-11-26T13:35:11.103" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would start with Strunk &amp;amp; White's &lt;em&gt;The Elements of Style&lt;/em&gt;. Then read Robert Graves' &lt;em&gt;The Reader Over Your Shoulder&lt;/em&gt;. Both deal with formal, written English, but are so engaging that they read almost like novels. [ADDENDUM: Although both of these books were written in the first half of the last century, they still contain excellent information and advice. Being old doesn't mean something is outdated.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that, reading good prose is really the only way to polish what you've learned to a high gloss. John McPhee, in my opinion, is possibly the finest essayist of the past half century. I believe there is a &lt;em&gt;John McPhee Reader&lt;/em&gt; still in print, but pick up any of his works and you will discover a gem. He has written on everything from basketball to nuclear terrorism to building birch-bark canoes; he has chronicled the life of a seaman on a merchant ship, the arduous journeys of a long-haul trucker, survival in the Alaskan wilderness, and much more. His prose is rich, vital, and deft, yet never grand or overblown. When he uses a rare word, or makes a turn of phrase, it is never self-conscious or excessive or showy: you realize it is merely the best way a human being could have expressed that idea.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-26T18:33:14.050" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T18:33:14.050" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="5652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5634" CreationDate="2010-11-26T13:36:36.483" Score="20" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5634/is-it-despite-or-despite-of/5637#5637&quot;&gt;JSBangs&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5634/is-it-despite-or-despite-of/5638#5638&quot;&gt;Kosmonaut&lt;/a&gt; have pointed out already, &lt;em&gt;despite&lt;/em&gt; is the way to go in contemporary English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;em&gt;despite of&lt;/em&gt; is not incorrect per se; it's just a bit dated. Look no further than at the works of William Shakespeare:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;Grace is grace, &lt;strong&gt;despite of&lt;/strong&gt; all controversy: as, for example, thou thyself art a wicked villain, &lt;strong&gt;despite of&lt;/strong&gt; all grace.&quot; (&lt;em&gt;Measure for Measure&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;The scar that will, &lt;strong&gt;despite of&lt;/strong&gt; cure, remain&quot; (&lt;em&gt;Rape of Lucrece&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;Some good I mean to do, / &lt;strong&gt;Despite of&lt;/strong&gt; mine own nature&quot; (&lt;em&gt;King Lear&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;but my fair name, / &lt;strong&gt;Despite of&lt;/strong&gt; death that lives upon my grave, / To dark dishonour's use thou shalt not have.&quot; (&lt;em&gt;Richard II&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;So thou through windows of thine age shall see / &lt;strong&gt;Despite of&lt;/strong&gt; wrinkles this thy golden time.&quot; (&lt;em&gt;Sonnet III&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;Therefore, &lt;strong&gt;despite of&lt;/strong&gt; fruitless chastity, / Love-lacking vestals and self-loving nuns, / That on the earth would breed a scarcity / And barren dearth of daughters and of sons, / Be prodigal&quot; (&lt;em&gt;Venus and Adonis&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;For then &lt;strong&gt;despite of space&lt;/strong&gt; I would be brought, / From limits far remote where thou dost stay.&quot; (&lt;em&gt;Sonnet XLIV&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's more, that quirky fella didn't stop at that. Just look at this horrible English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;O, a good wish upon you! You will try in time, &lt;strong&gt;in despite of&lt;/strong&gt; a fall.&quot; (&lt;em&gt;As You Like It&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise, / Who &lt;strong&gt;in despite of&lt;/strong&gt; view is pleased to dote;&quot; (&lt;em&gt;Sonnet CXLI&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;No, &lt;strong&gt;in despite of&lt;/strong&gt; sense and secrecy, / Unpeg the basket on the house's top, / Let the birds fly&quot; (&lt;em&gt;Hamlet&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;How France and Frenchmen might be kept in awe, / And had his highness in his infancy / Crowned in Paris &lt;strong&gt;in despite of&lt;/strong&gt; foes?&quot; (&lt;em&gt;Henry VI, Part II&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;Deposed he shall be, &lt;strong&gt;in despite of&lt;/strong&gt; all.&quot; (&lt;em&gt;Henry VI, Part III&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;Yet, Warwick, &lt;strong&gt;in despite of&lt;/strong&gt; all mischance, / Of thee thyself and all thy complices, / Edward will always bear himself as king&quot; (&lt;em&gt;Henry VI, Part III&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;Then, &lt;strong&gt;in despite of&lt;/strong&gt; brooded watchful day, / I would into thy bosom pour my thoughts&quot; (&lt;em&gt;King John&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I (well, he) could go on, but you get the idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now let's head over to the States and look at what the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coha/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Historical American English&lt;/a&gt; has to offer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;DESPITE OF        272&#xA;IN DESPITE OF     169&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not much, but not exactly nothing, either. The most interesting part is the distribution by year. A picture is worth a thousand words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/ISJO9.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Stats&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;(X axis: year, Y axis: incidences per million words)&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, before you forget where I started, I will add that the Corpus also has a whopping 24305 cites for just &quot;despite&quot;, and 20802 cites for &quot;in spite of&quot;. So a more accurate picture would be this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/01oGN.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Stats&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Back to the UK, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; has 2695 cites for &quot;in spite of&quot;, 14356 cites for &quot;despite&quot;, but only 3 cites for &quot;(in) despite of&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the bottom line is this: by all means do use &lt;em&gt;despite&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;in spite of&lt;/em&gt;). However, if you accidentally use &lt;em&gt;despite of&lt;/em&gt; or even &lt;em&gt;in despite of&lt;/em&gt; and someone corrects you, you can now at least pretend that you were emulating Shakespeare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Interestingly enough, Merriam-Webster simply &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/despite?show=0&amp;amp;t=1290787645&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt; that &lt;em&gt;in despite of&lt;/em&gt; is a synonym for &lt;em&gt;in spite of&lt;/em&gt; and leaves it at that. I also totally forgot to look it up in the most obvious place: Etymonline. Here's what it &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=despite&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;has to say&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;despite&lt;/em&gt; [...] The preposition (early 15c.) is short for &lt;em&gt;in despite of&lt;/em&gt; (late 13c.), a loan-translation of O.Fr. &lt;em&gt;en despit de&lt;/em&gt; &quot;in contempt of.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-26T16:18:18.090" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T16:18:18.090" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5653" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5658" CreationDate="2010-11-26T13:42:32.187" Score="2" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am sorry if the question is silly, but I think I heard both options spoken by native speaker. So, which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T15:53:41.637" Title="&quot;Put it into the refrigerator&quot; or &quot;Put it in the refrigerator&quot;?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="5654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5653" CreationDate="2010-11-26T14:12:54.273" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are correct, but &quot;in&quot; sounds more natural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incidentally, if you were in the UK, you would say, &quot;Put it in the fridge&quot;. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T14:12:54.273" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5653" CreationDate="2010-11-26T14:18:00.473" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that we use &lt;em&gt;into&lt;/em&gt; when we want to emphasize the fact that an object or a person changes their place. For example, we would say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He got into the train&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;instead of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He got in the train&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is in the train&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;instead of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is into the train&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But again, this is something I'm trying to remember properly, and I'm not absolutely sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2310" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T14:18:00.473" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5656" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5749" CreationDate="2010-11-26T14:23:17.860" Score="5" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always found the pronounced distinction, in meaning, between &lt;strong&gt;&quot;studying hard&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;strong&gt;&quot;hardly studying&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; a bit amusing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of the word &lt;strong&gt;&quot;hardly&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How is it etymologically connected to the word &lt;strong&gt;&quot;hard&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastEditorUserId="1784" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-26T15:02:43.177" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T21:07:13.323" Title="Hard vs. Hardly" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5656" CreationDate="2010-11-26T14:26:07.033" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=hardly&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;hardly&lt;/strong&gt; c.1200, &quot;in a hard manner, with energy and force,&quot; from &lt;em&gt;hard&lt;/em&gt; (q.v.). Main modern sense of &quot;barely, just&quot; (1550s) reverses this, via the intermediate meaning &quot;not easily, with trouble.&quot; Formerly with superficial negative (&lt;em&gt;not hardly&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T14:26:07.033" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5653" CreationDate="2010-11-26T14:26:34.737" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with @Steve Melnikoff that &lt;em&gt;put sth. in&lt;/em&gt; sounds more natural. &lt;em&gt;Put sth. into&lt;/em&gt; puts the emphasis on the motion, &lt;em&gt;put sth. in&lt;/em&gt; on the target.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples for use of &lt;em&gt;put sth. into&lt;/em&gt; that portray that fact are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;put sth. into motion (formerly motionless)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;put into play&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;put into effect&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a verb &lt;em&gt;put in sth.&lt;/em&gt;, meaning to apply, plant, spend (time/money), introduce, (nautically) enter a harbor or port. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T14:26:34.737" />
  <row Id="5659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5653" CreationDate="2010-11-26T14:29:15.657" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both usages are fine as per Wikitionary, based on the implied meaning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in: into&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Less water gets in your boots this&#xA;  way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;into: going inside (of)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mary danced into the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T14:29:15.657" />
  <row Id="5660" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5666" CreationDate="2010-11-26T14:43:34.517" Score="2" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep seeing this word every couple of months in NYT or Wall Street Journal (and once again, I stumbled upon the word in the article &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Americas-True-History-of-Religious-Tolerance.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;America's True History of Religious Tolerance&lt;/a&gt;). Every time I see this word, I always look it up. But shortly after — typically a few days later — I gleefully forget the meaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the best way to remember what this word means?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-26T15:03:07.110" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T01:45:45.603" Title="What does *countenance* mean, and why do I have hard time remembering it?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5661" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5665" CreationDate="2010-11-26T14:44:54.750" Score="3" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of the time &lt;em&gt;ostensibly&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;probably&lt;/em&gt; are used interchangeably. What is the difference between these two words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-27T05:14:21.863" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T00:42:08.960" Title="What is the difference between &quot;ostensibly&quot; and &quot;probably&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5662" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5677" CreationDate="2010-11-26T14:50:02.997" Score="2" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;I mean should I always split the sentence into two (&quot;And can you imagine? He escaped through the window!&quot;) or I can just get away with one long sentence without a question mark at all (something like &quot;And can you just imagine - he escaped through the window!&quot;). What punctuation would be correct in such cases?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T19:46:30.453" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T19:46:30.453" Title="Should I place a question mark after &quot;Can you (just) imagine&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5644" CreationDate="2010-11-26T15:13:16.540" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The important thing to remember is not to mix tenses in the same context. But using the various tenses &lt;em&gt;when each is appropriate&lt;/em&gt; is not something to fear. Consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have had some troubles in the past,&#xA;  but the new project will continue&#xA;  until it is completed successfully.&#xA;  Our former tech lead had difficulty&#xA;  getting the last project finished on&#xA;  time, so he has been replaced. Our new&#xA;  manager, Pam Worthington, comes to us&#xA;  fresh from her success with the&#xA;  B-team's project, in which she&#xA;  demonstrated skill and leadership. I&#xA;  hope everyone will welcome her to the&#xA;  team, and that by this time in the&#xA;  second quarter we will have entered&#xA;  into a new spirit of cooperation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This paragraph romps through all the tenses I could stuff into a few sentences, but each is used to make a necessary point. There is no confusion about what happened, is happening, or is expected to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tenses can be mixed incorrectly, however. Consider the second sentence in this example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I went to see Tom yesterday. He comes&#xA;  to the door and tells me he's sick, so&#xA;  I went home right away so I won't&#xA;  catch his cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might hear people mix tenses like this all the time in spoken speech, and the meaning would be understood. But even though a reader or listener might be able to figure out your meaning, your job as a writer is to make your meaning clear and immediate. In this case the second sentence should be improved to something like the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I went to see Tom yesterday. He came&#xA;  to the door and told me he was sick,&#xA;  so I went home right away because I&#xA;  don't want to catch his cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will notice that there is still a slight mixing of tenses here. &quot; ... I went home ... because I don't want to catch his cold.&quot; There is nothing wrong with this mixture, because I am describing an action taken in the past to prevent a continuing danger. A similar construction would be: &quot;I refused dessert because I am dieting.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In sum, use tenses freely and mix them when you must, but make sure to be consistent and not arbitrary. Switching in and out of tenses capriciously breaks the flow and obstructs comprehension.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-26T22:04:07.253" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T22:04:07.253" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5661" CreationDate="2010-11-26T15:15:22.997" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They mean completely different things. &lt;em&gt;Ostensibly&lt;/em&gt; means someone or something has set an expectation that a situation or condition will be a certain way; &lt;em&gt;probably&lt;/em&gt; expresses the likelihood that it will be that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This book ostensibly provides the&#xA;  reader with all the information needed&#xA;  to write good prose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the speaker is implying that some other information — the blurb on the book jacket, a review in a newspaper perhaps — has suggested that the book contains the information in question, but that the speaker makes no guarantees on that point and may even be setting up a rebuttal to that contention, following the first sentence with something like &quot;But I found it an utter waste of time.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This book probably provides the reader&#xA;  with all the information needed to&#xA;  write good prose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this sentence the speaker believes there is a good chance that the book in question satisfies the requirements. It can also leave room open for doubt about that contention, but the opinions expressed are the speaker's and not someone else's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-26T15:23:19.387" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T15:23:19.387" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="5665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5661" CreationDate="2010-11-26T15:16:21.607" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If something is &lt;em&gt;probably&lt;/em&gt; true, then it may or may not actually be true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something is &lt;em&gt;ostensibly&lt;/em&gt; true if someone has told you that it is supposed to be the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1439" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T15:16:21.607" />
  <row Id="5666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5660" CreationDate="2010-11-26T15:39:27.020" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word is used in the Bible to mean &lt;em&gt;face&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;bearing, demeanor&lt;/em&gt;. The account in &lt;a href=&quot;http://online.recoveryversion.org/BibleVerses.asp?fvid=1461&amp;amp;lvid=1475&amp;amp;q=countenance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mark 10:17-31&lt;/a&gt; demonstrates this use: The man's &quot;countenance fell&quot; (an idiom) and went away sorrowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have not seen that usage in a long time! From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/countenance?show=1&amp;amp;t=1290784842&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merrian-Webster&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;h2&gt;coun·te·nance &lt;em&gt;verb&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;\ˈkau̇n-tən-ən(t)s, ˈkau̇nt-nən(t)s\&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;h3&gt;coun·te·nanced ‌ ‌ coun·te·nanc·ing&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;h3&gt;Definition of COUNTENANCE&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;transitive verb&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ : to extend approval or toleration to : sanction &amp;lt; refused to &lt;em&gt;countenance&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ any changes in the policy&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The connection is clear: What you approve, you are happy with, you look fondly upon. What you disapprove of, you frown upon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1333" LastEditorUserId="1333" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-27T16:21:13.307" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T16:21:13.307" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5662" CreationDate="2010-11-26T15:40:26.703" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dash (or em dash) is used to introduce an abrupt break in thought, a reversal of meaning, or a summary statement following a list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;What did you intend by — but I forget&#xA;  my manners, please do come in.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;There is  no way to do what you&#xA;  described — oh, wait, I think I see a&#xA;  way!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Rats in the basement, silverfish in&#xA;  the bathroom, cockroaches everywhere —&#xA;  there is no end to the vermin you will&#xA;  encounter if you rent that apartment.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your two sentences are related and flow together, splitting them with the question mark instead of the dash feels better to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T15:40:26.703" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5653" CreationDate="2010-11-26T15:53:41.637" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me, &quot;into&quot; implies motion (or perhaps motion in a metaphorical domain). If you are using a verb which already has motion (such as &quot;go&quot; or &quot;put&quot;) it is not necessary, and I think is slightly more formal, than &quot;in&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is rarely a difference in meaning, but where the &quot;in&quot; could be paraphrased as &quot;from&quot; or &quot;out of&quot;, then &quot;into&quot; is definitely wrong. So &quot;I got the toy in the box&quot; and &quot;I got the toy into the box&quot; are both fine, but &quot;I found the toy into the box&quot; doesn't make sense, and &quot;I read the story into the book&quot; is definitely wrong (unless you mean somehow the technical computer sense of read,  where you can &quot;read&quot; something into somewhere, as well as out of somewhere). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T15:53:41.637" />
  <row Id="5669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5660" CreationDate="2010-11-26T15:56:59.137" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's easiest to remember by noting that as a noun, &lt;em&gt;countenance&lt;/em&gt; just means &lt;em&gt;face, appearance&lt;/em&gt;. The meaning of the verb is figurative based on this: &lt;em&gt;to give face to&lt;/em&gt;, as in, &lt;em&gt;to let people know that you approve something&lt;/em&gt;, and hence, &lt;em&gt;to sanction&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T15:56:59.137" />
  <row Id="5670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5615" CreationDate="2010-11-26T16:06:35.823" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To the point, your sentences 2 and 3 actually have exactly the same meaning. Although the scope of the quantifier &quot;only&quot; usually changes based on what &lt;em&gt;follows&lt;/em&gt; it in the sentence, in the exceptional usage of sentence 3 it is modifying only the &lt;em&gt;preceding&lt;/em&gt; word, &quot;English&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;He speaks only English&lt;/strong&gt;. == &lt;strong&gt;He speaks English only&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T16:06:35.823" />
  <row Id="5671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5563" CreationDate="2010-11-26T16:13:01.760" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that there are in general two broad but distinct types of the question &lt;em&gt;Why&lt;/em&gt;. One asks for a cause or purpose and the other asks for an intended outcome or result. The question &lt;em&gt;How come&lt;/em&gt; is limited to asking only the former type of &lt;em&gt;Why&lt;/em&gt; questions and not the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T16:13:01.760" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5661" CreationDate="2010-11-26T16:20:34.303" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should be wary when words are used interchangably; that often means the speaker(s) do not know the precise meaning of the words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ostensible&lt;/strong&gt; as an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ostensible?show=0&amp;amp;t=1290786038&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adjective&lt;/a&gt; means &quot;intended for display&quot; or &quot;being such in appearance&quot;.  As an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ostensibly&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adverb&lt;/a&gt;, it either carries the noun's meaning or signifies &quot;to all outward appearances&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, it should be used as a close synonym of &quot;apparently&quot;. As Robusto noted, &quot;probably&quot; is a judgment, quantitative or qualitative, and should not be used as a synonym for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1333" LastEditorUserId="1333" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T00:42:08.960" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T00:42:08.960" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5588" CreationDate="2010-11-26T16:36:32.383" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;subject&lt;/em&gt; of the sentence were the payments, and not the total number of payments, therefore &lt;em&gt;were&lt;/em&gt; is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A total of 10 payments were made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could re-phrase the sentence to make the total the subject:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The total number of payments made was 10&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;VonC offers a useful rule-of-thumb - 'A total...' = plural, 'The total...' = singular - but it all boils down to the subject of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastEditorUserId="2302" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-08T11:10:15.943" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T11:10:15.943" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5675" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-26T16:45:14.730" Score="1" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do writers of American English inform the reader that the current sentence is a question (with all the assumptions and prosody that go with it) without sacrificing the content, format, impact, etc. of the sentence? (In Spanish the problem is alleviated by use of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_question_and_exclamation_marks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;inverted question mark&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Running into a lot of trouble handling&#xA;  finances and balancing your budget?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The fastest way to find the north pole&#xA;  is to run there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastEditorUserId="2396" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-26T17:34:35.827" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T05:26:00.637" Title="Easy interrogative garden path prevention" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5676" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5692" CreationDate="2010-11-26T17:07:57.313" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the most up-to-date, robust, and reliable way to check verb (or other POS) frequencies in current usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any hope of an algorithm involving counting Google hits and dividing by some benchmark number (say &lt;a href=&quot;http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/we-knew-web-was-big.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1,000,000,000,000&lt;/a&gt;) or is that so error-prone as to be out of the question?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Any help with tags would be appreciated.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T03:37:34.160" Title="Modern replacement for checking frequency tables?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5662" CreationDate="2010-11-26T17:17:25.017" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can treat them as separate sentences, in which case all the usual rules of sentences apply; in this case, terminate the first with a question mark and start the second with a capital letter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively you could treat them as clauses, if you regard &quot;Can you imagine&quot; as an emphasis marker.  In that case you would join them with a comma, since they are part of one sentence, and don't put a question mark in at all.  I'm not sure whether that's a grammatically correct thing to do, but it does often reflect the flow of speech more accurately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T17:17:25.017" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5675" CreationDate="2010-11-26T17:23:41.707" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question words are often used an indicator of a question.  They are who, what, when, where, are, how, is and why. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of these sentences you presented are pretty awkward.  The first because it is so long. It can be improved by making it shorter, or adding &quot;are you&quot; to the beginning.   The second seems like it is quoting someone else and repeating it for clarity.  Out of context, it doesn't make sense.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T17:23:41.707" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5679" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5680" CreationDate="2010-11-26T17:28:26.590" Score="3" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of the phrase, &quot;and nothing of value was lost&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this from a movie, book, or show, or did it get its start on slashdot or some other online forum?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2398" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T06:17:29.860" Title="What is the origin of the phrase, &quot;and nothing of value was lost&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5679" CreationDate="2010-11-26T18:20:43.553" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's really just a statement of fact. There is an episode of the Critic, in which Jay Sherman says something similar after watching a float of a horse's &lt;em&gt;*&lt;/em&gt; on fire roll into a theatre where the musical Cats is playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T18:20:43.553" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5681" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5683" CreationDate="2010-11-26T18:42:40.500" Score="3" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can one use the word &quot;memorial&quot; (noun or adjective) without the negative/sad connotation of commemoration of the dead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T04:29:02.133" Title="&quot;Memorial&quot; as a non-sad word?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;connotation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5676" CreationDate="2010-11-26T18:56:07.977" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A better way is to find a word used in texts.  Most language experts analyze books, newspapers and magazines that are edited before they are published rather than taking on the Internet as a whole.  You can choose what countries and target demographics by this method as well.  I would go for quality over quanity otherwise your numbers are meaningless. The word &quot;friend&quot; is frequently misspelled &quot;freind&quot;. It is a common error, but not standard English.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T18:56:07.977" />
  <row Id="5683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5681" CreationDate="2010-11-26T19:03:48.207" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that if you are commemorating a person, dog, or any other physical thing, then &quot;memorial&quot; indicates that the thing no longer exists, or—at a minimum—cannot enjoy the commemoration for some reason. To invite someone to their own memorial would be very bad taste!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, if you are commemorating an event, then &quot;memorial&quot; implies (to me) that the event itself was some kind of tragedy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would definitely use &quot;commemoration&quot; if I wished to avoid the sad connotations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1727" LastEditorUserId="1727" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-26T19:18:39.120" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T19:18:39.120" />
  <row Id="5684" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5696" CreationDate="2010-11-26T21:43:43.530" Score="5" ViewCount="257" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrases &quot;the dog's bollocks&quot;, &quot;the bee's bollocks&quot; and &quot;golden bollocks&quot; are used to mean something or someone excellent, fine or well thought of. But if one were to say &quot;a load of bollocks&quot;,  or &quot;bullock's bollocks&quot; it would mean something not very good at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know why &quot;bollocks&quot; has this opposite meaning according to the phrase it is used in?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T02:15:47.470" Title="Why the opposite meanings of the word &quot;bollocks&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5685" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5687" CreationDate="2010-11-26T21:49:49.153" Score="5" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what &quot;drop the penny&quot;, &quot;help get the penny to drop&quot;, or things similar mean? All I can understand is that it must be a metaphor. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;simply trying to repeat things in&#xA;  perhaps a slightly different way may&#xA;  help get the penny to drop (think&#xA;  about the student coming to office&#xA;  hours who has read the book but&#xA;  doesn't get it; just going over it&#xA;  again in different words can help).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to use such an expression in life generally. Can you give other examples?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T01:58:54.110" Title="&quot;drop the penny&quot;" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5684" CreationDate="2010-11-26T22:30:19.413" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know about the phrases in question, but words that have variant meanings that are complete opposites are not uncommon in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;cleave&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;split or sever(something), esp. along a natural line or grain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stick fast to or adhere strongly to (something)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;fast&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;moving or capable of moving at high speed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;immobile or hard to move; firmly or securely held&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel such things are simply part of the endlessly entertaining panoply of the language we call English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T22:30:19.413" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5685" CreationDate="2010-11-26T22:34:23.067" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; this comes from old-fashioned pay phones (or any other vending-type machine, like a drugstore gumball machine), where sometimes you'd put the money in and it'd get stuck, so you'd have to try various strategies (generally consisting of variations on &quot;hit the dang thing&quot;) until the coin would finally get dislodged and drop, allowing you to make your call (or get your candy). The metaphorical meaning is thus to understand a particular bit of information after repeated failure. To use another metaphor, it's to finally get that lightbulb to go off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T22:34:23.067" />
  <row Id="5688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5662" CreationDate="2010-11-26T22:59:49.420" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Robusto said, a dash wouldn't work, but I could make a case for either a question mark, a comma, or a colon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;Can you imagine? He escaped through the window!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Can you imagine: he escaped through the window!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Can you imagine, he escaped through the window!&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The different punctuation marks imply slightly different pauses/inflections. Also, the comma is probably ok for informal use, but I'd avoid it for anything formal, because it could be interpreted as a comma splice. (Not that I can come up with a formal situation where I'd use something like &quot;Can you imagine&quot;...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T22:59:49.420" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5684" CreationDate="2010-11-26T23:34:19.313" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There were a lot of phrases created in the early part of the last century that were very much playing with language to create a ridiculous phrase meaning something that was good - that' gives us &quot;the bees' knees&quot;, &quot;the cat's whiskers&quot; and similar things. &quot;The dogs bollocks&quot; is a modern take on that. If I was to guess at a history I would think it was an anglicisation of &quot;the mutt's nuts&quot; which I would expect to date to a similar time to the other phrases I mentioned. It has probably become popular mostly because there is something inherently funny about the word &quot;bollocks.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never heard either &quot;the bees bollocks&quot; or &quot;golden bollocks&quot; used by anyone, but I guess if they are they are similar to the above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However &quot;it's bollocks&quot; is derogatory in the same way as &quot;it's arse&quot;, &quot;it's pants&quot; or anything similar. You can pretty much put anything vaguely taboo after &quot;it's ...&quot; and you have a convenient playground-appropriate derogatory term. Bollocks does well mostly because it's quite funny and very satisfying to say. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess any confusion would be because you were looking at the word as a token of meaning, rather than the phrase and context, which ends up being most of language. Sometimes these antipathetic contexts might collide- in the late eighties I might have had a conversation with my granny in which she said the Poll Tax was wicked and I said the new Salt'n'Pepa record was wicked and someone reading what we said might not realise we mean't exactly the opposite. Come to think of it, maybe I wouldn't have either. I might well have thought my granny thought the Poll Tax was really excellent, like the new Salt'n'Pepa record.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2010-11-26T23:34:19.313" />
  <row Id="5690" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5695" CreationDate="2010-11-27T01:36:08.037" Score="0" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The cpu_relax() call can lower CPU power consumption or &lt;strong&gt;yield to&lt;/strong&gt; a&#xA;  hyperthreaded twin processor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="833" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T01:53:03.073" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T01:53:03.073" Title="What does &quot;yield to&quot; mean in the following sentence?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5690" CreationDate="2010-11-27T01:39:38.720" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Yield&lt;/em&gt; means, among other things,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; to relinquish possession of (something); to give (something) up&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence you cite appears to mean that &quot;a hyperthreaded twin processor can override the cpu_relax() call&quot; and force it to abandon its attempt to &quot;lower CPU power consumption&quot; ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there were more context to your quote (i.e., if you were to post the entire paragraph that contains the quote), it might help to be certain that this is indeed what is meant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T01:39:38.720" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5676" CreationDate="2010-11-27T01:51:25.190" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use a professionally created corpus, like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;. You get much more reliable data and examples, plus you can do sophisticated part-of-speech searches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-27T03:37:34.160" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T03:37:34.160" />
  <row Id="5693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5458" CreationDate="2010-11-27T01:54:32.360" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me, it depends on the context.  In speech, I'd let it pass in anyone except my kids.  I would correct them because it's one of my jobs as a parent to teach them a good command of their native tongue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In casual emails and similar written communications, I'd also let it pass (kids aside); indeed, even in formal emails or documents sent by customers or the like.  But in formal documents that I'm reviewing (design specs and the like), then I'll fix  the problem, not necessarily with a comment, but often with 'change tracking' enabled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is in part a problem with 'English as a second language', then I'll point it out to the person so that they can improve. That's especially the case if they use the 'please excuse my English' line; they are, of course, completely excused - if only because my command of Spanish, Chinese, or whatever is so much worse than their command of English - but I assume that is an indication that a private answer (not a public one) that improves the 'Use of English' will be of some assistance to them.  In a public response, I won't correct them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, as I said, it depends a lot on the context.  It always grates on me, but quite often there is nothing useful that I can do.  When there is something I can do, I'll try the correction.  If it causes angst, I won't repeat the exercise with that person.  If it is well received, I'll help in future when the occasion arises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T01:54:32.360" />
  <row Id="5694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5685" CreationDate="2010-11-27T01:58:54.110" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Martha has the right idea on the metaphor &lt;em&gt;'the penny drops'&lt;/em&gt; is from the situation in coin-operated machines where the &quot;penny drops&quot; engaging the function of the machine.  As coins often get stuck, then suddenly become unstuck, this term came in to general use for the situation where people were mentally stuck with a concept and then it became clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See the following link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/280900.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/280900.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T01:58:54.110" />
  <row Id="5695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5690" CreationDate="2010-11-27T02:02:25.483" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given the context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Another situation where one might be tempted to use volatile is when the processor is busy-waiting on the value of a variable. The right way to perform a busy wait is: while (my_variable != what_i_want) cpu_relax(); The cpu_relax() call can lower CPU power consumption or yield to a hyperthreaded twin processor; it also happens to serve as a compiler barrier, so, once again, volatile is unnecessary. Of course, busy- waiting is generally an anti-social act to begin with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this context, I think it means that the 'yield to' is referring to the thread of control in a program moving from the current processor to another 'hyperthreaded twin processor', or to allowing another thread to take over the use of the CPU for the time being. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this context, 'yield' is more a technical term than a simple English term.  In a multithreaded processing environment, one thread can 'yield' the processor to other threads when it cannot do anything useful - while waiting for input or for some condition to become true.  If the control does transfer to the other processor, the current processor may be able to reduce its power consumption dramatically.  In the example code, the processor is waiting for a condition to become true - and is 'busy waiting' (another technical term), but is telling the system that if there is something else that can use the CPU, then it should be allowed to use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T02:02:25.483" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5684" CreationDate="2010-11-27T02:15:47.470" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the other posters have stated these type of two-faced word usages are very common in vernacular speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the last few decades, more and more have crept in to the common tongue.  Usually bringing a traditionally negative word in to a positive usage.  &lt;strong&gt;Using a word as if it was its own antonym.&lt;/strong&gt;  Presumably it stems from the fact that what is bad often invites temptation and what is tempting must be desirable and what is desirable must be good...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;wicked&lt;/strong&gt; - that girl is &lt;em&gt;wicked&lt;/em&gt;; what a &lt;em&gt;wicked&lt;/em&gt; idea (traditional negative, modern postive)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;sick&lt;/strong&gt; - that band was &lt;em&gt;sick&lt;/em&gt; (traditional negative, modern positive)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;wild&lt;/strong&gt; - that land is &lt;em&gt;wild&lt;/em&gt;; what a &lt;em&gt;wild&lt;/em&gt; ride (traditional negative, modern positive - to thrill seekers)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;bad&lt;/strong&gt; - see Michael Jackson (open to debate given)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;bollocks&lt;/strong&gt; - what a load of old &lt;em&gt;bollocks&lt;/em&gt;; that was the &lt;em&gt;bollocks&lt;/em&gt; [note &lt;em&gt;old&lt;/em&gt; vs &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; as the adjective, one (implied to be) negative &lt;em&gt;old&lt;/em&gt;, the other &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; as a superlative]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;etc.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T02:15:47.470" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5697" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5698" CreationDate="2010-11-27T03:41:35.897" Score="3" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;When speaking with my mother a couple of days ago, I read to her a message I was sending to my cousin on her behalf ending with: &lt;strong&gt;&quot;... the birthday of your youngest.&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; [implying her child]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She immediately leapt on this and said that as my cousin only had two children, the use of the superlative was not permitted and the comparative must be used instead: &lt;strong&gt;&quot;... the birthday of your &lt;em&gt;younger&lt;/em&gt; child.&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She was adamant that this was a solid grammatical rule that she was taught throughout her education.  As a younger Briton, I have relatively little formal grammatical education to older people who were better taught in this regard, so I usually defer to her on grammatical rule knowledge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is she right?  &lt;strong&gt;Are superlatives not permitted when the domain of the object is only two?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me it seems bizarre.  The minimum or maximum of any set does not only exist when there are different minima and maxima, or indeed something which is neither.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T05:22:06.987" Title="Use of the superlative when only two items are present" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;rules&gt;&lt;comparative&gt;&lt;superlative&gt;&lt;count&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="5698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5697" CreationDate="2010-11-27T04:24:55.500" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It certainly used to be a rule, but there are grounds for ignoring it. This would be strongest where you were uncertain of the number of children (not the case here).  But you can certainly argue that in logic, there is an oldest of 1, 2, or more children.  So, your mother is almost certainly correct about what she was taught.  Whether that stricture still has to be followed is considerably more debatable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T04:24:55.500" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5699" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5705" CreationDate="2010-11-27T04:43:25.180" Score="4" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people would refer to computers as being electronic, whereas a flashlight would be described as electric.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the general difference (electronic devices use transistors?), but what is it exactly, and how did the second term even come into existence? Why not just use electric for both?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="824" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T05:58:25.460" Title="Electronic vs Electric" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;confusables&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5699" CreationDate="2010-11-27T05:00:38.333" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The distinction for the two words you are referring to is with regards to the complexity of the circuit which uses electricity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A flashlight is a very simple system.  It doesn't primarily feature integrated circuits or digital logic or any advanced circuitry. It uses electricity thus it is &quot;electric&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A computer is an extremely complex circuit. Most people can't begin to grasp the concept of a CPU from the perspective of a current-flow device. An electrician can't just hook it up to the power mains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At some point along the complexity spectrum a device ceases to be merely electric and becomes electronic. Note: I think this also requires integrated circuits and the like.  I don't imagine that anyone would refer to the power grid as electronic (though some components of it are).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider these cases:&#xA; * An electric chair&#xA; * An electronic chair&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first is a chair which predominantly features electricity. The second is a chair which has some feature made of a complex circuit (for example, the seats in cars which are automatically-adjusting).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An electric toaster&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An electronic toaster&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first is a run of the mill toaster.  The second is a toaster that lets you program in an image to burn into the toast, and which sends you an email when the toast is done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T05:00:38.333" />
  <row Id="5701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5697" CreationDate="2010-11-27T05:22:06.987" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, she isn't right.  The younger of two children is also the youngest.  (Of course, both are correct, so if she prefers &quot;younger&quot; in her own letter, that's perfectly reasonable.)  Indeed, there's a joke about referring to the only member of some category with a superlative (the joke being that the sole member is both the most X of its type &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; the least X of its type).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T05:22:06.987" />
  <row Id="5702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5675" CreationDate="2010-11-27T05:26:00.637" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually English starts a question with the verb.  &quot;The fastest way to find the north pole is to run there?&quot; is an unusual question (not an impossible one, just one that requires somewhat unusual conditions).  The more usual way would be &quot;Is the fastest way to find the north pole to run there?&quot; (or perhaps better, &quot;Is running the fastest way to find the north pole?&quot;) which is clearly a question from the first word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T05:26:00.637" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5703" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5704" CreationDate="2010-11-27T05:44:31.907" Score="1" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't mind, please compare them also to &quot;belligerent&quot; and &quot;bellicose&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-27T05:48:44.953" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T05:49:48.390" Title="What's the difference between &quot;truculent&quot; and &quot;aggressive&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5703" CreationDate="2010-11-27T05:49:48.390" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Truculent has overtones of defiance; aggressive means attacking, or threatening to attack, others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Belligerent and bellicose are near synonyms, and are fairly closely related to aggressive.  Both imply warlike attitudes - attacking, or threatening to attack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T05:49:48.390" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5699" CreationDate="2010-11-27T05:58:25.460" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The distinction comes from the two fields of &lt;em&gt;electrical engineering&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;electronics&lt;/em&gt; (which some consider a subset of the former). Electronics refers to technology that works by controlling the motion of electrons in ways that go beyond electrodynamic properties like voltage and current. That is, &lt;em&gt;electrical&lt;/em&gt; technology would work the same if you replaced electrons by some other charge-carrying particles, but &lt;em&gt;electronic&lt;/em&gt; technology depends on the specific properties of electrons themselves, such as in semiconductor medium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because electronic devices are typically used for representing and manipulating information, this makes for a simple rule of thumb for distinguishing &lt;em&gt;electrical&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;electronic&lt;/em&gt;. Typically, if something uses electricity merely as energy, it is &lt;em&gt;electrical&lt;/em&gt;, while if it uses electricity as the medium for manipulating information, it is almost surely &lt;em&gt;electronic&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1635" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T05:58:25.460" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5706" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5731" CreationDate="2010-11-27T06:05:37.763" Score="5" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When it came time to...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the phrase technically correct, or is it an exercise of artistic license?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1534" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T16:01:21.463" Title="When it came time to..." Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5706" CreationDate="2010-11-27T07:00:52.917" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seems perfectly fine to me, though would benefit from more context. E.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When it came time to leave, she was ready. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T07:00:52.917" />
  <row Id="5708" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5711" CreationDate="2010-11-27T07:11:37.467" Score="4" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;intervene&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;interfere&lt;/em&gt;? I think some example would really be helpful here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T03:13:28.380" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T03:13:28.380" Title="What's the difference between &quot;intervene&quot; and &quot;interfere&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5709" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5737" CreationDate="2010-11-27T07:50:40.753" Score="1" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please, share your understanding of the hues in meanings of these three words. American English is preferred, but British input would also be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2270" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T15:51:19.090" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T23:33:57.293" Title="&quot;Balky&quot;, &quot;restive&quot; and &quot;stubborn&quot; - what are the differences here?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5708" CreationDate="2010-11-27T08:18:48.790" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Intervene&lt;/em&gt; has a positive connotation, while &lt;em&gt;interfere&lt;/em&gt; has a more negative one. To &lt;em&gt;interfere&lt;/em&gt; can mean &lt;em&gt;to restrain&lt;/em&gt;, while &lt;em&gt;intervene&lt;/em&gt; more leans towards &lt;em&gt;to come between&lt;/em&gt; (lat. &lt;em&gt;inter&lt;/em&gt;: between, &lt;em&gt;venire&lt;/em&gt;: come), to engage. &lt;em&gt;Interfere&lt;/em&gt; comes from lat. &lt;em&gt;fere&lt;/em&gt;: to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One could say that interfere means to &lt;em&gt;go between&lt;/em&gt; to do something, to restrain, disrupt, disturb with a focus on the doing part, the action that is done, while &lt;em&gt;intervene&lt;/em&gt; means to &lt;em&gt;come between&lt;/em&gt; to prevent, focusing on the motion part of coming between. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T08:18:48.790" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5708" CreationDate="2010-11-27T08:25:14.247" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, you can, of course, look up the definitions for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intervene&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;intervene&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/interfere?show=0&amp;amp;t=1290845894&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;interfere&lt;/a&gt;, but if you need more than that...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When someone intervenes, they are generally coming in between two parties who are in conflict in some manner. By intervening, they help attempt to resolve the conflict between the two parties. So, for instance, you could have two people arguing, and someone else intervenes to try and stop the argument. They are helping, and it has a positive connotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, when someone interferes, they're just getting in the way. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with two parties in conflict or even more than one party at all. Someone who interferes is getting in the way of someone else doing something. So, if I'm trying to get my work done, and you interfere, you're stopping me (or at least impeding me) from getting my work done. There's nothing positive about it. It's entirely negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2170" LastEditorUserId="2170" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-27T12:03:49.567" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T12:03:49.567" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5712" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5714" CreationDate="2010-11-27T08:31:58.593" Score="5" ViewCount="339" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the following sentence, should I say spelled or spelt:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You spelt/spelled &quot;Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis&quot; wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2411" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T19:02:45.117" Title="Spelt and Spelled" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5713" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5719" CreationDate="2010-11-27T09:05:35.307" Score="2" ViewCount="244" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always have been having problems how to understand which preposition to use. Of course there are examples, in which the preposition is obvious. For me the problem occurs when &quot;Do your best in/on/at x.&quot; means &quot;Deal with x as effectively as you can.&quot;. Which grammar rules or methods should I use for this case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of phrases I have this problem with include the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'll do my best on the TOEFL preparation so I'll get a higher score on the exam.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'll do my best on the test tomorrow.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do your best in achieving this goal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do your best in the planning of our weekend.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do your best in filling out the form.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following phrases were changed according to suggestions by Robusto, so now they don't have this problem:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I see these questions for the first time so I haven't prepared for them. Should I just do my best to guess the right answers?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You will have only 15 seconds to prepare so do your best to use them effectively.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I ever write or say &quot;I will do my best at x&quot;, when I use it in the meaning &quot;I will cope/deal with x (as good as I will be able to)&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1834" LastEditorUserId="1834" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-27T19:19:00.917" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T02:10:11.380" Title="Which prepositions should I use after &quot;do your best&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5712" CreationDate="2010-11-27T09:20:05.023" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;spell (FORM WORDS) /spel/&#xA;  verb [I or T] spelled or UK AND AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH ALSO spelt, spelled or UK AND AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH ALSO spelt&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that you should say &quot;spelled&quot; in US English and you can use both &quot;spelt&quot; and &quot;spelled&quot; in UK/Australian English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1834" LastEditorUserId="1834" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-27T10:36:44.883" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T10:36:44.883" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5712" CreationDate="2010-11-27T09:20:12.553" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordreference.com/definition/spell&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WordReference.com&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/spell?rskey=gGNb5P&amp;amp;result=1#m_en_gb0799040&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Concise oxford English Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;, both forms are correct. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;spell&lt;/em&gt;: verb (past and past participle &lt;em&gt;spelled&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;chiefly British&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;spelt&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T09:20:12.553" />
  <row Id="5716" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-27T09:39:12.927" Score="3" ViewCount="243" Body="&lt;p&gt;It often works to your advantage when you can express yourself meaningfully in everyday (or special!) situations. A few years ago I would hardly have been able to put that sentence together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to read Sherlock Holmes, and although it presents quite an archaic form of English, it is still relevant in modern day times showing you unique ways of expressing even the most &quot;singular&quot; of situations, problems and feelings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm always on the lookout for classical or modern-day light reading literature that can show me new ways of expressing old things, or teach me to better construct my sentences. I'm targeting practical activities such as public speaking or corporate presentations, so I need a style that is both formal, and light hearted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2412" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T10:13:05.560" ClosedDate="2011-02-24T18:33:09.087" Title="Good reading material to improve your manner of speech" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;speech&gt;&lt;literature&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="5717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5716" CreationDate="2010-11-27T10:24:09.387" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Winston Churchill was a great public speaker and writer. He won an election with &quot;blood, sweat, and tears&quot;, and motivated students with &quot;never, never, never, never, never give up&quot;. It is said that he had the largest active vocabulary ever of English speaking people — and this with English being one of the richest languages on words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reading some of his books I greatly improved in English and conversational style. I recommend &quot;Never give in&quot;, &quot;Memoirs of the Second World War&quot;. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/Winston-Churchill/e/B000APW3RS/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_4?qid=1290851861&amp;amp;sr=1-4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for some more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-27T14:57:40.950" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T14:57:40.950" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5709" CreationDate="2010-11-27T10:35:02.483" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If somebody is stubborn, it has an idea or many ideas on how to do something, refusing anything else. On the other hand, restive person is just generally impatient and hard to be controlled. Restiveness can be a temporary state of a person caused by something embarrassing him. Alternatively, restiveness can be caused by lack of respect or culture. In contrast to that, stubbornness is usually caused by fervent beliefs in the ideas and/or deep wish to be always right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, the word &quot;balky&quot; is usually applied to animals or things, rather than persons and it can be applied to persons only in informal speech. If you say that someone is balky, you pretend to control his behavior (like you can control a dog or device or computer program) but the person refuses to do what you want him to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disclaimer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Don't rely on my answer too much since I'm not a native English speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1834" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-10T23:33:57.293" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T23:33:57.293" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5713" CreationDate="2010-11-27T10:59:01.750" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's a &quot;trick&quot; question because it is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; about what follows &quot;best&quot;, but simply about &quot;should you use 'in' or 'on'?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The double-trick is that in some case, you could (with a slight variation of context) use 'for'!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'll do my best &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; the TOEFL preparation so I'll get higher score on the exam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, if we stick to the initial choice 'in' or 'on', the final trick is in some case, both could be used, like the two first examples (&lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1578743&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;on&quot; maybe being more commonly used in the US&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find (personal rule)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;in&quot; standing for &quot;during&quot; or &quot;within&quot; (or other similar meanings)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;on&quot; standing for &quot;about&quot; or &quot;referenced by&quot; (or other similar meanings)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meaning I don't find your examples &quot;wrong&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T10:59:01.750" />
  <row Id="5720" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5742" CreationDate="2010-11-27T11:25:16.533" Score="1" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;Or &quot;to irritate&quot; and &quot;to vex&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2270" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T15:51:50.663" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T15:51:50.663" Title="What's the difference between &quot;irritated&quot; and &quot;vexed&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5721" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5724" CreationDate="2010-11-27T12:14:47.803" Score="4" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...which is of course zero.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...which of course is zero.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is preferred?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2340" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-27T15:55:14.853" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T15:55:14.853" Title="Position of the adverb &quot;of course&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="5722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5721" CreationDate="2010-11-27T13:04:42.377" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally would prefer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... which is of course zero&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if I wanted to stress &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;zero&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... which of course is zero&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;to me sound more like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;there is no doubt, of course it is zero&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;putting more stress on of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might be quite subjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T13:04:42.377" />
  <row Id="5723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5720" CreationDate="2010-11-27T13:09:50.383" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Irritation is relatively mild and is something you find annoying but can handle without a lot of grief. A mosquito bite irritates; A scorpion bite vexes. If you are vexed you are pretty much controlled by whatever it is that's doing the vexing. It has you, so to speak. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vex can also have a positive meaning, such as &quot;He was vexed by her beauty and could not resist.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1490" LastEditorUserId="1490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-27T14:06:18.327" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T14:06:18.327" />
  <row Id="5724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5721" CreationDate="2010-11-27T13:43:10.073" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there's much difference between the two. It depends on which word you wish to stress more: &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;zero&lt;/em&gt;. (Incidentally, I would set it off with commas, but that is a matter of taste.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This saves all the emphasis for the final word &lt;em&gt;zero&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... which is, of course, &lt;em&gt;zero&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This puts the emphasis on &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt;, of course, is zero.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no difference in meaning, only in dramatic effect. The effect is greater if the sentence is spoken; if it is written, the effect is vanishingly small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-27T15:09:53.790" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T15:09:53.790" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5725" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5730" CreationDate="2010-11-27T13:49:42.900" Score="12" ViewCount="364" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're standing in front of a ticket vending machine and it says &quot;The ticket is printing&quot;. Is that correct or should it be &quot;The ticket is being printed&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If both are correct, which one should be preferred or is more common?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="650" LastEditorUserId="650" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-27T14:26:33.680" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T21:15:05.877" Title="&quot;The ticket is printing&quot; vs &quot;...is being printed&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;tense&gt;&lt;progressive-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="5726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5713" CreationDate="2010-11-27T13:53:53.340" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Plenty of prepositions can follow &quot;do your best&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Do your best on the test.&#xA;Do your best in all your endeavors.&#xA;Do your best with the tools you have.&#xA;Do your best for the team.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of the examples you give, only these sound awkward to my ear:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should I just do my best in guessing&#xA;  the right answers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You will have only 15 seconds to&#xA;  prepare so do your best in using of&#xA;  them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would prefer &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; in those cases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Should I just do my best to guess the right answers?&#xA;&#xA;You will have only 15 seconds to prepare, so&#xA;do your best to use them effectively.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that last I removed the &quot;of&quot; and added &quot;effectively,&quot; which seems clearer and stronger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I removed some examples that wandered away from Preposition Land. Thanks to Ito and fiktor for pointing out my brain cramp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-27T21:27:24.643" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T21:27:24.643" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="5729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5720" CreationDate="2010-11-27T14:38:38.870" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference between &lt;em&gt;irritate&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;vex&lt;/em&gt; is small but definite. To &lt;em&gt;vex&lt;/em&gt; implies that you are irritating someone with trivial matters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As my Webster's has it, vex means to &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;make (someone) feel annoyed,&#xA;  frustrated, or worried, esp. with&#xA;  trivial matters : &lt;em&gt;the memory of the&#xA;  conversation still vexed him&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take off the &quot;trivial&quot; aspect and you pretty much have the definition for &lt;em&gt;irritate&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why, for example, in the movie &lt;em&gt;Gladiator&lt;/em&gt; it was unintentionally humorous for Joaquin Phoenix's Emperor Commodus to say &quot;I'm vexed, I'm very vexed,&quot; by the victories in the arena of Russell Crowe's Maximus. Put that way, it was an admission that as an emperor he was more petty than grand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T14:38:38.870" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5725" CreationDate="2010-11-27T14:46:05.923" Score="23" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h3&gt;The Middle Construction&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The ticket is printing&quot; is something known as a middle construction.  It is called &quot;middle&quot; because it is not exactly a passive sentence (&quot;The ticket is being printed&quot;) and not exactly an active sentence (because the &quot;ticket&quot; is not really the agent of the action).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples of middles from &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=a4EEh8_66FIC&amp;amp;pg=PA154&amp;amp;lpg=PA154&amp;amp;dq=syntax+middle+construction&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=AKsaxX-6We&amp;amp;sig=kT_CdOyYuN_AErPparxhgh13hMs&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=NxPxTPfbDoH68Aal47iTDA&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=10&amp;amp;ved=0CFgQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;An Introduction to English Syntax&quot;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;This sweater washes well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;These cars sold very quickly last week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sort of construction is extremely common.  Sometimes, it conveys basically the same information as the passive, like in your examples about tickets printing.  In that situation, either construction is completely valid in any context.  &quot;The ticket is printing&quot; is just as correct as &quot;the Boeing 737 flew to Seattle&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Another interesting thing about Middles&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, the middle construction conveys some additional information that neither the active nor passive conveys completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I can't shut the window. &lt;em&gt;(active)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The window can't be shut. &lt;em&gt;(passive)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The window won't shut. &lt;em&gt;(middle)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of these sentences give the same fundamental information, i.e. that the action of shutting cannot occur with the window.  But each one says something slightly different about why and to what extent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In (1), the only claim is that the speaker cannot shut the window.  In (2), using the passive, the implication is that nobody there is able to shut the window.  In both cases, there is the possibility that perhaps the people trying to close the window are too weak or are doing it wrong.  However, in (3), the blame for the inability to shut the window is placed squarely on the window: it is the window that won't shut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, the middle construction is &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=cUP7Sdv8TLgC&amp;amp;pg=PA32&amp;amp;lpg=PA32&amp;amp;dq=spanish+middle+construction&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=JL7mH04F0z&amp;amp;sig=5Pue72u_jrIq0D2xdnAZK7FGQhY&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=IxnxTJrGDYKB8gaCy7n9Cw&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CBgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=spanish%20middle%20construction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;not something that is unique to English&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-27T14:55:41.137" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T14:55:41.137" CommentCount="13" />
  <row Id="5731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5706" CreationDate="2010-11-27T15:06:54.453" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase is perfectly valid. I have seen the phrase used mostly to convey some kind of a twist, as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When it came time to vote, the senator&#xA;  switched sides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T15:06:54.453" />
  <row Id="5732" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-27T16:00:17.753" Score="6" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is the spelling of 'pronounce' and 'pronunciation' different? One would expect, if he or she originally did not know the spelling of pronunciation, when hearing it verbally, deduce that it would be spelled as &quot;pronounciation&quot;, which is the incorrect spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is he difference in spelling so? Also, are the two words pronounced differently? (I &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; I am using the American pronunciation for pronunciation (Pro-noun-ciation), but according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howjsay.com/index.php?word=pronunciation;pronounce&amp;amp;submit=Submit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;howjsay.com&lt;/a&gt;, it's pronounced as pro-nun-ciation. Is this just for British-English, or universally?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:01:49.827" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:01:49.827" Title="Why is the spelling of pronounce and pronunciation different?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5706" CreationDate="2010-11-27T16:01:21.463" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wouldn't &quot;When it was time to...&quot; be better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T16:01:21.463" />
  <row Id="5734" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5735" CreationDate="2010-11-27T16:08:36.407" Score="4" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;While studying one word substitution I came across these two words, what I understood till now is like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Emigrant:&lt;/strong&gt; One who leaves his own country to reside to another.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Immigrant:&lt;/strong&gt; A person who comes to one country from another to settle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For example:&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;A Swedish woman decides to emigrate to America. To herself, and to the country of Sweden, the woman is an emigrant to America. To her new American neighbors, the woman is an immigrant from Sweden, implying she has been somewhere else, and now is here, wherever here happens to be. So she has been an emigrant, in coming to America, and now she is a Swedish immigrant.&quot; (Quoting from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-an-immigrant-and-an-emigrant.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now what will be the one word for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A person residing in a country of&#xA;  which he is not a citizen&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my understanding it seems &lt;em&gt;immigrant&lt;/em&gt; should be the correct word, but the answer given in my module is &lt;em&gt;emigrant&lt;/em&gt;. Please help me understand whether I am wrong or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1873" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-27T17:43:30.747" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T17:43:30.747" Title="Emigrant and Immigrant" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;learning&gt;&lt;confusables&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5734" CreationDate="2010-11-27T16:20:08.253" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is about geographical perspective. If you are an American speaking about someone from France who now lives in America, that person is an immigrant (from France). If you are an American speaking about an American who now lives in France, that person is an emigrant (from America). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, from the standpoint of the person you describe, it depends on how she sees herself, but the context always has to do with the geographical perspective. She can describe herself as an immigrant to America, or as an emigrant from Sweden. All immigrants are emigrants, and all emigrants are immigrants (that is, unless they remain forever at sea or fail to reach their destination for some other reason). It is the point of reference you wish to stress that should determine the word choice here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Morton S. Freeman, in &lt;em&gt;A Treasury For Word Lovers&lt;/em&gt; puts it this way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When a person leaves his country to&#xA;  take up permanent residence in another&#xA;  country, he becomes an &lt;em&gt;emigrant&lt;/em&gt; and&#xA;  an &lt;em&gt;immigrant&lt;/em&gt;. He is an emigrant upon&#xA;  leaving his homeland and an&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;immigrant&lt;/em&gt; upon arriving at his destination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T16:20:08.253" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5736" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5741" CreationDate="2010-11-27T16:50:48.647" Score="6" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;John Ciardi, in his foreword to his translation of Dante's &lt;em&gt;Divine Comedy&lt;/em&gt;, observes that any translation is, at best, a failure. He means it is impossible to convey the depth and levels of meaning of the original into another language. That point conceded, however, translations must be made and used. If there were texts in Finnish one needed to understand by next week, it is absurd to suppose that one should (or could) acquire mastery of that language in the time allotted. The fact is, there is important information in many languages that one may wish to know, and it is further absurd to suppose one can acquire anything like a thorough understanding of all those languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many cases, a bad translation is obvious. In the English version of a flyer promoting a Japanese amusement-park ride, for example, park-goers were promised that they would be &quot;brandished and inverted.&quot; In such cases the bad translation announces itself in strident tones, and one doesn't have to be John Ciardi to realize that a re-translation of the translation will be required in order to piece together the actual meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what about translations that do not set off grammatical or usage alarms, yet may still be poor renderings of the meaning of the original? Are there other, perhaps subtler clues you would look for that would make you question whether the translator has done the job well or poorly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T05:00:24.380" Title="How do you tell when you're reading a poor translation?" Tags="&lt;translation&gt;&lt;mistranslation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5709" CreationDate="2010-11-27T17:41:44.273" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Broadly speaking, a &lt;em&gt;stubborn&lt;/em&gt; person/animal insists on &lt;em&gt;doing&lt;/em&gt; something despite all advice/evidence/exhortation to the contrary, while a &lt;em&gt;balky&lt;/em&gt; person/animal insists on &lt;em&gt;&lt;b&gt;not&lt;/b&gt; doing&lt;/em&gt; something, despite exhortations. &lt;em&gt;Balky&lt;/em&gt; is also used more with animals or inanimate objects than with people, while &lt;em&gt;stubborn&lt;/em&gt; can be used with anything, but if it's applied to animals, it's usually with a meaning closer to &quot;balky&quot;. (A stubborn donkey, for example, is so insistent on &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; going anywhere that it practically sits down.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Restive&lt;/em&gt; is quite different in my usage - it's closer to &lt;em&gt;impatient&lt;/em&gt;. (Though I note that the dictionary gives both &quot;stubborn&quot; and &quot;balky&quot; as alternative definitions.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T17:41:44.273" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5738" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-27T17:51:24.250" Score="1" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which of the following is the most accurate meaning for the word &lt;em&gt;amnesty&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a general pardon to prisoners of war&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a general pardon of political offenders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am aware that maybe neither is accurate, but if I have these two to choose between, which one is nearest to the correct meaning and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1873" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-27T18:07:22.170" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T18:21:51.550" Title="Amnesty — meaning" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5738" CreationDate="2010-11-27T18:00:10.897" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Amnesty&lt;/em&gt; only means pardon. There are many kinds of amnesties, like  tax amnesty for people that committed tax fraud, or your two examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It comes from Greek &lt;em&gt;amnestia&lt;/em&gt;, which comes from &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; (not, un-) and &lt;em&gt;mnes&lt;/em&gt; (to remember) and has the connotation of &lt;em&gt;forgetting&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually it is used for a group of people, but not necessarily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T18:00:10.897" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5738" CreationDate="2010-11-27T18:21:51.550" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the correct term to use for prisoners of war is &lt;em&gt;parole&lt;/em&gt;. Parole refers to people who are already imprisoned, amnesty to those who have not yet been imprisoned but may face that punishment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, by elimination, the second choice is more likely to be what the test-givers are looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T18:21:51.550" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5736" CreationDate="2010-11-27T18:35:00.767" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two ways that a translation might be bad: faithfulness to the original and fluency in the target language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you suppose, it is easy to detect flaws in fluency in the target language because they are apparent to anyone fluent in the target language. However, the only way to tell if a translation is not faithful to the original is to know both languages. In cases that you don't, you have to trust the professionalism and skill of the translator. If you don't know who the translator is or what his or her credentials are, then you have reason to be doubtful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T18:35:00.767" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5720" CreationDate="2010-11-27T18:40:56.117" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While the other answers correctly point out that there are small distinctions in the literal meaning of these words, the most important difference is that &lt;em&gt;vex&lt;/em&gt; is a formal, literary word, whereas &lt;em&gt;irritate&lt;/em&gt; is what you would call “unmarked for formality”. This means it could be easily used in very formal English or very informal English. This distinction is important; whereas you wouldn’t likely find the word &lt;em&gt;vex&lt;/em&gt; in ordinary everyday conversation, &lt;em&gt;irritate&lt;/em&gt; might be used in any context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T18:40:56.117" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5744" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-27T19:17:03.920" Score="9" ViewCount="258" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think I am good at talking and conversing with the people in English but somehow I lack ability to write things just like they do in the news papers. Is there a way you guys could tell us to improve my writing skills?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2419" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T09:21:58.263" ClosedDate="2011-01-28T15:32:51.843" Title="Which is the best way to improve your writing skills?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="5745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5732" CreationDate="2010-11-27T19:52:30.013" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;pro-NOUN-ciation&lt;/em&gt; is universally wrong. Even the highly permissive Merriam-Webster dictionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pronunciation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;marks it with an obelus&lt;/a&gt; (÷). Here is what they say about pronunciations marked with an obelus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The obelus, or division sign, is placed before a pronunciation variant that occurs in educated speech but that is considered by some to be questionable or unacceptable. This symbol is used sparingly and primarily for variants that have been objected to over a period of time in print by commentators on usage, in schools by teachers, or in correspondence that has come to the Merriam-Webster editorial department. In most cases the objection is based on orthographic or etymological arguments. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/help/pronguide.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; the word &lt;em&gt;pronounce&lt;/em&gt; has an O between the two N’s and &lt;em&gt;pronunciation&lt;/em&gt; does not, it is unclear, but both words derive from French, &lt;em&gt;pronunciation&lt;/em&gt; from &lt;em&gt;pronunciation&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;pronounce&lt;/em&gt; from &lt;em&gt;pronuncier&lt;/em&gt;. There is probably some variation in the way the different word stress affected how the words were spelled after being borrowed into English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T19:52:30.013" />
  <row Id="5746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5732" CreationDate="2010-11-27T20:04:01.130" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both words have different roots, as shown by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;etymonline&lt;/a&gt;. That could be the reason why they are spelled &amp;amp; &lt;em&gt;pronounced&lt;/em&gt; differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;pronunciation:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;early 15c., &quot;mode in which a word is pronounced,&quot; from L.&#xA;  pronuntiationem (nom. pronuntiatio)&#xA;  &quot;act of speaking,&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;pronounce:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;early 14c., &quot;to utter, declare officially,&quot; from O.Fr. pronuncier&#xA;  (late 13c.), from L.L. pronunciare,&#xA;  from L. pronuntiare &quot;to proclaim,&#xA;  announce, pronounce,&quot; from pro-&#xA;  &quot;forth, out, in public&quot; (see pro-) +&#xA;  nuntiare &quot;announce,&quot; from nuntius&#xA;  &quot;messenger&quot; (see nuncio).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, I have not encountered anyone using &quot;pro-NOUN-ciation&quot;, but then again, I'm not from the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T20:04:01.130" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4079" CreationDate="2010-11-27T20:21:59.933" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in this question too. Let me list what have I found so far. I believe the most effective ways to improve the writing skills are systematic. There are a plenty of these skills. The following ideas are taken from &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0764142003&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Barron's GRE preparation book&lt;/a&gt;. One possible way to write 1 or 2 pages of a good text include the following steps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;List your ideas. Write a lot of them on a single piece of paper. Write more of them than you can use in your essay.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Organize them. Write your outline.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Write the body of your text.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Write the introduction and the summary. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Review.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you should have the following skills:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For 1 you need some brainstorming skills. See for example &quot;Writing the Natural Way&quot; by Gabriele Rico.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For 2 you should be apprised of some of the basic structure patterns. You could use the book &quot;The Elements of Style&quot; by William Strunk to read about them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In order to write well you should control your English and style. According to the Barron's book,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Strunk and White's manual, &quot;The Elements of Style&quot;, provides clear, concise advice as does William Zinsser's &quot;On Writing Well&quot;. Other good reference tools are &quot;The Harbrace College Handbook&quot;, Edvard Johnson's &quot;Handbook of Good English&quot;, and, for complete gramarphobe, Patricia O'Conner's aptly named &quot;Woe Is I&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1834" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T20:21:59.933" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-30T08:45:50.633" />
  <row Id="5748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4079" CreationDate="2010-11-27T20:36:08.217" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One way to increase your writing skill is to answer (a lot) in forums like this one and others in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackexchange.com/sites&quot;&gt;StackExchange family&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Since these Q&amp;amp;A sites have a voting system in place to quickly down-vote bad questions or answers, you will have to quickly write answers, short, to the point, &lt;em&gt;and well redacted too&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, the technical accuracy of an answer is not enough in itself to warrant massive upvotes. Style helps too. A lot actually.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the top user on SO (&lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/users/22656/jon-skeet&quot;&gt;Jon Skeet&lt;/a&gt;) is known for his well redacted contributions (and is the author of a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/review/R2HGLSX2C0WVY/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;ASIN=1933988363&amp;amp;nodeID=&amp;amp;tag=&amp;amp;linkCode=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;well-written&lt;/a&gt; book &lt;a href=&quot;http://csharpindepth.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;on C#&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1732348/regex-match-open-tags-except-xhtml-self-contained-tags/1732454#1732454&quot;&gt;top most upvoted answer on SO&lt;/a&gt; is written in a witty style that conveys best the intent of said answer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;any question with too many faults in it &lt;a href=&quot;http://programmers.stackexchange.com/posts/21412/revisions&quot;&gt;will be re-redacted&lt;/a&gt; for you!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-27T21:09:10.547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T21:09:10.547" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-30T08:45:56.530" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5656" CreationDate="2010-11-27T21:07:13.323" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary definition of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hardly&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hardly&lt;/a&gt; has four meanings. Out of the four, only one is in contemporary use, or so it seems(Hardly, as in barely, scarcely etc..)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;hardly (comparative more hardly,&#xA;  superlative most hardly)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(manner, obsolete) Firmly, vigorously, with strength or exertion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(manner, archaic) Harshly, severely. I can't really deal hardly&#xA;  with people.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(manner, obsolete) With difficulty.  He made his way hardly&#xA;  through the enemies to the castle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(degree) Barely, only just, almost not. I hardly ever watch television. I&#xA;  hardly think they'll come in this bad&#xA;  weather. It is hardly possible he&#xA;  could lose the election.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etymologically, the meanings makes sense with all the first three. But &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/words/hardly/examples&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;modern usage tends to favour the fourth meaning more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1162" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T21:07:13.323" />
  <row Id="5751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4079" CreationDate="2010-11-27T21:28:07.527" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to get writing-fluent, in my opinion, is to read. Read everything you can. You might choose to pick books you know in another language to start with so you can keep something familiar but the important thing is that you read a whole lot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're interested in journalistic writing, read a lot of journalism- you can often get compendiums of various columns or interesting pieces from certain papers and those would make good reading samples because they tend to be quite short and quite well separated as well as being good examples of the style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just reading will be a good start, but if you want to write, you need to read critically- think about how the writer is getting their ideas across, what techniques do they use? Why do they use a certain technique in a certain place? How do they construct an argument through a piece? These are the things you need to learn to do if you want to write in that style. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T21:28:07.527" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-30T08:45:35.687" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5752" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5754" CreationDate="2010-11-27T21:51:14.127" Score="2" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the etymology for the phrase, &quot;on a lark&quot; or &quot;for a lark?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T22:23:45.483" Title="Etymology for the phrase, &quot;on a lark.&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5753" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-27T21:55:29.143" Score="5" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5567/where-does-ta-come-from/5596#5596&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; the idea I put forward as a possible etymology for &quot;ta&quot; garnered the response that it is a well known &lt;em&gt;false&lt;/em&gt; etymology for the word. That got me to wondering - being strictly a dabbler in matters of language - how are things proven or disproven in a field as fluid as the study of the origins and history of words and terminology? What tools does a linguist have at their disposal to trace words back and how are they applied? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T00:27:52.820" Title="What is the standard of proof in etymology?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;linguistics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5752" CreationDate="2010-11-27T22:23:45.483" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lark#Etymology_2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=lark&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt; say that the origin of &lt;em&gt;lark&lt;/em&gt; in the meaning &quot;frolic, prank&quot; is not clear. Wiktionary puts it like this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Origin uncertain, either&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;from (notably northern) English dialect &lt;em&gt;lake/laik&lt;/em&gt; (“to play”) (c.1300, from Old Norse &lt;em&gt;leika&lt;/em&gt; (“to play (as opposed to work)”)), with intrusive -r- common in southern British dialect; or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;shortening of &lt;em&gt;skylark&lt;/em&gt; (1809), sailors' slang, &quot;play roughly in the rigging of a ship&quot;, because the common European larks were proverbial for high-flying; Dutch has a similar idea in &lt;em&gt;speelvogel&lt;/em&gt; (“playbird, a person of markedly playful nature”).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-27T22:23:45.483" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5753" CreationDate="2010-11-28T00:27:52.820" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the matter of the answer you reference,&#xA;you seem to be conflating plausibility&#xA;with proof. It is not. Etymologists use a variety&#xA;of methods, among which are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Philological research&lt;/strong&gt;. Changes in the form and meaning of the word can&#xA;  be traced with the aid of older texts,&#xA;  if such are available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Making use of dialectological data&lt;/strong&gt;. The form or meaning of the&#xA;  word might show variations between&#xA;  dialects, which may yield clues about&#xA;  its earlier history.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The comparative method&lt;/strong&gt;. By a systematic comparison of related&#xA;  languages, etymologists may often be&#xA;  able to detect which words derive from&#xA;  their common ancestor language and&#xA;  which were instead later borrowed from&#xA;  another language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The study of semantic change&lt;/strong&gt;. Etymologists must often make&#xA;  hypotheses about changes in the&#xA;  meaning of particular words. Such&#xA;  hypotheses are tested against the&#xA;  general knowledge of semantic shifts.&#xA;  For example, the assumption of a&#xA;  particular change of meaning may be&#xA;  substantiated by showing that the same&#xA;  type of change has occurred in other&#xA;  languages as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T00:27:52.820" />
  <row Id="5756" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5761" CreationDate="2010-11-28T01:02:04.553" Score="3" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one of the following statements is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I deployed something to the test server.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I deployed something on the test server.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2425" LastEditorUserId="2242" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T21:45:09.480" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T21:45:09.480" Title="&quot;Deployed to&quot; vs &quot;deployed on&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5756" CreationDate="2010-11-28T01:25:00.647" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your examples require articles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;I deployed something to &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; test server.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;I deployed something on &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; test server.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, these two are exactly equivalent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T01:25:00.647" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5758" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5763" CreationDate="2010-11-28T02:20:07.700" Score="14" ViewCount="426" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wanted to leave the question title as is so as not to take away from my amusement &lt;code&gt;:)&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's raining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is raining? Is it the sky? The clouds? The weather? The rain? What is &quot;it&quot;? Any historical insights on the statement?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1534" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T13:55:14.987" Title="It's raining. What is?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="5759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4079" CreationDate="2010-11-28T02:39:51.317" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the answer is more complex than the advice given by the other folk who contributed to this question. To my ear, it's easy to tell a person who isn't a native English speaker because they almost never use idioms correctly. English is a highly idiomatic language, and worse for those learning it, the idioms differ from region to region and country to country. In the US, people who would listen to Dan Rather knew he was from the south, not because of his accent, which he got rid of, but because of his choice of idioms. Once you master the basics, you should pay attention to, and try to use, the idioms you hear from native English speakers. If you don't use idioms your speech will sound machine-like and very foreign.  --- Catch my drift?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2426" LastEditorUserId="2426" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T09:21:58.263" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T09:21:58.263" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5758" CreationDate="2010-11-28T02:59:52.543" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, the short answer is that it does not matter.  The widely accepted explanation is that the “it” in “it is raining” does not refer to anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are curious, the verb “rain” is sometimes used with a subject such as the sky and clouds.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50196574&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford English Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; (the link requires subscription) gives many examples of this usage from Old English to the twentieth century.  One of them is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1972&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;Nature&lt;/em&gt; 24 Mar. 139/1  The primary purpose of the experiments with seeding clouds was to increase the amount of rain from the clouds, or to &lt;em&gt;cause them to rain&lt;/em&gt; if they would not otherwise have done so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Emphasis added on “cause them to rain.”)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that I am not implying that the “it” in “it is raining” actually refers to the clouds or the sky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T02:59:52.543" />
  <row Id="5761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5756" CreationDate="2010-11-28T04:37:08.910" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say it depends where you are deploying. Deploying &quot;to&quot; the test server implies a remote operation - HTTP / ssh / ftp, amongst others. Deploying &quot;on&quot; the test server implies that you are at the console/GUI of the server, whether it be physically (touching the keyboard and mouse) or virtually (VNC or similar application that acts on the server itself).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2242" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T04:37:08.910" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5762" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5766" CreationDate="2010-11-28T04:42:34.353" Score="2" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between &quot;to frighten&quot; and &quot;to scare&quot;? I've heard both, but have never been able to figure out the difference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T06:07:58.553" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T06:07:58.553" Title="What's the difference between &quot;to frighten&quot; and &quot;to scare&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5758" CreationDate="2010-11-28T04:48:50.817" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitions for &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt; in my &lt;em&gt;Webster's 3rd New International Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2a&lt;/strong&gt; used as an expletive subject of an&#xA;  impersonal verb that expresses a&#xA;  simple condition or an action without&#xA;  implied reference to an agent about&#xA;  the weather ... or time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;It is raining&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;It is two o'clock&lt;/em&gt; are examples of 2a.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2b&lt;/strong&gt; used as an expletive subject in other statements or questions having&#xA;  an undefined subject&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If it hadn't been for your help, I couldn't have finished in time&lt;/em&gt; is an example of 2b.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3a&lt;/strong&gt; used as an anticipatory subject of a verb whose logical subject is&#xA;  another word or phrase or clause&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;It is I who have the answer to the question&lt;/em&gt; is an example of 3a.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T04:48:50.817" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5762" CreationDate="2010-11-28T04:51:01.237" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two words are synonyms and may be used interchangeably. &lt;em&gt;Scare&lt;/em&gt; comes the Old Norse word &lt;em&gt;skirra&lt;/em&gt; meaning &quot;frighten.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T04:51:01.237" />
  <row Id="5765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4079" CreationDate="2010-11-28T05:07:39.473" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I mentioned in a comment to glenatron's question, the best place to start is to read, read, read. But also you need to write, write, write. Reading sharpens your ear, but writing sharpens your skill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Malcom Gladwell writes in &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0316017922&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Outliers: The Story of Success&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; that &quot;it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to attain true expertise.&quot; (That represents 5 years of 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year. But, hey, you get a two-week vacation every year!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T05:07:39.473" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5762" CreationDate="2010-11-28T05:21:18.503" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that 'frighten' is more intense than 'scare'.  Although they are (very) similar, being scared is less serious than being frightened.  That is definitely a second-order effect though; to a first approximation, they are (almost) equivalent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T05:21:18.503" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5762" CreationDate="2010-11-28T05:39:05.360" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use &lt;em&gt;frighten&lt;/em&gt; when I mean something with the hint of a &lt;em&gt;surprise&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Scare&lt;/em&gt; would mean something more gradual, as in &quot;to scare with fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD)&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1534" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T05:39:05.360" />
  <row Id="5768" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5781" CreationDate="2010-11-28T05:47:02.747" Score="6" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, now I understand that this is so, but the first few times I heard this, I had no idea what 'giving it up' meant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the derivation? How do you get from 'giving it up' to 'clapping'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="296" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T06:05:43.563" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T04:44:48.367" Title="How does 'give it up for ...' mean 'clap for ...' ?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5769" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5773" CreationDate="2010-11-28T06:11:33.997" Score="0" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always thought that an anecdote was a short funny story that had actually never happened, but was rather created by common people in order to satirize, ridicule or to laugh at someone. But recently I noticed that native English speakers usually call it simply &quot;joke&quot;. For example &quot;Let me tell you a joke. One day a French, an American and an Italian meet at one restaurant...&quot; If it's really the case, then what is an anecdote then? Would the word &quot;anecdote&quot; mean something else or, perhaps, something more specific for native English speakers? How often they use this word? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2270" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T15:52:22.023" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T15:52:22.023" Title="What is an &quot;anecdote&quot; as opposed to a &quot;joke&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5769" CreationDate="2010-11-28T06:16:28.217" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An anecdote is a short story that actually happened, traditionally (but not necessarily) one that happened to the speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, a joke is an amusing story&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;,  traditionally (but not necessarily) one that is made up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Quick chart:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;            Humourous   | Not Humorous&#xA;Real     | Either word&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; |   Anecdote&#xA;Made Up  |    Joke      |   Fiction&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; Since you mentioned satire and ridicule, that would typically be a joke, but a joke may simply be funny without being satirical or ridiculous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; Typically, though, this would be an anecdote.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T06:26:44.287" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T06:26:44.287" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5771" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5794" CreationDate="2010-11-28T06:17:19.643" Score="0" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between &quot;shrouded with&quot; and &quot;covered with&quot;? Any different hues of meaning here? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2270" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T15:52:58.417" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T15:52:58.417" Title="What's the difference between &quot;shrouded with&quot; and &quot;covered with&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5772" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5778" CreationDate="2010-11-28T06:20:48.423" Score="2" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between &quot;drivel&quot; and &quot;nonsense&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2270" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T15:54:11.897" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T15:54:11.897" Title="What's the difference between &quot;drivel&quot; and &quot;nonsense&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5769" CreationDate="2010-11-28T06:27:35.363" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Anecdote&lt;/em&gt; is a very common &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_friend&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;false friend&lt;/a&gt; for native speakers of Russian (and other Slavic languages, I believe). In Russian, &lt;em&gt;анекдот&lt;/em&gt; means exactly what you describe: &quot;a short fictitious funny story, a joke&quot;. In English, it does not. Here's the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anecdote&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster definition&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a usually short narrative of an interesting, amusing, or biographical incident&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And here's what Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anecdote#Noun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;has to say&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A short account of an incident, often humorous.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;An account which supports an argument, but which is not supported by scientific or statistical analysis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A previously untold secret account of an incident&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T06:41:49.770" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T06:41:49.770" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5774" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-28T06:49:02.827" Score="8" ViewCount="284" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you think American English will keep on deviating from British English or they will one day become the same again due to globalization and worldwide mass media?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2431" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T21:38:01.053" Title="Do you think American English will keep on deviating from British English or they will one day become the same thanks to globalization?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="5775" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-28T07:06:02.883" Score="1" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2459/awkward-sounding-but-grammatically-correct-sentences&quot;&gt;Awkward sounding but grammatically correct sentences?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following sentence is one eminent speaker&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;It is difficult to use, three times consecutively, in a sentence the word &lt;strong&gt;because because because&lt;/strong&gt; is a conjunction&quot; - C. N. Annadurai&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please post the sentences that you found interesting&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2372" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T11:37:09.887" ClosedDate="2011-02-04T19:23:55.967" Title="Interesting sentences in English language" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="5776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2459" CreationDate="2010-11-28T07:36:09.387" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your feet smell and your nose is running, then you might have been built upside down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2431" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T07:36:09.387" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-23T10:42:01.530" />
  <row Id="5777" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5780" CreationDate="2010-11-28T08:06:56.097" Score="3" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between &quot;to herald&quot; and &quot;to announce&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="1914" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-30T15:28:02.143" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T15:28:02.143" Title="What's the difference between &quot;to herald&quot; and &quot;to announce&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5772" CreationDate="2010-11-28T08:17:39.040" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Drivel is a type of nonsense: it's generally spoken, usually at length, and it's probably deadly boring. It's different from &quot;babble&quot; in that the person saying it is at least trying to pretend it makes sense, but this is hardly a redeeming feature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nonsense, on the other hand, can be written as well as spoken, and it doesn't have to be long or boring. For example, answering &quot;yes&quot; to a question such as &quot;What's your favorite [X]&quot; is nonsensical without being drivel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/drivel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;drivel:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;childish, silly, or meaningless talk or thinking; nonsense; twaddle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nonsense&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nonsense:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;words or language having little or no sense or meaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T08:17:39.040" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5779" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5784" CreationDate="2010-11-28T08:19:01.817" Score="4" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of the phrase &quot;after a fashion&quot;? I take it that the word fashion has different connotations here than its usual meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T11:00:28.387" Title="&quot;After a fashion&quot;" Tags="&lt;catch-phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5777" CreationDate="2010-11-28T08:47:02.473" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;To herald&quot; can be used to indicate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ethusiastic greetings:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The citizens of York heralded the&#xA;  arrival of the Duke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vocal praise:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The electorate heralded the new&#xA;  anti-immigration policy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;To announce&quot; can be used to indicate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;make known:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The judges announced the rules before starting the contest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both verbs can be used interchangeably to indicate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;foretell:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The sages had heralded / announced the king's impending defeat at the hands of his enemies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although, &quot;to announce&quot; is best avoided in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastEditorUserId="1784" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T17:18:14.353" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T17:18:14.353" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5768" CreationDate="2010-11-28T08:51:43.097" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/56/messages/62.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PhraseFinder&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reference 1:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;First use ... was by Arsenio&#xA;  Hall, who made it into a bit of a&#xA;  catch phrase on his television show&#xA;  that began in January 1987. There may&#xA;  be earlier usages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... Arsenio was the&#xA;  first to use the catchphrase in a&#xA;  widely seen television show; but a&#xA;  great many people would have heard him&#xA;  use it before then, ..., about&#xA;  1980 ..., when he was on tour with&#xA;  Gladys Knight. It simply means &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Don't&#xA;  hold anything back,&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; and he showed by&#xA;  gesture that he meant applause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reference 2:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Give it up -- &lt;strong&gt;let yourself go&lt;/strong&gt;.&#xA;  Mainstream 1960s. &quot;Flappers 2 Rappers:&#xA;  American Youth Slang&quot; by Tom Dalzell&#xA;  (Merriam-Webster Inc., Springfield,&#xA;  Md., 1996) Flappers 2 Rappers says in mid-1970s it became a Hip-Hop and Rap term meaning &quot;to express greeting, to applaud.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reference 3:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Marvin Gaye, 1977, Got to Give it Up.&#xA;  Lyrics at&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://marvin-gaye.guidechart.com/got-to-give-it-up.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://marvin-gaye.guidechart.com/got-to-give-it-up.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/phrasal-verbs/give+it+up+for.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;giving it up&quot;&lt;/a&gt; means &quot;to applaud&quot;. &quot;clapping&quot; is a form of applause. Hence, &quot;giving it up&quot; for someone can mean clapping for him / her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastEditorUserId="1784" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T08:59:57.070" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T08:59:57.070" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5779" CreationDate="2010-11-28T09:31:27.553" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/fashion_1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Longman dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;after a fashion&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;not very much, not very well, or not very effectively&lt;/strong&gt;:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'Can you speak Russian?' 'After a fashion.' &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That differs considerably from the main meanings of &quot;fashion&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;something that is popular or thought to be good at a particular time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a style of clothes, hair etc that is popular at a particular time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: don't mix it up with &quot;&lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; a fashion&quot; (in a particular way):  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She will be working out her problems in her own fashion (= &quot;in the way that she usually does this&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T09:31:27.553" />
  <row Id="5783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1999" CreationDate="2010-11-28T10:55:21.397" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My favorite self-contradictory word is 'cleave'. It means both to divide, and to unite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is in all variants of English, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2426" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T10:55:21.397" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-28T10:55:21.397" />
  <row Id="5784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5779" CreationDate="2010-11-28T11:00:28.387" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think there’s another meaning besides the one cited by VonC, and that is more or less equivalent to “in a manner of speaking” or “so to say”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s not commonly used but one example of this usage can be found in &lt;em&gt;Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[Context: Dumbledore just came back from a secret mission where he had been forced to drink poison in order to acquire an important item. He’s now confronted by someone who, unaware of the real reason of Dumbledore’s absence, says:]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;… “But she said you were just going for a drink …”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Well, I certainly did have a drink […] after a fashion”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is supposed to be a joke, based on the fact that Dumbledore deliberately understands a different thing than the other person by “to have a drink”. In this context, “after a fashion” does &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; mean “not very much” – the meaning is related, but quite distinct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this context, the meaning of “fashion” is exactly identical to “manner” or “kind” and I believe that is the &lt;em&gt;original&lt;/em&gt; meaning of the word, as opposed to the current usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1637" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T11:00:28.387" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5785" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-28T12:05:31.693" Score="0" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;If nobody minds, could anyone check if the grammar is correct in the below sentence? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;What drawn my attention to her vector typography was her interesting style.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T12:59:06.503" ClosedDate="2010-11-28T13:17:17.897" Title="Need grammar quick check" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5785" CreationDate="2010-11-28T12:59:06.503" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What drew my attention to her vector&#xA;  typography was her interesting style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or even,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was the interesting style of her vector typography that drew my attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T12:59:06.503" />
  <row Id="5788" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-28T14:01:39.790" Score="1" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I need to know a word meaning, I type-in the keyword into the Google search bar like so: &lt;code&gt;define: book&lt;/code&gt; (the word &lt;code&gt;book&lt;/code&gt; is the keyword). So the search results show-up just the meanings. Are there any such interesting ways to optimally use Google for language learning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2407" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T21:07:04.570" Title="Easy and quick ways for clarifying Language doubts on Google" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;&lt;tools&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="5789" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5858" CreationDate="2010-11-28T14:10:03.037" Score="1" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between &quot;to confirm&quot; and &quot;to verify&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2270" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T15:55:22.567" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T14:00:53.810" Title="What's the difference between &quot;to confirm&quot; and &quot;to verify&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="5790" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5844" CreationDate="2010-11-28T14:11:08.153" Score="2" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between &quot;successive&quot; and &quot;consecutive&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2270" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T15:56:28.603" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T11:13:08.293" Title="What's the difference between &quot;successive&quot; and &quot;consecutive&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="5791" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5796" CreationDate="2010-11-28T14:12:19.590" Score="3" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;In what case you would say &quot;I speak things&quot; instead of &quot;I say things&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T15:23:07.203" Title="In what case you would say &quot;I speak things&quot; instead of &quot;I say things&quot;?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5789" CreationDate="2010-11-28T14:12:57.013" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are synonyms that can mostly be used interchangeably to mean &quot;establish the truth of a thing.&quot; Nevertheless, &lt;em&gt;confirm&lt;/em&gt; also has the additional meanings of to affirm and to ratify or authorize. &lt;em&gt;Verify&lt;/em&gt; can also mean to test something's validity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T14:12:57.013" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5774" CreationDate="2010-11-28T15:25:11.040" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have asked a very broad and complicated question, probably more suited to an analytical dissertation than to a simple answer forum. What follows is my own simple, unscientific opinion, so please do not take it to be comprehensive or authoritative. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;George Bernard Shaw famously said that &quot;England and America are two countries separated by a common language.&quot; This droll observation is true for much more than pronunciations (schedule pronounced &quot;shedule&quot; vs. &quot;skedule&quot;; *Bern*ard vs. Ber*nard*; etc.). The acccents are, of course, noticeably different, as are the spellings of many common words: favour/favor, etc. Different words are used to describe things or actions: in America one puts cargo in the trunk of a car, while in England one puts it in the boot; Americans lift the hood to look at the engine while Britons raise the bonnet. To be pissed in America means to be angry; in England it means to be drunk. You can talk about smacking someone on the fanny in America, but would be well advised to avoid that in England. The list goes on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mass media and the Web haven't really changed those things so far, and I don't expect that will change much in the future, at least as measured in human lifetimes. For decades Americans have been watching countless reruns of &lt;em&gt;Monty Python's Flying Circus&lt;/em&gt;, and listening to British pop music even longer, and popular literature longer still, but I can't think of a single instance where I've heard an American refer to someone as a &quot;stupid get&quot; or a &quot;wanker.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Languages tend to appropriate foreign words when familiar equivalents are not available or are less descriptive or precise (the Brits referred to the German bombing of London as &quot;the Blitz&quot; even though there were serviceable English equivalents). &quot;Blitz&quot; comes from &lt;em&gt;Blitzkrieg&lt;/em&gt;, a German word, and the word refers to the German aerial bombardment. It occupied a niche, or filled a vacancy, in British English. (Apologies to my British friends who will see the term &quot;British English&quot; as redundant, but it is a necessary back formation when there are so many national varieties of English in the world today.) Both American and English speakers use the word &lt;em&gt;pogrom&lt;/em&gt;, a Russian word, because it has a more specific meaning than synonyms like &lt;em&gt;genocide&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;extermination&lt;/em&gt;. But I think it unlikely that the Brits will ever use &lt;em&gt;truck&lt;/em&gt; for &lt;em&gt;lorry&lt;/em&gt; because for them &lt;em&gt;truck&lt;/em&gt; brings nothing new or different to the concept of &quot;a large, load-carrying vehicle&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T15:25:11.040" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5771" CreationDate="2010-11-28T15:26:28.357" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference is largely one of connotation. The verb &lt;em&gt;to shroud&lt;/em&gt; derives from the noun &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shroud&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;shroud&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, which typically refers to a sheet used to cover the dead for burial in some religious traditions. Because of this association, when you say that something is &lt;em&gt;shrouded with&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;shrouded in&lt;/em&gt;, it connotes an atmosphere of mystery, gloom, or the numinous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Shrouded in&lt;/em&gt; also lends itself more readily to metaphorical usages. You might say that &quot;The castle was shrouded in mist&quot;, but it would sound odd to say that &quot;The castle was covered in mist&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T15:26:28.357" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5795" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5798" CreationDate="2010-11-28T15:26:43.163" Score="4" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;When saying the title of JRR Tolkien's masterpiece, which is the correct pronunciation (Yes, I know that they're spelled wrong, but I'm trying to emphasize the pronunciation):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thuh Lord of thuh Rings &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thee Lord of thee Rings &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thuh Lord of thee Rings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thee Lord of thuh Rings&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm partial to the first pronunciation, but another family member is adamant that the last one is the correct one. Can anybody resolve this argument?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2116" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T16:16:00.260" Title="Is pronouncing &quot;The&quot; as in &quot;Thee&quot; still correct in titles?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5791" CreationDate="2010-11-28T15:29:10.500" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I speak things&lt;/em&gt; means something like &lt;em&gt;I proclaim things&lt;/em&gt;, pertaining authority, like &lt;em&gt;I speak things into existence&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;I say things&lt;/em&gt; is way of normal discourse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Canadians say things like &quot;a&quot; every second word.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I speak things I do not see as though they were.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I speak to my dog and he obeys.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I speak things faster than I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is only a problem if the things I speak have certain authority or effect. Usually I would use this phrase if the things I spoke had a proclaiming character and hurt a situation or person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T15:29:10.500" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5795" CreationDate="2010-11-28T15:46:58.367" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced &quot;thee&quot; when it precedes a word that begins with a vowel (the apple, the overtone series, etc.) or (sometimes) an aspirated consonant (the historic occasion of his birth) or when the speaker wishes to differentiate a noun by calling it out for special dramatic emphasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;He was the heavyweight boxing champion.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;He was &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; heavyweight boxing champion.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first is a simple declaration; the second alerts the listener that the title in question is special above and beyond the mere description that follows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, one could pronounce the article &quot;thee&quot; to emphasize that only one example of a thing exists: &quot;She was &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; reason I stayed in Chicago.&quot; (Meaning she was the single or entire reason the speaker stayed in Chicago.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both examples, the difference is one of dramatic emphasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your example above, I would pronounce Tolkien's trilogy &quot;The Lord of the Rings&quot; with no &quot;thee&quot; at all. To pronounce the long &quot;e&quot; in the first word of the title would be to suggest that there are pretenders to the title of Lord of the Rings and you want to make sure people understand that &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; one is the genuine article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T16:16:00.260" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T16:16:00.260" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5799" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5801" CreationDate="2010-11-28T16:01:02.007" Score="7" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have observed several people over the years refer to something that is orange in color as &quot;yellow&quot;. Is that some linguistic difference or a difference in perception?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="189" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T22:10:53.520" Title="Yellow versus orange" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5800" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5802" CreationDate="2010-11-28T16:30:58.883" Score="10" ViewCount="366" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other day I was watching a video, in which one white teacher was being accused of using the word &quot;nigger&quot; in reference to one of his students who was black. The newscasters, before showing the video report, didn't dare to say the whole word &quot;nigger&quot; and instead just said &quot;a teacher used the n-word in class...&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I guess, this word is really bad since the newscasters can't say it in the full length. But this reminded me of the song by John Lennon &quot;Woman is the nigger of the world&quot;. I am kind of puzzled here: As far as I know Lennon had already moved to the USA by the time he released this song. I know that some radio stations refused to put it on air because of the n-word in it, but that was 40 years ago. Have things not changed since that time? If newscasters don't dare to say &quot;nigger&quot; even today, how would they refer to that song today if they needed to?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T16:41:39.647" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T14:42:21.517" Title="&quot;Woman is the 'n-word' of the world&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;expletives&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5799" CreationDate="2010-11-28T16:42:42.013" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Orange is one of the newest colors, in that in most languages, it was still considered merely a shade of a different color (red or yellow) up until recently[1]. My favorite example of this is the pigment red lead, which isn't red at all, but bright, almost-neon &quot;construction orange&quot;. And of course the hair color of most redheads isn't red either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have any similar examples for orange=yellow, at least not in English[2], but I could totally conceive of someone describing, say, a leaf as yellow, even if technically its color fell closer to the orange spectrum than to strict yellow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] In English, early 16th century. The color was named for the fruit.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;[2] The Hungarian word for a carrot is &quot;sárgarépa&quot; = yellow beet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T16:42:42.013" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="5802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5800" CreationDate="2010-11-28T16:51:28.893" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to accept that in America, the n-word is regarded as a more vile epithet (or as more taboo) than it is elsewhere in the world.  You generally wouldn't use it most places, except perhaps in a discussion of historical attitudes towards negroes and slavery (and I'm not even sure that the alternative n-word is really acceptable; people tend to use circumlocutions or euphemisms to avoid it), but in America, you really get into trouble for using it.  The sort of level of odiousness is that kids using it at school will be hauled to the principal's office, and possibly suspended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would expect that the newscasters would avoid discussing the song if at all possible - there'd be other subjects to discuss instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastEditorUserId="2386" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-29T05:11:31.483" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T05:11:31.483" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5803" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-28T17:02:25.667" Score="4" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;It is important &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;It will be good &lt;strong&gt;for&lt;/strong&gt; you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;This sounds stupid &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'll make it comfortable &lt;strong&gt;for&lt;/strong&gt; you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'll make it available &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any rules here, dear native speakers, or do we, non-native speakers, just have to memorize all individual cases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2440" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T17:12:33.207" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T20:14:59.173" Title="When to use &quot;to&quot; and when &quot;for&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5804" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5807" CreationDate="2010-11-28T17:34:43.427" Score="12" ViewCount="331" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the phrase &lt;em&gt;beginners guide to&lt;/em&gt; where should the apostrophe go?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Beginner's Guide to […]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Beginners' Guide to […]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my particular case, this is the title for a presentation so there are multiple beginners that are being addressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2441" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T13:32:01.700" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T08:58:22.833" Title="Where should the apostrophe go in the word &quot;beginners&quot; in &quot;beginners guide&quot;?" Tags="&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5804" CreationDate="2010-11-28T17:38:02.877" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can argue cogently for either position:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Beginner's Guide - this is a guide for one beginner at a time (and is probably the best choice)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Beginners' Guide - this is a guide for all beginners at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, normally one person is reading (one copy of) a text at a time, and therefore &quot;Beginner's&quot; is the more normal.  It is more likely that you will be perceived as not knowing how to handle apostrophes if you use &quot;Beginners'&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T17:38:02.877" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5496" CreationDate="2010-11-28T17:50:33.447" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a nutshell,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;poignant&quot; could be used in place of &quot;harrowing&quot;, to indicate distress. However, the former can be used in several other situations, as illustrated below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;harrowing&lt;/strong&gt; could mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;causing pain or distress.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was after a harrowing journey on&#xA;  foot that we reached the belly of the&#xA;  Amazonian rainforest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;poignant&lt;/strong&gt; could mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;incisive &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The journalist's poignant queries left&#xA;  the senator lost for words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;apt; to the point&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;His poignant summary of the poem&#xA;  garnered a huge round of applause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;emotionally moving; sometimes to the&#xA;point of distress.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The poignant tale of the girl's&#xA;  suffering moved many to tears.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pleasurably stimulating&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The sight of his childhood sweetheart&#xA;  brought back poignant memories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T17:50:33.447" />
  <row Id="5807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5804" CreationDate="2010-11-28T17:56:50.980" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your intention is to address each member of the audience directly, I suggest you prefix the phrase with an appropriate article, as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A Beginner's Guide to Shoe Hurling&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Beginner's Guide to Shoe Hurling&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of the apostrophe before s seems more apt in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Beginners' Guide to Shoe Hurling&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is also grammatically correct, but would make your presentation sound impersonal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T17:56:50.980" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5808" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-28T18:36:00.437" Score="1" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course there isn't a word whichs (as far as I know), but I am talking about the possessive form of which.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I use 'whose', but sometimes it just seems inappropriate and that 'who' seems a bit unnatural when being used for inanimate things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it only me who thinks this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other times I use 'the X of which', but that can seem a bit convoluted sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1823" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T19:00:19.640" Title="Other ways of saying whichs" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5788" CreationDate="2010-11-28T18:43:25.297" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A similar function can be used for translating words. &lt;code&gt;translate Spanish: cat&lt;/code&gt; The first search result will be the translation in the said language from google translate. This may not be as useful as actually using translate.google.com, however good to know that the function works from the main search page. You can also enter your search in this format : translate &quot;cat&quot; to Spanish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2443" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T18:43:25.297" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="5810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5788" CreationDate="2010-11-28T18:52:00.890" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As has been pointed out &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3557/is-there-an-online-sample-sentence-database-or-search-engine&quot;&gt;elsewhere&lt;/a&gt;, you can use the operators &lt;strong&gt;*&lt;/strong&gt; (wildcard) and  &lt;strong&gt;~&lt;/strong&gt; (similar word or synonym) to search for sample sentences. For example, if you are not sure which preposition to use in the phrase &quot;he has not covered himself &lt;strong&gt;__&lt;/strong&gt; glory&quot;, you can use the search string &quot;not ~covered * glory&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T18:52:00.890" />
  <row Id="5811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5808" CreationDate="2010-11-28T19:00:19.640" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using &quot;whose&quot; in such cases is correct. This post on another forum addresses your question: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailywritingtips.com/forum/showthread.php?38-Possessive-form-of-quot-which-quot&amp;amp;p=334#post334&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Possessive form of &quot;which.&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2442" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T19:00:19.640" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5800" CreationDate="2010-11-28T20:14:05.657" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems the perception of &quot;nigger&quot; has regained quite a bit of its former intensity in the past ten years or so. In 2000, it didn't seem nearly as common for students to face repercussions for saying it in school, or for it to be avoided so strongly in the media. I don't think this reflects an increase in general social enlightenment so much as a growing culture of so-called &quot;political correctness&quot;&amp;mdash;because actual correctness would be asking too much, of course. I'm sure this has something to do with the backlash after the World Trade Center attacks sparked rampant anti-Middle Eastern sentiments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sociopolitical climate in 1972 was very different from how it is now in 2010. The song was written to evoke a certain reaction by appealing to the sensibilities of the people at the time. Race relations were still a very touchy issue, as well as the women's rights movement. Then-chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Ron Dellums, gave a rather amazing response to the political uproar surrounding Lennon:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;If you define 'niggers' as someone whose lifestyle is defined by others, whose opportunities are defined by others, whose role in society are defined by others, then good news! You don't have to be black to be a 'nigger' in this society. Most of the people in America are 'niggers'.&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, it doesn't seem to bother most people so much that there's such a stigma on those who use the word, though it is fully justified that they should be stigmatised. The only real reason to say it nowadays is in discussions of slavery and the civil rights movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And of course, if you happen to live in the right area, know the right people, and perhaps have the right skin colour, then it may serve as a term of endearment with your very very close black friends. Personally, I don't care for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastEditorUserId="1506" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-29T05:41:29.840" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T05:41:29.840" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5813" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5816" CreationDate="2010-11-28T20:22:38.053" Score="3" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am reading a 1892 novel, in which I see the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For months my life was despaired of, and when at last I came to myself....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this an old use of the word &quot;despair&quot;? If the word &quot;of&quot; is dropped, does the meaning of the sentence change?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2340" LastEditorUserId="2340" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T20:38:47.660" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T20:47:56.807" Title="being despaired of" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5813" CreationDate="2010-11-28T20:35:21.880" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence means the narrator's friends or family were fearful that he or she might die. To &quot;despair of&quot; something is to fear for it. I know of no common modern spelling of &quot;despair&quot; that is spelled &quot;dispair.&quot; You can drop the word &quot;of&quot; but the verb does not take a direct object. Instead you would use it in a construction like &quot;I despair that you will ever get to be President of the United States.&quot; That means the speaker doesn't think you will ever occupy the Oval Office. It may also mean that said speaker deplores said condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, yes, &quot;to despair of&quot; something is a construction more likely to be seen in older writing, but is not archaic and I still see it used frequently today — mostly by people whose writing tends toward the literary turn of phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T20:41:57.350" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T20:41:57.350" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5815" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5828" CreationDate="2010-11-28T20:37:25.587" Score="10" ViewCount="334" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do people in different areas speak differently? Where do accents come from, how do they change and/or survive over time and why do we have them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reading recommendations on this topic would be welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-28T21:35:08.847" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T14:21:13.187" Title="Where do accents and dialects come from?" Tags="&lt;dialects&gt;&lt;accent&gt;&lt;regionalisms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="5816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5813" CreationDate="2010-11-28T20:47:56.807" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;of&quot; would certainly change the meaning of the sentence- in fact it would be meaningless without it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People will still use &quot;despair of&quot; sometimes. &quot;I despair of you&quot; is the kind of phrase my mother would say when I was young and I hadn't done my chores. I suppose the meaning is close to &quot;I give up&quot; so in the original quote they had given up hope of the protagonist recovering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T20:47:56.807" />
  <row Id="5817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5788" CreationDate="2010-11-28T21:07:04.570" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Check out Google Dictionary Chrome Extension - &lt;a href=&quot;https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/mgijmajocgfcbeboacabfgobmjgjcoja&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/mgijmajocgfcbeboacabfgobmjgjcoja&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm using it all the time. Similar extensions might be out there for other browsers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2444" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T21:07:04.570" />
  <row Id="5818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5774" CreationDate="2010-11-28T21:57:26.333" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Considering that even within America the word choice and pronunciation isn't standardized, I think it's unlikely that British English and American English are going to merge. People speak the way they do because others nearby speak that way. Since a single country, ostensibly united in culture and language, doesn't in fact have a homogeneous language, it's hopeless to believe that two separate countries will have a homogeneous language. Probably the best we can hope for is relatively universal intelligibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastEditorUserId="380" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-29T17:14:22.490" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T17:14:22.490" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="5819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5800" CreationDate="2010-11-28T21:58:54.873" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;And the Irish are the niggers of Europe, Roddy Doyle tells us. Social attitudes toward this sort of language can change very quickly over the generations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T21:58:54.873" />
  <row Id="5820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5799" CreationDate="2010-11-28T22:10:53.520" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can certainly be a difference in perception. My wife is mildly color-blind, and we sometimes describe the same item with different color words because we perceive it differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1835" LastActivityDate="2010-11-28T22:10:53.520" />
  <row Id="5821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-28T22:42:13.980" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's one I only recently learned I was saying wrong all my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The name of children's book author Dr. Seuss&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does NOT rhyme with Goose. It is pronounced like Soyce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;You’re wrong as the deuce  &#xA;And you shouldn’t rejoice  &#xA;If you’re calling him Seuss  &#xA;He pronounces it Soice  &#xA;     -Alexander Liang  (Colleague of Geisel)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="764" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-14T20:04:27.400" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T20:04:27.400" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-28T22:42:13.980" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5800" CreationDate="2010-11-29T00:18:23.480" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find the use of the word funny here in the US. I am not american and not white (unfortunately i hate the term black because I am &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; black, I just inherited a beautiful tan).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word nigger meant absolutely nothing to me. We even had gumballs called niggerballs where I come from and it never bothered me. Perhaps because I did not grow up in the US makes me oblivious to the subtle issues related to the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2314" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T00:18:23.480" />
  <row Id="5823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5800" CreationDate="2010-11-29T00:20:24.027" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Word control is one step from thought control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2426" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T00:20:24.027" />
  <row Id="5824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5774" CreationDate="2010-11-29T00:33:42.147" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Presumably, at the time the British settled the new world both the American and British versions of English were the same. Since that point both have drifted. When the British send their criminals to Australia presumably they had the same version of English. Since then both have drifted. New Zealand is the same, as is Canada.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your question assumes that the British version of English has stayed the same and all the others have deviated which is a false assumption. Indeed, since the non-British versions of English have been subject to fewer foreign influences than British English, there is every reason to believe that it's the British version that has deviated the most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For all you know Shakespeare sounded more like a Boston,Toronto, Sydney, or Christchurch native than a bloke from London.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incidentally, why is American English not called Canadian English? Or Canadian-American English, since they are identical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2426" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T00:33:42.147" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="5825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5790" CreationDate="2010-11-29T01:16:48.093" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think there isn't any difference in denotation.  I suspect that &quot;successive&quot; is more apt to be used in a casual nontechnical context, and &quot;consecutive&quot; when the subject involves math or is otherwise technical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2284" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T01:16:48.093" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="5826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5804" CreationDate="2010-11-29T01:37:26.947" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either is correct and you'd have to choose based on context: &quot;A beginner's guide to peg solitaire&quot; vs &quot;Beginners' guide to flash-mob culture&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2284" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-02T20:53:48.990" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T20:53:48.990" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="5827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5815" CreationDate="2010-11-29T01:40:22.147" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;With one or two artificial exceptions, languages are not made, they are grown. More, they are grown by the simple mechanism of usage. Languages are never set in stone, but are living things that change as people use them. The most simple and glaring example today is the 'Americanization' of, basically, all the languages in the world by the mechanism of mass media, internet, and high tech. The most common word in the world is 'OK', a piece of American slang from WW1 (the latest theory, Some say it's American pre-WW1). Today, it may be that every single person in the world who can speak a modern language knows what 'ok' means. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But 'television' is also widespread. 'Hamburger' is the same in most languages (given pronunciation difficulties, like in Japan) on and on. Thus, American English is being spread everywhere by the mechanism of simple contact. It's not a conspiracy, it's a function of the elastic nature of language and its easy ability to be influenced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is also true for accents. All isolated or semi-isolated groups of a certain size have accents (as well as dialects) due to a natural evolutionary process - ('mutations' are spread by usage). It starts with one person saying 'oo' instead of 'ow' for words that have an 'ou' in them, (e.g. out, about, flout, trout...) it spreads to two, then more, and before you know it, Canada is created ;-) . (For those who don't know, Canadian English and American English are all but identical except that Canadians say 'oo' and Americans say 'ow' when they speak a word with 'ou' in it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2426" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T01:40:22.147" />
  <row Id="5828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5815" CreationDate="2010-11-29T01:44:50.417" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h3&gt;What do we mean by &quot;dialect&quot;?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, let me say that the distinction between &quot;dialect&quot;, &quot;slang&quot;, and &quot;language&quot; is fuzzy, arbitrary, and fundamentally a social (cultural, political) construct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two dialects of the same language can be mutually unintelligible (e.g. Moroccan and Baghdadi Arabic — significantly different on every level), while two separate languages can be almost 100% understandable (e.g. Serbian and Croatian — considered different for nationalistic reasons by some).  You can also have a language continuum; for example, Dutch and German are completely different languages. If you start out in northern Germany, and start heading (along the correct path) from town to town, you'll find that each neighboring town understands each other, but once you are in the middle of the Netherlands, you'll realize that people are now speaking dialects of Dutch, and at some point you crossed over from one to another, but there was never a line where one group is speaking German and the other speaks Dutch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Defining what a &quot;language&quot; is in real terms&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good way to think about why we have dialects and accents is if you don't think about a language as a single entity of some kind.  Each official &quot;language&quot; is more of an abstract concept.  Instead, you can think of language as a distributed system, where no member of the system (any speaker of the language) has complete knowledge of the system.  Those members who come in contact with each other influence each other as they communicate and interact, meaning that there is bi-directional feedback between members.  Due to things like innovation, misunderstandings, reanalysis, and borrowing, random elements enter into the system and drive change.  Also, the population is always adding new members who are more malleable and losing older members.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more isolated and coherent a group of people are, the more these types of variation lead to deviation in the form of the language, because the repeated interaction with members having similar grammar leads to a sort of feedback loop.  (You can think of this as being somewhat analogous to isolated groups of people having genetic defects or features in common, because the repeated combining of similar DNA amplifies subtle mutations.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is happening all at the same time, with &quot;group of people&quot; being defined at all levels, and all updating and influencing each other at the same time.  For example, each person has his own way of speaking, and households will often develop unique features in the way they speak.  Different age groups, genders, and other culturally defined groups may have their own features as well.  People's grammars are being influenced by their peers and, in turn, influencing their peers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at language in this way, it makes perfect sense that we would have all sorts of variation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the real reason why we have dialects is actually because we arbitrarily choose one version of a language and deem that &quot;the language&quot;, making every deviation from this official version a &lt;em&gt;de facto&lt;/em&gt; dialect.  In reality, we are a huge system of varying idiolects with varying levels of coherence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Differences in language change today&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are certain things that drive a language towards greater and broader coherence nowadays.  The biggest is education and a writing system.  With everyone learning standard English in school, and a standard writing system, we maintain some connection to a certain version of a language that changes much more slowly and conservatively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another major factor that maintains widespread language coherence is media: books, radio, TV, Internet.  On television, we hear a variety of different accents, and above all others, a &quot;dialect-free&quot; version of English.  We can read books, webpages, and listen to the radio, and all of these things impact our own internal version of language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For these reasons, language change in English might take a different form than it had for its entire existence until 100-200 years ago.  It may be slower to change in certain ways, and faster in others, dialects may merge, or any number of other things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-29T14:21:13.187" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T14:21:13.187" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5660" CreationDate="2010-11-29T01:45:45.603" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to remember a word is to use it. Tomorrow, use it in a sentence 5 times. Do this for 5 days, and you'll remember it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2426" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T01:45:45.603" />
  <row Id="5830" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-29T06:56:49.230" Score="0" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&#xA;I have created one page for a website. Now, I have to submit a project report to my ProjectManager. What should be the format,how should I start?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2454" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T06:56:49.230" ClosedDate="2010-12-01T01:21:59.330" Title="regarding a project report" Tags="&lt;list-request&gt;" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5831" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5832" CreationDate="2010-11-29T07:41:41.140" Score="10" ViewCount="916" Body="&lt;p&gt;As we all know, English is the universal communication medium. Now we know how powerful it is to convey our thoughts. When did it become a common language? Why did they opt for this language?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2455" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-29T13:48:55.880" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T21:05:28.877" Title="Why did English become a universal language and when?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5831" CreationDate="2010-11-29T08:19:04.023" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English became the &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_franca&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lingua franca&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; around WWII, but it was already used all through the British Colonial Empire, establishing it in North America and Australia among others. here is a citation of Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It[English] has&#xA;  replaced French as the lingua franca&#xA;  of diplomacy since World War II. The&#xA;  rise of English in diplomacy began in&#xA;  1919, in the aftermath of World War I,&#xA;  when the Treaty of Versailles  was&#xA;  written in English as well as in&#xA;  French, the dominant language used in&#xA;  diplomacy until that time. The&#xA;  widespread use of English was further&#xA;  advanced by the prominent&#xA;  international role played by&#xA;  English-speaking nations (the United&#xA;  States and the Commonwealth of&#xA;  Nations) in the aftermath of World War&#xA;  II, particularly in the establishment&#xA;  and organization of the United&#xA;  Nations. &lt;br&gt;[...]&lt;br&gt; When the United Kingdom&#xA;  became a colonial power, English&#xA;  served as the lingua franca of the&#xA;  colonies of the British Empire. In the&#xA;  post-colonial period, some of the&#xA;  newly created nations which had&#xA;  multiple indigenous languages  opted&#xA;  to continue using English as the&#xA;  lingua franca to avoid the political&#xA;  difficulties inherent in promoting any&#xA;  one indigenous language above the&#xA;  others. The British Empire established&#xA;  the use of English in regions around&#xA;  the world such as North America,&#xA;  India, Africa, Australia and New&#xA;  Zealand, so that by the late 19th&#xA;  century its reach was truly global, &#xA;  and in the latter half of the 20th&#xA;  century, widespread international use&#xA;  of English was much reinforced by the&#xA;  global economic, financial,&#xA;  scientific, military, and cultural&#xA;  pre-eminence of the English-speaking&#xA;  countries and especially the U.S.&#xA;  Today, more than half of all&#xA;  scientific journals are published in&#xA;  English, while in France, almost one&#xA;  third of all natural science research&#xA;  appears in English, lending some&#xA;  support to English being the lingua&#xA;  franca of science and technology.&#xA;  English is also the lingua franca of&#xA;  international Air Traffic Control&#xA;  communications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T08:19:04.023" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="5833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5831" CreationDate="2010-11-29T08:34:53.400" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a difficult question to answer because so many of the terms are vague. Even the term &quot;English&quot; is mutable, as there are many dialects and variants used regionally which are quite distinct from one another, with their own grammatical quirks and entirely unique vocabularies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I would say that it was England's massive colonial expansion and the post-colonial retention of English for trade and negotiation that are mostly responsible for it's prevalence - in turn caused by England's naval superiority for many centuries. The aggressively prolific production of English-language media in the early- to mid-twentieth century (Hollywood et al) resulted in prolonged global exposure, and a significant proportion of research and diplomacy was already taking place in English. Nobody can say exactly when its usage gained &quot;critical mass,&quot; but I would agree that it was somewhere in the early 20th century.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many other universal-communication languages in use (a notable drive in S E Asia to promote &quot;Mandarin&quot; Chinese as a &lt;em&gt;lingua franca&lt;/em&gt; is underway) but as you say, none of them so prevalent as English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T08:34:53.400" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5834" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5836" CreationDate="2010-11-29T09:05:11.817" Score="6" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't understand why but I feel arrogant or ambitious when I use a simple sentence in active voice using &quot;I&quot; especially while I was writing my college essay or curriculum vitae e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I managed a team.&quot;&#xA;&quot;I wanted to become successful.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could also be limited to past tense. How could I re-phrase these such that the tone doesn't seem arrogant? Is it just me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1498" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T02:15:47.050" Title="The ambitious/arrogant tone of &quot;I&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;tone&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5835" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-29T09:26:26.967" Score="1" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;p&gt;Essay: an item of information that is typical of a class or group; &quot;this patient provides a typical example of the syndrome&quot;; &quot;there is an example on page 10&quot; (Google)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe I haven't understood this properly in my entire high school career but I think choosing examples becomes complex. In cases of literary analysis, I understand than quotations from the book are typical examples; however, in the case of general essays, what is an &quot;example&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typical paragraph structure:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Topic sentence&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Example&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supporting sentences&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Transitions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would I determine whether an example is appropriate for my essay? What characteristics may I use to determine on a case-by-case scenario if an example is appropriate much like a check list?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anything could be made an example, what makes a &lt;strong&gt;strong&lt;/strong&gt; example?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1498" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T11:38:24.403" Title="Characteristics of an &quot;example&quot; in Essay Writing?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;structure&gt;&lt;example&gt;&lt;essay&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5834" CreationDate="2010-11-29T09:36:37.177" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Sense of self and ownership&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the college essay, you sell &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; opinions. When you say, &quot;I think that...&quot;, &quot;I believe that...&quot;, it signifies your conviction about the topic. If you feel that you are using &quot;I&quot; repeatedly that it becomes boring, you can shift with a strong, convincing statement. Right now I'm listening to Ziggy Marley's&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Love is my religion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; think that he was convincing enough with that line alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the curriculum vitae, I concur with @Bruno's comment. And I would like to add more. A CV is all about selling yourself. Since it's all about yourself, there is no need to say &quot;I&quot; for every accomplishment. Several of the following types of phrases would be very convincing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Managed a $100,000 project from planning to turnover&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using &quot;I&quot; can be limited to the objective or narrative summary section. Even the narrative summary section can be written in the third person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; Strong, convincing statements aren't necessarily wrapped in single sentences. One way I might do it is this. Imagine yourself being in the Jedi Council debating whether Anakin should be trained:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yes, he may bring balance to the Force. He may have high levels of &lt;em&gt;midi-chlorians&lt;/em&gt;. The Force is strong in him. But does that necessarily add up that he should be trained?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then follow it up with your arguments,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I sense much fear in him. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You probably know the drill &lt;code&gt;:)&lt;/code&gt;. There are many ways of getting your point across convincingly. It just takes practice and lots and lots of reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1534" LastEditorUserId="1534" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-29T09:55:12.893" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T09:55:12.893" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5831" CreationDate="2010-11-29T10:03:17.743" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not really related, but I couldn't resist:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's not that they're wicked or&#xA;  naturally bad&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  It's knowing they're&#xA;  foreign that makes them so mad&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The&#xA;  English are all that a nation should&#xA;  be&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  And the pride of the English are&#xA;  Donald and me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The English the English the English are best&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    I wouldn't give tuppence for all of the rest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Full lyrics &lt;a href=&quot;http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiTHENGLSH.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt; On a slightly more serious vote (erm, freudian slip, I meant &lt;em&gt;note&lt;/em&gt;!), I think that apart from the geopolitical aspect, another element in the success of English is its flexibility and openness to evolution. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you contrast with a protectionist language like French that has a 'magisterium' which has to decide on all things new (&lt;em&gt;l'Académie Française&lt;/em&gt;), there is much less liberty to improvise or adapt. In English, it's often been a case of 'If you can't beat them, join them', and we liberally import any new and useful words we come across. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in one sense, English hasn't so much beaten other languages as absorbed them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastEditorUserId="529" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-30T14:25:54.947" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T14:25:54.947" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5838" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-29T10:16:51.680" Score="3" ViewCount="301" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know when should we use &quot;rarely&quot; and &quot;hardly&quot; and &quot;seldom&quot;. Can we use these adverbs in the same situation? Or do we need to follow some criteria for using those different adverbs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2457" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-29T13:16:14.037" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T13:16:14.037" Title="When do we use &quot;rarely, hardly, seldom&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5839" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5847" CreationDate="2010-11-29T10:39:08.217" Score="15" ViewCount="708" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where did this come from? It sounds nasty to me (I am not a native speaker). But it seems correct. Can somebody explain this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="109" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-29T11:29:50.843" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T20:57:22.797" Title="Saw people referring as &quot;I am married with three kids&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5838" CreationDate="2010-11-29T10:40:26.683" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Rarely&quot; and &quot;seldom&quot; are synonymous and interchangeable, used to indicate low frequency. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Hardly&quot; is not used to indicate infrequency (unless you say &quot;hardly ever,&quot; which &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; synonymous with the other two) but rather the extent of a quality, as it is synonymous with &quot;barely.&quot; For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The light was hardly visible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...meaning you could only just see the light, as compared to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The light was seldom visible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...meaning you could only see the light sometimes, irrespective of how bright it was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T10:40:26.683" />
  <row Id="5841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5839" CreationDate="2010-11-29T10:45:52.200" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without seeing/hearing it in context, this statement appears to be a completely neutral statement of fact - no implications, nasty or otherwise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible that we're missing some important detail. You may need to provide more information about the context in which this phrase was used if we are to spot any hidden malice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T10:45:52.200" />
  <row Id="5842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5839" CreationDate="2010-11-29T10:49:59.350" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am married with three kids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;can safely be resolved to &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am married, with three kids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;at which point the context &amp;amp; the meaning become completely clear. I don't think the sentence sounds nasty, as nobody would ever want to imply what you are referring to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastEditorUserId="1784" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-29T11:49:44.593" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T11:49:44.593" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5839" CreationDate="2010-11-29T10:50:35.583" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Did you hear it or read it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you heard it, you may not have correctly heard the comma, which de-nastys to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am married, with three kids&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T10:50:35.583" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5790" CreationDate="2010-11-29T10:59:03.727" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First note that successive appears as a synonym of consecutive in dictionaries. (see Merriam Webster's entry  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/consecutive&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now compare these examples that I chose at random and extracted from the Corpus of &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Contemporary American English (COCA)&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Consecutive&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;his unprecedented string of consecutive appearances&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;has own the best actor Emmy two consecutive times&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;named person of the year for the second consecutive time&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;account balance remains overdrawn for seven consecutive days&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;the Irish made six consecutive NCAA Tournaments&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Successive&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;on successive laps, Chris passed three cars&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;analysts say that successive governments failed to&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;dramatic walk-off style in successive victories against the Seattle Mariners&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;simultaneous and successive cognitive processes&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;who have challenged successive military governments&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is what I observe in the examples (I hope I was lucky in my random choice of them):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the examples that use &lt;em&gt;consecutive&lt;/em&gt;, the fact that the events happened in a row without interruption seems to be something that the author wanted to emphasize. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in the examples that use &lt;em&gt;successive&lt;/em&gt;, the fact that the events occur after each other with no interruption seems to play a secondary role. Notice that you can remove &lt;em&gt;successive&lt;/em&gt; from some of these sentences and the meaning is not affected too much. If you remove &lt;em&gt;consecutive&lt;/em&gt;, the impact is in general higher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-29T11:13:08.293" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T11:13:08.293" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5758" CreationDate="2010-11-29T11:14:42.067" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a workaround to plug &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valency_%28linguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;avalent&lt;/a&gt; verbs into the rigid English sentence structure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T11:14:42.067" />
  <row Id="5846" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5853" CreationDate="2010-11-29T11:15:47.137" Score="1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to learn about phrasal verbs and idioms in English.Which book(s) would you recommend for them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="109" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T12:10:06.630" Title="Learning Phrasal verbs and idioms" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;learning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5839" CreationDate="2010-11-29T11:21:34.990" Score="30" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're talking about you and your spouse, it's not possible to be &quot;married &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt;&quot; anyone; you can only be &quot;married &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;&quot; someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hence there is no ambiguity in saying &quot;married with three kids&quot;, as the &quot;with&quot; cannot be associated with &quot;married&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T11:21:34.990" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5848" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5862" CreationDate="2010-11-29T11:31:07.910" Score="1" ViewCount="495" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the title says, please explain when to use them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="109" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T19:46:47.240" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T19:46:47.240" Title="Usage of comma, colon, semicolon and dash in English" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2459" CreationDate="2010-11-29T11:37:09.887" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's like building a building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="109" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T11:37:09.887" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-23T10:42:10.327" />
  <row Id="5851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5835" CreationDate="2010-11-29T11:38:24.403" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hope I can answer your question. It has not been very well worded so I may have misunderstood, for which I apologise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my mind, the most important characteristics of an example are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It unambiguously illustrates the point you are making.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is related to the topic in hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wherever possible, it does not contain too much additional information.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are not &quot;rules&quot; but common sense criteria. Additional criteria for selecting examples will largely depend on the topic and nature of the essay. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An engineering or pure-scientific paper could make use of hypothetical cases, either well-known in the field or constructed specially by the author, to demonstrate the principle being discussed. Such examples should be complete and coherent; as simple as possible without being trivial; requiring as little supporting material as possible to demonstrate the core principle, thus preventing distraction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A practice-based topic (such as medicine, law, social work or business studies) should usually use real and referenced cases to illustrate a point. This usually requires much more extra information than would be acceptable for examples in other fields, but this can often be resigned to appendices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Humanities, social sciences, languages, arts and other less prescriptive topics usually require a broad coverage of examples in order to substantiate an argument. For this reason, examples should be as brief as possible (within reason) and from as wide a variety of sources as possible. If your examples must come from a single source (as with literary analysis) then examples should be selected from the full body of the work rather than a single verse, chapter, character or whatever. Of course, if you are able to provide material from outside the work in question to support your point, this is usually very well received. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the above point about multiple examples is true when making an argument, but when making a &lt;em&gt;counter&lt;/em&gt;-argument (ie disproving a previously proposed argument) it is generally only necessary to provide a single and conclusive counter-example, unless the counter-argument is the main theme of your work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bear in mind that it is often considered poor practice in academic works to use archetypal examples to illustrate a point. If you make reference to examples that are already very well known to practitioners in the field, your paper will come across as lacking any depth of research and therefore lacking authority. Sometimes this can be subverted, perhaps by presenting a new or unique insight on a well-established precedent, but only if you're certain you know what you're doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best possible advice is to read other papers in the field to find out what works and what doesn't - which you will be doing anyway as part of your research, of course!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T11:38:24.403" />
  <row Id="5852" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5856" CreationDate="2010-11-29T12:08:51.563" Score="0" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is below correctly expressing potential consequences of meeting someone:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A chance encounter is a great idea. However, in this case, chances  would be very slim to meet her this way. Even worse, if I went out of my way to meet her socially and randomly, chance that her two roommates would accompany her are pretty significant&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question arose from my latest post on seddit: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/seduction/comments/ed4at/trying_to_get_with_a_9_but_she_is_hesitant_to/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.reddit.com/r/seduction/comments/ed4at/trying_to_get_with_a_9_but_she_is_hesitant_to/&lt;/a&gt; as I was contriving the comment to one of the responders. Feel free to suggest modifications to my actual post.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thanks &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1446" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-29T14:05:01.153" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T14:05:01.153" Title="talking about possible future events" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5846" CreationDate="2010-11-29T12:10:06.630" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found this useful &lt;a href=&quot;http://a4esl.org/q/h/idioms.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://a4esl.org/q/h/idioms.html&lt;/a&gt;   It  contains a bunch of Self-Study Idiom Quizzes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T12:10:06.630" />
  <row Id="5854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5758" CreationDate="2010-11-29T13:02:43.577" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nothing.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some languages, a subject is always present in the sentence, even when conceptually there is no subject. English is one of them, as well as French (&quot;il pleut&quot; for &quot;it's raining&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other languages, like Portuguese for example, you don't use any word for the subject when it doesn't exist. We say &quot;chove&quot; (just the verb) for &quot;it's raining&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T13:02:43.577" />
  <row Id="5855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5789" CreationDate="2010-11-29T13:16:26.160" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think that these words can be used interchangeably.  These words are similar, but are usually used in different ways.  To verify something usually means being able to provide convincing evidence that it is true.  When something is to be verified, there is usually some doubt as to whether it is actually true.  To confirm something usually means providing some additional evidence that it is true.  When something is to be confirmed, it is usually already believed to be true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-29T13:23:45.560" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T13:23:45.560" />
  <row Id="5856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5852" CreationDate="2010-11-29T13:37:04.877" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is your original:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A chance encounter is a great idea.&#xA;  However, in this case, chances would&#xA;  be very slim to meet her this way.&#xA;  Even worse, if I went out of my way to&#xA;  meet her socially and randomly, chance&#xA;  that her two roommates would accompany&#xA;  her are pretty significant&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here it is with minor corrections to clear up the sense in meaning (noted in italics):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A chance encounter is a great idea.&#xA;  However, in this case, &lt;em&gt;the chance&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  would be very slim to meet her this&#xA;  way. Even worse, if I went out of my&#xA;  way to meet her socially and randomly,&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; chance that her two roommates would accompany her &lt;em&gt;would be&lt;/em&gt; pretty&#xA;  significant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This mainly drags the moods and tenses (and numbers) into agreement and adds articles where I believe they are necessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now please forgive me for taking the liberty, but here's how I would modify the passage if I were your editor:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A chance encounter is a tempting idea.&#xA;  The chances are slim, however, that I&#xA;  would meet her this way. And even if I&#xA;  should contrive to meet her socially&#xA;  (and &quot;randomly&quot;) in this way, there&#xA;  remains a strong likelihood that her&#xA;  two roommates would accompany her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I changed &lt;em&gt;great&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;tempting&lt;/em&gt; because everything that follows suggests the idea is not great; you are merely entertaining the notion. I shortened the next sentence and removed the intensifier &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; because it adds nothing. The last sense I cast more strongly as a final objection rejecting the premise set up in the first sentence. I also removed most of the uses of subjunctive mood and played it off against the indicative for effect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T13:37:04.877" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5758" CreationDate="2010-11-29T13:55:14.987" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Raining reflects a state; the unresolved &quot;it&quot; - in the absence of another anchor - defaults to referencing our global environment or world state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2471" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T13:55:14.987" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5789" CreationDate="2010-11-29T14:00:53.810" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Verification requires external evidence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Confirmation requires a re-issuance of a believed statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, one may trust a third party to obtain and review the evidence required for a verification, which could lead to both word choices being valid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2471" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T14:00:53.810" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5800" CreationDate="2010-11-29T14:42:21.517" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taboo words worry me a great deal, because they're a sign of a social problem that isn't being dealt with.  When a word has acquired heavy negative connotations, as &quot;nigger&quot; reeks of the slave trade, then the thought goes that we should use a different word instead which doesn't have those connotations.  This is a very emotionally appealing argument as it avoids difficult confrontations.  Unfortunately I don't believe it has ever actually worked.  The new word quickly acquires the connotations of the old as well as its own, with a large dollop of cynicism added as people recognise the avoidance tactic for what it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tracked this particularly with relation to disability (my father's job was helping disabled people find work), through &quot;cripped&quot;, &quot;disabled&quot; and &quot;differently abled&quot;.  Now we have &quot;special needs&quot;, and I've many times heard people (myself included) look at a particularly silly mistake and say &quot;Well, that was &lt;em&gt;special&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;  Unless you turn around and positively take back the word, as was done with &quot;black,&quot; nothing really changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T14:42:21.517" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5848" CreationDate="2010-11-29T15:14:20.473" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dashes.  There are three commonly used dashes in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hyphen - Joins two words as a single concept.  Often the hyphen is omitted when the word pair enters common usage as a compound word. &quot;First-class.&quot;  At one point the word may have been &quot;extra-terrestrial&quot; but the hyphen is now omitted.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;n-dash &amp;ndash; (width of an 'n')  Indicates a from&amp;ndash;to relationship, a between relationship father&amp;ndash;son, or a range &quot;It's 50&amp;ndash;75 kilometres down the road.&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;m-dash &amp;mdash; (width of an 'm')  Indicates a pause or a break in the sentence, or surrounds a phrase used as an aside, or parenthetical statement.  &quot;My father &amp;mdash; a loyal husband &amp;mdash; is a lawyer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2477" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T15:14:20.473" />
  <row Id="5861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5791" CreationDate="2010-11-29T15:23:07.203" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In ordinary speech, &quot;speak&quot; does not take a direct object. You can be speaking, you can speak &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; somebody, but to &quot;speak words&quot; or &quot;speak a message&quot; is unusual and I would say literary. &#xA;(I except idioms like &quot;speak my mind&quot; and &quot;speak the truth&quot;, and also the construction &quot;Speak English&quot;, where the language looks syntactically like a direct object, but I actually think it is a verbal modifier, like an adverb). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T15:23:07.203" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="5862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5848" CreationDate="2010-11-29T15:41:17.640" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are my rules of thumb (so they are not meant to be rigorous specifications of when each mark is to be used and when each is not to be used):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;First, the comma and semicolon have similar functions (though the former is more flexible than the latter), but the colon has a very different function.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Either a comma or a semicolon can be used to separate independent clauses. Generally a semicolon carries greater weight and offers a more noticeable sense of separation between the clauses than does a comma. It's notable that when a comma is used for this purpose a conjunction must follow the comma, but no conjunction is necessary when a semicolon is used. Often the conjunction conveys a small bit of extra information, so to use a semicolon is to sacrifice this information. (&quot;I like this band, but my brother doesn't.&quot; -- &quot;I like this band; my brother doesn't.&quot; In this example &quot;but&quot; reinforces the notion that what follows it is contrary to what precedes it. From an information-theoretic perspective this is redundant as this relationship between the two clauses is easily deduced from the version with the semicolon, but as we know the goal of writing is not so much about efficiency as it is about effectiveness.) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I was taught when young to use a comma whenever you would take a breath were you to read the sentence aloud. I generally never follow this rule and recommend others to ignore it as well. This tends to lead to a proliferation of unnecessary comma splices and similar misguided constructions. For instance, sometimes when speaking you might, in a flash of insight, say the word &quot;although&quot; loudly, pause for a second or so, and then release your insight on your listeners. You might be tempted to write as follows: &quot;Although, by considering this viewpoint we find...&quot; This would be much better without the comma.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Commas serve some extra purposes that semicolons certainly do not. For instance, they can be used to separate an appositive from its surrounding environment. (&quot;My cat, a massive fur ball, does nothing but sleep.&quot;) Comma usage is actually pretty nontrivial, and I can't hope to provide any sort of comprehensive overview here. Try to figure out the meaning of the following sentence: &quot;My friends went to the supermarket with Dave, a teacher, and a computer technician.&quot; Is &quot;a teacher&quot; an appositive for Dave or is it the second item in a list of three items? Here's another example. The word &quot;then&quot; is not a conjunction, so it shouldn't be used to separate independent clauses. And yet there are cases where we do just that: &quot;Add an egg to the bowl, then add in some milk.&quot; The explanation? It's functioning as an &lt;em&gt;adverb&lt;/em&gt; here!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I would use a dash in one of two ways. (1) Two dashes are placed around an intermittent phrase, bringing sharp attention to this phrase and not misleading the reader into thinking it is less important than its containing sentence. (&quot;The spy--who, I remind you, was only thought to have been eliminated but now waited behind the bushes--was about to fall asleep when a rustling of leaves in the distance followed by whisperings reminded him that he was not alone.&quot;) (2) This is essentially the same as (1), except the phrase is placed at the end of the sentence, so it is preceded by a dash but followed by a period.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Finally, my rules of thumb with colons are that they should be (1) preceded by a complete sentence and (2) followed by a list. I sometimes (but not commonly) break the second rule, but I never break the first. For instance, I might break (2) if I need some particular point to really be emphasized as the definitive thing to remember from the sentence. &quot;Regarding the latest WikiLeaks release, we must absolutely bear in mind the following point: [the key to understanding the whole situation].&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1861" LastEditorUserId="1861" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-29T19:58:52.710" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T19:58:52.710" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-29T16:02:16.700" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Acolyte&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my head, it was &quot;ah-colt&quot;. The correct pronunciation is &quot;ah-col-ite&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1450" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T16:02:16.700" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-29T16:02:16.700" />
  <row Id="5864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-29T16:27:03.157" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hear this spoken so rarely even right now I question whether I remember the right pronunciation. I always want to say a-dage (with &quot;age&quot; pronounced like the actual word &quot;age&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1861" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T16:27:03.157" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-29T16:27:03.157" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5865" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5867" CreationDate="2010-11-29T16:37:27.123" Score="6" ViewCount="374" Body="&lt;p&gt;What euphemistic word/phrase could be used to refer to a person who is fat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard &quot;healthy&quot; being used a lot of times in this context. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T04:42:46.290" Title="Euphemisms to replace &quot;fat&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5865" CreationDate="2010-11-29T17:08:12.193" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rubenesque is a timeless classic, although more appropriate for women than men.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T17:08:12.193" />
  <row Id="5867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5865" CreationDate="2010-11-29T17:08:35.117" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a multitude of words that you &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;big&#xA;hefty&#xA;chunky&#xA;big-boned&#xA;round&#xA;pudgy&#xA;well-built&#xA;plus-sized&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know of any &quot;standard&quot; euphemism for an overweight person, and nothing that is guaranteed to avoid causing offense. That's because the fat stigma and associated taboos are associated with the &lt;em&gt;state&lt;/em&gt; of being overweight, and not with any particular word. (Unlike &quot;nigger&quot;, for example, which is highly offensive as a word, but has non-offensive synonyms.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-29T17:22:52.233" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T17:22:52.233" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="5868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5865" CreationDate="2010-11-29T17:25:29.610" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;JSBangs's answer gives several good examples.  Here are some more:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Plump&#xA;Overweight&#xA;Rotund&#xA;Fluffy (gah, never use this please!)&#xA;Curvy/Voluptuous (probably you can only use this for women)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T17:25:29.610" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5869" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-29T17:40:05.167" Score="4" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To this end, I first devised a novel&#xA;  algorithm to enumerate all possible&#xA;  partitions; ways of dividing a network&#xA;  into meaningful parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was told that the final semi-colon fragments the sentence and that I should change it.  I am not sure what punctuation I should here, or if the sentence needs to be restuctured.  In case it isn't clear to anyone, a 'way of dividing a network into meaningful parts' is a definition of a partition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1823" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T19:47:02.107" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T19:47:02.107" Title="Which punctuation for definition" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5869" CreationDate="2010-11-29T18:00:51.607" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If &quot;ways of dividing a network into meaningful parts&quot; is an explanation of the preceding section, I would use either a dash or parentheses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To this end, I first devised a novel algorithm to enumerate all possible partitions -- ways of dividing a network into meaningful parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To this end, I first devised a novel algorithm to enumerate all possible partitions (ways of dividing a network into meaningful parts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2173" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T18:00:51.607" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5869" CreationDate="2010-11-29T18:08:38.073" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Throwing in yet another alternative, how about a comma followed by an &quot;i.e.&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To this end, I first devised a novel algorithm to enumerate all possible partitions, i.e. ways of dividing a network into meaningful parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Yes, I do realize that &lt;em&gt;id est&lt;/em&gt; is not a punctuation mark.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T18:08:38.073" />
  <row Id="5872" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5892" CreationDate="2010-11-29T18:15:26.427" Score="2" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;A poor bowler is called a 'pie-thrower' or a 'pie-chucker'. Does anyone know why this is so; particularly, why 'pie' was adopted for this phrase when it could have been just about anything?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T20:28:58.167" Title="Why is a bad bowler called a 'pie-thrower'?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5803" CreationDate="2010-11-29T20:14:59.173" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, you can expand the phrases &quot;to me&quot; to mean &quot;in my opinion&quot;, and &quot;for me&quot; to mean &quot;for my benefit/well-being&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is important to me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be read as &quot;It is important in my opinion&quot; or &quot;In my opinion it is important&quot;.  If we replace &quot;to&quot; with &quot;for&quot;, we get: &quot;It is important for my benefit&quot; or even &quot;It is important for my well-being&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This sounds stupid to me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be expanded like the first.  Here's a context which will illustrate the difference between &quot;to&quot; and &quot;for&quot; here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Alice: I'm thinking of going on a high-sugar diet.&#xA;Bob: That sounds stupid to me.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, Bob expresses that &lt;em&gt;in his opinion&lt;/em&gt; a high-sugar diet sounds like a stupid idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare this with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Alice: I'm thinking of going on a high-sugar diet.&#xA;Bob: That sounds stupid for me, since I'm diabetic.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, Bob is expressing that &lt;em&gt;in his case&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;for his well-being&lt;/em&gt; a high-sugar diet would be stupid; it would be unhealthy since he is diabetic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It will be good for you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be expanded to read &quot;It will be good for your well-being&quot;.  But if we replace &quot;for&quot; with &quot;to&quot;, we get an idiomatic construction referring to how the subject (&quot;it&quot;) will treat the object (&quot;you&quot;), which has nothing to do with anyone's opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'll make it comfortable for you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This parses to something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll make it [the room] comfortable for you [for your benefit].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But replacing &quot;for&quot; with &quot;to&quot; in this case renders a proposition that is highly suspect.  It seems to express that you will make someone regard something as comfortable.  Most listeners would probably charitably understand you to mean &quot;for&quot; in this case--but the word choice might identify you as a non-native English speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'll make it available to you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This case is trickier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a native English speaker wants to tell someone that she will make a conference room available on a specific date, she would probably employ &quot;to&quot;--but she could, without ambiguity, use &quot;for&quot; as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, an advertisement for a conference room might say that the room is available &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; business meetings.  But a native English speaker would never say that the room is available &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; business meetings.  This usage is probably customary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, the general rule-of-thumb is that &quot;to&quot; in these cases is usually used to indicate an opinion, while &quot;for&quot; is usually a statement about benefit or well-being.  But there are enough exceptions, idioms, and customs that break this rule that it would behoove you to simply memorize when each is used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1864" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T20:14:59.173" />
  <row Id="5877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3564" CreationDate="2010-11-29T20:45:59.080" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two different ideas being expressed here.  One preposition, &quot;of&quot;, makes the relationship itself explicit, and expressed the possessive relationship:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Bob is the father of Susie.  &amp;lt;--&amp;gt; Bob is Susie's father.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other idea preposition, &quot;to&quot;, links with the verb preceding the relationship to express the quality of it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Bob is a good father to Susie.&#xA;&#xA;Bob is like a father to Susie.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also notice the article used.  A native English speaker would not say &quot;Bob is a father of Lucie&quot; or &quot;Bob is a father to Lucie&quot;.  There will always be an adjective (&quot;good&quot;) or a qualifier (&quot;like&quot;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of data structures, documentation uses &quot;X is the parent of Y&quot;, but in talking about making something the parent of something else, it will say &quot;X is parented to Y&quot; (but never &quot;X is childed to Y&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1864" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T20:45:59.080" />
  <row Id="5878" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5882" CreationDate="2010-11-29T20:55:45.640" Score="3" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is the only type of command that requires us to complete by a certain time - all of the other &lt;strong&gt;ones&lt;/strong&gt; aren't governed by exclusion logic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am intrigued by the use of the word &quot;ones&quot; to indicate &quot;a subset&quot; or &quot;a group.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the sentence could be rewritten to eliminate the use of &quot;ones,&quot; I'm inclined to think that &quot;other(s)&quot; and &quot;ones&quot; are somehow related/redundant:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is the only type of command that requires us to complete by a certain time - none of the others are governed by exclusion logic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of &quot;ones&quot; seems very informal and colloquial to me - where did it originate?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is it unique to English, or is there a similar construct in other languages?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="572" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T22:26:37.033" Title="These ones/those ones/the other ones" Tags="&lt;colloquial&gt;&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5839" CreationDate="2010-11-29T20:57:22.797" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Great!&#xA;As a non-native english speaker from another place of the world, sometimes you just don't figure out some of the rules for translation, that should obey the side of the foreigner language and not your own. this case is a good example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Spanish you say: &quot;Estoy casado con Tania&quot;.&#xA;The wrong translation is: &quot;I'm married with Tania&quot;.&#xA;The OK translation is: &quot;I'm married to Tania&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the question there's obviously a mistake which has its origin in a wrong translation.&#xA;Clearly, the punctuation helps to give a satisfying connotation, but the problem isn't there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I'm married to three children&quot; is what &quot;Estoy casado con 3 niños&quot; means in Spanish and is totally wrong, mainly because the word &quot;CON&quot; means with most of the time, but in this case, the translation should become not word by word but understanding the meaning of the phrase. Much of the time the Spanish speaking people fall into this kind of mistakes out of the logic that Spanish language has implicit, but to learn English as well as other idioms, you most open your mind to break those language barriers.&#xA;&quot;I'm married with three children&quot; is &quot;Estoy casado con 3 niños&quot;, nothing wrong, but &quot;I'm married to three children&quot; is the nasty meaning you were seeing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case of a translation, the fix for it would be to add the coma. Simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, this has to do with a wrong conception of the verbal form and how its used.&#xA;My two cents, I'm new here and love Idioms. I'm always learning something new and this is an excellent place for doing that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2479" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T20:57:22.797" />
  <row Id="5880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4545" CreationDate="2010-11-29T21:15:19.563" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;In almost all cases&quot;, as Bruno said, positions &quot;almost&quot; to refer to &quot;all&quot;, and is less ambiguous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Almost in all cases&quot; is ambiguous.  Consider the following context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;He almost won all his cases.&#xA;&#xA;He won almost all his cases.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These two interpretations express very propositions, and would result in very different performance evaluations for the attorney in question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1864" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T21:15:19.563" />
  <row Id="5881" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5885" CreationDate="2010-11-29T21:22:58.677" Score="1" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is the correct form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'd like to try CoolStuff 2.0 &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; a project&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'd like to try CoolStuff 2.0 &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; a project&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="972" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T22:13:20.487" Title="&quot;on a project&quot; vs &quot;in a project&quot;" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5878" CreationDate="2010-11-29T21:41:52.203" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From: &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ones&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/one&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;one&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  O.E. an , from P.Gmc. *ainaz  (cf. O.N. einn , Dan. een , O.Fris. an , Du. een , Ger. ein , Goth. ains ), from PIE *oinos  (cf. Gk. oinos  &quot;ace (on dice),&quot; L. unus  &quot;one,&quot; O.Pers. aivam , O.C.S. -inu, ino- , Lith. vienas , O.Ir. oin , Breton un  &quot;one&quot;). Originally pronounced as it still is in only,  and in dial. good 'un, young 'un , etc.; the now-standard pronunciation &quot;wun&quot; began c.14c. in southwest and west England (Tyndale, a Gloucester man, spells it won  in his Bible translation), and it began to be general 18c. &lt;strong&gt;Use as indefinite pronoun influenced by unrelated Fr. on  and L. homo&lt;/strong&gt; . Slang one-arm bandit  &quot;a type of slot machine&quot; is recorded by 1938. One-night stand  is 1880 in performance sense; 1963 in sexual sense. One of the boys  &quot;ordinary amiable fellow&quot; is from 1893. One-track mind  is from 1927. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In French, &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;he&quot; or &quot;it&quot; (I think).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1864" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T21:41:52.203" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5496" CreationDate="2010-11-29T21:57:12.510" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say it's the difference between being being bitten by hundreds of ants (harrowing) and being stung by a scorpion (poignant).  Compare the etymology of the two words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;harrow&lt;/strong&gt; (n.) &quot;agricultural implement,&#xA;  heavy wooden rake,&quot; c.1300, haru, from&#xA;  O.E. *hearwa, apparently related to&#xA;  O.N. harfr &quot;harrow,&quot; and perhaps&#xA;  connected with O.H.G. herbist&#xA;  &quot;harvest&quot; (see harvest). Also possibly&#xA;  from hergian (see harry). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;harrow&lt;/strong&gt; (v.) especially in harrowing of Hell in&#xA;  Christian theology, from hergian (see&#xA;  harry). In the figurative sense of &quot;to&#xA;  wound the feelings, distress greatly&quot;&#xA;  it is first attested c.1600 in&#xA;  Shakespeare. Related: Harrowed;&#xA;  harrowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &quot;harrowing&quot; carries connotations of being more long-term, part of an ordeal, or how you might feel after being worked over by a rake (or a swarm of ants).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;poignant&lt;/strong&gt; late 14c., &quot;painful to physical or mental feeling,&quot; from O.Fr. poignant (13c.), prp. of poindre &quot;to prick, sting,&quot; from L. pungere &quot;to prick&quot; (see pungent). Related: Poignance; poignancy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And &quot;poignant&quot; is sharper, more acute, possibly deeper.  It's the feeling of sudden loss or unexpected injury (like a scorpion sting).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1864" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T21:57:12.510" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5884" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-29T22:12:23.610" Score="4" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen conflicting usage of the two phrases below, and I wonder which is grammatically correct and why:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do something unless directed otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do something unless otherwise directed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2491" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T02:04:55.123" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T02:04:55.123" Title="&quot;otherwise directed&quot; vs. &quot;directed otherwise&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;participle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="5885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5881" CreationDate="2010-11-29T22:12:45.997" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that it's a difference of emphasis - albeit subtle. When you use something &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; a project, the thing that you're using isn't really part of the project. It's used to help effect the project. On the other hand, if you use something &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; a project, it's integral to the project - part of the project itself. For example, a tool would be used &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; a project whereas a building material would be used &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; a project.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I think that it's a matter of what you're trying to indicate exactly. It's a subtle difference though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;code&gt;to try&lt;/code&gt; in this case would effectively be the same as &lt;code&gt;to use&lt;/code&gt; as far as usage goes. So, if CoolStuff 2.0 is a tool, then you'd say &quot;I'd like to try CoolStuff 2.0 &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; a project.&quot; Whereas if CoolStuff 2.0 is something that actually makes up the project, then you'd say &quot;I'd like to try CoolStuff 2.0 &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; a project.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2170" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T22:12:45.997" />
  <row Id="5886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5881" CreationDate="2010-11-29T22:13:20.487" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that it depends on the nature of &quot;CoolStuff 2.0&quot;.  If CoolStuff is a package that you will be using to manage your project, or to assist in the creation and development of your project (for example, if your project is writing software and CoolStuff is an editor), then &quot;on&quot; is preferred.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if CoolStuff is something (or does something) that you will be incorporating as part of your output (for example, if your project is writing software and CoolStuff is a library of software utility routines), then &quot;in&quot; is preferred.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T22:13:20.487" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5878" CreationDate="2010-11-29T22:26:37.033" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have it right: the plural of &lt;em&gt;this one&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;these ones&lt;/em&gt;; of &lt;em&gt;that one&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;those ones&lt;/em&gt;. Some prescriptivists have it that the word &lt;em&gt;ones&lt;/em&gt; is somehow incorrect, but I can't really see why, as it comfortably fills a gap that nothing else quite can. Regardless, it is considered informal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree that &lt;em&gt;ones&lt;/em&gt; doesn't sound quite as good in a negative sentence&amp;mdash;&lt;em&gt;none of the other ones&lt;/em&gt; can easily be replaced with &lt;em&gt;none of the others&lt;/em&gt;&amp;mdash;but in the affirmative or interrogative it's just fine to my ear. &lt;em&gt;Which ones do you want?&lt;/em&gt; is equivalent to the ambiguously numbered &lt;em&gt;Which do you want?&lt;/em&gt;, but just as &lt;em&gt;which one&lt;/em&gt; makes the sentence explicitly singular, &lt;em&gt;which ones&lt;/em&gt; makes it explicitly plural. I can't think of a better way to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T22:26:37.033" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5884" CreationDate="2010-11-29T22:34:24.067" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think in this case, &quot;otherwise directed&quot; has become a standard idiomatic construction--but both are acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrast this with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Do something unless you are told otherwise.&#xA;&#xA;Do something unless you are otherwise told.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, the former sentence still sounds okay, but the latter sentence sounds unnatural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1864" LastActivityDate="2010-11-29T22:34:24.067" />
  <row Id="5890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="706" CreationDate="2010-11-30T00:35:43.760" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One answer that hasn't been mentioned may be the simpler of the solutions to why &quot;I could care less&quot; is the more prevalent variant.  It's easier to say.  English is full of contractions and &quot;pronounceable&quot; acronyms.  If given similar phrases I would suspect that most people would choose the shorter phrase. Consider the fact that no one has put in &quot;I could not care less&quot; into the mix.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="848" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T00:35:43.760" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5865" CreationDate="2010-11-30T01:09:03.473" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To these I'll only add &lt;em&gt;zaftig&lt;/em&gt;, which comes to us from the Yiddish meaning &quot;juicy or succulent.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T01:09:03.473" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5872" CreationDate="2010-11-30T01:52:41.330" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is just a guess, because I don't see any specific mention of &quot;pie thrower&quot; in the &lt;em&gt;OED&lt;/em&gt; or any of my other big dictionaries, but my &lt;em&gt;Webster's Third New International Dictionary (Unabridged)&lt;/em&gt; lists one of the meanings as: &quot;something easy or much desired&quot; (as in &quot;it was easy as pie&quot;). Perhaps that is part of it, as in bowling something that is slow and easy to hit. Also, if you think about how a pie &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; thrown, you realize it doesn't go very fast and it is big and fat and round ... not something a competent batsman would miss, I should think. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-30T20:28:58.167" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T20:28:58.167" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5872" CreationDate="2010-11-30T02:58:51.223" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Clowns in the circus throw pies; they do not bowl them as the bowler in cricket must (mostly 'arm straight', for the benefit of those not brought up in the noble art of cricket).  So do unruly diners in a food fight.  The bad bowler is being compared to such undisciplined behaviour - and it is not complementary.  The implication is that anyone could do what they're doing...and about as badly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to why a pie rather than anything else - not sure, but likely because the result of throwing a pie is a mess, whereas throwing other things might, or might not, be as messy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T02:58:51.223" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5894" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5895" CreationDate="2010-11-30T03:33:26.473" Score="5" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;When would I use one, versus using the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2480" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T23:36:34.063" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T23:36:34.063" Title="What is the difference between &quot;horrify&quot; and &quot;terrify&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5894" CreationDate="2010-11-30T03:48:05.083" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the online dictionary (thefreedictionary.com), they can be used as synonyms, but it leads one to believe that &lt;code&gt;horrify&lt;/code&gt; would be more related with something [intensely] shocking, whereas &lt;code&gt;terrify&lt;/code&gt; would be more related with fright or intense fear. Something that would horrify you would definitely scare you, but probably more along the lines of being overly grotesque - think of films like &quot;Halloween&quot;, &quot;Nightmare on Elm Street&quot;, &quot;Friday the 13th&quot;, &quot;Saw&quot;, etc. They scare you, but make use of a lot of gore (blood, body parts being removed, etc.); thus, the &quot;horror&quot; film category. I would say something along the lines of &quot;6th Sense&quot; or &quot;Signs&quot; would be terrifying; not really a lot of gore, but the thought of coming face to face with a ghost or an alien would most likely scare you [fill you with terror] to the point where you couldn't move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2242" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T03:48:05.083" />
  <row Id="5896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5865" CreationDate="2010-11-30T04:06:02.290" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well upholstered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1490" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T04:06:02.290" />
  <row Id="5897" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5899" CreationDate="2010-11-30T04:14:18.037" Score="3" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always cooked my Thanksgiving stuffing without actually putting it inside the turkey. Does it have to be stuffed into the turkey to be called &lt;em&gt;stuffing&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T13:50:55.280" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T04:11:40.973" Title="Is it &quot;dressing&quot; if I cooked my &quot;stuffing&quot; outside of the turkey?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;food&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5865" CreationDate="2010-11-30T04:42:46.290" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Corpulent&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Grotesque&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Distended&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tumid&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tumescent&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bulging&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bulbous&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T04:42:46.290" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5897" CreationDate="2010-11-30T04:45:54.787" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term 'stuffing' is used for the stuff that could go into a turkey, even if it never made it into a turkey.  It might be more accurate to say dressing (but then, are the (sweet) potatoes or the cranberry sauce dressing too - and why one but not the other?), but most people would not bother with that fine a distinction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe this belongs on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://cooking.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;Cooking&lt;/a&gt;?  Or, maybe you'd get alternative answers there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T04:45:54.787" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3544" CreationDate="2010-11-30T05:14:05.727" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bleak house By Charls Dickens :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the&#xA;earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddling like an&#xA;elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill. Smoke lowering down from chimney-pots, making a soft black drizzle,&#xA;with flakes of soot in it as big as full-grown snowflakes--gone into mourning, one might imagine, for the&#xA;death of the sun. Dogs, &lt;strong&gt;undistinguishable&lt;/strong&gt; in mire. Horses, scarcely better; splashed to their very blinkers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2498" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T05:14:05.727" />
  <row Id="5901" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5953" CreationDate="2010-11-30T05:50:09.253" Score="9" ViewCount="591" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the hardest tongue twister you have ever seen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Humorous ones are also welcome.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="109" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T16:06:05.900" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T16:06:05.900" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-21T22:55:32.693" Title="Hardest tongue twister" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;speech&gt;&lt;fun&gt;&lt;list-request&gt;" AnswerCount="15" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="5902" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-30T06:28:35.330" Score="5" ViewCount="437" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of the people says &lt;em&gt;I wish I could&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;I wish you would&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can't we use &lt;em&gt;I wish I can&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;I wish you will&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I'd like to know what the main difference between the usage of &lt;em&gt;can/will&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;could/would&lt;/em&gt; is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2457" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T13:12:27.963" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T02:56:56.413" Title="When should we use &quot;can&quot;, &quot;could&quot;, &quot;will&quot;, &quot;would&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="5903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5901" CreationDate="2010-11-30T06:55:28.387" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the various tongue twister collections you can find (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/en.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;English Tongue Twisters&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.alphadictionary.com/fun/tongue-twisters/english_tongue_twisters.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;alpha dictionary English Tongue-Twisters&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/tongue-twisters.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;English club Tongue-Twisters&lt;/a&gt;, ...), one of the hardest is the classic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The sixth sick Sheik's sixth sheep is sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But that will obviously vary depending on your accent and region.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As illustrated by this &lt;a href=&quot;http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/#Layer6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;college exercise&lt;/a&gt;, it can be a way to improve some specific pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T06:55:28.387" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-21T22:56:12.553" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5904" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5952" CreationDate="2010-11-30T07:14:11.430" Score="6" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;In what case you would say &quot;I am seeing&quot; instead of &quot;I see&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T17:09:25.667" Title="In what case you would say &quot;I am seeing&quot; instead of &quot;I see&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="5905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-30T07:36:29.530" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;awry, caveat, nomenclature&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2499" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T07:36:29.530" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-30T07:36:29.530" />
  <row Id="5906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5904" CreationDate="2010-11-30T07:51:11.940" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It should usually be for a process in progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should you send a quick message from a movie theater during the projection of a film, you would type:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I am seeing this movie (as in &quot;right now&quot;) and it's awesome!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(and not &quot;I see...&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The expression &quot;to see someone&quot; (meet regularly as a boyfriend or girlfriend) is more often used as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I'm seeing someone&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (as in &quot;I am still engaged in this relationship right now&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T07:51:11.940" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="5907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5902" CreationDate="2010-11-30T08:14:25.177" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this context, could and would are used to express an hypothetical scenario. Can and will in the contrary have a sense of immediacy and certainty, so it wouldn't fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T08:14:25.177" />
  <row Id="5908" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5912" CreationDate="2010-11-30T08:43:26.343" Score="4" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should I say &quot;I am the owner &lt;strong&gt;of&lt;/strong&gt; abc company&quot; or I should say &quot;I am the owner &lt;strong&gt;for&lt;/strong&gt; abc company&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1919" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T11:16:36.967" Title="Owner of or Owner for?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5908" CreationDate="2010-11-30T08:52:37.880" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am the owner of abc company&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(a bit like: &quot;I own abc company&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;owner&quot; and &quot;for&quot; are not particularly linked together, &quot;for&quot; being here to introduce a purpose or function (and that wouldn't fit your example).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;expropriate&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  verb (of the state) take (property) from its owner &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; public use or benefit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T08:52:37.880" />
  <row Id="5910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-30T10:45:33.403" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Draught.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as in draught beer - pronounced as draft and not dr-aw-ght&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1798" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T10:45:33.403" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-30T10:45:33.403" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5904" CreationDate="2010-11-30T11:15:58.257" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess 'to see' is something you could/should be doing with your eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see what you are doing there.&#xA;I see the doctor every day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Seeing' something/body should be for the action itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm seeing what you did there.&#xA;I'm seeing the doctor everyday since my infection started.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2504" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T11:15:58.257" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5908" CreationDate="2010-11-30T11:16:36.967" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a clear-cut situation fortunately. Using &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; is definitely correct here, whereas &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I am the owner &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; abc company&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Of&lt;/em&gt; takes the role of the &lt;strong&gt;possessive preposition&lt;/strong&gt; here. This is evidently appropriate, since the person possesses the company in some respect here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T11:16:36.967" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5913" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5919" CreationDate="2010-11-30T11:48:36.557" Score="4" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi, my name is Greg - this is Greg &lt;strong&gt;'s&lt;/strong&gt; post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If my name ended with an S, I am aware of the proper apostrophe usage (James -&gt; James'), but how should this be pronounced?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Phonetically) Am I Jameses best friend / am I James best friend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2073" LastEditorUserId="2073" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-30T11:55:38.237" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T12:18:54.097" Title="Pronouncing possessive words that already end in s" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="5914" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5926" CreationDate="2010-11-30T12:01:55.660" Score="7" ViewCount="1027" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;each other&quot; and &quot;one another&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When should I use one and when should I use the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="740" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T13:30:31.377" Title="&quot;each other&quot; vs. &quot;one another&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5915" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5938" CreationDate="2010-11-30T12:05:28.250" Score="10" ViewCount="298" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is clearly a prefix in names like McDonald, McChrystal, O'Brian, O'Neal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does this Mc and O signify? Looks like Donald, Chrystal, Brian, Neal are perfectly fine names on their own so why is there a prefix&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="45" LastEditorUserId="1606" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-30T15:40:10.303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T15:48:34.610" Title="Etymology for Mc and O' in names" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="5916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-30T12:07:29.363" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are a couple that I've come across in philosophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Charles Sanders Peirce. It's pronounced like &quot;purse&quot; not like &quot;pierce&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Qua. (Latin meaning &quot;as&quot;). Apparently should be pronounced &quot;kway&quot;. I do not like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as for the number of different ways I've heard people pronounce &quot;Humean&quot;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="879" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T12:07:29.363" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-30T12:07:29.363" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5915" CreationDate="2010-11-30T12:10:51.070" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mac&lt;/em&gt;, is the Gaelic for &quot;son&quot;, and &lt;em&gt;O'&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;grandson of&quot;. It is found mainly in names from family of Irish origin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_name#Surnames_and_prefixes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; for more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T12:10:51.070" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="5918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5914" CreationDate="2010-11-30T12:18:07.370" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Each other&quot; refers to &lt;strong&gt;two&lt;/strong&gt; whereas &quot;one another&quot; to &lt;strong&gt;more than two&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jones and Smith quarreled; they struck&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;each other&lt;/strong&gt;.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jones, Smith and Brown&#xA;  quarreled; they struck &lt;strong&gt;one another&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T12:18:07.370" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5913" CreationDate="2010-11-30T12:18:54.097" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;James' [z] best friend&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sounds better. If this is the right form, then &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.wordreference.com/showpost.php?p=672824&amp;amp;postcount=8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;according to this thread&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;code&gt;[z]&lt;/code&gt; would apply:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the suffix &lt;code&gt;-(e)s&lt;/code&gt;, indicative of the plural of a noun, the possessive case of a noun, or the 3rd. person singular past tense of a verb, the &lt;code&gt;-s&lt;/code&gt; is read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;voiceless, &lt;code&gt;[s]&lt;/code&gt;, when it comes after a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_%28phonetics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;voiceless consonant&lt;/a&gt;...  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;cats, tracks, boots, walks, etc.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;and voiced, &lt;code&gt;[z]&lt;/code&gt;, when it comes after a voiced consonant or a vowel.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;dogs, cars, skies, keys, days, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T12:18:54.097" />
  <row Id="5920" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-30T12:47:00.490" Score="1" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between the words emend and amend? They both have the same definition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T10:49:22.210" Title="Emend and Amend- What's the difference? They both have the same definition" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5920" CreationDate="2010-11-30T12:53:50.863" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;emend&lt;/em&gt; seems to be used in the context of editing (specifically of some text) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;while &lt;em&gt;amend&lt;/em&gt; could be correcting or repairing or improving of anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1798" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T12:53:50.863" />
  <row Id="5922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5904" CreationDate="2010-11-30T13:01:15.717" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;“I see” describes the present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To describe something that is ongoing you use the word “be” + a word with the ending “–ing”. As in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am seeing, feeling, dancing...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2501" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T13:01:15.717" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5901" CreationDate="2010-11-30T13:06:04.710" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the simplest is repeating &quot;Toy Boat&quot; aloud as fast as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T13:06:04.710" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-21T22:56:31.100" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5894" CreationDate="2010-11-30T13:26:40.397" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add to Will's answer, I think there is an element of shock and surprise in 'horrify' which there isn't in 'terrify'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could quite easily continue to be terrified by something that terrified me yesterday, whereas I think that if I was horrified by something yesterday, today I'm more likely just disgusted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an interesting aside, note that &lt;code&gt;horrify:horrific &amp;lt;&amp;gt; terrify:terrific&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T13:26:40.397" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5914" CreationDate="2010-11-30T13:30:31.377" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an interesting usage note extracted from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry?id=E0000800&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;each other&quot; page of Yahoo! Education&lt;/a&gt; (emphasis added). It answers your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is often maintained that each other&#xA;  should be used to denote a reciprocal&#xA;  relation between two entities, with&#xA;  one another reserved for more than&#xA;  two: thus &lt;em&gt;The twins dislike each other&lt;/em&gt; but &lt;em&gt;The triplets dislike one another&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sixty-four percent of Usage Panelists&#xA;  say that they follow this rule in&#xA;  their own writing. But it should be&#xA;  pointed out that many reputable&#xA;  writers from Samuel Johnson onward&#xA;  have ignored the rule and that the use&#xA;  of each other for more than two, or of&#xA;  one another for two, cannot be&#xA;  considered incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In particular,&#xA;  there are contexts in which each other&#xA;  and one another are subtly different&#xA;  in meaning.&lt;/strong&gt; When speaking of an&#xA;  ordered series of events or stages,&#xA;  one another is the preferred form.&#xA;  Thus the sentence &lt;em&gt;The waiters followed&#xA;  one another into the room&lt;/em&gt; was&#xA;  preferred by 73 percent of the Usage&#xA;  Panel to the sentence &lt;em&gt;The waiters&#xA;  followed each other into the&#xA;  room&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(..)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T13:30:31.377" />
  <row Id="5927" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-30T13:34:32.683" Score="3" ViewCount="564" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does this phrase mean? And in what cases is it appropriate to use it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2507" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T11:22:46.357" Title="What does the phrase &quot;good for you&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5927" CreationDate="2010-11-30T13:37:47.270" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definition from &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/good-for-you&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cambridge Dictionaries Online&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Good for you!&lt;/strong&gt; (Australian also Good on&#xA;  you!) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;used to show approval for&#xA;  someone's success or good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;You passed your exam - good for you!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two additional examples that I extracted from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;COCA&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't think you would want to know&#xA;  either. Good for you for not knowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He's going to make lots and lots of money! Good for you, congratulations!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-30T13:53:17.263" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T13:53:17.263" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5902" CreationDate="2010-11-30T13:38:15.367" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You say &lt;code&gt;I can fly&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;I wish I could fly&lt;/code&gt;. &lt;code&gt;I wish I can fly&lt;/code&gt; is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2508" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T13:38:15.367" />
  <row Id="5930" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18183" CreationDate="2010-11-30T13:53:21.270" Score="10" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference here at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T22:40:57.297" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T22:40:57.297" Title="When would you say &quot;woods&quot;, and when would you say &quot;forest&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5931" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5933" CreationDate="2010-11-30T13:55:22.080" Score="1" ViewCount="278" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between &quot;rock&quot; and &quot;stone&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T17:25:05.743" Title="What's the difference between &quot;rock&quot; and &quot;stone&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="5932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5920" CreationDate="2010-11-30T13:55:27.620" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;JoseK is correct that the meaning of &lt;em&gt;emend&lt;/em&gt; is confined to textual alterations, and that &lt;em&gt;amend&lt;/em&gt; can be broadened to include the general improvement of other things. Still, &lt;em&gt;amend&lt;/em&gt; is mostly used in the sense of improving text. If you're talking about fixing a rip in a shirt, you would be better to just use the word &lt;em&gt;mend&lt;/em&gt;; to &lt;em&gt;amend&lt;/em&gt; the shirt would sound strange. The Constitution of the U.S. may be amended (as it has been) but if the actual document itself were damaged and required restoration I don't think anyone would say the team that did the work &lt;em&gt;amended&lt;/em&gt; the Constitution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-01T10:49:22.210" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T10:49:22.210" />
  <row Id="5933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5931" CreationDate="2010-11-30T14:04:01.580" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A rock is bigger, possibly immovable, you couldn't throw it with one hand, at a pinch you might be able to with two.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/kWORl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Above, a Google Image result for &quot;Rock&quot;, below, for &quot;Stone&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/wo3be.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that a boulder is probably bigger than a rock&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Below, a boulder&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/VSiys.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, also note that rocks &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; boulders are made from stone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(This answer is mildly &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongue_in_cheek&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tongue in cheek&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; Notable exception: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uluru&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Uluru/Ayre's Rock&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastEditorUserId="529" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-30T14:12:20.963" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T14:12:20.963" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="5934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5931" CreationDate="2010-11-30T14:12:33.883" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends entirely on what you mean by &quot;rock&quot; and &quot;stone&quot;.  About the only generic thing I can think of is that &quot;stone&quot; sometimes refers to worked stone while &quot;rock&quot; generally refers to natural formations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These questions are beginning to get annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T14:12:33.883" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="5935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5930" CreationDate="2010-11-30T14:13:37.197" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It normally comes down to scale.  I wouldn't consider the half-acre of trees behind my house a forest, but I frequently describe it as &quot;the woods out back&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the flip side, while I would typically describe, let's say a national park as a forest, I might also say that someone lost there is &quot;lost in the woods&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T14:13:37.197" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5902" CreationDate="2010-11-30T14:20:21.040" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;past vs non-past tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2514" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T14:20:21.040" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5931" CreationDate="2010-11-30T14:28:27.397" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, usage has made the two words completely interchangeable.  However, I would use stone to refer to the stuff from which rocks are made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;His house is made of stone. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is probably better than &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;His house is made of rock.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He built his house out of stones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is as acceptable as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He built his house out of rocks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2477" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T14:28:27.397" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5915" CreationDate="2010-11-30T14:41:16.667" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://medievalscotland.org/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/#simplepatronymicbyname&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mc&lt;/em&gt; is an abbreviation of Gaelic &lt;em&gt;Mac&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;son&quot;.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt; The standard way to form a name using a simple patronymic byname for men is:&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;lt;single given name&amp;gt; mac &amp;lt;father's given name (in genitive case &amp; sometimes lenited)&amp;gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&#xA;which means&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;lt;given name&amp;gt; son &amp;lt;of father's given name&amp;gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&#xA;For example, Donnchadh who is the son of Fearchar mac Domhnaill would be:&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; Donnchadh mac Fearchair&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&#xA;which means&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; Donnchadh son of Fearchar&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://medievalscotland.org/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/#clanaffiliationbyname&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;O' is the Anglicized way to write &lt;em&gt;&amp;Oacute;&lt;/em&gt; &quot;male descendant of&quot;.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;The standard way to form a name using an Irish clan affiliation byname for men is:&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &#xA;&#xA;    &amp;lt;single given name&amp;gt; &amp;Oacute; &amp;lt;eponymous clan ancestor's name (in genitive case)&amp;gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&#xA;which means&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&amp;nbsp;&#xA;&#xA;    &amp;lt;given name&amp;gt; male descendant &amp;lt;of eponymous clan ancestor&amp;gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&#xA;For example, Donnchadh who is the son of Fearchar &amp;Oacute; Conchobhair would be:&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &#xA;&#xA;    Donnchadh &amp;Oacute; Conchobhair&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&#xA;which means&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &#xA;&#xA;    Donnchadh male descendant of Conchobhar&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two common misconceptions are (1) that &lt;em&gt;Mac&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;son of&quot; &amp;mdash; it actually means just &quot;son&quot;, and the &quot;of&quot; comes from putting the father's name into the possessive case; and (2) that &lt;em&gt;Mc&lt;/em&gt; is Irish while &lt;em&gt;Mac&lt;/em&gt; is Scottish (or vice versa) &amp;mdash; actually, &lt;em&gt;Mc&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Mac&lt;/em&gt; are two ways to write the same thing, and both occur in names from both countries. (What &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; true is that O' is almost exclusively Irish; despite the romantic notions we have of Scottish clans, they didn't use their clan affiliation in their names.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: as for &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; the prefix is used even though the prefix-less names look perfectly fine on their own, this is basically Gaelic grammar and thus out of scope for this site. Suffice it to say, some languages are fine with &lt;em&gt;unmarked patronymics&lt;/em&gt; &amp;mdash; names that identify the bearer's father using the &lt;em&gt;unmodified&lt;/em&gt; given name &amp;mdash; but Gaelic is not one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-30T15:48:34.610" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T15:48:34.610" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5920" CreationDate="2010-11-30T14:49:01.073" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both have a sense of &quot;&lt;em&gt;improve&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;by adding to&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, but &lt;em&gt;emend&lt;/em&gt; is used generally for editing, as of a text, while you can amend many things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, an &lt;em&gt;amendment&lt;/em&gt; will generally come at the end of the original, but an &lt;em&gt;emendment&lt;/em&gt; can occur anywhere in the text. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T14:49:01.073" />
  <row Id="5940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5930" CreationDate="2010-11-30T14:54:05.233" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are almost completely synonymous, but I'd say a &lt;em&gt;forest&lt;/em&gt; is a more defined (and probably larger) set of trees than &lt;em&gt;woods&lt;/em&gt;. As in, if it has a name, it's almost certainly a forest. If it's just a clump of trees that may or may not end after ten feet, it's &lt;em&gt;woods&lt;/em&gt;; if, however, you know that it stretches for five miles in each direction, then it's a &lt;em&gt;forest&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T14:54:05.233" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5941" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5945" CreationDate="2010-11-30T15:17:45.100" Score="2" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can we use  &quot;Abandoned&quot; as an antonym of &quot;Abstemious&quot; (adj)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please explain your answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1873" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T15:38:59.330" Title="&quot;Abandoned&quot; as an antonym of &quot;Abstemious&quot; (adj) ?!" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="753" CreationDate="2010-11-30T15:22:47.593" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know clearly how goes in english, but the origin is commonly latin so you should stick with it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 Syllable - Mono (one-unique) Syllable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 Syllable - Di (Bi-Duo-two) Syllable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 Syllable - Tri (tres-three) Syllable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 Syllable - Cuatri (cuadra-cuatro-four) Syllable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5 Syllable - Penta (five) Syllable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hexa-Hepta-Octo-Nono-Deca, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More than one - Poly (many) Syllable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As in Polygamy (many couples)&#xA;As in Polygon (many sides)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2479" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T15:22:47.593" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5941" CreationDate="2010-11-30T15:30:07.387" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Presumably you're refering to the second adjective meaning Wiktionary gives for &quot;Abandoned&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;abandoned (comparative more abandoned, superlative most abandoned)  [...] 2. Self-abandoned, or given up to vice; extremely wicked, or sinning without restraint; irreclaimably wicked ; as, an abandoned villain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only reason to be cautious about using &quot;abandoned&quot; as an antonym for &quot;abstemious&quot; is ambiguity.  &quot;He is abandoned&quot; could mean that he is a wild party animal, but it could also mean that he has been left behind somewhere.  If you have enough surrounding context to make it clear which meaning of &quot;abandoned&quot; is being used, go ahead!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T15:30:07.387" />
  <row Id="5944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5941" CreationDate="2010-11-30T15:30:41.047" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yep!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/abstemious?r=75&amp;amp;src=ref&amp;amp;ch=dic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Abstemious&lt;/a&gt; means moderate in appetite, restrained, characterized by abstinence, etc. &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/abandoned?r=75&amp;amp;src=ref&amp;amp;ch=dic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Abandoned&lt;/a&gt; can mean unrestrained and uncontrolled. These are pretty opposite from each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T15:30:41.047" />
  <row Id="5945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5941" CreationDate="2010-11-30T15:38:59.330" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It took me a while to wrap my brain around your question, but I think I've got it now, and the answer is &quot;yes, but&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abandoned?show=0&amp;amp;t=1291130697&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;abandoned&lt;/a&gt;: 1. wholly free from restraint 2. given up; forsaken&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abstemious&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;abstemious&lt;/a&gt;: marked by restraint especially in the consumption of food or alcohol&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you're using &lt;em&gt;abandoned&lt;/em&gt; in the &quot;wholly free from restraint&quot; sense, then yes, it seems like a perfect antonym for abstemious. The &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; comes from the fact that most people would probably interpret &lt;em&gt;abandoned&lt;/em&gt; as the past tense of &lt;em&gt;abandon&lt;/em&gt;, in which sense it has nothing to do with restraint or lack thereof. Without sufficient context, using it as an antonym for &quot;abstemious&quot; could lead to much head-scratching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A much better antonym for &lt;em&gt;abstemious&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;gluttonous&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T15:38:59.330" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5927" CreationDate="2010-11-30T15:39:53.080" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two phrases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;X is good for you.&quot; This just means something is healthy for you, beneficial for you, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Good for you!&quot;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This can be used in seriousness, such as Bruno said. It can either mean &quot;Congratulations!&quot; and &quot;That's great!&quot;, or as a word of praise. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The phrase can also be used sarcastically, especially if delivered with an overly enthusiastic tone. In this case, it carries the connotation of, &quot;Wow, that's great. Do you want a pat on the back or something?&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T15:39:53.080" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="574" CreationDate="2010-11-30T16:06:22.283" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was in college, one of my philosophy professors instructed us to use translated English for abbreviated or initialized latinisms when reading a text aloud.  I would agree that in most cases you should speak the translated English rather than speaking the letters of the initialization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;i.e.&lt;/em&gt; is used for clarification and should be spoken &lt;em&gt;&quot;that is&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.  While most English speakers will recognize the meaning of &lt;em&gt;&quot;eye ee&quot;&lt;/em&gt; when spoken, saying &lt;em&gt;&quot;that is&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is clearer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;e.g.&lt;/em&gt; is used for providing one or many examples and should be spoken &lt;em&gt;&quot;for example&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While &lt;em&gt;i.e.&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;e.g.&lt;/em&gt; are relatively common, other abbreviated or initialized latinisms, such as &lt;em&gt;viz.&lt;/em&gt;, are less frequent and their English translation should certainly be provided when reading from a text that includes a latinism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, take the following &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.quotesea.com/quote/perfectwisdomhasfourpartsvizwisdomthe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;quote from Plato&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Perfect wisdom has four parts, viz., wisdom, the principle of doing things aright; justice, the principle of doing things equally in public and private; fortitude, the principle of not flying danger, but meeting it; and temperance, the principle of subduing desires and living moderately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When reading that quote aloud, the translation for &lt;em&gt;viz.&lt;/em&gt; should be provided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incorrect:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Perfect wisdom has four parts, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;viz&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, wisdom, the principle...&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Perfect wisdom has four parts, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;videlicet&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, wisdom, the principle...&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Correct:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Perfect wisdom has four parts, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;namely&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, wisdom, the principle...&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Perfect wisdom has four parts, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;that is to say&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, wisdom, the principle...&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking the translation for initialized and abbreviated latinisms provides greater clarity for the audience than simply speaking the initials or the latin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2516" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T16:06:22.283" />
  <row Id="5948" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5949" CreationDate="2010-11-30T16:09:45.507" Score="6" ViewCount="271" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a difference between these two expressions? Are they perfect synonyms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1317" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-30T17:31:59.967" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T12:33:45.347" Title="&quot;To date&quot; versus &quot;until now&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5948" CreationDate="2010-11-30T16:24:34.023" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;To date&quot; implies that the current state is unchanged from the previous state, while &quot;until now&quot; implies that it has just changed.  For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To date, the Foos have never won a game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would mean the Foos have not won a game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Until now, the Foos never won a game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would mean that they just won their first game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T16:24:34.023" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5951" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5955" CreationDate="2010-11-30T16:59:51.353" Score="4" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was at school I was told that a quote should end with a comma.  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The car is on the road,&quot; said Tom.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;No it isn't,&quot; replied Dick.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;He's right — it's over there!&quot; said Harry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I've recently been advised that this is not correct, and that the preceding text should read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The car is on the road.&quot; said Tom.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;No it isn't.&quot; replied Dick.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;He's right — it's over there!&quot; said Harry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm specifically interested in British English — can anyone tell me if either/both of these are correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the answers below, it seems like this depends on what follows.  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The car is on the road,&quot; said Tom&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Tom said, &quot;The car is on the road.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="357" LastEditorUserId="357" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-30T18:45:29.977" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T19:23:43.257" Title="Punctuation within quotes" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;comma&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;&lt;speech&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5904" CreationDate="2010-11-30T17:09:25.667" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To summarise other people's answers, there are three uses of &quot;I am seeing&quot;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Habitual in the present. (&quot;I'm seeing my analyst every week now&quot;) Nearly always in transferred senses of &quot;see&quot; = &quot;have an appointment with&quot; or &quot;have as partner&quot;, but can be used literally in eg &quot;I'm seeing that more and more nowadays&quot;, to emphasise the ongoing process (cf 3).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Definite appointment in the future: &quot;I'm seeing my doctor next week&quot;; &quot;I'm seeing Harry Potter 7 tomorrow&quot;. Again, usually in a non-core meaning of &quot;see&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Present sensation, strongly emphasising the current and continuing process: &quot;Yes, I'm watching him on CCTV. I'm seeing him walk up the stairs, and go into the room&quot;. Generally verbs of sensation don't take the present continuous, except in this particular highly marked construction. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T17:09:25.667" />
  <row Id="5953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5901" CreationDate="2010-11-30T17:16:24.380" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always liked&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2242" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T17:16:24.380" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-21T22:55:57.280" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5931" CreationDate="2010-11-30T17:25:05.743" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure that I would ever refer to &quot;a rock&quot;. To me, &quot;rock&quot; is a substance - I recognise &quot;a rock&quot; but think of it as a principally American word.&#xA;I do talk about &quot;a stone&quot; as well as &quot;stone&quot; - &quot;stone&quot; is the substance which has been, or may be, used for building. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T17:25:05.743" />
  <row Id="5955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5951" CreationDate="2010-11-30T17:25:36.540" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I learned the same way you did, and have not seen anything recently to the contrary, in any reputable source. The second way you showed looks wrong. I would ask the person who advised you for a reference (&quot;citation needed&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.writersblock.ca/tips/monthtip/tipmay96.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This page&lt;/a&gt; says,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A direct quotation is set off from the&#xA;  rest of the sentence by commas. Do not&#xA;  use a period to end a sentence quoted&#xA;  within another sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMMAR/marks/quotation.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This page&lt;/a&gt; does not address the question directly, but does show by example that it endorses the style you learned in school, not the one you heard about recently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update in response to edited question:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's correct that it depends on what follows: the period at the end of the quoted sentence is changed to a comma &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; if the containing sentence continues after the end of the quote (e.g. with a dialogue tag like &quot;said Tom&quot;). If the containing sentence ends with the quote, both are terminated by the same period, which is inside the quotation marks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Btw, your example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The car is on the road,&quot; said Tom&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is missing a final period (after &lt;code&gt;Tom&lt;/code&gt;). I think this was just a typo, but I thought it worth mentioning in case that was actually part of your &quot;Is this correct?&quot; question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2517" LastEditorUserId="2517" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-30T19:23:43.257" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T19:23:43.257" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5951" CreationDate="2010-11-30T17:28:32.917" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a British English speaker and writer, your schoolteacher was correct.  The full stops at the end of the quoted text end the whole sentence, quoted or not, leaving &lt;em&gt;&quot;said Tom.&quot;&lt;/em&gt; dangling as an incomplete sentence.  The same is not true of exclamation marks and question marks, like your third example; they usually end a sentence, but not in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T17:28:32.917" />
  <row Id="5957" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5958" CreationDate="2010-11-30T18:05:13.460" Score="10" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do you make of the following BBC News headline: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Man convicted of murdering his girlfriend and their 10-month-old daughter at Winchester Crown Court&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it just me, or does this read as if the murders were committed at the court?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2518" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T12:14:49.330" Title="BBC: &quot;Man convicted of murdering his girlfriend and their 10-month-old daughter at Winchester Crown Court&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="5958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5957" CreationDate="2010-11-30T18:20:26.370" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. The meaning is understood, but a decent editor would have dropped the place reference from the headline. It adds nothing and introduces ambiguity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To recast the sentence for clarity, I would suggest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Man convicted at Winchester Crown&#xA;  Court of murdering his girlfriend and&#xA;  their 10-month-old daughter&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That puts the money words (&quot;murdering&quot; &quot;girlfriend&quot; &quot;daughter&quot;) at too far a remove from the beginning of the headline, however, so it is easy to see why the editor chose to put the place reference at the end. As I say, however, this information seems to belong more in body copy than in a headline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T18:20:26.370" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5959" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6479" CreationDate="2010-11-30T18:26:13.263" Score="12" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have a good map of which online dictionary will most likely apply to a given English speaking community? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2480" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T12:42:20.763" Title="When using online dictionaries to verify word meanings, do different geographical regions turn to different dictionaries?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="5960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5475" CreationDate="2010-11-30T18:40:16.583" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best answer I have found so far is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix%3aLatin_cardinal_numerals&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. One would have to learn how to construct Latin numbers, then just modify the ending slightly. So a &lt;em&gt;duodetrigintipede&lt;/em&gt; is a 28-footed creature. To multiply something by 147, one would &lt;em&gt;centiquadragintiseptuple&lt;/em&gt; it... maybe... the article doesn't say how to say 47 or 100 + another number. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-30T18:55:27.977" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T18:55:27.977" />
  <row Id="5961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5615" CreationDate="2010-11-30T19:05:03.527" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; speaks English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does not read or write it. However, a listener may take this to mean the same as the next sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He speaks &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He does not speak any other languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He speaks English &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same as above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2519" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T19:05:03.527" />
  <row Id="5962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3538" CreationDate="2010-11-30T19:16:16.493" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) has &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&amp;amp;q=7586793&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1650 incidences of &lt;em&gt;kinda&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;TOTAL SPOKEN FICTION MAGAZINE NEWSPAPER ACADEMIC&#xA;1650  172    1023    244      169       42&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is used overwhelmingly in fiction, and the few examples in newspapers and academic texts are almost exclusively in quotations of spoken English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, as the other answers have said, &lt;em&gt;kinda&lt;/em&gt; is a pretty informal word, not used in formal texts except in quotations. I personally would only use the word in very informal situations. Its 1650 incidences in COCA are comparable to other adverbs, such as &lt;em&gt;besides&lt;/em&gt; (1720), &lt;em&gt;tight&lt;/em&gt; (1642), and &lt;em&gt;regardless&lt;/em&gt; (1607). As to whether or not it is an “actual” word, I think this is pretty clear evidence that it is. As for its acceptability, it is listed in some dictionaries, such as the &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/kinda?&amp;amp;qsrc=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Random House&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, but not in the notoriously permissive &lt;em&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T19:16:16.493" />
  <row Id="5963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5957" CreationDate="2010-11-30T19:17:28.987" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another possible headline would be &quot;Winchester Crown Court convicts man of murdering his girlfriend and their 10-month-old daughter&quot;.  I agree, though, that mentioning the court at all seems quite unnecessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T19:17:28.987" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5964" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-30T19:43:45.267" Score="5" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDITED TO ADD PRECEDING SENTENCE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At some point, we all ponder the&#xA;  workings of consciousness; but I&#xA;  pinpoint two catalysts which propelled&#xA;  such musings to a pursuit of brain&#xA;  understanding.  The first is the&#xA;  acceptance, perhaps wishfully,&#xA;  that understanding the brain is&#xA;  achievable within my lifetime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to replace &lt;em&gt;wishfully&lt;/em&gt; with something that more reflects the feeling of wanting something to be true to the extent that you believe it to be true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also if anyone could comment on the comma use in this statement then that would be great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1823" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T09:07:00.190" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T09:07:00.190" Title="&quot;Wanting something to happen&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5964" CreationDate="2010-11-30T20:19:45.757" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Aspiration&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;delusion&lt;/em&gt; come to mind. &lt;em&gt;Hopeful&lt;/em&gt; could work too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the commas, they seem fine. You can sometimes put a comma after a long subject like yours:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first is the acceptance, perhaps wishfully, that understanding who we are, is achievable in my lifetime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T20:19:45.757" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5964" CreationDate="2010-11-30T20:47:32.713" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given your comment &quot;I am trying to qualify that belief by saying perhaps I believe it to be true because I want it to be true,&quot; I might suggest &lt;em&gt;optimistically&lt;/em&gt; or even &lt;em&gt;over-optimistically&lt;/em&gt; in place of &lt;em&gt;wishfully&lt;/em&gt;, depending on how much doubt you want to express.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-30T20:57:47.947" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T20:57:47.947" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5964" CreationDate="2010-11-30T21:02:35.690" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like &quot;wishful&quot; very much, but &quot;wishfully&quot; is an adverb and &quot;acceptance&quot; is a noun.  So I'd just change the sentence to read something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The first is the acceptance, though perhaps it is a wishful one, that understanding who we are is achievable in my lifetime.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually I don't really understand the use of the word &quot;acceptance&quot; here - don't you mean something like &quot;belief&quot;?  &quot;Acceptance&quot; seems to imply (perhaps grudging) acquiescence that something is true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't like the second comma that Joshua added much, so I took it out.  No real need to slide in a comma between a subject and its verb... it wasn't &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; long a sentence!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T21:02:35.690" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5968" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5973" CreationDate="2010-11-30T21:40:40.220" Score="5" ViewCount="344" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one to use? How/when?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2523" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T00:52:10.643" Title="&quot;Congratulation&quot; vs &quot;Congratulations&quot;." Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5964" CreationDate="2010-11-30T21:47:02.493" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Longing&lt;/strong&gt; / &lt;strong&gt;Desire&lt;/strong&gt; / &lt;strong&gt;Hope&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitions and examples extracted from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; dictionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Longing:&lt;/strong&gt; a strong desire especially for something unattainable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They looked with longing toward freedom.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She cast a look of longing at the shop window.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She never told anyone about her secret longings.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Desire:&lt;/strong&gt; conscious impulse toward something that promises enjoyment or satisfaction in its attainment &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Desire is a common theme is music and literature.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The magazine tries to attend to the needs and desires of its readers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Both sides feel a real desire for peace.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;His decisions are guided by his desire for land.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They expressed a desire to go with us.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They have a desire to have children.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a strong desire to travel around the world&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He was overcome with desire for her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hope:&lt;/strong&gt; desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When they started their life together, they were young and full of hope.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rescuers have not yet abandoned hope that more survivors will be found.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The drug has brought hope to thousands of sufferers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We allowed ourselves to entertain hopes that the crisis would end soon.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The goal raised the hopes of the team.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The hope is that there will be a settlement soon.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The lawyers do not want to raise false hopes of an early settlement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He told them the truth with the hope that they would understand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He had little hope of attending college.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The latest reports hold out hope for a possible end to this crisis.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; I suggested nouns only because I thought that it made sense to choose another noun to follow &lt;em&gt;acceptance&lt;/em&gt; in your sentence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-30T21:52:52.503" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T21:52:52.503" />
  <row Id="5970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5920" CreationDate="2010-11-30T21:53:08.340" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've only ever encountered the word 'emend' in terms of Biblical criticism. There it's used to refer to textual changes that tweak a word or letter to give an alternative reading which makes more sense in context, assuming that the traditional word has been inadvertently altered over generations of copying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="308" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T21:53:08.340" />
  <row Id="5971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5901" CreationDate="2010-11-30T21:55:28.777" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always liked:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Leith police dismisseth us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Leith is an area of Edinburgh, pronounced to rhyme with 'teeth'.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="308" LastEditorUserId="308" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-11-30T22:02:38.340" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T22:02:38.340" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-21T22:56:26.373" />
  <row Id="5972" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-30T22:12:58.220" Score="3" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see this type of syntax often, but I do not know how, when or where they should be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;It is the case that [...] the inconvenience is altogether imaginary.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it okay to use if I need to insert a quotation into an essay, but the quote is long and I want to omit the irrelevant parts? Am I allowed to use the syntax multiple times per quotation ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="739" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T01:00:17.907" Title="How are bracket ellipsis [...] used in quotations?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;ellipsis&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="5973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5968" CreationDate="2010-11-30T22:22:41.973" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Congratulations&lt;/em&gt; is simply the plural form of &lt;em&gt;congratulation&lt;/em&gt;. See these examples from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/congratulations&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; dictionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let me offer you my congratulations for being elected.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Please send her my congratulations.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I sent her a letter of congratulations.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The plural form illustrated by the examples above is much more used than the singular form&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2523 matches for &lt;em&gt;congratulations&lt;/em&gt; vs. 56 matches for &lt;em&gt;congratulation&lt;/em&gt; in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;COCA&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should be noted that the less common singular form can be found in sentences where the plural form would not apply. See these examples extracted from the COCA:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...notes of congratulation and consolation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Artistic Podiatrist extended a hand in congratulation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I made conventional sound of congratulation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-01T00:52:10.643" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T00:52:10.643" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-11-30T22:51:04.773" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Beribboned&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Be-ribboned&quot;, not &quot;berry-boned&quot;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2527" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T22:51:04.773" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-11-30T22:51:04.773" />
  <row Id="5975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5972" CreationDate="2010-11-30T23:10:22.243" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Square brackets are used in quotes to mark information that was not in the original quote. This applies equally to added words and omitted words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wonder... who did that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wonder [...] who did that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first, the speaker is pondering something; the question is somewhat rhetorical. In the second, the question is literal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: yes, you can use this multiple times in a quotation. Just be careful not to leave out so much that the quote becomes incomprehensible, or worse, changes meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-01T01:00:17.907" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T01:00:17.907" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="5976" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-11-30T23:11:40.383" Score="1" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;My teacher said &quot;I am going to &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; a walk&quot; today in class and to me it seems incorrect. Correct variants that I know are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Going for a walk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Going to take a walk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Going to walk &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this correct? If so, why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2528" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:02:05.363" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:02:05.363" Title="&quot;I am going to have a walk&quot;." Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5968" CreationDate="2010-11-30T23:17:39.343" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although Bruno's examples are quite correct, I have very rarely seen the singular &quot;congratulation&quot; used in practical English. Any time you refer to offering someone congratulations you use the plural and I think you could easily pass yourself off as a native English speaker without ever using the singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T23:17:39.343" />
  <row Id="5978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5976" CreationDate="2010-11-30T23:29:10.840" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is nothing wrong with this construction. It sounds more British than American, for some reason, but if you can have a fight, or have a bath, or have a go at something, why can't you have a walk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-01T00:36:44.573" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T00:36:44.573" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5976" CreationDate="2010-11-30T23:31:14.740" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say &quot;I am going to have a walk&quot; and although it seems a bit clunky to me it is quite understandable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; a walk and going &lt;em&gt;to take&lt;/em&gt; a walk would both work well, the first is maybe more British English the latter more US English but they are the most common ways one would use that phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Going to walk&quot; is not a statement in itself, it needs a destination - &quot;I'm going to walk to the shops&quot; would be fine but if you had no destination in mind or you didn't want to say what your destination was you would just say &quot;I'm going for a walk.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T23:31:14.740" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="5980" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5981" CreationDate="2010-11-30T23:43:27.767" Score="3" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know a tool to look up names like &lt;em&gt;Rumbaugh&lt;/em&gt;?&#xA;Sometimes I hear something like &quot;rumba&quot; or even &quot;rambo&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a dictionary where I could look up the correct pronunciation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-01T00:22:09.827" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T07:36:39.610" Title="How to pronounce family names?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;tools&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5980" CreationDate="2010-11-30T23:58:16.523" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One major issue with family names is that they can be pronounced however the family decides. Some pronounce the names as they were in the original language, some Anglicize the pronunciation, some Anglicize the spelling then adjust the pronunciation to fit, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good example of this is Stephen Colbert.  He pronounces his last name &lt;code&gt;koʊlˈbɛər&lt;/code&gt; while his father and brother use &lt;code&gt;ˈkoʊlbərt&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of this flexibility, no reference will be able to tell you exactly how to pronounce any one person's name.  The best they could do would be to provide an array of common ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T23:58:16.523" />
  <row Id="5982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5901" CreationDate="2010-11-30T23:58:51.533" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is always the pheasant plucker, it is very difficult indeed in polite society :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a song: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~mentor01/song.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~mentor01/song.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2509" LastActivityDate="2010-11-30T23:58:51.533" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-21T22:56:20.557" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5983" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5984" CreationDate="2010-12-01T01:08:26.290" Score="3" ViewCount="235" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between the two?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that &quot;caretaker&quot; is more appropriate for someone who takes care of things or inanimate property; whereas &quot;caregiver&quot; would be someone who takes care of a person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just amused at how the opposite roots of &quot;give&quot; and &quot;take&quot; are used to mean the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1534" LastEditorUserId="1534" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-03T07:59:20.990" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T08:00:02.260" Title="&quot;Caretaker&quot; vs &quot;Caregiver&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5983" CreationDate="2010-12-01T03:06:18.433" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the OED:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;caregiver&lt;/strong&gt; n. orig. U.S. a person, typically either a professional or close relative, who looks after a child, elderly person, invalid, etc.; a carer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;caretaker&lt;/strong&gt; n.&#xA; a. One who takes care of a thing, place, or person; one put in charge of anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2531" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T03:06:18.433" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5985" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5986" CreationDate="2010-12-01T04:53:52.173" Score="4" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would you use the word &quot;swum&quot; these days? I mean, grammatically, it is the past participle of the verb &quot;to swim&quot;, but it seems to me that no one uses it anymore. If it's the case, how would You describe the fact that You have already performed an act of swimming today? With &quot;swum&quot; it would be like this: &quot;I've already swum today&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T02:05:35.840" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T02:05:35.840" Title="Would you use the word &quot;swum&quot; these days?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;past-participle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5985" CreationDate="2010-12-01T04:58:51.773" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would see that word for swim race or competition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have already swum (the 500m swim race) today&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as opposed to the more common&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have already been swimming today&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have already gone swimming today&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(you generally &quot;go swimming&quot;, not just &quot;swim&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-01T05:04:31.643" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T05:04:31.643" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5987" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5988" CreationDate="2010-12-01T05:23:53.030" Score="3" ViewCount="330" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often get stuck when forming or formatting a sentence with one or more parenthesis. For example, I wrote an answer on another stackexchange site, in which I wrote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...whereas, my phone(xperia x10 mini)&#xA;  comes with several widgets...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which, afterwards, I thought should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...whereas, my phone (xperia x10 mini)&#xA;  comes with several widgets...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in some cases I feel the former way is correct, like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... phones which have camera include&#xA;  IPhone(5MP), Nokia N8(12MP), Nokia&#xA;  X6(3MP)....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any rule for the placement of space after and before parenthesis?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1617" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T19:47:13.183" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T19:47:13.183" Title="Spaces around parenthesis" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="7" />
  <row Id="5988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5987" CreationDate="2010-12-01T06:32:55.747" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The one rule remains &lt;strong&gt;readability&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No space before a parenthesis is usually used with functions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;f(x)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since your technical description of camera isn't a &quot;function&quot;, I would still go with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;phones which have camera include IPhone (5MP), Nokia N8 (12MP), Nokia X6 (3MP)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, if you have a &lt;em&gt;consistent&lt;/em&gt; convention throughout your document with no space before parenthesis, you could go with it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But as you illustrates in your question, there are instances where a space is needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T06:32:55.747" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="5989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5987" CreationDate="2010-12-01T07:13:13.493" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I saw your last example while editing your piece, I would add spaces. That is, at best, an unconventional way to use parentheses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1311" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T07:13:13.493" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5980" CreationDate="2010-12-01T07:36:39.610" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to English rules, proper nouns can be pronounced any way the speaker chooses to. Family names are proper nouns. A service like that however would be interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T07:36:39.610" />
  <row Id="5991" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5997" CreationDate="2010-12-01T09:30:36.943" Score="8" ViewCount="337" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;His whereabouts is unknown&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;His whereabouts are unknown&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is correct, or is this simply a matter of preference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2518" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T10:47:27.057" Title="&quot;His whereabouts is (are?) unknown&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="5992" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6015" CreationDate="2010-12-01T09:34:24.467" Score="0" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you come up with any sensible sentence, into which the following combination of words would fit in well: &quot;take your life safety lightly&quot;. Please, don't change the words order. Also, if possible, describe the context, in which that sentence would naturally appear.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T23:16:32.593" Title="Where would &quot;take your life safety lightly&quot; fit in?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="5993" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6004" CreationDate="2010-12-01T09:44:19.937" Score="2" ViewCount="453" Body="&lt;p&gt;What word would or combination of words would best describe a small store, in which only glasses (spectacles) are sold?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some of my guesses, but I think they are all wrong:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eye ware&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glass Shop&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glasses Shop&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glass Store&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glasses Store&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Optics Store&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(What's your option?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need it for two cases: one is for a sign on that store, the other one is for this sentence: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Two years earlier she had worked in a (small) &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very possible that there are different words (or combination of words) for these two different cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please, remember that only glasses are being sold in that store/shop.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T04:16:55.020" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T13:17:47.607" Title="How to name a store where glasses are sold?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;signage&gt;&lt;nomenclature&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="5995" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-01T10:00:18.367" Score="9" ViewCount="228" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the singular, it is quite clear that one uses &quot;I&quot; when referring to a third party and oneself, as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bob and I are going to build an aircraft.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in the plural, it is a lot less clear.  For example, if a group of boy scouts are talking about their next project and want to include an outsider, e.g. Sarah:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sarah and we are going to build an aircraft.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or would it be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sarah and us are going to build an aircraft.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or even:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sarah and ourselves are going to build an aircraft.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help as otherwise I'll have to shelve the whole aircraft project.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1073" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T15:45:12.310" Title="&quot;Bob and us&quot; or &quot;Bob and we&quot; or &quot;Bob and ourselves&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="5996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5987" CreationDate="2010-12-01T10:02:14.377" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like the first answer, f(x) -&gt; no space before opening parenthesis&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Treat the closing parenthesis as ending a word =&gt; suffix a space if it's followed by another word and not a punctuation marker (full-stop, comma, [semi-]colon, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2540" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T10:02:14.377" />
  <row Id="5997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5991" CreationDate="2010-12-01T10:11:34.707" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/whereabouts#Noun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;marks&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;whereabouts&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plurale_tantum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;plurale tantum&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. Merriam-Webster &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whereabouts?show=2&amp;amp;t=1291197671&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt; that it's a &quot;noun plural but singular or plural in construction&quot;. The Collins English Dictionary says that it is &quot;functioning as singular or plural&quot;, and the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language says that it is &quot;used with a singular or plural verb&quot;. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; has 23 cites for &quot;whereabouts are unknown&quot;, but only 3 cites for &quot;whereabouts is unknown&quot;. Finally, Google returns 1.1M results for &quot;whereabouts are unknown&quot; vs 191k results for &quot;whereabouts is unknown&quot;. So, neither of the forms is unheard of, but &quot;whereabouts are unknown&quot; is preferred by a rather significant margin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-01T10:29:12.180" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T10:29:12.180" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="5998" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6000" CreationDate="2010-12-01T10:14:21.790" Score="0" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello everyone!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's normal use ...tech*&lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;*.info instead ...tech.info in domain name? Is this correct, or i can not reduce technology to techs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2541" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T10:25:01.430" Title="Can i use blablatechs in domain name instead blablatech?" Tags="&lt;short-form&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="5999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4452" CreationDate="2010-12-01T10:18:44.873" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK I looked this up today, and an ASS is a Donkey.......and a Donkey can be an ASS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in our English/ British English........an ARSE is relating to your Buttocks and an ASS is relating to act like a Donkey.......... Makes a lot of sense to me. Morticia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2542" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T10:18:44.873" />
  <row Id="6000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5998" CreationDate="2010-12-01T10:25:01.430" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Technology&lt;/em&gt; in its singular form cannot be abbreviated to &lt;em&gt;techs&lt;/em&gt;. But if there are clearly more than one technology in use, &lt;em&gt;techs&lt;/em&gt; would certainly be OK. Yet most would use or understand &lt;em&gt;techs&lt;/em&gt; as an abbreviation of &lt;em&gt;technicians&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An alternative would be to abbreviate &lt;em&gt;technology&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;tex&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T10:25:01.430" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5992" CreationDate="2010-12-01T11:17:35.807" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In answer to your question: No, I can't. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I don't think there is a way that it could be formed into a sentence. The problem is &quot;life safety&quot; just isn't a term that works in English. If you were talking about the safety of your life, you would say &quot;the safety of your life&quot; so an equivalent phrase would be &quot;take the safety of your life lightly.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless someone was to invent a piece of equipment called a Life Safety ( which given its somewhat awkward construction would not be something a native English speaker would do ) I can't see a way you could put those words in that order into use unless you were perhaps writing blank verse, in which case most rules of language construction are out the window, but to do &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; well is beyond most of us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T11:17:35.807" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5991" CreationDate="2010-12-01T12:05:57.610" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since @RegDwight has already provided an answer with strict supporting background information, let me answer this question from a conversational perspective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would think of a person's &lt;em&gt;whereabouts&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;places&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;where he has been&lt;/em&gt;. Note my emphasis on &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;places&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. That's plural. So,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;His whereabouts are unknown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The context here would be that we do not know the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;places&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; he has been going to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1534" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T12:05:57.610" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="6003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5957" CreationDate="2010-12-01T12:14:49.330" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, you and many other people choose to ignore the rules of implicature. and wilfully misinterpret the sentence, for comic effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T12:14:49.330" />
  <row Id="6004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5993" CreationDate="2010-12-01T12:20:24.737" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;Optician's?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="940" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T12:20:24.737" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5995" CreationDate="2010-12-01T12:25:21.207" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an example where prescriptive grammar fails us (in practice I mean). Generations of people have had drummed into them that they must say &quot;John and I went&quot; not &quot;Me and John went&quot;, because of some supposed rule imported from Latin. (See Emonds, J. &quot;Grammatically deviant prestige dialect constructions.&quot; &lt;em&gt;A Festschift for Sol Saporta&lt;/em&gt;. Ed. M. Brame, H. Contreras and F. Newmeyer. Seattle: Noit Amrofer, 1985, for why &quot;John and I went&quot; cannot be part of any naturally learnt variety of English). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &quot;Sarah and we/us&quot; is not frequent enough that phrases like it often come up in pedagogy, so we are left with two unpalatable alternatives: &quot;Sarah and us&quot; must be wrong because &quot;Sarah and me&quot; is wrong; but &quot;Sarah and we&quot; doesn't sound right either, and we don't know what to say. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Emonds discusses a number of more complicated cases where people are often unsure about the application of the rule, but I don't remember whether they include this one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Edited to correct title of paper and provide proper citation, 3 December]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-03T15:45:12.310" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T15:45:12.310" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5948" CreationDate="2010-12-01T12:33:45.347" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those expressions could have slightly different meanings especially when talking about finance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare the statements&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To date, the fund has grown 25% since the start of the year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;versus&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Until now, the fund has grown 25% (since the start of the year?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To date&lt;/em&gt; does a good job of conveying the process of tracking the progress. However, &lt;em&gt;until now&lt;/em&gt; seems to imply that the fund's growth rate has changed, thus our second statement implicitly requires further elaboration. Besides, &lt;em&gt;until now&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;since the start of the year&lt;/em&gt; don't go well together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1534" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T12:33:45.347" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6007" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7168" CreationDate="2010-12-01T12:46:16.220" Score="3" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;How would one optimize the number of repetitions required for vocabulary acquisition and retention by taking the forgetting curve (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgetting_curve&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link text&lt;/a&gt;) into account?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone here use Mnemosyne, Anki or SuperMemo? [Can't post more than 1 link initially]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And do you know of any similar systems (not specifically flash card) that takes these principles into account for vocabulary acquisition and retention?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2535" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T16:46:34.033" ClosedDate="2011-02-17T16:33:03.427" Title="How can one optimize English vocabulary acquisition by taking the Hermann Ebbinghaus forgetting curve ideas and applying them?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;learning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="6008" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6012" CreationDate="2010-12-01T14:24:10.013" Score="0" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want know if this term applies in the following situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am attending a training session&#xA;conducted by a third party training&#xA;company. I want to audio record the&#xA;sessions.Will this come under &lt;strong&gt;infringment of copyright&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to raise an another question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Say I am attending a meeting in my&#xA;company, what if I want to record&#xA;those meetings in my mobile phone&#xA;for later writing notes.&#xA;Is this subject to &lt;strong&gt;infringment of copyright&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have gone through wikipedia to know the definition. But these are some situations where I cannot find any real time references.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would appreciate any suggestions/views on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2544" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T15:57:49.860" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T15:57:49.860" Title="Correct usage of &quot;infringment of copyright&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5993" CreationDate="2010-12-01T14:41:58.663" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would not suggest the use of &quot;glass&quot; or &quot;glasses&quot;; it would not be specific enough to identify the store as somewhere eyeglasses are sold. There are stores that sell collector's edition glasses (as in those that you drink from), and so there could be some confusion involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also not suggest &quot;optics&quot; as there are other types of optics out there as well - lenses and such for cameras, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Opticians&quot; (with or without the apostrophe) would imply that the store also provides eye exams, at least to me. If that is the case - that there is an optometrist on site - then this would be a good choice, regardless of whether it is in the UK or here in the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the K.I.S.S. approach would be best - &quot;eyeglass store&quot;. This it to the point and does not leave room for doubt as to what is sold there. It isn't fancy or elegant, but it is about as accurate as you can get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2242" LastEditorUserId="2242" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-01T15:26:59.933" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T15:26:59.933" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="6010" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6026" CreationDate="2010-12-01T14:46:32.607" Score="0" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am new to this group, so I do not know if what I am asking is correct. I am an Italian who lived in England for three years and now I am living in Spain, so I don't have anyone at hand to ask this question at the moment, if I am writing a correct and fluent English.&#xA;This is the text:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To judge a visual portfolio, you don't need to know any details. Portfolios talk by themself.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Try with a good stare at the work for few intense seconds. You'll know if it is good.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Design is all in what you feel when you see it and experience it for the first time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each line is appearing a few seconds after the previous one, to allow to read one paragraph at time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So first, &quot;To judge a visual portfolio, you don't need to know any details. Portfolios talk by themself.&quot;, then &quot;To judge a visual portfolio, you don't need to know any details. Portfolios talk by themself.&quot;, and then the last piece.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks everyone for any kind help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2545" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-01T15:15:54.133" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T15:52:42.083" ClosedDate="2010-12-01T19:40:14.857" Title="Reviewing my English phrase about portfolio and design." Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;translation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6008" CreationDate="2010-12-01T14:49:44.830" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would more likely say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... Will this be copyright infringement / infringement of copyright?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this considered a form of copyright infringement?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this subject to/Does this come under copyright laws?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-01T21:30:41.260" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T21:30:41.260" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6008" CreationDate="2010-12-01T14:50:58.430" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally you would say something like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This presentation is copyrighted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This presentation is subject to copyright&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you might also say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would recording this presentation be considered copyright infringement?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would recording this presentation infringe your copyright?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the example questions you posted, the first one sounds odd to me but I'd say it's probably acceptable and the listener will understand, but I'd say this instead:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am attending a training session conducted by a third party training company. I want to audio record the sessions. Would this be considered copyright infringment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your second example there is a bit of ambiguity about your &lt;code&gt;this&lt;/code&gt; pronoun in the second sentence.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Say I am attending a meeting in my company, what if I want to record those meetings in my mobile phone for later writing notes. Is this subject to infringment of copyright?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand the meaning but what the question is really asking (at face value) is &quot;Will my recording have its copyright infrigned?&quot; which probably isn't what you want; the copyright you are concerned about is the meeting's copyright.  So I'd say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Say I am attending a meeting in my company. What if I want to record those meetings in my mobile phone for later writing notes? Would this infringe the company's copyright?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastEditorUserId="380" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-01T18:34:29.153" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T18:34:29.153" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6010" CreationDate="2010-12-01T15:01:22.977" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure your question is phrased in such a way as to be on-topic for this site, but I'll answer anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There's no such word as &quot;themself&quot; : &lt;em&gt;them&lt;/em&gt; is plural while &lt;em&gt;self&lt;/em&gt; is singular, so putting the two together doesn't work. Try &lt;em&gt;themselves&lt;/em&gt; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your third sentence needs help. &quot;Try staring at the work for a few intense seconds&quot; would be a grammatical rewriting, but I wouldn't suggest using the word &lt;em&gt;stare&lt;/em&gt; in this context: it has a connotation of impoliteness. Use &lt;em&gt;looking&lt;/em&gt; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T15:01:22.977" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6010" CreationDate="2010-12-01T15:02:16.557" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some ideas by a non-native English speaker, trying to stay as close to the original as possible:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To judge a visual portfolio, you don't need to know any details. Portfolios speak for themselves.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;  Try gazing at the work for few intense seconds. You'll know if it is good.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;  Design is complete in what you feel when you see it and experience it for the first time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Design lays all in what you feel when you see it and experience it for the first time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-01T15:17:27.953" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T15:17:27.953" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5992" CreationDate="2010-12-01T15:05:19.027" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to disagree with glenatron (EDIT: This disagreement appears to be between British and American idiom). While it is relatively non-idiomatic in American English to use &quot;life safety&quot; in the context suggested by the question, it is certainly a valid construction, both grammatically and semantically, and I wouldn't be surprised if I encountered it some text.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue (as noted in some comments) is that in the common case, &quot;safety&quot; by itself generally implies &quot;life safety&quot;. However, there are other types of safety that we can reasonably talk about. Explicitly saying &quot;life safety&quot; can make sense either to ensure that the type of safety in question is unambiguous, or to emphasize the potential life-threatening nature of a situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, a manufacturing company might say &quot;We take both fire and life safety seriously.&quot; In this sentence, the adjectives highlight that the company is serious about addressing multiple sources of danger, only some of which are potentially life-threatening.&#xA;(Semi-related, the National Fire Prevention Association publishes a &quot;Life Safety Code&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English is flexible enough that it is the rare construction indeed that can be declared to be always wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An aside on &quot;your life safety&quot; vs. &quot;safety of your life&quot;: In English, it is extremely common for a genitive of specification to be replaced with a plain adjective--to the point that the genitive construction typically sounds awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1955" LastEditorUserId="1955" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-01T21:47:39.673" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T21:47:39.673" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6016" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-01T15:09:55.887" Score="7" ViewCount="268" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read in a number of places that the NZ pronunciation of &quot;women&quot; must be rather peculiar. Quoting from &lt;a href=&quot;http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Alt/alt.usage.english/2006-01/msg04631.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;just one such place&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For some years I've noted the tendency of Kiwis to pronounce &quot;woman&quot; and &quot;women&quot; identically (as &quot;woman&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To which an Australian replies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It appears there is a vowel shift going on in New Zealand (NZ) English [...] [T]he vowel in &quot;women&quot; which in Australian English is the same as the vowel in &quot;hit&quot;, is often, in NZ, reduced to a schwa [...]. It makes the plural sound like our singular. I don't think the NZ pronunciation of the singular is the same as the NZ plural&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A New Zealander begs to differ:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've noticed this trend over the last few years also. To me as a kiwi it doesn't sound anything like a mispronounced plural -- it just sounds as if the speaker is using the one word for both singular and plural. [...] I see it as part of a much larger tendency to confuse singular and plurals. [Several examples follow.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Who's right? Who's wrong? Wikipedia has &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_English#Pronunciation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In New Zealand English the short &lt;em&gt;i&lt;/em&gt; of KIT is a central vowel not phonologically distinct from schwa /ə/, the vowel in unstressed &quot;the&quot;. It thus contrasts sharply with the [i] vowel heard in Australia. Recent acoustic studies featuring both Australian and New Zealand voices show that the accents were more similar before the Second World War and that the KIT vowel has undergone rapid centralisation in New Zealand English. Because of this difference in pronunciation, some New Zealanders claim that Australians say &quot;feesh and cheeps&quot; for &lt;em&gt;fish and chips&lt;/em&gt; while some Australians counter that New Zealanders say &quot;fush and chups&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, there appears to be a vowel shift going on; but I'm not sure if there might be some truth to the people-just-stop-caring-about-certain-plurals argument as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope we have enough New Zealanders on board to shed some light on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can you provide a guide to how to pronounce &quot;women&quot; &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; &quot;woman&quot; in NZ English? (I've done some searching for audio files or YouTube videos, but haven't found anything yet.) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Would you say that it's just the vowel shift, &quot;a much larger tendency to confuse singular and plurals&quot;, or both? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How recent is this trend? (E.g., if you are a native speaker of NZ English, is your pronunciation of &quot;women&quot; different from that of your parents/grandparents?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T18:03:54.717" Title="New Zealand pronunciation of &quot;women&quot; vs &quot;woman&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;vowels&gt;&lt;new-zealand-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="6017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5983" CreationDate="2010-12-01T15:15:35.270" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To expand on John S' answer, I would add this: there are differences in the connotations of the words. A &quot;caretaker&quot; is simply that - someone hired to take care of 'x', whatever 'x' may be ... person, place, or thing. They are paid to do so and would have little true concern for their charge much beyond doing a good enough job to maintain their position. I picture someone managing property or an estate when I hear the term &quot;caretaker.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &quot;caregiver&quot;, on the other hand, gives the impression that the person takes a more vested interest in what they do. There is more of an implication of genuine care and concern expressed in the way in which they treat the person entrusted to them - more of a role of &lt;em&gt;service&lt;/em&gt; rather than merely a job. Doctors, nurses, physical therapists, etc. - these come to mind when I think of &quot;caregivers.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2242" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T15:15:35.270" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5111" CreationDate="2010-12-01T15:20:03.720" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I thought Australia was part of Oceanía... when did this change and Australia became a continent itself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, America is the whole continent, the subdivisions are only for the sake of geographic-geological study but the Continental plate is America.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time we, people who live in anyplace not being USA, feels embarrassed when you hear about &quot;being american is&quot;, &quot;the spirit of america is&quot; and else. Because we're not &quot;US citizens&quot; nor ever be considered in that way, but we indeed live in AMERICA so we could be proudly called americans, but the patronimious (how do you say it in english?) has become synonymous of US citizens, politics, mind, behavior; sometimes we don't agree in no way with any of those points and we feel excluded with a word that should unite us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Said this, I dare to say that using Americans for the citizenship of USA is wrong for the rest of the continent, but as it has been used constantly by USA all over the globe, that use have given another meaning to the word, succeeding in segregating people who feels America is also ITS land.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I traveled to Europe, every time I've been asked if I was from America, I corrected it to the name of my own country and emphasizing that we're not in America (strange to say indeed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Btw, in general, Europeans understand pretty well the concept, US citizens don't and &#xA;in general they don't even understand what they have done with the word... is like they are humans so the citizens of USA are called Humans... Imagine the rest of the world should feel not so good about being called humans when they live let's say, Russia?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing against USA anyway. Just to clear things up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2479" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T15:20:03.720" />
  <row Id="6019" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6025" CreationDate="2010-12-01T15:32:33.750" Score="3" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a really cool phrase. It certainly evokes imagery of dancing about nimbly on a ray of light, or something of the sort. But how does it make sense? &quot;to trip&quot; I can see as being kind of like dancing. &quot;to trip the light&quot; - which light? And what part of speech is &quot;fantastic&quot; here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T15:47:22.280" Title="Why does &quot;trip the light fantastic&quot; mean &quot;to dance&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6020" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6030" CreationDate="2010-12-01T15:33:51.860" Score="2" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you call a word that was obtained by inversing the sound in another word? Is there a word for it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although &lt;em&gt;cheat&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;teach&lt;/em&gt; would seem an easy example of such a pair, it is only close. When we don't restrain ourself to English word, we have the pair &lt;em&gt;Made/Maid&lt;/em&gt; with the Latin word &lt;em&gt;diem&lt;/em&gt;, which could be argued as being used in English, notably in the idiom &quot;carpe diem&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-02T06:19:37.493" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T06:19:37.493" Title="Words obtained by inversing the order of the sounds" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5995" CreationDate="2010-12-01T15:37:34.403" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think anyone would word the sentence in the examples provided. It would be either &quot;Sarah is going to build an aircraft with us.&quot; or &quot;We are going to build an aircraft with Sarah.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question directly, I would assume that &quot;Sarah and we are going to build an aircraft&quot; is correct (if you insist on using that word structure), because if Sarah wasn't there it would be &quot;We are going to build an aircraft&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1193" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T15:37:34.403" />
  <row Id="6023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6010" CreationDate="2010-12-01T15:39:14.257" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following on from Ralph and Martha's answers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To judge a visual portfolio, you don't need to know any details. Portfolios speak for themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Talk by themselves&quot; is too literal, and would suggest that portfolios actually say things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Try staring intently at the work for a few seconds. You'll know if it's good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've combined the idea of a &quot;good stare&quot; and a &quot;few intense seconds&quot; into one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Design is all about what you feel when you see it and experience it for the first time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;All about&quot; sounds better (to me) then &quot;all in&quot; here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T15:39:14.257" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6019" CreationDate="2010-12-01T15:47:22.280" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The common reference (as mentioned for instance in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordreference.com/definition/trip%20light&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wordreference&lt;/a&gt; is from a verse in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Allegro&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Milton’s L’Allegro&lt;/a&gt; (a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastoral&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pastoral&lt;/a&gt; poem by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Milton&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;John Milton&lt;/a&gt; published in 1645).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trip_the_light_fantastic_%28phrase%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; list all the other references/origins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Come, and trip it as you go, on the light fantastic toe.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theartsdesk.com/index.php?option=com_k2&amp;amp;view=item&amp;amp;id=1322%3amark-morris-l%27allegro-il-penseroso-ed-il-moderato-review&amp;amp;Itemid=22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; illustrates the result when it is presented as modern ballet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato&lt;/code&gt; is uncategorisable - it’s both dance and oratorio, both narratively coloured and yet at times more formally complex than purest ballet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Milton's phrase, 'Trip it as you go/ On the light fantastic toe', could have been minted for Mark Morris.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/XEASA.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/27894/lallegro-il-penseroso-ed-il-moderato&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Stage&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.culturevulture.net/Dance/morrislallegro.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;culturevulture&lt;/a&gt; concur:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is a verse in Milton’s L’Allegro that may have inspired Morris to craft this highly innovative dance: &quot;Come, and trip it as you go, on the light fantastic toe.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  His dancers can trip the light fantastic with the best of them [...].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T15:47:22.280" />
  <row Id="6026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6010" CreationDate="2010-12-01T15:52:42.083" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is my suggestion to improve Steve's answer even more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To judge a visual portfolio, you don't need to know any details. Portfolios speak for themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think this sentence can be improved&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Try staring intently at the work for a few seconds. You will know if it's good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have replaced &quot;You'll&quot; with &quot;You will&quot;... this helps to emphasise the positive effect of the staring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Design is all about what you feel when you see and experience it for the first time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest dropping the first &quot;it&quot;....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1193" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T15:52:42.083" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5964" CreationDate="2010-12-01T15:58:01.017" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;As an off-topic aside: it sounds as though you are writing a scholarly paper on the subject of consciousness.  If I were you, I would definitely not want to convey that I sometimes come to believe things because I want them to be true.  It's a form of magical thinking, and is generally incompatible with science and academia.  That being said...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree that the use of &quot;acceptance&quot; implies that it's established fact that we will understand the brain within our lifetime.  Not that we won't--just that there's no consensus on the matter.  Also, I changed to past tense to parallel &quot;propelled&quot; in the previous sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you feel that the belief was somewhat foolhardy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first was coming to&#xA;  believe, perhaps with undue optimism,&#xA;  that understanding the brain is&#xA;  achievable within my lifetime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you want to describe the onset of your belief:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first was coming to&#xA;  believe, gradually, but with mounting certainty,&#xA;  that understanding the brain is&#xA;  achievable within my lifetime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or maybe the belief was almost a guilty pleasure:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first was allowing myself to truly believe&#xA;  that understanding the brain is&#xA;  achievable within my lifetime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You get the idea.  This slight re-structuring allows lots of room for tailoring the sentence to your liking.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1864" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T15:58:01.017" />
  <row Id="6028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1271" CreationDate="2010-12-01T16:02:46.613" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Same as other idioms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spanish&#xA;Lunes - Luna - Moon - Lunae dies&#xA;Martes - Marte - Mars - Martis dies&#xA;Miércoles - Mercurio - Mercury - Mercurii dies&#xA;Jueves - Júpiter - Jupiter - Ioves dies&#xA;Viernes - Venus - Venus - Veneris dies&#xA;Sábado - Saturno - Sabbath - Saturday - Saturni dies&#xA;Domingo - Sol - Señor - Sunday - Solis dies (domincum)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The days in Latin were related to the mesopotamic days, taken from 7 celestial objects. Those celestial objects have name, so the names are NOUNS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read about the ethimology statement, and I really don't know if it has nothing to do with this, but as the question says, as I recall the Proper Nouns in spanish are called &quot;Nombres Propios&quot; something like personal names that clears a lot the idea behind them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In spanish you use the rules this way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adjectives don't capitalize&#xA;&quot;egyptian orders&quot; egyptian is an adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Proper nouns turned into massive usage, don't capitalize&#xA;&quot;aspirin&quot; there's a lot of brands of aspirin, so even when it was originally a proper noun it became common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Demonyms or Gentilic, in spanish, always written non-capitalized. In your case, capitalized. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonym and change from spanish to english idiom)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, in the case of the days of the week, originally capitalized (proper nouns), discussed by the RAE (Spanish Language Royal Academy) became non-capitalized by the same reasons aspirin is not capitalized. But this happened about 10 years ago? I don't know but I think your question has no proper answer in the light of the evidence of other cases in another idioms. like the one exposed in spanish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope I added something to the debate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2479" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T16:02:46.613" />
  <row Id="6029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5995" CreationDate="2010-12-01T16:16:07.233" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps the following could work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Me, Bob and Sarah are going to build an aircraft.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2515" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T16:16:07.233" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6020" CreationDate="2010-12-01T16:24:43.837" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is an example of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonetic_reversal&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Phonetic Reversal&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(or is it &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoneme&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Phonemic&lt;/a&gt; reversal&lt;/strong&gt;?, as &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/1506/jon-purdy&quot;&gt;Jon Purdy&lt;/a&gt; points out in the comments: reversal of the order of the &lt;em&gt;phonemes&lt;/em&gt; &lt;code&gt;/ch/&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;/ea/&lt;/code&gt;, and &lt;code&gt;/t/&lt;/code&gt; rather than the &lt;em&gt;phones&lt;/em&gt; &lt;code&gt;[t]&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;[ʃ]&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;[iː]&lt;/code&gt;, and &lt;code&gt;[t]&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;[ʔ]&lt;/code&gt;).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; be an instance of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backmasking&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;backmasking&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, even though the Wikipedia article does mention:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Phonetic reversal is not entirely identical to backmasking, which is specifically the reversal of recorded sound.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  This is because pronunciation in speech causes a reversed &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphthong&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;diphthong&lt;/a&gt; to sound different in either direction (e.g. eye &lt;code&gt;[aɪ]&lt;/code&gt; becoming yah &lt;code&gt;[jɑː]&lt;/code&gt;), or differently emphasize a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consonant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;consonant&lt;/a&gt; depending on where it lies in a word, hence creating an imperfect reversal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Backmasking involves not only the reversal of the order of phonemes, but the reversal of the phonemes themselves, which means that the reversed sound of a phrase may be hard to predict.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I am not sure that the word &quot;teach&quot; played reversed would actually gives &quot;cheat&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If it doesn't, I didn't find any &quot;one word&quot; to characterize this particular inversion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-01T17:49:59.103" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T17:49:59.103" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5995" CreationDate="2010-12-01T16:30:09.917" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We and Sarah are going to build an aircraft.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, as others have suggested, avoiding the question (by putting &quot;...with Sarah&quot; at the end of the sentence) is probably the way to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T16:30:09.917" />
  <row Id="6032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6020" CreationDate="2010-12-01T16:35:27.027" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One or two, one, a Palindrome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The palindromes could be a word or phrase which are read the same to one side or the other. In spanish is hard but not that much, remember that you say in spanish the same as you read, I mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anilina - anilinA&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometemos - sometemoS&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Se es o no se es&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Redivider - redivideR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;God! a dog!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never odd or even.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in this case could be just the sound because, clearly teach - cheat are not written the same as for the palindromes, it should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;teach - hcaet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two, I think from what I've read that you could call it anagram, that's a rearranging of the letters of a word to form another:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Made - Dame&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;teach - cheat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And not as palindrome which should be JUST the inverse with no rearrange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could read about almost the same question here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1399/what-do-you-call-a-word-that-spells-a-different-word-backwards&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;palindrome-anagram&quot;&gt;Palindrome-anagram&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2479" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T16:35:27.027" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5995" CreationDate="2010-12-01T17:07:02.057" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As someone stated in another answer, the problem could have been imported from latin. I say what happens in other idioms, it always helps me to realized which ways to take for the logical construction of phrases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In spanish (latin), you should not use &quot;I&quot; and someone, because is non polite to construct the phrase that way. You are being more important in the phrase so you place yourself first. This speak badly of you. Don't know if that's the exact reason in english but it could be. You resolve a lot of problems writing in that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case you propose, I see this (I'm not native english, so please educate me):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Sarah and we are going to build an aircraft.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I help myself with punctuation, it gives just the pauses I need to realize what should be appropriate sometimes. So:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sarah and I, we are going to build an aircraft.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sarah and we, we are...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sarah and us, we are...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sarah and ourselves, we are...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And following the counsel,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I/Me and Sarah, are going to build an aircraft.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We and Sarah, are...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Us and Sarah, are...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ourselves and Sarah, are...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only phrase that doesn't sound or looks odd given the examples is WE, but I think &quot;Sarah and we are going...&quot; it's pretty ambiguous. If you use the comma, you'll see that using it after we, left us with &quot;are going to build an aircraft&quot;... in spanish could be done because the pronoun is tacit but don't know if in english you could do that so simply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I was you, I'd use &quot;We and Sarah are going...&quot; &lt;strike&gt;&#xA;or I use the comma as in &quot;Sarah and we, are going...&quot;&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My two cents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2479" LastEditorUserId="2479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-02T15:56:04.123" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T15:56:04.123" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5987" CreationDate="2010-12-01T17:14:24.467" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A space after and before the word in parenthesis. Exception, when there's a punctuation after the parenthesis (,.;:).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You only use it with no space to the previous word when is a math function, x(4+2) + y(2*2).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2479" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T17:14:24.467" />
  <row Id="6035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5987" CreationDate="2010-12-01T18:06:33.767" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When writing &lt;em&gt;in English&lt;/em&gt; (not a programming language or math), the rule is: put a space before the opening parenthesis, and either a space or a punctuation mark after the closing parenthesis. Do &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; put a space after the opening or before the closing parenthesis. In other words, there shouldn't be any space between the parentheses and what they enclose, but there should be spaces around the parenthetical clause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're writing in a language other than English, e.g. a mathematical equation or a programming language, naturally you need to use the rules of that language instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T18:06:33.767" />
  <row Id="6036" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-01T20:04:33.037" Score="0" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;In our daily emails, I may write poor English. Is there a way to get like a corporate trainer who could train us in writing a little better english or communicate better in written english over email? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if so which trainer would you recommend. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are in Irvine, Orange County, California.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2552" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T03:48:10.977" ClosedDate="2010-12-05T14:14:56.030" Title="Training for writing better English" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6037" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6040" CreationDate="2010-12-01T20:10:02.847" Score="2" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello.&#xA;I have this sentence, Should I use past continuous form of the verb or past simple or it in the gap?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Last night, I was sleeping in my bed, when I ------- (hear) a terrible noise. I ------ (get up) immediately and ------- (run) outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1994" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T05:14:03.217" Title="Past continuous or past simple?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="6038" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6042" CreationDate="2010-12-01T20:15:37.400" Score="0" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not sure if the way I have formulated the title of my question is correct, so if you know better, please, edit it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is simple: Whenever I thank anyone for his o her answer or comments I usually write &quot;Thank You, George, for Your answer&quot;, &quot;Thank You, Silverglass, for telling me that&quot;. Usually in such phrases I place commas on either side of the address, but I don't know if it's correct in English or not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about greetings in the very beginning of an e-mail? I do place commas there before the address: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hi, Mark, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How have you been? It's been... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hello, Peggy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you know of any...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but I have seen many times that commas before the address were omitted (&quot;Hello Mark,&quot; or &quot;Hello Peggy!&quot;). So, which way is correct?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T19:47:24.447" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T19:47:24.447" Title="Do I need to place a comma before an address?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6039" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6041" CreationDate="2010-12-01T20:25:18.193" Score="5" ViewCount="275" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1531/is-valley-girl-speak-like-entering-the-language&quot;&gt;Is Valley Girl speak like entering the language?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please can you explain the origins of where the annoying over-use of the word &quot;like&quot; came from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this have anything todo with Facebook?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Logan is so - like - stupid when he says - like - anything!&#xA;He's like he's like an idiot or something. I don't think I like him any more like.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2073" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T21:12:40.907" ClosedDate="2011-01-28T15:51:37.443" Title="Why do like loads of girls my age like saying &quot;like&quot; so much, like?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6037" CreationDate="2010-12-01T20:29:19.897" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's nothing continuous/progressive about those actions, so the simple past tense is appropriate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Last night, I was sleeping in my bed when I &lt;em&gt;heard&lt;/em&gt; a &#xA;  terrible noise. I &lt;em&gt;got up&lt;/em&gt; immediately and &lt;em&gt;ran&lt;/em&gt; outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T20:29:19.897" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6039" CreationDate="2010-12-01T20:37:59.330" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usage of &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; as a random interjection/hedge/quotative particle is older than most of the girls who are using it nowadays. It certainly predates Facebook by several decades. It's one of the defining characteristics of &quot;valley girl&quot; speech, which originated in California (specifically, the vast tract of suburbia known collectively as the San Fernando Valley) in the 1970's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T20:37:59.330" />
  <row Id="6042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6038" CreationDate="2010-12-01T20:44:47.027" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In formal writing you would put a comma after greetings: &quot;Hello, Mark.&quot; In emails and informal writing, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference. I, for one, feel self-conscious about using commas like that in emails; it seems too formal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T20:44:47.027" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6039" CreationDate="2010-12-01T20:51:05.150" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I disagree with Martha (for the first time). The first instances I'm aware of involving the use of &quot;like&quot; in such a way go back to the Beat culture of the 1950s. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T20:51:05.150" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="6044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6037" CreationDate="2010-12-01T20:52:14.680" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know the technical name for this, but whenever in the past, the action is interrupted by something so you couldn't complete, then you should use the past continuous, like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was sleeping - and something woke me up.&#xA;We were smiling - now we are not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The actions implied in the verbs were interrupted.&#xA;The past simple, works when you just DID what the action implied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You woke up.&#xA;You heard the noise.&#xA;You got up at once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My cents...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2479" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T20:52:14.680" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6039" CreationDate="2010-12-01T21:12:40.907" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The others have stated that it goes back a long way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of the word in that context is reasonably automatic I would say.  If something is 'like' something else, it implies similarity, but not identical.  So as a speech component when people are demonstrating, or usually re-enacting, a former conversation, possibly with a degree of poetic license, then you get:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; &quot;Whatever!&quot; and she was &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; &quot;shut up fool&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Enabling teenagers to speak about themselves in a quote since whenever they started doing so. ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you have quoted in your question is just that extended by some years to an overused interrogative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T21:12:40.907" />
  <row Id="6046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6038" CreationDate="2010-12-01T21:36:02.697" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the specific case of the opening salutation I would not insert a comma between the greeting and the name if a comma came after the name, but I would if some other punctuation followed the name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following examples all &quot;look correct&quot; to me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;Hi Mark, how are you?&quot; &#xA;&quot;Hi, Mark.  How are you?&quot;&#xA;&quot;Hello Mark, what's up?&quot;&#xA;&quot;Hello, Mark!  What's up?&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the &lt;code&gt;&quot;Hi, Mark, how have you been?&quot;&lt;/code&gt; example that you gave looks over-punctuated to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T21:36:02.697" />
  <row Id="6047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5987" CreationDate="2010-12-01T21:44:18.837" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ordinarily a parenthesis (&lt;em&gt;pl&lt;/em&gt;: parentheses) introduces a term or clause that modifies whatever precedes it.  It would be preceded by a space and followed by whatever would otherwise follow that term in the absence of the parenthetical remark (&lt;em&gt;e.g.&lt;/em&gt;, a space, comma, or period).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In mathematics, science, marketing (there's a strange set of bedfellows!), and in certain abbreviations, a parenthesis may be part of a term.  As such it serves purely as a &lt;em&gt;character&lt;/em&gt; rather than having the functional role of introducing a modifier.  It would be as incorrect to insert anything before the parenthesis-&lt;em&gt;qua&lt;/em&gt;-character as it would be to put arbitrary spaces within any word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, preceding a parenthesis (or opening bracket of any kind, such as &quot;[&quot; or &quot;{&quot;) by a space provides a clear and well-understood mechanism to distinguish these two uses.  For example, we would read &quot;IPhone(5MP)&quot; as being the full name of a particular kind of IPhone, whereas &quot;IPhone (5MP)&quot; would refer to something whose name is &quot;IPhone&quot; &lt;em&gt;which happened to have&lt;/em&gt; the &quot;5MP&quot; property.  That is a subtle distinction in this case, but perhaps it's strong enough to permit a reasoned choice concerning the usage that best conveys the intended thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2527" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T21:44:18.837" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5992" CreationDate="2010-12-01T21:50:53.540" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Failing to attend to dangers can cause accidents that &lt;strong&gt;take your life; safety, lightly&lt;/strong&gt; considered, is hardly safety at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2527" LastEditorUserId="2527" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-01T23:16:32.593" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T23:16:32.593" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6049" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6054" CreationDate="2010-12-01T22:47:59.437" Score="2" ViewCount="261" Body="&lt;p&gt;There seems to be a large overlap in the definitions of Anthropomorphism and Personification and they are somewhat interchangeable, but in what context is one of these words preferred over another?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anthropomorphism:&#xA;ascribe human features to something&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personification:&#xA;the act of attributing human characteristics to abstract ideas&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="552" LastEditorUserId="552" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-01T23:10:11.450" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T00:52:01.247" Title="Anthropomorphism vs Personification usage" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6049" CreationDate="2010-12-01T23:57:20.303" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you noted in your question, anthropomorphism is applied to inanimate objects, while personification is applied to abstract concepts and ideas.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We generally don't talk about anthropomorphism of love, or dignity, or intelligence.  We would talk about personification of those things instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Likewise, we could say that you hurt your car's feelings when you kick the tires.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, we sometimes might say that a particular person is &quot;creativity (or greed, or whatever) personified&quot;, meaning that the person is like that idea in corporeal form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1864" LastActivityDate="2010-12-01T23:57:20.303" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6052" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6053" CreationDate="2010-12-02T00:20:27.837" Score="3" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They are the pick of a bad lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a sentence from a 1892 novel. What does that mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2340" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T00:44:32.377" Title="pick of a bad lot" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6052" CreationDate="2010-12-02T00:44:32.377" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means &quot;they&quot; are the best (of their kind) that could be found, but that doesn't mean they are very good. It is like saying &quot;this wine is the best of a poor vintage&quot; or that someone is &quot;the smartest one in the remedial program&quot;: hardly a compliment. Such a statement could also be called &quot;damning with faint praise.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T00:44:32.377" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6049" CreationDate="2010-12-02T00:52:01.247" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Note that &lt;em&gt;personification&lt;/em&gt; is not really the attribution of human characteristics to abstract ideas; it is instead the construction of a fictional paradigm who represents or embodies abstract ideas, as in the blindfolded female figure that represents Justice, etc. This is a small but important distinction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Personification&lt;/em&gt; may also refer to a person who embodies or epitomizes a certain quality, or concept, or even a thing, as in &quot;Winston Churchill was the very personification of wartime leadership.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T00:52:01.247" />
  <row Id="6055" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6345" CreationDate="2010-12-02T01:01:10.173" Score="0" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a gourmand chances upon a particularly delectable meal, he might say: &quot;Mm, nummy in my tummy!&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where does &lt;em&gt;nummy&lt;/em&gt; come from? From dictionary.com I found that &lt;em&gt;nummy&lt;/em&gt; is a form of &lt;em&gt;yummy&lt;/em&gt;, formed by &lt;em&gt;yum&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;-y&lt;/em&gt; , where &lt;em&gt;yum&lt;/em&gt; is short for &lt;em&gt;yum-yum&lt;/em&gt;. Is that accurate? And, where does &lt;em&gt;yum-yum&lt;/em&gt; come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T23:54:16.757" Title="Etymology of &quot;nummy&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6056" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-02T01:16:02.847" Score="5" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where does the phrase &quot;Scare the Dickens out of...&quot; originate from? And does it refer to Charles Dickens?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2556" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T01:40:25.813" Title="Where does the phrase &quot;Scare the Dickens out of...&quot; originate from?" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6056" CreationDate="2010-12-02T01:40:25.813" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=dickens&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt;, it is an&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;exclamation, 1590s, apparently a substitute for devil; probably altered from Dickon, nickname for Richard and source of the surnames Dickens and Dickenson, but exact derivation and meaning are unknown.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T01:40:25.813" />
  <row Id="6058" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6060" CreationDate="2010-12-02T01:59:37.260" Score="3" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Joe got everyone's attention and started to speak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should it be &lt;em&gt;everyone's&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;everyones'&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;everyones&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2547" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-02T13:10:03.767" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T13:10:03.767" Title="Should I use &quot;everyone's&quot;, &quot;everyones'&quot; or &quot;everyones&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6058" CreationDate="2010-12-02T02:07:10.157" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It should be &lt;em&gt;everyone's&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T02:07:10.157" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6058" CreationDate="2010-12-02T02:11:58.887" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6058/should-i-use-everyones-everyones-or-everyones/6059#6059&quot;&gt;Robusto says&lt;/a&gt;, you should use &lt;em&gt;everyone’s&lt;/em&gt;.  Neither &lt;em&gt;everyones’&lt;/em&gt; nor &lt;em&gt;everyones&lt;/em&gt; is a word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that &lt;em&gt;everyone&lt;/em&gt; is always singular and cannot be pluralized, which means &lt;em&gt;everyones&lt;/em&gt; is incorrect.  If &lt;em&gt;everyones&lt;/em&gt; were a word, &lt;em&gt;everyones’&lt;/em&gt; would be the possessive form of &lt;em&gt;everyones&lt;/em&gt;, but since &lt;em&gt;everyones&lt;/em&gt; is incorrect, &lt;em&gt;everyones’&lt;/em&gt; is also incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T02:11:58.887" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6061" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6106" CreationDate="2010-12-02T02:51:20.337" Score="5" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many interesting events in the history of the English language. Which one of them gave us &quot;defect&quot; (N, ˈdēˌfekt, imperfection) and &quot;defect&quot; (V, diˈfekt, change allegiances)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2558" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T20:56:46.747" Title="How did &quot;defect&quot; and &quot;defect&quot; come to have different pronunciations?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6064" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6070" CreationDate="2010-12-02T04:15:48.737" Score="3" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason that I ask is because this is happening to LiDAR, and I am inclined to use lidar because it is easier to read.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2559" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-02T05:52:11.217" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T07:33:45.833" Title="When does an acronym lose its capitalization, e.g. RaDAR 'radar'?" Tags="&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6065" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6072" CreationDate="2010-12-02T04:16:35.073" Score="1" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sentence kind of seems wrong to me. Is there a better way to write this or convey the same message?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;With this motivation I opted for courses such as Transport Phenomena (audit) and another course on Advanced Thermodynamics &amp;amp; Phase Behavior which I am taking in spring 2011.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2532" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T05:16:00.540" Title="What could be the better way of writing this sentence?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6037" CreationDate="2010-12-02T05:14:03.217" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There was no continuous process, &#xA;you neither were hearing it, nor you were getting up and neither you were running outside,&#xA;all you did is, just you &lt;em&gt;heard&lt;/em&gt; it, you &lt;em&gt;got&lt;/em&gt; up and you &lt;em&gt;ran&lt;/em&gt; outside. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example for sentence where you &lt;em&gt;were doing&lt;/em&gt; something::&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Last night when I was sleeping, I &lt;em&gt;was dreaming&lt;/em&gt; about ....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2152" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T05:14:03.217" />
  <row Id="6067" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6071" CreationDate="2010-12-02T06:25:02.400" Score="5" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the language that I'm currently working in one of the keywords is &lt;code&gt;try&lt;/code&gt;. I'm writing an error message:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;No implementation for global level try statements.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's too long in my source and so I would very much like to reduce it to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;No implementation for global level try's. &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anybody using my code should understand it very easily as my code is entirely about dynamically determining what exception handling is in place and the &lt;code&gt;try&lt;/code&gt; keyword is one of the cornerstones of exception handling in the given language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Could we pretend for the duration that I'm not being overly picky?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this pluralization correct or at least acceptable? Both &quot;tries&quot; and &quot;trys&quot; look &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; wrong to me. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there general rules pertaining to pluralizing keywords and other identifiers from programming languages. A quick google search and more extensive search of this site didn't quite do it. I did find &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4885/marking-plural-of-code-words&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;. The selected answer assumes the presence of markup (not available in my case) and the the other answer sidesteps the issue by avoiding pluralizing the words in question. Are there any new insights to be had?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An answer to (3) would answer (2) of course and so I would be happy with just that. If it's not available though, I would appeciate input on (2). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2385" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T15:07:47.177" Title="Pluralizing Keywords in Programming Languages." Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="6068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6067" CreationDate="2010-12-02T06:39:46.507" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would rather leave any language keyword alone (as in &quot;non pluralized&quot;), and convey the pluralization otherwise, like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No implementation for all global level &quot;try&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No implementation for &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; global level &quot;try&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T06:39:46.507" />
  <row Id="6069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6064" CreationDate="2010-12-02T06:49:27.963" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would assume acronyms lose their capitals once they become familiar and enter the English language as a standard word (laser, modem, ...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Others won't be so quick to uses lowercase, &lt;a href=&quot;http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=6288299&amp;amp;postcount=11&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;like AIDS&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Part of the difference here is that &quot;AIDS,&quot; the acronym for the disease, is in all caps to distinguish it from &quot;aids&quot; the word (as in &quot;visual aids,&quot; &quot;study aids,&quot; etc.).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  In the case of &quot;radar&quot; and other examples mentioned, there's no other, pre-existing word for it to displace, so there's no potential for confusion when writing it in lower-case. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LIDAR&lt;/a&gt; is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;not so widely used it could be written 'lidar'&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;actually written LIDAR instead of LiDAR, probably for convenience.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T06:49:27.963" />
  <row Id="6070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6064" CreationDate="2010-12-02T07:33:45.833" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronym_and_initialism#Case&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia points out&lt;/a&gt;, probably the best rule of thumb is &quot;can you speak it as a single word?&quot;. For instance, Nato (Nay-to) and Unicef (You-Ni-Cef), but USA (You-Ess-Ay) and FBI (Eff-Bee-Aye). Another common rule seems to be that anything less than five letters (NATO, FBI) can be capitalized all the way through, but anything longer than that (Unicef, Unesco) shouldn't, just because it looks ugly as full caps, although you can use &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_caps&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;small caps&lt;/a&gt; to make that look less ugly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I think you should go with whatever your target audience is expecting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="649" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T07:33:45.833" />
  <row Id="6071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6067" CreationDate="2010-12-02T07:36:18.513" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You're not.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you're consistent about how you do it, it doesn't really matter how you do it. I would go for &lt;code&gt;trys&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;&quot;try&quot;s&lt;/code&gt;, though, &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You should never inflect a keyword (&lt;code&gt;tries&lt;/code&gt;), just like you shouldn't capitalise it at the start of a sentence (&quot;&lt;code&gt;Try&lt;/code&gt; is for exceptions&quot;), especially in the most common case that the language is case-sensitive; keywords are taken painfully literally by a compiler, so literature must reproduce them with painstaking exactness.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As VonC states, it's probably best to just re-word, though as the convention with functions is to append parentheses (&lt;code&gt;foo()&lt;/code&gt;), you might try appending braces if your language is block-delimited:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;No implementation for global-level try{}s.&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T07:36:18.513" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6065" CreationDate="2010-12-02T08:12:49.927" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;For this reason, I will be taking courses in Transport Phenomena (audit) and in Advanced Thermodynamics and Phase Behavior in spring 2011.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="649" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T08:12:49.927" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6055" CreationDate="2010-12-02T08:20:22.833" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Nummy&quot; sounds to me like a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_talk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;baby talk&lt;/a&gt; version of &quot;yummy&quot;. But I don't know where &quot;yummy&quot; comes from!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="649" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T08:20:22.833" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6074" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6080" CreationDate="2010-12-02T08:59:33.577" Score="2" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always thought that a &lt;em&gt;comment&lt;/em&gt; would be, in comparison to other kind of response, such as an answer, something brief. However, it doesn't seems like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/comment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; says anything about it. Am I mistaken?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-02T11:59:55.620" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T11:59:55.620" Title="Would a &quot;comment&quot; have an implied brevity to it?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6075" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6081" CreationDate="2010-12-02T09:22:20.063" Score="1" ViewCount="359" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two common pronunciations of &quot;either&quot;: British /ˈaɪðər/ and American /ˈiːðər/. If Americans are more or less consistent in this regard, then the Brits seem to be freely using both. In fact, from what I can tell, &quot;either this or that&quot; is more often in the first form, whereas &quot;me either&quot; is in the second. But I may be wrong. Is there any kind of an informal rule in the modern British English with regard to this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2044" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T19:45:52.957" Title="British and American &quot;either&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="6076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6075" CreationDate="2010-12-02T09:40:41.560" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I actually believe that there are some Germanic influences in the British English pronunciation of the word. In German, you would read &lt;code&gt;eider&lt;/code&gt; like /ˈaɪðər/. And in British English, you read &lt;code&gt;either&lt;/code&gt; the same way. So I believe that there are these Germanic influences, English being a West-Germanic language. But this is nothing certain, just a guess, as I've also been thinking about the differences between the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2310" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T09:40:41.560" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6036" CreationDate="2010-12-02T09:44:55.723" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I actually think that one of the best ways you can practice the language is writing and reading a lot of it. If you're an engineer trainee, you can always read a lot of questions and replies on technical boards, and then contribute yourself. This has helped me a lot, and I'd even say it is the best informal training I've got so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2310" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T09:44:55.723" />
  <row Id="6079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1265" CreationDate="2010-12-02T11:00:44.680" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would sound a little old fashioned or formal to me. Still usable, though. (I'm in Ireland.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is, of course, still the standard in French and Spanish: &lt;em&gt;de rien&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;de nada&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T11:00:44.680" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6074" CreationDate="2010-12-02T11:54:42.630" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The nature of a comment, when the meaning as &quot;a remark expressing anopinion or reaction,&quot; is to be brief. That's why Stackexchange sites, for example, allow you a mere 600 characters to write one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;commentary&lt;/em&gt; can be longer, even the length of a bible. &lt;em&gt;Comment&lt;/em&gt; can carry the meaning of &lt;em&gt;commentary&lt;/em&gt;, but that is an archaic usage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T11:54:42.630" />
  <row Id="6081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6075" CreationDate="2010-12-02T12:59:30.063" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you listen to Ira Gershwin's lyrics, you realize that this argument has been going on for quite some time in America as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;You say &quot;either&quot; and I say &quot;either&quot;&lt;br&gt; &#xA;You say &quot;neither&quot; I say &quot;neither&quot; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;Either&quot; &quot;either&quot;, &quot;neither&quot; &quot;neither&quot; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Let's call the whole thing off&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The song points up for comic effect the differences between two lovers, who come from different social strata. Although few Americans would say &quot;potahto&quot; or &quot;tomahto&quot; these days, there still remains a divide in the pronunciation of &lt;em&gt;either&lt;/em&gt;, sometimes within the same speaker. Many Americans, even ones who use what you call the British pronunciation most of the time, will say &quot;eether&quot; in constructions like &quot;an 'either/or' proposition&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find myself using the &quot;ee&quot; pronunciation most of the time, but switching to the other for emphasis: &quot;Either you help me with this project right now or I won't have time to help you with yours.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other words which are similarly split with regard to pronunciation to the extent that there is no &quot;correct&quot; way to say them. &lt;em&gt;Envelope&lt;/em&gt; comes to mind. Many Americans pronounce the first syllable of that word to rhyme with &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt;. I don't think you can make any hard and fast rules; it just depends on who you are and what you grew up with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-02T13:05:19.263" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T13:05:19.263" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="6082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6075" CreationDate="2010-12-02T13:00:28.227" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the variation in British usage is almost all between users, not between examples of use. It's mostly a regional and class distinction: I grew up saying /ˈaɪðə/, and we looked down on people who said /ˈiːðə/.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T13:00:28.227" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6083" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6085" CreationDate="2010-12-02T13:05:48.577" Score="2" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello.&#xA;I have a question about this word: &quot;plus&quot;.&#xA;Where can we use &quot;plus&quot;?&#xA;Have these phrases any meaning? What are they? &quot;America Plus&quot; &amp;amp; &quot;American Plus&quot;.&#xA;Thanks ..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1994" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T14:44:07.157" Title="Usage of &quot;plus&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="6084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="75" CreationDate="2010-12-02T13:20:39.280" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want understand english speech better take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://english-player.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://english-player.com&lt;/a&gt;, it provides conversation scenes from movies and subtitles for them&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2562" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T13:20:39.280" />
  <row Id="6085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6083" CreationDate="2010-12-02T13:20:41.057" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Plus is Latin. Means &quot;more&quot; but in the additive way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Non plus ultra = No más allá. No further than that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 plus 1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When used in names, means &quot;best&quot;, exaggeration, some kind of &quot;push up&quot;. I'm just recalling this so you surely should check the Latin original term and the usage in English today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your examples. American Plus = American Best, American Top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with many Latin words, the translation is subjective to the context, but when used in branding, is just a &quot;cliché&quot; to say you're top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2479" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-02T14:37:25.067" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T14:37:25.067" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="6086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6067" CreationDate="2010-12-02T15:07:47.177" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the difficulty you're having is because although we use English words as the basis for programming languages, once they are used as such they are no longer English Words, but are tokens, identifiers or otherwise non-English symbols. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This being the case, the rules of English usage can no longer be applied as if this was still a &quot;word&quot; used as the part of speech your &quot;ear for English&quot; would expect. Enclosing the item in quotes, as suggested by VonC highlights the fact that the item in question has evolved into a non-English object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T15:07:47.177" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2010-12-02T15:25:55.817" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Oxford English Dictionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oed.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;OED&lt;/a&gt; is a very valuable and rich resource; I am surprised it hasn't yet been mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you look up a word, e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/68708&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;favorite&lt;/a&gt;, it provides a comprehensive account of use, history, synonymns, and etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2559" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T15:25:55.817" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-02T15:25:55.817" />
  <row Id="6088" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6089" CreationDate="2010-12-02T15:53:50.023" Score="4" ViewCount="361" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I saw the movie &quot;Pursuit of Happyness&quot;, which is actually quite good, and I noticed the actor (Will Smith) asking the difference between &lt;em&gt;probably&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;possibly&lt;/em&gt; to his son. So I would like to have people's opinion on this question as I am still yet to find an answer myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2565" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-02T20:59:28.687" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T20:59:28.687" Title="Difference between &quot;probably&quot; and &quot;possibly&quot;." Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="6089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6088" CreationDate="2010-12-02T16:02:01.680" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chances of happening are high (or at least not minuscule)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possibly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chances of happening are not zero&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="288" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-02T18:59:40.660" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T18:59:40.660" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6090" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6093" CreationDate="2010-12-02T16:17:48.560" Score="1" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &quot;inconsequent&quot; and &quot;inconsequential&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2340" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T16:33:33.180" Title="inconsequent and inconsequential" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6088" CreationDate="2010-12-02T16:23:56.767" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the difference between &lt;em&gt;probably&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;possibly&lt;/em&gt; is somewhat related to &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt;. E.g. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Probably enough to make you laugh = may or may not be enough, not very sure about it, neither does it matter very much&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Possibly enough to make you sick = can be enough; warns of the &lt;em&gt;ability&lt;/em&gt; (e.g. of a virus) to make you sick, and it's important to know&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2044" LastEditorUserId="2044" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-02T18:13:53.913" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T18:13:53.913" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="6093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6090" CreationDate="2010-12-02T16:33:33.180" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;None, it seems &lt;em&gt;inconsequent&lt;/em&gt; is the archaic form of &lt;em&gt;inconsequential&lt;/em&gt; as stated by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/inconsequent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T16:33:33.180" />
  <row Id="6094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-12-02T18:17:14.160" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Separate pronouns for second person singular and second person plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1720" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T18:17:14.160" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-02T18:17:14.160" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-12-02T18:31:47.320" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a term used in dressage &lt;em&gt;Durchlässigkeit&lt;/em&gt;&#xA; which means something like &quot;throughness&quot; or &quot;permeability&quot; in terms of the flow of the rider's aids through the horse. Obviously, permeability - which I believe to be the literal translation - is an English word, but basically meaningless in this context; if I said a horse was permeable the logical response would be to avoid putting them out in the rain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T18:31:47.320" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-02T18:31:47.320" />
  <row Id="6096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6036" CreationDate="2010-12-02T18:33:25.253" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try Googling for &quot;business writing course&quot; in your area, or online. I've seen several such courses offered over the years, geared to various groups or on various subjects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="720" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T18:33:25.253" />
  <row Id="6097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2010-12-02T18:46:04.753" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Malay, there are two words for hot: pedas, spicy hot, and panas, temperature. I remember this only as a request for clarification.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;This food is hot&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;Pedas or panas?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was always useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2509" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T18:46:04.753" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-02T18:46:04.753" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6088" CreationDate="2010-12-02T18:50:45.423" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To say that something is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/probably?show=0&amp;amp;t=1291315272&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;probably&lt;/a&gt; the case is to say that that case is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/probable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;probable&lt;/a&gt;. To say that something is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/possibly&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;possibly&lt;/a&gt; the case is to say that it is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/possible&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;possible&lt;/a&gt;. The two are quite distinct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If something is probable, then it is likely to happen. The chances are not only more than zero; they're better than 50/50 (or at least, the chances are higher that it'll happen than that it won't&amp;nbsp;— since in comparing probabilities, you could have multiple items which have chances better than 50/50 but have one of them which is more probable than the others). &lt;em&gt;Probably&lt;/em&gt; indicates that the laws of probability say that it's more likely to happen than not to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if something is possible, then it &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; happen. Whether it &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; or not is irrelevant. The chances are better than zero. It doesn't say &lt;em&gt;anything&lt;/em&gt; about how probable it is. It could be that the chances are .000000001% or that they're 100%. By saying that something is possible, you're not really saying anything about probability. You're just saying that it &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;— at least theoretically&amp;nbsp;— happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you say &lt;em&gt;possibly&lt;/em&gt;, then you're saying that something &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; be the case, whereas if you're saying &lt;em&gt;probably&lt;/em&gt;, you're saying that not only &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; it be the case but that the chances are higher that it will happen than that it won't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2170" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-02T20:19:40.517" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T20:19:40.517" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6088" CreationDate="2010-12-02T18:52:11.580" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wow... after reading the mumbo jumbo... hahaha I can't remember where I got those words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, spanish helped me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably =&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on prudent reason - That can be proved - Said when there's good reasons to believe it will happen or will be verifiable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possible =&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That can be or happen - that can be executed - available media to do something&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possible implies that exist the possibility, let's say 1%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably implies that based on probability the chances to happen are good, let´s say above 50%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that Probable, probability, are math terms in statistics. Possibility is not used because it works even against all odds. Just having the minimal chance, something is possible. But is probably not going to work, because the chances are too low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2479" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T18:52:11.580" />
  <row Id="6100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6088" CreationDate="2010-12-02T19:04:54.990" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Probably&lt;/strong&gt; implies that the probability of an event is higher than that of the alternatives. In the most common case with 2 alternatives, &lt;strong&gt;probably&lt;/strong&gt; means something is more likely to happen than not. With 5 alternatives, probability of the event is &gt;20%. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possibly&lt;/strong&gt; implies a non-zero probability, usually a low one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conversational usage may not fit neatly into these definitions, as the intent is often mild exaggeration or irony. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1056" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T19:04:54.990" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6101" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6102" CreationDate="2010-12-02T19:10:52.840" Score="11" ViewCount="277" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that alien is used as a synonym of foreigner, as well as a synonym of extraterrestrial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect that people from other planets wouldn't mind being called aliens. But is it wrong (offensive or somehow inappropriate) to call a person (from Earth!) visiting an English speaking country an alien?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="740" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T17:57:32.720" Title="Is &quot;alien&quot; offensive?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6101" CreationDate="2010-12-02T19:23:01.393" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term &lt;code&gt;alien&lt;/code&gt; is actually the technical term used by governments to describe someone who is not a citizen (of either the naturalized or natural born varieties).  For example, one of the major immigration forms for the US is entitled &quot;Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say it is not at all inappropriate, and any offense would really only be attributed to confusion between the two meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastEditorUserId="2007" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-03T00:04:52.777" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T00:04:52.777" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="6103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6075" CreationDate="2010-12-02T19:45:52.957" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm British and I use either pronunciation. I can't think of any particular rule that I use either. I would consider either equally valid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't say &quot;me either&quot; though - that is certainly an American term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T19:45:52.957" />
  <row Id="6104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6088" CreationDate="2010-12-02T20:13:26.817" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These terms actually have fairly precise definitions, although they're sometimes used with a bit of liberty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let P = probability of event occurring&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Probably&lt;/strong&gt; =&gt; 0.5 &amp;lt; P &amp;lt; 1&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possibly&lt;/strong&gt; =&gt; 0.0 &amp;lt; P &amp;lt;&amp;lt; 1&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is evident that in some cases, there is overlap between the two terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T20:13:26.817" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6065" CreationDate="2010-12-02T20:54:18.927" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How does this sounds:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;For this reason, I have taken a&#xA;  course in Transport Phenomena (audit)&#xA;  and will be taking Advanced&#xA;  Thermodynamics and Phase Behavior&#xA;  course in spring 2011.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2532" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T20:54:18.927" />
  <row Id="6106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6061" CreationDate="2010-12-02T20:56:46.747" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(This is an expanded version of my earlier comment on the question.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not the direct answer to your question, but anyway it seems pretty relevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In English, there are many two-syllable words which have an accent on the first syllable when used as a noun and on the second syllable when used as a verb, and “defect” is one of them.  According to web search, such words seem to be known as “initial-stress-derived nouns.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial-stress-derived_noun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; gives some explanation for this phenomenon:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In English, since the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Modern_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;early modern period&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial-stress-derived_noun#cite_note-0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[1]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt; polysyllabic nouns tend to have an unstressed final syllable, while verbs do not.  Thus, the stress difference between nouns and verbs applies generally in English, not just to otherwise-identical noun-verb pairs. &lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial-stress-derived_noun#cite_note-1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[2]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;  […]  When the stress is moved, the pronunciation, especially of vowels, often changes in other ways as well.  Most common is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unstressed_and_reduced_vowels_in_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reduction of a vowel sound&lt;/a&gt; to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwa&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;schwa&lt;/a&gt; when it becomes unstressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T20:56:46.747" />
  <row Id="6107" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6137" CreationDate="2010-12-02T21:17:15.550" Score="4" ViewCount="384" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am amused by expressions that combine the same word in two different languages, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kielbasa sausage: &lt;em&gt;kielbasa&lt;/em&gt; is Polish for sausage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strike&gt;Chorizo sausage: &lt;em&gt;chorizo&lt;/em&gt; is Spanish for sausage.&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Queso cheese: &lt;em&gt;queso&lt;/em&gt; is Spanish for cheese.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carne asada steak: &lt;em&gt;carne asada&lt;/em&gt; is Spanish for &lt;em&gt;grilled meat&lt;/em&gt;, therefore you could just say &lt;em&gt;grilled steak&lt;/em&gt; instead.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This phenomenon is not limited to English. In Spanish you often find not only redundancy but also contradiction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;bluyín&lt;/em&gt;: transliteration of blue jeans. A pair of blue jeans is called &lt;em&gt;un bluyín&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;bluyín azul&lt;/em&gt;: blue &lt;em&gt;blue jeans&lt;/em&gt; .&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;bluyín negro&lt;/em&gt;: black &lt;em&gt;blue jeans&lt;/em&gt; (black jeans).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;bluyín blanco&lt;/em&gt;: white &lt;em&gt;blue jeans&lt;/em&gt; (white jeans).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;bistec&lt;/em&gt;: transliteration of beef steak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;bistec de res&lt;/em&gt;: beef &lt;em&gt;beef steak&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;bistec de cerdo&lt;/em&gt;: pork &lt;em&gt;beef steak&lt;/em&gt; (pork chop).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and my favorite, &lt;em&gt;bistec de pollo&lt;/em&gt;: chicken &lt;em&gt;beef steak&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any other examples that include at least one English word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1720" LastEditorUserId="1720" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T13:38:15.840" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T19:01:59.433" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-03T07:45:27.327" Title="Examples of cross-language redundancy" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;foreign-words&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="6108" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6109" CreationDate="2010-12-02T21:19:01.057" Score="7" ViewCount="245" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if this belongs here, but I'm wondering if there is a word for a class of circular shapes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thinking about this hierarchically:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;* Shape&#xA;  * Polygon&#xA;    * Square&#xA;    * Rectangle&#xA;  * ???????&#xA;    * Circle&#xA;    * Oval&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ok, so mathematically I'm not sure there is a correct answer to my question that's any better than the one Mehper so eloquently explained (round shape). Let's break down what we have so far:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the blue corner: Noldorin&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;* Ellipsoid&#xA;  * Ellipse&#xA;    * Circle&#xA;  * Oval&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the red corner: pretty much everyone else&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;* Oval&#xA;  * Ellipse&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, my question for the red team is: where does a circle fit in? From what I understand a circle can't be an oval, but a circle &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; an ellipse. Those two facts make the following untrue:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;* Oval&#xA;  * Ellipse&#xA;    * Circle&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll stick with ellipsoid for now until I hear some better explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note this link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsoid#Egg_shape&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsoid#Egg_shape&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An egg shape, which is an oval (not an ellipse) is comprised of two ellipses. This seems to make an oval a sub-class of an ellipse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kindly correct me if I've made any mistakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T09:47:57.287" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T09:47:57.287" Title="Is there a word for a class of circular shapes?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;mathematics&gt;&lt;hypernyms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6108" CreationDate="2010-12-02T21:34:57.940" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Circles and ovals are both types of &lt;em&gt;ellipses&lt;/em&gt;. An 'oval' is really the informal term for an 'ellipse', whereas a 'circle' is an ellipse where the semi-major and semi-minor axes are equal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're talking about higher-dimensions, the word you are looking for is probably &lt;em&gt;ellipsoid&lt;/em&gt;. (A sphere is an example.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T21:34:57.940" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="6110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6108" CreationDate="2010-12-02T21:35:50.777" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Round shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A shape that is curved and without&#xA;  sharp angles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T21:35:50.777" />
  <row Id="6111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6108" CreationDate="2010-12-02T21:38:51.517" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mathematically, you call them &quot;closed curves&quot; although that's not very satisfying. &quot;Ellipse&quot; also covers the two-dimensional shapes you're talking about. (Circle is a subset of ellipse in the same way that square is a subset of rectangle.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you just want a general-use word that describes circles and things that aren't perfect circles then you could use &quot;hoop&quot; or &quot;disk&quot; or &quot;ring&quot; or something else depending on the specifics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2571" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T21:38:51.517" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6107" CreationDate="2010-12-02T21:45:17.050" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most famous example is &quot;The La Brea Tar Pits,&quot; which of course means &quot;The The Tar Tar Pits.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2571" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T21:45:17.050" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6107" CreationDate="2010-12-02T22:06:59.520" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;book of the Bible&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this count?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How about&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;déjà vu all over again&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastEditorUserId="2396" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-03T02:22:15.133" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T02:22:15.133" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6114" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-02T22:21:34.100" Score="11" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;Certain brands, such as &lt;strong&gt;Yahoo!&lt;/strong&gt;, insist that the exclamation is part of their name. In writing about such a brand or company, is the inclusion of the vanity punctuation right, wrong, or optional?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like my writing to be correct; however, of more concern with the average reader, I wouldn't want my writing to seem to be pandering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="602" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T19:47:33.777" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T17:24:56.783" Title="How to handle a name that includes an exclamation point (or other punctuation)?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6115" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6117" CreationDate="2010-12-02T22:31:07.447" Score="3" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;During the summers I happened to be with people from Texas' country site and they often used slang which I seldom understood - one of them being like &quot;all jacked up&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like if you can give some of the common American slang with their meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2532" LastEditorUserId="2532" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-03T02:32:05.620" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T22:32:44.143" Title="What are some of the common, non offensive and non vulgar American English Slang?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6114" CreationDate="2010-12-02T22:39:38.717" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems optional, considering that even &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoo-ma-chief-out-2010-12&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;business article&lt;/a&gt; talk about Yahoo, while introducing some facts at the end about &quot;Yahoo!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your article is about the public corporation, you should use &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;consistently&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; one convention, preferably the one using the exact name of the company: &quot;Yahoo!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &quot;Yahoo&quot; is also natural since:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you won't find any punctuation in the host names: &lt;code&gt;www.yahoo.com&lt;/code&gt;, not &lt;code&gt;www.yahoo!.com&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;at least, it won't wreak havoc in your word processor spell checker ;) See &lt;a href=&quot;http://word.tips.net/Pages/T001834_Ignoring_Punctuation_in_Names.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ignoring Punctuation in Names&lt;/a&gt; if you still have to use the '&lt;code&gt;!&lt;/code&gt;'.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="3406" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T17:24:56.783" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T17:24:56.783" />
  <row Id="6117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6115" CreationDate="2010-12-02T23:18:13.177" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I googled and found this site: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.coolamericanenglish.com/american-english-slang.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.coolamericanenglish.com/american-english-slang.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope while sussing it out, you can get closer to groking the whole shebang.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2329" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T23:18:13.177" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6114" CreationDate="2010-12-02T23:22:01.800" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some sites, will use &lt;em&gt;Yahoo!&lt;/em&gt; while talking about the company, but others do not. For example, check this CNN Money page that refers to the company as Yahoo! Inc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=YHOO&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=YHOO&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2329" LastEditorUserId="2329" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-03T00:37:06.387" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T00:37:06.387" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6107" CreationDate="2010-12-02T23:25:58.750" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since &lt;em&gt;Torpenhow Hill&lt;/em&gt; has been mostly &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torpenhow_Hill&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;debunked&lt;/a&gt;, my favorite is the Hungarian &quot;bacon szalonna&quot;: &lt;em&gt;szalonna&lt;/em&gt; is Hungarian for &lt;em&gt;bacon&lt;/em&gt;. (It's used for American-style thin-sliced streaky bacon, as opposed to the traditional mostly-fat &lt;em&gt;szalonna&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T23:25:58.750" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-03T15:14:57.427" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6107" CreationDate="2010-12-02T23:36:45.493" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My favorites are when the waiter asks if I want the French dip &quot;with au jus&quot; or asks if I'd be interested in the soup du jour &quot;daily special&quot;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-02T23:36:45.493" />
  <row Id="6121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6115" CreationDate="2010-12-02T23:51:38.800" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Slang tends to be localized. Here are a few from where I'm at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;brah&lt;/strong&gt; - second person pronoun. This has made it across the pacific to California and is pretty ubiquitous (to the point of being cliche) in surfer/skater culture.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;hondo&lt;/strong&gt; - hundred dollar bill. I've seen this other places too. &lt;em&gt;Ho brah! Spare one hondo?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;grindz&lt;/strong&gt; - food. &lt;em&gt;I want some grindz&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;grind&lt;/strong&gt; - to eat. &lt;em&gt;Grind brah!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;cherry&lt;/strong&gt; - good. &lt;em&gt;These grindz cherry&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;choke&lt;/strong&gt; - a lot of something. &lt;em&gt;Choke grindz brah!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;for days&lt;/strong&gt; - more choke. &lt;em&gt;Grindz for days!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;shoots&lt;/strong&gt; - 1) goodbye, 2) sure, why not. Second usage: Q:&lt;em&gt;You want grindz brah? We got choke!&lt;/em&gt; A: &lt;em&gt;shoots&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;da kine&lt;/strong&gt; - whatever is being talked about be it a verb, adjective, adverb or noun or some other subject that should be obvious to the listener. &lt;em&gt;I don't often talk da kine.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;one quick one&lt;/strong&gt; - form of &quot;please&quot; used for polite and trivial commands. &lt;em&gt;Pass dat over one quick one&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This list would look completely different if I lived someplace else. For example people can often peg me as having spent choke time in New England when I say &quot;wicked&quot; for emphasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2385" LastEditorUserId="2385" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-03T00:06:20.217" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T00:06:20.217" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6101" CreationDate="2010-12-03T00:19:45.643" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is offensive for who has played the game UFO (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-COM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;X-COM&lt;/a&gt;). ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously, I am agree with Dusty. As for me I was shocked when I read that word in that document.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is about them: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1136608/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;District 9&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="81" LastEditorUserId="81" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-03T00:43:58.577" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T00:43:58.577" />
  <row Id="6123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6083" CreationDate="2010-12-03T00:21:03.880" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm having trouble assigning any meaning to &lt;em&gt;America Plus&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;American Plus&lt;/em&gt;. I kind of want to add another word: &lt;em&gt;America plus Europe equals [something]&lt;/em&gt;, but that doesn't really make any more sense, either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides the mathematical sense (&quot;&lt;em&gt;two &lt;strong&gt;plus&lt;/strong&gt; two equals four&lt;/em&gt;&quot;), you see the word &lt;em&gt;plus&lt;/em&gt; used in the combination &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;plus&lt;/strong&gt;-sized&lt;/em&gt; &quot;needs to shop for clothes in the big &amp;amp; tall section&quot;; as a synonym for &lt;em&gt;advantage&lt;/em&gt;: &quot;&lt;em&gt;the &lt;strong&gt;pluses&lt;/strong&gt; outweigh the minuses&lt;/em&gt;&quot;; and as a coordinating conjunction meaning something like &lt;em&gt;also&lt;/em&gt;: &quot;&lt;em&gt;He had an overbite, &lt;strong&gt;plus&lt;/strong&gt; he stuttered, so he didn't have many friends at school.&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-03T14:44:07.157" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T14:44:07.157" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="6124" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6126" CreationDate="2010-12-03T00:46:51.813" Score="10" ViewCount="513" Body="&lt;p&gt;When somebody uses the phrase &quot;not uncommon&quot;, do they mean &quot;common&quot; because of the double negative?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was recently informed that &quot;not uncommon&quot; could imply that something was anything but uncommon (e.g. rare), whereas I thought that &lt;em&gt;rare&lt;/em&gt; would be a subset of &lt;em&gt;uncommon&lt;/em&gt; and that saying it was not uncommon must mean it is common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2570" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-03T09:55:51.420" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T16:04:03.283" Title="Does &quot;not uncommon&quot; mean &quot;common&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6124" CreationDate="2010-12-03T00:56:44.417" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To my mind, it is a shaded meaning, not quite common, but not rare. &quot;Not unkind&quot; I would see as much colder than kind, but not actively unkind. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2509" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T00:56:44.417" />
  <row Id="6126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6124" CreationDate="2010-12-03T01:03:36.993" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I think a little more context may be needed to appropriately answer your question since it seems whoever you've been talking to has what I would consider to be a non-standard usage of it.  That being said, here's my best cut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In standard usage, the phrase &quot;not uncommon&quot; typically means something to the effect of &quot;more frequent than uncommon&quot;.  That is, it occurs too frequently to be considered &quot;uncommon&quot;, but not necessarily so frequently as to be labeled &quot;common&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in certain contexts where things are partitioned using discrete, well defined terms &quot;uncommon&quot;, &quot;rare&quot;, etc.  it would be conceivable that they would mean &quot;anything other than uncommon&quot;.  The one example that jumps out at me is RPG games like World of Warcraft where item quality is labeled using terms like &quot;rare&quot;, &quot;uncommon&quot;, &quot;common&quot;, etc. In a case like this, saying that something is &quot;not uncommon&quot; would potentially allow for something labeled as &quot;rare&quot; as well as something labeled as &quot;common&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T01:03:36.993" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6124" CreationDate="2010-12-03T01:03:39.787" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not really. It means just what it says it is. It's an attempt at understatement. To baldly say something is common seems to some people too forthright. And, to be fair, there may be a wide gap between what is uncommon and what is common. If the subject is sunny days in Seattle, you may say they are uncommon. But Seattle averages about one day in six with sunshine. So you could say, with some legitimacy, that they are not uncommon since they are experienced with some regularity. Still, you wouldn't really say they were common. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, such constructions are anathema to some champions of clear writing. I remember Eric Blair (George Orwell) mocking them in one of his essays on the English language, positing a sentence like (I'm paraphrasing here) &quot;The not unbrown dog trotted not unslowly along the not unrough road, finally making a not unsmall leap over the not unhigh fence.&quot; Or something like that. I was an undergrad at the time, so memory dims. I wish I could remember the name of the essay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T01:03:39.787" />
  <row Id="6128" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6132" CreationDate="2010-12-03T01:56:30.953" Score="2" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have any words, with a Japanese origin, made it into mainstream English use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2480" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T02:28:16.120" Title="Are there any common-use words in English that have a Japanese origin?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;foreign-words&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6128" CreationDate="2010-12-03T01:57:20.880" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sukiyaki, for one. Sushi, for another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also karate, ninja, judo, jiu-jitsu ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And let's not forget hara-kiri (which most people mispronounce as &quot;harry-carry&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T01:57:20.880" />
  <row Id="6130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6128" CreationDate="2010-12-03T02:07:46.133" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These would be known by everyday people: tsunami, kamikaze, sushi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2575" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T02:07:46.133" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6128" CreationDate="2010-12-03T02:15:58.803" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear konichiwa, sayonara, seppuku, and samurai....Origami is another one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond those, manga is pretty popular in the US, so there are a lot of words associated with manga, anime, and video-games that are common at least among middle- and high-schoolers. Otaku, baka, yaoi, and hentai are a few I can think of off the top of my head, but those really are only a few....Also, if you don't know what yaoi and hentai are, be warned they're NSFW.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And who could forget Sudoku? :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh! And geisha! I forgot that one, and having just read that book, too...Then there's kimono...There really are a lot of these...Sensei, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I give up. I'm not editing any more. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastEditorUserId="23" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-03T02:22:34.977" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T02:22:34.977" />
  <row Id="6132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6128" CreationDate="2010-12-03T02:28:16.120" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;kimono,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;teriyaki, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tempura, itself derived from the Portuguese &lt;a href=&quot;http://linguistlist.org/issues/12/12-1906.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tempero&lt;/a&gt; meaning &lt;em&gt;spice&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;seasoning&lt;/em&gt;,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;karaoke,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tycoon,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;haiku,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ramen,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;soy,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tofu,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shogun,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;and many more in Wikipedia's article about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_words_of_Japanese_origin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;English words of Japanese origin&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1720" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T02:28:16.120" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6133" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6139" CreationDate="2010-12-03T03:04:53.730" Score="7" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia mentions several English words that have been &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gairaigo#Reborrowings_from_Japanese&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reborrowed from Japanese&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Anime&lt;/em&gt; comes from &lt;em&gt;animation&lt;/em&gt; and has been reborrowed into English to mean Japanese-style animation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Puroresu&lt;/em&gt; comes from &lt;em&gt;professional wrestling&lt;/em&gt; and is a term for Japanese-style professional wrestling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Kosupure&lt;/em&gt; comes from &lt;em&gt;cosplay&lt;/em&gt; (an abbreviation of &lt;em&gt;costume play&lt;/em&gt;) and refers to the practice of dressing in costumes of anime and video game characters. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you know other examples of word reborrowings from Japanese or other languages back into English, or vice versa?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1720" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T16:01:15.440" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-04T15:22:41.723" Title="Foreign words reborrowed back into English" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;foreign-words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="6134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6101" CreationDate="2010-12-03T03:33:18.913" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the U.S. &quot;alien&quot; used to be the official legal term for non-citizens. However, this is changing. The most important residence document (green card) used to be officially titled  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.messinglawoffices.com/docimages/rippedoff/i-551old77l.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Resident Alien Card&lt;/a&gt;, but is now changed to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freddiemac.com/learn/lo/images/grncrd.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Permanent Resident Card&lt;/a&gt;. Government bureaucracy is vast, so I'm sure the change some forms still carry the &quot;alien&quot; terminology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This change implies the term is somehow inappropriate, although I don't see it as offensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most dictionaries put the synonym &quot;foreign&quot; before &quot;extraterrestrial&quot;. The latter are a more interesting subject of popular culture (e.g. Hollywood movies), that's why some non-native speakers may get an impression that it is the more common meaning of the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1056" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T03:33:18.913" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6107" CreationDate="2010-12-03T03:46:25.520" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One in Thai: เสื้อเชิ้ต (seua chert) - &quot;shirt shirt&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1056" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T03:46:25.520" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6108" CreationDate="2010-12-03T04:16:25.487" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is mainly a response to Noldorin's answer; I don't have enough reputation points to comment directly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An oval in &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; a type of ellipse.  It's the other way around: an ellipse is a type of oval.  Check a dictionary.  Mine defines &quot;oval&quot; as &quot;having a rounded and slightly elongated outline or shape, like that of an egg&quot;.  It defines &quot;ellipse&quot; as &quot;a regular oval shape, traced by a point moving in a plane so that the sum of its distances from two other points (the foci) is constant&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There has been some dispute in the comments about &quot;oval&quot; versus &quot;ellipse&quot;, so I thought I would add some more citations.  I claim that defining &quot;oval&quot; to be more general than &quot;ellipse&quot; is common and standard, while defining &quot;ellipse&quot; to be more general than &quot;oval&quot; is rare and non-standard.  The definitions I quote above comes from the New Oxford American Dictionary.  In addition to that...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;dictionary.reference.com agrees: &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ellipse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ellipse&lt;/a&gt; versus &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/oval&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;oval&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mathworld agrees: &lt;a href=&quot;http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Oval.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;oval&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thefreedictionary.com agrees: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/oval&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;oval&lt;/a&gt; versus &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ellipse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ellipse&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;mathforum.org agrees: &lt;a href=&quot;http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/55368.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Simply, an ellipse IS an oval, but an oval may or may not be an ellipse.&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;answers.com agrees: &lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_an_ellipse_and_an_oval&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;An ellipse always has two axes of reflection; an oval has one or more.&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found a relatively few sources which define &quot;ellipse&quot; and &quot;oval&quot; to mean the same thing.  I've found no sources at all which say that &quot;ellipse&quot; is more general than &quot;oval&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastEditorUserId="1388" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-04T21:50:37.347" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T21:50:37.347" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="6137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6107" CreationDate="2010-12-03T04:37:11.580" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Such redundancy is rather common in place names, especially when the English usage takes the name from another language and adds its own word for the feature (&quot;river&quot;, &quot;hill&quot;, &quot;mountain&quot;, etc.) See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fun-with-words.com/redundant_etymology.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this list&lt;/a&gt; or this long &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tautological_place_names&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;list of tautological place names&lt;/a&gt;, including, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Paraguay River (&quot;Great River River&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;River Avon / River Tyne (&quot;River River&quot;)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dal Lake / Lake Chad / Lake Tahoe (&quot;Lake Lake&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bredon Hill (&quot;Hill Hill Hill&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Summit Peak / Pinnacle Peak (several places with these names)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Torpenhow Hill (which is fictional, though Torpenhow exists, and while not exactly meaning &quot;Hill Hill Hill&quot;, does mean &quot;Head-peak hillock&quot; or &quot;rising-peak hill&quot; or similar)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Faroe Island (&quot;Sheep island island&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;La Brea Tar Pits (&quot;The Tar Tar Pits&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jiayuguan Pass (&quot;Jiayu Pass Pass&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Milky Way Galaxy (&quot;Milky Way Milky Way&quot; — this is actually a fault with the word &quot;Galaxy&quot;!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Timor Leste / East Timor (&quot;East East&quot;, but this &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; actually the eastern half of the easternmost island there).  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I've only picked some representative examples; it's a very long list.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it would be more interesting to look for examples that &lt;em&gt;aren't&lt;/em&gt; place names.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T04:37:11.580" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6065" CreationDate="2010-12-03T05:16:00.540" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I opted to audit Transport Phenomena,&#xA;  and I am enrolled in Advanced&#xA;  Thermodynamics &amp;amp; Phase Behavior in the&#xA;  spring semester.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure about that second &quot;in&quot; in my version. Should that be &quot;for&quot;, there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Passive voice is a terrible habit...It's great for adding unnecessary words, but terrible for readability. Parenthesis should be stomped on before they breed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2577" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T05:16:00.540" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6133" CreationDate="2010-12-03T08:45:25.613" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;From the French&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;paquebot&lt;/em&gt;, comes from the English &lt;em&gt;packet-boat&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/paquebot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in 1641&lt;/a&gt;, use to mean &lt;em&gt;mailboat&lt;/em&gt;, but now is used to describe a &lt;em&gt;ship, liner&lt;/em&gt;, was reborrowed with the meaning mailboat &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/paquebot#Etymology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in 1894&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;redingote&lt;/em&gt;, comes from the English &lt;em&gt;riding-coat&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/redingote&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in 1725&lt;/a&gt;, reborrowed in English and means &quot;A long coat or greatcoat, originally for men but now often for women&quot;. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/redingote&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T08:45:25.613" />
  <row Id="6140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6101" CreationDate="2010-12-03T08:48:32.097" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think we non-USAians find it odd, since it's far more common to see expatriats referred to as &quot;expats&quot;, &quot;permanent residents&quot;, &quot;foreign workers&quot; or &quot;temporary workers&quot; in Asia, at least in the press and in general discussions. As ShreevatsaR points out in the comments below, our governments do refer to foreigners with the same terminology (see links below). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="649" LastEditorUserId="649" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-03T17:57:32.720" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T17:57:32.720" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6124" CreationDate="2010-12-03T10:04:48.557" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;not uncommon&quot; is not necessarily the same as common. Compare the following examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;1 x 0 is a common final score in soccer (it happens all the time)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;8 x 7 is an uncommon final score in soccer (it rarely happens)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;5 x 0 is not  an uncommon final score in soccer  (it doesn't happen all the time, but it's not rare either).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T10:04:48.557" />
  <row Id="6143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6133" CreationDate="2010-12-03T10:58:58.137" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only one that springs immediately to mind is &quot;Freeter,&quot; a contraction of &lt;em&gt;free&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;arbeiter&lt;/em&gt;. This reborrowed mish-mash of English and German means a young adult who lives on a series or raft of part-time or casual jobs rather than traditional full-time, long-term employment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A near-miss is &quot;Rickshaw.&quot; This is a contraction and anglicisation of &quot;Jin-riki-sha,&quot; a Japanese word for a western invention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, I would say that, as a re-borrowing, &quot;cosplay&quot; comes from &quot;kosupure&quot; rather than the other way around :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T10:58:58.137" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6144" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6145" CreationDate="2010-12-03T12:22:08.133" Score="3" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a difference between &lt;code&gt;should not&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;should avoid&lt;/code&gt; or more generally between &lt;code&gt;not&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;avoid&lt;/code&gt;&#xA;e.g&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;You should not be drinking.&#xA;You should avoid drinking.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1597" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T04:39:15.270" Title="Difference between &quot;should not&quot; and &quot;should avoid&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="6145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6144" CreationDate="2010-12-03T12:33:05.083" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There doesn't appear to be much difference between the two. It all depends on the intonation used. Nevertheless,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You should avoid drinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sounds cautionary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You should not be drinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sounds obligatory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T12:33:05.083" />
  <row Id="6146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6144" CreationDate="2010-12-03T12:33:40.053" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;AFAIK Should Not may be seen as a command or something that is expected to be followed, because there is a reason to it.&#xA;ex: One should not play with fire. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should avoid is USED more like an advice. In theory, should is used when there is a reason/history to the verb/object of the sentence. So the difference between not and avoid becomes a matter of expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2585" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T12:33:40.053" />
  <row Id="6147" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6176" CreationDate="2010-12-03T13:00:13.617" Score="13" ViewCount="459" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &quot;creole&quot; language is formed by the merging of two parent languages, usually through an earlier rudimentary mixture of the two. Does this make Yiddish a creole language? Was English itself a creole language in the century or so after the Norman Conquest? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is really about what constitutes a creole language: what are its hallmarks and most distinguishing features, and do creole languages ever evolve to become &quot;proper&quot; languages (whatever that may mean) in their own right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T17:14:10.673" ClosedDate="2011-02-05T13:50:27.273" Title="Is Yiddish a creole language? And if not, what is it?" Tags="&lt;creole&gt;&lt;language-formation&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="6148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6101" CreationDate="2010-12-03T13:39:49.160" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As many people have said, &quot;alien&quot; is a term used by governments to refer to non-citizens. However I'm not sure how often that meaning is used outside of the immigration department. I'm sure for many English-speakers the word's first meaning is extraterrestrials. It certainly is for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using this word sounds &quot;marked&quot; to me. That is, I'd wonder why a person was saying it unless they were a government worker. I'm not sure if there would be cause for offense, however. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T13:39:49.160" />
  <row Id="6149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6147" CreationDate="2010-12-03T13:42:13.107" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found an interesting information about this language (I also have a personal interest in the language as both my grandparents still speak it) here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sefarad.org/hosted/english/eblul/yiddish.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.sefarad.org/hosted/english/eblul/yiddish.html&lt;/a&gt; . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yiddish, which is written in Hebrew characters, is a composite&#xA;  language stemming from Judeo-German,&#xA;  that is to say the languages used by&#xA;  the Jews who settled in the Rhine&#xA;  Valley in the Middle Ages. Their&#xA;  vernacular language, based on the&#xA;  local Germanic dialect, has been&#xA;  enriched by numerous contributions&#xA;  from Hebrew and from the Romance&#xA;  languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always perceived it as a mixture of German and Hebrew. However it's not a creole language in a conceptual sense b/c it was conceived as the language in its own right, in process employing elements of Hebrew and German,  as opposed composed from two.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1446" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-03T15:00:45.380" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T15:00:45.380" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6124" CreationDate="2010-12-03T14:05:06.493" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Describing something by negating its opposite is a way of countering expectations. As in: &quot;You might expect this never happens, but it is not uncommon.&quot; Or: &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094012/quotes?qt0467023&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Not bad... for a girl.&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="990" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T14:05:06.493" />
  <row Id="6151" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6152" CreationDate="2010-12-03T14:50:56.730" Score="5" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the poem &lt;a href=&quot;http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/wislawa_szymborska/poems/11682&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pi,&lt;/em&gt; by Wislawa Szymborska&lt;/a&gt;, there is this line:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;in which we find how blithe the trostle sings!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A Google search for &lt;em&gt;trostle&lt;/em&gt; turns up a few hits, mostly as people's last names. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Trostle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Urban Dictionary [nsfw]&lt;/a&gt; has two definitions, both of which were voted down. And &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definitions/TROSTLE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Webster's Online Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; says it's a misspelling of throstle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that poets are licensed to make up words, but this poem is otherwise very plain. In fact, this whole line seems out of place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone explain the author's meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="990" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T16:27:33.183" Title="What does &quot;trostle&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;poetry&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6151" CreationDate="2010-12-03T14:57:44.243" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Blithe = cheerful, carefree; and trostle = misspelling of throstle = a type of thrush = a songbird. So, given just this line, I think it's meant to be interpreted pretty literally:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;in which we find [out] how blithe[ly] the [thrush] sings!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Found a &lt;a href=&quot;http://katherinestange.com/mathweb/p_p2.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;different translation&lt;/a&gt;, which actually makes less sense, but clearly uses &quot;bird&quot; to translate the Polish word:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...] a charade, a code,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  in which we find hail to thee, blithe spirit, bird thou never wert&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  alongside ladies and gentlemen, no cause for alarm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-03T15:51:21.513" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T15:51:21.513" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6151" CreationDate="2010-12-03T14:58:39.467" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;U could be wrong, I suspect that in the poem the reference is made to the name -- Trostle. You're probably taken aback by the fact that it's written with the lower case &lt;strong&gt;t&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also found via google  that it's &lt;a href=&quot;http://lookwayup.com/lwu.exe/lwu/d?s=f&amp;amp;w=Trostle#n/19919387&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;frequently used as a name&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[n] Last name, frequency rank in the U.S. is 19387  .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or my second theory as it's a misspelling of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/throstle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/throstle&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T14:58:39.467" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6147" CreationDate="2010-12-03T15:32:52.697" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yiddish is typically referred to as a Creoloid, much like Afrikaans, Michif, and even African American Vernacular English. That is, they share a lot of common traits with Creoles and Creole Genesis.  Labeling something a Creole or not is debatable even amongst scholars as many have conflicting views on what makes something a creole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try reading either of these for some info on it and judge for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jacobs, Neil G. (2005). Yiddish: A Linguistic Introduction. Cambridge University Press. (Scott: PJ 5116.J33 2004); &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prince, Ellen (2001). Yiddish as a contact language. In Norval Smith and Tonjes Veenstra (eds.), Creolization and contact&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2586" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T15:32:52.697" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6155" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-03T15:33:50.903" Score="17" ViewCount="248" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5634/is-it-despite-or-despite-of/5652#5652&quot;&gt;RegDwight's excellent answer showing the historical usage of &lt;em&gt;despite&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; got me thinking about the processes by which new prepositions are coined. Prepositions are generally considered a closed class, and there are no active derivational processes for generating new ones--yet new prepositions do occasionally arise. The 17-century examples in the linked question show &lt;em&gt;despite&lt;/em&gt; being used as a sentential adverb taking a complement with &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt;, though contemporary usage has &lt;em&gt;despite&lt;/em&gt; as a preposition that directly governs its object. At some point the &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; started to disappear from &quot;despite of&quot;, and the word &lt;em&gt;despite&lt;/em&gt; was reanalyzed as a preposition rather than an adverb. This got me thinking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What other words are documented to have transitioned from adverbs to prepositions?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do any words other than adverbs ever make this leap? Are there any nouns or verbs that have somehow transitioned to prepositions?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T21:25:36.103" Title="Historical processes of preposition coining in English" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="6156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6133" CreationDate="2010-12-03T16:01:15.440" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I've said in another question, &quot;karaoke&quot; half-qualifies, as the second half of it is &quot;okesutora&quot; = &quot;orchestra&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T16:01:15.440" />
  <row Id="6157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6124" CreationDate="2010-12-03T16:04:03.283" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an example of a common (and ancient) figure of speech called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/litotes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;litotes&lt;/a&gt;. Sometimes it conveys no extra meaning (and gets ridiculed as an affectation) but in many cases it does have a distinct meaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T16:04:03.283" />
  <row Id="6158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6147" CreationDate="2010-12-03T16:17:27.310" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Grammatically, Yiddish is almost entirely Germanic - very close to an older form of High German. In vocabulary, it is mostly Germanic, but with a large admixture of Hebrew words and (depending on the dialect) also significant borrowings from other languages, such as Polish and Russian. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As such, it is not what most scholars describe as a creole: that is a language whose grammar has arisen spontaneously, generally when a cohort of children grow up among people who communicate in a pidgin (a contact language with little or no consistent grammar). It appears that given such an environment, small children will mould it into a language with its own grammar, generally bearing little resemblance to that of the language(s) from which the words come. (This is somewhat controversial, as is the claim that creoles round the world tend to have rather similar grammars). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So with that definition, Yiddish is not a creole: it is a distinct Germanic language, quite close to German, but which has a large admixture of Hebrew and other words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T16:17:27.310" />
  <row Id="6159" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6162" CreationDate="2010-12-03T16:19:24.517" Score="4" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taken from &quot;A Quiver Full of Arrows&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The flowers have lasted well,&quot; she&#xA;  teased, and left him to make the&#xA;  coffee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the sentence clearly imply that &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;she&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; left to make the coffee? Or could it also imply that she left him so that &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; could make the coffee?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;The third sentence &quot;She returned after a few minutes with a coffee pot...&quot; makes the meaning abundantly clear. I just want to know how the first sentence stands up on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T11:47:41.883" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T11:47:41.883" Title="Double meaning?" Tags="&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;&lt;ambiguity&gt;&lt;pun&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6151" CreationDate="2010-12-03T16:27:33.183" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A native or expert Polish speaker is clearly what we need here!  I’m not one, but my best attempt: the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chemmix.artnet.pl/index.php?s1=06&amp;amp;s2=004&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;original&lt;/a&gt; has&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;w którym słowiczku mój a leć&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and the word corresponding to &lt;em&gt;trostle&lt;/em&gt; seems to be &lt;em&gt;słowiczku&lt;/em&gt;, a diminutive form of &lt;em&gt;słowik&lt;/em&gt;, which online dictionaries tell me is &lt;em&gt;nightingale&lt;/em&gt;.  The nightingale is a species of thrush (roughly — there are some ornithological hairs that could be split here).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Diminutives in Polish (and other Slavic languages) are notoriously hard to translate.  They sometimes just indicate familiarity or smallness; sometimes, they have more specific connotations, or may carry echoes of particular well-known poems or fairy-tales; a few have even evolved specific meanings, more distinct from the base words.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don’t know which of these &lt;em&gt;słowiczka&lt;/em&gt; is — whether it sounds old-fashioned to a Polish ear, or playful, or whether it’s even a reference to some other species similar to the nightingale.  (Actually I guess not this latter, since it doesn’t appear on Polish Wikipedia.)  But it’s certainly some kind of nightingale, thrush or similar bird, and it’s certainly a moderately unusual word for it (&lt;em&gt;słowiczka&lt;/em&gt; gets about 9,000 google hits), so &lt;em&gt;throstle&lt;/em&gt; seems like a reasonable translation, and &lt;em&gt;trostle&lt;/em&gt; a misspelling or variant spelling of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T16:27:33.183" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6161" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6164" CreationDate="2010-12-03T16:31:37.707" Score="1" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been watching the movie &quot;King Arthur&quot;, and I heard Arthur asking &quot;Which is X?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to say &quot;Which is Jay?&quot; instead of &quot;Who is Jay?&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1104" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:03:30.820" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:03:30.820" Title="Is it correct to say &quot;which is Jay&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;interrogatives&gt;&lt;determiners&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6159" CreationDate="2010-12-03T16:32:45.713" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case, the meaning is ambiguous and could mean either of the two you suggested as nothing in the phrase specifies who will be making it.  I originally read it as she was leaving to make the coffee, but both are equally plausible.  Is there any extra context around it that would clarify?  E.g. are they in a location where making coffee is possible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T16:32:45.713" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6161" CreationDate="2010-12-03T16:51:16.187" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Which is Jay&quot; and &quot;Who is Jay&quot; mean completely different things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[Of the people over there], which [one] is Jay?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Who is [this] Jay [you speak of]?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T16:51:16.187" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6165" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6166" CreationDate="2010-12-03T16:56:38.507" Score="1" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the diffence between &lt;strong&gt;brusque&lt;/strong&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;strong&gt;curt&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T22:08:48.307" Title="brusque vs. curt" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6165" CreationDate="2010-12-03T17:20:51.357" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Curt&lt;/em&gt; usually refers specifically to speech, while &lt;em&gt;brusque&lt;/em&gt; is more general, referring to manner and behavior as well as speech. Also, a &quot;&lt;em&gt;curt&lt;/em&gt; reply&quot; is a bit more rude than a &lt;em&gt;brusque&lt;/em&gt; one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T17:20:51.357" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6167" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6182" CreationDate="2010-12-03T18:07:50.697" Score="3" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a group of words - I think they're called &lt;em&gt;determiners&lt;/em&gt; - used to indicate number in some way... like &lt;em&gt;many&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;few&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;most&lt;/em&gt;, etc. During a linguistics class my professor said this was a closed group of words, and that new ones couldn't really fit in it. Then someone shouted out &quot;There's mad people in here!&quot; and everyone laughed. (&lt;em&gt;mad&lt;/em&gt; meaning many, the usage I'm referring to).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How did &lt;em&gt;mad&lt;/em&gt; come to fit in this supposedly closed group? Are there other words that were newly coined to fit there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T22:04:30.123" Title="How did 'mad' come to be a determiner?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;part-of-speech&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6114" CreationDate="2010-12-03T18:19:15.223" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a legal standpoint, you want to use the the official trademark name that the company uses in naming itself. Check court documents to see what Yahoo prefers and use that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2578" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T18:19:15.223" />
  <row Id="6170" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6174" CreationDate="2010-12-03T18:42:31.873" Score="36" ViewCount="954" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Perhaps this only happens to me, but I doubt it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes after looking at a word for a while, I become convinced that it can't possibly be spelled correctly.  Even after looking it up, sounding it out, and realizing that there's simply no other way to spell the word, it still looks wrong.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a shorthand way to describe this feeling so that people will know what I mean without the long explanation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T23:40:21.113" Title="Is there a word or phrase for the feeling you get after looking at a word for too long?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="11" />
  <row Id="6171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6170" CreationDate="2010-12-03T19:08:55.977" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a fantastic question. I have often experienced that feeling. I doubt that there is a succinct word or phrase to describe it. I suggest you coin your own word and use it all over the place until it finds its way into a dictionary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, when you say or look at a word too many times /too long the word loses the affiliation it has with its meaning. It starts to be nothing more than a group of noises coming out of your voice-box or a collection of alphabets arranged on a page. I had someone once describe the feeling to me as word-dissolution because to him the word simply dissolved. The brain has already understood and processed the word. Now it knows everything there is to know about the word, and has moved on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2578" LastEditorUserId="2578" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-03T19:15:23.583" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T19:15:23.583" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6170" CreationDate="2010-12-03T19:18:58.877" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is probably a self-induced form of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphasia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;aphasia&lt;/a&gt; or dysphasia. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T19:18:58.877" />
  <row Id="6173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-12-03T19:27:07.490" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a long time I pronounced Epitome as &quot;Epi-tome&quot; when I saw the word in print. Funny thing is that I was aware of the prononciation &quot;Epi-to-me&quot;, but subconsciously assumed that it was a different word. I had much else on my mind, I guess, to investigate. I am now enlightened. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2578" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T19:27:07.490" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-03T19:27:07.490" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6170" CreationDate="2010-12-03T20:03:31.640" Score="33" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eureka! Ok, so it's not a single word, but it's what I was trying to think of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_satiation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Semantic Satiation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Found a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.languagehat.com/archives/003998.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;languagehat discussion&lt;/a&gt; on this topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-03T21:15:17.647" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T21:15:17.647" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6175" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-03T20:04:02.457" Score="4" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the word &quot;who&quot; an adverb? If not what is it? If it is an adverb w, what type of adverb is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2590" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T20:28:05.457" Title="What is the word &quot;who&quot;?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6147" CreationDate="2010-12-03T20:04:09.393" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;creole language&lt;/em&gt; is not necessarily a combination of two languages. It's just a &lt;em&gt;pidgin language&lt;/em&gt; that has native speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A pidgin language is usually a limited, easy-to-learn language used for communications between two different language groups. Normally it has much simpler vocabulary and grammar. The hallmark of a pidgin language is that nobody speaks it as their primary language... it serves as a &lt;em&gt;lingua franca&lt;/em&gt; (shared language) between two linguistic communities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pidgins are not necessarily anyone's primary language. These days people often use basic English as a pidgin even when neither of them is really an English speaker (for example, a Tagalog-speaking sailor might use basic/pidgin English to communicate with an Arabic-speaking merchant when in port, or a Russian tourist in Japan might use basic English to communicate with her hosts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes pidgins are used so much that they become primary languages, and kids grow up speaking only the pidgin language. At that point the language is considered a creole language. The classic example of this is Haitian Creole, which started out as a simplified version of French used by African language speakers in Haiti, and soon became the primary language kids learned. Another major example is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tok_Pisin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tok Pisin&lt;/a&gt; in Papua New Guinea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yiddish is none of the above, really. It is mostly an in-group dialect that became a full fledged language when it got its first army (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_language_is_a_dialect_with_an_army_and_navy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Joke!&lt;/a&gt;) It was not intended to be used as a lingua franca, although sometimes it served this purpose when Jews from different linguistic communities (e.g. Germany and Poland) used it as a common language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="133" LastEditorUserId="133" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-04T03:08:13.383" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T03:08:13.383" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6175" CreationDate="2010-12-03T20:06:44.080" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrogative_word&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;interrogative pronoun&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T20:06:44.080" />
  <row Id="6178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6175" CreationDate="2010-12-03T20:28:05.457" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6175/what-is-the-word-who/6177#6177&quot;&gt;Jon Purdy&lt;/a&gt; said, it can be an &lt;em&gt;interrogative pronoun&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Who&lt;/strong&gt; are you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also be a &lt;em&gt;relative pronoun&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm the one &lt;strong&gt;who&lt;/strong&gt; was driving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2087" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T20:28:05.457" />
  <row Id="6179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-12-03T20:28:50.977" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm really going to embarrass myself, but I was in high school before I realized the word I had been reading, &quot;subtle,&quot; was the same as the word I had been speaking: suht-l. In my mind SUBTLE and &quot;SUDDLE&quot; were two words that meant the same thing!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2591" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T20:28:50.977" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-03T20:28:50.977" />
  <row Id="6180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-12-03T20:39:31.280" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I literally just learned a month ago (25 years into my existence!) that the h IS pronounced in herbivore. There are two kickers to this-- the first one being I was corrected by a 5 year old, and the second one being I have been vegetarian for 15 years!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2591" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T20:39:31.280" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-03T20:39:31.280" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6159" CreationDate="2010-12-03T20:41:48.727" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;She left to make the coffee&quot; would be a considerably less ambiguous way of putting it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure we should &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; look to Jeffrey Archer as a model of literary style and clarity, you know... ;D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T20:41:48.727" />
  <row Id="6182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6167" CreationDate="2010-12-03T21:05:38.420" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it was probably never a determiner but more likely an intensifier. As such, it is a synonym for &quot;insane&quot; as in &quot;That guitar player had &lt;em&gt;insane&lt;/em&gt; chops.&quot; I hear it most often in terms of having &quot;mad skills&quot; and so forth. In such cases it doesn't mean &lt;em&gt;many&lt;/em&gt;, but something more like &lt;em&gt;great&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;prodigious&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The earliest reference I can think of offhand is from the 2000 film &lt;em&gt;Training Day&lt;/em&gt;, in which Denzel Washington tells Ethan Hawke (after Hawke has single-handledly subdued two would-be rapists), &quot;You got mad squabbles, boy.&quot; He doesn't mean &quot;many&quot; squabbles, but excellent capabilities in that respect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is ever used to mean a quantity, I think it probably is used as an intensifier and the determiner is left out. Compare it with the Boston area's &quot;wicked&quot; and California's &quot;hella&quot; — they're all used in somewhat the same way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-03T22:04:30.123" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T22:04:30.123" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6183" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-03T21:19:32.260" Score="2" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;so which one is correct and why?&#xA;do we watch a movie or see a movie ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2592" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-03T21:26:41.013" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T20:42:19.787" Title="I have always been confused between using watch or see a movie" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6183" CreationDate="2010-12-03T21:26:27.463" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, 'see' has the connotation of having gone to the movie theater and watched the movie there whereas 'watch' tends to mean to watch it in a home environment on DVD or TV.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the cases where 'watch' is used to mean doing so at a theater, it is often accompanied with a construction like &quot;go and&quot;, e.g. &quot;We're going to go and watch X.&quot;  In the absence of other context, this implies the sentence, &quot;We're going to go &lt;em&gt;to the theater&lt;/em&gt; and watch X&quot; as opposed to &quot;We're going to go &lt;em&gt;to Bill's house&lt;/em&gt; and watch X.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is just my experience of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the distinction doesn't seem to apply to past tense. I mostly hear 'seen' used in this context but sometimes hear &quot;watch&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have you seen X?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Did you watch X?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first one is much more common in my experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, the primary distinction between watching a movie in a home environment and watching it at a theater is probably constructions involving the use of the verb &quot;go&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2385" LastEditorUserId="2385" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-03T21:56:28.467" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T21:56:28.467" />
  <row Id="6186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6183" CreationDate="2010-12-03T21:28:25.423" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technically, one &lt;em&gt;watches&lt;/em&gt; a film (movie). One can also &lt;em&gt;see&lt;/em&gt; a film - this is acceptable in colloquial speech, but stems from a misuse really. It also has the connotation that you're going somewhere to watch it (e.g. the cinema).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other languages (including French and Spanish) also use the verb &lt;em&gt;to watch&lt;/em&gt; in this situation; it is definitely not correct to use &lt;em&gt;to see&lt;/em&gt; with regards to a film.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T21:28:25.423" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="6187" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6193" CreationDate="2010-12-03T22:07:58.703" Score="4" ViewCount="241" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a word that has the opposite meaning of the word &lt;em&gt;nominal&lt;/em&gt; in the sense of &lt;em&gt;in name only&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's an example (fill in the blank).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Brian was in charge of scheduling in his [&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;] role as Project Manager.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He was often expected to carry out Project Management duties, even though his business card identified him as a programmer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;De facto&lt;/em&gt; sort of works, but I feel like the connotation of (in my example) having the role by tradition or default doesn't fit what I am trying to say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am essentially looking for a term that means &lt;em&gt;we don't call it that, but in practice it really is&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T18:46:22.657" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T18:58:06.367" Title="Need a word that has the opposite meaning of &quot;nominal&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6165" CreationDate="2010-12-03T22:08:48.307" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Curt can be emotionally neutral. Brusque displays some animosity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The definitions are pretty close though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2577" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T22:08:48.307" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6187" CreationDate="2010-12-03T22:14:20.047" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actual? Effective? In this case I'd simply put:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Brian was in charge of scheduling in&#xA;  his role as project manager. He&#xA;  was often expected to carry out&#xA;  project management duties, even though&#xA;  his business card identified him as a&#xA;  programmer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't be a Project Manager if you're not a Project Manager, but you can be a project manager if you just manage a project. In the former, you're stating a wishy-washy claim to a title, but in the latter you're simply relating a part of your job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2577" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T22:14:20.047" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6187" CreationDate="2010-12-03T23:25:03.177" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nominal?show=0&amp;amp;t=1291418614&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; lists the following antonyms (and near antonyms) of &lt;em&gt;nominal&lt;/em&gt;: material, actual, real, true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T23:25:03.177" />
  <row Id="6191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2908" CreationDate="2010-12-03T23:31:38.443" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;“Computer related” is a compound adjective and whether or not you should use a hyphen depends on where it is located in the sentence. If it appears before the word it modifies, include a hyphen. If after, omit the hyphen. This is mostly a clarification of Ex-user's answer. To use his/her examples, the following are both correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This book is computer related. &lt;em&gt;(the noun being modified appears &lt;strong&gt;before&lt;/strong&gt; the compound adjective)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is a computer-related book. &lt;em&gt;(the noun being modified appears &lt;strong&gt;after&lt;/strong&gt; the compound adjective)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_compound#Hyphenated_compound_adjectives&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hyphenated compound adjectives&lt;/a&gt; often prevents ambiguity of meaning (&lt;a href=&quot;http://the-word-blog.com/2010/04/06/hyphenated-compound-adjectives/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here's a good example&lt;/a&gt;), but when there can only be one meaning, hyphens may be omitted. I usually hyphenate anyway to be safe, and because it's one less thing to consider when writing. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kentlaw.edu/academics/lrw/grinker/LwtaHyphens.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Additional usage information&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2442" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T23:31:38.443" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6187" CreationDate="2010-12-03T23:32:38.500" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might try &quot;real-life&quot; there. It would emphasize the shirt-sleeves, day-to-day aspect of &lt;em&gt;genuine&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;actual&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T23:32:38.500" />
  <row Id="6193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6187" CreationDate="2010-12-03T23:34:57.593" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;We don't call it that, but in practice it really is&quot; is a pretty good definition for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/de%20facto&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;de facto&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;actual; especially: being such in effect though not formally recognized&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-03T23:51:50.933" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T23:51:50.933" />
  <row Id="6194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6187" CreationDate="2010-12-03T23:45:30.987" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use something along the lines of &quot;practical&quot; or &quot;practiced.&quot; &quot;Assumed&quot; might work better in this case though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-12-03T23:45:30.987" />
  <row Id="6195" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6280" CreationDate="2010-12-04T00:06:55.430" Score="3" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which of these is most correct and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our team kept in constant communication [ ] email.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T15:57:31.227" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T15:57:31.227" Title="&quot;Communication [over, by, through, via, with] email&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="6196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6195" CreationDate="2010-12-04T00:53:28.260" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd go with &quot;via&quot;. It wins the &quot;Google war&quot; by a large margin, although as we know that's not always indicative of anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;communication &lt;em&gt;over&lt;/em&gt; email - this could be interpreted as, the subject of the communication is email.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;communication &lt;em&gt;by&lt;/em&gt; email - I first wanted to parse this as the email is the thing doing the communicating.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;communication &lt;em&gt;through&lt;/em&gt; email - this could work; I think the only reason it sounds more awkward than &quot;via&quot; is that we're not used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;communication &lt;em&gt;via&lt;/em&gt; email - this says exactly what you want, i.e. email is the method used for communication.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;communication &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; email - this sounds like you're talking to the email.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T00:53:28.260" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6195" CreationDate="2010-12-04T02:01:26.300" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple more distinct alternatives for you to think about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Our team constantly communicated by email.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Our team kept in constant communication using email.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T02:01:26.300" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6187" CreationDate="2010-12-04T02:10:16.260" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a minor rephrasing makes &lt;em&gt;de facto&lt;/em&gt; the best choice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Brian was in charge of scheduling in his role as de facto Project Manager. He was often expected to carry out Project Management duties, even though his business card identified him as a programmer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T02:10:16.260" />
  <row Id="6199" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6201" CreationDate="2010-12-04T06:23:16.507" Score="4" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;We were discussing the merits of buying a team collaboration tool (Confluence) today, when we were completely sidetracked by the pronouncation &quot;wiki&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the folks on the team say it's pronounced &lt;strong&gt;&quot;whicky&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;; that's what Wikipedia calls it, Wikileaks, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, a few stalwarts insist that, since its etymology is Hawiian, it's actually pronounced &lt;strong&gt;&quot;weekee&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. They say the &quot;big brands&quot; like Wikipedia who insist upon calling themselves &quot;whicky-pee-dee-ah&quot; don't change the fact that &quot;wiki&quot; is pronounced &quot;weekee&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, given that this is a neologism, what's the proper pronuncation? Is it an accent/regional preference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2595" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-04T06:26:39.400" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T21:00:11.217" Title="Pronunciation of &quot;Wiki&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;neologisms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6199" CreationDate="2010-12-04T06:36:23.107" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of words whose current pronunciation bears little or no relationship to their etymology.  Personally I don't aspirate the &quot;W&quot; either, so I say it's &quot;wick-ee&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T06:36:23.107" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6199" CreationDate="2010-12-04T06:55:35.653" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think if you were to pronounce it &quot;weekee&quot; you would either come off as being pedantic, or from another country with an adorable accent, or you would spend a lot of time explaining what you meant — to people who then would say, &quot;Oh, you mean a &lt;em&gt;wiki&lt;/em&gt;!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've given up on a lot of &quot;correct&quot; pronunciations. For example, the correct pronunciation for &quot;acclimated&quot; is uh•CLIMB•uh•ted, not ACK•luh•may•ted. But I've just grown weary of that discussion. And don't even get me started on American mispronunciations of Japanese words: the American SUE-moh instead of the Japanese s'MOH for sumo, harry-carry for the correct harakiri (as long as you pronounce the &quot;r&quot;s as soft taps of the tongue on the palate), etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T06:55:35.653" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="6202" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6206" CreationDate="2010-12-04T08:23:40.550" Score="1" ViewCount="245" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it a countable noun? If yes, what is its plural form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine you are flying on a small biplane and reporting to someone what you are observing. &quot;I am hovering over a vast field and see two ... &quot; ? How would you report that? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) I am seeing 2 crossroads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) I am seeing 2 crossroadses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) /What's your option?/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please, specify whether you are speaking in the context of American or British English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T17:21:01.197" Title="What's the plural for &quot;crossroads&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="6203" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6207" CreationDate="2010-12-04T08:24:50.940" Score="3" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard it said that Eskimos have many words for snow and that the English have many words for hill.  If so what are they?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1298" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T10:43:58.130" Title="Is it true that the English have many words for hill?" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6199" CreationDate="2010-12-04T08:46:50.477" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that Wiktionary is an adequate reference for this case: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wiki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wiki&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wikipedia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1834" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T08:46:50.477" />
  <row Id="6205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6199" CreationDate="2010-12-04T09:07:32.417" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would claim that they're two different words from two different languages. &lt;em&gt;Wiki&lt;/em&gt; means quick. Wiki is used to refer to collaboratively edited media. They are two different things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the record, I live in Hawai'i and am fairly pedantic about my pronunciation, e.g. I pronounce Ho'okipa as Ho-o-kipa and not Ho-kipa as most hoales do or Hoo-kipa like the tourists do. &lt;em&gt;i&lt;/em&gt; is definitely pronounced &lt;em&gt;ee&lt;/em&gt; and your friends are definitely right about the Hawai'ian word. It has no bearing whatsoever. It's Wikipedia, not quick.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2385" LastEditorUserId="2385" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-04T21:00:11.217" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T21:00:11.217" />
  <row Id="6206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6202" CreationDate="2010-12-04T09:11:16.157" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I checked a few dictionaries and they say the plural form of &quot;crossroads&quot; is the same as the singular form. So &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am seeing 2 crossroads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is correct. Here is the entry for &quot;crossroads&quot; in Oxford Dictionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;crossroads&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;noun (plural same)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;an intersection of two or more roads.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(&lt;strong&gt;crossroad&lt;/strong&gt;) &lt;em&gt;North American.&lt;/em&gt; a road    that crosses a main road or&#xA;  joins two    main roads.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;a point at which a crucial decision must be made which will have&#xA;  far-reaching consequences:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;by 1998 I was &lt;strong&gt;at the crossroads&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T09:11:16.157" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6203" CreationDate="2010-12-04T10:32:39.033" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An excerpt from &lt;em&gt;Key Concepts in Language and Linguistics&lt;/em&gt; by &lt;em&gt;R.L. Trask&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Those Eskimo words for 'snow'. By a&#xA;  comical series of events, the legend&#xA;  has grown up that the Eskimo languages&#xA;  have vast numbers of words for&#xA;  different kinds of snow. In fact, the&#xA;  several dialects of the two Eskimo&#xA;  languages variously exhibit between&#xA;  two and four distinct words for snow.&#xA;  This is about the same as English with&#xA;  its &lt;em&gt;snow&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;slush&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;sleet&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;blizzard&lt;/em&gt; (not&#xA;  to mention skiers' terms like&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;hardpack&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;powder&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;crust&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a quick search, I hit the following words related snow in Alaskan/Eskimo/Inuit languages:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Akkituyok&lt;/strong&gt;: soft snow&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Aput&lt;/strong&gt;: snow used for a specific purpose&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Aquutaq&lt;/strong&gt;: snow&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Mangokpok&lt;/strong&gt;: watery snow&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Massak&lt;/strong&gt;: soft snow&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Massalerauvok&lt;/strong&gt;: snow filled with water&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Mauja&lt;/strong&gt;: soft deep snow&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Pukak&lt;/strong&gt;: snow crust&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Qaniit&lt;/strong&gt;: falling snow&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Qannik&lt;/strong&gt;: snowflake&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Sesi&lt;/strong&gt;: snow&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Tipvigut&lt;/strong&gt;: snowdrift  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the English words for &lt;strong&gt;hill&lt;/strong&gt;, the following are its synonyms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;brae (Scot.)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  down (archaic)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  elevation&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  eminence&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  fell&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  height&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  hillock&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  hummock&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  knoll&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  mound&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  mount&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  prominence&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  tor  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also see this page for a list of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.synonyms.ca/hill-synonyms.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;hill&quot; synonyms and &quot;hill&quot; related words&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-04T10:43:58.130" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T10:43:58.130" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6208" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6211" CreationDate="2010-12-04T10:50:48.017" Score="3" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;as is in :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;he was wont to come early&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I stumbled in this word lately, and I'm wondering which feeling it has for native speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example can I use in a meeting? in a written report?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2403" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T14:57:18.143" Title="how and when to use wont" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6209" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6226" CreationDate="2010-12-04T12:04:19.730" Score="9" ViewCount="485" Body="&lt;p&gt;What should I understand from &quot;steep learning curve&quot;? When a computer program (for example a translation program) has a steep learning curve, does it mean that it is not good at learning or it's hard for it to learn?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T07:58:09.533" Title="Steep learning curve" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;learning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="6210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6209" CreationDate="2010-12-04T12:30:17.577" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This phrase has a scientific basis (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Learning_curve&amp;amp;useskin=monobook&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; has information on its origin and scientific usage), but is most commonly used to indicate that something is difficult to learn. It refers to a person’s rate of progress in learning a new skill as it might be plotted on a graph. In this case it sounds like the computer program itself is difficult for beginners to use effectively, not that &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt; is not good at learning. I have never heard the phrase used that way, though I suppose it could apply to a program that uses artificial intelligence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2442" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T12:30:17.577" />
  <row Id="6211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6208" CreationDate="2010-12-04T12:43:20.863" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a native speaker (American) and I rarely see this word used other than in literature or poetry. Perhaps native speakers from other countries can weigh in, but I would not use it in a meeting or written report. The most common usage I have seen, which is considered either formal or humorous (according to the Dictionary app on my Mac), is in a sentence such as the following: &lt;em&gt;Reginald added just a few drops of milk to his tea, as was his wont.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2442" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T12:43:20.863" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6212" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6214" CreationDate="2010-12-04T12:47:07.073" Score="1" ViewCount="458" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;[Inspired by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/q/6209/191&quot;&gt;Steep learning curve&lt;/a&gt; question]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a phrase similar to &lt;em&gt;steep learning curve&lt;/em&gt; (i.e. &lt;em&gt;[some-word] learning curve&lt;/em&gt;) describing something that is easy to learn?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="191" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T14:16:26.233" Title="What's the opposite for &quot;steep learning curve&quot;?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6213" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6216" CreationDate="2010-12-04T13:08:16.230" Score="2" ViewCount="345" Body="&lt;p&gt;From an English test on FB:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you have finished to move the furniture, let me know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you will finish moving the furniture, let me know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the correct one is the former, but (if so) why exactly is the second one wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2403" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-14T16:19:38.723" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T16:19:38.723" Title="when you have finished / when you will finish" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;future-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6212" CreationDate="2010-12-04T13:15:33.293" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;em&gt;gentle learning curve&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2518" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T13:15:33.293" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6212" CreationDate="2010-12-04T13:52:41.657" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &quot;gradual learning curve&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can Google the phrase up - its used all over to imply the opposite of &quot;steep learning curve&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2578" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T13:52:41.657" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-04T13:52:41.657" />
  <row Id="6216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6213" CreationDate="2010-12-04T13:58:05.797" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you have finished to move the&#xA;  furniture, let me know&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is simply wrong. English speakers would not use the infinitive here, but the gerund form of the verb: &quot;When you have finished moving the furniture, let me know.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you will finish moving the&#xA;  furniture, let me know&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has a strange sound to it. I suppose you could use a somewhat less strange-sounding version of this, perhaps &quot;Let me know when you will finish moving the furniture,&quot; implying that you expect the addressee to complete that action and are wondering about his intentions in that regard. It also implies that you are interested in the time the process will get under way. It is not grammatically incorrect to reverse the order of the request, as you have in your example, but it just sounds odd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, both constructions sound as if they originate from a non-native speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-04T16:37:24.303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T16:37:24.303" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6217" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6233" CreationDate="2010-12-04T14:13:48.120" Score="1" ViewCount="232" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;There's so &lt;em&gt;many&lt;/em&gt; people in here!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;There's so &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; people here!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one should be used, and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-04T14:36:01.380" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T18:41:15.620" Title="Many vs Much - Which one should be used?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="6219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6217" CreationDate="2010-12-04T14:37:55.543" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many is used in enumerated quantities. If it can be counted in individual items, use &lt;em&gt;many&lt;/em&gt;. If the quantity cannot be counted, use &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;There are so &lt;em&gt;many&lt;/em&gt; people in here!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;There is so &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; I still need to learn!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T14:37:55.543" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6147" CreationDate="2010-12-04T14:43:45.690" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yiddish is called a FUSION language by linguists,&#xA;(as is English) derived from old High German, beginning around the year 1000&#xA;in the Rhine Valley.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It contains about 85% German vocabulary, about 10% Hebrew and Aramaic words and about 5% Romance or Slavic words, depending where it was spoken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scholars contend that there were/are 4 major dialects - but with overlaps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What many don't know is that a &quot;stage Yiddish&quot; was created by Abraham Goldfadn (father of the Yiddish Theatre) that blended the  various dialects, so that there would be linguistic consistency in performances.   Those whose exposure to Yiddish was mostly through Yiddish theatre and recorded song, have naturally but erroneously came to believe that this &quot;stage Yiddish&quot; was &quot;true&quot; Yiddish, but it was a construct, blending all the various dialects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2598" LastEditorUserId="2598" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-04T20:32:40.803" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T20:32:40.803" />
  <row Id="6221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6217" CreationDate="2010-12-04T14:47:50.607" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simple rule of thumb: if the following word is plural use many, otherwise much&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I don't have much time&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I don't have many books&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;how much money do you have?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;how many cars can you see?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2403" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T14:47:50.607" />
  <row Id="6222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6187" CreationDate="2010-12-04T14:53:21.897" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a long phrase but you can also use &quot;in everything but name&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Brian was in charge of scheduling,&#xA;  being the Project Manager in&#xA;  everything but name. He was often&#xA;  expected to carry out Project&#xA;  Management duties, even though his&#xA;  business card identified him as a&#xA;  programmer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2403" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T14:53:21.897" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6208" CreationDate="2010-12-04T14:57:18.143" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Australia it has a ring of formality, but you do hear it from time to time, though perhaps a touch idiomatically - '..., as he is wont' and the like probably occur a good ten times as frequently as 'He is wont to...'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1427" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T14:57:18.143" />
  <row Id="6224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6212" CreationDate="2010-12-04T15:51:54.457" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To my ear &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;mild&lt;/strong&gt; learning curve&lt;/em&gt; sounds best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2600" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T15:51:54.457" />
  <row Id="6225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6212" CreationDate="2010-12-04T16:11:42.950" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often hear &quot;smooth learning curve&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2403" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T16:11:42.950" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6209" CreationDate="2010-12-04T16:28:16.573" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In informal usage, a &quot;steep learning curve&quot; means something that is difficult (and takes much effort) to learn. It seems that people are thinking of something like climbing a steep curve (mountain) — it's difficult and takes effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it is technically used, however, a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_curve&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;learning curve&lt;/a&gt; is not anything to be climbed, and is simply a graph plotting learning versus time. Thus, a steep learning curve would look like this (excuse the poor drawing):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/su2jE.png&quot; alt=&quot;Steep learning curve&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One natural interpretation of such a curve, which was the predominant early usage (according to Wikipedia) and still exists in some technical circles, is that the thing being learnt is &lt;em&gt;easy&lt;/em&gt; — a great amount of learning happens in a small amount of time. &lt;strong&gt;This is the opposite of the popular usage.&lt;/strong&gt; Now there is also apparently an interpretation of the same curve in the negative sense — probably something about a large amount of learning existing, or that one never stops learning and keeps learning, but I'm not sure I understand how that's negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Summary&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The popular meaning of &quot;steep learning curve&quot; is &quot;difficult to learn&quot;; the technical meaning is &quot;quick to learn&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T16:28:16.573" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="6227" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11176" CreationDate="2010-12-04T16:50:21.637" Score="2" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can 'to swallow' be used to indicate that you have a hard time accepting a truth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither a hard time in the sense of being able to understand it nor to accept that it is true, but rather in the emotional sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will show this to you now, but you better sit down. It's pretty sad and will be &lt;strong&gt;hard to swallow&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that I'm mostly transforming this from German, where the direct translation is used in this meaning. However, I am under the impression that I have heard it used in English as well. I can not find it on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/swallow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/swallow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Macmillan&lt;/a&gt;, though. Did I just make it up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this usage is not valid, can you suggest alternative verbs for dealing with the emotional side of something sad/scary/moving?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1257" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T07:04:51.857" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T17:10:17.263" Title="Using 'to swallow' to indicate having an emotionally hard time accepting a truth" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="6228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6227" CreationDate="2010-12-04T16:56:05.550" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something that is hard to swallow, figuratively speaking, means something that is difficult either to believe or to accept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I find your tales of college dorm life&#xA;  hard to swallow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The death of my friend was a hard pill to&#xA;  swallow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T16:56:05.550" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="6229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6212" CreationDate="2010-12-04T17:48:14.703" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just for completeness: As I answered on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6209/steep-learning-curve/6226#6226&quot;&gt;'steep learning curve' question&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;steep learning curve&quot; &lt;em&gt;itself&lt;/em&gt; technically means something that's easy to learn. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Admittedly, unless you're going to explain this, or are writing for an appropriate technical audience that understands the phrase in this sense, it is advisable to use a different phrase.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T17:48:14.703" />
  <row Id="6230" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6234" CreationDate="2010-12-04T17:57:13.490" Score="2" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;While wanting to properly close a question and thank its participants on one of StackExchange's other sites–the question had resolved itself–I started wondering if &quot;Thanks regardless&quot; is a proper way to end such a note.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, feel free to correct me on any errors in the grammar or spelling of this question itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2415" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T20:32:55.547" Title="Ending a note with &quot;Thanks regardless&quot;?" Tags="&lt;politeness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6217" CreationDate="2010-12-04T18:01:00.720" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;There's so many people in here!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;There's so much people here!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's = There is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are so many people in here! The problem found is b/c of the usage of are vs. is. You would use are because the subject [people] is plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2602" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T18:01:00.720" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6217" CreationDate="2010-12-04T18:41:15.620" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can count it and it doesn't designate a category, use &quot;many&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you cannot count it or it designates a category, use &quot;much&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I have many friends.&#xA;I have much to offer.&#xA;There are many ways to get it wrong.&#xA;It doesn't make much sense.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2604" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T18:41:15.620" />
  <row Id="6234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6230" CreationDate="2010-12-04T18:51:14.890" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what &quot;thanks regardless&quot; is supposed to mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thank you, regardless of whether you can help me [in the future]&lt;/em&gt;: the better way to say this is &quot;&lt;em&gt;Thank you in advance&lt;/em&gt;&quot; or &quot;&lt;em&gt;Thanks in advance&lt;/em&gt;&quot;; but given that that's what you wrote at the end of your question, it seems you believe &quot;thanks regardless&quot; means something else.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thanks anyway&lt;/em&gt;: this would definitely &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; be an appropriate close to a message. You would use it if someone had just said &quot;no&quot; to a request, and you wanted to be polite (or wanted to &lt;em&gt;appear&lt;/em&gt; to be polite).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: thanks for the link. I've looked at the query which prompted this question, and given that context (asking a question and then finding out something which makes it moot) I actually think &quot;thanks regardless&quot; is an OK phrase - as in, it's grammatical and it makes sense. However, I think Remou's suggestion of &quot;Thanks for all the replies&quot; is more polite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Note that Stack Exchange etiquette doesn't require, and possibly even frowns upon, conversational noise such as &quot;Thanks in advance&quot;.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-05T04:57:01.537" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T04:57:01.537" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6235" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6288" CreationDate="2010-12-04T19:53:27.497" Score="0" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello.&#xA;I have a question.&#xA;I downloaded a template from Internet. &quot;James&quot; created it (author: James).&#xA;I edited this template and do fundamental change.&#xA;Now I want add my name to the info box.&#xA;What should I write there? (for example I should write &quot;Original design by James, Edited by ME&quot;)&#xA;Thanks ///&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1994" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T20:39:01.183" Title="&quot;Original design by&quot;" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6236" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-04T20:33:21.383" Score="0" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2031/are-there-any-simple-rules-for-article-usage-a-vs-the-vs-none&quot;&gt;Are there any simple rules for article usage (&amp;ldquo;a&amp;rdquo; vs &amp;ldquo;the&amp;rdquo; vs none)&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a good rule for articles usage? I just don't get it and everytime in doubts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2606" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T21:39:51.747" ClosedDate="2011-02-10T18:59:32.580" Title="Rules for articles usage" Tags="&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6237" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6239" CreationDate="2010-12-04T20:57:41.160" Score="4" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm curious how popular the word 'wheelie' is among native speakers. I'm a foreign citizen and came across it accidentally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the curious, &lt;em&gt;wheelie&lt;/em&gt; means when you maneuver your bike/bicycle to roll on one wheel only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2607" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:04:59.787" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:04:59.787" Title="How well-known is the word 'wheelie'?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6238" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-04T21:14:46.820" Score="0" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Where do we use the word &lt;em&gt;spark&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For example, can we write &lt;em&gt;American Spark&lt;/em&gt;? What does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1994" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-05T06:53:25.553" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T06:53:25.553" Title="Usage of &quot;spark&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6237" CreationDate="2010-12-04T21:33:50.723" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say &lt;em&gt;wheelie&lt;/em&gt; is very well known in the U.S. Most kids grow up doing wheelies on their bikes or watching someone do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;, wheelies have been widely known since at least 1943, and they were further popularized by Evel Knievel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T21:33:50.723" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6238" CreationDate="2010-12-04T21:37:16.803" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster has about 15 definitions for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spark&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;spark&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure which meaning you're looking for. Could you give us the sentence in which you heard it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T21:37:16.803" />
  <row Id="6241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6236" CreationDate="2010-12-04T21:39:51.747" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Purdue's Online Writing Lab has a good, thorough explanation: &lt;a href=&quot;http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/540/01/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/540/01/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T21:39:51.747" />
  <row Id="6242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6238" CreationDate="2010-12-04T23:14:27.120" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;After looking at the definitions of spark, note that the attribute of a spark that lends itself to use in analogy is that it's capable of starting a fire. Fire can often be a good analogy for anything that grows or spreads and works by changing one thing into another. It is not necessarily the destructive aspect of fire one seeks to bring out in the analogy. Often times it is the transformational aspect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So then the notion of a spark would be a good analogy for whatever started the process that fire is being used as an analogy for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2385" LastEditorUserId="2385" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-04T23:53:47.163" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T23:53:47.163" />
  <row Id="6243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6202" CreationDate="2010-12-04T23:38:16.920" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Crossroads&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Crossroadses&quot; just doesn't sound right. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Native British speaker).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T23:38:16.920" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6202" CreationDate="2010-12-04T23:47:27.193" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Crossroads&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Crossroadses&quot; just doesn't sound right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Native American English speaker).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T23:47:27.193" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6213" CreationDate="2010-12-04T23:56:37.840" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In normal English (i.e. aside from legalese) we hardly ever use an explicitly future tense (&quot;will&quot;, &quot;shall&quot;, &quot;will have&quot;) with a subordinating conjunction such as &quot;if&quot;, &quot;when&quot;, or &quot;after&quot; (but not, I think, &quot;although&quot;);&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some apparent exceptions with &quot;if&quot;, such as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;If he will go, I'll go with him&quot;,&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which has a slightly different meaning from &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;If he goes, I'll go with him&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but I actually think that this is only formally a future, and really uses the auxiliary in an older sense, meaning &quot;If he is willing to go&quot;, so it is actually present tense. (For me it implies that he may be unwilling to go, and the statement is an offer, whereas the second is simply a neutral statement of intent.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I can't think of an exception with &quot;when&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-04T23:56:37.840" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6246" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6250" CreationDate="2010-12-05T00:29:41.550" Score="5" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do I say &quot;I study computer science,&quot; or &quot;I study Computer Science&quot;? Similarly, &quot;I really liked that computer science course,&quot; vs. &quot;I really liked that Computer Science course.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T01:42:05.020" Title="Capitalize fields of study?" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3424" CreationDate="2010-12-05T00:30:23.363" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(This would be a comment to Steve’s answer, but I don’t have the reputation to comment yet.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s worth noting that in this usage, &lt;em&gt;second&lt;/em&gt; is often (usually? always?) pronounced with the stress on the second syllable and with the first syllable reduced almost to a schwa.  I guess the big difference from the usual pronunciation is why this (otherwise rather bizarre) misspelling seems to be quite common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T00:30:23.363" />
  <row Id="6248" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-05T01:19:11.580" Score="0" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of the expression &quot;as for others&quot; in the sentence bellow:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;God does not have such a love for them&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;as for others&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="349" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T20:24:50.770" Title="Meaning of &quot;AS FOR&quot; expression" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6248" CreationDate="2010-12-05T01:38:10.107" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is making a comparison. You can expand the sentence so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;God does not have such a love for them&#xA;  as [He has] for others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T01:38:10.107" />
  <row Id="6250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6246" CreationDate="2010-12-05T01:42:05.020" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends. If you are referring to the title of a course or a major field of study, in a formal sense, then capitalize it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I took Computer Science 101, which was&#xA;  a survey course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, just leave it uncapitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm interested in studying computer&#xA;  science.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T01:42:05.020" />
  <row Id="6251" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6255" CreationDate="2010-12-05T02:20:06.477" Score="8" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess I've been in mathematics for far too long, and I tend to use the phrase &quot;Not all is lost&quot; as the negative of &quot;All is lost&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me the phrase &quot;All is not lost&quot; suggests that &lt;em&gt;nothing&lt;/em&gt; is lost. It doesn't send the message I'm trying to give which is that &quot;at least one thing is not lost&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's your interpretation of the two phrases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2314" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-05T09:57:44.483" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T09:57:44.483" Title="&quot;All is not lost&quot; vs &quot;Not all is lost&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;negation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="6252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6251" CreationDate="2010-12-05T03:00:32.150" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usual sentence is &quot;All is not lost&quot;, as in &quot;there is still hope&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Not all is lost&quot; is either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a dramatization (&quot;All is lost! Not.&quot;) used for instance in journalism for big headline (&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/21/AR2010052104583.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Not all is 'Lost' in education; ABC show delivers many teachable moments&lt;/a&gt;&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;used in the sense of &quot;Not all&quot; &quot;is lost&quot; (which is what you want to convey here), as in &quot;not all is lost in the translation&quot;: there is still &quot;something&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-05T03:57:23.313" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T03:57:23.313" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6036" CreationDate="2010-12-05T03:48:10.977" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You didn't mention your most common mistakes, but here we go: &#xA;use &lt;em&gt;templates&lt;/em&gt;, say, as WhiteSmoke and others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2610" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T03:48:10.977" />
  <row Id="6254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6251" CreationDate="2010-12-05T03:55:12.213" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;All is not lost&quot; does not suggest that &lt;em&gt;nothing&lt;/em&gt; is lost. It is said to counter the statement or belief that &lt;em&gt;everything&lt;/em&gt; is lost, despite appearances to the contrary. It expresses exactly the meaning you say you want to convey, i.e., &quot;at least one thing is not lost.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Not all is lost&quot; is simply another, more emphatic way of saying the other. It emphasizes the negative and is a stronger counter to any contrary assertions that have been made.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the meat of the matter; now to the seasoning: No. 1 can also seem more optimistic, and may be used to suggest that victory is in fact possible. Similarly, No. 2 may sometimes be used in a bitter, pessimistic way to point up how little is left. It may mean that everything of importance has been lost, but there may still a consolation prize, meager though it may be. &quot;Our house burned to the ground, but at least the dog house remained untouched,&quot; one might say ruefully. &quot;You see? Not all is lost.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T03:55:12.213" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6251" CreationDate="2010-12-05T04:15:10.857" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm with Robusto on this;  &quot;All is not lost&quot; is the idiom used specifically to counter &quot;All is lost&quot;.  &quot;All is lost&quot; -&gt; The situation is hopeless, we're doomed, there is nothing that can save us.  &quot;All is not lost&quot; -&gt; The situation can be salvaged somehow, we can make it through this, there's still hope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Not all is lost&quot; (if I ever heard it used) would be the counter to &quot;I've lost everything!  It's all gone, I can't find any of it!&quot;  &quot;Not all is lost; look, here's your paddleball, and here's your chair.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T04:15:10.857" />
  <row Id="6257" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6263" CreationDate="2010-12-05T05:19:54.443" Score="4" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen the phrase '&quot;Hot&quot; Corned Beef' on several convenience store signs in my area. Since corned beef is is usually served warm or hot, am I missing part of the meaning of the sign?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2347" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T21:09:30.750" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T21:09:30.750" Title="What is the difference between ‘Hot Corned Beef’ and ‘&quot;Hot&quot; Corned Beef’?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;signage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6258" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6260" CreationDate="2010-12-05T05:20:44.667" Score="1" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen this phrasing as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And what's more -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And what's more,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And what's more!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is most proper?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T11:35:05.107" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T11:35:05.107" Title="Proper punctuation for &quot;and what's more&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6259" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6262" CreationDate="2010-12-05T05:22:41.460" Score="4" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the following sentence grammatically incorrect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it true that 1+1=2 ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it is easier to say: Is 1+1=2 true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2340" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:35:56.437" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:35:56.437" Title="Is it true that ..." Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;logic&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6258" CreationDate="2010-12-05T07:05:11.770" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normally, you have something to follow:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And, what's more, he also did that!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the following text, it is clear that an exclamation mark after the phrase is inappropriate.  The dash is not appropriate either - it is used to mark a break of some sort, but the text that follows &quot;what is more&quot; or its contraction &quot;what's more&quot; is a continuation of the previous thinking, not a contrasting thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A comma is fine; what's more, it is the punctuation I'd use automatically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether the comma is necessary, or allowable, after the &quot;and&quot; is perhaps a little debatable.  As you can see, I'd use it; and, what's more, it feels right because there is a small parenthetical break around the &quot;what's more&quot; part of the phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastEditorUserId="2386" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-06T23:39:14.407" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T23:39:14.407" />
  <row Id="6262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6259" CreationDate="2010-12-05T07:36:27.753" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No; the sentence &quot;Is it true that 1 + 1 = 2?&quot; is perfectly grammatically correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In logic, there are tests that depend on being able to prefix almost arbitrary sentences with &quot;It is the case that ...&quot; or &quot;It is true that ...&quot; and if the result still makes sense, then certain properties hold (it is a declarative sentence which could be a proposition).  For example, you can test:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The sun rises each day&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Go there!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first is a declarative sentence like 'one plus one equals two' is a declarative sentence; it can be prefixed with &quot;Is it true that&quot; and it makes sense.  However, you can't say &quot;Is it true that go there!&quot; -- it is not a declarative sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T07:36:27.753" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6257" CreationDate="2010-12-05T09:35:14.717" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is really a shot in the dark, but your area wouldn't be related with &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_%28New_York_City%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Broadway&lt;/a&gt;&quot; by any chance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, this &lt;a href=&quot;http://bestcornedbeefincleveland.com/2010/06/eat-on-broadway.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;blog post&lt;/a&gt; describes a restaurant called &quot;Eat on Broadway&quot; (on &lt;a href=&quot;http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&amp;amp;source=s_q&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;geocode=&amp;amp;q=692+Broadway+Avenue,+Bedford,+Ohio&amp;amp;sll=37.0625,-95.677068&amp;amp;sspn=36.094886,55.283203&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;hq=&amp;amp;hnear=692+Broadway+Ave,+Bedford,+Cuyahoga,+Ohio+44146&amp;amp;ll=41.376809,-81.518555&amp;amp;spn=3.540519,6.696167&amp;amp;t=h&amp;amp;z=8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Broadway avenue&lt;/a&gt;, but not at all in New-York), with a sign including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;HOT&quot; CORNED BEEF   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That could be a reference to their specialty, as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What's &quot;Hot&quot; on Broadway?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/KTTqF.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T09:35:14.717" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6257" CreationDate="2010-12-05T13:58:41.047" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't rely on signs you see in windows as a usage guide. In standard English, quotes around a word are usually used to distance the writer from its use in some way, normally to cite their usage by someone else or to express doubt about their veracity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, I might write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Fred called it 'the best restaurant&#xA;  in New York,' but I've never been&#xA;  there so I can't confirm that.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the writer is quoting Fred, and emphasizing that this is Fred's opinion, not his own. For all he knows, Fred is correct, but he has no direct knowledge of the matter in question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Fred called it 'the best restaurant&#xA;  in New York,' but this is from someone&#xA;  who eats at Wendy's every day.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the writer is quoting Fred and contradicting Fred's assertion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now let's consider the sign in VonC's excellent picture:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Hot&quot; Corned Beef&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In standard English writing, this could either mean that someone called the corned beef &quot;hot&quot; or that the speaker means to cast doubt on the assertion that the corned beef is hot. It would very likely imply that the corned beef is not really hot at all. That is why this sign and others like it are funny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The sign's creator is most likely using (or misusing) the quotes to emphasize the word&lt;/strong&gt;, and to lead you to believe that the corned beef is genuinely hot (probably in the sense of temperature, as corned beef sandwiches can be served either hot or cold). He or she would have done better to underline the word, or render it in a different color, or use a little more ink and boldface it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember seeing a sign on an ice machine at a cheap motel that said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Thanks&quot; for not loosing the scoop!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I presume the writer meant &quot;losing&quot; instead of &quot;loosing&quot;; but the quotes around the first word gave the impression that the thanks were insincere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In sum, when you see quotes around a word in a sign, it is a fair guess that the writer believes he or she is using them for emphasis. But don't look to signs for English usage lessons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-05T20:56:41.827" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T20:56:41.827" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6265" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6266" CreationDate="2010-12-05T16:10:28.223" Score="3" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;What adjective you would use to describe a substance consisting of grains of smaller size compared to those of another substance? For example, &quot;Milk powder is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;____&lt;/strong&gt;_er than sugar&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Addition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if it's possible, please, come up with an antonym of that word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2270" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-05T16:26:18.793" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:04:58.470" Title="An adjective to describe a substance consisting of smaller-size grains" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;comparative&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6265" CreationDate="2010-12-05T16:21:54.483" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would simply use &quot;&lt;strong&gt;finer&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Milk powder is finer than sugar&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those different articles (&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.skylighter.com/fireworks/how-to/Measure-particle-size.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How Particle Size and Shape is Defined&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.btinternet.com/~catechnology/surfaceweb/swebjournalspage_files/powders.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Powder Manufacturing Methods&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&amp;amp;file=viewtopic&amp;amp;p=330717&amp;amp;sid=deb784974cfc6a0df6800f7c79ef37d7#330717&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;forum on Imperial sugar&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, ...) all uses that adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A possible antonym would be &quot;larger&quot;, but in this context, a more precise one would be &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grainy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;grainier&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; or rather (thanks to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/2303/robusto&quot;&gt;Robusto&lt;/a&gt;; see the comments):&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coarse?show=0&amp;amp;t=1291567432&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;coarser&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; (composed of relatively large parts or particles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-05T16:45:48.057" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T16:45:48.057" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6147" CreationDate="2010-12-05T17:14:10.673" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Was English itself a creole language in the century or so after the Norman Conquest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first century after the Norman Conquest, people would have spoken either Anglo-Saxon (Old English) or Old Norman. The latter was used as the language of state. From what little I understand, these languages were kept separate and Old English, as the language of a subjugated underclass, was in danger of dying out. From these two languages came Anglo Norman and eventually Middle English. So far as I know it wouldn't be accurate to say that English was a creole language in the sense of being a subset language used for communications between speakers of Old English and Old Norman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T17:14:10.673" />
  <row Id="6268" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6269" CreationDate="2010-12-05T17:21:02.277" Score="5" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;Children were sitting on their parents' lap or laps? Can &lt;em&gt;lap&lt;/em&gt; be used in plural form at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T14:02:02.180" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T14:02:02.180" Title="Children were sitting on their parents' lap or laps?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6268" CreationDate="2010-12-05T17:47:29.463" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are multiple parents, each with their own lap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, the children (collectively) were sitting on their parents' laps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, each child was sitting on one parent's lap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastEditorUserId="2386" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-06T00:42:10.717" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T00:42:10.717" />
  <row Id="6270" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6279" CreationDate="2010-12-05T18:51:05.030" Score="0" ViewCount="381" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why has English not been renamed &quot;American&quot; yet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2615" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-05T22:07:07.437" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T11:59:48.067" ClosedDate="2010-12-05T23:38:27.597" Title="Why has English not been renamed &quot;American&quot; yet?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6270" CreationDate="2010-12-05T18:54:25.430" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because &quot;American&quot; is the language of the native americans which could not be named &quot;Indian&quot; since that language already exists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2616" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T18:54:25.430" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6270" CreationDate="2010-12-05T18:58:06.407" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect all the English speakers who aren't American would object - plus the Americans seem happy to call their language &quot;American English&quot;. So hopefully everyone is happy with the status quo!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T18:58:06.407" />
  <row Id="6273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6270" CreationDate="2010-12-05T19:22:20.830" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to assume this is not a troll post and give you a straight answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be presumptuous to do so. English is the mother tongue, American English but a variant. Give credit where it's due. Renaming English &quot;American&quot; would be like renaming French &quot;Quebecois&quot; or Spanish &quot;Colombian&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T19:22:20.830" />
  <row Id="6274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6265" CreationDate="2010-12-05T19:29:48.290" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Milk powder is &lt;strong&gt;finer&lt;/strong&gt; than granulated sugar but &lt;strong&gt;coarser&lt;/strong&gt; than icing sugar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T14:04:58.470" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:04:58.470" />
  <row Id="6275" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6293" CreationDate="2010-12-05T19:48:31.963" Score="5" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;I threw some rubbish in a litter bin the other day, when it occurred to me that the receptacle couldn't be a litter bin, because &lt;em&gt;litter&lt;/em&gt; is only unwanted things strewn across the road. Anything in a litter bin couldn't be litter, by reason of it's being in the litter bin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I right, wrong, or just absurdly pedantic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T00:12:45.770" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T00:12:45.770" Title="Is &quot;litter&quot; correct on waste bins?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;signage&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6276" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6283" CreationDate="2010-12-05T20:12:51.420" Score="6" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm confused about the words &lt;em&gt;dish&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;plate&lt;/em&gt;. Could someone please explain the difference? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-06T10:12:15.803" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T10:12:15.803" Title="What's the difference between &quot;plate&quot; and &quot;dish&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6275" CreationDate="2010-12-05T20:13:42.030" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Litter&lt;/em&gt; can also refer to a collection of trash.  See definition 4b on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/litter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;m-w.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T07:15:28.997" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T07:15:28.997" />
  <row Id="6278" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6284" CreationDate="2010-12-05T20:14:11.823" Score="2" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the differences in these terms. I want to use one of them in Task management software. Which term is better for the menu meaning &quot;List of task that was delegated|assigned to me&quot; and &quot;List of tasks that I have delegated to someone else&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2618" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T20:48:08.200" Title="&quot;Delegated to&quot; vs. &quot;Assigned to&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6270" CreationDate="2010-12-05T20:22:19.053" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;H.L.Mencken published &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The American Language&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; in 1919. If some group such as US school teachers had picked the phrase up and started to use it, it would probably have become current. As no significant group has done so, it hasn't. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One can speculate as to why nobody has done so; but remember there is nobody who has the power to decide what the language is to be called. (Well, anybody can decide it as they wish, but unless they have a way of getting significantly many others to use the name they choose, they might as well not bother).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T20:22:19.053" />
  <row Id="6280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6195" CreationDate="2010-12-05T20:22:44.273" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When dealing with email, it's important to remember that it is short for &quot;electronic mail&quot;.  When trying to find the right word to use with email, drop the &quot;e&quot; and just consider &quot;mail&quot;.  If you do this, then &quot;Our team kept in constant communication &lt;strong&gt;by&lt;/strong&gt; mail&quot; is the only appropriate choice.  Thus, by should also be used with email.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T20:22:44.273" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6248" CreationDate="2010-12-05T20:24:50.770" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is not an expression &quot;as for others&quot; in that sentence. &quot;As&quot; is part of the coordinate structure &quot;such ... as&quot;, while &quot;for&quot; in &quot;for others&quot; parallels &quot;for them&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T20:24:50.770" />
  <row Id="6282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="979" CreationDate="2010-12-05T20:31:21.223" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In German, it's common (and taught in schools) to write numbers up to twelve in text form. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2619" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T20:31:21.223" />
  <row Id="6283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6276" CreationDate="2010-12-05T20:31:42.320" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;plate&lt;/em&gt; is a specific type of &lt;em&gt;dish&lt;/em&gt;. A &lt;em&gt;dish&lt;/em&gt; is generally something that food is eaten or served from. A &lt;em&gt;plate&lt;/em&gt; tends to refer specifically to a flat dish that is suitable for holding food that does not have a high liquid content. The other common type of dish is a &lt;em&gt;bowl&lt;/em&gt;. A &lt;em&gt;bowl&lt;/em&gt; will be similar to a hollow sphere cut in half and is useful for serving soups and other foods with high liquid content which would run off of a plate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A large plate intended for serving food may be referred to as a &lt;em&gt;platter&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2385" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T20:31:42.320" />
  <row Id="6284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6278" CreationDate="2010-12-05T20:32:05.917" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Delegated&quot; carries with it the connotation that one is acting as a representative of a superior in carrying out a task. &quot;Assigned&quot; merely means told to do a task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were your superior, I could delegate you to carry out one of my tasks, or assign you a task of your own level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-05T20:48:08.200" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T20:48:08.200" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6230" CreationDate="2010-12-05T20:32:55.547" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are three pieces in that context that make &quot;Thanks regardless&quot; appropriate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The poster was asking for assistance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Those who posted answers were offering assistance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The resolution to the problem came without the assistance of those who posted answers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, the poster was expressing gratitude for the answers being offered regardless of the fact that they did not lead to a solution to the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T20:32:55.547" />
  <row Id="6286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6278" CreationDate="2010-12-05T20:32:56.243" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would not something like &quot;My tasks&quot; be better? This may sound like a cliché, but enables you to escape the above dilemma?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1036" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T20:32:56.243" />
  <row Id="6287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6275" CreationDate="2010-12-05T20:38:20.330" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Am I right, wrong, or just absurdly&#xA;  pedantic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure there are other possibilities than the three you list, Brian. But there is nothing wrong with &quot;litter bin&quot; as a term for a trash receptacle. The idea is that this is a place where conscientious people put litter (which presumably they gather up). Once inside the bin, however, one ought to call it trash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T20:38:20.330" />
  <row Id="6288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6235" CreationDate="2010-12-05T20:39:01.183" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this template in any sort of public domain or licensed/distributed on some other terms that allow for modification &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; distribution? If so, then the wording you suggest would be ok, although I would say &quot;Original&lt;i&gt;ly&lt;/i&gt; design&lt;i&gt;ed&lt;/i&gt; by James, Edited by YOU&quot; or &quot;Based on original design by James, edited and updated by YOU&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1036" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T20:39:01.183" />
  <row Id="6289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6183" CreationDate="2010-12-05T20:42:19.787" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To &quot;go see something&quot; applies to more than just movies.  One can go see a play, an art exhibition, or what's happening somewhere.  It's the act of going out somewhere and looking at something.  Saying &quot;Let's go see a movie&quot; means that that you will go to the movie theater and watch a movie.  When you are actually sitting in the movie theater, you are watching the movie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T20:42:19.787" />
  <row Id="6290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6270" CreationDate="2010-12-05T21:41:08.090" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Let's call it &quot;Indian&quot;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_population&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; there are nearly as many English speakers in India as in America.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since most English speakers live outside America it would seem natural to retain the name that best identifies the origin of the language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, people in England are unlikely to start calling their language &quot;American&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It isn't clear that there are yet sufficient differences in English in separate countries to justify separate names in each country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just because a majority of people in a country speak a language is insufficient reason to rename the language with a name that is based on the name of the country. For example in Ireland almost all people speak English (perhaps 94%) but it would be wrong (and offensive) to rename the language &quot;Irish&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a minor point, when travelling it is useful to know that the language generally spoken in America is the same as that generally spoken in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. This would be less obvious if we said they spoke Australian, New Zealandish and Canadian and not American.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-05T21:53:13.420" LastActivityDate="2010-12-05T21:53:13.420" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6291" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-05T22:35:02.757" Score="-3" ViewCount="227" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been a vocal opponent of idioms which don't mean much to a new generation, and sometimes can give the opposite meaning. An example which comes to mind is &quot;Throw down the gauntlet&quot;. To someone who does not know what gauntlet is, it suggests giving up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other such phrases are in common use? And can you suggest a modern alternative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2314" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T20:10:37.723" Title="Old idioms, and my mission to defenestrate them." Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;learning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="6292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6270" CreationDate="2010-12-05T22:55:43.513" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h2&gt;English is from England&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;American English is largely considered something of a pox by the English themselves.  Largely because they are forced in many computer systems to request an unqualified English language option, yet are greeted with a vast array of misspellings under a foreign flag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A language is generally not a subject of copyright or any ownership.  It may be used and adapted freely.  However, if anyone has the right to call a language their own it would be hard to argue anything other than that of its origin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, an old boss of mine was travelling back from America and at an airport met a very chatty American couple.  They spoke to him of England and told him how glad they were that the British could speak English, as &lt;em&gt;&quot;our boys brought it over to Britain during WWII&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I despair, I really do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastEditorUserId="2253" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-06T11:59:48.067" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T11:59:48.067" CommentCount="16" />
  <row Id="6293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6275" CreationDate="2010-12-06T00:48:53.860" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A litter bin is a bin in which you can place what would otherwise become litter.  As such, your objection that the stuff in it is not litter because it is in the bin is at best pedantic; I'd suggest it is at least mildly absurd to be that pedantic over it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T00:48:53.860" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6291" CreationDate="2010-12-06T00:49:50.813" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All right, let's look at this for a moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your argument is with clichés, all good writers try to avoid those. But if your argument is with idioms (and, I suspect, words themselves) that haven't been coined by the most recent generation, then I have to say it appears to me more likely that perhaps that generation doesn't want to have to go through the education necessary to understand what has come before it. As luck would have it, I think there is a recent coinage to describe such a thing. Surely you would not object to the idiom &quot;slacker&quot; to describe such a person? I assure you it's new enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the truth of the matter is, a great many of the young people today — this latest generation — have no problem with phrases like &quot;throw down the gauntlet.&quot; They embrace the language with all its richness and intricacy. I don't think they need as much protection from this long tradition of English as you seem to think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, people have been using the cliché &quot;new generation&quot; for a long, long time. Are you ready to give that up? No? How about &quot;dude&quot;? I'm sure you use that one, but maybe you should give it up too. It's been around since the '60s at least. You feel me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So just chill, bro, and let the people who like language dig on it. A'ight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T00:49:50.813" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6295" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6335" CreationDate="2010-12-06T02:47:59.420" Score="5" ViewCount="420" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am from India and we speak English there as well, albeit not &lt;em&gt;[as]&lt;/em&gt; culturally refined as I see in &lt;em&gt;[the]&lt;/em&gt; US. In India, and perhaps in &lt;em&gt;[the]&lt;/em&gt; UK, the English is spoken in a straight and 'as it is' &lt;em&gt;[What does this mean? Ed.]&lt;/em&gt; manner. For example &lt;em&gt;[,]&lt;/em&gt; I found in &lt;em&gt;[the]&lt;/em&gt; US people would say &lt;code&gt;'You might want to do this...'&lt;/code&gt; when they actually mean &lt;code&gt;'You should/have to do this..'&lt;/code&gt;. For once, this kind of sentence with &lt;em&gt;[its]&lt;/em&gt; tacit meaning in American culture has got me into &lt;em&gt;[a]&lt;/em&gt; problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you give more examples here which &lt;strike&gt;helps in understanding&lt;/strike&gt;  &lt;em&gt;[would help me to understand]&lt;/em&gt; more of these cultural connotation[s] in American English? Please feel free to edit/correct any grammatical mistakes &lt;strike&gt;to&lt;/strike&gt; &lt;em&gt;[in]&lt;/em&gt; this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2532" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-06T11:55:16.653" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T19:51:59.750" Title="Cultural connotation of American English - some examples?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;connotation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6295" CreationDate="2010-12-06T04:24:47.883" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've thought about your question for a while, and it seems a bit open-ended. If it were more narrowly defined, it would be easier to answer. What I &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; do, however, is explain why someone might use &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; in place of &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People use the &quot;you might want to&quot; construction when they are trying to be polite. Telling people — especially strangers — they &quot;should&quot; or &quot;have to&quot; do something sounds too direct and harsh. It's like giving someone orders, as if they were your subordinate. Use of &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; softens the suggestion, leaving it up to the listener to determine for himself or herself whether your idea is worthy of merit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were to write out the long version of what is actually being conveyed, it might go something like this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You are an adult who is capable of&#xA;  making your own choices in life, and I&#xA;  fully respect that, but in this&#xA;  situation you might want to think&#xA;  about a different approach from&#xA;  the one you're currently using. Ultimately it&#xA;  is, of course, your decision and I'm&#xA;  just trying to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-06T11:54:22.893" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T11:54:22.893" />
  <row Id="6297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2705" CreationDate="2010-12-06T05:25:53.193" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think we need only look at the copy-editor of this book's.  Who the hell allowed &quot;was&quot; to be put there instead of &quot;were&quot;?  I noticed it right away.  &quot;What if there were a stack overflow on...&quot; because it is not true.  It's a condition that is contrary-to-fact.  If it were talking about something true that had occurred in the past, then &quot;was&quot; would be appropriate, but the &quot;what if&quot; automatically triggers a condition so it's in definite need of the subjunctive.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably the biggest problem with the &quot;were&quot; past subjunctive form is the fact that its present form is &quot;be&quot;, but most people don't say it that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;What if there be a stack overflow on...&quot; is the stiffly formal way of stating something that is possible but unknown.  Most people in modern English would replace it with &quot;is&quot; nowadays, but we still say &quot;if truth be told&quot;, &quot;whether it be&quot;, &quot;if need be&quot; and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2623" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T05:25:53.193" />
  <row Id="6298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6295" CreationDate="2010-12-06T05:31:32.400" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is difficult to answer the general version of this question because often neither side is aware that there can be any misinterpretation until it has happened.  I'm a Briton living in the USA, but working a lot of the time with a team in India. I am aware that there are occasionally problems, but I gave up making a list of specific examples a (long) while ago.  Maybe that was a mistake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One difference to take into account is that in England, English is the mother tongue; in America, English is likewise usually the mother tongue - Spanish is the main alternative contender.  Unless I misunderstand something though, in India, English is often (normally?) the second language - learned from an early age, but after previously learning one of the many local languages first.  Across India as a whole, English is the lingua franca; but within a region, there is often a local language that is used as well, or instead.  Consequently, the Indian dialect of English is affected by nuances from the local languages.  I notice that articles (the, a, an) are frequently omitted, as are some prepositions and other words.  It isn't quite telegraphic English, but sometimes has some of the same qualities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are words used in America that are not used as much in England; there are words used innocuously in England that are terms of abuse in America.  Euphemisms are constantly evolving.  Slang and regional dialectal terms don't always transfer to other parts of the USA, let alone outside - similar problems occur in England, and I'm sure it happens in India too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even so, the core of English is strongly the same in all three countries.  The key to clear communication is to avoid using much in the way of slang, to use clear, concise, precise terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other trick is to become attuned to when there is a problem - when something isn't being understood.  I regret to report that it can be difficult to spot blank faces over a telephone.  Sometimes, I manage to spot the stupefied silence, but not always.  However, being aware that the issue can arise is an important first step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T05:31:32.400" />
  <row Id="6299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6276" CreationDate="2010-12-06T08:01:47.197" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;@aaronasterling gives a good explanation of what they mean as pieces of crockery.  They can also both mean — drat, I can’t find a good synonym now! — let’s say, menu items you might order at a restaurant:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My favourite dish at the Murray Avenue Grill is their spinach salad with candied pecans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Ketchery has the best seafood plate in town.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These arose in obvious metonymy from the crockery usage, but have developed specific connotations.  &lt;em&gt;Dish&lt;/em&gt; in this sense is much more general, and used (afaik) across most or all of the English-speaking world.  &lt;em&gt;Plate&lt;/em&gt; is less usual, and more associated (I think) with North American usage, and with fancier restaurant subcultures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T08:01:47.197" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6300" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6304" CreationDate="2010-12-06T10:47:32.843" Score="4" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just as the title says — where, and how, did the phrase 'stone the crows' originate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2235" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-06T11:29:59.497" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T11:29:59.497" Title="origin of phrase 'stone the crows'" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6301" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6312" CreationDate="2010-12-06T11:14:18.573" Score="3" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is a good read, are you interested in more related topics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are these type of sentences called? Does it follow the same grammar as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should you require more information please do not hesitate to contact me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-06T11:58:56.213" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T13:04:26.827" Title="Is it correct to use &quot;are you&quot; instead of &quot;if you're&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6302" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6311" CreationDate="2010-12-06T11:19:25.857" Score="3" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in learning Archaic English. As a starting point, I guess simple texts that are easy to comprehend would be a good choice. I would appreciate any suggestions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T14:38:55.810" Title="Archaic text suggestions" Tags="&lt;archaic&gt;&lt;resource&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6303" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6307" CreationDate="2010-12-06T11:23:58.007" Score="5" ViewCount="279" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the lines: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Copyright (C) 1994 Tom&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Copyright (C) 1995, 1996 Cruise&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Copyright (C) 1997, 1998 Louis&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, what's the original meaning of &quot;Copyright&quot;? And why the mark &quot;(C)&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, what is indeed granted by the Copyright string? For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Copyright (C) 1994 Tom&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this mean that Tom has &lt;em&gt;the right of copy&lt;/em&gt;, e.g. copy something mentioned to everyone in the world in the year of 1994? And after the year 1994 he won't have the copy right anymore?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between the following?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Copyright (C) 2000–2010 Lily Ponder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Copyright 2000–2010 Lily Ponder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, Can I write something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Copyright (C) 2000-3000 Lily Ponder&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;to protect the copyright forever?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="229" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-08T02:38:15.093" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T02:38:15.093" Title="What's the word Copyright and `(C)' mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;legal&gt;&lt;symbol&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="6304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6300" CreationDate="2010-12-06T11:25:31.153" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline offers no insight. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; has three cites from 1989, 1991, and 1992. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coha/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Historical American English&lt;/a&gt; has two cites, from 1981 and 1986. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stone_the_crows&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; doesn't say anything about etymology, but marks the phrase as &lt;em&gt;UK, Australian&lt;/em&gt;, and has a much older cite from &lt;em&gt;Rose Of Spadgers&lt;/em&gt; by C. J. Dennis, 1924. The most extensive discussion I have found so far is over at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/stone-the-crows.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Phrase Finder&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There have been a few attempts to explain the origin of this odd phrase. [...] The more prosaic suggestion — that it alludes to the practise of throwing stones at crows — is much more likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've found mid-20th century references from England that describe it as an Americanism and American newspaper articles that call it 'an old English phrase'. The dates of those are more or less right but not the locations — the phrase appears to have originated in Australia. Most of the early citations in print come from down under. It has a sort of Australian twang to it and is in common with several other similar phrases, all with the same meaning: &lt;em&gt;starve the bardies&lt;/em&gt; [bardies are grubs], &lt;em&gt;stiffen the crows&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;spare the crow&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Partridge&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Partridge&lt;/a&gt; also lists &quot;&lt;em&gt;starve the bardies&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;lizards&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;mopokes&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;wombats&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, marking them all as Australian expletives, and noting that &quot;&lt;em&gt;Wombats&lt;/em&gt; may also be &lt;i&gt;speed&lt;/i&gt;ed&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T11:25:31.153" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6305" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-06T11:26:11.407" Score="2" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the origin of the phrase 'beyond the pale'? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2625" LastEditorUserId="2625" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-06T14:08:56.600" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T14:08:56.600" Title="origin of Beyond the pale" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6305" CreationDate="2010-12-06T11:40:40.907" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pal2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;World Wide Words&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pale&lt;/em&gt; is an old name for a pointed piece of wood driven into the ground and — by an obvious extension — to a barrier made of such stakes, a palisade or fence. &lt;em&gt;Pole&lt;/em&gt; is from the same source, as are &lt;em&gt;impale&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;paling&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;palisade&lt;/em&gt;. This meaning has been around in English since the fourteenth century and by the end of that century &lt;em&gt;pale&lt;/em&gt; had taken on various figurative senses — a defence, a safeguard, a barrier, an enclosure, or a limit beyond which it was not permissible to go. The idea of an enclosed area still exists in some English dialects.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [...]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The earliest figurative sense that’s linked to the idiom was of a sphere of activity or interest, a branch of study or a body of knowledge, which comes from the same idea of an enclosed or contained area; we use &lt;em&gt;field&lt;/em&gt; in much the same way. This turned up first in 1483 in one of the earliest printed books in English, &lt;em&gt;The Golden Legende&lt;/em&gt;, a translation by William Caxton of a French work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Phrase Finder &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/beyond-the-pale.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adds&lt;/a&gt; that the first printed reference of the phrase &quot;beyond the pale&quot; (rather than just the word &lt;em&gt;pale&lt;/em&gt; in its figurative sense) comes &quot;from 1657 in John Harington's lyric poem &lt;em&gt;The History of Polindor and Flostella&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In that work, the character Ortheris withdraws with his beloved to a country lodge for 'quiet, calm and ease', but later venture further - 'Both Dove-like roved forth beyond the pale to planted Myrtle-walk'. Such recklessness rarely meets with a good end in 17th century verse and before long they are attacked by armed men with 'many a dire killing thrust'. The message is clearly, 'if there is a pale, you should stay inside it', which conveys exactly the meaning of the phrase as it is used today. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T11:40:40.907" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6303" CreationDate="2010-12-06T11:46:15.490" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia describes it in some detail&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Copyright are exclusive statutory rights to exercise control over copying and other exploitation of the works for a specific period of time. The copyright owner is given two sets of rights: an exclusive, positive right to copy and exploit the copyrighted work, or license others to do so, and a negative right to prevent anyone else from doing so without consent, with the possibility of legal remedies if they do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, any work someone produces (e.g. a book, a song, some software, etc) may not be copied by anyone else without the author's permission.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The year in which the work is produced, as noted in the copyright declaration, is important, because copyright only lasts for a certain number of years, which varies by jurisdiction. Hence lots of old books are now available on the internet for free, because their copyright has expired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;©&quot; (often written as &quot;(C)&quot;) is just an abbreviation for &quot;copyright&quot;. See also &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_symbol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the article on the copyright symbol&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastEditorUserId="303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-06T12:42:56.060" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T12:42:56.060" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6308" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-06T12:17:39.010" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct term used to describe this tense in English? I see both terms used in Grammar books.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2625" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T18:07:21.620" Title="present progressive or present continuous?" Tags="&lt;present-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6308" CreationDate="2010-12-06T12:34:42.827" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are synonyms. Either meaning is understood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T12:34:42.827" />
  <row Id="6310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6302" CreationDate="2010-12-06T12:41:59.343" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not entirely clear what you mean by Archaic English.  Obscure words still in common use?  Middle English?  Old English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you mean Old English, then Beowulf is the oldest written work in English.  Don't expect it to be easy or light reading though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T12:41:59.343" />
  <row Id="6311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6302" CreationDate="2010-12-06T12:44:18.013" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There really isn't any &quot;language&quot; called Archaic English. Do you mean Old English? If so, there are textbooks for studying that. Look for books on Anglo-Saxon or Old English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you mean Middle English (spoken at the time of Chaucer), you can find texts on that as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shakespeare's writing sounds archaic to our ear, but is actually an example of what is called Modern English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you interested in archaisms in the modern language? If so, you might see if you can find a copy of &lt;em&gt;The Archaicon: A Collection of Unusual Archaic English&lt;/em&gt; somewhere. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If none of those work for you, perhaps you can elaborate on what you're really looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T12:44:18.013" />
  <row Id="6312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6301" CreationDate="2010-12-06T12:53:54.153" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is a good read, are you&#xA;  interested in more related topics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what we would call a comma-splice or run-on sentence. It is two independent clauses connected by a comma. Normal practice in standard written English is to separate these into two separate sentences or else use a semicolon to divide them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is a good read. Are you&#xA;  interested in more related topics?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is a good read; are you&#xA;  interested in more related topics?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second sentence is an example of a conditional sentence, and &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; is used as a (perhaps more genteel) replacement for &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see that these two sentences represent a single type, however. What are the commonalities you are trying to identify?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I forgot the question in giving my answer. &quot;Are you ...?&quot; is a declarative sentence cast as an interrogatory. &quot;You are interested ...&quot; would be declarative; reversing the order of subject and copula (&quot;Are you ...&quot;) and adding a question mark makes it interrogatory. &quot;Should you require ...&quot; is a conditional clause expressing an untested possibility, followed by a polite imperative. The form is &lt;em&gt;if X then do Y&lt;/em&gt;. Use either when you are asking for more information, but use the conditional clause only when you are setting specific conditions for the clause that follows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of conditional clauses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If it rains tomorrow, the farmers will&#xA;  be happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I get good marks in college, I may&#xA;  get into graduate school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here's a bowl of popcorn, should you&#xA;  feel like a snack during the movie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you are ever tempted to light a&#xA;  match while filling your gas tank,&#xA;  please notify me so I can stand far&#xA;  away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-06T13:04:26.827" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T13:04:26.827" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6212" CreationDate="2010-12-06T13:09:35.887" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer &lt;strong&gt;flat learning curve&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does not have confusing positive connotations (as in 'gentle' or 'smooth') as mild learning curve is a Bad Thing. Flat means horizontal, ultimately never reaching the value L(x)=1, implying, this is something not possible to learn, no matter how hard you try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T13:09:35.887" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6314" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-06T13:28:21.223" Score="4" ViewCount="435" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where does the phrase &quot;holy crap on a cracker&quot; come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2628" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-06T13:43:51.160" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T02:33:07.223" Title="Holy crap on a cracker" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6315" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-06T13:59:47.870" Score="4" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I want to know what form a word has say in 12th century (end Old English, begin Middle English), 14th century (end Middle English), or any other time in England history, I only need to track the word's etymology, and I've got the evolution of said word. But what about the grammar? Should I assume similar rules as the current ones? Is there also any consideration depending of the caste of the person speaking, such as a peasant in comparison to a clergyman or a noble? Is there any interesting reading or online resources on the subject I should know about? (If the scope of the question is too broad, area of interest are 12th century and 14th century.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-06T14:13:31.760" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T07:56:37.197" Title="Have grammar rules changed through the history of the English language?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6212" CreationDate="2010-12-06T14:16:26.233" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd agree that 'Gentle' is a suitable antonym for 'Steep', but perhaps one might tackle the problem in a different way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps, rather than having an '&lt;em&gt;antonym-of-steep learning curve&lt;/em&gt;', it is stated that the subject '&lt;em&gt;doesn't have a steep learning curve&lt;/em&gt;'? My point is, if figuring out the most appropriate opposite was a matter of some debate, perhaps it's easier to negate the original phrase... a phrase that is universally recognised and understood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T14:16:26.233" />
  <row Id="6318" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6321" CreationDate="2010-12-06T14:50:41.550" Score="8" ViewCount="240" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you call those places where a railroad crosses an automobile road?:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/FoAT8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/LvOtN.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/LhBPj.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, I've heard how they are called in English, but I suspect that they are called differently depending on whether the speaker is from UK, USA, Canada or Australia. So, please, specify in your answer what type of English you mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also heard that these places can be called differently even within one country because of some subtle differences pertaining to those places. I don't really know what those differences are. It may be the width of the automobile road, or the difference in height between the level of the railroad and the automobile road, or, perhaps, the presence/absence of that red-white thing that goes down and up every time when the train passes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, how do you call that very red-white thing itself? Especially, how would you describe its motions in this kind of sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;At the (place), when the (thing) finally (lowered), it was obvious I would be late for the party&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What words you would substitute for those used in parentheses above?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2270" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-06T15:29:14.667" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T19:24:12.777" Title="The place where the railroad crosses the road" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6295" CreationDate="2010-12-06T14:57:23.247" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds more like a cultural difference that is reflected in the usage of the language.  You have probably noticed that the US culture is overall very individualistic.  Americans typically do not like to be told what to do, and they also tend to respect the other person's right to different views or opinions.  That is one reason why instead of &quot;You should do this,&quot; an American is more likely to say &quot;You might want to do this&quot; or &quot;Here's what I would do, if I were you&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another reason is that Americans generally tend to be very polite.  I was born in the former USSR and I came to the US as a teenager, and I can see noticeable differences between the two cultures.  In fact, many people who have come to the US from the USSR as adults tend to sound rude when they speak English, even if they do not mean to offend anyone.  Even if they know the language well, they often miss the various nuances that are natural to a native speaker of American English, such as saying &quot;please&quot; all the time, or avoiding direct imperatives by saying &quot;would you...&quot; or &quot;could you...&quot; instead of &quot;Give me that!&quot;, or even smiling for no obvious reason. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2588" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T14:57:23.247" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6202" CreationDate="2010-12-06T15:07:30.107" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely not possible to use &quot;Crossroadses&quot; in British English — a quick check to confirm this by a search on google.co.uk for the exact phrase &quot;crossroadses&quot; in sites ending .co.uk brings back zero results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure about American English as there do seem to be some examples on websites out there using it — but only 125 results for &quot;crossroadses&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2625" LastEditorUserId="2625" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-06T15:48:51.223" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T15:48:51.223" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6318" CreationDate="2010-12-06T15:18:55.810" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't think of many terms for this... all I can think of is a &lt;strong&gt;crossing&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;railroad crossing&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crossing?show=0&amp;amp;t=1291648318&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam Webster&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the &quot;red-white&quot; thing I would call it a &lt;strong&gt;gate&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;railway/railroad crossing gate&lt;/strong&gt; - very descriptive terms, but that is what I would use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your sentence I would say &quot;At the &lt;em&gt;railroad crossing&lt;/em&gt;, when the &lt;em&gt;gates&lt;/em&gt; finally lowered, it was obvious I would be late for the party&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out the &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dot.state.wi.us/safety/motorist/railcrossings/warning.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rail crossing warning signs&lt;/a&gt;&quot; from Wisconsin, there might be other resources from other parts of the English speaking world?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;AFAIK, &lt;strong&gt;barrier&lt;/strong&gt;  is more common in British English for the &quot;gates&quot; talked about above. Australian English i have heard of &lt;strong&gt;booms&lt;/strong&gt; - but about these two I'm not the one who should be asked ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2630" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T15:18:55.810" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6314" CreationDate="2010-12-06T15:28:10.313" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;At a guess, it was probably 'Crap on a Crutch' until someone (in media) decided that wasn't PC enough, and it spread from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2235" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T15:28:10.313" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6318" CreationDate="2010-12-06T15:35:07.693" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the UK, this is referred to as a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_crossing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;level crossing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, the name implying that the road and rails are on the same level, as opposed to one going over the other via a bridge or tunnel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The red and white things are &lt;strong&gt;barriers&lt;/strong&gt;. They &lt;strong&gt;lower&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;come down&lt;/strong&gt; to block the road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your example sentence becomes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;At the &lt;em&gt;level crossing&lt;/em&gt;, when the &lt;em&gt;barriers&lt;/em&gt; finally &lt;em&gt;came down&lt;/em&gt;, it was obvious I would be late for the party.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;British level crossings which have automated barriers also have red and yellow lights near the crossing. The red lights start flashing a few seconds before the barriers come down, and stop flashing after the barriers have gone up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T15:35:07.693" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6302" CreationDate="2010-12-06T17:06:51.433" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to read something more recent ( what you might think of as the same language we use now but with those archaic usage such as thee and thou ) both Shakespeare and the King James Edition bible are influential and well written. It is also easy to find modern translations or adaptations of both so you can figure out any tricky phrases by comparison with a different version.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T17:06:51.433" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6325" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6327" CreationDate="2010-12-06T17:32:42.133" Score="2" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, sorry if it is offensive (I think it somewhat is).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I was going through &lt;a href=&quot;http://bleacherreport.com/articles/424590-the-funniest-promos-and-moments-in-wwe-history#page/20&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://bleacherreport.com/articles/424590-the-funniest-promos-and-moments-in-wwe-history#page/20&lt;/a&gt;   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Rock owned everyone by calling the&#xA;  Canadians mothercanuckers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I heard him saying this in the video but what does that mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="530" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T13:16:54.930" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T13:16:54.930" Title="What does 'mothercanuckers' mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;offensive&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="6326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6308" CreationDate="2010-12-06T18:01:32.717" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To get technical about it, &lt;em&gt;present&lt;/em&gt; is a tense, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_and_progressive_aspects&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;continuous&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;progressive&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; are &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_aspect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;grammatical aspects&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, not tenses. Whereas tenses mark &lt;em&gt;when&lt;/em&gt; an action happens, aspects give other temporal information, such as duration, completion, or frequency. English makes no distinction between continuous and progressive, and they are both formed using the present participle (–&lt;em&gt;ing&lt;/em&gt; verb forms). Some languages, such as Chinese, distinguish between continuous and progressive, where the continuous aspect refers to the continuing state of the subject, whereas progressive refers to the the fact that the action is in progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Wikipedia article linked above gives an example from Cantonese, where verb suffixes are used to mark continuous and progressive. The plain sentence &lt;em&gt;I wear clothes&lt;/em&gt; would be translated as &lt;em&gt;I am wearing clothes&lt;/em&gt; if the verb suffix for the continuous aspect were used, and as &lt;em&gt;I am putting on clothes&lt;/em&gt; if the verb suffix for progressive aspect were used. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-06T18:07:21.620" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T18:07:21.620" />
  <row Id="6327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6325" CreationDate="2010-12-06T18:31:35.407" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canuck&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Canuck&quot;&lt;/a&gt; is a slang word for someone from Canada. It's not usually considered offensive — sometimes it's even affectionate (and Canadians use it themselves in quite a few contexts). It's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regional_nicknames&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;regional nickname&lt;/a&gt;, like &quot;Yankee&quot; and other terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is likely that &quot;The Rock&quot; simply took the (offensive) word &quot;motherfuckers&quot;, and replaced &quot;fuck&quot; with the rhyming &quot;Canuck&quot; (replaced &quot;f&quot; with &quot;can&quot;), to make the word &quot;mothercanuckers&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus &quot;mothercanuckers&quot; is a label combining &quot;motherfuckers&quot; and &quot;Canuck&quot; (or, to use Wikipedia's favourite word, it's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portmanteau&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;portmanteau&lt;/a&gt; of the two). It combines an offensive word and a slang nickname.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The humour (if any) comes (I guess) from this combination (of the offensive with the innocuous) — of having used an ordinary nickname to suggest overtones of offensiveness without actually using an offensive word, thus fulfilling the duties of trash-talking presumably expected of the character.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T18:31:35.407" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6318" CreationDate="2010-12-06T18:46:00.720" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the US, these kinds of railroad crossing are often referred to as &quot;grade-level crossings&quot; or just &quot;grade crossings&quot; - &quot;grade&quot; means that the railroad and car road are at the same height (no overpass or underpass).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2631" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T18:46:00.720" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6329" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6330" CreationDate="2010-12-06T18:49:43.397" Score="3" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm working in an English big company in Germany. Everybody speak English but most of us as second, or third language.&#xA;One thing I noticed is that we are all &quot;guys&quot; in the office:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Ask the guy up there.&quot; &#xA;&quot;Call the guys of help desk.&quot;&#xA;&quot;Guys, we need to manage this now.&quot;&#xA;&quot;Who is the guy who said that?&quot;&#xA;&quot;We need to tell this to all the other guys.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from some managers that says &quot;Gentlemen&quot; everybody else use only &quot;guy&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering if is this normal also in natively English speaking workplaces or instead there are better and different terms that could be used in such situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2403" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T19:32:03.513" Title="alternatives for &quot;guy&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;workplace&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="6330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6329" CreationDate="2010-12-06T18:54:27.913" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;the people&lt;/em&gt; is commonly used in our workplace. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Call up &lt;em&gt;the people&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;[department name]&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Someone&lt;/strong&gt; is also used&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you get &lt;em&gt;someone&lt;/em&gt; in accounting to take a look at this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, it's just omitted if it's a whole team:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you get &lt;em&gt;Finance&lt;/em&gt; in here right now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I should add that if a team is all young men, sometimes the term &lt;strong&gt;boys&lt;/strong&gt; is used, though this is usually used &lt;em&gt;within&lt;/em&gt; a team and is much more casual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g. The IT(sub-dept.) Manager might say to others in the IS(main dept.) team: &quot;The &lt;em&gt;boys&lt;/em&gt; are out fixing a problem, they'll join us shortly&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastEditorUserId="134" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-06T19:20:01.703" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T19:20:01.703" />
  <row Id="6331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6329" CreationDate="2010-12-06T19:05:19.353" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Atømix has listed some good alternatives, but it is fairly normal in an English-speaking workplace, provided the women don't mind being honorary guys :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T19:05:19.353" />
  <row Id="6332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6318" CreationDate="2010-12-06T19:24:12.777" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;People in Western Canada refer to them as &quot;Railroad Crossings&quot;, so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;At the &lt;em&gt;railroad crossing&lt;/em&gt;, when the &lt;em&gt;gate&lt;/em&gt; finally &lt;em&gt;came down&lt;/em&gt;, it was obvious I would be late for the party.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T19:24:12.777" />
  <row Id="6333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6329" CreationDate="2010-12-06T19:32:03.513" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is very normal in English speaking workplaces. I think for day to day interactions with coworkers &quot;guy&quot; is appropriate, but in a more formal setting something like someone, person/people, or gentleman/men (when applicable) might be better. And as Rhodri said, there is then the issue of women being &quot;guys.&quot; I worked with an organization that had a strict policy against using the term &quot;guys&quot; in order to be gender sensitive. I didn't realize how often I used the word until my work with them!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2591" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T19:32:03.513" />
  <row Id="6334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6303" CreationDate="2010-12-06T19:32:16.137" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To expand on Steve's answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;©2001&lt;/strong&gt; means the countdown to the end of copyright starts in 2001.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;©2001-2010&lt;/strong&gt; means the countdown to the end of copyright starts in 2010 &lt;em&gt;(at least for some of the content)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Websites use the latter because their content and construction generally changes frequently. Things are added and removed on a regular basis, so the copyright on the new content/coding/images is being refreshed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T19:32:16.137" />
  <row Id="6335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6295" CreationDate="2010-12-06T19:51:59.750" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a really interesting question. It's hard to give you a really concrete example, but it sounds like you've had issues when someone was trying to be polite, so I will address that. As others have mentioned, people in America sometimes have trouble being told what to do. It sounds like whoever was speaking to you was trying to politely suggest that you should do something other than what you had been doing. Along the same lines, people often ask questions to lead the other person to make the right decision, rather than simply telling them what they are about to do is wrong. Take for example two people driving in a car-- we'll say Mike is the driver and Cindy is the passenger. Mike is about to miss a turn and Cindy knows it, but rather than simply tell him she might ask, &quot;Is this our turn here?&quot;. Similarly, oftentimes someone will preface a fact with, &quot;I think...&quot; rather than just state the fact. For example, Bob is editing a sentence Violet has written. Violet wrote, &quot;We did not recieve the package until Friday.&quot; Bob KNOWS that receive has been spelled incorrectly, but rather than just tell Violet she is wrong he will soften it by saying, &quot;I think the i and e need to switched in the word receive.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this is helpful!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2591" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T19:51:59.750" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6291" CreationDate="2010-12-06T20:10:37.723" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally love idioms, even when the phrase seems irrelevant to &quot;new generations.&quot; An example of something I grew up saying was, &quot;You reap what you sow.&quot; Honestly, I was probably 15 before I knew what reap or sow meant, but I knew what the phrase meant! However, when I finally DID learn the meanings of the words, I felt like I had a link to a small part of my history and I really loved that. Something I am an opponent of, however, is idioms that are based on prejudices of the past: Chinaman's chance, barefoot and pregnant, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2591" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T20:10:37.723" />
  <row Id="6338" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-06T20:46:30.757" Score="1" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently saw a discussion in some language forum, where the majority tended to agree that the word &quot;buckley&quot; means something like a &lt;em&gt;flashy person&lt;/em&gt;, or a &lt;em&gt;thing-to-envy&lt;/em&gt;. On the other hand, in a sci-fi novel I'm currently reading, the heroine constantly addressed to her PDA (nearly AID) as &quot;buckley&quot;, too, and, truth to tell, in a most off-hand manner: &quot;Shut up, buckley&quot;, etc. So what is in your opinion the most common meaning of the word &quot;buckley&quot;, if any?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="919" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-07T10:50:40.753" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T19:41:26.507" Title="Where &quot;buckley&quot; means ... ?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6339" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6341" CreationDate="2010-12-06T21:47:21.197" Score="5" ViewCount="316" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between 'cutlery', 'silverware' and 'crockery'? Are there any differences between them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-07T10:13:14.413" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T10:13:14.413" Title="What's the difference between 'cutlery', 'silverware' and 'crockery'?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6339" CreationDate="2010-12-06T22:36:56.630" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/cutlery&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cutlery&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; has two definitions: 1. cutting/edged implements used for serving or eating food; 2. eating utensils in general. Without further context, an American is likely to assume the first definition (knives), while a Brit is more likely to go for the generic meaning. &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/silverware&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Silverware&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; also means eating utensils, especially silver-colored ones, though nowadays, most silverware is not actually made of silver. An American synonym that does not imply anything about the silver content (or lack thereof) is &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/flatware&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;flatware&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/crockery&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Crockery&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; is completely different: in British English usage, it means the things on the dinner table that are usually made of china or porcelain -- plates, bowls, saucers, cups, serving bowls, etc. In American English, &lt;em&gt;crockery&lt;/em&gt; is used for certain earthenware cooking pots, but given enough context, an American would probably understand &lt;em&gt;crockery&lt;/em&gt; used according to the British definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T22:36:56.630" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="6342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6339" CreationDate="2010-12-06T22:49:11.307" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always heard, and used, the terms thus: Cutlery only describes knives. Silverware (or simply &quot;silver&quot; here in the South), means eating utensils, regardless of their material (it's perfectly acceptable to refer to &quot;plastic silverware,&quot; like what you would get with a to-go order from a restaurant). Crockery isn't really used in the US, to my knowledge. I know this word from my reading of books by British authors, but I don't know that I've ever heard it in the US. My understanding is that crockery would only mean plates, bowls and cups used at the table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1792" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T22:49:11.307" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="560" CreationDate="2010-12-06T23:28:43.310" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think perhaps you're confusing monograms with initials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Initials&lt;/em&gt; are always listed in the same order as they would appear in the name: the initials of William Henry Gates are WHG, the initials of Bill Gates are BG, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Monograms&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, combine the initials in an aesthetically-pleasing way. A common method is to put the last name's initial in the middle, and the first &amp;amp; middle names on the left and right, respectively. Almost always, the last initial (the one in the middle) is larger than the other two. The monogram of William Henry Gates could thus look something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/l9TLw.gif&quot; alt=&quot;wGh&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T23:28:43.310" />
  <row Id="6344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6259" CreationDate="2010-12-06T23:53:59.430" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In ordinary usage, “is it true that 1+1=2 ?” and “is 1+1=2 true?” are both grammatically correct, synonyms, and largely interchangeable. The first sentence construction might be preferred because it places the mathematical expression at one end of the sentence. The second construction is particularly awkward when pronounced: when you hear “is &lt;em&gt;complicated mathematical expression&lt;/em&gt; true”, it's hard to remember the verb that “true” is a complement of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In mathematical usage, treating mathematical relations as verbs is frowned upon. A sentence like “is it true that 1+1=2 ?” looks ungrammatical because “1+1=2” looks like a mathematical expression (which happens to be a proposition), distinct from the English phrase “one plus one equals two”. In grammatical terms, “1+1=2” is equivalent to a noun group, it can't function as a verb. This is particularly true amongst logicians, since there is a step of semantic interpretation involved in going from “1+1=2” to “one plus one equals two”, and logicians are used to settings where this step is non-trivial. Even mathematicians and assorted practicioners who aren't logicians often consider “is it true that 1+1=2 ?” bad style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1165" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T23:53:59.430" />
  <row Id="6345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6055" CreationDate="2010-12-06T23:54:16.757" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cookie monster. See the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqz9ZXUoUcE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rocketboom video about &quot;om nom nom&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. Notice, in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=nummy#q=nummy&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;tbo=1&amp;amp;tbs=tl:1,tll:1970,tlh:1974&amp;amp;prmd=iv&amp;amp;ei=TXb9TIHcC4Ks8AbWpoHoCg&amp;amp;ved=0CHcQyQEoBQ&amp;amp;fp=8f2884b111388cf4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google timeline&lt;/a&gt;, that &quot;nummy&quot; word is not used to describe something that is yummy, until the 1970s. Cookie monster himself debuted int the 1969. Nummy is just a another form of &quot;nom nom&quot;, describing something as delicious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2329" LastActivityDate="2010-12-06T23:54:16.757" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6346" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-07T00:04:56.450" Score="0" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/433/assure-vs-ensure-vs-insure&quot;&gt;Assure vs. Ensure vs. Insure&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between 'assurance' and 'insurance'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T00:04:56.450" ClosedDate="2010-12-07T04:26:38.050" Title="What's the difference between 'assurance' and 'insurance'?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6347" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6364" CreationDate="2010-12-07T00:26:03.110" Score="2" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between 'china' and 'porcelain'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-07T11:05:39.547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T11:05:39.547" Title="What's the difference between 'china' and 'porcelain'?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="6348" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6350" CreationDate="2010-12-07T01:01:29.477" Score="2" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one is the most general: &quot;ox&quot;, &quot;bull&quot;, &quot;bison&quot; or &quot;buffalo&quot;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've looked it up in Wikipedia, but it seems that the authors of articles in Wikipedia are trying to avoid using general terms and would rather use special scientific terms derived from Latin, which makes definitions very accurate and that's, of course, the way how any article in encyclopedia should be. But here I am more concerned about general terms and their usage, not precise definitions. So, which one of those four words seems more inclusive to you? (I know &quot;cattle&quot; would probably &quot;swallow&quot; them all :) ) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T15:25:32.770" Title="Which one is the most general: &quot;ox&quot;, &quot;bull&quot;, &quot;bison&quot; or &quot;buffalo&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="6349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6348" CreationDate="2010-12-07T01:07:38.443" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To my knowledge, they are all separate species within the &lt;em&gt;Bovini&lt;/em&gt; genus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovini&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovini&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of the words you mention can be used at all for any of the others.  &lt;em&gt;&quot;Cattle&quot;&lt;/em&gt; can be, or &lt;em&gt;Bovines&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T01:07:38.443" />
  <row Id="6350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6348" CreationDate="2010-12-07T01:20:26.050" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bison, ox, and buffalo are all specific, different species.  Confusingly, bison are sometimes called buffalo, although my impression is that this is becoming less common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bulls are adult males, most commonly cattle, though potentially from any of these species (and even some very different species---sea lion males, for instance, are also called bulls).  Apparently ox is also used to refer to a castrated male from any of these species (again, mostly commonly cattle).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a term that includes all of these, you probably want &quot;bovine&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T01:20:26.050" />
  <row Id="6351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6347" CreationDate="2010-12-07T01:21:14.950" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're pretty much the same: china is a type of porcelain. &quot;China&quot; can also be used to mean household tableware, much the same as &quot;silverware&quot; can refer to any utensils, even those that are not made of the precious metal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T01:21:14.950" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="6352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6347" CreationDate="2010-12-07T01:28:36.000" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Originally, &quot;china&quot; referred to porcelain-ware that was imported from China. It has evolved to a more general use to refer to somewhat fancy tableware and vases made of porcelain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/china&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=china&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T01:28:36.000" />
  <row Id="6353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6314" CreationDate="2010-12-07T03:28:18.787" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is pure speculation, but I would guess it came from the expression &quot;Christ on a cracker!&quot;, which I've heard many times in my life. This could refer symbolically to Christian communion, where the wafer is said to literally become &quot;the body of Christ&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1142" LastEditorUserId="1142" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-07T03:36:39.293" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T03:36:39.293" />
  <row Id="6354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5959" CreationDate="2010-12-07T03:58:17.363" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Geographical regions are just one way of slicing up language variations. There's probably more variety associated with other factors such as social class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; international dictionaries flag up major regional variations, just as they distinguish &quot;slang/vulgar&quot; from &quot;careful/correct&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most good speakers use feedback to make sure they're being understood. Language is what people say, not what the dictionary says they should say. As a native British speaker I wouldn't use Websters while conversing with an American clutching his copy of Chambers - I'd just talk, look, and listen!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T03:58:17.363" />
  <row Id="6355" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6360" CreationDate="2010-12-07T05:15:56.923" Score="3" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I learned the word Busybody the first time, I was in 5th grade. It appeared in a story I had to learn for class. I figured it meant someone who was very busy, and didn't bother to look it up. When the teacher asked us if I had looked it up as I was supposed to as part of my homework, I lied and said I did. When I told her I found the meaning &quot;in a dictionary&quot; she asked me to bring her the dictionary. Needless to say, I was a very embarrassed 5th grader caught in a bad lie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2578" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T10:06:28.553" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T10:06:28.553" Title="How did the word &quot;busybody&quot; end up meaning so different from what it appears on its face to imply?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;confusables&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6355" CreationDate="2010-12-07T06:41:49.660" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it has something to do with the origins of the idiom. It did not originate as a word, but as an idiom. It must have been a euphemistic was to refer to busybodies, and people in the same social circle must be using the word to describe their friend in a public setting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, all this is my guess. Please correct me if i am wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2585" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T06:41:49.660" />
  <row Id="6357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6315" CreationDate="2010-12-07T07:12:47.110" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, grammar rules have changed considerably over the years.  Original Chaucer is barely comprehensible to those used to just modern English; patches of Shakespeare and his contemporaries are a little stilted to modern eyes; even authors as recent as, say, Dickens or Austen write in a style that is somewhat different from the modern style.  However, the more recent authors are much more readily comprehended than the more ancient authors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there is also perhaps more continuity in the grammar rules than in spelling.  That is, many key aspects of English grammar were also present in the Medieval period; a lot of the time, it was just the spellings and inflections on words that was different.  There's some gross over-simplification in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure that 'caste' is the correct term to use; 'class' certainly would be more normal.  The main difference between the speech of 'peasants' versus 'clergy' or 'noble' would be in degree of literacy.  Depending on the exact era, one factor might be that the 'noble' would speak French first, maybe Latin second, and English possibly a poor third - in the (first half of the) 12th Century, say.  The clergy would probably speak all three contemporaneously, but would certainly know Latin since the liturgy was all Latin at the time.  The 'peasants' might very well not really understand Latin properly, though they might well recognize passages from church; they'd speak English, but probably not French.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple of books I have that are fairly accessible (not too hard to read) and may be of interest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Our Language&quot;, Simeon Potter, published by Pelican.  I have what appears to be a 1950 1st Edition (cost one shilling and sixpence; it looks like I got it secondhand for 30 pence), but it is still available on &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0140202277&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Amazon&lt;/a&gt; in more recent (1976) editions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;The English Language&quot;, Robert Burchfield, published by Oxford.  Also available via &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/English-Language-Robert-Burchfield/dp/B001F6RVIM/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Amazon&lt;/a&gt;, but apparently out of print.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T07:12:47.110" />
  <row Id="6358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6315" CreationDate="2010-12-07T07:56:37.197" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I concur with the previous answer, though I would point out that part of the difficulty with Chaucer and Shakespeare is that the author was writing in verse rather than prose. Grammar and word order are often modified to fit the content (meaning) to the form (meter, rhyme, etc.) when an author is writing in verse--this is still true today.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2639" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T07:56:37.197" />
  <row Id="6359" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6363" CreationDate="2010-12-07T09:00:37.047" Score="3" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;When used as an adjective, is it &lt;em&gt;step by step&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;step-by-step&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thank you for this step by step guide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thank you for this step-by-step guide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="244" LastEditorUserId="244" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-07T11:27:43.403" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T11:27:43.403" Title="Adjectival step by step" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6355" CreationDate="2010-12-07T09:52:31.823" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=busy&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;busy&lt;/strong&gt; O.E. &lt;em&gt;bisig&lt;/em&gt; &quot;careful, anxious, busy, occupied,&quot; [...]. In M.E., sometimes with a sense of &quot;prying, meddlesome,&quot; preserved in &lt;strong&gt;busybody&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the word &lt;em&gt;busybody&lt;/em&gt; didn't &quot;end up meaning&quot; what it does; much rather, it had that meaning all along. It's &lt;em&gt;busy&lt;/em&gt; that used to have an additional meaning that it no longer has in contemporary English. (If you read that Etymonline entry, you'll notice that that's not the only meaning that &lt;em&gt;busy&lt;/em&gt; used to have but no longer does: &quot;The word was a euphemism for 'sexually active' in 17c.&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T09:52:31.823" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6361" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6362" CreationDate="2010-12-07T09:58:10.700" Score="1" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of our senior technical architects uses this phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;it will &lt;em&gt;come out in the wash&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We generally take that to mean &quot;let's do the detailed/mundane stuff later — and concentrate on the key stuff now&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this right? What's the actual meaning and correct usage of this phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1798" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-07T10:01:26.310" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T10:07:27.997" Title="Meaning of the phrase &quot;In the wash&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6361" CreationDate="2010-12-07T10:07:27.997" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means that problem or difficulties will be resolved in due course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;AFAIK, it was first used by Cervantes in Don Quixote: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;At least,&quot; said Sancho, &quot;your grace&#xA;  was able to put your lance into its&#xA;  proper perspective, aiming at my head&#xA;  but landing on my shoulder, thanks to&#xA;  God and my ability at leaping aside -&#xA;  but never mind, it will all come out&#xA;  in the wash&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[The quote varies based on the translation]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T10:07:27.997" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6359" CreationDate="2010-12-07T10:49:04.560" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Wiktionary, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/step_by_step&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;step by step&lt;/a&gt; is the adverbial form, whereas &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/step-by-step&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;step-by-step&lt;/a&gt; is the adjectivial. So your second example is the correct one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T10:49:04.560" />
  <row Id="6364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6347" CreationDate="2010-12-07T10:53:13.483" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That China means &quot;from China&quot; was pretty simple, much more interesting is from what porcelain came out:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Look up porcelain at Dictionary.com&#xA;      1530s, from M.Fr. porcelaine, from It. porcellana &quot;porcelain&quot; (13c.),&#xA;  lit. &quot;cowrie shell,&quot; the chinaware so&#xA;  called from resemblance to the shiny&#xA;  surface of the shells. The shell's&#xA;  name in Italian is from porcella&#xA;  &quot;young sow,&quot; fem. of L. porcellus&#xA;  &quot;young pig,&quot; dim. of porculus&#xA;  &quot;piglet,&quot; dim. of porcus &quot;pig.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we have a shell (cowrie) that resemble a young sow. Then came this new material from China that resemble the shell material for smoothness and glossy, so they took the Italian name of the shell for the material.&#xA;Curiously enough now the shell is called Ciprea in Italian, I never heard the word Porcellana in Italian in relation to any shell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2403" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T10:53:13.483" />
  <row Id="6365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6338" CreationDate="2010-12-07T11:19:37.837" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be honest, I've never heard the word used beyond that of a name of a place or person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T11:19:37.837" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6366" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6393" CreationDate="2010-12-07T11:43:08.557" Score="3" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between 'incident', 'issue' and 'affair'? How to use them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T18:23:31.280" Title="What's the difference between 'incident', 'issue' and 'affair'?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6367" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6369" CreationDate="2010-12-07T12:37:05.353" Score="3" ViewCount="260" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any differences between 'oval' and 'ellipse'? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastEditorUserId="1914" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-07T14:23:00.620" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T14:23:00.620" Title="Are there any differences between 'oval' and 'ellipse'?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;mathematics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6368" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6370" CreationDate="2010-12-07T12:49:34.683" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's pretty clear that using &lt;code&gt;do/did&lt;/code&gt; we can emphasise a verb. Such as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I do recommend reading that book.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I did enjoy the movie.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the question is, how to emphasise sentences like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I am keen to work with you.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T13:01:43.373" Title="Emphasising sentences" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;emphasis&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6367" CreationDate="2010-12-07T12:55:35.857" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe they can be used interchangeably in common English, but have specific (and different) meanings when used in mathematics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The online Cambridge dictionary contains the following definitions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/oval&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oval&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;shaped like a circle that is flattened&#xA;  either at one place or at two opposite&#xA;  places, so that it is like either an&#xA;  egg or an ellipse&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/ellipse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ellipse&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;an oval; a flattened circle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in geometry there is a difference. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oval#Oval_in_geometry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Wikipedia page on ovals&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In geometry, an oval or ovoid is any&#xA;  curve resembling an egg or an ellipse,&#xA;  but not an ellipse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, from &lt;a href=&quot;http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/55368.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Math Forum&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;once the size of an ellipse has been&#xA;  fixed then its exact &#xA;      shape is mathematically determined. In other words, the line &#xA;      forming the perimeter can be drawn in only ONE way. This is &#xA;      distinct from an oval where the perimeter has only to be a &#xA;      concave curve, and there are many possibilities. Simply, an &#xA;      ellipse IS an oval, but an oval may or may not be an ellipse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Doctor Sarah, The Math Forum&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2570" LastEditorUserId="2570" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-07T13:10:27.677" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T13:10:27.677" />
  <row Id="6370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6368" CreationDate="2010-12-07T13:01:43.373" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Words such as &quot;very&quot;, &quot;really&quot;, &quot;quite&quot; can be used to add emphasis to the word &quot;keen&quot; in the sentence, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I am very keen to work with you.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2570" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T13:01:43.373" />
  <row Id="6371" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6381" CreationDate="2010-12-07T13:13:13.983" Score="3" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any differences between 'supernatural' and 'paranormal'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-07T16:52:59.073" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T16:52:59.073" Title="Are there any differences between 'supernatural' and 'paranormal'?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6367" CreationDate="2010-12-07T13:56:23.940" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is adapted from my &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6108/is-there-a-word-for-a-class-of-circular-shapes/6136#6136&quot;&gt;answer to another question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, &quot;ellipse&quot; usually has a precise, geometric meaning, while &quot;oval&quot; is a more vague and general term.  Most dictionaries I've checked agree with this, but a few dictionaries say that the two words can be used interchangeably.  The  New Oxford American Dictionary defines &quot;oval&quot; as &quot;having a rounded and slightly elongated outline or shape, like that of an egg&quot;.  It defines &quot;ellipse&quot; as &quot;a regular oval shape, traced by a point moving in a plane so that the sum of its distances from two other points (the foci) is constant&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Various other online sources agree:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;dictionary.reference.com agrees: &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ellipse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ellipse&lt;/a&gt; versus &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/oval&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;oval&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mathworld agrees: &lt;a href=&quot;http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Oval.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;oval&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thefreedictionary.com agrees: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/oval&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;oval&lt;/a&gt; versus &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ellipse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ellipse&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;mathforum.org agrees: &lt;a href=&quot;http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/55368.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Simply, an ellipse IS an oval, but an oval may or may not be an ellipse.&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;answers.com agrees: &lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_an_ellipse_and_an_oval&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;An ellipse always has two axes of reflection; an oval has one or more.&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found a relatively few sources which define &quot;ellipse&quot; and &quot;oval&quot; to mean the same thing.  I've found no sources at all which say that &quot;ellipse&quot; is more general than &quot;oval&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T13:56:23.940" />
  <row Id="6373" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6377" CreationDate="2010-12-07T14:04:32.857" Score="3" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one is sooner or closer to now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I've just called him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I've already called him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2029" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-07T16:58:11.393" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T11:20:39.260" Title="&quot;Just&quot; vs &quot;already&quot;: which one is sooner?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6371" CreationDate="2010-12-07T14:07:14.163" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being not a native English speaker, I would use &quot;paranormal&quot; for mysterious and unexplainable, whereas I would use &quot;supernatural&quot; for fictional and superior than normal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1809" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T14:07:14.163" />
  <row Id="6375" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6382" CreationDate="2010-12-07T14:07:23.010" Score="2" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked up &lt;code&gt;on sb's account&lt;/code&gt; in the Longman dictionary. The following is an excerpt from it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;on sb’s account&#xA;if you do something on someone’s account, you do it because you think they want you to :  &#xA;Please don’t change your plans on my account. &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm still confused about it. The example sentence means &quot;please don't change your plan for me&quot; or &quot;it's none of my business that your change your plan&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T15:32:10.667" Title="What's the meaning of &quot;on sb's account&quot;?" Tags="&lt;collocation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6348" CreationDate="2010-12-07T14:08:22.947" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the U.S., &quot;buffalo&quot; and &quot;bison&quot; are used interchangeably for the species &lt;em&gt;Bison bison&lt;/em&gt; (latin name).  I would say (as an American English speaker) that &quot;buffalo&quot; is by far the more common term in everyday speech, though one could certainly argue that &quot;bison&quot; is the more technically correct term.  See also the discussion at the start of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Bison&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ADDED:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried some googling to isolate American uses of &quot;buffalo&quot; versus &quot;bison&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&amp;amp;rls=en&amp;amp;q=%22great+plains%22+buffalo&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;oe=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;great plains&quot; buffalo&lt;/a&gt; -- 4.5 million results&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&amp;amp;rls=en&amp;amp;q=%22great+plains%22+bison&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;oe=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;great plains&quot; bison&lt;/a&gt; -- 1.5 million results&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you replace &quot;great plains&quot; with the name of an American state in the region (Kansas, Nebraska, ...) in the above searches, the ratio becomes more like 10 to 1 in favor of &quot;buffalo&quot;.  I would guess that there are a significant fraction of Americans who aren't sure what a &quot;bison&quot; is, but these same people would have no trouble identifying a &quot;buffalo&quot; (meaning what biologists would call an &quot;American bison&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1388" LastEditorUserId="1388" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-07T15:25:32.770" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T15:25:32.770" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6373" CreationDate="2010-12-07T14:09:26.307" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Just&quot; implies that it happened immediately before you spoke. &quot;Already&quot; refers to some unspecific time in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T14:09:26.307" />
  <row Id="6378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6375" CreationDate="2010-12-07T14:10:40.877" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means &quot;please don't change your plans for me.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can have the connotation that the speaker may not wish to accept a favor from you, or it can simply mean he or she doesn't want you to go to any trouble on his/her behalf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-07T15:06:45.717" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T15:06:45.717" />
  <row Id="6379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6373" CreationDate="2010-12-07T14:11:48.940" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When one say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've just called him&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It means it was done at the moment immediately before saying it. On the other hand:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've already called him&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;only implies that it was done before, without being specific as when exactly it was done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T14:11:48.940" />
  <row Id="6380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6373" CreationDate="2010-12-07T14:39:55.463" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Just&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;put the emphasis on when you did (in the very near past)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Already&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;put the emphasis on the fact that you actually did.&#xA;It could mean &quot;No need to worry about it, I already did it&quot;, or it could mean &quot;you are late, I already did it.&quot; for example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2403" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T14:39:55.463" />
  <row Id="6381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6371" CreationDate="2010-12-07T15:06:41.130" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As &lt;em&gt;super&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;above&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;para&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;beyond&lt;/em&gt;, I would say the differences lie in the parts &lt;em&gt;natural&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;normal&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the mere word sense something &lt;em&gt;paranormal&lt;/em&gt; is just beyond normal. &lt;em&gt;Natural&lt;/em&gt; can be interpreted as synonym to &lt;em&gt;normal&lt;/em&gt; in the sense of &lt;em&gt;something comes natural&lt;/em&gt; and the like. It can be interpreted as another realm as well, the realm of God as opposed to the realm of man.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @Aidas would use &lt;em&gt;paranormal&lt;/em&gt; for the mysterious, one could argue that the realm of God is &lt;em&gt;paranormal&lt;/em&gt;. But it is very unusual to talk of the realm and the workings of God as &lt;em&gt;paranormal&lt;/em&gt;, while it is perfectly normal to call effects believed to be caused by UFO's, aliens (from outer space), or ghosts &lt;em&gt;paranormal&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition it seems more fitting to call effects &lt;em&gt;paranormal&lt;/em&gt;, while &lt;em&gt;supernatural&lt;/em&gt; would also be used for beings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;paranormal&lt;/em&gt; is translated to Gr. &lt;em&gt;übersinnlich&lt;/em&gt;, above the sense realm, while &lt;em&gt;supernatural&lt;/em&gt; is translated &lt;em&gt;überirdisch, übermenschlich, übernatürlich&lt;/em&gt;: above earthly, above humane, supernatural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T15:06:41.130" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6375" CreationDate="2010-12-07T15:32:10.667" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'On someone's account' means on behalf of. Generally, it is used to indicate that the person shouldn't go to any trouble on behalf of the speaker:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't change your plans on my account.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or it may be used to stress that the person should act for their own reasons or under their own judgement:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't change your plans on Fred's account.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference is subtle and imprecise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T15:32:10.667" />
  <row Id="6383" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6387" CreationDate="2010-12-07T15:32:22.117" Score="4" ViewCount="593" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard this phrase several times but was given several contradictory interpretations. Please provide an exact meaning of the phase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2648" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T08:53:11.700" Title="What does &quot;to come undone&quot; actually mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="6384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6383" CreationDate="2010-12-07T15:41:13.470" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a strap or a knot or some other kind of binding comes undone, it opens by accident and no longer binds anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a plan or a scheme or a plot comes undone, it does the same thing. This is a figurative sense that parallels the literal sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T15:41:13.470" />
  <row Id="6385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6383" CreationDate="2010-12-07T15:42:06.900" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hard to explain in clear words, but the concept is clear, undo someone/thing, fall apart someone/thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To come undone is like saying something is finally fading away. I think the concept would be something like &quot;to unbecome&quot;, but fall apart is very clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2479" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T15:42:06.900" />
  <row Id="6386" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6390" CreationDate="2010-12-07T15:45:05.680" Score="12" ViewCount="824" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Hooker&quot;, &quot;whore&quot;, &quot;prostitute&quot; all mean &lt;em&gt;whore&lt;/em&gt;, when to use which?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-07T16:49:10.530" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T22:03:40.017" Title="&quot;hooker&quot;, &quot;whore&quot;, &quot;prostitute&quot;, when to use which?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;taboo&gt;&lt;offensive&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="6387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6383" CreationDate="2010-12-07T15:45:08.603" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the literal sense, this refers to something becoming untied, unwrapped, unfastened, etc.  For example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Be careful with that gift.  If it comes undone, they'll be able to see what is inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the figurative sense, it means that something has either not gone as planned, or has failed in some way.  E.g. a plan can come undone meaning it hasn't worked as expected.  A person can come undone meaning that they have lost their composure or self-control.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Andy came undone when Ann left him for Steve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastEditorUserId="2007" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-07T20:44:59.747" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T20:44:59.747" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6388" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6389" CreationDate="2010-12-07T15:51:36.803" Score="5" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a sentence as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You may need as many as five commands to draw a simple triangle when using the basic layer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the phrase &quot;as many as&quot; crucial ? Will the meaning change if I remove it from the sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the phrase mean &quot;at most&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1660" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T04:14:01.383" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T04:14:01.383" Title="What is the role of phrase &quot;as many as&quot; in &quot;... as many as five commands ...&quot;?" Tags="&lt;modifiers&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="6389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6388" CreationDate="2010-12-07T16:04:35.437" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it means &quot;at most,&quot; with an emphasis being that the number is undesirably large.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T16:04:35.437" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="6390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6386" CreationDate="2010-12-07T16:10:51.887" Score="27" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They all can mean women who sleep with men for money. &lt;em&gt;Prostitute&lt;/em&gt; is the most technical term. &lt;em&gt;Hooker&lt;/em&gt; seems most commonly used in the United States, while in Britain this term is reserved for a position in rugby. &lt;em&gt;Whore&lt;/em&gt; sounds much more violent to me. If one were seeking a woman to pay to sleep with him, he probably wouldn't say &quot;I'm looking for a &lt;em&gt;whore&lt;/em&gt; tonight,&quot; but use &lt;em&gt;hooker&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;prostitute&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calling someone a &lt;em&gt;whore&lt;/em&gt; can be used to insult them, implying they sleep with many people (though for men the term would be &lt;em&gt;man-whore&lt;/em&gt;). E.g., &quot;She is such a whore.&quot; Going back to a previous example, &quot;I'm looking for a &lt;em&gt;whore&lt;/em&gt; tonight&quot; implies more to me that he is looking for someone who is easy to sleep with, not for a prostitute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not to say you can't use the others in an insult. From &quot;Baby Got Back,&quot; by Sir Mix-A-Lot, we also have the opening dialogue: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They only talk to her, because,&#xA;  she looks like a total &lt;em&gt;prostitute&lt;/em&gt;, 'kay?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in this case the lady quoted is just saying that she looks like a prostitute, not that she &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; one, necessarily. If she said &quot;She is such a &lt;em&gt;prostitute&lt;/em&gt;,&quot; that would mean that is her profession, not that she sleeps with a lot of men for free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastEditorUserId="1606" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-07T21:02:00.363" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T21:02:00.363" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6386" CreationDate="2010-12-07T16:48:23.093" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Claudiu pretty much covered it, but there's one thing more to discuss. &quot;Whore&quot; has an unsavory meaning, to be sure, but it's lately been used in a milder sense, to describe someone who will do just about anything to get something he or she wants. In this case it is coupled with another noun. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;attention whore: Someone who will do anything to get attention&#xA;loot whore: in MMORPG games, someone who will do anything to get gear&#xA;rep whore: on StackExchange sites, someone who will do anything to gain reputation&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is still a derogatory term, but it can also be used among friends in a somewhat affectionate sense. But the meaning can vary depending on how it is said: &quot;Jill is &lt;em&gt;such&lt;/em&gt; an attention whore&quot; can mean you think she's obnoxious or funny, depending on how much you like Jill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T16:48:23.093" />
  <row Id="6392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6388" CreationDate="2010-12-07T17:53:43.690" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your intention is to convey how much effort it takes to draw a simple triangle, there's no better phrase than &lt;strong&gt;&quot;as many as&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you want to imply how short &amp;amp; straightforward the task is, then you may use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You need &lt;strong&gt;no more than&lt;/strong&gt; five commands to&#xA;  draw a simple triangle when using the&#xA;  basic layer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As answered by Claudiu &amp;amp; Steve, &lt;strong&gt;&quot;at most&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; is valid in the second case and &lt;strong&gt;&quot;up to&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; is valid in both cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T17:53:43.690" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6366" CreationDate="2010-12-07T18:23:31.280" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incident&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;incident&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; is a single distinct event - one occurrence of something that can happen more than once. It is often unpleasant and/or unexpected. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/issue&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Issue&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; has lots of meanings. Given the other words you're asking about, the meanings you might be thinking of are (1) a problem, something that needs to be discussed/fixed; or (2) a topic of interest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first meaning that springs to mind for &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/affair&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;affair&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; is the extra-marital kind, but it can also mean a social event (of the dress-up kind), or a plain old (read: not sex related) scandal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I've linked each word to the definition with the most examples of usage that I could find.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After that incident with the neighbor's dog, &#xA;  he avoided chihuahuas like the plague.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After that affair with the neighbor's dog, he &#xA;  avoided chihuahuas like the plague.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;incident&lt;/em&gt; probably took less time than the &lt;em&gt;affair&lt;/em&gt; - for the former, I'd imagine the dog scared the man, while the latter might have involved an actual bite and subsequent lawyers and suits and animosity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After that issue with the neighbor's dog, he &#xA;  avoided chihuahuas like the plague.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the implication is that there was a problem which had (or should have had) a solution. I'd imagine the dog peed somewhere inappropriate, or something similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T18:23:31.280" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6394" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6396" CreationDate="2010-12-07T18:55:40.773" Score="6" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fiddlesticks&quot; is used as a mild expletive or to express disbelief. Does anyone know why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T19:08:36.570" Title="Why fiddlesticks?" Tags="&lt;catch-phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6395" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6404" CreationDate="2010-12-07T19:04:36.827" Score="7" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the children's rhyme:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Johnny and July sitting in a tree&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  K I S S I N G&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  First comes love&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Then comes marriage&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Then come children in a baby carriage&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are said to be sitting &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; a tree.  Likewise, when a bird is sitting &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; a branch, we say it's sitting &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; a tree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it ever correct to say a bird is &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; a tree?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="511" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-07T19:13:56.583" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T21:22:07.223" Title="Is it correct to say &quot;the bird is in the tree&quot; or &quot;on the tree&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6394" CreationDate="2010-12-07T19:08:36.570" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A quick google search offers little comfort.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-fid1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Michael Quinion&lt;/a&gt; provides one of the best summaries; it seems to have developed through meaning something inconsequential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T19:08:36.570" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6395" CreationDate="2010-12-07T19:10:49.163" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Decorations, presents, the fairy, and so on are said to be on the tree, but that is, I think, only a Christmas tree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fruit grows on trees, not in them, as sometimes does money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never heard on in that connection with birds, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T19:10:49.163" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6302" CreationDate="2010-12-07T19:31:22.163" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure it's what you would call &quot;reading material&quot; but James Orchard Halliwell's &quot;Dictionary of Archaic Words&quot; would certainly cover the vocabulary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T19:31:22.163" />
  <row Id="6400" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6401" CreationDate="2010-12-07T19:32:45.343" Score="6" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;Title pretty much askes the question.  What is the term for words like 'bottle', 'cup' or 'clove' (as in clove of garlic).  Are they counters, countables, determiners...?  I swear it's on the tip of my tongue but I cannot find the correct term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="626" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T19:36:11.573" Title="What is the name of words like 'bottle' or 'clove' that provide a singular for a counted item?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6400" CreationDate="2010-12-07T19:36:11.573" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are talking about is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measure_word#English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;measure word&lt;/a&gt;, more formally known as a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classifier_%28linguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;numeral classifier&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(You could also use &quot;counter&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T19:36:11.573" />
  <row Id="6402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6338" CreationDate="2010-12-07T19:41:26.507" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The SF novelist may have coined &quot;buckley&quot; deliberately to give a futuristic feel to the book.  There is quite a long history of SF authors doing this sort of thing with varying degrees of subtlety.  I don't off-hand recognise the novel -- can I ask which it is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from &quot;Buckley's Chance&quot; as Brian Hooper mentions, which is specifically Australian, I'm afraid I haven't come across the term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T19:41:26.507" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6388" CreationDate="2010-12-07T19:52:20.403" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Added: As Martha and Dusty pointed out, the usage explained in this answer seems to be either incorrect or at best uncommon (thank you for your patience, Martha and Dusty).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase “as many as five” refers to five things with an emphasis on how large the number is.  It does not mean “at most five” (= “five or fewer”).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The opposite of “as many as five” is “as few as five.”  While it also refers to five things, it has an emphasis on how small the number is, and has the same meaning as “only five.”  I think that “as few as five,” “only five” and “no more than five” (as in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6388/what-is-the-role-of-phrase-as-many-as-in-as-many-as-five-commands/6392#6392&quot;&gt;crypto’s answer&lt;/a&gt;) mean almost the same things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastEditorUserId="1755" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-07T23:39:06.957" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T23:39:06.957" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6395" CreationDate="2010-12-07T21:22:07.223" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your case is special. If you were to say two people were &quot;sitting &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; a tree&quot; in this case, it would imply that the tree was on the ground. Sitting &quot;in&quot; a tree means sitting in among the branches, most likely at least partly hidden from view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T21:22:07.223" />
  <row Id="6405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5060" CreationDate="2010-12-07T21:28:09.137" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Off topic a bit - in Scotland its pronounced 'Ginga' - rhymes with 'singer'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="336" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T21:28:09.137" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6406" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-07T23:33:08.410" Score="1" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Anyone who lives within their means suffers from  a lack of imagination.&quot;&lt;br&gt;— Oscar Wilde, Irish dramatist and novelist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does &quot;... living within the means&quot; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank You :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1104" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-08T10:34:43.577" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T10:34:43.577" Title="what does &quot;living within the means&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6406" CreationDate="2010-12-07T23:38:36.643" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this context, &lt;code&gt;means&lt;/code&gt; refers to a person's assets and/or income.  So, to &quot;live within your means&quot; refers to not spending out of proportion with your income.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T23:38:36.643" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6408" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6409" CreationDate="2010-12-07T23:40:23.710" Score="3" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm having trouble finding &quot;disenrolled&quot;, &quot;disenrollment&quot;, and even &quot;unenrolled&quot; in a dictionary. Are any of these valid words? I'm looking for the noun and verb forms of reversing an enrollment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T07:05:06.693" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T07:05:06.693" Title="Disenrolled and Disenrollment" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6408" CreationDate="2010-12-07T23:45:43.750" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The common term as it relates to college and other course registrations, at least, is to &quot;drop.&quot;  As in, &lt;code&gt;I was enrolled in Political Science 420, but I had to drop it because there was too much coursework.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-07T23:45:43.750" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6410" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6434" CreationDate="2010-12-07T23:53:49.787" Score="3" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the past year, I've started to hear phrases like &quot;I know I've been gone for a minute...&quot; when the speaker is referring to a time period that is significantly longer than 60 seconds (multiple days). That is, they don't even mean a relatively short period of time (unless they compare it to a decade or something).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this word drift actually happening? And, if so, where did it start? Is it purposely ironic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://toonsntunes.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/gone-for-a-minute-now-im-back-with-the-jump-off/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://toonsntunes.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/gone-for-a-minute-now-im-back-with-the-jump-off/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://mrshall-intraining.blogspot.com/2010/05/i-been-gone-for-minute-but-im-back.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://mrshall-intraining.blogspot.com/2010/05/i-been-gone-for-minute-but-im-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-08T15:59:43.650" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T16:19:57.193" Title="Is the word &quot;minute&quot; drifting?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;word-drift&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="6411" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-08T00:00:57.943" Score="4" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;We pronounce the name of the twenty-first letter of the alphabet homophonically with the word &quot;you&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Was this what the letter was always called (ever since the analogous letter in Latin) or did it at some point shift from being called [u] to [&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatal_approximant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;j&lt;/a&gt;u]?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastEditorUserId="2396" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-08T22:07:13.497" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T14:13:29.450" Title="When and why did the letter &quot;u&quot; begin being called [ju]?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;history&gt;&lt;linguistics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="6413" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6415" CreationDate="2010-12-08T01:06:42.233" Score="3" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is 'an' used with 'an honour'? Isn't 'an' limited to the vowels?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-08T01:22:37.517" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T03:01:49.233" Title="Why is 'an' used with 'an honour'?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6414" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6420" CreationDate="2010-12-08T01:13:21.487" Score="27" ViewCount="363" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find it handy when talking about my sons and daughters I can just say my children.  It's nice to say nieces instead of siblings daughters.   I wonder if there is a similar term for nieces and nephews together?   I imagine I could say sibling's kids but I was hoping for a single word.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2655" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T09:30:29.810" Title="Single term for nieces and nephew?" Tags="&lt;names&gt;&lt;kinship-terms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="7" />
  <row Id="6415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6413" CreationDate="2010-12-08T01:20:34.257" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because the 'h' is silent in &lt;em&gt;honour&lt;/em&gt; (or, in America, &lt;em&gt;honor&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes 'an' is used even if the 'h' is aspirated, as in &quot;This was an historic occasion.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T01:20:34.257" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6413" CreationDate="2010-12-08T03:01:49.233" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I understand it, an 'An' should be used before words that &lt;em&gt;sound like&lt;/em&gt; they start with a vowel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can lead to ambigity like 'SQL database'. This could either be written as 'an SQL databse' or 'a SQL database' depending upon whether you pronounce SQL as 'S-Q-L' or 'sequel'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T03:01:49.233" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5567" CreationDate="2010-12-08T03:16:20.710" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard it used many times in Autralia. I also use it frequently. On occasion, I have received blank stares from non native-english speakers when I use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastEditorUserId="2657" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-08T04:13:34.707" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T04:13:34.707" />
  <row Id="6418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6410" CreationDate="2010-12-08T05:16:40.833" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not a complete answer, but the example you mention (&lt;a href=&quot;http://mrshall-intraining.blogspot.com/2010/05/i-been-gone-for-minute-but-im-back.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the blog post &quot;I been gone for a minute but Im back again ... &quot;&lt;/a&gt;) is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;clearly ironic in its usage of &quot;a minute&quot; (bloggers always vow to a certain publication schedule, before drifting from it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a reference to a song (as one comment said: &quot;Missed hearing the second verse of this song- lol.&quot;), like &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/babybash/babyimback.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BABY BASH LYRICS&lt;/a&gt;&quot; (or &lt;a href=&quot;http://lyrics.filestube.com/g/gone+for+a+minute&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;other songs&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T05:16:40.833" />
  <row Id="6419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6406" CreationDate="2010-12-08T05:54:15.067" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ask a literary-inspired question, get a literary answer: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilkins_Micawber#Popular_culture&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mr Micawber&lt;/a&gt;, in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Copperfield_%28novel%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;David Copperfield&lt;/a&gt;, by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Charles Dickens&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T05:54:15.067" />
  <row Id="6420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6414" CreationDate="2010-12-08T06:37:25.137" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There seems to be no &quot;official&quot; word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will find &quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Nibling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;nibling&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &quot;, by analogy with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sibling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sibling&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(But it is mentioned only in the &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www3.merriam-webster.com/opendictionary/newword_display_alpha.php?letter=Ni&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;New Words &amp;amp; Slang&lt;/a&gt;&quot; section of Merriam-Webster, or in site like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=niblings&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;urbandictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091219201231AA0TpZD&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This thread&lt;/a&gt; also mentions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;that there is no encompassing word for aunt/uncle either&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;that there is no male/female form of cousin. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the article &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1570791/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;There isn't word for it&lt;/a&gt;&quot;:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(humor)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word sibling comes from Old English, and just means related by blood.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I suggest taking the parental ‘p’ to replace the ‘s’, so aunts and uncles are ‘piblings’.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Following the pattern, nephews and nieces become ‘niblings’, a nice word that describes what they do to their piblings' bank balances at Christmas and birthdays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find the term used recently in this blog post &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://solofemininity.blogs.com/posts/2010/12/the-christmas-gift-that-keeps-on-giving.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Christmas Gift that Keeps On Giving&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, but you can also find it in one of the episodes of an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thechestnut.com/moomins.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;old 1980 adventure series &quot;The Moomins&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/hlEJo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(from &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2010/moomin-book-5-a-gloriously-surreal-finale/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Moomin Winter in Moomin Book 5&lt;/a&gt;&quot;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-08T09:30:29.810" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T09:30:29.810" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6421" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6423" CreationDate="2010-12-08T06:56:05.357" Score="4" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does the part &quot;my cold came out of remission&quot; mean in the following sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It seems that my cold came out of remission…&#xA;  I'll work from home today and hopefully kick it before Monday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-08T09:26:30.450" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T09:26:30.450" Title="What does this sentence mean by &quot;my cold came out of remission&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;collocation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6421" CreationDate="2010-12-08T07:11:41.423" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's another way of saying&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have a cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If an illness goes into &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/remission&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Wiktionary entry for remission&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;remission&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, the illness is abating, i.e. lessening (def. 3). Thus, something coming out of &lt;em&gt;&quot;remission&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is growing stronger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a medical standpoint, I don't believe (although I am not a physician) this is medically correct–unlike cancer, a cold is not something that once contracted, persists (whether with or without noticeable symptoms) in the host, assuming no medical intervention takes place, but it's still a nice way of saying it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T07:11:41.423" />
  <row Id="6423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6421" CreationDate="2010-12-08T07:12:48.163" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Remission is, according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remission_%28medicine%29#Remission&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;, a medical term for&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the state of absence of disease activity in patients known to have incurable chronic illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the sentence would mean something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I thought my cold was gone, but it reappeared [it came out of the state of remission, the absence of activity].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually the term &lt;em&gt;remission&lt;/em&gt; is used for more serious diseases, with a chronic aspect, like cancer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1310" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T07:12:48.163" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6424" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6429" CreationDate="2010-12-08T09:43:35.587" Score="3" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does this mean by &lt;code&gt;I'll be with you in a minute.&lt;/code&gt;? Does it mean &lt;code&gt;I'll call you after one minute.&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;I'll contact you after one minute.&lt;/code&gt; or something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T05:11:08.853" Title="What does this mean by &quot;I'll be with you in a minute&quot;?" Tags="&lt;beginner&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6425" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6430" CreationDate="2010-12-08T09:54:30.413" Score="1" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I read some events map, I found &lt;em&gt;loops&lt;/em&gt; used wildly. But some equipment watches like Timex used &lt;em&gt;laps&lt;/em&gt;. What's the difference, how can I use them correctly? Please also give some sample if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2661" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-08T11:04:47.247" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T07:11:52.567" Title="Loops vs Laps for runner?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="6426" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6428" CreationDate="2010-12-08T10:44:35.337" Score="3" ViewCount="1217" Body="&lt;p&gt;As it is clear from the question title, What does &quot;I'm game&quot; mean and what's its correct usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2663" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T18:28:13.037" Title="What does &quot;I'm game&quot; mean and what's its correct usage?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6425" CreationDate="2010-12-08T10:47:35.143" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here in the UK, &lt;em&gt;Laps&lt;/em&gt; is the recognised term; I've only ever heard &lt;em&gt;Loops&lt;/em&gt; used by Americans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for correct, I'd argue that either is correct, While one or the other might be more commonly used in different cultures, the meaning is clear from both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T10:47:35.143" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6426" CreationDate="2010-12-08T10:53:33.657" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;I'm game&lt;/code&gt; means that &lt;code&gt;I am up for the challenge&lt;/code&gt;, but arguably more commonly, &lt;code&gt;I agree&lt;/code&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Q: Fancy going for a drink?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: Sure, I'm game...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Q: I was thinking of going shopping. Do&#xA;  you want to come?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: Yes, I'm game...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for correct usage, as with most idioms, use it as you will... there is no correct usage as such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-08T14:28:33.810" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T14:28:33.810" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="6429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6424" CreationDate="2010-12-08T10:58:42.907" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well usually this is used when speaking face-to-face, and is taken to mean &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I'm occupied right now, and I'll speak to you in some (short period of) time. &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not exactly one minute, but a short enough time. Similar usage to &quot;Just a second&quot; or &quot;Gimme a sec&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;s&gt;If on the phone, it should probably mean he'll call back after a minute or so.&lt;/s&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Updated:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @Martha says - On the phone, this would likely mean &lt;em&gt;you should hold&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;The correct statement if he intends to ring you back would be &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;I'll get back to you in a minute&quot;. &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1798" LastEditorUserId="1798" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T05:11:08.853" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T05:11:08.853" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6425" CreationDate="2010-12-08T12:33:35.787" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It appears to be the case that a loop is the word you would use to describe all or a section of a course or track which repeats upon itself (i.e. in a loop). In contrast, a lap is the description of physically running around that loop more than once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/lap_2#lap_2__3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;online Cambridge dictionary&lt;/a&gt; for lap:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a complete journey&#xA;  around a race track that is repeated&#xA;  several times during a competition&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/loop_2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;definition of loop&lt;/a&gt; has no reference to &quot;looping&quot; around a race track, but it does state, as an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Turn left where the road loops round&#xA;  the farm buildings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This implies that loop could be used to describe the curved path something takes, which at a stretch suggests it could be used in place of lap, but it certainly doesn't seem like intended usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2570" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T12:33:35.787" />
  <row Id="6431" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9759" CreationDate="2010-12-08T15:00:04.017" Score="7" ViewCount="281" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;make decision&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;take decision&lt;/em&gt;? When to use the one and when the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2668" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T13:34:07.813" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T13:34:07.813" Title="Difference between 'make decision' and 'take decision'" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="6432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6431" CreationDate="2010-12-08T15:14:20.283" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Per se, there appears to be no difference in meaning.&#xA;Even so, &quot;taking a decision&quot; is common in British parlance, whereas &quot;making a decision&quot; is more common in the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Refer &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.betterwritingskills.com/articles/take-decisions.txt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BetterWritingSkills&lt;/a&gt; for more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T15:14:20.283" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6433" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6499" CreationDate="2010-12-08T15:20:49.670" Score="0" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;How are aspirated letters different from silent letters when pronouncing a word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T19:11:21.083" Title="Aspirated letters vs. Silent letters" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;silent-letters&gt;&lt;aspiration&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6410" CreationDate="2010-12-08T15:34:40.613" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This seems like a typical case of understatement.  Technically, if you are gone for a day, you were also gone for a minute. People frequently understate or exaggerate things for effect. This doesn't mean that the meaning of the words has changed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've been gone for a minute&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the reader/listener knows the speaker was gone for a long time, this statement is merely an acknowledgement of the long delay, which was possibly longer than originally expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Wait here a minute&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case I don't think the listener would ever expect to wait for days. Even an hour would be considered quite long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T15:34:40.613" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6435" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6436" CreationDate="2010-12-08T15:39:01.290" Score="7" ViewCount="283" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, in a magazine, I read the following line:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's been an eventful year and boy, has it flown past!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, what does the word &quot;boy&quot; mean here? Is it an idiom? What is its usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2663" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-08T16:13:02.390" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T16:13:02.390" Title="What does &quot;boy&quot; mean here?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6435" CreationDate="2010-12-08T15:45:28.280" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Boy&lt;/code&gt; in this usage is an interjection that is an exclamation of surprise, wonder, contempt, etc.  In this particular sentence, it's just emphasizing how quickly the year has flown by.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You hear it pretty frequently in the &quot;Oh Boy!&quot; which used earnestly usually indicates excitement about something (or when used sarcastically, expresses dread).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;wow&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;golly&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;gee whiz&lt;/code&gt; are similar expressions you might hear in these contexts as well. &lt;code&gt;crikey&lt;/code&gt; fills the same function but is limited to UK/Australian English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastEditorUserId="2007" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-08T15:56:46.833" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T15:56:46.833" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6437" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6444" CreationDate="2010-12-08T16:02:54.487" Score="2" ViewCount="383" Body="&lt;p&gt;My problem with grammar is that it's completely intuitive and I often can't explain the rules behind why something is wrong. I feel like something is wrong with the &quot;, notably&quot; part, but can't explain why! Can someone tell me if this sentence is grammatically correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Employees give relatively low scores across a variety of characteristics, notably the quality of the Marketing department's decisions, compensation, and having sufficient people resources.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2591" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T12:13:34.377" Title="Is the following sentence punctuated correctly?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="6438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6437" CreationDate="2010-12-08T16:14:06.307" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Punctuation dictates the flow of your sentence, therefore if you feel that the person reading it should take a short breath at that point, then so be it. If it's really bothering you, take the sentence apart and try to reword it differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I find it fits perfectly, both reading it in my head and reading aloud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;DISCLAIMER: Born and lived first 22 years in the U.S.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2550" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T16:14:06.307" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6410" CreationDate="2010-12-08T16:19:57.193" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps you could look at how the &lt;code&gt;second&lt;/code&gt; in e.g. &lt;code&gt;&quot;one second, please&quot;&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;&quot;(be back) in a second&quot;&lt;/code&gt; came to be, as I assume &lt;code&gt;a second&lt;/code&gt; at one point in the history of English literally meant &lt;strong&gt;1&lt;/strong&gt; second and not minutes/hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2550" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T16:19:57.193" />
  <row Id="6440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6437" CreationDate="2010-12-08T17:44:04.417" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would probably change the sentence to something like: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Employees give relatively low scores across a variety of characteristics, specifically: their compensation, the quality of the Marketing department's decisions, and having sufficient people &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; resources to do their jobs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The middle part still sticks out a bit. Perhaps change it to something more immediately relevant to the employees, or explain why it's as immediate as the other two items in this list? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T17:44:04.417" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6441" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6849" CreationDate="2010-12-08T17:44:48.877" Score="1" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did my Curriculum Vitae in French, but I've asked some people to translate it and I'm pretty sure it's a bad translation (google may be the friend's &quot;Poor translation guy&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;May I ask you where I could find a way to translate my CV, (which is &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; technical) from French to English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course google is my friend (too) but I've not found very technical guys, they all translate pure English (or whatever), but, unfortunately they don't know what expressions like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;virtual hosts,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;MMORPG,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bots,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;domain names&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;mean so it's hard for them to translate them properly...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you very much,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Olivier Pons&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Don't hesitate to correct my question to make it proper English too :D )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1674" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T15:21:04.277" ClosedDate="2010-12-15T15:44:59.903" Title="Curriculum Vitae technical translation(s)" Tags="&lt;translation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6437" CreationDate="2010-12-08T17:49:43.013" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence you quoted looks fine to me, but for what it's worth, here's another way to punctuate the sentence without changing any of the words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Employees give relatively low scores across a variety of characteristics: notably, the quality of the Marketing department's decisions, compensation, and having sufficient people resources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T17:49:43.013" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6424" CreationDate="2010-12-08T17:59:34.843" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As JoseK said, this is most often used in person, and it means something like &quot;hold on, let me finish this, and then I'll be able to help you/talk to you.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone said this to me on the phone, I would definitely interpret it as &quot;please hold&quot;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;I'll call you back&quot;, and &lt;em&gt;most certainly &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;Please call back in a minute&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T17:59:34.843" />
  <row Id="6444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6437" CreationDate="2010-12-08T18:21:29.157" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with RegDwight's comment and disagree with Robusto's (and Martha's).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the thing: the sentence seems to be using the word &lt;em&gt;notably&lt;/em&gt; as something of a drop-in replacement for a word like &lt;em&gt;particularly&lt;/em&gt;, which would serve to describe the listed items as being &lt;strong&gt;more relevant to the point being made&lt;/strong&gt; than those not listed, without implying that the unlisted items are somehow &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; notable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it's common for &lt;em&gt;notably&lt;/em&gt; to be used in this way; and as a result of this attempted coercion of its usage, the sentence sounds awkward to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Notably&lt;/em&gt; sounds much more natural in a context where it is used to &lt;strong&gt;single out&lt;/strong&gt; one or more items as being the &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; notable aspect(s) of something. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The President's speech included a large number of recycled talking points without revealing much that audience members had not already heard. &lt;strong&gt;Notably&lt;/strong&gt; he &lt;em&gt;did&lt;/em&gt; finally promise to lower taxes by the end of the year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's another way of looking at it: the difference between &lt;em&gt;notably&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;most notably&lt;/em&gt; is essentially the same as the difference between &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;best&lt;/em&gt;. If I say, &quot;Of the three presentations, the first was &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt;,&quot; this suggests that the second and third presentations were &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; good. On the other hand, if I say, &quot;Of the three presentations, the first was &lt;em&gt;best&lt;/em&gt;,&quot; there is no such implication. Switching between &lt;em&gt;notably&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;most notably&lt;/em&gt; creates an analogous contrast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that in mind, I would almost certainly change &lt;em&gt;notably&lt;/em&gt; to something like &lt;em&gt;particularly&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;especially&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;most notably&lt;/em&gt;, as RegDwight suggested. This way the sentence could be interpreted as emphasizing the listed points without conveying the idea that the characteristics not mentioned are unimportant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2087" LastEditorUserId="2087" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-08T18:37:48.490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T18:37:48.490" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6426" CreationDate="2010-12-08T18:28:13.037" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid to go down the path of explaining correct usage of an idiom, so I will just tell you how I use it! I think of it as another way of saying, &quot;That sounds good to me.&quot; Another phrase people often use is, &quot;I'm down,&quot; and I would say that these two can be used interchangeably. Here is an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Q: Do you want to go see a movie tonight?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Possible replies all meaning the same thing:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A: Sure, I'm game.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A: Sure, I'm down.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A: Sure, that sounds good to me.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That last one is a mouthful, so you can see the appeal of the first two!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2591" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T18:28:13.037" />
  <row Id="6448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6437" CreationDate="2010-12-08T20:14:33.393" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only thing I would change in the original sentence is the order or wording of the comma-separated list itself; when I first read it, I thought the Marketing Department was at fault for all three issues.  If the items are supposed to be in that particular order as the top 3 results, some extra specifiers might be helpful to eliminate the ambiguous structure: &lt;code&gt;... notably the quality of the Marketing department's decisions, the level of compensation, and the availability of sufficient people resources.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T20:14:33.393" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6450" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-08T21:10:02.860" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a software developer and want to add the feature &quot;multitenancy&quot; (German: &lt;em&gt;Man&amp;shy;danten&amp;shy;fähig&amp;shy;keit&lt;/em&gt;, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multitenancy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multitenancy&lt;/a&gt;) to my application. Each entity in my application has several attributes. Now I want to add an attribute and give it a good default name. I could use &quot;company&quot;, &quot;subsidiary&quot;, &quot;client&quot; or maybe &quot;tenant&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tenant&lt;/em&gt; sounds odd to me because it is immediately associated with renting an apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've googled for lots of terms but never found a way to describe in one word what I'm searching for, so I'm asking here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I just call this attribute/form field in my application &quot;tenant&quot;? I don't want to use &quot;client&quot; because that words means so many different things in the IT department. At the moment I'm using &quot;client organization&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2676" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T15:17:47.097" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T15:17:47.097" Title="Can I name one client of my application &quot;tenant&quot; if I have multitenancy?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;translation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6453" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6507" CreationDate="2010-12-08T22:10:12.970" Score="1" ViewCount="280" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the best way to find the subject in a sentence? &#xA;How do you define a subject?&#xA;I am especially curious about such cases, in which the subject seems to be represented by more than one word:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The majority of people didn't mind the new policy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A great number of students went on strike yesterday. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Addition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and such cases where the passive voice is used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The man was bit by a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Children were frightened by the wolf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, please, consider such cases with ergative verbs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I broke my chair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chair broke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chair was broken by me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2270" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-10T02:06:43.677" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T02:06:43.677" Title="What's the best way to find the subject in a sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;subject&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="14" />
  <row Id="6454" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6456" CreationDate="2010-12-08T22:20:39.130" Score="7" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between nouns naming states of being or positions ending in -hood and those ending in -ship?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In practice, if one were neologizing such a word how would one decide which suffix to use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples: Apprenticeship; proprietorship; friendship; childhood; falsehood; statehood&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T22:58:41.353" Title="-ship vs. -hood" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;suffix&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6450" CreationDate="2010-12-08T22:22:03.723" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Wikipedia article you link to appears to use &quot;tenant&quot; for this purpose. Yes, it seems strange, but it always does at first when ordinary words are repurposed for technical use. As long as it is clear from the context that you're using &lt;em&gt;tenant&lt;/em&gt; in the technical sense, not the rent-paying one, you should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T22:22:03.723" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6454" CreationDate="2010-12-08T22:42:14.110" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're creating a neologism, I'd say go with the one that sounds the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;-hood&lt;/em&gt; suffix, to me, sounds more general and impersonal (or universal) while -&lt;em&gt;ship&lt;/em&gt; sounds more personal. But that is entirely my own feeling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dictionary.com lists &lt;em&gt;-hood&lt;/em&gt; as being &quot;formerly used in the formation of nouns,&quot; so if you believe that means it isn't used anymore on new terms then that's an answer of a sort. But I think you're free to do what you wish. Hey, it's your word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, what's the word you want to create? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T22:42:14.110" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6454" CreationDate="2010-12-08T22:58:41.353" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;-hood denotes a state of being. -ship denotes an occupation or capability. They're related, yes, but I don't see them as synonymous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, while it's not a standard word, I can readily assign a meaning to &lt;em&gt;apprenticehood&lt;/em&gt;: it's the state of being an apprentice. You serve an apprenticeship during your apprenticehood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-08T22:58:41.353" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6459" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6469" CreationDate="2010-12-09T02:09:29.183" Score="5" ViewCount="276" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I understand, the word &quot;midnight&quot; is usually interpreted incorrectly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Midnight is written as &quot;12am&quot; which would imply that it's in the morning.  Therefore, it should be at the start of the day.  On the other hand, both &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/midnight&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0519050#m_en_gb0519050&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; define it as &quot;twelve o'clock at night&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Midnight on the 10th of December&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Midnight Thursday&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Midnight tonight&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;are usually interpreted as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straddling the 10th and the 11th of December&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straddling Thursday and Friday&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Straddling today and tomorrow&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but should they technically mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;straddling the 9th and the 10th of December?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;straddling Wednesday and Thursday?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is much less clear. Technically is there a midnight &quot;tonight&quot;, or is midnight &quot;tomorrow morning&quot;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What do you think? How should &quot;midnight&quot; be interpreted?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2679" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T04:54:43.883" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T04:54:43.883" Title="How should &quot;midnight on...&quot; be interpreted?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="6460" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-09T02:28:31.157" Score="1" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We will look at just a few key things to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;help get you oriented for&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; the recipes discussed in this chapter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We will look at just a few key things to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;help you get oriented for&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; the recipes discussed in this chapter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1660" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T20:08:44.590" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T20:08:44.590" Title="&quot;... help you get oriented for ...&quot; or &quot;... help get you oriented for ...&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5959" CreationDate="2010-12-09T02:58:17.403" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hopefully&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The languages vary tremendously in both spelling and meaning, in some areas (such as cookery and food) more than others.  The language is relatively common and certainly in the modern age with the perfusion of international television, we understand many of the differences orally due to exposure.  This does not mean we see the spellings everyday, or have a firm grasp of the usage differences, particularly when obscure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using a dictionary tailored for another region than your own is unwise at best.  The languages are not the same, though are mutually corruptive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T02:58:17.403" />
  <row Id="6462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6460" CreationDate="2010-12-09T03:04:14.130" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either one works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We will look at just a few key things&#xA;  to help get you oriented for the&#xA;  recipes discussed in this chapter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This puts the emphasis on the speaker's group as the agents of the orientation process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We will look at just a few key things&#xA;  to help you get oriented for the&#xA;  recipes discussed in this chapter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This implies that you will be doing most of the work, and &quot;we&quot; are here more as guides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T03:04:14.130" />
  <row Id="6463" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-09T03:11:41.773" Score="7" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do call a person who collects recipes, ingredients or other cooking related materials? Is there a name for classifications like this (like taxonomy etc?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1174" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T05:30:00.133" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T09:27:38.057" Title="What do you call this person?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="6464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6453" CreationDate="2010-12-09T03:46:06.227" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A practical way might be asking the sentence the question &lt;strong&gt;who&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;s&gt;or &lt;strong&gt;what&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/s&gt; (&lt;em&gt;See RegDwight's comment, and &quot;Edit 1&quot; below&lt;/em&gt;) The answer is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subject_%28grammar%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;subject&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With your examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The majority of people didn't mind the new policy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Who didn't mind the new policy?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;the majority of people&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A great number of students went on strike yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Who did go on strike yesterday?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;a great number of students&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit 1&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;em&gt;I am omitting the question &lt;strong&gt;what&lt;/strong&gt;. In fact I was not fine with it while writing it. I wrote it in case of the subject be neuter but that was a mistake. So we should ask &lt;strong&gt;who&lt;/strong&gt; not taking into account the answer may be a &quot;it&quot;. Such as: The clever white mouse ate the cheese. Who did eat the cheese? The clever white mouse. Obviosly, the question &lt;strong&gt;what&lt;/strong&gt; leads us to the object if asked against the subject: What did the white clever mouse eat? The cheese.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2681" LastEditorUserId="2681" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T14:09:48.447" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T14:09:48.447" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="6465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6459" CreationDate="2010-12-09T04:16:11.050" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of things in language are based on convention, and even then there may be different conventions for one thing. In this case I would follow the ISO standard and interpret midnight on 10 Dec as straddling 10 Dec and 11 Dec, since ISO says 2400 10 Dec means the same as 0000 11 Dec. Using ISO standards one usually uses 0001 to 2359, and reserves the use of 0000 and 2400 to refer to midnight, choosing one over the other to associate the time to a particular 24-hour period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T04:16:11.050" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6466" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6562" CreationDate="2010-12-09T04:54:04.480" Score="1" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen patent claims that are a single sentence containing more than 1000 words! Is there a historical basis for this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2578" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T10:56:48.283" Title="Why are the claims in a US Patent required to be a single sentence?" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;history&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6467" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6483" CreationDate="2010-12-09T05:14:46.717" Score="2" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;In legal parlance, the word &quot;assault&quot; historically means an attempted battery (battery being defined as below) or an intentional frightening of another person. No contact is necessary. On the other hand, battery is when the unwanted contact actually takes place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does everyday usage of these words tacitly acknowledge this difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2578" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T10:10:12.923" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T15:29:34.607" Title="How is an &quot;assault&quot; different from &quot;battery&quot; in everyday English?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="6468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6459" CreationDate="2010-12-09T05:22:29.253" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If we apply your argument to 12pm, being labeled in that fashion implies that it is in the evening, and therefore it must be at the end of the day.  Thus, people are wrong to go around calling it &quot;noon&quot;, which is clearly in the middle of the day, not the end.  :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By convention, &quot;midnight on the 10th of December&quot; should refer to the end of the day of December 10, the instant before December 11 starts.  If I say &quot;last midnight&quot; you can be assured that I am referring to a time less than 24 hours ago, and if I say &quot;midnight tonight&quot; I am referring to a time less than 24 hours in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T05:22:29.253" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6459" CreationDate="2010-12-09T05:31:18.237" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a matter of convention, and the informal convention is that &quot;midnight on the 10th&quot; is more commonly the night between the 10th and the 11th.  But the term is awfully ambiguous, and people do use it both ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(When I've scheduled things with &quot;midnight&quot; deadlines, I always say &quot;11:59pm on the 10th&quot; or something like that, to avoid the ambiguity.  From experience, if you don't people will ask which you mean.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T05:31:18.237" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6470" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6475" CreationDate="2010-12-09T05:36:45.940" Score="5" ViewCount="471" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I am giving a presentation to an American audience tomorrow, and I have rather cluelessly labeled some components on a Powerpoint slide using the alphabet. When I talk about &quot;component Z&quot;, I want to say the right thing. It's too late in the night now to re-label with numbers. I grew up calling it &quot;Zed&quot;, but noticed many Americans prefer &quot;Zee&quot;; I want to be correct, not herd-minded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2578" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T10:12:48.320" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T18:05:59.783" Title="Which is the correct way to refer to the letter &quot;Z&quot; — &quot;Zee&quot; or &quot;Zed&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="6471" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6506" CreationDate="2010-12-09T05:52:04.833" Score="1" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You might also be curious why the productsList variable is initialized as new list of strings at the start of the method, only for it to be overwritten by the code in the try block. This is a defensive mechanism that ensures that the productsList variable is always set to a meaningful value &lt;strong&gt;should&lt;/strong&gt; the code in the try block fail for some reason. You will see an example of how such a failure might occur in Chapter 3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="833" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T16:06:48.810" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T16:06:48.810" Title="What is the meaning of the word 'should' in the following paragraph, and how does it function?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;structure&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6470" CreationDate="2010-12-09T05:59:00.843" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like you know the answer - if you're in the US, say &lt;code&gt;Zee&lt;/code&gt;, if you're in the UK, say &lt;code&gt;Zed&lt;/code&gt;. For other English-speaking countries, I don't know, though I'd hazard a guess that AUS/NZ say &lt;code&gt;Zed&lt;/code&gt;, and Canada &lt;code&gt;Zee&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T05:59:00.843" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6471" CreationDate="2010-12-09T06:02:39.500" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Should&lt;/em&gt; in this usage basically functions similarly to &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;in case&lt;/em&gt;.  You could rewrite the sentence in question as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is a defensive mechanism that ensures that the productsList variable is always set to a meaningful value &lt;strong&gt;if&lt;/strong&gt; the code in the try block &lt;strong&gt;fails&lt;/strong&gt; for some reason. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as how it functions as a part of speech, I believe it's the future subjunctive form of the auxiliary verb &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; (i.e. &lt;em&gt;should fail&lt;/em&gt; is the verb phrase)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T06:02:39.500" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6470" CreationDate="2010-12-09T06:17:42.213" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither is any more 'correct' than the other.  It's the equivalent of debating which of color/colour is the correct spelling.  As you're giving a presentation, I would worry most about just ensuring that you're clear and consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given an American audience, I would assume the following: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They will almost certainly use 'Zee' themselves.  For the most part, the only Americans who use 'Zed' are those who've had significant exposure to a foreign presence or those that want to appear that they have.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assuming they're even slightly educated or culturally exposed, they will completely understand you when you say &lt;em&gt;Component Zed&lt;/em&gt;, particularly if you're speaking with a British accent to 'prime them for it' so to speak.  In fact, you could also go with something less standard like &lt;em&gt;Component Zulu&lt;/em&gt; (from the NATO phonetic alphabet) as long as you did it in context and consistently. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on this, I would recommend going with whatever you're most comfortable with (presumably 'Zed').  My worry would be that if you try to adapt on the fly to 'Zee' that you'll slip up at some point and start interleaving them which would be much less clear than simply referring to them as 'Zed' throughout.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T06:17:42.213" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6470" CreationDate="2010-12-09T06:35:07.010" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The letter 'Z' is called:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;'Zed' (/zɛd/) in British English and Commonwealth English (i.e., UK, Australia, Canada, India, South Africa, etc.)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Note that this is also close to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z#Name_and_pronunciation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;its name&lt;/a&gt; in several non-English languages: &quot;&lt;em&gt;zeta&lt;/em&gt; in Italian and in Spanish, &lt;em&gt;zäta&lt;/em&gt; in Swedish, &lt;em&gt;zet&lt;/em&gt; in Dutch, Polish, German, Romanian and Czech, &lt;em&gt;zæt&lt;/em&gt; in Danish, &lt;em&gt;zett&lt;/em&gt; in Norwegian, &lt;em&gt;zède&lt;/em&gt; in French, and &lt;em&gt;zê&lt;/em&gt; in Portuguese&quot; (all names ultimately derived from the Greek letter &lt;em&gt;zeta&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;'Zee' (/ziː/) in American English and Newfoundland English (parts of Canada)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;'Izzard' (/ˈɪzərd/) in Scottish English.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for which you should use in your case:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The US almost exclusively uses 'Zee'. This is how it's taught to children in schools, and the name they're familiar with. If you use 'Zed' in your presentation, you call attention (a little) to your non-US-ness. Whether this is good or bad is for you to decide.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if you use 'Zee' and the audience consists of a large number of non-Americans (which is possible at a university) or people who otherwise &lt;em&gt;expect&lt;/em&gt; you to say 'Zed', some observant ones may notice that you chose to change your normal pronunciation. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;From experience, it is my impression that most Americans are either aware of the alternative pronunciation 'Zed' or (more likely) can understand what you mean from context. So the probability of actual &lt;em&gt;confusion&lt;/em&gt; is small, I feel, though the probability of &lt;em&gt;distraction&lt;/em&gt; may be high enough for you to choose 'Zee'.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T06:35:07.010" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6463" CreationDate="2010-12-09T07:34:45.007" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While several terms loosely fit the criteria (such as a &lt;code&gt;culinarian&lt;/code&gt;), a &lt;code&gt;culinophile&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;reagenteur&lt;/code&gt; speaks more to my tastes (if you don't mind &lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Portmanteau&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;portmanteaux&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for what one might call the group, &quot;taxonomy&quot; or &quot;classification&quot; are appropriate when ascribing the term to a family derived from a particular set of criteria. Plenty of additional terms &lt;a href=&quot;http://thesaurus.com/browse/taxonomy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;are available in online Thesauri,&lt;/a&gt; if you're curious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2659" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T07:34:45.007" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6467" CreationDate="2010-12-09T08:50:24.210" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the U.S. at least, the word &lt;em&gt;battery&lt;/em&gt; is so rarely used outside the legal phrase &lt;em&gt;assault and battery&lt;/em&gt; that a listener would be pretty much guaranteed to assume it meant an electrical battery unless it was specifically disambiguated by context. So I think perhaps the question is misguided, as I can't say with any certainty that there &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; in fact an &quot;everyday usage&quot; of both words. &lt;em&gt;Assault&lt;/em&gt; on its own, however, does tend to be used as shorthand for &lt;em&gt;sexual assault&lt;/em&gt;, whereas &quot;battery&quot; is wholly separate from that connotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T08:50:24.210" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4419" CreationDate="2010-12-09T08:56:11.243" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the internets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2687" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T08:56:11.243" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5959" CreationDate="2010-12-09T09:23:48.623" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say the Oxford English Dictionary is the definitive British English dictionary.  Merriam Webster's might be the definitive American English dictionary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using Gomez's technique, it seems that the Macquarie Dictionary is the one preferred in Australia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastEditorUserId="2469" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-14T12:42:20.763" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T12:42:20.763" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6480" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6490" CreationDate="2010-12-09T09:40:32.637" Score="0" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;How should an official document containing information about exams passed by a person in previous years be called? Are there any differences between &quot;Archival record&quot; and &quot;Archive reference&quot; in the context of this purpose?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1834" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T12:30:37.263" Title="Difference between &quot;Archival record&quot; and &quot;Archive reference&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6481" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6482" CreationDate="2010-12-09T10:17:01.827" Score="7" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6467/how-is-an-assault-different-from-battery-in-everyday-english/6477#6477&quot;&gt;This post&lt;/a&gt; made an interesting point about what would be understood when the word battery is used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the U.S. at least, the word battery&#xA;  is so rarely used outside the legal&#xA;  phrase assault and battery  that a&#xA;  listener would be pretty much&#xA;  guaranteed to assume it meant an&#xA;  electrical battery unless it was&#xA;  specifically disambiguated by context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This prompted me to see if there is a difference in the etymology of each words. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/battery&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;, they both have the same origin, the Old French &lt;em&gt;baterie&lt;/em&gt;, which means &quot;the action of beating&quot;. So this prompted many question: How the meaning of the word evolved in one case to &quot;A device that produces electricity by a chemical reaction between two substances.&quot;? When was it first used as such? Or is there a mistake in Wiktionary concerning the etymology of &lt;em&gt;electrical battery&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T11:59:10.890" Title="&quot;Battery&quot; and &quot;Battery&quot;, why are they called the same?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="6482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6481" CreationDate="2010-12-09T10:21:00.573" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=battery&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Meaning shifted in M.Fr. from &quot;bombardment&quot; (&quot;heavy blows&quot; upon city walls or fortresses) to &quot;unit of artillery&quot; (a sense recorded in English from 1550s). Extension to &quot;electrical cell&quot; (1748, first used by Ben Franklin) is perhaps via notion of &quot;discharges&quot; of electricity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia drops the &quot;perhaps&quot; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_%28electricity%29#History&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The usage of &quot;battery&quot; to describe electrical devices dates to Benjamin Franklin, who in 1748 described multiple Leyden jars (early electrical capacitors) by analogy to a battery of cannons.&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blbattery.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[5]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That last link goes to About.com, where we read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;1748 - Benjamin Franklin first coined the term &quot;battery&quot; to describe an array of charged glass plates.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T10:38:14.910" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T10:38:14.910" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6467" CreationDate="2010-12-09T10:22:36.350" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In everyday usage, I'd say that assault is commonly used, and means 'to attack', which is slightly different to the legal meaning which is the threat of an attack (battery), combined with the a demonstration of the means to attack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Battery is less commonly used outside the law, however, in the UK at least, the verb &lt;em&gt;to batter&lt;/em&gt; is still commonly used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the playground: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cough up or I'll batter you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;= Please give me your dinner money, or I'll be inclined to commit battery&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the pub:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Q: How did the game go?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: I absolutely battered him!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;= I won by quite a margin!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T10:22:36.350" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6484" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6488" CreationDate="2010-12-09T10:40:14.293" Score="1" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an excerpt from the &lt;strong&gt;LDOCE&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;freak out&#xA;phrasal verb   informal &#xA;to become very anxious, upset, or afraid, or make someone very anxious, upset, or afraid :  &#xA;People just freaked out when they heard the news. &#xA;freak somebody out &#xA;The whole idea freaked me out. &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm curious whether &lt;code&gt;freak out&lt;/code&gt; has the meaning of &quot;make somebody angry&quot;. Anyone can help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T10:50:27.570" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T10:50:49.347" Title="Does &quot;freak somebody out&quot; has the meaning of &quot;make somebody angry&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;collocation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6453" CreationDate="2010-12-09T10:45:25.217" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A simplistic explanation: the subject is the noun acting in a sentence, the predicate is the action/verb and the object being acted upon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[&lt;strong&gt;Subject&lt;/strong&gt;] [  &lt;strong&gt;Predicate&lt;/strong&gt;  ] &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[&lt;strong&gt;Subject&lt;/strong&gt;] [[&lt;strong&gt;Verb&lt;/strong&gt;] [&lt;strong&gt;Object&lt;/strong&gt;]]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[&lt;strong&gt;The majority of people&lt;/strong&gt;] [[&lt;strong&gt;didn't mind&lt;/strong&gt;] [&lt;strong&gt;the new policy&lt;/strong&gt;]]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to dig deeper, the rules of sentence construction are more complicated with many variations and caveats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like marenostrum's practical suggestion of asking a &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; question, but it can be misinterpreted:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;What was was it that people didn't mind?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The new policy.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;What did a great number of students do yesterday?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;They went on strike.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T10:45:25.217" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6486" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6489" CreationDate="2010-12-09T10:46:22.353" Score="0" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the meaning of &quot;slap me five&quot;? Any difference between &quot;slap me five&quot; and &quot;give me five&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a book called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/Slap-Me-Five-Fingers-Funk/dp/B000001ZGV&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Slap Me Five&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T14:58:24.187" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T14:58:24.187" Title="&quot;give me five&quot; and &quot;slap me five&quot;, any difference?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;collocation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6484" CreationDate="2010-12-09T10:47:30.270" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The confusion can come by the fact that &lt;em&gt;upset&lt;/em&gt; could be synonym with &lt;em&gt;angry&lt;/em&gt; in some case. But in this context, &lt;em&gt;upset&lt;/em&gt; takes the meaning of &lt;em&gt;distressed&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Freaking out is more expressing some kind of irrational fear or distress, to the point of not acting like one usually do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T10:47:30.270" />
  <row Id="6488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6484" CreationDate="2010-12-09T10:50:49.347" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To &quot;freak somebody out&quot; is to startle or upset or scare them. They can get angry as a consequence, but that is not the direct meaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You really freaked me out when you&#xA;  told me the tests showed you had&#xA;  cancer. I'm glad it turned out to be a&#xA;  false positive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You really freaked me out when you&#xA;  lied to me about the test showing I&#xA;  had cancer. Did you think that was&#xA;  funny, you jerk?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both first sentences use &quot;freaked out&quot; to express consternation. But the consequences are different in each. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T10:50:49.347" />
  <row Id="6489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6486" CreationDate="2010-12-09T10:53:07.817" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference is only one of expression and context, not meaning. &quot;Slap&quot; me five is a funkier way of saying &quot;give me five&quot; or &quot;give me some skin&quot; or any of several ways of asking for a hand slap/slide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T10:53:07.817" />
  <row Id="6490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6480" CreationDate="2010-12-09T11:04:00.723" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An official document in such a case would be called a record. A reference can be any document or other artifact to which one refer as a source of information. The difference is the &quot;official&quot; nature of the document. One can use an official record as a reference in writing a book, say, but a reference does not have to be an official record of something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T12:30:37.263" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T12:30:37.263" />
  <row Id="6491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6470" CreationDate="2010-12-09T11:43:22.203" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;@ShreevatsaR is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In England and what is still, imo impoliticly referred to as the 'Commonwealth', the former being the birthplace and ancestral home of English, it is 'zed'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="336" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T11:43:22.203" />
  <row Id="6492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6467" CreationDate="2010-12-09T11:57:22.637" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In everyday British English there's not much difference between the words as used in the context of a fight.  To me, &quot;battery&quot; carries a stronger implication that actual damage was done -- we speak of &quot;battered wives&quot; and the like, not &quot;assaulted wives&quot; -- whereas &quot;assault&quot; has a closer association with the launching of an attack.  That may just be me, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T11:57:22.637" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6481" CreationDate="2010-12-09T11:59:10.890" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;code&gt;batterie&lt;/code&gt; in French (and &lt;code&gt;batteria&lt;/code&gt; in Italian) identify a sequence of identical objects. E.g. a &lt;code&gt;batterie of cannons&lt;/code&gt; or a &lt;code&gt;batterie of electrical cells&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word came from the ancient Greek &lt;code&gt;baktérion&lt;/code&gt; that means &lt;code&gt;stick&lt;/code&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;missing link&quot; is the french verb &lt;code&gt;battre&lt;/code&gt;. This verb is used to refer to hunting technique of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/battue&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;battue&lt;/a&gt;. Imagine a sequence of men, each one with his stick, that walk aligned to pursuit the hunted animal and you'll understand the etymology of the word &lt;code&gt;batterie&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not easy to track all the passage in the evolution of these words because them jumped forth and back from a language to another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="56" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T11:59:10.890" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6496" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6497" CreationDate="2010-12-09T13:46:37.307" Score="2" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does the word &lt;code&gt;as-yet-unknown&lt;/code&gt; mean in the following sentence? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Andrews, 31, plans to sue the as-yet-unknown person who shot the&#xA;footage -- and anyone publishing the material. &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T14:46:54.397" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T14:46:54.397" Title="What does the word &quot;as-yet-unknown&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6496" CreationDate="2010-12-09T13:56:42.910" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;As-yet-unknown&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;currently unknown.&quot; In your sentence, Andrews does not yet know whot he person who shot the footage is. However, he plans on suing him or her, as soon as he figures out who s/he is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T13:56:42.910" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6496" CreationDate="2010-12-09T13:57:07.980" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;as-yet-unknown&lt;/code&gt; means that it is an unknown quantity (in the case above, that the person hasn't been identified).  It also indicates that while that is the current state of things, that they are or will be working to identify the person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T13:57:07.980" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6433" CreationDate="2010-12-09T14:08:40.907" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How are they similar? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aspiration = a strong burst of air that accompanies the pronunciation of certain sounds (in English, voiceless stops in onset position in stressed syllables or word-initially).  This also occurs with the [h] consonant.  In either case, a burst of air is produced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Silence = no sound at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, just because a word is spelled with an &quot;h&quot;, this does not mean that there is aspiration; whether or not there is aspiration is wholly dependent on the pronunciation.  Words such as &quot;hour&quot; have no aspiration (in any dialect I am familiar with) — this means that there is nothing there, and the &quot;h&quot; is just representing some former historical pronunciation.  On the other hand, &quot;historical&quot; has aspiration (the &quot;h&quot;) in my dialect of English, but not in other dialects.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you perceive silence where there is an &quot;h&quot; in spelling, it is not aspiration.  Aspiration is audible/detectible in a spectrogram.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T19:11:21.083" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T19:11:21.083" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="6500" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6509" CreationDate="2010-12-09T14:16:48.987" Score="2" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm working on an app that has to have 3 statuses for products.  Here's what we've got so far:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Active&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maybe&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dead&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially Active products are always allowed, Maybe products can be allowed, but are essentially &quot;use with caution&quot; - &quot;limited availability&quot; might be one reason for this status, but others include &quot;superseded by another product.&quot; Dead products are in the catalog for reference only and cannot be used - most likely because we literally can't make them any more (components not available, for instance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an internal app - not a public web store or anything like that.  The labels above are what the product folks came up with.  My programmer's mind would have used &quot;Active&quot;, &quot;Deprecated&quot;, and &quot;Obsolete&quot;, but those are admittedly a little too technical for most of the users of the app - they would have a hard time remembering which of Deprecated or Obsolete means &quot;you can't use this ever.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am OK with Active but strongly dislike the other two options, most especially &quot;Maybe,&quot; so I am looking for some help coming up with one word alternatives. I was thinking of &quot;disallowed&quot; but had a hard time coming up with something between &quot;allowed&quot; and &quot;disallowed.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts from the wise and knowledgeable EngStack crew?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since a few folks have answered along the lines of &quot;Unknown&quot; I should clarify that we know exactly what's up with these products, it's just that they're not exactly Active or Inactive (for instance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="143" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T18:01:17.290" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T22:51:08.317" Title="Words for Product Status labels" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;status&gt;&lt;product&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6500" CreationDate="2010-12-09T14:22:42.273" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;strong&gt;Avoid&lt;/strong&gt; for Maybe &amp;amp; &lt;strong&gt;Outdated&lt;/strong&gt; for Dead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T14:22:42.273" />
  <row Id="6502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6500" CreationDate="2010-12-09T14:35:14.920" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Active/Check/Archived&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Active/Caution/Inactive&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Active/Undetermined/Legacy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...or any combination of the above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T14:35:14.920" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6503" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6505" CreationDate="2010-12-09T15:19:57.453" Score="7" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any differences between &lt;em&gt;slander&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;libel&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T21:56:19.180" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T19:18:56.343" Title="&quot;slander&quot; and &quot;libel&quot;, any differences?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6459" CreationDate="2010-12-09T15:33:02.483" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;By most definitions, the date changes at midnight.  That is, at the precise stroke of 12:00:00.  That time, along with 12:00:00 noon, are technically neither AM or PM because AM and PM mean &quot;ante-meridiem&quot; and &quot;post-meridiem&quot;, and noon and midnight are neither ante- nor post- meridiem.  However, for convenience, most people lump the 12:00:00 time with its nearest neighbour, 12:00:01, which IS AM or PM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the date changes at the stroke of midnight, there is always ambiguity about which date you refer to.  Midnight on the 10th technically means at the start of the 10th, but when most people speak they mean it to be at the end of the 10th.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I said &quot;I'll meet you Friday at midnight&quot; or &quot;I'll meet you Friday night at midnight&quot; you (and most people) would probably interpret both times as the midnight that follows Friday noon.  However, there are cases where the first sentence really means &quot;the midnight at the start of Friday&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the common usage conflicts with the technical definition, if you want to be totally clear, use other words or other times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Friday night at midnight&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;probably will always be interpreted as &quot;Midnight in the night which follows Friday evening&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Midnight tonight&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means (to me) the midnight following today. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;11:59 PM Friday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;12:01 AM Saturday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are totally unambiguous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastEditorUserId="380" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T16:17:02.340" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T16:17:02.340" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6503" CreationDate="2010-12-09T15:34:13.297" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Slander is spoken text, libel is written text.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2699" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T15:34:13.297" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6471" CreationDate="2010-12-09T16:04:39.723" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To expand on Dusty's answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more tentative version of &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; if the code fails&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; if the code should fail&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In formal speech an writing, certain auxiliaries (principally 'had', 'were', and 'should', but occasionally 'could' and 'would' and rarely a few others) in an &lt;em&gt;irrealis&lt;/em&gt; context can be inverted with the subject to get the same effect as the 'if':&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; should the code fail&#xA; had he but known&#xA; were he to leave now&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;em&gt;Irrealis&lt;/em&gt;&quot; means that the event or state of affairs has either not yet occurred, or is known not to have occurred when it might have. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;If he knows&quot; and &quot;if he knew&quot; are &lt;em&gt;realis&lt;/em&gt;: they are about present and past fact, which are either true or false, even though the speaker may not know which. These cannot be turned round in this way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;If he should know&quot;, is an uncertainty about the future; and &quot;if he had known&quot; expresses a possibility which is known not to have happened; these are &lt;em&gt;irrealis&lt;/em&gt;, and can be inverted as above. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Dusty says, the verb is subjunctive (though in fact 'were' is almost the only distinctive subjunctive verb form in modern English); but I've never heard it called &quot;future subjunctive&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T16:04:39.723" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6453" CreationDate="2010-12-09T16:19:53.253" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is actually a difficult question, and to some degree the answer depends on the theoretical framework you are using. As Dusty says, whether you consider the bare N or the whole NP (i.e. with or without complements and modifiers) as the subject is a matter of choice, and once you have passives then the syntactic subject may not be the semantic subject. In the 80's some grammarians decided that 'subject' wasn't a useful concept, and generalised it to the concept of a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntactic_pivot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;syntactic pivot&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point of which is not (just ;-)) to air my knowledge, but to point out that finding a definition which will cope with every edge case is hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T16:19:53.253" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="6508" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6511" CreationDate="2010-12-09T17:19:30.700" Score="4" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;Baba ghanouj is a delicious Middle Eastern dip made from roast eggplant and garlic. I've found the name spelled a multitude of different ways on the internet, but there are two peculiar things about its pronunciation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The name is always spelled with &quot;j&quot; as the final consonant&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've always heard the name pronounced with a final &quot;sh&quot; sound [ʃ]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How did this peculiar situation arise? The word is obviously borrowed, though I don't know the source language, yet it seems like any reasonable transliteration would use a symbol other than &quot;j&quot; for [ʃ].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T17:45:56.493" Title="Why is baba ghanouj pronounced with a final &quot;sh&quot; sound?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;borrowing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6500" CreationDate="2010-12-09T17:23:32.290" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Active / Limited / Unavailable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Active / Phasing Out / Obsolete&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or of course any other combination of the above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T17:23:32.290" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6500" CreationDate="2010-12-09T17:41:05.120" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Active / Unknown / Inactive&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Active / Inactive / Obsolete&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1298" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T17:41:05.120" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6508" CreationDate="2010-12-09T17:45:56.493" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The name &quot;baba ghanouj&quot; is Arabic, and is written differently depending on how you convert the Arabic script into English.  Sometimes it is written with an &quot;sh&quot; instead of a &quot;j&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The final consonant in &quot;baba ghanouj&quot; is ج ; in Arabic, this is usually pronounced [dʒ] (as in the English &quot;j&quot; sound) or [ʒ] (like &quot;Jacques&quot;). (In Egypt, this even gets a [g] pronunciation.) So, the &quot;j&quot; spelling of &quot;baba ghanouj&quot; reflects a certain standard transliteration of Arabic spelling.  For some reason, the [dʒ] or [ʒ] was devoiced (a.k.a. neutralized) into [ʃ].  However, this is not normal in the common Arabic dialects that I am familiar with, so I seriously doubt that Arabic has anything to do with the cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, final consonant devoicing occurs &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_obstruent_devoicing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in a number of languages&lt;/a&gt; as a broad and general process, and occurs in many more languages in one-off instances from time to time.  So, either the word originally came into English via another language that neutralized the final consonant, or we neutralized the final consonant ourselves.  The most likely candidate to take an Arabic word, neutralize the final consonant and then pass it on to English?  Turkish.  (This is my educated guess.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short version:&lt;/strong&gt; for some reason, the sound became devoiced, but the spelling with a &quot;j&quot; reflects Arabic spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T17:45:56.493" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6470" CreationDate="2010-12-09T18:05:59.783" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are used to calling it &quot;zed&quot; then I recommend that you use that in your presentation. Remembering to call it &quot;zee&quot; is an unnecessary distraction that might even make you feel slightly uncomfortable, and you will no doubt be understood whatever you decide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2704" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T18:05:59.783" />
  <row Id="6514" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6517" CreationDate="2010-12-09T19:42:26.673" Score="3" ViewCount="322" Body="&lt;p&gt;I grew up in a very homogenous suburb, and was quite shocked when I moved to Philadelphia for college and started hearing how many different dialects exist even within one city. My untrained ear could not tell you the difference between a New York or Philadelphia accent, but some of my friends swear they can tell the difference between North and South Philadelphians, and spot someone from Jersey in a syllable. Just recently I moved to San Francisco, and I was shocked to hear several people observe that I had an East Coast accent. Throughout your travels around the country, what observations have you made about the different dialects in America? How do different regions differ in terms of syllable emphasis, sentence construction, or even slang? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2591" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T20:25:27.003" Title="Differences between American dialects?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;&lt;accent&gt;&lt;emphasis&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6514" CreationDate="2010-12-09T20:01:26.097" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't tell apart the various accents, either, other than to know that I'm hearing one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My one story about dialect differences came shortly after I moved to the Philly area, and happened to mention &lt;em&gt;the 202&lt;/em&gt;. The person I was speaking to got inexplicably amused, and brought her friend over and had me repeat what I just said. That was when I learned that putting a definite article before a road number is a left-coast thing. Having grown up next to &lt;em&gt;the 101&lt;/em&gt; and spent many hours so-called driving on &lt;em&gt;the 405&lt;/em&gt;, it hadn't occurred to me that this could be a dialect thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T20:01:26.097" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="6516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3556" CreationDate="2010-12-09T20:19:37.557" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strictly speaking, the difference is that &lt;em&gt;&quot;all night long&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is a fairly common phrase, while &lt;em&gt;&quot;all &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; night&quot;&lt;/em&gt; sounds awkward at best. Now, if you were wondering about the difference between &lt;em&gt;&quot;all night long&quot;&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;&quot;all night&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, that would be a different matter. (As Flotsam N. Jetsam hinted, the &quot;&lt;em&gt;long&lt;/em&gt;&quot; adds emphasis, but the phrases are grammatically interchangeable.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T20:19:37.557" />
  <row Id="6517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6514" CreationDate="2010-12-09T20:20:05.230" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might be interested in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/home.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The TELSUR Project&lt;/a&gt;, which is a high-granularity phonological survey of North American dialects. Note that the information presented on that site is very detailed and highly technical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular, there is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/NationalMap/NationalMap.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;overview of major dialect regions&lt;/a&gt;, of which they distinguish five major groups:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;West (basically everything west of the Great Plains)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;North Central (MN, WI, and the Dakotas)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Midland (most of the Great Plains and the Midwest)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inland North (MI and inland NY)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;South (um, the South)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Northeast presents special difficulties, as it has the most diversity of any region, and isn't represented in the regions above. Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/maps/MapsNE/Map1NE.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;detail map of Northeast dialect regions&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are a multitude of subtle gradations in these divisions, which can be explored by reading through the materials presented on those sites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also like to look through the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/maps.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Harvard dialect survey results&lt;/a&gt;, which plot an enormous number of phonological and lexical differences across the country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T20:25:27.003" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T20:25:27.003" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4419" CreationDate="2010-12-09T20:49:40.180" Score="-3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's see the result of &quot;in the internet&quot; versus &quot;on the internet&quot; battle in/on internet with &lt;code&gt;google&lt;/code&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;rlz=&amp;amp;=&amp;amp;q=on+internet&amp;amp;btnG=Google+Search&amp;amp;aq=0&amp;amp;oq=#sclient=psy&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;q=%22in+the+internet%22&amp;amp;aq=0&amp;amp;aqi=g3g-o1&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&amp;amp;gs_rfai=&amp;amp;pbx=1&amp;amp;fp=7b9141da4f416ce8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in the internet&lt;/a&gt; 544,000,000 results&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;rlz=&amp;amp;=&amp;amp;q=in+internet&amp;amp;aq=5&amp;amp;oq=in+interne#hl=en&amp;amp;&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=RUABTcCoENeAhAfJ5IDtBw&amp;amp;sqi=2&amp;amp;ved=0CBEQBSgA&amp;amp;q=%22on+the+internet%22&amp;amp;spell=1&amp;amp;fp=7b9141da4f416ce8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;on the internet&lt;/a&gt; 134,000,000 results&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the the winner is &lt;code&gt;in the internet&lt;/code&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2209" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T20:49:40.180" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="6519" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6520" CreationDate="2010-12-09T21:11:17.160" Score="3" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tried looking up the word &quot;corps&quot; on dictionary.reference.com and it says it's pronounced &quot;kawr&quot;, &quot;kohr&quot;, &quot;kawrs&quot;, or &quot;kohrs&quot;, none of which match the way I've always pronounced it with the &quot;ps&quot; sound. I have always been a little leery saying it this way because it sounds like a dead body, and if you're talking about the Marine Corps then this isn't the best mental image.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2706" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T21:44:44.507" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T21:51:49.417" Title="What is the correct pronunciation and etymology of &quot;corps&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;look-alikes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6519" CreationDate="2010-12-09T21:18:31.320" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Corps&quot; and &quot;corpse&quot; both have the same ultimate origin in Latin &quot;corpus&quot; (body).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The former derives from the Latin via Medieval French, as far as I know. The French pronunciation &quot;korr&quot; (or slightly Anglicised to &quot;kohr&quot; or even &quot;kore&quot;) is thus the historically correct pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pronouncing it in any way ending with an &quot;s&quot; is not advisable. It certainly won't give others the impression that you're educated. (Worst of all is &quot;corpse&quot; - please never say it like that.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T21:18:31.320" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6521" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6592" CreationDate="2010-12-09T21:48:57.897" Score="3" ViewCount="398" Body="&lt;p&gt;English is not my first language, the little English I know is mostly from USA. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know some of the differences between British English (or just English?) and American English, and the same with Australian one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general terms could you explain to me or list the most important differences (if any) between Canadian and American English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance! (Sorry for my poor writing skills.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2702" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T21:53:36.310" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T19:24:02.703" Title="Differences between Canadian and American (USA) English?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;accent&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6519" CreationDate="2010-12-09T21:51:49.417" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Corps, which is pronounced like &quot;core,&quot; and corpse are two entirely different words, and I have never heard anyone pronounce them the same way. I've never heard anyone say Army &quot;corpse&quot; for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2699" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T21:51:49.417" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3556" CreationDate="2010-12-09T21:58:04.123" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;All the night&quot; sounds like a construction designed to fit a poetic meter rather than a common phrasing.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My boy is so much like the sun, so full of energy, so bright; and also like the sun, he is unconscious throughout all the night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T21:58:04.123" />
  <row Id="6524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6466" CreationDate="2010-12-09T22:08:36.343" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apparently, lawyers believe that punctuation leads to ambiguity. In normal circumstances this isn't a real problem, however in legal documents punctuation evidently provides an opening for an opposing lawyer to dispute the interpretation. For lay people, of course, lack of punctuation means that legal documents become almost incomprehensible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; says&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One aspect of archaic legal drafting – particularly in conveyances and deeds – is the conspicuous absence of punctuation. This arose from a widespread idea among those in the legal profession that punctuation was ambiguous and unimportant, and that people should gather the meaning of legal documents only from the words used and the context in which they were used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An &lt;a href=&quot;http://ezinearticles.com/?Legal-Translation,-A-Special-Language-Made-on-Purpose&amp;amp;id=4702717&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ezine article&lt;/a&gt; on legal translation says&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;During the Middle Ages, legal documents were historically made as a solid block of script whose long lines stretched from margin to margin. There were no indentations or spacing to indicate the limits of paragraphs or the relation between them. It was common for draftsmen to compose an entire document in the form of one single sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this habit has its historical basis hundreds of years in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: I note that an important &lt;a href=&quot;http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&amp;amp;Sect2=HITOFF&amp;amp;p=1&amp;amp;u=/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html&amp;amp;r=1&amp;amp;f=G&amp;amp;l=50&amp;amp;co1=AND&amp;amp;d=PTXT&amp;amp;s1=6,004,596.PN.&amp;amp;OS=PN/6,004,596&amp;amp;RS=PN/6,004,596&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;patent&lt;/a&gt; uses numerous sentences and arguably also cheats by using semicolons to end what are effectively yet-more sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I shall use this to defend myself against patent infringement lawsuits when I make myself a sealed crustless sandwich.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T10:56:48.283" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T10:56:48.283" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6525" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6564" CreationDate="2010-12-09T22:10:25.063" Score="1" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between accounting, finance and budget? are some of them included in others?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2209" LastEditorUserId="2209" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-09T22:46:52.457" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T14:10:34.980" Title="Difference between accounting, finance and budget" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;finance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6521" CreationDate="2010-12-09T22:18:45.103" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a huge question. Canadian English has many differences from American English. But it also has many differences from British English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spelling tends to favour the British way, such as putting the U in favour.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Except for words that Americans end in -ize instead of ise; in that case Canadians often use -ize.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Much of the word choice is closer to American. We say truck and elevator, not lorry or lift.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Canadians drink a can of pop, not a can of soda.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The last letter of the alphabet is Zed, not Zee.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general where there is a difference between American and British you can guess that half the time Canadian goes one way and half the other. Occasionally we go our own way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T22:18:45.103" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6527" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6528" CreationDate="2010-12-09T22:35:34.343" Score="2" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;In the heat of the night&quot; doesn't simply mean hot weather at night, does it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T22:41:22.153" Title="What does &quot;in the heat of the night&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6527" CreationDate="2010-12-09T22:41:22.153" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it does. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is the title of a famous film based on a novel published in 1965. I am not aware of any prior or more general usage of the phrase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From this it also suggests alterations in human behaviour when subjected to long periods of unaccustomed heat; shortness of temper, heightened emotions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T22:41:22.153" />
  <row Id="6529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6500" CreationDate="2010-12-09T22:51:08.317" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Used or Promoted&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Discouraged or Deprecated&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Disused or Obsoleted&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T22:51:08.317" />
  <row Id="6530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6521" CreationDate="2010-12-09T23:09:03.460" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is so tempting to say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Eh?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T23:09:03.460" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6525" CreationDate="2010-12-09T23:14:42.627" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general terms, accounting is the process of tracking your finances.  Finances are any monetary transaction; a sale, a purchase, a return or exchange, or even finding a $10 bill on the street.  A budget is a guideline for much money you expect to spend or receive as the result of a set of transactions in a given time period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everybody has finances; they receive income and purchase goods and services.&#xA;Most people have some level of accounting for their finances, even if it's only their monthly bank statement or check register.&#xA;Some people use budgets to try to manage their finances, some don't.  In order to use a budget effectively, you need to have good accounting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the corporate environment, many places will use &quot;Finance Department&quot; and &quot;Accounting Department&quot; interchangeably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T23:14:42.627" />
  <row Id="6532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6108" CreationDate="2010-12-09T23:40:22.767" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Convex closed curves?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2010-12-09T23:40:22.767" />
  <row Id="6533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6161" CreationDate="2010-12-09T23:56:05.880" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Isn't the King's English always correct, by definition?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, Arthur, had he existed, would not have been speaking English but British -- the P-Celtic language Brythonic -- so we can blame the translator if necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-10T00:01:19.057" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T00:01:19.057" />
  <row Id="6534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6114" CreationDate="2010-12-10T00:11:54.597" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to deal with the vanity punctuation is as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12/01/yahoo_product_lay_offs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Register&lt;/a&gt; do. Note &quot;Related stories.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T00:11:54.597" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6535" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6546" CreationDate="2010-12-10T01:10:23.513" Score="1" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct version please?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The human brain capacity to do something.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The human brain's capacity to do something.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2711" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:05:33.063" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:05:33.063" Title="&quot;human brain capacity&quot; or &quot;human brain's capacity&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="6536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6535" CreationDate="2010-12-10T01:28:40.267" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The human brain's capacity to do something is amazing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The capacity belongs to the brain, so we use the possessive form, which is &lt;code&gt;brain's&lt;/code&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the two examples you give are sentence fragments, since they do not have a finite verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-10T06:47:55.610" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T06:47:55.610" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6535" CreationDate="2010-12-10T02:09:52.253" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can say this several ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The capacity of the human brain — in&#xA;  other words, human brain capacity — is&#xA;  something to behold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A human's brain capacity is something&#xA;  to behold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The human brain's capacity for&#xA;  knowledge and adaptation is seemingly&#xA;  limitless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All are correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-10T03:38:35.203" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T03:38:35.203" />
  <row Id="6538" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6540" CreationDate="2010-12-10T02:58:42.040" Score="0" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found some statement using &lt;code&gt;years&lt;/code&gt;. But commonly used &lt;code&gt;year&lt;/code&gt; as I know. &#xA;When we need use &lt;code&gt;years&lt;/code&gt; like &lt;code&gt;1950s&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;2010s&lt;/code&gt;. etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sample.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Fish stocks here began to decline in the &lt;code&gt;1950s&lt;/code&gt;, and with in 20 years, there was no brown trout left.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2661" LastEditorUserId="2661" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-10T03:11:01.733" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T03:18:22.690" Title="When we need use the statement form of 'Year' and end with 's'?" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6538" CreationDate="2010-12-10T03:17:57.953" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;1950 refers to the single year 1950. 1950s refer to the period 195X, where X can be any digit. By the way, in the sample sentence, 'with in' should be replaced with 'within'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T03:17:57.953" />
  <row Id="6540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6538" CreationDate="2010-12-10T03:18:22.690" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer based on what I think you meant from the clarification of the original:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;1950&lt;/em&gt; is specific, and &lt;em&gt;1950s&lt;/em&gt; is more general, referring to the decade 1950-1959. You would use &lt;em&gt;1950&lt;/em&gt; only when you are referring to that specific year. So if you mean something within the decade 1950-1959, you'd use &lt;em&gt;1950s.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I answering the right question?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T03:18:22.690" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6541" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6545" CreationDate="2010-12-10T04:08:17.557" Score="4" ViewCount="268" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw emails from English people with &lt;em&gt;Many Thanks&lt;/em&gt; as a signing off phrase. Is that proper usage? Or is it a phrase created by continental English speakers due to the influence of their native language? (&lt;em&gt;Vielen Dank&lt;/em&gt; in German and &lt;em&gt;muchas gracias&lt;/em&gt; in Spanish translate to &quot;many thanks&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen several other cases where one constructs imprecise sentences due to the influence of native language. This is evident especially in India.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2056" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:06:28.350" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:06:28.350" Title="Is &quot;Many thanks&quot; a proper usage?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;email&gt;&lt;valediction&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6541" CreationDate="2010-12-10T04:25:18.440" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all depends on your perspective. You can break it down far enough so that there's no way it's proper: What is a &quot;thank?&quot; Can such a thing be pluralized? Taken on its own, &quot;many thanks&quot; is a sentence fragment, and thus not truly proper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In common use, though, I'd say it's a standard closing for a communication, like  &quot;With kind regards, Joe Blow&quot; and is entirely acceptable (though I admit that I don't care for using things like &quot;many thanks&quot; without also including the sender's name as a signature). It's vernacular, which is to say it's how the language is used, regardless of how proper it is grammatically speaking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastEditorUserId="2707" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-10T04:36:04.480" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T04:36:04.480" />
  <row Id="6543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6016" CreationDate="2010-12-10T05:20:02.320" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.emigratenz.org/AccentNewZealand.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;obvious giveaway&lt;/a&gt; of a New Zealand accent (as opposed to Australian) is pronouncing the &quot;i&quot; in &quot;fish&quot; further back, so it's almost a &quot;u&quot; ... for example, &quot;fush and chups&quot;, which is not done anywhere else in the world. (in IPA, the ɪ moves almost halfway backwards to ʊ, so fish is pronounced fʊʃ instead of fɪʃ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the same reason a New Zealander might also move the first ɪ in &lt;em&gt;women&lt;/em&gt; backwards to ʊ, pronouncing it wʊmɪn instead of wɪmɪn, thus barely distinguishable from the way they pronounce &lt;em&gt;woman&lt;/em&gt; (wʊmən).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Australians and especially South Africans would notice this most, because they move their vowels the other way, saying &quot;feesh&quot; for &quot;fish&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The theory that New Zealanders have lost interest in distinguishing between single and plural is ridiculous. Why would they only be doing this with one particular word? The phonetic explanation is vastly simpler and thus, according to Occam's razor, I'm sticking with it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="133" LastEditorUserId="133" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-10T16:52:01.300" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T16:52:01.300" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6541" CreationDate="2010-12-10T05:28:30.703" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, &lt;em&gt;many thanks&lt;/em&gt; is perfectly proper, grammatical, standard English. It is appropriate to use wherever &quot;thanks&quot; (as opposed to &quot;thank you&quot;) would be acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T05:28:30.703" />
  <row Id="6546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6535" CreationDate="2010-12-10T05:45:50.603" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would define &quot;human brain capacity&quot; differently than &quot;human brain's capacity&quot;. It's partly emphasis &amp;mdash; the former emphasizes &lt;em&gt;human&lt;/em&gt;, while the latter puts the stress on &lt;em&gt;brain&lt;/em&gt; &amp;mdash;; but it's also that &lt;em&gt;brain capacity&lt;/em&gt; is a quantity, while &lt;em&gt;brain's capacity&lt;/em&gt; is a capability. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, it makes sense to talk about &lt;em&gt;The human brain's capacity to do something&lt;/em&gt;, but not really about &lt;em&gt;The human brain capacity to do something&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T05:45:50.603" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6535" CreationDate="2010-12-10T06:08:21.550" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The human brain's capacity is 600 billion neurons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2714" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T06:08:21.550" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6521" CreationDate="2010-12-10T06:12:09.363" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to my observation, Canadians like to add &quot;-ah&quot; sound in the end of almost every sentence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T06:12:09.363" />
  <row Id="6549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6541" CreationDate="2010-12-10T07:04:26.137" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use it all the time.  I consider it shorthand for both &quot;thank you very much&quot; and &quot;thank you in advance&quot; and hence works at the end of almost any e-mail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T07:04:26.137" />
  <row Id="6550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-12-10T07:18:12.203" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The US state of Oregon is commonly mispronounced, even by Americans, as &quot;Oh-ree-gawn.&quot; I've even heard this mispronunciation on national news programs. It's actually pronounced &quot;Ory-gun&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also come from the Willamette Valley of Oregon, which produces some great wines. To those vinophiles out there, please note it is &quot;Will-lamb-it&quot;, emphasis on second syllable, not &quot;William-etty&quot; as some mistakenly say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2697" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T07:18:12.203" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-10T07:18:12.203" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5407" CreationDate="2010-12-10T07:44:42.590" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The needs &lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt; + passive seems to be the construction that Western/Central Pennsylvanians slide into when they spend significant time around outsiders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't find this construction commonly used with any verbs other than &quot;needs&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, this usage seems to be most common when speaking about cleanliness. Another classic example is &quot;The floor needs swept&quot;, which means &quot;The floor needs to be vacuumed&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2697" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T07:44:42.590" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6552" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6553" CreationDate="2010-12-10T08:04:09.840" Score="2" ViewCount="277" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard this phrase in some lyrics and even read it in some online articles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;don't know if he's coming or going&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the meaning and correct usage of &lt;em&gt;coming or going&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1798" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-10T10:29:53.530" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T10:29:53.530" Title="Meaning of &quot;can't tell if he's coming or going&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6552" CreationDate="2010-12-10T08:22:12.527" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is one source I can find after a quick search: &lt;a href=&quot;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/not+know+whether+one+is+coming+or+going+and+not+know+if+one+is+...&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;idioms.thefreedictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;not know whether one is coming or going&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fig. &lt;strong&gt;to be very confused&lt;/strong&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'm so busy that I don't know if I'm coming or going. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You look as if you don't know whether you're coming or going.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That would fit with the songs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Coming-Or-Going-lyrics-Jean-Shepard/A01B2953F49B061848256E6E0025CDC6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Coming Or Going&lt;/strong&gt; (Lyrics) by Jean Shepard&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sing365.com/music/Lyric.nsf/I-DON%27T-KNOW-IF-I%27M-COMING-OR-GOING-lyrics-Billie-Holiday/447AB0A01CF552F948256A99000A4449&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I don't know if I'm coming or going&lt;/strong&gt; (Lyrics) by Billie Holiday&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last example is telling:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You've got me on the road&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Runnin' to and fro&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Lookin' high and low&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I don't know if I'm coming or going&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Since I fell for you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I run up across the town&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Chasing up and down&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Having you around&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I don't know if I'm coming or going&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Since I fell for you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-10T08:30:58.463" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T08:30:58.463" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6554" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6563" CreationDate="2010-12-10T08:48:46.037" Score="0" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a whole bunch of lists of &quot;&lt;strong&gt;greatest&lt;/strong&gt; ...&quot; in the world of art. Does it mean influence, artistic excellence, ...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;edit&lt;/strong&gt;: I've seen a number of &lt;strong&gt;greatest movies&lt;/strong&gt; lists and I wonder what they mean if they don't specify what they mean by &lt;em&gt;great&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2380" LastEditorUserId="2380" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-10T10:14:57.257" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T13:53:57.950" Title="What does 'greatest' mean in art?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="258" CreationDate="2010-12-10T09:09:05.310" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is the shortest, in number of words, complete English sentence that directly answers your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T09:09:05.310" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-10T09:09:05.310" />
  <row Id="6556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6554" CreationDate="2010-12-10T09:28:15.733" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this context, and many similar, it is a vague term used in headlines by greedy but weak editors either unable to think of an informative superlative or fearing that the following material is inadequate to justify one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-10T09:36:10.040" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T09:36:10.040" />
  <row Id="6558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6541" CreationDate="2010-12-10T13:04:59.493" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is heard several times every morning on BBC Radio 4's &lt;em&gt;Today&lt;/em&gt; programme: it is the standard closing that they use after interviewing somebody. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T13:04:59.493" />
  <row Id="6559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6535" CreationDate="2010-12-10T13:15:40.430" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To enlarge on Martha's answer, I think the quality/quantity distinction is the key to the answer, when you realise that &quot;capacity&quot; as a quality always belongs to somebody or something - &quot;my capacity to ...&quot;, &quot;the government's capacity ... &quot;, &quot;the capacity of the average citizen to ... &quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The quantity does not need to belong to something grammatically, (even though it will actually be the capacity of something): &quot;The capacity is 400ml&quot; is fine, whereas &quot;The capacity to eat&quot; is odd (not impossible; but the possessor of the capacity must have been established first). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hence &quot;the human brain's capacity&quot; is possessed, and therefore can mean the quality &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; the quantity, whereas &quot;human brain capacity&quot; is not explicitly possessed - it is just a kind of capacity - and so can usually mean only the quantity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T13:15:40.430" />
  <row Id="6560" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-10T13:24:20.603" Score="3" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any guidelines for when you should capitalize titles/headings or not? Should you always do this in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am referring to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A Capitalized Heading&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A capitalized heading&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1323" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T01:39:43.690" Title="When should you use &quot;Title Case&quot;?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6560" CreationDate="2010-12-10T13:45:18.287" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;title&lt;/em&gt; of a book, play, movie, etc. should be capitalized as in your first example. Exceptions would be where the author, for artistic or other reasons, has specifically eschewed capitalization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;heading&lt;/em&gt; or subheading, as in a section of an article, is different. In most cases the preference is to capitalize as in your second example--the editors I know and work with pretty uniformly object to anything but an initial capital letter in heads and subheads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T13:45:18.287" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6466" CreationDate="2010-12-10T13:53:20.007" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Patent law practice in the US is governed by a two volume thick &quot;Manual of Patent Examination and Procedure (MPEP).&quot; This manual states that “Each claim begins with a capital letter and ends with a period. Periods may not be used elsewhere in the claims except for abbreviations.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An historical analysis of the origin of this practice can be found in an interesting &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ipmall.info/hosted_resources/commissioner_decisions/cd_90.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;decision&lt;/a&gt; by a Commissioner of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Mr. Fressola had petitioned the Commissioner to review the examiner’s objection to a multi-sentence patent claim. The petition was denied.  The Commissioner stated that the single sentence tradition is “the proper and only way of drafting a claim in compliance with the statutory requirement[s]&quot; His reasoning was based on 1) more than 150 years of tradition, 2) no actual evidence of any difficulty in reading and understanding long claims, and 3) the authority of the MPEP. The patent secured by Mr. Fressola was US Patent &lt;a href=&quot;http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&amp;amp;Sect2=HITOFF&amp;amp;p=1&amp;amp;u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&amp;amp;r=4&amp;amp;f=G&amp;amp;l=50&amp;amp;co1=AND&amp;amp;d=PTXT&amp;amp;s1=5,617,332&amp;amp;OS=5,617,332&amp;amp;RS=5,617,332&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;5,617,332&lt;/a&gt;. Mr. Fressola appealed this case all the way up, but lost at every turn. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more than 150 years of tradition was explained thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Modern claim practice is an end result of over 155 years of evolution&#xA;  since the first requirement for a&#xA;  claim was enacted in the Patent Act of&#xA;  1836...[citations omitted] As to the claim form, ... [n]o mode of claiming&#xA;  is specified [in the patent statute],&#xA;  but in the absence thereof the&#xA;  Commissioner of Patents is within the&#xA;  general powers given him by statutory&#xA;  authority when he requires certain&#xA;  forms to be followed in the interest&#xA;  of efficient administration of his&#xA;  office. It is in this way that the&#xA;  general forms of claims discussed&#xA;  herein have become those commonly&#xA;  required as proper and best&#xA;  practi[c]e.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For years, it appeared that patentees&#xA;  voluntarily summarized their invention&#xA;  in claims at the end of the&#xA;  specification. As noted hereinbefore,&#xA;  the Act of 1836 made this practice&#xA;  mandatory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For example, the patent of John Nash,&#xA;  issued October 14, 1823, for an &#xA;  &quot;Improvement in Plows,&quot; concludes with&#xA;  the claim:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I claim--&#xA;&#xA; The manner of putting this plow together by the loops and hinge, as also &#xA; the shoulder and mortise or box,  and likewise the sword or edge in&#xA; lieu of a colter.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The single sentence claim form where&#xA;  the claim is the object of a sentence&#xA;  starting with &quot;I claim&quot; is readily&#xA;  apparent in this 168-year old claim,&#xA;  issued 13 years before the 1836 Act.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2578" LastEditorUserId="2578" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-10T14:10:30.670" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T14:10:30.670" />
  <row Id="6563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6554" CreationDate="2010-12-10T13:53:57.950" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the makers of the list don't specify, it's safe to assume that the meaning of &quot;greatest&quot; is entirely subjective and that the only way to tell the criteria is from context--what made the list may give you a clue about what they were judging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, the only way to know is to ask the list curator/editor or better yet, to have them publish their criteria along with the list. Even then, when you're talking about art, the interpretation of whether a work best fits the criteria is almost entirely subjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most publishers of lists like that are looking for attention to their subject matter (as RedGrittyBrick says), and are probably not keen to have the validity of their list picked apart. Keeping the criteria to themselves makes it harder to criticize their choices, so it's a popular action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T13:53:57.950" />
  <row Id="6564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6525" CreationDate="2010-12-10T14:10:34.980" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These terms all overlap to some degree because they all usually deal with money (though people sometimes use them to describe other resources, such as in computer networking, where there's no money but there is a bandwidth budget and bandwidth accounting).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First the definitions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=budget&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Budget:&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(noun) a sum of money allocated for a particular purpose&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(noun) a summary of intended expenditures along with proposals for how to meet them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(verb) to budget (make a budget) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=accounting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Accounting:&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(noun) a system that provides quantitative information about finances&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=finance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Finance:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(noun) the commercial activity of providing funds and capital&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(noun) the branch of economics that studies the management of money and other assets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(noun) the management of money and credit and banking and investments&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(verb) obtain or provide money for a transaction&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(verb) sell or provide on credit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your finances is your money, which you organize into a budget (spending plan), and you use accounting to track spending and income. If your budget (allocated sum) is empty, you might finance (obtain money or credit) your purchase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since these terms are related, they are sometimes used interchangeably when referring to budgeting or planning, because accounting and budgeting are a subset of finance management, and without accounting you can't budget. Once you've done the accounting you can budget for spending.  Once you've budgeted you have a budget, and you can say that you have funds in a budget. In an organization you often have hierarchical budgets: the finance/accounting department of the CIA creates a budget and submits it to the government; the government then creates its own budget which contains the budgets of the CIA and the other departments such as the NSA, FBI, MIB, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T14:10:34.980" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6560" CreationDate="2010-12-10T14:21:18.527" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is really a question of style.  A title is a title, but some titles are more important than others. For example, in a book the chapter titles are often title-case. If this is a document for your work, check for a style guide recommended by your workplace. If you are submitting it to a publisher such as a magazine, ask them. If there are no guidelines in place, I'd suggest deciding how important the headings are (as important as chapter titles in a novel?) and pick a consistent pattern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T14:21:18.527" />
  <row Id="6566" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6568" CreationDate="2010-12-10T14:52:19.390" Score="5" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;As someone who follows tech, I have heard over and over that a product is &quot;X on steroids.&quot; Now, outside of a few ailments and allergies that are treated with steroids, it is pretty well accepted that steroids have a negative connotation. Why the dichotomy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2720" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T20:30:03.663" Title="Why is &quot;X on steroids&quot; good?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6560" CreationDate="2010-12-10T14:54:22.303" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a matter of convention. If you are submitting to a publisher, you should follow the style guide of the publisher. When capitalization of the important words is used, the classes of words which require capitalization may differ from publisher to publisher. Also, it is not uncommon in academia to capitalize only the first word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T01:39:43.690" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T01:39:43.690" />
  <row Id="6568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6566" CreationDate="2010-12-10T15:10:18.723" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Steroids have a negative connotation with respect to sportsmanship precisely because they make you stronger or faster.  &quot;X on steroids&quot; comparisons are taking the sense of improvement into an arena where the sportsmanship aspect is irrelevant, so the negative connotation gets left behind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T15:10:18.723" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6566" CreationDate="2010-12-10T15:14:29.317" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Steroids in a certain context do improve performance or theoretically make someone bigger/more masculine, so the use of &quot;X on steroids&quot; is meant to convey the positive meaning you indicate. However, it seems to me to retain something of a negative connotation in that it's an over-exaggerated or artificial improvement. So if something is described as &quot;X on steroids&quot; it may be improved a bit &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; much or made a bit &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; large.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2697" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T15:14:29.317" />
  <row Id="6570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6566" CreationDate="2010-12-10T15:27:25.987" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;X on steroids&quot; has no negative connotations, unless X is a negative to begin with. (&quot;Leona was like the devil on steroids.&quot;) The construction is an intensifier, and just means that something is so good it has an unfair advantage. It is bigger, better, faster, stronger ... whatever qualities one would expect in X's domain, but with an additional multiplier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare it to the use of &quot;uber&quot;: &lt;em&gt;Ron is an uber-programmer at my company.&lt;/em&gt; It's just one more way of hyping a thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-10T15:46:19.017" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T15:46:19.017" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2926" CreationDate="2010-12-10T15:27:41.437" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another meaning behind this quote aside from probabilities of winning a theoretical battle is the importance of knowing/understanding others. In this sense, battle is taken to mean any type of personal conflict.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've fought and won a battle with someone without coming to a greater understanding of that person, you've gained nothing, even if you win the argument.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you've fought a battle where you gained a greater understanding of yourself &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; the other person, you've gained something greater than a mere win, and the outcome of the battle itself is irrelevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2697" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T15:27:41.437" />
  <row Id="6572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6314" CreationDate="2010-12-10T15:38:32.483" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instinctively, it makes me think of something horrible being served or given in an otherwise palatable package. Perhaps something that should have been good (the cracker) is then totally spoiled by something unforeseen or unwanted (the holy crap).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2697" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T15:38:32.483" />
  <row Id="6573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6560" CreationDate="2010-12-10T15:50:52.447" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there is a style guide your organization subscribes to, look in that. Otherwise, do what you think is right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of style guides:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MLA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/10/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;APA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.apstylebook.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;AP&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T15:50:52.447" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="258" CreationDate="2010-12-10T16:20:28.847" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is said both the longest and teh shortest sentence comes from the marriage ceremony:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2722" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T16:20:28.847" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-10T16:20:28.847" />
  <row Id="6575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6541" CreationDate="2010-12-10T16:27:31.043" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Martha says, &lt;em&gt;many thanks&lt;/em&gt; is perfectly idiomatic.  However, it is indeed an oddly isolated idiom: most other constructions which try to treat &lt;em&gt;thanks&lt;/em&gt; as a plural noun are ungrammatical (eg &lt;em&gt;*lots of thanks&lt;/em&gt;), and there’s certainly no such thing as &lt;em&gt;*a thank&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the sense of “feelings of gratitude” it can be used either as a mass noun (&lt;em&gt;thanks is due to God for this harvest…&lt;/em&gt;), or a plural (&lt;em&gt;thanks are due to God…&lt;/em&gt;).  In the sense of “expressions of gratitude”, it can be used as either of these, or also as a singular: &lt;em&gt;a special thanks is due to the chairman…&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Sources for this: roughly counting hits for phrasings like &lt;em&gt;thanks is&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;thanks are&lt;/em&gt; in Google and &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;COHA&lt;/a&gt;.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How did it get this way?  The entries for &lt;em&gt;thanks&lt;/em&gt; in the OED tell a tangled tale, but as far as I can make out, &lt;em&gt;thank&lt;/em&gt; was originally an acceptable singular noun (their last citation is 1642, &lt;em&gt;Is this the thanke which you returne to God?&lt;/em&gt;), but the plural form &lt;em&gt;thanks&lt;/em&gt; gradually predominated, and apparently lost its plural-ness to some extent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This bit is confusing: the OED describes &lt;em&gt;thanks&lt;/em&gt; here as “†Formerly sometimes construed as singular”, and their citations where it’s unambiguously singular stop after Shakespeare (1594, &lt;em&gt;Thanks to men Of Noble minds, is honourable meede.&lt;/em&gt;), but all the later citations they give are completely ambiguous about its number (1805, &lt;em&gt;I return it to you with my sincere thanks.&lt;/em&gt;), like most modern usage.  There are no citations where it’s unambiguously treated as plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their earliest citation for the phrase &lt;em&gt;Many thanks&lt;/em&gt; is 1803, &lt;em&gt;Many thanks for your letter.&lt;/em&gt;  So this seems to arise some while after &lt;em&gt;thanks&lt;/em&gt; was generally construed as plural!  I’d love to know more of the background here…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T16:27:31.043" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6576" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6598" CreationDate="2010-12-10T16:39:59.757" Score="8" ViewCount="332" Body="&lt;p&gt;The title is quite specific (I think so).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also would like to know when you would use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2702" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-10T20:28:19.010" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T21:27:02.397" Title="What does 'gotcha' mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="6577" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-10T16:42:56.153" Score="2" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is is proper in English to use this structure:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;The following is an example of a case where this applies.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a lot of technical writing, especially from authors where ESL applies, I find them using above and below as adjectives, as well as &quot;following&quot; as a noun. I had always thought this was incorrect, but I am wondering if I am mistaken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2721" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:11:49.200" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:11:49.200" Title="The usage of &quot;Following&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6578" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-10T16:43:31.883" Score="0" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between these phrasal verbs? Would you say &quot;organization shake up&quot;, &quot;organization shape up&quot;, either depending on context and desired meaning or neither? How about &quot;documentation&quot; in place of &quot;organization&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1235" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-10T18:20:36.090" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T18:20:36.090" Title="&quot;shake up&quot; vs &quot;shape up&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6576" CreationDate="2010-12-10T16:44:43.290" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is short for 'Got you!' We use it when we want to say that we have caught somebody doing something, or when we have fooled or tricked somebody.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T16:44:43.290" />
  <row Id="6580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6578" CreationDate="2010-12-10T17:01:18.500" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Shake up&quot; implies that things are getting changed around, while &quot;shape up&quot; implies that something is bad and should be changed. So if someone says &quot;organization shake up,&quot; they're simply stating that for whatever reason something is getting changed around, whereas an &quot;organization shape up&quot; means that something needs to be improved. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2591" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T17:01:18.500" />
  <row Id="6581" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6600" CreationDate="2010-12-10T17:06:44.873" Score="11" ViewCount="248" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just came across a course name: &lt;em&gt;Geometric and Theoretical Optics&lt;/em&gt;. The mismatched endings bug me. Why do we have both -ical and -ic endings? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference in meaning between, say, &lt;em&gt;theoretic&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;theoretical&lt;/em&gt;? I know that &lt;em&gt;acoustic&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;acoustical&lt;/em&gt; mean slightly different things, but is this difference inherent in the words, or is it just usage - we happen to use the former for sound, and the latter for ceilings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-10T23:29:12.933" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T15:40:49.000" Title="Why is it *geometric_* but *theoretic_al_*?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="6582" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-10T17:18:50.417" Score="4" ViewCount="269" Body="&lt;p&gt;How normal-sounding is the slogan &quot;I'm lovin' it&quot; to native ears?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it sounded quite odd to &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; when I first heard it — and it still sometimes does —, but I can't even tell why. Sure, &lt;em&gt;love&lt;/em&gt; is supposedly a stative verb, but it's being used in progressive aspect all the time without sounding weird at all (lots of songs come to mind, e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving_Every_Minute_%28Lighthouse_Family_song%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Loving Every Minute&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;). It's only this particular slogan that somehow doesn't quite work for me. I would expect that to be totally on purpose — it's advertising, after all —, but Wikipedia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald%27s_advertising#Current_campaign&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;doesn't mention&lt;/a&gt; any objections from native speakers (as it does with &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_Different#Grammar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Think Different&lt;/a&gt;&quot; and &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_tastes_good_like_a_cigarette_should#Grammar_controversy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Winston tastes good like a cigarette should&lt;/a&gt;&quot;). So I'm asking the native speakers of this community: does &quot;I'm lovin' it&quot; sound completely natural to you? Just a bit off? Completely weird? Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:06:44.747" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:06:44.747" Title="&quot;I'm lovin' it&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;progressive-tense&gt;&lt;slogan&gt;&lt;stative-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6582" CreationDate="2010-12-10T17:39:42.787" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds naff and gives off the impression of being grammatically incorrect, regardless of whether it actually is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly there are the two abbreviations and the use of such a short and broad determiner &quot;it&quot;, might as well count as a third contraction.  So the sentence sounds very terse and somewhat devoid of meaning.  Even with context, the question &quot;Loving what exactly?&quot; tends to be in my mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The front section &lt;em&gt;I'm lovin'&lt;/em&gt;, even expanded &lt;em&gt;I am loving&lt;/em&gt;, sounds wrong in itself.  There are plenty of uses without &quot;it&quot; in current use e.g. &quot;I'm loving this new song&quot;.  But should it not be &quot;I love&quot;?  The attempt to make it progressive with &quot;I am&quot; seems to be what grates, it seems alright when the subject is implied, as in your song title.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T17:39:42.787" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6576" CreationDate="2010-12-10T17:46:00.893" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following from Jasper Loy's statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is short for &lt;em&gt;&quot;Got you!&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, itself having the subject implied &lt;em&gt;&quot;I have got you.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It regularly means, at least in the UK, &lt;em&gt;&quot;I understand [what you mean]&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: You turn left, then right, go&#xA;  straight on and it is on your left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;B: Gotcha!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: They'll never know who did it... &lt;em&gt;&amp;lt;manic laughter&amp;gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;B: Gotcha! You little tyke!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T17:46:00.893" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6582" CreationDate="2010-12-10T18:00:26.910" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does sound odd, because we wouldn't normally use &quot;love&quot; in the present continuous.  It is less disturbing in the phrase &quot;I'm loving every minute of it&quot;, which is what I suspect &quot;I'm loving it&quot; evolved from, since there is a sense of passing time there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T18:00:26.910" />
  <row Id="6586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6016" CreationDate="2010-12-10T18:03:54.717" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To take out a specific clause in your quotes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...] &lt;em&gt;I see it as part of a much&#xA;  larger tendency to confuse singular&#xA;  and plurals.&lt;/em&gt; [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to a common phenomenon internationally, using singular nouns in place of their plural equivalents.  There are a few origins that spring to mind.  Firstly, integration with speakers of languages that do not have separate plural words, Chinese for instance, (I note that many Maori words do not have separate forms).  Secondly, in modern western youth culture, deliberate dumbing down to stand out, when used in that way it has a similar effect to the Patwa absence of tense in words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, I believe the NZ use is a pronunciation issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T18:03:54.717" />
  <row Id="6587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6578" CreationDate="2010-12-10T18:10:39.917" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrases aren't used in the same way because one is transitive and the other is intransitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shake_up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;To shake something up&lt;/a&gt; means to disturb or rearrange it, often with an intent to improve.  It is transitive; &quot;I will shake up this football team.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shape_up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;To shape up&lt;/a&gt; means to improve or become more fit for purpose.  It is intransitive; &quot;Shape up, man!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't normally say &quot;organization shape up&quot; at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T18:10:39.917" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6588" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-10T19:03:11.293" Score="3" ViewCount="344" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is it that the &quot;ow&quot; in now makes the aʊ sound while &quot;ow&quot; in snow makes the oʊ sound? Has this always been, was it spelled differently and then changed, or was it spelled this way but the sound changed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2720" LastEditorUserId="2720" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-10T21:32:45.513" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T01:58:03.110" Title="Why does &quot;ow&quot; have two different sounds" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;phonology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6581" CreationDate="2010-12-10T19:05:15.120" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In some cases, an adjective has both &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt; forms, with no difference in meaning. In some cases, there are two different words for two different meanings. In some cases, only one word exists. And of course, this is often historical and can change with time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, there &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; actually differences in meaning (at least as I would use them):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Geometric&lt;/em&gt; roughly means &quot;related to geometry&quot; — &lt;em&gt;geometric optics&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;geometric algebra&lt;/em&gt;, etc. It's a technical word; if I use &lt;em&gt;geometric&lt;/em&gt; in a phrase, the field of geometry probably actually enters into it in a non-trivial way. I'd use &lt;em&gt;geometrical&lt;/em&gt; in uses like &lt;em&gt;geometrical pattern&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;geometrical design&lt;/em&gt;, etc. — pleasing patterns made out of simple shapes like circles, triangles and squares. (This may be just an idiosyncrasy of mine, there &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; certainly books talking of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks:1&amp;amp;q=geometrical%20optics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;geometrical optics&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, and people do use &lt;em&gt;geometric&lt;/em&gt; where I'd say &lt;em&gt;geometrical&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;theoretical&lt;/em&gt; is much more common than &lt;em&gt;theoretic&lt;/em&gt;: for instance, &lt;em&gt;theoretical physics&lt;/em&gt; is contrasted with practical (or applied) physics; something may be &lt;em&gt;theoretical&lt;/em&gt; if it exists only in theory and not in reality, and so on. The word &lt;em&gt;theoretic&lt;/em&gt; is rarely used, except in usages where you want to make an adjective out of some specific named theory, like &lt;em&gt;set-theoretic definition&lt;/em&gt; (a definition that comes from, or uses, set theory), &lt;em&gt;number-theoretic function&lt;/em&gt; (a function as usually defined in number theory), &lt;em&gt;game-theoretic equilibrium&lt;/em&gt; (the equilibrium predicted by game theory), &lt;em&gt;information-theoretic proof&lt;/em&gt; (a proof that uses information theory), etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So much for the specific words. Let's turn to the general issue of the two suffixes &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt;. The following is the entry in Fowler (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dictionary_of_Modern_English_Usage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;A Dictionary of Modern English Usage&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;) for &lt;strong&gt;-ic(al)&lt;/strong&gt;, written in the good old days when one could speculate and have opinions about what would be nice for the language without being shouted down by descriptive linguists for committing grave sins like stifling its natural evolution. (In short, Fowler says that where two meanings can be differentiated, it's good to do so, and otherwise it's good to keep just one word.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;-ic(al).&lt;/strong&gt; A great many adjectives appear with alternative forms in &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt;. Often the choice between them on any particular occasion is immaterial, so far as the writer's immediate object is concerned.    To those who can afford time to think also of the interests of the English language it may be suggested that there are two desirable tendencies to be assisted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first of these is DIFFERENTIATION. There are many pairs in &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt;, each form well established and in constant use, but with a difference of meaning either complete or incipient. The final stage of differentiation is seen in &lt;em&gt;politic&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;political&lt;/em&gt;, which are not even content, as usual, to share an adverb in &lt;em&gt;-ically&lt;/em&gt;, but make &lt;em&gt;politicly&lt;/em&gt; by the side of &lt;em&gt;politically&lt;/em&gt;. Between &lt;em&gt;economic&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;economical&lt;/em&gt; the distinction is nearly as clear, though the seal has not been set upon it by a double provision of adverbs; most writers are now aware that the two words mean different things, and have no difficulty in choosing the one required. This can hardly be said of &lt;em&gt;comic(al)&lt;/em&gt;, the short form of which is often made to do the other's work. And so the differentiations tail off into mere incipiency. Every well-established differentiation adds to the precision and power of the language; every observance of an incipient one helps it on the way to establishment, and every disregard of it checks it severely. It is therefore clear that writers have a responsibility in the matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The second laudable tendency is that of clearing away the unnecessary. When two forms coexist, and there are not two senses for them to be assigned to, it is clear gain that one should be got rid of. The scrapping process goes on slowly by natural selection; sometimes the determining cause is apparent, as when &lt;em&gt;hysteric&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;cynic&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;fanatic&lt;/em&gt;, give way to &lt;em&gt;hysterical&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;cynical&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;fanatical&lt;/em&gt;, because the former have acquired a new function as nouns; sometimes the reasons are obscure, as when &lt;em&gt;electric&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;dynamic&lt;/em&gt; supersede the longer forms while &lt;em&gt;hypothetic&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;botanic&lt;/em&gt; are themselves superseded. But that one or other should prevail is a gain; and it is a further gain if the process    can be quickened.   With this end in view, this dictionary states about many &lt;em&gt;-ic(al)&lt;/em&gt; words, in their places, which appears to be the winning side, so that writers may be encouraged to espouse it.&#xA;  Separate entries will be found (omitting &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt;) for botan-, casuist-, com-, cub-, cyn-, diabol-, dynam-, econom-, electr-, fanat-, geograph-, geometr-, hypothet-, hyster-, ident-, lyr-, mag-, period-, philosoph-, sto-, trag-.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And there are entries for all those words, if you enjoy reading Fowler. In the third edition (1998) of the book, edited by Burchfield and notorious for radically changing Fowler's entries, there is an entirely new entry, that seeks to find patterns. The author's impression is that &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; is more common, and where both exist &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; is American and &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt; is British:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ic(al)&lt;/strong&gt; (adjvl suffix). This article attempts to assess in practical terms how complex the distribution is of adjectival forms ending in &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; and those ending in &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt;. Since the mathematical unattractiveness of analysing the relevant evidence in large computerized corpora is self-evident—the number of adjs. ending in &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt; is very large—I have searched my personal database instead and correlated the evidence with that presented in the &lt;em&gt;COD&lt;/em&gt; (1990).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;First, it should be borne in mind that we daily encounter many nouns (including proper names) and adjs. that happen to end in &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; but are not relevant to this article, e.g. &lt;em&gt;chic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Eric&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;logic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;music&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;republic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;topic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;traffic&lt;/em&gt;. Secondly, it would appear that a little more than half of the adjectives that fall within the sphere of this article always and only end in &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt;. Thus &lt;em&gt;COD&lt;/em&gt; lists &lt;em&gt;alcoholic&lt;/em&gt; but not &lt;em&gt;alcoholical&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;basic&lt;/em&gt; but not &lt;em&gt;basical&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;dramatic&lt;/em&gt; but not &lt;em&gt;dramatical&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;patriotic&lt;/em&gt; but not &lt;em&gt;patriotical&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;plastic&lt;/em&gt; but not &lt;em&gt;plastical&lt;/em&gt;, and so on. Thirdly, it would seem that about a quarter of all the relevant formations always and only end in &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt;. Thus &lt;em&gt;chemical&lt;/em&gt; but not &lt;em&gt;chemic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;farcical&lt;/em&gt; but not &lt;em&gt;farcic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;practical&lt;/em&gt; but not &lt;em&gt;practic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;radical&lt;/em&gt; but not &lt;em&gt;radic&lt;/em&gt;, and so on. Fourthly, just on a fifth of all such words may end either with &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; or with &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt;, sometimes with a difference of meaning and sometimes with no discernible difference. The more important of such words are dealt with at their alphabetical place, e.g. &lt;em&gt;classic/classical&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;economic/economical&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;historic/historical&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fifthly, for those pairs where there appears to be no difference of sense, I have formed a broad impression that the &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; forms are favoured in AmE and &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt; ones in BrE; but the distribution is erratic, and is much influenced by the practice of particular publishing houses. Thus in American academic works the shorter forms &lt;em&gt;geographic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;geologic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;immunologic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;lexicographic&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;pedagogic&lt;/em&gt; are more likely to occur than the longer forms &lt;em&gt;geographical&lt;/em&gt;, etc., whereas in British publications the reverse is the case. On the other hand for many ordinary pairs, e.g. &lt;em&gt;comic/comical&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ironic/ironical&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;problematic/problematical&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;symmetric/symmetrical&lt;/em&gt;, the distribution is not governed by geography but by idiomatic or rhythmical considerations in a given context. Sixthly, it is a curiosity that all the above pairs of words have &lt;em&gt;-ically&lt;/em&gt; as their adverbial equivalents, not &lt;em&gt;-icly&lt;/em&gt;. The main exceptions are that public (which has no corresponding adj. form in &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt;) has only &lt;em&gt;publicly&lt;/em&gt; as the corresponding adverb; and there is no form &lt;em&gt;politicly&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Yeah, he directly contradicts Fowler's mention of &lt;em&gt;politicly&lt;/em&gt; — it's now rare, I guess, as is the adjective &lt;em&gt;politic&lt;/em&gt; — and people &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; use &quot;publically&quot;, though I don't like that word and it isn't listed in some dictionaries.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realise that I haven't answered &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; both endings exist in the first place, but the moral of the story is that sometimes there is a difference in meanings, so the two endings are useful. Other times, the choice is entirely up to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T19:05:15.120" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6577" CreationDate="2010-12-10T19:12:30.643" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This usage, as RegDwight and Robusto has noted, is common, and is referred to as a substantive adjective.  The missing noun can be obvious from context or intentionally left ambiguous in order to be more general.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other common phrases that utilize it include &lt;strong&gt;ahem&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;the following&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The good, the bad, and the ugly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Out with the old, in with the new.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only the good die young.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T19:12:30.643" />
  <row Id="6591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6503" CreationDate="2010-12-10T19:18:56.343" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Slander and libel are both forms of defamation, which is usually defined as a &lt;em&gt;false or misleading&lt;/em&gt; statement, usually with the intent to harm somebody's reputation. Statements that are true or are genuinely believed to be true by their author would not usually be considered defamatory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference is that the term &quot;slander&quot; refers to spoken defamation, while &quot;libel&quot; refers to written or otherwise recorded defamation. The law treats these differently for several reasons: written statements can last indefinitely and may be widely reproduced, greatly amplifying their power; written (and especially published) statements are usually more carefully planned out than spoken communication; and there is usually undeniable proof of written defamation (the document itself) whereas it can be much harder to prove slander. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Defamation laws vary widely by country (and in the US, by state) but usually the following factors are considered:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Was the statement false?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Was it intended to cause harm?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Did it in fact cause harm?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Was it made without adequate research into the truth?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia's article on Defamation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Amusing sidebar: There have been several cases in which celebrities have sued small-time bloggers, or even anonymous users in online forums, for libel. Whether they win or not, media coverage of the event usually results in the potentially libelous statements getting much wider publicity than they would have otherwise, usually causing much more reputational damage than the statements themselves.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2727" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T19:18:56.343" />
  <row Id="6592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6521" CreationDate="2010-12-10T19:24:02.703" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Spelling&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Canadian English tends to combine aspects of American and British spelling. Here are some highlights:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some nouns take -ice/-ence while matching verbs take -ise/ense. eg. &lt;em&gt;practise&lt;/em&gt; / &lt;em&gt;practice&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;license&lt;/em&gt; / &lt;em&gt;licence&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Canadians tend to use the British &lt;em&gt;-our&lt;/em&gt; ending rather than &lt;em&gt;-or&lt;/em&gt; in some words like &lt;em&gt;colour&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;flavour&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;labour&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;neighbour&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Generally, words with Greek roots end in &lt;em&gt;-ize&lt;/em&gt; while those with Latin roots end in &lt;em&gt;-ise&lt;/em&gt;. eg. realize, paralyze. American English tends to standardize on &lt;em&gt;-ise&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You draw money from the bank with a &lt;em&gt;cheque&lt;/em&gt; not a check.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;French derived words like &lt;em&gt;theatre&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;centre&lt;/em&gt; tend to retain the -re ending. Although when used as a verb or in the sense of being &quot;in the middle&quot; it remains &lt;em&gt;center&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Vocabulary&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Canadian English uses generally the same vocabulary as American. There are a few regionalisms and quirks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A multi-level parking facility is a &lt;em&gt;parkade&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Poutine&lt;/em&gt; is delicious.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In winter, you want to wear a &lt;em&gt;tuque&lt;/em&gt; to keep your head warm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You wear &lt;em&gt;runners&lt;/em&gt; on your feet, not &lt;em&gt;sneakers&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Generally, you go to the &lt;em&gt;washroom&lt;/em&gt; when nature calls. That term's generally been replaced by &lt;em&gt;restroom&lt;/em&gt; in America and it's a &lt;em&gt;public toilet&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;lavatory&lt;/em&gt; in Great Britain. In Canada, &lt;em&gt;toilet&lt;/em&gt; is somewhat indelicate and avoided.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A pond in farmland is a &lt;em&gt;slough&lt;/em&gt;. (Rhymes with &lt;em&gt;brew&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You &lt;em&gt;book off&lt;/em&gt; work to go on holidays.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My favourite from where I live: it's not a hooded sweatshirt, it's a &lt;em&gt;bunny-hug&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Pronunciation&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pronunciation has American and British influence. There is some regional variation, and for some words, Canadians vary between British and American patterns. There are many little quirks, here's a few:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The last letter of the alphabet is &lt;em&gt;zed&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Borg are Canadian. &lt;em&gt;Futile&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;fertile&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;fragile&lt;/em&gt; etc. usually rhyme with &quot;tile&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adult, composite -- accent is on the first syllable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Roof&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;hoof&lt;/em&gt; rhyme with &quot;goof&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What sets Canadian pronunciation apart the most is the phenomonon known as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_raising&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Canadian Rising&lt;/a&gt;. Certain diphthongs are &quot;raised&quot; before voiceless consonants (eg. f,k,p,s,t). While most Americans discern no difference between &lt;em&gt;writer&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;rider&lt;/em&gt;, in Canada, the vowel sounds are distinctly different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Canadian Rising causes &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yorku.ca/twainweb/troberts/raising.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the &lt;strong&gt;illusion&lt;/strong&gt; of &lt;em&gt;about&lt;/em&gt; sounding like &quot;aboot&quot;&lt;/a&gt; to American ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T19:24:02.703" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6582" CreationDate="2010-12-10T19:49:42.713" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds fine to me. (But I'm not &lt;em&gt;actually&lt;/em&gt; a native speaker, and Indian English &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; have a reputation for using the progressive a lot.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is how I interpret &quot;I'm loving it&quot;. (I've put back the 'g' because writing &lt;em&gt;lovin'&lt;/em&gt; is too folksy for me.) I also assume &quot;it&quot; refers to something particular, like McDonald's or the food there. Also, I think it helps to consider the analogous sentence &quot;I'm enjoying it&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English certainly uses stative: &lt;em&gt;I love chocolate&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;I enjoy classical music&lt;/em&gt;. This expresses your position on something. But suppose I'm at a play/concert/movie, and someone asks me what I feel, &lt;em&gt;during&lt;/em&gt; the event. I may say &quot;I'm enjoying it&quot; or &quot;&lt;strong&gt;I'm loving it&lt;/strong&gt; (at this moment / so far)&quot;. This seems perfectly natural to me, though perhaps not to native speakers everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also a difference between &quot;I love it&quot; and &quot;I'm loving it&quot;. If you &lt;em&gt;love&lt;/em&gt; chocolate, it only says what you feel when the issue of chocolate comes up, but if you &lt;em&gt;are loving&lt;/em&gt; McDonald's, it implies that you're there right now and/or are actively engaged in thinking about it and loving it. (Just as &quot;I'm enjoying classical music [right now]&quot; means more than &quot;I enjoy classical music&quot;.) Presumably, &quot;I'm loving it&quot; is a subtle suggestion that you too, like the speaker of the slogan, ought to be at McDonald's right now and actually get on with the act of loving it, not merely think of it as a nice place to visit from time to time. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T19:49:42.713" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6576" CreationDate="2010-12-10T20:26:09.547" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gotcha&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'Got you' like caught you doing something you should be doing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In programming a variable of step not considered that causes an error.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2714" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T20:26:09.547" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6566" CreationDate="2010-12-10T20:30:03.663" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Steroids has a negative connotation for animate objects but for inanimate objects it doesn't matter because they are not sentient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2714" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T20:30:03.663" />
  <row Id="6596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6576" CreationDate="2010-12-10T20:55:28.210" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can also mean literally &quot;I have got you.&quot; If I catch someone before they fall, I could say &quot;Gotcha!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T20:55:28.210" />
  <row Id="6597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6582" CreationDate="2010-12-10T21:18:02.597" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does sound a bit odd, but it implies that you love some experience that continues over a passage of time, rather than an explicit thing.  &quot;I love the McDonald's cheeseburger&quot; is something you can say while you are not presently eating one, and you are expressing love for an object.  &quot;I'm loving the McDonald's cheeseburger&quot; implies that you are currently eating one and you are feeling this &quot;love&quot; throughout the experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might be McDonald's way of marketing themselves as offering an experience in addition to selling food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2730" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T21:18:02.597" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6576" CreationDate="2010-12-10T21:27:02.397" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Gotcha&lt;/em&gt; actually has several meanings. All of them can be derived from the phrase of which this is a phonetic spelling, namely &quot;[I have] got you&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Literally, from the sense of &lt;em&gt;got&lt;/em&gt; = &quot;caught, obtained&quot;, it means &quot;I've caught you&quot;. As in, you were falling, and I caught you, or you were running, and I grabbed you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's a short step from the benign type of &lt;em&gt;caught&lt;/em&gt; to the red-handed type of &lt;em&gt;caught&lt;/em&gt;. Thus, &lt;em&gt;gotcha&lt;/em&gt; is often used when you witness someone doing something naughty.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Again, it's a short step from &lt;em&gt;I-caught-you-doing-something-you-oughtn't&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;Surprise! I tricked you!&lt;/em&gt; This sense of &lt;em&gt;gotcha&lt;/em&gt; is used when someone falls for a practical joke, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A somewhat-natural progression from the &quot;I tricked you&quot; meaning is &lt;em&gt;gotcha&lt;/em&gt; used as a noun: this is a feature of a system (e.g. a programming language) which trips you up or catches you off-guard.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;And finally, from the figurative sense of &lt;em&gt;got&lt;/em&gt; = &quot;understood&quot;, &lt;em&gt;gotcha&lt;/em&gt; can be used to mean &quot;Aha, I see now&quot; or &quot;I understand&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T21:27:02.397" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6599" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-10T21:49:32.390" Score="11" ViewCount="328" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just finished reading &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6588/why-does-ow-have-two-different-sounds&quot;&gt;the question&lt;/a&gt; asked by Bobnix, in which RegDwight referred to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5254/most-pronunciations-for-one-english-letter-sequence&quot;&gt;another question&lt;/a&gt; with an interesting answer by Kosmonaut. Kosmonaut refers to the great number of pictograms (Kanji or Hanzi) available in Japanese and Chinese, and mentions that the task of memorizing our weirdo spellings pales in comparison to learning vocabulary in one of those languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That got me to thinking. When I first started studying Japanese, I first learned the two written versions of the syllabary, &lt;em&gt;hiragana&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;katakana&lt;/em&gt;. And when faced with the formidable task of memorizing thousands of characters and their various readings, I wondered why, given the phonetic language, Japanese still stuck with all those originally Chinese characters. Were they just masochists?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I dug in, and as I learned more and more kanji a strange thing happened. I realized it was actually easier to read the language &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; the kanji than without them, because so many Japanese words sound alike (or at least their parts do) and to render them in &lt;em&gt;hiragana&lt;/em&gt; would force me to slow down and try to figure out which ほう (hou) they meant:&#xA;保, 俸, 倣, 剖, 報, 方, 法 or any of the others. Learning the more complicated writing method actually let me read faster, and to understand words almost pre-apprehensively. By that I mean something a little like looking at the hands of an analog clock and understanding the time without relating it to a numerical equivalent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now for English. We have sound-alike words like &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;two&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; (or even &lt;em&gt;tu&lt;/em&gt;, if you count Shakespeare's imagining of Julius Caesar's dying line). If we went to a strict phonetic spelling system, all those would be spelled the same. I think there are cases where such a thing would actually slow us down. And it may be that the more difficult and idiosyncratic the spelling is, the more likely we are (as Kosmonaut said) to remember it. Further, &lt;em&gt;having&lt;/em&gt; remembered it may mean we are more likely to recognize it more easily. Or something like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is just a supposition on my part. It has plausibility and feels right to me, but that doesn't mean it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; right. I'd be interested if anyone knows of any information or research done on either side of this argument.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T08:34:46.740" Title="Does the quirky spelling in English actually make it easier to read?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;orthography&gt;&lt;reading-speed&gt;&lt;comprehension&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="6" />
  <row Id="6600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6581" CreationDate="2010-12-10T21:57:02.400" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Origin&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The suffix &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; comes from Greek &lt;em&gt;-ikos&lt;/em&gt;, while &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt; is a combination of &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; and the French suffix &lt;em&gt;-al&lt;/em&gt;.  Originally, &lt;em&gt;-al&lt;/em&gt; was suffixed to scientific nouns ending in &lt;em&gt;-ics&lt;/em&gt;, e.g. &lt;em&gt;mathematics&lt;/em&gt; - &lt;em&gt;mathematical&lt;/em&gt;.  Eventually, the &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt; portion of those words was reanalyzed as being a single unit.  This is what Marchand (1969) had to say about &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt; at this time in their history:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There was, at the beginning, indiscriminate coexistence of two synonymous adjectives. But language does not like to have two words for one and the same notion, and competition was bound to come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What Marchand is talking about is that these two redundant suffixes eventually settled into certain niches where they exist today (more on this later).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;-ic and -ical doublets&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There exist many &lt;em&gt;-ic/-ical&lt;/em&gt; &quot;doublets&quot; in English, where both forms of the word exist and are used regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;historic&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;historical&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;electric&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;electrical&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The words in common doublets have generally developed distinct meanings (or domains of use).  For example, &lt;em&gt;historical&lt;/em&gt; refers exclusively to things that happened in the past, while &lt;em&gt;historic&lt;/em&gt; can refer to an event occurring at that very moment that will have a profound impact on history.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the differences in meanings between -ic and -ical words (in cases where both forms are used) cannot be generalized to a specific unique meaning that &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt; itself contributes to the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is to say, there is no general and consistent meaning that &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt; uniquely contributes to &lt;em&gt;historical&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;electrical&lt;/em&gt;, etc.  Instead, each word as a whole just settles into its specific meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Distribution Today&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to a systematic productivity measure by Lindsay and Aronoff (2010), the more productive of the two suffixes is clearly &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt;, which is favored by approximately an 8 to 1 ratio using this measure.  So, you are much more likely to have an &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; form of a word, or to have that form be the more commonly used form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; is clearly used more than &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt;, then why do we have both of these suffixes in the language?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt; has managed to differentiate itself from &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt;, but not by contributing a specific meaning to the words it attaches to.  Instead, &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt; has found a specific morphological domain in which it attaches very productively: stems that end with the morpheme &lt;em&gt;-(o)log-&lt;/em&gt;.  Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;biological&lt;/em&gt; preferred over &lt;em&gt;biologic&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;technological&lt;/em&gt; preferred over &lt;em&gt;technologic&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;typological&lt;/em&gt; preferred over &lt;em&gt;typologic&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are nearly 500 stems in Webster's 2nd dictionary that end in &lt;em&gt;-olog&lt;/em&gt;.  Using the same measure of productivity, Lindsay &amp;amp; Aronoff found that within the domain of these stems, the &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt; suffix was itself preferred by an 8 to 1 ratio over &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt;.  That is to say, when there is an &lt;em&gt;-(o)log&lt;/em&gt; morpheme at the end of the word, then people heavily favor &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The notion of one suffix being productive when attaching to a certain suffix is known as &quot;potentiation&quot;, coined by Williams (1981).  (Another example of potentiation is what we see with words ending in &lt;em&gt;-able&lt;/em&gt;.  In general, &lt;em&gt;-ness&lt;/em&gt; is considered a more productive suffix than &lt;em&gt;-ity&lt;/em&gt;, but in words ending in &lt;em&gt;-able&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;-ity&lt;/em&gt; is strongly preferred.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bear in mind that these are tendencies; while there is a strong preference for one form over another in certain cases, that does not mean that it is a perfect split.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Summary&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt; do not differentiate themselves semantically; however, both forms of a word can exist if each one settles into a different meaning, or otherwise has a different domain of usage (for example, one formal and the other informal).  The actual differences in meaning between two forms in a doublet are essentially arbitrary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While &lt;em&gt;-ic&lt;/em&gt; is much more common overall (and could be argued to be the &quot;default&quot;), &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt; is strongly preferred in stems ending in &lt;em&gt;-(o)log-&lt;/em&gt;.  Again, this is a tendency that began somewhat arbitrarily during the development of the language, but because words ending in &lt;em&gt;-olog&lt;/em&gt; form such a large and relatively uniform group, a subpattern was able to emerge and stabilize, even as &lt;em&gt;-ical&lt;/em&gt; remains in the minority.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-11T15:40:49.000" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T15:40:49.000" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6599" CreationDate="2010-12-10T23:00:26.863" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your assumption is correct. Natural languages are extremely redundant and compressible in sound as well as in orthography, and this has significant and obvious benefits: you can understand obscured speech, read obscured text, and, yes, get the sense of a word based on a quick visual hook rather than relying on a purely phonetic transcription.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English orthography reflects its countless generations of development. The spelling of a word may not correspond perfectly to its pronunciation, but to select a spelling that &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; correspond to a specific pronunciation naturally excludes some others. I've heard native speakers, for instance, who have different pronunciations for all of &quot;to&quot;, &quot;too&quot;, and &quot;two&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, since the orthography often reflects the etymology, you can often make an educated guess about the meaning of a word you don't know based on the &lt;em&gt;union&lt;/em&gt; of its visual and phonological components. If they were collapsed into one, you'd lose that extra information. This is just like how in hanzi there's often a phonetic component as well as a semantic component, and this does carry over somewhat to kanji even though the pronunciation is adapted to Japanese phonology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are all reasons why English spelling reform has never caught on, and likely will never do so. It's too widespread, and there are simply too many factors to take into account. Every language has its idiosyncracies, and to see them as flaws or try to fight them is sheer folly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-12-10T23:00:26.863" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="6602" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6605" CreationDate="2010-12-10T23:03:19.333" Score="5" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;In software engineering we use version control systems. Every time we check in modifications we usually leave a message with a summary of change. The question for me has always been: what is the most appropriate and practical tense and form for these messages? Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Changed the function argument type to int&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Function argument type changed to int&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Function argument type is changed to int&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Function argument type has been changed to int&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Function argument type is now int&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By &quot;practical&quot; I mean, because most messages are in the same form, they should be succinct, to the point, technical/formal. Best candidate in this regard is probably (2). Sometimes it is tempting to use (5) but you end up flooding your message log with &quot;now&quot;, which is not nice. (4) is too long although looks (to me) appropriate in many cases. And finally, (1) and (3) feel wrong somehow, although (1) especially is a widely used one in programming, as far as I can tell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts, suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: some other forms found by some googling:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Change the function argument type to int&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Changing ...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Changes ...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2044" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T06:42:46.563" Title="Version control messages: what tense?" Tags="&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6603" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6604" CreationDate="2010-12-10T23:10:25.753" Score="3" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi there,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;recently a visitor at work forgot his mobile charger at my desk. He wrote me an email asking if it's still there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some mysterious reason I answered: &quot;Yes, indeed. I &lt;strong&gt;can have it mailed&lt;/strong&gt; to you if you wish.&quot; I tried to express that I can ask someone (the receptionist) to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile I am quite unsure if &quot;I can have it mailed&quot; is any form of understandable English at all :))).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a correct, common phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheers,&#xA;Alex&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="650" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T00:18:41.657" Title="&quot;I can have it mailed to you if you wish.&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6603" CreationDate="2010-12-11T00:09:46.937" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usage is correct, but it's unclear which part you are calling into question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the top-level we are using the word &quot;can&quot; (which is a modal verb, aka modal auxiliary) in a typical fashion: &quot;I am eating cake&quot; -&gt; &quot;I can eat cake&quot; is analogous to &quot;I am having it mailed to you&quot; -&gt; &quot;I can have it mailed to you.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Within the sentence &quot;I am having it mailed to you&quot; there is a structure whose name I don't know. Compare with &quot;I am letting him speak to you&quot; and &quot;I am watching you speak to her.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; The sentence &quot;I am having it mailed to you&quot; gets its structure from the fact that &quot;have&quot; is a &lt;em&gt;causative verb&lt;/em&gt;. It would seem that &quot;let&quot; is a causative verb but &quot;watch&quot; is not. I am trying to see what we might call &quot;watch&quot; in the above context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT 2:&lt;/strong&gt; The verb &quot;watch&quot; is a &lt;em&gt;verb of perception&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2717" LastEditorUserId="2717" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-11T00:18:41.657" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T00:18:41.657" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6602" CreationDate="2010-12-11T00:24:01.197" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since presumably (1) you're checking in something that you did, and (2) the change has already happened (otherwise you'd have nothing to check in), I'd go with the simple past:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Changed function argument type to int.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're checking in a change on behalf of a team, I could also see using:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Function argument type changed to int.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simple past is the least wordy tense &amp;mdash;no helping verbs, no &quot;now&quot;&amp;mdash; and is generally the easiest to understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't suggest using a continuous present or future tense such as &quot;changing&quot;, because then the log becomes unclear about what was changed when. &lt;sub&gt;(Akin to the problem of distances in driving directions: when it says &quot;left turn - 5 miles&quot; does that mean the left turn is 5 miles ahead, or do I make a left turn now and then go 5 miles until the next step?)&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-11T00:46:13.503" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T00:46:13.503" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6602" CreationDate="2010-12-11T00:24:29.623" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, it doesn't matter how you phrase it, as long as you remain consistent. Clearly, you are recording what actions have happened, so past tense is appropriate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speak to your colleagues, and agree on a common approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-11T00:29:40.897" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T00:29:40.897" />
  <row Id="6607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6602" CreationDate="2010-12-11T00:33:08.990" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is up to preference. Personally, I like using imperative: &quot;Change the function argument to int.&quot; This especially makes sense if you are using a task management system with task numbers: &quot;Task ID#: 5719 Change the function argument to int.&quot; (Or defect numbers, or what have you.) From context you can infer that the task has been &lt;em&gt;completed&lt;/em&gt; regardless of verb tense. To indicate partially completed tasks, you can add qualifications such as &quot;Change the function argument to int (partial)&quot; or &quot;Change the function argument to int - 50% complete&quot; or whatever makes sense in your situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But definitely check with your colleagues on accepted conventions, unless you're the boss and can tell them what to do. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2717" LastEditorUserId="2717" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-11T00:38:56.910" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T00:38:56.910" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6582" CreationDate="2010-12-11T00:45:27.030" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since there have been no other similar answers so far: I am a native English speaker and it sounds perfectly natural to me. Cheesy, but natural in terms of grammar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; @Martha expressed the same sentiment, but as a comment rather than an answer. If I had seen that, I would have left a comment as well. It amounts to more or less the same thing though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2717" LastEditorUserId="2717" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-11T00:55:50.577" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T00:55:50.577" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6609" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-11T03:54:59.653" Score="1" ViewCount="232" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a difference is usage between Imbalance and Unbalance as nouns?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, we are designing a product where we measure three(3) related quantities continuously. These three quantities are normally within a reasonable percentage of each other.&#xA;If there is a larger difference, would that be shown as 'parameter'-Imbalance or 'parameter' -Unbalance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="145" LastEditorUserId="145" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-11T04:02:22.123" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T04:33:12.633" Title="Imbalance and unbalance" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6609" CreationDate="2010-12-11T04:31:56.043" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Imbalance is the noun meaning the state of being not balanced; unbalance is the verb meaning to cause the loss of balance. In the context stated, the noun form should be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T04:31:56.043" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6609" CreationDate="2010-12-11T04:33:12.633" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Imbalance is what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T04:33:12.633" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5959" CreationDate="2010-12-11T04:47:29.813" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/trends?q=merriam+webster%2C+oxford+english%2C+cambridge+english%2C+longman&amp;amp;ctab=0&amp;amp;geo=all&amp;amp;date=all&amp;amp;sort=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pseudo-scientific, fascinating look at dictionary use by region&lt;/a&gt; using Google Trends. For clarity, each phrase was crafted to return a dictionary as the first hit in (American, Western Washington) Google. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/trends?q=merriam+webster%2C+oxford+english%2C+chambers+dictionary%2C+american+heritage&amp;amp;ctab=0&amp;amp;geo=all&amp;amp;date=all&amp;amp;sort=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A second graph, featuring different dictionaries&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially interesting are the usage statistics for the Philippines and India, though the former seems heavily skewed by &lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Tagalog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tagalog&lt;/a&gt; search results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a bonus, adding the term &quot;Google dictionary&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/trends?q=merriam+webster%2C+oxford+english%2C+cambridge+english%2C+longman%2C+google+dictionary&amp;amp;ctab=0&amp;amp;geo=all&amp;amp;date=all&amp;amp;sort=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;has some interesting results.&lt;/a&gt; And if we add Dictionary.com, suddenly &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/trends?q=merriam+webster%2C+oxford+english%2C+cambridge+english%2C+longman%2C+dictionary.com&amp;amp;ctab=0&amp;amp;geo=all&amp;amp;date=all&amp;amp;sort=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;things become amazingly skewed.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2659" LastEditorUserId="2659" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-12T23:08:00.227" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T23:08:00.227" />
  <row Id="6613" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6614" CreationDate="2010-12-11T04:54:10.450" Score="0" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;A sample application in the book 'Test Drive ASP.NET MVC' used this as its title.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="833" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-11T07:18:34.480" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T07:18:34.480" Title="What does the phrase 'Quote-O-Matic' mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;structure&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6613" CreationDate="2010-12-11T05:02:08.130" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without seeing any context it's difficult to say, but it probably means some kind of program that automatically spews out quotes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Copywriters often coin new words by taking the last part of &quot;automatic&quot; (the &quot;-omatic&quot; part) and putting some other noun or start of a noun to make a word that means an automatic something-or-other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is usually advertising speak. The book's author is just trying to be funny by calling the app Quote-o-Matic. It's not uncommon for authors of tech books to indulge in a bit of silliness now and then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-11T05:16:15.467" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T05:16:15.467" />
  <row Id="6615" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6643" CreationDate="2010-12-11T05:15:17.320" Score="2" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've recently seen a movie character regularly use this construction (for example, &quot;the dog is wanting to be taken out for a walk&quot;), and I am trying to figure out which dialect or cultural background the construction is meant to signal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2480" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-11T18:57:48.523" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T14:21:00.627" Title="In which dialects does &quot;is wanting&quot; work as an appropriate substitution for &quot;wants&quot;?" Tags="&lt;tense&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6616" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6617" CreationDate="2010-12-11T09:56:33.770" Score="4" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;When someone says &quot;I'll make due&quot; what does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2372" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T10:01:08.557" Title="Meaning of &quot;I'll make due&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6616" CreationDate="2010-12-11T10:01:08.557" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The idiom is actually &quot;to make do&quot;, and it means to work with what you have, to continue somehow despite an impediment or non-ideal circumstance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T10:01:08.557" />
  <row Id="6618" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6620" CreationDate="2010-12-11T11:16:36.483" Score="6" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Ironic' is often used to mean an unusual coincidence rather than its true meaning which is closer to sarcastic. That being said, is there a word that would be a good replacement for what many people seem to think it means?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T14:32:43.213" Title="What word means what many people think 'ironic' means?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6618" CreationDate="2010-12-11T12:46:55.577" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ironically, the word you're looking for is &lt;em&gt;ironic&lt;/em&gt;, which according to Webster's means&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;happening in the opposite way to what&#xA;  is expected, and typically causing wry&#xA;  amusement because of this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sarcasm is &quot;the use of irony to mock or convey contempt,&quot; but it is not precisely the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T12:46:55.577" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6618" CreationDate="2010-12-11T14:32:43.213" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say something about the matter, but I think I'll let &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=c-9ZAAAAMAAJ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;George Carlin&lt;/a&gt; say it instead because he's more eloquent:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Irony deals with opposites; it has nothing to do with coincidence. If two&#xA;  baseball players from the same hometown, on different teams, receive&#xA;  the same uniform number, it is not ironic. It is a coincidence. If Barry&#xA;  Bonds attains lifetime statistics identical to his father's, it will not&#xA;  be ironic. It will be a coincidence. Irony is &quot;a state of affairs that is&#xA;  the reverse of what was to be expected; a result opposite to and in&#xA;  mockery of the appropriate result.&quot; For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If a diabetic, on his way to buy insulin, is killed by a runaway truck,&#xA;  he is the victim of an accident. If the truck was delivering sugar, he is&#xA;  the victim of an oddly poetic coincidence. But if the truck was&#xA;  delivering insulin, ah! Then he is the victim of an irony.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If a Kurd, after surviving a bloody battle with Saddam Hussein's army and&#xA;  a long, difficult escape through the mountains, is crushed and killed by a&#xA;  parachute drop of humanitarian aid, that, my friend, is irony writ large.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Darryl Stingley, the pro football player, was paralyzed after a brutal&#xA;  hit by Jack Tatum. Now Darryl Stingley's son plays football, and if&#xA;  the son should become paralyzed while playing, it will not be ironic. It&#xA;  will be coincidental. If Darryl Stingley's son paralyzes someone else,&#xA;  that will be closer to ironic. If he paralyzes Jack Tatum's son that will&#xA;  be precisely ironic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T14:32:43.213" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6621" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6622" CreationDate="2010-12-11T15:43:54.033" Score="9" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;This triple appears wrong to me: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The demonstrations show that&#xA;  program A is functional, fast, and finds a&#xA;  solution that program B misses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because &lt;em&gt;functional&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;fast&lt;/em&gt; are adjectives and both depend on &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;, while &lt;em&gt;finds a  solution&lt;/em&gt; does not. Of course, I could say,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The demonstrations show that&#xA;  program A is functional, fast, and &lt;strong&gt;capable of finding&lt;/strong&gt; a solution that program B misses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, I feel, this is clumsy and conveys a slightly different meaning. Yet another solution would be &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The demonstrations show that&#xA;  program A &lt;strong&gt;functions&lt;/strong&gt;, is fast, and finds a solution that program B misses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I am not sure if &lt;em&gt;functions&lt;/em&gt; can/should be used like this. Finally, there is &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The demonstrations show that &#xA;  program A is functional &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; fast and finds a solution that program B misses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is also not very nice. I am not a native speaker. Any suggestions would be appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I also thought of &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The demonstrations show that program&#xA;  A is &lt;strong&gt;both&lt;/strong&gt; functional &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; fast&#xA;  and finds a solution that program B&#xA;  misses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2742" LastEditorUserId="2742" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-11T20:06:59.463" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T11:31:52.480" Title="&quot;The program is functional, fast, and finds a solution...&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6621" CreationDate="2010-12-11T15:59:43.140" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the completely-parallel construction would be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The demonstrations show that Program A is functional, &#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; fast, and finds a solution that Program B misses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I don't think that flows any better than the original.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of the variations you list, my second choice would be the one that puts another &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; between &quot;functional&quot; and &quot;fast&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The demonstrations show that Program A is functional and fast,&#xA;  and finds a solution that Program B misses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;capable of finding&lt;/em&gt; version is grammatical, but you're right, it means something slightly different than &lt;em&gt;finds&lt;/em&gt;. I wouldn't suggest the &lt;em&gt;functions&lt;/em&gt; variation, because I think it's even worse in terms of parallelism than the original.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: on re-reading, I think the double-&lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; version needs another word:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The demonstrations show that Program A is functional and &#xA;  fast, and &lt;strong&gt;it&lt;/strong&gt; finds a solution that Program B misses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-11T22:23:15.707" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T22:23:15.707" />
  <row Id="6623" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6649" CreationDate="2010-12-11T16:15:32.720" Score="5" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;need of religion&quot; grammatically incorrect as opposed to &quot;need for religion&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or &quot;need of salt&quot; vs &quot;need for salt&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1202" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:38:16.200" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:38:16.200" Title="Preposition: Of vs For" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6621" CreationDate="2010-12-11T16:41:33.167" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is another wording that fixes the problem and (I think) sounds less awkward than &quot;functional and fast and finds...&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The demonstrations show that Program A is not only functional and fast, but also finds a solution that Program B misses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T16:41:33.167" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6623" CreationDate="2010-12-11T16:50:24.093" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to insistence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm merely going by ear here, but the usage that I was accustomed to would have me say &quot;He is in need of (something)&quot; and &quot;I have a need for (something)&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T16:50:24.093" />
  <row Id="6626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4203" CreationDate="2010-12-11T18:05:32.807" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may find &lt;a href=&quot;http://ramsnotes.blogspot.com/2007/07/interactions-with-american-clients.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these tips&lt;/a&gt; useful&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2348" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T18:05:32.807" />
  <row Id="6628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6615" CreationDate="2010-12-11T18:17:00.400" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heave heard Indians (from India) speak like this. It's quite common in that dialect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2744" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T18:17:00.400" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6629" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-11T18:19:37.693" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6463/what-do-you-call-this-person&quot;&gt;Related to this question&lt;/a&gt;, what is the classification of culinary items like (ingredients, spices, cooking materials called?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1174" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T07:16:22.987" Title="Classification of culinary related item called?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6630" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-11T19:15:25.060" Score="4" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://serverfault.com/questions/210839/ksh-not-find-by-bash-in-my-cygwin-installation-but-present-in-the-folder-bin-ksh&quot;&gt;this question on Server Fault&lt;/a&gt;, the asker says &quot;And it works fine, but that's a ponctual solution...&quot; and corrects himself in a comment, using &quot;punctual&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've only ever used &quot;punctual&quot; to mean &quot;on time.&quot; Can it also mean &quot;ad hoc&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;code&gt;dict punctual&lt;/code&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Punctual \Punc&quot;tu*al\, a. [F. ponctuel (cf. Sp. puntual, It.&#xA;       puntuale), from L. punctum point. See {Point}.]&#xA;       1. Consisting in a point; limited to a point; unextended.&#xA;          [R.] &quot;This punctual spot.&quot; --Milton.&#xA;          [1913 Webster]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;         The theory of the punctual existence of the soul. --&#xA;                                                Krauth.&#xA;   [1913 Webster]&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="189" LastEditorUserId="189" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-11T19:51:10.707" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T01:25:23.707" Title="Other meanings for &quot;punctual&quot; besides &quot;on time&quot;." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6630" CreationDate="2010-12-11T19:36:32.203" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I doubt it. 'Punctual' means 'not late'; 'ad hoc' means 'when necessary'. These are the only senses in which I've heard them used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T19:36:32.203" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6632" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6634" CreationDate="2010-12-11T20:42:49.687" Score="9" ViewCount="379" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where should the period go when using parentheses? For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;In sentence one, I use this example (which has a parenthesis at the end.)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Period in or outside of the parentheses? What about if the entire sentence is a parenthetical?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;(Where does the terminal punctuation go here?)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a hard and fast rule here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="249" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T04:43:21.500" Title="Where does the period go when using parentheses?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="6633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6632" CreationDate="2010-12-11T20:57:59.090" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The style I am aware of is to place punctuation logically when parentheses are involved.&#xA;I like apples (and bananas).&#xA;He likes apples. (I like bananas.)&#xA;However when it comes to quote marks there seems to be a difference in UK and US.&#xA;He said he likes 'black apples'. (UK)&#xA;He said he likes 'black apples.' (US)&#xA;In UK, periods and commas are placed logically, while in US they are always placed within quote marks.&#xA;There may be other conventions in use though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T20:57:59.090" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6632" CreationDate="2010-12-11T21:32:57.527" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best rule of thumb for punctuating in and around parenthetical remarks is that the sentence should be valid if you remove the parentheses and everything inside them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here I have an example (with a parenthetical remark).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here is the same example (with the same remark, even.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Removing the entire parenthetical remark from the first sentence still leaves me with a valid structure, while removing it from the second leaves me lacking any terminal punctuation; thus the first is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T21:32:57.527" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6635" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6636" CreationDate="2010-12-11T22:03:21.487" Score="5" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the rule for omitting/including the definite article in the following sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I used to play piano.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I used to play &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; piano.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would pick the first sentence, but I've heard people say the second sentence even when they are not referring to a specific piano.&#xA;Which is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2745" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T03:09:26.127" Title="omission of definite article with musical instruments" Tags="&lt;definite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="6636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6635" CreationDate="2010-12-11T22:18:21.433" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're pretty much equivalent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, omitting the article has a slight feeling of playing with a group or orchestra, wherein the instrument is a synecdoche referring to the position the person occupied within the group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;I used to play the flute.&quot;  &#xA;&quot;I used to play flute in the Civic Orchestra.&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Omitting the article also can carry the feeling of playing an instrument in the general sense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;I play woodwinds.&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case it would sound strange to use the article because you are speaking of a class of instruments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-11T23:28:47.863" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T23:28:47.863" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6630" CreationDate="2010-12-11T22:27:11.753" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The other meanings are rarely used.&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A search for punctual in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;COCA&lt;/a&gt; brings 217 results. Out of the first 30 results, only in 2 or 3 the meaning is not &quot;on time&quot;. The other meanings are (from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/punctual&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Webster's 1913 Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;) :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Consisting in a point; limited to a point; unextended.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Observant of nice points; punctilious; precise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The author of the post in Server Fault probably meant that the solution that he had used only applied to a particular problem (a particular script) and that he was looking for a more generic solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T22:27:11.753" />
  <row Id="6638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6621" CreationDate="2010-12-11T22:31:18.380" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can also split it in two sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The demonstrations show that program A&#xA;  is functional and fast. [Moreover,] They&#xA;  [also] show that program A finds&#xA;  a solution that program B misses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T22:31:18.380" />
  <row Id="6639" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-11T22:39:37.773" Score="2" ViewCount="758" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I've noticed over time that I see both &quot;afterward&quot; and &quot;afterwards&quot; at different times.  Having a pet peeve (though I'm not certain it's actually a well-founded prejudice, lexicographically speaking) against hearing &quot;anyways&quot;, I've started to wonder recently about &quot;afterwards&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a quick bit of web searching, I turned up &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagetips.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/language-tips-afterward-or-afterwards-discrete-or-discreet/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this analysis&lt;/a&gt;, which I find to be somewhat helpful, I'm just wondering if there's more that people could say to help me get an intuitive understanding of when to use which, or otherwise why to use one versus the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose (as mentioned in the linked article) this question could also apply to forward, backward, toward, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which shall I use?  When?  Why?  Does the 's' indicate some sort of plural meaning, or something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2524" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T14:18:56.130" Title="Afterward versus afterwards -- which, and/or when?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6635" CreationDate="2010-12-11T23:38:41.350" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard somewhere that if the instrument is big and can hardly or even can't be carried  (like cello, piano, drum set, harp, grand-piano, organ, etc.) the definite article is needed. I am not sure if that's correct, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2010-12-11T23:38:41.350" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6630" CreationDate="2010-12-12T01:25:23.707" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering whether the person asking the question meant 'perfunctory' or perhaps 'pedantic', but those don't quite work in the context.  I think the choice of adjective is dubious by someone who self-confessedly is not a native English speaker.  Finding the right word to replace 'punctual' is tricky.  The trick described as a 'punctual solution' is an effective hack; it is also slightly messy because it requires changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T01:25:23.707" />
  <row Id="6642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6635" CreationDate="2010-12-12T03:09:26.127" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember when I first moved from the UK to the US, I was quite taken aback by the “I play piano” usage, without the article.  So I’m pretty sure that this usage is very uncommon in the UK (at least among classical music circles).  In US usage, Robusto’s answer, that the article-less usage is more common in reference to playing with a particular group, fits my experience (classical groups, north-east US) pretty well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T03:09:26.127" />
  <row Id="6643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6615" CreationDate="2010-12-12T03:15:08.993" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't conclusively say if this is a reflection of the dialect, but my mother-in-law uses this construction and she is from Arkansas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2591" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T03:15:08.993" />
  <row Id="6644" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-12T03:52:38.403" Score="21" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;I constantly see &quot;everyday&quot; being used in cases where the writer really means &quot;every day&quot;. For example, here's a sentence from Google's eBooks documentation: &quot;New titles are being added to Google eBooks everyday.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is even a supermarket chain that has a large sign saying, &quot;Low prices, everyday!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could someone, for the record, state the rule on this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2749" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T00:12:04.663" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T00:12:04.663" Title="&quot;everyday&quot; vs. &quot;every day&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;confusables&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="6645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4900" CreationDate="2010-12-12T04:00:40.663" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Queen is a British band, and this usage of the intransitive &lt;em&gt;create&lt;/em&gt; is British colloquial for &quot;create a fuss&quot;, &quot;make noise&quot;, or nearly, as ukayer says, &quot;create havoc&quot;. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/create?view=uk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Compact Oxford Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; has this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2 [&lt;em&gt;no object&lt;/em&gt;] &lt;em&gt;British informal&lt;/em&gt; make a fuss; complain:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    &amp;emsp;&amp;emsp; &lt;em&gt;little kids create because they hate being ignored&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/create_2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; has this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;create&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;verb&lt;/em&gt; (BE ANGRY) /kriˈeɪt/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    [I] UK &lt;em&gt;old-fashioned&lt;/em&gt; to show that you are angry&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    &amp;emsp;&amp;emsp; &lt;em&gt;If she sees you with an ice cream she'll only start creating.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.collinslanguage.com/results.aspx?context=3&amp;amp;reversed=False&amp;amp;action=define&amp;amp;homonym=-1&amp;amp;text=create&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Collins Pocket English Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; has this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;4. (Brit slang) to make an angry fuss,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Create?r=66&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dictionary.com&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (based on &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.infoplease.com/create&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Random House&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; dictionary) has this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;–&lt;em&gt;verb (used without object)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  8. &lt;em&gt;British&lt;/em&gt;. to make a fuss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/create&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Collins English Dictionary — Complete and Unabridged&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; also has this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;6. &lt;em&gt;(intr) Brit slang&lt;/em&gt; to make a fuss or uproar&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also &lt;a href=&quot;http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2009/04/to-create-intransitive.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this post by lynneguist&lt;/a&gt; on &lt;em&gt;Separated By a Common Language&lt;/em&gt;, where I first encountred the term. It's used mostly for little children (or those considered little children), rather than adults.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T04:00:40.663" />
  <row Id="6646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6644" CreationDate="2010-12-12T04:07:48.013" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Everyday&quot; is an adjective meaning commonplace, used all the time (i.e., every day). &quot;The medicine cabinet was filled with everyday remedies like aspirin and Tylenol.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Every day&quot; means something that happens every single day. &quot;The sun rises in the east every day.&quot; That means you can count on that to be true, without exception, every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two should not be confused, although as you note some people do confuse them. Some people also write &quot;your&quot; when they mean &quot;you're&quot; ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T04:07:48.013" />
  <row Id="6647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6644" CreationDate="2010-12-12T04:08:44.567" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Every day&quot; is a phrase that functions as an adverb, as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He does this every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Everyday&quot; is &lt;a href=&quot;http://mw1.meriam-webster.com/dictionary/everyday&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an adjective that means&lt;/a&gt; &quot;encountered or used routinely or typically&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These are my everyday clothes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People sometimes erroneously write &quot;everyday&quot; when they mean &quot;every day&quot;, probably because they know they have seen &quot;everyday&quot; before, and don't realize there is a spelling difference between the adverbial phrase and the adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T04:08:44.567" />
  <row Id="6648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6639" CreationDate="2010-12-12T05:24:23.343" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Afterward[s]&lt;/b&gt;:&#xA;As someone with a background in British English who has studied and lived in the US over the past four years, I would say that &quot;afterwards&quot; is more commonly used in the British, while &quot;afterward&quot; is chiefly found in American usage. To confirm this, I sampled various dictionaries online, both American and British. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this does not always follow for words such as &quot;forward[s]&quot;, &quot;backward[s]&quot;, etc. I will deal with each case separately, treating them all as &lt;b&gt;adverbs&lt;/b&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Forward[s]&lt;/b&gt;: &#xA;The form &quot;forwards&quot; is rarely ever used in today's English, whether British or American. With or without the &quot;s&quot;, the meaning remains unchanged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Backward[s]&lt;/b&gt;: Again, &quot;backward&quot; is chiefly American, while &quot;backwards&quot; is certainly almost always used in the British. (As and &lt;em&gt;adjective&lt;/em&gt;, though, &quot;backward&quot; is the correct usage, never with the &quot;s&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Toward[s]&lt;/b&gt;: The form &quot;towards&quot; is the British usage, while &quot;toward&quot; is the American. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Suffixation&lt;/b&gt;: Of course, the suffix &quot;-ward[s]&quot; can be tagged onto any word to indicate direction, as in &quot;heavenward&quot;, &quot;landward&quot;, and so on. As a general rule, it is strictly &quot;-ward&quot; in all adjectives, while adverbs could be &quot;-ward&quot; or &quot;-wards&quot;, depending on the user.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And no, the &quot;s&quot; does not indicate any plurality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-13T14:18:56.130" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T14:18:56.130" />
  <row Id="6649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6623" CreationDate="2010-12-12T06:29:29.823" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;With &quot;of&quot;&lt;/b&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;have need of&lt;/em&gt;: This is very formal usage, though, as simply using &quot;need&quot; would suffice&#xA;-&lt;pre&gt;They had need of shelter.&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;in need of&lt;/em&gt;: This is more commonly used in everyday English&#xA;-&lt;pre&gt;I am in need of clothing.&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt; With &quot;for&quot;&lt;/b&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;need for&lt;/em&gt;:&#xA;-&lt;pre&gt;There is [a] need for discipline in the classroom.&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;Using the article &quot;a&quot; in the above example would be superfluous but it may emphasize that specific need. With a qualifier, the article becomes useful, although it can also be done away with, as in&#xA;-&lt;pre&gt;There is [an] urgent need for discipline in the classroom.&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;have a need for&lt;/em&gt;:&#xA;-&lt;pre&gt;I have a need for food.&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;This usage is awkward, at best, but it is not grammatically incorrect. However, it is more commonly used in the negative&#xA;-&lt;pre&gt;I have no need for spiritual enlightenment.&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T06:29:29.823" />
  <row Id="6650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6632" CreationDate="2010-12-12T06:51:17.667" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another &quot;hard and fast&quot; rule for placing the period, if you may: For a complete sentence, leave the period &lt;em&gt;within&lt;/em&gt; the parentheses; for a phrase or clause in a sentence, leave the period &lt;em&gt;without&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T06:51:17.667" />
  <row Id="6651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6629" CreationDate="2010-12-12T07:16:22.987" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The group &quot;ingredients&quot; is diverse and so also is the group &quot;cooking materials&quot;, as this could include utensils, for instance. I would use the term &quot;condiments&quot; to refer to all spices, seasonings, sauces and other substances that add flavor to food. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T07:16:22.987" />
  <row Id="6652" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6657" CreationDate="2010-12-12T07:37:39.980" Score="2" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;Howmuch should we use the conjuncts (words like Besides, however, nevertheless, otherwise, so, therefore, still, yet, though) in formally communicating via email, verbally etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions in what kind of communications we should lessen their use? I just want to know more about them. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2532" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T16:18:15.693" Title="Use of conjuncts in formal communication via email, letters etc" Tags="&lt;letter-writing&gt;&lt;formality&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6653" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-12T10:52:14.643" Score="5" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;a lot of people in my family use this word, not regularly, but enough for me to ask what does it mean...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know it's not a real word, but how come people from different sides of my family use it - it must mean something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way the word is used is for a word that doesn't mean anything, like gobbeldygook.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2752" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T03:21:22.040" Title="Oojakapiv : what does this word mean?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6653" CreationDate="2010-12-12T12:06:22.710" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something like: dingbat, thingamabob or thingy .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://news.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/F50359?thread=616345&amp;amp;post=6831464#p6830752&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;From&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1925 E. FRASER &amp;amp; J. GIBBONS Soldier &amp;amp; Sailor Words 215 Oojah (also Ooja-ka-pivi), &lt;strong&gt;a substitute expression for anything the name of which a speaker cannot momentarily think of&lt;/strong&gt;, e.g. ‘Pass me that h-m, h-m, oojah-ka-pivi, will you?’ 1931 J. VAN DRUTEN London Wall II. ii. 73 There's a whole lot in the Oojah Capivvy now. 1962 Sunday Times 4 Feb. 31/6 This was the catch-phrase in a music-hall song in use during the first world war... I remember the line and the tune: ‘You cannot eat it, or see it, or hear it, you just ask for Ujah-ka-piv.’ 1966 ‘L. LANE’ ABZ of Scouse 78 Whur's ther ojah-capiff?, where is the hammer, spanner or whatever it might be? 1992 Hobart Mercury 8 Aug., There are several of Ms Bosanky's turns of phrase that are pure Downunder. For instance, ‘hoojah-kapippy’..or a ‘whatsitsname’ euphemism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T12:06:22.710" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6615" CreationDate="2010-12-12T14:21:00.627" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this is fairly common in speakers from north-east England and Scotland. As a child, we subscribed to the Beano comic, which was printed in Dundee, and characters would often use this sort of phrase, which sounded odd to my London-based family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="308" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T14:21:00.627" />
  <row Id="6656" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6658" CreationDate="2010-12-12T14:35:24.090" Score="3" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any differences in meaning between saying 'each apple is red' and 'every apple is red'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T01:57:21.300" Title="differences in meaning between 'each' and 'every'" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="6657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6652" CreationDate="2010-12-12T16:18:15.693" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think that this is about &quot;how much&quot;, &quot;how many&quot;. The quantity by itself does not determine the degree of formality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The words that you choose however do sound more formal or less formal. For example, compare the examples below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) less formal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But&lt;/strong&gt; the words that you use do sound more formal or less formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) more formal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The words that you use &lt;strong&gt;however&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  do sound more formal or less formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) less formal (?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The cell phone is thin and light and &lt;strong&gt;therefore&lt;/strong&gt; very convenient to carry around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) more formal (?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The cell phone is thin and light, &lt;strong&gt;hence&lt;/strong&gt; very convenient to carry around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) less formal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;strong&gt;then&lt;/strong&gt; there is the interest to be paid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) more formal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;strong&gt;Additionally&lt;/strong&gt;, there is the the interest to be paid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T16:18:15.693" />
  <row Id="6658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6656" CreationDate="2010-12-12T16:39:03.167" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strictly speaking, the two sentences mean the same thing. However, the sentence &quot;Each apple is red&quot; is slightly unusual, and the more natural way to express this would be &quot;Every apple is red&quot;, or &quot;All apples are red.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason is that the word &lt;em&gt;each&lt;/em&gt; is generally used in situations where we consider the apples individually or sequentially, whereas &lt;em&gt;every&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; are used for generalizations. So we might say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We spray-painted each apple red.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here &lt;em&gt;each&lt;/em&gt; is appropriate because every apple was painted individually. However, most people wouldn't say the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[?] Each apple turned red by October.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't technically wrong, but it sounds unnatural. Much more usual would be to say one of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Every apple turned red by October.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All the apples turned red by October.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T16:39:03.167" />
  <row Id="6659" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6675" CreationDate="2010-12-12T17:36:45.753" Score="5" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in the more intricate meanings of the term &quot;ignorance&quot;. In my experience, it is being used primarily to express someone's &lt;em&gt;state&lt;/em&gt; of not knowing. Somebody can be ignorant and innocent of it at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In German, the same word exists (&lt;em&gt;&quot;Ignoranz&quot;&lt;/em&gt;), but with a different approach: It describes someone's conscious decision to ignore the facts - usually that's a facet of arrogance (or, less often, stupidity). It's more a description of &lt;em&gt;attitude&lt;/em&gt; than &lt;em&gt;state&lt;/em&gt;. Not knowing is only the result of it. In any case, you cannot be innocent of &lt;em&gt;&quot;Ignoranz&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the same subtext exist in English? If not, what would be a better match for the German word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2466" LastEditorUserId="2466" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-12T18:05:51.863" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T15:02:55.197" Title="A question about ignorance." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;german&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6660" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6663" CreationDate="2010-12-12T17:38:17.313" Score="1" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a semantic difference between &lt;code&gt;What's going on?&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;What's happening?&lt;/code&gt;. Can they be used interchangeably?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T18:29:52.917" Title="&quot;What's going on?&quot; vs. &quot;What's happening?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6661" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6665" CreationDate="2010-12-12T17:44:29.243" Score="1" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been running across some interesting abbreviations on the internet. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;b4&lt;/strong&gt;: before&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;w8&lt;/strong&gt;: wait  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find it clever because you use just 2 letters to express a longer word. What's the origin of these abbreviations? Can you please provide a full list of them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T02:27:04.850" Title="Alphanumeric abbreviations in English" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;&lt;internet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6661" CreationDate="2010-12-12T18:09:58.673" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, they are a variety of shorthand, most notably on the rise because of text messaging (SMS - sending textual messages via mobile/cellular phones).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially the concept is to type phonetically, using the numbers that are comprised of a standard syllable: 1,2,4,8. (3 tends not to be used.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The spelling contractions, lack of punctuation and phonetic replacements are extensive and most words that can lose letters whilst still remaining loosely readable do so; a lot of acronyms are thrown in to the mix as well.  Therefore you get a multitude of sins produced in this medium, usually blamed for the downfall of literacy in youth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some example uses: (apologies)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;hi m8, u out 2nite? - &quot;Hi mate, [are] you [coming] out tonight?&quot;&#xA;&#xA;we 1! - &quot;We won!&quot;&#xA;&#xA;w8 4 me m8, no1 else 2come. - &quot;Wait for me mate, no one else to come [after me].&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately some people do still use proper English in such messages, but it is surprisingly uncommon.  Most people seem very happy to dispense with the rules of language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastEditorUserId="2253" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-13T02:27:04.850" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T02:27:04.850" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6660" CreationDate="2010-12-12T18:29:52.917" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, they can. But consider this difference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;What's going on?&quot; can also be accusatory, as in &quot;What's going on here? I didn't give permission for you to have a party in my house!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;What's happening?&quot; ranges from innocuous to friendly. It's a &quot;defanged&quot; version of &quot;What's going on?&quot; But most of the time, the latter statement is innocuous as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T18:29:52.917" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6659" CreationDate="2010-12-12T18:31:18.617" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Partially.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;ignorance&lt;/em&gt;, (and the adjective &lt;em&gt;ignorant&lt;/em&gt;) purely imply a lack of knowledge, understanding, awareness, education, or unenlightened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is used both for those who are ignorant harmlessly, by virtue of lack of exposure, and as an insult or negative comment about someone who displays a lack of enlightenment on an issue when they should know better; quite often when they do know better, but choose to ignore the facts.  The latter use, as an insult to show contempt for a person is more common these days, often as an alternative for &lt;em&gt;bigoted&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When people &quot;choose to ignore the facts&quot;, that fits with the subtext you mention, though when I say that, the person in question usually does not believe the facts to be true.  So it is not a case for them of arguing that &quot;black is white&quot;, they believe in the opinion they hold; but others do not and think they should not.  Usually the division in this form lies in the definition of what is &lt;em&gt;&quot;politically correct&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone knew that they were wrong, but doggedly refused to change their opinion, we would say they were &lt;em&gt;stubborn&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;bullheaded&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;pigheaded&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;obstinate&lt;/em&gt;.  The word &lt;em&gt;pigheaded&lt;/em&gt; in particular is used for the bigoted form of &lt;em&gt;ignorant&lt;/em&gt;, as it is common to refer to bigoted people as pigs - usually preceded by some negative adjective, e.g. &lt;em&gt;sexist pig&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T18:31:18.617" />
  <row Id="6665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6661" CreationDate="2010-12-12T18:31:40.433" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would think most, if not all, of these diminutives have evolved with the texting/IM culture. Before the days of cellphones with full keyboards, users saved space and, perhaps, time using these abbreviations. The general rule is to replace a syllable with the figure of the number that sounds most like it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of these abbreviations, however, consist of more than two characters e.g. &quot;9ce&quot; (nice), &quot;gr8&quot; (great), &quot;2moro&quot; (tomorrow), etc. You could also invent yours e.g. &quot;d8&quot; (date), &quot;f8&quot; (fate), but who uses these?!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-12T21:23:05.093" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T21:23:05.093" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6666" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6667" CreationDate="2010-12-12T21:20:48.853" Score="1" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I prepared report on total spending in month along with break down by items.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2757" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-14T10:14:49.570" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T10:14:49.570" Title="What is right way to write this (break-down)" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;compounds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6666" CreationDate="2010-12-12T21:41:51.847" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct way is to use 'breakdown' as a single word. The single word is a noun, while the phrase 'break down' is really the action of breaking things down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T21:41:51.847" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6666" CreationDate="2010-12-12T21:46:10.407" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the report detailing expenditure for a particular month or, more generally, monthly? I list here a bunch of possible solutions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I prepared a detailed report on my/our monthly expenditure.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I prepared a report detailing my/our monthly expenditure.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I prepared a report detailing my/our expenditure for the month.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above examples are probably the most succinct way to express your idea. I omitted &quot;total&quot; because I think it could be superfluous but you could retain it, if you like. Also, &quot;expenditure&quot; is the word to use here, not &quot;spending&quot;. I included a qualifying pronoun but you could leave this out if the context of the sentence already suggests whose expenditure it is. If you really need to mention the &quot;breakdown&quot; aspect, then here are a few more solutions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I prepared a report on my/our monthly expenditure with an itemized breakdown.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;The monthly report I prepared broke down our expenses by item/item by item.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I prepared a report with a breakdown of my/our monthly expenditure.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I prepared a report breaking down our expenses for the month.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, all these solutions emphasize different aspects of your statement. There are probably a hundred and one ways of saying what you want to say. I also think &quot;breakdown by items&quot; is tautological. &quot;Breakdown&quot; (a one-word noun, by the way) already implies a component-by-component analysis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T21:46:10.407" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6669" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6670" CreationDate="2010-12-12T21:47:52.117" Score="6" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I visited darkest Devon recently, and happened to pass through a couple of places named &quot;Week&quot;. On studying the map I found several others, such as James Week, Mary Week, Chawleigh Week, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does &quot;Week&quot; had a special meaning in place names, and if so, what is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T22:50:55.450" Title="What does &quot;week&quot; mean in place names?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;names&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6669" CreationDate="2010-12-12T22:50:55.450" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it means a &quot;specialised farm&quot; in most of the uses in Devon.  From the Old English &lt;em&gt;wic&lt;/em&gt;, which just means a settlement, village or dwelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2010-12-12T22:50:55.450" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="6671" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6678" CreationDate="2010-12-12T23:46:54.187" Score="0" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;enjoying Re-run's of Christmas' past&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just saw this posted as a Facebook status update, and it has boggled me as to how it should be considered or how it should be rewritten. If re-runs belong to Christmases of the past, and if the past owns Christmases then there is ownership present. What about Christmases' ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not focused on the fact it's a fragment of speech. Maybe that imbues some ambiguity upon it in my mind's eye and prevents me immediate resolution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the most accurate, or else, your best interpretation of this fragment? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="618" LastEditorUserId="618" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T20:11:58.230" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T20:49:33.283" Title="Seasonal parsing: &quot;enjoying Re-run's of Christmas' past&quot; - fragment, pluralization and ownership" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;&lt;fragments&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6144" CreationDate="2010-12-13T00:45:23.393" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the context of a technical manual, there may be a significant difference: one implying an absolute rule, the other providing guidance. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;one should not use the camcorder underwater. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;one should avoid using the camcorder is a dusty environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T00:45:23.393" />
  <row Id="6673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6661" CreationDate="2010-12-13T00:57:25.763" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Such abbreviations are older than the Internet, though they became popular through text messaging on mobile phones, before spreading to Internet-based chat and beyond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The oldest instance that I know of is Alfred Bester's &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demolished_Man&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Demolished Man&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demolished_Man&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;original version&lt;/a&gt; serialized in the &lt;em&gt;Galaxy&lt;/em&gt; magazine in 1952 featured such characters as T8 and &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3857&quot;&gt;$$son&lt;/a&gt;. The subsequent novel publication was edited to tone down the use of such abbreviations, but there are still characters called @kins and ¼maine. Randall Garrett wrote a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?990188&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;review in verse&lt;/a&gt; whose beginning and ending I will quote here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the far &amp;amp; distant future — you can pick the d8 2 suit yourself …&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  … are the (ter of Reich.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Pronounce &lt;code&gt;(&lt;/code&gt; as parenthesis; it's not an exact match.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1165" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T00:57:25.763" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6671" CreationDate="2010-12-13T02:00:32.647" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would have to assume that it's intended to mean that the person is &quot;enjoying reruns from past Christmases&quot;, e.g. watching old favorites on TV, or catching the 96th consecutive showing of &quot;It's a Wonderful Life,&quot; or going over old family Christmas movies and photos, or some such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T02:00:32.647" />
  <row Id="6675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6659" CreationDate="2010-12-13T02:04:10.040" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A possible English phrase to match the German meaning would be &quot;willful ignorance&quot;--you were given an opportunity to educate yourself but purposely chose not to learn anything new about the situation, preferring to remain entrenched in your current opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T02:04:10.040" />
  <row Id="6677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6314" CreationDate="2010-12-13T02:33:07.223" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably not the answer you're looking for but possibly still relevant/interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we can believe Wiktionary, it says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Emphatic form of holy crap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going with that...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Using &lt;code&gt;holy&lt;/code&gt; as an expletive was &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1565/origin-of-holy-smoke/1668#1668&quot;&gt;answered here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;code&gt;crap&lt;/code&gt; according to dictionary.com:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sense of &quot;rubbish, nonsense&quot; also first recorded 1898&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;And finally, &lt;code&gt;cracker&lt;/code&gt; is quite an old English word (1400s?).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'd suspect sometime in the early 1900s, as &lt;code&gt;crap&lt;/code&gt; started to pick up momentum as the new shi*, one or more creative souls shouted it in excitement and it thereafter spread. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2550" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T02:33:07.223" />
  <row Id="6678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6671" CreationDate="2010-12-13T02:40:23.930" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;of&quot; takes care of possession, if in fact possession is intended. The re-runs belong to Christmases past, &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; the writer is experiencing re-runs of the past Christmases themselves. Either way, I see the solution as simple plurals for both. The possession is in the eye of the beholder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Enjoying re-runs of Christmases past&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or more poetically:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Enjoying re-runs of Christmas past&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If TV is the subject, maybe you can convince your Facebook friend to decrease the ambiguity with something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Enjoying old Christmas re-runs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people on Facebook appreciate this kind of constructive criticism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="574" LastEditorUserId="574" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-13T02:51:51.657" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T02:51:51.657" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6653" CreationDate="2010-12-13T03:10:41.207" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;World Wide Words &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-ooj1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;discusses this&lt;/a&gt; briefly: they suggest that &lt;em&gt;ooja&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;oojah capivvy&lt;/em&gt; and variants originated in British Army argot around the time of WWI:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;‘Pass the oojah.’ says the one-armed man who is playing billiards. What is the oojah? The oojah is any object in Heaven or earth; it is the thing which has no name or the name of which you have temporarily forgotten.  &lt;em&gt;— Washington Post, Oct 1917&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; the OED confirms this quotation as their oldest citation for the usage, and suggests an etymology: “Perhaps [from] Urdu and Indo-Persian †&lt;em&gt;ḥujjat kāfī fīhi&lt;/em&gt;, lit. ‘the argument is sufficient’, there’s no more to be said about it.”]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A form more familiar to some readers (it certainly was to me) may be &lt;em&gt;oojah-cum-spiff&lt;/em&gt;, which is used rather differently: it’s an adjective meaning roughly “all right”, “in good order”, similar to e.g. &lt;em&gt;tickety-boo&lt;/em&gt;.  This turns up several times in P.G. Wodehouse’s books (the Jeeves novels, and iirc the Blandings ones too):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Yes, I think we may say everything’s more or less oojah-cum-spiff. With one exception, Jeeves…”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; OED suggests that the spelling of this version is influenced by the then-popular use of the Latin pronoun &lt;em&gt;cum&lt;/em&gt;.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-13T03:21:22.040" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T03:21:22.040" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6144" CreationDate="2010-12-13T03:12:15.480" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You should not be drinking&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sounds like an admonition in the present tense. You are drinking now, and you should not be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You should avoid drinking&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sounds like general advice, not time-specific. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A piece of friendly advice: &lt;em&gt;you should not be drinking&lt;/em&gt; [right now], and &lt;em&gt;you should avoid drinking&lt;/em&gt; [in general].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="574" LastEditorUserId="574" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T04:39:15.270" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T04:39:15.270" />
  <row Id="6682" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-13T03:25:13.620" Score="1" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After six months of looking for jobs,&#xA;  she got a reply from a job application&#xA;  she posted online from Macy's asking&#xA;  her to come to a interview.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence does not sound right to me, what would be the correct way to say this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2760" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T21:09:54.967" Title="How would I say this sentence correctly?" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6683" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6707" CreationDate="2010-12-13T03:27:33.620" Score="2" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, a bit of context. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Richard Stallman&lt;/a&gt;, father of the free software movement, has struggled all his life trying to explain that the &quot;free&quot; in &quot;free software&quot; is a &quot;free&quot; as in &quot;freedom&quot;, not as &quot;free beer&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, let's say someone argues that the main reason for adopting free software is that it has no cost (free beer). How can I tell him that he would make Richard Stallman go mad by saying this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there an idiom that could communicate this effectively? (Obviously, this is a language question, not a free software debate.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: I just realized that I am looking for a version of &quot;to turn in one's grave&quot; for alive people :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2472" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T04:07:11.983" Title="Idiom for saying &quot;You are making X go mad/angry.&quot;" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6682" CreationDate="2010-12-13T03:35:22.180" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest you drop 'from a job application' as it is pretty much implied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After six months of looking for a job, she finally got a reply from Macy's asking her to come for an interview.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2472" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T03:35:22.180" />
  <row Id="6685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6683" CreationDate="2010-12-13T03:41:53.987" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since Olivier insists:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are at least four sentences you can use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You'll make RMS go bananas!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You'll make RMS go bonkers!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You'll make RMS flip his lid!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You'll make RMS blow his gasket!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or since this is RMS we're talking about...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You'll make RMS explode into &lt;em&gt;bits&lt;/em&gt;!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T03:41:53.987" />
  <row Id="6686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4728" CreationDate="2010-12-13T03:45:06.760" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just for the sake of filling out the alphabet (this answer is community wiki, so please help where I’m still coming up blank):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;each and every;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;over and out&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Q?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;time and tide, top and tail&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;up and under(?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;warp and weft (or woof); wax and wane; world wide web…&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;X?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yin and Yang; you and yours.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, alliteration is really about phonemes not letters (as the OP exemplifies with &lt;em&gt;cheap and cheerful&lt;/em&gt;), so we should really try to collect more than just the alphabet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;short, sharp shock&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;through thick and thin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;then and there&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;whys and wherefores (depending on dialect, this &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_wh#Wine-whine_merger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;may or may not&lt;/a&gt; deserve separation from the other w’s above)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;trick or treat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T03:45:06.760" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-13T03:45:06.760" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6682" CreationDate="2010-12-13T03:47:47.523" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You would be better to use &quot;through&quot; than &quot;from&quot; here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After six months of looking for jobs,&#xA;  she got a reply &lt;em&gt;through&lt;/em&gt; a job application&#xA;  she posted online from Macy's asking&#xA;  her to come to a interview.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Better still:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After six months of looking for jobs,&#xA;  she got a reply from Macy's (through an application&#xA;  she had posted online) asking&#xA;  her to come to a interview.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T03:47:47.523" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6682" CreationDate="2010-12-13T03:58:37.247" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd try to simplify:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An online job application finally got her an interview at Macy's after six long months of looking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This places the fact of the application being &lt;em&gt;online&lt;/em&gt; front and center. If the time period is to be emphasized:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She looked for six long months before an online job application finally got her an interview at Macy's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="574" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T03:58:37.247" />
  <row Id="6689" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6695" CreationDate="2010-12-13T03:59:00.983" Score="0" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you, please, come up with some term that would be directly related to geography, but would have no relation to toponymy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T05:33:20.713" Title="Any term pertaining to geography, but not to toponymy?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;toponyms&gt;&lt;geography&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6690" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6691" CreationDate="2010-12-13T04:20:27.183" Score="4" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;So which one is it really? And where does the saying &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p.s. free kudos if there's an enchanting tale to go along with it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2550" LastEditorUserId="2550" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-13T13:35:13.013" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T13:35:13.013" Title="Hear hear or here here?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6690" CreationDate="2010-12-13T04:37:25.653" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase is properly &quot;Hear, hear&quot;, since you want everyone to hear what's being said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nonetheless, the eggcorn &quot;Here, here&quot; is so common that it may actually be eclipsing the original version.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T04:37:25.653" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6682" CreationDate="2010-12-13T04:47:37.737" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not quite sure as to the need for highlighting the fact that she has been looking for job for 6 months. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How about :-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Macy's responded to her online job application inviting her for an interview.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you do need to highlight the 6 month search, then one option i can think of might be :-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Her 6 month job search has culminated in Macy's inviting her for an interview in response to her online application&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2761" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T04:47:37.737" />
  <row Id="6693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6682" CreationDate="2010-12-13T05:03:52.027" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;After six months of looking for jobs, she got a reply from Macy's regarding a job application she had posted online, asking her to come to a interview.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2762" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T05:03:52.027" />
  <row Id="6694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5076" CreationDate="2010-12-13T05:03:56.350" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, your definition&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;you are able to agree with it intuitively but you don't necessarily have evidence or proof for it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;pretty closely describes a jargon usage of &lt;em&gt;morally&lt;/em&gt; in mathematics.  It’s a comparatively recent usage, I think, and somewhat subfield-specific.  It typically describes a statement which isn’t itself true, but succinctly captures the gist of a more complicated statement that is actually true.  E.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Giving a grading on &lt;em&gt;A&lt;/em&gt; corresponds at least morally to giving a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;C&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;-action on spec(&lt;em&gt;A&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is morally correct but technically wrong, as pointed out in Jose's answer and the comments to the question (including yours).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These and many more examples can be found at &lt;a href=&quot;http://mathoverflow.net/search?q=morally&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mathoverflow&lt;/a&gt;; Eugenia Cheng has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cheng.staff.shef.ac.uk/morality/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an essay&lt;/a&gt; on the topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-13T06:19:10.170" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T06:19:10.170" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6689" CreationDate="2010-12-13T05:33:20.713" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Google finds two definitions of toponymy, one of which is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Toponymy is the scientific study of place names, their origins, meanings, use and [&lt;em&gt;sic&lt;/em&gt;]. The word 'Toponymy' is derived from the Greek words tópos (τόπος) ('place') and ónoma (ὄνομα) ('name'). Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds. ... &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toponymy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toponymy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, any geographical terms not related to place names meet the bill.  That said, many of the more common physical geographic terms have been used in place names (hill, mountain, lake, fen, marsh, field, ...), so they're out.  More esoteric terms - morraine, perhaps - have seldom been used in place names (at least, in English-speaking countries).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any geographical terms related to economic geography are relatively unlikely to come under toponymy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T05:33:20.713" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6696" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-13T06:34:57.047" Score="0" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference between these two forms? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;How did I take that picture&quot; vs. &quot;How I took that picture&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;How did I make the cake&quot; vs. &quot;How I made the cake&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;How did I meet my wife&quot; vs. &quot;How I met my wife&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="996" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T06:47:48.460" Title="What's the semantic difference between &quot;How did I &lt;verb&gt; &lt;subject&gt;&quot; and &quot;How I &lt;verb in past tense&gt; &lt;subject&gt;&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6696" CreationDate="2010-12-13T06:42:29.863" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;How did I...&quot; construction works as a rhetorical question or a question posed to oneself:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;How did I make the cake turn out so perfectly?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;How I...&quot; works as a statement narrating past events:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;How I made the cake turn out so perfectly was to add the flour in 1/2 cup increments.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2697" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T06:42:29.863" />
  <row Id="6698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6696" CreationDate="2010-12-13T06:47:48.460" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;How did I take that picture?&quot; is a question that functions as a complete sentence, whereas &quot;How I took that picture&quot; is an adverbial clause that cannot stand on its own. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the statements beginning with &quot;How did I...&quot; are questions aiming to determine the manner in which an action was carried out. The statements beginning with &quot;How I...&quot; are adverbial clauses of manner that can be added on to complete another sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T06:47:48.460" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="660" CreationDate="2010-12-13T06:56:39.933" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's &quot;if I were&quot; for hypothetical in the present or future and &quot;if I was&quot; when talking about something presumed true in the PAST.  &quot;IF&quot; then means something likened to &quot;since&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;If I were class president, I would represent our class very well for the next four years.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;If I was at the party last night, I don't remember.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's an old, residual rule from the days of yore when English verbs conjugated differently for person and singular/plural in both past and present tense indicative and subjunctive.  While I may not have enough knowledge on Old and Middle English, I can show you the conjugation for &quot;to do&quot; for the 2nd person singular form of &quot;thou&quot; in Early Modern English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;pres. ind.- thou dost&#xA;pres. subj.- thou do&#xA;past ind.- thou didst&#xA;past subj.- thou did&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's why it should be &quot;if I be&quot; for things possible and one could still say it.  We see &quot;if truth be told&quot; and &quot;whether it be&quot; and others, all residual subjunctives from the days of Chaucer and even Shakespeare wherein it was already disappearing.  In Modern English, the past tense is uniform for every person (I, you, he, we, you, they did) except for &quot;to be&quot; (I, he was, but you, we, you, they were), but it wasn't always that way.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, if I were you, I would learn it because it usually separates the intelligentsia from ignoramuses.  It's correct English even if it be a little old lol.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2763" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T06:56:39.933" />
  <row Id="6700" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6703" CreationDate="2010-12-13T06:59:58.200" Score="7" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;Billy Joel, in the song She's Always a Woman, writes, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Oh, and she never gives out, and she never gives in. She just changes her mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that by &quot;give in&quot; he means &quot;cease fighting or arguing; admit defeat.&quot; What does he mean by &quot;she never gives out&quot;? The only meaning of this phrase that I am familiar with is &quot;be completely used up,&quot; but that doesn't seem to make sense here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2764" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T14:43:08.187" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:56:32.343" Title="What does &quot;to give out&quot; mean when talking about a person?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2705" CreationDate="2010-12-13T07:03:56.340" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;WERE&quot; because it is the past subjunctive of &quot;to be&quot;. It's an oversight by the copy-editor.  It's not the biggest deal in the world since the verb &quot;to be&quot; is the only verb in Modern English wherein the difference is obvious, although, if one WANT to speak very formal, correct English, stick with the subjunctive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2763" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T07:03:56.340" />
  <row Id="6702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1209" CreationDate="2010-12-13T07:12:20.153" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Modern English is syncretic and other languages like French are inflectional.  Syncretic languages don't inflect their verbs too often so it's hard to see the subjunctive.  It still exists though and is still said.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I wish it were not the case.&quot;&#xA;&quot;I demand that he do it.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a pretty easy rule once you learn it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2763" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T07:12:20.153" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6700" CreationDate="2010-12-13T07:25:25.883" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I think taking &quot;never gives out&quot; to mean &quot;never breaks down/never ceases to function/always keeps going&quot; makes the most sense here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T07:25:25.883" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6700" CreationDate="2010-12-13T07:49:19.890" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not exactly sure if this is a valid explanation (as it is referenced from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/give_out&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;) but it does fit in well with the Meaning of the song.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To Give Out : (Ireland, idiomatic) To&#xA;  complain, sulk, chastise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the above, the line - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She never gives out - She never gives&#xA;  in - She just changes her mind&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;seems to all fit in with this meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2761" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T07:49:19.890" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6690" CreationDate="2010-12-13T08:37:50.920" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Related to the 2nd part of the question - as to where does &lt;code&gt;hear hear&lt;/code&gt; derive from&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think its origins are from the phrase &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hear ye the word of the Lord &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;from the Bible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This phrase is used to conjunction with &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thus saith the Lord &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;usually followed by a proclamation of some kind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This way of drawing attention of the listeners to what was about to be said was probably then popularized further by the practice of town criers (those chaps with scrolls and bells in england and maybe other places as well) who followed the same practice of drawing attention to them before their official (mostly king / government related proclamations) with the similar  cry of &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hear Ye Hear Ye&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over the years, especially with &quot;old English&quot; words like &quot;Ye&quot; no longer being used, this has probably been shortened to &quot;Hear Hear&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2761" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T08:37:50.920" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6683" CreationDate="2010-12-13T09:39:30.040" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you say this to Richard, he'll...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;go nuts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;go crazy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;go mental&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;explode&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lose it big time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T09:39:30.040" />
  <row Id="6708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6683" CreationDate="2010-12-13T10:29:56.573" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the others mentioned:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you say this to RMS, he will...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bust a blood vessel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;go postal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;do his nut&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;go nuclear&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;spontaneously combust&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;blow his top&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bite your head off&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;give you a piece of his mind&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;see red&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;haul you over the coals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tear a strip off you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could go on forever... ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T10:29:56.573" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6621" CreationDate="2010-12-13T11:31:52.480" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The issue is really not with the adjective order.&#xA;Both &quot;fast&quot; and &quot;functional&quot; are adjectives of opinion and can be placed in either order.&#xA;The issue is in the illiteration of the words.&#xA;You're using fast, functional, and finds practically next to eachother.&#xA;That's what is making the sentence sound strange.  Try using synonym, I would suggest&#xA;using &quot;comes up with a solution&quot; rather than just &quot;finds&quot;&#xA;&quot;practical&quot; instead of &quot;functional&quot;&#xA;And so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2771" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T11:31:52.480" />
  <row Id="6710" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-13T12:13:41.640" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello everybody! I am from China, and I want to improve my English level, especially for English writing. I would write something in English, and other people would correct my grammar mistakes, and make my writing better. Can you give me a pointer or two?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2417" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-13T12:39:14.440" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T13:20:20.550" Title="Can anyone recommend a website for modifying English article?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;learning&gt;&lt;internet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6683" CreationDate="2010-12-13T12:38:43.640" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dicky S would have a fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T12:38:43.640" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6710" CreationDate="2010-12-13T12:57:56.207" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are a few basic starting points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Read more and more (newspapers, novels, etc).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Watch English channels like BBC (avoid American sitcoms which use a lot of &#xA;slang words and phrases).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Start conversing in English. This will be difficult at first, but don't give up. Practice makes perfect.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;Here are some useful links I keep handy in my Google Reader:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/how2/rss.xml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/how2/rss.xml&lt;/a&gt; (this site hosts 6-minute audio clips on speaking correct English)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/homepage/index.xml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/homepage/index.xml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Daily writing tips - &lt;a href=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/DailyWritingTips&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://feeds.feedburner.com/DailyWritingTips&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/tae/rss.xml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/tae/rss.xml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2772" LastEditorUserId="2772" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-15T13:20:20.550" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T13:20:20.550" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6713" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6718" CreationDate="2010-12-13T13:15:59.277" Score="3" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found myself writing the following in a bit of technical documentation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Trainers' and Students' clients have very little in common, both user interface-wise and code-wise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first, I wondered whether I should have written &lt;em&gt;user-interface-wise&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;user interface-wise&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;user interface wise&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;user interfacewise&lt;/em&gt;... or some other combination. A quick Google search &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/-wise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;suggested&lt;/a&gt; however that the &quot;-wise&quot; suffix actually isn't one you can or should use on any word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you suggest? I guess the easiest way out is rephrasing (e.g., &lt;em&gt;not only for what concerns the user interface, but also for actual methods&lt;/em&gt;), but I wanted to learn whether appending &quot;-wise&quot; to arbitrary words is incorrect, frowned upon or merely a stylistic choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="865" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:02:43.567" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:02:43.567" Title="When is it correct to use the &quot;-wise&quot; suffix?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;suffix&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6690" CreationDate="2010-12-13T13:26:20.403" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's &quot;hear, hear&quot;. Both &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hear,_hear&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/178100.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;phrases.org.uk&lt;/a&gt; cite its origin as the UK Parliament. From the former:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was originally an imperative for directing attention to speakers, and has since been used, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, as &quot;the regular form of cheering in the House of Commons&quot;, with many purposes depending on the intonation of its user. Its use in Parliament is linked to the fact that applause is normally (though not always) forbidden in the chambers of the House of Commons and House of Lords.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;hear him, hear him!&quot; was used in Parliament since the late 17th century, and had been reduced to &quot;hear!&quot; or &quot;hear, hear!&quot; by the late 18th century. The verb hear had earlier been used in the King James Bible as a command for others to listen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T13:26:20.403" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6682" CreationDate="2010-12-13T13:49:55.803" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;After six months of looking for jobs, she got a reply from Macy's to an online job application asking her to come in for an interview.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2773" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T13:49:55.803" />
  <row Id="6716" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6727" CreationDate="2010-12-13T14:05:13.397" Score="5" ViewCount="450" Body="&lt;p&gt;More out of curiosity than anything, when would one use &quot;burnt&quot; and when would &quot;burned&quot; be appropriate? For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This coffee tastes burnt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This coffee tastes burned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They burnt the coffee again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They burned the coffee again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it make a difference? I know when I speak either phrase they sound almost indistinguishable (my &quot;t&quot;s do not always sound sharp and come across like &quot;d&quot;s at times); can they be used interchangeably?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[ As an aside, the problem with the coffee at the local Dunkin Donuts is what prompted the whole curiosity about this :) ]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2242" LastEditorUserId="2242" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T22:20:59.510" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T22:20:59.510" Title="&quot;burnt&quot; vs. &quot;burned&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6716" CreationDate="2010-12-13T14:26:28.830" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The past tense of 'burn' is either 'burned' or 'burnt'. In addition, 'burnt' also functions as an adjective to describe something as being 'damaged' from burning. Hence we speak of 'burnt toast' but not 'burned toast', but we can say 'he burned the paper' or 'he burnt the paper'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-13T22:37:01.380" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T22:37:01.380" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6713" CreationDate="2010-12-13T14:26:41.467" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/-wise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TheFreeDictionary.com&lt;/a&gt; gives this usage note:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Usage Note: The suffix &lt;em&gt;-wise&lt;/em&gt; has a&#xA;  long history of use to mean &quot;in the&#xA;  manner or direction of,&quot; as in&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;clockwise&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;otherwise&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;slantwise&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;  Since the 1930s, however, the suffix&#xA;  has been widely used in the vaguer&#xA;  sense of &quot;with respect to,&quot; as in &lt;em&gt;This&#xA;  has not been a good year saleswise.&#xA;  Taxwise, it is an unattractive&#xA;  arrangement.&lt;/em&gt; Since their introduction,&#xA;  these usages have been associated with&#xA;  informal prose, and they are still&#xA;  considered by many to be awkward. For&#xA;  this reason, they might best be&#xA;  avoided, especially in formal writing.&#xA;  The most obvious alternative is to use&#xA;  paraphrases, as in &lt;em&gt;This has not been a&#xA;  good year with respect to sales. As&#xA;  far as taxes are concerned, it is an&#xA;  unattractive arrangement.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meat of this suggests that using &lt;em&gt;-wise&lt;/em&gt; to mean &lt;em&gt;with respect to&lt;/em&gt; is considered informal and even awkward. I suspect that pushing the boundaries as you do in the examples to include such constructions as &lt;em&gt;user interface-wise&lt;/em&gt; makes an awkward usage even more awkward, as your own instincts seem to suggest. I generally have no problem with informal speech or writing in informal settings &lt;em&gt;or for emphasis&lt;/em&gt;, but whenever I feel I am pushing the envelope I'll pause, think, and probably recast the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-13T17:03:53.783" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T17:03:53.783" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6710" CreationDate="2010-12-13T14:43:24.333" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lang-8.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;www.lang-8.com&lt;/a&gt; is a great site to do what you are proposing--you write, and other people correct it for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2699" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T14:43:24.333" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6720" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6722" CreationDate="2010-12-13T15:01:02.703" Score="1" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was just trying to formulate a sentence in an email, and wanted to reference a third person, inquiring as to which of something that person was referring in the forwarded mail message.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;About which things is he talking?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;About which things are he talking?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just FYI I originally had the &quot;about&quot; at the end. Not grammatically correct but no one talks like that anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There seem to be conflicting rules here, but I don't know which one applies. Normally, with sentences like &quot;What is he doing?&quot; the &quot;is&quot; is part of &quot;is talking,&quot; and similarly the second person &quot;are talking.&quot; This would indicate that the first version is correct. But you could also argue that the helper verb applies to &quot;things&quot;, and so should be &quot;are&quot; because &quot;things&quot; is plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I started to think that &quot;is he&quot; is correct, because if you turn the sentence around to answer it, you get &quot;He is talking about those things&quot; and not &quot;he are talking&quot;. But still, there are other sentences like &quot;Which gifts is he bringing to the party?&quot; Now that just feels wrong, saying &quot;gifts is&quot; like that. But is it correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2776" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T15:21:07.220" Title="Could &quot;are he&quot; be correct?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;auxiliary-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6659" CreationDate="2010-12-13T15:02:55.197" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Ignore&quot; and &quot;ignorant&quot; come ultimately from a Latin word &quot;ignosco&quot; &amp;lt; &quot;in-gno-sco&quot;, meaning &quot;not know&quot;. &#xA;In English the verb &quot;ignore&quot; has come to mean a deliberate not-knowing; but the adjective &quot;ignorant&quot; does not have that implication. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In French, in contrast &quot;ignore&quot; does simply mean &quot;not know&quot;, without this implication. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T15:02:55.197" />
  <row Id="6722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6720" CreationDate="2010-12-13T15:06:00.030" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As, &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt; is the subject of the sentence here, you need to match the singular, so the correct construction uses &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;About which things is he talking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, your other example also needs &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; for the same reason. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Which gifts is he bringing to the party?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things and gifts are the objects of these verbs and not the subjects so don't let them fool you.  Imagine replacing them with &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt;, for example and see how it sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is he bringing to the party?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What are he bringing to the party?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T15:06:00.030" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6720" CreationDate="2010-12-13T15:21:07.220" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The subject of both sentences &amp;mdash;the person doing the talking or bringing&amp;mdash; is &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt;, which requires the singular &quot;is&quot;. (As RegDwight noted, you could &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;also argue that the helper verb applies to 'things'&quot;. Well, ok, you could argue it, but you'd be wrong.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What things is he talking about?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Which gifts is he bringing to the party?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that it is not only perfectly grammatical to put &lt;em&gt;about&lt;/em&gt; at the end, but it also flows better, so lots of people do indeed &quot;talk that way&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T15:21:07.220" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6724" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6726" CreationDate="2010-12-13T16:06:54.650" Score="14" ViewCount="767" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If T had still been alive, there is the great possibily that either T or C ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My teacher says that the word &quot;then&quot; must appear after the comma, but I think that it's implied and unnecessary. Who is right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T14:29:02.343" Title="Can I use an &quot;if&quot; clause without &quot;then&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="6725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6724" CreationDate="2010-12-13T16:12:17.263" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You. He/she is just being pedantic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fortunecity.com/bally/durrus/153/gramch28.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.fortunecity.com/bally/durrus/153/gramch28.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conditional_sentence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conditional_sentence&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eslhq.com/forums/esl-forums/english-questions/if-then-clause-10627/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.eslhq.com/forums/esl-forums/english-questions/if-then-clause-10627/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2604" LastEditorUserId="2604" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-17T23:26:53.000" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T23:26:53.000" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6724" CreationDate="2010-12-13T16:15:59.140" Score="35" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not necessary to use &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; to introduce the consequence of the &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; clause:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you build it, they will come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If it ain't broke, don't fix it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I give you five dollars a week,&#xA;  you'll have over $250 by the end of&#xA;  the year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All those are grammatically correct and clear (even the one with &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt;, which I threw in for a grin.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T16:15:59.140" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6716" CreationDate="2010-12-13T16:35:12.880" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are both used as the past tense of &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/burned&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;burn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In American English, &lt;em&gt;burned&lt;/em&gt; is used much more frequently than &lt;em&gt;burnt&lt;/em&gt;. In the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;, a search for &lt;em&gt;burned&lt;/em&gt; returns more than 5 times more results than a search for &lt;em&gt;burnt&lt;/em&gt; (11558 for &lt;em&gt;burned&lt;/em&gt; vs. 2005 for &lt;em&gt;burnt&lt;/em&gt;).  Note that in combination with certain nouns, &lt;em&gt;burnt&lt;/em&gt; is actually what is in general used: &quot;burnt ivory&quot;, &quot;burnt cobalt&quot;, &quot;burnt orange&quot;, &quot;burnt yellow&quot;, &quot;burn toast&quot;, &quot;burnt smell&quot;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/aZDL6.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&#xA;(For complete table use the compare tool between burned and burnt in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;COCA&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In British English, hovewer, they seem to be used with more similar frequency. In the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt;, a search for &lt;em&gt;burned&lt;/em&gt; returns 1435 results and a search for &lt;em&gt;burnt&lt;/em&gt; returns 1252 results. Unlike American English, there are many occurences of &lt;em&gt;burnt&lt;/em&gt; as a verb too (e.g. &quot;And I burnt them&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-13T16:55:57.917" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T16:55:57.917" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6728" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6729" CreationDate="2010-12-13T16:35:41.627" Score="2" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I described someone as being trained to react &quot;more poorly&quot; to a given situation. Her current reaction is poor. It is becoming more poor. So she reacts more poorly. Is this correct? It sounds awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="608" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T18:29:20.447" Title="Is &quot;more poorly&quot; an appropriate phrase?" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6728" CreationDate="2010-12-13T16:43:22.717" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; has 13 cites for &quot;more poorly&quot;, and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; has 83 (including 8 for &quot;even more poorly&quot; and 1 for &quot;more and more poorly&quot;). Google returns about 826k results. So it's obviously being used and understood. And, as J. M. points out, it's not ungrammatical, either. (Now, if you were asking for possible alternatives, that would be a different question.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T16:43:22.717" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6728" CreationDate="2010-12-13T16:49:19.073" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a strictly semantic standpoint &quot;more poorly&quot; is acceptable. It does sound a bit akward, as you said. In your situation, &quot;moor poorly&quot; might be better stated as &quot;less appropriately&quot; or something along those lines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2780" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T16:49:19.073" />
  <row Id="6731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6716" CreationDate="2010-12-13T17:21:31.700" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Burnt toast is easier to say than 'burned toast'. And some things said simply become the more commonly accepted way to say it and I think that's the case with 'burnt toast'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a shadow of some mountain regions of the South, of dialects of British English, of 'folk speech' in the word 'burnt' and others like it. My father in everyday discourse would say burned, dreamed, spelled but when with his brothers and mountain-raised Scot-Irish father would only say 'burnt, dreamt, and spelt as in 'Remember when Jim took the prize because he spelt so well?&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2781" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T17:21:31.700" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6599" CreationDate="2010-12-13T17:58:08.313" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of points to consider in this question. You mention Japanese in your question; I'm familiar with Chinese so I'll use that but the parallels are the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, &quot;easier to read&quot; has to consider what is meant by &quot;easier&quot;, and who is supposed to benefit from the increased ease. An expert might be really proficient with a more complex system, but a novice might be less proficient than normal. Is there overall benefit? The computer analogy would be writing HTML code by hand, or saving a Word document in HTML format. Anyone who can type can do the latter, but an expert with HTML can do much more with the former. Should all language users be experts? My Spanish-speaking friend complains to me that English spelling is very complicated. Given that so many native speakers have problems with it, I'd have to agree. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some things that can be accomplished when spelling is not the same as pronunciation. You can use words with less context (in Chinese, this is often the case when they use short forms or classical forms; one character might be used to represent a meaning which in spoken always takes two or more characters). You can combine words or re-spell words in a way that gives new meaning to old sounds. For example, if you switch the words &quot;sun&quot; and &quot;son&quot; in a word, you can inject new meaning. &quot;Rising sun&quot; -&gt; &quot;Rising son&quot;. This juxtaposes the old sense and the new sense. This sort of thing isn't possible if there's only one way to spell those sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, it is a fallacy that the Hanzi or Kanji are needed for meaning. Otherwise, people speaking the language wouldn't be able to understand each other. What I've found, and what is probably happening with you, is that my learning of Chinese is incomplete, and this is why Hanzi are sometimes helpful. When I am reading Hanzi, I can recognize certain characters because I don't recognize them, or because this particular character is unique to me, and thus I can read it without having to remember how it sounds. However, when listening, I can hear new vocabulary words and understand them without remembering how they are written.  However, once I have fully internalized certain vocabulary words, I find that when I come across them in a Pinyin sentence I have no problem at all reading them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, it's a matter of training to be able to read a language in any given alphabet. The Chinese people I know often can't read Pinyin at all. Even if they understand the system but are completely befuddled by a simple sentence on a page and they have to sound it out loud to be able to make sense of it. Yet anyone who practices can easily become proficient in it in a short time. It's similar to how children use Pig Latin or other code languages; with a bit of practice they can speak and listen very quickly, while to others their speech is gibberish, even though it's based on English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a Western linguist's take on the Chinese-character debate, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pinyin.info/readings/defrancis/homographobia.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Homographobia&lt;/a&gt; by John DeFrancis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, to sum it up, spelling variations cause confusion for novices but allow experts a bit of freedom to do things that can't be explained in oral language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T17:58:08.313" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="6733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6728" CreationDate="2010-12-13T18:29:20.447" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technically, it is not grammatically wrong, but just using the word &quot;worse&quot; is likely more straightforward and colorful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He did more poorly on the test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He did worse on the test.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2782" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T18:29:20.447" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6713" CreationDate="2010-12-13T18:37:32.067" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Elements of Style (Strunk and White) mentions it as something to avoid. Try instead:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have little in common with respect to user interface and code.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or better:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They mostly disagree with respect to user interface and code.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2782" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T18:37:32.067" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6735" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6736" CreationDate="2010-12-13T19:04:19.420" Score="4" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1031/is-using-the-possessive-s-correct-in-the-cars-antenna&quot;&gt;Is using the possessive &amp;#39;s correct in &amp;ldquo;the car&amp;#39;s antenna&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone owns something I would say: &lt;em&gt;Mom's car&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if the owner is not a person, does it actually own it according to English rules or common usage? Which phrase is right? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The house windows.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The house's windows.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The windows of the house. &lt;em&gt;(Or something like that.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Feel free to modify this question so it would be clear for other people.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2702" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-14T10:25:33.383" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T13:59:34.983" ClosedDate="2011-03-09T16:48:09.843" Title="Do 'things' use apostrophe for indicating possessive?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;inanimate&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="6736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6735" CreationDate="2010-12-13T19:10:34.397" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second and third phrases are correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The house's windows&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The windows of the house&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no requirement in the English language that possessors be people, and it's extremely common for inanimate objects to be used with the possessive &lt;code&gt;'s&lt;/code&gt;. There is very little difference between the version that uses &lt;code&gt;'s&lt;/code&gt; and the version that uses &lt;code&gt;of&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1031/what-is-the-correct-usage-of-s&quot;&gt;What is the correct usage of 's?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T19:10:34.397" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6735" CreationDate="2010-12-13T19:14:49.840" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll start by saying that I've seen several heated debates about this online, but the general consensus is that this rule is one of those stylistic ones that someone created that has gotten passed around by some as an actual grammatical requirement.  In practice, inanimate objects are quite frequently used with &lt;em&gt;'s&lt;/em&gt;.  So both of the following are correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The house's windows&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The windows of the house&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you (or your supervisor/professor/etc.) prefer the second stylistically, that's fine but it's not an actual grammatical rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T19:14:49.840" />
  <row Id="6738" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-12-13T19:17:50.397" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;Possession in English can be indicated in a variety of ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With a verb such as &quot;to have&quot;: &lt;em&gt;Mary has a car.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With the possessive suffix &lt;code&gt;'s&lt;/code&gt;: &lt;em&gt;This is Mary's car.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With the preposition &quot;of&quot;: &lt;em&gt;The window of the car is broken.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only the latter two items above are generally referred to as &quot;possessive&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-13T19:17:50.397" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T19:17:50.397" />
  <row Id="6739" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2010-12-13T19:17:50.397" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="The English possessive refers to one of several constructions that describe ownership or association between two objects. The most common form of possessive in English is the possessive suffix *'s*." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-13T19:17:50.397" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T19:17:50.397" />
  <row Id="6740" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-13T20:28:38.090" Score="8" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are at least a few cases in which a compound word or phrase, transparently containing an obscene word, seems to be considered less obscene (in some dialect/registers/circumstances) than the word itself.  The two examples on which I’m fairly sure of this are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;clusterfuck&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;bullshit&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately I have no hard references beyond my own experience here: I’ve heard people use these whom I’ve never heard swear otherwise, and heard &lt;em&gt;clusterfuck&lt;/em&gt; on the radio in programmes where I’d be amazed to hear &lt;em&gt;fuck&lt;/em&gt;.  But I recall also seing this mentioned somewhere online — a comment on Language Log, or similar — though I can’t now track that down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So… is this phenomenon documented?  well-known?  quantified?  And are there other notable examples?   The other potential example I can think of is &lt;em&gt;motherfucker&lt;/em&gt; — it has I think become partially decoupled from &lt;em&gt;fuck&lt;/em&gt; in its level of obscenity, but in the circles I know, it’s typically considered more not less obscene.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Since I don’t have any references, I'm open to the suggestion that I’m imagining this phenomenon, over-extrapolating from a few unusual occurences.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T23:41:16.880" Title="Obscenities considered less obscene in compounds? [NSFW]" Tags="&lt;offensive&gt;&lt;compounds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="14" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6740" CreationDate="2010-12-13T20:38:50.903" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I strongly disagree that &lt;em&gt;clusterfuck&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;bullshit&lt;/em&gt; are considered less &quot;obscene&quot; than &lt;em&gt;fuck&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;shit&lt;/em&gt; are all by themselves. People who would be shocked by the former will be just as shocked by the latter. Even in the compounds you mention, those words still get bleeped from broadcast TV in the U.S.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T20:38:50.903" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6682" CreationDate="2010-12-13T21:09:54.967" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can start by using the correct article &quot;an&quot; when referring to &quot;interview.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2788" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T21:09:54.967" />
  <row Id="6743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6735" CreationDate="2010-12-13T21:48:00.340" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I interpret this differently from Dusty and JSBangs. I would say 'house windows' is correct just like we say 'car keys'. In this case it is not so much the house 'possessing' the windows. Rather the phrase 'house windows' is a compound noun in which 'windows' is modified by 'house', and it would seem very weird to say 'house's windows' even though it is still acceptable. 'Windows of the house' is certainly alright.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T21:48:00.340" />
  <row Id="6744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6683" CreationDate="2010-12-13T22:08:54.847" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;RMS will be...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;crazy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nuts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;insane&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bonzo&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;no longer in possession of his faculties&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;three fries short of a Happy Meal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;wacko!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2789" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T22:08:54.847" />
  <row Id="6745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6724" CreationDate="2010-12-13T22:23:50.163" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can easily answer this backwards.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will go, if you go.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can simply flip it and say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you go, I will go&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see myself obligated to write &quot;then&quot; in the second sentence!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If that is true, &lt;strong&gt;then&lt;/strong&gt; I should have &quot;then&quot; in the first sentence, too!&#xA;Your teacher is probably trying to come up with a reason why he took points off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2734" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T22:23:50.163" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="658" CreationDate="2010-12-13T22:37:06.493" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;As Tim Minchin informs us&lt;/strong&gt;, birth control is not an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T22:37:06.493" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-13T22:37:06.493" />
  <row Id="6747" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-13T22:43:42.453" Score="0" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5656/hard-vs-hardly&quot;&gt;Hard vs. Hardly&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am aware of the question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5656/hard-vs-hardly&quot;&gt;Hard vs. Hardly&lt;/a&gt;, but it doesn't seem to me that the question was answered there.  All I've found in the internet is the same answers linked to in that question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know how it came to be that &quot;hard&quot; became a flat adverb and (if it is independent of that) how &quot;hardly&quot; came to mean something so unrelated to the modern meaning of the word &quot;hard&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1334" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T22:43:42.453" ClosedDate="2010-12-14T01:36:18.550" Title="How did &quot;hard&quot; and &quot;hardly&quot; come to mean such different things?" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6748" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6750" CreationDate="2010-12-13T22:57:48.840" Score="0" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; the same...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; the same...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quick google-vote says the former is &quot;correct&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T23:04:59.377" Title="&quot;One and the same&quot; or &quot;One in the same&quot;?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6748" CreationDate="2010-12-13T23:00:55.697" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Citation: &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/one+and+the+same&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reference.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1787" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T23:00:55.697" />
  <row Id="6750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6748" CreationDate="2010-12-13T23:04:59.377" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct usage is &quot;One and the same&quot;. A good dictionary or phrase compilation will confirm this. &quot;One and the same&quot; is used for emphasis, especially when there are seemingly different identities, characters, etc, in question. For example: &lt;pre&gt;Johnny Jackson and the blind beggar in that corner are one and the same.&lt;/pre&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T23:04:59.377" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6740" CreationDate="2010-12-13T23:41:16.880" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Contrary to Robusto's opinion, I find that certain compounds (such as those you mentioned) are indeed less offensive than the bare vulgarities you mentioned. (Others, such as &quot;motherfucker&quot;, are worse.) However, I don't think there's any kind of broad social consensus on this, aside from highly arbitrary censorship lists used by some regulatory agencies or style guides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-12-13T23:41:16.880" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6752" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6753" CreationDate="2010-12-13T23:56:07.753" Score="5" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;A new girl started at the office, and she's quite a peculiar character.  She moved here from Alabama and is definitely the hyper/spastic type. Every office has one I guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing she says every now and then is &lt;strong&gt;cheese and rice&lt;/strong&gt;. Like, I'll ask her a question about something, and she'll reply, &quot;Oh, cheese and rice, I don't know!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quick Google search turned up nothing but casserole recipes. Does &quot;cheese and rice&quot; mean anything? Is this something I just attribute to her strange perkiness, or is this just a Southern thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2595" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T14:31:55.170" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T21:37:24.360" Title="&quot;Cheese and rice&quot;?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="6753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6752" CreationDate="2010-12-14T00:23:28.013" Score="22" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never heard this phrase before, and I don't know if it's prevalent in Alabama. However, I suspect that it's a taboo deformation of &lt;em&gt;Jesus Christ&lt;/em&gt;, albeit a more colorful and idiosyncratic one than the most common variants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T00:23:28.013" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="6754" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-14T01:15:38.327" Score="1" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference between &lt;em&gt;particularly&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;in particular&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When should I use each one of them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2793" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-14T10:35:06.153" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T10:35:06.153" Title="What is the difference between &quot;particularly&quot; and &quot;in particular&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6754" CreationDate="2010-12-14T01:28:07.390" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;In particular&quot; can be used as a sentential adverb, in the same way that &quot;yesterday&quot; can be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Particularly&lt;/em&gt; can usually be used as a sentential adverb (but &quot;in particular&quot; often sounds better in these situations):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In particular, I eat bread at lunch and dinner.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Particularly, I eat bread at lunch and dinner.  (Works, but &quot;in particular&quot; sounds a bit better)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, &lt;em&gt;particularly&lt;/em&gt; is used to modify an adjective (or adverb) directly, and &quot;in particular&quot; cannot do this.  Compare:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I did particularly well on that exam.  (Modifying an adjective, &quot;well&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*I did in particular well on that exam. (Ungrammatical)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T01:28:07.390" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6756" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6768" CreationDate="2010-12-14T03:19:04.767" Score="3" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi, I'm a first-time poster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2625/gerund-preceded-by-possessive-pronoun-e-g-he-resents-your-being-more-popular-t&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; thread on the usage of the gerund preceded by the possessive pronoun with much interest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have another question about the usage of the gerund preceded by the possessive pronoun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a test from a textbook I am using, one must choose the correct form of the bracketed word in the following sentence (I have simplified it somewhat):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Company X experimented with its (expand)__ into a new business area.*&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The given answer is &quot;expansion.&quot; To me, this intuitively feels more comfortable than the gerund &quot;expanding.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question, however, is the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the gerund also grammatically correct in this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the example sentences throughout this thread so far, there are no cases in which the subject of the sentence and the subject of the gerund clause are the same, not to mention cases in which the verb of the gerund clause is intransitive and followed by a preposition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The monkey seemed to be preoccupied with its prying off the lid of the jar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, this sounds very awkward to me, but I'm not sure if it's incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also wondered if there might not be a rule that if a verb has a standard nominalized form (expand -&gt; expansion), it needs to take precedence over the gerund when it is preceded by the genitive case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are such matters entirely irrelevant to my question?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2759" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:03:16.967" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:03:16.967" Title="Usage of the gerund preceded by the possessive pronoun - additional question" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;gerund&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2856" CreationDate="2010-12-14T04:00:09.667" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Condescending gits&quot; is how I would describe a collection of people who &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; they are experts, but that is not quite what was asked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T04:00:09.667" />
  <row Id="6758" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6784" CreationDate="2010-12-14T04:09:34.833" Score="7" ViewCount="473" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am referring of course to the expression describing time. Today a corporate trainer (From north Philadelphia) that is teaching a class at my company used it in the context that the current time was 'ten of six' (5:50PM), but I have always thought of it as 'ten of six' (6:10PM). Which usage is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2347" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T17:04:12.170" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T17:04:12.170" Title="What does 'ten of six' mean in regard to time?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;time&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="6759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6758" CreationDate="2010-12-14T04:25:15.357" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In American English, using &quot;of&quot; when telling the time denotes the number minutes &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; the upcoming hour. Thus, &quot;ten of six&quot; would mean 5:50 p.m. As another example, &quot;quarter of three&quot; would be 2:45 p.m.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the British, &quot;to&quot; is used instead of &quot;of&quot;. Thus, 5:50 p.m. would be &quot;ten to six&quot; and 2:45 p.m. would be &quot;quarter to three&quot;. Americans also use &quot;to&quot; when telling the time.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To indicate the minutes &lt;em&gt;following&lt;/em&gt; the hour, &quot;after&quot; or &quot;past&quot; is used. Thus, 6:10 p.m. would be expressed as &quot;ten past six&quot; or &quot;ten after six&quot;. I'm of the opinion that &quot;past&quot; is more commonly used in British strains, while &quot;after&quot; is mostly American.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While most people just say the numbers these days, e.g. &quot;six-ten&quot;, &quot;five-fifty&quot;, etc, &quot;ten of--&quot; is still quite popular, as well as &quot;five of--&quot;, though to a lesser degree. You probably would not hear &quot;twenty of--&quot; or &quot;twenty-five of--&quot; too often. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-14T14:48:24.137" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T14:48:24.137" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6758" CreationDate="2010-12-14T04:35:25.877" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Ten of six&quot; probably means 5:50 but I have not heard it before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Ten [shy] of six&quot; would necessarily mean &quot;Ten less than six&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other time prepositions,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;past&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;such as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;0-30 minutes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(6:05) &lt;em&gt;5 after 6&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(6:25) &lt;em&gt;25 past 6&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;31-59 minutes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(6:50) &lt;em&gt;10 to 7&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(8:55) &lt;em&gt;5 'til 9&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;5 until 9&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm an American and I have not heard &quot;of&quot; used before in conversation (ever), but I would never associate it with the 0-30 minutes range.  To me it &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; mean &quot;until&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2045" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T04:35:25.877" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="6761" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6767" CreationDate="2010-12-14T04:39:05.780" Score="1" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are different words, and their usage (context) differs substantially.  How would you define them or explain the difference (if you believe there is one)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2045" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T01:30:10.017" Title="What is the difference between &quot;truthfully&quot; and &quot;honestly&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6752" CreationDate="2010-12-14T04:45:57.800" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a less offensive way of saying &quot;Jesus Christ&quot;; per the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cheese%20and%20rice&quot;&gt;urban dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1847" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T04:45:57.800" />
  <row Id="6763" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6766" CreationDate="2010-12-14T04:50:44.907" Score="9" ViewCount="263" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across the word &quot;Cable&quot; very often in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.guardian.co.uk&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/13/wikileaks-cables-uk-muslim-communities&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WikiLeaks cables: Drive to tackle Islamists made 'little progress'&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2010/dec/07/us-embassy-cables-guardian-sources-video&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;US embassy cables: How the Guardian protects sources&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/29/wikileaks-embassy-cables-key-points&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WikiLeaks embassy cables: the key points at a glance&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know what a cable is, but what does cable here mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2796" LastEditorUserId="2796" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-14T05:20:37.463" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T05:20:37.463" Title="What does cable mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6763" CreationDate="2010-12-14T04:53:58.117" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Back in the day, &quot;cable&quot; was used to describe communications sent abroad. In the case of Guardian, it seems to refer to news from overseas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2780" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T04:53:58.117" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6763" CreationDate="2010-12-14T04:54:04.140" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe &quot;cable&quot; is another word for &quot;transmission,&quot; similar to the noun &quot;wire&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think Telegrams&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2045" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T04:54:04.140" />
  <row Id="6766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6763" CreationDate="2010-12-14T05:08:27.480" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;cable&quot; has its origins in the days of the telegraph. Messages sent internationally via undersea cables were known as &quot;cablegrams&quot; or &quot;cables&quot;, for short. Another interesting point to note is a cable (the means of transmission) is insulated and protected from external elements, distinguishing it from an ordinary wire, which is just bare metal. In the early twentieth century, governments and agencies communicated via cablegram and the name has since stuck. Another reason I would suggest for this enduring usage, even with the advent of modern telecommunications, is the security and encryption involved in relaying these messages. The messages are sent via a secure link and chances are that the signal even travels through an undersea fiber optic cable before reaching its destination! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-14T05:13:28.253" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T05:13:28.253" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6761" CreationDate="2010-12-14T05:10:40.450" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that it is entirely possible to be completely truthful without being at all honest.  Generally you do this by answering a question exactly as asked, or by giving as little information as possible when you know something relevant that would interest the other person.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, if your father comes storming into the house and demands, &quot;What happened to the mailbox?!&quot;, you could be truthful and say &quot;I saw that on my way in, it looks like somebody clipped it with their car.&quot;  (After all, you did see it on your way in, and it does look like that).  Or, you could be honest and say &quot;My friend who was giving me a ride home wasn't looking when he turned his car around in the driveway and ran into it, and I told him not to worry about it, I'd take care of it for him.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, for a definition, &quot;being truthful&quot; = &quot;making only statements that you know or believe to be true&quot;, while &quot;being honest&quot; = &quot;Telling the whole truth (that is, all the relevant information that you know).&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T05:10:40.450" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6756" CreationDate="2010-12-14T05:18:22.807" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with J.M. and Jimi. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's semantically acceptable to use a gerund following a possessive pronoun, but, as with anything, it can be clearer in some sentences (e.g., &quot;his new shoes really helped with his running...&quot;) than in others (&quot;Company X experimented with its expanding into a new business area...&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just my two cents!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2780" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T05:18:22.807" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6756" CreationDate="2010-12-14T05:45:53.113" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jane loses her parents -&gt; Jane's losing her parents [transitive]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The company expands -&gt; The company's expansion [intransitive]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that if it is an intransitive verb that can be formed, it's more common to use the nominalized form instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2045" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T05:45:53.113" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6771" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-14T06:56:14.537" Score="2" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Russia and the former Soviet Union there is such thing as propiska/registration - an official address of a person where he is entitled to live. It may be a place owned by that person or the place where he/she is included in a rental contract. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder to you in English-speaking countries have a legal address (for example for the purposes of tax collection) and how is it called?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you rent a flat from the government (does it happen in your country?) how do you call the right to use this flat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2797" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T08:38:23.803" Title="Official/legal address" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6761" CreationDate="2010-12-14T07:04:06.930" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Truthfully&quot; has a close relation to the issue of fact or fiction. &quot;Honestly&quot; can be used to over-exaggerate one's supposed honesty, and in some contexts, it even suggests a hint of dishonesty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I honestly have no idea who hit the mailbox.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Removing &quot;honestly&quot; from the sentence would almost make it seem &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; truthful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I have no idea who hit the mailbox.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, in the legal context, people often add oaths like &quot;honestly&quot; when they are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; telling the truth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2697" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T07:04:06.930" />
  <row Id="6773" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6779" CreationDate="2010-12-14T07:04:31.483" Score="5" ViewCount="333" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a work, when you introduce someone by their full name and later refer to them in a context which is not appropriate for a pronoun, do you use their first or last name?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: &quot;Eli Whitney is credited with inventing the concept of interchangeable parts. [...] Out of this contract, &lt;strong&gt;(Eli or Whitney)&lt;/strong&gt; developed a sample of guns which he then presented to the United States Congress&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1156" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-14T18:35:00.073" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T13:45:39.740" Title="Reference people by first name or last name?" Tags="&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;preference&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6771" CreationDate="2010-12-14T07:31:14.447" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The actual residence of a person is referred to as their &lt;strong&gt;&quot;home address&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. Since you refer to taxes, this is what the IRS Form 1040 (the personal income tax form in the United States) asks for. An address where they can be contacted is referred to as their &lt;strong&gt;&quot;mailing address&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. This can be a Post Office Box (P.O. Box) where mail is held for them until they retrieve it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there is no common term for what you are describing—at least in the United States, the government does not restrict where someone is entitled to live (except in the form of required property taxes and the like). For senior government officials, especially diplomats, however, there is the term &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_residence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;official residence&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, but this generally does not apply outside of government.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you rent a flat from the government&#xA;  (does it happen in your country?) how&#xA;  do you call the right to use this&#xA;  flat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least in the United States, property is owned by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_person&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;legal persons&lt;/a&gt;, which can be an individual or a corporation; i.e. people own the houses, apartments (flats), office buildings, etc. themselves and they may rent them out to others. The term &lt;strong&gt;&quot;tenant&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;&quot;lessee&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; describes someone having paid the rent; the noun &lt;strong&gt;&quot;lease&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; describes the agreement between the two parties; the term &lt;strong&gt;&quot;lessor&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; describes the person who owns the property and is renting it out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although the government does own some of the buildings it operates offices in, it also rents other offices—in this respect, the government is not supreme—it is not the supreme owner of all the land. (Although in a few unusual circumstances, it may rent out some living/building space, but this is by no means the norm, and it would be the same as renting from any other person, so there is no special term). Legally speaking, there is the power of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminent_domain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;eminent domain&lt;/a&gt;, enacted by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, but it requires that people be paid if the government seizes the land, which it only does so in exceptional circumstances (e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;public safety&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;N.B.: Note that while I generally use the verb &quot;rent&quot; in this answer so as not to confuse the verb &quot;lease&quot; and the noun &quot;lease&quot;, the verb &quot;lease&quot; means the same thing as &quot;rent&quot;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-14T08:38:23.803" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T08:38:23.803" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="6776" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6778" CreationDate="2010-12-14T07:33:01.270" Score="1" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider the following words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;inflammable&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;invaluable&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each of these has the unusual property that its meaning is identical to its counterpart lacking the prefix. In almost all other cases, the prefix &lt;strong&gt;&lt;code&gt;in-&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; means &quot;not&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where did such exceptions originate and what are some other examples of such exceptions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="970" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T23:47:29.037" Title="Where did prefix exceptions originate?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;prefixes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2448" CreationDate="2010-12-14T07:37:31.423" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I may be a good person to answer your question. My mother is British, but I grew up in New York. For the first 5 years of my life I spoke with a British accent, used British words (zed, lorry, telly). After that my accent became neutral-american, but I still use lots of British words and pronunciations, including 'tomahto'. (I don't believe I've ever said 'tomayto'.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I say 'tomato' most people ask me to repeat it, which I do. Many many people ask me why I don't say it properly, so I explain. Many people assume I do it as a way to be eccentric, which I don't. When I'm around the family I find myself slipping into a more British vocabulary and pronunciation. I use both 'scedule' and 'shedule', depending. I'll call someone a 'chap' or a 'guy' or a 'bloke' or a 'dude'. I'll say 'bollocks' or 'crap' about equally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I guess the answer to your question is that many people assume it's an affectation. That's about the worst of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2426" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T07:37:31.423" />
  <row Id="6778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6776" CreationDate="2010-12-14T07:45:04.540" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Inflammable&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is derived from the verb &lt;em&gt;inflame&lt;/em&gt;, which comes from &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;flame&lt;/em&gt;. The OED identifies the prefix as &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, indicating the second definition of the prefix, rather than the third, which is the negation which is what you believed it to be from. I quote the right definition below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;used in combination with verbs or their derivatives, [...] with the senses ‘into, in, within; on, upon; towards, against’, sometimes &lt;strong&gt;expressing onward motion&lt;/strong&gt; or continuance, [...] . &lt;em&gt;(emphasis mine)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &lt;em&gt;inflame&lt;/em&gt; something is to set it on fire–i.e. to use motion to cause something to be in flames.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Invaluable&quot;&lt;/em&gt; does come from &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt; expressing negation, and thus it means &lt;em&gt;not able to be valued&lt;/em&gt;. However, this can be interpreted two different ways—one, it is so worthless that it has no value, or two, it is so valuable that we can not put a value on it—like the concept of there being no finite number that is larger than the rest—you can always add one. The common meaning is #2, but the OED recognizes both definitions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither of these examples are exceptions—the first is misleading because the two prefixes look identical, the second can be understood in two separate ways. The best way to figure these out—have a good dictionary at hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T07:45:04.540" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6773" CreationDate="2010-12-14T07:45:42.070" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, with names in the Western world that consist of a given name (&quot;first name&quot;) and a surname, the surname is used for formal occasions, and the given name is used only in cases of familiarity. Thus in your sentence you'd say &quot;Out of this contract, &lt;strong&gt;Whitney&lt;/strong&gt; developed…&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would use &quot;Eli&quot; only if you wanted it to appear informal and suggest that you were on a &quot;first-name basis&quot; with Mr. Whitney — knew him intimately — and possibly so was your audience. (E.g. you'd use it if you were toasting your friend &quot;Eli&quot; among an audience of his friends.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incidentally, when talking to people, there's a greater assumption of familiarity—you can use the given name in more occasions—in America than in Europe (and in younger people than in older), where using the given name indiscriminately can cause offence or irritate. In general, it's always safe to use the surname, until you're asked to use the given name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Caveat: These naming conventions, however, are far from universal. In China, for instance, it's customary to put the surname/family name first, and the given name later. It's the same way in some European countries, I think. Also, many Indian (especially South Indian) names do not &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; a surname, and consist of just a (given) name followed or preceded by an initial letter (or two) that stands for the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patronymic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;given name of one's father&lt;/a&gt; (and possibly a town). Some people, forced by the demands of Western convention to have a surname, expand that letter and put their father's name as their last name, in which case if you used &quot;Mr. [last name]&quot;, you'd be addressing their father.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T07:45:42.070" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6780" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6781" CreationDate="2010-12-14T08:08:00.657" Score="2" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English grammar, the following pattern is regarded as a wrong pattern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My parents will send me to a mental hospital if I will kill someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1660" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T14:01:35.490" Title="Why cannot we make a pattern &quot;If S+will+V, S+will+V&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="6781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6780" CreationDate="2010-12-14T09:03:05.937" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence &quot;My parents will send me to a mental hospital if I will kill someone&quot; is not grammatically wrong, but it sounds awkward and probably does not convey the meaning you have in mind. The meaning of &quot;if I will kill someone&quot; can vary with context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;if it is true that I will kill someone&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;if I intend to kill someone&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;if I agree to kill someone&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of these options works particularly well for the sentence in question. Compare with the following sentences, which (to my ears at least) sound perfectly normal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;If you won't clean up your room, I won't let you have any dessert.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;If you'll be good, I'll give you a present.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;If the machine won't work, I won't waste my time trying to use it.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;If you'll just listen to what I have to say, I think you'll change your mind.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I take it you mean &quot;My parents will send me to a mental hospital if I kill someone&quot;, which can be re-worded as &quot;In the event that I kill someone, my parents will send me to a mental hospital&quot;. This is known as &quot;first conditional&quot;. Not all languages do this the same way. In Latin, for example, this is called &quot;future more vivid&quot; and takes the form &quot;future + future&quot; instead of English's &quot;present + future&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2717" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T09:03:05.937" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="6782" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-14T11:23:03.687" Score="0" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm terrible when it comes to the usage of Grammar and Composition. Most of my sentence composition are either incorrectly formed or gives a different meaning altogether. This is reflecting in my personal life as well. I face problems to communicate exactly what I have in my mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I blame myself for not concentrating in these subjects earlier in my school for which I had no value then. Now that I regret it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From now on, I want to get my basics right. This is my resolution for the upcoming year. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any pointers in this regard?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2791" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-14T11:28:09.150" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T11:28:09.150" ClosedDate="2010-12-14T14:11:54.717" Title="Parts of speech basics" Tags="&lt;part-of-speech&gt;" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6783" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6797" CreationDate="2010-12-14T11:46:13.507" Score="2" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember learning about it (ha) in linguistics class at uni, but then I went to the pub.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember the idea was interesting. It had something to do with the undiscovered rules of language that we must know intuitively and/or subconsciously in order to learn language in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2800" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T18:35:55.927" Title="What is &quot;depth grammar&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6758" CreationDate="2010-12-14T13:20:16.307" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have said, &quot;ten of six&quot;, though not used in many English speaking areas, would be understood as 5:50. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nowhere in the English-speaking world, as far as I know, would it be understood as 5:10. I can imagine that Russian speakers, for example, might hear it that way, as it might be taken as a translation of the Russian &quot;десять шестого&quot; (/d'es'at' ʃestovo/ = &quot;ten of the sixth&quot;) which does mean 5:10. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(A similar 'false friend' is &quot;half six&quot;, which in British English means 6:30, but looks like a translation of German &quot;halb sechs&quot;, which means 5:30.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T13:20:16.307" CommentCount="17" />
  <row Id="6785" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6794" CreationDate="2010-12-14T13:41:03.290" Score="5" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was trying to find the origin for the word &quot;beneath&quot; to see when it should be used instead of &quot;below&quot; and I &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nether&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;found&lt;/a&gt; that it originated from be - neothan and was directed to see the definition of &quot;nether&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;–adjective&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;lying or believed to lie beneath the earth's surface; infernal: the&#xA;  nether regions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;lower or under: his nether lip.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I concluded that to be beneath, is to be below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this in mind, does that mean that the word underneath implies a greater level of depth than either beneath or below as it would literally mean &quot;under low&quot; instead of simply &quot;being low&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2570" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T16:15:47.340" Title="Does underneath imply a greater level of depth than beneath or below?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6786" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6792" CreationDate="2010-12-14T13:45:49.920" Score="5" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a couple questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should I always put comma between condition and consequence parts, like in the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should I always put comma in the sentences similar to the following (I may be wrong, but I think it's called antithesis):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It rains, but children continue to play football.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2801" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T15:33:40.120" Title="Comma in conditional sentence and in antithesis" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6735" CreationDate="2010-12-14T13:59:34.983" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To combine the answers, all three are correct, but for different reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 is correct because possessors do not have to be animate, or solid, or anything very much.  A house can &quot;own&quot; windows, therefore &quot;the windows of the house&quot; is perfectly correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 is correct because 3 is correct; we can say &quot;the house's windows&quot; because it's just &quot;the windows of the house&quot; cast into a different form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 is a different phrase.  As Jasper said &quot;house windows&quot; is a compound noun here, distinguishing these particular windows from car windows, conservatory windows or any other kind of windows.  The meanings can overlap but don't have to -- you could be talking about windows in a factory that will be fitted into houses, for instance -- and even if they do the emphasis is different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T13:59:34.983" />
  <row Id="6788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6780" CreationDate="2010-12-14T14:01:35.490" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;See my &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6213/when-you-have-finished-when-you-will-finish/6245#6245&quot;&gt;reply to an earlier question&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T14:01:35.490" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6776" CreationDate="2010-12-14T14:38:18.280" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word 'value' has multiple meanings. One is a sense of the goodness or quality or worth or cost of the item; the other is the description of that goodness or quality or cost or worth. So when something is valuable that means it has value, but when something is invaluable it means you can't describe its value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, when people say &lt;code&gt;invaluable&lt;/code&gt;, they mean that it is of such high value (worth) that they cannot assign a value (price or description of worth) to it, because there is no way to describe such an extreme level of value (worth).  Of course, it can also mean something is so worthless that its value (description of worth) is indescribably low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which brings to mind other related words: priceless and worthless. They look like synonyms, but priceless means invaluable, whereas worthless means not valuable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T14:38:18.280" />
  <row Id="6790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6773" CreationDate="2010-12-14T14:47:53.717" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;@ShreevatsaR's comment about the level of formality/familiarity is pretty much right for Western names:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;Mr. [Jonathan] Purdy&quot; &amp;gt; &quot;Mr. Purdy&quot; &amp;gt; &quot;Purdy&quot; &amp;gt; &quot;Jonathan&quot; &amp;gt; &quot;Jon&quot;.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In an essay or book which recounts historical facts, as in the question, I'd suggest going with the last name. It's not too formal that it sounds stiff, not too personal that it sounds disrespectful.  However, there are some cases where you should use the first name; such as a biography of the Wright brothers, since they share a last name it would be confusing to read &quot;Wright handed the letter to Wright...&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a novel or other similar work it's often the case that characters are referred to by their first names. However sometimes the author mixes and matches; this is one of the things that annoys me about the Malazan series. Most characters with first and last names are referred to by their last name, except a few who are referred to by their first names. Since all these names are unusual made-up names it's hard to remember sometimes if this is a first name or last name.  So try to be consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-14T15:39:36.760" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T15:39:36.760" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6786" CreationDate="2010-12-14T15:05:29.303" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Due to insistence)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you speak out the first sentence, you'd pause in between &quot;questions&quot; and &quot;don't&quot;, so a comma is definitely warranted. (If you have any questions, [pause] please don't hesitate to ask.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the second sentence, &quot;It's raining, but...&quot; sounds better to my ears at least, but your construction is not ungrammatical. Yes, the comma ought to be there, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T15:05:29.303" />
  <row Id="6792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6786" CreationDate="2010-12-14T15:17:18.217" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt; Should I always put comma between condition and consequence parts, like in the following sentence?&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should.  In the example you provided, &quot;If you have any questions&quot; is a dependent clause, and as such, it must be followed by a comma since it precedes the independent clause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt; Should I always put comma in the sentences similar to the following (I may be wrong, but I think it's called antithesis)?&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt; It rains, but children continue to play football.&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, you should. In the example you gave, &quot;children continue to play football&quot; is an independent clause. Whenever &quot;but&quot; (or any other conjunction) is used to join two independent clauses, it should be preceded by a comma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-14T15:33:40.120" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T15:33:40.120" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="6793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6758" CreationDate="2010-12-14T15:37:26.240" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder if this particular construction has anything to do with ratios and how they may have been spoken of in the past. X:X is one way of writing out a ratio, and obviously that's also how time is written as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if &quot;of&quot; is any part of talking about ratios--did people ever refer to 5:10 as &quot;10 of 5&quot; or something? The way it's referred to now would be &quot;5 to 10.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if this is the case, I don't know how you'd get from 5:50 to &quot;10 of 6&quot; from there. All this just occurred to me, and I thought I'd raise it as an avenue for research or thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastEditorUserId="2707" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-14T18:25:09.150" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T18:25:09.150" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6785" CreationDate="2010-12-14T16:06:28.737" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, &quot;underneath&quot; does not imply a greater level of depth than either &quot;beneath&quot; or &quot;below&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;underneath&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;under-&lt;/em&gt; indicates the subject of comparison is directly below the object or right &quot;under its shadow&quot;. It also implies a total or partial concealment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;beneath&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the etymology of this word is slightly different (&lt;em&gt;bi/by-neothan/low&lt;/em&gt;), it can be used interchangeably with &quot;underneath&quot;, as @J. M. rightly pointed out in his comment on the question. However, the prefix &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt; indicates another shade of meaning---&quot;below the level of&quot;. Thus, if something or someone is below another, then it is not necessarily directly under but could also be at a lower level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Examples&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;The White River flows through the plains beneath the majestic slopes of Mount Verde.&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this example, &quot;beneath&quot; cannot be interchanged with &quot;underneath&quot;, as the plains cannot be physically &lt;em&gt;under&lt;/em&gt; the mountain!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;Check that sorry pile of newspapers. I'm sure my watch is underneath.&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it would not be incorrect to use &quot;beneath&quot; in place of &quot;underneath&quot; in this case, doing so would not be too stylistically pleasing for obvious reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;I'm sure my watch is underneath that sorry pile of newspapers.&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, &quot;beneath&quot; can be substituted for &quot;underneath&quot; without inhibition!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;Beneath that great city lies an unparalleled tunnel network.&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Underneath&quot; can be used in place of &quot;beneath&quot; here, although &quot;beneath&quot; flows better, probably because of the word &quot;lies&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-14T16:15:47.340" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T16:15:47.340" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="737" CreationDate="2010-12-14T17:37:24.633" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A slight side issue: given the wide meaning attached to vegetarian, the term non-vegetarian is just as vague. One person's vegetarian meal that happens to contain an egg is another persons non-vegetarian meal. As an octo-pesco-vegetarian who is happy to eat cheese with rennet, many would consider me to be non-vegetarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T17:37:24.633" />
  <row Id="6796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3389" CreationDate="2010-12-14T17:54:25.273" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &quot;will&quot; and &quot;shall&quot; are ambiguous, because they can denote prediction rather than obligation. Most legal writing experts now prefer the unambiguous &quot;must&quot;, and I usually used that when I was a solicitor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, for example, are the opening words from s.2 of the UK's Human Rights Act 1998: &quot;A court or tribunal determining a question which has arisen in connection with a Convention right must take into account ...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But someone signing a contract in which they said &quot;I will do X&quot; would be hard put to persuade a judge that they hadn't contracted to do X. The Law Society's &quot;Standard Conditions of Sale&quot; have been using &quot;X is to do Y&quot; since 1990.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2807" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T17:54:25.273" />
  <row Id="6797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6783" CreationDate="2010-12-14T18:35:55.927" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you talking about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_structure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;deep structure&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T18:35:55.927" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6798" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6800" CreationDate="2010-12-14T19:44:06.240" Score="14" ViewCount="501" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a word for four times as much, analogous to once, twice, and thrice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T00:10:28.513" Title="once, twice, thrice, *frice?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="6799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6798" CreationDate="2010-12-14T19:46:57.750" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/123&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/123&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2165" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T19:46:57.750" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6798" CreationDate="2010-12-14T19:48:34.393" Score="23" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not according to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/123&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford dictionaries&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These three are the only words of their type, and no further terms in the series have ever existed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-15T09:38:22.060" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T09:38:22.060" />
  <row Id="6801" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6805" CreationDate="2010-12-14T21:46:27.213" Score="1" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I occasionally use the phrase &quot;Birmingham screwdriver&quot; to mean &quot;hammer&quot;, but this evening I heard a hammer referred to as a &quot;Manchester screwdriver&quot;, by someone with no association with either city.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It set me to wonder which is most common/popular/historic, and if any other city is associated with this popular and convenient tool?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T15:46:39.063" Title="&quot;Birmingham&quot; or &quot;Manchester&quot; screwdriver?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6802" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6804" CreationDate="2010-12-14T22:31:37.500" Score="2" ViewCount="246" Body="&lt;p&gt;How did the English language come to this?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The play was awful.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the complete opposite of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The play was awesome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you break it down to &lt;strong&gt;awe&lt;/strong&gt; followed by &lt;strong&gt;ful&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;some&lt;/strong&gt;, it doesn't make sense at all.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Can someone shed a light on this?  Is there a rule to this, or is it one of those things you need to just memorize?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2734" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T22:58:16.173" Title="&quot;Awesome&quot; vs. &quot;Awful&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6802" CreationDate="2010-12-14T22:55:45.817" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The suffix &lt;em&gt;-some&lt;/em&gt; indicates the characteristic of the root word. So, &quot;awesome&quot; would be &quot;characterized by awe/awe-inspiring&quot;. The suffix &lt;em&gt;-ful&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;full of/having the qualities of&quot;. Really, both suffixes mean the same thing. The word &quot;awful&quot; is an exception, however, in current English. An archaic meaning of &quot;awful&quot;, though, is &quot;full of awe/inspiring awe, wonder or fear&quot;. Many of examples of this usage can be found in old literature.  The word &quot;awful&quot; aptly described disasters and catastrophes, since they inspired fear and awe, even though they were calamitous. Gradually, that usage crept into modern colloquialism, eventually getting frequently applied to bad things in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T22:55:45.817" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6802" CreationDate="2010-12-14T22:58:16.173" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The words have been around hundreds and hundreds of years.  While they were constructed by combining &lt;em&gt;awe&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;-ful&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;-some&lt;/em&gt;, once they became lexical items as complete words, their meaning was able to drift like any other lexical item — the fact that each word is composed of a stem and suffix doesn't stop this.  (Also, bear in mind that &lt;em&gt;-some&lt;/em&gt;, the suffix, doesn't mean &quot;some of X&quot;, it means &quot;having the quality of X&quot;.  Think &lt;em&gt;fearsome&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;loathsome&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;cumbersome&lt;/em&gt;.  And &lt;em&gt;-ful&lt;/em&gt; is basically the same as &lt;em&gt;-some&lt;/em&gt; in its meaning, with all words.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Originally, &lt;em&gt;awful&lt;/em&gt; had the meaning of being awe-inspiring (including positive connotations), as well as &quot;worthy of, or commanding, profound respect or reverential fear.&quot;  It was not a far stretch to then use it also to mean &quot;Causing dread; terrible, dreadful, appalling.&quot;  The earliest records of these uses date back to at least 1000 AD.  Between 1000 and 1800, the word evolved to the current meaning: &quot;Frightful, very ugly, monstrous; and hence as a mere intensive deriving its sense from the context = Exceedingly bad, great, long, etc.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Awesome&lt;/em&gt; came around much later than &lt;em&gt;awful&lt;/em&gt;.  It is first recorded in 1598, after &lt;em&gt;awful&lt;/em&gt; had been around hundreds of years.  Perhaps the need for this word arose because &lt;em&gt;awful&lt;/em&gt; had already taken on such a strong negative connotation by this time.  So &lt;em&gt;awesome&lt;/em&gt; stepped in to again have the meaning of &quot;awe-inspiring&quot;, but without the strong negative connotations.  Ultimately, in the mid-1900s, the word &lt;em&gt;awesome&lt;/em&gt; went from &lt;em&gt;awe-inspiring&lt;/em&gt; to its more common use today: &quot;amazing, great, etc.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, this is how the words ended up like this.  Yes, you do have to memorize the words to some extent, because they have certain connotations and colloquial meanings that are extremely common. But, again, part of the problem is treating &lt;em&gt;-some&lt;/em&gt; like &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt;.  None of the &lt;em&gt;-some&lt;/em&gt; words have a connection to the current meaning of &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(All of this data came from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://oed.com&quot;&gt;OED&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T22:58:16.173" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6801" CreationDate="2010-12-14T23:26:29.927" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;On this side of the pond the phrase &quot;Yankee Screwdriver&quot; is not uncommon. I also understand that during WWII the Dutch used it (derogatorily I suppose) after seeing American GIs pounding screws with hammers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it turns out, you CAN drive a screw part way with a hammer (coarse tooth deck screw, Robertson head, in softwood only of course...), saving a lot of time with little detriment on its holding ability*. In this sense the term is not necessarily (or strongly) derogatory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*But in this era of electric screw drivers this is &quot;old technology&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T23:26:29.927" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4662" CreationDate="2010-12-14T23:40:04.390" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where I'm from in Georgia, &quot;Out to Wazoo&quot; means something that is so far away or intangible that someone would have to travel to &quot;Wazoo&quot; to get it. The University of Washington, aka, Wazzu, is in Pullman, WA, in the completely opposite corner of the country from Georgia. I don't know if these have similar origins, but that's how I have always understood the term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2813" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T23:40:04.390" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6776" CreationDate="2010-12-14T23:47:29.037" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just a side note: disgruntled is a word that also &lt;em&gt;seems&lt;/em&gt; to invert the meaning of the prefix. Obviously, there is no such word as 'gruntled'. As I remember it, however, the 'dis' in 'disgruntled' is actually a usage of the old prefix where it acts like an amplifier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disgruntled basically means someone who grunts &lt;em&gt;a lot&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2010-12-14T23:47:29.037" />
  <row Id="6808" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6813" CreationDate="2010-12-14T23:52:29.440" Score="6" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember hearing once about the etymology of 'disgruntled', probably based around a joke about how people can not be 'gruntled'. The explanation given was that there was never a word 'gruntled', rather the 'dis' in 'disgruntled' is actually a usage of the old prefix where it acts like an amplifier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, is this true?&#xA;Secondly, are there any other words that use this prefix in this way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T02:53:54.837" Title="Any other words that use 'dis-' as an amplifying prefix?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6809" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6811" CreationDate="2010-12-14T23:58:24.247" Score="3" ViewCount="270" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was extremely mocked by colleagues (good humor) when I said the word &quot;&lt;strong&gt;pizza&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; in the middle of the conversation.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given my accent, the way I pronounced it was closer to &quot;&lt;strong&gt;peedtza&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, with a slight hint of that &quot;&lt;strong&gt;d&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; that I never noticed myself until they brought it up.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They were saying it should be pronounced &quot;&lt;strong&gt;peetsa&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; with no &quot;&lt;strong&gt;d&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; or &quot;&lt;strong&gt;z&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my pronunciation absolutely wrong?  Or could it be pronounced like that as well?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I don't know if that matters, but we are in America, so a comparison between British and American English is welcome.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can take criticism, so be blunt as much as you want =)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2734" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T22:47:47.300" Title="Pronunciation of &quot;Pizza&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6808" CreationDate="2010-12-15T00:02:24.360" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only one I can think of is &quot;disheveled.&quot; Perhaps &quot;disaster?&quot; Very interesting question!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2780" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T00:02:24.360" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6809" CreationDate="2010-12-15T00:13:13.663" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's definitely &quot;&lt;strong&gt;peetsa&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, both in British and American English. There is no correct alternative pronunciation. If your accent imbues a subtle &quot;&lt;strong&gt;d&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; sound, I wouldn't worry too much about that and people should be understanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T22:47:47.300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T22:47:47.300" />
  <row Id="6812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6809" CreationDate="2010-12-15T00:14:57.030" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The origins of the word &quot;pizza&quot; are widely speculated but most of the speculation implies that the word originates from a variant of the Greek or Italian words for &quot;bread&quot; (&quot;picea,&quot; &quot;pitta,&quot; and many more have been suggested). I don't know much about these languages but it would seem that none of these have a true &quot;d&quot; sound in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have only heard it pronounced with the &quot;t&quot; sound and given the possible origins I'd say that &quot;peetsa&quot; is correct. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2780" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T00:14:57.030" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6808" CreationDate="2010-12-15T00:22:13.077" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the Oxford American Dictionaries, the prefix &quot;dis-&quot; can also express &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;completeness or intensification of an unpleasant or unattractive action&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This definition cites the examples &lt;code&gt;discombobulate&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;disgruntled&lt;/code&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other interesting examples of words having the prefix in this particular sense are: &lt;code&gt;disaster&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;distend&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;disport&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an addendum, &quot;dis-&quot; obviously has other implications, e.g. reversal, separation, removal, negation, etc, but I'm focusing on the meaning specified by the author of this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-15T02:53:54.837" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T02:53:54.837" />
  <row Id="6814" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6816" CreationDate="2010-12-15T01:19:30.377" Score="10" ViewCount="716" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I watched the &quot;American Album&quot; program, Susan and Henry talked about New York, and she used the word 'subway'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I listened to BBC's '6 minutes English', I heard 'tube' used in the conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as I know, there is another word, 'metro', also used sometimes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could you please give me some more description about these words? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2661" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-15T13:10:13.983" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T21:18:58.523" Title="What's the difference between 'subway', 'metro' and 'tube'?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="6815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6761" CreationDate="2010-12-15T01:30:10.017" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks to me like you're actually asking about the difference between &lt;em&gt;truthful&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;honest&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;truthfully&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;honestly&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As used in conversation and writing, there is very little difference between the two adverbs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Honestly, I have no idea how that happened.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Truthfully, I have no idea how that happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;honestly&lt;/em&gt; version has a slight flavor of throwing your hands up in the air and saying &quot;no friggin' clue, sorry&quot;; the &lt;em&gt;truthfully&lt;/em&gt; version sounds like you might have spent a bit more time contemplating the situation before reaching your conclusion. Also, as Rosey28 noted, the &lt;em&gt;honestly&lt;/em&gt; version is slightly more likely to imply the opposite (i.e. that what you're saying is not actually honest), though &lt;em&gt;truthfully&lt;/em&gt; can also be used that way. The only other difference I can come up with is one of usage: usually, you &lt;em&gt;say&lt;/em&gt; something truthfully, but &lt;em&gt;admit&lt;/em&gt; something honestly. But all of these connotation differences are so slight that it is very easy to come up with counterexamples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The adjectives, on the other hand, are clearly different. As Hellion noted, it is quite possible to be truthful without being honest. Technically, it's even possible to be honest without being truthful, i.e. if you're mistaken about something. My point is that this difference does not necessarily apply to the adverbial forms, especially when they're used as interjections/conjunctions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T01:30:10.017" />
  <row Id="6816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6814" CreationDate="2010-12-15T01:48:39.040" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Each city’s metro system has a “common name” that developed historically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;London - “The Tube”, from the tube-shaped deep level bored tunnels&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Paris - metro, full name “Métropolitain”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;New York City - subway, because the main lines have significant underground sections&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chicago - “The L” - from &lt;em&gt;el&lt;/em&gt;, because it is mostly elevated&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Boston - “The T” - from MB&lt;b&gt;T&lt;/b&gt;A, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Washington, D.C. - metro&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;San Francisco - BART, Bay Area Rapid Transit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T01:48:39.040" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="6817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6814" CreationDate="2010-12-15T02:04:26.873" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Tube&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the British colloquial (and also official) term for the London Underground. Not all the lines of the tube today are underground, though. However, the early Underground tracks were all subterranean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Subway&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;subway&quot; can be generally used to describe an underground rail network. In British usage, this word specifically describes an underground pedestrian road crossing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;New York Subway&quot; is the rail network that serves the City of New York and surrounding areas. One takes the Subway (or subway) in New York, while one takes the tube (or Tube) in London.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Metro&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;metro&quot; was originally used to describe the Paris rail network (Metropolitan Railroad). Since then, many other major cities have adopted this nomenclature, notably Washington D.C. which had some degree of French influence in its design.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Other&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The network in Chicago is fondly referred to as the El (from &quot;elevated&quot;) because all the original tracks were above street level. San Francisco has the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), which will probably soon be widely written as &quot;bart&quot;, as it gets more popular. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the word subway literally means &quot;below way&quot;, many subway systems today combine both surface and underground tracks, as it is not always feasible to have a strictly subterranean network.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T23:43:35.530" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T23:43:35.530" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6808" CreationDate="2010-12-15T02:33:31.500" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;em&gt;discordant&lt;/em&gt;? I don't think anything is ever &lt;em&gt;cordant&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T02:33:31.500" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2244" CreationDate="2010-12-15T09:54:33.187" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen that sometimes, and it have always confused me. I'd think that it (ignoring how contractions are normally written in English) really should be spelled &quot;that'ould&quot; or &quot;that'ud&quot; (or more phonetically &quot;that'ed&quot; / &quot;that'wd&quot;) because I cannot understand how you'd pronounce that without at least a schwa sound between the t and the d (it's the same consonant unvoiced and voiced). I'm not a native speaker, but if you are and can pronounce it without a sound between the t and the d, while it still is possible to make out both consonants; I'd love to hear it. &lt;em&gt;That'd be impressive&lt;/em&gt; ;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think contractions are sometimes over used in English, words in all languages are contracted when speaking but it doesn't need to be written like that. In my language, Norwegian, i would pronounce &quot;Det er ikke det&quot; (meaning &quot;That's not it&quot; or &quot;It's not that&quot;) as (using Norwegian informal phonetic spelling) as [dæk:ede:] but if we wrote it &quot;D'er'ke det&quot; or something like that it would be really hard to understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend not contracting it in any case unless you're deliberately trying to represent slurred/sloppy/vulgar speech in a quote for humorous effect. (I think I've only seen it as lines for characters in Terry Pratchett novels; but he also write stuff like &quot;I ate'nt dead&quot; for comedic purposes) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2820" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T09:54:33.187" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="50" CreationDate="2010-12-15T10:14:17.367" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you say &quot;I've done it&quot; it's pronounced something like [aiv donit] (with the stress on [ai]), but when you say &quot;I haven't done it&quot; it's pronounced something like [ai (h)avent donit] (with or without an h sound, with the stress on [av]). Since the initial &quot;h&quot; is very weak in English anyway it's superfluous to omit it with an apostrophe unless you're making a point about exactly how someone pronounced it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're saying [ai hav donit] (with stress on [hav]), you should write it &quot;I &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; done it&quot;, with or without the italics depending on how important the emphasis is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(By the way, I'm not a native speaker, this is how I see it with my foreign eyes. I'm sure the phonetic spelling is all messed up, but I hope you understand it anyway...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2820" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T10:14:17.367" />
  <row Id="6821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="500" CreationDate="2010-12-15T10:23:12.413" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;It's&quot; is only used when something more follows, you wouldn't use that at the end of a sentence. It sounds like there is something missing if you just say, &quot;it's&quot; or end a sentence with it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably what makes the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Its_man&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;it's man&lt;/a&gt; so funny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2820" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T10:23:12.413" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1578" CreationDate="2010-12-15T11:20:25.840" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Just to be contrarian.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;infamous&quot; &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; the opposite of &quot;famous&quot;! Just as the opposite of &lt;em&gt;reputed&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;disreputed&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;obscure&lt;/em&gt;, and the opposite of &lt;em&gt;hot&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;cold&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;not hot&lt;/em&gt;, the opposite of &lt;em&gt;famous&lt;/em&gt; (having &quot;good&quot; fame) is &lt;em&gt;infamous&lt;/em&gt; (having &quot;bad&quot; fame, having infamy, ill-famed).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;flammable&lt;/em&gt; is newer than &lt;em&gt;inflammable&lt;/em&gt; and does not exist, for instance, in Indian English. Historically, the only word was &lt;em&gt;inflammable&lt;/em&gt;, dating to at least the 16th century. &quot;Flammable&quot; did not exist. Note that we still say &lt;em&gt;inflammatory speeches&lt;/em&gt; not *&lt;em&gt;flammatory speeches&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;inflammation of the skin&lt;/em&gt; not *&lt;em&gt;flammation of the skin&lt;/em&gt;, etc. (Actually,  &lt;em&gt;flammation&lt;/em&gt; &quot;exposure to fire&quot; actually exists in the OED and is marked as obsolete, the only quote dating to 1646.)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The word &lt;em&gt;flammable&lt;/em&gt; was invented around 1813, but it didn't catch on, and some time in the 19th century was pretty much dead: the 1913 Webster's dictionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.sh?WORD=flammable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;marks the word &quot;flammable&quot; as obsolete&lt;/a&gt;. Unfortunately (IMHO), this word was revived after World War II. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.word-detective.com/120398.html#flammable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this letter&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(Actually the word &lt;em&gt;flammability&lt;/em&gt; was revived, and then &lt;em&gt;flammable&lt;/em&gt; followed.) The OED entry for &lt;em&gt;flammability&lt;/em&gt; is:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;flammaˈbility, n.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    = &lt;strong&gt;inflammability&lt;/strong&gt; n. Revived in modern use to avoid the possible ambiguity of &lt;em&gt;inflammability&lt;/em&gt;, in which the prefix &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt; might be taken for a negative (in- prefix3).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, the word &lt;em&gt;flammable&lt;/em&gt; was unnecessary: there's not much confusion possible in seeing, on a gas/petrol tanker, the words &quot;Warning: Highly inflammable&quot;. It seems to me there's more confusion about the meaning of &lt;em&gt;inflammable&lt;/em&gt; when the word &lt;em&gt;flammable&lt;/em&gt; exists, than when it doesn't. But where &lt;em&gt;flammable&lt;/em&gt; is already common enough, it's safe—and recommended—to use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T11:20:25.840" />
  <row Id="6823" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6844" CreationDate="2010-12-15T11:21:26.790" Score="2" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;Considering the description of a method in a research paper, should I use the first or second sentence? Does a rule describe in which case I should use &quot;labeled&quot; instead of &quot;named&quot; and vice-versa?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this paper, we will describe our new method &lt;strong&gt;named&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;KICK&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this paper, we will describe our new method &lt;strong&gt;labeled&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;KICK&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this paper, we will describe our new method &lt;strong&gt;called&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;KICK&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this paper, we will describe our new method, &quot;KICK&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;edit&lt;/strong&gt;: added third and fourth alternative&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1117" LastEditorUserId="1117" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-16T11:29:23.750" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T14:08:03.500" Title="Is the usage of &quot;labeled&quot; preferred to the usage of &quot;named&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6823" CreationDate="2010-12-15T11:36:44.207" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should use 'named'. Here you are giving a name to something new. The word 'label' is used when you want to describe or give information about something instead. Hence we say 'name the baby' but not 'label the baby', 'don't label me as stupid' but not 'don't name me as stupid', and 'label the medication with this sticker' but not 'name the medication with this sticker'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-15T11:47:50.333" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T11:47:50.333" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6823" CreationDate="2010-12-15T11:36:50.837" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pardon the brevity of this answer, but I would say &quot;named&quot; is preferred within the context of your example. Thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;In this paper, we will describe our new method named &quot;KICK&quot;.&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Better still, you can omit &quot;named&quot; or &quot;labeled&quot; altogether for succinctness:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;In this paper, we will describe our new method, &quot;KICK&quot;.&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The comma before &quot;KICK&quot; is sometimes treated as a matter of preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T11:36:50.837" />
  <row Id="6826" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6870" CreationDate="2010-12-15T11:47:28.173" Score="4" ViewCount="346" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just want to know a specific word that is suitable for a person who is really interested in learning new aspects and new things in a specific programming language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We could call this person a &lt;code&gt;seeker&lt;/code&gt;, but any good word will do. Please suggest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2822" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T20:43:54.017" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T20:43:54.017" Title="What do we call a person who is interested in the latest technology (programming-wise)?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6826" CreationDate="2010-12-15T11:57:11.410" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't think of a noun right away, but there are quite a few adjectives: &lt;em&gt;curious&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;inquisitive&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;studious&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then there's always &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_adopter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;early adopter&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, but that has a slightly different meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T11:57:11.410" />
  <row Id="6828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6826" CreationDate="2010-12-15T11:58:54.573" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/geek&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Geek&lt;/a&gt; would be a perfect fit, if you don't mind the negative implication some see in the word:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A person intensely interested in a&#xA;  particular field or hobby, generally&#xA;  at the expense of broader social&#xA;  interaction. Often used with an&#xA;  attributive noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T11:58:54.573" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="6829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6826" CreationDate="2010-12-15T12:01:10.517" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The closest word I can think of to suit your definition would be &lt;em&gt;enthusiast&lt;/em&gt;. An enthusiast, though, is not necessarily interested in &lt;em&gt;learning&lt;/em&gt; new aspects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T12:01:10.517" />
  <row Id="6830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6826" CreationDate="2010-12-15T12:01:25.647" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Early Adopter' perhaps? Or an 'Evangelist'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I once heard someone called a 'State of the Art-ist'!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: not a noun, but might they also be described as 'always on the bleeding edge'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T12:01:25.647" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6831" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6842" CreationDate="2010-12-15T12:01:47.287" Score="6" ViewCount="2507" Body="&lt;p&gt;How should &quot;Merry Christmas&quot; and &quot;Happy New Year&quot; be capitalized?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some examples taken from some of the top results on Google:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I’d like to be among the first to wish you a very Merry Christmas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Share the spirit of peace and joy on this occasion of Merry Christmas with your acquaintances and loved ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or a Happy whatever you are celebrating at this time of year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And here is what &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Merry_Christmas_and_a_Happy_New_Year!&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this capitalization correct? If so, does this mean that &quot;Merry Christmas&quot; and &quot;Happy New Year&quot; are proper nouns?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1940" LastEditorUserId="1940" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-15T20:26:26.253" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T05:12:48.620" Title="How should &quot;Merry Christmas&quot; and &quot;Happy New Year&quot; be capitalized?" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6809" CreationDate="2010-12-15T12:07:14.383" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word pizza is from Italian and the spelling is still Italian in many languages (in all languages using Latin alphabets that I know of), in Italian it's pronounced /pittsa/ with a &quot;long&quot; (or &quot;double&quot; as I would call it in Norwegian) t sound. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why it has a long [i] sound in English I don't know, maybe it's related to how English speakers always pronounce French final &quot;é&quot; as &quot;ay&quot; (like Café French: /kafe:/ English &#xA;/ˈkæfeɪ/). The long &quot;ee&quot; /i:/ sound is probably closer to the italian /i/ sound than the short /I/ sound (&quot;bin&quot; etc.) even though it's too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I think it's pretty silly correcting someone for their pronunciation of a loan word when it's actually closer to the origin than the English version.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2820" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T12:07:14.383" />
  <row Id="6833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6823" CreationDate="2010-12-15T12:10:39.747" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Named is preferred in your example, since you are formally giving a name to &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Labelling (beyond the literal) generally infers that &lt;em&gt;someone else&lt;/em&gt; has suggested an alternative name for something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Microsoft named their browser 'Internet Explorer', but it's often labelled as 'Internet Exploder'!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;:&#xA;Labelling is something you do when you categorise something informally; that is, you are attaching a virtual label to it, some meta-data, if you will. For example, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Critics have labelled Project X a disaster from start to finish&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labelling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labelling&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastEditorUserId="2302" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-15T16:32:33.960" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T16:32:33.960" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="6834" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-15T12:15:22.127" Score="-2" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen abbreviation (or acronym) of many English word like &lt;em&gt;POLICE&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;MUSIC&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;GOD&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;LASER&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;— is that written in standard dictionary or just man created? Please suggest some (link) kool n interesting abbreviation of many popular words. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2822" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-15T12:53:44.437" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T14:16:21.790" Title="abbreviation (acronym) are written in any dictionary or only made by people?" Tags="&lt;abbreviations&gt;&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="6835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6831" CreationDate="2010-12-15T12:24:20.740" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Christmas and New Year are proper nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt; that Merry Christmas and other such greetings are usually capitalised, but the reason why is unclear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are not proper nouns, but they are phrases and as such the first letter of the first word is often capitalised, but this is not set in stone. I get the impression that their are cultural differences, that people state-side are more likely not to capitalise Merry and Happy, but I can't confirm this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also perhaps consider them quotes that have lost the quotation marks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We wish you a 'Merry Christmas'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there is a school of thought that goes against this; they consider merry Christmas perfectly acceptable, though to me is looks rather odd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T12:24:20.740" />
  <row Id="6836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6834" CreationDate="2010-12-15T12:41:13.337" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word laser was originally an acronym, which stood for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation - LASER&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0458250#m_en_gb0458250&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford on-line dictionary&lt;/a&gt; entry for laser, this originated in the 1960s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, through common usage, the word laser has been adopted in its own right and is defined as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a device that generates an intense&#xA;  beam of coherent monochromatic light&#xA;  (or other electromagnetic radiation)&#xA;  by stimulated emission of photons from&#xA;  excited atoms or molecules. Lasers are&#xA;  used in drilling and cutting ,&#xA;  alignment and guidance, and in&#xA;  surgery; the optical properties are&#xA;  exploited in holography, reading&#xA;  barcodes, and in recording and playing&#xA;  compact discs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other examples of acronyms that have been adopted into the English language as words in their own right:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0682900#m_en_gb0682900&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RADAR - RAdio Detection And Ranging&lt;/a&gt; - defined as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a system for detecting the presence,&#xA;  direction, distance, and speed of&#xA;  aircraft, ships, and other objects, by&#xA;  sending out pulses of radio waves&#xA;  which are reflected off the object&#xA;  back to the source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0744770#m_en_gb0744770&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SCUBA - Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus&lt;/a&gt; - defined as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;an aqualung.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2570" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T12:41:13.337" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6773" CreationDate="2010-12-15T13:45:39.740" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're unsure of what's appropriate, using the full name when you need to refer to the name and he/she when you can should probably be polite. (Unless there are cultures where using the whole name is considered impolite). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's someone famous, you'd probably be safe using the name, title, or nickname/professional name/pseudonym they're usually known by. The musician &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sting_%28musician%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sting&lt;/a&gt; would be referred to as &quot;Sting&quot; since that's what he use, a monarch often is referred to by their title name and number and just the title when introduced in the text. If a person is known by a quite short name, such as Bill Gates it's probably best to refer to them as using the full name, if they're know'n by a longer name, especially if the &quot;last name&quot; (family name/place name/patronym etc.) is rather recognizable in it self, I'd use just the &quot;last name&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2820" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T13:45:39.740" />
  <row Id="6839" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6846" CreationDate="2010-12-15T14:05:48.070" Score="0" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder what the difference between &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; in this context is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: Hey, I've heard we have a new printer.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  B: Really? Let's print the documents on &lt;em&gt;the/that&lt;/em&gt; new printer then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2825" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-15T14:32:01.573" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T10:23:58.513" Title="Difference between &quot;the&quot; and &quot;that&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6834" CreationDate="2010-12-15T14:16:03.537" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some other examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Maser: &quot;Microwave Amplification...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Modem: &quot;modulator/demodulator&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Codec: &quot;coder/decoder&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Jeep: &quot;&lt;em&gt;g&lt;/em&gt;eneral &lt;em&gt;p&lt;/em&gt;urpose&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T14:16:03.537" />
  <row Id="6841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6834" CreationDate="2010-12-15T14:16:21.790" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Police is not an acronym or abbreviation, normally. You could make a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backronym&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;backronym&lt;/a&gt; for it if you wanted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;People Ostensibly Licensed In Crime Eradication&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T14:16:21.790" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6831" CreationDate="2010-12-15T14:20:16.513" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have mentioned, Christmas and New Year are proper nouns, and thus are capitalized. Generally the phrases &lt;code&gt;Merry Christmas&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;Happy New Year&lt;/code&gt; are used in greetings, as headings, or in some other isolated way, and thus &lt;code&gt;Happy&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;Merry&lt;/code&gt; are the first word of the sentence, and thus those words are capitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Happy New Year!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is a sentence by itself, and thus Happy should be capitalized.  It would not be necessary to capitalize &quot;birthday&quot; if you were saying &quot;Happy birthday&quot; instead of &quot;Happy New Year&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wish you a merry Christmas and happy New Year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is how I'd capitalize the words if they weren't being used on their own, but rather in a longer sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-15T18:14:10.983" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T18:14:10.983" />
  <row Id="6843" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6847" CreationDate="2010-12-15T14:21:47.657" Score="3" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I explain briefly (like in a headline) that the city is covered with snow? Are the following examples correct, or do you suggest something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Istanbul beneath (&lt;em&gt;the?&lt;/em&gt;) snow (&lt;em&gt;piles?&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Istanbul under (&lt;em&gt;the?&lt;/em&gt;) snow (&lt;em&gt;piles?&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T18:25:50.867" Title="Beneath snow, under snow, or something else" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="6844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6823" CreationDate="2010-12-15T14:38:22.443" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A name is different than a label.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Name: a word by which a person or thing is known&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Label: an identifying or descriptive marker that is attached to an object&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So a label might have your name on it, but often it has something else on it, such as a warning, or description, or classification.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A rule of thumb is that names are unique(ish) and labels are not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the example question, it looks like the word you want is &quot;name&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider this website: the question's name is the question headline itself: &quot;Is the usage of 'labeled' preferred to the usage of 'named'?&quot;.  The question's labels are its tags: &quot;usage&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I just noticed your edit to this question. The third and fourth sentences carry the same meaning as &quot;named&quot;. You are &quot;called&quot; by your name, usually. I'd use &quot;named&quot; or go with the fourth option, which just names the method. There are lots of synonyms for &quot;name&quot; but, importantly, &quot;label&quot; isn't really one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastEditorUserId="380" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-20T14:08:03.500" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T14:08:03.500" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6843" CreationDate="2010-12-15T14:39:28.150" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Snowy Istanbul.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Snow-covered Istanbul.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Snow-wrapped Istanbul.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Snow-bound Istanbul.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Snow-entombed Istanbul.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(in increasing order of severity)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T14:39:28.150" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6839" CreationDate="2010-12-15T14:46:13.263" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the two real choices are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let's print the documents on &lt;em&gt;the new&lt;/em&gt; printer then.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let's print the documents on &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; printer then.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both the above seem pretty much identical in meaning to me. The second can only be used following a mention of a specific printer, or accompanied by physically indicating a printer. The first can be used in those contexts but doesn't require any context of that sort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Only if there were several new printers and someone had previously referred specifically to one of them (e.g. &quot;One of the new printers is fast!&quot;) would I write or say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let's print the documents on &lt;em&gt;that new&lt;/em&gt; printer then.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-20T10:23:58.513" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T10:23:58.513" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6843" CreationDate="2010-12-15T14:47:39.220" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say that the city is &lt;em&gt;blanketed&lt;/em&gt; in snow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T14:47:39.220" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="456" CreationDate="2010-12-15T14:49:26.393" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is really strange, in Norwegian it's a lot of confusion between homphones &quot;og&quot; (meaning &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt;) and &quot;å&quot; (equivalent to the word &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;) that are pronounced the same (the g is silent, and o is sometimes the same sound as å, which is approximately the same sound as the vowel in &quot;wall&quot;). This is not surprising, but I've noticed the same confusion occur in related languages like English where it's not homophones. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps it's something about the grammar of the Germanic languages that causes this difference to be hard to understand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(There &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; be a slight intentional difference in meaning between &quot;try to&quot; and &quot;try and&quot; but usually it seems like a mistake)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2820" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T14:49:26.393" />
  <row Id="6849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6441" CreationDate="2010-12-15T15:21:04.277" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For translations where correctness is important I'd recommend getting a human translator, machine translation is not good enough to be relied completely on, you'll still need human verification.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, why do you need it translated? If you're applying for work in a French speaking area but want an English version &quot;international&quot; companies or because the area is officially bilingual, a rough Google translation in addition to the French original may be enough. If you are applying for work in an English speaking area, I assume you know enough English to make a rough translation yourself possibly assisted by Google translate, and you could ask a fluent speaker to proof read your translation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having a perfectly translated CV is only useful, if you're fairly fluent in the language it's translated to. If I had my CV translated into perfect French I could not get a job in a French speaking country anyway, since my French is barely enough to order at a restaurant, not enough to complete an interview... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2820" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T15:21:04.277" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6843" CreationDate="2010-12-15T15:54:41.700" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Istanbul is covered in snow.&#xA;Istanbul is buried in snow.&#xA;Istanbul is a winter wonderland.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T15:54:41.700" />
  <row Id="6851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6843" CreationDate="2010-12-15T16:05:19.450" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a city has a lot of rain would you describe it as &quot;under the water&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think both &quot;under&quot; and &quot;beneath&quot; suggests really massive amount of snow, so that you have to dig down to find the city under the snow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say &quot;covered&quot; is more correct. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2820" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T16:05:19.450" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="50" CreationDate="2010-12-15T16:23:42.230" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure if it counts, but o'clock is a contraction of &quot;of the clock&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T16:23:42.230" />
  <row Id="6853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6814" CreationDate="2010-12-15T16:24:54.707" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question made me wonder: Is there a general term for such urban/suburban light rail that sometimes are underground, above ground, and/or raised above ground? Or which of the terms Subway, Metro etc. would cause least confusion to describe such rail network?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The corresponding rail system in Oslo is called &quot;T-banen&quot; shortened from &quot;Tunell-banen&quot; meaning &quot;The tunnel rail&quot;, which is ironic since most of it except for a few kilometers in the city center is above ground.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2820" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T16:24:54.707" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6854" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6855" CreationDate="2010-12-15T16:56:39.487" Score="2" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it good English to say &quot;They have just left&quot;, when talking about a single person (perhaps someone you don't know the gender of)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I am a native English speaker, I'm looking for the view held by lexicographers). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2803" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-15T19:39:24.030" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T19:39:24.030" Title="What is the accepted stance on using &quot;they&quot; in a singular form?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="6855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6854" CreationDate="2010-12-15T17:11:22.277" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When using the plural third-person pronoun to refer to a single person, grammatically you are introducing a disagreement in number. So this is technically an incorrect usage and, again technically (and historically), one is &quot;supposed&quot; to use the third-person singular masculine pronoun &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt; where gender is non-specific.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that is changing. Since the advent of the women's movement and feminism, people have felt uncomfortable substituting a masculine pronoun in such cases, as if women were some lesser beings wholly submerged by men. This led to some difficulties. It makes for painstaking sentences to always refer to &quot;he or she&quot; when you don't know the gender, as in &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;If someone were to look in the cupboard, he or she would find the plates.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's fine for a simple sentence, but if you get into a paragraph where you constantly have to use &quot;he or she&quot; to refer to the subject of the paragraph, it makes for some tortured writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Informally people use &quot;they&quot; all the time to avoid this kind of thing. There was &lt;a href=&quot;http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/old-WILLA/fall94/h2-isele.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an effort&lt;/a&gt; some years ago to introduce a neuter set of pronouns ('tey', 'ter', 'tem'), but like all such manufactured language solutions it was destined to fail. Just because something may be a good idea doesn't mean anyone will actually use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I even find myself writing &quot;someone ... they&quot; and having to go back and edit. If someone uses it as you did, saying &quot;They just left&quot; to mean someone just left, I wouldn't worry about it at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T17:11:22.277" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6823" CreationDate="2010-12-15T17:15:51.963" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should actually use neither.  The implication is obvious:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here we discuss our new method &quot;Fantastic Method&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To draw a parallel:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here we discuss our child named Thomas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here we discuss our child labeled Thomas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T17:15:51.963" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6857" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-15T17:58:15.677" Score="9" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/286/toward-or-towards&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; we learn that &lt;code&gt;toward&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;towards&lt;/code&gt; are interchangeable, but that the former is somewhat more typical of U.S. English and the latter of British English, although there is some indication that this does not always hold true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But how about actual use? Being a non-native speaker, I cannot completely trust my intuition about what &quot;sounds right&quot;. Is it true that &lt;code&gt;toward&lt;/code&gt; sounds more formal than &lt;code&gt;towards&lt;/code&gt; to a native English speaker? Does it vary between different variants of English? Should I use one in academic text and the other in casual communication? What are the nuances? In summary, how should I choose which one to use if I want to be consistent in my writing style? I'm looking for intuition for different kinds of situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="747" LastEditorUserId="747" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-15T18:04:22.147" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T22:39:41.057" Title="Toward or towards – what would a native speaker use?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="6858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6843" CreationDate="2010-12-15T18:25:50.867" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Istanbul Snowed Under&quot; is a short and sweet headline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2829" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T18:25:50.867" />
  <row Id="6859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6854" CreationDate="2010-12-15T19:21:52.140" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they#Examples_of_generic_they&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Singular &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; has been used in English for a long, long time. Seriously, Shakespeare even used it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, a significant number of English speakers think it's wrong. Why? No clue. I'd label it a hypercorrection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the most important thing to think about is whether your audience will understand you. On this count, singular &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt; really shines, as everybody — even those who pooh-pooh it — understand exactly what you're saying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another consideration is what alternatives you have. &lt;em&gt;One&lt;/em&gt; sounds stuffy; &lt;em&gt;he or she&lt;/em&gt; is too long; just &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt; is inaccurate (and possibly offensive).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Singular &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt; is really the best way to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T19:21:52.140" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="6860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6857" CreationDate="2010-12-15T19:29:54.970" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Toward&lt;/em&gt; is chosen in print publications over &lt;em&gt;towards&lt;/em&gt;, because it's shorter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think either choice is more formal than the other. I probably wouldn't even hear any difference between the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say it's a non-issue. Use whichever one you like, or go the newspaper route and use &lt;em&gt;toward&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T19:29:54.970" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6861" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6869" CreationDate="2010-12-15T19:55:28.313" Score="2" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was listening to John Lennon's song &quot;Gimme Some Truth&quot; just now, and in it there's a recurring line &quot;money for rope.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I never thought about it much before, but it strikes me this has to be some kind of aphorism or at least a familiar idiom somewhere. Does anyone know what it means and where it comes from? I've found some things on the Web that say it refers to the rope trade, and driving a bad bargain, etc., but none of these seem entirely convincing. Or at least they left me feeling unsatisfied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have a clear line on this one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T10:28:29.447" Title="&quot;Money for rope&quot; ... meaning and derivation?" Tags="&lt;figures-of-speech&gt;&lt;aphorism&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6861" CreationDate="2010-12-15T20:26:41.217" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could it be a reference to the term &quot;New money for old rope?&quot; That means getting someone to pay again for something they already have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not familiar with the song, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T20:26:41.217" />
  <row Id="6863" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6864" CreationDate="2010-12-15T21:13:17.117" Score="4" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between impel and compel? Looked up several places but still unsure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T21:31:00.093" Title="Difference between impel and compel" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6863" CreationDate="2010-12-15T21:27:35.290" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me, &lt;em&gt;impel&lt;/em&gt; has a sense of motion/pushing, while &lt;em&gt;compel&lt;/em&gt; is more of an obligation. Think of &lt;em&gt;impulse&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;compulsion&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also a difference in origin: with &lt;em&gt;impel&lt;/em&gt;, the primary force comes from within the object (albeit in response to an outside impetus), while &lt;em&gt;compel&lt;/em&gt; comes from outside and acts &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; the object. I can &lt;em&gt;compel&lt;/em&gt; you to do something, but I can only cause you to feel &lt;em&gt;impelled&lt;/em&gt;. Or something like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T21:27:35.290" />
  <row Id="6865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6863" CreationDate="2010-12-15T21:31:00.093" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To &lt;em&gt;impel&lt;/em&gt; is to push someone or something forward, while to &lt;em&gt;compel&lt;/em&gt; is to force someone to do something. The difference is subtle, but usually &lt;em&gt;compel&lt;/em&gt; carries a connotation of coercion or obligation. &lt;em&gt;Impel&lt;/em&gt; has its roots in the Latin word for &quot;to push forward&quot;, while &lt;em&gt;compel&lt;/em&gt; comes from that for &quot;to drive together&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T21:31:00.093" />
  <row Id="6866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6826" CreationDate="2010-12-15T21:53:48.380" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Newly coined by me; a 'blog worm', (like a book worm, but for the web).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2803" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T21:53:48.380" />
  <row Id="6867" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-15T21:56:18.257" Score="0" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not native in the English language and I'd like to know if when I say &quot;Viewpoints made easy&quot; your perception leads you to something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Viewpoints made easy. An easy form to&#xA;  connect and represent points of view&#xA;  and understandings about the world&#xA;  knowledge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="219" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:08:09.130" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:08:09.130" Title="Is it right to say &quot;Viewpoints made easy&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6867" CreationDate="2010-12-15T22:42:39.427" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a native (American) English speaker, my perception is that when someone or something says &quot;X made easy&quot;, X is normally considered to be a difficult and complicated item, program, or topic, which the speaker (or book, program, product, etc.) proposes to demystify and explain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not ordinarily consider an individual's point of view to be inherently a difficult thing to comprehend.  (Some may certainly be more difficult than others, but as a general rule, &quot;putting yourself in another's shoes&quot; is not too tough.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Judging by your example of what you want the sentence to mean, I am inclined to think that &quot;Viewpoint relationships and mappings made easy&quot; might be the better way to express your meaning, as your form sounds like it's designed to create charts and diagrams showing the connections between different points of view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T22:42:39.427" />
  <row Id="6869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6861" CreationDate="2010-12-15T22:46:52.697" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a common expression in England and means easily earned or easily obtained money, with the suggestion of having sold something that is normally considered worthless or of low value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many idiomatic English expressions &lt;em&gt;seem&lt;/em&gt; to have their origins in the days of wind-powered seafaring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rope made from hemp had a limited lifetime. When it wore out it was picked apart and recycled. It was used for caulking. Rope fibres (known as oakum) were hammered into the seams between planks of a ship and hot pitch was poured over it. This was done to waterproof the ship. Of course you got money for the old rope. The phrase came to mean money for anything (seemingly) worthless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.localhistories.org/sayings.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;localhistories.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There’s a suggestion that “money for old rope” dates back to the days of public executions in England (hangings). The hangman was responsible for his rope and was obliged by law to keep it. However, macabre souvenir hunters were willing to pay a good price for pieces of a used noose, so the hangman would cut it up into pieces and sell it, hence the phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wwwk.co.uk/culture/phrases/money-old-rope.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;when we were kids&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;THE SAYING MONEY FOR OLD ROPE IS DERIVED FROM DAYS IN THE WORKHOUSE, WORKERS WHERE GIVEN DAMAGED, AND USED ROPE TO PICK INTO STRANDS WHICH WOULD THEN BE RE SPUN INTO NEW ROPE, THEY WOULD EARN JUST ENOUGH MONEY FOR A MEAL, HENCE THE SAYING &quot;MONEY FOR OLD ROPE&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_%27making_money_for_old_rope%27_mean&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Answers.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know whether there is much truth in the above. Picking apart old rope was apparently work given to people in the workhouse or in foundlings homes at the end of the 18th Century - At least according to author Bernard Cornwell - who gives the impression of having researched his subjects well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Others say the expression is not recorded before the mid-20th Century.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-20T10:28:29.447" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T10:28:29.447" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6826" CreationDate="2010-12-15T23:49:07.300" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neophile&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Neophile&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;: A lover of new things, especially new technology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-12-15T23:49:07.300" />
  <row Id="6871" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6872" CreationDate="2010-12-16T00:03:52.220" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually misspell words like &quot;believe&quot; or &quot;receive&quot;. For words like these two I would usually google it first to see if I got the spelling right. Is there a pattern for words like these?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1269" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T00:11:44.977" Title="Patterns for words with &quot;iev&quot; and &quot;eiv&quot;" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="6872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6871" CreationDate="2010-12-16T00:11:44.977" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_before_E_except_after_C&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;old saying&lt;/a&gt; goes like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;i before e except after c&#xA;  or when sounded like a&#xA;  as in neighbor and weigh&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this rule covers a large number of words, of course, there are a ton of exceptions (neither, height, weird, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T00:11:44.977" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6873" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6877" CreationDate="2010-12-16T00:29:41.907" Score="0" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a book &lt;em&gt;running for mortals&lt;/em&gt;. I don't recognized the word of &lt;em&gt;mortal&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I looked up it and get the meaning as below. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;mortal&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;&lt;strong&gt;N - A human being&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder does &lt;strong&gt;mortal&lt;/strong&gt; widely use as &lt;strong&gt;human being&lt;/strong&gt; or it is used for only for special areas like sports, medical, etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2661" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T01:48:29.957" Title="Mortals VS Human Beings" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6873" CreationDate="2010-12-16T00:36:36.753" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;mortal&quot; means &quot;subject to death,&quot; meaning if one can be killed, one is mortal. It does not apply specifically to any one topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The title &lt;em&gt;Running for Mortals&lt;/em&gt; is a nod to the notion that hardcore distance runners are &quot;superhuman.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2780" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T00:36:36.753" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6875" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-16T01:31:06.313" Score="0" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am writing a scientific paper and confused with choosing the correct form to use as the section title.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is the correct one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How it works&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How does it work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1660" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T20:54:36.767" Title="Choosing a section title for scientific papers: &quot;How it works&quot; or &quot;How does it work?&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6875" CreationDate="2010-12-16T01:33:37.810" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either of the two is okay; I would however recommend replacing &quot;it&quot; with the actual object under consideration if that is to be a section's title.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T01:33:37.810" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6873" CreationDate="2010-12-16T01:48:29.957" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;mortal&lt;/em&gt; is used to describe people in contrast to &lt;em&gt;immortals&lt;/em&gt;, beings that cannot die, such as gods or similar entities in works of fiction or myth. You wouldn’t use the word &lt;em&gt;mortal&lt;/em&gt; to refer to humans in any context except one where humans were being either implicitly or explicitly compared to gods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The book title &lt;em&gt;Running for Mortals&lt;/em&gt; is kind of a joke, implying that unlike other books containing advice and instruction for runners that are only applicable to those with godlike ability, stamina, and discipline, this book can be used by &lt;em&gt;mere mortals&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T01:48:29.957" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6878" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6879" CreationDate="2010-12-16T02:07:21.043" Score="7" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;They seems to mean the same thing, yet when spoken they sound like the negative of each other.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What's the secret behind those two words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2734" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T02:26:21.347" Title="Is there any relation between &quot;genius&quot; and &quot;ingenious&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6878" CreationDate="2010-12-16T02:26:21.347" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;On the surface, one might think that &lt;em&gt;ingenious&lt;/em&gt; is somehow based on the word &lt;em&gt;genius&lt;/em&gt;.  Interestingly, this is not true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;ingenious&lt;/em&gt; does not actually have the &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt; prefix for negation.  Instead, it comes originally from the Latin &lt;em&gt;ingeniōsus&lt;/em&gt;, which means &quot;intellectual, talented, ingenious&quot;.  At times in history it was also spelled &quot;engenious&quot;.  Indeed, &lt;em&gt;ingeniōsus&lt;/em&gt; appears to be the same root that gave us the word &lt;em&gt;engine&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Genius&lt;/em&gt; was originally different, but evolved to have a meaning that is similar to &lt;em&gt;ingenious&lt;/em&gt;.  It came to us from Latin, but it was originally Greek (unlike &lt;em&gt;ingeniōsus&lt;/em&gt;).  According to the OED, it mainly had the meaning of, approximately, &quot;genie&quot; or similar type of spirit, in Latin.  Figuratively, it was also used to mean &quot;characteristic disposition; inclination; bent, turn or temper of mind.&quot;  In English, German, and most of the Romance languages aside from Latin, it had the meaning of &quot;natural ability&quot; starting around the 1600s.  The OED speculates that the meaning of &lt;em&gt;genie&lt;/em&gt; was pushed towards the meaning of &lt;em&gt;ingenious&lt;/em&gt; because of &quot;confusion&quot; between the two (that is, their superficial similarity).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T02:26:21.347" />
  <row Id="6880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6875" CreationDate="2010-12-16T02:37:22.267" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6875/choosing-a-section-title-for-scientific-papers-how-it-works-or-how-does-it-wo/6876#6876&quot;&gt;J. M. wrote&lt;/a&gt;, both are correct.  However, using a complete sentence as a section heading (“How does it work?”) sounds more friendly/casual/informal than using a noun phrase (“How it works”) to me, and it may be good or bad depending on the style of your paper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also agree to J. M. that using “it” in a heading may not be the best choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T02:37:22.267" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6881" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-16T02:57:33.483" Score="9" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my life, I always confused with choosing plural or singular form to represent one-one correspondence notion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only those who qualify will be awarded a certificate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only those who qualify will be awarded certificates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example, let us consider the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Each student gets one pencil&quot;. But it becomes ambiguous if I rewrite in plural form as &quot;Students get pencils&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope someone can give me a general rule to overcome my confusion. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1660" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-16T10:04:42.027" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T15:08:09.603" Title="&quot;Only those who qualify will be awarded a certificate&quot; or &quot;Only those who qualify will be awarded certificates&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6881" CreationDate="2010-12-16T03:00:17.463" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To use the &quot;certificates&quot; example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first one applies if only one certificate is to be given &lt;em&gt;per person&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second one applies if more than one certificate is to be given &lt;em&gt;per person&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly for the &quot;pencils&quot; example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastEditorUserId="730" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-16T05:14:20.390" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T05:14:20.390" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="6883" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-16T03:15:24.237" Score="0" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I hear many words that sound different than they used to. There are the classic changes in words like pecan and Uranus. But the word that bugs me most now is caramel. Is there some group in America that has control of pronounciation? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, once I learn a word, I will never change how I say it. Love them pee cans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2834" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-16T03:23:50.627" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T09:32:04.727" Title="Who is in charge of determining a pronunciation?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6237" CreationDate="2010-12-16T03:19:16.933" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wheelie is well known in Australia. BTW: the opposite of a wheelie is a stoppie, that is when you apply the brakes sufficiently hard to life the rear-wheel off the ground. Tends to apply more for motorcycles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T03:19:16.933" />
  <row Id="6885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6826" CreationDate="2010-12-16T04:13:45.777" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;bleeding edge specialist&quot; springs to mind, though it's not exactly elegant or simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T04:13:45.777" />
  <row Id="6886" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-16T04:54:10.313" Score="3" ViewCount="322" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't seem to find the word that refers to this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/q3uug.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;What is this called?&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually end up saying &quot;bunch of garlic&quot; and have to explain &quot;the garlic bunch before you peel the cloves apart&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is it called?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2836" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-16T09:30:26.800" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T09:30:26.800" Title="What do you call a bunch of garlic (when you don't remove the cloves)?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="6887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6883" CreationDate="2010-12-16T04:57:52.213" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What influence do you think TV has on pronunciation? Here, in Australia, there is basically one accent but in America there seems a wide variety. Most American TV shows seem to be in TV-English, a generic accent. However, some shows use regional accents. Do you think that when an accent gets a wider audience via TV that the eccentricities of that accent spread? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW: I have to watch 'The Wire' on DVD so I can turn on subtitles. A Baltimore accent is just gibberish to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T04:57:52.213" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6886" CreationDate="2010-12-16T05:06:10.443" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you talking about a &lt;em&gt;bulb&lt;/em&gt; of garlic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T05:06:10.443" />
  <row Id="6889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6886" CreationDate="2010-12-16T05:08:01.673" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word you are looking for is &lt;strong&gt;bulb&lt;/strong&gt;. More formally, it is called a &quot;compound bulb&quot; because the cloves themselves are actually bulbs, too. Nevertheless, &quot;bulb&quot; will do just fine. This word is also used in the same context for onions, shallots and other related plants. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T05:08:01.673" />
  <row Id="6890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6886" CreationDate="2010-12-16T05:14:40.520" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;head&lt;/em&gt; of garlic is the usual term. &lt;em&gt;Bulb&lt;/em&gt; of garlic is also sometimes used, but not usually in a culinary sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T05:14:40.520" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6891" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6922" CreationDate="2010-12-16T08:17:09.343" Score="3" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I posted a (technically inclined) question at StackOverflow — and I agree with a particular commentary, and we'd like to get your opinion. Here's my original question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dropdown menu.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But ours open upward - 'popup', as in&#xA;  'popup menu' has proved oddly&#xA;  confusing to some of our business&#xA;  oriented folk. So we tried throwing in&#xA;  'vertical menu' and then.. this was a&#xA;  mistake.. 'vertical animating menu'..&#xA;  so what would you call it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And here's the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4449240&quot;&gt;original thread&lt;/a&gt; for our commentary. It'll be interesting to see what you all can come up with!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2838" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-16T09:52:32.320" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T18:04:58.253" Title="'Correct' term for... upwards moving menu?" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;jargon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6891" CreationDate="2010-12-16T08:28:32.257" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As it doesn't seem like there is already a terminology, the simplest route would be to use the antonym of dropdown: &quot;&lt;em&gt;riseup menu&lt;/em&gt;&quot;. However it sounds a bit clunky, maybe because it is a neologism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; I initialy proposed &lt;em&gt;uprise&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;riseup&lt;/em&gt; but as @Tomalak pointed, not only &lt;em&gt;riseup&lt;/em&gt; is in fact analoguous to &lt;em&gt;dropdown&lt;/em&gt;, but also &lt;em&gt;uprise&lt;/em&gt; would have a completely different meaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-16T16:07:47.433" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T16:07:47.433" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6886" CreationDate="2010-12-16T09:21:29.193" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is already amply answered, but just for those who are more visually-oriented:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A clove of garlic&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/wN2IE.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A head/bulb of garlic&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/JidYE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A string of garlic&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/4bOK9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T09:21:29.193" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6894" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6896" CreationDate="2010-12-16T09:23:32.270" Score="7" ViewCount="348" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I remember correctly from English class, then one should put a comma after &quot;i.e.&quot;, i.e., the Latin abbreviation for id est.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But lately I've seen the comma after &quot;i.e.&quot; dropped in books. So what is the rule or consensus here if any?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="144" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T09:39:07.250" Title="Comma after i.e. or not?" Tags="&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="6895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6883" CreationDate="2010-12-16T09:32:04.727" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those of us from the Western United States would believe that we speak the &quot;purest&quot; form of American English (if such a thing exists)--I think this is what's being called &quot;TV English&quot; in the other post, although as a speaker of this dialect, my lip curls at such a designation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, even among us, we differ on pronunciations/word choice. A few examples: 1) the pop v. soda debate, which many argue has regional roots, although I've never been able to map it specifically; 2) bag being pronounced as either &quot;baag&quot; or &quot;beg&quot;; 3) tour being pronounced as either &quot;too-er&quot; or &quot;tore&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, the irony I find is that I imagine the majority of Americans do NOT speak in our &quot;generic&quot; dialect, considering the density of population in other parts of the US (besides perhaps California).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I think this is one of the hallmarks of English. It does not have a regulating body like the French language. No one and everyone (thank you, J.M.) regulates English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2697" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T09:32:04.727" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6894" CreationDate="2010-12-16T09:33:55.283" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some books &amp;amp; journals use American English, while some use British English. In the American style of writing, a comma is inserted before and after i.e. However, in the British style of writing, a comma is inserted before but not after i.e. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T09:33:55.283" />
  <row Id="6897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6894" CreationDate="2010-12-16T09:34:33.673" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that the use of comma is found more often in American English, and even there, &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ie-eg-oh-my.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;it is not always required&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, even though I prefer the&#xA;  comma and have sources to back me up,&#xA;  they almost all use hedge words like&#xA;  “usually” and “preferred.” I've also&#xA;  been told that the commas are used&#xA;  less frequently in Britain, and the&#xA;  only style guide I found that advised&#xA;  against commas was Fowler's Modern&#xA;  English Usage, which has its roots in&#xA;  British English. The bottom line is&#xA;  that in American English, I recommend&#xA;  using a comma after i.e. and e.g.  You&#xA;  could probably make an argument for&#xA;  leaving it out in some cases, but do&#xA;  so at your own risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T09:39:07.250" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T09:39:07.250" />
  <row Id="6898" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-16T11:11:30.060" Score="4" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any funny euphemisms or synonyms for plagiarism?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2841" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T15:34:54.417" Title="Euphemisms or synonyms for plagiarism" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6898" CreationDate="2010-12-16T11:23:22.443" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An obvious candidate would be &lt;em&gt;borrowing&lt;/em&gt;. A funny-sounding one (at least to me) would be &lt;em&gt;buccaneering&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T11:23:22.443" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6898" CreationDate="2010-12-16T12:19:40.183" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think Tom's paper was 'inspired' by one he found on the internet!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also like Reg's 'borrowed'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps also:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I see Tom has once again stressed his green credentials, given that his paper was 'recycled' from the internet!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or [deviating away from synonyms]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Plagiarised? No, I was merely 'paying homage' to [the other author]!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Gandhi said that 'Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery'; I think Tom has seriously flattered another author!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-16T22:16:25.317" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T22:16:25.317" />
  <row Id="6901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6894" CreationDate="2010-12-16T12:33:11.690" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, my UK-centric view is that I would put a comma after 'that is'; that is, if I were to use the long-hand, so to speak. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I would not put a comma after 'id est'; i.e. although it may seem 'correct', I feel it impedes understanding, rather than aiding it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T12:33:11.690" />
  <row Id="6902" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7214" CreationDate="2010-12-16T13:01:10.100" Score="5" ViewCount="505" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the exact word(not necessarily a single noun), we use for a person who seems to be introvert when in real-life, but is very much extroverted and free when they talk to you online?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2843" LastEditorUserId="2843" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-16T18:03:50.957" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T16:04:13.413" Title="What's the word for 'online-extrovert-offline-introvert'?" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="12" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6903" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6909" CreationDate="2010-12-16T13:32:30.233" Score="0" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;If used in the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Once a person has become X their psychological state becomes Y.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;does the &quot;a person&quot; count as a class and thus make the use of the plural their correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;M@&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2844" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T14:37:13.917" Title="Can &quot;a person&quot; be considered a collective noun" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6904" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6913" CreationDate="2010-12-16T14:24:45.533" Score="11" ViewCount="449" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Related to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3718/where-are-the-data-i-only-have-one-datum&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My non-native English speaking friend just asked me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Data &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; ...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;or&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Data &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; ...  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I said &lt;em&gt;both&lt;/em&gt; but that's because I've been desensitized from reading/writing both (especially from writing code and adding quick comments).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My question&lt;/strong&gt;: Is it acceptable to utilize either for a &lt;strong&gt;university paper&lt;/strong&gt;? Or is one &lt;em&gt;safer&lt;/em&gt; than the other (when confronted with stickler professors) ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2550" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-16T14:35:26.483" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T15:20:45.777" Title="Data is or data are?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;uncountable-noun&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="6905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6902" CreationDate="2010-12-16T14:26:13.943" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I said if someone upvoted my comment, I would put it as an answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would go with &quot;A sheep in wolf's e-clothing&quot;, transforming the well-known idiom to indicate a naturally timid and introvert person (the sheep) transforming itself in an aggresive and extrovert person (the wolf), once it is online (the e-clothing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T14:26:13.943" />
  <row Id="6906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6902" CreationDate="2010-12-16T14:30:25.123" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As per your request, I am re-submitting my comment as an answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Internet tough guy.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is certainly a very popular term, though I still mandate that it is not a perfect fit for your description. Synonyms include &quot;keyboard warrior&quot; and &quot;online tough guy&quot;. Here are links to definitions from various (dubious) places:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Urban dictionary: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=internet%20tough%20guy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;internet tough guy&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=keyboard%20warrior&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;keyboard warrior&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (warning: strong language)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Internet_Tough_Guy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;encyclopædia dramatica&lt;/a&gt; (warning: strong language, NSFW imagery)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InternetToughGuy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TV tropes&lt;/a&gt; (warning: it's TV tropes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T14:30:25.123" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6904" CreationDate="2010-12-16T14:35:13.613" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As addressed in the question linked, it depends if you use the uncountable noun, meaning &quot;a collection of data&quot;, or the plural form of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/datum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;datum&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. If it is the former, then the verb would singular, otherwise it would be plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I would say, that in most &lt;strong&gt;university paper&lt;/strong&gt;, you would use the uncountable form. The exception would be when data would describe an ensemble of measurements or when data is used in philosophy paper. (According to Wiktionary's definition.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-16T14:48:45.883" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T14:48:45.883" />
  <row Id="6908" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6921" CreationDate="2010-12-16T14:35:52.327" Score="1" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;Judging by the consensus over at &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/495/less-vs-fewer&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, one should use &quot;fewer&quot; over &quot;less&quot; for countable quantities.  What about in this situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[Less or Fewer] than 10.7% of the people were happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, a percentage is not countable (because it is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_number&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;real number&lt;/a&gt; of arbitrary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arithmetic_precision&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;precision&lt;/a&gt;), whereas the noun &quot;people&quot; is countable.  My instinct tells me that &quot;fewer&quot; would be preferred, because the percentage must always correspond to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_number&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rational number&lt;/a&gt; (which is countable)—unless of course fractions of people can be happy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2553" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T18:58:09.470" Title="&quot;Less&quot; vs. &quot;Fewer&quot; when referring to a percentage of a countable quantity" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6903" CreationDate="2010-12-16T14:37:13.917" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;Once a person has become X their psychological state becomes Y.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, &quot;a person&quot; cannot be considered a collective noun. In this example, &lt;em&gt;their&lt;/em&gt; is a singular pronoun that refers to the &quot;person&quot; whose gender is unspecified. The meaning of the sentence would remain intact if you replaced &lt;em&gt;their&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;his/her&lt;/em&gt; thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;Once a person has become X his/her psychological state becomes Y.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this usage of the plural pronoun in the singular sense has been around for a very long time, it was also common not too long ago to use only the male pronoun. In this age, though, one would be considered sexist if one left out the female pronoun. It is also not uncommon to see the female pronoun used exclusively. However, we are all fond of the plural pronoun because it takes care of both sexes and invites no claims of gender bias.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of what is considered acceptable in various situations, one will definitely come across the usage of plural pronouns in the singular sense when the sex of the person being referred to is not specified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T14:37:13.917" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6898" CreationDate="2010-12-16T14:53:28.537" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From Tom Lehrer, If memory serves:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plagiarize! Let no one else's work evade your eyes! That's why the Good Lord made your eyes! So plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize! But be certain always to call it &quot;Research&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T14:53:28.537" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="777" CreationDate="2010-12-16T14:57:30.420" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think what you're talking about is &quot;onomatopoeia&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2846" LastEditorUserId="244" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T18:24:06.103" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T18:24:06.103" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6881" CreationDate="2010-12-16T15:08:09.603" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English is slightly ambiguous here.  The nature of the mapping between the (passive) subjects and the objects isn't inherent to this construction, there's just a strong tendency in how it is used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We would generally understand&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only those who qualify will be awarded a certificate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;to mean that each person who qualifies gets an individual certificate.  It's not impossible (but it would be very unusual) to use it to mean that all the qualifiers will get a single certificate to share between them.  If you wanted to emphasize that there is a 1-1 mapping you would need to say something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only those who qualify will be awarded a certificate each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or something similar.  It does look odd in this particular instance, which suggests I've done it wrong :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also understand&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only those who qualify will be awarded certificates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;to probably mean that each qualifier gets one certificate, but it would also be common for it to mean that each qualifier gets several certificates.  It could also mean that some qualifiers had to share one or more certificates between them, though again that would be very unusual.  All that the plural &quot;certificates&quot; allows us to be certain of is that more than one certificate is involved overall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your other examples have qualifiers on them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Each student gets one pencil&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using &quot;each&quot; here enforces the 1-1 mapping, where &quot;students get one pencil&quot; has only custom on its side, and &quot;students get pencils&quot; is ambiguous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said all that, the &quot;a certificate&quot; version strongly implies the 1-1 mapping that you're after, but the &quot;certificates&quot; version weakly implies it too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T15:08:09.603" />
  <row Id="6913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6904" CreationDate="2010-12-16T15:20:45.777" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have actually considered this quite a bit, being both a linguist who studies these things, and a scholar who publishes papers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etymologically speaking, the word &lt;em&gt;data&lt;/em&gt; is the plural of &lt;em&gt;datum&lt;/em&gt; in Latin.  In Latin, &lt;em&gt;data&lt;/em&gt; would get plural verb agreement.  Now, languages borrow words and do whatever they want with them, so this historical fact about &lt;em&gt;data&lt;/em&gt; has no relevance in judging what is &quot;correct&quot; in English.  As a linguist, it is my belief that &lt;em&gt;data&lt;/em&gt; has established itself as a mass noun in English, and for most people, &quot;data is&quot; is the most natural way to speak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;However&lt;/strong&gt;, in a university/scholarly paper, I would recommend using &quot;data are&quot;, rather than &quot;data is&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason: some stickler professors and pedantic scholars believe that, logically, if &lt;em&gt;datum&lt;/em&gt; is an English word for a single piece of &lt;em&gt;data&lt;/em&gt; (which it is), that &lt;em&gt;data&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;must&lt;/strong&gt; logically be plural.  The fact that most people do things differently only means, to them, that most people are doing it wrong.  Whether you agree with that or not is somewhat irrelevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you have two choices.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you use &quot;data is&quot;, then reasonable people (yes, I am biased) who read your paper will not bat an eye, but stickler professors might judge you on your perceived ignorance or inappropriate level of informality.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you use &quot;data are&quot;, then the stickler professors will not judge you to be ignorant, and the reasonable people will think &quot;that's an acceptable variant&quot; or &quot;this person is a stickler for language&quot; (or if they are me, will think &quot;this person is pandering to the sticklers — a necessary evil&quot;), but nobody will think you are ignorant.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, choosing (2), &quot;data are&quot; is clearly your safest bet, and is what I always do (and what I find nearly all of my colleagues do).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T15:20:45.777" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6902" CreationDate="2010-12-16T15:32:13.600" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This comic&lt;/a&gt; addresses the concept of your question. You could use that term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T15:32:13.600" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6902" CreationDate="2010-12-16T15:36:06.830" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Man you people are more insistent than the other SE communities... :P)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I submit either &quot;electronic Jekyll-and-Hyde&quot; (EJH for short) or if we want to be really mean, &quot;bipolar&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T15:36:06.830" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-16T15:36:06.830" />
  <row Id="6916" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6919" CreationDate="2010-12-16T15:40:38.247" Score="1" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this question correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Where are you will waiting for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1109" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T18:15:58.760" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T18:15:58.760" Title="Is this correct: 'Where are you will waiting for me?'?" Tags="&lt;tense&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;interrogatives&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6916" CreationDate="2010-12-16T15:44:25.373" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.  If you're looking for the future tense, you probably mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Where will you be waiting for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for the present, it would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Where are you waiting for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T15:44:25.373" />
  <row Id="6918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6916" CreationDate="2010-12-16T15:44:33.280" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. Do you mean&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Where will you be waiting for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1439" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T15:44:33.280" />
  <row Id="6919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6916" CreationDate="2010-12-16T15:55:56.143" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, the question is incorrectly stated. Here are possible alternatives in the &lt;em&gt;present continuous/progressive&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;future continuous/progressive&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;future&lt;/em&gt; tenses, respectively:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;Where are you waiting for me?&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The subject of the question is currently waiting for the asker, who wants to find out where this is.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;Where will you be waiting for me?&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The asker would like to know where the subject of the question will wait (or &lt;em&gt;be waiting&lt;/em&gt;) for him/her at a given time in the near or distant future, depending on the context.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;Where will you wait for me?&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This form would most probably be used in a situation where the subject has just indicated he/she will wait for the asker, who now wants to know exactly where this place will be.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T15:55:56.143" />
  <row Id="6920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6902" CreationDate="2010-12-16T16:25:07.023" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about websocialite ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2847" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T16:25:07.023" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6908" CreationDate="2010-12-16T16:44:47.317" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;*Disclaimer: this answer is based on a grammatical standard, which has been shown to be a &quot;myth&quot; in a response to a related &lt;a href=&quot;http://example.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot; 'less' vs. 'fewer'&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt;. I posted my answer here before reading the previous discussion on this whole issue of &quot;less&quot; versus &quot;fewer&quot;. I would like to make it clear that my views are not based on some pretentious notions of superior knowledge of grammar. This is simply a standard I have always followed based on my background in English. I leave it to the reader to decide what they want to stick to. Thanks.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, one should use &quot;fewer&quot; for countable quantities. In fact, the usage of &quot;less&quot; for such quantities is grammatically incorrect. Also, I agree that a percentage is really a fraction. As such, it is apparently not a &lt;em&gt;countable&lt;/em&gt; quantity in the grammatical sense. But, there's a catch! The word &quot;percent&quot; means &quot;one part out of every hundred&quot;. Thus, if the percentage turns out to be countable, then one gets a countable quantity. When referring to a group of people, this is usually the case. Therefore, in your example sentence, the absolutely correct choice would be &quot;fewer&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;Fewer than 10.7% of the people were happy.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the subject of the sentence &quot;fewer than 10.7%&quot; is certainly a countable quantity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, for a counter example using cake! A fraction of a cake is not countable, no matter how you look at it. Thus, this example is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;Less than 10.7% of the cake was eaten.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(although 10.7% is a very arbitrary fraction to use for cake!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, the rule* for percentages would be: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use &quot;less&quot; with percentages of uncountable nouns&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use &quot;fewer&quot; with percentages of countable nouns&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-17T18:58:09.470" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T18:58:09.470" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6891" CreationDate="2010-12-16T18:04:58.253" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest a &quot;flyout&quot; menu, which is basically what the Start button has.  You click an item, a menu flies out in some direction from that item.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T18:04:58.253" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6923" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6925" CreationDate="2010-12-16T18:43:45.827" Score="6" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;This seems to happen every time I go to my local bagel shop. Everyone is waiting in a line, and when the cashier is ready to help the next person, he/she asks, &quot;Can I help who's next?&quot; or &quot;May I help who's next?&quot; This seems wrong to me, shouldn't it be &quot;Can I help whomever is next?&quot; or &quot;May I help whomever is next?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2850" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T18:09:50.010" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T18:09:50.010" Title="Can I Help Who's Next" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="6924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6923" CreationDate="2010-12-16T19:13:48.453" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many formalisms that English speakers do not observe in daily or regular conversation. The usage of &lt;em&gt;who/whom&lt;/em&gt; is one of them. In formal writing, one should use &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; strictly in the subjective sense, while reserving &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; for the objective. Here are some examples illustrating this proper usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt; Who is there?&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt; Whom shall we send?&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt; I will give my money to whomsoever I choose.&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt; Whoever cheats me will live to regret it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My dictionary (installed on my Macbook dashboard, probably Oxford American) notes that &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; has largely disappeared from everyday speech, but strongly suggests that the distinction between &lt;em&gt;who/whom&lt;/em&gt; be observed in formal writing. I'll give some common examples where &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; is widely used instead of &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt; Who should I speak to?&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt; Who should I call?&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; I need to see who that is.&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your example  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;Can I help who's next?&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;perfectly illustrates how English is used in real life situations. For all intents and purposes, that question is correct, given the informal context in which it was asked. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T19:13:48.453" />
  <row Id="6925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6923" CreationDate="2010-12-16T19:21:44.810" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I actually would suggest &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; is correct here regardless of the declining existence of &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt;.  I parse the &lt;code&gt;who is next&lt;/code&gt; as its own inner clause that is all collectively the object of &lt;code&gt;Can I help&lt;/code&gt;.  A similar example might be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I know who shot him&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where the thing that is known is the collective clause &lt;code&gt;who shot him&lt;/code&gt; rather than just the &lt;code&gt;who/whom&lt;/code&gt;.  It would be rather odd to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I know whom shot him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T19:21:44.810" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6926" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6927" CreationDate="2010-12-16T19:23:32.953" Score="1" ViewCount="304" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on where you go in the US, some people will refer to a carbonated beverage as &quot;Soda&quot; while others choose to use the term &quot;Pop.&quot; For example, &quot;Can I get you a Soda&quot; vs. &quot;Can I get you a Pop.&quot; I assume they both came from &quot;Soda Pop&quot; and were shortened at some point. My question is if one is considered more correct or if they are both on equal footing. Also, are there certain parts of the country where it is just plain bad English to use one or the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2850" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-17T15:00:47.617" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T13:32:35.870" Title="Which is correct &quot;Soda&quot; or &quot;Pop&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;regionalisms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="6927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6926" CreationDate="2010-12-16T19:31:28.513" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The preferred use of &lt;em&gt;Soda&lt;/em&gt;/ &lt;em&gt;Coke&lt;/em&gt; /&lt;em&gt;Pop&lt;/em&gt;  is a regional difference, but it is not an issue of correctness.  That being said, using the non-preferred variant in a region can cause communications failures.  Being from the south, I initially used &lt;em&gt;Coke&lt;/em&gt; during trips north and occasionally ended up receiving Coca-Cola Classic when I was really look for a listing of available carbonated beverages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for a generic solution that will be understood, I believe &lt;em&gt;soft drinks&lt;/em&gt; is the most common term on menus and the like, at least in the US, although certain non-carbonated beverages that I wouldn't describe as a &lt;em&gt;soda&lt;/em&gt; may also fall under that heading, e.g. lemonade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T19:31:28.513" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6926" CreationDate="2010-12-16T19:38:36.873" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/19/messages/1061.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;phrasefinder&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A soda in the US is called a pop in Canada.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    In parts of the US it's called pop, not soda.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    In some areas soda is also called tonic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the UK, we'd be most likely to refer to it as a fizzy drink.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    Soda we reserve exclusively to refer to unflavoured carbonated water&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T19:38:36.873" />
  <row Id="6929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6926" CreationDate="2010-12-16T20:09:23.093" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's completely regional. You will find, in addition to &quot;soda&quot; and &quot;pop,&quot; such terms as &quot;soft drink,&quot; &quot;coke&quot; and &quot;tonic.&quot; Note that &quot;coke&quot; in this instance is used generically to indicate any fizzy soft drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Do you want a coke?&quot;&#xA;&quot;Sure, thanks.&quot;&#xA;&quot;OK, what kind? We have Sprite, Coke, Diet...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a map that breaks down some of the regional variation: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dula.tv/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/popvssodamap.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pop vs Soda Map&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T20:09:23.093" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6930" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6959" CreationDate="2010-12-16T20:40:25.473" Score="3" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;what is a term to denote some who is obsessed with/ erudite in geography?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T14:39:41.107" Title="what is a term to denote some who is obsessed with/ erudite in geography" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6931" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6933" CreationDate="2010-12-16T20:47:17.347" Score="1" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should the first word after a colon be capitalized?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;For example: This.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;For example: this.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2852" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T21:32:19.797" Title="Capitalization After Colon" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;colon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6875" CreationDate="2010-12-16T20:54:36.767" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the flow and the titles of the immediately previous sections.  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Introduction&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The new cure for the disease[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How it was Discovered&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It all started with some mold on a petri dish[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How it Works&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Magic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Versus:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Introduction&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why is this important?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How does it work?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2852" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T20:54:36.767" />
  <row Id="6933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6931" CreationDate="2010-12-16T21:03:52.690" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This can go either way. If you are starting a complete sentence that represents a summation of what came before, you are certainly entitled to capitalize the sentence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here's an example of such a sentence:&#xA;  There is a sentence after the&#xA;  preceding colon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you are using the colon to offset a list or other material that does not form a complete sentence, it makes no sense to capitalize what follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here are some examples of breakfast&#xA;  foods: eggs, bacon, toast, hash&#xA;  browns, orange juice, coffee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T21:03:52.690" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6931" CreationDate="2010-12-16T21:32:19.797" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is culturally dependent. In English, we would not capitalise after a colon (unless the next word was a proper noun). However, it appears that in American English the rules are different... and different depending on whose style rules you are following. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, you may follow a colon with a capital if it follows with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a proper noun&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;direct speech&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a complete sentence&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;two complete sentences&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colon_(punctuation)#Use_of_capitals&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colon_(punctuation)#Use_of_capitals&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T21:32:19.797" />
  <row Id="6935" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6940" CreationDate="2010-12-16T22:24:29.407" Score="1" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;On the of chance this being possible examples please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2841" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T23:23:51.463" Title="Is it possible to describe something with a question?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6936" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6938" CreationDate="2010-12-16T22:24:53.107" Score="2" ViewCount="213" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in the &quot;on-time&quot; camp when it comes to describing, for example, delivering something by the deadline. Is this the correct usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="199" LastEditorUserId="199" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T02:09:51.260" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T02:09:51.260" Title="&quot;on time&quot; vs. &quot;on-time&quot;" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;hyphen&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="6937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6935" CreationDate="2010-12-16T22:32:52.600" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Isn't it the most incredible/ugly/shiny/repulsive/other-adjective thing you have ever seen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ok, clutching at straws here... :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should say that you could describe something &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt; asking a question, but you would not usually describe something &lt;em&gt;by&lt;/em&gt; asking a question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastEditorUserId="2302" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-16T23:23:51.463" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T23:23:51.463" />
  <row Id="6938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6936" CreationDate="2010-12-16T22:44:49.687" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a situation where you're using the phrase &lt;code&gt;on time&lt;/code&gt; as an adjective (basically a synonym of punctual) preceding the noun, then it's fairly common to use a hyphen.  Examples I was able to quickly pull up were things like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On-time delivery is our goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On-time flight departures were up 10%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On-time performance is an important ingredient&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you're using the phrase &lt;code&gt;on time&lt;/code&gt; as an adverb to describe when the verb is going to happen, the hyphen is not appropriate.  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We will deliver your package on time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your flight will depart on time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, if you're using &lt;code&gt;on time&lt;/code&gt; as a predicate adjective, I would not use the hyphen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your delivery was on time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T22:44:49.687" />
  <row Id="6939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6936" CreationDate="2010-12-16T22:47:43.297" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a multiword phrase is used as an adjective, then you use hyphens to join up the words. Otherwise you don’t.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We provide on-time delivery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hyphen because &lt;em&gt;on-time&lt;/em&gt; is used as an adjective modifying &lt;em&gt;delivery&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We will deliver it on time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No hyphen because it is used as an ordinary idiomatic prepositional phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T22:47:43.297" />
  <row Id="6940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6935" CreationDate="2010-12-16T22:48:42.697" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no reason you can't be descriptive in your phrasing of a question. After all, a question is simply a statement turned into an interrogatory either by one or another convention of English. Isn't it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the most famous examples is, of course, Shakespeare's rhetorical question that begins Sonnet 18:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Shall I compare thee to a summer's&#xA;  day?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More declarative descriptions follow, but that line puts an image in the mind of the reader.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T22:48:42.697" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6936" CreationDate="2010-12-16T22:54:05.093" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Adverbial phrase: &lt;em&gt;on time&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This describes the punctual manner in which an action is undertaken. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;My package was delivered on time.&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;Did he arrive on time?&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;Am I on time?&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Adjective: &lt;em&gt;on-time&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is that this usage is informal. Certainly it is possible to hyphenate words to convert them into adjectives. A good example is the noun &lt;em&gt;cutting edge&lt;/em&gt;, which can be used as an adjective thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;MIT is a hot spot for cutting-edge physics.&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;on time&lt;/em&gt; is special, as it is an adverb, but it is not uncommon to see it as an adjective thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;We give you on-time solutions to your problems.&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that this sort of usage occurs mostly in marketing, especially in the delivery business. As a personal matter of taste, I would substitute &lt;em&gt;on-time&lt;/em&gt; with other established adjectives in formal writing. Examine the following sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt; We offer on-time deliveries.&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt; We offer prompt deliveries.&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt; Our deliveries are on time.&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would prefer the second to the first for formality's sake. The third sentence, however, is perfectly fine and acceptable in all situations. It is important to recognize where &lt;em&gt;on time&lt;/em&gt; is used as an adverb, in order to avoid incorrect hyphenation. This is a mistake I imagine is commonly made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T22:54:05.093" />
  <row Id="6942" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6944" CreationDate="2010-12-16T22:57:14.347" Score="3" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen people go quiet when they hear one of them.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I also remember hearing it bleeped on television.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Are they inappropriate?  To what extent?  What audience could or should not hear it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2734" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T23:47:01.053" Title="Are the expressions &quot;pissed&quot; and &quot;pissed off&quot; inappropriate?" Tags="&lt;speech&gt;&lt;etiquette&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6942" CreationDate="2010-12-16T23:15:51.610" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on your audience. They wouldn't be appropriate for an audience of children (say, Sesame Street), but probably ok for a late night comedy show (say, Adult Swim or stand up). For a work setting, I would avoid using them except when you really need to express anger and vitriol, and even then there are more appropriate ways to say it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And of course, among your friends you should often try to say things that piss them off :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="199" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T23:15:51.610" />
  <row Id="6944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6942" CreationDate="2010-12-16T23:20:10.423" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another culture-dependent question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both are regarded as profane in the UK; they are commonly used, but generally not in polite company. Whether it would get bleeped on television depends on context, and particularly whether they are before or after the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watershed_%28television%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;watershed&quot;&gt;watershed&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I get the impression, and it is only an impression &lt;em&gt;from television&lt;/em&gt;, that both terms are somewhat more acceptable in the US. That is, I've heard them used, particularly &lt;em&gt;pissed&lt;/em&gt;, in surprisingly polite company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: &lt;em&gt;Pissed off&lt;/em&gt; is universally understood, but &lt;em&gt;pissed&lt;/em&gt; has different meanings. In North America, it is synonymous with &lt;em&gt;pissed off&lt;/em&gt;, but in the UK it means 'inebriated'. Also, we are fond of telling people to 'piss off!' which means something different still... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember the end of Monty Python Live at The Hollywood Bowl, after the final encore, 'Piss Off' is used with comedic effect to dismiss the audience. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.intriguing.com/mp/_scripts/livebowl.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Script&lt;/a&gt;]&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/GJZWs.png&quot; alt=&quot;Piss Off!&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastEditorUserId="2302" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-16T23:47:01.053" LastActivityDate="2010-12-16T23:47:01.053" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="6945" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6946" CreationDate="2010-12-17T03:33:03.877" Score="1" ViewCount="248" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that commonly in America, they use &quot;damn&quot; or &quot;damned&quot; to describe things.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Sometimes, more appropriately, it's even &quot;darn&quot; or &quot;darned&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For example, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This damn/damned computer is too slow.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what I can't wrap my head around is when to use &quot;damn&quot; and when to use &quot;damned&quot;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Or is only one of them correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2734" LastEditorUserId="2007" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-17T03:37:19.037" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T19:46:32.767" Title="Which one is it? &quot;Damn&quot; or &quot;damned&quot;?" Tags="&lt;speech&gt;&lt;offensive&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6945" CreationDate="2010-12-17T03:40:28.610" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When used as adjectives, &lt;em&gt;damn&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;damned&lt;/em&gt; are synonymous.  I would suggest that &lt;em&gt;damn&lt;/em&gt; is more common, but that's based solely on anecdotal evidence and the fact that it's slightly easier/faster to say which is key in situations where it's appropriate :P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T03:40:28.610" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6945" CreationDate="2010-12-17T04:08:11.140" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Dusty in the main, but &lt;em&gt;damned&lt;/em&gt; can be said for emphasis and seems more deliberate and harsher than &lt;em&gt;damn&lt;/em&gt;. When John D. Rockefeller said &quot;the public be damned&quot; it had an especially contemptuous feel to it. When the Duke of Wellington, threatened with publication of embarrassing information about himself, told the would-be blackmailer &quot;Publish and be damned,&quot; it had a defiant, lordly ring to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can say &lt;em&gt;damn&lt;/em&gt; in a friendly way, but &lt;em&gt;damned&lt;/em&gt; goes that extra mile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T04:08:11.140" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6948" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6950" CreationDate="2010-12-17T04:58:11.523" Score="3" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;From one of the survey result (IT related), I came across the following line:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Agile Development and&#xA;  Service-Oriented-Architectures (SOA)&#xA;  represent the “new normal.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does &quot;new normal&quot; mean here? Is it an idiom?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2663" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T10:16:47.897" Title="What does &quot;new normal&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="6949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6948" CreationDate="2010-12-17T05:11:57.997" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe in that context it means that AD and SOA are now ubiquitous and essential that they became the normal method of software development.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The way it's worded suggests that the word &lt;em&gt;normal&lt;/em&gt; should be changed to &lt;em&gt;AD&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;SOA&lt;/em&gt;, which is an exaggeration of how essential they are.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet, being a software developer myself, I think, in my opinion, the fact is a bit too exaggerated =)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2734" LastEditorUserId="2734" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-17T05:22:27.483" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T05:22:27.483" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6948" CreationDate="2010-12-17T05:24:42.120" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ah, it's an instantiation of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://thediagram.com/6_3/leisurearts.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;X is the new Y&quot;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowclone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;snowclone&lt;/a&gt; (also see &lt;a href=&quot;http://rooreynolds.com/2007/12/30/x-is-the-new-y-for-2007/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://snowclones.org/2007/07/01/x-is-the-new-y/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;), like &quot;pink is the new red&quot; or &quot;ugly is the new cute&quot; or &quot;Google is the new Microsoft&quot;. It means (to claim) that AD&amp;amp;SOA, or whatever they represent, are now so common that they're normal now, and constitute the new (normal) state of the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T05:24:42.120" />
  <row Id="6951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-12-17T07:04:57.740" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never forgotten the pronunciation of 'fatigue' since mispronouncing it at an early age. I said 'fat-ig-you' rather than the correct 'fat-ee-g' (with a hard g).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2858" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T07:04:57.740" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-17T07:04:57.740" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6948" CreationDate="2010-12-17T08:35:28.813" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;New normal means that something has established as new 'standard' or usual way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Agile Development and&#xA;  Service-Oriented-Architectures (SOA)&#xA;  represent the “new &lt;strong&gt;standard&lt;/strong&gt;.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=New%20normal&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Urban dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastEditorUserId="519" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-17T10:16:47.897" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T10:16:47.897" />
  <row Id="6953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6724" CreationDate="2010-12-17T08:37:14.760" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;this sentence may help to modify you answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;if you want, you can use 'THEN'&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;:) :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2859" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T08:37:14.760" />
  <row Id="6954" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-17T09:11:56.803" Score="1" ViewCount="279" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5831/why-did-english-become-a-universal-language-and-when&quot;&gt;Why did English become a universal language and when?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have one very simple but tedious question. Why is the whole world including myself now gaga after speaking &lt;em&gt;English&lt;/em&gt;? Why we are choosing only English apart from so many other languages?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2859" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-18T07:18:38.303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T07:18:38.303" ClosedDate="2010-12-17T14:08:53.100" Title="Why is the whole world speaking English?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6954" CreationDate="2010-12-17T12:39:57.743" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Historically the British have conquered many colonies, and therefore English has spread to these colonies. These colonies include much of North America, some parts of South America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and India.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, in these modern times, there is a need for a universal language, because of all the new communication technology. Having the internet be mostly in English means that people can communicate despite what would have been linguistic barriers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English is just evolving on and on because of it being the universal language, and people choose to learn it because it's relatively easy to learn, and it's understood by a high percentage of the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2865" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T12:39:57.743" />
  <row Id="6956" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-17T13:18:50.160" Score="4" ViewCount="414" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an ESL teacher looking for display board ideas. A lot of my students say things that just can't be said in English. So far I have noticed the following sometimes written or said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;did gone &#xA;is do&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other verb forms are semantically incorrect? I'm not looking for repeats of the same mistake, though, just some common ones using common verbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2867" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:03:38.667" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:03:38.667" Title="What are the most common tense mistakes made in English?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16" CreationDate="2010-12-17T13:27:52.540" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to this depends on whether you subscribe to the descriptive or prescriptive school of thought when it comes to grammar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think that grammar has to obey some sort of &quot;universal&quot; laws of logic or semantics then one might claim that ending sentences with prepositions goes against some one of these rules. Usually, evidence of the existence of this universal law depends on other romance languages, especially Latin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think that grammar and language in general depends on how it is used, then you'll probably point out that ending sentences with prepositions is perfectly acceptable in informal situations, but is less acceptable in very formal pieces of writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2867" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T13:27:52.540" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6956" CreationDate="2010-12-17T14:32:05.093" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest you look to the constructions of the native language(s) of your students. It's there that you're likely to find parallels to the errors they'll make in English construction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's early in the day yet and I haven't had my coffee, so I can't think of too many examples. But if your students were native Russian speakers, for example, they might have a hard time remembering to put direct articles (the) in their sentences, as that's not typically in Russian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T14:32:05.093" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6930" CreationDate="2010-12-17T14:39:41.107" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Geographer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Geographer on Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;: A geographer is a scientist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's physical environment and human habitat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest that, while this doesn't exactly apply to obsessives, it certainly would apply to the erudite and those who are generally very interested in geography.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T14:39:41.107" />
  <row Id="6960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6956" CreationDate="2010-12-17T15:53:47.087" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One common tense I error I have noticed has to do with the verb &lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt;. Specifically, students confuse the participles. Thus, one sees, for instance, &quot;was been&quot; or &quot;has being&quot;. I have also seen this: &quot;I been...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the tense errors made by non-native speakers occur frequently with the use of irregular verbs: &lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;to have&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;to go&lt;/em&gt;, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the most common errors I have encountered is the confusion in constructing the perfect conditional tense of the verb &lt;em&gt;to go&lt;/em&gt;. For instance, one might hear &quot;I would have went...&quot; instead of &quot;I would have gone...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T15:53:47.087" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6961" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-17T16:45:02.237" Score="2" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to accurately describe a person who acts in one way, and does another but knowingly and openly accepts that his actions also include him in the same group he criticizes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This differs from a Hypocrite who condemns those who perform an action, but justifies him own actions by unrelated means and does not accept he's apart of that group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does such a word exist or is there a better way of describing such a person?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypocrite?show=0&amp;amp;t=1292603911&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; Defines (2): A person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T21:05:29.417" Title="Alternatives to &quot;Hypocrite&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;alternative&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6961" CreationDate="2010-12-17T16:52:07.817" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The idiom that describes this behavior is: &quot;Do as I say and not as I do.&quot;  However, it's usually said by the person exhibiting the contradictory behavior and not those categorizing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T16:52:07.817" />
  <row Id="6963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6961" CreationDate="2010-12-17T17:12:28.883" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds like a person who is making a &lt;em&gt;rationalization&lt;/em&gt;. The noun form would be &lt;em&gt;rationalizer&lt;/em&gt; (one who rationalizes), but I can't think of any times I've seen or heard that word used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T17:12:28.883" />
  <row Id="6964" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6988" CreationDate="2010-12-17T17:14:20.737" Score="1" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In part of my spare time, I work on&#xA;  fun projects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure as to whether there should be a comma. If it is there, then this obeys some rules, for example on &lt;em&gt;adverbial participle&lt;/em&gt; (is that the correct term?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is not correct to put a comma here, then maybe the following sentence would be correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I have spare time, I work on fun projects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2801" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T18:25:32.727" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T18:25:32.727" Title="Is that an adverbial participle? Should there be a comma?" Tags="&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;comma&gt;&lt;participle&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="6965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6964" CreationDate="2010-12-17T17:34:43.083" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The comma is superfluous in your first example. In  your second example it is not exactly superfluous, but not exactly required either. If the clauses were longer and more complicated you might get into situations where a comma would help clarify meaning, but they do nothing here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T17:34:43.083" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6961" CreationDate="2010-12-17T17:42:43.833" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know of someone who said in such a situation 'I am a prophet, not a saint.' Here 'prophet' refers to the part where he criticizes others and 'not a saint' refers to that where he does the same bad thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T17:42:43.833" />
  <row Id="6967" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7014" CreationDate="2010-12-17T17:44:53.223" Score="2" ViewCount="235" Body="&lt;p&gt;The expression &quot;off his rocker&quot; is used to mean someone is mad (as in, bonkers mad, not angry mad). Does anyone know what a rocker is, and how being off one came to mean this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T16:03:15.107" Title="Why &quot;off his rocker&quot;?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6967" CreationDate="2010-12-17T17:51:39.217" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=rocker&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;rocker&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;a rocking chair,&quot; 1852, Amer.Eng., from rock (v.); [...] Slang &lt;em&gt;off (one's) rocker&lt;/em&gt; &quot;crazy&quot; first recorded 1897. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it's someone who's off his rocking chair. The Phrase Finder also has a thread with people &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/12/messages/681.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;speculating&lt;/a&gt; about a different origin, but the conclusion is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The phrase relates to rocking chairs according to &quot;The Dictionary of Cliches&quot; by James Rogers (Ballantine Books, New York, 1985).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-17T18:07:04.617" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T18:07:04.617" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6969" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-17T18:33:22.823" Score="2" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there even a difference between the two?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2874" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-17T18:42:51.933" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T03:14:57.447" Title="&quot;The purpose of...&quot; versus &quot;the purpose for...&quot; — which one is proper?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="6970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5390" CreationDate="2010-12-17T18:47:30.730" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found out Google made a N-gram in its labs, it is really useful for such questions. The gap between the two spellings was important during WWII, then was really narrow, and finally it has been widening since the 1980s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=grey%2Cgray&amp;amp;year_start=1800&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=5&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American English&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/0IiUV.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=grey%2Cgray&amp;amp;year_start=1800&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=6&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British English&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/qWoBU.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=grey%2Cgray&amp;amp;year_start=1800&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;English (cumulative)&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/zk5Cb.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1662" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T18:47:30.730" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="6971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6969" CreationDate="2010-12-17T19:13:24.847" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me, it feels right to use &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; when *purpose&quot; is the subject of a sentence or a clause: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The purpose of a hack saw is to cut&#xA;  through small pieces of metal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, also for me, it feels right to use &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; when &lt;em&gt;purpose&lt;/em&gt; is the object of the sentence or clause&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is an odd-looking tool, but I'm&#xA;  sure we can find a purpose for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: On the other hand, it just occurred to me that it would also be fine to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is an odd-looking tool we found&#xA;  at the dig site. I wonder if we'll&#xA;  ever figure out the purpose of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-17T19:22:06.090" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T19:22:06.090" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6945" CreationDate="2010-12-17T19:46:32.767" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Damn is used now in place of Damned more or less synonymously, with the exception (as Robusto pointed out) that if something &quot;is damned&quot; or &quot;be damned&quot; then it calls to mind its more literal meaning of being consigned to Hell. This meaning is where the profanity derives from. Modern usage &quot;This damned computer!&quot; doesn't really carry that meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Darn and Darned are similar. &lt;a href=&quot;http://etymonline.com/?term=darn&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymology Online says&lt;/a&gt; that this word is a tame curse word used instead of Damn in New England when cursing was punishable by law. I feel that over time the word Damn has become less and less offensive, however I'd still rather my children not say it and use Darn instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T19:46:32.767" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6969" CreationDate="2010-12-17T20:31:10.427" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My thought is that &quot;purpose of&quot; refers to an intended function of an item. &quot;Purpose for&quot; refers to how an item will be used, regardless of that use's relation to the item's intended function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hmm. I'm not describing that well. How about this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;purpose of&quot; a shoe is protecting your feet. A possible &quot;purpose for&quot; a shoe is to smash bugs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &quot;purpose of&quot; describes a property or capacity of a shoe, where &quot;purpose for&quot; describes what might be done with a shoe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T20:31:10.427" />
  <row Id="6975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6956" CreationDate="2010-12-17T22:08:50.630" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As bikeboy389 said, you can learn a lot by looking at students' native languages. French and Italian students will sometimes say &quot;I am born in...&quot; when they mean &quot;I was born in...&quot; (&quot;je suis ne a...&quot;, &quot;sono nato a...&quot;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then there are false friends: actual is often misunderstood as meaning &quot;current&quot; and eventual as meaning &quot;possible&quot; by speakers of many European languages; German students will often confuse &quot;when&quot; and &quot;if&quot; (&quot;wann&quot; and &quot;wenn&quot; in German).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastEditorUserId="1146" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-18T18:15:36.777" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T18:15:36.777" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6976" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6979" CreationDate="2010-12-17T22:48:07.957" Score="6" ViewCount="368" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference in meaning or usage when pronouncing &quot;blessed&quot; with two syllables rather than one syllable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two: &lt;strong&gt;bles&lt;/strong&gt;-id &lt;code&gt;[blɛsəd]&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One: blest &lt;code&gt;[blɛst]&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-18T15:39:43.127" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T21:20:48.720" Title="Pronunciation of &quot;Blessed&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="6977" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6982" CreationDate="2010-12-17T23:16:27.593" Score="2" ViewCount="221" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there an alternative idiom with the same meaning as &quot;skin in the game&quot;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="831" LastEditorUserId="831" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-18T01:43:16.123" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T20:54:00.510" Title="Alternative to &quot;skin in the game&quot;" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6976" CreationDate="2010-12-17T23:19:32.900" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no real difference in meaning so far as I know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pronouncing the second syllable sounds archaic, I've only heard it used in recitations of old poetry or in clichés presumably derived from old literature of that sort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T23:19:32.900" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6976" CreationDate="2010-12-17T23:22:39.650" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When we say 'bles-id', we are using it as an adjective meaning 'holy', as in 'blessed is the name of the Lord'. When we say 'blest', we are using it as the past tense of the verb 'bless', as in 'the priest blessed them'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2010-12-17T23:22:39.650" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6977" CreationDate="2010-12-18T00:21:24.493" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Put your money where your mouth is&quot;, based on the skin in the game's definition at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answers.com/topic/skin-in-the-game&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;answers.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2867" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T00:21:24.493" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6969" CreationDate="2010-12-18T00:30:18.387" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you use &quot;purpose of&quot;, the reader is expecting an abstract rationale.  When you use &quot;purpose for&quot;, the reader is expecting a more concrete example. Compare:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;The purpose of this website is to educate.&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The abstract idea is &quot;to educate&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;The purpose for this website is to get people talking about English.&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Concrete: &quot;get people talking&quot;. Saying &quot;purpose of this website is to get people talking&quot; in the last example wouldn't sound quite right, although it would still be grammatically correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2867" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T00:30:18.387" />
  <row Id="6982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6977" CreationDate="2010-12-18T03:14:23.237" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could also say &quot;dog in the fight&quot; as in &quot;He doesn't have a dog in this fight.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T03:14:23.237" />
  <row Id="6983" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-18T03:35:25.867" Score="3" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the easiest way to improve vocabulary in very short time &lt;em&gt;online&lt;/em&gt;? I am far interested to read dictionary. Please help me. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2859" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-18T07:15:41.317" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T20:16:46.177" ClosedDate="2011-01-25T20:45:57.150" Title="how to improve vocabulary" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;dictionaries&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6983" CreationDate="2010-12-18T03:41:55.037" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get one of those SAT or GRE vocab books and read through it. Write down the words you don't know on one side of an index card and the meaning on the back. Use them as flash cards. If you're good at programming, write a program to test yourself on those words instead of wasting the paper. When you know the meaning of the word five times in a row, you pretty much have it memorized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the next thing to do is put those words aside and come back in a week or so  and test yourself again. This time you have to use the words in a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's work, but you said you wanted to improve your vocabulary in a very short time, so you'll have to expect to put in some work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-18T03:52:46.573" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T03:52:46.573" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="6985" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6986" CreationDate="2010-12-18T05:20:10.260" Score="0" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I fill any form for my son this question &quot;relationship with child&quot; confuses me. Should the answer be &quot;son&quot; or &quot;father&quot;. To me ideal answer is always &quot;father-son&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A little explanation is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2879" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T06:59:16.367" Title="Filling forms | Relationship with" Tags="&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="6986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6985" CreationDate="2010-12-18T05:49:48.347" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Think of the question being asked as &quot;relationship with son&quot;—does that help to clarify it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your relationship with your son is &quot;father.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His relationship with you is &quot;son.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're asking for the first, not the second.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="513" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T05:49:48.347" />
  <row Id="6987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6985" CreationDate="2010-12-18T06:39:54.027" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Forgive me for being perhaps &lt;em&gt;nitpicky&lt;/em&gt; here, but my guess is that those forms you fill for your son really mean &quot;relationship &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; child&quot; not &quot;relationship &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; child&quot;. Your relationship to the child would refer &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; how you were related to him/her, e.g. guardian, father, mother, uncle, etc, while your relationship &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; the child would indicate how well you get along. This distinction is debatable, though, and it is obviously inconsequential in a form such as those you fill, where the intended meaning is clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being out the way, the correct response, assuming you are the father, should be simply &quot;father&quot;, since the &lt;em&gt;question&lt;/em&gt; is directed at the person filling the form. On the other hand, if the &lt;em&gt;question&lt;/em&gt; began thus: &quot;Child's relationship to person filling the form&quot;, or something along those lines, then the correct response in your case would be &quot;son&quot;. While &quot;father-son&quot; may take care of any perceived ambiguities in the prompt, it is information overkill in this context and would only be most appropriate in response to a prompt such as the following: &quot;Relationship between [your son's name] and person filling the form&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you are worried because it says &quot;child&quot;, I am sure another section of the form indicates your son's gender. Creators of such forms clearly have to use &quot;child&quot;, since the forms will be used for or by both sexes, except in the case of a single-sex institution. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-18T06:59:16.367" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T06:59:16.367" />
  <row Id="6988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6964" CreationDate="2010-12-18T07:48:47.977" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is absolutely correct to have the commas where you placed them. I explain below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;In part of my spare time, I work on fun projects.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In part of my spare time&quot; is an adverbial &lt;em&gt;phrase&lt;/em&gt; and in formal contexts, I would definitely retain the comma, as it precedes the subject of the sentence. A comma should always be used in this way, but it is sometimes acceptable to omit it when the adverbial is short enough that leaving out the comma will not hamper the reader's grasp of the intended meaning. Thus, a sentence such as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;   &lt;pre&gt;Occasionally I work on fun projects&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is acceptable in informal contexts. However, one is more likely to find a comma inserted in formal situations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;   &lt;pre&gt;Occasionally, I work on fun projects&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, to the second sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA; &lt;blockquote&gt;When I have spare time, I work on fun projects.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;When I have spare time&quot; is a dependent clause, or more specifically, an adverbial clause. As it precedes the independent clause, it should be followed by a comma. Again, it is possible in some contexts to leave out the comma when the preceding independent or adverbial clause is short enough that leaving it out would not obscure the intended meaning, but contexts such as these are hard to find. In publications like novels or magazines, one might readily find a construction such as this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA; &lt;pre&gt;When he comes we are going to have a ball &lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This reads easily without a comma. Consider this, though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA; &lt;pre&gt;When the sky is darkened on many a stormy night, I curl up beside my lamp &#xA;and read my son to sleep&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be difficult to argue for the omission of a comma in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The comma also indicates a pause in communication. The writer can thus choose to insert it or leave it out to create the desired effect. You could bear this in mind while deciding on your commas. Include them where you feel a pause makes sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-18T16:20:15.747" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T16:20:15.747" />
  <row Id="6989" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6994" CreationDate="2010-12-18T08:19:22.023" Score="11" ViewCount="702" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;till&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;until&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When to use &lt;em&gt;till&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;until&lt;/em&gt;? Please explain with examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2881" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-18T14:19:52.863" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T07:03:26.657" Title="What is the difference between &quot;till&quot; and &quot;until&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="6990" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6996" CreationDate="2010-12-18T09:43:06.963" Score="4" ViewCount="537" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am writing a small software to learn Non English Kids, English Alphabets from A to Z. Is there any list of simple words which begin by English Alphabets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example Apple for &quot;A&quot;, Black or Blue or Blackboard for &quot;B&quot;, Zebra for &quot;Z&quot;, Snake for &quot;S&quot;, etc?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any book for learning English alphabets to Non-English Kids so I can borrow a list of words for every Alphabet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found this list, But some words seem strange and unfamiliar to kindergarten kids. Do you have a better recommendation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A - Apple&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;B - Ball&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;C - Cat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;D - Dog&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;E - Egg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;F - Fan&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;G - Goat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;H - Hand&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I - Indian&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;J - Jam&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;K - King&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L - Lamp&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;M - Man&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;N - Nurse&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;O - Owl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;P - Pizza&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Q - Queen&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;R - Rail&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;S - Sun&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;T - Tiger&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;U - Umbrella&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;V - Vase&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;W - Woman&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;X - Box&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Y - Yard&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Z - Zoo&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2371" LastEditorUserId="2371" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-18T10:20:47.977" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T12:55:32.990" Title="List of Simple Word From English Alphabets A-Z for Children Book Illustration" Tags="&lt;alphabet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="6991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1999" CreationDate="2010-12-18T12:13:34.447" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about the phrase 'in charge of'? In British English, if X is in charge of Y, it means that Y is in the care of X. In US English, if X is in charge of Y, then X is in the care of Y.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2819" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T12:13:34.447" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-18T12:13:34.447" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="6992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6990" CreationDate="2010-12-18T12:21:33.140" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;X is for Box? Try X is for X-ray or X is for Xylophone instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also not keen on I is for Indian. How about I is for Ice Cream?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Y is for Yacht, Yak or Yo-yo?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as it's nearly Christmas, R is for Reindeer or Robin!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2819" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T12:21:33.140" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="6993" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7001" CreationDate="2010-12-18T13:52:52.783" Score="10" ViewCount="450" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a native speaker. On a previous question of mine, I thanked for an answer by saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So the phrase is not an idiom, &lt;strong&gt;since&lt;/strong&gt; it is applied in its literal sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I consciously chose &lt;em&gt;since&lt;/em&gt; over &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt;, because — well, I like that usage of &lt;em&gt;since&lt;/em&gt;, even though I know that some (native speakers) don't like it. Nonetheless, that choice got me thinking for a while, and it occurred to me that I even could have used more alternatives, namely &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt;, without changing the meaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, on a general note, here are the alternatives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Statement A (is true), &lt;strong&gt;because&lt;/strong&gt; statement B (is true).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Statement A (is true), &lt;strong&gt;since&lt;/strong&gt; statement B (is true).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Statement A (is true), &lt;strong&gt;as&lt;/strong&gt; statement B (is true).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Statement A (is true), &lt;strong&gt;for&lt;/strong&gt; statement B (is true).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these completely interchangeable? Or interchangeable in certain situations? Or can you point out any (not-so-)subtle differences between any of them? Are there even more synonyms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you very much in advance. (Feel free to edit my wording. Again, I am not a native speaker.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2092" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-18T14:16:49.137" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T05:06:34.147" Title="&quot;because&quot; vs &quot;since&quot; vs &quot;for&quot; vs &quot;as&quot; vs...?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="8" />
  <row Id="6994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6989" CreationDate="2010-12-18T13:58:50.393" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;@RegDwight is correct in every particular. &lt;em&gt;Till&lt;/em&gt; is indeed older and the two can be used pretty much interchangeably. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is really only one usage I can think of where you would not use &lt;em&gt;till&lt;/em&gt;: in setting up a negative conditional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Until my landlord fixes the plumbing,&#xA;  I am not going to pay the rent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am not going to pay the rent until&#xA;  my landlord fixes the plumbing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here it would sound strange to use &lt;em&gt;till&lt;/em&gt;, and I'm not really sure why. Perhaps it is the negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One more thing. Sometimes you will see people spell &lt;em&gt;till&lt;/em&gt; as a contraction of &lt;em&gt;until&lt;/em&gt;: that is, as &lt;em&gt;'til&lt;/em&gt;. This is simply wrong, and not seen outside of old poetry and modern greeting cards aiming for a &quot;poetic&quot; tone. Anywhere you see &lt;em&gt;'til&lt;/em&gt; being used, &lt;em&gt;till&lt;/em&gt; would be the correct word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T13:58:50.393" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="6995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6989" CreationDate="2010-12-18T15:09:41.687" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's been &lt;a href=&quot;http://contentcaramel.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/till-and-until-are-different/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;suggested&lt;/a&gt; that there's a difference in aspect: &lt;em&gt;till&lt;/em&gt; is used with continuous actions, while &lt;em&gt;until&lt;/em&gt; is used for perfective.  However, this is not supported by any references or general usage, and seems to be an independent analysis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only difference is that &lt;em&gt;until&lt;/em&gt; has no homophones. I'd suggest using &lt;em&gt;until&lt;/em&gt; whenever there's a risk of confusion or difficulty in pronunciation, and only use &lt;em&gt;till&lt;/em&gt; where it's suitable for the flow.  &lt;em&gt;Till&lt;/em&gt;, being older and ambiguous is often used poetically (&quot;till death do us part&quot;) which affects the tone of the sentence. I therefore generally avoid &lt;em&gt;till&lt;/em&gt; in technical writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally - as has already been mentioned - &lt;em&gt;'til&lt;/em&gt; is a hypercorrection, and is best avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2895" LastEditorUserId="2895" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-18T15:33:28.757" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T15:33:28.757" />
  <row Id="6996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6990" CreationDate="2010-12-18T15:24:18.200" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a community-edited answer that anyone with more than 100 rep points can improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The sub-list for each letter is sorted alphabetically, so as to avoid any bias. Judge for yourself which word suits your purposes best.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ant&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/apple&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Apple&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;B — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bag&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bag&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ball&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ball&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/banana&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Banana&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bear&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bear&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bee&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bee&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/berry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Berry&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/book&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Book&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bottle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bottle&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikrionary.org/wiki/boy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Boy&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bus&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;C — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/car&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Car&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cat&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cellphone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cellphone&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikrionary.org/wiki/child&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Child&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/circle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Circle&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coffee&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Coffee&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/computer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Computer&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cup&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cup&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;D — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/deer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Deer&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dog&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikrionary.org/wiki/door&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Door&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dress&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dress&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;E — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ear&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ear&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/egg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Egg&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/elephant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Elephant&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/elk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Elk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;F — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fan&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fire&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fire&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/flower&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Flower&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/foot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Foot&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fountain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fountain&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/frog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Frog&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fruit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fruit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;G — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gate&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikrionary.org/wiki/girl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Girl&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/glass&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Glass&lt;/a&gt;(es), &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/goat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Goat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;H — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hand&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hand&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/head&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Head&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hill&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hill&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/honey&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Honey&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/house&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;House&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ice&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ice&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Indian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Indian&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ink&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ink&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;J — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jam&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jam&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jar&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/juice&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Juice&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;K — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/king&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;King&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/koala&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Koala&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lamb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lamb&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lamp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lamp&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/leaf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Leaf&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lip&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lip&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;M — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/maize&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Maize&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/man&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Man&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mill&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mill&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/moon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Moon&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/moose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Moose&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mountain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mountain&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mouse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mouse&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mouth&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mouth&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;N — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/night&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Night&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nurse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nurse&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;O — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/one&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;One&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/orange&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Orange&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ostrich&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ostrich&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/owl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Owl&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;P — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pie&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pizza&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pizza&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/plant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Plant&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/potato&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Potato&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Q — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/queen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Queen&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quilt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Quilt&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;R — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/raccoon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Raccoon&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/railway&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Railway&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rain&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/road&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Road&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rope&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rope&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;S — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/skunk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Skunk&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/snake&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Snake&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/snow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Snow&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/smoke&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Smoke&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/strawberry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strawberry&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sun&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;T — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tea&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tea&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/telephone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Telephone&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tiger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tiger&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tree&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tree&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/two&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Two&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;U — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/umbrella&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Umbrella&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unicorn&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Unicorn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;V — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/van&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Van&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vase&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Vase&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;W — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/water&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Water&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/window&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Window&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/witch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Witch&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/woman&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Woman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;X — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/xylophone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Xylophone&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/X-mas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;X-mas&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/X-ray&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;X-ray&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Y — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yard&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yacht&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yard&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yard&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Z — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zebra&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Zebra&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zoo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Zoo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T12:55:32.990" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T12:55:32.990" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-18T15:24:18.200" CommentCount="14" />
  <row Id="6997" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-18T16:01:05.077" Score="1" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I can tell the two have different etymologies and have both possible pronunciations, &lt;em&gt;CLUH-J&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;CLOO-J&lt;/em&gt; but seem to be used interchangeably. I had not idea &lt;em&gt;CLOO-J&lt;/em&gt; even existed until my school business librarian used it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2906" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T09:05:24.143" Title="Difference between 'kludge' and 'kluge'?" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="6998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="256" CreationDate="2010-12-18T16:01:58.150" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Per&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;according to&lt;/em&gt;, so you can in fact say &quot;per our agreement, you must...&quot;.  The &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt; in your first sentence is pleonastic, and sounds affected: I'd avoid it.  The very common &quot;as per usual&quot; is a humorous prolix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether to use &lt;em&gt;per&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;according to&lt;/em&gt; is the same as whether to use any archaic form in preference to common usage.  In some areas (e.g. law) it's more common to see &lt;em&gt;per&lt;/em&gt;, so you could use it to set the tone as legalese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2895" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T16:01:58.150" />
  <row Id="6999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6997" CreationDate="2010-12-18T16:13:27.203" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've had people tell me I'm wrong for saying kludge, that kluge is the right pronunciation.  I'm not sure I like that answer though, so hopefully someone can prove me wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2908" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T16:13:27.203" />
  <row Id="7000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6977" CreationDate="2010-12-18T16:22:28.693" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;He doesn't have a horse in the race?  I think I've heard that somewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2908" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T16:22:28.693" />
  <row Id="7001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6993" CreationDate="2010-12-18T16:32:48.053" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's my opinion of your alternatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;because&quot; is your best choice for clear, correct, unambiguous communication, especially if you want to be understood easily by other non-native speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;since&quot; is acceptable, although it makes your statement ambiguous; the second meaning would be that statement A became true at the time that statement B became true. Example: &quot;I study more often since I enrolled in class&quot; conveys that when you enrolled in class, then you began studying more often. Rule of thumb: prefer &quot;since&quot; when your intent is to convey &quot;from the time that&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;as&quot; is somewhat acceptable, but in your particular statement structure &quot;as&quot; has more useful meanings of &quot;abstractly analogous&quot; or &quot;synchronously&quot;.  Example: &quot;I like apples as you like oranges&quot; conveys that my liking is similar to your liking, i.e. equivalently strong/weak/notable/etc. Example: &quot;I make dinner as you set the table&quot; conveys that we do these tasks at the same time in the same place. Rule of thumb: prefer &quot;as&quot; when your intent is to convey &quot;sameness&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;for&quot; can be acceptable, although I would never expect to hear it in normal conversation. It would come across as overly-academic, or possibly epic or religious. Example: &quot;We eat well tonight, for tomorrow we go to war.&quot; Rule of thumb: prefer &quot;for&quot; when you want to be poetic and inspirational.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2911" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T16:32:48.053" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6997" CreationDate="2010-12-18T16:37:32.830" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always use the CLOOJ pronunciation, because that is how I've always heard it. In fact, I've never heard it the other way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, I always spell it &lt;em&gt;kludge&lt;/em&gt;, possibly because &lt;em&gt;kluge&lt;/em&gt; always brings to mind the German word meaning &quot;clever&quot; and is pronounced &quot;KLOO-GEH&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T16:37:32.830" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7003" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7005" CreationDate="2010-12-18T17:05:16.030" Score="4" ViewCount="222" Body="&lt;p&gt;A colleague asked to check in with me every couple of weeks. I would like to respond that it would be wonderful if they checked in ever so often. But, I don't believe that sounds correct. How should I phrase it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2916" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T17:44:30.047" Title="What is the correct usage? &quot;Ever so often&quot; or &quot;Every so often&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="7004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7003" CreationDate="2010-12-18T17:12:54.433" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Every so often&quot; is the correct phrasing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2918" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T17:12:54.433" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7003" CreationDate="2010-12-18T17:17:01.190" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ever so&lt;/em&gt; is a rather archaic way of indicating degree, as in &quot;I like picnics &lt;em&gt;ever so&lt;/em&gt; much!&quot; It is something you might hear Dorothy say to the Scarecrow in &lt;em&gt;The Wizard of Oz&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you hear it used to mean &lt;em&gt;every so&lt;/em&gt;, the speaker is probably dropping the &lt;em&gt;-y&lt;/em&gt; from the end of &lt;em&gt;every&lt;/em&gt;. What you're hearing is probably:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It'd be wonderful if they checked in&#xA;  ever' so often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard the &lt;em&gt;-y&lt;/em&gt; elided in this way in the southern and western regions of the U.S.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T17:17:01.190" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6976" CreationDate="2010-12-18T17:17:21.597" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One syllable is the present passive participle of &lt;em&gt;to bless&lt;/em&gt;. Two syllables is a pure adjective. The adjective connotes an innate property of blessedness, but the passive participle indicates that it is a result of external action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One syllable, &quot;Blessed by the sermon on Sunday, the congregation shouted many amens.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two syllables, &quot;The preacher delivered a blessed message on Sunday.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2917" LastEditorUserId="2917" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-18T21:20:48.720" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T21:20:48.720" />
  <row Id="7007" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-18T17:23:27.710" Score="0" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the rules for building names? In particular, does the word &quot;building&quot; need to be capitalized when a part of a building's name? How about article &quot;the&quot; - what are the rules for using it as a part of the name, and does it get capitalized in the middle of the sentence? For instance: is it &quot;the American Radiator building&quot; or &quot;The American Radiator Building&quot; or &quot;American Radiator building&quot;? How about when the address is the name of the building, like 7 World Trade Center? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2921" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T18:33:40.287" Title="What are the rules of capitalization and article usage with building names?" Tags="&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7003" CreationDate="2010-12-18T17:44:30.047" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h3&gt;&lt;em&gt;ever so often&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase &lt;em&gt;ever so&lt;/em&gt; simply means &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt;. When used with &lt;em&gt;often&lt;/em&gt;, it emphasizes the frequency slightly more than &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; does. Compare:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&quot;He checked in very often.&quot;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&quot;He checked in ever so often.&quot;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second example, the speaker subtly indicates his/her slight irritation or delight in the fact that &quot;he&quot; visited/called/stopped by to see the speaker so frequently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;&lt;em&gt;every so often&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This phrase means &lt;em&gt;occasionally&lt;/em&gt;. It can be easily substituted with &lt;em&gt;from time to time&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;sometimes&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;every now and then&lt;/em&gt;. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;He takes a trip to London every so often.&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;I wish I could see him every day, not just every so often.&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Every so often&lt;/em&gt; is more commonly used, I think, though I have this hunch that the meaning is sometimes confused with &lt;em&gt;very often&lt;/em&gt;, which is just the opposite. Your sentence probably did not sound correct to your ears because one rarely hears &lt;em&gt;ever so often&lt;/em&gt; these days, save in literary and poetic contexts. To analyze your response a bit further:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are happy with the frequency of a fortnightly check-in, then I think the proper response should be:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;  &lt;pre&gt;It would be wonderful if you checked in every so often.&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If, perhaps, you would prefer a more regular check-in (say, every couple days, for instance), then you might respond thus:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;  &lt;pre&gt;That's great, but it would be wonderful if you checked in ever so often.&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, since your chief aim is to communicate, I would suggest you avoid ambiguity. Hence, I would recommend using &lt;em&gt;every so often&lt;/em&gt; or, better, another adverb that clearly expresses your thoughts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NB: I confirmed my definitions with the New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd Edition (installed on my mac) and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/every_2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T17:44:30.047" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6997" CreationDate="2010-12-18T18:05:32.277" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've also seen and heard both.  In my experience, &lt;i&gt;kludge&lt;/i&gt; is more common these days; &lt;i&gt;kluge&lt;/i&gt; seems to be used by older programmers/engineers, or those who believe that it's more correct &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; it's apparently older.  To me, the &lt;i&gt;kludge&lt;/i&gt; spelling and &quot;fudgy&quot; pronunciation seem more American.  That is, I can see it looking and sounding more comfortable to average Americans, while the other may seem a bit stilted (trying too hard to maintain foreign origins).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know you have to be careful when relying on Wikipedia, but I think its &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kludge&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article on this subject&lt;/a&gt; is pretty good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T18:05:32.277" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7007" CreationDate="2010-12-18T18:11:58.543" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Building names are proper nouns. The given (or official) name of the structure you mentioned is &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Radiator_Building&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Radiator Building&lt;/a&gt;&quot;*. Thus, &quot;Building&quot; should always be capitalized in this name. On the other hand, &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; is not part of the given name. So, in this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;I visited the American Radiator Building yesterday&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it would be incorrect to capitalize &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;I visited The American Radiator Building yesterday&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When writing an address, the official name of the building should always be used. It follows that all the words in that name should be capitalized. Your example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt; 7 World Trade Center&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is correct. One might also see/hear &quot;World Trade Center&quot; used within a sentence, for instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;Memories of the tragedy at the World Trade Center remain fresh in our hearts.&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be wrong to capitalize &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; in the above example, based on the aforementioned reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;*Interesting note: Though still widely referred to by its old name, &quot;American Radiator Building&quot; was officially renamed &quot;American Standard Building&quot;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-18T18:33:40.287" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T18:33:40.287" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7011" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-18T18:35:19.627" Score="0" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I simply can't think of a decent, simple way to describe the word 'between'. Help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2927" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T20:28:41.110" Title="What is the definition of 'between' ?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7011" CreationDate="2010-12-18T20:17:20.407" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As with most prepositions, it has several meanings depending on the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spatially, it can indicate a position in a space spanning two objects such as, &quot;There is an alley between my house and my neighbor's house.&quot; The subject is positioned in the space spanning from the nearest edges of the two objects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Analogously, its objects may be the exclusive parties involved in a shared action such as conversation, conflict, or emotion. &quot;The argument between Mary and Carmen started abruptly.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also contrast two objects. &quot;Between an orange and a pair, I choose the orange.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may also show the combined effect of two objects. &quot;Between studying and going to class I had no time left to play Scrabble.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Numerically or Chronologically, its objects may be the exclusive or inclusive endpoints of a range. &quot;I try to answer between 5 and 10 questions per day.&quot; &quot;I will be at work between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2917" LastEditorUserId="2917" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-18T20:28:41.110" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T20:28:41.110" />
  <row Id="7013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6983" CreationDate="2010-12-18T20:18:47.777" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you use Chrome, download &lt;a href=&quot;https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/mgijmajocgfcbeboacabfgobmjgjcoja&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this extension&lt;/a&gt;. Whenever you come across a word you can't define precisely, double click the word to read its definition in a popup with minimal interruption. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The extension is based on Google Dictionary, which is a great vocabulary-learning resource. Among other features, Google dictionary usually provides multiple usage examples from newspapers and magazines.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2934" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T20:18:47.777" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6967" CreationDate="2010-12-18T20:36:07.067" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm attracted by the argument made &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordwizard.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=7&amp;amp;t=18057#p39459&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, that it's to do with trams, given that both &quot;off his trolley&quot; and &quot;off his rocker&quot; appear in print around the same time.  I also feel the fact that all the early citations are about &quot;going off your rocker&quot; or &quot;being driven off your rocker&quot; - rather than falling/running/getting - suggests it's the same as &quot;going off the rails&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, &lt;em&gt;rocker&lt;/em&gt; at the time could refer to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zX9NAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;q=off+a+rocker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Puck, Volume 10, Issue 303, 1882&quot;&gt;chairs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=UjYCAAAAQAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA71&amp;amp;dq=rocker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cradles&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=cR4FAAAAQAAJ&amp;amp;q=off+the+rocker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Sunday Reading for Young and Old 3d., 1886&quot;&gt;rocking horses&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6h3OAAAAMAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA896&amp;amp;dq=rocker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ore agitators&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qDJJAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA112&amp;amp;dq=rocker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rocker arms&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TZAOAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA146&amp;amp;dq=rocker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;The New York coach-maker's magazine, Volume 1, 1859&quot;&gt;part of a coach or car&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=X5BJAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;pg=RA1-PA3&amp;amp;dq=rocker#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=rocker&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Trevelyan's rocker&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Tt0sAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA581&amp;amp;dq=rocker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;technical&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=W5wAAAAAMAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA242&amp;amp;dq=rocker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;term&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Q_0KAQAAIAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA47&amp;amp;dq=rocker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Yy0HAQAAIAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA226&amp;amp;dq=rocker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;numerous&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=eSYHAQAAIAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA345&amp;amp;dq=rocker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;patents&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both words have continued to be overloaded: growing up, I associated &quot;off your trolley&quot; with shopping carts, and &quot;off your rocker&quot; with rock stars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2895" LastEditorUserId="2895" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-19T16:03:15.107" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T16:03:15.107" />
  <row Id="7015" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7016" CreationDate="2010-12-18T21:02:38.493" Score="4" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is it &quot;runners-up&quot;, as opposed to the naïve &quot;runner-ups&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a rule to remember for these situations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2466" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T21:09:52.977" Title="Plural of &quot;Runner-Up&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7015" CreationDate="2010-12-18T21:09:52.977" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The hyphenate &lt;em&gt;runner-up&lt;/em&gt; contains a noun and an adverb/preposition. Only nouns can be pluralized. Since it is still hyphenated, the parts maintain their grammatical value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2917" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T21:09:52.977" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7017" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-18T21:24:53.470" Score="2" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;My understanding is that &quot;utilise&quot; means to use an object for a task for which it was not intended. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in American English, it seems that &quot;utilize&quot; is synonymous with &quot;use&quot;, and it seems that &quot;utilize&quot; is used to make a sentence sound more complex or formal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this the accepted usage now? Is the benefit people find in making a sentence sound more complex overtaking the benefit of being able to express the different meanings?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2904" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T21:28:35.743" Title="Has &quot;utilise&quot; lost its meaning in America?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="7018" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-18T21:29:58.693" Score="2" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I encountered the question, &quot;Which trait does a savings account and a checking account have in common?&quot; I suggested that it should read, &quot;Which trait do a savings account and checking account have in common?&quot; For which I was rebuffed. Shouldn't the helping verb &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; agree with the compound subject, the two accounts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2917" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T21:51:14.220" Title="Which verb form for helper in question?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7017" CreationDate="2010-12-18T21:43:05.510" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I observe a slight difference between them, but not quite the distinction that you expect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I occasionally use the second bathroom in my house, but it will be utilized when my nephew moves in.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that sense it means to give utility to something. This seems to match the idea of using something for an unintended purpose, but also matches the idea of beginning to use something for its intended purpose after it had not been used (to its fullest capacity) previously. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2917" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T21:43:05.510" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7017" CreationDate="2010-12-18T21:43:13.633" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Webster's says &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;utilize&lt;/strong&gt; |ˈyoōtlˌīz| verb [ trans. ]&#xA;  make practical and effective use of :&#xA;  vitamin C helps your body utilize the&#xA;  iron present in your diet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;USAGE&#xA;  Utilize, borrowed in the 19th&#xA;  century from the French : utiliser,&#xA;  means 'make practical or effective use&#xA;  of.' Because it is a more formal word&#xA;  than &lt;strong&gt;use&lt;/strong&gt; and is often used in contexts&#xA;  (as in business writing) where the&#xA;  ordinary verb &lt;strong&gt;use&lt;/strong&gt; would be simpler and&#xA;  more direct, &lt;strong&gt;utilize&lt;/strong&gt; may strike&#xA;  readers as pretentious jargon and&#xA;  should therefore be used sparingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never heard &lt;em&gt;utilize&lt;/em&gt; to mean &quot;use an object for a task for which it was not intended.&quot; Indeed, when I googled the British spelling, I got this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;utilise&lt;/strong&gt; - put into service; make work&#xA;  or employ for a particular purpose or&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;for its inherent or natural purpose&lt;/em&gt;;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Emphasis my own]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This directly contradicts your assertion of a contrary meaning for the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-19T18:13:44.623" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T18:13:44.623" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7017" CreationDate="2010-12-18T21:45:54.460" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thanks to its cognate in French, &lt;em&gt;utilise&lt;/em&gt; is in most senses identical to &lt;em&gt;use&lt;/em&gt;.  The &lt;em&gt;-ise&lt;/em&gt; suffix means it's a process (the process of gaining utility), and it's often used in business speak to suggest effective or deliberate use - think of it as &quot;use to your profit&quot;.  It can also be used to avoid ambiguity or negative connotations (e.g. &lt;em&gt;utilising&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;using&lt;/em&gt; a workforce).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't mean to use an object for a task for which it was not intended. For that, there are plenty of words, but I prefer to use &lt;em&gt;hack&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2895" LastEditorUserId="2895" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-18T21:55:25.750" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T21:55:25.750" />
  <row Id="7022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16" CreationDate="2010-12-18T21:50:05.907" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This reminds me of a joke I heard&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A young scruff approaches an elderly distinguished looking gentleman who is waiting at a bus-stop and asks &quot;What time is the next bus at?&quot;.&#xA;The gentleman replies with a superior tone &quot;Young man don't you it's bad grammar to end a sentence with a preposition?&quot;&#xA;The kid looks thoughtful for a moment before replying &quot;OK so, what time is the next bus at..LANGER?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2939" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T21:50:05.907" />
  <row Id="7024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7018" CreationDate="2010-12-18T21:51:14.220" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your understanding is correct. Consider the parallel construction&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Which date do Mike and Sally plan&#xA;  to choose for their wedding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No one in their right mind would insist it should be &quot;Which date &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; Mike and Sally plan to choose for their wedding?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rearrange the words of your sentence and it becomes clearer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A savings account and [a] checking account&#xA;  do have which trait in common?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's never going to be: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A savings account and [a] checking account&#xA;  does have which trait in common?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T21:51:14.220" />
  <row Id="7025" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7026" CreationDate="2010-12-18T22:22:19.060" Score="12" ViewCount="309" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the name for the pricing strategy where the item price is just below a psychologically significant amount? For example $199 instead of $200, $2.95 instead of $3, $49,990 instead of $50,000.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2941" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-18T22:43:51.373" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T22:32:33.113" Title="What is the term for pricing items just below a significant value (e.g. $19,995)" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="7026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7025" CreationDate="2010-12-18T22:30:18.977" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.netmba.com/marketing/pricing/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pricing Strategy&lt;/a&gt; article (from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.netmba.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NetMBA Business Knowledge Center&lt;/a&gt;) mentions those kinds of price in the section:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Psychological pricing -&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;base the price on factors such as signals of product quality, &lt;strong&gt;popular price points&lt;/strong&gt;, and what the consumer perceives to be fair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would argue for: &quot;price points&quot; or &quot;popular price points&quot; if you want to be specific about those &quot;popular&quot; &quot;.99&quot; cents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T22:30:18.977" />
  <row Id="7027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7025" CreationDate="2010-12-18T22:32:07.557" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard the terms &lt;strong&gt;just-below pricing&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;off-dollar pricing&lt;/strong&gt; used to describe this phenomenon, but I don't know how frequently those terms are used in the world of economics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pricing_strategies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pricing strategies&lt;/a&gt; entry that labels such pricing as &lt;strong&gt;psychological pricing&lt;/strong&gt;. There's an entire entry on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_pricing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;psychological pricing&lt;/a&gt;, as well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Psychological pricing or price ending is a marketing practice based on the theory that certain prices have a psychological impact. The retail prices are often expressed as &quot;odd prices&quot;: a little less than a round number, e.g. $19.99 or $2.98. The theory is this drives demand greater than would be expected if consumers were perfectly rational. Psychological pricing is one cause of price points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T22:32:07.557" />
  <row Id="7028" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7029" CreationDate="2010-12-18T22:43:18.980" Score="0" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;p&gt;When should I use one or the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2942" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-18T22:45:57.410" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T22:48:39.007" Title="Difference between &quot;picture&quot; and &quot;photo&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7028" CreationDate="2010-12-18T22:48:39.007" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A photo is a picture taken with a camera. A picture is any visual representation of a subject. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T22:48:39.007" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-12-18T23:50:56.053" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Meringue.  Recently heard this pronounced as Mare-ing-you instead of meh-rang. Also the Irish name Niamah, pronounced Neeve (rhymes with eve) seems to cause a great deal of confusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2943" LastActivityDate="2010-12-18T23:50:56.053" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-18T23:50:56.053" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-12-19T00:17:06.977" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;detritus - dih-TRY-tis&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;desultory - DES-ul-tory&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T00:17:06.977" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-19T00:17:06.977" />
  <row Id="7032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5646" CreationDate="2010-12-19T00:49:26.447" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Books&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On Writing by Stephen King&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On Writing Well by William Zinsser&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;all available at Amazon in paperback for less than $10 each&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Online&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Language Log find at languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/writing-tools/76067/fifty-writing-tools-quick-list/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fifty Writing Tools&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry,but I don't have enough rep points to post more than one hyperlink&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T00:49:26.447" />
  <row Id="7033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6155" CreationDate="2010-12-19T03:05:49.430" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_prepositions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia's list of English prepositions&lt;/a&gt; gives me the impression that very many English prepositions (at least for the broad definition of &quot;preposition&quot; that Wikipedia seems to be using) are actually derived from verbs or adjectives. &lt;em&gt;Despite&lt;/em&gt; is peculiar in that it's derived from a loan-translation of an Old French phrase &lt;em&gt;en despit de&lt;/em&gt;, meaning literally &lt;em&gt;in contempt of&lt;/em&gt;, so it's natural that we'd have said &lt;em&gt;despite of&lt;/em&gt; originally. I found it interesting that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=despite&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt; says it almost became &lt;em&gt;despight&lt;/em&gt; during 16th-century spelling reform.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T03:05:49.430" />
  <row Id="7034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6969" CreationDate="2010-12-19T03:14:57.447" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an interesting topic. To add to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6969/the-purpose-of-versus-the-purpose-for-which-one-is-proper/6973#6973&quot;&gt;bikeboy389's response&lt;/a&gt;: the purpose &lt;i&gt;of&lt;/i&gt; something is the reason it exists. The purpose &lt;i&gt;behind&lt;/i&gt; something is the reason in the mind of whoever was responsible for it. My intuition is that a purpose &lt;i&gt;for&lt;/i&gt; something is more likely to be a use or reason associated with it after the fact, or subject to debate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Found via Google:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Providing Students With a Purpose for Reading&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i.e., giving students a purpose/reason to read; and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;following God's purpose for our lives&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i.e., an individual/agent (God) has designated a purpose for something. (&lt;i&gt;The purpose of our lives&lt;/i&gt; would frame it as inherent rather than designated, I think. *&lt;i&gt;God's purpose of/behind our lives&lt;/i&gt; would be ill-formed, but &lt;i&gt;the purpose of God for our lives&lt;/i&gt; is OK in the right context.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(There are also contexts in which you can use the construction &lt;i&gt;purpose to&lt;/i&gt; a thing, e.g. &lt;i&gt;He embraced religion in the hope that it would reveal the purpose to our lives.&lt;/i&gt; This feels fixed or archaic compared to the other options.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'd say &lt;i&gt;a/the &lt;b&gt;cause&lt;/b&gt; of&lt;/i&gt; something to refer to its cause. Having &lt;i&gt;(just) cause for&lt;/i&gt; an action, though, is a different construction: it means you have sufficient grounds/justification to perform that action, esp. in a legal sense: &lt;i&gt;The judge's flawed instructions are cause for an appeal.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, I don't think &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;reason&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; works in the same way: e.g. &lt;i&gt;a/the reason for getting up early&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;a/the reason to get up early&lt;/i&gt; are fine, but *&lt;i&gt;reason of getting up early&lt;/i&gt; sounds wrong to me. You could also say &lt;i&gt;the reason for/behind the decision&lt;/i&gt;. Words behaving similarly to &lt;i&gt;reason&lt;/i&gt;: &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;rationale&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; and &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;motivation&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2947" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T03:14:57.447" />
  <row Id="7035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6155" CreationDate="2010-12-19T03:37:13.723" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=since&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;since&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is probably another example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2947" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T03:37:13.723" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7036" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-19T04:06:08.663" Score="1" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;em&gt;The Island of Doctor Moreau&lt;/em&gt; they chant: &quot;are we not men&quot;. So my question is: when we place &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; before &lt;em&gt;men&lt;/em&gt;, not after &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt;, what we are implementing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2427" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-19T09:57:44.270" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T19:40:11.833" Title="Place of &quot;not&quot; in sentence" Tags="&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;negation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7037" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7038" CreationDate="2010-12-19T04:16:42.370" Score="3" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't recall term used for duplicating extraneous words e.g. VIP person (Very Important Person Person), first question what is this term?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second question, is the same term used when the duplicated term is a synonym?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1486" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T21:52:50.947" Title="Terms for duplicated words" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7037" CreationDate="2010-12-19T04:21:54.110" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's called RAS Syndrome (Redundant Acronym Syndrome Syndrome).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T04:21:54.110" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7025" CreationDate="2010-12-19T04:23:23.340" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While going to school I worked retail, and I agree with the &quot;psychological pricing&quot; reason; people really did say things priced $19.99 were &quot;nineteen dollars&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there is another influence for the retailer's benefit. Retailers, especially franchises, have all kinds of weird pricing rules they must follow; for example, a product might retail for full price for 6 months before you could offer a discount, promotional pricing did not apply to certain products, some products were on consignment and we couldn't do returns, et al.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now it's hard for teenagers to remember these rules for each product, the till did it but we couldn't change the rules the till used, so we would change the prices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example (this is going off decades-old memory) full prices always ended in .98, so the store owner had some latitude for discounts. Prices ending in .X9 were discounted and no further price cuts were allowed. Products which you got via promotions or &quot;free gifts&quot; had prices ending in .95 or something, products with no returns had prices ending in .66 or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Few of the staff knew the rules, but the till did. If you bought something for $19.99, it wouldn't allow you to use a discount or card. You couldn't get a refund for something priced $2.95, or return something for which you were charged $9.66.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This method also allowed the manager some leeway in changing the pricing rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was many years ago at an independent business, and I do not know how common this practice still is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2949" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T04:23:23.340" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6902" CreationDate="2010-12-19T04:58:38.393" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia goes with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_disinhibition_effect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online disinhibitation effect&lt;/a&gt;, so a person exhibiting this behavior would be &quot;online-disinhibited&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2949" LastEditorUserId="2949" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-19T05:06:29.797" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T05:06:29.797" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2010-12-19T05:01:36.247" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the most commonly mispronounced words is &lt;i&gt;forte&lt;/i&gt;, as in one's strong point.  It's really supposed to be pronounced just like &lt;i&gt;fort&lt;/i&gt;, but most people use two syllables.  I think the mispronunciation may become so common that descriptivist dictionaries will list it on equal footing (some already list it as a variant).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T05:01:36.247" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-19T05:01:36.247" />
  <row Id="7042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6993" CreationDate="2010-12-19T05:06:34.147" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are noticing is dialect differences.  It really doesn't matter, and in our hyper connected media world, dialect differences mean less and less these days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2950" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T05:06:34.147" />
  <row Id="7043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7036" CreationDate="2010-12-19T05:34:14.583" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; comes before &lt;em&gt;men&lt;/em&gt;, it is merely being left in place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;We are not men.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Are we &lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt; not men?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In yes/no question formation, the verbs &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt;, and the modal verbs are fronted (i.e. moved to the front of the sentence).  If none of these verbs is the inflected verb, we get &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do-support&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;do-support&lt;/a&gt;, which works effectively the same way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the alternate form of &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; is used, namely the clitic/suffix &lt;em&gt;n't&lt;/em&gt;, it does move to the front along with the verb, but this is because it is attached to the verb, so it must move along with it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, leaving the negation in place is the normal, default behavior for this kind of sentence, and a yes/no question where a free-standing &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; does move from its base position is the special case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-19T19:40:11.833" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T19:40:11.833" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6997" CreationDate="2010-12-19T09:05:24.143" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In thirty years as an engineer, the only pronunciation I have heard from other engineers is CLOO-J.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the rare occasions when I heard someone say CLUH-J, the speaker was NOT an engineer and was pronouncing the word as they had seen it written: kludge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T09:05:24.143" />
  <row Id="7045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6977" CreationDate="2010-12-19T10:06:45.487" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Skin in the game&quot; is defined by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/skininthegame.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Investopedia&lt;/a&gt; as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A term coined by renowned investor&#xA;  Warren Buffett referring to a&#xA;  situation in which high-ranking&#xA;  insiders use their own money to buy&#xA;  stock in the company they are running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The idea behind creating this&#xA;  situation is to ensure that&#xA;  corporations are managed by&#xA;  like-minded individuals who share a&#xA;  stake in the company. Executives can&#xA;  talk all they want, but the best vote&#xA;  of confidence is putting one's own&#xA;  money on the line just like outside&#xA;  investors!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Buffett's original intention equated money with skin because losing either would be painful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An alternative would be &quot;stake in the result&quot; where the stake is an investment of money, time, effort or even reputation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other alternatives include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has a piece of the action&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has money on the line&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has something to lose&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He is a stakeholder&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T10:06:45.487" />
  <row Id="7046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6967" CreationDate="2010-12-19T10:12:00.530" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is more speculation than anything, but it's somewhat stereotypical for older people back in the day to be sitting on rocking chairs and just passing the time, right? What if the phrase originally didn't mean to suggest that someone merely is crazy, but also outwardly displaying it? A crazy person might feel the urge to get out of their chair, run around and act mad, whereas a more mild mannered one would just quietly rock back and forth and not cause a scene.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2953" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T10:12:00.530" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5390" CreationDate="2010-12-19T10:39:12.083" Score="20" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I grew up in England for chunks of my childhood and early adulthood and am still around people who originated from the UK, so I still encounter both spellings all the time. The easiest way to remember it is that the 'a' in gray stands for 'America' and the 'e' in grey 'England'.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2953" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T10:39:12.083" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7049" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7058" CreationDate="2010-12-19T11:17:51.020" Score="2" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;If my boss asks me if I can help him to do something, &#xA;I reply: I'll bend over backwards to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this reply literally has a meaning of flattering?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2796" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T12:26:18.130" Title="Does &quot;bend over backwards&quot; have bad meaning?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="7050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6898" CreationDate="2010-12-19T12:52:14.603" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shephard Fairey calls it &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.art-for-a-change.com/Obey/index.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;referencing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T12:52:14.603" />
  <row Id="7051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1209" CreationDate="2010-12-19T12:54:41.763" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short, The English verb system was different in Old and Middle English, but it had basically syncretized by Early Modern English; thus the subjunctive is still there and very alive in English, particularly literary English, but it's very inappreciable, which can make it difficult to see:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you &lt;strong&gt;be&lt;/strong&gt; good and if you &lt;strong&gt;eat&lt;/strong&gt; all of your vegetables, I will get you some ice cream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you &lt;strong&gt;were&lt;/strong&gt; good and if you &lt;strong&gt;ate&lt;/strong&gt; all of your vegetables, I would get you some ice cream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The President has demanded that we &lt;strong&gt;cease&lt;/strong&gt; our action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My only goal is that I &lt;strong&gt;win&lt;/strong&gt; that race tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's best if he &lt;strong&gt;stay&lt;/strong&gt; home today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I &lt;strong&gt;had&lt;/strong&gt; known, I would have said something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you &lt;strong&gt;spoke&lt;/strong&gt; English as well as I, the subjunctive would be child's play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;God &lt;strong&gt;strike&lt;/strong&gt; me dead if I &lt;strong&gt;be&lt;/strong&gt; lying to you about the subjunctive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether I &lt;strong&gt;be&lt;/strong&gt; brash or demure, the subjunctive shall live!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;God &lt;strong&gt;bless&lt;/strong&gt; the subjunctive and God &lt;strong&gt;forbid&lt;/strong&gt; the subjunctive ever &lt;strong&gt;die&lt;/strong&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My only wish for Christmas is that my father &lt;strong&gt;be&lt;/strong&gt; here to celebrate it with us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there &lt;strong&gt;be&lt;/strong&gt; gold, I shall find it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there &lt;strong&gt;were&lt;/strong&gt; gold, I should find it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I pray that he &lt;strong&gt;see&lt;/strong&gt; the error of his ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can only hope that he &lt;strong&gt;find&lt;/strong&gt; true love.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is very important that you not &lt;strong&gt;speak&lt;/strong&gt; ill of the queen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I &lt;strong&gt;were&lt;/strong&gt; President, I would cut taxes, unless I &lt;strong&gt;were&lt;/strong&gt; Republican. (lol)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are just many examples and, as one can plainly see, the subjunctive doesn't look any different than the indicative most of the time. And though this be the case, it's still considered the mark of the educated speaker. If I were you, I would learn it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2956" LastEditorUserId="2956" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-19T13:11:03.247" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T13:11:03.247" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7052" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7060" CreationDate="2010-12-19T12:59:55.750" Score="2" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm driving the same car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like me and someone else share one and the same car. But I could mean that my car is just another copy of the same model of the car. How do I express that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2758" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T10:47:14.183" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T16:16:39.860" Title="&quot;the same&quot; and &quot;that particular one&quot;" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;ambiguity&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7052" CreationDate="2010-12-19T13:02:21.320" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I'm driving a car just like his!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T13:02:21.320" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7049" CreationDate="2010-12-19T13:13:27.677" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't have any negative connotation, it just means something along the lines of &quot;I'll do everything I can.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2867" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T13:13:27.677" />
  <row Id="7055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7049" CreationDate="2010-12-19T13:14:36.910" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it sounds a little weird to tell your boss you will bend over backwards. I think it sounds better when your boss uses it to explain your work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2957" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T13:14:36.910" />
  <row Id="7057" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-19T13:25:17.807" Score="1" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apart from simply reading more and looking up words you don't understand, what are some recommended online resources and physical books to help grow your vocabulary?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll start out with a short list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wordsmith.org/awad/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A Word A Day&lt;/a&gt; (newsletter, with printed books available by Anu Garg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Word Smart (book by the Princton Review). I have no experience with this one beyond leafing through it the other day at the book store.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Less about vocabulary, but more about expanding your writing style, which is ultimately the goal beyond growing your vocabulary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spunkandbite.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Spunk and Bite&lt;/a&gt; (book, taking its title from the classic Strunk &amp;amp; White)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus point for something that doesn't just list hundreds of words with their definitions, but either digs deeper into their etymology or comes up with a structure of how to integrate them into your every day life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: This sounds like a subjective question, but it's intended in the same vein as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/questions/74884/good-javascript-books&quot;&gt;Good JavaScript Books&lt;/a&gt; question on Stack Overflow, which turned out to be quite popular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2953" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T17:57:55.000" Title="What are some good books/online resources for growing your vocabulary?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;learning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7049" CreationDate="2010-12-19T13:39:01.787" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my mind, it's a very extreme form of commitment reserved for out of the ordinary scenarios. Not something I would recommend telling a boss on a regular basis, as it robs the term of its degree of commitment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might bend over backwards to win a key client from a competitor, but you wouldn't bend over backwards to get the weekly report in on time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even then, to use the phrase is indicative that you really need something to happen and that the consequences for your job/reputation/well being might be extreme if you couldn't. One typically bends over backwards not just for someone in a higher position than oneself, but also when the person you're doing it for shows little regard for you, because they know they're in control due to their station.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People who bend over backwards often assume a submissive role, which is not to be mistaken with there mere seniority that a boss would have over you at work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2953" LastEditorUserId="2953" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-19T14:27:52.963" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T14:27:52.963" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7059" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7172" CreationDate="2010-12-19T14:05:47.850" Score="12" ViewCount="697" Body="&lt;p&gt;What accounts for the strong disapproval of anyone using the word 'cunt' in the US, when the sentiment doesn't exist to the same extent in the UK?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be clear, it's still a strong word to use in the UK, but it's much, much more common to hear it there than it is here in the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it merely due to a discrepancy in popular morals, or are there specific historical occurrences at play in the US that have left their mark? Does the strong feminist movement in the US in the 60/70ies factor in e.g.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know how 'acceptable' the term is in other countries with a large English speaking population (India e.g.)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm new here, and I ask this genuinely, as I've lived in both England and the States and have been fascinated by the visceral reaction the word tends to evoke by large numbers Americans. Per &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/253/referencing-the-existence-of-words-that-may-be-offensive&quot;&gt;previous discussions on meta&lt;/a&gt; there's a consensus for not shying away from offensive words and a faction that doesn't even recommend censoring them when used in the context of discussing the English language. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I chose to only censor it in the title, so nobody can claim to be offended if they click through, and this question will still turn up in search results for the uncensored version.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2953" LastEditorUserId="2953" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-19T15:48:32.597" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T21:04:01.500" Title="Why is 'c*nt' so much more derogatory in the US than the UK?" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;offensive&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="13" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="7060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7052" CreationDate="2010-12-19T14:56:06.793" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you were to say, in casual conversation,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Tom and I drive the same car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;most Americans would assume you meant the same make and model. You wouldn't have to specify that you did not mean a single shared vehicle. In fact, if you &lt;em&gt;did&lt;/em&gt; mean a single vehicle you would probably have to add information to the above example, or phrase the sentence differently, as in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Tom and I share a car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T14:56:06.793" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6898" CreationDate="2010-12-19T15:34:54.417" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say of someone who has written something of dubious provenance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://farisyakob.typepad.com/blog/2010/03/steve-jobs-steals.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;talent imitates and genius&#xA;  steals&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, then this author is a&#xA;  genius.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The link above goes to video where Steve Jobs quotes Picasso saying &quot;Good artists imitate, great artists steal&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ironically, that quote is itself attributed to various people according to a page on the original wiki called &lt;a href=&quot;http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?SwipedFromTheBestWithPride&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SwipedFromTheBestWithPride&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's Picasso: &quot;Bad artists copy. Great&#xA;  artists steal.&quot;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thinkexist.com/English/Author/x/Author_3889_3.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.thinkexist.com/English/Author/x/Author_3889_3.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This has been variously attributed, in various forms, to&#xA;  Picasso (see&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://quote.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Picasso&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://quote.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Picasso&lt;/a&gt;),&#xA;  Igor Stravinsky, T.S. Eliot, Sir&#xA;  Thomas Beecham and others. Other forms&#xA;  include: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;* Lesser artists borrow; great artists steal.&#xA;* Great composers do not borrow - they steal.&#xA;* Good artists copy; great artists steal.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(Not identical but a related sentiment) Plagiarism is the sincerest form &#xA;  of flattery. (If you plagiarise from enough authors concurrently you get to call it &quot;research&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T15:34:54.417" />
  <row Id="7062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2809" CreationDate="2010-12-19T15:49:50.623" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The passive voice is &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; appropriate to use, if you go by Microsoft Word's grammar-check.  Issues of directing the focus aside, use of the passive voice can also be used to create a dispassionate tone in writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2960" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T15:49:50.623" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1866" CreationDate="2010-12-19T16:00:28.927" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this example, &quot;few&quot; unambiguously stresses the scarcity, whereas &quot;a few&quot; is used to refer to a small amount, many times as a deliberate understatement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2960" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T16:00:28.927" />
  <row Id="7064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7049" CreationDate="2010-12-19T17:03:00.517" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I gather &quot;bend over backwards&quot; is slightly derogatory in that it implies you are so spineless you will do literally anything you have to in order to please a specific person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2929" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T17:03:00.517" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6926" CreationDate="2010-12-19T17:09:34.213" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you are in Scotland.  At which point it is Juice.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Even if it has never seen a fruit in its chemical factory sourced life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2962" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T17:09:34.213" />
  <row Id="7066" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7068" CreationDate="2010-12-19T17:47:27.933" Score="1" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Is anyone up there sober?!&quot; hollered a shrill, wannabe voice-of-the-people, audibly virginal and entitled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does this sentence mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am uncertain of meaning, or implied meaning of &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1.&lt;/strong&gt;  &quot;hollered a shrill, wannabe voice-of-the-people&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2&lt;/strong&gt;. &quot;audibly virginal and entitled.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-19T22:18:12.360" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T22:18:12.360" Title="Meaning of: &quot;hollered a shrill, wannabe voice-of-the-people&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7067" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7232" CreationDate="2010-12-19T17:51:35.397" Score="0" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why the simple future used in the following sentence instead of the simple present?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A client software will not transfer&#xA;  files.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2801" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T20:16:32.763" Title="Statement of fact: future simple" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;time&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7066" CreationDate="2010-12-19T17:54:33.223" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The author is characterizing the speaker as someone who is trying to come off as representing a larger group (perhaps the household in question) but failing at that, and who is to the author's ear someone who is prudish and self-righteous. It could be someone's grandmother venting her disapproval of what she feels are the somewhat loose morals of the people upstairs from her. The &quot;wannabe voice-of-the-people&quot; description implies that the speaker wants her chastisement to carry more than the simple moral weight of one person's opinion: she wishes to imply that all right-thinking people would share her outrage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use &quot;she&quot; to characterize the speaker here because the author uses &quot;shrill&quot; and &quot;virginal&quot; in the description, two adjectives which are not normally applied to men (although they could be, in which case the author would be putting the speaker's manhood in question as well).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: In case you don't know, &quot;wannabe&quot; is a contraction of &quot;want to be&quot; and can be used as an adjective, as here, or as a noun. It implies someone who purports or wishes or pretends to be someone or something he or she is not. It is used as a put-down, in sentences like &quot;Most waiters in Manhattan are wannabe Broadway stars.&quot; Such a waiter would be someone who, when asked his occupation, would give it as &lt;em&gt;actor&lt;/em&gt;, even though he works 40 hours a week at the restaurant and has never made a dime from acting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-19T18:07:19.780" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T18:07:19.780" />
  <row Id="7069" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7073" CreationDate="2010-12-19T19:20:58.053" Score="3" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between 'assent' and 'consent'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T13:22:33.980" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T13:22:33.980" Title="Difference between 'assent' and 'consent'" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="7070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7057" CreationDate="2010-12-19T19:33:47.797" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Read as much as you can from a wide variety of written works. This includes fiction, non-fiction, and across a variety of different genres. The best way to grow your vocabulary is through varied exposure to words in the language. So seek out the legendary authors of the past as well as popular writers today. Make sure you're having fun with the reading too and that you enjoy it. When you see a new word that you have no idea what it means, go to dictionary.com, Google, bartleby.com, or a dictionary hard copy you might have and find out the meaning. If you have access to the Oxford English Dictionary, this is perhaps the most comprehensive dictionary in existence (though it requires a paid subscription unless you're a student at some universities).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you spend enough time reading like this, your language skills will get stronger, you'll understand new words faster in their context, and you'll find yourself naturally integrating them into your own thoughts, conversation, and writings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've found this to be the most fail-safe way for expanding my vocabulary and is much more reinforced than looking up random words or doing a daily word calendar (although these aren't bad tools either).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;: As far as a list of good books or resources goes, I'll add my suggestions here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/mgijmajocgfcbeboacabfgobmjgjcoja&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Dictionary extension&lt;/a&gt; for the Google Chrome browser is great for getting word definitions on the fly when on any web site. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I used to have a daily calendar that had a word of the day with interesting explanations of that word, was a good daily reinforcer for new vocabulary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You already mentioned this, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/020530902X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strunk and White&lt;/a&gt; is great.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2964" LastEditorUserId="2964" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-21T17:57:55.000" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T17:57:55.000" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7059" CreationDate="2010-12-19T19:56:19.507" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's a very good question. It certainly is offensive here in the US, and I'm not sure why it's considered so much worse than other &quot;Anglo-Saxon&quot; words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've used all of the other ones on occasion. But in 52 years, I've used &quot;cunt&quot; anatomically only a handful of times, and I can't recall ever using it as a slang reference for a woman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After Sen. John McCain called his wife Cindy a cunt in front of a bunch of reporters in 1992, they and their editors were paralyzed. The word is so offensive here, they couldn't figure out how to even talk about it indirectly, so the incident didn't become public until years later. In an American context, calling Cindy a cunt in front of strangers was so disrespectful and humiliating that I thought it was only slightly less shocking than if he'd punched her in the face, and I wondered why she didn't divorce him. I immediately decided not to vote for him in the 2008 Presidential election because, in someone of his position, it showed a frightening lack of self-control that's not compatible with controlling nuclear weapons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1835" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T19:56:19.507" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="7072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7069" CreationDate="2010-12-19T20:27:43.993" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Assent&lt;/em&gt; can also carry an official connotation, as of a government agency or official expressing approval. Otherwise they are synonymous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T20:27:43.993" />
  <row Id="7073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7069" CreationDate="2010-12-19T20:40:29.123" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To consent is to give permission, which could have been withheld. It implies a power relationship where the consent is granted by the party with more power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is the political theory that says, governments can rule only with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consent_of_the_governed&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;consent of the governed&lt;/a&gt;. That is, the people &lt;em&gt;consent&lt;/em&gt; to be governed and thus grant their power to the government.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To assent is to agree with a statement made by an equal. On the Supreme Court, one justice writes the opinion of the majority, to which other justices &lt;em&gt;assent&lt;/em&gt;. Those that disagree are said to dissent, that is to disagree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, consent = permission while assent = agreement. A subtle distinction perhaps, but a useful one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T20:40:29.123" />
  <row Id="7074" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7079" CreationDate="2010-12-19T21:03:13.523" Score="3" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;…actually means &quot;do you hear me&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This phrase is used (in movies) during radio communication, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2466" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T06:03:56.863" Title="Why is it that &quot;do you read me&quot;…" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7074" CreationDate="2010-12-19T21:10:10.073" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It isn't &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;hear me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;since it means hear and understand the words of (someone speaking on a radio transmitter)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T21:10:10.073" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7017" CreationDate="2010-12-19T21:28:35.743" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They both came from Latin. In the ethimological sense, to use has a broad meaning, while to utilise mean &quot;to use something in order to obtain something else&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example I utilise the bathroom (to ease myself) but I cannot utilise the sofa (i.e. using it resting upon it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2403" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T21:28:35.743" />
  <row Id="7077" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7090" CreationDate="2010-12-19T21:43:22.857" Score="3" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any meaningful difference between the terms &lt;em&gt;undertone&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;overtone&lt;/em&gt; with regard to an utterance in the sense of an implicit meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1427" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-19T22:43:24.563" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T01:29:24.387" Title="Difference between an undertone and an overtone" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="7078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7074" CreationDate="2010-12-19T21:56:28.137" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Besides its most popular meaning, &lt;em&gt;read&lt;/em&gt; also means &lt;em&gt;to understand&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;to interpret&lt;/em&gt;. Consider the following examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;I read his actions as stemming from pure rage.&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;He could easily read the fear in my eyes.&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In radio (especially two-way) and telecommunication, words like &lt;em&gt;roger&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;read&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;copy&lt;/em&gt; are used to clarify that communication has actually taken place. In potentially critical situations, the sender must always confirm their message has actually been understood and not just heard or read (in a literal sense). Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;Roger that! We'll exit in five seconds.&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;Agent 511, do you copy?&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;Inspector! Inspector! Do you read me?&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;Copy. Module will self-destruct in sixty seconds.&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Several agencies and professions (e.g. aviation) have developed their distinct vocabulary for confirming the receipt and understanding of communicated messages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T21:56:28.137" />
  <row Id="7079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7074" CreationDate="2010-12-19T22:00:55.713" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The use of the word &quot;read&quot; in spoken radio transmissions was used to ask &quot;how well is my message being received&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When using electronic voice communication, it is useful to know the quality of the signal being received. So the question &quot;how (well) do you read (my transmission)&quot; is asking for an indication of quality. The speaker wants to know if he needs to speak slower or louder to insure the message is received.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is all part of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_procedure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;voice procedure&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Voice procedure communications are&#xA;  intended to maximize clarity of spoken&#xA;  communication and reduce&#xA;  misunderstanding. It consists of&#xA;  signalling protocol such as the use of&#xA;  abbreviated codes like the CB radio&#xA;  ten-code, Q codes in amateur radio and&#xA;  aviation, police codes, etc., and&#xA;  jargon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A typical response might be &quot;I read you 5 by 5&quot; where the first number indicates the strength of the signal on a scale of 1 to 5 and the second number indicates the quality of the signal (how much noise there is).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I read you &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_by_five&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;five by five&lt;/a&gt;&quot; means &quot;I read you loud and clear&quot; which implies &quot;I hear &lt;em&gt;and can understand&lt;/em&gt; everything you are saying&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastEditorUserId="2944" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-20T06:03:56.863" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T06:03:56.863" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7059" CreationDate="2010-12-19T22:13:30.007" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does anyone know how 'acceptable' the&#xA;  term is in other countries with a&#xA;  large English speaking population&#xA;  (India e.g.)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has to do with cultural differences. C*nt (el coño) is used in spainish slang as f*ck is used in english.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T22:13:30.007" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7081" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-19T22:17:51.347" Score="1" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is meant by &quot;present perfect&quot;, &quot;past perfect&quot;, and &quot;future perfect&quot; verbs? How can I identify them or know which is which?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2965" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-19T22:42:26.280" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T18:21:25.197" Title="Verb Forms and Their Usage" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7077" CreationDate="2010-12-19T22:20:29.400" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An undertone typically refers to an implicit meaning conveyed by the manner of the utterance, that is, a literal sound in the voice that conveys the meaning. So words that are growled, hissed, or said &quot;with an edge in the voice&quot; carry an undertone such as anger, frustration, or sarcasm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An overtone typically refers to an implicit meaning detected by &quot;reading between the lines&quot;. For example, describing the consequences of certain actions in a perfectly neutral tone could still convey a threatening overtone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, undertone is conveyed literally by the sound of the words, while overtone is conveyed figuratively by the words themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T22:20:29.400" />
  <row Id="7083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="570" CreationDate="2010-12-19T22:26:56.027" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have completed a draft of an article for submission to a magazine. Used the R-word, and realized that it's no longer P.C. The MSWORD thesaurus came up with nuthin. The comments were interesting. I have decided to go with &quot;really-dumb&quot;.&#xA;Less is more. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2966" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-19T22:43:23.017" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T22:43:23.017" />
  <row Id="7084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="570" CreationDate="2010-12-19T22:46:10.947" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I think you should use whatever word you feel like using at the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;do not&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; have the right to go through life without being offended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Politically correct or not, say what you feel; to cover your feelings with false diplomacy is a far greater sin of dishonesty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not a profanity and a regular English word - when you are chastising people you intend it to be derogatory.  Particularly between friends, such comments are a regular part of life and are meant as teasing commentary only, everyone knows that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, with freedom of speech comes causation and if you are calling random children in the street retards, then you can probably expect retribution of some sort.  To quote a TV show I am fond of: &lt;em&gt;&quot;talk bollocks, expect pain&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T22:46:10.947" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="7085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7077" CreationDate="2010-12-19T22:55:26.777" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like John Satta's answer for &lt;em&gt;overtone&lt;/em&gt;, but take issue with &lt;em&gt;undertone&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can mean a low pitch sound in vocal conversation, but usually it means an undercurrent.  Similar to &lt;em&gt;overtone&lt;/em&gt;, but more subversive, or hidden; more a hidden feeling from the conversation.  As opposed to &lt;em&gt;overtone&lt;/em&gt;, which is the general implication of the conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2010-12-19T22:55:26.777" />
  <row Id="7086" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7088" CreationDate="2010-12-19T23:48:19.030" Score="5" ViewCount="266" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the context of discussion, I took &quot;hard done by&quot; to mean &quot;taken advantage unfair of&quot; as in &quot;He felt &lt;em&gt;hard done by&lt;/em&gt; by former friends.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had never heard the phrase before and have not heard it since. In fact I'm not sure my example sentence is properly constructed using two &quot;by's&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it generally Canadian? A Canadian regionalism? Or is it more widely used by non-American English speakers around the world?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Does the phrase include the word &quot;by&quot; and then require a second by for proper usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the meaning is akin to &quot;betrayed&quot;, then does the sentence &quot;He felt betrayed by his friend&quot; equate to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He felt &lt;em&gt;hard done&lt;/em&gt; by his friend (&quot;by&quot; is not part of the phrase)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;OR&lt;br&gt;&#xA;He felt &lt;em&gt;hard done by&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;by&lt;/strong&gt; his friend (&quot;by&quot; IS part of the phrase and so needs another by)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example, is it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The situation made him feel &lt;em&gt;hard done&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;OR&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The situation made him feel &lt;em&gt;hard done by&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastEditorUserId="2944" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-20T05:50:13.523" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T08:04:27.083" Title="What does it mean to be &quot;hard done by&quot; - a phrase I heard from a Canadian friend" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7086" CreationDate="2010-12-20T00:18:19.700" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is used in Britain as well as Canada.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It means that the person who has been 'hard done by' has been given a hard time or had life made more difficult than it should have been, and probably not directly through their own fault.  It could well be that someone else has been unkind or unfair to them; it usually implies a more active agency than pure chance, or just the weather or some other natural phenomenon.  You wouldn't normally consider someone who experiences an earthquake as being hard done by; you might consider someone whose house collapsed in an earthquake and whose insurance company declined to pay for the earthquake damage as being hard done by - the agency being the insurance company, not the earthquake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T00:18:19.700" />
  <row Id="7088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7086" CreationDate="2010-12-20T00:25:41.487" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Meaning&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chiefly British idiom, &lt;em&gt;feel hard done by&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;feel hard done-by&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;to feel treated unjustly/unfairly&quot;. The meaning is not akin to a feeling of betrayal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Usage&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the idiom, &lt;em&gt;hard done by&lt;/em&gt; is an adjectival phrase. So, on further thought, I think the following construction would be grammatically incorrect,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He felt hard done by &lt;em&gt;by&lt;/em&gt; former friends.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;because it implies the subject complement and the auxiliary can be inserted thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He felt he was hard done by by former friends.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This usage is improper, as it treats &lt;em&gt;hard done by&lt;/em&gt; as a participial element, which it is not. While some may parse this differently to argue for its correctness, one would be hard-pressed to find the idiom ever used in this way (followed by &lt;em&gt;by&lt;/em&gt;). Rather, it is used by itself or in conjunction with an adverbial. I give several examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I felt a bit hard done by, going through that rough patch.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  They certainly felt hard done by at having their privileges revoked.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Feeling hard done-by, mate?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He tried to cheer me up, but I couldn't help feeling hard done by.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  She felt hard done by at having to do the chores while everyone else went to play.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Poor Cinderella must have felt so hard done by when her wicked step-mother &#xA;  denied her permission to go out.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  No need to feel hard done by, bro. Every dog has its day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your final example, the correct choice would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The situation made him feel hard done by.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Prevalence&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This idiom is not a Canadian regionalism or colloquialism. It is mainly used in the UK and other English-speaking countries of the Commonwealth, which includes Canada, Australia, India, etc. As such, it is more widely used by non-US speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T07:23:44.897" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T07:23:44.897" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="7089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7081" CreationDate="2010-12-20T00:49:45.130" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The perfect tense indicates completion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Past Perfect Tense&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Used to express an action that was completed in the past. It is constructed with the past tense of &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt;) and the past participle of the verb. Examples: &lt;code&gt;had done&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;had seen&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;had gone&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;had taken&lt;/code&gt;. An example sentence: &lt;code&gt;I was grief-stricken to hear that she had forsaken her one true love.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Present Perfect Tense&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Used to express an action completed recently (in the present). It is constructed with the present tense of &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;have/has&lt;/em&gt;) and the past participle of the verb. Examples: &lt;code&gt;have seen&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;has eaten&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;have decided&lt;/code&gt;. An example sentence: &lt;code&gt;Have you done it?&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Future Perfect Tense&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Used to express an action that will be completed (in the future). It is constructed thus: &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; + past participle of the verb. Examples: &lt;code&gt;will have finished&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;will have learned&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;will have forsaken&lt;/code&gt;. An example sentence: &lt;code&gt;He will have returned before Mary leaves.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T00:49:45.130" />
  <row Id="7090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7077" CreationDate="2010-12-20T01:04:43.373" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As per dictionary.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;un·der·tone   &#xA;  [uhn-der-tohn]  Show IPA&#xA;  –noun&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;a low or subdued tone: to speak in undertones.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;an unobtrusive or background sound: an undertone of static from the receiver.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. an underlying quality or element; undercurrent: There was an undertone of regret in his refusal.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;o·ver·tone   &#xA;  [oh-ver-tohn]  Show IPA&#xA;  –noun&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Music . an acoustical frequency that is higher in frequency than the fundamental.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. an additional, usually subsidiary and implicit meaning or quality: an aesthetic theory with definite political overtones.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it would seem that undertone is more about the vocal implicit meaning of saying something and overtone is about the way something is phrased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edited to clarify which meanings I was referring to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2929" LastEditorUserId="2929" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-20T01:29:24.387" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T01:29:24.387" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="570" CreationDate="2010-12-20T03:42:23.530" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some nice ones. Some may be more familiar, depending on your background:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;ass&lt;/em&gt; (This is not offensive! &quot;Don't be such an ass!&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;blockhead&lt;/em&gt; (I especially like this one! Include all the other &lt;em&gt;-head&lt;/em&gt;'s: &lt;em&gt;bonehead&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;meathead&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;thickhead&lt;/em&gt;, etc. &quot;That bloke's a real blockhead!&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;buffoon&lt;/em&gt; (My brother's favorite! &quot;You're an empty-headed buffoon!&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;dolt&lt;/em&gt; (I like how heavy and final this sounds.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;dullard&lt;/em&gt; (Love this one! &quot;Gosh, Jimi, you're a dullard!&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;dumbo&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;dummy&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;dunce&lt;/em&gt; (This is a nice, friendly term!)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;dunderhead&lt;/em&gt; (An elderly friend's favorite. It's so funny when she uses it. &quot;Dunderheads!&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;fool&lt;/em&gt; (Not in my dictionary!)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;idiot&lt;/em&gt; (I'm in the minority that consider this word slightly offensive and hurtful.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;ignoramus&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;Stupid ignoramus of the highest order!&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;klutz&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;moron&lt;/em&gt; (Way less offensive in the US but certainly not my favorite for friendly rebuttals.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;nitwit&lt;/em&gt; (There's also &lt;em&gt;dimwit&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;nincompoop&lt;/em&gt; (Got this a couple decades ago and loved it. &quot;Scallywags and nincompoops!&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;ninny&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;Ninnies and &lt;em&gt;idjits&lt;/em&gt;, all of them!&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;oaf&lt;/em&gt;  (&quot;Shut up, you oaf!&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;peabrain&lt;/em&gt; (Don't forget the other &lt;em&gt;-brain&lt;/em&gt;'s e.g. &lt;em&gt;lamebrain&lt;/em&gt;!)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have only included nouns in the above lists. Adjectives abound and it would take ages to list all my favorites! Feel free to also use custom-made sentences. One that I find more humorous is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Dude, your &lt;em&gt;brain&lt;/em&gt; is full of &lt;em&gt;sawdust&lt;/em&gt;!&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(A friend told me this many years and while I was mad then, I laugh now every time I recall that incident.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;NB: In my mind, all these examples are used in a friendly context, so I hope no one is offended!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T03:42:23.530" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="7092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7086" CreationDate="2010-12-20T05:19:31.213" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is also common in Australia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T05:19:31.213" />
  <row Id="7093" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7097" CreationDate="2010-12-20T05:45:22.463" Score="3" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is there a comma in the following comic ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/Flu5C.gif&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2801" LastEditorUserId="2801" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-20T08:36:06.980" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T19:02:20.997" Title="Comma and &quot;too&quot;" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7093" CreationDate="2010-12-20T06:05:01.357" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of us were taught to place a comma before a sentence-ending “too”:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We’re going shopping, out to dinner,&#xA;  and then to a movie, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But is that comma really necessary? “Too” in this context means “also,” but you’re not likely to see the sentence written like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We’re going shopping, out to dinner,&#xA;  and then to a movie, also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No one seems to know how this particular quirk started, but it’s firmly entrenched in our over-cluttered writers’ brains. Even journalists do it, and modern-day practice is to strip news stories of as many commas as possible without hopelessly obfuscating meaning. Still, that niggling comma before “too” persists.&#xA;The editors at the Chicago Manual of Style share their opinion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Use commas with too only when you want&#xA;  to emphasize an abrupt change of&#xA;  thought: He didn’t know at first what&#xA;  hit him, but then, too, he hadn’t ever&#xA;  walked in a field strewn with garden&#xA;  rakes. In most other cases, commas&#xA;  with this short adverb are&#xA;  unnecessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is, there’s no clear rule that either specifies using the comma or forbids it. It’s the writer’s choice. The rules of grammar don’t often allow writers to have choices. It’s kind of nice to be thrown a bone from time to time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2859" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T06:05:01.357" />
  <row Id="7095" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-20T06:48:20.973" Score="1" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to write a list that I cannot find a great parallel construction for because certain items in the list use &quot;of&quot; and one uses &quot;to&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence as originally written:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ratification, acceptance and approval of a treaty or accession to it shall be conducted when it is required by the treaty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been contemplating the following re-write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ratification of, acceptance of, approval of, or accession to a treaty shall be conducted when required by the treaty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A treaty shall be ratified, accepted, approved, or acceded to by the State when the treaty so requires. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other ideas on how to construct this sentence in a readable and grammatically correct way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I noticed the question on passive voice recently posted as well. The third example would be a case where passive voice is arguably preferable as the emphasis of this sentence should be the treaty and not the State.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2697" LastEditorUserId="2697" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-20T07:28:44.893" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T07:29:01.693" Title="Punctuating and constructing a confusing list" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7093" CreationDate="2010-12-20T06:57:41.610" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The example you provided is one in which the author pays particular attention to following the rules of comma placement. This looks like an old comic. In a modern publication, one might very well find:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;You were planning on sleeping inside the deer for warmth too? Shit. I didn't want it to come down to this Joseph, but we're going to have a dance-off.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always place a comma before &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; as a rule, but increasingly I find this is gradually becoming less of an issue, even in formal contexts and especially in American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to why the comma is there in your example, that's an old rule some of us still happen to follow, depending on context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T06:57:41.610" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7093" CreationDate="2010-12-20T07:07:46.307" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The comma in this case implies that listener was planning to sleep inside the deer for warmth, as was the speaker. Without it, the sentence would imply the listener was planning to sleep inside the deer for warmth, and for some other reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That seems like rather a lot of work for one punctuation mark, but in the spoken language the emphases in the sentence would indicate which the speaker meant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T07:07:46.307" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="7098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7095" CreationDate="2010-12-20T07:29:01.693" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would be helpful to have a little more of the rest of the sentence (at least the subject of it), but:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The [subject-of-the-sentence] shall only ratify, accept or approve a treaty, or accede to a treaty, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In light of the edit to the question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The State shall ratify, accept or approve a treaty, or accede to it, when necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of these are using the active voice - the subject of the sentence (the State) actively doing something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T07:29:01.693" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7069" CreationDate="2010-12-20T07:49:01.843" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My brain's immediate shorthand response is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;assent&quot; = &quot;agree&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;consent&quot; = &quot;allow&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2969" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T07:49:01.843" />
  <row Id="7100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="570" CreationDate="2010-12-20T08:51:45.553" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cant help adding James May's eminently english way of saying &quot;stupid&quot;  to this list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;What a &lt;strong&gt;Pillock&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has me in splits everytime he says that!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2761" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T08:51:45.553" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7101" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7106" CreationDate="2010-12-20T09:04:28.760" Score="2" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;form&lt;/em&gt; as in &quot;web form&quot; or in my case &quot;XML form&quot; would be translated as &lt;em&gt;Formular&lt;/em&gt; in German and &lt;em&gt;formulaire&lt;/em&gt; in French. Which leads me to the question, though the entry of Wiktionary and Etymonline seems to point to the contrary, has it ever been an abbreviation of a longer word? And if it is the case, is this longer word still in use? If not, is there better alternative to this word in the following example?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please backup all the corresponding forms before applying the patch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T10:00:55.720" Title="Is &quot;form&quot; an abbreviation, or has it ever been?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7102" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7103" CreationDate="2010-12-20T09:12:16.180" Score="0" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found some sentences that seem odd for me such as, &quot;She is married&quot; instead of &quot;She was married&quot; or &quot;This transaction is approved&quot; instead of &quot;This transaction was approved&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know which one is correct? (from those example) and Are there any rules for &quot;is/am/are&quot; and &quot;was/were&quot; in this case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T12:11:03.710" Title="When to use &quot;is&quot; and &quot;was&quot; for thing that has happened?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7102" CreationDate="2010-12-20T09:21:21.560" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case, &lt;em&gt;married&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;approved&lt;/em&gt; are used as an adjective, which is also a subject complement. As such, it gives information about the subject (&lt;em&gt;She&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;The transaction&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of the past tense would imply, for example that &quot;She is not married anymore&quot;, and consequently single again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;married&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;approved&lt;/em&gt; is more the status of the subject after the action of &lt;em&gt;marrying&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;approving&lt;/em&gt;, as the description of the action itself. If it is still true, then the present should be used, otherwise, use the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T09:21:21.560" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7104" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7107" CreationDate="2010-12-20T09:43:56.753" Score="1" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am reading an grammar book. &#xA;There is an example sentence I can't understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a special pattern where a complement occurs with an action verb, not a linking verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The related example sentence as this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;He walked away a free man.&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the meaning of the example sentence? &lt;code&gt;Walked Away&lt;/code&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2661" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-20T10:11:37.650" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T10:11:37.650" Title="What's the meaning of the sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="570" CreationDate="2010-12-20T09:46:28.373" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Australian gentle insult of choice would be &lt;strong&gt;dickhead&lt;/strong&gt;. If you call someone a dickhead, you are probably laughing at their stupidity; it's not a word you would use when angry...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2819" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T09:46:28.373" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7101" CreationDate="2010-12-20T09:51:17.833" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Form is not an abbreviation. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=form&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;According to etymonline.com&lt;/a&gt;, the meaning &quot;a document with blanks to be filled in&quot; is from 1855.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the word &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/formulary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;formulary&lt;/a&gt; is a false friend. It means &quot;a book listing medicinal substances and formulas&quot; or &quot;a collection of prescribed forms (as oaths or prayers)&quot;. It is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; the English word for Formular (German), formulaire (French), formulário (Portuguese) and formulario (Spanish). All these words are actually translated to English as &quot;form&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-20T10:00:55.720" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T10:00:55.720" />
  <row Id="7107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7104" CreationDate="2010-12-20T10:10:01.800" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Walk away&quot; can mean simply &quot;to leave a place&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that sentence,  I'd say that the meaning is closer to &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=1861709507&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;to achieve or win something&lt;/a&gt;&quot; (In the end, he achieved the status of a free man). It's hard to tell for sure out of context though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T10:10:01.800" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7104" CreationDate="2010-12-20T10:10:11.990" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;He&quot; was able to &quot;walk away&quot; from something (perhaps a gaol), because he is now &quot;free&quot; (either he had served his sentence, acquitted, or pardoned).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T10:10:11.990" />
  <row Id="7109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7067" CreationDate="2010-12-20T10:17:53.323" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because what is important to the person reporting the problem is that they believe the software will not, at any time in the near future, do what they want it to do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presumably this is based on evidence of what it has failed to do in the near past (or present). The person has some work that they need to accomplish in the near future and believe they will not be able to accomplish this using the software.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T10:17:53.323" />
  <row Id="7110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7067" CreationDate="2010-12-20T10:33:01.487" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Will&lt;/em&gt;  is used to say what always happens in a particular situation or what is generally true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Humankind will question the reason for its existence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In informal English, &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; is also used to describe someone's habits, especially when you think they are annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most three-year olds will go on yelling until they get what they want. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the example in the question, &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; may have been used to denote that something always happens or that it is annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastEditorUserId="2972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-20T10:51:05.807" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T10:51:05.807" />
  <row Id="7111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7059" CreationDate="2010-12-20T11:01:06.113" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't really comment on the impact of c*** in the US, because in my limited time there, it wasn't a word that came up that often, though I was tempted to use it in front of one of the Homeland Security drones at Sanford Airport!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'd like to dispel the idea that it is a word so readily used in the UK. Whereas f*** is now so ubiquitous (See: &lt;a href=&quot;http://justin.justnet.com.au/rudestuff/uses-of-the-word-fuck.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Uses of the word f*ck&lt;/a&gt;, c*nt is still regarding as more coarse and thus much more shocking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realise that Guy Ritchie &lt;em&gt;et al&lt;/em&gt; have been fond of using it in their tedious and moronic cockney-gangster films (&lt;em&gt;Lock, Stock&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;Snatch&lt;/em&gt; etc), but it's not as prevalent as they would have you believe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, in one USENET community that I'm a member of, one with a particular style and brand of humour, we have embraced the word and use frequently it in all manner of ways; as a verb, and a whole host of nouns and as adverbs and adjectives. It's just part of the clique humour employed; some of the language looks odd (read: grossly offensive) to outsiders, but it is anything but. Outside this group, I'd be surprised if any of us used c*** at all, beyond the usual interaction with traffic wardens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastEditorUserId="2302" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-20T11:19:21.300" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T11:19:21.300" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="7112" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7113" CreationDate="2010-12-20T11:09:36.400" Score="2" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know it is a reference of some sort to &quot;space&quot;, but in what sense and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2734" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T14:34:55.703" Title="What is the &quot;final frontier&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7112" CreationDate="2010-12-20T11:17:12.423" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase became popular for being in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_no_man_has_gone_before&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;opening narration of Star Trek&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Space: the final frontier. These are&#xA;  the voyages of the starship&#xA;  Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to&#xA;  explore strange new worlds, to seek&#xA;  out new life and new civilizations, to&#xA;  boldly go where no man has gone&#xA;  before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is that the space is the final frontier for the man to cross to be able to explore new worlds. The &lt;em&gt;previous&lt;/em&gt; frontiers would have been on Earth itself, when mankind crossed oceans to explore new continents, for example. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-20T11:23:38.257" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T11:23:38.257" />
  <row Id="7114" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7159" CreationDate="2010-12-20T11:29:08.300" Score="2" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a situation: Dad is talking to his 5-year-old son&#xA;while watching TV:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dad: I really like this movie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Son: But I don't like this movie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dad: I am a bit hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Son: But I am not hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dad: You must be doing your homework at the moment, isn't it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Son: No, I won't do my homework.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dad (angrily): Stop &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;_&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what do you think Dad's natural response should be here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I would really want to have it started with the word &quot;stop&quot;,&#xA;but if you think it won't sound natural in English, then you&#xA;can drop it. It is very likely that this whole conversation will&#xA;sound not natural - do, please, comment)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here I have some of my options - none of them seem to be natural&#xA;to me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stop arguing with me!  (But it’s not really an argument, as far as I can tell);&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stop saying things opposite to what I am saying! (Too long and kind of too complicated for an angry response);&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stop it! (Looks kind of too general to me and, perhaps, a bit soft)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stop reasoning with me (It’s not really a reasoning, but just a case of one being stubborn); &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T00:18:57.010" Title="What is this Dad going to say?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;conversation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="7115" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7120" CreationDate="2010-12-20T11:33:33.043" Score="7" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know this is kinda stupid but what is the word for &quot;helping someone climb by allowing him to stand on your hands&quot; (to allow him/her see above some wall or climb something)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1599" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T13:04:53.137" Title="Helping someone climb" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="7118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7114" CreationDate="2010-12-20T11:42:52.537" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the son is always contradicting his dad, the Dad would probably say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stop contradicting me!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T11:42:52.537" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7115" CreationDate="2010-12-20T11:58:44.790" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure there's a single english word for it, I know we have one for it in Slovenian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And Google Translate doesn't know how to translate said word, which is more evidence from my end that such a word does not exist in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2929" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T11:58:44.790" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7115" CreationDate="2010-12-20T12:04:43.633" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word you are searching for is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/leg_up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;to give so. a leg up&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Leg up: the act of assisting another's progress over a wall or other obstacle by forming a step for one of their feet with one's hands&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-20T13:04:53.137" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T13:04:53.137" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="7121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7102" CreationDate="2010-12-20T12:11:03.710" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your examples using &quot;to be&quot; means it's something that has happened but is still true, because it's a change of state from one state to another. If you're refering to the transition itself you would use &quot;to be&quot; as long as the state is unchanged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&#xA;&quot;He is married&quot;. (The state of being married)&#xA;&quot;He was married in the late summer 10 years ago&quot;. (The celebration of the transition from unmarried to married)&#xA;&quot;He was married&quot; (More ambiguous, but most likely he's no longer alive, his partner is no longer alive, or he is divorced, etc. Unless you specify a specific time it most likely means the state is no longer true)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2820" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T12:11:03.710" />
  <row Id="7122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7114" CreationDate="2010-12-20T12:11:03.807" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It might be a bit archaic but the correct description of his son's behaviour is &quot;contrary&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stop being so contrary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1849" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T12:11:03.807" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="7123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2772" CreationDate="2010-12-20T12:25:50.623" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe we should reclaim the word &quot;gay&quot; to mean &quot;merry&quot; and &quot;care free&quot;, by using it in this sense all the time. This would make the word less effective as a derogatory word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word were originally used by the gay (in this case homosexual) community because it were a positive term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel quite gay right now. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2820" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T12:25:50.623" />
  <row Id="7124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7115" CreationDate="2010-12-20T12:34:35.447" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will throw in &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bunk-up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bunk-up&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; for good measure, the complete expression being &lt;em&gt;to give someone a bunk-up&lt;/em&gt;. I have only ever heard it in a movie or two. Wiktionary marks it as &lt;em&gt;UK&lt;/em&gt;, perhaps someone from the US can comment on whether it would be understood there as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T12:34:35.447" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7125" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7262" CreationDate="2010-12-20T12:47:36.297" Score="6" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are pronouns in English resolved syntactically or semantically? Do they always refer to the closest matching noun?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphora_%28linguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; has these examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We gave the bananas to the monkeys because they were hungry.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We gave the bananas to the monkeys because they were ripe.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We gave the bananas to the monkeys because they were here. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My understanding was that pronouns are resolved syntactically, and so sentence 2 is semantically incorrect (unless the author really meant that the monkeys were ripe) and sentence 3 is not ambiguous. Is this wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Citations and references are most welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2978" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:05:02.660" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:05:02.660" Title="How are pronouns resolved?" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;&lt;ambiguity&gt;&lt;semantics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="7126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7115" CreationDate="2010-12-20T13:01:27.130" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To boost or give someone a boost may work well, depending on how formal the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least in American English, giving someone a leg up often is used in a more metaphorical sense, as in giving someone an advantage of some kind which is not necessary physical, so this phrase may confuse some readers if you are actually referring to the physical act of lifting someone up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2697" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T13:01:27.130" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6926" CreationDate="2010-12-20T13:32:35.870" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Or Ginger! On the West Coast of Scotland they quite often call any fizzy drink ginger (even though they rarely drink ginger ale/beer...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2980" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T13:32:35.870" />
  <row Id="7128" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7148" CreationDate="2010-12-20T13:36:11.157" Score="1" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen both forms in usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2578" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:31:19.017" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:31:19.017" Title="Is it incorrect to place the adverb after the verb? &quot;Handsomely win&quot; v. &quot;Win handsomely&quot;" Tags="&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7129" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7151" CreationDate="2010-12-20T13:52:26.833" Score="0" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taking us behind the scenes, Paulson shows, day by day, how the U.S. government and Federal Reserve got sucked into a vertiginous game of chicken with Wall Street bankers (&lt;a href=&quot;http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&amp;amp;sid=aFJfPdMMN0Lk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T19:31:15.603" Title="what does &quot;vertiginous game of chicken&quot; mean and its origin" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7129" CreationDate="2010-12-20T14:03:50.063" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_%28game%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The name &quot;Chicken&quot; has its origins in a game in which two drivers drive towards each other on a collision course: one must swerve, or both may die in the crash, but if one driver swerves and the other does not, the one who swerved will be called a &quot;chicken,&quot; meaning a coward; this terminology is most prevalent in political science and economics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Vertiginious&lt;/em&gt; comes from &lt;em&gt;vertigo&lt;/em&gt;, so it's something that's whirling around, causing dizziness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T14:03:50.063" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7112" CreationDate="2010-12-20T14:34:55.703" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;The frontier&quot; is often used to describe the farthest reaches of civilization (or whatever's viewed as civilized by the speaker). So in the early years of the US, what was considered the frontier by settlers advanced slowly West across the continent. The frontier is usually considered the province of the explorer or the early settler.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the 60s (when Star Trek popularized the phrase as noted by Bruno R.), humanity had to look beyond the surface of the Earth for the frontier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T14:34:55.703" />
  <row Id="7132" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7137" CreationDate="2010-12-20T14:47:14.103" Score="9" ViewCount="491" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the term 'black' offensive when used to refer to race or skin colour? Some say it is, some say it isn't. If it is should we then not use 'white' as well?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T05:30:38.757" Title="Is 'black' offensive?" Tags="&lt;offensive&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="7133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7132" CreationDate="2010-12-20T15:07:41.480" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think black is less offensive than African-American, considering not all black people are from Africa and there are white people from Africa as well. I'm unsure, though. I can see it being offensive referring to someone as &quot;that black guy,&quot; as if that is his only distinguishing characteristic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T15:07:41.480" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="7134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7125" CreationDate="2010-12-20T15:13:26.720" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first sentence makes sense to me so I am resolving that pronoun semantically. I don't think I'm unique in that regard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore the second sentence has (at least) two potential interpretations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We gave the bananas to the monkeys because [the bananas] were [ripe].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We gave the bananas to the monkeys because [the monkeys] [smelled strongly].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people are not going to pick the second interpretation without some other context. So semantics is extremely important in understanding the sentence and assigning meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The third sentence is ambiguous. There isn't enough information to know if the bananas were conveniently located (i.e. &quot;here&quot;) or the monkeys, or both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T15:13:26.720" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7086" CreationDate="2010-12-20T15:22:35.513" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having spent about half of a pretty long life in each of Canada and the U.S., I'd say it is equally common in both. Like many turns of speech, it may be more prevalent in some regions than others. My mother, who grew up in Oklahoma, used it frequently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Ill treated&quot; might be considered a succinct equivalent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T15:22:35.513" />
  <row Id="7136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7128" CreationDate="2010-12-20T15:25:22.337" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English is fairly flexible about adverb placement (here's the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_grammar#Adverb_placement&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; on the subject).  As that notes, it is more usual to place the adverb after the verb than before.  Putting the adverb first places extra emphasis on it, which sometimes sounds odd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T15:25:22.337" />
  <row Id="7137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7132" CreationDate="2010-12-20T15:31:53.800" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;em&gt;white&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;black&lt;/em&gt; are widely considered to be inoffensive, and you hear them used over a wide range of contexts. Obviously, anyone can use any word in an offensive manner, and &lt;em&gt;black&lt;/em&gt; is not exempt. Note that the word can also be written as &lt;em&gt;Black&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T15:31:53.800" />
  <row Id="7139" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-20T15:50:58.200" Score="3" ViewCount="267" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a colleague for whom this is a favorite phrase, used in the sense of &quot;knock yourself out&quot;, &quot;go for it&quot;, &quot;have at it&quot;, &quot;go to town&quot;, &quot;help yourself&quot;. (&quot;You want to add that feature to the software? Go ahead - fill your boots!&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, the best origin story I've heard is that of &quot;when plundering, using every available container - i.e., even your boots&quot;. It feels as though there may be more to it than this, but I've not discovered it yet. What say?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T22:09:27.017" Title="etymology &amp; meaning: &quot;Fill your boots&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7125" CreationDate="2010-12-20T15:51:08.810" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My understanding was that pronouns are resolved syntactically, and so sentence 2 is semantically incorrect (unless the author really meant that the monkeys were ripe) and sentence 3 is not ambiguous. Is this wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, this is wrong.  Intuitively, it is clear that none of these sentences are incorrect, and sentence 3 is ambiguous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Linguists who believe that pronouns are linked to their antecedent in syntax do not claim that the antecedent must be the immediately preceding noun.  So, concluding that sentence 2 must link &quot;they were ripe&quot; with &quot;monkey&quot; is operating under a framework that does not resemble any framework that claims that pronouns are resolved syntactically.  These frameworks would also not make the claim that sentence 3 is unambiguous without semantic intervention.  They would say that there are different indexes applied to the pronouns and nouns, which they would also consider to be part of the syntactic structure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not even necessarily agree with the idea that pronoun resolution is syntactic, but these sentences do not disprove those theories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-20T15:58:20.493" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T15:58:20.493" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7132" CreationDate="2010-12-20T16:53:47.380" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there is one answer that every group would universally agree with as their preferred term.  Some people prefer &quot;African-American&quot;, some prefer &quot;person of color&quot;, and some prefer &quot;black&quot;.  I don't think most people would become overtly offended by everyday use of any of these terms, but some might consider one or more to be a pet peeve when they hear it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the history (via OED) of &quot;African-American&quot; and its rise in use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Although both African and African-American were widely used in the United States in the 19th century, the adoption of African-American as a preferred term among black Americans dates from the late 1960s and early 1970s (particularly after an April 1972 conference at which Ramona Edelin, president of the National Urban Coalition, proposed its use). The term gained widespread acceptance following its endorsement by the Reverend Jesse Jackson (b. 1941) during his presidential nomination campaign in 1988.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that non-American black people find this term ignorant at best when applied to them.  Also, sometimes immigrants who have east African ancestry don't feel that this term applies to them.  And other people of color just find it awkward, or simply have no problem with &quot;black&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, even if you fall into the camp where you feel that &quot;black&quot; is an offensive term, it doesn't mean that the same must be true of &quot;white&quot;.  Each word has a long history, and different associations get embedded in different words, such that superficially or logically corresponding words like &quot;white person&quot; and &quot;black person&quot; don't necessarily correspond in their connotations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-20T19:34:19.397" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T19:34:19.397" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7142" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7144" CreationDate="2010-12-20T17:31:30.000" Score="1" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to create a poster titled &quot;An Incomplex Introduction to Complexity-based Cryptography.&quot; As you see, it contrasts the words &lt;strong&gt;incomplex&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;complexity&lt;/strong&gt;. (Words like &lt;em&gt;simple&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;easy&lt;/em&gt; do not provide this.) I looked up the word incomplex, and found it in a few dictionaries:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Incomplex&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Incomplex&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://thesaurus.com/browse/incomplex&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://thesaurus.com/browse/incomplex&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, most dictionaries do not include this word. Is it a legitimate word at all? Can I use it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2042" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T02:27:40.880" Title="Is &quot;incomplex&quot; a Legitimate Word?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5831" CreationDate="2010-12-20T17:52:24.403" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English may now be the world's lingua franca, but according to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.economist.com/node/17730434&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;review of Nicholas Ostler's latest book in The Economist&lt;/a&gt; the future looks quite different:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;English is expanding as a&#xA;  lingua-franca but not as a mother&#xA;  tongue. More than 1 billion people&#xA;  speak English worldwide but only about&#xA;  330m of them as a first language, and&#xA;  this population is not spreading. The&#xA;  future of English is in the hands of&#xA;  countries outside the core Anglophone&#xA;  group. Will they always learn English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mr Ostler suggests that two new&#xA;  factors—modern nationalism and&#xA;  technology—will check the spread of&#xA;  English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;English will fade as a lingua-franca,&#xA;  Mr Ostler argues, but not because some&#xA;  other language will take its place. No&#xA;  pretender is pan-regional enough, and&#xA;  only Africa’s linguistic situation may&#xA;  be sufficiently fluid to have its&#xA;  future choices influenced by&#xA;  outsiders. Rather, English will have&#xA;  no successor because none will be&#xA;  needed. Technology, Mr Ostler&#xA;  believes, will fill the need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This argument relies on huge advances&#xA;  in computer translation and speech&#xA;  recognition. Mr Ostler acknowledges&#xA;  that so far such software is a&#xA;  disappointment even after 50 years of&#xA;  intense research, and an explosion in&#xA;  the power of computers. But half a&#xA;  century, though aeons in computer&#xA;  time, is an instant in the sweep of&#xA;  language history.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T17:52:24.403" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7142" CreationDate="2010-12-20T17:55:25.463" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's definitely not a standard English term, and as such will likely sound wrong to most people, even if it is shown somehow to be a legitimate term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand your interest in using it to contrast against &quot;complexity&quot; but I think you would find that &quot;simple&quot; would work just as well, as simple is quite commonly used as the opposite of complex. And you'd get far fewer people wondering if it were a real word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were trying to write the title, I'd probably go with, &quot;A Simplicity-based Introduction to Complexity-based Cryptography.&quot; Snappy, and you have full part-of-speech agreement between your contrasting phrases--which makes it crystal clear that you're going for a fun contrast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T17:55:25.463" />
  <row Id="7145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7142" CreationDate="2010-12-20T17:56:16.243" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's for a title you can do whatever you want, especially if you are coining a word for use in a knowledge domain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you will be better understood if you use a word like &lt;em&gt;simple&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;incomplex&lt;/em&gt;. Trust me when I tell  you that &lt;em&gt;simple&lt;/em&gt; does provide a specific contrast to &lt;em&gt;complex&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can't abide &lt;em&gt;simple&lt;/em&gt;, I'd suggest you try &lt;em&gt;non-complex&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;incomplex&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-20T18:03:58.453" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T18:03:58.453" />
  <row Id="7146" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-20T17:59:59.610" Score="1" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;English may now be the world's lingua franca, but according to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.economist.com/node/17730434&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;review of Nicholas Ostler's latest book in The Economist&lt;/a&gt; the future is uncertain:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;English is expanding as a&#xA;  lingua-franca but not as a mother&#xA;  tongue. More than 1 billion people&#xA;  speak English worldwide but only about&#xA;  330m of them as a first language, and&#xA;  this population is not spreading. The&#xA;  future of English is in the hands of&#xA;  countries outside the core Anglophone&#xA;  group. Will they always learn English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mr Ostler suggests that two new&#xA;  factors—modern nationalism and&#xA;  technology—will check the spread of&#xA;  English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;English will fade as a lingua-franca,&#xA;  Mr Ostler argues, but not because some&#xA;  other language will take its place. No&#xA;  pretender is pan-regional enough, and&#xA;  only Africa’s linguistic situation may&#xA;  be sufficiently fluid to have its&#xA;  future choices influenced by&#xA;  outsiders. Rather, English will have&#xA;  no successor because none will be&#xA;  needed. Technology, Mr Ostler&#xA;  believes, will fill the need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This argument relies on huge advances&#xA;  in computer translation and speech&#xA;  recognition. Mr Ostler acknowledges&#xA;  that so far such software is a&#xA;  disappointment even after 50 years of&#xA;  intense research, and an explosion in&#xA;  the power of computers. But half a&#xA;  century, though aeons in computer&#xA;  time, is an instant in the sweep of&#xA;  language history.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think? Are the days of English as a global second language numbered?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T23:25:45.030" ClosedDate="2010-12-21T17:55:55.630" Title="What is the future of English as a lingua franca?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7081" CreationDate="2010-12-20T18:21:25.197" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jimi Oke's answer is useful, but incomplete in an important respect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perfect tenses indicate completion &lt;em&gt;with continuing relevance&lt;/em&gt; (to now for the (present) perfect, but to other reference points for the other tenses). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simple past indicates that the action is complete and finished with (eg there is no longer any possibility of doing the action).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The (present) perfect indicates that the action is complete, but is somehow still relevant now - in its effects perhaps, or in the possibility of repeating it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &quot;I saw him&quot; implies that the possibility of seeing him again has passed - perhaps he has left; whereas &quot;I've seen him&quot; suggests that he is still here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that this distinction is less clear-cut in US than UK English, though the difference has been decreasing. Thirty years ago it was rare in the UK to use the simple past for very recent events (so &quot;Did you eat it?&quot; would mean this morning, or yesterday, but not just now), but that has been changing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T18:21:25.197" />
  <row Id="7148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7128" CreationDate="2010-12-20T18:40:41.120" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's correct. Sometimes it sounds fine in both places. Bold if before, italics if after:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He &lt;strong&gt;quickly&lt;/strong&gt; put on his shoes and left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He put on his shoes &lt;em&gt;quickly&lt;/em&gt; and left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I ate &lt;em&gt;greedily&lt;/em&gt; until my stomach &lt;strong&gt;literally&lt;/strong&gt; exploded. I've been in the hospital for a few days trying to get it sewn back together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of 'literally' here would sound strange if it were after the verb: &quot;my stomach exploded &lt;em&gt;literally&lt;/em&gt;&quot;. That changes the meaning, actually, from one of &quot;it actually exploded&quot; to &quot;it exploded in a fashion related to letters/literature&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T18:40:41.120" />
  <row Id="7149" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7152" CreationDate="2010-12-20T19:01:14.310" Score="3" ViewCount="1221" Body="&lt;p&gt;How would you go about formally apologizing for being late with an email response?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2171" LastEditorUserId="2171" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T15:13:13.850" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T21:16:47.990" Title="Apologizing for a late email response" Tags="&lt;formality&gt;&lt;email&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="7150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7142" CreationDate="2010-12-20T19:18:18.433" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider using the word &quot;uncomplicated&quot; making your title&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;An &lt;strong&gt;Uncomplicated&lt;/strong&gt; Introduction to Complexity-based Cryptography&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect you were attempting to create a parallel between &quot;incomplex&quot; and &quot;complexity-based&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Uncomplicated&quot; will get closer to that goal than &quot;simple&quot; (though the contrast between &quot;simple&quot; and complexity is arguably more powerful)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T19:18:18.433" />
  <row Id="7151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7129" CreationDate="2010-12-20T19:31:15.603" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Building on the definitions cited by RegDwight, I would explain the sentence as follows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bankers' actions put them on a collision course with the government and the Fed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The potential for disaster was so great that all involved got dizzy thinking about the worst possible results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T19:31:15.603" />
  <row Id="7152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7149" CreationDate="2010-12-20T19:34:13.203" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question is unclear but maybe one of the following is what you're looking for?&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;Hello Emanuil,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Thank you for meeting with me on friday. I apologize for my lateness; my cab driver had a heart attack on the way over and I had to run the rest of the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regards,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Isaac&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;Hello Emanuil,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;We can quote you the 16 widgets you require at a price of $46.50 per, freight allowed. Please accept our sincere apologies for the delay in our response.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Regards,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Isaac LTD&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2984" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T19:34:13.203" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7132" CreationDate="2010-12-20T20:21:44.877" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Be careful when using the word 'black' in insults. Calling someone a 'bastard' is mildly offensive; calling someone a 'black bastard' is highly offensive and racist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2819" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T20:21:44.877" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6977" CreationDate="2010-12-20T20:54:00.510" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having a personal stake in the matter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T20:54:00.510" />
  <row Id="7155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5831" CreationDate="2010-12-20T21:00:12.270" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The BBC News magazine has an article on &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12017753&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How English evolved into a global language&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As the British Library charts the evolution of English in a new major exhibition, author Michael Rosen gives a brief history of a language that has grown to world domination with phrases such as &quot;cool&quot; and &quot;go to it&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It refers to a free exhibition at the British Library: &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bl.uk/evolvingenglish/reviews.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Evolving English - One Language, Many Voices&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-20T21:05:28.877" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T21:05:28.877" />
  <row Id="7156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7149" CreationDate="2010-12-20T21:06:47.477" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Please accept our most sincere apologies for overlooking your email so long.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Apologies for taking so much to answer your email.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2403" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T21:06:47.477" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7139" CreationDate="2010-12-20T21:35:59.650" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Urban Dictionary has an entry dating from 2005:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fill%20your%20boots&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fill%20your%20boots&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google reveals a number of references to the phrase, including a punk rock album title. I can't find any definitive reference, but the explanations seem to center around the Cavaliers, boots, and the usual horse-hockey you find in etymology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the common-sense explanation you've arrived at is probably the right one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T21:35:59.650" />
  <row Id="7158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7139" CreationDate="2010-12-20T21:39:18.523" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A quick search yielded&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At the HMS Victory museum in Portsmouth UK, you can buy a thick leather cup lined with pitch. This is a replica of the sailor's mug used on board in Nelson's time, and it was used (among other things) for the rum ration when issued. This cup is called a &quot;boot&quot;, and when things were good and you got an extra rum ration, sailors were told &quot;Fill Yer Boots&quot;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T21:39:18.523" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7114" CreationDate="2010-12-20T21:40:40.550" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eldros' answer &quot;stop contradicting me&quot; is correct, but a more familiar form would be &quot;stop back-talking me&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T21:40:40.550" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6588" CreationDate="2010-12-20T21:51:35.020" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Snow&quot; comes from Latin &quot;niv&quot;(es), &quot;now&quot; comes (also) from Latin &quot;nunc&quot;. There is no good answer why they should end up where they are, but that's where they started from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a Latin pronunciation, &quot;niv&quot; is &quot;nee-you&quot; and &quot;nunc&quot; is &quot;noo-nk&quot;. Ee and oo as the vowel sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I had to hazard a guess, I'd said that while &quot;now&quot; is a reasonably universal concept, &quot;snow&quot; would tend to get used much more in cultures, well, where there is snow, and would be pulled in their general vowel preference direction. So the reason that they're different is that &quot;now&quot; is the average of all vowel pronunciations across English speaking cultures in the past millenium or so, and the pronunciation of &quot;snow&quot; is primarily the average of the the northern cultures. Just my guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T21:51:35.020" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7161" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-20T21:59:00.737" Score="3" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello.&#xA;First, Is &quot;pro&quot; abbreviated form of &quot;professional&quot;?&#xA;If yes, So that phrase has a meaning?: &quot;Pro American&quot; (=Professional American).&#xA;Thanks ...&#xA;(I know my questions are very very basic, but I should ask them)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1994" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T17:10:35.040" Title="use &quot;pro&quot; before noun" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="7162" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7165" CreationDate="2010-12-20T21:59:44.597" Score="1" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand what the different parts of maladjusted, maligned, and malcontent mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what about malevolent and malicious?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could someone break these into parts e.g. mal - adjust - ed and explain the meaning of each of the parts for both of these words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2143" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T22:22:35.413" Title="What do the parts of malevolent and malicious mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;learning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="7163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7161" CreationDate="2010-12-20T22:05:12.450" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, in the usage you describe, &lt;em&gt;pro&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;in favor of&lt;/em&gt; or a &lt;em&gt;proponent of&lt;/em&gt;.  I believe the etymology is simply that &lt;em&gt;pro&lt;/em&gt; is Latin meaning &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if someone is Pro American, it would mean that they have a favorable opinion of America in some context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edit: I'll note the opposite is normally anti.  Anti-American sentiments would be those that are unfavorable to America&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T22:05:12.450" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="7164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7162" CreationDate="2010-12-20T22:11:01.207" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Malevolent&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;from Latin &lt;em&gt;malevolens&lt;/em&gt;, from &lt;em&gt;male&lt;/em&gt; ill + &lt;em&gt;volens&lt;/em&gt;, present participle of &lt;em&gt;velle&lt;/em&gt; to wish&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Malicious&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin &lt;em&gt;malitia&lt;/em&gt;, from &lt;em&gt;malus&lt;/em&gt; bad&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both words mean bad, and are pretty much synonymous, but &lt;em&gt;malevolent&lt;/em&gt; may have more of a feeling of potential evil smoldering within a person, while malicious could used to describe actual evil that has been demonstrated. Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I knew he was a malevolent S.O.B., &#xA;  but I never dreamed he would&#xA;  perform such a malicious act.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T22:11:01.207" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7162" CreationDate="2010-12-20T22:12:04.740" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt; is your best friend in this kind of situations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=malevolent&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;malevolent&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; c.1500, from O.Fr. &lt;em&gt;malivolent&lt;/em&gt;, from L. &lt;em&gt;malevolentem&lt;/em&gt; (nom. &lt;em&gt;malevolens&lt;/em&gt;) &quot;ill-disposed, envious,&quot; from &lt;em&gt;male&lt;/em&gt; &quot;badly&quot; + &lt;em&gt;volentem&lt;/em&gt; (nom. &lt;em&gt;volens&lt;/em&gt;), prp. of &lt;em&gt;velle&lt;/em&gt; &quot;to wish&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=malicious&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;malicious&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; early 13c., from O.Fr. &lt;em&gt;malicius&lt;/em&gt; &quot;showing ill will,&quot; from L. &lt;em&gt;malitiosus&lt;/em&gt; &quot;wicked, malicious,&quot; from &lt;em&gt;malitia&lt;/em&gt; &quot;badness, ill will, spite,&quot; from &lt;em&gt;malus&lt;/em&gt; &quot;bad&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;O.Fr.&quot; stands for Old French (the French language as written and spoken around 900–1400), and &quot;L.&quot; for Classical Latin (the language of ancient Rome until about 4th century).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-20T22:22:35.413" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T22:22:35.413" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7162" CreationDate="2010-12-20T22:14:01.460" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maladjusted&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;mal(us) - Latin for &quot;bad&quot;.&#xA;ad - Latin for &quot;to&quot;&#xA;justus - fair or correct (we get &quot;justice&quot; from &quot;justitia&quot;, which is related)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Malign&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See above, and &#xA;gignere - to bring about, to give birth to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Malcontent&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;contentus - contained, hence, self-contained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Malevolent&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;volens - wishing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Malicious&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Latin the suffix &quot;itia&quot; means, having the quality of, or full of (hence, &quot;justitia' - see above&quot;. So you start with &quot;malitia&quot;, and this elides over time to &quot;malicious&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T22:14:01.460" />
  <row Id="7167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7146" CreationDate="2010-12-20T23:25:45.030" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Translation has gotten vastly better than it used to, but it will never replace human language comprehension because of the same reason that human translators can't replace human language comprehension - people rarely express themselves in a clear, unambiguous way, except for trivial concepts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is more fundamental than learning to express oneself more precisely - people often possess their thought precisely, and only through the interchange of context and conversation is it made clear. Computer translation will help, but as long as there is human communication, there will be a language barrier. A dialect barrier, even. So there will be a lingua franca. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will it be English? The lingua franca is a function of economic power...non-linguists  learn a foreign language because it is generally in their economic interest somehow. If English-speaking countries continue to predominate economically, then English will be the lingua franca. The show Firefly proposed that in the future, the lingua franca would be English sprinkled with Chinese phrases...not quite a pidgin, but definitely with a strong Chinese influence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A useful predictor might be the total non-distinct number of pages published in a given language. If those patterns change, that might predict the rise of another lingua franca.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T23:25:45.030" />
  <row Id="7168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6007" CreationDate="2010-12-20T23:31:17.413" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's only one solution: measure, repeat, measure, repeat. Map your own forgetting curve, and you'll come up with an optimal number of repetitions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid I don't know of any system that facilitates this, or takes it into account beyond the dictum &quot;repetitio mater memoriae&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2010-12-20T23:31:17.413" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7161" CreationDate="2010-12-20T23:33:32.967" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are the three meanings of &lt;em&gt;pro&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(noun) &lt;em&gt;professional&lt;/em&gt;. Example: &lt;em&gt;Don't mess with me. I'm a pro!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(noun) &lt;em&gt;advantage&lt;/em&gt;. Used mainly within the context of &lt;em&gt;pros and cons (advantages and disadvantages)&lt;/em&gt;. Example: &lt;em&gt;The pros of democratic governance far outweigh the cons&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(preposition/adverb) &lt;em&gt;in support of&lt;/em&gt;. Example: &lt;em&gt;I'm a pro-choice activist.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your example, &lt;em&gt;pro-American&lt;/em&gt; is an adjective (&lt;em&gt;pro&lt;/em&gt; functions as a preposition here), and as such, it should always be hyphenated. Example: &lt;em&gt;His views are definitely pro-American&lt;/em&gt;. On the other hand, &lt;em&gt;pro America&lt;/em&gt; is an adverbial phrase and it should not be hyphenated. Example: &lt;em&gt;The Non-Aligned Movement has never been pro America&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T17:10:35.040" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T17:10:35.040" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7149" CreationDate="2010-12-20T23:56:57.190" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do this all the time, and I will list a few examples from my own correspondence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Apologies for my belated update. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'm sorry it has taken so long to get in touch since...  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, I cannot pull up too many real examples. Many are in handwritten letters! So, a few more:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Please pardon my late response to your email.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Accept my apologies for the delay in responding to your email.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Please forgive me for replying so late.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Please pardon my late response to your email.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'm sorry I'm replying late.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These responses are appropriate for varying degrees of formality. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T21:16:47.990" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T21:16:47.990" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7114" CreationDate="2010-12-21T00:18:57.010" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recall the original question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;So, what do you think Dad's natural response should be here?&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I agree that @Tom Duckering's answer perfectly captures the son's behavior, I still do not think the response is natural enough. How many English-speaking fathers out there would actually say this to any of their children: &quot;Stop being so contrary!&quot;? I am thus obliged to suggest a few responses that I think would be more spontaneous:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;Stop being so naughty!&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;Stop being stubborn!&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;Stop being so obstinate!&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;Stop IT and behave yourself!&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I daresay other natural/spontaneous responses would not begin with &quot;Stop&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;Now, son, come off it!&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;Quit that attitude, son!&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;Don't be so cheeky, son!&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;Junior, don't be naughty!&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;You're a naughty boy!&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A father prone to using big words with his children might say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;Son, I will not permit such obdurate behavior from you!&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a home where French and English have equal influence, one might hear:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;pre&gt;Quel audace! Tais-toi!&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T00:18:57.010" />
  <row Id="7172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7059" CreationDate="2010-12-21T00:27:15.460" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Am I right in saying that in the US the primary usage of the word is for a man to call a woman a cunt as an accusation of reprehensible moral standards?  In this context, extreme offensiveness is very much the intent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the UK it's not really used that way; rather it's just another generic insult that, while still regarded as the strongest of our swear words, is losing its impact over time.  As well as occasionally being thrown at each other by antagonists in an argument, it's quite widely used between friends (men, predominantly) – either towards each other in a playful sense, or to refer to other people of whom the speaker disapproves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'd suggest that different reception of the word in the two countries is down to these different predominant uses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T00:27:15.460" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="7173" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7181" CreationDate="2010-12-21T00:30:12.197" Score="2" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;Couldn't find its etymology...  anyone knows?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What does its meaning break down to?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Also, when should it be used best?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2734" LastEditorUserId="2734" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-21T00:36:29.067" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T03:28:18.850" Title="Where did the expression &quot;have at it&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7173" CreationDate="2010-12-21T00:40:32.790" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=97979&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Straitdope's forum&lt;/a&gt; suggests&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;have at avail&quot; means to have at an advantage and the earliest citation is to Malory (Le Morte D'Arthur) in the phrase* &quot;Him thought no worship to have a knight at such avail, . . .&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently &quot;have at you&quot; (or similar) appears in several Shakespeare plays in the sense of: let battle commence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-21T01:05:16.270" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T01:05:16.270" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7175" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7203" CreationDate="2010-12-21T02:07:02.010" Score="0" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are phrases which pair things up. For example, &quot;checks and balances&quot;, &quot;bells and whistles&quot;, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the rational behind this construct? Any more examples?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2314" LastEditorUserId="2314" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-21T11:34:42.407" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T07:20:08.820" Title="Pairs in common idioms/phrases" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7142" CreationDate="2010-12-21T02:27:40.880" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I checked in Oxford English Dictionary 2nd Ed. (OED 2nd Ed.), and interestingly the word &quot;incomplex&quot; was coined in early 17C and last usage was recorded as late as 19C. It is defined as :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Not complex; not complicated or involved; simple.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I could not find in other dictionaries, I support your title as it's the legal usage of prefix in-. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2990" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T02:27:40.880" />
  <row Id="7177" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7184" CreationDate="2010-12-21T02:39:04.257" Score="8" ViewCount="319" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often find myself writing &lt;a href=&quot;http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a lot&lt;/a&gt; of comments to blog posts and responses on forums, and have noticed a tendency to start a lot of sentences with 'I'. 'I think...', 'I had no idea', 'I used to...' etc. Is there a general style guideline about avoiding this, or is is acceptable when you're writing opinionated pieces?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repetition in general is poor style in my book, but when I start to shift around my sentences to avoid starting them with 'I', they tend to sound too stilted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2953" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T02:12:59.347" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T02:20:28.373" Title="Is it poor form to start too many sentences with I?" Tags="&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="7178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7175" CreationDate="2010-12-21T03:11:53.337" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Off the top of my head, I would suggest two broad rationales for these idiomatic pairings: 1) &lt;em&gt;contrast&lt;/em&gt; and 2) &lt;em&gt;emphasis&lt;/em&gt; (based on the similarity between the words making up the pair). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Contrast&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;checks and balances&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;day and night/night and day&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;do or die &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;dos and don'ts &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;give and take &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;[come] hell or high water&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;hill and dale&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;high and low&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;ins and outs &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;open-and-shut&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;pros and cons&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;[come] rain or shine &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;ups and downs&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Emphasis&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;airs and graces&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;an arm and a leg &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;be-all and end-all &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;bells and whistles&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;blood and guts/thunder&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;[rain] cats and dogs &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;cut and dried &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;day and age&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;dazed and desultory &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;[between] the devil and the deep blue sea&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;fire and brimstone &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;flesh and blood &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;high and mighty&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ps and Qs&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;plain and simple &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;[between] a rock and a hard place&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;simple and straightforward &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T07:20:08.820" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T07:20:08.820" />
  <row Id="7179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7177" CreationDate="2010-12-21T03:15:11.243" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rather than share your reactions to things, why not make statements about the things themselves? Make the subject of the sentence the topic of discussion, not yourself. Most people enjoy sharing their own experiences, but that can lead us to say &quot;I&quot; compulsively, and it can definitely get a little repetitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if your writing sounds stilted when you change the sentence around, it's probably because you're trying to reword to avoid &quot;I&quot; without really rethinking to address the reason you're saying &quot;I&quot; all the time in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T03:15:11.243" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7180" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7182" CreationDate="2010-12-21T03:20:24.297" Score="1" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Trail running shoes differs markedly from road running shoes and track running shoes. &#xA;I can understand this categories as above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I also found some event entitled with &quot;Cross Country Running Event&quot;. Does the Cross Country Running can be treated as &quot;Trail Running Event&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2661" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-21T04:50:36.433" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T04:50:36.433" Title="What's the difference between &quot;Cross Country Running&quot; and &quot;Trail Running&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7173" CreationDate="2010-12-21T03:28:18.850" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In modern usage, to &lt;em&gt;have at&lt;/em&gt; is to &lt;em&gt;attempt&lt;/em&gt;, to &lt;em&gt;go ahead&lt;/em&gt;, or to &lt;em&gt;attack physically&lt;/em&gt;. I suspect it comes from a shortening of the phrase &lt;em&gt;have a go (at)&lt;/em&gt;, which is used in the very same situations. &lt;em&gt;Have at it&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;try (to do) it&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;have at thee!&lt;/em&gt; announces an attack in Shakespearian English, and &lt;em&gt;he had at her with a knife&lt;/em&gt; means he attacked her with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T03:28:18.850" />
  <row Id="7182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7180" CreationDate="2010-12-21T03:34:28.217" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cross-country races are largely run on trails of all sorts, ranging from hard-packed dirt to gravel. Depending on the course, you may even hit some pavement along the way. In general, though, you can treat cross-country running as a trail event. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Note on usage&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Trail running&lt;/em&gt; is used to indicate any running not done on the road or pavement. &lt;em&gt;Cross country&lt;/em&gt; usually refers to the organized sport of running 5k/8k/10k distances off-road. If someone says, &quot;I run cross country&quot;, then, more likely than not, that person is on a team and races regularly. Someone who says, &quot;I'm a trail-runner&quot;, runs on trails but not necessarily competitively. And you would probably be hard-pressed to find &quot;Trail Racing&quot; or &quot;Trail Running Racing&quot;! Rather, it's almost always &quot;Cross Country Racing&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*&lt;em&gt;Hard-core runners will normally race the course in spikes (metal or rubber) for added traction and speed. Regular trail shoes are way too heavy for racing (13 oz versus 8 oz). Of course, your choice of shoes would depend on your goals or the level of the event.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-21T04:07:55.893" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T04:07:55.893" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7177" CreationDate="2010-12-21T05:08:11.053" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I* wouldn't worry too much about blog posts and message boards (english.stackexchange.com notwithstanding), but if you intend to do any serious writing you would do well to mix it up. It sounds as though you already have some inkling that repetition and self absorption in writing can grow tiresome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, the wish to be cured is itself a step towards health. Just remember, the job of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Most_Interesting_Man_in_the_World&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the most interesting man in the world&lt;/a&gt; has already been filled, and there are currently no openings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;* &lt;sub&gt;Haha. Seriously.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T05:08:11.053" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7177" CreationDate="2010-12-21T07:07:53.663" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is helpful to consider in each case whether the emphasis of the sentence should be yourself or something else. I've struggled for a while now to completely purge the passive from my own writing, and by swinging completely the other way, I ended up with awkward sentences that failed to get my point across in some instances. &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; suggest emphasizing &quot;I&quot; when the fact of your opinion is itself the subject of the sentence or thought, and de-emphasizing it when some other subject should take the lead--whether or not this means using passive voice (see, e.g., the first sentence of this post).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2697" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T07:07:53.663" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6425" CreationDate="2010-12-21T07:11:52.567" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Laps is used for any very well-defined &quot;course&quot; like a track or in a swimming pool, but loop is used for something that is a bit more ambiguous or out of immediate sight, like a cross country or driving course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2867" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T07:11:52.567" />
  <row Id="7186" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7204" CreationDate="2010-12-21T09:32:05.570" Score="28" ViewCount="1010" Body="&lt;p&gt;We wear a shirt, a jacket but a pair of pants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is pants plural?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2992" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T15:34:11.687" Title="Pants - why is it plural?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="7187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7186" CreationDate="2010-12-21T09:55:00.067" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apparently in the past they were two tube weakly linked, think to current tights. Hence the plural form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2403" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T09:55:00.067" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7188" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7189" CreationDate="2010-12-21T10:09:45.873" Score="6" ViewCount="417" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was told the correct usage is for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;My wife and me&quot; but I hear often &quot;I and my wife&quot; or &quot;my wife and I&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google gives 34M results for &quot;My wife and I&quot; and 909K results for &quot;My wife and me&quot;&#xA;Which is the correct form and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It occurred to me that maybe it could depend on the rest of the phrase? (subject or object)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;My wife and I are eating an apple&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;You can see my wife and me in this&#xA;  picture&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2403" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T19:16:43.293" Title="Somebody and [I or me] - Correct usage" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;subject&gt;&lt;object&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7188" CreationDate="2010-12-21T10:31:21.237" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're right that it depends on the rest of the phrase (subject or object):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;My wife and I are eating an apple&quot; is correct because &quot;my wife and I&quot; is the &lt;strong&gt;subject&lt;/strong&gt; of the sentence. You could replace &quot;my wife and I&quot; with &quot;we&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;You can see my wife and me in this picture&quot; is correct because &quot;my wife and me&quot; is the &lt;strong&gt;object&lt;/strong&gt; of the sentence. You could replace &quot;my wife and me&quot; with &quot;us&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can often check this quickly by removing the other person from the sentence and see if it makes sense. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Subject:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;You and I like apples&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;. Removing &quot;you and&quot; gives &quot;&lt;strong&gt;I like apples&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, which is &lt;strong&gt;correct&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;You and me like apples&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;. Removing &quot;you and&quot; gives &quot;&lt;strong&gt;me like apples&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, which is &lt;strong&gt;incorrect&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Object:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;John gave the apple to you and me&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;. Removing &quot;you and&quot; gives &quot;&lt;strong&gt;John gave the apple to me&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, which is &lt;strong&gt;correct&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;John gave the apple to you and I&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;. Removing &quot;you and&quot; gives &quot;&lt;strong&gt;John gave the apple to I&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, which is &lt;strong&gt;incorrect&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastEditorUserId="1146" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-21T11:21:52.460" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T11:21:52.460" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="365" CreationDate="2010-12-21T10:40:42.210" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suppose I'm a language purist on this one. I think it's &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; appropriate, not in IMs or SMSs and especially not in business communications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, it evokes the image of someone who couldn't even spend the extra half a second to get a 3 letter letter word right, and makes me wonder about their level of... sophistication (I tried not to be too insulting here by saying 'intelligence', but frankly, I often leap to that assumption too). In a business context, where you're trying to make a good impression, this will definitely affect it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not to say people do it with the intention of showing a careless disregard of proper spelling. Especially younger generations will have grown up with it on cell phones and IMs and instinctively use it as it comes naturally to them. Maybe this is just one of my own peculiarities, but consider that others may have the same kind of extreme reactions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that language evolves, but I just don't think it should evolve to the point of shortening words down to a single letter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2953" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T10:40:42.210" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7191" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-21T10:41:50.967" Score="2" ViewCount="343" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use this title for a blog about Cloud Computing. Which is correct? ON the cloud or IN the cloud?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3001" LastEditorUserId="1914" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-21T13:47:00.013" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T01:15:30.700" Title="On the cloud or In the cloud?" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7191" CreationDate="2010-12-21T10:45:02.020" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case, it would be “in the cloud”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2995" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T10:45:02.020" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7175" CreationDate="2010-12-21T10:46:21.510" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some phrases that pair &lt;strong&gt;synonyms&lt;/strong&gt; where one of the words is considered &lt;strong&gt;archaic&lt;/strong&gt;, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;kith and kin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;time and tide&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Kith&quot; and &quot;kin&quot; both mean &quot;relatives&quot; -- kith is archaic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Time&quot; and &quot;tide&quot; both mean &quot;time&quot; -- tide, in this sense, is archaic (compare to &quot;Zeit&quot; and &quot;tijd&quot; in German and Dutch).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T10:46:21.510" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7186" CreationDate="2010-12-21T10:47:44.873" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it just like the &lt;strong&gt;&quot;shoes&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. You cannot have one &quot;shoe&quot; as well as one &quot;part&quot; of the pants. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3002" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T10:47:44.873" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7191" CreationDate="2010-12-21T10:53:39.190" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect the phrase originated in the habit of drawing the internet as a cloud shape on network diagrams. Diagramming products such as Visio provided cloud shapes in their network diagram templates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since servers are then drawn inside the cloud shape, the phrase &quot;in the cloud&quot; is s better reflection of the diagrammatic usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, clouds are inubstantial things unable to bear the weight of a cluster of big-iron servers attempting to perch perilously &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; top. Much better to nestle your servers &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; the warm fuzzy nurturing embrace of the cloud whose opaqueness hides them from nasty predators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/12/Sample-network-diagram.png&quot; alt=&quot;Network diagram&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Cloud_computing.svg&quot; alt=&quot;Cloud computing&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Images from Wikipedia&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-21T12:25:50.637" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T12:25:50.637" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7191" CreationDate="2010-12-21T10:55:49.507" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;On&quot; the cloud - could be taken to mean that you are on the cloud of cloud computing taken in context of &quot;I am on cloud nine&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In&quot; the cloud - seems to convey that you are right in the midst of all the latest happenings in the cloud computing space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I dont think that there is a specific right or wrong here. It depends on the general direction / viewpoint that your blog is trying to convey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering the morass that usually surrounds a term like &quot;Cloud Computing&quot;, &quot;Demystifying the Cloud&quot; might also not be a bad option!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2761" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T10:55:49.507" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7191" CreationDate="2010-12-21T11:02:09.303" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;In the cloud&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; - You can use this phrase to say that a resource is part of the cloud. For example: &quot;machine 1234 is in the cloud&quot; or &quot;the application was deployed in the cloud&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;On the cloud&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; - You can use this phrase to say that you're writing about a specific cloud. For example: &quot;my post on the Amazon cloud&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Google Results&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;560K for &quot;deployed in the cloud&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;249K for &quot;deployed to the cloud&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;236K for &quot;deployed on the cloud&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10K for &quot;deployed into the cloud&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1.1M for &quot;machine in the cloud&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;347K for &quot;machine on the cloud&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2.5M for &quot;application in the cloud&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1.3M for &quot;application on the cloud&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3.3M for &quot;running on the cloud&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3.2M for &quot;running in the cloud&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T11:36:47.350" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T11:36:47.350" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="7198" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7200" CreationDate="2010-12-21T11:06:16.407" Score="3" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it appropriate to say 'Heavy Traffic'? I am referring to traffic as in roads and vehicles in this context. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is using 'lot of traffic' more appropriate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2054" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T15:25:12.440" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T16:38:19.363" Title="'Heavy Traffic' or 'Lot of Traffic'?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7191" CreationDate="2010-12-21T11:09:08.383" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;@Bruno - I thought we say 'the application was deployed to the cloud' instead of 'in the cloud' &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit: Added answer&lt;/strong&gt; - I think it best to use 'on' or 'in' or 'to' depending on the context. If you are going to say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'... is running on the machine' , ' ... is running on the cloud' , &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'... is deployed to the machine' , ' ... is deployed to the cloud' , &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2054" LastEditorUserId="2054" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-21T12:23:49.477" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T12:23:49.477" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7198" CreationDate="2010-12-21T11:13:25.023" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;Heavy Traffic&quot; is quite commonly used and is totally appropriate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT : On 2nd thoughts, i think they are both inter-changeble but it might depend on the formulation of the sentence - where one might suit better (depending on the overall style) as compared to the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was delayed for my meeting due to heavy traffic on the M1&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2761" LastEditorUserId="2761" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-21T11:18:56.140" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T11:18:56.140" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7198" CreationDate="2010-12-21T11:13:28.457" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &quot;heavy traffic&quot; and &quot;a lot of traffic&quot; are commonly used in the UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T11:13:28.457" />
  <row Id="7202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7186" CreationDate="2010-12-21T11:19:08.530" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's referring to the components that make up the whole.  A pair of pants consists of two pants.  Much like a pair of glasses (usually) has two pieces of glass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T11:19:08.530" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7175" CreationDate="2010-12-21T11:20:04.363" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One rationale for the pairings may just be that using them sounds better than a single word. They add a bit of rhythm to the sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T11:20:04.363" />
  <row Id="7204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7186" CreationDate="2010-12-21T11:34:34.420" Score="39" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A quick search led me to the excellent site &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;World Wide Words&lt;/a&gt; run by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/personal.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Michael Quinion&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The site has an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pai1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;entire page on this issue&lt;/a&gt;. Here's a brief snippet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Before the days of modern tailoring, such garments, whether underwear or outerwear, were indeed made in two parts, one for each leg. The pieces were put on each leg separately and then wrapped and tied or belted at the waist (just like cowboys’ chaps). The plural usage persisted out of habit even after the garments had become physically one piece. However, a shirt was a single piece of cloth, so it was always singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T11:34:34.420" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6411" CreationDate="2010-12-21T11:55:27.683" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, first of all, &quot;U&quot; and &quot;V&quot; weren't really distinguished as separate letters until the 17th or 18th century. So the name of the letter may not be any older than that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is, though, I'd think it's related to the Great Vowel Shift. Same way as the name of the letter &quot;A&quot; must have originally been &quot;Ah&quot; and then turned into &quot;Ei&quot; (matching what we think of as the &quot;long vowel&quot;), the same would presumably have happened with &quot;Oo&quot; turning into &quot;yu&quot; in both pronunciation of words containing this vowel, and in the name of the vowel itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T11:55:27.683" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7059" CreationDate="2010-12-21T12:00:11.423" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know it doesn't directly answer the question but there's a great page detailing the origins of the word (and other swear words) here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A753527&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A753527&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the word from the question is most definitely not ubiquitous in the UK. It is usually used to shock people and is considered the worst of the swear words here too, though for reasons unknown to me!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3007" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T12:00:11.423" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7207" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-21T12:07:14.157" Score="0" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to ask you about some tips, advices to writing tutorial in English. I know that tutorial is like instruction, so I need to write it in simple tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3008" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-21T12:15:16.217" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T15:11:25.363" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-21T18:00:29.290" ClosedDate="2011-01-28T15:33:21.420" Title="Advices and tips for writing tutorial in English" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7191" CreationDate="2010-12-21T12:55:21.870" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it will be &quot;In the cloud...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;example:&#xA;&quot; things &lt;strong&gt;in the cloud&lt;/strong&gt; are very impressive..... &quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3009" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T12:55:21.870" />
  <row Id="7209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6411" CreationDate="2010-12-21T14:13:29.450" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some sounds aren't used in different languages.&#xA;In Dutch it is pronounced [u]; it's a 'pure' sound, which isn't used in any English word I know. In German, however, it is pronounced as [ou] similar to &quot;you&quot;, without the y. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Alex points out, the pronunciation of the letter &quot;A&quot; must have evolved. But again, in Dutch, we pronounce it as [ah].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When exactly it was decided that it would be pronounced as such, I do not know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T14:13:29.450" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7139" CreationDate="2010-12-21T14:32:21.187" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As all good sayings do, it comes from a sailor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following is an excerpt from &lt;em&gt;Memoirs of Serjeant Paul Swanston: being a narrative of a soldier's life, in barracks, ships, camps, battles, and captivity on sea and land; with notices of the most adventurous of his comrades.&lt;/em&gt; (no, that's really the full name of the book), first published in 1818.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In quick time they were at the wine-pipe; for a moment the new hands seemed at a loss for the means of getting the wine to their mouths; but the &quot;wide-a-awake&quot; boy sliped (sic) off one of his shoes in a twinkling, dipped it into the cask and drank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Drink, you devils, drink!&quot; he said; &quot;its all one how much you drink, only don't get drunk!&quot; And again he filled his shoe, and again he drank. The previous debauch in connexion with the new, soon tumbled him on the ground; and he lay there gradually sinking into stupidity; but, as he took his leave of consciousness, he admonished the others to take care of themselves; to take as much as they could rightly carry; but not to get drunk, saying, as he sunk lower and lower himself, &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Fill your boots, boys—fill your boots!&lt;/strong&gt; Give me one small drop in a shoe to make me well again, for I'm— I'm—.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Alas, poor humanity! There lay in the deepest degradation, as good a fighting soldier, and, when he could not get drink, as cleanly and active a fellow as ever the English army possessed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't think of anything more exemplary of gusto than a sailor getting blind stinking drunk out of his shoe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read the full text &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=qMQ4AAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA66&amp;amp;dq=%22fill+your+boots%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=LbYQTcXWBMH88AbypMTFDQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=5&amp;amp;ved=0CDkQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22fill%20your%20boots%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3018" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-21T14:47:11.670" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T14:47:11.670" />
  <row Id="7211" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7254" CreationDate="2010-12-21T14:46:50.740" Score="1" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since I used to study by myself, could you please write down any good resource for people like me who want to pass the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ets.org/toefl/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TOEFL test&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your help is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2503" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T00:04:40.670" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T00:39:20.307" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-21T18:01:04.593" Title="List of good resources for TOEFL preparation?" Tags="&lt;test&gt;&lt;toefl&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="7212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7207" CreationDate="2010-12-21T15:11:25.363" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The key to writing in English is reading in English...I'd spend three fourths of my time reading and one fourth writing. Find an interesting news story and rewrite it in your own words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T15:11:25.363" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-21T18:00:29.290" />
  <row Id="7213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7186" CreationDate="2010-12-21T15:34:11.687" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my English class (I'm German), I learned that it is called &quot;&lt;em&gt;a pair of trousers&lt;/em&gt;&quot;. Maybe it is the same for those &quot;shoes&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2864" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T15:34:11.687" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6902" CreationDate="2010-12-21T16:04:13.413" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=netrovert&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Urban Dictionary&quot;&gt;Netrovert&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T16:04:13.413" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7215" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7217" CreationDate="2010-12-21T16:39:25.397" Score="3" ViewCount="354" Body="&lt;p&gt;My wife always gives me a hard time when I say scissors; she insists the only correct way to refer to that cutting device is &quot;pair of scissors&quot;. Is &quot;pair of scissors&quot; more correct than &quot;scissors&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="216" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-21T16:43:37.873" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T23:10:11.710" Title="&quot;Scissors&quot; vs &quot;Pair of Scissors&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7215" CreationDate="2010-12-21T16:44:11.413" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does she also complain that your pair of shoes don't match your pair of pants?  Or that your pair of socks need to be darned?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as we needn't refer to the above using &lt;em&gt;pair of&lt;/em&gt;, there's nothing wrong with referring to a &lt;em&gt;pair of scissors&lt;/em&gt; as simply &lt;em&gt;scissors&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T16:44:11.413" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7215" CreationDate="2010-12-21T17:00:32.023" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;em&gt;scissors&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;pair of scissors&lt;/em&gt; are correct; one is not more correct than the other. The context will usually determine where &lt;em&gt;pair&lt;/em&gt; can be left out, and indeed, most simply leave it out where possible. Consider the following examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Darling, where are the scissors?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I can't find the scissors!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Who took the scissors?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the above examples, one would rarely find &lt;em&gt;pair&lt;/em&gt; used in those contexts. It is also colloquial to use &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; to refer to just one pair:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You need some scissors to do a perfect job.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I want some new scissors.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above forms should not be used in formal situations. Thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You need a pair of scissors to do a perfect job.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I want a new pair of scissors.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some situations, &lt;em&gt;pair&lt;/em&gt; comes in handy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I lost the scissors. We need to get a new pair.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can't find your scissors? Want a new pair?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one does not want to use &lt;em&gt;pair&lt;/em&gt;, then one can also use &lt;em&gt;ones&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I lost the scissors. We need to get new ones.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can't find your scissors? Want new ones?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similar &quot;&lt;em&gt;pair&lt;/em&gt;&quot; words follow the same pattern. These are some common examples, not an exhaustive list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Workshop/Gardening/Household tools: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;calipers/callipers&lt;/em&gt; (Mostly &lt;em&gt;caliper&lt;/em&gt; these days!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;clippers&lt;/em&gt; (Also &lt;em&gt;clipper&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;compasses &lt;/em&gt; (Although, increasingly, this is now simply called &lt;em&gt;compass&lt;/em&gt;!!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;forceps&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;pliers&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;secateurs&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;shears&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;tongs&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Optical instruments/devices:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;binoculars &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;glasses/spectacles&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;goggles&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clothing worn below the waist:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;breeches&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;leggings&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;long johns&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;jeans&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;jodhpurs&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;pants/trousers&lt;/em&gt; (including all varieties, such as &lt;em&gt;khakis&lt;/em&gt;, and the like)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;shorts&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;tights&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;trunks&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;underpants/pants&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Singular items (mostly worn) that usually come in pairs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;chopsticks&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;earrings&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;gloves&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;sandals&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;shoes&lt;/em&gt; (and all footwear types)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;socks&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;stockings&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One word that I do not think &quot;&lt;em&gt;pair&lt;/em&gt;&quot; is ever used with, even though they come in pairs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;buttocks&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T23:10:11.710" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T23:10:11.710" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3348" CreationDate="2010-12-21T17:05:42.400" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the best choice would be OSes.  Here's my argument:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not convinced that being an acronym is of any signifcance here. I believe that the fact that it ends in 'S' is what's important.  If we were talking about Political Action Committees and wanted to use its acronym in plural form, we would say PACs.  I don't think there would be much debate.  So, to support my answer, I'm thinking of the family name 'Jones'.  Now take the sentence, &quot;The Joneses attending the party traveled from different parts of the country.&quot;  The plural, not possessive, of Jones is Joneses.  I'm not completely sure but I think there's some gramatical rule about a noun in its singular form that ends in 's' is made plural by adding 'es' to the end.  So, I vote for OSes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3023" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T17:05:42.400" />
  <row Id="7219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6202" CreationDate="2010-12-21T17:21:01.197" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;American speaker here - &lt;code&gt;crossroadses&lt;/code&gt; is most definitely a fluke.  I can possibly see how someone might use that spelling as a joke, perhaps as a form of 'baby talk', but outside of that it is not an acceptable form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T17:21:01.197" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7211" CreationDate="2010-12-21T17:27:13.513" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best resource for TOEFL iBT Test preparation is the official &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0071624058&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ETS&lt;/a&gt; guide. If you want more material, you could look into those provided by &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1419550276&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kaplan&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0764143689&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Barron's&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0375429743&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Princeton Review&lt;/a&gt;. Those are the best out there, I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-21T17:33:01.200" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T17:33:01.200" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-21T18:01:04.593" />
  <row Id="7221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6588" CreationDate="2010-12-21T17:34:17.313" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think of English as primarily a spoken language.  We spoke for a long time before we began to record.  Spelling &lt;em&gt;rules&lt;/em&gt; are a relatively new phenomenon.  We have a large number of sounds, partly because we have borrowed so many words from other languages.  If we attempted to have a different letter/letter combination for each sound, the written form would be unwieldy at best.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2987" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T17:34:17.313" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7177" CreationDate="2010-12-21T17:39:03.520" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something I didn't see mentioned in the other answers is that the use of &quot;I&quot; you described is partially English-specific, in that there are languages in which the word for &quot;I&quot; can often be omitted due to inflected verb forms. Thus, in some languages, the repetition of first-person singular verbs can be less conspicuous because you don't end up with the same word beginning every sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mainly for this reason, I'm pretty indifferent about this particular style issue; that is, it generally doesn't bother me, and I'm not led to believe that the writer is egocentric, unless there are other signs of this personality trait.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way we experience life is subjective, so there is a natural tendency to say things like &quot;I had no idea that...&quot; because we wish to share experiences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some general thoughts that may or may not be useful to you -- I find these style guidelines to be the most important, in no particular order: (1) Write in a way that is appropriate for your intended audience. (2) Write in a way that &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; find interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reasoning: (1) Reaching a target audience indicates good communication skills. (2) Having a well developed sense of personal standards indicates substance/character/ownership.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2717" LastEditorUserId="2717" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T08:52:29.567" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T08:52:29.567" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7223" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7224" CreationDate="2010-12-21T18:18:30.433" Score="5" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;A joke goes like this: A friend at work had an unusual dental related problem recently. About a month ago he had to have a small steel plate inserted in his mouth. A week later he noticed the plate was starting to rust. The dentist asked him if he had a change in his eating or drinking habits that may have caused the problem. My friend explained that he had tried hollandaise sauce for the first time recently and liked it so much he put it on everything. The dentist advised that the solution was to remove the steel plate and replace it with a chrome plate. When my friend asked why chrome the dentist replied, &quot;There is no plate like chrome for the hollandaise!&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does the punch line mean, and why is it funny?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2578" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T06:34:50.867" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T06:34:50.867" Title="What does the joke with the punchline about Chrome and Hollandaise mean, and why is it funny?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;fun&gt;&lt;pop-culture&gt;&lt;jokes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7223" CreationDate="2010-12-21T18:22:44.137" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a pun. &quot;There is no &lt;em&gt;plate&lt;/em&gt; like &lt;em&gt;chrome&lt;/em&gt; for the &lt;em&gt;hollandaise&lt;/em&gt;&quot; sounds like &quot;There is no &lt;em&gt;place&lt;/em&gt; like &lt;em&gt;home&lt;/em&gt; for the &lt;em&gt;holidays&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-21T18:59:03.657" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T18:59:03.657" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7093" CreationDate="2010-12-21T19:02:20.997" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A better question might be why isn't there a comma like such: &quot;Shit, I didn't want it to come down to this...&quot; The proper use of an interjection is either [interjection], [clause] or [interjection]! [clause] depending on severity. As for the [comma] too format, it seems to be a matter of style rather than a hard rule of grammar. &quot;Too&quot; is used almost like a conjunctive adverb; thus, separating it from the main clause with a comma seems like a natural choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3026" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T19:02:20.997" />
  <row Id="7227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7215" CreationDate="2010-12-21T19:22:48.943" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;pair of&quot; construction is useful when trying to refer to multiple scissors. &quot;Pairs of scissors&quot; is much more elegant than &quot;many scissors,&quot; &quot;those two scissors,&quot; etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3026" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T19:22:48.943" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7228" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7229" CreationDate="2010-12-21T19:58:16.373" Score="2" ViewCount="500" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to figure out what the correct spacing is for using a slash in a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example the question: &quot;How do you deal with characters leveling up too quickly for the module, due to side-quests/random encounters?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does one put a space before and after the slash&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;word / word&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or do you not put any spaces?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;word/word&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is the answer something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2805" LastEditorUserId="2805" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T03:51:47.677" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T03:51:47.677" Title="Does one use spacing before and after a / slash in a sentence?" Tags="&lt;slash&gt;&lt;spacing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7228" CreationDate="2010-12-21T20:05:05.790" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In print I would leave no space, but for online usage I bracket the &quot;/&quot; with spaces because it is a non-breaking character and results in huge, clunky amalgamations that take up a whole line, leaving the previous line with but a couple of words. This is the kind of break I mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;If you wanted to use some long words, you could &#xA;go the &#xA;antidisestablishmentarianism/pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis&#xA;route.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two long words won't break at a line end because of the slash, but will if the slash is surrounded by spaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T20:05:05.790" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7228" CreationDate="2010-12-21T20:06:53.693" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the correct usage is word/word unless you're writing a line break in a poem:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate: / Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, / And summer's lease hath all too short a date: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1612" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T20:06:53.693" />
  <row Id="7231" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7234" CreationDate="2010-12-21T20:08:18.860" Score="4" ViewCount="279" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was learning SQL, I remember reading that it should be pronounced just like the word &lt;em&gt;sequel&lt;/em&gt;; however, I worked with a bunch of techs who seemed to prefer S-Q-L. Is there a proper convention for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3026" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T09:38:45.770" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T13:24:52.063" Title="How is SQL pronounced?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7067" CreationDate="2010-12-21T20:16:32.763" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think this example is future tense, because it is a description of the current state of the software (per the comment that a user tried the software and reported this error). The software doesn't transfer files at this moment, but it is expected that it should. The use of &lt;code&gt;will not&lt;/code&gt; here &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_modal_verb#Shall_and_will&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;indicates the modality&lt;/a&gt;. (Note: futurity may or may not be implied, as the software probably won't transfer files in the future as well).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T20:16:32.763" />
  <row Id="7233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7228" CreationDate="2010-12-21T20:28:58.180" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Punctuation surrounding a slash is a matter of style. The Chicago Manual of Style, for example, allows for a space on either side of the slash when either of the separated items has a space itself. For your example a space on either side of the slash would be appropriate according to that style convention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding line breaks, you probably want the front space padding the slash to be a non-breaking space, as starting a new line with a slash would be jolting for a reader.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3026" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T20:28:58.180" />
  <row Id="7234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7231" CreationDate="2010-12-21T20:36:46.170" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first version/draft of &lt;strong&gt;SQL&lt;/strong&gt; was in fact called &lt;strong&gt;Structured English Query Language&lt;/strong&gt; and the acronym was &lt;strong&gt;SEQUEL&lt;/strong&gt;. Due to trademark violations on the acronym, the name was changed to &lt;strong&gt;Standard Query Language&lt;/strong&gt; and abbreviated as SQL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it was intended to be pronounced as SEQUEL at first. Nowadays it's a matter of preference. There is no standard set for it (yet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some urban legends say that the &lt;strong&gt;Standard Query Language&lt;/strong&gt; was actually a &lt;em&gt;sequel&lt;/em&gt; to the previous &lt;em&gt;Query Language&lt;/em&gt; and that the SQL acronym is intended to be pronounced as &lt;em&gt;sequel&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T20:36:46.170" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7235" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-21T20:54:40.320" Score="4" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people use a term for a popular special case in place of a generic term.  (Often this popular special case is a particular product in that category.)  I think that this is a common phenomenon.  Is there any word/phrase for it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, “Coke” officially refers to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Coca-Cola&lt;/a&gt; (I think), but some people seem to call any carbonated soft drinks “Coke.”  In Japanese, &lt;em&gt;famikon&lt;/em&gt; is the Japanese name for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)&lt;/a&gt;, a video game console which was extremely popular in 1980s and early 1990s, but some Japanese people call any video game console &lt;em&gt;famikon&lt;/em&gt; even if it is not really a &lt;em&gt;famikon&lt;/em&gt;.  (As an aside, calling a video game console &lt;em&gt;famikon&lt;/em&gt; when it is not really a &lt;em&gt;famikon&lt;/em&gt; is even a stereotype of a “mother unfamiliar with technology” in Japan.)  I am looking for a term which refers to this kind of usage of words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1755" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T00:57:13.507" Title="What is a word/phrase for using a term for a popular special case instead of a generic term?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7235" CreationDate="2010-12-21T21:03:16.293" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the correct term is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/proprietary_eponym&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;proprietary eponym&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/genericized_trademark&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;genericized trademark&lt;/a&gt; depending on whether the company retains the trademark or not, respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T21:03:16.293" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7235" CreationDate="2010-12-21T21:10:44.663" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps I'm misunderstanding, but I believe they're called &lt;strong&gt;genericized trademarks&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It basically means people are using trademarked names as a descriptor for products that are &lt;em&gt;similar&lt;/em&gt; to the original branded product. A very prominent example of this is Google/Googling. Other examples include Kleenex, Aspirin and Sharpie. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not entirely sure if the &quot;coke&quot; example exactly fits in since the generic term is different from the brand. The Japanese game consoles are a good example of genericized trademarks though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genericized_trademark&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Further reading&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T21:10:44.663" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7231" CreationDate="2010-12-21T21:17:17.883" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the Computer Contradictionary (Stan Kelly-Bootle, MIT Press, 1995), &quot;those pronouncing SQL as \ess-kew-ell\ rather than \sequel\ are instantly revealed as charlatans incapable of confuting the six and seventy jarring normal forms. Those who have really suffered are allowed to say \squeal\ &quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T21:17:17.883" />
  <row Id="7239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4590" CreationDate="2010-12-21T21:19:48.453" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd argue that all of your examples are interjection phrases that should be punctuated as you have them in your examples. Consider the phrase &quot;I'm sorry&quot; in your first example. In context it isn't an independent clause. Alone, the sentence &quot;I'm sorry&quot; mean that you are remorseful; however, in the context of the example sentence, &quot;I'm sorry&quot; means something like &lt;em&gt;I may be speaking out of line, but...&lt;/em&gt;. This is a dependent clause! In your second example, you could equivalently say: hell, you only live once. The punctuation is obvious when writing it like this. The last example is an exchange of pleasantries, such as: hello, it's a pleasure to meet you. That &quot;you're welcome&quot; is three words shouldn't change how you'd punctuate the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3026" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T21:19:48.453" />
  <row Id="7240" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-21T21:23:44.377" Score="5" ViewCount="233" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a word or phrase to describe technical writing that &lt;em&gt;is quick to read&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some technical writing is so clear and concise, even a novice at the material will find himself flying through it.  For lack of a better word let's call this &quot;good&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some technical writing &lt;em&gt;is slow to read&lt;/em&gt;, not only because the subject matter, but &lt;em&gt;also&lt;/em&gt; by virtue of the way the writer chooses to express himself, and by virtue of the &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; words he uses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess you might call it &quot;clunky&quot;, but I want a better word than that.  I want to call it &quot;sludgy&quot; writing because you tend to get stuck in it, and can end up in a loop, reading the same words over and over.  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We shall distinguish between two perspectives on rotations in the plane, and shall determine the effect which each has on coordinates of points in the plane. The first is rotation of the coordinate frame with respect to fixed points (vectors) in the plane; the second is rotation of points (vectors) with respect to a fixed coordinate frame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not so much that this writing is hard to &lt;em&gt;understand&lt;/em&gt; — an expert in the field will read through it and understand it on the first take.  &lt;em&gt;But&lt;/em&gt;, the following puts the same information in a format that is &lt;em&gt;faster&lt;/em&gt; to read for the expert, and easier to understand for the first-time reader:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are two different types of planar rotation that we shall now discuss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A rotation of the actual coordinate frame with respect to fixed points in the plane.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A rotation of the points with respect to a fixed coordinate frame.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There has to be a word for writing that &lt;em&gt;&quot;reads fast because it's very clear, has no gimmicks, and isn't unnecessarily flowery&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2210" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-21T22:28:40.400" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T17:24:04.163" Title="Word or phrase for writing that &quot;reads fast&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="10" />
  <row Id="7241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7240" CreationDate="2010-12-21T21:28:07.543" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/concise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;concise&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;marked by brevity of expression or statement : free from all elaboration and superfluous detail &amp;lt;a concise report&amp;gt; &amp;lt;a concise definition&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/succinct?show=0&amp;amp;t=1292966997&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;succinct&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;marked by compact precise expression without wasted words &amp;lt;a succinct description&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Or, as Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/succinct&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;defines it&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;brief and to the point; having characteristics of both brevity and clarity&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T21:28:07.543" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7242" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7282" CreationDate="2010-12-21T21:28:36.090" Score="2" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been a bit busy recently; too busy to give this website the attention it warrants. In fact, I said to myself yesterday, I have been running around like a blue-arsed fly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I stopped to think: why a blue-arsed fly? Is there such a creature? There are many things called red-headed, red-tailed, red-legged, red-breasted and so on, but none I have heard of named for the colour of their posterior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, why would one &quot;run around&quot; like a fly of any sort?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone shed some light on the matter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T22:10:37.687" Title="Why does one run around like a blue-arsed fly?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7231" CreationDate="2010-12-21T21:28:47.397" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either.  You say potato, I say pough-tagh-toe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2210" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T21:28:47.397" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7240" CreationDate="2010-12-21T21:33:06.757" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading The Vicar of Wakefield the other day, in an edition where, in the dialogue, different speakers didn't start a new paragraph. The effect was quite exhausting, so I would nominate &lt;em&gt;breathless&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T21:33:06.757" />
  <row Id="7246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7240" CreationDate="2010-12-21T21:43:06.247" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;digestible? It's more focused on the comprehension aspect than the speed aspect, so you might need to modify it with something like 'easily' or 'readily'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2953" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T21:43:06.247" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7242" CreationDate="2010-12-21T21:43:23.683" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seems like a bit of a mixed metaphor. &lt;em&gt;Run around&lt;/em&gt; is a common expression meaning to be busy, frantic, or otherwise getting the runaround. But to emphasize how much one is running around, we turn to metaphor. The fly in question is apparently a blue bottle fly, which buzzes around rather frantically, like someone who is running around busily doing errands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3026" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T21:43:23.683" />
  <row Id="7248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7037" CreationDate="2010-12-21T21:52:50.947" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the word you're looking for is redundant. In the phrase &lt;em&gt;VIP person&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;person&quot; is &lt;strong&gt;redundant&lt;/strong&gt; because it is already implied by VIP. It is not a synonym. A synonym for VIP might be dignitary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3026" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T21:52:50.947" />
  <row Id="7249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4659" CreationDate="2010-12-21T21:57:59.837" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you mean use of words or meanings that are outdated, you might be looking for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/archaic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;archaic&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3026" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T21:57:59.837" />
  <row Id="7250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7025" CreationDate="2010-12-21T22:32:33.113" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hope I can help here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question is 'Odd Pricing'. There are several reasons quoted for how it came about, including the psychological effect, but also to combat theft by shop workers who have to open the till to give a small amount of change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Price Points' were mentioned above, but this is something else. This is where you describe different options for a purchase using it's price. For example you could buy a $400 laptop computer, a $600 one, or a $800 one. These are price points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read a bit more about pricing on our website - www.wellmeadow.co.uk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;David Parry&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3032" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T22:32:33.113" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2537" CreationDate="2010-12-21T23:02:37.140" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both with and without the 's' seems to be common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I buy 20 &lt;em&gt;kilos&lt;/em&gt; of cement. It comes in a 20 &lt;em&gt;kilo&lt;/em&gt; bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Australia, the abbreviation for kilometre tends to be 'k'. One does a 5 &lt;em&gt;K&lt;/em&gt; run. Sydney is a thousand &lt;em&gt;Ks&lt;/em&gt; away from Melbourne.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another common abreviation is mill, short for millimetre. From common use, it can be used with or without an 's'.  There is a 5 &lt;em&gt;mill&lt;/em&gt; gap. Draw a line 5 &lt;em&gt;mills&lt;/em&gt; long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T23:02:37.140" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7235" CreationDate="2010-12-21T23:03:30.793" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with &lt;em&gt;proprietary eponym&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;genericized trademark&lt;/em&gt; and have given +1 to the other answers. These both fall under the more general term &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synecdoche&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;synecdoche&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2717" LastEditorUserId="2717" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T00:57:13.507" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T00:57:13.507" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2537" CreationDate="2010-12-21T23:37:02.553" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of these words are prefixes for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering_notation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;engineering notation&lt;/a&gt;, a form of scientific notation used to represent numbers to the most significant magnitude group of ten to the power of a multiple of three - all derived from appropriate greek words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;kilo-&lt;/em&gt; is perhaps the most commonly encountered so the plural &lt;em&gt;kilos&lt;/em&gt; is in common use, whereas the others are not so much.  As the other prefixes are encountered more, they are coming in to use, &lt;em&gt;megs&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;gigs&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;teras&lt;/em&gt; - these large numbers coming in via space storage in computing making them mainstream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The smaller units do not seem to have spawned the same usage.  &lt;em&gt;micros&lt;/em&gt; has a use independent of its prefix, as the word &lt;em&gt;micro&lt;/em&gt; has an alternative meaning; perhaps this clash prevents the use.  I have heard &lt;em&gt;nanos&lt;/em&gt; used in science fiction to refer to nanoscopic robots, otherwise it has not been adapted yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Theoretically all the plurals are valid for derivation in the long term, it just takes time for the words to be accepted in the mainstream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2010-12-21T23:37:02.553" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7211" CreationDate="2010-12-22T00:18:15.987" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've done an academic IELTS a while back, which far as I understand is pretty much almost the same as TOEFL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing I found out was that you can't really prepare. It's so general and tests your English so thoroughly that it's not like a normal exam that you can cram for. Just make sure your general English is up to snuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Write a few essays and have them proof-read by a native. Try to have a lot of phone (or similar) conversations with natives and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I passed with a general score of 7.5 (I was just out of High School then, my English has improved :P) and by far the worst score I got was in speaking. I will maintain to the end of the earth that this was because of a misunderstanding I had with the woman testing me. I was explaining to her how genetic engineering isn't bad and she thought I misunderstood her question ... but a large part was also played by the fact I very rarely get the chance to actually &lt;em&gt;speak&lt;/em&gt; English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yeah, my general advice would be to just go out and do as much stuff in English as you can. Don't try to cram for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: if more data would help assessing the validity of my advice -&gt; I'm natively Slavic and had been learning English for 10 years before taking the IELTS&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2929" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T00:39:20.307" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T00:39:20.307" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-22T00:18:15.987" />
  <row Id="7255" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7263" CreationDate="2010-12-22T01:10:15.127" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;What would you call: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;latex (a type setter)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;MS Word (a word processor)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;iWork Pages (a word processor)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;latex&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;MS Word&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;iWork Pages&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Powerpoint&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Excel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a term for these programs? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2356" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T04:13:14.767" Title="What is a word processor and a type setter? (and a &quot;powerpoint&quot; type program)" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7256" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-22T01:44:40.357" Score="5" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need help on finding words relating to the senses/perception. I mean this in a neuronic/biological or philosophy-of-mind kind of way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A word for...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pertaining to the senses (Is it &lt;em&gt;sensory&lt;/em&gt;?) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pertaining to vision (&lt;em&gt;ocular&lt;/em&gt;?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pertaining to smell (&lt;em&gt;olfactoric&lt;/em&gt;?) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pertaining to taste    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pertaining to sound &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pertaining to touch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;unable to smell &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;unable to taste    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;unable to feel/touch &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;unable to perceive (&lt;em&gt;unconscious&lt;/em&gt;?) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(unable to see: &lt;em&gt;blind&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(unable to hear: &lt;em&gt;deaf&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3035" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T14:02:38.657" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T19:17:25.470" Title="Pertaining to the Senses" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7257" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7259" CreationDate="2010-12-22T02:24:13.410" Score="6" ViewCount="300" Body="&lt;p&gt;Newspaper/news article headlines usually have different syntax rules, for example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No copula. &lt;em&gt;North Korea trip 'successful'&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Past events written in present. &lt;em&gt;Qantas cancels flight out of frozen Heathrow&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Predictions written with infinitive. &lt;em&gt;Britain's 'crossbow cannibal' to die in jail&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Very often not in complete sentence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No indefinite/definite articles. &lt;em&gt;Ivory Coast Faction Squeezes UN Force&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using a comma instead of &quot;and&quot;. &lt;em&gt;Romania, Bulgaria face delay in joining Schengen.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why these rules and are there any other rules?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1199" LastEditorUserId="1199" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T16:53:52.587" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T16:53:52.587" Title="What's with syntax in newspaper headlines?" Tags="&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;journalism&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="7258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4590" CreationDate="2010-12-22T02:25:13.133" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The basic statement that independent sentences are not to be connected by commas is disputed. Fowler, of all stylists, calls it superstition; he mentions several factors that may or may not be enough to warrant comma splices: short sentences, a strong link in thought, and the use of certain conjunctions that allow comma linking more than others. Perhaps there were other factors too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T02:25:13.133" />
  <row Id="7259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7257" CreationDate="2010-12-22T02:33:41.487" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is called ellipsis, omitting words that can be inferred. Journalists use such strong ellipsis because they want compact headlines. The present tense is used here to make a story seem more &quot;actual&quot;, more lively: that is called the historic present. Besides this liveliness, the fact that it is often shorter is practical for journalists. The rules for ellipsis are, as far as I know, no more specific than that, in a headline, anything that can be easily inferred may be left out. Sometimes journalists leave out too much, confusing the reader.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T02:33:41.487" />
  <row Id="7260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7175" CreationDate="2010-12-22T02:51:28.540" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a figure of style known since Antiquity, called hendiadys, &quot;one through two&quot;: two parallel nominal words are used to express a single idea, which would ordinarily be expressed by a &quot;head&quot; word and an attribute. There is no reason for this phenomenon but style.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendiadys&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendiadys&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T02:51:28.540" />
  <row Id="7261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7256" CreationDate="2010-12-22T03:12:12.127" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Words relating to the &quot;senses/perception&quot; in a &quot;neuronic/biological&quot; context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;pertaining to the senses: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/sensory&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;sensory&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;pertaining to vision: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/ocular&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;ocular&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/optic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;optic&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/visual&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;visual&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;pertaining to smell: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/olfactory&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;olfactory&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;pertaining to taste: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/gustatory&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;gustatory&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;pertaining to sound/hearing: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/auditory&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;auditory&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/aural&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;aural&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/acoustic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;acoustic&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;pertaining to touch: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/tactile&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;tactile&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/tactual&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;tactual&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/haptic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;haptic&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;unable to feel/touch: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=11292&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;anaptic&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;unable to smell: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/anosmic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;anosmic&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;unable to taste: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/ageusic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;ageusic&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;unable to perceive: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/insentient&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;insentient&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/unconscious&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;unconscious&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; or other pertinent synonym&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*&lt;em&gt; All but two of the links take you to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;, so you can confirm the definitions. My search for &quot;anosmic&quot; and &quot;ageusic&quot; took me to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Diseases&lt;/a&gt;. Finally, I found the root of &quot;anaptic&quot; (&quot;aphia&quot;) on this page, which happens to have a host of other words you might find useful (some of which are already in this list): &lt;a href=&quot;http://dubinweb.com/brain/a2.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Terms for Cognitive, Behavioral and Neurologic Disorders&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T19:17:25.470" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T19:17:25.470" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7125" CreationDate="2010-12-22T03:18:20.420" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kosmonaut seems to be spot on: semantics are absolutely necessary for tracing back personal pronouns to their antecedents. Sentences 1 and 2 are perfectly acceptable in formal and informal English, both old and new. The same applies to most other Indo-European languages. I'd like to add that it is important to distinguish between the different kinds of pronouns; relative pronouns, for example, have an unmistakable syntactic link to their respective antecedents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A. I gave some bananas to the women, who were rather hungry. (Standard.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B. I gave some bananas to the women, which were larger than expected. (Somewhat bumpy, but I'd say still acceptable, because the distance between pronoun and antecedent is short, and because the pronoun &quot;which&quot; is restricted to inanimate objects.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;C. I gave the bananas to the monkeys that were there. (Somewhat ambiguous, but, lacking strong semantic clues, the reader will not have much doubt that &quot;that&quot; refers to the monkeys. In speech, the use of accents could make the pronoun a bit more flexible.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;D.*I gave the bananas quickly, before the storm reached the forest, to the friendly but fastidious monkeys that I had kept stored in the freezer. (Impossible, because the distance between bananas and &quot;that&quot; is far too great.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T03:18:20.420" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="7263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7255" CreationDate="2010-12-22T04:13:14.767" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;LaTeX&lt;/em&gt; : While LaTeX can be loosely called a typesetting program/system, it is officially a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.latex-project.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;document preparation system&lt;/a&gt; and technically a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;document markup language&lt;/a&gt; based on TeX, which is the actual &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tug.org/begin.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;typesetting program/system/language&lt;/a&gt; behind LaTeX. However, you will find TeX and LaTeX used interchangeably in most situations.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;iWork Pages&lt;/em&gt; : This is a word processor or desktop publishing/productivity (DTP) program/software.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;MS Word&lt;/em&gt; : This is indeed a word processor; could also be DTP&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Powerpoint/Keynote&lt;/em&gt; : Presentation software/programs; also desktop productivity tools.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Excel&lt;/em&gt; : Spreadsheet program/package&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put together, programs in the Office or iWork suite can be generally referred to as office productivity/desktop productivity/desktop publishing programs or tools.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T04:13:14.767" />
  <row Id="7264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7132" CreationDate="2010-12-22T04:34:09.290" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I may quote &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=c-9ZAAAAMAAJ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;George Carlin&lt;/a&gt; again:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;First of all, I say &quot;black.&quot; I say &quot;black&quot; because most people prefer&#xA;  &quot;black.&quot; I don't say &quot;people of color.&quot; People of color sounds like&#xA;  something you see when you're on mushrooms. Besides, the use of people&#xA;  of color is dishonest. It means precisely the same as colored people.&#xA;  If you're not willing to say &quot;colored people,&quot; you shouldn't be saying&#xA;  &quot;people of color.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Besides, the whole idea of color is bullshit anyway. What should we call&#xA;  white people? &quot;People of no color&quot;? Isn't pink a color? In fact, white&#xA;  people are not really white at all, they're different shades of pink,&#xA;  olive, and beige. In other words, they're colored. And black people are&#xA;  rarely black. I see mostly different shades of brown and tan. In fact, some&#xA;  light-skinned black people are lighter than the darkest white people. Look&#xA;  how dark the people in India are. They're dark brown, but they're&#xA;  considered white people. What's going on here? May I see the color chart?&#xA;  &quot;People of color&quot; is an awkward, bullshit, liberal-guilt phrase that&#xA;  obscures meaning rather than enhancing it. Shall we call fat people, &quot;people&#xA;  of size&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I also don't say &quot;African-American.&quot; I find it completely illogical, and&#xA;  furthermore it's confusing. Which part of Africa are we talking about? What&#xA;  about Egypt? Egypt is in Africa. Egyptians aren't black. They're like&#xA;  the people in India, they're dark brown white people. But they're&#xA;  Africans. So why wouldn't an Egyptian who becomes a U.S. citizen be an&#xA;  African-American?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The same thing goes for the Republic of South Africa. Suppose a white&#xA;  racist from South Africa becomes an American citizen? Well, first of all&#xA;  he'd find plenty of company, but couldn't he also be called an&#xA;  African-American? It seems to me that a racist white South African guy could&#xA;  come here and call himself African-American just to piss off&#xA;  black people. And, by the way, what about a black person born in South&#xA;  Africa who moves here and becomes a citizen? What is he? An African-South&#xA;  African-American? Or a South African-African-American?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All right, back to this hemisphere. How about a black woman who is a&#xA;  citizen of Jamaica? According to P.C. doctrine, she's an African-American,&#xA;  right? But if she becomes a U.S. citizen, she's Jamaican-American. And&#xA;  yet if one of these language crusaders saw her on the street, he'd think she&#xA;  was an African-American. ... It's just so much liberal bullshit.&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Labels divide people. We need fewer labels, not more.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(emphasis mine)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T04:34:09.290" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7265" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7269" CreationDate="2010-12-22T04:55:59.990" Score="2" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for comparative/superlative versions of &lt;strong&gt;versatile&lt;/strong&gt; - synonyms which should mean &quot;more versatile&quot; and &quot;extremely versatile&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the background:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over on &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/72507/new-badge-idea-versatile-related-to-stack-flair&quot;&gt;meta.so&lt;/a&gt;, I've proposed a new 3-tiered badge for users who have high rep across multiple SE sites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At bronze I'd call it &lt;code&gt;Versatile&lt;/code&gt;.&#xA;Can't think of titles for Silver and Gold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only have &quot;Multifaceted&quot; and &quot;All-rounder&quot; right now. &#xA;Any other suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1798" LastEditorUserId="1798" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T06:13:14.010" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T06:18:48.457" Title="Superlative version or synonym of &quot;Versatile&quot;" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="979" CreationDate="2010-12-22T05:09:01.927" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English writers avoid explicit numerals in text to maintain consistency, which is a chief goal in any written work. How/why is consistency maintained by avoiding explicit numerals? Two answers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;According to my dictionary (New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd Ed), one definition of &lt;em&gt;text&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;blockquote&gt;written or printed &lt;em&gt;words&lt;/em&gt;...&lt;/blockquote&gt; Numerals are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; words. Thus, using them in text creates an inconsistency that many writers would like to avoid.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The numerals are &lt;em&gt;Arabic&lt;/em&gt; and if the text is to be consistently in &lt;em&gt;English&lt;/em&gt;, they must be strictly avoided within the body of the text. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I must note that writers of scientific articles, news articles, and other texts where numbers are important, use Arabic numerals within text at will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T05:09:01.927" />
  <row Id="7267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1613" CreationDate="2010-12-22T05:14:23.717" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When speaking &quot;pronounceable&quot; foreign words, keep their foreign pronunciation.  If they have sounds that do not occur in the English language, they should be pronounced as English-speakers have agreed to bastardize them.  VERY common Anglicized words should take the audience into account.  I'd sound like a pretentious twit talking to small children about places they don't recognize because I don't use the pronunciations they know.  I'd sound like an uneducated boor using those (easier?) pronunciations in a room full of academics.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2987" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T05:14:23.717" />
  <row Id="7268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7132" CreationDate="2010-12-22T05:30:38.757" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think we really ought to leave that up to the people we're assigning the label to to judge. A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gallup.com/poll/28816/Black-African-American.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2007 Gallup poll&lt;/a&gt; among, uhm... African/Black Americans suggests that when asked 'which term they prefer', most (61%) don't care either way, 25% prefer 'African American' and 13% 'black'. That's a 6 point increase from 1991 for 'African American' and a similar decrease for 'black'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The term 'African American' appears to have &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=xoZ0POyF2YkC&amp;amp;pg=PA86&amp;amp;lpg=PA86&amp;amp;dq=jesse+jackson+african+american+cultural+base&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=nEFSRzdT4Z&amp;amp;sig=oQ2lSr7NwQtkRTBDzLrv-c9WFIU&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=blsOSqudNOawtgfcu_iGCA&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=7#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=jesse%20jackson%20african%20american%20cultural%20base&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;won acceptance in the 80ies&lt;/a&gt; after Jesse Jackson began to use it, rather than the other proposal 'Afro American'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2953" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T05:30:38.757" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7265" CreationDate="2010-12-22T05:51:24.900" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;polymath&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Da Vinci&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Renaissance Man (Person?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;homo universalis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;swiss army knife&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;protean&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2717" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T05:51:24.900" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="7270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7265" CreationDate="2010-12-22T05:52:41.103" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Beyond inventing a word like &quot;versatilitudinous&quot;, the best ideas I can come up with are &quot;multitalented&quot;, &quot;well-rounded&quot;, and &quot;Jack-of-all-trades&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T05:52:41.103" />
  <row Id="7271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7265" CreationDate="2010-12-22T05:58:46.843" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some synonyms (positive, comparative or superlative) and related nouns:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;well-rounded&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;multifaceted&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;multitalented&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;resourceful&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Jack of many trades&lt;/em&gt; (possibly bronze/silver)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Master of many trades&lt;/em&gt; (possibly gold)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;handy&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T05:58:46.843" />
  <row Id="7272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1613" CreationDate="2010-12-22T06:01:48.480" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would expect (and accept) native speakers of the language in question to use the foreign pronunciation of foreign words. In other cases, I would tend to expect (and accept) the Anglicized version.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a resident of East Africa, I often resort to Africanized pronunciations for the sake of being understood. I can use my &quot;proper English&quot; pronunciations until I go mad not being understood, so I find it infinitely more productive to speak in a way that will be easily understood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if I say with my most natural American accent:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am going to take it with me to town,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am likely to get nowhere. If I say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I tack eet weeth me een tone,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am instantly understood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have regularly agonized over whether this is a good strategy as far as raising the level of English, but ease of communication most always &lt;em&gt;weens&lt;/em&gt; out. I say Anglicize away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2697" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T06:01:48.480" />
  <row Id="7273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7240" CreationDate="2010-12-22T06:02:57.837" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;RegDwight's above are good...also: &quot;terse&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T06:02:57.837" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7274" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7278" CreationDate="2010-12-22T06:03:57.747" Score="4" ViewCount="200" Body="&lt;p&gt;On occasion, I end up writing sentences that contain a duplicate word, often what is probably a preposition (or better yet, an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preposition_and_postposition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adposition&lt;/a&gt;). The specific example that I just ran into involves a duplicate 'to' in this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think we really ought to leave that up to the people we're assigning the label &lt;strong&gt;to to&lt;/strong&gt; judge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this proper grammar? If it is so technically, is it proper style to leave it like that, or should it be rephrased, so one doesn't stumble over it when reading?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should there be a comma between the two?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2953" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T23:24:37.327" Title="Rules about prepositions and duplicating 'to'" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7265" CreationDate="2010-12-22T06:18:48.457" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;“Jack of all trades” could be a good bronze.  Like many bronze badges, it’s not an unqualified complement; it has the desired connotation of “good at a lot of things”, but the implicit “…and master of none” keeps open the motivation to push on to the silver or gold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T06:18:48.457" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7276" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7280" CreationDate="2010-12-22T06:20:30.840" Score="1" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should it be iPods Touch or iPod Touches?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3039" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T14:23:51.117" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T14:23:51.117" Title="What should be the plural of iPod Touch" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7274" CreationDate="2010-12-22T06:24:19.303" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen duplicate words in print frequently, but usually with words like &quot;had&quot; rather than &quot;to&quot;. For example: &quot;If Joe had had a better instructor, he would have passed the test.&quot; Such sentences can be a little hard to read, but in general there is no rule against it; the construct is grammatical. Often a reader will have the same reaction as an automatic spell checker -- &quot;This must be a typo&quot; -- only to re-read and see that it actually does make sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There seems to be a case for the notion that &quot;had had&quot; is more acceptable than &quot;to to&quot;. In print, it's probably best to avoid &quot;to to&quot;, but when spoken, I really don't see a difference regarding the level of awkwardness or clarity. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Person A: I'm really not in the mood to run the mile right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Person B: But you &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; to to make the team!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spoken with proper tone of voice, I think this usage is perfectly acceptable and understandable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, I would consider rewording the sentence to make it flow better, on a case-by-case basis. Here is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-is-double-has.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; provided by Grammar Girl discussing usage and correctness in more detail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2717" LastEditorUserId="2717" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T06:44:00.097" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T06:44:00.097" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7274" CreationDate="2010-12-22T06:26:45.293" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While your sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;I think we really ought to leave that up to the people we're assigning the label to to judge.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is not grammatically incorrect, it would be considered inelegant by many writers, especially because it involves a duplicate preposition. (It is not uncommon to find &quot;...had had...&quot; in formal contexts and this is not usually frowned upon.) So, you are right your construction is not stylistically preferred. Also, there should not be a comma between the duplicates. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are possible revisions in increasing order of elegance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I think we really ought to leave that up to the people to which we're assigning the label to judge.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I think we really ought to leave that judgment up to the people to which we're assigning the label.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I think we really ought to leave that judgment up to the people whom we're labeling.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I think we really ought to leave that up to the people we're labeling to judge.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I think we really ought to leave that judgment up to the people we're labeling.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T23:24:37.327" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T23:24:37.327" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="7279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7276" CreationDate="2010-12-22T06:30:31.863" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;iPod Touches, which matches the plural of the computer mouse, &quot;mouses.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2867" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T06:30:31.863" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7276" CreationDate="2010-12-22T06:42:58.803" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider the following widely-accepted plural forms of popular Apple products whose names consist of two nouns:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Macbook Pros&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;iPod Shuffles&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;iPhone 4s&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mac Minis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Macbook Airs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as one wouldn't say &lt;em&gt;Macbooks Pro&lt;/em&gt;, so also one shouldn't say &lt;em&gt;iPods Touch&lt;/em&gt;. I would always go with &lt;em&gt;iPod Touches&lt;/em&gt;. If that sounds awkward to you, then your better bet would be &lt;em&gt;iPod Touch devices&lt;/em&gt; or, best, &lt;em&gt;iPods&lt;/em&gt;. Most of the iPods being sold these days are of the Touch variety, anyway. More often than not, one will hear &lt;em&gt;iPod Classic&lt;/em&gt; when the distinction wants to be made. Thus, an &lt;em&gt;iPod&lt;/em&gt; will usually be an iPod Touch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consider &lt;em&gt;Xbox 360&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Playstation 3&lt;/em&gt;. One hears &lt;em&gt;Xbox 360s&lt;/em&gt; (not &lt;em&gt;Xboxes 360&lt;/em&gt;) and &lt;em&gt;Playstation 3s/PS3s&lt;/em&gt; (not &lt;em&gt;Playstations 3&lt;/em&gt;). Many technical writers use the words &lt;em&gt;units&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;devices&lt;/em&gt;, or find other means to avoid these potentially sticky &quot;plural&quot; situations altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T16:05:59.893" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T16:05:59.893" CommentCount="14" />
  <row Id="7281" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7284" CreationDate="2010-12-22T06:50:09.360" Score="13" ViewCount="799" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short, why is it not 'oneteen' and 'twoteen' and we start at thirteen in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In another thread, I supposed that despite that fact that people have 10 fingers, amounts of items leading up to and including twelve were more common because twelve is more easily divisible evenly by 2, 3, 4 and 6. Both English and German (which are related) switch to a 'teen' ('zehn') ending after 12. Based on that thread, so does Norwegian. Could this be the explanation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at other languages (Arabic, Japanese, even a related romance language of French), this doesn't seem to apply, and you'd think if something so fundamental as divisibility were the explanation, we'd see a more universal distribution across them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2953" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T12:07:21.080" Title="Why do eleven and twelve get unique words and not end in 'teen'?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="7282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7242" CreationDate="2010-12-22T06:51:25.703" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A quick look at Yahoo Answers gave me this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Certainly the fly in question is a bluebottle, but I think I'm right in saying that the expression originally was &quot;buzzing around like a blue-arsed fly&quot;, which makes a lot more sense. One more normally tends to &quot;run around like a headless chicken&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sounds plausible...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2819" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T06:51:25.703" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-22T06:51:25.703" />
  <row Id="7283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7240" CreationDate="2010-12-22T06:59:34.303" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That sounds like what The Plain English Campaign are trying to promote: language that is &quot;&lt;strong&gt;clear and concise&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2819" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T06:59:34.303" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-22T06:59:34.303" />
  <row Id="7284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7281" CreationDate="2010-12-22T07:11:52.713" Score="22" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, &lt;em&gt;eleven&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;twelve&lt;/em&gt; also seem to be derived from 10+1 and 10+2. Let me quote from the classic book &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=Pg_RKtlVlNMC&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Number: The Language of Science&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Tobias Dantzig (1930, republished with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.math.harvard.edu/~mazur/papers/dantzig.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nice foreword&lt;/a&gt; by Barry Mazur):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Indeed, there is no mistaking the influence of our ten fingers on the “selection” of the base of our number system. In all Indo-European languages, as well as Semitic, Mongolian, and most primitive languages, the base of numeration is ten, i.e., there are independent number words up to ten, beyond which some compounding principle is used until 100 is reached. All these languages have independent words for 100 and 1000, and some languages for even higher decimal units. There are apparent exceptions, such as the English &lt;em&gt;eleven&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;twelve&lt;/em&gt;, or the German &lt;em&gt;elf&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;zwölf&lt;/em&gt;, but these have been traced to &lt;em&gt;ein-lif&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;zwo-lif&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;lif&lt;/em&gt; being old German for &lt;em&gt;ten&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And presumably this was inherited in other Germanic languages. (English, German and Norwegian all belong to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_languages&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Germanic&lt;/a&gt; subfamily of Indo-European; French belongs to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italic_languages&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Italic&lt;/a&gt;.) Note that we can still discern a trace of &quot;two&quot; in &quot;twelve&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That answers your question, but note that there &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; traces of other bases in our number words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is true that in addition to the decimal system, two other bases are reasonably widespread, but their character confirms to a remarkable degree the &lt;em&gt;anthropomorphic&lt;/em&gt; nature of our counting scheme. These two other systems are the quinary, base 5, and the vigesimal, base 20. […]  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many languages still bear the traces of a quinary system, and it is reasonable to believe that some decimal systems passed through the quinary stage. Some philologists claim that even the Indo-European number languages are of a quinary origin. They point to the Greek word &lt;em&gt;pempazein&lt;/em&gt;, to count by fives, and also to the unquestionably quinary character of the Roman numerals. However, there is no other evidence of this sort, and it is much more probable that our group of languages passed through a preliminary &lt;em&gt;vigesimal stage&lt;/em&gt;. […]  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While pure vigesimal systems are rare, there are numerous languages where the decimal and the vigesimal systems have merged. We have the English &lt;em&gt;score&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;two-score&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;three-score&lt;/em&gt;; the French &lt;em&gt;vingt&lt;/em&gt; (20) and &lt;em&gt;quatre-vingt&lt;/em&gt; (4 × 20). The old French used this form still more frequently; a hospital in Paris originally built for 300 blind veterans bears the quaint name of &lt;em&gt;Quinze-Vingt&lt;/em&gt; (Fifteen-score); the name &lt;em&gt;Onze-Vingt&lt;/em&gt; (Eleven-score) was given to a corps of police-sergeants comprising 220 men.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, we &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; have words like &quot;dozen&quot; (12) and &quot;gross&quot; (144) (any others?) for a few numbers not divisible by 5 (because highly divisible numbers &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; useful), but these words are sporadic and do not form the basis for any number-naming system in English as far as I know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: On further research, even though it's undisputed that &lt;em&gt;eleven&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;twelve&lt;/em&gt; come from 1+10 and 2+10, the actual meaning of the &lt;em&gt;lif&lt;/em&gt; part seems uncertain. The &lt;em&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=eleven&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;confidently says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;c.1200, &lt;em&gt;elleovene&lt;/em&gt;, from O.E. &lt;em&gt;endleofan&lt;/em&gt;, lit. &quot;one left&quot; (over ten), from P.Gmc. *&lt;em&gt;ainlif&lt;/em&gt;- (cf. O.S. &lt;em&gt;elleban&lt;/em&gt;, O.Fris. &lt;em&gt;andlova&lt;/em&gt;, Du. &lt;em&gt;elf&lt;/em&gt;, O.H.G. &lt;em&gt;einlif&lt;/em&gt;, Ger. &lt;em&gt;elf&lt;/em&gt;, O.N. &lt;em&gt;ellifu&lt;/em&gt;, Goth. &lt;em&gt;ainlif&lt;/em&gt;), a compound of *&lt;em&gt;ain&lt;/em&gt; &quot;one&quot; (see &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt;) + PIE *&lt;em&gt;leikw&lt;/em&gt;- &quot;leave, remain&quot; (cf. Gk. &lt;em&gt;leipein&lt;/em&gt; &quot;to leave behind;&quot; see &lt;em&gt;relinquish&lt;/em&gt;). Viking survivors who escaped an Anglo-Saxon victory were &lt;em&gt;daroþa laf&lt;/em&gt; &quot;the leavings of spears,&quot; while &lt;em&gt;hamora laf&lt;/em&gt; &quot;the leavings of hammers&quot; was an O.E. kenning for &quot;swords&quot; (both from &quot;The Battle of Brunanburgh&quot;). &lt;em&gt;Twelve&lt;/em&gt; reflects the same formation; outside Germanic the only instance of this formation is in Lithuanian, which uses it all the way to 19 (&lt;em&gt;vienio-lika&lt;/em&gt; &quot;eleven,&quot; &lt;em&gt;dvy-lika&lt;/em&gt; &quot;twelve,&quot; &lt;em&gt;try-lika&lt;/em&gt; &quot;thirteen,&quot; &lt;em&gt;keturio-lika&lt;/em&gt; &quot;fourteen,&quot; etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the OED says that &quot;left&quot; is just one theory:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Etymology:  Common Teutonic: Old English &lt;em&gt;ęndleofon&lt;/em&gt; corresponds to Old Frisian &lt;em&gt;andlova&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;elleva&lt;/em&gt;, Old Saxon &lt;em&gt;elleban&lt;/em&gt; (Middle Dutch &lt;em&gt;elleven&lt;/em&gt;, Dutch &lt;em&gt;elf&lt;/em&gt;), Old High German &lt;em&gt;einlif&lt;/em&gt; (Middle High German &lt;em&gt;eilf&lt;/em&gt;, German &lt;em&gt;elf&lt;/em&gt;), Old Norse &lt;em&gt;ellifu&lt;/em&gt; (Swedish &lt;em&gt;ellifva&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;elfva&lt;/em&gt;, Danish &lt;em&gt;elleve&lt;/em&gt;), Gothic &lt;em&gt;ainlif&lt;/em&gt; &amp;lt; Old Germanic *&lt;em&gt;ainlif&lt;/em&gt;- &amp;lt; *&lt;em&gt;ain&lt;/em&gt;- (shortened &amp;lt; *&lt;em&gt;aino&lt;/em&gt;-) [one] + -&lt;em&gt;lif&lt;/em&gt;- of uncertain origin. Outside Teutonic the only analogous form is the Lithuanian &lt;em&gt;vënó-lika&lt;/em&gt;, where -&lt;em&gt;lika&lt;/em&gt; (answering in function to English -&lt;em&gt;teen&lt;/em&gt;) is the terminal element of all the numerals from 11 to 19.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Old English, Old Frisian, Old Saxon, and Old Norse forms represent a type *&lt;em&gt;ainlifun&lt;/em&gt;, apparently assimilated to *&lt;em&gt;tehun&lt;/em&gt; [ten]. The theory that the ending is a variant of Old Germanic *&lt;em&gt;tehun&lt;/em&gt;, Aryan *&lt;em&gt;dekm&lt;/em&gt; [ten], is now abandoned; some would derive it from the Aryan root *&lt;em&gt;leiq&lt;/em&gt; or &amp;lt; *&lt;em&gt;leip&lt;/em&gt; (both meaning to leave, to remain) so that &lt;em&gt;eleven&lt;/em&gt; would mean ‘one left’ (after counting ten.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T08:42:34.580" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T08:42:34.580" />
  <row Id="7285" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7286" CreationDate="2010-12-22T07:54:06.593" Score="3" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;thumb&lt;/em&gt; has a different name compared to the other fingers (&lt;em&gt;index&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;middle&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ring&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;little&lt;/em&gt;) and it does not end with &quot;finger&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, when referring to the hand, I have seen literature where it is described as &quot;5 digits on each hand&quot; and that is probably more accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In light of that,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is saying that I have &quot;5 fingers on my left hand&quot; technically just wrong? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or is the thumb a &quot;special&quot; type of finger and so it is acceptable to treat it as a finger in general?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any rules/guidelines related to this in English that anyone can throw light on or is it that I am just nitpicking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2761" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:08:33.530" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:08:33.530" Title="Is a thumb also a finger?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;semantics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7285" CreationDate="2010-12-22T08:23:54.363" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The thumb can be treated as a finger but mostly within the context of &lt;em&gt;fingers&lt;/em&gt;. Both &lt;em&gt;digits&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;fingers&lt;/em&gt; are hypernyms of the word &lt;em&gt;thumb&lt;/em&gt;. Here are my dictionary* definitions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;thumb&lt;/em&gt; &lt;blockquote&gt;the short, thick first digit of the human hand, set lower and apart from the other four and opposable to them. &lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;finger&lt;/em&gt; &lt;blockquote&gt;each of the four slender jointed parts attached to either hand (or five, if the thumb is included) &lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;digit&lt;/em&gt; &lt;blockquote&gt;a finger (including the thumb) or toe&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, saying you have &lt;code&gt;5 fingers on [your] left hand&lt;/code&gt; is not wrong but some may consider it awkward, since there is really nothing special about having five &lt;em&gt;digits&lt;/em&gt; on either hand! Indeed, it is acceptable to treat the thumb as a finger, as I earlier alluded to, and I give a few examples to illustrate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Count on your fingers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He rubbed his fingers vigorously.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Show me your fingers!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Your fingernails are dirty.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;All my fingers are cold.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;How many fingers am I holding up on my hands?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;'Which finger did it bite?' 'It bit my THUMB!'&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Her fingers flew nimbly across the keyboard.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Have a look at the fingering chart.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He fingered the steaming mug gingerly, taking quick sips in between mouthfuls of bread.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, one would rarely, if ever, hear &lt;em&gt;finger&lt;/em&gt; used in a singular sense to directly mean &lt;em&gt;thumb&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Digit[s]&lt;/em&gt; is rarely used in everyday conversation, and since it also includes &lt;em&gt;toes&lt;/em&gt;, one is probably most likely going to hear/use &lt;em&gt;fingers&lt;/em&gt; when the manual digits are involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*&lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd Edition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T00:40:51.877" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T00:40:51.877" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="7287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7240" CreationDate="2010-12-22T09:36:57.797" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Good reading flow&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ool.co.uk/pdfs/Business/Pages%20from%20BC%20complete%201006.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A good way to avoid monotony is to vary the length of your sentences. This helps keep a constantly changing and engaging reading flow.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.suite101.com/content/the-use-of-punctuation-to-ease-reading-flow-a175357&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Use of Punctuation to Ease Reading Flow&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&amp;amp;_&amp;amp;ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ525775&amp;amp;ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&amp;amp;accno=EJ525775&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Conditions of Flow in Reading: Two Studies of Optimal Experience&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T09:36:57.797" />
  <row Id="7288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7242" CreationDate="2010-12-22T10:47:36.780" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you watch a bluebottle, the fly in question, they buzz around in a generally hectic and irritating fashion without - as far as one can tell - getting much done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one is running around like a blue-arsed fly you are not running around in the same way the fly would run around, but you are running around in the way the fly will fly around- hectic, hurried, noisy, maybe a little annoying and typically not - as far as one can tell - getting much done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T10:47:36.780" />
  <row Id="7289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7240" CreationDate="2010-12-22T11:20:02.053" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder if there is a universal ideal that can be encapsulated in a single phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at the other answers and comments. Some desire brevity, some clarity, some density.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Searching for a word or phrase that means &lt;em&gt;&quot;reads fast because it's very clear, has no gimmicks, and isn't unnecessarily flowery&quot;&lt;/em&gt; will lead us to subjective judgments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps the best we can do is to say something is &quot;well written&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But let's also remember that presentation of the text also affects comprehension. The choice of font, layout and punctuation has a big impact. In the original question, the second example transforms the text from a dense two-sentence four-clause paragraph into three sentences with two set out as an enumerated list. The result has more whitespace and is easier on the eye, making it easier to read.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two people can read the exact same paragraph aloud in completely different ways. A gifted orator can make a shopping list compelling while we mere mortals can often bore an audience to tears reading the most gripping speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To address this aspect, we may need to amend well-written to be &quot;well-written and well-presented&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T11:20:02.053" />
  <row Id="7290" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-22T11:52:58.307" Score="0" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/629/a-historic-or-an-historic&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;A historic&amp;hellip;&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;An historic&amp;hellip;&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering when it's correct to use &lt;em&gt;a/an&lt;/em&gt; with words beginning with the letter &lt;em&gt;h&lt;/em&gt;. For example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;an historian&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;a history&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember reading somewhere that the &lt;em&gt;h&lt;/em&gt; is sometimes silent, in which case it's &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt;, and when the &lt;em&gt;h&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced, it's &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;. But then I also remember reading that it depends on which syllable is stressed. And I also think I read somewhere that it might differ between British and American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how do I know when to use &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; and when to use &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; with a word beginning with the letter &lt;em&gt;h&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="747" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T12:16:18.517" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T14:45:32.810" ClosedDate="2010-12-22T15:11:43.730" Title="&quot;A&quot; or &quot;an&quot; with words beginning with the letter H" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="7291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7281" CreationDate="2010-12-22T12:07:21.080" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An entirely different theory to ShreevatsaR's, which (I think) I read from Charles Seife's &lt;em&gt;Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is evidence of English having roots in a base-12 counting system. This was almost certainly based of counting using the joints of your fingers (four fingers, three joints), and using your thumb as a pointer to keep track of where you were.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a computer scientist, I've trained myself to use a similar system using the tops of my fingers as well, giving base-16 counting on one hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3043" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T12:07:21.080" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7231" CreationDate="2010-12-22T13:24:52.063" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, people coming from a Unix-y background (Postgres, MySQL) will be more likely to say &quot;S-Q-L&quot;, while people from a Microsoft background (SQL Server) are more likely to say &quot;Sequel&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="920" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T13:24:52.063" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="629" CreationDate="2010-12-22T13:28:44.653" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My rule of thumb (which I can't prove/cite, but which I'm sure is correct) is to use an for any word that &lt;em&gt;sounds&lt;/em&gt; like it begins with a vowel. Both &quot;a history&quot; and &quot;a historian&quot; begin with an H sound. If you slur it into 'istorian, then I would use &quot;an&quot; in spoken sentences (but as that's an incorrect pronunciation anyway you should definitely write it as &quot;a historian.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2984" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T13:28:44.653" />
  <row Id="7295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7240" CreationDate="2010-12-22T14:32:59.113" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard people say a written piece &quot;scans,&quot; which I take to mean &quot;is easily scanned&quot; or easy to get the meaning of by skimming instead of deep reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T14:32:59.113" />
  <row Id="7296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="629" CreationDate="2010-12-22T14:45:32.810" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The point of the word &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; is to avoid the awkward silent pause between words when saying something like &quot;a apple.&quot; So, you should put &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; before any word that begins with a vowel &lt;strong&gt;sound&lt;/strong&gt;, not just a vowel letter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The good news is that you just need to do whatever makes sense when talking:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a historian&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an honor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a xylophone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an X-ray&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a user (begins with &lt;em&gt;y&lt;/em&gt; sound)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an umbrella&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a one-eyed pirate (begins with &lt;em&gt;w&lt;/em&gt; sound)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an owl&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1914" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T14:45:32.810" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7297" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7360" CreationDate="2010-12-22T14:55:38.023" Score="4" ViewCount="200" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a non-native speaker like me, I am always wondering how to use &quot;You Know&quot; correctly and properly, like in the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Alright, well, for example, like on&#xA;  Saturdays, y’know, what I liked to do&#xA;  was  probably what any, y’know, little&#xA;  boy used to do.  I liked to go out,&#xA;  play with my  friends, y’know, play&#xA;  some baseball or some football or,&#xA;  y’know, just, just hang out  with my&#xA;  friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is it too much overused? Why do Americans love to use this phrase so much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2796" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T06:59:21.507" Title="How to use &quot;You know&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7297" CreationDate="2010-12-22T15:01:18.030" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a message-free pause token. It is a vague signal for affirmation, as in, &quot;do you understand what I'm referring to?&quot;, but it is mostly just filler while the brain catches up with the mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is absolutely overused, but every language and dialect has this kind of filler. I train myself and my kids to merely &lt;em&gt;pause&lt;/em&gt; when I am inclined to use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T15:01:18.030" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7297" CreationDate="2010-12-22T15:03:12.103" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that as Americans, we overuse it in a context where you &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; really know. If we are being so vague or confusing that our listener cannot understand, we should clarify directly instead of pinning someone into agreeing when they may in fact not agree or understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't mind it being used once in a while, and I use it myself, but in your example, using it once may make you sound like a native speaker. Using it that many times would make you sound a bit daft. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2697" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T15:03:12.103" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7276" CreationDate="2010-12-22T15:06:09.227" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's the RIGHT answer, and the right answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In English, the rule is generally (adjective) (noun), as in blue car, hot soup, and beautiful sunset. Occasionally, this rule is subverted, as in this case, wherein the noun is IPod and the adjective is Touch. In English, when you pluralize you pluralize the noun, so the correct answer is &quot;Ipods Touch&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, you'll sound like a pretentious ass. One wouldn't go to Burger King and order two &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theonion.com/articles/william-safire-orders-two-whoppers-junior,3351/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Whoppers Junior&lt;/a&gt;. So the accepted plural is IPod Touches, even though you're pluralizing the adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T15:06:09.227" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="7301" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7303" CreationDate="2010-12-22T15:39:17.767" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct way to ask another person about the course he is doing/pursuing at a college or university?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What course are you doing? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2544" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T15:52:49.553" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T15:52:49.553" Title="Asking about the university courses" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7240" CreationDate="2010-12-22T15:43:00.113" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard the word &quot;readable&quot; used in this sense, easy to read. While it may be lacking elegance, it does itself possess the quality it signifies, i.e. the word &quot;readable&quot; is very readable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T15:43:00.113" />
  <row Id="7303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7301" CreationDate="2010-12-22T15:45:24.320" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What course are you doing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What course are you taking?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What course are you studying?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What course are you enrolled in?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google Counts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;what course are you doing&quot; university: 70K&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;what course are you taking&quot; university: 20K&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;what course are you studying&quot; university: 20K&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;what course are you enrolled in&quot; university: 1.5K&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T15:59:41.537" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T15:59:41.537" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="7304" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7321" CreationDate="2010-12-22T16:12:06.570" Score="10" ViewCount="403" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is English written and read from left-to-right as opposed to right-to-left, top-to-bottom, or (not even sure any language does this) bottom-to-top?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T21:58:20.710" Title="Why is English written and read left to right?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;reading&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="7305" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-22T16:17:52.023" Score="0" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Asking the driver or the another person: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does this bus go (or goes) to &lt;em&gt;X&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you go to &lt;em&gt;X&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2544" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T15:55:24.857" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T15:55:24.857" Title="Enquiry about the bus route" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7305" CreationDate="2010-12-22T16:21:31.557" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're talking directly to the driver, either of the following would work:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does this bus go to x?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you go to x?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I would prefer the former, the latter is also somewhat common since it's assumed that the bus and the driver are going to the same places.  However, if you're asking another random person, you definitely want the former as the person's final destination may not be the same as the bus's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T16:31:00.947" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T16:31:00.947" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7307" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-22T16:22:27.277" Score="3" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;He is good in painting&quot; or &quot;He is good at painting&quot; — which one is correct? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3048" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T16:27:56.643" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T21:41:16.623" Title="&quot;Good at&quot; or &quot;Good in&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="7308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7307" CreationDate="2010-12-22T16:25:05.923" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you must choose one of them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is good at painting&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you might also prefer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He paints well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T16:25:05.923" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7309" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-22T16:27:15.647" Score="6" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a native English speaker and never lived in an English-speaking country, so I wonder how you would apply this word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you apply the term &quot;meat&quot; to the following things?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle tissue of a cow&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Liver tissue of a cow&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brain tissue of a cow&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle tissue of other beasts (swine, goat, rabbit)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle tissue of a bird (chicken, quail, turkey)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle tissue of a fish&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle tissue of mollusks, such as oyster, squid, shellfish, snail&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tissue of polyp, medusa&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tissue of a sponge&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tissue of a mushroom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tissue of a plant&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2797" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T16:29:24.613" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T12:22:51.477" Title="Usage of word &quot;meat&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="7310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7307" CreationDate="2010-12-22T16:29:20.060" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is good at painting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is good in painting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is definitely incorrect — I’ve heard this form from non-native speakers, but never I think from native speakers — but its meaning is still clear; it doesn’t risk confusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This goes equally for any verb or activity: &lt;em&gt;she is good at climbing&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;he is terrible at football&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;I am not very good at stand-up comedy&lt;/em&gt; are standard, and would be incorrect with &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt;.  I can’t think of any idiomatic exceptions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T16:29:20.060" />
  <row Id="7311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7276" CreationDate="2010-12-22T16:30:20.883" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;iPod Touch devices&quot; or &quot;Touch iPods&quot; sound a bit better&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3049" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T16:30:20.883" />
  <row Id="7312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7198" CreationDate="2010-12-22T16:38:19.363" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a traffic engineer, we use &quot;heavy traffic&quot; and &quot;increased traffic volumes&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3049" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T16:38:19.363" />
  <row Id="7313" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7317" CreationDate="2010-12-22T16:39:19.063" Score="1" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often times I hear people say &quot;I got it offline&quot; to mean they downloaded it from the internet, is this an accepted term or should it be &quot;I got it online&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastEditorUserId="3044" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T16:59:34.813" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T19:02:38.377" Title="Can you get files off-line?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7309" CreationDate="2010-12-22T16:39:53.717" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, this is actually a really good question, because exactly what counts as meat can vary a bit from person to person or situation to situation.  For example, some people consider themselves vegetarians while still eating fish.  Others say that no fish is allowed.  So my best breakdown (open to comments):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Always meat&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle tissue of a cow &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Liver tissue of a cow &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle tissue of other beasts (swine, goat, rabbit) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle tissue of a bird (chicken, quail, turkey)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Maybe meat&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle tissue of a fish&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muscle tissue of mollusks, such as oyster, squid, shellfish, snail&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brain tissue of a cow (I suppose if eaten, it could be considered meat, but I'm not familiar with brain eating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Never meat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tissue of a sponge&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tissue of a mushroom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tissue of a plant&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tissue of polyp, medusa (unless these have something more akin to muscle than I'm thinking)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edit: I'll also point out that &lt;code&gt;meat&lt;/code&gt; can be used to describe the edible or substantial part of anything, e.g. &lt;code&gt;the meat of the issue&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;he cracked the nut to get at its meat&lt;/code&gt;, but I assume that's not the sort you're referring to above&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastEditorUserId="2007" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T16:47:31.000" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T16:47:31.000" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="7315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7276" CreationDate="2010-12-22T16:42:37.443" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3273&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Apple support document&lt;/a&gt;, they refer to iPod Touches&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Removing all your MobileMe Sync Data will remove the data from MobileMe Calendar, MobileMe Contacts, and from any iPhones or &lt;strong&gt;iPod touches&lt;/strong&gt; you are synchronizing via MobileMe over-the-air syncing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T16:42:37.443" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7313" CreationDate="2010-12-22T16:54:19.683" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Off-line&quot; is generally accepted to mean &quot;not connected to a network&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can download files while online* and you can store those files in offline* storage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*both of these terms are used without the hyphen. For example, Firefox has an option called &quot;Work offline&quot; under the File menu.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T16:54:19.683" />
  <row Id="7317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7313" CreationDate="2010-12-22T16:54:54.460" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In isolation, &lt;em&gt;I got it offline&lt;/em&gt; is probably incorrect, but I can imagine contexts where it would be correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In standard usage, &lt;em&gt;online&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;on or connected to the internet&lt;/em&gt; (or, more rarely, &lt;em&gt;intranet&lt;/em&gt; etc.), and &lt;em&gt;offline&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;not connected to the internet&lt;/em&gt;, or just &lt;em&gt;on a local computer (whether or not it’s connected)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So since when you download a file you must be connected to the net, it would be more usual/correct to say you &lt;em&gt;got it online&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, think about how &lt;em&gt;they got the groceries home&lt;/em&gt; can mean &lt;em&gt;they (purchased the groceries elsewhere and then) brought them home&lt;/em&gt;.  Analogously, I could imagine someone saying &lt;em&gt;Normally I work with my spreadsheet online, but I got it offline this morning so I could work on the plane.&lt;/em&gt;  In this context, &lt;em&gt;I got it offline&lt;/em&gt; is being used clearly and not unreasonably to mean downloading something — getting it from online to offline.  But this example is a little contrived; in most situations, it should be &lt;em&gt;I got it online&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T16:54:54.460" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7309" CreationDate="2010-12-22T17:05:08.493" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may seem rather odd, but you could apply &quot;meat&quot; to all of the above.  Probably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/meat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;defines meat thus:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;4. &lt;em&gt;(uncountable)&lt;/em&gt; The flesh of an animal used as food.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;5. &lt;em&gt;(uncountable)&lt;/em&gt; Any relatively thick, solid part of a fruit, nut etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first of these includes your points 1-7 fairly straightforwardly.  Some vegetarians would quibble about whether fish was meat or not, but they are really drawing a separate(valid) distinction between fish and mammals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the time we're talking about polyps and sponges, most people wouldn't normally think of them in terms of eating.  You could call them meat, but we usually don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mushrooms and plants bring us to the second definition.  If the mushroom or plant is substantial (&quot;meaty&quot;), we do sometimes refer to it as meat.  It would usually be qualified in some way to make it clear that we weren't referring to animal meat, but the concept is well understood.  It's moderately commonly used with reference to nuts and some fruit, rather less commonly with other plant or fungal matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastEditorUserId="1579" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T12:00:19.707" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T12:00:19.707" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7240" CreationDate="2010-12-22T17:24:04.163" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For things that take a fair amount of energy to read through (not a reflection on quality, just energy required), I tend to use the term &quot;dense.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3051" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T17:24:04.163" />
  <row Id="7320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7307" CreationDate="2010-12-22T17:34:57.327" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's only one major case that leaps to mind where &quot;good in&quot; is idiomatically correct:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is good in bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be generalized somewhat to &quot;he is good in (location where certain stereotypical activities are performed)&quot;, like saying &quot;he is good in the field&quot; to mean he is good at doing the tasks that need to be done in the field.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T17:34:57.327" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="7321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7304" CreationDate="2010-12-22T17:35:43.347" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Writing in English was derived from writing in Latin (it's mostly the same alphabet, after all), which in turn was derived from writing in Greek — which was written from left to right. So this is why all European writing systems go from left to right: because they're derived from Greek.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But why did the Greeks write from left to right? I'm not sure. They adopted their alphabet from Phoenician (or, if you wish, Proto-Canaanite), which was actually mostly written right to left (and sometimes &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boustrophedon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;boustrophedonically&lt;/a&gt;: direction alternates every line, so that each line starts just below where the previous line ends). In fact, Greek &lt;em&gt;used&lt;/em&gt; to write from right to left for a while, before they switched to left-to-right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another derivative from Proto-Canaanite was Aramaic, from which Hebrew, Arabic, Persian etc. are derived, and they're all still written right-to-left. It is also believed that Brahmi (the family of Indic scripts) was derived from Aramaic and was written right-to-left for a while, before switching to left-to-right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why did this switch happen, in Greek and Brahmi? According to a theory mentioned on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-to-left&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; without a citation (so it may just be an urban legend), &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many languages that existed before the invention of ink were written right to left since this is the more natural for right handed people to hold a chisel in the left hand and the hammer in the right. After ink became the main method of writing, writing from left to right became preferable since it avoided smudging the ink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make of that what you will. It &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; known that Chinese, Japanese and Korean are written in vertical columns going from top to bottom and ordered right to left because it &quot;facilitated writing with a brush in the right hand while continually unrolling the sheet of paper or scroll with the left&quot;. (The Chinese invented paper, after all.) So there may be merit to the explanation quoted above, that the medium influenced the writing direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T17:35:43.347" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="7322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7304" CreationDate="2010-12-22T17:39:22.500" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English writing, like almost all alphabetic scripts used today, ultimately derives from a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenician_script&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Phoenician alphabet&lt;/a&gt; used around 3000 years ago. The direction of writing was variable early on - some texts are written in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/boustrophedon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;boustrophedon&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;as the ox ploughs&quot;, which means that alternate lines are written in opposite directions. &#xA;At some point Greek script settled down to left-to-right, and all the European scripts which derive from it (Latin (i.e. English), Cyrillic, Georgian, Armenian) adopted this pattern. Most middle-eastern scripts (eg Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic) settled down to right-to-left. Descendants further out (eg Indian and south-east Asian scripts, and also African scripts such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amharic_script&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Amharic&lt;/a&gt;) are mostly left-to-right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nobody really knows why particular scripts settled in particular directions; but it has often been remarked that left-to-right is easier for right-handed scribes using pen and ink, because there is less chance of smudging what you have already written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T17:39:22.500" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7309" CreationDate="2010-12-22T17:51:54.933" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Meat&quot;, unqualified, always refers to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tetrapod&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tetrapods &lt;/a&gt;(i.e. mammals, birds, reptiles, probably amphibians), as opposed to fish, arthropods or molluscs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But with suitable qualification you can use &quot;meat&quot; to refer to any animal flesh: &quot;crab meat&quot; is common, as John Satta points out; and while I would not expect to see &quot;tuna meat&quot;, I would not find it odd for somebody to refer to &quot;separating the meat from the bone&quot; when referring to tuna. (We do have &quot;tuna steaks&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of &quot;meat&quot; for plant (or fungus) material, or for food in general, I would regard as archaic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Edited to generalise 'mammals' to 'tetrapods')&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T12:22:51.477" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T12:22:51.477" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="979" CreationDate="2010-12-22T18:32:10.590" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My typography tutor (UK) taught me the convention was to use words for numbers from one to ten and digits for 11 upwards. Maybe because single digits look lonely, 1 can be confused with I when scan-reading (certainly in san serif fonts where 1, lower case L and capital I are exactly the same)? Perhaps this is a decimalised version of the German one-to-twelve rule mentioned above&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3055" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T18:32:10.590" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7301" CreationDate="2010-12-22T18:57:39.390" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;At certain universities, the correct question would be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What are you reading?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T18:57:39.390" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7313" CreationDate="2010-12-22T19:02:38.377" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say that to covey the meaning correctly, you either &lt;em&gt;got a file from an online resource&lt;/em&gt; or else you &lt;em&gt;downloaded a file for offline access&lt;/em&gt;. &quot;Got a file offline&quot; as an isolated expression to me sounds like you deleted an online resource. For example: I put a few racy pictures of myself online, but now that I think things through, it'd be best if I got them offline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Causally, perhaps go with that you &lt;em&gt;got it off the internet&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3026" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T19:02:38.377" />
  <row Id="7327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7305" CreationDate="2010-12-22T19:51:11.660" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not disputing the earlier answer, but as an alternative you might ask:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this the bus for &lt;em&gt;x&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or even:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this the &lt;em&gt;x&lt;/em&gt; bus?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T19:51:11.660" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7301" CreationDate="2010-12-22T20:04:55.803" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect this one will vary depending on where you want to ask it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;What course are you doing?&quot; would certainly be fine in the UK, but US universities typically don't impose such rigid course structures, and I believe you'd be better off asking: &quot;What's your major?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T20:04:55.803" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7329" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7337" CreationDate="2010-12-22T20:19:16.840" Score="6" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;fluid&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;liquid&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking of this in the context of &lt;em&gt;drink plenty of fluids&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2019" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T11:53:09.750" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T11:53:09.750" Title="&quot;Fluids&quot; versus &quot;liquids&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7329" CreationDate="2010-12-22T20:25:16.900" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;liquid: existing as or having characteristics of a liquid; especially tending to flow&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;fluid: subject to change; variable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, liquid is a state of matter. Not all liquids can be consumed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2161" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T20:25:16.900" />
  <row Id="7331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7329" CreationDate="2010-12-22T20:30:13.233" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In that specific context, there's no real difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For other differences in meaning between the two words, see a dictionary.  The fundamental one is that gases are fluids but not liquids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastEditorUserId="2988" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-22T20:38:03.493" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T20:38:03.493" />
  <row Id="7332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7329" CreationDate="2010-12-22T20:33:26.320" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a noun, Merriam-Webster's explicitly defines &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/liquid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;liquid&lt;/a&gt; as &quot;a fluid.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a fluid (as water) that has no independent shape but has a definite volume and does not expand indefinitely and that is only slightly compressible&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you are writing in a scientific or explicitly academic context, I'd say the two are interchangeable. Note that as adjectives, they do have slightly different meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3026" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T20:33:26.320" />
  <row Id="7333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7329" CreationDate="2010-12-22T21:07:51.827" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general usage, &quot;liquid&quot; and &quot;fluid&quot; are synonyms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a scientific context they are not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Liquid&quot; is a state of matter: solid, liquid, gas, plasma, Bose-Einstein condensate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fluid&quot; describes certain properties generally attributed to substances in a liquid state&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fluids display such properties as:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      * not resisting deformation, or resisting it only lightly (viscosity), and&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      * the ability to flow (also described as the ability to take on the shape of the container).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The degree of fluidity depends on the substance and the prevailing conditions (e.g. temperature and pressure).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider water, motor oil and maple syrup. At room temperature, they are all liquids. As the temperature drops, all three liquids get denser and flow more slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At 32&amp;deg; F / 0&amp;deg; C water becomes a solid (ice) and no longer flows. Motor oil and maple syrup continue to flow, but the syrup flows more slowly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general usage it has become &quot;less fluid&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T21:07:51.827" />
  <row Id="7334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7307" CreationDate="2010-12-22T21:41:16.623" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is good &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;[location]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is good &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;[activity]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T21:41:16.623" />
  <row Id="7335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7297" CreationDate="2010-12-22T21:55:12.947" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to use “You know”?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As seldom as possible...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T21:55:12.947" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7304" CreationDate="2010-12-22T21:58:20.710" Score="-3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[It turns out minmal answer length is 30 characters, consider this waffle]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3061" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T21:58:20.710" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7329" CreationDate="2010-12-22T22:20:51.547" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A fluid can either be a liquid or a gas; as such, &lt;em&gt;fluid&lt;/em&gt; is a hypernym of &lt;em&gt;liquid&lt;/em&gt; in this regard. In your example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;Drink plenty of fluids&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it's only idiomatic to use &lt;em&gt;fluids&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;liquids&lt;/em&gt;. (I wonder what else could be drunk besides a liquid/fluid, anyway!) You also hear things like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;Your body needs lots of fluids&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In day-to-day usage, one will find &lt;em&gt;liquid&lt;/em&gt; only used when the state of matter of a substance is in question or important to note. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&quot;How's the brownie mix looking?&quot; &quot;It's still basically liquid!&quot;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When ice-cream is involved, &lt;em&gt;melted&lt;/em&gt; is more likely to be used instead of &lt;em&gt;liquid&lt;/em&gt;. One may also find &lt;em&gt;liquid&lt;/em&gt; used in a financial context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;They think I'm liquid but, man, I'm flat broke!&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Fluid&lt;/em&gt; just sounds smoother and it rolls off the tongue much easier. That probably explains why it's more commonly used in place of &lt;em&gt;liquid&lt;/em&gt;. People would probably use &lt;em&gt;gas&lt;/em&gt; if they wanted to be specific. Here are some common idiomatic phrases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;body fluids&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;engine fluid&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;transmission fluid&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;poisonous liquid&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;hot liquid&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;toxic fluid[s]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;liquid coolant&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;cooling fluid&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the above examples, you may notice that &lt;em&gt;fluid&lt;/em&gt; tends to be used for a liquid substance that has a specified/particular purpose. Thus, &lt;em&gt;transmission liquid&lt;/em&gt; would be unidiomatic, for instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T22:20:51.547" />
  <row Id="7338" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7340" CreationDate="2010-12-22T23:05:30.680" Score="2" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it proper to say &quot;the book and movie &lt;em&gt;Of Mice and Men&lt;/em&gt;&quot; even though the two identical terms &quot;&lt;em&gt;Of Mice and Men&lt;/em&gt;&quot; do not refer to the same entity? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An alternative would be &quot;the book &lt;em&gt;Of Mice and Men&lt;/em&gt; and the movie &lt;em&gt;Of Mice and Men&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, which strikes me as very awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the first phrasing is valid, does that imply that &quot;the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0195374525&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;book&lt;/a&gt; and man Abraham Lincoln&quot; would be OK too? Secondarily, if so, could &quot;Abraham Lincoln&quot; be italicized?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems much less likely for practical reasons although the man and the book are arguably as distinct from one another as the movie and the book are, above. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T17:36:30.997" Title="Books and other things with the same name" Tags="&lt;ambiguity&gt;&lt;italics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7339" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7341" CreationDate="2010-12-22T23:20:34.763" Score="0" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;What would it mean for writing to be &quot;crenelated&quot;? From this review:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lisa Zeidner of The New York Times Book Review elaborated:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As usual, Gibson's prose is ... corpuscular, crenelated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought crenelated just meant having ridges / being like the top of a castle wall. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T23:52:52.717" Title="&quot;crenelated&quot; writing?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7338" CreationDate="2010-12-22T23:32:29.083" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is an interesting question. I think there is a spectrum between two parallel and identical things at one end, and two things completely different but with the same name at the other. The former is like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I saw and conquered Gaul&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is common and regular ellipsis; you leave out the common part in two parallel phrases. The latter is often a figure of speech and is called &lt;strong&gt;zeugma&lt;/strong&gt;. That means &quot;yoke&quot; in Greek, because you use part of a phrase as a yoke to control two things that are very different, but somehow both fit the yoke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I hit the roof with my head and Emma&#xA;  with a glass bottle&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The verb &quot;to hit&quot; has two different meanings - to hit by accident versus to hit on purpose -, both of which take an object, but the objects each serve a different function. And both verbs take an instrument; but the instrument &quot;with my head&quot; is accidental, whereas &quot;with a bottle&quot; is on purpose. This twist of meanings gives a quaint effect, which can be decorative in some texts, but will be misleading or inappropriate in formal or business texts, where rectitude and efficiency rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your first example, the book and the film are not completely identical, but they are close enough not to surprise the reader, so I'd say your phrase is fine. In the second example, the meanings of the two names lie farther apart; that makes it more striking and playful. If you aim at a playful tone, use it; if a playful tone is not intended, your phrase goes too far. Italicising Abraham Lincoln would not be a good idea: then one half of the yoke would not fit any more. For you cannot italicise a person, while not italicising a book title is acceptable. Think of it as &quot;the man Abraham Lincoln and the book Abraham Lincoln&quot; versus &quot;the man &lt;em&gt;Abraham Lincoln&lt;/em&gt; and the book &lt;em&gt;Abraham Lincoln&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T17:36:30.997" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T17:36:30.997" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7339" CreationDate="2010-12-22T23:52:52.717" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think Ms. Zeidner meant that his language is full of contrasts, changing at sharp angles. At least that is how I interpret this: apparently the metaphor is Ms. Zeidner's own invention. Note that she purposefully uses some favourite words of Gibson's, as you can read in this version of the review:&#xA;&quot;As usual, Gibson's prose is -- to use some of his favorite adjectives -- corpuscular, crenelated. His sentences slide from silk to steel, and take tonal joy rides from the ironic to the earnest.&quot;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/gibson_review.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/gibson_review.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2010-12-22T23:52:52.717" />
  <row Id="7342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7338" CreationDate="2010-12-23T00:00:55.283" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would, instead, say/write one of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the book, &lt;em&gt;Of Mice and Men&lt;/em&gt;, and the movie based on it&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the book, &lt;em&gt;Of Mice and Men&lt;/em&gt;, and the movie with the same title&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the book, &lt;em&gt;Of Mice and Men&lt;/em&gt;, and the movie, &lt;em&gt;Of Mice and Men&lt;/em&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the movie, &lt;em&gt;Of Mice and Men&lt;/em&gt;, and the book on which it is based&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the movie and the book both titled &lt;em&gt;Of Mice and Men&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;both the book and movie,  &lt;em&gt;Of Mice and Men&lt;/em&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When dealing with both a person/group and the movie/book/album/product/brand/thing named after them, the word &lt;em&gt;eponymous&lt;/em&gt; comes in handy. Thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Abraham Lincoln and the eponymous book&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the book were written by Abraham Lincoln himself, then:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Abraham Lincoln and his eponymous book&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T00:00:55.283" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7191" CreationDate="2010-12-23T01:15:30.700" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the clouds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2687" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T01:15:30.700" />
  <row Id="7344" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7345" CreationDate="2010-12-23T01:38:41.400" Score="2" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the right usage: an answer &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; my question or &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; my question?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3063" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T04:03:08.740" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T18:10:34.307" Title="Answer to my question or on my question?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="7345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7344" CreationDate="2010-12-23T01:43:34.943" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;To&quot; is right; &quot;on&quot; would be intelligible, but not the usual way to say it: it would mean &quot;an answer on the subject of my question&quot;, which is needlessly long and less clear, except perhaps in unusual contexts. You would use &quot;on&quot; in sentences where you could use &quot;about&quot; with the same meaning: &quot;I read his answer on food processing, and it was rather interesting&quot;. &quot;Food processing&quot; is the general subject of the answer, and so probably of the question as well – it is not the question itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T18:10:34.307" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T18:10:34.307" />
  <row Id="7346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7347" CreationDate="2010-12-23T02:06:55.313" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found several forms of farewell remarks like these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Goodbye&#xA;Good-bye&#xA;Good-by&#xA;Bye&#xA;Bye-Bye&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these remarks equivalent in both written and spoken English ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2661" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T04:58:18.163" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T22:31:23.823" Title="Usage on farewell remark" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7346" CreationDate="2010-12-23T02:11:54.587" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;More or less, they're all equivalent. Let's break it down for each version:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Goodbye&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the most standard/conventional, and a perfectly formal version.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Good-bye&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more old-fashioned version of &lt;code&gt;goodbye&lt;/code&gt;, also acceptable, though less standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Good-by&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternative (rather less common) spelling of &lt;code&gt;good-bye&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Bye&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A shortened version of &lt;code&gt;goodbye&lt;/code&gt;; perfectly acceptable, though slightly less formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Bye-Bye&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Means the same thing; the least formal of all versions, rather colloquial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T22:31:23.823" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T22:31:23.823" />
  <row Id="7348" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7355" CreationDate="2010-12-23T02:52:26.003" Score="4" ViewCount="245" Body="&lt;p&gt;When reading something that has a quote in the middle of it, is it proper to say &quot;end quote&quot; or &quot;unquote&quot; to signal the end of the quote? I've heard both ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T05:08:28.843" Title="Is it &quot;end quote&quot; or &quot;unquote&quot;?" Tags="&lt;quotes&gt;&lt;reading&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7349" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7351" CreationDate="2010-12-23T03:05:17.387" Score="5" ViewCount="365" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a good mnemonic for remembering the difference between &quot;stalactite&quot; (hangs down) and &quot;stalagmite&quot; (points up)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3065" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T03:20:15.127" LastActivityDate="2010-12-25T04:21:14.947" Title="Stalactite vs Stalagmite" Tags="&lt;confusables&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="7350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7305" CreationDate="2010-12-23T03:11:44.480" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I wanted to know how to get to X on a bus I would ask &quot;How do I get to X from a bus?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Problems with &quot;Does this bus go to X?&quot; include the fact that a correct answer (&quot;yes&quot; or &quot;no&quot;) does not actually tell you how to get to X; you don't know which stop to get off or if you have to transfer. In addition, the bus may go to X but there could be another bus that is much faster or cheaper. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have pointed out, &quot;Do you go to X?&quot; does not tell you whether the bus goes to X or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2949" LastEditorUserId="2949" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T03:27:49.777" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T03:27:49.777" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7349" CreationDate="2010-12-23T03:14:52.277" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is one from my secondary school geography teacher that I will never forget:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;stala&lt;strong&gt;c&lt;/strong&gt;tite --- &lt;strong&gt;c&lt;/strong&gt;eiling&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;stala&lt;strong&gt;g&lt;/strong&gt;mite --- &lt;strong&gt;g&lt;/strong&gt;round &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stala&lt;strong&gt;c&lt;/strong&gt;tites hang from the &lt;strong&gt;c&lt;/strong&gt;eiling; stala&lt;strong&gt;g&lt;/strong&gt;mites rise from the &lt;strong&gt;g&lt;/strong&gt;round.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as you remember what &lt;em&gt;c&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;g&lt;/em&gt; mean in those words, you will never confuse them!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T03:38:43.753" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T03:38:43.753" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7349" CreationDate="2010-12-23T03:25:18.930" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;When mites crawl up, they pull their tights down.&quot; That's how I always remembered it...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="730" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T03:25:18.930" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7349" CreationDate="2010-12-23T03:26:06.283" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stalactites are st(l)uck tight to the ceiling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stalagmites are the other one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2949" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T03:26:06.283" />
  <row Id="7354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7349" CreationDate="2010-12-23T03:30:56.320" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me give you another mnemonic, closer to the heart of some:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stalactite = tit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stalagmite = you already remembered the tit one&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is how we remember it in Dutch, in which language it actually rhymes: stalactiet - tiet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T03:30:56.320" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="7355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7348" CreationDate="2010-12-23T03:37:42.913" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are fine and have been used for decades, as far as I know. The OED on &quot;unquote&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;intr. &lt;strong&gt;Used as a formula in&#xA;  dictation, etc.: terminate the&#xA;  quotation&lt;/strong&gt;. See &lt;em&gt;quote v.&lt;/em&gt; 4c.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1935 E. E. Cummings Let. Mar.&#xA;  (1969) 139 But he said that if I'd&#xA;  hold up publication of No Thanks for&#xA;  15 days he'd kill unquote a page of&#xA;  Aiken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1935, etc. [see quote v. 4c].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1969 New Yorker 11 Oct. 48/2 Then Mr.&#xA;  Tanks announced the last downtown&#xA;  stop. He said, ‘Madison Square Garden,&#xA;  Penn Station+et cetera, et cetera, et&#xA;  cetera, unquote’.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The OED on &quot;quote (v.)&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[4.]c. &lt;em&gt;quote ... unquote&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;strong&gt;a&#xA;  formula used in dictation to introduce&#xA;  and terminate a quotation. Freq.&#xA;  transf., in speech or writing,&#xA;  introducing and terminating words&#xA;  quoted (or ironically imagined to be&#xA;  quoted) from the speech or writing of&#xA;  another.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1935 E. E. Cummings Let. 3 Oct. (1969)&#xA;  145 The Isful ubiquitous&#xA;  wasless&amp;amp;-shallbeless quote&#xA;  scrotumtightening unquote omnivorously&#xA;  eternal thalassa pelagas or Ocean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1950 ‘S. Ransome’ Deadly Miss Ashley&#xA;  xvii. 198 She says, quote, ‘What girl&#xA;  wouldn't?’ unquote.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1956 Times 5 Dec. 1/5 (Advt.), Today,&#xA;  America, you sure are quote in the Big&#xA;  Time unquote.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1958 B. Hamilton Too Much of Water xi.&#xA;  245 But he did have, quote, a jolly&#xA;  good reason for bumping off one&#xA;  special person, unquote.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1961 P. Ustinov Loser viii. 140 He&#xA;  expressed the personal opinion that&#xA;  the picture was quote great for&#xA;  America unquote.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1973 D. Robinson Rotten with Honour 8&#xA;  The British…see too many people like&#xA;  you in London.+ East Germans,&#xA;  Bulgarians, and Rumanians, all of them&#xA;  quote diplomats unquote&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T05:08:28.843" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T05:08:28.843" />
  <row Id="7356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7297" CreationDate="2010-12-23T03:44:21.050" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really dislike filler words such as &quot;like&quot;, &quot;you know&quot;, and others that are even worse. They indicate the speaker thinks slower than they talk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do Americans love to use them so much? I'll tell you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a normal conversation there is an exchange of ideas; I'll say something, you respond, then I take your response into consideration. People cue others to respond by pausing when they speak; if you pause, the other person knows it's okay to interrupt you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Filler breaks that. They are a way of never pausing, or allowing the other person to respond, while not actually saying anything. It's a way of turning conversations into monologues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2949" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T03:44:21.050" />
  <row Id="7357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6831" CreationDate="2010-12-23T05:12:48.620" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wish you a merry Christmas and a merry new year&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3066" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T05:12:48.620" />
  <row Id="7358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7348" CreationDate="2010-12-23T05:26:06.543" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard people say &quot;unquote&quot; but always assumed it was a corruption of end-quote. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unquote&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; backs up this assertion. A quick search of the Corpus of Conteporary American English finds 288 instances of unquote near &quot;quote&quot;, typically in a phrase such as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was, quote, unquote, busy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So unquote is definitely a word that people are using.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T05:26:06.543" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7297" CreationDate="2010-12-23T05:43:19.573" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that most of the time &quot;you know&quot; is meaningless filler, and as such is quite overused, but there are also other uses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You know&quot; can be used to refer to an idea that may be difficult or tedious to express in words but that the speaker thinks is relatable, so in this context it means &quot;if you catch the gist of what I'm saying, I'll omit the explanation&quot; or &quot;do you relate with what I'm describing?&quot;. This can indicate that the speaker is unable to express the idea in words or simply does not wish to. For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So I'm walking home from work, when all of a sudden I get this tingly feeling, you know? Like someone's watching me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Person A: Why didn't you tell your wife about it?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Person B: Oh, you know... it's complicated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also mean &quot;I think you should know&quot; or &quot;for your information&quot;. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You know, if you don't shape up soon, I might be forced to fire you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you keep doing that, you'll catch a cold, you know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also mean &quot;come to think of it&quot; when introducing a sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You know, that's really not a bad idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2717" LastEditorUserId="2717" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T06:59:21.507" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T06:59:21.507" />
  <row Id="7361" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7364" CreationDate="2010-12-23T06:10:48.487" Score="0" ViewCount="226" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &quot;&lt;strong&gt;did&lt;/strong&gt; you &lt;strong&gt;find&lt;/strong&gt; the paper&quot; and &quot;&lt;strong&gt;did&lt;/strong&gt; you &lt;strong&gt;found&lt;/strong&gt; the paper&quot;? Which one is correct? If both are correct, when to use &lt;em&gt;did+find&lt;/em&gt; and when to use &lt;em&gt;did+found&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1919" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T07:53:56.753" Title="did you find? or did you found?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7362" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7363" CreationDate="2010-12-23T06:11:04.677" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;for smell it would be &quot;olfactory&quot;. What is it for touch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T06:12:31.040" Title="a word like &quot;visual&quot;, &quot;auditory&quot;, except for touch" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7362" CreationDate="2010-12-23T06:12:31.040" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hah &lt;a href=&quot;http://labs.google.com/sets&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Sets&lt;/a&gt; was actually useful for something! Results for inputting visual, olfactory, and auditory were:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;visual&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;olfactory&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;auditory&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;gustatory&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tactile&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;kinesthetic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vestibular&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;proprioceptive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pain&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;touch/pressure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;gravity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;receptors&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;kinaesthetic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;somatosensory&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, tactile it is!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T06:12:31.040" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7361" CreationDate="2010-12-23T06:20:26.343" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence &quot;Did you find the paper?&quot; is correct. The form &lt;em&gt;did+verb&lt;/em&gt; is known as &lt;em&gt;intensive past&lt;/em&gt; and requires the basic form of the verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, there is another verb &quot;to found&quot; that means &quot;to establish&quot;. So these two sentences are both correct and have different meanings:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did you find the organisation? (Response: Yes, I know where it is now.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did you found the organisation? (Response: Yes, I cofounded it with Mark Zuckerberg.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2717" LastEditorUserId="2717" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T06:48:42.060" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T06:48:42.060" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7365" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7368" CreationDate="2010-12-23T07:34:23.360" Score="2" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which form of &quot;difficulty&quot; should I opt for in the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They have immense difficulties easily accessing the texts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They have immense difficulty easily accessing the texts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am inclined to say &quot;difficulty,&quot; but I am editing someone else's work and they had originally put &quot;difficulties.&quot; Am I wrong, or is he?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2697" LastEditorUserId="1755" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T12:02:34.263" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T12:02:34.263" Title="Difficulty v. difficulties" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7361" CreationDate="2010-12-23T07:53:56.753" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did you find the paper?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is correct as the sentence is in Simple Past tense. When you're forming a question in simple past tense, you must always use the infinitive verb, which is &quot;find&quot; in your case. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your example, &quot;found&quot; is the simple past/past participle of &quot;find&quot;. You can also ask your question in Present Perfect tense:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Have you found the paper?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, &quot;found&quot; is the past participle of &quot;find&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T07:53:56.753" />
  <row Id="7367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5040" CreationDate="2010-12-23T07:56:02.037" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In US English, it certainly doesn’t have a sexual meaning, as other answerers have noted; it’s a common idiom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in UK English, it’s much more likely to be heard/used a double entendre.  It’s a much less common phrase in the UK, and since its idiomatic meaning is not terribly transparent, someone unfamiliar with it and trying to parse it literally will almost certainly at least consider the sexual meaning (since most other meanings of &lt;em&gt;come&lt;/em&gt; require an implied indirect object, whereas in &lt;em&gt;come again&lt;/em&gt; it appears to be completely intransitive).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Certainly the double meaning was a common source of jokes among my student friends in the UK about 10 years ago!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T07:56:02.037" />
  <row Id="7368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7365" CreationDate="2010-12-23T08:12:18.640" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both forms are correct; the &lt;em&gt;difficulties&lt;/em&gt; form is a bit more specific.  &lt;em&gt;“They had immense difficulties”&lt;/em&gt; evokes explicit obstacles they encountered.  &lt;em&gt;“They had immense difficulty”&lt;/em&gt; connotes just that they found the task very difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good: &lt;em&gt;Most immigrants have great difficulty finding healthcare.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More specific: &lt;em&gt;Most immigrants have great difficulties finding healthcare.&lt;/em&gt;  (There are many things which cause them difficulty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questionable: *&lt;em&gt;Most immigrants have great difficulties reading government documents.&lt;/em&gt;  (Unless something else is explicitly under discussion, one would expect that there’s just one main difficulty involved here: language.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T08:12:18.640" />
  <row Id="7369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7349" CreationDate="2010-12-23T08:22:56.927" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stalac &lt;strong&gt;tites&lt;/strong&gt; have to hold on &lt;strong&gt;tight&lt;/strong&gt;! (So they don't fall off...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="496" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T08:22:56.927" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7365" CreationDate="2010-12-23T08:26:21.683" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A problem with this sentence is that the noun &lt;em&gt;difficulties&lt;/em&gt;, which already takes the adjective &lt;em&gt;immense&lt;/em&gt;, makes the adverb &lt;em&gt;easily&lt;/em&gt; redundant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be better to either say that it was immensely difficult or that it was not easy. Some options may be these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;They were unable to access the texts easily.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;They found it immensely difficult to access the texts.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;They had immense difficulties accessing the texts.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T08:26:21.683" />
  <row Id="7371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7349" CreationDate="2010-12-23T08:27:22.057" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look to the shape of the capital letter: stalag M ite vs stalac T ite&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3056" LastEditorUserId="3056" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-24T09:29:14.050" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T09:29:14.050" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="7372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7348" CreationDate="2010-12-23T08:33:23.430" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on my experience:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If accompanied by &lt;a href=&quot;http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/air+quotes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;air quotes&lt;/a&gt;, the term is definitely &lt;em&gt;unquote&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If it's referring to the punctuation mark, &lt;em&gt;end quote&lt;/em&gt; is definitely correct.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If it directly follows the word &quot;quote&quot;, it's &lt;em&gt;unquote&lt;/em&gt;. (In other words, the phrase is &quot;quote unquote&quot;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;quote end quote&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In a formal context, if you &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; use the words (rather than using punctuation and formatting to mark quotations), stick to &lt;em&gt;end quote&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, either term is fair game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T08:33:23.430" />
  <row Id="7373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7349" CreationDate="2010-12-23T08:43:15.087" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stalactites hold tight to the ceiling, and Stalagmites might grow to meet them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3069" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T08:43:15.087" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7374" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7386" CreationDate="2010-12-23T09:21:29.377" Score="5" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am gonna host an English activity this week. Can you share me some interesting English games which impressed you most?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2796" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T15:33:38.893" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T22:24:05.097" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-06T20:52:51.970" Title="Simple yet interesting English game for class?" Tags="&lt;word-games&gt;&lt;teaching-aid&gt;" AnswerCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="7375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7374" CreationDate="2010-12-23T09:29:51.980" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following page has a number of games:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/games.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Games for English language learning and teaching&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T09:29:51.980" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-06T20:52:51.970" />
  <row Id="7376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7349" CreationDate="2010-12-23T09:31:19.677" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stalagmites &lt;strong&gt;might&lt;/strong&gt; reach the roof. Stalactites have to hold on &lt;strong&gt;tight&lt;/strong&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2865" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T09:31:19.677" />
  <row Id="7377" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-23T09:36:24.540" Score="2" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A girl said, quote, I want a lollipop, end quote, as she walked past the candy store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you say it like that out loud?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2865" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T08:57:57.873" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T08:57:57.873" Title="Would you say &quot;quote/end quote&quot;?" Tags="&lt;quotes&gt;&lt;speech&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7378" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7380" CreationDate="2010-12-23T09:55:14.590" Score="0" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2658/what-does-had-had-mean-how-does-this-differ-from-had&quot;&gt;What does &amp;ldquo;had had&amp;rdquo; mean? How does this differ from &amp;ldquo;had&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this correct usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had had enough food?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2544" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:08:59.473" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:08:59.473" ClosedDate="2010-12-24T04:32:02.150" Title="Using had twice" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;past-perfect&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7378" CreationDate="2010-12-23T10:01:57.563" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's correct; it uses the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Past_tense&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;past perfect&lt;/a&gt; tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: you can find a better answer &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2658/what-does-had-had-mean-how-does-this-differ-from-had/2698#2698&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; (and this question is actually a duplicate of that one).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="120" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T10:01:57.563" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7374" CreationDate="2010-12-23T10:12:47.583" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Libs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mad Libs&lt;/a&gt; are fun and could be instructive regarding parts of speech. You could add complexity using descriptions like &quot;past participle&quot; or &quot;first person plural verb in future perfect tense&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2717" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T10:12:47.583" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-06T20:52:51.970" />
  <row Id="7382" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7408" CreationDate="2010-12-23T10:25:12.030" Score="1" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which of these two sentences is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am studying PhD &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; the university.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am studying PhD &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; the university.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I use &quot;at&quot; or &quot;in&quot;? Or is there no difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="155" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T10:56:05.640" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T18:36:29.353" Title="What to use — &quot;at&quot; or &quot;in&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7382" CreationDate="2010-12-23T10:38:48.903" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the UK we'd be most likely to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am studying &lt;strong&gt;for a&lt;/strong&gt; PhD &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt; the university.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, the &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; would be dropped if we weren't emphasising a specific university.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;In&lt;/strong&gt; the university&quot; would usually be understood to mean &quot;physically inside the university buildings&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T10:38:48.903" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7377" CreationDate="2010-12-23T10:52:45.293" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No; I'd say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A girl said she wanted a lollipop as she walked past the candy store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using “quote” and “end quote” in speech usually sounds quite awkward, and it's rarely that important to punctuate the quotation like that for the listener.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T10:52:45.293" />
  <row Id="7385" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7387" CreationDate="2010-12-23T11:09:56.677" Score="5" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it fine to use &quot;due to&quot; in place of &quot;because of&quot;? How about the other way around? Are any of these sentences ungrammatical?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was lost because of the storm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was lost due to the storm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He lost his way due to the storm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He lost his way because of the storm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T17:35:51.683" Title="Can &quot;due to&quot; and &quot;because of&quot; be used interchangeably?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7374" CreationDate="2010-12-23T11:14:51.560" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/Gamewright-106-In-A-Pickle/dp/B00074FYAA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;In a Pickle&lt;/a&gt;. For up to six players, though I don't see any reason why it couldn't be played with more people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/PN1rh.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can a giraffe fit in a phone booth? Does a sofa fit in a shopping cart? It all depends on how you size it up in this game of creative thinking and outrageous scenarios. Try to win a set of cards by fitting smaller things into bigger things — there's some juice in a pickle, in a supermarket, in a parking lot. Play the fourth word card to claim the set, unless one of your opponents can trump with a larger word. The player with the most sets at the end is the &lt;em&gt;big&lt;/em&gt; winner! Includes 300 cards and instructions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can tell from personal experience that the game is quite fun, for native and non-native speakers alike. It encourages thinking outside the box, re-interpreting words and defending your interpretation. Someone puts a president in a jam, but then someone else puts that jam in a glass. Or someone plays the card with the word &quot;universe&quot;, thinking that no one can beat that, but then the next person plays the card with the word &quot;dictionary&quot; and wins the set (after all, &quot;universe&quot; is a word &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; a dictionary).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T11:54:20.210" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T11:54:20.210" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-23T11:14:51.560" />
  <row Id="7387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7385" CreationDate="2010-12-23T11:20:06.807" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: This is a traditional set of rules for &quot;due to&quot; and &quot;because of&quot;, but there is disagreement over whether these rules apply to modern English. See further discussion below.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are not interchangeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was lost because of the storm. (correct)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*He was lost due to the storm. (incorrect)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*He lost his way due to the storm. (incorrect)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He lost his way because of the storm. (correct)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These examples highlight the difference between &quot;due to&quot; and &quot;because of&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He failed because of bad planning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;His failure was due to bad planning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, &quot;because of&quot; modifies a verb, but &quot;due to&quot; modifies a noun (or pronoun). In common usage, though, you will often hear/see them being used interchangeably. More detail can be found in &lt;a href=&quot;http://web.ku.edu/~edit/because.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; See also &lt;a href=&quot;http://languageandgrammar.com/2008/06/10/the-age-old-question-is-it-due-to-or-because-of/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;, which mentions that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;due to&quot; is generally interchangeable with &quot;caused by&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;because of&quot; is generally interchangeable with &quot;on account of&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; Grammar Girl discusses &quot;due to&quot; in an &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/because-due-to-since-as.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; with references to Strunk &amp;amp; White, &lt;em&gt;Fowler's Modern English Usage&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style&lt;/em&gt;, and my paraphrase of her conclusion is that traditional restrictions on &quot;due to&quot; are being increasingly abandoned by modern style guides and may eventually be abolished altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2717" LastEditorUserId="2717" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T17:35:51.683" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T17:35:51.683" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7388" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7407" CreationDate="2010-12-23T11:49:09.183" Score="1" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have different pronouns to express objects vs subjects:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;he vs him&#xA;who vs whom&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the point? What extra information is communicated by expressing object vs subject?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shouldn't it be better to standardize on one form of pronouns and disregard objects and subjects?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3071" LastEditorUserId="3071" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T12:13:04.273" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T02:38:32.733" Title="why differences in Object vs Subject" Tags="&lt;subject&gt;&lt;object&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7388" CreationDate="2010-12-23T12:01:01.577" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some languages have less noun/pronoun inflection than English (Chinese languages, for example), and some languages have more inflection (Latin, for example). The answer to your &quot;why&quot; question is that this is simply how the English language developed. You can trace similarities between English and other Germanic languages, and you can look at the history of the language as influenced by political and social factors over time. For example, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_England&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Norman invasion&lt;/a&gt; is believed to have caused an overall simplification of English grammar because of the language barrier between the Normans and the English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that not &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; pronouns have inflected forms. For example, &quot;it&quot; can be both subject and object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What extra information is communicated by expressing object vs subject?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't think of a case right now where you would use the extra information outside of poetry. For example, you can change word order and still retain meaning due to the inflected forms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Him I despise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2717" LastEditorUserId="2717" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T13:59:16.670" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T13:59:16.670" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7390" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-23T12:10:58.167" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that the site is about English, so I apologise up front. However, as there are many polyglots here I'll give it a go. In English (and other languages with an alphabet), a group of words can be reduced to an acronym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do languages like Chinese or Japanese have a similar concept? If I have a Chinese &quot;International Business Machines&quot;, is it possible to reduce that down to IBM?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T14:39:08.460" ClosedDate="2010-12-23T18:43:28.663" Title="Acronyms in non-alphabetised languages" Tags="&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7391" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7394" CreationDate="2010-12-23T12:34:19.940" Score="0" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's a word that means &quot;common element&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cars and Bikes share the common element that they are both wheeled vehicles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3071" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T23:53:42.653" Title="Word that means common element" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7391" CreationDate="2010-12-23T12:42:08.003" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a programmer, I have to answer &lt;strong&gt;Generalization&lt;/strong&gt;. I'm sure there must be a better word though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2819" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T12:42:08.003" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7391" CreationDate="2010-12-23T12:43:17.300" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like a shared trait?  An attribute?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are &quot;similar&quot;? or that they share X and X is defined to mean &quot;noun. common element&quot; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm aware it's the latter, I'm just trying to brainstorm and potentially help :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&quot;They share a &lt;em&gt;similarity&lt;/em&gt;&quot; perhaps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2045" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T12:43:17.300" />
  <row Id="7394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7391" CreationDate="2010-12-23T12:55:04.020" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Linked? I'm not sure that a single word gives that concept merit. I know that a part of the standard IQ test is to give two words and ask how they are similar. It starts easily, like bike and car (wheeled, mode of transportation, etc) and get progressively harder. If one tries, one should be able to come up with a commonality between any two concepts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3026" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T12:55:04.020" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7385" CreationDate="2010-12-23T12:57:22.913" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you consider what the words &lt;em&gt;due to&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;because of&lt;/em&gt; really mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;due: adjective: owed and payable immediately or on demand.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, your &lt;em&gt;catastrophe&lt;/em&gt; was &lt;strong&gt;due&lt;/strong&gt; to &lt;em&gt;bad planning&lt;/em&gt;, so you had to pay &quot;bad planning&quot; whatever bill you had, the only currency being &lt;em&gt;catastrophe&lt;/em&gt; because bad planning doesn't accept anything else and doesn't give change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;because of&quot; simply indicates a reason/source.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People feared him because of his angry bouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People exist because of the Sun.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;People exist because of the Sun's warmth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although, when attributing something positive it is more natural to say &quot;Thanks to &lt;em&gt;X&lt;/em&gt;&quot; instead of &quot;because of &lt;em&gt;X&lt;/em&gt;&quot; unless X was anticipated to be bad and turned out good anyway (where the inflection changes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A was expected to be bad but turned out good:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought I was a goner...but I actually got back home &lt;em&gt;because of&lt;/em&gt; X!&#xA;(&quot;Thanks to&quot; also applicable in same inflexion)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The puppies ran away because of the storm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The puppies ran away thanks to the storm. ** strange -- were you afraid of puppies so this is a good thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The puppies ran away because of the noise caused by the storm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The puppies' running away was due to leaving the gate unlatched * technically grammatical but more difficult to say and is generally unsaid/avoided&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The drought was due to (the) lack of water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is still a very interesting question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2045" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T12:57:22.913" />
  <row Id="7396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7391" CreationDate="2010-12-23T13:08:25.760" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case, &lt;em&gt;element&lt;/em&gt; could be replaced by&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;attribute  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;characteristic  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;feature  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;quality  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;trait&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T13:08:25.760" />
  <row Id="7397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7391" CreationDate="2010-12-23T14:24:35.427" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One option is maybe &lt;code&gt;Commonality&lt;/code&gt; . It could possibly be worded as :-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cars and Bikes share the commonality of being wheeled vehicles&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another option would be to use the word &lt;code&gt;Denominator&lt;/code&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, that still wouldnt be one word as the usage would be &lt;code&gt;Common Denominator&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2761" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T14:24:35.427" />
  <row Id="7398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7390" CreationDate="2010-12-23T14:39:08.460" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quick answer, yes, in Chinese they do shorten words by removing characters. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://pinyin.info/readings/texts/hyphens.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article about using the hyphen in pinyin&lt;/a&gt;, where they discuss short forms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Luèyǔ, or short forms, are a very common type of construction in [Mandarin]. They are formed by selecting certain component syllables from a long phrase and combining them to form a short and simple word with the same meaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;jūnrén jiāshǔ (soldiers' dependents) → jūnshǔ&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These aren't acronyms per se, but that concept can't really exist in Chinese. However they are analogous because a single character is used to represent other characters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T14:39:08.460" />
  <row Id="7399" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7403" CreationDate="2010-12-23T14:47:09.927" Score="2" ViewCount="300" Body="&lt;p&gt;A large variety of suffixes were used to form diminutives in English. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminutive#English_diminutives&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia page on diminutives&lt;/a&gt; shows these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;* -k/-ock/-uck: balk, bollock, bullock, buttock, fetlock, folk, hark, hillock, jerk, mark, mattock (OE mattuc), milk, mullock, pillock, smirk, snack, spark, stalk, talk, whelk, work, yolk&#xA;* -n/-en/-on (accusative or feminine): burden, chicken, even, heaven (OE heofon), kitten, maiden, morn, oven, steven, vixen, weapon (OE wæpen)&#xA;* -le (defrequentative -l): beetle, boodle, chortle, doodle (shares root with dude, P doudo, dolt, dull, dote, dotterel), fizzle, giggle, kibble, little, mickle, noodle, oodle, puddle, riddle, sparkle&#xA;* -ish (disparative): boyish, fiftyish, girlish, largish, mannish, noonish, reddish, smallish, tallish, twelveish, womanish&#xA;* -s (degenitive): Becks, Betts, Wills&#xA;* -sie/-sies/-sy (babytalk assimilative or from patrici- of Patsy): bitsy, footsie (1930), halfsies, onesies, popsy (1860), teensy-weensy, tootsie (1854), twosies, Betsy, Patsy, Robsy&#xA;* -o (American devocative, later Commonwealth): bucko, daddio, garbo, kiddo, smoko, wacko, Jacko, Ricko,&#xA;* -er/-ers/-ster (agentive, intensive, hýpocoristic, also elided hrotic -a): bonkers (1948), preggers (1940), starkers (1905), Becker[s], Lizzers, Hankster, Patster&#xA;* -a (Geordie assimilative -er): Gazza, Macca&#xA;* -z (geordie degenitive -s): Bez, Chaz, Gaz&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That same page also contains a list of suffixes of diminutive &lt;em&gt;loanwords&lt;/em&gt;, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;* -ling (Norse defrequentative-patrinominative): darling, duckling, fingerling, gosling, underling&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The suffix &lt;em&gt;-ling&lt;/em&gt;, for example, was used to form the following words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;darling = &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/words/darling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dear + ling&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;sterling = &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/words/sterling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;star + ling (from the small star stamped on the coin)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;shilling = &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=shilling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;shield + ling (?)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the words shown above are &lt;em&gt;old&lt;/em&gt; words that have been used for centuries. Are there any more recent English words (let's say, from the past few decades) that have been formed with diminutive suffixes? If yes, which words and suffixes are those?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T15:00:17.703" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T00:36:17.977" Title="How are diminutives formed in recent English words?" Tags="&lt;suffix&gt;&lt;diminutive&gt;&lt;word-formation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="7400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7399" CreationDate="2010-12-23T15:39:23.637" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; Actually none of groupie, techie, Trekkie, and buckyball are diminutives. Ah well, I'll leave them up in case others are tempted to make the same mistake.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some words along with year of first known use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strike&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/groupie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;groupie&lt;/a&gt; (1966)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/techie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;techie&lt;/a&gt; (1970)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/buckyball&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;buckyball&lt;/a&gt; (1985)&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, there is &lt;strike&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trekkie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Trekkie&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strike&gt;, but I couldn't find a &quot;first known use&quot; date. Certainly it can't be earlier than 1967, the year of the show's premier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe it's because of a mental bias that &lt;code&gt;-ie&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;-y&lt;/code&gt; words are the only ones I've come up with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FURTHER EDITS&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, taking a hint from Cerberus: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/telly&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;telly&lt;/a&gt; (1939) is definitely diminutive, although 1939 isn't exactly the past few decades.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ah, something five years closer to the present: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/homie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;homey&lt;/a&gt; (1944), diminutive form of &quot;homeboy&quot;. And a little closer, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yorkie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yorkie&lt;/a&gt; (1946) for Yorkshire Terrier. Closer still, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/westie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Westie&lt;/a&gt; (1959) for West Highland White Terrier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Found something closer: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jammies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;jammies&lt;/a&gt; (1973) for pyjamas. Also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vegie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;veggie&lt;/a&gt; (1955) and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;commie&lt;/a&gt; (1940).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Okay, a truly recent diminutive: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/applet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;applet&lt;/a&gt; (1990), short for application.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2717" LastEditorUserId="2717" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T17:51:17.757" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T17:51:17.757" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="7401" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-23T15:40:44.783" Score="2" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the differences between the two? I thought that &quot;World&quot; means everything, i.e the same as &quot;Universe&quot;. But people seem to think it means the same as &quot;Earth&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2758" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T06:01:29.747" Title="Difference between &quot;World&quot; and &quot;Universe&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="7402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7399" CreationDate="2010-12-23T15:42:39.890" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You left out -let a in •starlet• or • eyelet•. Also -kin, equivalent to German •-chen•, as in bodkin or firkin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of any recent coinages unless •-cakes• qualifies, as in •babycakes•, but I'm not altogether certain that's more affectionate than diminutive. Still, diminutives are often used to express affection. I think we pretty much make do with what we already have. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T15:42:39.890" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7399" CreationDate="2010-12-23T15:42:47.440" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; it is important to distinguish between two senses of &quot;diminutive&quot;: it can be neutral, as a smaller version of something; or it can be mocking, affectionate, etc; in many cases, a suffix is diminutive in both senses, because the latter often follows the former. I am mostly talking about the neutral sense here, which might not be what the original poster intended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say there are no truly productive (capable of producing new instances) diminutive suffixes in modern English. As Mitch mentioned, &lt;code&gt;-y/-ey/-ie&lt;/code&gt; is the suffix that comes closest, but that is still not quite close when compared with suffixes in other Germanic languages, such as German and Dutch. For one thing, this English suffix is never quite neutral, it is always a bit childish or mocking, etc.. And it can only be used with selective nouns, not just any noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dutch: &lt;code&gt;televisie (regular), televisietje (dimin.)&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;router, routertje&lt;/code&gt; is perfectly acceptable, i.e. it is even used with new words of foreign origin. I believe the same applies to German &lt;code&gt;Fernseher, Fernseherchen&lt;/code&gt;, etc..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should be noted, however, that the diminutive is in many languages inherently a little bit informal, because a smaller version of a normal thing is inherently less &quot;impressive&quot; than the normal thing, unless the smaller version is an old word that has gained some sense of &quot;normalcy&quot;, or some distinguishing qualities, through time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T17:40:24.160" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T17:40:24.160" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="7404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7401" CreationDate="2010-12-23T15:46:36.277" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am with the people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me as well, World = Earth while the Universe = earth and space including the great unknown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0960520#m_en_gb0960520&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford&lt;/a&gt; seems to agree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Origin of World:&#xA;Old English &lt;em&gt;w(e)oruld&lt;/em&gt;, from a Germanic compound meaning 'age of man'; related to Dutch &lt;em&gt;wereld&lt;/em&gt; and German &lt;em&gt;Welt&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Origin of Universe:&#xA;late Middle English: from Old French &lt;em&gt;univers&lt;/em&gt; or Latin &lt;em&gt;universum&lt;/em&gt;, neuter of &lt;em&gt;universus&lt;/em&gt; 'combined into one, whole', from &lt;em&gt;uni-&lt;/em&gt; 'one' + &lt;em&gt;versus&lt;/em&gt; 'turned' (past participle of &lt;em&gt;vertere&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2761" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T15:51:30.177" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T15:51:30.177" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7401" CreationDate="2010-12-23T15:58:31.747" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;World generally means Earth, as InSane mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, however, it is used in a more general sense. See definitions 7-9 in this &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/world&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary entry&lt;/a&gt;. Also, consider the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Many-worlds_interpretation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;many-worlds&lt;/a&gt; interpretation of quantum mechanics (also known as many-universes) and the notion of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possible_world&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;possible world&lt;/a&gt; in philosophy and logic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I speculate that &quot;world&quot; is often seen as an acceptable substitute for &quot;universe&quot; (even though it's a less common meaning) for reasons of convenience: &quot;world&quot; is two syllables shorter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2717" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T15:58:31.747" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7401" CreationDate="2010-12-23T16:01:04.723" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say the difference depends on context. The most literal senses of &lt;em&gt;world&lt;/em&gt; versus &lt;em&gt;universe&lt;/em&gt; are, respectively, the planet Earth versus all that exists. However, for practical purposes, it is often clear that all instances of a thing that could possibly exist must exist on our planet, so that the difference becomes irrelevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You are the most beautiful man in the&#xA;  world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since there are hardly any men outside Earth, the words &lt;em&gt;world&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;universe&lt;/em&gt; could be used interchangeably here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This must be the highest mountain in&#xA;  the universe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since there are mountains on Mars, you could not substitute &lt;em&gt;world&lt;/em&gt; here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many expressions where it doesn't matter, the word &lt;em&gt;world&lt;/em&gt; is used because it is the more common word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T17:19:32.147" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T17:19:32.147" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7388" CreationDate="2010-12-23T16:18:10.937" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will post a separate answer that applies to duplicate information in language in general. In most normal sentences, there are many parts that could be left out without making the sentence unintelligible, because there are often several clues that point to the same interpretation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I killed him because he killed my&#xA;  father.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I killed him; he killed my father.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That the because-clause would indicate the motive for killing &quot;him&quot; is clear even without the word &quot;because&quot;, because it can be inferred from context that this must be the motive with reasonable probability. That is why the second sentence is still perfectly intelligible on its own. Any aspect of a sentence can be a clue: word order, case, the choice of one word over another, the addition of adjectives and adverbs, expressing the agent of a verb instead of using a passive form, etc., etc.; and in the context of the sentence or in the real world there are always clues as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is the word &quot;because&quot; merely a burden that should be cut out for efficiency? No. There are two reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Oftentimes, the listener misses some part of a sentence, because of noise, distraction, et cetera. In addition, the speaker could make a small mistake or be a bit unclear. The extra information in these &quot;duplicate&quot; clues is an excellent instrument for the listener to repair these lapses and prevent ambiguity. Especially long sentences with many clauses take a toll on the listener or reader and tax his concentration, in which case he will be happy with extra clues.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Even when the listener does not need to make any repairs to what he hears, it takes less effort to understand a sentence if one has several clues. Conciseness can be taxing. The more &quot;inferrable&quot; words that are stated explicity, the less work the listener has to do.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-28T02:38:32.733" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T02:38:32.733" />
  <row Id="7408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7382" CreationDate="2010-12-23T17:23:22.867" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am studying PhD at the university.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am studying PhD in the university.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the above, both sentences are wrong. Inserting &lt;em&gt;for a&lt;/em&gt; between &lt;em&gt;studying &lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;PhD&lt;/em&gt; would make sentence 1. correct. Sentence 2. would still be wrong, as &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; is the wrong preposition to use in this case:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am studying for a PhD at the university. [Correct]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am studying for a PhD in the university. [Wrong]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not to say that the construction &lt;em&gt;in the university&lt;/em&gt; is inherently wrong. There are certainly some contexts where this would be the correct form to use. For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The monument is in the university. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He is in the university.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not always easy to come up with a rule to determine the choice between &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt;. Some cases are clear cut, as in my first round of examples below. Others are not always so, as in my second batch of examples, for speakers tend to leave a lot of things implied in speech and in writing. Hopefully, you will be able to infer these rules from my examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In academic contexts, use &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; when referring to the institution in general or to a specific one. Note, however, that one would use &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; for &lt;em&gt;graduate school&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;college&lt;/em&gt; (largely American context). The construction &lt;em&gt;in university&lt;/em&gt; is also correct (largely British):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am studying for a PhD &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; the university.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'm &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; Oxford for a PhD.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'm studying for a PhD &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; graduate school.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'm currently &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; grad school for a PhD.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'm a sophomore &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; college.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'm &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; university for a PhD.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am studying for a PhD &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; Harvard.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am studying for a PhD &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'm a PhD student &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; ETH, Zurich.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'm &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; King's College, London.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'm a junior &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; Williams College.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should point out that &lt;em&gt;in college&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;in university&lt;/em&gt; are rather colloquial constructions, but that's why they're used in everyday situations! In more formal contexts, it would be better to use &lt;em&gt;at college/ at university&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More examples using &lt;em&gt;school&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;department&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;faculty&lt;/em&gt; both explicitly and implicitly. Generally, &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; is used for &lt;em&gt;department&lt;/em&gt;, while &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; is used for &lt;em&gt;faculty&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'm studying for a PhD &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; the physics department.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'm &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; physics &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; MIT.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He's a professor &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; the Department of Biology &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; Harvard.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Are you the only assistant professor &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; this department?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'm a PhD student &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; the Faculty of Social Sciences &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; the University of Copenhagen. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She's a professor &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;My son is a lecturer &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; criminology &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; the Faculty of Law.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'm a PhD student &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; the Cape Town University Faculty of Law.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; the School of Engineering for a PhD.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He's a professor &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; Biological Sciences &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; Cambridge.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am a PhD student &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; the Yale School of Architecture.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'm studying for a PhD &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; the law school &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; Harvard.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'm a PhD student &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; Harvard Law [School].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;NB: I did not look up information from any grammar book. These are just examples I came up with based on my experiences as a native speaker, general observations of usage, and what sounds right!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T18:36:29.353" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T18:36:29.353" />
  <row Id="7409" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7410" CreationDate="2010-12-23T20:06:54.453" Score="1" ViewCount="310" Body="&lt;p&gt;When do you use &quot;I don't know either&quot; and when &quot;I also don't know&quot; (or any other verb instead of &quot;know&quot;)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been taught that &quot;I also don't know&quot; is not as correct as &quot;I don't know either&quot; - just like &quot;I always don't know&quot; is not as correct as &quot;I never know&quot; - but I've been hearing recently native speakers use &quot;I also don't know&quot; quite often. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps &quot;I also don't know&quot; is also correct, but it has some different meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T21:20:10.253" Title="&quot;I don't know either&quot; or &quot;I also don't know&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7409" CreationDate="2010-12-23T20:19:20.313" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't think of any circumstances in which &quot;I also don't know&quot; would be correct as a standalone phrase.  I'd always use &quot;I don't know either&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastEditorUserId="2988" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T21:20:10.253" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T21:20:10.253" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7409" CreationDate="2010-12-23T20:20:15.397" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I also don't know&quot; implies that not knowing is one of a list of attributes that describes you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of &quot;I don't know either&quot; you could say &quot;I too don't know.&quot; This puts the emphasis squarely on the subject instead of on the action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T20:20:15.397" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7412" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-23T20:55:29.330" Score="0" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;contraction for &quot;owe on&quot;; would it be &quot;owe'n&quot; or &quot;ow'n&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3077" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T23:44:29.390" Title="Contraction for &quot;owe on&quot;; would it be &quot;owe'n&quot; or &quot;ow'n&quot;?" Tags="&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7412" CreationDate="2010-12-23T21:20:13.750" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no contraction for &quot;owe on&quot;; if you tried to make one people would probably just think you were saying &quot;own&quot;. You would confuse people. &quot;I ow'n the car&quot; would sound like you own it, not that you owe money on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-24T23:44:29.390" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T23:44:29.390" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7414" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-23T21:47:23.923" Score="2" ViewCount="309" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder what of the following is more polite:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Can you please change my email address?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Could you please change my email address?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second one sounds as if the request is more urgent, to me. So I would take the first. But I heard the &quot;could&quot;, &quot;should&quot;, etc. forms are more polite forms of &quot;can&quot;, &quot;shall&quot;, etc. What's the underlying reason and is this true at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2758" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-23T22:34:17.020" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T04:55:25.133" Title="Is &quot;can&quot; or &quot;could&quot; more polite?" Tags="&lt;politeness&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3058" CreationDate="2010-12-23T22:43:25.227" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The company I work work publish a web site used by the building trade. Think submitting quotes for jobs with 7 or more zeros at the end. Our trainers are constantly surprised that some of our users never use a computer. They have &lt;em&gt;zero&lt;/em&gt; knowledge about things like logging into a web site or even the basics of navigation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, The technical knowledge of 'normal people' can range from absolute zero or reasonably proficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T22:43:25.227" />
  <row Id="7416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7414" CreationDate="2010-12-23T23:07:58.037" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem is that &quot;can you x&quot; is like asking &quot;are you able to x&quot; whereas &quot;could you x&quot; is like asking &quot;are you willing to x&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yeah, politeness isn't the issue at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is probably why, even if you're not aware of the nuanced meaning, could is more polite. It's not insulting the target by questioning their ability to perform something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2929" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T23:07:58.037" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7391" CreationDate="2010-12-23T23:53:42.653" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also related is the more mathematical/algorithmical term 'superset'. Vehicles are a superset of bikes and cars, in that they are both types of vehicles, but there are yet more vehicles types beyond the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2953" LastActivityDate="2010-12-23T23:53:42.653" />
  <row Id="7419" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7421" CreationDate="2010-12-24T00:38:51.587" Score="6" ViewCount="282" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've gotten into a debate over which usage of an apostrophe in the phrase &quot;first thing(')s first&quot; is correct. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My thinking is that one would take the first &lt;em&gt;thing&lt;/em&gt; and give it priority, hence the first thing &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; first, and that &lt;em&gt;thing's&lt;/em&gt; is a contraction of &lt;em&gt;thing&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Her thinking is that there may be multiple &lt;em&gt;things&lt;/em&gt; that need doing first, so the phrase should be &quot;first things first&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the correct idiom?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2265" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-24T01:02:46.207" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T01:02:46.207" Title="&quot;First thing's first&quot; or &quot;First things first&quot;?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;&lt;saying&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7419" CreationDate="2010-12-24T00:50:56.270" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The latter is generally considered correct.  From the OED:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First things ﬁrst&lt;/strong&gt;: (to give) ﬁrst place to the most important things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[under &lt;strong&gt;ﬁrst&lt;/strong&gt;, adj., 4a, Foremost, preceding all others, in dignity, rank, importance, or excellence.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Comparing google hits as a very rough measure of usage gives&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;first things first&quot;&lt;/code&gt;: 1,660,000 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;first thing's first&quot;&lt;/code&gt;: 199,000&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the apostrophised version is an order of magnitude less common, but not negligible.  Interestingly (perhaps surprisingly) it appears not just in amateur but also in professional sources, e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/11/circuit-breaker-flash-crash-intelligent-investing-sec.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Forbes.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-24T00:59:59.507" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T00:59:59.507" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7419" CreationDate="2010-12-24T00:51:23.180" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct form of the idiom is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;first things first&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Things&lt;/em&gt; is plural here. You could imagine having a &lt;em&gt;put&lt;/em&gt; before the idiom:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;put first things first&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;let's put first things first&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;you should put first things first&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This clarifies the plurality of &lt;em&gt;things&lt;/em&gt;. So, &lt;em&gt;her&lt;/em&gt; thinking is actually fact!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T00:51:23.180" />
  <row Id="7422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5004" CreationDate="2010-12-24T01:17:05.873" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The OED attests this meaning of the phrase to 1798:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;G. Colman &lt;em&gt;Heir at Law&lt;/em&gt; i. i. 6  What will they hear but what they know? our story a secret, Lord help you!—tell ’em Queen Anne's dead, my Lady.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It cites also a usage of the phrase from 1770, but that example doesn’t seem to intend the same connotation of “old news”.  Interestingly, though, it cross-references us also to &lt;em&gt;Queen Elizabeth’s dead&lt;/em&gt;, given with the same meaning, and attested from as far back 1738 (but rarely since then):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Swift &lt;em&gt;Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat.&lt;/em&gt; 5   Why, Madam, Queen Elizabeth’s dead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at this &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.ca/books?id=xc5IAAAAIAAJ&amp;amp;lpg=PA58&amp;amp;ots=GT4jfE8s07&amp;amp;dq=swift%20%22why%20madam%20queen%20elizabeths%20dead%22&amp;amp;pg=PA58#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in context&lt;/a&gt;, it seems to be roughly the same “old news” meaning, assuming the conversation in the book is supposed to be contemporary: Elizabeth I died in 1603.  For comparison, Queen Anne died in 1714, so this wouldn’t have been &lt;em&gt;quite&lt;/em&gt; so old in 1798 as Elizabeth’s decease was in 1738.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T01:17:05.873" />
  <row Id="7423" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7424" CreationDate="2010-12-24T01:44:59.377" Score="7" ViewCount="418" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm aware that the English county of Worcestershire is pronounced in Britain as ['wu:stəʃə], more or less. However, this is a &lt;strong&gt;non-rhotic&lt;/strong&gt; pronunciation, and it feels very unnatural for me to use this pronunciation when speaking in my native dialect. There are three /r/s in the spelling, and it seems like at least &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; of those should be reflected in the pronunciation. What is an appropriate way for a &lt;strong&gt;rhotic&lt;/strong&gt; English speaker to pronounce the name?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-24T15:35:38.833" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T09:15:12.787" Title="How should I pronounce &quot;Worcestershire&quot; as a rhotic English speaker?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;&lt;rhotic&gt;&lt;non-rhotic&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7423" CreationDate="2010-12-24T02:12:37.420" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster (usually a good guide for rhotic US accents) gives \ˈwu̇s-tə(r)-ˌshir, -shər also -ˌshī(-ə)r\.  The OED doesn’t give a rhotic alternative at all, just /ˈwʊstəʃə(r)/.  Checking a few random other sources, I can’t find any suggesting that the first &lt;em&gt;r&lt;/em&gt; should be pronounced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’d guess (fairly confidently) that a rhotic BrE speaker would say /ˈwʊstərʃər/ or /-ʃɪər/.   Using /-ʃaɪər/ (Merriam-Webster’s \-ˌshī(-ə)r\) for the suffix &lt;em&gt;-shire&lt;/em&gt; is strongly marked as an Americanism, to my ear, though I don’t know a source to back this up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T02:12:37.420" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7425" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7426" CreationDate="2010-12-24T03:44:14.827" Score="4" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am always confused by the difference between the use of &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; in cases like these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Principal component analysis &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; microarray data.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Principal component analysis &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; microarray data.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which of these is correct? Is it OK to use both? If yes, when should I use 1. and 2., respectively?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance for any pointers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1796" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-24T14:59:25.760" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T14:59:25.760" Title="Difference between the use of &quot;for&quot; and &quot;of&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7425" CreationDate="2010-12-24T04:21:38.067" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both examples are correct usage, but the meanings are different and very much dependent on the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the microarray data is being analyzed, then &quot;of&quot; is used to indicate relation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To better understand the results, we must perform a principal component analysis &lt;strong&gt;of&lt;/strong&gt; the microarray data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the microarray data is the &lt;em&gt;outcome&lt;/em&gt; of the analysis, then &quot;for&quot; is used to indicate attempting to obtain, gain, or acquire. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We suspected the flux capacitor might contain microarray data, so we decided to perform a principal component analysis (of the flux capacitor to search) &lt;strong&gt;for&lt;/strong&gt; it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where &quot;it&quot; is the microarray data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another pair of simpler examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we seek the maguffin, then we might &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;search his luggage &lt;strong&gt;for&lt;/strong&gt; the maguffin&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we suspect kryptonite is hidden within the maguffin, then we might &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Perform a search &lt;strong&gt;of&lt;/strong&gt; the maguffin seeking kryptonite&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastEditorUserId="2944" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-24T04:36:02.770" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T04:36:02.770" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7414" CreationDate="2010-12-24T04:55:25.133" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Can you X for me?&quot; asks if you have the ability to X under the current circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Could you X for me?&quot; asks if you have the ability to X under certain circumstances. If the circumstances are not explicit, the implication is &quot;right now&quot;. Using &quot;could&quot; seems more polite than &quot;can&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Would you X for me?&quot; asks if you are willing to x and assumes you have the ability to do so. This also seems polite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the strictest sense, the above three examples are not requests to do something, but questions about ability and willingness to do something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most direct, unambiguous request is: &quot;Please X for me?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For even more politeness, add &quot;Will you&quot; before please. Up the politeness even more by using &quot;would&quot; instead of &quot;will&quot;, thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you please X for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T04:55:25.133" />
  <row Id="7428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7374" CreationDate="2010-12-24T07:59:11.303" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whether the following is an &quot;English game&quot; is up to you, but I remembered something from my childhood. Back in primary school (in India), we kids sometimes used to play in our free time a game called &quot;Name, Place, Animal, Thing&quot;. This was a game we played on our own, i.e. it was part of the children's subculture, not something taught by teachers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The game was for at least 2 players (typically 4 to 8: you could make groups if you decide to do this in your class), and went something like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Each player makes &lt;s&gt;four&lt;/s&gt; five columns on a page, labelled &quot;Name&quot;, &quot;Place&quot;, &quot;Animal&quot;, &quot;Thing&quot;, and &quot;Score&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A random letter of the alphabet is picked. (E.g., one player recites in the alphabet in her head, and another says &quot;Stop&quot; at some point; the first player announces the letter she was on.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Each player then writes down a &quot;name&quot; (proper noun), a &quot;place&quot; (geographical), an &quot;animal&quot; (may include birds, etc.), and a &quot;thing&quot; that &lt;strong&gt;starts with that letter&lt;/strong&gt;. You can't use words that have already been used in the game (i.e., when the same letter came up earlier).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;After everyone is done (more fun if there's a time limit; typically the player who finishes first counts slowly to ten), each player is asked to read out his &quot;name&quot;. Repeat with &quot;place&quot;, &quot;animal&quot; and &quot;thing&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Score&lt;/strong&gt;: If a player has picked a name that no one else has, she gets 10 points. If two players have picked the same name they get only 5 points each. (Or 10/(number of players) if you wish.) Repeat for &quot;place&quot;, &quot;animal&quot;, and &quot;thing&quot;. So each player can get up to 40 points for that turn.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously the strategy — beyond knowing at least &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; word with that letter — is to pick unusual enough words that no one else is likely to pick. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.experiential-learning-games.com/paper-pencil-games.html&quot;&gt;More details on the game here.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unrelated aside: Apparently some American kids are taught to categorise all nouns as &quot;person&quot;, &quot;place&quot; or &quot;thing&quot;. Here's an article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.oup.com/2010/12/noun-game/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Noun Game – A Simple Grammar Lesson Leads to a Clash of Civilizations&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T07:59:11.303" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-06T20:52:51.970" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7423" CreationDate="2010-12-24T09:30:29.713" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's spelt Worcestershire&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And pronounced Niffles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/londoners-questions-on-pronounciation.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/londoners-questions-on-pronounciation.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3081" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T09:30:29.713" />
  <row Id="7431" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7438" CreationDate="2010-12-24T11:39:18.713" Score="0" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this usage correct? It's for an ad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;why wouldn’t you want to work with the&#xA;  best design agency?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3083" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T18:29:27.920" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T19:38:26.377" Title="Is there anything wrong in this?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7423" CreationDate="2010-12-24T11:59:42.607" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't remember my phonetic symbols brilliantly so I'll try this (mostly) without - as a native Briton I can tell you it's (roughly)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Woostəshə&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(the &quot;oo&quot; being that of &quot;look&quot; not &quot;food&quot; or &quot;zoo&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or, less commonly, just &quot;Woostə&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, in the local accent. I can't speak for the whole of Britain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2979" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T11:59:42.607" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7433" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7434" CreationDate="2010-12-24T13:19:16.347" Score="3" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cryptic clue:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Horse-drawn vehicle industry&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answer: &lt;code&gt;Diligence&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't figure this one out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1798" LastEditorUserId="3405" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T15:32:35.983" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T15:32:35.983" Title="Crossword answer explanation: Meaning of Diligence" Tags="&lt;crossword-clue&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7433" CreationDate="2010-12-24T13:26:12.627" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/diligence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;diligence&lt;/strong&gt; (plural &lt;strong&gt;diligences&lt;/strong&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;conscientiousness or determination or perseverance when doing something&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;(religion)&lt;/em&gt; One of the seven contrary virtues, opposite the vice of sloth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A public stage-coach. (19th century, now used only in reference to France or other European countries including Great Britain.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;industry&lt;/em&gt; (in the sense of &quot;busily working&quot;) would match definition 1, and definition 3 is a horse-drawn vehicle, if an obscure one.  I had no idea!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T13:26:12.627" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7435" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-24T14:02:33.313" Score="4" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please elaborate what does it mean by &lt;em&gt;soft skill&lt;/em&gt; in term of English language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2975" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-24T14:50:10.447" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T14:50:10.447" Title="What is &quot;soft skill&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7436" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-24T14:22:37.297" Score="1" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please elaborate, when we say &quot;who is&quot;, why does it sound &quot;whiz&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also one more example I would like to include: why &quot;visit us&quot; sounds &quot;visi-tas&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2975" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-24T14:57:40.490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T14:59:18.617" Title="Why &quot;who is&quot; sounds &quot;whiz&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;speech&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7435" CreationDate="2010-12-24T14:24:33.520" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/soft_skill&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; a &quot;soft skill&quot; is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A personal skill that is usually interpersonal, non-specialized, and difficult to quantify, such as leadership or responsibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrast this with a &quot;hard skill&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A technical skill, not one that is interpersonal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Soft skills are those needed when dealing with people and emotions which are &quot;soft&quot; when compared with technical things which are &quot;hard&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, &quot;soft vs hard&quot; does not refer to difficulty. In fact the soft skills are often more difficult to acquire (i.e. &quot;harder&quot;) than hard skills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sexist among us might say that women are naturally better at soft skills while men favor hard skills. This &quot;observation&quot; is the basis for many sitcoms. Indeed much of the humor in the show &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bones_%28TV_series%29#Cast_and_characters&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bones&lt;/a&gt;&quot; comes from the tough (male) FBI agent having far better soft skills than the detached (female) scientist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T14:24:33.520" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7431" CreationDate="2010-12-24T14:29:48.063" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Phrasing  a question in the negative in this way is merely a rhetorical device. There should be no reason, the copywriter supposes, for anyone not to want to work for the &quot;best design agency,&quot; so the question merely is inviting you to consider your options for not wanting to work there, which are ostensibly none.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also a way for the writer to imply something without a direct assertion. In logic, this is known as the fallacy of complex question, because it assumes facts not in evidence. That the agency in question is the best one in the world has not been proven. It is similar to a prosecutor asking a defendant, &quot;When did you stop beating your wife?&quot; The question cannot be answered without admitting guilt unless the response throws out the entire premise of the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T19:18:28.737" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T19:18:28.737" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7439" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-24T14:51:38.530" Score="0" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/235/written-english-vowels-are-odd&quot;&gt;Written English Vowels are Odd&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is difference when we speak &quot;put&quot; &amp;amp; &quot;cut&quot; ? What is logic behind this ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2975" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T14:51:38.530" ClosedDate="2010-12-24T23:39:34.200" Title="Why &quot;put&quot; and &quot;cut&quot; sound different ?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;speech&gt;" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7436" CreationDate="2010-12-24T14:59:18.617" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is enough phonemic variation among speakers of English to make many vowels sound to some listeners like something else entirely. Usually fast speech and lazy enunciation are the culprits, but that is how people usually speak in normal, casual conversion, myself included. This can make it hard for non-native speakers to understand all the words. And this is true of any language. Native listeners don't listen to each phoneme one by one; instead they post-process entire phrases, and because they can do this very rapidly they have no trouble parsing the meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T14:59:18.617" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7441" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7444" CreationDate="2010-12-24T18:29:56.337" Score="6" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;My spellcheck doesn't complain about 'uniquer'. Is it a valid word? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since unique means &quot;one of a kind&quot;, 'uniquer' has no valid definition, &#xA;but that doesn't prevent it from being a valid dictionary word. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3065" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T07:11:37.187" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T07:11:37.187" Title="Is 'uniquer' a word?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;comparative&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="7442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7441" CreationDate="2010-12-24T18:41:55.100" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the best that can be said for it is that it can be valid grammatically while still being logically ridiculous. There is nothing in the language that prohibits one from that construction other than intelligence and good judgment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-24T19:06:35.237" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T19:06:35.237" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7441" CreationDate="2010-12-24T18:57:37.060" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd try not to use &quot;uniquer&quot;. It's better if you use &quot;more unique&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That is uniquer than a dinosaur bone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That is more unique than a dinosaur&#xA;  bone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd try and use the second example, but the first one may also be &quot;correct&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: Of course, you could always say &quot;uniquer&quot; until someone points out that your grammar needs some revising. Then you could most kindly point out to them that you've encountered the word before in that form, and it was correctly used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2411" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T18:57:37.060" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7441" CreationDate="2010-12-24T19:00:46.347" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spellcheckers are never to be &lt;em&gt;absolutely&lt;/em&gt; trusted. When in doubt, the dictionary should always come in handy. Indeed, we colloquially modify &quot;unique&quot; all the time, as in &lt;em&gt;quite unique&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;very unique&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;really unique&lt;/em&gt;! This usage is rightly frowned upon by an overwhelming majority, considering the meaning of the word &quot;unique&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;being the only one of its kind; unlike anything else&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;particularly remarkable, special, or unusual&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;( unique to) belonging or connected to (one particular person, group, or place)  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd Edition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question of whether or not &lt;em&gt;unique&lt;/em&gt; can be compared is a matter of debate among experts of the English language. Here's a note on usage from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unique&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many commentators have objected to the comparison or modification (as by somewhat or very) of unique, often asserting that a thing is either unique or it is not. Objections are based chiefly on the assumption that unique has but a single absolute sense, an assumption contradicted by information readily available in a dictionary... In modern use both comparison and modification are widespread and standard but are confined to the extended senses...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;extended senses&quot; would be the bulleted ones in my Oxford definition. And here is one more quote from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unique&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unique in its undisputed sense is not comparable. In its disputed senses, however, it can be compared as &lt;em&gt;more unique&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;most unique&lt;/em&gt;, and occasionally as &lt;em&gt;uniquer&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;uniquest&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, &lt;em&gt;uniquer&lt;/em&gt; can be considered valid within a proper context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-24T19:49:03.367" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T19:49:03.367" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7445" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7448" CreationDate="2010-12-24T19:04:20.330" Score="10" ViewCount="370" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why does&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dude! I just owned you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;mean that the speaker did really well against &quot;Dude&quot; in some sort of competition or game?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-12-25T14:06:03.727" Title="How did the slang meaning of &quot;owned&quot; come to be?" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="7446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7441" CreationDate="2010-12-24T19:22:51.417" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The comparative form of &quot;unique&quot; is &quot;more unique&quot;, not &quot;uniquer&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;More unique&quot; has gotten some opprobrium, in large part because of its association with the hyperbole of marketing, but the complaint one sometimes sees that the term is &quot;illogical&quot; is unjustified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Talking about whether something is &quot;unique&quot; always comes with an implicit reference: something is unique if it is &quot;the only one of its kind,&quot; but this only moves us on to the question of when two things have the same kind.  To get at the ambiguous edges of the word, consider a handcrafted, custom-made table, with a design and shape unlike that of any other.  Now consider a hundred tables, all handcrafted by the same person, each one with a different shape and design from the others.  Now consider a hundred thousand tables, each one with a different shape and design, generated by a computer algorithm designed to ensure that no two are exactly the same.  In this last case, at least, there's a strong  argument that while each of these hundred thousand tables is different in design from any other, they are no longer particularly unique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So talking about whether something is &quot;more unique&quot; is an assertion that it is unique relative to a weaker notion of when two things have the same kind---that is, it is still unique even when more things are &quot;the same kind&quot; and therefore fewer things are unique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T19:22:51.417" />
  <row Id="7447" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7457" CreationDate="2010-12-24T19:40:18.477" Score="5" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;This one has bugged me for years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When an American English speaker wishes to express regret that Joe doesn't come around any more, they would typically say, &quot;I really miss having him around.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that it's common for British English speakers, however, to say, &quot;I really miss not having him around,&quot; when they mean the same thing. To me, this sounds like exactly the opposite of what they mean to say. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Having him around&quot; is what we regret the lack of, is it not? So why negate that, essentially saying you regret the lack of &quot;not having him around&quot; implying that he IS around and you liked it better when he wasn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anybody explain why the British construction makes any sense? Is there some difference of interpretation in the meaning of the word &quot;miss&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T01:38:38.980" Title="What's the story with the British use of &quot;miss not having&quot; vs. &quot;miss having?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7445" CreationDate="2010-12-24T19:53:41.870" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Believe it or not, Wikipedia actually has &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owned&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an entire article&lt;/a&gt; dedicated to the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Owned&lt;/em&gt; is a slang word (e.g. &quot;Wikipedia got owned!&quot;), that originated among 1990s hackers, where it referred to &quot;rooting&quot; or gaining administrative control over someone else's computer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The term's original usage was close to that of the traditional meaning of the word &quot;own&quot; — for instance, &quot;I owned the network at MIT&quot; indicated that the speaker had cracked the servers and had the same root-level privileges that the legitimate owner of the servers had. &quot;Owned&quot;, a later variant, became more common in the late 1990s, as did the more abstract usage referring to any compromised security mechanism. By 1997, &quot;owned&quot; was regularly used in website defacements, and it subsequently spread to gaming circles, where it was used to refer to defeat in a game. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T19:53:41.870" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7445" CreationDate="2010-12-24T19:53:59.513" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term &quot;own&quot; originated in hacker culture, and referred to compromising and gaining control of a computer system. Soon after its inception, like many hacker terms, it came to be deliberately mistyped (as &quot;pwn&quot;); like all such obfuscated jargon, it retained its original pronunciation. With some digging, you might be able to find an earliest-known reference, but the chance is slim since it's so ubiquitous. Like a large amount of hacker slang, it was simplified and appropriated into the gamer culture, where it took on its current meaning of &quot;to defeat&quot; or &quot;to be superior to&quot;, and its current widely varying mispronunciations such as &quot;pown&quot;, &quot;pawn&quot;, and &quot;pun&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T19:53:59.513" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7450" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7451" CreationDate="2010-12-24T22:48:46.333" Score="4" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sometimes use the word &quot;parley&quot; as a verb effectively meaning &quot;to convert from one language or system to another&quot;.  Such as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stargate parleys the Egyptian deities into villainous star-faring aliens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been told this usage is incorrect, and I can't find &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parley&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;any definition&lt;/a&gt; to support how I use it.  Is there a similar word that means what I think it does, or am I totally off base?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1048" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:07:49.737" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:07:49.737" Title="Use of parley meaning to convert?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7450" CreationDate="2010-12-24T23:05:48.410" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only verb sense of &lt;em&gt;parley&lt;/em&gt; that I know or can find in dictionaries is intransitive: to &lt;em&gt;parley&lt;/em&gt; with someone is to confer, hold talks, etc. with them.  So &lt;em&gt;to parley X into Y&lt;/em&gt; sounds wrong to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usage I know which is much closer to your example is &lt;em&gt;parlay&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;parley&lt;/em&gt;.  Merriam-Webster &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/parlay&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;defines it&lt;/a&gt; as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;to use or develop (something) to get something else that has greater value&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He hoped to parlay his basketball skills into a college scholarship.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She parlayed $5,000 and years of hard work into a multimillion-dollar company.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the grammar of this absolutely fits your example.  Your meaning doesn’t fit into M-W’s definition; but I would tend to agree with you that it’s now used a bit more broadly than their definition, generally as something closer to “to convert X into Y” or “to refashion/reimagine/reinterpret X as Y”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: The &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American  English&lt;/a&gt; doesn’t reflect our feeling that it’s used more broadly: every instance of ‘parlay X into Y’ I checked fits the definition given by M-W.  However, it &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; confirm that ‘parlay’ and ‘parley’ get mixed up fairly frequently — about 10% of the hits for each were in situations where, going by the dictionary definitions, it should have been the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-24T23:17:57.000" LastActivityDate="2010-12-24T23:17:57.000" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7452" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7475" CreationDate="2010-12-25T00:15:21.033" Score="1" ViewCount="287" Body="&lt;p&gt;For years, it irritated me that people kept using &quot;more [adjective]&quot; where there were already dedicated forms making &quot;more&quot; unnecessary.  For example, people would say &quot;more tight&quot; than &quot;tighter&quot;.  I figured people were just being forgetful, but then I see notable publications like The New York Times using &quot;more angry&quot; instead of &quot;angrier&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;They were more angry with Washington and intense in their desires for a smaller federal government and deficit.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/us/politics/15poll.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/us/politics/15poll.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've researched online, and I don't see any clear indication that both are acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;more angry&quot; correct and acceptable in this case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2945" LastEditorUserId="2945" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-28T21:23:09.630" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T21:23:09.630" Title="&quot;Angrier&quot; vs &quot;More Angry&quot;" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7452" CreationDate="2010-12-25T01:16:20.480" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, &quot;more angry&quot; is acceptable, and referenced as such in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/angry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster learners dictionary&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And there is a slight difference between &quot;angrier&quot; and &quot;more angry&quot;, the former representing a strict comparison (&quot;angrier than ...&quot;), the second expressing an escalation in the degree of anger felt (compared with the same anger felt before).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is that &quot;escalation&quot; which is easier to represent with the &quot;more&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/77/shreevatsar&quot;&gt;ShreevatsaR&lt;/a&gt; asks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;When she heard the other story, she became angrier&quot; (or &quot;more angry&quot;) — in either case, I see &quot;escalation&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, I would find &quot;angrier&quot; more appropriate because of the comparison between the two stories (causing the anger to rise).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I would use &quot;more angry&quot; where there is no direct external comparison element (as in the OP's question: &quot;They were more angry with Washington&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When you compare anger with anger, &quot;more angry&quot; makes sense to me.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you compare anger caused by an external element with anger cause by &lt;em&gt;another&lt;/em&gt; external element, &quot;angrier&quot; seems more adequate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Or &quot;Jack was angrier than Jill&quot; / &quot;Jack was more angry than Jill&quot; — in either case I see comparison. So what's the difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, &quot;more angry&quot; could be used (if only &quot;anger's people&quot; is compared), except if your sentence go on with some explanation for said anger.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;Jack was angrier than Jill because of ...&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind this is not an official rule, just my interpretation of how one could choose an expression over the other.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Both can certainly be used without real issue.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My point is just that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;more angry&quot; is not &quot;false&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;more angry&quot; could be seen as a &quot;general way&quot; to characterize a state of mind, whereas &quot;angrier&quot; would be a more specific way to compare the consequence of two external factors.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that way, I don't think one is a &quot;subset&quot; of the other. They can be used to express two different situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-25T09:45:23.857" LastActivityDate="2010-12-25T09:45:23.857" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="7454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7349" CreationDate="2010-12-25T04:21:14.947" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stalactite has the &quot;lact&quot; root in it meaning &quot;milk&quot;, because, well, hanging from the cave roofs, they look like the thing on women's body that gives milk. All I need to do is think about lactating women.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1424" LastActivityDate="2010-12-25T04:21:14.947" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7447" CreationDate="2010-12-25T05:50:37.977" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It hadn't occurred to me that this was yet another of the mismatches between British and American English.  I'll vouch that something pretty close to this is used on occasion in Britain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not so easy to explain the construct - it might even be one of the indefensible constructs that just gets used even so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sense is intended to be &quot;I miss that he is not around any more&quot;, pointing out the negative &quot;he is not here/around&quot;, and that &quot;I missing him&quot;.  Maybe it is based on &quot;I miss that I'm not having him around any more&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-12-25T05:50:37.977" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7445" CreationDate="2010-12-25T06:01:30.033" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;By 'the slang meaning of owned' do you mean powned, As in &quot;You just got powned.&quot;. The phrase &quot;You just got powned&quot; originated when some video game developer had a typo and accientally set a chat hot-key in the game to powned, rather than owned (Which is understandable, since the letter P is right next to the letter O.)&#xA;It is still used some and means just the same thing as owned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3095" LastActivityDate="2010-12-25T06:01:30.033" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7447" CreationDate="2010-12-25T07:14:06.793" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, this isn't a specifically British construction, nor is it the standard in British English. It's just a nonstandard variant that occasionally occurs in both American and British English. (More on that later below.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for an explanation of why it is used, I guess some people either understand the word &quot;miss&quot; differently than we do, or just aren't thinking clearly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;A different understanding of &quot;miss&quot;:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I miss not having him around&quot; seems like a cross between &quot;I miss him&quot; and &quot;I regret not having him around&quot;. The standard meaning of &quot;I miss X&quot; (in our context) is something like &quot;I feel a sense of absence or loss because X used to be around and isn't any longer&quot;, thus &quot;I miss having him around&quot;. Some people appear to be extending/inverting it to &quot;I feel a sense or absence or loss &lt;em&gt;because of&lt;/em&gt; X&quot; (see the quote *&quot;I miss that he is not around any more&quot; in the other answer) thus for these speakers, &quot;I miss not having him around&quot; means &quot;I feel a sense of something missing &lt;em&gt;because of&lt;/em&gt; not having him around.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see this most clearly in the American examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Do you miss not having children?&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;I feel that as an only child she may miss not having siblings later on, as an adult.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where there is talk of missing things that one never had, and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Q: Do you miss not having hands and feet?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  A: Well, I've never had them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the question uses &quot;miss&quot; in the nonstandard sense (&quot;do you feel something missing because of not having hands and feet&quot;, a rather daft question), while the answer, having ignored the &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; (and the literal meaning), treats &quot;miss&quot; in the standard sense: I can't miss something I've never had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for why this different sense comes about, I guess there's a strong temptation, in phrases involving counterfactuals, to state the factual instead. (I suspect something similar was at work in the origin of &quot;could care less&quot;, sometimes claimed to be sarcastic though &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001182.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;it's&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001207.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;not&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Not thinking clearly:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This actually happens naturally in language. It's not unique to this phrase; there's a small amount of confused inversion in many phrases involving negatives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;People &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000500.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;frequently say&lt;/a&gt; &quot;You can't fail to miss it&quot; when they mean &quot;you can't fail to see it&quot; or &quot;you can't miss it&quot;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000371.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;say&lt;/a&gt; &quot;No one can deny that X is not the best&quot; when they mean &quot;No one can deny that X is the best&quot; or &quot;No one can claim that X is not the best&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000475.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;say&lt;/a&gt; &quot;No head injury is too trivial to ignore&quot; when they mean &quot;No head injury is so trivial that it can be ignored&quot;, or &quot;No head injury is too trivial to take seriously&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Even &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000478.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;laywers&lt;/a&gt; get it wrong, and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The non-logical usages are often &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000477.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;far more common&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess that, with time, &quot;miss not&quot; will join the list of phrases like &quot;could care less&quot;, &quot;doesn't know squat&quot;, and &quot;teach you to&quot;, where a negation can be added or removed with &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000368.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;no change in meaning&lt;/a&gt;. So this inverted usage of &quot;miss&quot; may well become standard, and it will only be considered to add to the glorious irrationalities of the English language. (In the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coha/?c=coha&amp;amp;q=8008291&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Historical American English&lt;/a&gt;, usages of &quot;miss not&quot; before 1968 are mostly the &quot;correct&quot; one, while 1968 and later has mostly the usage you asked about in the question.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Usage patterns&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Corpora indicate it may even occur more often in American English than British English, though more below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/?c=bnc&amp;amp;q=8008288&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; has only &lt;a href=&quot;http://bnc.bl.uk/saraWeb.php?qy=miss+not&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;five instances&lt;/a&gt; of this usage, all from fiction: &#xA;&quot;&lt;em&gt;we miss not having your funny face around to laugh at&lt;/em&gt;&quot;,&#xA;&quot;&lt;em&gt;I miss not having one&lt;/em&gt;&quot;,&#xA;&quot;&lt;em&gt;D'you miss not drinking very much?&lt;/em&gt;&quot;,&#xA;&quot;&lt;em&gt;Did you miss not 'aving me to talk to?&lt;/em&gt;&quot;,&#xA;and one that, interestingly enough, uses both the &quot;miss not&quot; and &quot;miss&quot; constructions in a single sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;em&gt;I often think I miss not having someone with whom to share the joys of Dickie, far more than I miss having someone with whom to share my worries.&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&amp;amp;q=8008292&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;, however, has 20 instances of such usage (leaving out phrases like &quot;miss not only…&quot;), from news, spoken TV programmes, magazines, fiction, etc., e.g.:&#xA;&quot;&lt;em&gt;BH: Do you miss not having children? Calhoun: Yes. You know I love kids&lt;/em&gt;&quot;,&#xA;&quot;&lt;em&gt;Do you ever miss not having a daddy?&lt;/em&gt;&quot;,&#xA;&quot;&lt;em&gt;I will miss not being able to walk Christie down the aisle&lt;/em&gt;&quot;,&#xA;&quot;&lt;em&gt;I miss not having the late Red Auerbach to answer such vital questions&lt;/em&gt;&quot;,&#xA;&quot;&lt;em&gt;I miss not being able to talk to people in the market&lt;/em&gt;&quot;,&#xA;&quot;&lt;em&gt;I miss not being in a more cosmopolitan city&lt;/em&gt;&quot;,&#xA;&quot;&lt;em&gt;'Do you miss not having hands and feet?' Well, I've never had them.&lt;/em&gt;&quot;,&#xA;&quot;&lt;em&gt;I miss not being able to see my friends' faces&lt;/em&gt;&quot;,&#xA;&quot;&lt;em&gt;I miss not having my dog around&lt;/em&gt;&quot;,&#xA;&quot;&lt;em&gt;I feel that as an only child she may miss not having siblings later on, as an adult.&lt;/em&gt;&quot;,&#xA;&quot;&lt;em&gt;I kind of miss not being able to drop by my parents' house during the week&lt;/em&gt;&quot;,&#xA;&quot;&lt;em&gt;Cmdr. VERNOSKI: Listen, do you miss not having my long hair on the rug? Col. VERNOSKI: Absolutely! I miss not having your long hair in my hands.&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does contain one &quot;correct&quot; usage of &quot;miss not&quot; as you and I seem to understand it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;about having the disease? […] I miss not having to think about this. I miss just going to work and leading…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, probably the two corpora aren't the same size, but I don't (from looking at them) see any clear justification for calling it a British construction. And from the relatively small number of instances, it seems less frequent than the &quot;miss having…&quot; variant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way of looking at them is through Google n-gram viewer. I don't think this is extremely reliable, but worth looking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are &quot;miss having&quot; and &quot;miss not having&quot; in American English:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=miss+not+having,+miss+having&amp;amp;year_start=1950&amp;amp;year_end=2010&amp;amp;corpus=5&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/yRRPu.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And in British English:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=miss+not+having,miss+having&amp;amp;year_start=1950&amp;amp;year_end=2010&amp;amp;corpus=6&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/of8rz.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, here are &quot;miss being&quot; and &quot;miss not being&quot; in American English:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=miss+not+being,miss+being&amp;amp;year_start=1950&amp;amp;year_end=2010&amp;amp;corpus=5&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/QANdF.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And in British English:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=miss+not+being,miss+being&amp;amp;year_start=1950&amp;amp;year_end=2010&amp;amp;corpus=6&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/MX5HU.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So from the data it seems (look at the numbers on the y-axis carefully) that &quot;miss not being&quot; and &quot;miss not having&quot; are used at about the same frequency in both American and British English. But &quot;miss having/being&quot; are used much more in American English, so the &quot;miss not&quot; forms are more common in British English &lt;em&gt;relative&lt;/em&gt; to the standard forms. Still, less frequent. (This is a crude search without context, so all the caveats apply.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T06:33:42.917" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T06:33:42.917" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7458" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7463" CreationDate="2010-12-25T07:23:52.007" Score="2" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;[ 1 ] tells that &quot;Singular Nouns denoting a class&quot; are prepended by the definite article &quot;THE&quot; on p.5 (Example: &lt;strong&gt;&quot;The Cobra is dangerous&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;) while on page 7 (Table 6. THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE) it tells that &quot;Singular countable nouns denoting a class&quot; are prepended by indefinite articles (&quot;An elephant never forgets&quot;)   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could not get what is the difference between twjo cases mentioned?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Why cannot I write according the same rules &quot;A Cobra never forgets&quot; and &quot;The elephant is dangerous&quot;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[ 1 ]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;PRACTICAL REALISATIONS OF ENGLISH DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE ARTICLES&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://webspersoais.usc.es/export/sites/default/persoais/josemanuel.oro/WEBPERSONAL/GRAMMAR/GRTIP1.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://webspersoais.usc.es/export/sites/default/persoais/josemanuel.oro/WEBPERSONAL/GRAMMAR/GRTIP1.pdf&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p.5 (of 8)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;=================================  &#xA; 4. THE DEFINITE ARTICLE  &#xA;----------------------------------   &#xA; USES          EXAMPLES &#xA;-----------------------------------&#xA; Singular        The Cobra is dangerous    &#xA; nouns &#xA; denoting &#xA; a class&#xA;=======================================&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;p.7 (of 8)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;=================================  &#xA; 6. THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE  &#xA;----------------------------------   &#xA; USES          EXAMPLES &#xA;-----------------------------------&#xA; Singular        An elephant never forgets countable     &#xA; countable &#xA; nouns &#xA; denoting &#xA; a class&#xA;=======================================&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7458/the-cobra-vs-an-elephant-articles-with-nouns-denoting-a-class/11765#11765&quot;&gt;Irene asks:&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How about the following example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; happiness of &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  majority more important than &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  rights of &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; individual?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;According to &quot;First Certificate&#xA;  Language Practice&quot; by Michael Vince&#xA;  this is the only way to say it. But&#xA;  couldn't you also say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; happiness of &lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt; majority&#xA;  more important than the rights of &lt;strong&gt;an&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  individual?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As I see it majority and individual&#xA;  both represent a class and an example&#xA;  of a class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T13:09:54.163" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T18:26:40.093" Title="&quot;The (Cobra)&quot; vs. &quot;An (elephant)&quot;, articles with nouns denoting a class" Tags="&lt;indefinite-article&gt;&lt;definite-article&gt;&lt;uncountable-noun&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="7459" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7461" CreationDate="2010-12-25T09:15:30.447" Score="0" ViewCount="250" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tend to write, &quot;say &lt;em&gt;whatever&lt;/em&gt; they want&quot;, but I'm always tempted to write &quot;say &lt;em&gt;what ever&lt;/em&gt; they want&quot;. Is it acceptable to split the word in this context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2945" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T18:23:02.120" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T18:23:02.120" Title="&quot;Say 'whatever' they want&quot; vs. &quot;Say 'what ever' they want&quot;" Tags="&lt;confusables&gt;&lt;compounds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7459" CreationDate="2010-12-25T09:52:19.313" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;At first glance, &quot;what ever&quot; looks weird in this context, because I parse it with the &quot;ever&quot; referring to &quot;want&quot;, as just another, less stilted way of writing &quot;what they ever (i.e., always) want&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;ever&quot; in &quot;whatever&quot; serves more for emphasis than for its literal meaning. For example, &quot;what you want&quot; refers to a single, definite thing, while &quot;whatever you want&quot; refers to a thing chosen from any number of indefinite things. &quot;Whatever&quot; implies uncertainty or arbitrariness, and thus cannot really ever be replaced with &quot;what ever&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But constructions such as this with &quot;what ever&quot; in place of &quot;whatever&quot; are so archaic and peculiar that I imagine few people, upon seeing the former, would assume that it meant anything other than the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you can say whatever you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-12-25T09:52:19.313" />
  <row Id="7461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7459" CreationDate="2010-12-25T10:15:01.847" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No it is not acceptable to split the word in your context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;say whatever they want&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, &lt;em&gt;whatever&lt;/em&gt; is a relative pronoun and it is always written as one word. The only instance where one will find &lt;em&gt;what ever&lt;/em&gt; is in the interrogative. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;What ever does he want?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;What ever does she do besides complain?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In these cases, &lt;em&gt;ever&lt;/em&gt; (an adverb) modifies the pronoun &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; and, as such, it cannot and should not be compounded with &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, one could also have &lt;em&gt;whatever&lt;/em&gt; as an interrogative pronoun:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whatever's wrong with you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, finally, &lt;em&gt;whatever&lt;/em&gt;, as an adjective, can be used in the following manner:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Run whatever distance you can.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'll take whatever solution you've got.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2010-12-25T10:15:01.847" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7458" CreationDate="2010-12-25T14:35:01.250" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use either. There is functionally no difference between the following sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The elephant will flee when confronted by danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An elephant will flee when confronted by danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, you can also use the plural with no article to say the same thing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Elephants will flee when confronted by danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Sorry, my phone doesn't want to let me select blocks of text for some reason, so I'm unable to highlight these examples.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-26T07:48:15.537" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T07:48:15.537" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7464" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7466" CreationDate="2010-12-25T16:48:35.867" Score="0" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Foobar: Your one-step stop for assorted candies.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Foobar: Your one-stop shop for assorted candies.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am really confused about which one sounds right. I've heard the second one before, but came across the first one recently. Are both phrases correct, or is &quot;one-step stop&quot; just plain wrong? Can there be another refined alternative to these phrases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2010-12-25T17:03:17.240" Title="One-step Stop or One-stop Shop?" Tags="&lt;catch-phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7465" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-25T16:51:08.897" Score="1" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi there,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking for a good grammar checker in english... Not the one that comes with word... i used to use one called stylewriter and it was SO good but it seems really out of date now...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is there an alternative..??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its for installing on a Windows PC and would be great if it integrated with Word, office etc etc&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look forward to any advice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3100" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T18:29:49.320" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:29:49.320" ClosedDate="2011-01-15T15:50:19.863" Title="Grammar checker: Stylewriter seems to be out of date .. an alternative?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammar-checker&gt;&lt;software&gt;" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7464" CreationDate="2010-12-25T17:03:17.240" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;One-stop shop&quot; is correct, &quot;-step&quot; is probably just a typo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The imagery behind the metaphor is: a &quot;one-stop shop&quot; has everything you need, so you don't need to make any other &lt;em&gt;stops&lt;/em&gt; on your journey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1475" LastActivityDate="2010-12-25T17:03:17.240" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7467" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7968" CreationDate="2010-12-25T17:29:25.613" Score="3" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which way is correct? Is there any rule for such cases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T00:01:26.640" Title="&quot;Taiwan visa&quot; or &quot;Taiwanese visa&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="7468" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7477" CreationDate="2010-12-25T17:31:29.090" Score="2" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which way is correct here? Some explanation would be appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2010-12-25T23:05:49.033" Title="&quot;Your company name&quot; or &quot;Your company's name&quot;?" Tags="&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7469" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7470" CreationDate="2010-12-25T19:49:02.700" Score="6" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;When pluralizing family (last) names that also happen to be common English words, does the pluralization follow the same rules as the common word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, &quot;the Smith family&quot; can be pluralized as &quot;the Smiths&quot;, but what if your family name is Wolf or Fish?  Would it be &quot;the Wolfs&quot; or &quot;the Wolves&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always been curious and this seems like a good place to ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3102" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-27T15:11:37.773" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T15:11:37.773" Title="Family Name Pluralization" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;&lt;names&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7469" CreationDate="2010-12-25T20:31:15.783" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You generally ignore that the underlying word has an irregular plural, so it would be &quot;the Wolfs&quot;.  (This is the same rule as for irregular words in compounds where they aren't the main noun: &quot;mongooses&quot; is the plural of &quot;mongoose&quot; even though &quot;goose&quot; has an irregular plural.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2010-12-25T20:31:15.783" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7452" CreationDate="2010-12-25T21:35:08.740" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your Washington Post example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They were more angry with Washington and intense in their desires for a smaller federal government and deficit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that the &quot;more angry&quot; phrasing may be intended as a smoother read for the parallel construction ('more angry ... and (more) intense'), although if that's what they really intended then the second 'more' should probably have been included.  Even so, though, perhaps the editor there felt that mixing a single-word comparative form (angrier) with an absolute form (intense) was something to avoid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-25T21:35:08.740" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7476" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7481" CreationDate="2010-12-25T22:45:23.540" Score="6" ViewCount="531" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, I find it easier to learn so many English vocabulary and expressions and usage by watching movies. If you're a non-native English speaker, you probably noticed some of them that help you learn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are good movies you watched that are great for learning English? (Expressions, usage, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in the movie &lt;em&gt;The Social Network&lt;/em&gt;, I think some of the dialogue is quite intense. Great for English listening skill training if you watch it without subtitles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;update:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone already asked &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4538/&quot;&gt;Films/Series that are extremely good to understand (and that are not…)&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. But I'm looking for those who are not just easy to understand, but also rich with more advanced English vocabulary, expressions and usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3105" LastEditorUserId="3105" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-26T08:16:18.890" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T17:21:10.553" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-26T16:14:53.523" Title="Good movies for learning English" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="7477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7468" CreationDate="2010-12-25T23:05:49.033" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Company name&quot; is a noun phrase that is used on legal papers and other forms when dealing with a company as an artificial person or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;legal entity&lt;/a&gt;. Typically in these cases, &quot;your&quot; would not precede &quot;company name&quot; because the legally company represents itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This phrase is used in correspondence between the company and another legal entity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Your company's name&quot; is an informal phrase which means &quot;the name of the company that you own (in part or in full)&quot; or possibly &quot;the name of the company that employees you&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This phrase is used in conversations among real people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-25T23:05:49.033" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7476" CreationDate="2010-12-25T23:23:51.187" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no real good answer for this kind of question, because the characteristic of a movie helping you to learn English is first and foremost its appeal to you.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You enjoy the movie so much you &lt;em&gt;want&lt;/em&gt; to understand every lines in it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And that is a very &lt;em&gt;personal&lt;/em&gt; choice.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(For me, it was for instance the first Star Wars movies or, &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/259/improve-vocabulary/269#269&quot;&gt;as I already mentioned&lt;/a&gt;, Pulp Fiction)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-12-25T23:23:51.187" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-26T16:14:53.523" />
  <row Id="7479" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-26T02:38:02.177" Score="4" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;We heard the news &lt;em&gt;on &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; radio&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;We watched the news &lt;em&gt;on television&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/052162598X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;book&lt;/a&gt;, the author says we must use &lt;em&gt;television&lt;/em&gt; without &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;. Why? It makes me crazy. Is there a valid reason?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3106" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T07:12:08.047" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T07:12:08.047" Title="Definite article — 'Television' and 'The Radio'" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;articles&gt;&lt;definite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7479" CreationDate="2010-12-26T03:05:32.207" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have thought about this for a long time, but I am afraid I can think of no reason why it is as it is. This is just idiom; you need to learn it without any system: I am sorry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several ways in English to denote that you are talking about something in general rather than about a specific instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Man has been on the moon. Love is banal. Pottery is an important&#xA;  technology. &lt;em&gt;(No article)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The wheel is a great invention. The most poisonous spider in Europe is the Black&#xA;  Widow. &lt;em&gt;(Definite article)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A jaguar would never eat an elephant. &lt;em&gt;(Indefinite article)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Penguins hate cold. &lt;em&gt;(No article, plural)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some cases you could use several ways; not all are possible in each case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T03:05:32.207" />
  <row Id="7481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7476" CreationDate="2010-12-26T03:18:26.590" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indeed, there are many options. My advice would be to always choose a film or series that is just above your level: that way you need to exert yourself and you learn the most. Pause and Google up any phrase that you do not understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are interested in politics, I recommend &lt;strong&gt;Yes Minister&lt;/strong&gt;, a British comedy series from around 1990. It is all about intrigue and political games, and a great deal of fun. The wordplay and masterly use of English are a good way to learn about topics that it is actually important to know something about; the language of politics is more important that that of, say, jungle adventures, or fashion (my apologies if I have offended any film lovers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A funny scene from YM:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIXH3-A8zMI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIXH3-A8zMI&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(Sir Humphrey explains foreign policy; you might notice that the series is very cynical, in a fun way.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T17:21:10.553" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T17:21:10.553" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-26T16:14:53.523" CommentCount="17" />
  <row Id="7482" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7487" CreationDate="2010-12-26T03:27:46.723" Score="3" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am interested in the difference between these to seemingly synonymous terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2443" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T03:57:08.737" Title="What's the difference between egotism and egoism?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7476" CreationDate="2010-12-26T03:40:57.310" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desperate_Housewives&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Desperate Housewives&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It's not a movie. But I'm pretty sure this is the best one I have tried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3106" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T03:40:57.310" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-26T16:14:53.523" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7482" CreationDate="2010-12-26T03:46:59.223" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Egoism&quot; would be the term properly formed of its Latin/Greek parts: ego + -ismus/-ismos. The t in &quot;egotism&quot; probably came from analogy to some -ismes in French that have an intrusive t, which is acceptable in French. The Trésor de la Langue Française informatisé and the Oxford English Dictionary seem to agree that the word was probably coined in English, in the colony of Port-Royal around 1714*. Since the intrusive t is not a native phonological instrument in English, it may be considered a Gallicism, not a borrowing from French; for that reason, some call &quot;egotism&quot; a malformation. Others say that such an attack on the intrusive t is unfair and that it should be accepted as English. The choice is probably mostly a matter of aesthetics and not very important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To some, &quot;egotism&quot; means being self-centred, whereas &quot;egoism&quot; is restricted to philosophy (solipsism etc.); however, it seems that this distinction is so blurred that both can be used for self-centredness. I think this is how it is used by most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*) OED, on egotism: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the statement of Addison (quot.&#xA;  1714) can be trusted, the word seems&#xA;  to have been invented by some of the&#xA;  Port-Royalists to range with the terms&#xA;  of rhetoric denoting ‘figures of&#xA;  speech’ and the like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TLFi, on égotisme: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(1714, ADDISON, Spect. no 562, p. 3 ds&#xA;  NED : the Gentlemen of Port-Royal ...&#xA;  branded this form of writing in the&#xA;  first person with the name of an&#xA;  egotism)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TLFi, on égoïsme: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Étymol. et Hist. 1755 (Encyclop. t. 5&#xA;  : Mm. de Port-Royal ont généralement&#xA;  banni de leurs écrits l'usage de&#xA;  parler d'eux-mêmes à la première&#xA;  personne [...] Pour en marquer leur&#xA;  éloignement, ils l'ont tourné en&#xA;  ridicule sous le nom d'égoïsme, adopté&#xA;  depuis dans notre langue)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-28T03:57:08.737" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T03:57:08.737" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7485" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7486" CreationDate="2010-12-26T04:19:28.387" Score="3" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;FWIK &lt;code&gt;modprobe&lt;/code&gt; get some modules loaded, but I'm wondering what's the word &lt;code&gt;probe&lt;/code&gt; meaning in general english?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="229" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T04:28:56.337" Title="What's the word `probe` in Linux command `modprobe` meaning?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7485" CreationDate="2010-12-26T04:28:56.337" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;probe&lt;/em&gt; is from the Latin &lt;em&gt;probare&lt;/em&gt;, which means &quot;to test, to examine&quot;.  It is used to mean an inquiry, or thorough examination, &lt;em&gt;probing&lt;/em&gt; tends to imply getting inside something to reveal what is hidden, the truth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;probe&lt;/em&gt;, as an object, is a device used to look within something else, to see what is veiled in some respect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of &lt;code&gt;modprobe&lt;/code&gt;, the purpose of the command (&lt;a href=&quot;http://linux.die.net/man/8/modprobe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;see the man page&lt;/a&gt;) is to add/remove modules from the kernel at runtime, which often requires an initial &quot;probe&quot; of the internal hardware in order to detect hardware that drivers may rely on, or indeed checking for dependencies to load within the &quot;internals&quot; of the system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T04:28:56.337" />
  <row Id="7487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7482" CreationDate="2010-12-26T04:47:22.723" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Egotism&quot; is an inflated sense of one's importance; it's being conceited or vain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/egotism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;EGOTISM at Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1a: excessive use of the first person singular personal pronoun&#xA;  1b: the practice of talking about oneself too much&#xA;  2: an exaggerated sense of self-importance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The egotist feels superior to others physically, intellectually or in some other way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Egoism&quot; is a preoccupation with oneself, but not necessarily feeling superior to others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/egoism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;EGOISM at Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1a: a doctrine that individual self-interest is the actual motive of all conscious action&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1b: a doctrine that individual self-interest is the valid end of all actions&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2: excessive concern for oneself with or without exaggerated feelings of self-importance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The egoist puts himself and his own needs before everyone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Egotist: I'm the smartest, prettiest and most talented.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Egoist: It's all about me regardless of how I compare to everyone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T04:47:22.723" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7488" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7489" CreationDate="2010-12-26T05:10:00.193" Score="1" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;I posted the following on Meta Stack Overflow, and I believe that there was a better word that I could have used rather than &quot;a little too harsh&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Considering that my post fails all but possibly one or two of the low quality post heuristics, is something malfunctioning or is the detector perhaps &lt;em&gt;a little too harsh&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially, I believe that there is a word that is more precise in its definition, perhaps an antonym of &lt;em&gt;&quot;tolerant&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, that could have substituted in as &quot;perhaps too [insert word here]&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The definition of the word would be something like &quot;erring on the side of caution, possibly to a degree of excessiveness&quot;; it would be beneficial for a Secret Service Uniformed Division agent to be [this quality].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've considered &lt;em&gt;&quot;cautious&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, but I don't think it carries the right tone for that context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know of a better word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T09:44:40.277" Title="What are antonyms of &quot;tolerant&quot; or synonyms of &quot;cautious&quot;?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="6" />
  <row Id="7489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7488" CreationDate="2010-12-26T05:17:33.493" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The literal antonym of &lt;em&gt;tolerant&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;intolerant&lt;/em&gt;. It seems like that would be a good fit for your post from the snippet that you've provided. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other options would be &lt;em&gt;unforgiving&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;aggressive&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since this is for meta, don't forget to include a hand drawn picture of a circle around a unicorn that's in the midst of making a jquery joke. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2385" LastEditorUserId="2385" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-26T05:46:34.267" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T05:46:34.267" />
  <row Id="7490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7467" CreationDate="2010-12-26T05:58:17.467" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To my ear, &lt;em&gt;Taiwanese visa&lt;/em&gt; sounds correct. It could be that this is incorrect according to some rule that got written down at some point but language is determined by its users and not grammarians. The fact that this &quot;incorrect&quot; usage has become so widespread is probably an indication that it's correct after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At any rate, it makes perfect sense. &lt;em&gt;Visa&lt;/em&gt; is a noun. I see no reason to form a compound noun instead of using an adjective to describe its point of origin. Would one say &quot;Taiwan tea&quot; or Taiwanese tea? Why should &lt;em&gt;visa&lt;/em&gt; be different? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2385" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T05:58:17.467" />
  <row Id="7491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7488" CreationDate="2010-12-26T06:23:52.630" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One more possibility would be &quot;strict.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T06:23:52.630" />
  <row Id="7492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7488" CreationDate="2010-12-26T13:07:17.443" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Detectors (and sensors) are generally rated on &quot;sensitivity&quot; and many systems allow the sensitivity setting to be set or &quot;tuned&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your example, you might replace &quot;harsh&quot; with &quot;sensitive&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...is the detector perhaps a little too &lt;em&gt;sensitive&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;meaning the detector will go off for the slightest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider a smoke detector set to highest sensitivity might sound when just making toast. On the other hand, if set to the lowest sensitivity, it might not sound unless there was an actual fire blazing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T13:07:17.443" />
  <row Id="7493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7488" CreationDate="2010-12-26T15:00:00.887" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are a few antonyms I can think of; take your pick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Intolerant &lt;em&gt;(direct negation)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unbending&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rigid (viewed)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Close-minded&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prejudiced&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course they all mean slightly different things, but are more or less pretty good antonyms depending on the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T15:00:00.887" />
  <row Id="7494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7488" CreationDate="2010-12-26T15:30:03.793" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I upvoted @hellion's &quot;strict&quot; but you might also consider &lt;em&gt;stringent&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;vigilant&lt;/em&gt;, or even &lt;em&gt;hyper-vigilant&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Inflexible&lt;/em&gt; also comes to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T15:30:03.793" />
  <row Id="7495" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-26T16:17:42.630" Score="2" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Gossip Girl, there's a line like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Spotted, Lonely Boy going from&#xA;  teacher's pet to persona non Grata in&#xA;  the pitter-patter of a heartbeat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's persona non Grata?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2796" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T16:38:52.783" Title="What does &quot;persona non Grata&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;translation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7495" CreationDate="2010-12-26T16:29:34.537" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume this is a non-diplomatic usage of the word.  From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona_non_grata&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In non-diplomatic usage, referring to someone as &lt;em&gt;persona non grata&lt;/em&gt; is to say that he or she is ostracized, so as to be figuratively nonexistent. In police circles, this often meant any officer who broke the Blue Wall by informing against fellow officers, e.g. testifying against officers who were corrupt. Frank Serpico was one real life example, while a cultural example is Paul Newman's character in Fort Apache, The Bronx, who informed on a fellow officer after witnessing him throw an unarmed man off a rooftop during a riot. On September 1, 2010 the Vice Mayors League of the Philippines-Cebu passed a resolution declaring former Miss Universe 1969, Gloria Diaz, &lt;em&gt;persona non grata&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T16:29:34.537" />
  <row Id="7497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7467" CreationDate="2010-12-26T16:30:15.270" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Alternative: &lt;strong&gt;visa for Taiwan&lt;/strong&gt; sounds just fine to my native English-speaker ears and removes any ambiguity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T16:30:15.270" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7495" CreationDate="2010-12-26T16:30:29.153" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means someone who is unwelcome, from the Latin meaning exactly that. It is usually used in a diplomatic sense, but has broadened to include any person who is unwelcome in any context or to any group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When Anne showed up at her ex-husband's funeral, the family made her feel like &lt;em&gt;persona non grata&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-26T16:38:52.783" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T16:38:52.783" />
  <row Id="7500" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7503" CreationDate="2010-12-26T17:16:51.753" Score="1" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is, what idiom is used to refer to a book, which is famous and/or has interesting ideas, so that it's often quoted in speech, books etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe something like &quot;divided into quotations&quot; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if there's an equiualent in English, but the following is an example of how it's used in Russian:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;«Маленький принц» переведён на 100&#xA;  языков мира. Притча &lt;strong&gt;разошлась на&#xA;  цитаты&lt;/strong&gt;, самая известная из которых:&#xA;  &quot;Ты в ответе за тех, кого приручил&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2801" LastEditorUserId="2801" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-27T15:51:01.747" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T15:51:01.747" Title="Idiom: quoted books" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="7502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7500" CreationDate="2010-12-26T17:44:58.907" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/take+a+leaf+out+of+someone%27s+book.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Take a leaf out of someone's book&lt;/a&gt;&quot; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you take a leaf out of someone's book, you copy something they do because it will help you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T17:44:58.907" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7500" CreationDate="2010-12-26T19:10:25.323" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could call it &lt;em&gt;oft-quoted&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;classic&lt;/em&gt;. Often such a book will be called the &quot;Bible&quot; of a particular field of study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Adam Smith's &lt;em&gt;The Wealth of Nations&lt;/em&gt; is considered by many to be the Bible of economics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T19:10:25.323" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7504" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7506" CreationDate="2010-12-26T19:43:21.083" Score="0" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/disclosure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;, disclosure's etymology comes from Latin dis-+clausus, literally away+enclosed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder why do the term &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22sold+for+a+closed+amount%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;closed&lt;/a&gt; is not in common use as the term &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22sold+for+an+undisclosed+amount%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;undisclosed&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Not Not True&lt;/code&gt; is simply &lt;code&gt;True&lt;/code&gt;, and &lt;code&gt;Not Not False&lt;/code&gt; is Simply &lt;code&gt;False&lt;/code&gt; (&lt;code&gt;!!1==1&lt;/code&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3112" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T20:11:17.197" Title="Why do we say Undisclosed or Non-Disclosure instead of Closed or Closure" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7505" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-26T20:04:46.867" Score="0" ViewCount="347" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone sent me an email, asking for a quote for the project. How can I reply to him in a more polite way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can quote you $100 for this project.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I charge you $100 for this project.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can do this with $100.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you give me more examples (formal/informal)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T02:56:48.727" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T02:56:48.727" Title="How to reply to project quotation email more politely" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;email&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7504" CreationDate="2010-12-26T20:11:17.197" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymology is not the same thing as definition. &lt;em&gt;Disclosed&lt;/em&gt; does not mean &lt;em&gt;not closed&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Undisclosed&lt;/em&gt; means “not made known or public”. &lt;em&gt;Closed&lt;/em&gt; means “not open”. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T20:11:17.197" />
  <row Id="7507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7242" CreationDate="2010-12-26T22:10:37.687" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is because you are trying to catch fish.&#xA;It may sound a bit stupid but quite often when you go down to&#xA;the river to catch fish with a rod and line you can tie&#xA;an immitation fly to the hook instead of using a bait.&#xA;They call it fly fishing and all the flys come in all&#xA;sorts of bright and exotic colours including blue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3115" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T22:10:37.687" />
  <row Id="7508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="937" CreationDate="2010-12-26T22:48:39.043" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just want to mention another perspective. I don't think the use of either term for either application is appropriate. If these are the best terms we can use we need to think about how we talk. Both terms arrived in language as a result of the evolution of language, and it would be an improvement if they both evolved right back out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mean I doubt a group of intelligent, sophisticated people would design a language and include those terms. Biological evolution is a sense-less process of mutation. Language evolution seems to be the same. I don't think evolution should be the creator of our languages any more than it should be the creator of our morality. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is time we take responsibility for what we are and what we become--in language and morality. A word, such as 'pissed', may perform a function, it may convey exactly what is meant, but if it isn't reasonably close to 21st century intelligence and sophistication, I would suggest we get rid of it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They add a word to the dictionary if enough people use it no matter how sense-less. Why not remove one when sensible people decide we shouldn't use them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3116" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T22:48:39.043" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7509" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-26T23:51:21.680" Score="0" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you say &quot;El servicio militar&quot; in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3117" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T00:11:45.593" Title="service record translation" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;translation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5341" CreationDate="2010-12-26T23:56:53.140" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say there is an argument to be made for 'speaking correctly.' If people choose to speak incorrectly I suppose that is a personal choice, and as was previously mentioned that choice has consequences. But I would like to know what is right. I have heard people talk in the language I speak and couldn't understand them just because of difference in accent. And I have wondered how an English teacher on the east coast teaches a child to pronounce 'car' or 'idea.' The first drops the 'r' and the second just adds an 'r.' I think the language needs to be reworked so it makes sense. Sure we learned it, but it wasn't from relying on axioms. It is more of an art than a science in my opinion. Not that I don't respect art. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, good communication is extremely difficult, even in the best circumstance. If we really are living in a smaller world now and we are moving toward an international culture wouldn't it be easier if we remove ambiguity rather than letting everyone do what they want? Besides, I understand it is differences, which keep us separate.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3116" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T23:56:53.140" />
  <row Id="7511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7505" CreationDate="2010-12-26T23:59:27.633" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To carry out the work described will cost $100.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  My quotation for the project is $100.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  For this project, my charge will be $100.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I can do this for $100.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make the reply more polite you surround it with the usual salutations, thanks and closing formula. Adjusted to desired degree of formality or informality. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2010-12-26T23:59:27.633" />
  <row Id="7512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7509" CreationDate="2010-12-27T00:11:45.593" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Literally &quot;the military service&quot; but more usually just &quot;military service&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T00:11:45.593" />
  <row Id="7513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7505" CreationDate="2010-12-27T00:21:46.340" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I would charge $100 for the project, with the deliverables consisting of ...&quot;.  The important thing is to make sure that the recipient is clear what you are charging for so that you aren't held to a fixed price quote for something you thought was small, quick and easy but the customer turns into something large, time consuming and hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T00:21:46.340" />
  <row Id="7514" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7517" CreationDate="2010-12-27T00:37:16.320" Score="1" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If Bobby buys a pencil, an eraser, and a pad of paper, then he can write his essay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To remove the ambiguity in the final comma, my instinct is to write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If Bobby buys a pencil, an eraser, and a pad of paper; then he can write his essay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this syntactically correct?  Is there a preferred convention?  Is there a general convention on replacing commas with other marks when they're ambiguous like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3118" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T23:56:23.137" Title="In a conditional sentence where the condition contains a list, which serial punctuation mark is used in the list?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;comma&gt;&lt;list&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7515" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7516" CreationDate="2010-12-27T00:39:28.267" Score="1" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across  the following sentence in Washington Post:&#xA; Obama hasn't smoked a cigarette in about nine months, Gibbs revealed. &quot;It was a commitment that I think he made to himself at the end of the health care and with his two daughters in mind,&quot; Gibbs said. &quot;It's really stuck.&quot; &#xA;What does Gibbs' word, &quot;It's really stuck&quot; means in this particular case? Please teach me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yoichi Oishi&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T10:49:46.193" Title="meaning of &quot;It's really stuck&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7515" CreationDate="2010-12-27T00:50:29.990" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;It's really stuck&quot; refers to the commitment in the sense that &lt;em&gt;Obama has &quot;stuck&quot; to his commitment&lt;/em&gt;. Sticking to a commitment means adhering to it or following or fulfilling it - remaining true to it, carrying it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally it wouldn't be remarked on unless it were thought a difficult achievement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gibbs has reversed the role of Obama in the sentence and made him the passive object and the commitment the active subject which is doing the sticking. &lt;em&gt;The commitment has stuck to Obama.&lt;/em&gt; This is an interesting choice of construction and I wonder whether Gibbs really meant it that way. If Obama is merely the passive object to which the commitment sticks, it is perhaps less to Obama's credit than if he were the active party.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-27T10:49:46.193" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T10:49:46.193" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7514" CreationDate="2010-12-27T00:59:40.250" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume by &quot;ambiguous&quot; you mean that the sentence could be interpreted as either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If Bobby buys a pencil, (buys) an eraser, and (buys) a pad of paper, then he can write his essay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If Bobby buys a pencil, (then buys) an eraser, and (then buys) a pad of paper, then he can write his essay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it's actually not ambiguous at all. &quot;Then he...&quot; cannot be interpreted as an item in the list, and since you say &quot;and a pad of paper&quot; instead of &quot;and then a pad of paper&quot;, there is no implied sequence in which he must buy the items.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're just asking whether there's any need to change a comma to some other punctuation mark when multiple commas with different uses appear in the same sentence, the answer is also, generally speaking, no. The only time you'll see a comma turned to a semicolon in a list is when some of the items contain commas themselves:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He bought a car, which was red; two houses, both blue; and a diamond ring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T00:59:40.250" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7518" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7520" CreationDate="2010-12-27T03:11:02.080" Score="6" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a document with the headings: daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and decadely. Google Chrome, Google Docs, and Dictionary.com insist that &quot;decadely&quot; is not a word. Furthermore, deacadely sounds and looks weird to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a word I am unaware of which captures this meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would you call something that happens each century or each millennium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3118" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T03:22:50.073" Title="Is there a word which means &quot;having a frequency of decades&quot; or &quot;per decade&quot;? What about century and millennium?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7518" CreationDate="2010-12-27T03:20:11.153" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/decennially&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Decennially&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/centennially&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Centennially&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/millennially&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Millennially&lt;/a&gt; are probably the words you're looking for....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T03:20:11.153" />
  <row Id="7520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7518" CreationDate="2010-12-27T03:22:50.073" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would just use &quot;per decade&quot; and &quot;per century&quot;, but the words you're looking for are &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/decennially&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;decennially&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (as in &quot;the census is done decennially&quot;) and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;centennially&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;millennially&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;). See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anniversary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia: Anniversary&lt;/a&gt; for more words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T03:22:50.073" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="937" CreationDate="2010-12-27T06:15:02.857" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being an American, I can safely say that both are used quite often to mean the same thing: angry or irritated. I.e. &quot;I was so pissed when he spilled coffee on my new sweater.&quot; or &quot;It really pisses me off when she talks down to me.&quot; would be understood in America as the speaker being angry. As far as I know, we never use &quot;pissed&quot; or &quot;pissed off&quot; to mean intoxicated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it is not common to use the imperative/insult (?) &quot;piss off&quot; in America, but if you were to use it you would be quite well-understood. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3123" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T06:15:02.857" />
  <row Id="7522" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7532" CreationDate="2010-12-27T06:20:45.677" Score="2" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was watching the Sound of Music and the song &quot;How do you solve a problem like Maria&quot; was playing and then they say &quot;How do you keep a wave upon the sand&quot; and &quot;How do you catch a moonbeam in your hand&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am just wondering if there exists a term from the realm of logic to describe the connection between the latter two &quot;How do you&quot;'s and the first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3122" LastEditorUserId="3122" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-27T06:46:36.247" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T08:58:17.337" Title="Is there a name for the relationship between two unconnected hypothetical arguments?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7523" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7531" CreationDate="2010-12-27T06:46:22.753" Score="3" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is a &lt;em&gt;far cry&lt;/em&gt;? And its origin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="229" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-27T13:13:58.233" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T13:13:58.233" Title="What is a far cry?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7522" CreationDate="2010-12-27T06:54:26.850" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;By &quot;unconnected&quot;, I guess you mean that they're not joined into a single statement, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To solve a problem like Maria is like catching a wave upon the sand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To solve a problem like Maria is to catch a wave upon the sand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because the lyrics are in verse, there is some room for interpretation, but I'd say it's just an ordinary metaphor. It's a comparison between Maria and various supposedly impossible things to describe the impossibility that she represents, and that's basically the textbook definition of a metaphor: describing one thing in terms of another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T06:54:26.850" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7522" CreationDate="2010-12-27T06:58:02.137" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These statements constitute a rhetorical device expressing the impossibility of a task. In a sense they are non sequiturs, but in actuality they are repetitive statements of absurdity, which taken together underscore the impossibility of the original query.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T06:58:02.137" />
  <row Id="7526" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7527" CreationDate="2010-12-27T07:03:48.973" Score="1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an abbreviation of 'breakfast' that I have found myself paying extra attention to recently. In fact I have even heard my mother use it on a regular basis. Is this common in modern spoken American vocabulary, or is this purely the construct of a regional dialect? We are native speakers from the Great Lakes region of The United States.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Other words that fall under the same category:&#xA;&quot;I don't know&quot; == &quot;dunno&quot;   &#xA;&quot;kitchen&quot;      == &quot;kinna&quot;   (rare)&#xA;&quot;library&quot;      == &quot;Libary&quot;  (With an extra accent on the 'i', L-EYE-barry)&#xA;&quot;school&quot;       == &quot;skoo&quot;&#xA;&quot;jewelry&quot;      == &quot;joo-ry&quot;&#xA;&quot;math&quot;         == &quot;maff&quot;&#xA;&quot;Italian&quot; == &quot;Italian&quot; (With an extra accent on the 'i' instead of the first 'a', EYE-talian)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2347" LastEditorUserId="2347" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-28T01:37:48.657" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T01:37:48.657" Title="How popular is 'brefass' in modern American vocabulary?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;&lt;regionalisms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7526" CreationDate="2010-12-27T07:17:53.617" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm from New England, and I've only ever heard &lt;em&gt;brefass/breffis&lt;/em&gt; out of the mouth of a little kid who couldn't pronounce &lt;em&gt;breakfast.&lt;/em&gt; As for the others, &lt;em&gt;dunno&lt;/em&gt; is common in many dialects; I've never heard &lt;em&gt;kinna&lt;/em&gt; before (except as an alteration of &lt;em&gt;cannot),&lt;/em&gt; so it's probably local; &lt;em&gt;lie-barry&lt;/em&gt; is a fairly common minority (mis)pronunciation, especially in urban accents; and both &lt;em&gt;skoo&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;jewry&lt;/em&gt; are an effect of articulating [&amp;nbsp;l&amp;nbsp;] as [&amp;nbsp;w&amp;nbsp;], which happens largely word-finally or after [&amp;nbsp;u&amp;nbsp;], also mostly in urban accents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T07:17:53.617" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7528" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-27T07:32:31.530" Score="3" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;On a chat channel today I was reading two people talk about some of the more popular movie formats and movie players available. One of the interlocutors said something that got me thinking. I will cut quick to my question. Is there a semantic difference between the following two phrases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... the last movie I played ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... the movie I played last ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my non-native English ears and eyes, I fail to see a difference. But reading these two phrases again and again makes me uneasy. The more I read them, the more I feel that the first phrase gives off a whiff that would suggest that the speaker/writer does not watch movies very often, while the latter would identify someone who watches movies all the time. What do you folks think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2289" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T14:30:02.783" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:30:02.783" Title="&quot;The last movie I played&quot; vs &quot;the movie I played last&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="7529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7528" CreationDate="2010-12-27T08:05:45.370" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are all equivalent:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the last movie I played&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the movie last I played&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the movie I last played&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the movie I played last&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;#1 and #4 are the most common; #3 is heard occasionally, and #2 is archaic and used very rarely. All of them refer to the most recent movie that the speaker played, or the final movie in a set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastEditorUserId="1506" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-27T08:25:38.690" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T08:25:38.690" />
  <row Id="7530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7528" CreationDate="2010-12-27T08:06:32.933" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second quote&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... the movie I played last ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;gives me the impression that this movie was the last in a sequence of movies played rather than the most recent movie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't feel that either phrase implies a higher frequency of movie playing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm an American though, so perhaps the usage differs in the UK and Australia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3118" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T08:06:32.933" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7523" CreationDate="2010-12-27T08:08:27.143" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A far cry is literally a distance that is quite far to try to call across, in other words, a great distance. The term is used to compare two (usually abstract) things that are vastly different from one another, as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Old English is a far cry from the English we speak today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T08:08:27.143" />
  <row Id="7532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7522" CreationDate="2010-12-27T08:58:17.337" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the relationship you're looking for is that the impossibility of A is illustrated by mentioning an impossible thing B (and C), then the rhetorical device is known as an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adynaton&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;adynaton&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. (A phrase frequently used as example is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_pig&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;when pigs fly&quot;&lt;/a&gt;; there are other &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_idioms_of_improbability&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;idioms of impossiblity&lt;/a&gt; like &quot;until hell freezes over&quot;.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I will sooner have a beard grow in the palm of my hand than he shall get one of his cheek.&quot; — Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the &quot;How do you solve a problem like Maria&quot; case, the relationship is not explicitly made with a connective like &quot;when&quot; or &quot;only if&quot;, but the rhetorical device is still an adynaton. The structure — all sentences begin with &quot;How do you [verb]&quot; — that implicitly makes the connection clear is simply &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallelism_%28rhetoric%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;parallelism&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T08:58:17.337" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7528" CreationDate="2010-12-27T09:23:55.083" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the first phrase, &lt;em&gt;last&lt;/em&gt; is used an adjective to describe the noun &lt;em&gt;movie&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second phrase, &lt;em&gt;last&lt;/em&gt; is used as an adverb to descrive the verb &lt;em&gt;played&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While both the phrases mean the same thing, we may sometimes use words as adjectives or adverbs to emphasize the noun or the verb. Consider these examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There were 14 cars on offer at the dealer's. I liked the last car I drove, so I bought that one.&#xA;(&lt;em&gt;Last&lt;/em&gt; describes the car.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There were 14 cars on offer at the dealer's. I didn't think the Ford was worth much, so that's the car I drove last.&#xA;(&lt;em&gt;Last&lt;/em&gt; describes driving.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T09:23:55.083" />
  <row Id="7534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7488" CreationDate="2010-12-27T09:44:40.277" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Hypercautious&quot;? Yes, it's a word.:-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypercautious&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypercautious&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not a very elegant word, but it means &quot;excessively cautious,&quot; which, I think, is the meaning you're trying to convey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T09:44:40.277" />
  <row Id="7535" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-27T09:45:29.313" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello everyone,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use WordWeb which is online available for vocabulary. But, is there any phrase or List of phrase / Source of phrase available for getting the meaning of phrases ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2975" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-27T13:47:24.227" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T13:47:24.227" Title="Is there any Online Phrase Dictionary available?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;dictionaries&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="7536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7535" CreationDate="2010-12-27T10:02:36.347" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In haste: what kind of phrase are you thinking of? An example would help us to chart the routes. If you are looking for short or very common phrases, or expressions/idioms, those will be in on-line dictionaries. If the phrase is none of those (then what are they?), I doubt whether there is a database with phrases that also contains rephrasings. However, my advice would be to simply Google your phrases: you will usually be able to divine their meaning with the results, through context and the dictionary entries that you will often still get. Make sure that you enclose your phrase in double quotation marks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T10:02:36.347" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7537" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7538" CreationDate="2010-12-27T10:08:15.373" Score="3" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the plural of that device that you plug into your computer &lt;em&gt;mouses&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;mice&lt;/em&gt;? Which of these is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I bought some wireless optical mouses for my colleagues at work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I bought some wireless optical mice for my colleagues at work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I prefer the first one though I'm not sure why. The second makes me think there are some weird mutated creatures running around under my desk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T12:10:03.687" Title="Is the plural of the electronic mouse &quot;mouses&quot; or &quot;mice&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7537" CreationDate="2010-12-27T12:10:03.687" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both plurals are correct. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mouse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;.) I don't have access to OED at the moment (or don't know where to find it), but according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_plural_of_%27mouse%27_on_a_computer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Answers.com&lt;/a&gt;, the OED concurs. So use whichever one you wish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2717" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T12:10:03.687" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7539" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7544" CreationDate="2010-12-27T12:24:14.007" Score="3" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference between the two?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a technical document I have used a phrase &quot;this is a temporal solution&quot; and my coworker told that he'd use &quot;temporary&quot; in the context. Is one of the two more correct than the second?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1208" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T21:20:47.663" Title="&quot;temporal&quot; vs. &quot;temporary&quot;" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="7540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7535" CreationDate="2010-12-27T12:45:16.800" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The online dictionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; aims to be a dictionary of phrases as well. It is a project in progress, but it does have very many phrases already, e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kick_the_bucket&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;kick the bucket&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/when_Hell_freezes_over&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;when Hell freezes over&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category%3aEnglish_idioms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;about 60,000 others&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also have an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix%3aGlossary_of_idioms_-_A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;appendix&quot;&lt;/a&gt; that contains fewer phrases, if you'd like to just read through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-27T13:36:20.503" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T13:36:20.503" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7539" CreationDate="2010-12-27T12:47:46.740" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/temporal&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;temporal&lt;/a&gt; means &quot;of or relating to time as opposed to eternity&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/temporary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;temporary&lt;/a&gt; means &quot;lasting for a limited time&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One has no exact limit in time, the other comes with the definite notion of an expiration date.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you can say: &quot;use this &lt;em&gt;for now&lt;/em&gt;&quot; (without specifying when you won't be able to use &quot;this&quot; anymore), &quot;temporal&quot; is fine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;But if you can say: &quot;use this until xxx&quot;, then &quot;temporary&quot; is the right choice.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, I suspect there are many instances where one is being used instead of the other...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T12:47:46.740" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7539" CreationDate="2010-12-27T17:17:34.813" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Temporal&lt;/em&gt; always refers to matters that are finite as opposed to infinite. You would not use it as just another synonym for &lt;em&gt;temporary&lt;/em&gt;, even though it does mean that in a more specific way. It is more a synonym for &lt;em&gt;mortal&lt;/em&gt; and usually refers to something involving the span of a human lifetime. It also is used to contrast human concerns with the religious or the divine. A bishop, for example, might speak of tending to the temporal needs of his flock to refer to the building of a hospital, since the repair of human bodies has nothing really to do with his principal duty of tending to their (supposedly) immortal souls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T17:17:34.813" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7476" CreationDate="2010-12-27T17:44:38.100" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The movies I list here are not necessarily ones you can learn English from but since their plots are intricate and interesting, you will definitely want to learn more of the language to understand these better. Also I am giving you a mix and match of genres and English styles like American, UK, Deep South and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;====&#xA;Cinderella Man&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for Smoking&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Legend of the falls&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forrest Gump&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Munich&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snatch (for UK style fast English, it's directed by Guy Ritchie so it's very different from the usual Hollywood blockbusters, yet went on to become a huge hit)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;RocknRolla (again a Guy Ritchie film)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember the Titans&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sweet Home Alabama (this one obviously has deep Southern tones since it's set in Alabama) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1154" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T17:44:38.100" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-27T17:44:38.100" />
  <row Id="7544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7539" CreationDate="2010-12-27T18:30:19.117" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Temporal&lt;/em&gt; means “pertaining to time”. Personally I have not enountered this word in normal speech at all, even in somewhat formal writing. I have only encountered it as a technical term. For example, in grammar, the part of the sentence that specifies the time at which something happened (e.g. “today” or “throughout the year”) is a &lt;em&gt;temporal adverbial&lt;/em&gt;. The word also comes up a lot in science-fiction wherever some made-up technical term pertaining to time (usually time travel) is required, e.g. &lt;em&gt;temporal mechanics&lt;/em&gt;. In real science, the term is sometimes used as a complement to &lt;em&gt;spatial&lt;/em&gt; (pertaining to space).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Temporary&lt;/em&gt; is a much more common word. It means “lasting for a limited time” and is the opposite of &lt;em&gt;permanent&lt;/em&gt;. Politicians sometimes qualify their policies as a “temporary measure” to give the impression that there are plans for them to be repealed in due course (which, of course, never happens, but that’s a different matter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; In the specific example in your question, I think you most likely mean “a solution that isn’t permanent”, so &lt;em&gt;temporary&lt;/em&gt; is definitely what you need. &lt;em&gt;Temporal&lt;/em&gt; is wrong unless you are contrasting your solution against one that is &lt;em&gt;spatial&lt;/em&gt; or in some other way not relating to time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="764" LastEditorUserId="764" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-27T21:20:47.663" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T21:20:47.663" />
  <row Id="7545" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7547" CreationDate="2010-12-27T18:38:46.007" Score="1" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;unanimous&lt;/em&gt; is reasonably easy to trace: it comes from Latin &lt;em&gt;unum&lt;/em&gt; (one) + &lt;em&gt;anima&lt;/em&gt; (mind). If several people are of the same unanimous opinion, they could be said to be speaking “of one mind”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;equivocal&lt;/em&gt; looks very similar. It comes from &lt;em&gt;aequi&lt;/em&gt; (same) + &lt;em&gt;vocal&lt;/em&gt; (from &lt;em&gt;vox&lt;/em&gt;, voice). It would seem that it should mean “speaking with the same voice” and thus have a meaning similar to &lt;em&gt;unanimous&lt;/em&gt;. Yet, it means the opposite, and it is &lt;em&gt;unequivocal&lt;/em&gt; that is a synonym of &lt;em&gt;unanimous&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How did &lt;em&gt;equivocal&lt;/em&gt; manage to reverse its meaning?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="764" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T14:48:06.587" Title="How did “equivocal” come to mean what it means?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="7547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7545" CreationDate="2010-12-27T18:59:49.820" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Equivocal&lt;/em&gt; does not mean the opposite of &lt;em&gt;unanimous&lt;/em&gt;, nor has it reversed its meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a person to &lt;em&gt;equivocate&lt;/em&gt; is to use ambiguous language, and be non-committal: to &quot;hedge&quot; between two positions without committing to either, and (&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2009/09/21.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;literally&lt;/a&gt;) to &quot;call equally one thing or the other&quot; — to talk equally of two different positions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Equivocal&lt;/em&gt; is the adjective form: an &lt;em&gt;equivocal&lt;/em&gt; statement is one which talks equally of two different things, and does not take a clear single position. &lt;em&gt;Unequivocal&lt;/em&gt; is the opposite: something with no ambiguity, something that does not equally emphasise two contradicting points, a strong message which leaves no doubt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that these words are generally used to statements coming from one person; they are not (necessarily) related to whether an opinion is &lt;em&gt;unanimous&lt;/em&gt; or not. &lt;em&gt;Unanimous&lt;/em&gt; just means, as you said, that everyone shares the same opinion. So, when used for a statement made by a committee, all possibilities exist: it may be &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;unanimous&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;equivocal&lt;/em&gt;: everyone endorsed a vague statement (most statements by government committees are probably examples)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;unanimous&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;unequivocal&lt;/em&gt;: a strong position that everyone shared&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;non-unanimous&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;equivocal&lt;/em&gt;: not everyone agreed with the statement, probably because some of them wanted to pass a clear message instead&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;non-unanimous&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;unequivocal&lt;/em&gt;: a strong message that not everyone agreed with.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you see they are orthogonal, not opposites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T18:59:49.820" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7548" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7549" CreationDate="2010-12-27T19:38:39.813" Score="11" ViewCount="289" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been/am being taught that end punctuation should always go inside quotes. For example, you are supposed to write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Marvin thought it was &quot;awful.&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is I do not see how does this make sense. Intuitively, I always wrote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Marvin thought it was &quot;awful&quot;.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as that makes more logical sense -- you want a quote to be an exact replication of what somebody else said, so why should you add punctuation &lt;strong&gt;inside&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always thought it made more sense to not touch the quote and add anything after or before if it must be added.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, why should I put end punctuation inside quotes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="824" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T06:32:02.093" Title="Why should end punctuation go inside quotes?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7548" CreationDate="2010-12-27T19:42:59.860" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, this is only American convention — in Britain for instance you wouldn't use it (except for a few publishing houses). Secondly, this is not logical but typographical: a convention arising out of early American printers' opinion that typesetting the punctuation inside quotes looked better. This convention is slowly eroding in some areas and being replaced by the &quot;logical&quot; one… but it is still the predominant American convention. English is made up of a great many mere conventions and you can't really demand that it be logical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T19:42:59.860" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7377" CreationDate="2010-12-27T19:46:10.907" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A person would only actually say &quot;quote&quot; and &quot;end quote&quot; if they were trying to be clever or different.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They would just say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want a lollipop &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3130" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T19:46:10.907" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7377" CreationDate="2010-12-27T20:37:44.810" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When reading a book aloud for recorded books, the reader never says &quot;quote / unquote&quot;. Instead they indicate the quotation by a verbal change, such as a pause, or a change in the reading style or both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only time I've heard the quote / unquote construction used verbally is when one person is reading aloud another person's words during a debate or an argument.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, a television interviewer catching a politician in a lie by saying &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;But Senator, only last month when speaking before the XYV committee you said, &lt;strong&gt;and I quote&lt;/strong&gt;, 'blah blah blah' &lt;strong&gt;end quote&lt;/strong&gt;. Did you indeed say that Senator?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this example, the use of &quot;quote / end quote&quot; is an attempt by the journalist to inject some drama by verbally indicating he is quoting the senator verbatim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T20:37:44.810" />
  <row Id="7552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="937" CreationDate="2010-12-27T21:36:06.150" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are right. We haven't shown much success steering the course of anything thus far. I find it ironic that in talking about the weaknesses of language I am trying to make sure I was clear about what I was saying--and hoping not to offend. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think trying to make language sensible is important to the moral progress of humankind. For one thing, the shortcomings in language and humans inability to communicate better has contributed to problems from divorce to war. So, perhaps this could be one answer to 'what end?'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With respect to the function of a dictionary--I am no expert at all. I use it for reference. But when I listen to 'experts' talking about language they constantly refer to several different dictionaries to defend their position on the proper use of words in our language. ex. Can I vs. May I, ain't, etc. This is why it think it is important that the dictionary accurately reflect the best aspects of a language possible.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One additional thought at this point. Perhaps it would be better if you or I (preferably someone who knows more than me) did dictate it? I think anything that resembles a rational design of the language would produce something better than the languages we use. Just a thought.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3116" LastEditorUserId="3116" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-27T22:38:21.847" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T22:38:21.847" />
  <row Id="7553" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-27T22:09:03.193" Score="0" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know all these words have same meaning and referring to kind of drug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, AFIK Weed is slang word for Marijuana or Cannabis (Correct me if I'm wrong). What I do not understand is, difference between these words. Does Cannabis an formal word, where Marijuana and Weed is informal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does one or two of these words are South American (For Example has Spanish root) and others are not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2371" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T00:01:24.160" Title="Cannabis vs Marijuana vs Weed" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7553" CreationDate="2010-12-27T22:25:36.573" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the context. If you are referring to it scientifically, you call it &lt;em&gt;cannabis&lt;/em&gt; (usually &lt;em&gt;cannabis indica&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;cannabis sativa&lt;/em&gt;). Marijuana is a generic term mostly used by non-users. People who smoke the drug have a seemingly inexhaustible supply of slang terms for their favorite recreational drug, of which &lt;em&gt;weed&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;bud&lt;/em&gt; are currently in vogue. You would not be likely to use those terms unless you don't mind people assuming you use the drug yourself, because they very likely will make that assumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: You can use the term &lt;em&gt;pot&lt;/em&gt; in a disinterested way, as someone pointed out. &lt;em&gt;Weed&lt;/em&gt; flirts with crossing the line, however, and &lt;em&gt;bud&lt;/em&gt; is tantamount to a term of endearment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-28T00:01:24.160" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T00:01:24.160" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="7555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7514" CreationDate="2010-12-27T23:07:49.657" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The punctuation before then cannot reasonably be a semi-colon; it could be a comma but even that is not absolutely necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/1506/jon-purdy&quot;&gt;Jon Purdy&lt;/a&gt; notes, you can use a semi-colon to build up a list when (some of) the phrases inside the list themselves contain commas.  One of the interesting examples I know of comes from a book that seems to be out of print now: G V Carey's &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0140212701&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Mind the Stop&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The original abused full stops:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Queues for the unreserved seats stretched a quarter of a mile away to the local greengrocer's.  There were little girls in bathing costumes with pails.  Homely women with shopping bags.  Young misses of sixteen or seventeen, trying to look aloof and sophisticated.  Big boys come to see what all the fuss was about.  Fathers with families.  One child tightly clutching a stuffed model of Dopey.  A good-humoured, patient, expectant audience, ready to try today, and tomorrow, and the day after, until at last they could get past the uniformed Cerberus at the door and see for themselves the film they had heard so much about, the film that the management had the 'happy honour to present'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Revised:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Queues for the unreserved seats stretched a quarter of a mile away to the local greengrocer's.  There were little girls in bathing costumes with pails; homely women with shopping bags; young misses of sixteen or seventeen, trying to look aloof and sophisticated; big boys come to see what all the fuss was about; fathers with families; one child tightly clutching a stuffed model of Dopey -- a good-humoured, patient, expectant audience, ready to try today, and tomorrow, and the day after, until at last they could get past the uniformed Cerberus at the door and see for themselves the film they had heard so much about, the film that the management had the 'happy honour to present'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-27T23:56:23.137" LastActivityDate="2010-12-27T23:56:23.137" />
  <row Id="7556" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-28T00:14:45.447" Score="1" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the phrase &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[all] up in $POSSESSIVE_PRONOUN grill&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which is synonymous with the figure of speech &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;in one's face&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;an automotive metaphor?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, would it be more correct to spell the last word &quot;grille&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not, what does the phrase mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T22:32:12.377" Title="All up in my grill?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="7557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7377" CreationDate="2010-12-28T00:26:00.307" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would be appropriate to say this if you were verbally transcribing or dictating text and wanted to be very clear (or needed to verbalize every non-comma punctuation mark).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T00:26:00.307" />
  <row Id="7558" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-28T00:35:31.360" Score="1" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;What exactly does the string of words functioning as a preposition &quot;all up in&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;amp;source=hp&amp;amp;biw=1291&amp;amp;bih=654&amp;amp;q=%22all+up+in%22&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=g10&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&amp;amp;gs_rfai=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;many many&lt;/a&gt; Google hits) mean in modern American slang usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastEditorUserId="2396" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-28T15:04:53.713" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T15:11:13.607" Title="Preposition cluster &quot;all up in&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7559" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7560" CreationDate="2010-12-28T00:37:49.997" Score="3" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just had someone insist that a &lt;em&gt;donation&lt;/em&gt; can only be to a charitable cause or organization; otherwise, the word &lt;em&gt;contribution&lt;/em&gt; should be used. When I objected to &quot;contribution&quot; on the grounds that it sounds like what you send to your favorite politician, he suggested &lt;em&gt;offering&lt;/em&gt;. But that's not any better - I've only really seen it used in church.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is he right that &lt;em&gt;donation&lt;/em&gt; implies &lt;em&gt;charity&lt;/em&gt;? If yes, what's a good alternative?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T15:33:32.737" Title="Can you *donate* to a non-charitable cause?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;connotation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7559" CreationDate="2010-12-28T00:49:03.570" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;donation&lt;/em&gt; is a voluntary gift or contribution for a specific cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That cause does not have to be a charity, a political donation is still a donation, it is a gift for a fund of some description.  There may be restriction on the use from an accountancy perspective in certain parts of the world, but not from a linguistic perspective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T00:49:03.570" />
  <row Id="7561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7556" CreationDate="2010-12-28T01:30:22.927" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Grill&quot; refers to jewelry that some people wear on their teeth. It is prevalent in hip-hop culture, where it is a way to show off one's &quot;bling&quot; - or wealth - when you smile. Your synonymous phrase is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grill_(jewelry)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grill_(jewelry)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both spellings of the word are related etymologically, as &quot;grill&quot; is merely a shortened form of &quot;grille&quot; (according to etymonline)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=grill&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=grill&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strike&gt;I think it's safe to assume that this meaning of grill is related to the cooking implement and is similar in that they are both made of metal.&lt;/strike&gt; See comment below by ghoppe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="4411" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T22:32:12.377" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T22:32:12.377" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7563" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-28T01:49:08.877" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to say a strangely-lit grove, eerily-lit in an out-of-this-world manner. Does &quot;fey-lit&quot; convey that meaning? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T13:45:40.690" Title="does &quot;fey-lit&quot; make sense?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7563" CreationDate="2010-12-28T02:02:34.420" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It makes sense. The only incorrect interpretation that comes to mind is &quot;lit by fey creatures themselves&quot; rather than &quot;lit in a manner suggestive of the fey&quot;. Context probably disambiguates it anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T02:02:34.420" />
  <row Id="7565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7558" CreationDate="2010-12-28T03:08:50.010" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;All up in&lt;/em&gt; is generally used to refer to someone being overly nosey, annoying or disapproving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mom's all up in my face trying to get me to do my homework.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also be used more generally to show that something or someone is completely committed or present in a place or situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T03:08:50.010" />
  <row Id="7566" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7568" CreationDate="2010-12-28T03:10:05.360" Score="0" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;em&gt;issues&lt;/em&gt; were used on some websites like &quot;$1 an issue&quot;. (Some magazines.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I found another word &lt;em&gt;periodical&lt;/em&gt; was used on my vocabulary book as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;periodical&lt;/em&gt; is published every month. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I replace the &lt;em&gt;periodical&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;issue&lt;/em&gt; here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Appreciate your comments and replies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2661" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-28T14:27:57.540" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T14:27:57.540" Title="Periodical vs Issue?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7567" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7569" CreationDate="2010-12-28T03:13:19.727" Score="1" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the following example in my vocabulary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The town is &lt;em&gt;situated&lt;/em&gt; on a plateau high up among the mountains of the north.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I replace &lt;em&gt;situated&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;located&lt;/em&gt; for the example above? What's the difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your comments and replies are appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2661" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-28T14:29:46.880" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T17:54:24.273" Title="Situated vs Located?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="7568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7566" CreationDate="2010-12-28T03:24:05.890" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, the replacement is probably not valid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;periodical&lt;/em&gt; refers to a publication that is published as a series of &lt;em&gt;issues&lt;/em&gt;. The relationship is similar to that between a deck of cards and an individual card.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could say something like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;A new issue is published every month.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;The issue is published every month.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;doesn't work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's happening is that the definite article &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; is being replaced with the indefinite article &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; to indicate that you could be talking about &lt;strong&gt;any&lt;/strong&gt; issue and not a particular one. The adjective &lt;em&gt;new&lt;/em&gt; is optional here but sounds better to my ear. It could just be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;An issue is published every month.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, we switched to &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; which is identical to &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; in meaning but precedes words that begin with a vowel and some&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; words that begin with 'h'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1 Technically I think it precedes all words that begin with an 'h' but that's sort of a dated rule in actual usage in the United States.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2385" LastEditorUserId="2385" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-28T03:29:18.627" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T03:29:18.627" />
  <row Id="7569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7567" CreationDate="2010-12-28T03:37:38.353" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, the replacement works fine. I can't think of a difference other than that located might be slightly more standard in the parts of the US that I've lived in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For what it's worth, you don't really need either of the two words here,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;The town is on a plateau high up among the mountains of the north.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is not at all ambiguous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2385" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T03:37:38.353" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7567" CreationDate="2010-12-28T03:39:33.863" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For this example, the two words are interchangeable.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;There are other usages of &quot;situated&quot; (especially when referring to something being &quot;well-situated&quot;) where &quot;located&quot; would not be a suitable replacement, but &quot;positioned&quot; might be appropriate.  For example, &quot;He was well-situated to take advantage of the ensuing mayhem.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T03:39:33.863" />
  <row Id="7571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7563" CreationDate="2010-12-28T03:46:34.343" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might also consider &quot;fey-limned&quot; for a slightly more subtle sort of glow; &quot;fey-lit&quot; could be thought to be fairly bright.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T03:46:34.343" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7476" CreationDate="2010-12-28T04:22:45.157" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would also add the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackadder&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BlackAdder&lt;/a&gt; series to this list. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3135" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T04:22:45.157" CommunityOwnedDate="2010-12-28T04:22:45.157" />
  <row Id="7573" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-28T06:02:38.687" Score="3" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across this question on &lt;a href=&quot;http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101227042304AAKA1oZ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yahoo! Answers&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should M-theory read, M-hypothesis?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  It being limited evidence for further investigation, perhaps not yet a theory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I responded thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I realise the words &quot;use&quot; and &quot;usage&quot; are.. ahem.. &lt;em&gt;overused&lt;/em&gt;. Please disregard this stylistic concern.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I believe this use of the word &quot;theory&quot; reflects an overlap in mathematics and theoretical physics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In mathematics, the word &quot;theory&quot; is used informally to refer to &quot;a self-consistent body of definitions, axioms, theorems, examples, and so on&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_%28mathematics%29#Mathematical_theories&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reference&lt;/a&gt;). Examples of this usage include &quot;field theory&quot; and &quot;group theory&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This differs from the scientific use of the word &quot;theory&quot; to mean &quot;an extensively tested hypothesis&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I believe the use of the word &quot;theory&quot; here is a purposeful reference to the fact that the inventors were interested in laying a mathematical foundation for their model.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Note that &quot;string theory&quot; has the exact same usage. In fact, the usage seems to be quite rampant throughout theoretical physics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, that's quite possibly just a way to rationalise what is actually carelessness on the part of scientists using the terms. It may not even fit with the facts; my knowledge of theoretical physics is admittedly slim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone give any support for or against my explanation? I found this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.winpie.com/is-string-theory-an-actually-theory-a-question-of-diction/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;blog entry&lt;/a&gt; wherein commenter James Reed chalks it up to a combination of carelessness and an alternate definition of &quot;theory&quot; as &quot;a model being developed by a theorist&quot; (which is similar to the informal mathematical definition, I think).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2717" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T09:58:46.347" Title="Use of the word &quot;theory&quot; in &quot;string theory&quot;, &quot;M-theory&quot;, etc." Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7548" CreationDate="2010-12-28T06:32:02.093" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It makes a bit more sense if you consider quotes that contain several sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He said, &quot;This is a sentence. This is another.  All sentences have their punctuation inside the quotation marks.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does seem to make sense when using quotation marks to delimit a single word to place the punctuation outside the quotation marks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My password is &quot;foo.bar.&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3137" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T06:32:02.093" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7575" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7578" CreationDate="2010-12-28T07:10:50.490" Score="2" ViewCount="208" Body="&lt;p&gt;How is that condition called in English when I can't say anything - lose my voice - because of shouting for too long? I think it is related to my vocal chords and the usual treatment prescribed is just to stay silent for a period of one or two weeks.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T19:14:08.297" Title="How is that condition called in English when I can't say anything - lose my voice - because of shouting for too long?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;term&gt;&lt;medical&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7575" CreationDate="2010-12-28T07:18:46.937" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's called laryngitis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0458130#m_en_gb0458130&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0458130#m_en_gb0458130&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T07:18:46.937" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7577" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-28T08:02:24.460" Score="3" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;For words that sit as placeholders for other words (and introduce subordinate clauses), is there a name?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The quick brown fox &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; jumped over the lazy dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The man &lt;strong&gt;who&lt;/strong&gt; killed the cyclops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are these words called? (aside from &quot;pronoun&quot; or &quot;demonstrative pronoun&quot; for the case of terms like &lt;strong&gt;this&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; [depending on usage])&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They basically function as placeholders for other clauses or nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2045" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T20:44:50.287" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T20:44:50.287" Title="What do you call &quot;that&quot; or &quot;where&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7575" CreationDate="2010-12-28T08:08:05.777" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A technical term could be &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoarse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dysphonia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dysphonia is the medical term for disorders of the voice: an impairment in the ability to produce voice sounds using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocal_apparatus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;vocal organs&lt;/a&gt; (it is distinct from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysarthria&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dysarthria&lt;/a&gt; which means disorders of speech, that is, an impairment in the ability to produce spoken words). Thus, dysphonia is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;phonation&lt;/a&gt; disorder. The dysphonic voice can be hoarse or weak, or excessively breathy, harsh, or rough, but some kind of phonation is still possible (contrasted with the more severe aphonia where phonation is impossible).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other term (if you &lt;em&gt;completely&lt;/em&gt; lose your voice) would be &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphonia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Aphonia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: the inability to speak.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aphonia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;aphonia&lt;/a&gt;: loss of voice and of all but whispered speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T08:08:05.777" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7575" CreationDate="2010-12-28T08:20:46.883" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is an idiom for that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To have a frog in one's throat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;(verb) to lose your voice and be unable to speak&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After her 21st birthday, Rachel had a&#xA;  frog in her throat because she stayed&#xA;  out all night singing Karaoke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We will have to cancel the concert&#xA;  tonight if you have a frog in your&#xA;  throat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;David cannot come in to work today&#xA;  because he has a frog in his throat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T08:20:46.883" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7577" CreationDate="2010-12-28T08:25:54.837" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_pronoun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;relative pronoun&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; if you consider the first part as a clause without the &quot;This is&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[This is] The quick brown fox that jumped over the lazy dog.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   [This is] The man who killed the cyclops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the other &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_conjunction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;grammatical conjunctions&lt;/a&gt; (Coordinating conjunctions, Correlative conjunctions or Subordinating conjunctions) don't include 'who' or 'that'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T08:25:54.837" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7573" CreationDate="2010-12-28T09:32:35.197" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Merriam Webster's defines &lt;em&gt;theory&lt;/em&gt; like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;a plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to explain phenomena (e.g., the wave theory of light) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;a body of theorems presenting a concise systematic view of a subject (e.g., theory of equations)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it also defines it like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a hypothesis assumed for the sake of argument or investigation &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an unproved assumption&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think in the case of the string theory, &lt;em&gt;theory&lt;/em&gt; is being used in the first sense of the definition. Calling it the string hypothesis would take away from what we mean to say (make the idea smaller) and may even be incorrect since it probably consists of a set of hypotheses that make up the theory. Therefore, I think you're right in what you said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastEditorUserId="2972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-28T09:58:46.347" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T09:58:46.347" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7582" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7583" CreationDate="2010-12-28T11:23:40.760" Score="1" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;We commonly use this word in office, and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://geekdictionary.computing.net/define/administratium&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;definitions point&lt;/a&gt; to its meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But is this an actual word? It's not in the OED. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2688" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-28T12:42:07.063" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T15:21:38.320" Title="Is Administratium an actual word?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;neologisms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="7583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7582" CreationDate="2010-12-28T11:49:14.643" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Flooglepz is a word, I just invented it. Until a few seconds ago I was the only person who used it and knew of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few more people know about the word administratium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither of these words are generally accepted English words - however the set of words that are considered English words is not a set with clear undisputed boundaries. Personally, if it's in the OED I'll consider it an official English word, if it isn't I won't. In the next edition of OED, &lt;em&gt;administratium&lt;/em&gt; might conceivably make the transition from a joke word used by a few people to a joke word used widely enough to become an English word (by my definition).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T11:49:14.643" />
  <row Id="7584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7582" CreationDate="2010-12-28T11:49:57.483" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that it depends on the population. The question &quot;Is &lt;em&gt;x&lt;/em&gt; a word&quot; is meaningless without reference to a population. If the population is taken as your office coworkers, then yes it most definitely is a word. For larger populations, I would say that it is not a &quot;real&quot; word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2385" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T11:49:57.483" />
  <row Id="7585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7563" CreationDate="2010-12-28T13:45:40.690" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can say strangely lit and eerily lit. You can say it was a feyly lit glade (though I've never heard it said). &lt;em&gt;Fey&lt;/em&gt; is an adjective and so is &lt;em&gt;lit&lt;/em&gt; (in its use here). You'd need an adverb to modify &lt;em&gt;lit&lt;/em&gt;. That said, fey-lit does sound eerie and strange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T13:45:40.690" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7556" CreationDate="2010-12-28T14:35:54.640" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is too informal for me to find in any reputable source, but in street slang around the Southeast U.S. (at least there, I can't speak for other regions), grill is used to refer to the teeth and mouth in general. This usage expanded from the concept of calling gold fronts &quot;grills&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example I've heard it said, &quot;Oh, she's cute, but she has a busted grill,&quot; which means that she has broken or crooked teeth, not damaged gold fronts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="608" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T14:35:54.640" />
  <row Id="7587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7582" CreationDate="2010-12-28T15:21:38.320" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you google it, Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administratium) says&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Administratium is a well-known joke in scientific circles...A similar joke concerns Administrontium which was referenced in print in 1993&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although the points above about relation to population are accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3141" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T15:21:38.320" />
  <row Id="7588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7577" CreationDate="2010-12-28T15:28:23.320" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;See the Wikipedia page on  &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictiveness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Restrictiveness&lt;/a&gt; &#xA;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...restrictive clauses are often headed by the &lt;em&gt;relative pronoun&lt;/em&gt; &quot;that&quot; or by a zero relative pronoun&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, wiki says tis a relative pronoun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3141" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T15:28:23.320" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7559" CreationDate="2010-12-28T15:33:32.737" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Donation comes from latin, dono, -are. to give, or donum, doni, n., gift (in general). Thus, I doubt it's restricted to charities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3141" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T15:33:32.737" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7556" CreationDate="2010-12-28T16:24:46.183" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Green's Dictionary of Slang has &quot;all up in someone's grill&quot; as &quot;aggressively confronting somebody&quot;, and &quot;bust someone in the grill&quot; to hit them in the mouth. It doesn't suggest any automotive origin, as &quot;grill&quot; is the teeth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T16:24:46.183" />
  <row Id="7591" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7592" CreationDate="2010-12-28T16:25:46.290" Score="2" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am writing a software user manual so the topic is about possible situations which its users may come across.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you and here is an example sentence below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Enter &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; window ID which contains an image.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3142" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T17:19:24.983" Title="Usage of &quot;the&quot; for possible future objects" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;future-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7591" CreationDate="2010-12-28T16:55:00.657" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a perfectly acceptable sentence. The fact that the window is a hypothetical future window doesn't affect the fact that it is a single, definite window within your discourse, and therefore needs the definite article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T16:55:00.657" />
  <row Id="7593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7591" CreationDate="2010-12-28T17:19:24.983" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence is fine as is, but a little ambiguous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might help if you were more explicit. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Enter the ID of the window which contains an image&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, if &quot;window ID&quot; is a phrase defined elsewhere in the manual&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Enter the window ID of the window containing an image&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T17:19:24.983" />
  <row Id="7594" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7635" CreationDate="2010-12-28T17:40:00.663" Score="5" ViewCount="252" Body="&lt;p&gt;A former lecturer of mine once explained why, from a syntactic point of view, the English rule that negation and questions are formed with the auxiliary &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; follows from other syntactic facts about English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More precisely, if you gave a good syntactician not familiar with English a corpus of English sentences containing everything but questions and negated phrases, then s/he could infer grammatical rules from it (such as headed-ness of phrases, what kind of arguments what word takes, etc.) From some of these rules, then, s/he could see that something specific would be wrong with the sentences &quot;Gave you the present to Mary?&quot; and &quot;He went not to the cinema.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone explain what exactly this something is and how it follows from other sentences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FYI, my lecturer did this in Government &amp;amp; Binding with X-Bar theory. This may be more suitable a question for the proposed &lt;a href=&quot;http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/6673/linguistics&quot;&gt;linguistics.stackexchange.com&lt;/a&gt; but as it's not online yet I'm trying it here first. Thank you for your answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2928" LastEditorUserId="2928" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-28T23:50:41.410" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T04:22:41.957" Title="English questions and negation with *do* in syntax" Tags="&lt;negation&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;linguistics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="7595" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7609" CreationDate="2010-12-28T18:06:03.310" Score="1" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;More perfect&quot; is presumably bad English (Preamble to the US &#xA;Constitution notwithstanding), since something is either perfect (and &#xA;thus can't be improved) or not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Less imperfect&quot;, however, seems to make sense. It means &quot;having fewer &#xA;flaws&quot; or &quot;closer to perfection&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The paradox: &quot;more perfect&quot; and &quot;less imperfect&quot; should mean the same &#xA;thing, no? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The real question: is &quot;perfect&quot; binary or continuous? Or is this a &#xA;weird case where &quot;perfect&quot; is binary, but &quot;imperfect&quot; is continuous, &#xA;meaning these words aren't true opposites? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[I tried to work in a joke about English being imperfect, but couldn't &#xA;find the perfect joke] &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3065" LastEditorUserId="1834" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-28T21:06:09.827" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T19:25:50.240" Title="&quot;More perfect&quot; versus &quot;less imperfect&quot;" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;comparative&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7596" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7601" CreationDate="2010-12-28T18:12:02.257" Score="3" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I am planning to buy some property at the end of 2011&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or should I say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I am planning to buy some property in the end of 2011&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T12:16:31.327" Title="&quot;in the end&quot; or &quot;at the end&quot;?" Tags="&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="7597" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7625" CreationDate="2010-12-28T18:19:38.107" Score="4" ViewCount="299" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider the following conversations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;X1: I paid $10 for that hamburger.&#xA;Y1: That's not cheap!&#xA;&#xA;X2: I pay $1 for broadband Internet access.&#xA;Y2: That's cheap!&#xA;&#xA;X3: I paid $1 for a hot dog.&#xA;Y3: Seems like a reasonable price.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conversation 1, &quot;not cheap&quot; means expensive or overpriced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conversation 2, &quot;cheap&quot; means lower than the expected or average&#xA;price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conversation 3, the hot dog is neither overpriced not lower than&#xA;the expected price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, the hot dog is neither &quot;cheap&quot;, nor is it &quot;not cheap&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a special case, or does 'not' in the English language often&#xA;not translate to mathematical negation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This post inspired by a MENSA book stating the 2 sentences below are&#xA;contrapositives (and thus have the same meaning), even though most&#xA;people interpret them very differently:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Good food is not cheap.&#xA;Cheap food is not good.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3065" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-31T06:50:19.943" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T06:50:19.943" Title="Word 'not' often doesn't mean total negation in mathematical sense?" Tags="&lt;negation&gt;&lt;logic&gt;&lt;interpretation&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2964" CreationDate="2010-12-28T18:24:46.733" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Somewhere along the way, I recall a tip (likely designed to simplify matters rather than clarify them) that stated that single consonant names ending in S such as James would be adjusted to James's to indicated the possessive, whereas a polysyllabic name such as Oedipus would simply get the apostrophe as in Oedipus'. Perhaps this is more of an aesthetic tip, but I like it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Patrick&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3144" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T18:24:46.733" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7599" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7603" CreationDate="2010-12-28T18:47:46.737" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I don't know/remember the past tense of a verb, I google for it. Often the returned searches are not  indicative. I just looked for the past tense of &lt;em&gt;seek&lt;/em&gt;, and it took me 2 minutes to figure out that it was &lt;em&gt;sought&lt;/em&gt;. What online sources  do you use to find tenses of verbs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-28T22:47:54.067" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T22:47:54.067" Title="what is the best source to find tenses of verbs" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;glossary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7597" CreationDate="2010-12-28T19:00:39.680" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the 'not cheap' example, you are negating the fact that the hamburger is cheap.  However, 'cheap' by itself is subjective; what is cheap to one person is not necessarily cheap to someone else.  Therefore, you can't assign a strict mathematical negation to the word 'not', as it is negating something that is subjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T19:00:39.680" />
  <row Id="7601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7596" CreationDate="2010-12-28T19:06:21.970" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe 'at the end' is correct, as you are describing a specific point in time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T19:06:21.970" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7597" CreationDate="2010-12-28T19:07:16.757" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several things going on here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The MENSA test may be confusing if we interpret the statements as being about the real world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, let's show that the statements are equivalent in the narrow logician's sense. Let A stand for &quot;good food&quot; and let B stand for &quot;cheap food&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Logically we interpret the sentences as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;Good food is not cheap (food)&#xA;Cheap food is not good (food)&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then we can substitute A and B into the sentences, to get&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;A is not B&#xA;B is not A&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And we can see they are equivalent, however...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the real world, &quot;good&quot; and &quot;cheap&quot; are orthogonal measures i.e. not necessarily correlated. Good is a measure of quality, cheap is a measure of cost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, one can find examples of &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;cheap food that is good&#xA;cheap food that is not good&#xA;Good food that is cheap&#xA;Good food that is not cheap.&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if we let &quot;good&quot; = &quot;nutritious&quot; and let &quot;cheap&quot; = &quot;inexpensive&quot;, we can rewrite the examples above as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;inexpensive food that is nutritious - home cooked perhaps?&#xA;inexpensive food that is not nutritious - typical 'fast food'&#xA;Nutritious food that is inexpensive - fruit, vegetables?&#xA;Nutritious food that is not inexpensive (costly) - upscale restaurant&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all cases, &quot;not&quot; means the logical inverse, and not all &quot;logical&quot; statements are true. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: &quot;Good food is not cheap&quot; is demonstrably false.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, in the real world,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;Good&quot; does not mean &quot;expensive&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;Cheap&quot; does not mean &quot;bad&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastEditorUserId="2944" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-28T22:52:01.300" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T22:52:01.300" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7599" CreationDate="2010-12-28T19:20:12.837" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/seek&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T19:20:12.837" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="7604" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-28T19:31:40.660" Score="4" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1095/use-of-that-in-a-sentence&quot;&gt;Use of &amp;ldquo;that&amp;rdquo; in a sentence&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some times I find myself leaving out the 'that' that binds two parts of a sentence together, because it reads 'smoother'. Here's an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm at that point towards the end of a book, where you suddenly realize you're reading part two of a trilogy and too much of the plot is left for a satisfactory resolution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I chose to not say '...suddenly realize &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; you're reading...'. Is this still correct? Is it merely a more informal tone? Bad style?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side question: What am I actually talking about in grammatical terms? Binding two sentence clauses together with ’that'? What kind of word is 'that' here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2953" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T02:04:41.097" ClosedDate="2011-03-26T17:45:44.963" Title="When can you leave off 'that' in a sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="7605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2269" CreationDate="2010-12-28T19:45:24.450" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree, it sounds very stuck up.  (like what moioci said earlier)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you have any questions, you can contact Gimli or myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is improper English.  (Basically people who want to sound smart but don't know grammar.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mind that it has nothing to do with formality, and in proper English, you should never use myself in place of me when it isn't reflexive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have sent the list to Legolas, Glorfindel, Aragorn, and myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is correct because it is used as a reflexive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3145" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T19:45:24.450" />
  <row Id="7606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7599" CreationDate="2010-12-28T19:48:08.633" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.verbix.com/languages&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Verbix&lt;/a&gt; because it is multilingual and gives you full conjugations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1304" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T19:48:08.633" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7607" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7633" CreationDate="2010-12-28T19:50:50.050" Score="5" ViewCount="416" Body="&lt;p&gt;as in &quot;I pride myself on my ability to speak Klingon and Romulan in the appropriate accents.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is the correct preposition for the end of that expression?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2908" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-29T08:46:11.463" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T15:21:02.197" Title="is it &quot;pride myself on&quot; or &quot;pride myself at&quot; or &quot;...in&quot; or what?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="7608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7567" CreationDate="2010-12-28T19:54:10.297" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In engineering, we use the word &quot;situated&quot; to mean &quot;within a situation&quot;, rather than &quot;located in a specific place&quot;. For example, I could define an agent as &lt;em&gt;a situated entity&lt;/em&gt;, meaning that agents occur, by definition, within a given situation or context. I don't care where agents are; I only care about the fact that they are situated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this sense, &quot;situated&quot; is not exchangeable by &quot;located&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1304" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T19:54:10.297" />
  <row Id="7609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7595" CreationDate="2010-12-28T20:00:51.370" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The paradox: &quot;more perfect&quot; and &quot;less imperfect&quot; should mean the same thing, no? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't say that's a paradox. To my intuition, &quot;perfect&quot; denotes the extreme point in a continuum. Everything else in that continuum is thus &quot;imperfect&quot;. Therefore, &quot;more perfect&quot; makes no sense to me, as you point out. But &quot;less imperfect&quot; does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I have learnt that &quot;perfect&quot; is used in comparisons in everyday language. I am aware that some reputed dictionaries and linguists are against prescriptive advice, but since this is a Q&amp;amp;A site, I'd rather position myself and give positive advice. &lt;a href=&quot;http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780198610212.do&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fowler's&lt;/a&gt; reads on this matter:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;in most circumstances &lt;em&gt;perfect&lt;/em&gt; is&#xA;  used as an absolute adjective, but&#xA;  there are somewhat rare occasions when&#xA;  the speaker has in mind a near&#xA;  approach to such a state and a&#xA;  comparative adj. or the adverb &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  may be appropriately used with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, I would try to avoid to use &quot;perfect&quot; in a comparison, with the only exceptions of metaphorical or approximate usages of the underlying concept of perfection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1304" LastEditorUserId="1304" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-03T19:25:50.240" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T19:25:50.240" CommentCount="30" />
  <row Id="7610" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7631" CreationDate="2010-12-28T21:07:47.997" Score="2" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between these phases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please, do it very quickly, since the deadline is approaching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please, do it ASAP, because the deadline is approaching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1834" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T03:07:51.607" Title="&quot;Do it very quickly&quot; vs &quot;do it ASAP&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="7611" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7613" CreationDate="2010-12-28T21:11:13.143" Score="3" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Julio and I went to the schoolyard.&quot; is a valid sentence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;I and Julio went to the schoolyard.&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's impolite (putting yourself first) and awkward, but is it &#xA;grammatically incorrect? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[I realize the original lyric &quot;see me and Julio...&quot; is a grammatically &#xA;correct imperative sentence] &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3065" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:08:06.367" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:08:06.367" Title="&quot;Julio and I&quot; vs &quot;I and Julio&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7595" CreationDate="2010-12-28T21:13:23.343" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the biggest difference is whether you're emphasizing the positive or the negative. &quot;More perfect&quot; is a positive phrase implying &quot;Good and getting better&quot;, whereas &quot;Less Imperfect&quot; is more negative, implying, &quot;Still bad, but not &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt; bad.&quot; Perfect is hardly ever used except as hyperbole, so it seems valid to allow for degrees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2577" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T21:13:23.343" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7611" CreationDate="2010-12-28T21:35:41.523" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's impolite (putting yourself first) and awkward, but it is correct grammatically. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T21:35:41.523" />
  <row Id="7614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7611" CreationDate="2010-12-28T21:36:13.343" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think &quot;I and Julio went to the schoolyard.&quot; is grammatically incorrect.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is simply not the common (and polite) form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See for instance the &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/pronouns1.htm#compounding&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;personnal pronoun&lt;/a&gt; section on compounding:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When a personal pronoun is connected by a conjunction to another noun or pronoun, its case does not change.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  We would write:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;&lt;code&gt;I am taking a course in Asian history&lt;/code&gt;&quot;; if Talitha is also taking that course, we would write:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;&lt;code&gt;Talitha and I are taking a course in Asian history.&lt;/code&gt;&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (&lt;strong&gt;Notice that Talitha gets listed before &quot;I&quot; does. This is one of the few ways in which English is a &quot;polite&quot; language.&lt;/strong&gt;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The same is true when the object form is called for:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;&lt;code&gt;Professor Vendetti gave all her books to me&lt;/code&gt;&quot;; if Talitha also received some books, we'd write:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;&lt;code&gt;Professor Vendetti gave all her books to Talitha and me.&lt;/code&gt;&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T21:36:13.343" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7607" CreationDate="2010-12-28T21:40:41.780" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The one example I see in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pride&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster definition of pride&lt;/a&gt; refers to &quot;&lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I pride myself on [being or doing] something&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T21:40:41.780" />
  <row Id="7616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7597" CreationDate="2010-12-28T21:41:47.450" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Not' in a mathematical sense refers to binary logic. This is not always the case in communication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Fred is not in Demark' would be a binary situation; Fred is either in Demark or he is not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'The hamburger is not cheap' refers to a pricing scale, say: 'really cheap', 'cheap', 'reasonably priced', 'a bit expensive', 'expensive' to 'ridiculously overpriced'. As a real world example: 'Chery', 'Kia', 'Mazda', 'Subaru', 'BMW', 'Rolls Royce'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just because a car is not a Kia does not make it a Rolls Royce. In the case of 'not a cheap hamburger' the not merely removes the 'cheap' qualifier, leaving you with just a hamburger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T21:41:47.450" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7610" CreationDate="2010-12-28T21:51:48.847" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To do something 'soon' means to minimize the length of time elapsed till the action begins. To do something 'quickly' means to maximize the speed at which the action takes place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T21:51:48.847" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7618" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7622" CreationDate="2010-12-28T21:55:01.140" Score="1" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On my way back home from  work I recalled what my boss had asked I &lt;strong&gt;did&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;strong&gt;turned&lt;/strong&gt; off the lights before I &lt;strong&gt;went&lt;/strong&gt;. Hence unfortunately I had to drive all the way back to the office.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On my way back home from  work I recalled what my boss had asked &lt;strong&gt;I'd do&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;strong&gt;turn&lt;/strong&gt; off the lights before I &lt;strong&gt;go&lt;/strong&gt;. Hence unfortunately I had to drive all the way back to the office.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is the correct form? Would you use a dash, colon, comma or a semicolon after the first statement? How about the conjugation of the verbs in bold?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2334" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T00:06:48.093" Title="Complicated sentence in the past: did vs. would do" Tags="&lt;past-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7597" CreationDate="2010-12-28T22:22:56.813" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That MENSA book needs to review its mathematical concepts. If one statement is the &lt;em&gt;contrapositive&lt;/em&gt; of the other, it &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;DOESN'T mean the same thing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, it just &lt;em&gt;follows logically from it&lt;/em&gt;: if one of the statements is true, then so is the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, it's certainly true that everyday language often plays fast and loose with logic &amp;mdash; witness the number of people who see nothing wrong with saying &quot;I could care less&quot; to mean its opposite. But &lt;em&gt;Good food is not cheap&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;Cheap food is not good&lt;/em&gt; is not an example of fuzzy logic, just two related statements where if you believe one, then logically you must believe the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T22:22:56.813" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7618" CreationDate="2010-12-28T22:41:52.093" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Uh, none of the above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On my way home from work I recalled that the boss had &#xA;  asked me to turn off the lights before I left*, so &#xA;  unfortunately I had to drive all the way back to the office.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*You can use &quot;went&quot; instead of &quot;left&quot;, but the latter sounds better to my ear. (Went where?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;...my boss had asked I did&quot; refers to an action you already took in the past, about which your boss was curious - i.e. he didn't ask you to do something, but asked you about something you did. Similarly, &quot;...my boss had asked I would do&quot; refers to your boss' curiosity about a hypothetical action you would have taken. Neither works grammatically with the rest of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T22:41:52.093" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7607" CreationDate="2010-12-28T22:51:55.700" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't find any usage guides that specifically mention this. However, Google shows the following patterns:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;pride myself on&quot; - 1,260,000 hits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;pride myself in&quot; - 518,000 hits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;pride myself with&quot; - 94,000 hits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;pride myself at&quot; - 25,000 hits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So both &quot;pride myself on&quot; and &quot;pride myself in&quot; are well-attested, though &quot;pride myself on&quot; is the clear winner. The other options are an order of magnitude rarer, and probably indicate mistakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T22:51:55.700" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7618" CreationDate="2010-12-28T23:16:06.520" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither of your sentences are grammatically correct. Martha has offered a solution that rewords the sentence somewhat for greater clarity. However, if you want to leave the wording exactly the same and just change the tenses, you need to do the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On my way back home from work I recalled what my boss had asked &lt;strong&gt;me to do&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;strong&gt;turn&lt;/strong&gt; off the lights before I &lt;strong&gt;go&lt;/strong&gt;. Hence unfortunately I had to drive all the way back to the office.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, &lt;em&gt;asked&lt;/em&gt; must be followed by &lt;em&gt;accusative + infinitive&lt;/em&gt;, not by &lt;em&gt;subject + finite verb&lt;/em&gt;, which is what you have. So you say &quot;asked him to leave&quot;, &quot;asked me to go&quot;, &quot;asked them to talk&quot;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The text after the dash is implicitly also part of an infinitive, so there is an understood &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; that begins the whole clause. Since &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; is always followed by a plain form, that's what you need in the second clause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T23:16:06.520" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="7623" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7624" CreationDate="2010-12-28T23:19:55.947" Score="0" ViewCount="246" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to get a medical certificate stating that there are no medical conditions, of me, that might affect my involvement to a European program in a foreign country.&#xA;My doctor already visited me and stated that my medical conditions are OK. But he does not know how to write this in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can speak English, but I never faced a medical linguistic context.&#xA;Can you help me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2768" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-29T09:04:36.213" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T21:55:58.947" Title="How to help my doctor make a medical certificate in English" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;medical&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7623" CreationDate="2010-12-28T23:35:47.097" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, something along the lines of the following on the doctor's letterhead that is signed and dated is acceptable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hearby certify that I examined &lt;em&gt;your name&lt;/em&gt; on &lt;em&gt;date&lt;/em&gt; and find that (s)he is in good physical condition and can travel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I am worried that this may amount to medical malpractice if your doctor does not understand what (s)he is signing, and I advise that you consult a doctor who can speak English. I further explicitly and specifically discharge any liability that may result as a use of this answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T23:35:47.097" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7597" CreationDate="2010-12-28T23:46:36.127" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think what you have in statement 1 is merely a case of rhetorical understatement, also known as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litotes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;litotes&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In rhetoric, &lt;em&gt;litotes&lt;/em&gt; is a figure of speech in which understatement is employed for rhetorical effect. It is most often used to describe the expression of an idea by a denial of its opposite, principally via double negatives. For example, rather than saying that something is attractive (or even very attractive), one might merely say it is &quot;not unattractive.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Litotes is a form of understatement, always deliberate and with the intention of emphasis. However, the interpretation of litotes can depend on context, including cultural context. In speech, it may also depend on intonation and emphasis; for example, the phrase &quot;not bad&quot; can be said in such a way as to mean anything from &quot;mediocre&quot; to &quot;excellent.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1635" LastActivityDate="2010-12-28T23:46:36.127" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="7626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7618" CreationDate="2010-12-29T00:06:48.093" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither presented option is grammatical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The syntax of forms like “ask that somebody verb” and “ask somebody to verb” requires that &lt;em&gt;verb&lt;/em&gt; be in the subjunctive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T00:06:48.093" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7594" CreationDate="2010-12-29T00:31:47.463" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/syntax-textbook/box-modals.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt;, it seems to have to do with a category of English verbs called modals (the ones used for conditionals, e.g., &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt;, etc.). Basically, if a sentence doesn't contain a modal, it needs an auxiliary &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; to be negated or turned into a question (see examples 13-16 there).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T00:31:47.463" />
  <row Id="7628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7399" CreationDate="2010-12-29T00:36:17.977" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that other than -ie/-y (mostly for personal names), the productive form nowadays is the prefix &lt;em&gt;mini&lt;/em&gt; - e.g., &lt;em&gt;mini-CD&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;miniskirt&lt;/em&gt;, and so forth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T00:36:17.977" />
  <row Id="7629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7610" CreationDate="2010-12-29T01:06:24.060" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My interpretation is ASAP means complete the task with high priority and very soon, but it does suggest some leeway to account for other work that the person saying it isn't aware of. 'Quickly' feels more like you're implying the task is already underway and that the length of time spent on the task might be of greater importance than getting it done right. Both of these are highly subjective opinions though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A certain type of person (boss, superior...) might also use ASAP in a more passive aggressive way, without regard for other considerations and imply that there task has the absolute highest priority. It could be used as a form of fake nicety in a minor of cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2953" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T01:06:24.060" />
  <row Id="7630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1095" CreationDate="2010-12-29T01:58:03.940" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;That&quot; is a conjunction in this type of sentence. (In &quot;the cat that jumped over the wall&quot;, it is a relative pronoun.) It is in general OK to leave out the conjunction &quot;that&quot; now and then, as long as no ambiguity arises. Everybody does it all the time, even in formal style, though it happens more often in informal writing and speaking. It is possible too in German, though not in Dutch, as you probably know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*She believed the judge, who was older&#xA;  than her father, was putting the moves&#xA;  on her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this sentence, the reader is led onto a false scent because &quot;that&quot; is omitted after &quot;believed&quot;. This is a serious mistake. The reason why it is bad here is that &quot;to believe&quot; can have an object, so that the reader thinks &quot;the judge&quot; is simply the object of the verb, instead of the subject of a dependent clause, which in fact it is. When he finds out he is getting the sentence wrong, he needs to read back to repair the damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They say she was unable to realize her&#xA;  husband had left her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sentence is doubtful, because &quot;that&quot; is left out two times in a row. It makes the sentence a bit too loose, a bit messy: though the reader will probably get it right in one go, he will still need to spend a little more energy on it than necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-29T02:04:41.097" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T02:04:41.097" />
  <row Id="7631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7610" CreationDate="2010-12-29T03:07:51.607" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even though ASAP stands for &quot;as soon as possible&quot;, I think it has come to take on the special meaning of &quot;this is your highest priority; drop everything and get it done NOW&quot;.  At least, that is what I believe it means in a typical American workplace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other phrasing, including &quot;very quickly&quot; or even &quot;as soon as possible&quot; spelled out, is implicitly less urgent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T03:07:51.607" />
  <row Id="7632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7597" CreationDate="2010-12-29T03:12:12.067" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main problem in both cases is this: how to convert real language into logical language. In order to do this, one must choose how to interpret real language. This is often difficult, because real language deals with information that is often not apparent, such as implicit premises and the wider context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;X1: I paid $10 for that hamburger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Y1: That's not cheap!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The logician wants to convert Y1 into &lt;code&gt;not[equals($10,cheap)]&lt;/code&gt;. However, real language is not that simple. While sometimes &quot;not x&quot; can mean the logical/mathematical negation of x, at other times it has a different meaning. If x is a value in a spectrum, it often means &quot;on the side of the spectrum farthest away from x&quot;, just as it means in Y1 &lt;code&gt;on the side of the price spectrum farthest away from cheap&lt;/code&gt;, i.e. expensive. I took several pieces of information from context for this interpretation: that &quot;cheap&quot; is on a spectrum, that it is on one side of it, the exclamation mark, the price mentioned, my knowledge of prices in the real world - and probably more that I am not aware of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider this example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;X4: I paid $2 for my hamburger: is&#xA;  that cheap?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Y4: Well, that is not&#xA;  cheap, but it isn't expensive either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here &quot;that is not cheap&quot; does not mean the same as it did in Y1. It means &quot;$2 is not at the cheap side of the spectrum, but it might be anywhere else in the spectrum&quot;. This is then refined later by &quot;it isn't expensive either&quot;, so that we are left with the middle area of the spectrum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for this change in meaning is that Y1 and Y4 have different contexts and thus have different logical meanings. You cannot convert real language into logical language without looking at the whole picture, the wider context, i.e. everything you know about the real world and language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the &quot;good food&quot; example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Good food is not cheap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cheap food is not good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It all depends on how you interpret the real language and how you thus convert it into logical language. &quot;Good food is not cheap&quot; you could interpret as &lt;code&gt;not[equals(good food,cheap)]&lt;/code&gt;. But as you can see in the answers of others, this gives problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also interpret it as &lt;code&gt;if food x is good, then food x is not cheap&lt;/code&gt;. I believe this comes much closer to what most speakers would mean if they made this statement in real language. &quot;Cheap food is not good&quot; I would accordingly interpret as &lt;code&gt;if food x is cheap, food x is not good&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I chose these interpretations because the real grammatical construction &lt;em&gt;noun + copula + adjective&lt;/em&gt; does not express a relation of equality, but rather that of the noun's having the property expressed by the adjective. The word &quot;to be&quot; can express equality (ten is two times five), having a property (the house is yellow), belonging to a class (Socrates is a man), or existence (there is a God) - and possibly some more. Only when it expresses equality are the two variables of the same kind and in a reciprocal relation: otherwise, the relation is not reversible and the variables not of the same kind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time you convert real into logical language, you just need to choose the interpretation that best fits the context. There is no rule for which one to pick, except that the logical statement must give the same false and true values as the real statement if you enter the same parameters; you will probably judge this for a good deal by common sense. Do you know how to use truth tables? They are what you can use to test logical equivalence between two logical statements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an added illustration, I will give a classic example of interpretation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The King of France is bald.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;France has no King, it is a republic. How do we interpret this? A few options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;HasProperty(KoF, bald)&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Equals(KoF, bald)&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Exists(KoF) and HasProperty(KoF, bald)&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Number 1 would give us neither true nor false, because the input KoF would remain empty. If we choose this, then we assume that a real answer to the real statement would be &quot;your question is moot&quot;, because the question presumes that there is a King of France. (I have heard that Japanese has a special answer to this kind of question, &quot;mu&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Number 2 is problematic, among other things because &quot;bald&quot; is a property and &quot;KoF&quot; is a person, and a property and a person cannot be identical. A real answer might be &quot;your question is a tautology and moot&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To number 3, I'd give the real answer &quot;no, your question is a tautology&quot;, since it is always not true, as there exists no King of France.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one do you prefer? I believe both 1 and 3 could be valid conversions. It just depends on your choice; there is no single reasonable interpretation in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-31T06:48:33.533" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T06:48:33.533" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7607" CreationDate="2010-12-29T04:30:35.913" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;[Edited] The Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed.) gives on &lt;em&gt;pride (v.)&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;4.a. refl. &lt;strong&gt;To make or show oneself proud; to take pride, take credit to&#xA;  oneself, congratulate oneself; to&#xA;  plume oneself&lt;/strong&gt;. Const[ructed with]&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;on, upon, in (†for, of, about, with), that&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;  Here are the examples it quotes - I left out the ones from before 1600:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1674 Boyle Excell. Theol. ii. ii. 138&#xA;  The variety of inventions ... make us&#xA;  pride ourselves about things, that&#xA;  [etc.].  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1691 tr. Emilianne's Frauds Rom. Monks&#xA;  (ed. 3) 361, I know ... Reason, why&#xA;  the Priests should pride themselves&#xA;  with this.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) III.&#xA;  108 At Mantua, where they pride&#xA;  themselves not a little on account of&#xA;  their city being the birthplace of&#xA;  that great poet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1806 Med. Jrnl. XV. 437, I prided&#xA;  myself that my hands had never been&#xA;  guilty of communicating that disease. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1807–8 W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 35 We&#xA;  pride ourselves upon giving&#xA;  satisfaction in every department of&#xA;  our paper.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a1849 H. Coleridge Ess. (1851) II. 146&#xA;  The impotence of that which some women&#xA;  pride themselves &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1850 D. M. Craik Olive I. v. 71 How&#xA;  Elspie then prided herself for the&#xA;  continual tutoring which had made the&#xA;  image ... an image of love.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1882 A. W. Ward Dickens iv. 91 He&#xA;  prided himself on his punctuality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only just consulted the 3rd edition, which presents a different picture:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;3.a. trans. (refl.). Originally: &lt;strong&gt;†to show oneself proud, plume oneself&lt;/strong&gt; (obs.). Later: &lt;strong&gt;to take&#xA;  pride in or congratulate oneself&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  (for some achievement, ability, etc.).&#xA;  Now chiefly with &lt;em&gt;on, that&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has three new quotes as well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1910    ‘H. H. Richardson’ Getting of&#xA;  Wisdom (1982) iv. 35   If there was&#xA;  one thing‥all of them prided&#xA;  themselves on, it was the good manners&#xA;  that had been instilled into them&#xA;  since their infancy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1953    H. Clevely Public Enemy vi. 32&#xA;  He prided himself that his voice&#xA;  sounded quite ordinary; he was giving&#xA;  nothing away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1992    H. N. Schwarzkopf It doesn't&#xA;  take Hero p. x,   For the entire first&#xA;  part of my career, I prided myself on&#xA;  being unflappable even in the most&#xA;  chaotic of circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-29T15:21:02.197" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T15:21:02.197" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7594" CreationDate="2010-12-29T04:38:28.450" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The assertion is false, at least as you've restated it here. Consider: if I were presented with such a corpus, then, yes, I'd assume that &quot;Gave you the present to Mary?&quot; was probably incorrect, since without questions or negative sentences to work from, I'd not have seen the re-ordering of subject and verb that takes place in that sort of sentence. I would not, however, have any way to conclude that the correct sentence is actually &quot;Did you give the present to Mary?&quot; because the inversion as well as the introduction of the useless auxiliary &quot;do&quot; are quite irregular features, and I would assume from my limited knowledge that &quot;did you give&quot; is actually &lt;em&gt;more incorrect&lt;/em&gt; than &quot;gave you&quot;, because it makes &lt;em&gt;two&lt;/em&gt; alterations to the declarative equivalent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T04:38:28.450" />
  <row Id="7635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7594" CreationDate="2010-12-29T06:01:35.213" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer 1: I do morphology, not syntax.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Disclaimer 2: The theoretical stuff is Chomskyan syntax, not proven fact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, the need for &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; in English is commonly known informally as &quot;do-support&quot;.  In Chomskyan syntax, the need for &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; arises from the fact that there is no movement from the head of the Verb Phrase (VP) to the Tense or Inflection Phrase (TP or IP) in English (in contrast to languages like French).  (The only exception is the verb &quot;to be&quot; — this verb does raise from V to T.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I guess any English sentences that show a lack of V-to-T movement would infer that do-support or something similar must be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One possibility to show this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;English:&lt;/strong&gt; I &lt;em&gt;often&lt;/em&gt; eat apples.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;French:&lt;/strong&gt; Je mange &lt;em&gt;souvent&lt;/em&gt; les pommes. (Literal: I eat &lt;em&gt;often&lt;/em&gt; the apples.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In English, this adverb (&lt;em&gt;often&lt;/em&gt;) appears before the main verb, while in French, it (&lt;em&gt;souvent&lt;/em&gt;) appears after the main verb.  The reason for the difference is that the adverb is located between T and V in French, and the verb raises from V up into T, above the adverb.  In English, the verb remains in place below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: the following diagram is overly simplified so that we ignore that the subject noun actually raised into its position also — this stuff is confusing enough already :)&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/d0m3V.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issues with negation and question formation both follow from the lack of V-to-T movement we see with the adverb ordering.  For questions, T moves to C, and so a helper verb is needed since the main verb never made it to T.  For negation, I think &quot;not&quot; blocks the passing of tense features from T down to V, so &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; is required in order to host the tense features (e.g. &quot;do&quot;, &quot;does&quot;, &quot;did&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note that when modal or helper verbs are used (&lt;em&gt;would, could, have, be&lt;/em&gt;, etc.), the helper verbs start out on T, so there is no need for do-support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T04:22:41.957" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T04:22:41.957" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="7636" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7638" CreationDate="2010-12-29T09:52:06.610" Score="1" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;One can contract &lt;em&gt;I have&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;I've&lt;/em&gt; when &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; is a helping verb, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've got an octopus in my pants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is contracting the main verb technically incorrect or merely antiquated? My father loves to say,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've a month-old smoked shoulder I can cook for dinner,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and he sounds like a crazy old man when he does. I would like to know if I can shut him down by informing him that he is incorrect. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1585" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:09:33.870" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:09:33.870" Title="Can you contract the main verb in a sentence?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7636" CreationDate="2010-12-29T10:14:00.957" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd not even consider it antiquated. The contraction that is - the shoulder's a different matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-29T10:19:24.493" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T10:19:24.493" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7636" CreationDate="2010-12-29T10:18:57.850" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Contracting the main verb in a sentence is perfectly fine. It sounds awkward only when the pattern of &lt;em&gt;prosodic&lt;/em&gt; stress falls on that word:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have to do it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  * I've to do it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I have yet to do it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I've yet to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this is probably just because you can't use a contracted form in a &lt;em&gt;grammatically&lt;/em&gt; stressed position, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't know what it is.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  * I don't know what it's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But even then, there are sentences in which the stress falls on the contracted verb and it doesn't sound awkward, showing that it's not ungrammatical except perhaps by the standards of a mad prescriptivist somewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T10:18:57.850" />
  <row Id="7639" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7641" CreationDate="2010-12-29T10:29:13.880" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am writing a software user manual so the topic is about possible situations which its users may come across.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an example sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The button saves the &lt;strong&gt;current&lt;/strong&gt; URL in the browser.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usage of &lt;strong&gt;current&lt;/strong&gt; above does not mention the present time actually, so what is the proper way to mention &quot;current&quot; for future events?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3142" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:12:52.683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:12:52.683" Title="What is the proper way to mention &quot;current&quot; for future events?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7639" CreationDate="2010-12-29T10:37:26.943" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think the use of &quot;current&quot; is that ambiguous here, but if you do, you still can make your sentence more explicit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The button saves the current URL in the browser.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (&quot;current&quot; at the time when you will press said button)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T10:37:26.943" />
  <row Id="7641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7639" CreationDate="2010-12-29T10:38:01.577" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1 b (1) : presently elapsing &amp;lt;the current year&amp;gt; (2) : occurring in or existing at the present time &amp;lt;the current crisis&amp;gt; (3) : most recent &amp;lt;the magazine's current issue&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two of these definitions mention &lt;em&gt;present:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2 a : being in view or at hand&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  b : existing in something mentioned or under consideration&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So using &lt;em&gt;current&lt;/em&gt; is correct, as it always denotes whatever time the sentence refers to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T10:38:01.577" />
  <row Id="7642" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-29T11:07:22.273" Score="2" ViewCount="327" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can anyone explain the difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3154" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:59:17.927" Title="By contrast vs. in contrast?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7642" CreationDate="2010-12-29T11:19:01.150" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there is a difference in meaning, only in usage.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagetips.wordpress.com/category/in-or-by-contrast/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;blog post&lt;/a&gt; details it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“In contrast” and “by contrast” mean the same thing: the act of comparing in order to show differences.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The difference lies in the way the words are used. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;“In contrast” is usually followed by “to” or “with” and requires a noun to follow it. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;“By contrast” is usually followed or preceded by the subject of the sentence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In contrast to the diligent bee, the butterfly flies hither and yon with no apparent purpose.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  In contrast with the chorus of birdsongs in my backyard, my front yard is serenaded by the sound of rumbling buses flying down the street.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;By contrast, the Picasso is more vibrant and full of life.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The cats will often sleep the day away. The dogs, by contrast, never settle down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T11:19:01.150" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7645" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7646" CreationDate="2010-12-29T13:30:11.440" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any word that could replace the phrase in bold below and retain the same meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This document defines the intended&#xA;  behaviour for the AVI to XYZ&#xA;  conversion tool (&lt;strong&gt;which from this&#xA;  point of the document on will be&#xA;  called simply&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;conversion tool&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="740" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T13:46:45.583" Title="Word for &quot;from this point of the document on it will be called simply XYZ&quot;" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="7646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7645" CreationDate="2010-12-29T13:41:46.753" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usual wording, I believe, is &quot;hereafter/henceforth referred to as&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This document defines the intended behaviour for the AVI to XYZ conversion tool (hereafter referred to as &quot;Conversion Tool&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also seen it being dropped completely, as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This document defines the intended behaviour for the AVI to XYZ conversion tool (&quot;Conversion Tool&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T13:41:46.753" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7645" CreationDate="2010-12-29T13:46:45.583" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try &quot;hereinafter Conversion Tool&quot;, although you may find it a little pretentious or legalistic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T13:46:45.583" />
  <row Id="7648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7545" CreationDate="2010-12-29T14:48:06.587" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To support ShreevatsaR's point and to address the actual origin of the word, here's what &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=equivocation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt; has to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;equivocal&lt;/em&gt; c.1600, from L.L. &lt;em&gt;aequivocus&lt;/em&gt; &quot;of equal voice, of equal significance, ambiguous&quot; (see &lt;em&gt;equivocation&lt;/em&gt;) [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;equivocation&lt;/em&gt;, late 14c., &quot;the fallacy of using a word in different senses at different stages of the reasoning&quot; (&lt;strong&gt;a loan-transl. of Gk. &lt;em&gt;homonymia&lt;/em&gt;, lit. &quot;having the same name&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;), from O.Fr. &lt;em&gt;equivocation&lt;/em&gt;, from L.L. &lt;em&gt;aequivocationem&lt;/em&gt; (nom. &lt;em&gt;aequivocatio&lt;/em&gt;), from &lt;em&gt;aequivocus&lt;/em&gt; &quot;of identical sound,&quot; pp. of &lt;em&gt;aequivocare&lt;/em&gt;, from &lt;em&gt;aequus&lt;/em&gt; &quot;equal&quot; (see &lt;em&gt;equal&lt;/em&gt;) + &lt;em&gt;vocare&lt;/em&gt; &quot;to call&quot; (see &lt;em&gt;voice&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Emphasis added. So &lt;em&gt;equivocal&lt;/em&gt; never referred to &quot;same voice&quot;, but rather to &quot;identical sound&quot;. The difference might seem subtle, but it's crucial. &lt;em&gt;Equivocal&lt;/em&gt; is not (and was never meant to be) about voicing the same opinion, but rather about voicing an opinion that could be taken to mean completely different things to different people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T14:48:06.587" />
  <row Id="7649" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9593" CreationDate="2010-12-29T15:09:59.990" Score="13" ViewCount="431" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know English has (or at least had) some strange usages of &quot;eve&quot; and &quot;night&quot;, but I still can't figure out how December 25th and 12 can be combined to come up with January 6th.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;(This stems from my annual rant about the twelve days of Christmas, namely that despite what modern commerce would have you believe, they come &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; the 25th, not before.)&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T05:04:50.320" Title="What method of counting puts Twelfth Night on January 6th?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="7650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7558" CreationDate="2010-12-29T15:11:13.607" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Green's Dictionary of Slang offers two possibilities, either &quot;sexually involved with&quot; or &quot;interfering, involved with&quot;. The former is American campus slang and the latter American teen slang.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T15:11:13.607" />
  <row Id="7651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7649" CreationDate="2010-12-29T15:21:56.533" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No method. The twelfth day is January 5th:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) 25-Dec&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) 26-Dec&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) 27-Dec&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4) 28-Dec&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5) 29-Dec&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6) 30-Dec&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;7) 31-Dec&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;8) 01-Jan&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;9) 02-Jan&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;10) 03-Jan&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;11) 04-Jan&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;12) 05-Jan&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;January 6th is the day after the twelfth day of Christmas. I am not an expert on this subject, but this is from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphany_%28holiday%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia page on Epiphany&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Christian feast celebrating the&#xA;  appearance of Jesus Christ to the Magi&#xA;  (representing the world),&#xA;  traditionally celebrated on January 6,&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;the day after the twelfth day of&#xA;  Christmas&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-29T15:31:48.543" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T15:31:48.543" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7652" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-29T16:01:29.497" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My topic is money, budgeting and public finance(s?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do you say public finance or public finances? (like in &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8573128.stm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8573128.stm&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Budget has two sides, spending and receipts? Why is one singular and second plural?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3157" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T17:16:48.270" Title="Plurals: finance, spending, receipts ..." Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7652" CreationDate="2010-12-29T17:16:48.270" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;in response to your first question, I believe that &lt;em&gt;finances&lt;/em&gt; (plural) have to do with the funds of the government (i.e. the little gold we have left int the Treasury), whereas  public &lt;em&gt;finance&lt;/em&gt; is the management of those funds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if you type in &quot;define: finance&quot; on google,you get: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Finance is the science of funds management.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;whereas if you perform the same search on &quot;finances&quot;, it outputs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;funds: assets in the form of money&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In response to your second question (spending vs. receipts, plurality),&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noun#Classification_of_nouns_in_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;see the wikipedia page &lt;/a&gt; on classification of nouns. One could be considered non-concrete and one concrete, or perhaps one is uncountable and the other countable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps! Kyle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3141" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T17:16:48.270" />
  <row Id="7654" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7655" CreationDate="2010-12-29T17:17:21.643" Score="1" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I must refer to my High School Diploma (Italy), how is it known abroad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mean, can I simply write High School Diploma?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In UK or USA, how is such a qualification recognized as? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2768" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-29T19:51:49.593" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T19:51:49.593" Title="Diploma in English?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7654" CreationDate="2010-12-29T17:27:41.597" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, in the US, &quot;high school diploma&quot; is exactly the right term, and will be understood anywhere you go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here in the UK, I'm afraid we don't really have an equivalent; the only papers we get upon leaving are the examiners certificates for our GCSE/A-level exams - not exactly &quot;diplomas&quot;. Saying that, I'm sure most Brits would at least &lt;em&gt;recognise&lt;/em&gt; the significance of a &quot;high school diploma&quot; from a continental European country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-29T19:46:20.707" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T19:46:20.707" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7575" CreationDate="2010-12-29T19:14:08.297" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A rough or harsh voice, typically the result of a sore throat or shouting, is called &lt;em&gt;hoarse&lt;/em&gt;, the state or quality of a &lt;em&gt;hoarse&lt;/em&gt; voice being &lt;em&gt;hoarseness&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you shout for too long, your larynx will become inflamed. This condition is called &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laryngitis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;laryngitis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, although laryngitis can be cause by other things, such as a viral or bacterial infection. Often people with an inflamed larynx will have trouble speaking. The generic term for disorders of the voice is &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysphonia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dysphonia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you can't talk because you were shouting too much, you could say your voice is hoarse from shouting, or that you have dysphonia caused by laryngitis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T19:14:08.297" />
  <row Id="7657" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7659" CreationDate="2010-12-29T20:17:09.703" Score="3" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've done a fair amount of research (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/hyphens.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;like here&lt;/a&gt;), but I can't find any examples of hyphen rules with &quot;auto&quot;.  Microsoft Word doesn't take &quot;autopopulate&quot;, but will accept either auto-populate or auto populate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I read about prefixes is that they shouldn't be hyphenated, but MS Word disagrees with this one.  Unless auto isn't really a prefix at all, but I do take it to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right now I'm thinking that auto doesn't usually work by itself unless you're talking about a car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anybody have any authoritative word or grammatical insight?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3162" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T21:03:31.960" Title="Use of hypens with &quot;auto&quot;: autopopulate, auto-populate, or auto populate?" Tags="&lt;rules&gt;&lt;hyphen&gt;&lt;prefixes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7636" CreationDate="2010-12-29T20:39:43.247" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In American English, the contracted form &lt;em&gt;’ve&lt;/em&gt; is only possible as an auxiliary verb. It is not grammatical as a main verb. This is not the case in British English, where it is grammatical, and this is one of the differences between British and American English&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T20:39:43.247" />
  <row Id="7659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7657" CreationDate="2010-12-29T21:03:31.960" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whether or not prefixes are hyphenated depends a lot on which prefix it is. In general, &lt;em&gt;newly coined&lt;/em&gt; prefixes or &lt;em&gt;neologisms&lt;/em&gt; are likely to take a hyphen, while &lt;em&gt;established vocabulary&lt;/em&gt; tends to lose the hyphen. There are no absolute rules, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;autopopulate&lt;/em&gt; is probably wrong, since the use of the prefix &lt;em&gt;auto-&lt;/em&gt; in this sense is very recent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;auto populate&lt;/em&gt; is also wrong, since verbal compounds are never written separately&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;auto-populate&lt;/em&gt; is probably the preferred answer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T21:03:31.960" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="7660" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-29T23:46:56.667" Score="2" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would appreciate if someone could explain the meaning of the phrase &quot;I have but one claim to fame&quot;. I understand every separate word, but the meaning of the whole phrase is fairly obscure to me, as I am not a native speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3164" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-30T10:36:11.440" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T10:36:11.440" Title="What does the phrase &quot;I have but one claim to fame&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="7661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7649" CreationDate="2010-12-29T23:51:39.263" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Linked on from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelfth_Night_%28holiday%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Wikipedia page&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/4126725/Christmas-ends-in-confusion-over-when-Twelfth-Night-falls.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/4126725/Christmas-ends-in-confusion-over-when-Twelfth-Night-falls.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;says&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But many people believe Twelfth Night&#xA;  falls on Jan 6, at the end of the 12th&#xA;  day after Christmas...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The difference in opinion is said to&#xA;  be down to the fact that in centuries&#xA;  past, Christmas was deemed to start at&#xA;  sunset on Dec 24 and so the 12th night&#xA;  following it was Jan 5. Nowadays,&#xA;  people count from Dec 25 and so assume&#xA;  Twelfth Night falls on the 6th.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it says - the method that counts the 12th night &lt;strong&gt;following&lt;/strong&gt; Christmas i.e. which starts counting from Dec 26th, ends with the Twelfth night on Jan 6th&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1798" LastActivityDate="2010-12-29T23:51:39.263" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7660" CreationDate="2010-12-30T00:00:39.157" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means you have one claim to fame, but only one, not more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T00:00:39.157" />
  <row Id="7663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7660" CreationDate="2010-12-30T00:24:05.993" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;claim to fame&quot; is commonly used to describe something noteworthy of an otherwise unnoteworthy person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be used in a literal manner, describing an actual accomplishment made by a person that really has made them famous. For example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesley_Sullenberger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Captain Chesley &quot;Sully&quot; Sullenberger&lt;/a&gt;'s claim to fame was his successful landing of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River off Manhattan, New York. This incident was Capt. Sully's claim to fame because before the successful crash landing he was a virtual unknown, but afterwards he wrote a book, appeared on several television and radio talk shows, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More commonly, the phrase is used tongue-in-cheek to note a unique talent or ability, regardless of whether said talent or ability makes you actually famous. If your neighbor could recite by memory all of the poems of Edgar Allen Poe, you could say that was his claim to fame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase, &quot;one claim to fame&quot; usually means that the person has a single claim to fame. If you say, &quot;Bob's one claim to fame was that he could ride a unicycle while singing the national anthem,&quot; that implies that Bob has but one unique talent. But, when speaking of Bob you might say, &quot;One claim to fame is that he can ride a unicycle while singing the national anthem.&quot; In this usage it's unclear if riding a unicycle while singing the national anthem is Bob's sole claim to fame or if it's just one of Bob's claims to fame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T00:24:05.993" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="7664" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-30T01:50:37.107" Score="1" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose you have a sentence which concludes with the eye dialect &quot;somethin'&quot; for the word &quot;something.&quot;  Where does the period go?  Should it be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is really somethin'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is really somethin.' &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that the apostrophe is part of the word, and hence attaches to it as opposed to the sentence.  Thus, I'd put the period after the apostrophe.  The second construction looks like an error, with mismatched quotes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3165" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T02:45:08.157" Title="punctuation of Eye dialect" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7660" CreationDate="2010-12-30T02:00:07.963" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's break this down into simpler parts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;but one&quot; = one, and only one.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;claim to fame&quot; = reason for being famous.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, the declaration is equivalent to &quot;There is only one reason that I have become famous.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T02:00:07.963" />
  <row Id="7666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7664" CreationDate="2010-12-30T02:42:12.777" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would place the apostrophe before the period in this case. However note that in American English periods and commas go inside quote marks as a general rule, probably for typographical reasons, but that is another story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T02:42:12.777" />
  <row Id="7667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7664" CreationDate="2010-12-30T02:45:08.157" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're correct—the apostrophe is there to signify that a letter (or letters) were omitted from the word, and so, the apostrophe goes with the word and before the period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While periods go inside quotes in American English, this isn't a quote.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="513" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T02:45:08.157" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7668" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-30T06:57:30.347" Score="1" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;It is a good mannerism to reply for a message&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this sentence right? If so then why? Which one should be used in the above line — &quot;good mannerism&quot; or &quot;good manners&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3167" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:13:26.067" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:13:26.067" Title="vocabulary question: manners vs. mannerisms" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="7670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7668" CreationDate="2010-12-30T09:30:28.060" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence you're looking for is: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is good manners to reply to a message.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase is &quot;reply to&quot; and not &quot;reply for&quot;, but I guess your confusion is between the word &quot;manners&quot; and the word &quot;mannerisms&quot;. They mean different things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;manners&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;good manners&lt;/em&gt;, always plural) refers to &lt;em&gt;etiquette&lt;/em&gt;, things that are considered polite, or expected in society. (You already know this meaning.) Example: &quot;It is good manners to reply to a message.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;mannerisms&lt;/em&gt; are idiosyncrasies or other peculiar behaviour specific to a person, his/her &lt;em&gt;style&lt;/em&gt; of doing things, speaking, etc. Example: &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.slate.com/id/2267820/pagenum/all/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rajinikanth&lt;/a&gt; is a star mostly for his mannerisms.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T09:30:28.060" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7671" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7672" CreationDate="2010-12-30T12:06:04.667" Score="0" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you are the interviewer and would you ask the candidate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How&lt;/strong&gt; would you rate yourself on the scale &lt;strong&gt;from&lt;/strong&gt; 1 to 10? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What&lt;/strong&gt; would you rate yourself on the scale &lt;strong&gt;of&lt;/strong&gt; 1 to 10? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which sentence is more appropriate (is it &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt;)? I want to know the right way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a way, &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; sounds more appropriate than &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt;, but &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; is used more often (from Google stats).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2054" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-30T14:37:46.893" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T14:37:46.893" Title="Question on usage on 'Rating Yourself'" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;interrogatives&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7671" CreationDate="2010-12-30T12:15:54.000" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How&lt;/strong&gt; is the most natural sounding way to phrase this question, which is a little odd in a way because you could literally answer &quot;How would you rate yourself on the scale from 1 to 10&quot; with something like &quot;I would pick a number between 1 and 10 that seemed to match my self-image in this respect&quot; and be technically correct. You probably wouldn't get the job in most cases. That ambiguity doesn't exist if you phrase the question with &quot;What&quot; but even so a native English speaker would choose the former every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What&lt;/strong&gt; would fit into the middle of a sentence better:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;On a scale from 1 to 10, what rating&#xA;  would you give yourself?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would tend to use a scale &lt;strong&gt;from&lt;/strong&gt; 1 to 10. The only situation where I can think I would use a scale &lt;strong&gt;of&lt;/strong&gt; would be to describe the size of a map or diagram- &lt;em&gt;&quot;This map is drawn at a scale of 1:20000&quot;&lt;/em&gt; - if I'm describing a range it would always be &lt;em&gt;&quot;from 5 to 100.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Also notice that it is always &lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt; scale from 1 to 10 rather than &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; scale. You would only use &quot;the&quot; if you were describing a particular scale - for example &quot;What is the wind speed on the Beaufort Scale?&quot; In this case we are using an abstract scale that is defined by the question, so it is &quot;a scale&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastEditorUserId="1725" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-30T14:32:09.503" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T14:32:09.503" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7673" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-30T12:30:45.653" Score="1" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the beginning of a letter (or mail) , which is the correct method to address a person/friend..say for example which would be more perfect &quot;Hi XYZ&quot; or &quot;hi XYZ&quot;  ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;__Kanu&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3172" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T14:37:59.607" Title="Usage of &quot;Hi&quot; and &quot;hi&quot; in a letter/mail" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7673" CreationDate="2010-12-30T12:44:34.447" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hi XYZ&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is the way to go. The first letter of a sentence should be capitalized. Even in the most informal settings, lack of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_case&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sentence case&lt;/a&gt; smacks of laziness. Whether the sentence in question is &quot;Colorless green ideas sleep furiously&quot; or a simple &quot;Hi Joe&quot;, doesn't matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T12:44:34.447" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7676" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7677" CreationDate="2010-12-30T13:33:51.930" Score="5" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=gadget&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; explains the origin of the word &lt;em&gt;gadget&lt;/em&gt; as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1886, gadjet (but said to date back to&#xA;  1850s), sailors' slang word for any&#xA;  small mechanical thing or part of a&#xA;  ship for which they lacked, or forgot,&#xA;  a name; perhaps from Fr. gâchette&#xA;  &quot;catchpiece of a mechanism&quot; (15c.),&#xA;  dim. of gâche &quot;staple of a lock.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that the word was not used for small &lt;em&gt;electronic&lt;/em&gt; devices in the beginning. After all, it would be quite hard to find any Blackberrys, Kindles and IPods back in the 1850s...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about the current usage of the word &lt;em&gt;gadget&lt;/em&gt;? Is it restricted to electronic devices? Or is it still used more generically as in the original meaning of the word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-30T13:39:39.960" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T15:21:47.107" Title="Is &quot;gadget&quot; always an electronic device?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7676" CreationDate="2010-12-30T13:49:08.380" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Gadget&quot; is not restricted to electronic devices. Many of the clever tools used for food preparation are known as &quot;kitchen gadgets&quot;. I myself cannot live without my ice cream scoop or pineapple corer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google returns 3.29 million results for &quot;kitchen gadgets&quot; and 19.9 million results for &quot;garden gadgets&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And of course we must pay tribute to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspector_Gadget&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Inspector Gadget&lt;/a&gt;: the cartoon icon who is &quot;a human being with various bionic gadgets built into his body&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T13:49:08.380" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="501" CreationDate="2010-12-30T13:50:06.447" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English has always had zero plurals as one of many types of irregular plural along with the regular plurals. For both borrowed and native words. So do related languages including German.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither transliteration nor Romance has a lot to do with it since we have nouns with both regular and irregular plural forms borred from Romance languages and other languages in the same alphabet and other alphabets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of ninja, it comes from Japanese and Japanese like many languages does not inflect for plural. Others are Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malaysian, and all Polynesian languages including Hawaiian and Maori.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For Japanese it seems to relate to how maintream a borrowed word has become in Enlgish. If it doesn't yet have wide currency or refers to something exotic it has a higher chance of retaining the Japanese (zero) plural. Here are some plurals of English words borrowed from Japanese the way I say them, others may disagree:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;anime (though animes doesn't sound wrong)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bonsai (perhaps uncountable in English)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;futons (never futon)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;giesha sounds better than geishas to me&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hibachi isn't common in Australia but I assume Americans say hibachis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;judo doesn't have a plural&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;kabuki (never kabukis)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;kanji sounds right to me - I always cringe when I read kanjis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;karaoke (perhaps uncountable in English)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;karate doesn't have a plural&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;kimonos sounds bettern than plural kimono to me&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;manga (perhaps uncountable in English)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;miso is definitely uncountable in English&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;origami (perhaps uncountable in English)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;otakus sounds better than otaku as a plural to me but this word has gained much currency in English as yet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ramen (never ramens)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sake is uncountable in English&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;samurai sounds slightly better than samurais to me&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sashimi (never sashimis)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shiatsu (has no plural in English)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shinkansens sounds wrong but so does plural shinkansen!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shinto doesn't have a plural&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sudoku&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sumo doesn't have a plural&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sushi (never sushis)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tempura seems to be uncountable in English&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tofu (never tofus)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;torii (never toriis, has a similar form to some Latin plurals)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tsunamis (never tsunami)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wasabi is uncountable in English&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;yakuza (though yakuzas doesn't sound wrong)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;yen (never yens)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;zen (has no plural)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3175" LastEditorUserId="3175" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-31T01:09:26.970" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T01:09:26.970" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7673" CreationDate="2010-12-30T14:37:59.607" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi Renjith,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the capitalization is important. However, there are some settings where a &quot;hi xyz&quot; is acceptable---namely, when the entire email is in lower case (as is often the case when sys admins and other hacker-friendly people write emails).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, despite that, I think it would be unwise to use a lower-case &quot;hi&quot; in a handwritten or printed letter (though in these two forms of letters, I would rather prefer using &quot;Dear XYZ&quot; instead of &quot;Hi XYZ&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3147" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T14:37:59.607" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7676" CreationDate="2010-12-30T15:21:47.107" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;John has nicely summarized the use of gadget. I just wanted to share some interesting related information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you search for the word &quot;gadget&quot; on &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ngrams&lt;/a&gt;, you will see the nice image below, which indicates the occurrence frequency of this word in various books from 1800--2008.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This chart quite curiously indicates that the word peaked around 1950 (occupying greater popularity from the 40s to the 60s), before falling out of vogue. However, more interesting is the upswing that we see after 2000.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first high points in the chart could potentially be attributed to &lt;em&gt;Kitchen and Garden&lt;/em&gt; gadgets, while the upswing after 2000 is perhaps more due to more widespread use of &lt;em&gt;electronic&lt;/em&gt; gadgets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/ExQE7.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3147" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T15:21:47.107" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7682" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-30T15:54:38.040" Score="5" ViewCount="255" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a writer uses parentheses to define a phrase or clarify a word in a sentence, is it appropriate also to use i.e. in the parentheses? That use seems redundant to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3176" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T04:16:06.433" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T04:44:16.143" Title="Using i.e. in parentheses" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;&lt;parentheses&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7683" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-30T17:36:12.593" Score="3" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had someone send me a piece recently that include a few quotes from an interview. The structure was (between the lines, items in parenthesis my addition):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a few quotes that support my position from person x:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;quote 1 from a person&quot; (partial sentence)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;quote 2 list here&quot; (partial sentence, separate from quote 1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means to me that ....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is that in the proper way to show this. Are the two quotes fine to be shown like this, or would you separate them with an ellipsis with one set of quotation marks? If they are part of the same or different paragraph, does it matter? Can they be inline in the paragraph&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is this just a stylistic decision for the author/editor?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2721" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T23:27:05.473" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T23:27:05.473" Title="How to quote someone's work" Tags="&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7682" CreationDate="2010-12-30T17:41:56.443" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The example on Wiktionary uses brackets (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/i.e&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/i.e&lt;/a&gt;), and the at Answers.com all the examples show i.e. used in parenthetical expressions of some sort (bracket, comma or em-dash) (&lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_to_use_ie_in_a_sentence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_to_use_ie_in_a_sentence&lt;/a&gt;). So I would suggest it is probably a good idea, particularly if there is some doubt as to where the restatement ends and the rest of the sentence begins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-30T21:40:16.933" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T21:40:16.933" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7685" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7689" CreationDate="2010-12-30T17:50:59.077" Score="2" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use the word &quot;misconfigured&quot; all the time, but MS Word, Chrome, and the two dictionaries I checked don't list it as a word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to keep using it instead of &quot;configured incorrectly&quot; because I believe it communicates an obvious meaning. However, is it a word that I can use formally? If not, why not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:09:46.130" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:09:46.130" Title="Is &quot;misconfigured&quot; a word?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7685" CreationDate="2010-12-30T17:56:56.143" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/misconfigure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;misconfigure&quot;&lt;/a&gt; is an acceptable word by Wiktionary standards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that if your formal communication involves writing to or talking with somebody who has tried to &quot;configure&quot; something, the message will be clear, and thus, the usage acceptable. If you are in a context where there is danger of miscommunication or misunderstanding, then you might prefer the &quot;configured incorrectly&quot; version. However, note that in the latter, you run the risk of somebody misinterpreting it to mean that there was a single &quot;correct&quot; configuration that was possible. Hence, I believe, in general misconfigure(d) is more accurate, and thereby more preferable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3147" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T17:56:56.143" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7683" CreationDate="2010-12-30T18:19:07.623" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use an ellipsis if the two quotes together form a coherent sentence which I believe express what the interviewee meant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd keep them separate if the two quotes form two separate supporting statements, relatively independent from one another. This is almost certain to be the case if the two quotations come from separate paragraphs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T18:19:07.623" />
  <row Id="7688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7683" CreationDate="2010-12-30T18:56:31.537" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I put two quoted elements between one set of quotation marks (&quot;x ... y&quot;) if there is a strong link between them; I am afraid this ultimately comes down to common sense: I couldn't pin it down to a rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they belong to the same (sub)argument or to one line of thought, the link is usually strong enough. Most good writers would put one thought in one paragraph, so I believe putting the threshold between paragraphs, as Red suggested, is a good rule of thumb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there are bound to be exceptions, such as two elements from a list (might go into one quote), and two elements that are from one paragraph but use references so different that they might be ambiguous when put together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T18:56:31.537" />
  <row Id="7689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7685" CreationDate="2010-12-30T19:05:53.403" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mis- is a productive prefix, so I see no reason why it should not be allowed to form new verbs, unless used instead of a better word if such exists. The OED agrees:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As now apprehended, the prefix&#xA;  normally implies not censure of the&#xA;  act itself, but only of its manner.&#xA;  With this restriction, nonce-words may&#xA;  be formed very freely. In the 17th c.&#xA;  the use was much wider, and many of&#xA;  the formations of that period would&#xA;  now be inadmissible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T19:05:53.403" />
  <row Id="7690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7595" CreationDate="2010-12-30T19:35:47.177" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think you should say &quot;less imperfect.&quot; It's like saying &quot;I'm &lt;em&gt;less average&lt;/em&gt; than you.&quot; It's up there with &quot;less unique.&quot; Imperfect, average, unique, perfect are all &quot;boolean,&quot; or so to say. They are either true or false;  yes or no; You can be imperfect, or you can be perfect. You cannot be &quot;less unique&quot; or &quot;more average&quot; either. maybe that helps.... :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3141" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T19:35:47.177" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7683" CreationDate="2010-12-30T19:44:57.180" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have said already, this comes down to common sense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the two quotes are from the same source, and appear in that source in the same order in which you are using them, and actually do work together, then you can quote them inline within one set of quotation marks. Whether or not they come from different sentences, paragraphs, or chapters, is pretty much irrelevant as long as the combined quote a) actually makes sense at all in your new context and b) stays true to the original text. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are re-ordering the quotes or taking them from two different works by the same author, you should keep them separate — again, in order to stay true to the original(s). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, if the original text by person X says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would go with XYZ. It is fine. I like it. It is totally awesome. Blablabla.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Wall of text, wall of text, wall of text.&#xA;  Wall of text, wall of text, wall of text.&#xA;  Wall of text, wall of text, wall of text.&#xA;  Wall of text, wall of text, wall of text.&#xA;  Wall of text, wall of text, wall of text.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Blablabla. XYZ is absolutely great and does all things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I would argue that it is perfectly acceptable to quote it as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Person X says that XYZ &quot;is fine [...,] totally awesome [...] and does all things&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think that the size of that wall of text matters in the slightest. See it this way: the quote is not actually combined; it is &lt;em&gt;shortened&lt;/em&gt;. The author is actually saying those exact things in that exact order. But of course, it would also be fine to write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Person X says that XYZ is &quot;fine&quot;, &quot;totally awesome&quot;, and &quot;absolutely great&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has the additional advantage that you can re-order much more easily:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Person X says that XYZ is &quot;absolutely great&quot;, &quot;totally awesome&quot;, and &quot;fine&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the following, obviously, would &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; be acceptable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Person X says, &quot;[XYZ] is totally [...] great&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, it should be noted that you start your sentence with &quot;Here are &lt;strong&gt;a few&lt;/strong&gt; quotes&quot; (emphasis added). If you actually combine those few quotes into &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt;, you must re-word accordingly. If, on the other hand, you expressly wish to stress the fact that there are &lt;em&gt;several&lt;/em&gt; quotes that support your opinion, you shouldn't be in the business of combining them to begin with. Keep them separate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would go with XYZ. Person X seems to support my position. He says, &quot;[XYZ] is fine&quot;. He also says, &quot;It is totally awesome&quot;. Lastly, he even says that it &quot;is absolutely great and does all things&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-30T19:50:17.500" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T19:50:17.500" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7595" CreationDate="2010-12-30T19:51:29.683" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many of the senses of &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/perfect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;perfect&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; are comparable, so there is no reason to presume that &lt;em&gt;more perfect&lt;/em&gt; is somehow “bad English”. The many examples of that usage, even in very formal writings, such as the U.S. Constitution, should be sufficient proof of that. Frankly, the idea that you could use a “logical” argument to declare some usage “bad English” is in itself fallacious. It is easy to forget that most words have multiple meanings and can be used in more than one way. On a related note, the same is true of &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unique&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;unique&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T19:51:29.683" />
  <row Id="7693" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7694" CreationDate="2010-12-30T20:04:58.967" Score="2" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't seem to find much about this expression online, and its usage eludes me somewhat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing that it's supposed to mean that someone is being overcome by another party, a winner in a debate or some form of sparring?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example sentence: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They could swing their big money around and knock them out of the water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does that make sense? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2179" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T15:31:57.397" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T15:31:57.397" Title="How to use &quot;Knock [him/them] out of the water&quot; — is this a common (if at all used) expression?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7693" CreationDate="2010-12-30T20:08:57.870" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually the clich&amp;eacute; used with &lt;em&gt;knock&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;knock them down.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where water is concerned, the usual clich&amp;eacute; is &quot;blow them out of the water.&quot; The reference is to naval combat, which seems perfectly appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T20:08:57.870" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7695" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7698" CreationDate="2010-12-30T20:45:35.593" Score="3" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the following sentence in today's New York Times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inaction and delays by New York as storm bore down. The city's decision not to declare a snow emergency, transit officials' delay in invoking a full-scale emergency plan and a seemingly late bid for help may face scrutiny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does 'storm bore down&quot;? Does it mean 'Storm was pressed down'? Please teach me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T21:08:56.327" Title="What does 'Bore down' mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="286" CreationDate="2010-12-30T20:55:50.703" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Despite the trend that &quot;toward&quot; is more common in the U.S. and that &quot;towards&quot; is more common in the U.K., I still see quite a bit of inconsistency within the same country, within the same publications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The New York Times with &quot;towards&quot;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;nytimes.com/2002/08/31/opinion/slouching-towards-9-11.html&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;Slouching &lt;strong&gt;Towards&lt;/strong&gt; 9/11&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The New York Times with &quot;toward&quot;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;nytimes.com/2010/02/04/world/europe/04tuna.html&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;Europe Leans &lt;strong&gt;Toward&lt;/strong&gt; Bluefin Trade Ban&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But for the most part, the Times seems to dominantly use &quot;toward&quot;, and then &quot;towards&quot; when quoting a British interviewee, which further supports the claim about the geographical distinction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose either one is fine as long as you're consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2945" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T20:55:50.703" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7695" CreationDate="2010-12-30T21:25:51.603" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bear+down&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt; , &quot;bear down&quot; in a nautical sense means to &quot;approach from the windward direction&quot;, which makes perfect sense when applied to a storm.  Other uses include &quot;to press or weigh down&quot; and &quot;to strive harder or intensify one's efforts&quot;, both of which can also be somewhat applied to a storm: it was approaching, its effects were pressing down on the city (causing outages, delays, accidents, and so forth) and its effects were intensifying as it approached.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Edit: as MMyers also points out, &quot;to bear down on (something)&quot; generally has the meaning of approaching 'in a threatening manner', which is also very appropriate here.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a nutshell, then, the opening sentence from the NYTimes implies that officials could see the storm coming, knew that it was going to be bad, and didn't do enough or act quickly enough in what they did do about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-01T21:08:56.327" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T21:08:56.327" />
  <row Id="7698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7695" CreationDate="2010-12-30T21:34:38.350" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bear+down&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TheFreeDictionary&lt;/a&gt; defines it as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To advance in a threatening manner: &lt;em&gt;The ship bore down on our canoe.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many other meanings of the phrase, such as those given by Hellion, but this is the one I believe was intended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T21:34:38.350" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7699" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7700" CreationDate="2010-12-30T22:04:28.340" Score="1" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am writing a scientific paper. I have made several assumptions which are properly ordered. When I cite them, shall I use, i.e., &quot;... by the Assumption 1,...&quot; or simply &quot;... by Assumption 1,...&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&#xA;Anand&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2689" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T05:03:39.340" Title="About the use of the definite article &quot;the&quot; before a word starting with capital letters" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7699" CreationDate="2010-12-30T22:09:52.500" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not necessary to use the article &quot;the&quot; in the case you specify.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would say &quot;Assumption #2 is ...&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to use the definitive article, preface with the ordinal number:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The second assumption presumes that...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A definite article indicates that its noun is a particular one (or ones) identifiable to the listener. It may be the same thing that the speaker has already mentioned, or it may be something uniquely specified. The definite article in English is the.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T22:09:52.500" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7701" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7705" CreationDate="2010-12-30T22:37:38.267" Score="5" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was sitting at the card table this evening looking gormless (as I am wont to do) when it occurred to me to wonder, are the other players &lt;em&gt;gormful&lt;/em&gt;? Is there such a word? Is there such a thing as &lt;em&gt;gorm&lt;/em&gt;, that one can either have or lack?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T12:28:59.167" Title="Antonym for gormless?" Tags="&lt;antonyms&gt;&lt;suffix&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7702" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7704" CreationDate="2010-12-30T22:43:10.403" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's assume I have a text in the notepad: &quot;Some Text&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I enter more words after the text it will be an append (&quot;Some Text Another Text&quot;), otherwise it will be a prepend (&quot;Another Text Some Text&quot;), if I don't replace the text with a new text completely (&quot;Another Text&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I am trying to come up with a term for these actions. How do you call it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3142" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T18:52:12.420" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T18:52:12.420" Title="I am trying to come up with a term for actions Replace/Prepend/Append" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;hypernyms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7702" CreationDate="2010-12-30T22:53:54.493" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You already have the answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prepend, append and replace are all verbs.  See below, with related nouns:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Append:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You append text after some other text.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I appended some text.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He will append some text.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prepend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You prepend text before some other text.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I prepended some text.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He will prepend some text.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In either case, both of them could be called a supplement, or supplemental text.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T22:53:54.493" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7702" CreationDate="2010-12-30T23:11:57.713" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taken as a group, these are all examples of &quot;Text Modification&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I'm reading your comment to morganpdx correctly, you could make a title like &quot;Text Modification Options&quot; where you then give further information about &quot;Appending to your text&quot;, &quot;Prepending to your text&quot; (or &quot;Inserting before your text&quot;), and &quot;Replacing your text&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T23:11:57.713" />
  <row Id="7705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7701" CreationDate="2010-12-30T23:18:42.127" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gormless?show=0&amp;amp;t=1293750787&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;merriam-webster.com&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;gormless&quot; does indeed mean &quot;lacking in gorm&quot;, which was originally the middle-English word &quot;gaum&quot; or &quot;gome&quot;, meaning &quot;understanding, or attention&quot;.  I would have to say that &quot;gorm&quot; as its own word has fallen out of the modern lexicon, though, and is not at all likely to be understood.  (Hopefully someone who can do searches of the Corpus of English Language Texts or the like can provide extra information....)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T23:18:42.127" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7682" CreationDate="2010-12-30T23:26:09.517" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;More than a few style guide recommend dropping such Latin abbreviations entirely suggesting &quot;that is&quot; instead of &quot;i.e&quot;, &quot;for example&quot; where one might otherwise use &quot;e.g.&quot;, and so on (not to say &quot;etc.&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you are going to use them at all, putting them in parenthetical comments seems fine to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2851" LastActivityDate="2010-12-30T23:26:09.517" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7702" CreationDate="2010-12-31T00:22:18.590" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can call it conjugation too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[My bad, I didn't notice the word &quot;replace.&quot; You probably need to call it a &quot;modification&quot; already.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2955" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T00:22:18.590" />
  <row Id="7708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7702" CreationDate="2010-12-31T01:27:05.660" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just another suggestion. In my experience, designers of systems often want to be systematic, which is to be expected, and want to catch similar things under a single heading. But why not describe a thing by two terms? Some Loeb translations of Plato translate many a complicated Greek word into two English words, which works rather well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could say &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Replace or add to text&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;, or &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Replace/Add&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; if you want it shorter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-31T14:03:41.363" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T14:03:41.363" />
  <row Id="7709" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-31T01:42:21.580" Score="3" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to find the correct opposite of a &lt;strong&gt;delegate&lt;/strong&gt; in the context of a person being a representative of someone else that have allowed or chosen them to be their delegate.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;That &quot;someone else&quot;, what do you call them?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The only word I could find is a &lt;strong&gt;delegator&lt;/strong&gt; (which isn't a real word in English) or &lt;strong&gt;assigner&lt;/strong&gt;, but they are &lt;em&gt;technical&lt;/em&gt; words rather than &lt;em&gt;descriptive&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any other word I could use?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of it in a sentence like this:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here is a list of all the delegates in the company.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  But that is the list of their _ _ _ _ _ (what can go here?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to avoid fillers such as:  &lt;strong&gt;bosses&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;agents&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;managers&lt;/strong&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2734" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T04:50:27.917" Title="Is there an antonym for &quot;delegate&quot;?" Tags="&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7685" CreationDate="2010-12-31T01:46:18.840" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the very least, it is widely used computer jargon. Google lists 275k hits for misconfigured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Side note: My spell checker, on Linux chrome, does not recognise misconfigured, but does recognise its cousin &quot;misconfiguration&quot;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1177" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T01:46:18.840" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7709" CreationDate="2010-12-31T02:37:15.957" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;em&gt;principal&lt;/em&gt; might work for you.  It's used fairly frequently to describe the primary people involved in things and the following is listed as one of the (chiefly legal) definitions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a person who authorizes another, as an agent, to represent him or her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T02:37:15.957" />
  <row Id="7712" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-31T04:14:43.900" Score="3" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I am writing an essay, do I spell out times? How would I write AM or PM?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;11:45 PM&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would I write that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3182" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T17:53:48.457" Title="Do I spell out a time in an essay?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="7713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7712" CreationDate="2010-12-31T04:20:56.793" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to an &lt;a href=&quot;http://homeworktips.about.com/od/essaywriting/a/numbers.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article on About.com&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dates, phone numbers, and time: Use&#xA;  numbers for dates:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My birthday is March 16. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was born  on Valentines Day, 1975. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And use numbers for phone numbers: The phone&#xA;  number for the school is 800-555-6262&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And use numbers for time if using a.m. or p.m.: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The alarm will sound at 7 p.m.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I make my bed at 7 a.m. each&#xA;  morning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But spell out times when&#xA;  using &quot;o'clock&quot; or when the a.m. or&#xA;  p.m. are omitted:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The alarm will sound&#xA;  at seven o'clock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I make my bed at&#xA;  seven each morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2019" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T04:20:56.793" />
  <row Id="7714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7709" CreationDate="2010-12-31T04:50:27.917" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the context of elections, those who send a delegate are generally referred to as their &lt;strong&gt;constituents&lt;/strong&gt;. That may be appropriate for this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T04:50:27.917" />
  <row Id="7715" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7729" CreationDate="2010-12-31T04:59:37.870" Score="1" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Render onto Caesar the things which are Caesar's&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does this sentence mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2340" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T09:20:49.880" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T09:20:49.880" Title="Meaning of &quot;Render onto Caesar the things which are Caesar's&quot;" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="7716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7699" CreationDate="2010-12-31T05:03:39.340" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should use &quot;by Assumption 1&quot;. (Not &quot;by the Assumption 1&quot;, &quot;by Assumption #1&quot;, &quot;by assumption 1&quot;, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the convention in scientific papers — it exactly parallels the way you would write, for instance, &quot;by Theorem 3&quot;, &quot;by Definition 2&quot;, &quot;by Corollary 1&quot;, &quot;by Lemma 3&quot;, &quot;by Claim 4&quot;, etc., and not &quot;by the Theorem 3&quot; or &quot;by the second definition&quot; or other forms, even if some of them may be grammatically correct too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T05:03:39.340" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7717" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7741" CreationDate="2010-12-31T05:38:56.387" Score="5" ViewCount="293" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a word that essentially means &quot;to cook&quot; but sounds fancy and sophisticated. What synonyms are there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for context, I'm thinking of a restaurant setting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2019" LastEditorUserId="2019" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-31T17:15:20.953" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T18:18:13.403" Title="What's a sophisticated synonym for &quot;cooking&quot;?" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7717" CreationDate="2010-12-31T05:50:56.160" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Engaging in the Culinary Arts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T05:50:56.160" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7717" CreationDate="2010-12-31T06:24:14.097" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a phrase, 'prepare sustenance'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T06:24:14.097" />
  <row Id="7720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7712" CreationDate="2010-12-31T06:33:53.180" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several conventions in use with regard to abbreviating 'ante meridiem' and 'post meridiem' - with or without periods and with capital or small letters. Hence am/a.m./AM/A.M. have all been used. The choice is usually due to regional or typographical reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T06:33:53.180" />
  <row Id="7721" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7722" CreationDate="2010-12-31T07:57:29.737" Score="2" ViewCount="677" Body="&lt;p&gt;English is my second language. I still struggle with it, specially when I've to write formal email.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today I need to send an email to several of by business associates. The email I'm composing is a reply of another email from their side and has some technical explanation that is related to our project. After the technical explanation/discussion I'd like to wish them for New Year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should be the wording that will look professional, formal, and also a bit friendly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3183" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T09:28:54.887" Title="How to wish for New Year in professional &amp; formal way?" Tags="&lt;email&gt;&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7721" CreationDate="2010-12-31T09:02:20.560" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear X,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Regarding the explanation of our project bla bla...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And finally, &#xA;  Wish you and your family a&#xA;  very Happy New Year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Looking forward to working with you next year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Regards,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear X,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Wish you and your family a&#xA;  very Happy New Year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Regarding the project matter for discussion bla bla&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Regards,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either of these should be fine. &#xA;The reference to &quot;family&quot; or &quot;loved ones&quot; makes it less formal - but is still professional. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1798" LastEditorUserId="1798" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-31T09:28:54.887" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T09:28:54.887" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7717" CreationDate="2010-12-31T10:22:25.827" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Concoct&lt;/strong&gt; (verb) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=1861599361&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Definition from Encarta:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;mix ingredients to make something new: to create something by mixing or&#xA;  combining various ingredients in a new&#xA;  way, especially in cooking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=wv3qmv0-iqQC&amp;amp;pg=PA1269&amp;amp;dq=concoct+meal&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=b60dTbuZCseIhQf5zJi3Dg&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=7&amp;amp;ved=0CEMQ6AEwBg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;And leisurely concoct their grassy meal. ...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=BF4EAAAAMBAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA58&amp;amp;dq=concoct+meal&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=b60dTbuZCseIhQf5zJi3Dg&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=10&amp;amp;ved=0CFIQ6AEwCQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Masakazu Nonomura will concoct a progressive series of plates representing the history of Japan.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=rKphXb6FiAcC&amp;amp;pg=PA93&amp;amp;dq=concoct+meal&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=-q4dTbSvMJSxhQfSvti3Dg&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CCIQ6AEwADgK&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;You can concoct a fairly decent meal.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=Th8DAAAAMBAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA115&amp;amp;dq=concoct+meal&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=h64dTYD2MsawhQeYxrW3Dg&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=2&amp;amp;ved=0CCcQ6AEwATgK&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Or let master bartenders concoct a refreshing ice cream or fruit juice drink.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T10:22:25.827" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7717" CreationDate="2010-12-31T11:20:55.413" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just kidding: &quot;Endow with a pleasant thermo-chemical alteration.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nouns seems to be aplenty, but somehow not verbs. Perhaps you could concoct a verb out of the following nouns:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gastronome&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Epicure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gourmet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gourmand&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other leads might follow by chasing words strongly associated with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fix&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prepare&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fabricate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Conjure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Decoct&#xA;...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps, if you could provide more context to your question, someone might be able to offer a more precise and useful answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3147" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T11:20:55.413" />
  <row Id="7727" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7730" CreationDate="2010-12-31T12:30:39.353" Score="4" ViewCount="272" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often hear people using &quot;I said you&quot; in Asia, but people in America use &quot;I told you&quot;.&#xA;Is there a difference between the usage of &lt;em&gt;said&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;told&lt;/em&gt;? And to be more specific which is correct English — &lt;em&gt;told&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;said&lt;/em&gt;? Kindly help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2775" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:14:01.417" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:14:01.417" Title="Which is correct — &quot;I told you&quot; or &quot;I said you&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7727" CreationDate="2010-12-31T13:24:04.237" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I told you John is vegetarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reminding someone of something they have forgotten you said to them. Sometimes this is abbreviated to &quot;I told you so&quot; or even &quot;I told you&quot;. Though the latter seems to me a bit ugly as an isolated sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I said &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; you, &quot;John is vegetarian&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reminding someone of the exact words you used, perhaps because they misheard or misunderstood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I said you are vegetarian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last might be in answer to &quot;What did you say to John?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-31T13:35:05.087" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T13:35:05.087" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7715" CreationDate="2010-12-31T14:28:29.907" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The quote is &quot;Render &lt;em&gt;unto&lt;/em&gt; Caesar the things which are Ceasar's...&quot; and comes from the Bible, Mark 12:17&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since this is a forum for discussion of language rather than exigesis, I will refrain from discussing the possible deeper contextual implications of the phrase, and instead clarify the semantic meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please be aware that the quote you have referenced comes from the &lt;em&gt;King James Bible&lt;/em&gt;, a  translation of biblical scripture that was carried out some centuries ago and therefore using language that can be mystifying to the modern reader. A more up-to-date translation in common use is the &lt;em&gt;New International Version&lt;/em&gt;, which renders the quote thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was in response to a question about whether Jews should pay taxes (or instead resist Roman authority.) Please refer to one of the many biblical study guides or websites for a scriptural analysis, or this &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Render_unto_Caesar%E2%80%A6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; article for a good primer &lt;em&gt;(thanks J. M. and Scott Mitchell :-)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This particular biblical quote is used in different contexts to mean any one of a number of different things, but in my experience it is most commonly an exhortation to keep the affairs of religion and politics separate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastEditorUserId="1542" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T08:57:05.773" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T08:57:05.773" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7727" CreationDate="2010-12-31T14:45:32.560" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;@RedGrittyBrick has the correct answer, but has somewhat hidden it in an over-explanation. So I will spell it out clearly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never substitute &lt;em&gt;I said you&lt;/em&gt; for &lt;em&gt;I told you&lt;/em&gt;, if what you mean is that you told somebody something earlier and you are reminding them of that fact now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Said&lt;/em&gt; requires the preposition &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; to get close to the same thing: &lt;em&gt;I said &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; you&lt;/em&gt;. Even then, however, &lt;em&gt;said&lt;/em&gt; never takes a direct object that is not some kind of a reference to words. &lt;em&gt;I said do it&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;I said nothing.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tell&lt;/em&gt; can take a person as a direct object. &lt;em&gt;I told Bob. I'm telling you now.&lt;/em&gt; You would not use it to mean &lt;em&gt;said&lt;/em&gt; because it does &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; take someone's utterance as a direct object. You would never say &lt;em&gt;I told go&lt;/em&gt;, because that would mean you are telling the word &quot;go&quot; something. You would say, &lt;em&gt;I said go&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I said I was going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John said he would be here tonight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We said nothing about your indiscretions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I told him to clear out his locker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mary told her friends all about the incident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We told you then and we are telling you now: don't come around here anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T14:45:32.560" />
  <row Id="7731" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7732" CreationDate="2010-12-31T15:31:40.950" Score="3" ViewCount="246" Body="&lt;p&gt;In science we often invent words, but that doesn't mean we know how to spell them.... Most of the time words are invented by adding prefixes. In that case should there be a hyphen or not? Specifically, I need to use &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;reexcite or re-excite (reentry is similar and a official word)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;repolarize or re-polarization&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the second seems fine in the no-hyphen form, but for the first, the double &quot;e&quot; makes the word difficult to read. I've seen similar use with an umlaut e: ë as in reëxcite, but that looks strange....any pointers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1897" LastEditorUserId="1897" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-31T16:20:03.597" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T22:12:18.680" Title="adding a prefix &quot;re&quot; to a word, with or without a hyphen?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;prefixes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7731" CreationDate="2010-12-31T15:37:48.820" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on how recent the words are. If you are concerned that your meaning will be unclear, by all means use the hyphen. Words like &lt;em&gt;reentry&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;reelect&lt;/em&gt; have been in usage for a long time and pretty much no one has a problem with them. &lt;em&gt;Reexcite&lt;/em&gt; has not, so you would do better to stick with &lt;em&gt;re-excites&lt;/em&gt;. If you want to edit something again, you are probably better off to &lt;em&gt;re-edit&lt;/em&gt; it if you are worried that &lt;em&gt;reedit&lt;/em&gt; will cause the reader to stumble. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where the prefix is not followed by a vowel, however, you are not honor-bound to add the hyphen. If you want to &lt;em&gt;repolarize&lt;/em&gt; something, go right ahead. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=repurpose&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt;, the word &lt;em&gt;repurpose&lt;/em&gt; is less than 30 years old, having dropped its hyphen somewhere in the early 1980s. So if you are the first to &lt;em&gt;repolarize&lt;/em&gt; something, you are not likely to be the last, and you will probably start a trend. In any case, your meaning will be clear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-31T15:45:50.217" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T15:45:50.217" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7727" CreationDate="2010-12-31T16:55:49.463" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;of course &quot; I told you &quot; is correct. why? because you are going  to remind him\her. also, if you are going to use &quot;I said you&quot;, you have to add &quot;to&quot; after &quot;said&quot; to be more soundable.&#xA;besides, the second one is often used when you are ganna say someone's talks &quot;quotation&quot; or about someone's talks. thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3193" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T16:55:49.463" />
  <row Id="7734" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7735" CreationDate="2010-12-31T17:20:11.810" Score="4" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used the phrase, &quot;She put two and two together...&quot; the other day and, shortly after saying, wondered about its origin. My understanding is that it means to &quot;connect the dots&quot; or to figure the answer to a question, but I'm uncertain why &quot;put two and two together&quot; became a synonym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is that it originally had a longer form, like, &quot;She put two and two together &lt;strong&gt;to get four&lt;/strong&gt;,&quot; but that the &quot;to get four&quot; part has fallen out of usage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T18:09:07.823" Title="What is the origin of the phrase, &quot;Put two and two together?&quot;" Tags="&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7734" CreationDate="2010-12-31T17:37:12.753" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A query by &quot;put two and two together&quot; on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coha/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;COHA&lt;/a&gt; (1810s-2000s) shows that the phrase appeared in sentences without a longer form since 1848 at least (1848 is the year of the first result). There are occurrences of a longer form &quot;put two and two together and make four&quot;. It's not clear whether the shorter form derived from the longer form, but I'd say that your hypothesis makes sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/2xz0s.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-31T18:09:07.823" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T18:09:07.823" />
  <row Id="7736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7567" CreationDate="2010-12-31T17:54:24.273" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They essentially have the same meaning. But as located has a verb form 'to locate', it feels (to me at least) much more active and liable to change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would never say I am currently situated in the town square, if I am was leaving that place in few minutes. I would used 'located'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3194" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T17:54:24.273" />
  <row Id="7738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7596" CreationDate="2010-12-31T18:03:56.180" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case at the end is the only proper answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'at the end' means you'll do something literally near the end of something&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'in the end' is more like 'after all'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3194" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T18:03:56.180" />
  <row Id="7739" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7742" CreationDate="2010-12-31T18:07:22.793" Score="1" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;To commemorate the 2,000th question on the English Language &amp;amp; Usage stack, I would like to actually know the origin of that word, and whether it originated for the negativity of the &quot;end of the world&quot; or otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. This really is the 2,000th question =)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2734" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T18:25:46.693" Title="What is the origin of Y2K?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7739" CreationDate="2010-12-31T18:09:30.470" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Y2K stands for &quot;the year 2000.&quot; This was the year all the ancient computer systems were supposed to crash because they couldn't handle 4-digit years. This was called the &lt;em&gt;Y2K bug&lt;/em&gt;, and because of it banks were supposed to fail, airliners to fall out of the sky, and the digital world to come to a messy and somewhat ignominious end. But for a couple of digits the world could have been saved!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact the world went blithely on about its business. Reports of its impending demise were, in the words of Mark Twain, &quot;an exaggeration.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T18:09:30.470" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7717" CreationDate="2010-12-31T18:18:13.403" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could use a more general verb like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;prepare&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;craft&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;create&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then sprinkle various more flowery adverbs, nouns and adjectives to make it sound more sophisticated. Try not to overdo it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At Restaurant X, your meal is skillfully prepared from locally-sourced, fresh, organic ingredients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're writing about a specific dish, you may want to use a verb that specifies the method of cooking, like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;grill&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sautée&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;roast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sear&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At Restaurant X, our aged prime rib is slow-roasted to perfection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T18:18:13.403" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7739" CreationDate="2010-12-31T18:25:46.693" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if it's apocryphal, but there is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.slate.com/id/1004203/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article on Slate&lt;/a&gt; regarding the etymology of Y2K.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T18:25:46.693" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7743" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7746" CreationDate="2010-12-31T18:47:46.150" Score="0" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;pending Vs. left Vs. remaining , when to use, which?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="869" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T19:27:28.187" Title="pending Vs. left Vs. remaining" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7744" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-31T18:57:34.413" Score="2" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often hear people saying, &lt;em&gt;it's no big deal&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;I am no […]&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&#xA;I was wondering if it is acceptable to say &lt;em&gt;it is no calculus&lt;/em&gt; in a college essay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3196" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T08:53:38.080" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T08:53:38.080" Title="Is &quot;it is no calculus&quot; correct grammar?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7744" CreationDate="2010-12-31T19:00:12.463" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would depend on context. This is certainly no idiom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;… that I am familiar with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T19:00:12.463" />
  <row Id="7746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7743" CreationDate="2010-12-31T19:27:28.187" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Left&quot; and &quot;remaining&quot; are synonyms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have only four eggs left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are only four eggs remaining in&#xA;  the refrigerator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also use &quot;remaining&quot; as an adjective, as in &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The remaining eggs were rotten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You couldn't use &quot;left&quot; in that construction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Pending&quot; is a different matter. It refers to something that is about to happen or is in suspension for the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Their pending divorce weighed heavily&#xA;  on the children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also be a synonym for &quot;until&quot;, as in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pending a trip to the grocery store,&#xA;  we will not be able to make omelets&#xA;  for everyone, since we only have four&#xA;  eggs left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T19:27:28.187" />
  <row Id="7747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7744" CreationDate="2010-12-31T19:39:26.787" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you're probably looking for an idiom like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's not rocket science.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's not brain surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or, as some wags have it,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's not rocket surgery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one of those cases where modifying a clich&amp;eacute; to make it fresher doesn't quite work. Saying &quot;It's not calculus,&quot; while reasonable in a certain context, would not have currency among the general population and would not be readily understood to mean something easy or inconsequential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I answered with &quot;not&quot; constructions because I figured the OP would accept any negative construction, and as Scott Mitchell points out in his comment &quot;not&quot; certainly works better than &quot;no&quot; in the OP's example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-31T20:33:14.103" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T20:33:14.103" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7748" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7750" CreationDate="2010-12-31T19:51:06.903" Score="1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;What word would best suit this analogy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3198" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T20:19:38.477" Title="&quot;Benefit&quot; is to &quot;pro&quot; as what is to &quot;con&quot;?" Tags="&lt;analogy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7748" CreationDate="2010-12-31T20:11:37.673" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/detriment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Detriment&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure exactly how &lt;em&gt;benefit&lt;/em&gt; should relate to &lt;em&gt;pro&lt;/em&gt;, but as &lt;em&gt;pro&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;con&lt;/em&gt; are opposites, I would consider &lt;em&gt;detriment&lt;/em&gt; to be appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster also lists: &lt;em&gt;disadvantage, drawback, encumbrance, hindrance, impediment, minus&lt;/em&gt; as antonyms for &lt;em&gt;benefit&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T20:11:37.673" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7748" CreationDate="2010-12-31T20:19:38.477" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/drawback&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Drawback&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is the first word that comes to mind. Other possibilities &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/benefit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;listed by Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; are &lt;em&gt;disadvantage&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;hindrance&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;encumbrance&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;nuisance&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;obstacle&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;detriment&lt;/em&gt;. (Listed more-or-less in decreasing order of relevance, at least in my opinion.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T20:19:38.477" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7596" CreationDate="2010-12-31T21:01:42.417" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is not really a grammatical rule that governs this as far as I know. It's really more a question of idiomatic usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One would use &lt;em&gt;at the end&lt;/em&gt; when a specific period of time or an event is being referred to. It will almost always be followed by &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; and in the cases when it isn't, the &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; will be implicit. For example if we were at a concert, I could say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hope they play Possum at the end. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, the listener would essentially hear the sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hope they play Possum at the end of the show.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, &lt;em&gt;in the end&lt;/em&gt; is used to refer to a more abstract notion. I could say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the end, it doesn't really matter if they finish with something else instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this usage, &lt;em&gt;in the end&lt;/em&gt; doesn't add any significant meaning to the sentence. It is serving as a qualifier though. It's presence indicates that I might be &lt;em&gt;slightly&lt;/em&gt; disappointed if I didn't get to see Possum but &lt;em&gt;in the end&lt;/em&gt; I'll be happy either way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example would be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the end, I'd be happy to see Harry Hood, Antelope or Divided Sky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, I'm saying that as long as they play any of the songs mentioned, I'll be happy regardless of what they finish with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &lt;em&gt;in the end&lt;/em&gt; is often used to say that something will change as time moves on and will eventually settle in some certain state. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2385" LastEditorUserId="2385" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-31T22:06:04.880" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T22:06:04.880" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7752" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2010-12-31T21:38:42.753" Score="2" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;Let us have the ushers wait &lt;strong&gt;upon&lt;/strong&gt; us&quot; proper syntax? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3201" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:14:29.203" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:14:29.203" Title="Usage of &quot;upon&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="7753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7752" CreationDate="2010-12-31T21:48:15.463" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you can say both &quot;wait on&quot; or &quot;wait upon.&quot; However, I think &quot;wait on&quot; is more common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of hits on Google, for &quot;wait on&quot; there's 846 million results versus 250 odd million for &quot;wait upon.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/wait+upon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; &gt;Here &lt;/a&gt; it says &quot;to wait (up)on&quot; so perhaps it is simply that over time, the &quot;up&quot; of &quot;upon&quot; was dropped. The example there where they use &quot;upon&quot; is in a medieval context. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etymolonline says that &quot;to wait upon&quot; originated in early 1500s, giving the idiom time to change. Thus, I would conclude that either one is acceptable, but &quot;on&quot; is more common. That's all I could come up with.&#xA;Hope this helps! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://thesaurus.com/browse/wait+upon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; &gt; Thesaurus.com &lt;/a&gt; also has it as a synonym with attend (to), be in the service of, do for, doctor, look after, mind, minister to, nurse, serve, take care of, tend, wait upon , watch, work for... etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3141" LastEditorUserId="3141" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2010-12-31T21:59:42.343" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T21:59:42.343" />
  <row Id="7754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7139" CreationDate="2010-12-31T22:09:27.017" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;english coal miners wore hobnailed boots which were slippy on cobblestone streets, so they carried them home after work so they wouldnt slip. this allowed them to &quot;fill their boots &quot; with coal which would be just enough coal for a family for one day.considered one of the perks of working in a coal mine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3202" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T22:09:27.017" />
  <row Id="7755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7752" CreationDate="2010-12-31T22:24:36.760" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dictionary.com referred to it in these meanings as a preposition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Up and on; upward so as to get or be on: He climbed upon his horse and&#xA;  rode off.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;In an elevated position on: There is a television antenna upon every&#xA;  house in the neighborhood.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;In or into complete or approximate contact with, as an attacker or an&#xA;  important or pressing occasion: The&#xA;  enemy was upon us and our soldiers had&#xA;  little time to escape. The Christmas&#xA;  holiday will soon be upon us and we&#xA;  have hardly begun to buy gifts. The&#xA;  time to take action is upon us.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Immediately or very soon after: She went into mourning upon her husband's&#xA;  death.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;On the occasion of: She was joyful upon seeing her child take his first&#xA;  steps.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;On (in any of various senses, used as an equivalent of on with no added&#xA;  idea of ascent or elevation, and&#xA;  preferred in certain cases only for&#xA;  euphonic or metrical reasons): He&#xA;  swore upon his honor as a gentleman.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last definition best represents the usage in your sentence and thus you may put either &lt;em&gt;wait on&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;wait upon&lt;/em&gt; because both are acceptable; they mean the same thing. &lt;em&gt;Wait upon&lt;/em&gt; seems to be seen in older literary works, whereas &lt;em&gt;wait on&lt;/em&gt; seems to be used in more contemporary literary works.&#xA;As referred in the earlier post &lt;em&gt;wait on&lt;/em&gt; is more commonly seen than &lt;em&gt;wait upon&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3203" LastActivityDate="2010-12-31T22:24:36.760" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7756" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7757" CreationDate="2010-12-31T23:33:47.377" Score="1" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at the sentence below I have a feeling it is wrong, though I can't explain why:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I highly recommend Dave to represent you in Korea with your software.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have thus rephrased it to the following:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I highly recommend Dave represent you in Korea with your software.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&#xA;Alex.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3205" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-01T00:31:09.910" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T00:31:09.910" Title="&quot;Recommend someone to represent...&quot; vs. &quot;recommend someone represent...&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7756" CreationDate="2011-01-01T00:28:54.703" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are correct, but mean slightly different things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I highly recommend Dave —&gt; to represent you in Korea with your software.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would use this in a context where it is established that you need someone to represent you, and it is just a matter of figuring out who.  So, this sentence is saying that it is Dave who I recommend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I highly recommend (that) —&gt; Dave represent you in Korea with your software.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one could be used in the context I described above, but also when there are many possible courses of action — it may not be established that you should have someone represent you.  So, this sentence is saying &quot;Dave representing you&quot; is what I recommend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T00:28:54.703" />
  <row Id="7758" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7759" CreationDate="2011-01-01T00:34:04.867" Score="2" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the phrase 'concessionary tone' in today's New York Times:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/31/nyregion/31snow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bloomberg Is Criticized on Storm Response as He Tours City Beyond Manhattan&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The mayor on Thursday delivered the message that every street had been plowed, but his &lt;strong&gt;concessionary tone&lt;/strong&gt; was met with frustration in the boroughs beyond Manhattan. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does 'concessionary' mean in this particular context? None of the translations in my English-Japanese dictionaries seem to fit the case. Can somebody give an appropriate interpretation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T14:02:51.200" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:02:51.200" Title="What does Bloomberg's 'concessionary tone' mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7758" CreationDate="2011-01-01T01:35:51.313" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at the definition of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/concessionary?show=0&amp;amp;t=1293845415&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;concessionary&lt;/a&gt;, and in the context of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/31/nyregion/31snow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NYTime article&lt;/a&gt;, I would pick:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the act or an instance of &lt;strong&gt;conceding&lt;/strong&gt; (as by granting something as a right, accepting something as true, &lt;strong&gt;or acknowledging defeat&lt;/strong&gt;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the admitting of a point claimed in argument &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Here the point being that they have failed to response adequately to the crisis)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is in line with this other extract:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At each stop, Mr. Bloomberg admitted that his administration had failed to respond adequately to the storm that struck on Sunday, and everywhere he went, officials heaped more criticism upon him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though he is willing to acknowledge the mistakes made (hence then 'concessionary tone'), the response of the public isn't less but even more criticism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T01:35:51.313" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7744" CreationDate="2011-01-01T04:34:22.633" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would not risk using &quot;It is no calculus&quot;.  You might be meaning &quot;It is not as hard as (differential or integral) calculus&quot;, in which case, say so.  Or you might be referring to a logical system and stating &quot;That isn't a calculus; it is merely an algebra&quot;, in which case, say that instead.  Your original is ambiguous, therefore (at least, without the larger context to guide us), and probably too informal for a college essay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T04:34:22.633" />
  <row Id="7762" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7770" CreationDate="2011-01-01T08:08:50.543" Score="2" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not certain about the usage of an apostrophe in the following situations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Teachers need to keep their classes organised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should there be an apostrophe immediately following the word Teachers - i.e. Teachers' ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We are also teachers, like you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in the context that the group of which I am a member of is a group of teachers, and you are also a teacher. Again, should there be an apostrophe following the word teachers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any assistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3150" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T15:28:03.550" Title="Usage of apostrophe" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7763" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-01T08:24:56.247" Score="0" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's describe a little about the situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My mom is applying for a visiting scholar opportunity recently, and she has been waiting for a month for a reply, and she wants to write something to the professor who is in charge of this about asking in which stage of the applying procedure, but she doesn't want the professor get the feeling of urging. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW what's does &lt;code&gt;I have initiated your invitation&lt;/code&gt; mean? I found this in the professor's last email.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2332" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T10:48:44.383" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T10:48:44.383" ClosedDate="2011-02-02T15:28:05.330" Title="how to write this letter to suite for situation?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7764" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7765" CreationDate="2011-01-01T09:50:27.210" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;And the best is yet to come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in the above sentence, 'be to' means 'will', 'yet' means 'already'.&#xA;so, the sentence means the best is already come or it will come?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T10:26:33.380" Title="About the word 'yet'." Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7764" CreationDate="2011-01-01T10:17:39.753" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Yet&quot; means &quot;up to and including now&quot;, even when it's used with &quot;to be to [verb]&quot;. So the best has been coming for a while, and it continues to come, but has not arrived yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The best is yet to come. (= The best has &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; come, but it will.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another construction with the same meaning is &quot;to have yet to [verb]&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have yet to read the book you lent me. (= I have not read it yet.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastEditorUserId="1506" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-01T10:26:33.380" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T10:26:33.380" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7762" CreationDate="2011-01-01T10:45:48.567" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The apostrophe is used as a short way to mark the owner or possessor of something. Brian's answer. Alternatively, the answer given by Brian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your first example the word their is doing this duty and thus an apostrophe is probably not necessary. (It could be necessary if &quot;the need to keep their classes organised&quot; was being discussed and it was said to be the task of the teacher, rather than, say, the riot police.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your second example there is no possession or ownership, so no apostrophe is necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See here for a more extended discussion... &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T10:45:48.567" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7596" CreationDate="2011-01-01T12:16:31.327" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that &quot;at the end&quot; it`s correct!!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1738" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T12:16:31.327" />
  <row Id="7768" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7769" CreationDate="2011-01-01T14:22:51.390" Score="4" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really struggle with these two. I never seem to be able to remember when to use the right one. All my english teachers so far told me the difference but still I'm not able to remember the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have a trick how to remember when to use the right one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3208" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T17:20:12.623" Title="Easy trick to remember difference between beside &lt;-&gt; besides" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;confusables&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7768" CreationDate="2011-01-01T14:32:59.353" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Beside&quot; means next to, as in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He placed the umbrella beside the umbrella stand instead of in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Besides&quot; means &quot;moreover&quot; or &quot;furthermore&quot; and it is used in the same way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;We don't want to go to the fair. Besides, we don't have enough money.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also mean &quot;in addition to&quot; as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Besides the entree, the entire table ordered dessert.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trick I use is &quot;bedside&quot;: if something is near the bed it is &lt;em&gt;be[d]side&lt;/em&gt; it. Remove the &quot;d&quot; and you have beside. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-01T17:14:38.137" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T17:14:38.137" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7762" CreationDate="2011-01-01T14:51:17.950" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nope &amp;amp; &lt;em&gt;definitely&lt;/em&gt; nope, since the word in question (&lt;em&gt;teachers&lt;/em&gt;) is just the plural in both cases, with nothing to do with ownership (the most common use for apostrophes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brian's right that #1 could possibly use the apostrophe if the sentence were to go on, but since it stops right there, it's fine as is, and adding an apostrophe could actually make it an incomplete sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trick is to ask yourself mentally if you can add another noun (eg, &quot;thing&quot;) after the word in question. If you can't say &quot;Teachers' &lt;em&gt;thing&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, then no apostrophe is needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another use of the apostrophe is for contractions, such as &quot;it is&quot; → &quot;it's&quot; or &quot;Brian is&quot; → &quot;Brian's&quot; (although the latter is nonstandard and quite informal). Since you cannot possibly say &quot;Teachers is&quot;, &quot;teachers'&quot; would clearly not be applicable here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Punctuations can be sneaky. You don't hear them (except maybe some pauses for comma and period) but you can't live without them in writing :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3209" LastEditorUserId="3209" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-01T15:28:03.550" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T15:28:03.550" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7771" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7778" CreationDate="2011-01-01T15:43:28.540" Score="1" ViewCount="434" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct, &quot;best wishes &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; you&quot; or &quot;best wishes &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; you&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2209" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-01T21:19:26.160" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T21:19:26.160" Title="Best wishes to/for you?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="7772" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7775" CreationDate="2011-01-01T16:24:52.093" Score="1" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know why a judge or magistrate is referred to in less reverent circles as &quot;the beak&quot;, especially in the phrase &quot;up in front of the beak&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T17:17:43.470" Title="Why is a judge or magistrate called &quot;the beak&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7768" CreationDate="2011-01-01T16:33:47.273" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being a native English speaker, I never had the need to learn a trick to remember the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I will make one up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're using the sense of &quot;next to&quot;, think of it as a singular place. &quot;Beside.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you mean &quot;furthermore&quot; or &quot;in addition to&quot; think of it as plural. It must have an S! &quot;Besides&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T16:33:47.273" />
  <row Id="7774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7712" CreationDate="2011-01-01T16:50:27.343" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The latest edition of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chicago Manual of Style&lt;/a&gt; recommends &lt;em&gt;am&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;pm&lt;/em&gt;, with or without periods. They used to be set in small caps, but that's falling out of favour. You shouldn't use these abbreviations with the words morning, afternoon, evening, night, or o’clock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no need to spell out times in an essay, although you might in creative writing or prose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important thing is to pick a convention, and be consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T16:50:27.343" />
  <row Id="7775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7772" CreationDate="2011-01-01T17:17:43.470" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know but the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Beak&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1911 Encyclopedia Britannica&lt;/a&gt; says&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The slang use of &quot;beak&quot; for a magistrate or justice of the peace has not been satisfactorily explained. The earlier meaning, which lasted down to the beginning of the 19th century, was &quot;watchman&quot; or &quot;constable.&quot; According to Slang and its Analogues (J. S. Farmer and W. E. Henley, 1890), the first example of its later use is in the name of &quot;the Blind Beak,&quot; which was given to Henry Fielding's half-brother, Sir John Fielding (about 1750). Thomas Harman, in his book on vagrants, Caveat or Warening for commen cursitors, Vulgarely called Vagabones, 1573, explains harmans beck as &quot;counstable,&quot; harman being the word for the stocks. Attempts have been made to connect &quot;beak&quot; in this connexion with the Old English beag, a gold torque or collar, worn as a symbol of authority, but this could only be plausible on the assumption that &quot;magistrate&quot; was the earlier significance of the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.businessballs.com/clichesorigins.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Businessballs&lt;/a&gt; has a longer entry on the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T17:17:43.470" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7768" CreationDate="2011-01-01T17:20:12.623" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Beside&quot;, sans &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;, has always given me a simple and plain feeling, with its basic directional meaning, just like the other straight-forward preposition pals of its: &lt;em&gt;inside, outside, alongside&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Besides&quot;, on the other hand, has a more elaborate set of meanings. It's fancier, more chichi than its sibling, meriting an extra &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least that's how I've always semi-consciously justified to myself. The logic of it totally makes sense inside my own noggin ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3209" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T17:20:12.623" />
  <row Id="7777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7771" CreationDate="2011-01-01T17:34:30.240" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Best wishes to you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;- is the more usual construction of the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can &lt;em&gt;wish for&lt;/em&gt; something (using wish as a verb) or you can send a &lt;em&gt;wish to&lt;/em&gt; someone (using wish as a noun). Combining these constructions is an error.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T17:34:30.240" />
  <row Id="7778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7771" CreationDate="2011-01-01T17:39:52.953" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They mean slightly different things to me. 'Best wishes to you' means I am sending you my best wishes, while 'Best wishes for you' means I have best wishes in my heart for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T17:39:52.953" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7712" CreationDate="2011-01-01T17:53:48.457" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;“A quarter of/to/till midnight”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Eleven forty-five in the evening”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T17:53:48.457" />
  <row Id="7780" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7781" CreationDate="2011-01-01T18:23:46.763" Score="0" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;the question is as in title..&#xA;in my opinion  it is some thing like we aim towards the ambition..&#xA;so ambition is a far thing and aim is a way towards getting it..&#xA;is that correct?&#xA;thx&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3210" LastEditorUserId="3210" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-01T18:29:35.167" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T18:33:41.590" Title="what is the difference between aim and ambition?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7780" CreationDate="2011-01-01T18:33:41.590" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;define: ambition on google returns two general definitions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a cherished desire; &quot;his ambition is to own his own business&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a strong drive for success&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i.e., it can either mean that which you strive to achieve/acquire, or, if you &quot;have&quot; ambition, you have a driving need for success, you are very motivated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aim, on the other hand, only has one meaning, the same as #1 above. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Intention, purpose, goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're aim or ambition could be to start your own company, but you could only &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; great ambition to start that company (i.e., you are very motivated to do so).&#xA;Hope this helps. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3141" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T18:33:41.590" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7782" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7783" CreationDate="2011-01-01T18:51:22.147" Score="0" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;HAPPY NEW YEAR To everyone.&#xA;Now let's get to the point :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well I must insert in my curriculum my high school studies. Well, nothing bad with this,unless for a small thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I attended High School in Italy, My school was not a technical school but what we call a &quot;Liceo&quot;, an institution made for those one who wants to continue studying after graduation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, in Italy every school has many learning courses, let's call them in this way.&#xA;For example, in Italy, in my school, I could choose among this possibilities:&#xA;- A normal course&#xA;- A 2 years intensive math and physics + 3 years philosophy and physics course&#xA;- A special course with no Latin language to be studied&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, I am calling them courses but in Italian they are called &quot;Indirizzi di studio&quot;, verbatim they are: &quot;Study addresses&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would refer them as?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2768" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T19:12:14.977" Title="High School learning address" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7782" CreationDate="2011-01-01T19:12:14.977" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=435391&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a discussion on Wordreference.com&lt;/a&gt;, you could say &lt;strong&gt;program of study&lt;/strong&gt; (or &quot;programme of study&quot; if you're writing for a British audience).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T19:12:14.977" />
  <row Id="7784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7771" CreationDate="2011-01-01T19:20:57.750" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Best wishes to you&lt;/strong&gt; is correct. I've never heard a native English speaker say &quot;best wishes for you&quot;, and there are &lt;a href=&quot;http://bnc.bl.uk/saraWeb.php?qy=best%20wishes%20for%20you&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;no examples of &quot;best wishes for you&quot; in the British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Best wishes for 2011&quot; or &quot;best wishes for the new year&quot; are fine. For more examples, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22best+wishes+for%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google&lt;/a&gt; or the &lt;a href=&quot;http://bnc.bl.uk/saraWeb.php?qy=best%20wishes%20for&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastEditorUserId="1146" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-01T19:34:23.937" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T19:34:23.937" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7785" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7789" CreationDate="2011-01-01T20:27:14.923" Score="6" ViewCount="308" Body="&lt;p&gt;Germany in German is Deutschland and the language is Deutsch.  I'm used to words being anglicized, but why is there a complete replacement in this case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1048" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-02T00:57:13.073" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T01:46:07.700" Title="Why does Germany's English name differ from its German name?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7785" CreationDate="2011-01-01T21:02:26.190" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Taken from &lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_is_Germany_called_Deutschland_in_Germany_but_not_anywhere_else&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_is_Germany_called_Deutschland_in_Germany_but_not_anywhere_else&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Deutsch&lt;/em&gt; in the Germanic language is derived from the term for &lt;em&gt;people&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;tribe&lt;/em&gt;, so &lt;em&gt;Deutschland&lt;/em&gt; originally meant in German &lt;em&gt;land of our people&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;land of our tribe&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Germany&lt;/em&gt; comes from &lt;em&gt;Germani&lt;/em&gt; in Latin. It is probably derived from the Celtic word for &lt;em&gt;neighbour&lt;/em&gt;. This is the term the Romans called their neighbors to the North who spoke the Germanic language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T01:46:07.700" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T01:46:07.700" />
  <row Id="7787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7785" CreationDate="2011-01-01T21:08:49.990" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The names for Germany in different languages are quite varied.  English: Germany.  Dutch: Duitsland.  Polish: Niemcy.  Spanish: Alemania.  Wikipedia has a nice explanation of where these different names come from:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Germany&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Germany&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T21:08:49.990" />
  <row Id="7788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7785" CreationDate="2011-01-01T21:12:53.700" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Germany&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;huge article&lt;/a&gt; on the subject. The two passages most related to your question are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The name &lt;em&gt;Deutschland&lt;/em&gt; and the other similar-sounding names above are derived from the Old High German &lt;em&gt;diutisc&lt;/em&gt;, or similar variants from Proto-Germanic *Þeudiskaz, which originally meant &quot;of the people&quot;. This in turn comes from a Germanic word meaning &quot;folk&quot; (leading to Old High German &lt;em&gt;diot&lt;/em&gt;, Middle High German &lt;em&gt;diet&lt;/em&gt;), and was used to differentiate between the speakers of Germanic languages and those who spoke Celtic or Romance languages. These words come from *teuta, the Proto-Indo-European word for &quot;people&quot; (Lithuanian &lt;em&gt;tauto&lt;/em&gt;, Old Irish &lt;em&gt;tuath&lt;/em&gt;, Old English &lt;em&gt;þeod&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The name &lt;em&gt;Germany&lt;/em&gt; and the other similar-sounding names above are derived from the Latin &lt;em&gt;Germania&lt;/em&gt;, of the 3rd century BC, a word of uncertain origin. The name appears to be a Gaulish term, and there is no evidence that it was ever used by the Germanic tribes themselves. Julius Caesar was the first to use &lt;em&gt;Germanus&lt;/em&gt; in writing when describing tribes in north-eastern Gaul in his &lt;em&gt;Commentarii de Bello Gallico&lt;/em&gt;; he records that four northern Belgic tribes, namely, the Condrusi, Eburones, Caeraesi and Paemani, were collectively known as Germani. In 98, Tacitus wrote &lt;em&gt;Germania&lt;/em&gt; (the Latin title was actually: &lt;em&gt;De Origine et situ Germanorum&lt;/em&gt;), an ethnographic work on the diverse set of Germanic tribes outside the Roman Empire. Unlike Caesar, Tacitus claims that the name &lt;em&gt;Germani&lt;/em&gt; was first applied to the Tungri tribe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should be noted that English does have the word &lt;em&gt;Dutch&lt;/em&gt;, coming from the same source as &lt;em&gt;Deutsch&lt;/em&gt;. It's just that nowadays it refers to, well, Dutch, rather than German. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=dutch&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt; for further details:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dutch&lt;/em&gt; late 14c., used first of Germans generally, after c.1600 of Hollanders, from M.Du. &lt;em&gt;duutsch&lt;/em&gt;, from O.H.G. &lt;em&gt;duit-isc&lt;/em&gt;, corresponding to O.E. &lt;em&gt;þeodisc&lt;/em&gt; &quot;belonging to the people,&quot; used especially of the common language of Germanic people, from &lt;em&gt;þeod&lt;/em&gt; &quot;people, race, nation,&quot; from P.Gmc. *theudo &quot;popular, national&quot; (see &lt;em&gt;Teutonic&lt;/em&gt;), from PIE base *teuta- &quot;people&quot; (cf. O.Ir. &lt;em&gt;tuoth&lt;/em&gt; &quot;people,&quot; O.Lith. &lt;em&gt;tauta&lt;/em&gt; &quot;people,&quot; O.Prus. &lt;em&gt;tauto&lt;/em&gt; &quot;country,&quot; Oscan &lt;em&gt;touto&lt;/em&gt; &quot;community&quot;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As a language name, first recorded as L. &lt;em&gt;theodice&lt;/em&gt;, 786 C.E. in correspondence between Charlemagne's court and the Pope, in reference to a synodical conference in Mercia; thus it refers to Old English. First reference to the German language (as opposed to a Germanic one) is two years later. The sense was extended from the language to the people who spoke it (in German, Diutisklant, ancestor of Deutschland, was in use by 13c.). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sense narrowed to &quot;of the Netherlands&quot; in 17c., after they became a united, independent state and the focus of English attention and rivalry. In Holland, &lt;em&gt;duitsch&lt;/em&gt; is used of the people of Germany. The M.E. sense survives in Pennsylvania Dutch, who immigrated from the Rhineland and Switzerland.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T21:12:53.700" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7785" CreationDate="2011-01-01T21:13:08.530" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Germany did not officially unite as a singular country until &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unification_of_Germany&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1871&lt;/a&gt;.  Before that, there were a number of different regions like Bavaria, Prussia, the Hanseatic League, Saxony, and so on.  There was also a long period of time when this region was part of the Holy Roman Empire.  Before this, the peoples that eventually became Germany were grouped into various tribes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of the lack of a single unifying name or country, the Germans ended up being named various things in different regions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_for_Germany&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;list of the names for Germans/Germany, grouped together by their origin&lt;/a&gt;.  In summary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;From the Old High German &lt;em&gt;diutisc&lt;/em&gt; meaning &quot;of the people&quot;. (e.g. Deutschland)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;From Latin &lt;em&gt;Germania&lt;/em&gt;, probably meaning &quot;neighbor&quot;.  (e.g. Germany)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;From the name of the Alemanni tribe.   (e.g. Allemagne)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;From the name of the Saxon tribe.   (e.g. Saksa)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;From the Protoslavic word němьcь, meaning &quot;foreigner&quot;.   (e.g. Německo)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;From the Germanic word &lt;em&gt;Volk&lt;/em&gt;, meaning &quot;folk&quot; or &quot;people&quot;.  (e.g. Vokietija)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T21:13:08.530" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="7790" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7795" CreationDate="2011-01-01T21:27:09.840" Score="3" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dr. John and Dr. Jane Doe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drs. John and Jane Doe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3213" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T00:30:19.240" Title="How should I address a letter to a married couple who are both doctors?" Tags="&lt;salutation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7791" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7792" CreationDate="2011-01-01T22:14:16.090" Score="1" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does sentence &quot;Fight through the pain&quot; mean? I heard this sentence in XBox360 game Gears of War. Can the sentence be also used with other verbs - can it be simply expressed as pattern &quot;Do something through the pain&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3214" LastEditorUserId="3214" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-01T23:48:01.430" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T23:48:01.430" Title="What does &quot;Fight through the pain&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7791" CreationDate="2011-01-01T23:31:55.367" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Phrases starting with &quot;Fight through the/it&quot;, are telling the subject to stay strong and bear whatever trouble or pain they are enduring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Fight through the pain&lt;/em&gt; - means to struggle onward with whatever is being suffered, &lt;em&gt;despite the pain&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use other words than pain for other difficulties.  Occasionally it can be seen with the word &lt;em&gt;bureaucracy&lt;/em&gt;, to mean getting past all the obstacles that an infrastructure, forms and procedure put in the way of a goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-01-01T23:31:55.367" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7793" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7794" CreationDate="2011-01-02T00:10:31.710" Score="2" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across the following sentence in today's NPR's news:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In 2011, boomers start turning 65, the age when Americans traditionally stop working and kick back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dictionary at hand gives definition of kick back as 1. &quot;(literally) kick back, retort. 2. pay rebate. 3.relapse into illness. 4. get relaxed, put oneself at home.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interpretations of 1 to 3 are understandable to me. But I don't understand why did 'kick back' come to mean 4.'get relaxed, put oneself at home.' Can somebody give me an etymological reason why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-02T21:00:12.067" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T21:00:12.067" Title="Why 'kick back' can mean 'get relaxed'?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7793" CreationDate="2011-01-02T00:28:24.030" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Kick back&quot; can literally be used to describe the action of putting your legs up when you are sitting in a chair.  So, if I &quot;kick back&quot; at my desk at work, I put my feet onto my desk, like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/w8O36.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Kicking Back&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This literal idea has been extended to talk about relaxing, sometimes even when no actual &quot;kicking back&quot; takes place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T00:28:24.030" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7790" CreationDate="2011-01-02T00:30:19.240" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many variations are possible, and some more common in social than business contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, a wedding invitation could be addressed to &quot;The Doctors Doe&quot; or &quot;Drs. John and Jane Doe&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3204" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T00:30:19.240" />
  <row Id="7796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7785" CreationDate="2011-01-02T00:35:04.850" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd back up.  Why would you think that the name would be the same?   These are different languages.  The names of numbers, of trees, of colors, etc., differ by language.  So it is not surprising that the names of countries differ.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3204" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T00:35:04.850" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2353" CreationDate="2011-01-02T01:03:49.427" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are lucky there may be a title you can choose. &lt;em&gt;&quot;Dear Professor Doe&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is safe for either gender. Likewise of &lt;em&gt;&quot;Doctor&quot;&lt;/em&gt; (either the academic or the medical/veterinary/dental variety), and for military, police or clerical ranks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Failing that I go with &lt;em&gt;&quot;Dear Full Name&quot;&lt;/em&gt; as others have suggested, as it contains nothing that might offend and still conveys a basic degree of formality and respect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2851" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T01:03:49.427" />
  <row Id="7798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2516" CreationDate="2011-01-02T01:23:40.057" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My most common response are &lt;em&gt;&quot;Certainly&quot;&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;&quot;My pleasure&quot;&lt;/em&gt; but I sometimes use the less formal &lt;em&gt;&quot;De nada&quot;&lt;/em&gt; (I grew up in an area with strong Hispanic roots...), &lt;em&gt;&quot;Sure&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;&quot;No problem&quot;&lt;/em&gt; and of course &lt;em&gt;&quot;You're welcome&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those you suggest are not in my production vocabulary, but I would find them perfectly acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2851" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T01:23:40.057" />
  <row Id="7799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7763" CreationDate="2011-01-02T02:41:40.727" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;I have initiated your invitation&lt;/code&gt;: is the professor supposed to send your mother an invitation to this programme? It probably means that he began the procedure leading to inviting your mother: perhaps he sent a recommendation to the visiting scholars committee or whatever it's called. If something went wrong in his organisation, it won't hurt if he checks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I see it, there are two ways you could go about asking your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.) You simply phrase your reminder in a neutral tone and keep it short (keep in mind that I am no expert in formal letter writing):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear Professor [last name],&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My name is [first + last name], [function]. On [date] I applied for [programme].&#xA;  Could you please tell me how my&#xA;  invitation is proceeding?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I look forward to hearing from you,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sincerely,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[your name].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.) In addition, you could try to make him feel guilty by writing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am sorry to bother you again, but I&#xA;  was afraid my previous message had got&#xA;  lost in your spam filter&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(the modern equivalent of getting lost in the mail), or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... your invitation had got lost in&#xA;  the mail&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;, depending on how things were supposed to proceed - I don't know the procedure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do explain your business and who you are again, and the date of your previous correspondence, or he might not remember. It also never hurts to repeat how much you are looking forward to participating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T02:41:40.727" />
  <row Id="7800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7752" CreationDate="2011-01-02T03:58:05.827" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is correct. The prepositions &quot;on&quot; and &quot;upon&quot; are often used interchangeably, though &quot;upon&quot; usually marks more old-fashioned use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;to wait upon someone&quot; means &quot;to attend to / serve someone&quot; (think of a modern waiter in a restaurant). There too it is old fashioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The full form &quot;let us&quot; instead of &quot;let's&quot; is also old fashioned. Since an usher is typically one who would attend to clients, patrons, or guests, that is probably what it means here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T03:58:05.827" />
  <row Id="7801" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7802" CreationDate="2011-01-02T04:45:11.867" Score="0" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dear &quot;Name here&quot;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mr./Mrs. &quot;Name here&quot;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hi &quot;Name here&quot;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hello &quot;Name here&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is better to start email or written letter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="869" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T05:16:55.523" Title="Dear &quot;Name here&quot; Vs. Mr./Mrs. &quot;Name here&quot; Vs. Hi &quot;Name here&quot; Vs. Hello &quot;Name here&quot;" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="7802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7801" CreationDate="2011-01-02T05:16:55.523" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't specify, so I'm assuming you don't know these people and are writing a form letter, or spam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't know if it's Mr. or Mrs. (or Ms.), so that's out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're not familiar with them to the point of friendship, so &quot;hi&quot; is not a good choice either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Hello&quot; sounds a little vague and robotic, the way someone who didn't speak the language very well might sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Dear ...&quot; sounds like the right tone use with someone you don't know. And use the full name: &quot;Dear Douglas Robinson,&quot; etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If my supposition is incorrect, and you do know the people you're emailing pretty well, a simple &quot;Hi&quot; will suffice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T05:16:55.523" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="654" CreationDate="2011-01-02T05:59:56.187" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The more common usage in my part of Texas would be &quot;I'm sorry, I don't know,&quot; because it is a &quot;simple&quot; problem; whereas &quot;It's a pity,&quot; &quot;Sadly,&quot; or even &quot;Alas,&quot; would be for situations where the problem more profound (such as you have to pick up the president, pope, or mother-in-law).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3216" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T05:59:56.187" />
  <row Id="7804" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7806" CreationDate="2011-01-02T07:01:43.060" Score="1" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got a book titled &lt;em&gt;Self-study vocabulary practice&lt;/em&gt;. Can I replace &lt;em&gt;self-study&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;self-education&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it make sense to use &lt;em&gt;self-learning&lt;/em&gt; in the statement of above? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Appreciated for your comments and replies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2661" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-02T19:39:37.610" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T19:39:37.610" Title="self-study vs self-education?" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7804" CreationDate="2011-01-02T07:13:48.293" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never heard 'self-education' or 'self-learning' used in this context. Also, 'education' usually refers to something broader or more long-term. In this example I would only use 'self-study' and not the other two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T07:13:48.293" />
  <row Id="7806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7804" CreationDate="2011-01-02T09:40:26.250" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some examples that you might find useful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am educating myself&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am an autodidact&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Self-study often leads to rapid but shallow knowledge acquisition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;While trying to &lt;em&gt;educate myself&lt;/em&gt; about the benefits of &lt;em&gt;self-study&lt;/em&gt;, I found that &quot;self-education&quot; and &quot;self-learning&quot; are short-circuited and incorrect terms.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary: Self-study is the acceptable term; the other choices that you mention are probably not what you want to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3147" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T09:40:26.250" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7807" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7824" CreationDate="2011-01-02T10:24:25.080" Score="0" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello everyone.&#xA;Sorry for the title, it is not very evident and intuitive but I really do not how to tell it better...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, you know, several times, or better, many times, we use this form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I want to say: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;development of special weapons was&#xA;  the first point in Hitler's&#xA;  program...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will say this (a better form): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;special weapon development was...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OK...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is it &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;special weapon development&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;special weapons development&quot; (note&#xA;  the plural...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;what's the grammar rule in order to understand how to use this very used form?&#xA;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2768" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T21:40:27.693" Title="Genitive as adjectives: handling plurals" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="7808" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7811" CreationDate="2011-01-02T10:35:42.243" Score="5" ViewCount="354" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a non-native speaker I always wondered why most (common) swear words have four letters. I know this is shifting and more words are araising and traditional swear words lose their &quot;harshness&quot;, but where does this &quot;4-letter&quot; thing come from? Is it historical or did it just evolve?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3208" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-02T13:12:19.150" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T21:58:48.263" Title="Why do common swear words have four letters?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7809" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7810" CreationDate="2011-01-02T10:54:20.287" Score="2" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does 'evolution' means 'upgrade' ? 'downgrade' or just 'gradient'? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T23:15:41.517" Title="'evolution'='upgrade'?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="7810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7809" CreationDate="2011-01-02T11:13:58.063" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't associate &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/evolution&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;evolution&lt;/a&gt; with upgrade or downgrade specifically, since it means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a process of continuous change from a lower, simpler, or worse to a higher, more complex, or better state&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other word, it changes its state (up or down). Evolution is not linked to a particular trend. As such, evolution is more closely related to &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gradient&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gradient&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, even though the former is about the &lt;em&gt;process&lt;/em&gt;, the latter about the &lt;em&gt;value&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: you can find a loose association between those terms (evolution vs. downgrade or upgrade) in the software field, where a soft evolution usually means upgrading to the next version.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/2923/john-y&quot;&gt;John Y&lt;/a&gt; says in the comments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your quote (which appears to be definition 2c(1) from Merriam-Webster) does imply that the change is both continuous and &quot;positive&quot; (either beneficial or more advanced)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;True. But &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/positive?show=0&amp;amp;t=1293986249&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;positive&lt;/a&gt;&quot; doesn't mean just &quot;beneficial&quot; or &quot;more advanced&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the evolution of graphic cards noise level is one of a &lt;strong&gt;growth&lt;/strong&gt; (a &lt;em&gt;positive&lt;/em&gt; increase of decibel levels), I wouldn't equate &quot;evolution&quot; to an &quot;upgrade&quot;, but rather a &quot;downgrade&quot; in &quot;noise pollution&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-02T16:39:21.127" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T16:39:21.127" CommentCount="13" />
  <row Id="7811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7808" CreationDate="2011-01-02T11:40:36.563" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not sure if there is a definitive explanation.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-letter_word&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; simply mentions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The &quot;four-letter&quot; claim refers to the fact that a large number of English &quot;swear words&quot; are incidentally four-character monosyllables.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  This euphemism came into use during the first half of the twentieth century.&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-letter_word&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/132344&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This thread&lt;/a&gt; refers to slang as another form of &quot;emotional speech&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is a known fact that when an english speaker wants to make the most emotional statements, he resorts to Anglo-Saxon words of one syllable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, &quot;four letter words&quot; is also an expression of its own:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Occasionally the phrase &quot;four-letter word&quot; is humorously used to describe any word composed of four letters.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  This is the case when used to mean the word work, alleging that the speaker's or writer's audience treats work as unpleasant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T11:40:36.563" />
  <row Id="7812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7807" CreationDate="2011-01-02T16:14:04.093" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid &quot;development&quot; is still singular, not plural there. So &quot;development was&quot; is appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Development&quot; is the subject, you see, not &quot;weapons&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-02T16:31:23.627" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T16:31:23.627" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7809" CreationDate="2011-01-02T16:22:23.893" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually, &lt;i&gt;evolution&lt;/i&gt; implies a gradual or modest upgrade, though it can also refer to any change, especially those that occur through natural processes, or are inevitable through the passage of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of &quot;unnatural&quot; evolution (such as the new release of a human-made product), &lt;i&gt;evolution&lt;/i&gt; is intended as a definite upgrade, though not a huge one.  (If it were huge, it would more likely be called a &lt;i&gt;revolution&lt;/i&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T16:22:23.893" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7807" CreationDate="2011-01-02T16:37:07.757" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here 'weapon development' is a compound noun with 'development' being modified by 'weapon'. In such a case we would use the singular form of the countable noun 'weapon', just like we say 'car keys' and not 'cars keys'. However this is a special example, because here 'weapons' can be seen alternatively as an uncountable noun, so we can also say 'weapons development'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T16:37:07.757" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7815" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-02T17:36:05.597" Score="0" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey Everyone&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need to write a letter to a Company to give me some information such as financial. and I need to make them sure about their information would be restricted.also I have an attach to show them what kinds of information I need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kindly, help me in this case, and inform me how I Must to write this letter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3218" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T17:36:05.597" ClosedDate="2011-01-02T19:39:04.477" Title="Writing a Letter" Tags="&lt;letter-writing&gt;&lt;silent-letters&gt;" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7816" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7822" CreationDate="2011-01-02T17:36:26.610" Score="1" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;The subject of politics arose in the pub this afternoon (as it should not, really, but there you are), and the question of whether it was correct to describe a particular party as a &quot;lying gang of scum&quot;, or a &quot;gang of lying scum&quot; came to the fore quickly (as it will, in discussions of politics).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could anyone suggest which is correct, or (if both) which is preferable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T20:25:13.250" Title="Which is correct: &quot;lying gang of scum&quot;, or &quot;gang of lying scum&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7817" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-02T17:47:58.973" Score="3" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a term for a group of people arranged in such a way as to appear from an aerial vantage as a specific shape, picture or word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iknit.org.uk/uploaded_images/Peace-sign-2006-budapest-716185.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;peace sign&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.seattlemet.com/assets/0004/0158/loveshoot2.jpg?1277311231&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;heart&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If there is not already a term, may I suggest &quot;anthrogram&quot;?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T00:01:31.247" Title="Term for people in artistic formation" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="7818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7816" CreationDate="2011-01-02T17:48:11.387" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either is more or less correct in my view, though I would probably opt for the latter (lying scum), since it is more accurately the &quot;scum&quot; to whom the description &quot;lying&quot; is applied. &quot;Gang&quot; is more of an abstract concept - a group of people - you're less likely to attribute laziness to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-02T20:25:13.250" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T20:25:13.250" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7817" CreationDate="2011-01-02T18:04:16.390" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know, but I would suggest a &quot;busby&quot;, after the master of that particular art (&quot;berkeley&quot; probably has unwanted connotations). See here... &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busby_Berkeley&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busby_Berkeley&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T18:04:16.390" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7820" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7848" CreationDate="2011-01-02T18:09:04.853" Score="1" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one is better: &lt;code&gt;two pipes of different radii&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;two pipes of different radius&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Futurama, &lt;code&gt;let me show you some of the different lengths of wire I use&lt;/code&gt; is a plural argument, but is it only because it's more than two?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-03T12:12:10.593" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T12:12:10.593" Title="Different size or different sizes?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="7821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7820" CreationDate="2011-01-02T18:48:00.173" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have an authority to cite, but altering the construction slightly makes it clear to me at least that the plural is called for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have two pipes.  They have different radii.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would not say &quot;they have a different radius&quot; unless you were comparing both of your two (same-radius) pipes to a third.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T18:48:00.173" />
  <row Id="7822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7816" CreationDate="2011-01-02T19:35:57.333" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are both correct, but the two structures have different meanings.  However, in your particular example, with the adjective &lt;em&gt;lying&lt;/em&gt;, there is effectively no difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine if you replace &lt;em&gt;lying&lt;/em&gt; with the word &lt;em&gt;enormous&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Enormous gang of scum&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Gang of enormous scum&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either the gang as a whole is enormous or the individual members are enormous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference with &lt;em&gt;lying&lt;/em&gt; is that a lying gang is automatically interpreted as one where its individual members lie, because lying is something only individuals can do.  So a gang of lying scum is effectively the same thing as a lying gang of scum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T19:35:57.333" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4327" CreationDate="2011-01-02T21:39:10.707" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's the present subjunctive.  In older forms of English, most conjunctions took the subjunctive; thus we would see, &quot;till the Son of God appear&quot;, &quot;before I be put to death&quot;, &quot;If it be the last thing I shall ever do&quot;, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3220" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:58:03.953" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:58:03.953" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7807" CreationDate="2011-01-02T21:40:27.693" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a rule, the singular form is used for the first part of a compound noun. So, when in doubt, use the singular. There are three kinds of exceptions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the singular would be ambiguous, as in &quot;a singles bar&quot;: a single bar means just one bar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the plural used to be a singular possessive, which sounds the same: I think &quot;ladies man&quot; (a man who likes flirting with women etc.) comes from the possessive &quot;lady's man&quot;, which is also used. It might also be partly due to category 1, since a &quot;lady man&quot; is now generally an effeminate man.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Okay I lied. This is not really a category. There just are exceptions. Often (but not always) the plural is used because a certain word is usually heard in plural in a certain sense, such as &quot;trades union&quot; and &quot;weapons development&quot;. I also believe &quot;clothes rack&quot; is fairly acceptable nowadays. It seems the trend is towards using the plural more than in the past, which some traditionalists abhor.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T21:40:27.693" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7820" CreationDate="2011-01-02T21:44:03.930" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe both work. In the second, the word &quot;each&quot; is implied. So, while there is more than one radius, and you can say that there are pipes of different radii, each pipe only has one radius, and in reference to the radii of the particular pipes themselves (as opposed to the radii of the set of pipes you have available), you may say &quot;two pipes of different radius.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can have a bunch of people of different height. You can also have a bunch of people with different heights. Ehhh... The word &quot;with&quot; sounds nicer when I used the plural adjective. But yea, I'm pretty sure both are acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="651" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T21:44:03.930" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7817" CreationDate="2011-01-02T21:51:24.680" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wouldn't it just be called a &quot;formation&quot; (like in [American] football)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T21:51:24.680" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7820" CreationDate="2011-01-02T21:53:21.377" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Two pipes with different diameters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly, there are two diameters because the diameters are different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same applies to the radii, but you more normally talk in terms of diameters of pipes than radii.  (On those occasions when you do use radius in connection with a pipe, it tends to be the radius of the bend in the pipe rather than half the diameter of the pipe.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T21:53:21.377" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7808" CreationDate="2011-01-02T21:58:48.263" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Related to what VonC said about most of them being monosyllables: the number four may just be due to the syllable structure of English. The typical pattern (more so in words derived from the older stratum of the language, Anglo-Saxon, which is the source of most of the common profanities) is CVCC or CCVC (where C=consonant and V=vowel), yielding four letters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If our language had a structure more like Japanese or Hawai'ian (both of which are basically CV with some exceptions), then we'd probably speak of &quot;two-letter words.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T21:58:48.263" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7731" CreationDate="2011-01-02T22:12:18.680" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only thing to add to Robusto's answer is that sometimes there's no choice but to keep the hyphen, to prevent confusion. For example, &lt;em&gt;recover&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;get something back&quot;) vs. &lt;em&gt;re-cover&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;cover again&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T22:12:18.680" />
  <row Id="7830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7809" CreationDate="2011-01-02T22:59:43.160" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say evolution means adaption, since it is unbiassed. The concept I have learned is that whenever the environment changes the organisms need to adapt using the mechanisms of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mutation&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selection&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;selection&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survival_of_the_fittest&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;survival of the fittest&lt;/a&gt;). This could mean an upgrade as well as a downgrade of 'features'. Please consider that 'features' like creativity or intelligence do not prevent us from destroying the planet, thus evolution may lead into a dead-end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although in a non biological context evolution is also used as a synonym for the next generation (technical innovation) which would mean an upgrade but never a downgrade. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastEditorUserId="519" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-02T23:15:41.517" LastActivityDate="2011-01-02T23:15:41.517" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7831" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-02T23:43:39.260" Score="3" ViewCount="300" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do some British speakers of English emphasize the second syllable of words such as con-TRO-versy. One British woman I knew (living in Oxford) did this to many words including (unbelievably) the search engine yuh-HOO.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had never heard anyone (Yank or Brit) put the em-PHA-sis on the second sy-LAB-le quite as much as she did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T16:46:41.600" Title="UK emphasis on the second syllable vs US emphasis on the first" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="7832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7817" CreationDate="2011-01-03T00:01:31.247" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tableau_vivant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tableau vivant&lt;/a&gt;&quot; which is French for &quot;living picture &quot;is defined in Wikipedia as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The term describes a striking group of suitably costumed actors or artist's models, carefully posed and often theatrically lit. Throughout the duration of the display, the people shown do not speak or move. The approach thus marries the art forms of the stage with those of painting/photography, and as such it has been of interest to modern photographers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase is often shortened to &quot;tableau&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Originally meant as a formation to be viewed from the front, perhaps &quot;aerial tableau&quot; would address your need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T00:01:31.247" />
  <row Id="7833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7831" CreationDate="2011-01-03T01:11:52.497" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can’t explain an unknown individual’s reasons for pronouncing words a certain way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;/kənˈtrɒvəsi/&lt;/code&gt; is a common pronunciation in the UK, though &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0176320&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Oxford Dictionaries&quot;&gt;as noted by Oxford&lt;/a&gt; it’s “widely held to be incorrect”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;/jəˈhuː/&lt;/code&gt; may be different from your expectations but again &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/yahoo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Oxford Dictionaries&quot;&gt;listed by Oxford&lt;/a&gt; as an accepted pronunciation, so hardly “unbelievable”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you’re over-generalising from a single experience.  I’ve certainly never heard &lt;code&gt;/ɛmˈfasɪs/&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;/sɪˈlab(ə)l/&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Addendum 1:&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;As a counter-example, I heard a British TV announcer the other day incorrectly pronounce a word that &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; have the stress on the second syllable: &lt;em&gt;incomparable&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;code&gt;/ɪnkəmˈparəb(ə)l/&lt;/code&gt; instead of &lt;code&gt;/ɪnˈkɒmp(ə)rəb(ə)l/&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Addendum 2:&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;A different counter-example – where American English puts the stress on the second syllable while British English does not – is &lt;em&gt;altimeter&lt;/em&gt; (AmE &lt;code&gt;/alˈtimitər/&lt;/code&gt; vs. BrE &lt;code&gt;/ˈaltɪmiːtə/&lt;/code&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastEditorUserId="2988" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-15T16:46:41.600" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T16:46:41.600" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="7834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7831" CreationDate="2011-01-03T01:12:09.613" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the same reason some British people pronounce &quot;toast&quot; almost so that it sounds like &quot;taste&quot; to my American ears. And why they call the &lt;em&gt;hood&lt;/em&gt; of a car the &lt;em&gt;bonnet&lt;/em&gt; to boot (oh, wait, &lt;em&gt;boot&lt;/em&gt; is the trunk). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also for the same reason that people in this southern U.S. put the accent on the first syllable on &lt;em&gt;insurance&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are just examples of variations on English. There are many that you will find among all speakers of English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T01:12:09.613" />
  <row Id="7835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3402" CreationDate="2011-01-03T01:49:45.133" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Is become&quot; is archaic.  The &quot;to be&quot; and &quot;to have&quot; verbs used to follow the model of French verbs in the present perfect (passe compose in French) and the French still follow it.  The etre (to be) and avoir (to have) are still used this way and for verbs such as &quot;to come&quot; and &quot;to become&quot;, etre would be used in the perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3221" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T01:49:45.133" />
  <row Id="7836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1066" CreationDate="2011-01-03T02:33:13.723" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, the above answer is very close.  I mean, to be all honest, the subjunctive isn't dead in Modern English.  You probably say it all of the time and don't know it.  Technically, in all honesty, when one says something like, &quot;If he only &lt;strong&gt;knew&lt;/strong&gt; what I had done, he would kill me&quot;, the verb &quot;knew&quot; in &quot;he knew&quot; is technically 3rd person singular past subjunctive of the verb &quot;to know&quot;, but it looks the same as the past indicative in Modern English.  Another example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;If I &lt;strong&gt;had had&lt;/strong&gt; more time, I would have done it.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above &quot;I had had&quot; is the past perfect subjunctive, but it looks just like the past perfect indicative so the subjunctive is there; its just hard to see these days.  Although, if one &lt;strong&gt;were to say&lt;/strong&gt; (future subjunctive) something like, &quot;If I &lt;strong&gt;were&lt;/strong&gt; king of England, I would cut taxes&quot;, he would be using a subjunctive conjugation with a morphological inflection that differs from the past indicative &quot;I was&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technically, we used to use the morphological present subjunctive in Modern English after conjunctions like &quot;if, whether, unless, until, before, although, though, lest, etc.&quot;, but, nowadays, this is rarely seen or heard and many consider it pretentious to use it, but it's still correct.  Here's an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;If music &lt;strong&gt;be&lt;/strong&gt; the food of love, play on.&quot; (Shakespeare) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can see this in &quot;if truth &lt;strong&gt;be&lt;/strong&gt; told&quot;, &quot;whether it &lt;strong&gt;be&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, &quot;until death &lt;strong&gt;do&lt;/strong&gt; us part&quot;, and so on wherein the verb is in the subjunctive form.  These above statement are still said in English.  Below, I shall show the indicative/subjunctive conjugations in English for the verbs &quot;to be&quot; and &quot;to speak&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Present Ind./Subj.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;He is/He be&#xA;He speaks/He speak&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Past Ind./Subj.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;He was/He were&#xA;He spoke/He spoke&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Future Ind./Subj.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;He will be/He were to be&#xA;He will speak/He were to speak&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Past Perfect Ind./Subj.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;He had been/He had been&#xA;He had spoken/He had spoken&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Present Perfect Ind./Subj.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;He has been/He have been&#xA;He has spoken/He have spoken&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are more conjugations, but these are the most common ones.  I'm not going to go into how to use them in detail per se because that has already been shown to you in the original answer.  Here are the conjugations, though.  I hope this might help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3221" LastEditorUserId="3221" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-03T02:40:26.510" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T02:40:26.510" />
  <row Id="7837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3785" CreationDate="2011-01-03T02:53:46.000" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends.  Technically yes, but &quot;should&quot; and &quot;might&quot; are also the subjunctive form and imperfect forms of &quot;shall&quot; and &quot;may&quot;.  They can be used as conditionals, too, which is basically the subjunctive form in essence.  Here are some examples that one could argue their being the past tense forms of &quot;shall&quot; and &quot;may&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I &lt;strong&gt;should&lt;/strong&gt; have gone to the movies.&quot;&#xA;&quot;I &lt;strong&gt;shall&lt;/strong&gt; go to the movies.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I &lt;strong&gt;might&lt;/strong&gt; have known the answer.&quot;&#xA;&quot;I &lt;strong&gt;may&lt;/strong&gt; know the answer.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other ways to show this. Technically, the past of &quot;will&quot; is &quot;would&quot; and the past of &quot;can&quot; is, get this, &quot;could&quot;.  No way lol!  The only other very common modal is &quot;must&quot; and its past tense is a pathetic &quot;must&quot; so no change.  There are other modals besides these, but they are usually considered &quot;semi-modals&quot; because they can be used as normal verbs, too.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3221" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T02:53:46.000" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2909" CreationDate="2011-01-03T03:04:19.483" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not have much to add here that has not already been stated besides another link in the vein of Ex-user's contribution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ling.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/pubs.html#2010&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt; The Land of the Free and the Elements of Style &lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On that page, number 240 is the article. It seems to be a slightly more comprehensive argument than the one previously linked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on my observation of the dialogue concerning Elements of Style and its criticism:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that Pullum may in fact, as Shreevatsa has suggested, be a bit too critical of Elements, but I think that he has a valid reason for his anger, even if his response may be a bit disproportionate. Elements should not be taught as an authority on grammar in college. Pullum is against people misinterpreting Elements and using it as a grammar guide as opposed to a style guide, and I am sure this can happen all to easily. Elements is a style guide, not a grammar guide, and it is because of the tendency to use it as a grammar guide that Pullum dislikes it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pullum understands that Elements is a style guide and he draws issue with the people who use it as a grammar guide, which I think some of his detractors fail to realize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3222" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T03:04:19.483" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="7839" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7888" CreationDate="2011-01-03T03:40:39.083" Score="6" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use words such as &lt;em&gt;thereof&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;thereupon&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;thereafter&lt;/em&gt; relatively often, but I occasionally find myself wanting to use this construction with different prepositions. Most times it's &lt;em&gt;therefor&lt;/em&gt;, which I find is used mostly in legal contexts, but what about odder ones such as &lt;em&gt;thereunder&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;therebefore&lt;/em&gt;, or (for the sake of argument) &lt;em&gt;thereamongst?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only words of this sort I know to be in commonish use are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;thereabout&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;thereafter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;thereat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;thereby&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;therefrom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;therein&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;thereof&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;thereon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;thereto&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;thereupon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;therewith&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess what I'm really asking is whether this is a productive construction. I mean, I may sound anywhere between stilted and insane if I overuse it, but I'm more concerned with whether it's considered correct. Thoughts appreciated, references doubly so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T22:08:00.927" Title="What are the limitations on the &quot;there + preposition&quot; construction?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7841" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7843" CreationDate="2011-01-03T06:23:46.597" Score="3" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2964/when-did-it-become-correct-to-add-an-s-to-a-singular-possessive-already-ending&quot;&gt;When did it become correct to add an &amp;#39;s&amp;#39; to a singular possessive already ending in &amp;#39;s&amp;#39;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have learned from school as Dawkins'. Eg: That is Mr.Dawkins' house.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But I see many people write as Dawkins's. Is it something related to American English as opposed to British conventions ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2682" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T07:35:49.977" ClosedDate="2011-01-03T13:47:25.907" Title="Is it Dawkins' or Dawkins's ?" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5983" CreationDate="2011-01-03T07:04:33.850" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Webster's New World Dictionary - &quot;taker&quot; is defined in a single line as a noun: a person who takes something; esp. an available buyer, bettor, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;take&quot; takes up half a page.  Entry VII offers a perspective on how &quot;take&quot; when combined with the word &quot;care&quot; can be understood as being &gt; someone who has &quot;taken on&quot; the responsiblity of caring.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A subtle difference to the word, significant to the action.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3224" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T07:04:33.850" />
  <row Id="7843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7841" CreationDate="2011-01-03T07:35:49.977" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both forms are valid, depending on the style guide you follow.  It does not appear to be a regional thing.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe#Singular_nouns_ending_with_an_.E2.80.9Cs.E2.80.9D_or_.E2.80.9Cz.E2.80.9D_sound&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; has an overview.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T07:35:49.977" />
  <row Id="7844" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7845" CreationDate="2011-01-03T08:25:22.647" Score="4" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;My professor used the word &lt;em&gt;authentification&lt;/em&gt; in a lecture. I have always used authentication. Is it a real word or is authentication the correct term?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3225" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T08:45:24.553" Title="Is authentification a real word?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7844" CreationDate="2011-01-03T08:45:24.553" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Authentication&lt;/em&gt; is the correct term. The word &lt;em&gt;authentification&lt;/em&gt; is likely just a misspeech, though interestingly enough it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; a valid French word, from &lt;em&gt;authentifier&lt;/em&gt;, to authenticate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T08:45:24.553" />
  <row Id="7846" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7847" CreationDate="2011-01-03T09:10:32.260" Score="1" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you give me five words which starts with letter D. These five words should reflect professional or quality for success business, like determination, discretion,diligence.&#xA;I can't make up the other two more words, so please kindly give me some ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2796" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T09:21:32.503" Title="Five good word begin with letter D?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7846" CreationDate="2011-01-03T09:21:32.503" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two more words to complete your list of five:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dedication&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Discipline&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if you need one more, you can consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Devotion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T09:21:32.503" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7820" CreationDate="2011-01-03T10:24:39.767" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it depends on how many of the property are associated with the object. Whether you use plural form for the property can also depend on whether you use &quot;of&quot;  or &quot;with&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;two pipes of different weight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;two pipes with different weights.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;three containers of different volume.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A pipe has many dimensions, for example: length, diameter and wall-thickness. So if you use a more general term like size, you may be saying that a plurality of dimensions may differ.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Two pipes of different size.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Two pipes with different sizes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Two pipes of different diameter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Futurama example is a bit different because the phrase &quot;a length of wire&quot; can be used as a noun. For example one can say &quot;let me show you some of the different heaps of sand I use&quot;. So &quot;different lengths of wire&quot; could have the same meaning as &quot;different pieces of wire&quot; - they might differ more in diameter or hue rather than in length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-03T10:32:11.507" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T10:32:11.507" />
  <row Id="7849" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7851" CreationDate="2011-01-03T10:42:47.350" Score="5" ViewCount="449" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm German, and I try to speak British English as best I can, it's the language I've learned at school, and I'm always trying to be consistent. However, much of my English vocabulary and phrasing I picked up from British television programmes, films and books. Which is why I often use phrases like these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's not at all confusing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thank you very much indeed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also use the British English spelling even if both forms are accepted and in use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Right click to open the Preferences dialogue&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And even mix the two if needed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You need to set the &lt;code&gt;--color=always&lt;/code&gt; argument so that colours are escaped properly&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question therefore: Do I sound posh? Does my language come across as professorial or &lt;em&gt;holier-than-thou&lt;/em&gt;? If so, what can I do to sound more appropriate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please underpin your answers with some references. This is not meant to be a discussion of opinion; I'm sure there is some evidence available on the subject.&lt;sup&gt;(Or vote to close it as argumentative if you disagree)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="691" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T20:20:06.543" Title="Do I sound posh?" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;tone&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="7850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5983" CreationDate="2011-01-03T11:19:47.253" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the UK, &lt;strong&gt;caretaker&lt;/strong&gt; would be understood to mean &lt;em&gt;janitor&lt;/em&gt; (which itself is known but seldom used), and &lt;strong&gt;caregiver&lt;/strong&gt; would stand out as an Americanism (we'd use &lt;em&gt;carer&lt;/em&gt; instead).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T11:19:47.253" />
  <row Id="7851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7849" CreationDate="2011-01-03T11:50:24.903" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For technical documentations, you can sound as sophisticated as you want: if the reader gets immediately what he/she is supposed to do, it doesn't matter.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would however follow the advices of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.technicalcommunicationcenter.com/2010/08/21/technical-book-review-the-elements-of-international-english-style-by-edmond-weiss/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;“The Elements of International English Style” by Edmond Weiss&lt;/a&gt;, as they refer to a more &quot;neutral&quot; form of English, which has greater chance to be understood by &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; reader.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;write with sentence simple enough to understand without any ambiguity (i.e., the &lt;strong&gt;Principle of Simplicity&lt;/strong&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;write with sentence clear enough to understand without any ambiguity (i.e., the &lt;strong&gt;Principle of Clarity&lt;/strong&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;reduce the visual burden of reading due to lazy punctuation, page layout, or a combination of other factors (i.e., the Principle of &lt;strong&gt;Reducing the Burden&lt;/strong&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The last chapter addresses the inescapable need for &lt;strong&gt;cultural adaptation&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Even if one is a master of English he or she can still make errors in technical documentation of the cultural context is ignored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T11:50:24.903" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7849" CreationDate="2011-01-03T12:47:30.117" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's really hard to judge your command of the language based on your writing alone.  To properly answer this question, native speakers would need to listen to you having a conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, you are using &quot;posh sounding&quot; words (professorial, underpin) incorrectly in your question, or at least not as a native speaker would.  This makes it read as if you were using a thesaurus to come up with these words.  Rather than seeming posh, your writing reads awkwardly and has a somewhat pretentious feel to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: To explain what I mean by incorrect use of professorial and underpin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Underpin&lt;/strong&gt;: @invariant says it best in the comments: a native speaker would say &quot;support&quot; or &quot;back up&quot; in this situation.  Underpin is really never used as a command.  A native speaker, instead, would refer to the &quot;underpinnings&quot; of something: the &quot;foundation&quot; upon which it is built.  The theoretical underpinnings of calculus are difficult for new students to understand.  A native speaker might also say that something underpins something else.  Xenophobia underpins the recent gains made by the Party for Freedom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Professorial&lt;/strong&gt;: The OP seems to be using &quot;professorial&quot; to mean &quot;aloof&quot;, &quot;distant&quot;, &quot;arrogant&quot;, or something similar here, which are things a native speaker might say.  Professorial, as an adjective, does not necessarily imply any of those things.  As far as I'm aware, it has no clear and generally accepted connotation.  In most of the example usage of &quot;professorial&quot; that you find with Google, the word is used to describe things directly related to or done by professors: professorial entrepreneurship, professorial fashions, professorial lectures, professorial sabbaticals, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastEditorUserId="2469" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-03T16:37:07.177" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T16:37:07.177" CommentCount="15" />
  <row Id="7853" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7854" CreationDate="2011-01-03T13:07:53.200" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;While everyone chafes under any ethical and moral systems, &lt;strong&gt;we’d shine and prevail by&lt;/strong&gt; flagrantly ignoring and disregarding modernity in favor of successes, results and growth.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or should I have written it as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;While everyone chafes under any ethical and moral systems, &lt;strong&gt;we shine and prevail by&lt;/strong&gt; flagrantly ignoring and disregarding modernity in favor of successes, results and growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct and/or  does it change the meaning of the original sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-03T14:10:41.947" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T14:36:38.350" Title="In this &quot;while&quot;-construct sentence, should I have used &quot;would&quot; or present tense?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7853" CreationDate="2011-01-03T13:30:38.753" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two mean slightly different things; the first sentence means we would shine and prevail if only we were to flagrantly ignore and disregard modernity, but since we don't, we aren't shining or prevailing. The second means that we do flagrantly ignore and disregard modernity, and that is the reason we shine and prevail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T13:30:38.753" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7855" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-03T13:54:34.760" Score="6" ViewCount="374" Body="&lt;p&gt;I mostly have exposure to American English online. I am currently writing out a resume and need some help. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Australia, in general, we say &lt;em&gt;programme&lt;/em&gt; to mean a schedule or something like community programme. However with computer studies I'm inclined to take to the spelling of &lt;em&gt;program&lt;/em&gt; to mean a computer program rather than the proverbial programme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the correct spelling?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3233" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-03T14:49:13.893" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T14:49:13.893" Title="Correct spelling for program (UK, Australian English)" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;australian-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7855" CreationDate="2011-01-03T14:00:40.697" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've mostly been exposed to American English myself; however, that said, when I've read articles in British magazines they seem to use &quot;program&quot; when referring to computer programs. Likewise, here's a blog entry that seems to back me up: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailywritingtips.com/get-with-the-programme/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Program vs. Programme&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3234" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T14:07:11.233" />
  <row Id="7857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7853" CreationDate="2011-01-03T14:36:38.350" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, I think the distinction @Brian Hooper cites would be lost for a great many readers. Your first clause sets up the present indicative, but many people would understand the &quot;any&quot; to introduce a sense of the hypothetical and then interpret the second clause to be subjunctive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can an indicative declaration be conditional? Consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An apple a day keeps the doctor away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These declarative sentences mean just what they say, but each also sets up a conditional: [If you eat] an apple a day [you will] keep the doctor away. No apple has yet been eaten (by you), yet you are being encouraged to eat one every day, and assured that if you do you will be healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T14:36:38.350" />
  <row Id="7858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7855" CreationDate="2011-01-03T14:37:31.190" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In American English, 'television program' and 'computer program' are used. In British English, 'television programme' and 'computer program' are used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T14:37:31.190" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7859" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7865" CreationDate="2011-01-03T14:43:40.890" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;How would you name a routine interruption in the work of some system (let's say a subway or a railroad) that is deliberately done by the workers on a regular basis in order to find some possible weak points in that system that might cause its breakdown?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sorry for the long title - don't know how to put it shorter. Please, re-phrase and edit it if you feel you know better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2270" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T06:04:54.433" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T06:04:54.433" Title="How to name a routine interruption in the work of some system that is deliberately done in order to find some possible weak points in the system?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;term&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7855" CreationDate="2011-01-03T14:44:00.857" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In British (real) English &lt;em&gt;programme&lt;/em&gt; is used in general, except in terms of computer programming, and related activities where the American form &lt;em&gt;program&lt;/em&gt; is used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: Can you program the video recorder&#xA;  for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;B: Sure, what programme do you&#xA;  wish to record?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T14:44:00.857" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7859" CreationDate="2011-01-03T14:53:59.113" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_testing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;stress testing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Stress testing&lt;/em&gt; is a form of testing that is used to determine the stability of a given system or entity. It involves testing beyond normal operational capacity, often to a breaking point, in order to observe the results. Stress testing may have a more specific meaning in certain industries, such as &lt;em&gt;fatigue testing&lt;/em&gt; for materials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T14:53:59.113" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="7862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7849" CreationDate="2011-01-03T14:59:00.617" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Be very wary of the confusion between sounding &lt;em&gt;posh&lt;/em&gt; and sounding &lt;em&gt;educated&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two are highly confused in British society at the moment, as there is a culture of disrespect for education amongst a large section of the populous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are modes of speech that indicate an educated tongue, particularly use of lesser used words, for instance, &lt;em&gt;underpin&lt;/em&gt; in the question.  A strong vocabulary  often sits with a good standard of education.  Also, use of archaic words and a rhetorical style tend to indicate a greater enjoyment of word play, as opposed to sounding &quot;posh&quot; at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The concept of speaking in a &quot;posh&quot; fashion is more to do with affectations, pronunciation, cultural inclusions unfamiliar to the rank and file.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A sentence such as &quot;I say, did you see the performance of Carmen this season? Superb I felt.&quot; sounds posh, due to the content and style, not the vocabulary in play.  If delivered in RP, then all the more so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sounding &quot;holier-than-thou&quot; is also a distance apart from sounding posh.  That phrase tends to indicate talking down to someone, condescending content to the speech, with a refined air that indicates distaste and superiority.  That can come over without any element of being &quot;posh&quot;, particularly from strongly religious folk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T14:59:00.617" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7863" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-03T14:59:08.860" Score="1" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading my apartment lease recently, and I came across this sentence in the rent section:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Lessee will pay a penalty of $16.00 for rent that is unpaid before the 6th of the month.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The paragraph previously states that the due date is the 1st of the month. So with that information, it feels like there are two interpretations, based on what &quot;before the 6th of the month&quot; refers to - the rent, or the paying of the penalty:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Between the 2nd and 5th (before the 6th), pay a $16 penalty. After that it increases by $1 per day as stated in the next sentence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pay no penalty at all until the 6th. This is the correct meaning (they've told me.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there really any ambiguity? I think maybe if they meant the first meaning it would have said &quot;that is &lt;em&gt;paid&lt;/em&gt; before the 6th.&quot; Saying &quot;unpaid before the 6th&quot; may be a clear way of stating that you haven't paid &lt;em&gt;until&lt;/em&gt; the 6th, at which point the penalty applies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is the first interpretation reasonable, or would it be an error on the part of the reader to interpret it that way? Either way I think they should probably reword it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2776" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T16:21:20.820" Title="Is this sentence ambiguous?" Tags="&lt;ambiguity&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="7864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7849" CreationDate="2011-01-03T15:53:44.313" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not my place to comment on your use of language, because I am in a similar situation. I will say a few things that are only partly on topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been told by some that the quality of academic English, even by native speakers, is often not that great, and that those well versed in literature will sometimes cringe at its verbosity and formulaic phrasing. So the English of a foreigner need not be worse than that of a native speaker, nor should he blindly follow a native speaker's lead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One reason for this is the fact that there are numerous &quot;schools&quot; in any language: some say the split infinitive is all right, others call it anathema; some consider the past subjunctive dead and buried, others insist upon it; etc. There is probably an &quot;average&quot; group that has certain opinions, and several other, smaller groups that have other opinions. Such a group sometimes condemns what is common practice in another group; this should not be mistaken for what is universally condemned because it sounds foreign, which it is indeed undesirable for anyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my language (Dutch), for example, I believe that some would consider my usage a tiny bit old fashioned and unusual, occasionally. This does not concern me; it is the way I was brought up, it is the way my family speaks and many of my old friends. However, because we are a minority, a foreigner speaking Dutch might be &quot;corrected&quot; by other native speakers if he learnt to speak as I do. Because they do not get my language, they do not get it in a foreigner, and they might say that he was using unusual idioms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should this foreigner be concerned? I believe not, though I can imagine that others might disagree. Even so, it is generally not a bad idea to avoid sounding too conspicuous in any way: if you are aware of the fact that a phrase sounds very unusual, it might be a good idea to change it; striving after a balance is never wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that, at least in conservative circles in Northern Europe, the trend has long been to use plain words as much as possible, to avoid using words more complicated or unusual than necessary. I can vouch for those in modern-day Holland and England, and, since this was also the case in the Latin of the age of Cicero, I believe it to be a somewhat universal tendency that may rise in various circumstances at various times. I have also seen signs of this trend in German.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How this tendency manifests itself depends on many things. In English, it means that a writer should be alert when using many words that come from Latin, many proverbs, metaphors, local idioms, passive constructions, novel words, abstract nouns, noun adjectives, etc. This is not to say that he should not use any of those, which is impossible: just that he should not use them too often or in the wrong places. Several branches of this trend have developed in non-conservative circles too, though they are sometimes less rigorous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it is best for a foreigner to resist the use of &quot;sophisticated&quot; words for no reason, and use them only when he feels sure that they express his intentions better than simpler words. I do what I can, but resistance is not always easy. Even so, abstaining from any and all idioms and abstractions for fear of doing it wrong will, I believe, generally result in language of lower quality than would taking some risks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. I am always trying to improve my English, so please feel free to post any tips on my language in the comments. I know I must be making mistakes, and it is hard to correct them if nobody will point them out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-03T16:03:34.130" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T16:03:34.130" />
  <row Id="7865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7859" CreationDate="2011-01-03T16:07:10.610" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That sounds to me like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheduled_maintenance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;scheduled maintenance&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a scheduled service visit carried out by a competent and suitable agent, to ensure that an item of equipment is operating correctly and to therefore avoid any unscheduled breakdown and downtime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T16:07:10.610" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7866" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-03T16:15:26.283" Score="1" ViewCount="276" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often, I have to decide whichever is better in mails, forums, letters. For instance (crossing my mind)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;colour&lt;/em&gt; vs &lt;em&gt;color&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;behaviour&lt;/em&gt; vs &lt;em&gt;behavior&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;humour&lt;/em&gt; vs &lt;em&gt;humor&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;rumour&lt;/em&gt; vs &lt;em&gt;rumor&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;honour&lt;/em&gt; vs &lt;em&gt;honor&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference comes certainly from the country of origin of the writer - basically Americans say &quot;o&quot; and English people say &quot;ou&quot;. Please confirm that.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;(By the way, all the words left side are underlined in Firefox, since the spell-checker is &quot;American English&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I would like to know - from a non-native English speaker perspective - is if it &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; matters, nowadays with the new technologies and international exchanges, to make a distinction between &quot;ou&quot; and &quot;o&quot;?&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Does it hurt the reader if they are both used in the same text, mixing &lt;em&gt;colour&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;honor&lt;/em&gt;, or even worse, &lt;em&gt;colour&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;color&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the current trend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2428" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T19:35:17.230" Title="American - English, &quot;o&quot; vs &quot;ou&quot; in words and trend" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7863" CreationDate="2011-01-03T16:21:20.820" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you’re getting at is whether the clause means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Before the 6th of the month, Lessee will pay a penalty of $16.00 for rent that is unpaid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For rent that is unpaid before the 6th of the month, Lessee will pay a penalty of $16.00.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I interpret it with the second meaning on the basis of the structure:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lessee will pay &lt;em&gt;[penalty]&lt;/em&gt; for &lt;em&gt;[violation]&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To reach the first interpretation I’d expect it to be worded more like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lessee will pay a penalty of $16.00 for rent that is unpaid by the due date.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(And then continue with something like &lt;em&gt;“From the 6th of the month the penalty will increase by $1.00 for each day the rent remains unpaid”&lt;/em&gt; to bring in the significance of the 6th of the month along with the additional provision that you mentioned.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you’d need a contract lawyer to advise you whether it could be considered ambiguous in practice.  And assuming you’re the lessee, it’s not in your interest to argue for the first interpretation anyway...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T16:21:20.820" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7866" CreationDate="2011-01-03T16:27:21.020" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're correct that &quot;o&quot; is US and &quot;ou&quot; is non-US. It'd be considered bad style to switch between them in the same text. Generally, you should just choose one style and use it consistently, and you will be understood. I've heard a rule that if you're writing for a mostly American audience, you should use the American spelling, and otherwise use the international forms, but that may not even be necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One place that mixing styles &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; allowed is when quoting verbatim from text, or in technical literature where spellings must be retained exactly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I asked him what colour he wanted, and he said &quot;I'm no good at picking colors&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The &lt;code&gt;color: #ffffff;&lt;/code&gt; property indicates a text colour of white.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastEditorUserId="1506" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-03T17:17:55.010" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T17:17:55.010" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7866" CreationDate="2011-01-03T16:33:42.013" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, first, yes, the &lt;em&gt;o&lt;/em&gt; variations are preferred in the US while the &lt;em&gt;ou&lt;/em&gt; variations are preferred in Commonwealth realms (at least, the ones I'm familiar with.  Any counterexamples would be welcome).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the question of whether it matters, it depends greatly on the type of communication, the purpose, the reader, etc.  While mixing and matching shouldn't hurt comprehension, as a matter of style, I would suggest consistency within a text in any formal or business-related writing, especially the &lt;em&gt;color&lt;/em&gt; / &lt;em&gt;colour&lt;/em&gt; type.  In informal emails, forum posts, etc.  I wouldn't spend a ton of time worrying with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as which you should choose, I would keep the following in mind: if you choose the reader's preferred spelling, it will likely not have any particular effect on them as they read it.  However, if you choose the UK spelling for a US audience or vice versa, it will potentially be noticed as an explicit difference by the reader. This can have a couple of side-effects: it can take them out of the flow of the material, breaking up a nicely flowing sentence and distracting slightly from the content;  it can also inform the reader of your background.  While neither of these may matter if you're posting a question on a computer help forum, if it was a patriotic statement for a UK MP, I certainly wouldn't want it to appear to have been written by a yank, for instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T16:33:42.013" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7866" CreationDate="2011-01-03T16:52:56.037" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a German and I use an US-English spell-checker in Firefox. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3073" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T16:52:56.037" />
  <row Id="7871" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7872" CreationDate="2011-01-03T17:03:46.480" Score="2" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose we are talking about the numbers 1,2,...,10. When we say 'between 1 and 10', do we include 1 and 10, and similarly for 'from 1 to 10'? Personally I would like to exclude the endpoints in the first case and include them in the second; unfortunately I do not own the language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T20:47:38.977" Title="'Between A and B' vs 'From A to B'" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="7872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7871" CreationDate="2011-01-03T17:11:52.227" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Saying &quot;between 1 and 10&quot; is somewhat ambiguous; usually people will say &quot;between 1 and 10 inclusive&quot; or &quot;between 1 and 10 exclusive&quot; to clarify when there is no other context. Both phrases are usually considered inclusive unless otherwise specified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastEditorUserId="1506" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-03T17:19:42.967" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T17:19:42.967" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7849" CreationDate="2011-01-03T17:23:29.060" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; say &lt;code&gt;It's clear&lt;/code&gt; rather than &lt;code&gt;It's not at all confusing&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;Thanks a lot&lt;/code&gt; rather than &lt;code&gt;Thank you very much indeed&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fowler says this about variation, but it applies to your syntax as well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many writers of the present day abound&#xA;  in types of variation that are not&#xA;  justified by expediency, and have&#xA;  consequently the air of cheap&#xA;  ornament.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="439" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T17:23:29.060" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1279" CreationDate="2011-01-03T17:24:27.070" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed this as well among youth in Northwest Arkansas. I first started noticing it about 6 months ago. My wife has started misusing &quot;whenever&quot; as well. It should only be used to refer to indefinite or unknown times, not a single, specific time. Correct use: &quot;Whenever I am in St. Louis, I visit Busch Gardens.&quot; Incorrect use: &quot;Whenever I was 5 years old, I went to Busch Gardens.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3237" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T17:24:27.070" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7871" CreationDate="2011-01-03T17:35:18.900" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to exclude, then at least for integers you could say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Between 2 and 9  (so that when interpreted in the &quot;inclusive&quot; sense, this contains the range 2--9, inclusive of the endpoints)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;From 1 to 10&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This way, even though you cannot change the language, you can change the statement to get the desired effect (without using the word &quot;inclusive&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Btw., the above solution is aesthetically displeasing due to the implicit asymmetry)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3147" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T17:35:18.900" />
  <row Id="7876" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7878" CreationDate="2011-01-03T18:32:34.547" Score="8" ViewCount="238" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are words like &quot;yesterday&quot; and &quot;tomorrow&quot; considered nouns, adjectives, or even adverbs?  I'm getting mixed signals from several references.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a case like &quot;I have an important meeting tomorrow,&quot; it seems as if they're nouns.  But what about &quot;Yesterday afternoon?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2852" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T20:34:41.660" Title="Is &quot;Yesterday&quot; a Noun?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="7877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7876" CreationDate="2011-01-03T18:46:53.277" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are actually both considered &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tomorrow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adverbs&lt;/a&gt; in the uses from your example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One bit of evidence for this is that you could replace &lt;em&gt;tomorrow&lt;/em&gt; in your example sentence with other time adverbs, or a word like &lt;em&gt;frequently&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;daily&lt;/em&gt;, but you couldn't replace it with something that is a noun only, like &quot;office&quot;, or even &quot;5 PM&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-03T22:09:56.863" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T22:09:56.863" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7876" CreationDate="2011-01-03T18:52:23.763" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They can work as nouns or adverbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Yesterday was a great day&quot;; here, &lt;em&gt;yesterday&lt;/em&gt; works as a noun.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I will do that tomorrow&quot;; here, &lt;em&gt;tomorrow&lt;/em&gt; works as an adverb.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1304" LastEditorUserId="1304" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T04:56:43.153" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T04:56:43.153" />
  <row Id="7879" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7883" CreationDate="2011-01-03T19:04:38.233" Score="2" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi guys,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is grammatically more correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thanks everybody for the great 2010 moments we spent together!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thanks everybody for the great 2010&#xA;  moments we've spent together!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flavio&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3239" LastEditorUserId="3239" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-03T22:24:13.647" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T22:24:13.647" Title="Spent or have spent?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7879" CreationDate="2011-01-03T19:19:41.027" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You mentioned a specific point in time, hence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;we spent together&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is [more] correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, simple past form is used  to express the idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information, read on paste simple and present perfect forms: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfect.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfect.html&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/simplepast.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/simplepast.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1446" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-03T20:10:26.263" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T20:10:26.263" />
  <row Id="7881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7879" CreationDate="2011-01-03T19:34:47.063" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There really is no functional difference between the two, and either would be correct. It is probably a little friendlier to say &quot;moments we've spent together&quot; since it doesn't absolutely put those moments in the past, but the difference is extremely slight. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T19:34:47.063" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6107" CreationDate="2011-01-03T20:04:58.647" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about &quot;my PIN number&quot;? Does this count?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1304" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T20:04:58.647" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-03T20:04:58.647" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7879" CreationDate="2011-01-03T20:06:01.277" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Grammatically speaking, either is correct.  For shades of meaning, &quot;the great moments we spent together&quot; has, as vehomzzz mentions, a subtle element of specificity in it; the phrase implies that you have a well-defined set of a few particular moments in mind that you are thanking them for.  &quot;The great moments we've spent together&quot;, on the other hand, has a slightly more nebulous, inclusive feel to it, allowing the implication that there are moments you might not be thinking of right now but would definitely agree were great and deserve to be included, or that others' sets of 'great moments' might be different than your own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T20:06:01.277" />
  <row Id="7884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7879" CreationDate="2011-01-03T20:17:08.750" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can say either one of these phrases — &lt;em&gt;for now&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Background&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The present perfect tense (&quot;we've spent&quot;) connects a past action with the present.  This means that the past action was either just completed (#2 below), or is still ongoing (#1).   When there is clearly no connection to the present (with a word like &quot;yesterday&quot;), the sentence is ungrammatical (#3):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1)&lt;/strong&gt; I've had a bad day so far. (middle of the day, not done having the day yet)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2)&lt;/strong&gt; I've had a bad day today. (going to bed or when the clock is striking midnight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3)&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strike&gt;I've had a bad day yesterday&lt;/strike&gt;. (ungrammatical)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simple past (&quot;we spent&quot;) makes no connection to the present.  Therefore, it can be used in cases where the action is recently completed (#5 below) but not when the action is ongoing (#4, although in casual speech, this particular rule is relaxed).  Events clearly completed work perfectly with simple past (#6):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4)&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strike&gt;I had a bad day so far.&lt;/strike&gt; (ungrammatical or overly casual)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5)&lt;/strong&gt; I had a bad day today. (going to bed, clock striking midnight; day is effectively over)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6)&lt;/strong&gt; I had a bad day yesterday. (grammatical)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Your situation&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are currently in a time where you can consider 2010 to be &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; completed.  That means we are in the situation that corresponds to #2 and #5 from my examples.  Since it is done, you can use simple past; since it is &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; done, you can use present perfect.  Neither would be grammatically more correct at this time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The line for this is fuzzy, but at some point — a couple weeks, the start of February, etc. — it won't make sense to consider 2010 to be &quot;just&quot; completed, and thus the present perfect will no longer work.  For now, it still does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T20:17:08.750" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7849" CreationDate="2011-01-03T20:20:06.543" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Coming from the opposite direction, I am an educated Australia who has worked hard to develop a more colloquial accent. After many years of people asking me when I moved to Australia (I was born here) I decided it may be better just to fit in. I will now adjust my accent and vocabulary to fit the people I am talking to and the situation. In this country, being 'posh' is not always a benefit. Using five dollar words can just annoy people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T20:20:06.543" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7886" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7891" CreationDate="2011-01-02T13:17:24.690" Score="2" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between a tune and a melody?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-03T21:20:41.200" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T21:20:41.200" Title="What's the difference between a tune and a melody?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;music&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7886" CreationDate="2011-01-02T13:21:06.980" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's depending on the meaning of tune. If you understand tune as a harmony. Then it is a sequence or collection of tones that &quot;suite&quot; together, i.e. that sound harmonical.&#xA;See also: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmony&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melody&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;melody&lt;/a&gt; is just a linear sequence of tones that are considered to belong together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6292" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T20:24:31.960" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="7888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7839" CreationDate="2011-01-03T20:28:44.603" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What a neat, thoughtful question. In my writings, I've only ever used &lt;em&gt;therefore&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;thereby&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;therein&lt;/em&gt; (with the expression &quot;Therein lies the problem.&quot;) I think it's the same for many other average Joes :) I wouldn't consider someone who employs the other ones when &lt;em&gt;talking&lt;/em&gt; &quot;insane,&quot; just quite quaint (in a good way).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=thereabout%2Cthereafter%2Cthereat%2Cthereby%2Ctherefrom%2Ctherein%2Cthereof%2Cthereon%2Cthereto%2Cthereupon%2Ctherewith&amp;amp;year_start=1750&amp;amp;year_end=2010&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Ngram&lt;/a&gt; colourfully conveys that, while most its siblings have been steadily obsolescing for the past three centuries, &lt;em&gt;thereby&lt;/em&gt; stablized to a comfy plateau in the mid-19th century and only in the last decade does it show a minimal amount of decline.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Thereof&lt;/em&gt; used to be quite a favour among writers but is now even less common than &lt;em&gt;thereto&lt;/em&gt;, which itself is pretty rare but had seen a resurgence in use in the '50s. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/EdW5o.png&quot; alt=&quot;Ngram graph showing the trends of &amp;quot;there-&amp;quot; words&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's only logical to compare this cohort to their vis-à-vis: The &quot;here-&quot; adverbs. Even the most popular &lt;em&gt;hereafter&lt;/em&gt; has always been much less prevalent than even &lt;em&gt;thereof&lt;/em&gt;. (Note the extra zero to right of the decimal point on the y-axis.) The Here Family is even more formal and archaic, as a whole, than the Theres.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/c71au.png&quot; alt=&quot;Ngram graph showing the trends of &amp;quot;here-&amp;quot; words&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you were right-on in your assumptions. Last productive since centuries ago, &lt;em&gt;(t)here&lt;/em&gt; + prep. are now very limited constructions. They're once-thriving dynasties that mostly came into existence in between the 9th and 11th centuries, just before Old English began to evolve into Chaucer's Middle English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last progenies to the families were &lt;em&gt;therefrom&lt;/em&gt; (1250s), &lt;em&gt;hereat&lt;/em&gt; (1550s) and &lt;em&gt;herefrom&lt;/em&gt; (1590s), which all practically died out a couple of centuries after invented, as people started to slice these concise words into separate and more flexible units or simply opted for other prepositions altogether, as indicated by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.OED.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Engl. Dict.&lt;/a&gt; Moribound, they survive on linguistic respirators such as officialese and legalisms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3209" LastEditorUserId="3209" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-03T22:08:00.927" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T22:08:00.927" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7886" CreationDate="2011-01-03T20:36:52.797" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mainly spelling.  That is, tune and melody are very, very similar; I would treat them as synonyms. The MacOS X dictionary (not a dreadfully authoritative source of information) defines 'tune' as MELODY and 'melody' as TUNE, supporting my contention.  There are other words used in the definitions, but they come up very similar:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;melody&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;familiar melodies: TUNE, air, strain, theme, song, refrain, piece of music; informal ditty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrast:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;tune&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;she hummed a cheerful tune: MELODY, air, strain, theme; song, jingle, ditty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tune has some non-melodic connotations when it is a verb - tuning an engine is different from whistling a tune.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T20:36:52.797" />
  <row Id="7890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7871" CreationDate="2011-01-03T20:47:38.977" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For whatever it is worth, the SQL meaning of &lt;code&gt;WHERE a BETWEEN x AND y&lt;/code&gt; means the same as &lt;code&gt;WHERE a &amp;gt;= x AND a &amp;lt;= y&lt;/code&gt;, so it is inclusive of the end points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people, most of the time, will interpret 'between 1 and 10' or 'from 1 to 10' as including both end points.  In the absence of any indication to the contrary, both the end points will be included.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mathematicians like half-open ranges that include the start and exclude the end; there are some benefits to that notation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, until the world changes its attitude towards the terms, you will have to explicitly qualify 'between 1 and 10 exclusive' to obtain your desired result - and expect to confuse people even with the qualifier, at least in spoken communications.  That is, if you ask a kid to choose a number between 1 and 10 exclusive, expect them to choose either 1 or 10 about 20% of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T20:47:38.977" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7886" CreationDate="2011-01-03T20:59:45.780" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tune&lt;/em&gt; can mean a song as a whole as well as its main musical theme, while &lt;em&gt;melody&lt;/em&gt; is usually restricted to the latter, at least nowadays. If someone were to say to me &quot;He played a delightful little melody on the piano&quot;, I'd expect him to have used a single finger, while &quot;a delightful little tune&quot; is more likely to have involved both hands. (&quot;A delightful little song&quot; would remove all ambiguity.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Melody&lt;/em&gt; is more likely than &lt;em&gt;tune&lt;/em&gt; to be used in opposition to &lt;em&gt;harmony&lt;/em&gt;. If you're singing in the choir and ask &quot;who has the melody at the fifth measure&quot;, the answer will be (probably) &quot;the sopranos&quot;; but if you ask &quot;who has the tune&quot;, you'll either get puzzled looks, or someone will play an A on the piano.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's a bit subjective, but I think &lt;em&gt;tune&lt;/em&gt; is less formal than &lt;em&gt;melody&lt;/em&gt;: if you're whistling it, it's a tune, but if Maria Callas sang it, it's a melody.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T20:59:45.780" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7892" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-03T21:05:53.040" Score="0" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;i need different examples of adjectives with all the available sufixes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3242" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T21:05:53.040" ClosedDate="2011-01-03T21:16:58.893" Title="adjective suffixes" Tags="&lt;suffix&gt;" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7893" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-03T21:38:31.263" Score="13" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;Modern English seems to require this verb in several circumstances, where most other European languages don't seem to need it. (See? I just used it.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in questions: &quot;Do you have a dog?&quot; Whereas, &quot;Have you a dog?&quot; would be normal in other languages or in the English of days gone by.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example: &quot;I do not know him.&quot; Again, &quot;I know him not,&quot; could be used, but sounds stilted nowadays.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, where &lt;em&gt;did&lt;/em&gt; this 'do' come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3245" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T14:50:12.480" Title="What is the origin of the 'do' construction?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="7894" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7897" CreationDate="2011-01-03T22:23:19.290" Score="4" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose John has 5 sweets. Is there any difference between saying 'Jack has 3 times as many sweets as John' and 'Jack has 3 times more sweets than John'? I prefer the first construction and would know unambiguously that Jack has 15 sweets in this case. However in the second construction I would be inclined to think that Jack has 20 sweets, since it seems to suggest 15 sweets in addition to the original 5. (P.S. This question has been weighing on my mind since childhood!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T22:45:13.450" Title="'X times as many as' vs 'X times more than'" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7895" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-03T22:35:16.583" Score="2" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No definite mass is identified. However, for further evaluation of this patient given his symptoms, an MRI is recommended. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the above sentence, does the &quot;however&quot; refer back to looking for a mass or forward to further evaluation of the patient's symptoms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3246" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T12:20:37.790" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T12:20:37.790" Title="What is &quot;however&quot; in this sentence referring to?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7896" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7900" CreationDate="2011-01-03T22:37:59.497" Score="0" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a problem with a sentence &quot;A list of items grouped by category&quot;.&#xA;There are two possible ways to understand this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(A list of items) that is grouped by category&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A list of (items that are grouped by category)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to write it correctly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2312" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T23:54:34.050" Title="How to associate a participle with an exact word in a sentence like 'List of items'?" Tags="&lt;participle&gt;&lt;passive-voice&gt;&lt;noun-phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7894" CreationDate="2011-01-03T22:45:13.450" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is indeed a classic. The question has been asked many times around the web, and there appear to be two schools: one that agrees with you, and one that thinks both constructions are OK and takes both to mean 15 sweets. I think those people are nuts, but hey they might be the majority. I say, why use a construction that is either illogical or ambiguous when you have a perfectly good alternative? But language isn't logical, especially not idiom, so I suppose I cannot call my argument objective. I think &quot;3 times more&quot; as 15 sweets total is acceptable to most people, though I'd never use it. You will even see it in newspapers. The exact same problem exists in Dutch, with the same sides to choose between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T22:45:13.450" />
  <row Id="7898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7895" CreationDate="2011-01-03T22:45:32.623" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not sure what you mean by 'refer back to', but I think the 'however' actually links the two ideas 'no mass' and 'further evaluation', in the sense that although there is no mass found it would still be best to do further evaluation to rule out any danger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T22:45:32.623" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7896" CreationDate="2011-01-03T23:00:34.093" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two parts to this question I believe: meaning and word choice. First of all, whether it is the 'list' that is being grouped or the 'items' that are being grouped I believe the meaning is the same - grouping the objects written on a piece of paper. In terms of word choice I think the second one is better, as it is more natural to think in terms of grouping the multiple distinct objects and not the list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T23:00:34.093" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7896" CreationDate="2011-01-03T23:01:30.840" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;[Edited]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think &quot;is&quot; in 1 would be a good choice: if you are grouping a whole, you mean you are grouping its parts; and if those parts are explicitly mentioned, it seems odd to stick the grouping to the whole instead of the parts. If you did this, the fact that &quot;that&quot; comes right after &quot;items&quot; and that the two would be a great fit together would make the sentence awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 2, are you thinking of &lt;strong&gt;a list of items that only includes those items that are grouped by category, which thus leaves out those items that are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; grouped by category&lt;/strong&gt;? That is what the brackets and the &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;-clause seem to indicate. I find it hard to imagine a situation where you would want to say this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd choose 2, but the type of relative clause is odd. Why not add a comma and change &quot;that&quot; to &quot;which&quot;? The relative clause sounds better as a non-defining clause, since the fact that they are categorised does not limit or define the items for me: it is rather extra information. Whether a participle is defining or not cannot be seen if there is no full clause: that is why you could not see it in &quot;a list of items grouped by category&quot;. The comma of a non-defining relative clause is not compulsory with a non-defining participle (I think I am right here, right?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's take Vorrtex's second example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The part of the picture drawn by me was destroyed by the fire. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I added &quot;was destroyed by the fire&quot; to put it into a real context.)&#xA;In this case, &quot;drawn&quot; could belong to either &quot;part&quot; or &quot;picture&quot;, so the sentence is ambiguous. There is no way to clear this up without changing the sentence so that &quot;drawn&quot; can only point to one noun:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I drew part of this picture, and &lt;em&gt;[my&#xA;  part | the picture]&lt;/em&gt; was destroyed by&#xA;  the fire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-03T23:54:34.050" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T23:54:34.050" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7901" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7903" CreationDate="2011-01-03T23:18:16.763" Score="1" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the phrase 'open up a vein of fury' in the article of today's Washington Post as shown below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The New Year's Day suicide bombing of a church that killed 21 people has &lt;strong&gt;opened up a vein&lt;/strong&gt; of fury among Egypt's Christians, built up over years of what they call government failure to address persistent discrimination and violence against their community.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does 'open up a vein of' mean exactly? Why should the writer use 'open up a vein of' in this particular case, instead of other expressions, for instance 'a spell of anger' or simply 'has infuriated'? Can somebody teach me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T16:28:07.857" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T16:28:07.857" Title="What does &quot;open up a vein&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7901" CreationDate="2011-01-03T23:29:10.383" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Excuse me for being graphic. When you open a vein (well, technically, an artery) in the body, blood comes pouring out; by analogy, to open up a vein of fury is to cause fury to emerge in a great and sudden flow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T23:29:10.383" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7901" CreationDate="2011-01-03T23:30:14.647" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;To open up&quot; is a phrasal verb, opposite of &quot;to close up.&quot; But that's probably not the part that's confusing for you. &quot;A vein of fury&quot; is a wave of anger, as you suspected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, it's akin to the expression &quot;to open up a(n old) wound,&quot; meaning to pry open something bloody, painful, and in this case, violent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your other suggestions would work just fine. This journalist has just chosen to use a more vivid imagery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3209" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T23:30:14.647" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="7904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7901" CreationDate="2011-01-03T23:32:17.430" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The origin of the phrase may stem from either mining or anatomy; either you've opened up a vein of ore and are mining it until it runs out, or you have opened up a vein in your body and are bleeding all over the place until you manage to stop the flow.  The anatomical interpretation seems the more likely of the two to me, especially in this case, as something that was not necessarily intentional and would be better off being stopped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The implication of the phrase as used, though, is that the fury has been there for a long time but has not been released until this event; whereas &quot;has infuriated&quot; would clearly mean that the fury being released was generated directly by the event in question (which would contradict the following clause about how long the fury has been building).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T23:32:17.430" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7905" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7910" CreationDate="2011-01-03T23:42:36.820" Score="10" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do you feel when you see this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://cheezdailysquee.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/79b3d5e1-c116-4680-911f-3f34089f4005.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Adorable Kitten&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We all know the feeling of seeing something adorable, of wanting to hug it, take care of it, and let our speech degenerate into mindless babble and squealing. But does it have a name? &lt;em&gt;Adoration&lt;/em&gt; isn't quite it, and that's about as close as I seem to be able to get. For such a common and powerful emotional response, I find it baffling that there seems to be no word for it. If there's no English word, we should re-purpose a foreign one, as we're wont to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T21:02:50.223" Title="Is there a name for the emotional response to cuteness?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="7906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7905" CreationDate="2011-01-03T23:52:15.457" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;tenderness&quot; or &quot;affection&quot; come to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1304" LastActivityDate="2011-01-03T23:52:15.457" />
  <row Id="7907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7905" CreationDate="2011-01-03T23:54:48.327" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Japanese use the word &lt;em&gt;kawaii&lt;/em&gt; to describe all things cute.  It is a very major part of their culture in some respects, I hear many japanophiles and anime lovers use the word on western shores.  So that would be my candidate for adoption, as it already is partially.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuteness_in_Japanese_culture&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuteness_in_Japanese_culture&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our response to cuteness seems innate, and I have always felt is there as a protective device for our young.  What we define as cute is quite broad, but the very young tend to fit it quite nicely, we feel protective, maternal/paternal, certainly drawn towards the cute thing.  The emotion is such a deep and strong one, that this feeling even pervades to the young of other animals.  Indeed it is well observed that this effects many mammal species, with examples of one species looking after the young of another, such is the driving force.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastEditorUserId="2253" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T00:19:10.453" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T00:19:10.453" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="7908" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7909" CreationDate="2011-01-03T23:59:38.820" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assume you read a text discussing the total value of all &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial_public_offering&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;IPOs&lt;/a&gt; world-wide and those in France, stating France's IPOs' total value is 9% of those world-wide. Is it valid to refer to this percentage as &quot;proportion of IPOs in France&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2636" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T07:12:51.977" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T07:12:51.977" Title="&quot;Proportion of IPOs in France&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7908" CreationDate="2011-01-04T00:10:10.630" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think so, though I am not an expert in finance. For me, &quot;the proportion of IPOs in France&quot; may very well refer to the total number of IPOs instead of their total value. I think you need a longer phrase for clarity, such as &quot;the share of France in the total value of IPOs world wide&quot;. Perhaps a shorter phrase can be found.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Edit] What about: &quot;the French share in global IPO value&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T06:02:15.903" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T06:02:15.903" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7905" CreationDate="2011-01-04T00:33:31.960" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes if we don't have the most cromulent word, we have to make one up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the word &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://squee.icanhascheezburger.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;squee&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is starting to catch on. &lt;strong&gt;Squeeness&lt;/strong&gt; actually brings up a few google hits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not in the dictionary, yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T00:33:31.960" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="7911" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-04T00:48:36.927" Score="1" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am writing a scientific article that describes a computer program. Although it is common in the field to use a passive voice, it is also acceptable, and my preference, to diversify the text with an active voice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, the focus of my paper is a computer program, and I am describing what it does. I am having a difficult time determining when it is appropriate to say that the program does something versus when I (or we) did something. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Call the program 'FOO' (all caps since it is an acronym, though presumably, since I am introducing FOO in this paper, I could change this to only have a capital first letter)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;FOO uses addition to determine Y, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;versus&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;we use addition to determine Y, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Y is determined by addition&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that giving agency to Foo makes it easier to write, but then my text becomes 'FOO does this ... FOO does that'; making the name 'FOO', which is really incidental, dominate the page when looked at as a whole. In addition, it can feel awkward to writing about a computer program as a protagonist (however, this is my first attempt to describe such a program).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question: What is the best way to write about software in an active voice?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my field, the passive voice is dominant so I am having difficulty finding good examples of the use of an active voice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2559" LastEditorUserId="2559" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T01:06:34.670" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T01:06:34.670" Title="Choice of an agent to give an active voice - me or the computer program." Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;active-voice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7911" CreationDate="2011-01-04T01:04:35.053" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;FOO uses addition to determine Y&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wish to use active voice, this is the best construction. &quot;We&quot; and other first-person pronouns are generally discouraged in academic papers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think that giving agency to Foo makes it easier to write, but then my text becomes 'FOO does this ... FOO does that' and the page starts to look awkward. Perhaps it is only because I am not used to writing about a computer program as a protagonist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can add variety by using the pronoun &quot;it&quot;, as well as also using the passive voice. There's no problem using both voices in one paper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T01:04:35.053" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7913" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-04T01:06:59.803" Score="1" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any tools that would help with comprehension of technical documents that contain a mix of domain specific and company specific acronyms and jargon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A tool that is functionally similar to the automatic acronym expansion done by Wikileaks in their Afgan War Diary (as seen at &lt;a href=&quot;http://213.251.145.96/id/310B4FC4-2F89-4653-A546-1AD5D55BD9F7/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://213.251.145.96/id/310B4FC4-2F89-4653-A546-1AD5D55BD9F7/&lt;/a&gt;) but ideally supports PDF or Microsoft Word documents. The list of acronyms and jargon and their expanded text could be provided in a separate file.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3247" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T22:14:04.707" Title="Tools that help with acronyms and jargon in software requirement documents" Tags="&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2011-01-04T01:16:29.517" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.acronymfinder.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Acronym finder&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A website that provides the definitions of acronyms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2559" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T00:07:14.260" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T00:07:14.260" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-04T01:16:29.517" />
  <row Id="7916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5834" CreationDate="2011-01-04T02:15:47.050" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read hundreds of CVs in my past position, the thing was looking for was precisely what the applicant had done. If they said &quot;My team did X&quot; the I pretty much assumed that the applicant had nothing to do with it. If you have done X, then you should state this in an unambiguous manner. That being said, &quot;I was the best manager in history&quot; may sound a tad arrogant whereas &quot;Under my management, team output was increased %137&quot; is just stating a fact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T02:15:47.050" />
  <row Id="7917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7913" CreationDate="2011-01-04T02:23:37.500" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two ideas that might possible help, though I don't think they will be perfect. Both only work for Word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You could try the Abbreviation Management Package:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pcfone.com/en/abbreviation-management-software.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.pcfone.com/en/abbreviation-management-software.html&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;It is a plug-in for Word that seems to do what you want (I haven't tested it yet). It is not free, though: it costs $75. It has a trial version so you can see whether you like it. I have run it through virustotal.com and it appears to have no virus.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You could use footnotes in Word. When you hover over a footnote in Word, you see in a pop-up the text in the footnote: you can use this to display the meaning of an acronym. You need to create a footnote for an acronym, then automatically find &amp;amp; replace all instances of the acronym by acronym + footnote. You need to do this every time for each different acronym. It is not difficult to do, but it takes some time if you have many different acronyms. If you want to do this but can't get it to work, ask here. In order to do the process of creation and find-&amp;amp;-replace automatically based on a file with a list, you'd need to write a macro in Autohotkey or something. But that'd be some work.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If all you want to do is fill in all acronyms in a Word document once without the ability to expand/collapse (or pop-up), you could simply find &amp;amp; replace all the acronyms with their full meanings. I think it would be somewhat easier to write an Autohotkey script to do this automatically based on a list in a file. I am sure there will be people on the AHK forum willing to explain how this works and help you with the script.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incidentally, I think this question rather belongs on Superuser.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T03:42:20.273" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T03:42:20.273" />
  <row Id="7918" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7920" CreationDate="2011-01-04T02:53:49.810" Score="0" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning for Champagne, which one is better? I found both in different reference books.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A white sparkling wine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A sparkling white wine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;:-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2661" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T03:04:27.030" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T03:18:29.587" Title="Question on Champagne." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7918" CreationDate="2011-01-04T03:17:33.270" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a sparkling white wine. A &quot;white wine&quot; is a major classification of wine, and &quot;sparkling&quot; is an extra adjective on top of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T03:17:33.270" CommentCount="18" />
  <row Id="7920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7918" CreationDate="2011-01-04T03:18:29.587" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English, as with many (most?) languages, there is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1155/adjective-order&quot;&gt;preferred order for adjectives&lt;/a&gt;, generally corresponding to various categories.  However, the terms &quot;sparkling wine&quot; and &quot;white wine&quot; can be argued to be compound nouns, like &quot;greenhouse&quot; or &quot;blackboard&quot;.  They are both subcategories of wine.  So, a red wine is still a red wine, even if you put food coloring into it and make it look purple, and a sparking wine is still a sparkling wine even if it has been left out and gotten completely flat.   It is a whole unit that is inseparable, not an adjective modifying a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This also means that adjective ordering generalizations do not correspond to the internal parts of these compounds.  (This is why you have seen both orders used.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you are talking about white wines that are sparkling, you can call them &quot;sparkling [white wines]&quot;.  If you are talking about sparkling wines that are white, you can call them &quot;white [sparkling wines]&quot;.  Grammatically, they are equal in &quot;correctness&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T03:18:29.587" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="7921" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7922" CreationDate="2011-01-04T07:01:20.587" Score="0" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you come up with an example, in which &quot;No reason why&quot; would be one separate sentence, perhaps, a short answer in a dialogue. (So, such constructions as &quot;There is no reason why we shouldn't...&quot; must not be considered.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T14:28:58.293" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:28:58.293" Title="&quot;No reason why&quot; as a standalone phrase or a sentence." Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;example&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="16" />
  <row Id="7922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7921" CreationDate="2011-01-04T07:10:38.287" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mother: Why are you always so naughty?&#xA;Child: No reason why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T07:10:38.287" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7923" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7935" CreationDate="2011-01-04T09:32:30.557" Score="3" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I properly write this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The census shall provide the total population, its structure and spatial distribution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second two items are dependent upon &quot;population&quot;, but it seems repetitive to say &quot;the total population, the population's structure, and the population's spatial distribution&quot;. Any thoughts or alternatives, or am I best to repeat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2697" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T20:12:52.423" Title="How to phrase a list that continually refers to the first word in the list" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7924" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7931" CreationDate="2011-01-04T09:44:23.567" Score="0" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to find the exact/literal/detailed meaning of the phrase &quot;sense of well being&quot;. Not just &quot;well being&quot;, but &quot;sense of well being&quot;. (What exactly is meant by &quot;sense&quot;?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I understand what the phrase means. But how will I write/describe the meaning in English? (I need this for some literary work.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T12:24:25.227" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T12:24:25.227" Title="Exact meaning of &quot;sense of well being&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5162" CreationDate="2011-01-04T11:14:19.337" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;four-letter word&quot; is used to refer to one of the many offensive slang words in the English language containing four letters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually the word &lt;em&gt;fuck&lt;/em&gt; is intended or implied but there are many others, as listed by Wikipedia in your link. Again, from your Wikipedia link we learn that other languages have a similar term, sometimes referring to three or five letters depending on the language and its key swear words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To say something &lt;em&gt;is not a four-letter word&lt;/em&gt; is often used humorously or to provoke thought, since the author is suggesting that the something should &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; be considered especially bad. Often the something isn't commonly thought to be bad at all, hence the mild humour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="368" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T11:14:19.337" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7928" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-04T11:49:17.733" Score="1" ViewCount="248" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &quot;Class of 2004&quot; and &quot;Batch of 2004&quot;? I have a feeling that one means the students who joined the university in 2004 and the other means those who graduated in 2004. Is that correct? And if so — then which is which?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T12:11:08.763" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T22:39:23.643" Title="Graduation &quot;Class of&quot; vs &quot;Batch of&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="205" CreationDate="2011-01-04T11:55:03.583" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Swedish, there's a word called &lt;em&gt;lagom&lt;/em&gt; which is a bit difficult to translate to English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It means &quot;just right&quot;, &quot;in moderation&quot;, &quot;enough&quot;, &quot;adequate&quot;, &quot;not too much, not too little&quot;, etc. Generally it conveys the impression of &quot;being content&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T11:55:03.583" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-04T11:55:03.583" />
  <row Id="7930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7928" CreationDate="2011-01-04T12:10:21.247" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/class?show=0&amp;amp;t=1294142892&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;class&lt;/a&gt; of 2xxx&quot; is associated with the graduation year:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a body of students or alumni whose year of graduation is the same &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/batch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;batch&lt;/a&gt; of 2xxx&quot; is not so clear, and can be associated with pretty much anything.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A batch refers to a quantity (as of persons or things) considered as a group.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.informationnigeria.org/2010/09/delta-state-university-delsu-20102011-admission-list-first-batch-released.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This page&lt;/a&gt;, for instance, mentions a &quot;Batch 2010/2011 Admission List&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Actually, you can also find the entry and graduation years associated with &quot;batch of&quot;. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cat100.in/newstopic.php?id=54&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt;: &quot;batch of 2008 - 10&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T12:25:12.963" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T12:25:12.963" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7924" CreationDate="2011-01-04T12:20:51.503" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to [Oxford Food &amp;amp; Fitness Dictionary][1]:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A positive state of mind that enables&#xA;  a person to function effectively&#xA;  within society. Individuals who have&#xA;  good mental health are well-adjusted&#xA;  to society, are able to relate well to&#xA;  others, and basically feel satisfied&#xA;  with themselves and their role in&#xA;  society.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1]: Read more: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answers.com/topic/mental-health#ixzz1A4IzNBZt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.answers.com/topic/mental-health#ixzz1A4IzNBZt&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T12:20:51.503" />
  <row Id="7932" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7934" CreationDate="2011-01-04T13:19:59.753" Score="3" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The person with whom I'm doing the project should be here soon.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is, is &quot;with&quot; always a dative preposition? (like &quot;mit&quot; in German)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2334" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T16:16:34.070" Title="With who vs. With whom" Tags="&lt;whom&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7932" CreationDate="2011-01-04T13:33:53.353" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your case, the &lt;em&gt;person&lt;/em&gt; is the object of the sentence, while &lt;em&gt;I'm&lt;/em&gt; is the subject. Even though the sentence has a questionable structure, it's correct&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/who-versus-whom.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; does a remarkable job  explaining when to use who and whom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To know whether to use who or whom, we&#xA;  need to talk about the difference&#xA;  between subjects and objects because&#xA;  you use who when you are referring to&#xA;  the subject of a clause and whom when&#xA;  you are referring to the object of a&#xA;  clause&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1446" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T14:18:14.130" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T14:18:14.130" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7932" CreationDate="2011-01-04T14:31:03.807" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When &quot;who&quot; is the object of the preposition, as in this case, it becomes &quot;whom&quot;; granted, this is archaic and often ignored in informal conversation. You'll often hear people say things like, &quot;Who should I give this to?&quot; It would be correct to say &quot;Whom should I give this to?&quot; or even (if you're really fussy) &quot;To whom should I give this?&quot; But almost no one bothers with that these days. Note that reversing the word order makes the incorrect grammar stand out: &quot;I should give this to who?&quot; That's because there is now a direct apposition with the preposition and its object. Most careful speakers will use &quot;to whom&quot; in that context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can remember when to use &quot;who/whom&quot; by substituting &quot;he/him&quot; in the sentence. You wouldn't say &quot;I'm doing the project with &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt;,&quot; you would say &quot;I'm doing the project with &lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt;.&quot; So it's obvious that &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; is the pronoun you would use here, not &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A further word about German/English prepositions. In German some prepositions can be dative or accusative, depending on whether they indicate motion or placement towards or up to a location. This not the case (no pun intended) in English. In English, the object of the preposition always takes the &quot;prepositional&quot; case. Note that there are not nearly as many inflectional changes or pronoun substitutions in English as in German. The point is, German is not necessarily useful for analogizing English constructions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T16:16:34.070" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T16:16:34.070" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="7935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7923" CreationDate="2011-01-04T14:32:13.277" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To write succinctly, we can use 'The census shall provide the total number, the structure and the spatial distribution of the population.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T14:32:13.277" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6155" CreationDate="2011-01-04T14:59:16.687" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Ancient Greek, it is assumed that most, if not all, prepositions were once adverbs. That is why most prepositions can still be used as adverbs starting a sentence in Ancient Greek, as in &quot;upon [that event], the King refused to...&quot;. If the same applies to the Germanic languages, it accounts for the existence of our ubiquitous phrasal and separable verbs. The fact that new phrasal and separable verbs can still be created supports this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a side note, the preverbial suffix &lt;em&gt;e-&lt;/em&gt; (the augment) for the past tenses in Ancient Greek probably came from an adverbial constituent *&lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt; meaning something like &quot;past&quot; or &quot;then&quot;. This is the same prefix that is used with past participles in German and Dutch, &lt;em&gt;ge-&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is my theory that most elements of syntax are relatively new (perhaps post-PIE?) and originate in separate words that melted with content-words and turned into affixes by clisis (enclisis, proclisis, etc). There is evidence that points to this for inflection: it is believed that, say, the dative ending &lt;em&gt;-i&lt;/em&gt; was once a separate word, perhaps some postpositional adverb, that accompanied the direction of an action. Evidence for this might be the use of certain suffixes in Greek that are sometimes interchangeable with cases: &lt;em&gt;-the(n)&lt;/em&gt; is mostly a (poetic) suffix of separation, which is normally expressed by the genitive; but it can often taken on other functions of the genitive too, such as possession. And there are other suffixes that imitate partial cases: &lt;em&gt;-de&lt;/em&gt; for direction (instead of accusative/dative/preposition), &lt;em&gt;-(s)ô&lt;/em&gt; approximately for a forward position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The birth of relative pronouns (classical &lt;em&gt;hos&lt;/em&gt;) and demonstrative pronouns (classical &lt;em&gt;houtos&lt;/em&gt;) in Ancient Greek is sometimes estimated to be not long before the time of Homer, because, in his epics, there is usually no difference in form between these pronouns and the article; it is often hard to decide on the interpretation of an instance of &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; (neuter article), when all three options seem possible. This is evidence that syntax can also develop from differentiation between allophones/allomorphs, or from nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T06:35:15.023" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T06:35:15.023" />
  <row Id="7937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7932" CreationDate="2011-01-04T15:18:26.573" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a really easy way to deal with case and prepositions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If the the preposition is directly modifying the noun, then the noun is always* accusative/dative&lt;/strong&gt;.  And, since accusative and dative forms both look like &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt;, you know it should always be &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; (if you are using &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; at all).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*There is one major exception to the prep. phrase rule: &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; sometimes takes the genitive case (&quot;friend of &lt;em&gt;his&lt;/em&gt;&quot;); however, this never shows up with &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; (there is no &quot;friend of whose&quot;, just &quot;whose friend&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is worth also noting that &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; is falling out of use, and so &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; could theoretically be used everywhere when speaking in a register that doesn't use &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T15:18:26.573" />
  <row Id="7938" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7939" CreationDate="2011-01-04T15:55:43.480" Score="0" ViewCount="353" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does the phrase &quot;Nothing like anything&quot; mean? Literally it doesn't make sense to me and also I do not know its figurative meaning either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T16:05:13.217" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T22:02:16.703" Title="What does &quot;Nothing like anything&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7938" CreationDate="2011-01-04T16:04:30.160" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be &lt;em&gt;nothing like&lt;/em&gt; means it is completely different and has nothing in common. &lt;em&gt;Nothing like anything&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;incomparable&lt;/em&gt;; completely different from all other things. This is the literal meaning of the term, no figurative or idiom involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&amp;amp;q=8112903&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;three examples&lt;/a&gt; of &lt;em&gt;nothing like anything&lt;/em&gt; in the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;it was just an unbelievable event and &lt;strong&gt;nothing like anything&lt;/strong&gt; the country had ever gone through before&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the speaker means the event was completely unlike any event previously experienced in the country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot; It seems like I've always had some type of adversity, &quot; Bobby says. &quot; My freshman year at Duke, we lost the title game by 30 to UNLV.... But this is big adversity, &lt;strong&gt;nothing like anything&lt;/strong&gt; else. # &quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the speaker is referring to &lt;em&gt;some type of adversity&lt;/em&gt; that this time has a magnitude never before seen, incomparable to any previous adversity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot; She spun around, drinking in the scenery, marveling at its almost palpable presence. &quot; But... this is &lt;strong&gt;nothing like anything&lt;/strong&gt; I've ever seen on the' net! &quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, whatever it is the speaker is experiencing is unlike any experience she has had in the same environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T16:04:30.160" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7938" CreationDate="2011-01-04T16:04:34.553" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Nothing like X&quot; is a common phrase that is a more emphatic way of saying &quot;not like X&quot;.  It means that X has nothing in common with the thing you are comparing it with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am not like my father. (we do some/many things differently)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am nothing like my father! (we are totally different)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, &quot;nothing like anything&quot; would be used to say that something is completely unique, and would be more emphatic than &quot;not like anything&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a general style note, the phrase &quot;nothing like anything&quot; sounds fairly informal/colloquial, so you would probably want to avoid it in situations where that matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T16:04:34.553" />
  <row Id="7941" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-04T16:42:52.340" Score="3" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the differences in usage and meaning?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For example, &quot;my targets for 2011 are ...&quot; or &quot;my goals for 2011 are ...&quot;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Which one is correct or more suitable here? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3256" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T00:24:42.057" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T21:05:39.530" Title="Target vs Goal: usage, meaning" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="7943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7941" CreationDate="2011-01-04T17:11:06.960" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Targets&lt;/em&gt; implies a numerical goal. Usually you hear this in sales meetings, as in &quot;Our Q4 target for the sales team is $12M.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Goal&lt;/em&gt; is a bit broader and more general. Where &lt;em&gt;target&lt;/em&gt; may imply a very specific goal, &lt;em&gt;goal&lt;/em&gt; can be broader. You can say &quot;My goal is to lose weight this year,&quot; but using &lt;em&gt;target&lt;/em&gt; there would sound odd because the general concept of losing weight isn't specific enough for that word. You would more likely specify a quantity, as in &quot;My weight-loss target is 15 lbs.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, you could use the two interchangeably. There is nothing wrong with saying &quot;Our Q4 goal for the sales team is $12M.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T17:11:06.960" />
  <row Id="7944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7941" CreationDate="2011-01-04T17:12:37.330" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, regardless of whether you use targets or goals, the verb should be &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; since they're plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the usage you're describing, targets and goals are similar.  The biggest difference to me is that targets tend to be specific values while goals can be more generic.  For example if in 2011 I wanted to learn to ski, I would consider that a goal, but not really a target.  However, if I wanted to sell $10M worth of something for my company, I could call that a sales target.  It could also be referred to as a sales goal though, if you preferred. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're making a list that includes both types, I'd go with goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T17:12:37.330" />
  <row Id="7945" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7947" CreationDate="2011-01-04T17:46:32.420" Score="5" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed over the last few years that people who were formerly my colleagues have become my work colleagues. Does anyone know why this should be so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Perhaps I should also mention that the buildings we used to call &quot;stations&quot; have become &quot;train stations&quot;. Perhaps these are specific examples of a more general phenomenon?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T18:27:40.590" Title="Why are &quot;colleagues&quot; becoming &quot;work colleagues&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7946" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7948" CreationDate="2011-01-04T18:05:19.403" Score="2" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it appropriate to use &quot;e.g.&quot; in a sentence without using parentheses?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example 1:&#xA;This administrative access control should provide visibility into access via multiple vectors (e.g. group access rights versus individual account rights). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example 2:&#xA;This administrative access control should provide visibility into access via multiple vectors e.g. group access rights versus individual account rights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1614" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T21:31:06.140" Title="Use of &quot;e.g.&quot; - are parentheses necessary?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;example&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7945" CreationDate="2011-01-04T18:27:40.590" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is called a &lt;em&gt;back formation&lt;/em&gt;. That is, a class of noun which once meant something specific all by itself, now has rivals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The classic example is &lt;em&gt;guitar&lt;/em&gt;. At one time, all guitars were &quot;acoustic&quot; guitars, and so the &quot;acoustic&quot; modifier was not needed. Now that there are electric guitars, the term &lt;em&gt;guitar&lt;/em&gt; may mean an electric guitar, so people who want to be specific about the non-electric version will specify an &quot;acoustic&quot; guitar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presumably you can have other types of colleagues than &quot;work&quot; colleagues, but the back formation here seems a bit redundant. There are other kinds of stations besides train stations, so the formation is more obviously beneficial there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T18:27:40.590" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7946" CreationDate="2011-01-04T18:58:40.863" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is certainly appropriate to use &quot;e.g.&quot; in a sentence without deploying parentheses. In your Example 2, I would place a comma before &quot;e.g.&quot;. Parenthesizing examples is purely the prerogative of author, usually serving as a means of indicating the perceived importance of the examples to the thought being expressed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T18:58:40.863" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7949" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7950" CreationDate="2011-01-04T19:26:05.060" Score="8" ViewCount="694" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of the word &quot;cum&quot;?  Trying to find the  roots for its prevalent usage, especially in North America.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T11:28:03.833" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T09:36:19.603" Title="Origin of the word &quot;cum&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7949" CreationDate="2011-01-04T19:38:01.237" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's an informal way of spelling &lt;strong&gt;'to come'&lt;/strong&gt;, which can mean &lt;em&gt;having an orgasm&lt;/em&gt;. &#xA;How exactly that verb has become associated with sexual acts is unclear (to me). My best guess would be that it was commonly used in a phrase similar to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm coming to an orgasm!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3017" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T19:38:01.237" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7949" CreationDate="2011-01-04T19:43:41.823" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=cum&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline.com&lt;/a&gt;, the noun &lt;em&gt;cum&lt;/em&gt; has had its current sexual connotation since the 1920s. As a verb, it goes back much farther.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T19:43:41.823" />
  <row Id="7952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7949" CreationDate="2011-01-04T19:43:55.303" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=cum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;explains&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;cum&lt;/em&gt; (verb and noun) seems to be a modern (by 1973) variant of the sexual sense of &lt;em&gt;come&lt;/em&gt; that originated in pornographic writing, perhaps first in the noun sense. This &quot;experience sexual orgasm&quot; slang meaning of &lt;em&gt;come&lt;/em&gt; (perhaps originally &lt;em&gt;come off&lt;/em&gt;) is attested from 1650, in &quot;Walking In A Meadowe Greene,&quot; in a folio of &quot;loose songs&quot; collected by Bishop Percy. [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As a noun meaning &quot;semen or other product of orgasm&quot; it is on record from the 1920s. The sexual &lt;em&gt;cum&lt;/em&gt; seems to have no connection with Latin &lt;em&gt;cum&lt;/em&gt;, the preposition meaning &quot;with, together with,&quot; [...].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To this, I will add that as far as the verb &lt;em&gt;come&lt;/em&gt; is concerned, there are similar constructions in German (&lt;em&gt;kommen&lt;/em&gt;) and French (&lt;em&gt;arriver&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T19:43:55.303" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7953" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-04T20:09:54.763" Score="8" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes you will hear people refer to four digit numbers in terms of hundreds. For example, sometimes people will say fifteen hundred when talking about the number 1500. Is this proper? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the rules of usage? In my personal experience, the hundreds notation is common for values less than 2000, but rare for larger values. Can I refer to 7300 as seventy-three hundred?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this has been discussed in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5442/pronunciation-of-years-in-english&quot;&gt;another question&lt;/a&gt;, but that was in terms of years. I'm asking about numbers in general. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1982" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T23:00:04.203" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T23:00:04.203" Title="Is it proper grammar to refer to four digit number in hundreds?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="7954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7953" CreationDate="2011-01-04T20:30:05.297" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This usage is &lt;em&gt;informal&lt;/em&gt; but not &lt;em&gt;incorrect&lt;/em&gt;. I wouldn't use it in official business documents, but it can be freely used in speech or less formal contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While statements like &quot;seventy-three hundred&quot; are rarer than their equivalents for numbers below 2000, they're perfectly intelligible and frequently used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T20:30:05.297" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7955" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-04T20:31:55.027" Score="2" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know of a resource online that lists all known English words, including plural and singular forms of a word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3262" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T20:50:32.560" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T20:50:32.560" Title="Is there a list of all English words (singular and plural) anywhere on the net?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;resource&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7955" CreationDate="2011-01-04T20:42:15.723" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary%3aMain_Page&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T20:42:15.723" />
  <row Id="7957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7955" CreationDate="2011-01-04T20:43:17.403" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's probably no list of all words. But as a starting point you could check whether &lt;a href=&quot;http://sourceforge.net/projects/wordlist/files/Ispell-EnWL/3.1.20/ispell-enwl-3.1.20.zip/download&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ispells&lt;/a&gt; (a spell-checker) input files are helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For further resources see also&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wordlist.sourceforge.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://wordlist.sourceforge.net/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T20:43:17.403" />
  <row Id="7958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7946" CreationDate="2011-01-04T21:31:06.140" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One other thing about your example: there should also be a comma after &lt;em&gt;e.g.&lt;/em&gt; (exactly as you would if you were using the words &lt;em&gt;for example&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T21:31:06.140" />
  <row Id="7959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7953" CreationDate="2011-01-04T21:45:31.657" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't exactly answer but I can add that Steve Jobs is often heard talking about numbers in that way during his public keynotes. So I would say that it is proper business practice, at least orally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3264" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T21:45:31.657" />
  <row Id="7960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7938" CreationDate="2011-01-04T22:02:16.703" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a way of saying that there are no common characteristics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;X is not like Y. (could share some characteristics)&#xA;X is nothing like Y. (absolutely no common &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3265" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T22:02:16.703" />
  <row Id="7961" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-04T22:27:14.110" Score="0" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I was proof reading an email that a coworker was going to send to a superior and I pointed out that the valediction wasn't capitalized. He said it didn't need to be because it was the start of a phrase or clause and not a sentence, and that people only do it because other people do it. But in the back recesses of my mind I'm thinking that there is a rule that says that it should be capitalized. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my coworker right and capitalization is unnecessary in this case? If I'm correct, what rule or guide can I point to, to prove my stance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(T/t)hanks,&#xA;Jeremy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2985" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T23:16:51.653" Title="Should valedictions be capitalized?" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;valediction&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7962" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7963" CreationDate="2011-01-04T22:34:12.663" Score="3" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt; see end of question for updates:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question came up if this is proper English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sorry, I felt the need for a disclaiming for some reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I think it is but some others say it isn't. I gave a further example to back up my case that that is acceptable with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;A disclaiming was made by the mayor&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And thus was born the question that you see here. I'm not saying it should be used &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; the time, but as an occasional usage, is this proper?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes yes, the appropriate word to use there would've been &quot;disclaimer&quot; not &quot;disclaiming&quot; but disregarding that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My proof that this is acceptable is the countless number of books I've read where I've forgotten more than I remember that I've read, but I'm certain I've seen a literary device such as this used before and not heard a great deal of complaining on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So since I posted it was pointed out to me that this is most likely a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerund&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gerund&lt;/a&gt;. If it is &lt;em&gt;indeed&lt;/em&gt; a gerund, then is this a proper use of &lt;em&gt;this particular gerund&lt;/em&gt; in this instance? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2161" LastEditorUserId="2161" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T23:10:38.027" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T23:21:46.990" Title="Is &quot;a disclaiming&quot; a gerund?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;gerund&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7962" CreationDate="2011-01-04T22:42:06.857" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The examples you provided aren't using the word the right way. I do believe that &quot;disclaiming&quot; &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerund&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gerund&lt;/a&gt;, however you can't use it in the way you have it. As you said, the proper way to say it would be &quot;A disclaimer was made&quot;. I think I see why you're confused. A gerund can be used as a noun, but the proper form would be this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My disclaiming that the word can be used this way is explained above.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, yes, you can use &quot;disclaiming&quot; as a noun, however, you can't &lt;em&gt;make&lt;/em&gt; a disclaiming. You make a disclaimer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disclaiming&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam Webster&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;dis·claim verb \dis-ˈklām\&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;intransitive verb&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1: to make a disclaimer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2 a obsolete : to disavow all part or share&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2 b : to utter denial&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...]&#xA;  Examples of DISCLAIM&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The prisoner disclaimed any part in the prank&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Her spokesperson flatly disclaimed the marriage rumor circulating in the press&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2259" LastEditorUserId="2259" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T23:15:02.877" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T23:15:02.877" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="7964" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7969" CreationDate="2011-01-04T23:01:38.907" Score="3" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know the past tense carries the past tense in every dependent clause, but referring specifically to places or to things that are eternal, like the Earth, seems a bit weird and therefore we sometimes (I believe incorrectly) say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;He didn't know that New Jersey is actually in the East Coast.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because it still is. or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;He thought the Earth was round.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is it square now?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Logically speaking, would you consider the use of past tense here a bit confusing in day to day speech in these examples? Would you instinctively opt for using the present tense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2334" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:10:03.477" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:10:03.477" Title="He didn't know where New Jersey was..." Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;tense&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;&lt;present-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="7965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7962" CreationDate="2011-01-04T23:04:03.423" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;[Edited] Yes, it is a gerund. But it sounds strange to me. Not because of the construction, which is possible with other verbs, but because there is a good alternative for this gerund, &quot;disclaimer&quot;, which is very common, so that it is not a good idea to use this very unusual variant. This may be only a matter of style, but it is no less important. So don't. I do not believe in a fundamental difference between grammar and style, though others might disagree about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-04T23:21:46.990" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T23:21:46.990" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7961" CreationDate="2011-01-04T23:16:51.653" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It ought to be capitalized, although it depends somewhat on what form it takes. The general rationale is that 'Yours' or 'Yours Truly' is a formalized abbreviation of a much longer and more elaborate 'Your true, humble, devoted servant yadda yadda yadda.' Since it's not actually a clause, as he's claiming, but rather a formalized abbreviation, it ought to be capitalized to indicate the use of the convention. However, if he's using something like 'thanks' or another less formal choice, this is somewhat less applicable (and potentially indicative of an unwise lack of formality in a business setting).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3266" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T23:16:51.653" />
  <row Id="7967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7949" CreationDate="2011-01-04T23:37:55.817" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Such nonsense! It means &quot;together with&quot; and is actually a Latin preposition with the same meaning as in English. Oh you mean... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-04T23:37:55.817" />
  <row Id="7968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7467" CreationDate="2011-01-04T23:38:08.780" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;[Making this into a new answer, following comments on Jimi Oke’s.]  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary: &lt;strong&gt;both forms are widely used&lt;/strong&gt;.  More authoritative sources (e.g. governments and newspapers) tend to favour the adjectival form, eg “Canadian visa”, but the web at large seems to favour the noun form, eg “Canada visa”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mr. Mengele […] may have sought a Canadian visa from Buenos Aires under a pseudonym in 1962.  &lt;em&gt;—&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/13/world/canadian-inquiry-criticizes-times-report-on-josef-mengele.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;New York Times&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very detailed background follows below, since this partially contradicts the currently accepted answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven’t managed to find any style guide or dictionary that gives a pronouncement on this question; so the best authority I can suggest is &lt;strong&gt;usage&lt;/strong&gt; — especially the usage of English-speaking governments and embassies.  So, I did site-specific google searches of US, Canadian and UK government sites (under the domains &lt;code&gt;state.gov&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;gc.ca&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;gov.uk&lt;/code&gt; respectively), and within each of these domains, compared the hits for the phrases &lt;code&gt;&quot;Canada visa&quot;&lt;/code&gt;/&lt;code&gt;&quot;Canadian visa&quot;&lt;/code&gt;; and similarly with France/French, Japan[ese], Brazil[ian], Russia[n], and Israel[i].   (I should add, I didn’t cherry-pick these examples; they’re the first ones I tried.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The raw results have to be taken with a slight pinch of salt, for several reasons.  Firstly, many hits aren’t really examples of the phrase in question: e.g. &lt;em&gt;Japanese visa regulations&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Travel in France: visa information&lt;/em&gt; are both erroneous.  Secondly, in some cases a single piece of boilerplate text has been re-used across multiple pages, skewing the hits like in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.ca/search?q=site%3agc.ca+%22israeli+visa%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this example&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;code&gt;site:gc.ca &quot;israeli visa&quot;&lt;/code&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the results pretty conclusively favour the adjective form.  On raw hits, it wins in &lt;em&gt;almost&lt;/em&gt; every case (the exception was &lt;code&gt;site:state.gov &quot;france visa&quot;&lt;/code&gt;); with confounding hits removed, &lt;strong&gt;the adjective form was more common in every case&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some sample hits: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/laws-policy/menu-safethird.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Canadian visa&lt;/a&gt;, from Canada; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.voyage.gc.ca/countries_pays/report_rapport-eng.asp?id=38000&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Brazilian visa&lt;/a&gt;, also from Canada; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/sub-saharan-africa/sudan1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Israeli visa&lt;/a&gt;, from the UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, googling more generally gives gives the opposite slant.  Using the same phrases/countries as before (eg &lt;code&gt;&quot;France visa&quot;&lt;/code&gt; vs. &lt;code&gt;&quot;French visa&quot;&lt;/code&gt;), &lt;strong&gt;the noun form was in every case more common&lt;/strong&gt; — generally about twice as common.  Of course, now there were far too many hits to comb through and discount erroneous ones, so that ‘twice’ should be taken with a pinch of salt, but it seems fair to say that &lt;strong&gt;in general usage, the noun form is probably more common, and is certainly acceptable&lt;/strong&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular, third-party sites giving visa information for multiple countries seem to strongly favour the noun form; for instance, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.visahq.com/visas.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;VisaHQ&lt;/a&gt; uses it consistently.  (Among other reasons, I’d imagine this simplifies their searching/sorting.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: Some slightly more carefully-controlled and authoritative sources seem again to favour the adjectival form.  In the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;code&gt;Israeli&lt;/code&gt;/&lt;code&gt;Canadian&lt;/code&gt;/&lt;code&gt;Russian&lt;/code&gt; &lt;code&gt;visa&lt;/code&gt; give 1, 4, and 1 hits respectively, while their noun forms give 0 hits.  (France, Japan and Brazil get no hits for either form.)  The OED quotations for &lt;em&gt;visa&lt;/em&gt; include one mention of &lt;em&gt;Russian visa&lt;/em&gt;, and no other examples of either form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The New York Times and the Guardian (using site-specific searches again) also prefer the adjectival form, almost without exception.  For instance: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.ca/search?q=%22canadian+visa%22+site%3anytimes.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Canadian visa&lt;/a&gt; vs. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.ca/search?q=%22canada+visa%22+site%3anytimes.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Canada visa&lt;/a&gt; at the NYT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T00:01:26.640" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T00:01:26.640" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7964" CreationDate="2011-01-04T23:40:49.087" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both tenses are OK, but I believe the past tense is a bit more common: it may be somewhat contrary to logic, but it sounds better. Harmony of tenses (if that's what it's called) is a linguistic phenomenon that is not always very logical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T00:07:51.643" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T00:07:51.643" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7970" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7974" CreationDate="2011-01-05T00:04:15.717" Score="1" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems as if both words mean &lt;em&gt;to humiliate and degrade&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3267" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T23:37:53.500" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T23:37:53.500" Title="Difference between &quot;abase&quot; and &quot;abash&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="7971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7953" CreationDate="2011-01-05T00:13:08.750" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is certainly proper grammar. From my experience, referring to four-digit numbers in the hundreds is more common in the US than in any other English-speaking country. As for &lt;em&gt;7300&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;seventy-three hundred&lt;/em&gt; is perfectly correct to say. It really all boils down to the speaker's choice. I must add, though, that for those numbers with three zeroes, &lt;em&gt;thousand&lt;/em&gt; is preferred to &lt;em&gt;hundred&lt;/em&gt;. Thus, &lt;em&gt;3000&lt;/em&gt; is better called &lt;em&gt;three thousand&lt;/em&gt; than &lt;em&gt;thirty hundred&lt;/em&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T00:13:08.750" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="866" CreationDate="2011-01-05T00:28:40.043" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are more likely to encounter &lt;em&gt;speak with&lt;/em&gt; in American English, which employs the &lt;em&gt;verb + with&lt;/em&gt; construction (&lt;em&gt;speak with&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;meet with&lt;/em&gt;) very much more than British English does. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember hearing a clip of Laura Bush speaking on the radio (I think to the people of Afghanistan) and saying how pleased she was to be &quot;&lt;em&gt;speaking with you&lt;/em&gt;&quot; and to British English ears it sounded very odd. On the radio, how are you doing anything other than speaking &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; your audience? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="368" LastEditorUserId="368" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T01:18:51.370" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T01:18:51.370" />
  <row Id="7973" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7977" CreationDate="2011-01-05T00:49:28.627" Score="0" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I happen to see the following three episodes in today’s Washington Post, all of which seem to me related to derogative usage of words or actions: &#xA;1. The Navy is expected to relieve Capt. Owen Owen Honors as commander of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise as a part of an investigation into a series of videos made by Honors that use anti-gay slurs and mimic masturbation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Despite the fancy sounding name, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee has almost zero legislative authority. All they can do is hold hearings. While most members of Congress have no interest in being on the committee, it seems to be a dream post for media hogs like Issa and Joe Lieberman.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;ESPN host calls reporter 'sweet baby': ESPN, the sports network where male announcers have repeatedly faced disciplinary action in high-profile episodes of sexist behavior, has benched yet another host for his remarks to a female colleague. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although Quote 1. is self-explanatory, what does ‘media hog’ of Quote 2. mean? Does it mean “those who wish to stand out in media exposure? How derogatory the word is?&#xA;What kind of connotation “sweet baby “in Quote 3 have in this particular case? How offensive is it? &#xA;I’m afraid my questions are insensible, but it is difficult for non native English speaker like me to fathom exact degree of destructiveness of derogative English words. – Yoichi Oishi&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T01:16:25.317" Title="What do 'media hog' and 'sweet baby' mean, how offensive are they?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7970" CreationDate="2011-01-05T00:54:11.010" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To &lt;em&gt;abase&lt;/em&gt; is to behave in a way so as to belittle or degrade someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &lt;em&gt;abash&lt;/em&gt; is to cause someone to feel embarrassed or ashamed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T00:54:11.010" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="7975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7970" CreationDate="2011-01-05T01:01:25.197" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder if you're conflating or confusing words here…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;abase - behave in a way so as to belittle or degrade &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;abash - embarrassed, disconcerted, or ashamed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bash - (3) criticize severely&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;debase - reduce (something) in quality or value; degrade &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the note on &lt;strong&gt;humble&lt;/strong&gt; in the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Humble&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;humiliate&lt;/em&gt; sound similar, but &lt;em&gt;humiliate&lt;/em&gt; emphasizes shame and the loss of self-respect and usually takes place in public (: &lt;em&gt;humiliated by her tearful outburst&lt;/em&gt;), while &lt;em&gt;humble&lt;/em&gt; is a milder term implying a lowering of one's pride or rank (: &lt;em&gt;to humble the arrogant professor by pointing out his mistake&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Abase&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; suggests groveling or a sense of inferiority and is usually used reflexively (: &lt;em&gt;got down on his knees and abased himself before the king&lt;/em&gt;), while &lt;em&gt;demean&lt;/em&gt; is more likely to imply a loss of dignity or social standing (: &lt;em&gt;refused to demean herself by marrying a common laborer&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When used to describe things, &lt;em&gt;debase&lt;/em&gt; means a deterioration in the quality or value of something (: &lt;em&gt;a currency debased by the country's political turmoil&lt;/em&gt;), but in reference to people it connotes a weakening of moral standards or character (: &lt;em&gt;debased himself by accepting bribes&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Degrade&lt;/em&gt; is even stronger, suggesting the destruction of a person's character through degenerate or shameful behavior (: &lt;em&gt;degraded by long association with criminals&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="513" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T01:01:25.197" />
  <row Id="7976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7953" CreationDate="2011-01-05T01:04:05.290" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In some places, city blocks are always referred to in terms of hundreds.  For example, in Chicago it is normal to hear somebody talk about driving from the twelve hundred block to the seventy three hundred block of some street.  This means going from a block with addresses of 1200-1299 to a block with addresses 7300-7399.  It only works in cities with a regular grid layout where each street covers a range of exactly 100 addresses, but in that case the &quot;hundred&quot; is the basic unit, rather than the individual addresses themselves.  So, you can sort of think of twelve hundred being grammatically analogous to twelve kilograms or twelve apples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, I never encounter it in formal written documents.  The only time I see it in writing is when somebody wants to explicitly capture a speaking style, such as an exact transcript, or dialog for a play.  However, when reading a document out loud which says &quot;7300,&quot; it can sometimes be idiomatic to pronounce it as seventy three hundred instead of seven thousand three hundred.  (&quot;Our Chicago office is located on the seventy three hundred block of Wabash street.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3268" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T01:04:05.290" />
  <row Id="7977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7973" CreationDate="2011-01-05T01:16:25.317" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;media hog&lt;/em&gt; can be either someone who watches or listens to all kinds of media without paying much attention to their content, or someone who likes media exposure just for the sake of it. In your quote, it is the media exposure. It is no more offensive than its definition is: it implies that someone is vain. It is especially effective because the insinuation is impossible to disprove.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sweet baby&lt;/em&gt; is a pet name you could use for a woman. When used by a man for a woman he is not intimate with, such a pet name often evokes a traditional male-female distribution of roles, in which the woman is inferior in skill and power. Emancipated women do not like this if it is used without irony. They might reply &quot;I am not your baby, you troglodyte&quot;. I don't think it has any more specific connotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T01:16:25.317" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="7978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7953" CreationDate="2011-01-05T01:19:43.987" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work in a building at '4400 North First Street'; I'd never say anything other than 'forty-four hundred' for the address.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is perfectly grammatical, and often very sensible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T01:19:43.987" />
  <row Id="7979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7970" CreationDate="2011-01-05T01:39:54.493" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main difference is that 'abase' is something you do yourself (or other people do themselves, of their own volition), whereas 'abash' is something that you do to other people (or other people do to you).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also not convinced that 'abase' really means 'humiliate' or 'degrade', unless you assume that any signs of abasement are automatically humiliating and degrading.  That was certainly not the original meaning of 'abase'; I'm not sure it is yet an acquired meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From an ancient Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary (1978 reprint of 1972 edition with 1977 supplement), page 1:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;abase&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;em&gt;v.t.&lt;/em&gt; to lower: to cast down: to humble: to degrade. -- &lt;em&gt;adj.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;abased&lt;/strong&gt;, lowered. -- &lt;em&gt;n.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;abasement&lt;/strong&gt;.  [O.Fr. &lt;em&gt;abaisser&lt;/em&gt;, to bring low--L. &lt;em&gt;ad&lt;/em&gt;, to, L.L. &lt;em&gt;bassus&lt;/em&gt;, low.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;abash&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;em&gt;v.t.&lt;/em&gt; to strike with shame; to put out of countenance: to astound: to confound.-- &lt;em&gt;adjs&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;abashed&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;strong&gt;abashless&lt;/strong&gt;, shameless: unabashed.-- &lt;em&gt;n.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;abashment&lt;/strong&gt;. [O.Fr. &lt;em&gt;esbahir&lt;/em&gt; -- pfx. &lt;em&gt;es-&lt;/em&gt; (L. &lt;em&gt;ex&lt;/em&gt;, out), &lt;em&gt;bahir&lt;/em&gt;, to astound--interj. &lt;em&gt;bah&lt;/em&gt;.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems clear to me that you do not normally abash yourself, so someone else does it to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not so clear that you do normally abase yourself, but the verb is often used reflexively - 'he abased himself'.  I'm not sure how you could abase someone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastEditorUserId="2386" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T02:35:46.763" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T02:35:46.763" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1999" CreationDate="2011-01-05T02:45:04.583" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the context of performance or sports, I've seen the British use &lt;i&gt;torrid&lt;/i&gt; to mean &quot;very bad&quot;.  In America, &lt;i&gt;torrid&lt;/i&gt; means &quot;very good&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially when it comes to racing, for example, the American usage makes more sense to me.  A &quot;scorching lap&quot; ought to be a very fast one, no?  I wonder if the British have confused &lt;i&gt;torrid&lt;/i&gt; with &lt;i&gt;horrid&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T02:45:04.583" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-05T02:45:04.583" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7981" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7983" CreationDate="2011-01-05T02:47:21.950" Score="2" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;gift&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;present&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="869" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T09:19:17.377" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T09:19:17.377" Title="What is the difference between &quot;gift&quot; and &quot;present&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="7982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7981" CreationDate="2011-01-05T03:03:23.390" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In many contexts, there is not much difference. I'd say &quot;present&quot; is mostly used in a practical context, when you hand someone a present on his birthday; &quot;gift&quot; is rather used in an abstract or formal context, as in the gift of telepathy [by supernatural powers], or a gift of land to the church. But this distinction is not at all strict; in many practical situations, they are used interchangeably. I think &quot;present&quot; is the more limited word. When it is used in a formal context, it is often with mild irony: &quot;the Duchy of Burgundy was a handsome present for Maximilian to receive from a potential bride, so the Habsburgs did not need much time to decide on the target of their bribes&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T03:03:23.390" />
  <row Id="7983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7981" CreationDate="2011-01-05T03:03:52.890" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are both free, but 'present' is more 'special' than 'gift' and suggests some nontrivial relationship between the giver and the receiver. This is best illustrated with examples. Hence we say 'birthday gift' or 'birthday present', but we say 'free gift' and not 'free present'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T03:03:52.890" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7984" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7985" CreationDate="2011-01-05T03:28:18.403" Score="0" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between except and besides? Which to use when?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="869" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T19:52:34.337" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T19:52:34.337" Title="What is the difference between except and besides?" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="7985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7984" CreationDate="2011-01-05T03:43:24.357" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They have totally different meanings, in fact 'opposite' in some sense: 'except' serves the purpose of exclusion while 'besides' serves that of inclusion. Let us illustrate this with the following scenario. Suppose John is in a class of 30 students. If the other 29 students are going to the zoo but John is not, we say 'the whole class is going, except John'. Now suppose Mary from another class is also going to the zoo. Then we say 'besides the class, Mary is also going'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T03:57:19.563" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T03:57:19.563" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="7986" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7988" CreationDate="2011-01-05T03:45:46.723" Score="17" ViewCount="513" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why should we capitalize first person pronoun 'i' even it does not appear in the beginning of a sentence? Why it is not the case for another pronouns?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1895" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T12:58:17.300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T11:25:37.413" Title="Why should the first person pronoun 'I' always be capitalized?" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7986" CreationDate="2011-01-05T03:52:45.863" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For reasons of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03wwln-guestsafire-t.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;typography&lt;/a&gt;. Minuscule &quot;i&quot; just gets lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the article in NY Times:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;England is where the capital “I” first&#xA;  reared its dotless head. In Old and&#xA;  Middle English, when “I” was still&#xA;  “ic,” “ich” or some variation thereof&#xA;  — before phonetic changes in the&#xA;  spoken language led to a stripped-down&#xA;  written form — the first-person&#xA;  pronoun was not majuscule in most&#xA;  cases. The generally accepted&#xA;  linguistic explanation for the capital&#xA;  “I” is that it could not stand alone,&#xA;  uncapitalized, as a single letter,&#xA;  which allows for the possibility that&#xA;  early manuscripts and typography&#xA;  played a major role in shaping the&#xA;  national character of English-speaking&#xA;  countries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Graphically, single letters are a&#xA;  problem,” says Charles Bigelow, a type&#xA;  historian and a designer of the Lucida&#xA;  and Wingdings font families. “They&#xA;  look like they broke off from a word&#xA;  or got lost or had some other&#xA;  accident.” When “I” shrunk to a single&#xA;  letter, Bigelow explains, “one little&#xA;  letter had to represent an important&#xA;  word, but it was too wimpy,&#xA;  graphically speaking, to carry the&#xA;  semantic burden, so the scribes made&#xA;  it bigger, which means taller, which&#xA;  means equivalent to a capital.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The growing “I” became prevalent in&#xA;  the 13th and 14th centuries, with a&#xA;  Geoffrey Chaucer manuscript of “The&#xA;  Canterbury Tales” among the first&#xA;  evidence of this grammatical shift.&#xA;  Initially, distinctions were made&#xA;  between graphic marks denoting an “I”&#xA;  at the beginning of a sentence versus&#xA;  a midphrase first-person pronoun. Yet&#xA;  these variations eventually fell by&#xA;  the wayside, leaving us with our&#xA;  all-purpose capital “I,” a potent&#xA;  change apparently made for&#xA;  simplicity’s sake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T04:07:26.443" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T04:07:26.443" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="7988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7986" CreationDate="2011-01-05T04:17:55.763" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The pronoun I began to be 'capitalized' around the middle of the 13th century. But this was not true capitalization. Note that it was long before the printing press: all texts were in manuscript.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before the 11th century, the letter i was normally just a short vertical line, without a dot. The j did not exist as a separate letter. When an i was written as a separate word or mark, as the Roman numeral I and the pronoun I, or when it was the last one of a group of i's, it began to be written elongated, as a j (without the dot). The elongation of the separate, single i was probably done in order to avoid confusion with punctuation marks. That of the last i of a group was mostly in order to avoid confusion between u and ii or between n and ii, which often look identical in manuscripts: from then on, such groups looked like ij and iij (but without the dots).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that this convention of elongating the pronoun I had already been established by the time the dot was first used. Because a long j without a dot looks much like a capital I—which has been written the same way since Antiquity—, it was later assumed to be a capital. (Incidentally, the dot was then usually written as a very short diagonal line above the i or j.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=I&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=I&lt;/a&gt; :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The reason for writing I is ... the&#xA;  orthographic habit in the middle ages&#xA;  of using a 'long i' (that is, j or I)&#xA;  whenever the letter was isolated or&#xA;  formed the last letter of a group; the&#xA;  numeral 'one' was written j or I (and&#xA;  three iij, etc.), just as much as the&#xA;  pronoun. [Otto Jespersen, &quot;Growth and&#xA;  Structure of the English Language,&quot;&#xA;  p.233]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T11:25:37.413" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T11:25:37.413" />
  <row Id="7989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2011-01-05T04:58:03.563" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Google&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not Google Books, Language Tools, or even word trends. I mean the search engine. If I am curious about a sentence or spelling, I search for it. If the search returns interesting results similar to what I'm writing about, the sentence was good. If it returns badly-spelled pages about unrelated topics, the sentence is no good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2949" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T04:58:03.563" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-05T04:58:03.563" />
  <row Id="7990" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="7999" CreationDate="2011-01-05T06:22:08.830" Score="1" ViewCount="319" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the differences between the two words? Do they have different meanings or can they be used interchangeably?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let's sit under the shade/shadow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The cat was afraid of its own shade/shadow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T09:20:13.710" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T20:56:57.003" Title="Shade vs. Shadow" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="7991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7990" CreationDate="2011-01-05T06:33:15.507" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you probably want to mean is 'let's sit under the shade' and 'the cat was afraid of its own shadow'. A shadow of an object is formed on the ground when the object prevents the sun's rays from reaching the ground. A shade is an object used to shelter you from the sun. To contrast the two words in a single sentence, consider this example: On a hot day, I use an umbrella as a shade, and see its beautiful shadow on the road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T06:45:54.560" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T06:45:54.560" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7993" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-05T08:11:29.143" Score="1" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it right to say &quot;I have so much works&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3273" LastEditorUserId="1310" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T08:46:20.277" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T08:46:20.277" Title="I have so much works - correct?" Tags="&lt;speech&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="7994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7993" CreationDate="2011-01-05T08:36:43.667" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I have so much work&quot; means you have a lot of work to get done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I have so many works&quot; means you have many creations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3272" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T08:36:43.667" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7995" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8008" CreationDate="2011-01-05T09:43:29.763" Score="2" ViewCount="199" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is a sort of continuation of &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5800/woman-is-the-n-word-of-the-world&quot;&gt;&quot;Woman is the 'n-word' of the world&quot; question&lt;/a&gt;, but this is not a duplicate. This question is addressed to native English speakers who were born and grew up in the USA. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the upcoming censoring of &quot;Huckleberry Finn&quot;, in which all the &quot;niggers&quot; will be replaced with &quot;slaves&quot;, a normal phenomenon in today's American society? I mean, we all know that any language is constantly changing, some words become obsolete and some words acquire new meanings, perhaps, not good ones. So, it seems that the word &quot;nigger&quot; is now way more negative than it was during Mark Twain's times. So, replacing words with some other ones in this case may be considered a no bigger crime than, say, issuing a new version of the Bible that is meant to make the biblical language more accessible for modern readers. On the other hand, changing the words chosen for his book by one of the most famous American writers might be considered as disrespectful toward the author. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is it okay with common American people today? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2270" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T13:49:51.130" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T14:50:00.100" ClosedDate="2011-01-05T15:36:38.053" Title="&quot;Huckleberry Finn&quot; without the 'n-words'" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;expletives&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="7996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5716" CreationDate="2011-01-05T10:13:05.560" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am reading Neale Donald Walsch. Very understanable and very interesting. You can see there many phrases those you use in a daily life. The series of books about his conversations with God. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3273" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T10:13:05.560" />
  <row Id="7997" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-05T10:36:09.620" Score="0" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicates:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5913/pronouncing-possessive-words-that-already-end-in-s&quot;&gt;Pronouncing possessive words that already end in s&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1073/what-is-the-correct-possessive-for-nouns-ending-in-s&quot;&gt;What is the correct possessive for nouns ending in s?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's usual to say &lt;em&gt;Tom's book&lt;/em&gt; when the book belongs to Tom.&#xA;But how to say it if there's an &quot;s&quot; at the end of the name, e.g. Mr Trias... &lt;em&gt;Mr Trias's book&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1674" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T15:48:27.167" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T15:48:27.167" ClosedDate="2011-01-05T19:16:50.170" Title="Tom's book and Mr Trias's book?" Tags="&lt;possessive&gt;" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="7998" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8012" CreationDate="2011-01-05T12:50:13.040" Score="2" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi, how can I know when to differentiate the sounds of the letter a, like in: apple and vault?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3278" LastEditorUserId="3278" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T13:01:37.270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T18:06:40.307" Title="Sounds of the letter a." Tags="&lt;phonology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="7999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7990" CreationDate="2011-01-05T13:04:14.910" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A shadow is the silhouette cast by an object that blocks a source of light.  You can see your shadow on the ground or a wall or whatever you are blocking from the light source.  You can make shadow puppets with your hands.  A shadow can be cast by any light source such as a candle, a flashlight, an overhead light, a spotlight, or the sun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shade is the &quot;darkness&quot; created by a shadow and only really applies to shadows created outside by the sun.  Underneath a tree on a sunny day would be &quot;in the shade&quot;.  Inside a building would be &quot;out of the sun&quot; and not &quot;in the shade.&quot;  However, under a roof with no walls (like a picnic shelter) would be &quot;in the shade.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastEditorUserId="2469" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T20:56:57.003" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T20:56:57.003" />
  <row Id="8001" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8006" CreationDate="2011-01-05T13:38:11.077" Score="1" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand words glimpse and insight. :) But I don't know the meaning of the whole idiom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3072" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T21:10:47.933" Title="What does &quot;a glimpse of insight&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7995" CreationDate="2011-01-05T13:49:33.680" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sadly, censorship in America is not new. In fact, we even have a recorded case of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;book burning&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To object to the censorship in this case is to risk being branded as a racist, so I wouldn't expect many public objections. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3279" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T13:49:33.680" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8003" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8007" CreationDate="2011-01-05T13:58:20.720" Score="1" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are some common mistakes that native English-speaking children make? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's possible, please, specify the approximate age at which kids would usually make a certain mistake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T04:54:15.100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T04:54:15.100" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-05T15:25:22.857" Title="What are the common mistakes that native English-speaking children make?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8001" CreationDate="2011-01-05T14:04:24.660" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not a standard idiom. The author is either a non-native speaker or a native speaker using a slightly unusual phrase for deliberate (e.g. poetic) effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you understand both words you'll probably be able to make sense of the author's (I assume) intended meaning: &lt;em&gt;an insight perceived briefly as if glimpsed&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="368" LastEditorUserId="368" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T18:04:53.047" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T18:04:53.047" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7998" CreationDate="2011-01-05T14:04:40.693" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately English orthography is difficult. There are patterns (or rules), but there are sometimes conflicting patterns, and also many exceptions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also further complications where pairs of words are distinguished in some dialects but not others: for example in my (UK) accent &quot;ant&quot; and &quot;aunt&quot; sound quite different (but &quot;aunt&quot; does not have the same vowel sound as &quot;vault&quot;, and &quot;aren't&quot; sounds the same as &quot;aunt&quot;) but in some American accents &quot;ant&quot; and &quot;aunt&quot; sound the same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it is difficult to give you a clear answer. &quot;Au&quot; is certainly a different environment from &quot;a&quot;, and in most cases will be pronounced differently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T14:04:40.693" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8001" CreationDate="2011-01-05T14:14:16.513" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Glimpse' here means a short experience of something, while 'insight' means an understanding of something. For example, the phrase 'the film gives us a glimpse of insight into the lives of Martians' means the film helps us understand their lives better by a little bit, since the film is only a few hours long but their lives are years long. Perhaps we should not see it as an 'idiom' but rather a concatenation of the two meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T14:14:16.513" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8003" CreationDate="2011-01-05T14:19:55.567" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking as a Dad of young children the obvious one which comes to mind is failure to use irregular plurals &amp;amp; irregular verb forms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;two sheeps&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some mans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;we goed to the park&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I eated a banana&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not unreasonable mistakes really. They have freshly learnt the pattern (for plurals, for past tenses) and they're doggedly applying it whenever the need arises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the ages when these occur? I'm thinking 2 to 3 years old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="368" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T14:19:55.567" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-05T15:25:22.857" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7995" CreationDate="2011-01-05T14:22:34.937" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not okay with me. &lt;em&gt;Huckleberry Finn&lt;/em&gt; is one of the great American novels, and to censor it in this way is tantamount to an abridgment of the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a word for this kind of pernicious foolishness. It's called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bowdlerize&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bowdlerization&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, such bowdlerization of &lt;em&gt;Huckleberry Finn&lt;/em&gt; is not new. It's been a topic of conversation since I was in college. It was wrong then and it's wrong now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: By the way, what's next? &lt;em&gt;The&lt;/em&gt; Slave &lt;em&gt;of the Narcissus&lt;/em&gt; by Joseph Conrad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T14:50:00.100" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T14:50:00.100" />
  <row Id="8009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7995" CreationDate="2011-01-05T14:43:19.350" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's news to me that this re-release was even happening, but I have a major issue with editing books in an attempt to make them more &quot;politically correct&quot; for the current audience. Also, even though it's been years since I read &quot;Huckleberry Finn&quot;, I would have to question if you could even just make a substitution since since the term didn't just refer to slaves but could also refer to free blacks as well. &quot;To Kill a Mockingbird&quot; uses the term a couple of times as well and while it is a newer novel, the use in the novel was a appropriate which is the same why that it was at the time &quot;Huckleberry Finn.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3234" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T14:43:19.350" />
  <row Id="8010" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8011" CreationDate="2011-01-05T14:43:32.633" Score="0" ViewCount="445" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between 'curricula' and 'curriculum'? Both appear to have the same definition. Are they used in the same context? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T21:30:54.370" Title="Difference between 'curricula' and 'curriculum'?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8010" CreationDate="2011-01-05T14:45:52.733" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Curricula is the plural of curriculum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T14:45:52.733" />
  <row Id="8012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7998" CreationDate="2011-01-05T14:48:39.840" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an extremely broad question, actually, and I doubt there can be a single, definite, comprehensive answer. I will try to provide a few quick-and-dirty rules of thumb, but be aware that you will probably find exceptions to every single one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7998/sounds-of-the-letter-a/8005#8005&quot;&gt;Colin Fine points out&lt;/a&gt;, note that things are not pronounced the same everywhere. For example, &lt;em&gt;can't&lt;/em&gt; can be pronounced as /kaːnt/, /kɑːnt/, /kænt/, and /keənt/, depending on what variety of English we are talking about. As a second example, the vowels in &lt;em&gt;Mary&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;marry&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;merry&lt;/em&gt; sound identical &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary-marry-merry_merger#Mary-marry-merry_merger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in certain dialects but not in others&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that being said, on to the rules of thumb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, the basics. Here are the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/a#Usage_notes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary usage notes&lt;/a&gt; for &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In English, the letter &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; usually denotes the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;near-open front unrounded vowel&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPA_chart_for_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;IPA&lt;/a&gt;: /æ/), as in &lt;em&gt;pad&lt;/em&gt;, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/open_back_unrounded_vowel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;open back unrounded vowel&lt;/a&gt; (IPA: /ɑː/) as in &lt;em&gt;father&lt;/em&gt;, or, followed by another vowel, the diphthong /eɪ/, as in &lt;em&gt;ace&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now on to details, which I will be more adapting than quoting from the essay &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zompist.com/spell.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Hou tu pranownse Inglish&quot;&lt;/a&gt; by Mark Rosenfelder. Note that the order of the following rules of thumb is important. As the author puts it, &quot;to pronounce a word, you go down the list of rules, seeing if each one in turn applies, and applying it if it does&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;aught&lt;/em&gt; becomes /ɔt/ (&lt;em&gt;daughter&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;caught&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;taught&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;naught&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;ay&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced /eɪ/ (&lt;em&gt;day&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;say&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;al&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced /ɔl/ before &lt;em&gt;r&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;, a dental stop, or final &lt;em&gt;ll&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;(&lt;em&gt;also&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;already&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;wall&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;bald&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;although&lt;/em&gt;), and sometimes before &lt;em&gt;m&lt;/em&gt; (e.g. in &lt;em&gt;almost&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;almighty&lt;/em&gt;; but there are many exceptions)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;alk&lt;/em&gt; becomes /ɔk/ (&lt;em&gt;walk&lt;/em&gt;), except initially (&lt;em&gt;alkali&lt;/em&gt;, /ælk/)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced &quot;long&quot;, as /eɪ/, before an intervocalic consonant (&lt;em&gt;rate&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;bake&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced &quot;short&quot;, as /æ/, before two consonants (&lt;em&gt;battle&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ladder&lt;/em&gt;) or&#xA;before a final consonant (&lt;em&gt;bat&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;dad&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ram&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;wa&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced /wɒ/ (UK) or /wɑ/ (US) before &lt;em&gt;t&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;d&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;want&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;wander&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;swan&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Rwanda&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;swat&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;wad&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;wasp&lt;/em&gt;), and as /wɔ/ before &lt;em&gt;sh&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;tch&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;wash&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;squash&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;watch&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is one thing not covered by the above: an unstressed &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; is often&#xA;reduced to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwa&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;schwa&lt;/a&gt;, /ə/, as in &lt;em&gt;addition&lt;/em&gt; /əˈdɪʃn̩/ or &lt;em&gt;anomaly&lt;/em&gt; /əˈnɒməlɪ/. However, as the author puts it, &quot;the idea here is to predict pronunciations from the spelling, and the spelling doesn't indicate the stress&quot;. Once you hear a word, you know where the stress is, but then you also know how to pronounce any &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; in it anyway.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At this point, you are more or less safe to make the following substitutions:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;eau&lt;/em&gt; = /o/&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;ai&lt;/em&gt; = /eɪ/&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;au&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;aw&lt;/em&gt; = /ɔ/&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;ea&lt;/em&gt; = /iː/&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;oa&lt;/em&gt; = /o/&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;ua&lt;/em&gt; = /juə/&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; is reduced to /ə/ before final &lt;em&gt;l&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;final&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;typical&lt;/em&gt;); a &quot;short&quot; &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;,&#xA;as in /æ/, is reduced to /ə/ before a final &lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;human&lt;/em&gt;). &quot;These rules don't apply&#xA;to monosyllables (&lt;em&gt;pal&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt;), nor to vowels that have already been assigned a&#xA;particular value by an earlier rule (e.g. &lt;em&gt;meal&lt;/em&gt; to /miːl/ by the [previous] rule).&#xA;These rules could probably be refined; they don't apply to stressed finals, but again,&#xA;the orthography doesn't indicate stress.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The suffix -&lt;em&gt;able&lt;/em&gt; is reduced to /əbəl/ (&lt;em&gt;lovable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;usable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;formable&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any remaining final &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced as /ə/.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;war&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced /wɔː(r)/, except before a vowel (&lt;em&gt;war&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;warlock&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;dwarf&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;/æ/ before a double &lt;em&gt;r&lt;/em&gt; becomes /e/ (&lt;em&gt;marry&lt;/em&gt;; see disclaimer above)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;/æ/ before any other &lt;em&gt;r&lt;/em&gt; becomes /a/ (&lt;em&gt;mark&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;star&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, these &quot;rules&quot; are only approximations, so take them with a grain of salt (also, I hope I haven't thrown in a few typos or copy-paste mistakes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For further reading, see these questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/235/written-english-vowels-are-odd&quot;&gt;Written English Vowels are Odd&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2758/pronunciation-of-names-that-end-in-h&quot;&gt;Pronunciation of names that end in “h”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/676/sounding-vs-in-english-phonology&quot;&gt;Sounding “æ” vs. “ɛ” in English phonology&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4363/why-did-only-english-undergo-the-great-vowel-shift-making-pronunciation-stray-so&quot;&gt;Why did only English undergo the Great Vowel Shift, making pronunciation stray so far from spelling?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1431/what-words-are-commonly-mispronounced-by-literate-people-who-read-them-before-the&quot;&gt;What words are commonly mispronounced by literate people who read them before they heard them?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T18:06:40.307" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T18:06:40.307" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8010" CreationDate="2011-01-05T14:52:20.303" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Curriculum' is the collection of subjects taught and is considered a singular noun. Its plural form is 'curricula' or 'curriculums'. For example, we can say 'the two schools have different curricula'. Similarly, the plural of 'referendum' is 'referenda' or 'referendums'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T14:52:20.303" />
  <row Id="8014" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8051" CreationDate="2011-01-05T15:13:00.287" Score="4" ViewCount="284" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of the word &lt;em&gt;boner&lt;/em&gt;? Trying to find the roots for its prevalent usage, especially in North America.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/boner&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary&lt;/a&gt; it means &lt;em&gt;an erect penis&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T12:33:57.980" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T12:33:57.980" Title="Origin of the word “boner”" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8014" CreationDate="2011-01-05T15:19:25.007" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=boner&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Meaning &quot;erect penis&quot; is 1950s, from earlier &lt;em&gt;bone-on&lt;/em&gt; (1940s), probably a variation (with connection notion of &quot;hardness&quot;) of &lt;em&gt;hard-on&lt;/em&gt; (1893).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T15:19:25.007" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="851" CreationDate="2011-01-05T15:51:42.637" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't pussy foot:  the correct pronunciation is CariBBEan. The North Americans have it wrong. The British way is correct as the place was ours and we defined it. (Sorry, Spain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3282" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T15:51:42.637" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8017" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8020" CreationDate="2011-01-05T15:53:32.863" Score="6" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every so often, I come across the phrase &quot;a million and a half X&quot; - which always strikes me as strange: it suggests 1000000.5 of the thing. I was taught to use instead &quot;one and a half million&quot; to be unambiguous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the first form actually acceptable, though? Or is it just sloppy writing/editing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T18:28:04.470" Title="&quot;A million and a half&quot; vs. &quot;one and a half million&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8017" CreationDate="2011-01-05T16:11:58.253" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, &quot;a million and a half&quot; and &quot;a billion and a half&quot; sound normal to my ear, with the meaning being 1.5 of each, but &quot;a hundred and a half&quot; and &quot;a thousand and a half&quot; don't. I'm not sure why this is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T16:11:58.253" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8017" CreationDate="2011-01-05T16:12:00.937" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is certainly acceptable and I would not consider it sloppy writing, at all. While &lt;em&gt;one-and-a-half million&lt;/em&gt; is correct, it sounds awkward and I daresay it is less commonly used. In regular conversation, one would probably hear &lt;em&gt;one-point-five million&lt;/em&gt;, instead. With the indefinite article, the &lt;em&gt;half&lt;/em&gt; usually comes after the million: &lt;em&gt;a million and a half&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several examples of the &lt;em&gt;-and-a-half&lt;/em&gt; construction, in which &lt;em&gt;half&lt;/em&gt; consistently refers to the preceding unit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;an hour and a half&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a month and a half&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a dozen and a half&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;one year and a half&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T18:28:04.470" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T18:28:04.470" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8017" CreationDate="2011-01-05T16:12:52.110" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Context is really important.  If you want to go down that road of possible ambiguity, then &quot;one and a half million&quot; could also be interpreted as &lt;code&gt;1 + 500,000&lt;/code&gt;, right?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reality, the context will be such that nobody will be confused no matter which of the two you use.  How often does the number 1,000,000.5 come up?  Extremely rarely.  1.5 million, on the other hand, comes up all the time.  In conversation, I think you'll hear both of these phrasings used for 1.5 million with very little confusion, because everyone will assume you mean 1.5 million.  So, in that sense, both can be considered acceptable.  (Compare this to saying &quot;fifteen thousand hundred&quot;, which you'd have a hard time calling &quot;acceptable&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in a publication of some kind, it is probably seen as better, clearer writing to use &quot;one and a half million&quot;.  In this kind of one-way communication, you only have one chance to get your message across, so you should make sure it is understood.  If I were told by my editor to only write &quot;one and a half million&quot;, I would consider that a reasonable edit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T16:37:46.993" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T16:37:46.993" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="8021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5004" CreationDate="2011-01-05T16:45:51.640" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A bill to restrict freedom of worship was due to be passed, but before it could receive the royal assent the queen died. The message was therefore sounded round the nonconformists 'The Queen is dead', the result being that they were safe.&#xA;It was as a result of this that Isaac Watts penned the well known hymn (a paraphrase of Psalm 90) &lt;strong&gt;Our God&lt;/strong&gt; (as originally written) &lt;strong&gt;our help in ages past&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3284" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T16:45:51.640" />
  <row Id="8022" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8032" CreationDate="2011-01-05T16:54:58.777" Score="3" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference between &lt;em&gt;famous&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;popular&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="869" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T22:52:58.220" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T22:52:58.220" Title="Is there any difference between &quot;famous&quot; and &quot;popular&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="6" />
  <row Id="8023" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8035" CreationDate="2011-01-05T17:11:59.020" Score="3" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;A quick search suggests that &quot;insofar&quot; is the American variant of the British &quot;in so far.&quot; I always assumed it just belonged to that set of expressions like &quot;hitherto&quot;, &quot;heretofore&quot;, &quot;therefore&quot; and &quot;albeit.&quot; Is there a preferred usage, and does it matter? If someone could provide some general context for the usage of these expressions, that would be helpful as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="845" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T18:25:50.830" Title="&quot;Insofar&quot; or &quot;in so far&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8022" CreationDate="2011-01-05T17:14:30.853" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Famous people are likely to be popular but it isn't necessary, e.g. George Bush. Popularity does not necessarily imply fame either. e.g. &quot;You are quite popular in your class.&quot; just means liked by many. 'Famous' cannot be used interchangably here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="669" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T17:14:30.853" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8022" CreationDate="2011-01-05T17:25:41.497" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A famous person is someone a lot of people know about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A popular person is someone who is liked by people who know that person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3279" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T17:25:41.497" />
  <row Id="8026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8022" CreationDate="2011-01-05T17:28:06.883" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Famous' means 'known' by many people because of their achievements or works, while 'popular' means 'liked' by many people. Suppose there is a very beautiful girl in a school whom all the boys like, and there is a very smart girl who is always topping the exams. The first girl is likely to be 'popular' while the second is likely to be 'famous'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T17:28:06.883" />
  <row Id="8027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8001" CreationDate="2011-01-05T17:32:28.810" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Glimpse is almost always used in a physical sense of seeing briefly. Insight is always mental understanding. Therefore, I'd say glimpse and insight don't go very well together in a phrase. In Jasper Loy's example the sentence &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the film gives us a glimpse of&#xA;  insight into the lives of Martian&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would probably be better off with just 'glimpse' (or just 'insight').&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The film gives us a glimpse into the&#xA;  lives of Martians&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The film gives us (some) insights into&#xA;  the lives of Martians&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While we are at it, 'flash of insight' is more commonly used to describe sudden, unexpected understanding&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="669" LastEditorUserId="669" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T21:10:47.933" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T21:10:47.933" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8028" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8031" CreationDate="2011-01-05T17:36:33.640" Score="0" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will see her &lt;strong&gt;on the weekend&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;during the weekend&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T18:28:02.463" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T22:34:56.447" Title="on the weekend or during the weekend" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8023" CreationDate="2011-01-05T17:38:06.073" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am from USA. where insofar is prevailing. I actually haven't encountered &quot;in so far&quot; at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1446" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T18:10:02.833" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T18:10:02.833" />
  <row Id="8030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8028" CreationDate="2011-01-05T18:01:10.697" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;On the weekend&lt;/em&gt; is the normal usage. You can use &lt;em&gt;during the weekend&lt;/em&gt; if your meaning specifically involves periods of time rather than just sometime &quot;on the weekend.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T18:01:10.697" />
  <row Id="8031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8028" CreationDate="2011-01-05T18:05:40.637" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither. The answer is “this weekend”, as in “I will see her &lt;strong&gt;this weekend&lt;/strong&gt;.” Depending on which weekend you mean, you could also say “next weekend”, which is the weekend following “this weekend”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“On the weekend” is sometimes used, but sounds odd to me. “During the weekend” would only be applicable if you were clarifying that you meant not before or after, but &lt;strong&gt;during&lt;/strong&gt; the weekend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T18:05:40.637" />
  <row Id="8032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8022" CreationDate="2011-01-05T18:09:57.207" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, &lt;em&gt;famous&lt;/em&gt; refers to recognition, and &lt;em&gt;popular&lt;/em&gt; refers to reputation (of a person) or frequency (many people use a thing or visit a place).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Famous&lt;/em&gt; often, but not necessarily, has positive connotations. Knowledge of the &lt;em&gt;famous&lt;/em&gt; person, thing or event is widespread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Popular&lt;/em&gt; usually has positive connotations, or when referring to a place, it means it is visited by many people. The person, place or thing is largely well regarded among the people who know of it, but doesn't necessarily mean a lot of people know of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps it's easier understood with an example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A famous restaurant:&lt;/strong&gt; Is well known. The name of the restaurant is recognized, perhaps because a well-known chef founded it, or it advertises a lot, or a well-known event occurred on the premises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A popular restaurant:&lt;/strong&gt; It's usually busy. The majority of people enjoy eating there. Or maybe they don't, but they go there because the food is cheap, or it's the &quot;place to be.&quot; Outside of the people that eat there, it may or may not be well known.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A restaurant can be both famous and popular (everyone knows about the restaurant, and many of them go there), or popular but not famous (only the people that frequent the restaurant know of it), or famous but not popular (making it &lt;em&gt;infamous&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T18:09:57.207" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8028" CreationDate="2011-01-05T18:25:28.030" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best choice for your construction would be &lt;strong&gt;over the weekend&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T18:25:28.030" />
  <row Id="8034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2011-01-05T18:45:22.310" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnet.princeton.edu/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Word Net&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a lexical database of english. Nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are grouped into sets of cognitive synonyms (synsets), each expressing a distinct concept. These &quot;synsets&quot; are interlinked. It's more rigorous than a normal Thesaurus, in that it tries to &quot;pin down&quot; every unique meaning of a word rather than just listing a bunch of synonyms with different shades of meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a fascinating project. It's an attempt to be thorough and methodical about categorizing semantic meaning in english for use in computational linguistics and natural language processing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T18:45:22.310" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-05T18:45:22.310" />
  <row Id="8035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8023" CreationDate="2011-01-05T19:14:19.040" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From Wiktionary (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/insofar):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The form insofar is American English; the standard form in British and other English is 'in so far'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have never seen the form 'in so far' used in American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastEditorUserId="1267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T18:25:50.830" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T18:25:50.830" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8036" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8039" CreationDate="2011-01-05T19:53:24.423" Score="6" ViewCount="277" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was vacantly reading the paper the other day when I came across a strange formation in the obituary: &quot;he married his wife in 19XX&quot;. I was rather taken aback by this; surely he can't marry his own wife. He could attempt to marry someone else's wife, and that would be bigamy. But surely marrying one's own wife is a logical impossibility?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T20:41:18.403" Title="Can one &quot;marry one's wife&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7990" CreationDate="2011-01-05T20:00:41.920" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When used as a verb in the sense of &quot;cast a shadow&quot;, shade and shadow can be used interchangeably. The trees shadow/shade the road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When used as a noun, &lt;em&gt;shade&lt;/em&gt; is relative darkness, &lt;em&gt;shadow&lt;/em&gt; is what causes the darkness. A tree casts a &lt;em&gt;shadow&lt;/em&gt; which causes &lt;em&gt;shade&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Shade&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;shadowiness&lt;/em&gt;.  A &lt;em&gt;shadow&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;shade within clear boundaries.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Historically they were the same word. In Old English, nouns were inflected, they had different forms depending on usage. The Old English noun &lt;em&gt;sceadu&lt;/em&gt; (shade/shadow) became &lt;em&gt;sceaduwe&lt;/em&gt; (in shade/shadow) when preceded by a preposition. Over time, the two word forms became interpreted as different words. The same process happened to the words &lt;em&gt;mead&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;meadow&lt;/em&gt;. The uninflected form became archaic and is now used only poetically. (Mead in the sense of fermented honey has a different origin.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So depending on context or idiom, they can't usually be used as a noun interchangeably. As well, each word has taken on other &lt;em&gt;shades&lt;/em&gt; of meaning which aren't really equivalent. (Couldn't resist.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastEditorUserId="1871" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-05T20:17:54.723" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T20:17:54.723" />
  <row Id="8038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8036" CreationDate="2011-01-05T20:02:47.567" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Married&quot; is past tense, obviously. We are looking backwards in time from now to see the action that did occur. However &quot;He&quot; and &quot;his wife&quot; are the current topic of conversation (as of the day of the obituary). As of &lt;em&gt;now&lt;/em&gt;, being &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; the occasion of the past-tense verb, they are &quot;he&quot; and &quot;his wife&quot;. So yes. this is valid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Had it been the day before they married, it would merely be poetic license, as they would not, yet, have been married.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2161" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T20:02:47.567" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8036" CreationDate="2011-01-05T20:34:12.803" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;he married his wife&quot; is merely redundant, not illogical.  (However, in terms of language, bear in mind that it need not be proven logical in order to be considered grammatical English and to be understood by everyone.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is quite normal to have an attribution (e.g. relationship, title, name, etc.) be understood to be the person that fits that attribution at the time of the utterance or writing.  Now, this isn't &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; done, but I think it is the default assumption, and it is also logically consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why, in news articles, we see things like, &quot;Sean Penn and then-wife Madonna were often seen at...&quot;.  If the referent of &quot;wife&quot; is dependent on the tense or timeframe of the sentence it is in, then there would be no need to say &quot;then-wife&quot;, you could just say &quot;wife&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of other examples where this is done every day:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;President Obama attended Occidental College.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But&lt;/strong&gt; he wasn't president when he was in college.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My father was in the army for a few years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But&lt;/strong&gt; he wasn't my father before I was born.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And so on.  I think that once you start thinking about it, you will see it is actually done all the time, and you probably didn't even notice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T20:34:12.803" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8036" CreationDate="2011-01-05T20:41:18.403" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's simply shorthand for saying &quot;He married the woman who is now his wife.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1403" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T20:41:18.403" />
  <row Id="8041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8010" CreationDate="2011-01-05T20:51:01.880" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Curricula is the plural of curriculum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question, asked in a more general way, might be, &quot;What is a common way of forming plural vs. singular for Latin-derived words?&quot; There is a whole list of them and they come in multiple patterns:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;curriculum vs. curricula&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;datum vs. data&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;medium vs. media&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;focus vs. foci&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are certainly more, but these come to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1403" LastEditorUserId="1403" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T21:30:54.370" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T21:30:54.370" />
  <row Id="8042" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8043" CreationDate="2011-01-05T21:23:57.090" Score="1" ViewCount="227" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Asahi, one of leading Japanese newspapers carried a half page feature article titled “Brush Up Your English Proficiency This Year!” on its January 5 issue. &#xA;In this article, a well-known English teaching expert emphasized the importance of setting the goal and roadmaps to reach the goal for mastering English, which sounds reasonable to me. And he also stressed importance of writing down a “Mission Statement”, for an example, “So little done, so much to do” which is a quote from British politician, Cecil Rhodes, and very similar to Japanese old saying, “The sunset is near. Yet there’s long way to go.” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between “Goal” and “Mission Statement”? What does “Mission Statement” exactly mean? Can an epigram or axiom like “So little done, so much to do” be a mission statement at all? Maybe I should ask this to the English teaching expert, but can somebody give me the definition of “Mission Statement (I thought it a marketing term),” how effective to have it in improving English capability, and propriety of using somebody’s witty phrase as a mission statement? - Yoichi&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T22:30:27.040" Title="Importance of writing down Mission Statement in improving English proficiency, Do I really need to?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8042" CreationDate="2011-01-05T21:36:56.350" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe you can use a mission statement and a goal interchangably, although you can have multiple goals addressed with a single mission statement.  Mission statement is used often as a way of clarifying the purpose of a project; e.g. &quot;This project will address this problem.&quot;.  The goal of that project would be to rectify that problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose you could say the mission statement is a formal declaration of your goals.  In that context, using a witty phrase seems to have very little to do with that, unless it specifically addresses your goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T21:36:56.350" />
  <row Id="8044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8042" CreationDate="2011-01-05T21:43:26.253" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A mission statement is, quite literally, a statement which defines your mission; that is, your underlying purpose, motivating reason, or ultimate objective for doing things.  (According to M-W.com, a mission in this context is &quot;a preestablished and often self-imposed objective or purpose&quot;.) As such, using a witty phrase such as the one given is quite pointless and completely inappropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A mission statement for a group or company that teaches English to Japanese people could be &quot;We deliver the most comprehensive English-language tutorials to make our customers sound as if they are native speakers in the shortest time possible.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conversely, your mission statement as a student learning English could be &quot;to improve my mastery of English to the point where I can carry on a wide-ranging conversation comfortably with a native English speaker.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T21:43:26.253" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7990" CreationDate="2011-01-05T22:15:01.187" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shade often deals with being sheltered from the sun and does not necessarily have  strongly defined edges. A shadow may have more defined edges but aren't necessarily cast from the sun. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3287" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T22:15:01.187" />
  <row Id="8046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8022" CreationDate="2011-01-05T22:23:36.733" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Famous means well known.  Popular means well-liked.  Something or someone that is well known, but not popular could be infamous, which isn't a lack of being known, but being known for a bad reputation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3287" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T22:23:36.733" />
  <row Id="8047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8042" CreationDate="2011-01-05T22:30:27.040" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mission statement&lt;/em&gt; is a business term that usually presents a vaguely positive spin on how a company sees itself, while providing as little information as possible. A typical mission statement would use a lot of buzzwords in a generally feel-good way, perhaps something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Empowering our customers to reach&#xA;  their full potential through our&#xA;  corporate synergy and high-impact&#xA;  business practices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, that pretty much says nothing, and that's the way most business like it. If you don't say anything, you can't be pinned down or held accountable. Your statement &quot;So little done, so much to do,&quot; while commendable in its honesty, would fail the test for most businesses because it admits a fault (little has been achieved) and confronts a problem (so much to yet to achieve). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact is, you don't need a mission statement if you really know what you want to do. A mission statement is intended for two audiences: a company's perceived clients and customers, and its employees. It represents nothing more than — how shall I put this? — an attempt to blow a little sunshine up a lot of people's asses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T22:30:27.040" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8028" CreationDate="2011-01-05T22:34:56.447" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest &lt;strong&gt;at the weekend&lt;/strong&gt; as normal English usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3289" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T22:34:56.447" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3666" CreationDate="2011-01-05T22:57:36.360" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's possible that the etymology of &lt;strong&gt;citizen&lt;/strong&gt; is linked to that of &lt;strong&gt;denizen&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3289" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T22:57:36.360" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8003" CreationDate="2011-01-05T23:52:18.443" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the earliest mistakes my lad would make while forming sentences was failing to differentiate between mine and yours since it is a relative term. He has seemed to work this would by 2.5.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The current issue at 2.5 is filling in all the little words required to make a complete sentence. &quot;I am going&quot; rather than &quot;I going&quot;. This could be an artifact of him being bilingual though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My 9 year old daughter still have pronunciation problems with words she has never seen before, but that is the curse of English not being phonetic. This morning, the example was 'Belarus'. That being said, she still has better spelling than me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2011-01-05T23:52:18.443" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-05T23:52:18.443" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8014" CreationDate="2011-01-06T00:08:44.220" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was growing up in the 1980s the word &quot;boner&quot; was also used as a synonym for &quot;jerk&quot; or &quot;idiot&quot; among adolescent and pre-pubescent boys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if your friend was being mean to a little kid or doing something stupid you might say, &quot;Hey, don't be a boner.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Boner&quot; also means &quot;a blunder or mistake,&quot; although that is a more dated use of the word. But its etymology, if you are interested, follows: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;blunder,&quot; 1912, baseball slang, probably from bonehead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T00:08:44.220" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8023" CreationDate="2011-01-06T01:08:33.433" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can only think of context using &lt;em&gt;insofar as&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;insofar that&lt;/em&gt;. It seems to be a wordy way to say &lt;em&gt;since&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;because of&lt;/em&gt;  For example:  Insofar as we received 24 inches of snow, people are advised to limit their driving as much as possible.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3287" LastEditorUserId="3287" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T12:38:20.983" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T12:38:20.983" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6588" CreationDate="2011-01-06T01:58:03.110" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For related reading, see this, rather interesting, Wikipedia article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ough_(orthography&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ough_(orthography&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, the same letter combination having widely differing pronunciation is definitely not unique to the &quot;ow&quot; grapheme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have factors like dialectal differences, spelling reforms, foreign language influences/loanwords, even fashion (see: Europe during the 1500-1700s for more obvious such examples than you might readily notice today, since it might be more difficult to observe this from &quot;the inside&quot;, and over a shorter timespan no less).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3292" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T01:58:03.110" />
  <row Id="8055" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-06T03:33:44.697" Score="4" ViewCount="258" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does this mean and what is the origin of this phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3135" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T10:53:18.090" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T10:53:18.090" Title="What does &quot;OMG ponies!&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8055" CreationDate="2011-01-06T03:51:03.760" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=omg+ponies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Urban Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;an involuntary exclamation when&#xA;  confronted by extreme awesomeness or&#xA;  cuteness &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I logged on and and saw the&#xA;  pics of your new l33t rig and thought&#xA;  &quot;omg ponies!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;l33t (from 1337) =&gt; leet =&gt; elite (gamespeak) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T03:51:03.760" />
  <row Id="8057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8055" CreationDate="2011-01-06T04:25:48.387" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I could be mistaken, but I believe this exact phrase originated on &lt;a href=&quot;http://slashdot.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Slashdot&lt;/a&gt;, in an April Fools' prank on April 1, 2006.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia page on Slashdot&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In observance of April Fools' Day (April 1) in 2006, Slashdot temporarily changed its signature teal color theme to a warm palette of bubblegum pink and changed its masthead from the usual, &quot;News for Nerds&quot; motto to, &quot;OMG!!! Ponies!!!&quot; Editors joked that this was done to increase female readership.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exact Slashdot article said this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our marketing department has done extensive research over the last 3 quarters and discovered that our audience is strangely disproportionately skewed towards males. Like, 98.3% males to be precise. To correct this oversight, we have decided to subtly tweak Slashdot's design and content to widen our appeal to these less active demographics. Don't worry! We'll still continue to serve our core audience, but we hope you'll work with us as we try to find a balance that will work for all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was a stream of articles on the site that all followed this theme of writing, using lots of caps and texting phrases like &lt;em&gt;LOL&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;OMG&lt;/em&gt;, lots of exclamation points, and getting excited about things like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hasbro.com/mylittlepony/en_US/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;My Little Pony&lt;/a&gt;, glitter, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_O.C.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the O.C.&lt;/a&gt;, and other things young girls would be interested in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the Slashdot site logo from that day:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/hCIc6.png&quot; alt=&quot;OMG Ponies&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning of the joke is that this is how young girls write things.  So, this phrase is used as a way to jokingly react like a 12-year old girl would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T04:35:01.650" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T04:35:01.650" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5679" CreationDate="2011-01-06T06:17:29.860" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;does the japanese phrase &quot;shinzon mappira&quot; have anything to do with it?&#xA;im thinking thats where the current popularity came from since so many memes from recent years have coem from 2chan et al&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3298" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T06:17:29.860" />
  <row Id="8059" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-06T06:39:03.100" Score="0" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;I play&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;I do play&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone ask to me , do you play soccer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="869" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T19:54:26.957" Title="What is the difference between I play and I do play?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8059" CreationDate="2011-01-06T06:53:51.790" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If someone asks you 'Do you play soccer?', it would be unnatural to reply 'I play soccer' even though this is grammatically correct. Usually one would reply 'Yes I do' or 'No I don't'. There is another situation in which one would use 'do' followed by a verb, and that is for reasons of emphasis. For instance, if your girlfriend asks you 'Do you care about me at all?', you would say 'I do care, you know'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T07:06:11.230" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T07:06:11.230" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8061" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-06T08:02:47.200" Score="3" ViewCount="343" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between these phrases? When is it valid to use which? Should they be avoided as being ambiguous?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2084" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T10:55:52.877" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T10:55:52.877" Title="&quot;nothing but&quot; vs. &quot;anything but&quot; vs. &quot;everything but&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8061" CreationDate="2011-01-06T08:06:40.710" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'But' means 'except'. 'I want nothing but chocolate' means I do not want to have any food except chocolate. 'Give me anything but chocolate' means I can eat all kinds of food except chocolate. 'I will eat everything but the chocolate' means I am going to have all the food in front of me except the chocolate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T08:19:29.547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T08:19:29.547" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8063" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-06T08:31:40.380" Score="1" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it grammatically correct to use the phrase &quot;held up&quot; in the following sense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I got held up with some other work&quot;, or &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Let's reschedule the meeting. Looks like you got held up.&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3135" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T10:56:49.550" Title="What is the correct meaning of &quot;held up&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8064" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8077" CreationDate="2011-01-06T09:11:01.407" Score="1" ViewCount="277" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A sample sentence from my reference book as this,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;He can't adapt himself to &lt;em&gt;being&lt;/em&gt; free again.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;being&lt;/em&gt; was used, why not &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt;, based on my knowledge, I remember &lt;code&gt;verb&lt;/code&gt; form not &lt;code&gt;verb + ing&lt;/code&gt; form used after &lt;code&gt;to&lt;/code&gt;. ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2661" LastEditorUserId="2661" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T09:28:29.113" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T17:30:58.793" Title="being or be in my sample sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8065" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8072" CreationDate="2011-01-06T09:29:47.000" Score="1" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a word 'cool toy' in the following sentence in today's New York Times article:&#xA;'Spending money on tablet computers may seem an extravagance, but some educators say they are more than just a cool toy.'&#xA;What does 'cool toy' mean? What are typical items of cool toy, for instance? Are they electronic toys?- Yoichi&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T22:36:31.927" Title="What does 'cool toy' mean?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="8066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8061" CreationDate="2011-01-06T09:32:10.837" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Nothing but&quot; means only:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nothing but the best.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Only the best.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Anything but&quot; means any one thing except whatever follows but:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't make me go to school.  Anything but that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't make me go to school.  You can make me do anything else, but don't make me go to school.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Everything but&quot; means everything excepting whatever follows but:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He remembered to bring everything but his toothbrush.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He brought everything with him except his toothbrush, which he left behind.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T09:32:10.837" />
  <row Id="8067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8064" CreationDate="2011-01-06T09:35:28.763" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two issues here. First, when you use the verb itself after 'to', you are referring to sentences like 'he wanted to eat chocolate', in which 'to' and 'eat' are grouped. However in your example sentence, it is the 'adapt' and 'to' that are grouped. Second, in the sentence you gave, 'being' should be used and not 'be' as he already is living in the state of freedom. Note that the sentence 'He can't adapt himself to be free' is also valid but has another meaning - he can't change himself so that he can be free. In this case, 'to be free' should be seen as a phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-07T17:18:06.487" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T17:18:06.487" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8068" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-06T09:35:39.637" Score="6" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep &lt;em&gt;&quot;On writing well&quot;&lt;/em&gt; close to me when writing something long. What other books would you recommend on the topic of good writing-style in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2084" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T06:46:23.170" ClosedDate="2011-01-28T15:31:21.487" Title="Recommended books on writing well in English?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8069" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-06T09:36:37.530" Score="8" ViewCount="487" Body="&lt;p&gt;A while ago I came across an old poem (can't remember where now) which had some parts which didn't rhyme. In fact they so didn't rhyme that I wondered if maybe it never did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have some examples of poems like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt; We now have enough examples of &lt;em&gt;recent&lt;/em&gt; poems that never rhymed, thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(PS: Please help me make this a better question, as it stands it's a bit naff)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastEditorUserId="529" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-07T05:57:04.977" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T10:31:41.420" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-06T15:32:03.450" Title="Examples of poems which no longer rhyme" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;poetry&gt;&lt;language-evolution&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8068" CreationDate="2011-01-06T09:41:15.737" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think punctuation is the key to good, clear writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a great simple guide, try &lt;em&gt;Eats Shoots &amp;amp; Leaves&lt;/em&gt; by Lynne Truss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T09:41:15.737" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8069" CreationDate="2011-01-06T09:51:23.683" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Attributed to W.S.Gilbert:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;There was an old man of St. Bees,&#xA;Who was stung in the arm by a wasp;&#xA;    When they asked, &quot;Does it hurt?&quot;&#xA;    He replied, &quot;No, it doesn't,&#xA;But I thought all the while 't was a Hornet.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2819" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T09:51:23.683" />
  <row Id="8072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8065" CreationDate="2011-01-06T09:55:17.017" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cool toy&lt;/em&gt; is not a technical term. Here, &lt;em&gt;cool&lt;/em&gt; is an informal way of saying &lt;em&gt;excellent&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;fashionable&lt;/em&gt;; see the definition number 7 at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cool&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cool&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;. What is cool is highly subjective; different people will have different opinions. For example, some might say that iPhone is cool; others might disagree. A cool toy doesn't have to be electronic. For example, I think that &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LEGO&lt;/a&gt; is extremely cool. (But again, others might disagree and say that &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playmobil&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Playmobil&lt;/a&gt; is cooler.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T09:55:17.017" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8065" CreationDate="2011-01-06T09:55:43.613" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Cool' here is used in the informal sense, to mean 'fashionable'. When the article says it is 'more than a cool toy', it means the toy is not just fashionable but has real value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T09:55:43.613" />
  <row Id="8074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8065" CreationDate="2011-01-06T10:00:57.760" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;cool toy&lt;/code&gt; means a gadget that you just MUST have because it is is the latest 'thing', but you really don't need it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this context where it says &lt;code&gt;more than just a cool toy&lt;/code&gt;,  it means that it has a practical purpose that you can use for more meaningful tasks (not just to play with...). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1717" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T10:00:57.760" />
  <row Id="8075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8065" CreationDate="2011-01-06T10:01:29.820" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this context, &lt;em&gt;toy&lt;/em&gt; is defined New Oxford American Dictionary as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;an object, esp. a gadget or machine, regarded as providing amusement for an adult&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, yes, an iPad, or similar fancy electronic gadget, could be considered a &quot;cool toy&quot;. Other examples of &lt;em&gt;toys&lt;/em&gt; are luxury cars or motorcycles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T10:01:29.820" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8064" CreationDate="2011-01-06T10:26:40.420" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Verbs, when combined with &lt;em&gt;-ing&lt;/em&gt;, form nouns. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jogging is good for health. Vitamins are good for health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;em&gt;jogging&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;vitamins&lt;/em&gt; are nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider this sentence, in which &lt;em&gt;environment&lt;/em&gt; is a noun:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some insects are able to adapt themselves to new environments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the sentence in the question, &quot;being free again&quot; is a noun phrase. Its use as a noun may be clearer in this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Being free again felt wonderful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The to+verb form, or the infinitive form of the verb, is not the one being used in the example. In the sentence in the example, &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; is used not as part of an infinitive but as a preposition. You would be answering the question: What can't he adapt himself to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastEditorUserId="2972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T12:05:42.270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T12:05:42.270" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8061" CreationDate="2011-01-06T10:30:05.427" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Nothing but &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;A&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Means only &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;A&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Anything but &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;A&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Means that you don't want &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;A&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. You could have &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;B&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;C&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, or maybe even both &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;B&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;C&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (and even &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;E&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; if someone offers) - but &lt;em&gt;NOT&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;A&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Everything but &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;A&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Means that &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;A&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is the only thing you don't want. You &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; want the rest of the entire alphabet - but &lt;em&gt;NOT&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;A&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1717" LastEditorUserId="1717" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-07T12:06:08.660" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T12:06:08.660" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8063" CreationDate="2011-01-06T10:56:49.550" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can generally substitute &quot;delayed&quot; for &quot;held up&quot;.  Both of your examples read naturally to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T10:56:49.550" />
  <row Id="8080" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8084" CreationDate="2011-01-06T12:07:46.490" Score="0" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm free at around 7PM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3295" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:15:09.403" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:15:09.403" Title="&quot;I'm free at around 7PM&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8080" CreationDate="2011-01-06T12:17:33.883" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's understandable, and would probably be used by most native speakers too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be more (temporally) correct if you said &quot;I will be free at around 7PM&quot;, but I'm not sure that anyone would really pick up on the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T12:17:33.883" />
  <row Id="8082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8069" CreationDate="2011-01-06T12:46:36.230" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I heard in a pub once...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Roses are red,&#xA;Violets are blue,&#xA;Some poems rhyme,&#xA;This one doesn't.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Apparently Ted Hughes didn't write this, as I previously thought).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="305" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-07T07:05:04.657" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T07:05:04.657" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8083" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-06T12:54:13.330" Score="1" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;The verb &lt;em&gt;look&lt;/em&gt; has different meanings/connotations when used with different prepositions. Can you help me define all these meanings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3273" LastEditorUserId="368" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T14:19:32.630" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T17:28:04.890" Title="Look + [to, at, for, through, etc.] = ?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;phrasal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8080" CreationDate="2011-01-06T12:55:01.510" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's nothing wrong with using the present indicative instead of future tense when nailing down an action to a time or speaking of things in the future as if they have already occurred. There is even a literary device known as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/proleptic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;prolepsis&lt;/a&gt;, which deals with exactly this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How often have you heard someone in a movie or TV show say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Reach for that gun and you're a dead&#xA;  man.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is one example of prolepsis. Your example is another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T12:55:01.510" />
  <row Id="8085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8069" CreationDate="2011-01-06T13:08:09.813" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They could have been blank verse, or they could have been words that have changed pronunciation, or what is called &quot;slant rhyme,&quot; which is a way of using words that rhyme in a less exact way. An excellent example of slant rhyme comes from Robert Pinsky's translation of Dante's &lt;em&gt;The Inferno&lt;/em&gt;, which seeks to keep the sense of the Italian &lt;em&gt;terza rima&lt;/em&gt; without getting bogged down with making the rhymes too precise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Midway on our life’s journey, I found myself&#xA;In dark woods, the right road lost. To tell&#xA;About those woods is hard—so tangled and rough&#xA;&#xA;And savage that thinking of it now, I feel&#xA;The old fear stirring: death is hardly more bitter.&#xA;And yet, to treat the good I found there as well&#xA;&#xA;I’ll tell what I saw, though how I came to enter&#xA;I cannot well say, being so full of sleep&#xA;Whatever moment it was I began to blunder&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the poet rhymes &quot;-self&quot; with &quot;rough&quot;, &quot;tell&quot; with &quot;feel&quot;, &quot;bitter&quot; with &quot;enter&quot;, and so on. Slant rhymes are considered by modern-day poets to be more sophisticated than the exact &quot;moon/June/spoon&quot; type or rhyme. Even when a present-day poem uses exact rhyming, slant rhymes will be used to break up the relentless sing-songiness of the exact rhyming patterns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Emily Dickinson is an example of an &quot;older&quot; poet who made frequent use of slant rhymes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T15:48:28.023" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T15:48:28.023" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8086" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-06T13:23:27.163" Score="1" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lets say I'm asking a question on a popular question and answer website, and I want to close by saying that I will appreciate any submitted ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first seems awkward because at the moment of writing there aren't any ideas yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second makes it sound like I would appreciate any ideas, if I wasn't a misanthropic sociopath that doesn't appreciate anyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I suppose I could also use the verb &quot;will&quot;, but what if it's a really unhelpful idea? Seems like the job for a verb that implies more committal than &quot;would&quot;, but less than &quot;will&quot;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm probably over-thinking, but it bugs me!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3304" LastEditorUserId="368" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T22:41:28.217" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T22:41:28.217" Title="&quot;Any ideas are appreciated&quot; or &quot;Any ideas would be appreciated&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;subjunctive-mood&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8086" CreationDate="2011-01-06T13:40:55.510" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why not just say &quot;I would appreciate any ideas?&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.writefromhome.com/writingtradearticles/538.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; and others make a good case for using the active voice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for saying &quot;would be appreciated&quot; as opposed to &quot;are appreciated&quot; is that the ideas haven't come in yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3279" LastEditorUserId="3279" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T14:10:03.303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T14:10:03.303" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8088" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-06T14:16:26.853" Score="3" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;What should be your response when your boss thanks you for using his own resource allotted to you and you respect your boss and cannot respond him like &lt;em&gt;It's ok&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;you're welcome&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3305" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T15:06:49.290" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T17:54:15.283" Title="Response when your boss thanks you" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;correspondence&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8080" CreationDate="2011-01-06T14:17:34.603" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There’s an argument that “at around” is not strictly correct, as either you’re free &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt; 7 p.m. or &lt;strong&gt;around&lt;/strong&gt; 7 p.m., but not both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it’s certainly widely used colloquially.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T14:17:34.603" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8088" CreationDate="2011-01-06T14:31:22.830" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some appropriate responses would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;My pleasure.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;Don't mention it.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;You're [most] welcome.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;I'm glad I could help/be of help.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;Oh [no], thank you! Always at your service.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;It was not a problem at all. [I'm] glad I could be of assistance.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, of course, you could use &quot;sir&quot; or &quot;ma'am&quot; to make your response even more polite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T14:31:22.830" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="8091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8069" CreationDate="2011-01-06T14:33:18.557" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Christmas carol God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen has in stanza 4:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The shepherds at those tidings&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Rejoicèd much in mind,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  And left their flocks a-feeding&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  In tempest, storm and wind,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  And went to Bethlehem straightway,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  This blessèd Babe to find: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I hear this sung on the Christmas Eve &quot;Lessons and Carols&quot; from England, &quot;mind,&quot; &quot;wind,&quot; and &quot;find&quot; all rhyme quite well. But on this side of the Pond, &quot;wind&quot; is sung with a short i and it does not rhyme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3306" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T23:06:39.230" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T23:06:39.230" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8092" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8094" CreationDate="2011-01-06T15:52:42.077" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;Saying that &lt;em&gt;[someone] is golden&lt;/em&gt; means that person is in a desirable situation that will likely lead to some sort of success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to find out the origin of this phrase. So far, I have found sites that suggest that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/golden&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;It is used mainly in spoken informal American English&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1544959&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;It may have originated in the military&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have a more definitive and reputable explanation for the origin of this expression?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1720" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T17:40:45.613" Title="On being golden" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="8093" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-01-06T16:16:01.283" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&#xA;    The English Language and Usage Stack Exchange is for linguists, etymologists, and (serious) English language enthusiasts. &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/273/what-questions-are-on-topic-and-off-topic-here&quot;&gt;Questions on the following topics &lt;/a&gt; are welcomed here:&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Usage, word choice, and grammar &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Etymology (history of words’ development) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Dialect differences &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Pronunciation (phonetics and phonology, dialectology) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Spelling and punctuation &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Problems encountered by people learning English &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But please, don’t ask any questions about these topics. They are out of scope for this site.&#xA;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Please proofread my document (&quot;are there any mistakes in this text?&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Languages other than English (including translation)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; How to improve my English &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Criticism, discussion, and analysis of English literature &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Peeving about grammar disguised as a question &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T03:01:40.340" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T03:01:40.340" />
  <row Id="8094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8092" CreationDate="2011-01-06T16:48:12.817" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know, but could it be related to the older &lt;em&gt;golden boy&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;golden girl&lt;/em&gt;, a successful man and woman, respectively? Quotes from the OED, 2nd edition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1937 C. Odets (title) The *golden&#xA;  boy.  Ibid. iii. i. 196 He walks down&#xA;  the street respected—the golden boy!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1964 ‘J. Welcome’ Hard to Handle viii.&#xA;  91 Poor dear Richard.+ What a change&#xA;  from being the golden boy of English&#xA;  racing.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1965 P. Moyes Johnny under Ground xx.&#xA;  250 That would have been the end of&#xA;  Beau Guest, the young chevalier, the&#xA;  golden boy.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1971 Sunday Times (Johannesburg) 28&#xA;  Mar. 24/1 Ever since he assumed the&#xA;  ‘golden boy’ mantle, Richards has&#xA;  studiously avoided local opposition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T17:40:45.613" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T17:40:45.613" />
  <row Id="8095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8059" CreationDate="2011-01-06T16:53:04.967" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In modern English, auxiliary 'do' is used in five cases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Negative (obligatory for most verbs): &quot;I don't like mushrooms&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Interrogative (obligatory for most verbs): &quot;Do you like mushrooms?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Emphatic: &quot;Oh, you've done some cauliflower! I &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; like cauliflower!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Contrastive (a special case of emphatic). &quot;I don't like mushrooms. But I do like cauliflower&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anaphoric for the main verb: &quot;Do you like cauliflower?&quot; &quot;Yes, I do&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In older English, and some dialects, it may be used outside these cases, but not normally in modern standard dialects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T19:54:26.957" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T19:54:26.957" />
  <row Id="8096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8083" CreationDate="2011-01-06T17:28:04.890" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very common pattern in English. The links in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrasal_verbs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;phrasal verbs&lt;/a&gt; will give you many more examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T17:28:04.890" />
  <row Id="8097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8080" CreationDate="2011-01-06T17:39:27.030" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In everyday usage, I say &quot;I'll be free around seven.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2984" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T17:39:27.030" />
  <row Id="8098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8088" CreationDate="2011-01-06T17:54:15.283" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't go wrong with, &quot;You're welcome.&quot; It's short, it's to the point, and it's sufficiently formal. If you need to dress it up a bit further you can add &quot;glad to help&quot; at the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would worry that too long or too flowery of a response might be interpreted as being condescending or mocking, especially if you're responding in written correspondence where the intonation of the response is hard to judge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me put it this way, if I thanked a subordinate and she responded with something verbose like, &quot;I am always most happy to serve you,&quot; or, &quot;It is always my pleasure to come to your aid,&quot; I would think that bordered between weird and condescending.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T17:54:15.283" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8099" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-06T17:58:17.127" Score="3" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems more politically correct to say that someone is speaking rather than talking. What is the definitive difference between these terms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2670" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T11:12:09.017" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T11:19:56.410" Title="What is the difference between &quot;speaking&quot; and &quot;talking&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7702" CreationDate="2011-01-06T18:28:38.443" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first word that comes to my mind is &quot;Edit&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T18:28:38.443" />
  <row Id="8102" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8105" CreationDate="2011-01-06T19:05:32.777" Score="2" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;The construction of the word to me implies that &quot;you&quot; is singular, whereas &quot;y'all&quot; is plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To a football team: &quot;Y'all are going to play a great game.&quot;&#xA;To a tennis player: &quot;You are going to play a great game.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I hear southerners address me personally as Y'all quite often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the correct usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside:  Comments that y'all is improper are not helpful.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2477" LastEditorUserId="368" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T22:34:42.080" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T22:34:42.080" Title="What is the proper usage of &quot;Y'all&quot; in southern American dialects." Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8103" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8107" CreationDate="2011-01-06T19:18:26.223" Score="0" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want you to be with me only two&#xA;  times in my life.. now &amp;amp; forever&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I came across this sentence the other day, and thought that the usage of &quot;two times&quot; for &quot;now and forever&quot; is incorrect, since forever encompasses now. Am I right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1202" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:10:32.243" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:10:32.243" Title="Now and forever" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;construct&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8104" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-06T19:20:13.017" Score="3" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;Twice recently I've seen someone on this site state that Anglo-Saxon words, or words of Germanic origin, are better for expressing emotion than words derived from Latin.  Does anyone have any information about this? My intuition says that this has to be false. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One example is &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7808/why-do-common-swear-words-have-four-letters/7811#7811&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; to a question about four letter words, and the other is &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6446/what-makes-writing-emotional/6447#6447&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; about emotional writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I'm not saying, and I don't think the original speakers were saying, that one language is better than another at expressing emotion, but rather that ENGLISH words whose ORIGIN is one language or another are better for that purpose. This seems to me to be something that would be illogical, given that the emotions evoked by a word would depend entirely on what the reader put into that word.  However the certainty expressed by the two examples suggests to me that I may have missed something. This is a subjective question, but what I want to see is whether there is any evidence on this subject?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastEditorUserId="380" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T21:44:59.663" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T20:36:29.547" Title="Are Anglo-Saxon words better at expressing emotion?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8102" CreationDate="2011-01-06T19:24:38.457" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I understand, most dialects work as you describe: &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; = singular and &lt;em&gt;y'all&lt;/em&gt; = plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is some controversy over whether some dialects have extended this further, such that &lt;em&gt;y'all&lt;/em&gt; = singular and &quot;all y'all&quot; = plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002481.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is a discussion over at Language Log&lt;/a&gt;, where they say that there is a lot of disagreement about this.  I think the overall sense from this article is that people have anecdotes and random quotes where people use &lt;em&gt;y'all&lt;/em&gt; as a singular, but no person from the South who attests that &quot;yes, this is what I do.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2009&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here is a followup discussion&lt;/a&gt;.  Here there is a similar type of disconnect between anecdote and speaker intuition.  There seems to be mention that in Oklahoma, &lt;em&gt;y'all&lt;/em&gt; can be used for singular and plural, which, if true, might be fueling a false conclusion about &quot;all y'all&quot; being the plural of singular &lt;em&gt;y'all&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a lot more in there, and it is worth a read for anyone interested, but the last thing I wanted to mention was this hypothesis at the end of that page:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thomas Nunnally (1994) has offered a second hypothesis for the emergence of &lt;em&gt;yall&lt;/em&gt; as a singular. He suggests that it may well be expanding to fill the role of a polite singular, just as &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; did several centuries ago. He points out that many of the citations of &lt;em&gt;yall&lt;/em&gt;-singular show the form occurring at the edges of discourse-in greetings, partings, and so forth. The following citation, provided to us by Robin Sabino (1994), certainly fulfills this function. Sabino overheard an African-American waitress in an Opelika, Alabama, restaurant say to a customer eating alone, &quot;How are you-all's grits?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of this may seem strange, but if you look at the origin of &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; itself, the same thing happened: it used to be that &lt;em&gt;thou/thee&lt;/em&gt; was 2nd person singular and &lt;em&gt;ye/you&lt;/em&gt; was 2nd person plural, but as we know, plural &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; became the 2nd person pronoun for singular and plural (in Standard English, at least).  So these kinds of shifts are possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; This has been extensively edited in light of some research I found over at Language Log.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T21:18:29.873" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T21:18:29.873" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="8106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7866" CreationDate="2011-01-06T19:35:17.230" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As several people have stated, the 'o' form is American. You should pick a format and stick with it. If you write 'o' your writing will be perceived as American. Otherwise it will be perceived as non-American.  Does that matter to you, and do you think it matters to your audience? If so, pick the appropriate style that best suits you or your writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for trends, one thing I've noticed as a Canadian is that many computer programs only recognize US and UK English and not Canadian or Australian or New Zealand or.... Also the default for lots of software tends to be US. So if you want to pick the lazy, pragmatic route, the American spelling will probably be more convenient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T19:35:17.230" />
  <row Id="8107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8103" CreationDate="2011-01-06T19:36:55.640" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Now and forever&quot; is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now_and_Forever&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;common phrase&lt;/a&gt;.  This sentence is supposed to be witty, specifically &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; the &quot;now and forever&quot; part does not fit the reader's expectations of what &quot;two times&quot; will be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a play on words, and isn't supposed to follow formal logic. Even if the sentence were changed to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want you to be with me only one time in my life: forever&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It still wouldn't be logically correct, because &lt;em&gt;forever&lt;/em&gt; is not a specific time — it is infinite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T19:36:55.640" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8103" CreationDate="2011-01-06T19:42:08.820" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a joke. It's like counting &quot;me, myself, and I&quot; as three people: it deliberately uses words in illogical and thus unexpected ways. Note that the sentence is fully grammatical, so in that sense it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T19:42:08.820" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8109" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8111" CreationDate="2011-01-06T19:51:01.570" Score="4" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider the following examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;And it is a bottle, too.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;And it is a bottle too.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a semantic difference between these two sentences? Or do they mean the same thing, with or without the comma before &quot;too&quot;? If not, what is the correct usage of the comma in context of &quot;too&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3252" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T19:56:27.720" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T22:43:40.777" Title="Comma or no comma before &quot;too&quot;?" Tags="&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8110" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8115" CreationDate="2011-01-06T19:55:54.460" Score="2" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw this on a billboard recently&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have new and pre-owned cars and trucks  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly the intention is to modify &quot;cars and trucks&quot; with the two adjectives &quot;used and preowned&quot; and although the construction does make sense intuitively (and colloquially), I was wondering if there are any specific rules about this kind of &quot;dual-and&quot; construction or any other situation where you have multiple adjectives modifying a string of objects simultaneously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2330" LastEditorUserId="2330" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-07T03:42:29.147" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T03:42:29.147" Title="Two adjectives for two nouns" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="8111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8109" CreationDate="2011-01-06T19:58:17.313" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chicago Manual of Style&lt;/a&gt; (subscription-based, sorry), you only need to use the comma before &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; &quot;only when you want to emphasize an abrupt change of thought.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's an article that gives that quote and has other illuminating things to say on the subject: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailywritingtips.com/comma-before-too/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.dailywritingtips.com/comma-before-too/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited to add example from the second link:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He didn’t know at first what hit him,&#xA;  but then, too, he hadn’t ever walked&#xA;  in a field strewn with garden rakes.&#xA;  In most other cases, commas with this&#xA;  short adverb are unnecessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T22:43:40.777" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T22:43:40.777" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8104" CreationDate="2011-01-06T22:01:40.850" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suppose that it's because Anglo-Saxon words are more likely to, say, begin with a fricative or affricate, and have mostly short vowel sounds. Sound symbolism posits that these words sound objectively sharper, harsher, and stronger than their Romantic kin, which share a certain simple Latinate syllable flow that more often than not makes them mellifluous and pleasant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Writers are often told to use words of Anglo-Saxon origin because in English they feel much more direct and decisive, and are better at cutting to the chase when it comes to describing action. I don't see why this wouldn't hold true for emotion words as well: the impression seems to be that the Anglo-Saxon words are simpler and may provoke the more visceral reaction, for better or for worse. Consider the Anglo-Saxon:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;happiness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sadness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;anger&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;trust&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fear&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;love&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;awe&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And some rough Romantic equivalents:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;joy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;depression&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rage&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;confidence&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;terror&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;adoration&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;reverence&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure, it's subjective, but there's definitely &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt; to it. Of course, I could have chosen fewer French-derived examples, since you could argue that French is too mixed-up in the history of English as well as its Celtic neighbours to be reliably called all that Romantic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T22:01:40.850" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8104" CreationDate="2011-01-06T22:03:32.207" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that this intuition that made some people think that Saxon words are better for expressing emotion, though a rather vague one, is not so rare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before the invasion of the French with William the Conqueror, non-Germanic words were much rarer in English. When the newer French c.q. Latin words came to England with the bureaucracy of the conquerors, they were first used in officialese and other educated language of the higher classes, while most common people probably hardly ever used a Latin word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a thousand years, many of those Latin words have become so normal as to replace Germanic words even for common, daily, concrete things. However, maximum entropy has not yet been reached, and it can still be seen that concrete, down-to-earth things have a higher chance of being referred to by Germanic words most of the time, whereas abstract things are more often referred to by words of Latin origin. In other words, most abstract words in English have a Latin origin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is commonly thought that most people find it easier and more natural to speak of concrete things rather than abstract things - on average, all things considered, etc. For example, it is thought that people use more concrete language, say, when they are drunk. Perhaps this has not been proved scientifically, but I think many people believe it to be true intuitively. Hence they believe that, in order to express an emotion, something close to the heart, it is slightly more natural to use Saxon words than Latin words, while formal, business-like language is often full of Latin words. Of course it would be a mixture of both kinds, but a somewhat higher percentage of Saxon words is what they believe to find. They might be thinking of an example like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you do me the honour of&#xA;  introducing me to this female acquaintance of yours?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hey, that girl you talked to is hot; take me&#xA;  to her, will you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The formal language of the first sentence, full of Latin words, is for me much less expressive of emotion than the second one. Though formality and abstraction are difficult to extricate, I believe that it is not entirely unreasonable to suppose that abstraction alone has a distancing effect too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T22:03:32.207" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8114" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8120" CreationDate="2011-01-06T22:16:07.920" Score="3" ViewCount="213" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it fixed that words will always take a specific preposition after them?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am reading a book &quot;High school English grammar&quot;. It says for example &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The following nouns take preposition &lt;strong&gt;for&lt;/strong&gt; after them. :- ambition, blame, aptitude candidate, match, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The following nouns take preposition &lt;strong&gt;of&lt;/strong&gt; after them. :- assurance, charge, distrust, doubt, failure, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and same for other prepositions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that so? I am not a native English speaker but I doubt what is written in the book, I think prepositions are used according to meaning of sentence and are not fixed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2881" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T23:23:00.593" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T23:24:13.570" Title="Are prepositions fixed for words?" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8110" CreationDate="2011-01-06T22:21:09.663" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;[Edited]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with this kind of double reference is that it might sometimes give rise to ambiguity. That is why the words &quot;respective&quot; and &quot;respectively&quot; are used when it is necessary to let readers know that the first verb refers only to the first noun, and the second only to the second.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this example is not really ambiguous, several interpretations are theoretically possible:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have used cars, and we have&#xA;  pre-owned trucks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, you would use &quot;respectively&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have used and pre-owned cars, and&#xA;  we have used and pre-owned trucks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case you would not use &quot;respectively&quot;. However, since some writers do not use that word where it is needed, the reader is not always sure how to interpret such a sentence if there is no &quot;respectively&quot;. It could also be confused with with the following interpretation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have used and pre-owned cars, and we&#xA;  have trucks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My advice is to use this type of sentence only when there is no chance of confusion at all, when there is no chance that the reader would want to read back or speculate as to how it could be intended. Even if some thinking will clear up ambiguity, and even though it is then not explicitly &quot;wrong&quot;, why make the reader exert himself if you could also write it such that it is clear immediately?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T23:16:35.060" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T23:16:35.060" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8065" CreationDate="2011-01-06T22:36:31.927" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few month ago I said 'awesome gadget' than I walked around considering whether or not I should buy an iPad. It's a &lt;code&gt;cool toy&lt;/code&gt; nobody really needs it, but my wife.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T22:36:31.927" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8114" CreationDate="2011-01-06T23:00:21.203" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The truth is somewhere in between. A few points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are rules of grammar that advise writers on how to write in the &quot;best&quot; way, whatever that may be.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There is a certain consensus among educated writers about many of those rules. The rules for the prepositions you mentioned are accepted by most of them, or so I believe, though some of the ones I saw have more than one option.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Even so, many people will break those rules on occasion, either in error or in conscious deviation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are also words that can take several prepositions according to the rules, depending on meaning. Take the word &quot;match&quot; from your example: &quot;we are no match for the English longbows&quot; means we can be easily defeated by them; &quot;that shirt is a good match with your pants&quot; means the shirt is a good fit with the pants; &quot;we will win the match against the red team&quot; means we will win the game against the red team.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lastly there are words that can take several prepositions with little or no difference in meaning, according to the rules.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that a prepositional phrase can belong to a preceding noun, or it can be used adverbially to belong to the whole sentence in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was in charge of the whole operation because&#xA;  only he could&#xA;  do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The prepositional phrase &quot;of the operation&quot; is closely tied to &quot;charge&quot;. &lt;em&gt;In what kind of charge was he? - In charge of the whole operation.&lt;/em&gt; In this case, only &quot;of&quot; is possible, because only &quot;of&quot; can be used to express the specific kind of relation between &quot;charge&quot; and &quot;the operation&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was in charge during the first part&#xA;  of the expedition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;During the first part&quot; belongs to the sentence as a whole, or to the verb - not to &quot;charge&quot; specifically. In this case, a great many prepositions could be used, because there are many prepositions that can introduce adverbial constituents (in the forest, under the circumstances, after midnight, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those rules you quoted do not apply to this: they are meant to teach you special combinations of &lt;code&gt;word + preposition + x&lt;/code&gt;, in which the relation between &lt;code&gt;word&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;x&lt;/code&gt; is of such a character that you would expect it to be expressed by another preposition, had you not known that this specific &lt;code&gt;preposition&lt;/code&gt; was to be used in this specific combination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T23:24:13.570" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T23:24:13.570" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8118" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8119" CreationDate="2011-01-06T23:03:54.493" Score="3" ViewCount="235" Body="&lt;p&gt;When someone says&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I stand corrected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does that mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2340" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-07T09:26:02.447" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T09:26:02.447" Title="I stand corrected" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8118" CreationDate="2011-01-06T23:06:56.190" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means &quot;I admit that I was wrong&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/i-stand-corrected&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cambridge Dictionaries&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;used to admit that something you have said or done was wrong&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;I stand corrected - the date of foundation was 1411, and not 1412 as I had written.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stand_corrected&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Said to acknowledge someone who corrects something that one says or writes that was not correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Battle of Hastings was fought in 1056.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  No it wasn't! Look in the textbook!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Oh, sorry. I stand corrected - it was fought in 1066.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the Cambridge Dictionary marks this idiom as &quot;formal&quot;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/correct%5B2%5D&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; as &quot;somewhat formal&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T23:48:49.600" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T23:48:49.600" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8114" CreationDate="2011-01-06T23:07:51.227" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the most part, your book is correct, but you are right to be suspicious. The appropriate word &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; change depending on the intended meaning of the sentence in some cases. Here are a few examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I have had a change &lt;strong&gt;of&lt;/strong&gt; heart&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is a change &lt;strong&gt;for&lt;/strong&gt; the better&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What we have here is a failure &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; communicate&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This is a failure &lt;strong&gt;of&lt;/strong&gt; epic proportions&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I have the ambition &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; succeed&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have an ambition &lt;strong&gt;for&lt;/strong&gt; greatness&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: it is a good idea to talk to your instructor about questions like this. You may not be required to know all of the special cases right now. Special cases can make the learning process more complicated, so some classes will save them for later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preposition_and_postposition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; has this to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In ambiguous cases, there is not always a clear rule that dictates which adposition is appropriate, and different languages and regional dialects may have different conventions; the standard usage(s) of a given preposition can be idiomatic. Learning the conventionally preferred word is a matter of exposure to examples. For example, most dialects of American English have &quot;to wait &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; line&quot;, but some have &quot;to wait &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; line&quot;. It is for this reason that prepositions are one of the most difficult aspects of a language to learn for non-native speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference, here is the description of &lt;em&gt;adposition&lt;/em&gt; used in the same article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In more technical language, an adposition is an element that ... indicates how that phrase should be interpreted in the surrounding context. Some linguists use the word &lt;em&gt;preposition&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;adposition&lt;/em&gt; for all three cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T23:07:51.227" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8118" CreationDate="2011-01-06T23:13:00.560" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means, &quot;I admit that I was wrong&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is often used by a person who has been holding a strong opinion when faced with conclusive contrary evidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John: &quot;My keys are missing. They were stolen!&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Mary: &quot;Look in your pocket.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  John (after finding his keys in his own pocket): &quot;I stand corrected.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastEditorUserId="2944" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T23:33:54.997" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T23:33:54.997" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8099" CreationDate="2011-01-06T23:28:16.900" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two words are synonymous, but &quot;speak&quot; often seems to be used in a gentler way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare &quot;talk to&quot; and &quot;speak to&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I will talk to him&quot; often sounds more harsh or implies the impending monologue will be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;T will speak to him&quot; is a bit gentler, though still conveying a sense of impending correction in the coming monologue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you replace &quot;to him&quot; by &quot;with him&quot; in both sentences above, the message seems gentler still because &quot;with&quot; implies a dialogue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T23:28:16.900" />
  <row Id="8123" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8125" CreationDate="2011-01-06T23:31:13.133" Score="1" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say you have the sentence,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The moon was smaller than yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this correct, and the &quot;how large it was&quot; was just ommitted/implied, as in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The moon was smaller than (how large it was) yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or is this a faulty comparison, comparing something, &quot;the moon,&quot; and an adverb, &quot;yesterday&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3141" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-06T23:42:02.603" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T23:47:21.617" Title="Omitted words in a comparison" Tags="&lt;comparative&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8123" CreationDate="2011-01-06T23:39:06.863" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't need &quot;how large,&quot; because the comparative &quot;smaller&quot; implies it already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as a side issue, &quot;yesterday&quot; implies that you're comparing it with today, so you need a present tense in the first half of the sentence. (If you're comparing one day to the next, both of which are in the past, you'd have to use &quot;the day before&quot; or something like that.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the proper forms would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The moon is smaller than it was yesterday&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The moon was smaller than it was the day before.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T23:39:06.863" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8123" CreationDate="2011-01-06T23:47:21.617" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The moon was smaller than yesterday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is grammatically incorrect, since you are comparing how large or small the moon was, at different times. The construction&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The moon was smaller than (how large it was) yesterday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is also wrong, for this same reason.&#xA;Rather, you should say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The moon was smaller than &lt;em&gt;it was&lt;/em&gt; yesterday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this is grammatically correct, it &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; be incongruous with respect to time. If you want to retain the past tense, then you should rightly say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The moon was smaller than it was &lt;em&gt;the previous day&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, keeping it in the present:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The moon &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; smaller [today] than it was yesterday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-06T23:47:21.617" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8126" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8128" CreationDate="2011-01-07T01:03:51.380" Score="7" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The game of Go is...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The game of go is...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently the International Go Federation capitalizes it.  Its dictionary entry doesn't appear to be (from what I have seen).  It seems to fit the definition of a proper noun as it isn't preceded by an article (such as &quot;the&quot; or &quot;an&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So which is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, where does that put checkers, chess, basketball, football, etc.  They are never (or at least not regularly) capitalized, yet they seem to have the same characteristics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I predict the argument is going to be that Monopoly is capitalized because it is a brand and go should not be capitalized since it is not a brand and it is not referring to a specific instance of anything.  Is that correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3294" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T12:55:32.547" Title="Is the game, &quot;go,&quot; a proper noun? What about &quot;checkers&quot; or &quot;chess&quot;?" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8126" CreationDate="2011-01-07T01:15:29.340" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The OED does not capitalize the name of the game, but its quotes do all have capitals. A third option would be not capitalized but italicised, because it is a foreign word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect that the argument goes that names may lose their capital once they are &quot;felt&quot; to have turned into regular words - a very vague criterion, of course; but compare how compound nouns lose their spaces and then their hyphens, which is equally difficult to define.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-07T04:25:38.400" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T04:25:38.400" />
  <row Id="8128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8126" CreationDate="2011-01-07T01:16:29.107" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say that Go is often capitalised simply because &lt;em&gt;go&lt;/em&gt; is already a very common English word, so most sentences about the game would become significantly harder to parse if it weren't somehow differentiated typographically. Personally, I prefer italics to capitalisation, where possible. The names of games are often capitalised regardless of whether they're trademarks, seemingly in arbitrary fashion based on what looks good or feels right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T01:16:29.107" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8129" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8130" CreationDate="2011-01-07T02:00:18.073" Score="4" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the actual spelling/pronunciation? What is the origination of this phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3311" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T00:05:40.213" Title="&quot;supposed to&quot; or &quot;suppose to&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8129" CreationDate="2011-01-07T02:13:10.783" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Supposed to&lt;/em&gt; is a very common phrase, as in: &lt;code&gt;you are not supposed to come in here&lt;/code&gt;. It means &lt;em&gt;you should not come in here&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;you are not meant to come in here&lt;/em&gt;. Using *&lt;em&gt;suppose to&lt;/em&gt; in this sentence would be considered wrong by most educated speakers. The cause of this common omission of the d is probably that dt sounds the same as t, so that there is no difference in pronunciation between &lt;em&gt;supposed to&lt;/em&gt; and *&lt;em&gt;suppose to&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To suppose something&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;to assume something&lt;/em&gt;. When used in a passive construction, you use a form of the verb &lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt; plus the past participle of &lt;em&gt;to suppose&lt;/em&gt;, which is &lt;em&gt;supposed&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;To be supposed to&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;to be expected to, to be obliged to&lt;/em&gt;. You can see that the verb gets a somewhat different sense in the passive voice from what would normally be expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-08T00:05:40.213" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T00:05:40.213" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8131" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8139" CreationDate="2011-01-07T03:22:48.417" Score="4" ViewCount="319" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word 'integrity' meaning 'wholeness' probably comes from the word 'integer' which means a whole number roughly. Why does 'integrity' also mean 'honesty'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T15:09:26.253" Title="Why does integrity mean honesty?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8132" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8135" CreationDate="2011-01-07T03:27:24.997" Score="0" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is more popular? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always used strong wind, but I found high winds also used some time.&#xA;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2661" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T14:32:43.013" Title="Strong Wind(s) or High Wind(s)?" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8099" CreationDate="2011-01-07T03:30:35.130" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me, it's not a matter of gentleness or political correctness.  I find that &lt;i&gt;speak&lt;/i&gt; connotes more care or intelligibility.  That is, there are meaningful words and the words are clear.  It could also be more formal.  Since &lt;i&gt;talk&lt;/i&gt; happens to have more uses (it's also a noun, you can &quot;talk someone into&quot; doing something, etc.), it also feels like a muddier term to me.  There is the phrase &quot;talking without saying anything&quot;, which implies idle chatter and not a lot of meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for me, &lt;i&gt;speak&lt;/i&gt; is more formal and more precise than &lt;i&gt;talk&lt;/i&gt;.  (That applies both to the thing being described by &lt;i&gt;speak&lt;/i&gt; or &lt;i&gt;talk&lt;/i&gt; as well as the person using the term &lt;i&gt;speak&lt;/i&gt; or &lt;i&gt;talk&lt;/i&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T03:30:35.130" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8132" CreationDate="2011-01-07T03:57:40.617" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either one is fine, although you do see &quot;strong&quot; used more. But it's your pleasure. Paul Simon repeats the phrase &quot;strong wind&quot; on his album &lt;em&gt;Graceland&lt;/em&gt;. But the National Weather Service says on one of its pages &quot;This information is most useful in the decision-making process to decide which people might be most vulnerable to high winds at inland locations.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T03:57:40.617" />
  <row Id="8135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8132" CreationDate="2011-01-07T04:03:35.037" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The terms &lt;em&gt;strong winds&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;high winds&lt;/em&gt; are synonymous in everyday jargon, although they may have different meanings to a meteorologist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as what phrase is more popular, I imagine it varies by locale. You can use Google Trends to analyze the popularity of two competing search terms. Here are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/trends?q=high+winds%2C+strong+winds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the results for &lt;em&gt;strong winds&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;high winds&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Worldwide, the two terms are used about as often, although &lt;em&gt;high winds&lt;/em&gt; is a slightly more popular search term.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the US, &lt;em&gt;high winds&lt;/em&gt; is decidedly more popular than &lt;em&gt;strong winds&lt;/em&gt;. This difference is most pronounced in North Dakota, Hawaii, and Nevada, where &lt;em&gt;high winds&lt;/em&gt; trounces &lt;em&gt;strong winds&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In other countries, such as New Zealand, Canada, and Australia, the term &lt;em&gt;strong winds&lt;/em&gt; is quite a bit more popular a search term than &lt;em&gt;high winds&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some countries have virtually no one searching on the term &lt;em&gt;high winds&lt;/em&gt;. The Philippines, Singapore, Finland, and Sweden are four such examples.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a nutshell, both terms are valid, but which one is more popular depends on the region.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T04:03:35.037" />
  <row Id="8136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8131" CreationDate="2011-01-07T04:07:31.507" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymology online has the following entry for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=integrity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;integrity&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;mid-15c., &quot;wholeness, perfect condition,&quot; from O.Fr. integrité, from L. integritatem (nom. integritas) &quot;soundness, wholeness,&quot; from integer &quot;whole&quot; (see integer). Sense of &quot;uncorrupted virtue&quot; is from 1540s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That doesn't answer &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; integrity also means honesty, but you can see that circa 1540 the word began being used to express &quot;uncorrupted virtue,&quot; which implies honesty, as a virtuous person does not lie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T04:07:31.507" />
  <row Id="8137" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-07T04:34:43.757" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I say this : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You don't have only what it takes to&#xA;  master English but all the languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For you, is it a compliment or an insult? The usage of &quot;only&quot; and &quot;have&quot; is a little bit confusing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3312" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-07T09:24:59.907" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T09:24:59.907" Title="usage of &quot;only&quot; and &quot;have&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8137" CreationDate="2011-01-07T04:38:08.617" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not the sentence of a native English-speaker. Perhaps the intent is something more akin to the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You have not only what it takes to master English, but all languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a compliment. &quot;You&quot; have &quot;what it takes&quot; (skill, aptitude, will) to master English, but beyond that, your skill, aptitude, and will would enable you to master any language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T04:38:08.617" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8131" CreationDate="2011-01-07T04:42:08.143" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dishonesty and other vices are often seen as corruptions, or shortcomings in a person's character or composition. An integral person, on the other hand, is whole. Such a person is not &lt;em&gt;lacking&lt;/em&gt; in moral virtues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T04:42:08.143" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8137" CreationDate="2011-01-07T05:40:40.060" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A person either &lt;em&gt;has&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;does not have&lt;/em&gt; &quot;what it takes to master English&quot;. To compliment a speaker by saying that he/she could do equally well in other languages, one would use &lt;em&gt;not only&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;not just&lt;/em&gt; to introduce the sentiment that English is not the sole language the speaker could excel in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are compliments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You have what it takes to master &lt;em&gt;not only&lt;/em&gt; English &lt;em&gt;but also&lt;/em&gt; any/every other language.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You have what it takes to master &lt;em&gt;not just&lt;/em&gt; English &lt;em&gt;but [also]&lt;/em&gt; all the languages. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are insults:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; have what it takes to master English, &lt;em&gt;let alone&lt;/em&gt; any other language.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; have what it takes to master English, or any other language &lt;em&gt;for that matter&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T05:40:40.060" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8141" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8143" CreationDate="2011-01-07T05:53:21.410" Score="3" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was recently asked by a Japanese person why &quot;completely good&quot; was improper English, as in &quot;This is completely good&quot;. As a native speaker of English (raised in north eastern America), I do feel there's something strange about the phrase, but I can't quite put my finger on what — after all, phrases such as &quot;very good&quot;, &quot;mostly good&quot;, &quot;perfectly good&quot;, etc are used. Is this, in fact, improper English (or, for that matter, does it depend on dialect), and if so, why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3314" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-07T10:07:33.543" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T20:29:33.470" Title="Is &quot;completely good&quot; proper English? If not, why?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8141" CreationDate="2011-01-07T07:44:15.903" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that as long as you are using good and well in their proper locations, you should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, good is a noun or adjective, and well is an adverb or adjective. You can say &quot;He is good&quot; or &quot;He is well,&quot; but when you use a verb like &quot;to run&quot; then you have to say &quot;He ran a good race&quot; or &quot;He ran well.&quot; See here, well is an adverb, but good is not. &quot;He ran good&quot; is improper English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As long as this is observed, &quot;completely good&quot; should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3315" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T07:44:15.903" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8141" CreationDate="2011-01-07T07:44:27.020" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Perfectly good&lt;/em&gt; would be different than saying &lt;em&gt;completely good&lt;/em&gt; in most contexts: &lt;em&gt;perfectly good&lt;/em&gt; tends to be used in a hyperbolic sense, meant to signify something that's &quot;good enough&quot;. For example, &lt;em&gt;that apple is perfectly good to eat&lt;/em&gt; is not the same as saying &lt;em&gt;that apple is completely good to eat&lt;/em&gt;: the apple might have some flaws, but none that would prevent it from being eaten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which leads to the point that you'd only want to say something is &lt;em&gt;completely good&lt;/em&gt; when there is no chance for it to be bad. &lt;em&gt;Completely good&lt;/em&gt; is not a good substitute for &lt;em&gt;very good&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;really good&lt;/em&gt;, which merely mean that something is &lt;em&gt;notably&lt;/em&gt; good, not &lt;em&gt;entirely&lt;/em&gt;  or &lt;em&gt;absolutely&lt;/em&gt; good. But, the Christian God or a saint &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; be characterized as being &lt;em&gt;completely good&lt;/em&gt; because they aren't even remotely evil by definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, if you wanted to say something was good in the superlative sense, &lt;em&gt;completely good&lt;/em&gt; would be wrong. The correct word would be &lt;em&gt;best&lt;/em&gt;, as in &lt;em&gt;that course of action is best&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;that course of action is completely good.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2512" LastEditorUserId="2512" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-07T07:53:14.797" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T07:53:14.797" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8144" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-07T08:17:45.427" Score="3" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dear all, I am not very clear on the difference between &quot;society&quot; and &quot;the society&quot;. As far as I know, &quot;society&quot; (without &quot;the&quot;) refers to a society that is more general. But I don't have a clear distinction between them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could anybody explain to me? For example, if I want to say &quot;socialization is the process of learning to live in (the) society&quot;, should I use &quot;the&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks a lot. I am still a little confused here: it seems that &quot;society&quot; can still refer to a subset of people. After seeing your answer, my understanding is that without the article, &quot;society&quot; doesn't emphasize a specific society: it doesn't matter which society it refers to (although through context, which one is referred can be inferred). With &quot;the&quot;, however, the speaker emphasizes a specific society.&#xA;Then the sentences should be different:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Soldiers protect society.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Soldiers protect the society.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I right? Could someone further explain it to me? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1890" LastEditorUserId="1890" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T10:02:35.633" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T15:58:58.860" Title="Difference between &quot;society&quot; and &quot;the society&quot;" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8145" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8163" CreationDate="2011-01-07T08:42:19.530" Score="3" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dear all, I am not clear on when the word &quot;that&quot; can be omitted in a relative clause.&#xA;I only know that when the modified noun is the object in the clause, the antecedent &quot;that&quot; can be omitted. Is there any other situations?&#xA;How about the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Students should be skeptical about everything they are told&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure whether everything is the object, and if not, whether this sentence is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1890" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-07T14:34:26.440" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T17:45:17.903" Title="Omissions of &quot;that&quot; in a relative clause" Tags="&lt;relative-clause&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8069" CreationDate="2011-01-07T10:31:41.420" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rhyming poetry can be useful to see how the pronunciation of English has changed over the centuries&lt;/strong&gt;. For example, Chaucer's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bartleby.com/40/0101.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Canterbury Tales&lt;/a&gt; begins:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;WHAN that Aprille with his shoures soote&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And bathed every veyne in swich &lt;strong&gt;licour&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Of which vertu engendred is the &lt;strong&gt;flour&lt;/strong&gt;; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Chaucer's time it would seem that &lt;strong&gt;licour&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;flour&lt;/strong&gt; rhymed, yet the modern English words &lt;strong&gt;licquor&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;flower&lt;/strong&gt; do not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can also be seen in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Chaucer#English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Summoner's Tale&lt;/a&gt;, where the modern English words &lt;strong&gt;vision&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;million&lt;/strong&gt; no longer rhyme with &lt;strong&gt;down&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In spirit ones by a &lt;strong&gt;visioun&lt;/strong&gt;; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And as an angel ladde hym up and &lt;strong&gt;doun&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yis, quod this aungel, many a &lt;strong&gt;millioun&lt;/strong&gt;! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And unto sathanas he ladde hym &lt;strong&gt;doun&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T10:31:41.420" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-07T10:31:41.420" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8144" CreationDate="2011-01-07T12:45:49.877" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Human societies are characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals sharing a distinctive culture and institutions. Without an article, the term refers either to the entirety of humanity or a contextually specific subset of people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would restate one part of the original question as&lt;br&gt;&#xA;'&quot;society&quot; (without &quot;the&quot;) refers to &lt;strong&gt;human society in general&lt;/strong&gt;'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and, the example should read&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;socialization is the process of learning to live in society&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;the society&quot; is used in areas of study such as anthropology, political science and sociology when referring to specific groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again from the Wikipedia article, discussing a particular group&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This nobility organized warriors to protect &lt;strong&gt;the society&lt;/strong&gt; from invasion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, &quot;the society&quot; is used to limit the scope to the group under discussion, and not all of humanity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited to respond to OP's edit of original question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &quot;Soldiers protect society&quot; the lack of an article preceding &quot;society&quot; makes it a statement about human society in general. As such it can stand alone without other context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Soldiers protect &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; society&quot; seems taken out of context. It begs the question &lt;strong&gt;which&lt;/strong&gt; society?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note: The following example statements are not meant to be historically accurate.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In general, soldiers protect (human) society.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  In ancient Rome, soldiers called centurions protected &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; (Roman) society.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  In ancient Japan, soldiers called samurai protected &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; (Japanese) society.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastEditorUserId="2944" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T15:58:58.860" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T15:58:58.860" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8148" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8152" CreationDate="2011-01-07T12:55:21.037" Score="8" ViewCount="238" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Something for the weekend&quot; is a euphemism heard in barber shops, when the above phrase is used to enquire of a customer whether he would like a packet of condoms. Does anyone know how this phrase came about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T17:53:34.663" Title="Would sir like something for the weekend?" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;&lt;euphemisms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="8149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8126" CreationDate="2011-01-07T12:55:32.547" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jon Purdy&lt;/strong&gt; says in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8126/is-the-game-go-a-proper-noun-what-about-checkers-or-chess/8128#8128&quot;&gt;his answer&lt;/a&gt; that it is to differentiate it from an existing word in the English language that has a specific meaning, which is a very good point. &lt;sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(I gave him +1 for that)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that this is also the case for &quot;Monopoly&quot; as monopoly is also a regular word, where the game has taken an existing word as its name. &#xA;Consider this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have monopoly on the table&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without consider capital M or not, this could mean &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have a game of Monopoly lying on the table&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or it could mean &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have monopoly on selling this type of tables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other examples (checkers, chess, basketball, football) do not have other meaning - they are uniquely identifying the games (basketball and football are made up of several other words, but the combined terms are uniquely describing the games).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1717" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T12:55:32.547" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8150" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8151" CreationDate="2011-01-07T13:58:39.250" Score="7" ViewCount="280" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the process of writing to two people I typed: &quot;Are either of you free?&quot; and was immediately called out by my grammar checker which suggested I should write: &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Is&lt;/strong&gt; either of you free?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second of these options feels intuitively wrong to me, as I am addressing two people so should be using the plural. However I feel this is tied up in the whole issue of whether a group should be referred to in the plural or singular sense, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Red Hot Chili Peppers is a band&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Uses &quot;is&quot; to indicate that the band is a singular entity, whereas&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Red Hot Chili Peppers are a band&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Uses &quot;are&quot; to indicate that the band is made up of multiple people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, which is correct? &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Is&lt;/strong&gt; either of you free?&quot; or &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Are&lt;/strong&gt; either of you free?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3320" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T06:15:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T06:15:48.920" Title="&quot;Are either of you free?&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;verb-agreement&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8150" CreationDate="2011-01-07T14:13:13.080" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your grammar checker corrected you because &quot;either&quot; &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; technically function with a singular verb. If you think about your question slightly expanded it would be &quot;&lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; either one of you free?&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way of looking at it is to imagine typing a third email, this time to someone else: &quot;if either Jane or Susan &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; free, then I'll ask them to do it, but I haven't yet heard back from them&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, leaving technical correctness aside, I think conventional usage allows for your question in both forms, and I would ignore your grammar checker if I were you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way this has nothing to do with whether a collective noun (as in your Red Hot Chili Peppers) functions as a singular a plural. That's a separate issue, which I am sure is addressed many times over on this site, e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1338/is-a-company-always-plural-or-are-small-companies-singular&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="368" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T14:13:13.080" />
  <row Id="8152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8148" CreationDate="2011-01-07T14:17:23.600" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems natural to me to be discreet about this topic. Given that a lot of dating happens on weekends, and a man at a barber might be cleaning up for a date, a discreet add-on sale seems like a natural thing to occur. If the customer can infer the barber's meaning (&quot;some.... what? combs?... for the weekend... because I'll be ... combing my hair?... OH! condoms!&quot;) then this phrase works well in tactfully promoting a product that lots of people might not want to discuss. The service industries often have many such phrases. For example, when a tailer asks if you &quot;dress left or right&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T14:17:23.600" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8153" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-07T14:18:48.783" Score="2" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can anyone please explain to me the meaning of this quote?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A wife is essential to great&#xA;  longevity; she is the receptacle of&#xA;  half a man's cares, and two-thirds of&#xA;  his ill-humor. -Charles Reade&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3321" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-07T14:33:56.097" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T14:33:56.097" Title="Quote meaning: A wife is essential to great longevity" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8150" CreationDate="2011-01-07T14:23:53.767" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is one of those situations where a prescriptive grammar guide might have no qualms about telling you that you should always have singular verb agreement with &lt;em&gt;either&lt;/em&gt;.  But it really is not that simple in practice.  The word &lt;em&gt;either&lt;/em&gt; actually gets singular agreement sometimes and plural agreement other times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular, I think you will find a tendency toward singular agreement when the word &lt;em&gt;either&lt;/em&gt; is by itself or part of a phrase that is clearly singular, e.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;[Either] is fine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Is [either one] okay?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you will find a tendency toward plural agreement when you have it as part of a phrase where the other component is clearly plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;[Either of them] are fine.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Are [either of your brothers] coming?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even with these tendencies, you will find occasional exceptions (depending on the speaker) or gray areas, but this describes why both types of agreement exist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;, the word &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; can be singular or plural, although if it is preceded by &quot;either of&quot; then it is necessarily going to be the plural &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my (US) English, I don't distinguish between &quot;Chili Peppers are a band&quot; and &quot;Chili Peppers is a band&quot; (I just go with whether the band name is singular or plural, and agree with it), but I do the &lt;em&gt;either&lt;/em&gt; singular-plural alternation. That said, I think it is a similar type of phenomenon.  Semantics is stepping in and influencing the verb agreement — it's not always a purely syntactical decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-07T15:47:14.710" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T15:47:14.710" />
  <row Id="8155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8153" CreationDate="2011-01-07T14:25:53.610" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This means that having a good wife allows you to live longer. That's because a husband can give half of his worries to his wife (&quot;she is the receptacle of half a man's cares&quot;), and will take out his bad moods on her (&quot;and two-thirds of his ill humor&quot;). She presumably puts up with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pity the wife, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T14:25:53.610" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8156" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8157" CreationDate="2011-01-07T15:32:26.937" Score="3" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster and the OED list only figurative senses of the word echelon (i.e. military formations and organizational ranks). Would it be incorrect to use it in the literal sense of the French word from which it derives (échelon) to refer to a tier on a physical structure?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Gardens had been planted on the upper echelons of the hotel's exterior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:11:06.957" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:11:06.957" Title="Literal echelons?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;figures-of-speech&gt;&lt;borrowing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="8157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8156" CreationDate="2011-01-07T15:46:35.750" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could use it in an intentionally literal sense, but it would be understood figuratively regardless. Few would consider it in its literal French sense. If you were to italicize it, you could signal that it was meant to be understood as a French word, and then those who speak French would code it that way, but most speakers of English would still think you meant it figuratively and were merely emphasizing the word for idiosyncratic reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T15:46:35.750" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8129" CreationDate="2011-01-07T16:26:49.997" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The original meaning of &quot;suppose&quot; is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/epistemic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;epistemic&lt;/a&gt;: &quot;think&quot;, or &quot;assume&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But various modal verbs, such as &quot;must&quot;, have both deontic (&quot;you must go&quot; = &quot;you ought to go&quot;) and epistemic (&quot;you must be&quot; = &quot;I conclude that you are&quot;) meanings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the passive only, &quot;suppose&quot; has acquired a deontic sense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nowadays &quot;suppose&quot; nearly always takes a sentential complement (&quot;I suppose that ... &quot;), but in older or more formal English it can take a direct object and an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/deontic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;deontic&lt;/a&gt;infinitive complement &quot;I supposed him to be ... &quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &quot;He was supposed to go&quot; is the passive of a construction which is now rather restricted, in the epistemic sense of &quot;It was thought that he was going&quot;. But in the specialised deontic sense, the construction has survived. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T16:26:49.997" />
  <row Id="8159" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8160" CreationDate="2011-01-07T17:00:55.997" Score="0" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please let me know the plural form of analysis. Is 'analyses' a correct answer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1749" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T17:07:36.917" Title="What is the plural form of Analysis?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="8160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8159" CreationDate="2011-01-07T17:07:36.917" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, &lt;em&gt;analyses&lt;/em&gt; is correct. See e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/analysis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/analysis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Free Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;, or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/analysis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;. Note that in the meaning &quot;The mathematical study of functions, sequences, series, limits, derivatives and integrals&quot; the word &lt;em&gt;analysis&lt;/em&gt; is uncountable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T17:07:36.917" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8131" CreationDate="2011-01-07T17:20:47.997" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure that integrity and honesty are entirely synonymous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think integrity is closer to the word consistent than the word honest. Of course, you couldn't really be dishonest and have integrity because dishonesty requires inconsistency between your words and your thoughts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="181" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T17:20:47.997" />
  <row Id="8162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8064" CreationDate="2011-01-07T17:30:58.793" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very simple answer - always use the -ing form and never an infinitive (e.g. - &lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt;) after a preposition. Here &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; is a preposition. That's really all there is to it. Apart from working out when &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; is a preposition and when it's part of the infinitive. Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3323" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T17:30:58.793" />
  <row Id="8163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8145" CreationDate="2011-01-07T17:45:17.903" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi. What are the students told? - everything (well probably not absolutely everything!) - so &lt;em&gt;everything&lt;/em&gt; is the object, and the sentence is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's have the long version: &#xA;&lt;em&gt;Students should be skeptical about everything &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; they are told&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;The fact that there's a pronoun (&lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt;) in subject form between the relative pronoun (&lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;) and the verb, tells us that &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt; is the subject. That's one easy way of deciding. What is probably throwing you is that the relative clause is in the passive, so it looks a bit strange. But just look for that pronoun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3323" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T17:45:17.903" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8131" CreationDate="2011-01-07T17:46:39.553" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with @John Weldon that integrity and honesty aren't synonymous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So defining integrity becomes important, and I'm inclined to go with the crowd on that--integrity in a human being is a state of having all the important virtues. Being &quot;whole&quot; or &quot;complete&quot; as a being of virtue. There would probably be some disagreement about which virtues are required for integrity, of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this view, honesty can be seen as a necessary condition of integrity--you can't be &quot;integrated&quot; without it--but you can be honest and still lack integrity if you also lack other crucial virtues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think people sometimes think of integrity as synonymous with honesty because it's one of the most obvious virtues, and one that most people can agree is necessary for integrity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T17:46:39.553" />
  <row Id="8167" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8407" CreationDate="2011-01-07T18:01:14.623" Score="2" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Young, naive and trusting as I was, I&#xA;  believed every lying word he said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I learned, &quot;as&quot; used the way here should mean &quot;though&quot;. But if it means &quot;though&quot;, the meaning of this sentence is wrong, and a correct sentence should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Young, naive and trusting as I was, I&#xA;  didn't believe a single lying word he said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As I was young, naive and trusting, I&#xA;  believed every lying word he said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my understanding right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3324" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:34:44.567" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:34:44.567" Title="Is &quot;as&quot; used correctly in this sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8167" CreationDate="2011-01-07T18:21:57.207" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence is correct as written. &lt;em&gt;As&lt;/em&gt; is used with the sense of &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; in this sentence, and is placed before the subject of the subordinate clause as a type of literary inversion. As RegDwight said in the comments, the sentence means &quot;I believed every lying word he said because I was young, naive and trusting&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T18:21:57.207" />
  <row Id="8169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1710" CreationDate="2011-01-07T18:30:00.743" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't call it either professional or informal. It's archaic, and I'd use it only humourously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T18:30:00.743" />
  <row Id="8170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8167" CreationDate="2011-01-07T19:45:35.440" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I happen to differ slightly with @RegDwight &amp;amp; @JSBangs on this point. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe &quot;as&quot; does not &lt;em&gt;necessarily&lt;/em&gt; mean &quot;because&quot; in this context (although it might). I believe it can also be used in the second sense my Webster's gives, which is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2 during the time of being (the thing&#xA;  specified) : he had often been sick as&#xA;  a child | as a student, my nickname&#xA;  was Space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in that respect I believe it could mean that &quot;by comparison to the way I am now (that is, older and wiser), I believed every lying word he said.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think of the beginning of Dylan Thomas' poem &quot;Fern Hill&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs&#xA;     About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,&#xA;       The night above the dingle starry,&#xA;         Time let me hail and climb&#xA;       Golden in the heydays of his eyes&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is clear that what follows indicates a comparison to a later state, not a causal relationship. That is, the narrator of the poem is at a time of life when he is no longer so &quot;golden&quot; as before. The person who believed the lying bastard may mean the same kind of comparison.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, let me stress that I'm not saying that &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt; can't or doesn't mean &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; in the OP's example; I'm merely pointing out that it may also mean something a little different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T19:45:35.440" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="904" CreationDate="2011-01-07T19:47:04.480" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;check&lt;/em&gt; should not be used in this context outside the USA. In the USA, it's fine. There's no politeness difference between &lt;em&gt;bill&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;check&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T19:47:04.480" />
  <row Id="8172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6961" CreationDate="2011-01-07T19:55:05.537" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't mind using a Biblical allusion which may not be immediately obvious to your audience, you could go with &lt;em&gt;whitewashed tomb&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T19:55:05.537" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="904" CreationDate="2011-01-07T20:07:53.013" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two parts to your question. Each part has been accurately but separately answered elsewhere but here's the summary: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. When asking for the bill/check in a restaurant, what's the polite way to phrase the question?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See Atomix's answer: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;May we have the bill/check, please?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Could we have the bill/check, please?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Could we get the bill/check, please?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Is there a politeness difference between &lt;em&gt;bill&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;check&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As TRiG's answer says, there is none. But &lt;em&gt;check&lt;/em&gt; is used chiefly in the USA and &lt;em&gt;bill&lt;/em&gt; is used in the UK (and I think most other English speaking territories).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="368" LastEditorUserId="368" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-08T14:56:47.100" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T14:56:47.100" />
  <row Id="8174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8141" CreationDate="2011-01-07T20:29:33.470" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Completely good&quot; is grammatically correct. As has been said, &quot;completely&quot; is simply an adverb modifying &quot;good.&quot; The phrase only sounds odd because it is not commonly used. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3326" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T20:29:33.470" />
  <row Id="8175" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8176" CreationDate="2011-01-07T20:31:34.170" Score="7" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the word &lt;em&gt;YMMV&lt;/em&gt; in an answer to my question &quot;How important to write down mission statement in learning English? Do I have to?&quot;, which I posted on January 6.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As &lt;em&gt;YMMV&lt;/em&gt; is a quite strange word to me, I consulted Urban dictionary, and found that it's an abbreviation of &lt;em&gt;Your Mileage May Vary&lt;/em&gt;, meaning &lt;em&gt;your results will be varied&lt;/em&gt; and that is often used in forum talk. However, is the expression_ Your mileage may vary_ by itself a well-established idiom? Do baby-boomers use this expression casually in day-to-day conversation? Would I raise somebody's eyebrows if I use the abbreviation &lt;em&gt;YMMV&lt;/em&gt; in ordinary conversation? Please teach me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T01:26:37.203" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T01:26:37.203" Title="Usage of YMMV: Can I use it in day-to-day conversation?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="8176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8175" CreationDate="2011-01-07T20:40:21.893" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Your mileage may vary&quot; is a well known phrase in the US and can be used in casual conversation. I have never heard anyone spell out &quot;Y M M V&quot; in spoken conversation as opposed to &quot;A S A P&quot; which I hear spoken out loud a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would never use the phrase or the abbreviation YMMV in any formal writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is a nice shorthand phrase in casual discussions to convey the idea that &quot;What I just told you has been my experience in certain situations. You might see similar results, then again, you might not.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least, that's what I think. YMMV :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T20:40:21.893" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6961" CreationDate="2011-01-07T21:05:29.417" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nixonian?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  As in &quot;Well, when the President does it that means that it is not illegal.&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;via Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T21:05:29.417" />
  <row Id="8178" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8180" CreationDate="2011-01-07T22:02:22.657" Score="7" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;And if so, how did they differentiate between male, female or neuter nouns? Did English ever have gender-specific (in)definite articles? (like der/die/das in German)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2334" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T22:04:53.060" Title="Did the English language ever have noun genders?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;gender&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8179" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8182" CreationDate="2011-01-07T22:03:23.367" Score="3" ViewCount="294" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Russian schools there is a standard list of books students have to read to pass the literature class. Obviously, books in this list are considered to be the most &lt;code&gt;important&lt;/code&gt; in a cultural way, the ones people have to read to understand Russian culture. I know literally nothing about american education system, but I suppose there is something like this in the U.S. Needless to say, such a list of book titles would be of great value for people trying to understand American/English culture and to get more proficient in written English. Personally, I'm having difficulties reading some of my favorite books in origin, which leads me to the idea that maybe I should have tried something less complicated first. But I don't know what exactly and in what order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3330" LastEditorUserId="3330" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-07T22:09:47.717" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T07:15:47.640" ClosedDate="2011-01-08T18:55:48.990" Title="English literature must-read list" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;literature&gt;&lt;reading&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8178" CreationDate="2011-01-07T22:04:53.060" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes to all of your questions: Old English had three genders, each of which had their own definite articles and case endings (though the masculine and neuter were largely the same).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English_declension#Nouns&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article on Old English Declensions&lt;/a&gt;, you can see sample declensions for masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns in their five cases, as well as examples of the definite articles. This system had fallen out of use by the time of the earliest Middle English writing (in the 15th century), and no trace of grammatical gender survives today outside of the personal pronouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T22:04:53.060" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="8181" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8183" CreationDate="2011-01-07T22:19:49.383" Score="13" ViewCount="739" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was asking this question on Area 51: &quot;How do I tell if an airport scanner is a X-ray scanner?&quot;, but I keep wanting to put an 'an' in front of X-ray because it starts with the 'eh' sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is it 'a' or 'an'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2805" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T02:40:10.420" Title="Does one use 'a' or 'an' before the word X-Ray?" Tags="&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="8182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8179" CreationDate="2011-01-07T22:29:36.473" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The English term for the most important books for a language, culture, or country is the &quot;canon&quot;. There is no official English or American canon that's used by all educational institutions, but there are nonetheless many authors and books that are read by nearly everyone. Here's a short list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Beowulf&lt;/em&gt;, which is almost always read in translation since Old English isn't intelligible to modern English speakers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Geoffrey Chaucer's &lt;em&gt;The Canterbury Tales&lt;/em&gt;, usually translated into modern English, though his Middle English is understandable with effort&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Bible in the Authorized Version (aka the King James Version)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;William Shakespeare, especially &lt;em&gt;Romeo and Juliet&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Hamlet&lt;/em&gt;, plus his sonnets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;John Milton's &lt;em&gt;Paradise Lost&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Charles Dickens, especially &lt;em&gt;A Christmas Carol&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mark Twain, with &lt;em&gt;The Adventures of Tom Sawyer&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Edgar Allen Poe, especially his poem &lt;em&gt;The Raven&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;F. Scott Fitzgerald, with &lt;em&gt;The Great Gatsby&lt;/em&gt; and others&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;John Steinbeck, with &lt;em&gt;The Grapes of Wrath&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;The Pearl&lt;/em&gt;, and others&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;J. D. Salinger's &lt;em&gt;The Catcher in the Rye&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Salinger is probably the most recent author who is unquestionably part of the canon. Plenty of great books have been written since 1951, of course, but it's not yet clear which of those have been accepted as canonical works of great English literature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This list could be extended greatly, of course. As I mentioned above, the actual literature curriculum will vary greatly from place to place, and I'm sure everyone has some favorite that's not included in my list above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T22:29:36.473" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8181" CreationDate="2011-01-07T22:31:26.330" Score="28" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely &quot;an&quot;. The word &lt;em&gt;X-ray&lt;/em&gt; is never pronounced any way other than &quot;exray&quot;, and has been discussed before, the choice of &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; is based solely on pronunciation, regardless of spelling. Since &lt;em&gt;X-ray&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced beginning with a vowel, it must be preceded by &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T22:31:26.330" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8181" CreationDate="2011-01-07T22:40:00.113" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this situation you use &quot;an&quot;, because phonetically the sound you are making &#xA;(the X) starts with an &quot;E&quot;: you hear &quot;Ex - ray&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is true of any letter that, when pronounced, sounds like it starts with a vowel, and often you will need to adapt your use of &quot;a&quot; or &quot;an&quot; even for the same letter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A Nasty cold was going around the office&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An NHS doctor was the first to diagnose the bug&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Phonetically you say &quot;EN AITCH ESS&quot;, so you use &quot;An NHS&quot;. Likewise, as you say &quot;EX-RAY&quot;, you say, &quot;An X-Ray&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way the word is pronounced is the key factor here, rather than the spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Looks like JSBangs beat me to it :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3320" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T22:40:00.113" />
  <row Id="8185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8181" CreationDate="2011-01-07T22:40:42.017" Score="21" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'an', because how it sounds is what matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An interesting example is &lt;code&gt;an hour&lt;/code&gt;, et. al. The fact that 'h' is not considered a vowel from the article point of view says a lot about English pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another interesting example of article form leaking unusual information, from &lt;a href=&quot;http://qwas.stl.ru/books/hitch3.txt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Life, the Universe and Everything&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;I think,&quot; said  Ford  in  a  tone  of  voice  which  Arthur  by  now&#xA;recognized as one which presaged something utterly  unintelligible,  &quot;that&#xA;there's an SEP over there.&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It means that the author meant that SEP achronym is to be pronounced 'es ee pee' and never 'sep'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T22:40:42.017" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8186" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-07T22:47:43.430" Score="3" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something along the lines of 'hero of the occasion', but specifically for birthday? If there isn't, how would you otherwise say that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;('the subject of birthday party', 'the hero of this birthday party', 'birthday's hero' all sound stupid somehow).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="188" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-08T00:27:35.677" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T21:13:40.997" Title="Is there a canonic term for &quot;the one whose birthday party is being celebrated&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8187" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8189" CreationDate="2011-01-07T22:48:00.310" Score="5" ViewCount="227" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say I have a transaction, and I don't know whether it's a debit on the account or a credit on the account, and I want to ask about it, is there a word I can use?  I'm looking for a generic word that means &quot;debit or credit&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if I were asking whether a book were green or blue, I would ask, &quot;What's its color?&quot;  If I were asking whether a transaction was a debit or a credit, can I fill in the blank, &quot;What's its &lt;strong&gt;_&lt;/strong&gt;?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I'm looking to name a variable while programming, and the best I can come up with is &quot;type&quot; which is not very descriptive).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="803" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T01:17:38.303" Title="Is there a generic word for debit/credit?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;finance&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8186" CreationDate="2011-01-07T22:56:19.617" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have often heard the person in question informally referred to as the &quot;Birthday Boy/Girl&quot;. e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The birthday girl was having a wonderful time at her party.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3320" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T22:56:19.617" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8187" CreationDate="2011-01-07T23:27:58.603" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't believe there's a single word that fits your request.  In the ERP systems I've had access to, it's generally been referred to as Transaction Type (or Distribution Type, for AR and AP).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-07T23:27:58.603" />
  <row Id="8190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5610" CreationDate="2011-01-08T00:10:06.757" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem with these insults is what you might call the &quot;scatter-gun&quot; effect. If you insult Person A by comparing her to Group X, you have also insulted Group X. And that is not cool (especially when Group X is a disenfranchised minority).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm gay myself, and object when people use that word as an insult. I'd also object to that usage of the word &lt;em&gt;retarded&lt;/em&gt; and indeed the word &lt;em&gt;lame&lt;/em&gt;. There are plenty of insults which are direct, and don't hurt other people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've become more aware of these issues having read most of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://kateharding.net&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Shapely Prose&lt;/a&gt; archive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T00:10:06.757" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8191" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8192" CreationDate="2011-01-08T00:30:13.380" Score="2" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;What alternatives are there to the expression &quot;this last point&quot;? I'll give an example of a sentence that I wrote recently, referring to the Jane Austen novel Pride and Prejudice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The dialog and narration is written&#xA;  with a fluency and accuracy that&#xA;  allows Jane Austen to make remarkably&#xA;  fine points. This last point is of&#xA;  particular interest to me, as I often&#xA;  find myself unable to convey the exact&#xA;  meaning that I would wish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="293" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T05:58:20.583" Title="Alternatives to &quot;this last point&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8191" CreationDate="2011-01-08T00:35:39.203" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;This&quot;. as in &quot;This is of particular interest to me&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vigorous writing is concise...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3204" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T00:35:39.203" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8187" CreationDate="2011-01-08T00:50:49.340" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Hellion suggested, I'd use the variable name &lt;code&gt;transactionType&lt;/code&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've worked as a programmer on some accounting-related projects. In a nutshell, an accounting application is a log of transactions, and each transaction has a type. There may be more types than just credit and debit, however. For example, in my programs there is often a &lt;em&gt;void&lt;/em&gt; transaction type. And if you are accepting credit cards there are transaction types specific to a credit card, such as &lt;em&gt;authorization&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;capture&lt;/em&gt;, to name two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T00:50:49.340" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8194" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8202" CreationDate="2011-01-08T01:32:29.587" Score="4" ViewCount="396" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was taught that, at least, '&lt;em&gt;therefore&lt;/em&gt;' and '&lt;em&gt;so&lt;/em&gt;' and can be used interchangeably, one being informal, the other formal. But, even when written, replacing '&lt;em&gt;so&lt;/em&gt;' with '&lt;em&gt;therefore&lt;/em&gt;' doesn't seem correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was tired so I fell asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was tired therefore I fell asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I even allowed to use &lt;em&gt;therefore&lt;/em&gt; as a conjunction here? The dictionary says I can, but it would seem more suitable to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was tired &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; therefore I fell asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realise &lt;em&gt;hence&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;thus&lt;/em&gt; (and even &lt;em&gt;ergo&lt;/em&gt;) are rarely used, but where do they fit into this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3339" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-08T10:23:35.403" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T08:12:26.690" Title="Can I use &quot;therefore&quot;, &quot;so&quot;, &quot;hence&quot; and &quot;thus&quot; interchangeably?" Tags="&lt;formality&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;&lt;logic&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8187" CreationDate="2011-01-08T01:42:23.633" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/solvency&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;solvency&lt;/a&gt; or a related term could convey what you intend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3340" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T01:42:23.633" />
  <row Id="8196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8181" CreationDate="2011-01-08T01:43:51.030" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not thinks Phonetics has any bearing on &quot;A&quot; or &quot;AN&quot;. When I studied the language a Thousand years ago, the rule was a consonant requires &quot;A&quot;, a vowel requires &quot;AN&quot;.&#xA;That was the rule, and a rule is a rule, not an elephant.&#xA;The english language is a living, ever changing beast and has more exceptions to a rule than it has rules. I have heard it said that &quot;The only other language with more exceptions than english, is mandarin chinese .&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3341" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T01:43:51.030" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="8197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8186" CreationDate="2011-01-08T02:27:18.640" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a birthday situation, the word 'celebrant' would be generally understood to mean the one whose birthday is being celebrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T02:27:18.640" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8198" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-08T02:55:21.730" Score="0" ViewCount="309" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/629/a-historic-or-an-historic&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;A historic&amp;hellip;&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;An historic&amp;hellip;&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard and read this combination both ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;It was a heroic act.&#xA;&#xA;It was an heroic act.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I pronounce the &quot;h&quot;, and believe that &quot;a&quot; is correct. I find that it sounds incorrect to use &quot;an&quot; and pronounce &quot;heroic&quot; without the &quot;h.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are both acceptable or is there one that is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Inspired by &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8181/does-one-use-a-or-an-before-the-word-x-ray&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2241" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:11:23.773" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:11:23.773" ClosedDate="2011-01-08T18:36:49.747" Title="&quot;A heroic&quot; or &quot;An heroic&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="8199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="629" CreationDate="2011-01-08T03:11:47.353" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;See this question/answer: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/152/use-of-a-versus-an&quot;&gt;Use of &quot;a&quot; versus &quot;an&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The question of &quot;a&quot; vs &quot;an&quot; is always decided by the pronunciation of the word that follows the article. Thus, various geographical regions that have different pronunciation rules may use a different article for the same word.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, if you pronounce the &quot;h&quot; then use &quot;a&quot;. If you do not pronounce the &quot;h&quot;, use &quot;an.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T03:11:47.353" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="629" CreationDate="2011-01-08T03:13:33.920" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In words beginning with 'h' where the accent is on the 2nd syllable, it is also correct to use &quot;an&quot;.  In such cases you do not pronounce the 'h'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &quot;an historical act&quot; is spoken as &quot;an'istorical act&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This practice has a long, respected pedigree, at list in British literature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3204" LastEditorUserId="3204" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-08T14:35:10.287" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T14:35:10.287" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="953" CreationDate="2011-01-08T03:26:32.447" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;25 cents = two bits, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;20 dollars = green ticket&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T03:26:32.447" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-08T03:26:32.447" />
  <row Id="8202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8194" CreationDate="2011-01-08T03:33:09.283" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Therefore&lt;/em&gt; is an adverb, as well as &lt;em&gt;hence&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;thus&lt;/em&gt;, although used in this similar manner they are conjunctive because they denote causal relation between the two clauses in your statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of your examples above are acceptable, but there should be a semicolon in your first &lt;em&gt;therefore&lt;/em&gt; example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was tired; therefore I fell asleep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3346" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T03:33:09.283" />
  <row Id="8203" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8204" CreationDate="2011-01-08T04:27:58.143" Score="5" ViewCount="486" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a twofold question. As far as I know dear, darling and honey are commonly used between lovers, but I supposed there are more words like that? What else is commonly used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, I'm wondering which of these can be used to address a (close/not close) friend without sounding sarcastic or awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="315" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-08T10:24:25.420" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T11:49:30.790" Title="Can you use dear, darling, honey, etc. on a friend?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="8204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8203" CreationDate="2011-01-08T04:54:22.753" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This varies greatly by geography.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the Southeastern United States, it is not uncommon for some women to address or answer people--even strangers--of either sex with terms of endearment, such as &lt;em&gt;Honey&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Sugar&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Sweetie&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Darling&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Baby&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;etc.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This practice is so intimately associated with &quot;The South,&quot; that it will almost always be awkward or at best unusual for someone without a &quot;southern accent&quot; to speak in this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These terms do seem to be acceptable throughout the U.S. and Canada when speaking to a significant other or to very young children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is not the way that you are known to speak, it could be awkward to use any of these terms to address a friend. It does depend upon the genders of speaker and the addressee, and the cultural/geographical/linguistic background of the addressee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T04:54:22.753" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="8205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8187" CreationDate="2011-01-08T04:58:54.650" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, I feel that &quot;type&quot; is almost never the best choice for a variable name (or a column label, descriptive text, etc.).  Too many things can be covered by &quot;type&quot;.  It would be almost as bad as having variable names like &quot;thing&quot; or &quot;stuff&quot;.  So I applaud your instinct to try to find something better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One strategy in naming a variable to hold a binary choice is to just pick one of them.  Say you call it &quot;credit&quot;.  If the transaction is a credit, the variable is True, 1, or 'Y'.  If it's not, it's False, 0, or 'N'.  (Or, if your variable is holding the amount, make it signed and test whether the value is positive or negative.  That is, the sign serves as your &quot;transaction type&quot; indicator.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have more than two transaction types, then of course this doesn't work too well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T04:58:54.650" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8191" CreationDate="2011-01-08T04:59:21.343" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like simply &quot;This,&quot; as suggested by Rob.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, when the preceding point is of some complexity, you can specify the point or points to which you are referring. For example, you could write &quot;This accuracy is of particular…&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastEditorUserId="3313" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-08T05:58:20.583" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T05:58:20.583" />
  <row Id="8208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8187" CreationDate="2011-01-08T05:37:31.657" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Side:  Which side (debit or credit) of the ledger would this entry have been written on back in the days of pen and paper bookkeeping? (Don't ask me which is right or left -- I always have to look that up.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:  &quot;Side&quot; was my own solution to essentially the same programming problem.  I've never seen it used by anybody else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastEditorUserId="3350" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-08T06:22:07.157" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T06:22:07.157" />
  <row Id="8209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="953" CreationDate="2011-01-08T05:47:25.860" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Megabuck = One million dollars.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gigabuck = One billion dollars.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Terabuck = One trillion dollars (I don't think I've seen this one, but it makes sense).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T05:47:25.860" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-08T05:47:25.860" />
  <row Id="8210" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8212" CreationDate="2011-01-08T05:59:39.547" Score="3" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the last few years, I've noticed a growing usage of the word &quot;so&quot; to begin a sentence, especially in the context of higher education.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interviewer: &quot;What is the nature of your research&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Researcher: &quot;So, what we wanted to find out is...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to be a replacement the word &quot;well&quot;, or, more informally, &quot;ok&quot;.  Has this usage of the word been around for a long time and I'm just now noticing it?  Do you think that is a valid use of the word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3354" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T07:04:55.140" Title="When did the word &quot;so&quot; begin to be used to start a sentence?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8210" CreationDate="2011-01-08T06:04:44.053" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I first noticed it a few years ago from Microsoft people giving sales / technical presentations.  Maybe it started there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find it very annoying, and hope it will die out like some of the silly things we used to say when I was in college.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T06:04:44.053" />
  <row Id="8212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8210" CreationDate="2011-01-08T06:07:29.250" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This isn't exactly an answer to &quot;when,&quot; but the example that you provide--of a researcher--follows the thesis of this article on the phenomenon: &lt;a href=&quot;http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/so/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/so/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This article is linked from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/episode/2009/03/07/horsey-aeology-binary-black-holes-tracking-red-tides-fish-re-evolution-walk-like-a-man-fact-or-ficti/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt; from the CBC Radio program, Quirks &amp;amp; Quarks (see the very bottom of the page, where you can listen to the show excerpt about the use of the word &quot;so&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T06:07:29.250" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8203" CreationDate="2011-01-08T06:17:20.610" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Jay's answer, but would add that &quot;Dear Sir&quot;, &quot;Dear Mr. Smith&quot;, etc. used to be (still are?) considered standard openings for formal or business letters.  In this &lt;em&gt;pro forma&lt;/em&gt; context, the word &quot;dear&quot; is nearly meaningless.  Perhaps at most, it means &quot;I respect you, and I respect the tradition of opening my letter this way&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T06:17:20.610" />
  <row Id="8214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8187" CreationDate="2011-01-08T06:50:35.643" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You used the generic term in your question ('I have a transaction') so use it: 'transaction'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T06:50:35.643" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8203" CreationDate="2011-01-08T06:52:29.587" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;and, in office if you use those word then other feel some inclination towards those who addressed. Again it depends on geography. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3348" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T06:52:29.587" />
  <row Id="8216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8210" CreationDate="2011-01-08T07:04:55.140" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Joel Spolsky, I believe, once said it was a Pacific northwest thing, but I can't find it on his blog right now.  That would jive with Phil's observation about Microsoft people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3356" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T07:04:55.140" />
  <row Id="8217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8179" CreationDate="2011-01-08T07:10:14.807" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are two random lists that didn't look horrible at first glance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;(This one is about the 20th century only.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://degreecentral.com/top-50-books-for-english-majors/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://degreecentral.com/top-50-books-for-english-majors/&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;(Scroll down to &lt;em&gt;Classics&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-08T07:15:47.640" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T07:15:47.640" />
  <row Id="8218" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8222" CreationDate="2011-01-08T09:49:09.787" Score="6" ViewCount="254" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, &lt;em&gt;&quot;finite&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced (IPA) &lt;code&gt;ˈfaɪnaɪt&lt;/code&gt; while &lt;em&gt;&quot;infinite&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;code&gt;ˈɪnfɪnɪt&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, the prefix &lt;em&gt;&quot;in&quot;&lt;/em&gt; negates an adjective, but does not change the pronunciation. Based on this, I would expect &lt;code&gt;ˈɪnfaɪnaɪt&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a reason for this &quot;deviation from the norm&quot;? Are there dialects/regions that actually say &lt;code&gt;ˈɪnfaɪnaɪt&lt;/code&gt; (or &lt;code&gt;ˈfɪnɪt&lt;/code&gt;, for that matter)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2466" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T14:06:17.473" Title="Pronunciation differences between &quot;finite&quot; and &quot;infinite&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8218" CreationDate="2011-01-08T11:00:20.723" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe its a matter of stress.  IN-fi-nite.  FI-nite.  It is very awkward to say a word with two stressed syllables followed by one unstressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3361" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T11:00:20.723" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8187" CreationDate="2011-01-08T11:05:33.420" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;transactionDirection&lt;/code&gt; could work to indicate which way the money is flowing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for variable names, camelCaseNamingStyle or underscored_naming_style in most language.  I don't believe I've seen hyphens used for user-defined terms anywhere except Scheme/Lisp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3361" LastEditorUserId="3361" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T01:17:38.303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T01:17:38.303" />
  <row Id="8221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8203" CreationDate="2011-01-08T11:49:30.790" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taking the geographical oddities a little further in Cornwall (South West of the UK) complete strangers, normally women, may finish questions with the term 'my lover'. IE &quot;That'll be seven sixty my luuver&quot; best pronounced with a distinct country burr.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here in Australia there's an equivalent which is 'Darl' - short for darling, again best pronounced with a good Queensland aussie accent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In answer to your question many couples have pet names, which are normally toe curlingly cute - fluff bunny, didums etc, but the use of darling, honey etc sounds a little 1950's to my English/Australian ear. We use mate a lot, as in 'Cheers mate' for anyone we're interacting with  - works for friends and aquaintances - but then Australia is known for being very informal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3363" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T11:49:30.790" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8218" CreationDate="2011-01-08T12:16:42.623" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe we pronounce &lt;em&gt;infinite&lt;/em&gt; the way we do because a dactyl is simply easier to say, in most cases. It trips (quite literally) off the tongue. It seems we're forced into the spondee of &lt;em&gt;finite&lt;/em&gt;, even though that is harder to say, because nothing else makes sense. But once that extra syllable has come to the rescue we can get lazy again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After giving the matter more thought, I think we pronounce &lt;em&gt;finite&lt;/em&gt; as a spondee because both syllables have the &quot;long &lt;em&gt;i&lt;/em&gt;&quot; sound (aɪ). I can't think of a single instance of aɪ coming on an unstressed syllable. I think that's mainly true of all the &quot;long&quot; vowels as well, but I will not be surprised if someone can come up with an exception or three.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-08T14:06:17.473" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T14:06:17.473" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8223" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8533" CreationDate="2011-01-08T12:29:31.410" Score="3" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dictionary defines relevant as being&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Closely connected or appropriate to the matter at hand&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;whilst pertinent is defined as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Relevant or applicable to a particular matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of these definitions seem to me to be the same, and the dictionary also defines pertinence and relevance as synonyms. However I feel that in my normal usage I apply a further meaning (something I can't quite articulate) to pertinence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, I see a difference between a relevant question and a pertinent one. Perhaps it's that I see a pertinent question as one which maybe alights on some previously unexplored aspect of the matter at hand, whereas a relevant question explores more familiar ground. Almost as if pertinence requires more insight than relevance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone else feel that there is a difference between the two?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, we're agreed that there is a difference, but I'm still not definitely clear on what that difference is. I think there's maybe more to it than Guffa's suggestion that frequency of use causes pertinence to feel more important. I feel that Robusto might be on to something with impertinence being &lt;em&gt;definitely not the same&lt;/em&gt; as irrelevance. I will look into this more when I get the time, but in the mean time I appreciate your help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've accepted Ghoppe's answer, because I think that one sums up what I'm feeling the best. However (as pointed out by Noldorin in the question comments) I appreciate there's not any real difference at all in their meaning. Thanks to everyone for their answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3320" LastEditorUserId="3320" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T14:37:49.297" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T14:37:49.297" Title="Is there a semantic difference between relevance and pertinence?" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8218" CreationDate="2011-01-08T12:34:46.463" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's the three syllable rule that messes it up. Logically FI-nite would be in-FI-nite with the prefix, but as it becomes three syllables, the third syllable from the end is stressed and it becomes IN-fi-nite. When you stress the first syllable, you have to change the pronunciation to un-stress the second syllable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-08T13:28:32.797" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T13:28:32.797" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8223" CreationDate="2011-01-08T12:56:56.500" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see that relevant has come to be used (at least in technical discussions) just to divide things into what's relevant and what's irrelevant. As such, saying that something is relevant doesn't really stress it's importance, just that it's not irrelevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While pertinent should have the same meaning, it's not as frequently used, so it can function as an alternative to relevant when you want to point out the importance of something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="3365" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-08T13:08:21.393" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T13:08:21.393" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="8226" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8229" CreationDate="2011-01-08T13:28:07.300" Score="4" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3491/this-question-has-been-asked-at-on-so&quot;&gt;This question has been asked at/on SO?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which sentence is grammatically correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The papers are freely available &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt; the journal website.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The papers are freely available &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; the journal website.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using Google's search results:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=%22available+at+the+website%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;available &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt; the website&lt;/a&gt; returns 72,800,000 results.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=%22available+on+the+website%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;available &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; the website&lt;/a&gt; returns 106,000,000 results.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I inferred that both variants are popular. Is this method---comparing the number of results after Googling---sound?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2042" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T18:00:03.687" ClosedDate="2011-01-08T18:25:32.023" Title="&quot;on website&quot; or &quot;at website&quot;" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="8227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8223" CreationDate="2011-01-08T13:35:39.717" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel that &lt;em&gt;pertinent&lt;/em&gt; may be slightly stronger, but the two are definitely synonyms. The major difference I see is that the negative forms can be quite different. When something is &lt;em&gt;irrelevant&lt;/em&gt; it has no bearing on the topic at hand. &lt;em&gt;Impertinent&lt;/em&gt; can mean the same thing, but is usually used to describe a person's rudeness or lack of proper respect: &quot;You asked a very impertinent question&quot; can either mean the question was entirely irrelevant or the person asking it was being discourteous by doing so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T13:35:39.717" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="8228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8226" CreationDate="2011-01-08T13:37:59.320" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For some purposes, the method is sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's in use is generally what's correct, or what will become correct if it's used long enough. Even if it's not strictly correct, if it's very commonly used it's still usable, people will understand it, and few will react to any inaccuracies. If it's very popular, it's simply good enough for most purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are writing something where you &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; need to be correct, looking at what's popular is not a sure method to find that out. Something that is incorrect can still become more popular than the correct form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of &quot;website&quot;, it's not so clear what's correct, as a website is a rather abstract phenomenon. If you think of it as a site on the web, &quot;at&quot; would be correct, but if you think of it as a page on the web, &quot;on&quot; would be correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="3365" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-08T13:50:15.650" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T13:50:15.650" />
  <row Id="8229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8226" CreationDate="2011-01-08T13:50:08.270" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking as a longtime computer geek, files are said to reside &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; a hard drive or &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; a certain machine. Since I know that a website is made of computer files, I think of a website as being &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; a machine and so any part of the website is also on that machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A website's &quot;address&quot; is a &quot;Uniform Resource Locator&quot; or URL. These terms connote the idea of website as &quot;place&quot;. In this case the file would be &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt; the website location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you think of a website as it is actually constructed (files stored &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; hard drives), you will probably say &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think in the location metaphor, you will probably say &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I find myself saying &quot;on&quot; to other geeks and falling into &quot;at&quot; when speaking with normal people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T13:50:08.270" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8226" CreationDate="2011-01-08T14:34:25.310" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something is &lt;em&gt;sound&lt;/em&gt; if, and only if, it the premises are true &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; the conclusion necessarily follows from the premises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're using the number of results returned to determine proper usage, there might be a high correlation between number of results and usage, but it's not a sound method. For a counterexample, consider the British and American spellings of words: if &lt;em&gt;color&lt;/em&gt; had more results than &lt;em&gt;colour&lt;/em&gt;, inferring that &lt;em&gt;color&lt;/em&gt; is the proper word and &lt;em&gt;colour&lt;/em&gt; is wrong would be incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're using the number of results to determine popularity, it's not a sound method, either. Firstly, the number is without context: to provide meaning, you'd need something else to compare it to. When you start doing that, you run into the problem mentioned above. If you're inferring that because it has over &lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt; results, it must be popular, realize that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&amp;amp;answer=70920&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google only provides a basic estimate&lt;/a&gt; that can change due to a number of different factors, including doing something as simple as browsing page 2 of the results. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, certain keywords are given undue weight due to their SEO value; a historical example is the keyword &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.articlealley.com/article_414_7.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;mesolthelioma&quot;&lt;/a&gt;: a relatively obscure term for malignant tumor that caused by exposure to asbestos. It's particularly popular in search results because of the high settlement rate for asbestos exposure compensation cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keywords like that highlight the reality of Google results: they're not the sum total of human knowledge and are subject to gaming. The only sound conclusion one can reach from the number of Google results is that Google has indexed a lot of pages that contain or relate to that keyword, not that the term is particularly popular or that it's correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2512" LastEditorUserId="2512" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-08T14:59:46.883" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T14:59:46.883" />
  <row Id="8232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8223" CreationDate="2011-01-08T15:24:15.757" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My feeling is that 'relevant' is about raw facts and 'pertinent' is more about appropriateness or &quot;soft values&quot;. Robusto's answer says that impertinent can be meant as rude (more or less), but an impertinent statetent or question could certainly be relevant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I'm not a native english speaker though.. I've just read a lot of books. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2931" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T15:24:15.757" />
  <row Id="8233" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-08T16:12:03.170" Score="3" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the largest open-source dictionary that includes brief &#xA;definitions of each word? Wiktionary is a great resource but: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are over 200K words in the scowl list that aren't in &#xA;wiktionary. I'd use scowl directly, but it only list words and has no &#xA;definitions. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary intentionally includes misspellings (sometimes not &#xA;marked as such, and sometimes as redirection), and I'm looking for &#xA;only correctly-spelled words. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary's definitions are often lengthy, not brief. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's difficult to automatically extract the portion of a wiktionary &#xA;page that's the definition. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm somewhat surprised this question isn't in the FAQ, and that I couldn't &#xA;find the answer by searching this site. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3065" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T22:22:11.000" Title="Largest open-source dictionary w/ brief definitions (not wiktionary)" Tags="&lt;dictionaries&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8234" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8386" CreationDate="2011-01-08T16:58:31.807" Score="6" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm quite surprised there doesn't seem to be a question about this yet. Depending on where you hail from, you've probably heard the word &lt;em&gt;innit,&lt;/em&gt; an abbreviation of &lt;em&gt;isn't it&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;ain't it&lt;/em&gt;. You may also have heard it used as a placeholder for any negative tag question, such as &lt;em&gt;isn't he&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;don't you,&lt;/em&gt; much like the French &lt;em&gt;n'est-ce pas&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I get how &lt;em&gt;innit&lt;/em&gt; could be understood as something like &lt;em&gt;isn't that so,&lt;/em&gt; but I can't quite bring myself to use it that way. So what to do instead? I inflect it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aren't I &amp;rarr; areni ['ar(ɛ)naɪ]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aren't you &amp;rarr; arencha* ['ar(ɛ)nʧə]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aren't we &amp;rarr; arenwe* ['ar(ɛ)nwɪ]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Isn't he &amp;rarr; innhe* [ɪni]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Isn't she &amp;rarr; innshe [ɪnʃi]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aren't they &amp;rarr; arenthey* [ar(ɛ)n(ð)ɛɪ]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't I &amp;rarr; dunni ['dʌnaɪ]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't you &amp;rarr; doncha* ['dəʊnʧə]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't we &amp;rarr; donwe ['dəʊ(n)wɪ]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doesn't he &amp;rarr; dunnhe* ['dʌni]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doesn't she &amp;rarr; dunnshe ['dʌnʃi]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Don't they &amp;rarr; dunney ['dʌnɛɪ]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those marked with asterisks are those for which I can find references via Google. I found it interesting that third-person female forms (&lt;em&gt;-she&lt;/em&gt;) haven't shown up at all, though I excluded spellings such as &lt;em&gt;dontshe&lt;/em&gt; for obvious reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Granted, I don't actually use these all that often, and I'm quite uncertain of how to spell some of them (I keep thinking that the &lt;em&gt;-i&lt;/em&gt; ones should end in &lt;em&gt;-igh&lt;/em&gt;), so I don't really have a perfect way to search for usage. I don't really know which modals to exclude, either, as pronunciation changes in running speech are commonplace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So where might I find pronunciation, usage, and spelling information on these words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T15:37:59.207" Title="Who inflects &quot;innit&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;&lt;negation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8233" CreationDate="2011-01-08T17:01:33.127" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The moreofit web site can be a good start to find sites similar to, here, wiktionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.moreofit.com/similar-to/en.wiktionary.org/Top_10_Sites_Like_Wiktionary_En/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;www.moreofit.com/similar-to/en.wiktionary.org/Top_10_Sites_Like_Wiktionary_En&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The result includes &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dict.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dict.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, which can be of interest considering what you are after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T17:01:33.127" />
  <row Id="8236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8226" CreationDate="2011-01-08T18:00:03.687" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a key point missed by the answers so far is that in the examples you listed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The papers are freely available&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt; the journal website. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The papers are freely available &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;the journal website.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The subject is &quot;The papers&quot; is the subject, and &quot;website&quot; is the direct object (and now I'm second guessing whether direct object is the correct term).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it seems to me that the papers exist &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; a website.  If an address had been given instead then &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt; would be appropriate.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3377" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T18:00:03.687" />
  <row Id="8237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8233" CreationDate="2011-01-08T18:34:00.560" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may be looking for &lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnet.princeton.edu/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WordNet&lt;/a&gt;, a lexical database for English developed by Princeton's Computer Science department. It has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnet.princeton.edu/wordnet/license/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;permissive license&lt;/a&gt; allowing free use even in commercial applications. However, WordNet &lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnet.princeton.edu/wordnet/faq/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;does not have “closed-class” words&lt;/a&gt;, including pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, determiners, and particles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T18:34:00.560" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8238" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8240" CreationDate="2011-01-08T20:09:48.037" Score="1" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;When confirming bad news, or replying to a request in the negative it is common to hear one of these two phrases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm afraid so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm afraid not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general meaning inferred by &quot;I'm afraid&quot; seems to be apologetic, as in: &quot;I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is someone able to explain why we use this terminology and whether &lt;em&gt;afraid&lt;/em&gt; in this sense is the same &lt;em&gt;afraid&lt;/em&gt; we use to mean &quot;to be fearful of something&quot;? And if it is, what exactly is it that one is afraid &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3320" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T20:26:22.050" Title="The etymology of the phrase &quot;I'm afraid not&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="8239" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8241" CreationDate="2011-01-08T20:19:35.393" Score="1" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just saw a news report in which the reporter said: &quot;They used the term 'injured' and not 'wounded'&quot;. I am wondering what is the difference between the two. Is 'wounded' used only when there is an open wound?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3369" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T20:41:19.140" Title="Injured vs wounded" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;preference&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8238" CreationDate="2011-01-08T20:26:22.050" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Afraid can have three different meanings; fear, regret or dislike. The two latter forms doesn't really involve real fear, but rather just unease, and it's the second form that you show examples of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It comes from old english &lt;em&gt;affray&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;frighten&quot;, and the adjective form of being frightened survived the verb. The first record of it being used in the meaning of regret is from the 1590s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T20:26:22.050" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8239" CreationDate="2011-01-08T20:29:27.693" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A quick look at my medical dictionary describes a wound as a specific type of injury, one in which skin is &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;torn, cut or punctured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia also notes that in pathology the word wound refers to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a sharp injury which damages the dermis of the skin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, I would say that one is &quot;wounded&quot; when there is a visible or open wound. Also, every wound is an injury, but not all injuries are wounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3320" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T20:29:27.693" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8239" CreationDate="2011-01-08T20:41:19.140" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We're missing context here, but I &lt;em&gt;guess&lt;/em&gt; the reporter talks about some military spokespeople.  And in that context, well, &quot;wounded&quot; has a clear connotation of warfare, while &quot;injured&quot; sounds more civilian.  &quot;Five people were injured in the crash of the helicopter&quot; sounds &quot;nicer&quot; than &quot;Five people were wounded [...]&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's all about the spin, baby...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, without the context, I can only guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T20:41:19.140" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8186" CreationDate="2011-01-08T21:13:40.997" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Though its utility isn't limited to birthday parties, I like &quot;guest of honor.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2011-01-08T21:13:40.997" />
  <row Id="8244" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-08T23:41:30.510" Score="1" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been looking, but I have not come across this 'whom' related question anywhere. &#xA;Specifically in this circumstance, I feel 'with whom' flows more naturally but I remember someone suggested that 'whom with' is actually the proper order since it is referencing 'the people'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am looking to find a friendly environment where I can enjoy my work and the people whom with I work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am looking to find a friendly environment where I can enjoy my work and the people with whom I work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3381" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T16:01:44.340" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T02:40:30.080" Title="&quot;with whom&quot; or &quot;whom with&quot;" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="8245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8244" CreationDate="2011-01-09T00:22:03.547" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your second example is correct.  I don't believe I've ever seen &quot;whom with&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3350" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T00:22:03.547" />
  <row Id="8246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8244" CreationDate="2011-01-09T00:25:13.173" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could always go with &quot;I am looking to find a friendly environment where I can enjoy my work and the people I work with.&quot;  :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &quot;with whom&quot; is clearly the correct form for your proposed wording.  Whoever suggested &quot;whom with&quot; was smoking dope or something it like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T00:25:13.173" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8247" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8251" CreationDate="2011-01-09T00:33:22.853" Score="7" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;Growing up in a Black family in the US, I frequently heard people have conversaions like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mom: Have you eaten yet?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Kid: Yeah, Mom, I &lt;em&gt;been&lt;/em&gt; done ate.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wife: Have you fixed the sink yet?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Husband: Woman, I &lt;em&gt;been&lt;/em&gt; done fixed it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Emphasis is on the word &quot;been&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning has always been the same: not only have I done it, I did it some time ago. This led me to believe that it might be an actual tense in use in more than one language, and in more than one dialect of English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I right about that? What is the tense called? Are there other such tenses in use in parts of the English-speaking world that I might not have heard of?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I forgot to add that I found an article online, called &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://homepages.uwp.edu/canary/aavelang.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Notes on African American English&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. I disagree with parts of it, but section 5.2.2 seems about right:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;5.2.2 Also found in AAE (and some other varieties of English) is an&#xA;  uninflected done for a resultant&#xA;  state: I done ate (I've already&#xA;  eaten), I had done ate (I'd already&#xA;  eaten). For some speakers, this can be&#xA;  combined with the uninflected be and&#xA;  been: I been done ate (I finished&#xA;  eating some time ago), I be done ate&#xA;  (I've usually already eaten).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="817" LastEditorUserId="817" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T00:42:51.547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T05:23:00.403" Title="What's This Tense Called: &quot;I Been Done Ate&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="8248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8244" CreationDate="2011-01-09T00:36:27.483" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;with whom&quot; is correct, because your dependent clause is &quot;with whom I work&quot;, and prepositions (emphasis on &lt;strong&gt;pre&lt;/strong&gt;) should in most cases &lt;strong&gt;introduce&lt;/strong&gt; a prepositional phrase, except in some cases where it makes the statement seem awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3346" LastEditorUserId="3346" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T02:40:30.080" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T02:40:30.080" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8249" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8263" CreationDate="2011-01-09T00:42:14.263" Score="1" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across the word “off-the-shelf” in the following sentense of Time magazine’s article “The 50 Best Inventions of the Years (Nov.11 issue).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He (inventor of the first synthetic cell) started with ‘off-the-shelf chemical’, and managed to reconstruct the genome of bacterium that successfully ‘booted up.’ &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I checked out the word “off-the-shelf” with a dictionary at hand, which defines it as “in stock, ready-made, easily available.” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although this may be a naive question to most of native English speakers, it casted me a question, why does “off-the-shelf” which sounds to me “off the store-shelves” akin to “out-of-stock” on its face come to mean ready made and easily available? Can somebody explain it to me?&#xA;- Yoichi&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T02:28:56.373" Title="Why did ‘off-the-shelf' come to mean ‘in stock, ready-made, and easily available’?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8249" CreationDate="2011-01-09T00:47:47.567" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say it comes from the idea of something that you can just take off of the store shelf (instead of having to have it made for you), not to something that is already not on the shelf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3244" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T00:47:47.567" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8247" CreationDate="2011-01-09T01:00:33.833" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_Vernacular_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=ntI2tjjTE2MC&amp;amp;pg=PA86&amp;amp;lpg=PA86&amp;amp;dq=%22pre-recent+past%22&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=ULe-o6uWwg&amp;amp;sig=YC8XPAng5KO-ywBeXa6WAGeMCIk&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=AAkpTcekL4KglAfX2c2zAQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CBkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22pre-recent%20past%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article by Joan Fickett&lt;/a&gt;, it makes the distinction between recent past and pre-recent past:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recent: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She done work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pre-recent:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I been seen him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: Still trying to figure out the name for the &quot;been done&quot; + verb tense, which is yet another tense/aspect that doesn't exist in Standard English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T05:23:00.403" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T05:23:00.403" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8252" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-09T01:08:28.163" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the opposite of an upset in sports.  Maybe &quot;expected outcome&quot;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Terser would be better, but I'd hear anything that came to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1018" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T01:39:43.287" Title="Sports: opposite of an upset" Tags="&lt;antonyms&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="8253" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-09T01:14:42.163" Score="1" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the word ‘marquee chefs’ in an article in today’s New York times in the following context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;‘From new offerings by marquee chefs to more modest openings in out-of-the-way spots, here are 10 restaurants around the globe to keep an eye on in 2011.’&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I consulted Oxford English Dictionary at hand to check the meaning of ‘marquee,’ which it defines simply as 1.a large tent used at social events. and 2. (AmE) a covered entrance to a theater, hotel, etc. Often with a sign on or above it, both of which meaning are irrelevant with chef, if take literally.&#xA;I interpreted “marquee chefs” here means chefs of well-known restaurants or hotel restaurants. Am I right? Is ‘marquee chef’ commonly spoken in your daily conversation? If not, why did New York Times writer use such a word?&#xA;-Yoichi&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T04:10:30.930" Title="Is ‘marquee chefs’ casual word?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8253" CreationDate="2011-01-09T01:32:19.213" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;marquee chef&lt;/em&gt; is meant in the sense of a &quot;name&quot; chef who, if he or she were a movie star, would have a name up on the marquee. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Puck&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wolfgang Puck&lt;/a&gt; is an example of a marquee chef. So is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emeril_Lagasse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Emeril Lagasse&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Advertising agencies talk about their &lt;em&gt;marquee&lt;/em&gt; accounts. The fashion biz talks about its &lt;em&gt;marquee&lt;/em&gt; designers. And so on. They are names that bring in business because they are so well known. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T01:48:52.193" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T01:48:52.193" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="8255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8252" CreationDate="2011-01-09T01:39:43.287" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're looking for a terse alternative, you might describe an &lt;em&gt;expected outcome&lt;/em&gt; as a &lt;em&gt;given&lt;/em&gt;. (The word &quot;given&quot; is commonly accepted a noun in modern English.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider the following two sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The result of that game was an upset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The result of that game was a given.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They both sound pretty natural, and I would certainly consider them decent single-word antonyms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T01:39:43.287" />
  <row Id="8256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8253" CreationDate="2011-01-09T02:03:01.510" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a similar dictionary as the one you consulted (&lt;em&gt;Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[&lt;strong&gt;as adj&lt;/strong&gt;.] &lt;strong&gt;leading&lt;/strong&gt;; &lt;strong&gt;preeminent&lt;/strong&gt; : &lt;em&gt;a marquee player&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [ORIGIN: with allusion to the practice of billing the name of an entertainer on the marquee (i.e., awning) over the entrance to a theater.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside of its literal use for theatre actors, I've only seen &lt;em&gt;marquee&lt;/em&gt; used this way (as a modifying description) with sports players, like &quot;the marquee stars/names of the hockey/baseball team&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd never use it to describe a chef, so personally, it's not a casual phrase, but it's not formal either. Just a slightly bizarre expression in the context of cooking. It's used here it because sometimes journalists prefer to employ somewhat unusual turns of phrase so that their readers don't find the articles tedious, banal or predictable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say &quot;star chef&quot; or &quot;celebrity chef,&quot; especially if the person is well-known on TV. In terms of describing the preeminence of his skills, &quot;finest chef (in town)&quot; is also a widespread expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3209" LastEditorUserId="3209" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T02:25:21.303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T02:25:21.303" />
  <row Id="8257" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8278" CreationDate="2011-01-09T02:13:09.220" Score="1" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are general guidelines when to use me and myself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did I describe me or did I describe Maria?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did I describe myself or did I describe Maria?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T05:40:04.250" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T05:52:00.070" Title="Laws for the usage of me VS. myself?" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="8258" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8271" CreationDate="2011-01-09T02:14:55.960" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I encounter these two words pretty often, both orally and in writing.  What is the difference between two, and how to pronounce, say in USA?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T07:03:23.410" Title="Difference in meaning and prononciation of urbane and urban" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8259" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8260" CreationDate="2011-01-09T02:16:54.693" Score="1" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Bloomberg magazine, I saw this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rust Belt states  that have bled manufacturing jobs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it mean they have lost the jobs or gained more jobs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T20:50:21.420" Title="What does to &quot;bleed something&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8259" CreationDate="2011-01-09T02:22:01.917" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bleed means to lose something steadily in a way that is dangerous to the life of something, as bleeding is to human life. The example you cite means Rust Belt states have lost jobs. If they lose too many — &lt;em&gt;bleed&lt;/em&gt; too many jobs — the Rust Belt is in danger of dying. Which it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T02:22:01.917" />
  <row Id="8261" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8275" CreationDate="2011-01-09T02:22:12.553" Score="0" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between &lt;em&gt;you have my word&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;I promise&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T09:24:34.060" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T09:24:34.060" Title="What's the difference between &quot;You have my word&quot; and &quot;I promise&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8262" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8265" CreationDate="2011-01-09T02:23:18.840" Score="1" ViewCount="291" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between &quot;I'm in love with her&quot; and &quot;I love her&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T10:45:45.470" Title="What's the difference between &quot;I'm in love with her&quot; and &quot;I love her&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8249" CreationDate="2011-01-09T02:28:56.373" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Compare to &quot;off the rack&quot; as opposed to &quot;tailored&quot; for clothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The implication is that it is a readily available product that can be obtained without a considerable lead time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrast with &quot;bespoke&quot; or &quot;custom made&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2851" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T02:28:56.373" />
  <row Id="8264" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-09T02:31:56.810" Score="1" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if such a figure of speech exists in English, and &quot;unidirectional gaga&quot; is certainly not correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But which wording expresses that a person becomes dumber from having exercised/performed something too frequently or in only one particular fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's an adverb or phrase that is usually applied to a person. But can also describe activities.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It primarily expresses &quot;to make stupid&quot; caused by a particular behaviour/performance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The persistence or repetetion of past activites is implied to turn the person more dull / less open to alternative approaches.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does usually but not necessarily have a derogatory meaning.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possible alternative ways to express this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;to become stultified &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;from ingrained habits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;through monotony&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;somebodys behaviour became dull&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;from tedious repetetion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ever the same approach&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But of course I'm searching for a more catchy phrase or expression which coveres that sentiment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3384" LastEditorUserId="3384" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T21:55:28.120" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T20:11:11.883" Title="Correct term or phrase for &quot;unidirectional gaga&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8262" CreationDate="2011-01-09T02:37:02.190" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The use &quot;in love&quot; indicates a romantic affection, while &quot;love&quot; can also be platonic, between family members, towards pets, or even towards inanimate objects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the object for the affection in your sentences was a boat, the second sentence would make perfect sense, but hardly the first. (The first sentence could be used that way, but then it would not be literal, but rather describe a feeling so strong that it would be comparable to romantic love, but still not being of the romantic kind.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="3365" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T02:43:11.140" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T02:43:11.140" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8267" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8268" CreationDate="2011-01-09T02:53:29.497" Score="2" ViewCount="350" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does &quot;She is in love with Tom&quot; imply that Tom loves her too?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2270" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T03:07:44.030" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T12:42:55.723" Title="Does &quot;She is in love with Tom&quot; imply that Tom loves her too?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8267" CreationDate="2011-01-09T03:05:05.223" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.  There is no implication about Tom whatsoever in such a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T03:05:05.223" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8261" CreationDate="2011-01-09T03:06:53.437" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is really no difference. It can be argued that &quot;You have my word&quot; is a bit stronger, because &quot;my word&quot; means the person is taking an oath, in effect guaranteeing based on that person's honor, but that is a very fine point indeed. A promise means the same thing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;promise: a declaration or assurance&#xA;  that one will do a particular thing or&#xA;  that guarantees that a particular&#xA;  thing will happen&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;one's word: a promise or assurance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So one's word is a promise. No difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T03:06:53.437" />
  <row Id="8270" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8323" CreationDate="2011-01-09T03:06:55.437" Score="1" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;that's odd&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;that's weird&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;that's strange&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T13:28:13.813" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T13:28:13.813" Title="What is the difference between &quot;that's odd&quot;, &quot;that' s weird&quot;, and &quot;that's strange&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8258" CreationDate="2011-01-09T03:09:23.077" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Urbane has a more subjective meaning. Urban means something that relates to the city, while urbane describes a level of sophistication and elegance that supposedly would be typical for city folk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T03:09:23.077" />
  <row Id="8272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8247" CreationDate="2011-01-09T03:42:25.653" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This seems a lot like where I might say &quot;I have been done eating for quite some time now.&quot; Sounds the same tense with just the &quot;have&quot; omitted and the action verb cast to the past tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3387" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T03:42:25.653" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8270" CreationDate="2011-01-09T04:00:48.663" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There isn't a lot of difference between them - they can be used almost interchangeably.  To the extent that there is a difference (and anyone pays attention to the fine gradations in the terms), then:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;That's odd&quot; indicates the least surprise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;That's strange&quot; indicates a bit more surprise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;That's weird&quot; indicates more puzzlement and disbelief.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of them expresses outright disbelief in whatever is being discussed, but there is always a background sentiment of &quot;that should not be happening; are you sure it did?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T04:00:48.663" />
  <row Id="8275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8261" CreationDate="2011-01-09T04:05:22.823" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's not a lot of difference.  However, &quot;You have my word&quot; could be construed to imply that you have previously (already) promised (given your word) and this statement is a reaffirmation of what was said before, whereas &quot;I promise&quot; implies that you are just now giving your word.  OTOH, &quot;You have my word&quot; could be taken as present tense too, and would then essentially be the same thing as &quot;I promise&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T04:05:22.823" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8277" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-09T04:13:55.527" Score="1" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does &quot;Led by your scent to fairer climes at last&quot; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3388" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T06:03:11.337" Title="What does 'to fairer climes' mean?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="8278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8257" CreationDate="2011-01-09T05:52:00.070" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two parts separated by &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; are complete, independent sentences.  As such, the presence of the second half (&quot;did I describe Maria&quot;) has no impact on the first half at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, the question is, which of these two is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Did I describe me?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Did I describe myself?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer is (2), because &lt;em&gt;myself&lt;/em&gt; is the object of the sentence, and &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; is the subject.  Outside of stylized usage, if the (grammatical) subject and object are the same entity, the reflexive must be used for the object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;John hit him.  (&lt;em&gt;John&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt; are different people)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;John hit himself. (&lt;em&gt;John&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;himself&lt;/em&gt; are the same person)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;John hit John. (must be two different people named &lt;em&gt;John&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to sum up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I hit him. (grammatical)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;*I hit himself. (ungrammatical, because subj. and obj. aren't same entity)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;*I hit me. (ungrammatical, because &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; are the same entity)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T05:52:00.070" />
  <row Id="8279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8277" CreationDate="2011-01-09T05:57:25.603" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fairer climes is somewhere the weather or at least climate (ie climes) is better. Following someone's scent there has a number of meanings, in this case I'm guessing prose of 50+ years ago then it's probably an affectionate reference to a perfume. However, In modern day parlance it might indicate a 'soap dodger' - how times have changed. The final 'at last' implies a long term relationship, therefore I see a couple re-uniting after a siginificant time apart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In England a common cause of such a seperation would be working in the 'colonies' (please don't flame). I'd say this was written by a man who was returning to fairer climes, ie away from Africa/India where fever, heat etc was quite likely to kill, following his loved one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3363" LastEditorUserId="3363" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T06:03:11.337" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T06:03:11.337" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8267" CreationDate="2011-01-09T09:05:35.597" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In some cases the implication could even be that Tom does not love her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="496" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T09:05:35.597" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="8281" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8305" CreationDate="2011-01-09T09:28:30.607" Score="5" ViewCount="680" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always been confused by these. My impression is that Canadians would rather say &quot;washroom&quot; while Americans would probably say &quot;bathroom&quot; or &quot;Saint John's&quot; :) in a same situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess the difference here is not only in different kinds of English, but also in whether one is referring to a room in their house or in some public place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you please tell what word you usually use. Please, specify the difference if you use more than two words from those six, but with different meanings. Also, please specify where you are from (i.e. what type of English you speak). Thank you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T18:20:20.557" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-09T15:32:42.943" Title="&quot;Washroom&quot;, &quot;restroom&quot;, &quot;bathroom&quot;, &quot;lavatory&quot;, &quot;toilet&quot;, or &quot;toilet room&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="8282" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8285" CreationDate="2011-01-09T09:49:53.543" Score="0" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a quote from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_Of_Honor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia's page on &quot;Made of Honor&quot; movie&lt;/a&gt; (as it was on January 9th, 2011):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When questioned about Tom's sudden&#xA;  departure shortly before the wedding&#xA;  is to take place, Hannah informs Colin&#xA;  that Tom is just afraid of losing her.&#xA;  On the way home, Tom realizes that he&#xA;  must stop the wedding and goes back on&#xA;  horseback. Just when the priest asks&#xA;  for objections, Tom is sent flying off&#xA;  his horse and through the chapel&#xA;  doors. Seeing her best friend on the&#xA;  floor, Hannah rushes to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it clear for native English speakers from this passage that Tom's horse bumped into something (it was a fence around the chapel), so this was the reason why he was sent flying off his horse?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were to read this passage for the first time (without having previously watched the movie itself), I would definitely be puzzled as to why Tom was sent flying off the horse. But, perhaps, this expression (&quot;sent flying off the horse&quot;) automatically implies to native speakers that the horse must have bumped into something.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T14:25:05.220" Title="Does &quot;was sent flying off the horse&quot; imply bumping?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8283" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8289" CreationDate="2011-01-09T10:19:10.573" Score="1" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;Further to today's my question about the words, 'off-the-shelf' used in Time Magazine's feature story titled 'The Best 50 Invention of The Year' (Nov. 11th 2010 Issue), I found the following sentence in the same article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'One analyst says the iPad is the fastest selling non-phone &lt;em&gt;gizmo&lt;/em&gt; in consumer electronics history.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand there is difference of meaning between device and gizmo / gadget and gimmick as a group. Are there great difference of meaning and usage among the words, gizmo, gadget and gimmick? Yoichi  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T13:18:17.310" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T13:18:17.310" Title="What are differences of meaning among device, gadget, gimmick and gizmo?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8262" CreationDate="2011-01-09T10:45:45.470" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add a psychological or spiritual perspective to this question, the two phrases can also be used to contrast 'true love' and 'false love'. When you are in love with someone, the object of your adoration serves the mere purpose of satisfying your own emotional needs. When you truly love someone, you care about the person's needs as a separate individual distinct from you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T10:45:45.470" />
  <row Id="8285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8282" CreationDate="2011-01-09T11:04:18.857" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;was sent flying&quot; implies &quot;was sent flying by [some agent]&quot;. Something caused him to be sent. I think a verb generally implies a subject object relationship. If either the subject or object are not mentioned explicitly, it is implicit that both exist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;perhaps, this expression (&quot;sent flying off the horse&quot;) automatically implies to native speakers that the horse must have bumped into something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does not automatically imply that to this native speaker. The horse may have stopped abruptly due to the appearance of a sheet of newspaper, blown by the wind. Tom may have been sent flying by an explosion of gunpowder in the nearby saloon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T14:25:05.220" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T14:25:05.220" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="8286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8283" CreationDate="2011-01-09T11:09:53.610" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gizmo and gadget are interchangeable.&#xA;Gimmick has a greater implication of uselessness.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any of the three could be used to describe a feature of a product. The first two could also be used to describe the whole product. A gimmick could be an intangible or non-functional feature, Gizmo and gadget are more likely to refer to something tangible with an identifiable function of some sort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T11:09:53.610" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8287" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8288" CreationDate="2011-01-09T11:46:11.897" Score="1" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He wounded himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He pinched himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He stabbed himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He looked at himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all these cases the action proceeds from the agent (which is also a subject) and is directed at this very agent. Let's call this phenomenon an &quot;short-circuit action&quot; (I am sure there should be a correct grammatical term for this). In all these cases the short-circuit actions are expressed by using '-self'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if there are such verbs in English that would also express short-circuit action, but '-self' would not be needed then? I know there are such cases in other languages. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you come up with such verb?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T17:45:00.597" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-09T15:31:06.877" Title="Can you come up with such verb?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="8288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8287" CreationDate="2011-01-09T12:12:34.397" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term you are looking for here is not &quot;short-circuit&quot; but &lt;em&gt;reflexive&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;REFLEXIVE:  Grammar denoting a pronoun&#xA;  that refers back to the subject of the&#xA;  clause in which it is used, e.g.,&#xA;  &quot;myself&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could substitute &quot;self-&quot; and &quot;auto-&quot; as prefixes for some verbs to get rid of the reflexive pronoun:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rob was largely self-taught.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you don't stop drinking you are going to auto-destruct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T12:12:34.397" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-09T15:31:18.657" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="8289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8283" CreationDate="2011-01-09T12:20:22.877" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;gizmo&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a gadget, especially one whose name the speaker cannot recall. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Synonyms might be &quot;thingamajig&quot; or &quot;whatsit&quot; (colloquially).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;gadget&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a small mechanical device or tool, especially one that is ingenious or novel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Smallness is one of the defining characteristics, so a new type of earth-moving equipment is not likely to be called a gadget, however ingenious or novel it may be, but a pen that doubles as a voice recorder certainly would be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;gimmick&lt;/em&gt; is merely a trick, usually used to attract attention or publicity. A gimmick does not have to be a mechanical device. This is the &quot;black sheep&quot; in your list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Device&lt;/em&gt; is a bit broader:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1 a thing made or adapted for a particular purpose, esp. a mechanical or electronic contrivance : a measuring device.&#xA;  • an explosive contrivance; a bomb : an incendiary device.&#xA;  • archaic the design or look of something : works of strange device.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2 a plan, scheme, or trick with a particular aim : &quot;writing a public letter is a traditional device for signaling dissent.&quot;&#xA;  • a turn of phrase intended to produce a particular effect in speech or a literary work : a rhetorical device.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;3 a drawing or design : the decorative device on the invitations.&#xA;  • an emblematic or heraldic design : their shields bear the device of the Blazing Sun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Above definition taken from Webster's.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T12:25:23.903" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T12:25:23.903" />
  <row Id="8290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8281" CreationDate="2011-01-09T12:34:51.727" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm American, and I've never heard the bathroom referred to as &lt;em&gt;St. John's&lt;/em&gt;. It's colloquially referred to as &lt;em&gt;the john&lt;/em&gt;, but not politely. Usually this room is referred to euphemistically, and there are degrees of social class associated with the terms. Here are a few, in order of most to least polite or high-class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The gentlemen's (or ladies') room&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The men's (or women's) room&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The restroom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The washroom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The bathroom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The facility&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The toilet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The john&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The jakes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The crapper&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The shitter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T13:27:37.327" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T13:27:37.327" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-09T15:32:54.753" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="8292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8281" CreationDate="2011-01-09T12:57:02.127" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm English, and agree with Robusto that I've never heard the phrase St. John's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I have heard the room in question being referred to euphemistically as &quot;The bathroom&quot;, I believe this to be an Americanism. Unless the bath is actually in there, it's a toilet, or a &quot;loo&quot; in more polite society. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my house the bath is in the same room as the toilet, so the room is referred to in our house as a bathroom, but one were caught short in a public place I would normally expect one to ask &quot;where is the nearest toilet?&quot; as opposed to &quot;where is the nearest bathroom/washroom/restroom?&quot;, although I'm certain their meaning would be understood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't hear many people refer to it as a lavatory any more, although maybe that's more a reflection on the company I keep. Certainly though some people refer to it as a &quot;Lavvy&quot;, which is just a reduction of lavatory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I certainly haven't heard anyone in the south of England refer to it as a washroom or restroom, and I personally would not refer to it as such. Again, perhaps this is an American thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3320" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T12:57:02.127" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-09T15:33:03.520" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8293" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8295" CreationDate="2011-01-09T13:23:37.597" Score="2" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;What exactly does this phrase mean and in which situations is it used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3402" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T15:36:17.433" Title="How do you like them apples?" Tags="&lt;saying&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="8294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8259" CreationDate="2011-01-09T13:24:09.783" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to add to Robusto's answer, &lt;em&gt;to bleed&lt;/em&gt; can also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bleed+off&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;be used as a transitive verb&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;drain of liquid or steam; &quot;bleed the radiators&quot;; &quot;the mechanic bled the engine&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Bleeding a radiator (the kind used to heat a house, not the one in a car) is the most common usage that I'm familiar with, and refers to opening a valve in the top of the radiator in order to let out any air that may have entered the system.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T13:24:09.783" />
  <row Id="8295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8293" CreationDate="2011-01-09T13:32:59.790" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is used as an expression of gloating when someone turns the tables on someone else. There is a good example in the movie &lt;em&gt;Good Will Hunting&lt;/em&gt;, where Matt Damon's character (Will Hunting) gets a girl's phone number in a Harvard bar where he, coming from working-class South Boston, is, despite his extraordinary intellect, socio-economically out of his league and is insulted by the Harvard rich kid (Clark) whom he has bested — actually, destroyed — in an argument. On the street later he sees his rival for the girl's attention through a restaurant window. He goes up and raps on the glass to get the young man's attention, and the following dialogue occurs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will: Do you like apples? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Clark: Yeah. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will: Well, I got her number. How do you like them apples? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also be used as an expression of surprise at a sudden turn of fortune.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T15:36:17.433" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T15:36:17.433" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8296" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8297" CreationDate="2011-01-09T13:42:34.570" Score="2" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is the situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kids in a small yard are about to play soccer. There are no goalposts in that yard (or &quot;goals&quot; or whatever you call it, I mean those metal frames on each side of the soccer field that have nets on them. Once the ball is in the net, the score changes). So, one boy picks up some sticks from the ground and tries to mark out the goalposts for each team. While doing that he says: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;This will be your team's goal and that will be our team's goal&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the first goal that he mentioned the one that his team will be defending or trying to get the ball into?     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2270" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T19:28:14.347" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T19:28:14.347" Title="Which goal is whose?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="8297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8296" CreationDate="2011-01-09T13:45:56.470" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Your team's goal&quot; refers to the goal you are defending. It's the one your goal-keeper is guarding. &quot;Our team's goal&quot; refers to the goal we are defending, in front of which &lt;em&gt;our&lt;/em&gt; goal-keeper stands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T13:45:56.470" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8298" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8299" CreationDate="2011-01-09T13:48:44.657" Score="1" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm aware of the meaning of &quot;scantily clad&quot;, the internet gives some good clues on that (Side question: Does it have erotic implications in itself?). However, what do the actual words mean (&quot;clad&quot; from &quot;clothed&quot;?), from which period is it, and why has it become a fixed expression?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3235" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T14:09:58.460" Title="Etymology of &quot;Scantily clad&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8298" CreationDate="2011-01-09T14:02:22.533" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Scantily&quot; is the adverb form of &quot;scanty&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;scant·y&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  adj. scant·i·er, scant·i·est&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. Barely sufficient or adequate.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. Insufficient, as in extent or degree.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Clad&quot; does indeed mean &quot;clothed&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So someone &quot;scantily clad&quot; is &quot;insufficient clothed&quot;. The phrase describes (typically but not always) young women wearing lingerie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, typically young, typically women, typically lingerie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know the first citation of &quot;scantily clad&quot; but it has become a useful cliche in common use today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is generally risque, typically (but not always) erotic. It is often used to describe &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glamour_photography&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;glamour photography&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Glamour photography is a genre of photography whereby the subjects, usually female, are portrayed in a romantic or sexually alluring way. The subjects may be fully clothed or seminude, but glamour photography stops short of deliberately arousing the viewer and being hardcore pornography.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastEditorUserId="2944" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T14:09:58.460" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T14:09:58.460" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8281" CreationDate="2011-01-09T14:18:48.797" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the US we typically say &quot;bathroom&quot; for the room in our home that contains the toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When in public and trying to be polite we ask directions to the &quot;restroom&quot;. Indeed, most signs in restaurants, bars and airports will use the word &quot;Restrooms&quot; to direct people to the toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My limited experience in the UK is that everyone is more literal and uses the word &quot;Toilet&quot;. Many years ago in a museum in the UK I asked a guard for directions to the &quot;restroom&quot;. He said &quot;There's no place here for you to lay down, sir.&quot; I expect he was &quot;taking the piss&quot; which is an entirely different thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T14:18:48.797" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-09T15:33:24.020" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8301" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8369" CreationDate="2011-01-09T14:31:59.510" Score="1" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;listening this music album up and down&quot; correct English? It's supposed to mean &quot;listening over and over again&quot;, but I've never seen it used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="315" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T09:47:07.187" Title="&quot;Listening up and down?&quot;" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="8302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8287" CreationDate="2011-01-09T14:36:24.297" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is one example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He suicided last night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quoting &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/suicided&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam Webster online&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;suicide&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  verb&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  sui·cid·ed - sui·cid·ing&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Definition of SUICIDE&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  intransitive verb&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  : to commit suicide&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;transitive verb&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  : to put (oneself) to death&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T14:36:24.297" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-09T15:31:41.463" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="8303" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8306" CreationDate="2011-01-09T14:38:21.667" Score="4" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/01/the-wikipedia-of-long-tail-programming-questions/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a blog article&lt;/a&gt; posted by Joel Spolsky, there is a sentence saying &quot;Ye Olde Timers got Ye Olde Tired of this.&quot; I don't know what's the meaning. I've checked the definition of &quot;Ye olde&quot; in wiki, neither understand. English is not my native language, can anyone explain the meaning? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2450" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T15:05:17.340" Title="What's the meaning of &quot;Ye Olde Timers got Ye Olde Tired of this.&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8287" CreationDate="2011-01-09T14:41:03.187" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several verb where the self is implied if no other person is specified, as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He dressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T14:41:03.187" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-09T15:31:33.930" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8281" CreationDate="2011-01-09T14:43:53.317" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The room used for defecation is almost always referred to by euphemism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Bathroom&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Britain this still means a room containing a bath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Lavatory&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This used to mean no more than a room used for washing. It was identical to washroom. &quot;From Late Latin lavātōrium, from Latin lavāre to wash.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Toilet&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word toilet is a euphemism. It previously was used to refer to the early morning routine of preparing for the day by washing, combing hair and applying various potions. So far as I know it did not include defecation and was therefore a perfectly innocuous and polite subject for general conversation. It can be startling to read the word when used in that sense in older books or artworks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.abcgallery.com/T/titian/titian92.JPG&quot; alt=&quot;A woman at her toilet - Titian&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A woman at her toilet - Titian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;W.C.&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A euphemism in Britain was water closet, nowadays abbreviated to W.C. Taken literally it implies no more than a small room provided with a supply of water - nothing offensive there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Popularity&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; provides these counts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;toilet      1540&#xA;lavatory     546&#xA;WC           227&#xA;W.C.          13&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Progression&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that euphemisms must be constantly renewed by replacement as they become tainted by association with the taboo subject. This replacement proceeds at different rates in different countries, cultures or social groups. This means that, in time, new words must also be found for the existing meanings of words like convenience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T18:20:20.557" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T18:20:20.557" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-09T15:33:12.337" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8303" CreationDate="2011-01-09T14:58:29.683" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Ye Olde&quot; is a humorous way of making something look &quot;ancient&quot; when it really is not.&#xA;The word &quot;Ye&quot; is actually a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scribal_abbreviation&quot;&gt;scribal abbreviation&lt;/a&gt; for the word &quot;The&quot;, presumably because it is faster / more efficient to write &quot;Ye&quot; by hand rather than &quot;The&quot;, especially since any text will have many instances of the common word &quot;the&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many other words are give a final silent &quot;e&quot;in an attempt to make them appear to be spelled &quot;in the old way&quot; (&quot;ye olde waye&quot;).   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes the final consonant before the appended silent e is doubled for greater effect. (&quot;ye olde wayye&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The humor derives from using so-called &quot;ancient-looking&quot; spellings for modern words or ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By using &quot;Ye Olde...&quot; in his blog post, Joel Spolsky is signaling the topic is very old, ancient in time span of computer users.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Joel's blog post is bemoaning newbies asking questions that have been answered many times before&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Have you ever noticed how certain questions come up again and again on Stack Overflow sites?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This irritates people who have repeatedly been answering those questions for a long time i.e. &quot;Ye Olde Timers&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastEditorUserId="2944" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T15:05:17.340" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T15:05:17.340" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8303" CreationDate="2011-01-09T15:00:29.743" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_Olde&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ye olde&lt;/a&gt; is an expression that means an era that has passed, but with a pseudo-old-english language. The word &lt;em&gt;ye&lt;/em&gt; is not actually an old english word, but a misreading of the actual middle english &lt;em&gt;þe&lt;/em&gt; (the), which looks similar to ye in handwriting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old-timer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;old-timer&lt;/a&gt; is an expression for a veteran or elderly people. &quot;Ye olde tired&quot; is just a wordplay on the expression in the beginning of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, it means &quot;The veterans got tired of this&quot;, expressed with a tone of old times, and a bit of humor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T15:00:29.743" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="8308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8301" CreationDate="2011-01-09T15:15:09.997" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never heard that phrase before. Perhaps it is local slang? Some might consider it correct English if the word &quot;to&quot; was inserted between &quot;listening&quot; and &quot;this&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T15:15:09.997" />
  <row Id="8309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8301" CreationDate="2011-01-09T15:17:53.637" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never heard or seen the phrase you mention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;have&lt;/strong&gt; heard / seen &quot;listening up and down the dial&quot; which refers to tuning in to radio stations at many different points along the broadcast frequency spectrum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T15:17:53.637" />
  <row Id="8310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8301" CreationDate="2011-01-09T15:32:29.823" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never heard it either. Perhaps it's an analogy to the idiom of &quot;looking (something) up and down&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3401" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T15:32:29.823" />
  <row Id="8311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8281" CreationDate="2011-01-09T15:48:50.343" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm English, and would probably use 'toilet' most of the time, and always in the context of a private home. Or I might use 'loo' which is more informal, but maybe outdated/whimsical. Actually, on reflection, I think there's a subtle and complex social class issue around these two. Not sure myself exactly how it works, but anyone using 'lavatory' is probably related to the royal family, or wishes they were. But then 'lav'is somehow at the other end of the scale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Bathroom' is never used and is often found funny when used by Americans. So is their discomfort when you use it in the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I might use Ladies and Gents in the context of a public facility/bar/restaurant - signage will often use these terms, although perhaps more often written Gentlemen. Actually, thinking about it, I'd always use Gents in a pub, possibly there's a need to reinforce one's own gender identity!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't think I've ever heard WC, but I've seen it used on architects' drawings, probably  for reasons of space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3404" LastEditorUserId="3404" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T15:59:44.997" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T15:59:44.997" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-09T15:48:50.343" />
  <row Id="8312" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8314" CreationDate="2011-01-09T16:56:52.700" Score="0" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the following phrase grammatically right?&#xA;&quot;When Twitter shows a notification, what are the reasons that its decision to open itself automatically or not is based on?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question is probably banal to most of you, but I'm Italian and I think this phrase has something strange, isn't it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3407" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T17:27:45.577" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T17:27:45.577" Title="What are the reasons that its decision to open itself automatically or not is based on?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8312" CreationDate="2011-01-09T17:18:17.417" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase is clumsy and unclear, but I wouldn't say it's actually incorrect. A better rendering might be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What are the factors that Twitter takes into account when deciding whether to open itself automatically on showing a notification?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T17:18:17.417" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8312" CreationDate="2011-01-09T17:27:17.200" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence has a lot of embedding.  We can make better sense of it by abstracting out one or more complex parts of the sentence.  I have put brackets around one complex phrase that forms a single unit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What are the reasons that [its decision to open itself automatically or not] is based on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could be abstracted to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What are the reasons that X is based on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above sentence could be put another way to be clearer, but have essentially the same meaning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What reasons is X based on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, the sentence is grammatical and parse-able.  However, you are right in thinking it is an awkward sentence; it is written in a confusing way, even for native speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T17:27:17.200" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8281" CreationDate="2011-01-09T17:31:39.723" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd just like to agree with 2revs. For my sins, I went to quite a posh private school, and saying &lt;em&gt;toilet&lt;/em&gt; was a definite no-no. &lt;em&gt;Lavatory&lt;/em&gt; was the standard word, but at school most people said &lt;em&gt;bog&lt;/em&gt;. So I was happy when &lt;em&gt;loo&lt;/em&gt; left its original 'U' niche, and became fairly classless. I've lived outside the UK for ten years, but I wasn't aware &lt;em&gt;loo&lt;/em&gt; had become dated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3323" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T17:31:39.723" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-09T17:31:39.723" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="8316" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-09T17:33:11.233" Score="1" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;When is the Perfect tense used? All examples illustrating Perfect are always answer to the some question. &#xA;So there is no way when i can simple said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;I have written a note&quot; or &quot;I had written a note&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;,right? I need to say that instead:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I wrote a note&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if someone asking me, like : &quot;Did you finish a note?&quot;, then i need to use Perfect:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;Yes, i just have written a note&quot; or &quot;Yes, i had written a note yesterday&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am i right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3408" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T22:20:56.583" Title="Perfect tense usage" Tags="&lt;tense&gt;&lt;present-perfect-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8287" CreationDate="2011-01-09T17:45:00.597" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(BrE) Not sure if it answers your question, but we use the verb &lt;em&gt;get&lt;/em&gt; in some of these situations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;get dressed, get washed, get ready, get lost&lt;/em&gt; (in the nicest possible of ways)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I live in Poland, and Polish uses reflexive verb for a lot of these functions, but we don't have that luxury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incidentally &lt;em&gt;he suicided&lt;/em&gt; sounds really weird to me, and my (US) spell check doesn't like it either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3323" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T17:45:00.597" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-09T17:45:00.597" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7990" CreationDate="2011-01-09T18:05:55.280" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(BrE) Jasper Loy has made me realise that there might be some confusion here, as &lt;em&gt;shade&lt;/em&gt; can have two meanings. There's the &lt;em&gt;shade&lt;/em&gt; that Eric and ghoppe are talking about, which is sort of indefinite, for example from a group of trees, as opposed to the &lt;em&gt;shadow&lt;/em&gt; from a single tree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that is what would normally first come to mind for a native speaker.  It's what you look for on a hot day. But here I would usually say sitting &lt;em&gt;in the shade&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;under the shade&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And then there's what Jasper is talking about, which we would normally call, I think, a sunshade. This is a bit like a large umbrella or parasol, and which you would indeed &lt;em&gt;sit under&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@ghoppe - Oh, I do like &lt;em&gt;shades of meaning&lt;/em&gt; - I've just been listening to 'Round the Horne' on the BBC. Do you know it? That joke would have been perfect for him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3323" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T18:05:55.280" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8316" CreationDate="2011-01-09T19:05:51.983" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, you can use either form in either case, depending on what you want to express.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use past tense when you mean a specific point in time in the past:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wrote a note yesterday morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if the specific point in time isn't specified, the form still implies that there exists a known point in time where it occured:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wrote a note.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use present perfect for an unknown or undisclosed point in time in the past:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have written a note.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both works either on their own or as an answer to a question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to express a specific point in time, you can't use present perfect:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have written a note last monday. &lt;em&gt;[Wrong]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to use past tense for that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wrote a note last monday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="3365" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T20:25:06.533" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T20:25:06.533" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="8320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8316" CreationDate="2011-01-09T19:55:49.760" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to what Guffa has written in his answer, the (present) perfect usually expresses a current state resulting from a past action - either an accomplishment, or something that has consequences. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She has arrived (so she is now here)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have come (and am still here)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have studied a lot (so I know many things)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have spent a lot of time in the gym (so I am fit)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have finished my homework (so I can watch television)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have bought a car (and so I now have one)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have eaten (so I don't want more food)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The past perfect (/pluperfect) does the same, but talking about a state in the past resulting from a prior action:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I &lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt; studied a lot (so I &lt;em&gt;knew&lt;/em&gt; many things).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastEditorUserId="3405" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-09T22:20:56.583" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T22:20:56.583" />
  <row Id="8321" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8322" CreationDate="2011-01-09T20:35:56.310" Score="12" ViewCount="312" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you are writing about the seasons, should you capitalize their names?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, would you say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I love the colors of the leaves in Autumn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or should you say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I love the colors of the leaves in autumn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3393" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T09:11:39.197" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T09:11:39.197" Title="Should the names of seasons be capitalized?" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8321" CreationDate="2011-01-09T20:41:42.930" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The names of seasons should be left uncapitalized. However capitalization may be used to achieve a poetic effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T20:41:42.930" />
  <row Id="8323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8270" CreationDate="2011-01-09T20:43:14.147" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While they may be used interchangeably in casual conversation, they actually have different meanings. From an etymological dictionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Odd (a jut of land): something not usual or expected. Has no special positive or negative connotation. Winning a lottery would be odd but neither weird nor strange.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Weird (fated): Something supernatural or beyond human understanding. A fortune-teller predicting your future would be weird, but probably neither odd nor strange.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Strange (foreign): Something unfamiliar. A type of material (rock, cloth, or such) you've never seen before would be strange but not weird, and odd only if it were otherwise unusual or rare.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2949" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T20:43:14.147" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8259" CreationDate="2011-01-09T20:50:21.420" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Note that bleeding can also refer to the out-dated practice of bloodletting.  If you read older literature from when bloodletting was accepted, you might read about &quot;bleeding someone&quot; in reference to an attempt to heal them from some malady through bloodletting.  In this case, it could be considered positive.  I haven't seen &quot;bleeding something&quot; used in a similar sense in older literature, but it's plausible that you could find examples of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T20:50:21.420" />
  <row Id="8325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8316" CreationDate="2011-01-09T21:12:30.973" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In TEFL we usually teach four areas where Present Perfect is used: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;events in an unspecified past - this has been covered by Guffa&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;events with some sort of relevance to the present - psmears has dealt with that one&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if I could just add:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;events in a current unfinished time period, that's to say: today, this morning (depending on time of day), this week, this year etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;use with certain words, such as: &lt;em&gt;ever, never, since, for&lt;/em&gt; (but &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; can also be used with Past Simple) eg:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have lived in Warsaw &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; ten years / &lt;em&gt;since&lt;/em&gt; 2000 (and am still here)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before that I lived in London &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; eight years&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3323" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T21:12:30.973" />
  <row Id="8326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8281" CreationDate="2011-01-09T22:04:29.043" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the military, the navy, coast guard, and marines refer to the bathroom as &lt;em&gt;the head&lt;/em&gt;, the reason being that in the olden days the bathroom was positioned at the bow of the ship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The army and air force refer to the bathroom as &lt;em&gt;the latrine&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T22:04:29.043" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-09T22:04:29.043" />
  <row Id="8327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4409" CreationDate="2011-01-09T23:06:52.830" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;On &quot;So lucky I am to find this site!&quot; vs &quot;So lucky I am to have found this site&quot;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, your question about verb tempus is valid. Just like Zack answered, the second form is to be preferred - &quot;to have found&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as an expansion to Zack's other comment...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;So lucky I am to have found this site&quot; should be changed into EITHER:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I am so lucky to have found this site&quot; (or &quot;I FEEL so lucky...&quot;, or even just &quot;so lucky to have...&quot;, omitting the &quot;I am&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR: &quot;How lucky I am to have found this site&quot; (in this case, &quot;I FEEL&quot; would seem strange)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being a non-linguist, I can't back up this with WHY these two options are better. Maybe someone else can chime in? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can only speculate that it has to do with what's being implied. Like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I am so lucky (to the extent that I can now die a happy person) to have found this site&quot;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and &quot;(Words can't express just) How lucky I am to have found this site&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3416" LastActivityDate="2011-01-09T23:06:52.830" />
  <row Id="8328" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-10T00:23:21.240" Score="2" ViewCount="332" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct?  Similarly, is &quot;do good&quot; correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3419" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T14:27:40.290" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:27:40.290" Title="&quot;Drive safe&quot; or &quot;drive safely&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="8329" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8330" CreationDate="2011-01-10T00:27:39.453" Score="1" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw the following sentence in today's Washington Post:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;House Republicans cleared a hurdle Friday in their first attempt to scrap President Barack Obama's landmark health care overhaul, yet it was little more than a 'symbolic swipe at' the law.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the meaning of 'symbolic swipe (at)'? Does it mean a strong strike, but not strong enough to kill (abolish) the bill, which might end up with a resistance just for the purpose of resistance, because it is headed by the phrase 'yet it was little more than'?- Yoichi&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T00:55:37.623" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T00:55:37.623" Title="What's the meaning of 'symbolic swipe'?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="8330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8329" CreationDate="2011-01-10T00:40:11.177" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means it was a gesture, not designed to do anything but to make a statement about what their intentions were. So much of politics is posturing, playing to the political base, without actually intending to accomplish anything. The Republicans know President Obama can simply veto anything they come up with, and the Democrats still hold a majority in the Senate, so whatever their plans are they must know they are destined to fail in the end. But they want it to look to their constituents as if they really mean to accomplish something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T00:40:11.177" />
  <row Id="8331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8328" CreationDate="2011-01-10T00:41:17.650" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Be safe&quot; but &quot;drive safely.&quot; &lt;em&gt;Safely&lt;/em&gt; is an adverb modifying the verb &lt;em&gt;drive&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Safe&lt;/em&gt; is an adjective that can modify a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T00:41:17.650" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8328" CreationDate="2011-01-10T00:54:30.790" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Drive safely&quot; is the formally correct phrase.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying &quot;drive safe&quot; sounds casual and informal; however, many people do it.  This is because, in general, people sometimes use the adjective form as an adverb (usually this means not adding &lt;em&gt;-ly&lt;/em&gt;) in casual speech.  It is not recommended in any formal situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Do good&quot; is a different kind of issue, because the form depends on the meaning you want to convey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If &quot;do good&quot; means &quot;do the right/good thing&quot;, then &quot;do good&quot; is the formally correct phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If &quot;do good&quot; means &quot;perform correctly/at a high level&quot;, then &quot;do well&quot; is the formally correct phrase.  (But, as mentioned above, &lt;em&gt;casually&lt;/em&gt; you could also say &quot;do good&quot; here.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T00:54:30.790" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8321" CreationDate="2011-01-10T02:12:54.260" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The names should be capitalised as they are proper nouns (names like John, Canada etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3421" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T02:12:54.260" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8335" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8336" CreationDate="2011-01-10T02:28:53.350" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is the article before &quot;Wall Street&quot; extraneous? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T02:42:43.357" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T02:42:43.357" Title="on Wall Street vs on the Wall Street" Tags="&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="8336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8335" CreationDate="2011-01-10T02:33:53.390" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because the name of the street is &quot;Wall Street&quot; not &quot;The Wall Street.&quot; I've seen the sign, trust me. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously, though, the only time you would use the definite article before a street name would be to distinguish it from other streets of the same name. If there were a Wall Street in Podunk, Iowa, and you were wondering if I was talking about that street when I mentioned Wall Street in a conversation, I might say, &quot;No, I mean &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; Wall Street.&quot; You would understand that I meant the famous Wall Street in Manhattan as opposed to the (obviously inferior) Podunk version.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T02:33:53.390" />
  <row Id="8337" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8370" CreationDate="2011-01-10T03:44:15.377" Score="3" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently Japan’s ruling party (Democratic Party) holds a majority in the Lower House, but fewer seats in the Upper House than the opposition party (Liberal Democratic Party). We call the state of power balance as such a ‘Nejire Kokkai’ in Japanese – Twisted Congress meaning the Congress in 'twisted (reversed)' power balance by verbatim translation in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the proper counterpart to this Japanese term for “Twisted Congress” in short (one) word? I was asked this question recently by one of my friends who is English learning enthusiast like me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="91" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T07:40:48.920" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T21:42:16.017" Title="How do you say 'Twisted' Congress power balance?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;foreign-words&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8328" CreationDate="2011-01-10T03:45:30.540" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Drive safe&quot; would possibly be used for transporting a strongbox, &quot;drive safely&quot; is driving in a safe manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Do good&quot; is correct, but it doesn't have the same meaning as &quot;do well&quot;, it's doing something that is considered a good deed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T03:45:30.540" />
  <row Id="8339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8301" CreationDate="2011-01-10T03:55:00.943" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is an expression &quot;look someone up and down&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://esl.about.com/od/intermediatereading/a/Phrasal-Verbs-With-Look.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ref&lt;/a&gt;) which means to examine someone carefully. I think that it's this expressions that has been applied to listening to an album.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T03:55:00.943" />
  <row Id="8340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8337" CreationDate="2011-01-10T04:00:23.123" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know of no set phrase for this situation (which is odd as it happens a lot), but I would used &quot;mixed&quot;. As in &lt;em&gt;&quot;The Obama adminsitration may have a harder time moving their agenda this session because they face a mixed congress.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2851" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T04:00:23.123" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8341" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8343" CreationDate="2011-01-10T04:15:13.450" Score="0" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We learned how to test-drive the repository &lt;strong&gt;back&lt;/strong&gt; in Section x.x, Creating and Reading Records, on page xxx.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="833" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T04:23:19.383" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T04:29:20.703" Title="What is the meaning of the preposition &quot;back&quot; in the following sentence?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="8342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8341" CreationDate="2011-01-10T04:22:36.500" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a colloquial way of saying, &lt;em&gt;We learned how to test-drive the repository &lt;strong&gt;in the previous section&lt;/strong&gt; x.x, Creating and Reading Records.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T04:22:36.500" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8341" CreationDate="2011-01-10T04:29:20.703" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Back&lt;/em&gt; is not a preposition here, it is an adverb. It means at a previous time, as JSBangs said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T04:29:20.703" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8344" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8365" CreationDate="2011-01-10T04:29:56.073" Score="1" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She obviously has a legit excuse, although she could have been more responsible and told you in advance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T08:08:41.467" Title="Should I use &quot;told you&quot; or &quot;have told you&quot; in this example?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8344" CreationDate="2011-01-10T04:35:52.993" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; covers both &lt;em&gt;been more responsible&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;told you&lt;/em&gt; in that sentence. So as it stands, it is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T04:35:52.993" CommentCount="16" />
  <row Id="8346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8337" CreationDate="2011-01-10T05:04:13.093" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does Japan have a two-party system?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The U.S. does have a two-party system, and a bicameral Congress, but there is no well-known term for describing the situation where different parties control the Senate and the House of Representatives. Possible ways to express this idea are: &quot;opposing majorities&quot; or &quot;split congress.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In English-speaking countries with parliamentary legislatures, such as Britain, Canada, and Australia, they do have a term, &quot;hung parliament,&quot; but this seems slightly different than you describe. In these countries there are many political parties, and &quot;hung parliament&quot; refers to the case where no one party has a majority of seats in the legislature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T05:04:13.093" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8347" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8349" CreationDate="2011-01-10T05:06:18.320" Score="1" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;what does it mean to draw back a stump in this sentence: &quot;Keep touching me like that, you'll draw back a stump.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T16:06:23.647" Title="meaning of this expression:Keep touching me like that, you'll draw back a stump." Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8348" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-10T05:09:25.100" Score="1" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always see &quot;fine-grained&quot; in technology articles. What does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3113" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T10:18:46.533" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T15:39:34.283" Title="What does &quot;fine-grained&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8347" CreationDate="2011-01-10T05:18:07.407" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It literally means when you draw your hand back to you, you will have a stump. Your hand or digits will be cut off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3315" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T05:18:07.407" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8348" CreationDate="2011-01-10T05:43:31.407" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It just means what it sounds like: comprised of smaller entities.  This could imply higher quality or fidelity if smaller entities make the system's overall properties better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3422" LastEditorUserId="3422" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T06:44:41.953" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T06:44:41.953" />
  <row Id="8351" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8397" CreationDate="2011-01-10T06:04:18.993" Score="2" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;Approximately when in the history of computing did &quot;unstable&quot; come to be commonly used to refer to computer software?  Can this time in history be linked to the release of a certain product (no jokes please, unless the truth is sadly funny).  Is it a euphemism synonymous with &quot;buggy&quot; or subtly different?  If different, then how?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3422" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T12:30:39.900" Title="etymology of &quot;unstable&quot;, as in software" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8352" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8360" CreationDate="2011-01-10T06:21:08.627" Score="5" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being an amateur programmer and a bit of a perfectionist, I often find myself wondering about capitalization in user interfaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look towards the top of this very website, you'll notice the links under the &quot;English Language &amp;amp; Usage&quot; banner are all capitalized.  Every word, in fact; not just the first word of every link.  However, the ones at the very top of the page (&quot;log out,&quot; &quot;chat,&quot; etc.) have no capitalization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the correct form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, when describing the buttons in a manual, should they be capitalized as if they were proper nouns?  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Navigate to the &quot;First Example&quot; pane and click the arrow next to &quot;Second Example.&quot;  This will bring up a dialog.  Now click &quot;Third Example&quot; to perform the task.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2852" LastEditorUserId="2852" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T04:30:07.030" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T04:30:07.030" Title="Capitalization of User Interface Buttons" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;technical&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8353" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8363" CreationDate="2011-01-10T06:29:17.917" Score="3" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;He was almost as bad at English as me.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;He was almost as bad at English as I.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first one sounds better as-is, but not when you change the second one to &lt;em&gt;He was almost as bad at English as I was.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2852" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T15:37:43.727" Title="&quot;Me&quot; versus &quot;I&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;subject&gt;&lt;object&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8352" CreationDate="2011-01-10T06:41:59.063" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Capitalization does not only apply to menu items, it is usualy part of a style guide which describes almost all elements of a user interface. &lt;a href=&quot;http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa974176.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Microsoft Styleguide&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another one for &lt;a href=&quot;http://developer.kde.org/documentation/standards/kde/style/menus/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;KDE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T06:41:59.063" />
  <row Id="8355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8352" CreationDate="2011-01-10T06:47:33.730" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no correct form.  If you are used to UNIX and C programming, you might be tempted to make your site look like craigslist.org.  You can do whatever you like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3422" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T06:47:33.730" />
  <row Id="8356" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-10T06:47:37.007" Score="1" ViewCount="293" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We still haven't got a sponsor although the fact that we've written to dozens of companies&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's wrong with 'although' in the sentence above?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3180" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T16:14:51.057" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T16:14:51.057" Title="Can 'although' be used in this way?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8356" CreationDate="2011-01-10T06:53:11.310" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The primary glaring issue is the inappropriate use of &quot;although&quot; there.  If you replace that with &quot;despite&quot; you'll be much closer to a good sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it were something I was writing, I would probably phrase it like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We still don't have a sponsor, despite having written to dozens of companies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T06:53:11.310" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8348" CreationDate="2011-01-10T06:57:46.470" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When used in the context of &quot;fine-grained control&quot;, for example, it carries the connotation of &quot;very precise&quot;:  a volume knob that gives you fine-grained control means that you can set your volume to the exact level that you desire, you don't have to choose only between &quot;too quiet&quot; and &quot;too loud&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T06:57:46.470" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8356" CreationDate="2011-01-10T07:00:48.360" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;IMO, a better option would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Despite having written to dozens of companies, we still don't have a sponsor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3424" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T07:00:48.360" />
  <row Id="8360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8352" CreationDate="2011-01-10T07:12:49.473" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go with Stacker's answer. As per the Manual of Style for Technical Publications (MSTP), which is strictly followed by all of Microsoft's manuals, software applications etc., title case uses uppercase for every word in the title except prepositions, conjunctions and articles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prepositions that have more than 5 letters such as &quot;During&quot; and &quot;Through&quot; should also be capitalized. Articles that appear in the beginning of a sentence should obviously be capitalized. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Words that appear after colons/semicolons are capitalized as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hyphenated words are capitalized based on consistency. For example, if you start out with &quot;Non-company&quot;, you retain the lowercase for 'c' throughout the manual/application. If you start out with &quot;Non-Company&quot;, you capitalize the 'C' throughout the manual/application. However, Web 2.0 has broken many of these standards and &quot;log out&quot; has also become acceptable. Ideally it should be &quot;Log out&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3424" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T07:12:49.473" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8353" CreationDate="2011-01-10T07:12:50.037" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You use the form &quot;me&quot; when you are the object in the sentence, like in &quot;He asked me&quot;. In the sentence above you are not the object, so the normal form &quot;I&quot; is used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;was&quot; is implied, so including it doesn't change the meaning or the grammar. When you include it, it becomes clearer what's right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="3365" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T07:22:50.717" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T07:22:50.717" />
  <row Id="8362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8353" CreationDate="2011-01-10T07:18:58.110" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Evolved English: He was almost as bad at English as me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Queen's English: He was almost as bad at English as I.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Redundant English: He was almost as bad at English as I was (or used to be).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That last one is equal to saying &quot;Either he'll come tomorrow, or he won't come tomorrow.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3424" LastEditorUserId="3424" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T08:04:11.160" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T08:04:11.160" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8353" CreationDate="2011-01-10T07:43:47.667" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To begin with, one and another are bad at English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He was bad at English.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I was bad at English.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using &quot;almost as___as&quot; to compare your proficiency, in full, one writes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was almost as bad at English as I [was].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The construction,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was almost as bad at English as me,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;though more familiar to the ears, is wrong, as &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; (object pronoun) cannot take the place of &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt; (subject pronoun) in the sentence, which is always a good way to check if these constructions are right:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Me&lt;/em&gt; was almost as bad at English as he [was] ?!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one does this switch with &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt;, though, then it makes sense:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; was almost as bad at English as he [was].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Errors in the usage of subject/object pronouns are quite common, especially when comparing things. In this example, the pronoun[s] used must always be the subject form. Other examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Jake was almost as bad at English as I [was].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I was almost as bad at English as she [was].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;They were almost as bad at English as he [was].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He was almost as bad at English as they [were].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She was almost as bad at English as we* [were].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using &lt;em&gt;us&lt;/em&gt; in place of &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt; is probably the next most popular error after &lt;em&gt;I/me&lt;/em&gt;. Very frequently, one hears comparisons such as the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;They are better than us&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He's just as bad as us&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though colloquial, this usage is ungrammatical. Again, one can always perform the switch in order to verify the correctness of a comparison:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Us&lt;/em&gt; are better than they ?!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Us&lt;/em&gt; are just as bad as he ?!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is clear that &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt; is the correct pronoun choice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The wrong usage of &lt;em&gt;them&lt;/em&gt; in place of &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt; is also another common error in this regard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T07:43:47.667" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8356" CreationDate="2011-01-10T08:01:40.477" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We still haven't got a sponsor although the fact that we've written to dozens of companies&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is not a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While &lt;em&gt;&quot;We still haven't got a sponsor&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is an independent clause, &lt;em&gt;&quot;although the fact that we've written to dozens of companies&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is not a clause because &lt;em&gt;&quot;the fact that we've written to dozens of companies&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is merely a noun phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One could fix this in two ways, while sticking closely to the original form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Replace &lt;em&gt;although&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;despite&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We still haven't got a sponsor &lt;em&gt;despite&lt;/em&gt; the fact that we've written to dozens of companies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Remove &quot;the fact that&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We still haven't got a sponsor although we've written to dozens of companies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both cases, one gets an independent clause (&lt;em&gt;&quot;We still haven't got a sponsor&quot;&lt;/em&gt;) followed by a dependent clause (&lt;em&gt;&quot;despite the fact that we've written to dozens of companies&quot;/&quot;although we've written to dozens of companies&quot;&lt;/em&gt;) and, hence, a complete sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last thing one should do for punctuational correctness is to separate the clauses with a comma:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;We still haven't got a sponsor, despite the fact that we've written to dozens of companies.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;We still haven't got a sponsor, although we've written to dozens of companies.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are two sentences that clearly express what I think is the intended meaning of the original fragment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T15:45:44.730" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T15:45:44.730" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8344" CreationDate="2011-01-10T08:08:41.467" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She obviously has a legit excuse, although she could have been more responsible and &quot;have&quot; told you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to use &quot;could&quot; again if you are using &quot;have&quot; again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She obviously has a legit excuse, although she could have been more responsible and could have told you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That makes it redundant. Therefore, stick to the first option which is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She obviously has a legit excuse, although she could have been more responsible and told you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3424" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T08:08:41.467" />
  <row Id="8366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8321" CreationDate="2011-01-10T08:27:11.403" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I love the colors of the leaves in autumn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3424" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T08:27:11.403" />
  <row Id="8367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8337" CreationDate="2011-01-10T09:00:56.350" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually the phrase is specific to the situation. A Republican president may face a &quot;Democrat-controlled&quot; Congress (or Senate or House) or a Democratic president may face a &quot;Republican-controlled&quot; Congress (or Senate or House).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T09:00:56.350" />
  <row Id="8368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8337" CreationDate="2011-01-10T09:42:56.443" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most commonly used term in American English (this situation isn't really possible in other English-speaking legislatures) is &quot;split control of Congress&quot; or &quot;a split Congress&quot;. Google for those terms and you'll find lots of references.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2954" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T09:42:56.443" />
  <row Id="8369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8301" CreationDate="2011-01-10T09:47:07.187" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with others (and yourself) in that I have never heard this phrase in English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, it sounds like a literal translation of the German &quot;rauf- und runterhören&quot;, which is a popular (and somewhat informal) idiom in that language. (See Google search &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22rauf-+und+runterh%C3%B6ren%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=rauf+und+runter+h%C3%B6ren&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;two&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T09:47:07.187" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8337" CreationDate="2011-01-10T09:56:33.430" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like the term &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gridlock_%28politics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gridlock&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T09:56:33.430" />
  <row Id="8371" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8394" CreationDate="2011-01-10T10:35:51.993" Score="5" ViewCount="211" Body="&lt;p&gt;They both have plenty examples available, but which one is preferable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Can't it also be&quot; — 1,310,000 Google results&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Can't it be also&quot; — 1,430,000 Google results&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="423" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T10:46:20.990" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T16:45:17.377" Title="&quot;Can't it also be&quot; or &quot;Can't it be also&quot; in a question?" Tags="&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="8372" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8375" CreationDate="2011-01-10T10:57:30.337" Score="1" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in the UK and I mostly hear people saying &quot;Don't you .....&quot;. But some people say: Do you not ....? What is the difference and which one is more correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T12:34:02.163" Title="&quot;Do you not&quot; or &quot;Don't you&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8373" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-10T11:14:26.267" Score="0" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I could make it back to the office, I would come. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I use &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3428" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T16:42:51.857" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T02:24:31.003" Title="could or can + would?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;subjunctive-mood&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="8374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8373" CreationDate="2011-01-10T11:50:51.567" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is correct if you are explaining that you cannot do something that you promised to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Something is preventing me from returning to the office, despite my desire to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea can be abstracted as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I could, I would; but I can not, so I will not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: responding to comment regarding can vs could&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The could / would pairing implies a known current situation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I could, I would. =&gt; If it was possible (near past), I would be doing it. (now)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When replaced by can / will, the sentence becomes about an unknown current situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I can, I will. =&gt; If it is possible (now), I will be doing it. (near future)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastEditorUserId="2944" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T12:22:17.610" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T12:22:17.610" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8372" CreationDate="2011-01-10T12:34:02.163" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are correct. What was originally just a contraction of &quot;do not&quot; has become a word in itself, and can now be placed where the two separate words can't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both &quot;Don't you...&quot; and &quot;Do you not...&quot; are correct, but you can't re-expand &quot;Don't you...&quot; into &quot;Do not you...&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning of the two are the same, but &quot;Do you not...&quot; is considered more formal in some situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T12:34:02.163" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8376" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8378" CreationDate="2011-01-10T12:52:24.567" Score="3" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;When push comes to shove&quot; means &quot;as a last resort&quot; or &quot;if absolutely necessary&quot;. Does anyone know why the phrase came to be used in this way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T02:02:45.500" Title="What is the origin of the phrase &quot;when push comes to shove&quot;" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8371" CreationDate="2011-01-10T13:04:26.490" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whatever Google may say, the first version — &quot;can't it also be&quot; — sounds more natural to my ear. The fact that the second version has more Google hits may simply mean that other things on the page are what generated the hits. In other words, people link to pages that have information they need, regardless of grammar or writing style. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, in looking through a few I see the latter construction has been used very often in sentences involving what I would consider substandard writing. Take for example &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;why does java have an interpreator can't it be also a compiler&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is the complete and uncensored title of a blog post that appears on the first page of the &quot;can't it be also&quot; Google search. No capitalizations, no punctuation, misspellings — certainly these are not the hallmarks of a writing style you wish to emulate, are they? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, in fact, if you Google the entire sentence you will see that it accounts for about 50 of the total 1.43 million hits. Polling Google for usage tips is not the best way to separate the wheat from the chaff, at least when it comes to grammar or spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T13:04:26.490" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8376" CreationDate="2011-01-10T13:10:44.650" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chacha.com/question/what-is-the-origin-of-the-phrase-%27when-push-comes-to-shove%27&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;site&lt;/a&gt;, this term comes from rugby, where, after an infraction of rules, forwards from each team face off and push against one another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T13:10:44.650" />
  <row Id="8379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8347" CreationDate="2011-01-10T14:31:05.283" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is the definition from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/draw-back&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Urban Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;draw back a stump&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A threat that you will cut off&#xA;  someone's fingers, hand, arm etc.&#xA;  unless they stop bugging or annoying&#xA;  you (hopefully not literally). An&#xA;  amputated limb is called a stump, so&#xA;  unless they stop touching you, you'll&#xA;  cut something off and they will draw&#xA;  back a stump...not a hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;You touch me again and you'll draw back a stump!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to be accurate. At least that was the meaning that the phrase had in three different usages that I found:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) &lt;em&gt;Keep touching me like that, you'll draw back a stump.&lt;/em&gt; &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/american-psycho?before=1294273805&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Psycho&lt;/a&gt; (film)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/otACk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Suspect : &lt;em&gt;Get your finger out of my face, bitch!&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;Sara : &lt;em&gt;You touch me again, draw back a stump!&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.learnglish.com/Uwe/Forum.aspx/eng/3710/Draw-back-a-stump&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CSI&lt;/a&gt; (television series)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) &lt;a href=&quot;http://cheezburger.com/TemplateView.aspx?ciid=2407532&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This picture:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/UMwmM.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T16:06:23.647" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T16:06:23.647" />
  <row Id="8380" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8410" CreationDate="2011-01-10T14:55:14.660" Score="6" ViewCount="459" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi, this is really a question for Americans. When watching US TV or films, it's often my impression that, while using all the other contractions, Americans don't seem so keen on 'don't', but use 'do not' rather more often than we Brits. And I don't think it's only when it is stressed. Any comments?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3323" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T01:56:11.810" Title="Do Americans say 'don't' as often as the British" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="8381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5774" CreationDate="2011-01-10T15:07:08.170" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm British and I'm slightly surprised that no Americans have objected to the way the word 'deviate' is used here. It's as though you had wandered from our true and straight path. The truth of course is that both our versions of the language have changed. If anything it is probably British English that has changed more (apart from in spelling) from 17th Century English than American English. So it's us who are the deviants. Sorry, I'm echoing Kosmonaut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3323" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T15:07:08.170" />
  <row Id="8382" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8383" CreationDate="2011-01-10T15:21:26.467" Score="10" ViewCount="670" Body="&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's all about apples, oranges, bananas, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;VS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's all about apples, oranges, bananas, etc..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2212" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T18:20:05.713" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T18:20:05.713" Title="When &quot;etc.&quot; is at the end of a phrase, do you place a period after it?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;&lt;period&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="8383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8382" CreationDate="2011-01-10T15:32:04.680" Score="24" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If &lt;em&gt;etc.&lt;/em&gt; occurs at the end of a &lt;strong&gt;sentence&lt;/strong&gt;, then you do not add another period. However, if &lt;em&gt;etc.&lt;/em&gt; occurs at the end of a &lt;strong&gt;clause&lt;/strong&gt;, you can add a comma or other punctuation mark after it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I bought the apples, oranges, etc., but they were all rotten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/abbreviations.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This grammar reference&lt;/a&gt; gives the following rule:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When an abbreviation with a period ends a sentence, that period will suffice to end the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T15:47:14.870" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T15:47:14.870" />
  <row Id="8385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8382" CreationDate="2011-01-10T15:32:26.487" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct form of your example should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's all about apples, oranges, bananas, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jack Lynch's &lt;a href=&quot;http://ethnicity.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/p.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Guide to Grammar and Style&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This one is simple enough: never double up periods. If a statement ends with &quot;etc.&quot; the period in the abbreviation does double duty, serving as the full stop to end the sentence. If, however, you need another mark of punctuation after an abbreviation, you can put it after the period. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;This was her first trip to the U.S. (The period does double-duty, ending both the abbreviation and the sentence.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Is this your first trip to the U.S.? (The period ends the abbreviation, but the question mark ends the sentence.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;On her first trip to the U.S., Kristina lost her passport. (The period ends the abbreviation, but the sentence keeps going after the comma.) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The only thing to remember: don't double the periods. Everything else is logical enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T15:32:26.487" />
  <row Id="8386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8234" CreationDate="2011-01-10T15:37:59.207" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Britain, '&lt;em&gt;innit&lt;/em&gt;' is now used in street language as a catch-all tag question, exactly like &lt;em&gt;n'est-ce pas&lt;/em&gt;. The whole point of it is that is not inflected, but used for everything, and that's what raises some people's hackles so much. The fact that it is regularly parodied on a couple of TV comedies has probably only increased its popularity with the young.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was in the news lately when actress Emma Thompson told a group of school kids that using slang words like ‘innit?’ and ‘like’ made them sound stupid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Professor David Crystal has a short piece about it on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1453_uptodate3/page8.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BBC Learning English&lt;/a&gt; website, and I think Michael Quinion has something at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;World Wide Words&lt;/a&gt;, but I can't seem to find it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you've done really is simply to slur standard question tags, that's another matter - but the point of &lt;em&gt;innit&lt;/em&gt; (in the UK at least) is that it has taken on an uninflected life of its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3323" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T15:37:59.207" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="8387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8380" CreationDate="2011-01-10T15:39:15.953" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't doubt that we say &quot;don't&quot; in the US as much as our cousins across the pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, I expect usage is similar in the US and UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T15:39:15.953" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8348" CreationDate="2011-01-10T15:39:34.283" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't find a reference on this, but I think the etymology comes from sandpaper. Sandpaper is made with grains (originally sand) and if you make coarse-grain sandpaper you can quickly remove lots of unwanted wood, but the result is rough. If you make fine-grain sandpaper you can smooth or polish the wood to a high degree, with great control, but the work is slower because the smaller grains don't remove as much wood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This metaphor extends into other tools where the tools offer control of minute details in order to achieve specific results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T15:39:34.283" />
  <row Id="8389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8376" CreationDate="2011-01-10T15:41:39.867" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well my understanding of the phrase has always been this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pushing and shoving is a way of referring to fighting, particular little man-to-man arguments.  They start with a push and a shove, so when &quot;push comes to shove&quot;, it means a fight will break out.  Fighting is the last resort, or at least the least desired outcome of an argument.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T15:41:39.867" />
  <row Id="8390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8244" CreationDate="2011-01-10T15:58:35.983" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(BrE) Although prescriptivists will lament, in British standard spoken English, I would say neither of these is the norm. Nearly everyone will say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am looking to find a friendly environment where I can enjoy my work and the people I work with.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually &lt;em&gt;looking to find&lt;/em&gt; also sounds pretty formal to me, and &lt;em&gt;enjoying people&lt;/em&gt; has certain overtones, so they'd be more likely to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am looking for a friendly environment where I can enjoy my work and the company of the people I work with.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forget the old 'rule' about not ending a sentence with a preposition. Churchill killed that one, if it wasn't dead already. In the UK, &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; is now used mostly only in written English, and only after a preposition, so  - &lt;em&gt;with whom&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this is what virtually all British-published English language courses for foreigners now teach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You do occasionally hear someone use &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; in spoken English, but they stick out like a sore thumb. Believe me, &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; is on the way out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3323" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T15:58:35.983" />
  <row Id="8391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2011-01-10T16:24:17.130" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, i have some words&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Subtle ( Pronounced &quot;suttle&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Panache (I have heard that this is pronounced &quot;punash&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2565" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T16:24:17.130" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-10T16:24:17.130" />
  <row Id="8392" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-10T16:43:08.410" Score="3" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every so often I see various abbreviations used on forums and blogs and whatnot, such as FYI (For Your Information) and AFAIK (As Far As I Know).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What other common abbreviations are there, and what are their meanings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T05:27:34.330" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-10T16:54:30.377" Title="What are the abbreviations most commonly used on the Internet?" Tags="&lt;abbreviations&gt;&lt;internet&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8380" CreationDate="2011-01-10T16:44:31.023" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think we use &quot;don't&quot; and &quot;can't&quot; almost exclusively in normal conversation here in the U.S. &quot;Do not&quot; and &quot;cannot&quot; are reserved for making special emphasis or dramatic effect. But we have a long history of using the word &quot;don't&quot; — particularly in admonishing our former colonial masters. Have a look at this colonial American flag (Gadsden Flag, source: Wikipedia).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/839Fp.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And its naval equivalent:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/x8lc4.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T16:44:31.023" CommentCount="15" />
  <row Id="8394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8371" CreationDate="2011-01-10T16:45:17.377" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Google books ngram viewer is probably more authoritative source (if you may call search engine authoritative source at all):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/Wykel.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=can+it+also+be%2Ccan+it+be+also&amp;amp;year_start=1800&amp;amp;year_end=2008&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;See here&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, I did not find how to search for &quot;can't&quot;, above link is for &quot;can it also be&quot; version.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Can it also be&quot; clearly wins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1306" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T16:45:17.377" />
  <row Id="8395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8392" CreationDate="2011-01-10T16:55:57.557" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some that I've seen quite often (there are many more &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.alsindependence.com/Internet_Slang.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;AFAIC: As Far As I'm Concerned&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;AFAIK: As Far As I Know&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;AFAIR: As Far As I Recall&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;AFK: Away From Keyboard&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ATM: At The Moment&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BSOD: Blue Screen Of Death&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BTDT: Been There, Done That&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;BTW: By The Way&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;FTR: For The Record&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;FWIW: For What It's Worth&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;FYI: For Your Information&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;IANAL: I Am Not A Lawyer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;IIRC: If I Recall Correctly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;IMHO: In My Humble Opinion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;IMNSHO: In My Not So Humble Opinion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;IOW: In Other Words&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;IRL: In Real Life&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;LOL: Laughing Out Loud&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;OOTB: Out Of The Box&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;RTFM: Read The Manual&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;TLA: Three Letter Acronym&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;YMMV: Your Mileage May Vary&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="628" LastEditorUserId="1167" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T05:27:34.330" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T05:27:34.330" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-10T16:55:57.557" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8392" CreationDate="2011-01-10T17:03:17.113" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;WTF - What the F*** (or 'Why the face' - Modern Family. Phil: &quot;I'm cool dad, that's my thang. I'm hip, I surf the web, I text. LOL: laugh out loud, OMG: oh my god, WTF: why the face&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T17:03:17.113" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-10T17:03:17.113" />
  <row Id="8397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8351" CreationDate="2011-01-10T17:04:26.260" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty certain &quot;unstable&quot; has always been used in the history of computing, as it has been used in science and engineering… it's the most natural word to use for something that is &quot;not stable.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the second part of your question, I think &quot;unstable&quot; and &quot;buggy&quot; have  slightly different uses. I would say &quot;buggy&quot; more often refers to incorrect output and &quot;unstable&quot; more often refers to catastrophic failure, where the software ceases to function, &quot;hangs&quot; or &quot;freezes&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, they can be interchangeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T17:04:26.260" />
  <row Id="8398" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8400" CreationDate="2011-01-10T17:10:44.233" Score="2" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;Under SI, the kilo prefix refers to 1,000 and mega refers to 1,000,000. In strict computer terms, kilo refers to 1,024 (2^10), mega refers to 1,048,576 (2^20) and gig is 1,073,741,824 (2^30). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The original question was how widely know outside this domain is this distinction?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going by the answers provided, I should be using binary prefixes in order to remove the ambiguity in my documentation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastEditorUserId="2657" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T19:24:45.070" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T19:38:37.150" Title="Kilo as 1024, Mega as 1048576" Tags="&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8398" CreationDate="2011-01-10T17:18:57.943" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Umm, not very many? The computer definitions aren't much use outside computer stuff, so I'd say that the vast majority of non-computer people are ignorant of the distinction (or don't care enough to remember it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But really, I could guess at numbers all day. How on Earth would we know the answer to this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T17:18:57.943" />
  <row Id="8400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8398" CreationDate="2011-01-10T17:23:44.287" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not many.  At least that's presumed... by the people who then invented &quot;Kibi&quot; and &quot;Mebi&quot; and &quot;Gibi&quot;.  Yup, there's sort-of (I don't deign to honor them as) SI prefixes: kB is kilobytes, that is, 1000 bytes (some used &quot;KB&quot; to signify 2^10 bytes, but that's really nonstandard).  While kiB, kibibytes, is 1024 bytes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Likewise for MB -&gt; MiB (Mebibytes) and GB -&gt; Gibibytes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;bi&quot; here stands for binary, so the long longform could be &quot;Kilobinarybytes&quot;.  It's all weird anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess one could presume that even fewer people &quot;outside the domain&quot; are aware of those new binary prefixes than were aware of the old power-of-two one, if you consider that even people &lt;em&gt;inside&lt;/em&gt; said domain are unaware of those new prefixes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T17:23:44.287" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8398" CreationDate="2011-01-10T17:24:34.330" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is not many.  That's why there is an increasing move to refer to use &quot;kibi&quot;, &quot;mebi&quot; and so on as prefixes for these powers of two.  Wikipedia has an article about it: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T17:24:34.330" />
  <row Id="8402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8398" CreationDate="2011-01-10T17:24:56.373" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, &lt;em&gt;kilo-&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;mega-&lt;/em&gt;, etc. are &lt;em&gt;ambiguous&lt;/em&gt;, because some think they ought to be based on powers of 2 in a computing context and powers of 10 otherwise, some disagree, and both sides just go ahead and use what they prefer. To solve this, the prefixes &lt;em&gt;kibi-&lt;/em&gt; (2&lt;sup&gt;10&lt;/sup&gt;), &lt;em&gt;mebi-&lt;/em&gt; (2&lt;sup&gt;20&lt;/sup&gt;), &lt;em&gt;gibi-&lt;/em&gt; (2&lt;sup&gt;30&lt;/sup&gt;), and &lt;em&gt;tebi-&lt;/em&gt; (2&lt;sup&gt;40&lt;/sup&gt;) have been introduced; these I find are rarely used in whole form, but there's increasingly common use of their abbreviations KiB, MiB, GiB, and TiB. I for one always say &quot;K&quot;, &quot;meg&quot;, &quot;gig&quot;, and &quot;terabyte&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Wikipedia entry on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;binary prefixes&lt;/a&gt; sums up the issues nicely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T17:24:56.373" CommentCount="18" />
  <row Id="8403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8398" CreationDate="2011-01-10T17:25:16.467" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not so many. Most people within the computer domain aren't even aware of all the details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The slightly larger kilo unit actually have gotten it's own unit, or actually a set of units. 1024 bytes is one &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibibyte&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kibibyte&lt;/a&gt;, 1024 kibibyte is one mebibyte, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even within the computer domain, both types of units are used. Disk storage manufacturers for example uses 1000 as kilo to measure disk sizes, while operating systems uses 1024 as kilo to measure disk usage. That means that a 2.0 terabyte disk only has room for 1.82 terabyte data. (Also, as some of the space is used to keep track of the data on the disk, the actual amount that you can store on the disk is even less.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even disk manufacturers aren't consistent, and both units has even been mixed to measure the size of a single type of disk. The (once) so well known 1.44 megabyte 3.25&quot; floppy disk is actually neither 1.44 megabyte nor 1.44 mebibyte. It's actually 1.44 * 1000 * 1024 bytes, or 1.44 kilo-kibi-byte...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T17:25:16.467" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8328" CreationDate="2011-01-10T17:38:15.250" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I happened across this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2010/07/grammar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;interesting article at The Economist&lt;/a&gt;, of all places, which speaks of this exact phenomenon, and notes that adverbs in adjective form have been around in English forever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That article notes that there may be a subtle difference in meaning between &quot;safe&quot; and &quot;safely,&quot; and I tend to agree. &quot;Drive safely&quot; more specifically refers to driving in a safe manner. &quot;Drive safe&quot; emphasizes the end result, being unharmed when you stop driving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm often critical of poor grammatical constructions, but in this case, I think this is an acceptable phrase and does have a slightly different meaning or tone than &quot;drive safely.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Do good&quot; has the unspoken meaning &quot;Do good (things)&quot; and generally refers to acting in a benevolent manner. If you mean to complete a task or test acceptably, you should say &quot;Do well.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastEditorUserId="1871" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T17:45:17.520" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T17:45:17.520" />
  <row Id="8406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8416" CreationDate="2011-01-10T17:39:02.973" Score="3" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm developing a software that asks user to specify a &lt;code&gt;niche / field / area / domain&lt;/code&gt; of the document he is uploading. It can be business proposal, technical documentation, official stuff, correspondence, complain  whatever. How do I call this field ?  There will be a suggestion form field that will contain the most frequent expressions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1426" LastEditorUserId="1426" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T20:37:03.530" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T18:53:24.813" Title="Which one is the proper alternative ? niche / field / area / domain ..." Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;alternative&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8167" CreationDate="2011-01-10T17:42:59.807" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;After reading through all the discussions, I think one of @RegDwight's comments address the problem most accutely. &quot;As&quot; is used in the sense of comparison here, as indicated by one entry of New Oxford American Dictionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2 used to indicate by comparison the&#xA;  way that something happens or is done&#xA;  : dress as you would if you were&#xA;  having guests | they can do as they&#xA;  wish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &quot;as&quot; could mean &quot;though&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;4 even though : sweet as he is, he doesn't pay his bills | try as he might, he failed to pull it off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see, in fact, the form &quot;as&quot; is used in my sample sentence is a perfect example of this &quot;even though&quot; usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, one interesting fact of English is that sometimes one has to reverse-engineer the usage of a word in a sentence from the acceptable meaning of the sentence, although generally one determines the meaning of a sentence from the usage of the constituent words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3324" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T17:42:59.807" />
  <row Id="8408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8406" CreationDate="2011-01-10T17:58:24.047" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word most familiar to your users for this function is &quot;category&quot;, as in &quot;specify the category for this document&quot;. This word, coupled with examples will clearly convey your message.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another useful word might be &quot;type&quot;, but users uploading files might interpret that to mean &quot;which software package created the document&quot; and thus provide answers such as MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. That is not what you are looking for, as stated in your question.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T17:58:24.047" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8380" CreationDate="2011-01-10T19:10:21.747" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did some searches in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&amp;amp;q=8201178&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; and compared the results to similar searches in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/?c=bnc&amp;amp;q=8201183&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National corpus&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I found was that overall, in American English there was a 7.9-to-1 ratio of &lt;em&gt;don’t&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;do not&lt;/em&gt;. With breakdowns by type:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;SPOKEN    19.6&#xA;FICTION   17.9&#xA;MAGAZINE   7.5&#xA;NEWSPAPER  7.7&#xA;ACADEMIC   0.5&#xA;TOTAL      7.9&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In British English overall, the ratio was 4.4-to-1 in favor of &lt;em&gt;don’t&lt;/em&gt;, with breakdowns by type:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;SPOKEN     56.9&#xA;FICTION    16.8&#xA;MAGAZINE    4.1&#xA;NEWSPAPER   3.4&#xA;NON-ACAD    0.9&#xA;ACADEMIC    0.2&#xA;MISC        0.9&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if it is reasonable to conclude anything from this data, it is that Americans overall use &lt;em&gt;don’t&lt;/em&gt; about twice as frequently as the British, but the British use &lt;em&gt;don’t&lt;/em&gt; in speech about 2.9 times more frequently than Americans. In any case, these are not big enough ratios to be noticeable by anyone not counting every incidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T20:26:49.200" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T20:26:49.200" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="8411" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8412" CreationDate="2011-01-10T19:18:47.043" Score="2" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was typing this sentence &quot;And on the other hand, some user actions don't trigger the same response.&quot; my spell checker mentioned that I might put a hyphen between 'other' and 'hand' and use 'other-hand'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in this sentence is a hyphen placed between 'other' and 'hand'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2805" LastEditorUserId="2805" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T03:52:19.907" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T03:52:19.907" Title="Does one use a hyphen in between 'other' and 'hand' when saying &quot;on the other hand&quot;?" Tags="&lt;hyphen&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8411" CreationDate="2011-01-10T19:22:38.303" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, no hyphen is needed (and indeed it would be wrong to put one in this case). You are right to doubt your spell-checker :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T19:22:38.303" />
  <row Id="8413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8398" CreationDate="2011-01-10T19:38:37.150" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regardless of how many people know or don't know about it, if you're writing a specification or technical publication, my suggestion is to use the binary prefixes (&lt;em&gt;kibi, mebi&lt;/em&gt;), that way there is no room for ambiguity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3433" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T19:38:37.150" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8392" CreationDate="2011-01-10T19:39:52.563" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One I've seen only recently is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tl;dr&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which apparently means &quot;too long; didn't read&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T19:39:52.563" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-10T19:39:52.563" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8415" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8427" CreationDate="2011-01-10T19:45:05.017" Score="5" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;Context: an old (70+ years old) Londoner is being interviewed about his past as a lighterman on the River Thames and says the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Three big wharves there, they've flattened, all gone. One of them we called the stinker wharf. &lt;em&gt;They made bones&lt;/em&gt;. It used to pen and ink when you went by there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Webster's Third&lt;/em&gt; defines “to make bones” as “to show hesitation, uncertainty, or scruple,” but it doesn't seem to fit here. &lt;em&gt;Partridge Slang&lt;/em&gt; says that “bone” could mean a marijuana/tobacco cigarette in the US; but it would be odd if an old Londoner used American slang terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3286" LastEditorUserId="3286" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T20:04:28.360" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T18:42:42.843" Title="What does “they made bones” mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8406" CreationDate="2011-01-10T19:59:49.673" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be difficult to pick the perfect label for this field. But based on your description, and as a programmer, I agree with John Satta, Category is probably the safest bet. But some other words which might work:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tag&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Description&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Subject&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Topic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T19:59:49.673" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8415" CreationDate="2011-01-10T20:19:58.200" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would appear that on a gloss of those meanings, &quot;They made bones. It used to pen and ink when you went by there&quot; would come across to the ear as &quot;They would hesitate or complain because it stunk to go by there.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T20:19:58.200" />
  <row Id="8419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8337" CreationDate="2011-01-10T21:42:16.017" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When referring to the United States (and by extension, other countries with presidential forms of government), Wikipedia refers to this as a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divided_government&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;divided government&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In countries such as France, with a semi-presidential system, the situation can arise where there is a president from one party, but a different party is the largest one in the National Assembly, leading to the likelihood of the prime minister also being of that party. This is referred to as &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohabitation_%28government%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cohabitation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The United Kingdom is a parliamentary democracy like Japan. However, its upper house, the House of Lords, is (currently) appointed, contains a significant number of independent members, and has a composition which is not directly related to the balance of parties in the lower house, the House of Commons. In addition, the House of Commons can overrule the House of Lords &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_Acts_1911_and_1949&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in certain circumstances&lt;/a&gt;. Hence I'm not aware of any term to describe the situation in the question which applies to the UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T21:42:16.017" />
  <row Id="8420" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-10T21:47:20.553" Score="4" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &quot;audio&quot; and &quot;sound&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible that a beeping noise could be considered one but not the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="496" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T15:51:55.007" Title="Differences between &quot;audio&quot; and &quot;sound&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;comparative&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8380" CreationDate="2011-01-10T21:48:47.807" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;People say &quot;don't&quot; so much that they use it when they shouldn't. Observe a typical American conversation and you will here this all over the place:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;He don't know how to drive&#xA;She don't make my breakfast no more&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People have horrible grammar in the US. Do you have the same problem in the UK? I'd venture to guess that we use &quot;don't&quot; more than other countries due to bad grammar alone. &quot;Do not&quot; is usually used for emphasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3443" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T21:48:47.807" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8420" CreationDate="2011-01-10T22:03:35.873" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Audio is more generally considered to mean artificially generated sound specifically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T15:51:55.007" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8420" CreationDate="2011-01-10T22:06:05.870" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Audio&lt;/strong&gt; is a more technical term, referring to sound coming from a recording, transmission or electronic device.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sound&lt;/strong&gt; is a more generic word and can be caused by any source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if the beeping noise is coming from an electronic device, it could be considered audio, but usage is important. You would rarely refer to a specific, discrete noise as &quot;audio&quot;. You could say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They raise the audio for TV commercials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hear a beeping audio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sounds incorrect&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hear a beeping sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would be better. Or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hear beeping in the audio transmission.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, depending on context, using audio as an adjective may be acceptable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hear audio beeping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T22:06:05.870" />
  <row Id="8426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8420" CreationDate="2011-01-10T22:09:57.860" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Noun&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;audio (uncountable)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A sound, or a sound signal &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Noun&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;sound (plural sounds)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A sensation perceived by the ear caused by the vibration of air or some other medium.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Nobody made a sound.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;He turned when he heard the sound of footsteps behind him.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A vibration capable of causing this. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(music) A distinctive style and sonority of a particular musician, orchestra etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It appears that the word 'audio' is used to specify a particular implementation of a sound, i.e. as in a digitally created sound, whereas 'sound' is the object itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T22:09:57.860" />
  <row Id="8427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8415" CreationDate="2011-01-10T22:27:50.070" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strike&gt;&quot;Dog and bones&quot; is Cockney slang for &lt;em&gt;telephone&lt;/em&gt;. Conceivably, this phrase had been shortened: &lt;em&gt;&quot;they made bones&quot;&lt;/em&gt; could be translated as &lt;em&gt;they called (on the phone)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would translate it as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Three big wharves have been demolished. One of them we called the stinker wharf. They &lt;strike&gt;called and&lt;/strike&gt; complained because it stunk so much when you went by there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, after a little more thinking, &lt;em&gt;make no bones about&lt;/em&gt; is a synonym for &lt;em&gt;to have no objection to&lt;/em&gt;. So while my translation is correct, I'm thinking &quot;making bones&quot; about the wharf is just a reversal of the phrase. They objected to the wharf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Elizabeth was thus making huge bones of sending some £7000 over for the general purposes of the government in Ireland.&quot; -- &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.ca/books?id=GLsHFixWu88C&amp;amp;pg=PA51&amp;amp;lpg=PA51&amp;amp;dq=%22Elizabeth+was+thus+making+huge+bones%22&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=4m_dGaoahN&amp;amp;sig=QUfgBEDPx7WpG5jDw5f0I44u3Y8&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=7IorTa3vNpq7nAe3-uCJAQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=4&amp;amp;ved=0CC0Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22Elizabeth%20was%20thus%20making%20huge%20bones%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Richard Simpson's The School of Shakspere, 1878&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastEditorUserId="1871" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-10T22:42:45.840" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T22:42:45.840" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8428" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-10T23:39:20.170" Score="3" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/629/a-historic-or-an-historic&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;A historic&amp;hellip;&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;An historic&amp;hellip;&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should an be used before words beginning with 'h'?  What about when the 'h' is silent and is followed by a vowel?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1048" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T09:47:12.950" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T09:47:12.950" ClosedDate="2011-01-11T02:21:43.877" Title="Should an be used before words beginning with 'h'?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8428" CreationDate="2011-01-10T23:43:06.993" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We should not when it is not silent. We say &quot;a human&quot; and not &quot;an human&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, we use 'an' when h is silent. E.g We say 'an hour' but not 'a hour'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-10T23:43:06.993" />
  <row Id="8430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8428" CreationDate="2011-01-10T23:52:05.350" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A rule of thumb is to use &quot;an&quot; only when you do not hear the h when you pronounce the word. See here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/629/a-historic-or-an-historic&quot;&gt;&quot;A historic...&quot; or &quot;An historic...&quot;?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A summary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the h is silent, as in &quot;hour&quot;, use &quot;an&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the h is sounded and the first syllable is stressed, as in &quot;hammer&quot;, we use &quot;a&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the h is normally sounded but the first syllable is not stressed, it could be either &quot;a&quot; or &quot;an&quot;, depending on the noun and the speaker. I think you will hear &quot;an historical building&quot; more than &quot;an harpoon&quot;. Words in this category may be pronounced differently by different people in different places. According to our esteemed moderator Nohat, traditionalists would use &quot;an&quot; in this case (see the link above).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T00:00:49.723" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T00:00:49.723" />
  <row Id="8431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2011-01-11T00:00:35.870" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Antipodes: apparently it's not pronounces anti-podes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T00:00:35.870" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-11T00:00:35.870" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8432" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8449" CreationDate="2011-01-11T00:03:34.433" Score="4" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to figure out the meaning of prefix &quot;Meta-&quot; in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Quoted from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Meta- (from Greek: μετά = &quot;after&quot;,&#xA;  &quot;beyond&quot;, &quot;with&quot;, &quot;adjacent&quot;, &quot;self&quot;),&#xA;  is a prefix used in English (and other&#xA;  Greek-owing languages) to indicate a&#xA;  concept which is an abstraction from&#xA;  another concept, used to complete or&#xA;  add to the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In epistemology, the prefix meta is&#xA;  used to mean &lt;em&gt;about (its own category)&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;  For example, metadata are data about&#xA;  data (who has produced them, when,&#xA;  what format the data are in and so&#xA;  on). Also, metamemory in psychology&#xA;  means an individual's knowledge about&#xA;  whether or not they would remember&#xA;  something if they concentrated on&#xA;  recalling it. Furthermore, metaemotion&#xA;  in psychology means an individual's&#xA;  emotion about his/her own basic&#xA;  emotion, &quot;or somebody else's basic&#xA;  emotion&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Another, slightly different&#xA;  interpretation of this term is &quot;about&quot;&#xA;  but not &quot;on&quot; (exactly its own&#xA;  category). For example, in linguistics&#xA;  a grammar is considered as being&#xA;  expressed in a metalanguage, or a sort&#xA;  of language for describing another&#xA;  language (and not itself). Any subject&#xA;  can be said to have a meta-theory&#xA;  which is the theoretical consideration&#xA;  of its meta-properties, such as its&#xA;  foundations, methods, form and&#xA;  utility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what is the slightly&#xA;difference between &quot;&lt;em&gt;about (its own&#xA;category)&lt;/em&gt;&quot; and &quot;'about' but not&#xA;'on' (exactly its own category)&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;My original problem is to understand&#xA;the meaning of &quot;metalogic&quot; and&#xA;&quot;logic&quot;. Quoted from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metalogic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Metalogic is the study of the&#xA;  metatheory of logic. While logic is&#xA;  the study of the manner in which&#xA;  logical systems can be used to decide&#xA;  the correctness of arguments,&#xA;  metalogic studies the properties of&#xA;  the logical systems themselves.&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;  According to Geoffrey Hunter, while&#xA;  logic concerns itself with the &quot;truths&#xA;  of logic,&quot; metalogic concerns itself&#xA;  with the theory of &quot;sentences used to&#xA;  express truths of logic.&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metalogic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The basic objects of study in&#xA;  metalogic are formal languages, formal&#xA;  systems, and their interpretations.&#xA;  The study of interpretation of formal&#xA;  systems is the branch of mathematical&#xA;  logic known as model theory, while the&#xA;  study of deductive apparatus is the&#xA;  branch known as proof theory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, is it correct to understand &#xA;&quot;meta-X&quot; as some study that treat&#xA;something (here logical system) as a&#xA;whole without going inside it,&#xA;whereas &quot;X&quot; study the same thing by&#xA;going inside it?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;How would you explain the relation&#xA;between &quot;metaphysics&quot; and &quot;physics&quot;,&#xA;and between&#xA;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.stackoverflow.com/&quot;&gt;meta-stackoverflow&lt;/a&gt;&quot; and&#xA;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/&quot;&gt;stackoverflow&lt;/a&gt;&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks and regards!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T02:13:02.520" Title="Meaning of &quot;meta-&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8433" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8440" CreationDate="2011-01-11T00:12:09.130" Score="2" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw the following sentence in today's New York Times. I understand 'Rock-God' means  an artist almost deified by fans because of his or her performance and reputation. Can 'Rock-God' be applied to musicians other than rock singer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Billie Joe Armstrong, the Green Day frontman, brings a jolt of rock-god electricity to the Broadway musical &quot;American Idiot.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T15:52:57.317" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T19:02:21.300" Title="Can 'Rock-God' be applied to musicians other than rock musicians?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8434" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8436" CreationDate="2011-01-11T00:27:16.080" Score="5" ViewCount="232" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just used the word &quot;pensive&quot; to describe the feeling of a system administrator's state of mind while waiting for a long-running task to complete successfully, but I don't think that's the right word. I am trying to describe the feeling of waiting for the results of a task; a feeling of anxious anticipation, hoping things will work out for the best but planning one's next move in case things don't turn out as one had planned. Is there a better word than &quot;pensive&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; I am questioning my word choice because Merriam Webster defines pensivehttp://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pensive as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;suggestive of sad thoughtfulness&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and sadness isn't part of the emotion I'm trying to convey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2259" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T18:04:50.033" Title="What's a better word for &quot;pensive&quot; in this situation?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8434" CreationDate="2011-01-11T00:28:44.707" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pensive is a great word to describe that state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3452" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T00:28:44.707" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8434" CreationDate="2011-01-11T00:32:05.607" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apprehensive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess it helps to clarify that there's both a bit of &quot;the worst could happen right now and that would suck&quot; and there's a bit of &quot;ok, it's going to be fine, what's the next thing I need to do so I'm prepared&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2161" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T00:32:05.607" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2011-01-11T00:39:47.133" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Corps (as in Marine Corps)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being french I pronounced it cohr, not core like most Americans...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3451" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T00:39:47.133" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-11T00:39:47.133" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8438" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8444" CreationDate="2011-01-11T00:39:50.817" Score="4" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for a noun to describe an individual meeting of a &lt;strong&gt;course&lt;/strong&gt;, as in a course of study at a university. &lt;strong&gt;Class&lt;/strong&gt; is not an option in this case. Thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3453" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T01:11:02.613" Title="Educational course nomenclature" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8380" CreationDate="2011-01-11T00:40:09.097" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've voted for nohat's answer, because of the evidence, but I offer my observations anyway:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that Americans generally use accepted contractions, including &lt;i&gt;don't&lt;/i&gt;.  I rarely hear &lt;i&gt;do not&lt;/i&gt; except for emphasis.  Another data point:  In &lt;i&gt;Star Trek: The Next Generation&lt;/i&gt;, Worf and Data are conspicuous for their contraction-free speech, again including &lt;i&gt;don't&lt;/i&gt; (Worf is formal by choice; Data has some kind of weird programming deficiency).  This is actually played up in the show from time to time.  Everyone else uses &lt;i&gt;don't&lt;/i&gt; freely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T00:40:09.097" />
  <row Id="8440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8433" CreationDate="2011-01-11T00:49:41.477" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since the word &quot;rock&quot; appears in the title, presumably &quot;rock-god&quot; can only apply to practitioners of rock music. &quot;Rock star&quot; is the term you normally hear, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One could be a &quot;god&quot; of other types of music — country, classical, klezmer, what have you — but it just wouldn't be the same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, the &quot;almost deified by their fans&quot; part is neither a rock nor even a recent phenomenon. It has applied to musicians throughout the ages. Frank Sinatra crooned to legions of screaming &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_soxer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bobby soxer&lt;/a&gt;s, Rudy Vallee before him became the first mass-media pop star, and &lt;em&gt;way&lt;/em&gt; before that piano virtuoso &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Liszt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Franz Liszt&lt;/a&gt; fornicated his way across Europe on the strength of his fame. From the Wikipedia article on Liszt:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After 1842 &quot;Lisztomania&quot; swept across Europe. The reception Liszt enjoyed as a result can only be described as hysterical. Women fought over his silk handkerchiefs and velvet gloves, which they ripped to shreds as souvenirs. Helping fuel this atmosphere was the artist's mesmeric personality and stage presence. Many witnesses later testified that Liszt's playing raised the mood of audiences to a level of mystical ecstasy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, a contemporary of Liszt, violin virtuoso &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paganini&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Niccolo Paganini&lt;/a&gt; was so good that he was not deified, but said to have been possessed by the devil. I guess that's as good as music gets. Eat your heart out, Billie Joe Armstrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T12:51:31.153" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T12:51:31.153" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8441" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8445" CreationDate="2011-01-11T00:53:47.347" Score="3" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw the following sentence in today's New York Times:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Despite questions about their coach's &lt;em&gt;outsize personality&lt;/em&gt;, the Jets have won three playoff games in two seasons under Rex Ryan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the expression 'outsize personality' is quite new to me, I consulted Google and found the following example containing it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Obregón, Alejandro’s work was widely exhibited in Latin America and elsewhere and in 1956 he won first prize at the Guggenheim International Exhibition in New York. Edward Lucie-Smith described him as ‘an &lt;em&gt;outsize personality&lt;/em&gt;'…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does 'outsize personality' mean outspoken, carefree character? Does it sound positive or negative to the person when he or she was characterized so? What does it mean exactly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T10:51:59.073" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T10:51:59.073" Title="What does 'outsize character' mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8442" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-11T00:58:50.633" Score="3" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have volume 1 of the above and have had it quite a while. I was wondering if anyone out there would know if volume 2 has been published or issued to date?&#xA;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3450" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T01:13:20.847" ClosedDate="2011-01-21T09:21:18.483" Title="&quot; Dictionary of American Regional English &quot;" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="8443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8441" CreationDate="2011-01-11T01:10:49.163" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means the same as 'larger than life', which is to say someone that stands out more than the average bear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usual characteristics would be as you describe, outspokenness, noticeable character, either in a jubilant happy way or sometimes in a gruff and loud manner.  Usually the sort of person that within a group is the one that tends to be making the boldest statements or acting in a way that draws the most attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastEditorUserId="2253" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T01:32:37.170" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T01:32:37.170" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8438" CreationDate="2011-01-11T01:11:02.613" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are several options, depending on the nature of the course. I have provided examples in each case:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/class&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Class&lt;/a&gt; [meeting/period]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are we going to have music theory class tomorrow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/course&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Course&lt;/a&gt; meeting&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your professor will determine course meeting times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/laboratory&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lab&lt;/a&gt; [session]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;We have lab twice a week.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;How many lab sessions must we attend for Organic Chemistry?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lecture&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lecture&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yesterday's real analysis lecture was so boring!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recitation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Recitation&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You must attend daily recitations for psychology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/seminar?show=0&amp;amp;t=1294706928&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Seminar&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The bioinformatics course offers two mandatory seminars each week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/tutorial&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tutorial&lt;/a&gt; session/meeting&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;What time is the physics tutorial [session]?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;My music analysis tutorial meeting was so much fun!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T01:11:02.613" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8441" CreationDate="2011-01-11T01:11:15.000" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something that is &lt;em&gt;outsize&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;outsized&lt;/em&gt;) is exceptionally large. If used to describe someone's personality, it may mean &quot;larger than life&quot; or flamboyant. It can be positive, but it can also be negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T01:33:21.923" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T01:33:21.923" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8442" CreationDate="2011-01-11T01:13:20.847" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are actually four volumes, available from &lt;a href=&quot;http://dare.wisc.edu/?q=node/2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dare.wisc.edu/?q=node/2&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the &quot;History&quot; section of that site, it indicates that a fifth volume would be published in 2010, so that might be in the offing, as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T01:13:20.847" />
  <row Id="8447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8432" CreationDate="2011-01-11T01:28:20.457" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;StackOverflow has questions about a topic. Meta-StackOverflow has questions about the questions in StackOverflow - for example, &quot;is this question on topic?&quot;. X and Meta-X usually have similar relationships.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Logic is (roughly) about formal reasoning. Meta-logic is reasoning about logic, or why logic works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the relationship between physics and metaphysics and other similar pairs of words doesn't follow these &quot;rules&quot;, and have independent definitions; you should look at their definitions and ignore the common root.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is my admittedly informal understanding. I don't have a more formal understanding, but I don't have any practical problems with the concept either. Hope this helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3088" LastEditorUserId="3088" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T01:35:11.680" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T01:35:11.680" />
  <row Id="8448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8434" CreationDate="2011-01-11T01:30:31.047" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Anxious&quot; itself seems better. A state of anxiety often suggests a mind racing with the scenarios of possible outcomes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase, &quot;with bated breath&quot; also comes to mind, as it combines the act of waiting with a feeling of anxiousness, though it does not suggest any sort of planning for contingencies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T01:30:31.047" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8432" CreationDate="2011-01-11T01:31:25.583" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;1.&#xA;A simple example: I could look at a sequence of numbers and make a new sequence of numbers in which each number is the difference between two consecutive numbers from the first sequence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;1, 4, 7, 2&lt;/code&gt; (sequence 1)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;3, 3, 5&lt;/code&gt; (sequence 2: sequential subtraction, with as its object sequence 1)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then I could make sequence 3, with de differences between the numbers from sequence 2:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;0, 2&lt;/code&gt; (sequence 3: sequential subtraction, with as its object sequence 2)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sequence 2 does with sequence 1 exactly the same thing (sequential subtraction) as what sequence 3 does with sequence 2. Both the operations carried out by 2 and 3 can be defined by the same name, sequential subtraction. We could say that 3 operates on a meta-level in relation to 2. We could say that 3 is meta-2. In logical language, we could define 2 as &lt;code&gt;SeqSub(sequence 1)&lt;/code&gt;, and 3 as &lt;code&gt;SeqSub(SeqSub(sequence 1))&lt;/code&gt;. As you see, 2 is nested within 3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, consider grammar and normal language. Normal language describes the world, ideas, anything. Grammar describes, too, but it only describes language, not the world or anything. Grammar could be called meta-language. In this manner, we could call anything meta-x as long as x is a theory and meta-x is a theory about x, even if x and meta-x operate in different ways. X should be something vaguely similar to a theory, some abstract operation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(You could even use meta- with things that aren't theories or abstract operations, but that is normally not done, except as a joke — suppose you had a brush to clean the floor, and a rag to clean the brush; then you might jokingly call your rag a meta-cleaner.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now what is the difference between grammar and sequence 3? We could say that grammar does not do &lt;em&gt;exactly&lt;/em&gt; the same thing with language as what language does with its object, because grammar cannot, for example, refer to a physical thing directly. I think this what your quote means, the difference between identical operation on the one hand and similar-but-not-identical operation on the other. Sequential subtraction = sequential subtraction; grammar is a language, but language is not always grammar. In logical language, we could describe language as &lt;code&gt;Describes(world)&lt;/code&gt;, and grammar as &lt;code&gt;GrammaticallyAnalyses(Describes(world))&lt;/code&gt;. They are nested, but in two slightly different ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course this distinction between &quot;identical&quot; and &quot;similar&quot; depends on definitions, which may be somewhat arbitrary. So I do not have full confidence in its strength and meaningfulness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.&#xA;I think I can feel what you mean, but I am not sure I'd phrase it like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd put metalogic in the second category mentioned above — similar to but not exactly the same as — but I am not sure. The reason why it is called &quot;meta-&quot; is that logic studies language and thinking, which makes logic an abstract operation and a theory; and metalogic studies logic, so that it is on a meta-level in relation to logic. Note that meta-x is always relative to its object: metalogic is not &quot;meta-&quot; in relation to, say, pottery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3.&#xA;[Edited] In &quot;metaphysics&quot;, the prefix &quot;meta-&quot; is used in its original sense in ancient Greek, which is here &quot;after&quot;. Aristotle wrote the Physica, which were about the workings of nature: physis/phusis is Greek for nature. And he wrote the Metaphysica, which he called &quot;The [books/bookrolls] about prime philosophy&quot; — physics was the secondary philosophy. Later Greek scholars catalogued this work as &quot;ta meta ta PHusika&quot;: &quot;the things after the Physica&quot;, because they came after his Physica in their catalogue. Because his Metaphysica were about causality and other principles at work behind the physical world, it seems people later interpreted the &quot;meta-&quot; in Metaphysica as meaning &quot;on a higher level than&quot;, and that is where our use of &quot;meta-&quot; came from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4.&#xA;Stackoverflow is a website with questions and answers about programming. Meta-Stackoverflow is a website with questions and answers about Stackoverflow. So M-SO operates on SO the same way as SO operates on programming. In logical language, SO is SO(programming), and M-SO is SO(SO(programming)). You see how one is again nested within the other? That is why it is called Meta-Stackoverflow and not Newname.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T02:13:02.520" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T02:13:02.520" CommentCount="15" />
  <row Id="8450" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8451" CreationDate="2011-01-11T01:42:33.260" Score="10" ViewCount="317" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is purely a curiosity, but I'm fascinated by mid-word pluralization, even if the word in question is a compound word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, &lt;strong&gt;passersby&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;standersby&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No others have occurred to me. Can you provide other examples, or a link to a resource that enumerates them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm particularly interested in compounds that do not include spaces or hyphens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T22:22:24.470" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T22:22:24.470" Title="Words that are pluralized in the middle?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;compounds&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="8451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8450" CreationDate="2011-01-11T01:54:15.587" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be any compound noun of which the &lt;em&gt;head&lt;/em&gt;, the &quot;main noun&quot;, is not the final part of the compound. This includes all compound nouns whose final parts are not nouns. &quot;Bystanders&quot; is normally not written as you did. In &quot;passers-by&quot;, the final part is &quot;by&quot;, which is not a noun. Note that there might be some controversy about the correct spelling of some such words, but I just try to be consistent. A few examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;runners-up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fins-de-siècle (and many more French words)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;houses of cards&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Commanders-in-Chief&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sons-in-law&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;attorneys at law&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(tea)spoonsful&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T05:06:57.667" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T05:06:57.667" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="8452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8380" CreationDate="2011-01-11T01:56:11.810" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was young I was taught not to use contractions in my written works.  I wonder if the same English style conventions were taught in the UK, and if that has any effect on American and UK script writers or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe children are now being taught to write more conversationally, and contractions are not frowned on in written language as much as they used to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3452" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T01:56:11.810" />
  <row Id="8453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8376" CreationDate="2011-01-11T02:02:45.500" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answers.com/topic/if-push-comes-to-shove&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Answers.com&quot;&gt;Answers.com&lt;/a&gt; also cites the rugby reference.  It also notes the other meaning of the phrase as in &quot;They supposedly support equality, but when push comes to shove they always seem to promote a man instead of a woman&quot;.  I think the difference is &quot;if&quot; vs. &quot;when&quot;.  I see think the &quot;when&quot; meaning is more prevalent.  It means &quot;when actually tested&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3436" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T02:02:45.500" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8434" CreationDate="2011-01-11T02:15:35.677" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;Apprehensive&quot; implies pessimism about the results and &quot;Anxious&quot; implies a result that could be good or bad and you'd like to find out very soon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3436" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T02:15:35.677" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8455" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8458" CreationDate="2011-01-11T02:18:34.230" Score="3" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;There used to be (probably still is) a saying that had the sun shining up a dog's arse ocasionally. Can you remind be how it went?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2841" LastEditorUserId="2841" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T02:31:00.267" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T02:57:41.663" Title="Sun shining up a dog's arse?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="8456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8373" CreationDate="2011-01-11T02:24:31.003" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Telling someone that you may come back to the office: If I can, I will. I'll have to see if my replacement gets here in time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Telling someone that you want to go to the office but something (outside your control) is preventing me: If I could, I would.  But my boss told me I need to stay here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3436" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T02:24:31.003" />
  <row Id="8457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7763" CreationDate="2011-01-11T02:36:18.310" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dear Professor X,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am writing because I would like to get an update on the status of my application.  I remain very excited about this position and hope to hear good news soon.  Can you please update me on the status of the application?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Best Regards&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3436" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T02:36:18.310" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8455" CreationDate="2011-01-11T02:57:41.663" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sun don't shine on the same dog's ass every day, but, mister you ain't seen a ray of light since you got here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hoosiers&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hoosiers - Wikiquote&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3436" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T02:57:41.663" />
  <row Id="8459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8392" CreationDate="2011-01-11T04:28:31.710" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;i've noticed the emergence of the letter &quot;F&quot; in common acronyms, added for color. i.e. BTFW (by the f-ing way), etc. @Kramii's answer includes my favorite: RTFM!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2726" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T04:28:31.710" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-11T04:28:31.710" />
  <row Id="8460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8392" CreationDate="2011-01-11T05:25:30.067" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;WTF - Welcome to Facebook!!!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3458" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T05:25:30.067" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-11T05:25:30.067" />
  <row Id="8461" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-11T05:29:44.070" Score="1" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually, whenever I post a question in stackoverflow, I would have the habit of using &quot;but&quot; word, which alternative word can I use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3458" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T05:54:54.663" Title="How commonly is &quot;but&quot; use in the sentence?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8434" CreationDate="2011-01-11T05:42:13.900" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that pensive definitely doesn't fit here. Pensiveness is thinking, actively trying to puzzle something out. To me it connotes calm more than sadness, but I can agree with the sadness description partially. I mean, it is the dictionary at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apprehensive and anxious might deliver the goods, as have been suggested. The word that struck me when reading your description is 'uncomfortable' or maybe uncomfortable concern. You're not really sure how to feel but you can't just not think about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3269" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T05:42:13.900" />
  <row Id="8463" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-11T05:44:08.710" Score="3" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This question is inspired by a comment thread on this question (&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3812/interjection-et-voila&quot;&gt;Interjection &quot;et voila&quot;&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you feel there is something more&#xA;  significant about the word &quot;voila&quot;&#xA;  compared to the vast number of other&#xA;  English words borrowed from French?&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_French_origin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_French_origin&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how English do you think the following words (for example) are. Do you make any distinction between them, and on what basis? (Pronunciation, use of italics, etc.?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;manoeuvre, ambiance, brilliant, envelope, ennui, douche, chic, beau, rouge, hors d'oeuvres, piñata, burrito, quesadilla, spaghetti, pizza.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T11:06:03.817" ClosedDate="2011-01-12T15:31:45.790" Title="How English can you get?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;foreign-words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="8464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8461" CreationDate="2011-01-11T05:46:15.797" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'though' is a pretty common synonym, but it goes at the end of the phrase generally.&#xA;'however' is another. it can be used before or after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3269" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T05:46:15.797" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8461" CreationDate="2011-01-11T05:46:53.720" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Frequency&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;but&quot; is used about 1 in every 400 words, at least in books.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/gAhld.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Synonyms&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/thesaurus/but&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wordnik&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ac  ·  although  ·  bar  ·  besides  ·&#xA;  boundary  ·  except  ·  excepting  · &#xA;  excluding  ·  further  ·  howbeit  · &#xA;  however  ·  howsoever  ·  howsomever &#xA;  ·  limit  ·  merely  ·  more  · &#xA;  moreover  ·  natheless  ·  nathless  ·&#xA;  nevertheless  ·  notwithstanding  · &#xA;  only  ·  save  ·  solely  ·  still  · &#xA;  unless  ·  with the exception of  · &#xA;  without  ·  yet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2559" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T05:46:53.720" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8461" CreationDate="2011-01-11T05:54:54.663" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can also use these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;However&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Although&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;On the other hand (can also be used together with &quot;but&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Unfortunately&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Nevertheless&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Still&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Though&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Yet&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Except&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Unless&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see more synonyms &lt;a href=&quot;http://thesaurus.com/browse/but?&amp;amp;submit=Go&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; (from an online thesaurus).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3460" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T05:54:54.663" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8450" CreationDate="2011-01-11T05:56:42.880" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/court_martial&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;courts-martial&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/men-at-arms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;men-at-arms&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And a few more &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_plural#Plurals_of_compound_nouns&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;from Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bills of attainder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;directors general&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fees simple absolute&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ships of the line&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ministers-president&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;knights-errant&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;procurators fiscal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3175" LastEditorUserId="3175" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T07:50:29.010" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T07:50:29.010" />
  <row Id="8468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8450" CreationDate="2011-01-11T06:30:17.383" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Men-o’-war&lt;/strong&gt; is a nice one: shows that irregular plurals are just as susceptible to this construction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also:  &lt;strong&gt;pickers-up&lt;/strong&gt;, on the same pattern as &lt;strong&gt;passers-by&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T06:30:17.383" />
  <row Id="8469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8450" CreationDate="2011-01-11T06:52:47.563" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Besides those in others' answers, there are: &lt;em&gt;attorneys general&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;secretaries general&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;solicitors general&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;postmasters general&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;governors-general&lt;/em&gt;, etc.; &lt;em&gt;[noun]s-elect&lt;/em&gt;; and &lt;em&gt;Knights Templar&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Knights Hospitaller&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T06:52:47.563" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8470" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8475" CreationDate="2011-01-11T08:20:16.100" Score="7" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;When should I use the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This &lt;code&gt;may&lt;/code&gt; help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This &lt;code&gt;might&lt;/code&gt; help.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always get confused about the use of &lt;code&gt;may&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;might&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3183" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T23:16:07.637" Title="May, might confusion" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="8471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8470" CreationDate="2011-01-11T08:24:43.537" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference between the two sentences is the degree in which you are confident it would help. In the first case, you are quite confident, but you wouldn't say it's a 100% certainty. In the second case, you are not so sure that it would help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T08:24:43.537" />
  <row Id="8472" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-11T09:18:10.413" Score="4" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;p&gt;What words do you intentionally say incorrectly or pronounce incorrectly for any reasons?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, although I know the proper term is &quot;Secretaries-General&quot; (see: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8450/words-that-are-pluralized-in-the-middle&quot;&gt;Words that are pluralized in the middle?&lt;/a&gt;), I cannot bring myself to say it in most settings because of how incredibly pretentious I imagine it sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do the same with some foreign words as well even when I know the correct native pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know many would never dream of such a &lt;em&gt;faux pas&lt;/em&gt;, but for those of us who do stoop so low, let's share.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2697" LastEditorUserId="303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T10:24:59.487" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T14:54:04.650" ClosedDate="2011-01-11T15:41:58.697" Title="Which words and phrases do you intentionally say incorrectly?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;foreign-words&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8472" CreationDate="2011-01-11T09:28:49.823" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that I mainly mispronounce foreign words, mainly through not using the correct accent, to avoid sounding pretentious, e.g. pronouncing &lt;em&gt;chorizo cho-reezo&lt;/em&gt; as opposed to &lt;em&gt;cho-reetho&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T09:28:49.823" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8474" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8477" CreationDate="2011-01-11T10:03:13.357" Score="14" ViewCount="446" Body="&lt;p&gt;I thought that a disc was a disc, and it is sometimes spelled disk. I now have got an indication that those two are not the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/323/new-generation-of-save-icon-that-is-not-a-disk/365#365&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; on &lt;a href=&quot;http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com&quot;&gt;Graphic Design&lt;sup&gt;Beta&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, I wrote &quot;Floppy disc&quot; in the answer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I got a comment from someone that it should be &quot;Floppy disk&quot;. He stated that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Disk is a magnetic storage media, while disc is an optical one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1717" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T22:02:37.723" Title="Floppy - disc vs. disk" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;technical&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8470" CreationDate="2011-01-11T10:16:23.750" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We use &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; to imply less possibility than when we use &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Might&lt;/em&gt; is also the past tense of &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If he had run faster, he might have won the race. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If he runs faster, he may win the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also considered a politer and more formal alternative to &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Might I borrow your car?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other places that &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; may be used, but these are the ones that might be confusing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T10:16:23.750" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8474" CreationDate="2011-01-11T10:17:45.980" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that disk is American English whilst disc is English English. In the era of personal computers with removable disks, the spelling mostly came from the US computer industry and has taken hold in other parts of the Anglosphere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, most optical discs are popularly referred to as CDs, DVDs or Blu-Rays, so perhaps the distinction is moot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No one has used a floppy-disk for decades, the 8-inch ones were certainly floppy, the 5.25 inch ones much less so and arguably didn't deserve the name. You might have been referring to a 3.5 inch &lt;em&gt;diskette&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Athletes still throw a discus I think. Whether your car is equipped with disc-brakes or disk-brakes probably depends on where you purchased it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T18:51:45.830" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T18:51:45.830" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8474" CreationDate="2011-01-11T10:19:37.710" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelling_of_disc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; the dis-&lt;strong&gt;k&lt;/strong&gt;  version of the word has been used to refer to magnetic storage media since the 1950s when IBM (a US company) pioneered the first hard drive. Subsequently the advent of optical media from companies such as Philips (Who are Dutch and therefore used the European spelling) and Sony meant that the form dis-&lt;strong&gt;c&lt;/strong&gt; was chosen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etymologically speaking both words are synonyms, with the only difference being that &lt;em&gt;disc&lt;/em&gt; is more common in British English, whilst &lt;em&gt;disk&lt;/em&gt; is more popular in American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rhodri (see below) also notes that the persistence of the word &lt;em&gt;disk&lt;/em&gt; (even in European usage) for a magnetic storage medium is in deference to its American roots at IBM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3320" LastEditorUserId="3320" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T22:02:37.723" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T22:02:37.723" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="8478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8474" CreationDate="2011-01-11T10:25:40.733" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, he is right in the manner that this is how the different spellings have come to be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is however no inherent difference between the spellings. The difference in usage between magnetic media and optical media is just a convention based on what was originally used when the media was introduced. When first hard disks were sold, the k spelling was chosen, but when the compact disc was introduced the c spelling was chosen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T10:25:40.733" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8433" CreationDate="2011-01-11T11:25:52.687" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;On &quot;rock-god&quot; vs &quot;rock star&quot; (or even &quot;rockstar&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The suffix &quot;-god&quot; (with or without the hyphen) could probably be added to any genre or profession to convey deity-like status, though the near-blasphemy is most appropriate for certain sub cultures that embrace irreverence and hyperbole: rock &amp;amp; roll, gamers, sports, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He's a gaming god&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  She's a programming god&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He's a football god&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In music, this is probably limited to rock and its subgenres e.g. &quot;metal-god&quot;. It's unlikely someone would be called an &quot;emo-god&quot; or a &quot;pop-god&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Rock star&quot; can be used for &lt;strong&gt;any&lt;/strong&gt; profession, sometimes ironically. Intel made some commercials about &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/07/video-intel-we-are-rock-stars/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;engineering rock stars&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. The phrase means &quot;a person who is outstanding at their job and worthy of admiration / adulation&quot;. You could even say someone is a &quot;rockstar&quot; of country music or opera without irony e.g. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Enrico Caruso was the opera rockstar of his day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T11:25:52.687" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8463" CreationDate="2011-01-11T11:34:54.173" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The thing is, all of these words are just 'stolen' from other languages, which is the same with almost all of the words in the English language. Over 70% of it comes from Latin, which is a very interesting subject if you're interested in this kind of thing. So it does not surprise me that so many words we use are in fact foreign...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for distinction, italics? Why would you use italics for foreign words? I guess as a word is used more often, the more &quot;English&quot; the pronunciation gets, for example, 'hors d'oevres' is mostly said in a french accent, but you don't find people saying 'breeyon' for brilliant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3469" LastEditorUserId="3469" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T10:58:35.173" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T10:58:35.173" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8463" CreationDate="2011-01-11T11:51:55.120" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The italics question is interesting. Few writers would italicise 'hors d'oeuvres' or 'ennui', but many (myself included) would italicise phrases such as &lt;em&gt;joie de vivre&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;raison d'etre&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;mot juste&lt;/em&gt;. Does the difference lie between word and phrase? Is it merely a style preference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T11:51:55.120" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8472" CreationDate="2011-01-11T12:20:23.830" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dont know if this counts, as it's spelling rather than pronunciation, but I try to always use &quot;a&quot; rather than &quot;an&quot;, mostly in a attempt to remove the latter from the language. (I don't like having two indefinite articles. See for example &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/629/a-historic-or-an-historic&quot;&gt;&quot;a historic&quot; vs &quot;an historic&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3471" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T12:20:23.830" />
  <row Id="8484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4226" CreationDate="2011-01-11T13:45:45.943" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the problem here is thinking of &quot;My wife and I&quot; as a noun phrase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is no different in syntax from &quot;My wife and my red car&quot;. It is easy to see that this is not merely a noun phrase but two coordinated noun phrases. In &quot;My wife and I&quot;, we have two separate subjects joined by a coordinating conjunction. (The determiner &lt;em&gt;my&lt;/em&gt; does not apply both to the noun &quot;wife&quot; and the pronoun &quot;I&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About how to say it, we usually assume that the context is clear. If it is not, and if there is any danger of my wife and my dinner being photographed together or my wife's dinner being considered different from mine, I would rephrase and say, &quot;The seafood collaboration dinner my wife and I hosted&quot;, or something like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might say &quot;I's&quot; if &quot;I&quot; were part of a proper noun. If there were a band called &quot;He and I&quot; and I wanted to talk about their latest album, I might say, &quot;He and I's latest album is out now.&quot; I would probably rephrase even this, to avoid confusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit (based on @PLL's comment below):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also use the possessive form &quot;I's&quot; if you were talking about the letter of the alphabet (since &quot;I&quot; would be a noun instead of a pronoun).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastEditorUserId="2972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T10:28:22.047" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T10:28:22.047" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1545" CreationDate="2011-01-11T13:55:03.240" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;NOAD has three pronounciations: |ˈfɔːteɪ| |ˈfɔːti| |fɔːt|&#xA;(with the first one only for the musical term)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T13:55:03.240" />
  <row Id="8486" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8529" CreationDate="2011-01-11T14:05:09.670" Score="1" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel a little bit weird when I first heard the sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Life is what you make it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I don't understand is why &quot;it&quot; is needed. I feel more natural to say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Life is what you make.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I never saw such a sentence (without &quot;it&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a native speaker and it's a little confusing to me. Could someone explain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1890" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T22:23:43.357" Title="How to understand the sentence &quot;Life is what you make it&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8486" CreationDate="2011-01-11T14:15:24.107" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In fact it is quite easy: the &quot;it&quot; refers to life, so it means that your life is the result of your creating it, i.e. that very life. Making the best out of it, so to speak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T14:15:24.107" />
  <row Id="8488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8472" CreationDate="2011-01-11T14:35:44.213" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always say &quot;Leye-nucks&quot; instead of &quot;lihn-ucks&quot; when pronouncing Linux. And I say &quot;Bag-el for bagel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T14:35:44.213" />
  <row Id="8489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8486" CreationDate="2011-01-11T14:39:03.593" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Life is what you make.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;your sentence is likely to be misconstrued to mean &quot;Life is how much money you make&quot; or &quot;Life is what kind of products you create&quot; (products here meaning anything from furniture to automobiles to software).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Life is what you make it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means, broadly speaking, that you are responsible for your own happiness. It is up to you to create the best possible life for yourself; if you achieve an unsatisfactory experience, the fault is yours. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T14:39:03.593" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8486" CreationDate="2011-01-11T14:44:24.003" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Life is what you make it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Life is what you make life.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Your life is what you make your life.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Your life is what &lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; make your life.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Your life is what you &lt;strong&gt;make&lt;/strong&gt; your life.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T14:44:24.003" />
  <row Id="8491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8472" CreationDate="2011-01-11T14:45:59.167" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I say &quot;Madoof&quot;, not &quot;Madoff&quot; ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T14:45:59.167" />
  <row Id="8492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8472" CreationDate="2011-01-11T14:54:04.650" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;How are you doing?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I'm doing good.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It almost busts a blood vessel in my brain every time I say it, but if I'm not wearing a smoking jacket and spats, I can't bring myself to say &quot;I'm doing well&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T14:54:04.650" />
  <row Id="8493" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8495" CreationDate="2011-01-11T15:26:22.043" Score="1" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this sentence correct? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Once you'll figure out how this works,&#xA;  you'll love it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I am trying to convey is:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The person that I am addressing does not understand a certain concept. I want to tell that person that once he/she understands that concept, he/she will love it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure about the tenses. I am using Future Simple in both parts of the sentence. Is this OK? Should I use Present Simple in the first part:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Once you figure out how this works,&#xA;  you'll love it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct? (Or at least better)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3411" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T16:40:32.103" Title="Is this correct: &quot;Once you'll figure out how this works, you'll love it&quot;" Tags="&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8434" CreationDate="2011-01-11T15:28:00.107" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I vote &lt;strong&gt;solicitous&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/solicitous&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Etymology&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  From Latin sōlicitus, alternative spelling of sollicitus (“thoroughly disturbed; anxious”). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Adjective&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  solicitous (comparative more solicitous, superlative most solicitous)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Disposed to solicit; eager to obtain something desirable, or to avoid anything evil; concerned; anxious; careful.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;Solicitous of my reputation. -John Dryden.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;    &#xA;    &lt;p&gt;He was solicitous for his advice. -Edward Hyde Clarendon.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;    &#xA;    &lt;p&gt;Enjoy the present, whatsoever it be, and be not solicitous about the future. - Jeremy Taylor.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;    &#xA;    &lt;p&gt;The colonel had been intent upon other things, and not enough solicitous to finish the fortifications. -Edward Hyde Clarendon.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Anxious or concerned (usually followed by about, for, etc., or a clause): &#xA;  solicitous about a person's health.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2045" LastEditorUserId="2045" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T16:06:04.557" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T16:06:04.557" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8493" CreationDate="2011-01-11T15:39:34.697" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second one is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Once you figure out how this works,&#xA;  you'll love it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T15:39:34.697" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8496" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-11T16:05:06.843" Score="1" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a word that has the specific connotation/denotation about the speakers ability to speak truthfully based on their knowledge of the subject they are speaking about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can not speak with &lt;strong&gt;_&lt;/strong&gt; about your&#xA;  legal problem, because I am not an&#xA;  attorney.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like the word to render the phrase after the comma redundant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think such a word exists (in English at least), So I'll accept foreign words, or wordsmithing if it makes the meaning of the word clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thank you &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3482" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T16:13:18.570" Title="word to describe one's ability to speak truthfully in a given situation" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8434" CreationDate="2011-01-11T16:09:40.607" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Expectantly' perhaps? Pensive is not quite correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T16:09:40.607" />
  <row Id="8498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8496" CreationDate="2011-01-11T16:10:00.213" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;authority&quot; would be a reasonable choice in your sentence.  I would reword it to say &quot;I can not speak authoritatively ...&quot; though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2469" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T16:10:00.213" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8496" CreationDate="2011-01-11T16:10:26.440" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think perhaps you're looking for accuracy, rather than truthfulness. Were it truthfulness, I'd say perhaps &quot;I can not speak forthrightly…&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than &lt;em&gt;accuracy&lt;/em&gt;, I'd suggest &lt;em&gt;authority&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T16:10:26.440" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="8500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8496" CreationDate="2011-01-11T16:13:00.713" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Authority would fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I cannot speak with any authority about your legal problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T16:13:00.713" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="8501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8496" CreationDate="2011-01-11T16:13:18.570" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about a simple &quot;I am not &lt;em&gt;qualified&lt;/em&gt; to...&quot; or &quot;I am not &lt;em&gt;in a position&lt;/em&gt; to...&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T16:13:18.570" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8502" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8503" CreationDate="2011-01-11T16:23:31.837" Score="2" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am having trouble using the term &quot;secular&quot; to convey a sense of bringing a religiously neutral ground to government, society, and culture. What term is better than &quot;secular&quot;, that is less localized than the US-connotative sense, but conveys the same general meaning to multiple  countries? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secularism is often denoted the same, but from country to country it is practiced on a sliding scale in terms of how truly neutral laws are. &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.atheism.stackexchange.com/q/261/135&quot;&gt;Some of us on the Atheism.se are trying to broaden the scope of the site and are interested in methods for doing this&lt;/a&gt;. The usage of &quot;secular&quot; (that I am looking for) should convey taking secularism and using it as a tool for atheist questions to hone in on issues regarding equal rights, activism, promotion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastEditorUserId="549" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T17:12:27.100" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T20:59:01.963" Title="What is a good substitute that is less localized than &quot;secular&quot;?" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="8503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8502" CreationDate="2011-01-11T16:28:15.497" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Secular is perfect as far as I can see. It carries no 'local' connotations. You might perhaps use 'humanist'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T16:28:15.497" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="8504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5403" CreationDate="2011-01-11T16:31:00.420" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;from yahoo answer:&#xA;&quot;Press&quot; generally refers to print media (i.e. off the printing press) like newspapers and magazines. &quot;Media&quot; is a broader term that includes TV, radio, Internet etc. People often use them interchangeably though especially as we get more and more media conglomerates that own newspapers and other &quot;non-press&quot; media as well - most newspapers now have online editions including videos, etc. As many people no longer get their news from newspapers, the term &quot;press&quot; will probably migrate to mean all major media sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3483" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T16:31:00.420" />
  <row Id="8505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8493" CreationDate="2011-01-11T16:40:32.103" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;More correct (or at least more formal) would be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Once you have figured out how this works, you'll love it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The loving it only starts once the figuring it out is in the past tense :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I am British English, which may be why I'm more likely to use the perfect tense).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3484" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T16:40:32.103" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="8507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8470" CreationDate="2011-01-11T17:37:20.763" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's really a toss-up, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://topics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/may-might-muddle/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://topics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/may-might-muddle/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If even the NYT has trouble using them &quot;correctly&quot; then I certainly won't bother too much.  Didn't honestly know these subtleties (and they are subtle) myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some more googling led me to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv162.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv162.shtml&lt;/a&gt;  So the BBC World Service seems to agree with me ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Come to think of it, actually, I tend to hear/put an emphasis on &quot;might&quot; in this context, which clearly indicated this &quot;(a little) less likely as may&quot; meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastEditorUserId="2701" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T18:21:34.233" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T18:21:34.233" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8434" CreationDate="2011-01-11T18:04:50.033" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess it depends on the system administrator.  Some expect for everything to go right and cuss when things go awry, others plan for the worst and are pleasantly surprised when anything works as it is supposed to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the grizzled system administrator who has seen everything, I would go for expectantly, since that sysadmin probably has a good idea what output he/she expects to see, and is simply performing the steps he/she needs to do to get there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the egotistical, self-centered system administrator, I'd go for triumphantly or defiantly, as if he/she is self-assured that everything is correct, but is daring the computer to throw an error his/her way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T18:04:50.033" />
  <row Id="8509" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8516" CreationDate="2011-01-11T18:05:45.790" Score="11" ViewCount="633" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that when trying to describe a person who has a resemblance to another, the common term is Spitting Image.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Person A is a Spitting Image of Person B&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's my issue, I've recently heard some people saying &quot;Splitting Image&quot; as opposed to &quot;Spitting Image&quot; and upon thinking about it, Splitting Image makes more sense. That may be because I am unaware of the etymology of Spitting Image.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My thinking is that Person A looks so much like Person B, that they have appeared to &quot;split&quot; from the same person, hence Splitting Image. Wouldn't you agree?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3487" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T23:03:09.080" Title="Spitting Image or Splitting Image?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8509" CreationDate="2011-01-11T18:10:48.703" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Splitting image&quot; does make more sense - but the expression is &quot;spitting image&quot;. But the expression may be in the process of a shift to a more intuitive form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T18:10:48.703" />
  <row Id="8511" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8537" CreationDate="2011-01-11T18:11:51.907" Score="5" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;In phrases such as &lt;em&gt;Russian Roulette&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Dutch Courage&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;French Letter&lt;/em&gt; the nationality changes the meaning of the noun. Is there a word for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T00:50:35.783" Title="Is there a word for the use of a nationality to change the meaning of a noun?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="8512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8509" CreationDate="2011-01-11T18:16:27.530" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/spitting-image.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; addresses your question. To summarize: the first phrase seemed to be &quot;spit and image&quot; or &quot;Poor child! he's as like his own dadda as if he were spit out of his mouth.&quot; There are also parallels with spit in other languages. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T18:16:27.530" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8509" CreationDate="2011-01-11T18:35:00.587" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's &quot;spitting image&quot;. This problem seems to me to be caused by people using idioms they've never read. For example, I encounter people who use, &quot;for all &lt;strong&gt;intensive purposes&lt;/strong&gt;,&quot; when what they clearly mean is &quot;for all &lt;strong&gt;intents and purposes&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="701" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T18:35:00.587" />
  <row Id="8514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8509" CreationDate="2011-01-11T18:35:04.063" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spitting image is correct, it is idiomatic to distance from another, or proximity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/proximity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;spitting&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;in/within spitting distance  also in/within striking distance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;very close to something or someone (often + of ) The great thing about the house is that it's within spitting distance of the sea. The move to Ascot put us within striking distance of London.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cambridge Idioms Dictionary, 2nd ed. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006 &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or from &lt;a href=&quot;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/spit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;spit&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;be the spitting image of somebody&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;to look very much the same as someone else He's the spitting image of his father.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T18:35:04.063" />
  <row Id="8515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8433" CreationDate="2011-01-11T19:02:21.300" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this particular example, &quot;rock-god&quot; is indicating the style that Billie Joe is bringing to the situation.  It implies that he is performing in the manner you would normally associate with a &quot;Rock God&quot; (&lt;em&gt;i.e.&lt;/em&gt; high energy, low accuracy :-) rather than necessarily being one himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, &quot;Rock God&quot; can be used of musicians of other styles, or indeed of non-musicians of any field.  The reverse applies too; you could well describe &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.meatloaf.net&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Meat Loaf&lt;/a&gt; as the Opera God of rock.  I wouldn't apply the terms across boundaries much myself unless I was trying to make a particular stylistic point, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T19:02:21.300" />
  <row Id="8516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8509" CreationDate="2011-01-11T19:12:59.367" Score="23" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To expand a little on &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8509/spitting-image-or-splitting-image/8512#8512&quot;&gt;Claudiu’s excellent answer&lt;/a&gt;, there seems to be an interesting progression/evolution here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;metaphor&lt;/strong&gt;: “it’s like he was spat out of his father’s mouth” (1689).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;metonymy&lt;/strong&gt;: “he’s the very spit of his father” (1825) — when the metaphor is commonplace enough, it no longer gets spelled out in full.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;idiom/cliché&lt;/strong&gt;: “the spit and image of his father” (1859) — a particularly effective wording of the metonymy solidifies into a widely re-used phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;corruption&lt;/strong&gt;: “the spitten image” (1878) — the original analysis of the phrase is lost.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;reanalysis&lt;/strong&gt;: “the spitting image” (1901) — this strange new word “spitten” gets replaced by something which is at least &lt;em&gt;syntactically&lt;/em&gt; more comprehensible.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;further reanalysis/eggcorning&lt;/strong&gt;: “the splitting image” (1880(!?), 1939) — the phrase changes to something which is more &lt;em&gt;semantically&lt;/em&gt; plausible — it’s easier to imagine ways that “splitting image” could have arisen than “spitting image”.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(NB: my examples are not quotations; these dates given are when each form seems to have arisen)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Huh: so in chasing up the dates of all these forms (in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oed.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;OED&lt;/a&gt;), I got a surprise!  It turns out that while “splitting image” comes in 1939, postdating “spitting image” as we’d expect, the form “splitten image” appears in 1880, in &lt;em&gt;Specimens of Westmorland Dialect&lt;/em&gt;: “Soa t’kersmas up i’t’fells Et just be t’splitten image Ov a kersmas ’mang yersells.”  This is only just after the first citation of “spitten” (1878, in “spitten picter”), and &lt;em&gt;well before&lt;/em&gt; the first citation for “spitten image” (1901)!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whats going on here?  Written language tends to lag behind spoken language by quite a long time, so it could well be that actually in 1878 the progression had gone further than the cited sources go, and so “spitten” had been actually already been around for a while before getting reanalysed to “splitten” — and it just so happens that “splitten image” struck it lucky with an early dialect-collector and got recorded more promptly than most coinages do.  Or perhaps it had gotten reanalysed at an earlier stage, “spit and image” → “split and image”, and then corrupted “split and” → “splitten” in parallel with the “spit” forms?  Or maybe even the “splitting image” proponents we laughed at were right all along — the Westmorland folk coined this form entirely separately, while splitting their firewood for Christmas up in the fells?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is that it’s something like the first option: “splitten” does indeed follow “spitten”, and it’s just chance that it got recorded remarkably early.  But this isn’t a terribly authoritative guess… anyone better-educated in historical linguistics have any thoughts on this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T20:04:41.040" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T20:04:41.040" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8474" CreationDate="2011-01-11T19:18:10.077" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was on the ANSI committee that defined the 5 1/4 inch floppy specification (ANSI X3-B8) back around 1980. Even then, among all the existing manufacturers, there was no consensus about disk versus disc versus diskette.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So  both &quot;disk&quot; and &quot;disc&quot; are correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, that was a pretty rockin' crew. That ANSI committee met three times a year, and always in some cool place, like Lake Tahoe, or New Orleans during Mardi Gras, so we could meet hard all day and party all night, entertaining each other on company expense accounts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1835" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T19:18:10.077" />
  <row Id="8518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7831" CreationDate="2011-01-11T19:25:13.750" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(BrE) Both Cambridge and Oxford Advanced Learner's dictionaries allow for both pronunciations. It's long been a joke in the UK that it's controversial how you pronounce &lt;em&gt;controversy&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I seem to remember reading somewhere, probably in David Crystal's 'Stories of English', that the favoured pronunciation used to be on the first syllable, then switched to the second. And for me stressing the first syllable now seems a little strange. But I don't think this is a particularly general rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed for example, with that words that have come from French (probably more recently), such as ballet, where we Brits usually put the stress on the first syllable, Americans often stress them on the second, probably getting closer to the equal stressing of the original French.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3323" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T19:25:13.750" />
  <row Id="8519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8502" CreationDate="2011-01-11T20:24:12.067" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for a term to convey the opposite of superstition, the broader process of organising society according to non-superstitious principles, you might use &quot;rationalisation&quot; and &quot;rational&quot;, or perhaps &quot;evidence-based&quot;, &quot;empiricism&quot;, and &quot;science&quot;. But you've probably already considered those terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T20:59:01.963" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T20:59:01.963" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8520" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8536" CreationDate="2011-01-11T20:42:13.830" Score="3" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to talk to someone about the house that my wife and I own.  Saying, for example, &quot;My wife's and my house is awesome,&quot; sounds a bit funny to me.  What's the best way to express this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Clarification&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm asking specifically about the grammar of multiple nouns in possessive form.  I'm particularly curious if it's possible to do this with a first-person pronoun (me).  I am capable of rephrasing this in other ways - my question is not how to express the idea, but about this particular grammatical construction, if it is even legal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3491" LastEditorUserId="3491" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T22:50:22.877" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T15:59:22.553" Title="What possessive forms are used for mutual 1st person ownership?" Tags="&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8520" CreationDate="2011-01-11T20:52:48.367" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The house my wife and I own is awesome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This, of course, assumes no preamble where your wife (or just the fact that your married) is mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T20:52:48.367" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8520" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:11:44.570" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why not do it like Madness and say &quot;Our house&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T21:11:44.570" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8474" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:12:04.897" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My answer is not authorative whatsoever but I found some interesting stuff that could possibly have impacted the choice for using disc or disk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laserdisc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia's Laserdisc article&lt;/a&gt; you can see that the Laserdisc was originally marketed as Disco-Vision -- probably because of the groovy colors you see when looking at the disc. It may have been some sort of play on words with the word Disk as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Initially marketed as Discovision in&#xA;  1978, the technology was licensed and&#xA;  sold as Reflective Optical Videodisc,&#xA;  Laser Videodisc, Laservision,&#xA;  Disco-Vision, DiscoVision, and MCA&#xA;  DiscoVision until Pioneer Electronics&#xA;  purchased the majority stake in the&#xA;  format and marketed it as LaserDisc in&#xA;  the mid to late 1980s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could this have been the origin of the different spelling? I have absolutely no idea. It seems plausible to me though with the little effort in research that I've put in so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: I guess the question of where disc comes from isn't really a concern. It appears to be based on the Latin root 'discus'. More importantly, nobody seems to understand where disk comes from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="766" LastEditorUserId="766" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T21:17:48.043" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T21:17:48.043" />
  <row Id="8524" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:20:06.070" Score="2" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;when charting on a patient, and a choice is &quot;high cholesterol&quot; should both be capitalized?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3493" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T00:57:22.287" Title="Use of Medical words" Tags="&lt;medical&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7623" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:55:58.947" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This depends on the requirements put on this certification by the requesting program office.  Very likely those are pretty high, which then means that you should have your doctor write it up in your native tongue, and then have some appropriately-certified translator produce an English-language equivalent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Appropriately-certified depends on country, of course, but (checks) I'd expect even (sorry ;-)) Italy having laws governing such certification.  It's similar to translators for legal documents: they're only valid if the translator doing them has the proper credentials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's maximum CYA, just to be safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T21:55:58.947" />
  <row Id="8527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8524" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:03:27.750" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither word is a proper noun, so technically neither should be capitalized. If you want to capitalize them in &quot;title case&quot; (where terms exist outside of normal syntax and actually form a kind of title), go right ahead and capitalize whatever you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T22:03:27.750" />
  <row Id="8528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8520" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:12:34.737" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You typically put yourself last, like so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;My wife's and my house is awesome.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's what I say. But I don't propose that as authoritative...it tends to imply a second subject &quot;my wife's&quot; (my wife's what?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T22:12:34.737" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8486" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:17:13.080" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are two interpretations of &quot;Life is what you make of it&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It refers to the external/internal&#xA;measurements that measure success,&#xA;satisfaction, and happiness with&#xA;life.  After all is said and done,&#xA;the external measurements of success&#xA;and happiness (money, cars, jobs,&#xA;possessions) don't amount to much if&#xA;you aren't personally satisfied by&#xA;them or thankful for them internally.&#xA;Our viewpoint significantly affects&#xA;how we value things.  In this case, the sentence would refer to &quot;Life is what you make of the things within it.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Another interpretation of this&#xA;statement would be that of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Social&#xA;Darwinism&lt;/a&gt;.  Everyone is created&#xA;equal, but the cream rises to the&#xA;top.  Anyone is capable of being a&#xA;self-made man.  Everyone has the same&#xA;opportunities, some just make more of&#xA;those opportunities (and deserve the&#xA;success that comes to them). In that case, the sentence would refer to &quot;Life (your fortune) is what you make of the opportunities that present themselves.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply stating &quot;Life is what you make&quot; would likely place the emphasis on literally &quot;what you make&quot; instead of what you make of something, meaning your opinion about it or your actions in relation to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastEditorUserId="3328" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T22:23:43.357" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T22:23:43.357" />
  <row Id="8530" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:27:21.103" Score="6" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;Occasionally I hear native English speakers, typically those from outside the U.S., say things like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are you going to the concert this weekend?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Yeah, I might do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, rather than saying &lt;em&gt;I might go&lt;/em&gt; or just &lt;em&gt;I might&lt;/em&gt;, substituting &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; for the verb when it'd otherwise be repeated or omitted after a modal. What's this called, how standard is it, and is it newer or older than the other forms? I just don't know how to search for something like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T19:26:20.033" Title="Substituting &quot;do&quot; after modals" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="8531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8520" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:33:04.663" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another way to refer to this would be to make two phrases and avoid the confusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My wife and I own a house.  It's&#xA;  awesome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you truly wanted to use a plural possessive, you could,  but I wouldn't feel comfortable with any of the forms that have been presented.  They all feel clumsy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastEditorUserId="3328" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T15:59:22.553" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T15:59:22.553" />
  <row Id="8532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8509" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:03:09.080" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's my understanding that the etymology of the phrase &quot;spitting image&quot; is that it's a corruption of &quot;spirit and image.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To say someone is &quot;the spirit and image of his father&quot; is to imply that the subject looks like, and shares some deeper traits with, his father.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time this became &quot;spittin' image&quot; (probably abetted by illiteracy, which caused much more emphasis to be on turns of phrase learned by hearing--or mis-hearing--them from others). My own great-grandmother said &quot;spirt'n' image&quot; (pronounced slightly different from &quot;spurtin' image&quot;) in the same context, which I take to be a transitional form that was preserved in the extremely rural mountains where she grew up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edited to add: I see some references that suggest that this is not a likely etymology so I can only go with my own anecdotal evidence for support, I guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T23:03:09.080" />
  <row Id="8533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8223" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:05:55.877" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the difference is in degree. It's similar to the difference between large/huge/gigantic or small/tiny/miniscule. In some contexts, you may be able to substitute any of those words, but due to common usage or word origin or whatever other factors, there is an understood subtle scale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if you have &lt;em&gt;relevant&lt;/em&gt; facts to discuss, they may or not be important, but they are related to the matter at hand. But if you have &lt;em&gt;pertinent&lt;/em&gt; facts to discuss, they have precise or logical relevance to the discussion. They absolutely should not be overlooked. &lt;em&gt;Pertinent&lt;/em&gt; facts are always &lt;em&gt;relevant&lt;/em&gt;, but &lt;em&gt;relevant&lt;/em&gt; facts are not necessarily &lt;em&gt;pertinent&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One reason why this may be the case is that &lt;em&gt;pertinent&lt;/em&gt; could also be used as a synonym for &lt;em&gt;apt&lt;/em&gt; (ie. strikingly appropriate) but relevant doesn't really have that meaning. If I said you wrote an &lt;em&gt;&quot;apt answer&quot;&lt;/em&gt; to this question how would you feel? What if I said it was a &lt;em&gt;&quot;pertinent answer?&quot;&lt;/em&gt; Or &lt;em&gt;&quot;relevant answer?&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think most people would feel that calling it a &lt;em&gt;relevant&lt;/em&gt; answer is nearly a mild insult. Oh yeah, it's related, but not close to perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T23:05:55.877" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8470" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:16:07.637" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that it's probably a toss-up in the examples you give.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in some uses the meaning of &quot;may&quot; as regards permission changes things a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You might say that&quot; means it's an open question whether you'd say it or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You may say that&quot; means you have permission to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, this isn't specifically germane to the examples you gave, but if I really really wanted to choose the one that is less likely to be misunderstood, I'd choose &quot;might&quot; as the common alternate meanings of that are less likely to show up in similar contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it's really splitting hairs at that point as you're unlikely to be misunderstood in either case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T23:16:07.637" />
  <row Id="8535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8530" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:24:20.160" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid I don't know what this specific informal use of &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; is called. The regular use of &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; as a substitute, in &lt;em&gt;&quot;do I?&quot;&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;&quot;I do not&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, is I believe called &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do-support&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;do-support&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think your case is similar to &lt;em&gt;&quot;could you give her this document too?&quot; — &quot;will do&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, which does sound American to my ears, perhaps southern U.S. or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What might also be relevant is why we omit some words but not others in ellipsis, and how we make our choice: to &lt;em&gt;&quot;are you coming to the party?&lt;/em&gt;, we could answer simply &lt;em&gt;&quot;no&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;&quot;no, I'm not&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;&quot;no, I am not coming&quot;&lt;/em&gt;. Or even &lt;em&gt;&quot;I might&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;&quot;I might come&quot;&lt;/em&gt; etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess would be that this usage of &lt;em&gt;&quot;might do&quot;&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;&quot;will do&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is not old, though I am not sure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Modals have always differed from&#xA;  ordinary verbs in Germanic, and in the&#xA;  course of the history of English, they&#xA;  have diverged from verbs even further,&#xA;  to the point where they now belong to&#xA;  a syntactic category of their&#xA;  own.&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/syntax-textbook/box-modals.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following question was also about do-support, but not specifically about your case: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7594/english-questions-and-negation-with-do-in-syntax&quot;&gt;English questions and negation with *do* in syntax&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T19:26:20.033" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T19:26:20.033" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="8536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8520" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:46:19.103" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, most style guides advise against this and say there is no acceptable solution without rephrasing the sentence, as most answers here have rightly done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the second possessor had been a noun, you could have stuck the possessive onto the second noun only. Note that this applies only if both possessors possess the same house together:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;my sister and her husband's house&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what the &lt;a href=&quot;http://writingtips.wordpress.com/2008/06/27/possessive-with-two-nouns/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chicago Manual of Style&lt;/a&gt; seems to suggest. I'd rephrase that too, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T00:54:37.033" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T00:54:37.033" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8511" CreationDate="2011-01-12T00:50:35.783" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although I can't locate a technical term for these, the terms &lt;code&gt;nationality idioms&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;ethnicity idioms&lt;/code&gt; appear to be commonly used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2559" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T00:50:35.783" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8524" CreationDate="2011-01-12T00:57:22.287" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I were filling in a chart, I would certainly capitalize both words, as in &lt;em&gt;&quot;High Cholesterol&quot;&lt;/em&gt;. In any charting situation, clarity is the chief goal and capitalized words tend to be more easily read or referenced in cramped spaces -- crucial for important words. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, &lt;em&gt;high&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;cholesterol&lt;/em&gt; are not proper nouns and so should not be capitalized within a sentence. Thus, capitalizing them here would certainly be a matter of style. Since you are probably in a medical environment, I would suggest taking a peek at other colleagues' charts to see what the preferred style is. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2288/8/29/figure/F1?highres=y&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is a sample I found. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T00:57:22.287" />
  <row Id="8539" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8548" CreationDate="2011-01-12T01:20:58.943" Score="3" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw the following sentences in today's Washington Post and another article found in a web site.&#xA;What does 'McKinley moment' mean？Idon't find this word in any of English Japanese dictionaries at hand. What's the origin of this word? Is this a word often used? - Yoichi&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-If any good can come of the horror in Tucson, it will be that this becomes a McKinley moment for Sarah Palin and her chief spokesman, Glenn Beck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-And that was before the McKinley moment. While Republican congressional leaders joined President Obama in Monday morning's moment of silence, Beck mocked it as an Obama photo-op. His show was on commercial break during ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="3119" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T01:49:42.417" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T05:19:08.940" Title="What does 'McKinley Moment ' mean?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8540" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8546" CreationDate="2011-01-12T01:22:24.103" Score="3" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Florida, and somehow picked up this phrase recently. I use it to mean, &quot;About what are you making such a fuss?,&quot; either because I can't understand what is the big deal or because I genuinely have little-to-no idea what the person is talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this correct usage?&#xA;Is this an English idiom (from England)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For bonus respect, why or from whence the unusual construction? Is it just that a word was dropped between &quot;you&quot; and &quot;on,&quot; like &quot;What are you carrying on about?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T05:02:16.263" Title="What is &quot;what are you on about?&quot; on about?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8539" CreationDate="2011-01-12T01:29:56.347" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Read a little further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One hundred and ten years ago, during&#xA;  another low point in the nation's&#xA;  political discourse, newspapers owned&#xA;  by William Randolph Hearst - who was&#xA;  angling for a presidential run in 1904&#xA;  - published a pair of columns fantasizing about violence against&#xA;  President William McKinley.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hearst was a famous newspaper publisher (turn-of-the-century parlance for media mogul) similar to Rupert Murdoch. He practiced what was then called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;yellow journalism&lt;/a&gt;. (Gee, the similarities keep piling up, don't they?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, President William McKinley was assassinated in 1901 by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Czolgosz&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Leon Czolgosz&lt;/a&gt;, an anarchist and all-around nut case just like the guy who shot a Congresswoman and killed a 9-year-old girl (among others) in Tucson, Arizona this past weekend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't believe it's 2011 and we're still dealing with this shit. Seriously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T05:19:08.940" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T05:19:08.940" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7447" CreationDate="2011-01-12T01:38:38.980" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it would come down to whether you consider miss a negative or not, as opposed to the yanks I guess in England we don't consider it to be.  We therefore add a not, if both were then it would be a double negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3504" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T01:38:38.980" />
  <row Id="8543" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8552" CreationDate="2011-01-12T01:39:45.487" Score="14" ViewCount="429" Body="&lt;p&gt;Typically (as far as I can think), the interject is something vulgar.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Radio-bloody-active&quot; (from an episode of Family Guy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Ri-god-damn-diculuous&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Un-f***ing-believable&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the word for this construct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3503" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T03:53:21.200" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T12:00:04.217" Title="What is it called when an interjection is inserted inside another word?" Tags="&lt;interjections&gt;&lt;infixation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8543" CreationDate="2011-01-12T01:43:46.863" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tmesis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tmesis&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T01:43:46.863" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8545" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8556" CreationDate="2011-01-12T01:45:39.287" Score="3" ViewCount="350" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A total of 10 babies is sleeping. (A)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;v.s. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A total of 10 babies are sleeping. (B)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;v.s. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ten babies in total are sleeping. (C)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is the correct one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, both (A) and (C) are correct. But (B) is also used in spoken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1660" LastEditorUserId="1660" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T01:55:32.363" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T05:04:26.427" Title="&quot;A total of 10 babies is sleeping.&quot; v.s. &quot;A total of 10 babies are sleeping.&quot; v.s. &quot;Ten babies in total are sleeping.&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8540" CreationDate="2011-01-12T01:48:21.840" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that the Brits use this and consider it typically British:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alan Townsend, a British teacher of English, used this phrase in an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic12644.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ESL idiom test&lt;/a&gt; he made.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mister Micawber, an American teacher of English who has lived in Japan for a long time, appears to know it and finds it normal enough (same link), so it is probably not new in America either.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is mentioned as typically British in &lt;a href=&quot;http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3aOjdocp0Bjk4J%3awww.effingpot.com/slang.shtml+expression+%22what+are+you+on+about%22&amp;amp;cd=4&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ct=clnk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this list&lt;/a&gt; of British idioms.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, they all seem to use it somewhat differently from the way you use it, only as &quot;what are you talking about?&quot; — there appears to be no connotation of complaining about a fuss. The Urban Dictionary agrees:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;what are you on about?&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;what do&#xA;  you mean?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;it is a shortened version on &quot;what are&#xA;  you going on about?&quot; or &quot;what are you&#xA;  talking about?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;usually used when someone is not&#xA;  making sense for extended periods of&#xA;  time or if you feel like you've missed&#xA;  something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=what%20are%20you%20on%20about%3F&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(Sic.)&lt;/a&gt; So it seems you were right to think that a participle was dropped; since &quot;what are you going on about?&quot; is also used in England, it must be &quot;going&quot;. Perhaps it has branched out into new meanings in America.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Edit] I have also heard other dialects and regions claim it, so we can't be sure of its origin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T05:02:16.263" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T05:02:16.263" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8547" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-12T02:00:38.347" Score="1" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: I am hungry of knowledge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;v.s. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;B: I hunger of knowledge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;v.s.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;C: I am hungry for knowledge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;v.s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;D: I hunger for knowledge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure which one is the correct one. But my feeling says that A and B are the correct ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1660" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T02:48:26.293" Title="&quot;I am hungry of knowledge&quot; v.s. &quot;I hunger of knowledge&quot; v.s. &quot;I am hungry for knowledge&quot; v.s. &quot;I hunger for knowledge&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8539" CreationDate="2011-01-12T02:07:42.990" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just read the &lt;a href=&quot;http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/articles/dana+milbank/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dana Milbank&lt;/a&gt; Washington Post &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/10/AR2011011005321.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; you referenced and I quote at length (emphasis mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If any good can come of the horror in Tucson, it will be that this becomes a &lt;strong&gt;McKinley moment&lt;/strong&gt; for Sarah Palin and her chief spokesman, Glenn Beck. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One hundred and ten years ago, during another low point in the nation's political discourse, newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst - who was angling for a presidential run in 1904 - published a pair of columns fantasizing about violence against President William McKinley.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Columnist Ambrose Bierce wrote that a bullet &quot;is speeding here to stretch McKinley on his bier.&quot; Next, an unsigned column widely attributed to Hearst editor Arthur Brisbane declared: &quot;If bad institutions and bad men can be got rid of only by killing, then the killing must be done.&quot; Six months later, a deranged man named Leon Czolgosz assassinated McKinley.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The killer claimed he was inspired by an anarchist, not by Hearst - but that didn't stop opponents from falsely claiming that Czolgosz had a copy of Hearst's New York Journal in his pocket when he did the deed. Secretary of State Elihu Root later accused Hearst of driving the &quot;weak and excitable brain of Czolgosz&quot; to murder. The outcry against Hearst's incitement - there were boycotts and a burning in effigy - dashed his presidential ambitions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A similar, and long overdue, outcry has followed the Tucson killings. Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, who blamed the &quot;vitriol we hear inflaming the American public&quot; for the massacre, mentioned Palin by name and generally denounced conservative TV and radio commentary. Some in the media have fingered Beck, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While the accusations sometimes go too far - there's no evidence that either Palin or Beck inspired the Tucson suspect - the heat is well deserved. Both are finally being held to account for recklessly playing with violent images in a way that is bound to incite the unstable. In Beck's case, as I reported last year, it already has - repeatedly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;McKinley moment&lt;/em&gt; is used here to draw a potential similarity between the chain of events that eventually destroyed William Hearst's presidential ambition and the possible fallout of Palin's belligerent brand of politics. As Milbank writes, McKinley's murder was attributed by popular acclaim to Hearst's inciteful commentary. While this may have been untrue and unfair, majority thought that this served Hearst right. Milbank claims here that the Gabrielle Giffords attack will most likely be blamed on Palin's (and Beck's) violent rhetoric and would possibly put paid (&lt;em&gt;BrE&lt;/em&gt; idiom) to whatever presidential aspiration she may have, which, in his [Milbank's] opinion, would be a good thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is common in English to use &lt;em&gt;&quot;__moment&quot;&lt;/em&gt; to draw a parallel between a significant event, period or phenomenon in history (personal, public, national, etc) and its modern-day counterpart. I give an original example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'Did you see how Henry scored a handball against the Irish during the 2010 World Cup qualifiers?'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'Yeah, I did. It was a &lt;strong&gt;Maradona moment*&lt;/strong&gt;. Classic!' &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(*&lt;em&gt;referencing soccer legend, Maradona's, famous &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.zimbio.com/Diego+Maradona/articles/mX8Nzlm5yOC/Diego+Maradona+Hand+God+Goal+Recap&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Hand of God&quot;&lt;/a&gt; goal against England in 1986&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T02:07:42.990" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8547" CreationDate="2011-01-12T02:11:59.413" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct preposition is &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt;. One is hungry &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; knowledge. One can also hunger for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T02:48:26.293" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T02:48:26.293" />
  <row Id="8550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8547" CreationDate="2011-01-12T02:12:41.030" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A and B are incorrect. C and D are both correct, choose which one looks better in the sentence as their meaning is practically the same.. just different verb tenses :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3269" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T02:12:41.030" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8547" CreationDate="2011-01-12T02:15:55.437" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;C and D are both correct. However, &quot;I hunger for&quot; is not a common usage (writing as an Australian of British origin).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T02:15:55.437" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="8552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8543" CreationDate="2011-01-12T02:16:38.123" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Besides &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tmesis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tmesis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, mentioned by Jon Purdy &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8543/what-is-it-called-when-an-interjection-is-inserted-inside-another-word/8544#8544&quot;&gt;above&lt;/a&gt;, another relevant term is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infix&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;infixation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;fucking&lt;/em&gt; here could be called an &lt;strong&gt;infix&lt;/strong&gt; (analogously to prefix, suffix).  This specific class of examples is known as &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expletive_infixation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;expletive infixation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exact demarcations of infixation and tmesis, whether they overlap, and whether expletive infixation is actually infixation, seem to be pretty debatable (see comments below).  Tmesis is an older term; according to some definitions it includes split phrases as well as words (as in the marvellous &lt;em&gt;West By God Virginia&lt;/em&gt;), and may be required to respect morpheme boundaries (so &lt;em&gt;ri-goddamn-diculous&lt;/em&gt; would not be an example).  Infixation is a more recent term, and is sometimes restricted to cases where the infix is a grammatically significant particle, not an independent word (so expletive infixation would be right out).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T03:29:57.783" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T03:29:57.783" CommentCount="17" />
  <row Id="8553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8545" CreationDate="2011-01-12T02:23:00.457" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In England, B is normally the preferred choice (including Fowler's, whom I do not have with me to quote from); in America, it would also be B, though a singular verb would be used with some other nouns of multitude. Construction C is always right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This usage (B) is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;synesis&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (Greek), &lt;em&gt;constructio ad sententiam&lt;/em&gt; (Latin, the term I prefer), &lt;em&gt;constructio ad sensum&lt;/em&gt; (Latin), &lt;em&gt;notational agreement&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;situational agreement&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It means that a singular noun can take a plural verb if it refers to several things in the real world. This exists in many languages under various conditions, including English, Dutch, Latin, and Greek. It also applies to choosing the right pronoun, such as &lt;em&gt;its&lt;/em&gt; versus &lt;em&gt;their&lt;/em&gt;. In general it happens only when this reference to more than one thing is intended:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The police have arrested a man—&lt;em&gt;the writer has in his mind the image of&#xA;  several policemen holding a man.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The police is the first institution that we should try to reform—&lt;em&gt;the&#xA;  writer has the whole institution in&#xA;  mind.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In practice, situations where such a noun refers to several things are much more common than those in which it refers to a single, whole thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T04:11:51.850" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T04:11:51.850" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8554" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8555" CreationDate="2011-01-12T02:24:47.880" Score="5" ViewCount="748" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't hate me for asking, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/user/ToyotaUSA?x=1prius&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;what would be the correct plural of Prius&lt;/a&gt; and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;A latin professor would say Prium's the best...&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2210" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:55:26.667" Title="What is the plural of Prius?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="8555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8554" CreationDate="2011-01-12T02:30:33.910" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect that Toyota's advertising department just made up a word they thought sounded nice. If it were Latin and a noun/adjective, the plural would be &lt;em&gt;priora&lt;/em&gt;. Since this probably is not the case, &lt;em&gt;Priuses&lt;/em&gt; seems to be the only choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T02:30:33.910" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="8556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8545" CreationDate="2011-01-12T03:24:39.447" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(B) is perfectly correct in either American or British English. Take a look at this example from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/total_1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cambridge Dictionaries Online&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A total of 21 horses were entered for the race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(C) is also correct, as &lt;em&gt;ten babies&lt;/em&gt; is explicitly plural, and should thus take the plural &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(A) is not correct because the collective noun &lt;em&gt;total&lt;/em&gt; should always be treated in the plural sense when &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it is explicitly used with the word, &lt;em&gt;number&lt;/em&gt;, or the word, &lt;em&gt;number&lt;/em&gt;, is implied (in a strict sense*),&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the items being counted are identified/clarified/specified, &lt;em&gt;AND&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the size of the number is given.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the following examples, all conditions are satisfied:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A total of number of 3500 students &lt;em&gt;were&lt;/em&gt; at the seminar. [Plural]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A total [number] of 11 shells &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; in my possession. [Plural]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this example, conditions (1) and (2) are satisfied, but condition (3) isn't:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The total number of students in attendance &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt; unbelievably large. [Singular]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first sentence of this example, only condition (3) is satisfied, while none of the conditions is satisfied in the second sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;My total &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; 11. Theirs &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; much higher. [Singular]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, in this case, condition (1) is not satisfied:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;'How many pennies do we now have?' 'The current total &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; 22.' [Singular]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, &lt;em&gt;total&lt;/em&gt; should be treated as singular whenever these conditions are not satisfied at the same time. (This rule should not be applied with the construction &lt;em&gt;There is/are&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The agreement between nouns (collective, in this case) and verbs is called &lt;strong&gt;concord&lt;/strong&gt; and much has been published on its often confusing rules of usage. The most interesting and informative article I found in the course of answering this question, was &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fs.gov.za/Departments/SAC/Library/DEPART/language_articles.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Concord&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, by Marianne Drennan. (It is of South African origin, so it is likely closer to British English but, excellent article nonetheless.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also of note is the pronounced difference in the treatment of collective nouns between British and American English. &lt;em&gt;Some&lt;/em&gt; collective nouns are mostly treated as singular in American English but often considered plural in British English. Two quick examples are &lt;em&gt;team&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;family&lt;/em&gt;. See this note on grammar at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/317&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries Online&lt;/a&gt; for more information on this phenomenon. The treatment of &lt;em&gt;total&lt;/em&gt;, however, transcends this analysis for the most part. Consider, however, another interesting example provided, in part, by the asker (@xport):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;There are ten babies. [Universally correct]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;There are ten babies in total. [Universally correct]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;There &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; a total of ten babies. [Plural. British?]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;There &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; a total of ten babies. [Singular. American?]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if the British/American analysis holds here, as one would find both forms (&lt;em&gt;there is/there are&lt;/em&gt;) widely used. &lt;em&gt;There are&lt;/em&gt; certainly &lt;em&gt;sounds&lt;/em&gt; better, but some would argue that &lt;em&gt;there is&lt;/em&gt; is more correct, because, strictly speaking, &lt;em&gt;total&lt;/em&gt; by itself should be a singular noun. (&quot;Says who?&quot; others may counter!) Consider this, though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There &lt;em&gt;is/are&lt;/em&gt; a total number of ten babies. [?!]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will not comment on this. Suffice it to say that this worrisome situation can always be avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*&lt;em&gt;in a strict sense&lt;/em&gt; since the word, &lt;em&gt;total&lt;/em&gt;, always involves a number, anyway. Try to see if you can insert the word &lt;em&gt;number&lt;/em&gt; into your sentence (if it isn't already there) without losing the intended meaning. If this can be done, then it means the word, &lt;em&gt;number&lt;/em&gt; is implied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T05:04:26.427" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T05:04:26.427" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="8557" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-12T03:31:13.257" Score="1" ViewCount="237" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like a marketing term. Does it mean &quot;However there are some points to take note&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3458" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T18:19:04.170" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T18:19:04.170" Title="What does &quot;what the catch&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8557" CreationDate="2011-01-12T03:39:40.327" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase I think you're looking for is &quot;What's the catch?&quot; and it's generally asked by someone who's being presented with a bunch of marketing speak.  The phrase comes from the noun form of 'catch', meaning a hook, post, lever or other device designed to grab something as it's moving past and stop it, or to hook into something that's moveable and prevent it from moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if someone tells you &quot;Hurry up now and buy this great offer!  Phone, internet, cable, and daily in-home massage all for $19.95 a month!&quot;, you would be thinking &quot;there's got to be something about that offer that they're not telling me or they'd go out of business from losing money so fast.&quot;  And that's when you'd ask, &quot;What's the catch?&quot;  That is, what else is there about this offer that you haven't told me yet that's going to make me think it's not such a great deal after all?  (And that's when you find out that $19.95 is the rate for the first month, after that it's $900 a month with a mandatory 2-year contract.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T03:39:40.327" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8557" CreationDate="2011-01-12T03:40:28.060" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you mean &quot;What's the catch?&quot; then that means you think something is too good to be true, and you're asking, &quot;In this perfect-seeming picture, what is really wrong that I don't see?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It reminds me of a great cartoon in &lt;em&gt;The New Yorker&lt;/em&gt; some years ago. Two birds are perched on a sign in front of a forest. The sign reads: &quot;Bird Sanctuary&quot;. One of the birds is casting a wary eye at the sign and saying, &quot;What's the catch?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T04:02:02.393" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T04:02:02.393" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8557" CreationDate="2011-01-12T03:49:10.780" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The definition of &lt;em&gt;catch&lt;/em&gt; in such a context as this is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a hidden problem or disadvantage in an apparently ideal situation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;according to the New Oxford American Dictionary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of common usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;OK, I've seen all the benefits, but what's the catch?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;This sounds too good to be true. There's a catch, isn't there?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Aha, triple interest rates! So, there's the catch!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;There's always a catch. Nothing's truly free in this world.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Don't fall for their low rental rates. The catch is in their mileage policy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The example you provided is correctly written:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What&lt;em&gt;'s&lt;/em&gt; the catch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The person who asks this questions seeks to know if there is an unseen or understated caveat or unfavorable term or policy in a potential bargain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T03:56:59.887" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T03:56:59.887" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8561" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8562" CreationDate="2011-01-12T09:15:24.797" Score="0" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one of those two versions is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;[...] and seems hence to be [...]&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;[...] and hence seems to be [...]&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance for your help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3517" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T09:19:50.107" Title="Correct position of the word &quot;hence&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8561" CreationDate="2011-01-12T09:19:50.107" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;and hence seems to be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sounds better to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T09:19:50.107" />
  <row Id="8563" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8565" CreationDate="2011-01-12T10:41:19.053" Score="3" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always have a hard time with the use of &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;upon&lt;/em&gt;. I have looked at the general comments made in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7752/usage-of-upon&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, but have the following specific use case in mind that does not seem covered to me: in the sentence &lt;em&gt;we study the influence of anion size &lt;strong&gt;on/upon&lt;/strong&gt; localisation&lt;/em&gt;, is one more common than the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T09:31:48.347" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T09:31:48.347" Title="“The influence of ... on/upon ...”" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8463" CreationDate="2011-01-12T11:06:03.817" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This also raises the question of whether to keep the accents and ligatures:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;raison d’être&lt;/em&gt; takes a circumflex accent&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;hors d'œuvres&lt;/em&gt; takes an œ ligature (as does &lt;em&gt;manœuvre&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, when then become assimilated into the language, they usually become written using only the target language’s accents (which is, in English: no accents).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T11:06:03.817" />
  <row Id="8565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8563" CreationDate="2011-01-12T11:07:48.317" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As pointed out in the answers to the question you posted, the difference lies in the usage, not the meaning. &quot;On&quot; and &quot;Upon&quot; are both correct and would both be understood in the context you present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key difference is whether you want your sentence to feel more old-fashioned (and by extension, more formal). In the context of writing a paper about negatively charged particles, one might want to use &quot;on&quot; to prevent said paper from feeling too outdated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3320" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T11:07:48.317" />
  <row Id="8567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8351" CreationDate="2011-01-12T12:30:39.900" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When talking about an application, &lt;em&gt;stable&lt;/em&gt; is not the same thing as &lt;em&gt;bug free&lt;/em&gt;. The stability is the ability for an application to survive a period of use, and to some degree misuse, and still contintue to function without crashing or starting to misbehave. So, an application can be buggy and still considered to be fairly stable, as long as the bugs doesn't cause the application to degrade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that the concept of software stability (along with other quality aspects) evolved along side with how software testing evolved. In the middle of the eighties the role of testing shifted from being just a tool for finding bugs into a tool for measuring quality. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_testing#History&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Software testing: History&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T12:30:39.900" />
  <row Id="8568" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8570" CreationDate="2011-01-12T14:27:00.023" Score="2" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;It’s a safeguard for the &lt;strong&gt;creep of subjectivity.&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/12/13/101213fa_fact_lehrer#ixzz1Apaor8w4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;more&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T14:49:03.477" Title="meaing of the expression: It’s a safeguard for the creep of subjectivity." Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8569" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-12T14:40:40.627" Score="3" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was the most gut retching thing I have ever heard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wrenching sounds like it would make sense but so does retching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="766" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T14:59:15.933" Title="Gut wrenching or retching?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="8570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8568" CreationDate="2011-01-12T14:42:43.837" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a slightly odd phrase indeed, but I'm quite confident you can interpret it as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;It [the test of replicability] is a process that prevents subjectivity [opinions and views] from being accepted [over fact].&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that &lt;code&gt;the creep&lt;/code&gt; here means &quot;the slow intrusion&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T14:42:43.837" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8569" CreationDate="2011-01-12T14:46:42.077" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you want &quot;gut-wrenching&quot;; &quot;retching&quot; involves something coming up from your gut and out of your mouth: also called puking or throwing up, although normally &lt;em&gt;retching&lt;/em&gt; refers to the sound and motion of throwing up with or without any actual regurgitation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something that is &lt;em&gt;gut-wrenching&lt;/em&gt; is extremely disconcerting in a visceral sort of way. You might throw up as a reaction but that is not the usual outcome, and certainly it's not a necessary condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The scene at a shopping mall in Tucson last weekend was gut-wrenching to all who witnessed it, and even to most of those who only heard about it in the news.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T14:59:15.933" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T14:59:15.933" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8568" CreationDate="2011-01-12T14:49:03.477" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the context of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/12/13/101213fa_fact_lehrer#ixzz1Apaor8w4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the article&lt;/a&gt;, for those who haven't read it, the quote reads:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Different scientists in different labs need to repeat the protocols and publish their results. The test of replicability, as it’s known, is the foundation of modern research. Replicability is how the community enforces itself. It’s a safeguard for the creep of subjectivity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First off, subjectivity is the act of being subjective. Something subjective is based on opinion or belief, and is the opposite of something objective, which is not based on opinion, and is a fact based, repeatable observation. For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The picture looks nice in this room&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is subjective, as it's arguable that the picture does indeed look nice in that room (it's an opinion!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The picture is in this room&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is objective, as the picture is inarguably within the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this context the verb &quot;to creep&quot; has been used to refer to the encroachment of subjectivity into the scientist's experiments. If the results of an experiment can't be replicated independently by several teams of scientists, it cannot be said to be objective. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore the author is saying that replicability is important to these scientists because it means that the results remain objective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3320" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T14:49:03.477" />
  <row Id="8573" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8574" CreationDate="2011-01-12T15:29:49.973" Score="1" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;During a meeting I was explaining a problem that only occurs once year: when one year ends and new one begins. Specifically during the first few days of the new year. Unfortunately, I was lost for words to describe the phenomenon, and, in the midst of stuttering, uttered, &quot;Well the problem only happens during year turning, umm, well when 2010 became 2011..umm..&quot; I got my point across, with mild sense of embarrassment, considering that a fairly large audience was attentively listening to my poorly formed narrative (I'd better stop now with this extraneous information).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the best way to describe what I was trying to telegraph --that is, the issue only occurring during the turn of the year?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T22:52:19.333" Title="Properly refer to the turn of the year" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;descriptivism&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="8574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8573" CreationDate="2011-01-12T15:36:05.077" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase in your question is good:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The issue only occurs at the turn of the year&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(if it only happens at the moment the year changes), or perhaps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The issue only occurs around the turn of the year&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(if it happens for a longer time period)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you can paraphrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The issue only happens when the year changes from 2010 to 2011&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(though that might imply it only happened in those specific years), or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The issue only happens in the first few (hours, days) of January&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T15:36:05.077" />
  <row Id="8575" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-12T15:36:23.563" Score="3" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's a good word to describe the situation when sensitive information is given to a trusted proxy (such as a lawyer), to be released only when a certain event occurs, such as a person's untimely death?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1387" LastEditorUserId="1387" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T16:27:58.403" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T20:47:57.560" Title="Word to describe &quot;when sensitive information is given to a trusted proxy in case of untimely death&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8576" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8598" CreationDate="2011-01-12T15:44:57.990" Score="5" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I mean is the act of &quot;coughing&quot; something that you don't actually want to (or rather dare) say outright.  So instead of writing, say, &quot;Miss Parker&quot;, you'd write &quot;*cough*Ms Parker*cough*&quot; or fake a cough that sounds very much like &quot;Miss Parker&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Written and spoken differ in that of course, when written is absolutely clear what that &quot;coughed&quot; term is, while when spoken it's &quot;hidden&quot; in the cough (which the written form tries to express).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never heard it in conversation, only heard it in movies or read it in books, though my contact to actual English native-speakers is (sadly) limited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a linguistic/rhetorical term for that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastEditorUserId="2701" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T18:39:47.147" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T19:16:32.040" Title="Is there a term for &quot;*cough*&lt;something&gt;*cough*&quot;?" Tags="&lt;linguistics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8577" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8588" CreationDate="2011-01-12T15:58:33.870" Score="6" ViewCount="287" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A metaphor is like a simile. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a name for the kind of statement that suggests an infinite recursion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is in a way similar to a paradox such as the one with a statement written on each side of a piece of paper. Side one says &quot;The statement on the other side of this page is true&quot;; Side two says &quot;The statement on the other side of this page is false.&quot; But the quotation above is not a paradox, an endless contradiction, but an endless reinforcement. What do we call that? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm finding it hard even to come up with adequate tags for this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And remember: All generalizations are false.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T16:27:42.190" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T17:24:34.337" Title="What do we call this kind of recursive expression?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="15" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="8578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8575" CreationDate="2011-01-12T16:02:53.643" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edit&lt;/em&gt;: Answered before the question was clarified, and addressing the information so entrusted, rather than the process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the context is already established &lt;em&gt;&quot;insurance&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is not a bad choice. But you can't use it without setting the stage because it has too many alternate meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a snarky note, there is &lt;em&gt;&quot;last will and testament&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, but again it won't work if you haven't set it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2851" LastEditorUserId="2851" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T16:38:05.810" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T16:38:05.810" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8577" CreationDate="2011-01-12T16:10:29.083" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To understand &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursion&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;recursion&lt;/a&gt;, you must first understand &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursion&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;recursion&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd call it a recursive statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T16:10:29.083" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8554" CreationDate="2011-01-12T16:14:25.933" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Octopus -&gt; Octopi&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prius -&gt; Prii (pronounced pree-eye).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.  I plan on never being anywhere where more than one Prius is present.  That way, I will never have to use it in conversation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All jokes aside, I don't think proper nouns are supposed to be subject to the rules of plurality, and Priuses would be the most common usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Apparently Toyota actually had a poll about this, and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.toyota.com/upcoming-vehicles/prius-family/?siteid=Media_PriusFamilyReveal_Mar_9_11_2011&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;offical&quot; answer&lt;/a&gt; from Toyota is now &lt;strong&gt;prii&lt;/strong&gt;.  It goes along with a big ad campaign about their new Prius models.  I'm not sure how I feel about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastEditorUserId="3328" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T16:55:26.667" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:55:26.667" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="8581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8576" CreationDate="2011-01-12T16:30:03.877" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best I can come up with is the idiom to say something &lt;em&gt;under your breath&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Closely related words which may cover this are to &lt;em&gt;mutter&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;mumble&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;mussitate&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T16:30:03.877" />
  <row Id="8582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8575" CreationDate="2011-01-12T16:35:47.317" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I might call that a &lt;em&gt;contingency confidence.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T16:35:47.317" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5254" CreationDate="2011-01-12T16:47:51.970" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn’t surpass it, but &lt;em&gt;ue&lt;/em&gt; seems to at least be a modest little brother to &lt;em&gt;ough&lt;/em&gt;.  It can represent:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;\-yoo\&lt;/em&gt;: argue, cue, ensue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;\-oo\&lt;/em&gt;: glue, true, sue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;[silent]: tongue, morgue, vague, the Hague&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;\-way\&lt;/em&gt;: segue, suede&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This is just looking at the cases where it really is functioning as a unit, omitting examples like &lt;em&gt;truer&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;queer&lt;/em&gt;, where a phoneme straddles its boundary.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Inspired by the comments &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1431/what-words-are-commonly-mispronounced-by-literate-people-who-read-them-before-the/1439#1439&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T16:54:23.293" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T16:54:23.293" />
  <row Id="8584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2056" CreationDate="2011-01-12T16:47:56.980" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a native English speaker and have a lot of trouble understanding the dialog in some movies.  The main reason is that the actors don't enunciate. (I guess it's more realistic to have people mumbling-?)  This has been increasingly a problem in the last few decades.  Watch old movies - from the 1950s or earlier.  The mumbling started in the 60s/70s.&#xA;(OK, I'm getting up there in years, but my hearing is still very good.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3530" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T16:47:56.980" />
  <row Id="8585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8577" CreationDate="2011-01-12T17:00:00.983" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say the term you're probably looking for is circular definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what you have there as an example isn't circular or recursive as I see it. It's a pretty straightforward statement with no dependencies. A metaphor IS like a simile, simple as that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you said &quot;a metaphor is like a simile&quot; and I asked what a simile was and you said &quot;a simile is like a metaphor,&quot; then you'd have a circular definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you're talking about the oddness of using the phrase &quot;like a simile&quot; which is in itself a simile, that's kind of self-referential, but not explicitly so. By that I mean that the self-reference doesn't involve the subject of the sentence. More explicitly self-referential would be where simile is the subject of the sentence and also involved in a simile: &quot;a simile is like...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T17:00:00.983" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8576" CreationDate="2011-01-12T17:04:09.917" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This can be called a &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=ahem&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hem&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, and is often written as &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ahem&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ahem&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure this covers the case where the speaker actually coughs over a word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T17:04:09.917" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7831" CreationDate="2011-01-12T17:07:35.123" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed this too when watching Britcoms.  They say, weekEnd instead of WEEKend, for example.  There are many more taht I can't recall off the top of my head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3532" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T17:07:35.123" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8577" CreationDate="2011-01-12T17:24:34.337" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no recursion here, just &lt;strong&gt;self-reference&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not recursion (and certainly not &quot;infinite recursion&quot;) because reading the sentence &quot;A metaphor is like a simile&quot; does not make you repeat/recurse on anything, nor does it invoke a smaller version of the same sentence, or anything like that. It merely so happens that &quot;like a simile&quot; is itself a simile. So this is just self-referential at most (it's not the sentence that refers to itself, but just the part &quot;like a simile&quot;), not recursive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also consider the category of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/lists/words-that-describe-themselves&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;words that describe themselves&lt;/a&gt; (like &quot;&lt;em&gt;pentasyllabic&lt;/em&gt;&quot;), sometimes called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.segerman.org/autological.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;autological&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (though this is for words, rather than sentences), or (imprecisely) call your sentence self-descriptive, self-similar, or self-exemplifying. (&quot;A metaphor is like a simile&quot; is not an example of a metaphor — the subject of the sentence — but of a simile. But &quot;A simile is like a metaphor&quot; &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; be an example of a simile.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something related is sentences that describe themselves, known as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autogram&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;autograms&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This autogram contains five a's, one b, two c's, two d's, thirty-one e's, five f's, five g's, eight h's, twelve i's, one j, one k, two l's, two m's, eighteen n's, sixteen o's, one p, one q, six r's, twenty-seven s's, twenty-one t's, three u's, seven v's, eight w's, three x's, four y's, and one z.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;This sentence contains five words.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;This sentence contains thirty-six letters.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;This sentence contains ten vowels.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;This sentence is written in English.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;This sentence contains precisely fifty characters.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or sentences that describe a part of themselves (from Douglas Hofstadter's &lt;em&gt;Gödel, Escher Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid&lt;/em&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Is composed of five words&quot; is composed of five words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(In your sentence it's the other way round: a part of your sentence, but not your sentence itself, describes the whole sentence.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More from GEB:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This sentence is meaningless because it is self-referential.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  This sentence no verb.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  This sentence is false. (Epimenides paradox)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The sentence I am now writing is the sentence you are now reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The self-reference in most of these is achieved by directly using &quot;this sentence&quot; or equivalent; in your sentence it is achieved more subtly. (So &quot;subtle self-reference&quot; is another phrase that may work for your sentence.) GEB has an entire chapter on self-reference and self-replication; perhaps sentences of your type are mentioned there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More links that may be amusing: &lt;a href=&quot;http://singlenesia.com/eris/selfres&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;essay&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www2.vo.lu/homepages/phahn/humor/self_ref.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;list&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://consc.net/misc/moser.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;This Is the Title of This Story, Which Is Also Found Several Times in the Story Itself&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T17:24:34.337" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="8589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8563" CreationDate="2011-01-12T17:24:59.503" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The choice between &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;upon&lt;/em&gt; in the sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We study the influence of anion size &lt;em&gt;on/upon&lt;/em&gt; localisation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is not merely a matter of style. Two entirely different meanings are possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;With &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We study the influence of anion size &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; localisation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This indicates an investigation into how localisation is affected by anion size.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;With &lt;em&gt;upon&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We study the influence of anion size &lt;em&gt;upon&lt;/em&gt; localisation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although probably not sensible in this chemical context, this sentence could indicate an investigation into the effects or importance of anion size, once localisation has occurred. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T17:24:59.503" />
  <row Id="8590" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-12T17:36:38.247" Score="2" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a more colloquial term for a &quot;&lt;strong&gt;confidant&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, or someone who has been entrusted with sensitive information to be disclosed only under certain conditions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is related to my &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8575/word-to-describe-when-sensitive-information-is-given-to-a-trusted-proxy-in-case&quot;&gt;previous question&lt;/a&gt; on trusted proxies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1387" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T02:36:25.733" Title="More colloquial term for &quot;confidant&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8590" CreationDate="2011-01-12T17:47:22.127" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Harry Potter, they call that person a &quot;Secret Keeper&quot;, although that also involves magic and whatnot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In computer terms, a group of people who are entrusted with secret information (such as SSH keys) are indicated to be a part of (or within) a circle of trust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In High School, girls call those people BFFs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T17:47:22.127" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8575" CreationDate="2011-01-12T17:56:02.957" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The trusted information is held in &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/escrow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;escrow&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T17:56:02.957" />
  <row Id="8593" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8595" CreationDate="2011-01-12T18:16:01.973" Score="5" ViewCount="182" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a sentence from &quot;Essential Grammar in Use&quot; book by Raymond Murphy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did you enjoy the film ? Yes, I &lt;strong&gt;thought&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  it was very good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The correct answer in key section is &quot;thought&quot;, but why not to use &quot;think&quot; instead:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did you enjoy the film ? Yes, I &lt;strong&gt;think&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  it was very good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks like you thought in the past and have another thought now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2261" LastEditorUserId="368" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T18:19:01.133" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T18:34:10.457" Title="&quot;Yes, I thought it was very good.&quot; Why &quot;thought&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;tense&gt;&lt;verb-agreement&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8593" CreationDate="2011-01-12T18:22:53.670" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I watched the movie (in the past).  At the time that I was watching it (in the past), I thought that it was very good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T18:22:53.670" />
  <row Id="8595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8593" CreationDate="2011-01-12T18:28:38.010" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does indeed mean you had that thought in the past, while watching the movie.  It doesn’t automatically tell us anything one way of the other as to what you think now; and I think the natural inference without further information is that probably you still think it’s good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;In some contexts&lt;/em&gt;, particularly, if the ‘pastness’ is unexpected or emphasised, one can indeed infer from the use of past tense that something has since changed.  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: What do you think of Obama?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;B: Well, when he was campaigning, I thought he was very good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The implication here is: “…but I don’t like him so much now”.  But this implication isn’t automatic from the use of past tense; it comes from the &lt;em&gt;context&lt;/em&gt;, from the fact that if B still likes Obama then a more natural response would be just “Yes, I do.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in the OP’s question, the tense of the answer is simply following the tense of the question (the most natural grammatical thing to do), so there’s nothing particularly suggesting any change of opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, the present-tense “I think it was very good” would also be fine in this example, and would give the impression that you probably also thought it was good at the time you watched it.  Although again, &lt;em&gt;in some contexts&lt;/em&gt; an emphatic use of the present tense could imply that things were different in the past:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: Did you enjoy music lessons as a child?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;B: I’m grateful now that my parents made me take them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T18:34:10.457" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T18:34:10.457" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8593" CreationDate="2011-01-12T18:32:31.727" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The key is the tense of the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Did&lt;/strong&gt; you enjoy the film?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is asking about whether you enjoyed it in the past, therefore it is appropriate to answer in the past tense. If the question is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is&lt;/strong&gt; it a good film?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you would say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yes, I think it is very good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you use the construction&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;think&lt;/strong&gt; it was very good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then you are implying doubt. I think it was good, but I'm not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T18:32:31.727" />
  <row Id="8597" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-12T18:38:25.840" Score="2" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just recently heard this expression and couldn't quite figure out its meaning from the context, unless it means something like &quot;take the bait.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a common expression? Is it perhaps an abbreviation of another expression? Most importantly, if it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; a common phrase, what does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: The basic context in which I heard this expression used was this: one person asked a technical question of a group, to which a member of the group responded, beginning with &quot;I'll do the fish&quot; and then proceeding to the technical explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2087" LastEditorUserId="2087" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T19:18:32.960" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T16:57:21.477" Title="What does the expression 'Do the fish' mean?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8576" CreationDate="2011-01-12T19:16:32.040" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although I haven't focus grouped it, &quot;cough&quot; as a verb of saying sounds OK to me and expresses the desired meaning. As in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I crashed your truck,&quot; the porter coughed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She coughed the words &quot;thirty seconds,&quot; in response to her mother's demand to know how long she had spent considering her options.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T19:16:32.040" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8599" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8604" CreationDate="2011-01-12T19:27:38.597" Score="4" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Disclaimer: There are a lot of questions packed in but their answers are interdependent.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Different textures of snow can be described as &quot;wet&quot; and &quot;dry&quot;. Considering that water is the quintessence of wetness and snow is water, is it accurate to describe snow as being dry?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a fallacy in the above syllogism because water in its frozen form is not water but ice and therefore even though snow is &lt;em&gt;made of&lt;/em&gt; water it is not the case that it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; water?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, is wetness a property that can only exist in non-freezing conditions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are all of the above questions predicated on the false assumption that the adjective &quot;dry&quot;, when applied to snow is intended to be literal when in fact it is figurative?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T08:51:47.913" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T08:51:47.913" Title="Can snow be dry?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;figures-of-speech&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8597" CreationDate="2011-01-12T19:29:49.110" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can think of two possible interpretations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first is that it is a variation of &quot;taking the bait&quot;, as you surmised. Specifically it reminds me of the expression &quot;I'll bite.&quot;, which I've heard used in similar cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second, which I don't think is likely, is that &quot;doing the fish&quot; might be a metaphor for cleaning the fish, a chore that some people find unpleasant. But that doesn't really seem to fit your example and I've never heard anyone say this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T19:29:49.110" />
  <row Id="8601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8597" CreationDate="2011-01-12T19:34:20.277" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I bit the bullet and &lt;em&gt;asked&lt;/em&gt; the guy what the heck he meant (imagine that). Turns out he was referring to the oft-quoted &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/2279.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;teach a man to fish&lt;/a&gt; proverb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He also clarified that this is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; a common expression, just an idiosyncratic reference he invented and uttered spontaneously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2087" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T19:34:20.277" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8599" CreationDate="2011-01-12T19:38:31.300" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If wine can be dry (even though it's indubitably a liquid), then snow can be too. In the first case, &lt;em&gt;dry&lt;/em&gt; is meant in a sort-of-figurative sense (it has a dry taste); in the second it means that it's not sticking together as a liquid or semi-liquid would - it's &quot;dry&quot; like a powder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T19:38:31.300" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8599" CreationDate="2011-01-12T20:13:01.233" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ice could be dry (even if it isn't carbon dioxide ice) if it is so cold that there is no discernable trace of water on it, and so could snow if it were the fluffy powdery kind rather than the slushy kind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wet usually means having liquid water about (sometimes other liquids) either literally or figuratively. It might even mean having water vapour around (wet gases). Also, being made from water doesn't mean something is water; people are chiefly water and are not normally described as wet, except in a figurative sense as I mentioned earlier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T20:13:01.233" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8599" CreationDate="2011-01-12T20:24:06.367" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dry means (NOAD here, but others would give similar definition) “free from moisture or liquid”. Snow is a mixture of ice crystals (a solid form of water), liquid water, and some water vapour (usually in negligible amount due to the temperature). So, snow is dry if it's mostly composed of ice crystals, and wet if it has an important part of liquid water mixed in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that sense, wet is somewhat synonymous with slushy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T20:24:06.367" />
  <row Id="8605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8599" CreationDate="2011-01-12T20:25:12.417" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Snow can have a variety of different properties.  Ask a skier or snowmobiler, and most likely they will speak to you at length about it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like any other noun, a variety of words can be used to describe it, even words that would seem at first glance to be oxymoronic.  When compared to other types of snow, some can be wet, and some can be dry.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We use the word snow rather liberally to describe a variety of winter conditions.  For example, when it snows 8 inches, then the temperature rises and it rains a half-inch, the resulting mix is still &quot;snow&quot; even though a quantity of rain is contained within it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put it into another context, &quot;jumbo shrimp&quot; makes no sense, if shrimp are supposed to be small.  However, jumbo shrimp are large when put in the context of other shrimp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T20:25:12.417" />
  <row Id="8606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8573" CreationDate="2011-01-12T20:40:45.287" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Think a new word or term might have to be coined for that one. 'Trans-annual' perhaps? It sounds suitably like 'management speak' anyway: 'How many people shall we lay off in the trans-annual period?'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T20:40:45.287" />
  <row Id="8607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8575" CreationDate="2011-01-12T20:47:57.560" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;TV Tropes (warning: not productivity safe) has an entry for &lt;a href=&quot;http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeadManWriting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dead Man Writing&lt;/a&gt;, and some of those examples cover what you're talking about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T20:47:57.560" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8608" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8611" CreationDate="2011-01-12T21:05:35.787" Score="1" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m now reading a book titled “Competitive Debate – The Official Guide” by Richard E. Edward. In it, there is the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The topic for public forum debate are selected by a comitee of the NFL. --- Some public forum topics have been resolutions of fact: “&lt;strong&gt;Resolved&lt;/strong&gt;: The United States is losing the War on Terror.” Some topics have been solution value: “&lt;strong&gt;Resolved&lt;/strong&gt;: The costs of legalized casino gambling in the U.S. outweigh the benefits” “&lt;strong&gt;Resolved&lt;/strong&gt;: The United States should issue guest worker visas to illegal aliens.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all of the above examples, for what meaning is “Resolved” used? I gusess “Resolved” means “Question to be resolved.” But I don’t understand why it (Resolve) is used in past participle form, not in noun form, and why not using a word like “the debate subject” “theme”, “issue”,“agenda” or even “Resolution required”?&#xA;- Yoichi&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="3119" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T22:54:06.447" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T12:08:47.167" Title="Why “Resolved” is used ahead of question in debate title, instead of saying “the Subject, topic” or alike?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8608" CreationDate="2011-01-12T21:22:25.597" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's just a way of announcing a topic (i.e. a resolution) which will be debated. According to Wikipedia: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;In policy debate, a resolution or&#xA;  topic is a normative statement which&#xA;  the affirmative team affirms and the&#xA;  negative team negates. Resolutions are&#xA;  selected annually by affiliated&#xA;  schools.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T21:22:25.597" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8610" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-12T21:27:57.107" Score="1" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a ton of words with similar, yet slightly different meaning that describe this kind of physical affection. What is the difference between the examples given, and what else is commonly used in this context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="315" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T22:01:34.317" Title="Cuddle, snuggle, huggle? How do you touch a loved one?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8608" CreationDate="2011-01-12T21:52:14.760" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The opposing teams are preemptively declaring victory. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Our reasoning is such that our position is the only logical one. You guys may as well not even bother with your weak and ineffectual arguments.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T21:52:14.760" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8610" CreationDate="2011-01-12T22:01:34.317" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never heard &quot;huggle&quot; before...that may be a regional usage. I'd say cuddle and snuggle are roughly equivalent, though &quot;snuggle&quot; seems to me to have a connotation of places your faces together, in particular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that I cuddle my children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T22:01:34.317" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1954" CreationDate="2011-01-12T22:04:53.883" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yeah can also be used in a partial negation [yeah, but] meaning that you are affirming only a portion of the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Friend: Did you get movie tickets for me with the money I gave you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You: Yeah, but they cost ten dollars more&#xA;  than you gave me for them.  Would you&#xA;  be willing to pay for the popcorn?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Friend: Yep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You: OK.  See you there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T22:04:53.883" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8573" CreationDate="2011-01-12T22:10:07.100" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;The problem only happens at New Year&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3542" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T22:10:07.100" />
  <row Id="8615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8573" CreationDate="2011-01-12T22:27:59.050" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could use the term &lt;em&gt;year-end&lt;/em&gt;, which refers to the period at the end of the year, as in &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;year-end&lt;/strong&gt; awards&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;year-end&lt;/strong&gt; sales&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;year-end&lt;/strong&gt; charitable giving&lt;/em&gt;, and in your case, a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;year-end&lt;/strong&gt; problem&lt;/em&gt;, e.g. a problem that occurs at year-end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T22:27:59.050" />
  <row Id="8616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8608" CreationDate="2011-01-12T22:32:54.600" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As per Bartelby's:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In 1876 General Henry M. Robert set out to bring the rules of the American Congress to members of ordinary societies with the publication of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bartleby.com/176/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pocket Manual of Rules of Order&lt;/a&gt;. It sold half a million copies before this revision of 1915 and made Robert’s name synonymous with the orderly rule of reason in deliberative societies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bartleby.com/176/4.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chapter 4&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When a main motion is of such importance or length as to be in writing it is usually written in the form of a resolution; that is, beginning with the words, “Resolved, That,” the word “Resolved” being underscored (printed in italics) and followed by a comma, and the word “That” beginning with a capital “T.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, because &lt;em&gt;Robert’s Rules of Order&lt;/em&gt; have been a popular framework for American &quot;deliberative societies&quot; they have been adapted and applied to formal debate, so much so that &lt;em&gt;Resolved&lt;/em&gt; has become the go-to word to begin your thesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T22:32:54.600" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8573" CreationDate="2011-01-12T22:52:19.333" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think simply saying &lt;em&gt;the problem only happens at the start of the year&lt;/em&gt; would be enough. Presumably, as you continue to describe why the problem occurs people will understand it is because the year changed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T22:52:19.333" />
  <row Id="8618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8554" CreationDate="2011-01-12T22:54:55.867" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The plural of &lt;em&gt;Prius&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;Prius cars&lt;/em&gt; or more formally, &lt;em&gt;Prius automobiles&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Marketers. Sheesh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T22:54:55.867" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8619" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-12T23:52:28.573" Score="5" ViewCount="233" Body="&lt;p&gt;English is not my native language and I'm really proud of being able to write it quite well. I have lots of problems with pronunciation though. In Finnish most words are pronounced the same as they are written and I've made a huge mistake by learning only how the words are written. I've now decided to become at least average speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like hear to better/more enjoyable ways to practice pronunciation than violently forcing my friends to speak English with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T06:48:12.077" Title="Fun and enjoyable ways to practice pronunciation?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;learning&gt;&lt;speech&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8619" CreationDate="2011-01-13T00:16:09.723" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Listening to something that has been narrated can be pretty effective. Like listening to a book on tape while actually following along with the print version. English tends to have an awful lot of nonsensical rules and pronunciations, so the best thing to do is to just plain immerse yourself in the language (listen to it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3549" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T00:16:09.723" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8619" CreationDate="2011-01-13T00:30:00.130" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The hardest but most effective way to learn pronunciation is to first of all learn how to read phonetic notation and master the pronunciation of every symbol (I stick to the International Phonetic Alphabet - IPA). You should keep a dictionary handy, practicing how to pronounce each word as many times as possible, whenever you happen to look up a word in it. The next thing is to get a good book on phonetics/pronunciation. Usually, you will find words grouped according to vowel sounds, etc. Practice, practice, practice! Speak each word with impeccable pronunciation until you sound stupid and begin to make fun of yourself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure, watching movies and TV, and listening to tapes and CDs help. However, the sure-fire way to achieve a solid knowledge of pronunciation is to speak as much as you can, to yourself and to others, using the tried and tested method of mastering phonetic transcriptions of as many words as possible. Enunciate the words slowly and deliberately. If you do this well enough, people should begin to make fun of you. That's when you know you are doing things right. Then go anywhere in the English-speaking world and you will be sure to sound like a native speaker, regardless of the accent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T00:30:00.130" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="8622" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8624" CreationDate="2011-01-13T00:31:03.937" Score="2" ViewCount="293" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have observed that I use a lot of sexist terms; it comes naturally to me! I have resolved to be &quot;perfectly&quot; non-sexist from now onwards. I would like to know how to avoid sexist language. &lt;br/&gt; &#xA;Yes, I've googled and found a lot of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;amp;source=hp&amp;amp;biw=1024&amp;amp;bih=469&amp;amp;q=how+to+avoid+sexist+language&amp;amp;aq=0&amp;amp;aqi=g1&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=how+to+avoid+sexist+&amp;amp;gs_rfai=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;useful resources&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;But I am looking for suggestions based on personal experiences. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2237" LastEditorUserId="2237" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T03:22:25.460" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T16:31:03.933" Title="How to avoid sexist language?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="8623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8619" CreationDate="2011-01-13T01:46:09.893" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A quick tip: if you need to look up the pronunciation of a word in actual sound, you can use &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howjsay.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;howjsay.com&lt;/a&gt;: it has a very large database with decent pronunciations, including many inflected forms and compounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a quick way to look up words in Howjsay, you could use the Firefox extension &lt;a href=&quot;https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6639/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Easy Drag To Go&lt;/a&gt;: with it, you can select a word on a web page, simply drag it to the left (or any direction you choose), and it will automatically be looked up in Howjsay in a new tab. You need to install &lt;a href=&quot;http://mycroft.mozdev.org/search-engines.html?name=howjsay&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Howjsay as a search engine&lt;/a&gt; for that to work, then assign it to a direction in the options menu of Easy Drag To Go. Note that you can find search engines for many, many sites if you just Google for them (&quot;firefox search engine howjsay&quot; is how I found this one).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to create your own menu to look up anything in any search website you like, starting from any program in your computer all over Windows, just by selecting a word and typing a hotkey, I recommend &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cleverkeys.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Clever Keys&lt;/a&gt;. When you select a word and type, say, alt+m, a menu will pop up with a choice of your customized search websites (you can add any URL you like), and your word will automatically be looked up in a new tab in your default internet browser.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need a mouse-gestures program like the marvellous &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tcbmi.com/strokeit/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;StrokeIt&lt;/a&gt; if you want to use gestures instead of hotkeys. Should anyone need help with any of this, let me know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T01:46:09.893" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8622" CreationDate="2011-01-13T01:52:18.190" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some common things to watch out for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Avoid using gender-specific nouns when neutral ones are available. For example, use &lt;em&gt;human&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;man/woman&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the absence of neutral words, include both sexes. For instance, you should say &lt;em&gt;alumni and alumnae&lt;/em&gt; instead of simply &lt;em&gt;alumni&lt;/em&gt; to refer to both men and women who have graduated from a certain institution.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use both masculine and feminine pronouns when the gender is unspecified. Thus, use &lt;em&gt;he/she&lt;/em&gt; instead of simply &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Avoid using feminine derivatives where the masculine term has become acceptable for both sexes. Common examples are &lt;em&gt;headmaster&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;director&lt;/em&gt;. You should not use &lt;em&gt;headmistress&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;directress/directrice&lt;/em&gt;, especially not in the US of A!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Abstain from potentially derogatory feminine descriptive words such as &lt;em&gt;chic[k]&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;vixen&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;shrew&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;crone&lt;/em&gt;, and the rest of them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pay attention to the contexts of your writings or conversations. Sometimes, it is okay or even expected, to be gender-inclusive. At other times, it may be considered highly offensive to be gender-inclusive!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sexism is not restricted to the written or spoken word. It certainly applies to behavior, as well. Thus, some more extreme traits of someone who aspires to be completely blameless with respect to avoiding sexism would be linked to the following rules:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Treat all humans (not &lt;em&gt;men&lt;/em&gt;!) as equals.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not treat the ladies any more special than the gentlemen. Thus, do not pull out a chair for a lady, offer to put on/take off her coat, give up your seat for her in a crowded place or hold the door open for her.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Never offer to assist a female who is clearly struggling to carry a heavy item. (Believe me, I have offered and have been rebuffed on several occasions, much to my consternation and annoyance, but I continue to do so, anyway!)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not try to be overly anti-sexist. That may even make matters worse, depending on the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Disclaimer: I do not follow any of these rules, except the first and the last ones!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T02:40:02.657" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T02:40:02.657" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="8625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8622" CreationDate="2011-01-13T02:36:15.763" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think before a change can be made to a persons's language with regards to any &quot;ism&quot; (sexism, racism, etc) that person needs to become more aware of his or her thought processes, prejudices and biases. When you examine why your language changes when you are speaking to your coworker Sally as opposed to speaking to your coworker Bill, you can determine what the motivation behind that change was and correct it. (For example: even though all three of you are on the same project, you are more likely to talk about non-work things like your kids or the weather with Sally, while you are more likely to use Bill for an idea springboard for work stuff.) It doesn't need to be overtly sexist in topic to be sexist in implication - whether you're not divorcing Sally (from the previous example) from her role as a mother (and therefore by extension thinking of her as unable to divorce herself from her role, making her not as dedicated as yourself or your other, male colleagues to your jobs) or cat-calling her as she walks down the hallway, she is still a second-class citizen in your eyes. Essentially, if you teach yourself to turn a critical eye inward and examine why you choose the words, actions, and implications that you do, the changes to your language will follow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3551" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T02:36:15.763" />
  <row Id="8626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8590" CreationDate="2011-01-13T02:36:25.733" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there is a more colloquial term that fully encompasses the meaning of &lt;em&gt;confidant&lt;/em&gt;. I can't think of a more formal one, either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Confidant&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;confidante&lt;/em&gt; are not particularly formal terms, even if they sound it. These are not uncommon in everyday parlance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you truly require something more colloquial, you'll probably have to settle for a longer phrase. Even then, many of the terms I might use to construct such a phrase seem no less formal than &lt;em&gt;confidant&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;privileged&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;privy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;trusted&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;counselor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T02:36:25.733" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8554" CreationDate="2011-01-13T02:49:51.977" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no &lt;em&gt;correct&lt;/em&gt; plural for the word &lt;em&gt;Prius&lt;/em&gt; at the moment. The matter is still up for debate. It is left to Toyota to determine what this should be. The company has, however, graciously opted to standardize the plural of &lt;em&gt;Prius&lt;/em&gt; based on popular opinion. To contribute or make your voice heard on what you think the correct plural form should be, go cast your vote on the Toyota website &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.toyota.com/upcoming-vehicles/prius-family/?srchid=K610_p372324414&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;website&lt;/a&gt;. The options are: &lt;em&gt;priuses&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;prium&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;prien&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;prius&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;prii&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T02:49:51.977" />
  <row Id="8628" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8640" CreationDate="2011-01-13T03:51:04.097" Score="12" ViewCount="453" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read this sometime ago,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at&#xA;  Cmabridge uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer&#xA;  in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod&#xA;  are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht&#xA;  frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit&#xA;  pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses&#xA;  and you can sitll raed it wouthit&#xA;  porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not&#xA;  raed ervey lteter by it slef but the&#xA;  wrod as a wlohe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing that the Cambridge research probably doesn't exist, but is it true that we can normally understand a sentence whose letters are scrambled in this way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1199" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T11:25:03.090" Title="Is it true that only the positions of the first and last letter in a word matter, the rest can be scrambled?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;reading&gt;&lt;urban-legend&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="13" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="8629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8628" CreationDate="2011-01-13T03:55:08.923" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it's true. Most people can process the words regardless of interior order. I read that paragraph almost as fast as I would normally, as I'm sure most people here did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T03:55:08.923" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8628" CreationDate="2011-01-13T04:00:06.563" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is generally true, but I can think of some caveats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) It won't work well with all uppercase letters, as it is the &lt;em&gt;shapes of the words&lt;/em&gt; that are our cues. All-uppercase words are essentially rectangles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;AOCCDRNIG TO A RSCHEEARCH AT CMABRIDGE UINERVTISY, IT DEOSN'T MTTAER IN WAHT OREDR THE LTTEERS IN A WROD ARE, THE OLNY IPRMOETNT TIHNG IS TAHT FRIST AND LSAT LTTEER IS AT THE RGHIT PCLAE. THE RSET CAN BE A TOATL MSES AND YOU CAN SITLL RAED IT WOUTHIT PORBELM. TIHS IS BCUSEAE WE DO NOT RAED ERVEY LTETER BY IT SLEF BUT THE WROD AS A WLOHE.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still doable, especially having already read it once, but not as easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Following from #1, distinctive letters that give the words their shape should be in or very near to their &quot;normal&quot; location. If you notice from the text you posted, most instances of &lt;em&gt;i, t, d, l, p, g, h, etc.&lt;/em&gt; appear at or within one character position from normal. The last word, &quot;wlohe&quot; does not, but instead swaps the tall &lt;em&gt;l&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;h&lt;/em&gt; to give the word the same overall shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) This works when the words are in a meaningful sequence, because our minds have a good idea of the subset of words that can follow any other, given the context and our understanding of syntax. We can further narrow it down by shape, and finally by letter, especially first and last. Out of context, these become anagrams, and suddenly rather more difficult to decipher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastEditorUserId="3313" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T05:17:52.240" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T05:17:52.240" />
  <row Id="8631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8628" CreationDate="2011-01-13T04:09:01.920" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It gtes mcuh hedrar wehn you hvae legnor wdros and you slpmiy rsrevee all the ioiretnr lrettes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T04:09:01.920" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8632" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8633" CreationDate="2011-01-13T04:14:08.823" Score="3" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the term for words that can be used as the opposite of themselves?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know there are a few of them out there, it is possible to 'Dust a cake with Icing' and if the cake were on a shelf for a long time (must be a bad bakery) then it would be acceptable to 'Dust the cake' to remove any dust particles...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, 'Dust with Icing' implies the addition of something to the cake where 'Dust the cake' implies the action of removing dust from the cake&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other examples: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bolt - To hold in place or to Run away with haste...&#xA;Trim - To remove a small portion or to add small bits that make it pretty...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3514" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T09:10:45.173" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T09:10:45.173" Title="What is the term for words that can be used as the opposite of themselves?" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="8633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8632" CreationDate="2011-01-13T05:15:22.803" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/autoantonym&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;autoantonym&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, which has a number of variants enumerated on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoantonym&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone coined &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www-personal.umich.edu/~cellis/antagonym.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;antagonym&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; in 1999.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T05:15:22.803" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8634" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8638" CreationDate="2011-01-13T06:41:17.300" Score="4" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does the phrase &quot;before too long&quot; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Excerpt from where I read this phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The response to the SDK has been quite&#xA;  good and I expect to start hearing&#xA;  about some great apps and success&#xA;  stories before too long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2663" LastEditorUserId="2663" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T06:57:26.220" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T10:49:16.803" Title="What does the phrase &quot;before too long&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="8635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8634" CreationDate="2011-01-13T06:59:52.073" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means before it takes too long time. In your example it may mean in 1-2 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3554" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T06:59:52.073" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="8636" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8637" CreationDate="2011-01-13T07:20:27.883" Score="4" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for a name for a work attitude that can be described as the person treating their job as something of their own. To take some examples, they treat every single project or piece of work almost as if it was their own children, like something they will be identified with say long after their death; they try to save money as much as possible on business trips even if the expenses would be paid by the company in full regardless of the amount; they don't terrorize the bathroom or other public spaces. Let me add that the concept is very close to &quot;wholehearted, passionate, earnest&quot; etc.; but these words miss the &quot;feel like my own&quot; component.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3554" LastEditorUserId="3554" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T07:51:50.363" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T07:58:30.150" Title="Name for a work attitude" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="8637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8636" CreationDate="2011-01-13T07:58:30.150" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My answer is peppered throughout your question: &lt;em&gt;owning&lt;/em&gt; the job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an example:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.businessweek.com/careers/content/dec2004/ca20041222_0814_ca010.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.businessweek.com/careers/content/dec2004/ca20041222_0814_ca010.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T07:58:30.150" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8634" CreationDate="2011-01-13T07:59:58.620" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is an oblique way of saying &lt;em&gt;soon&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T07:59:58.620" />
  <row Id="8639" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8641" CreationDate="2011-01-13T08:06:02.810" Score="5" ViewCount="234" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across the word, 'Blood libel,' apparently associated with Ms. Sarah&#xA; Palin's agressive statement which was zeroed in at Democratic lowmakers in today's  Washington Post.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Neither Concise Oxford Dictionary nor Oxford American Dictionary  carries this word. The latter defines 'libel' as: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Published falese statement that damages a person's reputation. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A statement or anything that brings discredit on a person or thing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of which doesn't seem to me fitting to 'Blood libel' used in the context of the above statements. I think I can guess what the word means here, but is 'Blood libel' a broadly received expression in U.S. and U.K? Who coined this word on the earth?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I'm asking this because it's in many cases shown in parentheses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quotes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Questions about whether Palin knew what she was getting into by using &quot;&lt;strong&gt;blood libel&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; miss the mark. Right now, she is as much provocateur as politician.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a &lt;strong&gt;blood libel&lt;/strong&gt; that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T12:35:48.473" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T12:35:48.473" Title="Is 'Blood libel' an established expression?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8628" CreationDate="2011-01-13T08:23:21.020" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sort of, but not exactly. In addition to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.languagehat.com/archives/000840.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;languagehat&lt;/a&gt; post, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/people/matt.davis/Cmabrigde/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here are the actual facts&lt;/a&gt; &quot;according to a researcher at a Cambridge University&quot;. (That page is itself a summary of actual research on related matters; my summary will be inadequate.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it is true that (most) people don't read words letter-by-letter, and we can cope with some amount of jumbling, this happens through word shape and disrupting the order of letters &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; significantly affect the word shape. That is, it is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; true that &quot;The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm&quot;. Rather, there are several properties of your paragraph that make it readable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In most of the words, the letters are only slightly transposed, not jumbled beyond recognition. For instance, &quot;&lt;em&gt;doesn't&lt;/em&gt;&quot; is made &quot;&lt;em&gt;deosn't&lt;/em&gt;&quot; rather than &quot;&lt;em&gt;dn'oset&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, &quot;&lt;em&gt;problem&lt;/em&gt;&quot; is made &quot;&lt;em&gt;porbelm&lt;/em&gt;&quot; rather than &quot;&lt;em&gt;pebrolm&lt;/em&gt;&quot;. If you try generating &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stevesachs.com/jumbler.cgi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;actually&lt;/em&gt; random transformations&lt;/a&gt; of the paragraph, you'll find it a bit harder to read.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;33 of the 67 words are 1-, 2- or 3-letter words that are in exactly the right order, and another 12 are 4-letter words in which only a transposition is possible. The short words tend to be the function words so essential to meaning; paragraphs consisting of predominantly longer words would appear harder to understand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is written in lowercase; if it were written in uppercase a lot more of the word shape would be lost. (This is also why uppercase is harder to read in general: all word shapes are rectangles.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/people/matt.davis/Cmabrigde/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;page&lt;/a&gt; considers the sentence &quot;The sprehas had ponits and patles&quot;. How would you read this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The sherpas had pitons and plates.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    The shapers had points and pleats.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    The seraphs had pintos and petals.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    The sphaers had pinots and palets.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    The sphears had potins and peltas.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And many more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T09:11:57.690" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T09:11:57.690" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8639" CreationDate="2011-01-13T08:32:02.820" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reference.com/browse/blood%20libel?__utma=1.2086776073.1294906748.1294906748.1294906748.1&amp;amp;__utmb=1.2.10.1294906748&amp;amp;__utmc=1&amp;amp;__utmx=-&amp;amp;__utmz=1.1294906750.1.2.utmcsr=google|utmccn=%28organic%29|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=dictionary%20%22blood%20libel%22&amp;amp;__utmv=-&amp;amp;__utmk=252675081&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Blood libels&lt;/a&gt; seems to be an established expression, one used without quotes (&lt;code&gt;&quot;&lt;/code&gt;) nor parenthesis.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is employed as such in this article &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotword.dictionary.com/sarah-palin-blood-libel/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sarah Palin causes a controversy with the phrase “blood libel.” What does it mean, and why are people upset?&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/529/benjol&quot;&gt;Benjol&lt;/a&gt; also mentions the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12176503&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BBC article &quot;What does 'blood libel' mean?&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_libel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; details its long history.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T09:29:24.297" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T09:29:24.297" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="8642" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8643" CreationDate="2011-01-13T08:47:52.803" Score="4" ViewCount="431" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need some interesting names for rooms at our new office space.&#xA;The purpose of these rooms are&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sale Room - For use of the sales team,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Board Room - For board meetings and guests.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Conference room - For team meetings. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Server room.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suggestions please&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-- &#xA;update&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ours is a small IT firm with 30 developers, 10 sales persons, directors, facility manager and a receptionist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are from Kerala, a small state in the South of India and the entire state has a profusion of coconut palm groves, and is often called God's Own Country by non-Keralites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our brand new office is located in an Infopark at Kochi, a city know for its backwater prosperity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I would like to get suggestions for the following spaces too. ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Developer room &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reception.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3556" LastEditorUserId="3556" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T04:36:29.073" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T09:32:21.103" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-13T16:22:21.350" Title="Need some interesting names for office rooms" Tags="&lt;fun&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="8643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8642" CreationDate="2011-01-13T09:44:33.550" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You usually need:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a common notion to which people in your enterprise can relate (for example &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;boat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the main activity (for example &quot;sales&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that, you can affect &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_nautical_terms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;various names from the common notion&lt;/a&gt; to your rooms, beginning with the most important name from that notion to the most important room:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sales Room - &lt;strong&gt;The Bridge&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Boardroom - &lt;strong&gt;The Cabin&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Conference room - &lt;strong&gt;The Deck&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Server room - &lt;strong&gt;The Engines&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pick your &quot;common notion&quot; and the names won't be hard to come by ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, for instance, consider the facilities around Kerala, Kerala, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.keralahouseboat.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;like its houseboats&lt;/a&gt; and other &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.keralahoneymoonkerala.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;honeymoon attractions&lt;/a&gt;, and you've got yourself &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mimifroufrou.com/scentedsalamander/2008/05/travelogue_on_kerala_un_jardin.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a love story&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/Y8oAl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So... (very rough first draft, pick anything that speaks to your team)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Developer room - &lt;strong&gt;The Cruise&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Server room - &lt;strong&gt;The Heart&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sale Room - &lt;strong&gt;The Monsoon&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Board Room - &lt;strong&gt;The Honeymoon&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Conference room - &lt;strong&gt;The Backwaters&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reception room - &lt;strong&gt;The Beach&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/YZttE.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T21:04:57.270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T21:04:57.270" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-13T23:09:54.553" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8644" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8647" CreationDate="2011-01-13T10:14:03.603" Score="2" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I rewrite this sentence without the two a's?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We planned to meet a few times a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this would be the best way to show the role that the two a's play in the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="740" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T10:34:54.100" Title="What is the the role of the two a's in &quot;we planned to meet a few times a year&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8644" CreationDate="2011-01-13T10:16:46.703" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We planned to meet a few times &lt;em&gt;each&lt;/em&gt; year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We planned to meet a few times &lt;em&gt;every&lt;/em&gt; year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second sentence is probably more common and less formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T10:16:46.703" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8642" CreationDate="2011-01-13T10:18:08.577" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To avoid any confusion, I would suggest simply:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sales Room &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Board Meeting Room&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Conference Room&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Server Room&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="740" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T10:18:08.577" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-13T16:22:35.000" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8644" CreationDate="2011-01-13T10:23:17.823" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A few&lt;/em&gt; can be replaced with &lt;em&gt;several&lt;/em&gt;, and the second &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; can be replaced with &lt;em&gt;per&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;each&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;every&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usage stats are as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;                              BNC    COCA    Google&#xA;&#xA;a few times a year             3      83    16.60M&#xA;a few times per year           -       5     2.71M&#xA;a few times each year          -      10     1.90M&#xA;a few times every year         -       1     0.72M&#xA;several times a year          15     159    23.10M&#xA;several times per year         -       5     2.19M&#xA;several times each year        1      16     3.98M&#xA;several times every year       -       2     1.07M&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(BNC is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt;, and COCA is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T10:34:54.100" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T10:34:54.100" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8634" CreationDate="2011-01-13T10:25:37.410" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to what Jay said, sentences like this are usually a kind of &lt;em&gt;emphasis&lt;/em&gt;. “before too long” figuratively means the exact &lt;em&gt;opposite&lt;/em&gt; of “a long time long in the future”. This double negative (which is a form of understatement) is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litotes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;litotes&lt;/a&gt; (thanks to RegDwight for pointing this out).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s the same as saying “not bad” when you actually mean “quite good indeed”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, the same exists in most other languages, and has always exists. For example, in Latin there’s the idiom “non ignoro”. “ignoro” means “I don’t know”, and “non” is just the negation. Thus, “non ignoro”, though literally translated as “I don’t not know”, in reality means “I know &lt;em&gt;exactly&lt;/em&gt;“ (with emphasis).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1637" LastEditorUserId="1637" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T10:49:16.803" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T10:49:16.803" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="8649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5610" CreationDate="2011-01-13T10:55:20.557" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always been offended by the use of those kind of words as insults. I mean using the word describing the nature of a person as an insult, because that's what you &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt;. I really make a difference between TO DO and TO BE concerning insults.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1317" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T10:55:20.557" />
  <row Id="8651" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8687" CreationDate="2011-01-13T11:28:31.527" Score="5" ViewCount="521" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is such a sterotype that Chinese speakers mix up 'r's and 'l's that I always assumed it to be true. Is this the case and, if so, why? The tongue position is totally different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T11:59:25.490" Title="Is it true that Chinese speakers have troubles with 'r's and 'l's in English words?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8652" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-13T11:45:20.253" Score="1" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;What would be a good way to express the following: &quot;I like to see the beauty in ugly things&quot;? (This is related to drawings, paintings and photography.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2636" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T01:51:29.143" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T01:51:29.143" Title="Formulation: &quot;I like to see the beauty in ugly things&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;formulation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8608" CreationDate="2011-01-13T12:08:47.167" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me as if 'resolved' is being used to mean 'agreed'.&#xA;Why is'ahead of' now being used everywhere to mean 'before' or 'ready for' or 'in the light of'? It's very annoying. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3565" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T12:08:47.167" />
  <row Id="8654" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8655" CreationDate="2011-01-13T12:11:38.543" Score="1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the use of unless in this sentence correct? It sounds to my naive ear to be fine, but I always think of unless as a conjunction, which does not seem to be the case here. I looked up unless in an online dictionary and discovered that it can additionally be used as a preposition in the sense of &quot;except for&quot;, but again that would not seem to apply to this sentence as disciplined is an adjective.  Since the sentence is taken from Strunk and White and sounds right I am sure it is correct, so my main interest is to discover what the underlying construction is here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3528" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T14:52:10.837" Title="Unless disciplined, a dog becomes a household pest." Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8654" CreationDate="2011-01-13T12:22:31.777" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the sentence,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unless disciplined, a dog becomes a household pest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;unless&lt;/em&gt; is a conjunction*. This sentence is really a reduction of &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unless it is disciplined, a dog becomes a household pest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The conjunctional function becomes clearer upon a rearrangement of the clauses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A dog becomes a household pest, unless [it is] disciplined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most likely constructions a native speaker would use are the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A dog becomes a household pest, unless it is disciplined.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Unless it is disciplined, a dog becomes a household pest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Unless a dog is disciplined, it becomes a household pest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Unless disciplined, a dog becomes a household pest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*I see how &lt;em&gt;unless&lt;/em&gt; could be said to be used as a preposition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A dog becomes a household pest unless disciplined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(No comma before &lt;em&gt;unless&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;disciplined&lt;/em&gt; becomes an adjective.) I doubt this is formal usage, though. Before the independent clause, however, I would always take &lt;em&gt;unless&lt;/em&gt; as a conjunction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T14:52:10.837" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T14:52:10.837" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8656" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8659" CreationDate="2011-01-13T12:24:27.147" Score="2" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My relative is a fairly big academic and works &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt; a university. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this correct? or should I have used &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T13:15:45.833" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T18:03:30.757" Title="Which one is more correct: &quot;works at a university&quot; or &quot;works in a university&quot;?" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="8657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8656" CreationDate="2011-01-13T12:27:38.393" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would also use &quot;&lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; in that case. It's completely correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T12:27:38.393" />
  <row Id="8658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8656" CreationDate="2011-01-13T12:28:30.033" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The quoted sentence is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'In' is usually used when speaking about the general kind of work someone does, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My father works &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; telecommunications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My father works &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt; the telephone exchange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T12:28:30.033" />
  <row Id="8659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8656" CreationDate="2011-01-13T12:30:11.723" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My relative is a fairly big academic and works &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; a university&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is correct. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My relative is a fairly big academic and works &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; a university&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See a similar example at &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/university&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cambridge Dictionaries Online&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T15:20:21.060" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T15:20:21.060" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8642" CreationDate="2011-01-13T12:46:44.050" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a company I used to work at, the office accommodating the programmers was known as the &quot;Oar Deck&quot;, and Senior Management worked in &quot;Planet Zanussi&quot;. I don't think anyone found it all that funny, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T12:46:44.050" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-13T16:22:47.980" />
  <row Id="8661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8651" CreationDate="2011-01-13T12:52:55.387" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE5D7163EF93BA35750C0A96E948260&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE5D7163EF93BA35750C0A96E948260&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe the reason is that, in Japanese at least, there is no Western L sound, therefore a native Japanese person won't learn to pronounce it (at least the Western way) at an early age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my Japanese language guide, the following pronunciation guide is given:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;r&lt;/strong&gt; - between l and r, example: gorufu&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Take Off In Japanese, Oxford University Press&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(gorufu is Japanese for golf).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it would appear that the closest pronunciation to Western L is 'Japanese R', hence it sounds to Western ears that Rs are substituted for Ls.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The overall effect is called lallation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T12:52:55.387" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8662" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-13T12:55:01.307" Score="1" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;If &lt;em&gt;school&lt;/em&gt; is to &lt;em&gt;pupils&lt;/em&gt;, then &lt;em&gt;army&lt;/em&gt; is to what?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3569" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T14:48:14.740" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T04:33:49.847" Title="&quot;School&quot; is to &quot;pupils&quot;; &quot;army&quot; is to what?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;analogy&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="8663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8662" CreationDate="2011-01-13T13:02:00.497" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that when comparing &lt;em&gt;school&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;army&lt;/em&gt;, then one would compare &lt;em&gt;pupils&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;strong&gt;soldiers&lt;/strong&gt; .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I think that a better analogy would be the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;army base | school&#xA;army      | student body&#xA;soldiers  | pupils/student&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T13:02:00.497" />
  <row Id="8664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8662" CreationDate="2011-01-13T13:03:19.867" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Soldiers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The relationship is organisation to people within organisation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other examples might be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Navy &gt; Sailors&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Air Force &gt; Pilots (i'm generalising)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Prison &gt; Prisoners&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Church &gt; Congregation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T13:03:19.867" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8642" CreationDate="2011-01-13T13:10:47.063" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We went for names of well-known lakes nearby, matched (roughly) to each room by scale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="572" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T13:10:47.063" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-13T16:22:42.753" />
  <row Id="8666" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8675" CreationDate="2011-01-13T13:11:48.683" Score="2" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do I need hyphens? Should I use the indefinite article or zero article?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3570" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T10:14:50.113" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T10:14:50.113" Title="Is it correct to say &quot;a 5-mm-thick layer&quot;?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;articles&gt;&lt;hyphen&gt;&lt;modifiers&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8651" CreationDate="2011-01-13T13:16:41.560" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In east/central Africa (I'm assuming most Bantu languages), the R's and L's mix up as well. I, like the question asker, at first thought this was very confusing as R and L sounds for me as a native English speaker had nothing in common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unlike Asian languages, Bantu languages often use the same alphabet as English (minus perhaps a few odd letters like Q and X). In fact, the Bantu dialect I'm studying has native words with distinct R sounds and others with distinct L sounds. For other words, however, the R and L are completely interchangeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After many years of puzzling over this point and living in Africa, then Asia, then Africa again, I've come to this conclusion about the Bantu R/L swap: it is not so much a tongue position as a bit of a pinching in the back of the cheeks for both letters and a tendency to roll R sounds. If you roll an R, you will see how surprisingly close it comes to an L. When the L or R comes right before or after certain vowel or consonant sounds, it will almost always come out in the way we expect. Some English examples are paper, shirt, car, call, relevant, and hurry. Others, like my favorite &quot;manicule and pedicule&quot; place, the church where I &quot;play&quot;, and the &quot;riblaly&quot; where I check out books are opposite examples. I think other West African languages may share this characteristic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2697" LastEditorUserId="2697" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T13:46:26.470" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T13:46:26.470" />
  <row Id="8669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8666" CreationDate="2011-01-13T13:18:20.560" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would have said that there is no need for a hyphen between 5 and mm; 5mm is normally written thus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A 5mm-thick layer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T13:18:20.560" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8651" CreationDate="2011-01-13T13:37:02.867" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mandarin Chinese has both sounds, and there's typically no difficulty differentiating them. It's a Japanese stereotype (based on the fact that in Japanese these two sounds are allophones) that has grown to be applied to speakers of other East Asian languages. It might be compounded by the existence of facetious Chinese transliterations of English words, such as &lt;em&gt;yimier&lt;/em&gt; for &lt;em&gt;email&lt;/em&gt; instead of the literal &lt;em&gt;diànzĭ yóujiàn&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;electronic message&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dialects of Chinese have little to no &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erhua&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;erhua&lt;/a&gt;, the tendency to suffix words with an R sound, so they may have difficulty pronouncing an R sound syllable-finally, because their own speech never calls for it (compare Standard Mandarin &lt;em&gt;nàr&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;there&quot;, versus more Southern &lt;em&gt;nàli).&lt;/em&gt; In addition, L is frequently used in transliterations in place of R syllable-initially, as in &lt;em&gt;luōqièsītè&lt;/em&gt; for Rochester.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it's not so much that these sounds are confused, but that they're just used in different contexts, and a Chinese speaker might conceivably have some difficulty with that. But again, this probably affects Chinese speakers less than Japanese speakers, who might find it difficult to differentiate between the sounds in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastEditorUserId="1506" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T07:40:53.040" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T07:40:53.040" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8671" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8677" CreationDate="2011-01-13T13:39:34.557" Score="2" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that a colon should be used to introduce a list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We required three ingredients: eggs, milk and butter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, what happens if there is a full stop between list elements?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We required three ingredients: firstly eggs, to provide a nice eggy flavour. Secondly milk, for all its milky goodness. Finally we required flour, to bind it all together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a correct way to use a colon? Does the rest of the list punctuation make sense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3572" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T14:47:56.780" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T21:39:27.660" Title="Colon use when introducing a list split across sentences" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;list&gt;&lt;colon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8672" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-13T14:03:11.917" Score="6" ViewCount="642" Body="&lt;p&gt;In many error messages and conversations, I come across words in all CAPITAL letters. As demonstrated in the examples below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;ERROR: Please type your e-mail address.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ME: I can't make it&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  SHE: I HATE you.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  ME: I'm soo sorry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the typical meaning or reason for these all CAPITAL words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3574" LastEditorUserId="3574" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T14:17:05.280" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T23:17:19.053" Title="What do all CAPITAL letters typically refer to in writing?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8671" CreationDate="2011-01-13T14:07:39.890" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will do a full answer here for legibility. Firstly, there is nothing wrong with the sentence you have supplied. However, I agree with Eldros and RegDwight in that you could use a semi-colon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, I would modify the sentence when I did use semi-colons, thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We required three ingredients: eggs, to provide a nice eggy flavour; milk, for all its milky goodness; flour, to bind it all together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The semi-colons 'replace' the qualifying 'Firstly' etc, resulting in a punchier, more succinct sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T14:07:39.890" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8672" CreationDate="2011-01-13T14:11:17.887" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are usually used to add emphasis. They are also often used in place of italics in situations where those can't be displayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T14:11:17.887" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8666" CreationDate="2011-01-13T14:19:26.043" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is incorrect to write &quot;a 5-mm-thick layer&quot;. Rather, it should be written:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a 5 mm-thick layer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or, better,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a five millimeter-thick layer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;5 mm-thick&lt;/em&gt; is a compound adjective formed from the adjectives &lt;em&gt;5 mm&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;thick&lt;/em&gt;, and it modifies &lt;em&gt;layer&lt;/em&gt;. Consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a &lt;em&gt;5-mm&lt;/em&gt; layer/a &lt;em&gt;5 mm&lt;/em&gt; layer&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (&lt;em&gt;as a matter of style, some writers don't hyphenate numerals with letters&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a &lt;em&gt;five-millimeter&lt;/em&gt; layer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a &lt;em&gt;thick&lt;/em&gt; layer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a &lt;em&gt;5 mm-thick&lt;/em&gt; layer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that as a compound adjective in its own right, &lt;em&gt;5-mm/five-millimeter&lt;/em&gt; is hyphenated. When compounded again, though, the first hyphen is dropped: &lt;em&gt;5 mm-long/five millimeter-wide&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other similar compound adjectives can be found in contexts similar to the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a &lt;em&gt;five year-long&lt;/em&gt; period&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a &lt;em&gt;two month-old&lt;/em&gt; movie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a &lt;em&gt;ten year-old&lt;/em&gt; boy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Review this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kentlaw.edu/academics/lrw/grinker/LwtaCompound_Adjectives.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; for more on compound adjectives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T14:45:56.003" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T14:45:56.003" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8672" CreationDate="2011-01-13T14:27:11.620" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;All caps&lt;/em&gt; is used primarily for emphasis. When used excessively in an electronic message (email, discussion thread, etc), this is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hoax-slayer.com/do-not-use-all-capitals.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;shouting&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and it is considered quite rude. For more on the various uses of &lt;em&gt;all caps&lt;/em&gt;, see the Wikipedia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_caps&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T14:27:11.620" />
  <row Id="8677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8671" CreationDate="2011-01-13T14:37:59.553" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the risk of appearing old-fashioned, it is certainly acceptable to use a colon to introduce a list split across sentences. Just be sure to start the first sentence with a capital letter:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We required three ingredients: &lt;em&gt;F&lt;/em&gt;irstly, eggs, to provide a nice eggy flavour. Secondly, milk, for all its milky goodness. Finally, we required flour, to bind it all together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In modern writing, &lt;em&gt;first&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;second&lt;/em&gt; are preferred. The full-stops (or periods) would also give way to semi-colons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We required three ingredients: first, eggs, to provide a nice eggy flavour; second, milk, for all its milky goodness; finally, we required flour[,] to bind it all together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For succinctness, &lt;em&gt;first&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;second&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;finally, we required&lt;/em&gt; are best removed, as they make the whole sentence rather wordy. Thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We required three ingredients: eggs, to provide a nice eggy flavour; milk, for all its milky goodness; and flour, to bind it all together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;You may notice I played around with the commas. That could also be considered a matter of style, but I tend to be fastidious with regard to comma punctuation.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T14:37:59.553" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8672" CreationDate="2011-01-13T14:40:31.190" Score="22" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;All caps&lt;/em&gt; are typically used for either of two reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Visual Style&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Capital letters are often used on covers of magazines, in logos and artsy-typography, usually to emphasise the visual style of the letters themselves, rather than the word. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://semuabisadiatur.it-kosongsatu.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/good-and-bad-typography-is.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Example Image&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Contextual emphasis:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Capital letters can be considered a third form of emphasis, among Italics and Bold text. They are used to denote a louder, almost shouting (and in many cases actually shouting) pronunciation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is done by tabloid newspapers, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Political Correctness Gone MAD!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(in this example, the exclamation mark is used, erroneously, to add even more volume)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Legal documents sometimes use capital letters to denote areas of special importance. They are, presumably, trying to avoid the area being overlooked by the reader, by making it stand out from the rest of the text.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This product comes with NO WARRANTY. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also technical reasons for using capital letters. Here are just some examples of this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Typesetting systems (old computers, stencils, ...) that don't allow for italics or bold text may encourage some to use capital letters instead&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Capital letters to denote a SURNAME as opposed to a first name (according to wikipedia, this is done in francophone countries)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are suggestions, some call it a consensus, that upper case text is harder to read than correctly capitalised text. This, to my knowledge, first manifested itself in public policy when British road signs were changed in 1957. The &lt;em&gt;Worboys Committee&lt;/em&gt; proposed a new type face called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_%28typeface%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Transport&lt;/a&gt;, using lower case letters for the first time. This is based on the idea that one reads &lt;em&gt;the shape of the word&lt;/em&gt; rather than each individual letter. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_caps#Readability&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;All caps&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; article on Wikipedia summarises the evidence for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not even always a good idea to capitalise acronyms and initialisms, as illustrated by this ridiculous example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Have they turned on the LASER yet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rhodri rightly says that this is uncommon and only happens to de-facto words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Jimi pointed out, ALL CAPS in email and instant messaging conversations is considered shouting, and people who use it extensively are considered &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Internet%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;trolls&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="691" LastEditorUserId="691" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T23:17:19.053" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T23:17:19.053" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8672" CreationDate="2011-01-13T14:48:43.397" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;ALL CAPS ON THE INTERNET OR IN WRITTEN ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS IS OFTEN THE RESULT OF A MISTAKE BY OLDER, OR LESS EXPERIENCED, COMPUTER USERS WHO USE CAPSLOCK AND FORGET THAT IT IS ENABLED.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;GENERALLY, WHEN IT IS NOT A MISTAKE, IT DENOTES SHOUTING, EMPHASIS, IMPORTANCE, OR URGENCY.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IT CAN ALSO BE USED IN SCENARIOS WHERE CLEAR TEXT IS REQUIRED - THOUGH THIS IS USUALLY EMPLOYED WHEN WRITING BY HAND.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MY ANSWER IS IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE IF YOU READ IT BACK IN YOUR HEAD IT WILL SOUND LIKE I'M SCREAMING AT YOU MARCO :D!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3576" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T14:48:43.397" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8680" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8683" CreationDate="2011-01-13T14:56:26.667" Score="6" ViewCount="241" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw it in a text book, and a similar problem that also appeared in the book is &quot;3 times faster&quot;, which is already asked. Simply speaking, the book says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, it increases the CPI by 1.1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where CPI is for clock cycles per instruction, if that matters.&#xA;According to the choices the question provided, it actually means the increased value is 1.1 times of the original one (10% increase). It's the first time I have seen &quot;by&quot; meaning &quot;to&quot;. Is it acceptable in daily English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1890" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T01:50:37.570" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T01:50:37.570" Title="How much exactly is increased when it is &quot;increased by 1.1&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;numbers&gt;&lt;ambiguity&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8680" CreationDate="2011-01-13T15:00:59.817" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;X increased by 1.1 → X is now 1.1 times the previous value of X (10% increase)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;X increased to 1.1 → X is now 1.1 (before it was less than 1.1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that this is my interpretation of &lt;em&gt;increased by&lt;/em&gt; in this particular context. In general, however, I would interpret &lt;em&gt;increased by&lt;/em&gt; as an addition, i.e. 1.1 added to the original value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T15:49:56.547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T15:49:56.547" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8680" CreationDate="2011-01-13T15:01:27.957" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The use of &quot;by&quot; isn't indicating &quot;to&quot; in this case.  It's indicating that the current CPI would be increased by another 10%, not to a maximum threshold of 1.1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See Wikipedia's info on percentages.  It may help explain further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percentage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percentage&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3577" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T15:01:27.957" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8680" CreationDate="2011-01-13T15:07:48.873" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence really should have read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, it increases the CPI by &lt;em&gt;a factor of&lt;/em&gt; 1.1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One would probably not find this sort of ambiguity in a math text, but it is certain that &lt;em&gt;a factor of&lt;/em&gt; was implied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note, however, that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, it increases the CPI &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; 1.1&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;does not mean the same thing! This implies, the final value of the CPI, after the increase, is 1.1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;by&lt;/em&gt; is used to indicate a product, but usually in an explicit manner, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Taxes increased by 10%.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Multiply your answer by 3.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The new energy rating has decreased, by a factor of 1.5.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, in the absence of any context, I could be tempted to take&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, it increases the CPI by 1.1&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;to mean 1.1 is &lt;em&gt;added&lt;/em&gt; to the CPI, but I would really hard-pressed to do that! In a mathematical context, though, when one sees &lt;em&gt;by&lt;/em&gt;, one should begin to think multiplication or division.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T15:07:48.873" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="8684" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8685" CreationDate="2011-01-13T15:25:51.790" Score="5" ViewCount="269" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm having a hard time understanding the purpose or meaning of the definite article, &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; in the common phrase, &lt;em&gt;Time is of the essence.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first thought is that it refers to the task that is time-sensitive, but certainly time or timeliness is not the essence of that task (unless perhaps the task is to set a clock).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone shed light on this formulation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T20:26:42.113" Title="&quot;Time is of the essence&quot;… of what?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;definite-article&gt;&lt;formulation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="8685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8684" CreationDate="2011-01-13T15:30:00.477" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to my New Oxford American Dictionary (2nd Edition), the phrase &lt;strong&gt;of the essence&lt;/strong&gt; means&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;critically important&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it is said, &quot;Time is of the essence,&quot; it is implied that time is in short supply or it is of the utmost importance. Therefore, if this statement is used with regard to a certain task, then that task must be completed as quickly as possible, and with a sense of urgency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything can be &lt;em&gt;of the essence&lt;/em&gt; in any given situation. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Your concentration will be of the essence here. Put your mind squarely to the task at hand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A keen interest in this job is of the essence, otherwise you lose it!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Consistent hard work is of the essence in this course; don't fall into lassitude.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T15:37:33.713" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T15:37:33.713" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8686" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8695" CreationDate="2011-01-13T15:58:47.837" Score="6" ViewCount="350" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between “venom” and “poison”?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both in usage and in meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="346" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T17:18:07.310" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T07:52:40.707" Title="What is the difference between “venom” and “poison”?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="8687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8651" CreationDate="2011-01-13T16:01:09.497" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I understand, in at least some major dialects of Chinese (maybe all, I don't know), the /l/ and /r/ sounds exist but are prosodically restricted.  The /l/ can only appear syllable-initially while the /r/ appears syllable-finally.  This means that a Chinese speaker would have more trouble with an /l/ sound at the end of a word and also with an /r/ sound at the beginning of a word.  This means that a speaker should be able to pronounce the /l/ in &quot;ladder&quot; but have difficulty with &quot;red&quot;. This agrees with &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8651/is-it-true-that-chinese-speakers-have-troubles-with-rs-and-ls-in-english-word/8670#8670&quot;&gt;Jon Purdy's examples of &lt;em&gt;yimier&lt;/em&gt; for &quot;email&quot; and &lt;em&gt;luōqièsītè&lt;/em&gt; for &quot;Rochester&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Korean has the opposite going on; that is, their /l/ and /r/ are in allophonic variation such that /r/ shows up syllable-initially and /l/ syllable-finally, meaning they would have more trouble saying the /l/-sound in &quot;ladder&quot; than in &quot;feel&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both cases, it would not be trivial for a native speaker of these languages to distinguish the differences between English /l/ and /r/.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may seem strange that a language would have no difficulty pronouncing a sound in one position in the syllable but extreme difficulty pronouncing the sound elsewhere.  However, in English, we have similarly restricted consonants.  For example, the consonant /ŋ/ (the &quot;ng&quot; sound in &quot;hanger&quot; — yes it is only one sound, unlike &quot;finger&quot; which has the sequence [ŋɡ]) is only produced syllable-finally in English.  But, in many other languages, words commonly begin with /ŋ/ (e.g. Swahili).  So the difficulty you would have pronouncing &quot;ngapi&quot; (/ŋapi/) is the same type of difficulty Chinese and Korean speakers run into with /r/ and /l/ in certain places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Japanese, there is only one sound that appears in all positions within the syllable.  Their /r/ sound is something between /l/ and /r/, and so every English /l/ sound comes out sounding like something &quot;r&quot;-ish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T16:41:25.093" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T16:41:25.093" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8688" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8689" CreationDate="2011-01-13T16:02:33.660" Score="2" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;English isn't my native language. I don't trust my pronunciation too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know how to pronounce the domain name &lt;em&gt;jsfiddle.net&lt;/em&gt;. There isn't any video about &lt;em&gt;jsfiddle&lt;/em&gt;, so I can't learn the pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3578" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T17:25:40.780" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T00:47:20.173" Title="Pronunciation of &quot;jsfiddle&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8688" CreationDate="2011-01-13T16:07:36.947" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pronounce it as the single letters &quot;j&quot; and &quot;s&quot;, and the word, &quot;fiddle&quot;: &lt;em&gt;JAY - ES - FID - uhl&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T16:25:40.800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T16:25:40.800" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="8690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8688" CreationDate="2011-01-13T16:07:56.010" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say, since the &quot;js&quot; is an abbreviation for Javascript in this case (assuming you meant jsfiddle.net, not .com, which is an empty domain), you would say them as separate letters, then the word: &quot;j-s-fiddle&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T16:07:56.010" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8688" CreationDate="2011-01-13T16:08:09.490" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll try and put it phonetically:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;/jay ess fid-uhl/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T00:47:20.173" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T00:47:20.173" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="8692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8686" CreationDate="2011-01-13T16:08:30.063" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Venom is contained by a living organism, and it is often used as an offensive/defensive measure to ensure survival.  Venom is often poisonous to the intended target. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Poison is an item that is harmful or dangerous to the person/thing to which it refers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Arsenic is poisonous to humans.  Cobra&#xA;  venom is also poisonous to humans and other animals.  The venom of&#xA;  a &quot;Daddy Long Legs&quot; spider is not&#xA;  considered to be toxic to humans,&#xA;  however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T16:08:30.063" />
  <row Id="8693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8686" CreationDate="2011-01-13T16:09:19.067" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Venom&lt;/em&gt; is used to refer to the poisonous substances that animals like snakes and scorpions produce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Poison&lt;/em&gt; is used to refer to substances that could harm or even kill somebody through its chemical action. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To illustrate the difference, consider this article:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.cnn.com/2010-06-30/world/cleopatra.suicide_1_cleopatra-snake-cobra?_s=PM%3aWORLD&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Poison, not snake, killed Cleopatra, scholar says&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article says that Cleopatra may have &quot;died from drinking a mixture of poisons and not from a snake bite.&quot;&#xA;The snake bite would release venom. But Cleopatra drank something to kill herself - that's poison.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This other article explains the same as:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.cnn.com/2010-06-30/world/cleopatra.suicide_1_cleopatra-snake-cobra?_s=PM%3aWORLD&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cleopatra Died From Poison. She used hemlock, not snake's venom, says historian&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T16:35:24.827" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T16:35:24.827" />
  <row Id="8694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8686" CreationDate="2011-01-13T16:09:52.263" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Venom is a toxin that is harmful only when it enters the bloodstream, produced by animals of various species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Poison is a toxin that is harmful when ingested (and, in more general terms, however it gets into the system). It is also a catch-all term for any harmful substance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus there are many &lt;em&gt;venomous&lt;/em&gt; snakes, but very few poisonous ones, i.e. ones you would have to &lt;em&gt;eat&lt;/em&gt; for them to harm you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T16:09:52.263" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8686" CreationDate="2011-01-13T16:15:33.647" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Poison&lt;/em&gt; is contextual and can be an artificial or natural material -- different materials can be poisons to different organisms in different doses and/or when misused. Further, &lt;em&gt;poison&lt;/em&gt; usually denotes potential fatality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Venom&lt;/em&gt; is a material created and used by an organism to aid in defense and/or hunting. Venoms are not necessarily fatal -- many stun, sting, or disable. Venom is venom regardless of context, and can also be poison in some contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both words are used heavily in metaphor. &lt;em&gt;Poison&lt;/em&gt; is often used to describe something that corrupts, destroys, or has the potential to do so, usually over time -- an eventuality. &lt;em&gt;Venom&lt;/em&gt; is often used to describe harsh speech or hurtful aggressiveness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T16:15:33.647" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8684" CreationDate="2011-01-13T16:17:26.330" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would guess that &quot;time is essential in this project&quot; would sound logical and appropriate to your situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the word &lt;em&gt;essential&lt;/em&gt; is directly derived from the word &lt;em&gt;essence&lt;/em&gt;; &quot;of the essence&quot; is one way of adjectivizing &lt;em&gt;essence&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;essential&lt;/em&gt; is just another way of doing so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do similar things with many words.  A couple examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Talk about something &lt;em&gt;of substance&lt;/em&gt;&quot; vs. &quot;talk about something &lt;em&gt;substantial&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;A statement &lt;em&gt;of fact&lt;/em&gt;&quot; vs. &quot;A &lt;em&gt;factual&lt;/em&gt; statement&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I did it &lt;em&gt;by accident&lt;/em&gt;&quot; vs. &quot;I did it &lt;em&gt;accidentally&lt;/em&gt;&quot; (in this case we are adverbializing).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It so happens that, nowadays, &quot;of the essence&quot; is rarely used, while &quot;essential&quot; is common.  &quot;Time is of the essence&quot; is one of the few phrases that retains this construction, and so it sounds odd, but etymologically and structurally, it is straightforward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T16:17:26.330" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8686" CreationDate="2011-01-13T16:26:11.480" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have some good definitions, but I will add a bit of usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When someone has been struck down by a venom- the bite of a venemous animal, or venom on a blade, they have been poisoned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When someone has ingested something poisonous they have been poisoned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although technically incorrect, people often talk about snakes being poisonous, by which they mean venomous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Venom is a word that is less commonly used now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that respect in day to day usage you can get away with using &quot;poison&quot; when you might be more technically accurate to use &quot;toxin.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T16:26:11.480" />
  <row Id="8698" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-13T16:37:59.457" Score="2" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;During the course of the last 6-12 months (approx.) online I've seen more and more the mistake of using &quot;it's&quot; in place of &quot;its&quot; and the other way around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While my habits might have slightly changed, I'm talking about a huge difference here: a few years ago I knew it was supposed to be a &quot;standard mistake&quot;, now I notice it almost daily! Even by native speakers!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming it's not &quot;just me&quot;, did you notice that? Have any idea of what could be the cause? The only logical thing that comes to my mind is that the Internet is now more cheaper and worldwide, so (no offence intended) we have more non-native speakers and more uneducated people. With &quot;uneducated&quot; I do not only mean they might not &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt; proper grammar: I mean they might not &lt;em&gt;care&lt;/em&gt; to write correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3579" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T04:50:25.697" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T04:50:25.697" Title="&quot;it's&quot; vs &quot;its&quot;: what happened lately?" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="8699" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8701" CreationDate="2011-01-13T17:06:39.713" Score="3" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear the word &lt;strong&gt;architect&lt;/strong&gt; used as a verb in the technical field and now more often in other industries and groups, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;We need to &lt;strong&gt;architect&lt;/strong&gt; a better solution to the problem.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am interested if this is considered &quot;proper grammar,&quot; as I see this word being used more in published technical documents (not necessarily books, but corporate publications).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can see how a conductor can conduct, a typist can type, but can a scientist &quot;science?&quot;  A scientist might research, analyze, and so forth, as an architect might design, create, build, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster defines &lt;strong&gt;architect&lt;/strong&gt; as a noun, see: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/architect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/architect&lt;/a&gt;, however, I have been told that other dictionaries exist that define &lt;strong&gt;architect&lt;/strong&gt; as both a noun and a verb -- is there a credible reference or source that authoritatively answers this question?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3581" LastEditorUserId="3581" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T17:15:00.343" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T19:59:17.590" Title="Is architect a verb and a noun?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8699" CreationDate="2011-01-13T17:11:32.733" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is both a verb and a noun. Curiously, most English nouns can become verbs just by using them in that sense, and vice versa. &quot;Gift&quot; has become a verb lately. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I gifted him with a pen-and-pencil set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Verbs also become nouns. In David Mamet's play &lt;em&gt;Glengarry Glen Ross&lt;/em&gt; the salesmen talk about going on a &lt;em&gt;sit&lt;/em&gt;, meaning making a sales pitch in someone's living room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you can safely say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was the head architect on that project&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She architected a whole new genre of glass sculpture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T17:11:32.733" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="8701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8699" CreationDate="2011-01-13T17:16:24.430" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Traditionally &quot;architect&quot; is a noun only, but it is increasingly common to hear it used as a verb, though usually in business or technical situations where jargon is very common. Since the language is largely defined by its usage, and (as Robusto notes) nouns often become verbs and vice versa, it's hard to say that it's wrong - but many consider it poor style, and in formal writing (especially if intended for an audience unfamiliar with business-speak) it might be better to choose an alternative that conveys the required meeting - perhaps &quot;design&quot;, or &quot;build&quot;, or even &quot;think of&quot; or &quot;solve&quot; in the specific example you gave :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastEditorUserId="3405" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T19:59:17.590" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T19:59:17.590" />
  <row Id="8702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8698" CreationDate="2011-01-13T17:16:39.687" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think that it has gotten significantly worse in just the last few years. The vast majority of people writing today were also writing 5 years ago. That said, it has almost certainly gotten worse over time, as book-reading has declined and grammar has been de-emphasized in primary education.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apostrophes are notoriously confusing for people, and the default seems to be, &quot;When in doubt, stick it in there.&quot; I see things like &lt;em&gt;CD's and DVD's&lt;/em&gt; all the time, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think in your case, you have become more sensitive to the error as you have become more aware of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another component may be the proliferation of weblogs and other informal outlets, so although writers have not gotten materially worse, we have been &lt;em&gt;consuming&lt;/em&gt; an increasingly large volume of informal writing, thus encountering the error with greater frequency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T17:16:39.687" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="8703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8672" CreationDate="2011-01-13T17:19:20.613" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lo, these many years ago, I took a typing class (manual typewriters, for a true sense of age!). We were instructed to use ALL CAPS as a substitute for &lt;strong&gt;bold&lt;/strong&gt; and underline (&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;_) as a substitute for &lt;em&gt;italics&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I started going on line (long before publicly available Internet), I was taught to surround text with asterisk (*) when I intended &lt;strong&gt;bold&lt;/strong&gt; and with underscore (_) when I intended &lt;em&gt;italic&lt;/em&gt;. If you pay attention to the markup used in this forum, you can see how those conventions have been honoured and expressed over time and through changing technology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In English classes (native English, not ESL or second-language) we were also taught to use ALL CAPS to separate the 'description' from the 'real' text. So, in your error message example, ERROR: is telling you that what follows is an error message as distinct from a warning message (WARNING:) or a purely informational message (INFO:). A similar concept applies to dialogue the way it is normally written in plays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note, I was also taught that underline was introduced with the typewriter and that previous to that scribes and typesetters used actual italics (and bold). I have not been able to confirm that anywhere, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other answers are, of course, also correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3582" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T17:19:20.613" />
  <row Id="8704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8698" CreationDate="2011-01-13T17:34:36.217" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I doubt that the average person makes significantly more apostrophe-related errors today than they did five years ago. However, you may be noticing an uptick in such errors due to some combination of the following reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The proliferation of informal online content.&lt;/strong&gt; I think it's safe to say that today there are more blogs, discussion boards, and other websites created and maintained by non-professional writers than there were 5 years ago. Consequently, a a random page on the Internet today vs. one from 5 years ago is more likely to contain grammatical errors.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Confirmation bias.&lt;/strong&gt; Once you get the germ of a particular grammatical error in your head, you are sensitive to it, seeing and remembering it more often than you otherwise would.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Texting norms.&lt;/strong&gt; People text a lot more today than 5 years ago. When texting, adding an apostrophe usually requires a couple button presses, thereby slowing down the user. Consequently, texting often forgoes punctuation marks, including apostrophes. One can assume this behavior would translate onto the web.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T17:34:36.217" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8698" CreationDate="2011-01-13T17:42:43.100" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My iPhone offers me &quot;it's&quot; in all circumstances: I have to reject that to get &quot;its&quot;. Assuming other iPhones behave likewise (and perhaps other devices too) that would seem likely to account for the proliferation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T17:42:43.100" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8672" CreationDate="2011-01-13T17:50:51.220" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Used to emphasize a point you want to make. But using it excessively would seem like you are shouting at the top of your voice.. which is not very nice.....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All CAPITALS make reading quite difficult too...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3584" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T17:50:51.220" />
  <row Id="8707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8656" CreationDate="2011-01-13T18:03:30.757" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using 'in' is not just plain wrong - although in that context it does sound it. I would possibly use 'in' if I meant that he &lt;em&gt;works&lt;/em&gt; there, but is not directly involved in the university establishment, for example someone who is for whatever reason doing an unrelated job but using the university for accommodation, or a cleaner etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="852" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T18:03:30.757" />
  <row Id="8708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8652" CreationDate="2011-01-13T18:07:08.370" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like to explore the beauty within the ugliness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like to capture the beauty within the ugliness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="740" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T18:07:08.370" />
  <row Id="8709" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-13T18:16:12.513" Score="1" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;least&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;lowest&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Websites announce as &quot;Lowest prices&quot;, but not &quot;least&quot;. &lt;em&gt;Least&lt;/em&gt; is the superlative degree. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;low &gt; lower &gt; least ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2054" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T18:36:49.337" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T18:36:49.337" Title="&quot;least&quot; vs. &quot;lowest&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;superlative&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="8710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8662" CreationDate="2011-01-13T18:18:48.953" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answers are right but in case you were searching for a &lt;em&gt;school&lt;/em&gt; of military, how about “&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cadet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;cadets&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;”?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1637" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T18:18:48.953" />
  <row Id="8711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8709" CreationDate="2011-01-13T18:28:28.630" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;low - lower - lowest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;little - less/lesser - least&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A price is a &lt;em&gt;level&lt;/em&gt; of cost, and refers to value within a scale. It can be high or low, or any variant thereof, but not least. You wouldn't say &quot;the least rung&quot; to refer the bottom level of a ladder, you'd say &quot;the lowest rung.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If, instead of &quot;level of cost,&quot; you referred to the cost itself, you could say &quot;least cost.&quot; Likewise, you could say the &quot;least high rung&quot; in the case of the ladder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastEditorUserId="3313" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T19:11:39.760" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T19:11:39.760" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8709" CreationDate="2011-01-13T18:29:55.487" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The opposite of high is low.  The opposite of more is less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;High and low are seen as declarative terms usually in reference to a fixed scale of some sort.  More and less are comparative - they need something to be used as a comparison.  Least is used when comparing at least two other things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Higher and lower are comparative, even though high and low are not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;low-lower-lowest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;average-less-least&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The lowest price is a price that is compared to other competing prices, and found to be the least high of those compared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T18:29:55.487" />
  <row Id="8713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8709" CreationDate="2011-01-13T18:35:58.510" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The superlative form of low is, in fact, lowest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Low, lower, lowest are all intended to define either altitude/height or rank order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Least is the superlative of less, or combined with adjectives to make their superlative. &quot;Least attractive,&quot; for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Least can also mean smallest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you're talking about various forms of the word low, least doesn't enter into it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T18:35:58.510" />
  <row Id="8714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8709" CreationDate="2011-01-13T18:42:29.587" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Least&lt;/em&gt; is the superlative of &lt;em&gt;little&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/least&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/least&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;em&gt;Little&lt;/em&gt; — &lt;em&gt;less/lesser/littler&lt;/em&gt; — &lt;em&gt;least/littlest&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The superlative of &lt;em&gt;low&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;lowest&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/low&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/low&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;em&gt;Low&lt;/em&gt; — &lt;em&gt;lower&lt;/em&gt; — &lt;em&gt;lowest&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A price can be &lt;em&gt;low&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;small&lt;/em&gt;, but it usually can't be &lt;em&gt;little&lt;/em&gt; (that usage is metaphorical), as can be seen by consulting the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;                  BNC  COCA&#xA;&#xA;little price       0     4&#xA;  (metaphorical)   1     2&#xA;small price       64   329&#xA;low price         80   355  &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T19:01:51.353" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T19:01:51.353" />
  <row Id="8715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8652" CreationDate="2011-01-13T18:52:20.703" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I find beauty in the ugly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I find beauty in the mundane. (not the same as ugly)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I see beauty in ugliness.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To me, ugly is beautiful.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Through my eyes, the ugly becomes beautiful.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T18:52:20.703" />
  <row Id="8716" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8774" CreationDate="2011-01-13T18:59:33.430" Score="5" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider this example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Commercialese is an instrument of art,&#xA;  designed to enrich and invigorate our&#xA;  language—surely you will all agree&#xA;  with this—, and we should encourage newcomers to learn it. However, a side-effect is the&#xA;  spread of commercialese to other&#xA;  domains. This we must object to,&#xA;  because we need to keep this precious&#xA;  instrument in our exclusive possession.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do we determine what the subject complement is in the second sentence, &quot;a side-effect&quot; or &quot;the spread&quot;? In this case you might say it doesn't really matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;[Edited]&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a few examples from Fowler's:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The only comment necessary ... is&#xA;  that, when ... it makes no difference&#xA;  to the meaning which of two words is&#xA;  made the subject and which the&#xA;  complement, the one that is placed&#xA;  first must (except in questions) be&#xA;  regarded as subject and have the verb&#xA;  suited to its number: &lt;em&gt;Our only guide&#xA;  was the stars&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;The stars were our&#xA;  only guide&lt;/em&gt;. Such apparent exceptions&#xA;  as &lt;em&gt;Six months was the time allowed&#xA;  for completion / The few days Mrs.&#xA;  Kennedy will spend in London is in the&#xA;  nature of a rest for her&lt;/em&gt;, are not&#xA;  true ones, for here the complement&#xA;  makes it clear that the subject,&#xA;  though plural in form, is singular in&#xA;  sense (*a period of — *).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we are to take &quot;six months&quot; as singular because we can imagine it to be an attribute to an omitted, singular head noun, &quot;a period of&quot;. But couldn't we imagine this for many other sentences? Consider &quot;the stars were our only guide&quot;: I could say &quot;the light of the stars was our only guide&quot;. So how is &quot;six months&quot; much different? Isn't there inversion at work here? And is there no way to pinpoint a subject, apart from its position before the verb?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T04:03:09.013" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T13:16:59.820" Title="How do I determine subject and subject complement in &quot;A side-effect is the spread of commercialese to other domains.&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;numbers&gt;&lt;subject&gt;&lt;inversion&gt;&lt;complement&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8717" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8719" CreationDate="2011-01-13T19:00:13.150" Score="3" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is meant by &quot;smart words&quot; in the following quote? Any examples?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In any essay logical sequence of information is very important. Jumping from one idea to another it is very bad for you score, all ideas must be connected logically. Another important thing is “smart” words – try to use them as much as you can, it is also affects your score.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the page I got it from:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ielts-blog.com/category/ielts-preparation-tips/writing-tips/page/11/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ielts-blog.com/category/ielts-preparation-tips/writing-tips/page/11/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T19:21:29.503" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T15:50:09.690" Title="What are smart words?" Tags="&lt;ielts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8718" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8725" CreationDate="2011-01-13T19:01:47.563" Score="2" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where is the modifier in &quot;the majority of senators&quot;, &quot;a number of students&quot; and in &quot;a range of documents&quot; in these sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The majority of senators will be fired tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A number of students might not be able to take the test.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The range of documents could only increase. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2270" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T19:22:58.630" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T19:45:40.847" Title="Where is the modifier in &quot;the majority of senators&quot;, &quot;a number of students&quot;, &quot;the range of documents&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;modifiers&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="8719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8717" CreationDate="2011-01-13T19:17:28.437" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A smart word is a word that makes you seem smart. This is probably a complicated word, a word that makes you seem sophisticated. It should preferably be a word that you couldn't replace with a simpler word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He endeavoured to put his cat into a&#xA;  bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, &quot;tried&quot; would do, so that the smart word probably isn't a good idea, because it says &quot;I want to seem smart&quot; instead of &quot;I am smart&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The advantages of studying the arts&#xA;  are rather intangible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There isn't a simple word to replace &quot;intangible&quot; that easily comes to mind, which makes this choice seem justified—or is there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the page you mentioned has some problems. Consider the mistakes or sloppy writing in these examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When you explain the problem –&#xA;  evaluate it; &lt;strong&gt;say when/where/who for it&#xA;  is especially difficult&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The part in bold doesn't make much sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In any essay logical sequence of&#xA;  information is very important. Jumping&#xA;  from one idea to another it is very&#xA;  bad for you score, all ideas must be&#xA;  connected logically. Another important&#xA;  thing is “smart” words – try to use&#xA;  them as much as you can, it is also&#xA;  affects your score. Punctuation is&#xA;  important too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There should be a comma after &quot;essay&quot;; there should be an article before &quot;logical&quot;; &quot;jumping ... it is bad&quot; is wrong; &quot;you score&quot; should be &quot;your score&quot;; the comma splice after &quot;score&quot; is questionable; the comma after &quot;can&quot; should be a semicolon or something else; &quot;it is also affects&quot; is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T15:50:09.690" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T15:50:09.690" CommentCount="14" />
  <row Id="8720" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8726" CreationDate="2011-01-13T19:29:41.090" Score="1" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it okay to say &quot;What was the number of&quot; meaning &quot;How many&quot;? For example, &quot;What was the number of students that came here yesterday?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T19:48:07.043" Title="Is it okay to say &quot;What was the number of...&quot; meaning &quot;How many...&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="8721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8652" CreationDate="2011-01-13T19:30:45.880" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer to see the beauty in that which is grotesque&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3589" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T19:30:45.880" />
  <row Id="8722" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8728" CreationDate="2011-01-13T19:30:57.100" Score="2" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a recent Daily Show episode, Jon Stewart said this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can the rest of us get us one of them&#xA;  thousand foot gun free perimeters?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.businessinsider.com/jon-stewart-after-arizona-tragedy-its-time-for-battle-of-the-bans-2011-1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.businessinsider.com/jon-stewart-after-arizona-tragedy-its-time-for-battle-of-the-bans-2011-1&lt;/a&gt; &#xA;Position: 00:40&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a native speaker, so I am interested whether or not the above sentence is grammatically correct. Please be specific.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3411" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T19:58:17.920" Title="Is this correct: &quot;.. get us one of them thousand foot perimeters.&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8619" CreationDate="2011-01-13T19:41:01.600" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We all know English words are sometimes not pronounced as they're written, but we should also bear in mind that some words have multiple pronunciations. The right one depends entirely on context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a German friend whose spoken English was excellent. But once, when asked if he was happy, he replied, &quot;Yes, I'm quite *con*tent,&quot; with the stress on the first syllable. I said, &quot;you mean con*tent*!&quot; &quot;That's what I said&quot;. &quot;Well, not exactly...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Content (noun) has the stress on the first syllable, Content (adjective) on the second.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider a word like &quot;read&quot;. Pronounced &quot;red&quot; for past tenses, &quot;reed&quot; for present and future tenses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yesterday, I read a short book. (red - imperfect)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An tough day lies ahead. Today I read War and Peace (reed - present / implied future)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm exhausted. Today I read War and Peace (red!! - imperfect, but denoted by previous sentence)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tomorrow I will read the second half (reed - future)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;By tomorrow I will have read the whole book (future perfect, so red)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We know the pronunciation only by discerning the meaning of the passage. Sometimes not even the whole sentence can betray the meaning without the wider context as in examples 2 and 3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3484" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T19:41:01.600" />
  <row Id="8724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8722" CreationDate="2011-01-13T19:43:39.213" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. The pronoun that should be used is &quot;those&quot; as in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Get us one of those thousand-foot perimeters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using &lt;em&gt;them&lt;/em&gt; instead is bad grammar and sounds low-class. In fact, when people are trying to sound uneducated (as, say, in acting or humor), substituting &lt;em&gt;them&lt;/em&gt; for &lt;em&gt;those&lt;/em&gt; is probably the most common way of achieving the effect. John Stewart was obviously doing just that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T19:43:39.213" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8718" CreationDate="2011-01-13T19:45:40.847" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A modifier is one phrase or part of speech placed into another phrase to refine its meaning without changing its grammatical role or impact on parts of the sentence outside the phrase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The majority of) senators will be fired tomorrow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(A number of) students might not be able to take the test. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The range (of documents) could only increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More examples: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modifier_(grammar) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3484" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T19:45:40.847" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8720" CreationDate="2011-01-13T19:48:07.043" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's grammatically correct, but in an informal context, it would be more likely to say &quot;how many&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3591" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T19:48:07.043" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8727" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8729" CreationDate="2011-01-13T19:52:35.700" Score="2" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for the most appropriate term to refer to places/sites where you can do something specific. In my case it's going out for taking photos. Which of these two words would best suit that use? From a dictionary I've found that a site is more of a real estate or premises whereas a place is more neutrally a locality of anything. Or is there another word to use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to avoid the term &quot;location&quot;, too, because it's already part of the title. A subtitle would probably use another word for that to avoid repetition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3590" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T22:02:22.667" Title="&quot;Place&quot; or &quot;Site&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;term&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8722" CreationDate="2011-01-13T19:58:17.920" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can the rest of us get us one of them thousand foot gun free perimeters?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two things 'wrong' with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) 'get us' - where get is reflexive, we'd say &quot;get ourselves&quot;, not &quot;get us&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) 'one of them' - should be 'one of those'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't seen the clip, but knowing the Daily Show, it's important to understand that John Stewart wasn't 'trying to sound uneducated' (as Robusto has it); rather, he's mocking the uneducated by caricaturing how they might speak. My guess, given it's relating to gun control, is aping how a Texan red-neck might speak if he ever realised that gun ownership is ridiculous (I'm not stating my view; this is what Stewart is implying).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People do sometimes use 'them' for 'those' to appear less educated than they are, but this is not Stewart's intention here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3484" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T19:58:17.920" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8727" CreationDate="2011-01-13T20:05:00.037" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My choice would be &quot;site&quot;. &quot;Place&quot; is a neutral word; it would mostly be a spatial reference in this case. A site is rather a place that you think of in a physical sense; it includes an impression of the surrounding landscape or something like that. A construction site is the physical plot of land where the building is being constructed, including piles of sand and such; the place of a building makes me think of its place in the sense of coordinates or on a map.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For photography, the landscape and the surroundings are said to be important, so that &quot;site&quot; would seem a good choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the distinction is by no means clear cut or strict, and that both words have some related but different connotations as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T20:05:00.037" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8730" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8734" CreationDate="2011-01-13T20:10:24.663" Score="3" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct and why:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;sent out&lt;/strong&gt; the inquiry to the support team&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;sent&lt;/strong&gt; the inquiry to the support team&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though the question is specific to &quot;&lt;em&gt;sent out&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, please verify the correct usage usage of articles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T20:29:45.933" Title="I sent vs I sent out" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8727" CreationDate="2011-01-13T20:14:21.023" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might also consider &lt;em&gt;spot&lt;/em&gt;, which I've often seen in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodak_Photo_Spot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this context&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Spot&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;point&lt;/em&gt;, might work well if you are using a map.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T20:14:21.023" />
  <row Id="8732" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8733" CreationDate="2011-01-13T20:14:29.557" Score="1" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Actor Peter Fonda found dead body inside car&quot; - that's the title that Yahoo first chose for its news article &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_people_peter_fonda#mwpphu-container&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;confusing so many people&lt;/a&gt; Is this kind of title correct? (They just changed to &quot;Police: actor Peter Fonda finds dead body in car&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T18:25:03.290" Title="Is &quot;Actor Peter Fonda found dead body inside car&quot; correct?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;title&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8732" CreationDate="2011-01-13T20:16:02.007" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When writing for press, I was always taught to use present tense in titles to avoid this type of confusion. I would consider this an error on the writer's part, but Yahoo tends to take its articles from bloggers and other submitted materials, so you can't always rely on it to be in proper form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this sounds a little bit clearer: &quot;Actor Peter Fonda Finds Dead Body Inside Car&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR, if it was his body, then the past tense would be appropriate, because it doesn't say who found it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Body of Actor Peter Fonda Found Dead Inside Car&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3592" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T20:16:02.007" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8730" CreationDate="2011-01-13T20:22:39.250" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;send out&quot; is generally used when you send something in bulk to a group (often large) of people, as opposed to simply &quot;send&quot; which is generally used when issuing something to someone in particular, or to a certain place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, &quot;support team&quot; tends to refer to the support &lt;em&gt;department&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;its members&lt;/em&gt;, so I would say the second sentence makes more sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="196" LastEditorUserId="196" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T20:29:45.933" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T20:29:45.933" />
  <row Id="8735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8730" CreationDate="2011-01-13T20:23:03.313" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In  your first example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I sent out the inquiry to the support team.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;out&lt;/em&gt; is superfluous. You could tighten it up by just saying&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I sent the inquiry to the support team.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't have a specific party to whom you sent the inquiry, use &lt;em&gt;out&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I sent out the inquiry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has the connotation that you sent the inquiry out to multiple people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T20:23:03.313" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="8736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8730" CreationDate="2011-01-13T20:23:05.637" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a number of &lt;em&gt;verb&lt;/em&gt;+*out* constructions that can be generalized to the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;sent&lt;/em&gt; = &quot;sent to one or more people&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;sent out&lt;/em&gt; = &quot;sent to multiple people&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other examples: &lt;em&gt;pass/pass out&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;hand/hand out&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;give/give out&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;speak/speak out&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;out&lt;/em&gt;-form has this sense of going out to more than one person.  This does not work for all &lt;em&gt;verb+out&lt;/em&gt; forms, but there is a certain domain where this &lt;em&gt;out&lt;/em&gt; extension is productive in English in this sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T20:23:05.637" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8737" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-13T20:44:18.093" Score="0" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;While studying in my first term as EPIR student I had to prepare several papers. I gave those to my family and friends, to read and comment upon. I was surprised when they advised me to publish them. So here I am, thinking how to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;[politics]&#xA;&#xA;Did nuclear weapons bring the world to the edge of war or did they&#xA;help ensure the peace?&#xA;https://gist.github.com/c826c3597eeccfca835b&#xA;&#xA;Do you agree with the view that “democracy is the worst form of&#xA;government except all those other forms that have been tried from time&#xA;to time”?&#xA;https://gist.github.com/257ccf9db51bb22507d5&#xA;&#xA;[economics]&#xA;&#xA;Why did the most powerful computer in the world have an ashtray?&#xA;https://gist.github.com/21dc25762c1a66c8b35f&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering the length of those articles, I would agree to trim them before publishing. I would appreciate your help and/or criticism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gajus Gabrielius Kuizinas&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3594" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T20:44:18.093" ClosedDate="2011-01-13T23:48:45.673" Title="How do I get published? [politics, economics]" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="8738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8732" CreationDate="2011-01-13T21:06:59.330" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would omit the &quot;dead&quot; as unnecessary  because in news reporting of this kind, found bodies are always in the formerly alive condition. -- retired copy editor and headline writer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3596" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T21:06:59.330" />
  <row Id="8739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8672" CreationDate="2011-01-13T21:26:34.960" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In some usage circles, titles and other things that would properly be set in italic are translated to uppercase instead.  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Soandso Players will be performing THE TURN OF THE SCREW at the K---- Memorial Theater this August 30&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; and 31&lt;sup&gt;st&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am told that this is a carryover from typewritten manuscripts, particularly stage plays and the like, where upper case is used to distinguish character names from dialogue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1475" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T21:26:34.960" />
  <row Id="8740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8727" CreationDate="2011-01-13T22:02:22.667" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Be careful about using &quot;site&quot; if there's any chance that people could become confused about whether or not you mean &quot;website.&quot; If context will make it clear that it's not an online place, then I prefer site for the same reasons as @cerberus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T22:02:22.667" />
  <row Id="8741" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8742" CreationDate="2011-01-13T22:47:17.903" Score="10" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct form? Does context play a role?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there noticeable trends towards the awkward &quot;noone&quot; or is it just a by-product of careless orthography on the Internet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2466" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T00:09:21.110" Title="&quot;noone&quot;, &quot;no one&quot; or &quot;no-one&quot;?" Tags="&lt;orthography&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8741" CreationDate="2011-01-13T22:53:46.007" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/no%20one&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;no one&lt;/a&gt;&quot; is the correct one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/noone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;noone&lt;/a&gt; is the common misspelling of &quot;no one&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Noone&quot; is formed for consistency with&#xA;  &quot;nobody&quot;, and also its opposites&#xA;  &quot;anyone&quot; and &quot;everyone&quot;, but it is&#xA;  still considered nonstandard because&#xA;  of the doubled vowels creating a&#xA;  temptation to read and pronounce it as&#xA;  &quot;noon&quot; (/nuːn/).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/no-one&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;no-one&lt;/a&gt; is the alternative spelling of &quot;no one&quot;. I don't think it's widely used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T22:59:16.797" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T22:59:16.797" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="8743" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-13T22:56:21.133" Score="3" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;He thought that that might be awkward.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this sentence is a bit awkward, but is it grammatically incorrect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3604" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:37:54.513" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:37:54.513" Title="&quot;He thought that that might be awkward.&quot;" Tags="&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="8744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8642" CreationDate="2011-01-13T22:59:42.877" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sale Room: &quot;What&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Board Room: &quot;Where&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Conference room: &quot;When&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Server room: &quot;How&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Developer room: &quot;Why&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reception: &quot;Who&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Who's that up at Who?&quot;&lt;br&gt;&quot;I don't know, but he just went to Where.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&quot;Why?&quot;&lt;br&gt;&quot;No, Where.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&quot;Right, but why'd he go there?&quot;&lt;br&gt;&quot;Maybe for the meeting that starts at 3:00.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&quot;That's in When.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&quot;About ten minutes.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T22:59:42.877" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-13T22:59:42.877" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8743" CreationDate="2011-01-13T23:02:36.323" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may sound awkward, but it is grammatically &lt;strong&gt;correct&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answers to this question exhibit more awkward ones: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2459/awkward-sounding-but-grammatically-correct-sentences&quot;&gt;Awkward sounding but grammatically correct sentences?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T23:02:36.323" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1858" CreationDate="2011-01-13T23:52:02.947" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1236569#m_en_us1236569&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford&lt;/a&gt; defines 'couple' as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;two individuals of the same sort considered together&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first three definitions for 'couple' in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/couple&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; also refer to two of something.  The fourth definition they offer, is the 'few' definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The informal usage of 'couple' to mean 'few' is something that I consider to be incorrect, although I've no real basis for that belief.  I'd be very interested in the history of the word, and whether this latter meaning is something that has arisen lately, or something that has historical rooting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3604" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T23:52:02.947" />
  <row Id="8748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8732" CreationDate="2011-01-14T00:21:00.153" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Phrases like this are not unheard of; my favorite was something about the &lt;em&gt;old Norwegian history professor&lt;/em&gt;. Is the prof old or young? What does he teach? Is he Norwegian? Etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3608" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T00:21:00.153" />
  <row Id="8749" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8754" CreationDate="2011-01-14T00:48:28.797" Score="1" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;Further to my question about the usage of ‘Blood libels’ I posted yesterday, I found the following lead-copy of an article referring to Sara Palin’s rhetoric in today’s Washington Post. It seems the article is hinting a problem of her presidential quality in terms of choice of words. However, I don’t understand why on the earth , &lt;strong&gt;God&lt;/strong&gt; appears in a file of Founding Fathers, the Constitution and Ronald Reagan, even though it may be a rhetoric gimmick. It looks to me an odd combination (or comparison). Do you understand my question? Can somebody clarify?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;‘Sarah Palin's effort to defuse controversy backfires with 'blood libel' comment:&#xA;The presidential-quality stagecraft was there: an American flag over Sarah Palin's left shoulder and another over her heart. So was the rhetorical polish, with its invocations of the Founding Fathers and the Constitution, &lt;strong&gt;God&lt;/strong&gt; and Ronald Reagan.’ - Yoichi&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T12:58:22.393" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T12:58:22.393" Title="How could Ronald Reagan be compared with God in Sarah Palin's list of American authentic, and why?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8750" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8753" CreationDate="2011-01-14T00:51:17.397" Score="4" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to decry an act or object as having heathen-like qualities. I would call it *heathenous, except apparently this word is neither in the dictionaries nor oft-seen by google.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T21:54:10.953" Title="How to say *heathenous?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="8751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8749" CreationDate="2011-01-14T00:59:49.777" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(This is more a question about American culture than about English, but here goes.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason those items are listed together is because they are common objects of reverence in American civic culture. Linking one's cause to {the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, God, Ronald Reagan} is a way to establish yourself as authentically American and associate yourself with things that are positively regarded by many or most Americans. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T00:59:49.777" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="8752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8750" CreationDate="2011-01-14T01:02:13.797" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simply use &quot;heathen&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These heathen rites will bring down the wrath of the Flying Spaghetti Monster on our heads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't work so well as a predicate, adjective, however. In that context, there is no derivative of &lt;em&gt;heathen&lt;/em&gt; that will work, so I'd go with &lt;em&gt;pagan&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;? This belief is heathen. [Sounds very odd.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This belief is pagan. [Sounds fine, means almost the same thing.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T01:02:13.797" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8750" CreationDate="2011-01-14T01:09:49.537" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on the context in which you intend to use it, there are a few options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;heathen&lt;/strong&gt;: this is also an adjective, so it would seem the most obvious choice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;pagan&lt;/strong&gt;: denotes non-Christian or pre-Christian, with no strong positive or negative connotation per se; in modern times also of a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paganism#Neopaganism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;spiritualist movement&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;unchristian&lt;/strong&gt;: has a negative connotation: lacking all traditional Christian virtues, especially charity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;heretical&lt;/strong&gt;: denotes being antagonistic to standard thinking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;barbarous&lt;/strong&gt;: connotes cruelty and crudeness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;barbaric&lt;/strong&gt;: connotes being primitive, especially as regards gaudy decoration&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;barbarian&lt;/strong&gt;: most neutral word for being uncivilised&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T21:54:10.953" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T21:54:10.953" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8749" CreationDate="2011-01-14T01:30:49.420" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, I believe this &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; a question about rhetoric, not American culture. The reason the statement backfires is that it is unintentionally hilarious. Rhetorically speaking, in enumerating a list it is good practice to go from the least important item to the most important. That is called, colloquially, a &quot;build&quot;. In the Declaration of Independence, there are these words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And for the support of this Declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The build is from &lt;em&gt;lives&lt;/em&gt;, which Jefferson considered the least important item (probably out of a desire to demonstrate bravery), to &lt;em&gt;fortunes&lt;/em&gt; (in both senses: monetary and fate), and &lt;em&gt;our sacred honor&lt;/em&gt; (above which there was nothing of more importance that he could imagine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sarah Palin's list (if that is the actual order), puts the Founding Fathers and the Constitution first (least important). God comes in second. Who comes in third, as most important? Why, Ronald Reagan. He's apparently more important than God and our Constitution in her mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's what's funny about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T01:30:49.420" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8755" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-14T01:34:16.197" Score="4" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between &lt;code&gt;yet another&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;another&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2112" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T01:48:16.093" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T01:48:16.093" Title="What's the difference between &quot;yet another&quot; and &quot;another&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8755" CreationDate="2011-01-14T01:40:04.747" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;yet another&lt;/code&gt; is more emphatic. It implies that the list of things being counted is getting really long, and suggests a certain amount of impatience or irritation on the part of the speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T01:40:04.747" />
  <row Id="8757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1858" CreationDate="2011-01-14T02:30:30.793" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never encountered anybody who thinks that &quot;couple&quot; doesn't even begin until 4!  The word literally means 2, though there are many people (myself included) who accept a little ambiguity.  If you say &quot;I'll call you back in a couple days&quot; and you call tomorrow, or in three days, I won't be angry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3610" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T02:30:30.793" />
  <row Id="8758" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8760" CreationDate="2011-01-14T02:36:07.447" Score="6" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was learning English back in school (in the nineties), there were &lt;em&gt;pupils&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;teachers&lt;/em&gt;. Now there seem to be &lt;em&gt;students&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;professors&lt;/em&gt;, where a &quot;professor&quot; can be anyone who happens to teach people in a school environment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe this strikes me as odd because of the fact that both &quot;Student&quot; and &quot;Professor&quot; are used in German, too. However, &quot;Student&quot; refers to someone at studying at a university, and &quot;Professor&quot; strictly is reserved for someone who has earned a habilitation or has been appointed to a professorship (possibly &lt;em&gt;honoris causa&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Has that strict use ever been the prevalent case with English? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it the difference between AE and BE usage?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Or is it just to euphemism-creep?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2466" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T15:32:42.473" Title="Professors and Students" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;euphemisms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8758" CreationDate="2011-01-14T02:39:31.653" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The terms &lt;em&gt;pupil&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;teacher&lt;/em&gt; usually apply to elementary school through high school. &lt;em&gt;Students&lt;/em&gt; can be any level, but you don't get &lt;em&gt;professors&lt;/em&gt; until you get to college.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T02:39:31.653" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8758" CreationDate="2011-01-14T02:43:01.153" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the most general sense, here's the breakdown:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;primary/elementary school: &lt;em&gt;pupils/students&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;teachers&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;secondary/middle/high school: &lt;em&gt;students&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;teachers&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;university/college: &lt;em&gt;students&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;lecturers/instructors/professors&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A high school teacher is certainly not a professor. Sometimes, college/university professors are referred to as &lt;em&gt;teachers&lt;/em&gt; in a very general sense. In the US, &lt;em&gt;pupil&lt;/em&gt; is not often used. This is more common in Commonwealth countries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T02:43:01.153" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="8761" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8762" CreationDate="2011-01-14T04:06:35.540" Score="3" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can &quot;run-through&quot; be possibly a noun? Is it possible at all? If yes, can you, please, come up with a sentence that would contain this noun? Can you also, please,  describe a situation, in which that sentence would naturally apply? Please note that I don't need those cases, in which &quot;run-through&quot; would act more like a modifier to another word (&quot;He chose a run-through mode for his system&quot;, &quot;There is a need in a run-through program&quot;, &quot;Another run-through strategy will ruin the whole project&quot;, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T04:26:22.240" Title="Can &quot;run-through&quot; be possibly a noun?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8761" CreationDate="2011-01-14T04:25:30.300" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We were all off book so we did a run-through of the entire script.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an acting term. A &quot;run-through&quot; is a preliminary practice performance of a play, done complete without interruption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: &quot;off book&quot; means an actor has his/her lines committed to memory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T04:25:30.300" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8761" CreationDate="2011-01-14T04:26:22.240" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The night before her big speech, Carla gave it one last run-through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T04:26:22.240" />
  <row Id="8764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8662" CreationDate="2011-01-14T04:33:49.847" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Answer&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;School &lt;strong&gt;:&lt;/strong&gt; Pupils &lt;strong&gt;::&lt;/strong&gt; Army &lt;strong&gt;:&lt;/strong&gt; Citizens (or Constituents)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Explanation&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A school provides a service for its pupils.  (it teaches them)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;An army provides a service for its citizens/constituents.  (it protects them)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess the argument for &quot;soldier&quot; is that students are a subset of the school and soldiers are a subset of an army. I guess you could also say that students work under the supervision of a school and soldiers work under the supervision of an army. I think &quot;citizen&quot; is a little stronger though.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3294" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T04:33:49.847" />
  <row Id="8765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8755" CreationDate="2011-01-14T04:38:59.813" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You get the first one (of whatever it is that is under discussion), then you get another of them, and then you get yet another of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, it could be argued that 'yet another' implies at least the third.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could also mean that something is happening tediously often:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;First one interruption, then another, and another, and then yet another.  Aaargh!  How am I meant to get any work done?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastEditorUserId="2386" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T04:44:29.313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T04:44:29.313" />
  <row Id="8766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6632" CreationDate="2011-01-14T04:43:21.500" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I prefer using the British logic for placing periods even though I'm not only American, but I live in Texas.  Since I don't want to portray myself as an ignorant person, I think a lot of textual decency.  While I place my periods outside the quotation marks, I'm left feeling haunted by the idea that an American might think I'm the ignorant one since I'm putting periods after closing quotes when the text being quoted is part of the structure of the sentence itself, not a dialogue in a story nor a quotation of a complete sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3614" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T04:43:21.500" />
  <row Id="8767" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8772" CreationDate="2011-01-14T05:00:17.367" Score="7" ViewCount="320" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hope this is not off-topic. Why are some Roberts called Bobs for short? Similarly there are Johns called Jacks. What is the history or reason for this practice in changing the English names of people? Please add anymore you know of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T07:56:03.873" Title="Changes in English names of people" Tags="&lt;names&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8642" CreationDate="2011-01-14T05:20:40.377" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;i work at an LA music company whose conference rooms are named after famous local music clubs: the troubadour, roxy, house of blues, etc. maybe you can use landmarks, too:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sales room - Kovalam&lt;br&gt;&#xA;board room - Cherai&lt;br&gt;&#xA;conference room - Varkala&lt;br&gt;&#xA;server room - Kappad&lt;br&gt;&#xA;developer room - Muzhappilangad &lt;br&gt;&#xA;reception - Bekal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or famous kochiites: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sales room - Sreeshanth&lt;br&gt;&#xA;board room - Menon&lt;br&gt;&#xA;conference room - Revath&lt;br&gt;&#xA;server room - Anand Jon&lt;br&gt;&#xA;developer room - Augustine Joseph&lt;br&gt;&#xA;reception - Yesudas&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2726" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T05:20:40.377" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-14T05:20:40.377" />
  <row Id="8769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8767" CreationDate="2011-01-14T05:47:01.280" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are commonly referred to as nick-names. A nick-name is typically a shorter, more personal, and less formal version of someone's name. They are generally a shortened, but phonetically similar version of the original name. Many standard English names have garnered popular nick-names over the years. Some others:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;Christopher -&gt; Chris&#xA;Richard -&gt; Dick, Rick&#xA;Charles -&gt; Chuck, Charlie&#xA;Donald -&gt; Don&#xA;Stephen -&gt; Steve&#xA;Patrick -&gt; Pat&#xA;Ronald -&gt; Ron&#xA;Edward -&gt; Ed&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(being a guy, I'm more familiar with the male names, but there are many more for women as well)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3549" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T05:47:01.280" />
  <row Id="8770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8767" CreationDate="2011-01-14T06:34:18.310" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Elizabeth - Liz, Lizzie, Beth, Betty&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Patricia - Tricia, Trish&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Michael - Mike, Mikey&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Robert - Rob, Bob, Bobby&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jacob - Jake&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;William - Will, Bill, Billy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Katherine - Kate, Kathy, Katy, Kat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caitlin - Kate (and all the assorted spellings: Cait, Kate, Kait, Cate, etc)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jennifer - Jen/Jenn, Jenny, Jenna&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pamela - Pam, Pammy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tamara - Tammy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Christina/Christine - Christy, Chrissy, Chris&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jillian - Jill&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allison - Alli/Alley/Ali&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Megan - Meg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;James - Jim&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Debra - Deb, Debbie&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jessica - Jess, Jessie&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Danielle - Dani&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Angela - Angie, Ang&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Katrina - Trina&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nicole - Nicky &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nicholas - Nick&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Samuel - Sam, Sammy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stephanie - Steph&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Andrew - Andy, Drew&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Amanda - Manda, Mandy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Joshua - Josh&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kimberly - Kim&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Matthew - Matt&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jeffrey - Jeff&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Joseph - Joe&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Janet - Jan&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rebecca - Becka, Becky&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Michelle - Shelly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Benjamin - Ben, Jamie&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Joanna - Jo&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kristen - Krissy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thomas - Tom, Tommy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Margaret - Maggie&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(There are plenty more...these are just the ones that I saw while scrolling through my Facebook feed.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, nicknames are a (usually) shorter, more familiar form of a name, usually used by friends and family. Some people will ask you to call them a nickname - perhaps to differentiate from a relative with the same name, because they do not like their given name, because that is how people in your shared circle of acquaintances know them, or to indicate that they feel a sense of familiarity with you (for example: strangers, acquaintances, coworkers and the like call me Bridget, but my family often shortens my name to Bri [pronounced Bree] or Bridey [an Irish diminutive form of my name] or B, my gamer college friends call me Bizzit or Biz [a corruption of my name from a sleep-deprived late night of gaming that just sort of stuck], my boyfriend's brother calls me Bridgey because he thinks it's funny, another friend calls me Babs because those are my initials...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While someone may think it's funny to call someone by a certain name (whether it's a given name or a diminutive form of their name that they dislike), it's usually best to ask if they would prefer a nickname before simply calling them by one, especially if you don't know someone very well. A more formal, conservative Michael may think you to be rude if you call him Mike (or god forbid, Mikey.) It's usually best to call someone by the name that they use to introduce themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3551" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T06:34:18.310" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8767" CreationDate="2011-01-14T07:56:03.873" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypocorism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hypocorism&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A hypocorism is a shorter form of a&#xA;  word or given name, for example, when&#xA;  used in more intimate situations as a&#xA;  nickname or term of endearment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English forms nicknames in a variety of manners. Shortening, often to the first syllable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abraham → Abe&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anthony → Tony&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Benjamin, Benedict → Ben, Benny&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Carolyn → Carol, Lyn, Carrie/Cary&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Christopher → Chris, Criffer, Topher&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deborah → Deb, Debby&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elizabeth → Eliza, Libby, Liz, Lizzy, Lisa, Beth, Bess&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fiona → Fi&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gregory → Greg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jacob → Jake&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jonathan → Jon, John, Nathan&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Joseph → Joe, Joey&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Katherine → Kate, Katy, Kathy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Katrina → Kat, Trina&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Matthew → Matt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Megan → Meg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nathan, Nathaniel → Nat, Nate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peter → Pete, Petey&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Priscilla → Cilla, Priss, Cilly, Prissy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Raymond → Ray&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Robert → Rob, Bert, Bob&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Samuel, Samantha → Sam, Sammy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stephanie → Steph, Annie, Stephy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Victoria → Tori, Vick, Vicky&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zachary → Zach&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Addition of the diminutive suffix, usually -ie or -y. It is often added to the end of an already shortened name. This suffix connotes smallness or endearment. Although most often applied to the names of children, it is not uncommon for an adult to be referred to by the diminutive, especially by family, friends and close acquaintances:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Alexander, Alexandra → Sandy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anne → Annie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Arthur, Arturo → Art → Artie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Andrew → Andy → Drew&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barnaby → Barney&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Daniel → Dan → Danny&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;David → Dave → Davy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dennis → Denny&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Edwin, Edward, Edmund → Ed → Eddie, Eddy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elaine → Lainie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Franklin→ Frank → Frankie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;George → Georgie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Isabella → Izzy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;James → Jamie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jessica → Jess → Jessie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Joel, Joseph → Joe → Joey&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jonathan → Jon, John → Jonnie, Johnnie, Johnny&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Katherine → Katie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kimberly → Kim → Kimmy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kenneth → Ken → Kenny&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lawrence → Larry&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Louis → Lou → Louie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nicholas → Nick → Nicky&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Oliver → Ollie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ronald → Ron → Ronnie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rosemary → Rose → Rosie/Rosy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stephen → Steve → Stevie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Susan → Sue → Susie, Suzy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thomas → Tom → Tommy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Timothy → Tim → Timmy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tobias → Toby&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;William → Will, Bill, Willie, Willy, Billy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A short form that differs significantly from the name:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barbara → Babs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Charles → Chuck → Chaz → Chicka&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dorothy → Dot, Dottie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Edward → Ted, Teddy (e.g. Edward &quot;Ted&quot; Kennedy)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eleanor, Helen → Nell, Nellie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Elizabeth → Bess, Bessie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gerald → Jerry&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Henry → Hal, Hank, Harry&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;James → Jim → Jimbo, Jimmy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;John → Jack&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Katherine → Kitty&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Margaret → Peggy, Peg, Meg&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Philippa → Pippa, Pip or Pippy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Richard → Dick&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sarah → Sally&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Theodore → Ted, Teddy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Virginia → Ginger, Ginny&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T07:56:03.873" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8716" CreationDate="2011-01-14T09:28:39.437" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, note that &quot;x is y&quot; is not always logically equivalent to &quot;y is x&quot;. For example, &quot;Fools are my friends&quot; is different from &quot;My friends are fools&quot; (because the first allows wise men to be my friends too, whereas the second does not); &quot;All men are mortals&quot; is very different from &quot;Mortals are all men&quot; :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, sometimes there is an equivalence, and some ideas can be expressed either way. In these cases the verb will agree with whichever you choose to make the subject (&quot;One side-effect is headaches&quot;; &quot;Headaches are one side-effect&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note that in your examples, &quot;**Our goal were the mountains&quot; is wrong - in standard writing it should always be &quot;Our goal was (complement)&quot;. But you could say &quot;The mountains were our goal&quot;, with the same basic meaning but different emphasis.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Addressing your second question: wholesale inversion of a &quot;to be&quot; sentence (where a sentence of the form &quot;noun copula complement&quot; changes to &quot;complement copula noun&quot;) is rare, except for in specific situations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Questions (because English likes the question word to go first: &quot;Who is Fred? Fred is the tall man&quot;). The inversion always happens unless there's a specific reason not to (perhaps expressing surprise - &quot;He's &lt;em&gt;whose&lt;/em&gt; brother?&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Certain comparative expressions (&quot;Better still are the ones that follow&quot;). The inversion here is optional (&quot;The ones that follow are better still&quot; is fine too).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Expressions describing location. The simplest in this category are &quot;There is...&quot;, &quot;Here are...&quot; and friends, but I'd also include in this category &quot;Next to my house are two restaurants&quot;, &quot;Found in every city are cars and buses&quot;. This inversion is optional.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Poetic effect - either for emphasis, or for reasons of metre/rhyme (&quot;Blessed are the meek&quot; - the natural phrasing is &quot;The meek are blessed&quot;; the inversion serves to imply a very great level of blessedness; &quot;Old King Cole was a merry old soul, and &lt;em&gt;a merry old soul was he&lt;/em&gt;&quot; - the inversion is clearly unnecessary but nicely fills up the line)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that in these situations (except possibly the last), it is usually very clear from the construction that the word or phrase at the start of the sentence is not the subject - often because it's an adjective or adverb phrase. In situations where the distinction is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; so clear - such as the examples you provided - inversion will rarely if ever be used (since the sentence tends to end up sounding plain wrong, rather than inverted).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do note that there are a large number of situations where a slightly different form of inversion (&quot;noun verb complement&quot; changing to &quot;verb noun complement&quot;) is used - where it is forced or allowed by the use of certain forms or expressions. Examples such as &quot;Is he tall?&quot;, &quot;Never am I angry&quot; are examples of this second kind. I won't attempt to enumerate these, because for one thing there are a lot of them, and for another I don't think the uncertainty you're concerned with arises here. In any case, here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.testmagic.com/grammar/explanations/inversion.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;list of uses of inversion&lt;/a&gt;, that contains both types.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;[Edit to respond to edit in question]&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to agree with Fowler about the time periods: the &quot;six months&quot; is considered a single unit, so the singular is used; this is common when referring to measured quantities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ten pounds is a small amount to pay.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Two litres is more than enough.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can tell that this is not inversion by using a verb where the ambiguity doesn't arise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Six months seems like an eternity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Five dollars buys me a very nice lunch.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can construe the sentence like Fowler as meaning &quot;A period of ...&quot;, &quot;An amount of ...&quot;, or equivalently by considering the phrase as meaning &quot;Six months of time&quot;, &quot;Five pounds of money&quot;; mentioning the uncountable noun makes the reason for the singular clearer, and distinguishes this case from the &quot;light of the stars&quot; case, where there's no obvious way to do the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The plural can sometimes also be used in these cases, giving a sense of referring to each of the individual items mentioned &quot;The six months are dragging on slowly&quot; emphasises that every single one of them is felt.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastEditorUserId="3405" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T13:16:59.820" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T13:16:59.820" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8642" CreationDate="2011-01-14T09:32:21.103" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In our office, we had a similar conundrum and we decided to turn the pages of history. We opted for names of kingdoms and ancient centers of learning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indraprastha&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nalanda&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Takshashila &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and so forth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess it makes us feel &quot;royal&quot; entering a conference/meeting room named after mighty kingdoms, though it was probably never the intention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1154" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T09:32:21.103" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-14T09:32:21.103" />
  <row Id="8776" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8779" CreationDate="2011-01-14T09:45:53.220" Score="2" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;The context of this is in the writing a technical document. The statement I am writing is something of the ilk:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The package then updates the [requisite/required] number of tables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering which is more appropriate here, and more broadly, which circumstances each should be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3477" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T10:50:19.640" Title="Under what circumstances should I use 'requisite' and 'required'?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8777" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-14T09:51:38.453" Score="13" ViewCount="961" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can you explain that this double negation is not a double negation? Is there a rule in English about this kind of sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;PS / Do I have to mention Pink Floyd Copyright ? :-)&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit : Since there are a lot of Pink Floyd related explanation, I'll bring a Freddy Mercury one : &quot;&lt;em&gt;I don't have time for no monkey business&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, which I also understand as &quot;I don't have time for monkey business&quot;. Am I right ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1317" LastEditorUserId="1317" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T14:37:22.000" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T14:37:22.000" Title="&quot;We don't need no education&quot;" Tags="&lt;double-negation&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="8778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8777" CreationDate="2011-01-14T10:18:30.970" Score="36" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doubled negatives are often used casually in certain dialects to indicate &lt;em&gt;negative concord&lt;/em&gt;, an intensification of negation rather than an inversion of it. This typically happens when both words involved are simple negatives, and is most common with &lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt; standing in for &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; alongside &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you can safely assume that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He isn't &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; going to the concert.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is double negation proper, because it has emphasis, as is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She wasn't unimpressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;because this is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litotes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;litotes&lt;/a&gt;, whereas&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I ain't no hillbilly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is negative concord, because it's obviously casual, and uses &lt;em&gt;ain't no&lt;/em&gt; in place of &lt;em&gt;am no&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;am not a&lt;/em&gt;. (It's also a patent lie, but that's beside the point.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastEditorUserId="1506" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T23:05:40.550" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T23:05:40.550" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="8779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8776" CreationDate="2011-01-14T10:18:51.653" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Required&lt;/em&gt; is a synonym of &lt;em&gt;requisite&lt;/em&gt; (see the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/requisite?show=0&amp;amp;t=1294999303&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;synonym list for requisite from the Merriam-Webster dictionary&lt;/a&gt;, for example). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the usage, it is &lt;em&gt;required&lt;/em&gt; that is in general used in this kind of context. Compare the Google result counts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;required number of tables&quot; = 25,700 results &#xA;&quot;requisite number of tables&quot; = 2,890 results&#xA;&#xA;&quot;required database tables&quot; = 155,000 results&#xA;&quot;requisite database tables&quot; = 760 results&#xA;&#xA;&quot;required form fields&quot; = 534,000 results&#xA;&quot;requisite form fields&quot; = 6 results&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, it seems that in any context &lt;em&gt;required&lt;/em&gt; is more used than &lt;em&gt;requisite&lt;/em&gt;. The table below is from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA)&lt;/a&gt;. It shows the number of occurrences of each word (&lt;em&gt;requisite&lt;/em&gt; as W1 and &lt;em&gt;required&lt;/em&gt; as W2) next to other words. In all cases, &lt;em&gt;required&lt;/em&gt; occurs more than &lt;em&gt;requisite&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/3qlzc.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T10:50:19.640" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T10:50:19.640" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8777" CreationDate="2011-01-14T10:47:08.527" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a double negation, but it's unintentional (or rather supposed to sound unintentional), so the meaning is still a single negation. The sentence is grammatically correct, but incorrect in the sense that the actual meaning is not what was intended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The strict meaning of the sentence is the double negation, but as it's obviously a mistake you interpret the intention of the sentence instead, which is the single negation. The obvious difference between the actual meaning and the intended meaning is used here to demonstrate a lack of education.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T10:47:08.527" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8755" CreationDate="2011-01-14T12:28:39.703" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As explained by @JSBangs and @Jonathan, &quot;yet another&quot; is used as an emphases on the fact that there were many more before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often it can be used as an expression of the exasperation to see something for the penultimate times&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yet another internet meme...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, it is also used at &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yet_another&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the beginning of acronyms&lt;/a&gt; designated something that was made so much time that finding an original name is quite difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T12:28:39.703" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8777" CreationDate="2011-01-14T12:32:55.940" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It’s worth noting that this “inverts” the sense only in &lt;em&gt;Standard Written English&lt;/em&gt;. In &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_Vernacular_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;AAVE&lt;/a&gt; and other vernaculars this is not only grammatically correct, it’s also &lt;strong&gt;semantically correct&lt;/strong&gt;, i.e. the normal negation is in some contexts always created via double negation which does &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; resolve to a positive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same is true for many other languages: if you’re not convinced that a vernacular is a valid grammatical description (but from a linguistic point of view, it is!), take French, where double negative is &lt;em&gt;mandatory&lt;/em&gt; (most of the time) by prescribed grammar rules: to negate a verb, it is embedded into “ne … pas” (or archaically “ne … point”) which are affix and suffix and both indicate negation, even when used in isolation (which does happen occasionally).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Since this has garnered so many upvotes, let me give credit where credit is due, and also a reading suggestion: This information is from Steven Pinker’s excellent book &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0061336467&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Language Instinct&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1637" LastEditorUserId="1637" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T16:46:11.013" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T16:46:11.013" />
  <row Id="8783" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-14T12:47:23.883" Score="6" ViewCount="272" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I (male) have a very good (female) friend over in the south-western United States that I met one year ago and we're exchanging mails or messages from time to time. We're both not older than 22 and I consider her a very open person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would you suggest to end the mails with? It shouldn't sound too stiff, but also not too intimate. I definitely don't want to send &quot;Kind regards&quot;, but also no &quot;kisses&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, I'd like to know if &quot;cheers&quot; is possible with US-American people?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3619" LastEditorUserId="3619" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T13:52:21.647" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T18:41:08.953" Title="Greeting a close friend (United States)" Tags="&lt;greetings&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8783" CreationDate="2011-01-14T13:08:43.383" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't have to end an email the way you end a letter. It doesn't require a &quot;complimentary closing&quot; such as &quot;Kind regards&quot; or &quot;Sincerely&quot;. Such formality seems odd in emails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You don't even have to use your name, since the recipient already knows who wrote it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest a single short sentence, something like: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I really hope to see you soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was great talking with you the other day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you must have a complimentary closing, maybe something like a simple &quot;Best&quot; or &quot;Yours&quot; ... but I have to say, even these sound a little stilted for the format.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T13:08:43.383" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="8785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8783" CreationDate="2011-01-14T13:31:32.747" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many possible answers (things that come to mind that people have used in emails to me, that I think might be suitable in your situation, include &quot;Bye for now&quot;, &quot;Later&quot;, &quot;Cheers&quot;, &quot;Ciao&quot;, or even just signing your name).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But a good rule of thumb would be to follow what your correspondent does - so for example, if she says &quot;Regards&quot;, I'd use that too :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T13:31:32.747" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="8786" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8787" CreationDate="2011-01-14T13:32:55.960" Score="2" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the Blomberg &lt;a href=&quot;http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&amp;amp;sid=aN4huHeIIi1Q&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ah, yes. &lt;strong&gt;They have shed all gentlemanly reticence over dragging former&lt;/strong&gt; allies into court. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not quite sure what is the meaning of the text in bold. thx &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T13:49:07.123" Title="Meaing of &quot;They have shed all gentlemanly reticence&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8786" CreationDate="2011-01-14T13:49:07.123" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this sentence, the term &quot;gentlemanly reticence&quot; would be a normal reluctance amongst gentlemen to do something - in this case: drag their former allies into court.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dragging ones allies into court would normally not be seen as a particularly moral or proper thing to do, and therefore these gentlemen (who would wish to be seen as moral and proper)  would be reluctant to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in this case, the gentlemen in question &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; decided to bring their former allies into court, and so could be said to have &quot;given up their desire to act as gentlemen&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there we go: to &quot;shed ones gentlemanly reticence to do something&quot; is a formal (and somewhat archaic) way of saying that these gentlemen don't mind sacrificing a bit of their reputation (presumably if it benefits them in someway, which, from the article it seems it will). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3320" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T13:49:07.123" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8788" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8789" CreationDate="2011-01-14T14:02:43.587" Score="3" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do we need preposition &lt;strong&gt;&quot;of&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; after a &lt;strong&gt;year&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Freud is a visitor at James’s Sussex residence, Lamb House, in the year 1908&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T14:32:49.800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T17:32:16.813" Title="&quot;in the year 1908&quot; or &quot;in the year of 1908&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8788" CreationDate="2011-01-14T14:14:58.170" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's technically acceptable either way, but the preferred use is &quot;in the year 1908&quot;. The word 'of' is used to indicate derivation, origin, or source, and it's obvious in this sentence which year is being referenced. If you're a fan of economy of langauge, you can even omit &quot;the year&quot; to produce a less-antiquated form of speaking:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Freud is a visitor at James's Sussex residence, Lamb House, in 1908.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Again, it's not only obvious but assumed that you're talking about the year 1908 AD)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question...are you quoting something or did you write that sentence? If you wrote it, consider that &quot;Freud is...&quot; probably should be changed to &quot;Freud was...&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3592" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T14:14:58.170" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7893" CreationDate="2011-01-14T14:50:12.480" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Constructions using the equivalent of &quot;do&quot; as an auxiliary for reasons of emphasis or particular meanings are known in other languages. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example that comes to mind is Middle Welsh: In the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rhyddiaithganoloesol.caerdydd.ac.uk/en/ms-page.php?ms=Pen4&amp;amp;page=75v&amp;amp;col=436&amp;amp;line=11&amp;amp;word=choet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mabinogion&lt;/a&gt;, for example the phrase &quot;oruc ... a&quot; occurs often before another verb, and means &quot;did and ...&quot; or &quot;made and ...&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also theorised that the &quot;-d/t&quot; ending of weak Germanic past tenses (eg &quot;walked&quot;) is a remnant of an ancestor of &quot;did&quot;, so &quot;walked&quot; comes originally from the collocation &quot;walk did&quot; (not in English but in an ancestor language). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In modern standard English we use &quot;do&quot; in the affirmative only for emphasis or (&quot;I &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; want it&quot;), but in some dialects, and in older forms (eg Shakespeare), it is more common. In fact in Shakespeare, we find both affirmative and negative sentences with and without &quot;do&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a theory about why &quot;do&quot; has spread to be compulsory in the negative in modern English: I think that &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jespersen%27s_Cycle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jespersen's Cycle&lt;/a&gt; operated to create an anomalous Head-modifier construction (&quot;I go not&quot;, where the &quot;not&quot; follows the head word &quot;go&quot;), and the modern form has spread because it is more normal in English constructions for the modifier to precede the head (&quot;I don't go&quot;). I've not seen this idea suggested anywhere else, though the application of Jespersen's Cycle to Old English is well established.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T14:50:12.480" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8791" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8795" CreationDate="2011-01-14T14:57:25.443" Score="5" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every year new slang words enter the popular lexicon but which ones actually 'stick'? Every since I can remember, 'cool' has been an acceptable word whereas 'groovy' passed out of usage in the 70s. Is there some informal criteria that seems to govern which words remain in popular usage and which pass as a fashion item. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T16:31:33.470" Title="Long lived slang" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8791" CreationDate="2011-01-14T15:20:49.293" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the process can't really be pinned down. Sometimes a word can fall out of fashion and make a comeback a generation or two later. Sometimes a word becomes so popular it never seems unfashionable, and indeed its origins as a colloquialism will be forgotten. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;em&gt;groovy&lt;/em&gt; could easily have become as acceptable or popular as &lt;em&gt;cool&lt;/em&gt;, but because it was overly tied to an era and a culture specific to that era, it now &quot;sounds&quot; dated. It basically became shorthand to mock hippies and so sounds dated to our ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the 1880s, &lt;em&gt;groovy&lt;/em&gt; meant &quot;of settled habits or rutty mind&quot; ie. stuck in a rut. In the 1940s it was used when speaking of jazz musicians being &quot;in the groove.&quot; So it passed from beatnik culture to hippy culture to mean &quot;a profound pleasure&quot; or &quot;true joy.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;em&gt;in the groove&lt;/em&gt; is still quite acceptable, if not popular, meaning &quot;making good progress&quot; so perhaps in time &lt;em&gt;groovy&lt;/em&gt; will still make a comeback.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cool&lt;/em&gt; is another word that became popular when describing Jazz music or musicians. Why it became less &quot;dated&quot; sounding than &lt;em&gt;groovy&lt;/em&gt; is just a quirk of history. Who knows, perhaps in a few decades &quot;cool&quot; will sound too tied to hip-hop music/culture and if that falls out of popularity it will sound just as dated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastEditorUserId="1871" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T15:31:59.943" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T15:31:59.943" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="8793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8758" CreationDate="2011-01-14T15:32:42.473" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term &quot;professor&quot; to mean a teacher is more common in the US than the UK- here even in a university setting you are as likely to talk about a lecturer as a professor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since university I have always talked about it in terms of students and teachers or instructors when I have been learning from people. Pupil, although quite correct, carries more of an overtone of a schoolchild.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T15:32:42.473" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8732" CreationDate="2011-01-14T16:25:27.010" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The headline makes sense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(Actor Peter Fonda) found [a]  (dead body inside [a] car)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However it appears to be a garden-path sentence (or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash_blossom#In_headlines&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Crash Blossom&lt;/a&gt;).  This is because you first read it as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(Actor Peter Fonda found dead) ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and it isn't until you get to &quot;body&quot; that you have to go back and re-analyze the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it had a comma, then the meaning would change:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Actor Peter Fonda found dead, body inside car&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that case Peter Fonda is dead and his body is inside a car. I'd say that without that comma you can't infer that meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T16:25:27.010" />
  <row Id="8795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8791" CreationDate="2011-01-14T16:31:33.470" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always thought that slang would be passed from generation 1 to generation 2 if the younger people looked up to the older people in a positive sense en mass. Even if the kids don't want to be just like them when they grow up, the vernacular sticks and is still acceptable among generation 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like the example in a comment on this page where he says&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Could the media have a place here. When I was a kid, 'The Fonz' in 'Happy Days' was cool but hippies were 'groovy'? Who doesn't want to be The Fonz? - dave&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next generation (Gen X, right?) still used &quot;cool&quot; because the Fonz and those people like him were still cool (not in the sense of slicking their hair back and walking with their thumbs out, but just the 'who cares what you think, this is what i do' attitude), whereas the hippies were pretty much the anti-metal. Hair bands and punks reigned supreme, but the rebellious attitude (which was effectively nonexistent for society's kids as a whole until the 60s) carried on. &quot;Cool&quot; was still cool. Generation X rebelled even against the hippies, but they may have been able to relate to the somewhat aggressive, always ignorant &quot;cool&quot; rebel of the previous generation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same goes for the next generation. The kids you see in high school today are still using &quot;cool&quot; because it's still &quot;cool&quot; to be that slightly aggressive rebel who doesn't always listen to the authority. By now, the kid who outwardly defies all authority is pegged as an anarchist or a weirdo, and in societal terms, usually doesn't get the &quot;cool&quot; recognition (they were the groovy ones of the 60s).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In between, you have brothers and sisters, cousins, etc. of the sparks of each generation, and of course those trends in slang will stay at least somewhat hip (well, not all the time) because big brother or big sister has been using them since these kids were crawling. This keeps those words thriving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's just one long-winded example of how you can keep slang sticking in the vernacular through the ages. You can probably do this kind of tracing with any time-tested slang that is still pretty widely used today (booze, bitch, hot (in terms of a woman's attractiveness, not for everything under the sun (no pun intended) as paris hilton would use it), etc...), but I think you'll find that after a third generation of usage, it becomes almost acceptable to use in place of the word that it once substituted, which could be why those bright bulbs over at OED wait for a word to be used for, what, 5 or 10 years before it is added into the dictionary, and by then it's really not slang anymore at all (or is it?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask a 16 year old kid what he considers slang to be and you'll probably be hearing a lot of new words (bring your pen and paper to look them up later)...my bet is you won't hear &quot;cool&quot; even though it's still used a lot today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3592" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T16:31:33.470" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8709" CreationDate="2011-01-14T16:33:39.907" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Several people have mentioned that &quot;least&quot; is the superlative of &quot;little&quot;. Historically that true, but I suggest that in modern English (certainly in my idiolect), it is nearly always restricted to modifying another adjective or adverb, or as a pronoun in its own right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typical uses are &quot;the least likely answer&quot;, &quot;the least hungry of us&quot; (modifying) and &quot;the least I can do&quot;, &quot;the least of our troubles&quot; (pronoun). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Uses such as &quot;the least number&quot;, &quot;the least child in the family&quot;, &quot;the least of my people&quot; are unusual or archaic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T16:33:39.907" />
  <row Id="8797" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-14T17:18:53.430" Score="0" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;1) Is it Ok to leave the initials or would you drop them? Writing his name in full seems odd since it isn't Gagarin who is the point of discussion.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2) Is it Gagarin's or Gagarin? Is there any difference between the use of the possessive case in titles and not, with well-known names and not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3570" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T17:32:44.813" Title="J.A. Gagarin's flight vs J.A. Gagarin flight" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;names&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8788" CreationDate="2011-01-14T17:32:16.813" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When giving the year by its date, “of” should be omitted:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;George Washington was born in the year 1732.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is correct; ‘the year of 1732’ is unusual in modern usage, and I think in most historical usage too.  Use of ‘the year’ is also optional here: in modern usage, ‘…in 1732’ would be more common, but ‘the year’ adds emphasis and formality; in historical usage ‘…the year 1732’ was more standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if specifying the year by an event, then ‘of’ is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the year of George Washington’s birth, the King of England was George II.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Of course, you could also phrase this as “In the year when George Washington was born, …” or similar.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T17:32:16.813" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8797" CreationDate="2011-01-14T17:32:44.813" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;On first reference you should keep the initials (or spell out the name in full). On subsequent references you can just call him Gagarin.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In general you would use the possessive. A form like &quot;the Gagarin flight,&quot; I think, would usually be used only if it's a stock phrase (like &quot;the Obama administration&quot;) or if the referent is an object rather than a person (&quot;the Challenger explosion&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T17:32:44.813" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8800" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8802" CreationDate="2011-01-14T17:54:51.183" Score="5" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;We can say both &lt;strong&gt;misshapen&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;misshaped&lt;/strong&gt;. Where does the &lt;strong&gt;misshapen&lt;/strong&gt; form come from? What other words use this form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T19:27:24.120" Title="Where does the -en come from in misshapen?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;morphology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8800" CreationDate="2011-01-14T18:14:11.173" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the -en ending is indicative of the past participle form of some verbs.  This form is frequently used as an adjective, e.g. broken glass, written word, fallen soldier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For misshapen in particular, dictionary.com does identify it as a past participle form of misshape. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1350–1400;  ME: ptp. of misshape;  see -en3&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T18:14:11.173" />
  <row Id="8802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8800" CreationDate="2011-01-14T18:18:32.950" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Misshapen&lt;/em&gt; comes from &lt;em&gt;shapen&lt;/em&gt;, originally the past participle of &lt;em&gt;to shape&lt;/em&gt;.  This ‘strong’ &lt;em&gt;-en&lt;/em&gt; ending for past participles survives in a few other verbs as well: e.g., &lt;em&gt;eaten&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;gotten&lt;/em&gt; (also &lt;em&gt;begotten&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ill-gotten&lt;/em&gt;), &lt;em&gt;taken&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;fallen&lt;/em&gt;… (Wikipedia gives a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participle#Modern_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;longer list&lt;/a&gt;, and some &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participle#Old_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;historical explanation&lt;/a&gt;.)  However, in these cases, the other forms of the verb have also remained irregular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would guess that in the case of &lt;em&gt;(mis)shapen&lt;/em&gt;, it was semantic detachment from other forms of the verb — &lt;em&gt;(mis)shapen&lt;/em&gt; getting used as an independent adjective, not considered just as a form of the verb &lt;em&gt;to shape&lt;/em&gt; — that allowed it to keep this form while the rest of &lt;em&gt;to shape&lt;/em&gt; regularised around it?  According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/177500&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;OED&lt;/a&gt;, it was during the 14th–16th centuries that most forms of &lt;em&gt;to shape&lt;/em&gt; became regular; since the 16th century it has been completely regular, with normal past participle &lt;em&gt;shaped&lt;/em&gt;; but &lt;em&gt;shapen&lt;/em&gt; as an adjective was in use into the late 19th century, and &lt;em&gt;misshapen&lt;/em&gt; survives today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Compare also Kosmonaut’s &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/818/why-are-clothes-hung-and-men-hanged/901#901&quot;&gt;excellent answer&lt;/a&gt; to “Why are clothes hung and men hanged?”)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T18:37:14.743" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T18:37:14.743" />
  <row Id="8803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8732" CreationDate="2011-01-14T18:25:03.290" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Actor Peter Fonda, found dead body inside car&quot;. This title can be correct too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3624" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T18:25:03.290" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8783" CreationDate="2011-01-14T18:41:08.953" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't end emails to close friends with anything at all. The one exception is if I'm known to them by an unusual/humorous nickname, in which case I would sign with that name but still wouldn't include any closing phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3634" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T18:41:08.953" />
  <row Id="8805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8777" CreationDate="2011-01-14T19:06:44.430" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;He made this &quot;mistake&quot; of double negation on purpose, it is a form of protests in itself, what he ment is we don't need education, we will speak (or do) as we want. He was going agaist the correctness and etiquette &quot;imposed&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1693" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T19:06:44.430" />
  <row Id="8806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8800" CreationDate="2011-01-14T19:27:24.120" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=-en&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;EtymologyOnline&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;-en&lt;/strong&gt; (1) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;suffix forming verbs (e.g. darken, weaken), from adjectives &#xA;  or from nouns, from O.E. -nian, from P.Gmc. *-inojan (cf. O.N. -na). &#xA;  Mostly active in M.E.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;-en&lt;/strong&gt; (2) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;suffix added to nouns to produce adjectives meaning “made of, of the nature of” (e.g. golden, oaken), corresponding to L. -ine. Common in O.E. and M.E., surviving words with it now are largely discarded in everyday use and the simple form of the noun serves as an adjective as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T19:27:24.120" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8684" CreationDate="2011-01-14T20:05:12.920" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Time is of the essence&quot; is a phrase used in contract law. It means that whoever is fulfilling the contract doesn't have limitless amounts of time to get around to it. For more than that, you'd have to consult m'learned friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T20:05:12.920" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8684" CreationDate="2011-01-14T20:26:42.113" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The essence of the issue at hand!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T20:26:42.113" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8777" CreationDate="2011-01-14T20:32:25.540" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is correct may not be easy to understand, and what is easy to understand may not be correct. To a limit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On reflection, it seems common that only no and ain't can be used to intensify a negation rather than a double negation, whereas correct English requires using any, isn't, or aren't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would probably never hear &quot;This paper ain't unacceptable,&quot; but it's conceivable to hear &quot;This paper ain't gonna get no acceptation from me.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, &quot;This paper ain't unacceptable&quot; is ambiguous, so I would expect to hear &quot;This paper ain't unacceptable, but you gotta be proofreadin' some mo'.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps you can use exercises like asking what a certain written sentence might mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You're not wrong.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You ain't wrong. (still double negation)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I ain't gonna take any shit from you. (possibly ambiguous, a sign of someone trying to copy a dialect, but slipping up with &quot;any&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'ma takin' no crap from you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'ma takin' no attitude from none of youse.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;None of you ain't right. (ambiguous)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;None of you ain't wrong. (ambiguous triple negation)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not one of you isn't wrong. (crystal clear triple negation)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The comprehension of an ambiguous phrase often depends on the context in which it appears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3643" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T20:32:25.540" />
  <row Id="8810" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8812" CreationDate="2011-01-14T21:31:48.133" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anacoluthon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;anacoluthon&lt;/a&gt; &amp;lt;...&gt; is a rhetorical device that can be loosely defined as a change of syntax within a sentence &amp;lt;...&gt;. Grammatically, anacoluthon is an error; however, in rhetoric it is a figure that shows excitement, confusion, or laziness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from poetry and rhetoric, can you give examples of anacoluthon nowadays?&#xA;Is this technique widely used in popular media? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My thought is since anacoluthon is an intentional grammatical error it would rather appear in newspaper headlines (where everybody understands will never be errors) than in article text? Can you give examples?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3522" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T21:58:23.680" Title="Where can we find anacoluthon nowadays?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;figures-of-speech&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8810" CreationDate="2011-01-14T21:53:01.283" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sure, I can give you an example of such a — wait, why should I?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T21:53:01.283" />
  <row Id="8812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8810" CreationDate="2011-01-14T21:58:23.680" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd never heard the term &lt;em&gt;anacoluthon&lt;/em&gt; before but after reading about it, it seems to be the very common phenomenon of when you begin a sentence with a particular syntactic structure and then halfway through uttering it realize that your thought can't be expressed within the confines of the structure already uttered. You can either hesitate and restart, or just finish the sentence as though you had begun it with a different syntactic structure. The latter option is &lt;em&gt;anacoluthon&lt;/em&gt;. This happens all the time in speech, and is a type of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_error&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;speech error&lt;/a&gt;, or slip of the tongue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, when composing written language, you are generally expected to fix mistakes like this by deleting or crossing out the incompatible syntax and writing a sentence that is syntactically valid. If you don't do this, it is either because you want to, to achieve some effect—typically to represent some aspect of spoken speech—or because you don't realize you made an error.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T21:58:23.680" />
  <row Id="8813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2544" CreationDate="2011-01-14T22:05:02.647" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without extra space between sentences, how does one tell the difference between (HTML rendering is going to collapse these):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch it, Mr. Smith is coming. (one sentence)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch it, Mr.  Smith is coming. (two sentences)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;disambiguating: (with &amp;amp;nbsp; to force a space)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch it, Mr.&amp;nbsp;Smith is coming. (one sentence)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch it, Mr.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Smith is coming. (two sentences)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i.e.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watch it, Mister.&amp;nbsp;Smith is coming. (two sentences)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3644" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T22:05:02.647" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8814" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8815" CreationDate="2011-01-14T22:13:03.087" Score="1" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to make a video and in it I need a piece of advanced text. You should get the feeling that this text is just advanced for the sake of being advanced, not for any practical reason, and being seen as a joke or similair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(It is acceptable that this quote's complexity is perfectly reasonable in its own context, it should just look too complex to an average person.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe something from a very advanced philosophy course or a book about epistemology or perhaps a passage about linguistics with numerous abstraction levels and lots of referencing and triple/quadriple negations or something like that. Ideally, this shouldn't be just a technical text where every word seems like jibberish, but a quote where you sort of understand each word, but they are so &quot;high class&quot; and rare, and put together in such ways that you almost feel like the writer makes fun of you :P. Although if you do have techincal quotes like that, please respond too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have tried to google it, but how does one search for something like that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe some of you have some quotes written down that you have encountered earlier, or know some good book that I can lookup and look through to find this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should be longer than ~50 words. It should be syntactically correct for the most part. (It is ok if some parts of it are not, if those parts are so complicated that you have to study the quote first to notice it. But it shouldn't just be a mix of random words.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry if this is a wrong place to post this kind of query, it seemed appropriate though :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3645" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T10:16:39.947" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T10:16:39.947" Title="Quote of some advanced text?" Tags="&lt;quotes&gt;&lt;fun&gt;&lt;technical&gt;&lt;jargon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8814" CreationDate="2011-01-14T22:21:49.853" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest you generate a fake postmodernism essay:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elsewhere.org/pomo/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.elsewhere.org/pomo/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T22:21:49.853" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8816" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-14T23:05:18.833" Score="11" ViewCount="353" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the negative form of &lt;em&gt;&quot;I used to be&quot;&lt;/em&gt;? I often hear &lt;em&gt;&quot;I didn't used to be&quot;&lt;/em&gt; but that sounds awfully wrong in my ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="315" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T13:10:35.920" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T13:10:35.920" Title="&quot;I didn't used to be&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;&lt;negation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="8817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8816" CreationDate="2011-01-14T23:25:51.657" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The form &lt;em&gt;I didn't used to be&lt;/em&gt; is in fact correct colloquial English. The more formal variant would be &lt;em&gt;I used not to be&lt;/em&gt;, but in contrast with the first version that sounds extremely formal and awkward to most English speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason that the &quot;phrase&quot; &lt;em&gt;used to&lt;/em&gt; gets this treatment is that this very common phrase has been reanalyzed in colloquial English as an invariant verb &lt;em&gt;yusta&lt;/em&gt;. This verb forms a family with &lt;em&gt;hafta&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;have to&quot;), &lt;em&gt;gonna&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;going to&quot;), &lt;em&gt;gotta&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;got to&quot;), &lt;em&gt;wanna&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;want to&quot;) and others, and shows some properties of a modal and some properties of a normal full verb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I yusta go every day.&#xA;She yusta talk a lot. [No 3sg concord]&#xA;They didn't yusta fight. [Negative formed with &quot;didn't&quot;]&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These new modal-esque verbs don't have a progressive or perfect form, and don't combine easily with other modals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T23:31:56.143" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T23:31:56.143" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="8818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8816" CreationDate="2011-01-15T00:12:02.037" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mostly you would just say &lt;code&gt;I was not&lt;/code&gt; ( or &lt;code&gt;I wasn't&lt;/code&gt; ) - it's a little less grammatically convoluted and it says effectively the same thing in most cases. If you needed something more specific you might say something like &quot;there was a time when I wasn't...&quot; - it's longer but clearer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T00:12:02.037" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8819" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8823" CreationDate="2011-01-15T00:13:35.297" Score="4" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the following correct, or is there more to it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I forgot his name&quot; — I knew his name, but I forgot it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I forget his name&quot; — I keep forgetting his name. Where using &quot;forget&quot; basically means that you tried to remember this information before as well, but you couldn't then either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3651" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T18:31:19.593" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T18:31:19.593" Title="&quot;Forgot&quot; vs &quot;Forget&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="8820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8819" CreationDate="2011-01-15T00:20:19.360" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're more or less right. I would however make a slight change to the second definition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I forget his name&quot; - I do not remember his name at the moment - it's slipped my mind, but may come back to me soon/at some point. Alternatively, it is idiomatically equivalent to &quot;I forgot his name&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T00:20:19.360" />
  <row Id="8821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8819" CreationDate="2011-01-15T00:22:08.390" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I forgot his name&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;means I've permanently forgotten, while&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I forget his name&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;means I've temporarily forgotten even though I expect to be able to remember. In a few more minutes I'll probably remember. See also the phrases &quot;slipped my mind&quot; or &quot;the tip of my tongue&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="154" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T00:22:08.390" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8816" CreationDate="2011-01-15T00:47:03.473" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;best&lt;/em&gt; way* to negate the construction, &lt;em&gt;used to&lt;/em&gt;, is to simply use &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; and replace the infinitive form of the verb with its past tense. Thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I used to be a chain-smoker / I never was a chain-smoker&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;This place used to be a library / This place was never a library&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He used to be such a decent plumber / He never was a decent plumber&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also correct in some situations to say &lt;em&gt;never used to&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;We used to go there / We &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; used to go there&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, &lt;em&gt;never used to&lt;/em&gt; usually serves as an emphatic negation of something previously stated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your example, &lt;em&gt;I used to be&lt;/em&gt;, is best negated as &lt;em&gt;I never was/I was never&lt;/em&gt;, although, &lt;em&gt;I never used to be&lt;/em&gt; is also an option, depending on the context. For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I never used to be like this!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Things never used to be this way.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consider the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You used to be such a good friend&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I never was a good friend.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;No, I never used to be.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another similar set of examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You used to fall sick all the time. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I never used to fall sick all the time. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I never fell sick at any time!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I was never sick.     &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should always be able to determine the correct negation to use, as long you keep the definition of &lt;strong&gt;used to&lt;/strong&gt; in mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;describing an action or state of affairs that was &lt;strong&gt;done repeatedly&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;existed for a period of time&lt;/strong&gt; in the past &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;— &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary (2nd Edition)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, &lt;em&gt;I didn't used to&lt;/em&gt; is strictly ungrammatical, though widely used informally or colloquially. Insert &lt;em&gt;didn't&lt;/em&gt; into the definition of &lt;em&gt;used to&lt;/em&gt; and you will see why:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I used to be a great student. — &lt;em&gt;I was a great student back in the day.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I &lt;em&gt;didn't&lt;/em&gt; used to be a great student. — &lt;em&gt;I didn't was a great student back in the day.&lt;/em&gt; [?!]  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I used to go skating every week. — &lt;em&gt;In the past, I went skating every week.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I &lt;em&gt;didn't&lt;/em&gt; used to go skating every week. — &lt;em&gt;In the past, I didn't went skating every week.&lt;/em&gt; [?!]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simplistic though they may seem, I think these examples get my point across. Also, &lt;em&gt;did not/didn't&lt;/em&gt; always precedes the infinitive form of the verb it helps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;didn't go [didn't went? — &lt;em&gt;No way!&lt;/em&gt;]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;didn't help [didn't helped? — &lt;em&gt;No way!&lt;/em&gt;]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;didn't matter [didn't mattered? — &lt;em&gt;No way!&lt;/em&gt;]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the past tense of another verb after &lt;em&gt;didn't&lt;/em&gt;, in this case &lt;em&gt;used&lt;/em&gt;, is thus grammatically incorrect. Consider this and other similar verb constructions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;used to be&lt;/em&gt; : didn't &lt;em&gt;used&lt;/em&gt; to be [Wrong]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;had to have&lt;/em&gt; : didn't &lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt; to have [Wrong]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;seemed to know&lt;/em&gt; : didn't &lt;em&gt;seemed&lt;/em&gt; to know [Wrong]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the problem with the latter two examples can be rectified by converting the past tense to the infinitive:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;used to be&lt;/em&gt; : didn't &lt;em&gt;use&lt;/em&gt; to be [Wrong]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;had to have&lt;/em&gt; : didn't &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; to have [Correct]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;seemed to know&lt;/em&gt; : didn't &lt;em&gt;seem&lt;/em&gt; to know [Correct]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in &lt;em&gt;used to&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;used&lt;/em&gt; must always remain in the past. (It is not uncommon to hear the incorrect &lt;em&gt;use to—&lt;/em&gt;, though, and should stay away from this in proper usage.) Since &lt;em&gt;used&lt;/em&gt; must remain in the past, &lt;em&gt;didn't used to&lt;/em&gt; cannot be repaired and, thus, it remains incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*&lt;em&gt;(in my opinion, that is)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-15T22:45:56.407" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T22:45:56.407" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="8823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8819" CreationDate="2011-01-15T00:50:35.063" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I forgot his name&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;means that at some time past, I no longer remembered his name, but leaves open whether I can currently remember it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I forget his name&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;can be construed in a couple of different ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I forgot his name and I still can't remember it (but I hope you know who I'm talking about even so).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I keep on forgetting his name.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both are valid; the context might disambiguate between the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastEditorUserId="2386" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-15T00:58:04.833" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T00:58:04.833" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="8824" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8825" CreationDate="2011-01-15T03:01:09.777" Score="0" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a term to name this kind of usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Big&quot; is an adjective.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;What I am thinking about is the adjective &quot;big&quot;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am already quite annoyed by &quot;big's&quot; in your speech. You repeat it almost every 10 seconds.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as opposed to this common usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I saw a big house last night.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;We will solve a big problem.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A big dog ran up to him suddenly.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-15T04:10:45.840" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T04:10:45.840" Title="What do you call this kind of usage?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="8825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8824" CreationDate="2011-01-15T04:09:58.947" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that you're trying to show the difference between &lt;em&gt;use&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;mention&lt;/em&gt;. In the first set of examples you are &lt;em&gt;mentioning&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;quoting&lt;/em&gt; the word &quot;big&quot;, while in the second set of examples you are &lt;em&gt;using&lt;/em&gt; the word &quot;big&quot; in the usual sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T04:09:58.947" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="8826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8816" CreationDate="2011-01-15T05:33:08.860" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a surprising development. A pertinent xkcd comic comes to mind. But I am rather drunk now, so I will save myself the trouble of deleting emotional remarks in the morning. For the record, I never typed-and-deleted any such remarks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what the 3rd edition of &lt;em&gt;Fowler's Modern English Usage&lt;/em&gt; has to say on &lt;strong&gt;used to&lt;/strong&gt; (my emphasis in bold):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...] (&lt;em&gt;e&lt;/em&gt;)(&lt;strong&gt;Only in very informal&#xA;  contexts&lt;/strong&gt;) With &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt;-support in&#xA;  negative and/or interrogative&#xA;  constructions: &lt;em&gt;He didn't use to wear gloves&lt;/em&gt;—P. Cheney, 1964. [...] &lt;em&gt;Prostate cancer&#xA;  ... didn't used to be a&#xA;  problem—Times&lt;/em&gt;, 1995.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(&lt;em&gt;f&lt;/em&gt;) (&lt;strong&gt;Now regarded as somewhat formal&lt;/strong&gt;)&#xA;  Without &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt;-support in negative&#xA;  and/or interrogative constructions:&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;You usen't to be like that&lt;/em&gt;—A. Christie, 1964; [...] &lt;em&gt;I used not to&#xA;  dream&lt;/em&gt;—N. Bawden, 1987.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The negative/interrogative type &lt;em&gt;Use(d)n't people to ...&lt;/em&gt; is also found, esp. in spoken English and in informal letters, and arguments rage as to whether it is 'better' than the type &lt;em&gt;Didn't people use(d) to ...?&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Restructuring of the sentence is&#xA;  often the way out.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;People used to ...&#xA;  didn't they?&lt;/em&gt; is perhaps the best way&#xA;  to avoid the problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with so many problems of language, the only satisfying solution seems to lie in recasting the sentence. Writers who want to be read should be prepared to do some work. Opinions differ on the extent to which speech should follow writing, as can be heard on the street every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-15T14:31:15.120" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T14:31:15.120" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8827" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8836" CreationDate="2011-01-15T06:39:12.493" Score="2" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A: - Look! There is a centipede on the table!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B: - (interjection)!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T06:32:59.040" Title="What's a common interjection for the reaction to something creepy and disgusting (like some insects or spooky places, etc.)?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="8828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8827" CreationDate="2011-01-15T06:49:04.660" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eek!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's what immediately comes to my mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="858" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T06:49:04.660" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="8829" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8937" CreationDate="2011-01-15T06:51:11.333" Score="1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hope that this computational linguistics question is not an off-topic here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/q/4698229/6236&quot;&gt;my little just-for-fun programming project&lt;/a&gt; I'm looking for common English phrase part-of-speech patterns to use to generate pseudo-natural-language phrases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, unfortunately, I'm lost in the terminology, and can't figure out the proper keywords to google up what I'm looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I look for is a set of patterns like this one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&amp;lt;Noun&amp;gt; &amp;lt;verb&amp;gt; &amp;lt;adjective&amp;gt; &amp;lt;verb&amp;gt;.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...or &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4698229/compose-synthetic-english-phrase-that-would-contain-160-bits-of-recoverable-infor/4698303#4698303&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; (which does contain some actual words instead of placeholders):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&amp;lt;Adverb&amp;gt;, the &amp;lt;adverb&amp;gt; &amp;lt;adjective&amp;gt;, &amp;lt;adverb&amp;gt; &amp;lt;adjective&amp;gt; &amp;lt;noun&amp;gt; &#xA;and the &amp;lt;adverb&amp;gt; &amp;lt;adjective&amp;gt;, &amp;lt;adverb&amp;gt; &amp;lt;adjective&amp;gt; &amp;lt;noun&amp;gt;&#xA;&amp;lt;verb&amp;gt; &amp;lt;adverb&amp;gt; over the &amp;lt;adverb&amp;gt; &amp;lt;adjective&amp;gt; &amp;lt;noun&amp;gt;.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, any clues?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1306" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T17:52:44.280" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T17:52:44.280" Title="Where to get a set of common English phrase patterns?" Tags="&lt;fun&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="644" CreationDate="2011-01-15T07:11:29.383" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it helps to know the history of the word &lt;em&gt;Internet&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When computers were first connected together the resulting configuration was called a &lt;em&gt;network&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later people connected networks together. That was called an &lt;em&gt;internet&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually most of the networks in the world were connected into one large internet that became known simply as &lt;em&gt;the Internet&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, there is a technical distinction between &lt;em&gt;an internet&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;the Internet&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For what it is worth, my iPad wants me to capitalize &lt;em&gt;Internet&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="858" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T07:11:29.383" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="644" CreationDate="2011-01-15T07:18:15.180" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fact that &lt;em&gt;Web&lt;/em&gt; is short for &lt;em&gt;World Wide Web&lt;/em&gt;, Sir Tim's wonderful invention, makes me think that &lt;em&gt;Web&lt;/em&gt; should be capitalized too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="858" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T07:18:15.180" />
  <row Id="8832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8827" CreationDate="2011-01-15T07:25:34.753" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yuck! There's is a centipede on the table.&#xA;  Yuck will also do as eek.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3624" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T07:25:34.753" />
  <row Id="8833" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8838" CreationDate="2011-01-15T07:27:47.637" Score="2" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;Or, perhaps, it's not a kind at all? A type maybe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T10:19:46.760" Title="Is panda &quot;a kind of a bear&quot; or &quot;a kind of bear&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="8834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4715" CreationDate="2011-01-15T07:29:53.143" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When i was a child, my grandfather use to excuse himself every morning by saying &quot;I have to see a man about a dog&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Much later, my grandmother explained to me that he was going to the bookies to bet on a horse race. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="858" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T07:29:53.143" />
  <row Id="8835" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18498" CreationDate="2011-01-15T08:07:03.437" Score="4" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever a 2-year-old son does something wrong, his aunt always makes some remarks to her husband regarding that child's misbehavior and she does it deliberately in the presence of the child's mom obviously trying to needle her. For example, the mom told her child not to touch the remote control, but he just went ahead and grabbed it from the coffee table and accidentally dropped it on the floor - so the aunt right away told her husband, 'Look, he is so spoiled! Never listens to his parents!' Usually she doesn't do it loudly. She can't be accused of trying to start a fight with her sister-in-law (the child's mom) as she does have the right to tell her husband whatever she thinks, yet she never fails to do it audibly enough so that the child's mom could hear it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would you call the aunt's actions here? How would you describe what she is doing?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;I am most interested in a noun and a verb: &quot;What she is doing is called (noun).&quot; or &quot;She is simply (verb+ing).&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What she is doing is called mockery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She is simply ranting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T06:19:57.280" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T12:53:51.043" Title="What would you call her actions here?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="6" />
  <row Id="8836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8827" CreationDate="2011-01-15T08:48:20.437" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the other answers have mentioned, &lt;em&gt;eek&lt;/em&gt; (with long E as in &quot;bleak&quot;) expresses fright, while &lt;em&gt;yuck&lt;/em&gt; expresses disgust; I think &lt;em&gt;ugh&lt;/em&gt; may also be suitable, depending on context: it can express both disgust and contempt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T08:48:20.437" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8835" CreationDate="2011-01-15T09:02:04.010" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/obnoxious?show=0&amp;amp;t=1295082104&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;obnoxious&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; comes to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that it is not directly addressed to the sister-in-law, but yet still audible by her seems clearly an attempt to offense/&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obnoxious&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;annoy&lt;/a&gt; her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T09:02:04.010" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="8838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8833" CreationDate="2011-01-15T10:19:46.760" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A panda is a kind of bear.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pandas are a kind of bear.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Panda&quot; is a kind of bear.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Saying &quot;type&quot; in place of &quot;kind&quot; would work equally well in these examples.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But not:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*Panda is a kind of bear.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*Panda is a kind of a bear&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Saying &quot;a panda is kind of a bear&quot; would be a colloquial way of saying that is in some way like a bear, but isn't one really.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T10:19:46.760" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8829" CreationDate="2011-01-15T11:21:52.097" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure I know what the terms you are looking for are, but you might find out by going through the tutorials and free book courtesy of nltk.org.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'd have to learn a least a bit of python, but it'll definitely do as a quick introduction to computational linguistics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2867" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T11:21:52.097" />
  <row Id="8841" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8850" CreationDate="2011-01-15T12:55:14.680" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is for people who know some mathematics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The sequence is convergent to 0.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally we say: The sequence converges to 0. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2340" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T14:11:42.220" Title="Use of the word &quot;convergent&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8841" CreationDate="2011-01-15T13:03:21.333" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it is technically correct, but stylistically I prefer the phrase &quot;convergent toward 0&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3660" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T13:03:21.333" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8843" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8844" CreationDate="2011-01-15T13:17:06.990" Score="1" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Jack and Dorothy are in the car)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Silence. They pass Blumergton. Dorothy looks out of the window, her face is obviously surprised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Silence again. They pass Himilgreens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Silence again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jack: &quot;I must tell you something&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dorothy: &quot;What is it?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jack: &quot;We are not going to Darwinhill&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dorothy: &quot;I know that&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jack: &quot;How come you know that?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dorothy: &quot;Otherwise we would've not passed Blumergton&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or should it be &quot;Otherwise we would not pass Blumergton&quot; or should it be some other way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T01:49:16.060" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T04:11:19.557" Title="&quot;Would not pass&quot; or &quot;would not have passed&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;tense&gt;&lt;subjunctive-mood&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8843" CreationDate="2011-01-15T13:22:21.480" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Otherwise we would not have passed Blumergton&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally, you would not separate &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; in that sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T13:22:21.480" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8841" CreationDate="2011-01-15T13:33:04.343" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that normally we say 'The sequence converges to 0', but it is also alright to say 'The sequence is convergent to 0'. Having said that, we know that the use of language in technical areas is somewhat different from ordinary usage. For example, we could say the triangles are 'incongruent' to mean that they are not congruent. However 'incongruent' is not a standard word in everyday use, and the opposite of 'congruent' in the everyday sense is 'incongruous', which would not be used to describe triangles. Perhaps it all boils down to accepted conventions in technical usage of English then. Grammatically, 'convergent to 0' would be an adjectival phrase, with the adjective 'convergent' modified by 'to 0'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T13:33:04.343" />
  <row Id="8846" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8853" CreationDate="2011-01-15T13:34:50.783" Score="6" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to all dictionaries I can see and everyday use by native speakers, this is the correct way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On the one hand, it's larger; on the other hand, it's more expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What makes no sense to me instinctively is the use of the first &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;. What is &lt;em&gt;the one hand&lt;/em&gt;? Shouldn't it be just &lt;em&gt;one hand&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a grammatically valid construct I just don't understand, or is it an idiom that has changed to improve the presentation of the comparison described? It arguably sounds better with the additional &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="239" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T09:28:31.357" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T09:28:31.357" Title="Why is it &quot;on THE one hand&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8847" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8849" CreationDate="2011-01-15T13:42:07.210" Score="4" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once in a fitting room of one clothes store in Taiwan I saw a sign saying something like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Watch your lipstick carefully no to touch the clothes you are trying on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the main concern was pretty much clear to me—the owner of the store didn't want to have lipstick stains on the clothes he was selling—I kind of suspected that the way the thought was expressed was wrong. I tried to come up with my own better version and failed. So, if you were the owner of that store, what would you write on that sign? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T00:09:42.260" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T00:09:42.260" Title="What would you write in this case? (a sign in a fitting room)" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;signage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8847" CreationDate="2011-01-15T13:48:31.183" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use a short 'Avoid staining clothes with lipstick'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T13:48:31.183" />
  <row Id="8849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8847" CreationDate="2011-01-15T14:02:30.963" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While changing do not stain clothes with lipstick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3624" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T14:02:30.963" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8841" CreationDate="2011-01-15T14:11:42.220" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without going into whether it is correct or not (I think it's acceptable), I can tell you why mathematicians use it. Sometimes, we want to emphasise the &lt;em&gt;value&lt;/em&gt; of the limit. In such cases, we say &quot;This sequence converges to 0&quot; or &quot;The limit of this sequence is 0&quot;. But sometimes, when we're more concerned with the analysis of the sequence (whether it is a convergent sequence, or divergent, or what), we want to emphasise the &lt;em&gt;fact that it converges&lt;/em&gt;, rather than its limit. In such cases, instead of saying&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This sequence is convergent, and its limit is 0&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This sequence is convergent, and it converges to 0&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;we (or some mathematicians) use a shortcut and say, equivalently,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;This sequence is convergent to 0.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T14:11:42.220" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8847" CreationDate="2011-01-15T14:12:05.213" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please be careful not to get lipstick on the clothes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or perhaps,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please be careful not to let the clothes touch your lipstick.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3244" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T14:12:05.213" />
  <row Id="8852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8835" CreationDate="2011-01-15T14:28:20.013" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say it's a form of passive aggressiveness. She doesn't complain directly to the person she's complaining about--she complains to someone else in her presence. As you put it, &quot;she can't be accused of starting a fight.&quot; That's one of the passive aggressive traits: Being argumentative or otherwise behaving badly, but with some kind of deniability built into the process so she can deny the aggressive behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is far from the only trait of passive aggressive behavior, but it is a type.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T14:28:20.013" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8846" CreationDate="2011-01-15T14:31:01.780" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The definite article is used to signal that one is talking about specific items, not items in general. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, this exchange at the reception desk of the hotel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Guest: I'd like a room. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Clerk: Will you be staying the weekend, sir?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Guest: No, just the one night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The guest could have said &quot;No, just one night,&quot; but adding the definite article makes it more emphatic and specific at the same time. This applies to &quot;on the one hand&quot; constructions as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T14:31:01.780" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="8854" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8858" CreationDate="2011-01-15T15:00:05.910" Score="0" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are so many questions on this website.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is so many questions on this website.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The former &quot;sounds right,&quot; but the contracted form of the latter does as well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There's so many questions on this website.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2852" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T01:47:21.990" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T23:07:49.453" Title="&quot;There are so many&quot; vs. &quot;There is so many&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;concord&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8846" CreationDate="2011-01-15T15:15:23.753" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;On the one hand, it might be there for emphasis, just as in &lt;em&gt;you slept with her on the one day I asked you to behave&lt;/em&gt;. Then the question would be: why is emphasis often felt to be needed with &quot;hand&quot;, but normally not in similar phrases, such as &lt;em&gt;on one side of the paper ... on the other side ...&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;tie one end of the rope to ... tie the other end to ...&lt;/em&gt;? On the other hand, I think it might be there not for local emphasis, but to make sure the reader gets that the two sentences introduced by each &quot;hand&quot; are to be taken as linked but opposite perspectives. Using &quot;the&quot; serves both to give them a common marker and to increase the visibility of the first &quot;hand&quot; as a signpost. I don't really feel that &lt;em&gt;on one hand&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;on the one hand&lt;/em&gt; are used with less or more emphasis (but I could be wrong [duh]). Consider that you normally wouldn't say &lt;em&gt;on the one side of the paper&lt;/em&gt;: the article is usually only added to &quot;one&quot; when there are three or more choices. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T00:00:13.783" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T00:00:13.783" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8856" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8863" CreationDate="2011-01-15T15:22:46.617" Score="2" ViewCount="272" Body="&lt;p&gt;is it 'a usual' or 'an usual'? 'A usual' sounds more correct in my head ('Today was a usual day.') than 'an usual', but &lt;em&gt;u&lt;/em&gt; is a vowel. Which one is correct and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T16:25:47.713" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T16:25:47.713" Title="Is it 'a usual' or 'an usual'? Why?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8856" CreationDate="2011-01-15T15:33:20.463" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the usage depends on what the word &lt;strong&gt;sounds like&lt;/strong&gt; it starts with. For example, &quot;an homage,&quot; since the &quot;h&quot; is not pronounced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was going to say that &quot;since 'usual' sounds like it starts with 'y', you'd use 'a' instead of 'an.'&quot; But then - is y a vowel or a consonent? :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3663" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T15:33:20.463" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8854" CreationDate="2011-01-15T15:41:53.343" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is &lt;em&gt;There are so many&lt;/em&gt;. There ... &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; ... many.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T15:41:53.343" />
  <row Id="8859" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8864" CreationDate="2011-01-15T15:42:18.053" Score="4" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between a ghetto and a slum? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2237" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T16:13:11.537" Title="What is the difference between a ghetto and a slum?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8859" CreationDate="2011-01-15T15:52:18.763" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a ghetto you will find people of the same race/socio-economic status/etc. While today indistinguishable from a slum, from a historical perspective, a ghetto was meant as a separate part of a society where 'certain' people were moved (as for instance the Warsaw ghetto for Jews during WWII). A slum, on the other hand, is merely a very poor neighborhood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3664" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T15:52:18.763" />
  <row Id="8861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8859" CreationDate="2011-01-15T15:58:09.830" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Originally, yes, but people not aware of the history use them interchangibly now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;b&gt;ghetto&lt;/b&gt; was used to refer to a concentration of a particular ethicity into a single neighborhood.  In Poland during WWII Jews were forced to live in communities where they did not mix with others.  In the United States this term was used to descibe the ethically-centered neighborhoods in the big cities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;b&gt;slum&lt;/b&gt; is a very low income area marked by poor living conditions, sometimes crime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some ghettos became slums and so now the two ideas have intertwined in the minds of many.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T15:58:09.830" />
  <row Id="8862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8846" CreationDate="2011-01-15T16:03:06.520" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;the&lt;/b&gt; here specifies a particular set of hands, just two.  You have the one hand and the other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T16:03:06.520" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8856" CreationDate="2011-01-15T16:12:41.537" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Usual&lt;/em&gt; (pronounced /ˈjuː.ʒu.əl/ as in &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;) begins with a consonant sound and, as such, it should be preceded by &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; not &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, I cannot help but point out that the sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Today was a &lt;em&gt;usual&lt;/em&gt; day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is not usually heard in regular conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Today was an &lt;em&gt;unusual&lt;/em&gt; day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is what one might hear, instead!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, I rarely hear the construction &lt;em&gt;a usual&lt;/em&gt;. The definite article is more commonly used, in my experience:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; usual thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In place of &lt;em&gt;a usual&lt;/em&gt;, one would also be more likely to hear &lt;em&gt;not an unusual&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Today was a usual day / Today was not an unusual day&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;This is a usual occurence / This is not an unusal occurence &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; This usually happens&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are right in saying that &lt;em&gt;a usual&lt;/em&gt; sounds weird. As speakers, we tend to avoid constructions which, though correct, do not flow easily from the mouth. In sum, the following are valid and commonly used alternatives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;not [an] unusual&lt;/em&gt;  • &lt;em&gt;the usual&lt;/em&gt; • &lt;em&gt;usually&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T16:12:41.537" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8859" CreationDate="2011-01-15T16:13:11.537" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A slum is characterised by it's run-down status, while a ghetto is characterised by the people who live there. Both usually means some degree of poverty, being overcrowded, and having high crime rates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Historically a ghetto would be a place to put groups like immigrants, jews or colored people, who weren't allowed to live anywhere else. Nowadays the reasons are mostly economical and cultural; people can't afford to live anywhere they like, and choose to live among others with similar background.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A ghetto doesn't have to be particularly poor, some Chinatowns for example can be called ghettos eventhough they are not really slums. Sometimes &quot;slum ghetto&quot; is used to clarify both the ethnic grouping and the poverty of an area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T16:13:11.537" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8835" CreationDate="2011-01-15T16:22:58.070" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The aunt is frustrated and instead of complaining directly to the parents she is complaining to someone else loudly to show her dissapproval.  It is pretty common and lately this behavior has been labled passive agressive to show the indirect, yet confrontational manner.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the parent does not like the aunt saying mean things about her and her son in front of her, she must either confront the aunt directly, or indirectly to another relative that is sure to get back to the aunt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why passive aggressive aunts often do not get invited places making them even more upset about being slighted and even nastier.  A vicious cycle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T16:22:58.070" />
  <row Id="8866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8854" CreationDate="2011-01-15T16:34:24.440" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There's so many questions on this website.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doesn't sound quite right actually. The correct version would be to contract the 'are' sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There're so many questions on this website.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T16:34:24.440" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8777" CreationDate="2011-01-15T16:34:31.903" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an ironic phrase because the the sentence is not conventionally grammatically correct.  However, it follows a speach pattern of groups of people in the US often socially and economically marginalized.  These people do not like being looked down upon and phrases like this are often said with a level of defiance.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My grandfather used to say, &quot;I don't need no ej-a-mication&quot;. He intentionally mispronounced the word to mock it.  But really, he dropped out of school around the eighth grade and was poor most of his life, so he might have been a liitle ashamed of his situation and was using the phrase to deflect pity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T16:34:31.903" />
  <row Id="8868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6007" CreationDate="2011-01-15T16:46:34.033" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Language is only useful if you use it.  Just memorizing words to know them is not really using the language, just cataloging it.  So, if you want to keep a working vocabulary you need to work it.  Read modern books and magazines and have conversations about many topics with many people.  That will not only build vocabulary, but cultural and contextual associations making your language use more natural to native speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="914" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T16:46:34.033" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8869" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8870" CreationDate="2011-01-15T17:02:23.140" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should &quot;arbitrary&quot; suffice on its own, or does it make sense to include &quot;any?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-15T22:40:21.247" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T22:40:21.247" Title="Is it redundant to say, &quot;…based on any arbitrary criteria?&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;redundancy&gt;&lt;phrasing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8869" CreationDate="2011-01-15T17:19:01.853" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you leave out the &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; in that sentence, you could be talking about a known set of criteria that happen to be arbitrarily selected. Add it, and you are broadening the scope to include criteria that are not specific, germane, or qualified in some way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Webster's defines &lt;em&gt;arbitrary&lt;/em&gt; as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect you may be worried that &lt;em&gt;arbitrary&lt;/em&gt; may mean the same thing as &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt;, but it does not. There is no sense of randomness to the term &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt;; it only expresses a degree of inclusiveness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-15T19:06:54.337" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T19:06:54.337" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8856" CreationDate="2011-01-15T17:26:05.077" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Jimi Oke points out, it doesn't matter what letter the word starts with, but what sound it starts with.  Since &quot;usual&quot; starts with a 'y' sound, it should take 'a' instead of 'an'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, If you say &quot;today was an usual day&quot;, unless your pronunciation is extremely clear, you risk being misunderstood as &quot;today was unusual day&quot;, which will only confuse your listeners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T17:26:05.077" />
  <row Id="8872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8406" CreationDate="2011-01-15T18:53:24.813" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may be mixing different things together. What you are trying to describe may be an aggregate of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The document structure, as given by what headings and subheadings it is supposed to contain. This could be called &lt;em&gt;document type&lt;/em&gt;. Some examples are Invoice, Memo, Activity Report.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The area of discourse of the document content, i.e. what the document talks about. This could be called &lt;em&gt;document theme&lt;/em&gt;. Some examples are Business, Computing, Linguistics.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The audience for which the document is intended (which is linked to the tasks that are expected to be performed with the document); this could be called &lt;em&gt;document usage&lt;/em&gt;. Some examples are User Training, Product Testing, Claim Processing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There could be more aspects. My point is that each aspect describes a different variable, and they have different names. Mixing them together results in confusing semantics and, as one would expect, a confusing name. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1304" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T18:53:24.813" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8873" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8874" CreationDate="2011-01-15T19:04:05.470" Score="1" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When writing emails, I come across a problem of whether I should refer to that person by name, or just a simple 'Hi'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like if I don't know say Thomas Anderson and I want to mail him for the first time, do I start with a 'Hi!' or 'Hi Mr. Anderson'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really don't know how formal this sounds, English is not my first language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I am asking this question when emailing people professionally)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3669" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T19:21:43.063" Title="Should I refer to a person by his/ her name?" Tags="&lt;email&gt;&lt;etiquette&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8873" CreationDate="2011-01-15T19:21:43.063" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't know the person, it is probably better to include the name. If it is a formal or business message, it would be wise drop the &quot;Hi&quot; and simply to use the person's title, whether it's Mr. or Ms. or Dr. (or for holders of political office, &lt;em&gt;Mayor&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Senator&lt;/em&gt; or what have you), followed by their name. I am inclined to think you don't need the &quot;Dear&quot;, either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dr. Benson:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm writing to inquire about the possibility of an internship in your department. [Etc.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would be sufficient and would not cause offense through unwarranted familiarity and it would not come off as too casual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it were an email to someone you didn't know but the setting was casual (for example, you got their email address from a message board about a shared interest), you might use the &quot;Hi&quot; as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hi Robert,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You don't know me, but we both frequent the Sprocket Collectors forum. I was interested in one of your posts and wanted to follow up on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T19:21:43.063" />
  <row Id="8875" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8876" CreationDate="2011-01-15T19:45:06.307" Score="2" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;To scream blue murder is to shout loudly and make a huge fuss, sometimes with the implication that the fuss is excessive. But does anyone know why murder should be &lt;em&gt;blue?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T20:05:16.273" Title="Why does one scream blue murder?" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8875" CreationDate="2011-01-15T19:52:24.797" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/54788&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, it comes from the French curse word &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/morbleu&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;morbleu&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, which in turn is a euphemism for &quot;mort de Dieu&quot; (i.e. &quot;death of God&quot;). Most French profanity involves blasphemy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3660" LastEditorUserId="3660" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-15T20:05:16.273" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T20:05:16.273" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8877" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-15T20:07:36.280" Score="3" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;Was just wondering how this phrase came into being? Was it inspired from some natural or astronomical observation? or is it the result of poetic imagination?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1084" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T22:04:45.483" Title="What is the origin of the phrase &quot;blue moon&quot;? Any alternate phrase for it?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;cliche&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8878" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8885" CreationDate="2011-01-15T20:18:27.297" Score="2" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;In one of my favourite movies Good Will Hunting, the main character played by Matt Damon says 'I have to go see about a girl'. Is this sentence grammatically correct? If so does it mean the same as 'I have to go and see a girl'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T03:15:41.857" Title="'I have to go see about a girl'" Tags="&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8879" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8882" CreationDate="2011-01-15T20:30:07.570" Score="1" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it ok to use &lt;em&gt;via&lt;/em&gt; to refer to a tool (The camera in this context) or should I use &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; or some other conjunction &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Photo by John Doe &lt;strong&gt;via&lt;/strong&gt; Canon EOS 60D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3670" LastEditorUserId="3670" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T08:20:29.227" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T08:20:29.227" Title="Preposition for referring to a tool" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8877" CreationDate="2011-01-15T20:40:27.987" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may want to check out this link...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://space.about.com/od/astronomynews/a/bluemoon.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://space.about.com/od/astronomynews/a/bluemoon.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3671" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T20:40:27.987" />
  <row Id="8881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8877" CreationDate="2011-01-15T20:46:27.250" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=blue+moon&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; gives the following origin:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;blue moon&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      1821 as a specific term in the sense &quot;very rarely,&quot; perhaps&#xA;  suggesting something that, in fact,&#xA;  never happens (cf. at the Greek&#xA;  calends); suggested earliest in this&#xA;  couplet from 1528:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Yf they say the mone is blewe,&#xA;We must beleve that it is true.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Though this might refer to calendrical calculations by the&#xA;  Church, so that the general sense of&#xA;  the term and the specific one&#xA;  (commonly misinterpreted as &quot;second&#xA;  full moon in a calendar month,&quot; but&#xA;  actually a quarterly calculation) are&#xA;  difficult to disentangle. In either&#xA;  case, the sense of blue is obscure.&#xA;  Literal blue moons do occasionally&#xA;  occur under extreme atmospheric&#xA;  conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So as you suggest, its origin could be either poetic or astronomical. Perhaps the latter inspired the former? A lot older than I would have guessed, in any case!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for alternatives, the most obvious one is simply &quot;[very] rarely&quot;. A more interesting one is &quot;black swan&quot;, which can be used to describe a very infrequent event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-15T23:25:20.327" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T23:25:20.327" />
  <row Id="8882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8879" CreationDate="2011-01-15T20:52:10.290" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume you're writing a caption for a photograph. In that case I'd write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Photograph by John Doe &lt;strong&gt;using a&lt;/strong&gt; Canon EOS 60D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T20:52:10.290" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8883" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8889" CreationDate="2011-01-15T20:52:13.223" Score="2" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why have a letter in a word when it's silent in pronunciation (b in Debt).&#xA;Can anyone please clarify my uncertainty here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3270" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-15T21:15:27.417" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T15:27:43.353" Title="Silent Letters..in words" Tags="&lt;silent-letters&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8879" CreationDate="2011-01-15T20:55:15.177" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Via' is a preposition meaning through (a physical place) or through (some means). The phrase is acceptable to me (using the second sense).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T20:55:15.177" />
  <row Id="8885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8878" CreationDate="2011-01-15T20:56:17.267" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since &quot;see about&quot; can be used as a verb phrase, the grammar is in fact correct. I can however see why you feel this phrase is unnatural - it's certainly not commonly used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/see%20about&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;following definition&lt;/a&gt; (in particular part &lt;em&gt;b&lt;/em&gt;) should give you the right understanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;see about,&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  a. to investigate; inquire about.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  b. to turn one's attention to; take care of: He said he would see about getting the license plates.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, quote could be rewritten more formally as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I must turn my attention to a [certain] girl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T20:56:17.267" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5930" CreationDate="2011-01-15T21:04:38.333" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Originally, 'forest' meant a royal hunting ground, which is why they are usually larger than 'woods'; woods can be just a few trees, whereas a forest is usually much larger and denser, both in trees and vegetation. Also in some places such as the UK, woods can be plural because each 'wood' may be in some way separated or distinct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="852" LastEditorUserId="852" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T19:46:14.487" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T19:46:14.487" />
  <row Id="8887" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8891" CreationDate="2011-01-15T21:05:58.147" Score="1" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to analyse the following sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To understand the importance of this event you should know all the facts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that this sentence is complex, and «To understand importance of this event» is dependent adverbial clause. But then, as my grammar book says, it would require a comma before «you», since the dependent adverbial clause comes before the independent clause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, please help to do the syntax analysis of this sentence and to understand whether the comma is needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2978" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T21:21:42.243" Title="Syntax analysis of the sentence" Tags="&lt;comma&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8869" CreationDate="2011-01-15T21:08:13.793" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It makes very little difference, but I would remove the 'any' as it sounds awkward. Or if you choose to keep the any, remove the arbitrary as 'any' includes the meaning of arbitrary to an extent to which arbitrary can be reasonably removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="852" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T21:08:13.793" />
  <row Id="8889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8883" CreationDate="2011-01-15T21:10:00.073" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, never trust words in the English language to be phonetic! This is largely a consequence of English being such a fast-evolving language, and importantly, owing its vocabulary to many linguistic sources (Latin, Old French, Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and many others).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case it seems we have French to thank. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=debt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This etymology&lt;/a&gt; is given online, and explains the supposed strange pronunciation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;debt&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      late 13c., dette, from O.Fr. dete, from L. debitum &quot;thing owed,&quot; neut. pp. of debere &quot;to owe,&quot; originally, &quot;keep something away from someone,&quot; from de- &quot;away&quot; (see de-) + habere &quot;to have&quot; (see habit). Restored spelling after c.1400.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, &lt;code&gt;debt&lt;/code&gt; comes via the Old French &lt;code&gt;dete&lt;/code&gt;, which itself derives from classical Latin &lt;code&gt;debitum&lt;/code&gt;. The 'b' sound got lost due to French phonological rules/convention, and hence the French-origin pronunciation in English. Evidently, after the end of the Middle Ages in the 15th century, there was much revived interest in the classical world, and the spelling reverted to include the original 'b'. Pronunciation, of course, stayed the same. (Note that this sort of evolution occurred with many different English words, and occurred at the same time many new Latin words entered the English language.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T13:28:10.727" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T13:28:10.727" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8883" CreationDate="2011-01-15T21:12:01.780" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think anyone can clarify your uncertainty, especially as you don't seem to have any.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="852" LastEditorUserId="852" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T15:27:43.353" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T15:27:43.353" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8887" CreationDate="2011-01-15T21:21:42.243" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can divide this sentence into two separate clauses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dependent clause, which provides the reason, is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To understand the importance of this event&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;while the independent (statement) clause is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;you should know all the facts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Identifying these two separate clauses, it is then clear that a comma should be introduced between them, by standard rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hence it's most correct to write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To understand the importance of this event, you should know all the facts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T21:21:42.243" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="8892" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8896" CreationDate="2011-01-15T21:38:51.267" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/aesop/Fables6x9.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Aesop's Fables translated by George Fyler Townsend&lt;/a&gt; book has a line which reads as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... If you had but touched me, my friend, you ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen the word 'but' used this way a couple of times, but I'm not sure I understand the meaning of this phrase correctly. What is the general rule for using 'but' this way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3330" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T23:00:21.823" Title="Specific usage of the word 'but'" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="8893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8892" CreationDate="2011-01-15T21:45:21.217" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'But' here means 'only'. The phrase then translates to 'if you had only touched me' which means that the hypothesis need not be strengthened for the conclusion to be true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T21:45:21.217" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8892" CreationDate="2011-01-15T21:54:27.843" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case &quot;but&quot; could be replaced with &quot;merely&quot; to give the sense of something small or trivial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This construction is usually seen when the speaker is reproaching someone for over-reacting when a small action could have prevented a problem. For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you had but (merely) touched me, I would have awakened showing you I was not dead and you would not have called the police.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I you had but (merely) asked, I would have agreed. But you didn't and now we are both disappointed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T21:54:27.843" />
  <row Id="8895" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8899" CreationDate="2011-01-15T22:24:37.017" Score="1" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;today I've taken part in a local English contest. The result? 9.00 out of 10.00. The contest was of particular importance to me, and I consider the score to be quite a low one, my worst so far. Last year I managed a 9.80 and two years before a 9.60, both times the highest scores. I'm feeling pretty let down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the day after tomorrow, I'm going to ask for a reevaluation of my thesis, and I wanted to ask someone certain questions which I need an answer to in order to clarify some aspects. I appreciate any help you can give.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This being said, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4460937/OJE2011.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here is the quiz&lt;/a&gt;. My answers and the official ones are on the bottom of the page, written so as to bypass the 10 rep mechanism (I'm sorry for doing that). As you can see, there are only three diferences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;III.A.1 -- They wrote &lt;strong&gt;decided&lt;/strong&gt;, but I am pretty sure it should have been &lt;strong&gt;had decided&lt;/strong&gt;. If it had a connection with the present, one would write &lt;strong&gt;have decided&lt;/strong&gt;. But in that piece of text, the narrator is describing an event happened in the past, so the right tense should have been Past Perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;III.C.2 -- They wrote &lt;strong&gt;made a decision&lt;/strong&gt;. I'm OK with that, but &lt;strong&gt;made up our mind&lt;/strong&gt; is equally correct to me. Am I wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;III.C.4 -- They added &lt;strong&gt;doing&lt;/strong&gt;. This is the one I am the most hesitant about. I am not absolutely sure that the word is facultative, so I might have got this one wrong. What do you think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If my assumptions are correct, I must have written the composition wrongly. Which is again unusual, because in previous years, I did compete in writing competitions and got two perfect 10s. But either way, if I was correct about the grammar, I'm having my thesis reevaluated and hope for a better evaluation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also think that I'm going to have to do plenty of work by myself from now on, so I was wondering what good materials are out there for brushing up one's English. I see that there are lots of FCE/CAE/CPE preparation books (which I think are the best ways to teach yourself), from different publishers, but which one is the highliest recommended? Is MacMillam the best publisher, or is there no general preferences towards one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Official Answers: http:// dl.dropbox.com/u/4460937/BAREM%20CL%209.pdf&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My Answers: http:// dl.dropbox.com/u/4460937/my_answers.pdf&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3673" LastEditorUserId="2988" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T00:36:43.600" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T21:52:09.460" ClosedDate="2011-01-26T00:10:12.137" Title="Local Contest and Other Questions" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;esl&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8892" CreationDate="2011-01-15T23:00:21.823" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the fragment&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... If you had but touched me, my friend, you ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt; functions as an adverb whose &lt;strong&gt;definition&lt;/strong&gt;, according to the New Oxford American Dictionary (2nd Edition) is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;no more than; only&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, your example could very well read&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;... If &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; you had touched me, my friend, you ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt; a mere mortal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He is &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt; a child.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;That was &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt; a distant memory.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This usage of &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt;, though, is largely restricted to formal or literary contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T23:00:21.823" />
  <row Id="8897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8877" CreationDate="2011-01-15T23:09:59.460" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually, &lt;em&gt;blue moon&lt;/em&gt; appears in the phrase, &lt;em&gt;once in a blue moon&lt;/em&gt;. An alternative is &lt;em&gt;once in a while&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T23:09:59.460" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8846" CreationDate="2011-01-15T23:10:24.233" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Though I'm not sure of the origin, I expect it's a back-formation from the phrase 'on the other hand', in the same way that people say 'that's a whole &lt;strong&gt;nother&lt;/strong&gt; issue', contracted from 'another', where what they mean is 'other' (though in this case it's acknowledged as incorrect).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I disagree that it indicates a definite object - were it not for the idiomatic status of the phrase, 'on one hand' would be a perfectly valid alternative construction. If it wasn't developed subsequently to 'on the other hand', I'd guess that it was still designed to parallel it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1427" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T23:10:24.233" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8895" CreationDate="2011-01-15T23:16:20.190" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For III.A.1, I feel that &quot;decided&quot; is more correct.  The Narrator is relating a story about something that he did.  It is more natural to assume that he made the decision to go with his friends at the time of the story than to assume that he had already made the decision to go at some point prior to the commencement of the story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For III.C.2, I would say that your answer would be equally correct if you had gotten plural agreement.  &quot;We&quot; have more than one mind between us, so we have to make up our &lt;strong&gt;minds&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For III.C.4, I presume their full answer was &quot;I did nothing apart from doing housework at the weekend.&quot;  To me, the &quot;doing&quot; sounds unnecessary, since the &quot;did&quot; can carry over between actions.  (Also, saying &quot;at the weekend&quot; is not typical in American English, but I assume that's a regional thing.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T23:16:20.190" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8900" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-15T23:32:07.367" Score="7" ViewCount="994" Body="&lt;p&gt;We just viewed the new movie True Grit. The language of the characters was more formal sounding than we are used to, largely because of the absence of contractions. Is this historically accurate? Do Americans use contractions more liberally now than in the 19th century? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3674" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T21:38:42.477" Title="Were contractions less common in olden days?" Tags="&lt;history&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8901" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-15T23:41:01.993" Score="1" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;How would you describe someone that continues to perform and action solely because they have observed someone else performing that same action, but do not know the reason. Or, they perform an action in a certain way and do not change to a better method, only because they believe the current method must be the best way to do it because it has been done that way previously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What word/phrase/expression would you use to describe this scenario?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3675" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T19:05:33.933" Title="Continuing to do something just because it was done before, without knowing why" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8895" CreationDate="2011-01-15T23:46:07.027" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;III.A.1 — I can’t make up my mind about this one.  I’m leaning towards &lt;strong&gt;“decided”&lt;/strong&gt; in preference to &lt;strong&gt;“had decided”&lt;/strong&gt;, but the practical difference between the two is so subtle that I’m struggling to explain why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;III.C.2 — &lt;strong&gt;“made up our mind”&lt;/strong&gt; certainly conveys the same meaning, but you can see that they were expecting you to reach the noun &lt;strong&gt;“decision”&lt;/strong&gt; in the answer from the verb &lt;strong&gt;“decide”&lt;/strong&gt; in the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;III.C.4 — I would say that the answer is better &lt;em&gt;without&lt;/em&gt; the &lt;strong&gt;“doing”&lt;/strong&gt;, since the notion of “doing” is already conveyed by the &lt;strong&gt;“I did”&lt;/strong&gt;; and while it’s not grammatically wrong to include it, it’s common to omit the second occurrence as it can be inferred.  That’s already the case in the question, otherwise it would have been: “The only thing I did at the weekend was &lt;strong&gt;do&lt;/strong&gt; housework”.  So the official answer is inconsistent with the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, there are a few other snippets of the test text that I take exception to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the middle of III.A, &lt;strong&gt;“at the moment”&lt;/strong&gt; is incorrect because that means “now”; in a narration of something that took place in the past, &lt;strong&gt;“at the time”&lt;/strong&gt; should be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At the end of III.A, &lt;strong&gt;“I don’t think of going again”&lt;/strong&gt; sounds unnatural; I would suggest &lt;strong&gt;“I don’t think I’ll go again”&lt;/strong&gt; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In III.B, &lt;strong&gt;“… I believe that a need to compete is a strong instinct, just look at …”&lt;/strong&gt; is a run-on sentence; the comma should be replaced by a semicolon, dash or even a full stop and a new sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T23:46:07.027" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8901" CreationDate="2011-01-16T00:00:25.397" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;At one extreme, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheeple&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Wikipedia&quot;&gt;sheeple&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; can be used to describe people who follow the masses and act without thinking for themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T00:00:25.397" />
  <row Id="8904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8901" CreationDate="2011-01-16T00:06:51.460" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One could say they are &quot;set in their ways&quot;. But that's more the latter scenario.  For the first... well, sheeple (which is a portmanteau of &quot;sheep&quot; and &quot;people&quot;, btw) doesn't quite cut the mustard here, but it's not far from it, as it is &quot;doing something without thinking&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T00:06:51.460" />
  <row Id="8905" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-16T00:14:21.217" Score="2" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to decide what tags I should be using and realized I did not know the difference between these terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3675" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T02:17:46.287" Title="What is the difference between an expression and a phrase?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="8906" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8907" CreationDate="2011-01-16T00:27:35.443" Score="1" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw the following sentence in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/14/AR2011011403227.html?hpid=moreheadlines&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;today’s Washington Post&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I understand that ‘the Kardashian’ is picked up from a popular American reality TV series, ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians'.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But I don't understand what ‘the Kardashians’ signify in this particular context of the government's attempt at stimulating the economy (or helping needies). Please teach me. - Yoichi&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Uncle Sam follows 'the Kardashians' into prepaid card market: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Uncle Sam wants you to have a prepaid card, and he's not the only one. Â¶ The Treasury Department is sending letters to 600,000 people this week encouraging them to sign up to receive their tax return on a new government-issued prepaid card as part of a pilot program to help those with limited acc...”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T00:33:49.790" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T00:33:49.790" Title="What does ‘the Kardashians’ mean in the context of the Treasury Department’s sending a prepaid card to many Americans?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="8907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8906" CreationDate="2011-01-16T00:33:10.290" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suppose it means the government follows the example and action of the Kardashians by trying also to launch a prepaid card (like the Kardashians did).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To juxtapose the two &quot;entities&quot; (the &quot;Treasury Department&quot; on one side and &quot;the Kardashians&quot; on the other) probably means the idea is questionable, considering it (The treasury) might not follow the best role model out there.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is at least a way to illustrate the vast number and variety of actors in that particular market.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The debate will center around &lt;strong&gt;fees&lt;/strong&gt; associate with those &quot;debit cards&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T00:33:10.290" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8905" CreationDate="2011-01-16T00:38:00.070" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simply put, an &lt;strong&gt;expression&lt;/strong&gt; is more like a saying, an idiomatic way of expressing something in less literal, less familiar terms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;How do you do?&lt;/em&gt; is just an expression: you don't expect someone&#xA;  to actually tell you how he is doing;&#xA;  he should just say &lt;em&gt;how do you do?&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  back, because it means little more&#xA;  than &quot;hello&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;phrase&lt;/strong&gt; is just any sequence of words, usually less than a sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;rip them out&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;even the Aztec women&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;before the Spaniards&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;reloading muskets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;because they could never have continued their rituals without&#xA;  capturing large numbers of enemy&#xA;  soldiers &lt;em&gt;(this one is dubious,&#xA;  because &quot;clause&quot; would be a more&#xA;  specific and thus better name)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A great many expressions are also phrases, like &lt;em&gt;put behind bars&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;heaven forbid&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T02:17:46.287" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T02:17:46.287" />
  <row Id="8909" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8932" CreationDate="2011-01-16T01:13:41.440" Score="4" ViewCount="462" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across a phrase unfamiliar to me, &lt;em&gt;the D word&lt;/em&gt;, in an article of Time magazine (November 18, 2010 Issue) titled &lt;em&gt;Who Needs Marriage? How an American institution is changing&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;D word&lt;/em&gt; appears as a caption of a sentence followed by the following sentence, which gives me no clue for deciphering, in parallel with other captions such as &lt;em&gt;the new marriage gap&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;the kid may not be all right&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;what to do about I do&lt;/em&gt;. I checked &lt;em&gt;the D word&lt;/em&gt; into Wikipedia, which defines ‘the D-Word is a worldwide online community for professionals in the documentary film industry_. But this doesn’t make sense at all to me. I know D-Day, but I have no idea about &lt;em&gt;D word&lt;/em&gt;. Can anybody tell me what &lt;em&gt;the D word&lt;/em&gt; means in the following context together with my second question?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The D Word&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Even when couples are married, family life is a different experience for those with a college education and those without one. Professional occupations are much more likely to offer provisions for parental leave, the ability to work from home and flexible hours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;em&gt;The second question.&lt;/em&gt;) &#xA;The above section is wrapped up with the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Marriage (of the college-educated) is insulated from some of the stresses of balancing work and family. A sick child throws a much bigger wrench into the machinery of a factory or retail or service worker's life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the above sentence, is &lt;em&gt;the machinery of factory&lt;/em&gt; a separate phrase from &lt;em&gt;retail or service worker’s life&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;the machinery&lt;/em&gt; is modified by &lt;em&gt;factory, retail or service worker’s life&lt;/em&gt; as a group?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T12:04:34.410" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:17:14.407" Title="What does &quot;the D word&quot; mean in the context of discussing the pros and cons of marriage over co-habitation?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8909" CreationDate="2011-01-16T01:27:49.793" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The D-word in the context of &quot;Who Needs Marriage?&quot; may simply be &lt;em&gt;divorce&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;throws a much bigger wrench into the machinery&quot; should be taken as a metaphor. &quot;Throwing a wrench&quot; (or, for our British friends, a &quot;spanner&quot;) into the machinery (or the works) of something simply means to cause that thing to malfunction in a major way. They're simply saying factory or service workers have a much bigger problem — the machinery of their lives is more disrupted — when a child gets sick than professional workers do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T01:34:44.550" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T01:34:44.550" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8909" CreationDate="2011-01-16T01:32:07.707" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;“The D Word”, in the context of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2031962,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Time Magazine&quot;&gt;an article about marriage&lt;/a&gt;, is &lt;strong&gt;divorce&lt;/strong&gt;.  (The sense being that nobody wants to mention divorce when advocating marriage, so use of the word itself is avoided.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The structure of the excerpt in the second part of your question is: “the machinery of [the] life of a factory worker or a retail worker or a service worker”.  It is into that [metaphoric] machinery that the [metaphoric] wrench is thrown.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T01:32:07.707" />
  <row Id="8912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8900" CreationDate="2011-01-16T01:54:34.077" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;[Edited]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is contraction?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all languages I know, there is a general tendency to contract existing words in speech. I will comment on contraction in writing later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cause of contraction in speech is probably that speakers pronounce words in an inarticulate manner when they say them fast, just as some say &lt;em&gt;wanna&lt;/em&gt; when they pronounce &lt;em&gt;want to&lt;/em&gt;. In general, the commoner a word is, the sooner it will be contracted or otherwise shortened. But contraction can happen at all times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This also applies to the development of Latin into French, and the subsequent borrowing by English: Vulgar Latin &lt;em&gt;bellus&lt;/em&gt; (beautiful), pronounced somewhat like /bel-loos/, became in French &lt;em&gt;beau&lt;/em&gt;, pronounced somewhat like /bow/, as in the shooting instrument. So our word &lt;em&gt;beauty&lt;/em&gt; (/byoo-ty/) comes from Vulgar or Late Latin *&lt;em&gt;bellitatem&lt;/em&gt; (/bel-li-tah-tem/). This is an endless cycle: the contraction of *&lt;em&gt;bellitatem&lt;/em&gt; probably happened in several steps, in which the resulting word from the previous phase was contracted into an even shorter form in a new contraction. And the Latin words were in many cases contractions of pre-Latin words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In modern English, the more recent contractions, like &lt;em&gt;I've&lt;/em&gt;, are marked as such in writing by apostrophes. This, and the fact that the full forms of those recent contractions, like &lt;em&gt;I have&lt;/em&gt;, are still in use, makes it so that you still view &lt;em&gt;I've&lt;/em&gt; as a contraction. But do you still consider &lt;em&gt;beauty&lt;/em&gt; a contraction? What definition of contraction should we use? It is my estimate that the creation of new contractions in speech is a universal phenomenon that has always been practised at a reasonably level pace, though there might be exceptions. That is why it is highly likely that we use more contraction than our ancestors: we contract the same words on average more often than they did, and we contract some words that they did not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Contraction in writing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In writing, it all depends on how closely the pen follows the tongue. Consider &lt;em&gt;I used to like her&lt;/em&gt;. The phrase &lt;em&gt;used to&lt;/em&gt; is mostly pronounced /yoo-sta/: why don't we write it as &lt;em&gt;us'to&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;yoosta&lt;/em&gt;? The contraction happens in speech, but it is not represented in writing. Our choice not to do so is often arbitrary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As concerns the contractions that we write with apostrophes today, it is likely that they, too, were more often fully pronounced in 1800 than now. On the other hand, there are some written contractions that we do not use any more, such as &lt;em&gt;'tis&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;'twere&lt;/em&gt;. That is because there are many other processes going on in the development of language all the time: words may get dropped from use all together, words may be changed in ways that do not make them shorter or longer, and speakers may consciously resist the use of contractions and try to reverse time by pronouncing them whenever they can; the ever-active tendency to contract is apparent on the larger scale, but not always on a smaller scale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Historical statistics on contractions in writing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to the data. In English books, at least, the usage of our apostrophied contractions instead of full forms appears to have increased significantly. Compare the two following graphs from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ngrams Viewer&lt;/a&gt;, which displays data from digitised books in Google Books. The graphs chart the total usage of &quot;have&quot; and &quot;ve&quot; as percentages of total usage of all words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/RV7sk.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/YJZYl.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same applies to &quot;am&quot; versus &quot;m&quot;:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/Tbzz9.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/QxT90.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice that this development is much less distinct with &quot;are&quot; and &quot;re&quot;:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/7vpuZ.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/LhKfG.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&#xA;These statistics are for all of English literature, but American usage gives similar graphs. Contractions have been used a lot since long before the 1800s; we just see here that they were used even more as time progressed. &lt;strong&gt;Note that it is uncertain to what extent usage in literature reflects speech.&lt;/strong&gt; It is not impossible that some of the change you see here is due to changing practices among printers: perhaps before 1900 they used to write contracted verbs in full, even when they contracted them in their mind's ear, and this typographical convention changed later—I have no idea. It could also be that those who digitised these books used different transcription conventions for different blocks of years, e.g. the older books might have come from academic libraries and might have been digitised according to the guidelines of scholarly specialists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may have observed a few interesting facts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;After an initial rise, the temporary decrease in the usage of contractions in 1945–1965 is rather striking. Perhaps the social climate was more reactionary in those years. But this is mere speculation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Have&quot; has always been used much more frequently than &quot;ve&quot;, and &quot;are&quot; more than &quot;re&quot;; but &quot;am&quot; and &quot;m&quot; started much closer, and &quot;m&quot; even overtook &quot;am&quot; around 1975. You can see them all combined in this graph, which is, alas, a bit too small to compare the contracted forms very well:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/xVILo.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. Does anyone know whether apostrophes are processed correctly? When I search for ['m], it gets automatically changed into [' m], etc. Notice the strange and varying results I get when searching for contractions with and without apostrophes. Entries [don t] and [isn t] are flat lines at 0%. Entries [' m] and [m] are rather close but by no means equivalent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/An7XZ.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T21:38:42.477" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T21:38:42.477" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8901" CreationDate="2011-01-16T02:00:42.573" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are two different things. You should not conflate them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How would you describe someone that continues to perform and action solely because they have observed someone else performing that same action, but do not know the reason. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The colloquial expression that comes to mind here is &quot;monkey see, monkey do.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Or, they perform an action in a certain way and do not change to a better method, only because they believe the current method must be the best way to do it because it has been done that way previously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could say they are &lt;em&gt;set in their ways&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;hidebound&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T02:00:42.573" />
  <row Id="8914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8909" CreationDate="2011-01-16T02:14:28.157" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;A sick child throws a much bigger wrench into the machinery of a factory or retail or service worker’s life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 'machinery' is &quot;the machinery of (non-professional) workers' lives&quot;, and the specific types of workers spelled out are 'factory workers or retail workers or service workers'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The choice of 'machinery' in close conjunction with 'factory' is unfortunate, but clearly an oversight.  It is not referring to &quot;a sick child throwing spanners (wrenches) into factory machinery&quot;, though without the &quot;or retail ...&quot; ending, it would be a syntactically valid but implausible sentence (most sick children stay at home and do not get given the chance to throw spanners around factories).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T02:14:28.157" />
  <row Id="8915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8900" CreationDate="2011-01-16T02:25:48.243" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the 19th Century, I very much doubt whether TLAs&lt;sup&gt;*&lt;/sup&gt; were used anything like as much as they are now - they are definitely a more recent phenomenon of the English language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is reasonable to assume that the writers of the time wrote in a manner that was similar to the way people spoke at the same time.  If you look at Jane Austen or Charles Dickens or Shakespeare or Chaucer, you'd see far fewer contractions.  If you look at Twain, you see contractions in his rendering of dialect.  There probably was more of a divide between the more educated and the less in times past; TV has the merit of dragging the base level of language usage upwards a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;*&lt;/sup&gt; TLA = Three-Letter Acronym&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T02:25:48.243" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8846" CreationDate="2011-01-16T02:28:51.427" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are talking to the person face to face, you'd emphasize the statement by waving one hand as you said &quot;on the one hand&quot;, and by waving the other as you said &quot;on the other hand&quot;.  Then &quot;the one hand&quot; and &quot;the other hand&quot; are quite clear. And I'd be surprised if that was not the origin of the expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T02:28:51.427" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8917" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8920" CreationDate="2011-01-16T02:41:21.293" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi, I came across this sentence recently and I was wondering what is this repetitive style called? Also, can anyone provide me with another few interesting examples of sentences like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wish people would say what they mean and mean what they say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3676" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T03:43:15.543" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T03:43:15.543" Title="Style of this sentence" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="8918" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8919" CreationDate="2011-01-16T02:48:16.760" Score="3" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I've throw back a lot of orange juice.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;what does &quot;throw back&quot; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2332" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T03:40:21.960" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T03:40:21.960" Title="What does &quot;throw back&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8918" CreationDate="2011-01-16T02:52:44.533" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In that particular sentence, it means &lt;em&gt;drunk&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that the person has &quot;thrown back&quot; a lot of orange juice, thrown the juice to the back of their throat, i.e. tipped their head back and drunk the juice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T02:52:44.533" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8917" CreationDate="2011-01-16T03:03:09.443" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's properly called &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimetabole&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;antimetabole&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; - see the linked page for other examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though I have to say that I've never heard of this term before. The more usual (if you want to call it that) term is &lt;em&gt;chiasmus&lt;/em&gt;, although properly that just means a sentence (or longer grammatical unit) that uses a parallel form without necessarily repeating the same words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T03:03:09.443" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8901" CreationDate="2011-01-16T03:03:38.497" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term &lt;strong&gt;Cargo Cult&lt;/strong&gt; could fit this situation. See the Wikipedia page &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult&lt;/a&gt; and scroll down to 'Other uses of the term'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2819" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T03:03:38.497" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8895" CreationDate="2011-01-16T03:30:31.033" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Brian and Hellion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;III.A.1&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;em&gt;Decided&lt;/em&gt; is certainly the better choice. &lt;em&gt;Had decided&lt;/em&gt; is doubtful. The problem is that &lt;em&gt;had decided&lt;/em&gt; is followed by &lt;em&gt;wore me down&lt;/em&gt;, which is in the simple past. This wearing down was what led to his decision—but how can he make a decision before being worn down?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible for a writer to change his perspective in the middle of a story. But doing it like this, in mid-sentence, apparently without good reason, would be a bit sloppy. I'm not saying you will never see this in educated writing, but I think it will be rare. If it were my decision, I don't think I'd allow &lt;em&gt;had decided&lt;/em&gt;—but mainly because a test like this is meant to examine standard usage; otherwise it would be nearly impossible to create such tests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;III.C.2&lt;/strong&gt;: Your answer would mean roughly the same, even though, as Hellion says, the plural would be better. However, because it does not mean exactly the same, and because a closer match is possible, I tend to go with the test and only allow &lt;em&gt;made a decision&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;III.C.4&lt;/strong&gt;: I'd say both answers are acceptable, and your answer is the better one, because &lt;em&gt;doing&lt;/em&gt; seems redundant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I think you shouldn't worry about your score. Just three mistakes, and such minor and doubtful ones at that, means that you are nearly perfect. Certainly you do not expect native speakers to get perfect scores in these tests? Everybody makes small mistakes now and then; consider it noise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T03:30:31.033" />
  <row Id="8924" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8925" CreationDate="2011-01-16T03:50:01.510" Score="2" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;A patient is complaining that the pills that he had given her a week ago don't help, so he opens a drawer, takes another pack of some other pills and says: &quot;Try taking these ones&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to say like this? Does it sound natural? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T15:29:47.503" Title="Is &quot;try taking these ones&quot; correct? (doctor speaking to a patient)" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8924" CreationDate="2011-01-16T04:06:55.373" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, this is grammatically correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Try taking these pills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;pills&quot; is a plural noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;ones&quot; is a plural noun&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looks fine, technically, to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say it's fairly unnatural, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3294" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T04:06:55.373" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="8926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="90" CreationDate="2011-01-16T04:22:23.690" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Incorrect usage of the apostrophe&lt;/strong&gt; - especially with respect to plurals and possessives.  I see examples like these &lt;em&gt;everywhere&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Orange's $xyz per bag&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fords newest model&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;People's computers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The correct forms for the above are &lt;code&gt;Oranges&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;Ford's&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;Peoples'&lt;/code&gt;.  Ok, I'm not 100% sure of the last one ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for why people do this?  Poor education perhaps?  Laziness? I certainly know a lot of people who don't care that they can't spell and have poor grammar.  For some it's even a badge of honour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3677" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T04:22:23.690" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-16T04:22:23.690" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8924" CreationDate="2011-01-16T04:37:16.803" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is perfectly correct to say &quot;Try taking these ones.&quot; Also, in this situation, this statement sounds entirely natural. One might also hear, &quot;Try these.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T04:37:16.803" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8928" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-16T04:51:05.657" Score="2" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usual form for using interjections involves following them with a comma, period, or exclamation point. For example...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Well, I honestly have no idea.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&quot;Dude! Where's my car!&quot; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&quot;Wow. I have nothing to say to that.&quot; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;You get the idea. So! Can one use a semicolon after an interjection?  I had never seen it done, prior to  today, and I was curious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3678" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T05:58:22.553" Title="Can you use a semicolon after an interjection/exclamation?" Tags="&lt;semicolon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="8929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8924" CreationDate="2011-01-16T04:54:46.060" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was always taught to use &quot;these&quot; instead of &quot;these ones.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3678" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T04:54:46.060" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8901" CreationDate="2011-01-16T05:12:01.237" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a commercial environment, especially at a large company (although small ones are by no means immune to this effect), one might say that such people are suffering from &quot;institutional inertia&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T05:12:01.237" />
  <row Id="8931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8928" CreationDate="2011-01-16T05:58:22.553" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd advise against it. The semicolon is conventionally used between independent sentences linked in thought, or in enumerations. Using them in the examples you gave would look rather unusual; I expect that you will not find many of those in educated writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T05:58:22.553" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8909" CreationDate="2011-01-16T06:01:22.293" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The larger context, which it seems only Brian Nixon's answer has alluded to, is that the construction &quot;the &lt;em&gt;x&lt;/em&gt;-word&quot;, where &lt;em&gt;x&lt;/em&gt; is some letter of the alphabet, is often used to refer to an unpleasant or taboo word starting with that letter that one does not want to utter. For example, people will say &quot;the N-word&quot; for a certain racial slur that rhymes with &quot;digger&quot;, or &quot;the F-word&quot; for a vulgar interjection that rhymes with &quot;luck&quot;, and so on. I'm pretty sure &quot;the D-word&quot; is not a standard phrase, but given the context of marriage one can figure out what unmentionable word it is being used to refer to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1635" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T06:01:22.293" />
  <row Id="8933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8901" CreationDate="2011-01-16T06:14:12.220" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;they perform an action in a certain way and do not change to a better method, only because they believe the current method must be the best way to do it because it has been done that way previously.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Traditionalist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T06:14:12.220" />
  <row Id="8934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8827" CreationDate="2011-01-16T06:32:59.040" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ew&lt;/em&gt; works in place of &lt;em&gt;yuck&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;ugh&lt;/em&gt;, especially if the speaker is a child.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T06:32:59.040" />
  <row Id="8935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8819" CreationDate="2011-01-16T06:37:17.663" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Supplementing, not supplanting Jonathan Leffler's good answer: &lt;em&gt;I've forgotten his name&lt;/em&gt; is a less ambiguous and thus IMO better way of saying &quot;I forgot his name and still don't remember it&quot;, and is often what people mean when they say &lt;em&gt;I forgot his name&lt;/em&gt; (substituting the past for the past perfect as people often do).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T06:37:17.663" />
  <row Id="8936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8835" CreationDate="2011-01-16T06:38:08.153" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Passive aggressiveness is very apt. Provoking also comes to mind, depending on how we interpret her motives: she seems to be trying to provoke the child's mother, she is trying to get under her skin, she is trying to put her down. I am assuming that the mother of the child is her sister-in-law: she is trying to drive brother and sister apart by provoking the sister and setting her husband up against his sister by pushing him to join her in her provocations. She is a sower of discord, a bully, a manipulator. And, no, I have never had a sister-in-law perform such tricks of bullying and manipulation on me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T06:38:08.153" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="8937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8829" CreationDate="2011-01-16T07:16:41.443" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you are looking for sentence patterns or grammar patterns. Here is a page with a random sentence generator that can use several patterns:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.manythings.org/rs/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.manythings.org/rs/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a few more pages with some more information about sentence patterns:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://arts-ccr-002.bham.ac.uk/ccr/patgram/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://arts-ccr-002.bham.ac.uk/ccr/patgram/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yourdictionary.com/grammar-rules/Grammar-Patterns-for-Sentences.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.yourdictionary.com/grammar-rules/Grammar-Patterns-for-Sentences.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.towson.edu/ows/sentpatt.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.towson.edu/ows/sentpatt.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T07:16:41.443" />
  <row Id="8938" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8946" CreationDate="2011-01-16T07:32:37.233" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is &quot;the hottest seat/seed in town&quot;? I am not sure if it's a &lt;code&gt;seed&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;seat&lt;/code&gt; or something else. I heard it a few times on &quot;CNN&quot; when a new upcoming &quot;Larry King Live&quot; program was being advertised. Also what does it mean &quot;in town&quot; here? It seems that it has nothing to do with a physical human settlement on some territory, but rather with some sphere or even some time period, I am not sure.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T10:57:50.683" Title="What is &quot;the hottest seat/seed in town&quot;?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8939" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8942" CreationDate="2011-01-16T08:17:50.680" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;In what situation (if any) you would say &quot;better play positive&quot;? Please, don't add any punctuation between words. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T10:09:11.480" Title="In what situation (if any) you would say &quot;better play positive&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="8940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8938" CreationDate="2011-01-16T08:26:09.207" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is &lt;strong&gt;seat&lt;/strong&gt;, as reported in &lt;a href=&quot;http://seerpress.com/larry-king-announces-retirement-from-primetime-show/1930/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; or this &lt;a href=&quot;http://the-city-of-god.blogspot.com/2009/03/hottest-seat-in-town.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;blog post&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could design &quot;a spot&quot; (a place to be, here, one of the hottest to be, as in, &quot;most exiting&quot; or &quot;more trendy&quot;).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T08:26:09.207" />
  <row Id="8941" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-16T08:50:05.277" Score="2" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is an indentation (Tab button in Word) needed for a new paragraph when you start one? I was told to do that a long time ago but 3 years after I stopped doing it and have done it since. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you meant to indent when you start a new paragraph?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T15:39:22.247" Title="Is an indentation needed for a new paragraph?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="8942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8939" CreationDate="2011-01-16T08:56:30.127" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I left after watching the better play positive I would come and see it again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... or is that cheating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's &lt;em&gt;possible&lt;/em&gt; someone would say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*You need to win this match, so you'd better play positive!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but to me this sounds a little strange: formal English would have &quot;positively&quot;; &quot;positive&quot; seems a strange choice of words for saying this colloquially, but it wouldn't surprise me too much if someone used this in analogy to the phrase &quot;think positive&quot; which is well-known, or having heard the phrase &quot;positive play&quot;. (It's also possible it sounds more natural in the US or in a particular dialect, but someone else will have to comment on that :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T08:56:30.127" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8941" CreationDate="2011-01-16T09:03:21.337" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's important is that it's clear to your reader where paragraphs begin and end, and that the text is laid out in a way that's easy to read. Often if you're writing for a publisher, newspaper or magazine, there will be a house style that will dictate the layout. If you're writing for yourself you're free to choose what you prefer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indents were (and to some extent still are) much more common in printed material; this may be due to space restrictions and the cost of paper. Most articles I read on the internet - even very formal ones - use gaps to delimit paragraphs, and this does not strike me as &quot;wrong&quot; or &quot;informal&quot; in any way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T09:03:21.337" />
  <row Id="8944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8941" CreationDate="2011-01-16T09:03:58.133" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It used to be mandatory to indent the beginning of every paragraph, along with double spacing after periods. Now, whether you start with an indentation is just a matter of personal/corporate preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="513" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T09:03:58.133" />
  <row Id="8945" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8947" CreationDate="2011-01-16T09:09:20.240" Score="5" ViewCount="361" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you think of any sayings about change, especially ones expressing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;how a big change must begin with a little change?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;how certain institutions, ideas, or God remain eternally unchanged?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: the above is an edited version of @lovespring's question. See edit history for original question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T23:54:42.610" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T02:27:48.877" Title="Are there any English sayings to the effect that little changes may lead to big changes?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;saying&gt;&lt;proverb&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="24" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="8946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8938" CreationDate="2011-01-16T09:11:29.387" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a play on words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;hottest seat in town&quot; can refer to a popular/hard-to-get ticket to an event such as a play or game (similar to &quot;it's a hot ticket&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Being in the hot seat&quot; means&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a high-pressure situation in which a great deal of attention and scrutiny is focused on a person or organization&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_seat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;per Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the &quot;hottest seat in town&quot; is a popular place to be, but also a place where you're under scrutiny and being asked questions you must answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="513" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T09:11:29.387" />
  <row Id="8947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8945" CreationDate="2011-01-16T09:17:43.397" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something like these?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“Mighty oaks from little acorns grow”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="513" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T09:17:43.397" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8948" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8949" CreationDate="2011-01-16T10:00:01.277" Score="6" ViewCount="368" Body="&lt;p&gt;While reading Paulo Coelho's novel, I came across a word that left me doubting whether it was of English origin. Following is the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She fell in love for the first time when she was eleven, en route from her house to school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of the word &lt;em&gt;en&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please elaborate on its meaning, origin and usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3624" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T22:38:12.773" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T22:38:12.773" Title="Meaning of the word 'en'" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="8949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8948" CreationDate="2011-01-16T10:06:58.960" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The en here doesn't mean anything except as part of 'en route', which is imported from French and means 'on or along the way'. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/enroute&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/enroute&lt;/a&gt;. There are other phrases of this kind, such as 'en banc' or 'en prise'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is another word 'en' which is printer's jargon and means the width on the page occupied by the letter 'n' (and is half an 'em').&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T10:06:58.960" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8939" CreationDate="2011-01-16T10:09:11.480" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Better play positive, negativity wont help you overcome your obstacles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the words, 'better play positive' mean that you better start thinking positively or negativity will not help you solve your problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@brilliant- For what situation do you want those words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3624" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T10:09:11.480" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8948" CreationDate="2011-01-16T10:09:14.837" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word 'en' is actually of French origin. It can mean 'on', 'in', 'inside' or 'along' depending on context.&#xA;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En_Route&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;disambiguation page&lt;/a&gt; on Wikipedia says :&#xA;&quot;En route is a French phrase which means &quot;on the way&quot; or &quot;along the way&quot;. &quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T10:09:14.837" />
  <row Id="8952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8938" CreationDate="2011-01-16T10:29:04.957" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's &quot;The hottest seat&quot; and refers to the seat the guest(s) sit on.  Because Larry King was advertized as a tough interviewer.  Which he arguably wasn't, but that's beside the point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that Larry King fathered children pretty late in life, and his (current) wife is quite a bit younger than him, one &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; easily think of &quot;the hottest seed&quot;, but I'll leave finding out what &quot;seed&quot; can mean to you (just google or wikipedia it).  ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;in town&quot;... interesting question, that one.  It doesn't refer to &quot;your town&quot;, it just makes it feel more personal, I'd say, by making it seem to happen &quot;in your town&quot;, close to you, and &quot;pulls you in&quot; more.  You the viewer, that is.  It makes it feel like you're &lt;em&gt;there&lt;/em&gt;, you're a part of it.  Historically, it refered to the specific town/city something happene, as in &quot;the hottest show/act in town&quot;, meaning this is the best show in this town (whatever &quot;this town&quot; is is obvious from context, like when you come to Las Vegas and someone hawks tickets for some show telling you, well, &quot;it's the hottest show in town&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But here the &lt;em&gt;effect&lt;/em&gt; of it is important (since of course it's taped in... where?), and it makes it feel like you're there.  Or could be there&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, on further pondering, it just adds a frame of reference.  Just &quot;The hottest seat&quot; would sound weird, people would wonder &quot;Where?  Compared to what?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think. ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastEditorUserId="2701" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T10:57:50.683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T10:57:50.683" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8945" CreationDate="2011-01-16T10:43:17.780" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;how about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a stitch in time saves nine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T10:43:17.780" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8835" CreationDate="2011-01-16T11:30:14.050" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To descibe the aunt’s behaviour as “passive aggressive” smacks a little of pseudo-psychiatry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More commonly one might say she is being &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0786080#m_en_gb0786080&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Oxford Dictionaries&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;snide&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T11:30:14.050" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8955" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-16T11:53:47.313" Score="4" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you say so? In other words, are deaths counted among people that got hurt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it make a difference if you say &quot;Two people were injured and five people died in the tragedy.&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's imagine someone stabbed a knife into someone else. Then the victim is injured and then let's assume he dies afterwards. Does the victim need to be counted both as injured and killed? Then let's assume someone died immediately because of a heart attack or something. Does that count as injured?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2758" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T14:15:02.423" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T14:32:07.757" Title="&quot;Two people got hurt and five people died in the tragedy.&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8945" CreationDate="2011-01-16T12:08:22.970" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not yet a saying per se, but the so-called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;butterfly effect&lt;/a&gt; is a modern theme popular in certain circles and commonly referred to in modern speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, people sometimes say things like “the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil might set off a tornado in Texas”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T12:08:22.970" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8955" CreationDate="2011-01-16T12:38:33.293" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually, deaths are deaths and injuries are injuries, so the dead are not counted as injured.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I'd say &quot;injured&quot; instead of &quot;got hurt&quot;.  &quot;Got hurt&quot; makes me think of kids, of children.  &quot;Mommy, I got hurt!&quot; sort of thing.  Not to mention that &quot;got hurt&quot; can mean something else, as in &quot;That remark really hurt my feelings!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The victim of a stabbing (btw, &quot;someone stabbed someone else with a knife&quot;, &quot;to stab a knife into someone&quot;, while (I think) grammatically correct, just sounds weird) would count as injured.  Until he dies (if he does so).  Then he counts as dead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastEditorUserId="2701" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T14:32:07.757" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T14:32:07.757" />
  <row Id="8958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8955" CreationDate="2011-01-16T12:41:21.180" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the context.  In early news reporting, where the aims these days seem to be speed and sensationalism rather than factual accuracy, the focus is likely to be on the number of deaths.  Thus you’ll see a headline like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Five killed in tragedy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe expanded in an article as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Five people died and two others were injured in the tragedy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in a formal investigation report of the incident you’re more likely to read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Injuries: 7 (5 fatal, 2 serious)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T12:41:21.180" />
  <row Id="8959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8945" CreationDate="2011-01-16T13:27:23.847" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The type of saying I think you’re looking for is called a &lt;strong&gt;proverb&lt;/strong&gt;.  There are plenty of online resources for those; for example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/English_proverbs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Wikiquote&quot;&gt;this list on Wikiquote&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the subject of change, you might like the saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even in English speech or writing the original French is used, or it can be rendered in English as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The more things change, the more they stay the same&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T13:27:23.847" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8883" CreationDate="2011-01-16T14:08:23.570" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m sure I remember reading that some “redundant” letters were inserted into English words by early printers, simply to make the typesetting easier or to improve the visual appearance of the text.  The example given was the ‘h’ in “ghost”, though while &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/ghost&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Oxford Dictionaries&quot;&gt;Oxford&lt;/a&gt; does indeed attribute that to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Caxton&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Wikipedia&quot;&gt;an early printer&lt;/a&gt;, it suggests that the influence was a foreign spelling rather than practicality or aesthetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T14:08:23.570" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8955" CreationDate="2011-01-16T15:47:56.107" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Injuries&quot; and &quot;deaths&quot; are disjoint groups usually, though you may sometimes speak of a &quot;fatal injury&quot; (an injury that later leads to death).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They may both be classified as &lt;strong&gt;&lt;code&gt;casualties&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; of an incident.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T15:35:10.230" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T15:35:10.230" />
  <row Id="8962" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8965" CreationDate="2011-01-16T15:48:40.407" Score="5" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can anyone shed some light on the origin of the use of the word &quot;Bang&quot; to imply a positive adjective?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, here are three colloquial phrases which use the word bang to lend strength to the meaning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's a &lt;strong&gt;bang-up&lt;/strong&gt; job you've done!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  That's &lt;strong&gt;bang&lt;/strong&gt; out of order!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  It's &lt;strong&gt;bang&lt;/strong&gt; up to date.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meaning, respectively:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's a &lt;em&gt;really great / the best&lt;/em&gt; job you've done!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  That's &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; out of order!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  It's &lt;em&gt;the most&lt;/em&gt; up to date.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;UPDATE&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've just thought of another one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They had him &lt;strong&gt;bang&lt;/strong&gt; to rights. (i.e. He was most definitely guilty)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm still confused as to where this usage originated. Brian Hooper suggests they could all be a variant of bang-up, which sounds plausible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would also appear from the comments that a few of these uses (which I can attest are real and recognisable phrases. Well, in England, at any rate) are unfamiliar to our American friends. So perhaps these are colloquialisms that haven't migrated for some reason, or perhaps they are more modern constructions. I will continue to search. Thanks for your input everyone!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;UPDATE 2&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've come across some interesting information regarding the origin of the phrase - it appears in one of Dickens' works, Sketches by Boz, where the term Slap-bang is used to refer to a cheap restaurant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The deal was that both money and food were slapped down on the table because it was a cheap establishment. From this we get the terms slap down and bang down, which seem to have evolved into bang-up and slap-up respectively as their positive opposites. Slap-up seems to be heard only with regard to food (a slap up meal), whereas bang-up seems to have become a more general expression of positivity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This still doesn't quite satisfy me with regard to the other uses (&lt;strong&gt;bang out of order&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;bang up to date&lt;/strong&gt;), but it's a decent start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3320" LastEditorUserId="3320" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T20:53:47.603" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T12:21:45.807" Title="Question regarding the usage of &quot;Bang&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;&lt;construction&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="8963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8941" CreationDate="2011-01-16T15:59:08.743" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not an expert here but I thought I would illustrate two different styles of paragraphs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/DRAOo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first pair of paragraphs are not indented, there is line-space between them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second pair of paragraphs are delineated by indenting the first line. Typically one would use double line-spacing with indentation, I show them compacted to better illustrate the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's important isn't which is more appropriate than the other (though there certainly are situations where one would be required over the other). The important thing is that the reader is able to distinguish where one paragraph ends and the next begins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were to use both line-spacing and indentation of paragraphs, that would simply be redundant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3693" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T15:59:08.743" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8964" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8967" CreationDate="2011-01-16T16:09:13.270" Score="22" ViewCount="656" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that all variants of English (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American English&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British English&lt;/a&gt;, etc.) can be generally  understood by everybody who knows any of the English variants. However, there are some regionalisms that can lead to ambiguity. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the things I must be aware of when the target audience (of my writing: book, blog, etc.) is the world?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2237" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T13:09:49.590" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T09:15:03.560" Title="Which variant of English should I use when my target audience is the world?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="8965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8962" CreationDate="2011-01-16T16:10:42.823" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's slang. A &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlineslangdictionary.com/definition+of/bang+up+job&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bang up job&lt;/a&gt; is an expression in itself even if it might come from some other use of &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlineslangdictionary.com/definition+of/bang&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bang&lt;/a&gt;. However, bang used that way is usually a positive adjective, not a superlative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, something that is &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlineslangdictionary.com/definition+of/banged+up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;banged up&lt;/a&gt; is usually broken. You should be careful when to use the expression, as a &lt;em&gt;bang up job&lt;/em&gt; could easily be mistaken by someone not familiar with both expressions for a job causing something to be banged up, i.e. a lousy job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's used both in UK and in the states. Perhaps symptomatically, in the states it seems to be more used for sex, crime and drugs. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="3365" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T18:19:24.893" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T18:19:24.893" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="92" CreationDate="2011-01-16T16:21:42.107" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would advise that you should just learn by reading, especially more thoughtful and observing books, not quick and just-the-facts ones. It is indeed a harder punctuation mark to master and will take a while; soon though it will seem very natural and instinctive where it should come. Do not, I repeat Do not (many at first attempt this), try and force the use of it, or reconstruct perfectly fine sentences in an effort to include it - it will always come out awkward and make it worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply, as another answer says, it links two sentences, or better, statements. I disagree somewhat, because often it would seem nonsensical to keep them separated by commas; in this case people who don't like to use, or have little experience in, using semicolons tend to just make it a comma. Semicolons are, as you say, quite precise punctuation, and can usually be made into, at the expense of rhythm and cadence, a full-stop or comma.&#xA;It usually depends on the style, context and purpose of the writing. Often in very factual and fast-paced prose, there is virtually no use of them at all; you just want the facts, one by one: you're not reading for enjoyment or being persuaded, therefore there is little need for rhythm, etcetera. Here, don't try and use one for the sake of using one. In longer, more meditative and thoughtful writing, it is sometimes used nigh on every sentence, eg. in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Walden&lt;/a&gt; (indeed the full title is 'Walden; or, life in the woods' - a very good book, not just for learning how to use a semicolon).&#xA;I know some who seem to think that this 'factual' mode of writing is merely modern - fast-paced writing for a fast-paced way of life; the semicolon belongs in the literary domain of the 19th century. I think this is completely untrue - it is vital for expressing a train of thought clearly. The usually sound advice of On Writing Well by William Zinsser is of this opinion and that one should instead 'rely on the period and the dash', but I think it is because he writes mainly nonfiction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="852" LastEditorUserId="852" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T16:30:41.253" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T16:30:41.253" />
  <row Id="8967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8964" CreationDate="2011-01-16T16:24:31.873" Score="37" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your target audience is the world, then you target not only people with a knowledge of American English, British English, and so on, but also people like myself, to whom English is not a mother tongue but a foreign language. If reaching these people is important to you, then you might want to write in a relatively simple English, avoiding not only regionalisms, but also:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Idioms that are hard to understand; e.g., some sayings are not trivial or use unusual vocabulary. As an example, I'd say that “a bitter pill to swallow” is rather straightforward to decipher, even if you have never encountered it before. “An axe to grind”, on the other hand, is harder, probably because it refers to a situation that you is not part of daily life (for most of us) anymore!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vocabulary that is out of the ordinary; for example, even though the many words describing different ways to hit or strike (something or someone) express different nuances, “hit” or “strike” is easier to read than “batter” or “thwack” or “clobber”.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, providing a lot of context, and writing simple, concise sentences will help make your point clearer (and not only to “foreigners”).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T15:32:05.937" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T15:32:05.937" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="8968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8964" CreationDate="2011-01-16T16:38:11.310" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest writing in the version of English you are most comfortable with. That's what you'll communicate in most clearly, and everyone else will understand it from that domain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T16:38:11.310" />
  <row Id="8970" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8971" CreationDate="2011-01-16T17:06:23.863" Score="4" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;I play Scrabble. I'm learning words with the letter 'q'. What is the usage of the word 'qua'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3696" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T19:02:28.617" Title="What is the usage of the word 'qua'?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="8971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8970" CreationDate="2011-01-16T17:13:12.293" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's from Latin, meaning &quot;what&quot; or &quot;as.&quot; The entry at Dictionary.com gives this example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The work of art qua art can be judged by aesthetic criteria only.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point (aside from sounding a little pretentious) would be to contrast &quot;art qua art&quot; with, say, &quot;art as a commercial enterprise&quot; - where the criteria would be whether a particular piece is salable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also used as part of the phrase (also from Latin) &quot;sine qua non,&quot; meaning something essential to something else (&quot;money is sine qua non for an American political campaign&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T17:13:12.293" />
  <row Id="8972" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-16T17:15:40.267" Score="7" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the &lt;em&gt;name&lt;/em&gt; of the method of navigation or orienteering in which you sight a landmark in the distance, work your way toward it, and then repeat with another landmark further off?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3699" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T16:20:03.197" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T23:48:05.810" Title="Looking for the name of a method of wilderness navigation" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8974" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8977" CreationDate="2011-01-16T17:29:59.793" Score="2" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;when I clicked on video file nothing&#xA;  has happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3295" LastEditorUserId="3295" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T20:25:03.060" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T21:07:40.937" Title="&quot;when I clicked on video file nothing has happened&quot;" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;&lt;hypercorrection&gt;&lt;past-perfect&gt;&lt;past-participle&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8974" CreationDate="2011-01-16T17:34:19.260" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is not entirely correct. Here is how I'd say it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I clicked on the video file,&#xA;  nothing happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need an article before &quot;video file&quot;, or it would be unclear whether you meant just any file or a specific file.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need a comma after &quot;file&quot; because the sentence begins with a subordinate clause.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You need the past simple &quot;happened&quot; because it is about something that happened at a specific time in the past.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T18:14:49.487" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T18:14:49.487" />
  <row Id="8976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8972" CreationDate="2011-01-16T17:43:43.610" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always heard that called simply &lt;em&gt;landmark navigation&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T17:43:43.610" />
  <row Id="8977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8974" CreationDate="2011-01-16T18:14:51.530" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, that would imply that the effect would have come before the cause, i.e. that the video would have been shown before you clicked to show it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should keep the same tense for cause and effect, as the effect if expected to come almost immediately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I clicked on a video file, nothing happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I click on a video file, nothing happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T18:14:51.530" />
  <row Id="8980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8970" CreationDate="2011-01-16T19:02:28.617" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Qua&lt;/em&gt; can usually be read as the word &quot;as&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is an occasionally useful (and rarely used) link-word in English. &#xA;I was just reading about &lt;em&gt;qua&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dictionary_of_Modern_English_Usage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fowler's&lt;/a&gt; (incl. the 3rd ed by Burchfield) a couple of days ago. Says Fowler: &quot;The real occasion for the use of &lt;em&gt;qua&lt;/em&gt; occurs when a person or thing spoken of can be regarded from more than one point of view or as the holder of various coexistent functions, and a statement about him (or it) is to be limited to him in one of these aspects&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Qua lover he must be condemned for doing what qua citizen he would be condemned for not doing.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, &quot;the lover aspect is distinguished from another aspect in which he may be regarded. The two nouns (or pronouns) must be present, one denoting the person or thing in all aspects (he), and the other singling out one of his or its aspects (lover, or citizen).&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was the only way in which Fowler preferred the word be used, but in fact (notes Burchfield), it's often used in other ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;between identical nouns (&quot;X qua X&quot;) as an emphatic version of &quot;as&quot;:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The presence of actual words is apt to confuse any estimate of the evocative power of the music qua music.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I don't think that 'Hard Times' is a particularly good novel qua novel, whatever it may be as a social document.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;James Kirkup's poem about Jesus … is … an indefensibly bad poem qua poem.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And sometimes, merely as &quot;as&quot;:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;It cannot, qua film, have the scope of a large book.&quot; [i.e., it cannot, as a film,…]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Qua phonetician, de Saussure has no interest in making precise the notion of species.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Dressed in an Armani suit and espadrilles, he plays a cop &lt;em&gt;qua&lt;/em&gt; existential hero.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the word can seem pretentious, so you may want to avoid it — it usually adds nothing over &quot;as&quot;, anyway. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Burchfield ends with: &quot;And as to usage, &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt; is often the better choice of word, &lt;em&gt;qua&lt;/em&gt; word.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T19:02:28.617" />
  <row Id="8981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8901" CreationDate="2011-01-16T19:05:33.933" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a slightly obscure word that means something very close to this: perseverate.  The word comes from the medical context (discussing mental illness), and means to continue doing something after the reason has disappeared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T19:05:33.933" />
  <row Id="8982" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9132" CreationDate="2011-01-16T19:28:58.703" Score="6" ViewCount="343" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is an oft-quoted statement that the 100 most common (frequently used) words in the English language are &lt;em&gt;entirely&lt;/em&gt; Germanic/Anglo-Saxon in origin. (Also sometimes said is that ~80% of the &lt;em&gt;1000&lt;/em&gt; most common are Germanic in origin.) While this did not surprise me so much, I did recently stumble across &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_common_words_in_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Wikipedia page&lt;/a&gt;, which lists the supposed 100 most common words, with an attributed source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quick glance suggested (to my surprise) several words of non-Germanic (specifically, Latin) origin:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;use&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;person&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;just&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;because (the &lt;code&gt;cause&lt;/code&gt; part)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may be others I've missed too? Indeed, perhaps due to the entry of Latin words into the Germanic languages in the proto-Germanic period (and the fact they are both ultimately Indo-European languages) some of the etymologies may be uncertain. Do correct me if that's not the case, as I am no historical linguist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly, depending on the statistical sample used to compile the list, results can vary. However, is there any accepted/standard list of the 100 most common English words? And moreover, is it a myth that they're &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; Germanic in origin (as I now doubt)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T19:35:03.080" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T20:24:21.537" Title="Origin of 100 most common English words" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8982" CreationDate="2011-01-16T19:38:33.170" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is one site that blends British, American, and Australian English together: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.world-english.org/english500.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.world-english.org/english500.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T19:38:33.170" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8972" CreationDate="2011-01-16T19:49:48.683" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Orienteering&lt;/em&gt; is perhaps the word you are looking for. I am told it means running between various checkpoints whose position is defined with greater or lesser precision, and where the runner is entitled to visit them in the order he pleases. I would, sad to say, have no first-hand experience of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T19:49:48.683" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8985" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8986" CreationDate="2011-01-16T20:14:51.217" Score="1" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;or &quot;it would took me 1–2 seconds&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3295" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T22:37:19.013" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T11:46:59.333" Title="&quot;it would take me 1–2 seconds&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;&lt;infinitive&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8985" CreationDate="2011-01-16T20:17:05.037" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;It would take me 1-2 seconds&quot; is correct. It takes the infinitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3703" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T20:17:05.037" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="8987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8974" CreationDate="2011-01-16T20:21:30.053" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No; you're mixing the perfect and the imperfect past tenses (and missed out an article, too). Make them both perfect with the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I clicked on the video file, nothing happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3703" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T20:21:30.053" />
  <row Id="8989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2013" CreationDate="2011-01-16T20:59:52.633" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a scientist, I would point out that saying &quot;high rate of speed&quot;, when one simply means &quot;high speed&quot;, is not merely redundant but outright wrong. &lt;em&gt;Speed&lt;/em&gt; is already a rate in itself (the rate at which distance changes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to my dictionary*, the relevant definition of &lt;em&gt;rate&lt;/em&gt; is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the speed with which something moves, happens or &lt;em&gt;changes&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*&lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dicitionary (2nd Edition)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T01:38:47.923" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T01:38:47.923" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8974" CreationDate="2011-01-16T21:07:40.937" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is an issue with semantics as well. You don't actually click on a &lt;em&gt;file&lt;/em&gt;, but on an icon or a label or some other on-screen element that represents the file. I would rewrite the sentence as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;when I clicked on the video, nothing happened&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, if you want to emphasise the &quot;file&quot; aspect of the interaction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;when I clicked on the video file [icon/title/etc.], nothing happened&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1304" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T21:07:40.937" />
  <row Id="8991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8945" CreationDate="2011-01-16T21:25:17.133" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's also the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowball_effect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;snowball effect&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3709" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T21:25:17.133" />
  <row Id="8992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8945" CreationDate="2011-01-16T21:34:04.170" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;At risk of sounding cynical, &quot;changing things so everything stays the same&quot; is a phrase I've read and heard a few times and which I find very interesting. It tries to convey the feeling that we strive to change so many things in the world as a way to preserve some other things as they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This connects with your comment that certain things remain eternally unchanged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.economist.com/node/173654&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for an example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;. The original source is apparently &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_Gattopardo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Il Gattopardo&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1304" LastEditorUserId="1304" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T21:02:03.053" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T21:02:03.053" />
  <row Id="8993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8945" CreationDate="2011-01-16T21:43:16.693" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Look after the pennies the pounds will look after themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When a butterfly flaps its wings it creates a hurricane in the pacific.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Or at least emacs users worry about their memory being changed.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://xkcd.com/378/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://xkcd.com/378/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3710" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T20:44:07.400" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T20:44:07.400" />
  <row Id="8994" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8997" CreationDate="2011-01-16T21:54:53.310" Score="3" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;For some reason it is &lt;em&gt;written&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;writing&lt;/em&gt;. It's confusing to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I remember to write them differently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3295" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T04:47:27.570" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T04:47:27.570" Title="Differentiating between &quot;written&quot; and &quot;writing&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="8995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8877" CreationDate="2011-01-16T21:58:09.407" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A Blue moon is the second full moon in the same month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a full moon appears every 28 days the chances of a full moon happening twice in the same month are very rare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This brings us to the common expression:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Once in a blue moon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meaning it happens very rarely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mun.ca/folklore/people/Hiscock.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dr Hiscock&lt;/a&gt; in one of his books noted this is a modern interpretation of the term &quot;Blue Moon&quot;; Historically it has probably been related to the moon changing colour because of atmospheric conditions (which was even more rare).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3710" LastEditorUserId="3710" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T22:04:45.483" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T22:04:45.483" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="8996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8994" CreationDate="2011-01-16T22:12:34.093" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Google is not &quot;unsure&quot; about it; read the results of both:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=writting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.google.com/search?q=writting&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;returns 7 million results, with the top results including &quot;Writting is a shockingly common misspelling of 'writing'&quot;, &quot;English teachers dread to see ...&quot;. Most other results are amateur poetry or spam sites. Google also asks &quot;Did you mean: 'writing'?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=writing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.google.com/search?q=writing&lt;/a&gt; returns over 30 times as many results, with top hits references to authors and publications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When Google (or any web search) turns up results, you have to actually read them to see if it's what you want. Spelling is no different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2949" LastEditorUserId="2949" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T22:27:45.063" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T22:27:45.063" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="8997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8994" CreationDate="2011-01-16T22:13:37.297" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Writing&lt;/code&gt; is the right word; &lt;code&gt;writting&lt;/code&gt; is the misspelling of &lt;code&gt;writing&lt;/code&gt;. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at the pattern: &lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Write&lt;/code&gt; – pronounced  &lt;code&gt;rIt&lt;/code&gt; (&lt;code&gt;i&lt;/code&gt; is long) – single &lt;code&gt;t&lt;/code&gt;.  &lt;br/&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Writer&lt;/code&gt; – pronounced  &lt;code&gt;rIt-u(r)&lt;/code&gt; (&lt;code&gt;i&lt;/code&gt; is long) – single &lt;code&gt;t&lt;/code&gt;.  &lt;br/&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Writing&lt;/code&gt; – pronounced  &lt;code&gt;rIt-ing&lt;/code&gt; (&lt;code&gt;i&lt;/code&gt; is long) – single &lt;code&gt;t&lt;/code&gt;.  &lt;br/&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Written&lt;/code&gt; – pronounced &lt;code&gt;ri-t(u)n&lt;/code&gt; (&lt;code&gt;i&lt;/code&gt; is &lt;strong&gt;short&lt;/strong&gt;) – double &lt;code&gt;t&lt;/code&gt;.  &lt;br/&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2237" LastEditorUserId="2237" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T22:19:15.043" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T22:19:15.043" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="8998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8994" CreationDate="2011-01-16T22:14:50.130" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you follow the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Common Errors in English Usage&lt;/a&gt;, it is &quot;&lt;strong&gt;writing&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of the comments English teachers dread to see on their evaluations is “The professor really helped me improve my writting.”  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When “&lt;code&gt;-ing&lt;/code&gt;” is added to a word which ends in a short vowel followed only by a single consonant, that consonant is normally doubled, &lt;strong&gt;but “write” has a silent E on the end&lt;/strong&gt; to ensure the long I sound in the word. Doubling the T in this case would make the word rhyme with “flitting.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T22:14:50.130" />
  <row Id="8999" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9031" CreationDate="2011-01-16T22:16:28.997" Score="23" ViewCount="717" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider this example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm sorry if you got the impression that I meant to insult you. That was not my intention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it be correct to say that the above person apologized? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the dictionaries I have checked defined &quot;to apologize&quot; as admitting one's fault. However, in the above example, the person is not conceding he is making a mistake; he is merely clarifying his intent and, well, &lt;em&gt;apologizing&lt;/em&gt; if he hurt the other person's feelings. Yet, based on my understanding of the verb, it would be adequate to say that the person apologized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, does apologizing really require being at fault?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3711" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T18:59:01.833" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T20:09:36.663" Title="Does apologizing entail recognizing being at fault?" Tags="&lt;semantics&gt;&lt;speech-acts&gt;&lt;pragmatics&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="9000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8999" CreationDate="2011-01-16T22:36:00.517" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Saying sorry does not always imply admission of a fault. You can e.g. say &quot;I'm sorry to hear that your house got washed away by the flood&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your example uses a common &quot;trick&quot; to avoid the issue of fault. Instead of feeling sorry for the action the he/she feels sorry for how it was received; leaving open if being insulted is a reasonable / foreseeable response to the action (and thus require apologizing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T22:36:00.517" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8999" CreationDate="2011-01-16T22:43:32.103" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The statement&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm sorry if you got the impression that I meant to insult you. That was not my intention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is an apology of sorts, but it borders on the confrontational. By saying &quot;you got the impression&quot; you are absolving your own communication of any fault, when in fact there is a chance you may have phrased your statement in a way that could be misconstrued by well-meaning people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are really concerned that you have offended someone, it doesn't hurt to admit that possibility with something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm sorry, perhaps I didn't make my meaning clear. It was not my intention to insult you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This assumes some responsibility for the missed communication without losing your own dignity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T22:55:10.293" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T22:55:10.293" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9002" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9012" CreationDate="2011-01-16T23:15:35.293" Score="2" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to remember a certain quote representing the concept of miscellany (or randomness perhaps). I can't give much information except that it is of the form &quot;Of ... and ... and ... etc.&quot;, contains various 'unusual' words, and has a rhyming scheme. I could swear it is attributed to Lewis Carroll, but I could well be wrong on that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regretfully that's all the information I can give for now; Google is not being terribly helpful with this! If anyone has an idea, please by all means post it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T23:25:20.307" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T06:28:50.473" Title="Quote about miscellany (?)" Tags="&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8994" CreationDate="2011-01-16T23:37:55.323" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The present participle of the verb &lt;em&gt;to write&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;strong&gt;writing&lt;/strong&gt; (pronounced |ˈrīti ng | in American English), while the past participle is &lt;strong&gt;written&lt;/strong&gt; (pronounced |ˈritn| in American English). Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am &lt;em&gt;writing&lt;/em&gt; an essay.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I have &lt;em&gt;written&lt;/em&gt; the essay.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I have finished &lt;em&gt;writing&lt;/em&gt; it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;It is &lt;em&gt;written&lt;/em&gt;...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T23:37:55.323" />
  <row Id="9004" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-16T23:42:17.427" Score="6" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many Latin words in English have both Latin-style plurals and English-style plurals: &lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;referendum – referendums, referenda.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;minimum – minimums, minima.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;gymnasium – gymnasiums, gymnasia. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;aquarium – aquariums, aquaria.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;amoeba – amoebas, amoebae.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;antenna – antennas, antennae.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;formula – formulas, formulae.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;index – indexes, indices.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;appendix – appendixes, appendices.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In technical language, generally, Latin-style is the only proper form of Latin plurals. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all other contexts where both Latin-style and English-style are proper, which style of Latin plurals should I use? &lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2237" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T16:37:44.633" Title="Which style of Latin plurals should I use?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="9005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8964" CreationDate="2011-01-17T00:08:48.453" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad_church&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;broad church&lt;/a&gt; (British English bias intended :).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My preference in many circumstances would be to not unnecessarily burden yourself with removing any regional colour from your English writing.  Seeking to do so will eventually only make English into a more generic and less expressive language.  If the writing is online you can always make a helpful hyperlink or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to be easily understood, but that's not the only important thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3713" LastEditorUserId="3713" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T00:26:17.403" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T00:26:17.403" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6798" CreationDate="2011-01-17T00:10:28.513" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;@ Jon Purdy: That would be a nice answer, if &quot;one&quot; in Old English was &quot;on&quot; or even &quot;one&quot;; however, to my admittedly limited knowledge of O.E., &quot;one&quot; is án, and &quot;once&quot; is ánes.  &quot;two&quot; is twá; &quot;twice,&quot; twiwa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3714" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T00:10:28.513" />
  <row Id="9007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9004" CreationDate="2011-01-17T00:10:37.650" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A very short, preliminary answer: &lt;strong&gt;it depends on the noun&lt;/strong&gt;. Some nouns should always take the Latin plural, some can take either, and others should always have the English plural. Even in academic writing, not all Latin forms would sounds proper. If I have time I will look up examples and edit them in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T00:10:37.650" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9004" CreationDate="2011-01-17T00:21:33.327" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most generally, American speakers tend to use the English-style plural, while British (and related) speakers favor the Latin-style. Of course, there are those words whose Latin-style plural forms are non-negotiable on either side of the pond, such as &lt;em&gt;bacteria&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;criteria&lt;/em&gt;. And there are also those whose English-style plurals are universally preferred, e.g. &lt;em&gt;moratoriums&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;apexes&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T05:23:32.183" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T05:23:32.183" CommentCount="19" />
  <row Id="9009" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9026" CreationDate="2011-01-17T00:48:49.737" Score="3" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the following caption and lead copy in today's New York Times.&#xA;Does 'jolt into civility' mean 'get calmed down quickly,&quot; &quot;resume normality soon after the incident&quot;? Is &quot;jolt into&quot; civility, normalty, composure, recovery, whatever, a frequently-used phrase?  - Yoichi&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After Tucson, Is the Anger Gone?&#xA;In the past, the nation has been &quot;&lt;strong&gt;jolted into civility&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot; But it's unclear whether this will happen after the killings in Tucson.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T03:39:40.723" Title="What does the nation &quot;Jolted into civility&quot; after an incident mean?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9009" CreationDate="2011-01-17T01:09:25.383" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;For anyone who hoped that the tragedy in Tucson might &lt;strong&gt;jolt the political class into some new period of civility&lt;/strong&gt; and reflection, suddenly subduing all the radio ranters and acid bloggers, the days that followed brought a cold reality.&quot; - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/weekinreview/16bai.html?_r=1&amp;amp;partner=rss&amp;amp;emc=rss&amp;amp;pagewanted=all&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;After Tucson, Is the Anger Gone?&lt;/a&gt;, Matt Bai, The New York Times, January 15, 2011. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jolt [verb]: Disturb (someone's) composure. &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Civility [noun]: The act of showing regard for others; being polite. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Jolt (the political class...) into civility&quot; is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalese&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;journalese&lt;/a&gt; that means &quot;force (the political class...) to be  (uncharacteristically) polite and have regard for others.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2237" LastEditorUserId="2237" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T01:27:32.770" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T01:27:32.770" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9002" CreationDate="2011-01-17T01:25:36.003" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps you mean the following quote from Carroll's &quot;The Walrus and the Carpenter&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The time has come,&quot; the Walrus said,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;To talk of many things:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Of cabbages--and kings--&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  And why the sea is boiling hot--&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  And whether pigs have wings.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the full text:&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/walrus.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/walrus.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastEditorUserId="1812" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T06:28:50.473" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T06:28:50.473" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9013" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9015" CreationDate="2011-01-17T01:54:26.440" Score="11" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just read this: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/property/property-news/2011/01/14/it-s-a-wo-man-s-world-out-there-100252-27987921/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;It’s a (wo)man’s world out there&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this an accepted approach to gender-neutral language, or is it just used when humor is intended? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2237" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T14:13:47.400" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T14:13:47.400" Title="Is it acceptable to write &quot;(wo)man&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;gender&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9014" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9020" CreationDate="2011-01-17T02:04:44.190" Score="3" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;If money were not an option&quot; is often used to mean &quot;Don't worry about how much it would cost&quot;.  However, I just noticed that the last word, &lt;strong&gt;option&lt;/strong&gt;, makes it sound like saying &quot;If spending money was not one of your options&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I keep using this phrase?  Or is it a mutation of the phrase &quot;If money were not an &lt;strong&gt;object&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; ?  Going by exact quote searches with Google, they're about the same: &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22if+money+were+not+an+object%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;if money were not an object&lt;/a&gt;&quot; (32,400 results) and &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22if+money+were+not+an+option%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;If money were not an option&lt;/a&gt;&quot; (27,500 results).  Or would I be far better off using neither of these and just saying &quot;If money were not an issue&quot; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1530" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T15:35:36.873" Title="Is it “If money were not an object” or “If money were not an option” ?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="9015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9013" CreationDate="2011-01-17T02:07:37.080" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The style guides I know advise against this kind, with the brackets or slashes (he/she), unless used ironically or in contexts where there is no reasonable alternative to avoid confusion, like forms or legal texts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T02:07:37.080" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8985" CreationDate="2011-01-17T02:10:09.977" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are wanting to indicate how long it would have taken you to complete a task that has already been completed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It took Stephen 10 seconds to get the right answer, but it would have taken me 1 or 2 seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T02:10:09.977" />
  <row Id="9017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9013" CreationDate="2011-01-17T02:10:27.630" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is certainly not an attempt at gender-neutrality. It is simply employed to convey the irony of the situation in question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T02:10:27.630" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9014" CreationDate="2011-01-17T02:32:58.513" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say that this is subjective: a matter of personal preference. &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;I prefer using &quot;if money were/is/(was) not an issue...&quot;: I find it less ambiguous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2237" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T02:32:58.513" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9014" CreationDate="2011-01-17T02:34:10.727" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most common phrasing, it seems (and the one I would think of as most correct) is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If money is no object…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which gets 2,090,000 hits!  In general, whatever tense/mood of verb is used, the &lt;em&gt;…no object&lt;/em&gt; form seems commonest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general form seems to be: &lt;em&gt;If money (is|was|were) (no|not an) (object|issue|option)&lt;/em&gt;.  Some ghits for each, though as Cerberus points out in comments, these numbers should be taken with an extremely large pinch of salt:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;                      is         was        were&#xA;&#xA;no object      2,090,000   1,670,000   1,200,000&#xA;not an object    102,000      44,400      32,400&#xA;&#xA;no option         94,400      84,500      44,700&#xA;not an option    163,000      51,000      27,500&#xA;&#xA;no issue         115,000      68,700      51,200&#xA;not an issue     826,000     281,000     130,000&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T03:21:35.497" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T03:21:35.497" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="9020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9014" CreationDate="2011-01-17T02:37:50.063" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always say &quot;money is no object&quot; (well, I would if it weren't—&lt;em&gt;sigh&lt;/em&gt;), and I never say &quot;money is not an option&quot;. I suspect that &quot;option&quot; is a newer variant, based on a mishearing of &quot;object&quot;, since it doesn't make much sense when you think about it. &quot;Object&quot; and &quot;issue&quot; are established idioms; I have my doubts about &quot;option&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In books, &quot;money is no object&quot; is certainly the commonest form, as you can see in this &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ngram&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/vtUPW.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T02:37:50.063" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="90" CreationDate="2011-01-17T02:44:25.410" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(not English specific) So called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_friend&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;False Friends&lt;/a&gt; lead to many mistakes. These are words which are somehow similar to a word in the speakers native language but have a very different meaning. E.g. in German the word &quot;eventuel&quot; (= potentially) may be incorrectly translated as &quot;eventually&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T02:44:25.410" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-17T02:44:25.410" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9022" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-17T03:06:52.993" Score="10" ViewCount="379" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that &quot;Eskimo&quot; is an offensive term in Canada; they use the term &quot;Inuit&quot;. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I see the term &quot;Eskimo&quot; popping up regularly in news articles that I read; I hardly see the term &quot;Inuit&quot; being used. Why? Ignorance? Apathy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the term &quot;Eskimo&quot; offensive only in Canada, or in the rest of the world too?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2237" LastEditorUserId="2237" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T03:12:34.097" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T11:36:12.780" Title="Is &quot;Eskimo&quot; a universally offensive term?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;offensive&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="9023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6683" CreationDate="2011-01-17T03:08:01.980" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Coming late to the party; but all of the answers so far make the angry person the subject of the phrase (as in &lt;em&gt;X will turn in her/his grave&lt;/em&gt;), rather than the object as in the original question.  So to fill that gap, you might also…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;drive/send X round the bend&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;drive/send X up the wall&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;drive X crazy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;give X a fit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;get X’s goat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;…more?  CW’d in hopes of more :-)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T03:08:01.980" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-17T03:08:01.980" />
  <row Id="9024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8999" CreationDate="2011-01-17T03:19:13.943" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may be an ethical issue more than a language use issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A meaningful apology does require admitting fault.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others pointed out, saying &quot;I'm sorry&quot; often does not imply an apology. Sometimes, it signifies regret that something happened, regardless of fault. However, it can also be a mere prop, without even indicating a sincere wish that a fact was not so (&quot;I'm sorry, but it had to be done.&quot;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From an ethical standpoint, I think passing off a non-apology as an apology is sneaky, dishonest and patronizing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1056" LastEditorUserId="1056" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T10:14:51.393" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T10:14:51.393" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9022" CreationDate="2011-01-17T03:20:06.953" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are at least two different types of Eskimo: Inuit and Yupik. In Canada and Greenland, the only type of Eskimo is the Inuit. However in the United States, both types are present and in Russia, only the Yupik are present. So, Eskimo couldn't really mean anything other than Inuit in Canada whereas in Alaska it could very well be referring to either. In Russia, it could only mean the Yupik.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point is that Eskimo is a more general word than Inuit. All Inuit are Eskimos but not all Eskimos are Inuit. The two words aren't synonyms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskimo#General&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;, the term is offensive in Canada and Greenland and not elsewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2385" LastEditorUserId="2385" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T07:43:24.280" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T07:43:24.280" />
  <row Id="9026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9009" CreationDate="2011-01-17T03:39:40.723" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Jolt into civility&quot; here means to shock the purveyors of rancorous political discourse so much that they decide to abandon the hostility for a new spirit of public politeness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you probe around in an electrical outlet with a screwdriver, you are likely to get a &lt;em&gt;jolt&lt;/em&gt; of electricity. Such a shock might convince you not to go poking screwdrivers into outlets. Your attitude toward such reckless exploration would probably be softened quite a bit, and you would be less reckless in the future. Experience keeps an expensive school, the saying goes, but a fool will learn in no other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Too bad some people don't even learn from experience. The point of the article is that, far from having a chastening effect on those who spout angry or hateful political rhetoric, the murders in Tucson have in fact caused the ranters to spew more vitriol, louder and faster than before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T03:39:40.723" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6683" CreationDate="2011-01-17T04:07:11.983" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could keep it themed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Don't say that 'Free Software' has no cost, or Richard Stallman could go proprietary on your ass!&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might not be a common idiom, but your audience should understand the intention from the context and tone of your delivery&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T04:07:11.983" />
  <row Id="9029" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9058" CreationDate="2011-01-17T05:09:53.943" Score="2" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dictionary says that a “turnaround” is “an abrupt or unexpected change, esp. one that results in a more favorable situation”. What would be the word for “an abrupt or unexpected change” which is NOT favourable and worsens the situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3724" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T17:59:43.893" Title="Opposite of “turnaround”" Tags="&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9029" CreationDate="2011-01-17T05:27:16.560" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot think of a &lt;em&gt;word&lt;/em&gt; but two good expressions would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;take a turn for the worse&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;take a nosedive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T05:27:16.560" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8999" CreationDate="2011-01-17T05:28:45.527" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This topic was addressed by &lt;a href=&quot;http://idealisticpragmatist.blogspot.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Idealistic Pragmatist&lt;/a&gt; back in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://idealisticpragmatist.blogspot.com/2005/06/when-apology-is-not-apology.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2005 blog article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Way back in the year of this idealistic pragmatist's birth, Searle laid out the criteria a statement has to fulfill in order to qualify as an apology, and in layman's terms, we can say that it requires two parts: 1) regret (the &quot;I'm sorry&quot; or &quot;I apologize&quot; part), and 2) responsibility (some explicit statement that you were the one who did the thing that's being apologized for). The statement &quot;I'm sorry that I borrowed your jacket without asking,&quot; for example, meets both of those criteria. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She dubs the type of sentence you cited above as a &quot;fauxpology&quot;, where an ersatz apology expresses regret but not responsibility:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Often, people will use a rhetorical trick in which they make a statement that has a lot of the superficial trappings of an apology, but without one or both of those basic criteria of form. I call these statements &quot;fauxpologies.&quot; ... Another classic type of fauxpology is to say something like: &quot;I'm sorry if I borrowed your jacket without asking.&quot; The responsibility criterion is similarly missing here, since the speaker is expressing regret only if a condition is true, but weaseling out of any admission that it is true. The effect of statements like these, if used skillfully, is to make recipients feel as if they should feel apologized to, despite the fact that no actual apology ever took place. They're not apologies, but rhetorical tricks for weaseling out of taking actual responsibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3727" LastEditorUserId="3711" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T20:09:36.663" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T20:09:36.663" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8999" CreationDate="2011-01-17T05:55:42.037" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;if&quot; in your statement means it's not an apology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3729" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T05:55:42.037" />
  <row Id="9033" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9086" CreationDate="2011-01-17T06:19:03.043" Score="3" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I get confused over how and when we should use plurals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, should we say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They are the only one who &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; capable&#xA;  of doing this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They are the only one who &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  capable of doing this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When to use is/are? Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="304" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T01:45:22.040" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T01:45:22.040" Title="&quot;They are the only one who is capable of doing this&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;concord&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9033" CreationDate="2011-01-17T06:23:01.587" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When talking about only one person or entity/organisation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They are the only one who is capable of doing this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When talking about more than one person or entities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They are the only ones who are capable of doing this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T06:23:01.587" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="9035" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9050" CreationDate="2011-01-17T06:42:47.310" Score="5" ViewCount="277" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wrote something about the food. And I use &lt;strong&gt;flavors&lt;/strong&gt; for plural flavor, however my foreign English teacher corrected it as &lt;strong&gt;flavorx&lt;/strong&gt;. And he considers that I also should read 'flavors'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I googled the word 'flavorx', but I almost can't find it used in the articles. Is 'flavorx' the right spell in that context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update on Jan 18&lt;/strong&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm communicating with teachers via email. So I don't know who answered me. I raised my doubt to the teachers again. The new reply says I can only use flavor or flavors (plural) as in taste or tastes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1436" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T13:36:05.117" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:31:50.400" Title="&quot;flavorx&quot; v.s. &quot;flavors&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9035" CreationDate="2011-01-17T06:48:40.737" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;*&lt;em&gt;Flavorx&lt;/em&gt; is not a word. The correct spelling is &lt;em&gt;flavors&lt;/em&gt; (American) or &lt;em&gt;flavours&lt;/em&gt; (British).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T06:48:40.737" />
  <row Id="9037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9035" CreationDate="2011-01-17T06:49:03.727" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The plural of &lt;em&gt;flavor&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;flavors&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;flavorx&lt;/em&gt; does not exist. In fact, &lt;em&gt;x&lt;/em&gt; is never used to pluralize English words, except some of those adopted from other languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T06:49:03.727" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9035" CreationDate="2011-01-17T06:49:48.080" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you are referring to the commercial Pediatric System &lt;a href=&quot;http://flavorx.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Flavorx&lt;/a&gt; (see picture below &quot;FLAVORx&lt;sup&gt;TM&lt;/sup&gt;&quot;), this spelling doesn't seem adequate in any context.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/the-plural-of/flavor.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Flavors&lt;/strong&gt; remains the official plural&lt;/a&gt; of flavor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/bGqJl.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastEditorUserId="110" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T06:56:24.840" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T06:56:24.840" />
  <row Id="9039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9035" CreationDate="2011-01-17T06:51:27.927" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know where that plural form comes from. Perhaps there is some other word where it's used, but it's definitely not used for flavor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T06:51:27.927" />
  <row Id="9040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8258" CreationDate="2011-01-17T07:03:23.410" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;urban means posh and well developed, of course, talking about a city while urbane has more to do with his mannerisms- reflecting sophistication and class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3732" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T07:03:23.410" />
  <row Id="9041" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9043" CreationDate="2011-01-17T07:09:24.027" Score="3" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I do know I can just click on that&#xA;  person's profile once every week/day,&#xA;  but I think automated &lt;strong&gt;&quot;inbox&quot; like&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  feature would be better&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm talking about Inbox feature provided by the stackexchange sites, is that correct? I felt that I should add quotes, because I'm not referring to inbox, but something that is named inbox.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3295" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T07:14:14.890" Title="Use like something in a sentence" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;look-alikes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9004" CreationDate="2011-01-17T07:11:38.847" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, you can look to overall usage to get an idea of which to use. Searches of COHA, COCA, and the Google Books Ngram Viewer are great sources of data for that. However, one thing to consider is that for many of these words, I would personally use both of the plurals in different situations. So consider using a context search on COCA for perspective when doing research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For example, I would speak of &lt;em&gt;indices&lt;/em&gt; of economic decline, but of tracking major market &lt;em&gt;indexes&lt;/em&gt; when referring to the structures used by databases for quick lookups. Similarly, array &lt;em&gt;indices&lt;/em&gt; but database &lt;em&gt;indexes&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I would use &lt;em&gt;minima&lt;/em&gt; in a mathematical context, but I would never speak of needing to carry cash because all the restaurants have $10 &lt;em&gt;minima&lt;/em&gt; for using credit cards. I would speak of “$10 &lt;em&gt;minimums&lt;/em&gt;”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I would refer to a table of &lt;em&gt;formulae&lt;/em&gt; in a math textbook but talk disparagingly of those looking for “magic &lt;em&gt;formulas&lt;/em&gt; and shortcuts”.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A doctor who has performed many appendectomies I would say has removed many &lt;em&gt;appendixes&lt;/em&gt;, but the last third of my calculus textbook consisted of nothing of &lt;em&gt;appendices&lt;/em&gt; containing tables of integrals and values of trigonometric functions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T07:11:38.847" />
  <row Id="9043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9041" CreationDate="2011-01-17T07:14:14.890" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think I would use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I do know I can just click on that person's profile once every week or day, but I think an automated inbox-like feature would be better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Changes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Avoid the slash&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use the indefinite article 'an'&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use the hyphen instead of quotes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T07:14:14.890" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9044" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9047" CreationDate="2011-01-17T07:34:38.110" Score="10" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should the slash be avoided?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example &lt;code&gt;every week/day&lt;/code&gt; in my head is translated to &lt;code&gt;every week or day&lt;/code&gt;. I think I started using slash, because I saw it used on forums and in articles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is using slash something U.S. specific and the british english is against it? Or do I understand it wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;P.S. If you find any spelling errors here, please let me know.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3295" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T13:39:18.733" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T13:39:18.733" Title="avoid the slash?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;&lt;slash&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="9045" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9049" CreationDate="2011-01-17T08:05:42.743" Score="3" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is correct? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The fascinating features of human voice &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;OR&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The fascinating features of the human voice &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a rule or is it another difference between American and British English? We always use 'the' for the human brain. How about in this case, 'human voice'? By the way, this example comes from an academic paper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T14:10:46.360" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T14:10:46.360" Title="Use of 'the' before human voice." Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;articles&gt;&lt;definite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9045" CreationDate="2011-01-17T08:36:25.563" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me, there seems to be a subtle difference in the meaning.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without the word &quot;the&quot;, the phrase seems to be comparing or contrasting the human voice to something else (i.e. &quot;The fascinating features of human voice &lt;em&gt;as opposed to whale sounds&lt;/em&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the word &quot;the&quot;, the phrase seems to stand on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3354" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T08:36:25.563" />
  <row Id="9047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9044" CreationDate="2011-01-17T09:35:56.883" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most style guides recommend against using the slash in phrases like “X and/or Y”, as well as  “this is hard/impossible to do”. In particular, scientific publications now have strong policies against this ramping-up use, because it allows for a lot of imprecision in the writing, and weakens the scientific discussion. I know that is the case in the world of physics and chemistry publishing, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2009/07/to-slashnot-to-slashthat-is-the-questionquandary.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this entry&lt;/a&gt;, for example, seems to indicate it is so in other fields.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one place I find it's gained real traction in both written and spoken language is when it's used in, e.g., “he was a comedian-slash-banjo player”, where it is now often spelt out as here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T09:41:05.363" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T09:41:05.363" />
  <row Id="9048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9044" CreationDate="2011-01-17T09:39:21.247" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, your sentence will be clearer if you write the actual word instead of the slash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Slash could be interpreted as &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;per&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;, etc. But if you use the actual word there is no confusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that with some standard metric names (e.g. km/h, m/s, etc.) in particular, you can use slash because the meaning will be understood by any reader.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T11:47:45.173" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T11:47:45.173" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9045" CreationDate="2011-01-17T09:44:04.090" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I can hear &lt;strong&gt;a human voice.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I can hear &lt;strong&gt;the human voice.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I can hear &lt;strong&gt;human voice(s).&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In #1, I can hear a voice which belongs to some individual person, and is not the voice or call of any other kind of animal. In #2, I'm stating that I have the ability to hear the voices of humans in general. In #3, I find myself hearing the sound of some human voice, from one or more people, as I might &lt;em&gt;hear wind&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;smell food.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this last sense, &lt;em&gt;human voice&lt;/em&gt; is like &lt;em&gt;bird song:&lt;/em&gt; it's sort of an abstract substance. Say I go into a cafeteria, where I'm surrounded by the sound of &lt;em&gt;voice,&lt;/em&gt; then I hear &lt;em&gt;a voice&lt;/em&gt; and turn around to see my friend calling me, whereupon I sit with him and we discuss my research of &lt;em&gt;the voice.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to make general statements about the vocal abilities of humans, use &lt;em&gt;the human voice&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T09:44:04.090" CommentCount="13" />
  <row Id="9050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9035" CreationDate="2011-01-17T09:49:33.090" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's an alternative possibility: you wrote &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;flavors&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, and your English teacher crossed the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; because the singular ought to be used instead, so it now looks like &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;flavorX&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T09:49:33.090" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9035" CreationDate="2011-01-17T11:17:21.113" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should ask your teacher whether he referred &lt;strong&gt;Flavorx&lt;/strong&gt; as plural of flavor. If he say Yes, then you should correct him about it that there is no such word (not yet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3741" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T11:17:21.113" />
  <row Id="9053" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9055" CreationDate="2011-01-17T11:20:50.937" Score="6" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember somebody correcting me once when I said, &quot;Two and two makes four&quot;, since the conjunction &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; would imply the use of a plural verb. They would prefer I said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Two and two make four.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been thinking about it and wondering if one or the other is correct, or if both are. It would seem that using the plural verb is grammatical. However, I've heard the singular verb being used more often and feel that it is correct. Is there some exception about using the singular verb in logical statements and mathematical formulae? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T01:44:32.823" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T01:44:32.823" Title="Singular or plural verb in &quot;Two and two makes four&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;concord&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8985" CreationDate="2011-01-17T11:37:38.677" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Once in the past, it &lt;strong&gt;took&lt;/strong&gt; me one or two seconds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Previously, it &lt;strong&gt;has taken&lt;/strong&gt; me one or two seconds (at most …).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;So far, it &lt;strong&gt;has taken&lt;/strong&gt; me one or two seconds (and may take longer to complete).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Currently, it &lt;strong&gt;takes&lt;/strong&gt; me one or two seconds (every time, to complete).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the future, it &lt;strong&gt;will take&lt;/strong&gt; me one or two seconds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I had done it yesterday, it &lt;strong&gt;would have taken&lt;/strong&gt; me one or two seconds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I did it tommorrow, it &lt;strong&gt;would take&lt;/strong&gt; me one or two seconds.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T11:46:59.333" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T11:46:59.333" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9053" CreationDate="2011-01-17T11:43:58.267" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Singular and plural are &lt;strong&gt;both&lt;/strong&gt; correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The singular form is also used because &quot;two and two&quot; is an arithmetic formula. The verb agreement in that case is with the formula as a single entity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Two and two makes four.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Two plus two is four.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Four times four divided by two is&lt;br&gt;&#xA;eight.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your example in particular, Google indicates that the plural form occurs more often:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;two plus two make four&quot; = 353K results&#xA;&quot;two plus two makes four&quot; = 77K results&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T11:50:09.493" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T11:50:09.493" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9029" CreationDate="2011-01-17T11:50:17.980" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't hold me to this but 'upset' as a verb can mean overtun and to become overturned.&#xA;Because of the way we use it day to day. I feel like it's taken on a &lt;em&gt;mainly&lt;/em&gt; pejorative sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3738" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T11:50:17.980" />
  <row Id="9057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9022" CreationDate="2011-01-17T11:56:28.787" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I strongly suspect that the claim that &quot;Eskimo&quot; means &quot;eater of raw meat&quot; is an urban legend, just like the &quot;Eskimo words for snow&quot; claim. The term may be offensive if it's an overly broad or an exclusionary term, but that's a different kettle of fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a random factoid, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esky&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Esky&lt;/a&gt; is a genericized trademark for portable cooler in Australia. Another brand of portable cooler/esky is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.igloocoolers.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Igloo&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T11:56:28.787" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9029" CreationDate="2011-01-17T11:58:26.070" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word could be &lt;em&gt;reversal&lt;/em&gt;. Here are links to &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0707270#m_en_gb0707270&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;OED Online&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reversal&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam Webster&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many Internet firms have suffered a painful reversal of fortune.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T11:58:26.070" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9053" CreationDate="2011-01-17T11:58:33.120" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I know that &lt;strong&gt;two and two make four&lt;/strong&gt;—&amp;amp; should be glad to prove it too if I could—though I must say if by any sort of process I could convert 2 &amp;amp; 2 into five it would give me much greater pleasure.&quot; &lt;br/&gt; – &lt;a href=&quot;http://quotes.dictionary.com/I_know_that_two_and_two_make_four&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;George Gordon Noel Byron&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;When speculation has done its worst, &lt;strong&gt;two and two still make four&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot; &lt;br/&gt; – &lt;a href=&quot;http://quotes.dictionary.com/When_speculation_has_done_its_worst_two_and&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Samuel Johnson&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Freedom is the freedom to say that &lt;strong&gt;two plus two make four&lt;/strong&gt;. If that is granted, all else follows.&quot; &lt;br/&gt; – &lt;a href=&quot;http://quotes.dictionary.com/Freedom_is_the_freedom_to_say_that_two&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;George Orwell&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both &quot;make&quot; and &quot;makes&quot; are correct usages; I prefer saying &quot;&lt;strong&gt;two and two make four&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; — &lt;strong&gt;I&lt;/strong&gt; find it more natural because when &lt;strong&gt;I&lt;/strong&gt; use this &lt;em&gt;idiom&lt;/em&gt; in a sentence, I am not talking math!&lt;br/&gt; (When I'm talking math, I prefer using the term &quot;plus&quot;: &quot;two plus two is three point one four&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I love patterns (when they make sense)!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Observe the pattern: &lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;John makes money. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jane makes money.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;John and Jane make money.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Two and two make four.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2237" LastEditorUserId="2237" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T12:45:33.060" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T12:45:33.060" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5060" CreationDate="2011-01-17T12:04:54.157" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Australia, they're sometimes called bluey in an ironic fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I've only heard Julia Gillard referred to as a ranga, not as a bluey. Maybe bluey is only used on blokes and not on sheilas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T12:04:54.157" />
  <row Id="9061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5060" CreationDate="2011-01-17T12:17:57.410" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was in the reserves ten or so years ago, &quot;Gingers&quot; where about the only group that it was 'okay' to abuse after sexism and racism were (quite rightly) being stamped out. Not that it was really okay to pick on the redheads...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is - any word can be used in a pejorative sense, and will eventually become offensive (another example - we now have SCOSA, because the word &quot;spastic&quot; went from being descriptive to pejorative to offensive).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T12:17:57.410" />
  <row Id="9062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7049" CreationDate="2011-01-17T12:26:18.130" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure I agree with some of the current answers implying some negative overtones. The thing is, in most circumstances, one would use this term about &lt;em&gt;someone else&lt;/em&gt;, not oneself. And in that case, it would more likely somewhere between compliment and outright admiration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The plane was delayed by 3 hours, but&#xA;  the crew bent over backwards to make&#xA;  it as painless as possible&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another roughly-equivalent expression would be &quot;going beyond the call of duty&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T12:26:18.130" />
  <row Id="9063" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9065" CreationDate="2011-01-17T12:30:14.597" Score="6" ViewCount="258" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was always taught to capitalize the first letter of the first word in a sentence, and also the first letter of proper nouns. In the last few years it's been common for certain firms to name their brands something that is always spelled with a small first letter and a capital second letter. &lt;strong&gt;It is almost as if they demand the rules of usage are changed.&lt;/strong&gt; What do you do about this? Where is the inquisition when you need it? Should you start a sentence with &quot;IPhone&quot;? Should you use &quot;iphone&quot; in the middle of a sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3743" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T09:45:50.250" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T09:45:50.250" Title="How do you capitalize a proper noun such as &quot;iPhone&quot;?" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5060" CreationDate="2011-01-17T12:32:15.493" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me at least, I find 'ranga' extremely offensive because the only reason anyone would ever call someone a 'ranga' in the first place is if they &lt;em&gt;intend&lt;/em&gt; to be offensive. 'Ginger' on the other hand only bothers my mum and I when people cleverly decide to spruce it up with unseemly post-additives. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3738" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T12:32:15.493" />
  <row Id="9065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9063" CreationDate="2011-01-17T12:36:42.143" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Brand names&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should never change a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;brand name&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. 'iPhone' should always be spelled as 'iPhone,' no matter where in the sentence it is. 'IPhone,' 'iphone,' 'I-phone,' 'i-phone' or 'I phone' are always wrong. 'iPhone' is the only good one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Good&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;iPhones are the best selling smartphones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Wrong&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;IPhones are the best selling smartphones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Terrible&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Iphones are the best selling smartphones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the same for all brand names, but this can also be for other (nick)names invented by people, for example '&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rms&lt;/a&gt;' which should always be spelled lowercase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Exception&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There could be, however, one exception, when the sentence is spelled in all caps, usually for styling purposes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Good&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;IPHONES ARE THE BEST SELLING SMARTPHONES.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Acceptable&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;iPhones ARE THE BEST SELLING SMARTPHONES.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3406" LastEditorUserId="3406" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T13:18:57.303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T13:18:57.303" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9066" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9083" CreationDate="2011-01-17T12:43:33.873" Score="0" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was answering a question the other day &lt;strong&gt;&quot;How do I send an e-mail from SQL?&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. I supplied an answer dealing with the techniques necessary to perform an action in SQL, assuming that the questioner already knew how to send an email from within a program, and just needed help with the SQL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I wondered later: is that right? Does the question imply he knows how to send an email (from inside a program), and only needs help with the SQL part? Perhaps you could help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited to clarify the meaning of 'send an email'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="305" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T13:41:25.527" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T15:02:50.113" Title="When are facts implied in questions?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9067" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-17T12:51:21.943" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2116/when-should-i-use-an-em-dash-an-en-dash-and-a-hyphen&quot;&gt;When should I use an em-dash, an en-dash, and a hyphen?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is about hyphens (-), en-dashes (–) and em-dashes (—).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When to use which one? To be honest, I always use em-dashes unless I join words with a hyphen, but I never use an en-dash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3406" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T06:39:00.943" ClosedDate="2011-01-17T18:21:40.410" Title="When to use -, – and —?" Tags="&lt;hyphen&gt;&lt;dash&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9022" CreationDate="2011-01-17T12:52:29.803" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having been born and raised in various parts of Alaska I can say, yes, the word is considered offensive there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its usage in the media is usually accurate, as most northern indigenous peoples can safely be referred to as 'Eskimos', but the term is a wide generalization - and most wide generalizations are offensive to those they encompass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you find yourself about to use the term in conversation, try a more specific replacement. In Alaska, the most congenial would be 'Alaska Native'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3745" LastEditorUserId="3745" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T18:21:37.680" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T18:21:37.680" CommentCount="14" />
  <row Id="9069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9067" CreationDate="2011-01-17T13:03:08.023" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hyphens are used in compound modifiers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a well-trained professional&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;over-the-counter drugs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;En dashes are used in place of &quot;to&quot; to connect numbers or words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The London–Amsterdam flight is delayed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The meeting is from 3:00–4:30 p.m.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Em dashes help set off amplifying or explanatory statements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The vampire—it had been awake half the night—flew out of its coffin.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastEditorUserId="2972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T06:39:00.943" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T06:39:00.943" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9070" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-17T13:23:36.320" Score="4" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How I use en dashes and em dashes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;En dashes&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sybrand Engelbrecht (1814–2177): Unspaced en dash.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;January–December: Unspaced en dash. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sybrand loved three things – soccer, jazz, and living forever (he unfortunately couldn't.): Spaced en dash instead of an em dash.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Em dashes&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;I don't use em dashes; I use spaced en dashes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it wrong to space en dashes and em dashes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2237" LastEditorUserId="2237" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T14:04:45.193" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T18:43:04.043" Title="Is it wrong to space en dashes and em dashes?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;dash&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="9071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9066" CreationDate="2011-01-17T13:25:02.383" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would assume that if someone even knows what SQL &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;, they would know how to do a very basic thing like sending an e-mail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T13:25:02.383" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9072" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-17T13:49:52.940" Score="0" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5475/how-to-form-single-double-triple-and-uni-bi-tri-words&quot;&gt;How to form single, double, triple&amp;hellip; and uni-, bi-, tri-&amp;hellip; words?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've got multipliers like single, double, triple. Are there other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3748" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T13:54:27.277" ClosedDate="2011-01-19T14:57:24.187" Title="mutipliers what are next" Tags="&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9075" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9076" CreationDate="2011-01-17T13:59:23.930" Score="4" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does this mean? I'm English and I've never come across the meaning!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3749" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T16:21:30.417" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T16:21:30.417" Title="&quot;in for a penny, in for a pound&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9075" CreationDate="2011-01-17T14:19:07.763" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/in+for+a+penny,+in+for+a+pound.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;In for a penny, in for a pound&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (idiom):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;If something is worth doing then it is a case of in for a penny, in for a pound, which means that when gambling or taking a chance, you might as well go the whole way and take all the risks, not just some.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/in_for_a_dime,_in_for_a_dollar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Americanized form&lt;/a&gt;: &quot;In for a dime, in for a dollar.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2237" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T14:19:07.763" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9077" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9078" CreationDate="2011-01-17T14:32:10.847" Score="4" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m updating my tabular CV for an application and I’d like to include my master thesis even though it’s not yet finished (soon!) and marked. So I’d like to write that the mark is still outstanding but I fear that if I simply write&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Master thesis: ‹topic›&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Supervisor: ‹supervisor›&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Mark: outstanding&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;this could be misconstrued to mean that the result is in, and that it’s outstanding (as in: spectacular). What can I say here instead? It should be as salient as possible, single word preferred. I specifically want to avoid writing half a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1637" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T13:43:49.853" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T13:43:49.853" Title="Mark: outstanding (as in: not yet known)" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9077" CreationDate="2011-01-17T14:36:56.460" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go for “&lt;strong&gt;pending&lt;/strong&gt;” (or, longer, “still pending”).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T14:36:56.460" />
  <row Id="9079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9075" CreationDate="2011-01-17T14:39:36.083" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've also heard the related proverb (with a slightly different twist, though): “he that steals an egg will steal an ox”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T14:39:36.083" />
  <row Id="9080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9077" CreationDate="2011-01-17T14:46:48.473" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree, using &lt;code&gt;outstanding&lt;/code&gt; here is quite ambiguous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would use &lt;code&gt;Awaiting mark&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;Pending mark&lt;/code&gt; - they are both clear and direct. (You can alternatively substitute &lt;code&gt;mark&lt;/code&gt; with &lt;code&gt;grade&lt;/code&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T15:05:44.277" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T15:05:44.277" />
  <row Id="9081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9053" CreationDate="2011-01-17T14:48:45.587" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct usage is the plural form of verb. Whenever two subjects are joined by 'and' the verb form needs to be plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For e.g. John and I are going for a walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3754" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T14:48:45.587" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9077" CreationDate="2011-01-17T14:52:25.850" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think something such as 'Awaiting Results' would be more appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3754" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T14:52:25.850" />
  <row Id="9083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9066" CreationDate="2011-01-17T15:02:50.113" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As stated, I would assume he knows what email and SQL are, but not how to send an email from SQL. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least for MS SQL, sending an email involves non-trivial configuration, which I would guess is probably the part he was stuck on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T15:02:50.113" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9075" CreationDate="2011-01-17T15:02:57.650" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's an idiom for indicating that you might as well commit fully to the venture being referenced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's my take on it anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="984" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T15:02:57.650" />
  <row Id="9085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9022" CreationDate="2011-01-17T15:07:11.500" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a Brit with relatively little knowledge of English as it's spoken on the other side of the pond, I would use Eskimo. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It has no negative connotations in Europe&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've heard the term 'Inuit' and vaguely associate it with Eskimo, but I'd never use it actively.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question, at least from the British perspective, yes it seems that it's only derogatory in Canada; and this is due neither to ignorance nor apathy, to us it's the &lt;strong&gt;correct&lt;/strong&gt; word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T15:07:11.500" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9033" CreationDate="2011-01-17T15:16:09.213" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;they are ... who is..&quot; jars to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd prefer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When talking about only one person or entity/organisation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He/she/it is the only one [who is]&#xA;  capable of doing this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When talking about more than one person or entities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They are the only ones [who are]&#xA;  capable of doing this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T15:16:09.213" />
  <row Id="9087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8999" CreationDate="2011-01-17T15:31:16.970" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Saying you're sorry doesn't necessarily imply admission of guilt and you say as much with &quot;That was not my intention&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry is often described in four flavours:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm sorry, it was my fault. (I admit wrong and am asking for forgiveness).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm sorry, I regret it. (I understand your offence and I'm asking you to understand that it wasn't intentional).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm sorry to hear that. (I'm showing empathy, I had nothing to do with it).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm sorry you feel that way. (I'm being falsely polite, I don't accept your reaction and I'm not sorry at all)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your apology is 2 with just a hint of 4.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T15:31:16.970" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9014" CreationDate="2011-01-17T15:35:36.873" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If money were not an option&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as meaning&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have 3 options, A, B and Money. Let's suppose we only consider A and B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps a little old-fashioned, but i prefer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Were money not an object&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T15:35:36.873" />
  <row Id="9089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9075" CreationDate="2011-01-17T15:44:11.697" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What it actually means is related to crime: if you steal a penny and will go to jail for it, you may as well steal a pound. Either way you're &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; as in &lt;em&gt;in jail&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;gaol&lt;/em&gt;, depending on which side of the Atlantic will be prosecuting you). It obviously hails from a time when a penny and a pound were worth much more than they are today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you've already violated a principle to &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; degree, it doesn't matter how far you go past the violation threshold, so you may as well derive maximum benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T15:44:11.697" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="90" CreationDate="2011-01-17T15:44:25.383" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the hardest for those who weren't born speaking English (starred that I hear often):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;do&quot; and &quot;make&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*Do trouble&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make trouble&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*Do a mess&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make a mess&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*Do a dive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make a dive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T15:44:25.383" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-17T15:44:25.383" />
  <row Id="9091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8945" CreationDate="2011-01-17T15:47:54.490" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Small streams make large rivers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;tongue-in-cheek&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A small step for man ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T15:47:54.490" />
  <row Id="9092" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9101" CreationDate="2011-01-17T16:13:40.490" Score="1" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why one thing can be good and bad simultaneously,If you see it from different view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T13:39:00.683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T04:44:58.120" ClosedDate="2011-02-27T23:03:30.643" Title="Could you correct my sentence and give me some advice?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9077" CreationDate="2011-01-17T16:18:20.010" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To be received&lt;/strong&gt;, or &lt;strong&gt;to be decided&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This fits into a pattern of common phrases: &lt;em&gt;to be confirmed&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;to be announced&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;to be decided&lt;/em&gt;, which are standard enough that in many institutions they are given just as &lt;em&gt;tbc&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;tba&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;tbd&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;em&gt;To be received&lt;/em&gt; is less standard than these, but should be well-understood since it clearly invokes this well-known template.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T16:18:20.010" />
  <row Id="9094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9092" CreationDate="2011-01-17T16:25:51.077" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without context, your intent isn't particularly clear. If it's someone asking the question (or yourself wondering aloud) about a particular thing, here is how I would have worded it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How is it that &lt;em&gt;xxx&lt;/em&gt; can be &lt;strong&gt;considered&lt;/strong&gt; good or bad, depending on one’s &lt;strong&gt;point of view&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, if the thing you're discussing is an abstract something, just use “something” here instead of my &lt;em&gt;xxx&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, the main addition I'd make is that &lt;strong&gt;considered&lt;/strong&gt;: things are not intrinsically good or bad, if it just depends on point of view. They're considered good or bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: also, there should be a space after the comma, and no capital for the first word after it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T17:21:50.027" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T17:21:50.027" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9004" CreationDate="2011-01-17T16:37:44.633" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an actual classicist, I'd argue for the English plural in all but a few cases. Unless you are absolutely, completely sure you know the correct classical plural, or the classical plural is the normal plural, use the English plural. Using the classical plural may have a nice ring to it, but if you get it wrong it's so, so wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3760" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T16:37:44.633" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9096" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9099" CreationDate="2011-01-17T16:41:48.813" Score="3" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it considered bad style to use &lt;strike&gt;abbreviations&lt;/strike&gt; contractions like &quot;it's&quot; and &quot;that's&quot; (instead of spelling them out as &quot;it is&quot; and &quot;that is&quot;) in a textbook or academic publication?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="544" LastEditorUserId="544" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T21:31:05.333" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T21:31:05.333" Title="Usage of contractions like &quot;it's&quot; and &quot;that's&quot; in textbooks" Tags="&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="9097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8982" CreationDate="2011-01-17T16:44:33.517" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's usually pretty simple to spot Latin loans, even if they were borrowed in the common Germanic period. Grimm's law means that most of the consonants are different in inherited words and Latin loans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it's worth noting that English also has a certain amount of words borrowed from Norman as well. Which means that in some cases you have three versions of what is essentially a single proto word: an inherited version, a Latin loan, and a Norman loan. The last two will of course be quite similar, but not identical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to your question, I'd be surprised if there are no loans at all in the top 100 words. If nothing else, some of the personal pronouns (&quot;they&quot; and &quot;them&quot; if memory serves) are borrowed from Norse. A related language, yes, but inherited forms would be different from what we have in modern English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3760" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T16:44:33.517" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9096" CreationDate="2011-01-17T16:48:14.820" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, that's what I've always been taught. Abbreviations are more informal / oral speech. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3761" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T16:48:14.820" />
  <row Id="9099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9096" CreationDate="2011-01-17T16:59:18.080" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the context. &quot;[A] textbook or academic publication&quot; includes a wide range of publications, including textbooks for grade school, where I can see &lt;em&gt;that's&lt;/em&gt; being used (perhaps not in running text, but at least in a sidebar). Even published journal papers in some fields may include such words: mathematics papers are not known for their careful attention to formal writing, and may well include &lt;em&gt;it's&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;that's&lt;/em&gt;. (It will depend on the journal, however, and, of course, the authors.) But as an overly general rule, yes, it's considered bad style to use them in textbooks and academic publications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T16:59:18.080" />
  <row Id="9100" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-17T17:02:45.320" Score="0" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am writing a paper and I want to criticize some other related work. I want to say that the problem of their work is that they don't support advanced composition rules. So which one is a better phrasing and why:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The shortcoming of their approach is that they only support simple composition rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The shortcoming of their approach is the lack of support of advanced composition rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will be grateful if you suggest a better phrasing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T18:19:47.390" Title="is that + &lt;subject&gt; + &lt;verb&gt; OR is the + &lt;noun&gt;" Tags="&lt;phrasing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="9101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9092" CreationDate="2011-01-17T17:11:34.887" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not entirely clear what you mean, but I &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; it is something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;How can one thing be good and bad simultaneously, if you look at it from different points of view?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Points to note:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'Wh' words generally require the verb as  the second constituent in the sentence; so if they are not themselves (part of) the subject (&quot;who&quot;, &quot;what&quot;, &quot;which&quot;), the subject must come after the verb. This applies to &quot;how&quot;, &quot;why&quot;, &quot;when&quot; and others. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm not certain, because I don't completely understand your meaning, but I think you mean &quot;how&quot; rather than &quot;why&quot;. &quot;Why&quot; is usually asking for a motivation, not for a natural or logical explanation. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;from different view&quot; is not grammatical: &quot;view&quot; must either be plural or have an article. &quot;Different&quot; implies that it is plural. So &quot;from different views&quot; is grammatical; but more idiomatic is &quot;from different points of view&quot;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T17:11:34.887" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2011-01-17T17:13:01.473" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For those of you who like rugby..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Llanelli&lt;/strong&gt;, a city of Wales, is prononounced 'clanecli'.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Gloucester&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;Leicester&lt;/strong&gt;, as &lt;strong&gt;Worcester&lt;/strong&gt; : 'Gloss-ter' 'Less-ter', 'Wuss-ter'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3761" LastEditorUserId="3761" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T10:39:20.347" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T10:39:20.347" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-17T17:13:01.473" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9100" CreationDate="2011-01-17T17:15:10.530" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The shortcoming of their approach is its lack of support for|of advanced composition rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sounds better to me (with the caveat that I have no idea what advanced composition rules are in this (unknown) context, and would be better able to respond if I did), but there's no one right answer to a question of this sort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T17:15:10.530" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9104" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9105" CreationDate="2011-01-17T17:26:24.540" Score="2" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am software developer and trying to develop a new language. I need to learn that basic information in English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Create Product.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Update Page.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Stay Here.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Create&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Update&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Stay&lt;/em&gt; are verbs, of course. What about &lt;em&gt;Product&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Page&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Here&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3539" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T01:37:58.840" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T01:37:58.840" Title="Is &quot;Create Product&quot; a &lt;Verb&gt; + &lt;Subject&gt; or &lt;Verb&gt; + &lt;Object&gt;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9104" CreationDate="2011-01-17T17:31:57.000" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Create Product = &lt;code&gt;&amp;lt;Verb&amp;gt; + &amp;lt;Object&amp;gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update Page = &lt;code&gt;&amp;lt;Verb&amp;gt; + &amp;lt;Object&amp;gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stay Here = &lt;code&gt;&amp;lt;Verb&amp;gt; + &amp;lt;Adverb&amp;gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: &lt;em&gt;create&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;update&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;stay&lt;/em&gt; are all conjugated as imperative here. When that is the case, there is in general no subject. As as example where there is imperative and subject: &quot;You take your hands off me&quot; (&lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; is the subject).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T17:31:57.000" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9106" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9138" CreationDate="2011-01-17T17:34:29.697" Score="0" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &quot;conquered&quot; and &quot;won&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="869" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T21:44:40.577" Title="What is the difference between &quot;conquered&quot; and &quot;won&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9106" CreationDate="2011-01-17T17:39:39.617" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Winning is being successful, which might lead to securing a thing (a trophy), a person or a territory. Conquering, on the other hand, is all about taking control of a place or people (to quote NOAD). So, “win” is much broader than “conquer”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T17:39:39.617" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9108" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9109" CreationDate="2011-01-17T17:48:29.143" Score="4" ViewCount="331" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work in the computer trade and frequently find that when I'm assigned a problem to solve, it invariably happens that other problems need solving before I can work on the real issue. Is there a word for these on-the-way problems?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T02:37:26.287" Title="Is there a word meaning a problem that has to be solved in order to work on another problem?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="15" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9108" CreationDate="2011-01-17T17:51:57.860" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think I would simply call it a &lt;code&gt;sub-problem&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If the problem is mathematical, there is a specific term for it; &lt;code&gt;lemma&lt;/code&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T17:51:57.860" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="9110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9070" CreationDate="2011-01-17T17:53:49.110" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That seems the convention. The difference between between em and en dashes doesn't matter a great deal; the spacing does, because it makes it much clearer (especially to distinguish dashes - interjecting little notes like this - to a hyphen phrase, for example Anglo-Saxon).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="852" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T17:53:49.110" />
  <row Id="9111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5475" CreationDate="2011-01-17T18:02:02.080" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use up to quadruple, then five times, five fold, etcetera; any unknown, or very little known constructions risks misunderstanding to non-Latin speakers, and possibly sounding pretentious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="852" LastEditorUserId="852" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T20:49:11.713" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T20:49:11.713" />
  <row Id="9112" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-17T18:15:43.717" Score="5" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not a book, and it doesn't fit in anyone's pocket. Why does my brother-in-law insist on calling his wife's purse a &lt;em&gt;pocketbook&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in the etymology, and in the chronological and geographical distribution of this expression. My sister &amp;amp; I (raised in southern California, can't get used to such an obvious misnomer) vs. bro-in-law (raised in New England, doesn't understand why we're bothered) are only one data point, and only on the geographical scale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T18:47:26.707" Title="Why is a woman's purse called a &quot;pocketbook&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3239" CreationDate="2011-01-17T18:25:08.723" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;well me and my fiend had a disagree ment on how to spell very, she said vary and i said very so we looked up both definitions and we were both correct in a sertiant way!, we also found out that they have different meanings.(:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3764" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T18:25:08.723" />
  <row Id="9114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9108" CreationDate="2011-01-17T18:27:23.263" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I call them &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominoes#Other_uses_of_dominoes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dominoes&lt;/a&gt;, as in there is always some other domino / problem to knock over / solve before you get to the main one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T18:27:23.263" />
  <row Id="9115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9108" CreationDate="2011-01-17T18:35:07.467" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My preferred term is a &quot;threshold issue.&quot; You can't go through until you cross the threshold (resolve the issue).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T18:35:07.467" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9112" CreationDate="2011-01-17T18:40:12.203" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All I know is this, which is not very much:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1610s, originally a small book meant to be carried in one’s pocket,&#xA;  from pocket + book. Meaning “a&#xA;  booklike leather folder for papers,&#xA;  bills, etc.” is from 1722. Meaning &quot;a&#xA;  woman's purse&quot; is from 1816.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pocketbook&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pocketbook&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An extremely speculative hypothesis about its origin: perhaps &quot;book&quot; was misheard as &quot;bag&quot;, or &quot;book&quot; was pronounced much like &quot;bag&quot; in some 1800s dialect or accent, leading to this odd usage of &quot;pocketbook&quot;. Then again, it might as well be ordinary metonymy, where head and modifier are reserved: *bookpocket would be a perfectly logical word that made sense, if it existed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T18:40:12.203" />
  <row Id="9117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9112" CreationDate="2011-01-17T18:42:02.367" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It was originally (early 17th century) literally a small note book that you would carry in your pocket; from this it, moved fairly quickly (late 17th century) to describing a sort of early wallet: ‘A pocket-sized folding case for holding banknotes, papers, etc.’.  [I’d always assumed that this transition went via a sense of being a book for noting financial transactions; but if this is the case, it’s not documented by the OED, Etymonline, or anywhere else I can find.]  From there it went to being any sort of wallet or purse; from there, it evolved (19th century; roughly in parallel with US usage of &lt;em&gt;purse&lt;/em&gt;) to describe in particular a small women’s handbag.  This seems to be the point at which it became largely a US word, and died out in the UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There’s a memorable episode of a lost pocketbook in one of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s ‘Little House on the Prairie’ series — I can’t remember which one…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T18:42:02.367" />
  <row Id="9118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9108" CreationDate="2011-01-17T18:42:45.587" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;code&gt;prerequisite&lt;/code&gt; perhaps?  For example, I have the problem of adding a new transport protocol to a device.  A prerequisite of that is to make the segmentation threshold at the client end adjustable, and a prerequisite of &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; is to install the tools that will let me build the client.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T18:42:45.587" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="9119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9070" CreationDate="2011-01-17T18:43:04.043" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was learning typography--many years ago--the convention was that you did NOT use spaces around en- or em-dashes. If the type designer wants extra space for readability or aesthetics, they will build it into the slug for the type (or in more modern cases, program it into the font).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of the proliferation of letter-spaced fonts online, where there is no allowance for a typographer to make a character with a little extra space for aesthetics, the logic for the standard doesn't exactly apply anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But that's still how I do it. And as you can see, when dealing with the internet I tend to use double hyphens instead of em-dashes because you never know how a text editor is going to handle an em-dash, and those that handle them at all will often convert a double hyphen into an em-dash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as far as I know, substituting a spaced en-dash where you should use an unspaced em-dash is definitely out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T18:43:04.043" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9022" CreationDate="2011-01-17T18:45:44.587" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But I see the term &quot;Eskimo&quot; popping up regularly in news articles that I read; I hardly see the term &quot;Inuit&quot; being used. Why? Ignorance? Apathy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would chalk it up to more ignorance than apathy, and also because there is no other generic shorthand word to refer to all the native peoples of northern Canada, Russia, Greenland, and Alaska.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is the term &quot;Eskimo&quot; offensive only in Canada, or in the rest of the world too?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Inuit of Canada and Greenland find the word to be pejorative, so the Government of Canada and the media in Canada have understandably taken this into account and refer to them by their own name for themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people in Canada don't realize the Inuit consider it a slur, and even less know this in the rest of the world, so you'll continue to see the word in print.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T18:45:44.587" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9112" CreationDate="2011-01-17T18:47:26.707" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pocketbook&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;pocketbook&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &#xA;1610s, originally a small book meant to be carried in one’s pocket, from pocket + book. Meaning “a booklike leather folder for papers, bills, etc.” is from 1722. Meaning &quot;a woman's purse&quot; is from 1816.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;em&gt;Pocketbook&lt;/em&gt; didn’t come into use until the 1600s, but almost as soon as it did, it was used to mean, among other things, “wallet,” or “money holder”—pretty much what &lt;em&gt;purse&lt;/em&gt; originally meant, though by this point purse had acquired additional, general- purpose senses. The OED’s earliest citation for purse as something that would tend to belong to a woman, however, is dated 1955; its citations for pocketbook in this sense date back to 1830. Perhaps you should remind your wife that she doesn’t need a pocket to have &lt;em&gt;pocket money&lt;/em&gt; nor a suit to pack a &lt;em&gt;suitcase&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Pocketbook&lt;/em&gt; is in the same, um, bag. It’s a perfectly good word—maybe even a better word for her than handbag if she, like me, slings the thing over her shoulder.&quot; – &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/11/word-court/6336/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Barbara Wallraff&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2237" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T18:47:26.707" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9108" CreationDate="2011-01-17T18:52:02.023" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I consistently use “&lt;strong&gt;bottleneck&lt;/strong&gt; issue” (or “bottleneck result”) to describe this: you have no way around it to reach your goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular, in technical reports and research planning, I commonly read references to “technological bottlenecks”, i.e. key technologies (or components thereof) that need to be worked out for a full solution to be implemented.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T18:52:02.023" />
  <row Id="9123" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-17T18:53:21.547" Score="1" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is more correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This rule specifies that an object should &lt;strong&gt;be either&lt;/strong&gt; visible or invisible, but not partially visible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This rule specifies that an object should &lt;strong&gt;either be&lt;/strong&gt; visible or invisible, but not partially visible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any rule for that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, should the &lt;code&gt;be&lt;/code&gt; be repeated after the or in the second statement?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T14:08:39.920" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T14:08:39.920" Title="&quot;Should either be&quot; OR &quot;should be either&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;phrasing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9108" CreationDate="2011-01-17T18:53:51.380" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term I hear most often is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/showstopper&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;showstopper&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OK, after reading some responses and thinking of this question I'm going to coin a portmanteau. These problems are &lt;strong&gt;prequirements&lt;/strong&gt;. ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastEditorUserId="1871" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T23:15:02.917" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T23:15:02.917" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9125" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9184" CreationDate="2011-01-17T18:57:42.183" Score="1" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't know how outdated it is though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should there be a comma before &lt;em&gt;though&lt;/em&gt;, as in the following?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't know how outdated it is, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="244" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T14:07:33.667" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T14:07:33.667" Title="Comma before &quot;though&quot; in this sentence?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9108" CreationDate="2011-01-17T19:11:44.177" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Taken to an extreme you get &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://catb.org/jargon/html/Y/yak-shaving.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;yac shaving&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, but that does not apply only one or two levels in, and may not be understood by non-hacker audiences without some explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In more general managerial contexts you might use the phrase &quot;critical-path issue&quot;, but it is a bit of a mouthful and sounds like it is wearing a suit. This also carries some implication about timing requirements: not only is it required, but it needs addressing &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; any other absolute requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2851" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T19:11:44.177" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9100" CreationDate="2011-01-17T19:13:08.013" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both sentences work perfectly well.  I'm guessing here, but I think the second is marginally better for your purposes since it draws explicit attention to advanced composition rules (which presumably you consider important).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T19:13:08.013" />
  <row Id="9128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9125" CreationDate="2011-01-17T19:15:01.097" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe both are correct. In general, you would use the comma if you would pause at that point if you spoke it aloud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T19:15:01.097" />
  <row Id="9129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9108" CreationDate="2011-01-17T19:24:40.003" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking metaphorically, your “problemettes” might be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;hurdles&lt;/em&gt; to be crossed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;hoops&lt;/em&gt; to be jumped through&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;obstacles&lt;/em&gt; to be cleared&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;on your way to the finishing line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T19:24:40.003" />
  <row Id="9130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9125" CreationDate="2011-01-17T19:28:33.473" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Though&lt;/code&gt; is used as an &lt;em&gt;adverb&lt;/em&gt; in this case, applied to the verb &lt;code&gt;is&lt;/code&gt;, therefore no comma is strictly necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying this, I can easily imagine a brief pauses between &lt;code&gt;is&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;though&lt;/code&gt; when speaking the sentence, hence a &lt;em&gt;vocative comma&lt;/em&gt; is acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, take your pick. If I can avoid a comma (as in this case), I usually will. It's not wrong either way though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T19:28:33.473" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9123" CreationDate="2011-01-17T19:33:09.647" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would not consider either sentence unusual in form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The verb phrase &lt;code&gt;should be&lt;/code&gt; can be quite acceptably split. (Unlike the more controversial issue of infinitives.) Hence, both forms are grammatically acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, the former is slightly more natural (when speaking), while the latter is essential when you want to use two different verbs in your &quot;either ... or ...&quot; phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T19:33:09.647" />
  <row Id="9132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8982" CreationDate="2011-01-17T20:24:21.537" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;is there any accepted/standard list of the 100 most common English words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose it all depends on your definition of authoritative, but I think a good start is The Oxford English Corpus, a collection containing over 2 billion words of 21st century English from around the world. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/oecfactslanguage/the-oec-facts-about-the-language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's a list of facts&lt;/a&gt; about the corpus, including the 100 commonest words in the English language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neat facts about distribution: 10 lemmas (word forms, &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; are lemmas of &lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt;) make up 25% of the corpus, 100 make up 50%, 1000 make up 75%, 7000 make up 90%, 50,000 comprise 95% and you need over a million to get 99% coverage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, one quarter of all words used are &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it a myth that they're &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; Germanic in origin (as I now doubt)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yeah, most of them are germanic in origin, but not all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you noted:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;use&lt;/em&gt; is of Latin origin (by way of French) and replaced the O.E. verb &lt;em&gt;brucan&lt;/em&gt; (which survives as the verb &lt;em&gt;brook&lt;/em&gt; &quot;to tolerate, put up with something unpleasant&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; is of direct Latin origin from the phrase &lt;em&gt;bi cause&lt;/em&gt; &quot;with cause.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;people&lt;/em&gt; also Latin by way of French.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are the only words that jumped out at me. Of course, most of the common words have Indo-European origin, so they'll ultimately share a common root anyway. See &lt;em&gt;two&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;duo&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T20:24:21.537" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9133" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9135" CreationDate="2011-01-17T20:38:02.683" Score="2" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my native language, the English word &quot;develop&quot; is translated to: the process to make something/somebody large/strong/big, and etc. for example: economic development.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T04:24:36.017" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T04:24:36.017" Title="Does the word &quot;develop&quot; mean &quot;upgrade&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9133" CreationDate="2011-01-17T20:54:34.513" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The words 'develop' and 'upgrade' are used quite differently. Take for example computers. If you work to improve the program then you 'develop' the software, while the end-user then 'upgrades' his system to the new version.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T20:54:34.513" />
  <row Id="9135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9133" CreationDate="2011-01-17T20:59:44.017" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Develop&lt;/em&gt; has &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/develop&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;many different meanings&lt;/a&gt; in English. Mostly it could mean to bring to a more advanced state, cause to grow or expand, to elaborate or expand in detail, or to bring into being. There are many more specific meanings depending on domain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Upgrade&lt;/em&gt; has a relatively more narrow definition, and means to improve something that's old or outdated, or to raise in value or esteem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could possibly find one where &lt;em&gt;upgrade&lt;/em&gt; could be used instead &lt;em&gt;develop&lt;/em&gt;, but it would be difficult, and it would be in only one specific meaning. &lt;em&gt;Develop&lt;/em&gt; has the sense of an ongoing process, &lt;em&gt;upgrade&lt;/em&gt; is discrete. You &lt;em&gt;upgrade&lt;/em&gt; something from one stage to another. You &lt;em&gt;develop&lt;/em&gt; something from a less advanced to a more advanced state in a gradual process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To use your example, an &lt;em&gt;economic upgrade&lt;/em&gt; would be a something (very specific) that happened to the economy that could be precisely measured as better. An &lt;em&gt;economic development&lt;/em&gt; would be something &lt;em&gt;added&lt;/em&gt; to the economy that is new, or depending on context, you could be speaking of the economy made &lt;em&gt;generally&lt;/em&gt; better through several changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way of thinking of the difference, when you &lt;em&gt;&quot;upgrade&quot;&lt;/em&gt; something you are literally or figuratively replacing something with something improved. When you &lt;em&gt;&quot;develop&quot;&lt;/em&gt; something, you are changing something (usually improving it), or creating something new from scratch (not replacing anything.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's interesting when I was searching for usage, &lt;a href=&quot;http://opinion.globaltimes.cn/editorial/2009-08/460349.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one example I found of the phrase &quot;economic upgrade&quot;&lt;/a&gt; happens to be an obvious translation, so &quot;economic development&quot; would have been better…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastEditorUserId="1871" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T21:06:56.930" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T21:06:56.930" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6155" CreationDate="2011-01-17T21:18:52.363" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do any words other than adverbs ever make this leap? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are there any nouns or verbs that have somehow transitioned to prepositions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. Prepositions can be formed by way of &lt;em&gt;participles&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;eg. Regarding, concerning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastEditorUserId="1871" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T21:25:36.103" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T21:25:36.103" />
  <row Id="9137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9123" CreationDate="2011-01-17T21:32:45.900" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's fine either way. I parse your first example as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...should be [either [visible] or [invisible]]...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, &lt;em&gt;what an object should be&lt;/em&gt; is either &quot;visible&quot; or &quot;invisible&quot;; and the second example as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...should [either [be visible] or [be invisible]]...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meaning that &lt;em&gt;what an object should do&lt;/em&gt; is either &quot;be visible&quot; or &quot;be invisible&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this syntax, the repeated verb (here &lt;em&gt;be)&lt;/em&gt; can be omitted because it's clear from context, however if you have multiple items with mixed verbs, then the verb is required for every item.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T21:32:45.900" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9106" CreationDate="2011-01-17T21:44:40.577" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Conquer&lt;/em&gt; has the sense of either taking by force (seize), to put down by force (subdue), or to overcome something difficult (ie. conquer your fears).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Win&lt;/em&gt; is to become first in a contest or competition, acquire through effort or skill, obtain an advantage, or attain a goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, there is &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; overlap in meaning, but difference in emphasis. Consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At the start of World War II, Germany won France.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could say this, if you mean to emphasize the fact that they acquired control of France through superior tactics or strategy. But most people would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At the start of World War II, Germany conquered France.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since most people would emphasize that they seized (most of) France through aggressive and unprovoked military action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T21:44:40.577" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6386" CreationDate="2011-01-17T22:03:40.017" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're after the politically correct term, it's &quot;Sex worker&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T22:03:40.017" />
  <row Id="9140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8999" CreationDate="2011-01-17T22:04:08.103" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In 2001, a US spy plan was forced down on China's &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainan_Island_incident&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hainan Island&lt;/a&gt;. The Chinese insisted that the US apologize, and they did, after a fashion. The Bush administration issued a &quot;Letter of two sorries,&quot; and the language included an apology that was ambiguous in &lt;em&gt;both&lt;/em&gt; Chinese and English: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please convey to the Chinese people&#xA;  and to the family of pilot Wang Wei&#xA;  that we are &lt;a href=&quot;http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2001/04/12/china/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;very sorry for their loss&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I couldn't find the reference, but I think the letter also said &quot;It was regrettable.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This language of diplomacy was more designed to save face than to actually issue an apology. In a sense, it accomplished what it was designed to do: It sounded enough like an apology to appease Beijing, it facilitated the release of the 24 crew members, and it didn't say &quot;The US was at fault.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3306" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T22:04:08.103" />
  <row Id="9141" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9150" CreationDate="2011-01-17T22:14:26.387" Score="10" ViewCount="321" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is correct: 'worse comes to worst' or 'worst comes to worst'? The former seems more logical but the latter is what appears in the dictionary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T00:09:57.187" Title="Worse/Worst comes to worst" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9141" CreationDate="2011-01-17T22:18:23.107" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It should be &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;If &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/worse_comes_to_worst&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;worse comes to worst&lt;/a&gt;, then...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which means that, if a situation that is already bad (worse) deteriorates into a situation that is even &quot;more bad&quot; (worst), then...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If an already bad situation progresses into a catastrophic situation, then... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T22:18:23.107" />
  <row Id="9143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9141" CreationDate="2011-01-17T22:21:11.780" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Traditionally it was 'Worst comes to worst'. Nowadays 'Worse comes to worst' is used as it seems more logical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T22:21:11.780" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9144" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9237" CreationDate="2011-01-17T22:21:29.893" Score="2" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I am not bound by a style that mandates otherwise, I like to use &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; in dative constructions and &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; in accusative constructions (I am aware that English doesn't have a proper case system, but it is convenient for the purposes of this qn).  Let's call this &lt;em&gt;who/who/whom&lt;/em&gt; usage, matching nominative, accusative, and dative respectively.  This appears to be moderately widespread, the death of &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; notwithstanding.  For an accusative example, consider &lt;em&gt;Is there anyone who I could ask?&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;Is there anyone whom I could ask?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there authorities who explicitly recognise the possibility of differentiating between the accusative and dative constructions in this way?  To document what I have looked at so far:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;APA 6th&lt;/em&gt; stands by the old-fashioned &lt;em&gt;who/whom/whom&lt;/em&gt;, saying &quot;Use &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; as the subject of a verb and &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; as the object of a verb or preposition&quot; (3.20).  &lt;em&gt;Chicago 6th&lt;/em&gt; has a very similar formulation (5.63).  &lt;em&gt;The Economist style guide&lt;/em&gt; has a nice discussion explaining its identical prescription.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Butcher's&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;New Hart's Rules&lt;/em&gt; both say that grammar should be correct, but say little about what correct grammar consists of.  I think &lt;em&gt;MLA&lt;/em&gt; also doesn't prescribe on this point.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Fowler's 3rd&lt;/em&gt; articulates three rival views, namely that (i) &lt;em&gt;who/whom/whom&lt;/em&gt; is moribund, stifling, or artifical, and &lt;em&gt;who/who/who&lt;/em&gt; is the right usage, (ii) the righteous &lt;em&gt;who/whom/whom&lt;/em&gt; should be defended against the slacker &lt;em&gt;who/who/who&lt;/em&gt;, and (iii) &lt;em&gt;who/whom/whom&lt;/em&gt; is appropriate for written language, but &lt;em&gt;who/who/who&lt;/em&gt; for spoken language (from CGEL).  Fowler's further talks about tricky issues about the use of &lt;em&gt;who/whom&lt;/em&gt; as a relative pronoun vs. as an interrogative pronoun.   &lt;em&gt;Fowler's&lt;/em&gt; makes no prescription about this.  &lt;em&gt;Who/who/whom&lt;/em&gt; is defensible according to Fowler's reasoning, but the possibility of this usage is not discussed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus points to anyone finding relevant guidance from CGEL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1921" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T21:53:14.087" Title="Dative whom with accusative who" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;whom&gt;&lt;style-manuals&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9144" CreationDate="2011-01-17T22:52:07.160" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no construction in the entirety of the English language in which accusative and dative pronouns are distinguished morphologically. Therefore it seems a bit, shall we say, &lt;em&gt;eccentric&lt;/em&gt; to make such a distinction for only the relative pronoun or interrogative &quot;who&quot;, and I'd be willing to put good money on the fact that no usage authority sanctions such a thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, since it doesn't cause any confusion, go ahead and do it if it floats your boat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T22:52:07.160" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9029" CreationDate="2011-01-17T23:23:29.277" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;a disaster&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Ignore this line, which is added only to get past the 30-character limit).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3542" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T23:23:29.277" />
  <row Id="9147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9144" CreationDate="2011-01-17T23:24:43.127" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of all the style guides I have ever seen, none seem to recommend this system. For such a system to be recommended by an established style guide, it think should probably meet at least one of the following conditions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is in current use by a large or respected group.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It was in such use at a time not terribly long ago.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It reflects the deeper workings of the language, or its perceived workings, in a more consistent way than actual usage, but without clashing with historical usage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Failing these, a style guide would have no incentive to recommend it. I do not think your system meets any of these conditions. &quot;Whom&quot; is traditionally used in all non-nominative positions, and I do not believe that there was ever a time when &quot;who&quot; was used for all but indirect objects. When there were still three or more cases, no doubt the accusative and nominative cases differed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Owing to all this, your system might appear to reflect mere inconsistency to those ignorant of its rules. That scares most style guides, because they usually expect their readers to be snobs to some degree, in that they are afraid to come off as less well educated than they are. That said, after a few pages of text, your reader will probably catch on and appreciate your system. I like it in a way—but I'd be too scared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T20:07:55.337" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T20:07:55.337" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9141" CreationDate="2011-01-17T23:47:06.583" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/if-the-worst-comes-to-the-worst#if-the-worst-comes-to-the-worst__1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cambridge Dictionaries Online&lt;/a&gt;, the following forms of the idiomatic expression are correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;British English:&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;if the worst comes to the worst&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;American English:&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;if worse/worst comes to worst&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I quote the relevant definitions of &lt;em&gt;idiom&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;expression&lt;/em&gt; from my New Oxford American Dictionary to put things in perspective:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;idiom:&lt;/strong&gt;  a group of words established by &lt;strong&gt;usage&lt;/strong&gt; as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;expression:&lt;/strong&gt; a word or phrase, esp. an idiomatic one, used to convey an idea&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T00:09:57.187" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T00:09:57.187" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9133" CreationDate="2011-01-17T23:55:10.300" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, the word, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/develop&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;develop&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, does &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; mean &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/upgrade&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;upgrade&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T23:55:10.300" />
  <row Id="9150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9141" CreationDate="2011-01-17T23:59:45.093" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The expression should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the worst comes to the worst, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It means &quot;if the worst thing that can happen does happen...&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contracting it without the definite articles doesn't seem to me to justify '&lt;s&gt;worse comes to worst&lt;/s&gt;'; it should still be 'worst comes to worst'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T23:59:45.093" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9125" CreationDate="2011-01-18T00:03:45.123" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd use the comma, but modern style would probably omit it.  There is a general tendency towards less punctuation.  Look at Victorian novels, and then compare with modern prose - there is much less punctuation now.  Or look at the King James Bible; that is rife with colons and semi-colons that would not appear nowadays, often not even 'demoted' to commas.  Punctuation style has changed over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T00:03:45.123" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9152" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9154" CreationDate="2011-01-18T00:23:21.557" Score="1" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorillaz&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gorillaz&lt;/a&gt; song &lt;a href=&quot;http://lyrics.wikia.com/Gorillaz%3aWelcome_To_The_World_Of_The_Plastic_Beach&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach&lt;/a&gt; rapper Snoop Dogg uses the term crack-a-lacking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've done some searching and can't find a reliable source for the origin and exact meaning of this term, but there are a few options. The term is not used in any specific context in the song.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2143" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T14:06:42.857" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T14:06:42.857" Title="What does the term &quot;crack-a-lacking&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9108" CreationDate="2011-01-18T01:04:15.443" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I have to solve other problems before getting to the one I want to/have to focus on, I generally just call them steps: &quot;step 1,&quot; &quot;step 2,&quot; etc..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T01:04:15.443" />
  <row Id="9154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9152" CreationDate="2011-01-18T01:37:29.790" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Urban Dictionary and The Online Slang Dictionary both give a definition for &lt;em&gt;crackalackin'&lt;/em&gt; as meaning &quot;happening&quot; as in &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What's crackalackin'? [What's happening?]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably this is derived from &quot;What's cracking?&quot; which is an older term meaning the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T01:37:29.790" />
  <row Id="9155" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9156" CreationDate="2011-01-18T02:13:04.290" Score="0" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Not only you should be able to speak but also able to write.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You should be able to not only speak but also write.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You should not only be able to speak but also be able to write.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is right to use? If there's an even better one, please suggest. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2005" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T09:17:57.273" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T09:17:57.273" Title="Not only... but also..." Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9155" CreationDate="2011-01-18T02:18:56.633" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second and third sentences are correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You should be able to not only speak[,] but also write.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You should not only be able to speak[,] but also be able to write.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would correct the first sentence thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Not only should you be able to speak[,] but also should you be able to write. &lt;em&gt;OR&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Not only should you be able to speak[,] but you should also be able to write.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I leave it to you to decide whether you want a comma before &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt;. Either way is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T04:21:32.260" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T04:21:32.260" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="9157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9108" CreationDate="2011-01-18T02:56:32.000" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One term I’ve heard used for this sort of thing is &lt;strong&gt;dependencies&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This comes from a common geekspeak etymological process: imagine you were a computer program; then, what technical programming term would apply to this situation?  I’d imagine that most programmers would grok this pretty quickly, while most people without programming experience would need an explanation.  So whether it is appropriate would depend a lot on whom you’re trying to communicate with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T02:56:32.000" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9158" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9160" CreationDate="2011-01-18T03:02:39.767" Score="0" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wish I have been there for the baby kicking for the first time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could I change the sentence to &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wish I was there for the baby kicking for the first time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the differences between the two sentences? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2332" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T04:23:41.850" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T04:59:59.030" Title="Why is the perfect tense used in this sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;tense&gt;&lt;present-perfect-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9158" CreationDate="2011-01-18T03:04:16.153" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you weren't there, you should say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wish I could have been there the first time the baby kicked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wish I had been there the first time the baby kicked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're asking about the tenses, but notice that I changed the latter half of the sentence as well. To say &quot;for the baby kicking for the first time&quot; sounds kind of awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T03:11:28.560" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T03:11:28.560" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9158" CreationDate="2011-01-18T03:13:57.013" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both sentences given are slightly incorrect, I’m afraid.  I think the form you want is probably&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wish I had been there for…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(In speech or informal writing, this would often be contracted: “I wish I’d been there for…”) Also good, as Robusto said, is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wish I could have been there for…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;although this only works if your absence was unintentional — if you knew when to expect it and just chose not to go, this version doesn’t apply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The versions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wish I were there for…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wish I was there for…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;are appropriate for an event happening &lt;em&gt;right now&lt;/em&gt;, not for something that happened in the past.  You might have a phone conversation: “The baby is kicking right now!” “Oh!  I wish I were there for it!”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The form &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*I wish I have been there for…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;isn’t correct for anything (although it’s a fairly common error among non-native speakers, and people wouldn’t have difficulty understanding it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T04:59:59.030" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T04:59:59.030" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9108" CreationDate="2011-01-18T05:34:14.210" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like &quot;roadblock&quot; or &quot;stumbling block&quot; for that sort of thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T07:08:04.360" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T07:08:04.360" />
  <row Id="9162" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-18T07:06:07.467" Score="6" ViewCount="222" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dear English experts,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a doubt. The economist Keynes in a book wrote: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The power to become habituated to &lt;strong&gt;his&lt;/strong&gt; surroundings is a marked characteristic of mankind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would have used &quot;its&quot; instead but since English is not my mother-tongue and Keynes was probably a good writer I am sure I am the one being mistaken.&#xA;Can anyone please explain ?&#xA;Thank you in advance,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Robert&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3777" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T07:56:03.293" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T07:56:03.293" Title="Why use &quot;his&quot; in association with the word &quot;mankind&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;concord&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="9163" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9167" CreationDate="2011-01-18T07:53:35.457" Score="0" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;here is the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We condemn such behavior that can risk damaging a company’s brand and reputation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;risk or damage, which is the verb？&#xA;I remember that two verb ( one verb after another) must use the verb+Infinitive, so why not &quot;risk to damage&quot; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T05:04:43.407" Title="Which is the verb of the 'that' clause?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;infinitive&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9164" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-18T08:13:29.020" Score="3" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm writing up some documentation, and I'm unsure which phrase to use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Option X: Find all strings ending with &lt;code&gt;foo&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Option X: Find all strings ending in &lt;code&gt;foo&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are both correct? (Google spits out both, strongly favoring &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt;) Which should I prefer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3779" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T13:50:43.023" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T13:50:43.023" Title="&quot;end-with&quot; or &quot;end-in&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9108" CreationDate="2011-01-18T08:17:25.533" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In French they sometimes talk about &quot;le ticket d'entrée&quot; - but that's more to do with the up-front cost of learning a new technology (before benefiting from any - hypothetical - productivity gains).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Down-payment&lt;/strong&gt;? Pinched from another domain, but it might fly. Though it implies money more than work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meta-problem&lt;/strong&gt;? (Meta as in 'before').&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think there is probably a difference to be made between 'drudge/donkey work' (setting up IDE, etc.) and a 'real' up-front problem (something that requires the same level of problem-solving as the actual problem to be solved). Maybe that though will inspire some more answers...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T08:17:25.533" />
  <row Id="9166" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9168" CreationDate="2011-01-18T08:18:49.093" Score="0" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct? It's the message I see right before metro/subway shows up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shouldn't it be &quot;train is approaching&quot; or &quot;train approaches&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3295" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T18:29:06.853" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T18:29:06.853" Title="&quot;train approaching&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;fragments&gt;&lt;signage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9163" CreationDate="2011-01-18T08:22:10.633" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Risk&lt;/em&gt; is the verb and &lt;em&gt;damaging&lt;/em&gt; is a &quot;verb+ing&quot; form used as a noun (the object of the verb). Substitute this  with another meaningful noun:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When children start smoking, they don't realize that they're risking their &lt;strong&gt;health.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She risked her &lt;strong&gt;life&lt;/strong&gt; for him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She risked &lt;strong&gt;damaging&lt;/strong&gt; the company's brand name and reputation just to get a bit of publicity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A simple way to distinguish between verbs and gerunds (noun forms) is that a &quot;verb+ing&quot; form is only a verb when it is accompanied by a form of the &quot;be&quot; verb, as in these examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; damaging his car.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;are&lt;/strong&gt; damaging his car.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He has &lt;strong&gt;been&lt;/strong&gt; damaging his own car.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He will &lt;strong&gt;be&lt;/strong&gt; damaging his own car.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your sentence, it may be better to say, &quot;We condemn behavior that risks damaging the company's brand name and reputation&quot; but I'm guessing it's legalese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Edited for clarity based on the comments below.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastEditorUserId="2972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T09:35:16.467" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T09:35:16.467" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9166" CreationDate="2011-01-18T08:27:38.510" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either way this is just a fragment, so the question is what is the rest of the sentence? Your suggestions read as follows, to me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;train is approaching&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;train approaches&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I usually interpret it as the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is a &lt;strong&gt;train approaching&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's clearly a lot of flexibility when you're only seeing a fragment of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1439" LastEditorUserId="1439" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T12:04:40.147" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T12:04:40.147" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9164" CreationDate="2011-01-18T08:48:46.247" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go with&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Option X: Find all strings ending&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;with&lt;/strong&gt; foo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds more solid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T08:48:46.247" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9170" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9171" CreationDate="2011-01-18T08:58:15.393" Score="4" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The sun's rays are primarily&#xA;  responsible for skin damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me this sounds like it means that the primary activity of the sun's rays is damaging skin. However the intention is obviously that the primary cause of skin damage is the sun's rays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this sentence actually wrong, or just ambiguous?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3272" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T10:16:38.600" Title="Is it wrong to say &quot;The sun's rays are primarily responsible for skin damage.&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;ambiguity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9170" CreationDate="2011-01-18T09:02:58.180" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say it was ambiguous; I originally read it as you intended, but it could be read the other way as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simply put it like you already have in your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The primary cause of skin damage is UV radiation from the Sun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T09:02:58.180" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9172" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9176" CreationDate="2011-01-18T09:05:00.347" Score="0" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;Example usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've changed the post a lot by following suggestions on the original question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3295" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T10:40:32.913" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T10:56:45.213" Title="&quot;suggestions on&quot; or &quot;suggestions at&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9173" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9175" CreationDate="2011-01-18T09:05:28.660" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;What's error in this sentence?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;What's wrong in this sentence?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T13:49:20.420" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T13:49:20.420" Title="&quot;error&quot; or &quot;wrong&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9162" CreationDate="2011-01-18T09:07:51.500" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The use of 'his' refers to each 'member' of mankind. Mankind is generally referred to in this way, i.e. as a group of individual people, as opposed to a single, monolithic body, which would be suggested by using 'its'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T09:17:14.970" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9173" CreationDate="2011-01-18T09:12:52.760" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second sentence is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Error' is a noun. It describes something that &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Wrong' is an adjective, and so is applied to the subject ('this sentence') to describe it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To write a correct sentence with the same meaning as the second one, while using 'error', you would say something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Where is the error in this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T09:12:52.760" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9172" CreationDate="2011-01-18T09:15:58.060" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither on or at work really. I would say something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've edited the post a lot after following suggestions to change the original question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T09:15:58.060" />
  <row Id="9177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8068" CreationDate="2011-01-18T09:38:06.400" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Books on writing should be dipped into and savoured; therefore, it's nice to have as many as you can afford. In fact, once you start collecting books on writing, it will become difficult to stop. I like Stephen Wilburs' &lt;em&gt;Keys to Great Writing&lt;/em&gt; and William Zinsser's &lt;em&gt;On Writing Well&lt;/em&gt;. Both are written in a friendly, conversational style, but where Wilbers lays out plenty of lists and rules, Zinsser does not, opting instead to let you take what you want from him, and he has much to offer. More technical books include Joseph M. Williams's &lt;em&gt;Style Toward Clarity and Grace&lt;/em&gt;, which is excellent for academics and those looking for something more weighty. If you want to know what it means to push new information to the right and to improve cohesion, among other things, then this is the book for you. A simpler, more practical book would be Longknife and Sullivan's &lt;em&gt;The Art of Styling Sentences&lt;/em&gt;. This slim tome, which has almost  the appearance of a school textbook, is based on the premise of imitating sentence patterns to learn to write correct sentences. Anyone who has been set this exercise using, perhaps, Samuel Johnson's prose will attest to how powerful it can be. This is a useful book for teachers, too. There are many more books on the market. If you're in academia, a related book would be Chicago University's &lt;em&gt;The Craft of Research&lt;/em&gt; by the much respected trio of Booth, Colomb and Williams. I can't praise this book enough. As for Strunk and White's &lt;em&gt;Elements of Style&lt;/em&gt;, it's handy to have, but its brevity will leave you wanting more. I think there is not one book on writing that covers everything on the subject, so I recommend you begin your own prized collection on this. Enjoy the buffet, and don't lend your books to anyone; they might never come back. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastEditorUserId="3733" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T06:46:23.170" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T06:46:23.170" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9173" CreationDate="2011-01-18T09:54:26.643" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider using the following one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What's wrong &lt;strong&gt;with&lt;/strong&gt; this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T09:54:26.643" />
  <row Id="9179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9170" CreationDate="2011-01-18T10:16:38.600" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say it is ambiguous and also incorrect from a logical point of view.&#xA;Here are a couple of ways to rephrase the sentence without changing too many of the words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The sun's rays are the the primary cause of skin damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or using the passive, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Skin damage is primarily caused by the&#xA;  sun's rays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T10:16:38.600" />
  <row Id="9180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9166" CreationDate="2011-01-18T10:47:14.283" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's &quot;correct&quot;.  It is there to carry information, from the metro system to you, namely, that there is a train approaching.  And that you should step back ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all this &quot;proper grammar&quot; and whatever, we (me included, see my rant-with-a-lot-of-comments ;-)) tend to forget that language serves a purpose, to wit, to carry information from A to B (where A to B are very often, but not always, individuals).  And as long as it manages this task, to the satifsaction of, well, A and B, all's well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, I don't see any &quot;failure to inform&quot;.  So there, job well done, language!  Good language, yes, &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; language! &lt;em&gt;pats language on, uhm, head?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T10:47:14.283" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9172" CreationDate="2011-01-18T10:56:45.213" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd prefer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've changed the post a lot by following suggestions about the original question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T10:56:45.213" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9162" CreationDate="2011-01-18T11:06:16.687" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;his&quot; (male pronoun) emphasises that it's a human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;its&quot; (neuter pronoun) would suggest a less human thing or entity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jeremy the baker got used to &lt;strong&gt;his&lt;/strong&gt; surroundings&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fido the dog got used to &lt;strong&gt;its&lt;/strong&gt; surroundings&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T11:06:16.687" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9164" CreationDate="2011-01-18T11:11:57.943" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Close call. I would say that &quot;in&quot; is asking for a very precise case, whereas &quot;with&quot; is for more general usage. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Which words end &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;ces&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Which words end &lt;strong&gt;with&lt;/strong&gt; a vowel&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T11:11:57.943" />
  <row Id="9184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9125" CreationDate="2011-01-18T11:20:24.520" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I strongly prefer the second form, with the comma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say out loud, without a pause&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't know how outdated it is-though&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nonsense-speak to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T11:20:24.520" />
  <row Id="9185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9144" CreationDate="2011-01-18T11:23:50.900" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;[humour]&#xA;The phone rings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jane: Hello, to whom do wish to speak?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Caller: Sorry, I must have a wrong number, I don't know anybody who says &quot;to whom&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[/humour]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T11:23:50.900" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9186" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9188" CreationDate="2011-01-18T11:54:34.973" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I did not think about using the word &quot;about&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel that the word, &lt;em&gt;about&lt;/em&gt;, should be wrapped in quotes. Is that correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3295" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T14:05:37.787" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T14:05:37.787" Title="Using quotes when referring to word as word" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9187" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-18T11:57:50.523" Score="1" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do &quot;My vote goes for…&quot; and &quot;My vote goes to…&quot; have different meanings? Can they be used interchangeably?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T15:34:57.510" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T06:17:31.060" Title="&quot;Vote goes for&quot; vs &quot;Vote goes to&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="9188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9186" CreationDate="2011-01-18T11:58:55.537" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That would be a perfectly acceptable answer, especially when it is hand-written. When typing on a computer, you have also the possibility to &lt;em&gt;italicize&lt;/em&gt; the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T11:58:55.537" />
  <row Id="9189" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9223" CreationDate="2011-01-18T12:06:11.987" Score="1" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to use the word &quot;itself&quot; in the following cases. I have seen many people using &quot;itself&quot; in the following cases&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I read the note yesterday itself &lt;em&gt;(to mean - I already read the note yesterday)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I met the doctor in the morning itself. &lt;em&gt;(to mean - I already met the doctor in the morning)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if the usage of &quot;itself&quot; is itself wrong, what would be the correct usage or alternative to express the meaning mentioned in the brackets&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2372" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T17:58:00.177" Title="Usage of the word &quot;itself&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="9190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9189" CreationDate="2011-01-18T12:11:59.737" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, the two examples you cite don't sound too good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And in any case &quot;itself&quot; doesn't carry the meaning of 'already'. It is used to place emphasis on the 'thing' to which it refers. So, reworking your first example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I got this information from the note itself, not from the explanation from Dave or John&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pre-edit, just so Joe's comment makes sense&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;So was it Dave or John who told you about that message I left?&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;Neither, I read the note itself.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastEditorUserId="529" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T12:26:52.270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T12:26:52.270" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9191" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9195" CreationDate="2011-01-18T12:27:01.817" Score="3" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm going to eat my lunch&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have to go for my lunch&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and where can I use these sentences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2767" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T13:47:58.660" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T13:47:58.660" Title="What's the difference between these sentences?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="9192" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9199" CreationDate="2011-01-18T12:27:10.787" Score="7" ViewCount="271" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cancelled&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Canceled&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; ? Which one is right? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You have successfully canceled the registration&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You have successfully cancelled the registration&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3556" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T12:48:35.653" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T12:36:19.823" Title="&quot;Cancelled&quot; or &quot;Canceled&quot;?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="9193" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-18T12:49:48.407" Score="1" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am working in the company by name &quot;RAM ltd&quot;. Is it right if I would write in the documents &quot;RAM ltd&quot; LLC.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3273" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T14:22:05.030" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T14:22:05.030" Title="&quot;LLC&quot; and &quot;LTD&quot; — are they the same?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9192" CreationDate="2011-01-18T12:55:53.873" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;See the number of occurences of &lt;em&gt;cancelled&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;canceled&lt;/em&gt; from the American Corpus and British Corpus below. This supports what @JoseK wrote as comment to the question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA)&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; CANCELED   3746     &#xA; CANCELLED  640&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; CANCELLED 1194&#xA; CANCELED   1&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T12:55:53.873" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9191" CreationDate="2011-01-18T12:56:30.413" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first sentence says that you are about to eat your lunch; it may or may not imply that you are leaving the present location to do so, depending on the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second says that it is time for you to eat lunch and that you will be leaving the present location to do so. You would say this when leaving the office to go to the canteen or deli, for example. 'I have to' implies that it is necessary for you to do so, perhaps because you have a set lunch hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T12:56:30.413" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9187" CreationDate="2011-01-18T13:00:13.310" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'My vote goes to' is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My vote goes to Barack Obama&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'My vote goes for' is incorrect. You would say something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'll be voting for Barack Obama&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I vote we all go for dinner!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T13:00:13.310" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9193" CreationDate="2011-01-18T13:25:14.757" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably not.  These are country-specific legal terms, so getting them right is important.  The Wikipedia articles on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_company&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;limited companies&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_liability_company&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;limited liability companies&lt;/a&gt; suggest that they are not necessarily the same thing, depending on where in the world you are.  I would use the name of the company, &quot;RAM Ltd&quot;, since someone must have thought about that, or talk to your company legal services people who should be able to tell you the right answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: after some consideration, I'm going to change my answer to a definite &quot;No.&quot;  There are essentially two possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ltd and LLC mean the same in thing in the relevant jurisdiction.  In that case &quot;RAM Ltd LLC&quot; is just repeating yourself, which is rarely a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ltd and LLC don't mean the same thing (which I think is more likely to be the case).  In that case, &quot;RAM Ltd LLC&quot; is claiming two different, probably incompatible things.  That would be bad.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastEditorUserId="1579" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T14:11:53.437" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T14:11:53.437" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9192" CreationDate="2011-01-18T13:29:37.003" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The past tense of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cancel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;cancel&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is strictly &lt;em&gt;cancelled&lt;/em&gt; in British English (&lt;em&gt;BrE&lt;/em&gt;). In American English (&lt;em&gt;AmE&lt;/em&gt;), however, it is spelled (&lt;em&gt;BrE&lt;/em&gt; spelt!) &lt;em&gt;canceled&lt;/em&gt;. Note that &lt;em&gt;cancelled&lt;/em&gt; is also acceptable in American usage. There are many other verbs whose past tenses and present participles follow a similar pattern:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;worship&lt;/em&gt;: worshiped (&lt;em&gt;AmE&lt;/em&gt;)/worshipped (&lt;em&gt;BrE&lt;/em&gt;) • worshiping (&lt;em&gt;AmE&lt;/em&gt;)/worshipping (&lt;em&gt;BrE&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;travel&lt;/em&gt;: traveled (&lt;em&gt;AmE&lt;/em&gt;)/travelled (&lt;em&gt;BrE&lt;/em&gt;) • traveling (&lt;em&gt;AmE&lt;/em&gt;)/travelling (&lt;em&gt;BrE&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;label&lt;/em&gt;: labeled (&lt;em&gt;AmE&lt;/em&gt;)/labelled (&lt;em&gt;BrE&lt;/em&gt;) • labeling (&lt;em&gt;AmE&lt;/em&gt;)/labelling (&lt;em&gt;BrE&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;libel&lt;/em&gt;: libeled (&lt;em&gt;AmE&lt;/em&gt;)/libelled (&lt;em&gt;BrE&lt;/em&gt;) • libeling (&lt;em&gt;AmE&lt;/em&gt;)/libelling (&lt;em&gt;BrE&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;devil&lt;/em&gt;: deviled (&lt;em&gt;AmE&lt;/em&gt;)/devilled (&lt;em&gt;BrE&lt;/em&gt;) • deviling (&lt;em&gt;AmE&lt;/em&gt;)/devilling (&lt;em&gt;BrE&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some notable exceptions in which the last consonant is &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; doubled in the past tense and present participle. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;compel&lt;/em&gt;: compelled • compelling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;corral&lt;/em&gt;: corralled • corralling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;repel&lt;/em&gt;: repelled • repelling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;refer&lt;/em&gt;: referred • referring&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;occur&lt;/em&gt;: occurred • occurring&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;demur&lt;/em&gt;: demurred • demurring&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;whip&lt;/em&gt;: whipped • whipping&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;fit&lt;/em&gt;: fitted • fitting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And there also those words whose last consonant is &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; doubled when forming the past tense or present participle. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;differ&lt;/em&gt;: differed • differing &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;succo[u]r&lt;/em&gt;: succo[u]red • succo[u]ring&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;solicit&lt;/em&gt;: solicited • soliciting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;gallop&lt;/em&gt;: galloped • galloping&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A special example is the verb &lt;em&gt;program[me]&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;(AmE) program&lt;/em&gt;: programed/programmed • progaming/programming&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;(BrE) programme&lt;/em&gt;: programmed • programming&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T02:10:15.057" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T02:10:15.057" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="9200" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9201" CreationDate="2011-01-18T13:42:20.963" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Healthcare&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;Health care&lt;/strong&gt; ? Which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3556" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T13:46:24.480" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T15:50:57.603" Title="&quot;Healthcare&quot; or &quot;Health care&quot;?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;compounds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9200" CreationDate="2011-01-18T13:56:24.637" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are correct, as well as &lt;em&gt;health-care&lt;/em&gt;. There is no difference in meaning between them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehealthcareblog.com/the_health_care_blog/2010/08/oped-healthcare-vs-health-care-the-definitive-words.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; sheds some light. It seems that the expression is in the slow process of being converted from the combination of two words into a word in itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="3365" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T15:50:57.603" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T15:50:57.603" />
  <row Id="9202" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-18T13:56:31.707" Score="3" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many years ago in my first job, I made the mistake of writing &quot;as from&quot; instead of &quot;as opposed to&quot; in a document. To me it seemed normal usage (I must have learnt it from somewhere) but everyone else claimed it was not correct English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Were they right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3786" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T14:01:52.663" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T14:12:25.137" Title="Is &quot;As from&quot; correct English?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9202" CreationDate="2011-01-18T14:12:25.137" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They were right:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am tall as from short&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, makes no sense whatsoever, I'm afraid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Prices will go up as from 1st January.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But that's the only use I can think of for it. Others may gainsay me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T14:12:25.137" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9189" CreationDate="2011-01-18T14:17:44.697" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;if the usage of &quot;itself&quot; is itself wrong, what would be the correct usage or alternative to express the meaning mentioned in the brackets&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you've already put in the brackets is pretty good, though you'd want some commas in there and a few tweaks to make it read better:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I already read the note, yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have already met the doctor, this morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T14:17:44.697" />
  <row Id="9205" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9207" CreationDate="2011-01-18T14:56:57.533" Score="2" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, I'm not a native speaker so I can't rely on my intuition in this specific case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a very long time I was sure that &quot;whose&quot; was the widely used possessive form of both &quot;who&quot; and &quot;what&quot;. But at one point someone told me that the correct possessive of &quot;what&quot; is actually &quot;which&quot;. This sounded extremely awkward, like &quot;the car which door got scratched&quot;, and yet over the years I actually encountered sentences like this two or three times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, could someone clear this up please? Is &quot;whose&quot; the only correct possessive of &quot;what&quot;, or is &quot;which&quot; also correct? In which case, has &quot;which&quot; become obsolete or does it still feel acceptable to native speakers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of the use of &quot;which&quot; like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;[a program setting setting] could also exclude folders, &lt;strong&gt;which&lt;/strong&gt; path does not match the path specified in the switch&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rarlab.com/rarnew.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;, probably non-native Russian)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;VCS trigger rules allow to specify the set of files &lt;strong&gt;which&lt;/strong&gt; changes should trigger the build.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://confluence.jetbrains.net/display/TCD5/Configuring+VCS+Triggers#ConfiguringVCSTriggers-TriggerRules&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;, probably non-native Czech)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3566" LastEditorUserId="3566" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T20:22:12.157" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T20:22:12.157" Title="What is the possessive form of &quot;what&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="9206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9108" CreationDate="2011-01-18T15:05:28.690" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not a single word, but this is at least related to a &quot;Critical Event chain.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T15:05:28.690" />
  <row Id="9207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9205" CreationDate="2011-01-18T15:33:28.313" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indeed, &lt;code&gt;whose&lt;/code&gt; is the (only) correct possessive form, for both animate (sentient) and inanimate objects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/whose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia page&lt;/a&gt; supports this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In addition, the possessive version of&#xA;  the non-sentient pronouns is the same&#xA;  as that of who: whose takes this role&#xA;  for all of them. E.g., &quot;I will have to&#xA;  fix the car whose engine I ruined&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T15:33:28.313" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9208" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9210" CreationDate="2011-01-18T15:52:53.963" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should I have said &quot;of my life&quot; or &quot;in my life&quot; in this sentence: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;to build meaningful relationships  in&#xA;  important areas of my life&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T17:07:57.193" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T21:26:16.080" Title="&quot;to build meaningful relationships in important areas of my life&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9208" CreationDate="2011-01-18T16:01:27.710" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of my life is the correct usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Of' means 'belonging to or connected with something or someone'. In this case the 'important areas' belong to 'my life'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is the happiest day of my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'In' (in relation to 'my life') refers to something or someone 'within' your life, but separate from it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You are the most important person in my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would never say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You are the most important person of my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T16:49:50.047" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9208" CreationDate="2011-01-18T16:09:20.373" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Of&quot; is the correct word there;  &quot;In (qualifiers) of (item)&quot; is the normal construction.  To use &quot;in&quot;, you would lead in with &quot;at&quot;:  &quot;At (qualifiers) in (item).&quot;  (To give a concrete and relevant example, your sentence fragment is using the phrase &quot;important areas&quot; as the qualifier for the main item, &quot;my life&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often, &quot;in/of&quot; is used for broader, sometimes vague groupings, whereas &quot;at/in&quot; is always used for more specific things:  &quot;in some parts of the world&quot; vs. &quot;at several points in the process.&quot;  Since your sentence uses the pretty broad and vague phrase &quot;important areas&quot;, using the at/in combination would not be appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way to view it is that &quot;in/of&quot; is used to express containment, while &quot;at/in&quot; is used to express location.  Your life clearly contains several important areas, but they are not physical areas that you are trying to locate on a chart or diagram, so &quot;in/of&quot; is the appropriate construct.  On the other hand, if you are speaking of your life metaphorically as a timeline, you can certainly say something like &quot;I was at a critical juncture in my life&quot; to reference a specific, pinpointable moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T21:26:16.080" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T21:26:16.080" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8622" CreationDate="2011-01-18T16:13:58.953" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to comment on this point: &quot;Use both masculine and feminine pronouns when the gender is unspecified. Thus, use he/she instead of simply he.&quot; &#xA;Should you wish to avoid the awkwardness of such constructions, make the subject plural and everything else will fall into place. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Change:&#xA;The student should not place his/her bag on the floor.&#xA;To:&#xA;Students should not place their bags on the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T16:13:58.953" />
  <row Id="9212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5035" CreationDate="2011-01-18T16:22:53.927" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another example, though you're not going to come across it on street signs, is the Old English letter &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogh&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;yogh&lt;/a&gt;, written something like a numeral 3 and representing the sounds of &quot;y&quot; and some other letters. Examples are on the linked page.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A similar-looking symbol is also used in some transcriptions of Ancient Egyptian, where it's used to represent a glottal stop (like the 7 in the sign you saw). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T16:22:53.927" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5475" CreationDate="2011-01-18T16:24:53.810" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mathematicians use the term &quot;n-tuple&quot;, sometimes replacing &quot;n&quot; with a numeral (&quot;39-tuple&quot;) and sometimes leaving it as a variable.  But I admit you don't see expressions like &quot;39-tuple&quot; outside the math literature.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3699" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T16:24:53.810" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8622" CreationDate="2011-01-18T16:31:03.933" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't overdo it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a neutral noun if there is one, and it doesn't sound odd&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If there's no neutral noun:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;use the feminine one if it refers mostly to females&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;use the male one otherwise&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use proper words, don't make up new ones&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For the love of the poor guy who invented writing thousands of years ago, do not &lt;strong&gt;**EVER**&lt;/strong&gt; use abominations like he/she or (s)he; they look plain stupid to any sane person (fall back to the rules above)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you're talking about people killed or something like that, never state &lt;em&gt;&quot;X victims, Y of which were women&quot;&lt;/em&gt;: men are not more important than women, nor the other way around, we are all humans&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3579" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T16:31:03.933" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9162" CreationDate="2011-01-18T16:39:42.257" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an old conundrum. English has no proper neutral pronoun to either a male or female person. &lt;em&gt;It&lt;/em&gt; is usually used to refer to inanimate or not-human things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The power to become habituated to &lt;strong&gt;one's&lt;/strong&gt; surroundings is a marked characteristic of mankind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the usage of &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; as a pronoun has come to sound a bit pretentious. I believe there is a shift occurring in english where &lt;em&gt;their&lt;/em&gt; is being used in the singular and becoming acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The power to become habituated to &lt;strong&gt;their&lt;/strong&gt; surroundings is a marked characteristic of mankind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some would take it a step further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The power to become habituated to their surroundings is a marked characteristic of humans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But that's somehow less poetic. &lt;em&gt;Humans&lt;/em&gt; seems more clinical, and &lt;em&gt;mankind&lt;/em&gt; more familial and grandiose somehow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T16:39:42.257" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8150" CreationDate="2011-01-18T17:33:42.520" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You would never use &quot;Is either of you free?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you break the sentence down, and ask the question as though you are asking each individual person, separately, you would still not ask &quot;is you free,&quot; so therefore you certainly wouldn't ask &quot;is either of you free&quot; in this situation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3790" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T17:33:42.520" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9217" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9219" CreationDate="2011-01-18T17:42:43.937" Score="2" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this a gramatically correct sentence? According to OED, medal is a verb and a noun.&#xA;I haven't seen any usage of the word as a verb, but I am assuming the above sentence is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1241" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T18:53:26.067" Title="&quot;I medalled in volleyball&quot;" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="9218" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9221" CreationDate="2011-01-18T17:44:15.917" Score="5" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are the following equally appropriate to be used at work with a colleague or client? I don't want to be informal, but I don't have to be too formal either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let me know when you are free so that&#xA;  we can discuss this in more details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let me know when you are available so that&#xA;  we can discuss this in more details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let me know when you are not busy so that&#xA;  we can discuss this in more details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Disclaimer:&lt;/em&gt; I'm not a native English speaker (as if I had to explain that)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="740" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T21:18:14.007" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T21:18:14.007" Title="How to ask about one's availability? &quot;free/available/not busy&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9217" CreationDate="2011-01-18T17:44:29.177" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You hear that usage every time you watch the Olympics. &quot;Medalled&quot; is very much a verb in that community, and the announcers have picked it up wholesale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T17:44:29.177" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9217" CreationDate="2011-01-18T17:46:39.263" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's gramatically correct, though perhaps not very natural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The verb &lt;code&gt;to medal&lt;/code&gt; is a relatively new introduction to the English language though, and is certainly not commonly used where I live (Britain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/medalled&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this referenc&lt;/a&gt;, which gives two accepted uses of &lt;code&gt;medal&lt;/code&gt; as a verb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;–verb (used with object)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  3. to decorate or honor with a medal.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;–verb (used without object)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  4. to receive a medal, esp. in a sporting event: He medaled in three of four races.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T17:46:39.263" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="9221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9218" CreationDate="2011-01-18T17:54:55.310" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All three variations of the sentence you give are grammatically correct, and are virtually (but not completely) equivalent. There are a few points worth noting in particular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is far more conventional to say &quot;let me know when you are busy&quot; than &quot;let me know when you are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; busy&quot;. The negative is considered redundant, and they are understood to mean the same thing, i.e. they are both enquiring about availability.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Saying &lt;code&gt;free&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;available&lt;/code&gt; rather than &lt;code&gt;busy&lt;/code&gt; may be considered a more &quot;positive&quot; enquiry. It may also simply mean that you &lt;em&gt;expect&lt;/em&gt; the person to be busy rather than free, rather than the other way round.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Saying &lt;code&gt;available&lt;/code&gt; rather than &lt;code&gt;free&lt;/code&gt; is considered slightly more formal, though I wouldn't worry much about usage cases. (Most people wouldn't think twice if you used either in a formal or colloquial situation.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T19:42:01.880" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T19:42:01.880" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="9222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9218" CreationDate="2011-01-18T17:57:53.593" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All three of those are equally appropriate, and as far as I know, completely equivalent.  The only thing I would change would be to say &quot;in more detail&quot; rather than &quot;in more details&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T17:57:53.593" />
  <row Id="9223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9189" CreationDate="2011-01-18T17:58:00.177" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Itself&quot; is not used in this way in British or American English. I suspect that it may be used in other Englishes: Irish and Indian come to mind, but I'm not sure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does seem to fill a hole, as there is not an obvious word in UK or US which fulfils the same role, of emphasising the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say &quot;just yesterday&quot; and &quot;just this morning&quot;: these are not quite the same meaning, as they are emphasising how recent the time was, whereas I interpret the original remarks as emphasising the time for some reason but not necessarily its recency. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T17:58:00.177" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9208" CreationDate="2011-01-18T18:12:36.777" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either is acceptable. &quot;Of&quot; is probably more idiomatic, but I don't know on what grounds the other repliers have asserted that &quot;in&quot; is less &quot;correct&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the BNC, &quot;of&quot; gets 5 hits, and &quot;in&quot; 0; but in Google, &quot;of&quot; gets 6.74 million and &quot;in&quot; 1.1 million.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T18:12:36.777" />
  <row Id="9225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6383" CreationDate="2011-01-18T18:22:09.797" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In modern English, it is the counterpart of &quot;do up&quot;, meaning to fasten (by whatever method - tie, glue, knot, zip, velcro). It is nearly always used literally, but when it is used of a person, it normally means that their clothing has become unfastened. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In older English, it could be used in a more abstract sense, so &quot;I am undone&quot; could mean something like &quot;my life (or my wealth, or my reputation) is ruined&quot;. Modern readers often find the phrase amusing, because its modern meaning is so closely related to clothing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T18:22:09.797" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9217" CreationDate="2011-01-18T18:53:26.067" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is grammatically correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also the most natural and concise way to state, simply, that you have been awarded a metal for an accomplishment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I medaled at the qualifying event.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3745" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T18:53:26.067" />
  <row Id="9227" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9228" CreationDate="2011-01-18T19:18:15.637" Score="4" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the proper way to write this term when writing product documenation?  Drop down list or drop-down list?  Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2983" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T19:36:46.923" Title="Which is right &quot;drop-down&quot; or &quot;drop down&quot;?" Tags="&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9227" CreationDate="2011-01-18T19:36:46.923" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's just the compound adjective, use &lt;em&gt;drop-down&lt;/em&gt; list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note, however, that there are classes of components in various frameworks that are called &lt;strong&gt;DropDown&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;DropDownList&lt;/strong&gt; or various alternatives of the same thing. In such cases use the framework name as is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T19:36:46.923" />
  <row Id="9229" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9234" CreationDate="2011-01-18T19:49:17.517" Score="1" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which sentences are correct? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We don’t have to go there if we don’t want to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We haven’t to go there if we don’t want to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1109" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T01:32:30.987" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T01:32:30.987" Title="Is it correct: &quot;We don’t have to go there if we don’t want to&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9229" CreationDate="2011-01-18T20:03:37.063" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In American English, at least, you would use the first construction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We don’t have to go there if we don’t want to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T20:03:37.063" />
  <row Id="9231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9229" CreationDate="2011-01-18T20:04:26.667" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, &quot;correct&quot; is not a very precise term in languages because they evolve constantly, and the definition of &quot;correct&quot; changes over time and depending on who you ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;We don’t have to go there if we don’t want to.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This certainly sounds more natural than the other example. I would classify it as &quot;nothing wrong with this one&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3566" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T20:04:26.667" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9232" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9233" CreationDate="2011-01-18T21:09:19.027" Score="6" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Scheme&lt;/em&gt; is the singular form. What is the plural of &lt;em&gt;scheme&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3795" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T11:02:37.297" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T11:02:37.297" Title="Plural of &quot;scheme&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9232" CreationDate="2011-01-18T21:11:58.090" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is &lt;strong&gt;schemes&lt;/strong&gt; (though it comes from the Latin &lt;em&gt;schema&lt;/em&gt;, it's not a latin word).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T21:11:58.090" />
  <row Id="9234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9229" CreationDate="2011-01-18T21:13:23.890" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;American or British English, the correct way to phrase this idea is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We don't have to go there if we don't want to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We haven't to go there if we don't want to [Wrong]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as far as expressing this particular idea of not having to go somewhere, is incorrect. Why? When &lt;em&gt;have to/has to&lt;/em&gt; is negated, the result is &lt;em&gt;don't have to/doesn't have to (do not have to/does not have to)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You have to do this / You &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; have to do this&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;They have to go / They &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; have to go&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He has to be there / He &lt;em&gt;doesn't&lt;/em&gt; have to be there&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;haven't/hasn't&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;have not/has not&lt;/em&gt;) is used to express a lack of something:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;We haven't a clue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;We have not a single vote.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I haven't the faintest idea of his whereabouts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She hasn't the slightest hint of the answer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T21:13:23.890" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9235" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9236" CreationDate="2011-01-18T21:18:24.637" Score="6" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_the_Unknowns&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tomb of the Unknown Solider&lt;/a&gt; has the engraving &quot;KNOWN BUT TO GOD&quot;, as presumably no man knows his name, but shouldn't it read &quot;&lt;i&gt;un&lt;/i&gt;known, but to God&quot;, as the default for everyone is &quot;unknown&quot;, with the exception &quot;but to God&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the construction older?  How should it be parsed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2223" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T21:23:12.750" Title="The construction of &quot;Known but to God&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;negation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9235" CreationDate="2011-01-18T21:23:12.750" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the phrase&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Known &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt; to God&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt; functions as an adverb, and, as such, it means &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt;. Thus, the inscription could very well read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Known &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; to God&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T21:23:12.750" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9144" CreationDate="2011-01-18T21:53:14.087" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not really sure what you mean by &quot;dative&quot; in English, as there isn't really an accusative/dative distinction - in situations where other languages might use a dative, either the accusative is used (&quot;I gave him the book&quot;) or a preposition (&quot;I gave the book to him&quot;). However, the following might be helpful in articulating why &quot;who&quot; can be used, and may even sound better, where some insist on &quot;whom&quot; - whereas in other situations &quot;whom&quot; is still preferable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make my explanation clearer (at the expense of much precision, for which please forgive me) I'll refer to two &quot;styles&quot; of English - one very formal (in which the who/whom/whom prescribed by the style guides is compulsory), and one much more colloquial (in which who/who/who rules the roost, and &quot;whom&quot; is seldom if ever used). Very loosely speaking these correspond to English as it was both spoken and written in the past, and how it is most often spoken today; since trends in the written form often follow those in the spoken we might see current written English as being in a transition between the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given all that, the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The man whom I saw yesterday was tall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;entirely follows the rules of the formal style, and is thus acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The man who I saw yesterday was tall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;entirely follows the rules of the more colloquial style, and is thus acceptable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*The man to who I gave the ball yesterday was tall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;grates. This seems to be because it follows neither the rules of the formal style (which would have &quot;to whom&quot;), nor the colloquial style (which would instead have &quot;The man I gave the ball to yesterday was tall&quot;, or a variant thereof), and is thus unacceptable in either. Similarly,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*The man whom I gave the ball to yesterday was tall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;also falls between both stools.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that this is largely handwaving, rather than a rigorous argument, but it's interesting to note that studies have been performed in cultures exhibiting &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diglossia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;diglossia&lt;/a&gt; (i.e. using &quot;high&quot; and &quot;low&quot; variant forms of what by some definitions could be considered one language, in different contexts) where subjects were shown words or sentences combining features of the &quot;low&quot; and &quot;high&quot; variants. It was found that some of the features were only weakly associated with one variant or another, in the sense that (say) using one from the low variant in a sentence otherwise fully &quot;high&quot; would not render it unacceptable; however other features were &quot;strong&quot; in the sense that a sentence containing features strongly associated with &quot;high&quot; and others with &quot;low&quot; would definitely render the sentence unacceptable. It is possible that, on a much smaller scale, a similar phenomenon is going on here (though of course it would be very bold to assert that this is the case without much more rigorous research!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T21:53:14.087" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8233" CreationDate="2011-01-18T22:22:11.000" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that WordNet is a pretty good source for definitions. I have started to build a &lt;a href=&quot;http://deect.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;multilingual dictionary (Deect)&lt;/a&gt; on top of WordNet's English words and definitions (actually included a few more things), and the users usually like the definitions from WordNet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3798" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T22:22:11.000" />
  <row Id="9239" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-18T23:37:32.110" Score="3" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;My friend and I had an argument about whether this sentence required a comma:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I understand where you're coming from but I disagree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;My friend insisted that there should be a comma before &quot;but&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I understand where you're coming from, but I disagree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my point of view, while grammatically correct, the addition of a comma is not &lt;em&gt;necessary&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I looked online for sources to answer our disagreement, I found no authoritative sources and many sources were contradicting one another. Some argued, like I believe, that it's not necessary because the addition of comma is of no value in that context (i.e. the addition of comma doesn't make the sentence easier to read) but others said it was mandatory. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, which is it? Is a comma necessary before a conjunction?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3711" LastEditorUserId="3711" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T00:23:46.213" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T11:21:44.087" Title="Is it mandatory to use a comma before a coordinating conjunction uniting the two independent clauses in a compound sentence?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;comma&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;&lt;compound-sentences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9240" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9242" CreationDate="2011-01-19T00:34:01.330" Score="2" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;As per the title, is the proper usage &quot;ongoing&quot; or &quot;on-going&quot; when writing something such as &lt;em&gt;ongoing research projects&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3234" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T01:28:30.570" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T01:28:30.570" Title="&quot;Ongoing&quot; or &quot;on-going&quot;" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;compounds&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9240" CreationDate="2011-01-19T00:46:57.687" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.future-perfect.co.uk/grammartips/grammar-tip-ongoing.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This link&lt;/a&gt; provides some guidance. To quote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This word never has been hyphenated,&#xA;  but people think that it is a mix of&#xA;  ‘on’ and ‘going’, but if you think of&#xA;  someone ‘going on about grammar’, you&#xA;  would not say that that person was&#xA;  ‘ongoing’!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="154" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T00:46:57.687" />
  <row Id="9242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9240" CreationDate="2011-01-19T00:51:41.113" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either is acceptable, though the form &lt;code&gt;ongoing&lt;/code&gt; is almost uniquely the one used in modern times. (The hyphenated version, as with most compound words in English, was the original form; the hyphen got dropped after time as the word became more common.)as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ongoing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; gives the following origin:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ongoing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;     also on-going, 1877, from on + going (see go).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T00:51:41.113" />
  <row Id="9243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9239" CreationDate="2011-01-19T01:29:24.937" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree but with reservations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it helps make the meaning clear, a comma can't hurt. But it isn't always necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll agree with me or you won't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T11:21:44.087" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T11:21:44.087" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9232" CreationDate="2011-01-19T01:38:15.657" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;schemes&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do not confuse this with &lt;em&gt;schema&lt;/em&gt;, which is not the plural of &lt;em&gt;scheme&lt;/em&gt;, but the singular form of &lt;em&gt;schemata&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T01:38:15.657" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9239" CreationDate="2011-01-19T04:31:09.050" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I was taught in school was that it's acceptable to omit the comma when joining &lt;em&gt;very short&lt;/em&gt; independent clauses.  What's &quot;short enough&quot; is a judgment call.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will happily agree with anyone that (a) it doesn't hurt to put the comma in, and (b) whenever the comma definitely makes things clearer, by all means it &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your particular case, my judgment is that your second independent clause is short enough that you could get away with omitting the comma.  (I would include it, though.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T04:31:09.050" />
  <row Id="9246" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9250" CreationDate="2011-01-19T05:22:42.067" Score="8" ViewCount="338" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why &lt;a href=&quot;http://area51.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;this place&lt;/a&gt; on stack exchange is called &quot;area51&quot;? Is it a special idiom in English for some places where things are being developed? Does 51 have some special meaning besides being just a number?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T07:57:00.043" Title="Why one place on stack exchange is called &quot;area51&quot;?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;names&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9246" CreationDate="2011-01-19T05:42:32.540" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_51&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_51&lt;/a&gt; for information about Area 51.  In a nutshell, it's a humorous reference to a place where strange, secret things happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T05:42:32.540" />
  <row Id="9248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8854" CreationDate="2011-01-19T05:43:34.430" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;People here are telling you that &quot;there are&quot; is right.  In terms of any kind of Standard English, that is 100% true.  When &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expletive#Syntactic_expletives&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;expletive-there&lt;/a&gt; + &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copula_%28linguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;copula&lt;/a&gt; is used in the subject position, the copula verb is supposed to agree with the noun phrase to the right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I suspect you are interested in also knowing if there is any significance to your intuition that &quot;there's&quot; sounds acceptable as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are not the only one who finds that construction acceptable.  The use of &quot;there's&quot; without regard to number agreement is increasingly common in casual US English.  It is as if &quot;there's&quot; is becoming a separate lexical item of its own.  Linguistically speaking, such a change would certainly be possible.  Additional evidence for this hypothesis comes from what you mentioned in your question, that &quot;there is&quot; sounds bad, but &quot;there's&quot; sounds okay — this suggests some sort of disconnect between the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T05:43:34.430" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9249" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-19T05:45:03.937" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hai i little bit confused about that i have to ask one question to my lead is it correct please tell me &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can you please tell me my next work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;could you please tell me my next work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2767" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T08:52:39.840" Title="What is the correct way of asking question?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9246" CreationDate="2011-01-19T05:47:37.800" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Area 51 is a military base in Southern Nevada often found at the center of UFO stories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_51&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;From Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Area 51 is a military base, and a remote detachment of Edwards Air Force Base. ... The intense secrecy surrounding the base, the very existence of which the U.S. government barely acknowledges, has made it the frequent subject of conspiracy theories and a central component to unidentified flying object (UFO) folklore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to why StackExchange called that site Area 51? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://area51.stackexchange.com/faq&quot;&gt;the Area51 FAQ&lt;/a&gt;,  &quot;We like the little aliens.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3711" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T05:47:37.800" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9252" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9256" CreationDate="2011-01-19T06:14:30.550" Score="0" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please tell me if the following sentences have the same meaning or if there is any difference between them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I can't do this task.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I didn't finish this task.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2767" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T09:18:37.113" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T09:18:37.113" Title="Do these sentences have the same meaning?" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;indian-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9253" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9311" CreationDate="2011-01-19T06:22:33.193" Score="11" ViewCount="631" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every other time I see a &quot;wet floor&quot; sign the following idea comes to my mind. That sign forces me through unnecessary mental effort to deduce that wet floors can be slippery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's like providing a set of differential equations that describe slippery floors and expecting that everyone recognizes them and deduces that there's danger of falling. The sign actually means &quot;man, the floor is slippery, you can fall and break apart&quot; and IMO it could just read &quot;slippery floor&quot; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any reason why those signs use &quot;wet floor&quot; phrasing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="623" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T18:24:31.510" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T16:30:26.547" Title="Why do signs read &quot;wet floor&quot;, not &quot;slippery floor&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;signage&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9254" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9271" CreationDate="2011-01-19T06:27:40.747" Score="5" ViewCount="323" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have often heard presenters talking about something centered around another thing, but it seem a bit illogical and hence improper to talk like this, am I right about this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3809" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T06:33:31.797" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T20:22:24.207" Title="&quot;Centered on&quot; or &quot;centered around&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;logic&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="9255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9253" CreationDate="2011-01-19T06:33:27.097" Score="26" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sign says &quot;wet floor&quot; because the floor is wet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sign is giving you full and complete information about a condition of the floor that is not its normal state.  Wet floors are not always slippery; slippery floors are not always wet.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people might be more concerned about getting their pants wet when splashing through the water; should the sign say &quot;splashy floor&quot; for them?  Or &quot;shoe-shrinking floor&quot; if they're more concerned about their nice leather wingtips?  &quot;Foot-discomforting floor&quot; if they're wearing thin sandals that can be soaked through in one step?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sign gives you all the information you need to take whatever action you deem appropriate for dealing with the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T06:33:27.097" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="9256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9252" CreationDate="2011-01-19T06:43:02.170" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'I didn't finish this task' means you did only part of the task, not all of it. 'I can't do this task' either means the task is too difficult for you or there is some reason for you not to want to do it even though you are told to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T06:43:02.170" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9257" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9258" CreationDate="2011-01-19T06:47:42.350" Score="0" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;which sentence is right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important that he should know this.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;It's important that he shall know this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the 'shall/should' auxiliary or modal verb?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T07:07:27.480" Title="About modal verb and subjunctive mood." Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9257" CreationDate="2011-01-19T07:07:27.480" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should use 'It's important that he knows this' or 'He should know this' instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T07:07:27.480" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9254" CreationDate="2011-01-19T07:12:52.093" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To 'centre' X is to place X in the middle. However if X is 'centred around' Y, the imagery is that Y is in the middle. It is true that it seems illogical; nonetheless, 'centred around' is correctly used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T07:12:52.093" />
  <row Id="9260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9253" CreationDate="2011-01-19T07:33:49.390" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'wet floor' is a cautionary notification &amp;amp; serves the purpose of alerting people, whereas 'slippery floor' sounds more 'panicky' and might induce unnecessary anxiety. Its all about conveying the message in a relatively 'comforting' way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1084" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T07:33:49.390" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9261" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9266" CreationDate="2011-01-19T07:51:01.013" Score="5" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the proper way to use &lt;em&gt;if you will&lt;/em&gt;?&#xA;Here is an example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's like riding a car, if you will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the punctuation right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3810" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T15:34:03.317" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T15:34:03.317" Title="How to use &quot;if you will&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="9262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9246" CreationDate="2011-01-19T07:57:00.043" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Area 51' signifies the 'exclusivity'- in this case a group of people who are 'stakeholders' in shaping projects which may or may not see the light of the day, which are a 'secret' to the outside world until they become 'live' (public).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1084" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T07:57:00.043" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9249" CreationDate="2011-01-19T08:52:39.840" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;“Could you” is more polite than “can you”. Regarding the rest of the wording, something about “tell me my next work” rings wrong to my ears. Probably, because you don't “tell a work”. So, maybe “tell me what my next work is?”. Finally, in most context, I'd use “job” instead of “work”, but that may be just me!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T08:52:39.840" />
  <row Id="9264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9261" CreationDate="2011-01-19T08:54:18.090" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, that seems good to me. The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; has this example: “imagine, if you will, a typical silversmith's shop”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T08:54:18.090" />
  <row Id="9265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9261" CreationDate="2011-01-19T09:01:53.760" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The punctuation is correct in your example but the usage is perhaps a little off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'If you will' is short for 'if you will it', or 'if you want to'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore FX_'s example is saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'Imagine, if you want to, a typical silversmith's shop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also be read as asking the reader to make a concession to what you are saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'The man was Australian, from 'Down Under', if you will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here you are 'asking' the reader to accept the use of 'Down Under'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T09:20:36.007" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9261" CreationDate="2011-01-19T09:15:37.463" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, that punctuation is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you will&lt;/strong&gt; can be considered short for &quot;if you will allow this analogy&quot;, which is the usage in your car example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I once rode on the back of a camel. It's like riding a car, &lt;em&gt;if you will permit the analogy&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Elendil says it can also mean &quot;if you want to&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Imagine, &lt;em&gt;if you like&lt;/em&gt;, a typical silversmith's shop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1439" LastEditorUserId="1439" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T10:19:59.327" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T10:19:59.327" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9267" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9268" CreationDate="2011-01-19T09:21:09.883" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is the example, which is right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important he know this.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It's important he knows this. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;It's important he has known this. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or, those above all right, but express different meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T09:54:16.523" Title="How could I different the subjunctive mood from wrong tense or singular from in third personal?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;tense&gt;&lt;subjunctive-mood&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9267" CreationDate="2011-01-19T09:29:48.437" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The third form of the sentence could be grammatically correct but expresses an unlikely thought, implying he no longer knows this, but it is currently important that he knew it some time in the past. It seems to be motivating the listener to take some action to ensure that the person who currently may not know it, did know it in the past. This is impossible without time travel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The final &quot;s&quot; in &quot;knows&quot; is third person not plural, mainly because plurality applies to nouns not verbs I suppose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the subjunctive: I can't do better than point you at Wikipedia's &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive_mood#The_subjunctive_in_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/subjunctive_mood.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Grammar Monster&lt;/a&gt; suggests &quot;Through common usage, the non-subjunctive forms of verbs are gradually replacing the subjunctive forms.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T09:54:16.523" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T09:54:16.523" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9269" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9270" CreationDate="2011-01-19T09:48:47.413" Score="1" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, I asked this &lt;a href=&quot;http://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/11436/if-a-facebook-user-dies-what-happens-to-the-account&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt; on Web Apps: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If a Facebook user dies, what happens&#xA;  to &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; account?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, I wanted to ask it this way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If a Facebook user dies, what happens&#xA;  to &lt;strong&gt;his/her&lt;/strong&gt; account?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I chose the easy way and used &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; instead of &lt;strong&gt;his/her&lt;/strong&gt;. Could I use just &lt;strong&gt;his&lt;/strong&gt; in this case?:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If a Facebook user dies, what happens&#xA;  to &lt;strong&gt;his&lt;/strong&gt; account?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would you recommend for similar cases? Which pronoun is more appropriate to be used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T07:55:26.697" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T07:55:26.697" Title="Can &quot;his/her&quot; be replaced by &quot;his&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="9270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9269" CreationDate="2011-01-19T09:53:26.067" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use the singular “&lt;strong&gt;their&lt;/strong&gt;”: “&lt;em&gt;what happens to &lt;strong&gt;their&lt;/strong&gt; account&lt;/em&gt;”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While is was regarded with rather less than more favorability in the past by style guides, it is gender-neutral and, as such, regains popularity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T09:53:26.067" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="9271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9254" CreationDate="2011-01-19T10:12:57.227" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quoting the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/center#Usage_notes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary usage notes&lt;/a&gt; for &lt;em&gt;center&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; observes that &lt;em&gt;center around&lt;/em&gt; is objected to by some people on the grounds that it is illogical, but states that it is an idiom, and thus that such objections are irrelevant. It offers &lt;em&gt;revolve around&lt;/em&gt; as an alternative to &lt;em&gt;center around&lt;/em&gt; for those who would avoid the idiom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is Merriam-Webster's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/center?show=1&amp;amp;t=1295431622&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;original wording&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Usage Discussion of &lt;em&gt;center&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The intransitive verb &lt;em&gt;center&lt;/em&gt; is most commonly used with the prepositions &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;around&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;At&lt;/em&gt; appears to be favored in mathematical contexts; the others are found in a broad range of contexts. &lt;em&gt;Center around&lt;/em&gt;, a standard idiom, has often been objected to as illogical. The logic on which the objections are based is irrelevant, since &lt;em&gt;center around&lt;/em&gt; is an idiom and idioms have their own logic. &lt;em&gt;Center on&lt;/em&gt; is currently more common in edited prose, and &lt;em&gt;revolve around&lt;/em&gt; and similar verbs are available if you want to avoid &lt;em&gt;center around&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T10:12:57.227" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9272" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9274" CreationDate="2011-01-19T10:28:41.680" Score="1" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello there!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's assume a hypothetical situation: I'm spending my vacation in some resort. The weather is not good at all and I'm killing time writing a letter to a friend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's been raining for 4 days straight and it doesn't &lt;strong&gt;appear to/seem to&lt;/strong&gt; be going to change anytime soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which possibility would you choose in that sentence? Should I drop the &quot;going to&quot; part? Or maybe native speakers would compose this sentence in a whole different way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the second question: I know that we can use &quot;would&quot; instead of &quot;used to&quot; when talking about activities in the past as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We would visit uncle Bill till I was 11.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But recently I heard someone saying something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would grab myself some breakfast earlier this morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meaning that he did it in the morning. Is it another proper usage of the word would or just some informal saying?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;btw, it's my very first post on any of the stack exchange sites and I must say I love the way how what you write is automatically parsed and presented in the preview box, why traditional forums doesn't offer something like that is a secret to me...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3814" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T15:42:04.050" Title="Doesn't appear to/seem to? / usage of would" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9273" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9275" CreationDate="2011-01-19T10:29:27.570" Score="2" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw the following sentence in today's Washington Post article. What does 'Reno-era' policy mean? It's a new word to me. Can somebody tell?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Reno-era policy kept Jared Loughner off FBI gun list. &#xA;  An old policy memo from the Clinton administration paved the way for accused Arizona gunman Jared Loughner to buy his first firearm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T12:27:20.063" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T21:42:56.943" Title="What does 'Reno-era' policy mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;compounds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9272" CreationDate="2011-01-19T10:38:59.123" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;1: I would say something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's been raining for days and &lt;strong&gt;it doesn't appear/seem (to me) that that will change&lt;/strong&gt; any time soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2: That's a slightly unusual construction, but valid. I think it's more often used with an adverb, as in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I was young we would &lt;em&gt;often&lt;/em&gt; visit him&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not clear to me what the breakfast thing means, and doesn't sound correct to me. Perhaps one of these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I grabbed myself some breakfast earlier this morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would have grabbed myself some breakfast earlier this morning (if the canteen was open)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I worked at the other company, I would grab myself some breakfast in the morning before going to a meeting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1439" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T10:38:59.123" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9273" CreationDate="2011-01-19T10:41:55.477" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Reno-era&quot; refers to the time when Janet Reno was the Attorney General of the US. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second sentence of the Washington Post article mentions &quot;then-Attorney General&quot; Reno&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Put in place by then-Attorney General Janet Reno, the policy prohibited the military from reporting certain drug abusers to the FBI, which manages the national list of prohibited gun-buyers, federal officials said. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Reno&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Janet Reno is a former Attorney General of the United States (1993–2001). She was nominated by President Bill Clinton on February 11, 1993, and confirmed on March 11. She was the first female Attorney General and the second longest serving Attorney General after William Wirt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: clarifed and moved WAPO article to top of answer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastEditorUserId="2944" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T13:43:14.453" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T13:43:14.453" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="9276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9269" CreationDate="2011-01-19T11:29:18.387" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using &quot;&lt;strong&gt;their&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; is probably the best alternative if you insist on avoiding &quot;&lt;strong&gt;his&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;. The downside is that it implies plural and sounds slightly awkward. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I consider using &quot;&lt;strong&gt;his&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; in a gender-neutral context still acceptable. If somebody takes offense at common pronoun usage (with broad historic precedent), they're actively nitpicking for reasons to get offended, with no intent of having a productive discussion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The unwieldy construction &quot;&lt;strong&gt;his/her/whatever-the-pronoun-is-for-transgender&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; is drawing attention away from your topic to gender issues. Good to avoid unless you're specifically writing on gender. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your example of using &quot;&lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; is actually changing semantics of the sentence. It amounts to rephrasing, not just simple replacement of a pronoun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Alex died without depositing money to Drew's account. If Alex dies, what happens to &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; account?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this example, &quot;&lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; denotes Drew's account. However, any pronoun (his/her/their) would denote Alex's own account. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1056" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T11:29:18.387" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9277" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9313" CreationDate="2011-01-19T11:30:52.343" Score="0" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not sure if there is a kind of stylistic device in below poem sentence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;The king’s horses are purebloods, his barns cut stone;&#xA;roans, blacks, dapples, bays; the granite reds, greys, blues.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Updated:&#xA;If I understand correctly, the &quot;normal&quot; sequence should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;The king’s horses are purebloods, roans, blacks, dapples, bays;&#xA;his barns cut stone, the granite reds, greys, blues.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a name/term for this in poetry ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2703" LastEditorUserId="2703" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T14:25:03.803" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T18:22:31.160" Title="What is the stylistic device used in this poem ?" Tags="&lt;poetry&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9166" CreationDate="2011-01-19T12:16:13.733" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say it depends on where you are stood and the information being conveyed. If you are on the platform and you can see or hear a train then the message is providing specific information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The train approaching platform 5 is the 4:15 to&#xA;  Skegness&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This also implies a connection, not always correct, to the next train arriving. To say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is a train approaching ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;can be confusing, there may be several trains approaching, are you talking about a specific one or all trains? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whereas if you were on the train the announcement would be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The train is approaching Skegness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as this is specific to the train you are travelling in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3816" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T12:16:13.733" />
  <row Id="9279" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9640" CreationDate="2011-01-19T12:31:27.540" Score="13" ViewCount="437" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is not about italicisation or how to construct plurals. I wonder what are general guidelines for writing foreign words based on a latin alphabet in English text. I know that, for languages written in completely different script systems, there exist more or less standard per-language “romanization” procedures (such as writing Japanse in rōmaji). My question is about words from languages with latin script, where some glyphs are not found commonly in English. Examples of such characters include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;accents of all kinds (é, ô, ñ, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ligatures (æ, œ, ĳ, Å, ç, ķ, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;characters not found at all: thorn (Þ), eth (ð), german ß, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should these words be written in English text? Should they be copied entirely, normalized in some way (e.g., ß → ss, é → e), or transliterated so that they can be read as they should be spelt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal preference is to borrow them as they are, but I would like to know what style guides recommand and what is common usage in press.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Added:&lt;/strong&gt; data from some research is inconsistent:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary has “piñata”, but &quot;Anschluss&quot; (vs. ß) and &quot;oeuvre&quot; (vs. œ).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Guardian uses the two variants of both &quot;Anschluß&quot; and &quot;œuvre&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I don't know other languages well enough that I know what to look for :)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2&lt;sup&gt;nd&lt;/sup&gt; addition:&lt;/strong&gt; I'm starting a bounty on this, because I style haven't found any reference to actual &lt;strong&gt;style guides&lt;/strong&gt;, or research from data in &lt;strong&gt;open-access corpuses&lt;/strong&gt;/corpora (which I don't know how to do myself).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T13:18:16.090" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T13:18:16.090" Title="How should foreign words be incorporated into English text?" Tags="&lt;foreign-words&gt;&lt;transliteration&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="9280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9279" CreationDate="2011-01-19T12:38:03.500" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally they should be written as they appear in their native language; this is the standard practice in the press, I believe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T12:38:03.500" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="9281" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9282" CreationDate="2011-01-19T12:42:23.627" Score="2" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a term I read recently, but I didn't understand what it meant. I can't remember the exact context except that it had nothing whatever to do with Mexico.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: ElendilTheTall suggests this might be &quot;Mexican Standoff&quot;. Which it could be, I suppose. So could anyone explain what either of these things are?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="305" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T13:19:05.267" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T00:41:55.977" Title="What is a &quot;Mexican Ultimatum&quot;?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="9282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9281" CreationDate="2011-01-19T13:30:55.933" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Did you try Google? I searched for &quot;define Mexican Standoff&quot; and the first result, as well as many that followed, said &quot;a situation in which no one can emerge as a clear winner&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Mexican_standoff&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Mexican_standoff&lt;/a&gt; has more in-depth etymology of the expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1446" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T13:56:53.780" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T13:56:53.780" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9283" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9287" CreationDate="2011-01-19T13:39:47.767" Score="0" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Would you give me some advice?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Will you give me some advices?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T13:46:29.263" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T14:28:32.987" Title="Is &quot;would&quot; the past future tense of &quot;will&quot; or just a modal verb?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="9284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9281" CreationDate="2011-01-19T13:43:04.723" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, as far as I know there is no such thing as a 'Mexican ultimatum'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A Mexican standoff is a fraught situation of 'stalemate'. The classic image is of a ring of gunfighters, all with pistols drawn, with none of them wanting to start shooting. See Anderson Silva's link for more in-depth info.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T13:43:04.723" />
  <row Id="9285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9283" CreationDate="2011-01-19T13:44:34.583" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either would or will work, but you wouldn't change the noun:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you give me some advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will you give me some advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T13:44:34.583" />
  <row Id="9286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9277" CreationDate="2011-01-19T13:51:42.227" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may be thinking of &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yourdictionary.com/parataxis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;parataxis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. Or you may simply be thinking of a grammatical series.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T13:51:42.227" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9283" CreationDate="2011-01-19T14:00:12.140" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Would&lt;/em&gt; can be either conditional or subjunctive, but it is often used (as your examples demonstrate) interchangeably with &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Will&lt;/em&gt; is an inquiry after the consent of the respondent, whose inclinations comprise the sole issue at hand. &quot;Will you give me some advice?&quot; literally means it is up to &quot;your&quot; discretion either to give or withhold the advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Would you give me some advice?&quot; on the other hand implies some other conditions may affect your decision. Unstated but implied in this sentence may be some other information. Or there may be a contextual linkage or even a direct statement. I think of Dr. Seuss's &lt;em&gt;Green Eggs and Ham&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you eat them in a box?&#xA;  Would you eat them with a fox?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The terms of the conditional are clearly set forth. The questioner is proffering various inducements to sweeten the deal for the recalcitrant hater of &quot;Sam-I-Am&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, asking either question in conversation will, in the vast majority of cases, be understood simply as a request for advice, without all the grammatical analysis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T14:00:12.140" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2031" CreationDate="2011-01-19T14:05:35.937" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yep. I hate articles too. BTW I am wonder why nobody mentioned that &quot;countable/uncountable/plural&quot; issues? As I understand:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You cannot use &lt;em&gt;a/an&lt;/em&gt; with plural forms&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You cannot use &lt;em&gt;a/an&lt;/em&gt; with uncountable stuff (say, &lt;em&gt;milk&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;sugar&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;water&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some words are kind of &quot;dual&quot; and can represent both countable and uncountable stuff. Example: &lt;em&gt;icecream&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Correct me if I am wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3822" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T14:05:35.937" />
  <row Id="9289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9253" CreationDate="2011-01-19T14:10:33.903" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also, since &quot;wet&quot; is much shorter, it can be written in larger letters and consequently seen from further away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3823" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T14:10:33.903" />
  <row Id="9290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9279" CreationDate="2011-01-19T14:19:26.640" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The ideal would be to preserve the word as it appears in its native language, but it is something that English-speakers are very lazy about.  Anything that looks orthographically odd (i.e. has glyphs that aren't part of everyday English) stands out and is usually thought of as pretentious, so there is a strong social pressure to normalize.  Ligatures in particular tend to unlink into their component letters (think of ß as a ligature in this respect), and missing characters translate in various slightly inconsistent ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a word becomes common currency in English, it gets normalized over time.  In particular, the accents fall off: writing &quot;café&quot; is considered a bit affected these days, and &quot;rôle&quot; has pretty much died out, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T14:19:26.640" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9291" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9315" CreationDate="2011-01-19T14:21:19.560" Score="1" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will admit that I am clueless about all grammar-related terminology (prime example right there), but I'll try to explain as best as I can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conceptually, there's a difference between these two forms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To ask for something&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To ask a question&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the latter form, is a question the only thing someone can ask? It bugs me that I cannot think of a single other alternative! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3824" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T18:41:35.513" Title="Is a question the only thing that can be asked?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9293" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9298" CreationDate="2011-01-19T14:49:40.830" Score="43" ViewCount="3828" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between “tits” and “boobs”?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. I'm not sure if this question is appropriate but as English is not my native language I really would love to know the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="887" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T21:19:35.783" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T09:58:32.390" Title="Differences between slang words for breasts" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;vulgar&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="9294" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9312" CreationDate="2011-01-19T15:06:06.627" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a copy-editing job I'm doing, I came across the following phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;a man is precluded from all women except for his wife&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;- i.e., his sexual relationship with her is (should be, anyway) exclusive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't really seem correct to me, since I'd think that &quot;preclude&quot; requires a direct object, like &quot;precluded from marriage with&quot; or something like that. Am I correct, or is this sentence fine as is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T18:02:17.833" Title="Does &quot;precluded from&quot; require a direct object?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;object&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9293" CreationDate="2011-01-19T15:07:37.953" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're both terms for female breasts. Women tend to refer to these as &quot;boobs&quot; and not &quot;tits&quot;; with men it can go either way, but a good part of the time they'll use &quot;tits&quot;. Other (somewhat vulgar and borderline spring-break moronic) terms are &lt;em&gt;knockers&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;twins&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;hooters&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;hoo-hahs&lt;/em&gt;, etc. Puritanical people sometimes call them &lt;em&gt;bosoms&lt;/em&gt;, which is strange because &lt;em&gt;bosom&lt;/em&gt; refers to the upper chest in general and few people have more than one of those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, to reference a woman's breasts by any term in her presence is coming on pretty strong, and in a business setting it can be tantamount to sexual harrassment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T15:07:37.953" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="9296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9294" CreationDate="2011-01-19T15:08:51.047" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct in saying that 'preclude' needs a direct object. The definition of preclude is 'to rule out or eliminate' something; saying 'A man is ruled out from all women except for his wife' makes little sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T15:08:51.047" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9293" CreationDate="2011-01-19T15:18:56.233" Score="50" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think there is a slight difference in what you're emphasizing. They both refer to female breasts, but &lt;em&gt;tits&lt;/em&gt; emphasizes the nipples (pointy bits) whereas &lt;em&gt;boobs&lt;/em&gt; evokes an image of the round parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T15:18:56.233" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="9298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9293" CreationDate="2011-01-19T15:36:27.933" Score="20" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=boob&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=boob&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Noun&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;S: (n) dumbbell, dummy, dope, boob, booby, pinhead (an ignorant or foolish person)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;S: (n) breast, bosom, knocker, boob, tit, titty (either of two soft fleshy milk-secreting glandular organs on the chest of a woman)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Verb&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;S: (v) drop the ball, sin, blunder, boob, goof (commit a faux pas or a fault or make a serious mistake) &quot;I blundered during the job interview&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I was not aware of the verb form, but it follows from the first noun form)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boob could also be used to refer to a person who is acting like a clown, or it could be used to refer to something that induces cluelessness. We have a nickname for television in the US (although it's going out of fashion) called the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boob_tube&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;boob-tube&lt;/a&gt;. I assure you it's not because it shows porn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Noun&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;S: (n) breast, bosom, knocker, boob, tit, titty (either of two soft fleshy milk-secreting glandular organs on the chest of a woman)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;S: (n) nipple, mammilla, mamilla, pap, teat, tit (the small projection of a mammary gland)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;S: (n) titmouse, tit (small insectivorous birds)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I was aware of titmouse but not a small bird called tit)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tits is generally the word for mammary glands, being a corruption from teat. That's what @ghoppe was onto with his, where you emphasize the pointy bit of the end of the mammary gland. It's more evident on a dog or pig, where there are a line of teats (or tits). The fact that this usage has spread to also refer to women is likely from the fact that country/urban life has comingled more of late than of years past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usage to associate tits with boobs however, is purely sexist. In polite society you should mention neither, referring instead to the bosom that @Robusto mentions, or breast, but only when you must. Bosom indicates &quot;that feeling of your grandmother wrapping her arms around you when you're scared&quot; and breasts is generally seen as more clinical in nature. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally in polite society you would just avoid references to a woman's breasts, and let it go. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With men and men alone, tits is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: I edited in response to a comment and decided I would give a little more attribution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2161" LastEditorUserId="2161" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T17:15:54.080" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T17:15:54.080" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9272" CreationDate="2011-01-19T15:42:04.050" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Appear to/seeming to&quot; don't often go with &quot;going to&quot;, they are more like equals. I would say &quot;it doesn't appear to be changing&quot;, where doesn't could be didn't/doesn't/won't for other tenses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;We would&quot; is fairly un-dependant (I can't think of the proper word), I'd say used to if there was some significant end to it (rather than just slowing down and stopping silently).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I would&quot; and &quot;earlier&quot; about the same act is mixing tenses, it's either &quot;I grabbed some breakfast this morning&quot; or &quot;I would grab myself some breakfast, if ...&quot; Past tense or suppositive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3826" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T15:42:04.050" />
  <row Id="9300" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9308" CreationDate="2011-01-19T15:54:59.127" Score="1" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is the example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We condemn such behavior that can risk damaging a company’s brand and reputation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think, the 'a company's brand reputation' is the object of 'damaging'. And the whole phrase is the object of 'risk'. is it right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T17:43:03.823" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T17:43:03.823" Title="Can a verb in the -ing form take a direct object?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;infinitive&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9301" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-19T16:11:14.050" Score="3" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I encountered a problem having to do with the connection…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I encountered a problem to do with the connection…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the second option a legitimate expression?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T19:59:56.263" Title="Is it acceptable to drop &quot;having&quot; in &quot;having to do with?&quot;" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9301" CreationDate="2011-01-19T16:18:11.707" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To do with&lt;/em&gt; exists, though in my (US) experience it's far less common than &lt;em&gt;having to do with&lt;/em&gt;. (But in the particular example you give, &lt;em&gt;I encountered a problem having to do with the connection&lt;/em&gt;, I agree with RegDwight's comment that &lt;em&gt;having to do&lt;/em&gt; should be dropped altogether.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T16:18:11.707" />
  <row Id="9303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9279" CreationDate="2011-01-19T16:21:32.947" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've often seen phrases or words in foreign languages italicized in text to signal to the reader that the word is of foreign origin, and may therefore be later explained to the reader at the author's discretion.  The author can include as many foreign characters as they feel is appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be very careful about this, however.  For example, if the reader has no familiarity with the language in question and the author decides not to explain the text in question, the reader may start to feel excluded or left out of the story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One extreme example would be the teachers in Charlie Brown cartoons (not text, I know).  Usually, the Charlie Brown characters will partially restate the trombone &quot;wah-wo-whas&quot; in their reply, so as to keep the intended audience included in the implied other half of the conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T16:21:32.947" />
  <row Id="9305" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-19T16:42:15.620" Score="5" ViewCount="334" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it incorrect to say, 'Give me it' ?  I am told that it is and one should always say, 'Give it me'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3828" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:29:51.983" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T07:16:26.027" Title="Is it incorrect to say, 'Give me it' ?" Tags="&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9305" CreationDate="2011-01-19T16:45:12.577" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Give me it&quot; sounds very odd, but so does &quot;give it me&quot;. If you want to be on the safe side, I would go with &quot;give it to me&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are, however, &lt;em&gt;dialects&lt;/em&gt; where &quot;give me it&quot; and &quot;give it me&quot; are acceptable or even preferred, see e.g. this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/lancashire/voices2005/linguist.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BBC article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lancashire is a rich area in which to study accent, dialect and grammar as Willem [Hollman, an expert in linguistics and a lecturer at Lancaster University,] explains: &quot;If I were say, playing with my pen in a very annoying way, and you were to take the pen away from me, I might tell you, &quot;Hey, that's my pen, give it me!&quot; but there's also speakers who wouldn't say &quot;Give it to me!&quot; but who would say &quot;Give me it!&quot; and then there's also speakers who would say &quot;Give it me!&quot; This last order &quot;Give it me!&quot; is not very common in Britain in general, but what we find in Lancashire is it's actually the preferred pattern.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also found this interesting &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=0ldowI6VgeMC&amp;amp;pg=PA365&amp;amp;dq=%22give+me+it%22&amp;amp;ei=Ja8CTOLZIJqIzQTXmK0x&amp;amp;cd=1#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22give%20me%20it%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;quote&lt;/a&gt; on Google Books, in a book titled &quot;The Edinburgh history of the Scots language&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...] there is some indication as to what might have been happening to the serialisation of indirect and direct objects in the course of the Modern Scots period in Cheshire et al. (1993: 74). They point out that, in English, &quot;&lt;em&gt;give me it&lt;/em&gt; is a more recent construction than &lt;em&gt;give it me&lt;/em&gt;, which in turn is a more recent construction than &lt;em&gt;give it to me&lt;/em&gt;, where the prepositional group &lt;em&gt;to me&lt;/em&gt; reflects the function of the Old English dative case&quot;. They report that Hughes and Trudgill (1987) give the order &lt;em&gt;give me it&lt;/em&gt; as that most usually cited in descriptions of present-day standard English, but they also state that the reverse order is common among educated speakers in the north of England and is acceptable to many southern English speakers as well. This would suggest that [...] the order [...] &lt;em&gt;give me it&lt;/em&gt; is gradually taking over from &lt;em&gt;give it me&lt;/em&gt; and the even older &lt;em&gt;give it to me&lt;/em&gt;. No dates are given here for the introduction of the newer word order in England, but it would appear that Beattie and his fellows objected to &lt;em&gt;give me it&lt;/em&gt; because it was an innovation rather than, or as well as, because it was a Scotticism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T17:07:51.743" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T17:07:51.743" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="9307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9293" CreationDate="2011-01-19T17:24:21.667" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sure it varies by region, but in most of the US, the words &quot;tits&quot; and its diminutive, &quot;titties,&quot; are used when referring to smaller breasts (A or B cup) and &quot;boobs&quot; is used in reference to larger breasts (C and especially D cup or larger).  As with most diminutives, the term &quot;boobies&quot; generally refers to smaller breasts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While all four terms are used to describe human female breasts, there are variations used to describe other things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Man-boobs&quot; is used to describe the fatty tissue that accumulates on the chests of older and, usually, overweight men.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Bitch-tits&quot; can refer literally to the 'teets' of a female dog, especially while they are nursing pups, but in common slang it describes pointy male breasts.  This often happens to body builders when they stop exercising or stop taking steroids.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T17:24:21.667" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9300" CreationDate="2011-01-19T17:42:28.783" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your analysis of the sentence is correct. The -ing form is a &lt;em&gt;present participle&lt;/em&gt;, which can take a direct object, in this case &quot;a company's brand and reputation&quot;. The participle + object acts as the complement of the verb &quot;risk&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T17:42:28.783" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9293" CreationDate="2011-01-19T17:45:55.037" Score="22" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have said, both refer to a woman's breasts, but the main difference is actually in the connotation.  While both are euphemisms, boobs is a slightly more socially acceptable term.  Women, in my presence at least, use the term boobs; tits is more a term that men use and generally in a more lurid fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3829" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T17:45:55.037" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9301" CreationDate="2011-01-19T17:46:28.887" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that either of these is acceptable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I encountered a problem having to do with the connection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I encountered a problem with the connection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The variant that includes &lt;em&gt;to do&lt;/em&gt; but not &lt;em&gt;having&lt;/em&gt; may be used by some people, but it's much less common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T17:46:28.887" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9253" CreationDate="2011-01-19T18:00:28.817" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are several reasons why:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Slippery floors could be hazardous, but not all slippery floors are wet, and wet floors could be hazardous in other ways besides causing slippage. Thus, &quot;Wet Floor&quot; is a better caution than &quot;Slippery Floor&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Wet Floor&quot; is easier to translate into other languages than &quot;Slippery Floor&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Conciseness is desired in signage; &lt;em&gt;wet&lt;/em&gt; is shorter and more direct than &lt;em&gt;slippery&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Wet Floor&quot; is idiomatic; &quot;Slippery Floor&quot; isn't so much. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T18:00:28.817" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9294" CreationDate="2011-01-19T18:02:17.833" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct in believing that &lt;em&gt;preclude&lt;/em&gt; requires a direct object. However, the example sentence is still correct, because here &lt;em&gt;preclude&lt;/em&gt; has been put into the passive voice. You wrote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A man is precluded from all women except his wife.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is equivalent to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[Society] precludes a man from all women except his wife.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this example it's quite clear that the object of &lt;em&gt;preclude&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;a man&lt;/em&gt;, as expected. In the first example the direct object has been made the subject, as normal for passive constructions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; unusual about the first sentence is the fact that &lt;em&gt;from&lt;/em&gt; is taking an ordinary noun as its object, while the normal idiom requires that the object of &lt;em&gt;from&lt;/em&gt; be a verbal noun of some sort. So either of the following variants would be preferable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A man is precluded from sleeping with all women except his wife. (Using the participle &lt;em&gt;sleeping&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A man is precluded from copulation with all women except his wife. (Using the abstract noun &lt;em&gt;copulation&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T18:02:17.833" />
  <row Id="9313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9277" CreationDate="2011-01-19T18:22:31.160" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be &quot;synchysis&quot;. The sources do not entirely agree. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchysis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://changingminds.org/techniques/language/figures_speech/synchysis.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ChangingMindes&lt;/a&gt; both give a definition (unreferenced, unfortunately) which is exactly what you are asking, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://rhetoric.byu.edu/figures/S/synchysis.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rhetoric.byu&lt;/a&gt; has a more general definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I've never come across the word before, so thanks for asking!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T18:22:31.160" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9314" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9325" CreationDate="2011-01-19T18:34:52.873" Score="3" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;We all know that word meanings and usage change over time (though not all of us are happy about it).  How long does a word have to be used in a particular way for that usage to be &quot;okay&quot;?  At what point does it become &quot;correct usage&quot; and what determines that?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(It's hard to come up with an example that doesn't sound like peeving, so I'm making up a word.)  If, for example, I started using the word &quot;disregardless,&quot; most people would regard that as &quot;wrong&quot; or at least &quot;not a real word.&quot;  How many other people would have to use &quot;disregardless&quot; regularly for it to become an accepted word in the language?  Does it matter if it's spoken or written?  Does the &quot;quality&quot; of the speaker matter?  (If the President uses the word, does that increase its &quot;correctness&quot; more than, say, when Bart Simpson uses it?)  Is there a tipping point where a word goes from &quot;made up&quot; to &quot;real&quot; in the world at large, or is acceptance a gradual process throughout?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T18:45:35.857" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T22:37:34.623" Title="When does a mistake become standard usage?" Tags="&lt;descriptivism&gt;&lt;language-evolution&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9291" CreationDate="2011-01-19T18:41:35.513" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're absolutely right that there are two distinct meanings, and that your 1. (meaning &quot;request&quot;) does not usually take a direct object, i.e. it usually requires &quot;for&quot;, whereas 2 (meaning &quot;put a question&quot;) does take a direct object. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sense 2. can take other words meaning &quot;question&quot;, eg &quot;ask a conundrum&quot;, or it can take a clause representing the question as a direct object, eg &quot;ask whether this is right&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One exception I can think of to the &quot;usually&quot; above, is that you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; ask &quot;a favour&quot; and words of similar meaning - permission, leave, a boon, someone's indulgence. You can &quot;ask&quot; these or &quot;ask for&quot; them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how much you can make use of the special English construction of putting the indirect object before the direct, without a preposition, with these words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; He asked me a favour.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sounds as good to me as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; He asked me a question.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I'm not sure about &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; ?He asked me permission to go.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I would prefer &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;He asked me for permission to go.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T18:41:35.513" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9305" CreationDate="2011-01-19T18:45:15.993" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The construction is perfectly good: in English, you can put an indirect object before the direct object, without a preposition, as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Give the dog a bone.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Give the man a cigar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I find it a bit awkward to do so when the direct object (the thing you are giving) is a small as the word &quot;it&quot;, and would more likely say &lt;em&gt;give it to me&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, I find no problem with &lt;em&gt;show me it&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T07:16:26.027" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T07:16:26.027" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9305" CreationDate="2011-01-19T19:07:45.967" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt; should refer to something that is already known, as used to avoid repeating yourself. Instead of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's my book. Give me the book!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you could use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's my book. Give me it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would hardly say &quot;Give the book me&quot;, even if the special form &quot;Give it me&quot; is used in some places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If both &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt; could be understood by the situation, you could just say (but perhaps not write):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's my book. Give!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T19:07:45.967" />
  <row Id="9318" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9322" CreationDate="2011-01-19T19:41:48.527" Score="0" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do I need an article in these sentences (marked in &lt;strong&gt;bold&lt;/strong&gt;)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And in the message, I asked for her e-mail address and suggested &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; time and place.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A list of items required at the interview (such as &lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt; resume, medical records, personal and family assets...) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the rule for articles that follow &lt;em&gt;such as&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A few weeks ago, I asked that girl out for hot chocolate after we had been bantering for  a few days. And in the message, I asked for her e-mail address and suggested &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; time and place.  Only today she sent &lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt; reply, consisted of  her e-mail,  without any indication if she was willing to make plans or even acknowledge my request. &quot;C'mon lady – you're only boarding 7, ah, barely. And in that range, I already have a queue of girls on OKC waiting for their turn!&quot; Nothing is more exciting than dealing with, as ever, revolting  flakes &lt;strong&gt;of&lt;/strong&gt; mass proportions. I am considering to accumulate flakes, and send out a mass e-mail; obviously CC’ing all them. In the e-mail, I will indicate available time slots, requirements, and a list of items required at the interview (such &lt;strong&gt;as a&lt;/strong&gt; resume, medical records, personal and family assets,  recommendations, copy of IQ test, etc). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T21:38:40.023" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T21:38:40.023" Title="Issues with articles" Tags="&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9314" CreationDate="2011-01-19T19:56:52.840" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A silly answer although it's probably true: &#xA;&quot;When Google returns meaningful results without suggesting an alternative spelling&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1446" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T12:04:37.943" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T12:04:37.943" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9301" CreationDate="2011-01-19T19:59:56.263" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me, the first expression sounds like something a less informed person would say to sound like they are well-informed.  The second expression sounds like something I would expect from a non-native English speaker.  RegDwight's recommendation to drop the whole clause is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;having to do with&quot; really means 'related to', 'concerning', 'about', or, more simply, 'with', and it should be replaced with one of the simpler forms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider these variations:&#xA;&quot;I have a theory about the formation of stars&quot; vs. &quot;I have a theory having to do with the formation of stars.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;There is an issue related to your bank statement&quot; vs. &quot;There is an issue having to do with your bank statement.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T19:59:56.263" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9318" CreationDate="2011-01-19T20:06:53.057" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The rule about using the definite article, &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;, or the indefinite article, &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;, does not depend on the preposition being used, it depends on the type of information that comes after the article.  There are certain places where one is required, but most of the time, the use depends on discourse information you want to convey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the definite article usually means that the noun represents &quot;known&quot; information — things that the speaker and listener know about, either because the thing is already mentioned, or because it is unique.  The indefinite article is used for new information, or something not particularly identifiable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying &quot;&lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; time and place&quot; suggests that the time and place have been decided, because we are referring to a time that is mutually known when we say &quot;&lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; time&quot;.  If the sentence were &quot;&lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt; time and place&quot;, then it is ambiguous.  (Because it is in the past tense, the time could have been unknown when it was asked, allowing the indefinite article for the sentence, even if the time is now decided.  Or it could mean that the time is still undecided.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, saying &quot;such as &lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt; resume&quot; means that the person isn't talking about one specific resume — there is no reference to any particular previously-mentioned item from the discourse, and the item is not intended to be anything unique or individually identifiable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T20:06:53.057" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9318" CreationDate="2011-01-19T20:13:18.550" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you need an article or some word in both places.  You could have used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...suggested a time and place&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...such as your resume, medical records, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would probably have written a few things slightly differently:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A few weeks ago, I asked that girl out for hot chocolate after we had been bantering for a few days. And in the message, I asked for her e-mail address and suggested the time and place. Only today she sent a reply, &lt;s&gt;consisted&lt;/s&gt; [&lt;i&gt;either&lt;/i&gt; which consisted &lt;i&gt;or&lt;/i&gt; consisting] of her e-mail, without any indication if she was willing to make plans or even acknowledge my request. “C’mon lady – you’re only boarding 7, ah, barely. And in that range, I already have a queue of girls on OKC waiting for their turn!” Nothing is more exciting than dealing with, as ever, revolting flakes of mass proportions. I am considering &lt;b&gt;[whether]&lt;/b&gt; to accumulate flakes, and send out a mass e-mail; obviously CC’ing all them. In the e-mail, I will indicate available time slots, requirements, and a list of items required at the interview (such as a resume, medical records, personal and family assets, recommendations, copy of &lt;b&gt;[an]&lt;/b&gt; IQ test, etc.). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastEditorUserId="2386" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T16:55:48.253" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T16:55:48.253" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9323" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9337" CreationDate="2011-01-19T20:16:26.350" Score="6" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does &quot;all but&quot; mean in this expression?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Today, under pressure from P2P distribution, optical disc piracy in wealthy countries &lt;strong&gt;is &quot;all but eliminated&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; and profit margins elsewhere are slim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/03/even-commercial-pirates-now-have-to-compete-with-free.ars&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Major report debunks alleged link between piracy and terrorism, Ars Technica&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen this used as an intensifier to mean &quot;I only have gratitude&quot;, but logic says the sentence means &quot;I have all kinds of feelings towards you, &lt;em&gt;except&lt;/em&gt; gratitude.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="865" LastEditorUserId="865" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T08:12:50.193" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T08:59:44.660" Title="&quot;to be all but X&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="13" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="9324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9323" CreationDate="2011-01-19T20:18:33.163" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have all but forgotten about you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that even though much time may have passed, or many events have occurred I have not forgotten about you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is emphasizing that no matter what has happened or what I have done (or presumably will happen/do) I haven't forgotten about you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think your example makes as much sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="371" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T21:53:48.230" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T21:53:48.230" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9314" CreationDate="2011-01-19T20:20:33.567" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on how useful a hole in the language the neologism is filling.  If something becomes urgent as a topic of conversation and there was no word before, then it can quickly be accepted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a word is misspelled, people are more likely to resist the change, especially if the the old spelling is deeply entrenched, and it can take many years for the change to be accepted.  It tends to go by critical mass; when enough 'respected' sources use a word - which used to mean broadsheet newspapers or literary magazines or novels or other books - then the lexicographers would pick it up and add it to the dictionaries, and the word would start to be accepted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the internet age, the process takes place much more rapidly.  'Weblog' gave way to 'blog' in almost no time at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T20:20:33.567" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9254" CreationDate="2011-01-19T20:22:24.207" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;X is centered around Y&quot; makes sense if you consider Y to be a smaller, central object and X to be a set of related, but distinct, objects whose collective center coincides with Y.  In other words, individual members of the set X are not centered on Y, but the collection of all members of X are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The planets of our solar system are centered around the sun.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;My arguments are centered around the hypothesis that every dog has his day.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T20:22:24.207" />
  <row Id="9327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9253" CreationDate="2011-01-19T20:44:23.733" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;People are used to seeing &lt;code&gt;wet paint&lt;/code&gt; signs, so this is short and analogous to that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3834" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T03:55:29.113" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T03:55:29.113" />
  <row Id="9328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7649" CreationDate="2011-01-19T20:45:06.120" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would imagine the confusion comes from having people who assume &lt;em&gt;day precedes night&lt;/em&gt; tacking an extra, incorrect, night to the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Twelfth Night is January 5th, the&#xA;  last day of the Christmas Season&#xA;  before Epiphany (January 6th). In some&#xA;  church traditions, January 5th is&#xA;  considered the eleventh Day of&#xA;  Christmas, while the evening of&#xA;  January 5th is still counted as the&#xA;  Twelfth Night, the beginning of the&#xA;  Twelfth day of Christmas the following&#xA;  day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crivoice.org/cy12days.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.crivoice.org/cy12days.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/4126725/Christmas-ends-in-confusion-over-when-Twelfth-Night-falls.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Case in point&lt;/a&gt; the argument in this article only makes any sort of logical sense if you assume &quot;The first day&quot; is the evening of the twenty-fifth, which would make &quot;the twelfth night&quot; fall on the 6th.  (Night coming after day, even though they defined the day as something which started at night.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2025" LastEditorUserId="2025" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T21:59:04.237" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T21:59:04.237" />
  <row Id="9329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9293" CreationDate="2011-01-19T21:16:29.340" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the phrases &quot;boob tube&quot;, &quot;tit puller&quot;, &quot;tit spanners&quot;, &quot;get on someone's tits&quot; and &quot;tits on a billiard ball&quot;, the two words are not readily interchangeable. Otherwise, I think they are more or less synonymous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T21:16:29.340" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9187" CreationDate="2011-01-19T21:28:07.143" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would think the first usage could be correct in sentences such as &quot;my vote goes for nothing&quot;, meaning &quot;my vote counts for nothing&quot; (or possibly my vote is for sale for very little). &quot;My vote goes to&quot; would, I think, be more normal if you were planning to vote for somebody.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T21:28:07.143" />
  <row Id="9331" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-19T21:41:03.250" Score="1" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm from Western Pa., and until I moved away, never realized that when I omitted the &quot;to be&quot; from phrases like those above, that my usage was different than what most English speakers are accustomed to. Is it wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3837" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T00:18:41.643" Title="Should I say &quot;Needs cleaned...&quot; or &quot;Needs to be cleaned...&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;&lt;regionalisms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9332" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9334" CreationDate="2011-01-19T22:53:17.863" Score="3" ViewCount="343" Body="&lt;p&gt;A sentence like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Could you please pass me the pepper shaker&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is not really a question. Should I use a question mark or a period to end this sentence? What about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Could you let me know when the meeting begins&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Could you tell me when the meeting begins&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Could you let me know if you are attending the meeting&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any guidance? Is there a general rule?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2742" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T00:41:20.167" Title="When do I use a question mark with &quot;Could you [please] ...&quot;" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;politeness&gt;&lt;question-mark&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8854" CreationDate="2011-01-19T23:07:49.453" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To clarify many vs. much:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use the word 'many' if the object is countable (no matter how larger the number) and treat the noun as a plural.  &quot;There are many creatures in the ocean.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use the word 'much' if the object is measurable but not countable and treat the noun as singular.  &quot;There is much water in the ocean.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T23:07:49.453" />
  <row Id="9334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9332" CreationDate="2011-01-19T23:17:01.223" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, sentences that begin with 'could', 'should', or 'would' are questions and should have a trailing question mark.  Your original quote, &quot;Could you please pass me the pepper shaker?&quot;, could be answered with a &quot;yes&quot; or &quot;no.&quot;  Although we usually use this syntax as a command it is not the same as the command &quot;Pass me the pepper shaker,&quot; or &quot;Please pass me the pepper shaker.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etiquette tells us that it is more polite to ask for a response than it is to command a response.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T23:17:01.223" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9331" CreationDate="2011-01-20T00:18:41.643" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never been introduced to the behavior in this question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5407/central-pennsylvanian-english-speakers-what-are-the-limitations-on-the-needs-wa&quot;&gt;Central Pennsylvanian English speakers: what are the limitations on the &quot;needs washed&quot; construction?&lt;/a&gt; so I'm surprised ... Also duly informed. ;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the &quot;rest of us&quot; it's my experience that it's almost always appropriate to include the &quot;to be&quot; in a phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to track down a way to know that it should be done, but generally I've found that if you say &quot;needs&quot; or &quot;wants&quot; you either say &lt;code&gt;to be _________ed&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;_________ing&lt;/code&gt; depending on the case of the verb that you want to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some cases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;My dog needs to be walked.&#xA;My dog needed bathing.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A similar use case: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;We need to do laundry.&#xA;The laundry needs to be done.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using want:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I wanted to go to the park.&#xA;I wanted to take a shower.&#xA;I wanted to bathe my dog.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm just not sure what the original context would've been to offer corrections. Maybe with some more concrete examples from the region?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2161" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T00:18:41.643" />
  <row Id="9336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5407" CreationDate="2011-01-20T00:29:22.167" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I do actively use this construction (but I'm from Western Pa., not Central). You can't just use any combo you want, it's exclusive to needs/wants/likes + past participle and stems, I've discovered, from Scots-Irish descendants in the area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3837" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T00:29:22.167" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9323" CreationDate="2011-01-20T00:32:21.010" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The apparent contrariness of the meaning of this term has often intrigued me, so I thought I'd do a bit of light research on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary defines it as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Adverb&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;all but&lt;/em&gt; (not comparable)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. Very nearly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;The food is all but finished.  &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I think that when most people encounter this term, they want to interpret it more as a negative. For example, &quot;The food is all but finished.&quot; might be interpreted as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The food is everything except finished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(simply replacing &lt;code&gt;all&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;but&lt;/code&gt; with common synonyms.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, reverse the two words and it starts to make a lot more sense in terms of the standard meaning. (Even better, replace &lt;code&gt;all&lt;/code&gt; with &lt;code&gt;totally&lt;/code&gt;.) In other words, the sentence is actually to be interpreted as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The food is but totally [all] finished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this slight rephrasing, it is (to me) much clearer that the term &lt;code&gt;all but&lt;/code&gt; actually means &lt;code&gt;almost&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;nearly&lt;/code&gt;. Why the words &lt;code&gt;all&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;but&lt;/code&gt; got reversed, thus obscuring the true meaning, I do not know, but I hope this is partly enlightening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T00:32:21.010" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9332" CreationDate="2011-01-20T00:41:20.167" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to my dictionary*, &lt;strong&gt;question&lt;/strong&gt; is defined thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a sentence worded or expressed so as to elicit information&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, one of my dictionary* definitions of &lt;strong&gt;could&lt;/strong&gt; is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a modal verb used in making polite requests&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, all &quot;Could you…&quot; sentences are really questions because&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;They are requests, indicating something is being &lt;em&gt;asked for&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;response&lt;/em&gt; or reply (verbal or not) is required of the person being asked&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;'&lt;em&gt;Could you please&lt;/em&gt; pass me the salt?'&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  'Sure! Here you go.'&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;'Professor Calculus, &lt;em&gt;please could you&lt;/em&gt; give me an extension on this assignment?'&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  'I'm sorry, Isaac, but you will have to turn it in at the same time as everyone else.'&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;'&lt;em&gt;Could you&lt;/em&gt; hold this for a sec?' Eric asked his brother.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;(Response: Brother extends hand to hold item for Eric.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  'Thanks, bro.'&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;'Here's the form.'&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  '&lt;em&gt;Could you&lt;/em&gt; sign here, sir?'&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  'No problem!' &lt;em&gt;(Man signs in indicated box.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  'All set. Thank you!'&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hence, you should always terminate any sentence beginning with &quot;[Please] could you&quot; with a question mark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*&lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary (2nd Edition)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T00:41:20.167" />
  <row Id="9339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7649" CreationDate="2011-01-20T00:41:26.743" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the 25th of December the 'first day' of Christmas, or the 'zeroth' day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_days_of_Christmas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_days_of_Christmas&lt;/a&gt; Boxing Day, or the 26th, is considered the 'first &lt;em&gt;full&lt;/em&gt; day' - so that would place the twelfth night on the 5th of January, but the twelfth day would be the 6th.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if this is at all related to the idea of the new day starting at sundown (for example, the Jewish Shabbat runs from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T00:41:26.743" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9340" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9341" CreationDate="2011-01-20T02:12:00.550" Score="4" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;I simply can't bring myself to use &lt;em&gt;unreasonableness&lt;/em&gt;, but can think of no synonym or alternate form with comparable meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll restructure if necessary, but wonder if I'm missing a suitable alternative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T12:01:33.430" Title="Is there a better noun form of &quot;unreasonable&quot; than &quot;unreasonableness?&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9340" CreationDate="2011-01-20T02:18:29.290" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try contrariness, obduracy, or obstinacy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T02:18:29.290" />
  <row Id="9342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9340" CreationDate="2011-01-20T03:50:50.913" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are a few alternatives to &quot;unreasonableness&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;inflexibility&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;immovability&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;intransigence&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;intractability&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stubbornness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;recalcitrance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;willfulness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;contrariness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;doggedness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;single-mindedness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T03:50:50.913" />
  <row Id="9343" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9346" CreationDate="2011-01-20T03:53:17.507" Score="4" ViewCount="312" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my report a need to write a list of example questions that someone might ask, but I would like to do it in a sentence rather than a separate list. Here is an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This poses questions such as &quot;How should I punctuate it?&quot;, &quot;Are the quotes necessary?&quot;, &quot;Are the commas in the correct place?&quot;, and &quot;Should I have used a colon, or a semi-colon?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3675" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T01:38:45.493" Title="How to punctuate a list of questions?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="9344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9340" CreationDate="2011-01-20T03:54:46.187" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about irrationality, or pigheadedness for that vernacular charm? Incorrigibility could also fit, as could idiocy, although I think those are deviating from &quot;unreasonableness.&quot; Megalomania most likely doesn't work, but it's a wonderful word. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T03:54:46.187" />
  <row Id="9345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9343" CreationDate="2011-01-20T04:30:44.020" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a rule that says if a question appears in direct quotation and this immediately ends in a sentence, the question mark should be preserved and the period omitted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T04:30:44.020" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9343" CreationDate="2011-01-20T05:22:41.923" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd use a bulleted list and drop the quotation marks, like so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This poses questions such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;How should I punctuate it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Are the quotes necessary?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Are the commas in the correct place?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Should I have used a colon, or a semi-colon?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such formatting would look out of place in a novel or other prose, but would look very natural online or in some technical document. While I may be a product of my time, I think bulleted lists are an excellent way to break up a list of items and does so without a bunch of cluttering punctuation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In cases where a bulleted list would be out of place, I'd suggest using a colon and ditching the quotation marks, like so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This poses questions such as: How should I punctuate it? Are the quotes necessary? Are the commas in the correct place? Should I have used a colon, or a semi-colon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastEditorUserId="1631" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T16:56:36.367" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T16:56:36.367" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9293" CreationDate="2011-01-20T05:39:23.240" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Tit' refers to either the breast or the nipple. 'Boob' can only refer to the breast. 'Tit' is usually considered offensive while 'boob' is not. As an aside, 'tit' can also mean a stupid person in British English, while 'boob' means the same in American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T05:39:23.240" />
  <row Id="9348" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-20T05:51:43.707" Score="1" ViewCount="852" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got confused... which one is correct — &quot;interested on&quot; or &quot;interested in&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3848" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T10:38:25.797" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T10:38:25.797" Title="&quot;Interested on&quot; vs &quot;interested in&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="9349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9348" CreationDate="2011-01-20T05:56:20.553" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Interested in' is correct. Nobody says otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T05:56:20.553" />
  <row Id="9350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9348" CreationDate="2011-01-20T05:56:36.220" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;In&quot;, only. One can also be &quot;interested to [verb]&quot;, e.g. &quot;I'd be interested to see whether he shows up.&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T05:56:36.220" />
  <row Id="9351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9343" CreationDate="2011-01-20T06:00:36.233" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way you have it is good. But if you're supposed to be following some house style, then read the manual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T06:00:36.233" />
  <row Id="9352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9187" CreationDate="2011-01-20T06:17:31.060" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vote goes to is the correct answer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3848" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T06:17:31.060" />
  <row Id="9353" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9420" CreationDate="2011-01-20T06:27:00.360" Score="0" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;At work today, I wrote &quot;we have several XXs. We should &lt;em&gt;consolidate on&lt;/em&gt; one XX.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A colleague corrected it to &lt;em&gt;consolidate into&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm English and my colleague is American, if that makes a difference. Googlefight ranks them as about equal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;UPDATE&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;The actual XX is fairly technical and obscure so I'll use &lt;em&gt;algorithm&lt;/em&gt; as a stand-in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We use several algorithms for calculating the score. &#xA;--several paragraphs later--&#xA;We should consolidate on a single algorithm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The separation between the problem statement and the solution leads me to believe that skipping the preposition won't work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="858" LastEditorUserId="858" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T16:46:30.107" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T17:04:48.800" Title="&quot;consolidate on&quot; or &quot;consolidate into&quot;?" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="9354" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-20T06:30:55.610" Score="6" ViewCount="588" Body="&lt;p&gt;For males, it's &lt;em&gt;gentleman&lt;/em&gt;; and for females?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3848" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T09:24:56.823" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T10:05:00.233" Title="&quot;Gentleman&quot; is to &quot;male&quot; as what is to &quot;female&quot;?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;analogy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9353" CreationDate="2011-01-20T06:31:28.963" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is best to omit the preposition altogether and simply use 'We have several X which should be consolidated'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T06:31:28.963" />
  <row Id="9356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9354" CreationDate="2011-01-20T06:32:28.710" Score="21" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no 'gentlewoman'. The term is 'lady', hence the phrase 'ladies and gentlemen'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T06:32:28.710" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9348" CreationDate="2011-01-20T06:58:57.157" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(be) interested in&lt;/em&gt; is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you are confused with 2 meanings of &lt;em&gt;interest&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a feeling that accompanies or causes special attention to an object or class of objects&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the related meaning for &lt;em&gt;interested (in)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;be interested in&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;have interest in&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a charge for borrowed money generally a percentage of the amount borrowed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where to use &lt;em&gt;interest on&lt;/em&gt;. However, there is no related adj. for &lt;em&gt;interest&lt;/em&gt; of this meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/interest?show=0&amp;amp;t=1295506314&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Definition of &lt;em&gt;interest&lt;/em&gt; on Merriam Webster&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastEditorUserId="3812" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T07:05:32.923" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T07:05:32.923" />
  <row Id="9358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9348" CreationDate="2011-01-20T07:13:41.237" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can check questions like this using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&amp;amp;q=8352434&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;. “Interested in” gets 23703 results and “interested on” gets only 13.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T07:13:41.237" />
  <row Id="9359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9253" CreationDate="2011-01-20T07:21:23.733" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the reason is more people in the world understand the meaning of &quot;wet&quot; than &quot;slippery&quot;.  Its short and easier for non native speakers (perhaps there may be kids who understand wet but not slippery).&#xA;Summary: Wet is shorter and easier than slippery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T07:21:23.733" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9360" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9973" CreationDate="2011-01-20T07:28:09.883" Score="3" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, A published a paper with title B in 2000.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, in my paper:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A says / said that [C works / worked out perfectly].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;B illustrates / illustrated that [C works / worked out perfectly].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the content between [] is derived from the original paper, the tense may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pair of the simple present tense (in the source) and the simple past tense (in my current paper) is used as an example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T18:57:15.193" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T18:57:15.193" Title="What (grammatical) tense to use when doing reference in a paper?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="9361" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9364" CreationDate="2011-01-20T07:45:14.573" Score="1" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the usage of &quot;matter-of-factly&quot; that I've seen is to describe a manner of speaking - &quot;He said, matter of factly,...&quot;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend brought up the following usage, which seems wrong, but I can't pinpoint exactly what is wrong. &quot;Matter of factly, I don't know. I know from my dad's experience.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the view on this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Couple of points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The adjective form &quot;As a matter of fact, I don't know. ...&quot; seems correct.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Similar usage of literally works: &quot;I literally don't know.&quot; or &quot;Literally, I don't know&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3850" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T08:05:01.383" Title="Is the following usage of &quot;matter-of-factly&quot; correct?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9353" CreationDate="2011-01-20T07:53:59.297" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it depends upon the situation. The big entity consolidates on small entity and small entity consolidates into the big entity in the accounting terms. Safest way is just to use consolidiate and omit prepositioin&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3848" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T07:53:59.297" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9361" CreationDate="2011-01-20T08:04:37.547" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never heard it, and BYU's COCA has but &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=1012907&amp;amp;ID=379545293&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one example of it&lt;/a&gt; (and q.v., as I'm not sure even it's in this sense). So, short answer, maybe it's an up-and-coming usage or maybe it's a one-off your friend heard, but in any event don't put it in your written work &amp;mdash; yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T08:04:37.547" />
  <row Id="9364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9361" CreationDate="2011-01-20T08:05:01.383" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The issue with the second usage is that &quot;matter-of-factly&quot; means &quot;in a matter-of-fact style&quot;; it is not synonymous with &quot;as a matter of fact&quot;.  &quot;As a matter of fact&quot; is by itself already an adverbial phrase (meaning &quot;actually&quot;); tacking an additional -ly on the end to re-adverbialize it can't be right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd be more inclined to express your friends' apparent intended meaning as &quot;I don't know personally&quot; or &quot;I don't know directly&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T08:05:01.383" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9365" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9368" CreationDate="2011-01-20T08:05:59.227" Score="5" ViewCount="337" Body="&lt;p&gt;Washington Post (January 19 issue) carried an article reporting the latest results of Washington Post / ABC News poll, in which I came across the phrase 'high-capacity magazine clips.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My understanding of 'magazine clip' was just a piece of article or its excerpt cut out from a magazine, like a tearsheet. What does 'high-capacity magazine clips' actually mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Poll shows high marks for Obama on Tucson, low regard for political dialogue&#xA;  Like similar violent events in the past, the Arizona shootings did not generate greater support for tougher gun-control measures in general. But a majority — 57 percent — said they support a nationwide ban on high-capacity magazine clips such as the one the shooter in Tucson used. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T10:45:53.353" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T20:39:51.987" Title="What does &quot;high-capacity magazine clip&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="9366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9353" CreationDate="2011-01-20T08:07:50.240" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;We should consolidate them into one XX.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T08:07:50.240" />
  <row Id="9367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9365" CreationDate="2011-01-20T08:12:05.600" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The magazine clip holds ammunition for a gun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3851" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T08:12:05.600" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9365" CreationDate="2011-01-20T08:14:07.003" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here 'magazine' and 'clip' refer to parts of a gun that contain bullets. They do not mean 'National Geographic magazine' or 'paper clip'. 'High-capacity' probably means the magazine contains many bullets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T08:14:07.003" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9354" CreationDate="2011-01-20T08:35:51.947" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lady&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lady&lt;/a&gt; is the term, although the term &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gentlewoman&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gentlewoman&lt;/a&gt; exists. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2237" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T08:35:51.947" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9370" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9380" CreationDate="2011-01-20T09:19:08.030" Score="4" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let’s say I write: “&lt;em&gt;Just send me these documents &lt;strong&gt;as is&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;”. Is that correct? Should it be pluralised into “&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;as are&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;”, which sounds so wrong to me? Or are they both incorrect, in which case I may write “&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;as they are&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;”?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T09:50:43.443" Title="How should I pluralise “as is”?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9371" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9372" CreationDate="2011-01-20T09:20:40.383" Score="2" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gwen Stefani says &quot;I ain't no hollaback girl&quot; in her song. What does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T04:15:51.070" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T04:15:51.070" Title="What does &quot;Hollaback Girl&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;lyrics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9371" CreationDate="2011-01-20T09:27:22.950" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia has &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollaback_Girl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because Stefani never disclosed the song title's meaning, reviewers came up with various interpretations. In a satirical, line-by-line analysis of the song's lyrics, &lt;em&gt;OC Weekly&lt;/em&gt; critic Greg Stacy humorously speculated that &quot;Gwen is apparently the captain of the cheerleader squad; she is the girl who 'hollas' the chants, not one of the girls who simply 'hollas' them back&quot;.&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ocweekly.com/2005-05-05/music/this-shit-is-bananas/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[6]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt; The most commonly accepted meaning is that a hollaback girl responds to a confrontation with words but that Stefani would rather take initiative and &quot;step it up&quot;. However, the term can be traced to American construction workers of the 1940s used to denigrate females that would positively respond to their &quot;catcalls&quot; or hollers.&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/215282/b-n-n-s/peter-wood&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;[7]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T09:27:22.950" />
  <row Id="9373" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9376" CreationDate="2011-01-20T09:29:35.520" Score="5" ViewCount="414" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does this sentence mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This observation hit me like a two-by-four&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2120521&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3854" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T09:53:10.210" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T16:26:26.010" Title="What does &quot;hit me like a two-by-four&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="9374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9360" CreationDate="2011-01-20T09:29:52.430" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Going quickly through my scientific papers database shows occurences of both present and past tense. Actually, I find both &quot;A reports that&quot;, &quot;A reported that&quot; and &quot;A has reported that&quot;. I’ve been thinking about it, and what I would do myself is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For a recent paper that I’m directly referring to, or comparing with, I would use “&lt;strong&gt;has reported&lt;/strong&gt;”.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For an older paper, e.g. if more recent works have been published on the topic, I would use “&lt;strong&gt;reported&lt;/strong&gt;”.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I mostly avoid the present tense when discussing the author is the subject (because he might have changed his mind about it), but I use the present tense when the work is the subject. For example, I would write “&lt;em&gt;Zhiang &lt;strong&gt;stated&lt;/strong&gt; in his 2001 monograph that ...&lt;/em&gt;”, but “&lt;em&gt;Zhiang’s 2001 monograph &lt;strong&gt;states&lt;/strong&gt; that ...&lt;/em&gt;”.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, I welcome criticism on this, or alternative propositions. Especially so because writing scientific papers in English is part of my job, so I'd be glad to improve myself!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T09:29:52.430" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9375" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9384" CreationDate="2011-01-20T09:35:09.583" Score="3" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to program computer agents that interact with each other (for example they play a computer game with each other). Some times it happens that two agents are interacting with each other. I need to find a word to describe who they are to each other. I have the following options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;opponent&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;companion&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;partner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My main requirement is that the word should be neutral (since the interaction can be of different kinds: cooperation, competition, fight). I am afraid that opponent is a bit &quot;negative&quot; (in the sense that it assumes that two agents are enemies, that they are fighting). Partner, in contrast, seems to be positive to me (assuming that agents cooperate with each other). What about companion? Or may be you can propose other words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance for any help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3855" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T15:44:37.957" Title="What is the correct word for a person who I am interacting with?" Tags="&lt;translation&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="9376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9373" CreationDate="2011-01-20T09:35:29.223" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;2×4:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/M6vsm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;2×4&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimensional_lumber#Dimensional_lumber&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Oh, and the sentence as a whole means that the observation was a big surprise or a great shock; an &lt;em&gt;aha experience&lt;/em&gt; or a &lt;em&gt;eureka moment&lt;/em&gt;; an &lt;em&gt;eye-opener&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T09:49:14.770" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T09:49:14.770" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9373" CreationDate="2011-01-20T09:37:38.413" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1574548&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Word Reference forums&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Two-by-four&quot; is a standard size of&#xA;  wood used in the UK building trade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So it means a piece of wood with sides of two inches and four inches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T09:37:38.413" />
  <row Id="9378" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9381" CreationDate="2011-01-20T09:44:36.610" Score="2" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.arts.uottawa.ca/writcent/hypergrammar/vbseq.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.arts.uottawa.ca/writcent/hypergrammar/vbseq.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, what does 'sequence' mean? Does it mean 'multiple sentences'? Or it means 'a paragraph'? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T04:59:28.813" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T04:59:28.813" Title="&quot;Using Verb Tenses in Sequence&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9373" CreationDate="2011-01-20T09:46:03.607" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A two by four is a common format &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/two_by_four&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;for a piece of wood&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A length of sawn wood of cross section 2 inches by 4 inches, most often employed as structural framing lumber (dimension or dimensional lumber).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;It hit me like a two-by-four&quot; means that you've been hit pretty hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this context, the author uses it as a simile to convey his state of shock after reading the analysis he quoted. He felt that it explained so well why Asians were often stereotyped as good in science and math that it stunned him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He explains this further down the page:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hadn't known about the 1965 Act, and its existence and the above analysis just instantly explained so much so well and without reference to Asians somehow being magically different&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, he was really surprised by the quality of the explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3711" LastEditorUserId="3711" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T09:55:30.517" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T09:55:30.517" />
  <row Id="9380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9370" CreationDate="2011-01-20T09:50:43.443" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=2yJusP0vrdgC&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage&lt;/a&gt; (see page 131) says that the phrase &lt;em&gt;as is&lt;/em&gt; is always singular, regardless of the number of items. &lt;em&gt;As are&lt;/em&gt; is incorrect, but there is nothing wrong with using &lt;em&gt;as they are&lt;/em&gt;. I think &lt;em&gt;as is&lt;/em&gt; is most commonly used to do with the sale of something. (&quot;I bought a used car, as is.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T09:50:43.443" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="9381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9378" CreationDate="2011-01-20T09:52:28.667" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sympathise with anyone having to learn English as a second language, I really do. That explanation even confused me, a native speaker! What I think they mean by verb sequence is the order in which verbs appear in a sentence containing two clauses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try this site for more info:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sequence.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sequence.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T09:52:28.667" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9375" CreationDate="2011-01-20T09:57:39.530" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/participant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;participant&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;? I think it's as neutral as it gets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T09:57:39.530" />
  <row Id="9383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9375" CreationDate="2011-01-20T09:58:01.673" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Companion' sounds positive just like 'partner', while 'opponent' is negative as mentioned. One word I can think of is 'complement'. Since two objects are involved, when you already have one the other complements it to make the complete set. 'Complement' is also used in mathematical set theory to denote the remaining objects which make up some set. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T09:58:01.673" />
  <row Id="9384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9375" CreationDate="2011-01-20T09:58:52.547" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Companion also suggests friendship. This is tricky as the agents will have the possibility of being in 2 opposite situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps &lt;em&gt;peer&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;contender&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure where you'll be using the word, but of course if you're using it in the program you can simply code it so the word changes depending on the situation; a simple IF statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T09:58:52.547" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9375" CreationDate="2011-01-20T09:59:03.707" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe “&lt;strong&gt;interlocutor&lt;/strong&gt;”, which NOAD defines as “&lt;em&gt;a person who takes part in a dialogue or conversation&lt;/em&gt;”, depending on the type of interaction they are having.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, if they do not really speak to each other, but play in the same team, you could use “&lt;strong&gt;teammate&lt;/strong&gt;” (but that's strongly positive). If they are just playing together, then “&lt;strong&gt;fellow player&lt;/strong&gt;” might fit the bill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T15:44:37.957" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T15:44:37.957" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9373" CreationDate="2011-01-20T09:59:43.677" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.basicinstructions.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/r9e8d.png&quot; alt=&quot;Basic Instructions&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T09:59:43.677" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9388" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9390" CreationDate="2011-01-20T10:08:07.483" Score="3" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got to write a meeting summary, and amongst the recipient will be my boss. To ensure that I was accurate, I would like to ask for feedback from my recipient. I've got the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In case of omission or mistake, please contact me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that this sentence doesn't quite please me. I would have liked to use the word &lt;em&gt;correction&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;mistake&lt;/em&gt;, but then it wouldn't have been in the same level, as there is &lt;em&gt;omissions&lt;/em&gt; but there is a &quot;need for corrections&quot;. Furthermore I don't like the &quot;please contact me&quot; although I don't have a better way to say what I want. I don't want to be contacted as much as I want any mistakes to be pointed to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's at that point that I thought to myself, that there could be a standard formulation for such request. So first I would like to now, in a formal and polite context, would my sentence fit with my intent? And second, is there any standard formulation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T13:37:48.563" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T13:37:48.563" Title="Asking for feedback on a meeting summary" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="9389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9388" CreationDate="2011-01-20T10:20:48.670" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you want to keep your sentence rather short, here are a few suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I welcome comments, suggestions and corrections.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Please send me any comment, suggestion or correction you may have.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Please feel free to relay your comments, suggestions or corrections.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you find errors or inaccuracies in this summary, please report them to me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A revised summary will communicated if any error or inaccuracy is reported to me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“&lt;em&gt;Report ... to me&lt;/em&gt;” might be a solution to your dislike of “&lt;em&gt;contact me&lt;/em&gt;”, as it makes the purpose of the contact more explicit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T10:20:48.670" />
  <row Id="9390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9388" CreationDate="2011-01-20T10:22:23.287" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I don't like about your sentence is that it sounds a bit negative - as if you expected omissions or mistakes to be found.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more &lt;em&gt;positive&lt;/em&gt; way of communicating the same message would be something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let me know if you have any questions or comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Questions or comments&quot; sounds more positive because these words do not necessarily relate to mistakes. It shows that you expect questions or feedback in general - positive or negative feedback.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T10:29:39.300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T10:29:39.300" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9388" CreationDate="2011-01-20T10:25:13.900" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My standard phrase is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you have any questions or comments, just let me know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, that's a one-size-fits-all no-brainer, and comes off as such. But then again, I know that if I start thinking about it, I will start overthinking, and writing a simple three-sentence email &lt;em&gt;will take forever&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, I can certainly think of a few variations. For the first part of the sentence, I might write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;If there are any omissions or mistakes,..&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;If something's wrong or incomplete,..&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;If you have any suggestions or corrections to make,..&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And for the second part, I might write (depending on the level of formality):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;... please do not hesitate to let me know.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;... please let me know.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;... just let me know.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;... just drop me a note.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T10:25:13.900" />
  <row Id="9392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8651" CreationDate="2011-01-20T11:48:59.077" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chinese has many completely different dialects. It's so different in pronounce that I completely cannot understand most of all, such as Cantonese and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Min_Nan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Min Nan&lt;/a&gt; . But all those dialects share almost the some characters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my hometown, They cannot make a difference in 'n' (not 'r', our dialect hasn't this pronounce) and 'l'. But for me or most of the Post-80s, We learn Mandarin since the childhood. So we can make the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="508" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T11:59:25.490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T11:59:25.490" />
  <row Id="9393" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9394" CreationDate="2011-01-20T12:53:44.720" Score="3" ViewCount="375" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does the following sentence mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Suck it up ho.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2775" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T13:39:36.813" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T13:39:36.813" Title="What does this vulgar slang expression mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;vulgar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="13" />
  <row Id="9394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9393" CreationDate="2011-01-20T13:02:12.307" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Providing a definition with a tone featuring stark contrast with the vulgarity of the phrase itself, the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; says: “&lt;em&gt;suck it up: (informal) accept a hardship&lt;/em&gt;”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for “&lt;em&gt;ho&lt;/em&gt;”, the same source says: “&lt;em&gt;a prostitute. (derogatory) a woman.&lt;/em&gt;”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T13:02:12.307" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9395" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11767" CreationDate="2011-01-20T13:25:15.613" Score="7" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anyone know of an online rhyming dictionary or rhyme resource that lists rhymes by vowel sound (assonance)? RhymeZone.com doesn't have such an option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3862" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T06:37:17.953" Title="Online rhyme dictionary/rhyming resource that lists rhymes by vowel sound (assonance)" Tags="&lt;internet&gt;&lt;dictionaries&gt;&lt;rhymes&gt;&lt;vowels&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9396" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9417" CreationDate="2011-01-20T13:37:22.590" Score="1" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi All,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It wasn't &lt;strong&gt;quiet&lt;/strong&gt; what I wanted&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The music was too &lt;strong&gt;quite&lt;/strong&gt; for me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously quiet and quite are mixed up. Is this a spelling mistake? In both cases the words are right, but used in the wrong place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a special name for these mistakes? Or are they simply grammatical errors?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3864" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T14:12:45.320" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T15:30:10.187" Title="&quot;Quiet&quot; instead of &quot;quite&quot;: Spelling or Grammar error?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="9397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9375" CreationDate="2011-01-20T13:43:09.190" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're engaging in a specific activity, you might also be able to put &quot;ee&quot; and the end of that activity's name, and thus it becomes the person with whom you're engaging in said activity. For example, if you're training someone, you might naturally call them your &quot;trainee&quot;. Of course, this makes the term less general, which may not work for you in this case, but it might for others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additional alternates of the more general variety might also include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;equal (feels strongly neutral to me)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;associate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cooperator&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;collaborator&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3862" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T13:43:09.190" />
  <row Id="9398" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9426" CreationDate="2011-01-20T13:47:30.893" Score="2" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;Imagine this situation: a wife asks her husband to read some stories to their daughter. The husband replies: &#xA;&quot;She is watching cartoons now. I’ll read stories to her after the cartoons are over&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &quot;I'll read stories to her as soon as she's done watching cartoons&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &quot;I'll read stories to her after cartoons&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or how? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T16:56:12.560" Title="How to say: &quot;After cartoons are over&quot; or &quot;After she's done watching cartoons&quot; or how?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9393" CreationDate="2011-01-20T13:50:18.950" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;FX_'s definition is indeed amusing. The etymology of &lt;em&gt;suck it up&lt;/em&gt; is generally speculated to be non-sexual. Most on-line sources speculate that it probably came from the expression &lt;em&gt;to suck up one's stomach&lt;/em&gt;, which means &quot;to accept a hardship&quot; as well, though I couldn't find any authoritative source. Later all expressions with sucking in them have tended to acquire a sexual connotation. The addition &quot;ho&quot; (slang for &quot;prostitute&quot;) makes this even more likely in your sentence. I'd translate it as &quot;accept this hardship, you girl of low standing&quot;.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/forums/viewthread/519/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/forums/viewthread/519/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T13:50:18.950" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9400" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9409" CreationDate="2011-01-20T14:01:52.007" Score="3" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;like to&lt;/strong&gt; eat here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;would&lt;/strong&gt; eat here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It appears to me that &quot;to&quot; has nothing to do with the infinitive form of the verb that follows. It is, in this example,  an integral part of &lt;strong&gt;like to&lt;/strong&gt;, not of &lt;strong&gt;to go&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my thinking flawed? If you think it is, could you please explain which form of the verb &quot;eat&quot; is used in the second example, if not the infinitive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3566" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T18:13:33.073" Title="Is &quot;to&quot; really part of the infinitive?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9401" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-20T14:04:24.727" Score="4" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find myself using the phrase &lt;strong&gt;&quot;that's using your noggin&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; in various situations, even though English is not my native language. Most likely I picked it up watching some tv show.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that &quot;noggin&quot; means head, but it seems strange that &lt;strong&gt;&quot;that's using your noggin&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; should be in widespread (in America, I assume) use, although it's not only used in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of this expression? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1223" LastEditorUserId="1223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T16:40:10.833" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T16:40:10.833" Title="What is the origin of &quot;that's using your noggin&quot;?" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9396" CreationDate="2011-01-20T14:11:12.093" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure whether there is a special name for this kind of spelling mistake, but I'd definitely call it a spelling or typing mistake. The writer would no doubt have pronounced it right in speech. In fact, I suspect that the most common spelling mistakes are those in which a writer subconsciously confuses two similar-sounding words or parts of words, even though he probably knows better, as in &lt;em&gt;negligable/interchangible, percieve/retreive, their crazy / they're house, it's body / its mine,&lt;/em&gt; etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T14:11:12.093" />
  <row Id="9403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9400" CreationDate="2011-01-20T14:17:32.540" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second sentence does use the infinitive, but &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; is a modal verb, so it kicks out the &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;. Wikipedia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modal_verb#Morphology_and_syntax&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;explains&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The main verb that is modified by the modal verb is in the infinitive form and is not preceded by the word &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; (German: &lt;em&gt;zu&lt;/em&gt;, Dutch: &lt;em&gt;te&lt;/em&gt;). There are verbs that may seem somewhat similar in meaning to modal verbs (e.g. &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;want&lt;/em&gt;), but the construction with such verbs would be different&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note how you wouldn't say &quot;*I can to eat here&quot; or &quot;*I must to eat here&quot;, either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T14:17:32.540" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9404" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-20T14:19:35.983" Score="5" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK, so I'm ashamed to admit that as a native speaker I think I've missed something somewhere. I was typing up some documentation and spellchecker kept bugging me.  So I looked up some words and found this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The suffixes -ance and -ence mean&#xA;  “quality of”or “state of.” Words&#xA;  ending in these suffixes are usually&#xA;  nouns. There is no rule that governs&#xA;  whether a word ends with &#xA;  -ance or -ence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even the dictionary on my Mac goes so far as to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ORIGIN from French -ence, from Latin&#xA;  -entia, -antia (from present participial stems -ent-, -ant-). Since&#xA;  the 16th cent. many inconsistencies&#xA;  have occurred in the use of -ence and&#xA;  -ance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this for real?  There really is no rule?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3433" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T22:19:58.943" Title="Problem with -ance/-ence" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;suffix&gt;&lt;rules&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9405" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9414" CreationDate="2011-01-20T14:21:10.383" Score="3" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this sentence taken from the movie AI is 'us' the correct form of the pronoun? It certainly sounds better than if it were written with 'we' instead of 'us'.  Also, I can sort of see why 'is' is used instead of 'are', and I think this is why 'us' is used rather than 'we', but would be interested in a clear explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All that will be left is us. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3528" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T14:44:29.497" Title="All that will be left is us" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="9406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9410" CreationDate="2011-01-20T14:23:36.200" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I can’t find anything suggesting&lt;/strong&gt; that one cannot take out principle from Roth IRA account for education or housing purchases. Nor it’s indicated that money are doled out in a form of a loan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Part in bold is under question. However, I would also appreciate your pointing out other errors too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T12:36:57.090" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T12:36:57.090" Title="Which one should I use (&quot;suggesting&quot; or &quot;to suggest&quot;) in the example provided?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;gerund&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="9407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9401" CreationDate="2011-01-20T14:24:20.053" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Your noggin&quot; is colloquial for your head Origin of noggin is as follows ( From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=noggin&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1620s, &quot;small cup, mug,&quot; later &quot;small drink&quot; (1690s), of unknown origin, possibly related to Norfolk dialectal nog &quot;strong ale&quot; (now chiefly in eggnog). Informal meaning &quot;head&quot; first attested 1866 in Amer.Eng.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it means using your head, the assumption is that you used your brain, implying that you had a good idea. Alternatively you could have head-butted something... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="963" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T14:24:20.053" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9398" CreationDate="2011-01-20T14:25:14.030" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I'll read stories to her after she's finished watching cartoons.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T14:25:14.030" />
  <row Id="9409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9400" CreationDate="2011-01-20T14:27:30.363" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is probably a matter of definition, not of true inherent &quot;belonging to&quot;. I believe the etymology of this kind of &quot;to&quot; is the usage of a preposition before the infinitive, in order to indicate a relation of direction or purpose between a finite verb and the infinitive: &lt;em&gt;I went to school; I went to pick him up&lt;/em&gt;. This probably originated in predicates with verbs that have a direction. But that was long ago, when the infinitive still had a distinctive form in English or Proto-Germanic; I think it was something like *&lt;em&gt;eatan&lt;/em&gt; (don't pin me down on this, I haven't looked it up). Later, when the infinitive became indistinguishable from other forms of the verb, this &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; evolved into a more general marker of the infinitive. So the most precise definition would probably be to say that &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; belongs neither to the finite verb (&quot;like&quot;) nor to the infinitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you could say &quot;&lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; often goes with &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;, so we say &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; belongs to &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, or &quot;&lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; often introduces or links to infinitives, so we say it belongs to the infinitive&quot;. In lists of phrases, educational books often tend to emphasise the connection with &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt;; in passages that describe the infinitive, they tend to treat it as part of the &quot;full&quot; infinitive, as opposed to the &quot;bare&quot; infinitive in &quot;I will go&quot;. I believe this is the most traditional way to describe it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T16:16:56.977" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T16:16:56.977" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9406" CreationDate="2011-01-20T14:29:22.420" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'To suggest' is more common, though both make sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for other errors, it should perhaps be 'take out &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; principle from &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; Roth IRA account'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And it should definitely be 'Nor is it', not 'nor it's'. 'It's' is a contraction of 'it is', not 'is it'. Also, it should be 'money is' not 'money are' (money is collective/singular), and it should be 'in &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; form' not 'a form'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Altogether:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't find anything to suggest that one cannot take out the principle from the Roth IRA account for education or housing purchases. Nor is it indicated that money is doled out in the form of a loan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T14:29:22.420" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9404" CreationDate="2011-01-20T14:30:00.193" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, this is for real. No, there really is no rule. There used to be a rule in Latin, though. Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=-ance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;explains&lt;/a&gt; in more detail:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;-ance&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;suffix attached to verbs to form abstract nouns of process or fact (&lt;em&gt;convergence&lt;/em&gt; from &lt;em&gt;converge&lt;/em&gt;), or of state or quality (&lt;em&gt;absence&lt;/em&gt; from &lt;em&gt;absent&lt;/em&gt;); ultimately from L. &lt;em&gt;-antia&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;-entia&lt;/em&gt;, which depended on the vowel in the stem word. As Old French evolved from Latin, these were leveled to &lt;em&gt;-ance&lt;/em&gt;, but later French borrowings from Latin (some of them subsequently passed to English) used the appropriate Latin form of the ending, as did words borrowed by English directly from Latin (&lt;em&gt;diligence&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;absence&lt;/em&gt;). English thus inherited a confused mass of words from French and further confused it since c.1500 by restoring &lt;em&gt;-ence&lt;/em&gt; selectively in some forms of these words to conform with Latin. Thus &lt;em&gt;dependant&lt;/em&gt;, but &lt;em&gt;independence&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T14:30:00.193" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9365" CreationDate="2011-01-20T14:30:50.407" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love the word &quot;magazine&quot; because of it's origin (From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=magazine&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1580s, &quot;place for storing goods, especially military ammunition,&quot; from M.Fr. magasin &quot;warehouse, depot, store,&quot; from It. magazzino, from Arabic makhazin, pl. of makhzan &quot;storehouse&quot; (cf. Sp. almacén &quot;warehouse, magazine&quot;), from khazana &quot;to store up.&quot; The original sense is almost obsolete; meaning &quot;periodical journal&quot; dates from the publication of the first one, &quot;Gentleman's Magazine,&quot; in 1731, from earlier use of the word for a printed list of military stores and information, or in a figurative sense, from the publication being a &quot;storehouse&quot; of information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The intended use in the quote is a container for bullets attached to a gun, which carries a greater than usual number of bullets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="963" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T14:30:50.407" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9398" CreationDate="2011-01-20T14:31:43.293" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I'll read stories to her as soon as she's done watching cartoons&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is acceptable but is much more American English in style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T14:31:43.293" />
  <row Id="9414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9405" CreationDate="2011-01-20T14:31:58.473" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't really comment on the &lt;em&gt;correct grammar,&lt;/em&gt; but the full quote &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;They made us too smart, to quick, and too many. We are suffering for the mistakes they made because when the end comes all that will be left is us. That's why they hate us.&quot;`&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;makes more sense.  &lt;code&gt;us&lt;/code&gt; is not really being used as &lt;code&gt;us&lt;/code&gt; traditionally but a placeholder for the entire concept of AI because there really isn't another word for it.  I believe the grammar is bent for the purpose of emphasis.  look at this pattern:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They &lt;strong&gt;made us&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  All that will be left &lt;strong&gt;is us&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  they &lt;strong&gt;hate us&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it forms a pattern that makes more sense if spoken with dramatic inflection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HTH,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3433" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T14:31:58.473" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9405" CreationDate="2011-01-20T14:44:29.497" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;We&lt;/em&gt; is a nominative pronoun, while &lt;em&gt;us&lt;/em&gt; is the objective (accusative) case of &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &quot;X is us&quot;, X is the subject, and &lt;em&gt;us&lt;/em&gt; is the object (hence the objective case). Compare that with &quot;We are X&quot;, where &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt; is the subject (hence the nominative case), and X is the object. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a more general note, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4556/who-wants-ice-cream/4655#4655&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; to a related question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T14:44:29.497" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9406" CreationDate="2011-01-20T14:51:41.670" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can’t find anything &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; suggests...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="740" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T14:51:41.670" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9396" CreationDate="2011-01-20T15:21:24.897" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are not grammatical errors since the sentence structure is correct once you replace the erroneous word with the one the author obviously intended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would categorise those mistakes as spelling mistakes influenced by homophone confusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T15:21:24.897" />
  <row Id="9418" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9421" CreationDate="2011-01-20T15:28:42.343" Score="2" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Joe, I've been finishing with the task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1109" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T15:45:01.130" Title="Is it correct &quot;Joe, I've been finishing with the task&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9396" CreationDate="2011-01-20T15:30:10.187" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quiet/Quite &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; be considered a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/homophone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;homophone&lt;/a&gt; depending on your accent.  Other common homophone (heterograph, specifically) mistakes are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Their/They're/There&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Your/You're&lt;br&gt;&#xA;to/too/two&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3433" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T15:30:10.187" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9353" CreationDate="2011-01-20T15:30:47.190" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there confusion between consolidation and standardisation? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Consolidation combines or joins several things together &lt;em&gt;into&lt;/em&gt; one &lt;em&gt;solid&lt;/em&gt; thing.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Standardisation chooses one of several things and makes everyone use that one unchanged thing. Use of the other (now non-standard) things is then discontinued.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps &quot;&lt;strong&gt;standardise on a single new† algorithm&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;†&lt;em&gt;substitute &quot;composite&quot;, &quot;consolidated&quot; for &quot;new&quot; according to needs or taste.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T17:04:48.800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T17:04:48.800" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9418" CreationDate="2011-01-20T15:35:31.753" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Possibly. But you might mean any of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Joe, I've finished the task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Joe, I've finished with the task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Joe, I've been working on the task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Joe, I've been finishing the task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Joe, I'm still finishing the task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which all have slightly different meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Joe, I've been finishing with the task&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;implies (to me at least) you have been doing what is needed to discontinue your work on the task, leaving it in a state where someone else may have to take over the work in order to complete the task, but where you have not yet done enough for your contribution to cease. This is a moderately complex thought and might not be exactly what you intend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, this is the sort of analysis which enables lawyers to send their children to expensive schools and drive Ferraris. However if I encountered your sentence in a novel I would probably not give it a second glance as these nuances would be unimportant or clear from context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T15:45:01.130" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T15:45:01.130" />
  <row Id="9422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9340" CreationDate="2011-01-20T15:59:14.463" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try obstinance for someone being willfully unreasonable or obtuseness if it's more a matter of their nature. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="608" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T15:59:14.463" />
  <row Id="9423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9401" CreationDate="2011-01-20T16:09:08.827" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't believe the term &quot;noggin&quot; is restricted to the phrase &quot;That's using your noggin!&quot; in normal usage in America. I have heard and used it in the following way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I stopped playing baseball because I got hit in the noggin pretty hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... or some such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the context (your audience), you could substitute &quot;noggin&quot; for &quot;head&quot; whenever you want. That is, I consider it slang and probably wouldn't use it in a formal situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T16:09:08.827" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9373" CreationDate="2011-01-20T16:26:26.010" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may have derived from the story about how to handle Mules. &quot;First&quot; (clobbering mule with 2x4), &quot;you have to get their attention.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T16:26:26.010" />
  <row Id="9425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9365" CreationDate="2011-01-20T16:47:36.813" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A magazine is the (often detachable) part of a firearm that stores the ammunition.  A clip is a slang (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clip_%28ammunition%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;and technically incorrect&lt;/a&gt;) term for a removable magazine. The phrase &quot;magazine clip&quot; is redundant, rather like referring to a bicycle as a &quot;bicycle scooter&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this context, high-capacity means &quot;holding more ammunition than some people think is acceptable&quot;, not &quot;holding more ammunition than normal&quot;, since the magazines this term is used to refer to are the normal size for many firearms.     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3244" LastEditorUserId="3244" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T20:39:51.987" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T20:39:51.987" />
  <row Id="9426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9398" CreationDate="2011-01-20T16:56:12.560" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any of the three would do, except that the third would be better as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I'll read stories to her after &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; cartoons.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, it's probably the least satisfactory of your three options anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To throw another alternative into the mix:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I’ll read stories to her once the cartoons are over.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T16:56:12.560" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9427" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9429" CreationDate="2011-01-20T17:04:47.963" Score="0" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the differences between the two sentences below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is no rule. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There isn't rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T23:23:57.227" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T23:23:57.227" Title="About the 'no' and 'not'." Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="9428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9427" CreationDate="2011-01-20T17:14:35.347" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second sentence isn't valid. &quot;Isn't&quot; is a contraction of &quot;is not&quot;. You could say the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There isn't &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3660" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T17:14:35.347" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9427" CreationDate="2011-01-20T17:15:22.163" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second should be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There isn't &lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt; rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rules are countable, so the singular &quot;rule&quot; needs an article or counter of some sort.  In the first sentence, &quot;no&quot; counts the number of rules present.  In the second &quot;is not&quot; doesn't count, so adding &quot;a&quot; is appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: beyond that correction, the two sentences have the same basic meaning.  &quot;There is no rule&quot; is more emphatic, but both can be quite strong depending on how they are spoken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastEditorUserId="1579" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T17:22:35.837" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T17:22:35.837" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="9430" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9486" CreationDate="2011-01-20T17:54:38.400" Score="3" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see a sentence in this site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But both can be quite strong depending on how they are spoken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;depending on […]&lt;/em&gt; an adverbial clause?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T04:35:53.607" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T04:35:53.607" Title="Is this an adverbial clause?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9400" CreationDate="2011-01-20T18:13:33.073" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are the two main bits of positive evidence that &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; is part of the infinitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. It doesn't show up with nouns in the same situations.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I like to dance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I like pizza.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice that &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; is not an inherent part of &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt;, because even in the exact same sense of the word, if it is followed by a noun there is no &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2.  It shows up without another verb.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In phrases without a verb in front of the &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;, you can see it appearing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;To live is to dance.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For modals, as others have explained, the modal verbs do something special with the verb, as do the helper verbs &quot;to be&quot; and &quot;to have&quot;.  But they are a special case.  Modal verbs also don't allow a gerund after them in any situation, e.g., you can't say &quot;*I would walking&quot; like you can with a verb that is usually followed by &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;.  But with &quot;like&quot; you can say &quot;I like to dance&quot; and &quot;I like dancing&quot;.  Only the form of the verb is changing, from the infinitive to the gerund.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T18:13:33.073" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9432" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-20T19:18:34.637" Score="6" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I thought of the word 'multi-tasker' but is there a better word which can express focussing on multiple tasks with equal efficiency? For instance, it is said that Leonardo Da Vinci, a polymath, was able to write and draw at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3872" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T22:25:02.427" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T22:25:02.427" Title="Is there a word for a person who is able to focus on multiple tasks at same time?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="9433" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9435" CreationDate="2011-01-20T19:59:32.383" Score="14" ViewCount="361" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often write and see written something like &quot;Fix typo&quot; in commit messages, when the fix was not in fact for a &quot;typographical error&quot;.  It might have been a duplicate word, a small grammatical problem (perhaps have/has, they're/their), an awkward construction, or a mistaken identifier.  Is there a good, compact word or phrase that would describe this more accurately, but perhaps isn't as pretentious and hollow as &quot;Fix minor linguistic problems&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="21" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T19:05:19.453" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T19:05:19.453" Title="Alternative to &quot;typo&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="9434" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9437" CreationDate="2011-01-20T20:00:41.177" Score="3" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The monitor being ill, we'd better put the meeting off.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;  The river having risen in the night the crossing was impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the above two sentences, one uses the comma and one does not. So, when do you use the comma? Are there any rules?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T01:36:14.010" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T07:47:02.547" Title="When do I use the comma?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="9435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9433" CreationDate="2011-01-20T20:05:49.823" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a single generic phrasing, I'd suggest &quot;correct text&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more specific commit messages, &quot;fix grammar&quot;, &quot;fix spelling&quot;, &quot;re-word message&quot;, or &quot;rewrite text&quot; could all be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T20:05:49.823" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9434" CreationDate="2011-01-20T20:15:09.613" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is certainly correct to write each of the two sentences with a comma. However the comma may be omitted if the meaning is clear without it, and this happens in the case when what is added by the comma is short. In the examples given, 'the monitor being ill' and 'the river having risen in the night' are added to the complete sentences 'we'd better put the meeting off' and 'the crossing was impossible' to add to their meaning. However they are quite long and I would recommend including the comma in each case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T20:20:21.323" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T20:20:21.323" />
  <row Id="9437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9434" CreationDate="2011-01-20T20:15:51.747" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's generally a matter of style. The only hard and fast rule with commas is that they should be used to separate items in a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would put a comma in the second sentence, after 'night'. The thing to remember is that commas make things easier to read. They are a courtesy to the reader. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read that second sentence as it is, then read it again, but this time, pause for the length of time it takes to say 'comma' in your head after 'night'. Sounds better, doesn't it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T20:15:51.747" />
  <row Id="9438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9433" CreationDate="2011-01-20T20:17:15.380" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about a simple 'Fix error'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T20:17:15.380" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9439" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9442" CreationDate="2011-01-20T20:35:21.687" Score="4" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;For what values of &lt;code&gt;x&lt;/code&gt; does one write &lt;code&gt;the number of x&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;the amount of x&lt;/code&gt;, or &lt;code&gt;the quantity of x&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3709" LastEditorUserId="3709" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T18:41:09.120" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T20:02:50.577" Title="&quot;Amount&quot; vs. &quot;Number&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;numbers&gt;&lt;amount&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9434" CreationDate="2011-01-20T20:37:08.823" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The others are correct that in those examples the comma makes the meaning clearer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would add that using the gerund clauses as you have sounds somewhat stilted. Perhaps you could try more straightforward ways to express the same ideas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The monitor is ill, so we'd better put off the meeting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because the monitor is ill we'd better put off the meeting&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The river rose overnight, making the crossing impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The crossing was impossible because the river had risen overnight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are obviously other ways to construct the sentences; these are just a couple to give you the idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T21:20:36.070" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T21:20:36.070" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="9441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9439" CreationDate="2011-01-20T20:37:17.940" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was taught:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;number&lt;/code&gt; is used for countable nouns:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the number of boxes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the number of universes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;amount&lt;/code&gt; is used for singular nouns that represent plural concepts (uncountable nouns):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the amount of sand&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the amount of cereal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3709" LastEditorUserId="3709" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T20:02:50.577" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T20:02:50.577" />
  <row Id="9442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9439" CreationDate="2011-01-20T20:45:40.747" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Number&lt;/em&gt; is used with plural nouns, things that can be counted. (&lt;em&gt;I saw a number of pigeons on the shed this morning.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Amount&lt;/em&gt; is used for nouns that can't be measured. (&lt;em&gt;The amount of animosity generated by his comments was out of all proportion to his words.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Quantity&lt;/em&gt; is used for nouns you can measure. (&lt;em&gt;I have a large quantity of pumpkins for sale.&lt;/em&gt;) It is pretty much synonymous with &lt;em&gt;number&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T20:45:40.747" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9443" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9444" CreationDate="2011-01-20T20:52:17.003" Score="10" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;I stumbled onto a US Congress representative’s website with what I think is a blatant and very visible mistake:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/lMQMr.png&quot; alt=&quot;John D. Dingell website&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Namely, the sentence in yellow, “&lt;em&gt;How does the population change &lt;strong&gt;effect&lt;/strong&gt; our district&lt;/em&gt;”. I am surprised to see this error in such a high-profile and (probably) thoroughly checked webpage. So, I wonder: how common is this exact error (effect vs. affect)? Have the usage of the two really started to merge, so that we should consider them as equivalent?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: yes, I know the dictionary says they have different meaning; I'm asking about usage and the evolution of the language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T10:03:42.210" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T03:43:01.970" Title="How common is the confusion between &quot;affect&quot; and &quot;effect&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;language-evolution&gt;" AnswerCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="9444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9443" CreationDate="2011-01-20T21:14:43.970" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The [mis]usage is quite common, but the two have not started to merge and should not be considered equivalent. Most lists of common vocabulary mistakes list &lt;em&gt;affect vs. effect&lt;/em&gt; among the most frequently encountered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't assume that what you see on a U.S. Representative's web page is grammatically correct or even good English. Even well-intentioned, literate people make what I call &quot;spell-check&quot; errors. That is, a spell-checker will validate both &lt;em&gt;effect&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;affect&lt;/em&gt; and even grammar checkers may not flag their misuse since they can both appear as nouns or as transitive verbs. (It didn't get flagged by the computer? Get it on the web page!) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Proofreading is something almost no one does by hand (or eye) anymore. Too bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T21:14:43.970" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9443" CreationDate="2011-01-20T21:15:00.327" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A short answer is it's pretty darn common. In fact, it falls under the most common spelling errors: Read more: &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.about.com/od/words/a/AffectEffect.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Affect and Effect: Commonly Confused Words&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T02:29:47.587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T02:29:47.587" />
  <row Id="9446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9432" CreationDate="2011-01-20T21:17:53.223" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There must be a word, however it doesn't make sense. A person, as many studies and research suggest, is only capable to  concentrate on one task at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found some interesting information here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_multitasking&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_multitasking&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T21:17:53.223" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9430" CreationDate="2011-01-20T21:23:15.930" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First let's define Adverbial Clause:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An adverbial clause is a clause that functions as an adverb. In other words, it contains subject (explicit or implied) and predicate, and it modifies a verb(&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverbial_clause&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wikipidia&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hence in case it's an adverbial clause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T21:23:15.930" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9448" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9450" CreationDate="2011-01-20T21:39:29.290" Score="6" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often words in titles has its first letter capitalized, but some don't (such as &quot;The Title of This Question&quot;). What are the rules for which words to capitalize?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T09:09:35.593" Title="How to capitalize first letters in titles?" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;title&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9443" CreationDate="2011-01-20T21:47:51.620" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I, too understand that affect vs. effect is still strictly defined and certainly does not fall under the &quot;forgivable because of linguistic evolution&quot; category. The website certainly uses effect objectively incorrectly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3874" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T21:47:51.620" />
  <row Id="9450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9448" CreationDate="2011-01-20T21:58:09.650" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's all a matter of style and consistency. Some choose to capitalize only the first word, e.g. (using your example)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The title of this question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Others capitalize the key parts of speech in the title, excluding conjunctions, prepositions, and the like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Title of T/this Question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some cases, &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; the words in the title are capitalized:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Title Of This Question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One can usually observe how these conventions are employed by studying newspaper headlines, for instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T21:58:09.650" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9452" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9458" CreationDate="2011-01-20T22:03:42.883" Score="5" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always mess up with my writing by adding commas and full stops (periods) in the wrong places. Is there any rule of thumb or some other way that I can follow to avoid this problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3560" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T22:27:20.630" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T13:19:11.080" Title="Is there any general rule of thumb that can be followed for where and when to add commas and full stops?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;comma&gt;&lt;period&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="9453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9452" CreationDate="2011-01-20T22:09:16.750" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Write a sentence, then read it back to yourself. If at any point you feel the need to pause, that's where you put a comma. Once you have practiced like this for a while, you will be able to put them in as you write.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Full stops go only at the end of sentences; it's that simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T22:09:16.750" />
  <row Id="9454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9443" CreationDate="2011-01-20T22:12:03.957" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's quite common. I use a simple mnemonic to remind myself: RAVEN. Remember, Affect Verb, Effect Noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T22:12:03.957" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7913" CreationDate="2011-01-20T22:14:04.707" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use autohotkey ( &lt;a href=&quot;http://autohotkey.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://autohotkey.com&lt;/a&gt; ) or texter ( &lt;a href=&quot;http://lifehacker.com/software/texter/lifehacker-code-texter-windows-238306.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://lifehacker.com/software/texter/lifehacker-code-texter-windows-238306.php&lt;/a&gt; ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Texter is just a Autohotkey script, however it provides a GUI making it easy to add/remove abbreviations and acronyms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The advantage of using these programs is they will work in almost any software. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3851" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T22:14:04.707" />
  <row Id="9456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9404" CreationDate="2011-01-20T22:19:58.943" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are four conjugations of verbs in Latin, verbs that end in -are, -ēre, -ere, and -ire. The four conjugations are still evident in Spanish, French, Italian, etc. In English nouns that derive from these verbs end with -antia, -entia, and -ientia, from which we eventually get our nouns ending with -ance, -ence, and -ience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;e.g. parlance is from parlare, insurgence is from insurgere, audience is from audire. So remembering the spelling in English helps if you studied Latin ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, standard spelling in English wasn't a huge priority until people like Samuel Johnson started writing dictionaries, so there are all sorts of exceptions to these rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T22:19:58.943" />
  <row Id="9457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9427" CreationDate="2011-01-20T22:25:05.033" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question: &lt;em&gt;Are there any differences of the two sentences below:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;There is no rule. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;There isn't rule. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Answer: &lt;em&gt;Indeed, there are.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sentence 2. uses &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; in place of the &lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt; in sentence 1. More seriously, sentence 1. means &lt;em&gt;there are no rules in place&lt;/em&gt;. Here, &lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt; is adjective modifying &lt;em&gt;rule&lt;/em&gt;. Hence, &lt;em&gt;no rule&lt;/em&gt; = &lt;em&gt;absence of rules/a rule&lt;/em&gt;. Sentence 2., as it stands, could certainly be made sense of, but it is ungrammatical. Here, &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; is an adverb that implies the negative and placing a noun such as &lt;em&gt;rule&lt;/em&gt; right after it does not work. Others have suggested:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There isn't a rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also like to add this option:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There isn't any rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, this is the more commonly used form. Or, even better,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There aren't any rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; can also be used in place of an adverbial clause of negation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Is there any rule against this?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;There is no rule/There isn't/No, there isn't/There isn't any [rule]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T22:25:05.033" />
  <row Id="9458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9452" CreationDate="2011-01-20T22:25:27.393" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;ElendilTheTall has great advice regarding placing commas when you pause when reading a sentence aloud. The only thing I feel needs to be added to that answer is to not &lt;em&gt;overuse&lt;/em&gt; commas; that is, don't use a comma when you need a period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each sentence sentence normally should not have two main clauses separated by a mere comma. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I love to eat ice cream, on hot summer days I always buy some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is incorrect, because there's two distinct thoughts and two verbs here (&quot;I love&quot; and &quot;I buy&quot;). The correct version would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I love to eat ice cream. I always buy some on hot summer days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, since these two thoughts are closely related you could use a semicolon instead of a period:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I love to eat ice cream; on hot summer days I always buy some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note how in this case you would not capitalize the letter after the semicolon, because it is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; the first letter of a new sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; What I'm trying to help you avoid is creating &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run-on_sentence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;run-on sentences&lt;/a&gt;, which can happen when you use a comma when you should use a period. This is known as a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma_splice&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;comma splice&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT 2:&lt;/strong&gt; User psmears pointed out another error in my explanation; my explanation was too simplistic and excluded some perfectly acceptable sentences.  You can join two main clauses with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_conjunction#Coordinating_conjunctions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;coordinating conjunction&lt;/a&gt;. User psmears gives the example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I like Mary and I hate John.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case there's two clear main clauses, each with their own finite verb (&quot;like&quot; and &quot;hate&quot;). However, while this is perfectly acceptable for short, closely relayed clauses, it can quickly lead to run-ons if you're not careful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I like my coworker Mary from the accounting department but I hate my other coworker John from engineering because John always thinks he's better than everyone else and he always corrects other people's grammar but I really don't think he speaks very well and when someone criticizes other people for something they themselves are guilty of that's called being hypocritical and I don't like people who act like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2259" LastEditorUserId="2259" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T13:19:11.080" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T13:19:11.080" CommentCount="15" />
  <row Id="9459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9314" CreationDate="2011-01-20T22:37:34.623" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's an interesting question, but it doesn't really have a well-defined answer. The useless but essentially correct answer is &quot;when enough people think it's correct&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The thing is that, no matter how hard people try to argue otherwise, prescriptivism doesn't really work that well. Language changes are slow and amorphous, so it's hard to draw a definitive line in the sand where something goes from right to wrong. You can probably find points in time where it's pretty clear-cut if it's one or the other, but there's no exact point in time where it makes the transition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3760" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T22:37:34.623" />
  <row Id="9460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9427" CreationDate="2011-01-20T22:42:51.760" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Jimi says, the second can be made sense of, and it's even (IMPSO) grammatical.  To wit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There's isn't rule [of law].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not something I'd say, but I &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; it's correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T22:42:51.760" />
  <row Id="9461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9279" CreationDate="2011-01-20T23:09:26.117" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The accents that are more likely to be kept in are the ones we're more familiar with. British kids are taught French so French words are almost never changed. Latin-based alphabets that the country is not familiar with, such as Scandinavian languages are more likely to be changed, either to french style or none.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3826" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T23:09:26.117" />
  <row Id="9462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9406" CreationDate="2011-01-20T23:26:02.510" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also, it should be &lt;em&gt;principal&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;principle&lt;/em&gt;. The former refers, among other things, to the original amount deposited (as opposed to interest, etc.), which is what's being referred to here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T23:26:02.510" />
  <row Id="9463" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9466" CreationDate="2011-01-20T23:47:47.243" Score="2" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/9452/is-there-any-general-rule-of-thumb-that-can-be-followed-for-where-and-when-to-add/9458#9458&quot;&gt;an answer to another question&lt;/a&gt;, I erroneously said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Each sentence sentence normally be one complete thought, with a noun and a verb. You should generally not have two verbs per sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I was trying to say was that each sentence should have one... &quot;primary verb&quot;, but I'm looking for the actual term to describe this. I am sure &quot;primary verb&quot; is not it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example, user brilliant commented on that question and gave this example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As for those who like to place a lot of commas in the sentence and think that they do the right in acting that way, I would tell them that each sentence should be one complete thought, with a noun and a verb, and, therefore, there should be generally only one verb in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that sentence, there's a lot of verbs... What is the way to describe the verb &quot;would&quot;, as used in &quot;I would tell&quot;, and only that verb?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2259" LastEditorUserId="2259" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T03:35:23.807" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T03:35:23.807" Title="Is there a word for the &quot;primary&quot; verb in a clause?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9443" CreationDate="2011-01-20T23:47:50.503" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Remember though, that effect can be a verb too. It means to cause or implement. So in this case, it would still be a huge stretch to be correct (&quot;how does the census implement our district?&quot; no.) Affect can also be a noun, but it means emotion, so it's very rarely used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2776" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T23:47:50.503" />
  <row Id="9465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8972" CreationDate="2011-01-20T23:48:05.810" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Wayfinding&lt;/em&gt; maybe? Seems like it might be too general and isn't a sport like orienteering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2184" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T23:48:05.810" />
  <row Id="9466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9463" CreationDate="2011-01-20T23:51:54.157" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is called a &lt;em&gt;finite verb&lt;/em&gt;, as opposed to participles and infinitives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T00:51:44.947" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T00:51:44.947" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9467" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9469" CreationDate="2011-01-21T00:04:54.583" Score="7" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;If &lt;em&gt;apostrophe + s&lt;/em&gt; is the acceptable way of denoting a genitive in English, is it possible that possessive pronouns, such as &lt;em&gt;hers&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ours&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;yours&lt;/em&gt;, started life as possessive adjectives with &lt;em&gt;apostrophe + s&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g. &lt;em&gt;her's&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;our's&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;your's&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;their's&lt;/em&gt;? Perhaps, even &lt;em&gt;his'&lt;/em&gt; ?&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Its&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;my&lt;/em&gt; obviously stick out from this tempting pattern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any evidence that this might be the case, or is the &lt;em&gt;'s&lt;/em&gt; completely unrelated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastEditorUserId="3876" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T12:40:08.860" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T04:06:51.747" Title="Origins of possessive pronouns" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9468" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9472" CreationDate="2011-01-21T00:29:02.423" Score="4" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today’s New York Times reported a flamboyant dinner party hosted by President Obama to welcome President of China, Hu Jintao. According to the article, many outstanding figures of politics, business, sports, entertainment, and other fields were ‘on the list’ for the state dinner. Some ‘made the cut’. Some ‘made the list’. In this context, are ‘make the cut’ and ‘make the list’ exactly the same in meaning? Why don’t you simply say ‘[stay/survive] on the list‘? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter made the cut. So did Bill Clinton and his wife, the secretary of state. The heads of Microsoft, Boeing, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Walt Disney were on the list. So were the singer Barbra Streisand, the ice skater Michelle Kwan, the cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the architect Maya Lin and the fashion designer Vera Wang.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  But Fred P. Hochberg, the chairman of the Export-Import Bank, did not make the list for President Obama’s state dinner for President Hu Jintao of China, even though trade was a major theme of the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T10:45:30.917" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T15:58:31.607" Title="Do 'stay on the list', 'make the list' and 'make the cut' all have the same meaning?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9467" CreationDate="2011-01-21T00:42:36.093" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The possessive &lt;em&gt;'s&lt;/em&gt; comes from the masculine &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genitive_case&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;genitive case&lt;/a&gt; ending on &lt;em&gt;-es&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English_pronouns&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Old English&lt;/a&gt;. This means that you could say &quot;of [the] man&quot; by simply sticking &lt;em&gt;-es&lt;/em&gt; after &quot;man&quot;. The genitive case was often used to indicate the possessor of something. In German, the genitive case is still used, and it ends on &lt;em&gt;-(e)s&lt;/em&gt; for masculine and neuter singular words: &lt;em&gt;the man = der Mann; the man's house = des Mannes Haus.&lt;/em&gt; As you see, the genitive is also used with articles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt; in which most possessive pronouns end comes from the same genitive ending, either directly or indirectly by analogy. The genitives &lt;em&gt;his, whos&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;yours&lt;/em&gt; (plural) already existed in Middle English.&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English_pronouns&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt; It is conceivable that modern &lt;em&gt;hers&lt;/em&gt;, for example, which was something like &lt;em&gt;her&lt;/em&gt; in Middle English, was formed by analogy with the possessive pronoun &lt;em&gt;his&lt;/em&gt;, or by simply attaching the possessive &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt; to it, if that already functioned as a productive suffix. Note that the apostrophe is of later date than the possessive &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;: the possessive of &lt;em&gt;summer&lt;/em&gt; was simply &lt;em&gt;summers&lt;/em&gt; in the time of Shakespeare.&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxon_genitive&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T04:06:51.747" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T04:06:51.747" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9463" CreationDate="2011-01-21T01:00:21.060" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whoops! Erroneously is perhaps what you are looking for. To completely miss the point!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3881" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T01:00:21.060" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2208" CreationDate="2011-01-21T01:03:43.423" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's an interesting exercise in usability. Withdraw is reasonable, but I believe retract to be more accurate for the use-case. Remove brings with it an ambiguity with delete that will leave most users uncertain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite the incorrect use, Unpublish is almost certainly the right answer in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3880" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T01:03:43.423" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9468" CreationDate="2011-01-21T01:07:43.060" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Make the list&quot; and &quot;make the cut&quot; are interchangeable. &quot;Stay on the list&quot; probably derives from &quot;makes the list&quot; but it's not something I hear falling into the groove of a familiar expression. Sounds like someone avoided a cliché here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bonus extra: And for phrases of opposite meaning, a person who is &quot;on the bubble&quot; is in danger of getting cut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: &quot;Stay on the list&quot; implies that you've &quot;made the cut/made the list&quot; but are &quot;on the bubble.&quot; :=)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T15:58:31.607" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T15:58:31.607" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="9473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9468" CreationDate="2011-01-21T01:09:53.477" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The idea here is there were bars to be scaled in order to get invited to the presidential dinner party. Hence, it was difficult to &lt;em&gt;make the list&lt;/em&gt;. Indeed, there is an actual list of guests probably managed by White House staff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We also talk about &lt;em&gt;making the cut&lt;/em&gt;, because guest lists usually begin with many names but the number has to go down to something manageable, hence the &lt;em&gt;cut&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Stay on the list&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;survive on the list&lt;/em&gt; could make sense in this contest, but they are really not idiomatic, i.e. naturally used. In addition, they do not evoke the brutal nature of the intrigues behind these powerful dinner lists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T01:09:53.477" />
  <row Id="9474" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9475" CreationDate="2011-01-21T01:27:25.680" Score="9" ViewCount="418" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw an article titled &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/opinion/20kristof.html?ref=opinion&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;‘The Rise of Chinese Cheneys’&lt;/a&gt;, written by Nicholas Kristof, with a lead copy &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;China today resembles the Bush era in America: Hard-liners are ascendant. Brace yourself&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in today's New York Times.&#xA;I know the meaning of 'Brace for.' But as I was uncertain about the meaning of 'Brace Yourself,' I consulted with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=brace+yourself&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Urban dictionary&lt;/a&gt;, which defines it as ‘Prepare yourself mentally or emotionally for hearing something unpleasant, out of place or inappropriate.’&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in this particular case, what does ‘Brace yourself’ mean? Is the author casting this word to Chinese, or Americans?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, I found really amusing phrases ‘panda-huggers’ and ‘panda-muggers’ in relation with 'yin' and 'yang' concept in this article, which might not be any new to you, but new to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Chinese-American relations are deeply strained and likely to get worse. American opinion tends to be divided between panda-huggers (‘China is fabulous!’) and panda-muggers (‘China is evil!’), but the truth lies between this yin and yang.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T14:37:18.597" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:37:18.597" Title="What does ‘Brace yourself’ really mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9474" CreationDate="2011-01-21T01:32:47.123" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To brace means &quot;make (a structure) stronger or firmer with wood, iron, or other forms of support&quot; (Webster's). So it means get ready to withstand some kind of extra stress. &quot;Brace yourself&quot; is a very common English expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T01:32:47.123" />
  <row Id="9476" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-21T02:39:46.100" Score="2" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey,&#xA;I'm watching a TV show, and there's a sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I knew giving you that book was gonna come back and bite me in the ass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I change it to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I know gave you that book was gonna come back and bite me in the ass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2332" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T03:55:26.733" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T11:44:02.480" Title="What's different between the two sentences?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;tense&gt;&lt;construction&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9476" CreationDate="2011-01-21T02:43:15.633" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. The phrase &quot;giving you that book&quot; is the subject of the clause. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T02:43:15.633" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9474" CreationDate="2011-01-21T03:06:27.937" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;China today resembles the Bush era in America: Hard-liners are ascendant. Brace yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key to your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;However, in this particular case, what does 'Brace yourself' mean? Is the author casting this word to Chinese, or Americans?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;lies in these portions of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/opinion/20kristof.html?ref=opinion&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; (emphases mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My take is that China is going through a period resembling the &lt;em&gt;Bush era&lt;/em&gt; in the United States: &lt;em&gt;hawks&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;hard-liners&lt;/em&gt; have gained ground in domestic politics, and they scoff at the country’s diplomats as wimps. China’s foreign ministry seems barely a player.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  …&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The upshot is that &lt;em&gt;China-Firsters&lt;/em&gt; — Chinese versions of &lt;em&gt;Dick Cheney&lt;/em&gt; — have a greater voice. Brace yourself.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kristof's point is that regardless of whatever goodwill China's leaders in contact with the outside world (president, prime minister, diplomats, etc.) try to garner, powerful domestic elements (&lt;em&gt;hawks&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;hard-liners&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Cheneys&lt;/em&gt;, etc.) are at play behind the scenes and the significant influence they wield within China will have external ripple effects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, the subject of Kristof's final sentence, &quot;Brace yourself&quot;, could be ambiguous. On the one hand, one could argue that he is referring to Americans, in general, warning them to get ready for the onslaught of the &lt;em&gt;Chinese Cheneys&lt;/em&gt; who are gaining strength with each passing day. On the other hand, the subject of the sentence could be the reader of the article, whoever the reader is. (I favor this line of thought.) Thus, whether you are Chinese, American, Brazilian, etc., well, brace yourself, anyway, for the impact of the &lt;em&gt;China-Firsters&lt;/em&gt; on whatever corner of the globe you inhabit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Brace yourself&lt;/em&gt; can also be read as &lt;em&gt;steel yourself&lt;/em&gt; (although &lt;em&gt;steel yourself&lt;/em&gt; is not as idiomatic an expression). Here are the relevant definitions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;brace&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;em&gt;verb&lt;/em&gt;) — prepare (someone or oneself) for something difficult or unpleasant&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;steel&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;em&gt;verb&lt;/em&gt;) — mentally prepare (oneself) to &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;face&lt;/em&gt; something difficult &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;— &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary (2nd Edition)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another related phrase is &lt;em&gt;brace up&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;brace up&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;em&gt;phrasal verb&lt;/em&gt;) — be strong or courageous   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;— &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary (2nd Edition)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You know you are bracing yourself whenever you do any of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;arch your back&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;breathe in and out slowly and deeply&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;clasp your hands&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;close your eyes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;crack your knuckles and steel your nerves&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;grab a hold of your body or nearby object&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hold another hand tightly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;make a low whistling sound&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;make your posture erect&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tighten your face into a grimace&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tighten your fist&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tighten your jaw&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;say, &quot;OK, let's do this!&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stiffen your neck&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wrinkle your forehead, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One example, for brevity's sake:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We're going down, mate. Brace yourself for the impact!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I would recommend that you consult &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Merriam-Webster&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster Online&lt;/a&gt; whenever you need to find the meaning of a word or phrase, especially in American usage. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Urban Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; is great for streetwise lingo, slang, colloquialisms and newly-coined terms, but it is not a standard dictionary, in that its content is user-generated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T03:49:40.707" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T03:49:40.707" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9479" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9518" CreationDate="2011-01-21T03:44:32.940" Score="16" ViewCount="572" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi, silly question, and I'm not sure this is even necessarily the right forum, but it's the most appropriate on StackExchange, so here we are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is it, in older books, that years are sometimes redacted and replaced with a dash when writing the date in letters and so forth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an example, from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/84/pg84.txt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mary Shelley's Frankenstein&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Letter 1&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;St. Petersburgh, Dec. 11th, &lt;strong&gt;17--&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;TO Mrs. Saville, England&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You will rejoice to hear that no&#xA;  disaster has accompanied...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen this in many (mostly older) books, and my only hypothesis is that it is/was a fashionable attempt to try not to make the book seem outdated quite so quickly; or as a sort of faux attempt to feign respect for privacy, within the world of the novel itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a similar vein, in Frankenstein, several curse words (&lt;em&gt;D--n&lt;/em&gt;) are also redacted.  I assume this is a sort of Victorian modesty in not printing profanity, but if I'm wrong, I'd love to be corrected on that, as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: I just received this back from the reference librarian (libraries are so great!):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It seems that there is no definitive&#xA;  explanation, but several explanations&#xA;  seem to come up over and over again. &#xA;  I am including the best of what I&#xA;  found online, rather than some of the&#xA;  random information that is posted&#xA;  (though, I will include one online&#xA;  discussion that might be interesting&#xA;  for you all the same).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;From author John Barth:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.colby.edu/~isadoff/ss/barth.doc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.colby.edu/~isadoff/ss/barth.doc&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;  &quot;Initials, blanks, or both were often&#xA;  substituted for proper names in&#xA;  nineteenth century fiction to enhance&#xA;  the illusion of reality. It is as if&#xA;  the author felt it necessary to delete&#xA;  the names for reasons of tact or legal&#xA;  liability. Interestingly, as with&#xA;  other aspects of realism, it is an&#xA;  illusion that is being enhanced, by&#xA;  purely artificial means.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Electronic Labyrinth: Postmodernism and the Postmodern Novel&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://elab.eserver.org/hfl0256.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://elab.eserver.org/hfl0256.html&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;  &quot;... a literary convention of the time&#xA;  when many books and pamphlets were&#xA;  written criticising the government of&#xA;  the day, or important figures, by&#xA;  using false names... Some rather&#xA;  scurrilous stories were also printed&#xA;  which were thinly veiled parodies or&#xA;  criticisms of important figures. So&#xA;  when Jane Austen wrote the&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;_&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;shire regiment, or the Earl of&lt;/em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;_&lt;/strong&gt;, she was a)avoiding the&#xA;  pitfall of being accused of inaccuracy&#xA;  and b) avoiding the pitfall of being&#xA;  accused of criticism of some important&#xA;  political figures.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here is that discussion I mentioned:&#xA;  Republic of Pemberley Archive: More or&#xA;  less:&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pemberley.com/bin/archives/regarc1.pl?read=9221&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.pemberley.com/bin/archives/regarc1.pl?read=9221&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here is one more online discussion&#xA;  with a very nice and referenced&#xA;  answer, though the source page is no&#xA;  longer available.  It discusses the&#xA;  use of this convention in epistolary&#xA;  novels (novels written in the form of&#xA;  letters):&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://answerpool.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/436601891/m/6931055141&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://answerpool.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/436601891/m/6931055141&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I think a couple of these links came up in the answers below, I'm just going to upvote them all and mark as answered the closest one (not that it was a quiz; but there were many good suggestions, and I can only mark one as the answer...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you to everyone for the great ideas and discussion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3883" LastEditorUserId="3883" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T02:41:57.367" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T02:41:57.367" Title="Why, in old books, are dates often given with the years redacted? [updated]" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;date&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9480" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-21T03:57:12.550" Score="2" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear phrases like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I very almost fell over! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;often and to me they sound awkward. Is the word, &quot;very&quot;, wrong, just superfluous or completely valid? Should this wording be avoided?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3272" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T04:00:32.090" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T07:21:36.247" Title="Is it wrong to say &quot;very almost&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5681" CreationDate="2011-01-21T04:12:52.243" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/memento&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;memento&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;an object or item that serves to remind one of a person, past event, etc.; keepsake; souvenir. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T04:12:52.243" />
  <row Id="9482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9433" CreationDate="2011-01-21T04:28:38.597" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;typo&quot; is also used as a euphemism for any kind of writing error, especially for grammar errors, because hitting the wrong key is much less humiliating than making an error in grammar. It can be a subtle way of teaching someone a rule of grammar, assuming that he will think &quot;huh?&quot; and look it up if the rule is not mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T04:28:38.597" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5681" CreationDate="2011-01-21T04:29:02.133" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Presupposition:  A memorial is a device for preserving memories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hinging on the above requirement, I would say that, by definition, it does have to be negative.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it's a memory, then it no longer exists.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it's a memory worth preserving, then it's a positive memory.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Therefore, since it's a positive memory that no longer exists: it is negative.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;QED&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3294" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T04:29:02.133" />
  <row Id="9484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9480" CreationDate="2011-01-21T04:32:13.100" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I very nearly fell over!&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but to say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I very almost fell over!&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;will brand you as very nearly a beginning speaker of English. This is a bit harsh for English learners, since &lt;em&gt;nearly&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;almost&lt;/em&gt; mean almost the same thing. But that's how it goes sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T04:32:13.100" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9480" CreationDate="2011-01-21T04:33:09.480" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider the relevant definitions of the adverbs, &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;almost&lt;/em&gt;, from the New Oxford American Dictionary (2nd Edition):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; — in a high degree&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;almost&lt;/strong&gt; — not quite; very nearly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, it is standard to modify one adverb with another. Examples: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt;: He dragged the chair very slowly across the room.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;so&lt;/em&gt;: Why must she leave so soon?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;almost:&lt;/em&gt; We are almost there.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;too:&lt;/em&gt; By the time we got there, we knew we'd come too late.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your example, however, &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;almost&lt;/em&gt; modify &lt;em&gt;over&lt;/em&gt;. There are certainly several instances in English where two adverbs (modifiers) modify a third. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;so very:&lt;/em&gt; Why must she go so very fast?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;almost too:&lt;/em&gt; She hit me almost too hard; I nearly passed out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;far too:&lt;/em&gt; You went far too easy on her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some other constructions, especially those containing &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;so&lt;/em&gt;, could be considered colloquial and not suitable in formal writing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;so very:&lt;/em&gt; That was so very good!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;way too:&lt;/em&gt; His speech was way too boring! (Actually informal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the construction, &lt;em&gt;very almost&lt;/em&gt; is probably the most unidiomatic of these informal expressions, especially considering the fact that &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; is already in the definition of &lt;em&gt;almost&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I &lt;em&gt;almost&lt;/em&gt; fell over.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I &lt;em&gt;very nearly&lt;/em&gt; fell over.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I &lt;em&gt;very almost&lt;/em&gt; fell over. [?]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I &lt;em&gt;very, very nearly&lt;/em&gt; fell over. [Better, but overly informal]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These days, the overuse of &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; is rightly frowned upon. It is not a bad idea to stay away from &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; and try to use more descriptive language. Certainly, use &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; as often as you want, but note that &lt;em&gt;very almost&lt;/em&gt; is quite unidiomatic in regular formal and semi-formal usage. It may well be more of a regionalism than anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T05:45:32.290" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T05:45:32.290" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-21T05:21:04.660" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="9486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9430" CreationDate="2011-01-21T05:06:22.573" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;How they are spoken&quot; is a clause of manner or an interrogative clause, subordinate to the preposition &quot;on&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;On how they are spoken&quot; is then a prepositional phrase. As an alternative, you could say that &quot;how they are spoken&quot; is a noun clause that is the object of &quot;depending on&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to &quot;depending on how they are spoken&quot;. It is not a clause: it merely contains a clause. If you take &quot;depending on&quot; as a preposition, it is a prepositional phrase expressing a condition or something like that. Or could it be regarded as a participial phrase? Consider this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The age of your date? She may be old or young, depending on&#xA;  what you filled in as a preference on&#xA;  the site—don't you remember?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suppose &quot;depending&quot; were a participle. Then it could be rephrased thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A. She may be old or young, while she&#xA;  depends on what you filled in...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This does not make much sense. A better rephrasing would be this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;B. She may be old or young, which depends&#xA;  on what you filled in...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems clear that &quot;depending&quot; is not a participle, or it would have belonged to the subject &quot;she&quot;. Therefore it must be a preposition here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your example would give this, if it were taken as a participle:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A. Both can be quite strong, as they&#xA;  depend on how they are spoken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or it could be a preposition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;B. Both can be quite strong, which&#xA;  depends on how they are spoken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first interpretation is not entirely impossible, but I'd call it weak at best; the second one sounds much better. Therefore it is best considered a preposition here, which makes the whole phrase an adverbial adjunct of condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T05:06:22.573" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9487" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9488" CreationDate="2011-01-21T05:39:57.973" Score="8" ViewCount="246" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that the question has eventually become a series of questions....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question 1&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example goes as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The&lt;/strong&gt; 1st and &lt;strong&gt;(the)&lt;/strong&gt; 2nd paragraphs of the article are extremely long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it necessary to use &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;()&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Answer&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;contributed by &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/100/waiwai933&quot;&gt;waiwai933&lt;/a&gt; &amp;amp; further explained by &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/2972/tragicomic&quot;&gt;Tragicomic&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, repeating the word &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; before items in a list list is not necessary.  This is because &lt;em&gt;first&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;second&lt;/em&gt; are adjectives modifying a common plural noun (&lt;em&gt;paragraphs&lt;/em&gt;). Think of &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; as being distributed across all the elements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are some exceptions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first paragraph, which is the funniest paragraph of the article, and &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; second paragraph is extremely long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, the &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; is necessary because you've entered and exited a dependent clause, which the &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; cannot distribute across.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question 2&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What are &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; situation, &lt;strong&gt;(the)&lt;/strong&gt; task and &lt;strong&gt;(the)&lt;/strong&gt; result of your story?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Answer&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;contributed by &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/2972/tragicomic&quot;&gt;Tragicomic&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the articles are needed since we are talking about separate coordinate nouns. However, if the coordinate nouns made up a single idea, we would not need an article for each of the nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Additional notes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We would not need an article for each of the nouns when the separate nouns combine to form one single idea. A common example is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The officer and gentleman escorted the lady to the car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The officer and the gentleman escorted the lady to the car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second sentence would mean that there were two persons escorting the lady to the car, while in the first one there was just one person (who is an officer &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; a gentleman) as the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; can also be important while using adjectives with non-count nouns. Another common example is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would like to buy the red, blue and yellow cloth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would like to buy the red, the blue, and the yellow cloth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since &lt;em&gt;cloth&lt;/em&gt; cannot be used in the plural, it is the definite article &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; that tells us whether I would like to buy cloth that is red, blue and yellow, or three separate pieces of cloth (one red, one blue and one yellow).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastEditorUserId="3812" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T03:35:15.827" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T03:35:15.827" Title="Is it necessary to use &quot;the&quot; multiple times?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;articles&gt;&lt;definite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9487" CreationDate="2011-01-21T05:59:09.313" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, repeating the word &quot;the&quot; before items in a list list is not necessary. Think of &quot;the&quot; as being distributed across all the elements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are some exceptions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first paragraph, which is the funniest paragraph of the article, and &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; second paragraph are extremely long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, the &quot;the&quot; is necessary because you've entered and exited a dependent clause, which the &quot;the&quot; cannot distribute across. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, if it might be confusing to a reader or listener, include the word &quot;the&quot;. Similarly, if it would be distracting, omit it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T05:59:09.313" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9479" CreationDate="2011-01-21T06:08:36.263" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed the same happen with names, especially with an elevated title. My feeling was that this was to preserved modesty, or to avoid embarrassment, while &lt;em&gt;appearing&lt;/em&gt; to be based in the real world. I guess that the style of writing is reporting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having read your question, and being reminded of seeing dates, erm, covered, it's possible that the author has the opposite concern- that the text will be read as fact, and the author needs to conceal information to remove it from reality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3885" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T06:08:36.263" />
  <row Id="9490" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9492" CreationDate="2011-01-21T06:19:20.543" Score="2" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does &quot;to be on the rise&quot; have any other meaning besides &quot;to start&quot;, &quot;to begin&quot; and &quot;to be getting momentum&quot;?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T08:07:07.367" Title="Does &quot;to be on the rise&quot; have any other meaning besides &quot;to start&quot;, &quot;to begin&quot; and &quot;to be getting momentum&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="9491" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9495" CreationDate="2011-01-21T06:26:09.280" Score="2" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the lyrics, some pieces I couldn't understand very well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Shakey wake up thirsty from a night in the bar &lt;br&gt;&#xA;     And snake hips Joe is Mr. Cool&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's &lt;code&gt;snake hips&lt;/code&gt;? And, does the name &lt;code&gt;Joe&lt;/code&gt; have a special meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Out on the boulevard &lt;br&gt;&#xA;     The pimp from the Jack of Diamonds&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess &lt;code&gt;Jack of Diamonds&lt;/code&gt; is somewhere similar to Casino, yes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Just got another Jane Doe &lt;br&gt;&#xA;     She just got off the last bus from Montecedo&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why &lt;code&gt;Jane Doe&lt;/code&gt;? Is the guy very special?&#xA;And where is &lt;code&gt;Montecedo&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sailor boys find trouble in the alien state &lt;br&gt;&#xA;     It's one on one from Las Palmas to the Golden Gate &lt;br&gt;&#xA;     Fly boys on the corner waiting for a ride &lt;br&gt;&#xA;     For twenty bucks he'll pull the cork on the man inside&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why &lt;code&gt;on the corner&lt;/code&gt;, but not &lt;code&gt;in the corner&lt;/code&gt;? And what means &lt;code&gt;waiting for a ride&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also confused with the phrase &lt;code&gt;pull the cork on the man inside&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;`Cause we're rolling in heavy traffic &lt;br&gt;&#xA;     Judy's in the jump seat and Jody's in the bucket &lt;br&gt;&#xA;     Billy likes to drive and Jackie's just high &lt;br&gt;&#xA;     And Cindy thinks we're all gonna commit suicide&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to understand the word &lt;code&gt;rolling&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;`Cause we're rolling in heavy traffic &lt;br&gt;&#xA;     Yeah we're rolling in heavy traffic&#xA;     &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;     Mack he's got his Marlboros tucked up in his sleeve &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FWIK, Marlboro is a brand of cigarette, yet? But how do Mack hidden Marlboro in his sleeve?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He's shacked up in his basement making P.C.P. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;     He used to shake the french fries&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What P.C.P was Mack making?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Down on 12th and Maine &lt;br&gt;&#xA;     And now he stays up nights on apple juice and cocaine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to understand &lt;code&gt;Down on 12th&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know I have got too many questions, but any help pointing out answers is appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="229" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T09:56:42.977" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T09:56:42.977" Title="What's the deep meaning in the lyrics of &quot;Heavy Traffic&quot; by Elton John?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;lyrics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9490" CreationDate="2011-01-21T06:29:49.470" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A different shade of meaning than 'gaining momentum' would be improving, advancing or gaining in some desirable trait.  &quot;My fortune is on the rise&quot; -&gt; my situation is improving.  &quot;His star was on the rise&quot; -&gt; he was becoming more famous.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I don't associate it with &quot;starting&quot; or &quot;beginning&quot;, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T06:39:00.973" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T06:39:00.973" />
  <row Id="9493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9490" CreationDate="2011-01-21T06:30:33.140" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I never really thought of it as a metaphor for beginning - rather, it is simply a statement that your fortunes (or those of the subject) are improving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T06:30:33.140" />
  <row Id="9494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9490" CreationDate="2011-01-21T08:07:07.367" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'to be on the rise' is a phrase for indicating progress, particularly in a way that catches attention and evokes admiration or jealousy or other emotions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1084" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T08:07:07.367" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-21T08:07:07.367" />
  <row Id="9495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9491" CreationDate="2011-01-21T08:45:29.910" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Jack of diamonds&lt;/em&gt; is also a playing card. There are four suits: hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades. &lt;em&gt;Jack&lt;/em&gt; is the card between a 10 and a queen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Jane Doe&lt;/em&gt; means unknown female person; &lt;em&gt;John Doe&lt;/em&gt; is the male equivalent. It means she is a small town girl from some backwater village.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tough guys used to roll their sleeves and put a cigarette box into the wrap, so that the box is next to biceps muscles. Google &quot;cigarette rolled in sleeve&quot; for pictures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;PCP&lt;/em&gt;, aka &lt;em&gt;Angel Dust&lt;/em&gt; is hallucinogenic drug. &lt;em&gt;Shaking french fries&lt;/em&gt; means that Mack used to work in a fast-food restaurant, which usually is poorly paid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Down on 12th&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;12th street&lt;/em&gt;. In the United States, streets often are numbered instead of having &quot;real&quot; names.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3893" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T09:52:59.660" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T09:52:59.660" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9479" CreationDate="2011-01-21T08:46:00.463" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Omitting the profanity is almost certainly Victorian modesty&lt;sup&gt;[citation-needed]&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Omitting the year is most likely a mechanism to not tie the story to a particular year&lt;sup&gt;[citation-needed]&lt;/sup&gt;. One sees something similar in some movies that declare the time frame to be &quot;Present Day&quot; or &quot;Near Future&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2385" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T08:46:00.463" />
  <row Id="9497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9448" CreationDate="2011-01-21T09:09:35.593" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no hard rule on that, you need to refer to the style guide for your target audience (newspaper, academia, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3895" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T09:09:35.593" />
  <row Id="9498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9479" CreationDate="2011-01-21T09:12:56.243" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does'nt apply to fiction works, but in some cases... to protect privacy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3895" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T09:12:56.243" />
  <row Id="9499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9491" CreationDate="2011-01-21T09:46:09.010" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Snake hips' is a term describing someone who is a good dancer, specifically because they are flexible. It is a kind of joke because snakes, of course, don't have hips. I don't think 'Joe' has any special significance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Jack of Diamonds' is probably the name of a club or casino, yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'On the corner' refers to the corner of a street. So they're waiting 'on the street corner'. 'In the corner' would mean they were indoors, in the corner of a room, say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Rolling in heavy traffic' simply means driving in heavy traffic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anonymous has answered the others admirably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T09:46:09.010" />
  <row Id="9500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9479" CreationDate="2011-01-21T09:50:42.223" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some (cheap?) writers still do similar things. For example, in one book of a German “mass production” author, the following dialog takes place:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Where are you from?” she asked.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  “I’m from …”, and he told her the name of the city.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I read this I was taken aback by how clumsy that sounded (in particular since this information played absolutely no role later on). And yet this style of obfuscating place names permeates all his books.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most plausible explanation I could think of was that this should make the books seem “more intimate” because their lack of precision could place them in which ever city the reader was coming from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rationale is essentially the same as your conjecture that years were redacted “not to make the book seem outdated” so I would support your hypothesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1637" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T09:50:42.223" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9501" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9502" CreationDate="2011-01-21T11:05:07.443" Score="3" ViewCount="237" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few examples of pairs of words ending with &lt;em&gt;-ee/-er&lt;/em&gt; like &lt;em&gt;employee&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;employer&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;advisee&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;adviser&lt;/em&gt;. What I was curious about is if there was any rule that would describe the relationship of the objects in a pair like this and situations when it's appropriate to create a counterpart for a given word. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll give you an example. It's relatively common in the computer programming world to see the word &lt;em&gt;dragee&lt;/em&gt;, which describes an object that is being dragged with a mouse. I understand that this is a relatively new word and could not be found in any dictionary (I've tried). Is that acceptable to make up words like this one or is it just bad English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2641" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T12:58:12.820" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T13:24:33.637" Title="&quot;-ee&quot; and &quot;-er&quot; word endings." Tags="&lt;suffix&gt;&lt;rules&gt;&lt;ending&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9501" CreationDate="2011-01-21T11:09:41.650" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually &lt;em&gt;dragee&lt;/em&gt; is in the dictionary: it's a fruit or nut wrapped in sugar (a peanut M&amp;amp;M is a dragee). But anyway!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that if there are no existing words that fit the purpose (as in the case of a dragged object in computing), and the word 'sounds right', then there is no problem with neologising. After all, if no new words came along the language would never evolve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T11:09:41.650" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9476" CreationDate="2011-01-21T11:44:02.480" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess you are thinking that &quot;knew giving&quot; is some funny sort of compound verb, and wanting to move the past tense within it; but that's not how the sentence is structured. &#xA;There is an omitted &quot;that&quot; (which can often be done in colloquial English), so the structure is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I knew [that [giving you that book] was ... ]&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T11:44:02.480" />
  <row Id="9504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9433" CreationDate="2011-01-21T12:10:45.467" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say &quot;Copy-edit&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Extra text to make my answer long enough to be accepted)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T12:10:45.467" />
  <row Id="9505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9480" CreationDate="2011-01-21T12:24:37.983" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never heard &quot;very almost&quot;, and would find it odd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which makes me wonder if you are in another part of the world, where perhaps it is more common? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T12:24:37.983" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9479" CreationDate="2011-01-21T12:38:28.063" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this is merely a convention of fiction, which doesn't happen to be common any more. It may be, as some have suggested in comments, that it is a device that makes the work appear more like &lt;em&gt;reportage&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;em&gt;Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid&lt;/em&gt;, Douglas Hofstadter spends several pages considering the translation of a single street name from a Russian novel (&lt;em&gt;Crime and Punishment&lt;/em&gt; I think, but I may be misremembering). The street name is given as an initial, but he states that in this case it would have been obvious to anybody who knew St Petersburg which street it was. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If Hofstadter is right then in that case the device was used to remove specificity so the author did not commit himself to that particular street but anybody in the know would realise. But often (as with years) it does not appear to be hiding a specific year, but on the contrary suggesting to the reader that there is a specific year even though there need not be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T12:38:28.063" />
  <row Id="9507" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9508" CreationDate="2011-01-21T12:40:45.860" Score="6" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;A discussion of machinery today set me wondering why it is called &quot;plant&quot;? Is there some metaphor I am missing out on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T13:12:00.600" Title="Why is heavy machinery called &quot;plant&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9507" CreationDate="2011-01-21T12:47:36.083" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dictionary suggests:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ORIGIN Old English &lt;em&gt;plante&lt;/em&gt; [seedling,] &lt;em&gt;plantian&lt;/em&gt; (verb), from Latin &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;planta ‘sprout, cutting’&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (later influenced by French &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;plante&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;) and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;plantare ‘plant, fix in a place.’&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My suggestion: It's simply a very big thing which can hardly be moved and hence behaves like a &lt;em&gt;plant&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;something fixed in place&lt;/em&gt;; likely also closely related to the meaning of the verb, &lt;em&gt;&quot;to place or fix in a specific position.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="583" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T12:47:36.083" />
  <row Id="9509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9501" CreationDate="2011-01-21T12:49:34.093" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general the suffix &quot;-ee&quot; is productive, and usually has the meaning of &quot;person to which &lt;em&gt;xxx&lt;/em&gt; is done&quot; - I find &quot;dragee&quot; a little strange because it is not a person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But beware: there are a few words where the &quot;-ee&quot; denotes the person who does rather than the person who is done to. A prominent example is &quot;attendee&quot;, but also &quot;returnee&quot;. I think this use arises only where there isn't a prominent object for the verb, because then that meaning would compete for xxx-ee. (&quot;Attend&quot; is transitive, and has as its object the meeting or event; but there is no need for a word &quot;attendee&quot; to mean the meeting or event, which is why I think it has come into use for a person attending.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a linguistics point of view this observation is interesting because the words that take &quot;-ee&quot; seem to be grammatical &lt;em&gt;patients&lt;/em&gt; - those who undergo an experience as opposed to those who perform actions. English has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative-accusative_language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nominative-accusative&lt;/a&gt; system, in which there role is expressed by distinct grammatical constructs; but in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergative%E2%80%93absolutive_language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ergative&lt;/a&gt; languages, this is generally the role marked by the absolutive case. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T12:49:34.093" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9510" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9519" CreationDate="2011-01-21T12:57:38.500" Score="1" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read this phrase somewhere. If I remember correctly, it was &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At the cost of giving expression to the obvious (or truism), I'd suggest that ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it mean that the author wants to emphasise the fact that what he is saying is already a well established fact?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this phrase grammatically correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2005" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T13:00:43.020" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T14:02:31.540" Title="&quot;At the cost of giving expression to the obvious...&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9507" CreationDate="2011-01-21T12:57:46.973" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect it could also stem from the fact that another word for a factory is a plant (e.g. a power plant), the etymology of which is as deceze suggests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The term could then have evolved to refer to the machinery either produced by or used in the plant ('I'm here to repair the plant machinery'), which was then shortened to give 'plant'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T12:57:46.973" />
  <row Id="9512" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9514" CreationDate="2011-01-21T13:00:07.017" Score="4" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're looking out of the window of a moving train and at things as they go by (rather than a single object that you're leaving behind), your eyes appear to be flickering. There's a specific term for this.. which I can't remember!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastEditorUserId="3876" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T13:09:08.397" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T13:09:08.397" Title="What's the term for flickering eye movement..." Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;foreign-words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9510" CreationDate="2011-01-21T13:00:21.353" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, he means 'without wanting to say what is already obvious'. A more common way of saying it is 'without wanting to state the obvious'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's mostly correct, but the '(or truism)' seems wrong. I would've said '(or true)'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T13:00:21.353" />
  <row Id="9514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9512" CreationDate="2011-01-21T13:01:50.213" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Saccades, I believe. You can also have 'micro-saccades' which are what the eye does to maintain a constant image; you'd be blind otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T13:01:50.213" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9507" CreationDate="2011-01-21T13:12:00.600" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=plant&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;suggests&lt;/a&gt; that it's a &lt;em&gt;plant&lt;/em&gt; because it was &lt;em&gt;planted&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The verb, &quot;put in the ground to grow,&quot; is O.E. &lt;em&gt;plantian&lt;/em&gt;, from L. &lt;em&gt;plantare&lt;/em&gt;, from &lt;em&gt;planta&lt;/em&gt;. Most extended usages are from the verbal sense. Sense of a building &quot;planted&quot; or begun for an industrial process is first attested 1789.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T13:12:00.600" />
  <row Id="9516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9479" CreationDate="2011-01-21T13:23:15.613" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It was an attempt to make it look as if the letter was somewhat anonymized, suggesting the letter was an actual letter and that the book is in fact an account of real events.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, if the author makes an attempt to conceal part of the data, supposedly to protect the privacy of the people involved, it makes them more real in the reader's mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the opposite of the traditional warning &quot;The characters in this ... are purely fictional and any similarity with real...&quot; (which typically means that the characters are in fact very much real and might sue the author).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another reason is to prevent people from tracking accurately the sequence of events and thereby avoid potential inconsistencies. For instance, if 50 pages later on you get a newspaper clipping dated December 9th, 1798 you will be unable to ascertain if the events reported occurred a couple days before the letter or years later. By not giving precise dates, the author keeps the reader from guessing too much of the plot ahead of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3902" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T13:23:15.613" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9501" CreationDate="2011-01-21T13:24:33.637" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use the -er/-ee combination on pretty much any verb, as long as it's easily understood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The example &lt;em&gt;dragee&lt;/em&gt; is perhaps not very well suited for this form, as it can be confused with an existing word, and because the result isn't so clearly understood as &lt;em&gt;drager&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;dragger&lt;/em&gt;?) isn't a well know usage either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favorite usage of this is in a conversion from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118276/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Buffy&lt;/a&gt;. The -ee suffix is quite elegantly used to express &lt;em&gt;&quot;You are the vampire, and I am going to kill you just like I have killed all the other vampires. That's what I do.&quot;&lt;/em&gt; in a single word:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Vampire: -- Slayer!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Buffy: -- Slayee!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T13:24:33.637" />
  <row Id="9518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9479" CreationDate="2011-01-21T13:48:27.117" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Austen, Bronte, and others used this device also for names of people and places and even regiment names (Austen). Why would they do this? To avoid accusations of inaccuracy (perhaps the author is taking liberties with historical facts for the purpose of the story), or even libel. I found this on a google answers forum:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's also a fall-out from a literary convention of the time when many&#xA;  books and pamphlets were written criticising the government of the&#xA;  day, or important figures, by using false names. Defoes' Gullivers&#xA;  Travels is possibly the best known of the earlier ones. Since the&#xA;  reporting of Parliamentary discussions was banned until about 1808, it&#xA;  had to be reported in newspapers under false names (and Samuel Johnson&#xA;  first did it by reporting the activities of the people of Lilliput!).&#xA;  Some rather scurrilous stories were also printed which were thinly&#xA;  veiled parodies or criticisms of important figures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also agree that with redacted dates, this would avoid tying the story to a particular time; obviously that becomes less effective as the centuries pass ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T13:48:27.117" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9510" CreationDate="2011-01-21T14:02:31.540" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is meant is that he is about to say something obvious, but which he feels should nevertheless be pointed out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One does not express the obvious in polite company as this suggests the audience is unable to see the obvious. The author acknowledges the rudeness of his statement, and asserts that it had to be said nevertheless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words: &quot;I apologize for pointing out something this obvious, but...&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;At the cost of&quot; or &quot;at the risk of&quot; means that the author realizes his statement comes with liability of some kind and is willing to make it nevertheless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;At the cost of being rude, I would like to point out that...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is why the word &quot;truism&quot; used: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Truism: &quot;A truism is a claim that is so obvious or self-evident as to be hardly worth mentioning, except as a reminder or as a rhetorical or literary device.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, adding &quot;or truism&quot; to the sentence means that the author expected his readers not to understand what he said, which is fairly bad form in my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3902" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T14:02:31.540" />
  <row Id="9520" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-21T14:04:13.300" Score="2" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are &quot;if&quot; and &quot;whether&quot; equivalent in sentences like the ones below?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Example 1&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How to determine if my saddle is too&#xA;  high?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How to determine whether my saddle is&#xA;  too high?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Example 2&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We should check if everything is okay&#xA;  now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We should check whether everything is&#xA;  okay now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="740" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T14:40:00.800" Title="When are &quot;if&quot; and &quot;whether&quot; equivalent?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9520" CreationDate="2011-01-21T14:11:37.500" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer is, yes, they are equivalent, simply because 'if' and 'whether' essentially mean the same thing in this regard. Both are used to introduce indirect questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To expand further, whether is also used to state a certainty:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'I'm marrying Zooey Deschanel whether or not my girlfriend likes it!'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T14:40:00.800" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="9522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9520" CreationDate="2011-01-21T14:17:59.633" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Whether&lt;/code&gt; is used to emphasis that one has two alternatives to pick from. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whether&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; gives two definitions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1. archaic : which one of the two &#xA;2. archaic : whichever one of the two&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the saddle example, there are three alternative results: too high, too low or just perfect. It doesn't make much sense to check the saddle for being too high and not caring about too low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3893" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T14:17:59.633" />
  <row Id="9523" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9527" CreationDate="2011-01-21T14:45:34.237" Score="2" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;Google returns results for both variations of this common phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;rlz=&amp;amp;=&amp;amp;q=bear+the+shame&amp;amp;btnG=Google+Search&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;oq=#hl=en&amp;amp;sugexp=ldymls&amp;amp;xhr=t&amp;amp;q=bear+the+shame&amp;amp;cp=4&amp;amp;pf=p&amp;amp;sclient=psy&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=bear+the+shame&amp;amp;pbx=1&amp;amp;fp=8ce0e008a607e93d&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bear the shame&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;amp;q=bare+the+shame&amp;amp;btnG=Search&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bare the shame&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of this phrase, and which one is correct?  Is the speaker &lt;em&gt;carrying&lt;/em&gt; their shame or are they &lt;em&gt;exposing&lt;/em&gt; it?  Or is this just a case of two separate meanings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1101" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T16:03:29.883" Title="Is it &quot;bear the shame&quot; or &quot;bare the shame&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;homophone&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9523" CreationDate="2011-01-21T14:54:56.450" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The common phrase is 'bear the shame', as in carrying the shame. The prevalance of 'bare' on Google is probably a result of misspelling. You would probably say something more like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He &lt;em&gt;laid&lt;/em&gt; bare the shame of corruption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T14:54:56.450" />
  <row Id="9525" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9531" CreationDate="2011-01-21T15:04:16.873" Score="15" ViewCount="641" Body="&lt;p&gt;When should I use &quot;eldest&quot; and when should I use &quot;oldest&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are the differences semantic or regional? (Or both?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(What got me wondering is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://download.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/util/LinkedHashMap.html#removeEldestEntry%28java.util.Map.Entry%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;code&gt;removeEldestEntry()&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/a&gt; method in Java's &lt;a href=&quot;http://download.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/util/LinkedHashMap.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;code&gt;LinkedHashMap&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/a&gt; class.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="793" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T16:12:40.913" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T22:11:12.923" Title="What's the difference between &quot;eldest&quot; and &quot;oldest&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="9526" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-21T15:04:28.653" Score="1" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm writing the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Women lead uptake at XX%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But a friend is saying that it should be written:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Women lead uptake with XX%.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3905" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T15:22:48.717" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T20:09:34.663" Title="Correct use of 'with' or 'at' when talking about percentages?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9523" CreationDate="2011-01-21T15:13:55.237" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, it helps to enclose the phrase in quotes when googling:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22bear+the+shame%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;bear the shame&quot;&lt;/a&gt; — 607,000&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22bare+the+shame%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;bare the shame&quot;&lt;/a&gt; — 83,400&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, having looked through the first 10 pages of the Google results for &quot;bare the shame&quot;, &lt;em&gt;exposing&lt;/em&gt; would not work in most of those contexts at all, it's quite obviously &lt;em&gt;carrying&lt;/em&gt;. And quite a few of those contexts feature extremely poor grammar and punctuation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, while the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; has 1 cite for &quot;bear the shame&quot;, and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; has 10, neither of them has a single cite for &quot;bare the shame&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to me, the answer is pretty clear: &quot;bare&quot; is simply a common misspelling of &quot;bear&quot;, whether in the context of this expression &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1269/is-it-bear-or-bare-with-me&quot;&gt;or elsewhere&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T15:42:13.630" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T15:42:13.630" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9525" CreationDate="2011-01-21T15:14:40.833" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are interchangeable, they both mean exactly the same thing. I think there is general tendency to use &lt;em&gt;eldest&lt;/em&gt; in relation to people, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John is my eldest son.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some reason&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John is my oldest son&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sounds wrong, almost like he's the son you've had for longest as opposed to him being the son with the greater age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T15:33:26.557" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9526" CreationDate="2011-01-21T15:18:46.647" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say 'with' is strictly correct: you are essentially shortening:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Women lead uptake with XX% &lt;em&gt;of the total&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That doesn't make sense with at:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Women lead uptake at XX% of the total&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T15:18:46.647" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9530" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-21T15:25:23.960" Score="0" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/660/if-i-was-or-if-i-were-which-is-more-common-and-which-is-correct&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;If I was&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;If I were&amp;rdquo;. Which is more common, and which is correct?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I say &quot;If I &lt;em&gt;were&lt;/em&gt; [something]&quot; or &quot;If I &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt; [something]?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This came up because I am writing a comment above a function in some code. Here's the comment, basically:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;// Shuts down everything&#xA;// Will stop the process if it was running&#xA;function Shutdown()&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So should that say &quot;if it &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt; running&quot; or &quot;if it &lt;em&gt;were&lt;/em&gt; running?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3236" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T16:07:52.023" ClosedDate="2011-01-21T18:06:23.997" Title="&quot;If it was&quot; or &quot;if it were&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9525" CreationDate="2011-01-21T15:38:44.043" Score="23" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indeed, both &lt;em&gt;eldest&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;oldest&lt;/em&gt; refer to the greatest in age. The crucial difference, however, lies in the fact that &lt;em&gt;eldest&lt;/em&gt; can only be used for &lt;em&gt;related&lt;/em&gt; persons, while &lt;em&gt;oldest&lt;/em&gt; can be used for &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; person, place or thing in a group of related or unrelated elements. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He is the eldest/oldest of the three children.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Mine is the &lt;del&gt;eldest&lt;/del&gt;/oldest car on the block.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;John is the eldest (&lt;em&gt;less common&lt;/em&gt;)/oldest student in my class.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She is the eldest (&lt;em&gt;less common&lt;/em&gt;)/oldest of my nieces.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;'Is New York the &lt;del&gt;eldest&lt;/del&gt;/oldest city in the US?'&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He's the eldest (&lt;em&gt;less common&lt;/em&gt;)/oldest in the brotherhood.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And while &lt;em&gt;eldest&lt;/em&gt; can be used for any group of related persons, in reality, it is mostly only used in reference to siblings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary (2nd Edition) definition of &lt;em&gt;eldest&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(of one out of a group of related or otherwise associated people) of the greatest age; oldest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T15:38:44.043" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="9532" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-21T15:38:58.690" Score="2" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi to all!! My first question here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering whether expressions like the ones in the tittle are just expressions or represent another thing in the english language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will give you some more examples so you can understand me. Very often I read sentences like these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When studying the brain waves of people in the flow, researchers find the slow alpha rhythms typical of meditation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When clicking the 'search button' I discovered a bug.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When playing soccer I feel good.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are above sentences well written?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know if this is a simple use of gerund or an expression and how to use it. After the 'when+gerund' part which verb tense can I use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3906" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T17:09:01.407" Title="Are expressions like &quot;When studying, When playing, ...&quot; just expressions or something more?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9530" CreationDate="2011-01-21T15:54:51.533" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;in grammatical term we should always use &quot;was&quot; for it, he, she or any name&#xA;so there we should use &quot;if it was running&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3908" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T15:54:51.533" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9523" CreationDate="2011-01-21T15:57:11.263" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something interesting to note. I don't have any verification of this, but I'm pretty sure the original root for this phrase is from the Bible. When Cain killed Abel and G-d chastised him, he (Cain) says &quot;גָּדוֹל עֲו‍ֹנִי, מִנְּשֹׂא&quot; (gadol avoni minso) - My sin is too great to bear. The word מִנְּשֹׂא (minso) literally means to carry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3585" LastEditorUserId="3585" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T16:03:29.883" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T16:03:29.883" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9536" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9537" CreationDate="2011-01-21T16:00:02.587" Score="3" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence is: &quot;I arrived NYC after 9 hour drive.&quot; What is the appropriate way to punctuate 9 hour? and whether it is &quot;x-hour&quot; vs &quot;x-hours&quot; or &quot;x hour&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(possible wrong tags)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1928" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T23:38:11.280" Title="Is it &quot;after 9-hour drive&quot; or &quot;after 9 hour drive&quot;?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="9537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9536" CreationDate="2011-01-21T16:03:40.273" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would be &quot;I arrived [in] NYC after [a] 9-hour drive.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that some stylesheets (AP, for example) require numbers under 11 to be spelled out: &quot;I arrived in NYC after a nine-hour drive.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T16:03:40.273" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="9538" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9543" CreationDate="2011-01-21T16:07:38.737" Score="7" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's an example of the phrase &quot;to boot&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My wife made a disgusting looking dinner, and it tasted awful to boot!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The implication of the &quot;to boot&quot; is that the fact that the dinner tasted awful was as disappointing (or perhaps more so) than the fact that it looked disgusting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a colloquial, possibly slang phrase, but I'd like to know what it's origin is, and whether it perhaps has other more esoteric uses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3320" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T16:18:03.290" Title="Why do we say &quot;to boot&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9530" CreationDate="2011-01-21T16:07:52.023" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your specific case, neither 'was' nor 'were' is best; you should say &quot;if it is running&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;If it were running&quot; is subjunctive case, used to describe hypothetical situations:  &quot;If it were running, I would stop it first, but it's already stopped.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;If it was running&quot; is a common corruption of subjunctive case, or, as described in the other questions, a way to express an option that occurred in the past.  In this case, using a continuous-action verb feels inappropriate; a discrete-action verb would fit better: &quot;If it was started, then we need to stop it.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you are describing a possible situation that exists in the present, though, the present tense is best.  &quot;If it is running, stop it.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T16:07:52.023" />
  <row Id="9540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9532" CreationDate="2011-01-21T16:10:17.390" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think verb 1 form + ing should be used when using &quot;when+gerund&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3908" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T16:10:17.390" />
  <row Id="9541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9532" CreationDate="2011-01-21T16:12:51.770" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those are not gerunds because you are not using the phrase as a noun. Here is a gerund phrase serving as the subject of a sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Playing soccer makes me feel good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your example is a participial phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When playing soccer I feel good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T16:12:51.770" />
  <row Id="9542" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-21T16:13:22.013" Score="0" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;How would you folks improve the following?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Memories&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some say memories are painful, &#xA;like ticks in your head, &#xA;never ceasing, always ticking&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some say memories are beautiful, &#xA;like oases in a desert,&#xA;always joyful, even in delusions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some say memories are sweet, &#xA;like an overdose of saccharine,&#xA;making the present, bland as grain&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rarest memories are of you, &#xA;like a scarlet rose in a sweet venus trap,&#xA;so painful, so gorgeous, never disappearing &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3909" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T16:13:22.013" ClosedDate="2011-01-21T16:27:06.647" Title="Making this poem better" Tags="&lt;poetry&gt;" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9538" CreationDate="2011-01-21T16:17:07.410" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nowadays, &quot;to boot&quot; is simply an idiomatic way of saying &quot;moreover, on top of that&quot; (see e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/to_boot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;). Originally, it comes from Old English &lt;em&gt;to bote&lt;/em&gt;. As &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=boot&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt; explains, in Old English &lt;em&gt;bot&lt;/em&gt; meant &quot;'help, relief, advantage; atonement,' literally 'a making better,'&quot; from Proto-Germanic *&lt;em&gt;boto&lt;/em&gt;, which is also where the word &lt;em&gt;better&lt;/em&gt; comes from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T16:17:07.410" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9538" CreationDate="2011-01-21T16:18:03.290" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that &lt;em&gt;to boot&lt;/em&gt; simply meens &lt;em&gt;in addition&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My wife made a disgusting looking dinner, and it tasted awful too!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The origin would be &lt;em&gt;bat&lt;/em&gt; meaning useful, so the original meaning would be used only in a positive sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/385450.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;phrases.org: to boot&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/to+boot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;thefreedictionary.com: to boot&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T16:18:03.290" />
  <row Id="9545" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9562" CreationDate="2011-01-21T16:48:30.683" Score="3" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &quot;economic&quot; and &quot;economical&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T23:25:27.603" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T23:25:27.603" Title="&quot;Economic&quot; vs. &quot;Economical&quot;" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;economics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="9546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9545" CreationDate="2011-01-21T17:03:59.330" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Economic is normally used to describe things of or having to do with economics or the economy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Economical is more in regards to thriftiness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in more than one source I saw them as definitions of each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3911" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T17:03:59.330" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9545" CreationDate="2011-01-21T17:07:41.433" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If something is economical, it saves money or resources. It's similar in meaning to &quot;not wasteful&quot;.&#xA;Exp:-An economical car uses a minimum amount of gasoline (petrol) to drive a maximum number of miles (kilometers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word economic is related to the economy or finances, money matters, or wealth.&#xA;Exp:-There was a rise in unemployment due to the economic downturn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3908" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T17:07:41.433" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9532" CreationDate="2011-01-21T17:09:01.407" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This typical construction is perfectly correct and frequently used. I believe it is usually considered an abbreviated form of the full adverbial clause &quot;when [they were] studying...&quot;: subject and auxiliary verb are simply left out because they can easily be inferred (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis_%28linguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ellipsis&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T17:09:01.407" />
  <row Id="9549" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9552" CreationDate="2011-01-21T17:21:28.570" Score="4" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed that the phrase 'one-act play' always uses a hyphen between 'one' and 'act'.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a grammar rule in play here, how does it work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2805" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T00:46:20.960" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T00:46:20.960" Title="Is there a grammar rule behind the hyphen in the phrase 'one-act play'?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;hyphen&gt;&lt;compounds&gt;&lt;modifiers&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9549" CreationDate="2011-01-21T17:30:29.303" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;see this and get your answer why &quot;one-act play&quot; uses a hyphen &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/hyphens.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/hyphens.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3908" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T17:30:29.303" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="9551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9279" CreationDate="2011-01-21T17:43:41.980" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The decision to transliterate or not depends on the original language. Russian, Sanskrit, and Ancient Greek are Indo-European languages that are usually transliterated. However, commentaries on original texts often do not transliterate. Some writers use both original and transliterated texts (Jacob Klein's &lt;em&gt;A Commentary On Plato's Meno&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3913" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T17:43:41.980" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9549" CreationDate="2011-01-21T17:50:12.847" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That link Vikas gave was dead for me, so I'll explain it in short. Whenever an adjective consists of more than one word, and comes before the noun it belongs to, it should get a hyphen. This is done to make it easier for the reader. In your example, without the hyphen, it would be an act play, and just one such play—which doesn't make sense—instead of a play of one act, which is what you mean. While it may not be a problem in this case, it can be in others; and if we are not consistent, we cannot use hyphen-or-no-hyphen as a significant marker in all cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T17:50:12.847" />
  <row Id="9553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9526" CreationDate="2011-01-21T18:10:58.527" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;with&quot; means &quot;By the means of&quot;&#xA;&quot;at&quot; means &quot;in or near the location of&quot;&#xA;i would use &quot;by&quot;.buy an economics newspaper tomorrow. You can see a whole page of examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3914" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T18:10:58.527" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9554" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9556" CreationDate="2011-01-21T18:20:15.037" Score="7" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday my boss called our design person on the phone and asked her about designing a /&lt;em&gt;fave-eye-con&lt;/em&gt;/. She asked him to repeat it a couple of times, and then finally (after a convoluted explanation about favorites and icons), the lightbulb came on and she said, &quot;Oh! you want a /&lt;em&gt;fav-ee-can&lt;/em&gt;/!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, presumably the design person is the one more likely to have encountered the accepted pronunciation of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;favicon&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; - she gets to actually make the things, while the rest of us only notice them if they're missing. However, /&lt;em&gt;fav-ee-can&lt;/em&gt;/ just... doesn't work for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any sort of consensus on how this word ought to be pronounced?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T03:02:22.373" Title="How to pronounce &quot;favicon&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9525" CreationDate="2011-01-21T18:25:35.490" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are okay.&#xA;Just &lt;em&gt;elder&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;eldest&lt;/em&gt; are often used to replace &lt;em&gt;older&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;oldest&lt;/em&gt;, nowadays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3914" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T22:11:12.923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T22:11:12.923" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9554" CreationDate="2011-01-21T18:30:26.903" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually pronounce it &lt;em&gt;/fav-&lt;strong&gt;eye&lt;/strong&gt;-con/&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;/&lt;strong&gt;fav&lt;/strong&gt;-ih-con/&lt;/em&gt;, but I've never heard anyone else pronounce it (at all).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consensus also seems to be &lt;em&gt;/&lt;strong&gt;fav&lt;/strong&gt;-ih-con/&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.macmillandictionary.com/pronunciation/american/favicon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.macmillandictionary.com/pronunciation/american/favicon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.forvo.com/word/favicon/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.forvo.com/word/favicon/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3709" LastEditorUserId="3709" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T18:48:48.607" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T18:48:48.607" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="9557" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9560" CreationDate="2011-01-21T18:39:00.557" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the following phrase (grammatically) correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bill Gates, whose company is very rich, is famous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(I couldn't come up with a better context-free sample)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3709" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T22:53:54.270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T22:53:54.270" Title="Is this usage of &quot;whose&quot; correct?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9554" CreationDate="2011-01-21T18:52:45.017" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I presume the etymology of the word is the combination of the words &quot;favorite&quot; and &quot;icon&quot;, since a website's &lt;code&gt;favicon.ico&lt;/code&gt; file is the icon that appears next to a bookmark (which, in Internet Explorer, resides in the Favorites menu). Consequently, I've always pronounced the word as /&lt;em&gt;fav-&lt;strong&gt;eye&lt;/strong&gt;-con&lt;/em&gt;/.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, I can understand how someone who is unaware or unfamiliar with how the file name was decided might pronounce it more in line with how it would be pronounced as a single word given its spelling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to wonder about all of the other computer phrases that are nothing more than two terms squished together - how are these terms pronounced? For instance, the program to edit the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Registry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Windows Registry&lt;/a&gt; is named &lt;code&gt;regedit&lt;/code&gt;. Since it's a combination of the words &quot;Registry&quot; and &quot;edit&quot; I pronounce it /&lt;em&gt;redge-edit&lt;/em&gt;/, but I am now curious if the layperson would pronounce it as /&lt;em&gt;ree-gedit&lt;/em&gt;/ or /&lt;em&gt;ra-get-it&lt;/em&gt;/ or something else entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastEditorUserId="1631" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T19:21:26.403" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T19:21:26.403" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9559" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-21T18:54:48.877" Score="0" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3368/a-an-preceding-a-parenthetical-statement&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;a/an&amp;rdquo; preceding a parenthetical statement&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm asking a question on Stack Overflow now, and I'm unsure about this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (Ruby on Rails site's) API which returns JSON data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'API' starts with an 'A' so I should use 'an': &lt;code&gt;an API …&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'Ruby' (within parentheses) starts with an 'R' so I should use 'a': &lt;code&gt;a (Ruby …&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Must I use 'a' or 'an' in this case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, is the 'a' or 'an' only dependent on the following word &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; within parentheses?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3406" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T19:37:52.100" ClosedDate="2011-01-21T19:55:35.940" Title="Should I use 'a' or 'an' when the following word is within parentheses?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9557" CreationDate="2011-01-21T19:08:40.913" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The repetition of &quot;is&quot; is a bit ugly but not ungrammatical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T19:08:40.913" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9561" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-21T19:10:37.277" Score="5" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the noun &lt;em&gt;liar&lt;/em&gt; considered offensive?  Would it be offensive to use it with a proven liar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3919" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T19:56:45.827" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T09:04:41.370" Title="Is the noun &quot;liar&quot; considered offensive? Would it be offensive to use it with a proven liar?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9545" CreationDate="2011-01-21T19:21:55.373" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Economic&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;economical&lt;/em&gt; can only be synonyms in two senses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Things relating to the economy. eg. You could speak of &lt;em&gt;economical&lt;/em&gt; growth, although &lt;em&gt;economic&lt;/em&gt; growth is more common.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using the minimum amount of effort or resources. eg. You could speak of someone making &lt;em&gt;economical&lt;/em&gt; use of their time. &lt;em&gt;Economic&lt;/em&gt; would also work in that context.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, when you're talking about wealth, financial rewards, or the science of economics, it's always &lt;em&gt;economic&lt;/em&gt;. If you mean the sense of &lt;em&gt;thrifty&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;frugal&lt;/em&gt; you would use &lt;em&gt;economical&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T19:21:55.373" />
  <row Id="9563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9561" CreationDate="2011-01-21T19:27:54.743" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a native speaker of American English, I would consider it offensive to be called a liar whether it was true or not. You also need to be careful when accusing someone of lying that you don't get into a situation where you are guilty of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slander_and_libel#Slander&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;slander&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slander_and_libel#Libel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;libel&lt;/a&gt;. Even though you consider someone a &quot;proven&quot; liar, the courts may disagree. Laws in your area may differ.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best way to handling this situation is with diplomacy. For instance, saying, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I'm not sure that's true.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;What are the facts behind that&#xA;  claim?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;, etc. This way you can put the speaker on the spot to back up a claim without actually calling them a liar. In addition, you may get them to admit what they are saying is not entirely true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T19:27:54.743" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9559" CreationDate="2011-01-21T19:37:52.100" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best thing to do in this case is to reword things to move the parenthetical remark; it's not good to insert it at that particular point, because you're creating a dissonance between the stated indefinite pronoun &quot;a&quot;, and the implied definite pronoun &quot;the&quot; that should apply because you're actually talking about a single specific API.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're using one of several possible APIs from the site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have an API (from the Ruby on Rails site) which returns JSON data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or if there's only one API from the site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm using the Ruby on Rails site's API, which returns JSON data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Or if, as pointed out in the comments, it's from one of several possible RoR sites:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm using a Ruby on Rails site's API, which returns JSON data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or even better, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm using this Ruby on Rails site's API, which returns JSON data&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(and make &quot;this Ruby on Rails site&quot; a hyperlink)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T19:37:52.100" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9561" CreationDate="2011-01-21T19:38:54.793" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Liar = One who lies&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You said that Santa Claus was real. &#xA;  You told me a lie!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You exaggerated about how much money you&#xA;  make when I asked.  You're a liar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think English speakers want to be very specific about lies.  If called out, I think most would prefer that the particular lie be called out instead of being characterized as a liar.  The english language doesn't really specify how many lies a person has to tell in order to become a &quot;liar&quot;.  Technically, telling one lie makes you a liar, but the word liar has the connotation that you tell lies on a frequent basis, and that is a reflection of your character.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T19:38:54.793" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9561" CreationDate="2011-01-21T19:43:59.187" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyone lies, whether it's a little white lie or a big whopper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You wouldn't label someone a &lt;em&gt;liar&lt;/em&gt; unless they lie habitually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calling someone a liar, then, is not making a factual statement about some fib they told last week, but rather is making a judgment about their character, which is why the word carries such a strong connotation and why most native speakers would take offense if you called them a liar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T19:43:59.187" />
  <row Id="9567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9439" CreationDate="2011-01-21T19:57:57.627" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Much vs. Many&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fewer vs. Less&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Amount vs. Number vs. Quantity&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use the words 'many', 'fewer', and 'number' when the object is countable (no matter how big that number may be.)  &quot;There are many creatures in the ocean.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use the words 'much', 'less', and 'amount' when the object is measurable, but not countable.  &quot;There is much water in the ocean.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Quantity' is more technical and can be used for both countable and uncountable things.  &quot;What is the quantity of water in the ocean?&quot;  &quot;What is the quantity of whales in the ocean?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Mary bought fewer gallons of milk than Jane, therefor Mary has less milk than Jane.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T19:57:57.627" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9526" CreationDate="2011-01-21T20:09:34.663" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use 'with' if you are reporting the percentage as a fraction of the whole.  Use 'at' if you are reporting the percentage as a target or score.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;William won the school election, with 62% of the votes.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The polls indicated that William's approval rating was at 73%.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T20:09:34.663" />
  <row Id="9569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5901" CreationDate="2011-01-21T20:30:13.733" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She sells sea-shells on the sea-shore.&#xA;  The shells she sells are sea-shells&#xA;  I'm sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one is interesting as it refers to a real person with a fascinating life: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1453430/the_story_of_mary_anning_shell_seller.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mary Anning&lt;/a&gt;, a self-taught fossilist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T20:30:13.733" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-21T22:56:42.817" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9561" CreationDate="2011-01-21T20:31:43.837" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Calling someone a liar is making a very aggressive statement. If you do so in a bar, don't be surprised if you get a beer bottle upside the head. If you call someone a liar in person or in print, you'd better be able to prove your contention (as @ssaki points out). Either way, don't expect any useful dialogue to ensue after that point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T20:31:43.837" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9571" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9598" CreationDate="2011-01-21T20:42:50.347" Score="5" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other languages feature words pronounced as their inverse (such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verlan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;verlan&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fika_%28coffee_break%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fika&lt;/a&gt;).  What are some examples of this in English?  The closest example I can think of it Pig Latin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T14:31:18.637" Title="Are there any current examples of English &quot;Back-Slang&quot;?" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9474" CreationDate="2011-01-21T20:42:50.877" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Colloquially, it also means &quot;have another shot of liquor.&quot;  Perhaps good advice if China is creating clones of Cheney? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T20:42:50.877" />
  <row Id="9573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5901" CreationDate="2011-01-21T21:12:27.393" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While not the most difficult, one of my favorites is &quot;Rubber baby buggy bumpers.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T21:12:27.393" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-21T22:56:37.840" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5901" CreationDate="2011-01-21T21:22:46.827" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unique New York&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is a favorite of mine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3925" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T21:22:46.827" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-21T22:56:47.730" />
  <row Id="9575" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9576" CreationDate="2011-01-21T22:27:20.670" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one's correct? I've seen both claiming to be correct...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3394" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T04:32:50.140" Title="Did I go to the &quot;fair&quot; or the &quot;faire&quot;?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="9576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9575" CreationDate="2011-01-21T22:31:27.037" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Faire' would is an old-fashioned spelling and would be somewhat pretentious nowadays. You also sometimes see 'fayre' in the context of food, normally something like 'We serve traditional home-cooked fayre'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T22:31:27.037" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9577" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9578" CreationDate="2011-01-21T22:40:23.517" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;A famous watch brand has a slogan (I suppose) inscribed on their products: &quot;Oyster Perpetual&quot;. What does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T22:44:35.917" Title="&quot;Oyster perpetual&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9577" CreationDate="2011-01-21T22:44:35.917" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Oyster Perpetual' is merely the name of the watch, like 'Macbook' is the name of an Apple laptop, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 'perpetual' refers to the way the watch winds itself whenever the wearer moves their wrist, meaning it never winds down. Perpetual means continuous or everlasting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T22:44:35.917" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9579" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9581" CreationDate="2011-01-21T22:46:55.247" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen this used in several places, but WFH seems to make more sense to me. Is there some other significance that I'm missing besides the 'M' coming from the end of 'home'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3930" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T22:55:22.507" Title="Why is WFM used for &quot;working from home&quot;?" Tags="&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9579" CreationDate="2011-01-21T22:55:22.507" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;WFH is the usual acronym for working from home, as you'd expect. WFM is Internet slang for 'Works for me'. Perhaps the two have been confused and the mistake has perpetuated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T22:55:22.507" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9279" CreationDate="2011-01-21T23:57:06.623" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am no expert in this matter, but as a native speaker of other languages beside English, I would like to contribute the following.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have the impression that the OP is using the label &quot;accents of all kinds&quot; for things that fall in, at least, two very different categories: some are true accents, such as the one in &quot;á&quot;, and some others are not, like the one on &quot;ñ&quot;. The &quot;á&quot; in Spanish is still an &quot;a&quot; to all effects, but an accented one. However, an &quot;ñ&quot; is not an accented &quot;n&quot; but a totally different letter altogether. They are not exchangeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1304" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T23:57:06.623" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="9583" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9584" CreationDate="2011-01-22T00:12:59.873" Score="6" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I read the words &lt;em&gt;&quot;yea&quot;&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;&quot;yeah&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, each spelling can mean two different things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An exclamation of joy, as in, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Yea[h]&lt;/em&gt; for ice cream!`&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assent, like &quot;yep&quot; or &quot;yes&quot;, as in, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Yea[h]&lt;/em&gt;, Mom, of course I fed the dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two meanings not only have different pronunciation, but they're also not differentiable using context clues. For example, folks will commonly say &lt;em&gt;&quot;Yeah&quot;&lt;/em&gt; as a one-word answer in a chat or a one-word comment in a forum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a better way to spell these so as to differentiate them without context?&#xA;Or, perhaps, do these two different spellings have two different meanings, and I just didn't notice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3932" LastEditorUserId="3932" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T00:46:45.933" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T00:46:45.933" Title="Spelling &quot;Yeah&quot; and &quot;Yea&quot;" Tags="&lt;orthography&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9583" CreationDate="2011-01-22T00:21:37.207" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are differentiated by spelling:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Yay&lt;/em&gt; [ jɛi ] (as opposed to, say, &lt;em&gt;boo)&lt;/em&gt; is for joy and exultation;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Yeah&lt;/em&gt; [ jæ ] (synonym of &lt;em&gt;yes&lt;/em&gt;, opposite of &lt;em&gt;nah)&lt;/em&gt; is for ordinary assent; and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Yea&lt;/em&gt; [ jɛi ] (opposite of &lt;em&gt;nay)&lt;/em&gt; is for formal assent during a vote.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's just that many people type &lt;em&gt;yea&lt;/em&gt; (or even just &lt;em&gt;ya)&lt;/em&gt; when they mean &lt;em&gt;yeah.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside of the U.S., &lt;em&gt;yeh&lt;/em&gt; [ jɛ ] is also common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T00:21:37.207" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9575" CreationDate="2011-01-22T00:26:57.930" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;Fair&quot;&lt;/code&gt; is the common, modern usage. &lt;code&gt;&quot;Faire&quot;&lt;/code&gt; is the old-fashioned (pretentious) spelling, but it's not out of usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus one goes to is going to a modern event, it might be the state &lt;code&gt;fair&lt;/code&gt;, and if one it attending something more old-fashioned, it might be a renaissance &lt;code&gt;faire&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3932" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T00:26:57.930" />
  <row Id="9586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9554" CreationDate="2011-01-22T03:02:22.373" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I definitely say &quot;fav-ick-on&quot;, the a like in family. I guess the emphasis is on the first syllable, but it's slight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As this is a recently coined word I don't think you're going to find a canonical answer yet. This is good, because it means YOU get a chance to contribute to the language by promoting YOUR favorite pronunciation until there's finally a widely accepted norm!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3702" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T03:02:22.373" />
  <row Id="9587" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-22T03:09:07.603" Score="17" ViewCount="356" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a reason behind the ordering of letters in the English alphabet? i.e. why are we taught &quot;A,B,C,D,E,F,...,Z&quot;? Why not &quot;L,A,S,U,I,Z,...,C&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am asking this because in some of the languages I know, I am told that the ordering of the letters of the alphabet is based on the ease with which they can be pronounced or the frequency with which they are used or depending on the part of the vocal cord that needs to be stressed to pronounce the letter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a similar rationale?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Couple of references for arrangement of letters in Sanskrit &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=MeqtYsnoLKwC&amp;amp;pg=PR16&amp;amp;lpg=PR16&amp;amp;dq=ordering+of+alphabet+in+sanskrit&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=UZLAVEcM0C&amp;amp;sig=nCxoOvdcWhbP3cCBwySghqTSVJg&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=OGc6TbKxJoeusAPajvyEAw&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=4&amp;amp;ved=0CDUQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=arranged&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://acharya.iitm.ac.in/sanskrit/sans.php?lnum=0&amp;amp;pnum=4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3910" LastEditorUserId="3910" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T18:31:45.410" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T18:00:13.250" Title="Ordering of Letters in the English Alphabet" Tags="&lt;alphabet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="20" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="9588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3518" CreationDate="2011-01-22T03:15:34.850" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For what it's worth, as an American, I've never heard the usage &quot;one hundred and fifty&quot; to mean 100.50 (or similar). I would say &quot;a hundred fifty,&quot; or &quot;one hundred and fifty&quot; to mean 150, but not &quot;one hundred fifty&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even in dealing with currency I never hear &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; used to indicate a decimal unless the decimal is followed by the word &lt;em&gt;cents&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IE: for $20.75:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Twenty dollars and seventy-five cents' might be used, but 'Twenty seventy-five' would be more common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3702" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T03:15:34.850" />
  <row Id="9589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9587" CreationDate="2011-01-22T03:37:46.163" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;[Edited]&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ABC order already existed in some form &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_alphabet#Letter_names_and_sequence_of_some_alphabets&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;about 1400 BC&lt;/a&gt;, in the Ugaritic script, from which our alphabet is descended. From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphabet#Alphabetic_order&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is unknown whether the earliest&#xA;  alphabets had a defined sequence. Some&#xA;  alphabets today, such as the Hanuno'o&#xA;  script, are learned one letter at a&#xA;  time, in no particular order, and are&#xA;  not used for collation where a&#xA;  definite order is required. &lt;strong&gt;However, a&#xA;  dozen &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugaritic_alphabet#Abecedaries&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ugaritic&lt;/a&gt; tablets from the&#xA;  fourteenth century BCE preserve the&#xA;  alphabet in two sequences. One, the&#xA;  ABCDE order later used in Phoenician,&#xA;  has continued with minor changes in&#xA;  Hebrew, Greek, Armenian, Gothic,&#xA;  Cyrillic, and Latin;&lt;/strong&gt; the other, HMĦLQ,&#xA;  was used in southern Arabia and is&#xA;  preserved today in Ethiopic.[16] Both&#xA;  orders have therefore been stable for&#xA;  at least 3000 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The English alphabet comes from the Latin alphabet (it is even often still called the Latin alphabet), which in turn comes from the Greek alphabet. All modern alphabets are most probably in some way descended from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Sinaitic_alphabet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Proto-Sinaitic alphabet&lt;/a&gt;, which probably originated around 2100-1800 BC, but whose ordering is unknown. The Greek alphabet developed from Proto-Sinaitic through Phoenician. Many times in between Proto-Sinaitic and English, letters have been added and removed. W, U, and J are among the most recent additions, which did not exist in classical Latin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first letters or proto-letters were taken by the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet from non-alphabetic Egyptian hieroglyphs, which were mostly ideograms, small depictions of objects. Note that these hieroglyphs were used in an entirely different way--the Egyptians didn't use them as alphabetical letters--, so that the order in Egyptian doesn't tell us much about the order in alphabets. Perhaps there was a logical sequence in those earliest forms, but that is unknown; it might very well be an arbitrary order.&#xA;For all practical purposes, the modern order is best considered random, though fixed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T18:00:13.250" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T18:00:13.250" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="9590" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9592" CreationDate="2011-01-22T04:02:32.030" Score="0" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;When walking with a girl, boy should take the left side, or the right side? Why? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, is there some difference between English and French?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. In China, boy at the left because we use right-side walking system, so as to protect girls. But how about the left-side walking system countries like Australia, England and Japan? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="229" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T04:33:24.117" ClosedDate="2011-01-22T05:34:49.993" Title="Boy at left or right side when walking with a girl?" Tags="&lt;pop-culture&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9575" CreationDate="2011-01-22T04:32:50.140" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fair&lt;/strong&gt; is the standard word in modern English, and is usually what’s appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Faire&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;fayre&lt;/em&gt; are older spellings, used in specific names but not widely used as generic terms today.  So a fair might call itself &lt;em&gt;The Cottesloe Village Faire&lt;/em&gt; to evoke historical associations; but except when referring to it by name, it would still usually be called a &lt;em&gt;fair&lt;/em&gt;.  (Just as one would write “Jayne’s Ye Olde Gifte Shoppe is a very nice shop.”) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few exceptions: &lt;em&gt;faire&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;fayre&lt;/em&gt; get used as generic terms within some historical re-enactment subcultures—most notably, for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_faire&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Renaissance faires&lt;/a&gt;.  If someone writes “I’m going to a faire next weekend”, I would assume they mean something like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T04:32:50.140" />
  <row Id="9592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9590" CreationDate="2011-01-22T04:33:24.117" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was taught that a man is to walk on the side closest to the road to help prevent a woman from being hit by any splashing water or mud that cars threw up. As a result it depends on which side of the street you're walking on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the United States you are supposed to walk on the sidewalk on the left side of the road, so the boy would be on the girl's right. It's quite common, however, for people to walk on the right side of the street as well, in which case the boy should be on the girl's left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will note that my mother taught me a lot of etiquette about how to treat a woman, more than most people my age (I'm 46). Despite dating many women, some as much as 10 years older or 15 years younger than me, I have yet to encounter a woman who even knew there was a rule about which side to walk on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I don't think this is an English language question, however.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2969" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T04:33:24.117" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7649" CreationDate="2011-01-22T04:58:45.803" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This isn’t a full answer, but some more pieces of the puzzle.  Briefly: the OED supports the argument that the usage “twelfth night” = “Jan 6th” comes not from subtleties of ecclesiastical reckoning, but from a recent shift in meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the OED, &lt;em&gt;the twelve days&lt;/em&gt; originally referred to the twelve days &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; Christmas, i.e. starting from the first day &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; it; the somewhat misleading phrasing &lt;em&gt;the twelve days of Christmas&lt;/em&gt; to refer to these days only comes later.  Hence the twelve days have always properly been Dec 26–Jan 6, the first ‘day of Christmas’ is not the same as Christmas day, and &lt;em&gt;twelfth-day&lt;/em&gt; is a synonym for Epiphany.  (These are well-attested in quotations back to the 10th century; most explicitly, for instance, “The feastful day of the Epiphanye commonly called Twelf-day.”, T. Becon &lt;em&gt;Relikes of Rome&lt;/em&gt;, 1553.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However (continuing with the OED), this doesn’t answer the question: &lt;em&gt;twelfth-night&lt;/em&gt; did indeed properly refer to the eve of &lt;em&gt;twelfth-day&lt;/em&gt;, i.e. to the night between the 5th and 6th of January.  (This is also attested back to the 10th century.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So presumably at some point in comparatively modern times, the phrase &lt;em&gt;twelfth-night&lt;/em&gt; lost its footing and slipped a day.  It’s easy to speculate on ways that could happen: maybe in eg the 19th century the actual twelfth-night festivities fell out of fashion and the bigger celebration was on twelfth-day, but for various reasons (eg the Shakespeare title) people were still familiar with the phrase &lt;em&gt;twelfth-night&lt;/em&gt;, and so assumed that it referred to the festival they knew?  I suspect that some digging around in 18th/19th-century literature on Google Books might well be fruitful in narrowing down this sort of speculation, pinning down something of when and how the shift actually happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T05:04:50.320" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T05:04:50.320" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9561" CreationDate="2011-01-22T05:25:02.977" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The noun ‘liar’ is not itself an offensive word in the same way that, say, &lt;em&gt;shit&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;bitch&lt;/em&gt; are — in those cases, the words themselves are (to many people) offensive independently of their meanings.  (This is quite silly, as George Carlin &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_Nrp7cj_tM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;probably said best&lt;/a&gt;, but it is nonetheless the case.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With &lt;em&gt;liar&lt;/em&gt;, the word is no more offensive or derogatory than its meaning.  However, to say that someone is a liar is a real slur on their character: this is the sense in which &lt;em&gt;liar&lt;/em&gt; is offensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T05:25:02.977" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9487" CreationDate="2011-01-22T06:08:02.587" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the first example,  &quot;the&quot; is not needed the second time. This is because &lt;em&gt;first&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;second&lt;/em&gt; are adjectives modifying a common plural noun (&lt;em&gt;paragraphs&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first and second paragraphs are extremely long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in the last example in the question, all the articles are needed since we are talking about separate coordinate nouns. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What are the situation, the task, and the result of your story?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We would not need an article for each of the nouns when the separate nouns combine to form one single idea. A common example is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The officer and gentleman escorted the lady to the car.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The officer and the gentleman escorted the lady to the car.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second sentence would mean that there were two persons escorting the lady to the car, while the first one just has one person (who is an officer &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; a gentleman) as the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of &quot;the&quot; can also be important while using adjectives with non-count nouns. Another common example is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I would like to buy the red, blue and yellow cloth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I would like to buy the red, the blue, and the yellow cloth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since &lt;em&gt;cloth&lt;/em&gt; cannot be used in the plural, it is the definite article &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; that tells us whether I would like to buy cloth that is red, blue and yellow, or three separate pieces of cloth (one red, one blue and one yellow).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T06:08:02.587" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9596" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9597" CreationDate="2011-01-22T06:18:39.130" Score="1" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a phrase, “What’s the buzz about ...?” in the following sentence in an article of Washington Post (January 20 issue) referring to the State party hosted by President Obama for welcoming Chinese president Hu Jintao, where the House Speaker, John Boehner apparently didn’t show up. &#xA;What does “What’s the buzz about something?” mean? What the word,”buzz” does in this particular context represent for? Is the connotation of this phrase peripheral to “What’s up?” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also found an example of “what's the buzz about?” in a short phrase – “So what's the buzz about Michael Jackson's new baby?” in another source.&#xA;Can somebody clarify for me? - Yoichi&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“The question is, and this is what Barack Obama didn't want to answer — is that human life a person under the Constitution and Barack Obama says ... Boehner's no: Just how big of a social and political faux pas was it for Speaker Boehner to say no to the state dinner? What's the buzz about Exactly why he did it? To appear 'tough'? I'd say he just appeared small and petty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T12:23:52.057" Title="“What’s the buzz about something?” What does it mean?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="9597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9596" CreationDate="2011-01-22T06:25:40.890" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;the relevant definition from m-w.com is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;speculative or excited talk or attention relating especially to a new or forthcoming product or event ; also : an instance of such talk or attention &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &quot;what's the buzz about X?&quot; is essentially asking &quot;what are people saying about X?&quot;, or perhaps &quot;how does the general public perceive X?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T06:25:40.890" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9571" CreationDate="2011-01-22T06:40:57.863" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Yob&lt;/em&gt; is originally back-slang for &lt;em&gt;boy&lt;/em&gt;, as is &lt;em&gt;yennap&lt;/em&gt; for &lt;em&gt;penny&lt;/em&gt;. In the phrase &lt;em&gt;dab it up with&lt;/em&gt; (to sleep with) the dab was originally &lt;em&gt;deb&lt;/em&gt;, backslang for &lt;em&gt;bed&lt;/em&gt;. Of these, so far as I know, only &lt;em&gt;yob&lt;/em&gt; remains in current usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more backslang words, see here... &lt;a href=&quot;http://people.sc.fsu.edu/~jburkardt/fun/wordplay/back_slang.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://people.sc.fsu.edu/~jburkardt/fun/wordplay/back_slang.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="305" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T06:49:59.680" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T06:49:59.680" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9599" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9605" CreationDate="2011-01-22T07:58:56.883" Score="4" ViewCount="227" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder why the phrase is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;When you see it you will shit brix&quot;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and not&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;When you &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; see it you will shit brix&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the version with two &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; incorrect? What grammar rule says that you should not use &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;will see&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; in the above phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3936" LastEditorUserId="3936" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T08:11:45.477" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T11:32:53.107" Title="Future tense usage: &quot;When you see it ...&quot;" Tags="&lt;future-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="9600" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9607" CreationDate="2011-01-22T08:11:36.397" Score="3" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ever wish you could share information &lt;strong&gt;broadly&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could it be rewrite to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ever wish you could &lt;strong&gt;broadly&lt;/strong&gt; share information&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any rules for the position of the adverbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T12:31:01.627" Title="About the position of the adverbs." Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9599" CreationDate="2011-01-22T09:22:43.650" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you refer to the future in a conditional clause, you usually use the simple present tense, therefore the first sentence is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and it's spelled 'bricks', as in the plural of 'brick'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T10:55:26.427" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9600" CreationDate="2011-01-22T09:36:04.967" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When an adverb modifies a verb, you can usually put it either before, between, or after:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adverb = 'often', verb = 'go'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Often, I go for long walks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Between:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I often go for long walks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;End:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I go for long walks often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These aren't all equally common; you would probably find the between position used the most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your example, you are asking a question, so the 'before' position can't really be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Broadly, ever wish you could share information?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just doesn't work. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the between and end position are equally valid. I would say that, again, the between position sounds best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ever wish you could broadly share information?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T10:36:33.137" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9596" CreationDate="2011-01-22T10:26:43.353" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;buzz = rumor, gossip&#xA;&quot;What's the buzz about Exactly why he did it? &quot; is  a rhetorical question here. A question that doesn't need an answer. You can understand &quot;what's the big deal?&quot;, you can understand &quot;what's the buzz about...?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3914" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T10:26:43.353" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9561" CreationDate="2011-01-22T10:31:54.420" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There’s a confusion of cause and effect here. The term “liar” in itself isn’t offensive (unlike, say, “asshole” or other cusswords) – &lt;em&gt;lying&lt;/em&gt; is: people have this absurd expectation to be told the truth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So when you call somebody out as a liar, you lay bare his offense. And &lt;em&gt;since&lt;/em&gt; that has such dire consequences, calling somebody “liar” in vain is considered very offensive in itself, because it’s such a serious accusation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that just to highlight the difference between words that are &lt;em&gt;meant&lt;/em&gt; to be insulting and a word like “liar” which is a statement of facts. It only becomes insulting if it is used to make defamatory false claims.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1637" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T10:31:54.420" />
  <row Id="9605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9599" CreationDate="2011-01-22T11:32:53.107" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding to Elendil's answer, &quot;When&quot; refers to &quot;the point in time at which an action occurs&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And at that point of time, you are actually &quot;seeing it&quot;, which is why the verb is in the present tense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When/If (somethings happens) then (something else will happen)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;if (something will happen) would be impossible to evaluate as a condition since the future is unknown. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3902" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T11:32:53.107" />
  <row Id="9606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9596" CreationDate="2011-01-22T12:23:52.057" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;Buzz about something&quot; phrase is usually used when we talk about the &quot;latest bit of news&quot; about someone or something. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: So whats the buzz about who will win the Oscars this time?? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to imagine bees buzzing all around you. Thats how we would all sound when we talking / gossiping about the latest news. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3584" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T12:23:52.057" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9600" CreationDate="2011-01-22T12:31:01.627" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The positioning of the Adverb would be based on the impact which our sentence / question needs to make. In the sense:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first sentence :Ever wish you could share information broadly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would be more effective when used to catch the readers attention. probably an advertisement/ headline where the idea is to make all readers imagine &quot;broadly&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second one :Ever wish you could broadly share information??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This probably has more stress on the &quot;information&quot; rather than &quot;broadly&quot;.  It would sound &quot;more apt&quot; in a paragraph.. rather than a headline &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, it depends on how the message needs to be sent across. Both the options are correct &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3584" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T12:31:01.627" />
  <row Id="9608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9587" CreationDate="2011-01-22T12:51:13.443" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Egyptian hieroglyphs were narrowed down to less than 30-ish, and other people like the Greeks narrowed it down even further as they did not use some letters. Z used to be next to G (or instead of), so when it was re-added it was added to the end. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_value&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; may be of interest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3826" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T12:51:13.443" />
  <row Id="9609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9480" CreationDate="2011-01-22T13:35:42.043" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;yes!! it is wrong to use &quot;very almost&quot; together. It may be accepted colloquially in informal conversations but it is not correct &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general &quot;very&quot; would add value to the noun/ action in question. &#xA;She runs very fast&#xA;i like her very much&#xA;He is very talented&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Almost&quot; would more appropriately describe the &quot;status&quot; of the current action/ noun&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She almost made it to the list of Winners&#xA;I almost have him the money before i realized something was wrong...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3584" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T13:35:42.043" />
  <row Id="9610" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9611" CreationDate="2011-01-22T13:45:21.233" Score="1" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a non-native English speaker. I am applying for the USA university for management studies. While writing the essay I came across the sentence, &quot;I was 100% confident.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My query:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it appropriate to write &lt;em&gt;100%&lt;/em&gt; or should I write &lt;em&gt;cent percent&lt;/em&gt;? Does it sound professional?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="113" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T18:04:25.280" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T18:04:25.280" Title="Choosing between &quot;100%&quot; and &quot;cent percent&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;indian-english&gt;&lt;essay&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="9611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9610" CreationDate="2011-01-22T13:48:52.023" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would substitute an adjective that means the same thing: totally, completely, absolutely, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As it stands, though, your question makes no sense: &quot;cent percent&quot; is meaningless. Are you asking whether you should spell out &quot;one hundred percent&quot; instead of using numerals? If so, it probably doesn't make a lot of difference. Still, in the context I would use one of the adjectives I suggested here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T13:48:52.023" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9536" CreationDate="2011-01-22T14:08:40.337" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;9 hours drive or 9-hour drive. you can use any one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3943" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T14:08:40.337" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9613" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9620" CreationDate="2011-01-22T14:52:28.050" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the sentences below, Which is best, and why?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;People are saying that this is great about X (for example: our new product).&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;  People are saying about X that this is great.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;  People are saying great about X.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the 'about X' phrase a adverb phrase?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T17:31:40.660" Title="About the position of the object clause." Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9610" CreationDate="2011-01-22T15:58:44.137" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use &lt;em&gt;100%&lt;/em&gt; when it was an actual measurement, and &lt;em&gt;one hundred percent&lt;/em&gt; when it's an expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After counting, I saw that 100% of the visitors wore hats. At the time, I was one hundred percent sure of my observation. Later I found out that most were not actually hats, but pets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="3365" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T16:11:19.657" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T16:11:19.657" />
  <row Id="9615" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9623" CreationDate="2011-01-22T16:08:39.957" Score="4" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi! I wonder if there is a difference between the words &quot;whole&quot; and &quot;entire&quot;. For example, the following sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I spent my &lt;em&gt;whole&lt;/em&gt; life waiting for you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I spent my &lt;em&gt;entire&lt;/em&gt; life waiting for you. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3456" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T17:51:34.043" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T19:37:11.190" Title="&quot;Whole&quot; vs. &quot;entire&quot;" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="9616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9615" CreationDate="2011-01-22T16:14:12.580" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the context you are using the terms, they are interchangeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only places you wouldn't be able to substitute &lt;em&gt;entire&lt;/em&gt; are in idioms as in &quot;on the whole&quot; or &quot;taken as a whole&quot; or &quot;the whole nine yards&quot; and so on. Also, only &lt;em&gt;whole&lt;/em&gt; works in the following sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The shark swallowed the tuna whole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T16:14:12.580" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9561" CreationDate="2011-01-22T16:32:43.423" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, a noun is more offensive than an adjective. (Compare &quot;He is a Jew&quot; to &quot;He is Jewish&quot; or &quot;This house was owned by a couple of gays&quot; to &quot;This house was owned by a gay couple&quot; for example.) I don't know exactly why it is like that, but I guess part of it is that when you stick a noun label on someone you are declaring it the most relevant piece of information, enough to categorize them. The other constructs almost carry a sense of &quot;this is just one piece of information&quot;. There is a difference between &quot;you are lying&quot; and &quot;you are a liar&quot; - and almost everyone would be offended by the latter even if they were lying during the conversation in question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3946" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T16:32:43.423" />
  <row Id="9618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9610" CreationDate="2011-01-22T17:05:01.417" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use 100% when you are stating mathematical thought like statistics. Use &quot;one hundred percent&quot; when you are stating non-mathematical thought like a story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3947" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T17:05:01.417" />
  <row Id="9619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9587" CreationDate="2011-01-22T17:29:34.297" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The ancient Greek &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionian_numerals&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ionian numerals&lt;/a&gt; used the position of a letter in the Greek alphabet for its value, i.e. αʹ = 1, βʹ = 2, γʹ = 3, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is evidence Greek letters had a fixed sequence as of the 4th century BC. As @Cerberus pointed out, the sequence was carried into the Latin, and hence English, alphabet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2949" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T17:29:34.297" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9613" CreationDate="2011-01-22T17:31:40.660" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;People are saying that this is one of the great things about X.&quot; is more appropriate than any of the suggestions you gave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T17:31:40.660" />
  <row Id="9621" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9630" CreationDate="2011-01-22T17:31:42.377" Score="2" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm playing an online game in which I came across a message in the form of a sentence of which the structure is new to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'You do not have a hatchet which you have the level to use.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The weird part for me start after the word 'which'. Specifically, how can 'the level' be put there? Without 'the level' it is a regular sentence in my opinion, but the sentence as it is now seems inscrutable for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could someone shed some light on this sentence structure please?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3948" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T04:06:15.187" Title="How should this sentence structure be interpreted?" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;structure&gt;&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;&lt;compound-sentences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9621" CreationDate="2011-01-22T17:48:03.893" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Replace &quot;level&quot; with &quot;ability&quot; or &quot;skill&quot; (which is what levels simulate in RPGs), and it doesn't seem at all remarkable to me. If you speak American English, perhaps you're being tripped up by the use of &quot;which&quot; where you would use &quot;that&quot;.&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;Addendum: from your comment, it seems I missed the point, so I'll try again. &quot;A hatchet which you have the level to use&quot; is a single noun which contains a &lt;em&gt;restrictive relative clause&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider &quot;You do not have a blue hatchet&quot;. There are two possibilities: either you have no hatchets; or you have hatchets, but none of them are blue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &quot;which&quot; not separated from a noun by a comma has a similar function to &quot;blue&quot; in that example: it specifies the noun more precisely, or restricts it. So your sentence is equivalent to saying that either you have no hatchets; or you have hatchets, but you don't have the level to use them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3542" LastEditorUserId="3542" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T19:09:33.060" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T19:09:33.060" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9615" CreationDate="2011-01-22T18:05:22.130" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Whole&quot; comes from &quot;unhurt&quot;, and means a single object that has not been subdivided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Entire&quot; comes from &quot;complete&quot;, and means no part has been left out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are different when you are talking about collections of objects; the entire lot of cars, or the entire staff, since these are collections of distinct objects. You would say a whole loaf of bread or a whole person, since these are single objects not usually considered a collection of parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The expression &quot;whole life&quot; considers one's life to be a single unit that has not been subdivided. An &quot;entire life&quot; means all the parts (years? experiences?) of a life. In this case either could be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2949" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T18:05:22.130" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9621" CreationDate="2011-01-22T18:14:19.657" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It specifically means 'You have a hatchet, but your character isn't at a high enough level to use it.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You seem to be reading it as 'You don't have a hatchet, and you need one.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T18:14:19.657" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9100" CreationDate="2011-01-22T18:19:47.390" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without more context it's hard to say, but I'd try something like the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Their approach fails to support advanced composition rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've done three things here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We've pulled the most important part out, so that it's now the main clause.  In both of the original examples, the important part is buried in a subordinate clause or a prepositional phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We've strengthened that clause by turning a wimpy negative (&quot;lack of support&quot;/&quot;support only&quot;) into a positive statement (&quot;fails to support&quot;).  We're saying what it &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; do.  &quot;J'accuse!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We've dropped the &quot;shortcoming&quot; bit entirely.  I'm taking a liberty here, but at this point, it seems redundant.  We've already characterized it as a failure.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3949" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T18:19:47.390" />
  <row Id="9626" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9645" CreationDate="2011-01-22T18:45:57.090" Score="7" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some quotations that people always seem to get wrong:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him well. [Real quote from &lt;em&gt;Hamlet&lt;/em&gt;: &quot;Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio.&quot;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have nothing to offer but blood, sweat and tears. [Real quote from Churchill:  &quot;I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.&quot;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.* [Real quote from Mark Twain: &quot;The report of my death is an exaggeration.&quot;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep thinking there is a term for this, the way &lt;em&gt;malapropism&lt;/em&gt; is a term for a misused word. I have the feeling I read the word somewhere, but all the Googling I've done doesn't give it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[*] &lt;em&gt;This one is particularly galling to me, since Twain was such a master of understatement. Oh well ...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T00:41:01.253" Title="Is there a term that means &quot;oft-used misquotation&quot;?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;quotations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="9627" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-22T19:07:49.957" Score="5" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2116/when-should-i-use-an-em-dash-an-en-dash-and-a-hyphen&quot;&gt;When should I use an em-dash, an en-dash, and a hyphen?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference between:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;-&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;--&lt;/code&gt; or in some cases, a long dash&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen these two used lots of places but I really don't know the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3669" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T21:20:51.360" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T21:20:51.360" ClosedDate="2011-01-22T21:19:58.880" Title="What is the difference between `-` and `--`" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;hyphen&gt;&lt;dash&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9627" CreationDate="2011-01-22T19:19:32.357" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash#Em_dash&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;, an em-dash (a longer one) has to be used between parts of sentences, as if it were a comma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In computer systems, the regular dash is used because it can be reached easily on the keyboard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make a real em-dash, two after each other are used to make it look like such a dash (i.e., a longer one), but I'm not sure about that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3948" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T19:19:32.357" />
  <row Id="9629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9615" CreationDate="2011-01-22T19:37:11.190" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few instances where the words are not synonyms. These include the botanical &lt;em&gt;entire&lt;/em&gt;, meaning a leaf without an indented edge, or in farming parlance &lt;em&gt;entire&lt;/em&gt; meaning uncastrated. In mathematics you could have a &lt;em&gt;whole&lt;/em&gt; number, but not an entire one. But if you ignore these special meanings they are more or less interchangeable, except as pointed out by the other answerers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T19:37:11.190" />
  <row Id="9630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9621" CreationDate="2011-01-22T19:44:31.140" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To break it down:&#xA;weapons such as hatchets require certain amounts of skill or ability, which as Peter Taylor points out are expressed as &quot;levels&quot; in an RPG.  So the game might say &quot;you need 3 levels in hatchet-wielding to use this Hand-Axe Of Anhur.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Often, the word 'level' is one of the most overloaded words in a role-playing game; it can refer, in different contexts, to your character's overall ability rating; what floor of a building (or dungeon) you are on; the difficulty ranking of a skill, spell, or action; or a measure of the toughness of a monster.  See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0012.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0012.html&lt;/a&gt; for a humorous take on the multiple meanings of the word.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the game is saying that &quot;There is not a hatchet in your inventory where your character's abilities meet or exceed the requirements we impose in order for you to make use of such a hatchet.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T04:06:15.187" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T04:06:15.187" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4031" CreationDate="2011-01-22T20:13:30.277" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Or misunderstandable? &#xA;Oops, too short answer for the control robot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3951" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T20:13:30.277" />
  <row Id="9632" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9634" CreationDate="2011-01-22T20:18:46.737" Score="5" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find it common in my writing to end up a sentence with a footnote reference mark. Should the footnote mark come before the stop or after it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... this is some text&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... this is some text.&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3953" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T13:40:30.620" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T13:40:30.620" Title="Footnote marks at end of a sentence." Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9632" CreationDate="2011-01-22T20:39:35.030" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My understanding is that if the footnote refers only to the word &lt;code&gt;text&lt;/code&gt; then it should be placed immediately after the word, as in the first case above. If the footnote refers to the entire sentence (or at least to the last phrase, for example), then it should be placed after the stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3954" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T20:39:35.030" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9632" CreationDate="2011-01-22T20:40:19.773" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are valid ways to place a footnote reference, but they mean slightly different things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want the footnote reference to belong to the &lt;em&gt;entire sentence&lt;/em&gt;, then the second method is correct. However, if you want the footnote to apply &lt;em&gt;only to the word&lt;/em&gt; &lt;code&gt;text&lt;/code&gt;, then the first is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T20:40:19.773" />
  <row Id="9635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9627" CreationDate="2011-01-22T20:41:35.920" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The good people at Microsoft Word may have confused authors by setting up auto-correct to replace two sequential dashes with a single em (longer) dash. The intent is to be helpful because the em dash can be quite useful, but does not appear on standard keyboards; but the effect is to confuse many people who fail to spot the non-obvious difference between the short and long dashes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stylistically, I believe the convention for using an em dash is to let the writer signal that the thought after the dash is a kind of temporary interruption to the flow of the sentence and its paragraph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3952" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T20:41:35.920" />
  <row Id="9636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9632" CreationDate="2011-01-22T20:48:00.657" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Noldorin and SabreWolfy have logical answers, but in the world of typesetting, logic is not respected. At least in the field of scientific publishing, where footnotes and references are common, publishers tend to have very strict guidelines about where they want the marks. In that case, you're not really free to choose yourself. For example, most of the physics and chemistry journals want references after punctuation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;as first demonstrated by Smith.&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a consequence, in these fields, people mostly tend to follow this usage, even in works for which there is no restriction imposed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what I'm saying is: if you're free to do what you want, go ahead, but check the relevant style guide first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T20:48:00.657" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9627" CreationDate="2011-01-22T20:51:33.593" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are three types of &quot;dashes&quot; in English: a hyphen (&quot;-&quot;), an en-dash (&quot;–&quot;), and an em-dash (&quot;—&quot;); to that you could also add a negative-sign or minus-sign from math.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem and confusion comes from not only knowing the difference, but trying to use them on a normal keyboard (assuming the font in use has the desired glyphs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In typing class you may have learned to type &lt;code&gt;--&lt;/code&gt; for a dash, this would be an em-dash which is similar in usage to a comma.  TeX users know to type &lt;code&gt;---&lt;/code&gt; to get an em-dash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The en-dash is used between ranges, often numbers &quot;February 2–6&quot;, but can also be &quot;Monday–Friday&quot;.  In TeX, you type &lt;code&gt;--&lt;/code&gt; to get an en-dash.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Tom said, Microsoft Word has made a mess of this with its auto-correct settings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3955" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T20:51:33.593" />
  <row Id="9638" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9642" CreationDate="2011-01-22T22:47:12.770" Score="4" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy&lt;/em&gt; has an &lt;a href=&quot;http://fuckyeahdouglasadams.tumblr.com/post/368908721/the-grammar-of-time-travel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;amusing section&lt;/a&gt; on the problems associated with verb tenses when time travel is involved. It has several examples which appear to be constructed for their humorous sound instead of any attempt at sensible rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You can arrive &lt;em&gt;(mayan arrivan on-when)&lt;/em&gt; for any sitting you like without prior &lt;em&gt;(late fore-when)&lt;/em&gt; reservation because you can book retrospectively, as it were, when you return to your own time &lt;em&gt;(you can have on-book haventa forewhen presooning returningwenta retrohome)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TimeTravelTenseTrouble&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This TVTropes page&lt;/a&gt; has a list of where this trouble has been dealt with in various media, but none of them (as far as I can tell) are a serious attempt at laying out the rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you know of any reference where someone has laid out what various verb tenses would even be useful and/or named based on various points of view from a non-linear timeline between speaker and recipient who have experienced time differently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3839" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T21:50:41.437" Title="Attempt at formulating verb tenses when time travel is involved?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9639" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-22T23:08:09.507" Score="4" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;The accepted answer to the authoritative question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2116/when-should-i-use-an-em-dash-an-en-dash-and-a-hyphen&quot;&gt;When should I use an em-dash, an en-dash, and a hyphen?&lt;/a&gt; currently has this to say regarding the &lt;em&gt;en-dash&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An en-dash is use to connect values in a range or that are related. Saying &quot;in years 1939–1945&quot; or &lt;strong&gt;&quot;New York beat Los Angeles 98–95&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; are both examples where an en-dash should be used (as I did explicitly in the examples). A good rule of from here is when you're expressing a &quot;to&quot; relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The portion that I have bolded above is not a usage I had seen before. I was under the impression that the &lt;em&gt;en-dash&lt;/em&gt; should only be used in the case of a range. In the above, two distinct scores are being described, not a range that includes the values &quot;96&quot; and &quot;97&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;&quot;rule of from&quot;&lt;/em&gt; [sic?] presented above allows its usage in that case &lt;em&gt;(&quot;98 to 95&quot;)&lt;/em&gt; but is broader than I believe in. Taken to the absurd, this might suggest that I could rewrite &lt;em&gt;&quot;just between us, man-to-man&quot;&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;&quot;just between us, man–man&quot;&lt;/em&gt;. :p&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What say you: must an &lt;em&gt;en-dash&lt;/em&gt; be used only for a range of values, or may it be used more permissively?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3839" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T00:17:55.443" Title="May en-dashes be used in sports scores?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;hyphen&gt;&lt;dash&gt;&lt;style&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9279" CreationDate="2011-01-22T23:10:40.823" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Times (not to be confused with the New York Times) style guide says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;b&gt;foreign words&lt;/b&gt; write in roman when foreign words and phrases have become essentially a part of the English language (eg, elite, debacle, fête, de rigueur, soirée); likewise, now use roman rather than italic, but retain accents, in a bon mot, a bête noire, the raison d'être. Avoid pretension by using an English phrase wherever one will serve. See accents&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;b&gt;accents&lt;/b&gt; give French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Irish and Ancient Greek words their proper accents and diacritical marks; omit in other languages unless you are sure of them. Accents should be used in headlines and on capital letters. With Anglicised words, no need for accents in foreign words that have taken English nationality (hotel, depot, debacle, elite, regime etc), but keep the accent when it makes a crucial difference to pronunciation or understanding - café, communiqué, détente, émigré, façade, fête, fiancée, mêlée, métier, pâté, protégé, raison d'être; also note vis-à-vis. See foreign words, Spanish&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/tools_and_services/specials/style_guide/article986724.ece&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/tools_and_services/specials/style_guide/article986724.ece&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3542" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T23:10:40.823" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9641" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9643" CreationDate="2011-01-23T00:03:07.587" Score="6" ViewCount="309" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess would be &quot;Indian&quot;, but that sounds like a guy with a feather on his head who hunts Buffalos.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a better name?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3543" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T20:43:41.270" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T20:43:41.270" Title="What would you call a person from India?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="9642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9638" CreationDate="2011-01-23T00:04:12.640" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A quick Google search turns up a couple of interesting attempts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://technobabble.wikia.com/wiki/Time_Travel_Tenses&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Time Travel Tenses&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Time_20Travelling_20Grammar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Time Travelling Grammar&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But of course I think the best way to address this is simply to wait. Once time travel is invented, people will fully sort it out and grow accustomed to it within a hundred years or so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T00:04:12.640" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9641" CreationDate="2011-01-23T00:11:15.360" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct term (demonym) is &lt;em&gt;Indian&lt;/em&gt;. In the United States, the term &lt;em&gt;Asian Indian&lt;/em&gt; is also used in order to avoid confusion between Indians from the subcontinent and Native Americans (American Indians). These days, using &lt;em&gt;Indian&lt;/em&gt; to describe a Native American may be considered improper and even offensive by some*. Thus, even in the US, &lt;em&gt;Indian&lt;/em&gt; would often to be taken to mean someone from India. And if one wanted to completely avoid ambiguity, then &lt;em&gt;from India&lt;/em&gt; would suffice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*&lt;em&gt;Some Native Americans do not mind being called Indians. (Thanks to @Robusto for pointing that out.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T02:05:32.990" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T02:05:32.990" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="9644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9639" CreationDate="2011-01-23T00:17:55.443" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does look rather awkward to me, but there's nothing wrong with it. An en dash is typically used for ranges, but it can also be used for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash#Relationships_and_connections&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;relationships and connections&lt;/a&gt; as in sports scores and votes, though these usages are somewhat contested, or just plain falling out of favour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typographywise, I think I would prefer to use a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash#Figure_dash&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;figure dash&lt;/a&gt; if it's available. It usually isn't, though, and in most fonts, the en dash is actually a better substitute for the figure dash than the hyphen is, so you should just use whatever works, I guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T00:17:55.443" />
  <row Id="9645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9626" CreationDate="2011-01-23T00:41:01.253" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The closest I can come up with are just plain &lt;em&gt;misquotation&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;corruption.&lt;/em&gt; How dull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T00:41:01.253" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9646" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9647" CreationDate="2011-01-23T03:19:24.407" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is the first sentence of which&#xA;  ground-breaking document:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The importance of a Web page is an&#xA;  inherently subjective matter, which&#xA;  depends on the readers interests,&#xA;  knowledge and attitudes.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the paragraph above, is &quot;This is... document&quot; correct English? Also, &lt;em&gt;theoretically&lt;/em&gt;, shouldn't there be &lt;em&gt;two&lt;/em&gt; punctuations after &quot;document&quot;, a colon, and a question mark, since it's a question. What do you do in such a case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possibly related question: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4877/a-colon-after-following&quot;&gt;A colon after &quot;following&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="391" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T04:46:36.733" Title="Is this correct English? What should one do when you're supposed to have *two* punctuations at *one* position?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;question-mark&gt;&lt;colon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9646" CreationDate="2011-01-23T03:23:42.717" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Is there a problem with the English?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As a question, the English is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Should there be a colon and a question-mark at the end of the first line?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;No, the question mark belongs after the quotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;What if the quote is a page long?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Reword the question: &quot;The following is the first page of which ground-breaking document?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I note that this rewording does now somewhat resurrect the question in the title, but the question mark now dominates here IMHO.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3612" LastEditorUserId="3612" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T04:46:36.733" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T04:46:36.733" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9646" CreationDate="2011-01-23T03:25:44.947" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The wording is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd try to reword it. If I had to word it that way, I'd put a question mark after the intro, no colon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T03:25:44.947" />
  <row Id="9649" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9650" CreationDate="2011-01-23T04:01:43.953" Score="2" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I saw him crossing the road.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I saw him cross the road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3961" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T17:54:51.293" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T17:54:51.293" Title="&quot;I saw him crossing&quot; vs. &quot;I saw him cross&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9649" CreationDate="2011-01-23T04:09:11.930" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are both correct, grammatically speaking. However, they have slightly different meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I saw him crossing the road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... suggests that you saw a male person in the middle of crossing the road (he was probably walking in the middle of the road toward one of the sides). But, you didn't &lt;em&gt;necessarily&lt;/em&gt; see him get to the side of the road&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I saw him cross the road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... suggests that you saw him do the entire action of starting on one side, walking across, and ending up on the other side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T04:09:11.930" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9651" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-23T05:24:20.230" Score="7" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of the term &lt;em&gt;'til the cows come home&lt;/em&gt;? While discussing this with friends tonight, the group had two possible explanations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cows return to their barn for milking at a given time late each night.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If a cow runs away or escapes, it doesn't return, unlike horses, which will return to their stable. As such, &lt;em&gt;'til the cows come home&lt;/em&gt; is an indefinitely long time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, which is correct? If anybody can point me to a reputable source explaining the history of this phrase, I'd be interested to know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3962" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T17:20:29.580" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T20:04:47.887" Title="What is the origin of the phrase &quot;'til the cows come home&quot;?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="9652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9651" CreationDate="2011-01-23T06:21:34.040" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This source here &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/382900.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/382900.html&lt;/a&gt; says that your first suggestion is the correct one. But I'd be interested in learning more about this too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T06:21:34.040" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9653" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9662" CreationDate="2011-01-23T07:19:12.990" Score="3" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;The beginning lines of today’s New York Times article titled “As State of the Union Nears, Congress Plays Musical Chairs” provided me with a set of interesting acronym, word, and idiom new to me, such as “BFF,” “play musical chair” and “good hair,” whose meanings I was able to find out by UrbanDictionary. However, UrbanDictionary defines BFF as ‘an abbreviation mostly written on binders or notes &lt;em&gt;by girls in grade school&lt;/em&gt;, however, over the last few years, people who use to use the term in grade school have actually started saying ...’ &#xA;Is it appropriate or natural to apply an acronym (BFF) being used primarily by gradeschool girls to dignitaries like Senators as exampled by the following sentence. In addition, do you use “BFF” in your colloquial conversation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mary from Louisiana asked Olympia from Maine because they are BFFs, but had a backup in Bob from Tennessee in case she was rebuffed. Kirsten from New York went the Sadie Hawkins route and asked John from South Dakota, and thus the deal between two members of the Senate with seriously good hair was sealed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T13:57:12.773" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T00:54:50.433" Title="Can the word 'BFF' be applied to decent adults like Senate members?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9654" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9668" CreationDate="2011-01-23T07:34:29.327" Score="7" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;This still strikes me as odd, even after 12 years in the US.  Being &lt;em&gt;out of luck&lt;/em&gt; is a bad thing, but &lt;em&gt;lucked out&lt;/em&gt; is a good thing, e.g. &lt;em&gt;we 'lucked out' and were able to get two extra tickets for the show&lt;/em&gt;. Any idea why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T17:09:14.987" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T17:09:14.987" Title="Why is &quot;lucked out&quot; such a good thing to be?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9655" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12673" CreationDate="2011-01-23T07:54:27.843" Score="9" ViewCount="385" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used &lt;em&gt;quick, let's scarper before the boss comes back&lt;/em&gt; to inject some levity into a recent meeting, but got only blank stares for my trouble.  When asked to explain &lt;em&gt;scarper&lt;/em&gt; to my American chums, all I could think of was &lt;em&gt;you know, as in &quot;scarper lads, it's the filth&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, i.e. run away quickly before the police catch you, but &lt;em&gt;run away quickly&lt;/em&gt; really doesn't convey the essence of this truly useful word.  Is there a good American English equivalent?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: it is difficult to convey the exact context.  Imagine high school kids (not the good ones) deciding to try and evade the deans, or maybe a bunch of dropouts or low-level criminals about to get caught breaking in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastEditorUserId="1778" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T18:25:17.193" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T04:18:10.897" Title="Is there a good substitute for the word &quot;scarper&quot; in American English?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="21" CommentCount="13" />
  <row Id="9656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2011-01-23T08:04:29.197" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know how American it is, but &quot;vamoose&quot; has a few hits in COCA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3542" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T08:04:29.197" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9657" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9703" CreationDate="2011-01-23T08:06:36.523" Score="6" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know when and how &lt;em&gt;fail&lt;/em&gt; became a noun?  I'd love to see one of those charts that shows the date of origin and subsequent growth of this usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T17:46:17.297" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T02:17:10.697" Title="When and how did &quot;fail&quot; become a noun?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;language-evolution&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="9658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2011-01-23T08:14:10.807" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps &lt;em&gt;absquatulate&lt;/em&gt; is the word you are looking for, although that might be getting on a bit now. You might also try &lt;em&gt;skedaddle&lt;/em&gt;, which appears to be aging rather better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T08:14:10.807" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9659" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9691" CreationDate="2011-01-23T08:34:04.953" Score="3" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I saw him cross the road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;cross the road&lt;/em&gt; the object of &lt;em&gt;saw&lt;/em&gt;? Or is it the complement of &lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T16:51:55.610" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T16:51:55.610" Title="Complement or object?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;object&gt;&lt;complement&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9660" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9666" CreationDate="2011-01-23T09:33:39.490" Score="4" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The more I use Froyo the more new stuff I discover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I more use Froyo, I discover more new stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T15:28:15.997" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T15:28:15.997" Title="Could you help me to do a syntax analysis of this sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;modifiers&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9657" CreationDate="2011-01-23T09:33:53.093" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=fail&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fail:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The noun (e.g. &lt;em&gt;without fail&lt;/em&gt;) is from&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;late 13c.&lt;/strong&gt;, from O.Fr. &lt;em&gt;faile&lt;/em&gt; &quot;deficiency,&quot; from &lt;em&gt;falir&lt;/em&gt;. The&#xA;  Anglo-French form of the verb,&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;failer&lt;/em&gt;, came to be used as a noun, hence &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=failure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;failure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T09:33:53.093" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9653" CreationDate="2011-01-23T10:34:24.443" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not appropriate or natural to refer to adults as &quot;BFFs.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;BFF&quot; is usually seen as a goofy, over the top expression and thus is rarely used seriously by adults. However, it's not uncommon for a adults to use the over the top and goofy nature of the expression for comical effects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this context, the author is trying to humorously summarize the reasons some senators mentioned in the article gave for picking who they'll sit next to for President Obama's State of the Union address. Here, BFF is used to mock Senator Mary L. Landrieu's comment that Senator Olympia Snowe was &quot;one of [her] best girlfriends:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“I asked one of my best girlfriends to be my date for the night,” Senator Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, said of her choice, Senator Olympia J. Snowe, Republican of Maine. “Of course, we share the Small Business Committee.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3711" LastEditorUserId="3711" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T00:54:50.433" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T00:54:50.433" />
  <row Id="9663" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9688" CreationDate="2011-01-23T10:46:03.820" Score="2" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;English is not my native language, but normally when I listen to the radio I have no problem understanding what's being said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's different when I listen to sports commentary, I really have to concentrate then. I just watched an episode of The IT Crowd where &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94hdVLP1SdE&amp;amp;has_verified=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Maurice Moss talks in a &quot;football voice&quot;&lt;/a&gt;(1:10).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where does that way of speaking originate? Why do you usually hear it in sports commentary?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1951" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T16:46:05.413" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T16:46:05.413" Title="Talking in a &quot;football voice&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9663" CreationDate="2011-01-23T11:02:07.930" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's more the kind of speech you hear between two guys discussing a match the next day rather than during commentary, though the 'second commentator' will often chime in with similar stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What characterises the 'football voice' is generally the use of lots of cliches  and slang that could be obscure for non-natives (or even native non-football fans), like 'They were trying to walk it in', i.e. they were keeping the ball too long and not shooting soon enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps if you can be more specific about what you find hard to understand we could help a little more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T11:24:36.693" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9660" CreationDate="2011-01-23T11:04:31.533" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it means the amount of 'new  stuff' you discover increases the more 'Froyo' is used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I more use Froyo, I discover more new stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Makes no sense I'm afraid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T11:04:31.533" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9660" CreationDate="2011-01-23T11:05:10.713" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a parallel comparative. It shows up in a lot of languages:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. [French: The more things change, the more they stay the same.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Je größer desto besser [German: The bigger the better.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were to express this mathematically, it would be something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;a + n ~= b + n&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;b&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt; are positive numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a common way of expressing how two things are related from an experiential perspective. In your example, the sentence expresses that using &lt;em&gt;Froyo&lt;/em&gt; (currently, the latest Android operating system for smart phones) is a very rich experience, and the speaker learns something new practically upon every encounter with it. It is here used to express approval of the new OS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More positive examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The more I get to know you, the more I like you. [The speaker's relationship with &quot;you&quot; is growing in a positive direction.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The more I see Fellini films, the more I understand how film can be used expressively. [The speaker has learned a lot about movie-making from watching Fellini.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't have to be an approving comment, however. Here are some negative examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The more I eat liver, the more I like steak. [In other words, the speaker really doesn't like liver.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The more I go to class, the more bored I get. [The speaker really doesn't like going to class.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T11:29:53.543" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T11:29:53.543" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2011-01-23T11:06:45.103" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Scram!' or the old Bugs Bunny, Pig Latin version, 'Am-scray!'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T11:06:45.103" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9654" CreationDate="2011-01-23T11:13:07.780" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means that you are replete with luck. Think of similar phrases like 'all decked out', e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The house was all decked out with balloons and banners for the birthday party.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Spread the sheet out&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Out in all these contexts means 'the fullest extent or amount'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact it means the same in 'out of luck', meaning you have absolutely no luck (no luck to the fullest extent). It's just the phrase is understood differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T11:13:07.780" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2011-01-23T11:37:12.440" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;em&gt;book&lt;/em&gt; comes closest, both in meaning and degree of colloquialness, as in: &quot;Look, John's coming in. I owe him money, so I gotta book. See you later.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T11:37:12.440" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9660" CreationDate="2011-01-23T12:11:53.007" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence can be rephrased to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I use Froyo more, then I discover more new stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is sort of a logical rephrasing, without any subjective emphasis in it. The original puts more emphasis on how useful doing the first action is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mathematically, this is expressed that the second thing is proportional to the first, or that the second linearly (as opposed to, say, logarithmically) increases with the first: b ~ a * x. So if x is 2, meaning that I double my efforts in doing a, then b will also double. If I use Froyo twice as much as I do it now, I will learn twice as many new things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also emphasizes that the experience continues to be fruitful to me. The benefits won't decrease in time, which is to say that I won't reach a point where using Froyo as much, I will not learn anymore, because I've learnt everything. I always learn more and more, in direct correspondence to how much I use it. Of course, this might not be true in real life, but phrasing it this way, I point out how very useful using Froyo is to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3957" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T12:11:53.007" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5580" CreationDate="2011-01-23T13:00:19.670" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My gut instinct as a British English speaker is that if you used &lt;em&gt;thrice&lt;/em&gt;, it would be assumed that you'd used it for some special rhetorical/poetic effect, or you were being pretentious (or both). It's non-standard and not colloquial. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd hazard a guess that the majority of uses of the word are in a larger expression along the lines of &quot;not once, not twice, but thrice&quot;, and rarely by itself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll stick my neck out and say that Australians would be more likely to think it pretentious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T13:00:19.670" />
  <row Id="9672" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9674" CreationDate="2011-01-23T13:07:21.913" Score="6" ViewCount="306" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Italy you have two option to say &quot;I love you&quot;, I'll try to translate them the best i can:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I love you (&lt;em&gt;Ti amo.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I want you to be ok (&lt;em&gt;Ti voglio bene.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact is that in English both &lt;em&gt;ti amo&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;ti voglio bene&lt;/em&gt; are translated with &lt;em&gt;I love you&lt;/em&gt;. But in Italian there are a lot of differences:&#xA;&lt;em&gt;I love you&lt;/em&gt; is used to express love for another person which is, or you want her/him to be, your girlfriend/boyfriend. The &lt;em&gt;I want you to be OK&lt;/em&gt; is used to express still something love-related but just a little bit less love-related (It's hard to say it). &lt;em&gt;I want you to be OK&lt;/em&gt; is used by parents to their sons/daughters or vice versa or by a friend to another friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do watch some TV shows in English and I find that sometimes 2 friends tell each others &lt;em&gt;I love you&lt;/em&gt; and they just go back to their job (= &lt;em&gt;I want you to be ok&lt;/em&gt;), sometimes one of them say &lt;em&gt;I love you&lt;/em&gt; and the other understand that he/she wants her/him to be his/her girlfriend/boyfriend and that it's love-related (= &lt;em&gt;I love you&lt;/em&gt;).&#xA;Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3407" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T16:42:56.990" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T16:42:56.990" Title="How to use &quot;I love you&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="9673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9672" CreationDate="2011-01-23T13:25:45.310" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this is related to the context between the two people. If a friend says &quot;I love you&quot; it is understood to mean that they care for you and want the best for you, but not in a romantic way. I don't think people say &quot;I love you&quot; to someone as a way to &lt;em&gt;start&lt;/em&gt; a romantic relationship. Typically, those words are said much &lt;em&gt;later&lt;/em&gt; when one is already &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; a relationship. Also, the &lt;em&gt;way&lt;/em&gt; in which the words are said (&quot;tone&quot;) and the speaker's facial expression when speaking will also allow the hearer to determine what it meant. That's not to say that there are never misunderstandings of course. If friends are not comfortable saying &quot;I love you&quot;, they may say &quot;All the best&quot;, &quot;I'm thinking of you&quot;, &quot;Take care&quot; or &quot;Keep well&quot;. These phrases may, however, also be used by people who are not necessarily &lt;em&gt;close&lt;/em&gt; friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I&quot; and &quot;TV&quot; are capitalized in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3954" LastEditorUserId="3954" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T13:55:41.963" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T13:55:41.963" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9672" CreationDate="2011-01-23T14:01:15.357" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English there are two expressions that partly overlap:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I love you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm in love with you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second one means romantic love, while the first one can be used for any kind of affection, including romantic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first is usually used for both, the second is mostly used when you want to clarify what kind of love you are talking about. Often that is not necessary as it's evident from the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, it's correct that &lt;em&gt;I love you&lt;/em&gt; can be used for both Italian expressions. The expression &lt;em&gt;I'm in love with you&lt;/em&gt; translates into &lt;em&gt;Ti amo&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T13:30:11.183" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T13:30:11.183" />
  <row Id="9675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2011-01-23T15:51:12.270" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cheese it! The police!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I saw them coming up the street so I broke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T15:51:12.270" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9676" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9677" CreationDate="2011-01-23T16:50:13.923" Score="4" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pandit affects a down-to-earth demeanor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;affect&lt;/em&gt; mean in this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T16:24:47.147" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T16:24:47.147" Title="Elusive meaning of &quot;affects&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9676" CreationDate="2011-01-23T17:03:33.357" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Affect&lt;/em&gt; in this sense means to &quot;use, wear, or assume (something) pretentiously or so as to make an impression oin others: &lt;em&gt;an American who had affected a British accent&lt;/em&gt; &quot; [Webster's]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your sentence it means Pandit was pretending to be &quot;just one of the guys.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T20:15:36.757" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T20:15:36.757" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9678" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9681" CreationDate="2011-01-23T17:50:45.950" Score="2" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe this a philosophy question. But this is also an English question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T21:23:20.140" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T09:09:56.360" Title="In English, what is a 'being', and what things cannot be called 'beings'?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="9679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9657" CreationDate="2011-01-23T18:00:08.523" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some hypotheses are listed and briefly analyzed in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.slate.com/id/2202262/pagenum/all/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; Slate article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastEditorUserId="2396" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T21:08:29.587" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T21:08:29.587" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9657" CreationDate="2011-01-23T18:01:32.263" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;adding to Mr Mehper's answer, people use it in the stock and security market too. to mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Failure to deliver securities to a purchaser within a specified time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Failure to receive the proceeds of a transaction, as in the sale of stock or securities, by a specified date.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3914" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T18:01:32.263" />
  <row Id="9681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9678" CreationDate="2011-01-23T19:02:46.160" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually, this refers to living things--even hypothetical, alien life forms. Depending on usage, it may or may not include plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T19:02:46.160" />
  <row Id="9682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9654" CreationDate="2011-01-23T19:06:28.197" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;out of luck&lt;/em&gt; - luck has run out; is gone, depleted&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;lucked out&lt;/em&gt; - escaped/got out of a potentially bad situation, or emerged/came out ahead, thanks only to luck&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T19:06:28.197" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9657" CreationDate="2011-01-23T19:28:02.497" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The recent uprise in incidences of non-verb &lt;em&gt;fail&lt;/em&gt; is due to its being an internet meme, possibly from a Japanese video game with poor translation to English. &lt;a href=&quot;http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/fail&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Know your meme&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T19:28:02.497" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8900" CreationDate="2011-01-23T19:59:45.497" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not an answer, but rather a comment.  I came to this site because I viewed the movie &quot;True Grit&quot; and also noticed that contractions were not used.  I wanted to see if they even existed in the 1880's.  Thanks for the info.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3975" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T19:59:45.497" />
  <row Id="9685" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9686" CreationDate="2011-01-23T20:43:38.410" Score="6" ViewCount="378" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello! I don't understand this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I’ve had a little bit too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS. My native language is Ukrainian (Russian)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3976" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T23:54:53.140" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T00:14:23.310" Title="What does &quot;I’ve had a little bit too much&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9685" CreationDate="2011-01-23T20:59:33.097" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It usually means you have drunk too much alcohol, though it can be used to refer to too much of other things as well. 'Little bit' gives the imagery of exceeding your limits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T20:59:33.097" />
  <row Id="9687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9685" CreationDate="2011-01-23T21:01:26.010" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It usually means the person drank slightly too much alcohol, that is, they are slightly drunk. A similar phrase is &quot;I've had a few too many.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3244" LastEditorUserId="3244" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T00:14:23.310" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T00:14:23.310" />
  <row Id="9688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9663" CreationDate="2011-01-23T21:06:39.390" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Elendil has covered the idiomatic aspects of &quot;football voice&quot;, but the &lt;em&gt;pronunciation&lt;/em&gt; characteristics are somewhat different. I'm not from the UK, but my understanding runs as follows: both Moss and Jenn speak with a typical educated Londoner accent, which falls somewhere between the lower-class dialects and the upper-class RP (&quot;Received Pronunciation&quot;). This is the closest thing there is to a neutral accent in Britain. However, when Moss switches into &quot;football voice&quot; talking to the (presumably working-class) postman, he affects a style of pronunciation that's more associated with lower-class Londoners, which is how the stereotypical football fan speaks. The football voice is thus a combination of football-specific idioms and a particular dialectical pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;British sportscasters are probably not as working-class as their listeners, so I suspect that if you hear sportscasters talking in this way, it's partly an affectation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T21:06:39.390" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9685" CreationDate="2011-01-23T21:08:04.937" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Jeanne Pindar and Jasper Loy say, the intended meaning is &quot;I've had a little bit too much to drink.&quot; But the phrase isn't usually heard until the speaker has had a great deal too much to drink, and so has a euphemistic quality about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T21:08:04.937" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9678" CreationDate="2011-01-23T21:12:17.833" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Jay, but would also add that in the realm of philosophy, something has &quot;being&quot; if it exists. Of course, this opens an existential can of worms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Being&quot; could be seen as the gerund form for the verb &quot;to be&quot;, which means &quot;to exist&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T21:12:17.833" />
  <row Id="9691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9659" CreationDate="2011-01-23T21:24:32.443" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this sentence, &lt;code&gt;to cross the road&lt;/code&gt; is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complement_%28linguistics%29#Objective_predicative_complements&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;objective predicative complement&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; within the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such phrases take the general form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;SUBJECT + VERB + OBJECT + COMPLEMENT&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The object here is clearly &lt;code&gt;him&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Side note&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I'm aware, the &quot;objective complement&quot; is a rather peculiar construct to the English language. Other European languages (I can vouch for French and Spanish at least) require a separate clause, something akin to &lt;code&gt;I saw that he crossed the road&lt;/code&gt;. (Also perfectly grammatical English, but less natural.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T21:24:32.443" />
  <row Id="9692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9561" CreationDate="2011-01-23T22:05:03.020" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Define &quot;proven liar.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without context, &quot;liar&quot; makes me think of someone who lies, usually habitually, for personal gain, often at the expense of others. This might include someone who lies about his experience to get a job for which he's not qualified, or who falsely accuses a coworker of stealing to get that coworker fired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calling this kind of person a liar &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; offend that person, even though the accusation's true. After all, it's hard for him to gain from his lies when people stop believing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will other people be offended? It's hard to say, but it helps a lot if others believe you and feel the accusation's appropriate. Just be aware that &quot;liar&quot; isn't a trivial accusation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3977" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T22:05:03.020" />
  <row Id="9693" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9696" CreationDate="2011-01-23T22:24:54.800" Score="2" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can one be &lt;em&gt;uninnovative&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;un-innovative&lt;/em&gt;? I'm looking for a direct antonym of the adjective &lt;em&gt;innovative&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see an entry at &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/uninnovative&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;, but nothing at Merriam Webster (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/uninnovative&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;innovative&lt;/a&gt;, *&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/uninnovative&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;uninnovative&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1439" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T16:04:40.457" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T16:04:40.457" Title="Can one be uninnovative?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="9694" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9698" CreationDate="2011-01-23T22:25:53.093" Score="3" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;Further to my question about the use of ‘MFF’ on New York Times article ( Jan.29 ) titled “As State of the Union Nears, Congress Plays Musical Chairs,” I have a question about the meaning of the phrase of ‘members of the Senate with seriously good hair’ in the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mary from Louisiana asked Olympia from Maine because they are BFFs, but had a backup in Bob from Tennessee in case she was rebuffed. Kirsten from New York went the Sadie Hawkins route and asked John from South Dakota, and thus the deal between two members of the Senate with seriously good hair was sealed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was intrigued by the phrase, ‘good hair,’ in the above sentence. So I checked Urbandictionary to find its real meaning and found the following definition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A popular term in the African-American community, used to describe a black person's hair that closely resembles the hair of a typical white person (i.e. soft, manageable, long, as opposed to &quot;nappy&quot; or &quot;bad&quot; hair). The closer your hair is to a white person's, the &quot;better&quot; your hair is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was confused. On YouTube, both Sen. Marry L. Landriey and Olympia Snowe are clearly white, one with bland and another dark hair. Is Urbandictionary’s definition - 'used to describe a black person's hair' wrong? What does &quot;Senators with &lt;em&gt;seriously good hair&lt;/em&gt;” really mean? Is it a praise or does it involve sarcastic insinuation?&#xA;Please teach me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T23:33:00.210" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T23:53:45.200" Title="What does ‘a woman with seriously good hair’ mean? Is “Good Hair” primarily applied to American-African ladies?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="9695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9693" CreationDate="2011-01-23T22:53:54.253" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither the OED nor Wiktionary have anything listed on &lt;em&gt;uninnovative&lt;/em&gt; either, nor does the COCA have any entries listed. The BNC has one entry listed for 1991. Based on that evidence, I would conclude that &lt;em&gt;uninnovative&lt;/em&gt; is not a word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest &lt;em&gt;unimaginative&lt;/em&gt; as an alternative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T22:53:54.253" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9693" CreationDate="2011-01-23T22:54:32.910" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. Indeed, *&lt;em&gt;un[-]innovative&lt;/em&gt; does not exist, at least in formal usage. Depending on the context, any of the following could work:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1235773#m_en_us1235773&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;conventional&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1302258#m_en_us1302258&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;uninspired&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1302471#m_en_us1302471&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;unoriginal&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1293769?rskey=F58ZQt&amp;amp;result=1#m_en_us1293769&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;stale&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1299020#m_en_us1299020&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;tired&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1300495#m_en_us1300495&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;trite&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T22:54:32.910" />
  <row Id="9697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9693" CreationDate="2011-01-23T23:11:16.080" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to go against the grain and suggest that if 7-Up can create &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQiZn9ZSQgM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Un-cola&lt;/a&gt;, you can pretty much attach the &lt;em&gt;un-&lt;/em&gt; prefix to whatever you like, so long as you recognize that you may be stretching the boundaries a little. But, hey, boundaries are meant to be stretched, right? This doesn't seem to me like an egregious violation of any particular rule. And if I were to see &lt;em&gt;uninnovative&lt;/em&gt; applied in a sentence, I would instantly understand what the writer meant and my reading flow would be uninterrupted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short answer: If &lt;em&gt;uninnovative&lt;/em&gt; isn't a dictionary word (yet), I hereby nominate it as a useful innovation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T01:01:00.070" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T01:01:00.070" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9694" CreationDate="2011-01-23T23:22:09.777" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Good hair&quot; is kind of a meme in American English. (I was going to say &lt;em&gt;faux meme&lt;/em&gt;, but no one would forgive that pun.) TV announcers and politicians all strive to have good hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://crooksandliars.com/files/uploads/2007/10/romney.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://crooksandliars.com/2007/10/24/mitt-romney-mistakenly-refers-to-osama-bin-laden-as-barack-obama&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Picture source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scott Adams' comic strip &lt;em&gt;Dilbert&lt;/em&gt; calls this &quot;executive hair&quot; and this has entered the &lt;a href=&quot;https://mises.org/freemarket_detail.aspx?control=108&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;political vocabulary&lt;/a&gt;, at least. People with &quot;good hair&quot; seem to have it all over those who don't. Especially those who don't have any hair at all. Just ask &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YGjuRYEguI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Larry David&lt;/a&gt; (watch the whole clip).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The opposite of good hair is, of course, bad hair. Americans even speak of &quot;having a bad hair day&quot; when nothing seems to be going right with their appearance (or their day) in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T23:53:45.200" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T23:53:45.200" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8900" CreationDate="2011-01-23T23:29:33.133" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a post on this very subject by a professor of linguistics: “&lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2873&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;True Grit isn't true&lt;/a&gt;” by Mark Liberman. He did a quick little “Breakfast Experiment™”, comparing the relative frequencies of the contractions &lt;em&gt;won’t, don’t, it’s, that’s&lt;/em&gt; versus the uncontracted forms &lt;em&gt;will not, do not, it is, that is&lt;/em&gt; in three novels: Charles Portis’ &lt;em&gt;True Grit&lt;/em&gt; (published in 1968 but set in 1878), Mark Twain’s &lt;em&gt;Tom Sawyer&lt;/em&gt; (conveniently, published in 1876), and for a modern comparison, James Lee Burke’s &lt;em&gt;Swan Peak&lt;/em&gt; (published 2008). His conclusion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So &lt;em&gt;True Grit&lt;/em&gt; (the novel) has definitely got a lower frequency of contractions than the other two works, even though it's not in fact contraction-free; and this pattern is not a true picture of the 1870s southern or south-midland vernacular that its characters (like Mark Twain) presumably spoke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1635" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T23:29:33.133" />
  <row Id="9700" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9701" CreationDate="2011-01-23T23:54:35.350" Score="1" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word rarely turns up  outside that context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word rarely turns up outside &lt;strong&gt;of&lt;/strong&gt; that context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1446" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T02:31:15.853" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T02:31:15.853" Title="&quot;Outside&quot; or &quot;outside of&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9700" CreationDate="2011-01-24T00:05:18.363" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The preposition/adverb, &lt;em&gt;outside&lt;/em&gt;, and the compound preposition, &lt;em&gt;outside of&lt;/em&gt;, both have the same meaning: &lt;em&gt;beyond the boundaries/limits of _&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1274419#m_en_us1274419&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; provides an excellent exposition on the usage of these two:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Outside of&lt;/strong&gt; tends to be more commonly used in the US than in Britain, where &lt;strong&gt;outside&lt;/strong&gt; usually suffices, but, like its cousin &lt;em&gt;off of&lt;/em&gt;, it is colloquial and not recommended for formal writing. … The adverb &lt;strong&gt;outside&lt;/strong&gt; is not problematic when referring to physical space, position , etc. (&lt;em&gt;I‘m going outside&lt;/em&gt;), but the compound preposition &lt;strong&gt;outside of&lt;/strong&gt; is often used as a colloquial (and often inferior) way of saying &lt;em&gt;except for&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;other than&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;apart from&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;outside of what I just mentioned, I can’t think of any reason not to&lt;/em&gt;). Besides possibly sounding more informal than desired, &lt;strong&gt;outside of&lt;/strong&gt; may cause misunderstanding by suggesting physical space or location when that is not the point to be emphasized, or when no such sense is intended — consider the ambiguity in this sentence: &lt;em&gt;outside of China, he has few interests&lt;/em&gt;. Does this mean that his primary interest is China? Or does it mean that whenever he is not in China, he has few interests?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T00:05:18.363" />
  <row Id="9702" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9707" CreationDate="2011-01-24T00:18:07.640" Score="2" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word &lt;strong&gt;rarely&lt;/strong&gt; turns up outside of those contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word turns up &lt;strong&gt;rarely&lt;/strong&gt; outside of those contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:35:35.957" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:35:35.957" Title="Should an adverb go before or after a verb?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9657" CreationDate="2011-01-24T00:46:55.547" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fail&quot; has existed as a noun and has been part of our lexicon  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=fail&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;for a long time&lt;/a&gt;, such as in the phrase &quot;without fail.&quot; However, it gained a new meaning in the recent years with the fail Internet meme, where it started as an interjection first, capable of standing on alone in a sentence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, the first entry for &quot;fail&quot; to arrive &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fail&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;on Urban Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; described fail as &quot;an interjection used when one disapproves of something, or a verb&quot; and one of the two examples cited was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You actually bought that? FAIL. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the &quot;FAIL&quot; above was a noun, that sentence would not be syntactically correct. Nouns cannot be used in that manner. It would be like saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You positioned your lips to form an upward curve? SMILE.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We understand what is meant but it's not syntactically correct. No one with a good command of English would ever say such a sentence. A correct way to articulate the thought while keeping &quot;smile&quot; as a noun would be to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You positioned your lips to form an upward curve? That's a smile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, the fail in the Urban Dictionary example is an interjection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's only afterward, probably through misinterpretation of the meme, that it came to be used as a noun. When you look at an image with only &quot;FAIL&quot; written on it, it's impossible to tell whether fail is being used as a noun or an interjection:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/NGMVo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From that point on, the meme evolved - as memes often do - and started to be used &lt;a href=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/btSNh.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;as a noun&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/YYNQj.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;as an adjective&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/ZLRSr.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;as a noun modified by as an adjective&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the origin of the meme itself, which I assume is your original question, the origin most often given (by &lt;a href=&quot;http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/fail&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Know Your Meme&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.slate.com/id/2202262/pagenum/all/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Slate&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/magazine/09FOB-onlanguage-t.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the New York Times&lt;/a&gt;) is that it comes from a poor Japanese-to-English translation of the game Blazing Star. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ben Zimmer of the New York Time says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This punchy stand-alone fail most likely originated as a shortened form of “You fail” or, more fully, “You fail it,” the taunting “game over” message in the late-’90s Japanese video game Blazing Star, notorious for its fractured English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference, here's Blazing Star's game over message:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/W97uv.png&quot; alt=&quot;alt text&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3711" LastEditorUserId="3711" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T02:17:10.697" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T02:17:10.697" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9702" CreationDate="2011-01-24T01:19:44.417" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Positioning adverbs is a complex affair. There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv202.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some rules of thumb&lt;/a&gt;, but for many adverbs, it is quite acceptable to place it before or after the verb. In this case, I think either way is acceptable, though I would probably find the former more natural, i.e.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word rarely turns up outside of those contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but the following is also acceptable, if a bit less natural:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word turns up rarely outside of those contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two side notes: a) you want &lt;code&gt;those&lt;/code&gt; (the plural of &lt;code&gt;that&lt;/code&gt;), since &lt;code&gt;contexts&lt;/code&gt; is plural, b) &lt;code&gt;of&lt;/code&gt; is required in both cases here, as it belongs with the word &lt;code&gt;outside&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T01:37:07.893" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T01:37:07.893" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9705" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9708" CreationDate="2011-01-24T01:23:42.523" Score="6" ViewCount="251" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I'm no native speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thomas&lt;/em&gt; gets pronounced with a starting &quot;T&quot; (the &quot;h&quot; is silent), while &lt;em&gt;Theodore&lt;/em&gt; with a &quot;Th&quot;. What rule is followed here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="222" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T01:50:52.627" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T15:40:07.800" Title="Different pronunciation between Thomas and Theodore" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;names&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9705" CreationDate="2011-01-24T01:29:36.157" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, the rule is pretty much that you have to know how it it is pronounced &lt;em&gt;for every single word in the English language that begins with &lt;strong&gt;th-&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Especially for proper names.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even then it won't help if you work with two women named Thalia, one of whom insists on her name being pronounced Talia and the other wants the lithpier version.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and by the way ... Theodore's nickname is Ted! And you thought English pronunciations ought to make sense. That's just ... adorable! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. I'm not poking fun at you, but at our silly, unreasonable language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T01:39:23.677" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T01:39:23.677" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9702" CreationDate="2011-01-24T01:56:45.390" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both correct, I don't think it's supposed to be limited here. Maybe the creative usage turns rarely up would also be used in some cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3981" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T01:56:45.390" />
  <row Id="9708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9705" CreationDate="2011-01-24T02:15:54.017" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no rule at all. As Robusto mentioned, there isn't really any rule for pronouncing th, and even if there were it's common for names not to follow rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thomas&lt;/em&gt; comes from the Aramaic &lt;em&gt;t’om’a&lt;/em&gt;, while &lt;em&gt;Theodore&lt;/em&gt; comes from the Greek &lt;em&gt;Θεόδωρος (Theodōros)&lt;/em&gt;, which is probably the reason for the difference in pronunciation. Eventhough the &lt;em&gt;th&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;Thomas&lt;/em&gt; comes from the later Greek spelling, it's likely that the pronunciation remained from the original form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_%28surname%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Thomas&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_%28name%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Theodore&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="3365" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T02:22:34.757" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T02:22:34.757" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="9709" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9711" CreationDate="2011-01-24T02:25:09.070" Score="4" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/979/why-do-english-writers-avoid-explicit-numerals&quot;&gt;Why do English writers avoid explicit numerals?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In German, numbers below (and including) twelve are spelt out (eins, zwei, ...) while the numbers above twelve are usually written as numbers (13, 14, ...). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's an informal rule, but still. Is this similar in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="222" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T02:37:00.637" ClosedDate="2011-01-25T14:04:12.063" Title="Spelling of small numbers?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9709" CreationDate="2011-01-24T02:29:19.663" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends. Different publications enforce different style rules about this. The Associated Press Style Guide prefers numbers up to ten to be spelled out, and anything over (including 11), to be put into numerals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T02:29:19.663" />
  <row Id="9711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9709" CreationDate="2011-01-24T02:30:28.290" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One convention is that we spell out one to nine, and use numerals from 10 onwards. However if you have a sentence in which numbers in both categories appear, it may be better to standardize by using only words or only numerals; for example, 'he has eleven bananas while I have two' or 'he has 11 bananas while I have 2'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T02:37:00.637" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T02:37:00.637" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9712" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9726" CreationDate="2011-01-24T02:42:37.223" Score="2" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often, I come across expressions like 'I can't have no money', 'I don't want no help', 'Do you want them tomatoes', 'Be careful with them toes' when watching cartoons, movies and shows. Does anybody consider these to be proper English? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3982" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T09:02:09.623" Title="Are these kinds of sentences considered proper English?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9712" CreationDate="2011-01-24T02:46:42.273" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're definitely improper, but they're often considered acceptable in very informal situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2852" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T02:46:42.273" />
  <row Id="9714" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9822" CreationDate="2011-01-24T02:53:01.760" Score="2" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the movie &lt;em&gt;The Dark Knight&lt;/em&gt;, at the end, there is one memorable line &quot;Not the hero we deserved but the hero we needed&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what is the difference between &quot;deserved&quot; and &quot;needed&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3984" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T03:11:19.733" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T22:03:47.213" Title="What's the difference between &quot;deserve&quot; and &quot;need&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9714" CreationDate="2011-01-24T02:57:01.390" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The hero in the movie did many good things for the city, so the city 'needed' him. However the people didn't really appreciate him, so they didn't 'deserve' him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T02:57:01.390" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3632" CreationDate="2011-01-24T03:06:06.057" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There also seems to be an underlying problem with the sentence, whichever alternatives are chosen: what do the agreements in question say?  They appear to be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;agreements that [the corporations] are inclined to protect the universities’ interests&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Butthis simply doesn’t make sense, either in colloquial or legal English!  It’s like giving my landlord “an agreement that I want to pay my rent”.  I might give him “an agreement that I will pay my rent”, or “an agreement to pay my rent”, but not that I &lt;em&gt;want&lt;/em&gt; to pay it, since firstly I probably &lt;em&gt;don’t&lt;/em&gt; want to, and secondly, the landlord doesn’t care whether I want to or not; he cares that it gets paid!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps there’s some other way of parsing the clause following “because” which I’m missing, which makes this make sense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the question give, my first reaction is actually to agree with the OP’s preference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The profits that the corporation earns from the exclusive-supplier agreements with the universities are &lt;strong&gt;surprising&lt;/strong&gt;, because the terms of agreements that they are inclined to protect the universities’ interests are generally &lt;strong&gt;enforced&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read this as follows: the agreements are to protect the universities’ interests (presumably: from the corporations), so provided they are enforced, one would expect them to limit or restrict the corporations’ profits.  Thus, given that they are enforced, it is surprising that the profits are so large.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is one piece of this reading that relies on idiomatic understanding of something not explicitly present in the words: the fact that &lt;em&gt;surprising&lt;/em&gt; in a phrase like &lt;em&gt;the profits are surprising&lt;/em&gt; typically means that they’re &lt;em&gt;surprisingly large&lt;/em&gt; (or that it’s surprising there are profits at all), not eg &lt;em&gt;surprisingly small&lt;/em&gt;.  (Replace &lt;em&gt;surprising&lt;/em&gt; with e.g. &lt;em&gt;amazing&lt;/em&gt;, and this reading becomes pretty much unavoidable.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other popular option makes logical sense, as the other answer has argued, but seems less linguistically natural to me. I’m not sure why, but for some reason it seems unusual to have &lt;em&gt;scrutinized&lt;/em&gt; unqualified in that particular position; I would expect &lt;em&gt;well-scrutinized&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;carefully scrutinized&lt;/em&gt;, or similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T03:06:06.057" />
  <row Id="9717" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9719" CreationDate="2011-01-24T03:16:24.127" Score="9" ViewCount="249" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;MySpace is fraught with users sending friend requests to people they don't even know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3393" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T14:52:00.387" Title="Is this the correct usage of the word &quot;fraught&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8014" CreationDate="2011-01-24T03:27:49.423" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There was an American comic strip that used to run, well into the early 2000s, called &quot;Boner's Ark&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boner%27s_Ark&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boner's_Ark&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bullspress.co.uk/united-kingdom/Publishing/Comics1/A-Z/Boners-Ark/Boners-Ark-samples/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sample strips&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I didn't think it was very funny when I read it in the early 70s, and they're not funny today. But this strip ran, with the word &quot;Boner&quot;, in major newspapers. So the second meaning of that word must be fairly modern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3370" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T03:27:49.423" />
  <row Id="9719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9717" CreationDate="2011-01-24T03:29:40.077" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is correct here. If something is fraught with x, it is full of x. This x is usually a bad thing, and there is a lot of it. Here are a few xamples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The journey was fraught with peril.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You failed the test because your answers were fraught with grammar mistakes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T14:52:00.387" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T14:52:00.387" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="9720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7949" CreationDate="2011-01-24T03:35:02.787" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always figured it was how illiterate people believed the verb &quot;to come&quot; meaning an organism was spelled; resulting from confusion of shorted form of &quot;scum&quot; (as in &quot;scumbag&quot;) referring to the male ejaculate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3370" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T03:35:02.787" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9712" CreationDate="2011-01-24T05:19:36.783" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first two aren't grammatically wrong, they just don't say what people typically mean when they say them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3964" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T05:19:36.783" />
  <row Id="9724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9714" CreationDate="2011-01-24T07:43:26.717" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Difference between deserve and need :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.You Need:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you require something to continue/ complete any action&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a) The Citizens of Gotham City needed Batman to save them from the criminals&#xA;-- Here we are looking at a situation where Gotham City had a lot of criminals and the citizens had to get help &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;b) Brad need to win the race , so he decided to work hard &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.You Deserve : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you have earned the right to something based on your actions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a) The Citizens of Gotham City were not grateful at all!! They did not deserve a hero like Batman. &#xA;b) Brad had been working hard for the race. He deserved the 1st Place&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3584" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T07:43:26.717" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9725" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9727" CreationDate="2011-01-24T08:47:36.850" Score="2" ViewCount="295" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are both the following sentences correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let me know if there is still something I need to &lt;strong&gt;send to you&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let me know if there is still something I need to &lt;strong&gt;send you&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is more appropriate to use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3690" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T15:13:31.303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T15:13:31.303" Title="&quot;send you&quot; or &quot;send to you&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9712" CreationDate="2011-01-24T08:54:40.077" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;None are correct English, but they are typical in the vernacular. These particular examples are often used by Cockneys (people from east London), where double negatives are common, often for comical effect (in the form of irony or sarcasm) or to emphasise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't have no money, I don't want no help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More frequently &quot;I ain't got no money&quot;. Negating the fact reinforces the speaker's lack of money / complete refusal of help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a sarcastic vein, a Cockney would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;D'ya see Andy's new bird? No slim chick!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Andrew has a new girlfriend. She's very fat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you want them tomatoes? Be careful with them toes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know the origin of these deliberate errors (them instead of those), but I suspect that they are a way to identify oneself as a member of the community. Another common deliberate mistake is to decline the verb &quot;be&quot; as if it were regular:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We &lt;strong&gt;was&lt;/strong&gt; waiting for the bloke, an'  'e never came!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T08:54:40.077" />
  <row Id="9727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9725" CreationDate="2011-01-24T09:01:03.137" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are semantically correct as they are. But compare&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'll send it to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'll send it you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second sentence wouldn't make sense in formal writing, but is found to be understandable in northern England spoken usage. There is also the case of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'll send you this thing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which flow much better without the &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;. In this light it might be more prudent to use &lt;strong&gt;send to you&lt;/strong&gt;, as it is more formal, but &lt;strong&gt;send you&lt;/strong&gt; in your context would also be accepted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: I precised my conclusion and added one example following precisions made in the comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T11:52:04.310" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T11:52:04.310" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9712" CreationDate="2011-01-24T09:02:09.623" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They aren't proper English, no. If you think about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't have no money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it actually means 'I have money'; it's an example of a double negative, and as such means the exact opposite of what the speaker wanted to convey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T09:02:09.623" />
  <row Id="9729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9561" CreationDate="2011-01-24T09:04:41.370" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Offensive, no (whether true or not).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wounding, yes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calling someone a liar is the superlative of provocation, because it frames everything that they say as deliberately false and thus worthless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T09:04:41.370" />
  <row Id="9730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9678" CreationDate="2011-01-24T09:09:56.360" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A sentient life form, capable of planning. Homo sapiens. Aliens, if they exist and can plan their lives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This excludes all animals and everything further down the food chain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to clarify, I don't consider a gorilla to be a 'being', even if it appears to communicate with sign language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T09:09:56.360" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9731" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9744" CreationDate="2011-01-24T09:14:10.330" Score="0" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;When writing out a company name, which would you use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Company Name: Strapline&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Company Name - Strapline&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Company Name – Strapline&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Company Name, Strapline&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is the correct one missing from this list entirely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3487" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T10:57:40.400" Title="When denoting a company name, followed by a strap line, what punctuation mark should I use?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9253" CreationDate="2011-01-24T09:30:50.257" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because it's politically correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Write 'slippery' and a gaggle of lawyers will fall on you, like the pox on the early Norman clergy, braying for a share of the spoils after protracted litigation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T09:30:50.257" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9279" CreationDate="2011-01-24T09:57:27.917" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Chicago manual of Style (16th edition), says that ligatures should be decomposed in Latin and transliterated Greek, as well as in words borrowed into the English lexicon. However, æ and œ should be used for Old English and French words respectively, when in an Old English/French context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a whole chapter on foreign languages, but in general I'd preserve accents and &quot;strange&quot; letters when including words from foreign languages. But it depends a lot on context as well. What kind of text are you writing, who is your audience? In an academic context the answer is usually pretty straightforward (just see how books and papers in relevant fields do it), but if you're writing for a wider audience, simplifying may be prudent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3760" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T09:57:27.917" />
  <row Id="9735" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10471" CreationDate="2011-01-24T10:10:05.590" Score="26" ViewCount="1166" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do we say &lt;em&gt;-1 thing&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;-1 things&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I am interested in both cases: &lt;em&gt;two things minus one thing(s)&lt;/em&gt; and the quantity &lt;em&gt;minus/negative one thing(s)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BOUNTY: While there are some good answers, I'm starting a bounty in an attempt to get an authoritative answer. I'm looking for either a solid, undeniable argument either way or a well-cited answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3344" LastEditorUserId="3344" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T16:22:14.670" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T16:40:46.370" Title="Is -1 singular or plural?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;mathematics&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="12" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="9736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9735" CreationDate="2011-01-24T10:14:37.223" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thing. One is singular by definition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'I have a full train set, minus one carriage'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T10:32:48.563" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9735" CreationDate="2011-01-24T10:31:49.970" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Always singular. Minus one point. Minus one day. Minus one dollar. No exceptions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T10:31:49.970" CommentCount="36" />
  <row Id="9738" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9758" CreationDate="2011-01-24T10:33:08.873" Score="2" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello ladies and gentlemen,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could you recommend any good and preferably free (or cheap) audio/video courses for learning good American English pronunciation. It would be great if they were not for beginners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks, &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Andrey&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3993" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T14:04:57.423" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-03T11:26:12.723" Title="Pronunciation audio/video courses" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="9739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9700" CreationDate="2011-01-24T10:33:54.897" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a Brit, &lt;em&gt;outside &lt;strong&gt;of&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; grinds my ear terribly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T15:58:25.627" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T15:58:25.627" />
  <row Id="9740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9731" CreationDate="2011-01-24T10:35:01.167" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No hard and fast rule, really; whatever looks better. I would use a -:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Acme - Making crazy stuff since 1932&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T10:35:01.167" />
  <row Id="9741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9735" CreationDate="2011-01-24T10:39:10.010" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of subtracting things, the minus is not part of the count itself, you are subtracting one positive count from another positive count:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Four cars minus one car is three cars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When not counting things, so that you can actually have a negative value, it's still singular:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The temperature was minus one degree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T10:39:10.010" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9659" CreationDate="2011-01-24T10:39:39.153" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A verb (cross) cannot be the object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Break the statement into smaller pieces and the true object becomes more obvious:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I saw him&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'I' subject, 'saw' verb, 'him' accusative object&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;he crossed the road&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;crossing is a separate activity to the seeing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T10:39:39.153" />
  <row Id="9743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9735" CreationDate="2011-01-24T10:53:01.450" Score="23" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I said in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2139/0-25-mile-or-0-25-miles/2148#2148&quot;&gt;answer to another question&lt;/a&gt; (about &quot;0.25 mile&quot; v/s &quot;0.25 miles&quot;), my preference is to use the singular only for the natural number 1: when you are counting something and the count is 1. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, if &quot;minus&quot; is conceivably an &lt;em&gt;operator&lt;/em&gt;, as in &quot;the band reunited, minus one member&quot;, you would use the singular. (The &quot;one&quot; there is a count of how many members were missing, so it takes the singular.)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But if &quot;-1&quot; is just a numerical value, then (to me) the plural is preferable, as in &quot;It was a cold day in winter, and the temperature was -1 degrees Celsius&quot;. This is similar to the usage &quot;0.1 grams&quot;, IMHO. (Though what I'd actually write is &quot;-1 °C&quot;, side-stepping the issue.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Searching Google for &quot;minus one degrees&quot; gives &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.in/books?id=O75wA9TklvYC&amp;amp;pg=PA59&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://americanspeech.dukejournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/77/3/325&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;, but make of them what you will.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T10:53:01.450" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9731" CreationDate="2011-01-24T10:57:40.400" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Colon (:) or dash (—) is fine. Personally I find dashes easier to read in search engine result pages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend Jakob Nielsen's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20010722.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tagline Blues: What's the Site About?&lt;/a&gt; for advice on writing good strap lines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1146" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T10:57:40.400" />
  <row Id="9745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9293" CreationDate="2011-01-24T11:13:59.700" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My understanding has alway been that tits is British and boobs is American.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T11:13:59.700" />
  <row Id="9746" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-24T11:56:41.897" Score="2" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a negative question is asked, what is the grammatically correct way to answer? If someone asks you &lt;em&gt;Didn't you come by car today?&lt;/em&gt;, what is the correct answer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3994" LastEditorUserId="91" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T11:31:27.213" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T16:48:28.610" Title="When a negative question is asked, what is the grammatically correct way to answer?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;negation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="9747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9746" CreationDate="2011-01-24T12:05:16.330" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first question can be answered unambiguously by &lt;em&gt;I came by car today&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;I did not come by car today&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Sorry if that's not quite the answer you were looking for, but in my experience with people, trying both, neither monosyllabic answer works very well across many trials.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T15:04:16.803" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T15:04:16.803" />
  <row Id="9748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9746" CreationDate="2011-01-24T12:21:27.020" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;1) You would answer 'no'. The affirmative answer should correspond to the question. So:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Positive Question&lt;/em&gt;: Did you come by car?&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Affirmative&lt;/em&gt;: Yes (positive)&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Negative&lt;/em&gt;: No (negative)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Negative Question&lt;/em&gt;: Didn't you come by car?&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Affirmative&lt;/em&gt;: No (negative)&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Negative&lt;/em&gt;: Yes (positive)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So a positive question is answered in the affirmative by a positive, and vice versa for negative questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastEditorUserId="91" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T11:31:48.617" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T11:31:48.617" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="9749" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9750" CreationDate="2011-01-24T12:25:03.943" Score="4" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;When do you use &lt;em&gt;at the office&lt;/em&gt;? And when do you use &lt;em&gt;in the office&lt;/em&gt;? What's the difference between the phrases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T14:55:45.360" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T14:55:45.360" Title="&quot;at&quot; or &quot;in&quot; the office?" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="9750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9749" CreationDate="2011-01-24T12:43:23.040" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'At the office' refers generally to the state of someone who works &lt;em&gt;in an office of some kind&lt;/em&gt; being at work, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Where's Bob?&quot;, said Jim.&#xA;  &quot;At the office.&quot;, replied John&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also refer to an object being at said place of work:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Where's your briefcase?&quot;, said Jim.&#xA;  &quot;I left it at the office.&quot;, said John.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'In the office' refers to someone or something physically being in a specific office, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Where's Bob?&quot;, said Jim. &quot;In his office.&quot;, said John.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would usually be used when the office in question was in close proximity to the speakers, for example if Jim and John were in another office in the same building as Bob.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Where's the telephone?&quot;, said Jim. &quot;It's in the office&quot;, said John.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in and at are often interchangeable. Take the briefcase example. John could have said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I left it in my office.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarise, 'at' is a more general, vague term, whereas 'in' usually refers to a specific location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T12:43:23.040" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9749" CreationDate="2011-01-24T12:44:20.667" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A close call. In my opinion, 'at' is used when one is correcting an implied absence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I shall be at the office tomorrow&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;implies the existence of doubt that I would have been there. Either I had previously said I would be away, or something led you to believe so and I am contradicting that belief.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I shall be in the office tomorrow&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;confirms my presence, as was anticipated (probably by both of us).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T12:44:20.667" />
  <row Id="9752" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-24T12:48:07.497" Score="4" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following is from some software documentation we are writing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;NOTE: Refreshing a report may be necessary or helpful when:&#xA;  1. you believe the data in the report has changed since it was last executed&#xA;  2. you'd like to return the report to its initial state/condition&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is this. Should 'you' in the first bullet item and 'you'd' in the second bullet item be capitalized?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3996" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T11:44:25.327" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T11:44:25.327" Title="Question about Capitalization for a Bullet List" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9752" CreationDate="2011-01-24T12:52:48.193" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bullet point items should be capitalised if the item in question is a full sentence. Likewise, in that case they should also have a full stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T12:52:48.193" />
  <row Id="9754" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-24T12:55:08.243" Score="5" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw this announcement on train:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The train service terminates at ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think, in the noun phrase &lt;em&gt;the train service&lt;/em&gt;, the word &lt;em&gt;train&lt;/em&gt; does not modify the noun service (Edit: as other noun acting as Adj ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think, tt should be &lt;em&gt;the service of train&lt;/em&gt;; therefore, the sentence called for a genetive ,with &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;'s&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, not noun acting as a adjective &lt;strike&gt;the word train should have the &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;'s&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; to show a possessive&lt;/strike&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Edit) The train in the question is not a regular service, it's an ad hoc service in rush hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should it be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2990" LastEditorUserId="2990" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T05:34:12.203" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T05:34:12.203" Title="Train service or Train's service - Adj or Possessive (Edit) Genitive" Tags="&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9754" CreationDate="2011-01-24T13:02:10.887" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The train service&lt;/em&gt; is fine as written. Nouns in English can act as adjectives. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bullet points&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bilge water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Boat dock&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shower head&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Piano keys&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These behave more like compound nouns, and eventually they may merge into single words over time. For example, &lt;em&gt;carwash&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;keyboard&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T13:02:10.887" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="9756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9754" CreationDate="2011-01-24T13:03:20.963" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Service is a noun, you can use it for this meaning as a noun which an adjective comes before it. Some examples are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the health service &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the postal service &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the police service &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the prison service&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T23:00:46.170" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T23:00:46.170" />
  <row Id="9757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9725" CreationDate="2011-01-24T13:52:10.340" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to what others have said, You can simply find out the difference comparing two sentences:&#xA;send somebody something&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We sent Mom flowers for Mother's Day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;send something to somebody/something&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'll send a copy to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T13:52:10.340" />
  <row Id="9758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9738" CreationDate="2011-01-24T14:04:57.423" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is book is perfect reference for learning pronunciation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;English Pronunciation Made Easy Longman by Paulette Dale Lillian&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this book you learn how to pronounce words individually and also intonations in sentences and so on. There pictures inside the book teaching you the correct form of lips and tongue for pronouncing the words correctly. Also it has got audio files.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T14:04:57.423" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-03T11:26:12.723" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6431" CreationDate="2011-01-24T14:06:31.820" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I disagree with other answers that this is simply regional variation, with no difference in meaning. While I'm sure there are regional variations, and certainly the core meaning is the same, to me (native southern UK) the meanings are definitely slightly different:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The phrase &quot;making a decision&quot; is the more common phrase. It can refer to the actual moment where a course of action is chosen (and just that moment),  but also sometimes to the whole process leading up to it (where one might undertake research, have discussions, think and so on, in order to prepare oneself for the decision itself): &quot;The committee took several months to make a decision.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The phrase &quot;taking a decision&quot;, by contrast, only refers to the decisive moment itself, and not to the process leading up to it. It has more formal connotation, and an implication that the decision will have serious consequences, and that the person deciding will be responsible for them; it has a sense of finality about it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples may help clarify:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I haven't made a decision about where to go on holiday. (Informal, consequences not serious, nobody's going to hold me to account.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The president took the decision to invade Elbonia.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bob was fired because he took the decision to outsource the call centre to Mars.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The decision-making process took a number of weeks: the engineers did the research and made recommendations, but it was the manager who took the final decision.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In support of this position it is worth using Google to search for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.co.uk/#sclient=psy&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;q=site%3anews.bbc.co.uk+%22take+a+decision%22&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&amp;amp;pbx=1&amp;amp;fp=2fb1b9b17983bff3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;take a decision&quot;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.co.uk/#sclient=psy&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;q=site%3anews.bbc.co.uk+%22make+a+decision%22&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&amp;amp;pbx=1&amp;amp;fp=2fb1b9b17983bff3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;make a decision&quot;&lt;/a&gt; on the BBC News website. The former are (at time of writing) all about formal decisions (by governments, official bodies, international committees etc); the latter - once quotes from US politicians are filtered out - mostly about personal or informal decisions, and about the decision process rather than any decision being taken:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;The Arab leaders should take a decision to stop negotiating...&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;But, as a public consultation into UK future energy needs begins, he said it was time to take a decision on nuclear.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I usually sleep on it, relax and then make a decision which is usually the correct decision.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;It's not to say that if you've got to make a decision you should make it in a fraction of a second - that is daft.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;When we make a decision, we are supposed to consciously analyse the alternatives and carefully weigh the pros and cons.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T14:06:31.820" />
  <row Id="9760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6431" CreationDate="2011-01-24T14:11:46.557" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Make decision is the common form used in English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want to think about it a bit longer before I make a decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But take decision is used in British English. It means &quot;making an important or formal decision&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I fully accept the decision taken by the committee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T14:11:46.557" />
  <row Id="9761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9749" CreationDate="2011-01-24T14:17:55.833" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect &quot;at&quot; is more often used with buildings or non-specific locations&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;John is at home.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;John is at work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;John is at the shops.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;John is at the office (meaning his office building).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;in&quot; is more often used with specific rooms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;John is in the kitchen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;John is in the meeting room.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;John is in his office.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This theory falls apart somewhat when I consider&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;John is in France.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T17:11:39.917" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T17:11:39.917" />
  <row Id="9762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9571" CreationDate="2011-01-24T14:23:19.723" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In 1994, Tom Petty's censored radio version of &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Don%27t_Know_How_It_Feels&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;You Don't Know How It Feels&lt;/a&gt;&quot; featured the word &quot;joint&quot; reversed to avoid overt drug references in the song.  It sounded like &quot;noij&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 2003, Missy Elliot's song &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_It_%28Missy_Elliott_song%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Work It&lt;/a&gt;&quot; also featured lyrics in reverse.  Most listeners mistakenly thought that it was gibberish, or were unable to derive the meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastEditorUserId="3328" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T14:31:18.637" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T14:31:18.637" />
  <row Id="9763" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9767" CreationDate="2011-01-24T14:28:11.827" Score="4" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;if &quot;minus&quot; is conceivably an operator, &lt;strong&gt;as in&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;the band reunited, minus one member&quot;, you would use the singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is preposition? the 'as' or 'in' or both as a whole is preposition? In English, can two preposition be used one after another?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T15:27:53.803" Title="About the 'as in'." Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="9764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9735" CreationDate="2011-01-24T14:32:44.293" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://neilwhitfield.wordpress.com/2007/10/31/good-question-are-fractions-and-decimals-singular-or-plural/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Neil Whitfield gives an answer on his ESL blog here.&lt;/a&gt;  It depends on whether the quantity is countable or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[C]ountable nouns form plurals; mass/uncountable nouns don’t. This gets a little more complicated because some nouns may be either countable or mass/uncountable, depending on how they are being used. “Wheat” for example may be both: ten kilos of wheat is uncountable; several types of wheat is also uncountable; there are several wheats used in this mix is countable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;OK, with countable nouns: I would say 0.1 apples for grammatical reasons, though I agree it is not logical! I guess you could say 0.1 of an apple just as you say one-tenth of an apple  If the number one is used, whether it is +/-1, the following noun will be singular. So it would be -1 apple. We’re talking grammar, not logic; and yes we say zero apples, probably because zero is thought of as a number that is not one, even though zero is neither singular nor plural logically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it looks like grammatically (perhaps not mathematically) the following&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;0.3 = point-three apples (uncountable)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1/3 = one third of an apple (countable one in fraction)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;2/3 = two thirds of an apple (countable more than one third)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;0 = zero apples, no apples (uncountable)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1 = one apple (countable)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;3 = three apples (countable)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;em&gt;(Caveat, I'm not a grammar professional)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-1 = negative one apples (uncountable, you can't have negative of something real, like money.  This is a mathematical concept only, hence plural would be ok.)  This feels like &lt;code&gt;negative-one apples&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-1 = minus one apple (countable. &quot;After they broke into his house, he was left with minus one apple.&quot; The number of apples stolen is countable.)  This feels like &lt;code&gt;minus one-apple&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that clarifies it a bit more.  They're both appropriate in different circumstances.  Hooray for English! &lt;code&gt;#sarcasm&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[EDIT]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll add just a bit more.  If the word &lt;code&gt;one&lt;/code&gt; can be replaced by an article (&lt;code&gt;a/an/the&lt;/code&gt;) then you should use the singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The temperature is minus one degree Celsius.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The temperature is minus a degree Celsius.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the following is kindof awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ten subtracted from nine is negative one degrees Celsius.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Ten subtracted from nine is negative a degree Celsius.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you should probably use the plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3433" LastEditorUserId="3433" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T14:56:52.697" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T14:56:52.697" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="9765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9763" CreationDate="2011-01-24T14:46:06.707" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;In&lt;/em&gt; is a preposition, but &lt;em&gt;as in&lt;/em&gt; as a whole acts as a conjunctive adverb, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/as_in&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;according to Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to your second question — yes, in English, two (and more) prepositions can be used one after another. For example, &quot;Barack Obama stepped out from behind his teleprompter&quot;. Or, borrowing a leaf from &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/16/when-is-it-okay-to-end-a-sentence-in-a-preposition&quot;&gt;ShreevatsaR&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;Daddy, what did you bring that book that I don't want to be read to out of about Down Under up for?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T14:46:06.707" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9749" CreationDate="2011-01-24T15:23:41.620" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're &quot;in&quot; the office if you mean to emphasise your physical location, inside a room where one works. You're &quot;at&quot; the office if you are at a place of work, but not emphasising a specific room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, &quot;I need to have a printer in the office&quot;, but &quot;I'm at the office, but I'll come home to see you soon.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3743" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T15:23:41.620" />
  <row Id="9767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9763" CreationDate="2011-01-24T15:27:53.803" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It often helps to complete such phrases, because filling in the omitted (or imagined to have been omitted) words can make the construction clearer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, &lt;em&gt;as in&lt;/em&gt; stands for &lt;em&gt;as [it is] in&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If &quot;minus&quot; is conceivably an operator,&#xA;  as [it is] in &quot;the band reunited,&#xA;  minus one member&quot;, you would use the&#xA;  singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then it is easy to see that &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; is a simple preposition, and &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt; a conjunctive adverb. As Reg said, you could functionally consider the whole an adverb. Just as you could consider &lt;em&gt;black coffee&lt;/em&gt; a noun. (I don't quite see the need for this invention, as it can be cut off by Occam's Razor.) Note that this is also the only satisfying way of analysing &quot;as if&quot;: &lt;em&gt;he fled the city in a great hurry, as [he would do] if he were chased by bears; no wonder, after such a scandal&lt;/em&gt;. Note that it is completely normal in countless cases to leave out words in comparisons with &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T15:27:53.803" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9705" CreationDate="2011-01-24T15:40:07.800" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the great poem on English pronunciation &lt;a href=&quot;http://ncf.idallen.com/english.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Chaos&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The th will surely trouble you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;More than r, ch or w.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Say then these phonetic gems:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thomas, thyme, Theresa, Thames.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thompson, Chatham, Waltham, Streatham,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are more but I forget 'em-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Wait! I've got it: Anthony,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lighten your anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was actually written by a Dutch teacher of English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T15:40:07.800" />
  <row Id="9769" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-24T15:41:36.757" Score="5" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct and why:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was the first time a girl asked me to add her &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; Facebook&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was the first time a girl asked me to add her &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; Facebook&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T19:12:06.387" Title="To add someone &quot;to&quot; Facebook or &quot;on&quot; Facebook" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9769" CreationDate="2011-01-24T15:44:24.803" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you mean Facebook from &lt;a href=&quot;http://facebook.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;facebook.com&lt;/a&gt;, you'll add someone &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; Facebook, since it is a website (or social network site).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="222" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T15:44:24.803" />
  <row Id="9771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9769" CreationDate="2011-01-24T15:48:00.147" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Adding someone &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; Facebook is generally accepted as a shorter way of saying &quot;While &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; Facebook, I added someone to my friends list.&lt;/strong&gt; The statement is meant to express what site you were &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; (visiting) when you added the new friend to your friend's list. Furthermore, when you &quot;add someone on&quot; a site, it's understood that you are adding the person &quot;to your friend's list&quot;, which is why that part of the statement is not said explicitly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding someone &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; Facebook implies you are creating a new account for her on the site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T15:48:00.147" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9772" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-24T15:54:48.170" Score="6" ViewCount="287" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I know how &lt;em&gt;my&lt;/em&gt; name is pronounced, I've run into many non-native english speakers who have stumbled over this unique exception to English.  Even the female name, &quot;Stephanie&quot; is pronounced with &lt;code&gt;ph = f&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the etymology of &quot;Stephen&quot; and is there any other instance of &quot;ph&quot; being pronounced as &quot;v&quot; in either American or British English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3433" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T20:37:53.560" Title="&quot;ph&quot; pronounced as &quot;v&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9769" CreationDate="2011-01-24T15:55:47.303" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt;, but think either one would work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we're really saying is,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was the first time a girl asked me to add her &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; my friends list &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; Facebook.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; are both part of the idea and we have two different approaches to making the friends list implicit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T15:55:47.303" />
  <row Id="9774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9769" CreationDate="2011-01-24T15:56:52.770" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was the first time a girl asked me to add her on Facebook&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is correct. She asked you to add her as a friend &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; the Facebook website:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was the first time a girl asked me to add her [as a friend] on [the] Facebook [website].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was the first time a girl asked me to add her to Facebook&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is not absolutely wrong. If you happened to be the sole administrator of the Facebook website and had the authority to add and remove people, then the sentence would be correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was the first time a girl asked me to add her to [the] Facebook [website].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reality, however, this is not the case. You are both already &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; Facebook, you and the girl. That's the preposition that &lt;em&gt;Facebook&lt;/em&gt; usually takes (also &lt;em&gt;off&lt;/em&gt; in some cases). Thus, whether someone is sending a message, friending you/adding you as a friend, writing on your wall, etc., it's all &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; Facebook. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am being cyber-bullied on Facebook.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I practically live on Facebook.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'm on Facebook every single day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Can you believe she sent a message on Facebook?!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Can't you just get &lt;em&gt;off&lt;/em&gt; Facebook for once?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I need to get that creep &lt;em&gt;off&lt;/em&gt; my Facebook [wall]!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;How many friends do you have on Facebook?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Add me on Facebook now!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T15:56:52.770" />
  <row Id="9775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9772" CreationDate="2011-01-24T16:03:00.590" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stephen is of Greek origin (Stephanos). The ph is unusual in its v pronunciation. The only possibility I can think of is that it arrived in English via Spanish, where it is spelt 'Esteban'. The Spanish pronunciation of 'b' is somewhere between English 'V' and 'B'. In Hungarian it is spelt 'Istvan', so there's another possible source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T16:03:00.590" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9772" CreationDate="2011-01-24T16:16:29.040" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The source of &lt;em&gt;Stephen&lt;/em&gt; is the Greek name Stephanos. This name was borrowed into English long enough ago that the intervocalic [f] sound was voiced to become [v]. This is a regular sound change that was also responsible for some other f~v alternations in English, such as &lt;em&gt;loaf~loaves&lt;/em&gt;. However, in the name &lt;em&gt;Stephen&lt;/em&gt; the spelling &quot;ph&quot; remained (or has been restored) due to the influence of the Greek original. In other words, &lt;em&gt;Stephen&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Steven&lt;/em&gt; are exactly the same name, but the former merely has an anachronistic spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T16:16:29.040" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="9777" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9778" CreationDate="2011-01-24T16:57:38.350" Score="3" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does word &quot;shipping&quot; mean?&#xA;I've seen this word in many Internet shops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3748" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T18:37:37.300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T20:00:08.027" Title="What does the word &quot;shipping&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="9778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9777" CreationDate="2011-01-24T17:01:21.480" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's two possible meaning in the context of an internet &quot;shop&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Delivery&quot; -- shipping is the cost that you have to pay in order to have the item sent to you via the postal service.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Completion&quot; -- if you're developing software, then completing a version of the software and releasing it to customers is often referred to as &quot;shipping&quot;. This is a reference to sense #1, going back to the day when a new software version had to be physically delivered to customers on disks.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T17:01:21.480" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9779" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9840" CreationDate="2011-01-24T17:11:08.487" Score="1" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the Take That song, Never Forget, the lyrics run &quot;Never forget where you've coming from&quot;. Was that a mistake, or is it a colloquialism (or something else) to say &quot;you've&quot; instead of &quot;you're&quot; in this context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2097" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T04:20:17.743" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T04:20:17.743" Title="Is &quot;you've coming from&quot; a colloquialism?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;&lt;lyrics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="9780" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9782" CreationDate="2011-01-24T17:11:35.553" Score="55" ViewCount="3681" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the top of my head, Danish &quot;de&quot; (practically never used), German &quot;Sie&quot;, French &quot;vous&quot;, Spanish &quot;usted&quot; are a formal way of addressing someone, especially if one isn't familiar with the addressee. Did English ever have this? It sounds as though PIE might have had this (based on my 4 examples), but perhaps someone can enlighten me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3743" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T07:53:16.743" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T07:53:16.743" Title="Did English ever have a formal version of &quot;you&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;history&gt;&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="11" />
  <row Id="9781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9780" CreationDate="2011-01-24T17:16:32.507" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. As far as I know, &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; actually &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; the formal, originally plural version &lt;em&gt;(ye/you/your)&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;thou&lt;/em&gt; was the informal version &lt;em&gt;(thou/thee/thy/thine).&lt;/em&gt; Over time, &lt;em&gt;thou&lt;/em&gt; became impolitely informal and is now no longer used, though interestingly enough nowadays it might even be perceived as &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; formal than &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; because it's archaic and survives almost exclusively in liturgical language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastEditorUserId="1506" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T17:21:50.850" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T17:21:50.850" />
  <row Id="9782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9780" CreationDate="2011-01-24T17:17:26.477" Score="91" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it did, and the formal version was (drumroll, please....) &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Early Modern English, &lt;em&gt;thou&lt;/em&gt; was the singular and &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; was the plural. Plural &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; came to be used as a polite form of address (similar to the French &lt;em&gt;vous&lt;/em&gt;, which is also used for the plural), but over time this polite form became more and more common, eventually displacing the singular &lt;em&gt;thou&lt;/em&gt; altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This explains a peculiarity of traditional Quaker speech, which one often hears in films set in the early Americas. The Quakers opposed making any distinctions of rank, so they insisted on addressing everyone as &lt;em&gt;thou&lt;/em&gt;, not as &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;. The irony is that today we perceive &lt;em&gt;thou&lt;/em&gt; to be archaic and formal, while the original intent is to be more informal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;: we don't know if there was any politeness distinction in PIE. In any case, the distinctions that exist in the modern European languages are not inherited from PIE, since the oldest recorded IE languages (Latin, Greek, Sanskrit) did not have separate polite pronouns. The current European system apparently &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%E2%80%93V_distinction#History_and_usage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;began with the late Roman Emperors and became widespread in the Middle Ages&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Non-IE languages often have &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; than two levels of distinctness. In Thai and Japanese (the only two languages about which I can speak with confidence), there are a variety of different pronouns that can be used depending on the exact nature of the social relations between the interlocutors, and the system often extends not just to the 2nd person pronoun but to the 1st and 3rd person pronouns as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T17:28:44.053" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T17:28:44.053" CommentCount="18" />
  <row Id="9783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9779" CreationDate="2011-01-24T17:28:58.447" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that is a transcription (or perhaps a listening) error.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The lyrics sites that I checked couldn't decide whether &quot;Never forget where you're coming from&quot; or &quot;Never forget where you've come here from&quot; was the correct lyric.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Never forget where you've come in from&quot; would also be a grammatically proper phrase that could all-too-easily be misheard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: having re-listened to it, I'm pretty sure of the &quot;Never forget where you've come in from&quot; interpretation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T01:47:07.207" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T01:47:07.207" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9780" CreationDate="2011-01-24T17:31:37.800" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English_pronouns#Formal_and_informal_forms_of_the_second_person_singular_and_plural&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Middle English&lt;/a&gt; developed the distinction between formal (you) and informal (thou) versions: this distinction did not exist in Old English. The formal pronoun &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; was originally a plural form of &lt;em&gt;thou&lt;/em&gt;; it can be seen in many languages that a plural form is seen as more polite, which is probably related to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majestic_plural&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Majestic Plural&lt;/a&gt; (&quot;we, King blah blah, grant...&quot;). German &lt;em&gt;Sie&lt;/em&gt; comes from plural 3rd person &lt;em&gt;sie&lt;/em&gt;; French &lt;em&gt;vous&lt;/em&gt; comes from plural Latin 2nd person &lt;em&gt;vos/vester&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore current formal pronouns seem to be relatively modern, convergent developments. I have never heard of formal pronouns in PIE. In classical Latin and Greek, no real formal pronouns were in use either; in Japanese, on the other hand, there are said to be more complex forms of formal pronouns and other words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T17:31:37.800" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9785" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9834" CreationDate="2011-01-24T17:41:41.673" Score="5" ViewCount="224" Body="&lt;p&gt;A small dispute broke out in the office today about this. Does anyone have any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T09:57:51.730" Title="Is there a word for the uncanny ability to find one's way home when extremely drunk?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9786" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9791" CreationDate="2011-01-24T17:43:37.307" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please bear with me as I am not an English expert, only an aspiring amateur!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm mostly aware of the rules regarding punctuation and quotes. Something like the following sentence makes sense to me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She was so rude that I felt compelled to say, &quot;I hope you act that way toward everyone.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, where I get confused is when quotation marks are used simply to emphasize a single word or phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nobody really knew what he meant by &quot;feature&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I'm not really sure what to call this use of quotation marks. Is this still a quotation?) Should punctuation go inside the quotation marks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should clarify that I am interested in the common or accepted American usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4012" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T14:27:56.303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T14:27:56.303" Title="What's the rule for punctuating quoted words or phrases?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;&lt;quotations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9786" CreationDate="2011-01-24T17:57:15.210" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, &quot; are &lt;em&gt;speech marks&lt;/em&gt;, i.e. they denote speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For quotes you should use ', and generally you would punctuate as normal within them, except that full stops would appear outside them if they are used within a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T17:57:15.210" />
  <row Id="9788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9785" CreationDate="2011-01-24T18:08:34.140" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know a term for this ability specifically, but it can be considered an example of a homing instinct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T18:08:34.140" />
  <row Id="9789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9785" CreationDate="2011-01-24T18:08:50.830" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not a one-word answer, but maybe &quot;homing instinct&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T18:08:50.830" />
  <row Id="9790" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9792" CreationDate="2011-01-24T18:09:51.643" Score="3" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the form for reporting speech that contains &lt;em&gt;must not&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't come to the meeting on Monday =&gt; She told me she couldn't come to the meeting on Monday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You must talk to me =&gt; She said you had to talk to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Till now, there's no problem, but what should I use with &lt;em&gt;must not&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that &lt;em&gt;I can't&lt;/em&gt; do the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You must not talk to me =&gt; She said that you didn't have to talk to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;because &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Must not &amp;lt;&gt; Have to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right !! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2029" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T14:23:53.763" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T16:24:12.763" Title="How do I report speech containing &quot;must not&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9786" CreationDate="2011-01-24T18:11:38.753" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Elendil's answer is correct for British usage. In American usage, though, &quot; is usually used for both purposes (speech, as in your first example, and use-mention distinction, in the second); and periods (full stops) generally go inside the quotes, so your second example would be, &lt;code&gt;...meant by &quot;feature.&quot;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T18:11:38.753" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9790" CreationDate="2011-01-24T18:12:22.970" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The negative form of &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;mustn't&lt;/em&gt;. So you can say this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You must not talk to me. =&gt; She said you mustn't talk to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The past form of &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; is also &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt;, so you don't need to change the form of the verb when reporting speech in this manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the form &lt;em&gt;mustn't&lt;/em&gt; is rarely used in American English, though I believe that it's commoner in the UK. Instead, most Americans would substitute &lt;em&gt;shouldn't&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You must not talk to me. =&gt; She said you shouldn't talk to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T18:30:23.813" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T18:30:23.813" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9794" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9795" CreationDate="2011-01-24T18:17:30.040" Score="4" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love the song &lt;em&gt;Pass It On&lt;/em&gt; by &lt;em&gt;The Coral&lt;/em&gt;, but I can't understand the meaning of this sentence: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Just find the feeling, pass it on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;pass it on&lt;/em&gt; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for answers!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4021" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T14:32:54.143" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T14:32:54.143" Title="What does &quot;pass it on&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;lyrics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9794" CreationDate="2011-01-24T18:22:26.150" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know the song, but &lt;em&gt;pass it on&lt;/em&gt; normally means to share something with another or others, whether keeping it for oneself also or not, especially something received from a third party. Thus, for example, if someone smiles at you or greets you, you could be said to be passing it on if you smile at or greet someone else. If someone gives you a platter of chicken, you can take one piece for your plate and pass the platter on to the next person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T18:22:26.150" />
  <row Id="9796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9735" CreationDate="2011-01-24T18:32:31.970" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only number that is singular is one. All other numbers are plural, including negative one.  1.0001 is plural. 0.99999 is plural. 0 is plural. -1 is plural. Only 1 is singular. The nature of singularity is being single, unitary, unique, isn't it? Everything else is plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in many cases the string of words &quot;minus one&quot; does not denote a negative number. Rather it denotes a relation with the preposition &lt;em&gt;minus&lt;/em&gt; and a singular item. In the questioner's examples, &quot;two things minus one thing&quot; is grammatical because here the quantity is not &quot;minus one thing&quot; it's the quantity &quot;two things&quot; (plural) joined by the preposition &lt;em&gt;minus&lt;/em&gt; with &quot;one thing&quot; (singular). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of the number &quot;minus one&quot; or &quot;negative one&quot;, it is plural, because here we have the adjective &lt;em&gt;minus&lt;/em&gt; rather than the preposition. &quot;The temperature is minus one degrees&quot;. &quot;The bank made an error and deposited negative one dollars into the account&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T18:32:31.970" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9797" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9801" CreationDate="2011-01-24T18:40:03.053" Score="3" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the differences between &lt;em&gt;shop&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;shoppe&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;store&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T14:18:39.697" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T14:20:18.713" Title="Shop vs. Shoppe vs. Store" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="9798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9797" CreationDate="2011-01-24T18:44:52.667" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Shop&lt;/code&gt; is the simplest term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Shoppe&lt;/code&gt; A fanciful spelling of shop, chiefly used in the names of businesses to give an air of old-fashionedness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Store&lt;/code&gt; is generally used where things are stored ,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4022" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T18:44:52.667" />
  <row Id="9799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9797" CreationDate="2011-01-24T18:53:40.190" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A store usually 'stores' perishable items. Shoppe is a mediaeval term which is unlikely to have been in actual use when the shop was first opened, unless it is &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; old. Shops can sell anything, and I would say include a store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="852" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T18:53:40.190" />
  <row Id="9800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9777" CreationDate="2011-01-24T18:54:31.913" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usual use of the word &lt;em&gt;shipping&lt;/em&gt; on internet stores is for anything to do with packaging, dispatch and transport to your location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipping&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia has an article on it.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it appears as a cost, on an invoice or bill, then it is the cost to package and deliver the goods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is the name of a section, or used generally, then it can refer to any aspect of the process of getting the goods to the consumer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word obviously derives from the process of using a ship to transport goods, the present participle of the verb ship, in its meaning &quot;to convey goods by water borne transport (a ship)&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T18:54:31.913" />
  <row Id="9801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9797" CreationDate="2011-01-24T19:06:45.187" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I like @Jigar Joshi's answer, I'll provide some American Connotation, if I can. &lt;em&gt;(Caveat, not a professional culturist)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Shop&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that a &lt;code&gt;shop&lt;/code&gt; is somewhere you go to have a service preformed, or only provides a single or narrowly focused good.  Usually contains a &lt;code&gt;workshop&lt;/code&gt; of some kind where the goods are made on-site for the customer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Body Shop&lt;/code&gt; refers to an auto repair facility (autobody shop)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Wood Shop&lt;/code&gt; refers to a place where you can go to get custom woodworking done&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Coffee Shop&lt;/code&gt; a place you can go to get hand-made drinks&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Butcher's Shop&lt;/code&gt; a place to get custom cuts of meat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Store&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that a &lt;code&gt;store&lt;/code&gt; is the more common American term for a place you go to buy something.  They usually have many different sections and offer a wider variety of goods than a &lt;code&gt;shop&lt;/code&gt;.  The goods you purchase are usually made off-site and only stored on location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Department Store&lt;/code&gt; buy furnishings and clothes for each room of the house&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Grocery Store&lt;/code&gt; buy food and many other consumables&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Online Store&lt;/code&gt; buy anything! :D&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Shoppe&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally a fancier term, as @Jigar Joshi mentioned, to give an air of authenticity and aristocracy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Coffee Shoppe&lt;/code&gt; here you can buy &lt;em&gt;even more&lt;/em&gt; expensive fancy coffee.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But where ever you go, you'll end up &lt;code&gt;shopping&lt;/code&gt; regardless of the &lt;code&gt;store&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3433" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T14:20:18.713" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T14:20:18.713" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9797" CreationDate="2011-01-24T19:08:16.717" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In American English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Store&lt;/strong&gt; - A place to purchase things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shop&lt;/strong&gt; - I think primarily is used as a short form of &lt;em&gt;'workshop'&lt;/em&gt;.  I don't hear it being used very often as a synonym of 'store', although it is a valid usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shoppe&lt;/strong&gt; - Used on stores to make them sound medieval.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T19:08:16.717" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9769" CreationDate="2011-01-24T19:12:06.387" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The idiomatic sentence would be neither of the options, but rather &quot;It was the first time a girl asked me to friend her on Facebook&quot;. I believe that the verbing of friend is still restricted to contexts where Facebook is in the forefront.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3542" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T19:12:06.387" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9797" CreationDate="2011-01-24T19:13:21.900" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm presuming you're referring to these words used as nouns to mean a mercantile business of some sort. Historically, &lt;em&gt;stores&lt;/em&gt; were businesses which kept inventory to be sold and &lt;em&gt;shops&lt;/em&gt; where businesses where items were manufactured or repaired. Nowadays, &lt;em&gt;shop&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;store&lt;/em&gt; are generally synonymous, but each has slightly more typical uses depending on what is being sold. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my part of the world (Canada) you would generally refer to most commercial places of business as a &lt;em&gt;store&lt;/em&gt; (grocery, convenience, clothes, book, furniture) while &lt;em&gt;shops&lt;/em&gt; are reserved for repair, flowers, or gifts (&lt;em&gt;gift shop&lt;/em&gt; is quite idiomatic.) Thus, you would typically hear bicycle shop, rather than store, because repairs are done there. It would not sound that strange to hear &lt;em&gt;shop&lt;/em&gt; when referring to clothes, book or furniture stores, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Shoppe&lt;/em&gt; is an archaic spelling of &lt;em&gt;shop&lt;/em&gt; and is used only in proper names of places wanting to sound quaint and old-fashioned. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thepopshoppe.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Pop Shoppe&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medicineshoppe.ca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Medicine Shoppe&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; are a couple canadian examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T19:13:21.900" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9752" CreationDate="2011-01-24T19:19:05.033" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a matter of style. Here are two options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;NOTE: Refreshing a report may be necessary or helpful when:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You believe the data in the report has changed since it was last executed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You'd like to return the report to its initial state/condition&#xA;  &lt;hr&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;NOTE: Refreshing a report may be necessary or helpful when:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;you believe the data in the report has changed since it was last executed;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;you'd like to return the report to its initial state/condition.    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Create whatever rules you want for your software documentation and stick to them. As with all stylistic matters, consistency is key.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T19:19:05.033" />
  <row Id="9806" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9811" CreationDate="2011-01-24T19:26:00.327" Score="1" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please evaluate this sentence for its correctness. I'm concerned about the use of &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; in front of &lt;em&gt;falling&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;However, you're utterly off in your assessment about failing in love for someone else. I haven't &lt;strong&gt;found anyone worthy of falling for&lt;/strong&gt;, and I will not compromise my feelings to just try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T13:45:10.130" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T13:45:10.130" Title="Correct way to express &quot;'worthy of falling in love for&quot;" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9790" CreationDate="2011-01-24T19:27:21.543" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about, &quot;She said you were not to talk to me&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T19:27:21.543" />
  <row Id="9808" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9841" CreationDate="2011-01-24T19:27:38.593" Score="4" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is &lt;em&gt;jukebox musical&lt;/em&gt; and its origin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T15:11:10.917" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T15:11:10.917" Title="What is the jukebox musical?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9794" CreationDate="2011-01-24T19:36:35.827" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think in spanish you would say &lt;em&gt;pásala&lt;/em&gt;. It means to give something you have received (usually something you have appreciated) to someone else. It's also used as a phrase in the game &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_whispers&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chinese Whispers&lt;/a&gt; to mean &lt;em&gt;relay what I said to the next person&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Have you had a kindness shown?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Pass it on;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  ’Twas not given for thee alone,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Pass it on;&lt;br&gt; &#xA;  Let it travel down the years,&lt;br&gt; &#xA;  Let it wipe another's tears,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  ’Til in Heaven the deed appears &amp;mdash;&lt;br&gt; &#xA;  Pass it on.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;~ Henry Burton, Pass It On&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T19:36:35.827" />
  <row Id="9810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9806" CreationDate="2011-01-24T19:46:21.043" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other than the couple quibbles I had with the preamble, noted in my comment, I believe the phrase &lt;strong&gt;found anyone worthy of falling for&lt;/strong&gt; sounds fine in the context presented.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You wrote about &lt;em&gt;falling in love&lt;/em&gt; in your first sentence, so the phrase seems unambiguous and understandable to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T19:46:21.043" />
  <row Id="9811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9806" CreationDate="2011-01-24T19:47:20.543" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can &quot;fall for someone&quot;, but the parallel phrase is not &quot;fall in love for someone&quot;, it is &quot;fall in love &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; someone&quot;. The text &quot;haven't found anyone worthy of falling for&quot; is awkward, but acceptable English. The text &quot;you're utterly off in your assessment about falling in love for someone else&quot; is incorrect in context since you fall in love &quot;with&quot; someone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4025" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T19:47:20.543" />
  <row Id="9812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9808" CreationDate="2011-01-24T19:59:28.047" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a movie genre that rehashes old songs of a certain era. It features music by a particular star or group, e.g., Buddy Holly (The Buddy Holly Story), ABBA (Mamma Mia!), Jersey Boys (Frankie Valli &amp;amp; The Four Seasons), etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It originates from the term &lt;em&gt;jukebox&lt;/em&gt;, which is/was a coin-operated machine that played songs from a list, usually in a diner or bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T19:59:28.047" />
  <row Id="9813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9777" CreationDate="2011-01-24T20:00:08.027" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In fan-fiction, shipping is also used as a verb form of the word &quot;relationship&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;name&lt;/em&gt;-shipping means to put &lt;em&gt;name&lt;/em&gt; in a relationship with a different character.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(This is used for relationships that do not exist in the original work)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3709" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T20:00:08.027" />
  <row Id="9814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9806" CreationDate="2011-01-24T20:03:13.637" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I haven't found anyone &lt;strong&gt;worth falling&#xA;  for&lt;/strong&gt;, and I will not compromise my&#xA;  feelings to just try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I haven't found anyone &lt;strong&gt;worthy of my&#xA;  affection&lt;/strong&gt;, and I will not compromise&#xA;  my feelings to just try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T20:03:13.637" />
  <row Id="9815" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9817" CreationDate="2011-01-24T20:04:04.200" Score="3" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)&quot; more correct, or would &quot;COPD [Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease]&quot; be right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2048" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T23:01:33.793" Title="Which punctuation should be used for spelling out acronyms?" Tags="&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9816" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9821" CreationDate="2011-01-24T20:21:27.990" Score="2" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use em dashes frequently to break up random or ancillary thoughts in my writing. However, I'm uncertain how to deal with punctuation after an em dash when my sentence continues. For example, which of the following is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If at first you don't succeed&amp;mdash;I seem to encounter this scenario frequently&amp;mdash;try, try again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If at first you don't succeed&amp;mdash;I seem to encounter this scenario frequently&amp;mdash;, try, try again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would I discard the comma in this case? It seems unnatural to keep it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I originally left out an obvious comma between the two &quot;try&quot;s, but that shouldn't affect the intent of my question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4012" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T13:41:59.277" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T13:41:59.277" Title="How is punctuation used after dashes?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;dash&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9815" CreationDate="2011-01-24T20:25:32.223" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Preference for the use of parentheses or brackets or some other punctuation, such as commas, would be a matter of style for a particular publication and governed by a style guide, such as the &lt;em&gt;Associated Press Stylebook&lt;/em&gt;, the &lt;em&gt;Chicago Manual of Style&lt;/em&gt;, the &lt;em&gt;MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing&lt;/em&gt;, or other style guides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in most style guides that I'm familiar with the full name is provided on the first reference with the &lt;em&gt;abbreviation&lt;/em&gt; in parentheses. For example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the first such reference in the article/document, the abbreviation can be used without need to reference the full term. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4026" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T20:25:32.223" />
  <row Id="9819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9772" CreationDate="2011-01-24T20:37:53.560" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;is there any other instance of &quot;ph&quot; being pronounced as &quot;v&quot; in either American or British English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In British English, &lt;em&gt;nephew&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nephew&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;can be pronounced &lt;strong&gt;nev&lt;/strong&gt;-yoo&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T20:37:53.560" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9816" CreationDate="2011-01-24T21:08:34.907" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My advice would be to avoid this situation if possible, by recasting the sentence. If that is impossible, which I agree it sometimes is, I say you should add the comma. This will give the reader of such an often-complicated sentence the added help of consistency, ugly though it is. Fowler, who is usually stingy with punctuation marks, agrees.  So does Fowler's modern editor Burchfield, citing him:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... after a second dash 'any stop that&#xA;  would have been used if the ... dashes&#xA;  and their contents had not been there&#xA;  should still be used'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T21:27:18.900" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T21:27:18.900" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9714" CreationDate="2011-01-24T21:12:02.390" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't agree with the interpretation of this line in &lt;em&gt;The Dark Knight&lt;/em&gt; in the other answers, so here's my answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, definitions (as per  Random House Dictionary.) &lt;strong&gt;Deserve&lt;/strong&gt; means &lt;em&gt;to be worthy of, qualified for, or have a claim to reward, punishment, recompense, etc.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Need&lt;/strong&gt; means &lt;em&gt;to require&lt;/em&gt; and usually refers to things you lack that are useful or necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there is ambiguity in the word &lt;em&gt;deserve&lt;/em&gt;. You could deserve a reward or a punishment. There is an english phrase &lt;em&gt;you get what you deserve&lt;/em&gt; which usually refers to a punishment, rather than reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore the phrase in the movie &lt;em&gt;&quot;Not the hero we deserved but the hero we needed&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is (delightfully, to me) ambiguous, and actually means two things at once! Does Gotham deserve punishment or reward?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I choose to interpret it this way: because it is &lt;em&gt;The Dark Knight&lt;/em&gt;, it is a flawed hero, not a perfect hero, not a shining paragon, so Gotham deserves better… but… Gotham is flawed, so it &lt;strong&gt;needs&lt;/strong&gt; a &quot;Dark Knight&quot; to match its own darkness. Conversely, because of Gotham's flaws and sins, it &lt;em&gt;deserves&lt;/em&gt; a hero even worse than &lt;em&gt;The Dark Knight&lt;/em&gt; &amp;mdash; but it doesn't get that. It gets what it &lt;strong&gt;needs&lt;/strong&gt;, a hero who overcomes these flaws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastEditorUserId="1871" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T22:03:47.213" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T22:03:47.213" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9823" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9825" CreationDate="2011-01-24T21:13:45.643" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a term or classification for words (non-adjectives, for lack of a better classifier) that are combined with hyphens that serve the purpose of an adjective? For example, &quot;&lt;strong&gt;run-of-the-mill&lt;/strong&gt; applicant&quot; or &quot;&lt;strong&gt;less-than-ideal&lt;/strong&gt; scenario.&quot; Are there any specific rules that dictate how these word groupings are handled?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4012" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T13:40:52.617" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T13:40:52.617" Title="Is there a classification for words combined with hyphens used as adjectives?" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;dash&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9824" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-24T21:14:28.347" Score="7" ViewCount="342" Body="&lt;p&gt;Was the word &quot;nigger&quot; a deliberately derogatory and offensive word in Mark Twain's time, or was it just a normal word to describe an ethnicity in those days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;: I'm curious as to whether Twain could have anticipated the use of the word being so controversial nowadays (though discussing the Bowderlization of Huckleberry Finn is &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7995/huckleberry-finn-without-the-n-words&quot;&gt;off-topic&lt;/a&gt; for this web site).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T14:38:44.287" Title="Was the word &quot;nigger&quot; an expletive in Mark Twain's day?" Tags="&lt;history&gt;&lt;offensive&gt;&lt;expletives&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="9825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9823" CreationDate="2011-01-24T21:19:35.643" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are called compound adjectives. You will find an overview with some rules and examples on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_compound#Compound_adjectives&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;. Note that you should normally use &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyphen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hyphens&lt;/a&gt; ( - ), not &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dashes&lt;/a&gt; ( – or — ) in compound adjectives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T21:19:35.643" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9824" CreationDate="2011-01-24T21:20:21.977" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymology Online &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=nigger&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;has this quote&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From the earliest usage it was &quot;the term that carries with it all the obloquy and contempt and rejection which whites have inflicted on blacks&quot; [cited in Gowers, 1965]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and then goes on to state that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But as black inferiority was at one time a near universal assumption in English-speaking lands, the word in some cases could be used without deliberate insult&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will refrain from speculating what Mark Twain was indending when he used the word, as I'm no expert on things Twain. ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T21:20:21.977" />
  <row Id="9827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9824" CreationDate="2011-01-24T21:21:54.397" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on several articles I read in the aftermath of the &quot;n-word translating to slave&quot; issue, it seems that it was indeed a derogatory epithet chosen deliberately by Twain for the way it reveals southern prejudice, but it was apparently a common, uncontroversial word in everyday speech. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/01/05/does-one-word-change-huckleberry-finn/obsuring-the-past&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;See Prof. Thomas Glave's reaction&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While Twain would undoubtedly reject efforts to whitewash his works of controversial words, he would undoubtedly be proud of a society that has progressed enough in racial tolerance to have become uncomfortable with a word with such negative history.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4031" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T21:21:54.397" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9824" CreationDate="2011-01-24T21:28:26.633" Score="-5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, I believe that calling somebody by their nationality, ethnicity, or skin color is prejudiced in and of itself.  We're all &lt;em&gt;homo sapiens&lt;/em&gt;, after all.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While they may be accurate descriptions, terms like &lt;a href=&quot;http://multiples.about.com/od/glossary/g/irishtwins.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Irish Twins&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://hubbub.wbur.org/2010/10/21/npr-fires-juan-williams&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Muslim Dress&lt;/a&gt; are all prejudiced in their motivation, however thinly veiled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calling someone a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Roberts_%28newscaster%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;black newscaster&lt;/a&gt; is just as racist as &lt;em&gt;nigger&lt;/em&gt;.  Why does the skin color matter?  Does it make them different that you need to apply adjectives?  Why can't they just be a newscaster?  Nobody called Bush a &quot;white&quot; president, but Obama is a &quot;black&quot; president?  No.  He's the president.  No adjectives necessary.  Skin color is about as relevant as height or weight or ear lobe size to defining a person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;&amp;lt;/rant&amp;gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So here's my answer:  Mark Twain intended them to be racist. Racism was just more acceptable in his day than it is now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you can read up on it in this timely &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/nigger.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Washington Post&lt;/a&gt; article or here on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[EDIT]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Changed innappropriate uses of &lt;code&gt;Racism&lt;/code&gt; to &lt;code&gt;prejudiced&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3433" LastEditorUserId="3433" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T13:13:09.547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T13:13:09.547" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9829" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9831" CreationDate="2011-01-24T21:29:06.350" Score="8" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why does the word &lt;em&gt;colonel&lt;/em&gt; (as in military rank) have such a strange spelling compared to how it's pronounced (or vice versa, although I don't know how you would pronounce that)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T14:12:45.193" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T15:04:20.220" Title="What's the deal with &quot;colonel&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9830" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-24T21:30:16.323" Score="2" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one is better? Are they acceptable or do they sound weird in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4032" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T02:08:16.177" Title="Can I say &quot; I hope I can be of any use (help) to you&quot; in covering letter?" Tags="&lt;letter-writing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9829" CreationDate="2011-01-24T21:31:26.650" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It comes from Italian military manuals, and the English spelling preserves the Italian form, &lt;em&gt;colonnello&lt;/em&gt;. Two pronunciations coexisted; the &lt;em&gt;r&lt;/em&gt; prevailed in English. Spanish took both the spelling and pronunciation: &lt;em&gt;coronel&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=colonel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=colonel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastEditorUserId="3313" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T15:04:20.220" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T15:04:20.220" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9830" CreationDate="2011-01-24T21:47:23.980" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your sentence is fine, although it telegraphs too much begging. Employers do NOT like beggars, nor desperation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take charge, and make a confident statement, stating that &quot;I am confident that I am the best fit for the job&quot; or &quot;Please let me know if this opening is available because it's the best fit for my career&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="1446" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T02:08:16.177" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T02:08:16.177" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9790" CreationDate="2011-01-24T22:17:37.967" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if it is 'good' English, but it is common from where I grew up in the north of England.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She said you had not to talk to me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T22:17:37.967" />
  <row Id="9834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9785" CreationDate="2011-01-24T22:18:54.330" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Beerdar - as in beer-radar - although, that could just be something me and my student friends came up with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T22:18:54.330" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9830" CreationDate="2011-01-24T22:22:04.847" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, it's &quot;cover letter,&quot; not &quot;covering letter.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, in American English (can't comment on British English in this case), we would never say &quot;I hope I can be of any use to you&quot; or &quot;I hope I can be of any help to you.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, Anderson's advice regarding what you might want to write in your cover letter is good advice. You'll need to come up with a lot more than just the couple sentences he recommended, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fourth, there are professionals who help people create cover letters and résumés. You might want to invest in that. It could make the difference between getting that better job or keeping the lame one (or staying unemployed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1403" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T22:22:04.847" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9836" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9837" CreationDate="2011-01-24T22:24:57.040" Score="10" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;I seem to recall that an English teacher somewhere along the course of my education had indicated that when referencing distinct types of a word, e.g. a computer mouse and the mammal, it would be proper to refer to them as &quot;two mouses&quot; rather than mice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that actually the case? If so, where are the lines commonly drawn - consider for example  observing a Canada Goose and a Greylag Goose as a more gray area or perhaps the tooth from a mouth versus a tooth from a saw blade as something quite distinct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4036" LastEditorUserId="4036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T15:57:50.237" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T15:57:50.237" Title="When is it correct to not use the irregular form for a plural? e.g. mouses vs. mice" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;irregular&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="9837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9836" CreationDate="2011-01-24T22:40:40.087" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if there are hard and fast rules about this. With &lt;em&gt;mouse&lt;/em&gt; it seems to be that the accepted plural is &lt;em&gt;mice&lt;/em&gt;, but if you're talking about a computer mouse you can use &lt;em&gt;mouses&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;mice&lt;/em&gt;, so you'd be safe if you always used &lt;em&gt;mice&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam Webster:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;plural also mous·es : a small mobile manual device that controls movement of the cursor and selection of functions on a computer display &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oxford English&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2 (plural mice or mouses)a small handheld device which is moved across a mat or flat surface to move the cursor on a computer screen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as geese are concerned, I had thought they were always &lt;em&gt;geese&lt;/em&gt;, but apparently there's also:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;3 (plural gooses) a tailor's smoothing iron. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the plural of &lt;em&gt;tooth&lt;/em&gt; is always &lt;em&gt;teeth&lt;/em&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T22:40:40.087" />
  <row Id="9838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9785" CreationDate="2011-01-24T22:57:48.697" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One suggestion made during the dispute was &quot;beer compass&quot;, but it was claimed that meant the same as &quot;beer goggles&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T22:57:48.697" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9815" CreationDate="2011-01-24T23:01:33.793" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your second example would be correct if you were quoting from some source that didn't explain the meaning of the initialism; in that case you'd be introducing words not present in the source and square brackets would be used for that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T23:01:33.793" />
  <row Id="9840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9779" CreationDate="2011-01-24T23:06:17.863" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aha. I've just listened to five different performances on YouTube (that's dedication) and I'm sure it's &lt;em&gt;&quot;Never forget where you've come 'ere from&quot;&lt;/em&gt; at the beginning of the song, and in later choruses, it's &lt;em&gt;&quot;Never forget where you're comin' from&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have a listen for yourself: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/user/TakeThatHD?blend=2&amp;amp;ob=5#p/search/8/GfKSIai0RlU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/user/TakeThatHD?blend=2&amp;amp;ob=5#p/search/8/GfKSIai0RlU&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T23:06:17.863" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9808" CreationDate="2011-01-24T23:10:27.657" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jukebox Musical is a film musical or stage that uses some recent popular songs as its musical score. The music is mostly got from a well-known group and stars.&#xA;Jukebox is a machine in bars, restaurants etc that plays music when you put money in it. That's why we call this Jukebox Musical&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T23:10:27.657" />
  <row Id="9842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9836" CreationDate="2011-01-24T23:17:47.873" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The example my teacher used is fish, where the regular plural is used for multiple varieties: a meal of salmon, trout, and cod would contain three fishes, but not necessarily three fish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would strike me as rather strange to extend that to mice or geese, though.  I suspect this is an exception rather than a rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4041" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T23:17:47.873" />
  <row Id="9843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9836" CreationDate="2011-01-24T23:21:10.117" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no rule about this. But about mouse if you're using the word as an animal or a quiet nervous person the plural will be Mouse and if you're using it as an digital device the plural will be mouses (rather than mice).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T11:17:09.920" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T11:17:09.920" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9845" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9847" CreationDate="2011-01-24T23:30:59.973" Score="2" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone &lt;a href=&quot;http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/6402/how-to-remove-an-audio-track-from-an-mp4-video-file&quot;&gt;'corrected' me&lt;/a&gt; by changing the first form to the second form. Is there a difference, other than the fact that the former can also be used in past tense? Maybe it's too informal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2380" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T03:55:56.700" Title="&quot;I got an mp4 video file&quot; vs. &quot;I have an mp4 video file&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="9846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9779" CreationDate="2011-01-24T23:32:21.493" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe the original sentence was &quot;Never forget where you've been coming from&quot; and then after omitting been for the song it has changed to this form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T23:32:21.493" />
  <row Id="9847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9845" CreationDate="2011-01-24T23:36:29.193" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Have&quot; is correct and can be only one thing: &lt;em&gt;I possess/hold/etc. the file.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Got&quot; can be two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;I've got the file:&lt;/em&gt; has the same meaning as &quot;I have the file&quot;, but is somewhat informal; if you leave out &quot;have/'ve&quot;, it is very informal (in this case, &quot;got&quot; is the past participle of &quot;get&quot;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;I received the file&lt;/em&gt; (in this case, it is the simple past of &quot;I get&quot;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is that your corrector either found &quot;got&quot; confusing, or took it as &quot;have&quot; but considered that too informal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T03:55:56.700" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T03:55:56.700" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9845" CreationDate="2011-01-24T23:51:53.603" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can not use &lt;strong&gt;got&lt;/strong&gt; on its own as a present tense meaning 'have' or 'has' in standard English. Say that someone &lt;strong&gt;has&lt;/strong&gt; something or &lt;strong&gt;has got&lt;/strong&gt; something:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We've got (NOT We got) some ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T23:51:53.603" />
  <row Id="9849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9845" CreationDate="2011-01-24T23:55:16.493" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps not as useful an answer, but I still recall my English teacher told my class in no uncertain terms that there's always a better word than &quot;got&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4047" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T23:55:16.493" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9850" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9853" CreationDate="2011-01-24T23:57:42.070" Score="29" ViewCount="732" Body="&lt;p&gt;Americans say &lt;em&gt;color&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;favorite&lt;/em&gt;, when others say &lt;em&gt;colour&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;favourite&lt;/em&gt;. How/why did this happen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2380" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T00:31:03.397" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T00:31:03.397" Title="How come 'ou' was reduced to 'o' in the US?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9780" CreationDate="2011-01-25T00:00:30.473" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could &quot;ye&quot; be considered a more formal version of you? Arrr!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4051" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T00:00:30.473" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9836" CreationDate="2011-01-25T00:01:36.387" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that in this case, where you're speaking of the word itself rather than its referent (&lt;em&gt;mention&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;use&lt;/em&gt;), you might just put the word in quotes and avoid the issue that way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are two &quot;mouse&quot;s in English: one is an annoying little thing that never holds still when you want it to, and the other is a rodent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T00:01:36.387" />
  <row Id="9853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9850" CreationDate="2011-01-25T00:04:53.213" Score="26" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The pronunciation is the same, so you can't really say that some &quot;say&quot; this while others &quot;say&quot; that. It's strictly a spelling difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are among the reforms introduced by Noah Webster in his dictionary, with a view towards (a) simplifying the spelling, and (b) creating a distinct American English. (The root forms of many of these words indeed lack the &lt;em&gt;u&lt;/em&gt; - for example, Latin &lt;em&gt;color&lt;/em&gt;, Italian &lt;em&gt;favorito&lt;/em&gt; - so that may have been another motivation of his as well.) So these forms prevailed in the United States, while in the rest of the English-speaking world they kept the original spellings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastEditorUserId="3006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T05:09:10.253" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T05:09:10.253" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="9854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9836" CreationDate="2011-01-25T00:08:07.000" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a word has come independent enough from its origin, it might evolve on its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides mouse, computers are full of words that are borrowed from somewhere else, like bus, gate, board, card, screen, fire wall, chip, port, package, to mention some. Most have become quite independent from their origins, but you don't notice that because their plural forms remain the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T13:24:40.207" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T13:24:40.207" />
  <row Id="9855" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9864" CreationDate="2011-01-25T00:51:35.837" Score="3" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across a phrase ‘Trust-but-verify moment’ in the following sentence of Washington Post article yesterday. My interpretation of this phrase is ‘I trust you (and you’ve said), but now it’s the time you have to prove what you have committed to me.’ Is my understanding right? Is ‘Trust-but-verify’ a frequently used phrase? If so, why it is shown in Italic form in this particular quote?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed that the Senate will vote on a repeal of the national health care overhaul, following the House's passage of repeal legislation last week. &quot;I assure you we'll have a vote,&quot; McConnell said, adding that &quot;it's very hard to deny people votes in the Senate.&quot; McConnell said that Obama has moved toward the center recently and said the president is now in &quot;a kind of *a trust-but-verify*moment.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="3119" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T01:31:20.170" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T01:31:20.170" Title="Is ‘Trust-but-verify’ a frequently quoted word?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9856" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-25T00:57:49.967" Score="2" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;All my life I knew it as &quot;I can do a split&quot;, but recently it has come to my attention that many people refer to it as &quot;the splits&quot; which sounds absolutely dreadful to my ear because it defies all the rules of pluralization. You can do a somersault and you can do &quot;the tango&quot; but you're not doing the tangos or the sumersaults, so, why the splits?!  Additionally, it makes it very difficult to describe what sort of split you're doing. &quot;I'm doing a front split&quot; rolls off the tongue a lot more naturally than &quot;I'm doing a front the splits&quot;.  Anyway... I am curious if anyone knows what the origin of this odd abnormality is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4056" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T01:03:47.653" Title="The Splits Vs. A Split" Tags="&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9855" CreationDate="2011-01-25T00:58:23.210" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's frequently used in political parlance thanks to President Ronald Reagan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust,_but_verify&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust,_but_verify&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The basic meaning is &quot;Make your plans based on the assumption that the other party spoke truly, but don't rely solely on their word.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3540" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T00:58:23.210" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9856" CreationDate="2011-01-25T01:03:47.653" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can do &quot;a split&quot; or &quot;the splits&quot;. They are interchangeable. But you would never say &quot;a front the splits&quot;. You would say &quot;a front split&quot; and walk away smiling, even if you pulled a groin muscle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T01:03:47.653" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9859" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9861" CreationDate="2011-01-25T01:07:13.997" Score="4" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;Further to my question I posted yesterday about the meaning of ‘Good hair’ of Sanate dignitaries who show up at the State of the Union occasion, I came across another strange phrase, “Break out the corsages” in the following Washington Post article (January 23) . I checked this phrase with a couple of dictionaries at hand in vain. What does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Who’s your date? Pairing off for the&#xA;  State of the Union: Lawmakers on the&#xA;  Hill haven’t quite broken out the&#xA;  corsages — yet — but the high school&#xA;  level drama is on as senators and&#xA;  representatives scramble to find&#xA;  suitable across-the-aisle seating&#xA;  partners for Tuesday’s State of the&#xA;  Union address.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T01:13:42.037" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T05:25:56.170" Title="What does ‘Break out the corsages’ mean?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9859" CreationDate="2011-01-25T01:11:38.800" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since a corsage is an article of extremely formal women's clothing, I suppose that combines the idea of forward-looking preparation (they're making plans, but not yet getting dressed for the occasion since it's still some time in the future), combined with an insult to the masculinity of the predominantly-male congress.  The latter aspect could have been avoided by using a word such as &quot;tuxedo&quot; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3540" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T01:11:38.800" />
  <row Id="9861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9859" CreationDate="2011-01-25T01:12:38.077" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corsage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Corsage&lt;/strong&gt; refers to a bouquet of flowers worn on a woman's dress or&#xA;  worn around her wrist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A corsage is an item typically worn at a prom or similar event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of this expression is because of the topic of legislators having to pick partners, which can draw a humorous comparison to a prom. The State of the Union address had traditionally been a time of strong partisanship. The idea to pick partners from &quot;across the aisle&quot; is an attempt to show the supposed bipartisanship of the current legislature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An article explaining the details of this plan is available &lt;a href=&quot;http://markudall.senate.gov/?p=press_release&amp;amp;id=877&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. Quoting from the article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In a letter to his fellow lawmakers,&#xA;  Udall said the partisan seating&#xA;  arrangement has become a negative&#xA;  symbol of the divisions in Congress -&#xA;  and among the American people - with&#xA;  one side of the chamber cheering and&#xA;  applauding loudly throughout the&#xA;  President's speech, while the other&#xA;  often sits silent. He urged them to&#xA;  bridge the partisan divide by sitting&#xA;  together as a symbolic gesture&#xA;  signifying unity and better reflecting&#xA;  the communities they represent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The term &quot;break out&quot; is often used colloquially for &quot;getting out&quot; or &quot;taking out&quot; something. For example, &quot;Let's break out the champagne&quot; could be used to express the appropriateness of celebrating some event (although this particular term is often used sarcastically). A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22let%27s+break+out%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;search on Google&lt;/a&gt; reveals some interesting use of this syntax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;YourDictionary.com has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://idioms.yourdictionary.com/break-out&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;definition&lt;/a&gt; as well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1.&#xA;        Develop suddenly and forcefully. For example, A fire broke out last&#xA;  night, or He broke out in a sweat.&#xA;  [a.d. 1000]&#xA;     2.&#xA;        Be affected with a skin eruption, such as a rash or boils, as&#xA;  in A teenager's face often breaks out&#xA;  in pimples. [c. 1300]&#xA;     3.&#xA;        &lt;strong&gt;Prepare something for consumption, action, or use, as in&#xA;  Let's break out the champagne, or It's&#xA;  such a fine day—let's break out the&#xA;  fishing rods.&lt;/strong&gt; [Early 1800s]&#xA;     4.&#xA;        break out of. Force out by breaking; also, escape from&#xA;  confinement. For example, The&#xA;  hurricane broke the glass out of all&#xA;  the windows, or He broke out of prison&#xA;  but was soon apprehended. [Early&#xA;  1600s]&#xA;     5.&#xA;        Isolate a portion of a body of data, as in Please break out the sales&#xA;  figures from the quarterly report.&#xA;  [Mid-1900s]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1959" LastEditorUserId="1959" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T05:25:56.170" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T05:25:56.170" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9862" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9863" CreationDate="2011-01-25T01:12:38.747" Score="2" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;These two sound quite different, and the second form even sounds more sophisticated, but is there any real difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2380" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T09:16:00.503" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T09:16:00.503" Title="&quot;tried so far&quot; vs. &quot;so far tried&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9862" CreationDate="2011-01-25T01:19:09.657" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have tried three strategies so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have so far tried three strategies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two are equivalent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of &quot;so far&quot; as acting as an adverb. Substitute &lt;em&gt;now&lt;/em&gt; and you can say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have tried three strategies now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have now tried three strategies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you are following it with a list, I would suggest you use the latter construction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have now tried three strategies: studying my rivals, cultivating new friends, and bribing public officials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That way you put the noun that represents the list in apposition to the list itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T01:19:09.657" />
  <row Id="9864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9855" CreationDate="2011-01-25T01:22:29.927" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reagan was using the phrase because it is a common Russian expression. Доверяй, но проверяй.  It's a contradiction, so to my ears, it sounds like &quot;I don't trust you (but I don't want to say that so directly)&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T01:22:29.927" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9865" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-25T01:26:21.487" Score="9" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/9467/origins-of-possessive-pronouns&quot;&gt;Origins of possessive pronouns&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How did English come to use &quot;apostrophe s&quot; to indicate possession, when it seems to me that few (if any!) other languages do (or do something similar)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;E.g.&lt;/em&gt;, how did &quot;the car's engine&quot; come to be shorthand for &quot;the engine of the car?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4059" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T02:06:27.710" ClosedDate="2011-01-26T14:01:14.953" Title="How did an apostrophe plus the letter &quot;s&quot; come to indicate possession?" Tags="&lt;history&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9867" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9890" CreationDate="2011-01-25T03:04:45.767" Score="-1" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just asked EA Support to send me a serial to my old game(Battlefield 2142) and they did it. Should I replay and say &quot;thx a lot&quot; or should I just enjoy my game and ignore them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EA is an english company, so I'm asking how would you act in english speaking country like US or GB.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do feel they did an amazing job and thought I would have to fight really hard and long for that serial number(and it would end up with me buying a new copy of the game).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3295" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T08:44:33.677" Title="Etiquette in responding to service desk email" Tags="&lt;etiquette&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9836" CreationDate="2011-01-25T03:25:47.930" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Language Instinct&lt;/em&gt; by Steven Pinker offers an explanation involving Walkman/Walkmans and fly out/flied out (baseball terminology), which basically says that a Walkman is not a type of man, thus it does not follow the irregular plural rules for man.  Similarly, fly refers to a &quot;fly ball&quot;, which is not a verb, so the irregular verb rules for &quot;fly&quot; the verb do not apply to &quot;flied out&quot;.  The full explanation is in chapter 5, titled &quot;Words, Words, Words&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mice versus mouses is debatable.  Most people I know say &quot;mice&quot;, and indeed it could be argued that a computer mouse is a form of mouse, as it somewhat resembles one (albeit upside down), and was named after the rodent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4066" LastEditorUserId="4066" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T06:54:42.477" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T06:54:42.477" />
  <row Id="9870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9867" CreationDate="2011-01-25T03:26:45.067" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There would be no harm in sending a thank-you message.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can explain your expectation and the much-better-than-expected service you received, and the technician who responded might forward that to his or her manager for inclusion in his or her employment file.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T03:26:45.067" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9845" CreationDate="2011-01-25T03:28:40.390" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are correct grammatically, but mean entirely different things. &quot;I got X&quot; means &quot;sometime in the past, I came into the possession of X&quot;. &quot;I have X&quot; means &quot;I currently posses X&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider an extended version of the same: &quot;I got an MP4 video file for Christmas&quot;. Some might argue that there are better ways to express the idea, but there's nothing terribly wrong with this one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4067" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T03:28:40.390" />
  <row Id="9873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3602" CreationDate="2011-01-25T03:37:16.547" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T03:37:16.547" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9874" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9877" CreationDate="2011-01-25T03:50:23.650" Score="6" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't remember when and where I had this discussion, but I remember being corrected when I was speaking by a stranger saying that it is never correct to say &lt;em&gt;give me half of this&lt;/em&gt;; instead, the grammatically correct phrase would be &lt;em&gt;give me one half of this&lt;/em&gt;. I've never been a pro at where numbers fit in with the English language, so maybe someone here could shed some light on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4064" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T13:54:54.490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T13:54:54.490" Title="&quot;Give me one half of that&quot; Vs. &quot;give me half of that&quot;" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="9875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9824" CreationDate="2011-01-25T03:53:25.427" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-january-11-2011/mark-twain-controversy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Daily Show&lt;/a&gt; recently did a bit on this issue, and the interchange between John Stewart and Larry Wilmore explains the tension around the &quot;N word&quot; and the US tendency to indulge in revisionist history.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a partial transcript:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;JON STEWART: Well, the editors of this&#xA;  new version are trying to make the&#xA;  book more accessible, they say, so&#xA;  that it can be taught without making&#xA;  students in the classroom, who may be&#xA;  uncomfortable, repeat the word&#xA;  nrnrnnrnrnrnr….&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;WILMORE: I’m sorry?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;STEWART: Just so that the children&#xA;  don’t have to say, in the class, say&#xA;  nnrnrnrnernnnrr….&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;WILMORE: I’m sorry, what word were&#xA;  you…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;STEWART: Nnnnnuuuuuuu….&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;WILMORE: Say it, Jon!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;STEWART: Nnnnniiiuuuuuuu…. It’s&#xA;  uncomfortable!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;WILMORE: And it should be! Look, Mark&#xA;  Twain put that word in for a reason.&#xA;  The n-word speaks to a society that&#xA;  casually dehumanized black people;&#xA;  “slave” is just a job description.&#xA;  And, it’s not even accurate! In the&#xA;  book, Jim is no longer a slave. He ran&#xA;  away! Twain’s point is he can’t run&#xA;  away from being a nigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many people in the US feel extremely uncomfortable with the &quot;N word&quot; because of its checkered history and negative connotations, though the word was much more commonplace at the time that the story was written.  The common term for African American ethnicity was derogatory and dehumanizing, so Twain went with the common term as a sign of the times. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another item of note is that the term &quot;Injun Joe&quot; was changed to &quot;Indian Joe&quot;, and that appears to have garnered considerably less attention, despite being a similar switch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastEditorUserId="3328" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T14:38:44.287" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T14:38:44.287" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9874" CreationDate="2011-01-25T04:14:33.390" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no need to say &quot;one half&quot; there. &quot;Give me half of that&quot; is sufficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T04:14:33.390" />
  <row Id="9877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9874" CreationDate="2011-01-25T04:15:05.590" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is perfectly acceptable to say &quot;give me half of that&quot;. In English, &quot;half&quot; in understood on its own to mean &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/half&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Half - Definition, Merriam-Webster Dictionary&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;one of two equal parts of something&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put it another way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It would make no sense to say &quot;give me no halves of that&quot;. You would just say &quot;give me none of that&quot;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It would make no sense to say &quot;give me two halves of that&quot;. You would just say &quot;give me all of that&quot;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying &quot;give me one half of that&quot; is redundant. It's equivalent to saying &quot;give me one of one of those two equal parts of that.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T04:15:05.590" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9878" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9881" CreationDate="2011-01-25T04:59:15.897" Score="9" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;This might be a tad off-topic, but I am looking for an English-specific answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I'm using italic text to denote emphasis or a quotation, should the italicisation extend to the punctuation surrounding the italicised words? If the punctuation marks are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; italicised, in most digital fonts the italic letters will crash horribly&amp;mdash;or at least intrude awkwardly&amp;mdash;into the Roman punctuation. It's especially problematic with parentheses, and lowercase Fs. Since I don't have the luxury of typesetting all of my documents in lead, I've taken to either italicising the punctuation, or inserting a thin space (for lowercase F) or a hair space (for other letters) before the closing punctuation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;? &amp;hArr; What is &lt;em&gt;that?&lt;/em&gt; &amp;hArr; What is &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;&amp;#8202;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Solid (or &lt;em&gt;fluff&lt;/em&gt;). &amp;hArr; Solid (or &lt;em&gt;fluff).&lt;/em&gt; &amp;hArr; Solid (or &lt;em&gt;fluff&lt;/em&gt;&amp;thinsp;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(&lt;em&gt;Good times&lt;/em&gt;!) &amp;hArr; &lt;em&gt;(Good times!)&lt;/em&gt; &amp;hArr; (&lt;em&gt;Good times&lt;/em&gt;&amp;#8202;!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is a nitpicky thing (hell, even I think so, and I'm the one asking), but is there a standard way to address it? Just because this is the internet, it doesn't mean we need to totally disregard the typesetting facilities that &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T07:25:17.043" Title="Italics and punctuation" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;italics&gt;&lt;typesetting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="9879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9878" CreationDate="2011-01-25T05:26:36.297" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Logically, it depends on whether the punctuation belongs to the italicized text or to the rest of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He asked, &quot;&lt;i&gt;Why?&lt;/i&gt;&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He asked, &quot;&lt;i&gt;Why&lt;/i&gt;! Because it is not obvious to me why.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(And yes, we can debate the presence of the full stop in the first example - where 'full stop' gets translated to 'period' in American English.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are going for publication, then 'House Rules' probably take precedence over 'logic'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T05:26:36.297" />
  <row Id="9880" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9893" CreationDate="2011-01-25T05:33:32.003" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm developing a web application and there's a menu for the user to add and edit content. It is called &lt;em&gt;Page Content&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Page Content&lt;/em&gt; has a category which let the user select where the content for the will be placed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if I should name the category &lt;em&gt;Page Section&lt;/em&gt; (the category is about choosing a page section) or Page Sections (the category has many page sections).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples of the labels of the menu:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;name: Sections &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;singular_name: Section&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;add_new_item: Add New Section&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit_item: Edit Section&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;new_item: New Section'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;search_items: Search Section&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;not_found: No Sections found&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;all_items: 'All Sections' ),&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(is the usage of singular and plural right in the examples above?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4070" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T13:52:31.153" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T13:52:31.153" Title="&quot;Page section&quot; or &quot;page sections&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9878" CreationDate="2011-01-25T06:19:44.347" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Chicago Manual of Style (14th Ed.) has this to say about it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;5.4: The typographic treatment of punctuation adjacent to a variant font (italic or boldface within roman text, for instance) should be governed by both appearance and meaning.  Generally, punctuation marks are printed in the same style of font of type as the word, letter, character, or symbol immediately preceding them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;5.5: A question mark or exclamation point that immediately follows an italicized title and that is not part of the title should be set in roman to avoid misreading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;5.6: Parentheses and brackets enclosing italic material may be set in italic to avoid such common typefitting problems as overlapping ascenders or descenders or visually uneven spacing within enclosures.  When the enclosed material begins and ends in italic but contains roman text in between, italic enclosures may be used.  If only one end of the enclosed material is italic, however, the parentheses or brackets should be roman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at your examples, therefore, I think option 2, then option 1 or 3, then option 2 are the best choices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T06:47:27.933" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T06:47:27.933" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9882" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9887" CreationDate="2011-01-25T07:13:00.010" Score="0" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a framework called Grails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that sentence correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Grails have integration with jUnit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3295" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T20:13:11.213" Title="Grails have or Grails has?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9883" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9886" CreationDate="2011-01-25T07:14:02.610" Score="4" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an Australian, I like to follow British forms of words such as license/licence and practise/practice. I have no problem with ‘licence’ the noun and ‘license’ the verb, but I find it hard to keep ‘practise’ and ‘practice’ straight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get better, I ‘practise’ my juggling.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When I see a doctor, I visit their ‘practice’.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what about preparing a set of ‘practice problems’? Or are they a set of problems that are used for ‘practising’? (Being instead ‘practise problems’?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Okay, a better way to phrase this embarrassing question. Is there a use of the word ‘practice’ besides for that when referring to, say, a doctor's establishment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2012" LastEditorUserId="120" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T07:32:29.013" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T14:01:20.260" Title="Practise v. practice" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9878" CreationDate="2011-01-25T07:25:17.043" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In some traditional typesetting contexts, you would &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; italicise parentheses even within italic text (and I'd recommend doing this yourself if you have the luxury). I must highly recommend not to only italicise one of the parentheses! (As in your example ‘(or &lt;em&gt;fluff)&lt;/em&gt;’.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise I agree with the other comments on ‘it depends’, according to aesthetics and ambiguity of the text. Just make sure you're consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, your use of the thinspace is to be highly commended. Keep it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2012" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T07:25:17.043" />
  <row Id="9885" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9897" CreationDate="2011-01-25T07:26:43.040" Score="3" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand it should be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How does it compare&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;because the do has stole the s, but what is the reasoning behind it? I don't want to make the same mistake twice, so I feel I need to understand the reasoning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3295" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T09:36:04.010" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T09:36:04.010" Title="&quot;How does it compares&quot;" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9883" CreationDate="2011-01-25T07:28:55.013" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The use of 'practice' in 'practice problems' is certainly correct. Here 'practice problems' is a compound noun with 'problems' modified by 'practice'. It means problems used for practice. It helps your understanding to replace 'practice' here with 'revision'. We use 'revision problems' and not 'revise problems' to mean problems used for revision. 'Practice' is simply a noun meaning the act of practising, just like 'revision' is a noun meaning the act of revising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T07:28:55.013" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9882" CreationDate="2011-01-25T07:33:58.340" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't let the final 's' fool you, Grails is singular. So:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Grails is an open source web application framework&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Grails is a high-productivity web framework&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Grails has integration with jUnit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2819" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T07:33:58.340" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="9889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9850" CreationDate="2011-01-25T08:31:21.083" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reduction of 'our' to 'or' happens when the ending is unstressed (my accents on the stress):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;cólour, flávour, hónour, néighbour, rúmour, lábour, húmour&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but not when it is stressed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;contóur, velóur, paramóur, troubadóur&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is very well explained (surprise) in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences#-our.2C_-or&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T08:31:21.083" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="9890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9867" CreationDate="2011-01-25T08:44:33.677" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely not&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;thx a lot&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The abbreviation is sloppy and implies you're not prepared to take the time to reply decently. As I Brit, I'd write&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thank you for taking the time to send me the serial number, I really appreciate it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T08:44:33.677" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9891" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9899" CreationDate="2011-01-25T08:49:39.673" Score="1" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should the x be capitalized?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, should the word be written as X-ray or x-ray?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1323" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T11:44:08.960" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T11:44:08.960" Title="Capitalize X in x-ray?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9862" CreationDate="2011-01-25T08:53:06.680" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not an answer, but be aware of the (slightly obtuse) alternative reading, in the sense 'a trying experience':&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You can only be &lt;strong&gt;tried so far&lt;/strong&gt; before you lose your temper&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or, the other way&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was &lt;strong&gt;so far tried&lt;/strong&gt;, he decided to kill her&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T08:53:06.680" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9880" CreationDate="2011-01-25T09:09:44.243" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that you want &quot;Search Sections&quot;, but the others look all right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends on how you search:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Search Section = seach within one section&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Search Sections = search among all sections&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Search for Section = search for a specific section&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Search for Sections = search for a set of sections among all sections&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T09:09:44.243" />
  <row Id="9894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9790" CreationDate="2011-01-25T09:16:54.287" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you must use 'must' then&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She said you musn't talk to him&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;works, but it's a little clumsy. An improvement could be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She said you musn't &lt;strong&gt;speak&lt;/strong&gt; to him&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but I would prefer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She forbade me to speak to him&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that she said it isn't the important part of the message, it's the prohibition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastEditorUserId="3755" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T16:24:12.763" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T16:24:12.763" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9891" CreationDate="2011-01-25T09:20:47.483" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When used as a noun or a modifier, the &quot;X&quot; in &lt;em&gt;X-ray&lt;/em&gt; is capitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The doctor looked at the patient's X-ray.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you think all superheroes have X-ray vision?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it is used as a verb, the &quot;X&quot; is usually capitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your chest needs to be X-rayed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the entry on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/x-ray&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam Webster Online&lt;/a&gt; for &lt;em&gt;X-ray&lt;/em&gt; as a verb lists it with a small &quot;X&quot;. It does say, though, that the verb is often capitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T09:20:47.483" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9885" CreationDate="2011-01-25T09:25:28.117" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Compare can be transitive or intransitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Transitive, identifying differences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John compared the two books and choose the larger&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intransitive, be comparable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The larger book just didn't compare with the little one&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T09:25:28.117" />
  <row Id="9897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9885" CreationDate="2011-01-25T09:25:35.893" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because, as with &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; is a modal verb, and as such it is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_modal_verb#Syntax&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;always followed by a verb in its basic form&lt;/a&gt;: basic form being the verb without the introducing &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T09:25:35.893" />
  <row Id="9899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9891" CreationDate="2011-01-25T09:50:43.317" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;capitalizes&lt;/a&gt; the X. Wiktionary says that &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/x-ray&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;x-ray&lt;/a&gt; is the alternative spelling of X-ray, not the other way round. Merriam-Webster capitalizes the noun but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/x-ray&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;not the verb&lt;/a&gt;, noting that the verb is &quot;often capitalized&quot;, too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking through the first 250 cites in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;, the capitalized version is preferred by a factor of 2:1; looking through the first 250 cites in the British National Corpus, it wins by a factor of 11:1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T09:50:43.317" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9785" CreationDate="2011-01-25T09:57:51.730" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Over here, we refer to this phenomenon as being on the &quot;beer scooter.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4089" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T09:57:51.730" />
  <row Id="9901" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9911" CreationDate="2011-01-25T09:58:34.380" Score="12" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference in usage between &lt;em&gt;for instance&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;for example&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they just interchangeable? I suspect they are not strictly but cannot seem to find an authoritative explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4088" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T13:47:27.057" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T13:47:27.057" Title="&quot;For instance&quot; vs &quot;For example&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;example&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="9902" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9907" CreationDate="2011-01-25T10:00:19.757" Score="1" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;We just can not think of a word to describe this situation where you understand something completely. There is nothing you do not know about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If anyone knows or has something close then that would be great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4090" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T13:22:29.760" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T01:01:13.877" Title="A word to describe knowing something completely" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9903" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9909" CreationDate="2011-01-25T10:05:29.143" Score="5" ViewCount="213" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a while I ponder on some words that I have not been able to find.&#xA;I always wondered why, since English is so huge compared to my native Danish where we DO have the following two words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;a word for a 24 hour period. I found the Greek one: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nychthemeron&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nychthemeron&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;It is sometimes used, especially in technical literature, to avoid the ambiguity inherent in the term &lt;strong&gt;day&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I of course know the word &quot;day&quot; which we have in Danish too, but we also (along with other languages) have a specific word for a 24 hour period.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the adjective of solidarity - so we have sympathetic but not solidaric - can anyone tell me why we can be sympathetic to a cause but have to show solidarity?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is Solidary to Solidarity what Sympathetic is to Sympathy? - Any usage examples?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am interested in any etymologic reason why it is not Solidaric (Greek root versus French root?) - In Danish I can say I am solidaric to your cause. I cannot hear myself saying I am solidary to your cause.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T15:53:30.310" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:15:46.427" Title="Missing words in English" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9902" CreationDate="2011-01-25T10:06:00.743" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/comprehend&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;to comprehend&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;to understand or grasp fully and thoroughly&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T10:06:00.743" />
  <row Id="9905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9902" CreationDate="2011-01-25T10:08:31.333" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;fathom&lt;/strong&gt;, though more often used in the negative (&lt;em&gt;he could hardly fathom...&lt;/em&gt;), means to “comprehend after much thought”. &lt;strong&gt;comprehend&lt;/strong&gt; also has this same connotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Expressions such as &lt;strong&gt;puzzle out&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;get to the bottom of&lt;/strong&gt; have the sense of understanding completely, but also mean it was figured out (i.e. that knowledge is recent). It may or may not be adequate for your use case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T10:08:31.333" />
  <row Id="9906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9903" CreationDate="2011-01-25T10:09:59.317" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;day&lt;/strong&gt; (noun) 1. a period of twenty-four hours as a unit&lt;/em&gt;; if you want to refer to the natural rhythm of 24 hour period, the adjective is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;circadian&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;solidary&lt;/strong&gt; (adjective) (of a group or community) characterized by solidarity or coincidence of interests&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“Judge imposes ‘solidary bail’ for poor respondents”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“Incentives for a solidary globalization”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“Repression and solidary cultures of resistance”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T10:38:04.753" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T10:38:04.753" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9902" CreationDate="2011-01-25T10:12:11.300" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Comprehend&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;fathom&lt;/em&gt; are fine candidates, I'll just throw in &lt;em&gt;attain enlightenment&lt;/em&gt; for good measure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; oh, and how about &lt;em&gt;grok&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grok&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/grok&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T10:29:03.597" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T10:29:03.597" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9908" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9921" CreationDate="2011-01-25T10:16:00.950" Score="2" ViewCount="211" Body="&lt;p&gt;Received a resume lately. One of the sentence, in summary section, doesn't look right to me. It may be not a very obvious mistake, or may not be a mistake at all. But I can't say anything for sure, as I am not a native speaker and neither I find myself eloquent in writing English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;.... blah blah. A reliable team member who gets work&#xA;  done and enjoys his fair share to work&#xA;  hard and smart to meet commitments. blah blah ....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you tell me to correct it, because I think it's not well written. Then I would make something like below, using the same words without trying to make it spiffy,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;.... blah blah. A reliable team member&#xA;  -- very smart to meet commitments, who gets work done and enjoys his fair&#xA;  share in working hard. blah blah ....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you folks think? Is there something wrong with the original sentence structure?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4093" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T09:11:00.670" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T09:11:00.670" Title="Enjoys his fair share to work hard and smart to meet commitments" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9903" CreationDate="2011-01-25T10:28:32.523" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For your first point I found words such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hemeral&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;hemeral&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/circadian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;circadian&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, though there are more concept centered around a 24-hour period, but simply using the word &lt;em&gt;day&lt;/em&gt;, as suggested by @FX_ would be the way to go, although ambiguous, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day#24_hours_vs_daytime&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;there doesn't seems to be another &quot;English&quot; word which would fit the bill&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the second point, you have the word &lt;em&gt;solidary&lt;/em&gt;, but also &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/solidarily&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;solidarily&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, which is an adverb defined as &quot;showing solidarity&quot;. As such, we can safely assume that &lt;em&gt;solidary&lt;/em&gt; is the adjective for the same concept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: As for the fact that &lt;em&gt;solidary&lt;/em&gt; against &lt;em&gt;sympathetic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;sympathetic&lt;/em&gt; comes from the Latin &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=sympathetic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;sympatheticus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and sympathy has its own Latin words &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=sympathy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;sympathia&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, both of each having Ancient Greek origin (&lt;em&gt;sympathetikos&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;sympatheia&lt;/em&gt;), while both &lt;em&gt;solidary&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;solidarity&lt;/em&gt; comes from the French &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=solidary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;solidaire&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; which itself comes from the french word &lt;em&gt;solide&lt;/em&gt; which has its roots in the Latin &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=solid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;solidus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, but this time not in the Greek.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T22:15:46.427" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:15:46.427" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9908" CreationDate="2011-01-25T10:41:21.447" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;enjoys his fair share to work hard&lt;/em&gt; sounds weird to me; I expect people to &lt;strong&gt;do&lt;/strong&gt; their fair share&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the sentence doesn't have a verb (nominal sentence); while it's becoming more common, especially in informal writing, I don't consider it writing good style unless you're describing a process of thoughts, for example.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T10:41:21.447" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9901" CreationDate="2011-01-25T11:20:17.950" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;according to this link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=152653&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=152653&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I would hear &lt;strong&gt;for example&lt;/strong&gt; to refer to a particular type of occurrence where many types exist.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And I would hear &lt;strong&gt;for instance&lt;/strong&gt; to refer to a particular occurrence of the same type, where many occurrences exist.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The auditors look for many types of fraudulent activity, for example, reporting revenue from fictional sales. Implying there are other types of fraudulent activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another Example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mr X is being investigated for wash sale rules violations, for instance the trade with ABC Corp where he bought the same shares in his personal account from DEF Corp. Implying there are other violations of the same type, i.e. wash sale violations, and this is just one instance/occurrence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T12:49:06.513" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T12:49:06.513" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1925" CreationDate="2011-01-25T11:25:53.223" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The famous computer scientist &lt;a href=&quot;http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/email.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Donald Knuth wrote in 1990&lt;/a&gt; (!):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A note on email versus e-mail&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Newly coined nonce words of English&#xA;  are often spelled with a hyphen, but&#xA;  the hyphen disappears when the words&#xA;  become widely used. For example,&#xA;  people used to write &lt;code&gt;non-zero&lt;/code&gt; and&#xA;  &lt;code&gt;soft-ware&lt;/code&gt; instead of &lt;code&gt;nonzero&lt;/code&gt;&#xA;  and ``software''; the same trend has&#xA;  occurred for hundreds of other words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thus it's high time for everybody to&#xA;  stop using the archaic spelling&#xA;  &lt;code&gt;e-mail&lt;/code&gt;. Think of how many&#xA;  keystrokes you will save in your&#xA;  lifetime if you stop now! The form&#xA;  &lt;code&gt;email&lt;/code&gt; has been well established in&#xA;  England for several years, so I am&#xA;  amazed to see Americans being overly&#xA;  conservative in this regard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(Of&#xA;  course, &lt;code&gt;email&lt;/code&gt; has been a familiar&#xA;  word in France, Germany, and the&#xA;  Netherlands much longer than in&#xA;  England --- but for an entirely&#xA;  different reason.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="539" LastEditorUserId="539" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T11:32:24.243" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T11:32:24.243" />
  <row Id="9913" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9916" CreationDate="2011-01-25T11:30:00.247" Score="2" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi, I encounter the phrase &quot;I will appreciate your help&quot; from time to time and it doesn't sound too honest to me. To be more specific, I don't have a problem with this phrase coming from a friend, because he will appreciate my help by &quot;owing me one&quot;. But a stranger from the Internet, that's different, methinks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;How will you appreciate it?&quot; pops in my mind every time I see it, because to me, appreciation equals reward and, well, you can't reward people over the internet much. It is quite possible that I am just wrong and this is a perfectly fine figure of speech. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3707" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T12:53:09.557" Title="&quot;I will appreciate your help&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9433" CreationDate="2011-01-25T11:35:59.050" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Core ect clum sines&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Corect clumsines&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Corretc clumsines&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Correct clumsiness&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T11:35:59.050" />
  <row Id="9915" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10080" CreationDate="2011-01-25T11:36:31.943" Score="4" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being Swedish but living in Kenya for many years I initially reacted when at the local market I was offered a paper bag (verbally) but given a plastic bag (physically). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is always the case and was not a single incident. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought paper bag had become a common word for all kinds of bags in Kenya but it seems like this is also common in other English speaking countries?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone confirm and maybe add a bit of history to explain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_bag&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_bag&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_shopping_bag&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_shopping_bag&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4097" LastEditorUserId="4097" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T14:10:36.767" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T11:45:33.167" Title="Can &quot;paper bag&quot; mean any bag?" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9913" CreationDate="2011-01-25T11:47:15.170" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normally one would say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would appreciate your help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is a softer, more polite way of asking. Use of the subjunctive mood indicates that nothing is assumed. It is a shorter way of saying &quot;Should you be so kind as to give it to me, I would appreciate your help.&quot; &lt;em&gt;[Edit: @As Eldros notes, to show appreciation for something is to be thankful for it. The example above could be paraphrased as &quot;I would be in your debt if you would be willing to help me out.&quot;]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; seasons the sentence with a stronger flavor of expectation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will appreciate your help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what you would say if you were fully expecting — perhaps even demanding — a person's help. It is something someone who has power over you might say, and is pretty strong. If the person is actually asking for a favor, this phrasing is very likely to offend the respondent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T12:53:09.557" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T12:53:09.557" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9917" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9930" CreationDate="2011-01-25T11:49:51.813" Score="0" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Development is a process whereby insignificant and &lt;strong&gt;imperceptible&lt;/strong&gt; quantitative changes lead to fundamental, qualitative changes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question 1&lt;/strong&gt;: What's the meaning of 'imperceptible'? Does it mean that it's out of our capability to feel it, and we human being just cannot feel or know it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question 2&lt;/strong&gt;: Do you agree it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T13:06:15.707" Title="About the word 'imperceptible'?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9908" CreationDate="2011-01-25T12:05:07.770" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A reliable team member who gets work done and enjoys his fair share to work hard and smart to meet commitments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sounds terribly like a direct translation from another language. It bothers me on several counts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;his fair share to work hard&quot; should be something like &quot;his fair share of hard work&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;and smart to meet commitments&quot; (methinks Google Translate?). Does he smart (go red in the face) when he meets commitments? Is he smart (clever) enough to meet commitments? Did he smartly (quickly) meet (encounter) a commitment on his way to work? Or, almost ridiculously, he's smart (clever) enough to meet (face to face) commitments rather than delivering what's promised?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stringing more than two phrases together with ANDs (&lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; enjoys, &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; smart) is clumsy.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We all get the jist of 'meeting a commitment', but here commitment is nothing but waffle-speak for a deadline or an objective.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's analyse what he's trying to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He's a reliable team player&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He works hard and takes his fair share of the workload&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He meets his commitments (in some, yet to be understood, positive fashion)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From which we can cobble something more concise and distinctly more palatable, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John is a reliable, hard-working team player who consistently meets his objectives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T12:05:07.770" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9917" CreationDate="2011-01-25T12:16:55.467" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Almost, according to most dictionaries, imperceptible means:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Impossible or difficult to perceive by the mind or senses: an imperceptible drop in temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So subtle, slight, or gradual as to be barely perceptible: an imperceptible nod.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T12:16:55.467" />
  <row Id="9921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9908" CreationDate="2011-01-25T12:18:15.230" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's my suggestion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So and so is a reliable team member &#xA;  and does his fair share of hard work&#xA;  to meet commitments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I haven't used 'gets work done' because 'reliable' carries the connotation that he will get the job done. Others may disagree, saying that reliable means other things, like getting to work on time, etc. However, you can still include that phrase if you want to.&#xA;If you want to include 'smart' in there, you might have to rephrase things because in English usage people usually  work hard or work smart; 'working smart' carries the connotation of not having to work too hard to achieve something.&#xA;So, you could write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So and so is a reliable team member&#xA;  who works hard and has shown aptitude and diligence in meeting commitments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aptitude replaces smart and diligence replaces hard(-working). The above sentence is more formal (or stuffy), depending on how you see it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's not quite what you're looking for, then how about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So and so is a reliable team member&#xA;  who works hard, works smart and meets commitments. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So and so is a reliable team member &#xA;  who works both hard and smart to meet&#xA;  commitments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that your example can be rewritten in several ways, but perhaps to simplify matters, think about what you want to say and the tone you wish to convey it in, then write the sentence as correctly as you can. It's always best to write simply, after which you can embellish your sentence, if you wish.&#xA;Thanks and hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastEditorUserId="3733" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T04:34:53.880" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T04:34:53.880" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9915" CreationDate="2011-01-25T12:21:03.070" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;i think paper bad would generally imply a bag made of paper. But the answer could be different based on geography &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="974" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T12:21:03.070" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9923" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9926" CreationDate="2011-01-25T12:21:05.973" Score="5" ViewCount="344" Body="&lt;p&gt;Despite a provoking title, I am looking for a word, phrase or an &lt;em&gt;eloquent&lt;/em&gt; sentence to describe the process a male performs after taking a piss -- that is shaking off remaining pee of the tip of his penis. I apologize for being vague, and I am sure you're getting the drift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T00:05:00.767" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T00:05:00.767" Title="What do you call the process immediately after peeing?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9923" CreationDate="2011-01-25T12:31:06.627" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Only word I have ever heard is Shake - as in the well known proverb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No matter how you shake and dance, the&#xA;  last few drops go in your pants&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T12:31:06.627" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="9925" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9929" CreationDate="2011-01-25T12:51:30.790" Score="0" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please help me make sense of this sentence with regards to 'globally'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the global arena, xxxxxx has been&#xA;  described as the solution to the&#xA;  challenges facing the commodities market globally  as a result of the&#xA;  market situation caused by the current&#xA;  global economic crisis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would placing 'global' in front of challenges change the meaning of the sentence? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the global arena, xxxxxx has been&#xA;  described as the solution to the&#xA;  global challenges facing the commodities market as a result of the&#xA;  market situation caused by the current&#xA;  global economic crisis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there other ways of writing this sentence to make the different meanings clearer?&#xA;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T13:01:33.427" Title="Position of adverb 'globally' in sentence and meaning of sentence" Tags="&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9923" CreationDate="2011-01-25T12:53:33.347" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given the topic, I hope I won't get flamed for a little facetiousness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those who have attended a British public school will know that shaking it more than twice is called masturbation &gt;;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T12:53:33.347" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="9927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9915" CreationDate="2011-01-25T12:54:15.760" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is No. But people ignore being accurate, especially around the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T12:54:15.760" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9925" CreationDate="2011-01-25T13:01:22.170" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both mean essentially the same thing; the difference in position makes little difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for rewriting, I would say there are too many globals and 'globallys'. It's also a bit long-winded after the first 'market'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Global economic crisis' is fine as it is though, so I would go with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the global arena, xxxx has been described as the solution to the challenges facing the commodities market as a result of the current global economic crisis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'In the global arena' already conveys the sense that both the 'challenges' and 'commodities market' are global.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T13:01:22.170" />
  <row Id="9929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9925" CreationDate="2011-01-25T13:01:33.427" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are right to prefer &quot;global challenges&quot; to &quot;challenges facing the commodities market globally,&quot; but both sentences overuse use &lt;em&gt;global&lt;/em&gt;. I would suggest dropping the first clause altogether, and recasting the sentence to something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;XXX has been described as a solution to the global challenges that face the commodities market during the current economic crisis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;XXX has been described as a solution to the challenges that face the commodities market during the current global economic crisis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T13:01:33.427" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9917" CreationDate="2011-01-25T13:06:15.707" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'imperceptible', as its etymology implies, means 'that cannot be perceived' (by humans senses in this case). The changes occur in minute steps that cannot be individually recognised; but when many of them are summed together, the result is perceptible. When a child grows 0.1mm in a day, you'd have great difficulty in measuring it, let alone noticing it. After 100 days, however, the child has grown 10mm. You didn't notice it happen, but his grandmother will the next time she sees him because she only sees one 'growth step'.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No, I don't agree &lt;strong&gt;with&lt;/strong&gt; the second part of the statement. It doesn't necessarily follow from the premise of a quantative change that we can conclude in a qualitative change. This would be like saying &quot;he grew a lot taller and thus became more intelligent&quot;. I'm splitting hairs, of course, we all understand the intention of the statement, but by formal logic it's incorrect.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T13:06:15.707" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9883" CreationDate="2011-01-25T14:01:20.260" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that the correct one to use would be 'practise'.  A test that I use would be to replace the words with similar words or phrases.  'Practise' means to perform repetitions of an action in order to perfect it, or to exercise a current ability.  While 'practice' is a doctor's consulting room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in your examples, you could say, &quot;To get better, I ‘exercise’ my juggling.&quot; Or, &quot;When I see a doctor, I visit their ‘consulting rooms’.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could refer to 'exercise problems', but you could not refer to 'consulting room problems'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4099" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T14:01:20.260" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9933" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-25T14:18:06.737" Score="6" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wasn't sure how best to phrase the title of this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in constructions of the following form: '&lt;strong&gt;An estimated 50 people&lt;/strong&gt; died in the bombing'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'An estimated' could be substituted with adverbs like 'approximately' or 'about', so it seems that prepending the indefinite article to certain words produces an adverb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is why the indefinite article should function in this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For one thing, the use of 'a[n]' when the following noun is generally plural seems odd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are quite a few words that fit this pattern:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An additional ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An approximate ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An estimated ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An extra ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A good ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A huge ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A mere ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A possible ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A record ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A scant ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A whopping ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4002" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T14:37:31.417" Title="'A[n] * [number] [plural]' Construction" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9915" CreationDate="2011-01-25T14:19:57.267" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have lived in various cities throughout the US, and I have never heard anyone use &quot;paper bag&quot; to refer to all types of bags when shopping.  If I went to the supermarket and asked for a paper bag and were given a plastic bag (or vice versa), I would assume that the person was not paying attention to what I was saying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This type of extension or generalization of the semantic domain is not unheard of, of course.  For example, I can call any chalkboard a &lt;em&gt;blackboard&lt;/em&gt;, regardless of its color.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I have seen no evidence of anything like this in regards to paper bags.  It seems to me that this would be a difficult transition, as there is usually a need to distinguish between the two, and plastic bags are the more common option (i.e. if paper bags are available somewhere, then plastic bags are almost certain to be there too, but not the other way around).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; It might also be worth adding that this could be a feature of the dialect of English in Kenya.  Most Kenyans speak both English and Swahili, if not another local language.  It is possible that the Swahili word for &quot;paper bag&quot; is also the general word for &lt;em&gt;bag&lt;/em&gt; in Swahili, which caused this term to be used in their dialect of English as well.  I am only speculating about this particular case, but this sort of thing certainly does happen in bilingual communities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T18:04:26.150" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T18:04:26.150" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9933" CreationDate="2011-01-25T14:28:11.837" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;em&gt;an estimated 50 people&lt;/em&gt; is short for &lt;em&gt;an estimated number of 50 people&lt;/em&gt; in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same goes with extra examples you provide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastEditorUserId="3812" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T14:37:31.417" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T14:37:31.417" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9937" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9940" CreationDate="2011-01-25T14:35:32.680" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Every morning right after I &lt;strong&gt;went&lt;/strong&gt; to the bathroom, I &lt;strong&gt;tell&lt;/strong&gt; myself&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the sentence above should &lt;em&gt;went&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;tell&lt;/em&gt; agree?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is above correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T14:49:10.913" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T14:52:27.697" Title="Verb agreement in the sentence" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;verb-agreement&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="9938" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9964" CreationDate="2011-01-25T14:42:54.200" Score="-2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference among the following questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you know where I &lt;strong&gt;might&lt;/strong&gt; find them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you know where I &lt;strong&gt;may&lt;/strong&gt; find them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you know where I &lt;strong&gt;could&lt;/strong&gt; find them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you know where I &lt;strong&gt;would&lt;/strong&gt; find them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you know where I &lt;strong&gt;will&lt;/strong&gt; find them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you know where I &lt;strong&gt;can&lt;/strong&gt; find them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T16:36:04.947" Title="&quot;Do you know where I might find them&quot; VS &quot;Do you know where I may find them&quot;" Tags="&lt;modal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="9939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9937" CreationDate="2011-01-25T14:44:42.170" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence you quoted should use the same tense for both verbs. The actions are more or less contemporaneous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Every morning right after I &lt;strong&gt;went&lt;/strong&gt; to the bathroom, I &lt;strong&gt;told&lt;/strong&gt; myself…&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Every morning right after I &lt;strong&gt;go&lt;/strong&gt; to the bathroom, I &lt;strong&gt;tell&lt;/strong&gt; myself…&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because the first sentence above is in the past tense, it implies you no longer have this habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T14:52:27.697" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T14:52:27.697" />
  <row Id="9940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9937" CreationDate="2011-01-25T14:45:37.057" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No; &lt;em&gt;went&lt;/em&gt; should be replaced with &lt;em&gt;go&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Tell&lt;/em&gt; is present-tense, as is &lt;em&gt;go&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Went&lt;/em&gt; is past-tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Every morning, right after I &lt;strong&gt;go&lt;/strong&gt; to the bathroom, I &lt;strong&gt;tell&lt;/strong&gt; myself…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were referring to a specific instance in the past, you could write,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yesterday morning, right after I &lt;strong&gt;went&lt;/strong&gt; to the bathroom, I &lt;strong&gt;told&lt;/strong&gt; myself…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T14:45:37.057" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9941" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-25T14:51:25.567" Score="2" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copywriting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Copywriter&lt;/a&gt; produces several articles for printing, what are his works collectively known as?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel the answer is not &lt;em&gt;copies&lt;/em&gt; as this would indicate it is several articles reproduced from an original. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if it might be &lt;em&gt;copy&lt;/em&gt;, a bit like how &lt;em&gt;data&lt;/em&gt; is plural?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4102" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T13:29:20.160" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T13:29:20.160" Title="What is the plural of copy when applied to the output of Copywriters." Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9941" CreationDate="2011-01-25T15:05:30.220" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your intuition is correct.  When used to mean 'material for printing', &lt;em&gt;copy&lt;/em&gt; refers to any number of works (even if it's just a single one).  Note that you would also not refer to it as &lt;em&gt;a copy&lt;/em&gt; as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wrote a copy for the magazine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T15:05:30.220" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9943" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9945" CreationDate="2011-01-25T15:07:22.223" Score="2" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if many of you watched the new Matt Damon movie &lt;em&gt;Hereafter&lt;/em&gt;. Near the end of the movie, the little boy who lost his twin brother meets Matt Damon in the Book reading room, and says something like: &quot;Hey, I know you, you are a sight[?]&quot;. Indeed, I'm missing the word between the brackets, how did he refer to a medium?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He said something like &lt;em&gt;sightkey&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;sightkick&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;sightsikh&lt;/em&gt;, but none of these are the correct words, I've tried looking it up on the Internet but I'm truly unable to come across this synonym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you help? :). That'd be appreciated&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4104" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T15:24:27.190" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T15:24:27.190" Title="Synonym: Medium or soothsayer" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9915" CreationDate="2011-01-25T15:08:02.460" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the UK a paper bag is unambiguously† a bag made of paper. In supermarkets, shoppers and sales assistants usually refer to carrier bags or just bags. The ones provided free are usually made of plastic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The home decorating trade sell wallpaper, sometimes this is not made of paper. For example: vinyl wallpaper. You can see that the word paper is not solely associated with thin sheets of dried crushed wood-pulp but can be used with similarly thin continuous sheets of material that gradually replaces, or supplements, traditional paper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;† &lt;em&gt;Sometimes it can mean a bag, constructed of any material, used by newspaper deliverers to carry newspapers&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T15:17:44.800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T15:17:44.800" />
  <row Id="9945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9943" CreationDate="2011-01-25T15:14:54.383" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't seen this movie yet, but given your description I guess he said &lt;strong&gt;psychic&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/psychic_3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;definition from Cambridge Dictionaries Online&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a person who has a special mental&#xA;  ability, for example being able to&#xA;  know what will happen in the future or&#xA;  what people are thinking&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T15:14:54.383" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="9946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9790" CreationDate="2011-01-25T15:20:03.767" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you are trying to report a past obligation that no longer applies?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She said that you were not to talk to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She said that you were not [supposed, allowed, permitted] to talk to me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She said that you could not talk to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T15:20:03.767" />
  <row Id="9947" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9948" CreationDate="2011-01-25T15:31:36.860" Score="3" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've read lots of professional articles that use the two terms interchangeably, sometimes within the same paragraph. Are the two terms really semantically identical? In formal writing, are there any situations where it would be recommended to use one or the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="502" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T15:38:37.357" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T20:40:37.940" Title="When to use &quot;GOP&quot; versus &quot;Republican Party&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="9948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9947" CreationDate="2011-01-25T15:39:37.307" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In more formal writing, it's slightly  proper to use the phrase &quot;Republican Party&quot;. However, in general discussion or news reporting, you'll find it used interchangeably. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;GOP (Grand Old Party) is a nickname for the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_%28United_States%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Republican Party (United States) - Wikipedia&quot;&gt;Republican Party&lt;/a&gt; that dates back over a century. The use of the word 'old' is ironic in that the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_%28United_States%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Democratic Party (United States) - Wikipedia&quot;&gt;Democratic Party&lt;/a&gt; was founded before the Republican Party. Also, some of the alternate meanings of the word '&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/grand&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;grand - The Free Dictionary&quot;&gt;grand&lt;/a&gt;' cause members of opposing parties to use the term GOP sarcastically, or not at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is favored in news headlines due to its shortness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T15:39:37.307" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9947" CreationDate="2011-01-25T15:40:07.010" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;GOP is an acronym standing for Grand Old Party, a nickname for The Republican Party, and as far as I know is synonymous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I am not American.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T15:40:07.010" />
  <row Id="9950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9947" CreationDate="2011-01-25T15:40:15.107" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;GOP&quot; stands for Grand Old Party (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=GOP&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dating from 1876&lt;/a&gt;), and is used as a somewhat informal synonym meaning the Republican Party. Its usage is mainly in the press, as its size makes it ideal for headlines and news copy. Example headline:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GOP blasts Dems on spending&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were writing a formal paper on politics, you might prefer to say &quot;the Republican Party&quot; or &quot;the Republicans&quot; or just &quot;Republicans&quot; — but there is nothing preventing you from salting in references to &quot;the GOP&quot; as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About the only places you aren't likely to see it at all are on formal invitations or legal documents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T15:40:15.107" />
  <row Id="9951" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9953" CreationDate="2011-01-25T15:41:44.630" Score="2" ViewCount="267" Body="&lt;p&gt;When one says, 'I was washing my hair', is it singular or plural? What is the singular for hair?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4106" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T08:42:05.477" Title="Is 'hair' singular or plural?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9951" CreationDate="2011-01-25T15:46:16.300" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This seems to be one of those plural issues where a different plural is used when referring to the large uncountable group. &quot;I found 3 gray hairs this morning&quot; is proper but so is &quot;I washed my hair this morning&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second case, your entire head covered with individuals hairs is treated as a single object or group which is why it is referred to in a singular form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1959" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T15:46:16.300" />
  <row Id="9954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9951" CreationDate="2011-01-25T15:46:46.503" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither, it is collective, meaning that 'hair' in this context refers to all your hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T15:46:46.503" />
  <row Id="9955" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-25T15:47:57.057" Score="2" ViewCount="427" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have one word that my second grade English teacher told us once, I can pronounce it but I no longer remember neither its meaning nor its spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also can't write the word using the pronunciation symbols simply because I don't know them at all (ashamed).&#xA;When I try looking for this word over the Internet I usually start with this form: &lt;strong&gt;nafesses&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's pronounced exactly the way it's written, but I'm going to attempt to be more precise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;[na] : sounds as in [nai]l&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;[fe] : sounds as in [fe]d&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;[sses] : sounds as in bra[cess]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any guess?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd totally appreciate your back up. :)&#xA;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've recorded the word: &lt;a href=&quot;http://vocaroo.com/?media=vMLodumsuKYhKiq0h&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://vocaroo.com/?media=vMLodumsuKYhKiq0h&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could help :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4104" LastEditorUserId="4104" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T20:22:12.213" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T08:07:08.357" Title="Lost word. Have only pronunciation" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="14" CommentCount="24" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9947" CreationDate="2011-01-25T15:52:39.577" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_%28United_States%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia mentions&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The term &quot;Grand Old Party&quot; is a traditional nickname for the Republican Party, and the initialism &quot;G.O.P.&quot; (or &quot;GOP&quot;) is a commonly used designation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;, and refers to the OED:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first reference to the Republican Party as the &quot;grand old party&quot; is dated to 1876; the first use of the abbreviation &quot;GOP&quot; is dated 1884.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both terms are fairly interchangeable, and while GOP is mainly used in headlines, it is interesting to know that, as detailed in the article &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/12/03/politics/main531460.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;What Does 'GOP' Stand For?&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, in 2002 The Wall Street Journal actually had decided to stop(!) using the acronym to refer to the 148-year-old political party.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In an internal memo issued to staffers last week, Journal higher-ups said the term GOP will be dropped because not all readers know what the letters mean, and some may not realize that they are a reference to the Republican Party.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Titles like &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704518104575546450619007906.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Democrats Aim to Curb GOP Donors&lt;/a&gt;&quot; (on the online Wall Street Journal site) show that this resolution didn't stick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T15:52:39.577" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9938" CreationDate="2011-01-25T16:10:42.067" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you know where I might find them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you know where I may find them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference here is that 'may' can also be construed as 'am allowed to' or 'have permission to', therefore might is more commonly used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Could&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are often used interchangeably, but generally 'could' implies ability to carry out a task whereas 'would' enquires as to the desire to carry out a task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Could you sing me a song?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Means, if I asked, do you have the ability to sing me a song.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you sing me a song?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Implies you know they have the ability, and asks whether they are &lt;em&gt;willing&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you know where I will find them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you know where I can find them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will implies that the person being asked knows the location for certain. Can is similar to might and may in that it less sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Can' and 'may' are often interchanged. Consequently, pedantic people may answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can I go to the bathroom?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;with&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm sure you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt;, yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;because the correct way of asking such a question is technically:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;May&lt;/em&gt; I go to the bathroom?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T16:10:42.067" />
  <row Id="9960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9955" CreationDate="2011-01-25T16:22:47.440" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to bite the bullet and suggest &lt;em&gt;nephrosis&lt;/em&gt;, a kidney disease. See comment above for reasoning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T16:22:47.440" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="9961" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9980" CreationDate="2011-01-25T16:24:48.857" Score="1" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;Language is something that I intrinsically admire. Even the exception-laden English language, of which I am a native speaker, fascinates me! I consider myself to possess better-than-average English communication skills (especially for a software engineer), but lately I've been seeking a good resource to help solidify some of the more technical aspects of the language that I probably missed or have forgotten over the years. By no means am I an English expert, but I would at least like to improve my usage and understanding of my own language, especially as I begin to undertake a serious study of Japanese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some of your favorite books or other resources for thoroughly examining the rules and terminology related to the English language? I'd prefer something targeting American English, but a comparative—perhaps even among other, non-English languages—study would be interesting as well. A nice handbook could be useful, but ideally, I'd love to get my hands on an exploratory- or novel-style resource.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, I'm looking to up my English game, so any and all suggestions for how I might do that would be appreciated. (I hear utilizing the passive voice isn't &lt;strong&gt;always&lt;/strong&gt; bad!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4012" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T08:07:16.460" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T08:07:16.460" ClosedDate="2011-01-25T20:52:45.907" Title="Are there any good books for solidifying grammar rules and terminology?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;rules&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9951" CreationDate="2011-01-25T16:27:09.900" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The noun &lt;em&gt;hair&lt;/em&gt; is a singular, plural, or collective noun. It's all depended on the context of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your sentence : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I was washing my hair.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the noun &lt;em&gt;hair&lt;/em&gt; is the collective. So are in :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I have my hair cut. &lt;br&gt; She brushed het long red hair.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Singular in following sentences :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I found a hair in my soup. &lt;br&gt;&#xA; I just pull out one of your white hair&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plural in following sentences :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;There are dog hairs on the sofa. &lt;br&gt;&#xA; I drop a lot of hairs after operation.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2990" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T16:27:09.900" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9963" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-25T16:29:30.100" Score="0" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello! I looking for Resources to learning english general business terms.&#xA;Does any one know any resource?&#xA;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4108" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T20:09:28.613" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T20:09:28.613" ClosedDate="2011-01-25T20:47:59.940" Title="Resources for english business language" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;term&gt;&lt;resource&gt;&lt;business-language&gt;" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9938" CreationDate="2011-01-25T16:36:04.947" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you know where I &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; find them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is a very slim, least , chance that I have.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you know where I &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; find them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have better chance than , &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; , previous sentence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you know where I &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; find them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are asking the listener where you had found them. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you know where I &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; find them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Very likely that you will find them because it's within your ability limit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you know where I &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; find them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most likely that the listener know the place where to find them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2990" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T16:36:04.947" />
  <row Id="9965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9955" CreationDate="2011-01-25T16:53:17.567" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking &lt;em&gt;knives&lt;/em&gt; would be the best bet. It is common enough to have taught at school, and with an accent the &lt;em&gt;v&lt;/em&gt; could be pronounced like a &lt;em&gt;f&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T16:53:17.567" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9955" CreationDate="2011-01-25T16:56:05.243" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is rather baffling, since you're trying to remember a word from &lt;strong&gt;second grade&lt;/strong&gt;, which I presume is now some time ago, and you're not a native english speaker, so who knows what distortions your memory has inflicted upon the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While @ElendilTheTall has a nice guess, I'd find that a strange word for a second-grade teacher to be sharing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I had to guess, I'd think your memory is off a bit. Maybe it was &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/naiveness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;naiveness&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nemesis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nemesis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T16:56:05.243" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9967" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9971" CreationDate="2011-01-25T17:17:20.543" Score="3" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's two ways I've seen the &quot;all, but&quot; idiom used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Close all tabs but this one&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; (Any modern application with a number of tabs might have this as an option.) It means &quot;close all the tabs, but not this one&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;With that goal, the championship is all but decided&quot;.&lt;/strong&gt; This seems to mean &quot;you can say/do whatever (all) you want, (but) it won't change who wins the championship.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is one of these usages more correct than the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3743" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T08:06:00.937" Title="&quot;All but&quot; idiom has two meanings?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9955" CreationDate="2011-01-25T17:22:10.307" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My best guest would be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Nefast&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nefast&lt;/a&gt; but that's a really obscure word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3711" LastEditorUserId="3711" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T17:29:59.217" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T17:29:59.217" />
  <row Id="9969" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9972" CreationDate="2011-01-25T17:34:22.600" Score="0" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;context sensitive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i.e. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'provide a set of solutions through _ mediums'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4304" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T09:24:13.040" Title="relevant to+dependent on a specific place, situation or condition" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="9970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9955" CreationDate="2011-01-25T17:36:24.130" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azar_Nafisi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Azar Nafisi&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahriar_Nafees&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Shahriar Nafees&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.foodnotify.nsw.gov.au/nafs_prod/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Notification &amp;amp; Food Saftey Information System (NAFSIS).&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T17:36:24.130" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9967" CreationDate="2011-01-25T17:39:18.797" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technically, you're dealing with two different phrases. Which one is correct depends on your usage of them, and in your two examples, both are equally correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When you insert a noun in between the two words (&quot;all &lt;em&gt;x&lt;/em&gt; but&quot;), you are referring to a collection of x but noting that there are exceptions.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The &quot;all but&quot; idiom refers to the fact that the subject of the idiom is as close to being described by the adjective as it can be without being completely and accurately described by that adjective.&lt;/strong&gt; Saying that the championship is &quot;all but&quot; decided is saying that, while it is not officially 'decided', it's so close to being decided that the distinction is hard to discern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key difference is that, if you replaced 'but' with 'except' in the first instance, it would still make sense:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Close all tabs except this one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, with the second instance, it is not considered a proper use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The championship is all except decided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The confusion exists because, sometimes, you can remove 'x' from the first use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All but the oldest fruit was still edible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How you can tell the difference here is that you can easily move the subject (fruit) between &quot;all&quot; and &quot;but&quot; and the sentence will still make sense:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All fruit but the oldest was still edible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as I mentioned before, either one of the last two examples makes sense when you replace &quot;but&quot; with &quot;except&quot;, indicating that it is being used to imply the &quot;all x but&quot; descriptor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastEditorUserId="3918" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T17:45:39.393" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T17:45:39.393" />
  <row Id="9972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9969" CreationDate="2011-01-25T17:48:43.003" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way I understand the question, I would go with &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/appropriate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;appropriate&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/suitable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;suitable&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/adequate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;adequate&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; we have settled on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apropos&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;apropos&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. Other words we have discussed include &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/relevant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;relevant&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/opportune&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;opportune&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. See the comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T09:24:13.040" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T09:24:13.040" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="9973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9360" CreationDate="2011-01-25T18:16:58.687" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The 5th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA)  has this to say on page 33:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For literature review and&#xA;description of procedure (if of past&#xA;events): use the past tense (&lt;em&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;Jiang showed&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;&lt;/em&gt;)&#xA;or present perfect (&quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Jiang has&#xA;shown&quot;)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For describing results: use the past tense&#xA;    (e.g., &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;weight increased&#xA;    marginally&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For discussing results and&#xA;    presenting conclusions: use the present&#xA;    tense (e.g., &lt;em&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;The results of this&#xA;    study suggest&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the APA, using the present tense for (3) includes the readers in &quot;deliberating the matter at hand&quot; (Publication manual, APA, p.33). In other words, readers feel as if they are part of the final process of arriving at the all-important conclusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More on tenses can be found on pp 41-44. Areas discussed include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;preferring the active voice over the&#xA;       passive (e.g., &lt;em&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;Jiang designed the&#xA;       experiment&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; NOT  &lt;em&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;The experiment was designed by Jiang&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note, however, that the passive is acceptable&#xA;in some situations; the APA gives&#xA;expository writing as an example and&#xA;in instances where you intend to&#xA;emphasise the &quot;object or recipient&#xA;of the action&quot; (APA, p.42). You might also want to use the passive to soften the    impact of sentence after sentence written in the active&#xA;voice.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;using the past tense for &quot;specific, definite&quot;&#xA;               (APA, p.42) situations in the past&#xA;               (e.g., &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Jiang (2010) presented similar findings&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;using the present perfect tense for expressing&#xA;the same situations in the point&#xA;above that are neither specific nor&#xA;definite (APA p.43)(no example of this from me) or for describing &quot;an action beginning in the past and continuing to the present&quot; (APA, p.43), (e.g., *&quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Since the publication of the experiment, researchers have attempted to disprove it's results&quot;&lt;/em&gt;*&lt;/strong&gt;.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;using the subjunctive (best that you read&#xA;it for yourself, in fact, you should&#xA;try to get hold of a copy of the&#xA;APA's manual and go over the various   sections. That would be&#xA;better than anything I could summarize here for you.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;APA's website is &lt;a href=&quot;http://apastyle.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;www.apastyle.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: All examples are mine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastEditorUserId="3733" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T11:47:01.313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T11:47:01.313" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9974" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9978" CreationDate="2011-01-25T18:35:59.077" Score="0" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;This guy posted a link to my profile in twitter, could you tell me what he wants to say?&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://twitter.com/#!/BoltClock/status/23986746832195584&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://twitter.com/#!/BoltClock/status/23986746832195584&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/dQGKY.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="305" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T22:29:29.723" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T07:56:38.187" Title="Somebody has posted a link to my profile in twitter. Could you tell me what he wants to say?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9975" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9981" CreationDate="2011-01-25T18:36:31.917" Score="0" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are they the same as the &quot;verbs-of-being&quot; I was &lt;s&gt;forced to painstakingly memorize&lt;/s&gt;taught in Middle School? I.e.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Be&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Am&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Was&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Were&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Being&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Been&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Has&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Had&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shall&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;May&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Might&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Could&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Would&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1209" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T19:46:33.457" Title="What are &quot;modal-verbs&quot;?" Tags="&lt;modal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9874" CreationDate="2011-01-25T18:37:49.600" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Comment posted as answer - as requested&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In idiomatic usage, you would seldom say 'one half of this'. You might say 'give me one half-pound pack of sugar' but the hyphen shows that it is a different construct. You might say 'give me one third of that' (as opposed to 'two thirds of that'), but with halves, the alternatives are none and all. However, even with thirds, it would be more usual to say 'a third' than 'one third'. So, whoever 'corrected' you was actually misleading you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T18:37:49.600" />
  <row Id="9978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9974" CreationDate="2011-01-25T18:48:38.137" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think BoltClock is pointing out that it's kind of a strange thing to say. For other readers, this is your profile text reposted:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm an advanced typist. I can type in many languages, including Chinese, English, c++, php, javascript and SQL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you say &quot;typist&quot;, it means the action of actually typing -- pushing the keys that make the words come out on the screen. The only way someone becomes an advanced typist is by being a faster typist. This is because the word &quot;typist&quot; used to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=define%3atypist&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;refer to a clerk or secretary who was paid to operate a mechanical typewriter&lt;/a&gt;. For example, you don't be a typist by knowing C++, just as you don't know C++ by being a typist. Being a typist means you can type quickly, while knowing C++ means you can program in that language. (Granted, any good C++ programmer is also going to know how to type, but that doesn't mean you can't know the language and still be a hunt-and-peck person)\&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you probably want is &quot;Advanced programmer&quot;, because &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;amp;q=define%3aprogrammer&amp;amp;btnG=Search&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;programmer&quot; specifically indicates&lt;/a&gt; a computer operator who knows one or more programming languages, which seems to be the message you want to convey with your list of languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1209" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T07:56:38.187" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T07:56:38.187" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="9979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9923" CreationDate="2011-01-25T18:53:14.247" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I would refer to it as personal hygiene.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4116" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T08:47:37.737" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T08:47:37.737" />
  <row Id="9980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9961" CreationDate="2011-01-25T19:28:31.223" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;On Writing Well, by William K. Zinsser is an excellent guide for anyone who writes any English whatsoever. While there are some bits that are just for nonfiction writers, such as the Forms chapter, almost all of it is applicable anywhere English is written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Elements of Style, by William Strunk and E.B. White: similar to above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have found the Guardian Stylebook a useful and often quite entertaining &lt;em&gt;reference&lt;/em&gt; on almost everything to do with writing from one of the most respected newspapers in the world. While not readable from cover to cover, it certainly can come in great handy when writing longer and more important things (say, not just emails but reports etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that and probably quite a few others I have not heard of, READ 'HARD-GOING' BOOKS AND POETRY. Books that require contemplation, that often are very hard or impossible to understand when tired or not completely focused; books that make you reach for a dictionary (and &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; look up every unknown word), I always even write down words that I have not come across before, excepting very technical ones, and try and use them so as to learn them, because I think that one's own language should not be foreign and have to be 'translated'; books that very often require you to re-read a sentence, or sometimes even a whole paragraph or couple of pages to understand their meaning fully (again, don't ever gloss over a something you don't understand).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Poetry is also good because it basically plays on language, and is much 'denser' in many ways compared with normal prose, thereby being very insightful; it is basically the very creamiest cream of the crop of people who have really mastered the language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="852" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T19:28:31.223" />
  <row Id="9981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9975" CreationDate="2011-01-25T19:40:12.140" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The modal verbs are a subset of the &quot;verbs of being&quot;, which are properly called &lt;em&gt;auxiliary verbs&lt;/em&gt;. The classical modal verbs are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shall&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;should&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;will&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;would&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;may&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;might&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;must&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;can&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;could&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Modal verbs are peculiar in that they have no infinitive form (you can't say &lt;em&gt;to shall&lt;/em&gt;) and cannot be combined with other modal verbs in Standard English (you can't say &lt;em&gt;I will might go&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By way of contrast, the other auxiliary verbs are formed from &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt;, and they don't have these properties. You can say &lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt;, and you can combine a non-modal auxiliary with a modal: &lt;em&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;should have&lt;/strong&gt; bought those shoes.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more detailed discussion, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_modal_auxiliary_verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;see Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T19:46:33.457" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T19:46:33.457" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="9982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9955" CreationDate="2011-01-25T19:46:17.670" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll toss my guesses onto the pile, but I seriously doubt it's an English word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyfes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nyfes&lt;/a&gt; is a greek film, but it's made in 2004.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;my fesses&lt;/code&gt; a wrong way of saying &quot;my mistakes&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;my feces&lt;/code&gt; uhm, I don't think they were saying this&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Naïf Esses&lt;/code&gt; is &lt;em&gt;bad&lt;/em&gt; Portuguese/Italian? for &quot;that's naive&quot;/&quot;naive those/them&quot; (I think)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'naphesis` emphasis pronounced incorrectly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3433" LastEditorUserId="3433" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T15:37:19.607" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T15:37:19.607" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="9983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="75" CreationDate="2011-01-25T20:13:01.330" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been practicing vocabulary everyday with a software called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rectoverso-software.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RectoVerso&lt;/a&gt; and my level has improved a lot !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it helps !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4124" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T20:13:01.330" />
  <row Id="9984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9882" CreationDate="2011-01-25T20:13:11.213" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, both answers can be correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grails have been used for many centuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grails has been used in many projects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are both correct usages. However, the further clarification you gave in your quoted text showed that you were referring to the software implementation &quot;Grails&quot;. In this case, the proper name of the product is &quot;Grails&quot;. The &quot;s&quot; at the end is not indicating a plural, it's just part of the name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The confusion comes in because it's not common to have singular English nouns end in &quot;s&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at it this way. If you use the proper name &quot;Leonides&quot; as your example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leonides has given the order to attack&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If, on the other hand, there was a small, furry creature called a &quot;leonide&quot;, you would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leonides have been known to attack without provocation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4123" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T20:13:11.213" />
  <row Id="9985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6983" CreationDate="2011-01-25T20:16:46.177" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you ever tried a software to learn and repeat vocabulary ? Basically, you create vocabulary lists and everyday you repeat some words... It's efficient because you learn the words during the writing and then you repeat them most everyday !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been using a software called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rectoverso-software.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RectoVerso&lt;/a&gt; and it's pretty good !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it helps !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4124" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T20:16:46.177" />
  <row Id="9986" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9991" CreationDate="2011-01-25T20:18:41.867" Score="5" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I'm not a native speaker and just finishing my dissertation in Computer Science, I wonder  what style I should be using.&#xA;In German (my native tongue) most dissertations, school-books and scientific writing use third person or passive voice to sound 'objective'. I know that passive voice in English should be avoided.&#xA;In most of my publications I use &quot;we&quot; (e.g. &quot;we can improve the recognition rate by ...&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the dissertation, as it is my work, should I prefer &quot;I&quot; over &quot;we&quot;? I don't like the idea too much, as it sounds pretentious to me.&#xA;Currently, I want use first person singular for the contributions section and first person plural for the rest. I try to avoid passive as often as possible.&#xA;Is this acceptable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4095" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T12:28:54.827" Title="Style Question: Use of &quot;we&quot; vs. &quot;I&quot; vs. passive voice in a dissertation" Tags="&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;passive-voice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9987" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-25T20:26:53.127" Score="5" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lyric is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I ride an old paint, I lead an old dan&lt;br&gt;&#xA;       I'm goin' to Montana to throw the hoolihan&lt;br&gt;&#xA;       They feed in the coulees, they water in the draw&lt;br&gt;&#xA;       Their tails are all matted, their backs are all raw&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what is a hoolihan, please?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4125" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T17:51:17.857" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T17:51:17.857" Title="What is &quot;hoolihan&quot; in &quot;Old Paint&quot; song?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;lyrics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="9988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9987" CreationDate="2011-01-25T20:31:19.817" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cowboypoetry.com/whoknows2.htm&quot;&gt;http://www.cowboypoetry.com/whoknows2.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hoolihan&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We get questions about the meaning of &#xA;  &quot;hoolihan.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the 1933 Cowboy Lore, by Jules Verne Allen (more about that here) one&#xA;  interesting section of commonly used&#xA;  terms includes entries such as&#xA;  &quot;HOOLIHANING, the act of leaping&#xA;  forward and alighting on the horns of&#xA;  a steer in bull-dogging in a manner to&#xA;  knock the steer down without having to&#xA;  resort to twisting the animal down&#xA;  with a wrestling hold. Hoolihaning is&#xA;  barred at practically all recognized&#xA;  contests.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In response to our posting that information, Rod Miller wrote &quot;The&#xA;  line 'throw the Hoolihan' that appears&#xA;  in 'I Ride an Old Paint' almost surely&#xA;  refers to a type of loop used in&#xA;  roping, often for catching horses. A&#xA;  hoolihan is a kind of backhand loop,&#xA;  but distinct from a regular backhand&#xA;  loop in that the roper rolls his wrist&#xA;  and the loop rolls over in the air.&#xA;  That rolling motion also describes the&#xA;  motion of a hoolihanned steer in&#xA;  bulldogging -- it does a forward roll.&#xA;  It is unlikely that the line in the&#xA;  song has reference to bulldogging as&#xA;  Bill Pickett is credited with&#xA;  inventing that particular activity&#xA;  long after, I suspect, 'I Ride an Old&#xA;  Paint&quot; was first written and sung.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rod also referred us to the definition of &quot;hooley-ann&quot; in Ramon F.&#xA;  Adams' Cowboy Lingo (1936): &quot;The term&#xA;  'hooley-ann' was a roping term and the&#xA;  throw was used mostly to catch calves&#xA;  out of a bunch and to rope horses. The&#xA;  roper rode with his loop in his hand,&#xA;  and when the chance presented itself,&#xA;  he swung the loop backward instead of&#xA;  forward, and as it came over it was&#xA;  turned in such a way as to cause it to&#xA;  flatten out before it reached the head&#xA;  of the animal to be roped.  Just one&#xA;  swing and it could be tossed thirty&#xA;  feet forward. The size of the loop&#xA;  depended upon the distance it was to&#xA;  be thrown and the size of the animal.&#xA;  A good calf-roper who used the&#xA;  'hooley-ann' might be thirty feet from&#xA;  a wee tot of a calf and start a loop&#xA;  that a beef steer could pass through,&#xA;  but the noose ran out by reason of the&#xA;  distance, and by the time it reached&#xA;  the calf, it was barely large enough&#xA;  to pass around the calf's neck.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Adams' definition of &quot;hoolihaning&quot; is word-for-word the same as that in&#xA;  Jules Verne Allen's Cowboy Lore cited&#xA;  above.  Cowboy Lore was published&#xA;  three years before Adams' book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A history site here:&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://historywired.si.edu/detail.cfm?ID=49&quot;&gt;http://historywired.si.edu/detail.cfm?ID=49&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;  claims &quot;A Hoolihan is a&#xA;  left-hand-and-around horse throw. The&#xA;  rope is released with minimum of&#xA;  movement.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A site here: &#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://home.att.net/~basicbrian/iride.html&quot;&gt;http://home.att.net/~basicbrian/iride.html&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;  has the song and a note: &quot;A very&#xA;  dangerous rodeo move, jumping from a&#xA;  horse at full gallop onto a moving&#xA;  cow, to flip it over. The move, named&#xA;  after it's originator, is now banned&#xA;  in competition.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The PBS History of the West site&#xA;  places the song in the 1868-1874&#xA;  period, but without documentation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In May, 2006, Don comments: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;My Dad, who grew up in the 1920's and 1930's on a ranch in west Texas,&#xA;  said that throwing the hoolihan could&#xA;  be used to mean 'getting ready to die'&#xA;  similar to 'headin' for the last&#xA;  roundup.'&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In July, 2006, Milton writes: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hoolihan is a loop thrown, usually when you're roping horses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T20:31:19.817" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="9989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9986" CreationDate="2011-01-25T20:38:32.307" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One uses the word &quot;one&quot; to avoid both the first person and passive voice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One improves the recognition rate by…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It isn't clear to me whether it is your aim to avoid to the first person or to use it, but in an unpretentious way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the former, you can use &quot;the researcher.&quot; For the latter, I think &quot;we&quot; sounds better, but you might do well to look at some similar dissertations in your field and follow what you find in those. You could also ask the advice of your dissertation sponsor/adviser.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastEditorUserId="3405" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T12:28:54.827" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T12:28:54.827" />
  <row Id="9990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9947" CreationDate="2011-01-25T20:40:37.940" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When writing for an international audience, use Republican Party.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3542" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T20:40:37.940" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9986" CreationDate="2011-01-25T20:41:50.247" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should probably consult a faculty member, or look at papers in your own field, in order to decide anything definitively.  These kinds of conventions can vary within fields and subfields, so you should see what your peers do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my field, using &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; in a paper is something to be avoided whenever possible, by using the passive voice, the pronoun &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt;, or by restructuring the sentence so that the author doesn't need to be referenced.  &lt;em&gt;We&lt;/em&gt; is more common than &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt;, although it is normally restricted to papers with more than one author.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are right that German generally favors passive voice much more than in English.  However, the main place where I have found that passive voice is more accepted in English is in formal academic writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T20:41:50.247" />
  <row Id="9992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9955" CreationDate="2011-01-25T20:50:03.480" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps an odd pronunciation of Latin &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nefastus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;nefastus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, roughly &quot;bad&quot;, or one of its inflected forms (&lt;em&gt;nefastis&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;nefastos&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;nefastas&lt;/em&gt;)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T20:50:03.480" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9993" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10000" CreationDate="2011-01-25T21:02:11.343" Score="2" ViewCount="199" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should it be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Grails has integration with jUnit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Grails has integration with jUnit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the correct answer is the one without the &quot;The&quot;, then why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. (The) Grails is an open source web application framework.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3295" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T21:42:00.857" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T21:57:43.397" Title="Grails or The Grails?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="9994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9955" CreationDate="2011-01-25T21:36:53.590" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess would be a Roman or Greek name like Nephesis.  All a search pulls up, though, are screennames for users of various websites and games.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="803" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T21:36:53.590" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9993" CreationDate="2011-01-25T21:38:28.207" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Grails has integration with jUnit&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Grails&quot; is a proper name.  So the article is dropped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;George has a lollipop.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOT&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The George has a lollipop.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2477" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T21:38:28.207" />
  <row Id="9996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9993" CreationDate="2011-01-25T21:40:07.303" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We usually do not use 'the' with software names. Nobody says 'the Microsoft Windows', 'the Perl' or 'the Python'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T21:40:07.303" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9955" CreationDate="2011-01-25T21:49:47.883" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps a misremembered or odd pronunciation of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/natheless&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;natheless&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T21:49:47.883" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="9999" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-25T21:56:11.043" Score="6" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;If someone eats an entire cake, is it correct to say that he ate &lt;em&gt;just a piece&lt;/em&gt; of cake? Can a whole cake still be considered a &lt;strong&gt;piece&lt;/strong&gt; of cake if consumed in one sitting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4130" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T04:03:53.833" Title="Is a whole cake still a &quot;piece&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9993" CreationDate="2011-01-25T21:57:43.397" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually, as other answers note, names of software products and other proper-noun names don't take &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet some, especially plurals, do, like &lt;em&gt;the Netherlands&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;the Internet&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;the Web&lt;/em&gt;. (To be honest, I can't think of a software product whose name takes &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;. Nonetheless,) I think it simply depends on what the common use is for any given proper noun: try to find &lt;em&gt;Grails&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;the Grails&lt;/em&gt; (and &lt;em&gt;The Grails&lt;/em&gt;, I suppose) in use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T21:57:43.397" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9955" CreationDate="2011-01-25T21:59:34.533" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add one more to the list suggested, what I thought of was 'nefarious' which means criminal or immoral.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T21:59:34.533" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9999" CreationDate="2011-01-25T22:00:53.190" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. Not even a very small cake, like a cupcake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T22:00:53.190" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9999" CreationDate="2011-01-25T22:02:17.313" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A whole cake would not normally be considered a piece of cake, which has the implication that the cake was divided into slices. If, however, eating the whole cake was very easy (perhaps the cake was of excellent quality, or not very large), then eating it could perhaps be described as a &quot;piece of cake&quot; in the idiomatic sense. See here, meaning 9 ... &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/piece+of+cake&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/piece+of+cake&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T22:02:17.313" />
  <row Id="10004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9955" CreationDate="2011-01-25T22:06:18.957" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't see how you can be so sure of the pronunciation considering you don't remember anything else about the word. So my guesses based on doubting your memory of the pronuncation are nemesis and emphasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4131" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T22:06:18.957" />
  <row Id="10005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9955" CreationDate="2011-01-25T22:23:32.380" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could it be m instead of n ? .... malfeasance ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4132" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T22:23:32.380" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10006" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10007" CreationDate="2011-01-25T22:38:59.943" Score="2" ViewCount="235" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why not &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Punisher vs. The Spider-man&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the word &quot;the&quot; used however we feel like it and I can call them &quot;Punisher&quot; and &quot;The Spider-man&quot; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3295" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T14:49:23.440" Title="The Punisher vs. Spider-man" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10006" CreationDate="2011-01-25T22:55:11.337" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Spiderman&lt;/em&gt; is not an ordinary word while &lt;em&gt;punisher&lt;/em&gt; is. People will know that a &lt;em&gt;punisher&lt;/em&gt; is someone who punishes, but what in the world is a &lt;em&gt;spiderman&lt;/em&gt;? The use of &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;punisher&lt;/em&gt; then suggests that in the movie a particular character is being referred to, while &lt;em&gt;Spiderman&lt;/em&gt; needs no such addition. In the same way we say &lt;em&gt;Catwoman&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;The Joker&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;em&gt;Storm&lt;/em&gt; is not called &lt;em&gt;The Storm&lt;/em&gt; because he is not really a storm, &lt;em&gt;Superman&lt;/em&gt; is not called &lt;em&gt;The Superman&lt;/em&gt; because he is not really a superman, and &lt;em&gt;Cyclops&lt;/em&gt; is not called &lt;em&gt;The Cyclops&lt;/em&gt; because he is not really cyclops. In contrast, &lt;em&gt;The Punisher&lt;/em&gt; really is a punisher and &lt;em&gt;The Joker&lt;/em&gt; really is a joker, in the ordinary sense of the words &lt;em&gt;punisher&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;joker&lt;/em&gt;, much more so than &lt;em&gt;Storm&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Superman&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Cyclops&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T14:49:23.440" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T14:49:23.440" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10006" CreationDate="2011-01-25T23:32:40.373" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short answer:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason &quot;The Punisher&quot; is written that way is because &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;strong&gt;part of the name&lt;/strong&gt;.  The reason &lt;em&gt;Spider-Man&lt;/em&gt; is written without &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; is because it is not part of the name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Longer explanation:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Proper nouns are special, because a proper noun is a reference that points a single entity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Articles (&lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;) in English are most commonly used in discourse to help disambiguate nouns.  When I say &quot;a duck&quot;, it usually means that I am not referring to any duck in particular.  When I say &quot;the duck&quot;, it usually means that I am talking about a duck that is known to me and to the listener(s), either because I have talked about it before, or because there is only one around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since proper nouns already point to a single unique entity, there is no need to add an article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;strong&gt;part of the name&lt;/strong&gt;, then it should always be used with the name, and never change between &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; based on context.  Thus, I always say &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Clockwork_Orange&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A Clockwork Orange&lt;/a&gt;&quot; to refer to the book, and I always say &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Edge&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Edge&lt;/a&gt;&quot; to refer to the musician.  Those articles are not part of the discourse information, they are simply part of the name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, &quot;The Punisher&quot; is always &quot;The Punisher&quot; and &quot;Spider-Man&quot; is always &quot;Spider-Man&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(There are certain exceptions to this, but they are very special cases.  For example, there is the company called &lt;em&gt;Wal-Mart&lt;/em&gt;, which should not take any article, unless you aren't talking about the company as a whole — if you are just talking about one of the stores, you could say &quot;I'm going to the Wal-Mart&quot; or &quot;I'm looking for a Wal-Mart in town&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T23:32:40.373" />
  <row Id="10009" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10053" CreationDate="2011-01-25T23:48:35.800" Score="2" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a phrase – ‘Ticket to Oblivion’ in today’s Washington Post article titled ‘State of the Union ‘response’ often a mixed-blessing for the responder.’ &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand this phrase refers to difficulty of making ‘Response address,’ which tends to be (or destined to be) overshone by State of Union well-prepared in advance. The article gives several examples of failed Response addresses in the past, such as one delivered by Jim Webb (D.Va.) in rebuking then President Gorge W. Bush’s statement of Union in 2007.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, what doese 'ticket to oblivion' precisely mean? Is it well-established English phrase? What's the origin of the phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article also says ‘Past response speeches show how hard it is to strike the right tone.’ I want to know the meaning of ‘strike the right tone.’&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Every year at this time, politicians say it's an honor to give the opposition party's &quot;response&quot; to the State of the Union Address. History proves this is usually false.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-After him (President Obama), as America's TV viewers get drowsier, Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.) will give the Republican response. This year, Ryan's job is made even more complicated by the fact that another Republican will give a &quot;tea party&quot; response after him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-&quot;Have a 'ticket to oblivion,'&quot; said Allan Lichtman, a history professor at American University, said about Ryan. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T07:45:39.600" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T09:21:43.713" Title="What does ‘ticket to oblivion’ mean? Is this a frequently used phrase?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10010" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10012" CreationDate="2011-01-25T23:55:29.463" Score="4" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear people use the phrase &quot;vis-à-vis&quot; all the time in place of (what I believe should more correctly be) &quot;for example&quot; or &quot;that is&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the most generally correct and appropriate use of the term and what are its origins?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4136" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T18:53:04.603" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T09:24:16.753" Title="What is the correct usage of &quot;Vis-à-vis&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9999" CreationDate="2011-01-26T00:01:35.173" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to go by the dictionary definition, I think you will find agreement that &lt;em&gt;piece&lt;/em&gt; is not the whole cake.  In fact, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/piece&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;thefreedictionary.com actually uses this phrase as an example of that definition of &lt;em&gt;piece&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A portion or part that has been separated from a whole: &lt;em&gt;a piece of cake&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from the &quot;official&quot; definition, intuitively I think most native English speakers would agree that &quot;I ate a piece of cake&quot; necessarily implies that you did not eat an entire cake, because of that additional information, &quot;a piece of&quot;.  Otherwise, you would have said &quot;I ate a cake&quot; or &quot;I ate cake&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The line between piece and whole is not completely clear though; for example, if someone scoops a bit of frosting with their finger, and then you eat everything else, technically you have not eaten the whole cake — does that mean you have eaten a piece?  Again, I think most people would say no, but at what point, then, does it make the transition?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I imagine if you took a large group of people, and showed people pictures of cake (a full cake, 90% of a cake, 75%, half a cake, down to a sliver of cake), you would have disagreement over when you could call it a piece of cake starting from 100% to 50%, but the smaller you got, the more you'd see it called a piece.  By the time you got to 50% of the cake or less I would imagine that nearly everyone would be willing to call it a piece (but as far as I know, nobody has run this experiment).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T00:01:35.173" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10010" CreationDate="2011-01-26T00:08:16.807" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/vis-a-vis.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Phrase Finder&lt;/a&gt;, the term is French and literally meant &lt;code&gt;face-to-face&lt;/code&gt;. When the English picked it up in the 18th century, they started using it to describe a type of horse-drawn carriage wherein there are two seats, allowing occupants to sit across from one another in a face-to-face fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usage eventually extended to include the alternate meaning of &lt;code&gt;with regard to&lt;/code&gt;, and in modern-day discourse it is accepted to use &lt;code&gt;with regard to&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;vis-à-vis&lt;/code&gt; interchangeably. In fact, many people will get confused when you use it to convey its original meaning since the alternate meaning has overshadowed it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T00:08:16.807" />
  <row Id="10013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10010" CreationDate="2011-01-26T00:41:28.963" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I hear/see people use it, I usually find they are using it to mean &lt;em&gt;&quot;as opposed to&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.  I guess the face-to-face metaphor can mean the opposing opinion.  Whether or not that is correct usage is slightly arbitrary, just my observation of how people seem to use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T00:41:28.963" />
  <row Id="10014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10009" CreationDate="2011-01-26T00:57:27.787" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What &quot;ticket to oblivion&quot; means here — and, no, it's not a time-worn phrase, although it's not exactly fresh, either — is that the person who is chosen to give the response is not going to be remembered. The spectacle of the State of the Union address, and the office of the Presidency of the United States are so much greater and more memorable than ... well, whatever ... that no one will remember or care who gave the response. Everyone can name the first president of the United States, right? OK, who was the first &lt;em&gt;vice-president&lt;/em&gt;? Who can even remember who gave the response to even &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; State of the Union address? Outside of the person who gave it, the number who can answer &quot;I remember&quot; to that question is vanishingly small. If this were a movie, the President would be the star and the respondent would be — no, not a co-star, or supporting actor, but an extra. And who remembers extras?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T01:07:26.647" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T01:07:26.647" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10015" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10032" CreationDate="2011-01-26T01:38:55.910" Score="2" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I have a previous appointment, what can I say instead of appointment? &#xA;Previous engagement? Promise?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;And I wonder exactly what they both mean.  (I thought they were similar.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4138" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T07:43:55.030" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T07:44:24.137" Title="What is the difference between engagement and promise?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="10016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10015" CreationDate="2011-01-26T01:45:24.747" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Previous engagement&lt;/em&gt; is more correct. In this context, it refers to a specific time of promise: a promise to be at a particular place at a particular time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Promise&lt;/em&gt; is a general commitment made by someone. You can promise not to eat someone else's lunch, for example, but you wouldn't refer to that kind of promise as &lt;em&gt;previous engagement&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T07:33:04.740" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T07:33:04.740" />
  <row Id="10017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10009" CreationDate="2011-01-26T02:06:05.100" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Robusto's answer is perfectly right. I just wanted to add that while &quot;ticket to &lt;em&gt;oblivion&lt;/em&gt;&quot; itself is not a very common phrase, the basic form &quot;ticket to &lt;em&gt;X&lt;/em&gt;&quot; is a fairly well-established construction to refer to something that is certain to lead one to &lt;em&gt;X&lt;/em&gt;. For example, &quot;ticket to fame&quot;, &quot;ticket to hell&quot;, &quot;ticket to nowhere&quot; and so on. I've heard a friend refer to an exceedingly greasy burger as a &quot;ticket to cholesterol city&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1635" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T02:06:05.100" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10018" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10019" CreationDate="2011-01-26T02:21:31.707" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is the full sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This whole story is starting to smack of one of your gags.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T07:39:37.170" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T07:39:37.170" Title="What does &quot;to smack of one of your gags&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10018" CreationDate="2011-01-26T02:34:32.543" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To &quot;smack of&quot; something is to taste or smell like something, to give someone an inkling that this thing that you're experiencing now is feeling suspiciously familiar (i.e. like one of that person's gags).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T03:31:30.157" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T03:31:30.157" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10020" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-26T03:49:00.023" Score="2" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; always used before school names?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4141" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T12:55:22.670" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T15:32:54.420" Title="Definite article before proper nouns" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;definite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="10021" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-26T03:57:10.330" Score="2" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;In spite of many references on the correct usage of &lt;em&gt;”Diagnose”&lt;/em&gt;,  usage of passive construction followed by a with-phrase – e.g. “&lt;em&gt;The patient was diagnosed with cancer&lt;/em&gt;” — and usage of patient as object of this verb –e.g.  “&lt;em&gt;She helped with his story to raise awareness about Chiari, especially so doctor could diagnoses its victims earlier”&lt;/em&gt; are what I find in today’s media.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I am start to wonder : Is the correct usage of &lt;em&gt;”Diagnose”&lt;/em&gt; losing its ground ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Correct usage (as being sescribed )&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From Bryan A. Garner's &lt;strong&gt;Garner's Modern American Usage 2nd Ed.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;to identify, esp. a disease or problem.&#xA;  Strictly speaking, it is the disease or problem&#xA;  that is diagnosed, e.g.: &quot;Eichelman went to&#xA;  the doctor, who didn't diagnose the broken bone&#xA;  and told the swimmer he would be back in the&#xA;  pool in a few days.&quot; Jason L. Young, &quot;Senior Is&#xA;  Eager to Make Up for Lost Season,&quot; Indianapolis&#xA;  Star, 7 Dec. 2002, at S4.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From R.W Burchfield's &lt;strong&gt;The New Fowler's Modern English Usage 3rd Ed.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Properly used to mean 'to&#xA;  make a diagnosis of (a disease, a mechanical&#xA;  fault, etc.)' (he was able to diagnose the&#xA;  fault at once), but now often used with a&#xA;  person as object (a baby who was incorrectly&#xA;  diagnosed as having died before birth, only&#xA;  to be delivered alive, but paralysed, 17 hours&#xA;  later-T. Stuttaford, 1990).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Defination from dictionaries :&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oxford English Dictionary 2nd Ed.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To make a diagnosis of (a disease), to distinguish and determine its nature from its symptoms; to recognize and identify by careful observation.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shorter Oxford English Dictionary 6th Ed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;1.Make a diagnosis of, infer the presence of (a particular disease etc.) from symptoms. &#xA;  2.Ascertain the condition of (a person etc.) by diagnosis. E20.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary 3rd Ed.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;to recognize and name the exact character of a disease or a problem, by examining it_&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Concise Oxford English Dictionary 11th Ed.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;make a diagnosis of (an illness or other problem). identify the medical condition of (someone)_&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2990" LastEditorUserId="2990" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T08:21:19.763" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T05:32:06.563" Title="Is the correct usage of “Diagnose (verb)” losing its ground?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9999" CreationDate="2011-01-26T04:03:53.833" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this boils down to the mathematical distinction between &lt;em&gt;subset&lt;/em&gt; (which can be the whole set) and &lt;em&gt;proper subset&lt;/em&gt; (which must be smaller). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In common usage, the word &quot;piece&quot; as well as the word &quot;subset&quot; implies a non-empty, proper subset. People are surprised when this is not the case, even if the word is technically correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Confusingly enough, some items are called &quot;piece&quot; in common usage, even if they're not separated from a whole. For instance, &quot;piece of candy&quot;, &quot;piece of chocolate&quot; (both individually produced not cut out).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1056" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T04:03:53.833" />
  <row Id="10023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10020" CreationDate="2011-01-26T04:06:15.500" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, when saying the school's full name. However abbreviations exclude the &quot;the.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He goes to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;The&lt;/strong&gt; University of Illinois&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He goes to &lt;em&gt;U of I&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He goes to &lt;em&gt;Illinois&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="502" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T04:06:15.500" />
  <row Id="10024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10020" CreationDate="2011-01-26T04:06:21.303" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Short answer&lt;/strong&gt;: Yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Long answer&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did a little research on this and the results actually surprised me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intuitively, I expected this to follow the same rule as most businesses: you would use 'The' before the name of a university, such as &lt;code&gt;The University of North Florida&lt;/code&gt;, except if the first word was the name of a person or geographic place. However:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://webapps.jhu.edu/jhuniverse/information_about_hopkins/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Johns Hopkins University&lt;/a&gt; is the accepted formal name for that university, even though it is named after two people.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fsu.edu/about/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Florida State University&lt;/a&gt;, which I expected to be called &lt;code&gt;Florida State University&lt;/code&gt;, is labeled with the definitive article before its name in the logo.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastEditorUserId="3918" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T15:32:54.420" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T15:32:54.420" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10026" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10029" CreationDate="2011-01-26T04:23:22.927" Score="5" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally have a hard time accepting the use of &quot;may or may not.&quot; To me, it seems as if &quot;may&quot; and &quot;may not&quot; effectively cancel each other out, so the semantics of the sentence in which it appears are no clearer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I may go to bed early tonight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to indicate that it is likely I will not go to bed early tonight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I may not go to bed early tonight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrariwise, this seems to indicate that it is likely I will go to bed early tonight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I may or may not go to bed early tonight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to leave me with absolutely no clarity as to which eventuality is likely to occur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I missing something obvious here, or is this particular expression just a rhetorical device for saying, &quot;I'm on the fence?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4012" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T07:34:59.593" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T12:46:14.690" Title="Is the expression &quot;may or may not&quot; semantically void?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="10027" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10028" CreationDate="2011-01-26T04:24:35.097" Score="3" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That question was directed at Sasha &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That question was directed to Sasha&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;what is the difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T07:26:48.943" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T09:06:55.723" Title="Question directed to someone or at someone?" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="10028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10027" CreationDate="2011-01-26T04:27:30.033" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct usage is &lt;code&gt;at Sasha&lt;/code&gt;. You direct &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; a person, but &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; a location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T04:27:30.033" />
  <row Id="10029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10026" CreationDate="2011-01-26T04:33:19.103" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;May or may not&quot; is used to indicate that the point is under thought or scrutiny.&lt;/strong&gt; It's not meant to give a clear indication that one option is more likely than the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For what it is worth, you're not alone in your difficulty accepting the phase. I usually follow up use of &quot;may or may not&quot; with one of two statements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My understanding of the situation remains unchanged.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Let me know when you figure that out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastEditorUserId="3918" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T04:42:58.043" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T04:42:58.043" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10026" CreationDate="2011-01-26T04:34:50.553" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say you &lt;em&gt;may or may not&lt;/em&gt; do something if you wanted to emphasize your undecided state of mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I may or may not go to bed tonight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This lets people know that you have a decision before you. It is not a &quot;nothing&quot; statement. It is commenting on your state of mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I may go to bed tonight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This announces that you are considering going to bed. It may also be said ironically, if you are being kept up quite late and think you may never get to bed given what you are doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I may not go to bed tonight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The announcement here is that you are considering staying up all night. This would probably not be used ironically, since it is unremarkable to consider the opposite of not going to bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T04:34:50.553" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="10031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10020" CreationDate="2011-01-26T04:39:16.280" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not necessarily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have come across several colleges/universities/schools (some starting with proper nouns and some not),not preceded by &quot;The&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Singapore(Asia): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;National University of Singapore&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Singapore Management University SIM&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nanyang Technological University&#xA;and many more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UK:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;King's College London (KCL) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;University of Strathclyde, Glasgow UK &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Courtauld Institute of Art  Goldsmiths, University of London (GUL)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heythrop College (HEY)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Institute of Cancer Research (ICR)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Institute of Education (IoE)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;India(Asia):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All India Institute of Medical Sciences New Delhi, India&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Indian Institute of Technology&lt;br&gt;&#xA;and many more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are perhaps more examples across the world as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4142" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T04:39:16.280" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10015" CreationDate="2011-01-26T04:53:06.260" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Besides the expression already discussed above, here are a few alternative expressions I tend to use in the situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I already have plans for the evening(or day)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have prior committments for the afternoon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you plan to use &quot;promise&quot; in a more informal manner, you could. But then you'd have to probably be more specific on what's keeping you occupied at the time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For eg., I tend to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I would love to, but I already promised to run an errand for my mom &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ah - but I've promised my friend I'd volunteer for the charity event&#xA;on friday.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4142" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T04:53:06.260" />
  <row Id="10033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10021" CreationDate="2011-01-26T05:02:27.280" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My perception is that &lt;em&gt;diagnose&lt;/em&gt; is used in the &quot;correct&quot; way when speaking or writing about the actions of a doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When omitting the agency of the doctor, as in your first example, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The patient was diagnosed with cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the alternatives are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The patient was diagnosed as having cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cancer was diagnosed in the patient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The former seems to stray even farther from the cited usage. The latter dramatically changes the subject and emphasis from the patient to the cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally find &quot;the patient was diagnosed&quot; an acceptable usage, if the alternative is to always reference the doctor. That a doctor did the diagnosing can probably be assumed and would seem superfluous, especially in news reporting, where brevity is essential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T05:02:27.280" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="10034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10010" CreationDate="2011-01-26T05:15:58.683" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;IMO, these days the expression vis-à-vis is often used in sentences where a comparison is being made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Let's say I am enumerating features of iPhone.I could then say, &#xA;The choice for applications is certainly much higher in the iPhone OS (125,000 vis-à-vis 20,000 for the Android) (example extracted from internet)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Canadian dollar vis-à-vis selected currencies (when talking about exchange rates perhaps?) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Example title of a research paper as extracted from the internet):&#xA;Comparative Competitive Aspects of Japanese Use of Human Resources vis-à-vis United States and Canada&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;---- and so forth. It is mostly used to paint a picture of something &quot;pitted against&quot; or &quot;in the face of&quot; or &quot;as opposed to&quot; something else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4142" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T05:15:58.683" />
  <row Id="10035" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10041" CreationDate="2011-01-26T05:22:59.303" Score="3" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based off &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2772/does-gay-still-include-the-meaning-merry&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, I was curious if there is an actual term that describes how words' meanings change or become deprecated over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4012" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T07:26:07.993" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T07:59:54.177" Title="Is there a technical term for the degeneration or evolution of words?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10036" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10037" CreationDate="2011-01-26T05:39:09.803" Score="8" ViewCount="440" Body="&lt;p&gt;This word—used to mean an elementary textbook, not a painting material—annoys me to no end. Does anyone know why, exactly, &quot;primer&quot; is pronounced with a short &quot;i&quot; sound? I don't know why, call it intuition, but I can't see why this word isn't spelled &quot;primmer.&quot; Are there any particular etymological reasons for this spelling/pronunciation combination?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Apparently this situation is only recognizable to American English speakers. I've only ever heard it pronounced with a short &quot;i,&quot; but this seems to be completely unheard of to British English speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4012" LastEditorUserId="4012" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T21:12:05.453" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T03:27:19.050" Title="Why is &quot;primer&quot; pronounced with a short &quot;i&quot; sound?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10036" CreationDate="2011-01-26T05:44:50.190" Score="24" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personal experience: It's not. &lt;em&gt;Primer&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced with a long i sound, like miner or buyer, and I've never heard it ever pronounced differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Linguistic answer: Dictionaries vary on which is the correct pronunciation, but the OED, which is generally considered the final word on the English language, accepts both pronunciations as valid. Etymologically speaking, the long i pronunciation is somewhat more valid, as it is related to words such as &lt;em&gt;primary&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;prime&lt;/em&gt;, so it is possible that the short i pronunciation is a contemporary corruption. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the short i pronunciation should stick (I personally doubt it), the spelling will likely eventually change, but (at least in Southern California) it doesn't seem to be predominant, so that's why we stick with the long i pronunciation and the single &quot;m&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T06:53:34.153" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T06:53:34.153" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="10038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10036" CreationDate="2011-01-26T06:44:35.547" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Considering it comes from Latin &lt;em&gt;primarius&lt;/em&gt; and has been spelled &lt;em&gt;prymer&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;prymar&lt;/em&gt; throughout the 700-odd years since it was coined, I think it's fairly safe to say that the long i is standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T06:44:35.547" />
  <row Id="10039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10020" CreationDate="2011-01-26T07:19:02.710" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My personal rule of thumb would be that if the school name includes an &quot;of&quot;, use &quot;the&quot;: The University of Minnesota, The College of St. Catherine, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, etc.  (And when abbreviating one of these names, use &quot;the&quot; only if the &quot;of&quot; is present in the abbreviation: &quot;I attend the University of California at San Diego&quot; -&gt; &quot;I attend UCSD&quot;; but &quot;I attend the University of Minnesota&quot; -&gt; &quot;I attend the U of M&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if the school name does not include an &quot;of&quot;, and especially if its name consists of a proper noun prepended to a school type, do not use &quot;the&quot;:  Carleton College, South Dakota State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Naturally, as pointed out by Shaun in his answer, there will be exceptions.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T07:19:02.710" />
  <row Id="10040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10027" CreationDate="2011-01-26T07:33:17.020" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are valid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As reported from the New Oxford American Dictionary,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He directed his criticism at media coverage of the Catholic Church.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I suggest that he direct his remarks to the council.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;are both valid and they mean &lt;em&gt;direct a comment/question to or aim a criticism to&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T07:33:17.020" />
  <row Id="10041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10035" CreationDate="2011-01-26T07:59:54.177" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's known as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_change&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;semantic change, semantic shift, or semantic progression&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coincidentally, gay is mentioned on that Wikipedia article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Gay - Originally meant feelings of being &quot;carefree&quot;, &quot;happy&quot;, or &quot;bright and showy&quot;; it had also come to acquire some connotations of &quot;immorality&quot; as early as 1637. The term later began to be used in reference to homosexuality, in particular, from the early 20th century, a usage that may have dated prior to the 19th century.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3711" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T07:59:54.177" />
  <row Id="10042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9967" CreationDate="2011-01-26T08:06:00.937" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;All but&lt;/em&gt; means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;very nearly: &lt;em&gt;the subject was all but forgotten.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;all except: &lt;em&gt;we have support from all but one of the networks.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both the sentences you reported, the meaning is the second one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T08:06:00.937" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10036" CreationDate="2011-01-26T08:18:15.140" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short 'i' tends to be used in American English, referring to the introductory textbooks. I have heard it quite often from good quality US media outlets (NPR etc.) so would assume it is regarded as standard. The British English is pronounced with a long 'i' (as in miner).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the meaning of 'primer' as in a first layer of bonding material on a wall etc. before it is is painted, or in explosives/ammunition, the British pronunciation is, again, with the long 'i' (as in miner) and the American pronunciation is usually, in my experience anyhow, also with the long 'i' (as in miner).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4148" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T08:18:15.140" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9951" CreationDate="2011-01-26T08:42:05.477" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;hair&lt;/em&gt; is in some cases a collective noun, and in other cases is not a collective noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As reported from the NOAD, the meaning of the word is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Any of the fine threadlike strands growing from the skin of humans, mammals, and some other animals.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Such strands collectively, especially those growing on a person's head.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In most of the phrases, the word used is &lt;em&gt;hair&lt;/em&gt;; in some cases is &lt;em&gt;hairs&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;to split hairs&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T08:42:05.477" />
  <row Id="10045" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10070" CreationDate="2011-01-26T08:47:31.540" Score="3" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I'm beginning to watch a movie, or read a book, I tend to want to watch or read the whole story through, even if it is a story of questionable quality or if I know the end. And I don't want to miss a thing. What would be an adjective to qualify such a person like me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T13:10:45.243" Title="How would someone who need to read a story from A to Z be qualified?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="10046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10045" CreationDate="2011-01-26T08:52:23.863" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the sense that you are determined to finish, even in the face of something that might be disappointing, I would suggest &lt;strong&gt;tenacious&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T08:52:23.863" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8068" CreationDate="2011-01-26T08:53:36.780" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strunk &amp;amp; White's &lt;em&gt;The Elements of Style&lt;/em&gt; is invaluable. The first edition can be found online &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bartleby.com/141/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;; it's currently in the fourth edition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4149" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T08:53:36.780" />
  <row Id="10048" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10060" CreationDate="2011-01-26T09:01:06.273" Score="9" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that &lt;em&gt;a friend of mine&lt;/em&gt; is a used phrase, but is the phrase also used with other personal possessive adjectives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I met a friend of his.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T09:51:15.960" Title="Is &quot;a friend of his&quot; a used phrase?" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10049" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-26T09:02:16.257" Score="3" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi, first this is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; a dupe of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4205/not-bad-either-or-not-bad-neither&quot;&gt;Not bad either or Not bad neither?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;nor a dupe of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1144/neither-michael-nor-albert-is-correct-or-neither-michael-nor-albert-are-correc&quot;&gt;&quot;Neither Michael nor Albert is correct&quot; or &quot;Neither Michael nor Albert are correct&quot;?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So on to my question...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a native english speaker and there's something that I always find very strange when I read sentence containing the following construct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;and try not to be shocked or&#xA;  overreact if...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isn't something using &lt;em&gt;&quot;neither/nor&quot;&lt;/em&gt; better, like maybe the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;and try neither to be shocked nor&#xA;  overreact if...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me the first sentence can be interpreted in two ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;you should either try not to be shocked &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; you should overreact (wrong of course, this is not what the writer meant but in other case it is not that obvious that it is a wrong interpretation&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;you should try not to be shocked and you should also not overreact&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;while with the second sentence, there's no room for interpretation (once again, in this case in the first sentence it can be deduced from the sentence but I often encounter cases where it is not so).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So... &lt;em&gt;not/or&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;neither/nor&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4150" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T12:57:13.747" Title="Usage of &quot;neither... nor&quot; versus &quot;not ... or&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;negation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10050" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10055" CreationDate="2011-01-26T09:05:00.747" Score="2" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word used in that context should be gusto.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The used word is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to place &lt;em&gt;used&lt;/em&gt; after &lt;em&gt;word&lt;/em&gt;? When should I use &lt;em&gt;word used&lt;/em&gt;, and when &lt;em&gt;used word&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:36:26.437" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:36:26.437" Title="&quot;used word&quot; or &quot;word used&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10027" CreationDate="2011-01-26T09:06:55.723" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As noted above, 'at' is the correct usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'to' is appropriate only when the question is going to be sent rather than asked aloud:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After the meeting, the questions were distributed. All the questions about health were directed to Sasha.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T09:06:55.723" />
  <row Id="10052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10049" CreationDate="2011-01-26T09:13:21.940" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD defines &lt;em&gt;nor&lt;/em&gt; as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;used before the second or further of two or more alternatives (the first being introduced by a negative such as &lt;em&gt;neither&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;) to indicate that they are each untrue or each do not happen: &lt;em&gt;they were neither cheap nor convenient&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;the sheets were never washed, nor the towels, nor his shirts&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Or&lt;/em&gt; should be used when the first of two or more alternatives is not a negative phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T12:57:13.747" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T12:57:13.747" />
  <row Id="10053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10009" CreationDate="2011-01-26T09:21:43.713" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is also a political overtone to the use of this phrase. It is not normal for for there to be two responses, one from a party followed by another from a subgroup within that party.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hence the user of the term may be referring to his belief that this split in the republicans is their entire party's ticket to oblivion. Not just the timeworn habit of the responding speaking being destined to obscurity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4151" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T09:21:43.713" />
  <row Id="10054" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10069" CreationDate="2011-01-26T09:31:30.287" Score="5" ViewCount="236" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at the dictionary, I read that &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; has origin as past tense of &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt;. In  the modern English, is &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; ever used as past tense of &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ORIGIN Old English &lt;em&gt;sceolde&lt;/em&gt;: past of &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T14:57:04.403" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T14:57:04.403" Title="Is &quot;should&quot; ever used as past tense of &quot;shall&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;&lt;shall&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10050" CreationDate="2011-01-26T09:33:37.203" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the first example, &lt;em&gt;the word used&lt;/em&gt; is short for &lt;em&gt;the word that was used,&lt;/em&gt; so &lt;em&gt;used&lt;/em&gt; is a verb. In the second example, &lt;em&gt;used&lt;/em&gt; is an adjective modifying &lt;em&gt;word.&lt;/em&gt; In practice, there is very little difference between these, but you must use &lt;em&gt;word used&lt;/em&gt; if you're going to qualify it with a reason or location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;word used&lt;/em&gt; is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is correct, but:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;used word&lt;/em&gt; in that context should be 'gusto'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is awkward, because you want to qualify &lt;em&gt;used&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;in that context,&lt;/em&gt; so they should be together. The slightly changed meaning is more apparent with commas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The used word, in that context, should be 'gusto'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is understandable, but again, is rather awkward and would benefit from re-wording.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastEditorUserId="1506" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T17:37:29.673" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T17:37:29.673" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10048" CreationDate="2011-01-26T09:34:16.573" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, I've heard that quite a few times in England and initially I was quite confused by it as well. Also note that in some cases there is a subtle difference between &quot;a XXXXX of him&quot; and &quot;a XXXXX of his&quot;. For example, &quot;a photo of him&quot; is a photo on which he is to be seen, while &quot;a photo of his&quot; is a photo which he possesses (but not necessarily appears on it). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="544" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T09:34:16.573" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10057" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10062" CreationDate="2011-01-26T09:36:17.397" Score="6" ViewCount="324" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this an archaic form of &quot;please proceed&quot;? I have never heard in in speech but sometimes it appears in novels. My version of &quot;The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes&quot; is full of it, apparently in place of &quot;please&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="544" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T06:37:47.057" Title="What does &quot;pray&quot; mean in phrases like &quot;pray proceed&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;archaic&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10045" CreationDate="2011-01-26T09:40:03.383" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say &lt;em&gt;somebody with determination&lt;/em&gt;, using &lt;em&gt;determination&lt;/em&gt; with the meaning of &lt;em&gt;firmness of purpose&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;As alternative, I would use &lt;em&gt;indefatigable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;steadfast&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;diligent&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T09:40:03.383" />
  <row Id="10059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10057" CreationDate="2011-01-26T09:41:10.293" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pray&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pray&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;pray &#xA;    late 13c., &quot;ask earnestly, beg,&quot; also &quot;pray to a god or saint,&quot; from O.Fr. preier (c.900), from L. precari &quot;ask earnestly, beg,&quot; from *prex (plural preces, gen. precis) &quot;prayer, request, entreaty,&quot; from PIE base *prek- &quot;to ask, request, entreat&quot; (cf. Skt. prasna-, Avestan frashna- &quot;question;&quot; O.C.S. prositi, Lith. prasyti &quot;to ask, beg;&quot; O.H.G. frahen, Ger. fragen, O.E. fricgan &quot;to ask&quot; a question). Parenthetical expression I pray you, “please, if you will,” attested from 1510s, contracted to pray 16c.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T09:41:10.293" />
  <row Id="10060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10048" CreationDate="2011-01-26T09:41:13.853" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are some stats from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt;, and Google:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;                      COCA    BNC    Google&#xA;&#xA;a friend of mine      1227    230    33.90M&#xA;a friend of his        274     53    25.30M   &#xA;a friend of hers       130     20     7.63M&#xA;a friend of ours        82     13    13.10M&#xA;a friend of theirs      25      3     1.82M&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Average number of incidences per million words in different contexts (COCA):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;           SPOKEN FICTION MAGAZINE NEWSPAPER ACADEMIC&#xA;&#xA;...mine     6.08    3.10    3.30      1.35      .52&#xA;...his       .95    1.06     .56       .48      .18&#xA;...hers      .32     .73     .3        .14      .05&#xA;...ours      .51     .23     .15       .05      .02&#xA;...theirs    .08     .12     .02       .04      .04&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T09:51:15.960" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T09:51:15.960" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10049" CreationDate="2011-01-26T09:44:24.427" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...and try not to be shocked or overreact if...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this sentence, you're telling them that &lt;em&gt;what they must try to avoid&lt;/em&gt; is any of &lt;em&gt;being shocked&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;overreacting.&lt;/em&gt; In essence, you're asking them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...[try not] to [either be shocked or overreact]...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And not, for instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...either [try not to be shocked] or [overreact]...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Phrases with &lt;em&gt;neither...nor&lt;/em&gt; are more explicit, but also more formal, and I think &lt;em&gt;not...or&lt;/em&gt; is much more common for lists where all items are negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T09:44:24.427" />
  <row Id="10062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10057" CreationDate="2011-01-26T09:49:29.430" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports the following definition for &lt;em&gt;pray&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;adverb formal or archaic&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  used as a preface to polite requests or instructions: &lt;em&gt;pray continue&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • used as a way of adding ironic or sarcastic emphasis to a question: &lt;em&gt;and what, pray, was the purpose of that?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first example, you can replace &lt;em&gt;pray&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;please&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T14:57:09.257" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T14:57:09.257" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10010" CreationDate="2011-01-26T09:54:50.690" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a complement to the other answers, as to the origins, here are the ways the phrase is used &lt;em&gt;in French&lt;/em&gt;, which maybe helpful to gain a better insight of the various usages in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;In French&lt;/em&gt;, 'vis-à-vis' can be used as a preposition, an adverb or a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Preposition.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Facing, in the presence of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She sat on the other side of the table, vis-à-vis John.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(archaic, regional Canada) Compared to :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He found it shameful to lose his temper vis-à-vis the old man.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Relative to, figuratively:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jack swore me to secrecy, even vis-à-vis his daughter&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Adverb&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be facing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the windows are vis-à-vis, the ventilation is improved&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Phrasal adverb, qualifier:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Leaning against the door jamb vis-à-vis, dressed in a grass skirt, she...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Noun&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Person facing someone else:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;By chance, my eyes fell on Edwin, my vis-à-vis&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The opposite facade:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The windows had curtains, so there was no vis-à-vis, only the blank wall&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be facing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She was vis-à-vis her husband, a pretty little thing she was too, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be facing, reflexively:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The café and the church were vis-à-vis&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Adverb&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To move into a facing position:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They sat down vis-à-vis, each in his corner, ..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(rare) To be facing (in English this renders no differently to the above) :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They were seated on chairs, (&lt;em&gt;en&lt;/em&gt;) vis-à-vis the altar&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Carriage with two facing seats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I could see myself arriving at midnight, in my olive vis-à-vis, at the Opera gate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Small sofa, where two people can talk conveniently:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The two women sat down on the vis-à-vis and nattered endlessly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(adapted from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/vis-%C3%A0-vis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cntrl.fr&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastEditorUserId="3755" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T09:24:16.753" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T09:24:16.753" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="10065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10045" CreationDate="2011-01-26T09:54:59.387" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;em&gt;dedicated&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;devoted&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In gaming circles, the term &lt;em&gt;completionist&lt;/em&gt; is quite popular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T13:10:45.243" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T13:10:45.243" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10066" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10079" CreationDate="2011-01-26T10:02:30.230" Score="2" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports the following notes about &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The traditional rule is that &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; is used with first person pronouns (&lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt;), as in &lt;em&gt;I said I should be late&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; is used with second and third persons (&lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;she&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt;), as in &lt;em&gt;you didn't say you would be late&lt;/em&gt;. In practice, however, &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; is normally used instead of &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; in reported speech and conditional clauses: &lt;em&gt;I said I would be late&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;if we had known, we would have invited her&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought that &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; really had a slightly different meaning. Am I wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T23:13:16.160" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T23:13:16.160" Title="&quot;Should&quot; versus &quot;would&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;&lt;should&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="10067" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10091" CreationDate="2011-01-26T10:07:48.913" Score="2" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very often I need to write a series of implications: A implies B, B implies C, and so on. Is it correct to write 'A , so B, so C...', that is, to use multiple so's in the same sentence? For example, can we write 'He is sick, so he is on leave, so you have to do his work, so you cannot leave now, so please let her know'? If not what is a good way to express this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:37:09.633" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:37:09.633" Title="Is it correct to write 'A , so B, so C, ...'?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10066" CreationDate="2011-01-26T10:27:14.747" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'&lt;strong&gt;should&lt;/strong&gt;' implies that a constraint or obligation is anticipated:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I said I should be late&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;implies that here is something inhibiting my being on time or that I'll deliberately choose to be late&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'&lt;strong&gt;would&lt;/strong&gt;' implies a degree of certainty:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I said I would be late&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm going to be late and that's it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'&lt;strong&gt;could&lt;/strong&gt;' implies possibility:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I said I could be late&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll try to be on time, but something might happen to prevent me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T10:27:14.747" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10054" CreationDate="2011-01-26T10:31:57.417" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;should&lt;/strong&gt; is the preterite form of the modal verb whose present form is &lt;strong&gt;shall&lt;/strong&gt;. As such, &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; can be (and is still) used in the past tense, in places where &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; would be used in the present tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;“It is time, we shall proceed”&lt;/em&gt; can be reported as &lt;em&gt;“he said it was time, we should proceed”&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;“I think it shall be okay”&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;“I thought it should be okay”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other modal verbs that follow the same pattern are &lt;strong&gt;will/would&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;may/might&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;can/could&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T10:31:57.417" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10045" CreationDate="2011-01-26T10:32:09.133" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you do not want to miss a thing, the word you are looking for might be 'obsessive'. You are obsessed about reading every word of the book and watching every second of the movie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T10:32:09.133" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10071" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10076" CreationDate="2011-01-26T10:36:45.397" Score="4" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine is trying to coin the correct English word for the people paying for his company's services. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My initial choice was &quot;subscriptions&quot;, but I'm not so sure about &quot;membership&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you know what the difference between these two words is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3519" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T10:38:52.840" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T12:26:14.693" Title="What is the difference between &quot;subscription&quot; and &quot;membership&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10072" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-26T10:43:57.107" Score="1" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7211/list-of-good-resources-for-toefl-preparation&quot;&gt;List of good resources for TOEFL preparation?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm familiar with Caplan test preparation, but wonder if there are sources for faster preparation. Especially, sources regarding writing essays would of great help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4158" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T11:56:20.443" ClosedDate="2011-01-26T20:51:13.203" Title="What are best resources for passing TOEFL test?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;toefl&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="10073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10071" CreationDate="2011-01-26T10:44:00.710" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD describes &lt;em&gt;subscription&lt;/em&gt; as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;subscription /səbˈskrɪpʃən/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. the action of making or agreeing to make an advance payment in order to receive or participate in something: &lt;em&gt;the newsletter is available only on subscription&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;take out a one-year subscription&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • an arrangement by which access is granted to an online service.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • chiefly Brit. a payment of such a type: &lt;em&gt;membership is available at an annual subscription of £300&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • a system in which the production of a book is wholly or partly financed by advance orders.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2 formal a signature or short piece of writing at the end of a document: he signed the letter and added a subscription.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • archaic a signed declaration or agreement.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The definition of &lt;em&gt;membership&lt;/em&gt; is the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;membership /ˈmɛmbərˌʃɪp/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  the fact of being a member of a group: &lt;em&gt;Taiwan has applied for membership in the World Trade Organization&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;a membership card&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • the number or body of members in a group: &lt;em&gt;our membership has grown by 600,000 in the past 18 months&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word you are looking for is probably &lt;em&gt;subscribers&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than using &lt;em&gt;membership&lt;/em&gt;, you should use &lt;em&gt;members&lt;/em&gt;, but that word doesn't implicates they pay for any service.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T11:01:43.923" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T11:01:43.923" />
  <row Id="10074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10067" CreationDate="2011-01-26T10:52:14.053" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think this is okay because there are many conjunctions to express the same idea of cause and result (e.g. &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;since&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt;, etc.), which you could use to avoid the repetition of &lt;em&gt;so&lt;/em&gt;. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As he is sick and is on leave, you have to do his work and therefore&#xA;  cannot leave now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T10:52:14.053" />
  <row Id="10075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10067" CreationDate="2011-01-26T10:55:00.200" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using &lt;em&gt;so&lt;/em&gt; like in the example sentence doesn't seem correct, to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would rather write&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is sick, and he is on leave; therefore, you have to do his work and you cannot leave now. Please let her know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T10:55:00.200" />
  <row Id="10076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10071" CreationDate="2011-01-26T11:04:18.600" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Subscription&lt;/em&gt; implies a service that is paid for on a regular basis. &lt;em&gt;Membership&lt;/em&gt; may be paid for, but that is not implied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could be a member of the Zooey Deschanel fan club for free, but subscribe to the monthly Zooey Deschanel magazine for $20 a year, for example. A man can dream...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, one can be described as a &lt;em&gt;member&lt;/em&gt; of organisations that actually pay you, like the armed forces or emergency services.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Members of a subscription system are generally referred to as &lt;em&gt;subscribers&lt;/em&gt;, but this is context sensitive. Your friend could simply refer to them as &lt;em&gt;customers&lt;/em&gt;, as that's the usual word for someone paying for goods or services.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T12:26:14.693" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10045" CreationDate="2011-01-26T11:17:11.200" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm like that too. I like to describe myself as &lt;em&gt;obsessively curious&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3711" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T11:17:11.200" />
  <row Id="10078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10066" CreationDate="2011-01-26T11:24:43.170" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Smirkingman's answer is right but unhelpful. There are historically two &lt;em&gt;different&lt;/em&gt; uses of &quot;should&quot;, and kiamaluno is asking about the other one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In older works you will find writers generally use &quot;I/we should&quot; where today most of us would write (and say) &quot;I/we would&quot;, i.e. without any sense of obligation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is separate from the obligatory sense that smirkingman describes, and has no meaning different from &quot;would&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a parallel with &quot;shall&quot; and &quot;will&quot; (and historically, &quot;should&quot; and &quot;would&quot; were the past tense of these): &quot;Shall&quot; has a sense of command - little used in speech today, but very much alive in legal documents and technical specifications; but for speakers of many varieties of English it is quite normal to say &quot;I shall&quot; as an alternative to &quot;I will&quot;. For me at least &quot;Shall I?&quot; is the normal question form: I would only say &quot;Will I?&quot; when asking for a prediction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T11:24:43.170" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10066" CreationDate="2011-01-26T11:33:45.393" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll put this in answer as well as the comments above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trouble here is that 'should' has many meanings depending on the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can imply obligation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You should check your oil level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can imply probability:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He should have finished checking the oil level by now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can represent a condition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I should run out of oil, what then?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the past tense of shall&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I told him he should have checked his oil level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nowadays, as your NOAD quote says, 'would' is used where 'should' used to be. Consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I should like a new car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is valid but sounds old fashioned; here the use of should implies a kind of politeness; you're not presuming that you deserve a new car. Nowadays you'd more likely hear:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would like a new car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or the contracted 'I'd like a new car'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T11:33:45.393" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9915" CreationDate="2011-01-26T11:39:23.660" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thank you for all the replies, none complete though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting with where I should have searched first; dictionaries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Almost all on-line dictionaries define paper bag as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A bag made of paper or plastic for&#xA;  holding customer's purchases&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/paper+bag&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/paper+bag&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=paper%20bag&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=paper%20bag&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is most likely because of history:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first recorded historical&#xA;  reference to grocery paper bags was&#xA;  made in 1630. The use of paper sacks&#xA;  only really started to take off during&#xA;  the Industrial Revolution: between&#xA;  1700 and 1800.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/papermaking.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/papermaking.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Paper bags have been around for a long time. When plastic bags replaced paper bags the name stayed. Some English speaking countries adopted the correct word and some kept the old one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that the fact that dictionaries still consider paper bag to mean both paper and plastic shows that it is valid to call a plastic bag a paper bag although it being more common in countries which have had less development of its language since the invention of the plastic bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4097" LastEditorUserId="4097" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T11:45:33.167" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T11:45:33.167" />
  <row Id="10081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10072" CreationDate="2011-01-26T11:56:20.443" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your bedroom, time, commitment and dedication. As for the actual material, see link provided above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T11:56:20.443" />
  <row Id="10082" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10083" CreationDate="2011-01-26T12:02:28.410" Score="1" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use both interchangeably. What's the difference? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T15:13:28.273" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T15:13:28.273" Title="&quot;Commitment&quot; vs. &quot;dedication&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="10083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10082" CreationDate="2011-01-26T12:10:44.673" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When used in the context of giving oneself wholly to a cause/course of action etc., there is no real difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One is used more than the other in common phrases, but that's about it. For example you would usually hear:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was a dedicated police officer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was a committed police officer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though both are equally valid. Dedicated in this context gives the impression of more zealous, heroic commitment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Commitment can also imply obligation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Where's John?&quot; &quot;He's got work commitments.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meaning he is obliged to be elsewhere because he has committed himself to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T14:21:31.270" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10084" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10129" CreationDate="2011-01-26T12:10:59.230" Score="2" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;Situation:&#xA;The batteries in your cellphone are running out of charge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would a native English speaker quickly and naturally describe this situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="91" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T11:42:08.857" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T02:25:58.467" Title="&quot;I have no charge on my cellphone&quot; or &quot;my cellphone is out of charge&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10085" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10088" CreationDate="2011-01-26T12:14:00.177" Score="1" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;Situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Soon you will not be able to use your cell phone because you almost have no money left on your cell phone account. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would a native English speaker quickly and naturally describe this situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T16:13:53.187" Title="&quot;I have no money on my cell phone account&quot; or &quot;my cellphone is out of money&quot; or how?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="10086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10085" CreationDate="2011-01-26T12:22:23.833" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My mobile is almost out of credit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure on the context for this question, but the above states the case. I regard the implications (that I will not be able make calls when out of credit) as implicit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastEditorUserId="2302" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T13:14:46.513" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T13:14:46.513" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10084" CreationDate="2011-01-26T12:24:21.193" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My cell phone battery is almost flat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My cell phone is almost out of power&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T12:24:21.193" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="10088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10085" CreationDate="2011-01-26T12:25:18.420" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm almost out of phone credit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the context was clear (i.e. you were holding your phone or speaking on the phone) you could even just say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm almost out of credit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T12:25:18.420" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10082" CreationDate="2011-01-26T12:36:01.897" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say there is little effective difference, and I'd disagree with Elendil that &lt;code&gt;dedicated&lt;/code&gt; is somehow more heroic, however the ever-so-slight differences are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Committed suggests that one is bound or obligated; perhaps one has made a pledge&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dedicated suggest that one is devoted, but without there being a formal commitment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In essence, once suggests a possibly-voluntary obligation and the other suggested a wholly-voluntary devotion, but in most everyday use, the terms are synonymous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastEditorUserId="2302" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T13:33:51.090" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T13:33:51.090" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10082" CreationDate="2011-01-26T12:37:12.467" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Committed&lt;/em&gt; means (as reported from the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;) &lt;em&gt;feeling dedication and loyalty to a cause, activity, or job; wholeheartedly dedicated&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Dedicated&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;devoted to a task or purpose; having single-minded loyalty or integrity&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a slight difference between the words; a difference is that &lt;em&gt;dedicated&lt;/em&gt; can also be refer to a thing, and in that case it means &lt;em&gt;exclusively allocated to or intended for a particular service or purpose&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T13:36:19.077" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T13:36:19.077" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10067" CreationDate="2011-01-26T12:44:23.180" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chaining clauses together with &lt;em&gt;so&lt;/em&gt;, as in your example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is sick, so he is on leave, so you have to do his work, so you cannot leave now, so please let her know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is not incorrect &lt;em&gt;per se&lt;/em&gt;, but you should be aware that it gives the sentence a rhetorical resonance (look up &lt;em&gt;anaphora&lt;/em&gt;) that you may not intend. It makes the sentence into a kind of litany, and as a consequence may sound overly dramatic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Language is a tool, and the speaker or writer's task is to fit the words and style to the task at hand. Consider Twain's sardonic essay &lt;em&gt;On Cooper's Prose Style&lt;/em&gt;, in which he says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Style may be likened to an army, the author to its general, the book to the campaign. Some authors proportion an attacking force to the strength or weakness, the importance or unimportance, of the object to be attacked; but Cooper doesn't. It doesn't make any difference to Cooper whether the object of attack is a hundred thousand men or a cow; he hurls his entire force against it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So consider how much force you want to use in making your statement. If you really do wish to dramatize the causality chain, by all means use anaphora. But if the sentence does not merit the extra rhetorical effect, you might consider recasting it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T12:44:23.180" />
  <row Id="10092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7" CreationDate="2011-01-26T12:45:49.137" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported from the NOAD (&lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Traditionalists insist that one should distinguish between &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; (present tense) and &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; (past tense) in expressing possibility: &lt;em&gt;I may have some dessert after dinner if I'm still hungry&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;I might have known that the highway would be closed because of the storm&lt;/em&gt;. In casual use, though, &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; are generally interchangeable: &lt;em&gt;they might take a vacation next month&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;he may have called earlier, but the answering machine was broken&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T12:45:49.137" />
  <row Id="10093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10026" CreationDate="2011-01-26T12:46:14.690" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are missing is that logic and language are separate domains with a smaller overlap than many people would like to think. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Logically, &quot;I may or may not go&quot; is, of course, a tautology, and conveys no information. But pragmatically, the fact that it is said, and that it is chosen against other possibilities, does convey meaning. (Others have suggested some of the possibilities for that meaning). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T12:46:14.690" />
  <row Id="10094" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10103" CreationDate="2011-01-26T12:50:43.887" Score="4" ViewCount="261" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's that type of phone called that you don't need a cable for and you can use everywhere in the world (provided there's coverage ;-))?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And what differences are there between the regions?  USA/UK/AUS etc... and even within, say, the US (or even UK).  I've even read rumors that in parts of the east of the US, people use the term &quot;handy&quot; (which is a really crazy German &quot;Americanism&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Clarification: The colloquial usage is more interesting (to me) than the &quot;correct&quot; official terminology (though that's of interest, too).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastEditorUserId="2701" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T13:28:58.583" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T13:48:14.690" Title="Cell phone? Cell? Mobile phone? What's the &quot;correct&quot; term?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;term&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10095" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10100" CreationDate="2011-01-26T12:54:16.417" Score="3" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jeff Atwood argues that &quot;What is bounty?&quot; is correct &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/76474/minor-grammar-issue-what-is-bounty-link-missing-article/76487#76487&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, but is this really the case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3314" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T12:57:58.027" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T23:39:02.420" Title="Is &quot;What is bounty?&quot; grammatically correct?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10094" CreationDate="2011-01-26T12:58:57.327" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In UK, US and Southeast Asia, it is most common to use mobile phone, cellular phone and handphone respectively.The terms 'mobile', 'cell phone' and 'cell' are simply the shorter versions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T13:17:22.330" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T13:17:22.330" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10097" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10098" CreationDate="2011-01-26T12:59:44.333" Score="3" ViewCount="363" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a physics equation, I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T02:08:48.373" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T02:08:48.373" Title="How to pronounce &quot;E = mc²&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="10098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10097" CreationDate="2011-01-26T13:01:23.057" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You read this as 'E equals M C squared'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T13:01:23.057" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10095" CreationDate="2011-01-26T13:11:07.303" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's fine. What we're talking about is a noun spoken of as a representative of its class, not merely as an instance of it. Consider some parallels:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is art?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is beauty?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is language?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;What is bounty?&quot; in that context is really a shortened way to say &quot;What do we mean when we use the term 'bounty' on this site?&quot; I, for one, have no objection to it at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T13:11:07.303" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10095" CreationDate="2011-01-26T13:17:21.607" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's fine &lt;em&gt;in context&lt;/em&gt;, i.e. when asked on this or any other site that uses a bounty system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T13:17:21.607" />
  <row Id="10102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9902" CreationDate="2011-01-26T13:23:56.267" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use &lt;em&gt;omniscient&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The story is told by an omniscient narrator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the NOAD:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;omniscient /ɑmˈnɪʃənt/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  adjective&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  knowing everything&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T01:01:13.877" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T01:01:13.877" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10094" CreationDate="2011-01-26T13:39:34.360" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the UK, we use &lt;code&gt;mobile&lt;/code&gt; and/or &lt;code&gt;phone&lt;/code&gt;, and perhaps even &lt;code&gt;mobi/moby&lt;/code&gt; (though I've never seen it written that way outside text messages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the US, I've heard of &lt;code&gt;cellular phone/cell phone/cell&lt;/code&gt;, and in Germany they call them handies (which still makes me chuckle for no good reason).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T13:39:34.360" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10104" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-26T13:40:03.870" Score="1" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a question related to an example sentence below. I always have slight doubt in interpreting sentences which have this kind of clauses being connected. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The book covers the fundamental building blocks of digital design across several levels of abstraction, from CMOS gates to hardware design languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, to which part of the first clause in the sentence is the second clause — &quot;from CMOS gates to hardware design languages&quot; — related? &#xA;I mean whether CMOS gates and hardware design languages are &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fundamental building blocks of digital design, or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;several levels of abstraction.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3994" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T14:07:02.767" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T19:52:14.833" Title="How to interpret this kind of sentences?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;ambiguity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10105" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10107" CreationDate="2011-01-26T13:46:54.913" Score="0" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Everything is transient and finite, existing in the medium of time&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What's the &lt;em&gt;finite&lt;/em&gt; thing?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you agree with it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T18:00:18.483" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T18:00:18.483" Title="About the word 'finite'." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10097" CreationDate="2011-01-26T13:47:44.387" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;=&quot; sign is read as &quot;equals&quot; or &quot;is equal to&quot;, depending on your culture.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(In the latter case, &quot;is equal to&quot; is such a common phrase all through school that it's typically read as one word: &quot;izziqualtu&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;c&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;&quot; could rarely be &quot;c [raised] to the power of 2&quot;, but is almost always &quot;c squared&quot; (or &quot;c square&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, &quot;ee equals em see square[d]&quot; or &quot;e is equal to em see square[d]&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T13:47:44.387" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10105" CreationDate="2011-01-26T13:50:48.683" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;something that is finite is something that has ends or limits, it's opposite is perhaps a slightly more common word, infinite, meaning without limits or ends, everlasting etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;probably, certianly most things do have a finite lifetime, but it's a rather philosphical statement so either view could probably be supported. e.g. if everything in the medium of time ends what about time itself?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3276" LastEditorUserId="3276" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T14:06:30.130" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T14:06:30.130" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10094" CreationDate="2011-01-26T13:51:48.453" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Canada the words I hear most often are &quot;cell&quot; or &quot;cell phone&quot;, almost nobody says &quot;cellular&quot; anymore. The cell phone providers usually call them &quot;mobile&quot; phones which is more precise since &quot;cell&quot; refers to a kind of technology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Chinese one of the common words for it is 手机, (shǒujī) which literally means &quot;hand machine&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also among younger people non-mobile-phones are becoming less-used and lots of people don't even have land-lines anymore, and those people, not needing the distinction between mobile and non-mobile phones, simply call it a &quot;phone&quot;. (Note: I almost never hear people say telephone anymore either).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T13:51:48.453" />
  <row Id="10109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10104" CreationDate="2011-01-26T13:54:57.253" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that CMOS gates are very low in terms of abstraction and a programming language is relatively high, I'd say it refers to 'several levels of abstraction' in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you could take out that part and it would still work:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The book covers the fundamental building blocks of digital design, from CMOS gates to hardware design languages&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume that it is made clear by the context of the book that 'digital design' refers to hardware design as opposed to all forms of design carried out digitally, because otherwise it makes less sense: hardware design languages aren't all that fundamental to making a webpage, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T13:54:57.253" />
  <row Id="10110" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10112" CreationDate="2011-01-26T14:03:45.343" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've struggled with this word for about 2 years (no joke). Every time I see it, I look it up, kind of understand what it means in that context, and then gleefully forget.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please help me understand the origin and meaning. thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T09:05:45.833" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T09:05:45.833" Title="What is &quot;dismal&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="10111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10105" CreationDate="2011-01-26T14:04:43.143" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Finite = having bounds or limits, not infinite, [in maths] not zero.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I agree? Yes, because infinite is a logical concept that cannot be proved. As much as something might appear infinite, it's bounds may simply be beyond the range of your vision or comprehension.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Describing finite as not infinite is curious, but it comes about because the concept of infinity came first (from the latin word finitus), whereas finite came sometime later (15C so I've read)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastEditorUserId="2302" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T17:20:50.327" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T17:20:50.327" CommentCount="13" />
  <row Id="10112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10110" CreationDate="2011-01-26T14:09:09.050" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably the best way to describe dismal is as the opposite of cheerful. A grey rainy day is dismal, whereas a bright sunny day is cheerful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also mean poor quality: 'Football Team United's performance was dismal!'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It comes from the Latin &lt;em&gt;dies mali&lt;/em&gt; 'evil days', via French.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T14:09:09.050" />
  <row Id="10113" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10114" CreationDate="2011-01-26T14:29:40.303" Score="9" ViewCount="293" Body="&lt;p&gt;When was the f-word 'invented'? Who invented it? Has it always had the derogatory meaning that it does today. Is it a recent invention? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3982" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T14:44:02.923" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T14:44:02.923" Title="How long has the f-word been in use as an abusive term?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10113" CreationDate="2011-01-26T14:35:43.467" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia has &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuck&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is unclear whether the word has always been considered vulgar, and if not, when it first came to be used to describe (often in an extremely angry, hostile or belligerent manner) unpleasant circumstances or people in an intentionally offensive way [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Oxford English Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; states that the ultimate etymology is uncertain, but that the word is &quot;probably cognate&quot; with a number of native Germanic words with meanings involving striking, rubbing, and having sex.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etymonline offers &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=fuck&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;further insight&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;until recently a difficult word to trace, in part because it was taboo to the editors of the original Oxford English Dictionary when the &quot;F&quot; volume was compiled, 1893-97. Written form only attested from early 16c. Oxford English Dictionary 2nd edition cites 1503, in the form &lt;em&gt;fukkit&lt;/em&gt;; earliest appearance of current spelling is 1535 -- &quot;Bischops ... may fuck thair fill and be vnmaryit&quot; [Sir David Lyndesay, &quot;&lt;em&gt;Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaits&lt;/em&gt;&quot;], but presumably it is a much more ancient word than that, simply one that wasn't written in the kind of texts that have survived from Old English and Middle English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Verbal phrase &lt;em&gt;fuck up&lt;/em&gt; &quot;to ruin, spoil, destroy&quot; first attested c.1916. [...] &lt;em&gt;Fuck off&lt;/em&gt; attested from 1929; as a command to depart, by 1944. &lt;em&gt;Flying fuck&lt;/em&gt; originally meant &quot;have sex on horseback&quot; and is first attested c.1800 in broadside ballad &quot;&lt;em&gt;New Feats of Horsemanship&lt;/em&gt;.&quot; For the unkillable urban legend that this word is an acronym of some sort (a fiction traceable on the Internet to 1995 but probably predating that) see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/baloney.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, and also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/fuck.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. [...] Agent noun &lt;em&gt;fucker&lt;/em&gt; attested from 1590s in literal sense; by 1893 as a term of abuse (or admiration). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T14:41:32.927" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T14:41:32.927" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10113" CreationDate="2011-01-26T14:36:46.057" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found interesting information on The Origin of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl-f-word.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;F-Word&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Netlore Archive: In which we are told&#xA;  with a straight face that the word&#xA;  'fuck' originated as the acronym of&#xA;  'Fornication Under Consent of the&#xA;  King,' 'Fornication Under Command of&#xA;  the King,' 'For Unlawful Carnal&#xA;  Knowledge,' or some variation thereof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Description: Folk etymology&#xA;  Circulating since: The 1960s Status:&#xA;  False&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am guessing in 1960, its pejorative meaning got some traction &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T14:36:46.057" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10113" CreationDate="2011-01-26T14:39:04.780" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As per the origin of the word, the NOAD reports that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ORIGIN early 16th cent.: of Germanic origin (compare Swedish dialect &lt;em&gt;focka&lt;/em&gt; and Dutch dialect &lt;em&gt;fokkelen&lt;/em&gt;); possibly from an Indo-European root meaning &lt;em&gt;strike&lt;/em&gt;, shared by Latin &lt;em&gt;pugnus&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;fist&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T14:39:04.780" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9433" CreationDate="2011-01-26T14:45:15.060" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Correct a misspelling&lt;/em&gt; maybe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1487" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T14:45:15.060" />
  <row Id="10118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9829" CreationDate="2011-01-26T14:49:14.413" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported from the NOAD:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ORIGIN middle 16th Century: from obsolete French &lt;em&gt;coronel&lt;/em&gt; (earlier form of &lt;em&gt;colonel&lt;/em&gt;), from Italian &lt;em&gt;colonnello&lt;/em&gt; (column of soldiers) from &lt;em&gt;colonna&lt;/em&gt; (column) from Latin &lt;em&gt;columna&lt;/em&gt;. The form &lt;em&gt;coronel&lt;/em&gt;, source of the modern pronunciation, was usual until the middle 17th Century.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word is pronounced in a strange way because it kept the old pronunciation, while the word changed spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T14:49:14.413" />
  <row Id="10119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9433" CreationDate="2011-01-26T15:12:29.797" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Correct the grammatos in this for me please&quot; could be what you are looking for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Word: Grammato&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: Fix this grammato for me, will you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3982" LastEditorUserId="3982" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T15:26:25.460" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T15:26:25.460" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10082" CreationDate="2011-01-26T15:12:38.180" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dedication&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;commitment&lt;/em&gt; are synonyms to a certain degree. However, &lt;em&gt;dedication&lt;/em&gt; is almost always used in relation to a task, responsibility or something to be done, while &lt;em&gt;commitment&lt;/em&gt; embodies devotion or allegiance to anything—task, cause, person, etc. Thus, &lt;em&gt;commitment&lt;/em&gt; could be regarded as a hypernym of &lt;em&gt;dedication&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T15:12:38.180" />
  <row Id="10121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10104" CreationDate="2011-01-26T15:38:48.153" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The book covers the fundamental building blocks of digital design across several levels of abstraction, from CMOS gates to hardware design languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;there is only one clause, which is the main idea in the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The book covers the fundamental building blocks of digital design&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;across several levels of abstraction&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;from CMOS gates to hardware design languages&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;are adverbial phrases that both modify the verb &lt;em&gt;covers&lt;/em&gt;. The first indicates the range of the cover (&quot;across several levels of abstraction&quot;), while the other delineates arbitrary boundaries (&quot;CMOS gates&quot;, &quot;hardware design languages&quot;) of that range. Thus, &lt;em&gt;CMOS gates&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;hardware design languages&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;are two of the fundamental building blocks of digital design &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;they occupy two of the several levels of abstraction indicated&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, one could consider &lt;em&gt;from CMOS gates to hardware design languages&lt;/em&gt; as a submodifier, as its absence does not take much away from the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The book covers the fundamental building blocks of digital design across several levels of abstraction[&lt;em&gt;, from CMOS gates to hardware design languages&lt;/em&gt;].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is also a proper modifier in its own right:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The book covers the fundamental building blocks of digital design[ &lt;em&gt;across several levels of abstraction&lt;/em&gt;], from CMOS gates to hardware design languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, I should point out that the entire sentence can also be correctly regarded as a clause. In the example below, it is used as the main clause:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Although it lacks some crucial supplementary material, the book covers the fundamental building blocks of digital design across several levels of abstraction, from CMOS gates to hardware design languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T19:52:14.833" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T19:52:14.833" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="10122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10084" CreationDate="2011-01-26T15:44:09.363" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most common expression I've heard for expressing that a cell phone no longer had power is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My cell phone battery is dead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While holding the cell phone, many people omit the words &lt;code&gt;cell phone&lt;/code&gt; since it is understood that the thing they are holding is the subject of the statement:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My battery is dead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, many people omit the word &lt;code&gt;battery&lt;/code&gt; since it is understood that the battery is the &lt;em&gt;dead&lt;/em&gt; part of the cell phone:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My cell phone is dead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People will also say their cell phone is dead if it is broken via some other means, though, such as it being dropped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T15:44:09.363" />
  <row Id="10123" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10124" CreationDate="2011-01-26T15:54:52.693" Score="2" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;One explanation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hit the daily reputation cap on 50 days  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another explanation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hit the daily reputation cap 50 times&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is clearer between the two? Which is more prone to lead to confusion? Does it depend on English background maybe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2380" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T16:08:15.173" Title="&quot;achieved on 50 days&quot; vs. &quot;achieved 50 times&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10123" CreationDate="2011-01-26T16:02:56.010" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hit the daily reputation cap 50 times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is clearer and more succinct by far, regardless of 'English background'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hit the daily reputation cap on 50 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you've already stated that the reputation is &lt;em&gt;daily&lt;/em&gt;, 'days' is redundant. You would instead say something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hit the reputation cap on 50 different days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T16:02:56.010" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10123" CreationDate="2011-01-26T16:08:15.173" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hit the daily reputation cap on 50 days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This above statement is not clear at all. 50 consecutive days? 50 days in a year? Any 50 days? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hit the daily reputation cap 50 times&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is clearer, and there are no possible misunderstandings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3982" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T16:08:15.173" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10126" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10130" CreationDate="2011-01-26T16:08:15.173" Score="0" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the rule on using articles in front of &quot;word?&quot; For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please remove the word judge from your vocabulary  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T16:20:52.907" Title="&quot;the&quot; in front of &quot;word&quot;" Tags="&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10085" CreationDate="2011-01-26T16:13:53.187" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My credit balance is near finished&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you could say what we usually do in India&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have expended my cellphone balance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3982" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T16:13:53.187" />
  <row Id="10128" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10132" CreationDate="2011-01-26T16:18:12.567" Score="2" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering whether &lt;code&gt;von&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;from&lt;/code&gt; shared the same common root.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They do have a quite close meaning, and the pronounciation sounds similiar too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;I had already looked at the relative Wiktionary entries (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/from#Etymology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/von#Etymology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;), and they didn't seem to be that connected after all; that's why I was curious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="353" LastEditorUserId="353" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T17:33:05.093" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T17:33:05.093" Title="Do the German 'von' and 'from' share the same root?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;history&gt;&lt;german&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10084" CreationDate="2011-01-26T16:18:28.453" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My phone is out of juice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is how a nerd would describe the situation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My phone has died on me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is how many people refer to this situation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My phone needs to be recharged&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is also a way to express the same fact&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I need to charge my phone&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indirect method&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there a cell-phone charger nearby&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another indirect method.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can I use your cell-phone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cannot always be used effectively :-(&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3982" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T16:18:28.453" />
  <row Id="10130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10126" CreationDate="2011-01-26T16:20:52.907" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your example you refer to a specific word, so using a definite article is grammatically correct. It's the same as saying &quot;remove the nail from the board.&quot; To exclude the article you would have to change the sentence to be more general, such as &quot;remove judgmental words.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="502" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T16:20:52.907" />
  <row Id="10131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10128" CreationDate="2011-01-26T16:40:13.817" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary to the rescue!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/from#Etymology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;from:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From Middle English &lt;em&gt;from&lt;/em&gt; (“from”), from Old English &lt;em&gt;from&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;fram&lt;/em&gt; (“forward, from”), from Proto-Germanic *&lt;em&gt;fram&lt;/em&gt; (“forward, from, away”), from Proto-Indo-European *&lt;em&gt;pr-&lt;/em&gt;, *&lt;em&gt;pro-&lt;/em&gt;, *&lt;em&gt;perəm-&lt;/em&gt;, *&lt;em&gt;prom-&lt;/em&gt; (“forth, forward”) from *&lt;em&gt;por-&lt;/em&gt; (“forward, through”). Cognate with Old Saxon and Old High German &lt;em&gt;fram&lt;/em&gt; (“from”), Danish &lt;em&gt;fra&lt;/em&gt; (“from”), Swedish &lt;em&gt;fram&lt;/em&gt; (“forth, forward”), Swedish &lt;em&gt;från&lt;/em&gt; (“from”), Icelandic &lt;em&gt;fram&lt;/em&gt; (“forward, on”), Icelandic &lt;em&gt;frá&lt;/em&gt; (“from”). More at &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fro&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fro&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/von#Etymology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;von:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From Middle High German &lt;em&gt;von&lt;/em&gt; (“from”), from Old High German &lt;em&gt;fon&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;fona&lt;/em&gt; (“from”), from Proto-Germanic *&lt;em&gt;afána&lt;/em&gt;, *&lt;em&gt;fana-&lt;/em&gt;, *&lt;em&gt;funa-&lt;/em&gt; (“from”), compound of *&lt;em&gt;áfa&lt;/em&gt; ( from Proto-Indo-European *&lt;em&gt;apo&lt;/em&gt;, *&lt;em&gt;ap-&lt;/em&gt; (“from, off”)) + *&lt;em&gt;ana&lt;/em&gt; ( from Proto-Indo-European *&lt;em&gt;ano&lt;/em&gt; (“on”)). Cognate with Old Saxon &lt;em&gt;fana&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;fan&lt;/em&gt; (“from”), Old Frisian &lt;em&gt;fon&lt;/em&gt; (“from”), Old English &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; (“from”). More at &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/of&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;of&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/on&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;on&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T16:40:13.817" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10128" CreationDate="2011-01-26T16:43:04.210" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, they have separate roots. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/von&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;von&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/from&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;from&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The German &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/von&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;von&lt;/a&gt; is more related to the English &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/of#English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;of&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T16:43:04.210" />
  <row Id="10133" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10136" CreationDate="2011-01-26T16:55:41.230" Score="0" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;In his book “Write It Right” which was published in 1909 – a hundred years ago - Ambrose Bierce disagreed usage of the words “Last” and “Past” with “week”. He explained :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Last and Past.  “Last week.” “The past&#xA;  week.” Neither is accurate: a week&#xA;  cannot be the last if another is&#xA;  already begun; and all weeks except&#xA;  this one are past. Here two wrongs&#xA;  seem to make a right: we can say the&#xA;  week last past. But will we? I trow&#xA;  not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And H. W. Fowler agreed in his Fowler's Modern English Usage 1st Ed. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;4. Last) (latest. In this now favourite antithesis (Dr Marshall's&#xA;  latest, but we hope not his last,&#xA;  contribution) we are reminded that&#xA;  latest means last up to now only,&#xA;  whereas last does not exclude the&#xA;  future. The distinction is a&#xA;  convenient one, &amp;amp; the use of latest&#xA;  for last is described by the OED as '&#xA;  now archaic &amp;amp; poetical'. But no&#xA;  corresponding agreement has yet been&#xA;  reached for abstaining from last when&#xA;  latest would be the more precise word,&#xA;  &amp;amp; many idioms militate against it&#xA;  (last Tuesday; last year ; for the&#xA;  last fortnight; on the last occasion ;&#xA;  as I said in my last).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And his successor R. W. Burchfield in New Folwer's Modern English Usage 3rd Ed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;/i&gt;4. Last/Latest. In such a&#xA;  context as “In his latest book, Dr.&#xA;  A…”, it is clear that Dr. A has&#xA;  written earlier books and that he is&#xA;  still alive and may well write others.&#xA;  If the statement runs “In his last&#xA;  book, Dr A…” the meaning could be the&#xA;  same, or it could also imply that this&#xA;  was the final book written by Dr A&#xA;  before he died. It is obvious,&#xA;  therefore, that if there is any danger&#xA;  of contextual ambiguity some word&#xA;  other than last should be used. In&#xA;  many idiomatic phrases last is still&#xA;  the only possible adj. of the two: =&#xA;  most recent; next before a specified&#xA;  time ( last Christmas; last week); =&#xA;  preceding; previous in a series ( got&#xA;  on at the last station); = only&#xA;  remaining ( the last biscuit; our last&#xA;  chance); ( preceded by the) = the&#xA;  least likely or suitable ( the last&#xA;  person I’d want to see; the last thing&#xA;  I’d have expected; = the lowest in&#xA;  order ( the last name on the list).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nonetheless Oxford English Dictionary 2nd Ed described &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;yester-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;in comb. or as prefix = immediately&#xA;  preceding the present, last, in&#xA;  yestereve, etc., after yesterday,&#xA;  yesternight; e.g. yester-afternoon,&#xA;  yester-age, yester-noon,&#xA;  yester-tempest, yester-week. See also&#xA;  yester-year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, I admit I thought last week was the week before this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is : Do you think idiom usage &quot;last week&quot; had overpowered the correct usage &quot;yester-week&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2990" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T17:22:19.943" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T17:31:37.603" Title="Do you think idiom usage &quot;last week&quot; had overpowered the correct usage &quot;yester-week&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="10134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10133" CreationDate="2011-01-26T17:10:55.317" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;yester-week&lt;/em&gt; is entirely obsolete today. Using it in contemporary English is not a mark of correctness, but of insanity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was largely the case even in the time of Mr. Bierce, which is what makes his illogical and ill-informed screed so funny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T17:10:55.317" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2011-01-26T17:11:55.780" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe it's regional and obscure, but in that context I might use &lt;em&gt;fly&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Quick, let's fly before the boss comes back.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dang, I'm late. Gotta fly.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T17:11:55.780" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10133" CreationDate="2011-01-26T17:22:11.450" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s very tempting to leave the answer at that, but… some more notes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The most cursory look at any newspaper, or around the blogosphere, confirms this answer.  ‘Last week’ is common as muck, while ‘yester-week’ is virtually non-existent, and when it does appear, it’s for archaic effect.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;‘Last week’ isn’t in any way incorrect.  It’s had the meaning ‘most recent, latest’ for over 600 years: in 1411, for instance, the rolls of Parliament under Henry IV refer to “The last parlement…”  (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oed.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;OED&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As your sources point out, however, ‘last’ can sometimes be ambiguous, and ‘latest’ is often a good alternative in those cases.  Talking about ‘the latest week’ sounds odd and affected, just as it did when Fowler wrote; but talking about ‘Madonna’s latest single’ is perfectly fine.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;‘Yester-’ isn’t actually as archaic as we tend to think!  A few examples — ‘yesterday’, ‘yesternight’, ‘yester-eve’ — are old, but (according to the OED again) the general combining form (in eg ‘yester-week’) only really shows up in the 19th century.  Amazingly, even good old ‘yester-year’ was apparently only coined in 1870, by Rosetti translating Villon: “Where are the snows of yester-year?”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Finally, &lt;em&gt;none&lt;/em&gt; of the sources you give support your implication that ‘yester-week’ is the correct usage that should be preferred to ‘last week’! The Bierce and Fowler quotes point out the illogic and occasional ambiguity of ‘last’ (note that neither of these makes it grammatically wrong); Fowler’s suggests ‘latest’ as a sometimes better alternative, but neither even mentions ‘yester-’!  The OED simply points out that ‘yester-’ exists (at least, existed for a few decades) and means roughly the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T17:31:37.603" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T17:31:37.603" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10133" CreationDate="2011-01-26T17:22:46.077" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you are misinterpreting Fowler. When he says &quot;many idioms militate against it (&lt;em&gt;last Tuesday; last year ; for the last fortnight; on the last occasion ; as I said in my last&lt;/em&gt;)&quot;, he means that these are the only correct forms, even though they clash with certain expectations of logic. Burchfield agrees: &quot;In many idiomatic phrases last is still the only possible adj. of the two: = most recent; next before a specified time ( last Christmas; last week)&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that some idiom is illogical or ambiguous does not mean that it should be changed; indeed, it should be kept here, say Fowler and Burchfield. I know this because I have read enough of their opinions to be sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure whether Bierce means to say &quot;it is illogical and it should be changed&quot; or &quot;it is illogical but it is idiom and therefore we should keep it&quot;; but his &quot;Here two wrongs seem to make a right: we can say the week last past. But will we? &lt;strong&gt;I trow not&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot; seems to indicate that he did not advocate a change of universal idiom either, illogical though it may be. He appears to say &quot;this would be logical, but we will not use it, simply because we have long traditions of usage&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Words like &quot;yester-week&quot; were not even current around 1900, and now they are even less so; &quot;last week&quot; is and was the right way to say it. I see no other option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T17:22:46.077" />
  <row Id="10138" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10141" CreationDate="2011-01-26T17:24:10.720" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Computer Studies teacher quipped, &quot;There is a lot of data out there regarding HTML programming&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does this really mean? Will it make any difference if the teacher had used &quot;information&quot; in place of &quot;data&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4106" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T08:05:40.717" Title="What is more appropriate, &quot;data&quot; or &quot;information&quot; when referring to facts about something. What's the difference really?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="7" />
  <row Id="10139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10138" CreationDate="2011-01-26T17:31:11.010" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the context. Typically-speaking, &lt;code&gt;information&lt;/code&gt; would have been the correct term, as you are referring to general bodies of knowledge on a subject. &lt;code&gt;Data&lt;/code&gt;, on the other hand, typically refers to specific and isolated facts on a subject. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'd find &lt;em&gt;information&lt;/em&gt; on how to program in HTML, but &lt;em&gt;data&lt;/em&gt; on how many people have jobs where they program using HTML.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T17:31:11.010" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10138" CreationDate="2011-01-26T17:31:19.587" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Information,&quot; in my opinion, is a term that lends itself to being more &quot;digestible&quot; than the term &quot;data.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, I would say that the sentence should have been &quot;There is a lot of information out there regarding HTML.&quot; Data can be considered more &quot;raw.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2780" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T17:31:19.587" />
  <row Id="10141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10138" CreationDate="2011-01-26T17:31:57.357" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would actually suggest that in this particular case, he probably should have used &lt;em&gt;information&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;data&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Data is typically used when you're referring to &quot;raw information&quot;, e.g. metrics that have been collected, but without any sort of analysis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since in this case, he presumably means references or guides to HTML programming rather than, e.g., studies on the effect of HTML programming on the economy where data has been collected on the actual programming of HTML, I'm not sure what sorts of things would qualify as 'data'.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps tables of information in reference form or some such could be considered data, but I'm not sure why he'd limit his quip to just that sort of information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More likely to my mind is that as a CS professor, he frequently deals with actual data and the frequent usage biases his word choice in cases like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T17:31:57.357" />
  <row Id="10142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10138" CreationDate="2011-01-26T17:34:04.887" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Information could be considered more appropriate. Data can refer to the results of scientific experiments, or, especially nowadays, information stored digitally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the latter reason, data could be considered fine for your example, because there &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; a lot data (i.e. information stored digitally, e.g. online) regarding HTML programming, itself a 'digital' subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he was talking about, say, how to cook chicken, it would sound a bit wrong:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is a lot of data out there about how to roast a chicken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T17:34:04.887" />
  <row Id="10143" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10148" CreationDate="2011-01-26T17:48:43.693" Score="11" ViewCount="330" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a native speaker of American English, and I have only ever heard this usage of the word &lt;em&gt;revert&lt;/em&gt; from one person.  This person is not a native English speaker (he is from India), so he may just be mistaken, but I'm curious if anyone else has seen/heard this usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He will write an email, bringing up a point for discussion.  He will explain the issue, and then end the paragraph with something like &lt;em&gt;Please do analyze and revert on the status.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best I can tell, he is asking for a response, and not asking for the something to be undone, or changed back to the way it was before (which is the meaning that I associate with the word &lt;em&gt;revert&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;revert&lt;/em&gt; used with different meanings outside the US?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="433" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T18:35:55.047" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T21:38:50.867" Title="Can 'revert' be used as a synonym of 'reply'?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10144" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10151" CreationDate="2011-01-26T17:58:01.557" Score="2" ViewCount="539" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi, I just don't get the idea which one is the right according to any situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically I use the wrong one or I use them when I'm not supposed to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2702" LastEditorUserId="2702" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T02:00:08.440" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T02:00:08.440" Title="Differences between &quot;I look forward to...&quot; and &quot;I'm looking forward to...&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="10145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10095" CreationDate="2011-01-26T18:05:37.237" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to what other answerers have said, &quot;what is a bounty&quot; has a different meaning than you intend it to. Using that indefinite article implies that you're referring to a particular, though unidentified, bounty somewhere. If anything, &quot;what are bounties&quot; would be better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T18:05:37.237" />
  <row Id="10146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10144" CreationDate="2011-01-26T18:05:53.143" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I look forward to seeing you&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;I await eagerly to see you&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am looking forward&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;I am looking at the area in front of me&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T18:33:42.293" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T18:33:42.293" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10143" CreationDate="2011-01-26T18:06:50.133" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am from India.. and here , the word &quot;revert&quot; is used interchangeably with &quot;reply&quot;. Like you say.. your indian colleague means that wants a status update.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have experienced a similar situation when a european colleague misunderstands the statement : &quot; we shall revert with the status&quot; as.. &quot;undoing a change made previously&quot; and there was a lot of confusion because of that....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess we just have to be careful using our words depending on our audience...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand.. &quot; reply&quot; should be the correct word to use&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3584" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T18:06:50.133" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10143" CreationDate="2011-01-26T18:07:36.450" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes and no.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reading around on the internet, it seems that this was originally just an error (and still is one for most native English speakers), but in some non-native-speaker speech communities it has become established as a common usage.  From Paul Brians’ &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/revert.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Common Errors in English Usage&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The most common meaning of “revert” is “to return to an earlier condition, time, or subject.” When Dr. Jekyll drank the potion he reverted to the brutish behavior of Mr. Hyde. But in South Asia it has become common to use “revert” instead of “reply,” writing when people want you to get back to them about something: “revert to me at this address.” In standard English this would literally mean they are asking you to become them, so it is best to stick with “reply” when dealing with non-South Asian correspondents. Even some South Asians disapprove of this use of “revert.” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Googling eg &lt;code&gt;&quot;please revert to me&quot;&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;&quot;I will revert to you&quot;&lt;/code&gt; (and skipping past the first few pages of results, which are mostly usage/grammar sites) gives lots of examples in this usage in the wild.  Interestingly, it doesn’t seem to function as an exact synonym for ‘reply’; hardly anybody writes eg “revert to this letter”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T18:07:36.450" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10143" CreationDate="2011-01-26T18:10:30.380" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess he uses &lt;em&gt;to revert&lt;/em&gt; meaning &lt;em&gt;to return [a reply]&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So far, I have never heard &lt;em&gt;revert&lt;/em&gt; used with that meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T18:10:30.380" />
  <row Id="10150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8619" CreationDate="2011-01-26T18:25:59.117" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am Spanish. Almost all my knowledge of the English language comes from:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Listening to BBC radio. Truly good quality programs as well on Radio4 and the World Service. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Watching British TV channels (via sky). During the first year, or maybe two, I had the English subtitles switched on (almost all programs have subtitles, even the news). I think that's a very good way to start.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reading absolutely everything in English, from IT books for my job, to bestsellers, tin labels or the newspaper. You don't learn pronunciation but you do learn vocabulary of course.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes its time, though, I have been learning for 10 years now and I can't say that my spoken English is 100% fluent, although good enough to maintain a decent conversation. I am now so used to my BBC radio and TV that if someday they stop the service I think I will move to the UK !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, although I seldom do it myself, I know other fellow Spaniards use the chats (with audio of course, or even webcam) to practice their English. There are some special rooms (at Yahoo at least) for English practicing, but once you have decently fluent English you are better joining a room of anything you like, even if just for listening to &quot;normal&quot; English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And a final little trick: I have used my smart phone to record my own voice while reading English and then play it. This way you can hear your mistakes much better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4176" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T18:25:59.117" />
  <row Id="10151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10144" CreationDate="2011-01-26T18:36:29.857" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you mean both in the sense of anticipating something, both are equally valid. However 'I look forward' is more formal; it's the kind of thing you would write in an official letter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A typical example is the closing statement of a cover letter for a job application:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I look forward to hearing from you soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'I am looking forward' is less formal. You would rarely say to a friend on the phone 'I look forward to visiting you next week.' You would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm looking forward to visiting you next week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure why others here have suggested this is wrong. You wouldn't say 'I run towards the train station!', you'd say 'I am running towards the train station!'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T18:36:29.857" />
  <row Id="10152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10144" CreationDate="2011-01-26T18:39:25.250" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Look forward to&lt;/strong&gt; is a phrasal verb that means &lt;em&gt;to await eagerly&lt;/em&gt;. It can be used in any tense. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I &lt;em&gt;look forward&lt;/em&gt; to meeting you tonight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He &lt;em&gt;looks forward&lt;/em&gt; to graduating this year.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;We dare not cancel the trip to Banff. The kids &lt;em&gt;have been looking forward&lt;/em&gt; to this for ages!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Both &lt;em&gt;were looking forward&lt;/em&gt; to spending a wonderful evening together, but the weather cruelly disrupted their plans.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I can't believe they&lt;em&gt;'re&lt;/em&gt; actually &lt;em&gt;looking forward&lt;/em&gt; to vacationing with us for three weeks. This house is super boring!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Even though he knew it would be difficult and unpleasant, he still &lt;em&gt;looked forward&lt;/em&gt; to having a heart-to-heart conversation with her.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm looking forward&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;cannot be interpreted to mean &lt;em&gt;eagerly awaiting&lt;/em&gt;, as it would have to be followed by &lt;em&gt;to_&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, it can only mean one thing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am directing my gaze (or view) forward &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where &lt;em&gt;forward&lt;/em&gt; is an adverb. This usage, however, is not common in regular conversation, except in very few circumstances. Nevertheless, it is definitely acceptable to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm looking forward to it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;to indicate that one is eagerly awaiting an event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T18:39:25.250" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10144" CreationDate="2011-01-26T18:40:59.460" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Look forward to something&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;look forward to doing something&lt;/strong&gt; means &quot;to excited and pleased about something that is going to happen&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm really looking forward to our vacation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &lt;strong&gt;&quot;I Look forward&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; can meaning with trivial differences according to the context. For example it can mean I'm looking to the area in front of my eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T18:40:59.460" />
  <row Id="10154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10144" CreationDate="2011-01-26T18:46:50.540" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hmm, okay, a totally non-grammatical (probably, and thus very likely totally wrong) answer by an avowed non-grammarian (who nevertheless described and describes himself as a grammar-nazi at times):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I'm looking forward to&quot; means I'm doing it right now, this very instance, like in Elendil's example of being on the phone with a friend; I disagree that it's about formal vs non-formal, it's due to being on the phone with that friend in that moment, so of course you'd be looking forward to meeting said friend &lt;em&gt;at that very moment&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I look forward&quot; means looking forward in a general sense; like, you'd not think about meeting your friend every second of the day, but the anticipation would be in the back of your mind all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's my take, and I'm sticking to it. ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T18:46:50.540" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10155" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10156" CreationDate="2011-01-26T18:59:20.383" Score="6" ViewCount="349" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear &quot;dayta&quot; more often, but what's the correct pronunciation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4181" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T07:18:23.300" Title="Data pronunciation: &quot;dayta&quot; or &quot;dahta&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="10156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10155" CreationDate="2011-01-26T19:12:00.353" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/data#Pronunciation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;marks&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;/ˈdeɪtə/ as &lt;em&gt;UK, US&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;/ˈdætə/ as &lt;em&gt;US&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;/ˈdɑːtə/ as &lt;em&gt;Australia, UK formal&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/data&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lists&lt;/a&gt; all three pronunciations, and provides a sound file for /ˈdeɪtə/.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T19:12:00.353" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10155" CreationDate="2011-01-26T19:12:42.683" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That depends on which country you live in and what your definition of &quot;correct&quot; is.  The US and Australia, for example, predominantly use &quot;dayta&quot; but New Zealanders say &quot;dahta&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, either is correct but different countries' cultures have different norms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4136" LastEditorUserId="4136" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T19:43:21.057" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T19:43:21.057" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="10158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10138" CreationDate="2011-01-26T19:32:30.683" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the teacher had said &quot;information&quot;, it would imply confidence in the usefulness and correctness of the material to be found. By saying &quot;data&quot;, there is the implication that much of the material may not be all that good, and possibly that it isn't easy to tell the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Information = Data - Noise&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or perhaps I'm reading too much into what might be a casual remark by someone who uses the word &quot;data&quot; more often than many speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T19:32:30.683" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8619" CreationDate="2011-01-26T19:39:32.720" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm German and to practice pronunciation I listen to the following podcasts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the Economist itunes link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-economist/id151230264&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-economist/id151230264&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a lot of BBC podcasts &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some Guardian podcasts &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/audio&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.guardian.co.uk/audio&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just pick what you like, so far, I did not encounter one that wasn't good, considering&#xA;the English. However, I cannot really judge, as I'm not a native speaker ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4095" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T19:39:32.720" />
  <row Id="10160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9651" CreationDate="2011-01-26T20:04:47.887" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cows do indeed come home by themselves. They like to be milked and they generally like their barn. The dairy farm I used to visit would milk the cows in the morning, and then let them wander out into the pastures. You then were free to do a million other chores and whatnot until the cows came home, which marked the transition into the end of the working day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3946" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T20:04:47.887" />
  <row Id="10161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9433" CreationDate="2011-01-26T20:10:05.393" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As requested, adding this as an answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, I would include duplicate words and homonym mistakes (they're/their, its/it's) as typos - they're cases where our fingers can't keep up with our brain, or is that vice versa. Basically, if it's something the original writer would have corrected if he'd had more time for/had paid more attention to proofreading, then it's a typo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T20:10:05.393" />
  <row Id="10162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10155" CreationDate="2011-01-26T20:10:20.000" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In American English, either is acceptable. &quot;Dah-tuh&quot; is more common than &quot;day-tuh&quot; in my personal experience, though it's hard to say which is more prominent overall. (Regional speech differences can inflect the decision about pronunciation as well.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4184" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T20:10:20.000" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9433" CreationDate="2011-01-26T20:13:17.330" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the specific context of a checkin statement, words don't always mean the same thing as they would in a conversation or a contract. To a developer, &quot;typo&quot; means any time the letters on the screen don't match the thought in the head. Whether that's because the fingers got out of sync and you typed &quot;teh&quot; for &quot;the&quot;, or a momentary brain-freeze had you typing &quot;there&quot; for &quot;their&quot;, or even that you personally are sure it's &quot;seperator&quot; even though everyone else writes &quot;separator&quot;, they are all likely to be lumped together as typos. When a checkin comment says &quot;fix typos&quot; I know that it means there is no deep meaning to look for here, just somebody tweaking a comment or an error message or the like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favourite checkin comment ever, btw, was &quot;fix tyos&quot;. Not deliberate either. Just someone in a hurry :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3946" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T20:13:17.330" />
  <row Id="10164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9433" CreationDate="2011-01-26T20:34:56.303" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Copyedit&lt;/em&gt; as (nearly) suggesed in Colin Fine's answer is good. Also perhaps the briefer &lt;em&gt;emend&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another word I've seen used for something written in haste so it comes out wrong is &lt;em&gt;thinko&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T20:34:56.303" />
  <row Id="10165" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-26T20:40:41.513" Score="0" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've been covering constituency tests in my syntax class and whenever it comes to doing the Coordination (also know as conjunction) test, it isn't making sense to me. I'm just not sure how it proves constituency. Does anyone have a concise explanation?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1551" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T22:41:52.183" Title="The Coordination/Conjunction Constituency Test" Tags="&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10166" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10167" CreationDate="2011-01-26T21:02:18.203" Score="2" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking at the financial definition of series: &lt;em&gt;a group of stocks or options that have common characteristics&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://financial-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Series&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would I form the possessive and plural of this term? I'm guessing it is series' and series respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sample sentences, not sure of correctness:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He purchased one series.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He purchased multiple series.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This one series' characteristics are worth researching. &amp;lt;- This feels like it should be series's, but it looks so wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These series' value is unmatched.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3027" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T07:20:47.790" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T16:17:24.187" Title="Possessive and plural of &quot;Series&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10166" CreationDate="2011-01-26T21:24:05.860" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All correct but the last one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are talking about one series:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This series' value is unmatched&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are talking about multiple series:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These series' values are unmatched.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are talking about multiple series valued together:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The value of these series' is unmatched.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T16:17:24.187" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10144" CreationDate="2011-01-26T21:32:01.920" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming you mean &quot;I look forward to ...&quot; and &quot;I'm looking forward to ...&quot;, they are essentially the same thing.  However, there is a slight difference.  the -ing on &quot;looking&quot; is a present participle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if we consider &quot;look forward to&quot; to mean &quot;anxiously await&quot;, then we can rewrite the phrase as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I anxiously await your visit&quot;, vs &quot;I am Anxiously awaiting your visit&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in this case, &quot;look&quot; and &quot;await&quot; are the verb, and &quot;forward&quot; and &quot;anxiously&quot; are the adverbs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it's sort of a active/passive thing.  &quot;I am&quot; versus &quot;I&quot;.  You would not say &quot;I looking forward to&quot; or &quot;I am look forward to&quot;.  It is effectively the same thing as &quot;I look&quot; vs &quot;I am looking&quot;.  for example &quot;I look good&quot; and &quot;I am looking good&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4187" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T21:32:01.920" />
  <row Id="10169" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13931" CreationDate="2011-01-26T21:54:29.317" Score="7" ViewCount="360" Body="&lt;p&gt;What follows is a hypothesis of mine. I'm wondering if there's historical merit for my hypothesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems the English language has a much bigger change between the documents produced in the early 1800s to those produced in the early 1900s, than the early 1900s documents have until now. For example, in the late 1700s/early 1800s, the letter u was still sometimes represented as v (i.e. as in the US Constitution), but no such changes in the glyphs used to represent the language, nor &quot;structure words&quot; (words critical to language structure, i.e. &quot;is&quot; or &quot;the&quot; or &quot;a&quot;), have occurred in the last hundred years. There have been significant changes in typical vocabulary, but not in language structure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect that a large reason for this is the spread of mass communication systems, such as office typewriters, Xerox machines, rail transportation, telegraph, and (most recently) computers. My guess is that the reason is that when you have mass communication at the scale these technologies span, standardized language becomes much more important. Consider if the letter u being represented as v (as I pointed to earlier) -- this would be a monumental change which would be unlikely to appear in the modern era, simply because of the number of standards (i.e. ASCII, Unicode, most all information exchange definitions, fonts, most programming language definitions, etc) which would be affected would be enormous. Couple this with the fact that English is already easy for computers to work with (no letters running together (like those which require complicated typesetting systems i.e. Uniscribe), relatively small number of glyphs, no stackable accent marks, etc.), and it seems like major changes to the language itself would be prohibitively expensive in the modern era.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does any of this make sense, and is there historical justification for it? Or is this my own subjective babble? :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: To clarify: I think the typical vocabulary of the language is still going to change (who ever heard of Googling something 15 years ago?), but that the glyphs and structure will not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: The reason for the bounty is that at this point th only posted answers have merely been opinions; I'm interested in historical precedent in either direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1209" LastEditorUserId="1209" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T15:38:28.810" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T17:57:52.650" Title="Has technology slowed or stopped the development of the core English language?" Tags="&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="19" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10169" CreationDate="2011-01-26T22:13:24.413" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think that technology has reduced the rate at which language develops - but it has homogenized it somewhat (although, there are still regional variations - British-English and US-English being the obvious). In fact, the homogenization started some time ago with the introduction of the printing press and standardised dictionaries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are still gaining new words, losing old ones, replacing the meanings of words, and so on - and I'm pretty sure even grammar is evolving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T22:13:24.413" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10165" CreationDate="2011-01-26T22:41:52.183" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I understand it, the definition of 'constituent', according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constituent_%28linguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;, is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a constituent is a word or a group of words that functions as a single unit within a hierarchical structure&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coordination is the act of combining words or groups of words into a single unit using the preposition &quot;and&quot;, and then confirming that they still behave exactly like each of the nouns would individually.  Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;[The boy and girl] went to the river &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I know [the boy and girl]   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;They called [the boy and girl]   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;[The boy and girl] we all like&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you tried to do this with two words that cannot be constitents, e.g. a noun and a verb, it proves their inability to be constituents:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;[the boys] and [girls] &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;[have eaten] and [are now leaving] &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;the [boys and leaving] have [eaten and girls]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T22:41:52.183" />
  <row Id="10172" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10217" CreationDate="2011-01-26T23:04:06.330" Score="5" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm interested to know why we use &lt;em&gt;had better&lt;/em&gt; for recommendation. Technically we're speaking of an action that hasn't yet occurred. Like &lt;em&gt;he had better leave a tip&lt;/em&gt; means he hasn't yet left a tip, but I suggest he do.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do we use the past tense &lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt; if it has nothing to do with the past? Why do we not use the subjunctive here? (&lt;em&gt;He have better leave a tip.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2334" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T06:15:23.690" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T06:15:23.690" Title="&quot;Had better&quot; - what is the meaning of this grammatically?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10166" CreationDate="2011-01-26T23:07:43.563" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think I agree with HorusKol. It's not wrong to say &lt;em&gt;These series' value is unmatched&lt;/em&gt;, just awkward. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of similar examples with other nouns whose plurals are identical to their singular forms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This sheep's fleece is white&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These sheep's fleeces are black&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These sheep's field is enormous&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may &lt;em&gt;choose&lt;/em&gt; to construct a periphrasis to avoid confusion (especially if the line is to be spoken rather than read), but it's not incorrect to use a concise form from which the context makes the meaning plain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T23:07:43.563" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10155" CreationDate="2011-01-26T23:12:07.577" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I vaguely remember being told that day-ta was the correct pronunciation, and that was because there was a vowel (the second 'a') following the consonant (the 't'). Now whether or not that actually applies, someone please comment because I'd love to know if I was given a load of hogwash there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personal experience, I find that I hear and use day-ta more than dah-ta. It is similar to the different ways that 'SQL' is pronounced among us techies - some spell it out, and some pronounce it as &quot;sequel&quot;. Thinking about it, I find that when it is the word &quot;data&quot; all by itself, I use day-ta, but when it is part of another word (&quot;database&quot;, for example) I tend to use dah-ta instead. Again, not sure if this is something that I just happened to have picked up over the years or if it is even correct. Anyone else notice the different pronunciation in situations like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2242" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T23:12:07.577" />
  <row Id="10175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7928" CreationDate="2011-01-26T23:13:21.277" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hmm - I've never actually heard of &quot;Batch Of&quot;  - the 'Year Of' is aways a ref to the year the group graduates.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work at the U of Manitoba, and I know there are times when the administration wants to deal with groups in other contexts.  Espically when dealing with class loads in early years the counts are on the number of students who entered, and may graduate in 3, 4 or more years depending on their programs.  A 3 year major, a 4 year hons or various other students may all need to take the same first year courses, so considering the 'batch' count aot the numbers at graduation gives you a better handle on the number of seats you'll need in some course like first year english which is a lead in for multiple course paths - all with different lengths.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I shall have to talk to my pals in the registrar's office and see if there is any use of the phrase in this university.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4116" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T23:13:21.277" />
  <row Id="10176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10095" CreationDate="2011-01-26T23:39:02.420" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps the title should be “What is &lt;em&gt;bounty&lt;/em&gt;?”, or perhaps “What is ‘bounty’?”.  By comparison to “What is beauty?”, the question “What is bounty?” asks what the concept means rather than what the word means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To illustrate, somewhat trivially:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Q: What is &lt;em&gt;happiness&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A: &lt;em&gt;Happiness&lt;/em&gt; is the state of &amp;lt;&lt;em&gt;insert favorite definition here&lt;/em&gt;&amp;gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Q: What is happiness?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A: Happiness is a warm puppy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3633" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T23:39:02.420" />
  <row Id="10177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10172" CreationDate="2011-01-26T23:52:32.250" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look at this sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He had better leave a tip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's actually used to say someone should do something. But it makes sense to tell that the real form of the sentence was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If he had left a tip, it would be better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It means he has not done the work, but still he has the opportunity to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T23:52:32.250" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10178" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-26T23:55:08.550" Score="1" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;When someone is away from you and wants to be where you are, do they tell you, &quot;I want to come there&quot; or &quot;I want to go there?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4192" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T18:26:29.607" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:26:29.607" Title="&quot;I want to go there&quot; or &quot;I want to come there?&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10179" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10181" CreationDate="2011-01-27T00:02:40.450" Score="2" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a word, &lt;em&gt;near-career&lt;/em&gt; filling in the following article of today’s New York Times titled &lt;em&gt;Unusual Work, Even in World of the Theater&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Tom Santopietro has made a near-career filling in for other people on Broadway, not as an understudy, but as a substitute for house managers and company managers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also found a line using &lt;em&gt;near-career&lt;/em&gt; in a site (City-Data Forum) that follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I also had my own military near-career so I moved even more. After living in seven other states, some of them more than once, and three other countries, I landed back in California 32 years ago and have stayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Judging from the context of those sentences, &lt;em&gt;near-career&lt;/em&gt; job seems to me akin to &lt;em&gt;probationary&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;not full-fledged&lt;/em&gt; job.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;near-career&lt;/em&gt; exactly mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T06:49:09.830" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T06:49:09.830" Title="What does ‘Near-career’ mean?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="10180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10178" CreationDate="2011-01-27T00:17:03.433" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most common/natural expression here is probably along the lines of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wish I were there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Okay, so many people don't bother to use the subjunctive - as you should - and say &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;were&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A possible alternative is &lt;em&gt;I want to be there&lt;/em&gt; - it's slightly less natural sounding to me though, at least in British English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I want to go there.&lt;/em&gt; might be an appropriate response if someone mentioned a foreign country/holiday destination that sounded appealing to you. I can't think of any real-word situation in which &lt;em&gt;I want to come there.&lt;/em&gt; would sound best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T07:08:38.363" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T07:08:38.363" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10179" CreationDate="2011-01-27T00:23:32.040" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your interpretation is pretty much right. It's an uncommon phrase in my experience (in British English), but I would translate this phrase as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Tom Santopietro has almost [nearly] made a career filling in for other people on Broadway&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, this man has never actually had a career of doing this, but he does it so often that it might be considered a regular job (i.e. career).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T00:46:28.927" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T00:46:28.927" />
  <row Id="10183" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10194" CreationDate="2011-01-27T00:36:00.083" Score="7" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a non-native English speaker, I always wondered why, for example, you say &lt;em&gt;moon&lt;/em&gt;, but then you say &lt;em&gt;lunar&lt;/em&gt; (same goes for &lt;em&gt;side&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;lateral&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;hand&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;manual&lt;/em&gt; and so forth): in some cases, the noun is not the base of the adjective, which derives from the Latin root instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the reason for this phenomenon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="353" LastEditorUserId="353" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T00:41:43.940" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T20:45:25.387" Title="Adjectives with Latin etymology when noun has non-Latin etymology" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10179" CreationDate="2011-01-27T00:37:18.880" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is not really used in the sense of almost having a career. Rather, I would interpret it as an occupation someone does which was never intended to be a full-time job (or career) but which takes as much time as one. The person's desire is to have a different career, but undertakes that particular occupation until something else (better?) comes along.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is in the spirit of the adage &quot;Experience is what we get while we are looking for something else.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T00:37:18.880" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10057" CreationDate="2011-01-27T00:43:03.247" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;pray&quot; means to earnestly ask something of someone. Therefore, the phrase &quot;pray proceed&quot; could be interpreted as &quot;Please, I beg of you, proceed&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In modern English, we often think of the term &quot;pray&quot; in a spiritual context, but the meaning is the same: to ask something of someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4193" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T00:43:03.247" />
  <row Id="10186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10179" CreationDate="2011-01-27T00:43:11.723" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From your two examples, I would take &lt;em&gt;near-career&lt;/em&gt; to mean either of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a job or profession to which one almost devoted their lifetime (used in the past) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an occupation that one happens upon and excels in, with or without any previous training (used in the present)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many words (some nouns, some adjectives) have been (and are still being) constructed in English by hyphenating or compounding &lt;em&gt;near&lt;/em&gt; with another word. These are some of the established ones:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1270755#m_en_us1270755&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;near-death&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1270761#m_en_us1270761&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;near miss&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1270762#m_en_us1270762&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;near money&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1270763#m_en_us1270763&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;near rhyme&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1270766#m_en_us1270766&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;near-term&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1270764#m_en_us1270764&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;nearshore&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1270765#m_en_us1270765&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;nearsighted&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1270753#m_en_us1270753&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;nearby&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1270753#m_en_us1270753&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;near by&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Near-career&lt;/em&gt; seems like a recent coinage; it's yet to be defined in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Urban Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;! With all these &lt;em&gt;near[-]&lt;/em&gt; words, by keeping in mind the meanings of &lt;em&gt;near&lt;/em&gt; and paying close attention to the context, one should always be able to infer the [rough] meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T00:43:11.723" />
  <row Id="10187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10183" CreationDate="2011-01-27T00:48:51.713" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The English language is a hotchpotch of many languages, a melting pot from most European language roots, with a good deal of other elements thrown in for added spice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a result, we often have a vast array of words to choose from for any given topic of conversation.  The more elemental and eternal the concept, the longer we will have talked about it and thus the further back through our history words will have been borrowed in order to discuss the concepts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, you will find that the simple forms of words are likely to hark back to older influences; basic words are often from Old English, or Saxon influence.  Whilst more technical terms may not have been so common in the vernacular speech, so may retain scientific form, coming from Latin or Greek.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The essential rule to remember is that English etymology is a many splendored thing; variety is the spice of life, after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T00:48:51.713" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="10188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10183" CreationDate="2011-01-27T01:14:22.127" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sort of vocabulary that you would expect the simple folk of the Dark Ages to be using are mostly still of Germanic origin; they are the building blocks of the language, the basics of verb and noun forms, and words for basic abstract concepts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In later years, the Catholic Church's supremacy meant that the language of inquiry, knowledge, and spirituality was Latin. For many centuries, scientists would publish all their work in Latin. It is no surprise that Latin has filled the gaps in English and provided adjectives such as &lt;em&gt;lunar&lt;/em&gt; where English had none.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is compounded by the imposition of Norman French in the Middle Ages. Since the language of government changed from English, many of our words for government and justice derive from Latin via Norman French. Our words for meats also come from Norman French, e.g. &lt;em&gt;beef, veal, venison, mutton&lt;/em&gt; in place of English &lt;em&gt;cow, calf, deer, sheep&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later still, British scholars would turn to Latin and Greek to coin new words to describe new technologies and modern concepts, as we still do today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's an interesting discussion of the influence of Latin on English on wikipedia here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_influence_in_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_influence_in_English&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T01:14:22.127" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10189" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10193" CreationDate="2011-01-27T02:22:10.347" Score="13" ViewCount="580" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every now and then I get caught out by a spellchecker around the word &lt;em&gt;asterisk&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can accept that this is the correct spelling, however I hear a lot of people pronouncing it as &lt;em&gt;asterix&lt;/em&gt; also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it just me and this is a gradual changing of the word and most people are doing it or am I hearing things because I make the mistake myself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the popularity of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterix&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Asterix the Gaul&lt;/a&gt; responsible for this mispronunciation and spelling or is it due to natural changes that happen in any language?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2143" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T16:04:09.980" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T16:04:09.980" Title="Pronunciation and spelling of &quot;asterisk&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10189" CreationDate="2011-01-27T02:24:53.710" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;People who pronounce it &lt;em&gt;asterix&lt;/em&gt; pronounce it wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is common in some parts and subcultures of the U.S. for people to reverse the ending &lt;em&gt;-sk&lt;/em&gt; sound. So they will say &quot;He axed me a question&quot; instead of &quot;He asked me a question.&quot; Some years ago I was producing a TV spot with a well known African-American soul singer doing the voiceover. He could &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; say the word &lt;em&gt;asks&lt;/em&gt; in the script, so we had to do an edit and switch the word. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T02:24:53.710" CommentCount="13" />
  <row Id="10191" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10214" CreationDate="2011-01-27T02:29:36.007" Score="3" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see both used, at times, almost interchangeably. What are the general guidelines? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T10:48:54.337" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T10:48:54.337" Title="What is the difference between &quot;into&quot; and &quot;onto&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="10192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10183" CreationDate="2011-01-27T02:43:08.017" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some [simplistic] reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Latin-based adjective is more elegant for contextual reasons, e.g. &lt;em&gt;sideways&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;lateral&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is impossible to form an adjective otherwise, e.g. &lt;em&gt;sun&lt;/em&gt; :: &lt;em&gt;solar&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;And better a word than a phrase, e.g. &lt;em&gt;lunar&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;of the moon&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The non-Latin adjective may mean something else entirely, e.g. &lt;em&gt;handy&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;manual&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T02:43:08.017" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10189" CreationDate="2011-01-27T02:50:47.240" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not just you, and it is a fairly common error in pronunciation in many parts of the English-speaking world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an interesting usage note on &lt;em&gt;asterisk&lt;/em&gt; from the New Oxford American Dictionary (2nd Edition on my computer):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Avoid pronouncing this word |ˈastəˌriks| or |ˈastəˌrik|, as many regard such pronunciations as uneducated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and a related one from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1223435#m_en_us1223435&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries Online&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Even though &lt;strong&gt;asterisk&lt;/strong&gt; does not look like a tricky word to pronounce, it can be problematic. In both its singular and plural forms , it is often mispronounced as if it ends with &lt;strong&gt;-rix&lt;/strong&gt;. Pronounced correctly, it ends with a &lt;em&gt;-risk&lt;/em&gt; sound when singular and &lt;em&gt;-risks&lt;/em&gt; when plural&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T02:50:47.240" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10183" CreationDate="2011-01-27T02:52:30.620" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's not forget that Latin was the language of science and philosophy and nearly all higher learning for hundreds of years. For example, Copernicus wrote his seminal treatise about the heliocentric theory, &lt;em&gt;De revolutionibus orbium coelestium&lt;/em&gt;, in Latin. It's not surprising that many of the technical names for natural phenomena and educated words in general would be derived from Latin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We see remnants of this today in medicine: the parts of the body are named from the Latin. Your orthopedist will tell you you've torn your medial collateral ligament in your knee. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T02:58:38.723" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T02:58:38.723" />
  <row Id="10195" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10229" CreationDate="2011-01-27T03:07:23.220" Score="5" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;When something bad happens, sometimes you'll hear &lt;em&gt;Oh, dear!&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Oh, dear me!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is this? Is it a shorter version of another phrase that makes sense in these situations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T16:34:11.893" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T16:34:11.893" Title="Origin of the phrase &quot;Oh, Dear!&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;interjections&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10196" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10199" CreationDate="2011-01-27T03:19:04.837" Score="6" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Life &lt;strong&gt;in itself&lt;/strong&gt; is neither good nor evil. It is the place of good and evil, according to what you make it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T04:03:13.220" Title="Why 'in itself', why not just 'itself'?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10195" CreationDate="2011-01-27T03:25:32.503" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apparently the interjection dates from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=dear&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the 1690s&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Upon further review, it appears to be a &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=TNxiHDi51n8C&amp;amp;pg=RA1-PA418&amp;amp;lpg=RA1-PA418&amp;amp;dq=etymology%3a+%22Dear+Lord%22&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=OO4uIS-tWv&amp;amp;sig=RD7pkLTGoP0B8fMndhBmQ8p53iI&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=VpNBTZy0C8OCgAfspY2zAQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=2&amp;amp;ved=0CBoQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;contraction of &quot;Dear Lord!&quot;&lt;/a&gt; — an expression of surprise or amazement in the form of a supplication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also removed the misleading attribution about unknown origin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T15:50:03.950" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T15:50:03.950" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10198" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11448" CreationDate="2011-01-27T03:45:06.603" Score="4" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;A widget has one button. This button performs different functions depending on the widget's mode at the time the button is pressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can this be said to have &lt;em&gt;modality&lt;/em&gt;, or a &lt;em&gt;modal&lt;/em&gt; design?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T18:52:09.787" Title="Can &quot;modality&quot; mean &quot;having modes?&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="10199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10196" CreationDate="2011-01-27T03:53:40.663" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to my dictionary (New Oxford American, 2&lt;sup&gt;e&lt;/sup&gt;), the phrase &lt;strong&gt;in itself&lt;/strong&gt; means&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;viewed in its essential qualities; considered separately from other things&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Plug in this meaning into your sentence, and you will see why it makes sense the way it is. You may also come across the hackneyed &lt;em&gt;in and of itself&lt;/em&gt;, which means the same thing, as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Life, &lt;em&gt;in and of itself&lt;/em&gt;, is neither good nor evil…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using only &lt;em&gt;itself&lt;/em&gt; would also work, but then the emphasis on &lt;em&gt;life&lt;/em&gt; would not be as strong and it would not have quite the same meaning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Life &lt;em&gt;itself&lt;/em&gt; is neither good nor evil. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Itself&lt;/em&gt; merely functions as a pronoun for emphasis. &lt;em&gt;In itself&lt;/em&gt;, however, adds more depth, as it specifically indicates the subject is being deliberately considered in all its possible ramifications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T04:03:13.220" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T04:03:13.220" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10198" CreationDate="2011-01-27T04:06:10.643" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In computing a mode is &quot;a way of operating or using a system,&quot; so if your widget has different ways of operating, which apparently it does, then it could be said to have a &lt;em&gt;modal&lt;/em&gt; design.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T04:06:10.643" />
  <row Id="10201" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-27T04:49:00.187" Score="3" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi all,&#xA;I'm looking for an adjective that has close meaning like strong, undying, relentless... &#xA;&quot;the school’s &lt;strong&gt;__&lt;/strong&gt; commitment to bring change&quot;. I'm writing a personal statement for a school. I would appreciate your help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4200" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T08:55:06.743" Title="I need an adjective for the word &quot;commitment&quot;" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10201" CreationDate="2011-01-27T04:51:03.220" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ongoing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;steadfast&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;passionate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wholehearted&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;abiding&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastEditorUserId="3313" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T05:07:46.687" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T05:07:46.687" />
  <row Id="10203" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-27T04:52:55.590" Score="7" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which of these phrases is more correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The man who I know to be unhappy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The man whom I know to be unhappy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is one of the verbs in the phrase more important, thus determining the noun case? Or is something else happening with the particular combination of verbs? (&lt;em&gt;the man whom I know&lt;/em&gt; is valid but &lt;em&gt;the man to be unhappy&lt;/em&gt; isn't; the tense must be specified as in &lt;em&gt;the man who is unhappy&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4199" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T02:01:51.887" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T02:01:51.887" Title="&quot;Who&quot; versus &quot;whom&quot; with multiple verbs" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="10204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10201" CreationDate="2011-01-27T05:12:48.900" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;unwavering&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;undying&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;relentless&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4202" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T05:12:48.900" />
  <row Id="10205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10138" CreationDate="2011-01-27T05:19:48.490" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Data in my mind is statistical in nature, information can be conversational.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4202" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T05:19:48.490" />
  <row Id="10206" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-27T05:25:41.727" Score="5" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know why this is so, but I've always believed that the word &lt;em&gt;anymore&lt;/em&gt; should only be used in a question or negative statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you go there anymore?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Don't do that anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But i often here people use it in a declarative sentence, such as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Anymore, I eat pizza with pepperoni.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me this is just wrong. Am I wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4202" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T05:42:45.333" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T12:12:49.203" Title="Use of 'anymore'" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10203" CreationDate="2011-01-27T05:39:02.730" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I know the man to be unhappy&quot; seems be more informative, but it doesn't answer the question until you change it again to &quot;Him I know to be unhappy&quot;. Or how about &quot;I know that man [him] to be unhappy. This would indicate that you want the objective case - whom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4201" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T05:39:02.730" />
  <row Id="10208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10203" CreationDate="2011-01-27T05:40:18.220" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the question is tagged with &lt;em&gt;acceptability&lt;/em&gt;, I will report the following paragraph, reported by NOAD in the &lt;em&gt;usage of who&lt;/em&gt; section:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The normal practice in modern English is to use &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Who do you think we should support?&lt;/em&gt;) and, where applicable, to put the preposition at the end of the sentence (&lt;em&gt;Who do you wish to speak to?&lt;/em&gt;). Such uses are today broadly accepted in standard English, but in formal writing it is best to maintain the distinction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to avoid to write &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; when you should use &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; (or vice versa), you can use &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the man that I know to be unhappy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;That&lt;/em&gt; is a relative pronoun that is used to introduce a defining or restrictive clause, especially one essential to identification; it is used instead of &lt;em&gt;when&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the book that I have bought yesterday&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  the person that I will meet tomorrow&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  the year that Anna was born&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T06:06:07.607" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T06:06:07.607" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10206" CreationDate="2011-01-27T05:51:35.747" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Anymore&lt;/em&gt; is used colloquially in Northern Irland and USA in positive constructions to mean &lt;em&gt;now&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;from now on&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Followed by &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt; it also mean &lt;em&gt;to a greater extend than&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;em&gt;I don't like Monet any more than I like Picasso.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence you wrote means&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From now on, I eat pizza with pepperoni.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T05:51:35.747" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10198" CreationDate="2011-01-27T06:03:16.937" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer to use &lt;em&gt;modal design&lt;/em&gt;, even if &lt;em&gt;modality&lt;/em&gt; means also &lt;em&gt;modal quality&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase &lt;em&gt;modal dialog&lt;/em&gt;, though, could be understood to have a different meaning, as it is normally used to mean a dialog window that blocks its parent window until it is open. If you think that &lt;em&gt;modal design&lt;/em&gt; can be confused with that, then I would use &lt;em&gt;modality&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T08:37:26.710" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T08:37:26.710" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10206" CreationDate="2011-01-27T06:10:25.747" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the definitions of &quot;anymore&quot; is &quot;now&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anymore&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anymore&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;like &quot;These days, I don't eat pizza&quot;, or &quot;Now I don't eat pizza&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seems like an acceptable usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4201" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T06:10:25.747" />
  <row Id="10212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10206" CreationDate="2011-01-27T06:11:45.617" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's any consolation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Anymore, I eat pizza with pepperoni&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sounds just wrong to me too... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I'm not from Northern Ireland or USA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T06:11:45.617" />
  <row Id="10213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10169" CreationDate="2011-01-27T06:24:29.730" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does make sense. Fixation and normalization of the written word are the result of printing becoming widespread and cheap. I don’t think it’s a matter of standardization becoming important as much as it is a matter of drift becoming more expensive and just less likely. The variation of spelling in English history you note is probably the most obvious and measurable judge. How many ways was the Bard’s name spelt at one point? I’ll bet some great statistics could be cooked up. I think Google even has an API/lab for searching historical documents now… though the URL/name eludes me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In spoken language the United States was on its way to pretty divergent dialects a hundred years ago. I’d argue that radio and then television halted this and even began to reverse it. The kids born in Brunswick today will have no trouble conversing with those born in Beaumont when they land in SoCal; they are all raised on audible media mostly comprising a narrow band of neutral Canadian/Central-US accents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This and the print issue are the same; distribution and access versus geography and lack of example. In evolutionary terms, mutations are tremendously reduced. The speed of evolution is slowed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4204" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T06:24:29.730" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10191" CreationDate="2011-01-27T06:26:54.250" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported by the NOAD, &lt;em&gt;into&lt;/em&gt; has the following meanings:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;expressing movement or action with the result that someone or something becomes enclosed or surrounded by something else. (&lt;em&gt;Cover the bowl and put it into the fridge.&lt;/em&gt;)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;expressing movement or action with the result that someone or something makes physical contact with something else. (&lt;em&gt;He crashed into a parked car.&lt;/em&gt;)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;indicating a route by which someone or something may arrive at a particular destination.(&lt;em&gt;The narrow road that led down into the village.&lt;/em&gt;)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;indicating the direction toward which someone or something is turned when confronting something else. (&lt;em&gt;with the wind blowing into your face&lt;/em&gt;)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;indicating an object of attention or interest. (&lt;em&gt;a clearer insight into what is involved&lt;/em&gt;)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;expressing a change of state. (&lt;em&gt;a peaceful protest which turned into a violent confrontation&lt;/em&gt;)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;expressing the result of an action. (&lt;em&gt;They forced the club into a humiliating and expensive special general meeting.&lt;/em&gt;)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;expressing division. (&lt;em&gt;three into twelve equals four&lt;/em&gt;)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;informal (of a person) taking a lively and active interest in something. (&lt;em&gt;He's into surfing.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;onto&lt;/em&gt; means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;moving to a location on the surface of something. (&lt;em&gt;They went up onto the ridge.)&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;moving aboard (a public conveyance) with the intention of traveling in it. (&lt;em&gt;We got onto the train.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As side note, in some cases it is correct to write &lt;em&gt;onto&lt;/em&gt;, but in some cases it is correct to write &lt;em&gt;on to&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You climbed onto the roof.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Let's go on to the next chapter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T06:26:54.250" />
  <row Id="10215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10057" CreationDate="2011-01-27T06:37:47.057" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;See also the version I like enough to consider using in conversation to stage a come back: &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prithee&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Prithee&lt;/a&gt; tell&lt;/em&gt;. The etymology sheds some light on the sometimes sarcastic nature of &lt;em&gt;pray tell&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4204" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T06:37:47.057" />
  <row Id="10216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8619" CreationDate="2011-01-27T06:48:12.077" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demosthenes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How about while jogging on the beach with a mouth full of marbles?&lt;/a&gt; Could be fun. Or a choking hazard. Accepting this advice constitutes a legal agreement that neither you nor your surviving kin will sue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4204" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T06:48:12.077" />
  <row Id="10217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10172" CreationDate="2011-01-27T07:01:58.743" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that the meaning of &lt;em&gt;had better do something&lt;/em&gt; is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;would find it wiser to do something (&lt;em&gt;you had better be careful&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ought to do something&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It reports also this note about the usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the verb phrase &lt;em&gt;had better do something&lt;/em&gt;, the word &lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt; acts like an auxiliary verb; in informal spoken contexts, it is often dropped, as in &lt;em&gt;you better not come tonight&lt;/em&gt;. In writing, the had may be contracted to ’d (&lt;em&gt;you’d better call&lt;/em&gt;), but it should not be dropped altogether (not &lt;em&gt;you better call&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T07:01:58.743" />
  <row Id="10218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10178" CreationDate="2011-01-27T07:07:33.013" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct sentence, in this case is &lt;em&gt;I want to come there&lt;/em&gt;; in fact, one of the meaning of &lt;em&gt;come&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;move or travel toward or into a place thought of as near or familiar to the speaker&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I want to go there&lt;/em&gt; could mean &lt;em&gt;I want to go in the place we are talking of&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T07:07:33.013" />
  <row Id="10219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10201" CreationDate="2011-01-27T07:09:41.170" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;unfaltering&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;constant&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;continual&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;unwavering&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eternal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4095" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T07:09:41.170" />
  <row Id="10220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10155" CreationDate="2011-01-27T07:18:23.300" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports the pronunciation as /ˈdædə/ /ˈdeɪdə/, using the American English IPA; using the British English IPA, the pronunciation is /ˈdeɪtə/.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference between /ˈdeɪdə/ and /ˈdeɪtə/ is the same difference between /ˈɪdəli/ and /ˈɪtəli/ (the pronunciation for &lt;em&gt;Italy&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T07:18:23.300" />
  <row Id="10221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9955" CreationDate="2011-01-27T07:24:17.493" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is fun. I wonder if it could be a word that starts with the letter A instead of N. (For instance, when someone says &quot;an apple&quot;, it could sound like they are saying &quot;a napple&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Building from that, could the word be &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0033820#m_en_gb0033820&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;aphesis&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;? It means the gradual loss of an unstressed vowel at the beginning of a word (e.g. of e from esquire to form squire).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She could also have been saying &quot;An &lt;strong&gt;__&lt;/strong&gt; is...&quot;, and the word could be &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0033850#m_en_gb0033850&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;aphis&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (which means an aphid, especially one of the genus Aphis).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastEditorUserId="2972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T08:06:43.213" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T08:06:43.213" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10222" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10225" CreationDate="2011-01-27T07:43:02.450" Score="6" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi, everyone. I recently met a quiz question and I am not sure what it means.&#xA;The question is as follows (no context):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We only need to save the stack pointer for a non-leaf procedure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just for reference, the &quot;non-leaf procedure&quot; means procedures that call other procedures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it mean&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The only thing we need to save in a non-leaf procedure is the stack pointer.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The stack pointer needs to be saved only when it's in a non-leaf procedure.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although common sense tells me 2 is more likely to be the intention of the question setter, I am not sure what this sentence really mean in terms of English syntax. I am not a native English speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1890" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T07:48:04.867" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T10:54:18.050" Title="What does the word &quot;only&quot; mean in this sentence?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="10223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10015" CreationDate="2011-01-27T07:44:24.137" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The definition given for &lt;em&gt;promise&lt;/em&gt; from the NOAD is the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;promise |ˈprɑməs|&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  a declaration or assurance that one will do a particular thing or that guarantees that a particular thing will happen.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   - &lt;em&gt;What happened to all those firm promises of support?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   - [with clause] &lt;em&gt;He took my fax number with the promise that he would send me a drawing.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   - [with infinitive] &lt;em&gt;I did not keep my promise to go home early&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • the quality of potential excellence_: he showed great promise even as a junior officer.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • [in singular] an indication that something specified is expected or likely to occur: &lt;em&gt;the promise of peace&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For &lt;em&gt;engagement&lt;/em&gt; the definition is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;engagement /ɪnˈgeɪdʒmənt/ /ɛnˈgeɪdʒmənt/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   1. a formal agreement to get married.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • the duration of such an agreement: &lt;em&gt;a good long engagement to give you time to be sure&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   2. an arrangement to do something or go somewhere at a fixed time: &lt;em&gt;a dinner engagement&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • a period of paid employment.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   3. the action of engaging or being engaged: &lt;em&gt;Britain's continued engagement in open trading&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   4. a fight or battle between armed forces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Promise&lt;/em&gt; is not the correct word to replace &lt;em&gt;appointment&lt;/em&gt; (the fact you went to an appointment doesn't implicate you did a promise to go); &lt;em&gt;engagement&lt;/em&gt; is a better choice, but who listens could understand you are using the meaning 1 or 3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T07:44:24.137" />
  <row Id="10224" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10226" CreationDate="2011-01-27T07:47:24.803" Score="0" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/16/when-is-it-okay-to-end-a-sentence-in-a-preposition&quot;&gt;When is it okay to end a sentence in a preposition?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we've all heard the admonishments from our teachers not to end a clause with a preposition&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A plumber visits a wealthy estate to fix a clogged toilet. As the butler opens the door, the plumber barks out,&quot;I'm here to fix the toilet. Where's your bathroom at?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Please try to speak with more discretion. We do not want to disturb our neighbors with the details of our plumbing issues. And we most certainly do not end our sentences with prepositions, sir.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So the plumber lowers his tone and says more cordially, &quot;I'm here to fix the toilet. Where's your bathroom at, asshole.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, back to the matter at hand. I have come under the impression that this is a rule of thumb to help the elementary student avoid mismatching case for the target of the preposition rather than a hard rule. For example by placing the preposition closer to its target, you avoid constructs like: &quot;Who did you give the invitation to?&quot; instead of the proper &quot;To whom did you give the invitation?&quot;. Moving the preposition closer makes the incorrect case sound absurd. No one would ever say &quot;To who did you give the invitation?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of this introductory text leads up to this simple question: Is this phrase correct &quot;Whom did you give the invitation to?&quot; or is it still incorrect english even though we addressed the issue of case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4205" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T08:59:54.707" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T08:59:54.707" ClosedDate="2011-01-28T15:49:43.423" Title="Ending a clause with a preposition, rule of thumb or hard rule?" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;rules&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10222" CreationDate="2011-01-27T07:51:52.320" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second interpretation is the correct one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stack pointer needs to be saved for non-leaf procedures; for procedures that don't call other procedures, the stack pointer doesn't need to be saved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T08:02:51.610" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T08:02:51.610" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="10226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10224" CreationDate="2011-01-27T08:00:07.943" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say it's a rule of thumb, to avoid students make errors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The NOAD, in the note about the usage of &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; versus &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; reports that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The normal practice in modern English is to use &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; and, where applicable, to put the preposition at the end of the sentence.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  - &lt;em&gt;Who do you think we should support?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  - &lt;em&gt;Who do you wish to speak to?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also reports that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Such uses are today broadly accepted in standard English, but in formal writing it is best to maintain the distinction.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you are using &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt;, the correct sentence is  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To whom did you give the invitation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T08:21:26.337" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T08:21:26.337" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="10227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10206" CreationDate="2011-01-27T08:02:54.730" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no such word as 'anymore', it is always 'any more'. According to the OED its use in positive statements is primarily an American and Irish thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T08:02:54.730" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10138" CreationDate="2011-01-27T08:05:40.717" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Information is usually the set of things that can be known about a subject or concept (except when it is used in the precise technical sense in physics where it is associated with the amount of order there is in a system).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Data (plural of Datum) originally meant a set of measurements about something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the correct answer is &quot;information&quot; - although there has been some blurring of meaning over the years. For instance - most &quot;Data Sheet&quot;s should probably be &quot;Information Sheet&quot;s :) The name originally came from the documentation of the actual, measured performance of a component (thus data).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4207" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T08:05:40.717" />
  <row Id="10229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10195" CreationDate="2011-01-27T08:11:57.967" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two possibilities I can think of. Firstly, it could be a contraction of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Oh, Dear god!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;to avoid blasphemy. This makes sense as it is an admonishment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or the other possibility is that 'Dear' was another name &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; god, like 'the Almighty' or 'the Lord', possibly as a result of the contraction mentioned above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It crops up rather a lot in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels (brilliant on many levels, not least their meticulously researched use of early 19th century language), in phrases like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The Dear only knows that you've been working awfully hard.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T08:11:57.967" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10203" CreationDate="2011-01-27T08:13:04.737" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this instance, the pronoun &quot;who&quot; is the object of the verb &quot;know&quot;. So you want to use objective case whom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4205" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T08:13:04.737" />
  <row Id="10231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10203" CreationDate="2011-01-27T08:17:30.520" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer the direct question ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Verb clauses can be nested and are parsed from the inner most to the outermost. so &quot;I know 'x to be&quot; is a verb clause which after being parsed would resolve effectively to &quot;is&quot; and therefore your second statement is true - it the correct stereotype verb clause would be &quot;the man who is unhappy&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The response to the other comment - I don't know if this a culture thing but I do not find it to be correct usage to replace who with that. That can only be used when talking about NOT-people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4207" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T08:17:30.520" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10232" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10239" CreationDate="2011-01-27T08:44:34.540" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there is such possible situation, please, describe it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please don't insert any punctuation between those words and keep their order intact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T10:32:45.933" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T14:02:03.007" Title="In what context or situation (if any) would the words &quot;try to see me&quot; make sense?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;contexts&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="10233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10201" CreationDate="2011-01-27T08:55:06.743" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of the words above, though apppropriate,  do seem a bit hyperbolic. Based on your real level of commitment, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Firm &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;might be a good option as well. It indicates a strong commitment but not something that is necessarily on the same lines as eternal / unwavering etc&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2761" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T08:55:06.743" />
  <row Id="10234" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10237" CreationDate="2011-01-27T09:02:23.233" Score="4" ViewCount="275" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've used &quot;beknownst&quot; and &quot;unbeknownts&quot; a couple times but I never really bothered to look it up until now. But it's not in most of the online dictionaries websites I frequent. I'm under the impression that this word is old school, if so, is it still appropriate to use? Or am I better off using some other word that means the same thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="792" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T09:21:41.010" Title="What is the meaning and usage of the word &quot;beknownst&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10232" CreationDate="2011-01-27T09:05:24.110" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This &lt;a href=&quot;http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100522014040AAgma0V&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yahoo question&lt;/a&gt; seems to provide a good example, as in &quot;try to renew a relationship&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Why does my ex try to see me so soon after breaking up?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other meaning would be to &quot;try to see me&quot; (as I truly am), like in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://lyrics.wikia.com/Legion_Within%3aTry_To_See_Me&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Try to see me&quot; song from the Legion Within&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T09:05:24.110" />
  <row Id="10236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10222" CreationDate="2011-01-27T09:06:23.550" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would doubt it... from my interpretation 1. is likely the correct one, that a non-leaf procedure only requires saving the stack pointer.&#xA;btw I'm not a native english language speaker, but English spoken here (India) is in conformance to the textbooks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4213" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T09:06:23.550" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10234" CreationDate="2011-01-27T09:11:32.470" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technically there is no such word as 'beknownst' other than as a back-formation of 'unbeknownst' (unbeknown exists and in fact pre-dates unbeknownst. Beknown also exists). It is rather old-fashioned which is probably why some online dictionaries don't list it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have essentially been superceded by 'known' and 'unknown', which have equivalent meanings. Nevertheless it is not uncommon to hear:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Unbeknownst to me, my wife had already bought the same present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or the like. It is perfectly appropriate to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T09:21:28.873" />
  <row Id="10238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10232" CreationDate="2011-01-27T09:16:18.223" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the meaning of &lt;em&gt;to see&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;meet someone one knows, socially or by chance&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I went to see Caroline.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I saw Colin last night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T10:05:30.717" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T10:05:30.717" />
  <row Id="10239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10232" CreationDate="2011-01-27T09:17:40.567" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;try to see me&quot; could mean &quot;try to meet with me for a few minutes&quot;, as in &quot;try to see me next time you're in the office.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could also be the literal meaning: &quot;I'm testing a video camera, stand there and try to see me.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4215" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T09:17:40.567" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10234" CreationDate="2011-01-27T09:21:41.010" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;beknownst&lt;/em&gt; is an archaic word, as it is &lt;em&gt;beknown&lt;/em&gt;; the meaning of &lt;em&gt;beknown&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;known&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word that is used in Modern English is &lt;em&gt;unbeknown&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;unbeknownst&lt;/em&gt;), which has its origin from &lt;em&gt;beknown&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;unbeknown |ˌənbəˈnoʊn| (also &lt;em&gt;unbeknownst&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  adjective [ predic. ] (&lt;em&gt;unbeknown to&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  without the knowledge of someone: &lt;em&gt;unbeknown to me, she made some inquiries&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ORIGIN middle 17th century: from un- (not) + archaic &lt;em&gt;beknown&lt;/em&gt; (known).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T09:21:41.010" />
  <row Id="10242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10189" CreationDate="2011-01-27T09:25:51.510" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phenomenon is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metathesis_%28linguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;metathesis&lt;/a&gt;, and it is actually not that uncommon in English and many other languages. Note how you say &lt;em&gt;three&lt;/em&gt;, but not &lt;em&gt;threeteen&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;thrid&lt;/em&gt;; you say &lt;em&gt;thirteen&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;third&lt;/em&gt; instead. That's because  &lt;em&gt;thirteen&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;third&lt;/em&gt; have undergone a metathesis from Old English &lt;em&gt;þreotene&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;þridda&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many languages have words that show this phenomenon, and some use it as a regular part of their grammar (e.g. the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fur_language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fur language&lt;/a&gt;). The process of metathesis has altered the shape of many familiar words in the English language, as well.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [...]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Metathesis is responsible for the most common types of speech errors, such as children acquiring &lt;em&gt;spaghetti&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;pasketti&lt;/em&gt;. The metathesized pronunciation of &lt;em&gt;ask&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;ax&lt;/em&gt; /ˈæks/ goes back to Old English days, when &lt;em&gt;ascian&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;axian/acsian&lt;/em&gt; were both in use.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [...]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The process has shaped many English words historically. &lt;em&gt;Bird&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;horse&lt;/em&gt; came from Old English &lt;em&gt;bryd&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;hros&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;wasp&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;hasp&lt;/em&gt; were also written &lt;em&gt;wæps&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;hæps&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to answer your question, yes, that's a natural change that happens in many languages. Wikipedia even expressly &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metathesis_%28linguistics%29#English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mentions&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;asterisk&lt;/em&gt; → &lt;em&gt;asterix&lt;/em&gt; /ˈæstərɪks/ as an example of metathesis, along with many others. It can start off as a slip of the tongue, or as deliberate &quot;laziness&quot; if you will, but once the &quot;wrong&quot; pronunciation gets sufficiently established among native speakers, you can no longer call it wrong from the linguistics standpoint. As Kosmonaut once said &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/411/does-this-question-qualify-as-off-topic-peeving/414&quot;&gt;on meta&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;Metathesis can be done in error, but ultimately, if the alternate form becomes established in some dialect, it is hard to argue that every person doing it is making an error.&quot; Again, not many people nowadays would argue that &lt;em&gt;thirteen&lt;/em&gt; is a speech error. Whether or not the same will happen to &lt;em&gt;asteriks&lt;/em&gt;, is, of course, pure speculation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T09:25:51.510" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10198" CreationDate="2011-01-27T09:36:05.787" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, there are only two recognised uses of &lt;code&gt;modality&lt;/code&gt; in computing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Modal Dialogs/Windows - These force interaction from the user; that is, the user must interact with the dialog (and ultimately dismiss it) in order to continue with other operation - &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modal_window&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modal_window&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Human Computer Interaction (HCI) - Modality is the means of communication between the user and the computer (e.g. audio, visual, tactile)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither of these fit your scenario. That's not to say it is entirely wrong - &lt;code&gt;model&lt;/code&gt; does mean 'pertaining to mode or form' - but at best, its use in this context might be unclear&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, I would say the button on your widget is &lt;code&gt;multi-functional&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;context-sensitive&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;mode-sensitive/mode-dependent&lt;/code&gt; - I think &lt;code&gt;mode-sensitive&lt;/code&gt; would be my preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastEditorUserId="2302" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T09:42:31.690" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T09:42:31.690" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10232" CreationDate="2011-01-27T10:11:02.607" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase could also be used by a doctor to a patient:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Try to see me again next month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would be a suggestion for the patient to come back and speak with the doctor next month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T10:11:02.607" />
  <row Id="10245" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10252" CreationDate="2011-01-27T10:13:49.470" Score="2" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;How did the term &quot;Sidejacking&quot; come out? What is its origin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T10:33:01.773" Title="Etymology of &quot;Sidejacking&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;hacking&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="10246" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10249" CreationDate="2011-01-27T10:17:05.267" Score="2" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the UK, I've heard pants used as slang for underpants (or was it in Bridget Jones' Diary) - whereas in India it almost exclusively means &quot;trousers&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thinking in the context of &quot;Put your pants on one leg at a time&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.learn-english-today.com/idioms/idiom-categories/clothes-idioms.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.learn-english-today.com/idioms/idiom-categories/clothes-idioms.htm&lt;/a&gt; says &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To say that someone puts their pants&#xA;  on one leg at a time means that the&#xA;  person is a human being no different&#xA;  from anyone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idiom's origin seems to refer to trousers - &lt;a href=&quot;http://benmuse.typepad.com/ben_muse/2005/05/they_put_their_.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://benmuse.typepad.com/ben_muse/2005/05/they_put_their_.html&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;but I'm wondering if someone hearing this phrase thinks &quot;underpants&quot; rather than trousers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1798" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T05:55:07.667" Title="Is pants more commonly meant to be trousers or underpants?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10247" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10261" CreationDate="2011-01-27T10:23:27.267" Score="0" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every time I write &lt;em&gt;GPL license&lt;/em&gt; the spelling checker of my Mac OS X keeps to underline &lt;em&gt;license&lt;/em&gt; in green; if I write &lt;em&gt;GPL License&lt;/em&gt;, the spelling checker doesn't underline &lt;em&gt;License&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When I hover the mouse over the word, the Mac shows a tool tip with the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;license&lt;/em&gt; may not agree with the rest of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This happens whatever I write, even if I write &lt;em&gt;The GPL license is commonly used.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I write &lt;em&gt;the GPL Licence is commonly used&lt;/em&gt;, the word &lt;em&gt;Licence&lt;/em&gt; is underlined in red, and I get the suggestion to replace it with &lt;em&gt;License&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Licensee&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The same happens if I use &lt;em&gt;licence&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I am  doing wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: My Mac is set to use the American English as default language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T11:23:11.647" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T11:26:30.500" Title="Is it &quot;GPL License&quot; or &quot;GPL license&quot;?" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;spelling-checker&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10246" CreationDate="2011-01-27T10:23:44.130" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In US usage pants means trousers.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In UK usage pants means underpants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The popularity of US films and TV programmes means that most English speakers are likely to have some awareness of the US usage and will correctly understand phrases that use pants to mean trousers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T10:23:44.130" />
  <row Id="10249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10246" CreationDate="2011-01-27T10:24:29.307" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the UK &quot;Pants&quot; typically refers to underwear.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(Where it is also a slang term for &quot;bad&quot;. As in &quot;That's pants&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other parts of the world, notably the USA, &quot;pants&quot; refers to trousers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1094" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T10:24:29.307" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="10250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10246" CreationDate="2011-01-27T10:25:24.957" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Britain, pants almost always refers to underpants (and more specifically men's underpants). 'Trousers' is used everywhere 'pants' is in US English, including the idiom you refer to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T10:25:24.957" />
  <row Id="10251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10247" CreationDate="2011-01-27T10:29:17.420" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are using the wrong spelling of license.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should use licence, with a c, as that's a noun and the correct spelling in this context. License with an s is a verb as in: &quot;We must license you to drive.&quot; Note this is for British English; in US English &lt;em&gt;license&lt;/em&gt; is the noun spelling as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for capitalisation, spell-checkers usually automatically assume anything with a capital letter is a proper noun and thus outside their remit, otherwise they'd annoyingly underline most people's names.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T10:44:21.227" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="10252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10245" CreationDate="2011-01-27T10:33:01.773" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word is obviously derived from Hijack. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presumably this word arises because the technique involves using &quot;cookie&quot; information from data transmitted unencrypted in conjunction with encrypted data. I would speculate that the word &quot;side&quot; was compounded with hijack because the encrypted and unencrypted data are metaphorically side by side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Webopedia says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;SideJacking works only if the site catches a non-SSL cookie, so any Web site that uses SSL exclusively would be safe from SideJackers. SideJacking was first demonstrated by Robert Graham, CEO of Errata Security at Black Hat in 2007.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T10:33:01.773" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10191" CreationDate="2011-01-27T10:42:18.500" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;kiamlaluno's answer is comprehensive. A simplified answer is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;put A &lt;strong&gt;into&lt;/strong&gt; B&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;means A is somehow inside B and enclosed by it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;put A &lt;strong&gt;onto&lt;/strong&gt; B&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;means B has a horizontal surface on top of which A now rests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the difference between in and on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T10:42:18.500" />
  <row Id="10254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10178" CreationDate="2011-01-27T10:45:27.620" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always thought that &lt;em&gt;go&lt;/em&gt; has a slight connotational leaning to describing the journey, or leaving the origin.&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Come&lt;/em&gt; has a connotation to arriving, or the destination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, &quot;I want to &lt;em&gt;go&lt;/em&gt; to Paris&quot; states that I want to make a journey, with Paris as the destination, but that the journey is important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I want to &lt;em&gt;come&lt;/em&gt; to Rome&quot; implies that the arrival in Rome is for a specific reason that is personally, emotionally important to the speaker. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, &lt;em&gt;coming&lt;/em&gt; to Rome, as opposed to &lt;em&gt;going&lt;/em&gt; to Paris, seems to imply that the speaker is addressing someone who is in Rome, and will be &lt;em&gt;coming&lt;/em&gt; to them or &lt;em&gt;going&lt;/em&gt; to Paris.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that both choices are gramatically valid, but that each has a slightly different meaning invested in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4215" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T10:45:27.620" />
  <row Id="10255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10222" CreationDate="2011-01-27T10:54:18.050" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are out of context, but it also might mean that it is something &quot;simple&quot; (We don't have to worry about any other situations)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example: if you don't want to get late, simply set the alarm clock / if you don't want to get late, you only have to set the alarm clock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(also: no native english speaker here!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4218" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T10:54:18.050" />
  <row Id="10256" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-27T10:54:30.737" Score="5" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have this question on using &lt;em&gt;see&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;refer&lt;/em&gt; in technical documentation especially for cross-references information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use &lt;em&gt;see&lt;/em&gt; when mentioning another section in the same document, for example, &lt;em&gt;for more information on xyz, see section abc on page nn-mm&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use &lt;em&gt;refer&lt;/em&gt; when asking the reader to see an external document or any appendices, for example, &lt;em&gt;for more information on xyz, refer to the ABC Guide&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;for more information, refer to Appendix A&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My colleagues and I have a disagreement with this logic. They seem to prefer &lt;em&gt;see&lt;/em&gt; for everything. As a cross-reference is more like a footnote and also acts like a footnote.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my logic correct?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1595" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T11:37:47.017" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T11:37:47.017" Title="Usage of 'see'/'refer'" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="10257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10246" CreationDate="2011-01-27T10:58:22.213" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In British English, &lt;em&gt;pants&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;underpants&lt;/em&gt; or, informally, &lt;em&gt;nonsense&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;In American English, &lt;em&gt;pants&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;trousers&lt;/em&gt;; the singular form is used as adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[BrEn] He thought we were going to be absolute pants.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [AmEn] His pant leg was broken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T05:55:07.667" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T05:55:07.667" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10256" CreationDate="2011-01-27T10:58:26.253" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are actually correct. The OED has:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The imperative see is used in books to refer to a passage in the same or &lt;em&gt;some other work&lt;/em&gt; in which information will be found.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for see and:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To direct the attention of (a person) to a source of information (in earlier use chiefly a book).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for refer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it's really just a matter of preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T10:58:26.253" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10246" CreationDate="2011-01-27T10:59:20.607" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Australian usage, 'pants' usually (but not always) refers to 'trousers'. From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.macquariedictionary.com.au&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Macquarie Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;trousers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;underpants, especially women's.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(phrase) be caught with one's pants down, Colloquial to be caught unexpectedly and ill-prepared.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;by the seat of one's pants, Colloquial&#xA;a. without the benefit of prior instruction.&#xA;b. deprived of the technical aids usually available, as in the case of an aircraft pilot with faulty instruments.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;get into someone's pants, Colloquial to have sexual intercourse with someone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;... the pants off someone, Colloquial (humorous) used after a verb, as an intensifier: that lecturer bores the pants off me; this'll scare the pants off her; I'll sue the pants off him!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wear the pants, to be the dominant partner in a relationship. [abbreviation of pantaloons]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, the loan-word 'pantsu' (パンツ) in Japanese suffers from the same conflicted identity - it can mean either underpants or trousers (though perhaps the former is more common).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4002" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T10:59:20.607" />
  <row Id="10260" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-27T11:09:59.083" Score="2" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;The series in the sentence below and its positioning sound awkward. Micro, small and large are all adjectives, but public listed? Has the rule on parallelism been violated? And should anything be hyphenated? I'd like to know what's the best option for cleaning up this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Data were gathered from all micro,&#xA;  small, large and public listed housing&#xA;  developers in XXX.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My attempts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Data were gathered from all housing&#xA;  developers, micro, small, large and&#xA;  public listed,  in XXX&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T14:22:45.210" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T18:42:01.297" Title="Is &quot;public listed&quot; an adjective?" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10247" CreationDate="2011-01-27T11:26:30.500" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strictly speaking, &quot;GPL&quot; is a three letter acronym for GNU &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#WhatDoesGPLStandFor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;General Public License&lt;/a&gt;. (Note the AmE spelling.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“GPL” stands for “General Public License”. The most widespread such license is the GNU General Public License, or GNU GPL for short. This can be further shortened to “GPL”, when it is understood that the GNU GPL is the one intended. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, &quot;GPL License&quot; (with or without the capital L) is an example of the self referentially humorous &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAS_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RAS Syndrome:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the redundant use of one or more of the words that make up an acronym or initialism with the abbreviation itself, thus in effect repeating one or more words&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be aware that some people abhor RAS syndrome so &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In writing intended to persuade, impress, or avoid criticism, the writer is wise to avoid them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T11:26:30.500" />
  <row Id="10262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2625" CreationDate="2011-01-27T11:57:10.743" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;nonsense, your &quot;less formal alternant&quot; is merely a coy way of describing the vernacular; and, as most can deduce, the vernacular (the word, actually) owes its formation to the fact that 99.9999999+% of the english-speaking masses are unaware of so   m a n y   grammatical rules that a rationale was desperately needed to explain away, and justify(?), all the myriad incorrectitudes in each the spoken and written word. ...AND THIS RULE OF the GENETIVE'S PRECEDING THE GERUNDATIVE IS AMONG, IF NOT THE, MOST ABUSED IN THE LANGUAGE... it's simply not acceptable that just because &quot;everybody does it,&quot; it's ok.  however, the damage is done and there's little to no turning back.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i blame our educational system.  we're taught grammar until, more or less, early in high school.  at this point, i believe, our brains are finally mature and receptive enough to finally understand the nuance, the rules, of our language.  at this point, however, most schools cease teaching grammar and concentrate on reading, reading, reading, with few students able to perceive whether or not they're actually viewing proper linguistic usages.  not their fault, of course; but, think for a moment, this lack of a comprehensive knowledge of their own grammar is, probably, the major reason that most students do so poorly when faced with learning a foreign language.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;they are now learning a language, when their brains are mature enough, where grammar is the mainstay, BIG TIME!  It's not only foreign but also alien as they have nothing to which to compare, in their minds, the grammatical rules and nuances now being thrown their way, in profusion.  it's a sad state of affairs and has been in a necessary downward spiral for fifty years or more, perhaps even longer.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i apologize for this having become, more or less, a rant; but, this has long been a personal sore spot for me.  i meant no disrespect to the author(s) and other contributors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gaer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4219" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T11:57:10.743" />
  <row Id="10263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10206" CreationDate="2011-01-27T12:01:52.687" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Heh. That felt wrong to me as well, until I started peeving about it on this very site, and promptly got called to order by &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/39/nohat&quot;&gt;nohat&lt;/a&gt;, and rightfully so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyhow, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_anymore&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While &lt;em&gt;any more&lt;/em&gt; is typically a negative/interrogative &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarity_item&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;polarity item&lt;/a&gt; used in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_polarity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;negative&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Question&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;interrogative&lt;/a&gt;, or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothetical_mood&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hypothetical&lt;/a&gt; contexts, speakers of some dialects of English use it in positive or affirmative contexts, with a meaning similar to &lt;em&gt;nowadays&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;from now on&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Positive &lt;em&gt;anymore&lt;/em&gt; occurs in North American English, especially in the Midlands variety spoken in parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, and Missouri; its usage extends to Utah and some other western US states. [It] also occurs in parts of Ireland and Northern Ireland.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It goes on to list examples of usage as found in Wisconsin, Ontario, Pennsylvania, and Northern Ireland, dating back all the way to 1898.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/any_more&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;marks&lt;/a&gt; the positive &lt;em&gt;any more&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;colloquial, chiefly Northern Ireland, US&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, Merriam-Webster has the following &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anymore&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;usage discussion&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In many regions of the United States the use of &lt;em&gt;anymore&lt;/em&gt; in sense [&quot;at the present time, now&quot;] is quite common in positive constructions, especially in speech &amp;lt;everybody's cool &lt;em&gt;anymore&lt;/em&gt; — Bill White&amp;gt; &amp;lt;every time we leave the house &lt;em&gt;anymore&lt;/em&gt;, I play a game called “Stump the Housebreaker” — Erma Bombeck&amp;gt;. The positive use appears to have been of Midland origin, but it is now reported to be widespread in all speech areas of the United States except New England.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T12:12:49.203" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T12:12:49.203" />
  <row Id="10265" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10268" CreationDate="2011-01-27T12:09:32.767" Score="3" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;Obviously there are two different animals — a tortoise and a turtle. But I have been told by a colleague that in the US the word &lt;em&gt;turtle&lt;/em&gt; is used to describe both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find this odd as for example the Galapagos tortoise was fairly well known (old &amp;amp; big) and it would surely be a mistake to refer to it as a turtle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4221" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T20:09:45.023" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T05:20:40.287" Title="Do Americans use the world 'turtle' as a generic word to mean 'tortoise'?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="10266" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-27T12:15:06.127" Score="0" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;if I have a sentence in simple past, how can I make it in reported speech?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4222" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T13:05:19.843" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T14:07:15.150" Title="Reported speech" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10265" CreationDate="2011-01-27T12:29:19.843" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your colleague is correct to an extent. Generally in British English, tortoise refers to the land animal, turtle to the marine animal, and terrapin to the freshwater animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In U.S. English, &lt;em&gt;turtle&lt;/em&gt; is used as a catch-all term for &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; animals of that type, but distinctive tortoises like the giant Galapagos tortoise will be called such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T12:29:19.843" />
  <row Id="10268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10265" CreationDate="2011-01-27T12:29:44.070" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all depends on how technical you want to be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I am writing as the spouse of a nationally recognized expert on wild turtles, tortoises and terrapins in the US)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the US there are 50 species of &quot;chelonians&quot; excluding sea turtles. Among experts they are identified by strict Latin taxonimic names when precise species identification is required. There is also a looser English taxonomy, but there is enough regional variation that experts fall back on Latin when confusion arises.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, even experts in &quot;casual&quot; conversation use the word &quot;turtle&quot; to include &quot;turtles, tortoises and terrapins&quot;; e.g. &quot;I study turtles&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some non-experts refer to the shelled animals that live primarily in water (lakes, rivers and streams) as &quot;turtles&quot; and those that live primarily on land as &quot;tortoises&quot;. However, in the US northeast, the most common land dweller is the &quot;box &lt;strong&gt;turtle&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottom line, in casual conversations in the US the word &quot;turtle&quot; encompasses all those shelled creatures. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In discussion with passionate &quot;turtle people&quot; try to use the correct taxonomic name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2944" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T05:20:40.287" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T05:20:40.287" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10265" CreationDate="2011-01-27T13:01:17.367" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the NOAD is reported that &lt;em&gt;turtle&lt;/em&gt; means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a slow-moving reptile, enclosed in a scaly or leathery domed shell into which it can retract its head and thick legs. • Family &lt;em&gt;Testudinidae&lt;/em&gt;: numerous genera and species, including the European tortoise (&lt;em&gt;Testudo graeca&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(also sea turtle) a large marine reptile with a bony or leathery shell and flippers, coming ashore annually on sandy beaches to lay eggs. • Families &lt;em&gt;Cheloniidae&lt;/em&gt; (seven species) and &lt;em&gt;Dermochelyidae&lt;/em&gt; (the leatherback).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a freshwater reptile related to the turtles, typically having a flattened shell. Called terrapin in South Africa and India and tortoise in Australia. • Order &lt;em&gt;Chelonia&lt;/em&gt;: several families, in particular &lt;em&gt;Emydidae&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Kinosternidae&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;• any reptile of this order, including the terrapins and tortoises.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's then true that in American English the term &lt;em&gt;turtle&lt;/em&gt; can be used to refer to an animal that in other English languages is called &lt;em&gt;tortoise&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This is not something that happens only in American English, though. Also other languages have a word equivalent to &lt;em&gt;turtle&lt;/em&gt; (In Italian &lt;em&gt;tartaruga&lt;/em&gt;) and one equivalent to &lt;em&gt;tortoise&lt;/em&gt; (in Italian &lt;em&gt;testuggine&lt;/em&gt;), but the first can be used instead of the second (even if it is less accurate).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;To notice also that, for example, in Italian the &lt;em&gt;European tortoise&lt;/em&gt; is called &lt;em&gt;tartaruga&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T13:01:17.367" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10270" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10271" CreationDate="2011-01-27T13:04:21.007" Score="4" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today I came across the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We asked for help and were given none.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It feels and sounds right to me.  However, after decomposing &lt;em&gt;none&lt;/em&gt; into &lt;em&gt;not one&lt;/em&gt;, it becomes apparent that you can't have &lt;em&gt;one help&lt;/em&gt; in this context.  So is &lt;em&gt;none&lt;/em&gt; the right word to use originally?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, what does that say for the &lt;em&gt;none = not one&lt;/em&gt; equivalence?  If not, then what is a better way to phrase it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4089" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T13:06:49.060" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T14:44:58.057" Title="Using an uncountable noun and 'none'" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;uncountable-noun&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10270" CreationDate="2011-01-27T13:13:34.547" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence is correct. None can also mean 'not any', which is the case with uncountable nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T13:13:34.547" />
  <row Id="10272" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10277" CreationDate="2011-01-27T13:13:45.003" Score="5" ViewCount="287" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my native language, we can say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have dog&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because I don't want to say &lt;em&gt;a dog&lt;/em&gt; (one dog, how many dogs) or &lt;em&gt;the dog&lt;/em&gt; (that dog, the listener don't care which dog).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T13:17:46.680" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T16:36:42.407" Title="Why does English need an article before any noun?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;articles&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="10273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10270" CreationDate="2011-01-27T13:15:33.343" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;About using a plural or a singular verb with &lt;em&gt;none&lt;/em&gt;, the NOAD reports:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is sometimes held that none can take only a singular verb, never a plural verb: &lt;em&gt;none of them is coming tonight&lt;/em&gt;, rather than &lt;em&gt;none of them are coming tonight&lt;/em&gt;. There is little justification, historical or grammatical, for this view.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  None is descended from Old English &lt;em&gt;nān&lt;/em&gt;, meaning &lt;em&gt;not one&lt;/em&gt;, and has been used for around a thousand years with both a singular and a plural verb, depending on the context and the emphasis needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would rather write the sentence you reported as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We asked for help and none was given us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the equivalence between &lt;em&gt;none&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;not one&lt;/em&gt;, the meaning of &lt;em&gt;none&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;not any&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;no person&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;no one&lt;/em&gt; when used as pronoun, and &lt;em&gt;by no amount&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;not at all&lt;/em&gt; when used as adverb and it is followed by the definite article.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't use any more water, or there'll be none left for me.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  None could match her looks.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  It is made none the easier by the differences in approach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Replace &lt;em&gt;none&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;not one&lt;/em&gt; in the first sentence, and you get a sentence that is not correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(*) Don't use any more water, or there'll be not one left for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T14:44:58.057" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T14:44:58.057" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10274" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10276" CreationDate="2011-01-27T13:29:30.237" Score="6" ViewCount="261" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear it often, and can usually derive a sentence's meaning with or without it. What does it really mean? When would one use it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1269" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T17:04:18.620" Title="What does &quot;For what it's worth&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="10275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10266" CreationDate="2011-01-27T13:33:40.607" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;With &lt;strong&gt;past perfect&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;He &lt;strong&gt;asked&lt;/strong&gt; a question&quot; -&gt; &quot;You said he &lt;strong&gt;had asked&lt;/strong&gt; a question&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See other examples &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/reported.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T13:33:40.607" />
  <row Id="10276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10274" CreationDate="2011-01-27T13:35:33.500" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means 'whether or not this is of any use/value'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For what it's worth, I'm very sorry I broke the window.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;means, for example, that it may not make any difference to the physical state of the window, but that hopefully the apology helps placate you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's almost a kind of self-deprecation; it's saying 'No words of mine will be adequate, but...'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T13:35:33.500" />
  <row Id="10277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10272" CreationDate="2011-01-27T13:36:50.523" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, first of all, we don't need an article before any noun.  I can say: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I like dogs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to your question of why, the answer is, &quot;because that is how English works&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The articles perform a discourse function, by indicating new and old information.  They often evolve from demonstratives (e.g. &quot;this&quot; and &quot;that&quot;).  They evolve independently in unrelated languages.  Normally, once an article system becomes a part of a language, it is an all-or-nothing thing.  This is not unlike a verbal inflection system, a gender system, or a case system; once the system is in place, it is not optional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from this, there isn't really a more concrete reason for &quot;why&quot; English works this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T13:36:50.523" CommentCount="13" />
  <row Id="10278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10272" CreationDate="2011-01-27T13:42:22.760" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I could just as easily flip this around and say, why does your native language &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; use articles? To me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have dog&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isn't specific enough. Do you have one dog? Multiple dogs? A specific dog?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My point is, different languages have different rules, which make sense to native speakers because that's what they're used to. Consequently languages with different rules make less sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T14:03:11.463" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="10279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10272" CreationDate="2011-01-27T13:57:05.163" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In some languages it's not necessary to use articles before a noun. Persian and Turkish are the examples. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It means that I have a dog. So not using an article before a singular noun is similar to using an article. Also they can use other kinds of articles after the noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In these languages: I have dog. = I have a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in some other languages like English and Arabic you should use an article before a noun to make it clear and specific. Otherwise it's not clear for the reader. So I think that depends on the language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T13:57:05.163" />
  <row Id="10280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10232" CreationDate="2011-01-27T14:02:03.007" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, if the Flash was trying to impress a girl he could say: &quot;I'm gonna move from the left side of the room, to the right. Try to see me.&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4225" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T14:02:03.007" />
  <row Id="10281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10266" CreationDate="2011-01-27T14:07:15.150" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Example: &quot;&lt;strong&gt;I played football at school.&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the reported speech is in &lt;strong&gt;direct&lt;/strong&gt; form you should say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He said that he had played football at school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if the reported speech is in &lt;strong&gt;indirect&lt;/strong&gt; form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I played football at school,&quot; He said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T14:07:15.150" />
  <row Id="10282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10272" CreationDate="2011-01-27T14:18:25.397" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English doesn't require an article before a noun. I can write&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Visitors are welcome everyday.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I like pizza.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He knew Latin and Greek.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In English is not possible to say you have dogs without to say if it's only one dog, or they are many dogs.&#xA;Even if you would say &lt;em&gt;I have my dog&lt;/em&gt;, that would be interpreted as you have one dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T14:18:25.397" />
  <row Id="10283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10260" CreationDate="2011-01-27T14:19:03.747" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the usage of the adjectives in the sentence is good. Because we use adjectives in the following order:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Determiner and Quantities&lt;/strong&gt; - a, an, her, five, many, much several etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Opinion&lt;/strong&gt; - pretty, ugly, smart, cheap, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Size&lt;/strong&gt; - big, fat, thin, tall, large, small etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shape&lt;/strong&gt; - circle, square, tall, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Age&lt;/strong&gt; - old, young 10 years, a year, a week, new etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Color&lt;/strong&gt; - yellow, green, pink etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Origin&lt;/strong&gt; - American, English, Asian, Middle Eastern, African, European, Chinese etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Material&lt;/strong&gt; - cotton, wood, plastic, cloth, glass, gold etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Purpose&lt;/strong&gt; - the reason that something is needed ( example hat box, sleeping bag, computer table)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the example mentioned micro, small and large are used for &lt;strong&gt;size&lt;/strong&gt; and public listed is used for the &lt;strong&gt;purpose&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I can rewrite the sentence like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Data were gathered from all housing developers, including micro, small, large and public listed ones in XXX.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T14:19:03.747" />
  <row Id="10284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10274" CreationDate="2011-01-27T14:25:17.403" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported from the NOAD, &lt;em&gt;for what it is worth&lt;/em&gt; is used to present a comment, suggestion, or opinion without making a claim as to its importance or validity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For what it's worth, she's very highly thought of abroad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T14:25:17.403" />
  <row Id="10285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7476" CreationDate="2011-01-27T14:31:11.890" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For fresh and clever (US) dialogue, I can warmly recommend Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVD series with English subtitles. Anything from Joss Wedon has amazing dialogue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For British English and vocabulary, try to get Antique's Roadshow. I get it on Cable (BBC1 Sundays). &#xA;You will hear an incredible amount of new (or old) words from people with beautiful accents - explanations of what the items are for, from where they came and so on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T14:31:11.890" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-27T14:31:11.890" />
  <row Id="10286" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10291" CreationDate="2011-01-27T14:42:57.150" Score="5" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often run into a case where I need to say I have a doctor's appointment, but how would I properly punctuate it if I wanted to use the abbreviation &quot;Dr.&quot; instead of the word &quot;doctor&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Dr.'s appointment&quot; looks strange to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4018" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T15:20:42.190" Title="What is the proper way to indicate possession when using an abbreviation such as Dr.?" Tags="&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="10287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2544" CreationDate="2011-01-27T14:44:36.647" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Farhad Manjoo has a great article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.slate.com/id/2281146/pagenum/all/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Why you should never, ever use two spaces after a period.&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mr. Manjoo claims that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Every modern typographer agrees on the one-space rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the two-space rule was adopted during the typewriter era of monospaced fonts, it should go the way of the dodo bird given the adoption of proportional fonts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because we've all switched to modern fonts, adding two spaces after a period no longer enhances readability, typographers say. It diminishes it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I have converted to the one-space rule even when using a monospaced font. I agree with Mr. Manjoo that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But I actually think aesthetics are the best argument in favor of one space over two. One space is simpler, cleaner, and more visually pleasing (it also requires less work, which isn't nothing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1150" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T14:44:36.647" />
  <row Id="10288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7476" CreationDate="2011-01-27T14:45:19.080" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For learning English I think it's a better idea to watch series. Each of them can improve some skills of your vocabulary and speaking. I have watched these series and they helped me a lot to improve my English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lost, Prison Break, Flashforward, 24 --&gt; General English&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Friends, Southpark --&gt; Slang Idioms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4096" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T14:45:19.080" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-27T14:45:19.080" />
  <row Id="10289" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10295" CreationDate="2011-01-27T14:50:56.173" Score="4" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;It has always been interesting for me to know how words are made and where they are coming from. Is there any reliable source for etymological studies? any books, or dictionaries out there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T15:10:37.933" Title="Source for etymological study" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;dictionary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10286" CreationDate="2011-01-27T14:53:14.930" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The abbreviation Dr. should only be used preceding the doctor's name. It is poor style to use it otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T15:20:42.190" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T15:20:42.190" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10286" CreationDate="2011-01-27T14:56:52.903" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, the word &lt;em&gt;doctor&lt;/em&gt; is a noun, and is the one to be used in any regular form of speech or writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dr.&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, is a salutation. Like Mr., Mrs. or Prof., it isn't meant to be used as a noun at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer more directly, there is no proper way to use the abbreviated form to indicate possesion, as it isn't a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4215" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T14:56:52.903" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10286" CreationDate="2011-01-27T14:57:37.007" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen many times they use &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Dr.'s&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;. I think it's okay to use it. But if you don't like it this way you can use &quot;&lt;strong&gt;doctor's&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T14:57:37.007" />
  <row Id="10293" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10299" CreationDate="2011-01-27T15:08:08.823" Score="15" ViewCount="368" Body="&lt;p&gt;This phrase is all over the internet. They will say that something is free as in 'free beer' and free as in 'free speech'. I have never really understood this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these the examples of two different types of 'free'? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3982" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T15:14:35.833" Title="Free as in 'free beer' and in 'free speech'" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;pop-culture&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="10294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10289" CreationDate="2011-01-27T15:09:10.803" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The basic sources of this work are Weekley's &quot;An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English,&quot; Klein's &quot;A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language,&quot; &quot;Oxford English Dictionary&quot; (second edition), &quot;Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology,&quot; Holthausen's &quot;Etymologisches Wörterbuch der Englischen Sprache,&quot; and Kipfer and Chapman's &quot;Dictionary of American Slang.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T15:09:10.803" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-27T15:09:10.803" />
  <row Id="10295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10289" CreationDate="2011-01-27T15:10:37.933" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary%3aMain_Page&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Designed as the lexical companion to Wikipedia, the encyclopaedia project, Wiktionary has grown beyond a standard dictionary and now includes a thesaurus, a rhyme guide, phrase books, language statistics and extensive appendices. We aim to include not only the definition of a word, but also enough information to really understand it. Thus etymologies, pronunciations, sample quotations, synonyms, antonyms and translations are included.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T15:10:37.933" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-27T15:10:37.933" />
  <row Id="10297" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10300" CreationDate="2011-01-27T15:12:43.850" Score="1" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm writing an automobile website and some of my paragraphs contain the word &quot;only&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usage of this can be confusing at times, so help is appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand the following. As far as I'm aware, this is right.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only the Volkswagen Polo, Golf, Passat, Passat CC and Sharan are available in this country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This, as far as I am aware means that those Volkswagen vehicles are available, and no other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is where I'm having my problem, in the following articles:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Subaru Legacy was launched recently here. Sold as a sedan or wagon, it is &lt;strong&gt;only available with&lt;/strong&gt; 2.0-litre/148bhp and 2.5-litre/165bhp 4-cylinder petrol engines, for now. The 3.6-litre/256bhp petrol and 2.0-litre/148bhp turbodiesel may arrive in mid-2011.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if I rearrange it as such:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Subaru Legacy was launched recently here. Sold as a sedan or wagon, it is &lt;strong&gt;available only with&lt;/strong&gt; 2.0-litre/148bhp and 2.5-litre/165bhp 4-cylinder petrol engines, for now. The 3.6-litre/256bhp petrol and 2.0-litre/148bhp turbodiesel may arrive in mid-2011.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Subaru Legacy was launched recently here. Sold as a sedan or wagon, it is &lt;strong&gt;available with 2.0-litre/148bhp and 2.5-litre/165bhp 4-cylinder petrol engines only&lt;/strong&gt;, for now. The 3.6-litre/256bhp petrol and 2.0-litre/148bhp turbodiesel may arrive in mid-2011.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's another similar article from my website I'm developing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Toyota have facelifted the Corolla recently here. It is available in three body styles, a five-door hatchback, a four-door sedan and a station wagon. There are two engines available: a 1.3-litre/85bhp and a 1.6-litre/109bhp 4-cylinder petrol.&#xA;  &lt;BR&gt;The hatchback model comes in four versions - GL, GLi, GLX and Executive. &#xA;  &lt;BR&gt;The sedan variant can be specified in GLi and GLX. &lt;strong&gt;Only the sedan version&lt;/strong&gt; gets the&#xA;  1.6-litre/124bhp and 1.8-litre/132bhp engines. &lt;BR&gt; The Station wagon model line-up mirrors that of the hatchback, except the Executive version is unavailable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I understand it, that means one version, no others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if I changed it to these, what would it mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Toyota have facelifted the Corolla recently here. It is available in three body styles, a five-door hatchback, a four-door sedan and a station wagon. There are two engines available: a 1.3-litre/85bhp and a 1.6-litre/109bhp 4-cylinder petrol.&#xA;  &lt;BR&gt;The hatchback model comes in four versions - GL, GLi, GLX and Executive. &#xA;  &lt;BR&gt;The sedan variant can be specified in GLi and GLX. &lt;strong&gt;The sedan version gets the&#xA;  1.6-litre/124bhp and 1.8-litre/132bhp engines only&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;BR&gt; The Station wagon model line-up mirrors that of the hatchback, except the Executive version is unavailable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I understand it correctly, only at the end of a sentence should be used carefully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Toyota have facelifted the Corolla recently here. It is available in three body styles, a five-door hatchback, a four-door sedan and a station wagon. There are two engines available: a 1.3-litre/85bhp and a 1.6-litre/109bhp 4-cylinder petrol.&#xA;  &lt;BR&gt;The hatchback model comes in four versions - GL, GLi, GLX and Executive. &#xA;  &lt;BR&gt;The sedan variant can be specified in GLi and GLX. The sedan version &lt;strong&gt;only gets the&#xA;  1.6-litre/124bhp and 1.8-litre/132bhp engines&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;BR&gt; The Station wagon model line-up mirrors that of the hatchback, except the Executive version is unavailable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apologies if this is very wordy, I'm trying to ensure factual accuracy with my grammar!&#xA;The use of the word &quot;only&quot; and word-order sometimes proves problematic for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All help is appreciated, thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4227" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T16:03:15.650" Title="Use of only and word-order" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10293" CreationDate="2011-01-27T15:13:32.167" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Free beer means you do not have to pay for it. Free speech means you can say what you want. These are two different meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T15:13:32.167" />
  <row Id="10299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10293" CreationDate="2011-01-27T15:14:35.833" Score="29" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratis_versus_Libre&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gratis versus Libre&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Gratis versus libre is the distinction between two meanings of the English adjective &quot;free&quot;; namely, &quot;for zero price&quot; (gratis) and &quot;with few or no restrictions&quot; (libre). The ambiguity of &quot;free&quot; can cause issues where the distinction is important, as it often is in dealing with laws concerning the use of information, such as copyright and patents.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratis_versus_Libre#.22Free_beer.22_vs_.22free_speech.22_distinction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;further&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;With the advent of the free software movement, license schemes were created to give developers more freedom in terms of code sharing, commonly called open source or free and open source software. As the English adjective &lt;em&gt;free&lt;/em&gt; does not distinguish between &quot;for zero price&quot; and &quot;liberty&quot;, the phrases &quot;free as in free beer&quot; (gratis, freeware) and &quot;free as in free speech&quot; (libre, free software) were adopted. [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of free as in free speech, not as in free beer.&quot; — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Richard Stallman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Emphasis added.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T15:14:35.833" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10297" CreationDate="2011-01-27T16:03:15.650" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only the Volkswagen Polo, Golf, Passat, Passat CC and Sharan are available in this country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could be clearer. Although common sense says otherwise, this sounds like these are the only cars available in this country. You might instead use&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The only Volkswagens available in this country are the Polo, Golf…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the article is clearly just about VWs, though, you could probably omit &lt;em&gt;Volkswagen&lt;/em&gt; from the first version and be just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the Subaru Legacy, all three options convey the same meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only the sedan version gets the 1.6-litre/124bhp and 1.8-litre/132bhp engines. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that the these engines come in the sedan version and are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; available in the wagon, which may not be what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The sedan version gets the 1.6-litre/124bhp and 1.8-litre/132bhp engines only. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that these are the only engines available in the sedan (presumably others and perhaps these are also available in the wagon). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The sedan version only gets the 1.6-litre/124bhp and 1.8-litre/132bhp engines. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means something slightly different. Here &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; suggests that something is disappontingly lacking, like we might hope for better options, but these two engines is all we get. This use of &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; is similar to this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wanted the 2010 Audi R8, but I could &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; afford the 1988 VW Rabbit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T16:03:15.650" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10301" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10303" CreationDate="2011-01-27T16:12:04.097" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;As in a number of the smallest de facto units of anything you can have in the universe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently in the running in my mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quanta&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quantums&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4232" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T16:24:56.767" Title="What's the plural of quantum?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10301" CreationDate="2011-01-27T16:15:43.547" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Quanta' is usually used, but 'quantums' is also valid according to the OED.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T16:15:43.547" />
  <row Id="10303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10301" CreationDate="2011-01-27T16:17:39.397" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quantum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quantum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, and the Collins English Dictionary all list only &lt;em&gt;quanta&lt;/em&gt; as the plural form. So if I wanted to be on the safe side, I'd recommend that over &lt;em&gt;quantums&lt;/em&gt;. The usage stats from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; look as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;         BNC   COCA&#xA;&#xA;quanta    35     95&#xA;quantums   0      3&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google results are too skewed to be included, as Quanta seems to be a popular proper name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T16:24:56.767" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T16:24:56.767" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10304" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10308" CreationDate="2011-01-27T16:18:31.800" Score="2" ViewCount="300" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bob:&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;Can I set the font color? Can I customize the text?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Frank:&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;Neither of these options is available. Sorry!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;neither is&quot; always correct or should one use &quot;neither are&quot; in some cases and what are the exact rules? &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=%22neither+are%22+%22neither+is%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;I tried the googles and found a big mess&lt;/a&gt; of this-is-why-stackexchange-exists :P&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1585" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T23:25:16.520" Title="Which is correct, &quot;neither is&quot; or &quot;neither are&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10304" CreationDate="2011-01-27T16:27:08.030" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'font color' and 'text' are both singular, so you use 'is'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If Bob says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Can I customise the font color and text?'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frank could then say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Neither of these options are available. Sorry!'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;because you've grouped 'font color' and 'text' together to form a plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T16:27:08.030" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10304" CreationDate="2011-01-27T16:28:38.513" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's &lt;em&gt;neither option &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; available&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;neither of these options &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; available&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T16:28:38.513" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10272" CreationDate="2011-01-27T16:36:42.407" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not an answer to the question about English articles; but it seems from comments that you may actually be more interested in how to say you keep an unspecified number of dogs.  So, some alternative ways one could achieve that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make a more specific statement mentioning one dog:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;[Showing someone a photo.]&lt;/em&gt;  This is my dog Bruno.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make a statement going covering a wide time period:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I’ve owned dogs for about ten years now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This implies you’ve had more than one dog in total, but leaves open how many you own now.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make a statment which is not directly about the dogs you own, but implies their existence:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Oh, damn!  I forgot to buy dog food today!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I’m definitely a dog person!  I’d get really lonely living without a dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T16:36:42.407" />
  <row Id="10308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10304" CreationDate="2011-01-27T16:53:46.370" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In formal usage, it should definitely be &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Neither of these options is available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the traditional rule (iirc, Fowler’s discusses this at length).  However, in colloquial usage, either option is fine, and &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; seems to now be somewhat more common, at least on teh internets.  A commenter &lt;a href=&quot;http://painintheenglish.com/?p=38&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; nicely describes the sort of thought process which probably pushes people (usually subconsciously) towards using &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wanted to say that “neither of us are cardplayers”, but I know that in that case, I should use “is”. But I also can’t say “neither of us is cardplayers”. So perhaps I should say “neither of us is a cardplayer” which sounds ridiculous to me. Is the conclusion that, in situations like this, one should reconstruct the sentence entirely. So I should really say something like “we aren’t cardplayers”. Fine when you’re writing, but how do you avoid getting into a tangle when talking!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FWIW, “neither of us is a cardplayer” and “neither of us are cardplayers” both sound absolutely fine to my ear.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don’t have time at the moment, but if someone else is in the mood for some corpus or &lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt;-gram searching (or can find someone who’s already done the research), it would be very interesting to know the history of this.  Is the current shift to &lt;em&gt;neither … are&lt;/em&gt; a real phenomenon, or is this just recency illusion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T16:53:46.370" />
  <row Id="10309" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10311" CreationDate="2011-01-27T16:54:28.087" Score="2" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;Observed some words get pronounced with a /sh/ rather than /s/ in certain situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stripes as &quot;Shtripes&quot; (from some &quot;The Wire&quot; episode)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Screw it as &quot;shcrew it&quot; (from a rap song)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both situations, it seems to be a matter of emphasis, but is there some generic etymological root to this, e.g. a yiddish language background?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="222" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T18:10:22.293" Title="Pronunciation of voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ as ʃ (/sh/) in slang?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;emphasis&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="10310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10274" CreationDate="2011-01-27T17:04:18.620" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;for what it's worth&lt;/strong&gt; (informal)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  said when you are giving someone a&#xA;  piece of information and you are not&#xA;  certain if that information is useful&#xA;  or important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/for-what-it-s-worth&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;for all or for what it's worth; for whatever it's worth:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Even though&#xA;  it may not be important or valuable.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  For example, &lt;em&gt;Here's my opinion, for&#xA;  what it's worth&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;For whatever&#xA;  it's worth I've decided to take the&#xA;  train&lt;/em&gt;. [Late 1800s]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/for+all+one+is+worth&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T17:04:18.620" />
  <row Id="10311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10309" CreationDate="2011-01-27T17:13:15.247" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do this.  It is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatalization&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;palatalization&lt;/a&gt; and is caused by the &quot;tr&quot; combo more than anything.  The same process also occurs without &quot;s&quot;, and with &quot;dr&quot;.  I often say, for example, &quot;tree&quot; as [tʃri] (&quot;chree&quot;) and &quot;drier&quot; as [dʒrajɚ] (&quot;jrier&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These variants don't come from Yiddish, German, or any other language.  It is simply a natural phonological process that occurs in many languages, often due to co-articulatory factors.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in this particular case, it is caused because our English &quot;r&quot; sound ([ɹ] to be precise, but for simplicity I'll just use the symbol [r]) is articulated slightly further back in the mouth than [t] or [d].  In anticipation of that &quot;r&quot;, the &quot;t&quot; gets pulled back, which sounds like [tʃ] (&quot;ch&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you add &quot;s&quot; into the mix, it just stretches this co-articulation further, causing palatalization of the &quot;s&quot; &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; the &quot;t&quot;. You actually end up with something like [ʃtʃrit] for &quot;street&quot; ([strit]).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do people do it?  Well, it is normal language change, but as it is a feature of certain dialects, it can make something you say come off as more dialectal; so, one would do this for the same reasons one would use other colloquial or dialectal language.  I would be much more likely to say this around family and friends than at work; I consider it to be friendlier sounding when I speak that way to my wife, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some languages, a given palatalization process can remain a dialectal variant or only occur with free-variation between the standard and palatalized versions.  But, it can also permanently establish itself in the language, and become a regular rule that is always followed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T18:10:22.293" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T18:10:22.293" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10312" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-27T17:17:18.177" Score="0" ViewCount="283" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes some of the emails to people senior to you in the company are left unanswered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the ways to politely remind the person that he needs to reply to your email (which he might have missed/forgotten about)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I once used this as a reply to the sent mail&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please let me know about this when you&#xA;  get a chance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had picked this up from somewhere and am not sure how exactly it conveys the message.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="296" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:28:21.273" Title="How to politely yet effectively remind someone to reply to your email?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;email&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10313" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-27T17:22:27.607" Score="1" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Bit&quot; and &quot;byte&quot; are monosyllabic and therefore short enough to throw around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Kilobyte&quot; is expressed as &quot;K&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Megabyte&quot; turns to &quot;meg&quot;, and &quot;gigabyte&quot; to &quot;gig&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a convenient/conventional abbreviation for &quot;terabyte&quot; and up? The pace of storage and transfer rate increases has already begun to necessitate such terms, but I am unaware of existing ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The question is also relevant to units of speed, since the above abbreviations are used commonly for words ending in &quot;-hertz&quot; as well.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T17:59:20.043" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T17:59:20.043" Title="Abbreviations for higher SI prefixes?" Tags="&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="10314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1413" CreationDate="2011-01-27T17:26:53.610" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;fastly Look up at&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=fastly&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=fastly&amp;amp;searchmode=none&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is the &quot;former adverbial form of fast (adj.), from O.E. fæstlic &quot;firm, fixed, steadfast, resolute;&quot; obsolete in 19c., simple fast taking its place.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There you go folks, that much about logic...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cheers,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4237" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T17:26:53.610" />
  <row Id="10315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10312" CreationDate="2011-01-27T17:27:29.040" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on what the relationship is like with the recipient. If you are fairly friendly you can be less formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you include the e-mail you are referring to in some way, you might say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Have you had a chance to look at this yet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This informally conveys the sense that you know how busy they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a more formal version you would probably want to write it as a full e-mail:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John/Sir/Whatever you'd normally say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was wondering if you have had a chance to look at the e-mail below yet? [Give a reason] Our customer enquired about it earlier today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many thanks,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bob&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T17:27:29.040" />
  <row Id="10316" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10319" CreationDate="2011-01-27T17:30:17.487" Score="5" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the words &quot;computation&quot; and &quot;calculation&quot; are not perfect synonyms what is the difference and which one describes more accurately what is done by a person computing/calculating something on a piece of paper?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="337" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T18:11:23.417" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T02:00:07.340" Title="Difference between &quot;computation&quot; and &quot;calculation&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10317" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10321" CreationDate="2011-01-27T17:31:05.450" Score="3" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is the proper word to use to indicate a large amount of something - &quot;slough&quot; or &quot;slew&quot;?  Eg:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;StackExchange now has a slough of potential new sites in Area51.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;English.stackexchange.com has a slew of questions about pronunciation.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google indicates &quot;a slew of&quot; is more popular than &quot;a slough of&quot;, but isn't &lt;em&gt;slew&lt;/em&gt; the past tense of &lt;em&gt;slay&lt;/em&gt;?  It seems that slough, as in a slow moving channel of water, would be a better metaphor.  No?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4236" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T18:46:44.757" Title="Is it &quot;slough&quot; or &quot;slew&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10313" CreationDate="2011-01-27T17:33:20.923" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm also unaware of any abbreviation for terabytes as storage of that capacity is still relatively rare in consumer equipment. I volunteer 'tees', as it sounds good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This baby has 3 tees of hard drive space!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T17:33:20.923" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10316" CreationDate="2011-01-27T17:39:51.480" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're pretty close to synonyms, but &quot;calculation&quot; implies a strictly arithmetic process, whereas &quot;computation&quot; might involve applying rules in a systematic way. You would calculate your mortgage payment, and you might compute your actuarial health risk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this, IMHO.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T17:39:51.480" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10317" CreationDate="2011-01-27T17:41:45.297" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fact&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Indeed, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slew&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;slew (definition 1)&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;slew&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is the past tense of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slay&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;slay&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;slay&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. However, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slew&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;slew (verb, definition 3)&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;slew&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is also a verb in its own right that means &lt;em&gt;turn&lt;/em&gt;! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/slew_3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American informal usage*&lt;/a&gt;, the noun &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slew&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;slew (noun, definition 4)&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;slew&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, as you rightly indicated, indicates a large number. As in your second example, &lt;em&gt;slew of questions&lt;/em&gt; is not an uncommon phrase. Thus, the usage of &lt;em&gt;slough&lt;/em&gt; in a similar vein would be incorrect. That &lt;em&gt;slough&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;slew&lt;/em&gt; could both be pronounced in the same way is a possible reason for the confusion of the two in writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The noun &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slough&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;slough&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; primarily means &lt;em&gt;swamp&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;bog&lt;/em&gt;, and it often has a dreary or negative connotation, e.g. &lt;em&gt;Slough of Despond&lt;/em&gt; (John Bunyan's &lt;em&gt;The Pilgrim's Progess&lt;/em&gt;), &lt;em&gt;slough of moral filth&lt;/em&gt;, etc. It can also be spelled &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slew&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;slew (definition 2)&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;slew&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Opinion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Frankly, I do not at all think &lt;em&gt;slough&lt;/em&gt; would be a better metaphor, as you suggest. Furthermore, I do not think the etymology of the [&lt;em&gt;US informal&lt;/em&gt;] noun &lt;em&gt;slew&lt;/em&gt; has any relation to that of the verb &lt;em&gt;slay&lt;/em&gt; or its past tense.*&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Addendum*&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Interestingly, Merriam-Webster suggests the origin of the noun &lt;em&gt;slew&lt;/em&gt; thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;perhaps from Irish &lt;em&gt;slua&lt;/em&gt; army, host, throng, from Old Irish &lt;em&gt;slúag&lt;/em&gt;;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*&lt;em&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/slew_3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cambridge Dictionaries Online&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T18:46:44.757" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T18:46:44.757" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10317" CreationDate="2011-01-27T17:46:21.347" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase is definitely &quot;a slew of&quot;. This meaning of the word &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/slew&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;slew&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; comes from Irish &lt;em&gt;slue&lt;/em&gt; &quot;crowd&quot; and has nothing to do with the verb &lt;em&gt;to slay&lt;/em&gt;; the fact that the two words are spelled identically is just another accident of language evolution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T17:46:21.347" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10313" CreationDate="2011-01-27T17:47:21.143" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Terabyte hard drives are actually the standard now, and their capacity is listed as TB, just as GB and MB before them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only short spoken form I've heard is T (&quot;tee&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T17:47:21.143" />
  <row Id="10323" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10382" CreationDate="2011-01-27T17:54:24.913" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;To my ear, the former should be pronounced &quot;vurb-ij&quot; and the latter &quot;fohl-ee-ij&quot; (the endings may vary among &quot;aj&quot;, &quot;edge&quot; and &quot;ij&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I occasionally hear people say &quot;vurb-ee-ij&quot; and often hear &quot;fohl-ij&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they interchangeable? Regional?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T02:11:58.330" Title="Pronunciation of verbiage and foliage" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10313" CreationDate="2011-01-27T17:54:28.830" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where I work, and we deal with storage systems quite a lot, we just call them by the part of the name before &lt;em&gt;byte&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, I recently told my IT manager that I need another three &lt;em&gt;tera&lt;/em&gt; of storage. I've not reached &lt;em&gt;petas&lt;/em&gt; yet myself, but some friends of mine certainly use the term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, it is important to remember that these things are being used as an approximation of the decimal powers to the binary powers. A kiloHertz is 1000 Hertz (10^3), whereas a kiloByte is 1024 Bytes (2^10). This is due to the natural affinity humans have to the powers of ten, and computers to the powers of two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4215" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T17:54:28.830" />
  <row Id="10325" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-27T17:59:10.060" Score="3" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Due to&quot; seems more common than &quot;owing to&quot; in modern English. Is &quot;owing to&quot; simply an old-fashioned way of saying the same thing, or is there a rule to using it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4240" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T00:37:28.303" Title="What is the difference between &quot;owing to&quot; and &quot;due to&quot;?" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10326" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-27T18:05:12.643" Score="3" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to express possibilities on a scale while providing 3 common examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;blue-----------------------orange---red&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I say &quot;Houses in this neighbourhood vary among blue, orange and red,&quot; this means it can be any of the three, but not values in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I say &quot;Houses in this neighbourhood vary between blue, orange and red,&quot; this is incorrect because &lt;em&gt;between&lt;/em&gt; should be used only for two items.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there another word that can be used to represent variance across the entire scale while allowing me to provide three concrete examples, or must I say something like &quot;Houses in this neigbourhood vary in colour; most are blue, orange or red?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;update&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, now that I've asked the question, this option occurs to me: &quot;Houses in this neighbourhood vary from blue to orange to red.&quot; Is that clear?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastEditorUserId="3313" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T18:14:17.503" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T19:02:20.440" Title="Third alternative to &quot;between&quot; and &quot;among?&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10323" CreationDate="2011-01-27T18:05:13.123" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In England, as often as I've heard those words used, they were always ee-aj or ee-ej (like age)at the end.&#xA;So Verb-ee-aj or verb-ee-ej.&#xA;Fol-ee-aj or fol-ee-ej.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4215" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T18:05:13.123" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10328" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-27T18:10:13.573" Score="1" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Who said &quot;I am hungry?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The quotation is not a question, but do I put &quot;my&quot; question mark there anyway?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is related to, but not the same as &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4953/position-of-question-mark-when-sentence-doesnt-end-with-question&quot;&gt;Position of question mark when sentence doesn't end with question&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T21:09:33.007" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T21:09:33.007" Title="Question mark usage/position when sentence ends with a declarative quotation?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;style&gt;&lt;question-mark&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="10329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10326" CreationDate="2011-01-27T18:12:35.147" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a good place to use the lovely word &lt;em&gt;gamut&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Houses in this neighbourhood run the gamut of colours from blue to orange to red.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As gamut means 'the whole scale or range' of a thing, you automatically include everything in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: To answer your edit, no, that just makes it sound like they vary between those three colours. You could say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Houses in this neighbourhood vary from blue to orange to red and everything in between.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T18:21:58.260" />
  <row Id="10330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10328" CreationDate="2011-01-27T18:19:36.623" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you put the question mark inside the speech marks, the speech becomes a question. Your example is thus incorrect as 'I am hungry?' makes little sense as a question, unless the person has brain damage and is unaware of his hunger!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more valid example might be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He asked, &quot;Which way to the museum?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you shift the ? outside the speech marks:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Who said, &quot;I am hungry&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then the whole sentence is now the question: the speaker is asking who stated that they were hungry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You only use one punctuation mark when using speech/quotation marks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T18:19:36.623" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10331" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-27T18:22:38.793" Score="0" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;the decrease in the total 'value' of the set when one member is removed is negligible when contrasted with the expected conceptual individual value of each member as part of the functioning whole. i.e. a single ant as a member, and the ant colony as the set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4304" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T23:13:12.170" Title="Single word to describe the relationship existing between a member of a set and the set it is a member of where..." Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;mathematics&gt;&lt;word-formation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="10332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10331" CreationDate="2011-01-27T18:25:26.027" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question makes my brain hurt because it is one massive sentence, but I think you've answered it yourself: &lt;em&gt;member&lt;/em&gt; would probably be appropriate, but there are probably many variations dependent on the specific context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T18:25:26.027" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10326" CreationDate="2011-01-27T18:27:17.760" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Spectrum&quot;--it's particularly apropos for your color-based example, but can also work for any continuous scale:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Houses in this neighborhood cover the spectrum from blue to orange to red.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility would be to say &quot;range from&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Houses in this neighborhood range from blue through orange all the way to red.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T19:43:42.763" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T19:43:42.763" />
  <row Id="10334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10260" CreationDate="2011-01-27T18:30:41.140" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me, the only unnatural point here is that &lt;em&gt;publicly listed&lt;/em&gt; is parallel to &lt;em&gt;micro&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;small&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;large&lt;/em&gt;, because the latter three are related to &lt;em&gt;size&lt;/em&gt; while the former is not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Data were collected from micro, small and large publicly listed housing developers in XXX.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sounds fine for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T18:30:41.140" />
  <row Id="10335" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10339" CreationDate="2011-01-27T18:34:31.760" Score="5" ViewCount="348" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of us heard about such levels as Beginner, Intermediate, Upper Intermediate, Advanced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I understand &quot;Fluent&quot; is the highest level when describing someone's English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But how would you describe it?&#xA;Some people think that &quot;Fluent&quot; is just when you speak very good (relative to other non-native speakers). But I think this is not enough. I think that you can say that you speak fluently when it is hard for native speakers to understand (based on your speech, accent and grammar) that English is not your native language. And if a native speaker can quickly (matter of seconds, or a minute) understand that your are a foreigner - you don't have a fluent level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4242" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T04:56:55.660" Title="How would you define &quot;Fluent&quot; level in English?" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="10336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10260" CreationDate="2011-01-27T18:42:01.297" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming that the true intention is to say that only publicly listed housing developers contributed data to it, then I agree with Dante Jiang's reformulation: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Data were collected from micro, small and large publicly listed housing developers in XXX.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if 'publicly listed' is intended as an additional optional attribute, then including a second parallel construction explicitly stating the other set of options would be good:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Data were collected from all housing developers: micro, small, and large, publicly and privately listed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T18:42:01.297" />
  <row Id="10337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9735" CreationDate="2011-01-27T18:47:33.320" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've done some research and I can't see why you haven't accepted one of the two top answers so far.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/462/regulatory-bodies-and-authoritative-dictionaries-for-english&quot;&gt;there is no authority in english language&lt;/a&gt;, which is a good thing. Even if there was something, do you prefer oxford or wikipedia? With that, I like to think of english as an adaptive language in which we are obligated to think and judge its rules for ourselves through observation and logic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/593/why-is-it-bad-to-start-a-sentence-with-and&quot;&gt;And&lt;/a&gt; in this case, as people already said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-1 can be singular like in &quot;minus 1 thing&quot; or plural as in &quot;negative 1 things&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's (minus) one of those things that only makes sense when you have some background knowledge and speak it out loud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4241" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T18:47:33.320" />
  <row Id="10338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10335" CreationDate="2011-01-27T18:48:15.380" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strictly speaking 'fluent' in relation to speech means only that it flows smoothly and easily. There is no implication that you shouldn't be able to detect the non-native status of the speaker, and I think this is a perhaps too high a standard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone speaks English as well as the average Englishman, but has a slight accent that betrays his foreign origins, does that mean he isn't fluent? I'd consider someone fluent if they didn't need to pause to think of a word any more than a native.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T18:48:15.380" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10335" CreationDate="2011-01-27T18:49:05.093" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For an answer to this question, I will refer you to Jack Seward, who covers this topic specifically in his book &lt;em&gt;Japanese in Action&lt;/em&gt;. Although he is talking about Japanese, the same things are true of any language, including English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To be accurately judged fluent in [a language], I believe a [non-native speaker] should have the following qualifications:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He should be able to conduct all his daily affairs (business, visits to the doctor, TV-ing, bar-hopping, lovemaking, etc.) completely in [the language] without strain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;His accent may not be perfect, but it should occasion no confusion or merriment among his listeners.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He should be able to read [publications in the language] (newspapers, weekly magazines, and letters in the [cursive] ... style), with only an occasional reference to a dictionary.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He goes on to propose that a test for fluency in the language should require the test taker to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Translate a newspaper article&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Speak in [the language] on the telephone, as a test of accent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Write a letter in [the language].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Interpret a taped conversation between two [native speakers of the language].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Comprehend a newscast.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Identify five major dialects.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Read a letter written in [cursive handwriting].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;[Not applicable]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Give the meanings of one hundred technical words or phrases ... from the fields of medicine, law, economy, science, and the arts ... [which are readily understood by the average native-speaker who is a college graduate].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Walk down the street and [read and interpret] the first twenty signs to be sighted.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Give a ten-minute, impromptu talk about an everyday topic of conversation (sports, politics, travel, traffic, etc.), the topic to be selected [at random].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T18:49:05.093" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10265" CreationDate="2011-01-27T19:04:52.283" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. American English often uses &quot;turtle&quot; for tortoise, in British English the two terms are not interchangeable, and (for what it's worth) Indian English often uses &lt;em&gt;tortoise&lt;/em&gt; as the generic term for both turtles and tortoises. (&lt;em&gt;The Hare and the Tortoise&lt;/em&gt; is never *&lt;em&gt;The Hare and the Turtle&lt;/em&gt;, and Indian languages—and Japanese is similar according to a comment above—usually have the same words for both, and this is mapped to &lt;em&gt;tortoise&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;turtle&lt;/em&gt;.) So it varies from region to region.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As evidence, the Compact Oxford English Dictionary (UK) says, under &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/tortoise?view=uk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;tortoise&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; that it's &quot;Called turtle in North America&quot;, and the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language gives, under &lt;a href=&quot;http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/tortoise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;tortoise&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, definition 1b saying &quot;&lt;i&gt;Chiefly British&lt;/i&gt; A terrestrial or freshwater chelonian.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That they are distinct in British English can be seen from this exchange from &lt;a href=&quot;http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/c/carroll/lewis/alice/chapter9.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Alice's Adventures in Wonderland&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“When we were little,” the Mock Turtle went on at last, more calmly, though still sobbing a little now and then, “we went to school in the sea. The master was an old Turtle—we used to call him Tortoise–—”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn’t one?” Alice asked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“We called him Tortoise because he taught us,” said the Mock Turtle angrily. “Really you are very dull!”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T19:04:52.283" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10342" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-27T19:34:05.117" Score="4" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it &quot;more&quot; correct to say &quot;Luckily for me&quot; or &quot;Lucky for me&quot; ? I found a few sites that discussed this (including m-w.com, under the rubric &quot;hopefully&quot;) but I'm still not sure if one is specifically right or wrong, or both are acceptable. (Or one is right, while the other is acceptable using colloquial language.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any insight greatly appreciated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4246" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T21:11:30.433" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T21:11:30.433" Title="&quot;lucky&quot; or &quot;luckily&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10343" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-27T19:36:31.303" Score="4" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;There is no means to listen what he is saying.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;There are no means to listen what he is saying.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4247" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T19:38:59.200" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T23:22:54.527" Title="Is &quot;means&quot; plural or singular?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10343" CreationDate="2011-01-27T19:52:14.617" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0507460#m_en_gb0507460&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries&lt;/a&gt; it can be &quot;treated as singular or plural&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I find the plural form more natural in your example. Also note that you need another &quot;to&quot;: There are no means to listen &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; what he is saying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1951" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T19:52:14.617" />
  <row Id="10345" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10567" CreationDate="2011-01-27T20:09:31.847" Score="3" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello, all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the correct way to say it: &quot;I will not do it nor do that&quot;, &quot;I will do neither it nor do that&quot; or some other way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; I think I did not expressed my doubts well. What I am looking for is whether it is possible to use &quot;neither&quot; or &quot;nor&quot; between two subordinate clauses, such as in &quot;I will not buy groceries neither eat at a restaurant&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4248" LastEditorUserId="4248" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T16:02:58.380" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T16:21:14.433" Title="How to say that someone will execute none of two actions" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10345" CreationDate="2011-01-27T20:20:14.450" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about this: 'I will do neither'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4249" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T20:20:14.450" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10345" CreationDate="2011-01-27T20:20:38.787" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could always simply say &quot;I won't do either of those&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T20:20:38.787" />
  <row Id="10349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10342" CreationDate="2011-01-27T20:24:57.693" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Luckily, as it's an adverb. Compare it to 'happily'. You wouldn't say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Happy for me, I met my long-lost brother the other day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T20:24:57.693" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10335" CreationDate="2011-01-27T21:26:59.107" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would propose that a &quot;fluent&quot; speaker is one who can &lt;em&gt;learn&lt;/em&gt; the language &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; the language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This of course needs some clarification, as newborns are not fluent in their regional language even though they primarily learn to speak in their regional language. I would argue that everyone learns their first language in info-graphic association (or equivalent for those with disabilities).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3846" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T21:26:59.107" />
  <row Id="10351" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10352" CreationDate="2011-01-27T21:28:25.820" Score="0" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which of the following is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Don't come in, I'm busy.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2) Don't come in; I'm busy.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3) Don't come in.  I'm busy.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4) Don't come in I'm busy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4253" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T21:09:22.773" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T21:09:22.773" Title="Help with sentence: don't come in ..." Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="10352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10351" CreationDate="2011-01-27T21:34:43.097" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of the four choices, the only one that doesn't work is 4.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't come in, I'm busy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is a comma splice, but acceptable informally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't come in; I'm busy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is perfectly fine, but a bit musty and over-educated for many uses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't come in. I'm busy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is probably the simplest, but may not express the connectedness of the two sentences sufficiently for your taste. (Note: It doesn't have to. Apposition is a form of connection.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also consider&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't come in: I'm busy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The colon indicates that &quot;I'm busy&quot; is a direct explanation of the command that comes before it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But of the four I myself would go with No. 3. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T21:34:43.097" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10353" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10354" CreationDate="2011-01-27T21:39:50.943" Score="0" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://nancyfriedman.typepad.com/away_with_words/demonyms/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Fritinancy entry&lt;/a&gt;, the demonym for Norfolk, England is &quot;North Anglian,&quot; rather than &quot;Norfolker&quot; or &quot;Norfolkite,&quot; for historical reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about Norfolk, Virginia, in the United States? I suppose you could argue for the same historical reasons, since it was named after Norfolk in England, but that just feels wrong to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T21:53:50.657" Title="What is the demonym for Norfolk, Virginia?" Tags="&lt;demonyms&gt;&lt;latin&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10353" CreationDate="2011-01-27T21:53:50.657" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'North Anglian' is inappropriate, because while Norfolk, England is in the North East Anglia region, this is not true of Norfolk, VA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As 'Norfolkers' could be construed as insulting given the sound of the last couple of syllables, I'd say Norfolkites is appropriate: a search online throws up no results to suggest otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there many demonyms for relatively minor US towns? Obviously major cities like New York, Chicago, L.A. and San Francisco have them, but surely that isn't the case for &lt;em&gt;every&lt;/em&gt; town, because there are just so many. Would people from Norfolk not just refer to themselves as Virginians? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(They might even smile when they say it: 10 kudos points for anyone who explains that reference without resorting to Google! :) )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T21:53:50.657" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10355" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10357" CreationDate="2011-01-27T22:01:09.543" Score="6" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;A colleague and I were reading a corporate memo that contained the phrase 'redouble our efforts'.  His claim was that the word &lt;em&gt;redouble&lt;/em&gt; was equivalent to &lt;em&gt;double&lt;/em&gt; and simply nonstandard.  (Similar to, say, using &lt;em&gt;irregardless&lt;/em&gt; in place of &lt;em&gt;regardless&lt;/em&gt;).  I've heard this phrase fairly frequently, and don't see anything wrong with it in particular, but I was wondering if perhaps there was some style guide that prescribed against it or something similar that marked a preference for simply &lt;em&gt;doubling our efforts&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;redoubling&lt;/em&gt; them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T22:17:30.943" Title="Usage of 'Redouble'" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="10356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10355" CreationDate="2011-01-27T22:10:44.643" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;redouble&lt;/em&gt; comes from French &lt;em&gt;re-&lt;/em&gt; plus &lt;em&gt;doubler&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;to double&quot;. So to &lt;em&gt;redouble one's efforts&lt;/em&gt; really means to double them again, to &lt;em&gt;further&lt;/em&gt; emphasise or reinforce them beyond whatever doubling you may have done before. However, I'd go so far as to say that in corporate jargon, and even in common usage, it really is just a poor substitute for &lt;em&gt;double&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;increase.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastEditorUserId="1506" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T22:15:59.567" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T22:15:59.567" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10355" CreationDate="2011-01-27T22:13:33.990" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Redouble&quot; is a valid word in its own right, not non-standard at all.  Its use is uncommon, to be sure, seen primarily in the idiomatic expression that you reference.  Technically, according to its etymology (french &quot;re-&quot; + &quot;doubler&quot;), it should mean either &quot;to quadruple&quot; or &quot;to double a second time.&quot;  However, it has over time acquired a broader meaning as &quot;intensify&quot; or &quot;strengthen.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T22:13:33.990" />
  <row Id="10358" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10383" CreationDate="2011-01-27T22:15:29.667" Score="6" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question will seem weird to a native speaker because “I better don’t” sounds inherently wrong and unusual. But if you think about it, it’s an irregularity; normally when a verb is negated and there is no auxiliary already present, the auxiliary “do” is inserted and usually contracted with the “not” to form “don’t”. The exceptional construct “I better not” baffles some non-native speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the etymological history behind the construction “I better not (+verb)”? Did this sentence use to contain an auxiliary which has disappeared?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="764" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T02:27:01.793" Title="Why is it “I better not (+verb)” instead of “I better don’t (+verb)”?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="10359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10358" CreationDate="2011-01-27T22:17:16.037" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's because the full form is &quot;I &lt;strong&gt;had&lt;/strong&gt; better not [do something]&quot; - but the &quot;had&quot; is sometimes dropped in colloquial language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/hadbetter/menu.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3566" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T22:17:16.037" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10355" CreationDate="2011-01-27T22:17:30.943" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The expression can both mean &lt;em&gt;to double&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;to double again&lt;/em&gt;. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/redouble&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;thefreedictionary.com/redouble&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the situation it should be evident if it means to double something that was doubled before or simply to double something. If it's not evident, the expression should naturally be avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T22:17:30.943" />
  <row Id="10361" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10366" CreationDate="2011-01-27T22:27:52.210" Score="7" ViewCount="341" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend and I are trying to remember a word to describe someone who is overly proud of their education. An example usage would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does that email make me appear too &lt;em&gt;blank&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where &lt;em&gt;blank&lt;/em&gt; is the word I am looking for, in case that is not obvious. He thought the word was &quot;erudite&quot; but when that appears to just mean educated, it doesn't convey the sense of condescending pride we are looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the word I we are looking for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4257" LastEditorUserId="4257" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T22:54:29.883" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T11:27:06.457" Title="What's the word for &quot;overly proud of your education&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="10363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10358" CreationDate="2011-01-27T22:36:20.527" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As romkyns mentioned, the full form of the phrase is &quot;I had better not&quot;. In this case &quot;had&quot; is not past tense, it's actually the subjunctive mood of the the phrase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of the phrase &quot;Were I to do this&quot;. In this case, &quot;were&quot; is not the imperfect of to be (as in &quot;They were playing&quot;) but rather an indication of a subjunctive phrase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the same respect, &quot;had&quot; is not past tense of to have, it is a subjunctive indicator. If you take out &quot;better&quot;, the phrase would become &quot;I should not&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4205" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T22:36:20.527" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10364" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10377" CreationDate="2011-01-27T22:42:03.457" Score="2" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I was given a document titled &lt;em&gt;Standing Rules&lt;/em&gt; of an English speaking club of a local community, which was written in English, and asked to study the contents. &#xA;I wondered what difference between &lt;em&gt;standing rules&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;rules&lt;/em&gt; is. Why can’t we simply put &lt;em&gt;rules&lt;/em&gt; when there exists no other version of the club rules. So I checked dictionary.com, which showed me an example of the California State PTA. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It says&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The standing rules direct the administration of the organization. They are more flexible than bylaws and are adopted by the membership as a need arises. Standing rules are procedural rather than parliamentary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the Rules of California State PTA, I found that there are &lt;em&gt;rules&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;bylaw rules&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;standing rules&lt;/em&gt; in regard with administration of an organization. &#xA;Can anybody teach me the basic difference of these three &lt;em&gt;rules&lt;/em&gt; in a easy to understand way? Or give me brief definitions of these three words. By the way, do we always need to affix &lt;em&gt;standing&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;rules&lt;/em&gt; for club rules?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T03:38:29.130" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T03:38:29.130" Title="What are the differences among ‘Rules’, ‘Standing Rules’, and ‘Bylaw’?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="10365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10361" CreationDate="2011-01-27T22:48:17.053" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some use pedantic with a negative flair, but that's not a noun. Were you to change your statement to say &quot;Does that email make me appear too pedantic?&quot; I think that will give you what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4205" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T22:48:17.053" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10361" CreationDate="2011-01-27T22:55:20.287" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your example, I would probably use the word &lt;em&gt;smartass&lt;/em&gt; or a more milder &lt;em&gt;smartypants&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;em&gt;condescending&lt;/em&gt;, a word you used later in your question, conveys perfectly well what you're trying to ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does that email make me sound too condescending?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T22:55:20.287" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10361" CreationDate="2011-01-27T23:07:53.163" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sometimes say, &quot;pardon me if this sounds a bit &lt;em&gt;professorial&lt;/em&gt;...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Hifalutin' is the closest I can think of...pretentious?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T23:07:53.163" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10331" CreationDate="2011-01-27T23:13:12.170" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know of an existing word, but if I were to coin one, I would call that member a &quot;deminimality&quot;, from &quot;de minimis&quot;, which is the effect you have whether you add or remove it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While an ant colony in aggregate can reshape a landscape, each individual ant is but a deminimality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T23:13:12.170" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10370" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10372" CreationDate="2011-01-27T23:46:11.603" Score="2" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;This occured to me when I was drafting an email.  I wanted to mention in the email that something that I had estimated earlier to take 5 days was not as complex, and I could finish it in 1 day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which of the following is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It turned out (to be?) much simpler that I had thought.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It turned up (to be?) much simpler than I had thought.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2093" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T23:57:54.877" Title="Difference between 'turn up' and 'turn out'" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10371" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10374" CreationDate="2011-01-27T23:48:24.923" Score="4" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess the question sounds a bit intimidating, but the real-life example I am referring to should be easy for a native speaker.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am proofreading, or rather copy editing, a research paper intended for an international conference. Neither me nor my co worker who wrote it is a native English speaker. I managed to set lots of grammar straight, but there is a sentence I find extremely tricky. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She writes &quot;The framework is developed since about eight years&quot;. As far as I can tell, the grammatically correct form of this sentence is &quot;The framework has been in development for about eight years&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, this sounds as if we want the framework to be finished at some point, and it has taken so terribly long to develop and is not yet finished. We don't want to make such an impression, as this is an ongoing project which already has finalized, usable versions, but it is also still being developed because we are continuously improving it and expanding it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is my interpretation correct, or am I just confused by some similar structure in some other language? And if it is correct, how can I change the wording (without making it significantly longer) so it reads just as the mentioning of the starting point of a process expected to continue for an indeterminable length of time in the future? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T00:04:36.270" Title="Does the use of present perfect continuous with a time reference in the past imply an intention to finish, and if yes, how to avoid it?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="10372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10370" CreationDate="2011-01-27T23:57:54.877" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct choice in your case is &quot;It turned out to be much simpler than I had thought&quot;. (Notice, not &quot;that&quot;, but &quot;than&quot;). This means you discovered that the thing was simple. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;It turned up&quot; means that something appeared physically. For example, &quot;My sister didn't turn up for my birthday party&quot; means that she did not come to the party. Or &quot;The sweater I thought lost turned up in laundry&quot;. This means that I had thought that I had lost it, but I found it in the laundry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of those verbs have other meanings too, but the ones I give here are very common in everyday speach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T23:57:54.877" />
  <row Id="10373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10361" CreationDate="2011-01-27T23:59:32.390" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was going to say &quot;pretentious&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps &lt;strong&gt;pompous&lt;/strong&gt; would be a good fit here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T23:59:32.390" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10371" CreationDate="2011-01-28T00:04:36.270" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your interpretation is correct--the sentence as currently worded seems to imply that the framework is still unfinished. (However, your corrected version has the advantage of being grammatically correct, which the original wasn't.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I might try a completely different rewording: &lt;em&gt;Development of the framework has been ongoing for about eight years.&lt;/em&gt; If you need to be explicit about the fact that you've already released, you could add something like &lt;em&gt;In this time there have been N stable public releases, which can be downloaded from &lt;a href=&quot;http://example.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://example.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T00:04:36.270" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10361" CreationDate="2011-01-28T00:18:58.247" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would &lt;em&gt;uppity&lt;/em&gt; be the word you're looking for by chance?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also &lt;em&gt;snobbish&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2161" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T10:17:04.337" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T10:17:04.337" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="10376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10325" CreationDate="2011-01-28T00:37:28.303" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think perhaps the distinction has fallen out of favour, but &quot;due to&quot; seems to apply to nouns and &quot;owing to&quot; applies to verbs. As in: &quot;he was beaten owing to his lack of skill&quot; vs. &quot;his defeat was due to his lack of skill&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4240" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T00:37:28.303" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10364" CreationDate="2011-01-28T00:38:40.160" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bylaws are usually laws implemented by a local chapter of a larger organization. Standing rules are just like other rules, but may be amended. And rules, as they say, are rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In all candor, I have to tell you that these terms are used pretty much on an &lt;em&gt;ad hoc&lt;/em&gt; basis, and there is no central authority that determines which rules should be called what. If you are setting up an organization, you can pretty much call the rules that govern it any of the above, or choose a different synonym. If you are setting up a corporation, what your rules are called will be probably be according to the specifications of the state in which you incorporate; in any case, you'd be hiring a lawyer whose job it is to know these things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short answer: don't worry too much about it. It will only make you crazy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T00:38:40.160" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10361" CreationDate="2011-01-28T00:40:38.363" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would call such a person a &quot;diploma snob&quot; ... but that's just me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T00:40:38.363" />
  <row Id="10379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10361" CreationDate="2011-01-28T01:10:59.900" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well I would personally use the word &lt;em&gt;elitist&lt;/em&gt; for that role, assuming the &quot;overly proud&quot; emphasis is on showing up that the author has superior education.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does that email make me sound too &lt;em&gt;elitist&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Failing that I would use &lt;em&gt;condescending&lt;/em&gt; as @ghoppe suggested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T01:10:59.900" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="516" CreationDate="2011-01-28T01:33:20.603" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am an American living in Australia, and I'm not sure anymore what I pull from American English, and what I pull from Australian English, but I use &quot;different from&quot; unless I'm using more/less, as in &quot;more different than&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4258" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T01:33:20.603" />
  <row Id="10381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10316" CreationDate="2011-01-28T02:00:07.340" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For something on a piece of paper, especially a napkin or back of an envelope, I would use &lt;i&gt;calculation&lt;/i&gt;.  Not accidentally, I think &lt;i&gt;calculation&lt;/i&gt; implies something you would do with a calculator; &lt;i&gt;computation&lt;/i&gt; something that would require a computer.  (Granted, many of today's calculators are much more powerful than the &quot;computers&quot; that were available in the early days of computing.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference is fairly subtle, though, and it is no great crime to use either word in place of the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T02:00:07.340" />
  <row Id="10382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10323" CreationDate="2011-01-28T02:11:58.330" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Merriam-Webster and my own experience, the three-syllable versions of both words are the &quot;more proper&quot; ones.  While the two-syllable version of &lt;i&gt;verbiage&lt;/i&gt; is quite common, I rarely hear &lt;i&gt;foliage&lt;/i&gt; with only two syllables (but this could be regional; see below).  M-W marks two-syllable pronunciations of &lt;i&gt;foliage&lt;/i&gt; as &quot;questionable&quot;.  Here is an explanatory excerpt from M-W:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The disyllabic pronunciation \ˈfō-lij\&#xA;  is very common. Some commentators&#xA;  insist that foliage requires a&#xA;  trisyllabic pronunciation because of&#xA;  its spelling, but words of a similar&#xA;  pattern such as carriage and marriage&#xA;  do not fall under their prescription.&#xA;  The pronunciation \ˈfȯi-lij\ is&#xA;  disapproved because it suggests the&#xA;  transposition of the l and i in the&#xA;  spelling. It is not as common as&#xA;  \ˈfō-lij\ and may be associated with&#xA;  the nonstandard spelling foilage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T02:11:58.330" />
  <row Id="10383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10358" CreationDate="2011-01-28T02:27:01.793" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The full phrase is &lt;em&gt;I had better&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;I'd better,&lt;/em&gt; and it has a rather obscure and interesting history. It seems to be derived from an Old English phrase like &lt;em&gt;betera me&lt;/em&gt;*, literally &lt;em&gt;better to me&lt;/em&gt; and having the meaning &lt;em&gt;it would be better for me.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The object &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; changed to the subject &lt;em&gt;I,&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt; showed up in the phrase some time in the Middle English period. This probably arose by association with &lt;em&gt;I would better,&lt;/em&gt; which is why it's always &lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt; and not a present or other form of &lt;em&gt;to have.&lt;/em&gt; As other answers have mentioned, where in Old English it took the infinitive, the phrase now takes the subjunctive, hence &lt;em&gt;I'd better go,&lt;/em&gt; not &lt;em&gt;I'd better to go.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that &lt;em&gt;best&lt;/em&gt; may be used as well: &lt;em&gt;I (had) best avoid rattlesnakes.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*I don't know how to inflect this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T02:27:01.793" />
  <row Id="10384" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10484" CreationDate="2011-01-28T03:03:43.293" Score="9" ViewCount="278" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why are there different ways of indicating gender for animals?&#xA;For instance, by inflexion we get:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;lion (male) &amp;amp; lioness (female)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where the female is distinguished from the male. Here the male is also known by the general (&lt;em&gt;have I used this correctly&lt;/em&gt;?) term for this type of animal, i.e. lion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, in another instance, we have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;duck (female) &amp;amp; drake (male)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where the male is distinguished from the female by a distinct or different word and also from the general term for this type of fowl, i.e. duck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, for kangaroos and rabbits, we have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;buck (male) &amp;amp; doe (female)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where neither are known by the general term, nor is there any inflexion; instead,  distinct names are used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do these different ways for indicating gender exist? Why is it that in some cases the male is differentiated from the female and vice-versa. And why in some cases are both female and male known by words so different from the general term used to describe them?&#xA;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastEditorUserId="3733" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T18:42:50.273" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T18:42:50.273" Title="Feminine and masculine nouns of animals and indicating their difference in gender" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;gender&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="10385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10384" CreationDate="2011-01-28T03:13:18.723" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because they come from a time when people were more intimately involved with animals than they are now. Nowadays most people can't tell the difference between a hen and a rooster, but 500 years ago they sure could. Most of the terms you'll encounter of this nature come either from farming or hunting, which were big parts of the economy of the average village. You won't see this in newly discovered species for the same reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T03:21:33.747" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T03:21:33.747" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10386" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-28T04:05:08.933" Score="4" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;what is the relationship with the word &quot;mother&quot; there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4261" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T15:08:11.290" Title="Why do we say &quot;motherboard&quot; to refer to the main board of a computer?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10361" CreationDate="2011-01-28T04:09:05.857" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intellectual snob&lt;/strong&gt; is a good noun for it.  Unfortunately the obvious adjectival version, &lt;em&gt;intellectually snobbish&lt;/em&gt;, isn’t such a standard idiom, so doesn’t (to my ear) work quite as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you’re in Britain or Australia, then &lt;strong&gt;poncy&lt;/strong&gt; (adj.) or &lt;strong&gt;ponce&lt;/strong&gt; (noun) will also do you well here.  I don’t think those are used much though (or even widely-known?) in the states; not sure about other countries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T04:09:05.857" />
  <row Id="10388" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10401" CreationDate="2011-01-28T04:12:30.080" Score="4" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does &quot;lace-up&quot;, &quot;open-throat or wide-set&quot; and &quot;closed-throat or close-set&quot; mean in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/how_9646_select-shoes-wear.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How to Select Shoes to Wear With a Man's Suit&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Wear lace-up shoes for your most&#xA;  formal occasions. Open-throat or&#xA;  wide-set laces are less dressy than&#xA;  shoes with closed-throat or close-set&#xA;  laces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my guess:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;lace-up&quot; is some style of shoes but&#xA;I am not sure what it is like and&#xA;what other styles it is opposed to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;open-throat or wide-set&quot; and&#xA;&quot;closed-throat or close-set&quot; are used&#xA;to specify other aspects of laces. I&#xA;am also not sure what they mean.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It will be nice if there are links to details and pictures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks and regards!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T05:42:43.917" Title="Meaning of terms of shoe laces" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="10389" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10393" CreationDate="2011-01-28T04:15:42.403" Score="4" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw a phrase, &lt;em&gt;stuck to the script&lt;/em&gt; in the following sentence in New York Times (Jan. 27) article reporting this year’s Academy Award nomination,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Academy Award nominations, announced this morning in Los Angeles, mostly stuck to the script that Oscar-season observers expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My interpretation of &lt;em&gt;stuck to the script&lt;/em&gt; here is a figurative expression of &lt;em&gt;as anticipated, therefore, no surprise&lt;/em&gt;. Is it right? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, this might sound a naive question, when someone like President, or Prime minister is delivering a speech, say the State of Union or opening address relying on a pre-prepared script on teleprompter, is he stuck to the script?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T06:55:06.273" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T06:55:06.273" Title="When President Obama makes a speech by using teleprompter, is he stuck to the script?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10390" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10439" CreationDate="2011-01-28T04:17:42.033" Score="7" ViewCount="240" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English, we us &lt;em&gt;a la carte&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;a la mode&lt;/em&gt;, but it is also common for people to add their own word to the basic construction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, one might comment on someone's dancing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He showed us some moves a la 1987.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One might comment on a public address:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She addressed the assembled parents a la Evita Perón.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to mean &quot;in the style of&quot; or &quot;reminiscent of.&quot; Does anyone know if this is consistent with the meaning in French?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3313" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T18:55:59.343" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T18:55:59.343" Title="Does the casual use of &quot;a la ___&quot; in English preserve the French meaning?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;foreign-words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10386" CreationDate="2011-01-28T04:26:24.937" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mother lode&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;mother ship&lt;/em&gt; are older compounds along similar lines (both dating to at least 19th century, in mining and whaling respectively).  Perhaps &lt;em&gt;motherboard&lt;/em&gt; was coined by analogy with one of those?  (Influence from &lt;em&gt;mother ship&lt;/em&gt; seems very plausible, due to its sci-fi popularity.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In each case, “mother X” seems to mean roughly “a big X, associated to some group of smaller X’s” — the metaphor seems fairly clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately I can’t find any reliable sources right now with specific info on the origin of &lt;em&gt;motherboard&lt;/em&gt; — hopefully someone else can, or I’ll try again tomorrow when I have OED access again…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T06:13:46.060" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T06:13:46.060" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10389" CreationDate="2011-01-28T04:30:15.710" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it means they did what was expected. Nothing unusual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Sticking to the script&quot; means not ad libbing (ad lib, from &lt;em&gt;ad libitum&lt;/em&gt;, meaning freely or as you will). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is &lt;em&gt;extremely&lt;/em&gt; unlikely that a major public figure like the President would go off script and start ad-libbing, especially during a marquee event like the State of the Union Address. A comedian might do that, because they're quick-witted. Jon Stewart can do that. But most politicians know, deep down, that going off script can only get them into trouble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T04:30:15.710" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10389" CreationDate="2011-01-28T04:42:05.983" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes-ish&lt;/strong&gt;: the phrase is right, but the grammar is slightly different from how you’re using it.  &lt;em&gt;Stuck&lt;/em&gt; always acts as a verb in this phrase, not as an adjective, so it would be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When Obama made his speech today, he stuck to the script.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When Obama makes a speech with a telepromter, he always sticks to the script.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your original example, the core sentence structure is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The nominations mostly stuck to the script.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That aside, your gloss of the figurative meaning is spot on, and I don’t have anything to add to Robusto’s excellent elaboration of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T04:42:05.983" />
  <row Id="10394" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10399" CreationDate="2011-01-28T04:47:36.807" Score="7" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw this message on an advert:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Get a high speed connection without&#xA;  roaming charges instantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am pretty sure that a better way to say it is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Instantly get a high speed connection&#xA;  without roaming charges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I am right about the first construction being wrong/poor, is there a name for the &lt;em&gt;abusage&lt;/em&gt;? I run across such constructions fairly regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="669" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T09:41:59.733" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T09:41:59.733" Title="Get a high speed connection without roaming charges instantly." Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;construction&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="10395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10335" CreationDate="2011-01-28T04:56:55.660" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can define &quot;fluent&quot; semantically however you wish to set a standard for yourself or others.  Awesome, semantics are cool!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In practice, I think &quot;fluency&quot; is generally used in the sense of &quot;having the ability to reciprocally communicate naturally without miscommunication&quot;, and to that extent alone.  It's not exactly a rigorous term from the get go, just a 'nation' if you will.  After all, &quot;fluency&quot; is often used to describe even domain languages within English.  I might be &quot;fluent&quot; in computer technology, but not be &quot;fluent&quot; in Biology terminology.  I may even be &quot;fluent&quot; in a technical field that crosses languages such as scientific latin or mathematical notation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heck, we even use &quot;fluency&quot; to describe ability in things that don't even relate to language, because the concept is sort of broad from the beginning.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's more important to set a specific goal and achieve that than to rely on the definition of a word validating your ability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as a funny philosophical comparison, if you never /notice/ a speaker make a mistake, is he still fluent?  That is, if a tree falls in an empty forest, does it make a sound?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4262" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T04:56:55.660" />
  <row Id="10396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10394" CreationDate="2011-01-28T04:59:50.430" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think the &quot;instantly&quot; applies to how fast you can get a high speed connection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would rather apply to how fast you start having increasing charges &lt;em&gt;as soon as&lt;/em&gt; you get said high speed connection.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In that sense, the construction is adequate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T04:59:50.430" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10389" CreationDate="2011-01-28T05:02:54.813" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sort of, but not quite. To &quot;stick to the script&quot; means to stick to a pre-determined sequence of events and words (the &quot;script&quot;, figuratively). This is not necessarily the same as &quot;anticipated, therefore, no surprise&quot;. In your example sentence &quot;The Academy Award nominations […] mostly stuck to the script that Oscar-season observers expected&quot; it &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; mean that, but that meaning arises from the script being &quot;the script that observers expected&quot;. In rare cases, the &quot;script&quot; could be the opposite of what was anticipated, as in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Most observers predicted that the president would back out of his earlier announcement following the protests, but surprisingly, he stuck to the script.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the &quot;script&quot; is the script that the president had announced earlier, not necessarily that the script that was 'anticipated, so no surprise'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are right that more generally a script can be anything pre-determined, as in a prepared speech. If the president simply reads from his teleprompter, you can say he sticks to the script (or, in the past tense, that he stuck to the script). If you say &quot;he &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; stuck to the script&quot;, it can suggest that he doesn't have a choice and &lt;em&gt;has&lt;/em&gt; to follow the script.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T05:02:54.813" />
  <row Id="10398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10021" CreationDate="2011-01-28T05:05:52.967" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like many words, &quot;diagnose&quot; has acquired a new sense. The use of this sense has risen rapidly over the past 40 years. Here is a Google ngram graph comparing “diagnosed with” (the contested usage) with “diagnosed as” since 1970:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/GzdTX.png&quot; alt=&quot;Google ngram image of &amp;quot;diagnose with&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;diagnose as&amp;quot; since 1900&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The objected-to usage has experienced a dramatic rise and the traditional usage has been experiencing a steady decline since 1985. It seems the new sense is rapidly eclipsing the old one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=2yJusP0vrdgC&amp;amp;lpg=PP1&amp;amp;dq=merriam%20webster%20usage&amp;amp;pg=PA338#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage&lt;/a&gt; provides justification for the usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lurie 1927 disapproves of using the verb &lt;em&gt;diagnose&lt;/em&gt; with a person as its object, even though there is often no other way of avoiding a stilted sentence. Several other more recent complaints have been lodged against this use, but not all of the commentary has been negative. Evans 1962 gives his approval: “there is bitter wisdom int he popular usage, for a man and his sickness ar one.… It is a soothing fiction that the man “has” the malady; too often the malady has him.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because this use sounds very familiar in spite of the fact that we have only a relatively small amount of evidence for it in our files, we believe that it is more frequently found in speech than in writing. However, the usefulness of this sense of &lt;em&gt;diagnose&lt;/em&gt; is manifest, and its use in writing may well increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;… the women… have diagnosed themselves accurately —Joseph P. Donnelly, M.D. &lt;em&gt;Redbook&lt;/em&gt;, March 1964&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;    &#xA;    &lt;p&gt;…Yang was diagnosed mentally ill—Alan M. Dershowitz, &lt;em&gt;Psychology Today&lt;/em&gt;, February 1969&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;    &#xA;    &lt;p&gt;Cindy was first diagnosed a year ago… as having a tumor—Janice Eidus, &lt;em&gt;Johns Hopkins Mag.&lt;/em&gt; May 1977&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;    &#xA;    &lt;p&gt;Dr. Root, the first to diagnose me correctly —Nan Robertson, &lt;em&gt;N. Y. Times Mag.&lt;/em&gt; 19 Sept. 1982&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many more examples can be found in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&amp;amp;q=8459187&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;, and the original questioner’s copious dictionary citations show that this usage is well-accepted even in dictionaries. The &lt;em&gt;Merriam-Webster Collegiate&lt;/em&gt; dictionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diagnose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;also gives in sense 1b&lt;/a&gt; “to diagnose a disease or condition in &amp;lt;&lt;em&gt;diagnosed&lt;/em&gt; the patient&amp;gt;”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since words acquiring new meanings happens continuously, it is curious why some new meanings garner objections while most do not. This new meaning is useful and frequent, and provides no ambiguity or other alleged deficits of some other criticized usages. Frankly, if you are going to make pedantic objections, one should eschew the verb &lt;em&gt;diagnose&lt;/em&gt; altogether, since it is a new-fangled word that only dates to 1859 and is a &lt;em&gt;back-formation&lt;/em&gt; (gasp!) from &lt;em&gt;diagnosis&lt;/em&gt;. In my opinion, it should be used freely, and we can let the critics pat themselves on the back for avoiding it and feel superior to those who use it, while the rest of the world goes on using it, oblivious to the critics’ pointless objections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T05:32:06.563" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T05:32:06.563" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10394" CreationDate="2011-01-28T05:17:12.770" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both versions are grammatically correct.  Your version (with the adverb at the front) would probably be more common in most writing or speech — it is slightly unusual for an adverb to get separated from its verb phrase by another adverbial phrase like this.  In this case it seems OK (at least to my ear); but I’d agree that in some cases the separated version can really be quite horrible, to the point of being ungrammatical; compare:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sally ate the cake quickly with great pleasure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;?Sally ate the cake with great pleasure quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in advertising (like in headline-writing), writers are trying to fulfil a lot of other demands in a very small space, so somewhat unusual phrasings often occur.  In this case, putting “Get a high-speed roaming connection” first makes the subject of the ad more immediately clear, and putting “instantly” last gives the phrase a good punchy ending.  I’d guess these are the sorts of things the writer had in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T05:33:25.270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T05:33:25.270" />
  <row Id="10400" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-28T05:22:36.880" Score="8" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;When one meets someone from overseas it's often a fun game to guess where they are from. It's easy to spot the Scots, American, French and others because they have very different accents. However listening to performers from the same places it seems to me they lose their accents and sound more similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;OBSERVATION&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people have sighted several artists and styles. My observations lead me to believe the more powerful a voice and performance the less accent is hidden. Some singers are very soft and perhaps it could be argued are almost speaking to you rather than singing and these often have some form of accent encoded in their &quot;speaking&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4264" LastEditorUserId="4264" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T09:59:10.067" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T05:23:37.077" ClosedDate="2011-02-03T11:38:57.020" Title="Is it just me or do songs when sung seem to all have no accents." Tags="&lt;accent&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="10401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10388" CreationDate="2011-01-28T05:36:57.170" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lace-up Shoes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shoes that you tie up with laces. Can be either open-throat or closed-throat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Open-Throat Shoes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The leather that holds the laces opens up at the bottom of the laces at the part closest to your toes. This causes each side to appear to split apart from one another at the bottom:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/bsFnz.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;open-throat shoes 1&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/cI8Uo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;open-throat shoes 2&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Closed-Throat Shoes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The leather that holds the laces looks like part of the rest of the shoe and doesn't open up at the bottom:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/ddORH.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;closed-throat shoes 1&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/xtIGn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;closed=throat shoes 2&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastEditorUserId="3918" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T05:42:43.917" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T05:42:43.917" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10402" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10405" CreationDate="2011-01-28T05:51:22.880" Score="6" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does &quot;strike home&quot; mean in this sentence?:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;This example ought to strike home for you&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T06:06:41.067" Title="What does &quot;strike home&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10390" CreationDate="2011-01-28T05:54:25.967" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meaning is not preserved, at least in sentences like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He showed us some moves à la 1987.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's true that &lt;em&gt;à la Evita Peron&lt;/em&gt; would mean &lt;em&gt;in the style used by Evita Peron&lt;/em&gt;, and that French people would say &lt;em&gt;à la française&lt;/em&gt; to mean &lt;em&gt;in the French style&lt;/em&gt;, but &lt;em&gt;à la 1987&lt;/em&gt; would not mean &lt;em&gt;in the style used on 1987&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general meaning of &lt;em&gt;à la&lt;/em&gt; in French is &lt;em&gt;at the&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;, but in some cases it can also mean &lt;em&gt;by&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;in (the)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;à la cime de l'arbre -&gt; at the top of the tree&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  à la conclusion -&gt; at the conclusion&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  à la fin de -&gt; at the end&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  à la maison -&gt; to home&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  à la hâte -&gt; in haste&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  à la main -&gt; by hand&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T13:09:53.197" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T13:09:53.197" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="10404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10402" CreationDate="2011-01-28T06:03:05.710" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To strike home for you&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;to be understood from you&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence could be re-written as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This example was supposed to be understood by you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T06:03:05.710" />
  <row Id="10405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10402" CreationDate="2011-01-28T06:06:41.067" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Literally, &lt;em&gt;strike home&lt;/em&gt; means to deal an effective blow, hit a vulnerable part, or wound critically or mortally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Figuratively, as in your example, it means to have the intended effect, to hit the mark, or to cause a sudden understanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what they're saying is that the example given should be so relevant and obvious that you immediately gain an understanding of what they were trying to demonstrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T06:06:41.067" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10406" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-28T06:13:51.567" Score="0" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to apply for vacancy of UN, In Baku (Azerbaijan) office. What are the most important feautures those I should pay attention while writing. What I should note for attracting their attention? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3273" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T06:13:51.567" ClosedDate="2011-01-28T08:31:16.223" Title="Cover letter-what is this?" Tags="&lt;correspondence&gt;" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10400" CreationDate="2011-01-28T06:34:01.553" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My personal take on this is that - when non-native english singers are cutting an album and marketing it specifically to target a global audience, they purposely tone down on their accent and make it more neutral. Its more to do with market dynamics than anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In albums that are not necessarily meant to be so &quot;global / mass market&quot;, i feel that effect is distinctly less pronounced. An example that comes to mind is that of American / Australian country songs where I think that their accent definitely comes through and is a lot more pronounced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2761" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T06:34:01.553" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10408" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10416" CreationDate="2011-01-28T06:49:03.423" Score="1" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Modish&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;youngish&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;girlish&lt;/em&gt; are accepted words. Is &lt;em&gt;1970-ish&lt;/em&gt; accepted too, or even understood to be an English word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T10:13:11.253" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T16:37:07.823" Title="1970-ish: Is it an accepted word? If so, what does it mean?" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="10409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10408" CreationDate="2011-01-28T06:55:25.433" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Accepted? Don’t know. I would print it. What it means: I’d expect either “circa 1970” or “in roughly the mode of the early 70s,” depending on usage context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4204" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T06:55:25.433" />
  <row Id="10410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10390" CreationDate="2011-01-28T07:39:08.053" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;kiamlaluno is half right. &lt;em&gt;À la&lt;/em&gt; would generally be literally translated by &lt;em&gt;at the&lt;/em&gt; in english. However, in some case, it would have the same meaning as in english. Take for example the following expression meaning &quot;to take French leave&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;filer à l'anglaise&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would be translated to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;flee english style&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the top of my head, I can only think of example using nationality, but I'm quite sure that it is used in other cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; If you want to have some sources in the web, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%C3%A0_la#French&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; confirms that the second meaning of the French word is &lt;em&gt;in the manner of&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;in the style of&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T07:45:09.730" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T07:45:09.730" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10411" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10424" CreationDate="2011-01-28T07:43:59.663" Score="4" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a word ‘Yes-ish’ in the answer (from PLL) to my question about the meaning of ‘Stuck to the script’ I posted today.  As it is quite new to my ear, I consulted with Wikipedia before logging out the forum, which says:&#xA; (Yesih) is yes with a condition or limitation, and similarly Noish (but this of course tends more to a ....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is ‘Yes-sh / Yessh’ often heard in day-to-day conversation among American people or found in casual writings.&#xA;How ‘Yes-sh’ is different from ‘Yes’ in its implication, supposing it’s an informal or colloquial expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T21:04:09.907" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T21:04:09.907" Title="Is ‘Yes-ish’ a perfect alternative to Yes, or is it 'Yes ‘on condition’? Is it received English?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;formality&gt;&lt;suffix&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="10412" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10415" CreationDate="2011-01-28T07:47:29.897" Score="3" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The milk having soured, Martha drank her coffee black.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this sentence a run-on sentence, or is it an (grammatically) acceptable sentence? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T08:21:56.683" Title="Is this sentence a run-on sentence?" Tags="&lt;run-ons&gt;&lt;complex-sentences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="10413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10411" CreationDate="2011-01-28T07:55:51.620" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The definition for &lt;em&gt;-ish&lt;/em&gt; is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-ish&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  suffix forming adjectives:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. (from nouns) having the qualities or characteristics of: &lt;em&gt;apish&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;girlish&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • of nationality or religious or ethnic group: &lt;em&gt;Swedish&lt;/em&gt; , &lt;em&gt;Amish&lt;/em&gt;, Flemish.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. (from adjectives) somewhat: &lt;em&gt;yellowish&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • informal denoting an approximate age or time of day: &lt;em&gt;sixish&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that &lt;em&gt;yes-ish&lt;/em&gt; can be understood as &lt;em&gt;somewhat yes&lt;/em&gt;, even &lt;em&gt;yes&lt;/em&gt; is not an adjective and &lt;em&gt;-ish&lt;/em&gt; is not used to form an adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T07:55:51.620" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="10414" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-28T08:05:17.113" Score="6" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dear Answerers,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What can I do to inhabit the English language more? I moved to America at around age 14-15. Now I'm 28 and I still find that I'm nowhere near the native level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over and over again, I've found that my English comprehension can be mechanical or literal. For example, I would hear a joke in English and not laugh, while hearing the same joke in my language would bring me the totality of the absurdity of that joke, and I would laugh. This frustrates me because I would at times miss the &quot;whole picture&quot; of whatever I happen to be reading, or especially during socializing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes also, when reading aloud, I would focus on the pronunciation, my reading, and I would miss the content. I wouldn't know what just happened, but those who were listening to me would. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other times, when speaking and thinking simultaneously, I would focus on my thoughts and my English accent would be terrible. I think I'd come off as stuttering. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also a certain elusive distance when speaking English as well. My English self is almost a different person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When visiting my birth country, I'd be surprised by the ease of my native language use. I did not have to try at all, and everything was so immediate to me, so easy and natural like using my hands. I would be the one who corrected others, &quot;That just doesn't sound right, the way you say it.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have had any experience successfully acquiring a second language, what would you suggest? Is this something I would see a speech pathologist about? Language specialist? I'm very frustrated with myself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4270" LastEditorUserId="4270" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T08:16:09.920" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T14:30:36.620" ClosedDate="2011-01-28T15:36:13.147" Title="How to inhabit the English language to the native fluency?" Tags="&lt;esl&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="10415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10412" CreationDate="2011-01-28T08:15:26.647" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A run-on sentence is one in which two or more independent clauses are joined without correct punctuation or without the use of a conjunction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence in the example is not a run-on sentence. It has only one independent clause. &lt;em&gt;The milk having soured&lt;/em&gt; is an introductory participial phrase and is correctly followed by a comma. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's an example of a run-on sentence with two independent clauses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The milk had soured, Martha had her coffee black.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastEditorUserId="2972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T08:21:56.683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T08:21:56.683" />
  <row Id="10416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10408" CreationDate="2011-01-28T09:37:24.670" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Acceptable or not depends on where you try to use it. New words are formed like this all the time, but in a more formal situation you would only use such words if they are already widely known.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning of &lt;em&gt;1970-ish&lt;/em&gt; would depend on the situation. It can mean &lt;em&gt;circa 1970&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They stopped manufacturing that model 1970-ish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also mean &lt;em&gt;in a 1970 style&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That lamp really looks 1970-ish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T10:14:40.643" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T10:14:40.643" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10400" CreationDate="2011-01-28T09:55:56.780" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many European singers emulate an American or mid-Atlantic accent. I imagine this may be partly because of the prevalence of this accent in popular songs (a self-reinforcing effect) and partly as a result of record companies' desire to make records acceptable to the USA's large music market.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some that don't, for example the Pogues accent was clearly non-American. Some singers with non-American accents are accused of faking a local accent - for example, Lily Allen has been accused of having a mock-cockney (Mockney) accent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some genres of music don't have this characteristic. For example folk music, shanties etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T09:55:56.780" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10361" CreationDate="2011-01-28T10:07:35.980" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does that e-mail make me appear too meritocratic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4273" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T10:07:35.980" />
  <row Id="10419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10408" CreationDate="2011-01-28T11:23:06.213" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sure a few purists might object, but I would suggest that it will be &lt;em&gt;accepted&lt;/em&gt; by the majority, in that they will be fairly clear in what is meant by the term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thinking about it further, I'm not beyond tagging -ish onto various other words or phrases myself. Hardly the heights of eloquence but it usually gets the message across, which is surely purpose of language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T11:23:06.213" />
  <row Id="10420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10361" CreationDate="2011-01-28T11:27:06.457" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like Al's &lt;code&gt;Pretentious&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;Pompous&lt;/code&gt; offerings, but I'd also add &lt;code&gt;Conceited&lt;/code&gt; as one on my own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T11:27:06.457" />
  <row Id="10421" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10422" CreationDate="2011-01-28T11:29:58.237" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;so feel autumn rain&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can 'feel' be modified by 'so' without saying what's the feeling?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Leaving with twilight though I was chosen&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why 'I was chosen' can be the cause of 'leaving with twilight'. You didn't chose, You were chosen. (and be chosen for what?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I find the dreams are to stay&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Who to stay? the dreams or 'i' ?  I just don't know which is the object of 'find'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Full lyric:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;Leaving with twilight though I was chosen&#xA;To wander the way in the darkest of nights&#xA;Oh, in the summer sun how soon I came to stray&#xA;A true damnation, when I turned away&#xA;&#xA;So fell autumn rain, washed away all my pain&#xA;I feel brighter somehow, lighter somehow to breathe once again&#xA;So fell autumn rain, washed my sorrows away&#xA;With the sunset behind somehow I find the dreams are to stay&#xA;So fell autumn rain&#xA;&#xA;Blinded by dawning so you would take me&#xA;Further away, away from the fall&#xA;Oh, you told me I must never dream again&#xA;A true damnation, you left me the pain&#xA;&#xA;So fell autumn rain, but all things must pass&#xA;&#xA;So fell autumn rain, washed away all my pain&#xA;I feel brighter somehow, lighter somehow to breathe once again&#xA;So fell autumn rain, washed my sorrows away&#xA;With the sunset behind somehow I find the dreams are to stay&#xA;So fell winter&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T04:18:06.713" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T04:18:06.713" Title="Some questions about the lyric of &quot;so feel autumn rain&quot;." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;lyrics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="10422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10421" CreationDate="2011-01-28T11:44:27.930" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, you have misread the lyrics. It doesn't say 'so feel autumn rain', it says 'so fell autumn rain'. Fell is the past tense of fall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;'Though I was chosen'&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need to read the next line to help put it in context. Writing it as sentence you get:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Leaving in twilight, though I was chosen to wander the way in the darkest of nights'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it's saying, even though I was chosen to wander at night, I am leaving in twilight (which means the late evening, when the light fades).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I find the dreams are to stay&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means 'I discover that the dreams will continue'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the deeper meaning of all this, that's a matter of poetry and up to your interpretation. Or you could look up the song on a search engine and see if the artist has explained the reasoning behind the lyrics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T11:44:27.930" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10423" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-28T11:47:58.833" Score="1" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;When someone asks whether you have completed a task e.g. shopping, dinner. What should be your answer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, the former sentence's formation, Sub + VBe+ Past Participle, falls to passive voice. Therefore, it has a totally different meaning from &lt;em&gt;I have done&lt;/em&gt; Sub + Predicate (verb intransitive).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Addendum:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary 3rd ed., the verb &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; is an intransitive verb in the meaning of complete/finish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the sentence, same formation as &lt;em&gt;I am done&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am beautiful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The verb &lt;em&gt;am&lt;/em&gt; (of VBe) links the adj &lt;em&gt;beautiful&lt;/em&gt; to the subject of the sentence &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt;. Therefore I, the subject of the sentence, is beautiful (in other words, state of being).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then in the sentence :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The subject, &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt;, is linked to the adjective &lt;em&gt;done&lt;/em&gt;. So the subject's state of being is &lt;em&gt;done&lt;/em&gt;, in other words &lt;em&gt;dead&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2990" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T23:09:08.323" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T23:09:08.323" Title="I'm done or I've done" Tags="&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="10424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10411" CreationDate="2011-01-28T11:52:47.670" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'ish' is added to some words to denote 'sort of'. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was tall-ish&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Means he was tall, but not extremely so. Taller than average, but not basketball-player tall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm tired-ish&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Means you're a little tired but not totally 'knackered' (a bit of British slang there).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally '-ish' is considered informal; slightly slang-ish!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You perhaps wouldn't use it in formal situations like a business meeting. It's not considered &lt;em&gt;rude&lt;/em&gt;, it's just something you'd use in more relaxed settings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This reminds me of a joke by a British comedian called Jimmy Carr&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Catholics have a confirmation where someone says, &quot;You are definitely Catholic&quot;. Jews are never sure: they say &quot;Well, I'm Jew-ish&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the comedian has made a 'play on words' and used the 'sort of' meaning of -ish as opposed to that seen in Jewish, English etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T11:52:47.670" />
  <row Id="10425" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10429" CreationDate="2011-01-28T11:55:12.990" Score="8" ViewCount="453" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;infertile&quot;, &quot;fruitless&quot;? How would you describe such a woman in an informal talk to your friend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T22:22:47.310" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T23:08:27.797" Title="Informal way to describe a woman that can not have a baby?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10408" CreationDate="2011-01-28T11:56:17.340" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;OED 2nd Ed supports -ish forming in your case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2.2 Added to other ns., with the sense ‘Of or belonging to a person or thing, of the nature or character of’. These were not numerous in OE., whence only a few have come down to later times. Examples are folcisc popular, hǽðenisc heathenish, þéodisc national, inlęndisc inlandish, utlęndisc outlandish (which come close to the gentile group in 1); also męnnisc human, cildisc childish, cierlisc churlish. In later times this ending has become exceedingly common, sometimes in the earlier colourless sense as boyish, girlish, waggish, but chiefly in a derogatory sense, ‘Having the (bad or objectionable) qualities of’: as in apish, babyish, boarish, boorish, brutish, clownish, currish, devilish, doggish, doltish, dronish, foolish, foppish, goatish, ghoulish, hoggish, impish, knavish, mannish, monkish, mulish, owlish, prudish, roguish, selfish, shrewish, sluggish, sluttish, sottish, swinish, thievish, waspish, whorish, wolvish, womanish. (These have usually corresponding Ger. forms in -isch.) Also from names of things, with sense ‘of the nature of, tending to’, as in aguish, blockish, bookish, brinish, feverish, freakish, hellish, moorish; or from other parts of speech, as snappish, stand-offish, uppish.&#xA;  In recent colloquial and journalistic use, -ish has become the favourite ending for forming adjs. for the nonce (esp. of a slighting or depreciatory nature) on proper names of persons, places, or things, and even on phrases, e.g. Disraelitish, Heine-ish, Mark Twainish, Micawberish, Miss Martineauish, Queen Annish, Spectator-ish, Tupperish, West Endish; all-over-ish, at-homeish, devil-may-care-ish, how-d'ye-doish, jolly-good-fellowish, merry-go-roundish, out-of-townish, and the like. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the sentence :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is a 1970-ish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would understand his character is back to 1970s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2990" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T11:56:17.340" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10427" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-28T11:56:35.657" Score="2" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my friends tutors a group of children aged 6 through 10. These children are addicted to using the word &quot;like&quot; inappropriately, their sentences are peppered with the word &quot;like&quot;, and my friend wants to make them quit that habit! &lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what I came up with: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Teach them where the word &quot;like&quot; is appropriate&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;br/&gt; Where should the word &quot;like&quot; be used?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Identify the patterns in their inappropriate usage of the word &quot;like&quot; and teach them the correct substitutes&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;br/&gt; I would like to know some of the popular wrong usages of the word &quot;like&quot;. &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Eg: Sophia was like, &quot;Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How would you have dealt with this?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2237" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T13:25:34.153" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T14:10:45.247" ClosedDate="2011-01-28T13:29:50.983" Title="How do you make a person quit using the word &quot;like&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="10428" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10433" CreationDate="2011-01-28T11:57:30.013" Score="8" ViewCount="295" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does r/t and e/w stand for when shown after the price?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Flight from $300 r/t&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  and flight $100 e/w&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1096" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T13:23:13.250" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T13:23:13.250" Title="What does r/t and e/w stand for, after the flight ticket price?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="10429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10425" CreationDate="2011-01-28T11:59:52.487" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't use a particular word, I'd just say, &quot;She can't have a baby.&quot; &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;I would never say something like, &quot;She is &lt;a href=&quot;http://thesaurus.com/browse/infertile&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;infertile/fruitless/barren/sterile&lt;/a&gt;.&quot; – I find that extremely rude.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2237" LastEditorUserId="2237" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T23:11:04.240" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T23:11:04.240" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="10430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10423" CreationDate="2011-01-28T12:00:21.783" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Have' is strictly correct. You would properly say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yes, I have done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yes, I have finished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, 'I am done', 'I'm done', or 'I'm all done' is also generally accepted to mean the same thing. I believe it's more prevalent in US English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T12:00:21.783" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10431" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-28T12:02:40.800" Score="10" ViewCount="289" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3841/what-day-is-next-tuesday&quot;&gt;What day is next Tuesday?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I refer to the very next Monday that will occur in the future, I say &quot;next Monday&quot;. Some colleagues refer to it as &quot;this Monday&quot;, with &quot;next Monday&quot; meaning the second Monday which will occur in the future (I would refer to that as &quot;Monday week&quot;, &quot;this Monday&quot; to me would mean the most recent Monday in the past).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these both acceptable usages, or is one more correct than the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4275" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T15:44:04.953" ClosedDate="2011-01-28T15:48:33.173" Title="Is &quot;this Monday&quot; or &quot;next Monday&quot; the correct way to refer to the very next Monday in the future?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;future-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10427" CreationDate="2011-01-28T12:08:21.867" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Obviously, you need to teach them the correct usage, but that will likely (pun intended) not be enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'd turn it into some sort of game. In the UK, most schools have houses so penalising children for incorrect use of 'like' (and ideally offering a corresponding 'carrot' elsewhere) with the loss of house points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is no house system, holding week/month/term-long competition: a child earns a point for incorrect usage, and the child(ren) with the lowest total ear a prize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[When I was at the upper end of that age range, I had a teacher who ran a year long competion within the class. Points were earned for various tests and questions in class. Points were lost for incorrect answers (and we were also hit on the hand with a wooden ruler - perhaps this practice is left in the 1970s). The top 10 children received a book at the end of the year. It certainly added interest to lessons.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastEditorUserId="2302" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T12:25:49.037" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T12:25:49.037" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10428" CreationDate="2011-01-28T12:24:02.730" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/Each/Way&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;e/w&lt;/a&gt;: Each Way – A to B. &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/r/t&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;r/t&lt;/a&gt;: Round Trip – A to B and B to A.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2237" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T12:24:02.730" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10431" CreationDate="2011-01-28T12:33:35.673" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me, the meaning of &lt;code&gt;this Monday&lt;/code&gt; depends on the tense; in the past tense, I would take it to mean this past Monday, and in future tense, I would take it to mean this coming Monday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Next Monday&lt;/code&gt; I take to mean the next Monday in the calendar (so between 1 and 7 days in the future), and like you, I condsider &lt;code&gt;Monday week&lt;/code&gt; = &lt;code&gt;a week on Monday&lt;/code&gt;, but I'm unsure how widespread this usage is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T12:46:57.403" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T12:46:57.403" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10425" CreationDate="2011-01-28T12:40:42.283" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Historically, a woman with such a condition was considered to be &lt;em&gt;barren&lt;/em&gt;, but that word is not used much today (although it is nevertheless likely to be understood). Nowadays, one would probably say she is &quot;seeing a fertility counselor&quot; or some such circumlocution, and people would infer the rest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T12:40:42.283" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10431" CreationDate="2011-01-28T12:51:47.910" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is always a contentious issue and it does come down to personal preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would take 'last Monday' to mean the previous Monday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'This Monday' is the very next Monday in the calendar. If it's Sunday, 'this Monday' is tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Next Monday' is the next &lt;em&gt;but one&lt;/em&gt;. If it's Sunday, 'next Monday' is a week tomorrow. I too would take 'Monday week' to mean 'a week on Monday'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T12:51:47.910" />
  <row Id="10437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10423" CreationDate="2011-01-28T13:16:18.777" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Done&lt;/em&gt; is used as the past participle in combination with &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt;, obviously, but &lt;em&gt;done&lt;/em&gt; is also used as an adjective meaning &quot;carried out, completed, or treated in a particular way: &lt;em&gt;her hunting days were done&lt;/em&gt;&quot; (Webster's); as such, either statement is correct depending on the context. Usually, &quot;I have done&quot; would require an object (done &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt;, precisely?) and &quot;I am done&quot; would signify that one was finished with, say, a task. At least in the U.S., a person would be much more likely to say &quot;I'm done&quot; to indicate the conclusion of an activity like homework or chores, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T13:16:18.777" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10438" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10441" CreationDate="2011-01-28T13:20:41.863" Score="8" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;In American English, &lt;em&gt;à la mode&lt;/em&gt; means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in fashion, up to date.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;with ice cream.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(of beef) braised in wine, typically with vegetables.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the first meaning matches the French meaning, the other two meanings are different. Why does &lt;em&gt;à la mode&lt;/em&gt; have also the last two meanings, in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T15:33:47.037" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T15:33:47.037" Title="Origin of the meaning of &quot;à la mode&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10390" CreationDate="2011-01-28T13:24:18.757" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, the French &lt;strong&gt;“à la”&lt;/strong&gt; means &lt;strong&gt;“in the style of”&lt;/strong&gt;. It is a shortening of &lt;em&gt;“à la manière de”&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;“in the manner/style of”&lt;/em&gt;). It's widely used in French, and some examples in particular are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in cooking: “à la diable” (with spicy sauce), “à la norvégienne” (Norway-style), ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;referring to persons (in particular, artists or philosophers) or movements: “à la cubiste” (cubist-style), “à la Sartre” (in the manner of writer Sartre), ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T13:24:18.757" />
  <row Id="10440" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10448" CreationDate="2011-01-28T13:28:13.173" Score="5" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off—this is my first post and English is not my mother tongue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are general rules of thumb for creating adjectives with -able suffix? I wanted to denote an object as having an ability to be tiled, but &quot;tileable&quot; and &quot;tilable&quot; both yielded as incorrect words by spell check and standard English dictionary used by Mac OS X dictionary widget. Is &quot;tileable&quot; or &quot;tilable&quot; a correct word/form for denoting an object having an ability to be tiled?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4279" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T13:56:43.687" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T13:56:43.687" Title="Creating words with &quot;-able&quot; suffix" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;suffix&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10438" CreationDate="2011-01-28T13:31:36.830" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember reading about the history of this expression just a month ago or so, but for the life of me I don't seem to be able to find the link right now, so I can only answer one half of your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_a_la_Mode&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt; that &lt;em&gt;à la mode&lt;/em&gt; in the meaning &quot;with ice cream&quot; was first used in the 1890s by one Mrs. Barry Hall, from whom it got picked up by one Professor Charles Watson Townsend, who was in turn overheard by a reporter for the New York Sun, who then wrote an article about it. &quot;Soon, pie à la mode became a standard on menus around the United States.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etymonline chooses a more careful &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=a+la+mode&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wording&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a la mode&lt;br&gt; 1640s, from Fr. &lt;em&gt;à la mode&lt;/em&gt; (15c.), lit. &quot;in the fashion&quot;. In 17c., sometimes nativized as &lt;em&gt;all-a-mode&lt;/em&gt;. Cookery sense of a dessert served with ice cream is 1903, Amer.Eng.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, the PhraseFinder has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/a-la-mode.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Americans are familiar with this phrase as meaning 'with ice cream'. There are various stories concerning how this came about but, as they aren't reliably documented, I'll not repeat them here. Suffice it to say that, however the phrase was coined in that context, it had happened by 1903 when it appears in an edition of Everybody's Magazine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Tea and buns, apple pie à la mode and chocolate were the most serious menus.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take this to mean that the story from Wikipedia should be taken with a grain of salt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T14:06:14.087" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T14:06:14.087" />
  <row Id="10442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10304" CreationDate="2011-01-28T13:33:30.043" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I thought I'd add something to what has already been said in @PLL's answer. Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, which I like for its descriptive style and useful examples, has this to say about &lt;em&gt;neither&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The reason it is sometimes plural is easy to see when you think about it. &lt;em&gt;Neither&lt;/em&gt; serves as the negative counterpart of &lt;em&gt;either&lt;/em&gt;, which is usually singular. But it also serves in the same way for &lt;em&gt;both&lt;/em&gt;, which is usually plural. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason it seems more natural to use the plural verb to negate two choices is that we want to negate &lt;em&gt;both&lt;/em&gt; choices, and not just one of them. For example, it may seem more natural to say, &quot;Neither of these colours suit me&quot; and &quot;Neither yellow nor orange suits me&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The singular number of &lt;em&gt;neither&lt;/em&gt; is most likely to be ignored when it is followed by &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; and a plural noun or pronoun, for then both notional agreement and the principle of proximity pull in the direction of a plural verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It gives numerous examples of &lt;em&gt;neither&lt;/em&gt; taking a plural verb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thersite's body is as good as Ajax'/When neither are alive--Shakespeare, &lt;em&gt;Cymbeline&lt;/em&gt;, 1610&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Neither belong to this Saxon's company--Sir Walter Scott, &lt;em&gt;Ivanhoe&lt;/em&gt;, 1819&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He had two job offers, but neither were ones he felt he could accept--Diana Diamond, &lt;em&gt;N.Y. Times&lt;/em&gt;, 1974&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, it says this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The pronoun &lt;em&gt;neither&lt;/em&gt;, then, is not invariably singular, though it is more often so. When formal agreement obtains, it takes a singular verb. When notional agreement obtains, it takes either a singular or plural verb. These constructions are neither nonstandard or [sic] erroneous. If you are writing something in a highly formal style, you will probably want to use formal agreement throughout. Otherwise, follow your own inclination in choosing singular of plural constructions after &lt;em&gt;neither&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T13:33:30.043" />
  <row Id="10444" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10449" CreationDate="2011-01-28T13:36:32.283" Score="2" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;See title. I really have nothing else to add!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2160" LastEditorUserId="2160" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T14:03:54.347" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T14:29:04.707" Title="What's the difference between a preposition and a participle?" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;participle&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10423" CreationDate="2011-01-28T13:39:57.193" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In UK English especially, done is a verb, not an adjective. Saying &quot;I'm done&quot; sits very uncomfortably with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2160" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T13:39:57.193" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="10446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10400" CreationDate="2011-01-28T13:45:23.090" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As noted in the other answers, I'm sure appealing to a world-wide audience plays a part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the differences between singing and regular speech also play some part. English accents are distinguished mostly by the way vowels are pronounced (as opposed to consonants), and vowels tend to be drawn out when you sing, hence the 'loss of accent'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.abc.net.au/tv/canwehelp/txt/s2087026.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Prof Kate Burridge&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When people speak with an accent, they produce vowel sounds differently from the person who identifies them as having an accent (accent-variation in English involves vowels more than consonants). For instance, broad accents are distinguished largely by their vowel sounds. However, when we sing, the vowels are prolonged and those differences are minimized. The mouth cavity is the main resonator; and to get a round full sound you have to make as much space as possible – get that soft palate out of the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Of course when it comes to pop and rock, or folk singing for that matter, people often deliberately use different accents when they sing — and these can even be different from their spoken accents. Linguists who have looked at this phenomenon note that popular singers have been modifying their pronunciation for decades (probably since the 1920s). For instance, even if you pronounce words like ‘dance, half, can’t and last’ with the [a:] vowel, these words are usually pronounced in singing with [æ] as in ‘cat’. The consonant [r] gets pronounced in words like ‘girl’ and ‘more’ even by Australians who don’t usually pronounce [r] in these words. The vowels can be very different too — you will find American-like vowels in words like ‘body, life and love’. These quasi-American features have been very usual over the years, although after the 1960s features of low prestige British accents also became common (especially in punk-rock).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4002" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T13:45:23.090" />
  <row Id="10447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10384" CreationDate="2011-01-28T13:48:25.033" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not one word became two, it's two became one. Other creatures evolved gender-neutral term over time, while these didn't, somewhy. Lion is by the way, almost did: it can be either he-lion or she-lion, it's not a mistake to say &quot;she's a lion&quot; about lioness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And we still use different words for humans too — “woman” and “man”. In languages other than English, the “woman” word has no “man” inside it, they are absolutely different words. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In old languages, every noun had gender, even non-living things. Many languages still have this, e.g. Italian “home/house” is female (“casa”) and Russian one is male (“дом”). The language structure is such so even synthetic made-up words are perceived either as male or female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4280" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T13:48:25.033" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10440" CreationDate="2011-01-28T13:51:33.257" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way I see it, you've got two choices here if the word doesn't already have an acceptable -able suffix counterpart. Either&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reword the sentence so you don't need to use the -able suffix&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hyphenate it. E.g. tile-able.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although, Googling it, 'tileable' seems to be pretty widely used anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2160" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T13:51:33.257" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10444" CreationDate="2011-01-28T13:55:11.797" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A preposition is a word used before a noun to add a context. (&lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt;, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A participle is a form of a verb. It can either be a present participle (&lt;em&gt;dancing&lt;/em&gt;), or past. (&lt;em&gt;danced&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T13:55:11.797" />
  <row Id="10450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10427" CreationDate="2011-01-28T14:10:45.247" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usage you are discussing is non-standard but you will nevertheless find it in various dictionaries of the English language and given its longevity to date, it might very well become an accepted usage by the time they reach a more mature age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Encarta: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;adverb introduces direct speech: used especially in conversation to&#xA;  introduce a quotation of what somebody&#xA;  said ( nonstandard ) Susan is like&#xA;  &quot;It's not for me&quot; and Brandon is like,&#xA;  &quot;You had me worried&quot; and Susan is&#xA;  like, &quot;Don't worry, I'm not going&#xA;  anywhere.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also of interest, the usage note from &lt;a href=&quot;http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/like_2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Yahoo Dictionary&quot;&gt;Yahoo's dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree that this usage can easily become, like, &quot;totally annoying&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, keep in mind that the issue is probably not one of knowledge but rather one of belonging and identity. Phrases and words are the objects of fads amongst various groups (particularly amongst children). Some words may be &quot;in&quot; for a while, not unlike certain brands of clothes or gadgets, and if you do not speak the right lingo, you just don't fit in. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than prohibit the usage, it might be better to teach the kids that there are different audiences and that they would benefit from learning how to speak to each. With their friends, they can be like, &quot;OMG, WTF was that?&quot; and still address adults in a more formal fashion. Being able to change register at a moment's notice is a very useful skill. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3902" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T14:10:45.247" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="10452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10431" CreationDate="2011-01-28T14:19:43.043" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is ambiguity in both phrases. The first is only due to loose usage, the second is due to lack of explicit reference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Next Monday,&quot; in the strictest interpretation, means whatever Monday will happen closest in the future, excluding the one you currently occupy if it happens to be Monday. I think of it as similar to saying &quot;the next red stepping stone;&quot; if you are on a blue stone, you're talking about the first subsequent red stone you will encounter, while if you're on a red stone, you're talking about whatever stone you will encounter after the one you currently occupy. If the speaker intends to reference the Monday after the closest one in the future, the appropriate phrase is probably &quot;the Monday after next.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;This Monday,&quot; however, is ambiguous. &quot;This&quot; could be interpreted as &quot;this week's,&quot; &quot;this past,&quot; or &quot;this coming.&quot; Unless one is pointing at a square on a calendar, it would probably be best to explicitly use one of the two latter phrases to eliminate any confusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3018" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T14:19:43.043" />
  <row Id="10453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10444" CreationDate="2011-01-28T14:26:40.780" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add to Eldros' answer, here are a couple references:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.writingcentre.uottawa.ca/hypergrammar/preposit.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Preposition&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/verbals.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Participle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A participle is usually used as an adjective, which is one of the greatest strength of the English language: the ability to take a verb and turn it into an adjective or a noun as necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3902" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T14:26:40.780" />
  <row Id="10454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10444" CreationDate="2011-01-28T14:29:04.707" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;participle&lt;/em&gt; is a word formed from a verb and used as an adjective or a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;working&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;being&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;burned&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A preposition is a word governing, and usually preceding, a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element in the clause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;of&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;for&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;on&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;after&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T14:29:04.707" />
  <row Id="10455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10414" CreationDate="2011-01-28T14:30:36.620" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Learning languages takes a long or short time according to &lt;strong&gt;teachers&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;personal abilities&lt;/strong&gt; and the &lt;strong&gt;circumstances&lt;/strong&gt;. It also depends on the &lt;strong&gt;differences with your mother tongue&lt;/strong&gt; which is considered to be an important factor on the learning process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scientists believe that different people have got different abilities learning languages. Some of the factors affecting it is whether they have learned any second languages in childhood or not. Also how well you know your own language, and the listening abilities can affect the speed of learning. I don't know what your mother tongue is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Language is changing every day and also the type of speaking and understanding is different among different groups of people. So, I can't expect myself to understand the whole talks between a group of particular young people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the whole, I think it's difficult to say what you can do to reach the point you want. You understand that there are some weak points in your language ability, and that means you can improve your English. Maybe talking with your native friends about the ways you can improve your language skills would be a better idea. It's possible that you don't know many things about your skills that they have noticed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T14:30:36.620" />
  <row Id="10456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10440" CreationDate="2011-01-28T14:41:44.790" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the NOAD reports, &lt;em&gt;-able&lt;/em&gt; is a suffix forming adjectives meaning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;able to be: &lt;em&gt;calculable&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;due to be: &lt;em&gt;payable&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;subject to: &lt;em&gt;taxable&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;relevant to or in accordance with: &lt;em&gt;fashionable&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;having the quality to: &lt;em&gt;suitable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;comfortable&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning of &lt;em&gt;tile-able&lt;/em&gt; would be &lt;em&gt;to be able to be tiled&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;The spelling checker reports the word as wrong, but suggest also to write it &lt;em&gt;tile-able&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As reported in &lt;em&gt;Common Sense&lt;/em&gt; (ISBN 13: 978-0-312-34255-5; ISBN 10: 0-312-34255-1), a book about punctuation marks, a hyphen is used &lt;em&gt;in words consisting of a prefix and a root, if not using one will cause to run together either two vowels or a small letter and a capital&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;anti-infiammatory&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;un-American&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;extra-alkaline&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pre-Christian&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T14:52:08.913" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T14:52:08.913" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10386" CreationDate="2011-01-28T15:08:11.290" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's called a motherboard because it is the main circuit board in the computer, and it can be extended by plugging other circuit boards into it. These extensions are called daughter boards. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motherboard&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia suggests that historically a &quot;mainboard&quot; was not extensible in this way&lt;/a&gt;, hence the need for different terminology. Many computer terms use human or biological words as metaphors:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Master/Slave (controller and devices)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Male/Female (plugs and ports)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mouse&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Peers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Server/Client&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T15:08:11.290" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10458" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10467" CreationDate="2011-01-28T15:25:17.237" Score="9" ViewCount="288" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://xkcd.com/853/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Today's XKCD&lt;/a&gt; got me thinking about when the letter &lt;em&gt;Y&lt;/em&gt; is considered to be a vowel.  I understand (perhaps incorrectly) that in words like &lt;em&gt;bicycle&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; it is a vowel. What about the word &lt;em&gt;voyeur&lt;/em&gt; (as mentioned in the XKCD alt-text)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I've got this backwards, and &lt;em&gt;Y&lt;/em&gt; is almost always a vowel, how can I tell when it is a consonant? Thinking back, I don't think my education ever covered the difference between them, we just memorized which letters were which.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T21:58:41.993" Title="When is &quot;Y&quot; a vowel?" Tags="&lt;vowels&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="10459" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10461" CreationDate="2011-01-28T15:25:39.977" Score="10" ViewCount="312" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't understand: what's the difference between &lt;em&gt;complicated&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;complex&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They seem to be used interchangeably. Are they actually different at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4284" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T19:41:38.133" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T19:50:48.463" Title="Differences between &quot;complicated&quot; and &quot;complex&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6467" CreationDate="2011-01-28T15:29:34.607" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe Genesis didn't make it to the US?  Being in the lyrics (and title) of &lt;em&gt;&quot;Robbery, Assault and Battery&quot;&lt;/em&gt; makes &lt;em&gt;battery&lt;/em&gt; a pretty common word.  I agree that context is important.  I've always thought of &lt;em&gt;assault&lt;/em&gt; as being a single instance with &lt;em&gt;battery&lt;/em&gt; being much more serious, i.e. a punch thrown after an argument would be an example of &lt;em&gt;assault&lt;/em&gt;, but someone black and blue after repeated assaults would have been subject to &lt;em&gt;battery&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T15:29:34.607" />
  <row Id="10461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10459" CreationDate="2011-01-28T15:35:37.953" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Complex is used to refer to the level of components in a system. If a problem is complex, it means that it has many components. Complexity does not evoke difficulty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, complicated refers to an high level of difficulty. If a problem is complicated, there might be or might not be many parts but it will certainly take a lot of hard work to solve. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3711" LastEditorUserId="3711" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T07:51:01.867" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T07:51:01.867" />
  <row Id="10462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10431" CreationDate="2011-01-28T15:44:04.953" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As used in my local area (Great Lakes region of the USA), &quot;Next whateverday&quot; refers to the upcoming day of that name that's NOT in the current week.  &quot;This&quot; would refer to the upcoming day in the current week (assuming user specified future rather than past).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3019" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T15:44:04.953" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10459" CreationDate="2011-01-28T15:44:48.230" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported by the NOAD, the meaning of those words are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;complicated /ˈkɑmpləˌkeɪdɪd/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  adjective&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. consisting of many interconnecting parts or elements; intricate: &lt;em&gt;a complicated stereo system&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • involving many different and confusing aspects: &lt;em&gt;a long and complicated saga&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. Medicine involving complications: &lt;em&gt;complicated appendicitis&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;complex&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  adjective /ˌkɑmˈplɛks/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. consisting of many different and connected parts: &lt;em&gt;a complex network of water channels&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • not easy to analyze or understand; complicated or intricate: &lt;em&gt;a complex personality&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;the situation is more complex than it appears&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. Mathematics denoting or involving numbers or quantities containing both a real and an imaginary part.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  3. Chemistry denoting an ion or molecule in which one or more groups are linked to a metal atom by coordinate bonds.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning of &lt;em&gt;complex&lt;/em&gt; partially overlaps the meaning of &lt;em&gt;complicated&lt;/em&gt;; the difference is that &lt;em&gt;complex&lt;/em&gt; is also used as noun, and in specific contexts with a specific meaning (see Chemistry, and Mathematics).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T19:08:47.460" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T19:08:47.460" />
  <row Id="10464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10458" CreationDate="2011-01-28T15:45:02.880" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following excerpt from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.decoz.com/Y_vowel-consonant.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;decoz.com&lt;/a&gt; sounds useful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When determining if the Y is a vowel&#xA;  or a consonant, the basic rule is&#xA;  this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When the letter serves as a vowel, and&#xA;  in fact sounds like one, it is a&#xA;  vowel. The same is true when the Y&#xA;  serves as the only vowel in the&#xA;  syllable. Examples of both of these&#xA;  cases are such names as Lynn, Yvonne,&#xA;  Mary, Betty, Elly, and Bryan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;However, if the Y does not provide a&#xA;  separate vowel sound, as when it is&#xA;  coupled with another vowel, it is&#xA;  considered a consonant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In names such as Maloney or Murray,&#xA;  the Y is a consonant, because the&#xA;  vowel sound depends upon the long E in&#xA;  Maloney and the long A in Murray.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In general, the Y is a consonant when&#xA;  the syllable already has a vowel.&#xA;  Also, the Y is considered a consonant&#xA;  when it is used in place of the soft J&#xA;  sound, such as in the name Yolanda or&#xA;  Yoda.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the names Bryan and Wyatt, the Y is&#xA;  a vowel, because it provides the only&#xA;  vowel sound for the first syllable of&#xA;  both names. For both of these names,&#xA;  the letter A is part of the second&#xA;  syllable, and therefore does not&#xA;  influence the nature of the Y.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;More examples:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  In Sydney, the first&#xA;  Y is a vowel, the second Y is a&#xA;  consonant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In Billy, Sylvia, Missy, Kyle, Blythe,&#xA;  Sylvester, and Katy, the Y is a vowel&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In Kay, Yeltsin, May, and Kuykendahl,&#xA;  the Y is a consonant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T15:45:02.880" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10384" CreationDate="2011-01-28T15:56:39.167" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cultural studies professor might point out that there is a difference between sex and gender. Gender is performed, Sex is biological structure. Man, Woman, Male, Female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4286" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T15:56:39.167" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10466" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-28T16:18:32.027" Score="19" ViewCount="755" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a word that means &lt;em&gt;doing the right thing for the wrong reason&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;getting the right conclusion from the wrong set of presumptions&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4304" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T16:23:16.000" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T03:39:32.870" Title="Is there a word that means &quot;doing the right thing for the wrong reason&quot;?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="10467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10458" CreationDate="2011-01-28T16:23:41.283" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is that it depends on what purpose you have in assigning it, or what set of rules you are following. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the point of view of phonetics, the first thing to realise is that letters are not vowels or consonants: they represent sounds which may be vowels or consonants (and in the case of &quot;y&quot; possibly both).&#xA;The next point is that bifurcation into vowels and consonants is too simple: phoneticians recognise other possibilities such as &quot;semivowel&quot; - which &quot;y&quot; often is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is clear that in &quot;Yvonne&quot; and &quot;mystery&quot; all the &quot;y&quot;s represent vowel sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that in &quot;yacht&quot; and &quot;Yeltsin&quot; they represent semivowels (which you can call consonants if you like.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would disagree strongly with decoz.com (quoted in Mehper's answer) about &quot;Kay&quot; and &quot;Sydney&quot; - I think it is preposterous to say that &quot;y&quot; is representing a consonant in those. In the case of &quot;Sydney&quot;, it is part of a way of writing a simple vowel sound; in &quot;Kay&quot; it is part of a way of writing a long vowel sound or a diphthong, depending on dialect.  (A diphthong consists of two vowels or a vowel and a semivowel depending on how you want to analyse it). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T16:31:40.530" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T16:31:40.530" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10459" CreationDate="2011-01-28T16:28:10.190" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use them interchangeably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Complicated:&lt;/strong&gt; consisting of a lot of different parts or details and therefore difficult to understand. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1- The rules of the game seemed very complicated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2- I didn’t realize programming the VCR would be so complicated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;3- The brain is like a very powerful, very complicated computer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;4- a complicated issue &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Complex:&lt;/strong&gt; a complex process, relationship etc is difficult to understand because it has a lot of parts that are all connected in different ways. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1-  The chemical processes involved are extremely complex.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2-  the complex relationship between government and the media&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T16:28:10.190" />
  <row Id="10469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10411" CreationDate="2011-01-28T16:36:53.907" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if I have ever heard the term &quot;Yes-ish&quot; in actual conversation, and I've certainly never read it. That being said, as a native (American) English speaker, I would know what someone meant if they said &quot;Yes-ish&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;-ish&quot; can be added intelligibly to a number of words (primarily adjectives), but it is not generally done. When I choose to use &quot;-ish&quot; in conversation, it's generally an attempt at humor. In most cases, you would just use a modifier, e.g., &quot;I am pretty sure&quot; instead of &quot;I am sure-ish&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3636" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T16:36:53.907" />
  <row Id="10470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10408" CreationDate="2011-01-28T16:37:07.823" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking in more general terms, when I append &lt;em&gt;ish&lt;/em&gt; to a word, I'm usualy trying to convey the fact that I'm approximating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in your example, &lt;em&gt;1970-ish&lt;/em&gt; would mean around the period of the year 1970 and the listener would realise that I could be talking about any of the several years before or after 1970, but that I don't know which one in particular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it depends on the context in which you use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4284" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T16:37:07.823" />
  <row Id="10471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9735" CreationDate="2011-01-28T16:40:46.370" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few elements of response:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;authority: as mentioned by Cawas, there is not ultimate authority on the English language, and while there are a number of references, I have not been able to identify a solid consensus on the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Usage: It is fairly difficult to check this due to the possible misunderstanding between &quot;(minus one) thing&quot; and &quot;minus (one thing)&quot;, assuming that these are two separate cases, an assumption I would tend to disagree with.&#xA;However, searching for &lt;code&gt;&quot;minus one dollar&quot; -infinity&lt;/code&gt; on Google returns 254,000 results while &lt;code&gt;&quot;minus one dollars&quot; -infinity&lt;/code&gt; returns only 7 results. The difference is significant enough to consider that regardless of any possible confusion as suggested above, minus one should be followed by the singular, at least in this case. (&quot;-infinity&quot; is added to the search phrase to exclude the expression &quot;infinity minus one dollar&quot;).&#xA;&quot;minus three dollars&quot; is significantly more common than &quot;minus three dollar&quot;, suggesting that &quot;minus&quot; itself does not affect the rules of the plural/singular following numbers.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Logic: &quot;minus one&quot; is not an actual quantity in the physical universe. &quot;Minus one&quot; is only an abstraction which refers to the action of subtracting one of anything. Rather that saying &quot;whenever you have apples, remove one apple&quot; we say &quot;minus one apple&quot;. It follows that &quot;(minus one) thing&quot; and &quot;minus (one thing)&quot; are actually equivalent. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Barring incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, I would say that it is safe to use the singular following &quot;minus one&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3902" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T16:40:46.370" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="10472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10326" CreationDate="2011-01-28T16:47:13.193" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;treither? :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'the houses in the neighborhood are treither red, blue or orange'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4304" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T16:47:13.193" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10473" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10475" CreationDate="2011-01-28T16:57:08.573" Score="3" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I shaved my beard this morning.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I shaved my face this morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is the correct sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T17:02:12.483" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T17:14:21.490" Title="Is it &quot;to shave my beard&quot; or &quot;to shave my face&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="10474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10473" CreationDate="2011-01-28T17:01:49.430" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, That's beard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, you can use both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See the Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wish he'd &lt;strong&gt;shave off&lt;/strong&gt; that awful &lt;strong&gt;beard&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've decided to &lt;strong&gt;shave off&lt;/strong&gt; my &lt;strong&gt;beard&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And for face:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Before using the device, you should learn how to &lt;strong&gt;shave your face&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T17:01:49.430" />
  <row Id="10475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10473" CreationDate="2011-01-28T17:09:05.400" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are both reasonable sentences; they mean slightly different things.  But the most common and idiomatic thing to say would be simply&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I shaved this morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are male, then unless context explicitly suggests otherwise, this will be taken to mean that you shaved your face.  (If you’re female, then legs and/or armpits will probably be the default interpretation.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I shaved my face this morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;means essentially the same, and is a bit less idiomatic, but would be used to clarify the meaning if context could suggest shaving something else — if, for instance, you also regularly shave your head, then you might want to use this one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I shaved my beard this morning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is again less common, and more specific.  You would be more likely to use this if you sometimes grow a significant beard, and less likely to use it if you shave every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T17:09:05.400" />
  <row Id="10476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10459" CreationDate="2011-01-28T17:13:40.337" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These words have a really large overlap, but they each have some distinct uses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Complicated can refer to things that are difficult to explain because they are unclear rather than because they have a lot of parts. For example, Facebook's &quot;It's complicated&quot; relationship status could refer to a relationship that is one-to-one, but not well-defined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Complex also has some technical meanings, as in &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complexity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Complexity theory&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. This is related to the idea that the behavior of a system cannot be fully understood even if the parts are understood. This meaning is much more specific than what is conveyed by &quot;complicated&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3636" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T17:13:40.337" />
  <row Id="10477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10473" CreationDate="2011-01-28T17:14:21.490" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You shave &lt;strong&gt;off&lt;/strong&gt; a beard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You shave your face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is the simple difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3982" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T17:14:21.490" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10459" CreationDate="2011-01-28T17:17:01.473" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Complex is generally used in technical situations, where a problem has a lot of components and aspects. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Complicated is more used in social situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, you could say that &quot;I am in a relationship and it is complex&quot; and &quot;This project's architecture is complicated&quot;. It would not be wrong, but it sounds a bit off to the ear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usage of these terms is different, that's all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3982" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T17:17:01.473" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10466" CreationDate="2011-01-28T17:28:03.723" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this might be a candidate: &lt;em&gt;unassumingly&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4291" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T17:57:53.103" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T17:57:53.103" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10466" CreationDate="2011-01-28T17:44:45.030" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/unwittingly&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;unwittingly&lt;/a&gt; seems close, though you may have to qualify it. I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=u-LYr_l2OhkC&amp;amp;lpg=PP1&amp;amp;dq=Who%20knew%3F%3A%20responsibility%20without%20awareness&amp;amp;pg=PA140#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=unwittingly&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an example&lt;/a&gt; I think demonstrates this use (see page 140 in the search results).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1787" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T17:44:45.030" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10466" CreationDate="2011-01-28T17:44:45.460" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about a new word: &lt;em&gt;corraccidentally&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4292" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T17:57:24.120" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T17:57:24.120" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10482" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10492" CreationDate="2011-01-28T17:49:13.970" Score="4" ViewCount="432" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been learning English since I was 4 years old, so I am pretty good at it. But a lot of newcomers find it to be extremely hard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There seem to be no rules of any sort like there are in other languages that I have learned:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, letters are not pronounced the way they are said out loud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Example: W - Where in a word has W been used as 'dub-yoo' or 'dub-lyoo' W is always used in a word as a V&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Example: C is sometimes pronounced as if it were a K or an S, whimsically, without any rule whatsoever. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, there is no logical sense.&#xA;In other languages, the words for going, coming and their past/present/future modifications have some similarity, some root word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But in English, you have go, come, gone, went .... no logic at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thirdly, pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(Take that word for a moment. Pronounce is the verb, but in the noun form, it is pronunc-iation. Why? Who decided to take out the o from the noun form? )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that only way to be able to pronounce anything correctly is to listen to a lot of people. There is no in-built method to know how something is pronounced. If it is pronounced a particular way, that is the way it is going to be. Don't ask questions about it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English is not my first language, but I think in English. Still, these things have always bothered me. Why is English not logical like other languages?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3982" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T19:29:50.800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T22:10:03.480" ClosedDate="2011-01-30T02:30:51.903" Title="Why does English seem to be such an illogical language" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;logic&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10482" CreationDate="2011-01-28T18:00:45.050" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe because it wasn't designed by a team of language engineers, but shaped by users the way erosion shapes a mountain or a river basin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, I think it's unfair to call English &quot;illogical&quot;; it has logic behind it. It just may not be the logic that suits you. For every &quot;illogical&quot; spelling or pronunciation you can cite, rest assured there is some explanation (i.e. some &lt;em&gt;logic&lt;/em&gt;) behind it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I think you mean is &quot;Why aren't English spelling and pronunciation more regular?&quot; For the answer to that I refer you to my first paragraph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English is a great, vast, and immensely expressive language. It is not without its shortcomings, but then neither is any other language. Japanese has a very regular system of sounds, and characters to write them, but the kanji can have multiple readings and it is almost impossible to know how to write someone's name without knowing how they themselves would write it. French suffers from many of the same pronunciation and spelling problems that English does (some of which English inherited). Languages are flawed, just like human beings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally — and please don't take this as a rebuke, but a legitimate question — perhaps you can tell us what about your native language is so perfect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T18:00:45.050" CommentCount="16" />
  <row Id="10484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10384" CreationDate="2011-01-28T18:29:01.677" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To take one of your examples, &lt;em&gt;doe&lt;/em&gt; is from old English &lt;em&gt;deon&lt;/em&gt;, to suck, and was used to describe a female animal of a number of kinds. &lt;em&gt;buck&lt;/em&gt; is from old English &lt;em&gt;bucca&lt;/em&gt;, a he-goat. The unisex &lt;em&gt;rabbit&lt;/em&gt; is from Flemish. So the words &lt;em&gt;buck&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;doe&lt;/em&gt; appear originally to have meant the male and female of any animal, and have presumably become specialised in referring to deer, rabbits, and certain other kinds of animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ram&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;sheep&lt;/em&gt; are both derived from old English, in the case of &lt;em&gt;ram&lt;/em&gt; a word meaning fighting sheep. (&lt;em&gt;Ewe&lt;/em&gt; is from Latin.) I'd hazard a guess that in old England there were fighting sheep (males) and sheep (all the others, including wethers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps (all this from the Collins English Dictionary, except the suppositions and guesswork).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T18:29:01.677" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10459" CreationDate="2011-01-28T18:29:56.637" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There can be no better explanation than in this &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.ted.com/2010/11/12/how-complexity-leads-to-simplicity-eric-berlow-on-ted-com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TED talk&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Eric Berlow (only  three minutes, so go watch it!).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To quote the salient bit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A well-crafted baguette fresh out of the oven is &lt;em&gt;complex&lt;/em&gt;. But a curry/onion/green olive/poppy/cheese bread is &lt;em&gt;complicated&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;(That said, I actually disagree with Eric Berlow on the topic of network complexity. I’m a bioinformatician, we deal with complex interaction networks (mainly of the cell), and let me tell you: &lt;em&gt;are they ever complicated&lt;/em&gt;. It’s safe to say that we (the scientists) understand almost nothing about these networks and reducing or interpreting these complex networks like Eric Berlow does in his talk is simply not possible. I suspect that this talk is more show than anything else.)&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1637" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T18:29:56.637" />
  <row Id="10486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10482" CreationDate="2011-01-28T18:30:20.353" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The English language is a cryptic history of the British Isles.  Successive waves of invaders (Celt, Roman, Saxon, Danish, and Norman) brought their incompatible languages and changed the English language at sword-point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take the English &quot;shit&quot;.  It came through German from the PIE word &lt;em&gt;skheid&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;to split off&quot;, the origin of more technical words about splitting like &quot;schism&quot;, &quot;schizophrenia&quot;, and &quot;schistosomiasis&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At some point, the French-speaking upper classes decided it would be better to use &quot;defecate&quot;, from Latin &lt;em&gt;faex&lt;/em&gt;, impurity.  Of course, lots of us were unconvinced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example, &quot;two&quot;.  Why the stupid spelling?  1000 years ago it was pronounced like it looks, &quot;twah&quot; (like other two-ish words: &quot;twin&quot;, &quot;twice&quot;, &quot;between&quot;).  Over the centuries, the French word &lt;em&gt;deux&lt;/em&gt; influenced its pronunciation until the spelling no longer made sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That same process on 100,000 words over 2000 years, it's a wonder we can understand each other at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T18:30:20.353" />
  <row Id="10487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10458" CreationDate="2011-01-28T18:42:36.387" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also not being an English speaker, I mostly seem to default to the logic used with an &lt;em&gt;i&lt;/em&gt; in Latin. That &lt;em&gt;i&lt;/em&gt; acts like a consonant &lt;em&gt;j&lt;/em&gt; when it appears before another vowel (except for diphthongs). Consequently, the Latin alphabet did not officially have a &lt;em&gt;j&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I can tell, this is the case with the &lt;em&gt;y&lt;/em&gt; in English, though I don't have any sources or statistical evidence to back that claim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NB: If you had Latin in school and the &lt;em&gt;j&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;was&lt;/strong&gt; used (eg. &lt;em&gt;jam&lt;/em&gt; and  &lt;em&gt;pejus&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;iam&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;peius&lt;/em&gt;) then they most likely dumbed it down a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3970" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T18:42:36.387" />
  <row Id="10488" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10491" CreationDate="2011-01-28T18:42:39.463" Score="7" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was planning a little trip the other day when I noticed that a number of rivers in Britain have common names. The ones I spotted were &lt;em&gt;Avon&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Ouse&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Esk&lt;/em&gt;. Is there a reason for this? Are these names derived from something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T20:16:08.150" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T01:04:58.310" Title="Do these river names mean anything?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;names&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10489" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-28T18:45:14.080" Score="2" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;A student wrote to me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm sorry I was absent for class on Monday. What is the homework? I want to do that before the next class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I prefer using &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; but am not sure what explanation I should give. Can you help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4296" LastEditorUserId="3639" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T07:56:24.720" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T09:38:35.413" Title="Using &quot;that&quot; in place of &quot;it&quot; as an object is not always correct. How can I explain why?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10489" CreationDate="2011-01-28T18:51:56.853" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; nor &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt; is grammatical in that position. In fact, what is grammatical is no word at all:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm sorry I was absent for class on Monday. What is the homework I want to do before the next class?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless of course you meant this, in which case you do need &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm sorry I was absent for class on Monday. What is the homework? I want to do it before the next class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T18:51:56.853" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="10491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10488" CreationDate="2011-01-28T18:54:53.667" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Avon&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Avon_%28Warwickshire%29#Etymology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Avon_%28Warwickshire%29#Etymology&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Avon&quot; derives from the British language abona, &quot;river&quot;, which also survives as a number of other English and Scottish river names, and as modern Welsh afon (pronounced [ˈavɔn]), &quot;river&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Ouse&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Ouse+River&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Ouse+River&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The English name for the river derives from its Celtic name Usa, from *udso-, &quot;water,&quot; which derives from the Indo-European root *wed-, &quot;wet, water&quot; (and the same root from which we derive water and wet). Thus the Ouse River etymologically is the &quot;Water River&quot; or the &quot;Wet River.&quot; Of course, the English who borrowed the name from the Celts did not know the meaning of the wordas is rather frequently the case when foreign topographical terms are borrowed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Esk&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/engplnam.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/engplnam.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At the same time the river names Axe, Exe, Esk and Usk are all derived from the British word isca meaning &quot;water&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would seem none of the naming was very original to begin with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3970" LastEditorUserId="3970" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T22:08:03.290" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T22:08:03.290" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10482" CreationDate="2011-01-28T18:55:45.630" Score="25" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to first say, your premise is flawed — English is not an illogical language, and is not objectively less logical or systematic than other languages of the world.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another important point is that language and writing systems are two different beasts entirely.  Writing systems had to be invented; most of the world's languages do not have writing systems.  And if you raise a child and do not send them to school or attempt to teach them to read and write, they will be illiterate.  On the other hand, every community across the globe has a spoken language, and unless you lock your child in a basement and give them no human contact, they &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; become native speakers of the language they are exposed to (barring some speech/mental disorder).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our writing system rules might be a little wacky, and some languages are better about it, but many are not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to address your specific problems:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;The Alphabet&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our alphabet was borrowed from Latin, who in turn borrowed and modified the alphabet of another language.  The alphabet that was used for Latin was already not a perfect fit for the language but it was a reasonable fit.  Most languages that were heavily influenced by Latin adopted the Latin script in order to write their own language. The same has happened in the Arabic world, where Farsi, for example, uses the Arabic script, even though it has a very different morphophonological structure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Latin does not have as many vowels as English, and does not have all of the same consonants.  So we end up using digraphs (like &quot;sh&quot;) for a single sound, and the same vowel or consonant for many sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what you mean by &quot;W is always used in a word as a V&quot; — the only words that come to mind where &quot;w&quot; has a [v] sound are borrowings from German (&lt;em&gt;Weltanschauung&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Wurst&lt;/em&gt;, etc.).  (Perhaps your native language does not distinguish between [w] and [v].  Many languages do not, like Turkish, and speakers will struggle to keep them separate when speaking English.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;c&quot; being pronounced like [k] or [s] is consistent: the [s] sound occurs when followed by &quot;i&quot; or &quot;e&quot;.  These vowels are known as &quot;front&quot; vowels as they are both articulated towards the front of the mouth.  In many languages, a /k/ will be realized as [s] before a front vowel, in a process known as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatalization&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;palatalization&lt;/a&gt;. Since many of our words are borrowed from French and Latin, where palatalization is an active part of the phonology, many of our words have this palatalization process active as well, and codified orthographically using &quot;c&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Come and Go&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many languages have very different words for &quot;come&quot; and &quot;go&quot;.  I am not sure why these two different concepts need to have the same root in order to be logical.  As for the different forms of &quot;go&quot; in different tenses, this is a process known as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suppletion&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;suppletion&lt;/a&gt; and is due to the fact that the &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5540/wend-went-went-changed-into-go-went-gone&quot;&gt;English forms of &quot;go&quot; were made from the combination of two verbs: &quot;go&quot; and &quot;wend&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. As you can see in the Wikipedia link, many languages undergo suppletion — not just English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Pronounce-pronuciation&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, a pattern like &quot;pronounce&quot; and &quot;pronunciation&quot; is not strange at all in terms of English stress.  In English, most vowels that are unstressed are reduced.  This means that, if the stress of a word shifts (like by adding suffixes that draw stress), different vowels get reduced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;pronounce&quot; has primary stress on the second syllable: [prəˈnaʊns], and that syllable is realized as a full diphthong.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;pronunciation&quot; has primary stress on the second-to-last syllable (the &quot;a&quot;): [prə ˌnʊn siˈeɪ ʃən].  As such, we get the full [eɪ] diphthong later on in the word, not on the stem.  This causes a natural pronunciation change, which is reflected in the spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you see, these things often do have a reason, it just might not be obvious to a non-native speaker, and so natural to a native speaker that neither person knows exactly why it happens.  That is not to say that English doesn't have exceptional cases throughout the language.  But these exceptions usually have some sort of logical basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T18:55:45.630" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="10493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10326" CreationDate="2011-01-28T19:02:20.440" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That &lt;em&gt;between&lt;/em&gt; can only be used for two items is a myth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/between&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is a persistent but unfounded notion that &lt;em&gt;between&lt;/em&gt; can be used only of two items and that &lt;em&gt;among&lt;/em&gt; must be used for more than two. &lt;em&gt;Between&lt;/em&gt; has been used of more than two since Old English; it is especially appropriate to denote a one-to-one relationship, regardless of the number of items. It can be used when the number is unspecified &amp;lt;economic cooperation &lt;em&gt;between&lt;/em&gt; nations&amp;gt;, when more than two are enumerated &amp;lt;&lt;em&gt;between&lt;/em&gt; you and me and the lamppost&amp;gt; &amp;lt;partitioned &lt;em&gt;between&lt;/em&gt; Austria, Prussia, and Russia — Nathaniel Benchley&amp;gt;, and even when only one item is mentioned (but repetition is implied) &amp;lt;pausing between every sentence to rap the floor — George Eliot&amp;gt;. Among is more appropriate where the emphasis is on distribution rather than individual relationships &amp;lt;discontent &lt;em&gt;among&lt;/em&gt; the peasants&amp;gt;. When &lt;em&gt;among&lt;/em&gt; is automatically chosen for more than two, English idiom may be strained &amp;lt;a worthy book that nevertheless falls &lt;em&gt;among&lt;/em&gt; many stools — John Simon&gt; &amp;lt;the author alternates &lt;em&gt;among&lt;/em&gt; modern slang, clichés and quotes from literary giants — A. H. Johnston&amp;gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://motivatedgrammar.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/the-real-difference-between-between-and-among/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is a blog post&lt;/a&gt; discussing further the distinction between &lt;em&gt;between&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;among&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this doesn't really answer the original question because neither &lt;em&gt;between&lt;/em&gt; nor &lt;em&gt;among&lt;/em&gt; carry the meaning sought. I would say “Houses in this neighbourhood vary in color between blue and red, including orange.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T19:02:20.440" />
  <row Id="10494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10489" CreationDate="2011-01-28T19:09:05.170" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My suggestion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What homework should/must I do before the&#xA;  next class?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of your student's somewhat faulty  grasp of English, you should rejoice that you have such a polite and conscientious student. Let's hope he or she goes far. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastEditorUserId="3733" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T20:23:02.567" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T20:23:02.567" />
  <row Id="10496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10489" CreationDate="2011-01-28T19:30:54.653" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming it should read&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm sorry I was absent for class on Monday. What is the homework? I want to do it before the next class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as @nohat suggested, I think the reason I'd prefer &quot;it&quot; is, &quot;that&quot; is a demonstrative pronoun, and the antecedent (the homework) is very clear from the previous statement. There is no need to use &quot;that&quot; to emphasize what it is the speaker wants to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1787" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T19:30:54.653" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10425" CreationDate="2011-01-28T19:54:24.113" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Joke answers: unbearable, impregnable, inconceivable (maybe that doesn't mean what I think it means...) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3065" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T19:54:24.113" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3312" CreationDate="2011-01-28T20:18:43.437" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;what other contraction cuts out letters from the first word?  I can't think of any.  i agree its a tongue in cheek argument, pretending that the question is important (even when you're from Texas [notice the contraction for you're]).  but it boggles my mind to see Northerners assume the contraction is for &quot;you all.&quot;  Southerns wouldn't have abbrev that phrase in such a way.  however, when saying &quot;ya all,&quot; them words tenda run tagedder.  When you say &quot;you will&quot; the distinction of the &quot;wi&quot; sound tends to disappear, so its dropped when spelling &quot;you'll.&quot;  Similarly, &quot;ya all&quot; became &quot;ya'll.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4298" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T20:18:43.437" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10466" CreationDate="2011-01-28T20:33:10.803" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;Lucky&quot; is frequently used in that situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in a case where someone confronted with two doors, decorated with writing in a foreign language, selects the one that is on the right as the &quot;entrance&quot; on the basis that everyone is right handed.  He has made a correct selection, based on incorrect information (that is not why the door is the entrance).  One might say to him: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Wow, so you just happened to pick the correct choice despite having faulty reasoning?  What a lucky break!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although now that I'm thinking about it, the word &quot;Fortuitous&quot; is closer to what I meant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4300" LastEditorUserId="4300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T21:57:21.703" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T21:57:21.703" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10488" CreationDate="2011-01-28T20:50:55.267" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the specifics, Ward gave an excellent answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other similar anomalies in place names in the British Isles.  One of my favourites is Pendle Hill.  The word 'pen' means hill.  Later, the next incomers changed the hill's name to 'Pendle', meaning 'hill hill'.  And then the next incomers, not knowing the etymology (and sadly lacking an internet) called it Pendle Hill or 'hill hill hill', so Pendle Hill really, really, really is a hill, because anything said three times is the truth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastEditorUserId="2386" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T01:04:58.310" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T01:04:58.310" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10466" CreationDate="2011-01-28T21:17:05.527" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this question can't have a clear answer because this phrase is quite open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think about all the situations where this could be applied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So going to the root of the problem, I think what this phrase is expressing is that the person isn't aware of all the circumstances (or has the wrong idea) when doing something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I agree with &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10466/is-there-a-word-that-means-doing-the-right-thing-for-the-wrong-reason/10480#10480&quot;&gt;@Andy&lt;/a&gt; that it might be unwittingly. Or in my opinion inadvertently would be a closer fit to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, it might also be expressed unintentional, since he/she is doing something wrong, thinking its the right thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But all those meaning don't cover the harshest way to use this phrase that would make the &quot;accused&quot; a naif, confused or &lt;strong&gt;misguided&lt;/strong&gt; (I like this last actually) since you could be meaning: &quot;although you are doing the right thing, there is not much merit to it, since it's almost by chance, you don't have a philosophy behind your actions (or a wrong one)&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1693" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T00:15:13.923" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T00:15:13.923" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10466" CreationDate="2011-01-28T21:49:45.423" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Serendipitously&lt;/em&gt; is the word I would use, although it means something more like &quot;doing the right thing for no reason at all&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T21:49:45.423" />
  <row Id="10503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10458" CreationDate="2011-01-28T21:58:41.993" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not really on topic, but &quot;w&quot; can also represent a vowel, but I'm only aware of two words where it does so: &quot;cwm&quot;, a small valley, and &quot;corgwm&quot;, the plural of &quot;corgi&quot; (the stubby little dog).  Both words are from Welsh and I've never heard either of them used anywhere but discussions of when &quot;w&quot; is a vowel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T21:58:41.993" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10482" CreationDate="2011-01-28T22:10:03.480" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An answer to one small part of your question: &lt;em&gt;It seems that only way to be able to pronounce anything correctly is to listen to a lot of people.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There’s something else that can help: look in a dictionary.  Many descriptions of give pronunciations, using some system more consistent than English spelling.  You can find several good ones online through &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;thefreedictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most widely-used system is the &lt;em&gt;International Phonetic Alphabet&lt;/em&gt;; for instance, it renders &lt;em&gt;pronunciation&lt;/em&gt; as [prəˌnʌnsɪˈeɪʃən].  This may look a bit strange at first, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; explains it well, and it’s not hard to learn the basics of.  Any system for accurately describing pronunciations, expecially across multiple languages, will inevitably be quite complicated; IPA is really not too bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, the main thing for learning English pronunciations (like just about any aspect of any language), is still to get out there and talk to as many native speakers as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T22:10:03.480" />
  <row Id="10505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7928" CreationDate="2011-01-28T22:39:23.643" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My source in the Registrar's office - and the documentation for our registration system - refers to a groups of students registering at the same time as &quot;cohorts&quot; -  In fact, the term is used a lot in the Faculty of Nursing where they group the students for not only classes but training sessions and in-hospital experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4116" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T22:39:23.643" />
  <row Id="10506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8022" CreationDate="2011-01-28T22:42:48.897" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a resturant is found to be contaminated by E Coli or have particularly bad food, it would become very famous, but not very popular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4116" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T22:42:48.897" />
  <row Id="10507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10466" CreationDate="2011-01-28T23:17:27.730" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An egoist or megalomaniac...is probably someone who would do nice things for someone to build their own rep etc. thus doing something &quot;right&quot; for the &quot;wrong&quot; reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4306" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T23:17:27.730" />
  <row Id="10508" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10509" CreationDate="2011-01-29T00:10:43.753" Score="4" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had a bit of a debate with this one. He, a native speaker (unlike me) went for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;less evil&quot; implies that you are comparing evil people and &quot;more good&quot; implies that you are comparing good people&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always felt that there's no difference. Am I on the minority of English speakers? Who is more correct between the two of us?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2380" LastEditorUserId="2380" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T00:27:24.533" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T13:59:51.577" Title="Is it safe to equate 'less evil' to 'more good'?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="10509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10508" CreationDate="2011-01-29T00:22:24.503" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends a little on how the expressions are used, but generally there is a distinct difference. Consider a sentence like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Gandhi was less evil than Hitler.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you aren't familiar with the persons in the sentence, or only familiar with Hitler, you would naturally assume that it's about two evil persons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="3365" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T09:12:02.603" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T09:12:02.603" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10508" CreationDate="2011-01-29T00:27:30.883" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;one&quot; you speak of is right.  Less evil is, well, less evil.  Still evil, just less so.  Though &quot;more good&quot; doesn't really make sense &lt;em&gt;in general&lt;/em&gt;, talking about a good character.  &quot;less good&quot; would match &quot;less evil&quot; here, and would make sense in the context.  And of course, less good doesn't mean evil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Less X&quot; means you're talking about a sliding scale.  With &quot;good&quot; and &quot;evil&quot; being opposite ends of this scale.  And there's everything in between, so &quot;less&quot; of the extreme ends doesn't mean we're at the other end, just not at the very extreme of &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare &quot;hot&quot; and &quot;cold&quot;.  &quot;Less hot&quot; doesn't mean cold, does it?  Just as &quot;less cold&quot; doesn't mean hot.  It doesn't even have to mean &quot;warm&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T00:27:30.883" />
  <row Id="10511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10425" CreationDate="2011-01-29T00:45:59.140" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always used the word &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/barren&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;barren&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, although that word is a bit antiquated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some, the word &lt;em&gt;barren&lt;/em&gt; may carry a negative connotation. For instance, when the word is used in the Bible it's written as if it was a curse. There are Biblical stories of women who were barren but then were blessed by God and were able to conceive. Consequently, someone who is Jewish/Christian/Muslim might find that particular word a bit insensitive, as it seemingly implies they are cursed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps the best way to avoid any potential embarrassment is to state the facts plainly, as in, &quot;She is unable to conceive.&quot; Even though most people will understand your intent, I'm not a fan of saying, &quot;She cannot have a baby,&quot; because that can be taken literally to mean that she is not fit to mother. Just because someone cannot conceive does not mean they cannot have a child through alternative means, such as adoption or surrogacy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T00:45:59.140" />
  <row Id="10512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10459" CreationDate="2011-01-29T00:50:56.967" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0020/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Zen of Python&lt;/a&gt;, we have an aphorism &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Simple is better than complex.&#xA;Complex is better than complicated.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a handy guideline when you are designing something. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3868" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T00:50:56.967" />
  <row Id="10513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10425" CreationDate="2011-01-29T01:24:12.353" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The joke was not meant to provide answers, but a funny lesson on the complexity of the English language - not that other languages aren't complex.  Many lessons are best illustrated through humor - although the underlying lessons of that message can be missed entirely.  Thanks for the go-around here; I was able to give my daughter a lesson in the fun and folly of language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally would say &quot;she was not able to have children&quot;, and if that is too difficult just don't bring it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I liked the &quot;euphemism treadmill&quot; concept - very illustrative of the situation - I often get dinged for using the words ignorant, or deception as being negative although I find few ways of expressing the same meaning, and both can be positive or neutral when used that way...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4310" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T01:24:12.353" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10514" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11141" CreationDate="2011-01-29T02:16:29.323" Score="1" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, to begin with, I don't even know what is the usual meaning of &quot;go-around&quot;. So, if you know, please, explain it to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in this case this noun (&quot;go-around&quot;) seems even to be used in a slightly different sense. One user whose name is Chrisnfolsom, while answering &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10425/informal-way-to-describe-a-woman-that-can-not-have-a-baby/10513#10513&quot;&gt;my question on the proper way how to describe a woman that isn't able to conceive a baby&lt;/a&gt; said in his answer these words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The joke was not meant to provide&#xA;  answers, but a funny lesson on the&#xA;  complexity of the English language -&#xA;  not that other languages aren't&#xA;  complex. Many lessons are best&#xA;  illustrated through humor - although&#xA;  the underlying lessons of that message&#xA;  can be missed entirely. Thanks for the&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;go-around&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; here; I was able to give my&#xA;  daughter a lesson in the fun and folly&#xA;  of language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what he meant here by &quot;go-around&quot; (italics and bold type in the quote are mine). Of course, I could have asked him there this question, but since I don't even know the primary meaning of that word, I think it would be proper to make it as a separate question and not spend his time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Special request for Chrisnfolsom: If you happen to see this question, please, explain to me what you meant by &quot;go-around&quot; there - no one else knows better than you what you were saying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:23:31.827" Title="What is a &quot;go-around&quot; in this context?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10515" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10516" CreationDate="2011-01-29T02:26:16.397" Score="0" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across the word &quot;BlackBerry-ing&quot; in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/nyregion/28mansion.html?_r=1&amp;amp;nl=todaysheadlines&amp;amp;emc=tha29&amp;amp;pagewanted=all&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this &lt;em&gt;New York Times&lt;/em&gt; article&lt;/a&gt; introducing New York governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s &quot;Kitchen Diplomacy.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;More grizzled legislators were less impressed, with one senator recalling that during a question-and-answer period, &quot;I was in the middle of BlackBerry-ing.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though I guess it's a figurative remark insinuating &quot;sit on the fence,&quot; I may be wrong. I have no clue where to find out what &quot;BlackBerry-ing&quot; means from the context of the above sentence. Can somebody tell me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="94" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T03:48:52.297" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T03:48:52.297" Title="What does ‘BlackBerry-ing’ during a gorgeous party mean?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10515" CreationDate="2011-01-29T02:37:49.757" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;BlackBerrying&lt;/em&gt; simply means using one's &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackBerry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BlackBerry&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/QjWYJ.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;BlackBerry&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the senator found the question-and-answer session to be so &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/boring#Adjective&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;boring&lt;/a&gt; that he used his BlackBerry to browse the Web, or check his emails, or something like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T02:48:06.270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T02:48:06.270" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="10517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10508" CreationDate="2011-01-29T02:55:55.500" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Each expression carries a different implication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're comparing, for example, different options for a brand new expensive car you would use positive language since all of the options are pretty favorable. You wouldn't say &quot;this one isn't as bad as that one, so I'll pick it instead&quot; you would say &quot;this one is better.&quot; Even when making a negative statement about a car, you wouldn't say &quot;this car is worse than the other one&quot; so much as you would say &quot;this car isn't as good.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also expressions like &quot;This isn't as bad as I expected&quot; imply that the subject is not completely up to par with what would be considered &quot;good.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Violating this rule is used for humor. Consider this conversation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Person 1: How's the new boss?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Person 2: He's better than Hitler.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that this boss is so terrible that only Hitler could be favorably compared.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="502" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T02:55:55.500" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10514" CreationDate="2011-01-29T03:02:11.063" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A go-around is an excuse, usually to avoid something, or an argument&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case however, I think what Chrisnfolsom meant was an excuse/opportunity to teach his daughter about the &quot;fun and folly of language&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(It was a great joke, by the way)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3902" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T03:02:11.063" />
  <row Id="10519" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-29T05:20:47.793" Score="0" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like &quot;%100&quot; &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; be correct if &quot;$1&quot; is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4316" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T12:10:09.337" Title="Why is &quot;$1&quot; correct but &quot;%100&quot; isn't?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10520" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10525" CreationDate="2011-01-29T05:59:37.580" Score="9" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well not exactly, but according to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/impregnable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;impregnable&lt;/em&gt; means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ADJECTIVE:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. Impossible to capture or enter by force: &lt;em&gt;an impregnable fortress&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. Difficult or impossible to attack, challenge, or refute with success: &lt;em&gt;an impregnable argument&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/impregnable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;'s short definition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(Of a fortress, wall, etc.) Too strong to be penetrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, the meanings of &lt;em&gt;impregnate&lt;/em&gt;, in addition to &quot;make pregnant&quot;, include&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/impregnate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;3.&lt;/a&gt; To fill throughout; saturate: &lt;em&gt;a cotton wad that was impregnated with ether&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    4. To permeate or imbue: &lt;em&gt;impregnate a speech with optimism&lt;/em&gt;. See Synonyms at &lt;em&gt;charge&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/impregnate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;2.&lt;/a&gt; to make a substance such as a liquid spread all the way through something: &lt;em&gt;a pad impregnated with natural oils&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impregnate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1.&lt;/a&gt; a : to cause to be filled, imbued, permeated, or saturated &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  b : to permeate thoroughly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which, at a stretch, are closer to the &quot;penetrate&quot; meaning. Hence the question in the title.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is this? I guess it's because, as with &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1578/why-are-not-infamous-and-inflammable-the-opposite-of-famous-and-flammable-like-in&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;inflammable&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;flammable&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, the two words come from different meanings of the &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt; prefix; &lt;em&gt;impregnable&lt;/em&gt; from a &quot;negation&quot; meaning and &lt;em&gt;impregnate&lt;/em&gt; from an &quot;into&quot; meaning. (And indeed, the AHD gives etymology with &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/em&gt; for &lt;a href=&quot;http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/impregnable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;impregnable&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/em&gt; for &lt;a href=&quot;http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/impregnate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;impregnate&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.) Is this right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dictionaries also list a meaning for &lt;em&gt;impregnable&lt;/em&gt; that come from &lt;em&gt;impregnate&lt;/em&gt; and seem the opposite (in a loose sense) of the meaning above: the same AHD gives, as its &lt;a href=&quot;http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/impregnable_2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;second definition&lt;/a&gt; for &lt;em&gt;impregnable&lt;/em&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ADJECTIVE:&#xA;  Capable of being impregnated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.talktalk.co.uk/reference/dictionaries/difficultwords/data/d0006893.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hutchinson's Dictionary of Difficult Words&lt;/a&gt; gives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;impregnable&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  a. able to withstand attack; capable of being fertilized; able to become or be made pregnant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these &quot;capable of being impregnated&quot; meanings for &lt;em&gt;impregnable&lt;/em&gt; common?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Finally, if one &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; want to express the 'easily penetrable' meaning, as in &quot;This badly designed bulletproof jacket is easily penetrable&quot;, can one use &quot;pregnable&quot;? &quot;non-impregnable&quot;? Is there risk of confusion that &quot;pregnable&quot; may mean &quot;can be made pregnant&quot;?]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T07:21:43.193" Title="Why does &quot;impregnable&quot; mean *cannot be impregnated*?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10521" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10524" CreationDate="2011-01-29T06:44:07.243" Score="0" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just want to know whether both the usages or right or not. Also, these usages depend on geography?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1749" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T07:14:10.180" Title="Why should I say 'One Hundred' while 'Hundred' seems enough?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10522" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10602" CreationDate="2011-01-29T07:05:11.130" Score="10" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to have been common practice in the 17th and 18th Centuries in Britain to capitalise the first letters of nouns in English, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At which Time he prov'd himself the Noah's Dove, that finding himself no Rest anywhere, was receiv'd again into his own Ark, and brought a peaceable Olive-Leaf in his mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most original sources I can find on the net have used modern rules for capitalisation, so what I'd like to know is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;was the practice used for all nouns (note &lt;em&gt;mouth&lt;/em&gt; in my quotation above isn't capitalised)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when did this practice begin?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when did it end, and why?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T11:43:59.117" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T11:43:59.117" Title="Capitalisation of nouns in English (historically)" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;early-modern-english&gt;&lt;typography&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="10523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10521" CreationDate="2011-01-29T07:14:10.150" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Hundred' is a noun, not a quantity.  Thus it needs a determiner like 'a' or 'one' to function as a quantity.  'Dozen' is functionally similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4315" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T07:14:10.150" />
  <row Id="10524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10521" CreationDate="2011-01-29T07:14:10.180" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a noun so it's necessary to specify the quantity. &quot;One hundred&quot; is the same as saying &quot;a hundred,&quot; just like if you had six hundred it would be necessary to say &quot;six hundred.&quot; The same rule applies to other nouns; you don't say &quot;I have dollar&quot; you say &quot;I have one dollar&quot; and you don't say &quot;I have car&quot; you say &quot;I have a car.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="502" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T07:14:10.180" />
  <row Id="10525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10520" CreationDate="2011-01-29T07:21:43.193" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two words have very different etymologies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Impregnate comes from Latin &lt;em&gt;impraegnare&lt;/em&gt;, which means 'to be imbued or saturated with'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Impregnable comes from Middle French &lt;em&gt;imprenable&lt;/em&gt;, itself derived from Latin &lt;em&gt;prehendere&lt;/em&gt;, which means 'to take, grasp'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That they have come to look so similar in English today is just coincidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T07:21:43.193" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10526" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10529" CreationDate="2011-01-29T08:03:00.070" Score="2" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard myself saying something was &quot;tickety-boo&quot;, meaning good, successful, or satisfactory. Does anyone know where this strange-sounding phrase originated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T08:26:56.333" Title="Why &quot;tickety-boo&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10527" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-29T08:03:17.690" Score="11" ViewCount="541" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, we could say &lt;em&gt;HTML is the lowest common denominator on the web&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, because one can be sure all web browsers are able to render HTML (but not Flash or Java). If I want my web page to show properly everywhere, I know I can use maximum set of features shared between all web browsers, i.e. HTML. Yet, we don't say &lt;em&gt;HTML is the greatest common divisor&lt;/em&gt;, which would be a correct analogy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is the mathematical term &lt;em&gt;lowest common denominator&lt;/em&gt; misused in everyday usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1074" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T11:21:18.447" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T17:13:08.930" Title="Why do we say &quot;lowest common denominator&quot; when we mean &quot;greatest common divisor&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;mathematics&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="10528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9955" CreationDate="2011-01-29T08:07:08.357" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess is &lt;em&gt;Anopheles&lt;/em&gt;.  It's the mosquito that carries malaria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T08:07:08.357" />
  <row Id="10529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10526" CreationDate="2011-01-29T08:26:56.333" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;ठीक बाबू (tikai bābū) means &quot;Yes, sir&quot; in Hindi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T08:26:56.333" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10508" CreationDate="2011-01-29T08:53:10.493" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Comparatives (-er, -est, less, least, more, most) can only modify a single adjective at a time. &lt;em&gt;More good&lt;/em&gt; is comparable to &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;less good&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;best&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;not good at all&lt;/em&gt;, but it has as much to do with &lt;em&gt;less evil&lt;/em&gt; as it does with &lt;em&gt;less purple&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;less hungry&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try substituting &quot;positive&quot; and &quot;negative&quot; (in their numerical sense) into your example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &lt;em&gt;more negative&lt;/em&gt; &amp;lt; &lt;em&gt;negative&lt;/em&gt; &amp;lt; &lt;em&gt;less negative&lt;/em&gt; &amp;lt; 0 &amp;lt; &lt;em&gt;less positive&lt;/em&gt; &amp;lt; &lt;em&gt;positive&lt;/em&gt; &amp;lt; &lt;em&gt;more positive&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice that the next thing after &lt;em&gt;less [x]&lt;/em&gt; is not &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;more&lt;/strong&gt; [y]&lt;/em&gt;, but &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;less&lt;/strong&gt; [y]&lt;/em&gt;; and more importantly, notice that those are all strict inequalities: something can be as &lt;em&gt;less negative&lt;/em&gt; as it wants to be, it will still not be &lt;em&gt;positive&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T08:53:10.493" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6383" CreationDate="2011-01-29T08:53:11.700" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reinforcing what Colin said, &quot;undone&quot; means ruined.  Two cites:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And the posts of the door moved at the&#xA;  voice of him that cried, and the house&#xA;  was filled with smoke. Then said I,&#xA;  Woe is me! for I am undone; because I&#xA;  am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell&#xA;  in the midst of a people of unclean&#xA;  lips: for mine eyes have seen the&#xA;  King, the Lord of hosts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-- Isaiah (KJM) 6:4-5&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She's come undone&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She didn't know what she was headed&#xA;  for&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And when I found what she was headed&#xA;  for&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was too late &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-- The Guess Who, &quot;Undun&quot;, 1969&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T08:53:11.700" />
  <row Id="10533" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10544" CreationDate="2011-01-29T08:55:58.810" Score="3" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it is, then what is the verb?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T11:11:29.360" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T11:11:29.360" Title="Is &quot;how to do it&quot; grammatically correct?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10534" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10551" CreationDate="2011-01-29T09:04:02.200" Score="2" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across a phrase &lt;em&gt;a turn on the butcher’s block&lt;/em&gt; in the following sentence appearing in an article of Time Magazine (Dec. 19, 2010 issue) titled &lt;em&gt;Can Washington Tackle Its Deficit Cows&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I know how butcher’s block looks like with pictures, and I understand Washington must touch on big chunk of deficit sources. But what does this figurative expression &lt;em&gt;need a turn on the butcher’s block&lt;/em&gt; really mean?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Can somebody teach me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The list of reasons for our looming economic disaster is long: a tax-cutting and spending spree when economic times were good; the financial crisis, with its blow to tax revenues and massive spending in response; two long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are also plenty of ways we can get out of hock. &#xA;  The Bowles-Simpson plan has spotlighted some of our government's long-standing sacred cows — ones that may finally need a turn on the butcher's block. Here are three of the most expensive ...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   —&lt;em&gt;Spending on Military Machine, Social Security, and The American Dream Subsidy&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T13:36:20.093" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T13:36:20.093" Title="What does ‘Need a turn on the butcher’s block’ mean in cutting down the U.S. Government spending?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="10535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10527" CreationDate="2011-01-29T09:05:00.240" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it's being misused. To add several fractions, you convert them to a common denominator. To add 1/2 and 1/3, you could convert them to 6/12 and 4/12 respectively; their sum is obviously 10/12, or 5/6.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;lowest&lt;/em&gt; common denominator is the lowest to which all of your addends can be converted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A concept (or argument or piece of entertainment) has to be expressed in a way that it is accessible to each member of the intended audience.  This is labeled, by way of analogy, the &quot;common denominator&quot; -- and whatever expression is easiest, or most denigrated, is the &quot;lowest&quot; common denominator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only real error comes in when someone says &lt;em&gt;reducing to the lowest common denominator&lt;/em&gt;.  No reduction is involved: when you convert the fraction to the l.c.d., you aren't changing its value, only the way it's written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T02:09:17.460" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T02:09:17.460" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10527" CreationDate="2011-01-29T09:05:40.060" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because people mix up the concepts, and use the one that sounds more like what they want to express. The &lt;em&gt;lowest common denominator&lt;/em&gt; sounds like it's smaller than the &lt;em&gt;greatest common divisor&lt;/em&gt;, when in fact it's the opposite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not a very good expression to use outside mathematics, as it sounds better when it's used incorrectly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T09:05:40.060" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10533" CreationDate="2011-01-29T09:07:08.450" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would assume this is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/infinitivephrase.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;infinitive phrase&lt;/a&gt; turned into a question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As such, the verb would be &lt;em&gt;&quot;to do&quot;&lt;/em&gt; in the phrase &lt;em&gt;&quot;to do it&quot;&lt;/em&gt;. However, I'm not sure if and how that changes with a &lt;em&gt;&quot;how&quot;&lt;/em&gt; in front of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3970" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T09:07:08.450" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10534" CreationDate="2011-01-29T09:18:14.670" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd guess they're referring to the fact that one of the things a butcher does is trim fat off the meat. The implication is that they think the three &quot;sacred cows&quot; contain &quot;fat&quot; (i.e., unnecessary spending) that could (and by implication, should) be stopped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4067" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T09:18:14.670" />
  <row Id="10539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10527" CreationDate="2011-01-29T09:18:21.777" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because people think of something as &quot;low&quot; and &quot;common&quot;, both of which it is, and then get themselves mixed up and say &quot;lowest common denominator&quot; which is not what they mean. (This vaguely similar to the way people say &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6209/steep-learning-curve&quot;&gt;&quot;steep learning curve&quot;&lt;/a&gt; based on informal ideas of steep surfaces being difficult to climb, without thinking carefully of what a learning curve is and what steepness actually means for one.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, the typical usage of &quot;lowest common denominator&quot; is a logical mistake. To speculate why it happens, my guess is that it's brought about by wanting (rightly) to use the terms &quot;low&quot; and &quot;common&quot;, and the temptation of using (incorrectly) the technical-sounding term &quot;lowest common denominator&quot;. That, and the fact that one has seen others use the phrase in that sense!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using something that's &lt;em&gt;actually&lt;/em&gt; logically right — like &quot;highest common factor&quot; — &lt;em&gt;sounds&lt;/em&gt; positive rather than negative, so this is less used. (Although, in your HTML example, you could use something like &quot;largest common subset of features&quot;, and be both right and understood.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the answer, but explanation of the literal meaning…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To take the example of TV shows — because the citation given on Wiktionary is &lt;em&gt;&quot;Reality TV really is appealing to the lowest common denominator in audiences&quot;&lt;/em&gt; — it is often said of low-quality populist shows that they are dumbed down, and at the &quot;lowest common denominator&quot;, in order to cater to a large population. In this case, it is true that the quality may be &lt;em&gt;low&lt;/em&gt;, and that the intention is to make something of a quality whose acceptability is &lt;em&gt;common&lt;/em&gt; to the large population. But the resulting quality of the show is actually the &lt;em&gt;greatest common&lt;/em&gt; factor! It is at the greatest level of quality that is still &lt;em&gt;common&lt;/em&gt; (that's why it's low, because it needs to be common). If they were actually picking the &lt;em&gt;lowest&lt;/em&gt; common quality, it would be even lower, or zero.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Mathematical background: In mathematics, there are two related concepts: the &lt;em&gt;greatest/highest common divisor/factor&lt;/em&gt; of two integers, say 15 and 24, is the greatest factor common to both, in this case 3. (Note that 3 is lower than 15 and 24.) The &lt;em&gt;lowest common multiple&lt;/em&gt; of the integers is the smallest multiple common to both; in this case 120. (Note that 120 is greater than 15 and 24.) So the lowest common multiple is &lt;em&gt;greater&lt;/em&gt; than the numbers, and the greatest common factor is &lt;em&gt;lower&lt;/em&gt; than the numbers. This itself should be enough to suggest that if what you want to talk of is something low, you must use &quot;greatest common…&quot;, not &quot;lowest common…&quot;. But most people don't think so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lowest common denominator&lt;/em&gt; is another term which is used when adding fractions: if you're adding the fractions 1/15 and 1/24, you convert them both to the lowest common denominator, which is the lowest common multiple of the denominators. In this case, the lowest common denominator is 120, and you write 1/15 as 8/120 and 1/24 as 5/120, so that you can add them: &#xA;1/15 + 1/24 = 8/120 + 5/120 = 13/120.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Even in this case, the lowest common denominator (120) is larger than the original denominators (15 and 24).]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;actual&lt;/em&gt; &quot;lowest common factor&quot; of &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; set of integers is 1, irrespective of what the numbers are, so it's not a very useful term. Similarly, the literal meaning of &quot;lowest common denominator&quot;, when used in its usual context, refers to a quality that is always zero (or the minimum possible) irrespective of the population: the lowest common denominator among high-school graduates, the lowest common denominator among the whole population, and the lowest common denominator among people with PhDs would all be the same: abysmal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: Someone on Wikipedia has already &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowest_common_denominator#Figurative_uses&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;explained this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In common non-mathematical usage, the term &quot;least common denominator&quot; is often misused for the concept of the greatest common divisor. For example, a graphic toolkit which rendered features like lines and polygons into either Microsoft VML or standard SVG might choose to implement only the maximum set of graphic attributes common to both destination formats, which is an easy analogy to the concept of the greatest common divisor (The greatest common divisor of 12 and 18 is 6, which is the largest factor evenly dividing both numbers). If the systems being compared are very similar, then the common functionality can be a powerful subset (as the greatest common divisor of 375 and 250 is 125), while if the systems are very dissimilar the common capabilities might be very minimal (as the greatest common divisor of 270 and 98 is only 2). With additional systems (or numbers), the set of features common to all cannot grow and often shrinks (likewise for finding the greatest common divisor for a series of numbers).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This approach of making use of only the greatest subset of function common to all supported systems is often disparaged when the common feature set is sparse or weak (by analogy, having a small &quot;greatest common divisor&quot;). In this context colloquial usage has conflated the concept of &quot;greatest common divisor&quot; with the familiar sounding jargon of &quot;least common denominator&quot;, which seems to emphasize smallness of overlap through the word &quot;least&quot;, but actually refers to a different and inappropriate mathematical concept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit 2&lt;/strong&gt;: In case it helps, below is a vague picture illustrating what I mean. (Anyone please feel free to make a better image and replace this.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/eKD0w.png&quot; alt=&quot;Highest common factor, etc.&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When most people say &quot;lowest common denominator&quot;, they mean the second horizontal line, near the bottom: it's very low, because it must be common to so many, but it's also not zero. If you take &quot;lowest common denominator&quot; in its mathematical sense of being an lcm (of some set of existing denominators), then it's actually higher than the elements of the set, and is the highest line. If you use &quot;denominator&quot; to mean just &quot;trait&quot;, then the &quot;lowest common denominator&quot; is literally the lowest common trait, which is the very bottom-most line: it's always zero (or 1 in mathematics, if you're talking of factors), independent of your original population, and even lower than it needs to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T21:26:15.133" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T21:26:15.133" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="10540" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10549" CreationDate="2011-01-29T09:23:14.573" Score="0" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/406/how-bad-is-the-f-word-really&quot;&gt;How bad is the f-word really?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I fucking love this man! It's awesome, keep it up!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it not a bad word sometimes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can it be used in formal article?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T11:14:23.600" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T13:20:10.517" ClosedDate="2011-01-29T14:34:09.497" Title="About the 'f-word'" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="10541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10540" CreationDate="2011-01-29T09:36:39.503" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dictionary (Collins) has it as &lt;em&gt;taboo&lt;/em&gt;, and it is best avoided in any context. Otherwise, you will initially achieve the desired effect (which is to draw attention) but ultimately everyone will join in and the office/school/house will start to sound like a barrack-room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only formal article in which it should appear is one discussing swearing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T09:36:39.503" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10540" CreationDate="2011-01-29T10:21:18.623" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;fucking |ˈfəkɪŋ|&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  adjective [attributive] &amp;amp; adverb [as submodifier] vulgar slang&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  used for emphasis or to express anger, annoyance, contempt, or surprise.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the sentence you wrote, I will understand the word to be used to give emphasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word is vulgar, and it is not used in a formal context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T10:21:18.623" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10534" CreationDate="2011-01-29T11:00:38.887" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported by the NOAD, a &lt;em&gt;butcher's block&lt;/em&gt; is a &lt;em&gt;a sturdy wooden kitchen table with a square top on which food may be chopped&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The metaphor used is between the meat that is cut on the butcher's block and the tax cut (or between the fat that is cut off the meat, and the tax cut).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T11:00:38.887" />
  <row Id="10544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10533" CreationDate="2011-01-29T11:08:11.250" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;How&lt;/em&gt; used with an infinitive means &lt;em&gt;in what way or manner&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;by what means&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He showed me how to adjust the focus.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He did not know how he ought to behave.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  How does it work?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  —The New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He showed me how to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T11:08:11.250" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10545" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10546" CreationDate="2011-01-29T11:28:25.857" Score="3" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between the two and and should I say &quot;a part of the text&quot; or &quot;a segment of the text&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2171" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T14:18:04.050" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T14:18:04.050" Title="&quot;part&quot; vs &quot;segment&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="10546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10545" CreationDate="2011-01-29T11:36:37.177" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Segments&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some objects are naturally segmented, they have marks or narrowings between &lt;strong&gt;segments&lt;/strong&gt;. These are places where the object can be easily and naturally separated. The segments are usually all alike in form. Think of an &lt;strong&gt;orange&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Parts&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some objects are compound objects that consist of an assembly of smaller dissimilar objects. We can separate these compound objects these into their constituent &lt;strong&gt;parts&lt;/strong&gt;. Think of an internal combustion &lt;strong&gt;engine&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Pieces&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some objects don't have obvious segments but can still be divided into &lt;strong&gt;pieces&lt;/strong&gt; at arbitrary points. The pieces need not be even in size and there is an undertone of destructive or irreversible breaking. Think of a (stereotypical circular uniform) &lt;strong&gt;cake&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Fragments&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some objects, when subjected to some sufficiently &lt;em&gt;violent&lt;/em&gt; force, can shatter into multiple  &lt;strong&gt;fragments&lt;/strong&gt; of mostly random size and shape. If the other fragments are lost, you may find only one fragment and have no other knowledge of the form of the whole object. Think of a dropped Ming &lt;strong&gt;vase&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Sections&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some objects are designed to be cut apart or are commonly cut apart. The word section is derived from the Latin word for &lt;strong&gt;cutting&lt;/strong&gt; and may be appropriate for a deliberate and careful cutting of some extract from a larger source. There is, to me, an implication that the cutting points are not accidental. Think of plumbing &lt;strong&gt;pipes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;English text&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Written English language text is usually written in sentences, paragraphs and perhaps chapters. These form obvious segmentation points, so when your extract is made at a balanced pair of such boundaries, the term &lt;em&gt;segment&lt;/em&gt; is more appropriate. However, why not just use &lt;em&gt;sentence&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;paragraph&lt;/em&gt; as appropriate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you spilled ink onto a page of text, it might be better to say that a &lt;em&gt;part&lt;/em&gt; of the text was obscured - since (unless by unlikely coincidence) the obscured part is not an exact sentence or paragraph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a page of text is burnt or torn and scattered, you might consider any remainder to be a fragment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As HorusKul commented, since successive English sentences are not often very similar, they are not very much like segments and the word section is more likely to be appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Updated to clarify segments, pieces, parts and sections. Updated: fragments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T13:40:10.063" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T13:40:10.063" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10519" CreationDate="2011-01-29T11:56:39.937" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Different conventions apply to currency symbols and other types of symbol. English contains many conflicting conventions, in many cases because the conflicting conventions were each inherited from a different source. The USA currency prefix position was probably influenced by that of the British currency prefix which I suspect came from the Romans and might reflect Roman conventions or Latin word ordering. The positioning of abbreviations for temperature and other units of measure may have come from other sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, English is exuberantly inconsistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T11:56:39.937" />
  <row Id="10548" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-29T11:58:05.523" Score="0" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been learning English for about 4 years and I am going to take the FCE exam in 2 years. I am a self-taught and I am sure that I did made many mistakes in my learning process. But I’m curious how long does it take to get the FCE certificate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4325" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T11:58:05.523" ClosedDate="2011-01-29T15:46:57.813" Title="How long does it take you to get FCE certificate?" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;" />
  <row Id="10549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10540" CreationDate="2011-01-29T11:59:26.267" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know whether you're trolling with this question or not, but I'm going to give you a straight answer anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I agree that this is not a word you want to use if you're trying to make a good impression on your mother-in-law, and should be avoided in many, many contexts, there are times when no other word will do. It is possibly the strongest and most useful intensifier in the English language &lt;em&gt;for some situations&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are you out of your fucking mind?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Get the fuck out of here!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You gotta be fucking kidding me! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the right context, it can be very expressive. Crude and vulgar, yes — but sometimes that is exactly what's called for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try to imagine &lt;em&gt;Pulp Fiction&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;The Big Lebowski&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;The Sopranos&lt;/em&gt; without that word. No, wait — just turn on AMC when those shows are on and see how censorship of that word (&lt;em&gt;frigging&lt;/em&gt; or some other weak-assed substitute is crudely dubbed in in its place) absolutely destroys the impact of either film.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider this line from &lt;em&gt;The Big Lebowski&lt;/em&gt;, the emotional climax in which The Dude blows up at his idiot/savant (OK, mainly idiot) buddy Walter Sobjchak:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Dude:&lt;/strong&gt; God damn you Walter! You fuckin' asshole! Everything's a fuckin' travesty with you, man! And what was all that shit about Vietnam? What the FUCK has anything got to do with Vietnam? What the fuck are you talking about? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or these lines from &lt;em&gt;Pulp Fiction&lt;/em&gt; [Vincent and Jules are cleaning the inside of the car which is covered in blood]:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jules:&lt;/strong&gt; Oh, man, I will never forgive your ass for this shit. This is some fucked-up repugnant shit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vincent:&lt;/strong&gt; Jules, did you ever hear the philosophy that once a man admits that he's wrong that he is immediately forgiven for all wrongdoings? Have you ever heard that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jules:&lt;/strong&gt; Get the fuck out my face with that shit! The motherfucker that said that shit never had to pick up itty-bitty pieces of skull on account of your dumb ass. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vincent:&lt;/strong&gt; I got a threshold, Jules. I got a threshold for the abuse that I will take. Now, right now, I'm a fuckin' race car, right, and you got me in the red. And I'm just sayin', I'm just sayin' that it's fuckin' dangerous to have a race car in the fuckin' red. That's all. I could blow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jules:&lt;/strong&gt; Oh! Oh! You ready to blow? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vincent:&lt;/strong&gt; Yeah, I'm ready to blow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jules&lt;/strong&gt;: Well, I'm a mushroom-cloud-layin' motherfucker, motherfucker! Every time my fingers touch brain, I'm Superfly T.N.T., I'm the Guns of the Navarone! IN FACT, WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOIN' IN THE BACK? YOU'RE THE MOTHERFUCKER WHO SHOULD BE ON BRAIN DETAIL! We're fuckin' switchin'! I'm washin' the windows, and you're pickin' up this nigger's skull!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hell, even Jon Stewart uses the word &lt;em&gt;knowing&lt;/em&gt; it will get bleeped. Sometimes, in adult conversations about adult topics, for a particular kind of emphasis it is the exact word you need and no substitute even comes close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T13:20:10.517" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T13:20:10.517" />
  <row Id="10550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10519" CreationDate="2011-01-29T12:10:09.337" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is the currency symbol that is the odd usage here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;% is a shorthand notation for 'per cent' that has developed since Roman times: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roma.unisa.edu.au/07305/symbols.htm#Percent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.roma.unisa.edu.au/07305/symbols.htm#Percent&lt;/a&gt; - it makes for it to follow values (think 100 per cent)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't seem to find anything about why so many currency signs precede the value, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T12:10:09.337" />
  <row Id="10551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10534" CreationDate="2011-01-29T12:23:52.543" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When the author of the article says&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Bowles-Simpson plan has spotlighted some of our government's long-standing sacred cows — ones that may finally need a turn on the butcher's block.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;he is using a metaphor. He is equating certain government programs with &lt;em&gt;sacred cows&lt;/em&gt; (in India, cows have traditionally been considered sacred and could not be killed) and he extends the metaphor to say they should be considered for slaughter (that is, they need to take &quot;a turn on the chopping block&quot; (a heavy wooden table where meat is cut up), which is what happens to slaughtered beef). Calling something a sacred cow is a cliché, but the writer rescues the metaphor by extending it and freshening it up with the chopping block reference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, in case you're wondering about what &lt;em&gt;take a turn&lt;/em&gt; means, it comes from games and rides at the amusement park and the like. To &lt;em&gt;take a turn&lt;/em&gt; at something means to be involved in a process by which a number of people wait to participate in the process one (or more) at a time. Baseball is popular in Japan, so I know you will understand that when a team is at bat, each player comes up and &lt;em&gt;takes a turn&lt;/em&gt; at the plate to try to hit the ball.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T12:23:52.543" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10552" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-29T12:24:57.567" Score="3" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Poland we have got many names for young children or teenagers using the Internet. For example we could see on the Internet that many have mangled the mother tongue and have been writing like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I’m CoOl, dON’t yOu ThInK :&lt;strong&gt;*&lt;/strong&gt; swEEt&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point is that they mix capitalized and normal letters. We call these people pokémons.&#xA;I can see that this way of typing is also spread around the world so what do you call such people?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second issue. Spotty teenagers flooding the web, asking over and over what had been answered, disregarding net etiquette. Someone forged the term of ‘neo child’. neo stem from the name of the product — Neostrada — a broadband Internet from the largest Internet provider in Poland: Telekomunikacja. Neostrada was and probably has been the most popular way to connect to the Internet so in some period of time we experienced such neo children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please watch this YouTube video to better understand what I mean:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6DZOq2hulk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6DZOq2hulk&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;(hope you like it :D)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, do you have a name for such stupid behaviours? Ah, what is more interesting is that not only children can be called ‘neo’. Adults can too if only their behaviour is similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4325" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T14:24:27.027" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T15:20:43.677" Title="Pejorative terms for children or teenagers using the Internet" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;internet&gt;&lt;pejorative&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10553" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10555" CreationDate="2011-01-29T12:57:27.883" Score="2" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct? If none of them are, could you be so kind as to provide a correct alternative?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This song reminds me of the old times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This song reminds me of the old time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3554" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T13:34:54.433" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T17:20:40.773" Title="Old times or old time?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10554" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10556" CreationDate="2011-01-29T13:02:05.083" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;tone&quot; and &quot;shade&quot; seem to mean&#xA;darkness/brightness. So are they the&#xA;same? When to use which?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when describe a person's skin, what&#xA;is the difference between light-toned (as apposed to dark-toned and medium-toned)&#xA;and fair-complected?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks and regards!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T13:35:10.203" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T13:46:34.843" Title="&quot;tone&quot; and &quot;shade&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="10555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10553" CreationDate="2011-01-29T13:18:36.990" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first sentence you wrote is the correct one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As reported from the NOAD, &lt;em&gt;Old times&lt;/em&gt; is used, for example, in the phrase &lt;em&gt;for old times' shake&lt;/em&gt; to mean &lt;em&gt;in memory of former times, in acknowledgment of a shared past&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They sat in the back seats for old times' sake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Old-time&lt;/em&gt; is used to refer to something old-fashioned in an approving or nostalgic way (&lt;em&gt;old-time dancing&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T17:20:40.773" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T17:20:40.773" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10554" CreationDate="2011-01-29T13:26:55.530" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the field of design, every color has what are called &lt;em&gt;tints&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;shades&lt;/em&gt;. A &lt;em&gt;tint&lt;/em&gt; of a basic color is a lighter version of that color, and a &lt;em&gt;shade&lt;/em&gt; is a darker version. &lt;em&gt;Tone&lt;/em&gt; is a general term to describe the lightness or darkness (tint or shade) of a basic color.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The painting was a study done in dark tones, burnt umber and brick red, with shades of orange and olive. Here and there tints of those colors were used as accents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T13:26:55.530" />
  <row Id="10557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10554" CreationDate="2011-01-29T13:27:41.957" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When refering to colours, &lt;em&gt;tone&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;shade&lt;/em&gt; are pretty close in meaning to me. If I were to make a difference, I'd say that &lt;em&gt;shade&lt;/em&gt; is more about the detailed nuance of the colour, while &lt;em&gt;tone&lt;/em&gt; can describe broader differences. If you say “various shades of blue”, you could use “tones” here (it feels less natural to me, but it works). If you say “in tones of green and red”, you couldn't substitute “shades” in that example.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One’s skin is &lt;em&gt;light-toned&lt;/em&gt;, but the person is &lt;em&gt;fair-complected&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;fair-complexioned&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T13:27:41.957" />
  <row Id="10558" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10560" CreationDate="2011-01-29T13:44:01.977" Score="1" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;A person can &lt;strong&gt;indulge in &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Is he therefore an &lt;strong&gt;indulger of &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; or an &lt;strong&gt;indulger in &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;? Are both okay?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If both are okay, is there any difference between these two phrases or are their meanings exactly the same?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2668" LastEditorUserId="2668" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T14:09:37.967" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T16:48:24.773" Title="&quot;indulger of&quot; vs. &quot;indulger in&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="10559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10554" CreationDate="2011-01-29T13:46:34.843" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;tone&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;shade&lt;/em&gt; are two words with two different meaning, and any occurrence of &lt;em&gt;tone&lt;/em&gt; cannot be replaced with &lt;em&gt;shade&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;tone&lt;/em&gt; refers to musical or vocal sounds, while &lt;em&gt;shade&lt;/em&gt; only refers to colors (&lt;em&gt;the piano tone appears monochrome or lacking in warmth&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;tone&lt;/em&gt; also means &lt;em&gt;the normal level of firmness or slight contraction in a resting muscle&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;the general effect of color or of light and shade in a picture&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;a slight degree of difference in the intensity of a color&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;shade&lt;/em&gt; can mean &lt;em&gt;darkness and coolness caused by shelter from direct sunlight&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;this area will be in shade for much part of the day&lt;/em&gt;), &lt;em&gt;a position of relative inferiority or obscurity&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;her elegant pink and black ensemble would put most outfits in the shade&lt;/em&gt;), &lt;em&gt;a color, especially with regard to how light or dark it is or as distinguished from one nearly like it&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;various shades of blue&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;Maria's eyes darkened in shade&lt;/em&gt;), &lt;em&gt;a slight degree of difference between colors&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;complected&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;having a specified complexion&lt;/em&gt;, where &lt;em&gt;complexion&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;the natural color, texture, and appearance of a person's skin, especially of the face&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;an attractive girl with a pale complexion&lt;/em&gt;); differently from the other terms you listed, &lt;em&gt;complected&lt;/em&gt; doesn't make only reference to the skin color.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T13:46:34.843" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10558" CreationDate="2011-01-29T13:51:53.030" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’ve never seen either of those used. Logically, it would be &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt;, but I’ve never seen that form. The &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/em&gt; is of the same opinion, and further points out that &lt;strong&gt;indulger&lt;/strong&gt; is not widely used at all (and mostly by itself: “he was an indulger”).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T13:51:53.030" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10508" CreationDate="2011-01-29T13:59:51.577" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a difference, but in terms of usage and context, not in terms of meaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever you compare two items or persons, it implies a somewhat close relationship between the two. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Bob is less evil than Hitler&quot; and &quot;Bob is better than Hitler&quot; both suggest that Bob can be compared to Hitler and thus is pretty evil (see jjackson's reply). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference, barring humorous references, comes from the direction in which the comparison is made. If you say &quot;less evil&quot;, it implies that you are talking about something evil but less so than something else, whereas better implies that you are talking about something which is already good or at least acceptable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3902" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T13:59:51.577" />
  <row Id="10562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10558" CreationDate="2011-01-29T14:21:41.863" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/em&gt; contains the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Was Jackson an indulger in and practitioner of nostalgia?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence is used only in academic context, though, with a frequency of 0.01 per million.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking for &lt;em&gt;indulger for&lt;/em&gt; doesn't return any result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T14:21:41.863" />
  <row Id="10563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10527" CreationDate="2011-01-29T14:45:05.230" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest &quot;greatest common factor&quot; would have more cachet and better capture the concept. For instance I am interested in mathematics, linguistics, sex, and beer (M*L*S*B). My girlfriend is interested in rock music, vegetarianism, sex, and beer (R*V*S*B). So the GCF is S*B, which represents what we are both interested in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4329" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T19:53:25.950" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T19:53:25.950" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10552" CreationDate="2011-01-29T15:20:43.677" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no specific term I know of that is used to describe adolescent people on The Internet. Here are some specific terms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Script kiddie&lt;/em&gt; refers to people who use scripts to attack computer systems. They are referred to in a derogatory manner as 'kiddies' (a slag term for 'kids' or 'children') because they typically do not have the skill to write the scripts on their own and have obtained them from another source and run them. They are often stereotyped as writing in the style you described (alternating case).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;newbie/noob/newb/nub&lt;/em&gt; refers to any person who is new to the activity in which they are participating. You can modify the adjective with a noun to specify the activity explicitly: an &lt;em&gt;internet newb&lt;/em&gt; is someone who is new at using the Internet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Troll&lt;/em&gt; refers to any person on the internet who posts inflammatory content for the purpose of enticing anger or other negative emotions from people. They are often stereotyped as being younger people.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T15:20:43.677" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10522" CreationDate="2011-01-29T15:55:24.180" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Capitalization of all nouns is still the rule in German, and other Germanic languages. English also belongs to the Germanic family of languages, and the practice was also prevalent in English until the 18th century.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At some point, I'm not sure precisely when, the practice diminished. Note that this is around the same time that English spelling was being standardized, so that there was only one &quot;correct&quot; spelling for each word, which wasn't the case until the beginning of the 19th century.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, the practice began with the dawn of written english, probably. It ended towards the end of the 18th century. I'm not sure why, precisely, but I suspect that it had to do with more commonly available education, and the things that happen to written language when the masses start reading and writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4215" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T15:55:24.180" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10345" CreationDate="2011-01-29T16:21:14.433" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For your example, you'd say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will neither buy groceries nor eat at a restaurant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the general case, the rule-of-thumb is to phrase the sentence as &quot;I will neither X nor Y&quot;, where X and Y are phrases containing verbs that could independently form the two sentences &quot;I will not X&quot; and &quot;I will not Y&quot;. (In our sentence, X = &quot;buy groceries&quot;, Y = &quot;eat at a restaurant&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case both X and Y begin with the same verb (say &lt;em&gt;buy&lt;/em&gt;), you can pull out the verb so that it distributes over the neither-nor construction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I will neither buy groceries nor buy shoes.&quot; —&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    &quot;I will buy neither groceries nor shoes.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I will neither eat in the park nor eat at a restaurant.&quot; —&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;     &quot;I will eat neither in the park nor at a restaurant.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I will neither do this nor do that.&quot; —&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;I will do neither this nor that.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T16:21:14.433" />
  <row Id="10568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10558" CreationDate="2011-01-29T16:48:24.773" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indulge &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; means you yourself indulge; indulge &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; means you allow or enable indulgence in others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I indulge in chocolate.  I am indulgent of my daughters' appetite for clothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think &quot;indulger&quot; is a real word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T16:48:24.773" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10527" CreationDate="2011-01-29T17:17:43.083" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is just the deliberate use of a set phrase to suggest negative features.  Compare&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Broadcast television is aimed at the lowest common denominator of its audience's tastes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Broadcast television is aimed at the highest common factor of its audience's tastes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Highest common factor&lt;/em&gt; is an alternative way of saying &lt;em&gt;greatest common divisor&lt;/em&gt; (in fact the one I was taught at school) but sounds so much more positive &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T17:17:43.083" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10570" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-29T17:41:56.697" Score="0" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5531/ive-got-vs-ive-gotten&quot;&gt;I&amp;#39;ve got vs I&amp;#39;ve gotten&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In American English, is there any differences between the following two sentences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He has gotten two tickets for the show.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He hasn't got any money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T17:56:35.437" ClosedDate="2011-01-29T18:23:45.497" Title="Is there any differences between &quot;gotten&quot; and &quot;got&quot; used as past participle?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;past-participle&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10571" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10769" CreationDate="2011-01-29T17:47:05.540" Score="2" ViewCount="385" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &lt;em&gt;lowest common denominator&lt;/em&gt; is a phrase that has a meaning opposite to its literal meaning. Are there any other phrases like that? What is the term used for such phrases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: Obviously, there are endlessly many such examples in the general class of &lt;em&gt;irony&lt;/em&gt;; we're looking for phrases that are used in meanings opposite to their literal meaning, but with no hint of sarcasm or irony.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T15:25:55.657" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T17:55:11.727" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-29T18:28:36.253" Title="What are non-ironic English expressions used with a meaning opposite to their literal meaning?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10572" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-29T17:51:11.963" Score="0" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5390/gray-vs-grey&quot;&gt;&amp;#39;Gray&amp;#39; vs &amp;#39;Grey&amp;#39;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct? Is it &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grayed_out&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Grayed out&lt;/a&gt;&quot; or &quot;Greyed out&quot;? Google brings almost the same number of results for both. Can they always be used interchangeably?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T17:56:36.047" ClosedDate="2011-01-29T18:22:08.550" Title="&quot;Grayed out&quot; or &quot;Greyed out&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;colors&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="10573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3841" CreationDate="2011-01-29T17:53:04.163" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know someone who would confuse it even further with the usage &quot;Tuesday first&quot; meaning the first Tuesday after today - where most people would interpret that as meaning a Tuesday which landed on the 1st of a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4335" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T17:53:04.163" />
  <row Id="10575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5390" CreationDate="2011-01-29T17:56:36.047" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Gray&quot; is generally the American spelling and &quot;grey&quot; the British.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4335" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T17:56:36.047" />
  <row Id="10576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="332" CreationDate="2011-01-29T18:03:05.070" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would generally use the suitably neutral and meaningless &quot;Regards,&quot; in a business email - sometimes changing to &quot;Thanks,&quot; where appropriate (always keeping the comma in a very traditional manner).  On a couple of line reply I may drop any salutation.  I would keep to the formal &quot;Yours sincerely/faithfully,&quot; in a business letter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On personal emails I would vary widely from nothing to some elaborate blessing and anything inbetween depending on what I was saying.  My favourite in Christian/church contexts is &quot;Your brother&quot;, either followed by my name or just a full stop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4335" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T18:03:05.070" />
  <row Id="10577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10527" CreationDate="2011-01-29T18:06:11.007" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because, even in rich sophisticated western societies, huge numbers of people are almost innumerate and therefore unfamiliar with simple arithmetical expressions of this sort. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just asked a university-educated friend &quot;what is the lowest common denominator of a half and a third?&quot; - Some conversation ensued before I got an answer. Try it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Journalists and broadcasters who use the phrase ought to agree that by doing so they are are pandering to the lowest common denominator of their audience. ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T18:20:46.147" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T18:20:46.147" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10578" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10607" CreationDate="2011-01-29T18:24:08.363" Score="3" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt; She cracked an egg into the frying pan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this sentence, should &lt;em&gt;cracked&lt;/em&gt; be replaced with &lt;em&gt;broke&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I take that &lt;em&gt;to crack&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;to break, but without to cause a complete separation of the parts&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The windshield of this car was cracked. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T18:40:02.547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T23:28:43.403" Title="&quot;To break eggs&quot; or &quot;to crack eggs&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10578" CreationDate="2011-01-29T18:37:19.880" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The verb &lt;em&gt;crack&lt;/em&gt; can mean “to break by creating cracks”, or as Merriam-Webster Dictionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crack&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt; “1a: to break so that fissures appear on the surface &amp;lt;crack a mirror&gt;”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T18:37:19.880" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10571" CreationDate="2011-01-29T18:46:05.840" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These probably all fall under the banner of &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/irony&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;irony&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of [the] literal meaning&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What, you think you can't express a negative with two positives? &lt;em&gt;Yeah, right!&lt;/em&gt; (as Brian Hooper notes above).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T18:46:05.840" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-29T18:46:05.840" />
  <row Id="10582" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10588" CreationDate="2011-01-29T18:50:50.677" Score="2" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just don't know what's the difference. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When we use &lt;em&gt;in what sense&lt;/em&gt;, we mean &lt;em&gt;in different sense, we can conclude different results&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;When we use &lt;em&gt;point of view&lt;/em&gt;, we also mean &lt;em&gt;in different point of views, we can conclude different results&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, when we want to say &lt;em&gt;some questions are open, and from different view/sense leads different results&lt;/em&gt; then which to choose?&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those two phases are translated to (into?) two similar phrases in my native language (Mandarin).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T09:56:38.573" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T09:56:38.573" Title="'in sense' v.s. 'point of view'" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10578" CreationDate="2011-01-29T19:20:22.823" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Online dictionary suggests you can crack something, meaning snap or break apart, or crack meaning break without separation of parts. I suspect cracking an egg is what it suggests is the informal usage 'open for consumption', as in to 'crack a few beers' (beer being something it is impossible to crack in the strict sense of the word).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Collins suggests also 'break or cause to break with a sharp sound'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See here... &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/crack&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/crack&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T19:20:22.823" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10584" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10590" CreationDate="2011-01-29T19:33:41.237" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was working on a crossword puzzle with the clue &lt;em&gt;bearer of gold, frankincense, or myrrh&lt;/em&gt;. I immediately thought that the answer is obviously either &quot;magi&quot; or &quot;wise man,&quot; but then realized that the puzzle called for a 5 letter word so neither fit. Eventually I figured out that magi is a plural Latin word, so its singular form would be &quot;magus&quot; which was the correct answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it normal to use the word &quot;magus&quot; in informal, or even formal, English? I've &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; seen it before. I have however often seen magi used as a singular noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="502" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:04:03.400" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:04:03.400" Title="Singular form of the biblical magi" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10578" CreationDate="2011-01-29T19:38:15.610" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're right about the meanings of the words. But both verbs are used with egg. See the examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Never &lt;strong&gt;crack eggs&lt;/strong&gt; directly into the bowl that you are building your recipe in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cracking an egg&lt;/strong&gt; open and separating the egg yolks is quite easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Make sure they're not wearing any rings and challenge them to &lt;strong&gt;break an egg&lt;/strong&gt; this way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Breaking an egg&lt;/strong&gt; with one hand takes finesse, but using two hands to &lt;strong&gt;crack eggs&lt;/strong&gt; works just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T19:38:15.610" />
  <row Id="10586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10571" CreationDate="2011-01-29T19:53:34.313" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The exact word is irony. You may find it interesting to know some other words, extracted from Longman Contemporary Dictionary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;irony&lt;/strong&gt;: the use of words that are the opposite of what you really mean, often in order to be amusing:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;‘I’m so happy to hear that,’ he said, with more than a trace of irony in his voice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;metaphor&lt;/strong&gt;: a way of describing something by referring to it as something different and suggesting that it has similar qualities to that thing:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The beehive is a metaphor for human society. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;simile&lt;/strong&gt;: an expression that describes something by comparing it with something else, using the words  as  or  like , for example ‘as white as snow’:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The poet uses the simile ‘soft like clay’. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;bathos&lt;/strong&gt;: a sudden change from a subject that is beautiful, moral, or serious to something that is ordinary, silly, or not important:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The play is too sentimental and full of bathos. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;hyperbole&lt;/strong&gt;: a way of describing something by saying that it is much bigger, smaller, worse etc than it actually is – used especially to excite people’s feelings :  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In his speeches, he used a lot of hyperbole.  |  journalistic hyperbole &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;alliteration&lt;/strong&gt;: the use of several words together that all begin with the same sound, in order to make a special effect, especially in poetry:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the alliteration of the ‘s’ sound in ‘sweet birds sang softly’ &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;imagery&lt;/strong&gt;: the use of words to describe ideas or actions in a way that makes the reader connect the ideas with pictures in their mind:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the use of water imagery in Fitzgerald’s novel ‘The Great Gatsby’  |  She uses the imagery of a bird’s song to represent eternal hope. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;rhetorical question&lt;/strong&gt;: a question that you ask as a way of making a statement, without expecting an answer:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When he said ‘how can these attitudes still exist in a civilized society?’, he was asking a rhetorical question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T19:53:34.313" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-29T19:53:34.313" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10571" CreationDate="2011-01-29T20:13:31.827" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I &lt;em&gt;hate&lt;/em&gt; it when people say &quot;I could care less&quot; instead of &quot;couldn't care less.&quot; It seems to be more or less acceptable though in conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="502" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T20:13:31.827" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-29T20:13:31.827" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10582" CreationDate="2011-01-29T20:19:02.663" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meaning of “in a sense” and “with a certain point of view” overlap but are not identical. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;“point of view”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; implies a more personal take on things, while &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;in a sense&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; tends to be used for well-established interpretations (like, scientific theories, or the like).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T20:19:02.663" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10582" CreationDate="2011-01-29T20:21:44.533" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports the following meaning for &lt;em&gt;point of view&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;in a sense&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;point of view /pɔɪnt əv/ /ə vju/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  a particular attitude or way of considering a matter: &lt;em&gt;I'm trying to get Matthew to change his point of view&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • (in fictional writing) the narrator's position in relation to the story being told: &lt;em&gt;this story is told from a child's point of view&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • the position from which something or someone is observed: &lt;em&gt;certain aspects are not visible from a single point of view&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;in a (or one) sense&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  used to indicate a particular interpretation of a statement or situation: &lt;em&gt;in a sense, behavior cannot develop independently of the environment&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T21:38:18.680" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T21:38:18.680" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10584" CreationDate="2011-01-29T20:23:24.640" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both “magus” and “magi” are attested in dictionaries. For example, in the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;magus (pl. magi)&#xA;  a member of a priestly&#xA;  caste of ancient Persia. (See also Magi.)&#xA;  • a sorcerer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;magi: plural form of magus .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Magi”, with a capital M, is only used in the plural:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Magi (the Magi)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the “wise men” from the East who&#xA;  brought gifts to the infant Jesus&#xA;  (Matt. 2:1), said in later tradition&#xA;  to be kings named Caspar, Melchior,&#xA;  and Balthasar who brought gifts of&#xA;  gold, frankincense, and myrrh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the most common use (those specific Magi) only exists in the plural, though the singular of the common noun exists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T20:23:24.640" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="10591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10527" CreationDate="2011-01-29T20:28:37.927" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A “common denominator”, in the extended usage, is a trait or theme that all elements of a group have in common. The “lowest common denominator” is the denominator that it is most practical or easiest to use when summing or comparing fractions. In the analogy, the “lowest common denominator” is the trait or theme that is most practical or easiest to take advantage of or use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The suggestion to use “greatest common factor” instead kind of misses the point that the analogy is that people or web browsers (or whatever) are &lt;em&gt;fractions&lt;/em&gt;, not integers. Sure, if we wanted to make the analogy that web browsers are integers, then speaking of the “greatest common factor” would make sense. But that analogy has no currency, so the suggestion is dead on arrival.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T20:28:37.927" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10593" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10601" CreationDate="2011-01-29T20:37:34.457" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering why does something &lt;em&gt;goes off&lt;/em&gt;, when it in fact does the opposite&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;bomb goes off&lt;/em&gt; - it blows up&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;alarm goes off&lt;/em&gt; - it turns on&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why not &lt;em&gt;goes on&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3684" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T20:47:27.817" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T22:11:19.247" Title="Why &quot;go off&quot;, as in &quot;alarm went off&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;phrasal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="10594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10571" CreationDate="2011-01-29T20:38:15.350" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps the easiest way for the literal meaning to be the opposite of the intended meaning is for the phrase to have the wrong number of negations. As I'd noticed while answering &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7447/whats-the-story-with-the-british-use-of-miss-not-having-vs-miss-having/7457#7457&quot;&gt;another question recently&lt;/a&gt;, this includes phrases like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I miss not having him around.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;No head injury is too trivial to ignore.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;You can't fail to miss it.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and of course&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I could care less.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Credit to jjackson's answer for bringing up &quot;could care less&quot;.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T20:38:15.350" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-29T20:38:15.350" />
  <row Id="10595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10183" CreationDate="2011-01-29T20:45:25.387" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To emphasize Robusto's point (3). Sir Issac Newton published his Philosophie Naturalis Principia Mathematica not in English but in Latin in 1687. &#xA;This was the last major work written in Latin published in England. However,&#xA;the level of Latin at Cambridge and Oxford was and remained quite high. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Perhaps no more than that of Gottingen or Tubingen in Germany. But &quot;OxBridge&quot; exerted more influence on the Kingdom of England than Gottingen/Tubingen et al exerted on the many German States. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;To the English writer back then (and even till the present) Latin roots seem more fitting for abstract words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4340" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T20:45:25.387" />
  <row Id="10596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10571" CreationDate="2011-01-29T20:52:14.240" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The alarm goes off when an intruder enters the house.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would seem logical that &lt;em&gt;go off&lt;/em&gt; means the alarm switches off, but &lt;em&gt;go off&lt;/em&gt; means (in this case) &lt;em&gt;begin to sound&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T17:55:11.727" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T17:55:11.727" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-29T20:52:14.240" />
  <row Id="10597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="332" CreationDate="2011-01-29T20:55:08.437" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even &quot;Yours faithfully&quot; is shockingly informal and inappropriately familiar in some circumstances.  When writing to someone of high social rank, such as a member of a royal family, one should always end one's letter with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I remain, [sir|madam], your most humble and obedient servant,&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4341" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T20:55:08.437" />
  <row Id="10598" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10599" CreationDate="2011-01-29T21:00:04.157" Score="5" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(I apologize for the silly question ahead)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've lost some weight recently, and I was able, for the first time today, to close my belt buckle using a notch higher than usual...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the life of me I can't figure out if I &quot;went up a notch&quot; or &quot;down a notch&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this phrase even applicable for an actual belt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3684" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T21:23:01.160" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T03:48:37.953" Title="Up or down a notch?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10598" CreationDate="2011-01-29T21:29:26.893" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;down a notch&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;down a level&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;It is used in sentences like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Turn the volume down a notch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or, figuratively, in sentences like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Anyone who names a board game after himself needs to be taken down a notch or two.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Soon he was taken down a notch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The expression you are looking for is probably &lt;em&gt;to notch (something) tighter&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She notched her belt tighter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T22:16:46.897" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T22:16:46.897" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-01-29T21:44:14.580" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Always taking a bit of a chance using the Internet to answer an Internet question, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-difference-between-while-and-whilst/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Daily Writing Tips&lt;/a&gt; says that not only are &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;whilst&lt;/em&gt; interchangeable, but that in fact &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt; is the original version. The very authoritative Michael Quinion backs this up on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-whi2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;World Wide Words&lt;/a&gt; (and that is a site well worth visiting for anyone interested in the English language).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I think your question proceeds from a false premise: they haven't come to be used to mean the same thing, they &lt;strong&gt;do&lt;/strong&gt; mean the same thing, and there is nothing wrong with using &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt; in all cases. (And to answer the question that &lt;strong&gt;wasn't&lt;/strong&gt; asked, since it is shorter than &lt;em&gt;whilst&lt;/em&gt; and clearly understood by US as well as British English-speakers, I'd say stick with &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt; every time.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3752" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T21:44:14.580" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10593" CreationDate="2011-01-29T22:11:19.247" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To &lt;em&gt;go off&lt;/em&gt; in this sense is related to the expression &lt;em&gt;to set off,&lt;/em&gt; meaning &lt;em&gt;to start&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;to be started.&lt;/em&gt; It implies that the subject was in a state of rest, then moved &lt;em&gt;off&lt;/em&gt; from that state into action. The phrasal verb &lt;em&gt;to go on&lt;/em&gt; already has the meaning of &lt;em&gt;to continue.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T22:11:19.247" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10522" CreationDate="2011-01-29T22:27:15.017" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Capitalisation to this extent wasn't around in Old English, and I didn't remember any in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, but it seemed exist in some Shakespeare folios and not others, so it certainly hasn't been around since the beginning of written English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found this in an actual printed book, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (David Crystal), p67, where the internet let me down. It's in the section about emerging orthography in the 16th Century:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hart_%28spelling_reformer%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hart&lt;/a&gt; recommended his readers to use a capital letter at the beginning of every sentence, proper name, and important common noun. By the 17th century, the practice had extended to titles (&lt;em&gt;Sir, Lady&lt;/em&gt;), forms of address (&lt;em&gt;Father, Mistris&lt;/em&gt;), and personified nouns (&lt;em&gt;Nature&lt;/em&gt;). Emphasized words and phrases would also attract a capital. By the beginning of the 18th century, the influence of Continental books had caused this practice to be extended still further (e.g. to the names of the branches of knowledge), and it was not long before some writers began using a capital for any noun that they felt to be important. Books appeared in which all or most nouns were given an initial capital (as is done systematically in modern German) - perhaps for aesthetic reasons, or perhaps because printers were uncertain about which nouns to capitalize, and so capitalized them all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The fashion was at its height in the later 17th century, and continued into the 18th. The manuscripts of Butler, Traherne, Swift, and Pope are full of initial capitals. However, the later 18th-century grammarians were not amused by this apparent lack of discipline in the written language. In their view, the proliferation of capitals was unnecessary, and causing the loss of a useful potential distinction. Their rules brought a dramatic reduction in the types of noun permitted to take a capital letter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems odd that Hart's recommendations on capitalisation should have taken root where his suggestions for phonetic spelling have fallen on deaf ears...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T22:27:15.017" />
  <row Id="10604" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10605" CreationDate="2011-01-29T22:32:52.727" Score="4" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know the meaning of admiral. But what does it mean when we use &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Rear&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; before it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T22:48:10.553" Title="What is the difference between Admiral and Rear-Admiral?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;admiral&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="10605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10604" CreationDate="2011-01-29T22:35:09.663" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rear_admiral&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rear Admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank [...] below that of a Vice Admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the &quot;Admiral&quot; ranks[.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It originated from the days of naval sailing squadrons and can trace its origins to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Navy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Royal Navy&lt;/a&gt;. Each naval squadron would be assigned an admiral as its head, who would command from the centre vessel and direct the activities of the squadron. The admiral would in turn be assisted by a vice admiral, who commanded the lead ships which would bear the brunt of a naval battle. &lt;strong&gt;In the rear of the naval squadron, a third admiral would command the remaining ships&lt;/strong&gt; and, as this section of the squadron was considered to be in the least danger, the admiral in command of the rear would typically be the most junior of the squadron admirals. This has survived into the modern age, with the rank of rear admiral the most-junior of the admiralty ranks of many navies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Emphasis added.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; just wanted to add this important bit from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rear_Admiral_%28Royal_Navy%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;another article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Royal Navy rank of Rear Admiral should be distinguished from the office of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rear-Admiral_of_the_United_Kingdom&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom&lt;/a&gt;, which is an Admiralty position usually held by a senior (and possibly retired) &quot;full&quot; Admiral.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T22:48:10.553" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T22:48:10.553" />
  <row Id="10606" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-29T22:45:05.620" Score="0" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8450/words-that-are-pluralized-in-the-middle&quot;&gt;Words that are pluralized in the middle?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is the plural of &quot;passerby&quot; &quot;passers-by&quot; and not &quot;passerbies&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3267" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T00:52:46.670" ClosedDate="2011-01-30T09:11:50.457" Title="Plural of passerby" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10578" CreationDate="2011-01-29T23:28:43.403" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both verbs are quite commonly used with eggs.  Comparing various phrases in the Google n-grams viewer (“cracked/broke an egg”, “crack/break the eggs”, etc.) gives the impression that in the late 19th century &lt;em&gt;break&lt;/em&gt; became more common, but that recently &lt;em&gt;crack&lt;/em&gt; has been making a bit of a comeback.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/H4j5Q.png&quot; alt=&quot;Google n-grams viewer &amp;quot;crack an egg&amp;quot; vs. &amp;quot;break an egg&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The relative frequencies vary quite a bit between phrasings (eg in “breaking/cracking eggs”, &lt;em&gt;breaking&lt;/em&gt; dominates by a large margin, presumably due to “You can’t make an omelette without…” and similar phrases).  However, the same historical trends seem to hold for all the phrasings I tried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @nohat points out, &lt;em&gt;crack&lt;/em&gt; can be used with this meaning in other contexts as well, though it seems to be less common in general than it is with eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T23:28:43.403" />
  <row Id="10608" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-29T23:31:13.510" Score="4" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a native speaker of the language and I was recently corrected when pronouncing patronizing &quot;paytronizing&quot; when meaning condescending. I was told it is wrong to pronounce it that way; however, after looking it in dictionaries, I found both pronunciations to be accepted and no information on differences in usage.&#xA;Should I stop pronouncing it paytronizing? Does it have a different connotation/denotation when using one or the other pronunciation?&#xA;Thanks for your help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4344" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T05:50:12.547" Title="Is there a difference in meaning when pronouncing paytronizing or pahtronizing?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10609" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10611" CreationDate="2011-01-30T00:10:47.487" Score="3" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to produce a copy of my CV in English and I don't know how to properly describe the position. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was a Master student, I was employed by a professor at our department, for whom I did some software development, some research, and anything the researchers didn't want to do by themselves (yes I had to clean the coffee machine). I think that such positions are regulated by law (at least they are here) and have a special, generally recognized name. Only I don't know that name in English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are regional differences, I will need an American English variant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T05:38:53.273" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T13:25:01.223" Title="What is the word for a university student who has a job at university?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10608" CreationDate="2011-01-30T00:31:59.153" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, /paytronizing/ is mainly American, /pahtronizing/ is British. Note that it is (usually?) written &lt;em&gt;patronising&lt;/em&gt; with an &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt; in British. I believe there is no commonly recognised distinction in meaning between the two pronunciations, as in /pay-/ meaning &quot;condescending&quot; v. /pah-/ for other senses, though some might disagree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T01:35:16.960" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T01:35:16.960" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10609" CreationDate="2011-01-30T00:40:47.337" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you are looking for &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_assistant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;research assistant&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. If you also did teaching, you were (also) a &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teaching_assistant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;teaching assistant&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T00:40:47.337" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10606" CreationDate="2011-01-30T00:52:46.670" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have no authorative source, but my common sense explanation is that the word is derived from the verb phrase &lt;code&gt;to pass by something&lt;/code&gt;. As the noun-constructing suffix got attached to the verb part &lt;code&gt;pass&lt;/code&gt;, making it &lt;code&gt;passer&lt;/code&gt;, it is logical to chain the plural suffix -s after the first suffix. The &lt;code&gt;by&lt;/code&gt; part is more of an additional particle for the word, I think it is even acceptable to write &lt;code&gt;passers-by&lt;/code&gt; with a dash. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A weak point in this explanation is that other nouns derived from compound verbs don't build a plural in the middle (compare &lt;code&gt;turnout&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;makeover&lt;/code&gt;). But those don't use a suffix to create the noun, so no noun-chaining can occur. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T00:52:46.670" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10609" CreationDate="2011-01-30T01:30:49.563" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Cerberus that RA or TA are the terms most often used at universities for the position described. The only other word I can offer is &lt;em&gt;intern&lt;/em&gt;. That's certainly someone who would clean out coffee pots and the like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T01:30:49.563" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10614" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10617" CreationDate="2011-01-30T01:55:03.983" Score="6" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;Certain words you hear in English are only ever heard in a single context. For example, &lt;em&gt;skirl&lt;/em&gt; is used to describe &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=skirl&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the sound a bagpipe makes&lt;/a&gt;. Etymonline generously says the word is &quot;rarely&quot; heard outside that context, but I can't recall ever hearing it used for anything else. I imagine one could use it figuratively to describe another godawful high-pitched screech (sorry, bagpipe lovers), but there's no other bona fide usage for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I want to know is stated in the title of the question: Is there a term for these one-off words? I'm sure there must be, but I can't think of what it might be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Judging from some of the head-scratching comments I've received, there seems to be some confusion. Perhaps I did not make my meaning clear. I'm not looking for a word to describe the single instance of &lt;em&gt;skirl&lt;/em&gt;. I'm asking about a class of words like &lt;em&gt;skirl&lt;/em&gt;. I know there exist other examples of words that are only ever used in one context, but I can't think of any others at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T02:05:46.067" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T02:05:46.067" Title="Is there a term for words that have a single meaning or are only used in a single context?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="15" />
  <row Id="10615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10466" CreationDate="2011-01-30T03:39:32.870" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ulteriorly. The individual doing the &quot;right thing for the wrong reason&quot; did it ulteriorly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4347" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T03:39:32.870" />
  <row Id="10616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10598" CreationDate="2011-01-30T03:48:37.953" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normally, waistbands are described as being 'taken in' or 'let out'.  I would suggest that when describing notches on a belt (notches &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; a belt?) that the proper phrases would be something like, &quot;After dieting for two weeks I'm buckling my belt in one notch in.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T03:48:37.953" />
  <row Id="10617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10614" CreationDate="2011-01-30T04:11:43.970" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.satiche.org.uk/satiche/sat-0342.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stormy petrel&lt;/a&gt;.&quot; The idea, as described on the linked page, is that (for example) you never (or, at least, rarely) find a &lt;em&gt;petrel&lt;/em&gt; that's not &lt;em&gt;stormy&lt;/em&gt;. Similarly, &quot;all &lt;em&gt;shrift&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;short&lt;/em&gt;,&quot; and lots of other examples. One of the ones there is in fact &quot;every &lt;em&gt;skirl&lt;/em&gt; is of &lt;em&gt;bagpipes&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T04:11:43.970" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10609" CreationDate="2011-01-30T04:48:22.347" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Intern sounds like a fair term&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4348" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T04:48:22.347" />
  <row Id="10619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9035" CreationDate="2011-01-30T04:52:33.547" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How was the word 'flavors' used in the original sentence?  Saying &quot;The food had nice flavors&quot; is not common and you should have used the singular form &quot;The food had a nice flavor&quot; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you describe a store as selling &quot;many different flavors of ice-cream&quot;, then 'flavors' is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastEditorUserId="3800" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T19:31:50.400" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:31:50.400" />
  <row Id="10620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10609" CreationDate="2011-01-30T05:04:04.467" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have suggested, either &lt;em&gt;Research Assistant&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Teaching Assistant&lt;/em&gt;, depending upon your job requirements, are appropriate. It's perfectly fine and accurate to qualify your position as part-time, as in &lt;em&gt;Part-Time Research Assistant&lt;/em&gt;. Beyond that, I'm not aware of any term that is somehow more precise or appropriate and I teach at a university. In fact, sometimes odd or less frequently encountered terms can be annoying on a CV, even if they're technically precise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;What did you do here? Researchordinating Enablement Adminitemp?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Yes -- an REA. I came in part time and executed various, specified research tasks.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;So you were a part-time research assistant?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Well. I guess ... basically. Yes.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You should probably just say that.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Ah.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1007" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T05:04:04.467" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10400" CreationDate="2011-01-30T05:23:37.077" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're not the first to notice this.  I remember watching an episode of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7uS8roalVg&amp;amp;p=1A13CB7B3D00F58A&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters Show&lt;/a&gt; when Andy Gibb was a guest musician.  Barbara, who has a neutral American accent, introduced Andy Gibb, an Australian, and made some comment about him taking 'real funny' but not hearing his accent when he was singing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The link, a Youtube clip from the November 1, 1980 show, contains Barbara's quote.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T05:23:37.077" />
  <row Id="10622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10608" CreationDate="2011-01-30T05:50:12.547" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The pronunciation of &lt;em&gt;patronize&lt;/em&gt; is /ˈpeɪtrəˌnaɪz/, /ˈpætrəˌnaɪz/ when using the American English IPA, and /ˈpatrənʌɪz/ when using the British English IPA; the first is the pronunciation in American English, the second is the pronunciation in British English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T05:50:12.547" />
  <row Id="10623" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10625" CreationDate="2011-01-30T05:54:41.230" Score="4" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across a phrase, senators who become a &lt;em&gt;scarlet letter&lt;/em&gt;, in an article of today’s Washington Post (Jan.29) titled &quot;Tea Party Caucus holds first meeting without some who had embraced banner.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The sentence in question reads as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Republican senators who rode the tea party wave to victory in the fall are now weighing whether that label will help them on Capitol Hill or become a scarlet letter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand &lt;em&gt;scarlet letter&lt;/em&gt; means the letter of A in red signifying adulterer, and it was used as figurative expression by all means. However in this case, I'm puzzled with whom (i.e. political group, faction, clique) do the Senators in question commit adultery, and who is their due (should-be) partner (husband or wife, i.e electral franchise or belonging clique)? Why can they be dabbed &lt;em&gt;a scarlet letter&lt;/em&gt;? I read the whole article, but I couldn't figure its meaning out to the end. Can anybody explain me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T15:22:19.547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T15:26:46.960" Title="What does 'Become a scarlet letter' mean for a Senator who took advantage of the ‘Tea Party’ wave in the mid-term election?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10624" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10637" CreationDate="2011-01-30T05:59:31.320" Score="6" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of the different pronunciation of words like &lt;em&gt;park&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;yard&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;cartoon&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;margarine&lt;/em&gt; in American and British English?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In other words, why doesn't British English generally pronounce the &lt;em&gt;r&lt;/em&gt; in such words? Or, vice-versa, why does American English generally pronounce the &lt;em&gt;r&lt;/em&gt; in the same words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T07:16:56.853" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T08:15:26.120" Title="I park my car in the yard" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10623" CreationDate="2011-01-30T06:06:05.643" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you stated, the &quot;scarlet letter&quot; was the letter A that Hester Prynne was made to wear in The Scarlet Letter to signify that she was an adulterer. In the book, she is treated as a social pariah (outcast) because of the letter. Most people would not associate or interact with her unless they had to, and when they did it was with a look of disgust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the sentence you quoted, the implied meaning is that &lt;strong&gt;Republican senators who proclaimed themselves to be a part of the Tea Party are now trying to figure out if it will help them or if it caused them to become outcasts&lt;/strong&gt; with regard to their fellow Republicans as well as citizens in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T06:06:05.643" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10626" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10634" CreationDate="2011-01-30T06:14:23.523" Score="1" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aren't adverbs related to the closest word? &#xA;Does &lt;em&gt;nightly&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;nightly business report&lt;/em&gt; refer to &lt;em&gt;business&lt;/em&gt;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am still confused.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is relation of non-adverb modifiers different from that of adjective?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7458/the-cobra-vs-an-elephant-articles-with-nouns-denoting-a-class&quot;&gt;First Certificate Language Practice by Michael Vince&lt;/a&gt;  the &quot;first&quot; is related to the nearest modified word (without dephis application)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not interested in specific case of &quot;Nightly Business Reports&quot; (only), I'd like to understand a rule/pattern with possible exceptions in order to reuse it in my writing.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T04:07:39.153" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T04:46:00.093" Title="Aren't adverbs related to the closest word? What about other modifiers?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;confusables&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10623" CreationDate="2011-01-30T06:26:01.873" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence uses &lt;em&gt;scarlet letter&lt;/em&gt; as a metaphor; it doesn't use the phrase to mean the senator is an adulterer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence should be understood as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Republican senators who rode the tea party wave to victory&#xA;  in the fall are now wondering if having ridden the tea party&#xA;  will help them on Capitol Hill or have a negative effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T15:26:46.960" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T15:26:46.960" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10626" CreationDate="2011-01-30T06:30:58.610" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Nightly&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;business&lt;/em&gt; are referred to &lt;em&gt;report&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the same way, in the following phrase&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;his prime-time, nightly TV talk show&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;both &lt;em&gt;nightly&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;TV&lt;/em&gt; are referred to &lt;em&gt;talk show&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T06:30:58.610" />
  <row Id="10629" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10632" CreationDate="2011-01-30T06:35:48.407" Score="7" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;To my ear, &lt;em&gt;healthful&lt;/em&gt; does not sound right. This could well be geographical bias on my part.   Is it now a valid alternative to &lt;em&gt;healthy&lt;/em&gt;?  Does it have another meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4160" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T07:04:35.303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T22:12:19.100" Title="Is healthful considered an acceptable synonym of healthy?" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10630" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10631" CreationDate="2011-01-30T06:36:52.333" Score="5" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;em&gt;freedom fighter&lt;/em&gt; the &lt;em&gt;fighter&lt;/em&gt; supports freedom.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In &lt;em&gt;fire fighter&lt;/em&gt; the &lt;em&gt;fighter&lt;/em&gt; fights fire.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do you determine when it is the first or the second case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of &lt;em&gt;spam fighter&lt;/em&gt;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10630/how-to-determine-if-a-something-fighter-fights-for-or-against-something/10631#10631&quot;&gt;Hellion&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;as the afterthought and in response to comments by @Kosmonaut, &#xA;and as a person who has lived in a dozen of countries, in the East and the West,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;the positive connotation is highly subjective and culture-specific.&lt;/strong&gt;   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I use &quot;spam fighter&quot; to be understood:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in negative connotation?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in positive  one?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to interpret, for example the &quot;culture fighter&quot;, &quot;education fighter&quot;, &quot;religion fighter&quot;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One could tell that this depends on context.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;And if I see this as nicks on the internet? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T12:19:20.780" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T17:41:11.087" Title="How to determine if a &quot;[something] fighter&quot; fights for or against [something]?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;modifiers&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10630" CreationDate="2011-01-30T06:47:18.253" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The safe way to interpret this sort of thing, especially if the label is self-applied, is to assume the most positive possible connotation: fighting against something bad, or for something good.  If someone chooses to label themselves or their product as a spam fighter, then since spam is an undesirable thing, you should assume that they will be fighting against spam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit to address the follow-up:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;If you want to be unambiguously understood, it's best to avoid the use of this sort of phrase and spell out exactly what you mean.  I think most people would assume that &quot;spam fighter&quot; is someone who fights against spam, while &quot;spammer&quot; is someone who creates spam and probably also fights (in secret, when possible) for the right to continue to do so; but if you want to be absolutely clear about it, you'll need to go ahead and say &quot;fighter against the relentless onslaught of spam e-mails&quot; or &quot;crusader for the right to send unlimited amounts of spam e-mail&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the other phrases you mention (&quot;education fighter&quot;, &quot;religion fighter&quot;, &quot;culture fighter&quot;), there really is no way to determine whether someone is fighting for it or against it without context.  In the US, school-based education about various aspects of sex continues to be a very controversial topic, but there's no way to tell if someone who calls themselves a &quot;sex-education fighter&quot; is pro-Sex-Education or anti-Sex-Education based solely on that label.  (My personal inclination would be to favor the &quot;fighter against X&quot; interpretation in general, but I wouldn't rely on that.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T17:41:11.087" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T17:41:11.087" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10629" CreationDate="2011-01-30T06:52:48.777" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Healthy&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;in a state of well-being.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Healthful&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;promoting or contributing to one's healthiness.&quot;  (Apparently it used to be a suitable synonym for &quot;healthy&quot; but I don't believe it is widely considered such anymore.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to re-word the old adage, you could say that an apple a day is healthful; but you wouldn't say that you are healthful unless you're trying to convince a reluctant cannibal to consume you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T06:52:48.777" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10629" CreationDate="2011-01-30T06:56:20.820" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To my ear, &quot;healthful&quot; refers to something that promotes health, like a &quot;healthful diet&quot; or a &quot;healthful climate,&quot; whereas someone who eats a healthful diet has a better chance of being &quot;healthy.&quot;  In everyday speech, we often hear &quot;healthy&quot; used (incorrectly?) in place of &quot;healthful.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4350" LastEditorUserId="4350" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T07:01:50.050" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T07:01:50.050" />
  <row Id="10634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10626" CreationDate="2011-01-30T07:01:01.263" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the case of a list of modifiers, it is generally presumed that all the modifiers apply to the final subject; if one modifier is intended to apply to another modifier in the list, most often they will be joined by a hyphen.  Per your example, nobody would assume that the &quot;nightly&quot; in &quot;nightly business report&quot; modifies &quot;business&quot;; if it were supposed to, it would have been written &quot;nightly-business report&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T07:01:01.263" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10635" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10639" CreationDate="2011-01-30T07:31:48.137" Score="0" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do &lt;em&gt;raptivity&lt;/em&gt; and  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lycaeum.org/mv/Finnegan/finnegan.cgi?mode=new&amp;amp;simple=boolean&amp;amp;kwor=raptivity&amp;amp;kwnot=&amp;amp;wordmode=fragment&amp;amp;window=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;And lead raptivity captive&quot;&lt;/a&gt; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T22:15:43.763" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T14:59:32.650" Title="And lead raptivity captive" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10624" CreationDate="2011-01-30T08:10:03.193" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Broadly, English accents are divided into two categories, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rhotic and non-rhotic&lt;/a&gt;. All English accents were originally rhotic, and the R sound was typically articulated as an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alveolar_trill&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;alveolar trill&lt;/a&gt;, in contrast with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alveolar_approximant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;alveolar approximant&lt;/a&gt; of most contemporary dialects. Non-rhotic accents began developing in the Middle English period, and were commonplace by the arrival of modern English, gaining popularity in southern England during the 18th century.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both the British Isles and the United States, as well as Australia and other areas where English is spoken, have regions of both rhotic and non-rhotic accents. As Alex mentions, notable non-rhotic United States accents include coastal New England, New York, and old-style Deep Southern; the so-called &quot;continental&quot; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;trans-Atlantic accent&lt;/a&gt;, characteristic of upper-class America through much of the 20th century, was also distinctly non-rhotic. Rhotic British accents are to be found in the West Country, as well as much of Scotland and Ireland.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastEditorUserId="1506" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T08:15:26.120" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T08:15:26.120" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10624" CreationDate="2011-01-30T08:10:45.700" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference you're describing is between rhotic and non-rhotic accents. In the UK, rhotic accents have been declining since the 16th century, although they still persist in the West and Southwest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English was already established in the North American colonies before the decline in rhoticity, which is why it's been preserved in the US and Canada. I think the exception of New England might be down to the fashion in the early 20th century of affecting a Mid-Atlantic (and British-style non-rhotic) accent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;North America was clearly colonised before the start of the decline in rhoticity, whereas Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand were colonised after and therefore have non-rhotic accents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More detail on wikipedia: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T08:10:45.700" />
  <row Id="10639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10635" CreationDate="2011-01-30T08:35:34.230" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's difficult to tell, but here's my best analysis. I think &lt;em&gt;raptivity&lt;/em&gt; is used here as a synonym for &lt;em&gt;raptness,&lt;/em&gt; an uncommon word meaning &lt;em&gt;the quality of being &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rapt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rapt&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt; I can't tell from the text who's speaking or who they're speaking to, but to &lt;em&gt;lead captive&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;hold captive&lt;/em&gt; mean to hold tightly to something, as though it were your prisoner. Since the line reads:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And lead raptivity captive. Ready! Like a Finn at a fair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess that the command is intended to provoke a state of attention, readiness, or preparedness. &lt;em&gt;Like a Finn at a fair&lt;/em&gt; refers to the eagerness or what have you that a person (apparently a Finnish person) would feel at a fair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T08:35:34.230" />
  <row Id="10640" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10641" CreationDate="2011-01-30T08:50:47.903" Score="3" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, both are grammatically correct, so which one is best to use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My predictions of the future&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My predictions for the future&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3339" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T11:05:29.110" Title="&quot;predictions of&quot; or &quot;predictions for&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="10641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10640" CreationDate="2011-01-30T08:56:11.620" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should use &lt;strong&gt;predictions of the future&lt;/strong&gt;. Also some people use &quot;about&quot; after prediction. We use &quot;prediction for&quot; usually before an event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Predictions of&lt;/strong&gt; the future are not reliable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2011 &lt;strong&gt;Predictions for&lt;/strong&gt; world events.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T11:05:29.110" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T11:05:29.110" />
  <row Id="10643" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10686" CreationDate="2011-01-30T09:59:36.280" Score="5" ViewCount="213" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was taught at school that following expression is invalid in the sense of grammar:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Who is there? It's me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The correct one is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Who is there? It's I.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you let me know which one is accurate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxitsmev.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is a good explanation about both forms.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4319" LastEditorUserId="865" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T16:51:20.287" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T21:21:45.180" Title="&quot;It's me&quot; or &quot;It's I&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10643" CreationDate="2011-01-30T10:17:56.170" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;It is ME&quot; is not grammatically correct in the academic sense, but is used in &lt;strong&gt;spoken&lt;/strong&gt; English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;It is I&quot; is grammatically correct in the pure sense, but would never be used in spoken English - or very rarely by people who speak in an ultra-formal dialect.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;It is I&quot; would have been correct in Shakespeare's time, in spoken English, but not now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4353" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T10:17:56.170" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="10645" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-30T10:46:55.203" Score="1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although this isn't a concrete question on grammar, I hereby ask for a recommendation.&#xA;With the intention to improve my language skills I am looking for a British (Irish, Scottish...) radio station. I'd like to listen to it online and am particularly looking for a stream which mainly focusses on international news. Can you recommend one?&#xA;Best regards&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4354" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T12:36:24.863" ClosedDate="2011-02-01T02:32:45.360" Title="British radio station" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10645" CreationDate="2011-01-30T10:50:48.133" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are few British radio stations that focus purely on international news, but any of the BBC Radio stations (other than Radio 1, a light entertainment station really) has regular, full domestic and world news bulletins on the hour every hour. I'd recommend Radio 2 or Radio 4. Radio 3 focuses on the arts, especially classical music.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T10:50:48.133" />
  <row Id="10647" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10648" CreationDate="2011-01-30T10:58:22.017" Score="0" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0250.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0250.pdf&lt;/a&gt; there is &lt;code&gt;LATIN SMALL LETTER F WITH HOOK&lt;/code&gt; but no &lt;code&gt;LATIN SMALL LETTER W WITH HOOK&lt;/code&gt;. Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4355" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T09:55:30.760" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T09:55:30.760" ClosedDate="2011-01-30T14:55:57.403" Title="Why doesn’t Unicode have a latin letter w with hook?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;alphabet&gt;&lt;latin&gt;&lt;unicode&gt;&lt;latin-alphabet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10647" CreationDate="2011-01-30T11:20:27.093" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It was standardized later (Unicode 5.1), and thus appear in a different place, but it exists:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;U+2C73&lt;/strong&gt; LATIN SMALL LETTER W WITH HOOK&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Widely off-topic for this site, I would say, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T11:20:27.093" />
  <row Id="10649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10643" CreationDate="2011-01-30T11:58:21.160" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to add to tegner's answer, there are two other errors in the examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It should be &quot;it's&quot;, not &quot;its&quot;, as you are using this as an abbreviation for &quot;it is&quot;. (&quot;Its&quot; means &quot;belonging to it&quot; or &quot;part of it&quot;, etc).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Me&quot; is not capitalised (unless it's at the start of a sentence).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T11:58:21.160" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10650" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-30T11:59:21.203" Score="0" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you give me please your first thoughts on the term &lt;em&gt;EstateMachine&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it positive or negative? What can it be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&#xA;Andi&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4358" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T13:02:12.777" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T13:35:50.937" ClosedDate="2011-01-30T14:53:28.140" Title="estatemachine - positive or negative?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10651" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10652" CreationDate="2011-01-30T12:10:54.527" Score="1" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is &lt;em&gt;lol&lt;/em&gt; in English talk? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3907" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T22:12:36.823" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T22:12:36.823" ClosedDate="2011-02-03T11:20:53.947" Title="What is 'lol' in English talk?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10651" CreationDate="2011-01-30T12:19:50.483" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Laughing (or laugh) out loud (used in e-mail)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good Link:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/lol.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/lol.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4319" LastEditorUserId="4319" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T12:26:11.863" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T12:26:11.863" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10653" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10655" CreationDate="2011-01-30T12:23:18.660" Score="4" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have very old info.  Is there a concise term like &quot;news&quot; that I can use to describe this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am looking for the antonym for &lt;em&gt;news&lt;/em&gt;. Can I say &lt;em&gt;oldies&lt;/em&gt;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T03:00:33.457" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T03:00:33.457" Title="Antonym to &quot;news&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10645" CreationDate="2011-01-30T12:36:24.863" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The BBC transmits the BBC World Service all over the world.&#xA;I can't remember if it's available as a stream online, though I think it is. It is definitely available in most parts of the world via medium wave AM radio transmissions.&#xA;It focuses mostly on news and current affairs, mostly internationsl. It also has several programs about sciense and the arts. More details can be found at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmeguide/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;World Service website&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also an online radion station called BBC7, which is a mix of all sorts of different program types. It is only &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio7/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;available online&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4215" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T12:36:24.863" />
  <row Id="10655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10653" CreationDate="2011-01-30T12:59:54.497" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The antonym of &lt;em&gt;news&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;history&lt;/em&gt;. Depending on the context, that would be the word you want to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As alternative, you can use &lt;em&gt;old news&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;stale news&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T12:59:54.497" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="10656" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-30T13:04:02.503" Score="1" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;Context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We don't monetize ourselves properly,&#xA;  so we don't &lt;strong&gt;hit margins&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4336" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T20:27:45.833" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T20:32:17.787" Title="What does &quot;hit margin&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;economics&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="10657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10650" CreationDate="2011-01-30T13:35:50.937" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find it funnily similar to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_machine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;state machine&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, a well-known term in computer science. I am not sure if the similarlity is intended or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1304" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T13:35:50.937" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10656" CreationDate="2011-01-30T13:41:08.143" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the meanings of &lt;em&gt;hit&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;to reach or attain (a specified level or amount)&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;profit margin&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;the amount by which revenue from sales exceeds costs in a business&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Prices are expected to hit a new low.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The new train cab hit 100 mph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence you reported can be rewritten as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We don't monetize ourselves properly, so we don't reach high profit margins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T13:50:40.033" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T13:50:40.033" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10659" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10664" CreationDate="2011-01-30T13:46:43.487" Score="20" ViewCount="893" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found two different sentences that were prefixed by &lt;em&gt;TL;DR:&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;TL;DR: I've been here for quite some time, spent considerable time and effort in shaping the […].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T15:22:44.967" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T03:15:26.873" Title="What does &quot;TL;DR:&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10660" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-01-30T13:54:25.947" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T13:54:25.947" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T13:54:25.947" />
  <row Id="10661" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-01-30T13:54:25.947" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="Linguistic features specific to particular regions, not part of the standard language" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T13:54:25.947" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T13:54:25.947" />
  <row Id="10662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10656" CreationDate="2011-01-30T14:03:59.987" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Margins&lt;/em&gt; are edges of a thing. In &lt;em&gt;finance&lt;/em&gt;, a margin is &quot;a sum deposited with a broker to cover the risk of loss on a transaction or account.&quot; There is no larger context to the sentence, but I would expect that the word &lt;em&gt;monetize&lt;/em&gt; signifies that the term is being used in the financial sense. What it probably means is that the enterprise is worried that if it doesn't get enough capital going forward, the creditors are likely to call in the debt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T14:03:59.987" />
  <row Id="10663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10659" CreationDate="2011-01-30T14:04:19.010" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tl;dr&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Too Long; Didn't Read&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2310" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T14:04:19.010" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10659" CreationDate="2011-01-30T14:07:01.933" Score="44" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Too Long, Didn't Read&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This started out as something someone would post as a reply to a long post to say that they didn't read it because it was too long.  Then people started putting it at the end of a long post, with a summary of the post for those who wouldn't read the whole thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3244" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T14:07:01.933" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10665" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10672" CreationDate="2011-01-30T14:21:15.300" Score="-1" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a subquestion to my &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10635/and-lead-raptivity-captive&quot;&gt;&quot;And lead raptivity captive&quot;&lt;/a&gt; question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I understood from a comment by RegDwight, it was incorrect to ask:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What mean raptivity and phrase &quot;And lead raptivity captive&quot;? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I miss something or I incorrectly memorized the lessons of:   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/134358-who-auxiliary.html#post676765&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Who + Auxiliary&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I can find other links&lt;br&gt;&#xA;? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: &#xA;&lt;strike&gt;The anwers do not address my question&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Are the answers in given above link correct or not?     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T12:27:46.090" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T21:19:29.527" Title="Usage of &quot;What&quot; + verb without auxiliary one" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10666" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10667" CreationDate="2011-01-30T14:34:30.890" Score="2" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which sentence do you find more natural?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your last actions only prove me that you're not worth my trust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your last actions only prove &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; me that you're not worth my trust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or maybe some other form like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your last actions only confirm (my belief / me in the belief) that you're not worth my trust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3814" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T15:27:36.367" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T16:55:15.553" Title="&quot;Prove me&quot; / &quot;prove to me&quot; / &quot;confirm one's belief&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10666" CreationDate="2011-01-30T14:37:00.467" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second sentence, 'prove to me', is more natural (and indeed correct where the first one is not). Prove is a verb so needs the &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 'confirm my belief' (me in the belief isn't quite right) sentence is a bit formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T15:04:24.530" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10665" CreationDate="2011-01-30T14:42:58.900" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What does 'raptivity', and the phrase 'And lead raptivity captive', mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You perhaps need to work on your tenses as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do I miss something or I incorrectly memorized the lessons&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is also a little off. It should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Did&lt;/em&gt; I miss something or &lt;em&gt;did&lt;/em&gt; I incorrectly &lt;em&gt;memorize&lt;/em&gt; the lessons&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you asking whether you missed something in the past, you have to use the past tense of &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt;, which is &lt;em&gt;did&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T14:42:58.900" />
  <row Id="10669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10666" CreationDate="2011-01-30T14:44:39.350" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My preference goes to &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your last actions only confirm (my belief / me in the belief) that you're not worth my trust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but &quot;prove to me&quot; would also be correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: I suspect you mean &quot;worthy of my trust&quot; rather than &quot;worth of my trust&quot;. (worthy = deserving, worth = important/valuable enough)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3902" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T14:44:39.350" />
  <row Id="10670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10665" CreationDate="2011-01-30T15:07:55.837" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The format of a question is &lt;em&gt;modal verb&lt;/em&gt; &lt;em&gt;subject&lt;/em&gt; &lt;em&gt;verb&lt;/em&gt; &lt;em&gt;object&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you like ice creams?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Do you need help?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  May I help you?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Would you like it?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the verb is a tense of &lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt; the question format is &lt;em&gt;verb&lt;/em&gt; _subject_ &lt;em&gt;modifier&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are you sure?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Is she happy?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Is she your wife?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When using interrogative pronouns, they are added at the beginning of the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What do you like better?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Who is Mary?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  How are you?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Where do you live?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  When should I go to visit her?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T21:19:29.527" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T21:19:29.527" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10671" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10674" CreationDate="2011-01-30T15:15:17.983" Score="4" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;em&gt;Outlier: The Story of Success&lt;/em&gt; Chapter 2 Section 4, there is a sentence saying&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is the ten-thousand-hour rule a general rule of success? If we &lt;strong&gt;scratch below the surface&lt;/strong&gt; of every great achiever, do we always find the equivalence of the Michigan Computer Center or the hockey all-star team - some sort of special opportunity for practice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I look it up in LDOCE5 and Merriam-Webster but only find what &lt;em&gt;scratch the surface&lt;/em&gt; means. Googling this expression seems only examples rather than a good explanation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4362" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T16:39:04.323" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T16:40:21.293" Title="What does &quot;scratch below the surface&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;phrasal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="10672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10665" CreationDate="2011-01-30T15:19:32.770" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main problem: you are missing the fact that it makes a difference whether the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrogative_word&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WH-word&lt;/a&gt; is the subject or the object in the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's start with a sentence with no questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John saw Mary yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this sentence, &lt;em&gt;John&lt;/em&gt; is the subject and &lt;em&gt;Mary&lt;/em&gt; is the object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if someone doesn't know about John, they might ask:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1) &lt;em&gt;Who&lt;/em&gt; saw Mary yesterday?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sentence has the structure that you are using, where the main verb comes after &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt;.  But this is true only when &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; is the subject.  When it is the object, things are different — now let's imagine that the asker doesn't know about Mary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2) &lt;em&gt;Who&lt;/em&gt; did John see yesterday?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this sentence, because &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; is the object, the word order is different. Instead of having the main verb after &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt;, we have &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do-support&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;do-support&lt;/a&gt;, with &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; in the past tense, and the main verb following &lt;em&gt;John&lt;/em&gt; with infinitive form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in your example, the information is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[&lt;em&gt;Raptivity&lt;/em&gt; and the phrase &quot;and lead raptivity captive&quot;] means &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The blank line is the information you don't know.  As you can see, it is in the object position.  That means you must structure your sentence like (2), instead of (1):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What do &lt;em&gt;raptivity&lt;/em&gt; and the phrase &quot;and lead raptivity captive&quot; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T15:19:32.770" />
  <row Id="10674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10671" CreationDate="2011-01-30T15:28:40.567" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Scratching the surface&lt;/em&gt; is related to &lt;em&gt;scratching below the surface&lt;/em&gt;. When you scratch the surface of something in the non-literal sense, you're just beginning to learn about something and only know a few superficial details. &lt;strong&gt;When you scratch below the surface, you've learned more information about a subject.&lt;/strong&gt;  At that point, you have moved beyond a simple understanding of the subject and are &lt;em&gt;delving into the depths&lt;/em&gt; of it, to use another idiom. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;em&gt;scratching below the surface&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;delving into the depths&lt;/em&gt; are similar in their idiomatic meaning in that they both imply that you are learning more about a subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T16:40:21.293" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T16:40:21.293" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="907" CreationDate="2011-01-30T15:32:42.303" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As JSBangs showed, &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; fails some tests for being an adjective. However, there are other words that we commonly call adjectives even though they fail some of the tests. Consider these examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strike&gt;the more all house&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;this house is only but not blue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;the each and red house&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we describe an adjective simply as anything that modifies a noun or noun phrase, it doesn't seem too unreasonable to call &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; an adjective too, just as &lt;em&gt;all, only, and each&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, traditionally we call &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; an article, not an adjective. Perhaps a compromise could be reached: the is an article, and articles are special kinds of adjectives; and because we have this special, more specific label, we should normally not call them by the more general label &quot;adjective&quot;. The same applies to possessive and demonstrative pronouns. On a side note, we could also call &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; a kind of pronoun. That wouldn't entirely unreasonable: it is just not done. If the need should arise, we could then call it a referential or anaphoric word, instead of a pronoun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the end it seems an arbitrary choice. Some neo-linguists have a tendency of doing all they can to destroy traditional labels whenever they can find the slightest excuse, even when the old label still functions moderately well. This usually involves a rabid and sometimes crude implementation of functionalism, choosing a particular interpretation of how a word functions as a basis for terminology and disregarding any more nuanced views. I say that this should only be done where it is necessary to prove a point, which indeed it can be in some research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In our case, it would make more sense to call &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;red&lt;/em&gt; something like &quot;nominal modifiers&quot; if such an overarching name should be necessary in a linguistic treatise. Calling them all &quot;adjectives&quot; looks more like an attempt at rebellion that confuses readers than a functional improvement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T15:32:42.303" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10676" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-30T16:02:20.113" Score="5" ViewCount="329" Body="&lt;p&gt;I took the ESL certification test and I was wondering: what is it called when you add 'im' to 'possible'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4367" LastEditorUserId="1101" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T20:17:00.760" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T14:34:57.763" Title="What is it called when you add 'im' to 'possible'?" Tags="&lt;prefixes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10671" CreationDate="2011-01-30T16:08:20.330" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I respectfully disagree with Shaun that &quot;scratching below the surface&quot; has a standard idiomatic meaning. &quot;Scratch the surface&quot; is a cliché meaning to not go too deeply into something. It's usually used in the phrase &quot;barely scratched the surface.&quot; I think the writer here is trying to extend and freshen the cliché by turning it on it's head: &quot;scratch below the surface&quot; would mean to definitely go deeply into something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T16:31:18.343" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T16:31:18.343" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="10678" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10679" CreationDate="2011-01-30T16:11:30.443" Score="0" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/EconEdLink-print-lesson.php?lid=556&amp;amp;type=educator&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/EconEdLink-print-lesson.php?lid=556&amp;amp;type=educator&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the students will identify useful endeavors they can be a part of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can a human being be a part of &lt;em&gt;useful endeavor&lt;/em&gt;? We just can do useful endeavor, and we can be a part of, say, a crowd. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T16:33:19.320" Title="How can a human being be a part of useful endeavor?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10678" CreationDate="2011-01-30T16:23:37.860" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meaning of &lt;em&gt;endeavor&lt;/em&gt; is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;earnest and industrious effort, especially when sustained over a period of time&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an enterprise or undertaking.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would understand &lt;em&gt;to be part of the endeavor&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;to be part of the effort&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;It could also mean &lt;em&gt;to be part of an enterprise&lt;/em&gt;, but I am not sure of what &lt;em&gt;useful enterprises&lt;/em&gt; would mean, in the context of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T16:33:19.320" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T16:33:19.320" />
  <row Id="10680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10678" CreationDate="2011-01-30T16:26:56.207" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually you can't 'do endeavour', just like you can't 'do walk'. You can 'endeavour', or indeed be part of 'an endeavour'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As kiamlaluno says, an endeavour is an enterprise or undertaking. So to be part of an endeavour is to be part of an enterprise; in this context, part of a group effort to achieve something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T16:26:56.207" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10676" CreationDate="2011-01-30T16:27:14.433" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's funny because you tagged this question &lt;code&gt;prefixes&lt;/code&gt; — well, adding &lt;em&gt;im-&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;possible&lt;/em&gt; is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/prefixation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;prefixation&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Making a word have the opposite meaning by adding a negating prefix is also a form of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negation_%28linguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;negation&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T14:34:57.763" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T14:34:57.763" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10666" CreationDate="2011-01-30T16:55:15.553" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The verb &lt;em&gt;prove&lt;/em&gt; is never used with an indirect object, only a prepositional object. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use indirect object with verbs of communication and and giving, such as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He asked me a question.  She gave me a dirty look.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you would never say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He proved me an equation.  She proved the company her value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The correct form for that is always &quot;proved (direct object) to (prepositional object)&quot;, as in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He proved an equation to me.  She proved her value to the company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only case where you would find a personal noun or pronoun directly after &quot;proved&quot; is when you are using that personal reference as a shortcut to mean something that this person has said (and therefore they are the direct object of &lt;em&gt;proved&lt;/em&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Prove me wrong, if you can.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The course of events proved him correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T16:55:15.553" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10659" CreationDate="2011-01-30T17:37:40.913" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Too Long; Didn't Read&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's usually used when someone didn't read an article or something written because it was too long. Or is used at the end of an article by the writer to summarize it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3047" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T17:37:40.913" />
  <row Id="10684" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-30T17:50:51.333" Score="0" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are talking on behalf of you and someone else what is the correct usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On behalf of my wife and me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On behalf of my wife and I&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On behalf of me and my wife&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On behalf of myself and my wife&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On behalf of my wife and myself&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My understanding is that after that phrase you would carry on talking in first person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3526" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T18:02:37.403" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:59:13.913" Title="Using 'on behalf of'" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10684" CreationDate="2011-01-30T18:03:09.673" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Webster's 3rd New International Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; says &lt;em&gt;behalf&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;used with in or on and with a possessive noun or pronoun.&quot; That means &quot;behalf&quot; is always the target of a possessive. The object in each case is the object of the preposition &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt;, which means you would use the prepositional case for pronouns (you would never say &quot;On behalf of my wife and I&quot;). You would also use &quot;myself&quot; as the target.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were talking about your wife (&quot;On behalf of my wife and myself&quot;), you would continue on in the first person plural: &quot;On behalf of my wife and myself, we would like to thank ...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T18:03:09.673" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10643" CreationDate="2011-01-30T18:11:54.867" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported from the NOAD:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;me /mi/&#xA;  pronoun [first person singular]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   1. used by a speaker to refer to himself or herself as the object of a verb or preposition: &lt;em&gt;do you understand me?&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;wait for me!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • used after the verb &lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt; and after &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;em&gt;hi, it's me&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;you have more than me&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • informal to or for myself: &lt;em&gt;I've got me a job&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's then correct to say &lt;em&gt;it's me&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T18:11:54.867" />
  <row Id="10687" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10688" CreationDate="2011-01-30T19:15:36.733" Score="3" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, take the number 342. It could be written out a number of different ways when spelled out fully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Three hundred forty two&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Three hundred and forty two&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Three hundred and forty-two&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the most correct form for spelling out that number in full text? What is the rule for adding (or leaving out) the and? When does one use hyphens? Does the context matter, e.g. writing out the amount on a check vs. a news article?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4036" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T19:58:36.953" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T20:00:37.327" Title="Rule for adding &quot;and&quot; or hyphens between numbers that are spelled out fully in text" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10687" CreationDate="2011-01-30T19:32:51.250" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Three hundred and forty-two&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leaving out 'and' is more common in US English. Either is acceptable, but including 'and' is more correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hyphenate all compound numbers between twenty-one and ninety-nine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T19:43:10.567" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10687" CreationDate="2011-01-30T20:00:37.327" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was always taught, in American English, to use &quot;and&quot; only with compound numbers such as &quot;three and three-quarters.&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_numerals&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia also mentions this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Note that in American English, many students are taught not to use the word and anywhere in the whole part of a number, so it is not used before the tens and ones. It is instead used as a verbal delimiter when dealing with compound numbers. Thus, instead of &quot;three hundred and seventy-three&quot;, one would say &quot;three hundred seventy-three&quot;. For details, see American and British English differences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And as ElendilTheTall said, hyphenate numbers between twenty-one and ninety-nine as well as fractions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="502" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T20:00:37.327" />
  <row Id="10690" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10693" CreationDate="2011-01-30T20:02:26.567" Score="4" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often see that people write ‘I hear that…’ meaning the past. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hear that Sally has won in lottery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If I remember correctly it is used in English Grammar in use by Cambridge University)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is it used? Shouldn’t be ‘I heard that…’ when we mean the past?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4325" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T22:02:03.103" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T02:33:54.483" Title="&quot;I hear that&quot; vs. &quot;I heard that&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10690" CreationDate="2011-01-30T20:23:51.190" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So I hear&lt;/strong&gt; and So &lt;strong&gt;I've heard&lt;/strong&gt; are same in spoken English. They both are used to say that you have been told something or you already know it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There's a nasty infection going round, so &lt;strong&gt;I hear/heard&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T20:23:51.190" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10684" CreationDate="2011-01-30T20:28:54.947" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question is &lt;strong&gt;NO&lt;/strong&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;On behalf of somebody&lt;/strong&gt; and also in behalf of somebody (American English) are used in two meanings:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a) instead of someone, or as their representative:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;On behalf of everyone here&lt;/strong&gt;, may I wish you a very happy retirement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;b) because of or for someone: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Oh, don’t go to any trouble &lt;strong&gt;on my behalf&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T20:28:54.947" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10690" CreationDate="2011-01-30T20:34:21.930" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'I heard' is past tense and indeed means that you had heard something previously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'I hear' is different. It is present tense of course, but it is more figurative in the context you are talking about. It means something along the lines of 'The rumour is', not that you are literally hearing something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T20:34:21.930" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10694" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10697" CreationDate="2011-01-30T20:56:57.560" Score="9" ViewCount="363" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do you call a person who does not go out with his friends because he thinks he is superior to them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T20:44:20.007" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T20:44:20.007" Title="What do you call a person who does not go out with his friends?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="6" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="10695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10694" CreationDate="2011-01-30T21:02:33.733" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;See if &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubris&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; is of any help to you. &lt;em&gt;hubristic&lt;/em&gt; is what I think I'd use...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2310" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T21:02:33.733" />
  <row Id="10696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10694" CreationDate="2011-01-30T21:02:46.760" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's a very specific question. I am unaware of a word that means exactly that.&#xA;You would have to say something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He doesn't go out with his friends because he thinks they're beneath him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a couple of words/phrases referring to someone who doesn't go out much: &lt;em&gt;stick-in-the-mud&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;stay-at-home&lt;/em&gt;, but these are general terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T21:02:46.760" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10694" CreationDate="2011-01-30T21:21:13.303" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the word you may be looking for is &lt;em&gt;aloof&lt;/em&gt;, meaning &quot;not friendly or forthcoming; cool and distant&quot;. [Websters]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Although James had many friends, he remained aloof from them and hardly ever socialized with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edited to add: The word also carries the connotation of &lt;em&gt;supercilious&lt;/em&gt;, which means &quot;behaving or looking as though one thinks one is superior to others&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also simply say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;James remained aloof from his friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T21:36:09.083" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T21:36:09.083" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10629" CreationDate="2011-01-30T22:12:19.100" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect it's a cromulent neologism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T22:12:19.100" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10694" CreationDate="2011-01-30T23:36:19.323" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is clearly some kind of trick or paradox.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If &quot;he&quot; doesn't go out with them, and thinks he is superior to them... likely they are not &quot;his &lt;em&gt;friends&lt;/em&gt;&quot;. Nor he is &quot;their&quot; friend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3579" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T23:36:19.323" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10690" CreationDate="2011-01-31T00:33:02.863" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I asked to a friend of mine, who lives in USA, and she explained me that the difference between the sentences is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;I hear that Sally has won the lottery.&lt;/em&gt; Sally recently won the lottery.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;I heard that Sally has won the lottery.&lt;/em&gt; Sally won the lottery in the past.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T00:33:02.863" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10701" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-31T00:35:43.813" Score="7" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word may also be used when refering to really dull signage for a government organization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4379" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T09:20:31.330" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:47:22.747" Title="What's a word that can be used when something, such as a document, is purposely bland?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10701" CreationDate="2011-01-31T00:50:57.283" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's called &lt;em&gt;boilerplate&lt;/em&gt; and you usually find it in government and legal documents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T00:50:57.283" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10676" CreationDate="2011-01-31T01:06:00.257" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add a prefix to a word is called &lt;em&gt;prefixation&lt;/em&gt;, as Kosmonaut points out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To add any kind of affix (prefix, suffix, infix, circumfix) to a word is called &lt;em&gt;affixation&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To form a new word out of another word by means of affixation is called &lt;em&gt;derivation&lt;/em&gt; or sometimes &lt;em&gt;agglutination&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2928" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T01:06:00.257" />
  <row Id="10704" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10708" CreationDate="2011-01-31T01:15:53.093" Score="5" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the phrase &lt;em&gt;backing forward or backing back&lt;/em&gt; in Secretary State Hillary Clinton’s remark on the Sunday Show, which was quoted in today’s Washington Post as follows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton continued making the rounds on the Sunday shows to discuss the fast-evolving situation in Egypt. &quot;This is a complex, very difficult situation,&quot; said Clinton, &quot;We do not want to send any message about backing forward or backing back.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;backing forward or backing back&lt;/em&gt; mean? Does it mean &lt;em&gt;keep positive support to Mubarak regime&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Withdraw support to Mubarak regime&lt;/em&gt;, or simply mean &lt;em&gt;move back and fro&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;move back further&lt;/em&gt; on U.S. policy toward Egypt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T01:57:27.300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T02:38:11.210" Title="What does &quot;Backing forward or backing back&quot; in Hillary Rodham Clinton’s comment mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10705" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-31T01:16:06.913" Score="2" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5475/how-to-form-single-double-triple-and-uni-bi-tri-words&quot;&gt;How to form single, double, triple&amp;hellip; and uni-, bi-, tri-&amp;hellip; words?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's a single...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and then a double...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;proceeded by triple..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and quadruple...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;what's next? Is there an end to the uple's?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4380" LastEditorUserId="502" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T02:03:20.477" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T02:07:24.453" ClosedDate="2011-01-31T20:54:36.957" Title="When do the uple's end?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10706" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10716" CreationDate="2011-01-31T01:18:51.127" Score="2" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there any differences in those three words below:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;cannot perceive it, out of  &lt;strong&gt;perception&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;cannot feel it, have no &lt;strong&gt;feeling&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;have no &lt;strong&gt;sense&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the &lt;strong&gt;perception&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;With microphones, cameras, accelerometers, compasses, temperature gauges,&#xA;  and brightness detectors, smartphones have become extra-sensory devices, able to augment your&#xA;  own &lt;strong&gt;perceptions&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;we all know human being's sensors have limitation. if &lt;strong&gt;perception&lt;/strong&gt; means knowing something by the human being's physical sensors, then how can we augment it? it's just imposable. If &lt;strong&gt;perception&lt;/strong&gt; means not only by sensors but also by mind (see wikipedia), then could you give me an example ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T05:43:37.967" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T05:43:37.967" Title="About the word &quot;perception&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="10707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10705" CreationDate="2011-01-31T01:32:48.490" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would seem that it is tuple (or, rather, -ple) all the way beyond that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuple#Origin_of_name&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuple#Origin_of_name&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T01:32:48.490" />
  <row Id="10708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10704" CreationDate="2011-01-31T01:34:03.327" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you are right; it refers to American support either for Mubarak or his opposition. Her phrasing is a bit odd, but I'd interpret it like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;backing&lt;/em&gt; = supporting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;back&lt;/em&gt; = those who want to go back to the old situation, Mubarak in power&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;forward&lt;/em&gt; = those who want to go forward to a new government&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;We do not want to send any message&#xA;  [to either party] about [our]&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;supporting those who want change or&#xA;  those who want to go back to the way&#xA;  things were&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T01:34:03.327" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10705" CreationDate="2011-01-31T01:34:57.583" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a table from on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/single#See_also_2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Coef  Noun       Result &#xA;1     single &#xA;2     double     doublet &#xA;3     triple     triplet &#xA;4     quadruple  quadruplet &#xA;5     quintuple  quintuplet &#xA;6     sextuple   sextuplet &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never heard of anything beyond sextuple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="502" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T01:34:57.583" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10705" CreationDate="2011-01-31T02:07:24.453" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;double&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;triple&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;quadruple&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;quintuple&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sextuple&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;septuple &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;octuple&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T02:07:24.453" />
  <row Id="10711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7177" CreationDate="2011-01-31T02:20:28.373" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very good question to ask if you, like me, are writing cover letters for job applications. A stream of &quot;I did this...&quot; and &quot;I achieved...&quot; gets old quickly. Thinking through the expectations or context of your audience helps a lot. In &quot;application land,&quot; there are several ready-to-hand alternate choices, such as &quot;The job description calls for...&quot; or &quot;This opportunity is a good fit for...&quot; As a practical matter, they all wind up being sentences about &quot;me&quot; -- that's unavoidable; but varying the structure and emphasizing the perspective of your reader helps ameliorate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3952" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T02:20:28.373" />
  <row Id="10712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10690" CreationDate="2011-01-31T02:33:54.483" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me, ElandilTheTall is right, &lt;em&gt;I hear that&lt;/em&gt; is more figurative. But I also think it can imply common knowledge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you say &lt;em&gt;I heard that&lt;/em&gt; you probably have a specific source that told you about it in mind. A friend, a newspaper, the internet, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you say &lt;em&gt;I hear that&lt;/em&gt; you imply that it's common knowledge, although this is likely the first time you've talked about it, you assume either that the person you are speaking to already knows about it, or the person you are speaking to should already know about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T02:33:54.483" />
  <row Id="10713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10704" CreationDate="2011-01-31T02:38:11.210" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is what happens when a politician can't think of anything truly useful to say but has to say something anyway. What Mrs. Clinton really means is something like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I need to appear on press shows to talk about the situation, and I need to be seen to be out in front of this very dangerous predicament, but — wow, I sure wish I could talk about something else because the one thing I &lt;em&gt;can't&lt;/em&gt; do is appear to be coming down on one side or the other because &lt;em&gt;whichever&lt;/em&gt; side ultimately comes out on top will remember if I said something in support of the loser and then &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt; will be the losers: we'll lose a very important ally in the Middle East ... which may be going to happen anyway because, well, &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; supporting the winning side can sometimes be as bad as supporting the losing side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So, given all of the above, I'm going to try to split hairs as finely as they have ever been split, and I give you now a new level of nonsense-speak which will undoubtedly be lampooned on &lt;em&gt;Fox News&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;The Daily Show&lt;/em&gt; alike, but what the hell can I do about it? 'Backing-forward' and 'backing-back' are the best I could come up with. You think you could do better? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sympathize, Mrs. Clinton, I really do. But nonsense is nonsense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T02:38:11.210" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="10714" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10715" CreationDate="2011-01-31T03:03:52.853" Score="4" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dude  -- you're cramping my style!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T09:17:38.553" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T09:17:38.553" Title="What does &quot;cramp one's style&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="10715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10714" CreationDate="2011-01-31T03:16:08.137" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dude — you're cramping my style!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;means that &quot;Dude&quot; is behaving in such a way as to inhibit whatever behavior the speaker is engaging in at the moment — whether that be trying to have a conversation, playing a game, trying to get romantic with a woman, whatever. Say I was in a bar chatting up some hottie and you walked over and started trying to sell me insurance, I might tell you you were cramping my style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T03:16:08.137" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="10716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10706" CreationDate="2011-01-31T03:54:39.640" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are all kinds of things that augment and refine our perceptions.  The speedometer in a car leaps to mind:  You have a decent idea of whether you're going slow, medium, fast, or ridiculous, but the speedometer augments your very general perception of your speed and lets you know exactly how fast you're really traveling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, some people (or at least some peoples' knees) are sensitive to barometric pressure (picture the old farmer sitting on his porch: &quot;My knee's gettin' sore again, Martha; storm must be a-comin'...&quot;) but having an actual barometer nearby allows you to quantify precisely what the pressure level is doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going to a more sophisticated example, putting on a pair of goggles that has infra-red sensors on it, and that presents its infra-red information in human-viewable red levels has clearly augmented your natural visual perceptive ability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as &quot;out of perception&quot;, &quot;have no feeling&quot; and &quot;have no sense&quot;, they are loosely interchangeable but with different overtones of meaning.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To have something be &quot;out of perception&quot; would generally mean that you cannot detect it by any of the 5 normal senses.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To &quot;have no feeling&quot; would most likely refer either to something that you are attempting to detect by touch, or to something that requires a level of emotional response which you are not able to generate.  (Along those lines, to &quot;have no feel&quot; for something means that it requires a delicate or gentle touch for proper control, but you are only capable of large, coarse motions and cannot make the small adjustments that others can.)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To &quot;have no sense&quot; of something means not just that you can't detect it right now but that you are very bad at detecting it at any time.  (Also, idiomatically, to &quot;have no sense&quot; is often used pejoratively to indicate that someone has just done something very stupid:  &quot;You wiped your hands on the 500-year-old tapestry?  Have you no sense?!&quot; )&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T03:54:39.640" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10701" CreationDate="2011-01-31T03:57:40.570" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One possibility would be &lt;em&gt;pabulum&lt;/em&gt; (also spelled &lt;em&gt;pablum&lt;/em&gt;): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;something (as writing or speech) that is insipid, simplistic, or bland &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T03:57:40.570" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10694" CreationDate="2011-01-31T03:59:06.717" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally would call such a person an &quot;asshole&quot;, but &quot;snob&quot; also comes to mind as a possibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T03:59:06.717" />
  <row Id="10719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10701" CreationDate="2011-01-31T04:35:37.247" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspar_Milquetoast&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Milquetoast&lt;/a&gt;! Such a colorful word for blandness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4385" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T04:35:37.247" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10684" CreationDate="2011-01-31T04:50:04.870" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since that's a prepositional clause &quot;of &lt;code&gt;pronoun&lt;/code&gt;&quot; and reflexive, you want &quot;On behalf of my wife and myself, I express our extreme displeasure.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't just go on talking in the first person, though. I think it only makes sense to state that you are saying something. &quot;On behalf of my wife and myself, I'm going now.&quot; — doesn't make sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a matter of style, it might be better to simply use the first person plural. &quot;My wife and I cordially invite you to a ditch digging ceremony.&quot; You can speak on your wife's behalf without specifically using the word &quot;behalf.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4385" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T04:50:04.870" />
  <row Id="10721" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-31T05:40:42.463" Score="1" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always wonder whether 'today' and 'tomorrow' should be capitalised. Can anybody help me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4379" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T11:43:49.070" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T11:43:49.070" Title="Should 'Today' and 'Tomorrow' be capitalised?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="10722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10721" CreationDate="2011-01-31T06:00:29.123" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Today', 'tomorrow' and 'yesterday' should not be capitalized. Note that 'Monday', 'Tuesday', 'Wednesday', 'Thursday', 'Friday', 'Saturday' and 'Sunday' are capitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T06:00:29.123" />
  <row Id="10723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10701" CreationDate="2011-01-31T06:31:04.967" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps &lt;em&gt;prosaic&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;pedestrian&lt;/em&gt; fit the bill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T06:31:04.967" />
  <row Id="10724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2011-01-31T06:37:28.593" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Infrared&lt;/em&gt;.  Took me a while in my early teens to figure out that this is not equivalent in construction to words like &quot;inflamed&quot;, and therefore is not pronounced &quot;in-FRAIR'd&quot;; the prefix is &quot;infra-&quot; and therefore the word is pronounced &quot;In-fruh-RED&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T06:37:28.593" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-31T06:37:28.593" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10676" CreationDate="2011-01-31T07:42:02.863" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding a prefix to a word is called &lt;em&gt;prefixation&lt;/em&gt;, as Kosmonaut pointed out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A further point: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=impossible&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;as&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impossible&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;several&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/impossible&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionaries&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/impossible&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;say&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;impossible&lt;/em&gt; comes from the prefix &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;possible&lt;/em&gt;, so why is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;in + possible = impossible&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, rather than *&lt;em&gt;inpossible&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer is that &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt; becomes &lt;em&gt;im-&lt;/em&gt; before words starting with 'p', 'b', or 'm' (as in &lt;em&gt;impatient&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;imbalance&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;immature&lt;/em&gt;, etc.), because of a process of euphonic sound change known in Sanskrit as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandhi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;sandhi&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (pron. &quot;sun-thee&quot;), a term that appears to have some currency among general linguists as well. Specifically, it's a form of internal sandhi (the kind that would be called &lt;em&gt;parasavarn&amp;#803;a sandhi&lt;/em&gt; in Sanskrit, but I don't know the equivalent term in English linguistics).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T08:56:01.580" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T08:56:01.580" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10721" CreationDate="2011-01-31T07:57:37.743" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Today&quot; is not a &lt;strike&gt;&lt;strike&gt;noun (name)&lt;/strike&gt; &lt;em&gt;pronoun&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strike&gt; &lt;em&gt;proper noun&lt;/em&gt;, unlike &quot;Monday&quot; or &quot;Friday&quot;, therefore, no, they're not capitalized.&#xA;It's akin to &quot;boy&quot; and &quot;Tom&quot; (for example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3859" LastEditorUserId="3859" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T15:49:34.413" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T15:49:34.413" CommentCount="15" />
  <row Id="10727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2011-01-31T08:38:55.410" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I didn't pronounce &quot;hegemony&quot; correctly until I was embarrassingly old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And what about &quot;Chaise longue?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then again, I like to pronounce &quot;baseline&quot; so it rhymes with &quot;Vaseline.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3370" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T08:38:55.410" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-31T08:38:55.410" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10701" CreationDate="2011-01-31T09:37:35.577" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are already a few fine candidates on this page (I like &lt;em&gt;pedestrian&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;pablum&lt;/em&gt;), but I am not sure if any of them actually have the connotation of &lt;em&gt;purposely&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One word that does have that connotation, at least to me, would be &lt;em&gt;wishy-washy&lt;/em&gt;. However, I'm not sure it could be applied to &quot;really dull signage&quot;; I would rather call that one &lt;em&gt;run-of-the-mill&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T09:37:35.577" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6989" CreationDate="2011-01-31T10:05:29.823" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Usage&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the usage notes from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/till&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;entry for &lt;em&gt;till&lt;/em&gt; in dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;until&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;till&lt;/em&gt; are interchangeable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Till&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;until&lt;/em&gt;  are both old in the&#xA;  language and are interchangeable as&#xA;  both prepositions and conjunctions: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;It rained till  (or until ) nearly midnight.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The savannah remained brown and lifeless until  (or till ) the rains began.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Till  is not a shortened&#xA;  form of until  and is not spelled&#xA;  'till. 'Til  is usually considered a&#xA;  spelling error, though widely used in&#xA;  advertising: &lt;em&gt;Open 'til ten.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Etymology&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the entries for &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=till&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;till&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=until&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;until&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;until&lt;/em&gt; would have derived from &lt;em&gt;till&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;until&lt;/em&gt; = &lt;em&gt;und&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;till&lt;/em&gt;,&#xA;where &lt;em&gt;und&lt;/em&gt; was an Old English word meaning &quot;as far as, up to&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;till&lt;/strong&gt;  O.E. &lt;em&gt;til&lt;/em&gt; (Northumbrian), from O.N. &lt;em&gt;til&lt;/em&gt; from P.Gmc. *&lt;em&gt;tilan&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  (..) A common preposition in&#xA;  Scandinavian, probably originally the&#xA;  accusative case of a noun now lost&#xA;  except for Icelandic &lt;em&gt;tili&lt;/em&gt; (..) the&#xA;  noun used to express aim, direction,&#xA;  purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;until&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;      c.1200, from O.N. und &quot;as far as, up to&quot; (related to O.E. end; see end)&#xA;  + till &quot;until, up to&quot; (see &lt;em&gt;till&lt;/em&gt;). Originally also used of persons and&#xA;  places. Cf. Swed. intill, Dan. indtil.&#xA;  The Mod.Ger. equivalent, bis (O.H.G.&#xA;  biaz), is a similar compound, of&#xA;  O.H.G. bi &quot;by, at, to&quot; and zu &quot;to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Frequency&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;until = 176K occurrences&#xA;till = 11K occurrences&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt;:   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;until = 39K occurrences&#xA;till = 5K occurrences&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T16:57:31.560" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T16:57:31.560" />
  <row Id="10730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10694" CreationDate="2011-01-31T10:25:31.830" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Title of this question was a bit misleading. First thing that came to mind was that the person was introvert or even somehow socially constrained. If you are sure that the reason for this is that he thinks he is superior to his friends, he might be &quot;snob&quot; ( as Hellion already said ), &quot;pretentious&quot; or &quot;haughty&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However as someone who prefers to stay home instead of going out with my friends, I'd like to point out that it is not necessarily person being smug, but merely one that avoids crowds, possibly a &quot;homebody&quot; in a good sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4395" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T10:25:31.830" />
  <row Id="10731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10701" CreationDate="2011-01-31T10:32:18.703" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you say &quot;really dull signage&quot;, I presume that you're looking for a negative connotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stodgy, vacuous; &lt;strong&gt;turgid&lt;/strong&gt; would be my favourite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3755" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T10:32:18.703" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="10732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10721" CreationDate="2011-01-31T10:41:52.617" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The words &lt;em&gt;today&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;tomorrow&lt;/em&gt; are only ever capitalized in titles: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Today Show&lt;/em&gt; (TV program)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tomorrow Never Knows&lt;/em&gt; (Beatles song)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in everyday speech, these words are left lower-cased:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm going to take it easy today. I have a big day tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit per Christian's comment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English does not capitalize nouns unless they are so-called &lt;em&gt;proper nouns&lt;/em&gt;, by which I do not mean &lt;em&gt;proper&lt;/em&gt; in the British sense of being &quot;in order&quot; or &quot;the way a thing should be done,&quot; but instead nouns that are used as actual names for people or places or ideas that are represented in titular form. The other variety of nouns are called &lt;em&gt;common nouns&lt;/em&gt;, and they refer to everyday things that are not singled out for such special naming. Unlike German, in which every noun is capitalized, common nouns in English are not singled out for special treatment (unless, of course, they come at the beginning of a sentence, or are used as class identifiers in a poetic sense: occasionally you will see &lt;em&gt;truth&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;beauty&lt;/em&gt; written as &lt;em&gt;Truth&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Beauty&lt;/em&gt;, signifying that these represent special philosophically representative uses of the terms).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T12:29:43.000" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T12:29:43.000" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10733" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10735" CreationDate="2011-01-31T11:10:11.867" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;is that understandable in english? or maybe there is a better saying to ilustate what I want to say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;what I want to say that maybe I have exaggerated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;for example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;God is always good&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He kinda of did commit genocide with the big flood. so he's not always good, but most of the time like everybody.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3295" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T11:29:48.247" Title="maybe I have colored it too much" Tags="&lt;saying&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="10734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10665" CreationDate="2011-01-31T11:12:22.923" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Update: The anwers do not address my question. Are the answers in given above link correct or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The link says&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Who” is the subject ... so you don´t need an auxiliary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far as I know, the answer is correct - but it doesn't describe the situation as fully or precisely as the answers here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T11:12:22.923" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10733" CreationDate="2011-01-31T11:23:31.970" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;maybe I have exaggerated&quot; is clear to me. &quot;maybe I have colored it too much&quot; is not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the adjective colorful is applied to English text it is usually understood to mean that the text uses vivid and probably idiosyncratic metaphor or simile. The sentence &quot;God is always good&quot; isn't one I would regard as particularly colorful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'I don't like your manner' Kingsley said in a voice you could have cracked a brazil nut on. 'That's all right,' I said, 'I'm not selling it.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes colorful is used to mean &quot;contains expletives&quot;. If you had said &quot;God is never a &lt;em&gt;*&lt;/em&gt;*&quot;, I would agree you had &quot;colored it too much&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the part you are asking about is the not the part you quoted but the part about genocide, then I would agree that many might regard that as overly colorful, depending on context and your objective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T11:29:48.247" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T11:29:48.247" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10733" CreationDate="2011-01-31T11:25:40.513" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say &quot;God represents the force of righteousness; this defines the Abrahamic worldview.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if this is for a homework assignment, it's best to stick to your own guns, lest the teacher call out illicit Internet help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4385" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T11:25:40.513" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10737" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10739" CreationDate="2011-01-31T11:28:40.347" Score="8" ViewCount="545" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just read the following expression: I have a vague idea what it means but please could a native speaker comment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;If you're gonna get up in my face you'd better be ready to back it up!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T13:19:33.863" Title="&quot;If you're gonna get up in my face you'd better be ready to back it up!&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="10738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10737" CreationDate="2011-01-31T11:41:46.543" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means - if you are going to confront me, you should be prepared to fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In my face&quot; means (literally or figuratively) standing face to face within the distance normally considered &quot;personal space&quot; and reserved for contact with close friends. If someone who is not a close friend does this, it is considered aggressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;ready to back it up&quot; is a vague cliche that suggests having available supportive material, reasoning or (depending on context) force.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To back someone up is to stand behind them ready to provide assistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T11:41:46.543" />
  <row Id="10739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10737" CreationDate="2011-01-31T11:43:22.543" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first part is idiomatic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Get up in my face&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This refers to the way that someone acting aggressively will often get very close to their opponent and shout in their face. Figuratively speaking, it can also just mean someone being aggressive or antagonistic, without them necessarily getting physically close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;back it up&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Means acting on the aggression physically, in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the whole phrase means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you are willing to talk aggressively, you had better be ready to fight too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The implication is that they had better be ready to fight, because the speaker is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T12:36:55.227" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10721" CreationDate="2011-01-31T11:48:31.570" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today and Tomorrow are not capitalized because they are not really names, nor are they proper nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are capitalized only if they appear at the beginning of a sentence, or if you are making a title for some sort of event such as &quot;The Today News&quot;. Otherwise, it is a plain old regular word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have written this &lt;strong&gt;today&lt;/strong&gt; and may or may not get an upvote for it &lt;strong&gt;tomorrow&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;:D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3982" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T14:55:25.067" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T14:55:25.067" />
  <row Id="10741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9035" CreationDate="2011-01-31T12:06:11.850" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The letter &lt;em&gt;x&lt;/em&gt; is used to pluralize French loanwords, such as &lt;em&gt;bureau&lt;/em&gt; ⇒ &lt;em&gt;bureaux&lt;/em&gt;. (At least, it can be, although Firefox's automatic spell checker disagrees with that.) It is well suited to such pretentious constructions as &lt;em&gt;eaux de cologne&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless it ends in &lt;em&gt;eau&lt;/em&gt;, don't add &lt;em&gt;x&lt;/em&gt;. For that matter, just use &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;; this rule is the least of your worries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4385" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T12:06:11.850" />
  <row Id="10742" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11100" CreationDate="2011-01-31T12:53:02.917" Score="1" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following is popular on lists of &quot;quotable quotes&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whenever two people meet,&#xA;  there are really six people present. There is each man as he sees himself,&#xA;  each man as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Google Books drilldown gives its earliest record in Cohen &amp;amp; Cohen (1971) &lt;em&gt;The Penguin dictionary of modern quotations&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do we have a proper source for this, or is it spurious?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1921" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T21:51:32.897" ClosedDate="2011-02-03T07:14:56.263" Title="&quot;Really six people present&quot;: origin of phrase commonly attributed to William James" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10743" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13383" CreationDate="2011-01-31T12:58:46.503" Score="4" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This program contains material that&#xA;  may be disturbing to some viewers.&#xA;  Viewer discretion is advised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that 100% correct english? This is the text shown before some TV programs. When I first saw it I thought it was weird(if you translate it to my language it sounds fake and very weird, plus it makes no sense).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Viewer discretion is advised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;makes no sense to me, should I not talk about it with my friends, because it might be offencive to them? Should I first ask them if they are ok with ... the topic on the program?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds like USA's Political correctness pushed to the limit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. There is nothing bad about program I'm watching, but some people might find some images disgusting. Plus it shown only on the beginning, so if I start to watch a few seconds after that I might be disturbed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3295" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T05:17:18.187" Title="&quot;Viewer discretion is advised&quot;" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;pop-culture&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10743" CreationDate="2011-01-31T13:11:14.027" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is correct English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Discretion' in this case means 'judgment' or 'discernment'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is advising you to judge for yourself whether or not you want to continue watching, given the warning provided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T13:16:38.233" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10743" CreationDate="2011-01-31T13:11:33.697" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Viewer discretion&quot; in this case means that the viewer (i.e. you, or the parent / guardian of children watching) should be 'discrete', which would probably mean something like 'change channels if you value your children's (or your own) mental health'. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/discrete&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary definition on discrete&lt;/a&gt; isn't too clear about its meaning, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4399" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T13:11:33.697" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10743" CreationDate="2011-01-31T13:17:10.573" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;Viewer discretion is advised&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you, the viewer, are advised to use your discretion, as in consider whether watching the following program is what you really want to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strangely, the TV channel people are not advising you to do this, however; it's just a sourceless admonition, since they've put it in the passive voice.  In that respect the phrasing's a bit odd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4400" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T13:17:10.573" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10737" CreationDate="2011-01-31T13:19:33.863" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess is it is ADDITIONALLY a play on words&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Face: front of you&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Back: behind you   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It rolls off the tongue like Monty Python's &quot;If you're going to split hairs, I'm going to piss off.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T13:19:33.863" />
  <row Id="10749" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10756" CreationDate="2011-01-31T13:47:45.930" Score="3" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chatting with a colleague we came a cross a dilemma (as we are not English native), which of the following sentences are wrong? Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I knew everything, I'd be a genius.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I know everything, I'd be a genius.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if I know everything, I'm a genius.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 2nd should be wrong, as with the present I should use either the future or the present, in fact the 3rd seems to me correct, in fact the rule is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Zero Conditional is used for&#xA;  actions that are always true when the&#xA;  conditions are satisfied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to form this particular condition I use this form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;If + Present Simple, + Present Simple&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4402" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T14:21:09.933" Title="Zero conditional form" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;rules&gt;&lt;structure&gt;&lt;construction&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10750" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10771" CreationDate="2011-01-31T13:54:28.587" Score="2" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spam filters replace &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8528672.stm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;obscene &quot;Ass&quot; for &quot;butt&quot;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, in literature, newspaper articles, forum posts, sayings, proverbs,  etc. I am encountering many more expressions with &lt;em&gt;ass&lt;/em&gt; but not with &lt;em&gt;butt&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is &lt;em&gt;ass&lt;/em&gt; considered obscene?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;ass&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;butt&lt;/em&gt;?    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T16:00:55.977" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:07:55.743" Title="Why is &quot;ass&quot; considered obscene?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="10751" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10758" CreationDate="2011-01-31T13:55:27.260" Score="1" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;In article &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/11/18/how-to-use-the-seven-deadly-sins-to-turn-visitors-into-customers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;‘How To Use the “Seven Deadly Sins” to Turn Visitors into Customers’&lt;/a&gt; in the Smashing Magazine the autor used the word ‘front up’:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Showing off your customers. People want to use tools that big brands use. SEOmoz does a great job of &lt;strong&gt;fronting up&lt;/strong&gt; the logos of famous companies that pay for their tools, with a simple call to action prompting you to be as successful as these top brands. This entices users to try this tool: “I want to use something big brands use.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know he is a native but I have not found the proper definition. Did he use it right or simply made a mistake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4325" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:02:15.557" Title="front up or show up?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="10753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4366" CreationDate="2011-01-31T14:17:47.860" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Haji was a punk just like any other&#xA;  boy And he never had no trouble till&#xA;  he started up his Oi band&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Haji is Asian and here punk can also mean&lt;br&gt;&#xA;b. a young ruffian; hoodlum.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;c. an inexperienced youth.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and he starts a band that plays OI music - something that is not appreciated by the local skins and punk-rockers once he plays it publicly, gets attacked, attacks back with a saber, sees the xmas light and helps the skinhead Trevor... So OI (Joy) to the world :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T14:17:47.860" />
  <row Id="10755" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10757" CreationDate="2011-01-31T14:21:02.103" Score="1" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;available from&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;available on&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do the following sentences have a different meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Check the information available from [URL of a web page].&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Check the information available on [URL of a web page].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My interpretation is that they mean, respectively:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check the information you find in that page, and in any page with a link in that page.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Check the information you find in that page.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that a correct interpretation? Is it the current meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T11:06:58.990" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T11:06:58.990" Title="&quot;Available from&quot; versus &quot;available on&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;prepositional-phrase&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10749" CreationDate="2011-01-31T14:21:09.933" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sentences 1 and 3 are both correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sentence 1 is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conditional_sentence#Counterfactual&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;counterfactual&lt;/a&gt; conditional sentence, and sentence 3 is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conditional_sentence#Factual&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;factual&lt;/a&gt; conditional sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Factual:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In these constructions, the condition clause expresses a condition the truth of which is unverified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Counterfactual:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In these constructions, the condition clause expresses a condition that is known to be false, or presented as unlikely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sentence 2 is indeed wrong because it is mixing the two in an incompatible way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T14:21:09.933" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10755" CreationDate="2011-01-31T14:34:07.160" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends how literally you want to take it. Strictly speaking, as the address is to a specific page (info.html), you could say that it was just that page.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is reasonable to assume that if the information linked to from within that page is relevant then it might apply in the original sentence, especially if that information is still on the same overall site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T10:56:24.800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T10:56:24.800" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10751" CreationDate="2011-01-31T14:38:03.757" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An odd phrase and one I haven't heard before. From the context it seems to mean 'promoting' or 'pushing to the front'. In other words, SEOmoz is good at 'pushing' the logos of famous companies to the forefront of their advertising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T14:38:03.757" />
  <row Id="10759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10659" CreationDate="2011-01-31T14:47:05.510" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also note that if you know that you're about to post a really long answer, and you can summarize it in less than or up to two sentences, then you might also post at the top a block like so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;tl;dr: You don't want to do that.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[long answer that involves many paragraphs here]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2161" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T14:55:57.640" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T14:55:57.640" />
  <row Id="10760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10635" CreationDate="2011-01-31T14:59:32.650" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;@John-Purdy is probably right about the meaning of &quot;raptivity&quot;.  &quot;Lead raptivity captive&quot; will be a reference to &quot;lead captivity captive&quot; in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph%204:8&amp;amp;version=KJV&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ephesians 4:8&lt;/a&gt;. (And don't ask me what that means - it could be discussed all day if there was a theology stackexchange!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What it means in the context I have no idea - Finnegans Wake is notoriously complex with strange made up words, grammar, etc. used for artistic effect.  It's the sort of thing most native English speakers would struggle with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4335" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T14:59:32.650" />
  <row Id="10761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2011-01-31T15:34:29.603" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bayesian (pronounced BAYZ-ee-un)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T15:34:29.603" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-31T15:34:29.603" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10750" CreationDate="2011-01-31T15:38:53.237" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will answer to the second question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The words have different meanings; leaving out what the words mean when they are used as verbs, these are the definitions of the words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;butt /bət/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  the person or thing at which criticism or humor, typically unkind, is directed: &lt;em&gt;his singing is the butt of dozens of jokes&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • (usually &lt;em&gt;butts&lt;/em&gt;) an archery or shooting target or range.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • a mound on or in front of which a target is set up for archery or shooting.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  a push or blow, typically given with the head: he would follow up with a butt from his head.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. (also butt end) the thicker end, especially of a tool or a weapon: &lt;em&gt;a rifle butt&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;• the square end of a plank or plate meeting the end or side of another, as in the side of a ship.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;• the thicker or hinder end of a hide used for leather.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. (also butt end) the stub of a cigar or a cigarette: &lt;em&gt;the ashtray was crammed with cigarette butts&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  3. informal the buttocks.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;• the anus.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  4. the trunk of a tree, especially the part just above the ground.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ass /æs/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. a hoofed mammal of the horse family with a braying call, typically smaller than a horse and with longer ears.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; • Genus Equus, family Equidae: E. africanus of Africa, which is the ancestor of the domestic ass or donkey, and E. hemionus of Asia.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;• (in general use) a donkey.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. (informal) a foolish or stupid person: &lt;em&gt;that ass of a young man&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T16:01:37.867" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T16:01:37.867" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10763" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-31T15:56:46.810" Score="8" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm hard-of-hearing, so when I read, I pronounce things phonetically because I don't hear a lot of soft sounds (like /sh/). To my surprise over the years, I've been continuously corrected on words that have a &quot;ch&quot; sound in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, &quot;parachute&quot; is pronounced &quot;para shoot&quot; \ˈper-ə-ˌshüt, ˈpa-rə-\ and not &quot;para chu-t.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any indicators of when I would use a hard &quot;ch&quot; sound (like in &quot;choose&quot;)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="739" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T16:13:40.833" Title="How do I know when a word with &quot;ch&quot; is prounounced hard or softly?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="10764" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10768" CreationDate="2011-01-31T16:09:42.007" Score="2" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello everyone&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm creating an application for the iPhone where the user has the ability to &lt;em&gt;star&lt;/em&gt; an item, i.e. adding a star to the item. Now I am wondering whether I can also use &lt;em&gt;unstar&lt;/em&gt;? Or should I go with something different - if so, what?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would appreciate some help, Fabian&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4409" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T16:21:20.080" Title="Does the verb &quot;Unstar&quot; exist?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10763" CreationDate="2011-01-31T16:13:40.833" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no hard-and-fast rule to indicate when ch is hard or soft, unfortunately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main difference is in the origin of the word. English is a melting pot of many different languages: Latin, French, German, Scandinavian languages, you name it. In general, words originating from French will have a soft ch:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Parachute, cache, attache&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Words originating from Germanic languages will have a hard ch:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Church, bench&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, even this isn't foolproof because many French-origin words have been hardened:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bachelor, channel, charm&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that there are considerably more hard ch words than there are soft.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T16:13:40.833" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10764" CreationDate="2011-01-31T16:20:10.267" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Unstar&lt;/em&gt; is commonly used in applications such as Gmail. I would say yes, it's acceptable to use in the context of software.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="502" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T16:20:10.267" />
  <row Id="10767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10764" CreationDate="2011-01-31T16:20:42.667" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;i am not sure about unstar but you can definitely use Unstarred as gmail and other e-mail provider use in there action buttons &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3908" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T16:20:42.667" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10764" CreationDate="2011-01-31T16:21:20.080" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The verb &lt;em&gt;to unstar&lt;/em&gt; is not reported in the dictionary I have, which doesn't report &lt;em&gt;to unpublish&lt;/em&gt; too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If &lt;em&gt;to star&lt;/em&gt; refers to an action that changes the status of something, then &lt;em&gt;to unstar&lt;/em&gt; would be understood as the action that makes the opposite status change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what happens with &lt;em&gt;to unpublish&lt;/em&gt;, which is understood as &lt;em&gt;to change the status to not published&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T16:21:20.080" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10571" CreationDate="2011-01-31T16:27:47.017" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not quite &quot;opposite&quot;, but &lt;em&gt;decimate&lt;/em&gt; is usually used to mean &quot;totally destroyed&quot; rather than &quot;reduced by 10%&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T16:27:47.017" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-31T16:27:47.017" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="10770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10743" CreationDate="2011-01-31T16:38:48.963" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is grammatically correct, but suffers from being in the unspecified passive voice. Exactly who is doing the advising?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further ambiguity can be found in the ill-specified degree to which the material may be disturbing. Presumably I should send the four year old to bed before watching, but what about the eight year old? The teenager? Myself on account of not wanting nightmares for a week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, I find the phase to be almost worthless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2851" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T16:38:48.963" />
  <row Id="10771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10750" CreationDate="2011-01-31T16:39:12.093" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why is ass considered obscene?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When &lt;em&gt;ass&lt;/em&gt; is used to refer to the animal, it's generally not considered obscene. Some would consider it obscene when referring to the human posterior, or more likely, when used as an epithet for a boorish or stupid person. &lt;em&gt;Asshole&lt;/em&gt; in my view is considered even more obscene.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;why?&quot; question is pretty subjective. Why is any word considered obscene?  It's just the way the word developed and societal convention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe in the spectrum of obscenities, even as an epithet it's not &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; obscene. In my opinion, a filter which replaces the word with &lt;em&gt;butt&lt;/em&gt; is too stringent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the difference between ass and butt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When referring to anatomy, there's little difference. Each word has other senses, however. An &lt;em&gt;ass&lt;/em&gt; can refer to the sure-footed animal smaller than a horse with big ears. It can also mean a pompous fool or be used as slang for sexual intercourse &lt;em&gt;(get some ass)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Butt&lt;/em&gt; has many other senses. It can be the part of the trunk of a tree nearest the roots, the victim of ridicule &lt;em&gt;(butt of your jokes)&lt;/em&gt;, thick end of a handle or stock of a rifle/pistol, the end of a cigarette, or a type of joint (carpentry, not the other type of cigarette.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Butt&lt;/em&gt; can also be used as a verb, to place end to end, to lie adjacent, or to strike or shove against/in between, (to butt in line.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T16:39:12.093" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10772" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10773" CreationDate="2011-01-31T16:55:31.733" Score="3" ViewCount="253" Body="&lt;p&gt;I most recently heard this in the context of a business deal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sorry gents, looks like we'll be taking the piss on that one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understood that the business had suffered a financial loss, although I expected I was missing some nuance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In entirely different scenarios, I've heard &lt;em&gt;piss&lt;/em&gt; used in British idiomatic phrasing that suggested a lack of concern, or carelessness. Those phrases are difficult to reconcile with the previously mentioned usage. Are there multiple idiomatic meanings for this word, or am I missing some kind of unifying theme?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Updated:&lt;/strong&gt; I might not have a perfect recollection of the quote. But given the typical meaning of the phrase, I wonder if the speaker's intention was along the lines of &quot;We'll be laughing about this later.&quot; Or maybe I just missed the real meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4411" LastEditorUserId="4411" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T18:11:19.533" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T18:11:19.533" Title="What does the British idiom &quot;taking the piss&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10772" CreationDate="2011-01-31T16:59:49.640" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Taking the piss&quot; simply means &quot;making fun of&quot; in its usual context. It's a &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; common expression within Britain, but probably rare elsewhere. (&quot;Taking the mickey&quot; is a similar, slightly sanitised version, that perhaps is used elsewhere?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taking_the_piss&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia page&lt;/a&gt; gives a fairly good overview.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T16:59:49.640" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10772" CreationDate="2011-01-31T17:16:45.757" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Re the second part of your question: yes, there are many many many idiomatic uses of &lt;em&gt;piss&lt;/em&gt; in British English!  Just off the top of my head:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;piss&lt;/em&gt; - urine, to urinate.  (The main literal meaning, of course.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;take the piss out of (someone/something)&lt;/em&gt; - to make fun of.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;pissed&lt;/em&gt; - drunk, roughly equivalent to &lt;em&gt;hammered&lt;/em&gt; in AmE.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;on the piss&lt;/em&gt; - out drinking, similar to &lt;em&gt;on the town&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;on the tiles&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;piss (someone) off&lt;/em&gt; - to offend, irritate, anger someone.  (Hence: &lt;em&gt;pissed off&lt;/em&gt; = angry, closely equivalent to AmE &lt;em&gt;pissed&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Piss off!&lt;/em&gt; - Go away! (Milder analogue of &lt;em&gt;Fuck off!&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;piss about&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;around&lt;/em&gt;) - to mess around, do things that aren't really worthwhile.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More suggestions welcome in comments...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T17:16:45.757" />
  <row Id="10775" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10778" CreationDate="2011-01-31T17:20:47.827" Score="3" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was speaking of skiing when I was in USA, and I discovered that one type of ski is called &lt;em&gt;cross country skiing&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of that phrase, which is not really referring to skiing through countries?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T17:38:46.580" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T18:55:14.767" Title="What is the origin of &quot;cross country skiing&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10772" CreationDate="2011-01-31T17:33:22.840" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That particular usage of &lt;em&gt;&quot;taking the piss&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, actually means &lt;em&gt;&quot;taking advantage of&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When said from the receiver's perspective it would be akin to &lt;em&gt;&quot;You have got to be joking!&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;&quot;Are you taking the mick[ey]?&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;&quot;Are you taking the piss?&quot;&lt;/em&gt; - All enquiries as to whether they are being made fun out of, the more usual meaning, but with the implication that is not the case, and they are being taken advantage of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this context, said from the side of the entity taking advantage, it says &lt;em&gt;&quot;we will be taking the piss&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, we will be taking advantage of the other entity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Particularly used where terms and conditions are particularly harsh, or the client is being screwed for far too much money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T17:33:22.840" CommentCount="13" />
  <row Id="10777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10751" CreationDate="2011-01-31T17:34:07.363" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Show up&lt;/em&gt; would mean &lt;em&gt;be conspicuous or clearly visible, informal arrive or turn up for an appointment or gathering&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;showing up&lt;/em&gt; doesn't seem to suit in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the author uses &lt;em&gt;fronting up&lt;/em&gt; to mean &lt;em&gt;to show on the front page&lt;/em&gt; or simply &lt;em&gt;to show on the front of the page&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T17:34:07.363" />
  <row Id="10778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10775" CreationDate="2011-01-31T17:39:24.817" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=cross-country&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymology online&lt;/a&gt; gives the following elucidating definition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;also cross country, crosscountry; 1767, of roads, from cross (v.) + country, or aphetic for across-country. Of flights, from 1909.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i.e. It does not refer to movement across borders of countries, but rather &lt;em&gt;across&lt;/em&gt; a single country (at some scale).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, &quot;cross-country skiing&quot; can basically be interpreted as &quot;skiing across [significant] terrain&quot;. Specifically, it does of course involve a very specific technique, different to that of downhill skiing. Analogies can be made with &quot;cross-country running&quot; as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T17:39:24.817" />
  <row Id="10779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10775" CreationDate="2011-01-31T17:39:56.233" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's using the term &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/cross-country&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cross-country&lt;/a&gt; not in the sense of national boundaries, but open countryside. Basically, it means skiing through fields, pastures, open range, whatever. It is contrasted with &lt;em&gt;downhill&lt;/em&gt; skiing in which skiers follow a (usually) prepared track down a mountainside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T17:39:56.233" />
  <row Id="10780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10571" CreationDate="2011-01-31T17:43:17.550" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of words which may have originally been used ironically but have now totally changed their common meaning, such as &quot;awful&quot; which is literally synonomous with &quot;awesome&quot; but now almost exclusively means &quot;very bad&quot; whereas &quot;awesome&quot; means &quot;very good&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4335" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T17:43:17.550" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-31T17:43:17.550" />
  <row Id="10781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10743" CreationDate="2011-01-31T18:01:50.983" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is mostly legalese intended to indemnify the station, network, actors, directors, producers, companies buying ad space during the show, and anyone else who may be loosely associated with the program, from litigation by people who are easily offended (or think they can win a frivolous law suit.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The message gives concerned parents an opportunity to shield their children from imagery or words they may not want them to be subjected to.  While most of the shows that have this warning at the beginning don't repeat the message later in the program, I have seen a few that repeat the message when returning from a commercial break, especially if the program content of the following segment is particularly sensitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T18:01:50.983" />
  <row Id="10782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1272" CreationDate="2011-01-31T18:02:19.330" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't think of it being a formal term, but perfectly usable.  The emphasis changes depending on the word order.  &quot;Boy genius&quot; is talking about a genius who is a boy.  &quot;Genius boy&quot; is talking about a boy who is a genius.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4335" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T18:02:19.330" />
  <row Id="10783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10676" CreationDate="2011-01-31T18:29:19.190" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;semantic&lt;/em&gt; process (effect on the meaning) is called &quot;negation&quot; or &quot;privation&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T18:29:19.190" />
  <row Id="10784" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10795" CreationDate="2011-01-31T18:30:51.747" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I tell &quot;if you do not mind ?much?&quot;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Or how can I leave me with some freedom in taking and changing a decision?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T14:16:08.783" Title="to give options to &quot;if you do not mind &lt;much?&gt;&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2957" CreationDate="2011-01-31T18:37:57.170" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technology may have accelerated the squashing of multi-word terms into new compound words. For instance, it's more straightforward to google for &quot;website&quot; than for &quot;Web site&quot;. You don't have to worry about a false positive such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... on the World Wide &lt;strong&gt;Web&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;Site&lt;/strong&gt; unseen, one may begin to think ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same is true for many terms, but I've found it particularly useful for technical terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4411" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T18:37:57.170" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10775" CreationDate="2011-01-31T18:38:28.730" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the origin of that phrase, which is not really referring to skiing through countries?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase isn't referring to a &lt;em&gt;political&lt;/em&gt; country, but country in the sense of the &quot;outdoors&quot; -- the rural area outside of cities and towns. It is the same sense as such phrases as &lt;em&gt;country roads&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;back country&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Country and Western&lt;/em&gt; music, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cross-country skiing&lt;/em&gt; refers to skiing which historically took place across significant stretches of rural landscape, rather than up and down one hill or mountain (&lt;em&gt;downhill skiing&lt;/em&gt;). The phrase has been applied to this technique of skiing even if it takes place on a well-groomed city track or trail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T18:38:28.730" />
  <row Id="10787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10656" CreationDate="2011-01-31T18:48:41.527" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Margin&lt;/strong&gt; is the difference between what it &lt;strong&gt;costs&lt;/strong&gt; a business to buy or produce something and what they &lt;strong&gt;sell&lt;/strong&gt; for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to hit margin simply means to profit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meaning of sentence: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We don't make money enough to maker our sales more than our costs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T18:48:41.527" />
  <row Id="10788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10775" CreationDate="2011-01-31T18:55:14.767" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cross-Country&lt;/strong&gt; as an adjective has two meanings. Here it means &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Taking place outside roads&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cross-country running&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cross-country Skiing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We took a &lt;strong&gt;cross-country route&lt;/strong&gt; instead of the motorway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also check this &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cross-country&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T18:55:14.767" />
  <row Id="10789" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10792" CreationDate="2011-01-31T19:00:58.507" Score="3" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the replacement for &quot;rubbish&quot; in American English? I would think &quot;crappy&quot; but it seems a bit stronger than needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="13" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T20:48:33.910" Title="What is the closest alternative to &quot;rubbish&quot; in American English?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="10790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10751" CreationDate="2011-01-31T19:02:15.557" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Front Up&lt;/strong&gt; means &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Appear somewhere for a short time&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;. It's used in Australian English. Here it means to show the logos in a web page for a short time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hate these occasions, but I'll &lt;strong&gt;front up&lt;/strong&gt; for the first half.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:02:15.557" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10789" CreationDate="2011-01-31T19:04:16.880" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;em&gt;trashy&lt;/em&gt;? I'm not sure if it's American English, though...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2310" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:04:16.880" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10789" CreationDate="2011-01-31T19:07:01.773" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Garbage&lt;/em&gt; is suitable, I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:07:01.773" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="10793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10750" CreationDate="2011-01-31T19:07:55.743" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sure you know the different meanings of ass. For the vulgar meaning it comes from the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Orse&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; which means (“&lt;strong&gt;backside&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;buttocks&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;butt&lt;/strong&gt;”). In this meaning it's widely used in North America.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Also it has some other word origins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:07:55.743" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10789" CreationDate="2011-01-31T19:09:31.927" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Trashy denotes something different.   Trashy is usually associated with person.   Doing so regards that person as a slut most likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Garbage &amp;lt; Crappy &amp;lt; Shitty  would be the alternates in order of strength!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4417" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:09:31.927" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10784" CreationDate="2011-01-31T19:13:36.883" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;If you don't mind&quot; would be a better alternative.   &quot;Much&quot; would be implied and if you said it, it would feel weird.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something like:&#xA;&quot;If you don't mind, I'd like to change the channel.&quot;&#xA;or&#xA;&quot;I'll just pick somewhere for us to go tonight for dinner, if you don't mind?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4417" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:13:36.883" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2011-01-31T19:15:09.647" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Emeritus - was told about someone who pronounced the word as if it were a disease (emphasis on a long I.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For those unfamiliar with this title, the root word is 'merit' and the emphasis is placed on 'mair'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:15:09.647" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-31T19:15:09.647" />
  <row Id="10797" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10799" CreationDate="2011-01-31T19:17:34.293" Score="6" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;born&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;borne&lt;/em&gt;. Can anyone cite any solid examples?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1172" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T21:34:21.450" Title="What is the difference between born and borne?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="10798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2011-01-31T19:22:08.717" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think British and American pronunciation and spelling of the word 'aluminum' are different.  Americans place the emphasis on a long 'OO' in the second syllable, whereas the British place the emphasis on a short 'i' in the third syllable and include another 'i' before the last 'u' (aluminium).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:22:08.717" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-31T19:22:08.717" />
  <row Id="10799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10797" CreationDate="2011-01-31T19:24:21.467" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Born' means to be brought into the world, e.g. as a baby.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was born at an early age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Borne' is listed in the OED as meaning carried, sustained, or endured. Nowadays it mostly commonly seen in phrases like 'airborne', e.g. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The virus is airborne.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the 'endured' sense:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This terrible customer service cannot be borne!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a similar word, &lt;em&gt;bourne&lt;/em&gt;: this has a totally different meaning, namely, a small stream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:30:47.840" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10800" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10803" CreationDate="2011-01-31T19:37:45.070" Score="3" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/605/why-do-so-many-people-get-this-wrong-how-are-you-im-well&quot;&gt;Why do so many people get this wrong? &amp;ldquo;How are you? / I&amp;#39;m well.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would you answer the question &quot;How are you?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I notice that in American English, the latter is normally used, but I feel that the former is grammatically correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same goes for questions like &quot;How did it go?&quot; Can one answer &quot;It went well,&quot; or &quot;It went good.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2160" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T20:36:22.277" ClosedDate="2011-01-31T20:58:41.163" Title="When to use &quot;Well&quot; or &quot;Good&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10701" CreationDate="2011-01-31T19:39:46.470" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've also heard the word 'blasé' used to describe an object that was bland or boring and without any exciting or pleasurable qualities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:39:46.470" />
  <row Id="10803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10800" CreationDate="2011-01-31T19:46:28.450" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One key difference is that &quot;well&quot; can be an adverb and &quot;good&quot; cannot, at least not formally. This is why &quot;it went good&quot; is grammatically incorrect. However good is so often used as a synonym for well in vernacular English that &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/good&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionaries may mention&lt;/a&gt; its nonstandard equivilance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your first question, it's usually preferred to say &quot;I am well&quot; in formal English because it specificially means &quot;I am in good health&quot; whereas &quot;I am good&quot; doesn't have that specific association. &quot;I am good&quot; is grammatically correct though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="502" LastEditorUserId="502" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T19:53:37.370" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:53:37.370" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10514" CreationDate="2011-01-31T19:49:39.560" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given the go-around does indeed derive from aviation where the aircraft is sent away from the airfield on a circuit, normally because the field is too busy to take them, too many planes on taxiway, or some emergency or other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is mostly used as meaning &quot;passed from pillar to post&quot; or fobbed off. An example would be where you phone a company, then are told you need to speak to accounts, the accounts dept say they can't help its customer service, customer service say its technical dept and then you are told that only accounts can help you. Its the circularity of the action that's the feature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chrisnfolsom's usage was I think non-standard but I guess he is alluding to the idea that in answering a question about language usage being complex on a forum, the ensuing discussion gave him further material to illustrate just how confusing and complex it can be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2718" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:49:39.560" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1628" CreationDate="2011-01-31T19:50:40.320" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For advance notice, 'cheers' is common enough in the area I grew up and I still use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd call it 'casual' - not so casual that using it to the wrong person is rude, but casual in the same way that 'thanks' is more casual than 'thank you'.  If I'm talking to someone older than me, that I don't know, and who is a woman, I'm more likely to go for the more polite term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4400" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:50:40.320" />
  <row Id="10806" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10826" CreationDate="2011-01-31T19:52:12.980" Score="3" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference in usage? What associations does the former word trigger that the latter does not (and vice versa)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3286" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T02:53:08.053" Title="What is the difference between ‘silviculture’ and ‘forestry’?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="10807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8003" CreationDate="2011-01-31T19:52:49.040" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Contractions can also be difficult.  When my nephew was around 3 he used to say &quot;No, I amn't&quot; instead of &quot;No, I'm not.&quot;  It's a bit cruel that English allows both contractions of the three words 'he', 'is', and 'not', such as, &quot;No, he isn't&quot; and &quot;No, he's not,&quot; but doesn't allow the same for the words 'I', 'am', and 'not'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:52:49.040" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-31T19:52:49.040" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10806" CreationDate="2011-01-31T19:56:28.787" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the main difference would be that &lt;em&gt;silviculture&lt;/em&gt; applies to any tree, while &lt;em&gt;forestry&lt;/em&gt; only to the ones in a forest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2310" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:56:28.787" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="10809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10684" CreationDate="2011-01-31T19:59:13.913" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On behalf of my wife and I&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;, I wish you a very Merry Christmas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But with greater clarity and less stuffiness and pretension as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My wife and I wish you ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;on behalf of&quot; would have a place in a some situtations&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On behalf of all the employees I&#xA;  would like to award you with this gold&#xA;  watch in recognition of your local&#xA;  service.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2718" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:59:13.913" />
  <row Id="10810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7642" CreationDate="2011-01-31T19:59:17.927" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no difference in meaning. But usually:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In contrast + to/with + noun&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;By Contrast + subject of the sentence&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: According to Longman Dictionary you can use &quot;in contrast&quot; + &quot;(with/to)&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example For &quot;&lt;strong&gt;in contrast&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The stock lost 60 cents a share, &lt;strong&gt;in contrast to last year&lt;/strong&gt;, when it gained 21 cents. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples For &quot;&lt;strong&gt;by contrast&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The birth rate for older women has declined, but, &lt;strong&gt;by contrast&lt;/strong&gt;, births to teenage mothers have increased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T19:59:17.927" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10806" CreationDate="2011-01-31T20:01:37.660" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Silviculture&quot; to me, never having heard it before, just sounds like it's pretentious.  Like a 'Garbage removal expert'.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I admit I'm outside my specialism, though, so there may be some distinction in the field. And I know people who are irritated by people calling themselves 'software engineers' when in reality they're just 'programmers' putting on airs...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4400" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T20:01:37.660" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10812" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10815" CreationDate="2011-01-31T20:09:47.153" Score="5" ViewCount="296" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've suspected before that &quot;Cheers&quot; as an email sign-off is a bit of an English (or possibly Commonwealth) thing, but being English it's natural to me and I use it as the mood takes me to end an email.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I email an American, what sort of impression does it give?  Are there any other English speaking cultures out there where it's a bit unfamiliar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4400" LastEditorUserId="4400" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T12:58:38.267" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T13:14:08.663" Title="Using 'cheers' to sign off an email?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;email&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="10813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8003" CreationDate="2011-01-31T20:24:03.427" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using “of” instead of “have” in phrases such as “could have”, “should have” and “would have”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T20:24:03.427" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-31T20:24:03.427" />
  <row Id="10814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8003" CreationDate="2011-01-31T20:25:16.620" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Making the correct distinction between “lend” and “borrow”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T20:25:16.620" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-31T20:25:16.620" />
  <row Id="10815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10812" CreationDate="2011-01-31T20:26:59.227" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me, as an American, it doesn't really get interpreted other than to flag to me that the writer is speaking British English. I have no idea when it is or is not proper to use &quot;cheers&quot; in British English, so it sort of gets ignored as to whether this is a formal or informal way of signing off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Internationally, it's probably best to stick to a more formal &quot;Thank you&quot; or &quot;I look forward to your reply&quot; if the communication is with someone with whom you do not have a pre-established relationship. This is more important when the recipient is not a native speaker of English and may be confused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T20:26:59.227" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-31T20:26:59.227" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10800" CreationDate="2011-01-31T20:35:20.080" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually say &quot;I am well&quot;, meaning &quot;I am in good health&quot;, with the caveat that most people to whom I say it regard me as being perhaps overly formal.  &quot;I'm good&quot;, to me, connotes other possible meanings, such as &quot;I'm quite competent&quot;, but others' mileage may vary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would avoid &quot;it went good&quot; as ungrammatical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4244" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T20:35:20.080" />
  <row Id="10817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10800" CreationDate="2011-01-31T20:36:22.277" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are correct. When you give either response, there are words that aren't said that are understood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;eg. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am (feeling) well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am (in) good (spirits/health.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;It went well&quot; is correct, &lt;em&gt;well&lt;/em&gt; is an adverb modifying &lt;em&gt;went&lt;/em&gt;. &quot;It went good&quot; is incorrect, as &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; is not an adverb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T20:36:22.277" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10812" CreationDate="2011-01-31T20:38:00.247" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported from the NOAD (&lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;) the definition of &lt;em&gt;cheers&lt;/em&gt; is the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;cheers /tʃɪ(ə)rz/&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  exclamation informal&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  expressing good wishes, in particular&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • good wishes before drinking: &lt;em&gt;“Cheers,” she said, raising her glass&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • [British] good wishes on parting or ending a conversation: &lt;em&gt;Cheers, Jack, see you later&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • [chiefly British] gratitude or acknowledgment for something: &lt;em&gt;Billy tossed him the key. “Cheers, pal.”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cheers&lt;/em&gt; is therefore used to express good wishes in both American English and British English; it's probably understood to have that meaning in a specific context (e.g., before drinking).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I would use &lt;em&gt;good wishes&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T20:38:00.247" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10819" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10820" CreationDate="2011-01-31T20:40:07.657" Score="3" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which phrase is the correct one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;to increase competitiveness &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; the EU labor market&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  to increase competitiveness &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; the EU labor market&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3795" LastEditorUserId="3795" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T20:56:39.017" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T21:38:55.763" Title="&quot;To increase competitiveness in&quot; or &quot;to increase competitiveness on&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10819" CreationDate="2011-01-31T20:45:00.600" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In is correct. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'On' in terms of a market means something for sale. You put your house 'on the market'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T20:45:00.600" />
  <row Id="10821" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10823" CreationDate="2011-01-31T20:47:53.740" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have recently heard that phrase (&lt;em&gt;touch the blue paper&lt;/em&gt;) from a native English speaker¹. Is it an erroneous alteration of the expression &lt;em&gt;light the blue touchpaper&lt;/em&gt; or is it a correct² phrase in its own right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;  1. from the West Midlands, if that matters.&#xA;  2. by &lt;em&gt;correct&lt;/em&gt;, I mean &lt;em&gt;in current idiomatic usage&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3286" LastEditorUserId="3286" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T21:38:28.043" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T21:38:28.043" Title="Touch the blue paper" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10789" CreationDate="2011-01-31T20:48:33.910" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, the word &lt;em&gt;rubbish&lt;/em&gt; is pretty well understood by American English speakers, and although it does have a British flavor it is used occasionally by Americans. So if you are worried that your use of &lt;em&gt;rubbish&lt;/em&gt; will not be understood, that is less of a concern than with some other Britishisms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, I’m not sure how &lt;em&gt;rubbish&lt;/em&gt; is used as an adjective. All the uses I know of are nouns. Even in uses like “what rubbish quality” or “getting the occasional play on rubbish indie radio shows”, the use is as an attributive noun. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, as others have noted &lt;em&gt;garbage&lt;/em&gt; can be substituted for nearly any use &lt;em&gt;rubbish&lt;/em&gt;, whether literal or figurative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T20:48:33.910" />
  <row Id="10823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10821" CreationDate="2011-01-31T20:52:49.470" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me like he has misquoted 'Light the blue touch-paper', as you suspected. There is no such idiom as 'touch the blue paper'. Nobody's perfect!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T20:52:49.470" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10821" CreationDate="2011-01-31T20:57:01.510" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's an alteration of &lt;code&gt;light the blue touch paper&lt;/code&gt;. Blue touch paper is a type of fuse used in explosives. The phrase &lt;code&gt;light the blue touch paper&lt;/code&gt; thus gives the imagery of doing something which causes a figurative explosion of emotion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Blue paper&lt;/code&gt; has no special significance, nor does touching blue paper. The closest you could get is touching a blueprint (a construction plan for a building), and there's no special significance to touching those as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T20:57:01.510" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10812" CreationDate="2011-01-31T20:58:27.267" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an American English native speaker, I interpret it as &lt;em&gt;&quot;Thanks/Have a great day from someone from England (or possibly Australia)&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.  Not that they were intending the &quot;from England&quot; part - that is just my interpretation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;I do find myself using it sometimes lately :)  Also 'no worries', but I have some Australian friends, so I probably picked it up from them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T20:58:27.267" />
  <row Id="10826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10806" CreationDate="2011-01-31T21:12:53.243" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that &lt;em&gt;silviculture&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;the growing and cultivation of trees&lt;/em&gt;, while &lt;em&gt;forestry&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;the science or practice of planting, managing, and caring for forests&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;If I say I am a silviculturist, I don't mean I plant forests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other grammatical difference between the words is that there are two derivates of &lt;em&gt;silviculture&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;silvicultural&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;silviculturist&lt;/em&gt;), but there aren't derivates of &lt;em&gt;forestry&lt;/em&gt; with similar meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T02:53:08.053" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T02:53:08.053" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10643" CreationDate="2011-01-31T21:21:45.180" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is related to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3447/i-can-run-faster-than-1-him-2-he&quot;&gt;I can run faster than...&lt;/a&gt;  In that exchange nohat describes the pronouns being used in the nominative and accusative cases.  Modern English speakers have become more comfortable using the accusative case in comparisons even though traditionally comparisons have used the nominative case.  It is further noted that &quot;both forms are standard.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Modern English has slurred the distinction between cases, using word order to denote case rather than declension.  We still use different words for most personal pronouns (he/him, I/me, we/us), but have lost it for you/you.  &quot;I talk to you.&quot;  &quot;You talk to me.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When asking &quot;Who is there?&quot; it would be correct to answer in the nominative case, &quot;I am here.&quot;  Likewise, asking &quot;Who is it?&quot; should elicit &quot;It is I&quot; or &quot;I am it.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T21:21:45.180" />
  <row Id="10828" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10832" CreationDate="2011-01-31T21:33:17.690" Score="2" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please consider the following and fill in the blank.  This has driven me crazy ever since I moved to florida.  How would somebody say the travel often by a boat without any sails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;drove&lt;/strong&gt; from New York to California.  &amp;lt;-- By Car&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;flew&lt;/strong&gt; from New York to California. &amp;lt;-- By plane&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;sailed&lt;/strong&gt; from New York to London. &amp;lt;-- by Sailboat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;blank&lt;/strong&gt; from New York to Florida &amp;lt;-- by motorboat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4419" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T09:24:52.197" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T09:24:52.197" Title="What is the verb used to indicate that you have travelled from point A to B by motorboat?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;analogy&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="10829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10797" CreationDate="2011-01-31T21:34:21.450" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are both past participles of &lt;em&gt;to bear&lt;/em&gt;. However, according to, for example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bear&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this source&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thanks to the vagaries of English spelling, bear has two past participles: &lt;em&gt;born&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;borne&lt;/em&gt;. Traditionally, born is used only in passive constructions referring to birth: &lt;em&gt;I was born in Chicago&lt;/em&gt;. For all other uses, including active constructions referring to birth, &lt;em&gt;borne&lt;/em&gt; is the standard form: &lt;em&gt;She has borne both her children at home&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;I have borne his insolence with the patience of a saint&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T21:34:21.450" />
  <row Id="10830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10819" CreationDate="2011-01-31T21:38:55.763" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English is not my forte. But here is my two cents.  &lt;strong&gt;IN&lt;/strong&gt; is correct since competitiveness is an event that must occur &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; a population.  In this case the population is &lt;strong&gt;the EU labor market&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Change the word &lt;em&gt;competitiveness&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;murderousness&lt;/em&gt; and it will be clearer.  :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4419" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T21:38:55.763" />
  <row Id="10831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10828" CreationDate="2011-01-31T21:43:42.920" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Motor-boated. It makes sense and is in the dictionary, first used way back in 1922.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T21:43:42.920" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="10832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10828" CreationDate="2011-01-31T21:46:15.430" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sail&lt;/strong&gt; can be used to describe the generic act of traveling by water, regardless of whether the craft used actually has a sail for its propulsion or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T21:46:15.430" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2208" CreationDate="2011-01-31T21:48:38.470" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Publish means placing content.&#xA;Unpublish is the opposite, i.e. removal of content.&#xA;It is not &lt;a href=&quot;http://drupal.org/node/249796&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;what happens in Drupal&lt;/a&gt; and so &quot;unpublish&quot; is misleading, at least.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In IT a &quot;hide&quot; (or &quot;hidden&quot;) is commonly understood and used as something present but:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;visible only to some users with elevated privileges (rights); &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;update: or,  with special options marked (like attributes of files in an operating system);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, &quot;hide for ...&quot;  is more proper term in this context.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T03:46:22.470" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T03:46:22.470" />
  <row Id="10834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7086" CreationDate="2011-01-31T21:50:48.160" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;‘Hard done by’ is a common and well-understood phrase in the UK, Canada, and most other commonwealth countries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usage with the doubled ‘by’ sounds (to my ear) a little ungainly, but not incorrect; and it’s used a reasonable amount in the wild, including (though not only) by professional writers and highly-educated speakers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Doubtless those on the far reaches of the left are feeling hard done by by the president-elect's cabinet appointments thus far. &lt;em&gt;—Jonathan Leffler, in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/09/obama-clinton-cabinet-appointment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Guardian&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wouldn't be surprised if Australia becomes a republic but that is because of a number of factors, including the fact that they feel hard done by by the old country. &lt;em&gt;—&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Worcester&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sir Robert Worcester&lt;/a&gt;, quoted on &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3701086.stm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the BBC website&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grammatically, the parsing is that &lt;em&gt;hard done by&lt;/em&gt; is a participial phrase, and hence can take a further &lt;em&gt;by&lt;/em&gt; to attribute agency.  It comes from a phrasal verb &lt;em&gt;to do hard by (someone)&lt;/em&gt;, which is no longer idiomatic in itself, but is closely analogous to still-viable phrasal verbs &lt;em&gt;to do well by&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;to do right by&lt;/em&gt; (meaning: to act well towards someone).  For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I trust Jane: she did right by my friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can certainly turn this round into an agentless passive, with no problems:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My friends were done right by.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The trouble comes when we try to attribute agency in this example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt; My friends were done right by by Jane.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This usage seems very rare — google finds only a handful of examples.  However, this shows how the grammatical form makes sense; and in the case of ‘hard done by by’, it’s clear that many more people are happy to use the form with the doubled &lt;em&gt;by&lt;/em&gt;.  I suspect this difference is because “X was done right by by Y” can easily be turned around into the less awkward “Y did right by X”, while in the case of “X was hard done by by Y”, there’s no such obvious alternative, since the form “*Y did hard by X” (or “*Y hard did by X”??) have been lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T21:50:48.160" />
  <row Id="10835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10828" CreationDate="2011-01-31T21:55:23.233" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cruised is another common term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3244" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T21:55:23.233" />
  <row Id="10836" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10868" CreationDate="2011-01-31T22:05:19.150" Score="-1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;the word 'perception' has two meaning in wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;perception is the process of &lt;strong&gt;attaining awareness&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;understanding of sensory information&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;example 1:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;With microphones, cameras, accelerometers, compasses, temperature gauges, and brightness detectors, smartphones have become extra-sensory devices, able to augment your own &lt;strong&gt;perceptions&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;example 2:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;cannot perceive it, out of &lt;strong&gt;perception&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the example 1 take the first meaning and example 2 take the second. why i need to make this difference ? Because my teacher told me that Human perception is limited by the capacity of sense organs. which means we &lt;strong&gt;cannot augment perception&lt;/strong&gt;. And yes, we human being can employ the man-made sensors, but actually it's the man-made sensors perceive the world, not us. they just told us the results, we didn't perceive it, we just know it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so, I want to know the actually meaning of 'perception'. if perception only means get information &lt;strong&gt;from 5&lt;/strong&gt; normal sensors of human. then the example 1 is wrong!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T10:01:33.240" Title="What's the difference between 'attaining awareness' and 'understanding of sensory information' ?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6115" CreationDate="2011-01-31T22:32:44.143" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://urbandictionary.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;urbandictionary.com&lt;/a&gt; is the authoritative resource on slang. Unfortunately I can't guarantee it's content won't be offensive. In fact, I guarantee you it will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4424" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T22:32:44.143" />
  <row Id="10838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1749" CreationDate="2011-01-31T23:59:50.583" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The variations ending in &quot;-body&quot; tend to sound less formal than &quot;-one.&quot; Which one you use would depend on your audience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4426" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T23:59:50.583" />
  <row Id="10839" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10846" CreationDate="2011-02-01T00:18:45.783" Score="9" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen many people make reference to LEGO as Legos. e.g. &quot;I enjoy playing my Legos&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But from my understanding this is incorrect and should be referred to simply as LEGO (in capitals as per company standards) i.e. &quot;I enjoy playing with LEGO&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no reference to the terms Legos on the official LEGO site at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lego.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.lego.com&lt;/a&gt;. Although there are hundreds of mentions in LEGO's official message board (search site:lego.com +legos).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also don't want to accept that individual pieces of a LEGO set can be referred to as Legos as the official site refers to these as &quot;parts&quot; (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://us.service.lego.com/en-US/replacementparts/default.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://us.service.lego.com/en-US/replacementparts/default.aspx&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also a collection of LEGO sets can't be referred to as Legos as these are also referred to as &quot;sets&quot; by the LEGO company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to refer to LEGO in any denomination as Legos?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2143" LastEditorUserId="2143" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T00:24:32.330" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T10:37:19.383" Title="Legos not LEGO?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;brands&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10840" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10845" CreationDate="2011-02-01T00:28:00.353" Score="2" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an example, is &quot;With grace, she danced.&quot; instead of &quot;She danced with grace&quot; proper? It seems to me that &quot;with grace&quot; is an adverb phrase, similar to &quot;gracefully&quot;, so it should be able to be used in the same way. (&quot;Gracefully, she danced.&quot;) Somehow, it doesn't seem right to me though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4427" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T01:55:07.153" Title="Is &quot;With [noun], [subject] [verb]&quot; acceptable instead of &quot;[subject] [verb] with [noun]&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="10841" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10842" CreationDate="2011-02-01T00:43:09.227" Score="3" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering what is the term for the person, that is doing business on his/her own and has tax liability. It's different in each country, I'd like to know how they are called in USA and UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1426" LastEditorUserId="1267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T02:30:28.297" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T05:17:51.733" Title="What is a one-person business called?" Tags="&lt;term&gt;&lt;business-language&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10841" CreationDate="2011-02-01T00:46:48.107" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sole_proprietorship&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sole Proprietor&lt;/a&gt;: the person who owns and controls a sole proprietorship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am the sole proprietor of this business.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_contractor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Independent Contractor&lt;/a&gt;: A person working independently, under a contract; a self-employed person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am an independent contractor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-employment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Self-Employed (or Freelancer)&lt;/a&gt;: working for yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am self-employed.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I am a freelancer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T05:17:51.733" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T05:17:51.733" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="10843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10839" CreationDate="2011-02-01T00:52:09.410" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it correct to refer to LEGO in any denomination as Legos?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technically, no. However, this didn't stop people from referring to Band-Aid bandages as bandaids. The brand name LEGO could be in the process of being genericized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T00:52:09.410" />
  <row Id="10844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10839" CreationDate="2011-02-01T01:12:49.913" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since the owner of the name chooses always to use “LEGO”, then it is not strictly correct to call the toy anything else.  But I doubt the company’s brand protection lawyers are going to start serving cease-and-desist orders on children calling the building blocks “Legos”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think “Legos” is predominantly an American English thing.  As youngsters in the UK my friends and I always referred to it as “Lego”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for writing the name in all-caps: while that is clearly the manufacturer’s preference, it could appear to stand out as unusual emphasis in casual writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T01:12:49.913" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="10845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10840" CreationDate="2011-02-01T01:23:32.743" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whether you use &quot;with grace&quot; or &quot;gracefully&quot;, the most common word order would be &quot;She danced gracefully/with grace&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since English has lost its noun inflections, word order is very important to convey meaning. Deviation from that standard runs the risk of confusing the listener or reader, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it as long as the meaning remains clear (unless you intended to give your sentence ambiguity).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rearranging the normal word order draws attention to what you're saying and can give your sentence poetic/stylistic effect. As such, the examples you've given would be a little unusual in spoken English, but pleasant to the eye in prose. NB, it's not really appropriate in a formal business setting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Article on word order: &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_order#Functions_of_sentence_word_order&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_order#Functions_of_sentence_word_order&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;and another article about anastrophe (reversal or normal word order as a rhetorical device): &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastrophe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastrophe&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastEditorUserId="3876" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T01:55:07.153" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T01:55:07.153" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="10846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10839" CreationDate="2011-02-01T01:54:31.383" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Owners of trademarks are free to make whatever pronouncements they like regarding how people should use their trademarks. Users of the English language, however, have the final say of how the English language works. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just as watches made by Rolex are “Rolexes”, Apple computers are “Macs”, shoes made by Puma are “Pumas”, cars made by Audi are “Audis”, portable video games made by Nintendo are “Game Boys”, by the same process toys made by Lego are “Legos”. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Legos” is a common usage, though not universal, and many people don’t use it especially outside North America. However, the Lego Group, paranoid (completely unreasonably) about maintaining its trademark rights, has been very strident in trying to force people to use the English language in a way that is not natural for many. At one time, the web site at legos.com had a message saying this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please always refer&#xA;  to our products as “LEGO bricks or toys” and not “LEGOS.” By doing so, you will be&#xA;  helping to protect and preserve a brand of which we are very proud, and that stands for&#xA;  quality the world over”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course everyone is free to comply with these corporate demands, but the Lego Group has no authority over the English language to regulate it in this way. So if you want to feel guilty about using “Legos”, understand that the only thing you are guilty of is not obeying the demands of a Danish corporation, not for violating the rules of English grammar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jeffreyatw.com/static/thesis.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is someone’s thesis addressing some grammatical issues with trademarks, which addresses this very issue, calling Lego’s warning a “almost embarrassing display of trademark anxiety”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T06:05:00.227" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T06:05:00.227" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="10847" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10850" CreationDate="2011-02-01T01:57:40.550" Score="7" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of the time I see people use these two words synonymously. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why did he move there anyway?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Versus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why did he move there anyways?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always assumed that there was once just the word &lt;em&gt;anyway&lt;/em&gt; that one day had an &lt;em&gt;S&lt;/em&gt; added to the end for some reason. Is this assumption correct? What morphological process enables this to happen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="502" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T02:02:14.610" Title="How did 'anyway' become 'anyways,' anyway?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;morphology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="10848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10839" CreationDate="2011-02-01T01:59:23.023" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the issue here is the issue of plurality.  Lego is the same in plural form as it is in singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;a piece of lego&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;pieces of lego&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would argue the word has moved from a proper noun to a general noun, so long has it been in the language; hence my use of it in lowercase.  The representation of it in allcaps, is a marketing device of the company, for trademark usage, they do not use it themselves within most text, so I do not believe it to be necessary (particularly as that usually indicates an acronym, which it is not).  If keeping it as a proper noun, then it should be initial caps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T01:59:23.023" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10849" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10853" CreationDate="2011-02-01T01:59:54.197" Score="2" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed a lot of people who, according to the way I was taught, misuse the words 'worse' and 'worst'. The way I understand it, 'worse' is for comparisons, and 'worst' is the superlative. But more and more I see people using them in the exact opposite positions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's the worse thing I've ever seen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This can't get any worst.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This specific thing seems to occur a lot more than any mistakes, so I'm wondering what's up with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4430" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T05:44:48.607" Title="What is the correct usage of 'worse' and 'worst'?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="10850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10847" CreationDate="2011-02-01T02:02:14.610" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always thought the addition of the &lt;em&gt;S&lt;/em&gt; was just an affectation.  Slang usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People use &lt;em&gt;laters/laterz&lt;/em&gt; online a lot in a similar way.  There are other variants seen for &lt;em&gt;anyhow&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;anyhoo&lt;/em&gt; is quite popular, spoken and written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T02:02:14.610" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10849" CreationDate="2011-02-01T02:35:03.280" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is just your typical degeneration of usage - the internet is a highly informal medium, and people generally don't self-edit before they post (as an interesting aside - open any high quality page on wikipedia, then look at the changelog for the article, and see the number of spelling and grammar edits versus the substantive content changes) - couple with the fact that most people who post in English on the internet are not native speakers/writers of English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your specific question - both of those examples are wrong, and should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's the worst thing I've ever seen.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  This can't get any worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastEditorUserId="1506" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T04:18:33.283" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T04:18:33.283" />
  <row Id="10852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10841" CreationDate="2011-02-01T02:38:28.173" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Australia, they can be self-employed, freelancers, contractors, sole practitioners (for professional services), sole traders (for other services), and probably a lot more besides... I don't know if I have heard of sole proprietors here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T02:38:28.173" />
  <row Id="10853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10849" CreationDate="2011-02-01T02:53:15.120" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are right — they are definitely misusing &lt;em&gt;worse&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;worst&lt;/em&gt; in those examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I think the impression that this error is catching on may be an illusion — the usage isn't really changing, it's just such a jarring mistake that when you meet it, it really stands out.  Googling the phrases you mention, compared with their correct versions, gives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;That's the worst thing I've ever seen.&quot;   51,200 hits&#xA;&quot;That's the worse thing I've ever seen.&quot;      598 hits&#xA;&#xA;&quot;This can't get any worse&quot;              1,320,000 hits&#xA;&quot;This can't get any worst&quot;                  9,580 hits&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google hits are an awfully rough measure, but these differences — factors of around a hundred in each case — show pretty conclusively that this isn't a common usage.  If anything, for words that are so close together in both pronunciation and spelling, I'm surprised there aren't more people making this mistake as a typo or thinko.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T02:53:15.120" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10854" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10855" CreationDate="2011-02-01T03:36:59.903" Score="2" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/898/definite-article-with-plural-nouns&quot;&gt;Definite article with plural nouns&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently reviewed (as I believe, rather thoroughly) the rules of using articles in English and I do not recall any rule on &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/898/definite-article-with-plural-nouns&quot;&gt;absence of definitive article THE with plural nouns&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you give me a reference on such a rule?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T22:07:59.930" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T13:17:45.680" ClosedDate="2011-02-02T03:54:43.393" Title="Rule on absence of the article &quot;the&quot; with plural nouns" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;learning&gt;&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10854" CreationDate="2011-02-01T03:43:37.117" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Plural nouns with the definite article are, well, definite.  Consider&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cats don't like me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;versus&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The cats don't like me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The former implies every cat on Earth doesn't like me; the latter, that some (contextually obvious) specific group of cats don't like me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ADDED&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, yes, unmemorize that reference in your other question and memorize the following: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;use the definite article with a&#xA;plural only to denote a known or&#xA;stated subset of the class (&quot;The&#xA;elephants [in this zoo] are&#xA;dangerous&quot;); omit the article for the&#xA;whole class (&quot;Elephants [all of them] are&#xA;dangerous&quot;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use an indefinite article with a&#xA;singular to denote the whole class when you want to emphasize&#xA;the singular nature (&quot;A glass of wine&#xA;is healthy, but two can lead to&#xA;dissolution.&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use the definite article with a&#xA;singular when referring to a specific instance or when you need, for some reason, to sound like Sir Richard Attenborough in a BBC nature documentary (&quot;The elephant is a regal creature, reigning over his home, the savanna ...&quot;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, an indefinite article with a plural (&quot;An elephants are dangerous&quot;) and omitting articles with the singular of a countable noun (&quot;Elephant is dangerous&quot;) are both just wrong, wrong, wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastEditorUserId="4040" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T13:17:45.680" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T13:17:45.680" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="10856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2011-02-01T04:01:01.113" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Debris&quot; took me a few years to figure out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4385" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T04:01:01.113" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-01T04:01:01.113" />
  <row Id="10857" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-01T04:17:16.237" Score="5" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi, I'm wondering whether the word dictator should be capitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it an just an adjective and not a title or an official title?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4432" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T11:42:49.087" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T12:36:07.007" Title="Capitalization of Dictator" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10858" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10861" CreationDate="2011-02-01T04:25:21.343" Score="9" ViewCount="372" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in Singapore and I will be travelling to Jakarta.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I say &quot;&lt;em&gt;I will be oversea next week.&lt;/em&gt;&quot; or &quot;&lt;em&gt;I will be overseas next week.&lt;/em&gt;&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at &lt;a href=&quot;http://maps.google.com/maps?q=singapore+to+jakarta&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Maps&lt;/a&gt;, it looks like there are two seas between Singapore and Jakarta.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any instance where I should use &quot;&lt;em&gt;oversea&lt;/em&gt;&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2049" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T14:09:14.230" Title="Oversea or overseas?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10857" CreationDate="2011-02-01T04:34:17.970" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on context and preference. If used as a noun, it's not capitalised:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was the dictator of Sicily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If used as a title, it ought to be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He proclaimed himself Dictator of Sicily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And also if used as an honourific:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was called Dictator Garibaldi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastEditorUserId="1506" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T07:25:52.870" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T07:25:52.870" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10858" CreationDate="2011-02-01T04:41:42.700" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would be &lt;em&gt;overseas&lt;/em&gt; even if you only cross one sea. Or ocean. That's if you're in America. The Brits say &lt;em&gt;oversea&lt;/em&gt; (singular), but you never hear that over on this side of the pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: My CD version of Webster's cites &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;overseas |ˈōvərˈsēz| ( Brit. also oversea)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so I included that mention even though I have never heard the usage in any contet from anyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T14:09:14.230" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T14:09:14.230" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="10861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10858" CreationDate="2011-02-01T04:43:48.610" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should use &lt;em&gt;overseas:&lt;/em&gt; both &lt;em&gt;oversea&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;overseas&lt;/em&gt; literally mean &lt;em&gt;across a sea,&lt;/em&gt; but &lt;em&gt;overseas&lt;/em&gt; is much more common for the abstract meaning of &lt;em&gt;abroad.&lt;/em&gt; So if you're talking about literal travel across a sea, use &lt;em&gt;oversea:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I work in oversea shipping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While if you mean generally &lt;em&gt;abroad,&lt;/em&gt; use &lt;em&gt;overseas:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there an extra charge for overseas shipping?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;I will be overseas next week.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Just to clarify, as @kiamlaluno points out, these words make no distinction about the number of seas that you cross. &lt;em&gt;Seas&lt;/em&gt; in this sense is not literally the plural of &lt;em&gt;sea,&lt;/em&gt; but rather the abstract notion of the &lt;em&gt;waters&lt;/em&gt; of the sea that you cross when you go oversea, as opposed to the &lt;em&gt;lands&lt;/em&gt; that you cross when you go &lt;em&gt;overland.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastEditorUserId="1506" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T07:31:43.000" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T07:31:43.000" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="10862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10858" CreationDate="2011-02-01T05:18:15.153" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go with: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will be overseas next week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overseas, an adverb, means to go beyond the seas. Even with an 's' at the end, I think it still functions as a singular (&lt;em&gt;confirmation anyone&lt;/em&gt;?). The number of seas doesn't make a difference, and one sea doesn't mean you have to use &lt;em&gt;oversea&lt;/em&gt;. See this link for definitions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/overseas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/overseas&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, Merriam Webster also lists &lt;em&gt;oversea&lt;/em&gt;, mainly British usage, as having the same meaning as overseas. Acoording to them &lt;em&gt;oversea&lt;/em&gt; was used first, in the 12th century, compared to &lt;em&gt;overseas&lt;/em&gt;, in 1533. Nowadays, without offence to the Brits, you hardly hear &lt;em&gt;oversea&lt;/em&gt; used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The nearest synonym to overseas is abroad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will be abroad next week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An occasion when you might use over sea (note separation):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They travelled over sea and land.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which, to my ear, sounds better than:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They travelled over seas and lands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other issue is whether overseas would apply if you were travelling to another country without crossing any sea or seas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, don't confuse &lt;em&gt;overseas&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;oversee&lt;/em&gt;, which means to supervise or to watch over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T05:18:15.153" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="10863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10849" CreationDate="2011-02-01T05:44:48.607" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is bad (good).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is worse (better).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the worst (the best).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English, go figure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good, better, best, never let it rest, 'til your good is better and your better is (the) best.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4434" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T05:44:48.607" />
  <row Id="10864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10839" CreationDate="2011-02-01T05:45:07.967" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;its the same as 'wood'. plural form is not 'woods'. You do not have planks of woods, you have planks of wood. I have a piece of wood, not i have woods. I have a piece of LEGO, not I have legos&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4435" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T05:45:07.967" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7401" CreationDate="2011-02-01T06:01:29.747" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Universe&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;all existing matter and space considered as a whole&lt;/em&gt;; it is also used with the meaning of &lt;em&gt;a particular sphere of activity, interest, or experience&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The front parlor was the hub of her universe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;World&lt;/em&gt; means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(usuallythe world) the earth, together with all of its countries, peoples, and natural features.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(the world) all of the people, societies, and institutions on the earth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;[as adjective] denoting one of the most important or influential people or things of its class.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;another planet like the earth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the material universe or all that exists; everything.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was doing his bit to save the world.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  They had been brought up to regard France as a world power.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Scientists are verifying the possibility of life on other worlds.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T06:01:29.747" />
  <row Id="10866" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10898" CreationDate="2011-02-01T08:40:59.473" Score="0" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this &lt;a href=&quot;http://drupal.org/node/1046668#comment-4029266&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;comment&lt;/a&gt;, the author uses the expression &lt;em&gt;the Drude is on board with this&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T14:33:30.113" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:33:30.113" Title="&quot;The Drude is on board with this&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10866" CreationDate="2011-02-01T08:54:48.073" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'The Drude' would seem to be a moderator or someone important on Drupal.org (*Dr*upal + dude I'd imagine).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase 'get on board' means that someone has agreed to cooperate with or support something. E.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The plan is in place and the Navy is on board with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We've got a new product idea, we just need to get the boss on board with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T09:02:45.477" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10836" CreationDate="2011-02-01T10:01:33.240" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The description for &lt;em&gt;perception&lt;/em&gt; given from the NOAD is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses: &lt;em&gt;the normal limits to human perception&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;• the state of being or process of becoming aware of something in such a way: &lt;em&gt;the perception of pain&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;• a way of regarding, understanding, or interpreting something; a mental impression: &lt;em&gt;Hollywood's perception of the tastes of the American public&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;we need to challenge many popular perceptions of old age&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;• intuitive understanding and insight: &lt;em&gt;“He wouldn't have accepted,” said my mother with unusual perception&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first example sentence says that such devices increase the perception we have through our senses, in the same way a telescope increase our sensorial perceptions; for example, the cellular phone increases (in a figurative way), what we can hear, as it allows to hear people who is far from us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second example, &lt;em&gt;perception&lt;/em&gt; is used to mean &lt;em&gt;a way of regarding, understanding, or interpreting something&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;mental impression&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T10:01:33.240" />
  <row Id="10869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10858" CreationDate="2011-02-01T10:23:38.777" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I`ll be Overseas... There are multiple seas in between :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4443" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T10:23:38.777" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10858" CreationDate="2011-02-01T10:29:12.670" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe it's just me, but that expression sounds very pompous when applied to relatively short distances, no matter how many seas are in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I lived in UK, I never heard the term &lt;em&gt;oversea&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;overseas&lt;/em&gt; applied to continental Europe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go simple and you won't go wrong, just say &quot;I'll be in Jakarta next week&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4098" LastEditorUserId="4098" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T11:08:38.583" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T11:08:38.583" />
  <row Id="10871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10839" CreationDate="2011-02-01T10:37:19.383" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Danish (where the name comes from; derived from &quot;leg godt&quot; meaning &quot;play good&quot;), Norwegian and Swedish, the name is an uncountable noun. I think it's both because it refers more to a concept than any actual piece. And also many of the pieces are small enough to be effectively &quot;uncountable&quot; like &quot;grain&quot;, &quot;sand&quot; etc. I would personally use the word as an uncountable noun in English too. Calling it &quot;Legos&quot; sounds a bit odd (like saying &quot;the Internets&quot; etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But unless you're writing advertising material and have to bother with trademarks etc., I would only capitalize the first letter, e.g.: &quot;I enjoy playing with Lego with my nephew&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2820" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T10:37:19.383" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10872" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-01T10:46:19.943" Score="2" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Day&lt;/em&gt; may refer to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the day of the week (e.g., Monday, Tuesday);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the day of the month (e.g, 2nd day of February);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a unit of time (e.g., &lt;em&gt;this task would take 2 days to complete&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A date on the other hand usually has the month and the year along with the day - 21st February 2011. It also has a fixed quality I think. &#xA;I was wondering if there are any other differences between day and date and their usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am interested in the meanings and usage of date that pertain to time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="601" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T01:44:48.993" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T01:44:48.993" Title="What's the difference between day and date?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10872" CreationDate="2011-02-01T10:57:10.027" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Date is a much more wide-ranging word. It can mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A precise time (as you have said)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A pre-arranged meeting (and as a similar verb - 'We're dating.')&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As a verb, to assign an age to something&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not to mention a few more archaic meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And of course it's also a fruit!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T10:57:10.027" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2011-02-01T11:58:04.787" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ironically, I find that &lt;strong&gt;pronunciation&lt;/strong&gt; is frequently mispronounced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4089" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T11:58:04.787" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-01T11:58:04.787" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10876" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10879" CreationDate="2011-02-01T12:23:25.310" Score="3" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;(1) How to punctuate lists in general? (2) also, what case to use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;In the case study, signal comparison could be used for:&#xA; • signals from redundant channels of emergency stop button,&#xA; • output signals of redundant processing units,&#xA; • feedback signals from frequency converter and contactor,&#xA; • also result comparison of diagnostic techniques and measures, that have dependencies. &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;VS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;In the case study, signal comparison could be used for:&#xA; • signals from redundant channels of emergency stop button;&#xA; • output signals of redundant processing units;&#xA; • feedback signals from frequency converter and contactor;&#xA; • also result comparison of diagnostic techniques and measures, that have dependencies. &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;VS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;In the case study, signal comparison could be used for:&#xA; • signals from redundant channels of emergency stop button&#xA; • output signals of redundant processing units&#xA; • feedback signals from frequency converter and contactor&#xA; • also result comparison of diagnostic techniques and measures, that have dependencies&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;VS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;In the case study, signal comparison could be used for:&#xA; • Signals from redundant channels of emergency stop button&#xA; • Output signals of redundant processing units&#xA; • Feedback signals from frequency converter and contactor&#xA; • Also result comparison of diagnostic techniques and measures, that have dependencies&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(3) is &quot;:&quot; necessary?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(4) is it (everything) the same for all cases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4447" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T21:09:13.633" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T21:09:13.633" Title="How to punctuate lists in general?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;list&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10877" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-01T12:23:47.523" Score="5" ViewCount="261" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is mainly for all those that are not speaking English as their first language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me there has been some words that are difficult to pronounce correctly. Maybe saying word aloud gives you a feeling that you're doing something wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be interesting to know which words you find difficult?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favourites are &lt;em&gt;squirrel&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;miscellaneous&lt;/em&gt; (plus I have to always check how is this written correctly) and murderer (it's mumbling when I say it) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T15:12:15.003" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T15:12:15.003" ClosedDate="2011-02-01T14:39:31.977" Title="Most difficult word to pronounce" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1613" CreationDate="2011-02-01T12:36:54.963" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I personally HATE when people call me Mike or Michael or even Michelle (my given name is &lt;strong&gt;Michel&lt;/strong&gt;, i.e. masculine version of the French name Michelle) and I cringe when I hear English speakers pronounce Copenhagen with a Germanic aa instead of ei - I believe that particular pronunciation was a mistake perpetrated and perpetuated by a song by David Daniel Kaminsky (Danny Kaye)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As mentioned already in this question, Paris is an unfortunate example because it is spelled the same in English and French.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I work in an international environment but if the conversation is held in English I would pronounce the s and if in French I would not, regardless of the native tongue of the people at the table. If I were to converse in English about a trip from Antwerp via Cologne to Alsace I could but would never use Antwerpen via Köln to Elsass, oh pardon, Alsace, just because there were Flemish/Dutch, German and French colleagues around, unless I KNEW one of them would not recognise the English version...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T12:36:54.963" />
  <row Id="10879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10876" CreationDate="2011-02-01T12:40:44.093" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The colon is not strictly necessary, and punctuation is not necessary at the ends of the bullets (unless they are examples of sentences, as we sometimes see on English.SE).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is for a legal, technical, or academic paper or publication, however, you should consult the style guide for whichever organization's rules govern the writing of prose. Short of that, for informal contexts bullets are understood to be their own type of punctuation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note also that your last bulleted phrase doesn't even require a comma:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also result comparison of diagnostic techniques and measures, that have dependencies&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;works better as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also result comparison of diagnostic techniques and measures that have dependencies&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and still better without the leading conjunction&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Result comparison of diagnostic techniques and measures that have dependencies&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, it is not even necessary to capitalize each bullet's first word unless it represents a complete sentence said in context or is a proper noun. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, bulleted lists don't have to behave like the lists you encounter in sentences. Most ordinary rules you know are optional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T14:10:54.243" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T14:10:54.243" />
  <row Id="10880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10877" CreationDate="2011-02-01T12:45:19.310" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mine are refrigerator and budgerigar (I am Danish) I have no problems at all with your words :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you know if your issues have to do with you being Finnish, would other Finns have the same problem?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T12:45:19.310" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10866" CreationDate="2011-02-01T12:48:52.677" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is probably a joining of &lt;em&gt;Drupal&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;The Dude&lt;/em&gt; (a/k/a Jeff Bridges' character in &lt;em&gt;The Big Lebowski&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/JuPAR.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either that's someone's chosen screen name or the fictional embodiment of some familial spirit that stalks the Drupal board in question. OK, maybe &quot;slouches through&quot; the boards is a better way to put it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But that's, well, like, you know, just my opinion, man.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T12:55:38.080" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T12:55:38.080" />
  <row Id="10882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10877" CreationDate="2011-02-01T12:50:15.373" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many Frenchmen have problems with some phonemes that you do not find in French: &lt;code&gt;/ð/&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;/þ/&lt;/code&gt; (&lt;i&gt;th&lt;/i&gt;is and mou&lt;i&gt;th&lt;/i&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reciprocically, many native English speakers may face difficulties with the &lt;code&gt;/y/&lt;/code&gt; (ü in German, u in French).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1487" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T12:50:15.373" />
  <row Id="10883" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-01T12:59:24.103" Score="2" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example in this sentence, do we need an article before &lt;em&gt;comedy&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Improv  is essentially [a] comedy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T15:10:32.693" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T15:10:32.693" Title="Is it &quot;comedy&quot; or &quot;a comedy&quot;?" Tags="&lt;articles&gt;&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="10884" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10885" CreationDate="2011-02-01T13:02:19.233" Score="1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am try to say that it's hard to determine something until you have done it. Is the sentence below correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is pretty hard to quantify one’s feeling until having seen the show.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T15:03:54.417" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T16:02:19.710" Title="Usage of &quot;having seen&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10884" CreationDate="2011-02-01T13:06:58.640" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a better sounding phrase would be &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It’s pretty hard to quantify one’s feeling &lt;strong&gt;without&lt;/strong&gt; having seen the show&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But otherwise, yes, that is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3559" LastEditorUserId="3559" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T16:02:19.710" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T16:02:19.710" />
  <row Id="10886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10884" CreationDate="2011-02-01T13:07:47.760" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use 'without' instead of 'until':&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's pretty hard to quantify one's feelings toward the show without having seen it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also rearrange it a little:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Without having seen the show, it's pretty hard to quantify one's feelings towards it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T13:07:47.760" />
  <row Id="10887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10883" CreationDate="2011-02-01T13:09:20.210" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Comedy' can be a countable or uncountable noun. In the example sentence, we are probably using it as an uncountable noun, in which case the article should be omitted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T13:09:20.210" />
  <row Id="10888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10883" CreationDate="2011-02-01T13:09:40.177" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'a comedy' would describe a specific show:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Friends&lt;/em&gt; is a comedy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of &lt;em&gt;improv&lt;/em&gt;, I'd say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Improv is essentially a style of comedy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because you can improvise without it being comedic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T13:09:40.177" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10883" CreationDate="2011-02-01T13:14:45.333" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We do not need an article since &lt;em&gt;comedy&lt;/em&gt; is being used as an uncountable noun here. Another example of this usage is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He dreams of having a career in stand-up comedy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example of its usage as a countable noun is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Friends was a highly successful TV comedy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of the adverb &lt;em&gt;essentially&lt;/em&gt; may cause confusion. You could say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Improv is comedy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Improv is essentially comedy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T13:14:45.333" />
  <row Id="10890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10883" CreationDate="2011-02-01T13:15:25.067" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on how you're describing Improv.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example I would expect no article in this scentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whose_Line_Is_It_Anyway%3F&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Whose Line Is It Anyway?&lt;/a&gt; is essentially comedy with points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whereas I would in this one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Shakespeare's A midsummer night's dream is a comedy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Jasper Loy point out, the distinction comes between countable and uncountable use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my first example comedy is not countable because it is used through out the show, like you might use paint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second example, there is only one play, so there is only one comedy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3559" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T13:15:25.067" />
  <row Id="10891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10877" CreationDate="2011-02-01T13:29:57.353" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about 'floccinaucinihilipilification'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T13:29:57.353" />
  <row Id="10892" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-01T13:51:13.310" Score="5" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to place two commas in this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;New York City plays a significant, albeit previously neglected, role in the urban narratives of [...].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for any reply!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4449" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T12:15:25.967" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T12:15:25.967" Title="Usage of commas with &quot;albeit&quot;" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10892" CreationDate="2011-02-01T14:05:10.863" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, that's fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good rule of thumb when placing commas is to read the sentence through out loud, and actually say the word 'comma' in your head when you come to one. This gives you a sense of the pause the comma creates. If it sounds right, it is right!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T14:05:10.863" />
  <row Id="10894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10892" CreationDate="2011-02-01T14:08:06.153" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your use of commas there is parenthetical. So you could also write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;New York City plays a significant (albeit previously neglected) role in the urban narratives of [...].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your use of commas is valid and frequently used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3559" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T14:08:06.153" />
  <row Id="10895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10892" CreationDate="2011-02-01T14:16:15.810" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on whether you prefer an open or closed style of punctuation. It is fine to say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;New York City plays a significant, albeit previously neglected, role in the urban narratives of [...].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but equally fine to say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;New York City plays a significant albeit previously neglected role in the urban narratives of [...].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The judgment here must be whether the commas are needed to make the meaning clear. I think in this case they are not needed. But in a sentence with many clauses and antecedents and the like you may need the extra grouping that commas provide. Or you may not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T14:16:15.810" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="10896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10884" CreationDate="2011-02-01T14:22:22.370" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Others here are correct that &lt;em&gt;without&lt;/em&gt; is a better choice given the way the example is phrased. But if you really want to use &lt;em&gt;until&lt;/em&gt; you can, provided you recast the sentence something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's pretty hard to quantify one's feelings until one has seen the show.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's pretty hard to quantify one's feelings until one sees the show.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not particularly fond of the use of the word &quot;quantify&quot; here, however. If it were up to me, I'd use another verb: perhaps &lt;em&gt;assess&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;evaluate&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's pretty hard to assess one's feelings until one sees the show.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T14:22:22.370" />
  <row Id="10897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="531" CreationDate="2011-02-01T14:24:39.073" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know you say they are irrelevant, but I would never use &quot;?!&quot; or &quot;!?&quot; but always use &quot;?!?&quot; or &quot;!?!&quot; - except in formal writing where I would use neither.  I would consider the first punctuation mark to be the most important.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4335" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T14:24:39.073" />
  <row Id="10898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10866" CreationDate="2011-02-01T14:24:56.603" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just a guess, since I'm not familiar with Drupal, but my immediate reaction was that &quot;Drude&quot; was a portmanteau of &quot;Druid&quot; and &quot;Dude&quot;, which would be somewhat in keeping with the Wikipedia definition, and connoting some sort of hip wizard, with the additional benefit of the initial &quot;dr&quot; reflecting Drupal as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4244" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T14:24:56.603" />
  <row Id="10899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10877" CreationDate="2011-02-01T14:30:58.000" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, and what about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;supercalifragilisticexpialidocious&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3476" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T14:30:58.000" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10900" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10902" CreationDate="2011-02-01T14:31:20.490" Score="7" ViewCount="257" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it wrong to say &quot;to cook a cake&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3997" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T04:45:12.550" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T04:45:12.550" Title="Is it wrong to say &quot;cook a cake&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="10901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10900" CreationDate="2011-02-01T14:34:13.583" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not wrong, but it's more common to see 'bake a cake', as that is almost always the cooking method used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T14:34:13.583" />
  <row Id="10902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10900" CreationDate="2011-02-01T14:34:55.447" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's better to say &quot;&lt;strong&gt;make a cake&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; or &quot;&lt;strong&gt;bake a cake&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;. Though you can find a lot of web pages using &quot;cook a cake&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He knows how to &lt;strong&gt;bake a cake&lt;/strong&gt; better than anyone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Making&lt;/strong&gt; a basic sponge &lt;strong&gt;cake&lt;/strong&gt; is very easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T08:42:31.603" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T08:42:31.603" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="10903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10884" CreationDate="2011-02-01T15:11:56.530" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Until&quot; requires a point of time, or an action that can be viewed as a point: &quot;Until twelve o'clock&quot;; &quot;until she comes&quot;; &quot;until seeing him&quot;. It &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; be used with extended but definite periods, but then requires there to be a specific time within that period, so  &quot;Until this year&quot; implies &quot;Until some specific time during this year&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Having seen the show&quot; relates to a period of time of uncertain length, with no particular points within it, and so is incompatible with &quot;until&quot;. It is associated with a specific time &lt;em&gt;outside&lt;/em&gt; itself (in this case, before itself), so it would be fine with &quot;after&quot;, for example: &quot;after having seen the show&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T15:11:56.530" />
  <row Id="10904" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10905" CreationDate="2011-02-01T15:21:35.590" Score="8" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;Scorching means extremely hot. So why do we say scorching hot? Isn't it redundant to bring hot after scorching?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3997" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T19:32:04.177" Title="why do we say scorching hot while scorching already means very hot?" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10904" CreationDate="2011-02-01T15:27:07.703" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Scorching is both &lt;strong&gt;adjective&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;adverb&lt;/strong&gt;. If you use it before an adjective like hot it means you're using it as an adverb, which means very or extremely. As an adverb it means very hot. So it's not considered as redundant info.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here in Houston, it was a &lt;strong&gt;scorching&lt;/strong&gt; 93° today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was a &lt;strong&gt;scorching hot&lt;/strong&gt; day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;scorching desert&lt;/strong&gt; heat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T19:32:04.177" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T19:32:04.177" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10906" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10916" CreationDate="2011-02-01T15:31:17.777" Score="5" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just saw a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yqVD0swvWU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;parody on the Lord of the Rings&lt;/a&gt;, where one of the characters says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;it must be cast back in the fire from whence it came!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This struck me as odd, since I expected them to say &quot;whence it came&quot;; but now I find that &quot;from whence&quot; seems to occur as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anybody know whether this is correct, or whether it has been correct at some point and subsequently fell into disgrace (or vice versa)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4014" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T05:43:46.560" Title="Is &quot;from whence&quot; correct? Or should it be &quot;whence&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;history&gt;&lt;archaic&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="10907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6801" CreationDate="2011-02-01T15:31:36.873" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A yankee screwdriver is a screwdriver which works with a pump action, so that the blade turns when the handle is pushed toward the screw. &#xA;It is reversible, but works better on the way in, as on the way out you are turning the screw out but forcing it in.&#xA;I believe it is a proprietary name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4454" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T15:31:36.873" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10908" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10910" CreationDate="2011-02-01T15:31:46.577" Score="2" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am updating my curriculum vitae, and there is a section where I list my experience with several technologies and programming languages. I would like to group my experience in two categories; namely, technologies with which I have long experience, and those with which I have relatively basic (yet, not elementary) experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently I am listing my experience as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20+ years of experience with X and Y&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some experience with W and Z&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;em&gt;some experience&lt;/em&gt; sounds ambiguous and I think gives the impression that my experience with W and Z is quite elementary. I do have some experience with W and Z but not enough to call it &quot;broad&quot;. What would be a good or proper qualifier for such skills?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4453" LastEditorUserId="4453" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T15:38:03.820" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T15:40:54.097" Title="Curriculum vitae: Proper qualifiers for skills" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10908" CreationDate="2011-02-01T15:38:27.273" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Moderate experience with W and Z&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or switch it up a little:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sound working knowledge of W and Z&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which implies that you know enough to be useful in most practical cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T15:38:27.273" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10908" CreationDate="2011-02-01T15:40:54.097" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the nature of your experience:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You could measure it in years, just like the rest of your experience.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I've seen people use small bar graphs for each skill to indicate how well they know each ability.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You could reword your other items and say you have &lt;code&gt;substantial experience&lt;/code&gt; with them and just &lt;code&gt;experience&lt;/code&gt; with the lesser-known items.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You could say you have &lt;code&gt;working knowledge&lt;/code&gt; of the lesser-known items.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T15:40:54.097" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10906" CreationDate="2011-02-01T15:43:42.423" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is technically redundant to say &lt;em&gt;from whence&lt;/em&gt;, since &lt;em&gt;whence&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;from where&lt;/em&gt;. However, most modern usage of the word is prefixed with &lt;em&gt;from&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a topic of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-fro2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;heated debate&lt;/a&gt; in some circles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T05:37:30.107" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T05:37:30.107" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="10912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10906" CreationDate="2011-02-01T15:44:27.203" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both 'whence' and 'from whence' are commonly used. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The addition of 'from' is a more recent addition ('whence' is first recorded circa 1300, 'whence from' 1568) but seems to be just as common. It might seem somewhat tautological given that most dictionaries list 'whence' as meaning 'from which place', but it is one of those phrases that has been used for so long it has become standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T15:44:27.203" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6801" CreationDate="2011-02-01T15:46:39.063" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have only heard the terms &quot;Paisley Screwdriver&quot; or &quot;Glasgow Screwdriver&quot; used in the same way by natives of the opposing places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4335" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T15:46:39.063" />
  <row Id="10914" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10915" CreationDate="2011-02-01T15:47:51.743" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which of the following sentence correct English and which one sounds best, and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As I heard that Greenday got a new CD, I went to the store to buy it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As soon as I heard that Greenday got a new CD, I went to the store to buy it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I heard that Greenday got a new CD, I went to the store to buy it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1806" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T20:33:04.800" Title="'As I heard' vs. 'When I heard'" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10914" CreationDate="2011-02-01T15:52:07.183" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The three sentences actually mean three different things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As I heard&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;means '&lt;em&gt;Because&lt;/em&gt; I heard'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As soon as I heard&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;means that you went to the store the moment you became aware the new CD was out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I heard&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is similar to 'as soon as', but implies a less immediate reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T15:52:07.183" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10906" CreationDate="2011-02-01T16:38:12.193" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did some research using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Historical American English&lt;/a&gt;, and it paints the following picture:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/XBS4q.gif&quot; alt=&quot;&amp;quot;whence&amp;quot; vs &amp;quot;from whence&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(X axis: year, Y axis: incidences per million words)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This shows that &lt;em&gt;from whence&lt;/em&gt; has been in constant use all the way back to 1810 (that's how far the Corpus goes). Indeed, as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-fro2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;World Wide Words post&lt;/a&gt; already linked by Shaun says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And even a brief look at historical sources shows that &lt;em&gt;from whence&lt;/em&gt; has been &lt;strong&gt;common since the thirteenth century&lt;/strong&gt;. It has been used by Shakespeare, Defoe (in the opening of &lt;em&gt;Robinson Crusoe&lt;/em&gt;: “He got a good estate by merchandise, and leaving off his trade, lived afterwards at York; from whence he had married my mother”), Smollett, Dickens (in &lt;em&gt;A Christmas Carol&lt;/em&gt;: “He began to think that the source and secret of this ghostly light might be in the adjoining room, from whence, on further tracing it, it seemed to shine”), Dryden, Gibbon, Twain (in &lt;em&gt;Innocents Abroad&lt;/em&gt;: “He traveled all around, till at last he came to the place from whence he started”), and Trollope, and it appears 27 times in the King James Bible (including Psalm 121: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help”). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Emphasis added. (The King James Bible was completed in 1611).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see from the above graph, &lt;em&gt;from whence&lt;/em&gt; is on a steady decline; however, so is &lt;em&gt;whence&lt;/em&gt; all on its own, so the graph isn't really that helpful. What we really want is the &lt;em&gt;ratio&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/AOgAm.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Ratio graph&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The values on the Y axis in this graph tell you how many times more often &lt;em&gt;whence&lt;/em&gt; was used without &lt;em&gt;from&lt;/em&gt; rather than with. So, around 1920, &lt;em&gt;whence&lt;/em&gt; all by itself was roughly 10 times more popular than &lt;em&gt;from whence&lt;/em&gt;; nowadays, on average, every second usage of &lt;em&gt;whence&lt;/em&gt; is prefixed by a &lt;em&gt;from&lt;/em&gt;, according to the Corpus. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, &lt;em&gt;from whence&lt;/em&gt; has been actually gaining &quot;relative&quot; popularity since 1920.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T16:38:12.193" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10904" CreationDate="2011-02-01T17:06:12.897" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're right, &lt;em&gt;scorching heat&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;scorchingly hot&lt;/em&gt;) appears at first glance to be redundant. Also, it is something of a &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10614/is-there-a-term-for-words-that-have-a-single-meaning-or-are-only-used-in-a-single&quot;&gt;stormy petrel&lt;/a&gt; (thank you again, Alex): You can't say something is scorchingly cold or scorchingly tepid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good writers might find a sharper way to express the heat, probably avoiding a cliché into the bargain. Still, in conversations and informal writing this kind of adjective (or adverb) is used simply as an intensifier. You'll agree, I'm sure, that &lt;em&gt;scorching&lt;/em&gt; heat is many degrees more uncomfortable than &lt;em&gt;mild&lt;/em&gt; heat. Is it as hot as &lt;em&gt;extreme&lt;/em&gt; heat? I'm not sure. But both &lt;em&gt;extreme&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;scorching&lt;/em&gt; heat refer to weather that is pretty damned hot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, something that is &lt;em&gt;scorched&lt;/em&gt; is heated so as &quot;to become dried out and lifeless&quot; [Webster's] — so it has a particular meaning after all. There are all kinds of heat that do not cause things to become dried out and lifeless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T17:06:12.897" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10918" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-01T17:12:07.650" Score="3" ViewCount="198" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between these two sentences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I earn $500 each month&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I earn $500 per month&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="869" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T05:44:51.613" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T05:44:51.613" Title="What is the difference between &quot;I earn $500 each month&quot; and &quot;I earn $500 per month&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="7" />
  <row Id="10919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10918" CreationDate="2011-02-01T17:15:35.253" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The latter describes your salary: if you sit at your desk and don't get fired, you'll get $500.  The former is more a description of the situation: somehow, by hook or by crook, I manage to scrape together $500.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of &quot;per&quot; imply a causal connection between the passage of time and the arrival of your pay.  &quot;Each&quot; encompasses the possibility there's no connection, and it's just happenstance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T17:15:35.253" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10918" CreationDate="2011-02-01T17:19:38.333" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say that &quot;I earn $500 per month&quot; suggests that your monthly salary from a single source is $500, whereas the &quot;I earn $500 each month&quot; could mean that you make $500 from potentially multiple sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4456" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T17:19:38.333" />
  <row Id="10921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10918" CreationDate="2011-02-01T17:34:36.107" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two are equivalent. Neither hold any implications as to how you come by the money; that is implied by 'earn'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Per&lt;/em&gt; means 'for every' or 'for each', so it's almost exactly the same as just saying 'each'. &lt;em&gt;Per&lt;/em&gt; is perhaps more common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T17:34:36.107" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="10922" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-01T17:41:29.003" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is a good dictionary software. I am asking about the ones that can be downloaded and used on Windows machines, and not online websites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought Word Web is a good one, but are there any advanced and good dictionaries?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4457" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T19:56:45.173" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-03T11:20:03.883" Title="Good Dictionary Software" Tags="&lt;dictionary&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10922" CreationDate="2011-02-01T18:01:59.093" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0877798095&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam Webster&lt;/a&gt; CD version. In addition to being a fine dictionary, it has a lot of tools for searching that help you find entries whose meanings contain certain words, it does anagrams, and so on. I like words, and this one feeds my addiction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T18:01:59.093" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-03T11:20:03.883" />
  <row Id="10925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6107" CreationDate="2011-02-01T18:53:56.947" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;‘Koi carp’ (carp carp — 鯉【koi】 is Japanese for carp)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4458" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T18:53:56.947" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-01T18:53:56.947" />
  <row Id="10926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10918" CreationDate="2011-02-01T18:57:16.563" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no difference. The following sentences are equivalent:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I earn $500 &lt;em&gt;each&lt;/em&gt; month.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I earn $500 &lt;em&gt;per&lt;/em&gt; month.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I earn $500 &lt;em&gt;every&lt;/em&gt; month.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I earn $500 &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; month.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;My &lt;em&gt;[monthly] salary&lt;/em&gt; is $500.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From personal experience, I would say that &lt;em&gt;per month&lt;/em&gt; is the least likely to be used in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T18:57:16.563" />
  <row Id="10927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6107" CreationDate="2011-02-01T19:01:59.433" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sahara Desert means--you guessed it, Desert Desert. I think it's common to just call it The Sahara though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="502" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T19:01:59.433" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-01T19:01:59.433" />
  <row Id="10928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10904" CreationDate="2011-02-01T19:05:28.237" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Scorch&lt;/em&gt;, as a verb, means to burn slightly or to cause discoloration due to heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an adjective, &lt;em&gt;scorching&lt;/em&gt; can be used to emphasize that the following noun causes burns or discoloration.  In that regard, &quot;a scorching heat&quot; implies that the heat causes burns or discoloration.  It is roughly synonymous with &lt;em&gt;burning&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T19:05:28.237" />
  <row Id="10929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10922" CreationDate="2011-02-01T19:16:46.720" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I use WordWeb software.  It's easy to use and free.  Also, you can try Worknik.com.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2093" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T19:16:46.720" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-03T11:20:03.883" />
  <row Id="10930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10900" CreationDate="2011-02-01T19:35:31.947" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Baking is done in an oven, cooking is done on a stove-top and typically implies using water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can &lt;em&gt;bake&lt;/em&gt; pies, roasts, cookies, bread, casseroles, pizza, and cakes.  You can &lt;em&gt;cook&lt;/em&gt; vegetables and noodles.  It is common and acceptable to say &quot;cook a meal&quot; or &quot;cook dinner&quot; rather than &quot;bake a meal&quot; or &quot;bake dinner&quot;, even if the meal was all prepared in an oven.  It becomes more confusing when you consider certain other food types.  Eggs can be fried, scrambled, or boiled, but you rarely hear of anyone baking or cooking eggs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that bakers &lt;em&gt;bake&lt;/em&gt; things and those things they produce are &quot;&lt;em&gt;baked&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, whereas cooks (or chefs) &lt;em&gt;cook&lt;/em&gt; things and those things they produce are &quot;&lt;em&gt;cooked&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T19:35:31.947" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10922" CreationDate="2011-02-01T19:45:46.560" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've tried many software dictionaries. Microsoft Encarta, Webster, Babylon, but the best one among them is &lt;strong&gt;Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has a lot of different features which helps you to learn English, pronunciation in two languages, a lot of examples for words, phrasal verb search, a thesaurus which helps you to understand the differences among similar words, pronunciation of the examples, word Activator and so on. It defines words and expressions in a very clear literature. It has vocabulary trainer, resource for teachers, pop up dictionary, and writing assistant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course it has two problems. First, it doesn't have a good synonym and antonym bank as Microsoft Encarta has. Second, it's not pronouncing words any position of the page.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But overall, I think it's the best dictionary available for English language learners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T19:56:45.173" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T19:56:45.173" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-03T11:20:03.883" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="10932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10527" CreationDate="2011-02-01T19:49:04.217" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;this is how i was able to make some sense of this to myself: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Greatest Common Den. (GCD) of&#xA;8 &amp;amp; 12 = 4 (limited set of possibilities that are a part of 8 and 12 only)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lowest Common Den. (LCD) of&#xA;8 &amp;amp; 12 = 24 (finite possibilities referencing all numbers which are the larger set both 8 &amp;amp; 12 are a part of) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;GCD of&#xA;cap, gap, &amp;amp; cope = p (followed by letter 'a')(limited set of possibilities restricted to capgapcope only)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LCD of&#xA;cap, gap, &amp;amp; cope = capoge (finite set, 6 of a possible 26 letters. :. alphabet is the set)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so far it can be inferred that GCD is for a limited set that can only be made up of the members or elements in question or a well defined set. we can also say that the GCD cannot be defined unless we know all the members of the set. Because the GCD is a part of each of the members of the set &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;while LCD is for a more expansive set that the members or elements could be or are a part of, with the possibility of having more members yet unknown ~ or an undefined set. alternately the LCD can be arrived at without knowledge of all members of that set. and as new members come into existence, we can ask if they could possibly belong to that particular set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;keep in mind also that GCD and LCD are not exclusive properties. Based on my understanding, it also helps to make a qualifier where &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;GCD becomes G(of members that make up a set)CD and is therefore always a member of the set&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and LCD as L(of set made up of members)CD and as such does not have to come from the members in question but as a property of a set&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, to apply this analogy to its colloquial use i played around with an abstraction like Ignorance and, using the parameters above, tried to come up with a scenario where ignorance is the GCD and LCD of some hypothetical members. it is at this point that my brain sprung a leak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4304" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T19:49:04.217" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10933" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10937" CreationDate="2011-02-01T19:58:01.567" Score="4" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was browsing Area 51 and I saw this comment:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm just calling a spade, a spade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm never quite sure how to punctuate sentences like these where a phrase is repeated back to back, without any other words to separate them. Not putting punctuation feels weird, but so does adding a comma. Neither intuitively read like I would say them in a conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a comma, I would pause before reading the second &quot;a spade&quot;; without punctuation, the inflexion in my voice would be off. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is &quot;I'm just calling a spade, a spade.&quot; properly punctuated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3711" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T12:15:19.620" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T12:15:19.620" Title="How to punctuate sentences like &quot;I'm just calling a spade, a spade.&quot;" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10918" CreationDate="2011-02-01T20:01:40.067" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;$500 per month&quot; connotes &quot;I earn money at a rate of $500 per month.&quot; So if you work for half a month, you will earn $250. &quot;I earn $500 each month&quot; implies that from the start of the month to the end of the month you acquire $500.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4460" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T20:01:40.067" />
  <row Id="10935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10872" CreationDate="2011-02-01T20:04:17.297" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When used in reference to time, &lt;em&gt;date&lt;/em&gt; almost exclusively refers to a specific 24 hour period that begins at midnight and ends at 11:59pm.  When used this way, the &lt;em&gt;date&lt;/em&gt; will be specified with a year (CE or BCE), the name of the month, and the number of the day within that month.  The day number is a positive whole number that may be used in ordinal form (first, second, third, etc.)  The name of the weekday is rarely referenced when referring to a date.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When setting up an appointment, you typically use the term '&lt;em&gt;date&lt;/em&gt;' if the appointment is a long time away or in a formal business setting.  When making appointments with friends, especially if they are happening within one week's time, you would use the term '&lt;em&gt;day&lt;/em&gt;'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You ask a friend &quot;What day do you want to have lunch?&quot;  The receptionist at your doctor's office will ask you &quot;What date would you like to have your next appointment?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T20:04:17.297" />
  <row Id="10936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2658" CreationDate="2011-02-01T20:15:00.167" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This evening you will tell your wife, &quot;I crashed the car because I had a bad day.&quot;  Later this month you will explain to the insurance adjuster, &quot;I crashed my car because I had had a bad day.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just for fun:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reocities.com/oosterwal/puzzle/had.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.reocities.com/oosterwal/puzzle/had.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T20:15:00.167" />
  <row Id="10937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10933" CreationDate="2011-02-01T20:20:54.087" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't need the interposing comma. Just say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm just calling a spade a spade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Subaru commercials get this awkwardly wrong:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's what makes a Subaru, a Subaru.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No comma needed there either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare the idea using two other nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm calling a spade a shovel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would never use a comma there. And just because the nouns are the same doesn't change the sentence structurally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T20:26:26.857" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T20:26:26.857" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10933" CreationDate="2011-02-01T20:23:25.190" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't use a comma.  I agree it looks weird, but there is no pause or separation of ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I'm just calling a spade a spade&quot; is the correct punctuation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4417" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T20:23:25.190" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10914" CreationDate="2011-02-01T20:33:04.800" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first sentence doesn't make sense.  Because &quot;as I heard&quot; means the &lt;em&gt;moment&lt;/em&gt; you heard, as in &quot;as the shot rang out, the whole world seemed to catch their breath&quot;.  Or &quot;as the election results came in, the mayor sat down heavily&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, you wouldn't go to the shop to buy the new Green Day CD &lt;em&gt;while hearing of its release&lt;/em&gt;; you'd go to the shop &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; hearing of its release, &quot;as son as you heard&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T20:33:04.800" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10940" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10942" CreationDate="2011-02-01T20:54:08.930" Score="1" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicates:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/23/is-it-ever-acceptable-for-a-period-to-come-after-a-quote-at-the-end-of-a-sentence&quot;&gt;Is it ever acceptable for a period to come after a quote at the end of a sentence?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/166/how-much-punctuation-is-appropriate-when-ending-a-sentence-with-a-full-sentence-q&quot;&gt;How much punctuation is appropriate when ending a sentence with a full-sentence quotation?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I have a sentence where I  double quote what someone says, i.e.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The man said &quot;How are you?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that was the end of the sentence, does it need a full stop at the end as follows?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The man said &quot;How are you?&quot;&lt;strong&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4461" LastEditorUserId="4461" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T20:58:16.447" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T21:13:11.507" ClosedDate="2011-02-03T18:40:57.360" Title="Punctuation placement in speech" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;speech&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10918" CreationDate="2011-02-01T21:02:16.687" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Malvolio, Jake, and Jimi Oke are partially correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Per month&quot; carries the entailment that the pay period is the entire month. &quot;Each month&quot; does not. Therefore, while the two sentences CAN mean the same thing, they do not NECESSARILY mean the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I earn $500 per month&quot; MUST be equivalent to &quot;I earn $500 per month or portion thereof.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I earn $500 each month&quot; CAN be equivalent to &quot;I earn $500 each month or portion thereof.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;                                        or&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I earn $500 each month&quot; CAN be equivalent to &quot;I earn $500 each month, but I get less if I work less than a month.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4462" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T21:02:16.687" />
  <row Id="10942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10940" CreationDate="2011-02-01T21:13:11.507" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a word, no.  Never put two punctuation marks separated only by a quote mark.  (See &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/166/how-much-punctuation-is-appropriate-when-ending-a-sentence-with-a-full-sentence-q&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; , as it appears to be a duplicate.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T21:13:11.507" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10943" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10948" CreationDate="2011-02-01T21:36:39.937" Score="2" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;American daily newspapers such as Washington Post and New York Times provide a treasure trove of interesting words and idioms to foreign learners of English language like me.  For example, an article of January 29 the New York Times titled &lt;em&gt;We Never Got Down to Blue&lt;/em&gt; begins with the following copy. It provides me with a set of interesting phrases in only the following few lines, such as &lt;em&gt;Erode into a macabre laugh line&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;stand beltless in one’s socks&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;survival biscuits&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Among these phrases new to me, I’m particularly interested in the expression &lt;em&gt;erode into a macabre laugh line&lt;/em&gt;. Why can &lt;em&gt;macabre&lt;/em&gt;, which I understand meaning &lt;em&gt;chilling, dreadful&lt;/em&gt;, can marry with the word &lt;em&gt;laugh line&lt;/em&gt; that does not seem to necessarily fit gruesome connotation of &lt;em&gt;macabre&lt;/em&gt;? So, What does &lt;em&gt;erode into a macabre laugh line&lt;/em&gt;. mean? Can anybody tell me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Well before the end, the government’s color-coded alert system was eroding into a macabre laugh line for the modern age of terrorism. Were people standing beltless in their socks actually hearing the airport announcements when the risk estimate mostly shuttled between yellow (Elevated) and orange (High)? &#xA;  The five-color code is going the way of cold war survival biscuits. Homeland Security officials decided that it ultimately lacked credibility and clarity to the point of sapping rather than bolstering public confidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T06:07:43.513" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T06:07:43.513" Title="What does &quot;macabre laugh line&quot; means with regard to the government’s alteration of color-coded alert system?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="10944" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10990" CreationDate="2011-02-01T21:40:47.420" Score="1" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Perceptual constancy refers to our ability to see things differently without having to reinterpret the object's properties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;differently&lt;/em&gt; referring to &lt;em&gt;we see&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;things&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T05:59:11.710" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T06:02:44.360" Title="Meaning of the adverb 'differently' and its position" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="10945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10943" CreationDate="2011-02-01T21:48:33.630" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The article is basically say that the alert system was so useless at providing any real information regarding a potential threat that people found it to be a source of dark humor rather than a valuable warning.  So, watching the threat level indicator change could provide you with a cheap laugh about a very serious, potentially life-threatening situation.  It's similar to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gallows%20humor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gallows humor&lt;/a&gt;, but in an even more downbeat fashion, if that's possible.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't believe that the author necessarily meant to refer to the &quot;laugh lines&quot; that ElendilTheTall defines; I think it's more likely referring to the TV production usage of a &quot;laugh line&quot; or &quot;laugh track&quot; or &quot;canned laughter&quot; to provide a pre-recorded sound of laughter at supposedly hilarious moments in various shows, especially if the live audience wasn't appreciative enough of something.  So, related to that sense, the alert system is ultimately doing nothing but providing a constant stream of cheap laughs about how useless and ineffective it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Standing beltless in one's socks&quot; is meant to be taken literally, as the TSA's procedure for passing through airport security checkpoints requires both the removal of all metal objects, including belt buckles, and the removal of shoes.  So as you prepare yourself to go through the scanner, you are indeed standing beltless in your socks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T21:56:30.453" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T21:56:30.453" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10943" CreationDate="2011-02-01T21:49:33.890" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Laugh Lines&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A laugh line is a wrinkle around the eyes, also often called 'crows feet'. When you laugh you squint your eyes and this causes the skin around them to wrinkle. 'Laugh (or laughter) lines' are a polite way of referring to these wrinkles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Macabre' means grim or gruesome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case the writer is saying that the colour-coded alert system has become something of a joke because no one really pays attention to it; it is something that has been 'laughed off' so many times that the only reminders of it are the wrinkles left around the collective eyes of the nation. It is 'macabre' because of the potential gravity (seriousness) of a terrorist threat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: See Hellion's answer for an alternative (and more likely) theory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cold War survival biscuits&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cold War survival biscuits were hard cookies, designed to last a long time in storage, i.e. in a bomb-shelter. Nowadays, few people have such bomb-shelters, let alone stock them with provisions like survival biscuits. In other words, the writer is saying the alert system is as out of date as these biscuits. He is drawing an analogy between the paranoia in the Fifties regarding nuclear war and the modern paranoia regarding terrorism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Standing beltless in their socks&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This refers to the security measures taken at modern airports nowadays: you are asked to remove your shoes and belt in order to pass through the metal detectors. The writer is saying 'did anyone being inconvenienced by modern security measures actually care what the threat-level colour was?'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T22:02:12.787" />
  <row Id="10947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10944" CreationDate="2011-02-01T21:59:39.077" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your words, 'we differently see things'. 'Things' means 'the situation' as opposed to actual objects. Another way of phrasing it would be 'see things from a different perspective'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the author meant 'see different things', he would say 'see different things'! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T21:59:39.077" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10943" CreationDate="2011-02-01T22:37:28.077" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oishi-san, the line is taken from the idea of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answers.com/topic/black-comedy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;black comedy&lt;/a&gt;, which is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a kind of drama (or, by extension, a non‐dramatic work) in which disturbing or sinister subjects like death, disease, or warfare, are treated with bitter amusement, usually in a manner calculated to offend and shock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and &lt;em&gt;black humor&lt;/em&gt; (same link), which is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;grotesque or morbid humor used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There you can clearly see the line's relation to the macabre. The whole terrorist threat-alert system was nothing but a grim, black joke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T22:37:28.077" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10949" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11036" CreationDate="2011-02-01T22:50:24.053" Score="0" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a native English speaker and I want to improve my CV with an American English certification.&#xA;What's the best world-wide accepted English certification for professional purpose?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For those interested, I'm in the IT market,  but I'd like the answers to be profession agnostic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1750" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T05:21:15.457" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T13:08:09.877" ClosedDate="2011-02-02T15:24:29.670" Title="What's the best world-wide accepted American English certification for professional purpose?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10950" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-01T22:57:23.083" Score="0" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wrote the following as part of an article in the making:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Diverse fields such as medicine, sociology, and marketing require the collection, analysis, and publication of large amounts of personal data. At some stage during this process it becomes imperative, for the protection of individual privacy, that such data be sanitized to remove information that could potentially identify some set of personal data as belonging to a certain individual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;becomes imperative ... that such data be sanitized&quot; good style? Is the above OK, in general?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4466" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T20:03:19.617" Title="Is the following use of &quot;imperative&quot; good style?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;style&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10949" CreationDate="2011-02-01T23:09:45.170" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Europe the &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Test of English as a Foreign Language&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(google TOEFL,check wehther this applies for your region) is a requirement for US Universities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T23:09:45.170" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10950" CreationDate="2011-02-01T23:15:46.550" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I responded at first to suggest an alternative, but I read your sentence too hastily. Yours is fine as it stands. If you already read my other answer, please disregard it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T23:15:46.550" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10304" CreationDate="2011-02-01T23:25:16.520" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Guidance given me by my high school english teacher has always served me well in answering such a question as this.  The construct is an ellipsis.  Restating with the elided word present we have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither ONE of these options IS available.  Sorry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly ONE is singular, so the construct should use IS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;John&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4467" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T23:25:16.520" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10955" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10958" CreationDate="2011-02-02T00:33:10.643" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the following sentence of &lt;em&gt;Eat, Drink and Be Healthy&lt;/em&gt; in New York Times (Feb.1) contributed by columnist Jennifer LaRue Huget, I found the following sentence: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can work up Super Bowl Sunday &lt;strong&gt;without padding your own end zone&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the phrase is a pun associated with the football game. As a perfect illiterate on American sports (not only sports but everything), I'm not able to figure out what &lt;em&gt;do something without padding one's end zone&lt;/em&gt; means. Can anybody explain it to me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Like other food-centered celebrations,&#xA;  Super Bowl gatherings can be both fun&#xA;  and fraught with apprehension for&#xA;  those concerned about their&#xA;  waistlines. Nobody wants to sit on the&#xA;  sidelines, skipping the traditional&#xA;  snacks. But who wants to deal with&#xA;  postgame regrets? You can work&#xA;  football-fan food into your Super Bowl&#xA;  Sunday &quot;without padding your own end&#xA;  zone.&quot; As your coach, I've scouted&#xA;  some game-day favorites:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T05:56:43.757" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T05:56:43.757" Title="What does &quot;Without padding one’s end zone&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10956" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-02T00:39:53.570" Score="2" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I seek a word to describe the reduction in steepness of a slope. The context is climbing a hill that is less steep further up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have rejected &quot;levelled&quot; and &quot;flattened&quot; because they suggest the slope became near to horizontal when in fact it remained steep.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4470" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T06:53:53.100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T06:53:53.100" Title="Word choice: reduction in steepness" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10956" CreationDate="2011-02-02T00:55:09.927" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say the steepness of the slope &lt;em&gt;eased&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;became more gradual&lt;/em&gt;, or if you're feeling a little adventurous you might go the adjective-to-verb route and say it &lt;em&gt;gentled&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T00:55:09.927" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10955" CreationDate="2011-02-02T00:58:07.333" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oishi-san, &quot;your end zone&quot; here refers to your average Super Bowl watcher's &quot;end&quot; area, which is to say your derriere, or your buttocks, or (in Japanese) &lt;em&gt;o-shiri&lt;/em&gt; (お尻).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Snacking while watching the game is an American pastime, and as we all know, snacking puts on pounds. Often where you want them least. Like in your end zone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: &quot;End zone&quot; is a pun, because the object of American football is to have one of your team carry the ball across the opponent's goal line into their &lt;em&gt;end zone&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T01:11:13.787" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T01:11:13.787" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10959" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10987" CreationDate="2011-02-02T01:24:33.767" Score="5" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it spelled 'well thought-out', or 'well-thought out', or 'well thought out'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastEditorUserId="1506" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T02:59:00.600" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T04:58:20.687" Title="Proper hyphenation: well thought out?" Tags="&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;hyphen&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10960" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-02T01:26:42.200" Score="0" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10955/what-does-without-padding-ones-end-zone-mean&quot;&gt;another question&lt;/a&gt;, the whimsically yclept Yoichi Oishi asks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What does &quot;Without padding one’s end zone&quot; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and Robusto replies, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'End zone' is a pun, because the object of American football is to have one of your team carry the ball across the opponent's goal line into their end zone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking, no, it's not a pun.  Calling a football fan's buttocks his &lt;em&gt;end zone&lt;/em&gt; is just an ad-hoc slang phrase, since &lt;em&gt;padding the end zone&lt;/em&gt; is not, I believe, something done in football.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By comparison, imagine you were at a football game and another fan said in reference to a comely cheerleader, &lt;em&gt;her back-field is in motion&lt;/em&gt;.  Again we have a metaphorical reference to someone's bottom (in football, the back-field is all the offensive players who do not start at the line of scrimmage) but there &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; a pun, since &lt;em&gt;back-field in motion&lt;/em&gt; is a real football term (meaning, I believe, one of the back-field players is already moving when the ball is snapped).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, is my understanding of football too weak or my definition of &lt;em&gt;pun&lt;/em&gt; is too narrow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T04:26:44.647" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T04:26:44.647" Title="Is &quot;without padding one’s end zone&quot; really a pun?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10959" CreationDate="2011-02-02T01:28:10.250" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That would be &quot;well thought-out&quot;. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thought-out&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thought-out&lt;/a&gt;. Adding &quot;well&quot; before &quot;thought-out&quot; does not require a hyphen because well is an adverb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T01:28:10.250" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10956" CreationDate="2011-02-02T01:31:05.143" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second derivative of elevation drops below zero?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T01:31:05.143" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10963" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10974" CreationDate="2011-02-02T01:35:21.437" Score="4" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people know that rhyming slang is a colorful addition to British English, where someone says something that is not the intended word but rhymes with it. For example, &quot;He was brown bread,&quot; might be understood to mean &quot;He was dead.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I watch British films I hear a lot of it, and some of it I get and some of it I don't. Is the expectation that some of it will be deliberately obscure, or is it just that my American ears aren't attuned to it? Are the instances that appear in movies in common usage, and so understood right away, or are they often created on the spot, verbal riffs that the listener has to think about and may or may not understand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:27:35.567" Title="Do Brits understand rhyming slang or are they sometimes puzzled by it too?" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10918" CreationDate="2011-02-02T01:37:10.123" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Each month&quot; is a fixed amount, &quot;per month&quot; can be an average.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4471" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T01:37:10.123" />
  <row Id="10965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10955" CreationDate="2011-02-02T01:39:32.913" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This article refes to how to avoid putting on weight specifically in the 'butt' area. Padding is one of those English words with several meanings, but all refer to putting something on, filling something in. And padding has the connotation of something soft, which people often become when they put on the pounds. With regard to  weight, we sometimes say;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He's got some padding on him.&#xA;  (Or), She's well-padded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T01:39:32.913" />
  <row Id="10966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10944" CreationDate="2011-02-02T01:40:58.183" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means that if we select a group of people, each one of them will see the same object/item in a different way. If you and I see a 8 oz glass with 4 oz of water, you may see it half-full and I half-empty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Trivia: Apple's &quot;think different&quot; campaign should of read &quot;think differently&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4471" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T01:40:58.183" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10950" CreationDate="2011-02-02T01:41:23.363" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Imperative&lt;/em&gt; implies an imperator, which is contradicted by the passive construction of &lt;em&gt;data be sanitized&lt;/em&gt;.  Perhaps you should substitute &lt;em&gt;privacy laws and ethics require the researcher to sanitize […]&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T20:03:19.617" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T20:03:19.617" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="10968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10963" CreationDate="2011-02-02T01:46:28.860" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Francis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dick Francis&lt;/a&gt; novel called &lt;em&gt;Driving Force&lt;/em&gt; in which inability of the (London-based) hero to understand local rhyming slang hinders him from solving the mystery.  Presumably,  Francis's mostly British readership found that plausible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T01:46:28.860" />
  <row Id="10969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10963" CreationDate="2011-02-02T01:47:34.607" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think many Britons do not understand rhyming slang; it was not part of my upbringing, though I was aware that rhyming slang existed.  The trouble is, the rhyming slang seems to mean whatever the speaker wants it to mean, without rhyme or reason that I can detect.  Some terms are relatively well known - 'pork pies' for 'lies'.  But most are obscure to the point of meaninglessness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rhyming slang was, by repute, beloved of Cockneys, who were people living in a specific area of London (towards the east and the docks, IIRC).  And there probably was a common corpus of rhyming slang, but many of the books I've read make a point that the rhyming slang seemed to be made up by the speaker, leaving it to the imagination of the hearer to understand what the speaker meant.  I believe it is a dying language form; I might be wrong about that, but the homogenization of language under the influence of first radio and later TV (and now films and the internet) makes it less and less likely to survive except as a deliberately obscure (and therefore affected but not effective) way of speaking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T01:47:34.607" />
  <row Id="10970" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-02T01:57:16.393" Score="3" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not talking about the basic items in a list (e.g. X, Y and Z), but a list of clauses (I think).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am interested in things like &lt;em&gt;going to this place, going to that place, eating food, and other things&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;In that example, do the verbs have to match for proper grammar? What I learned in university writing class was that the entire series has to have verbs that match: &lt;em&gt;going to this place, going to that place and going to eat&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4472" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T04:20:56.973" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T22:21:14.757" Title="Verbs in a list separated by commas" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="10971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10960" CreationDate="2011-02-02T02:03:43.263" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’d call this a borderline case.  It’s certainly a play on double meanings of words — both ‘padding’ and ‘end zone’ are terms from [American] football, but by an obvious double entendre, in this case they refer to gaining weight around one’s posterior.  On the other hand, googling for phrases like &lt;code&gt;&quot;padding their end zone&quot;&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;&quot;padding the end zone&quot;&lt;/code&gt; confirms that this isn’t, as a whole, a standard phrase from football.  So as you say, there is only one plausible reading of the entire phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So — is this a pun?  This seems a matter of hair-splitting.  Like most concepts in any language, &lt;em&gt;pun&lt;/em&gt; turns out to be fuzzy around the edges when you look closely enough.  You could reasonably argue that this is a pun — or that it’s not a pun — or that it’s &lt;em&gt;two&lt;/em&gt; puns…  But by this time, we’ve dissected it far enough that what we &lt;em&gt;found&lt;/em&gt; in the dissection is more informative than an answer one way or the other would be — and, indeed, should convince us that as often with borderline cases, no simple answer quite applies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T02:03:43.263" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10970" CreationDate="2011-02-02T02:09:19.103" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, I always place the comma before the conjunction, but I &lt;em&gt;believe&lt;/em&gt; it's only a style thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;one, two, three, and four&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;versus&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;one, two, three and four&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="366" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T04:58:08.410" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T04:58:08.410" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10949" CreationDate="2011-02-02T02:12:03.827" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know what's the world's best English certification programme. Most certifications appear to be for teaching English as a second language, and the British appear to be ahead in this thanks to the British Council and the University Of Cambridge. &#xA;There is TOEFL and CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults), which is a specific certificate under the rubric of TOEFL. See this link for CELTA:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[http://www.cambridgeesol.org/exams/teaching-awards/celta.html][1]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you're not looking to teach or to have a teaching certificate, then perhaps a diploma in advanced English would look impressive on your CV, especially one that's tailored to native speakers. Add to that short courses or seminars on English for specific disciplines, and you might have a winner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T02:12:03.827" />
  <row Id="10974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10963" CreationDate="2011-02-02T02:17:13.920" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I say it &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; much depends what Britons you are talking about.  It is a dialectical style, found in a few places, but the most famous and that which tends to travel internationally is the East London, Cockney Rhyming Slang.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, most Londoners know a fair bit of it, growing up hearing it.  But it depends what area of London you were brought up in, and more importantly what class you were.  A lot of my friends use quite a bit of it, but not continuously like you see on films, it crops up as slang words, in the way that any other colloquialisms do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often, people do not know the etymology of the words they are using and do not know the rhyming part.  Commonly used words such as &lt;em&gt;barnet, boracic, china, cobblers, mickey, scarper&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;butchers&lt;/em&gt; are used frequently, but few know the rhyming component for them, they just use the words.  &lt;em&gt;Cobblers&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;mickey&lt;/em&gt; are more widely used than just London, not sure about the others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As requested by Robusto, a brief set of rhyming expansions for the words I quoted above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;barnet&lt;/em&gt; -&gt; &lt;strong&gt;barnet fair&lt;/strong&gt; -&gt; &lt;em&gt;hair&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Barnet Fair, was a regular horse trading fair held in the town of Barnet (my home town!), and well known by Londoners, as it was on the Great North Road, and was the major horse buying location for the capital.  Further back it was the largest cattle fair in the country too.&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnet_Fair&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(Wikipedia)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;boracic&lt;/em&gt; -&gt; &lt;strong&gt;boracic lint&lt;/strong&gt; -&gt; &lt;em&gt;skint&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Boracic lint was an often used dressing for wounds, lint soaked in boracic acid.  It rhymes with &lt;em&gt;skint&lt;/em&gt; anyhow, which means pennyless, broke.  Note, we don't pronounce it boracic, it is pronounced as &lt;em&gt;brassic&lt;/em&gt;, possibly due to people thinking that there is a link to the word &lt;em&gt;brass&lt;/em&gt;, considering the financial connotations. (&lt;em&gt;brass&lt;/em&gt; is a slang term for money, particularly coinage - reinforced by the proverb &lt;em&gt;&quot;Where there's muck, there's brass.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boracic_lint&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(Wikipedia)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;china&lt;/em&gt; -&gt; &lt;strong&gt;china plate&lt;/strong&gt; -&gt; &lt;em&gt;mate&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This one needs little explanation, we had china plates coming in to the capital by the boat load, it rhymes nicely with &lt;em&gt;mate&lt;/em&gt;, which is the most popular word for &lt;em&gt;friend&lt;/em&gt; in most London areas.  Though &lt;em&gt;bruv&lt;/em&gt; gets used a lot these days in its place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;cobblers&lt;/em&gt; -&gt; &lt;strong&gt;cobbler's awls&lt;/strong&gt; -&gt; &lt;em&gt;balls&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Balls&lt;/em&gt; being used in the slightly vulgar sense that &lt;em&gt;bollocks&lt;/em&gt; is usually roped in for.  To say that something is untrue, or rubbish in some respect, mainly refuting something said by another.  The primary phrase I hear it used within is &lt;em&gt;&quot;What a load of old cobblers!&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;mickey&lt;/em&gt; -&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Mickey Bliss&lt;/strong&gt; -&gt; &lt;em&gt;piss&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mickey Bliss was a bloke, supposedly from London, who no one knows anything about - he remains unidentified.  Except in infamy for being the source of this rhyming slang couplet, quite a recent edition to the pantheon, 1930s I believe.  Always used in the phrase &lt;em&gt;&quot;taking the mickey&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, although &lt;em&gt;michael/mick&lt;/em&gt; can be substituted, from &lt;em&gt;&quot;taking the piss&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, which we &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10772/what-does-the-british-idiom-taking-the-piss-mean/&quot;&gt;recently had a discussion about&lt;/a&gt;.  Note you can not use &lt;em&gt;mickey&lt;/em&gt; for the act of urinating, the rhyming slang for that is &lt;em&gt;jimmy&lt;/em&gt; (from Jimmy Riddle -&gt; &lt;em&gt;piddle&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taking_the_piss&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(Wikipedia)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;scarper&lt;/em&gt; -&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Scapa Flow&lt;/strong&gt; -&gt; &lt;em&gt;go&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The etymology on this one is a little unclear, it is known as rhyming slang from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scapa_Flow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Scapa Flow&lt;/a&gt; (a very important natural harbour in the Orkney Islands) - but came additionally (and most likely originally) from the Italian immigrant population via their verb &lt;em&gt;scappare&lt;/em&gt; which means &lt;em&gt;to escape&lt;/em&gt;.  The current meaning is to make a quick get away, we &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/9655/is-there-a-good-substitute-for-the-word-scarper-in-american-english&quot;&gt;had a discussion on this word&lt;/a&gt; recently.  It was used heavily amongst certain groups, notably it was taken up in the Polari language in the old phrase &lt;em&gt;&quot;scarper the letty&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;letty&lt;/em&gt; meaning bed/board/lodgings in Polari.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;butchers&lt;/em&gt; -&gt; &lt;strong&gt;butcher's hook&lt;/strong&gt; -&gt; &lt;em&gt;look&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We say, &lt;em&gt;&quot;take/have a butchers&quot;&lt;/em&gt; to mean a quick look, synonymous with the word &lt;em&gt;gander&lt;/em&gt; when used in that sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that is of some interest to some of you, I do love etymology, particularly for obscure colloquialisms. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastEditorUserId="2253" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T01:27:35.567" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:27:35.567" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="10975" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10986" CreationDate="2011-02-02T02:26:09.780" Score="4" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do 'strait-laced' and 'straight-laced' have the same meaning when 'strait' and 'straight' have different meanings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T05:36:25.427" Title="Strait-laced or straight-laced" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10976" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10978" CreationDate="2011-02-02T02:27:05.247" Score="5" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am curios to know why a numerical chart can be called a &quot;table&quot;. What is the relation to the &quot;table&quot; where people eat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2019" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T04:20:05.883" Title="Does the word table have anything to do with table?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;comparison&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10977" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10979" CreationDate="2011-02-02T02:28:46.417" Score="3" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;counter&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;table&lt;/em&gt;, in the context of a surface that one might eat at (as in &lt;em&gt;the kitchen counter&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;the kitchen table&lt;/em&gt;)?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2019" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T02:45:09.897" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T04:14:17.243" Title="Table VS counter?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;comparison&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="10978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10976" CreationDate="2011-02-02T02:35:30.140" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That kind of table comes from the Latin &lt;em&gt;tabula&lt;/em&gt; meaning &quot;a board or plank&quot; which was used for writing down columns of numbers. It was also where one ate one's dinner (OE called it &lt;em&gt;bord&lt;/em&gt; and appropriated the Latin table for that purpose, although the Romans used the term &lt;em&gt;mensa&lt;/em&gt; for the food table). Handy, eh? You can read about it on Etymonline. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=table&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=table&amp;amp;searchmode=none&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T02:40:34.467" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T02:40:34.467" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="10979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10977" CreationDate="2011-02-02T02:43:53.097" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Counter&lt;/em&gt; can be used as short for &lt;em&gt;countertop&lt;/em&gt;, which is (NOAD) &lt;em&gt;a flat surface for working on, especially in a kitchen&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;The first definition given from the NOAD for &lt;em&gt;counter&lt;/em&gt; is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a long flat-topped fixture in a store or bank across which business is conducted with customers.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;• a similar structure used for serving food and drinks in a cafeteria or bar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would interpret &lt;em&gt;counter&lt;/em&gt; as to mean, for example, the fixture you can usually see in an American kitchen and that is used for breakfast; its structure reminds me of the counter you find in a bar.&#xA;The difference with the table is that the table is less height.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I visit USA in my frequent trips, I hear the word &lt;em&gt;counter&lt;/em&gt; being used as synonym of &lt;em&gt;countertop&lt;/em&gt;, which is &lt;em&gt;a flat surface for working on, especially in a kitchen&lt;/em&gt;. This is could be valid in the specific place I go (Long Island, Suffolk County), though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="3733" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T03:54:07.917" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T03:54:07.917" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10976" CreationDate="2011-02-02T03:00:45.903" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported from the NOAD, the origin of the word &lt;em&gt;table&lt;/em&gt; is from Old English &lt;em&gt;tabule&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;flat slab, inscribed tablet&lt;/em&gt;), which derives from the Latin &lt;em&gt;tabula&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;plank, tablet, list&lt;/em&gt;); it has been reinforced in Middle English from the Old French &lt;em&gt;table&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Table&lt;/em&gt; has then two different meanings that has been taken from the Latin word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T04:20:05.883" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T04:20:05.883" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10975" CreationDate="2011-02-02T03:23:36.743" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it depends on the fact that &lt;em&gt;straight&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;strait&lt;/em&gt; have the same pronunciation (/streɪt/). With the time, the variant &lt;em&gt;strait-laced&lt;/em&gt; has became more common because of people who, listening to the pronunciation of &lt;em&gt;straight-laced&lt;/em&gt;, understood &lt;em&gt;strait-laced&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the data reported in the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Historical American English&lt;/em&gt;, I can create the following tables; the first is for &lt;em&gt;strait-laced&lt;/em&gt;, and the second is for &lt;em&gt;straight-laced&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;YEAR     1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900&#xA;FREQ.    0    0    1    1    0    5    6    2    1    3&#xA;PER MIL. 0.00 0.00 0.07 0.06 0.00 0.29 0.32 0.10 0.05 0.14 &#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;YEAR     1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900&#xA;FREQ.    0    1    1    1     1   2    4    2    2    2&#xA;PER MIL. 0.00 0.14 0.07 0.06 0.06 0.12 0.22 0.10 0.10 0.09 &#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Comparing the two tables, it's clear that &lt;em&gt;straight-laced&lt;/em&gt; was used first (1820-1829), but then &lt;em&gt;strait-laced&lt;/em&gt; was the more used term in the years between 1860 and 1879, and between 1900 and 1909.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T05:36:25.427" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T05:36:25.427" />
  <row Id="10982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10970" CreationDate="2011-02-02T03:29:58.323" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The verb tenses certainly need to match.  Just try it without matching them to see how horrible it sounds:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I enjoy things like play on the beach, going to the fair, and ate ice cream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The verb itself doesn't have to match, but it's more aesthetically pleasing if it either matches all the way through or never matches:  you can certainly say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I like going to the the beach, going to the mall, and playing hockey&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but it would sound better if you either said&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I like going to the beach, the mall, and the hockey rink&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I like going to the beach, shopping at the mall, and playing hockey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing you definitely want to avoid is starting a list with one verb form that's implied for the rest of the list, and then changing it partway through:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I like going to the beach, the mall, the theater, and playing hockey. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally, don't forget to stay away from &lt;a href=&quot;http://writebadlywell.blogspot.com/2009/11/learn-about-syllepsis-then-refuse-to.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;syllepsis.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T05:06:33.127" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T05:06:33.127" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10960" CreationDate="2011-02-02T03:43:05.297" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While it is a play on words, I think &quot;padding one's end zone&quot; is more of a mixed metaphor than a pun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T03:43:05.297" />
  <row Id="10984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10970" CreationDate="2011-02-02T03:51:19.310" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The restriction you are speaking of is not applied in the nowadays writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I came, I saw the uncut grass, and ran back into the house.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  All I had to do was going to the store, going to the barber shop, and returning home before 4:00 PM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The verbs should all use the same tense, but that doesn't mean that if the first verb is &lt;em&gt;going to&lt;/em&gt;, then you need to keep writing &lt;em&gt;going to&lt;/em&gt; and not using another verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A sentence like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am going to eat, going to rest, and going to go to an appointment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is normally written without to repeat &lt;em&gt;going to&lt;/em&gt; every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am going to eat, rest, and go to an appointment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T22:21:14.757" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T22:21:14.757" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="10985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10977" CreationDate="2011-02-02T04:14:17.243" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The counter is a built-in fixture, typically consisting of the countertop (made of stone, sturdy plastic, Formica, or concrete) and the cabinet (made of sheet-metal or wood).  In the US, the surface of the counter is almost universally 36&quot; off the floor.  It's usually made to measure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A table is a piece of furniture, generally made entirely of wood (although metal-and-Formica creations are not unknown) and consisting of the tabletop and either legs or a central pedestal.  The top surface is about 30&quot; from the floor (comfortable for eating but too low for working from a standing position).  A table is generally purchased ready-made from a store that also sells chairs, couches, and other furniture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T04:14:17.243" />
  <row Id="10986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10975" CreationDate="2011-02-02T04:18:57.177" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I agree with kiamlaluno on the matter of pronunciation leading to confusion, I believe that the order is reversed:  &lt;em&gt;strait-laced&lt;/em&gt; is the correct version, and people who don't realize that &lt;em&gt;strait&lt;/em&gt; is the appropriate spelling hear the word spoken and spell it the &quot;normal&quot; way; the word &quot;straight&quot; is much more common these days than &quot;strait.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Checking etymonline.com shows that &quot;strait-laced&quot; dates from the 1550s, and was used to refer to bodices and stays, meaning that the woman's clothing in question was very tightly bound and allowed little to no freedom of motion: it was laced in a strait fashion (strait = narrow, constricted, tight, limited, or strict).  Extrapolating from that definition to behavior in general would be a fairly small step.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T04:18:57.177" />
  <row Id="10987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10959" CreationDate="2011-02-02T04:58:20.687" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on how you use it... if it's preceding the word it modifies, then it should be hyphenated:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He paused for a bit, and then gave a well-thought-out answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if it follows the word it modifies, no hyphenation is necessary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He paused for a bit, wanting to make sure his answer was well thought out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(My source: &lt;em&gt;Chicago Manual of Style, 14th Edition&lt;/em&gt;, sections 6.38&amp;ndash;6.40)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T04:58:20.687" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10950" CreationDate="2011-02-02T05:32:56.460" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Imperative&lt;/em&gt; is an adjective that means &lt;em&gt;of vital importance, crucial&lt;/em&gt;; the sentence containing &lt;em&gt;imperative&lt;/em&gt; can be written as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At some stage during this process it becomes crucial, for the protection of individual privacy, that such data be sanitized to remove information that could potentially identify some set of personal data as belonging to a certain individual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To reply to your question, it is good style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T06:10:17.193" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T06:10:17.193" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10906" CreationDate="2011-02-02T05:43:46.560" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports the following note about the use of &lt;em&gt;from whence&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;whence&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;USAGE Strictly speaking, &lt;em&gt;whence&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;from what place&lt;/em&gt;, as in &lt;em&gt;whence did you come?&lt;/em&gt; Thus, the preposition &lt;em&gt;from&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;from whence did you come?&lt;/em&gt; is redundant and its use is considered incorrect by some. The use with &lt;em&gt;from&lt;/em&gt; is very common, though, and has been used by reputable writers since the 14th century. It is now broadly accepted in standard English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T05:43:46.560" />
  <row Id="10990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10944" CreationDate="2011-02-02T06:02:44.360" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An adverb modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The adverb &lt;em&gt;differently&lt;/em&gt; is referring to the verb of the sentence you wrote.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T06:02:44.360" />
  <row Id="10991" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11009" CreationDate="2011-02-02T06:39:44.587" Score="10" ViewCount="668" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know if there is an opposite word for &lt;em&gt;sin&lt;/em&gt; in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I mean, how could I say the opposite of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I committed a sin&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;other than using a negation? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4217" LastEditorUserId="2573" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T13:27:42.420" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:43:42.447" Title="What's the opposite word for &quot;sin&quot;?" Tags="&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="10992" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10997" CreationDate="2011-02-02T06:43:34.900" Score="6" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a book about punctuation marks, but it doesn't report when to use &lt;em&gt;|&lt;/em&gt; in a English sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I notice that the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; uses that character to separate the examples it reports. Are there other uses of &lt;em&gt;|&lt;/em&gt; in a sentence written outside specific contexts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T12:15:12.443" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T00:23:09.617" Title="Usage of &quot;|&quot; in English sentences" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="10993" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10996" CreationDate="2011-02-02T06:46:38.627" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading a text, and I found the word &lt;em&gt;solidus&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is a solidus? Is the word normally used in everyday language, or is there another word that replaces &lt;em&gt;solidus&lt;/em&gt; even if it's not the completely correct word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T12:14:56.250" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T12:14:56.250" Title="What is the difference between &quot;solidus&quot; and &quot;slash&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10991" CreationDate="2011-02-02T06:50:14.070" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The antonym of &lt;em&gt;sin&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;virtue&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the sentence you reported, I am not sure you can replace &lt;em&gt;sin&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;virtue&lt;/em&gt;, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T06:50:14.070" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10991" CreationDate="2011-02-02T06:50:49.983" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The closest that I can think of is &quot;virtue.&quot;  The Roman Catholic Church contrasts the Seven Deadly Sins with the Seven Cardinal Virtues.  However, the word is not normally used by itself to describe a particular act, only a trait (or set of traits: patience, prudence, courage, etc.). It is commonly used in the adjectival form &quot;virtuous&quot;, so you could say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have committed a sin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have performed a virtuous act.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T06:50:49.983" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10993" CreationDate="2011-02-02T06:56:59.867" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to wikipedia,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The solidus ( ⁄ ) is a punctuation mark used to indicate fractions including fractional currency. It may also be called a shilling mark, an in-line fraction bar, or a fraction slash. (...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The solidus is similar to another punctuation mark, the slash ( / ), which is found on standard keyboards; the slash is closer to being vertical than the solidus. These are two distinct symbols that traditionally have entirely different uses. However, many people no longer distinguish between them, and when there is no alternative it is acceptable to use the slash in place of the solidus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, unless you're engaging in some typography, saying 'slash' instead of 'solidus' should be completely acceptable (and probably more widely understood).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T06:56:59.867" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="10997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10992" CreationDate="2011-02-02T07:00:47.517" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You never use it in an English sentence. It is &amp;mdash; as you've noticed in your dictionary &amp;mdash; used in concise-format publications to take the place of words or more space-taking formatting. It's also used in mathematics and pseudocode. But never in an English sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T07:00:47.517" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="10998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10991" CreationDate="2011-02-02T07:02:26.097" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mitzva&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;mitzva&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T07:02:26.097" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="10999" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-02T07:08:36.967" Score="4" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5302/log-in-to-or-log-into-or-login-to&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;log in to&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;log into&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;login to&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This following  question, where and how to append &quot;-ed&quot;, is not addressed in thу &quot;possible duplicate&quot; in any way.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which of the following expressions (are they expression, phrase or word?) are correct in technical English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;logged-in  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;log-ined  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;login-ed  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;log-in-ed  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;logined &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;logged in&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;log ined&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other? Which?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in relation to a user reading this question?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strike&gt;Which of the following is correct to use as verb?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to login  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to log in  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to log-in &lt;/strike&gt;   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T10:14:12.860" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T10:14:12.860" ClosedDate="2011-02-02T15:24:54.117" Title="&quot;Logged-in&quot;, &quot;log-ined&quot;, &quot;login-ed&quot;, &quot;logined&quot;, &quot;log-in-ed&quot;, &quot;logged in&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;hyphen&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="11000" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11006" CreationDate="2011-02-02T07:19:32.220" Score="5" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I would if I wasn't American.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I would if I weren't American.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T07:39:39.767" Title="Wasn't and weren't?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11001" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11005" CreationDate="2011-02-02T07:22:55.500" Score="-2" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could you explain me when we use &lt;em&gt;them&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1109" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T07:41:13.823" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T11:33:44.870" Title="'Them' or 'they'?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10999" CreationDate="2011-02-02T07:25:12.713" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Log in&lt;/em&gt; is a verb, while &lt;em&gt;login&lt;/em&gt; is a noun; you say &lt;em&gt;you need to log in&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;the user login was not successful&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer to your question, the correct phrases are &lt;em&gt;logged-in&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;to log in&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T09:42:39.100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T09:42:39.100" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11001" CreationDate="2011-02-02T07:28:53.443" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of the primary differences between the two words ‘they’ and ‘them’ is that ‘they’ is used as a subject in a sentence whereas ‘them’ is used as an object in a sentence. This is because of the fact that nominative case deals with subject whereas accusative case deals with object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;‘They’ is a pronoun used to refer to all living beings including animals and birds. In the same way ‘them’ is a word that also can be used to refer to all kinds of living beings. ‘They’ and ‘Them’ are also used in the case of non-living things like books and any other object for that matter. Occasionally we used ‘these’ as a kind of substitution for ‘they’ when non-living things are referred to as in the sentence ‘These were bought by me last week’.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-they-and-them-in-english-grammar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-they-and-them-in-english-grammar&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4479" LastEditorUserId="91" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T11:33:44.870" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T11:33:44.870" />
  <row Id="11004" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11057" CreationDate="2011-02-02T07:35:00.693" Score="2" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;On some SE site my question was edited to remove emotions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Orginal was&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I just started playing with VS again&#xA;  and without Resharper its a really&#xA;  horrible IDE&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I just started playing with Visual&#xA;  Studio again and without Jetbrains'&#xA;  ReSharper it's a tougher to use IDE&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;first I thought its just a matter of style, but I do know that if I show some emotions in my questions/answers I can easily get down-voted or my questions can get closed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could my sentence be offencive to people who made VS or to people who love it? I don't understand it, because for me its just a light constructive criticism(I was being nice, I could have written a lot more of bad things about it and even use some curse words).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3295" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T08:48:08.570" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T15:23:19.780" ClosedDate="2011-02-02T15:24:08.657" Title="English vs. Emotions" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11001" CreationDate="2011-02-02T07:35:09.427" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;them&lt;/em&gt; is to &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt; is to &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;They&lt;/em&gt; is a third-person, personal&#xA;  pronoun (subject case) in Modern&#xA;  English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Them&lt;/em&gt; is the third personal plural pronoun used&#xA;  after a preposition or as the object&#xA;  of a verb; Third person singular&#xA;  pronoun of indeterminate or irrelevant&#xA;  gender; those&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/them&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/them&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;They&lt;/em&gt; is the subject (&lt;em&gt;They are leaving&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;em&gt;Them&lt;/em&gt; is the direct object (&lt;em&gt;I know them&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3339" LastEditorUserId="3339" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T07:40:56.177" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T07:40:56.177" />
  <row Id="11006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11000" CreationDate="2011-02-02T07:39:39.767" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both the sentences are accepted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second sentence, &lt;em&gt;I weren't American&lt;/em&gt; is using the subjunctive mood, which is correct, in that case (I read the sentence as &lt;em&gt;I would do it, if I weren't American&lt;/em&gt;.). The subjunctive mood is nowadays less common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As reported by the NOAD:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The subjunctive is used to express situations that are hypothetical or not yet realized and is typically used for what is imagined, hoped for, demanded, or expected. In English, the subjunctive mood is fairly uncommon (especially in comparison with other languages such as French and Spanish), mainly because most of the functions of the subjunctive are covered by modal verbs such as &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt;. In fact, in English the subjunctive is often indistinguishable from the ordinary indicative mood since its form in most contexts is identical. It is distinctive only in the third person singular, where the normal indicative &lt;em&gt;-s&lt;/em&gt; ending is absent (&lt;em&gt;he face&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;he faces&lt;/em&gt; in the example above), and in the verb &lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;I were&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;I was&lt;/em&gt; , and &lt;em&gt;they be&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;they are&lt;/em&gt; in the examples above). In modern English, the subjunctive mood still exists but is regarded in many contexts as optional. Use of the subjunctive tends to convey a more formal tone, but there are few people who would regard its absence as actually wrong. Today, it survives mostly in fixed expressions, as in &lt;em&gt;be that as it may&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;far be it from me&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;as it were&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;lest we forget&lt;/em&gt;;: &lt;em&gt;God help you&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;perish the thought&lt;/em&gt;; and &lt;em&gt;come what may&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T07:39:39.767" />
  <row Id="11007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="124" CreationDate="2011-02-02T07:47:40.710" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If we would like to describe the functionality of a specific product like a software, I think it is more common to use 'capabilities' (vs 'abilities'): &quot;MS Word has these capabilities: edit tables, copy and past, styles etc.&quot;&#xA;What do you think? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4480" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T07:47:40.710" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11004" CreationDate="2011-02-02T07:51:54.807" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the example sentence, you used the word 'horrible'. This is not an offensive word on its own. Whether the sentence is offensive depends on how people choose to interpret it. Perhaps this is more an issue of people's perceptions and culture rather than the language in itself. I would think that the use of 'horrible' here could upset some people, especially the groups you mentioned, and I would try to be careful when posting on Stackexchange and talking to others in real life. Also it is always better to sound more constructive and objective by specifying what you do not like about it; for example, you can say that it is 'more difficult to use'. 'Horrible' does not tell people why it is bad,does not help to fix the problem, and might just be an unjustified complaint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T08:41:52.283" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T08:41:52.283" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10991" CreationDate="2011-02-02T07:54:29.397" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English does not have a precise word for the opposite of &lt;em&gt;sin&lt;/em&gt; in the sense you mean, so you'll have to be content with adjectives: the opposite of &quot;I committed a sin&quot; would be &quot;I performed a good/virtuous/righteous/moral/meritorious &amp;nbsp;act/deed&quot;. (Note that the noun forms of these adjectives won't work: &lt;em&gt;goodness&lt;/em&gt; has a very wide range of meanings; &lt;em&gt;virtue&lt;/em&gt; refers to qualities inhering in a person and carries no connotation of action unlike &lt;em&gt;virtuous act&lt;/em&gt; which does, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you're writing for an Indian audience, the word you have in mind that's already familiar to your audience (&lt;em&gt;pun&amp;#803;ya&lt;/em&gt;) is a perfectly good choice to use. The criterion should not be whether a certain word exists in an English dictionary or not, but whether your audience will understand the word or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further thoughts: English doesn't have have a word for the opposite of &lt;em&gt;sin&lt;/em&gt;, because sin is a religious concept, and mainstream Christianity doesn't have a concept that's the opposite of sin; neither have English speakers found it necessary (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.newsweek.com/2009/08/14/we-are-all-hindus-now.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;yet?&lt;/a&gt; :p) to invent a word for the concept. In a non-religious framework for ethics, of course, there is no such thing as sin either; though certain acts may still be called &lt;em&gt;unethical&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;wrong&lt;/em&gt; or by other terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm no expert on Christian theology, but it seems that according to that framework, one is born in a state of some sin, and although one can commit further sins (acts against God's commandments), one cannot automatically reduce the effect of those sins simply by performing other good acts. Judaism has a concept of &lt;em&gt;mitzvah&lt;/em&gt;, an act that carries out a commandment of God, which may be an opposite of &lt;em&gt;sin&lt;/em&gt; in that sense. The concept you may be getting at, prominent in Indian religions (Hindu/Buddhist/Jain/Sikh) comes from a different model, in which there's something like a moral bank balance (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;karma&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;) in which you can either lose credit through sin (&lt;em&gt;pāpa&lt;/em&gt;, acts against some cosmic order of right and wrong) or gain credit/merit through good deeds (&lt;em&gt;pun&amp;#803;ya&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that is not important, but if by the opposite of &lt;em&gt;sin&lt;/em&gt; you're referring to something like the latter concept as informally understood by your audience—with a slight theological connotation as something that brings merit to the doer—then the term &lt;em&gt;pun&amp;#803;ya&lt;/em&gt; you were thinking of is precisely the right term to use. Using a generic phrase like &quot;good deed&quot; may not convey the intended meaning unless the context is understood (such as in translations etc., where &quot;good deed&quot; and &quot;meritorious act&quot; are indeed used).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T19:43:42.447" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:43:42.447" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11010" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-02T10:04:02.270" Score="5" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is related to industry and manufacturing. I'm wondering if there is a word &quot;semiproduct&quot;. We use it to describe a piece of material - for example steel sheet, pipe, elbow, dome, U-profile, … that could is not a product itself, but will be later used in the manufacturing process. But it's not raw material either, it's something in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a &lt;strike&gt;better&lt;/strike&gt; correct word that would collectively describe these things?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3707" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T17:18:35.973" Title="Is there such a word as &quot;semiproduct&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11010" CreationDate="2011-02-02T10:08:17.970" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no such word as semiproduct in normal English. Regardless of whether it is the finished product or not, a steel sheet is still a product; it has been &lt;em&gt;produced&lt;/em&gt; from raw materials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would think 'component' would be more appropriate, but there are lots of industrial in-words, so as Tragicomic says, there's no reason you can't use semiproduct so long as your colleagues understand it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T11:31:19.263" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11010" CreationDate="2011-02-02T10:14:14.283" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're talking about production line, there is technical term called &lt;strong&gt;WIP&lt;/strong&gt; (Work In Process). So you'd better simply call it &lt;strong&gt;WIP material&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;in process material&lt;/strong&gt;, which means it's not finished yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About computer, there are many different things, if that's a piece of code that's called &lt;strong&gt;snippet&lt;/strong&gt;. Also &lt;strong&gt;component&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;module&lt;/strong&gt; are used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Modules&lt;/strong&gt; are like blocks of info and editable info that can be placed anywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Components&lt;/strong&gt; are parts of the functionality of the system. (Gallery, Address book and so on)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T10:30:06.033" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T10:30:06.033" />
  <row Id="11014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10991" CreationDate="2011-02-02T10:23:19.470" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The antonym of &lt;strong&gt;sin&lt;/strong&gt; is &lt;strong&gt;good deed&lt;/strong&gt;. Sin means an action that is against religious rules, so the antonym should be in accordance with religion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to many dictionaries &lt;strong&gt;virtue&lt;/strong&gt; is the antonym of &lt;strong&gt;vice&lt;/strong&gt;. Because it's refering to something moral rather being religious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T10:23:19.470" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="11015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11010" CreationDate="2011-02-02T10:26:20.637" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word you are asking for is &lt;em&gt;semifinished&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;semiprocessed&lt;/em&gt;, which are adjectives; the nouns you would use are &lt;em&gt;semifinished product&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;semiprocessed product&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T10:26:20.637" />
  <row Id="11016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11010" CreationDate="2011-02-02T10:33:40.167" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To tackle this from yet another angle for good measure, there is the word &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefabrication&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;prefabrication&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, which refers to the &lt;em&gt;process&lt;/em&gt; of producing &quot;semiproducts&quot; which are later assembled to the final product on site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The most widely-used form of prefabrication in building and civil engineering is the use of prefabricated concrete and prefabricated steel sections in structures where a particular part or form is repeated many times. [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Prefabricated bridge elements and systems offer bridge designers and contractors significant advantages in terms of construction time, safety, environmental impact, constructibility, and cost. [... S]mall, commonly-used structures such as concrete pylons are in most cases prefabricated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Radio towers for mobile phone and other services often consist of multiple prefabricated sections. Modern lattice towers and guyed masts are also commonly assembled of prefabricated elements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Prefabrication has become widely used in the assembly of aircraft and spacecraft, with components such as wings and fuselage sections often being manufactured in different countries or states from the final assembly site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T10:33:40.167" />
  <row Id="11017" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11018" CreationDate="2011-02-02T10:33:46.920" Score="7" ViewCount="486" Body="&lt;p&gt;Isn't the term a bit condescending?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1075" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T10:51:34.313" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T16:19:51.530" Title="Does &quot;needless to say&quot; convey to the reader that he is ignorant?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11017" CreationDate="2011-02-02T10:41:01.217" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be construed that way, but it depends on what is said after it. If I said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Needless to say, two plus two is four&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you wouldn't find it condescending, because generally it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; needless to say that two plus two is four.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Needless to say, cribellate spiders have no need for glands producing hygroscopic adhesive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might, depending on your knowledge of spiders, disagree with the first clause and thus find it a little condescending.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is up to you to judge your potential audience and tailor your writing to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T10:41:01.217" />
  <row Id="11019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11010" CreationDate="2011-02-02T10:41:30.513" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may be usage that is specific to your industry, and if you call it a &lt;em&gt;semiproduct&lt;/em&gt; and the people you work with understand it, it should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard it called &lt;em&gt;production material&lt;/em&gt;, which is different from &lt;em&gt;raw material&lt;/em&gt; in that it is used in the production process but is not actually converted into a new and finished product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T10:41:30.513" />
  <row Id="11020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11017" CreationDate="2011-02-02T11:18:56.393" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not condescending at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is just a different set of words used to convey the same meaning as '...and hence it follows that ....'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it were condescending, then the phrase '...last but not the least ...' would also be condescending to the person who is addressed last in some list. Does putting that word 'least'  in there mean that there is someone in the room who thinks that person is the 'least' ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course not !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is just an expression used instead of saying '...it is thus obvious that...', '... it can thus be deduced that...' , '...it implies that...'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Needless to say, needless to say is not condescending at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3982" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T11:18:56.393" />
  <row Id="11021" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11022" CreationDate="2011-02-02T11:21:35.607" Score="2" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have the following technical detail to log in work: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is no communication between each&#xA;  of the ComboBoxes containers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The component is called a ComboBox in singular. Is this correct, or do &#xA;I need to add an apostrophe to ComboBoxes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4485" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T18:18:03.157" Title="Use of plurals when talking about a boxes owner?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="11022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11021" CreationDate="2011-02-02T11:27:22.340" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If each of the containers contains one or several ComboBoxes, it might be better to use ComboBox containers instead, in the same way we would use apple containers or orange containers to describe containers containing apples or oranges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T11:27:22.340" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11023" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-02T11:29:14.757" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4501/is-the-usage-of-are-correct-when-referring-to-a-team-group-band&quot;&gt;Is the usage of &amp;ldquo;are&amp;rdquo; correct when referring to a team/group/band?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is correct to say?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Korn* is a great band&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Korn* are a great band. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(* You can replace your favourite band's name here)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course everybody there is no doubt about the following sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Beatles &lt;strong&gt;are&lt;/strong&gt; a great band&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Led Zeppelin &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; a great band&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But with certain kinds of names, the situation becomes difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Metallica are a great band&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Metallica is a great band&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any consensus on this matter? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3982" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:24:51.433" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:24:51.433" ClosedDate="2011-02-03T00:23:52.137" Title="Is a music band a singular or a collective entity, grammatically speaking?" Tags="&lt;verb-agreement&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11024" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11029" CreationDate="2011-02-02T11:32:55.223" Score="6" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;Concerts, by definition, feature music. Isn't specifying a concert to be a &lt;em&gt;music&lt;/em&gt; concert needlessly redundant?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4486" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T10:12:08.370" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T10:12:08.370" Title="Is it wrong to say &quot;Music Concert&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11025" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-02T11:33:02.970" Score="2" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;On a business website regarding the takeover of a radio station, I noticed this unusual phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can't really see Orion Media changing Gold much, unless Global take their ball home and say that if you don't want Heart you can't have Gold and take away the licensing deal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What exactly does &quot;take your ball and go home&quot; mean? Is it a sporting metaphor?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a good phrase to use in writing (that is, informal writing), or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4487" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T11:38:01.800" Title="&quot;Take your ball and go home&quot; - meaning of this odd phrase?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;diction&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11017" CreationDate="2011-02-02T11:33:32.517" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it just indicates that the writer expects the fact that follows to not be surprising to the reader. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/needless-to-say&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cambridge Dictionary Online&lt;/a&gt; describes the phrase as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Needless to say:&lt;/strong&gt; as you would expect;  added to, or used to&#xA;  introduce, a remark giving information&#xA;  which is expected and not surprising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Examples&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1)&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=ioWAH8jthH4C&amp;amp;pg=PA5&amp;amp;dq=needless+to+say&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=Hz9JTbLDDMaahQer1-yGDw&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=8&amp;amp;ved=0CEMQ6AEwBw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The life and adventures of Martín Chuzzlerwit&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (Charles Dickens, 1844)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It has been rumoured, and it is&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;needless to say&lt;/strong&gt; the rumour originated&#xA;  in the same base quarters , that a&#xA;  certain male Cbuzzlewit, whose birth&#xA;  must be admitted to be involved in&#xA;  some obscurity, was of very mean and&#xA;  low descent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2)&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=wf6tTrC1rKQC&amp;amp;pg=PA333&amp;amp;dq=needless+to+say&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=R0BJTfvqO4yxhQfAs6GCDw&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=3&amp;amp;ved=0CC8Q6AEwAjgK&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Complete Tales of Uncle Remus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (Joel Chandler Harris, Richard Chase, 2002)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No typographical device could&#xA;  adequately describe Daddy Jack's&#xA;  imitation of the flushing of a covey&#xA;  of partridges, or quail; but it is&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;needless to say&lt;/strong&gt; that it made its&#xA;  impression upon the little boy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T11:33:32.517" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11025" CreationDate="2011-02-02T11:36:31.490" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This refers to the childhood practice of playing a ball game with your friends, where the ball belongs to one of you. If the game doesn't go your way, you might get upset and leave, taking your ball with you, ending the game for everyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially the quote is saying if Global withdraw from the deal, Orion Media will lose both Heart and Gold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's perfectly acceptable to use in informal writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T11:36:31.490" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11025" CreationDate="2011-02-02T11:38:01.800" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was a schoolkid many years ago, some kids were just bad losers. We would play football in the park, and if their team was losing, they would take their ball and go home. It's the football equivalent of picking up the Monopoly board and throwing it across the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2819" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T11:38:01.800" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11024" CreationDate="2011-02-02T11:39:48.883" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Concert&lt;/strong&gt; means &lt;strong&gt;a performance of music&lt;/strong&gt; given by musicians or singers. So it's not true to use &quot;music concert&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it's fine to say &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Rock Music Concert&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, because you're talking about the type of music, not the concert.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T11:39:48.883" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11024" CreationDate="2011-02-02T11:45:22.607" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; has 60 cites for &lt;em&gt;music concert&lt;/em&gt;, so it's not &quot;wrong&quot; per se. It can be a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleonasm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pleonasm&lt;/a&gt;, but not necessarily so. Many cites in the Corpus are of the form &quot;baroque music concert&quot;, &quot;country music concert&quot;, etc. Saying &quot;baroque concert&quot; or &quot;country concert&quot; would not be quite the same, as it could introduce ambiguity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T11:45:22.607" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11023" CreationDate="2011-02-02T11:49:37.097" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that in British English, &lt;em&gt;The Korn are a great band&lt;/em&gt; is correct, while in American English, &lt;em&gt;The Korn is a great band&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, I'm not sure, but Korn being made of a number of people, the plural might work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2310" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T11:49:37.097" />
  <row Id="11032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10991" CreationDate="2011-02-02T12:19:51.840" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a bit of a theological question here. In my religious tradition, sin is something we do (or fail to do) that brings us guilt before God, but there is nothing we can do that can remove that guilt or restore that relationship. That's why Christ came and died for our sins—to remove that guilt which we could not by our own good works, and to turn away God's wrath. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4489" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T12:19:51.840" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11017" CreationDate="2011-02-02T12:25:59.770" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find it is quite the opposite. If you were to neglect to qualify an obvious statement with something like &quot;needless to say&quot;, or &quot;as you know&quot;, the reader might then feel like he is being condescended to because you are telling him/her information he/she already knows. By adding the qualifier, you establish some common ground, in essence saying &quot;I know that you know what I'm telling you already, and I don't want to insult your intelligence, so please don't be offended.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4489" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T12:25:59.770" />
  <row Id="11034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10991" CreationDate="2011-02-02T12:42:28.033" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I beleive that the word 'sin' has links to archery in the sense of missing the bulls-eye. So, in that sense, hitting the bulls-eye might be the opposite term. Just not sure if the meaning comes across as you intend :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4491" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T12:42:28.033" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10949" CreationDate="2011-02-02T13:08:09.877" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on your comments, I think what you're looking for is something like the TOEIC test, which measures the ability of non-native English-speaking examinees to use English in everyday workplace activities. I hear that most companies accept TOEIC scores, but I would advise you to research this a bit further before you sign up (since I do not have any personal experience in writing these tests).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a link to Wikipedia: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOEIC&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOEIC&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And here's a link to the TOEIC website: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ets.org/toeic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ets.org/toeic&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T13:08:09.877" />
  <row Id="11037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11024" CreationDate="2011-02-02T13:19:52.090" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say not as many different things can be 'in concert' or acting together. An astrologist may speak of 'a concert of planets' or a physicist 'a concert of forces.' 'Music concert' specifies a concert of sound and instruments. Although nowadays it does seem that the primary definition of 'concert' is 'music concert.' Though what would perhaps be most correct is 'a concert of music?&quot; :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4493" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T13:19:52.090" />
  <row Id="11038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11021" CreationDate="2011-02-02T13:28:52.283" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is no communication between each of the ComboBoxes containers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A noun that is used as modifier is used in its singular form, in English; see for example &lt;em&gt;32-bit architecture&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of using &lt;em&gt;each of&lt;/em&gt;, which is better used in sentences like &lt;em&gt;Doug had money from each of his five uncles&lt;/em&gt;, I would use &lt;em&gt;each&lt;/em&gt;; the sentence would become&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is no communication between each ComboBox container.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, it can be changed to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is no communication between the ComboBox containers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T13:28:52.283" />
  <row Id="11039" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-02T13:37:11.500" Score="5" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does the phrase &quot;meteoric rise&quot; connote that the rise is short-lived? Particularly bright? Generally lateral?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It just seems like a meteor is not the best metaphor for a triumphant and lasting ascendancy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T14:53:23.143" Title="What does &quot;meteoric rise&quot; imply?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;metaphor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11040" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11049" CreationDate="2011-02-02T13:43:02.193" Score="6" ViewCount="733" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is a respectful way to refer to a person who has died?  Is it OK to call him rest in peace?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: The rest in peace guy was a very generous man.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4494" LastEditorUserId="4494" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T13:49:45.057" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T09:07:22.650" Title="What is a respectful way to refer to a person who has died?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="11042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11039" CreationDate="2011-02-02T13:45:59.420" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not necessarily short-lived, however &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/meteoric&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this definition&lt;/a&gt; does include brevity&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Similar to a meteor in speed,&#xA;  brilliance, or brevity: a meteoric&#xA;  rise to fame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;a href=&quot;http://dbennison.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/meteoric-rise-of-the-falling-star/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here's a discussion&lt;/a&gt; on this with a counterpoint:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;its use certainly bothers Guy Keleny,&#xA;  as he explains in The Independent’s&#xA;  Errors and Omissions column:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Meteoric” has acquired a meaning&#xA;  almost opposite to the one it started&#xA;  out with. The writer… describing the&#xA;  company’s rise as meteoric, meant to&#xA;  convey that it has been swift and&#xA;  spectacular. But meteors do not rise;&#xA;  they fall. They blaze briefly in the&#xA;  night sky and as quickly disappear. So&#xA;  a meteoric career is one of&#xA;  spectacular success followed by sudden&#xA;  oblivion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I’m not so sure. Meteors travel very&#xA;  fast indeed (albeit downwards) thus&#xA;  perhaps justifying the use of &#xA;  ’meteoric’ in the phrase ‘meteoric&#xA;  rise’. And the Oxford Dictionary of&#xA;  English happily allows that one&#xA;  definition of ‘meteoric’ is ‘very&#xA;  rapid’.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1798" LastEditorUserId="1798" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T14:53:23.143" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T14:53:23.143" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11039" CreationDate="2011-02-02T13:46:00.157" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Meteoric&lt;/em&gt; in this case refers to speed, not direction. My Webster's gives it a figurative meaning of &lt;em&gt;(of the development of something, esp. a person's career) very rapid : her &lt;strong&gt;meteoric rise&lt;/strong&gt; to the top of her profession.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, since the direction a meteor takes is downward, the term may  occasion a little merriment, and I can imagine cases where it could be used ironically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T13:46:00.157" />
  <row Id="11044" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11136" CreationDate="2011-02-02T13:46:55.160" Score="6" ViewCount="238" Body="&lt;p&gt;Schadenfreude is pleasure derived from the misfortune of others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a word which means to take pleasure in the misfortune of another &lt;em&gt;when previously that misfortune was inflicted on you by that other person&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I won't describe here (in public) the particular circumstances in which I find myself looking for such a word, instead please enjoy this example from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gutenberg.org/files/308/308-h/308-h.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Three Men In A Boat&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rather an amusing thing happened while&#xA;  dressing that morning.  I was very&#xA;  cold when I got back into the boat,&#xA;  and, in my hurry to get my shirt on, I&#xA;  accidentally jerked it into the water.&#xA;  It made me awfully wild, especially as&#xA;  George burst out laughing.  I could&#xA;  not see anything to laugh at, and I&#xA;  told George so, and he only laughed&#xA;  the more.  I never saw a man laugh so&#xA;  much.  I quite lost my temper with him&#xA;  at last, and I pointed out to him what&#xA;  a drivelling maniac of an imbecile&#xA;  idiot he was; but he only roared the&#xA;  louder.  And then, just as I was&#xA;  landing the shirt, I noticed that it&#xA;  was not my shirt at all, but George’s,&#xA;  which I had mistaken for mine;&#xA;  whereupon the humour of the thing&#xA;  struck me for the first time, and I&#xA;  began to laugh.  And the more I looked&#xA;  from George’s wet shirt to George,&#xA;  roaring with laughter, the more I was&#xA;  amused, and I laughed so much that I&#xA;  had to let the shirt fall back into&#xA;  the water again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T03:48:49.197" Title="Variations of the word Schadenfreude" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="11045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11040" CreationDate="2011-02-02T13:50:49.460" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would refer to &lt;em&gt;the deceased&lt;/em&gt; unless I was aware of a particular sensitivity in the culture or context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The deceased was a very generous man.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some might suggest &lt;em&gt;the dear departed&lt;/em&gt; but I find this archaic and a little patronising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastEditorUserId="588" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T13:56:37.813" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T13:56:37.813" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11040" CreationDate="2011-02-02T14:09:23.303" Score="32" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can say &quot;late&quot; if you are referring to the deceased's name, or a position from which it is obvious who you mean. This is respectful, formal, and businesslike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The late John D. Rockefeller was a very generous man.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My late husband was a very generous man.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But not&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*The late guy was a very generous man.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="634" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T14:09:23.303" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="11047" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11089" CreationDate="2011-02-02T14:12:53.267" Score="7" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since there is no word &quot;shallowen&quot;, is there a good antonym of &quot;deepen&quot;? The meaning of &quot;deepen&quot; that I am referring to here is &quot;to cause to become deeper.&quot; It doesn't necessarily refer to digging a hole. For example, a temporary deformation in a soft surface:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Putting the anvil on the mattress deepens the depression in it, but removing the anvil &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;/strong&gt; it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also be happy with an antonym of the intransitive version &quot;to become deeper.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="634" LastEditorUserId="634" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T14:39:49.510" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T23:46:00.630" Title="Antonym of &quot;deepen&quot;" Tags="&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="11048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10784" CreationDate="2011-02-02T14:16:08.783" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;If you don't mind much&quot; would be kind of arrogant, because that indicates that you will still do it if &quot;you actually mind a little&quot;. &quot;If you don't mind&quot; would mean more in the line of &quot;if you don't mind at all&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1717" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T14:16:08.783" />
  <row Id="11049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11040" CreationDate="2011-02-02T14:18:40.870" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Rest in peace&quot; should always be written as &lt;em&gt;RIP&lt;/em&gt; (which really is an abbreviation of the Latin). It should not be used as an adjective. Thus, one cannot say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The *&lt;em&gt;rest-in-peace&lt;/em&gt; guy was a very generous man&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;except one wants to be extremely informal, but this is certainly not respectful. I propose two options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use &lt;em&gt;deceased&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The &lt;em&gt;deceased&lt;/em&gt; was a very generous man&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Punctuate any reference to the dead with &lt;em&gt;RIP&lt;/em&gt; (written), &lt;em&gt;may he/she/they rest in peace&lt;/em&gt;, or  &lt;em&gt;may his/her/their [gentle] soul[s] rest in [perfect] peace&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The man, &lt;em&gt;may his gentle soul rest in peace&lt;/em&gt;, was very generous.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He was a very generous man; &lt;em&gt;may his gentle soul rest in peace&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Mr. M, &lt;em&gt;RIP&lt;/em&gt;, was a very generous man.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Mr. M, &lt;em&gt;may he rest in peace&lt;/em&gt;, was a very generous man.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use &lt;em&gt;while alive&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;While alive&lt;/em&gt;, he was a very generous man.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He was a very generous man &lt;em&gt;while he was alive&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The past tense and tender memories can also suffice, depending on context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He was a very generous man.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As always, one's tone is most important factor in situations such as this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T23:26:47.377" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T23:26:47.377" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11047" CreationDate="2011-02-02T14:19:24.253" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest &lt;em&gt;fill&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't deepen the hole fill it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3559" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T14:19:24.253" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11047" CreationDate="2011-02-02T14:19:35.500" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could use any of a number of parallel antonyms: &lt;em&gt;decrease&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;decline&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;shrink&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T14:19:35.500" />
  <row Id="11052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11047" CreationDate="2011-02-02T14:32:08.280" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Deepen has two meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deepen = Dig out&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Antonym: &lt;strong&gt;Fill in&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deepen = intensify&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Antonym: &lt;strong&gt;weaken&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the example above you can use the word &lt;strong&gt;mount&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;hollow out&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T14:47:50.263" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T14:47:50.263" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11053" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11080" CreationDate="2011-02-02T14:37:04.657" Score="0" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;What literary sound device/technique is expressed through the phrase &quot;&lt;em&gt;sudden departures&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, involving the articulation of the words? (alliteration, assonance, sibilance etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4499" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T20:48:53.563" Title="Literary techniques involving sound" Tags="&lt;literary-techniques&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11044" CreationDate="2011-02-02T14:49:11.153" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't think if a phrase for the feeling, but &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;just deserts&quot; is used to describe&#xA;what the other person is felt to&#xA;receive; and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;poetic justice&quot; may&#xA;describe the circumstances: the fact that they do&#xA;receive their just deserts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T20:15:14.763" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T20:15:14.763" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11047" CreationDate="2011-02-02T14:55:40.800" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;for the example you've given, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;removing the anvil &lt;em&gt;lightens&lt;/em&gt; the depression?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1798" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T14:55:40.800" />
  <row Id="11056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11040" CreationDate="2011-02-02T15:09:58.723" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another option would be to say : &quot; he passed away&quot;. Like &quot; he passed away in his sleep&quot; . As far I know.. The term &quot;late&quot; is used in a more formal setting&#xA;although &quot; died&quot; is not a disrespectful word.. I think sometimes we tend to conjure a rather violent death&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3584" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T15:09:58.723" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11004" CreationDate="2011-02-02T15:23:19.780" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem is not that you expressed emotion, but that you expressed only emotion, which is entirely subjective. &quot;Horrible&quot; does not tell the reader what the problem actually is. &quot;Difficult to use&quot; at least conveys information about why you have the emotional reaction. Listing what you perceive to be the flaws of VS may help other users of it. Uttering a string of curses may vent your frustration but helps no one else, and that's not what these sites are for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T15:23:19.780" />
  <row Id="11058" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11059" CreationDate="2011-02-02T15:24:43.977" Score="5" ViewCount="235" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thedoghousediaries.com/?p=2520&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the newest post of DOGHOUSEDIARIES&lt;/a&gt;, and I am wondering whether the words for characters are fixed in the USA or the UK, as I am not a native English speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A&lt;/em&gt; as in &lt;em&gt;apple&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T06:49:01.497" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T06:49:01.497" Title="What are the conventional words for characters (A-Z)?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="11059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11058" CreationDate="2011-02-02T15:34:11.890" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The closest thing might be the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NATO Phonetic Alphabet&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alpha&#xA;Bravo&#xA;Charlie&#xA;Delta&#xA;Echo&#xA;Foxtrot&#xA;Golf&#xA;Hotel&#xA;India&#xA;Juliet&#xA;Kilo&#xA;Lima&#xA;Mike&#xA;November&#xA;Oscar&#xA;Papa&#xA;Quebec&#xA;Romeo&#xA;Sierra&#xA;Tango&#xA;Uniform&#xA;Victor&#xA;Whiskey&#xA;Xray&#xA;Yankee&#xA;Zulu&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T15:34:11.890" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="11061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11053" CreationDate="2011-02-02T15:38:15.810" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, there is no alliteration or assonance, and just a modicum of sibilance. Alliteration involves the beginnings of adjacent or closely connect words, assonance is repetition of vowel sounds that create an echo effect; and as sibilance refers to a hissing effect (usually achieved with multiple unvoiced &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt; sounds — as in the word &lt;em&gt;susurrus&lt;/em&gt;), and there is only one such sound in your example, I'm not sure what you're going for here? Perhaps if you described the quality you see in &lt;em&gt;sudden departures&lt;/em&gt; that is noteworthy to you, we might be able to see what you're really asking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T15:38:15.810" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7052" CreationDate="2011-02-02T16:16:39.860" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could reduce ambiguity by saying&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm driving the same model of car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I drive the same model.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T16:16:39.860" />
  <row Id="11064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11017" CreationDate="2011-02-02T16:19:51.530" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Needless to say, this phrase is context-sensitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4505" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T16:19:51.530" />
  <row Id="11065" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-02T16:26:39.617" Score="0" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1863/literally-and-decimate-misuse&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Literally&amp;rdquo; and &amp;ldquo;Decimate&amp;rdquo; misuse&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen a lot of backlash in internet media against people using the word literally to mean something not literal.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Something like &quot;he was literally as big as a house&quot; to mean someone was very big&#xA;I think this comic sums up the anti literal movement well&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://theoatmeal.com/comics/literally&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://theoatmeal.com/comics/literally&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this actually grammatically incorrect or can the word &quot;literally&quot; be a hyperbole strengthening a metaphor?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4504" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T16:50:53.497" ClosedDate="2011-02-02T17:24:55.510" Title="literally as a hyperbole" Tags="&lt;metaphor&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="11067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11065" CreationDate="2011-02-02T16:49:18.970" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It isn't a grammar issue at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The backlash stems from the fact that they are using the word incorrectly. &quot;Literally&quot; should not be used for emphasis. Just because a lot of people make the same mistake doesn't make it correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="179" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T16:49:18.970" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11065" CreationDate="2011-02-02T16:49:46.253" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Webster's defines &lt;em&gt;hyperbole&lt;/em&gt; as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it would seem that using &lt;em&gt;literally&lt;/em&gt; as a hyperbolic expression would be to negate its sense of non-literalness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T16:49:46.253" />
  <row Id="11069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11065" CreationDate="2011-02-02T16:50:53.497" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dictionary.com has the following usage note:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since the early 20th century, literally  has been widely used as an intensifier meaning “in effect, virtually,” a sense that contradicts the earlier meaning “actually, without exaggeration”: &lt;em&gt;The senator was literally buried alive in the Iowa primaries. The parties were literally trading horses in an effort to reach a compromise.&lt;/em&gt; The use is often criticized; nevertheless, it appears in all but the most carefully edited writing. Although this use of literally  irritates some, it probably neither distorts nor enhances the intended meaning of the sentences in which it occurs. The same might often be said of the use of literally in its earlier sense “actually”: &lt;em&gt;The garrison was literally wiped out: no one survived.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite this, I'm going to continue criticizing this use of the word. It's become trite, overused for emphasis, and waters down the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T16:50:53.497" />
  <row Id="11070" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-02T17:01:07.500" Score="6" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1863/literally-and-decimate-misuse&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, I learned that &quot;to decimate&quot; meant to reduce by 10% (hope I got that right).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And it is lamented that no-one uses it in this sense anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, given that I never until today knew that it once had this meaning: was it ever even used this way in modern times?  When was it last used in a mainstream publication in this sense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T17:27:18.600" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T19:14:16.680" Title="&quot;Decimate&quot;: has it been used in the &quot;classic&quot; sense in modern writing?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;semantic-shift&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="11071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11047" CreationDate="2011-02-02T17:03:43.667" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For this context I suggest &quot;lessen&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Putting the anvil on the mattress deepens the depression in it, but removing the anvil lessens it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T17:03:43.667" />
  <row Id="11072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9902" CreationDate="2011-02-02T17:06:56.790" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This word is somewhat new, but &quot;grok&quot; is often used to mean to fully know all about something in particular.  It has some more metaphysical bents, but in common usage, especially among techies, it means knowing all there is to about something.  Do you grok web developement? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4508" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T17:06:56.790" />
  <row Id="11073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11010" CreationDate="2011-02-02T17:18:35.973" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One more possibility, depending on the nature of the material, would be &quot;assembly&quot; or even &quot;sub-assembly&quot;, especially when such a thing can be serviced or replaced in isolation.  A car, for instance, might have a fusebox assembly, which can be removed as a unit, or a fuel sensor sub-assembly, which includes not only the sensor itself but also the connecting wire, mounting bracket, tube, and screws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T17:18:35.973" />
  <row Id="11075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11053" CreationDate="2011-02-02T17:32:00.980" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you looking for &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onomatopoeia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;onomatopoeia&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, meaning a word that imitates the sound it represents?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4244" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T17:32:00.980" />
  <row Id="11076" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11077" CreationDate="2011-02-02T17:45:49.847" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does the following sentence make sense? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What are the implications if we do not&#xA;  take a proactive approach to web&#xA;  security?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds right to me but when I looked it up in the dictionary I wasn't sure that it was right...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="605" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T18:11:53.503" Title="Usage of &quot;implication&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11076" CreationDate="2011-02-02T17:48:48.773" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that is correct; however you could also say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What are the implications of not taking a proactive approach to web security?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T17:48:48.773" />
  <row Id="11078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10571" CreationDate="2011-02-02T17:49:47.377" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always found it counter-intuitive that &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/semi#Noun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;semi&lt;/a&gt; is used to refer to tractor-trailers, which are usually the largest vehicles on roads. It makes sense though when you look at the evolution of the term: first there were regular trailers, then semi-trailers lacking front axels and the 18-wheeler trucks used these, and eventually the word &quot;semi&quot; described these enormous trucks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="502" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T17:49:47.377" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-02T17:49:47.377" />
  <row Id="11079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11058" CreationDate="2011-02-02T17:50:17.540" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The authors of children's books make a living constructing and publishing lists of interesting words for characters. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Amazon: &quot;Sesame Street ABC Flash Cards&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1595455914&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.amazon.com/ABC-Flash-Cards-Sesame-Street/dp/1595455914/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1296668098&amp;amp;sr=8-10&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are others on Amazon - search for &quot;Dr Seuss' ABC, An amazing alphabet book!&quot;, and &quot;Thomas' ABC book&quot;.  These books, and many more like them help children connect writing to the sound of nouns, a cornerstone of learning any language. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4512" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T17:50:17.540" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11053" CreationDate="2011-02-02T17:57:29.137" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only &quot;sound device&quot; I can hear in that phrase is its meter, which is a catalectic dactylic dimeter.  A dactyl is a set of three syllables, the first of which is stressed; in a dimeter pattern, the dactyl occurs twice: DA-da-da DA-da-da.  &quot;SUD-den de-PART-ure&quot; fits that meter, except for missing the final, unstressed syllable; leaving off an unstressed syllable at the start or end of the metric pattern is &quot;catalexis&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T18:08:21.947" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T18:08:21.947" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9029" CreationDate="2011-02-02T17:59:43.893" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Turnarounds&quot; are rarely unexpected, in the context of economics, or the fortunes of people or individual companies. More often, it has the sense of &quot;self-rescue&quot;.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like Jimi Oke's &quot;take a turn for the worse&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4512" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T17:59:43.893" />
  <row Id="11082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10571" CreationDate="2011-02-02T18:01:23.937" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ironically enough, the word &quot;literally&quot; itself has been evolving (devolving?) into this sort of antithetical usage.  See &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1863/literally-and-decimate-misuse&quot;&gt;Literally and Decimate misuse&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T18:01:23.937" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-02T18:01:23.937" />
  <row Id="11083" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11109" CreationDate="2011-02-02T18:07:38.937" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the pronunciation of mutinous?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I looked at the pronunciation reported in a dictionary, which uses /ˈmjutn=əs/ as American English IPA transcription, but I don't understand which sound should be associated with /=/. I have already seen /ː/ used in British English IPA, but it is the first time I see /=/.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T07:44:03.167" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T07:44:03.167" Title="What is the pronunciation of mutinous?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;ipa&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11076" CreationDate="2011-02-02T18:11:53.503" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could use the word &quot;consequence&quot; just as easily.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When used as in Abe Miessler's phrase, the word &quot;implications&quot; refers to the grammar of logic, but it can also be ambiguous in the way &quot;implication&quot; (&quot;I imply my meaning...&quot;) and &quot;inference&quot; (&quot;... but you infer my meaning.&quot;) are ambiguous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4512" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T18:11:53.503" />
  <row Id="11085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11083" CreationDate="2011-02-02T18:13:28.663" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;m-w.com lists \ˈmyü-tə-nəs, ˈmyüt-nəs\ , which I would spell out without IPA as &quot;MYOO-t'-nuss&quot; or &quot;MYOOT-nuss&quot;.  (It's very similar to &quot;muteness&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T18:13:28.663" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11021" CreationDate="2011-02-02T18:18:03.157" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard a rule that inanimate objects should not take a possessive. Here is a way to both obey the rule and avoid the apostrophe:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is no communication among the containers of ComboBoxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3306" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T18:18:03.157" />
  <row Id="11087" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11088" CreationDate="2011-02-02T18:22:53.917" Score="2" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a word or term commonly used to describe the act of stating the obvious (or a person who continually does so)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He constantly states the obvious, he is such a &lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;_.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She is always ___ing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2241" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:26:20.563" Title="Word for &quot;stating the obvious?&quot;" Tags="&lt;term&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11087" CreationDate="2011-02-02T18:40:28.943" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a somewhat insulting noun, &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=captain+obvious&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Captain obvious&lt;/a&gt;&quot; can be used for someone who is always stating the obvious. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prolixity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Prolixity&lt;/a&gt; can be used to describe someone who says &lt;em&gt;too much&lt;/em&gt;. This may be applicable in some cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logorrhoea_%28linguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Logorrhoea&lt;/a&gt; is a term with a similar meaning to prolixity although again the primary meaning is simply &lt;em&gt;too much&lt;/em&gt; vs. stating the obvious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1959" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T18:40:28.943" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11047" CreationDate="2011-02-02T19:05:44.147" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shallow?show=1&amp;amp;t=1296673043&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Shallow&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; can be used as a transitive or intransitive verb (who knew!). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be honest, I haven't heard it used very often (I would normally say that something was &lt;em&gt;shallow&lt;/em&gt;, not that it &lt;em&gt;shallowed&lt;/em&gt;), but it doesn't sound very strange to me either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:05:44.147" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11058" CreationDate="2011-02-02T19:18:08.957" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a conventional alphabet that starts with &quot;A is in Apple&quot; is the one form &lt;a href=&quot;http://esl.about.com/od/teachingbeginners/a/ab_6beg.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;esl.about.com&lt;/a&gt;. The purpose is to illustrate a prototypical word starting with each letter for pedagogical purposes (not necessarily to make the pronunciation of the letters distinct like a phonetic alphabet). That list says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A as in &quot;apple&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;B as in &quot;boy&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;C as in &quot;car&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;D as in &quot;dog&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;E as in &quot;ear&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;F as in &quot;flag&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;G as in &quot;great&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;H as in &quot;house&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I as in &quot;insect&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;J as in &quot;joy&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;K as in &quot;kind&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L as in &quot;light&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;M as in &quot;magic&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;N as in &quot;night&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;O as in &quot;orchestra&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;P as in &quot;people&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Q as in &quot;question&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;R as in &quot;red&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;S as in &quot;sure&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;T as in &quot;truck&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;U as in &quot;unique&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;V as in &quot;video&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;W as in &quot;wow&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;X as in &quot;xerox&quot;  (&quot;xylophone&quot; is also often used here)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Y as in &quot;yes&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Z as in &quot;zebra&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4516" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:18:08.957" />
  <row Id="11091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11058" CreationDate="2011-02-02T19:21:58.517" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bill posted a link to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.police-scanner.info/glossary/phonetic_alphabet.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the law enforcement&lt;/a&gt; phonetic alphabet, namely. Here the idea is to make each letters word have a distinct sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A  as in Adam&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;B  as in Boy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;C  as in Charlie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;D  as in David&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;E  as in Edward&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;F  as in Frank&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;G  as in George&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;H  as in Henry&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I  as in Ida&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;J  as in John&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;K  as in King&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;L  as in Lincoln&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;M  as in Mary&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;N  as in Nora&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;O  as in Ocean&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;P  as in Paul&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Q  as in Queen&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;R  as in Robert&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;S  as in Sam&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;T  as in Tom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;U  as in Union&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;V  as in Victor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;W  as in William&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;X  as in X-ray&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Y  as in Young&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Z  as in Zebra&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4516" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T19:21:58.517" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11092" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-02T19:53:03.960" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Grammaticality&lt;/em&gt; refers to whether some word, phrase, or sentence is grammatical; this tag encompasses questions about where the boundary between grammatical and ungrammatical is. Questions with this tag ask questions about whether some particular usage is “grammatical”, “correct”, “right”, “proper” or “ungrammatical”, “incorrect”, “wrong”, “erroneous”, a “mistake”, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T19:08:27.157" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T19:08:27.157" />
  <row Id="11093" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-02T19:53:03.960" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="Whether something obeys the rules of grammar for English." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T02:06:54.497" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T02:06:54.497" />
  <row Id="11094" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11097" CreationDate="2011-02-02T20:13:14.223" Score="0" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The truth is, we are all affected by the people we interact with, many of whom we don't even know personally&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;we don't know what? those peoples or this truth ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T20:29:17.597" Title="a complex sentence, and I cannot understand." Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5038" CreationDate="2011-02-02T20:16:07.277" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dial&lt;/strong&gt; comes from the latin phrase &lt;em&gt;rota dialis&lt;/em&gt; meaning &quot;daily wheel&quot;, and has evolved to mean any round plate over which something rotates. The verb is from 1650s, &quot;to work with aid of a dial or compass;&quot; telephone sense is from 1923. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=dial&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymology Online&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T20:16:07.277" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-02T20:16:07.277" />
  <row Id="11096" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11098" CreationDate="2011-02-02T20:25:58.000" Score="0" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;At times I come across at this form of using should:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Should&lt;/strong&gt; we wish to cancel these semantic actions—sometimes termed the default actions—of&#xA;  the event, we simply return the value false from the event handler.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It always starts with ‘should’. I understand it as ‘If we want to…’. I couldn’t find definition in my grammar book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4325" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T20:33:07.843" Title="should + to be form …" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11094" CreationDate="2011-02-02T20:29:17.597" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The statement refers to the people we interact with. Don't be misled by the comma after &quot;The truth is&quot; ... think of it as a substitute for the word &quot;that&quot; in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The truth is [that] we are all affected by the people we interact with, many of whom we don't even know personally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This construction is seen in similar statements, like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The fact is, I don't have any money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The crux of the matter is, you won the lottery and I didn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's kind of a loophole in what you would think of as normal usage for the comma, but it is in wide circulation. The fact of the matter is, pretty much everyone uses it that way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T20:29:17.597" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11096" CreationDate="2011-02-02T20:33:07.843" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your understanding is correct...this use is called &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive_mood&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;subjunctive&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T20:33:07.843" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11040" CreationDate="2011-02-02T20:34:54.083" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;He's &quot;Resting&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's &quot;Definitely Deceased&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's &quot;Passed On.  Is No more.  Has ceased to be.  Expired and gone to meet his maker.  A stiff!  Bereft of life, rests in peace!  His metabolic processes are now history.  He's off the twig, he's kicked the bucket, he's shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the Choir Invisible!  This is an EX-PERSON!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T20:34:54.083" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10742" CreationDate="2011-02-02T20:42:59.117" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=really+six+people+present&amp;amp;year_start=1800&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;graph&lt;/a&gt; of the number of references of the phrase &quot;really six people present&quot;&#xA;Click on the first range (1800-1017) and you'll see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22really%20six%20people%20present%22&amp;amp;tbs=bks:1,cdr:1,cd_min:1918,cd_max:1978&amp;amp;lr=lang_en#q=%22really+six+people+present%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;lr=lang_en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=EL5JTYrvKYH68Ab85r2JDw&amp;amp;ved=0CB8QpwUoBA&amp;amp;source=lnt&amp;amp;tbs=bks:1%2Clr%3Alang_1en%2Ccdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A12%2F31%2F1800%2Ccd_max%3A1%2F1%2F1918&amp;amp;tbm=&amp;amp;fp=87100f552b3d26bd&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, which attributes this statement to Oliver Wendell Holmes. What's perhaps relevant is the reference to &quot;John and James&quot;--I'm guessing two placeholder names. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next reference isn't until 1962, but it doesn't seem to mention the author.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I think the solution to your mystery is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22really%20six%20people%20present%22&amp;amp;tbs=bks:1,cdr:1,cd_min:1918,cd_max:1978&amp;amp;lr=lang_en#q=%22really+six+people+present%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;lr=lang_en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=2b9JTbPvCsqr8AbNupnFDg&amp;amp;ved=0CB8QpwUoBA&amp;amp;source=lnt&amp;amp;tbs=bks:1%2Clr%3Alang_1en%2Ccdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A1%2F1%2F1918%2Ccd_max%3A12%2F31%2F1963&amp;amp;tbm=&amp;amp;fp=87100f552b3d26bd&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this 1963 book of quotes&lt;/a&gt;, which is the first to attribute it to William James.&#xA;My guess is that Greenberg vaguely remembered Mullins's quote, but his memory played a trick on him, turning the &quot;John and James&quot; into William James, the author.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4424" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T20:42:59.117" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11101" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11102" CreationDate="2011-02-02T20:43:51.223" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;When writing a letter it typically starts out &quot;Dear...&quot; and then has the content, then before you sign it you might have a formal or informal (depending on who you're writing to) sign off, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;blah blah blah letter content blah blah.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Kind regards/Many thanks/Best wishes/Cheers!/etc&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this final closing portion of your letter have a name?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For comparison, the middle portion of the letter is the body and the opener could be described as a greeting or, more accurately, the salutation. but I don't think this last bit could be called a farewell as such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what should it be called?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3320" LastEditorUserId="3320" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T08:42:40.050" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T08:42:40.050" Title="Is there a name for the final section of a letter?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;letter-writing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11101" CreationDate="2011-02-02T20:47:56.383" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always heard the &quot;Sincerely, Joe Smith&quot; part of a letter called the &lt;strong&gt;closing&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(And the part you describe as the greeting (&quot;Dear Mr. Blahblah&quot;) I'm used to calling the &lt;strong&gt;salutation&lt;/strong&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="58" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T21:58:51.957" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T21:58:51.957" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11101" CreationDate="2011-02-02T20:48:00.360" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would describe it as a &quot;valedictory&quot;...&quot;farewell words&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T20:48:00.360" />
  <row Id="11104" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-02T20:56:53.547" Score="1" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I received an email today with &quot;a simple inquiry.&quot;  I responded that her &quot;enquiry&quot; was quite reasonable before I realized that we were spelling the word differently.  Dictionary.com has enquiry as an alternate spelling of inquiry -- is the difference regional, archaic, a modern misspelling, or just a random variant?  Anyone know?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T21:09:18.897" Title="Inquiry vs. enquiry" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11070" CreationDate="2011-02-02T20:57:26.187" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most references in google books are either from dictionaries, or from bitter pedants who bewail its shift in meaning. Though I did find this &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=-2JwRgEsYdgC&amp;amp;pg=PA5&amp;amp;dq=decimate+tenth+subject%3a%22fiction%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=-sJJTaCoFMP88Abc1ISuDg&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=3&amp;amp;ved=0CDMQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=decimation&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one fiction book&lt;/a&gt;, where it's used without overtly drawing attention to itself. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4424" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T20:57:26.187" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11104" CreationDate="2011-02-02T21:01:30.897" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=inquiry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this etymology dictionary entry&lt;/a&gt;, the original spelling was the e- form. And according to the New Oxford American, &lt;em&gt;enquiry&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;chiefly British&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4424" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T21:01:30.897" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11104" CreationDate="2011-02-02T21:09:13.703" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In British English, &lt;em&gt;enquiry&lt;/em&gt; is most commonly used for the general meaning of “question”, while &lt;em&gt;inquiry&lt;/em&gt; tends to be reserved for the sense of “formal investigation”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T21:09:13.703" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11104" CreationDate="2011-02-02T21:09:18.897" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For general use it's just different variations of the same word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some special cases the usage differs, though. I developed software for steel business a while back, and IIRC an &lt;em&gt;enquiry&lt;/em&gt; is a special form of a business proposition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T21:09:18.897" />
  <row Id="11109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11083" CreationDate="2011-02-02T21:09:58.423" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest: first, say it as though to rhyme (in stress and vowels) with ‘beautiful’.  This should be close to correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, say it like that again, but &lt;em&gt;a bit less carefully&lt;/em&gt; (or trying to imitate a native speaker speaking carelessly).  The last vowel should reduce a bit, into a schwa; and the ‘t’ and the central vowel should reduce together, the ‘t’ getting nasalised a bit by its closeness to the &lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt;.  In British pronunciation, the central vowel should not get completely lost [going by my own experience and the OED].  In US pronunciation, the central vowel may disappear entirely [according to M-W and OED], so as Hellion says, it becomes very similar to ‘muteness’.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The OED gives /ˈmjuːtɨnəs/ (British) and /ˈmjutnˌəs/ (US).  By comparison, it renders ‘beautiful’ as /ˈbjuːtɪfʊl/.  The symbol /ɨ/ represents “free variation between /i/ and /ə/” (where /ə/ is a schwa), if I’m understanding the OED’s use of IPA correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T21:30:44.817" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T21:30:44.817" />
  <row Id="11111" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11118" CreationDate="2011-02-02T21:27:54.787" Score="3" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a meeting today a colleague used the phrase, &quot;We don't want to &lt;em&gt;sell them down the river.&lt;/em&gt;&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is my understanding that to &lt;em&gt;sell one down the river&lt;/em&gt; is to trick or deceive a person in order to gain some advantage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is my understanding of this idiom correct? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the idiom's etymology?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To &lt;em&gt;sell one down the river&lt;/em&gt; is an idiom, correct?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:46:48.793" Title="Where / how did the term &quot;sell them down the river&quot; originate?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8962" CreationDate="2011-02-02T21:39:56.910" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just a theory:  It probably derives from its use as an onomatopoeia.  Things that crash make a 'bang' sound and are 'banged up' as a result.  Fireworks used in celebration make a 'bang' sound.  The exclamation mark (!) is referred to as 'bang'.  Gun shots, gavels, and cell doors can all be described as making a 'bang' sound.  Angry people &lt;em&gt;bang&lt;/em&gt; their fists on a table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In each of these examples (and the others offered), the action or state being described is one that demands notice and is, therefore, accompanied with some loud remark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T21:39:56.910" />
  <row Id="11113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11111" CreationDate="2011-02-02T21:41:36.727" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it means to betray someone for an advantage rather than to deceive someone for an advantage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sell_down_the_river&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; has etymology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's an idiom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T21:41:36.727" />
  <row Id="11114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10742" CreationDate="2011-02-02T21:51:32.897" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thanks to whitman's answer, which set me on the path to finding this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's from Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Autocrat_of_the_Breakfast-Table&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (though those essays were actually reprints, so it's slightly older). The text is at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/owh/abt03.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/owh/abt03.html&lt;/a&gt;, and does &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; include the exact quotation asked about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T21:51:32.897" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11101" CreationDate="2011-02-02T22:11:13.257" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's called a &lt;em&gt;valediction&lt;/em&gt; or a &lt;em&gt;complimentary close.&lt;/em&gt; The opening phrase is called a &lt;em&gt;salutation.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:11:13.257" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11116" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11135" CreationDate="2011-02-02T22:26:23.763" Score="0" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A relation is often considered to be a more general case of a property&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't fully understand. Is it to say &lt;em&gt;a relation is a case of a property&lt;/em&gt; ? then what's &lt;em&gt;a more general case&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:29:25.140" Title="About 'more general case'." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="496" CreationDate="2011-02-02T22:26:44.130" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pretty#Usage_notes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pretty common&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:26:44.130" />
  <row Id="11118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11111" CreationDate="2011-02-02T22:29:17.113" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In pre-Civil War America, slaves who were &quot;acting up&quot; would be threatened by telling them the master was going to sell them &quot;down the river.&quot; That meant hard labor on a cotton plantation. It was a common punishment for recalcitrant slaves. William Clark, of Lewis &amp;amp; Clark fame, was accompanied on the expedition by his slave York, a black man, who was promised his freedom and a portion of the rewards for his service on the more-than-two-year trip. Clark reneged, and when York got &quot;uppity&quot; about it, threatened to sell him down the river to a plantation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mark Twain's &lt;em&gt;The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn&lt;/em&gt; describes a journey down the Mississippi River on a raft by Huck and his friend Jim, an escaped slave, who thought they were going to make the turn at the Ohio River but to their horror discovered that they had missed the turn in the night and were headed straight &quot;down the river&quot; where things just got worse and worse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:46:48.793" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:46:48.793" />
  <row Id="11119" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-02T22:34:17.503" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaky_abstraction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Leaky abstraction&lt;/a&gt; (Wikipedia),&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As coined by Spolsky, the Law of Leaky Abstractions states &quot;All non-trivial abstractions, to some degree, are leaky.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure if &lt;em&gt;Law of Leaky Abstractions&lt;/em&gt; is correct. Which of the following statements are correct (if any)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Law of Leaky Abstractions&lt;/em&gt; is a proper noun. It is correct as is.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Leaky Abstractions&lt;/em&gt; is a proper noun, and it should be &lt;em&gt;law of Leaky Abstractions&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It should be &lt;em&gt;law of leaky abstractions&lt;/em&gt; (as in several places in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/LeakyAbstractions.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the original source&lt;/a&gt;). No proper nouns or capitalisation. &lt;em&gt;Law of Leaky Abstractions&lt;/em&gt; is an example of &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/how-to-write-a-better-resume.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;willy-nilly capitalisation of words&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="244" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T11:42:38.153" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T11:42:38.153" Title="Is &quot;Law of Leaky Abstractions&quot; a proper noun?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11119" CreationDate="2011-02-02T22:41:05.517" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Law of Leaky Abstractions&lt;/em&gt; is a &lt;em&gt;title&lt;/em&gt;, not a noun. There are no nouns in that title that are proper nouns. They are all common nouns, but they are capitalized because they are in a title.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:41:05.517" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2180" CreationDate="2011-02-02T22:51:52.553" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can't enroll in Tattooing 101 because you have too many classes.  You can't enroll in Tattooing 101 because you have too much class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You cannot make too many glasses if you don't have much glass.  You can make fewer glasses if you have less glass.  You can only make a little glass if you only have a little glass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My uncle has too much wood in his cabinet shop; there's not enough space left for a new planer.  My uncle has too many woods in his cabinet shop; there's no need for him to stock zebra wood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My sister doesn't like that radio station; she says it has too much blues.  My sister doesn't like that wallpaper; she says it has too much blue.  My sister doesn't like that wallpaper; she says it has too many blues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastEditorUserId="3800" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T03:31:56.977" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T03:31:56.977" />
  <row Id="11122" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11127" CreationDate="2011-02-02T22:57:53.697" Score="1" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across a headline of an article in the Washington Post (Feb. 2nd) reading ‘Why John Ensign may be toast,’ which is followed by the following sentence;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Embattled Nevada Sen. John Ensign continues to move forward with plans to run for reelection in 2012 despite anemic fundraising and a looming Senate ethics investigation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Between an ethics investigation and poor fundraising, the Republican senator's reelection campaign might not stand a chance. Ensign is right about it being ugly, but whether or not it's a battle he can win remains a matter of considerable debate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the context of the above copy, my take of ‘Be toast’ is ‘On examination (or under criticism).’ in an analogy with bread being toasted. But dictionaries at hands don’t give anything like that definition. In addition, why ‘Toast’ is used as an adjective, not in past participle form in this phrase? Though the phrase is self-explanatory to native English speakers, but not to a late-started English learner like me. Can somebody explain me about its exact meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="3119" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T05:14:55.697" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T05:14:55.697" Title="What does ‘Nevada Sen. John Ensign may be toast’ mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="11123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10425" CreationDate="2011-02-02T23:08:27.797" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In an informal setting, a woman who has passed menopause may describe herself as &quot;dried up&quot; even if she's had many children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T23:08:27.797" />
  <row Id="11125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3124" CreationDate="2011-02-02T23:09:37.360" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your teacher is wrong. Print out a copy of &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1998&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1998&lt;/a&gt; and lend it to her. It mentions various factors - word length, consonant sounds, gender bias - which do appear, from scientific study, to be genuinely relevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3542" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T23:09:37.360" />
  <row Id="11126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11122" CreationDate="2011-02-02T23:10:30.323" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To be toast&lt;/em&gt; is to be ensured defeat. The meaning of the quoted sentence is that the Senator has all but lost the election already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T23:10:30.323" />
  <row Id="11127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11122" CreationDate="2011-02-02T23:11:02.817" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is meant that he will most likely be defeated in the upcoming election. This is repeated in the body of the article with the line&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the Republican senator's reelection campaign might not stand a chance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The expression can be used in more or less any situation where the subject is on the losing end (not necessarily literally). Eg when in an action movie a group has gotten itself in a situation it cannot get out of without getting harmed, that group would be toast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;N.B.: Sorry if the example seemed random, this is just one of those expressions I expect in such a type of movie, so I went with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3970" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T23:11:02.817" />
  <row Id="11128" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11129" CreationDate="2011-02-02T23:14:40.410" Score="0" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6632/where-does-the-period-go-when-using-parentheses&quot;&gt;Where does the period go when using parentheses?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examine the following two examples...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Example 1&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I enjoy breakfast (sometimes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Example 2&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I enjoy breakfast (sometimes.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please let me know which one I should use, and any exceptions to the rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2266" LastEditorUserId="2266" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T05:20:47.123" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T05:20:47.123" ClosedDate="2011-03-07T08:45:26.593" Title="Where do I place the closing character when I end a sentence with parenthesis?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="11129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6632" CreationDate="2011-02-02T23:21:36.997" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If only part of the sentence is parenthetical, then you put the final punctuation outside of the parenthesis:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I enjoy breakfast (sometimes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the entire sentence is parenthetical, then you put the punctuation inside the parenthesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I enjoy breakfast. (Though I enjoy lunch more.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T23:21:36.997" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="11130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11070" CreationDate="2011-02-02T23:38:12.553" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The moment I became a &lt;em&gt;Doctor Who&lt;/em&gt; fan for life was when, in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sound_of_Drums&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Series 3 Episode 12 &quot;The Sound of Drums&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, we had this dialogue:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Master: Shall we decimate them? That sounds good, nice word, decimate.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The Master &lt;em&gt;[to the Toclafane]&lt;/em&gt;: Remove one tenth of the population! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Assuming/hoping here that there is no difficulty with considering &quot;screenwriting&quot; to be a subset of &quot;writing&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T01:23:55.177" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T01:23:55.177" />
  <row Id="11131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11122" CreationDate="2011-02-02T23:38:43.833" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/toast?show=1&amp;amp;t=1296689470&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is the Merriam-Webster entry for &lt;em&gt;toast&lt;/em&gt;. The last item is the one you're interested in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2310" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T23:38:43.833" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11122" CreationDate="2011-02-02T23:41:04.140" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Toast is short for toasted bread or other food that can be toasted. That's why it is used as a noun in the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4471" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T23:41:04.140" />
  <row Id="11133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11047" CreationDate="2011-02-02T23:46:00.630" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you'll generally need to use different terms in particular contexts, but one that may be fairly useful is &lt;em&gt;level&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T23:46:00.630" />
  <row Id="11134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11119" CreationDate="2011-02-02T23:49:13.357" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Option 1: Yes, &lt;em&gt;Law of Leaky Abstractions&lt;/em&gt; is a proper noun.  This &quot;law&quot; is a singular, named entity and it is appropriate to treat its name in the fashion of any other proper noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T23:49:13.357" />
  <row Id="11135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11116" CreationDate="2011-02-02T23:51:06.630" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it means that a relation is a property lacking strictness, loosely defined. But it's just a guess. I have no proof and I am not a native either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if you say that &quot;A is taller than B&quot;, A has the property of being taller than B, but you do not know exactly how tall A is, because this is dependent on B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2310" LastEditorUserId="2310" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:00:31.303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:00:31.303" />
  <row Id="11136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11044" CreationDate="2011-02-02T23:52:58.703" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the most appropriate term for that situation is that one is feeling &lt;em&gt;revenged&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T23:52:58.703" />
  <row Id="11137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11023" CreationDate="2011-02-02T23:57:07.140" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I can tell, band names are typically treated as a plural if the name of the band starts with &quot;the&quot; and is a plural noun or based around a plural noun -- or more generally, if it seems to be referring to its members as a collection of entities -- and a singular otherwise.  So we would have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Beatles &lt;strong&gt;are&lt;/strong&gt; a great band.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Korn &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; a great band.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Rolling Stones &lt;strong&gt;are&lt;/strong&gt; a great band.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Metallica &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; a great band.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Led Zeppelin &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; a great band.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Nine Inch Nails &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; a great band.&lt;/em&gt; (note that the plural noun does not control here)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:02:26.450" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:02:26.450" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5128" CreationDate="2011-02-03T00:01:57.013" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short-lived - LONG I - is the correct pronunciation. That's what I was taught at Wazzu, Ed Murrow's alma mater. Communications graduates and broadcasters who didn't pay attention in school are responsible for its continued misuse and adoption by the public and official references that are too lazy to check.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4527" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:01:57.013" />
  <row Id="11139" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-03T00:08:24.847" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:08:24.847" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:08:24.847" />
  <row Id="11140" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-03T00:08:24.847" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="Modal verbs, such as can, shall, will, may, and must combine with verbs to express information about the verb such as possibility or necessity." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:08:24.847" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:08:24.847" />
  <row Id="11141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10514" CreationDate="2011-02-03T00:23:31.827" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this context : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The joke was not meant to provide answers, but a funny lesson on the complexity of the English language - not that other languages aren't complex. Many lessons are best illustrated through humor - although the underlying lessons of that message can be missed entirely. Thanks for the &lt;strong&gt;go-around&lt;/strong&gt; here; I was able to give my daughter a lesson in the fun and folly of language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go-around is a localized colloquialism, which in this case is referring to the &lt;em&gt;exercise of discussing the topic&lt;/em&gt;. However, in a broader sense it means to engage in any personal interaction, or perhaps non-personal in some special circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may be acceptable to refer to a squabble or argument as a &lt;strong&gt;go-around&lt;/strong&gt; as much as the process of collaboratively solving a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the non-personal context, &lt;strong&gt;go-around&lt;/strong&gt; could refer to a difficulty using a computer or some other machine, for example...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I had a proper go-around with this modem, but I still can't get connected at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In essence, the person is saying they had to go around the problem a few times before solving or giving up on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hopefully Chrisnfolsom will be able to shine some direct light on the meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2017" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:23:31.827" />
  <row Id="11142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11116" CreationDate="2011-02-03T00:25:44.553" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence refers to the word &lt;em&gt;general&lt;/em&gt; as in &lt;em&gt;less specific&lt;/em&gt;. An item can have measurable properties while relating to other items through comparisons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4471" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:25:44.553" />
  <row Id="11143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11087" CreationDate="2011-02-03T00:26:20.563" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't believe there's a single word that has the exact meaning you want, but the phrase &quot;belaboring the obvious&quot; is a classic idiom for your second case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:26:20.563" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11122" CreationDate="2011-02-03T00:28:50.193" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, the best reference I can think of is from this movie:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgq-HzT1WRs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgq-HzT1WRs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bill Murray gives it a nice spin. Actually the word doesn't just mean defeated, it means &quot;incinerated&quot; (or turned into something resembling &quot;toast&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:28:50.193" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11116" CreationDate="2011-02-03T00:29:25.140" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it becomes clearer when stated the other way around:  &quot;A property is a more specific type of relation.&quot;  In other words, a relation is a general-purpose category of items, like &quot;vehicle&quot;; a property is a specific type of relation, like &quot;car&quot; is a type of vehicle.  All cars are vehicles, and all properties are relations; but not all vehicles are cars, and not all relations are properties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:29:25.140" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11146" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11159" CreationDate="2011-02-03T00:30:17.690" Score="4" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that most English verbs always convey some action. That is, no words (to my knowledge) convey that absence of an action. Let me explain. Let's assume that I wanted to say that a certain person is not running. Notice, I don't want to say that he's &quot;standing around&quot; or &quot;sitting&quot; or &quot;lying down&quot;, because those verbs &lt;em&gt;explicitly suggest other actions&lt;/em&gt;. In other words, I don't want to say that this person is doing a thing &lt;em&gt;different from&lt;/em&gt; running. Only that he's &lt;em&gt;not running&lt;/em&gt;. What's he doing? Oh, I don't know, he could be doing absolutely anything. All I know is that he's not running.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question: Does English have such words? Or do any other languages you know? I'd guess not, because words like this would be too limited in meaning to justify their existence in the lexicon when simply appending &quot;not&quot; would do. Still, I'd like to know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4424" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T18:53:01.610" Title="Verbs of inaction" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;antonyms&gt;&lt;linguistics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10701" CreationDate="2011-02-03T00:31:33.773" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to go with &lt;em&gt;insipid&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:31:33.773" />
  <row Id="11148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11146" CreationDate="2011-02-03T00:42:15.777" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, there's saying that someone is &lt;em&gt;idling&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &lt;em&gt;goldbrick&lt;/em&gt;, to &lt;em&gt;shirk&lt;/em&gt; and to &lt;em&gt;slack&lt;/em&gt; denote something that somebody is not doing (working) while not implying anything they actually are doing.  (Enh, perhaps not.  There may be more or less of an implication that they are actively engaged in avoiding work.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T00:53:41.397" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:53:41.397" />
  <row Id="11149" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11151" CreationDate="2011-02-03T00:43:07.240" Score="4" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/412/comma-before-last-item-in-a-list&quot;&gt;Comma before last item in a list&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often times, I find myself writing sentences like the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;... to integrate four granularities&#xA;  of features: first, second, third, and&#xA;  fourth.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am just curious to find out if there should be a comma before and. Can someone explain the reason for having (or not having) the comma?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2221" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:49:35.817" ClosedDate="2011-02-04T19:23:25.843" Title="Why do we use a comma before &quot;and&quot;?" Tags="&lt;comma&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;&lt;object&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10701" CreationDate="2011-02-03T00:47:22.747" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;my main suggestion:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;monotonous&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;  (which &lt;i&gt;can&lt;/i&gt;, in fact, have a non-verbal meaning)   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a few others:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;lacking personality&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;  (which is actually two words)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;wordy&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; (not a word I would use, but fits the requirements)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;dull&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;needlessly redundant&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; (again with two words)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;emotionless&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; (especially the government signage part)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;professional&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; (sadly...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3294" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:47:22.747" />
  <row Id="11151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11149" CreationDate="2011-02-03T00:49:35.817" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not using &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;that comma&lt;/a&gt; can lead to factual errors, as in the apocryphal book foreplate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dedicated to my parents, Ayn Rand and God.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:49:35.817" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11152" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-03T00:58:29.257" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;About two years ago I saw this quote in Newsweek, where it was attributed to Karl Marx:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sell a man a fish, he eats for a day, teach a man how to fish, you ruin a wonderful business opportunity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inspired by &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10742/really-six-people-present-origin-of-phrase-commonly-attributed-to-william-jame&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, I now ask you: did Marx really say this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4424" LastEditorUserId="4424" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T03:29:28.330" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T03:29:28.330" ClosedDate="2011-02-04T01:52:11.160" Title="Is this quote by Marx real?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11146" CreationDate="2011-02-03T01:32:07.277" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would you regard just &lt;em&gt;being&lt;/em&gt; as an action? Other possibilities might include verbs such as &lt;em&gt;failing&lt;/em&gt;,  &lt;em&gt;stopping&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ignoring&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;staying&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;remaining&lt;/em&gt;, especially if they are done unconsciously. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:32:07.277" />
  <row Id="11155" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11174" CreationDate="2011-02-03T01:35:05.220" Score="20" ViewCount="511" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it acceptable to nest parentheses (for example, if I (meaning myself) write like this)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4528" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T12:13:45.470" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T12:13:45.470" Title="Is it acceptable to nest parentheses?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;parentheses&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="12" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="11156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11155" CreationDate="2011-02-03T01:38:40.593" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well I do it, but then I spend a lot of time as a mathematician.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it gets confusing I think using alternative bracket glyphs assists &lt;code&gt;([{&amp;lt;« »&amp;gt;}])&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;[Though using the guillemets &lt;code&gt;(« »)&lt;/code&gt; as brackets can get you in to trouble, as a lot of languages use them as speech marks.&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillemets#Uses&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(Wikipedia)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:38:40.593" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="11157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11070" CreationDate="2011-02-03T01:46:55.200" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I couldn't find the comic I was looking for, but I did come across these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/hkrYg.jpg&quot; width=&quot;394&quot; height=&quot;428&quot; alt=&quot;decimate 1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2009/07/was_brontosaurus_a_herbivore.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Found here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/SfZqH.jpg&quot; width=&quot;600&quot; height=&quot;420&quot; alt=&quot;decimate 2&quot; /&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://corporatecartoons.blogspot.com/2007/02/words-for-nerds-decimate.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Found here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="513" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T01:46:55.200" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11146" CreationDate="2011-02-03T02:38:24.147" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you have shown yourself, when we want to say that we are doing something other than a specific action, we simply use negation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In other words, I don't want to say&#xA;  that this person is doing a thing&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;different from&lt;/em&gt; running. Only that he's&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;not running&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You see you are using negation to describe what you want to describe without negation? This is a very efficient and natural method; that is why there aren't a great many words that specifically negate other words without using a common marker of negation: using &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;non-&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt; or something like that is simply an excellent tool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think we mainly use &quot;opposite&quot; words without negation in cases where two words together fill up the whole space of probable situations, so that we have only 1 or 0. Consider &lt;em&gt;man-woman&lt;/em&gt; in the context of human beings, or &lt;em&gt;running-standing&lt;/em&gt; in the context of a game of baseball: in these cases, there are two choices each, so that we call one the opposite of the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if we consider &lt;em&gt;man, woman, child&lt;/em&gt; in the legal system of the Romans, or &lt;em&gt;standing-sitting-walking-running&lt;/em&gt; in the context of a street view, these pairs cannot be considered opposites. Whether one thing is the opposite of another it is usually impossible to say without a &lt;em&gt;tertium comparationis&lt;/em&gt;, a third concept that serves as a common frame of reference. Note that this is often not explicit: but it is still there when you think about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we use a negation, we are often dealing with a whole that can be divided in more than two parts; we just want to say that something is not in part A, but in one of the other parts. Only when the whole consists of two parts only, and those parts are of a similar &quot;size&quot; in one sense or another, does a negation make an opposite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T18:53:01.610" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T18:53:01.610" />
  <row Id="11160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11155" CreationDate="2011-02-03T03:00:51.583" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it's &lt;em&gt;acceptable&lt;/em&gt;, but vaguely considered &lt;em&gt;poor form&lt;/em&gt;, and I tend to avoid it (often by restructuring a sentence and busting out some emdashes) unless I'm intentionally using it to be cute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T03:00:51.583" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="11161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11152" CreationDate="2011-02-03T03:06:42.373" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Uh, which Marx -- Karl or Groucho?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find this highly dubious.  The underlying message can be read as an indictment of the inhumanity of the profit motive, which makes it just the slightest bit conceivable, but the style is very implausible to attribute to Karl Marx.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, Karl Marx has to be one of the most misquoted men in history, since the Western world has spent the last century not even being able to get &quot;from each according to his ability, to each according to his &lt;em&gt;work&lt;/em&gt;&quot; right.  So possibly he said something vaguely similar, but with a more or less opposite meaning, at some point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T03:06:42.373" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11162" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11163" CreationDate="2011-02-03T03:38:30.630" Score="2" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What are more formal ways to say &quot;How are you&quot; with a hint of positive expectation, in the sense that you want the other person to confirm that his/her life is just fine. Does &quot;Are you well?&quot; work?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;During new year season people greet &quot;Happy New Year&quot; etc. What would you say if you want to wish the other person's celebration of the new year be enjoyable and nice, instead of wishing good things for the entire year that is coming?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3554" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T03:44:44.850" Title="Are you well? Happy New Year's Eve!" Tags="&lt;greetings&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11162" CreationDate="2011-02-03T03:44:44.850" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Usually, you imply the hint of positive expectation with your voice inflection. Asking &quot;How are you?&quot; in such a way that your voice sounds happy implies such a meaning. If you want a more direct statement, you could say &quot;I trust things are going well for you?&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Happy New Year&quot; is used interchangeably to:&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wish good things for the person in the coming year&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wish for an enjoyable celebration for the changing of the year.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T03:44:44.850" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11164" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-03T08:18:09.320" Score="6" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;snail toss&lt;/em&gt; mean in the following sentences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'll drop this in the snail toss on the way, all right?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I was thinking about some hardcore snail toss later.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4336" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T08:32:58.537" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T02:49:51.577" Title="What is a &quot;Snail Toss&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11165" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11171" CreationDate="2011-02-03T09:02:16.847" Score="2" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is better to write? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;that my results are not reproducible&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  that my results are unreproducible&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can it be re-written as positive affirmation (preserving the same meaning)?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Do not I remember correctly that it is better to write negative sentence than positive but much more lengthy?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This question is about technical copywriting&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Thanks to all answerers!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I did not count for, at the moment of asking,  that there are 4 &quot;synonyms&quot;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;non-reproducible, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;unreproducible, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;irreproducible, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;not reproducible &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://goo.gl/YJdtJ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the post with this prase that provoked this question&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T08:43:05.237" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T08:43:05.237" Title="&quot;That my results are not reproducible&quot; or &quot;that my results are unreproducible&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;negation&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="11166" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11170" CreationDate="2011-02-03T09:23:27.740" Score="11" ViewCount="650" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does &quot;within&quot; have an antonym?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If there is an antonym, which one is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="391" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T10:15:01.227" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T17:23:44.857" Title="Does &quot;within&quot; have an antonym? If so, what?" Tags="&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11166" CreationDate="2011-02-03T09:26:35.097" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Outwith means outside of something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T09:26:35.097" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11166" CreationDate="2011-02-03T09:35:05.980" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Outside&lt;/strong&gt; is an antonym to &lt;em&gt;within&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.macmillandictionary.com/thesaurus-category/american/Within-or-outside-of-an-organization-or-institution&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Within or outside of an organization or institution.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T09:35:05.980" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="11169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11165" CreationDate="2011-02-03T09:42:34.723" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First part: “not reproducible” seems to be widely more used than “unreproducible”. I checked this on Google, the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/em&gt;, the &lt;em&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/em&gt;, and a Google search restricted to a scientific publisher website (&lt;em&gt;American Chemical Society&lt;/em&gt;, acs.org).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second part: it's hard to say something this negative with a very positive tone. One way to make it more positive is to hint at possible reasons why you could not reproduce the results, e.g., “my results could not, under the time available, be reproduced”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T09:42:34.723" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="11170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11166" CreationDate="2011-02-03T09:47:54.907" Score="21" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mehper beats me to it with &lt;em&gt;outside&lt;/em&gt;, so I'll just throw in a third alternative for the sake of completeness. Historically, &lt;em&gt;without&lt;/em&gt; is an antonym of &lt;em&gt;within&lt;/em&gt;, and Merriam-Webster &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/without&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;still says&lt;/a&gt; that the first meaning of &lt;em&gt;without&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;outside&quot; without further comment, but I don't actually see it being used that way these days. Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/without&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;marks&lt;/a&gt; that usage as &quot;&lt;em&gt;archaic&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;literary&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T09:47:54.907" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="11171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11165" CreationDate="2011-02-03T10:04:06.957" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;that my results are singular.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3422" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T10:04:06.957" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="11172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11165" CreationDate="2011-02-03T10:14:07.263" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;that my results are non-reproducible&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both the prefixes &lt;em&gt;un-&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;non-&lt;/em&gt; have the same meaning, but they are used with different perspectives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a note, the NOAD reports that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The prefix &lt;em&gt;un-&lt;/em&gt; tends to be stronger and less neutral than &lt;em&gt;non-&lt;/em&gt;. Consider, for example, the differences between &lt;em&gt;unacademic&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;nonacademic&lt;/em&gt;, as in &lt;em&gt;his language was refreshingly unacademic&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;a nonacademic life suits him&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T10:14:07.263" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11155" CreationDate="2011-02-03T10:18:53.717" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My English Composition professor told us that if you ever feel you need to use nested parentheses, that is one sure sign you need to rewrite the sentence instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what one technical &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.johnwoodwark.com/editing/advice/punctuation.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;editor has to say&lt;/a&gt; on the topic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nesting parentheses should be done with square brackets &quot;([ ])&quot;. But since square brackets are usually used for citations, this is confusing. The answer is to eliminate all nested parentheses by appropriate rewording. (Dashes, otherwise not recommended, can have a use here.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T10:18:53.717" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11155" CreationDate="2011-02-03T10:28:43.153" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is acceptable, but you should use it with care. Generally, you should avoid having long texts in parentheses, as the reader will eventually forget that he is inside a parentheses block. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In serious papers and letters, you should avoid it completely, and rather find a way of re-phrase it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conversational e-mails, blog posts, StackExchange posts etc. it might be more appropriate to use it, but the inner parenthesis should never be long (just a couple of words). The most important is to make sure that the reader don't get confused of where the parenthesis start and end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Example&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;With nested parentheses&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a quick example on how to rephrase a potential problematic use of nested parenthesis.&#xA;(It can be a less important section like this (which is quite long, even if it is not important), and when you continue, the reader might be lost in where in the parenthesized text he is, and might wonder if he still is inside any parentheses.)&#xA;Anyway, the main text continues here...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Re-phrased to remove nesting&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a quick example on how to rephrase a potential problematic use of nested parenthesis.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(It can be a less important section like this. It is quite long, even if it is not important. Now when you continue, the reader is not lost anymore because the long section is taken out in a separate paragraph, and no inner parentheses can be mistaken for an early termination of the outer section.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, the main text continues here...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1717" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T10:28:43.153" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11155" CreationDate="2011-02-03T11:34:47.593" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have found that people who appreciate stressing thoroughly the logical construction of their sentences to make them totally unambiguous tend to use parentheses a lot, and to nest them, even though (see other answers) it's considered poor form. In particular, scientists (especially mathematicians and logicians) seem to do that more commonly than other people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T19:19:27.940" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T19:19:27.940" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6227" CreationDate="2011-02-03T11:46:42.133" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Hard to swallow&lt;/code&gt; is acceptable and is commonly used in [British] English. I use it frequently, and I hear it used frequently. Yes, it means hard to believe or accept, but equally it can mean hard to come to terms with, which fits the emotional angle that you are interested in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/hard+to+swallow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/hard+to+swallow&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Not very) interestingly, it's also the third album by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/Hard-Swallow-Vanilla-Ice/dp/B00000DF8X&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Vanilla Ice&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastEditorUserId="2302" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T17:10:17.263" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T17:10:17.263" />
  <row Id="11177" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11192" CreationDate="2011-02-03T12:01:57.137" Score="2" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;In colloquial German, you can say something to the effect of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would it be an idea to move the bike shed a bit to the left?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and it is immediately understood that &quot;an idea&quot; is supposed to mean &quot;a good idea&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tend to use this &quot;an idea&quot; in my English conversations as well, but I am unsure about its validity. Sure, it's never a problem to &lt;em&gt;understand&lt;/em&gt; what is meant, but is it commonly used and good style?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com//#q=%22would+it+be+an+idea%22&amp;amp;fp=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Googling&lt;/a&gt; seems to suggest that it indeed is valid and relatively broadly used. Is this true? Is it, like in German, a more colloquial thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Note that I am specifically asking about the use of &quot;an idea&quot; instead of &quot;a good idea&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="239" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T12:26:07.847" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T15:14:11.053" Title="Is using &quot;an idea&quot; instead of &quot;a good idea&quot; good English?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="11178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11177" CreationDate="2011-02-03T12:20:58.770" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a native English (NZ/Aust/British) speaker, when I hear this phrase I do immediately assume the person suggesting the idea thinks it has some merit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why else would they have suggested it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regard to the absence of positive adjectives such as &quot;...a &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; idea...&quot; I believe this is somewhat dependent on a cultural tendency to be reserved in expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance to say &quot;would it be an idea?&quot; is preferred to &quot;would it be a good idea?&quot; since the former implies a lesser presumption of the merits of the idea.  This allows the other person more scope to judge for themselves, and thereby engage in discussion of merit, rather than manoeuvring them into a polarised stance.  On the contrary side it is a more passive way of mentioning the idea and therefore more easily dismissed, so it might be seen as a submissive manner of speaking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastEditorUserId="588" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T14:42:28.983" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T14:42:28.983" />
  <row Id="11179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11177" CreationDate="2011-02-03T12:21:43.900" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Would it be a good idea if...&lt;/em&gt; is frequently used in English. Somehow, you have to specify that the idea you will outline is good. You can also split it in two sentences as in &lt;em&gt;I have an idea: why don't we do the following&lt;/em&gt;. In that case, people are assuming you think it's a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4471" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T12:21:43.900" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11164" CreationDate="2011-02-03T12:35:47.890" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=snail%20toss&amp;amp;defid=1105896&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is the Urban Dictionary entry for &lt;em&gt;snail toss&lt;/em&gt;. I've got to say, though, that it is a little bit weird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2310" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T12:35:47.890" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11177" CreationDate="2011-02-03T12:37:30.993" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;An idea&lt;/em&gt;, used in phrases like &lt;em&gt;that's an idea&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;worth of consideration&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence you wrote could be re-written as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would to move the bike shed a bit to the left be worth of consideration?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would not use &lt;em&gt;an idea&lt;/em&gt; to mean &lt;em&gt;a good idea&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T12:51:48.813" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T12:51:48.813" />
  <row Id="11183" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11188" CreationDate="2011-02-03T12:56:57.023" Score="6" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder, why &lt;strong&gt;&lt;code&gt;!&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; symbol is called &lt;em&gt;exclamation mark&lt;/em&gt;, but &lt;strong&gt;&lt;code&gt;=&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; symbol is called &lt;em&gt;equal sign&lt;/em&gt;? Is it only tradition or there is something behind?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3522" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T14:22:26.323" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T17:01:28.007" Title="Why &quot;exclamation mark&quot; but not &quot;exclamation sign&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11186" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11190" CreationDate="2011-02-03T13:10:22.283" Score="3" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Every cloud has a silver lining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please provide some historical perspective and meaning of this expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T14:19:48.433" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T14:19:48.433" Title="Origin and meaning of &quot;every cloud has a silver lining&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11183" CreationDate="2011-02-03T13:21:06.137" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suppose it's in the origins.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;!&lt;/strong&gt; are from the family of language &lt;strong&gt;punctuation marks&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;=&lt;/strong&gt; is from the family of &lt;strong&gt;mathematical symbols&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;signs&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T13:21:06.137" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11186" CreationDate="2011-02-03T13:53:31.353" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;em&gt;The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs&lt;/em&gt;, the phrase &quot;Every cloud has a silver lining&quot; is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a poetic sentiment that even the gloomiest outlook contains some hopeful or consoling aspect. &lt;em&gt;Cf. [1634 Milton Comus I. 93] Was I deceiv'd, or did a sable cloud Turn forth her silver lining on the night?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answers.com/topic/silver-lining#ixzz1Cu5fvfWP&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.answers.com/topic/silver-lining#ixzz1Cu5fvfWP&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=silver+lining&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=silver+lining&amp;amp;searchmode=none&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both cite John Milton's &lt;em&gt;Comus 1&lt;/em&gt; as the first instance of this expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T14:02:22.980" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T14:02:22.980" />
  <row Id="11191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11186" CreationDate="2011-02-03T13:58:00.567" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The idea of clouds having silver linings comes from the fact that when the sun (or moon) bursts through a cloud it looks as if the interior is silver. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sun bursting through a cloud is a good metaphor for a problem eventually having a positive outcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3559" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T13:58:00.567" />
  <row Id="11192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11177" CreationDate="2011-02-03T14:05:29.017" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my experience (American Eng.), &lt;em&gt;Would it be an idea...&lt;/em&gt; is very uncommon, and while I might understand that you're looking for an opinion on its merits, if you asked something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would it be an idea if I shot myself in the leg?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My initial (perhaps smart aleck) reaction would be more along the lines of &quot;Well, yes, it's an idea. It's just not a good one&quot;, so I would recommend keeping the &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; barring a good reason to drop it (as opposed to just a reason, I suppose). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also point out that what is much more common is to respond to someone else's idea/plan with the phrase &lt;em&gt;Hey, there's an idea&lt;/em&gt;. In this phrasing, it's normally implied that it is a good one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T14:23:57.717" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T14:23:57.717" />
  <row Id="11193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11164" CreationDate="2011-02-03T14:11:48.663" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to guess from the context, that the usage in the first sentence is an idiosyncratic way to refer to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snail_mail&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;snail mail&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_box&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;post box&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2315" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T14:11:48.663" />
  <row Id="11194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11177" CreationDate="2011-02-03T14:29:53.117" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't hear &quot;would it be an idea&quot; often in English, if at all. Pretty much anything, any suggestion, would be &lt;em&gt;an idea&lt;/em&gt; of some kind. Stating it this way might even invite a snarky response, such as: &quot;Yes, that's &lt;em&gt;an idea&lt;/em&gt;. So is jumping in the lake.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you might say, however, if you weren't sure your idea had merit (and therefore didn't want to attach &quot;good&quot; to it), would be something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here's an idea. Why not ... &lt;em&gt;[explanation of suggestion]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have an idea. Why not ... &lt;em&gt;[explanation of suggestion]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here's one idea: Why not ... &lt;em&gt;[explanation of suggestion]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T14:29:53.117" />
  <row Id="11195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5255" CreationDate="2011-02-03T14:34:37.633" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rx was originally written (and still is preprinted on some prescription forms) as a ligature, consisting of an upper case R with a bar across its tail. The ligature was used as a time-saving abbreviation for the imperative Recipe &quot;Take thou&quot; because in the days before packaged medications, prescriptions were (and to some extent still are) written in Latin and Latin abbreviations, and their function was to direct the pharmacist to gather certain ingredients and combine them in a customized way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4537" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T14:34:37.633" />
  <row Id="11196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11183" CreationDate="2011-02-03T14:34:46.307" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think they're called &lt;em&gt;marks&lt;/em&gt; because they actually mark something. That a sentence is a question, an exclamation, or a quote.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &lt;code&gt;=&lt;/code&gt; is just a sign, it doesn't mark anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, this is just another guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2310" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T14:34:46.307" />
  <row Id="11197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11177" CreationDate="2011-02-03T14:55:57.480" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would neither use &quot;idea&quot; or &quot;good idea&quot;, as both sound very German to me (although I'm also a German native speaker). &#xA;There are several other options in English conveying the same notion. e.g.: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you think it's sensible to ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does it make sense to ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does it work ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T14:55:57.480" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11198" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11200" CreationDate="2011-02-03T15:03:34.633" Score="6" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where does &quot;Yeah right&quot; come from? Can it be used in a formal writing? If not, what is a good alternative?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T15:09:20.820" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T13:25:04.653" Title="&quot;Yeah Right&quot; expression" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11183" CreationDate="2011-02-03T15:06:17.847" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot comment yet, as my karma will not allow it. &#xA;The exclamation mark was referred to as&#xA; “sign of admiration or exclamation” in the 15th century&#xA;according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclamation_mark&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclamation_mark&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is just convention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think about the = sign, you can argue it &quot;marks&quot; equality. &#xA;On the other hand, if you use &quot;exclamation sign&quot;, in my mind, the street sign pops up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T15:06:17.847" />
  <row Id="11200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11198" CreationDate="2011-02-03T15:13:07.400" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Yeah, right!&quot; is an example of &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/irony&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;irony&lt;/a&gt;. Irony is the use of a word or phrase to mean exactly the opposite of its literal sense. Here it would also qualify as &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sarcasm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sarcasm&lt;/a&gt;. It would be understood to mean &quot;No f@$*ing way!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would definitely not use it in formal writing, unless that composition was a treatise on slang or some other academic discourse on language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T15:13:07.400" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11177" CreationDate="2011-02-03T15:14:11.053" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am also an American English speaker, and I hear the usage you're asking about occasionally.  For whatever reason, it's usually with &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt;; &quot;might it be an idea to...&quot;  I hear its implications similarly to how Ed Guiness describes, where it is in fact asking about whether it's a &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; idea, but the speaker is being more tentative about it than if they had &lt;em&gt;said&lt;/em&gt; &quot;good&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is fairly colloquial, yes.  I would not use it, or expect to see it, in formal writing and would find it a mismatch in tone if it appeared there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T15:14:11.053" />
  <row Id="11202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11198" CreationDate="2011-02-03T15:14:28.307" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Alternative in formal writing could be &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I strongly disbelieve that statement&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our company plans to take over facebook medio 2011&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You: &quot;That sounds inconceivable&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T15:17:13.937" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T15:17:13.937" />
  <row Id="11203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11165" CreationDate="2011-02-03T15:18:31.610" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would usually say not reproducible, and if I wanted to use a single word I would always use &lt;em&gt;irreproducible&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;unreproducible&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T15:18:31.610" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11204" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-03T15:31:34.037" Score="4" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often get confused when trying to use who vs that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples that often confuse me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;THAT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The person that went to the store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The people that went shopping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The persons that went shopping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The group that went shopping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;WHO&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The person who went to the store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The people who go shopping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please explain when to use either for plural subjects and singular subjects.  Animate and inanimate objects as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4539" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T11:53:50.920" Title="How to use: who/that" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11204" CreationDate="2011-02-03T15:33:18.743" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There isn't any difference for plural and singular subjects; the difference is for people and non-people.  Saying &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; is personifying, saying &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; is objectifying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presumably one should always say &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; when speaking of a human being, or other entity known to be of roughly equivalent or higher intelligence, and &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; when speaking of an inanimate object.  Animals and other beings thought to be of below-human cognitive capacity are something of a gray area; I'd say choose your usage according to what sort of tone you want to convey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T20:09:20.627" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T20:09:20.627" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="11206" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11208" CreationDate="2011-02-03T15:35:27.030" Score="0" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;we wanted to share some of what you'll see now on foursquare &lt;strong&gt;while out exploring your city&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the bolded text a clause with ellipsis or a participle phrase? If a phrase, is the &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt; a preposition?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You &lt;strong&gt;guys&lt;/strong&gt; checked in 381,576,305 times in 2010&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why add &lt;em&gt;guys&lt;/em&gt; ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="508" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T16:33:55.117" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T16:33:55.117" Title="About 'wh + participle' and 'you guys'." Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;participle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11207" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-03T15:39:09.707" Score="5" ViewCount="211" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Aren't you going to go outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My wife insists this is improper English, &lt;em&gt;Hillbilly speak&lt;/em&gt;, she calls it. The proper way to ask, she says, is &lt;em&gt;Are you going to go outside?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I say it's the same as asking &lt;em&gt;Won't you play with me?&lt;/em&gt;, which I do not find offensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4540" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T17:04:52.143" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T20:08:12.017" Title="Is this usage of &quot;aren't&quot; proper English?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;&lt;negation&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="11208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11206" CreationDate="2011-02-03T15:43:28.203" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first expression can be interpreted as ellipsis or as a participial phrase, your choice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second expression is an informal 2nd person plural. &quot;You guys&quot; is a colloquial way of saying &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;. It is quite a familiar way to address a group of people, so this should never be used in a formal context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T15:43:28.203" />
  <row Id="11209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11207" CreationDate="2011-02-03T15:44:28.670" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there's anything wrong with it.  It's a contraction of &lt;em&gt;Are you not going to go outside?&lt;/em&gt;, which is perfectly acceptable; the addition of the negation changes the expectation conveyed by the sentence to imply that the speaker thought the subject &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt; going to go outside.  This is useful, and it's as meaningful to ask about an event &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; occurring as it is to ask about it occurring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect that your wife's problem is really with the &lt;em&gt;sound&lt;/em&gt; of the word &quot;aren't&quot;, especially when pronounced as one syllable.  (&lt;em&gt;Ahr-ənt&lt;/em&gt; sounds passably okay, &lt;em&gt;arnt&lt;/em&gt; sounds hickish and suggestive of the dreaded &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T20:08:12.017" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T20:08:12.017" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11210" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11214" CreationDate="2011-02-03T15:47:30.027" Score="5" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dictionary reports that &lt;em&gt;aren't&lt;/em&gt; is also an abbreviation for &lt;em&gt;am not&lt;/em&gt;, when used in questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this use of &lt;em&gt;aren't&lt;/em&gt; common? If it is common, are there any differences between the different English dialects?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why aren't I being given a pay raise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T20:12:01.720" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T20:12:01.720" Title="&quot;I'm right, aren't I?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="11211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11207" CreationDate="2011-02-03T15:53:28.567" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Contractions such as &quot;aren't&quot;, for example, should only be used in casual/informal speech/writing.  So, the answer is that it depends on the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4539" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T15:53:28.567" />
  <row Id="11212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11207" CreationDate="2011-02-03T15:55:58.240" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To start a question with &lt;em&gt;aren't&lt;/em&gt; is perfectly acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the negation in some questions can give to the question a different meaning, and the question could be interpreted as a suggestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Aren't you going inside? — The suggestion is to go inside.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Didn't you mean to call Frank? - The suggestion is to call Frank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T15:55:58.240" />
  <row Id="11213" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11215" CreationDate="2011-02-03T16:07:07.673" Score="3" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am foreign student in Sarajevo, and trying to develop a small time machine for a software (not a real one, of course). And I need to show users specified place where currently they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I translate for this specified times? I wrote like these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Present&lt;/em&gt;, or as second alternative &lt;em&gt;Now&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;In the Past&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;In the Future&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks like in my software:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;February 2, Wednesday 2011 (The Present)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;January 8, Wednesday 1996 (In the Past)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these good enough, or do you have any better advice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3539" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T17:06:44.497" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T17:06:44.497" Title="Translation of Time Machine times" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11210" CreationDate="2011-02-03T16:08:58.150" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is common.  The little-seen &quot;amn't&quot; does occur in Irish and Scottish English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T16:08:58.150" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11213" CreationDate="2011-02-03T16:11:33.927" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would simply use &lt;em&gt;present&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;past&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;future&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;January 8, Wednesday 1996 (past)&#xA;February 3, Thursday 2011 (present)&#xA;January 8, Wednesday 2016 (future)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that these words should not be capitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T16:11:33.927" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11216" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-03T16:25:08.673" Score="2" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicates:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/503/what-is-the-correct-way-to-pluralize-an-acronym&quot;&gt;What is the correct way to pluralize an acronym?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10286/what-is-the-proper-way-to-indicate-possession-when-using-an-abbreviation-such-as&quot;&gt;What is the proper way to indicate possession when using an abbreviation such as Dr.?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most DD's have good packaging skills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How did things come to that instead of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most DDs have good packaging skills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare that to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most Debian Developers have good packaging skills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[&lt;strong&gt;update&lt;/strong&gt;] This question was asked with the presumption that the first example is correct, so I was surprised to find that it isn't the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2380" LastEditorUserId="2380" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T17:49:04.213" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T17:49:04.213" ClosedDate="2011-02-03T18:41:39.213" Title="How come abbreviations acquired the apostrophe when referring to plurality?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="14" />
  <row Id="11217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6227" CreationDate="2011-02-03T16:44:08.263" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend the phrase &quot;a bitter pill to swallow&quot; if you are presenting something that the other person won't necessarily have difficulty in believing, but will find to be a very unpleasant revelation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'd known for a while that our relationship was struggling, but this proof of infidelity is still a bitter pill to swallow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T16:44:08.263" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9746" CreationDate="2011-02-03T16:48:28.610" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to the inherently ambiguous nature of the question, I prefer to answer this type of inquiry with either &quot;No, I didn't&quot; or &quot;Yes, I did.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T16:48:28.610" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11207" CreationDate="2011-02-03T16:49:02.627" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a foreign English student, my teacher told us the following two facts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Aren't you going inside&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a suggestion; it suggests that you go inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are you not going inside&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is really a question. You don't know someone's will, so you ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: Correction for my English is welcome :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="244" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T23:17:19.640" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T23:17:19.640" />
  <row Id="11220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11216" CreationDate="2011-02-03T17:00:28.777" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The (IMO, mistaken) apostrophe-based usage arises out of a feeling of awkwardness in simply appending an &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;es&lt;/em&gt; to an acronym or initialism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T17:43:38.523" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T17:43:38.523" />
  <row Id="11221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11183" CreationDate="2011-02-03T17:01:28.007" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another difference I see is that the exclamation mark has no meaning on its own.  It is merely punctuation whereas the equals sign actually adds meaning to the sentence: life &quot;equals&quot; goodness.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4545" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T17:01:28.007" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11216" CreationDate="2011-02-03T17:08:18.867" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first quote is still considered incorrect, although (depressingly) widely used.&#xA;&quot;DDs&quot; is likely to be strongly favoured (or favored for our US members) here...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2690" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T17:08:18.867" />
  <row Id="11223" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11226" CreationDate="2011-02-03T17:10:48.317" Score="0" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of the following sentence, said from a person that is at home, and is going outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will go up to the stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T08:44:06.963" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T08:44:06.963" Title="&quot;I will go up to the stores&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;prepositional-phrase&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11207" CreationDate="2011-02-03T17:12:49.647" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To express a question when not knowing someone's will I would use the more familiar &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are you going inside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem with &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are you not going inside? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is the ambiguity of the single-word-answer &quot;No&quot; along with a double-negative.  &quot;No you are not&quot; or &quot;No you are not 'not going' &quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am no scholar but I am a Hillbilly. We normally just say something like &quot;Ain't ya goin' on in?&quot; which is just horrible in most circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4545" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T17:12:49.647" />
  <row Id="11225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11198" CreationDate="2011-02-03T17:18:21.090" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yeah, right&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;could also be interpreted as another variation of &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2470/what-does-i-know-right-mean&quot;&gt;I know, right&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It entirely depends on inflection when speaking.  When written, if the ending punctuation is an exclamation &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yeah, right!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you could infer the meaning to be ironic, whereas if the ending punctuation was a question mark &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yeah, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you could infer the acceptance-seeking meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regardless, neither is appropriate for formal writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T17:18:21.090" />
  <row Id="11226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11223" CreationDate="2011-02-03T17:18:46.157" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I will go to the stores&quot;.  The &quot;up&quot; is fairly meaningless; it may refer to the stores being &quot;uptown&quot; from one, north of one, above one vertically, or have no real referent at all.  It's much the same as the New Jersey, USA colloquialism of &quot;going down the shore&quot;, which means &quot;going to the shore&quot; regardless of where one is situated relative to the shore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T01:24:56.533" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T01:24:56.533" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="11227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11166" CreationDate="2011-02-03T17:23:44.857" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with &quot;without.&quot; Reminds me of a Marx Brothers exchange:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Without&quot; is a broader term, covering&#xA;  both &quot;lacking&quot; and &quot;the absence of,&quot;&#xA;  and also means &quot;outside.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(This double meaning led to the Marx&#xA;  Brothers routine: &quot;There's a girl&#xA;  waiting without.&quot; &quot;Without what?&quot;&#xA;  &quot;Without food or clothing.&quot; &quot;Well,&#xA;  feed her and send her in.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;em&gt;On Language&lt;/em&gt;, by William Safire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3306" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T17:23:44.857" />
  <row Id="11228" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-03T17:31:21.807" Score="2" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found this expression: &lt;em&gt;to put on the thinking cap&lt;/em&gt;, What does it mean and how to use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4546" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T18:35:21.770" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T00:19:52.047" Title="To put on the thinking cap" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11229" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11232" CreationDate="2011-02-03T17:39:19.243" Score="4" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know someone named &lt;em&gt;Davidovici&lt;/em&gt;, pronounced /dəˈvɪɾəvɪtʃ/ (i.e., rhyming with &lt;em&gt;witch&lt;/em&gt;. It's from Romanian).  How is it pluralized (as, to refer to the family): &lt;em&gt;Davidovicis&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Davidovicies&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T21:58:47.193" Title="plural of 'Davidovici'" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;&lt;names&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11228" CreationDate="2011-02-03T17:41:56.380" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means to give deep consideration to a problem, or to brainstorm, or to ponder:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Gentlemen, this is a serious issue.  We need to put on our thinking caps and come up with a good solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T17:41:56.380" />
  <row Id="11231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11229" CreationDate="2011-02-03T17:49:14.773" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Davidovicis.  Proper names are best treated as slightly less mutable than other nouns when pluralizing.  For example, for a family named Perry, one would write &quot;the Perrys&quot;, not &quot;the Perries&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bind you're in is basically one of a poor match between spelling and pronunciation.  If the name had been Anglicized as Davidovitch, we would pluralize it as Davidovitches and all would be well.  Appending &lt;em&gt;-es&lt;/em&gt; is basically trying to pluralize &lt;em&gt;as if&lt;/em&gt; that were the case.  Trying to apply a spoken pluralization to a written word when the written word already doesn't match its pronunciation is pretty much just piling breakage on breakage, though.  Stick with pluralizing the written version based on its written form and the spoken version based on its spoken form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T21:58:47.193" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T21:58:47.193" />
  <row Id="11232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11229" CreationDate="2011-02-03T17:55:47.893" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Chicago Manual of Style&lt;/em&gt; recommends that when a plural form suggests a false pronunciation, the name is best left unpluralized.  (Preferably this would be done by recasting the sentence to avoid the need for pluralization.)  Since &quot;Davidovicies&quot; looks like it would naturally be pronounced with &quot;-eez&quot; instead of &quot;-ez&quot;, I would recommend avoiding that particular form no matter what.  If you must pluralize it, simply adding the 's' looks like the best thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T17:55:47.893" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11233" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15135" CreationDate="2011-02-03T17:56:03.180" Score="10" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's common to hear cheers of the form &quot;“Go X!” where X is the name of a team or individual. I understand that its meaning is, as nohat said in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1989/what-does-the-phrase-go-tiger-mean&quot;&gt;another thread&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Go ___!” is a common exclamation intended to express approval and encouragement to a team or an individual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: does this phrase have an etymology? The sense of &quot;go&quot; as used in this template does not seem to be used anywhere else. For instance, we cannot report this exclamation as &quot;he asked his team to go&quot;. Does the phrase originate in some archaic sense of &lt;em&gt;go&lt;/em&gt;, in some larger phrase (like &quot;Go and win&quot;) or is it of unknown origin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: If I'm not mistaken, the phrase can be used not only for sports like football that involve physically moving towards a goal, but also sports like baseball and even chess or (competitive) programming, which mostly involve sitting in one location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T18:18:47.660" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T19:57:24.267" Title="&quot;Go, Yankees!&quot;, &quot;Go, Tigers!&quot;, etc. — go where?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11233" CreationDate="2011-02-03T18:12:34.143" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps it is derived from the sense of &quot;initiate (forward) motion&quot;, as in &quot;Go! The light has been green for 10 seconds, go!&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you could actually report &quot;He yelled, 'Go Team!'&quot; as &quot;He exhorted his team to get going&quot;, as in to make a start or to improve their rate of progress toward a goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T18:12:34.143" />
  <row Id="11236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11233" CreationDate="2011-02-03T18:15:34.810" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In any non-literal &quot;I want you to move to this location&quot; sense, you're simply urging the team to spur further action toward victory. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T18:15:34.810" />
  <row Id="11237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9850" CreationDate="2011-02-03T18:28:40.547" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard an alternate explanation - &#xA;Newspaper reporters would telegraph their stories to the main office for inclusion in the paper.  Saving space and reducing the cost of the transmission was important so editors issued a decree to drop 'useless letters' from spelling.  Since newspapers were the most distributed mass written product to all levels of American society the spellings they used became the standard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have some problems with this - for one I've had a hard time verifying it, for another - I thought telegraph operations were charged by the word - not the letter.  From some experience (now 30 years ago - who sends telegraphs now ??) there was a 10 character limit on a word - over 10 characters you got charged for 2 words.  Was this the case in the mid 1800's - who knows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would image the actual answer is some compound of all of the formal attempts to simplify, common usage and general evolution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4116" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T18:28:40.547" />
  <row Id="11238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11233" CreationDate="2011-02-03T18:33:47.900" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe this to be an instance of &quot;go&quot; meaning &quot;to develop, progress, or proceed, esp. with reference to success or satisfaction&quot;, i.e. &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/go&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;meaning 21 of &quot;go&quot; as a verb with no object at dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T18:33:47.900" />
  <row Id="11239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11228" CreationDate="2011-02-03T18:47:09.917" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;thinking cap&lt;/em&gt; is the cap that &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyro_Gearloose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gyro Gearloose&lt;/a&gt; wears when he needs to find a solution for a problem. &lt;em&gt;To put the thinking cap&lt;/em&gt; means then &lt;em&gt;to find the solution&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;think about&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;reflect on&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T20:03:51.740" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T20:03:51.740" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11240" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11245" CreationDate="2011-02-03T18:56:19.927" Score="3" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;...in the sentence &quot;Here's a list of great Americana books.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks SO weird lowercase: &quot;Here's a list of great americana books.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3980" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T11:42:28.013" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T20:23:49.833" Title="Is the word &quot;Americana&quot; capitalized?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11223" CreationDate="2011-02-03T19:02:22.037" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Honestly the first thing that came to mind is that you were in a parking garage or something below a shopping center.   Remove the &quot;up&quot; and I think you are going to a store.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4417" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T19:02:22.037" />
  <row Id="11242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11240" CreationDate="2011-02-03T19:05:16.283" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, similar to national adjectives, Americana should be capitalized.  Here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Americana&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a reference&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T19:05:16.283" />
  <row Id="11243" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11246" CreationDate="2011-02-03T19:06:00.837" Score="4" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm busy working on a &lt;em&gt;ladle model&lt;/em&gt; at the moment, and as I am idle and inattentive this phrase sometimes comes out as &lt;em&gt;ladel model&lt;/em&gt;, sometimes &lt;em&gt;ladle modle&lt;/em&gt;, and sometimes &lt;em&gt;ladel modle&lt;/em&gt; in addition to the occasional correct spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any particular reason for the two differently-spelt but identically sounded endings? Perusing the dictionary suggests that &lt;em&gt;model&lt;/em&gt; is from French and &lt;em&gt;ladle&lt;/em&gt; from Old English. Is that why the words are spelt differently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T20:02:47.513" Title="How is the ending -le or -el determined?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;ending&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="750" CreationDate="2011-02-03T19:06:35.693" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard an interesting discussion on the CBC once - the interviewee was talking about the origin of 'dirty' words vs their euphemistic replacements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is an simple anglo-saxon word used to describe a basic action, to wit, the action of banging something repeatedly.  Such as you would do to hammer in nail or pound in a fence post.  The link from an everyday action to, well, another common if not everyday, action is easy to see and the association with human reproduction was made.  Because it was the anglo-saxon word it was automatically considered uncoth, vulgar and for the uneducated and unwashed masses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fornication, on the other hand, is based on the latin word fornix, a type of room, most often found in hotels.  It came to reference rooms rented by the hour.  A tour of the brothel in Pompeii (relax - it had been out of business for 2,000 years when I was there) left no doubt as to what went on in said rooms - the available actions were painted on the walls above the doorways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So we move from the earthy description of the actual act by a conquered people, to the more refined latin derived word that is a layer removed - mentioning where you do it without exactly what you were doing.  In actual fact - the more refined word refers to simply renting a room - not to what might happen there.  It should have been included in the Monty Python skit (Nudge nudge - wink wink - know what I MEAN!!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hey - I managed that without using f*ck !!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4116" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T19:06:35.693" />
  <row Id="11245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11240" CreationDate="2011-02-03T19:15:30.377" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adjectives that derive from a proper noun are written in capital case; it is also true for nouns, even if in some cases nouns that derive from proper nouns are not written in capital case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;American&lt;/em&gt;, from the noun &lt;em&gt;America&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Americana&lt;/em&gt;, from the noun &lt;em&gt;America&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Italian&lt;/em&gt;, from the noun &lt;em&gt;Italy&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Martian&lt;/em&gt;, from the noun Mars&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Parmesan&lt;/em&gt;, from the noun &lt;em&gt;Parma&lt;/em&gt;, the name of a city in Italy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Venusian&lt;/em&gt;, from the noun &lt;em&gt;Venus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To notice that the adjectives I reported in the list are also used as nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T20:23:49.833" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T20:23:49.833" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="11246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11243" CreationDate="2011-02-03T19:28:42.227" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct answer is that it is linked to the root source of the word as modified by various dictionary inclusions.  Was the root Latin, Greek, was it a verb or a noun, who put it into a Dictionary first, was that dictionary in the UK or in the US of A.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The practical answer is that there is no real rule or logic.  Just some vague guidelines with 1000 years of exceptions.  When the Normans conquered Briton in 1066 the formal languages spoken by the educated people in charge were French, Latin and Greek.  The vast unwashed masses were abandoned to whatever patois they wanted and since there was no formal schooling, the language quickly was stripped of it's complicated rules, unused words and reduced to a bare minimum.  Add to the fact that the people were a mixture of several different cultures and you get a mixture of words from a multiple of languages whose meaning often overlap and changed from area to area - a common word in one town would not exist 20 miles away, or mean something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It took till the printing press and cheap paper before any real attempt to nail down spellings and meanings was possible, never mind attempted.  So for 500 years the language developed independently, and then for 500 years everyone argued about it.  How we ever manage to understand each other is a miracle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does that help ??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4116" LastEditorUserId="1267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T19:34:58.817" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T19:34:58.817" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11233" CreationDate="2011-02-03T19:53:08.537" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The OED gives, as meaning 19b (out of a whopping 48, most with subparts) of the word go, &quot;To be successful, meet with applause or support.&quot;  The earliest citation of this use, from 1742, is &quot;You must not tip us the Traveller; it won't go here.&quot;  It may be that the imperative in &quot;Go X!&quot; is an exhortation for X to go in this sense (even though the more general use seems to have died out).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T19:53:08.537" />
  <row Id="11248" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-03T20:01:23.903" Score="1" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bartleby.com/141/strunk.html#4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;William Strunk's &lt;em&gt;Rules of Usage&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; states:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If a dependent clause, or an introductory phrase requiring to be set off by a comma, precedes the second independent clause, no comma is needed after the conjunction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strunk's example illustrates the point:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The situation is perilous, but if we are prepared to act promptly, there is still one chance of escape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I would be tempted to put a comma after the &quot;but,&quot; like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The situation is perilous, but, if we are prepared to act promptly, there is still one chance of escape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I know you're thinking, &quot;Well, Strunk's &lt;em&gt;Rules of Usage&lt;/em&gt; says that you're wrong. No comma.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But is &lt;em&gt;Rules of Usage&lt;/em&gt; really the best source? I'd like to see this rule in a more contemporary and authoritative source, like the Chicago Manual of Style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many instances — &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=but+if+necessary&amp;amp;safe=active#sclient=psy&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;safe=active&amp;amp;q=%22and+if+necessary%22+site%3anytimes.com&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&amp;amp;pbx=1&amp;amp;fp=6aaff458859385c2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;such as in The New York Times&lt;/a&gt; — where the comma is &lt;strong&gt;included&lt;/strong&gt; before a parenthetical comment that comes after a coordinating conjunction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any authoritative source on the issue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4547" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T12:13:24.923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T12:13:24.923" Title="Coordinating conjunction immediately followed by parenthetical — Is a comma needed or not?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11243" CreationDate="2011-02-03T20:02:47.513" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Words that in Modern English are written ending with &lt;em&gt;-le&lt;/em&gt; derive from words ending in &lt;em&gt;-el&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;-el-&lt;/em&gt; or are related with such words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;candle    Old English   candel&#xA;cattle    Anglo-Norman  catel &#xA;ladle     Old English   hlædel&#xA;paddle    Low German    paddeln&#xA;rattle    Low German    ratelen&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The spelling of those words is changed, but the pronunciation was keep closer to the original/related word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T20:02:47.513" />
  <row Id="11250" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11254" CreationDate="2011-02-03T20:08:27.480" Score="2" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English it's considered correct to ask &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I do it like this, don't I?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why can't I go?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;whereas &quot;don't&quot; is an abbreviation of &quot;do not&quot; and &quot;can't&quot; is an abbreviation of &quot;cannot&quot;. However, keeping the structure and no longer abbreviating the words, you get&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I do it like this, do not I?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which really doesn't make sense. Why is this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4549" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T22:14:38.040" Title="Using abbreviations incorrectly?" Tags="&lt;abbreviations&gt;&lt;structure&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="11251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11233" CreationDate="2011-02-03T20:08:44.513" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a native english speaker, but I guess it's like a war cheer when a commander would tell his soldiers to &quot;Go&quot; meaning to advance towards the enemy to attack them. But it's just a guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4548" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T20:08:44.513" />
  <row Id="11252" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11255" CreationDate="2011-02-03T20:10:56.693" Score="4" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm curious if there's any cases of a word that originated in English (didn't come from a foreign source) replacing another word in every day usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4551" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T20:20:58.043" Title="Are there any cases of a word that originated in English replacing another word in English in common usage?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11250" CreationDate="2011-02-03T20:18:21.743" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I do it like this, do I not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T20:18:21.743" />
  <row Id="11254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11250" CreationDate="2011-02-03T20:19:35.423" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the correct way to write it is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I do it like this, do I not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2310" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T20:19:35.423" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11252" CreationDate="2011-02-03T20:19:54.313" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One example: Old English &lt;em&gt;lið&lt;/em&gt; has been replaced by &lt;em&gt;limb&lt;/em&gt;, both of native origin. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changes_to_Old_English_vocabulary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This Wikipedia page&lt;/a&gt; has a bunch of such examples of obsolete words, though most of the replacement words are from other languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T20:19:54.313" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11252" CreationDate="2011-02-03T20:20:58.043" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something like &lt;em&gt;thou&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;em&gt;You&lt;/em&gt; is the form which has replaced the archaic &lt;em&gt;thou&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2310" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T20:20:58.043" />
  <row Id="11257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11223" CreationDate="2011-02-03T20:22:40.833" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that it's a bit of an odd formation, without some context. If you and I both understand explicitly what I mean by &quot;the stores&quot;, it's a bit clearer, e.g., I'm referring to stores which I own, or stores we've been talking about. As far as &quot;up&quot;, I think it's mostly implying a bit of effort, as in, &quot;Rather than just calling, I will actually go &lt;em&gt;up&lt;/em&gt; to the stores.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T20:22:40.833" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11248" CreationDate="2011-02-03T20:38:02.770" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have a membership to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CMS&lt;/a&gt;, so I can't speak to their take on it. But I would say that the meaning, or at least the tone that you're trying to communicate it subtly different between the two phrases. In your punctuation, the speaker is expressing doubt that &#xA;&quot;we are prepared to act promptly&quot;, and perhaps expressing the subjunctive as a bit of an aside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if the actual meaning is different, then rules of usage be damned. I personally would punctuate it thusly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The situation is perilous; but - if we&#xA;  are prepared to act promptly - there&#xA;  is still one chance of escape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No commas at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T20:38:02.770" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11165" CreationDate="2011-02-03T20:46:28.997" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is unclear what context the original poster is considering, but it should be mentioned that both examples given have a strong implication that the results are, in principle, incapable of being reproduced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &quot;positive alternative&quot; without this implication would be something like &quot;the results have not yet been reproduced&quot; or &quot;my colleague was not able to reproduce the results&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T20:46:28.997" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11228" CreationDate="2011-02-03T20:55:14.503" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a sligthly humorous phrase and, as such, would not be used in a strictly formal setting (e.g. a meeting with the Queen).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T20:55:14.503" />
  <row Id="11261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11248" CreationDate="2011-02-03T20:59:03.157" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Well, Stunk's Rules of Usage says&#xA;  that you're wrong. No comma.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;no comma is needed&quot; does not mean &quot;it is wrong to use a comma.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T20:59:03.157" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11223" CreationDate="2011-02-03T21:01:46.730" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard this exact sentence used and my hunch (sorry, no source) is that it is derived from the general store days in which the warehouse or storage area of the retail shop was located above it. In that case, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will go up to the stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would have been something said by the proprietor if he intended to check the warehouse area of his shop for additional merchandise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2948" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T21:01:46.730" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="11263" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11269" CreationDate="2011-02-03T21:09:05.983" Score="4" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Our school had won the match if only we have concentrated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Our school would have won the match if only we would have concentrated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Our school would win the match if only we had concentrated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Our school had won the match if only we would have concentrated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Our school would have won the match if only we had concentrated. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tell me which one is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4553" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T22:15:54.373" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T00:07:25.313" Title="Tenses for two clauses joined by &quot;if only&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;verb-agreement&gt;&lt;subjunctive-mood&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11263" CreationDate="2011-02-03T21:31:11.137" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fifth one is the only one which doesn't sound marked to me, as a native English speaker. I believe that some speakers of American would consider the second one acceptable too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3542" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T21:31:11.137" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11263" CreationDate="2011-02-03T21:42:19.093" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a question from placement test, see:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://fw.freshersworld.com/placementweek/showpaper.asp?cid=28&amp;amp;pid=14267&amp;amp;pgcount=1&amp;amp;prio=8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://fw.freshersworld.com/placementweek/showpaper.asp?cid=28&amp;amp;pid=14267&amp;amp;pgcount=1&amp;amp;prio=8&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scribd.com/doc/47983144/CTS-Placment-Papers-20-jan-2010&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.scribd.com/doc/47983144/CTS-Placment-Papers-20-jan-2010&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last one is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T21:42:19.093" />
  <row Id="11266" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-03T21:45:25.723" Score="6" ViewCount="286" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming a male speaker is referring to an ex-partner, which of the following is more correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She left me for another woman  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She left me for a woman&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase &lt;em&gt;She left me for another man&lt;/em&gt; has always made sense to me because the omission of &lt;em&gt;another&lt;/em&gt; would suggest that she did not have a man before she left (a subtle self-deprecation on the part of the speaker). Similarly, a female speaker would say &lt;em&gt;He left me for another woman&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should the rules change when the new partner is of the same gender?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T14:38:19.260" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T14:38:19.260" Title="“She left me for another woman” or “She left me for a woman”?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;&lt;gender&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11266" CreationDate="2011-02-03T21:48:42.313" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Weird sample sentence, but anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering that &quot;another&quot; in this context means &quot;different or distinct&quot;, it seems appropriate to use simply &quot;She left me for a woman&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;another&quot; would seem to indicate that there is some woman in the equation that she is no longer with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a similar example, you could say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;My wife bought a purse. She didn't like it, so she returned it and bought another [purse].&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;My wife bought a purse. She didn't like it, so she returned it and bought a belt.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only reason to insert &quot;another&quot; in the second sentence is if you're implying that she already has a belt currently (and that this adds to the collection). In this context, &quot;another&quot; would mean &quot;being one more or more of the same&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitions from &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/another&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1959" LastEditorUserId="1959" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T00:35:18.800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T00:35:18.800" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="11268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11266" CreationDate="2011-02-03T21:55:07.813" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She left me for a woman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it would imply that she had given up on you and on men in general. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She left me for another woman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it implies that you think of yourself as a woman, or she does (or did).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If neither of the above is true, it is correct to say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She left me for another man.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea here is that &quot;She left me [to go with] another man.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; in this case is used in its sense of &quot;assigning&quot; one thing to another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T21:55:07.813" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11263" CreationDate="2011-02-03T22:02:38.950" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Only sentence 5. is correct. Whenever &lt;em&gt;if only&lt;/em&gt; is used in a dependent clause, the independent clause must take the conditional perfect (or present, etc.) tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T00:07:25.313" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T00:07:25.313" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11270" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11272" CreationDate="2011-02-03T22:04:40.973" Score="13" ViewCount="577" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have wondered for a while about how I should pronounce &quot;AJAX&quot; (asynchronous JavaScript and XML). I usually say &quot;I-acs&quot;, as in the Amsterdam football club, but should I say &quot;a-jacs&quot; (as it looks in English) or simply as the acronym &quot;A-J-A-X&quot;? Or does it not matter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4556" LastEditorUserId="4556" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T11:40:41.710" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T13:04:35.590" Title="How to pronounce &quot;AJAX&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11223" CreationDate="2011-02-03T22:09:21.100" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's the same kind of usage as saying &quot;I'm going up/down the street&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if up/down ever had specific usage - but these days, they're fairly interchangeable, and you'll get any number of different phrases like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm going down the street to see if Mrs Higgins is okay&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm going up to the pub for a pint&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may be some sub-conscious selection for the up/down if there is a gradient between the person's current location and the object location, or maybe compass direction (assume north to be up), but it's more likely to be just personal preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can get more confusing if you stop and get directions from someone:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Well, you head up this street and take a left. Then go down that road for a half a mile, take a right by the tree, and head up that road until you get to The Black Sheep and then head down the lane to the side of it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T22:09:21.100" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11270" CreationDate="2011-02-03T22:09:42.397" Score="27" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You pronounce it Ay-Jacks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My answer is a better version of the version on the answer later found &lt;a href=&quot;http://webdesign.about.com/od/ajax/g/bldefajax.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3143" LastEditorUserId="3143" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T13:04:35.590" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T13:04:35.590" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="11273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11250" CreationDate="2011-02-03T22:14:38.040" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This doesn't quite answer your question, but...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the 17th century several contracted negative verb forms came into use – among them &lt;em&gt;don’t, won’t, shan’t, an’t&lt;/em&gt; (an ancestor of &lt;em&gt;ain’t&lt;/em&gt;), &lt;em&gt;han’t, wa’n’t&lt;/em&gt; – that are noticeable because their pronunciation differs rather markedly from that of the positive elements from which they were formed...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More at &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com.au/books?id=2yJusP0vrdgC&amp;amp;pg=PA362&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster's dictionary of English usage&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; was the original contraction for all persons (we, you, I, they, etc.), and &lt;em&gt;doesn't&lt;/em&gt; is a later form. So maybe it's not that odd that the expanded contraction &quot;do not I&quot; don't (ha ha) look right to us now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although, interestingly, a line from Jane Austen:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I have always admired her complexion,&quot; replied Emma, archly; &quot;but do not I remember the time when you found fault with her for being so pale?...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T22:14:38.040" />
  <row Id="11274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11270" CreationDate="2011-02-03T22:16:46.977" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The traditional pronunciation for the Greek hero is &lt;code&gt;ˈeɪdʒaks&lt;/code&gt;, which can serve as guidance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T22:16:46.977" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11210" CreationDate="2011-02-03T22:25:11.050" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good article on this at &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contractions_of_negated_auxiliary_verbs_in_English#Etymology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Amn't&lt;/em&gt; as a contraction of &lt;em&gt;am not&lt;/em&gt; is known from 1618. As the &quot;mn&quot; combination of two nasal consonants is disfavored by many English speakers, the &quot;m&quot; of &lt;em&gt;amn't&lt;/em&gt; began to be elided, reflected in writing with the new form &lt;em&gt;an't&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Aren't&lt;/em&gt; as a contraction for &lt;em&gt;are not&lt;/em&gt; first appeared in 1675. In non-rhotic dialects, aren't also began to be represented by &lt;em&gt;an't&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and also, lower down the page:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Aren't&lt;/em&gt; as a contraction for &lt;em&gt;am not&lt;/em&gt; developed from one pronunciation of &lt;em&gt;an't&lt;/em&gt; (which itself developed in part from &lt;em&gt;amn't&lt;/em&gt; - see etymology of &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt; for further discussion). In non-rhotic dialects, &lt;em&gt;aren't&lt;/em&gt; and this pronunciation of &lt;em&gt;an't&lt;/em&gt; are homonyms. For reasons that are unclear, the spelling &lt;em&gt;aren't&lt;/em&gt; I began to replace &lt;em&gt;an't I&lt;/em&gt; in the early part of the twentieth century...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T22:25:11.050" />
  <row Id="11276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11270" CreationDate="2011-02-03T22:27:49.037" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The traditional pronunciation for the detergent brand (and I think also the Greek hero, contrary to FX_'s answer) is &lt;code&gt;/ˈejdʒæks/&lt;/code&gt; (often written &lt;code&gt;/ˈeɪdʒæks/&lt;/code&gt;), which can serve as guidance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T22:27:49.037" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11210" CreationDate="2011-02-03T22:44:15.647" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's perfectly fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the right dialect you'd also get away with &quot;ain't&quot; (which is the same for first, second and third person, singular and plural, conveniently).  But it's widely (UK) considered a bit vulgar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;..., am I not&quot; tends to give extra stress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4400" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T22:44:15.647" />
  <row Id="11279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11263" CreationDate="2011-02-03T22:48:40.023" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;5 is the only correct one, but you have the additional near-miss on 3:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our school would win the match if only we concentrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A hypoethetical future result based on a possible current action, as opposed to the past/past combination you have in your statements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4400" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T22:48:40.023" />
  <row Id="11280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11223" CreationDate="2011-02-03T22:53:52.780" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your quote is not right as it is, it looks like it wants to be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm going to the stores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More likely I would say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm going to the &lt;em&gt;shops&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but I think that might be personal word preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm going &lt;em&gt;down&lt;/em&gt; the shops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is perfectly common, and you can also say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm going up/down the road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or even&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm going up/down the village.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but on both cases you'd be implying that you're already on the road, or in the village, and you're just going to a different part of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4400" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T22:53:52.780" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11228" CreationDate="2011-02-03T23:00:40.600" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're going to use it in conversation the usual ways would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[That's a difficult problem.] I'll go put on my thinking cap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... I'll go away and think about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[That's a difficult problem.]  Why don't you put on your thinking cap and we'll talk later?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... Why don't you go away and think about it and we'll talk later?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general idea it expresses is that you're taking time just to sit and think hard about something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also say things like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've got my thinking cap on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'll put my thinking cap on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4400" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T23:00:40.600" />
  <row Id="11283" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11288" CreationDate="2011-02-04T00:35:14.657" Score="3" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Washington Post (Feb 3rd) introduces upcoming Donald Rumsfeld’s memoir in an article titled ‘Rumsfeld remains unapologetic in his memoir.' &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I felt the word ‘receive’ was used in the following sentence pretty different from the usage I’m familiar with, such as ‘receive a mail (guest, impression, meaning, benefits, TV broadcast)‘. What does ‘receive’ mean in the following sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bush did not receive a timely consideration of his option, nor effective implementation of his own decision. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why could it happen on the Earth that the former President didn't or couldn't (even not always) 'receive' his own option and decision once he made? Does it mean 'seriously deal with'? Is the usage of 'receive' in this notion very common in English, because I can't find an exact counterpart gloss to fit this case in Japanese English dictionaries at hand?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bush 'did not always receive, and may not have insisted on, a timely consideration of his options before he made a decision, nor did he always receive effective implementation of the decisions he made,' Rumsfeld writes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T08:55:26.347" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T08:55:26.347" Title="What does ‘Receive’ mean in ‘Bush did not always receive a timely consideration of his option'?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11266" CreationDate="2011-02-04T00:37:08.130" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming a male speaker, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She left me for another woman&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;implies she left the man for a woman, having already been with women in the past. The “another” refers to the fact that there already are women in the woman’s past, and the one she left the man for is one more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She left me for a woman&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;implies she left the man for a woman, and this is the first time she has been with a woman, as far as the speaker knows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T00:37:08.130" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11285" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11289" CreationDate="2011-02-04T00:44:11.000" Score="4" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Beatrice, nine, sent a letter to the actor &lt;strong&gt;asking&lt;/strong&gt; for piracy lessons to help lead a mutiny against the teachers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does the &lt;em&gt;asking&lt;/em&gt; participle phrase act as? Why is participle phrase used instead of multiple clause?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T11:57:28.860" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T11:57:28.860" Title="Participle phrase; is the grammar correct?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;participle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11283" CreationDate="2011-02-04T01:05:51.193" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In that usage, you could practically replace it with &lt;em&gt;get&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;obtain&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Receive&lt;/em&gt; means acquiring from somewhere/someone else.  So the statement:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;‘Bush did not receive a timely consideration of his option, nor effective implementation of his own decision.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;States that Rumsfeld's option (his plan/tactic/agenda) was not considered in a timely fashion (by Bush), that is to say - it was not considered sufficiently early to be of use.  In the second part of the statement, Rumsfeld goes on to say that he also did not receive an 'effective implementation of his own decision'.  To put that another way, his decision was not implemented properly; he wanted to obtain a state where his decision was effectively implemented, but that state was not obtained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastEditorUserId="2253" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T01:20:19.587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T01:20:19.587" />
  <row Id="11287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11283" CreationDate="2011-02-04T01:08:34.037" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What he means, Oishi-san, is that Bush wasn't really interested in what Rumsfeld thought. The &lt;em&gt;consideration&lt;/em&gt; here is Rumsfeld's deliberation and advice about the options available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T01:08:34.037" />
  <row Id="11288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11283" CreationDate="2011-02-04T01:08:34.910" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;receive&quot; in this case has the same meaning as &quot;receive mail&quot;. But instead of mail, the thing that Bush (didn't) receive was this thing: &quot;timely consideration of his option nor effective implementation of his own decision.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a rather long phrase, so you have to break it down:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two things that bush didn't receive:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Thing 1) &quot;timely consideration of his option&quot; (meaning, &quot;options were not considered on time&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Thing 2) &quot;effective implementation of his own decision&quot; (meaning, &quot;decisions were not implemented effectively&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the general structure for a sentence like this is &quot;John did not receive Thing_1 nor Thing_2&quot;. Where Thing_1 and Thing_2 can be anything, like &quot;mail&quot;, &quot;news&quot;, etc. For instance &quot;John did not receive apples nor oranges&quot;. Your sentence has the exact same structure, except that the things in your sentence are more complicated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it makes you feel any better, that's a really poorly written sentence and I hope you don't take it as a model for writing! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4424" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T01:08:34.910" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="11289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11285" CreationDate="2011-02-04T02:10:16.963" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It acts as a subordinate clause further explaining the action of the sentence (in which Beatrice is the subject, sent is the verb, the letter is the direct object and the actor is the indirect object).  I don't understand how you're posing &quot;participle phrase&quot; and &quot;multiple clause&quot; as opposing alternatives; the participle phrase &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; one of the multiple clauses in the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The entire sentence is quite grammatically correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T02:10:16.963" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="11290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10084" CreationDate="2011-02-04T02:25:58.467" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All the examples given so far are good, but I would also offer as common expressions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My (cell) phone is almost out of batteries&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I’m almost out of batteries&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My phone’s battery is dying&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My phone is dying&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T02:25:58.467" />
  <row Id="11291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11233" CreationDate="2011-02-04T02:43:07.213" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps your phrase is a shortening of &quot;go to&quot;. OED's entry for &quot;to go to&quot; reads:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To go about one's work, to get to work. Chiefly in imp. as an exhortation = Come on!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some examples which seem similar in spirit to your &quot;Go _!&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1513    G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid ix. ii. 12   &quot;Hay, hay, go to! than cry thai with ane schout.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1611    Bible (A.V.) Gen. xi. 3   &quot;And they sayd one to another; Goe to, let vs make bricke.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1690    W. Walker Idiomatologia Anglo-Lat. 208   &quot;Go to! let it be done.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though, to be honest, I think I'm pulling at straws here. I'm inclined to think that your &quot;Go, team, go!&quot; belongs to a family of verbs which follow can follow pattern. Some examples that come to mind are &quot;Run, Lola, run!&quot; or, &quot;Drive, man, drive&quot;, or &quot;Speak, man, speak!&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4424" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T02:43:07.213" />
  <row Id="11292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11164" CreationDate="2011-02-04T02:49:51.577" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks:1&amp;amp;tbo=1&amp;amp;q=%22snail+toss%22&amp;amp;btnG=Search+Books&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's&lt;/a&gt; the google books search for &quot;snail toss&quot;:&#xA;The only relevant reference is &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=NAI5AQAAIAAJ&amp;amp;q=%22snail+toss%22&amp;amp;dq=%22snail+toss%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=lGhLTbGlHcOB8gaVsZyNDw&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Annie's garden journal&lt;/a&gt;, where the snippet allows me to read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Then we had the snail toss contest! We wanted to see who could throw them the fartest and make the loudest noise!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4424" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T02:49:51.577" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9850" CreationDate="2011-02-04T02:59:21.640" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure how to post a comment, but this is an interesting use of Google's Ngram Viewer.  We can see that between &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=colour,color&amp;amp;year_start=1800&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=1&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1840 and 1850&lt;/a&gt; color overtook colour (using their American English &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/info&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dataset&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4558" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T02:59:21.640" />
  <row Id="11294" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-04T04:40:04.973" Score="1" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is proper grammar: &lt;em&gt;“Ice possible drive with care”&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;“possible ice drive with caution”&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4559" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T14:40:07.353" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T15:02:15.990" Title="&quot;Ice possible&quot; or &quot;Possible ice&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;signage&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11294" CreationDate="2011-02-04T05:16:53.380" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As written, neither version is OK.  They both require some punctuation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ice possible - drive with care&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Possible ice - drive with caution&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of these, the first is probably better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As has been noted, my answer assumes that this is a road sign, where brevity and clarity are paramount.  For a road sign, the most important word is 'ice'; the rest is less important.  That is another argument for the first version above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are writing running text, then you need to do more work, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The road may be icy; drive with care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could use a dash instead of a semi-colon.  You could write 'caution' instead of 'care'.  You could even treat it as two sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The road may be icy. Drive with care!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastEditorUserId="2386" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T15:02:15.990" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T15:02:15.990" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11296" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11361" CreationDate="2011-02-04T05:30:04.473" Score="4" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;We can say &quot;The add function is applied to values 1 and 2&quot;. Can we say equivalently &quot;The values 1 and 2 are supplied to the add function&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2758" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T17:40:04.347" Title="Is &quot;supply&quot; the inverse of &quot;apply&quot;?" Tags="&lt;inversion&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11297" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-04T05:36:06.923" Score="0" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you pronounce &quot;GUID?&quot; Is it one syllable or two?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1575" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T09:10:27.680" Title="How to pronounce GUID" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11297" CreationDate="2011-02-04T05:39:51.410" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I go with the 1-syllable version (gwid) that rhymes with squid and liquid and that matches the pronunciation of &quot;languid&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/languid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/languid&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1575" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T05:39:51.410" />
  <row Id="11299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11297" CreationDate="2011-02-04T05:43:02.013" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globally_unique_identifier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;pronounced /ˈɡuːɪd/ or the preferred pronunciation /ˈɡwɪd/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the single-syllable pronunciation is preferred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll probably continue to spell it out when I come across it despite that fact. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T05:43:02.013" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11296" CreationDate="2011-02-04T05:46:37.217" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this context, your syntax is correct. You apply a function to one or more parameters, and you supply one or more parameters to a function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T05:46:37.217" />
  <row Id="11301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11296" CreationDate="2011-02-04T05:52:01.407" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, we can. Similarly we can say 'the machine is applied to flour and sugar to make cake' or 'flour and sugar is supplied to the machine to make cake'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T05:52:01.407" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11302" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11303" CreationDate="2011-02-04T05:59:05.157" Score="3" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to pronounce LINQ? Or should I just say L-I-N-Q? (&lt;a href=&quot;http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa904594&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LINQ&lt;/a&gt; is a .NET extension for queries.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="537" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T15:31:24.563" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T15:31:24.563" Title="How to pronounce LINQ?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11302" CreationDate="2011-02-04T06:07:24.287" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=pronunciation+linq&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;consensus&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linq&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;is on&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;&quot;link&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="583" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T06:07:24.287" />
  <row Id="11304" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11401" CreationDate="2011-02-04T06:34:11.727" Score="3" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what is the meaning of the expressions 'killing moon' and 'killing time' on the song Killing moon by Echo and The Bunnymen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Under blue moon I saw you So soon&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  you'll take me Up in your arms Too&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  late to beg you or cancel it Though I&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  know it must be the killing time&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Unwillingly mine  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In starlit nights I saw you So cruelly&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  you kissed me Your lips a magic world&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Your sky all hung with jewels The&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  killing moon Will come too soon  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume the song does not refer to some sort of ritualistic murder on full moon. So what is the meaning intended for these expressions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3508" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T09:00:36.877" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T21:49:10.473" Title="What's the meaning intended for 'killing moon' and 'killing time' used in the song by Echo and The Bunnymen" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;lyrics&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11304" CreationDate="2011-02-04T07:45:14.800" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The song is about the conflict between personal striving and inevitability, particularly the inevitability of death; the figures of the killing time and the killing moon are used to suggest death as something that occurs at a preordained moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T07:45:14.800" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11294" CreationDate="2011-02-04T07:51:22.987" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Risk of ice - drive with caution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T07:51:22.987" />
  <row Id="11307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11304" CreationDate="2011-02-04T07:54:30.520" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Killing moon&lt;/em&gt; sounds vaguely astrological, as if some alignment or what-have-you in the heavens is being interpreted as related to killing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, &lt;em&gt;moon&lt;/em&gt; sometimes means &quot;month&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T07:54:30.520" />
  <row Id="11308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11294" CreationDate="2011-02-04T07:55:59.097" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jonathan Leffler's answer is great for a road sign. For standard written English, though, you need a verb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ice &lt;b&gt;is&lt;/b&gt; possible: drive with care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T07:55:59.097" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11297" CreationDate="2011-02-04T08:06:51.117" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I pronounce it with four syllables, as the alternatives sound a little weird to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T08:06:51.117" />
  <row Id="11310" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11314" CreationDate="2011-02-04T08:16:50.373" Score="6" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dependant&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;dependent&lt;/strong&gt; really confuses me when to use, especially with the combination &lt;strong&gt;of&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;from&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mike was dependant to/from/on his mother.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The states are dependent to/from/on the federal government.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When to use what term with what? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3924" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T16:25:40.940" Title="dependent or dependant on or to or from?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11310" CreationDate="2011-02-04T08:21:59.913" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Dependant' is a noun while 'dependent' is an adjective. If X is a dependant of Y, then X is dependent on Y.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T08:21:59.913" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11283" CreationDate="2011-02-04T08:47:56.923" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that in the context of the article, Rumsfield is talking as an observor, not an actor - he is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; talking about Bush considering Rumsfield's proposals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rumsfield is suggesting that some people in the government did not give President Bush recommendations about his plans promptly (because of the &quot;disagreements between senior advisors&quot; mentioned earlier in the article).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this context, &lt;em&gt;receive&lt;/em&gt; means the same as &lt;em&gt;get&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mr Bush &quot;did not always receive, and&#xA;  may not have insisted on, a timely&#xA;  consideration of his options before he&#xA;  made a decision ...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;means that the President did not get / was not given advice about options he wanted to consider. That is, his advisors did not provide him with policy advice quickly enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The paragraph preceding the text you quoted provides important context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mr Rumsfeld also suggests that Bush&#xA;  was at fault for not doing more to&#xA;  resolve disagreements among senior&#xA;  advisers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mr Bush &quot;did not always&#xA;  receive, and may not have insisted on,&#xA;  a timely consideration of his options&#xA;  before he made a decision, nor did he&#xA;  always receive effective&#xA;  implementation of the decisions he&#xA;  made,&quot; he wrote.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4562" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T08:47:56.923" />
  <row Id="11313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11266" CreationDate="2011-02-04T08:48:50.307" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;She left me for a woman&quot; is more correct but &quot;She left me for another woman&quot; has a poetic and humorous quality, being a play on a standard form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2508" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T08:48:50.307" />
  <row Id="11314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11310" CreationDate="2011-02-04T08:58:34.210" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported from the NOAD, &lt;em&gt;dependent&lt;/em&gt; is both adjective and noun; &lt;em&gt;dependant&lt;/em&gt; is used as noun in British English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;adjective&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. [ predicate] (&lt;em&gt;dependent on/upon&lt;/em&gt;) contingent on or determined by: &lt;em&gt;the various benefits will be dependent on length of service&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. requiring someone or something for financial, emotional, or other support: &lt;em&gt;an economy heavily dependent on oil exports&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;households with dependent children&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;• unable to do without: &lt;em&gt;people dependent on drugs&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;welfare-dependent families&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;noun ( British also dependant)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  a person who relies on another, esp. a family member, for financial support: &lt;em&gt;a single man with no dependents&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T08:58:34.210" />
  <row Id="11315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11297" CreationDate="2011-02-04T09:00:19.303" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globally_unique_identifier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia's aticle&lt;/a&gt; aside, I think it is more common in the IT industry to hear GUID pronounced as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/questions/560629/what-are-the-pronunciations-of-these-abbreviations&quot;&gt;GOO-id&lt;/a&gt; (/ˈguːɪd/)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;with a hard G sound (at least in Australia, the UK and Canada).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4562" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T09:00:19.303" />
  <row Id="11316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11304" CreationDate="2011-02-04T09:08:57.790" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;killing moon&lt;/em&gt; might make perfectly sense to a werewolf&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T09:08:57.790" />
  <row Id="11317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11297" CreationDate="2011-02-04T09:10:27.680" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can pronounce it as four syllables (/ˌdʒi ju ˈaɪ di/), or like a single syllable (/ˈguid/).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if there is a preference between the two pronunciations, but I would expect that the second pronunciation will become the most used one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T09:10:27.680" />
  <row Id="11318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11302" CreationDate="2011-02-04T09:25:39.367" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In all the tutorials and according to Wikipedia it's simply pronounced &lt;strong&gt;/lɪŋk/&lt;/strong&gt; exactly like link.&#xA;It's a Microsoft .NET Framework Component.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T09:25:39.367" />
  <row Id="11319" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11321" CreationDate="2011-02-04T09:28:28.990" Score="2" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have checked on the NOAD, but I didn't find the origin of &lt;em&gt;Americana&lt;/em&gt;; it's reported that it means &lt;em&gt;things associated with the culture and history of America, especially the United States&lt;/em&gt;, but not the origin of the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a hypothesis, but it doesn't explain why &lt;em&gt;Americana&lt;/em&gt; is a plural noun. Does anybody know the origin of the word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T18:02:44.150" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T18:02:44.150" Title="What is the origin of Americana?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="11320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1793" CreationDate="2011-02-04T09:30:23.573" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the sentence tells us &#xA;&lt;em&gt;There may be other reasons for Titnaeus' influence, but one of them is for sure ....&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;here are more people supporting this &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=718222&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=718222&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T09:30:23.573" />
  <row Id="11321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11319" CreationDate="2011-02-04T09:38:52.587" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It comes from &lt;em&gt;America&lt;/em&gt; and the suffix &lt;em&gt;-ana&lt;/em&gt;, of which the NOAD says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(forming plural nouns) denoting things&#xA;  associated with a person, place, or&#xA;  field of interest: Americana |&#xA;  Victoriana.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Origin: from the neuter plural of the Latin adjectival ending &#xA;  &lt;em&gt;-anus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have any examples in mind other than those above: &lt;em&gt;Americana&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Victoriana&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T09:38:52.587" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11266" CreationDate="2011-02-04T09:39:41.040" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Contrary to the other answers, I think &quot;she left me for another woman&quot; is perfectly fine, and does not imply anything about her earlier relationships (other than with the speaker). It is true that in a sentence like &quot;she left me for another man&quot;, the &lt;em&gt;another&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;other than myself&lt;/em&gt;, a meaning which does not apply (since the speaker is male) to &quot;she left me for another woman&quot;. But here, &quot;another&quot; can mean &lt;em&gt;other than herself&lt;/em&gt;. For instance, in a sentence like &quot;Shane was pleased to see another Australian in Cairo&quot;, the &quot;another&quot; only means &quot;other than himself&quot;, and does not imply that he'd seen other Australians before. Similarly, &quot;she left me for another woman&quot; does not necessarily imply that she'd been with a woman before, I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I think &quot;she left me for a woman&quot; is fine, too. It does not have the problem you mentioned that &quot;she left me for a man&quot; would have (self-deprecation on part of the male speaker), and if some people are going to (mis?)interpret &quot;another woman&quot; as meaning that there was already &lt;em&gt;another&lt;/em&gt; &quot;another woman&quot;, then it's probably best to avoid &quot;another&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T09:39:41.040" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11323" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-04T11:18:27.353" Score="4" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;These seem to mean exactly the same thing. They surely sound different though, so maybe I'm missing some subtlety. Do the sentences have a different meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It seems like a random occurrence.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It seems a random occurrence.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also curious about this one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It seems to be a random occurrence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2380" LastEditorUserId="2380" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T11:38:30.380" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T10:34:43.450" Title="&quot;It seems [like] a random occurrence&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11323" CreationDate="2011-02-04T11:48:59.663" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All the sentences you wrote can be used, and would mean &lt;em&gt;to give the impression or sensation of being something or having a particular quality&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dawn seemed annoyed.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  There seems to be plenty to eat.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  It seemed that he was determined to oppose her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary English&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; for some phrases containing &lt;em&gt;it seems&lt;/em&gt;, I get the following result:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;Phrase         |  Frequency per million&#xA;               |&#xA;               |   Spoken | Magazine | Newspaper | Academic&#xA;It seems a     |    1.11  |  0.93    |  1.09     |  0.66&#xA;It seems like  |   17.33  |  3.94    |  6.68     |  0.76&#xA;It seems that  |    9.40  |  6.30    |  5.35     | 12.01&#xA;It seems to be |    6.90  |  1.90    |  2.32     |  1.87&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/HiUT4.png&quot; alt=&quot;Usage of &amp;quot;it seems&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T10:34:43.450" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T10:34:43.450" />
  <row Id="11325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11294" CreationDate="2011-02-04T12:02:04.897" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If this were a letter to someone I'd say &quot;Drive with care, there might be ice&quot;, or similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it sounds like a road sign text...&#xA;I don't understand why the English speaking world is so fond of textual road signs. In Norway and most of continental Europe, symbols is used for almost all types of warning signs. Texts is reserved for directions to place names, and some extra information on warning signs, etc. It's a lot easier to see a standardized symbol, than reading a text that may not be consistently written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Norway ice is &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; a possibility in the winter, but if the road is especially likely of causing slippery conditions we use this sign &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fareskilt_15.PNG&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fareskilt_15.PNG&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2820" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T12:02:04.897" />
  <row Id="11326" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11327" CreationDate="2011-02-04T12:08:55.107" Score="20" ViewCount="1222" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am seeing both 20$ and $20 usages. (20 is nonessential to this question.)   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between them?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T11:43:18.227" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T11:43:18.227" Title="What is the difference between 20$ and $20?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="11327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11326" CreationDate="2011-02-04T12:28:38.200" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is the convention of some countries to put their currency symbol before the number, while others put it after the number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least one country has put it in the middle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you could assume, in the absence of any context, that the 20$ is a different currency to $20.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T12:28:38.200" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="11328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11044" CreationDate="2011-02-04T12:35:39.267" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;em&gt;gloat&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;gloating&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2310" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T12:35:39.267" />
  <row Id="11329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11326" CreationDate="2011-02-04T13:09:50.407" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In American English, the currency symbol is placed before the amount; the same is true for British English.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is &lt;em&gt;$20&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;20$&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T14:09:06.750" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T14:09:06.750" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="11330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11270" CreationDate="2011-02-04T13:17:21.023" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The pronunciation I find on the NOAD is /ˈeɪˌdʒæks/, which matches as a friend of mine (who is American) pronounces the word, independently from the meaning of the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T13:17:21.023" />
  <row Id="11331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11326" CreationDate="2011-02-04T13:55:36.263" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;strike&gt;Argentina&lt;/strike&gt; &lt;em&gt;other countries&lt;/em&gt; it's the same, $20, I think it's the most widely used convention. Happens the same with Euro €20.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you think of it as a unit (Not sure if it's considered as such) then it's the only unit I can think of that comes before the number. Consider &lt;em&gt;23 cm&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;6 in&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;2&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edit: removed a mention to a country which doesn't seem to be relevant to this site and the English language.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4548" LastEditorUserId="4548" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T03:11:13.570" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T03:11:13.570" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="11332" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11333" CreationDate="2011-02-04T13:59:33.920" Score="5" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;In writing authors' initials in research papers (either in the author by-line or the bibliography), should there be a space between intials?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;R.P. Feynman  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;R. P. Feynman&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the preferred way of writing it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1534" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T14:24:26.130" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T14:24:26.130" Title="Should there be a space between name initials?" Tags="&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;names&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11332" CreationDate="2011-02-04T14:06:02.103" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The periods in the initials stand for truncations, so you would put a space after each one. I don't think British English uses the initials, but I have seen various ways of doing it based on different style guides that govern different domains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.library.cornell.edu/resrch/citmanage/apa&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;APA style guide&lt;/a&gt;, where they do use spaces:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Van Vugt, M., Hogan, R., &amp;amp; Kaiser, R. B. (2008). Leadership, followership, and evolution: Some lessons from the past. American Psychologist, 63(3), 182-196. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.63.3.182&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The MLA style guide &lt;a href=&quot;http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/06/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;concurs&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Palmer, William J. Dickens and New Historicism. New York: St. Martin's, 1997. Print.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T14:06:02.103" />
  <row Id="11334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11326" CreationDate="2011-02-04T14:15:53.963" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The location of the currency depends on the language in which it appears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For &lt;a href=&quot;http://publications.europa.eu/code/en/en-370303.htm#position&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;instance&lt;/a&gt;, English texts should use &quot;€ 20&quot; while French ones should use &quot;20 €&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1437" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T14:15:53.963" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11335" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-04T14:25:16.400" Score="0" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we ask about well-being when we meet other people, is this the correct usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How is everyone at home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or are there any other ways to address this when talking to a person via email or face-to-face?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2544" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T14:54:10.660" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T17:24:26.510" Title="Usage of “how is everyone”" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;salutation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="11336" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11338" CreationDate="2011-02-04T14:34:13.237" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that &lt;em&gt;palazzo&lt;/em&gt; is used also in English, not only in Italian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is then the difference between &lt;em&gt;palazzo&lt;/em&gt; (as used in English), and &lt;em&gt;palace&lt;/em&gt; (which is an English word)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T14:41:08.003" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T16:14:59.467" Title="What is the difference between &quot;palazzo&quot; and &quot;palace&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;places&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="11337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11335" CreationDate="2011-02-04T14:34:35.460" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;How is everyone at home?&lt;/em&gt; is a polite, acceptable way to ask about how the other person's family and household is doing. You could also ask directly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How is your family?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T14:34:35.460" />
  <row Id="11338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11336" CreationDate="2011-02-04T14:40:59.860" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strictly speaking, a palace is the official residence of a sovereign (or, by extension, a dignitary). Informally, it may also mean “a building that looks like a palace”, i.e. a vast, beautiful and richly-decorated house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The NOAD has for &lt;em&gt;palazzo&lt;/em&gt;: “a palatial building, esp. in Italy”. So, I expect that the main difference is this &lt;em&gt;“in Italy”&lt;/em&gt;. Other than that, I think it's quite close in meaning, at least to the informal meaning of &lt;em&gt;palace&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for usage, &lt;em&gt;palazzo&lt;/em&gt; is much less used than &lt;em&gt;palace&lt;/em&gt;: the Corpus of Contemporary American English has 7622 occurences of “palace” vs 597 for “palazzo” or “palazzi”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T14:56:09.840" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T14:56:09.840" />
  <row Id="11339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11204" CreationDate="2011-02-04T14:43:46.723" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is usually said that &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; is used for people (and sometimes animals) while &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; is used to refer to objects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In actual usage, though, both &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; can be used to refer to persons, sometimes to animals, and sometimes to entities that consist of people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The dog who/that chewed the bone chased the cat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The person who/that stole my purse used all my credit cards.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The group who/that went shopping was mugged.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;That&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt;, is used to refer to objects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The house that Jack built is falling down.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0856500#m_en_gb0856500&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries Online&lt;/a&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is sometimes argued that, in relative clauses, &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; should be used for non-human references, while &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; should be used for human references: &lt;em&gt;a house that overlooks the park&lt;/em&gt; but &lt;em&gt;the woman who lives next door&lt;/em&gt;. In practice, while it is true to say that &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; is restricted to human references, the function of &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; is flexible. It has been used for human and non-human references since at least the 11th century, and is invaluable where both a person and a thing is being referred to, as in &lt;em&gt;a person or thing that is believed to bring bad luck&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For  more examples of actual usage, here's a link to &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=2yJusP0vrdgC&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English usage&lt;/a&gt; (see pages 895 and 896).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastEditorUserId="2972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T11:53:50.920" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T11:53:50.920" />
  <row Id="11340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11326" CreationDate="2011-02-04T14:45:44.910" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;$20 is conventional, but to throw a wrench in the whole thing: if it is casual correspondence, either way is OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T14:45:44.910" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11326" CreationDate="2011-02-04T14:52:24.103" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English, the dollar sign is placed before the amount, as &lt;em&gt;$20&lt;/em&gt;, as others have noted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when you see people using &lt;em&gt;20$&lt;/em&gt;, it's likely they're being influenced by a few different things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Many other countries put the currency symbol after the amount&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In spoken English the word &lt;em&gt;dollars&lt;/em&gt; follows the amount, e.g. &lt;em&gt;twenty dollars&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The sign for &lt;em&gt;cents&lt;/em&gt; is placed after the amount: &lt;em&gt;25¢&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of these inconsistencies, writing &lt;em&gt;20$&lt;/em&gt; is a very common mistake. I've been known to do it myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T14:52:24.103" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11342" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12394" CreationDate="2011-02-04T15:05:21.747" Score="1" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one (#1, #2 or #3) is grammatical?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is calculated as...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1) ...the price difference from one&#xA;  year to another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2) ...the price difference from a year&#xA;  to another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strike&gt;3) ...the price difference from one&#xA;  year to other.&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was about to write #1 in a document, when I thought that maybe I should not mix a numeral (&lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt;) with an article (&lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;another&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE: &#xA;In his answer below, FX_ says that he would say #1 and that thinks that #2 is also correct. I'm starting a bounty to check if there any different answers.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="740" LastEditorUserId="740" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T22:05:53.947" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T06:28:09.557" Title="&quot;from one year to another&quot; vs. &quot;from a year to another&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11342" CreationDate="2011-02-04T15:08:28.873" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The third sentence is definitely not correct: you already have mentioned one thing, so you have to use &lt;em&gt;another&lt;/em&gt; and not &lt;em&gt;other&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first one is correct, and is the way I'd say it. The second does not sound as good to me, but I think it is also correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T15:08:28.873" />
  <row Id="11344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11326" CreationDate="2011-02-04T15:13:34.670" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have mentioned in passing, those are not the only two possibilities. In France at least, you sometimes find prices written as &lt;strong&gt;19€95&lt;/strong&gt;, as an alternative to &lt;strong&gt;19,95€&lt;/strong&gt; (and yes, the decimal separator there is the comma).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T15:13:34.670" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11345" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-04T15:25:16.093" Score="0" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the grammar rule for the preposition after the word free? Why do we say free of impurities but free of charge?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4572" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T16:07:52.670" Title="grammar rule for prepositions" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11349" CreationDate="2011-02-04T15:40:08.553" Score="6" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The best way to know a man is to walk a thousand miles in his shoes. That way, he's a  thousand miles away and has no shoes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm willing to bet it's a Jack Handey quote, as it's rather in that vein of thinking, but the question came up, and since &quot;walk a thousand miles in [his] shoes&quot; is so vague, it's hard to pin it down on [insert-random-search-engine-here].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what's the best way to look up a quote like this (and bonus points for the source attribution / correct quote on this one)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2161" LastEditorUserId="94" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T15:55:43.767" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T16:03:38.807" Title="What is the best way to track down the origin and grammar of this quote?" Tags="&lt;quotes&gt;&lt;research&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11346" CreationDate="2011-02-04T15:48:16.103" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't judge your fellow until you arrive in his place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-- Ethics of the Fathers, 2:4&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your quote seems to be a humorous takeaway of the one I've mentioned here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2019" LastEditorUserId="2019" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T15:54:10.930" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T15:54:10.930" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11345" CreationDate="2011-02-04T16:02:13.860" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are other prepositions you could use with &quot;free&quot; as well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am free from two till four this afternoon.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I would like to be free of this burden.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A soft drink comes free with purchase.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are free to do what you want.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The offer is free while supplies last.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hang on, I'll be free in five minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm free at last!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could go on ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T16:02:13.860" />
  <row Id="11349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11346" CreationDate="2011-02-04T16:03:38.807" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I googled &quot;never judge walk mile shoes mile away have his shoes handey&quot; and got &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dictionary-quotes.com/never-criticize-a-man-until-you-ve-walked-a-mile-in-his-moccasins-american-indian-proverb/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;, which says the quote is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Before you criticize someone, you&#xA;  should walk a mile in their shoes.&#xA;  That way when you criticize them, you&#xA;  are a mile away from them and you have&#xA;  their shoes.&quot; – Jack Handey&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My technique was to specify a subset of the quote that I thought had the words that most likely actually appeared in the original quote, along with the suspected correct attribution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T16:03:38.807" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11350" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11352" CreationDate="2011-02-04T16:06:03.627" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1314/user-accounts-or-users-account&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;user accounts&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;users account&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I keep asking myself which form is the most correct when listing items on a website:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Article list&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;or &quot;Articles list&quot;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, when nothing was found, do you say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;No items were found&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;or &quot;No item was found&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;or more simply &quot;No item(s?) found?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4573" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T16:08:39.113" ClosedDate="2011-02-04T16:39:05.553" Title="Use of the plural with list, and when item count is 0" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;list&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11345" CreationDate="2011-02-04T16:07:52.670" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;charge&quot; vs. &quot;impurities&quot; difference you actually seem to be asking about is nothing to do with the preposition as such; it's to do with &quot;charge&quot; being a &quot;mass noun&quot;, so not calling for pluralization, and &quot;impurity&quot; being a &quot;count noun&quot;, which it's appropriate to pluralize here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This distinction is the same one as produces the &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/less-versus-fewer.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;less vs. fewer&quot;&lt;/a&gt; dichotomy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T16:07:52.670" />
  <row Id="11352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11350" CreationDate="2011-02-04T16:08:39.113" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Article list&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;No items were found&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T16:08:39.113" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11336" CreationDate="2011-02-04T16:14:59.467" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Palazzo&quot; is mainly used in English to communicate that the building is called a palazzo in the regional language of its location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T16:14:59.467" />
  <row Id="11354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11310" CreationDate="2011-02-04T16:25:40.940" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The adjective derived from the verb &lt;em&gt;depend&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;dependent&lt;/em&gt;, and it takes the preposition, &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt;, just as the verb forms also take the same preposition e.g. &lt;em&gt;depending on&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;depends on&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;depended on&lt;/em&gt;, etc. Thus, your sentences should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Mike was &lt;em&gt;dependent on&lt;/em&gt; his mother.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The states are &lt;em&gt;dependent on&lt;/em&gt; the federal government.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dependent&lt;/em&gt; is also a noun (usually &lt;em&gt;dependant&lt;/em&gt; in British English). When necessary, it takes the preposition &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Mike is still a &lt;em&gt;dependant of&lt;/em&gt; his widowed mother.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The states are &lt;em&gt;dependents of&lt;/em&gt; the federal government.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T16:25:40.940" />
  <row Id="11355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11335" CreationDate="2011-02-04T16:27:35.197" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Informally, &quot;How is everyone?&quot; works fine if you're familiar enough with the person's family as not to require clarification.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2160" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T16:27:35.197" />
  <row Id="11356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11335" CreationDate="2011-02-04T17:01:00.837" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;How is everyone at home?&lt;/code&gt; is just fine, though there are a few other ways of putting it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, &lt;code&gt;How is everyone holding up?&lt;/code&gt; which is more informal, and friendlier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, in informal/spoken english, people usually reduce the &lt;code&gt;How is&lt;/code&gt; to &lt;code&gt;How's&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="391" LastEditorUserId="391" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T17:24:26.510" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T17:24:26.510" />
  <row Id="11357" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11358" CreationDate="2011-02-04T17:12:52.057" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Germany, when a patient is admitted to a hospital, a nurse makes an assessment of the amount of help he will need. There is a guideline for classification: e. g. if he can't eat by himself, he is put into grade 2, if he can eat but needs help getting dressed, he is put into grade 3, etc. The German name for this is &lt;code&gt;Pflegestufe&lt;/code&gt;, as in &lt;code&gt;This patient is in Pflegestufe 2&lt;/code&gt;. The health care insurance pays the hospital money for the patient, and the amount they pay is based on his Pflegestufe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need a translation of this, and American readers with some background on the administrative side of health care should be able to understand the translation without the need for a lengthy explanation. Meaning that saying &quot;The amount of help a patient needs as defined per health care insurer guideline&quot; is too long an explanation. But if I just pick a term which sounds right, like &lt;code&gt;care grade&lt;/code&gt;, it is probably not the term used in the American health care system, so my readers will be confused. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anybody know the correct term as used in the USA? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T17:23:14.603" ClosedDate="2011-02-04T22:55:23.533" Title="Translating &quot;Pflegestufe&quot; (a term specific to the German health care system)" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;medical&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11357" CreationDate="2011-02-04T17:18:13.343" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sounds very much like the term &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.online-health-insurance.com/health-insurance-resources/dictionary/triage.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;triage&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.  The roots of this term are in much more brutal field-medicine settings, where patients were essentially sorted into &quot;going to make it&quot;, &quot;might make it&quot;, and &quot;definitely not going to make it&quot;; category 2 basically got all the attention, because category 1 would live regardless and category 3 would die regardless.  (The three categories being the source of the &lt;em&gt;tri-&lt;/em&gt; prefix.)  It's since broadened in scope to encompass classification of level of medical need in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible the meaning you're looking for may be attached to the specific term &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.healthassisttn.org/newsletter.aspx?ND=2007-11&amp;amp;Page=insurancetriage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;insurance triage&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.  &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/rl_dsl/nhs/NH03007.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Care level&lt;/a&gt;&quot; is another likely candidate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T17:23:14.603" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T17:23:14.603" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11359" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-04T17:23:13.140" Score="1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd always know the word &quot;toboggan&quot; to mean a sled. In the last couple years I've met people who insisted on calling their winter knit caps &quot;toboggans.&quot; All of these people happened to be from either Kentucky or Tennessee.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toboggan_%28hat%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia mentions&lt;/a&gt; that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the United States south and midwest, especially Appalachia, it is often called a &quot;toboggan&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but there's no info about origin. When and where did this usage come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4111" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T03:26:46.227" Title="What's the origin of using &quot;toboggan&quot; to mean a knit cap?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11360" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-04T17:29:40.540" Score="1" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ante-scriptum: The question should be quite a frequently arising one, so this might be a duplicate. If it is, I haven't found it previously asked here&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if the title is meaningful, but here's the question, anyway. What I want to know is whether the &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; at the beginning of the following question should be removed or not:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For how long have you been eating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I consider the sentence to be correct, but some days ago, a teacher (not mine) told me that it was not. And then I remembered that someone else had told me that while it is OK to use the &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt;, the tendency is to get rid of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what's your take on it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2310" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T17:41:15.773" Title="Beginning present perfect interrogative sentence with 'for'" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11296" CreationDate="2011-02-04T17:40:04.347" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's dangerous to generalize that &lt;em&gt;supply&lt;/em&gt; is the inverse (or opposite) of &lt;em&gt;apply&lt;/em&gt;. It might sound that way when speaking of functions, or possibly other things, but there are many nuances to the usage of &lt;em&gt;supply&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;apply&lt;/em&gt; that would make most reversals sound strange or contrived.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, there would be many cases where they are used nearly as &lt;em&gt;synonyms&lt;/em&gt; not reversals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The machine applies a magnetic field.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The machine supplies a magnetic field.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mind you, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A magnetic field is supplied by the machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A magnetic field is applied by the machine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are perfectly correct. So what's going on here? How can they be near synonyms and inverse at the same time? I think &lt;em&gt;supply/apply&lt;/em&gt; are not nearly the same inverse pair as, say, &lt;em&gt;input/output&lt;/em&gt;. It's not that cut and dried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T17:40:04.347" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11360" CreationDate="2011-02-04T17:41:15.773" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Corpus of Contemporary American English has only one occurence of “For how long have you been”, but many occurences of “how long have you been” used in this sense. So, it seems that, at least in American English, &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; is not used. The numbers are such that I'd say it probably holds in other dialects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T17:41:15.773" />
  <row Id="11363" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13464" CreationDate="2011-02-04T17:56:58.733" Score="19" ViewCount="749" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Greek, for example, the letter β is pronounced &quot;veeta&quot;, but in science, people use &quot;beta&quot;. Some other offenders are η &quot;eeta&quot;, ι &quot;yiota&quot;, μ &quot;mee&quot;, ν &quot;nee&quot;, π &quot;pee&quot;, τ &quot;taf&quot;, χ &quot;chee&quot;, ψ &quot;psee&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand the difficulties of pronouncing the γ sound and such, but the translation of the &quot;ee&quot; sound into &quot;i&quot; is what I don't understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When did this start? Perhaps when Greek letters became commonly used in science? How has their pronunciation changed through the years?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4575" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T01:28:50.323" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T03:21:48.637" Title="Why are Greek letters pronounced incorrectly in scientific English?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;symbol&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="11364" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-04T17:59:16.600" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently asked &lt;a href=&quot;http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/35833/ways-to-use-your-skills-as-a-developer-to-give-back-to-the-community-charities&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; on Programmers.SE:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ways to use your skills as a developer&#xA;  to give back to the&#xA;  community/charities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You hear a lot about &quot;giving back&quot;, but is it really what should be used?  I got the following comment on my question that spurred some thoughts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hate the term &quot;give back&quot;. To &quot;give back&quot; means that you took something in the start. &quot;Donation&quot;, &quot;Endowment&quot;, &quot;Charity&quot; are much better descriptors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;giving back&quot; correct when:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I was originally given the same thing?&lt;/strong&gt; (they gave me a can of food, and I give back the can of food later on in life)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I was originally given something different?&lt;/strong&gt; (they give me a can of food, I build them a website later in life)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I was never given anything?&lt;/strong&gt; (they give me nothing, I build them a website)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="478" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T18:43:29.157" Title="What should be the proper term when someone wants to &quot;give back&quot; to the community." Tags="&lt;term&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11364" CreationDate="2011-02-04T18:05:40.233" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not really supposed to be a very precise concept.  It's meant to invoke a general sense that we all depend on each other's participation in society for our well-being, and that much of what we &quot;have&quot; in many senses may be meaningfully thought of as &quot;given&quot;, so that for us to go out of our way to contribute to society at large is, in some sense, &quot;giving back&quot; -- sharing the fruits of our advantages with others, as we received in our turn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It mostly only makes sense, in the way you're asking about, when one is speaking of &quot;giving back&quot; to society in general, rather than particular people or organizations.  Part of the idea is that, at that level, your third case, that you were never given anything, cannot really ever be the case unless your name is Tarzan.  For the first and second cases, sure, there's no implication that what you &quot;give back&quot; should or should not resemble anything in particular you were &quot;given&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In its best forms, I feel, there's also no particular implication that this is something you &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; to or are &lt;em&gt;obligated&lt;/em&gt; to do; it's a nice thing to do if you feel it's appropriate.  It's saying you want to live in the kind of world where people do things like that for each other.  It also has a pleasing element of humility to it; using the term says that one is not sitting on high dispensing charity and favors to the &quot;less fortunate&quot;, one is helping others as one was helped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T18:43:29.157" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T18:43:29.157" />
  <row Id="11366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11364" CreationDate="2011-02-04T18:06:56.397" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The way I see it, &quot;giving back&quot; is a short form of &quot;giving something back in return for the help you previously got from the community&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The comment might have a point, it's not as if you are obliged to give anything in return, but one could argue that other people took some of their time to help you when you needed it, and now you are giving back that time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2310" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T18:06:56.397" />
  <row Id="11367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11363" CreationDate="2011-02-04T18:08:41.570" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not that familiar with the history of Greek pronunciation, it's quite probable that the modern pronunciations of these letters in Greek have drifted from the past pronunciation -- before they were used in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would guess the pronunciation was influenced by Latin, as well. Greek words used in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/blog0707b.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;English normally pass through Latin&lt;/a&gt;. It's probable Latin influenced the pronunciation of β, certainly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T18:08:41.570" />
  <row Id="11368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2011-02-04T18:08:56.603" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm so late to the party, but I can't resist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Words with silent letters like &lt;strong&gt;subtle&lt;/strong&gt;, (not sub-tel), &lt;strong&gt;receipt&lt;/strong&gt;, (not reseept).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And others like &lt;strong&gt;lettuce&lt;/strong&gt; (not lett-yuse).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Panacea&lt;/strong&gt; (Besides pa ne see ya, why can't it be pe nay shuh? Or pa ne ka like Q. Boudicea), &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, when I was a kid, &lt;strong&gt;Don Kwikzote&lt;/strong&gt; for &lt;strong&gt;Don Quixote&lt;/strong&gt; (kee yo tay) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T18:08:56.603" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-04T18:08:56.603" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11363" CreationDate="2011-02-04T18:09:36.043" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The scientific pronunciation is based on the &lt;em&gt;Classical&lt;/em&gt; Greek pronunciation, not the &lt;em&gt;Modern&lt;/em&gt; Greek pronunciation. In Classical Greek:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;η is [e] (&quot;ay&quot;), not [i] (&quot;ee&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;υ is [y] (&quot;yoo&quot;, approximately) or [u] (&quot;oo&quot;), not [i] (&quot;ee&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;αυ is [au] (the vowel in &quot;out&quot;), not [av] or [af]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;β is [b], not [v]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;δ is [d], not [ð] (the &quot;th&quot; in &quot;this&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only cases where the English scientific rendition is &quot;wrong&quot; is for ι, which was [jota] even in Classical times, χ which is usually pronounced as [k], since the velar fricative [x] doesn't exist in English, and ψ and ξ which are simplified to [s] at the beginning of words since English doesn't allow [s] to be the second element in word-initial clusters. These represent adaptations to English phonology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T18:18:34.830" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T18:18:34.830" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="11370" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-04T18:13:56.717" Score="2" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The constant IO::SEEK_CUR assumes that&#xA;  the offset is relative to the current&#xA;  position (which may be negative).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;offset&lt;/code&gt; is meant to be negative, not &lt;code&gt;current_position&lt;/code&gt;. Is the above sentence correct or is one of the following the correct one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The constant IO::SEEK_CUR assumes that&#xA;  the offset (which may be negative) is&#xA;  relative to the current position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The constant IO::SEEK_CUR assumes that&#xA;  the offset, which may be negative, is&#xA;  relative to the current position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2927" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T18:17:37.493" Title="Where should the text in parentheses be placed?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11370" CreationDate="2011-02-04T18:17:37.493" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally text in parentheses should be immediately following the text it is modifying.  Therefore, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The constant IO::SEEK_CUR assumes that&#xA;  the offset (which may be negative) is&#xA;  relative to the current position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would be more appropriate than the first option.  The third option,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The constant IO::SEEK_CUR assumes that&#xA;  the offset, which may be negative, is&#xA;  relative to the current position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would be ok as well, but the second most clearly communicates the meaning you're trying to convey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T18:17:37.493" />
  <row Id="11372" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11373" CreationDate="2011-02-04T18:27:03.633" Score="5" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;infinite&lt;/em&gt;, in my understanding, means huge/countless. So in what sense can we call a verb &lt;em&gt;huge/countless&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="184" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T19:29:51.767" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T19:29:51.767" Title="Why call them infinite/finite verbs?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;participle&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11372" CreationDate="2011-02-04T18:32:55.390" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=infinitive&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt;, the derivation is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;infinitive&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;simple, uninflected form of a verb,&quot; 1510s, from L.L. infinitivus &quot;unlimited, indefinite,&quot; from L. infinitus (see infinite). &quot;Indefinite&quot; because not having definite person or number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it is used more of the sense of &lt;em&gt;indefinite&lt;/em&gt;. It doesn't mean something that approaches the infinite in scope, at least not in the mathematical sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T18:32:55.390" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11363" CreationDate="2011-02-04T18:45:49.107" Score="20" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of the factors include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ancient Greek pronunciation was, it is believed, significantly different to the modern language. How do we know? Well, that's a fascinating topic, but there are various clues, including the way animal noises were rendered (suggesting that the ancient &quot;beta&quot; was closer to &quot;b&quot; than &quot;v&quot;, because sheep's bleating sounds more akin to &quot;baa, baa&quot; than &quot;vee, vee&quot;!). Wikipedia's article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_phonology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ancient Greek phonology&lt;/a&gt; has more details.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The pronunciations have come to English via other languages (French/Latin), which have exerted their own influence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The pronunciations received from them went through the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Great Vowel Shift&lt;/a&gt;, which probably explains the &quot;pee&quot;-versus-&quot;pie&quot; for &quot;pi&quot; aspect.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note that the pronunciation in English is not itself consistent: in my experience most UK speakers say &quot;beet-a&quot; for beta, whereas many US speakers pronounce the same letter as &quot;bate-a&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T18:45:49.107" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11359" CreationDate="2011-02-04T19:00:49.733" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=toboggan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline.com&lt;/a&gt; lists this shift in the late 20's, probably because it's the type of cap you would wear while tobagganing. I imagine it was probably first called a &quot;toboggan cap&quot;, and then eventually the &quot;cap&quot; was just dropped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T19:00:49.733" />
  <row Id="11376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11326" CreationDate="2011-02-04T19:03:44.397" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I disagree - the language is not important here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As John Smith pointed out, it is a convention to prevent fraud, and another reason why it works is that it is used in forms, where you put the value to the right: ___$20 so that there is no place to modify it to be ___$200. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every physical unit is given behind the value, and in a newspaper article, there is no reason to name it $20 instead of 20$; it's just a bad habit from people who saw the above mentioned convention without understanding it, and adopted it in the wrong place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a side note: You find €20 and DM20 in germany as well, and mostly in financial aereas, where people often wrote schecks and the like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4578" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T19:21:44.073" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T19:21:44.073" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2011-02-04T19:57:36.403" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Subterfuge. I always though the 'b' was silent, like in 'subtle,' but it's not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wrong: sut-ter-fuge&#xA;Right: sub-ter-fuge&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4579" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T19:57:36.403" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-04T19:57:36.403" />
  <row Id="11378" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-04T19:59:08.710" Score="3" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some currencies like the baht (Thailand) and ringgit (malaysia) seem to be either singular or plural depending on context.  As far as I know, these two countries don't use bahts or ringgits to denote more than one unit of their currency. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1 baht, 100 baht;    1 ringgit, 100&#xA;  ringgit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When we want to use the plural in writing and speech, should we use bahts and ringgits or baht and ringgit? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster gives the plural of baht as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;baht, also bahts;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and the plural of ringgit as :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ringgit, also ringgits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What should I write?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T13:57:59.687" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T14:06:48.090" Title="Pluralization of currencies like the baht and the ringgit" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;pluralization&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11379" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11386" CreationDate="2011-02-04T20:03:50.313" Score="6" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;Norwegian has an idiom that means roughly &quot;small change compared to the real cost or value&quot;, which would translate literally as &quot;buttons and scraps&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a similar idiom in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some usage examples translated from Norwegian:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;We cannot accept that our part of the country would be left with [buttons and scraps] while valuable resources disappear before our eyes&quot; (&lt;em&gt;Local politician in a discussion on oil.&lt;/em&gt;) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Offered [buttons and scraps] - that's why we're going on strike&quot; (&lt;em&gt;Newspaper headline&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Unless they are in the porn or games business, media companies must accept that their future income from internet content will remain [buttons and scraps]&quot; (&lt;em&gt;Newspaper opinion piece&lt;/em&gt;) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are on the buying end the English idiom &quot;for a song&quot; (&quot;I got it for a song&quot;) is pretty much the same, but I don't think it can be used in contexts like above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there an idiom that can?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1125" LastEditorUserId="1125" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T20:26:59.073" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T20:46:23.757" Title="Idiom for &quot;very little, compared to real value&quot;?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="11380" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-04T20:09:25.760" Score="3" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We assume that the individual(s) possesses some general knowledge of the rules of football.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;possesses&quot; correct there? Should it be &quot;possess&quot;? Is the rule more complex than always using one or the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T21:00:56.637" Title="When a sentence uses an optional plural, should the rest of the sentence treat it as singular or plural?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11380" CreationDate="2011-02-04T20:14:11.667" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you can do either, really.  I would slightly prefer to agree with the plural, and so write &quot;possess&quot; in your example, because if the sentence is read out loud it sounds like the plural is in operation and having the verbs be singular is then awkward, but I suspect there are cases where the singular would feel more natural, and it seems equally acceptable to go with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T20:14:11.667" />
  <row Id="11382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11378" CreationDate="2011-02-04T20:15:17.940" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Malay rarely uses any grammatical plural, especially if there is a number or quantity word associated with the noun, though reduplication is generally available if there might otherwise be ambiguity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it says &quot;RM100&quot; and &quot;seratus ringgit&quot; on the banknotes (&lt;em&gt;seratus&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;hundred&lt;/em&gt;), and hence in Malaysian English.  But if you were to say 100 ringgits, you would be understood.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_language#Nouns&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Thai does not have a grammatical plural&lt;/a&gt; either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastEditorUserId="4333" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T20:25:15.553" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T20:25:15.553" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11378" CreationDate="2011-02-04T20:17:25.970" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have only ever heard/seen &quot;100 baht&quot;, not &quot;100 bahts&quot;.  I've never dealt with ringgit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T20:17:25.970" />
  <row Id="11384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11379" CreationDate="2011-02-04T20:20:09.293" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best I can think of in American English would be &quot;beads and trinkets&quot; (or &quot;trinkets and beads&quot;, depending on what sounds best), a reference to the purchase of all of Manhattan Island from a tribe of Indians in exchange for a bunch of low-valued items.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T20:20:09.293" />
  <row Id="11385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11379" CreationDate="2011-02-04T20:25:24.437" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There isn't a similar idiom in English, but I may be proven wrong. The closest option I can think of is &lt;strong&gt;pittance&lt;/strong&gt;, which means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A very small amount or a meagre remuneration&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example of usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was paid a pittance for the work I&#xA;  did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Americans might use &lt;strong&gt;chump change&lt;/strong&gt;, which means a trifling or pitiful sum of money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without using an idiom , you could write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The payment we received &lt;strong&gt;does not&#xA;  reflect&lt;/strong&gt; the value of the service&#xA;  rendered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T20:25:24.437" />
  <row Id="11386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11379" CreationDate="2011-02-04T20:43:52.530" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some options from a thesaurus (some better than others): &lt;em&gt;peanuts&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;crumbs&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;chicken feed&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;chump change&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;nickels and dimes&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;pittance&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;small potatoes&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;scraps&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;drop in the ocean&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;trifle&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of these, &quot;peanuts&quot; and &quot;small potatoes&quot; are probably the ones closest to appropriate in your sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T20:43:52.530" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11379" CreationDate="2011-02-04T20:46:23.757" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In American English you often hear the word '&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bupkis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bupkis&lt;/a&gt;' used to describe about the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;We cannot accept that our part of the country would be left with &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;bupkis&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; while valuable resources disappear before our eyes&quot; (Local politician in a discussion on oil.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Offered &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;bupkis&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; - that's why we're going on strike&quot; (Newspaper headline)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Unless they are in the porn or games business, media companies must accept that their future income from internet content will remain &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;bupkis&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; (Newspaper opinion piece)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The link describes &lt;em&gt;bupkis&lt;/em&gt; as 'small goat droppings', but in my experience most people use it to mean 'void' or 'nothingness'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T20:46:23.757" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11378" CreationDate="2011-02-04T20:51:55.777" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never heard anyone use an ending 's' when describing Chinese yuan, Japanese yen, or Italian lira (of course the plural for lira is &lt;em&gt;lire&lt;/em&gt;, which sounds about the same.)  I've also not heard anyone say &lt;em&gt;bahts&lt;/em&gt;.  There are other words in the English language where the singular and plural use the same words, such as &lt;em&gt;moose&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;sheep&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;deer&lt;/em&gt;, so there's really no reason to create a new plural word if the singular form is already acting as the plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastEditorUserId="3800" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T20:58:05.033" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T20:58:05.033" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11380" CreationDate="2011-02-04T20:55:45.547" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is merely customary, in sentences involving parentheses, to write them so that even if everything within parentheses is ignored, the sentence is still readable and the meaning does not change much. In this case, dropping the &quot;(s)&quot; would result in &quot;individual&quot;, so &quot;possesses&quot; has been used accordingly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, to adhere perfectly to the convention (so that the text is readable even if &lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt; parentheses are ignored), one may instead write&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We assume that the individual(s) possess(es) some general knowledge of the rules of football.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so that the sentence can be read either with both parenthetical parts dropped or with both included, and remain grammatical. But including too many parentheses is considered poor style, as the result is usually awkward to read. Also, unlike this sentence, it's not always possible to satisfy both &quot;branches&quot; (of whether the part within parentheses is read or not), so some compromise is often inevitable anyway — and the choice that is often made is to be consistent with the text &lt;em&gt;without&lt;/em&gt; the parentheses (or else whichever option is more likely, depending on the writer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T21:00:56.637" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T21:00:56.637" />
  <row Id="11391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11380" CreationDate="2011-02-04T20:56:51.620" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I am writing such a sentence, I make them match the parenthetical plurals wherever they occur, if possible:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We assume that the individual(s) possess(es) some general knowledge of the rules of football.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not always possible, and in those cases I prefer to recast the sentence. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T20:56:51.620" />
  <row Id="11392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5901" CreationDate="2011-02-04T20:59:27.360" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Almost anything from Dr Seuss, especially his &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;bed spreaders spread spreads on beds and bread spreaders spread butter on breads&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;tweetle beetle paddle puddle battle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and from Fox in Socks, anything to do with &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;chicks and clocks, bricks and blocks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not terribly tough but lots of fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this one from a ladybird phonics book:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thin chips, thick chips,&#xA;  lick-your-lips chips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastEditorUserId="3733" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T18:44:36.320" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T18:44:36.320" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-04T20:59:27.360" />
  <row Id="11393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6814" CreationDate="2011-02-04T21:18:58.523" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Hudson County NJ, we used the term &quot;tubes&quot; exclusively to name the underground railway between Jersey City NJ and Manhatten. As in ,&quot; I am taking the tubes to NY&quot;. Years ago, it was renamed the PATH Train. Now, if you use the term tubes to anyone under 35, they have no idea what you are talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4581" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T21:18:58.523" />
  <row Id="11394" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-04T21:31:52.310" Score="1" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed the changing of proununciations of words with &lt;em&gt;-au&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;-aw&lt;/em&gt; by TV presenters which is spilling over into everyday speech. For example “dotter” for &lt;em&gt;daughter&lt;/em&gt;, “otto” for &lt;em&gt;auto&lt;/em&gt;, “jah” for &lt;em&gt;jaw&lt;/em&gt;, “cahfe” for &lt;em&gt;coffee&lt;/em&gt;, “don” for &lt;em&gt;dawn&lt;/em&gt;, “lahn” for &lt;em&gt;lawn&lt;/em&gt;, “wotter” for &lt;em&gt;water&lt;/em&gt;. Are these pronunciations correct or are merely affectations in speech to sound more sophisticated or educated or possibly to distinguish themselves from having &lt;em&gt;New Yawk area&lt;/em&gt; accent?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was listening to a broadcast and the presenter said &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Next we will hear from Don. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The next segment was presented by a woman whose name was Dawn.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any insight will be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4581" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T05:56:35.847" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T05:56:35.847" Title="Changing pronunciations of certain words, mostly on TV" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11395" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-04T21:35:53.443" Score="5" ViewCount="194" Body="&lt;p&gt;I keep hearing &quot;A savings of $10&quot; or that something is &quot;a ways off&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sounds deeply weird to my British English ear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4582" LastEditorUserId="4582" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T17:11:28.090" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T05:15:58.510" Title="Why does American English pluralize certain singular nouns?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="13" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5901" CreationDate="2011-02-04T21:36:27.417" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if this falls under tongue-twister, but I've always loved it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Betty Botter bought some butter,&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  But, she said, The butter's bitter;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  If I put it in my batter&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  It will make my batter bitter.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  But, a bit of better butter&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  Will make my batter better.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So, she bought a bit of butter&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  Better than her bitter butter,&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  And she put it in her batter&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  And the batter was not bitter.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  So, 'twas better Betty Botter&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  Bought a bit of better butter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4583" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T21:36:27.417" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-04T21:36:27.417" />
  <row Id="11397" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11398" CreationDate="2011-02-04T21:41:26.147" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;How should I call a person &lt;strike&gt;commenting&lt;/strike&gt; &lt;strong&gt;writing/adding comments (by pressing &quot;add comment&quot; link&lt;/strong&gt;) to posts in this board? Commenter or commentator?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a disappeared answer, I understood that in this board there are commentators (like those unilaterally commentating or closing questions) and commenters (those entering in discussion with others). Is it correct?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is not commenting by answering/questioning another commenter/answerer/questioner a live event? And what is the difference in these definitions between a commentator and an answerer?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T21:49:52.537" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T21:49:52.537" Title="How do you call who writes comments in this board? Commenter or commentator?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;technical&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11397" CreationDate="2011-02-04T21:45:38.983" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Commenter, for sure, unless somebody is reporting on a live event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;com·men·tate/ˈkämənˌtāt/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Verb: Report&#xA;  on an event as it occurs, esp. for a&#xA;  news or sports broadcast; provide a&#xA;  commentary&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T21:45:38.983" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11400" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11405" CreationDate="2011-02-04T21:49:08.263" Score="4" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that &lt;em&gt;to express gratitude&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;to thank&lt;/em&gt; are verbs that basically mean &lt;em&gt;to say thank you&lt;/em&gt;, but what is the verb for the reciprocol action (i.e. saying &lt;em&gt;you're welcome&lt;/em&gt;)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a word for this, and does it vary based on the response?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Like if I say &lt;em&gt;thank you&lt;/em&gt; and you say &lt;em&gt;go to H-E-double hockey sticks!&lt;/em&gt;. What did you &lt;strong&gt;do&lt;/strong&gt; other than &lt;em&gt;reply&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Thank you&quot; = &lt;em&gt;to thank&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;You're welcome&quot; = to &lt;em&gt;???&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2045" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T22:32:45.637" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T22:32:45.637" Title="What is the reciprocal verb of &quot;to thank&quot;?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;reciprocity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11304" CreationDate="2011-02-04T21:49:10.473" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect that there are several word-plays going on here.  In American myth and folklore, the full moon of each month is given a name, such as Wolf Moon, Storm Moon, Harvest Moon, Hunter's Moon, etc. A &lt;em&gt;blue moon&lt;/em&gt; is a rare occurrence that happens about once every 2-3 years when a single season (three months) experiences four full moons; the third full moon in a season with four full moons is called the &lt;em&gt;Blue Moon&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvest_moon#Other_names&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;There is no full moon specifically called &lt;em&gt;the Killing Moon&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An Old Testament poem tells us that there is a time for everything under the sun; a time to give, a time to take, a time to heal, and a time to kill, etc.  Calling something a &lt;em&gt;killing time&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;killing moon&lt;/em&gt; would mean that somebody's or something's death is imminent and unavoidable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T21:49:10.473" />
  <row Id="11402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11326" CreationDate="2011-02-04T21:49:47.163" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;20$ is French-Canadian and $20 is English-Canadian/American.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_canadien&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;French Canadian Dollar in Wiki&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4589" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T04:55:28.203" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T04:55:28.203" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="11403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1176" CreationDate="2011-02-04T21:52:57.367" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The entries for the reflexive pronouns (‘myself’, ‘yourself’, &amp;amp;c.) in the &lt;em&gt;OED&lt;/em&gt; seem to indicate that they are used when the object and subject are the same (‘I confuse myself’), or for emphatic purposes (‘I myself am lost’). However, the use of the reflexive pronoun as either a direct or indirect object (‘He gave it to myself’) seems to be acceptable in Irish English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the given examples, only the second forms would be proper; the first are incorrectly using reflexive pronouns are being used as indirect and direct objects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4585" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T21:52:57.367" />
  <row Id="11404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11400" CreationDate="2011-02-04T21:56:14.237" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reciprocal form would be &lt;em&gt;to receive thanks&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4585" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T21:56:14.237" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11400" CreationDate="2011-02-04T22:09:32.050" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say that the other person is &lt;em&gt;acknowledging&lt;/em&gt; the thanks when he says &quot;you're welcome,&quot; and perhaps is &lt;em&gt;rudely dismissing&lt;/em&gt; the thanks when he says &quot;proceed to your choice of unpleasant venue and reside there indefinitely.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T22:09:32.050" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11408" CreationDate="2011-02-04T22:18:08.550" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, which one of the following sentences can I use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Consumer of Product X needs to fill out a rebate form […].&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Consumers of Product X need to […].&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  A consumer of Product X needs to […].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is for a general-purpose announcement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4595" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T22:49:58.757" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T22:49:58.757" Title="Can I start a sentence with a singular noun with no article?" Tags="&lt;articles&gt;&lt;indefinite-article&gt;&lt;definite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11406" CreationDate="2011-02-04T22:28:29.663" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second one is the best choice. Or even better, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;All&lt;/strong&gt; consumers of product X need to [...]&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2310" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T22:28:29.663" />
  <row Id="11408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11406" CreationDate="2011-02-04T22:28:32.543" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Countable nouns need an article or similar, if singular:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;A consumer will fill out a rebate form&#xA;Each consumer will fill out a rebate form&#xA;The consumer will fill out a rebate form&#xA;My dog ate my homework&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generics/Uncountable nouns need to be used without:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Blood is running through the veins&#xA;Water will be refilled at the next Oasis&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="564" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T22:28:32.543" />
  <row Id="11409" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11418" CreationDate="2011-02-04T22:34:09.380" Score="3" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;Valentine Day is nearing. In our country (Japan), Valentine Day is characterized as the day for young girls and ladies to present chocolate as a sign of love to their boyfriends, or thanks to their family, work colleagues and superiors. Among gift options, chocolates are overwhelmingly chosen as the Valentine gift. For confectionery manufacturers and retail shops, Valentine Day season is a critical moment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chocolate presented to one's man is called &lt;em&gt;Hon Choco&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;favorite (sweetheart) chocolate&lt;/em&gt;); the ones presented to family members, colleagues and boss are called &lt;em&gt;Giri-Choco&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;obligatory gift chocolate&lt;/em&gt;) which means it doesn’t accompany special love (affection) sign to receivers; ones given to ordinary friends,'Tomo-Choko (friendship chocolate), and the ones presented from males to females are called &lt;em&gt;Gyaku Choco&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;reverse chocolate&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand Valentine Day gifts are not limited to chocolate in Western countries and that Westerners don’t bother with the character of chocolate or the purpose of giving Valentine Gifts. However, I’m curious to know if there are any words or concepts to correspond to our &lt;em&gt;Honchoco&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Girichoco&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;Gyakuchoko&lt;/em&gt; in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="3119" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T02:18:47.277" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T02:18:47.277" Title="Are there words or concepts for ‘Real Chocolate,’ Obligatory Chocolate’ and ‘Reverse Chocolate’ for Valentine Day gift in English?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11410" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-04T22:49:04.837" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is one of the following preferable to the other:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;can't afford to (or don't want to)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;can't afford (or don't want) to&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="965" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T23:09:37.237" Title="&quot;can't afford to (or don't want to)&quot; or &quot;can't afford (or don't want) to&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2011-02-04T22:52:48.200" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I stumbled upon this thread today and I am so pleased that someone resurrected it just a few hours ago.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I grew up in a small town in the deep South, which didn't create a lot of opportunity to hear the words I was reading in spoken form.  I was in my twenties before I learned that hors d'oeuvres (ôr dûrvz) was NOT pronounced (whores duh vree). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, I discovered that my own teenager was having similar difficulty with a word that she had seen written but never heard aloud.  This discovery was made when she jokingly called me a twat (pronounced to rhyme with brat), lol!  I not only corrected her pronunciation (twot), but also told her the meaning of the word since she had no idea.  Her response?  &quot;Oh my gosh!!  Why are people calling each other THAT??&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4597" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T22:52:48.200" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-04T22:52:48.200" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11412" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11416" CreationDate="2011-02-04T22:53:28.333" Score="2" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading this question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11400/what-is-the-reciprocal-verb-of-to-thank&quot;&gt;What is the reciprocal verb of &quot;to thank&quot;?&lt;/a&gt;, and naturally the (non existent, but surely quite useful) word &lt;em&gt;unthank&lt;/em&gt; came to mind. I then recalled there are several places in England and Scotland called &lt;em&gt;Unthank&lt;/em&gt;. Does anyone know why they are called this rather strange name? Presumably it isn't due to the ingratitude of the inhabitants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T09:39:45.733" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T21:55:34.610" Title="What is the origin of the place name &quot;Unthank&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;names&gt;&lt;places&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11413" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11415" CreationDate="2011-02-04T22:53:50.470" Score="0" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Aristotle makes the claim that, &quot;the fact that a thing is itself&quot; allows for &quot;a fixed constant nature of sensible things&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it means:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sensible things &lt;strong&gt;looks like&lt;/strong&gt; fixed and constant.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or it means:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sensible things &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; fixed and constant.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the '&lt;strong&gt;nature&lt;/strong&gt;' mean ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T00:35:38.370" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T00:35:38.370" Title="What's the 'fixed constant nature of sensible things'?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11413" CreationDate="2011-02-04T23:00:02.217" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lacking further context, I would interpret this as:&#xA;All sensible things have a nature (that is to say, a set of properties or qualities, or a 'character' or 'basic constitution'); that nature is fixed and constant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T23:00:02.217" />
  <row Id="11415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11413" CreationDate="2011-02-04T23:01:33.240" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Literally, that the nature of &quot;things&quot;, at least, sensible things, is fixed and constant. A thing is itself, reflexively, and we can proceed from that point without having to reexamine the nature of it as we draw inferences from it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's Wikipedia's take: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_identity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_identity&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think about Descartes' famous &quot;I think, therefore I am&quot;. What he's saying there is, because I am able to contemplate my own existence, I can reasonably assume my own existence. Without that assumption, nothing real can be inferred, and it's all just college dorm room B.S. Instead, a thing is itself, and that allows for a fixed, constant nature of (at least) sensible things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T23:01:33.240" />
  <row Id="11416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11412" CreationDate="2011-02-04T23:01:55.273" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Unthank&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Internet Surname Database&lt;/a&gt; gives this explanation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;According to the Oxford Directory of English Place Names, the place and hence the surname derives from a pre 7th century Olde English word &quot;unpance&quot; which means literally &quot;without leave,&quot; and described an area of land which was occupied unlawfully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rahul (in the comments here) makes a great observation about the Surname Database's facts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think the site mistransliterated unþanc, where þ is pronounced th. There are far more relevant hits for unþanc, including Anglo-Saxon dictionaries, than there are for unpance (no hits for unþance though).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I think Rahul is almost certainly correct about this.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T21:55:34.610" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T21:55:34.610" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="11417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11410" CreationDate="2011-02-04T23:09:37.237" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, it's mostly a matter of preference.  Personally, I much prefer the former, since it flows better: &lt;em&gt;can't afford to (or don't want to)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="803" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T23:09:37.237" />
  <row Id="11418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11409" CreationDate="2011-02-04T23:33:13.353" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the US, the Valentine's chocolates are often given from the man to the woman, and there are no special designations of chocolate.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are, however, designations when flowers are given.  The type and color of flowers given on Valentine's and other days have meanings.  Red roses are supposed to mean &quot;I love you&quot; and would be equivalent to your Hon Choco or Cyaku Choco (again, the roses are usually from the man to the woman).  The meanings are often set by the flower companies, so they are as much an advertising gimmick as having any historical meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On Mother's Day, at least in the past, a woman or girl would wear a white or pink carnation -- white if her mother was deceased, pink if her mother was still alive.  That custom seems to be falling by the wayside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="728" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T23:33:13.353" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11419" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11420" CreationDate="2011-02-04T23:54:32.570" Score="3" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;In IRC chats you can &quot;perform an action&quot; with the /me command. It changes the way the text looks so that it's a little more third person and narrative. Here's an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;chmullig: I'm really hungry&#xA;sam: You should eat some cake&#xA;chmullig: You're right, I should!&#xA;* chmullig eats some cake&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However if we wanted to use a pronoun, what would it be? &lt;code&gt;chmullig eats his cake&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;chmullig eats my cake&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4601" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T23:59:50.757" Title="What's the proper pronoun when performing an action in IRC?" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;&lt;internet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11419" CreationDate="2011-02-04T23:59:50.757" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Third person pronoun, &lt;code&gt;chmullig eats his cake&lt;/code&gt;.  You're writing for how it will be viewed, basically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T23:59:50.757" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11421" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11424" CreationDate="2011-02-05T00:03:49.550" Score="4" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;Or something like that.  Does anybody know the exact text and source of this quotation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T00:29:13.647" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T01:02:44.540" Title="He who accuses the whole world convicts only himself" Tags="&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11422" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11423" CreationDate="2011-02-05T00:48:36.923" Score="4" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm having fun with paradoxes, and I'm trying to come up with a catchy word for non-self-descriptive.  Maybe &quot;autosemantic&quot; fits the bill for self-descriptive (definitely open to other suggestions!), but I'm having a hard time negating it in a natural way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For an example of the sentence I'm trying to construct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is &quot;inautosemantic&quot; inautosemantic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It just isn't flowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4603" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T00:56:52.343" Title="What is a catchy word that means (non-)self-descriptive" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11422" CreationDate="2011-02-05T00:56:52.343" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe you're looking for &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/autological&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;autological&lt;/a&gt;&quot;/&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/homological&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;homological&lt;/a&gt;&quot; and their antonym &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heterological&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;heterological&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T00:56:52.343" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11421" CreationDate="2011-02-05T01:02:44.540" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The oldest form I can find seems to come from Edmund Burke, 1855, in his &lt;em&gt;Letter to Sheriffs&lt;/em&gt;, collected eg &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/burkee/maxims/chap9.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But he that accuses all mankind of corruption ought to remember that he is sure to convict only one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is indeed the original, then it has gained in pithiness with repetition; the wordings that seem commonest now are along the lines of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He that accuses all, convicts only one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T01:02:44.540" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11394" CreationDate="2011-02-05T01:08:34.000" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_low_back_vowels#Cot-caught_merger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cot-caught merger&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T01:08:34.000" />
  <row Id="11426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11394" CreationDate="2011-02-05T01:59:55.803" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_low_back_vowels#Cot-caught_merger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cot-caught merger&lt;/a&gt;, where the sounds /ɑ/ and /ɔ/ are merged—that is, people with this merger pronounce the words &lt;em&gt;cot&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;caught&lt;/em&gt; the same. This merger is quite widespread—it is more common than not all over the western United States and Canada, and has made inroads in the east as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/eDfsd.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Map of the cot-caught merger&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Map of the cot-caught merger, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/maps/Map1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;from the TELSUR Project&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people who have this merger aren’t even aware that the words &lt;em&gt;cot&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;caught&lt;/em&gt; could be pronounced differently. I know this personally as I have this merger natively, and had no idea until I took a course in Linguistics in college. So, I don’t think it’s an affectation in that most people who talk this way have no idea there is a different way to pronounce the sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T01:59:55.803" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11427" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-05T02:58:41.433" Score="5" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you pronounce the word like...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ap-PLIC-a-ble&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;APP-lic-a-ble&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if so, is there a difference between the two?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4608" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T13:20:12.853" Title="Pronunciation of &quot;applicable&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11427" CreationDate="2011-02-05T03:09:06.800" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Webster's gives them both as variant pronunciations, with the stressed first syllable being preferred. Both mean the same thing, and are identical apart from the pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say tomato, I say tomahto ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T03:09:06.800" />
  <row Id="11430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11359" CreationDate="2011-02-05T03:26:46.227" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chris's intuition is confirmed by the OED, which lists &quot;toboggan-cap&quot; among similar compound formations as &quot;toboggan-bag&quot; and &quot;toboggan-chute&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4424" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T03:26:46.227" />
  <row Id="11431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11363" CreationDate="2011-02-05T03:34:39.417" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Greek language came to English and other languages through Latin, and at that time, Greek letters had a different pronunciation than today, plus the changes they went through when passing from one language to another.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Something similar happens with &lt;em&gt;Pekin/Beijing&lt;/em&gt;, or why we name &lt;em&gt;Persians&lt;/em&gt; to people that call themselves &lt;em&gt;Farsi&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4548" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T03:34:39.417" />
  <row Id="11432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11326" CreationDate="2011-02-05T04:59:00.660" Score="-4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why all the overcomplication? The difference is that $20 is the &lt;em&gt;correct&lt;/em&gt; way to use the dollar sign, while 20$ is an &lt;em&gt;incorrect&lt;/em&gt; way to use the dollar sign. That's all there is to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other languages and currencies are pretty irrelevant to the question. Heck, how the &lt;em&gt;cent&lt;/em&gt; sign is used is irrelevant to the question, even though it is arguably the same currency and definitely the same language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T05:54:35.093" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T05:54:35.093" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="11433" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-05T06:48:56.993" Score="7" ViewCount="231" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few years ago, I was told that &quot;since&quot; should only be used to designate a time period. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since 2 o'clock, I've been waiting for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, since creeps into the place of &quot;because&quot; quite often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since I don't have the time, I won't be joining you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This second example sounds slightly slangy to me now that I've been avoiding using &quot;since&quot; in this way for the past few years, but is &quot;since&quot; really a synonym of &quot;because&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2697" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T08:41:21.507" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T18:55:56.970" Title="Is &quot;since&quot; a synonym of &quot;because&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11433" CreationDate="2011-02-05T07:08:39.083" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whether you use &lt;em&gt;since&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt; in the sentence &lt;em&gt;Since I don't have the time, I won't be joining you&lt;/em&gt;, the meaning is the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T01:32:59.783" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T01:32:59.783" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11435" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11436" CreationDate="2011-02-05T07:29:23.863" Score="2" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came accross the phrase &quot;I've gotten over &lt;em&gt;tool&lt;/em&gt; recently&quot; in an article that someone wrote who tested &lt;em&gt;tool&lt;/em&gt;. From the article's context, it seems that the author was not particular fond of &lt;em&gt;tool&lt;/em&gt; and that therfore the phrase means something like &quot;I stopped using &lt;em&gt;tool&lt;/em&gt; recently&quot;. Is that correct, or is another meaning behind the phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4613" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T09:35:48.137" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T10:50:39.470" Title="I've gotten over &lt;tool&gt; recently." Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11435" CreationDate="2011-02-05T07:55:20.900" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without further context, it probably means one of two things: either the tool causes some unpleasantness and now he is no longer saddened by it (got over a shock), or the tool is difficult to use and now he has mastered it (got over a problem).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T07:55:20.900" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11433" CreationDate="2011-02-05T07:57:04.323" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dictionary (Collins 2nd Ed.) and this reference here &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/since&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/since&lt;/a&gt; both sanction the use of since to mean because, although the Mirriam-Webster doesn't mention it (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/since&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/since&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me a normal and natural usage, as it has the sense of 'following on' from some previous assertion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T07:57:04.323" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="658" CreationDate="2011-02-05T08:10:23.390" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;...you know, Bob Dylan once told me the the times they are a-changing. And I think I might agree...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3885" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T08:10:23.390" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-05T08:10:23.390" />
  <row Id="11439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11435" CreationDate="2011-02-05T08:29:15.137" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at the NOAD, I found two different phrasal verbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;to get over&lt;/em&gt;: to recover from an ailment or an upsetting or startling experience; to overcome a difficulty.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;to get [something] over&lt;/em&gt;: to manage to communicate an idea or theory.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the sentence you wrote (where &lt;em&gt;tool&lt;/em&gt; is referring to a software tool), I would understand &lt;em&gt;to get over&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;to overcome the difficulty to use the tool&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T08:29:15.137" />
  <row Id="11440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="658" CreationDate="2011-02-05T08:37:33.773" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hark unto&lt;/strong&gt; Bruce Springsteen, for &lt;strong&gt;he knoweth&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;I'm on fire.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Examining one article of&lt;/strong&gt; Aerosmith's repertory, &quot;I'm living it up while I'm going down.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4385" LastEditorUserId="4385" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T08:43:21.897" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T08:43:21.897" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-05T08:37:33.773" />
  <row Id="11441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11433" CreationDate="2011-02-05T08:40:45.783" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Since&lt;/em&gt; is used with three different meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The first meaning is in phrases like &lt;em&gt;since two c'clock&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;since the war&lt;/em&gt;, where it refers to the period of time between the even and now.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The second meaning is &lt;em&gt;because, for the reason that&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The third meaning is &lt;em&gt;ago&lt;/em&gt;, in sentences like &lt;em&gt;the settlement had vanished long since&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports a note about the usage of &lt;em&gt;since&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When using since as a causal conjunction to mean &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;given that&lt;/em&gt;, be aware that in some contexts or constructions the word may be construed as referring to time. For example, in the sentence &lt;em&gt;since Mrs. Jefferson moved to Baltimore in the 1990s, she was not aware of the underlying complexities&lt;/em&gt;, it is not clear, especially at the beginning, whether since means &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;from the time when&lt;/em&gt;. It is often better to simply say &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt;, if that is the intended meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T08:40:45.783" />
  <row Id="11442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11427" CreationDate="2011-02-05T08:48:46.417" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports /ˈæpləkəbəl/ as the pronunciation of the word in American English, and /əˈplɪkəb(ə)l/, /ˈaplɪkəb(ə)l/ as the British pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In /əˈplɪkəb(ə)l/, the accent is on the second &quot;syllable&quot; (&lt;em&gt;Ap-PLIC-a-ble&lt;/em&gt;); in /ˈæpləkəbəl/ and /ˈaplɪkəb(ə)l/, the accent is on the first &quot;syllable&quot; (&lt;em&gt;APP-lic-a-ble&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T13:20:12.853" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T13:20:12.853" />
  <row Id="11443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="658" CreationDate="2011-02-05T09:30:31.140" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I'm gonna run to you&quot;, Bryan Adams &lt;strong&gt;held forth&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;I'm gonna run to you&quot;, he &lt;strong&gt;loquaciously proclaimed&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T09:30:31.140" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-05T09:30:31.140" />
  <row Id="11444" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11475" CreationDate="2011-02-05T09:34:36.347" Score="0" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently read (in a website) the following sentence (I replaced the usernames with &quot;placeholders&quot;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[username1], if this is still happening, there is a good chance your IP got&#xA;  blocked due to failed logins. Post the IP here and track down [username2] or&#xA;  [username3].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;track down&lt;/em&gt; mean, in that sentence?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;track down&lt;/em&gt; used with that meaning in specific contexts, or is it largely understood to mean that? For example, if I am in a room together somebody else, and I say &lt;em&gt;track down Michael&lt;/em&gt;, does the other person understand what I mean?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T10:36:32.500" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T06:57:40.317" Title="Usage of &quot;track down&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrasal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11445" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11491" CreationDate="2011-02-05T09:52:12.727" Score="0" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do &lt;em&gt;noun&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;name&lt;/em&gt; carry a different meaning?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If there are any differences, are those differences specific to a context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T22:48:49.960" Title="What is the difference between &quot;noun&quot;, &quot;proper noun&quot;, and &quot;name&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11444" CreationDate="2011-02-05T10:06:33.143" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To track down is to follow the track of something until found. Used for example in the Wild West using trackers to follow something or someone&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T10:06:33.143" />
  <row Id="11447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11435" CreationDate="2011-02-05T10:12:26.103" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Original sentence: &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/questions/57627/msys-vs-cygwin&quot;&gt;http://stackoverflow.com/questions/57627/msys-vs-cygwin&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I've gotten over cygwin recently. There's a lot of impedance mismatch between cygwin and the native platform&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read that as the user of cygwin no longer is annoyed with the shortcomings but initially it sounded to me as he no longer use it and has gotten over that fact - perhaps we ask him? @AdamMitz&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T10:12:26.103" />
  <row Id="11448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10198" CreationDate="2011-02-05T10:32:31.077" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This quote from Jeff Raskin's book, &lt;em&gt;The Humane Interface&lt;/em&gt; (courtesy of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_%28computer_interface%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;) gives a good definition for &quot;modal&quot; in this context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An human-machine interface is modal&#xA;  with respect to a given gesture when&#xA;  (1) the current state of the interface&#xA;  is not the user's locus of attention&#xA;  and (2) the interface will execute one&#xA;  among several different responses to&#xA;  the gesture, depending on the system's&#xA;  current state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, the &quot;gesture&quot; is &quot;clicking on the widget's button&quot;, so the word &quot;modal&quot; is applicable here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general English usage the word &quot;modality&quot; means &quot;having or related to modes&quot; (for instance one might refer to &quot;the modality of the music&quot; about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_mode&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;modal music&lt;/a&gt;), so your example would technically be correct. However, since the word &quot;modality&quot; has a specific &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modality_%28human-computer_interaction%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;different meaning&lt;/a&gt; within the context of user interface design, you might be advised to express yourself differently avoid confusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastEditorUserId="3405" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T18:52:09.787" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T18:52:09.787" />
  <row Id="11449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11435" CreationDate="2011-02-05T10:50:39.470" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A possible reading of the phrase &quot;I've gotten over &lt;em&gt;tool&lt;/em&gt; recently&quot;, is that the speaker was once very interested in &lt;em&gt;tool&lt;/em&gt;, but has now lost interest in it. That he has gotten over it.&#xA;A similar common usage would be, &quot;I really loved jogging but I've gotten over it. It's too tiring&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4616" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T10:50:39.470" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11450" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11452" CreationDate="2011-02-05T11:01:40.590" Score="3" ViewCount="202" Body="&lt;p&gt;I stumbled on a phrase, &lt;em&gt;Young Americans are far less white than older generation&lt;/em&gt;, in an article of today's New York Times titled &lt;em&gt;In Census, Young Americans Increasingly Diverse&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don’t think &lt;em&gt;white&lt;/em&gt; refers to the color, of course. In a dictionary at hand, there is a definition of &lt;em&gt;white&lt;/em&gt; as a slang meaning (1) &lt;em&gt;fair and righteous&lt;/em&gt;, (2) &lt;em&gt;credible&lt;/em&gt;, (3) &lt;em&gt;generous, well-intentioned&lt;/em&gt;, (4) &lt;em&gt;happy, well-off&lt;/em&gt;. &#xA;Does the phrase &lt;em&gt;today’s young Americans are far less white&lt;/em&gt; here implies they are far less well-off (or happy) than old generation? Is the word ‘White’ used in this notion very often? &#xA;The text in question reads:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Demographers sifting through new population counts released on Thursday by the Census Bureau say the data bring a pattern into sharper focus: Young Americans are far less white than older generations, a shift that demographers say creates a culture gap with far-reaching political and social consequences. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T11:20:45.600" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T13:03:53.360" Title="What does ‘Young Americans are far less “white” than older generation’ mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="11451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11450" CreationDate="2011-02-05T11:34:12.233" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the text speaks of &lt;em&gt;culture gap with far-reaching political and social consequences&lt;/em&gt;, I think that writer is using &lt;em&gt;white&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;counter-revolutionary or reactionary&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is one of the meaning of &lt;em&gt;white&lt;/em&gt; reported by the NOAD, which marks this usage of the word as historical. I guess the word is not used so often with that meaning, but (in contexts like the one reported here) people would be able to understand the sentence correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T13:03:53.360" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T13:03:53.360" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11450" CreationDate="2011-02-05T11:38:19.047" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dominant race/culture/population of Americans has historically been white (sometimes called Caucasian). It is one of the racial categories listed on the census form, which all Americans were supposed to fill out in 2010 (and every ten years). A census is used to count a population.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because the article talks about &lt;em&gt;demographers&lt;/em&gt;, whose profession is to count populations and parse them into various groups, and says these professionals are &quot;sifting through new population counts&quot; we may infer that they mean this is changing. Children of other races are in the ascendancy, especially children of mixed race.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does not mean what the adjectives in the list you mention mean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T11:58:57.203" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T11:58:57.203" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11450" CreationDate="2011-02-05T11:43:07.477" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the context of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/05/us/05census.html?_r=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;that article&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;white&lt;/em&gt; refers to people whose &quot;race&quot; is identified as &quot;White&quot;. Race is one of the things demographers and census-takers are interested in. The sentence &quot;Young Americans are far less white than older generations&quot; is somewhat odd at first sight, but it's explained later as being about the total &lt;em&gt;number&lt;/em&gt; of White people, not that fixed individuals are turning less &quot;white&quot; for some meaning of white.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mississippi, Virginia, New Jersey and Louisiana all had declines in their populations of white residents ages 18 and under, according to the bureau’s first detailed report on the 2010 Census. […] The number of whites under the age of 20 fell by 6 percent between 2000 and 2008[…]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Instead, growth has come from minorities, particularly Hispanics, as more Latino women enter their childbearing years. Blacks, Asians and Hispanics accounted for about 79 percent of the national population growth between 2000 and 2009, Mr. Johnson said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The result has been a changed American landscape, with whites now a minority of the youth population in 10 states, […] &#xA;  In contrast, the number of mixed-race children doubled, Hispanic children doubled, and Asian children were up by more than two-thirds, according to Mr. Johnson.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Living in the suburbs used to mean white family, two kids, a TV, a garage and a dog,” he said. “Now suburbia is a microcosm of America. It’s multiethnic and multiracial. It tells you where America is going.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you see that &quot;Whites&quot; is contrasted with Blacks, Asians and Hispanics, and terms like multiethnic and multiracial are used. This leaves no doubt about the meaning of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See Wikipedia on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_people&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;white people&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Caucasian race&lt;/a&gt; for more discussion on the definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T11:43:07.477" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11445" CreationDate="2011-02-05T12:03:34.597" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A noun (also &lt;em&gt;common noun&lt;/em&gt;) is used to identify a group of people, places or things. A &lt;em&gt;proper noun&lt;/em&gt; is used to name a particular one of these. &lt;em&gt;Name&lt;/em&gt; is another word for &lt;em&gt;proper noun&lt;/em&gt;, theoretically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2310" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T12:03:34.597" />
  <row Id="11455" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11457" CreationDate="2011-02-05T12:09:56.747" Score="5" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_time_no_see&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Long time no see&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is a typical example for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinglish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chinglish&lt;/a&gt;, though it is said that &lt;em&gt;long time no see&lt;/em&gt; has been accepted by the mainstream English speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Recently, there is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neologism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;neologism&lt;/a&gt; movement in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainland_China&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mainland&lt;/a&gt;, and a few new Chinglish words have been invented to demonstrate the characteristics of the Mainland.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most outstanding examples (in my opinion) are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;shitizen&lt;/em&gt; - a citizen without citizen rights&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;freedamn&lt;/em&gt; - the freedom for &lt;em&gt;shitizens&lt;/em&gt; (no freedom)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;democrazy&lt;/em&gt; - the democracy for &lt;em&gt;shitizens&lt;/em&gt; (no democracy)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;smilence&lt;/em&gt; - the speeches under the &lt;em&gt;freedamn&lt;/em&gt; of speech (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ref&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;z-turn&lt;/em&gt; - to make effort in vain (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=zheteng&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;zheteng&lt;/a&gt; (Pinyin))&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are my questions. Has there ever been any neologism movement in the history of English? What are the criteria to adopt new words into English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T20:39:41.860" Title="What are the criteria to adopt new words into English?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;chinglish&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="11456" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11460" CreationDate="2011-02-05T12:51:05.870" Score="2" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I search the definition of &lt;em&gt;Caucasian&lt;/em&gt; in the NOAD, I find the following definition (it's the first of three definitions):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(often offensive) of or relating to one of the traditional divisions of humankind, covering a broad group of peoples from Europe, western Asia, and parts of India and North Africa. [ORIGIN: so named because the German physiologist Blumenbach believed that it originated in the Caucasus region of southeastern Europe.]&#xA;  • white-skinned; of European origin.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a note, the dictionary says also&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the racial classification as developed by anthropologists in the 19th century, &lt;em&gt;Caucasian&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;Caucasoid&lt;/em&gt;) included peoples whose skin color ranged from light (in northern Europe) to dark (in parts of North Africa and India). Although the classification is outdated and the categories are now not generally accepted as scientific (see usage at &lt;em&gt;Australoid&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Mongoloid&lt;/em&gt;), the term &lt;em&gt;Caucasian&lt;/em&gt; has acquired a more restricted meaning. It is now used, especially in the U.S., as a synonym for &lt;em&gt;white or of European origin&lt;/em&gt;, as in the following citation: &lt;em&gt;the police are looking for a Caucasian male in his forties&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;Caucasian&lt;/em&gt; understood to have these meanings also in other English dialects?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T15:25:20.260" Title="Meaning of &quot;caucasian&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;australian-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11455" CreationDate="2011-02-05T13:02:29.487" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a phrase to be adopted into a language, enough people have to start using it. There is no set of criteria beyond popularity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no way to force a phrase into someone's language at an individual level &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; to make sure it means what you want it to mean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of words and phrases as if they are &lt;em&gt;mental viral symbionts&lt;/em&gt;. They inhabit your brain to help you communicate and live on your use of them. If they are of no use, they will die and they will not become part of your language. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If lots of people around you use a phrase then it will gain traction in the language of your society, like a cold that spreads around an office, and possibly further depending on how well travelled people in your society are and how useful the phrase is outside of your society.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For a phrase to be put into a dictionary, that's a different matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for a neologism movement, I don't believe there is an explicit one, but OED and the like do look out for new words and phrases to include for future editions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3559" LastEditorUserId="3559" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T19:53:59.283" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T19:53:59.283" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11458" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11459" CreationDate="2011-02-05T13:19:04.783" Score="6" ViewCount="331" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a word that means something like &quot;someone who does the same job as me&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've thought of &lt;strong&gt;colleague&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;co-worker&lt;/strong&gt;.  These both indicate that someone works at the same place, or some other kind of work relationship, but they don't indicate that the job is the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best I've come up with is &lt;strong&gt;my fellow-X&lt;/strong&gt;, but this feels cumbersome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1926" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T05:11:54.367" Title="Word for &quot;someone who does the same job as me&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11458" CreationDate="2011-02-05T13:29:04.280" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Webster's lists the following synonyms for &lt;em&gt;colleague&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;coworker, fellow worker, workmate, teammate, associate, partner, collaborator, ally, confederate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of these really work in the sense you're looking for, something that means &quot;in exactly the same job&quot; as you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If no one strikes gold for you here, I would suggest that one alternative for you is to be more specific about the actual job function:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My wife is a periodontist, just like me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jean and Kate were both trial lawyers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here are a few traits I share with my fellow QA consultants at IBM: &lt;em&gt;[List]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ed and Bill and I have a lot of disagreements, but we're all teamsters and we stick together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T13:29:04.280" />
  <row Id="11460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11456" CreationDate="2011-02-05T14:00:44.523" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yep.&lt;/strong&gt; In my own experience, casual use of this sense of &lt;em&gt;Caucasian&lt;/em&gt; is just as prevalent in the UK and Australia as in the US.  Searching for it in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.smh.com.au/execute_search.html?text=caucasian&amp;amp;ss=smh.com.au&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sydney Morning Herald&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?searchPhrase=caucasian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Daily Mail&lt;/a&gt; confirms this with plenty of home-grown examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, at least some British publications make an effort to use it more precisely: e.g. searching in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/search?q=caucasian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Guardian&lt;/a&gt;, most uses are either specifically discussing Chechnya, Georgia, etc., or else are in direct quotations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T14:00:44.523" />
  <row Id="11461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11458" CreationDate="2011-02-05T14:25:20.547" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meaning of &lt;em&gt;colleague&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;a person with whom one works, especially in a profession or business&lt;/em&gt;. Even if there isn't any reference to the working place, the word is used when two people have contacts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning &lt;em&gt;coworker&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;fellow worker&lt;/em&gt;; looking at the meaning of &lt;em&gt;fellow&lt;/em&gt;, on the NOAD I read the following definition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;informal a man or boy: &lt;em&gt;he was an extremely obliging fellow&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;• a boyfriend or lover: &lt;em&gt;has she got a fellow&lt;/em&gt;?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(usu. fellows) a person in the same position, involved in the same activity, or otherwise associated with another: &lt;em&gt;he was learning with a rapidity unique among his fellows&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;• a thing of the same kind as or otherwise associated with another: &lt;em&gt;the page has been torn away from its fellows&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a member of a learned society: &lt;em&gt;he was elected a fellow of the Geological Society&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;• (also research fellow) a student or graduate receiving a fellowship for a period of research.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;• Brit. an incorporated senior member of a college: &lt;em&gt;a tutorial fellow&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;• a member of the governing body in some universities.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would use &lt;em&gt;fellow&lt;/em&gt; worker to mean &lt;em&gt;a worker involved in the same activity&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T14:25:20.547" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11456" CreationDate="2011-02-05T15:14:38.880" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, the usage for &lt;em&gt;Caucasian&lt;/em&gt; meaning &quot;white people&quot; is only common in the US. I was quite startled, when I came across the term filling out some US forms. Beforehand, traveling in Europe (also UK),  I was not aware of its broad definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Searching the term in the archives of the economist also gives you mostly hits with its more narrow meaning, referring to the Caucasus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4095" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T15:25:20.260" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T15:25:20.260" />
  <row Id="11465" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11467" CreationDate="2011-02-05T15:45:39.323" Score="14" ViewCount="335" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the origin of the word &lt;em&gt;earthling&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there other words with a similar meaning (&lt;em&gt;marsling&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;venusling&lt;/em&gt;)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T10:51:43.977" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T15:31:25.233" Title="What is the origin of &quot;earthling&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;suffix&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="11467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11465" CreationDate="2011-02-05T15:54:42.777" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=earthling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=earthling&lt;/a&gt; via&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthling&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;O.E. yrþling &quot;plowman&quot; (see earth + -ling); the sense of &quot;inhabitant of the earth&quot; is from 1590s. Earthman was originally (1860) &quot;a demon who lives in the earth;&quot; science fiction sense of &quot;inhabitant of the planet Earth&quot; first attested 1949 in writing of Robert Heinlein. Earlier in this sense was earthite (1825).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I found this too: Ælfric (955–1020)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Teacher&lt;/strong&gt;:hwæt sægest þu &lt;strong&gt;yrþlingc&lt;/strong&gt; hu begæst þu weorc þin&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T15:31:25.233" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T15:31:25.233" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11465" CreationDate="2011-02-05T16:07:37.650" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;earthling&lt;/a&gt; is formed from the word &lt;em&gt;earth&lt;/em&gt; and the suffix &lt;em&gt;-ling&lt;/em&gt;, meaning something from earth, or something related to earth. Here &lt;em&gt;earth&lt;/em&gt; can either refer to the planet, or to the soil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's now mostly used in science fiction to mean humans from earth, but it existed even before that. One older use is in the meaning of &lt;em&gt;farmer&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;ploughman&lt;/em&gt;, another is in the meaning of &lt;em&gt;mortal&lt;/em&gt; as contrast to heavenly creatures or gods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In science fiction the term &lt;em&gt;Terran&lt;/em&gt; is also commonly used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T16:07:37.650" />
  <row Id="11469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11465" CreationDate="2011-02-05T16:34:38.530" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;NOAD gives for “-ling”: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;forming nouns from nouns, adjectives, and verbs (such as hireling, youngling).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;forming nouns from adjectives and adverbs (such as darling, sibling, underling).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;forming diminutive words : gosling | sapling.&#xA;• often with depreciatory reference : princeling&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This gives you some more examples...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T16:34:38.530" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11470" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11472" CreationDate="2011-02-05T16:35:44.583" Score="6" ViewCount="273" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I honestly tried to search for this but I drowned in twit* and tweet* results.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I write:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;my tweet&quot; or &quot;my twit&quot;?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I am tweetting&quot; or &quot;I am twitting&quot; (&quot;to twit&quot; vs. &quot;to tweet&quot;)?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Referring to messages on twitter.com, what are the differences in their usage and meaning?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T06:52:15.303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T06:52:15.303" Title="Should I write&quot;a tweet&quot; or &quot;a twit&quot;, &quot;to tweet&quot; or &quot;to twit&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;technical&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="11471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11470" CreationDate="2011-02-05T16:39:31.913" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Twitter is a brand and, as such, you should follow the usage established by the brand itself. Looking at &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.twitter.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://blog.twitter.com/&lt;/a&gt;,  I see they describe the messages as &lt;strong&gt;Tweets&lt;/strong&gt; (singular: a Tweet), with a capital T, and the action of sending them as &lt;strong&gt;tweeting&lt;/strong&gt; (verb: &lt;strong&gt;to tweet&lt;/strong&gt;), no capitalization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That rule should be followed until established usage starts to differ from what the brand proposes, either because people think it's silly (like writing Yahoo! with its exclamation mark all the time) or because they think it's ugly (I would personally not use a capital T for tweets, as it disrupts the standard rules of capitalization).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T16:39:31.913" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11470" CreationDate="2011-02-05T16:40:13.033" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To tweet a Tweet - Twit is similar to idiot in British English&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T16:40:13.033" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="11473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11465" CreationDate="2011-02-05T16:59:41.863" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Origins are well covered.  Another synonym is &lt;em&gt;Earther&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T16:59:41.863" />
  <row Id="11475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11444" CreationDate="2011-02-05T17:11:22.927" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(My answer relates only to British English)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To track down just means to find someone.  You could use it in speech, as in your example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can you track down Michael?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't seem to track Michael down, do you know where he is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if the above example classes at splitting an infinitive - it probably does, as the verb in this case is &quot;To track down&quot; - in which case:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't seem to track down Michael, do you know where he is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although that doesn't sound right to me when said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="357" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T06:57:40.317" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T06:57:40.317" />
  <row Id="11476" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11477" CreationDate="2011-02-05T17:28:03.353" Score="5" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3288/is-staff-plural&quot;&gt;Is staff plural?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The family &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; on a tour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The family &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; on a tour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3961" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T17:49:13.560" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T17:49:13.560" ClosedDate="2011-02-09T22:57:57.047" Title="“Is on” or “are on”?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;concord&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11476" CreationDate="2011-02-05T17:40:13.090" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The family &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; on a tour&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The family &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; on a tour&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both are correct, as the collective noun &lt;em&gt;family&lt;/em&gt; can both be treated as singular or plural. However, one is less likely to hear the second sentence in the US, for collective nouns are usually treated as singular in American English, while they can be treated as both singular and plural in British English. See the note on collective noun concord at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/317&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries Online&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may want also want to consider a related answer &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8545/a-total-of-10-babies-is-sleeping-v-s-a-total-of-10-babies-are-sleeping-v-s/8556#8556&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T17:40:13.090" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11470" CreationDate="2011-02-05T17:57:38.820" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It also depends on the level of formality of your writing. In the summer of 2010, the standards editor for the New York Times &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theawl.com/2010/06/new-york-times-bans-the-word-tweet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;declared the policy for the NYT&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Except for special effect, we try to&#xA;  avoid colloquialisms, neologisms and&#xA;  jargon. And &quot;tweet&quot; – as a noun or a&#xA;  verb, referring to messages on Twitter&#xA;  – is all three. Yet it has appeared 18&#xA;  times in articles in the past month,&#xA;  in a range of sections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Tweet&quot; may be acceptable occasionally&#xA;  for special effect. But let's look for&#xA;  deft, English alternatives: use&#xA;  Twitter, post to or on Twitter, write&#xA;  on Twitter, a Twitter message, a&#xA;  Twitter update. Or, once you've&#xA;  established that Twitter is the&#xA;  medium, simply use &quot;say&quot; or &quot;write.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T17:57:38.820" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11458" CreationDate="2011-02-05T18:21:52.413" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although it isn't a word I've often used, I believe compeer is the word you might be looking for. Defined as: a person of the same rank or status; equal; peer. It is the best I  think you will find, unless you just go with one of the above answers which do makes sense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4631" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T18:21:52.413" />
  <row Id="11480" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-05T18:48:42.470" Score="5" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I realize &lt;em&gt;texted&lt;/em&gt; is not a word, but &lt;em&gt;text&lt;/em&gt; doesn't seem appropriate in the above sentence. What would make more sense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4631" LastEditorUserId="2253" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T19:12:48.727" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T23:52:56.877" Title="When referring to a previously sent text, would you say 'I text you about that' or 'I texted you about that' ?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;technical&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11481" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11483" CreationDate="2011-02-05T18:52:27.787" Score="1" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am the third daughter of my parents. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to frame a question that is answered with the above sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3961" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T13:36:18.817" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T13:36:18.817" Title="Framing a question to which the answer is an ordinal number" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;&lt;questions&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11481" CreationDate="2011-02-05T18:56:12.683" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;“How many older sisters do you have?”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T18:56:12.683" />
  <row Id="11483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11481" CreationDate="2011-02-05T18:59:22.930" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Among your sisters, where do fall with respect to birth order?'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that what you're looking for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T18:59:22.930" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="11484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11480" CreationDate="2011-02-05T19:01:19.890" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that &lt;em&gt;texted&lt;/em&gt; is not a &quot;word&quot;.  But as far as words go, I would personally use texted.  It does sound awkward, however the official past tense of &lt;em&gt;to text&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;texted&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/text&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/text&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He texted a long wish list to his parents two days before his eighteenth birthday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4635" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T23:52:56.877" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T23:52:56.877" />
  <row Id="11485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11480" CreationDate="2011-02-05T19:01:53.040" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;text&lt;/em&gt;, in that sense as a verb, was not a word until they adopted it for the new technology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I adopted &lt;em&gt;texted&lt;/em&gt; at the same time for past tense usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T19:01:53.040" />
  <row Id="11486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11480" CreationDate="2011-02-05T19:02:20.930" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If &lt;em&gt;text&lt;/em&gt; is used as a verb, which it is, then its past tense and past participle are &lt;em&gt;texted&lt;/em&gt;.  As in &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I texted you yesterday&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have texted you earlier today&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am texting you right now&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I will text you tomorrow&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T19:02:20.930" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11480" CreationDate="2011-02-05T19:03:43.677" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;texted&quot; is a perfectly acceptable, if informal word. I regularly say that I &quot;grepped&quot; something (from 'global regular expression'). It's a neologism - a newly emerging word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the informality bothers you, I would say that the more formal version would &quot;text-messaged&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T19:03:43.677" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11481" CreationDate="2011-02-05T19:14:17.007" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Where do you fall in birth order among your sisters?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T19:14:17.007" />
  <row Id="11489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2011-02-05T19:23:13.813" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shibboleth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe not anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;:-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T19:23:13.813" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-05T19:23:13.813" />
  <row Id="11490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11395" CreationDate="2011-02-05T19:29:16.803" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's merely an attempt to communicate a greater magnitude, i.e., that &quot;a savings&quot; is greater than &quot;a saving&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would generally associate this with the American South / West...though I don't think this would sound out of place in the North in Britain (correct me if I 'm wrong - I'm American). Are you perhaps from the south of England?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T19:29:16.803" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11445" CreationDate="2011-02-05T19:37:25.943" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think noun is a more general concept. All the names are nouns! On the contrary, not all the nouns are names! Also, we usually talk about nouns in grammatical context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ldoceonline.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Noun:&lt;/strong&gt; a word or group of words that represent a &lt;strong&gt;person&lt;/strong&gt; (such as ‘Michael’, ‘teacher’, or ‘police officer’), a &lt;strong&gt;place&lt;/strong&gt; (such as ‘France’ or ‘school’), a &lt;strong&gt;thing&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;activity&lt;/strong&gt; (such as ‘coffee’ or ‘football’), or a &lt;strong&gt;quality&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;idea&lt;/strong&gt; (such as ‘danger’ or ‘happiness’). Nouns can be used as the subject or object of a verb (as in ‘The teacher arrived’ or ‘We like the teacher’) or as the object of a  preposition  (as in ‘good at football’).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Name:&lt;/strong&gt; What someone or something is called such as 'Mandy'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proper noun:&lt;/strong&gt; a noun such as ‘James’, ‘New York’, or ‘China’ that is the &lt;strong&gt;name of one particular thing and is written with a  capital  letter&lt;/strong&gt;. It's also called proper name (&lt;em&gt;especially British English&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Common Noun:&lt;/strong&gt; in grammar, a common noun is any noun that is not the &lt;strong&gt;name of a particular person, place, or thing&lt;/strong&gt;. For example, ‘book', ’sugar', and ‘stuff’ are common nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T22:48:49.960" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T22:48:49.960" />
  <row Id="11492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="658" CreationDate="2011-02-05T19:51:24.590" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you can use these synonyms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;as said by&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;as stated by&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;on the word by&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;consistent with&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;in accordance with&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;as per&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;along with&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;in line with&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;in keeping with&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;in relation to&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;in proportion to&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T19:51:24.590" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-05T19:51:24.590" />
  <row Id="11493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="658" CreationDate="2011-02-05T19:59:24.377" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Secundum&lt;/strong&gt; Rick Astley, &quot;Numquam te tradam&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Postquam&lt;/strong&gt; Bryan Adams, &quot;Retro in aestas sexaginta novem&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T19:59:24.377" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-05T19:59:24.377" />
  <row Id="11494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="658" CreationDate="2011-02-05T20:25:46.393" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bryan Adams &lt;strong&gt;opined that&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;The only thing that looks good on me is you&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have it &lt;strong&gt;on the authority of&lt;/strong&gt; Chuck Berry that &quot;It's gotta be rock 'n' rock music&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3542" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T20:25:46.393" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-05T20:25:46.393" />
  <row Id="11495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11455" CreationDate="2011-02-05T20:39:41.860" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a word to be introduced into a language, it has to become popular. For example, in the future, there might by a word for being time-travel-lagged just like we have the word jet-lagged today. &#xA;    The word jet-lag did not have much meaning about 75 years ago, because it was not a common phenomenon, and so a word was not needed to describe it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But to get a word into a dictionary, it has to have the support and approval&#xA; of the academic community. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, it becomes a little more about politics and less about functionality and practicality. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3982" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T20:39:41.860" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2011-02-05T20:44:24.587" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gauge&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's pronounced gay-dzj, while my Dutch colleagues pronounce it gow-tsj and frown upon me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4637" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T20:44:24.587" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-05T20:44:24.587" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11497" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11513" CreationDate="2011-02-05T20:56:01.210" Score="7" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is &lt;em&gt;I'm having&lt;/em&gt; in grammar terms? Is it something near the present, the near future? As in &lt;em&gt;I'm having a party tomorrow&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example (not about the near future),&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm having trouble coming up with a reliable method of comparing sets of data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Couldn't it be the following simpler version without any change in meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have trouble coming up with a reliable method of comparing sets of data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="244" LastEditorUserId="244" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T21:29:32.920" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T09:18:51.610" Title="&quot;I'm having&quot; - an illness?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;simplification&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11497" CreationDate="2011-02-05T21:36:15.297" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Am having&lt;/em&gt; is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentcontinuous.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;present continuous&lt;/a&gt; tense and &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/simplepresent.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;simple present&lt;/a&gt; tense of the verb &lt;em&gt;to have&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the question, the first sentence means that I am having trouble now while the second sentence means that I usually have trouble coming up with a reliable method of comparing sets of data. The present continuous tense is also used to talk about something that will happen in the near future. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am going home tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T21:36:15.297" />
  <row Id="11500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11481" CreationDate="2011-02-05T22:23:39.317" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Are your siblings older or younger than you?&quot;, or perhaps &quot;Are you the oldest?&quot; or &quot;Are you the youngest?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The term birth order would only be used in a scientific context. Even siblings is relatively  formal, you'd more often hear &quot;brothers and sisters&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3244" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T22:23:39.317" />
  <row Id="11501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11458" CreationDate="2011-02-05T22:56:06.967" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When organizations of similar size, states, or armies liaise, I have seen &quot;counterpart&quot; used quite often. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.valleynewslive.com/Global/story.asp?S=13971810&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Example&lt;/a&gt;;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...said Navy Capt. John Kirby, spokesman for the top U.S. military officer, Adm. Mike Mullen, who spoke briefly by phone on Monday and Wednesday with his counterpart in Cairo, Army Lt. Gen. Sami Enan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;obviously, it's only usable in that limited context of two structures/organizations interacting (as @Dour points out it can not be used to describe two equal-ranking colleagues on the &quot;same side&quot;), so it may not be what you are looking for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="239" LastEditorUserId="239" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T02:39:10.003" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T02:39:10.003" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11502" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11503" CreationDate="2011-02-06T01:34:05.973" Score="4" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might receive one of these when you are getting dumped by your erstwhile partner.  I don't think it is a coincidence that the a recent movie called &lt;em&gt;Dear John&lt;/em&gt; includes a &lt;em&gt;Dear John&lt;/em&gt; letter as one of its plot points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T02:11:26.180" Title="What is the origin of the &quot;Dear John&quot; letter?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11502" CreationDate="2011-02-06T02:11:26.180" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While the exact origins of the phrase are unknown, it is commonly believed to have been coined by Americans during World War II. Large numbers of American troops were stationed overseas for many months or years, and as time passed many of their wives or girlfriends decided to begin a relationship with a new man rather than wait for their old one to return.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As letters to servicemen from wives or girlfriends back home would typically contain affectionate language (such as &quot;Dear Johnny&quot;, &quot;My dearest John&quot;, or simply &quot;Darling&quot;), a serviceman receiving a note beginning with a curt &quot;Dear John&quot; would instantly be aware of the letter's purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A writer in the Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester, NY, summed it up in August 1945:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;&quot;Dear John,&quot; the letter began. &quot;I have found someone else whom I think the world of. I think the only way out is for us to get a divorce,&quot; it said. They usually began like that, those letters that told of infidelity on the part of the wives of servicemen... The men called them &quot;Dear Johns&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's another source that concurs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-dea5.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-dea5.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T02:11:26.180" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11505" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11508" CreationDate="2011-02-06T04:34:41.620" Score="4" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8181/does-one-use-a-or-an-before-the-word-x-ray&quot;&gt;Does one use &amp;#39;a&amp;#39; or &amp;#39;an&amp;#39; before the word X-Ray?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hello people, English is not my primary language, so it is just natural I make such basic questions...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to say &quot;An RPG&quot; (where RPG could be the common &quot;Role-Playing Game&quot; term), or do I have to say &quot;A RPG&quot;, without the &quot;n&quot;? Considering RPG does not begin with a vowel... yet, it sounds like it does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4643" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T09:22:42.420" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T09:22:42.420" ClosedDate="2011-02-06T06:52:53.197" Title="&quot;An RPG&quot; or &quot;a RPG&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="11507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7423" CreationDate="2011-02-06T04:40:46.360" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The pronunciations reported by the NOAD are /ˈwʊstərʃɪ(ə)r/, /ˈwʊstərʃaɪ(ə)r/. Having a friend who lives on Long Islang, I am used to the first pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T09:15:12.787" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T09:15:12.787" />
  <row Id="11508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11505" CreationDate="2011-02-06T04:46:41.253" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;An RPG&quot;.  The controlling factor is whether it's spoken with a vowel sound.  (So &quot;an hour&quot;, &quot;a unicorn&quot;, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T04:46:41.253" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11505" CreationDate="2011-02-06T04:48:39.457" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;RPG, when spoken, sounds like &quot;are pee jee,&quot; thus it's prefixed with an &quot;an.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="502" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T04:48:39.457" />
  <row Id="11510" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11528" CreationDate="2011-02-06T04:51:14.650" Score="5" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;What kind of accent is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLRwpnkGHrQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;? Is the speaker there speaking American English or Canadian? It is quite obvious it's not British or Australian accent. If it's American, can you, please, say what part of the USA it is? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T10:16:48.070" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T10:16:48.070" Title="What kind of accent is this?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;accent&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="11511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11505" CreationDate="2011-02-06T04:54:10.403" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The rule about the usage of &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; as indefinite articles is that &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; is used before a vocal sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a warranty&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a user (because the u is pronounced like a &lt;em&gt;y&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a man&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an angel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an information&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When used before an acronym, the rule is still valid, but which article to use depends from how the acronym is pronounced (letter by letter, or like if it would be a word).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an MP3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an RPG&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an FBI agent&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a GPS device&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As example of acronyms that are pronounced as if they would be a word, I can think only to &lt;em&gt;laser&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;radar&lt;/em&gt;, but those words (which are reported to be acronyms from my dictionary) are probably perceived as words; therefore, they are not good examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T05:22:46.573" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T05:22:46.573" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="11512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11458" CreationDate="2011-02-06T05:11:54.367" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Colleague has the meaning you're looking for when the speaker is a member of a licensed profession (doctor, lawyer, that sort of thing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Copractitioner&lt;/em&gt; may be slightly preferable to your &lt;em&gt;fellow-X&lt;/em&gt; construction sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T05:11:54.367" />
  <row Id="11513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11497" CreationDate="2011-02-06T05:16:35.533" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am having trouble&lt;/em&gt; is written using the &lt;em&gt;present continuous tense&lt;/em&gt; (also called &lt;em&gt;present progressive tense&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The progressive tenses are used to put emphasis that the event being described is in progress; the progressive also indicates habitual actions (&lt;em&gt;I am walking a lot more now&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The interpretation that I would give to the sentences you wrote is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;I'm having trouble coming up with a reliable method of comparing sets of data.&lt;/em&gt; — you are searching a reliable method also in the moment you are saying/writing that.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;I have trouble coming up with a reliable method of comparing sets of data.&lt;/em&gt; — You cannot find a reliable method for comparing sets of data and you are searching a reliable method when you are saying/writing that, or you stopped searching for such method.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a difference between &lt;em&gt;I have trouble&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;I had trouble&lt;/em&gt;, as the latter one means that you found a way to compare sets of data in a reliable way (and your trouble is done).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T06:08:02.197" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T06:08:02.197" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11514" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11515" CreationDate="2011-02-06T05:19:49.617" Score="2" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;Excuse my terrible English knowledge, but I have been wondering this for some time already:&#xA;What is correct for the next phrase?:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And he was there. alone. sad. and crying...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And he was there. Alone. Sad. And crying...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And he was there, alone, sad and crying...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the first and second cases, I use periods for separating the state of the subject. For some reason, I like it to give better suspense. Given the way I am using the periods, should I use Capital letters after them, or not? These periods are pretty much like commas...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... But maybe I am terribly wrong and should never use periods for such purpose? Should I always follow the third case? Just using commas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4643" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T00:00:36.177" Title="...Capital letter after period(s)?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11514" CreationDate="2011-02-06T05:37:04.703" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would write the first word after the period in capital case, as you did in the second sentence you wrote.&#xA;The general rule of writing a word in capital case after a period is still valid even if you write a single word and then a period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In those cases, the periods are used to give an emphasis to the single words. The pause when &quot;reading&quot; a period is longer than the pause used for a comma; for this reason I would not say the periods are like commas, in the examples you wrote.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T05:37:04.703" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11517" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11518" CreationDate="2011-02-06T06:08:49.200" Score="5" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello, English is not my primary language, but I like how simpler than Spanish it is :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I tend to finish with a &quot;, that is.&quot; in a couple situations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I come in and see a heavily damaged machine, and I say&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A lost case, that is...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And it is not always with the &quot;that is&quot; phrase, it also happens with &quot;I say&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am discussing with someone, and I say:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your arguments are baseless, I say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this kind of &quot;ending&quot; for my phrases correct, or is it some kind of absurd bad habit I developed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4643" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T23:49:44.773" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T23:49:44.773" Title="&quot;A lost case, that is.&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11517" CreationDate="2011-02-06T06:11:52.783" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sure, they're correct.  The appended &quot;I say&quot; tends to sound a bit haughty or archaic, while the &quot;that is&quot; sounds a bit colloquial, but both are well within the bounds of accepted usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T06:11:52.783" />
  <row Id="11519" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11522" CreationDate="2011-02-06T06:23:30.450" Score="2" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here I present you two scenarios of mine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This can be explained very easily, with this example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;example here&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This can be explained very easily:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;example here&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the first situation, I am telling I am &lt;em&gt;about to give you an example&lt;/em&gt;, while on the second situation, I don't. Yet, the two points make it quite clear already. Which situation is more correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You see, on the first situation, the &quot;with this example&quot; part looks a bit too useless, however, without it, it looks a bit incomplete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4643" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T12:13:26.780" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T12:13:26.780" Title="&quot;Easy to explain, here is an example for you:&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11510" CreationDate="2011-02-06T06:35:43.830" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are word choices that make me think the speaker's native language is not English. There are words that are not pluralized that should be and other words seem to be dropped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;para&quot; in paragraph has hints of Russian as the speakers native language. Listen to the long O sound in the way he says story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4632" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T06:35:43.830" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="11521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11481" CreationDate="2011-02-06T06:39:19.013" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are talking to a math teacher, but only a math teacher, your could say &quot;What is your birth ordinal?&quot; where it should be understood to refer to the ordinal number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3422" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T06:39:19.013" />
  <row Id="11522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11519" CreationDate="2011-02-06T06:45:14.820" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Which situation is more correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both the sentences are correct, and how you use the colon is correct in both the cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The colon is used to introduce something that explains or expands upon the part of the sentence it immediately follows.&#xA;In other words, what comes after a colon delivers on the promise set up by what comes before it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All of which brings up to a point: How does one know when it's right to capitalize the first word of a clause immediately following a colon?—&lt;em&gt;Comma Sense&lt;/em&gt;, Richard Lederer and John Shore. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T09:51:20.463" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T09:51:20.463" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11326" CreationDate="2011-02-06T06:49:26.257" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For dollars, the correct way is $20.  When I see 20$ it means the writer was thinking &quot;twenty dollars&quot; (not &quot;dollars twenty&quot;) and accordingly it is natural to type 20$ and if the writer is feeling lazy she will not backspace to correct it.  Laziness is more common in casual contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3422" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T06:49:26.257" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11524" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11526" CreationDate="2011-02-06T07:16:20.010" Score="4" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the etymology of &quot;regression&quot; as in finding the coefficients of polynomials?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3422" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T23:48:53.370" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T23:48:53.370" Title="Etymology of &quot;regression&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11524" CreationDate="2011-02-06T07:31:26.793" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it inherits it merely from being part of the larger concept of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_analysis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;regression analysis&lt;/a&gt;. From that, as per Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The term &quot;regression&quot; was coined by&#xA;  Francis Galton in the nineteenth&#xA;  century to describe a biological&#xA;  phenomenon. The phenomenon was that&#xA;  the heights of descendants of tall&#xA;  ancestors tend to regress down towards&#xA;  a normal average (a phenomenon also&#xA;  known as regression toward the&#xA;  mean).[6][7] For Galton, regression&#xA;  had only this biological&#xA;  meaning,[8][9] but his work was later&#xA;  extended by Udny Yule and Karl Pearson&#xA;  to a more general statistical context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T07:31:26.793" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11524" CreationDate="2011-02-06T07:31:50.567" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Latin &quot;re-&quot; (&quot;back&quot;) plus &quot;-gredior, -gredi, -gressus sum&quot; (&quot;go&quot;); the &quot;-ion&quot; suffix is common for forming nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus &quot;regression&quot; literally means &quot;going back&quot;. It is more commonly used in a figurative sense (as the opposite of &quot;development&quot;). The mathematical sense you mention comes from the idea that one would normally use a formula to calculate coordinates of a curve, but in &quot;regression&quot; one is starting with the coordinates and &quot;going back&quot; to the formula.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T07:31:50.567" />
  <row Id="11527" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-06T07:36:25.890" Score="2" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes people start a sentence with &lt;em&gt;I like to think that&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I like to think that my business plan will attract investors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are they being literal?  Since I'm a programmer I have a tendency to think this might be the case.  In other words, are they stating that they like something so they believe it?  If so, do you think these speakers know that they are giving the listener a reason to distrust them?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Or, are they employing an idiom that means &lt;em&gt;I believe&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Or, (after seeing Nick's answer, I am adding this third possibility) that people are employing an idiom that means &lt;em&gt;I hope&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3422" LastEditorUserId="3422" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T14:13:26.807" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T14:41:07.953" Title="Are people being literal when they say &quot;I like to think that […]&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11510" CreationDate="2011-02-06T07:50:47.687" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am no expert, but it sounds to me like his first language is a European one. His pronunciation of some words is similar to people from the Balkans or other Eastern European nations. Spain is a wild card. There's a hint of Irish in there too, but it's not full-on. The clues for me are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Strategies&quot;, (0:40), Spanish,&#xA;  Bosnian, Croatian?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Skimming&quot;, he pronounces it&#xA;  skee-ming.&quot;Beginning&quot;,too (0:51);&#xA;  bee-gee-ning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;look&quot; - pronounced thickly, similar&#xA;  to Irish maybe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;tell us&quot; (2:40), slight Irish&#xA;  inflection?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;about luck&quot; (2:43), an Eastern&#xA;  European inflection?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;ok&quot; (2:47), Spanish inflection?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of his oks sound like how a Spanish person would say them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;daily situation&quot; (2:57), very close&#xA;  to a Bosnian inflection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you ever find out, do let us know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apologies to the Spanish, Irish, Bosnians, Croatians and anyone from Eastern Europe if I've got it wrong.:-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastEditorUserId="3733" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T08:44:08.220" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T08:44:08.220" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="11529" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11533" CreationDate="2011-02-06T07:57:01.013" Score="3" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;The primary meaning of &lt;em&gt;ignore&lt;/em&gt; is to disregard somebody. &lt;em&gt;Ignorant&lt;/em&gt; is synonymous with unlearned and uninformed. &lt;em&gt;Ignorable&lt;/em&gt; assigns somebody or something a low priority.&#xA;I'm looking for an adjective that describes an action towards the object, such that I can rephrase the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He ignores me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;into&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is [adjective] towards me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possible candidates: &lt;em&gt;inattentive&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;indifferent&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;unresponsive&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;invisible&lt;/em&gt; and finally &lt;em&gt;uncaring&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4650" LastEditorUserId="4650" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T18:15:31.067" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T18:15:31.067" Title="Adjective of &quot;ignore&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5983" CreationDate="2011-02-06T08:00:02.260" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports the following definitions for the words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;caretaker: a person employed to look after a public building or a house in the owner's absence; a person employed to look after people or animals.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;caregiver: a family member or paid helper who regularly looks after a child or a sick, elderly, or disabled person.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Caregiver&lt;/em&gt; has a more specific meaning in American English, when referring to somebody who looks after somebody else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Caretaker&lt;/em&gt; can also be used in sentences similar to the following one, to mean &lt;em&gt;holding power temporary&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;His was a caretaker regime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T08:00:02.260" />
  <row Id="11531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11527" CreationDate="2011-02-06T08:07:19.413" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I like to think&lt;/em&gt; introduces a pleasant or hopeful wish, but with some uncertainty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I like to think that people are mostly good.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I like to think that I'm good in bed, but how should I know?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3591" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T09:24:54.603" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T09:24:54.603" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11529" CreationDate="2011-02-06T08:15:07.713" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ignore is the verb. OED gives &lt;strong&gt;ignorable&lt;/strong&gt; as the adjective. I haven't seen it in use much, but here are two attempts at using it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You may think the problem is&#xA;  ignorable, but I think it will not go&#xA;  away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He may be ignorable, but do not&#xA;  underestimate him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastEditorUserId="3733" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T08:21:02.217" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T08:21:02.217" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11529" CreationDate="2011-02-06T08:17:45.097" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meaning of &lt;em&gt;ignore&lt;/em&gt; as verb is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;refuse to take notice of or acknowledge; disregard intentionally.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to fail to consider (something significant)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to reject an indictment as groundless&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The adjective that is derived from &lt;em&gt;ignore&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;ignorable&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for an adjective to use, you can use &lt;em&gt;indifferent&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;uninterested&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;uncaring&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T09:49:05.130" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T09:49:05.130" />
  <row Id="11534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11529" CreationDate="2011-02-06T08:23:21.990" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;em&gt;insignificant&lt;/em&gt; is a more familiar near-synonym of &lt;em&gt;ignorable&lt;/em&gt;. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wikisaurus%3ainsignificant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikisaurus&lt;/a&gt; for more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose the most obvious answer should not be &lt;strong&gt;ignored&lt;/strong&gt;, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: for the given usage, I would use &lt;em&gt;inattentive&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;inattentive towards me&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you believe his attitude is unjust, &lt;em&gt;aloof&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;dismissive of me&lt;/em&gt; would fit. It sounds like you want to capture &quot;giving the cold shoulder,&quot; not just ignoring. Really, when one person purposely maintains silence to another's queries or advances, that is not ignoring but rather actively avoiding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4385" LastEditorUserId="4385" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T09:08:47.127" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T09:08:47.127" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11517" CreationDate="2011-02-06T08:31:48.297" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is probably not a good habit. It certainly will make you sound more &quot;foreign.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such phrases aren't confusing, but they don't seem to express anything. Few people nowadays add such flourishes; common ones I can think of are &lt;em&gt;man&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;dude&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;yo&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;no?&lt;/em&gt; — all of which relate to some kind of stereotypical, hackneyed speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, the idiom is &lt;em&gt;lost cause&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;lost case&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4385" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T08:31:48.297" />
  <row Id="11537" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11539" CreationDate="2011-02-06T09:45:25.780" Score="4" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm currently translating an article of Joel Spolsky's which is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090101/how-hard-could-it-be-thanks-or-no-thanks.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Thanks or No thanks&lt;/a&gt; and I'm a bit confused about the meaning of the title.&#xA;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only two possible meanings that I could guess are the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&#xA;&quot;Thanks!&quot; or &quot;No, thanks&quot;, referring to whether the character of the article will accept the offer, or he will reject it.&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&#xA;Deciding whether or not we should thank the character&#xA;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4653" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T14:07:17.950" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T14:18:05.017" Title="Thanks or no thanks" Tags="&lt;translation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11538" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11545" CreationDate="2011-02-06T10:11:08.543" Score="2" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;I knew that &lt;em&gt;Joe&lt;/em&gt; was used to mean &lt;em&gt;the average man&lt;/em&gt;, and I discovered that &lt;em&gt;joe&lt;/em&gt; is used to mean also &lt;em&gt;coffee&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the origin of such meanings?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When it is used to mean the average man, should I understand that &lt;em&gt;Joe&lt;/em&gt; is/was the most common name?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T08:40:08.240" Title="Origin of the meaning of joe" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="11539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11537" CreationDate="2011-02-06T10:29:58.633" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would relate &quot;Thanks&quot; to the extrinsic motivation, and &quot;no thanks&quot; to the intrinsic motivation (&quot;what drives you to do something regardless of whether you will receive a reward&quot;) Joel mentions in his article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that regard, your second interpretation is closer to the point of the article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know the target language for your translation, but you need to consider the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/thanks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;multiple meanings of &quot;Thank&quot;&lt;/a&gt; (gratitude, help from, because of, ...), all of them having some sense in the context of Joel's paper.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But a literal translation of &quot;Thanks&quot; might not have those same definitions, so you will need to rephrase and simplify this title.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T10:29:58.633" />
  <row Id="11540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11538" CreationDate="2011-02-06T10:41:43.003" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seemingly NOT from the Secretary of Navy: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.snopes.com/language/eponyms/cupofjoe.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.snopes.com/language/eponyms/cupofjoe.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal guess is&#xA;java -&gt; joe&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=joe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=joe&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&quot;coffee,&quot; 1941, of unknown origin. Meaning &quot;generic fellow, man&quot; is from 1846, from the pet-form of Joseph (q.v.). Joe college &quot;typical college man&quot; is from 1932. Joe Blow &quot;average fellow&quot; is U.S. military slang, first recorded 1941.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T10:41:43.003" />
  <row Id="11541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11537" CreationDate="2011-02-06T10:54:12.853" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; match the phrase &quot;Thanks, but no thanks&quot; since that is what the person in the story ended up &quot;saying&quot; by not accepting the conditioned offer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I would think you can just go &lt;em&gt;Спасибо или нет Спасибо&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, thinking more - you can use the Hamlet format: To thank or not to thank&#xA;- with a bit of help from google translate and from the standard translation of Hamlet, would this work? &lt;em&gt;благодарить иль не благодарить&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T11:00:12.897" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T11:00:12.897" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11538" CreationDate="2011-02-06T11:44:19.960" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some name must be chosen to fill the role. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Tom,_Dick_or_Harry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tom, Dick and Harry&lt;/a&gt; lend a hand too, not to mention John Doe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Average Joe&quot; is a phrase (limited in age by the prevalance of algebra education?) but can the term &quot;Joe&quot; be used alone in this sense at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4385" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T11:44:19.960" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4021" CreationDate="2011-02-06T11:55:22.290" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do not use the passive voice in documentation addressed to the user. Address all instructions to the person who will follow them. The second person is appropriate, and (as this paragraph demonstrates) does not incur excessive use of the informal &quot;you&quot; if one sticks to the imperative tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If addressing an administrator who &lt;strong&gt;himself&lt;/strong&gt; has users, refer to the users with male gender as it is the grammatical convention. The problem is easily avoided by referring to them collectively, and using the phrase &quot;the user&quot; often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4385" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T11:55:22.290" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11544" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-06T12:20:58.133" Score="0" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any good video course for intermediate user?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4656" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T12:20:58.133" ClosedDate="2011-02-06T15:13:57.963" Title="Any good video course for intermediate user?" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;" />
  <row Id="11545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11538" CreationDate="2011-02-06T13:27:13.523" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Webster's lists &lt;em&gt;joe&lt;/em&gt; as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;coffee. [ORIGIN: 1940s: of unknown origin.]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;an ordinary man : the average joe. [ORIGIN: mid 19th cent.: nickname for the given name Joseph; compare with Joe Blow .]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=joe&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;concurs&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T13:27:13.523" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5035" CreationDate="2011-02-06T14:00:23.143" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not uncommon for ad headlines and movie titles to substitute numerals for somewhat-similar-looking-letters when some art director thinks they add to the display or amplify the meaning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Se7en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Se7en&lt;/a&gt; (movie)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://Numb3rs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Numb3rs&lt;/a&gt; (TV show)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, there is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leetspeak&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;leetspeak&lt;/a&gt; (short for &quot;elite speak&quot;, &lt;em&gt;elite&lt;/em&gt; here meaning something like &quot;the in-crowd&quot; or &quot;the cognoscenti&quot;), which substitutes numbers for letters that look the same and is a mild form of code writing propagated in the 1980s by the online BBS community and picked up by the gaming community. For example, &quot;leet&quot; itself may be written 1337 — the &lt;em&gt;1&lt;/em&gt; standing for lower-case &lt;em&gt;l&lt;/em&gt;, the *3*s looking like backwards upper-case calligraphic *E*s, and the &lt;em&gt;7&lt;/em&gt; looking something like an upper-case &lt;em&gt;T&lt;/em&gt; missing the right extension.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T14:00:23.143" />
  <row Id="11547" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11686" CreationDate="2011-02-06T14:08:18.820" Score="4" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;An eponym is one way to eternal (if posthumous) fame. But is there a word meaning an eponym someone would sooner not have? (One would presume that Captain Charles &lt;em&gt;Boycott&lt;/em&gt;, Mr Justice &lt;em&gt;Lynch&lt;/em&gt;, and Patrick &lt;em&gt;Hooligan&lt;/em&gt; would not appreciate their undying notoriety.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T06:47:11.497" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T14:41:49.240" Title="Is there a word meaning &quot;an unwanted eponym&quot;?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;eponyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="11548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11537" CreationDate="2011-02-06T14:18:05.017" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Joel Spolsky is a good writer with a playful sense of humor who likes plays on words. It is entirely possible that he could have used the title &lt;em&gt;Thanks or No Thanks&lt;/em&gt; as an echoic reference to the phrase &quot;Thanks but no thanks&quot; (which one says to express gratitude at having been offered something while at the same time declining to accept it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also possible, since he was writing for a professional publication (&lt;em&gt;Inc.&lt;/em&gt; magazine), that the headline was added or altered by an editor. Editors (especially of print publications, and &lt;em&gt;Inc.&lt;/em&gt; was originally and remains also a print publication) love punny healines (or &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004380.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;heds&lt;/a&gt;, as the journalistic community refers to them). Only Joel and the editor would know for sure, and they may have forgotten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T14:18:05.017" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11549" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-06T14:30:42.200" Score="0" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are working on a web project that has a password reset feature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now the problem is, &quot;Password Reset Mail&quot; and &quot;Reset Password Mail&quot;, which is better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm confused by it. Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4660" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T14:53:31.590" Title="&quot;Password Reset Mail&quot; or &quot;Reset Password Mail&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8132" CreationDate="2011-02-06T14:32:43.013" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;CORPUS OF CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN ENGLISH&lt;/em&gt; indicates that &lt;strong&gt;high winds&lt;/strong&gt; is used more than &lt;strong&gt;strong winds&lt;/strong&gt; (435 vs 251 occurrences).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4662" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T14:32:43.013" />
  <row Id="11551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11547" CreationDate="2011-02-06T14:35:49.120" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would probably just call it a &lt;em&gt;negative eponym&lt;/em&gt; (as it was recently used in an article about &lt;a href=&quot;http://sigmundcarlandalfred.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/breitbarting/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Breitbartling&lt;/a&gt;, in which the author also refers to &quot;borking&quot;). But that still doesn't convey the sense of the eponym being unwanted, which I don't believe can be expressed yet in a single word. I think you can assume that &lt;em&gt;negative&lt;/em&gt; implies unwanted, but that will never be true 100% of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T14:35:49.120" />
  <row Id="11552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11549" CreationDate="2011-02-06T14:46:22.177" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Presumably you mean &lt;em&gt;email&lt;/em&gt; instead of just &lt;em&gt;mail&lt;/em&gt;, and that this is a link for resetting one's password, so I would suggest a couple of alternatives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Email Password Reset&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which will be easily understood, or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Reset Password Via Email&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which is explicit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T14:46:22.177" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11549" CreationDate="2011-02-06T14:53:31.590" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends where that text belongs. If you have a button on a webpage to reset the password, it should simply say “Reset password by mail” or, shorter, “Mail password reset”. The mail itself would be a “Password reset email”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4662" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T14:53:31.590" />
  <row Id="11554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8941" CreationDate="2011-02-06T15:39:22.247" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is entirely a matter of style. A clear typesetting would make sure that the separation of paragraphs is clear to the readers. This can be achieved by vertical spacing, or by indentation at the beginning of paragraphs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T15:39:22.247" />
  <row Id="11555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11529" CreationDate="2011-02-06T16:11:18.187" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are already some good answers here, but none that really hit what you're after precisely. So I'm going to take a different tack, and suggest you might flop the subject and verb and say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm invisible to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a figurative usage, so you might add a qualifier:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Apparently I'm invisible to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either way, it means he doesn't see you &lt;em&gt;for whatever reason&lt;/em&gt;. It does not necessarily mean &quot;he&quot; is actively ignoring you, but it's likely to carry that connotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also try&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is unresponsive to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There can also be other reasons for his unresponsiveness, but this suggests you did make some effort to get his attention and failed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for coming up with an adjective that means exactly what you want in exactly the way you want it, I have cudgeled my brains for a while now and can't think of one. If I were trying to write a sentence with that meaning, I'd have given up looking for the exact word some time ago and simply recast the sentence to express my meaning another way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T16:11:18.187" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11557" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11639" CreationDate="2011-02-06T17:04:41.037" Score="2" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do the adjectives “reliable” and “dependable” have the same exact meaning?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If not, what is the difference and when is best to use each of them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4667" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T05:45:28.650" Title="What's the difference between “reliable” and “dependable”?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11558" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11559" CreationDate="2011-02-06T17:35:39.230" Score="-2" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;How would an Englishman join &lt;a href=&quot;http://twitter.com/#!/search/%22awake%20and%20awkward%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Awake and awkward&quot;&lt;/a&gt; into one word?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Awakenoid?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Awakewarded?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Make your bet! Shoot more!    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And what are perceived connotations of such joins?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T23:41:50.053" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T23:41:50.053" ClosedDate="2011-02-07T19:00:45.137" Title="How would an Englishman join &quot;Awake and awkward&quot; into one word?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;word-games&gt;&lt;catch-phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11558" CreationDate="2011-02-06T17:50:12.947" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If my life were threatened and I had to choose, I'd go with &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;awakward&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. But really, all sound horrible, and there sure are other ways to express what you mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T17:50:12.947" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11560" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11599" CreationDate="2011-02-06T17:51:48.403" Score="-4" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;Having found &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/showpost.php?p=18223564&amp;amp;postcount=7&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;I've started using 'awakenoids' from the 'Napien' episode recently, for a newer episode it really stuck with me&quot;&lt;/a&gt;   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that I have never seen Simpsons but this phrase also stuck with me.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what are its connotations, as perceived by native English speakers?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The parent question: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11558/how-would-an-englishman-join-awake-and-awkward-into-one-word&quot;&gt;How would an Englishman join “Awake and awkward” into one word?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T23:37:39.853" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T03:19:23.203" Title="What is perceived meaning of &quot;awakenoid&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;word-games&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="11561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11557" CreationDate="2011-02-06T17:57:03.673" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Obviously &quot;reliable&quot; means &quot;can be relied upon&quot; and &quot;dependable&quot; means &quot;can be depended upon&quot;, but both my Webster's and etymological dictionary give near-identical usages, even using the other as synonyms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=reliable%2C+dependable&amp;amp;year_start=1800&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ngram viewer&lt;/a&gt; shows &quot;reliable&quot; as far more common than &quot;dependable&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2949" LastEditorUserId="2949" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T18:12:02.100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T18:12:02.100" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11562" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-06T18:04:42.030" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think I just heard the word &quot;hedgy&quot; (rhymes with &quot;edgy&quot;) used in conversation, with the deduced-from-context meaning of hesitant or tentative. It was something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The news came in but everyone in the capital was a bit hedgy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked it up in the usual places but did not find anything. Is this a word? Does it mean what I think it means? Does it have something to do with hedging one's bets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T01:18:57.080" Title="What does &quot;hedgy&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11563" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-06T18:05:12.263" Score="1" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are word-games used by English speaking people?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mention any!&#xA;Links to online games or descriptions are welcome!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Context of question: something similar to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11558/how-would-an-englishman-join-awake-and-awkward-into-one-word&quot;&gt;How would an Englishman join “Awake and awkward” into one word?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T23:25:20.613" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T15:56:01.003" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-06T20:52:29.053" Title="What are games with phrases used by English speaking people?" Tags="&lt;word-games&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11564" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11592" CreationDate="2011-02-06T18:13:03.550" Score="2" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is ironic that a device that is supposed to make our lives easier is so hard to spell.  Is there a mnemonic for the spelling of mnemonic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T18:49:36.887" Title="Is there a mnemonic for remembering how to spell mnemonic?" Tags="&lt;mnemonic&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11565" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11567" CreationDate="2011-02-06T18:19:46.790" Score="1" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oath, pledge, and vow: What is the difference between these words and where should I use each word? A simple example would help me to understand. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4671" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T23:14:19.093" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T23:14:19.093" Title="&quot;Oath&quot; vs &quot;pledge&quot; vs &quot;vow&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11563" CreationDate="2011-02-06T18:26:40.000" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm ignoring the possible meaning of verbal maneuvers. So, off the top of my head, there's &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;hangman&lt;/strong&gt;, guess the word or words before the hangman is drawn,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I spy with my little eye,&lt;/strong&gt; One person picks an object that he can see and says, &quot;&lt;em&gt;I spy with my little eye something beginning with&lt;/em&gt; (the first letter of that word).&quot; The other person then has to guess the object. Kids often play this game on car journeys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;scrabble&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; word boardgame of choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pictionary&lt;/strong&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possibly, &lt;strong&gt;charades&lt;/strong&gt;, although this sometimes covers whole sentences rather than a word or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastEditorUserId="3733" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T18:33:17.233" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T18:33:17.233" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-06T20:52:29.053" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11565" CreationDate="2011-02-06T18:39:43.323" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me, the nouns &lt;strong&gt;pledge&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;vow&lt;/strong&gt; are closer in meaning, to the point of being synonyms. They mean “a solemn promise” (this is NOAD's main definition for both). &lt;strong&gt;Oath&lt;/strong&gt;, while close in meaning, typically has an additional sense of invoking the divine (e.g., an oath taken on the bible). A verb with close meaning to all three is &lt;strong&gt;to swear&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to this meaning of “solemn promise”, each of these three nouns has specific additional meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an oath maybe refer to a profanity or a swear word&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vows maybe have specific meaning of commiting oneself to a given life, e.g. marriage or monastic vows&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pledge has an additional legal meaning, synonymous to surety, bond or guarantee&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T18:39:43.323" />
  <row Id="11568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11563" CreationDate="2011-02-06T18:41:24.900" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Crosswords are extremely popular in America. The most well known crosswords come from the New York Times. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/ref/crosswords/classicpuz.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;You can play their older ones for free online&lt;/a&gt; or their daily new puzzles with a subscription.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="502" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T18:41:24.900" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-06T20:52:29.053" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11569" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-06T18:43:54.837" Score="0" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen a lot people who always used to think in their mother tongue (not an English, of course!) and tries to convert it to English. How to prevent this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4530" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T23:11:20.220" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T23:11:20.220" ClosedDate="2011-02-06T21:30:40.247" Title="How to avoid mother tongue to English conversion" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11570" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-06T18:47:48.213" Score="1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a non-native speaker of English and an engineer by training, I always get confused about hyphenation and almost always end up referring to Google every time I need to make that decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anybody know of a concise, comprehensive style guide to hyphenation that explains this rather complex issue, once and for all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4673" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T12:11:38.327" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T12:11:38.327" Title="To hyphenate or not?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11569" CreationDate="2011-02-06T18:54:12.363" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I too  have the same opinion as advs89. One has to read and speak the language for a long enough period so as to be able to think in English .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3961" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T18:54:12.363" />
  <row Id="11572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11564" CreationDate="2011-02-06T19:09:55.823" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it were a class of words you're talking about, I'd say a mnemonic would be useful. But as you are referring to a single instance, why create a mnemonic that you will have to remember (and may get wrong) to remember a single word? That adds an unnecessary burden (and abstraction) to the task. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T19:20:04.153" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T19:20:04.153" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11563" CreationDate="2011-02-06T19:16:19.417" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My all-time favorite word game is &lt;strong&gt;Superghosts&lt;/strong&gt; (a variation of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_%28game%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ghosts&lt;/a&gt;). In Ghosts, you start with a letter, then the next person appends a letter, and so on. The object of the game is to append a letter without completing a word. If you complete a word, you're out, and the game goes on without you (i.e. you become a &quot;ghost&quot;). Last person non-ghosted wins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The strategy is to try add letters that will maneuver your opponents into completing a word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can challenge a person's letter if you do not believe there are any real words that contain the present combination of letters. If you are right, the challenged one is ghosted; if you are wrong, you are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Superghosts&lt;/strong&gt; adds the concept of prepending characters to the collection. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T19:16:19.417" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-06T20:52:29.053" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11563" CreationDate="2011-02-06T19:34:15.807" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Boggle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Apples to Apples (&lt;em&gt;spectacular&lt;/em&gt; game)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Taboo&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Balderdash&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T19:34:15.807" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-06T20:52:29.053" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11569" CreationDate="2011-02-06T19:48:52.033" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I ask someone who speaks multiple languages fluently which one they think in, they don't know. They can't tell me if they're using English or Hebrew, or English or French; they don't make a conscious distinction when they're thinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess, based on the above and personal experience, is this: If you know multiple languages well, you don't think in one the other. You think abstractly, and both translations come to you instantly as you need them. You choose (automatically) which to use, and say it aloud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4675" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T19:48:52.033" />
  <row Id="11576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4419" CreationDate="2011-02-06T19:51:35.230" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suppose the large number of &quot;in&quot; prepositions in the phrase can be explained like this: in many languages, including Russian we use the preposition which can be translated into English as &quot;in&quot;. So what people often do when they don't know what the correct way is - they &quot;copy&quot; exactly as it's told in their native language. I guess the number of native speakers who use the Internet is much smaller. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4676" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T19:51:35.230" />
  <row Id="11577" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11600" CreationDate="2011-02-06T19:58:29.130" Score="2" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;This morning I was pondering the things in the English language which have not been given a name, such as 'the Sun' or 'the Moon'. These do not seem to fall into the same category as 'the ground' or 'the sky' which seem a lot more spatially vague. In cases where an implicit place is referred to, for example: 'we went to the ocean', the thing also has a specific name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a reason why English has not given a name to the Sun or Moon? Other languages seem to have gone to the effort to name the big fiery thing in the sky, for example: Sol, Helios, Güneş.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T20:26:38.770" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T10:19:53.337" Title="Objects with no name, like &quot;the Sun&quot;." Tags="&lt;names&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="11578" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11590" CreationDate="2011-02-06T20:18:22.897" Score="2" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's a proper word to use for an item without any printed words, where pupils, for example, may write compositions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4676" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T23:05:08.103" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T23:05:08.103" Title="&quot;Notebook&quot; or &quot;workbook&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11579" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11634" CreationDate="2011-02-06T20:20:06.453" Score="2" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the same respects/aspects, we can say it's right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T22:52:40.487" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T05:08:41.113" Title="&quot;Aspects&quot; or &quot;respects&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11578" CreationDate="2011-02-06T20:22:31.833" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is often called a &lt;em&gt;composition book&lt;/em&gt;.  If you don't like that, I would use note book (for taking notes) that than work book (examples of which often include questions with blanks for you to fill in the answer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T20:22:31.833" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11579" CreationDate="2011-02-06T20:23:32.800" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Respects&quot;.  There are similar things you might say where &quot;aspects&quot; would be appropriate (&quot;some aspects of it are right&quot;), but in the sentence you give, &quot;respects&quot; is the conventional idiom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T20:23:32.800" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5901" CreationDate="2011-02-06T20:33:29.250" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lorry is a British English word for a large truck and allows us to use &quot;red lorry, yellow lorry&quot; which is about as hard as it gets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T20:33:29.250" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-06T20:33:29.250" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11563" CreationDate="2011-02-06T20:37:44.503" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mornington Crescent is an english word game played mainly (but not exclusively) with London Underground stations and above-ground rail stations. Depending on the local rules (which are many and varied) other place names, current, historical or fictional may be played.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The primary object of the game is to be the first to say Mornington Crescent. But you can't say it too soon, or you may be disqualified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4677" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T15:32:59.947" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T15:32:59.947" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-06T20:52:29.053" />
  <row Id="11585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7905" CreationDate="2011-02-06T21:02:50.223" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel melty, disarmed, and captivated. None of which individually express a descent into baby talk, but these words seem to go at least halfway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4385" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T21:02:50.223" />
  <row Id="11586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1332" CreationDate="2011-02-06T21:17:10.567" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;On the occasions where you do have to write text in English for your job or for leisure, ask colleagues or friends who are native speakers (and decent writers) to proofread it for you. It is asking a lot of them, as proofreading to high standards is quite time-consuming, but it really helps improving one’s written English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T21:17:10.567" />
  <row Id="11588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11577" CreationDate="2011-02-06T21:41:35.403" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question contains an implicit assumption which is unfounded: the words &lt;em&gt;sol&lt;/em&gt; in Latin, &lt;em&gt;helios&lt;/em&gt; in Greek, and &lt;em&gt;güneş&lt;/em&gt; simply mean &quot;sun&quot;. They are names for the sun in &lt;em&gt;exactly&lt;/em&gt; the same way that the English word is the name for the sun. If you doubt this, consider the following: is there some generic word for &quot;sun&quot; in either Latin or Greek that contrasts with the proper names &lt;em&gt;sol/helios&lt;/em&gt;? (I don't know Turkish, so I won't comment on &lt;em&gt;güneş&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, we &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; have names for the big bright light that appears during the day, and the smaller, waxing and waning disk that appears at night. Those names are &quot;sun&quot; and &quot;moon&quot;. Other burning balls of hydrogen are called &quot;stars&quot;, and satellites orbiting other planets may be &quot;moons&quot;, but they're not &lt;em&gt;the moon&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(HT: Nathan, who gave the correct answer in a comment.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T21:41:35.403" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="11589" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11596" CreationDate="2011-02-06T21:56:37.983" Score="14" ViewCount="453" Body="&lt;p&gt;On the one side, the USA is just one country. Logic says it should be, then, singular, just like the United Kingdom is. Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The USA owns this domain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other side, if I however expand &quot;the USA&quot; to &quot;the United States of America&quot;, I'd tend towards using plural &amp;mdash; the noun the verb agrees with, &quot;States,&quot; is definitely plural. Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The United States of America own this domain. → The USA own this domain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What form should I prefer? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="865" LastEditorUserId="865" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T22:03:23.420" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T04:57:41.550" Title="Is &quot;the USA&quot; singular or plural?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;verb-agreement&gt;&lt;geography&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11578" CreationDate="2011-02-06T22:05:05.053" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following words refer to books without printed text, usually of the lined variety:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notebook&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;notebook&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (mostly US)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_book&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;exercise book&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (mostly UK and related countries)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_book&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;composition book&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (a specific variety of notebooks)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workbook&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;workbook&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; has printed texts (for the exercises), and so will not fall into this classification. Note that an &lt;em&gt;exercise book&lt;/em&gt; can also mean a &lt;em&gt;workbook&lt;/em&gt; in American usage, although this is rare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T22:24:05.867" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T22:24:05.867" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11589" CreationDate="2011-02-06T22:23:24.990" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Agree with the form you're using; &quot;the USA owns&quot;, &quot;the United States of America own&quot;.  The initialism doesn't need to be treated as if it were expanded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T22:23:24.990" />
  <row Id="11592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11564" CreationDate="2011-02-06T22:42:04.067" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sure; repeat to yourself &lt;em&gt;&lt;b&gt;m&lt;/b&gt;y &lt;b&gt;n&lt;/b&gt;iece is mnemonic&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This assumes that the &lt;em&gt;mn&lt;/em&gt; is the source of difficulty and you don't need a mnemonic for the rest of the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T22:42:04.067" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11593" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11597" CreationDate="2011-02-06T22:42:27.027" Score="3" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;In parliament a three line whip is said to be applied when a party seeks to ensure every MP turns up and votes the party line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But why the term &lt;strong&gt;&quot;three line&quot; whip&lt;/strong&gt;? And is there such a thing as a one or two line whip?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="368" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T22:55:51.497" Title="Where does &quot;three line whip&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;history&gt;&lt;jargon&gt;&lt;government&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11589" CreationDate="2011-02-06T22:54:25.270" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &quot;USA&quot; and &quot;The United States of America&quot; are a single proper noun. They are &lt;em&gt;names&lt;/em&gt;. I don't believe you can point to a word within a &lt;em&gt;name&lt;/em&gt; to call the name a plural. Both &lt;em&gt;names&lt;/em&gt; refer to a &lt;em&gt;single&lt;/em&gt; entity. They should be followed by the singular form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exception is in some British English where singular nouns representing collectives (companies, teams, governments, etc.) are &lt;em&gt;treated&lt;/em&gt; as plural. Some reading on that: &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=877&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=877&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4681" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T22:54:25.270" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11589" CreationDate="2011-02-06T22:54:52.053" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The United States of America own this domain&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me this sounds a little bit awkward, as the United States of America is one entity.  Actually, it's likely because the pluralism is buried in the middle of the term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were to use simply &lt;code&gt;The United States...&lt;/code&gt; I would accept either own or owns, depending on what you're trying to emphasize:  the collection of states as one entity or the collection as a group of states.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="456" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T22:54:52.053" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11593" CreationDate="2011-02-06T22:55:51.497" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are indeed one and two line whips - they basically boil down to how strong the expectation to vote is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A single whip is simply a guideline, while a double whip (or two line whip) is stricter - and attendance at the vote is required. The three-line whip is a 'vote with the party or get out'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The number of lines comes from the number of times that a vote is underlined by the Chief Whip in the parliament's schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T22:55:51.497" />
  <row Id="11598" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11602" CreationDate="2011-02-06T23:00:06.393" Score="2" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found an interesting quote in former Republican senator Alan Simpson's following remark in commenting budget cuts plans proposed by Obama administration. That is 'a sparrow's belch in the midst of a typhoon.' Is this a well-used saying? We have counterpart expressions to this in our country such as 'just a drop of piss in the ocean', 'wash a grain of sesame (or a burdock – I don’t know why it’s burdock) in the Pacific.' Do you have any other tart expressions to compare a small thing with a big thing or unimportant matter with important matter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Former Wyoming Republican senator Alan Simpson weighed in on the country's fiscal situation, saying that anyone calling for budget cuts that did not include Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and Defense were 'issuing a sparrow's belch in the midst of a typhoon.'&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="3119" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T23:10:41.890" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T03:03:30.380" Title="Is Senator Alan Simpson’s quote – &quot;a sparrow's belch in the midst of a typhoon&quot; in comparing budget cuts frequently-used quote by Americans?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11560" CreationDate="2011-02-06T23:00:18.077" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Have you ever been to a party or conference where one attendee was really funny and witty? They could work a pun into a conversation, or joke about something that just happened? &lt;em&gt;The Simpsons&lt;/em&gt; is like that, they have good writers and can set up a situation to match a joke perfectly. I am sure that whatever situation they set up to use the word &quot;awakenoid&quot; was funny and witty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you ever met someone who, upon hearing a pun or joke at a party, would repeat the punchline or pun in situations where it made no sense? Using the word &quot;awakenoid&quot; outside of the specific situation it was created for is like that; it sounds weak and unimaginative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2949" LastEditorUserId="2949" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T03:19:23.203" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T03:19:23.203" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11577" CreationDate="2011-02-06T23:20:05.703" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Posted as answer, as requested:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that 'the sun' counts as a name. There's only one; we refer to other giant, bright balls of hydrogen as 'stars'. In fact, you capitalize Sun if you're referring to it in an astronomical context&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4675" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T23:20:05.703" />
  <row Id="11601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11589" CreationDate="2011-02-06T23:37:22.053" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you chose whichever sounds best to you, as there's clearly not right or wrong.  Style guides, for example those internally used by the BBC, suggest you pick one and stick with it, at least for that article/feature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4683" LastEditorUserId="4683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T00:04:35.493" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T00:04:35.493" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11598" CreationDate="2011-02-06T23:52:37.390" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A sparrow's belch in the midst of a typhoon&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is not a commonly-used idiom; I do not think it is standard, either, but its meaning can be easily deduced. English speakers routinely create their own metaphors in place of well-worn idioms. This phrase may well be Simpson's own coinage, as he used it almost exactly five years ago in an &lt;a href=&quot;http://michellemalkin.com/2006/02/19/cheney-derangement-syndrome/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;interview&lt;/a&gt; with Fox News Sunday:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let me tell you, those who don’t like him have put a big red tail on his bum, and cloven hooves, and horns on his head. And let me tell you, if anybody thinks — if this had happened to anybody else in America, it would have been like a &lt;strong&gt;sparrow belch in a typhoon&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more common standard equivalent is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A drop in the bucket/ocean&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T23:57:44.153" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T23:57:44.153" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11603" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11611" CreationDate="2011-02-06T23:54:12.600" Score="3" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had someone correct me today as I instructed my child to &quot;pick up those blocks.&quot; This person insisted that it should &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pick up those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;since &quot;those&quot; is already plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this person correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T01:24:58.063" Title="Is &quot;Pick up those blocks&quot; grammatically incorrect?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5901" CreationDate="2011-02-06T23:54:49.137" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my favorites: &quot;blue-black bug's blood.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T23:54:49.137" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-06T23:54:49.137" />
  <row Id="11605" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11624" CreationDate="2011-02-06T23:56:37.367" Score="5" ViewCount="229" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a long time, I understood &lt;code&gt;[sic]&lt;/code&gt; to mean &lt;em&gt;said in context&lt;/em&gt;, but I was told that that &lt;em&gt;said in context&lt;/em&gt; is really a backronym. Fair enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sic#Improper_abbreviation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sic#Improper_abbreviation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'd like occasionally to be able to say something unusual/unexpected/perverse/incorrect but add some sort of note to indicated that is not my usual choice of word(s), but has been said in the context or the spirit of the preceding communication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, I'm wanting to say something fairly un-PC, using a deliberately anachronistic and inappropriate term, purely for effect. It will fit within the context of the discussion, but technically, &lt;code&gt;[sic]&lt;/code&gt; won't excuse me or shield me from the accusation that the words are my usual choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually &lt;code&gt;[sic]&lt;/code&gt; is used when you are reproducing an error or mistake of someone else, but I'm not quoting anyone - I'm using a term that fits the spirit of the conversation, but nobody has actually uttered the phrase previously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a better mechanism I can use? Or should I technically mis-use &lt;code&gt;[sic]&lt;/code&gt; on the presumption that most people will understand what I meant?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CONTEXT:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't really want to repeat the conversation verbatim, but to give you an idea, the exact usage was: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...that David Cameron isn't apparently keen on starting wars and sticking-it to some &lt;em&gt;fuzzy wuzzies&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's related to David Cameron's 'multicultural' speech. I'm using &lt;em&gt;fuzzy wuzzies&lt;/em&gt; particularly to evoke the image of an old (bigoted) colonial attitude to &lt;em&gt;johnny foreigner&lt;/em&gt;. This might be a very UK-centric angle, but for those of you who have seen Blackadder IV, consider Stephen Fry's &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melchett#Blackadder_Goes_Forth_.28General_Melchett.29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;General Melchet&lt;/a&gt; or Geoffrey Palmer's General Haig. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I was quoting something that was said by a person or a character, [sic] would fit perfectly. &lt;strong&gt;But since I'm quoting a stereotype or caricature&lt;/strong&gt;, the issue is less clear cut.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly, &lt;em&gt;fuzzy wuzzies&lt;/em&gt; is not a term I would ordinarily use, but it makes sense when said in the context of the conversation. So I'm looking for a means to quickly indicate this... [sic] definitely isn't appropriate but the &lt;em&gt;said in context&lt;/em&gt; backronym perhaps is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps I simply say &lt;code&gt;...sticking-it to some *fuzzy wuzzies* (said in context)&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastEditorUserId="2302" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T10:48:02.613" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T11:35:53.473" Title="Said In Context: A more appropriate alternative to [sic]?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;alternative&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11603" CreationDate="2011-02-06T23:57:27.933" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Removing the noun isn't a function of something being a plural. Your way is better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4675" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T23:57:27.933" />
  <row Id="11607" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11608" CreationDate="2011-02-07T00:04:52.157" Score="3" ViewCount="435" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello, English newbie here =D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I never do this, but in some few cases I have seen people use multiple exclamation (or question) marks like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hey!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that grammatically correct? (Or just okay). In case it is, &lt;em&gt;how many&lt;/em&gt; marks are grammatically allowed/accepted?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, I am fine with multiple exclamation marks, but when I see multiple question marks, I find them a bit too useless and annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4643" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T12:11:18.513" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T12:04:01.337" Title="When and how should I use multiple exclamation marks?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;marks&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11607" CreationDate="2011-02-07T00:32:14.750" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;'Multiple exclamation marks,' he went on, shaking his head, 'are a sure sign of a diseased mind.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-- Eric, Terry Pratchett&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;More on this subject on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.lspace.org/wiki/Multiple_exclamation_marks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Discworld and Pratchett Wiki&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's just for added emphasis. I do not believe it is strictly grammatically correct, but then using ALLCAPS is not, but people do that too, emphasis once again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T00:32:14.750" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11609" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11613" CreationDate="2011-02-07T00:32:42.257" Score="3" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;run around doing something&lt;/em&gt; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't see any reason to run around deleting the recovery partition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T00:44:45.147" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T01:20:30.577" Title="Meaning of &quot;run around doing something&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrasal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="11610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11607" CreationDate="2011-02-07T00:35:01.160" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Never.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least not for grammatical purposes. More than one exclamation mark doesn't have any meaning. An exclamation doesn't get more &quot;exclamationy&quot; by more marks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, you could still use them, but the interpretation would be entirely up to the reader. Use of punctuation that doesn't have any grounds in grammar would be more like decoration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen people invent their own style of punctuation,,,like tripple commas,,,but that of course doesn't have any meaning either,,,it mostly makes the person look unstable...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Multiple exclamation marks are sometimes seen in leetspeek, often intermixed with intentional mistakes in the form of &lt;em&gt;1&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;eleven&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;pwnd!!!!11!!111!one!!eleven!!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="3365" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T07:03:48.857" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T07:03:48.857" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="11611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11603" CreationDate="2011-02-07T00:41:37.187" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The English demonstratives—&lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;these&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;those&lt;/em&gt;—can all be used as either adjectives (“Those blocks are square”) or pronouns (“Those are square”).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, how would you distinguish “those blocks” from “those dolls” if you could only say “those”?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T00:41:37.187" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11609" CreationDate="2011-02-07T00:43:05.413" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meaning of &lt;em&gt;run around (with)&lt;/em&gt; is the same of &lt;em&gt;run with&lt;/em&gt;: to proceed (with).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't see any reason to proceed deleting the recovery partition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T00:43:05.413" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11609" CreationDate="2011-02-07T01:03:42.687" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To run around doing something is to do it recklessly or haphazardly, or to flit about while doing it. &lt;em&gt;Go around&lt;/em&gt; is related:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You can't just go around telling everybody what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And both are often used in reference to doing something without paying attention or considering the consequences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't see any reason to be so reckless as to delete the recovery partition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T01:03:42.687" />
  <row Id="11614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11562" CreationDate="2011-02-07T01:12:27.463" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;hedge&lt;/em&gt; is a &quot;vague or evasive statement&quot;, so &quot;hedgy&quot; would mean tending to evade the answer.  If people are said to be hedgy, I presume that means they are generally unwilling to give a straight answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T01:12:27.463" />
  <row Id="11615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11562" CreationDate="2011-02-07T01:18:57.080" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may mean that they are &lt;em&gt;hedging&lt;/em&gt;, i.e., &lt;em&gt;hedging their bets&lt;/em&gt;, which means, placing bets on both sides to insure that they do not lose too badly if the outcome is not the one they expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="133" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T01:18:57.080" />
  <row Id="11616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11609" CreationDate="2011-02-07T01:20:30.577" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's probably a metaphor for wasting energy doing something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="133" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T01:20:30.577" />
  <row Id="11617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11603" CreationDate="2011-02-07T01:24:58.063" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Pick up those blocks&quot; is perfectly correct. The fact that &quot;those&quot; is plural doesn't mean that you can leave out the object, &quot;blocks.&quot; How would the child know what to pick up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's something off about the sentence &quot;Pick up those,&quot; because the antecedent of &quot;those&quot; is missing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Should I pick up these or those?&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;Pick up those.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is OK. But by itself, it sounds wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="133" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T01:24:58.063" />
  <row Id="11618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11607" CreationDate="2011-02-07T01:27:54.877" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's fine in informal communication, email, poetry, and advertising headlines. Three would be most common. Two, four, or more is rarer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's never &quot;officially&quot; correct. The people who write books about how punctuation should be used in English tolerate only two levels of enthusiasm: &lt;em&gt;not enthusiastic&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;enthusiastic.&lt;/em&gt; The idea that somebody might be &lt;em&gt;very enthusiastic&lt;/em&gt; is too alarming to contemplate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="133" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T01:27:54.877" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9343" CreationDate="2011-02-07T01:38:45.493" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's how I would write it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This poses questions such as “How should I punctuate it,” “Are the quotes necessary,” “Are the commas in the correct place,” and “Should I have used a colon, or a semi-colon?”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that the more important punctuation mark here is the comma, and you can't have both. Since the questions are obviously questions even without a question mark, and since you are referring to the questions as objects rather than invoking them as queries, it's OK to lose the question marks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, you could imagine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The interview consisted of the usual &quot;Where did you go to school&quot; kind of question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no need for a question mark here because you are using &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Where did you go to school&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; as the name of a question to which you are referring, rather than as the question itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To some extent, though, your choice here is going to depend on what tone and cadence you want the reader to imagine in their head. Putting in the question marks will cause the reader to pause and raise their inner voices as if reading a question, which will have the effect of putting more emphasis on the specific question. Leaving out the question marks will cause the reader to rush through the list without pausing or imagining a question, which will have the effect of de-emphasizing the questions. So it's up to you what kind of melody you want the prose to have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="133" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T01:38:45.493" />
  <row Id="11621" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-07T02:09:16.510" Score="0" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I created a powerpoint presentation for my diploma thesis and I don't know what should be on the last slide below  &quot;Thank you&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Any questions and comments are appreciated.&#xA;Any questions and comments are welcome.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would you do it ?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Well I'm not a native English speaker, I have been using the expression &quot;appreciated&quot; only in the context &quot;I appreciated smth&quot; but not in the context &quot;smth is appreciated&quot;. Maybe &quot;smth will be appreciated&quot; could work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also it looks too long, a single-word expression that would include &quot;questions and comments&quot; would suit the last slide better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1426" LastEditorUserId="1426" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T23:23:37.427" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T23:23:59.953" ClosedDate="2011-02-08T21:08:24.367" Title="&quot;Any questions and comments are appreciated&quot; vs. &quot;Any questions and comments are welcome&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11570" CreationDate="2011-02-07T02:22:54.300" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Asking for something that is both concise and comprehensive is, unfortunately, contradictory.  &lt;em&gt;The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th Edition&lt;/em&gt; devotes one full page (5 numbered sections, 6.38-42) to &quot;general principles&quot; of hyphenating compound words, but then also goes on to list a 13-page table of common forms, when to hyphenate them, when not to, and when to make exceptions to other parts of the table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarize the relevant segments for you, though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6.38: The trend in spelling compound words has been away from the use of hyphens; there seems to be a tendency to spell compounds solid &lt;em&gt;[i.e. unhyphenated]&lt;/em&gt; as soon as acceptance warrants their being considered permanent compounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6.39: When a temporary compound is used as an adjective before a noun, it is often hyphenated to avoid misleading the reader.  (e.g. &quot;a fast sailing ship&quot;:  is it a &quot;ship that is sailing fast&quot;, in which case you should hyphenate it, or &quot;a sailing ship that is fast&quot;, in which case you should leave it unhyphenated.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6.40: Where the compound adjective follows the noun it modifies, there is usually little to no risk of ambiguity or hesitation, and the hyphen may be safely omitted.  &lt;em&gt;[There are, of course, exceptions to this, as in &quot;her reply was thought provoking.&quot;]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6.41: &lt;em&gt;[contrary to its earlier positions,]&lt;/em&gt; The University of Chicago Press now takes the position that the hyphen may be omitted in all cases where there is little or no risk of ambiguity or hesitation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;6.42: There are scores of other rules for spelling compound words, but many of them are all but useless because of the multitude of exceptions.  See table 6.1 &lt;em&gt;[that 13-page behemoth of a table mentioned above]&lt;/em&gt; for some of the more dependable rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T02:22:54.300" />
  <row Id="11623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11605" CreationDate="2011-02-07T02:33:31.700" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure if this really fills the bill, but if you're saying something unusual and want to draw attention to the fact that you're speaking metaphorically, adding &quot;so to speak&quot; on the end might be a way to go:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was like french-kissing your cousin's hairy armpit... so to speak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T02:33:31.700" />
  <row Id="11624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11605" CreationDate="2011-02-07T02:36:20.030" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a fan of &lt;em&gt;as it were&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;in the vernacular&lt;/em&gt; for these purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T02:36:20.030" />
  <row Id="11625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11598" CreationDate="2011-02-07T03:03:30.380" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Alan Simpson was probably giving a euphemism for the much more common&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... like a squirrel fart in a thunderstorm ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&amp;amp;rls=en&amp;amp;q=squirrel+fart&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;oe=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;squirrel fart&lt;/a&gt; if you don't believe me. There's even video. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simpson is a politician, and a Republican to boot, so he doesn't want to offend the electorate with &quot;crude&quot; language, especially anything that might be construed by some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,719972,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;old lady in Dubuque&lt;/a&gt; to be scatological or otherwise offensive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T03:03:30.380" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="11626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11605" CreationDate="2011-02-07T03:12:45.543" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You would definitely not use &lt;em&gt;sic&lt;/em&gt;, which is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;used in brackets after a copied or quoted word that appears odd or erroneous to show that the word is quoted exactly as it stands in the original &lt;em&gt;[Webster's]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you are writing your own words, you are not quoting anything, and there is no original apart from what is on the page or screen you are using to compose your words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, your stated intention is &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... to say something fairly un-PC, using a deliberately anachronistic and inappropriate term, purely for effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The truth? There isn't going to be any word you could use to distance yourself from the effect of your own use of language in this case, nothing that is going to excuse your behavior in the eyes of people who are going to be offended by it. My advice is to either man up and take the heat if you really feel a need to express yourself in this way, or else leave that section out. And unless you're truly prepared to alienate people, the latter choice is the smart one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T03:12:45.543" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11605" CreationDate="2011-02-07T03:15:34.680" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another phrase used in this context: &quot;Pardon my French.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="133" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T03:15:34.680" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11589" CreationDate="2011-02-07T03:21:07.073" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the great Civil War historian Shelby Foote put it, the War &quot;... made us into an 'is'&quot;. Before the War the States were referred to in the plural; afterwards, it was painfully clear that they form one entity: the UNITED States, hence, one polity. Of course, within the United States itself, one could refer to more than one State in the plural, as they retain some individuality (State constitutions, legislatures etc.) within the national - and singular - whole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4687" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T03:21:07.073" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11629" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11630" CreationDate="2011-02-07T03:42:15.343" Score="3" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does the phrase &lt;em&gt;triple witching hour&lt;/em&gt; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen it in the financial news relating to stock markets. I sense it has to do with the convergence of three events, deadlines or periods that acting together place pressure (&lt;em&gt;what kind? I don't know&lt;/em&gt;) on the stock markets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: What is the origin of &lt;em&gt;triple witching hour&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T06:11:52.683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T22:45:41.727" Title="Meaning of &quot;triple witching hour&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;finance&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11629" CreationDate="2011-02-07T04:05:41.230" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.investorwords.com/5081/triple_witching_hour.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;triple witching hour&lt;/a&gt;&quot; is, according to InvestorWords,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The final hour of the stock market trading session on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December, when option contracts and futures contracts expire on market indexes used by program traders. The simultaneous expirations often set off heavy trading of options, futures and the underlying stocks, which can cause large fluctuations in the value of their underlying stocks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T04:05:41.230" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="676" CreationDate="2011-02-07T04:11:14.690" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Celery e as in evet&#xA;Salary as the e in lütfen&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could pronounce salary just as if it were a Turkish word as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is what I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4688" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T04:11:14.690" />
  <row Id="11632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11497" CreationDate="2011-02-07T04:32:12.903" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to touch on your description: &lt;strong&gt;I'm having an illness&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems the progressive is not used with illnesses, at least not in the UK. Medical problems should instead be referred to using &lt;strong&gt;have&lt;/strong&gt; in the &lt;strong&gt;simple present tense&lt;/strong&gt;. Therefore, we should say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have a cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;rather than&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am having a cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'm having a cold&lt;/strong&gt; may imply other ridiculous meanings such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;eating or drinking:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;having dinner/ having a cold (eating&#xA;  dinner/eating a cold)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;hosting a social occasion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;having a party/having a cold (hosting&#xA;  or giving a party/ hosting or giving a&#xA;  cold)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was at university, my English flatmates laughed at me when I said &lt;strong&gt;&quot;I'm having a cold.&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; That stuck with me ever since. [No pity votes, please.  :-)]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T09:18:51.610" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T09:18:51.610" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11589" CreationDate="2011-02-07T04:57:41.550" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: in contemporary English, both &lt;em&gt;USA&lt;/em&gt; and the long form &lt;em&gt;United States of America&lt;/em&gt; are treated as singular nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long answer: &lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002663.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Language Log has documented this in great detail&lt;/a&gt;. In the 18th and much of the 19th centuries &lt;em&gt;United States&lt;/em&gt; was treated as plural, but in the latter half of the 19th century the singular usage became more common. Today, the singular usage is the only accepted usage, except for the case of a few fixed phrases. In fact, &quot;in 1902 article in the Washington Post reported that Foster's work (which evidently was reprinted as a pamphlet) had persuaded the House of Representative's Committee on Revision of the Laws to rule that the United States should be treated as singular, not plural.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T04:57:41.550" />
  <row Id="11634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11579" CreationDate="2011-02-07T05:08:41.113" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this context, a 'respect' is a way in which we approach something, and an 'aspect' is a way in which something presents itself to us, or is presented to us.  So you can see that the difference is subtle.  As JSBangs has said, the phrase &quot;in some/all respects&quot; is idiomatic, but you can see that the meaning is &quot;in whatever way we approach the issue...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4691" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T05:08:41.113" />
  <row Id="11635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11605" CreationDate="2011-02-07T05:12:32.010" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;how about using &quot;so called....&quot;  ??  (it really depends on the context of your utterance, so it's a little difficult to offer concrete suggestions without more information)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4691" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T05:12:32.010" />
  <row Id="11636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11395" CreationDate="2011-02-07T05:15:58.510" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I generally consider &quot;saving&quot; to be the act and &quot;savings&quot; the resulting product of that act. This &lt;a href=&quot;http://economyblog.ncpa.org/saving-versus-savings/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pundit/economist&lt;/a&gt; makes a similar point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I might say &quot;I &lt;em&gt;made&lt;/em&gt; a savings of $10.&quot; or &quot;I am saving $10 by switching vendors.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't consider savings plural, but a collective noun. This is similar to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;One billion dollars &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; a lot of money.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4690" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T05:15:58.510" />
  <row Id="11637" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-07T05:21:00.917" Score="4" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am developing a coding contest project with multiple contests.&#xA;The participants can be a team or an independent individual, depending on the contest setting. I want to define only one model for the participant which could understood as a team or an individual.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a word that can be used for &lt;em&gt;team&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;participating individual&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Update&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am thinking to chuck the idea of implementing whole project based on smart team management complicating it whole and decided to implement separate team management and complicating that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I would be very happy to change my mind if I could get a word, maybe even in some other language for this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4625" LastEditorUserId="4625" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T11:56:19.453" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T11:56:19.453" Title="Equivalent word which represents 'Team' or 'Individual'" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;hypernyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="11638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11637" CreationDate="2011-02-07T05:33:40.400" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on how strictly you want to adhere to grammatical standards. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most grammatically correct word that comes to mind is &lt;strong&gt;party&lt;/strong&gt;:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/party&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;merriam webster&lt;/a&gt; gives the definition &quot;a person or group taking one side of a question, dispute, or contest.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think colloquially competitor or contestant might be acceptable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2047" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T05:33:40.400" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11557" CreationDate="2011-02-07T05:45:28.650" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The OED gives the following definitions of reliable and dependable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Reliable—1. That may be relied on.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1a. Of a person, information, etc.: able to&#xA;  be &lt;em&gt;trusted&lt;/em&gt;; in which reliance or&#xA;  confidence may be placed; &lt;em&gt;trustworthy&lt;/em&gt;,&#xA;  safe, sure.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1b. orig. U.S. Of a product, service, etc.: consistently good in&#xA;  quality or performance; &lt;strong&gt;dependable&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dependable—That may be depended on; &lt;em&gt;trustworthy&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;reliable&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both definitions list the other word in their definitions, with no special qualifiers attached. In addition, both words use the word &lt;em&gt;trustworthy&lt;/em&gt;, also without qualifiers. Therefore, it is safe to say that the two are synonyms and may be equally used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T05:45:28.650" />
  <row Id="11640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11637" CreationDate="2011-02-07T06:07:43.687" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you would be fine simply using the word &quot;Team&quot;, and specifying in each contest's rules the &quot;Team Size&quot;, which could be &quot;1&quot;, &quot;1 or more&quot;, &quot;2-4&quot;, or any other range you care to name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T06:07:43.687" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="54" CreationDate="2011-02-07T06:54:44.073" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, the shortest way to learn a spoken foreign language  is to fall in love with a person speaking a targeted language natively.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way is to distribute announcement (through newspaper, local internet newsgroups): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Russian (or whoever) seeks a partner&#xA;  to learn English by exchange&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is when you meet and speak with another each in his own language.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T06:54:44.073" />
  <row Id="11643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6989" CreationDate="2011-02-07T07:03:26.657" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a good but not authoritative explanation &lt;a href=&quot;http://contentcaramel.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/till-and-until-are-different/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://contentcaramel.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/till-and-until-are-different/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T07:03:26.657" />
  <row Id="11644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11637" CreationDate="2011-02-07T07:15:42.713" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either a team or an individual may make and submit an entry for judging in the contest. In doing so, they would become entrants. The dictionary definition of entrant is singular, but you could use entrants to describe all of the participants and entrants when referring to those behind a single entry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4632" LastEditorUserId="2570" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T12:06:17.747" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T12:06:17.747" />
  <row Id="11645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6209" CreationDate="2011-02-07T07:21:42.070" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not agree with (the diagram in) &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6209/steep-learning-curve/6226#6226&quot;&gt;accepted answer&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Steep learning curve has nothing to do with the time, at least directly, but with initiation efforts, laboriousness (over ordinate) vs. visible results (over abcissa).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;initiation&quot; is important in definition because any learning occurs by jumps and plateaus, while steep learning curve conveys the idea of difficulties to see immediate proportional to efforts results.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T07:58:09.533" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T07:58:09.533" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11646" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11654" CreationDate="2011-02-07T07:29:20.807" Score="2" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to name an interface in a program I'm writing as being able to collide, but I've seen use of both &lt;em&gt;collideable&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;collidable&lt;/em&gt; in projects with a similar type. Both of them look right in some ways, and wrong in others. Which spelling is more correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="890" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T13:55:10.147" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T13:55:10.147" Title="Adjective form of &quot;collide&quot;—&quot;collideable&quot; or &quot;collidable&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11647" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11651" CreationDate="2011-02-07T07:29:53.193" Score="1" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have once seen somebody in a chat expanding &lt;em&gt;FBI&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Federal Bureau of Investigations&lt;/em&gt;) as &lt;em&gt;Full Bloody Italian&lt;/em&gt;, after I said I was from Italy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I can understand to what the person who wrote it was referring, I don't understand what &lt;em&gt;bloody&lt;/em&gt; would mean in the phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;full bloody&lt;/em&gt; mean in &lt;em&gt;full bloody Italian&lt;/em&gt;?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should &lt;em&gt;blooded&lt;/em&gt; be used instead of &lt;em&gt;bloody&lt;/em&gt;, in this case?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Would &lt;em&gt;full blooded Italian&lt;/em&gt; be understood as &lt;em&gt;who completely has Italian blood&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T08:23:49.683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T15:57:10.533" Title="Meaning of &quot;bloody&quot; in &quot;Full Bloody Italian&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11647" CreationDate="2011-02-07T07:31:56.570" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am sure it is a misprint of full-blooded Italians which is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_Blooded_Italians&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tag team&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Full-blooded: &lt;em&gt;Of unmixed ancestry; purebred.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: There is no such thing as Full Bloody Italian unless it is a mistake or a deliberate slur/joke on the Full-blooded. Bloody is a swear word so Bloody Italian would be said by someone annoyed by Italians. I have never heard that there would be a lot of Italians in FBI either. Historically a lot of Irish on the NYPD...&#xA;Try &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=fbi+full+italian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.google.com/search?q=fbi+full+italian&lt;/a&gt; to see there is no popular usage of Bloody in that context&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T08:53:43.367" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T08:53:43.367" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11605" CreationDate="2011-02-07T07:37:09.777" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's still not really clear what you want, but a possible alternative is using &lt;em&gt;cough&lt;/em&gt;. Can't find a good example of using that, unfortunately (CW in case someone else can).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T07:37:09.777" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-07T07:37:09.777" />
  <row Id="11650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11646" CreationDate="2011-02-07T07:49:24.843" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;-able&lt;/em&gt; forms adjectives that mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;able to be: &lt;em&gt;calculable&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;due to be: &lt;em&gt;payable&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;subject to: &lt;em&gt;taxable&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;relevant to, or in accordance to: &lt;em&gt;fashionable&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;having the quality to: &lt;em&gt;suitable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;comfortable&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Collidable&lt;/em&gt; would mean &lt;em&gt;able to be collided&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;able to collide&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;Instead of &lt;em&gt;collidable&lt;/em&gt;,  you can use &lt;em&gt;hittable&lt;/em&gt;, which would mean &lt;em&gt;able to be hit&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As per choosing between &lt;em&gt;collidable&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;collideable&lt;/em&gt;, the adjective that derives from &lt;em&gt;cite&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;citable&lt;/em&gt;; in the same way, you should write &lt;em&gt;collidable&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;collideable&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T08:04:04.940" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T08:04:04.940" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11647" CreationDate="2011-02-07T08:30:55.433" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What does full bloody mean in full bloody Italian?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure of the intent, but possibly the word is used as an intensifier or mild expletive in the phrase. I imagine the word chosen would be different if it were the FFI. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should blooded be used instead of bloody, in this case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it were meant as an intensifier &lt;em&gt;(bloody Italians!)&lt;/em&gt;, no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would full blooded Italian be understood as who completely has Italian blood?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. Full-blooded Italian would mean someone who's ancestry is completely Italian — or at least someone who is steeped in and fully exhibits Italian culture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T08:30:55.433" />
  <row Id="11652" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11655" CreationDate="2011-02-07T08:33:49.267" Score="6" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm having hard time figuring that out&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm having a hard time figuring that out&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to Google both are used equally often. Does the article change meaning here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4280" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T16:52:41.320" Title="Article in “having (a) hard time”" Tags="&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11646" CreationDate="2011-02-07T08:57:38.717" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: There's no clear choice; take your pick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Long answer: Neither &lt;em&gt;collideable&lt;/em&gt; nor &lt;em&gt;collidable&lt;/em&gt; is a word you're likely to find in a dictionary, but in your context using it (one of them) may be exactly the right choice. As for the spelling preference, Wikipedia's detailed article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences#Dropped_e&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American and British English spelling differences&lt;/a&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Before &lt;em&gt;-able&lt;/em&gt;, British English prefers &lt;em&gt;likeable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;liveable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;rateable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;saleable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;sizeable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;unshakeable&lt;/em&gt;, where American practice prefers to drop the &lt;em&gt;-e&lt;/em&gt;; [borderline: &lt;em&gt;tradeable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;smokeable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;driveable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;shareable&lt;/em&gt;] but both British and American English prefer &lt;em&gt;breathable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;curable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;datable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;lovable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;movable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;notable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;provable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;quotable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;scalable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;solvable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;usable&lt;/em&gt;, and those where the root is polysyllabic, like &lt;em&gt;believable&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;decidable&lt;/em&gt;. Both forms of the language retain the silent &lt;em&gt;e&lt;/em&gt; when it is necessary to preserve a soft &lt;em&gt;c&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ch&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;g&lt;/em&gt;, such as in &lt;em&gt;traceable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;cacheable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;changeable&lt;/em&gt;; both usually retain the &quot;e&quot;  after &lt;em&gt;-dge&lt;/em&gt;, as in &lt;em&gt;knowledgeable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;unbridgeable&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;unabridgeable&lt;/em&gt;. (&quot;These rights are unabridgeable.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;polysyllabic&quot; rule would point towards &lt;em&gt;collidable&lt;/em&gt;, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.morewords.com/?%2aeable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;elsewhere&lt;/a&gt;, a search brings up the following poly-syllabic words ending in &lt;em&gt;eable&lt;/em&gt; (other than soft &lt;em&gt;c&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ch&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;g&lt;/em&gt; instances, of which there are many) (I haven't checked their provenance):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;canoeable diagnoseable disagreeable dislikeable fireable foreseeable handleable hireable machineable microwaveable removeable settleable throttleable unforeseeable unnameable upgradeable whistleable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you may want to look specifically at &lt;em&gt;-able&lt;/em&gt; words formed from verbs ending in &lt;em&gt;-de&lt;/em&gt;, and decide whether &lt;em&gt;-dable&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;-deable&lt;/em&gt; is preferable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;abradable codable decidable degradable dividable evadable excludable extrudable fadable gradable guidable hidable includable persuadable ridable/rideable slidable tradable/tradeable upgradable/upgradeable wadable/wadeable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that analogy with &lt;em&gt;dividable&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;decidable&lt;/em&gt; (the closest?) would suggest &lt;em&gt;collidable&lt;/em&gt;. (But if you still prefer &lt;em&gt;collideable&lt;/em&gt;, it's fine to use it…)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T08:57:38.717" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11652" CreationDate="2011-02-07T09:04:32.763" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's odd that Google returns equally frequent hits. This is a common English colloquialism in its complete form (&lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; hard time) but hearing/reading it without the indefinite article makes it sound distinctly broken to my English ears - as though someone with a Slavic tongue has characteristically dropped it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's possible that those who have not been familiar with the phrase since early childhood would assume that the article is unnecessary, since the &quot;time&quot; to which it refers is ongoing and without specific limits. However, the pattern is the same as it would be with any other adjectival modifier e.g. &quot;having a good time,&quot; &quot;having an interesting time&quot; or even &quot;having a quick nap.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, the adjective-noun pair &quot;Hard Time&quot; (without article) is a different concept in English - another colloquialism for an extended and unpleasant period of imprisonment for crimes committed. Therefore &lt;em&gt;hard&lt;/em&gt;, more than most adjectives in this circumstance, needs to retain the indefinite article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T09:04:32.763" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11652" CreationDate="2011-02-07T09:07:21.470" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might find an equal usage for &quot;hard time&quot; and &quot;a hard time&quot;, I would still use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm having a hard time figuring that out&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other form is mainly used in titles for articles/blog posts, like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.themonitor.com/articles/time-45012-immigrants-legal.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Some legal immigrants having a hard time obtaining a driver's license&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T09:07:21.470" />
  <row Id="11657" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11750" CreationDate="2011-02-07T09:07:45.727" Score="-1" ViewCount="208" Body="&lt;p&gt;The rule is that &quot;ei&quot; is pronounced as [i:] only after letter c (or what is pronounced as [i:] is written as &quot;ei&quot; after letter &quot;c&quot; only).    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are exceptions, that I could find so far,  like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;foreign (possibly), &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;seizure, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;either (possibly), &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;neither (possibly), &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;weird, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;being, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;seizure.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you add more exceptions to this list?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am not that much interested in differences of pronounciation between different dialects of English but about helpful (for me) mnemonics for written English.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update2:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Once more, this question is not on orthography but on mnemonics to help in writing.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you know any other helpful mnemonics to deal with spelling of words with &quot;-ie-&quot; and  &quot;-ei-&quot;, you are welcome to answer this question.      &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T13:28:23.003" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T06:16:40.050" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-07T23:03:17.297" Title="What are the words where &quot;-ei-&quot; (except in &quot;-cei-&quot;) is pronounced as [i:]?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;rules&gt;&lt;mnemonic&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="11658" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11659" CreationDate="2011-02-07T09:45:10.587" Score="0" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It sounds like your proposal would make a great feature request for the existing module. I'm unclear why you consider it was not a good idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does replacing &lt;em&gt;I'm unclear&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;it is unclear to me&lt;/em&gt; make the sentence more clear?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Are there any contexts where &lt;em&gt;I'm unclear&lt;/em&gt; would have a different meaning? Is it used in some regions/dialects to mean something different from &lt;em&gt;it is unclear to me&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T09:50:55.917" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T09:55:48.663" Title="&quot;I'm unclear&quot; versus &quot;it's unclear to me that&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11658" CreationDate="2011-02-07T09:55:48.663" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that in most instances of use, the speaker intends &quot;I am unclear&quot; to have the same meaning as &quot;it is unclear to me,&quot; and the speaker uses this phrasing perhaps to be a little kinder to the person whom he/she addresses by way of taking on the burden of the misunderstanding.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, technically, &quot;I am unclear&quot; means that the &lt;em&gt;speaker&lt;/em&gt; is not explaining something in a way that others might easily understand, e.g., &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am unclear in my presentation about whether the relationship is merely correlational or causal because tests were inconclusive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4694" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T09:55:48.663" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11660" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11663" CreationDate="2011-02-07T10:02:49.620" Score="0" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the following comment left in a website:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There was an offer to merge, but the API was completely different and I gave up with the negative feedback. The attached zips were as far as I got, feel free to continue the cause as it is a bit hard for me to do this from Internet cafes in Mexico.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Get ready for an abrupt closing of this issue by the powers above…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not clear to me if &lt;em&gt;powers above&lt;/em&gt; is referring to the users who posted a comment before that comment, and who have the possibility to close an issue report in the same way questions are closed on Stack Exchange sites, or if &lt;em&gt;the powers above&lt;/em&gt; is a set phrase.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Which is the correct interpretation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T10:31:55.027" Title="&quot;The powers above&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;noun-phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11661" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-07T10:14:35.667" Score="2" ViewCount="243" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been taught to end business letters with &quot;Yours faithfully&quot; but I can see from my daily correspondance that &quot;Best regards&quot; is more commonly used but seems more informal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What term should be used and under what circumstances when writing email these days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE:  If other terms exist too (for colloquial use or extreme formalism) I'd like to know that too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4295" LastEditorUserId="4295" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T11:06:33.400" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T08:10:13.373" Title="&quot;Yours faithfully&quot; / &quot;Best regards&quot; - what to use when?" Tags="&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="11662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11660" CreationDate="2011-02-07T10:14:39.660" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;The powers above&quot; is similar to &quot;higher powers&quot; or &quot;the powers that be,&quot; referring to the deity of one's choosing.  These phrases are intentionally ambiguous so that any listener/reader will not take offense at the speaker's choice of one god over others.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This meaning seems very likely to be the intended meaning of the comment you describe, although it is &lt;em&gt;possible&lt;/em&gt; that the speaker was talking about the community of readers and moderators.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4694" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T10:14:39.660" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11660" CreationDate="2011-02-07T10:14:42.437" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a set phrase, though I personally encounter &quot;the powers that be&quot; more often. As you say yourself, in this case it refers to people who have the possibility to close a report. However, &lt;em&gt;above&lt;/em&gt; has nothing to do with whether said people have posted a comment before that or not. You will find this phrase e.g. in Shakespeare's &lt;em&gt;Macbeth&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;Come, go we to the king; our power is ready; / Our lack is nothing but our leave; Macbeth / Is ripe for shaking, and the powers above / Put on their instruments.&quot;) or Homer's &lt;em&gt;Odyssey&lt;/em&gt; in Alexander Pope's translation (&quot;Why cease ye then t' implore the powers above, / And offer hecatombs to thundering Jove?&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T10:31:55.027" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T10:31:55.027" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11661" CreationDate="2011-02-07T10:23:12.707" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Yours faithfully&lt;/em&gt;, used to end a letter, is chiefly British and it used in a formal letter to someone whose name you do not know.&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Best regards&lt;/em&gt; can be generally used, and it would be my preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T10:23:12.707" />
  <row Id="11665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11661" CreationDate="2011-02-07T10:36:58.690" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was always taught to use 'Yours faithfully' in letters when addressing someone I didn't know, and 'yours sincerely' for people I did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However no such rules exist for emails, and using either of these valedictions would seem quite stuffy and overly formal. I'd use them only (if you wished to use them at all) in formal, written correspondence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Best regards' is a fairly standard valediction that is neither too formal or too informal and would be suitable for any business email. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tragicomic's comment on your question gives you a number of suitable alternatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T10:36:58.690" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11666" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11755" CreationDate="2011-02-07T10:54:04.303" Score="1" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Best regards&lt;/em&gt; seems to be quite a popular valediction used in business emails, along with variants &lt;em&gt;kind regards&lt;/em&gt;, or just &lt;em&gt;regards&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The spoken expression &quot;give him my regards&quot; would appear to be a suitable starting point for the written valediction &lt;em&gt;Regards&lt;/em&gt;, but when did this become &lt;em&gt;best regards&lt;/em&gt;? Has it ever existed in written letters?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T07:44:38.367" Title="When did the valediction 'best regards' come into use?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;formality&gt;&lt;email&gt;&lt;letter-writing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11661" CreationDate="2011-02-07T11:25:26.103" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The formal rule, at least in Britain, is that if you're writing a letter to a person whose name you don't know, you start with &quot;Dear Sir or Madam&quot;, and you end with &quot;Yours faithfully&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you do know the name, you start with &quot;Dear Mr X&quot;, and end with &quot;Yours sincerely&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as you note, &quot;Best [or kind] regards&quot; is much more common these days. But again it would only be used when you know the person's name - and I would probably say, only when you actually know the person themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="308" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T11:25:26.103" />
  <row Id="11668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11605" CreationDate="2011-02-07T11:35:53.473" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can also use scare quotes (&quot;…&quot;) in some of those contexts — to distance yourself from the thing within quotation marks. (This runs the risk of being misinterpreted as a direct quotation, but you can probably live with that.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your sentence, in the form&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;…that David Cameron isn't apparently keen on starting wars and sticking-it to some &quot;fuzzy wuzzies&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would make it clear that &quot;fuzzy wuzzies&quot; is not &quot;your&quot; word, and something that may conceivably be spoken by someone of Cameron's way of thinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T11:35:53.473" />
  <row Id="11669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11661" CreationDate="2011-02-07T11:41:54.807" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The traditional British style would be to use &lt;em&gt;yours faithfully&lt;/em&gt; for letters starting &lt;em&gt;Dear Sir&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Dear Madam&lt;/em&gt;, or something grander such as &lt;em&gt;My Lord&lt;/em&gt;, and to use &lt;em&gt;yours sincerely&lt;/em&gt; for the slightly less formal letters starting with a name such as &lt;em&gt;Dear Mr Smith&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Dear Baroness Jones&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Dear Sir James&lt;/em&gt; etc.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point of both is say that the writer has been telling the truth. There are some minor religious connotations in &lt;em&gt;yours faithfully&lt;/em&gt; so for example Rothschild's investment bank will often sign &lt;em&gt;yours very truly&lt;/em&gt;.  There was an old-fashioned ending along the lines of &lt;em&gt;I have the honour, Sir, to remain your obedient servant&lt;/em&gt; sometimes shortened to &lt;em&gt;I have the honour etc.&lt;/em&gt; but that is now rarely seen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Best regards&lt;/em&gt; is clearly informal, and should be used for informal contexts. Examples might include email or letters starting &lt;em&gt;Dear Jane&lt;/em&gt;    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T11:41:54.807" />
  <row Id="11670" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-07T11:48:51.310" Score="1" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm about to launch a new web service, and currently we're still looking for a name. I thought it would be nice to call it a &quot;digital butler&quot; - my collaborator from Dubai, however, pointed out, that a big part of the world does not know the world &quot;butler&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How true is this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4701" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T12:26:05.430" ClosedDate="2011-02-07T22:47:51.847" Title="How well known is the word &quot;butler&quot;?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11670" CreationDate="2011-02-07T11:54:41.010" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think the meaning of your web service has to be crystal clear in itself (did you understand &quot;Yahoo!&quot; or &quot;Google&quot; at first?).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The naming, &lt;em&gt;combined&lt;/em&gt; with a good logo, a simple design and a clear offer are what make your web service relevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T11:54:41.010" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11670" CreationDate="2011-02-07T12:26:05.430" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://uk.ask.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;well known web site&lt;/a&gt; that has gambled on the familiarity of the concept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arguably they &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7990296.stm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lost that gamble&lt;/a&gt;, but still.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T12:26:05.430" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11657" CreationDate="2011-02-07T12:29:46.790" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The rules of English orthography:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The first rule of English orthography is, you do not talk about rules in English orthography.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The second rule of English orthography is, you DO NOT talk about rules English orthography.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Two letters can be used for one sound.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sometimes three (or more).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No real phonetics, no logic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Words will go on as long as they have to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If this is your first encounter with English orthography, you have to fight.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Loosely based on the rules of Fight Club)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2820" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T12:29:46.790" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-07T23:03:17.297" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11675" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11695" CreationDate="2011-02-07T13:13:01.220" Score="1" ViewCount="272" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the meaning of &lt;em&gt;regards&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;best wishes&lt;/em&gt;, would not &lt;em&gt;best regards&lt;/em&gt; (used to express friendliness in greetings, especially at the end of letters) a pleonasm, in the context of letters?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Best regards,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  kiamlaluno&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Best best wishes,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  kiamlaluno&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T07:21:52.440" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T07:21:52.440" Title="Is &quot;best regards&quot; a pleonasm?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;pleonasms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11675" CreationDate="2011-02-07T13:20:32.240" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, because I might regard you with disdain, or my worst regards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T13:20:32.240" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="11679" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11680" CreationDate="2011-02-07T14:10:18.473" Score="3" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;By the end of the year, I would have attended this school for five years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, the &quot;most&quot; correct way of writing this would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;By the end of the year, I will have attended this school for five years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...but I was just wondering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="391" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T14:12:53.423" Title="Is this correct English?" Tags="&lt;tense&gt;&lt;verb-agreement&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11679" CreationDate="2011-02-07T14:12:53.423" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two sentences mean slightly different things. In the first case, it is understood that you don't intend to continue attending school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I did not have to leave, I &lt;strong&gt;would&lt;/strong&gt; have attended school for 5 years at the end of the year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second case, you express the belief or the confidence that you &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; still be in school at the end of the year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since I'm staying, I &lt;strong&gt;will&lt;/strong&gt; have attended school for 5 years at the end of the year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T14:12:53.423" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11681" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11682" CreationDate="2011-02-07T14:17:43.413" Score="3" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's such a nice day today!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in the usage of the indefinite article. I know this sentence is correct. We use an indefinite article in exclamations with countable nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the question is: If it's NOT an exclamation, what do we use? Let's say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I went for a walk because it was such a wonderful day.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I went for a walk because it was a such wonderful day.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I went for a walk because it was such wonderful day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which variant is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4676" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T14:24:20.847" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T22:57:19.617" Title="&quot;such a day&quot; or &quot;such day&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="11682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11681" CreationDate="2011-02-07T14:20:12.223" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I went for a walk because it was such a wonderful day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T14:20:12.223" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11683" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-07T14:27:17.693" Score="1" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;After some time of working on my research, I usually have a structured information of my results, which I can best describe in bullets/numbers. Unfortunately, this is not what academia expects. For example, I concluded my paper introduction with this paragraph:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We start by discussing the most relevant research papers. Then we discuss the composition rules we have selected and how to evaluate them. Then we discuss the optimisation method we use and camera search spaces. Finally, we discuss an&#xA;  example of rendering a well known film in our system and discuss the results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you carefully read my concluding paragraph, you will notice that it mentions six parts (research papers, composition rules, how to evaluate them, optimisation method, camera search spaces, an example). I found it hard to combine all these information (which is not uncommon in papers' introductions) in one paragraph, and I ended up repeating &quot;then&quot; twice, which reads very boring - at least for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the methods to avoid repetitions in general? What about my specific example?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3427" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T14:37:22.410" ClosedDate="2011-02-07T16:00:04.463" Title="What are the tricks to avoid repetition in writing?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11681" CreationDate="2011-02-07T14:31:59.080" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When using &lt;strong&gt;such&lt;/strong&gt; with a singular noun, put such before 'a'. This is a general rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She's &lt;strong&gt;such a lovely person&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;em&gt;NOT a such lovely person&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I doubt if &lt;strong&gt;such a promise&lt;/strong&gt; has any value.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T14:31:59.080" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11547" CreationDate="2011-02-07T14:41:49.240" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think Robusto has it with &lt;em&gt;negative eponym&lt;/em&gt;...I would only add this usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The practice originated with the infamously eponymous Charles Hooligan...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T14:41:49.240" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11564" CreationDate="2011-02-07T14:43:41.827" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe try these to remember how to spell MNEMONICS&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Men Never Eat Many Oysters Near Ice Cold Swamps&#xA; Many New England Memories Of Nantuckett Ice Cold Shrimp&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4710" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T14:43:41.827" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11675" CreationDate="2011-02-07T14:45:54.107" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;a)&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer to the question is No.You might &lt;strong&gt;regard someone with a complete lack of respect&lt;/strong&gt;! So using regards alone doesn't clearly show how you feel about someone you're corresponding with. Of course in correspondence using &quot;regards&quot; alone doesn't have a negative connotation and is used to show good wishes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;b)&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes &lt;strong&gt;pleonastic usage&lt;/strong&gt; is welcomed. The usages are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Idiomatic expressions&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Professional and scholarly use&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stylistic preference&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Literary uses&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For getting more information visit &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleonasm#Literary_uses&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for emphasizing or making the purpose clear we might use redundancies. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;This was the &lt;strong&gt;most unkindest&lt;/strong&gt; cut of all.&quot; —William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T20:42:27.963" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T20:42:27.963" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11675" CreationDate="2011-02-07T15:05:54.947" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Regards&lt;/em&gt; doesn't carry with it a very open and public sense of &lt;em&gt;best&lt;/em&gt; that you're talking about. Most people probably just understand it as something like &quot;good wishes&quot; or some other non-superlative and bland but positive way to express friendship. So &lt;em&gt;Best regards&lt;/em&gt; at the end of a letter, if it got noticed at all, would simply be read as equivalent to &lt;em&gt;Best wishes&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T15:05:54.947" />
  <row Id="11690" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11715" CreationDate="2011-02-07T15:16:45.623" Score="5" ViewCount="289" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are the closing greetings &quot;see you later&quot;, &quot;talk to you later&quot;, and the like sufficient to end a conversation (especially a phone conversation) or must they be succeeded by &quot;bye&quot; or another word of definite finality?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, is it redundant to append &quot;bye&quot; to &quot;speak to you later&quot; or a similar wish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T15:44:48.407" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T00:20:49.057" Title="See you later. . . bye?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;conversation&gt;&lt;greetings&gt;" AnswerCount="7" />
  <row Id="11691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11690" CreationDate="2011-02-07T15:36:17.697" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;See you later&lt;/em&gt; is informally used when parting from somebody.&#xA;Saying both &lt;em&gt;see you later&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;bye&lt;/em&gt; seems a little redundant; I would expect &lt;em&gt;bye&lt;/em&gt; to be the reply to &lt;em&gt;see you later&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T09:10:02.723" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T09:10:02.723" />
  <row Id="11692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11690" CreationDate="2011-02-07T15:36:30.010" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can definitely say &quot;see you later&quot; or &quot;talk to you later&quot; as the final utterance before ending your conversation.  You can add &quot;bye&quot; afterwards if you choose — it wouldn't sound strange, but it is not needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other person may respond with &quot;bye&quot; (but could also say other things like &quot;see you&quot;), but it is not necessary for you to then say &quot;bye&quot; in return if you have already said &quot;see you later&quot; (although there is nothing wrong with it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T18:19:22.770" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T18:19:22.770" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11647" CreationDate="2011-02-07T15:57:10.533" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe in this case that &quot;bloody&quot; is intended as the mild oath (a contraction of &quot;by our lady&quot;, if memory serves).  &quot;Full bloody Italian&quot; then would roughly translate to &quot;completely g*ddamned well Italian&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4244" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T15:57:10.533" />
  <row Id="11694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11690" CreationDate="2011-02-07T16:36:45.413" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it's redundant, and yes it's annoying, but my mother (sorry Mum) does it all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I speculate it came about as a way of softening potential awkwardness when terminating a phone conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, rather than simply hang up, my mother (for instance) repeats (more than once) the word &quot;bye&quot; in a decreasing volume and tone, thus blurring the end of the exchange, until one or both hang up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That, or its a nervous tic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and also see &lt;a href=&quot;http://xkcd.com/698/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastEditorUserId="588" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T16:41:56.577" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T16:41:56.577" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11675" CreationDate="2011-02-07T16:48:13.420" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think there are two main points here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Regards&lt;/em&gt; does not only, nor originally, mean &lt;em&gt;best wishes&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt;  In some particular contexts — most often, as closing salutations in letters or emails — they’re indeed effectively synonymous.  But &lt;em&gt;regards&lt;/em&gt; has other meanings as well.  Originally, &lt;em&gt;regards&lt;/em&gt; carried no specific connotations of being &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt;; it just so happened that one of its most frequent usages was for sending people kind wishes, and so in that context, it picked up those connotations.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Even if that were its only meaning, &lt;strong&gt;synonyms are not exact&lt;/strong&gt;, and &lt;strong&gt;meaning is not substitutive&lt;/strong&gt; — synonyms are very, very rarely so exactly synonymous that you can always substitute them for each other without changing meanings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, as synonyms go, &lt;em&gt;puppy&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;young dog&lt;/em&gt; are pretty close — close enough that one might reasonably say “&lt;em&gt;puppy&lt;/em&gt; is defined as &lt;em&gt;young dog&lt;/em&gt;”.  (Indeed, checking a couple of dictionaries, it is.)  But &lt;em&gt;a young puppy&lt;/em&gt; is not redundant: we know it means (in most contexts) a dog that is young even for a puppy.  Nor is &lt;em&gt;an old puppy&lt;/em&gt; an oxymoron.  In isolation, &lt;em&gt;puppy&lt;/em&gt; means almost exactly &lt;em&gt;young dog&lt;/em&gt;; but it’s picked up different connotations, so in many contexts, replacing &lt;em&gt;puppy&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;young dog&lt;/em&gt; can change the meaning of a phrase significantly.  This is why pleonasm is often rather effective: ‘technical’ redundancy can be an illusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Substituting synonyms to check whether something makes sense is often helpful nonetheless, as a very rough rule of thumb.  But when it doesn’t work, one shouldn’t be too surprised.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T16:48:13.420" />
  <row Id="11696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11652" CreationDate="2011-02-07T16:52:41.320" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a native of the US and have lived in several regions. In daily US English, the correct phrasing is &quot;having a hard time.&quot; When I hear someone say &quot;having hard time,&quot; I take it as a dead giveaway that the person is not comfortable in US English. There is a similar phrase &quot;sentenced to hard time&quot; (without the &quot;a&quot; preposition) which means that a criminal has been confined to a prison where manual labor is obligatory.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4716" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T16:52:41.320" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11697" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11719" CreationDate="2011-02-07T16:52:48.907" Score="2" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In semi-offical letter from non-native speaker the &quot;medical unsurance&quot; is offered to me. What is an unsurance really?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;U &amp;amp; I as required in comments:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/IKMDn.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;ui&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3310" LastEditorUserId="3310" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T18:12:14.047" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T17:16:49.597" Title="What is an &quot;unsurance&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11697" CreationDate="2011-02-07T16:58:15.960" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a typographical error, as the word *&lt;em&gt;unsurance&lt;/em&gt; does not exist. It should have read &lt;em&gt;medical insurance&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T16:58:15.960" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11699" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11703" CreationDate="2011-02-07T16:58:25.877" Score="1" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi, I'm looking for a synonym for &quot;working on&quot; in this sentence. I feel like there has to be a more concise way than to say &quot;Joe has contributed a lot while working on Project X, Y and Z&quot;.  Joe has worked on many projects and I am trying to highlight a few specific ones he did very well on.  Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4595" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T17:05:16.653" Title="What's the best way to say &quot;while *working on* Project X&quot;" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11666" CreationDate="2011-02-07T17:00:55.720" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think 'Regards' means 'I send you MY regards', rather than 'give somebody else my regards'. 'Best Regards' would presumably mean you wish to convey an even warmer sentiment. As I read on another thread today, I'd agree that the regards in question are probably the mildest and blandest good wishes you could offer someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[However, personally I hate it, since it often feels entirely insincere and said with out a thought.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T17:00:55.720" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11699" CreationDate="2011-02-07T17:01:42.553" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, if you're looking for a more &lt;em&gt;concise&lt;/em&gt; way, how about simply saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Joe has contributed a lot &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; Project X, Y and Z.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T17:01:42.553" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11697" CreationDate="2011-02-07T17:02:55.203" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's almost certainly meant to be &quot;insurance&quot;.  &quot;Unsurance&quot; isn't a word in normal English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Medical insurance&quot; is an agreement whereby you or your employer pays a company a regular fee, and the company provides (payment for) medical services when you need them.  As with all forms of insurance, you should read the terms and conditions carefully as they often exclude services you might expect to be provided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether you need medical insurance or not is very dependent on where in the world you are.  In some countries like the US, it's essential; more enlightened countries like the UK :-p provide basic health care out of general taxation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastEditorUserId="1579" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T17:14:25.067" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T17:14:25.067" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="11703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11699" CreationDate="2011-02-07T17:05:16.653" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One phrasing I might use is &quot;while &lt;em&gt;participating in&lt;/em&gt; Project X&quot;, especially if it were a public/semi-public/open-source project.  Other options include &quot;as a part of Project X&quot; and &quot;as a member of Project X&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T17:05:16.653" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11681" CreationDate="2011-02-07T17:05:55.090" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;…it was &lt;strong&gt;such a wonderful day&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The others are &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; correct.  Generally, when used with a singular countable noun, &lt;em&gt;such&lt;/em&gt; should come before the indefinite article, like your example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was such a wonderful day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When used with a plural noun, or an uncountable noun, then there’s no article, but it should still precede any adjectives (and there should usually be some adjective(s); without an adjective, this use is generally somewhat poetic/archaic):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He sings such beautiful songs!  She listens to such horrible music.  There was such merriment at the party last night…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should never follow &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;, or be used with &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;; all the following are wrong:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*…a such wonderful day…       *…the such wonderful day…       *…such the wonderful day…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T22:57:19.617" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T22:57:19.617" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11690" CreationDate="2011-02-07T17:37:04.550" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is redundant from an information standpoint as you communicated your desire to hang up.  With that being said, however, phone conversations can have tricky social protocols that vary from place to place.  Many people treat a mutual &lt;em&gt;bye&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;goodbye&lt;/em&gt;) as a necessary step to end a conversation politely. (Think of it as an informal, though widespread, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_procedure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;voice procedure&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually it manifests something like the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: Ok, I'll talk to you later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;B: Alright, bye.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: Bye&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mutual Hangup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some locales, its common on calls to friends/family to make up an excuse for why you need to end the conversation, even if its obvious to both parties that you've just run out of things to say.  Presumably, this is due to wanting to be especially polite and indicate that you find the person so delightful that you'd love to just keep chatting away if it wasn't for that darn cat that needed to be let out or dishes that needed to be washed, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T17:37:04.550" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11675" CreationDate="2011-02-07T17:55:54.277" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can also give someone kind regards, or warm regards, so specifying best regards is not redundant.  As PLL points out, &quot;regards&quot; by itself does not equate to &quot;best wishes&quot;; I think of it in this usage as &quot;the worth or estimation in which something or someone is held&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://merriam-webster.com/dictionary/regard&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; definition 4a).  In effect, you're closing with a little note letting the person know that you have a good opinion of them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T17:55:54.277" />
  <row Id="11707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1649" CreationDate="2011-02-07T18:14:10.273" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apples are commonly grown in New York State. It is the state fruit and a major export.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, &lt;em&gt;Big Apple&lt;/em&gt; would compare the city to upstate. Imagine a map with the cities marked as apples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4385" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T18:14:10.273" />
  <row Id="11708" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11714" CreationDate="2011-02-07T18:23:36.407" Score="0" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4226/my-wife-and-is-seafood-collaboration-dinner&quot;&gt;My wife and I&amp;#39;s seafood collaboration dinner&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never known what the proper way to use a sentence in which you and a specific person (as in you can't just say &quot;our&quot; because you want to specify who) possess something.  Is it &quot;Julie's and mine&quot;, &quot;Mine and Julies&quot;, &quot;Julie and my&quot;...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance,&#xA;&quot;Julie and my favorite band is Eluveitie.&quot;&#xA;&quot;That sandwich is Ben and mine.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They all sound a bit strange, which is the correct way to say this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4718" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T19:29:51.157" ClosedDate="2011-02-07T22:46:58.340" Title="What is the proper way to say possesive with &quot;person X&quot; and self?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11709" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-07T18:25:18.463" Score="0" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/834/what-is-the-longest-word-in-the-english-language-without-a-repeated-letter&quot;&gt;What is the longest word in the English language without a repeated letter?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the longest word in the English language in which no letter repeats itself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4720" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T18:37:43.393" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T18:37:54.007" ClosedDate="2011-02-07T18:57:24.363" Title="Longest word In English language" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11710" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11711" CreationDate="2011-02-07T18:34:44.463" Score="4" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google uses the phrase &quot;Whale fail&quot; on this &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/googlebooks/error.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;picture&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3310" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T20:59:54.187" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T08:30:26.780" Title="&quot;Whale fail&quot; - What does this mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11710" CreationDate="2011-02-07T18:35:52.653" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a reference to the Twitter &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_story_of_the_fail_whale.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fail whale&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, integrating a Google-Books-appropriate collateral reference to &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=XV8XAAAAYAAJ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Moby Dick&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.  (It appears that Captain Ahab is dejected because the whale in front of him is green, not white; his search for the white whale has suffered a case of &quot;whale fail&quot;.)  This is all related to the fairly recent, Internet-driven &lt;a href=&quot;http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2009/06/20/no-nouning/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nouning of the verb &quot;fail&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It doesn't actually &lt;em&gt;mean&lt;/em&gt; anything other than that your Web request failed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T19:35:29.667" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T19:35:29.667" />
  <row Id="11712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11709" CreationDate="2011-02-07T18:37:17.990" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A quick Google search revealed a post &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishforums.com/English/LongestWordWithoutRepeatingLetter/bbjx/post.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.englishforums.com/English/LongestWordWithoutRepeatingLetter/bbjx/post.htm&lt;/a&gt; with the following list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15,&quot;dermatoglyphics&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;15,&quot;uncopyrightable&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;14,&quot;troublemakings&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;14,&quot;dermatoglyphic&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;14,&quot;ambidextrously&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;13,&quot;documentarily&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;13,&quot;consumptively&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;13,&quot;copyrightable&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;13,&quot;endolymphatic&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;13,&quot;flowchartings&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;13,&quot;hydromagnetic&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;13,&quot;lycanthropies&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;13,&quot;troublemaking&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;13,&quot;unpredictably&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;13,&quot;unproblematic&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;13,&quot;subordinately&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;13,&quot;metalworkings&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;13,&quot;multibranched&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4632" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T18:37:17.990" />
  <row Id="11713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11709" CreationDate="2011-02-07T18:37:54.007" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://rinkworks.com/words/oddities.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fun with Words&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The longest words with no repeated letters are &lt;em&gt;dermatoglyphics&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;misconjugatedly&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;uncopyrightables&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T18:37:54.007" />
  <row Id="11714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11708" CreationDate="2011-02-07T18:39:05.843" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Julie's and mine&quot; and &quot;mine and Julie's&quot; (note apostrophe) are both correct for the predicate possessive form, &quot;Julie's and my&quot; for the simple possessive form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T19:29:51.157" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T19:29:51.157" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11690" CreationDate="2011-02-07T18:48:07.073" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it definitely has a use in some cases. The use is to get the person on the other end of the line to &lt;em&gt;actually&lt;/em&gt; stop talking so you can end the call. Usually one starts signalling a desire to end the conversation by abandoning substantive answers in favor of simple affirmatives, transitioning at last to repeated versions of &lt;em&gt;good-bye&lt;/em&gt;. Here's how such a conversation sounds from that side of the conversation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yeah, that's a great idea, I'll take a look ... yeah ... uh-huh ... I'll have a look ... uh-huh ... yeah ... yeah ... uh .... uh, OK ... OK ... OK, talk to you later ... bye .... bye-bye. [Hangs up]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I made up my own term to describe this kind of dragged-out phone-call-ending: &lt;em&gt;conversational dieseling&lt;/em&gt; (from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dieseling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dieseling&lt;/a&gt; as used in automobile parlance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T18:48:07.073" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11564" CreationDate="2011-02-07T18:49:36.887" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It might help to associate it to a word which is related etymologically: a&lt;b&gt;mn&lt;/b&gt;esia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3542" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T18:49:36.887" />
  <row Id="11717" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11718" CreationDate="2011-02-07T19:13:23.213" Score="8" ViewCount="280" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of the phrase “hunky dory”?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4724" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T09:04:35.597" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T09:04:35.597" Title="What is the origin of the phrase &quot;hunky dory&quot;?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="11718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11717" CreationDate="2011-02-07T19:33:29.793" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/hunky-dory.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nobody really knows.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There's no agreed derivation of the expression 'hunky-dory'.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is American and the earliest example of it in print that I have found is from a collection of US songs, George Christy's Essence of Old Kentucky, 1862.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We do know that 'hunky-dory' wasn't conjured from nowhere but was preceded by earlier words, i.e. 'hunkey', meaning 'fit and healthy' and 'hunkum-bunkum', which had the same meaning as 'hunky-dory'. 'Hunkey' was in use in the USA by 1861, when it was used in the title of the Civil War song A Hunkey Boy Is Yankee Doodle. 'Hunkum-bunkum' is first recorded in the US sporting newspaper The Spirit of The Times, November 1842.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="91" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T03:59:21.990" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T03:59:21.990" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11697" CreationDate="2011-02-07T19:45:05.557" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should try to determine if the letter is meant seriously, or if it's all a joke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's a serious letter, it's just a typo of &lt;em&gt;insurance&lt;/em&gt;. As RegDwight suggested the letters &lt;em&gt;U&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; are close to each other, so it's an error easily made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's a joke letter, it's a word play, probably between the words &lt;em&gt;insurance&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;unsure&lt;/em&gt;. It's then insinuating that the medical insurance would not be so reliable. It may be written to resemble a Freudian slip, which is when you accidentally say what you think instead of what you ment to say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T19:45:05.557" />
  <row Id="11720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11717" CreationDate="2011-02-07T19:46:24.323" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=hunky+dory&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1866, Amer.Eng. (popularized c.1870 by a Christy Minstrel song), perhaps a reduplication of hunkey &quot;all right, satisfactory&quot; (1861), from hunk &quot;in a safe position&quot; (1847) New York City slang, from Du. honk &quot;goal, home,&quot; from M.Du. honc &quot;place of refuge, hiding place.&quot; A theory from 1876, however, traces it to Honcho dori, said to be a street in Yokohama, Japan, where sailors went for diversions of the sort sailors enjoy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But that's pretty nebulous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I'll add that I don't see how you'd get hunky-dory from Honcho Dori, which would be pronounced something like &quot;HOE-NN-CHO DOE-(d)EE&quot; ( the &lt;em&gt;(d)&lt;/em&gt; representing a soft vocalized tongue tap).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T02:20:33.777" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T02:20:33.777" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11721" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11722" CreationDate="2011-02-07T20:13:14.627" Score="4" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the following sentence in today's New York Times. Apparently, &lt;em&gt;secretive jaunt&lt;/em&gt; of New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg sounds to carry some speculations. And for a foreign English learner like me, &lt;em&gt;jaunt&lt;/em&gt; seems to be a 'less well-worn' word (Is this expression right?). What is the difference of meaning among &lt;em&gt;jaunt&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;excursion&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;outing&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;trip&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;journey&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mayoral Sign-Out Sheet?&lt;/strong&gt; Secretive Jaunts Spur a Thought: Angered by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's refusal to say where he was during the December blizzard, lawmakers may consider requiring mayors to acknowledge absences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T09:03:24.710" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T23:15:12.823" Title="What is the difference between &quot;jaunt&quot; and &quot;excursion&quot;, &quot;trip&quot; and &quot;outing&quot;? Can we say &quot;secretive outing&quot; or &quot;secretive absence&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11721" CreationDate="2011-02-07T20:18:31.540" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/jaunt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;jaunt&lt;/a&gt; is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A short trip or excursion, usually for pleasure; an outing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning is that Bloomberg was off having fun somewhere while the city endured a miserable blizzard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and among the rest of the synonyms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;trip&lt;/em&gt; is the common term that defines some kind of &quot;going out&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;excursion&lt;/em&gt; is simply a trip of some kind&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;outing&lt;/em&gt; is a trip that is (usually) taken for pleasure&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;journey&lt;/em&gt; is a long trip of some kind; it's defined as any kind of trip, but the implication is that it may be arduous and often discoveries are made along the way&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T20:25:57.320" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T20:25:57.320" />
  <row Id="11723" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11725" CreationDate="2011-02-07T20:47:24.160" Score="2" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a case of using &lt;em&gt;statesman&lt;/em&gt; in modifying AOL Inc. in the following sentence of New York Times (February 8). Statesman to me means a leading politician_ and I understand the word here was used figuratively. But the phrase, &lt;em&gt;AOL is the elder statesman of online access&lt;/em&gt; sounds somewhat odd to me. Is this standard or within the range of received usage of &lt;em&gt;stateman&lt;/em&gt;? What does &lt;em&gt;statesman&lt;/em&gt; mean in this case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Huffington Post, the liberal-leaning online news site that has been one of the Internet's start-up success stories, said it agreed to a $315 million buyout late Sunday night from AOL Inc., the ‘elder statesman’ of online access and digital content. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T08:58:25.540" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T08:58:25.540" Title="Is it right to use 'Statesman' to modify an organization and corporation?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11723" CreationDate="2011-02-07T20:50:56.707" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term &quot;elder statesman&quot; in that quote is used figuratively. It just means that AOL is well established in online access and digital content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the same kind of trope as calling George Washington &quot;the father of his country&quot; or saying Osaka is a &quot;sister city&quot; of San Francisco.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T20:50:56.707" />
  <row Id="11725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11723" CreationDate="2011-02-07T20:54:21.460" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &lt;em&gt;elder statesman&lt;/em&gt; is an established idiom to refer to &quot;an eminent senior member of a group or organization.&quot;  It is placed in quotes in the article in order to make it clear that the term is being used somewhat figuratively, in that it does not refer to an actual person; but AOL is indeed one of the oldest remaining players in the field of online access, and as such is accorded a significant measure of respect for having survived so long in such a volatile market. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T20:54:21.460" />
  <row Id="11726" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11727" CreationDate="2011-02-07T21:26:54.117" Score="5" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should I certainly use pronouns like &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; ,&lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;her&lt;/em&gt; etc. with the word &lt;em&gt;tell&lt;/em&gt;?&#xA;Which sentence is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will you tell &lt;em&gt;us/me&lt;/em&gt; about your hobbies, please? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Will you tell about your hobbies, please?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4676" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T08:52:37.090" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T08:52:37.090" Title="&quot;Tell a story, please&quot; or &quot;Tell me a story please&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11726" CreationDate="2011-02-07T21:31:58.747" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a verb expressing communication, &quot;tell&quot; almost always requires both the direct object of what is being communicated and the indirect object of the person being communicated with.  &quot;Tell me about your hobbies&quot; is the standard form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T21:31:58.747" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11726" CreationDate="2011-02-07T21:35:08.820" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on the group, it would be correct to use a pronoun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Tell me about your hobbies, please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This works if you are the only other person in the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Tell us about your hobbies, please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This works if there are others present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Tell about your hobbies, please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is awkward conversationally, but could conceivably be used in a larger context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What do you like to do? Tell us something about your interests. Tell about your hobbies, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the third sentence, the pronoun would be omitted but implied. I doubt you are interested in this kind of subtle distinction, however, and advise you simply to use the pronoun after &lt;em&gt;tell&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T21:35:08.820" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11690" CreationDate="2011-02-07T21:47:17.853" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;See you later&quot; and &quot;bye&quot; may be redundant in meaning; however, they have some meaning if you examine the different levels of discourse in a conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are two discourse-level observations. First, the sentences in conversations tend to get shorter to signal its end. (For example, think of a couple having a conversation in which one party answers in monosyllables. He may be indicating that he wants the conversation to end.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, there are no gestures or body language over the telephone. The parties are signaling their mutual desire to end the conversation without recourse to the gestures of shifting weight, pointing feet toward the door, closing a notebook, or getting up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;OK, talk to you next week.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;OK, See you.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;See you.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Bye.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps. Bye.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3306" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T21:47:17.853" />
  <row Id="11730" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11731" CreationDate="2011-02-07T22:18:15.827" Score="5" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;In an article I see this phrase &quot;Faustian bargain&quot;. Both I and my teacher were unable to translate or understand it. Can you help me and explain this phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The reason for linking all the modules together in a single address space, with no protection between the modules, is that designers have made a &lt;strong&gt;Faustian bargain&lt;/strong&gt;: better performance at the cost of more system crashes. We will quantitatively examine the price of this trade-off below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This comes from the first page of this work:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://docs.huihoo.com/minix/reliable-os.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://docs.huihoo.com/minix/reliable-os.pdf&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache:_sabEZ3IFvsJ:scholar.google.com/&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache:_sabEZ3IFvsJ:scholar.google.com/&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,5&lt;/a&gt; (preloaded as google html view)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3310" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T08:49:57.840" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T17:57:52.900" Title="What does &quot;Faustian bargain&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="11731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11730" CreationDate="2011-02-07T22:25:34.077" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faust&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;'Faust'&lt;/a&gt; is the main character in German legend.  From Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Faust or Faustus (Latin for&#xA;  &quot;auspicious&quot; or &quot;lucky&quot;) is the&#xA;  protagonist of a classic German&#xA;  legend. Though a highly successful&#xA;  scholar, he is unsatisfied, and makes&#xA;  a deal with the devil, exchanging his&#xA;  soul for unlimited knowledge and&#xA;  worldly pleasures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Making a 'Faustian bargain' can be interpreted as making a deal with the devil - it may seem like a good deal, but there is always a catch, and that catch is usually very, very bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a wikipedia article discussing 'Deals with the Devil', which they also term as a 'Faustian bargain':&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deal_with_the_devil&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deal_with_the_devil&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastEditorUserId="1267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T22:34:31.280" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T22:34:31.280" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11732" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-07T22:41:08.837" Score="2" ViewCount="275" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;increase&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;growth&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;go up&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;rise&lt;/em&gt;? And what is the difference between &lt;em&gt;decline&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;fall&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;go down&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;drop&lt;/em&gt;? I really don't know which is the best to describe parts of a graph. :/ I can't find information in the dictionary about this. :/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4728" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T22:47:57.747" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T23:56:22.500" Title="Words to describe trend/graph problem" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11629" CreationDate="2011-02-07T22:45:41.727" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answers so far are close, but don't correctly explain the &quot;triple&quot; part of it.  The contracts for (1) stock index futures, (2) stock index options and (3) stock options all expire on day described.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4729" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T22:45:41.727" />
  <row Id="11734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11657" CreationDate="2011-02-07T22:54:37.500" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Caffeine,&quot; &quot;codeine,&quot; and many similar chemical names are exceptions also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want a list of these, go to a crossword puzzle site like oneacross.com, and put in &quot;???eine&quot; for the pattern, with no clue, and you will get a list of words with the number of letters specified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4729" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T22:54:37.500" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-07T23:03:17.297" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11697" CreationDate="2011-02-07T23:01:16.340" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;unsurance&quot; is almost certainly a typographical error, made carelessly or ignorantly, as is often the case in offshore phishing emails promising illusory benefits. I'm guessing that someone is trying to sell the recipient a bogus insurance policy for some upfront fee.  The insurance will prove to be illusory, and the fee will disappear into the scammer's wallet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4244" LastEditorUserId="4244" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T17:16:49.597" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T17:16:49.597" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11621" CreationDate="2011-02-07T23:23:59.953" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Welcome&lt;/strong&gt; is better than &lt;strong&gt;appreciated&lt;/strong&gt; in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To welcome questions means to gladly invite them. To appreciate questions means to recognize their quality, which is hard to do if you haven't heard the questions yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2819" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T23:23:59.953" />
  <row Id="11737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11732" CreationDate="2011-02-07T23:56:22.500" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Increase (used as a verb OR a noun): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This chart shows the increase in&#xA;  sales. This chart shows how sales are&#xA;  increasing. This chart show that sales&#xA;  are going to increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Growth (used only as a noun):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This chart shows the growth in sales.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Go up (used only as a verb, and generally only in the future tense):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This chart shows how sales are going&#xA;  to go up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rise (used as a verb OR a noun):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This chart shows the rise in sales.&#xA;  This chart shows how sales are rising.&#xA;  This chart show that sales are going&#xA;  to rise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, rise and increase are synonyms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Decline / fall / drop are all synonyms, and they are all antonyms to rise / increase. All three can be used as a verb or noun, just like their antonyms. &quot;Go down&quot; is an antonym to &quot;go up&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The parts of a graph:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;X-Axis: the horizontal portion of a graph&#xA;Y-Axis: the vertical portion of a graph&#xA;Legend: a box containing explanatory text&#xA;Grid: the intersecting lines on the body of the graph&#xA;Units: the units in which data are displayed&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In describing a rising trend on a graph, I would use increase / increasing, and for a falling trend, I would use decrease / decreasing. Those will keep you pretty safe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HTH.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T23:56:22.500" />
  <row Id="11738" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11739" CreationDate="2011-02-08T00:17:49.270" Score="14" ViewCount="419" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a non native English speaker, the introductory part of today’s Washington Post article commenting on the flood of TV commercials during the Super Bowl contains a bunch of unfamiliar phrases and is quite a puzzle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can somebody explain me what ‘Have the color and consistency of old gum,’ ‘The cheese is baked into crust’ and ‘Tweet one’s delight that seven-layer dip has become nine,’ in the following sentence imply ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is a sentence studded with all-Greek-to-me the writer’s special style or just an ordinary pattern of newspaper article?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The effects of 45 (or XLV, if you must) direct slams to the head could be clearly seen Sunday night on that annual American CAT scan called the Super Bowl. Whole parts of our collective cerebellum now show up as having the color and consistency of old gum. Too many insipid Black Eyed Peas songs will do that to a civilization. The cheese really is baked into the crust. &#xA;  But willingly, like achy old pros, we returned to the holy rituals of this brutal game, this billion-dollar boondoggle, tweeting our delight that seven-layer dip has somehow become nine. Distraction is the real attraction, which gets a little more true each year. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T16:47:59.043" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T16:47:59.043" Title="What do &quot;The cheese is baked into crust&quot; and &quot;Tweet one’s delight ...&quot; mean in the context of an article about Super Bowl XLV?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11738" CreationDate="2011-02-08T00:37:27.707" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's take this apart piece by piece.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The effects of 45 (or XLV, if you must) direct slams to the head could be clearly seen Sunday night on that annual American CAT scan called the Super Bowl. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The writer is talking about the Super Bowl and using brain-injury references (&quot;direct slams to the head&quot;) that draw the comparison between the Super Bowl and a CAT scan (a type of scan used to determine the existence and extent of brain injuries).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whole parts of our collective cerebellum now show up as ‘having the color and consistency of old gum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, our metaphorical cerebellum has been battered beyond belief by this annual spectacle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Too many insipid Black Eyed Peas songs will do that to a civilization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The writer does not like the Black Eyed Peas in general, nor their Super Bowl performance in particular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'The cheese really is baked into the crust.’&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's a line from some pizza commercial. Evidence of an assault on the brain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But willingly, like achy old pros, we returned to the holy rituals of this brutal game, this billion-dollar boondoggle, ‘tweeting our delight that seven-layer dip has somehow become nine.’ &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We watch this brutal crap anyway, the writer explains, and we are such willing victims of mass culture that we extol the virtues of things promoted in Super Bowl commercials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Distraction is the real attraction, which gets a little more true each year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The writer opines that, in reality, the &lt;em&gt;commercials&lt;/em&gt; are what people view the Super Bowl to see, not the game itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To which I can confidently add that this year's commercials were among the worst I have ever seen on the Super Bowl. I don't know what is getting the writer's knickers in a twist, though. Did he honestly expect to find something intellectually and culturally stimulating happening during the Super Bowl last night?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T00:44:22.937" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T00:44:22.937" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="11740" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11741" CreationDate="2011-02-08T01:09:48.913" Score="7" ViewCount="394" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been reading the Economist lately and they apparently don't punctuate title abbreviations like &quot;Mr.&quot;, &quot;Mrs.&quot;, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The popular rejection of Mr Mubarak offers the Middle East’s best chance for reform in decades.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe it's a British magazine, but is such a use proper or common in American English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2223" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T12:11:08.843" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T15:03:02.360" Title="Omitting periods after title abbreviations (Mr, Mrs, Dr)" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11740" CreationDate="2011-02-08T01:17:12.727" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not too common in American English, and not strictly proper.  I believe it's common in British English, and most likely perfectly proper.  (I've got both American and British &lt;i&gt;Harry Potter&lt;/i&gt; books, and the British ones leave out those periods.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T01:17:12.727" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11740" CreationDate="2011-02-08T01:19:11.663" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Americans tend to place a period after &lt;em&gt;Mr&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Mrs&lt;/em&gt;, etc. The British and related speakers often don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T01:19:11.663" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11740" CreationDate="2011-02-08T01:25:31.290" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In British English, these abbreviations have been in use so very long that for the most part, they are considered first-class words in their own right and thus no longer retain the full stop at all times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is however, not uncommon to see the full stop retained when used in an address, or a salutation.  Mid-sentence is generally omitted, as the sight of a full stop cropping up in the middle of a sentence tends to cause more consternation than the omittance of a punctuation technicality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T09:35:03.007" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T09:35:03.007" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11744" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-08T01:35:44.583" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do you call a question that needs a selection? For example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is an argument true until proven false or vice-versa?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4732" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T06:47:57.773" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T10:21:44.747" Title="Question that needs a selection" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11744" CreationDate="2011-02-08T01:39:13.683" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd call that an &quot;either-or&quot; question, or if there are more than two choices, a &quot;multiple-choice&quot; question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T01:39:13.683" />
  <row Id="11746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11738" CreationDate="2011-02-08T03:37:24.837" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although Robusto has already written an excellent translation, I thought this may be a work that would benefit from multiple annotated translations, so here is another. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Short translation: the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/07/AR2011020700184.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;author&lt;/a&gt; doesn't like (or claims not to like) the Super Bowl, but watched it anyway. [Aside: for comments in a different vein from someone who likes it even less, look &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jehsmith.com/1/2011/02/superbowl-spleen.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The effects of 45 (or XLV, if you must) direct slams to the head could be clearly seen Sunday night on that annual American CAT scan called the Super Bowl. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Super Bowl is the final game of an American football tournament, and watching it is an annual American ritual. There have been 45 Super Bowls so far, the latest being denoted &lt;strong&gt;Super Bowl XLV.&lt;/strong&gt; The author parenthetically finds the use of Roman numerals somewhat unnecessary or pretentious. Then, he effectively says that each of the 45 has been a &quot;direct slam to the head&quot;. This is both an implication that it is a head injury (affecting the collective intelligence of America) and a possible allusion to &quot;direct slams to the head&quot; that may occur during the course of the violent game. Anyway, the effect of these brain injuries, he says, could be seen on Sunday night when the Super Bowl was held, because (the author thinks for some reason) that the Super Bowl is a CAT scan (a scan that, among other things, is used to determine the extent of internal injuries) of America.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a bit of a mixed metaphor here: is the Super Bowl itself &lt;em&gt;both&lt;/em&gt; a slam to the head &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; a CAT scan? Perhaps the 45 injuries are the 45 &lt;em&gt;championships&lt;/em&gt; (tournaments), with a part of them—the final, the Super Bowl—a CAT scan?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whole parts of our collective cerebellum now show up as having the color and consistency of old gum. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When chewing gum gets chewed too long, it loses its color, and its consistency turns into a uniform pulp. He believes that much of the American brain (&quot;collective cerebellum&quot;) has now been turned into the same consistency. (This seems to be a comment on the state of the American brain in general.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Too many &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/06/AR2011020604086.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;insipid Black Eyed Peas songs&lt;/a&gt; will do that to a civilization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Black Eyed Peas is a band which performed during the Super Bowl. The link is to a fellow author who found the Black Eyed Peas performance underwhelming. Our author takes it further, saying that they have had &quot;too many&quot; songs, and that they have been bad for the civilization as a whole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is another confusion of metaphors here: is the cause of the battered American brain those 45 slams as earlier stated, or too many songs by Black Eyed Peas? Apparently the author thinks it's both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The cheese really is baked into the crust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cheese (cerebellum) has become baked into the crust (skull). A further description of the brain injury. (Robusto has the further insight that it's a line from a pizza ad.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, cheese baked into the crust doesn't &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; have the color and consistency of old gum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But willingly, like achy old pros, we returned to the holy rituals of this brutal game, this billion-dollar boondoggle, tweeting our delight that seven-layer dip has somehow become &lt;em&gt;nine&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite all the &quot;ache&quot; (of the head injury, probably) caused by the Super Bowl, we (meaning &quot;I&quot;) willingly returned to the game. The game is a holy ritual, is brutal, involves billions of dollars in costs and revenue, and is a &quot;boondoggle&quot; (a project that's a waste of time and money). &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=seven-layer+dip&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Seven-layer dip&lt;/a&gt; is a dish that is typically consumed as part of the Super Bowl ritual. People &lt;a href=&quot;http://twitter.com/search#search?q=seven-layer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tweet about it&lt;/a&gt; during the Super Bowl, and some are delighed that the scope of the dish has been expanded to include &lt;a href=&quot;http://twitter.com/search#search?q=nine-layer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nine layers&lt;/a&gt;. Apparently the author thinks this is too frivolous a topic to be posting on Twitter about (in which case he misunderstands Twitter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Distraction is the real attraction, which gets a little more true each year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Super Bowl spectacle includes not just the game, but also musical performances and special made-for-the-occasion commercials. Some people claim to be watching the event &lt;a href=&quot;http://xkcd.com/60/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; these &quot;distractions&quot;, hence they are the true attraction. (Aside: One must marvel at the marketing genius that manages to turn ads into attractions, but that's another story.) He also thinks it &quot;gets a little more true each year&quot;, perhaps because the sideshows are getting grander in scale and on their way to eclipsing the actual game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And that's just the first paragraph. An enormous amount of cultural context can be encoded in a few sentences. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T03:37:24.837" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5142" CreationDate="2011-02-08T04:31:42.707" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My 3rd grader has the same question in her grammar book and the answer key says the correct answer is &lt;em&gt;their&lt;/em&gt;. Like others have stated it would be &lt;em&gt;their&lt;/em&gt; because the pronoun is referring to the stones (plural).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4733" LastEditorUserId="4924" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T11:57:33.473" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T11:57:33.473" />
  <row Id="11748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11740" CreationDate="2011-02-08T05:45:23.693" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;But there's no period after &quot;Ms.&quot; Except in the preceding sentence, unless you're in Chicago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3370" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T05:45:23.693" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11738" CreationDate="2011-02-08T05:47:25.690" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just adding to the general chorus: I suspect those quotes are from ads that actually ran during the superbowl.  It's well-known that some of the &quot;best&quot; (most creative and/or funny) ads are being broadcast then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;http://schlockmercenary.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Howard Tayler&lt;/a&gt; tweeted:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Just watched the top 10 superbowl ads from 2011. Saved four hours and 2,000 calories by not bothering with the actual game. #whowon #me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;2,000 calories&quot; remark refers to both Howard's attempts to lose weight, and to the fact that usually lots of snacks are consumed while watching the game (with friends, of course).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T05:47:25.690" />
  <row Id="11750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11657" CreationDate="2011-02-08T06:16:40.050" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As user4729 mentioned, &lt;i&gt;caffeine&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;codeine&lt;/i&gt;.  Another common word in that vaguely chemical vein would be &lt;i&gt;protein&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also add &lt;i&gt;keister&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;i&gt;leisure&lt;/i&gt;, and &lt;i&gt;obeisance&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Words that are less clear to me (because the overabundance of vowels makes it ambiguous to me whether the &quot;-ei-&quot; should be treated as a unit), are &lt;i&gt;onomatopoeia&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;plebeian&lt;/i&gt;.  (I am leaning toward these being not good examples; but surely they are better than &lt;i&gt;being&lt;/i&gt;, which is on the asker's list as I write this.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T06:16:40.050" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-08T06:16:40.050" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11717" CreationDate="2011-02-08T06:33:56.703" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My two favourite sources for this kind of question are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.word-detective.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Word Detective&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;World Wide Words&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They both cite the Japanese road theory, the Word Detective &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.word-detective.com/back-a.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;then adds&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The least exotic theory of all, but&#xA;  almost certainly the true clue, traces&#xA;  &quot;hunky-dory&quot; to the archaic American&#xA;  slang word &quot;hunk,&quot; meaning &quot;safe,&quot;&#xA;  from the Dutch word &quot;honk,&quot; meaning&#xA;  &quot;goal,&quot; or &quot;home&quot; in a game. To&#xA;  achieve &quot;hunk&quot; or &quot;hunky&quot; in a child's&#xA;  game was to make it &quot;home&quot; and win the&#xA;  game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The question of where the &quot;dory&quot; came&#xA;  from brings us back to our old friend&#xA;  &quot;O.K.&quot; Children very often do not just&#xA;  say &quot;O.K.&quot; -- they say &quot;okey-dokey,&quot;&#xA;  thus engaging in what linguists call&#xA;  &quot;reduplication,&quot; or the emphatic,&#xA;  joking repetition of parts of a word.&#xA;  &quot;Hunky- dory&quot; is almost certainly a&#xA;  similar product of reduplication by&#xA;  children who had won their game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And Michael Quinion &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-hun2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adds&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It may be that hunky-dory was the&#xA;  result of a bilingual pun, perhaps&#xA;  invented because American sailors knew&#xA;  the word dori and prefixed it with&#xA;  hunky as an imagined Japanese street&#xA;  of earthly delights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favourite quote is from the Word Detective: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's an entertaining theory, but like&#xA;  most entertaining theories about word&#xA;  origins, lacks supporting evidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T06:33:56.703" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11752" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11753" CreationDate="2011-02-08T06:53:29.313" Score="3" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read that &lt;em&gt;poll&lt;/em&gt; means also, in dialect, &lt;em&gt;a person's head&lt;/em&gt;; that is the second meaning that NOAD gives to &lt;em&gt;pool&lt;/em&gt; as noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there, nowadays, a dialect where the word as that meaning?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If such dialect exists, which one is it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T12:24:45.240" Title="In which dialect would &quot;poll&quot; mean &quot;a person's head&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="11753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11752" CreationDate="2011-02-08T07:23:30.193" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The OED gives the following (irrelevant defs. and defs. concerning animals removed):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1a. The part of the head on which the hair grows; the head as&#xA;  characterized by the colour or state&#xA;  of the hair; the scalp of a person or&#xA;  animal.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Now arch. or regional.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Cf. the&#xA;  more general sense at 3a, with which&#xA;  this sometimes merges in later use.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2a.  The prominent or visible part of a head in a crowd; (by&#xA;  extension) a person or individual in a&#xA;  number, list, etc. Usu. in phrases, as&#xA;  by (the) poll, per poll, †poll by&#xA;  poll: for each person, one by one,&#xA;  individually. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cf. head n.1 7b.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Now&#xA;  hist. (but cf. poll tax n.). challenge&#xA;  to the polls: see challenge n. 3a.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;3a. Used generally to denote the head of a person or (occas.) an&#xA;  animal.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   &lt;em&gt;Now literary or regional&#xA;  (chiefly Irish English).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1a has merged with 3a in recent years, and is cited to be primarily Irish English (unless specially used in literature). 2a is marked historical, except in certain phrases, so that's gone. I've never met an Irishman, but I'd venture to say that even there, it's not particularly common. Make of that what you will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T07:23:30.193" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11752" CreationDate="2011-02-08T07:24:17.320" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Poll is a synonym for pate, or the top of the head. It's a generally-used term, and not confined to any particular dialect (I think).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/dictionary?aq=f&amp;amp;oq=&amp;amp;langpair=en|en&amp;amp;q=pate&amp;amp;hl=en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.google.com/dictionary?aq=f&amp;amp;oq=&amp;amp;langpair=en|en&amp;amp;q=pate&amp;amp;hl=en&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poll_%28livestock%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poll_%28livestock%29&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2772" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T07:24:17.320" />
  <row Id="11755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11666" CreationDate="2011-02-08T07:44:38.367" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=e3JbAAAAQAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA82&amp;amp;dq=%22best+regards%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=8PJQTYXtJsm3tgfb29zyCQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=3&amp;amp;ved=0CDcQ6AEwAg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a letter from Queen Elizabeth I, dated 1601&lt;/a&gt;, there's the valediction &quot;Your Sovereigne that best regards you.&quot; I doubt that this is the first appearance of the phrase &quot;best regards&quot; (and actually, here it's an adverb + verb, whereas as used nowadays it's more of an adjective + noun); but at least it probably means that &quot;best regards,&quot; as an ending for a letter, probably started out something like that and was later clipped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T07:44:38.367" />
  <row Id="11756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4290" CreationDate="2011-02-08T08:11:17.667" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A more concise version would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possible Scary Creatures:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mummy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vampire&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Frankenstein's Monster&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Goblin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Margaret Thatcher&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4739" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T08:11:17.667" />
  <row Id="11757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1019" CreationDate="2011-02-08T08:16:49.327" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When speaking it is appropriate to say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;an hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When writing you may use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a hour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;provided you use it consistently. In text containing a large amount of dialogue it could be more appropriate to use '&lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt;' to imitate the manner of someone speaking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4739" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T08:16:49.327" />
  <row Id="11758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11740" CreationDate="2011-02-08T08:21:21.863" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are still abbreviations so technically should retain their full stops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you use full stops after abbreviations such as &lt;em&gt;ie.&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;eg.&lt;/em&gt; then writing &lt;em&gt;Mr.&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;Mr&lt;/em&gt; would increase your consistency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4739" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T08:21:21.863" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11710" CreationDate="2011-02-08T08:30:26.780" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term &quot;whale fail&quot; or &quot;fail whale&quot; is in common usage to denote a fail of substantially vast proportion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=whale+fail&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=whale+fail&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similar phrases would include: &quot;Epic fail&quot;, &quot;Failtastic&quot; and &quot;All aboard the fail boat&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A known variant of the fail whale, the &quot;red fail whale&quot; also appears as an indication of a network connection failure in the popular Twitter client &lt;em&gt;DestroyTwitter&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4739" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T08:30:26.780" />
  <row Id="11760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10900" CreationDate="2011-02-08T08:49:52.223" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Provided that it is an oven based cake you should say &quot;&lt;em&gt;bake&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If describing a cake that isn't made in the oven (eg a fish cake) you could say &quot;&lt;em&gt;cook&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4739" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T08:49:52.223" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11762" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11763" CreationDate="2011-02-08T09:35:57.257" Score="0" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am about to launch a start-up company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would the sentence be understood as &lt;em&gt;I am intending to launch a start-up company&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;I am close to launch a start-up company&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a sentence like &lt;em&gt;the ceremony was about to begin&lt;/em&gt;, I would understand that the ceremony was close to begin; is that the most common meaning assigned to sentences like &lt;em&gt;I am about to launch a start-up company&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T13:24:36.100" Title="Meaning of &quot;about to [do something]&quot; when it refers to somebody's action" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11762" CreationDate="2011-02-08T09:47:38.740" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;about to&quot; implies that the action described is in the very near future - that it is on the point of happening. So, of your two alternatives,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am close to launching a start-up company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;most closely fits the meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Note that it's &quot;close to launching&quot;, not &quot;close to launch&quot; - the &quot;to&quot; here belongs with &quot;close&quot;, not to the verb, which is in gerund (verbal noun) form.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, most statements about one's action in the future can be interpreted as intention - if I say &quot;I'm about to eat my dinner&quot;, and then discover that I have no food in the house and therefore can't, I'm not necessarily lying - so your other alternative is close in meaning too - but&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am intending to lanch a start-up company &lt;em&gt;very soon&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would be closer still.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastEditorUserId="3405" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T13:24:36.100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T13:24:36.100" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11762" CreationDate="2011-02-08T09:48:37.230" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am about to do X&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;In a short time I will have done X&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The ceremony was about to begin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In a short time, the ceremony will have begun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The ceremony will begin in five minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am about to launch a start-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In a short time, I will have launched my start-up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1439" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T09:59:41.493" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T09:59:41.493" />
  <row Id="11765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7458" CreationDate="2011-02-08T09:57:00.353" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about the following example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; happiness of &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; majority more important than &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; rights of &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; individual?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;em&gt;First Certificate Language Practice&lt;/em&gt; by Michael Vince this is the only way to say it. But couldn't you also say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the happiness of &lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt; majority more important than the rights of &lt;strong&gt;an&lt;/strong&gt; individual?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I see it majority and individual both represent a class and an example of a class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4741" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T09:57:00.353" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11744" CreationDate="2011-02-08T10:21:44.747" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A question that invites the reader to choose one of two propositions, especially where those propositions are mutually exclusive, might be called a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;dichotomous question&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A dichotomous question might require a yes or no response, which would make it a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-ended_question&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;closed-ended question&lt;/a&gt; but a defining attribute of a dichotomy is that it poses two choices, or &quot;selections&quot; to use your word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T10:21:44.747" />
  <row Id="11767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9395" CreationDate="2011-02-08T11:02:05.890" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a link that may help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wikirhymer.com/Near+Rhymes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.wikirhymer.com/Near+Rhymes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a little weird to use. You have to select a word from the dropdown list. As it says, you have to&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;. . . type a word into the Find Rhymes box. Select a word from the dropdown list and you will be whisked to the appropriate set of rhyming words including all near and 'pure' (also known as hard) rhymes.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastEditorUserId="2972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T06:37:17.953" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T06:37:17.953" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11768" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-08T11:30:38.137" Score="0" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is the correct grammar? Which is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4743" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T11:46:12.137" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T13:11:20.207" Title="&quot;I didn't spend&quot; vs &quot;I didn't spent&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="11770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11768" CreationDate="2011-02-08T11:40:47.187" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I didn't spend&lt;/em&gt; is correct. You must use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinitive&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;infinitive&lt;/a&gt;, not the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_past_%28English%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;simple past&lt;/a&gt;. (The helper verb &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; takes the simple past already.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T11:40:47.187" />
  <row Id="11771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11768" CreationDate="2011-02-08T11:42:13.543" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;I didn't spend&lt;/code&gt; is correct.&#xA;Didn't is already past tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2294" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T11:42:13.543" />
  <row Id="11772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9293" CreationDate="2011-02-08T11:59:55.867" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I consider &quot;tits&quot; more offensive than &quot;boobs&quot;.&#xA;Also, I am against the notion that tits emphasises the nipples. That's misinformed IMO.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4129" LastEditorUserId="4129" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T05:33:29.970" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T05:33:29.970" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11768" CreationDate="2011-02-08T12:30:13.847" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The negation of &lt;em&gt;I spent&lt;/em&gt; is built by adding the basic form of the verb (in this case &lt;em&gt;spend&lt;/em&gt;) to the negation of &lt;em&gt;did&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I didn't spend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Spent&lt;/em&gt; would be used in the present perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have spent $100.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I have not spent $900.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T13:11:20.207" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T13:11:20.207" />
  <row Id="11774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11752" CreationDate="2011-02-08T12:46:11.047" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In England there is a phrase &quot;poll tax&quot; which I believe refers precisely to this meaning. Poll meaning head is not so much a dialect as an archaic meaning. The common meaning of &quot;poll&quot; as survey can be thought of as referring to &quot;counting heads&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When applied to sheep it generally means a breed that has no horns (Poll Merino). A polled animal (sheep or cow) has had its horns removed. I believe many people use these words without knowing the underlying (head) meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3946" LastEditorUserId="3946" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T12:24:45.240" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T12:24:45.240" />
  <row Id="11775" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11777" CreationDate="2011-02-08T12:47:28.090" Score="4" ViewCount="238" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the plural of &quot;scenario&quot;? I have always used &quot;scenarios&quot;, but have recently come across &quot;scenaria&quot; and &quot;scenarii&quot;.  Should I be treating it as an Italian or Latin word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4745" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T19:05:53.810" Title="Plural of scenario" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;latin&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="11776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11775" CreationDate="2011-02-08T12:55:29.603" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am sure they were hypercorrecting: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=scenario+plur&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.google.com/search?q=scenario+plur&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However thy might have been old Italians:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sc%C3%A9nario&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sc%C3%A9nario&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Le mot provient de l’italien scenario, « décor de théâtre ». En français, le mot s’est d’abord utilisé sans accent comme en italien, mais cet usage est archaïque.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ni le pluriel italien archaïque scenarii (ancienne orthographe[1]), ni sa variante francisée scénarii (avec accent aigu) ne sont d'usage courant : le pluriel scénarios est le plus commun en français[2]. Selon l’Académie française, en effet, le mot scénario étant français (en italien, il n'aurait pas d'accent aigu), le pluriel « scénarios » s'impose - exactement comme pour lavabos ou pianos.[3]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word comes from Italian &lt;em&gt;scenario&lt;/em&gt;, “theatre scenery”. In French, the word was originally used without an accent as in Italian, but this is archaic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Neither the archaic Italian plural &lt;em&gt;scenarii&lt;/em&gt; (old spelling[1]), nor its French variant &lt;em&gt;scénarii&lt;/em&gt; (with acute accent) is currently used: the plural &lt;em&gt;scénarios&lt;/em&gt; is most common in French.  Indeed, according to the Académie Française, since &lt;em&gt;scénario&lt;/em&gt; is a French word (in Italian, there would be no acute accent), the plural &lt;em&gt;scénarios&lt;/em&gt; is required — just as in &lt;em&gt;lavabos&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;pianos&lt;/em&gt;.[3]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A Scenario in Italian is &lt;a href=&quot;http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sceneggiatura&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sceneggiatura&lt;/a&gt; according to Wikipedia. Not what we are looking for here according to Francesco&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T19:05:53.810" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T19:05:53.810" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11775" CreationDate="2011-02-08T12:57:08.170" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are the stats from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;           COCA    BNC&#xA;&#xA;scenarios  3683    216&#xA;scenaria      0      0&#xA;scenarii      0      0&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scenario&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scenario&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;, the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, and the Collins English Dictionary only mention &lt;em&gt;scenarios&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T12:57:08.170" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11775" CreationDate="2011-02-08T13:01:57.583" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scenarii&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; reports that the plural of &lt;em&gt;scenario&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;scenarios&lt;/em&gt;. It also reports that the &quot;hypercorrect&quot; plural of &lt;em&gt;scenario&lt;/em&gt; is held to be &lt;em&gt;scenarii&lt;/em&gt; (which is nonstandard and rare) since its etymology is Italian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From scenario, the terminal o having been replaced with an i to form its plural, as per the Italian -o → -i pattern for forming plurals, by analogy with concerti and virtuosi. However, the plural of the Italian word scenario is scenari, making “scenarii” etymologically inconsistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scenarios&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scenarios&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;OED&lt;/a&gt;, the accepted plural of &lt;em&gt;scenario&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;scenarios&lt;/em&gt;. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&amp;amp;q=8352434&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; reports 3683 instances of &lt;em&gt;scenarios&lt;/em&gt; being used and none of &lt;em&gt;scenarii&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastEditorUserId="2972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T13:08:25.483" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T13:08:25.483" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11775" CreationDate="2011-02-08T13:02:53.017" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;“scenarios” is the correct one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And by the way, in Italian the plural is “scenari” (single i).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4280" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T13:02:53.017" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11780" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11783" CreationDate="2011-02-08T13:07:13.380" Score="2" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;A copywriter I'm working with wrote &quot;One-Day Only Promotion&quot; but my feeling is that &quot;One-Day-Only Promotion&quot; is correct. The first three words describe 'Promotion'. I know you don't hyphenate adverbs, but does that apply when one is part of a compound adjective?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2442" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T13:39:03.350" Title="&quot;One-Day Only Promotion&quot; or &quot;One-Day-Only Promotion&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;hyphen&gt;&lt;compounds&gt;&lt;modifiers&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4405" CreationDate="2011-02-08T13:23:35.650" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I (Irish) wouldn't use &lt;em&gt;near-sighted&lt;/em&gt; at all. I'd use &lt;em&gt;short-sighted&lt;/em&gt; in both contexts (and I'm short-sighted myself).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T13:23:35.650" />
  <row Id="11782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11780" CreationDate="2011-02-08T13:32:21.747" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that &quot;One-Day-Only&quot; would be correct. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But copywriting is the Niagara Falls of bad grammar, so I've grown used to poor usage there. I often see this as &quot;One Day Only Promotion&quot; and my hide has been thickened over time to the point where it doesn't hurt me any longer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T13:32:21.747" />
  <row Id="11783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11780" CreationDate="2011-02-08T13:39:03.350" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It should be &lt;em&gt;one-day-only promotion&lt;/em&gt;, for the reason you reported. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Have a look at some more genuine, authentic, certified, they-really-happened hyphos (a word we've made up on the model of &lt;em&gt;typos&lt;/em&gt;): &lt;em&gt;sung-lasses&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;barf-lies&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;warp-lanes&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;doork-nobes&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;broom-sticks&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;pre-gnant&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;air-trips&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;boot-traps&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;stars-truck&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;sli-pup&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ong-oing&lt;/em&gt;. —&lt;em&gt;Comma sense&lt;/em&gt;, Richard Lederer, John Shore&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T13:39:03.350" />
  <row Id="11784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4405" CreationDate="2011-02-08T14:01:45.717" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that &lt;em&gt;short-sighted&lt;/em&gt; is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the British term for nearsighted&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the word meaning &lt;em&gt;lacking imagination or foresight&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Nearsighted&lt;/em&gt; is reported to mean &lt;em&gt;unable to see things clearly unless they are relatively close to the eyes, owing to the focusing of rays of light by the eye at a point in front of the retina&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In American English, the words have two different meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T14:01:45.717" />
  <row Id="11785" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11786" CreationDate="2011-02-08T14:03:02.550" Score="1" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just curious as to where this expression came from and when it came into being. It's one that is commonly used (among other variations, e.g. &quot;Oh for crying out loud!&quot;), but where does it come from originally?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2242" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T14:07:54.593" Title="&quot;Oh, for Pete's sake!&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11785" CreationDate="2011-02-08T14:07:54.593" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Pete%27s+sake&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;For Pete's sake&lt;/em&gt; is attested from 1924, probably a euphemistic use of the disciple's name in place of Christ;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T14:07:54.593" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2104" CreationDate="2011-02-08T14:12:01.037" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess it's to retain pronunciation. If you don't double the ending consonant, it will be ok-cured (occured) instead of occur-ed (occurred), buy-ger (biger) instead of big-er (bigger), bay-red (bared) instead of bar-ed (barred), etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seems intuitive and natural to me, though I can't confirm. If I'm right, the general rule would be not to double unless pronunciation changes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4280" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T14:12:01.037" />
  <row Id="11788" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11789" CreationDate="2011-02-08T14:13:02.900" Score="3" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/707/zation-vs-sation&quot;&gt;**&lt;em&gt;zation vs *&lt;/em&gt;*sation?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, there seem to be some contradicting opinions on this matter. Can anyone shed some light on this case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Might be similar to visualize vs visualise, etc. I thought it might be a British vs American English matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3059" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T14:24:00.533" ClosedDate="2011-02-08T14:37:18.453" Title="Virtualisation vs Virtualization" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11788" CreationDate="2011-02-08T14:18:38.230" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Virtualization&lt;/em&gt; is used in American English, &lt;em&gt;virtualisation&lt;/em&gt; is used in British English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Oxford English Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports &lt;em&gt;virtualization&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;virtualisation&lt;/em&gt; as alternative form.&#xA;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; only reports &lt;em&gt;virtualization&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T14:24:00.533" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T14:24:00.533" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11527" CreationDate="2011-02-08T14:41:07.953" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Frequently the &quot;I like to think&quot; is actually dropping some conditional (or perhaps it is added in certain dialects?), such as would. At any rate the &quot;like to think part&quot; is operating on some inability to actually think that way, hence the phrase indicates not a literal usage. There is a functional usage, but not in the sense that &quot;I enjoy thinking&quot; would have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I &lt;em&gt;would like to believe&lt;/em&gt; in the goodness of mankind. However, there is so much contradictory evidence when one goes through the history books.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The conditional is signalling that they want to hold a belief,  but that there is some kind of barrier or burden of proof that they have difficulty overcoming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T14:41:07.953" />
  <row Id="11791" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11792" CreationDate="2011-02-08T14:42:11.750" Score="2" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, perhaps the last one was too easy :) Here's one that a friend of mine uses, and I'd love to know if it's something he coined, or is it a more common expression than I think:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hot diggity-dag-dong-ding ... sh*t fire and save matches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given the southern twang that he uses when he says it, I would imagine this is a southern U.S. saying. Any takers on this one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2242" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T20:09:42.507" Title="&quot;Hot Diggity ...&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11791" CreationDate="2011-02-08T14:45:18.277" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a conglomeration of excitement [hot diggity], disbelief/disgust [daggone], and &quot;Well you don't say?&quot;[&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=shit%20fire%20and%20save%20matches&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sh** fire and save matches&lt;/a&gt;]. Another similar (made up), and idiosyncratic construction: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Zam a lama durn dang Sh** fire and save the baby!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is likely highly regional (perhaps to the point of inside his own head).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastEditorUserId="549" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T20:09:42.507" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T20:09:42.507" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11793" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11795" CreationDate="2011-02-08T14:52:23.600" Score="3" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Example&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;turned the tables on him&lt;/strong&gt; though and now I get pleasure out of tormenting that jerk.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the meaning of &lt;em&gt;turning the tables on someone&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2332" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T15:09:03.600" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T18:29:16.203" Title="What's the meaning of &quot;Turn the tables on someone&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;translation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="11794" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11796" CreationDate="2011-02-08T14:56:22.590" Score="4" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you absolved &lt;em&gt;from&lt;/em&gt; your sins or  absolved &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; your sins?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T15:28:11.400" Title="Proper preposition for &quot;absolve&quot;" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11793" CreationDate="2011-02-08T14:58:43.817" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means &quot;To reverse a situation and gain the upper hand&quot; (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language). The origin is covered in this question: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5286/origin-of-turns-the-table-idiom&quot;&gt;Origin of “Turns the Table” idiom&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T14:58:43.817" />
  <row Id="11796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11794" CreationDate="2011-02-08T15:04:52.980" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The preposition to use together &lt;em&gt;absolved&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;from&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The pardon absolved them of any crimes.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  She has been absolved from her promise to serve on the committee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly to the second sentence, I would write &lt;em&gt;from your sins&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I absolve you from your sins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T15:28:11.400" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T15:28:11.400" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11793" CreationDate="2011-02-08T15:08:08.093" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that &lt;em&gt;turning the tables&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;reverse one's position relative to someone else, especially by turning a position of disadvantage into one of advantage&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Police invited householders to a seminar on how to turn the tables on burglars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T15:08:08.093" />
  <row Id="11798" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11799" CreationDate="2011-02-08T15:21:51.490" Score="1" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are some funny synonyms for &lt;em&gt;to tell a lie&lt;/em&gt;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g. &lt;em&gt;fib&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;pull a Bill Clinton&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T22:42:11.343" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-08T15:32:26.477" ClosedDate="2011-02-08T18:12:59.537" Title="Humorous synonyms for &quot;lie&quot;" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11798" CreationDate="2011-02-08T15:38:31.817" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Telling &lt;strong&gt;porkies&lt;/strong&gt;.  (British &amp;amp; commonwealth slang, from rhyming &lt;em&gt;pork pies&lt;/em&gt; = &lt;em&gt;lies&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spinning a yarn&lt;/strong&gt;.  (Esp. for long, elaborate lies.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Being &lt;strong&gt;full of **shit&lt;/strong&gt;.  (For a serious but barefaced attempt to pass a lie off as true.  Also with &lt;strong&gt;horseshit&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;bullshit&lt;/strong&gt;, or euphemistically just &lt;strong&gt;it&lt;/strong&gt;.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pulling&lt;/strong&gt; (someone’s) &lt;strong&gt;leg&lt;/strong&gt;.  (Esp. for humorous, inconsequential lies.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Having&lt;/strong&gt; (someone) &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt;.  (Brit/commonwealth again, I think?  Not to be confused with &lt;em&gt;having it off&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: oh, and how could I forget the classic euphemism:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Being &lt;strong&gt;economical with the truth&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T18:15:01.363" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T18:15:01.363" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-08T15:38:31.817" />
  <row Id="11800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11738" CreationDate="2011-02-08T15:56:58.777" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An additional aside, and probably worthy of a question in its own right:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A CAT scan is normally only called &quot;cat&quot; when spoken. I personally only see it written as CT scan when referred to by medical professionals. It is true that CT stands for computed axial tomography, but as all computed tomography used in conventional medicine is axial in nature, and as all reconstructive computer programs only apply transformations to the axial data, the nature of it being axial is often omitted when the name is used fully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you wanted to sound like a more educated person, you would write CT, even though you may say &quot;cat&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2161" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T15:56:58.777" />
  <row Id="11801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11798" CreationDate="2011-02-08T16:15:47.420" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always liked &quot;bamboozle.&quot; &quot;Hoodwink&quot; and &quot;hornswoggle&quot; are good too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T16:15:47.420" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-08T16:15:47.420" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11798" CreationDate="2011-02-08T16:19:59.460" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cry wolf&lt;/em&gt; means to raise a false alarm (rather than to lie in general).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastEditorUserId="3461" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T22:42:11.343" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T22:42:11.343" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-08T16:19:59.460" />
  <row Id="11803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5332" CreationDate="2011-02-08T16:21:19.513" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following on from Kosmo's answer, it also implies that, by drinking alcohol to cure your hangover, you're ingesting more of the same thing that hurt you in the first place. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T16:21:19.513" />
  <row Id="11804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11798" CreationDate="2011-02-08T16:30:18.023" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;prevaricate&lt;/em&gt;: to lie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;tell a tall tale&lt;/em&gt;: relate a story that starts off believably but eventually is obviously false.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;slip one past&lt;/em&gt;: to get away with a (usually small) deceit, often used in the negative: &quot;You nearly slipped that one past me.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;pull the wool over one's eyes&lt;/em&gt;: to successfully deceive someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;pull a fast one&lt;/em&gt;: To lie your way out of trouble, generally off-the-cuff, spur-of-the-moment talking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T16:30:18.023" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-08T16:30:18.023" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11793" CreationDate="2011-02-08T16:39:16.550" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This isn't exactly an answer, but I couldn't add a comment for some reason, and I thought of another similar idiom:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Give someone a taste of their own medicine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which typically involves treating someone in the same ill-mannered way they've been treating you, so that they'll know what it's like to be treated that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3862" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T18:29:16.203" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T18:29:16.203" />
  <row Id="11806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11791" CreationDate="2011-02-08T17:19:27.020" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, Wikipedia has &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Diggity_%28Dog_Ziggity_Boom%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this to say&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;hot diggity dog!&quot; dates to at least 1928, when Al Jolson was recorded saying &quot;Hot diggity dog! Hot kitty! Hot pussycat! Didn't I tell you you'd love it?&quot; after a performance of the tune &quot;There's A Rainbow Around My Shoulder&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was also a song from 1956 called &quot;Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom)&quot; (same article).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T17:19:27.020" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11807" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-08T17:32:33.430" Score="2" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where does &quot;unable to look myself in the mirror&quot; come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;related example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...I asked her what she does if after six months or so it becomes obvious that a salesperson is not bringing in business. Would she fire the person? Without hesitation, she blurted out, &lt;em&gt;“I have to look myself in the mirror!”&lt;/em&gt; — as if firing someone who isn’t doing the job would make her a bad person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2045" LastEditorUserId="2045" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T18:25:53.477" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T23:43:33.780" Title="Where does &quot;Look yourself in the mirror&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="11808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11807" CreationDate="2011-02-08T17:56:44.230" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't find a reference for this, but I think it derives from the myths around eye contact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is still popularly believed that it is hard to lie to someone while looking them in the eye.  There is at least a grain of truth in this; in Western societies, maintaining eye contact is an indication of confidence, and it's easier to be confident if you aren't worrying about whether you will be believed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With a mirror, you are making that eye contact with yourself.  It is an issue of confrontation, as you said; can you be confident enough to look at yourself and not worry about how good or bad you are?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T17:56:44.230" />
  <row Id="11810" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11812" CreationDate="2011-02-08T18:08:18.093" Score="2" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3288/is-staff-plural&quot;&gt;Is staff plural?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frequently when reading tech articles, I see sentences like &quot;Microsoft have released ...&quot; or &quot;Apple have announced ...&quot;. This seems wrong to me because the nouns are singular; Microsoft and Apple are individual companies, even though they refer to groups of people. I have not seen this usage outside of tech journalism, but it's pervasive enough that it makes me wonder: is this actually the correct usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a follow-up question, is it correct to use a plural pronoun for a singular antecedent like this? For example, &quot;Apple &lt;strong&gt;has&lt;/strong&gt; announced &lt;strong&gt;they&lt;/strong&gt; are changing &lt;strong&gt;their&lt;/strong&gt; name to Orange&quot; or &quot;Apple &lt;strong&gt;has&lt;/strong&gt; announced &lt;strong&gt;it&lt;/strong&gt; is changing &lt;strong&gt;its&lt;/strong&gt; name to Orange&quot;. The second form seems technically correct but sounds awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4759" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T20:40:00.547" ClosedDate="2011-02-09T13:30:46.370" Title="Conjugating verbs for nouns referring to groups of people" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;conjugation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11807" CreationDate="2011-02-08T18:12:07.810" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymology-wise, this may come from a conflation of two older/clearer phrases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To look someone in the eyes&lt;/strong&gt; (or in the &lt;strong&gt;face&lt;/strong&gt;, or &lt;strong&gt;eye&lt;/strong&gt;): as Rhodri says, this means to make eye contact with someone, and is considered a sign of sincerity, confidence, and absence of shame or guilt.  This is a somewhat peculiar idiomatic phrasing — it seems to use “look” as a transitive verb, which isn’t usually correct — but it’s fairly old and widespread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To look at someone/something in the mirror&lt;/strong&gt;: this is pretty clear — it’s a perfectly standard use of &lt;em&gt;to look&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So then &lt;strong&gt;look myself in the eye&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;look at myself in the mirror&lt;/strong&gt; get conflated as &lt;strong&gt;look myself in the mirror&lt;/strong&gt;, which doesn’t quite fit either of those patterns, nor the standard usage of &lt;em&gt;look&lt;/em&gt;.  As Rhodri said, it certainly has the same meaning as &lt;strong&gt;look myself in the eye&lt;/strong&gt;.  Grammatically speaking, I must admit it felt wrong to me when I first read it; but googling around, it’s that it’s very widespread.  Is it perhaps new, or is this just recency illusion on my part?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T18:12:07.810" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11810" CreationDate="2011-02-08T18:23:34.813" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a classic case of &lt;em&gt;collective nouns&lt;/em&gt;.  They can be treated as both singular and plural, depending on whether you refer to the entity as a unified whole or the members that make up the entity.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is more common in British English to lean towards the plural form, while American English favors singular for collective nouns.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T18:23:34.813" />
  <row Id="11813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7458" CreationDate="2011-02-08T18:26:40.093" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[ 1 ] tells that &quot;Singular Nouns&#xA;  denoting a class&quot; are prepended by the&#xA;  definite article &quot;THE&quot; on p.5&#xA;  (Example: &quot;The Cobra is dangerous&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, it is assumed that &lt;em&gt;The Cobra&lt;/em&gt; is being singled out from other snakes or animals.  By prepending the class noun 'cobra' with the article 'the', you are placing extra emphasis on that class compared to other classes.  Another common phrase that uses singular nouns in this way is: &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;The&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Lion is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; king of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; jungle.&quot;  Here, each of the three class nouns is being singled out as being distinct from other comparitive classes.  Changing any of the 'the's' to 'a' would change the meaning of the sentence: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;A lion&quot; implies that &quot;a mouse&quot; could have also been the king.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;A king&quot; implies that the lion is only one of many kings in the jungle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;A jungle&quot; implies that the lion is only king within one jungle, not all jungles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...while on page 7 (Table 6. THE&#xA;  INDEFINITE ARTICLE) it tells that&#xA;  &quot;Singular countable nouns denoting a&#xA;  class&quot; are prepended by indefinite&#xA;  articles (&quot;An elephant never forgets&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, there is much less emphasis on singling out the class 'elephants'.  The whole class is considered as a general group rather than a specific group.  Other examples of using 'a' or 'an' in this way are:  &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;A&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; watched pot never boils&quot; and &quot;everybody loves &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; clown.&quot; We give consideration to all pots and all clowns rather than singling out a specific pot or clown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T18:26:40.093" />
  <row Id="11814" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-08T19:50:46.430" Score="0" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;We say &quot;Powered by Microsoft&quot;; can one also say &quot;Microsoft powered&quot; instead of this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1994" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T20:57:00.627" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T22:50:37.213" Title="&quot;powered by X&quot; vs. &quot;X-powered&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11814" CreationDate="2011-02-08T19:57:17.713" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends. Is this a legal question or a language question? If your contract with Microsoft stipulates that you use certain language, then that's what you must use. Otherwise you can say what you want. If you are going to use the adjectival version, though, I would hyphenate it: &lt;em&gt;Microsoft-powered&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;Microsoft powered&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, though, there may be legal constraints. Check with the appropriate people in your company who handle that sort of thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T19:57:17.713" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11816" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11817" CreationDate="2011-02-08T20:00:59.417" Score="19" ViewCount="447" Body="&lt;p&gt;The plural &quot;guys&quot; definitely is, at least here in San Francisco - I'm often hearing all-girl companies here being greeted with 'Hi guys, how are you doing?'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How about the singular guy? Is it universally assumed that 'the guy who will be doing this' can be either guy or gal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4760" LastEditorUserId="4760" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T21:35:25.327" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T13:41:14.407" Title="Is &quot;guy&quot; gender-neutral?" Tags="&lt;gender&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="11817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11816" CreationDate="2011-02-08T20:32:18.353" Score="24" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;You guys&quot; is a familiar, all-inclusive way of addressing a group of men or women directly. That said, there are some important distinctions you must understand:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You guys&quot; is more likely to be said in women =&gt; women or men =&gt; men or women =&gt; men or mixed-group =&gt; mixed-group contexts. It is less likely to be used in men =&gt; women contexts, but is still heard and would probably not occasion any confusion or merriment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The singular &quot;guy&quot; is another animal. It refers to males. It is also used to draw gender distinctions in a general way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A guy walked into my store and asked for some cigarettes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no doubt that this is a man we're talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In most plural usages that are not directly addressing a group, this rule also applies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Guys are pretty simple, when you get right down to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will also be understood to refer to men only. If you wanted to make the same statement about women, you would use another noun: women, gals, whatever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you could say something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My friends in San Francisco? Those guys are so crazy!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we're not sure we're talking about men. If the speaker is female, it might mean a group of women. Note that I say &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt;. It is more likely she would still be talking about men, but you never know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a hard word to pin down. Much depends on context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T20:55:34.793" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T20:55:34.793" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11818" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11823" CreationDate="2011-02-08T20:35:52.210" Score="4" ViewCount="333" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some background first: I was reading about the futility that has become the Cleveland Cavaliers' NBA season after Lebron James' departure in the newspaper of the Plains Dealer, when I came across this sentence quoting Antwan Jamison:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'It's like Groundhog Day every day,' Jamison admitted of their epic losing streak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does this mean? Yes, I've read up, and know what Groundhog's Day literally is: A holiday that celebrates a quaint folk tradition of determining the seasons.  But I would have thought that a metaphor or an idiom involving the day would give an indeterminate or anticipatory impression, while Jamison's construction here makes it seem as if its usage is uniformly negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I was wondering: Does anyone know if there's something interesting in the history of this holiday that would explain this particular negative usage? How was the phrase coined?  I'd also be interested in knowing whether this is a common term in certain areas of the country, as I've never heard it before, and the demographics of the sort of people who use this phrase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T00:59:50.327" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T00:59:50.327" Title="What does the phrase &quot;...it's like Groundhog Day every day&quot; mean, and from whence does it originate?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11818" CreationDate="2011-02-08T20:39:47.213" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is taken from the film &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day_%28film%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Groundhog Day&lt;/a&gt; which has Groundhog Day every day as its basic conceit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T20:39:47.213" />
  <row Id="11820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11810" CreationDate="2011-02-08T20:40:00.547" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Jen explained, the reason behind the divergence in verb tense is the difference in dialect (typically) between American and English usage of collective nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more background on the 'why' in American usage, with &quot;Corporation&quot; as the example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An artificial being created by law and composed of individuals who subsist as a body politic under a special denomination with the capacity of perpetual succession and of acting within the scope of its charter as a natural person. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/C/Corporation.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bouvier's Law Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The words person ... include(s) corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint stock companies, as well as individuals (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/P/Person.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;US Code: Title 1, Chapter 1, ¶1&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A hallmark example of a collective group being considered as an individual person comes in the form fo the East India Tea Company. This company rose to such famed status and influence, yet, for the record could only ever be considered &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a fictional person, a legal person, or a moral person (as opposed to a natural person)&lt;/a&gt;.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, in the U.S. (as in most other countries, U.K. included), &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation#United_States&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;[a] corporation is legally a citizen of the state (or other jurisdiction) in which it is incorporated (except when circumstances direct the corporation be classified as a citizen of the state in which it has its head office, or the state in which it does the majority of its business)&lt;/a&gt;.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note though, at all times the concept, almost half a millenia old, that collective groups are persons, not peoples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T20:40:00.547" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11814" CreationDate="2011-02-08T20:48:26.920" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't think they're equivalent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You say &quot;battery-powered&quot; (note the hyphen), but you never (at least I didn't) hear &quot;powered by battery&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;X-powered&quot; means &quot;X&quot; being the actual source of (electrical in the case of batteries) power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While &quot;powered by X&quot; would make me suspect, even if I'd never heard of X, that X is a company or a technology that's behind X or that makes X possible.  I wouldn't (as long as I had no reason to from context) expect this to refer to an actual &lt;em&gt;power&lt;/em&gt; source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T20:48:26.920" />
  <row Id="11822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3472" CreationDate="2011-02-08T20:48:49.627" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe not editing your own writing, but I've found that exchanging small deeds such as proofreading with colleagues can help a lot: you proofread one page for me, I'll do the same for you tomorrow. You're always better at spotting errors in a text you didn't write yourself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T20:48:49.627" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11818" CreationDate="2011-02-08T20:56:51.703" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To provide a smidge more detail, the movie &lt;em&gt;Groundhog Day&lt;/em&gt; is about a man reliving the same day over and over and over.  Every time he wakes up it's Groundhog Day again, and people always say the same things and do the same things over and over, and he's the only one who is aware of the infinite repetition and who is capable of doing things differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T20:56:51.703" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11824" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11828" CreationDate="2011-02-08T21:02:09.160" Score="2" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to thank many of answerers for giving detailed discourses about the gist and meaning of the sentence of the Washington Post’ article dealing with saturated TV commercial spree during Super Bowl. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is still one phrase left unexplained (or un-translated) in the line - ‘But willingly, like ‘achy old pros,’ we returned to the holy rituals of this brutal game. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does ‘achy old pros’ mean on the earth? And what is an allegory of ‘Old pros returns to holy rituals of this game? I tried to insert this question in yesterday's post, but couln't. I appreciate your further explanation. I repeat the original text of the part in question for your reference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Too many insipid Black Eyed Peas songs will do that to a civilization. The cheese really is baked into the crust. But willingly, like achy old pros, we returned to the holy rituals of this brutal game, this billion-dollar boondoggle, tweeting our delight that seven-layer dip has somehow become nine. Distraction is the real attraction, which gets a little more true each year. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T21:16:27.323" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T21:18:45.857" Title="What does ‘achy old pros‘ mean , and what is an allegory of ‘Old pros returns to holy rituals of this game (Super Bowl)?," Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11825" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11862" CreationDate="2011-02-08T21:13:58.543" Score="4" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading through some English L &amp;amp; U SE questions, and happened across one asking about the origin of the phrase &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4353/through-a-glass-clearly-a-scanner-darkly-in-a-mirror-darkly-etc&quot;&gt;Through a Glass, Clearly / A Scanner Darkly / In a Mirror, Darkly / etc&lt;/a&gt;&quot; -- apparently derived from 1 Corinthians 13:12 -- and came away with a profound realization of how influential the Bible has been in making prominent certain literary constructions and phrases, even as perhaps its practical influence in society is declining.  Every so often I've thought I've chanced across most of them, but as I keep reading, I keep finding more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I thought that perhaps I might start the &quot;definitive&quot; collation of famous Biblical phrases and constructions on English L &amp;amp; U SE, with (metaphorical) bonus points given for examples that are obscure and ill-remembered, or ones that give an engaging account of the usage's history.  Of course, the example I'll seed this thread with, the &quot;time to kill / time to heal...time to build / time to tear down&quot; construction, from &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.biblenotes.net/ecclesiastes.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ecclesiastes 3:3&lt;/a&gt;, is familiar enough to almost be hackneyed; can anyone else do better? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; I think it would make for a richer thread if everyone limited themselves to one phrase or construction at a time, and provided a little background that exemplifies how that example provides shared cultural context.   See my comment below for a brief example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T00:37:08.040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T00:37:08.040" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-09T01:44:33.780" Title="What are some of the most influential or obscure phrases and literary constructions drawn from the Bible?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11826" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12131" CreationDate="2011-02-08T21:15:22.393" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the north-east of England, if nowhere else, people from Sunderland are called &quot;mackems&quot;. Does anyone know why this should be? Wikipedia  ( &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackem&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackem&lt;/a&gt;) suggests a number of possibilities. Are any of these correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T21:51:44.583" Title="Why are people from Sunderland called &quot;mackems&quot;?" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;&lt;names&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11824" CreationDate="2011-02-08T21:18:45.857" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Achy&quot; (ay-kee) is the adjective form of &quot;ache&quot;; An &quot;achy old pro&quot; is a seasoned veteran of the game with many minor pains and twinges from the various beatings he has taken over the course of his long career. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if you follow any football players at all, but right now Brett Favre is the quintessential achy old pro; he announced his retirement in 2007, saying he was too old and tired to keep playing.  Then he changed his mind, went through a huge and rather acrimonious struggle to get back on the roster of his original team and then any team at all, and ended up playing for another 3 years despite &quot;retiring&quot; again in 2008.  Despite being old, suffering from injuries both recent and ancient, and no doubt having a stiff back, sore knees, etc., he kept coming back to the game that he knew he should have given up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(We can only hope he stays properly retired this time.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the &quot;holy rituals of the game&quot; part, that's making reference to the fact that the act of watching the game is surrounded by rituals and habits that we keep doing over and over again, even though we know that they are actually bad for us, much like the game itself is hard on the athletes involved; getting chased and knocked down by 11 aggressive opponents every week (like the achy old pro quarterback did) is worse in scale than gobbling up 2 pounds of chips, cheese, and salsa and a 2-liter bottle of soda while keeping one's buttocks firmly entrenched on the couch for 5 hours, but neither one is going to make you healthier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T21:18:45.857" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11740" CreationDate="2011-02-08T21:19:54.123" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read somewhere once that if the abbreviation ends with the same letter as the full word -e.g. Mister, Mistress, Doctor- then no closing full stop is necessary.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;That said, N.Americans will always place one at the end of those honorifics. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Because &lt;em&gt;id est&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;exempli gratia&lt;/em&gt; are two separate words, they're properly abbreviated as i.e. and e.g..]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastEditorUserId="4752" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T15:03:02.360" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T15:03:02.360" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11830" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11846" CreationDate="2011-02-08T21:24:18.197" Score="13" ViewCount="366" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the U.S. I would study math.  In Britain, I would study maths.  What gives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4765" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T12:36:25.747" Title="Why is &quot;math&quot; always pluralized in British English and singular in American English?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="11831" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11835" CreationDate="2011-02-08T21:41:22.340" Score="2" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;When would I use guarantee instead of guaranty?   The dictionary definitions seem pretty much the same.  Excepting maybe the noun form of the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a real world example. A website I'm working on has a 30 day money back guarantee(y?).  If you don't like your purchase, within the first 30 days, you can get your money back.  Is that a guarantee or a guaranty?  If I was going to make a little advertising picture for it, would I say &quot;30 day money back guaranty&quot; or &quot;30 day money back guarantee&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am leaning towards guarantee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4768" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T20:56:51.327" Title="Use case for guarantee and guaranty" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11752" CreationDate="2011-02-08T21:48:39.900" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mention is made above that &quot;poll tax&quot; is an archaic term in the UK, and yet it's not as much so in the United States. Poll taxes were used after the abolition of slavery -and as recently as the 1960s- to limit voting by black Americans, who were forced to pay a fee (per head) before they could exercise that right. Thus, from Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Initially, the United States Supreme Court, in the case of Breedlove v. Suttles, 302 U.S. 277 (1937), found the poll tax to be constitutional. The 24th Amendment, ratified in 1964, reflecting a political compromise, abolished the use of the poll tax (or any other tax) as a pre-condition in voting in Federal elections, but made no mention of poll taxes in state elections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the 1966 case of Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, the Supreme Court overruled its decision in Breedlove v. Suttles, and extended the prohibition of poll taxes to state elections, declaring that the imposition of a poll tax in state elections violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T21:48:39.900" />
  <row Id="11833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11825" CreationDate="2011-02-08T22:02:05.043" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me answer with a reference and an entry or three.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Wide as the Waters : The Story of the English Bible and the Revolution It Inspired&lt;/em&gt;, by Benson Bobrick, largely answers your question. Bobrick shows that Wm. Tyndale crafted the phrase&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.&#xA;  (Matt 26:41)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 1940, Allied troops were trapped at Dunkirk, but they reported their resolve to England with only three words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But if not...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a quote from Daniel 3:18, showing the resolve of the three young men, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (who were renamed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) to not bow down to the image of King Nebuchadnezzar, because of their trust in God.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This verse is often misquoted:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I Timothy 6:10) Many omit &quot;the love of&quot; and say &quot;Money is the root of all evil.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another misquote is &quot;Pride goeth before the fall.&quot; Proverbs 16:18 says&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The King James Version probably translated wide of the mark with &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.&#xA;  (Luke 2:14)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The New International Version was closer with&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Good will toward men&quot; is very popular at Christmas, but the NIV captured a nuance that it is not all men with whom God is pleased; rather, those who are pleasing to God.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3306" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T22:02:05.043" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-09T01:44:33.780" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11834" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11836" CreationDate="2011-02-08T22:03:39.447" Score="7" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11825/what-are-some-of-the-most-influential-or-obscure-phrases-and-sentence-constructio&quot;&gt;my last question&lt;/a&gt; on English L &amp;amp; U SE, I was strongly tempted to write the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Every so often I've thought I've chanced across most of them [literary Biblical phrases], but as one keeps reading, one keeps finding more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but wrote instead:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Every so often I've thought I've chanced across most of them , but as I keep reading, I keep finding more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My thinking, in preferring the former over the latter, was that while both sentences relate that the first observation is personal, that is, that it was &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; who thought he'd come across most of these phrases, the latter sentence better emphasized that the second observation is universal; that is, &lt;em&gt;anyone&lt;/em&gt; who reads a fair bit will continually discover these phrases in their reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, being on a site with an exacting user base caused my inner matronly grammarian to kick in and I changed the sentence, based on some concern I was inappropriately mixing the grammatical persons.  As well, I vaguely remember a not insignificant minority of questions on the SAT II Writing as being a stickler for this sort of thing when I took it some years ago.  On the other hand, I'm not sure if this isn't perhaps another one of those 6th-grade kludges teachers tell you because either a) the rule is too complicated or b) it's not actually a rule at all, but a myth.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, sorry for the long-winded background -- can anyone help me and give me a general usage rule, as well as information on how strictly it is adhered to in literary and professional writing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T22:32:30.660" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T02:51:12.230" Title="Is it ever appropriate to mix up &quot;I&quot; and &quot;one&quot; in the same sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11831" CreationDate="2011-02-08T22:08:45.857" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: you can't do much harm in using &lt;strong&gt;guarantee&lt;/strong&gt; every time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Longer answer: the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American English&lt;/em&gt; presents “guaranty” as only slightly different from “guarantee” in meaning, and goes further to list “guarantee” as a &lt;em&gt;variant spelling&lt;/em&gt; for “guaranty”. In addition to the information research in Fowler (quoted, for example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.adamsdrafting.com/2006/10/05/guaranty-or-guarantee/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;), it seems safe to say that you can use “guarantee” all the time without fear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T20:56:51.327" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T20:56:51.327" />
  <row Id="11836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11834" CreationDate="2011-02-08T22:11:33.093" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I&quot; - Pronoun, First person singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;One&quot; - Pronoun, Third person singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the use of I in the sentences above implies that you specifically are finding more such phrases. Whereas the use of &quot;one&quot; implies that both yourself and people in general would find such phrases as they kept reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;One&quot; and &quot;I&quot; may be mixed up to denote the third and first person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;One should say that Geoff had difficulties with his weight, but I always just said he was fat.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4739" LastEditorUserId="4739" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T02:51:12.230" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T02:51:12.230" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11834" CreationDate="2011-02-08T22:13:34.683" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you've got it exactly right. You're only asserting that it is YOU who have &quot;chanced across most of them&quot;, but it is a universal expression that &quot;as one keeps reading, one keeps finding more.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To settle on one or the other is to reduce the amount of information in the message, plain and simple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T22:13:34.683" />
  <row Id="11838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11825" CreationDate="2011-02-08T22:25:38.750" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Under the sun&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeated about 30 times in Ecclesiastes (Qoheleth)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3122" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T22:25:38.750" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-09T01:44:33.780" />
  <row Id="11839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4728" CreationDate="2011-02-08T22:26:31.553" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few others come to mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kith and kin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Head over heels&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The latter should evoke someone tumbling, usually in love, but most of our heads are normally above our heels. Perhaps the phrase should be &quot;heels over head in love.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3306" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T22:26:31.553" />
  <row Id="11840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11825" CreationDate="2011-02-08T22:27:12.037" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to have to go with &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thou shalt not&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T22:27:12.037" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-09T01:44:33.780" />
  <row Id="11841" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11843" CreationDate="2011-02-08T22:27:34.583" Score="2" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello, I am stuck on a word choice problem. I have a large amount of response related data, which were previously stored such that each datum lay within one of the following realms: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;law enforcement &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;health and safety&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hazardous materials, or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;other&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to reduce a significant amount of double entry I have decided to switch the coding so that realm is simply an attribute of each datum. I am also doing this for jurisdiction (e.g., state, local, federal) and some other like attributes that were stored as realms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, &quot;Is there one word that clearly describes the difference in kind for these four types?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any hints well appreciated, as the word choice here will influence the structure of a large number of models based on these data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The closest I've come so far is vocation, but this seems overly general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;edit 1&lt;/strong&gt;: each datum denotes a a response action taken such as hospitalization, arrest, or called out (i.e., visited the scene).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;edit 2&lt;/strong&gt;: An example datum might be represented like so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&amp;gt; {???}: Law Enforcement&#xA;   - jurisdiction: Local&#xA;        + agency: Police&#xA;            * measure: Arrest&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it's clearly tempting to place these into a hierarchy, but I must avoid duplicate entries, so I am trying to encode the agency and allow many different agencies to use the same action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;edit 3&lt;/strong&gt;: In order to clarify I'll phrase as a simile: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Apples and oranges are to fruits what law enforcement and health/safety are to ...&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2678" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T01:26:34.130" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T01:26:34.130" Title="Is there one word that clearly describes the difference in kind for these four types?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;hypernyms&gt;&lt;nomenclature&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11721" CreationDate="2011-02-08T22:29:42.270" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's another solecism in that &lt;em&gt;Times&lt;/em&gt; article, Yoichi, which is misuse of the word &quot;secretive.&quot; &#xA;It applies essentially to people and not to inanimate objects: the mayor himself may be &lt;em&gt;secretive&lt;/em&gt;, for example, but the trips he takes out of town are &lt;em&gt;secret&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[There's another word that you might like for another kind of trip that a politician takes: &lt;em&gt;junket&lt;/em&gt;.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastEditorUserId="4752" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T23:15:12.823" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T23:15:12.823" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11841" CreationDate="2011-02-08T22:36:58.217" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say &quot;Incident Type&quot;. If those four zones refer to departments (maybe who responded to it?), you might go with &quot;Incident Responder&quot; or &quot;Incident Department&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T22:36:58.217" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11825" CreationDate="2011-02-08T22:38:48.517" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apple of my eye&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;...Keep me as the apple of your eye&quot;  Psalm 17:8 and other places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="728" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T22:38:48.517" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-09T01:44:33.780" />
  <row Id="11846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11830" CreationDate="2011-02-08T22:52:53.683" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a lot of debate about which is &lt;em&gt;right&lt;/em&gt; (!), but not much about why there's a difference - good question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word Mathematics was first used in English in 1581, coming from the Latin word Mathematica. Since the -a suffix in Latin denotes a plural, the word was automatically pluralised when translated to English, even though the word itself is always used as a singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The abbreviation &quot;Math&quot; came first. The first recorded usage is in 1891. The British abbreviation &quot;Maths&quot; is not recorded until 1911. Based on this it seems reasonable to assume that either both countries developed the abbreviation separately or the British picked up the American abbreviation but then chose to pluralise it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately this information is unattributed, but it's the only theory I can dig up. &#xA;In full here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/15988#ixzz1DPW8I322&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/15988#ixzz1DPW8I322&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T22:52:53.683" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11841" CreationDate="2011-02-08T22:54:45.043" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would &lt;strong&gt;Domain&lt;/strong&gt; work?  (I'm assuming that you don't like &quot;realm&quot; for some reason.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: another possibility that might fit the edited question better is &lt;strong&gt;Agency&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T23:24:37.030" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T23:24:37.030" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11841" CreationDate="2011-02-08T22:56:31.610" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If each denotes a response taken, what about simply &lt;strong&gt;result&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;outcome&lt;/strong&gt;? Those are general enough to cover any type of response, but convey the meaning of something having been done as a consequence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T22:56:31.610" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11849" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11852" CreationDate="2011-02-08T23:01:23.010" Score="3" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should it be:&#xA;&lt;code&gt;There will be readings from Nikki Giovanni’s and Alice Walker’s writings.&lt;/code&gt;&#xA;or&#xA;&lt;code&gt;... from Nikki Giovanni and Alice Walker's writings.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying it out loud the latter sounds right, but looking at it the former looks better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4771" LastEditorUserId="3876" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T23:12:41.173" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T23:17:18.223" Title="Confused about possessives" Tags="&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11849" CreationDate="2011-02-08T23:11:20.377" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If in doubt, reword.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There will be readings from the writings of Nikki Giovanni and Alice Walker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Written English is often (usually?) slightly more formal than spoken English. So of the two choices you offer, I'd write the first. This is mostly because I regard it as correct English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T23:11:20.377" />
  <row Id="11851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11841" CreationDate="2011-02-08T23:15:20.223" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I quite like DOMAIN - &#xA;They look sort of like CIVIC_DEPARTMENTS maybe ??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4116" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T23:15:20.223" />
  <row Id="11852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11849" CreationDate="2011-02-08T23:17:18.223" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia has this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A distinction is made between joint possession (&lt;em&gt;Jason and Sue’s e-mails&lt;/em&gt;: the e-mails of both Jason and Sue), and &lt;em&gt;separate&lt;/em&gt; possession (&lt;em&gt;Jason’s and Sue’s e-mails&lt;/em&gt;: both the e-mails of Jason and the e-mails of Sue). Style guides differ only in how much detail they provide concerning these.[7] Their consensus is that if possession is joint, only the last possessor has possessive inflection; in separate possession all the possessors have possessive inflection. If, however, any of the possessors is indicated by a pronoun, then for both joint and separate possession all of the possessors have possessive inflection (&lt;em&gt;his and her e-mails&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;his, her, and Anthea’s e-mails&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;Jason’s and her e-mails&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;His and Sue’s e-mails&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;His and Sue’s wedding&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;His and Sue’s weddings&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe#Possessive_apostrophe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe#Possessive_apostrophe&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in your example, unless they are writings that Giovanni and Walker co-wrote, you should use &lt;em&gt;Nikki Giovanni's and Alice Walker's writings&lt;/em&gt;. Although I agree that it trips off the tongue better with just the second &lt;em&gt;'s&lt;/em&gt;, and no doubt only the pedants in the audience would pick you up on it ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T23:17:18.223" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3472" CreationDate="2011-02-08T23:22:35.833" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Change your font to something large and boring, like Ariel Terminal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Copy the info to a speech recognition program and have it read back to you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When I was in graduate school, I used to read my own work backwards to check typos and misspellings. This doesn't help much with grammar, but helps prevent you from reading what you expect to read.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4774" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T23:22:35.833" />
  <row Id="11854" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-08T23:24:41.570" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a native English speaker. In fact, English is my fourth language.  I am average at written and spoken English.  I would like to improve it.  I try and read regularly so as to improve my vocab and grammar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any good books, online material which would help me.  I don't want the very basic stuff, as I am good with basic English grammar.  I would like good usages to incorporate in my daily communication and which would help me get accurate and effective (even persuasive) style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your help,&#xA;Sid&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2093" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T00:00:45.720" ClosedDate="2011-02-09T01:03:49.317" Title="English for a non-native English speaker" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;resource&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="11855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11830" CreationDate="2011-02-08T23:25:20.867" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Math or Maths are shortenings of &quot;mathematics&quot;. As mathematics is a plural it is generally held that the abbreviation should be a plural (except in the US). Thus &quot;maths&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although &quot;math&quot; is widely adopted It isn't correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4739" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T23:25:20.867" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11825" CreationDate="2011-02-08T23:25:37.417" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do unto others as you would have them do unto you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently based on Matthew 7:12 &quot;Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.&quot; But not exclusively - &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Rule#Christianity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Rule#Christianity&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T23:25:37.417" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-09T01:44:33.780" />
  <row Id="11857" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11858" CreationDate="2011-02-08T23:30:09.663" Score="5" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;What should you do if you're quoting someone, and that quote has a grammatical error? Say, for example, that I'm quoting this line from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/miscarriage.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the American Pregnancy Association&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the term used for a pregnancy that ends on &lt;strong&gt;it's&lt;/strong&gt; own, within the first 20 weeks of gestation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The proper way to write this is without the apostrophe. I know that, and you know that, but apparently, the Association's proofreader missed it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question is, though, what do I do now? How can I quote this without sounding like I'm making a grammatical error?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TIA!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3585" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T14:35:02.993" Title="How to deal with quoting a grammatical error?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11857" CreationDate="2011-02-08T23:31:59.733" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use the word &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;sic&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, which is Latin for &quot;thus&quot;. It indicates that the error was in the source material. But beware - it can be considered rude. I would quote the passage thusly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the term used for a pregnancy that&#xA;  ends on it's [sic] own, within the&#xA;  first 20 weeks of gestation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastEditorUserId="2986" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T14:35:02.993" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T14:35:02.993" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11854" CreationDate="2011-02-08T23:32:22.883" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd recommend P.G. Wodehouse &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._G._Wodehouse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._G._Wodehouse&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His is a timeless wit that we'd all benefit from sampling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4739" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T23:32:22.883" />
  <row Id="11860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11854" CreationDate="2011-02-08T23:37:22.757" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would be better to hear, watch and read what you enjoy. If you have access to the iPlayer, look around and pick what you think you'll want to watch. I recommend Radio4 comedy and anything with Stephen Fry in. Your local library may have some English books and you may find an author you like, such as Wodehouse, Fleming, Pullman, Rowling and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit: If you don't have access to the iPlayer, research ways around that geographical block, it's well worth it. Youtube and torrents are pretty good if you can't. You may have a BBC channel in your country, e.g. BBC America seems to show mostly drama.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3826" LastEditorUserId="3826" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T23:48:23.903" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T23:48:23.903" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11807" CreationDate="2011-02-08T23:43:33.780" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;She wants to be able to face herself. Also known as &quot;I want to be able to sleep at night&quot; or &quot;I want to be able to get up in the morning&quot;. She doesn't want something negative hanging over her. It's a decision she doesn't like, doesn't want to take and in the meantime is hard for her to have waiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3826" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T23:43:33.780" />
  <row Id="11862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11825" CreationDate="2011-02-08T23:49:07.527" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Get thee behind me&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walk on water&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Turn water into wine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From: &lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_did_the_Bible_influence_the_English_Language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_did_the_Bible_influence_the_English_Language&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the apple of my eye - Psalm 17:8 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the salt of the earth - Matt 5:13 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the sun shines on the righteous - Matt 5:45 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;seek and you shall find - Matt 7:7 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a little bird told me - Eccl 10:20 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;eat, drink and be merry - Luke 12:19 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a doubting Thomas - John 20:27 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a Judas (goat) - Luke 6:16 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;old wives' tales- 1Tim 4:7 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;returning like the prodigal son - Luke 15:11-24 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wolf in sheep's clothing - Matt 7:15 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a leopard can't change its spots - Jer 13:23 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to escape by the skin of your teeth - Job 19:19-20 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;scapegoat - Lev 16:9-10 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the sweat of your brow - Gen 3:17,19 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;red sky at night, shepherd's delight; red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning - Matt 16:1-3 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the blind leading the blind - Matt 15:14 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;spare the rod, spoil the child - Prov 13:24 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;going the extra mile - Matt 5:41 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;their left hand doesn't know what their right hand is doing - Matt 5:3-4 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;practice what you preach - Matt 23:2-3 &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the writing's on the wall - Dan 5:5-6&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T23:49:07.527" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-09T01:44:33.780" />
  <row Id="11863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11514" CreationDate="2011-02-08T23:52:58.717" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I try to avoid starting a sentence with the word &quot;and&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;… he was there. Alone. Sad. And crying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If using stops instead of commas for greater emphasis I would remove the second &quot;and&quot; as it suggests the final element of a list separated by commas: &quot;a, b, c and d&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;… he was there. Alone. Sad. Crying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me that has greater emphasis and avoids starting a sentence with a conjunction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also use an em-dash for pauses in a sentence — though this is rarer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T00:00:36.177" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T00:00:36.177" />
  <row Id="11864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11841" CreationDate="2011-02-08T23:57:08.720" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Apples and oranges are to fruit as law enforcement and health/safety are to...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Municipal Services&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Government Agencies&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Civil Agencies&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Community Services&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T23:57:08.720" />
  <row Id="11865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5901" CreationDate="2011-02-08T23:58:03.613" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always liked this (juvenile) one, from the Steve Martin film &quot;The Jerk&quot;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I slit the sheet;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The sheet I slit.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Upon the slitted sheet I sit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T23:58:03.613" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-08T23:58:03.613" />
  <row Id="11866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11854" CreationDate="2011-02-09T00:00:45.720" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For speech: TV shows, preferrably quiz/talk shows. Check out &lt;em&gt;QI&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Quite Interesting&lt;/em&gt;): apart from giving you non-stop speech (sometimes in various accents), it's quite educational. Most episodes are up on YouTube.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For writing: computer roleplaying games, especially older ones, tend to have plenty of quality writing. &lt;em&gt;Planescape: Torment&lt;/em&gt; in particular is famous for being halfway between computer game and interactive novel (I can personally attest to this).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea here is to keep yourself occupied with something enjoyable that just happens to be in English, rather than doing something solely to improve your English skills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3823" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T00:00:45.720" />
  <row Id="11867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5901" CreationDate="2011-02-09T00:03:45.330" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The incredibly short &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Irish wristwatch&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;has always been difficult for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T00:03:45.330" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-09T00:03:45.330" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4728" CreationDate="2011-02-09T00:05:01.630" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Black is Beautiful&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Terrible twos&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastEditorUserId="3800" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T03:58:45.983" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T03:58:45.983" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8945" CreationDate="2011-02-09T00:10:45.947" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Penny-wise and pound-foolish&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A stitch, in time, saves nine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;Based on the edited version of this question, here are some more:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rome wasn't built in a day&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants&quot; - New Testament Bible reference&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant&quot; - lyrics in the song &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spiritofsinatra.com/pages/Lyrics/h/High_Hopes.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;High Hopes&lt;/a&gt; about an ant moving a tree&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastEditorUserId="3800" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T02:27:48.877" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T02:27:48.877" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11690" CreationDate="2011-02-09T00:20:49.057" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since 'bye' is a shortened version of 'good bye', which is derived from Middle English 'godbwye', meaning &quot;God be with ye&quot;, it is not out of line to say &quot;See you later, bye&quot;, litterally &quot;See you later, God be with you.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T00:20:49.057" />
  <row Id="11871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11825" CreationDate="2011-02-09T00:25:51.410" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's another very obscure English word that derives directly from the Bible: Onanism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel free to read Genesis 38 for the full story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T00:25:51.410" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-09T01:44:33.780" />
  <row Id="11872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8945" CreationDate="2011-02-09T01:02:04.773" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's another answer: The &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Want_of_a_Nail_(proverb)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;for the want of nail...&lt;/a&gt;&quot; proverb, which is somewhat related to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8945/are-there-any-english-sayings-to-the-effect-that-little-changes-may-lead-to-big-c/8956#8956&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FX_&lt;/strong&gt;'s answer&lt;/a&gt;, the Butterfly Effect, in that both proverbs emphasize the power of insignificant things to cause momentous changes further on.  However, in my observation, the Butterfly Effect is mostly referenced neutrally, and a few times even positively, say for example when describing the power of small act of kindness to enable the performer to reap larger &quot;karmic&quot; rewards later.  On the other hand, the &quot;for the want of the nail...&quot; story usually has uniformly negative connotations, in emphasizing the role of unpreparedness in causing momentous tragedies in ventures of a complex nature. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T01:50:38.553" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T01:50:38.553" />
  <row Id="11873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7059" CreationDate="2011-02-09T01:29:21.897" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Australia it is generally not acceptable to use the c-word in female company as it is considered by many women to be derogatory of them. It may often be freely used in certain all-male company, but not necessarily as a derogatory term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4776" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T01:29:21.897" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11874" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11875" CreationDate="2011-02-09T01:59:54.007" Score="5" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can anyone enlighten me as to the origins of the word &quot;orientated&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know the correct spelling is &quot;oriented&quot; and that &quot;orientated&quot; is not an alternative spelling but an error that is in common use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it for example more commonly used in a certain country or by a certain people? Is there a reason for people choosing to say or write &quot;orientated&quot; instead of &quot;oriented&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4739" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T14:13:33.783" Title="Oriented vs. Orientated" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="11875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11874" CreationDate="2011-02-09T02:12:20.407" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;People say &lt;em&gt;orientated&lt;/em&gt; because they hear the word &lt;em&gt;orientation&lt;/em&gt; and think that's the verb made from it. It's called a &quot;back-formation&quot;. (See &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7945/why-are-colleagues-becoming-work-colleagues&quot;&gt;Why are &quot;colleagues&quot; becoming &quot;work colleagues&quot;?&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;em&gt;Orientated&lt;/em&gt; is accepted as an alternate by most dictionaries I've seen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &lt;em&gt;orient&lt;/em&gt; something comes from the medieval practice of building cathedrals so that the &lt;em&gt;apse&lt;/em&gt;, the part of the building that contained the altar, would be on the eastern side (hence &lt;em&gt;orient&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I suppose if they screwed up and got it the other way around the architects just shrugged and said, &quot;Well, occidents will happen.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T02:19:00.957" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T02:19:00.957" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="11876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11857" CreationDate="2011-02-09T02:42:01.667" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Chris Behrens says, if you do quote a grammatical error, then [sic] is the standard way to disclaim it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in many cases it’s also perfectly fine to &lt;strong&gt;silently correct the error&lt;/strong&gt; when you quote.  There are a couple of main criteria:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Might you be changing their meaning?  In this example, there’s no ambiguity as to what the intention was, or what the correct version should be.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is the error relevant to the context you’re quoting it in?  If you’re discussing the quality of informational materials provided by charities, then you probably want to preserve and point out the error.  If you’re using it as a source in an article on miscarriages, then the error is probably irrelevant, and an unnecessary distraction for your reader.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T02:42:01.667" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11877" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11884" CreationDate="2011-02-09T02:54:44.283" Score="2" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to find a word or phrase that best describes the &lt;em&gt;process&lt;/em&gt; of an object or entity that enters a continuous cycle until it grows large enough or matures to a point of self-sustainability. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example:&lt;/strong&gt; A person who enters rehab for help on some problem and stays within the system until the person has matured or grown to some point (after undergoing repeated examinations) that the subject can once again enter society.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Example:&lt;/strong&gt; A college paper that starts as a rough draft, submitted for review by a peer, and returned with improvements. This cycle is ongoing until the paper is (mostly) cleared of flaws by peers and the author, finally graduating to a final draft ready for submission (the ejection from the cycle)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2871" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T15:39:41.060" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T13:43:32.740" Title="Word to describe an object in continuous cycle that is eventually ejected when it matures" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="6" />
  <row Id="11878" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-09T03:06:30.190" Score="3" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between a legend or a key? Is it still called a &lt;em&gt;legend&lt;/em&gt; if it is located at the top, rather than the bottom of results?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4203" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T08:53:00.303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T08:53:00.303" Title="&quot;Legend&quot; or &quot;key&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11879" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-09T03:08:45.447" Score="5" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apart from its use among the bean-counters who talk about maximising company profits, I can't understand why &lt;em&gt;price point&lt;/em&gt; has spread so widely in popular American parlance. As far as I can tell, the term is exactly synonymous with &lt;em&gt;price&lt;/em&gt;; do people use it the way they do the word 'monies'&amp;nbsp;— to sound clever on the cheap&amp;nbsp;— or is there actually a difference between the two terms? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T09:32:09.227" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T09:32:09.227" Title="Differences between &quot;price point&quot; and &quot;price&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11879" CreationDate="2011-02-09T03:10:57.847" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It basically signifies that one is discussing price specifically in terms of how it relates to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_curve&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;demand curve&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I had to guess, I'd say its gratuitous use probably started with conversations between corporate executives and accountants where the term was being used precisely, moving from there to other executives who were at the meeting, didn't understand the term but thought it sounded good and so tried to imitate the people who knew what they were talking about, gradually spreading out into the culture from there.  So, yeah, fundamentally people imitating each other to try to sound clever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T03:33:15.597" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T03:33:15.597" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11878" CreationDate="2011-02-09T03:15:53.630" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Legend&quot; implies that its entries are &lt;em&gt;generics&lt;/em&gt;, as with terrain types on a map, while &quot;key&quot; implies that its entries are specific, as with one symbol designating the Museum of Natural History, another the Metropolitan Museum of Art, etc.  Generally, nobody is going to get real mad no matter which you use.  It doesn't matter where they're located.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T03:15:53.630" />
  <row Id="11882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11877" CreationDate="2011-02-09T03:37:34.653" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure if you mean the object or the process, but &lt;em&gt;candidate&lt;/em&gt; would be a viable candidate to represent the object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T03:37:34.653" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11877" CreationDate="2011-02-09T03:37:45.753" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some possibilities:  Project, work-in-progress, undertaking, labor, endeavor, venture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T03:37:45.753" />
  <row Id="11884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11877" CreationDate="2011-02-09T03:51:05.410" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like it would be called an &lt;em&gt;iterative&lt;/em&gt; process. Or maybe a &lt;em&gt;recursive&lt;/em&gt; one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T03:51:05.410" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11874" CreationDate="2011-02-09T03:59:11.207" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Orientate&lt;/em&gt; is standard in British English, you &lt;em&gt;orientate&lt;/em&gt; something when you point it in a particular direction, hence &lt;em&gt;orientated&lt;/em&gt;.  In American English, you &lt;em&gt;orient&lt;/em&gt; something, hence &lt;em&gt;oriented&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T03:59:11.207" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11886" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11890" CreationDate="2011-02-09T04:34:24.887" Score="0" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;One, two or even three exclamation marks are often added, especially in e-mail, to convey emphasis to phrases such as &lt;em&gt;Thanks!&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;No problem!&lt;/em&gt;.  My problem is that in British English, you could also use the exclamation mark to convey sarcasm such that &lt;em&gt;Thanks!&lt;/em&gt; could just as well be interpreted as &lt;em&gt;Thanks a bunch, why on earth did you have to do/say that!&lt;/em&gt;.  Is this just a simple regional difference?  I make a point of suggesting workmates use the exclamation mark with great caution! (emphasis intended)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T12:11:03.587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T12:11:03.587" Title="Use of ! to convey sarcasm vs. emphasis" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="11887" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-09T04:51:16.387" Score="0" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am getting quite confused by:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;That's also the same story, know?&lt;/strong&gt;   or&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;That's also the same story, no?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IN the above two which is correct formation?  This is very confusing to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4777" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T05:29:45.530" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T08:07:55.270" Title="Is it &quot;that's the same story, know?&quot; or &quot;that's the same story, no?&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11887" CreationDate="2011-02-09T04:55:46.163" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ending a sentence in &lt;code&gt;, no?&lt;/code&gt; is the same thing as &lt;code&gt;, isn't it?&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;, don't you think?&lt;/code&gt;  But from your examples, neither one is correct because you are missing a &lt;em&gt;verb&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;That is also the same story, no?&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4778" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T04:55:46.163" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="11889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11886" CreationDate="2011-02-09T04:59:27.940" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;American English doesn't typically denote sarcasm with punctuation.  &lt;code&gt;Thanks!&lt;/code&gt; is genuine.  But emphasis or additional words can make it sarcastic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Gee, thanks.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;Thanks *a lot*.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also seen younger generations (born 1990+) use trailing letters to denote additional emotion that is not necessarily sarcastic:  &lt;code&gt;Thanksssssssssssss!&lt;/code&gt;  I don't get it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4778" LastEditorUserId="865" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T09:00:39.217" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T09:00:39.217" />
  <row Id="11890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11886" CreationDate="2011-02-09T05:25:59.933" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given how bad direct text is at transmitting nuances of expression such as sarcasm, I would definitely have to chalk this up as a regional thing.  Certainly in most of the online communities I have participated in, the expression of sarcasm uses a variety of fairly clear indicators:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Oh Noooooooooo, this isn't sarcastic at aaaaaaaaaaall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Gee.  Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&amp;lt;eyeroll&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm so glad you're here! &amp;lt;/sarcasm&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T05:25:59.933" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11891" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-09T05:33:25.180" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicates:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/707/zation-vs-sation&quot;&gt;**&lt;em&gt;zation vs *&lt;/em&gt;*sation?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4656/what-is-the-difference-between-a-singular-noun-and-a-plural-noun-treated-as-si&quot;&gt;What is the difference between a &amp;ldquo;singular noun&amp;rdquo; and a &amp;ldquo;plural noun treated as singular&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question came from looking at this one &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/q/11830/4203&quot;&gt;Why is &quot;math&quot; always pluralized in British English and singular in American English?&lt;/a&gt;. Why are words like Mathematics and Physics pluralised? On a side note i just noticied that i used an 's' instead of a 'z' in pluralised. Why do some countries use 's' and others 'z' in some words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4203" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T06:05:39.043" ClosedDate="2011-02-09T15:02:50.140" Title="Why is physics pluralised? Why do some countries use 's' and others 'z' in some words?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4361" CreationDate="2011-02-09T05:42:25.733" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Completed&lt;/em&gt; in the phrase &lt;em&gt;is completed&lt;/em&gt; is used as an adjective, in the same way of &lt;em&gt;warmed&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;one is warmed by a stove for visitors&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Searching for &lt;em&gt;is completed&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;is complete&lt;/em&gt; in the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American&lt;/em&gt;, I get the following data (the chart reports the frequency per million of those phrases).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/f1Oph.png&quot; alt=&quot;&amp;quot;is complete&amp;quot; vs. &amp;quot;is completed&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking for &lt;em&gt;is now completed&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;is now complete&lt;/em&gt;, I get the following data:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/Y4VN8.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make a comparison, this is the data I get when searching for &lt;em&gt;was completed&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;was complete&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/Zlznp.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at these charts, I can say that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The phrases &lt;em&gt;is now completed&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;is now complete&lt;/em&gt; are less common than the equivalent phrases without &lt;em&gt;now&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The &quot;rule&quot; &quot;use &lt;em&gt;complete&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;, use &lt;em&gt;completed&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt;&quot; seems to not be generally applicable. In academic and spoken context, both &lt;em&gt;is completed&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;is complete&lt;/em&gt; have the same frequency; in magazine context, that is not true, and &lt;em&gt;is complete&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;was completed&lt;/em&gt; are used more times than &lt;em&gt;is completed&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;was complete&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T05:42:25.733" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11887" CreationDate="2011-02-09T05:45:51.520" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is &lt;em&gt;no?&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;know?&lt;/em&gt;. As mentioned in Justin Morgan's answer, &lt;em&gt;no?&lt;/em&gt; is used instead of &lt;em&gt;isn't it?&lt;/em&gt; which one would expect as a tag on the end of this sentence to make it a question (due to the negative form of the &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt; verb which has been shortened in this sentence here: &lt;em&gt;that's&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4129" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T06:32:46.173" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T06:32:46.173" />
  <row Id="11894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11886" CreationDate="2011-02-09T05:51:07.240" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You often see an exclamation mark in parentheses to show that the statement is sarcastic or not the intended real meaning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Thanks a lot (!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;How very kind of him to do such a thing (!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Well that's just great then (!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4129" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T09:02:17.030" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T09:02:17.030" />
  <row Id="11895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11891" CreationDate="2011-02-09T06:05:39.043" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The OED generally prefers the 'z' over the 's' forms of words in modern English usage.  The 's' forms often relate to archaic Norman roots of words; and today, the 's' forms are normally found in areas where both French and English still mix (for example, in Canadian English).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4686" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T06:05:39.043" />
  <row Id="11896" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-09T06:30:58.890" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do a vague and an alien have in common?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4779" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T07:48:56.790" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T07:56:07.417" ClosedDate="2011-02-09T15:03:15.503" Title="&quot;Vague&quot; and &quot;alien&quot;" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5987" CreationDate="2011-02-09T06:32:39.590" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that a space is required in your example. Grouping of the product name and its parenthesized resolution is achieved with the use of commas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4776" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T06:32:39.590" />
  <row Id="11898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11896" CreationDate="2011-02-09T06:39:48.133" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is nothing those words have in common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;alien&lt;/em&gt; means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;belonging to a foreign country or nation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;unfamiliar and disturbing or distasteful&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;relating to or denoting beings supposedly from other worlds; extraterrestrial&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;introduced from another country and later naturalized&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;vague&lt;/em&gt; means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;of uncertain, indefinite, or unclear character or meaning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;thinking or communicating in an unfocused or imprecise way&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grammatically, &lt;em&gt;alien&lt;/em&gt; is both an adjective and a noun; &lt;em&gt;vague&lt;/em&gt; is only an adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T06:39:48.133" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11899" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11903" CreationDate="2011-02-09T07:20:42.210" Score="4" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using a currency amount such as $1,000 in writing that has an international audience may be confusing (as may £1,000). This amount might represent US, Canadian, Australian or some other currency. I have taken to using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_4217&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ISO currency codes&lt;/a&gt;, such as, USD 1,000, AUD 500, GBP 1,200 to avoid any confusion. Is this a good practice or are there alternative approaches?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4776" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T07:55:11.793" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T07:55:11.793" Title="What is a good convention for expressing different currencies?" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="11900" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11905" CreationDate="2011-02-09T07:25:43.097" Score="8" ViewCount="244" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used the phrase &lt;em&gt;we'll mull it over&lt;/em&gt; in an e-mail.  My intent was to let the readers know that we (the team) needed to give it due consideration and come up with a considered response to their obviously important question.  To my mind we clearly needed to think things over, but for how long?  I meant overnight (but didn't say so) but my audience assumed we would take a week.  What period of time (if any) does the use of the word &lt;em&gt;mull&lt;/em&gt; convey?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T08:24:52.517" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T15:01:25.693" Title="How long does it take to mull something over?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="11901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11896" CreationDate="2011-02-09T07:34:01.447" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First time I do a word ladder so bear with me :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vague&#xA;vogue&#xA;rogue&#xA;rouge&#xA;gourd&#xA;guard&#xA;grade&#xA;trade&#xA;triad&#xA;trial&#xA;grail&#xA;align&#xA;alien&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T07:56:07.417" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T07:56:07.417" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11879" CreationDate="2011-02-09T07:43:40.040" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Price point&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;a point on a scale of possible prices at which something might be marketed&lt;/em&gt;; its meaning is different from the meaning of &lt;em&gt;price&lt;/em&gt;, which is (principally, but not only) &lt;em&gt;the amount of money expected, required, or given in payment for something&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People can use a phrase used in a specific context and give it a different, or a wider usage. The reasons people would &quot;adopt&quot; a phrase giving it a different meaning, or would use a phrase in contexts different from the original one can be many, and include imitation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase &lt;em&gt;price point&lt;/em&gt; doesn't seem so widely spread. Looking at the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American&lt;/em&gt;, I get the following data (the chart reports the frequency per million).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/rsFFt.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chart shows how many times the phrase &lt;em&gt;price point&lt;/em&gt; is used.&#xA;As comparision, this chart reports the frequency of phrases where the word &lt;em&gt;price&lt;/em&gt; is not followed by &lt;em&gt;point&lt;/em&gt; (which includes also the case where the word &lt;em&gt;price&lt;/em&gt; is followed by a punctuation mark).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/qkZB7.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T07:43:40.040" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11899" CreationDate="2011-02-09T07:44:44.280" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I work for an investment firm, and we generally use ISO currency codes to represent currency. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could have the following problems if you use currency symbols instead of ISO codes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There may be inconsistency in your document because not all currencies have specific symbols.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some symbols may not be easily recognizable, and you may not have a well-known source to reference them to.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You cannot be sure that all your users will have the software to render the currency symbol you use.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, if the context is clear and you do not need to represent different currencies, it may be easier on the reader if you use the currency symbol of their country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would be interested in reading the other responses you get to this question. We use the Chicago Manual of Style, and as far as I know, it does not give a definitive answer either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastEditorUserId="2972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T07:50:06.330" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T07:50:06.330" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="11904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11900" CreationDate="2011-02-09T07:47:31.793" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mulling something over is vague time-wise; you can safely assume a week, and probably longer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase is troublesome not just because it is vague, but also doesn't convey a sense of serious consideration; it sounds half-hearted.  It's best to avoid it in a business e-mail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T07:47:31.793" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11900" CreationDate="2011-02-09T07:48:39.250" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mulling takes an indeterminate time.  If you're mulling wine, you heat gently, and add spices; it might take twenty minutes.  If you're mulling over a life-changing decision, you might take several weeks, possibly longer.  Anywhere in between might be counted as mulling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T07:48:39.250" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11906" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-09T08:01:17.240" Score="2" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should I open the starting sentence after comma in adressing &quot;Hi,&quot; (&quot;Hello,&quot;) with capital letter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strike&gt;Hi, Xxxl, &lt;/strike&gt; Dear Xxx L,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;b&gt;l&lt;/b&gt;et me ...   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear Xxx L,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    &lt;b&gt;L&lt;/b&gt;et me ...   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Russian it is not though it is more than frequently being goofed.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related question:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1025/comma-place-hello-mr-black-vs-hello-mr-black&quot;&gt;Comma place: “Hello Mr. Black,…” vs “Hello, Mr. Black…”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T09:44:15.687" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T09:44:15.687" Title="Should I capitalize a starting sentence after addressing comma (in &quot;Hello,&quot;)?" Tags="&lt;comma&gt;&lt;letter-writing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11887" CreationDate="2011-02-09T08:07:55.270" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to nuance the two existing answers, what you might be thinking of is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's the same story, you know?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T08:07:55.270" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11900" CreationDate="2011-02-09T08:08:20.877" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To mull&lt;/em&gt;, in the context given from the question, means &lt;em&gt;think about (a fact, proposal, or request) deeply and at length&lt;/em&gt;. The word is a little vague on how much time thinking will take.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of &lt;em&gt;mull&lt;/em&gt; you can use &lt;em&gt;ponder&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;consider&lt;/em&gt;, think over, &lt;em&gt;think about&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;reflect on&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;give some thought to&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T08:08:20.877" />
  <row Id="11909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11900" CreationDate="2011-02-09T08:10:13.107" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't believe that the word &lt;em&gt;mulling&lt;/em&gt; in your context has any period of time associated with it. It refers to the act of thinking something over or considering something in one's own mind or as a group. Your audience may have assumed a week for a response simply because they estimated it would take that long. If their question was indeed important you may have been better off giving them an explicit timing for your response: &quot;...we'll mull it over and give you and answer tomorrow.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4776" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T08:10:13.107" />
  <row Id="11910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11878" CreationDate="2011-02-09T08:19:40.320" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A legend is a caption, a title or brief explanation appended to an article, illustration, cartoon, or poster.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A key is an explanatory list of symbols used in a map, table, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first word is more generic, while &lt;em&gt;key&lt;/em&gt; is more specific. Both the words don't implicate anything about the location of the text/list. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T08:19:40.320" />
  <row Id="11911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11886" CreationDate="2011-02-09T08:59:08.017" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not convinced that in British English an exclamation mark &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; indicate sarcasm, in any case it totally doesn't work on me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Hellion hints, text is no good for this kind of thing, especially not if it's 'encoded' in some supposedly regional usage. So I'd either go for something explicit and unmistakable, or leave it out altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T09:03:11.223" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T09:03:11.223" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11906" CreationDate="2011-02-09T08:59:53.150" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since this is an informal and nonstandard mode of address (as compared to the more usual &quot;Dear X,&quot;) I would say that rules of style are less important than for more conventional letters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as far as I can tell, there is no good reason to oppose conventional style in this case. I would therefore recommend that you stick with the tried-and-true style of using a capital letter to start the letter proper:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hi Xxxl,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let me enquire into the origin of your weird name...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note that there should be no comma between &quot;Hi&quot; and the name of the addressee.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1542" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T08:59:53.150" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11040" CreationDate="2011-02-09T09:07:22.650" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use the person's name, with &quot;late&quot; if you must make it clear they are dead. I think the terms like &quot;the deceased&quot; are too impersonal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4776" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T09:07:22.650" />
  <row Id="11914" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11916" CreationDate="2011-02-09T09:17:29.250" Score="9" ViewCount="302" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Former&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;latter&lt;/em&gt; are valid only when there are two choices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I have a list of more than two items, is there an elegant way to say &lt;em&gt;the first one&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;the last one&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T16:17:32.810" Title="Equivalent of &quot;former&quot; and &quot;latter&quot; for more than 2 items" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;list&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="11915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11879" CreationDate="2011-02-09T09:29:39.070" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Price point&lt;/em&gt; refers to a hypothetical, potential price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We expect to sell 100 loaves of&#xA;  bread at the $2 price point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Price&lt;/em&gt; is used to refer to an actual price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The price for a loaf of bread is $2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T09:29:39.070" />
  <row Id="11916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11914" CreationDate="2011-02-09T09:40:04.837" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can say &lt;em&gt;first&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;last&lt;/em&gt; (without &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Of winter, spring, and summer, I find the last most enjoyable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T09:40:04.837" />
  <row Id="11917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11914" CreationDate="2011-02-09T09:44:20.367" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interesting question.  &lt;em&gt;First&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;last&lt;/em&gt; will do, but suppose you wanted to refer to the middle option, or the fourth option?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider for example a scenario where a party of adventurers must choose from a list of options;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go forward into the forest, singing a song of sixpence&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go back to base to retrieve some hats&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go back to base to dispute the pronunciation of the word &quot;tomato&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stay put, weave baskets, and hope for rescue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Stay put, weave baskets, and try to summon a helpful genie&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now if I were in this party considering these options, I might suggest we take the &lt;em&gt;second&lt;/em&gt; option, but it is far more likely that I say something like we &lt;em&gt;need our hats&lt;/em&gt;, implying that we should take the second option where we also go back to base.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, with more than two options, the most elegant way is to refer to the unique attributes of the option. In fact, with just two options I still think this is more elegant than &lt;em&gt;former&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;latter&lt;/em&gt; since it relieves the reader of the burden of remembering which is which.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastEditorUserId="588" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T10:35:49.400" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T10:35:49.400" />
  <row Id="11921" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11922" CreationDate="2011-02-09T10:45:20.523" Score="1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an entity and I would like to describe it as be able to be archived.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it archivable (which seems ok for me but no wiktionary.org results) or how should I call it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4784" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T11:04:55.560" Title="Archivable or archiveable or ...?" Tags="&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11921" CreationDate="2011-02-09T10:48:08.587" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Archivable is correct.  &lt;em&gt;-e&lt;/em&gt; more often than not drops off when adding &lt;em&gt;-able&lt;/em&gt; (it varies a lot, mostly based on whether the word looks better with or without the &lt;em&gt;e&lt;/em&gt;; I wouldn't say this is a case that greatly calls for keeping it, and the Google stats tend to indicate others agree).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T11:04:55.560" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T11:04:55.560" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11921" CreationDate="2011-02-09T10:50:20.923" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is &lt;em&gt;archivable&lt;/em&gt;, in the same way from &lt;em&gt;cite&lt;/em&gt; you get &lt;em&gt;citable&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some differences between British English and American English. In British English, such adjectives (derived from a verb ending in &lt;em&gt;-e&lt;/em&gt;) are preferred when they end with &lt;em&gt;-eable&lt;/em&gt;; in American English, the preferred form ends in &lt;em&gt;-able&lt;/em&gt; (the &lt;em&gt;-e&lt;/em&gt; is removed from the verb).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The dictionary I have (the NOAD) doesn't report the word &lt;em&gt;archivable&lt;/em&gt;, but it reports &lt;em&gt;citable&lt;/em&gt; as derivative of &lt;em&gt;cite&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;archival&lt;/em&gt; as derivative of &lt;em&gt;archive&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T11:03:07.527" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T11:03:07.527" />
  <row Id="11925" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11926" CreationDate="2011-02-09T12:26:33.467" Score="1" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;Among the following two sentences, &quot;Look here&quot; and &quot;Look at here&quot;, which one is correct? Is it advisable to use &quot;at&quot; in this case? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4692" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T12:43:50.670" Title="Which one is correct? &quot;Look here&quot; or &quot;Look at here&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11925" CreationDate="2011-02-09T12:31:53.240" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Look here&quot; is correct. I would never use &quot;Look at here&quot; all by itself, but in sentences such as &quot;There's not much to look at here&quot; or &quot;There are many things to look at here&quot; it is certainly grammatical. Also, it is perfectly grammatical to say &quot;Look at this&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T12:31:53.240" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11925" CreationDate="2011-02-09T12:32:22.647" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is incorrect to use &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; in this case. You could say any of the following in the imperative sense:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Look here&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Look &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; this &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Look &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; this place&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T12:32:22.647" />
  <row Id="11928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11830" CreationDate="2011-02-09T12:36:25.747" Score="-6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry, but short answer is that Americans are always wrong when it comes to English. Don't really need to say anymore&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4786" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T12:36:25.747" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11925" CreationDate="2011-02-09T12:43:50.670" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Look at here!&quot; isn't certainly correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4788" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T12:43:50.670" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11930" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11931" CreationDate="2011-02-09T13:00:35.647" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is correct, &quot;course of habit&quot; or &quot;force of habit&quot;?  (This question is inspired by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.woot.com/Forums/viewpost.aspx?PostID=4341054&amp;amp;PageIndex=2&amp;amp;ReplyCount=85#post4341270&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this post on the woot forums&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2019" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T13:20:51.497" Title="&quot;Force of habit&quot; or &quot;Course of Habit&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="11931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11930" CreationDate="2011-02-09T13:05:39.857" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is &lt;em&gt;force of habit&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;course of action&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American&lt;/em&gt; and the &lt;em&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/em&gt; reports the following data about &lt;em&gt;force of habit&lt;/em&gt; (the reported values are the frequencies per million).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/pSv4l.png&quot; alt=&quot;Usage of &amp;quot;force of habit&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T13:20:51.497" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T13:20:51.497" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11932" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11937" CreationDate="2011-02-09T13:13:21.377" Score="-1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;Will it be comprehensible to take a nickname calling me Anti-Anti-SpamBot&#xA;to convey the idea that communication on internet (like commenting in blogs, registration and posting in forums, etc.) &lt;a href=&quot;http://goo.gl/SrqaX&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;became practically impossible without tools facilitating posting, like spam bots&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T22:09:44.497" Title="Can I call me Anti-Anti-SpamBot or how?" Tags="&lt;technical&gt;&lt;nicknames&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="11933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11932" CreationDate="2011-02-09T13:18:21.977" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anti-anti-spambot would convey the idea that you are pro-spambot, not why that is your opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4790" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T13:18:21.977" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3989" CreationDate="2011-02-09T13:35:34.883" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider:   Did you check &quot;whether&quot; the payment went through?  &quot;If&quot; not, you should check as soon as possible.  This demonstrates the use of &quot;if&quot; and &quot;whether&quot; in the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4791" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T13:35:34.883" />
  <row Id="11936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11816" CreationDate="2011-02-09T13:41:14.407" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What would a guy say to a bunch of grown females: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;hi Girls?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Guys don't call grown females girls - girls are not fully grown. Its almost an insult to call women 'girls' from a guys perspective. Women on the other hand would walk in to their book club and say &quot;Hi Girls&quot; as they have their 'femininity' in common. The correct term for a group of girls is &quot;Ladies&quot;, when referred to by men. The correct term for a group of guys is 'Gentlemen'.&#xA;The term 'guys' is therefor gender specific and is used incorrectly as slang. When referring to a group of 'guys' and 'girls', one should say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hi Everyone&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4792" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T13:41:14.407" />
  <row Id="11937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11932" CreationDate="2011-02-09T13:45:31.153" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anti-anti Spambot seems to insinuate a fondness for Spambots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How about instead: &quot;The Anti-Spambot Aficionado&quot;. But in Spanish, that will increase the girth of its awesomeness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Terribly sorry, late night spelling let me down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4739" LastEditorUserId="4739" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T22:09:44.497" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T22:09:44.497" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11932" CreationDate="2011-02-09T13:46:05.670" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I disagree with Miel. I don't think &lt;em&gt;Anti-anti-spambot&lt;/em&gt; means that you are &lt;em&gt;pro-spambot&lt;/em&gt; per se, only that you are against measures taken to defeat spambots. This may be a small distinction, and you may well be a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answers.com/topic/fifth-column&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fifth-columnist&lt;/a&gt;, or someone who wants to buy &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville_Chamberlain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;peace for our time&lt;/a&gt;, or are just &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masochist&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kinky that way&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll offer a parallel: People who are against childhood vaccinations are not necessarily &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; the disease in question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T13:46:05.670" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11939" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-09T14:14:41.697" Score="1" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was just having this conversation with a friend. Where does the word &quot;the&quot; come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2019" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T15:51:17.573" Title="What is the etymology of &quot;the&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="11940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11939" CreationDate="2011-02-09T14:16:51.477" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let me introduce you to a wonderful site that is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=the&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;late O.E. &lt;em&gt;þe&lt;/em&gt;, nominative masculine form of the demonstrative pronoun and adjective. After c.950, it replaced earlier &lt;em&gt;se&lt;/em&gt; (masc.), &lt;em&gt;seo&lt;/em&gt; (fem.), &lt;em&gt;þæt&lt;/em&gt; (neut.), and probably represents &lt;em&gt;se&lt;/em&gt; altered by the &lt;em&gt;þ-&lt;/em&gt; form which was used in all the masc. oblique cases (see below). O.E. &lt;em&gt;se&lt;/em&gt; is from [&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Proto-Indo-European&lt;/a&gt;] base *&lt;em&gt;so-&lt;/em&gt; &quot;this, that&quot; (cf. Skt. &lt;em&gt;sa&lt;/em&gt;, Avestan &lt;em&gt;ha&lt;/em&gt;, Gk. &lt;em&gt;ho&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt; &quot;the,&quot; Ir., Gael. &lt;em&gt;so&lt;/em&gt; &quot;this&quot;). For the &lt;em&gt;þ-&lt;/em&gt; forms, see &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;. The &lt;em&gt;s-&lt;/em&gt; forms were entirely superseded in English by mid-13c., excepting dialectal survival slightly longer in Kent. O.E. used 10 different words for &quot;the&quot; (see table, below), but did not distinguish &quot;the&quot; from &quot;that.&quot; &lt;em&gt;That&lt;/em&gt; survived for a time as a definite article before vowels (cf. &lt;em&gt;that one&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;that other&lt;/em&gt;). Adv. use in &lt;em&gt;the more the merrier&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;the sooner the better&lt;/em&gt;, etc. is a relic of O.E. &lt;em&gt;þy&lt;/em&gt;, originally the instrumentive case of the neuter demonstrative &lt;em&gt;þæt&lt;/em&gt; (see &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also my comment on this related question: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3944/how-are-sentences-like-the-longer-x-the-more-y-called-and-can-they-be-used-in/3945#3945&quot;&gt;How are sentences like “the longer X, the more Y” called and can they be used in formal written English?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T14:16:51.477" />
  <row Id="11942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3798" CreationDate="2011-02-09T14:38:18.197" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you can use both. &lt;em&gt;I win&lt;/em&gt; means I've won when the game has just finished. &lt;em&gt;I've won&lt;/em&gt; means for example that you've won 30 minutes ago. You can call something that happened 2 minutes ago by present, not past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4797" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T15:32:12.787" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T15:32:12.787" />
  <row Id="11943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11914" CreationDate="2011-02-09T14:42:51.300" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are other words you can use in place of &quot;first&quot; and &quot;last&quot; - for example, &quot;foremost&quot; and &quot;lattermost&quot; - but whether that is more &lt;em&gt;elegant&lt;/em&gt;, or just more pretentious, could be debatable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4796" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T14:42:51.300" />
  <row Id="11945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11900" CreationDate="2011-02-09T15:01:25.693" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this particular case, it could very well have meant &quot;We have no intention of getting back to you EVER, but we're not going to come out and say that, we're going to leave you hanging.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is the fact that it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; so vague that allows it to be used this way. In business or other negotiation/communication, being anything less than definitive frequently means either saying &quot;No&quot; or revealing your own lack of understanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you meant &quot;a week&quot; it would have been courteous, more informative, and an indication of sincerity to have said &quot;we'll mull it over and get back to you in a week&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T15:01:25.693" />
  <row Id="11946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5901" CreationDate="2011-02-09T15:07:54.063" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Contiguous mnemonic anomalies. We had to be able to say this 10 times rapidly to graduate from my GIS class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T15:07:54.063" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-09T15:07:54.063" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11877" CreationDate="2011-02-09T15:36:19.740" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Evolving, at least as it involves a self-contained creative endeavour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T15:36:19.740" />
  <row Id="11948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11939" CreationDate="2011-02-09T15:51:17.573" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The and that are common developments from the Old English system. Old English had a definite article se, in the masculine gender, seo (feminine), and þæt (neuter). In Middle English these had all merged into þe, the ancestor of the Modern English word the.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T15:51:17.573" />
  <row Id="11949" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-09T15:55:57.713" Score="1" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between a &quot;conflict of interest&quot; and the &quot;appearance of a conflict of interest&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4802" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T16:12:25.393" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T02:42:23.300" Title="Conflict of interest" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11949" CreationDate="2011-02-09T16:15:10.923" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I'm a waiter, and I'm responsible for the distribution of tips from the tip jar at the end of the night, that's a conflict of interest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I'm a waiter, and I'm responsible for pushing the button that distributes tips from the computerised register, with no reasonable opportunity to interfere or influence that automatic distribution, you might argue that I still shouldn't do it since this would be an appearance of a conflict of interest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, people like to avoid suspicion due to the the appearance of a conflict of interest no matter how unreasonable that suspicion might be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T16:15:10.923" />
  <row Id="11951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11949" CreationDate="2011-02-09T16:15:52.333" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first phrase you wrote means the conflict of interest is sure; the second phrase means there could be a conflict of interest, or the conflict of interest is only apparent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T16:15:52.333" />
  <row Id="11952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11914" CreationDate="2011-02-09T16:17:32.810" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there's anything inelegant about &lt;em&gt;first&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;last&lt;/em&gt;. You can always use &lt;em&gt;ultimate&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;penultimate&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;antepenultimate&lt;/em&gt; if you want to be certain no one understands you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T16:17:32.810" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11949" CreationDate="2011-02-09T18:11:26.720" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A conflict of interest is such that one's interests conflict with whatever is at issue. For example, he must choose an employee from among a set of candidates, and one of the candidates is his relative, about whom he feels strongly enough that that feeling affects his judgement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An appearance of a conflict of interest is such that one's interests appear to conflict with whatever is at issue. For example, he must choose an employee from among a set of candidates, and one of he candidates is his relative, about whom we don't know that he feels anything affecting his judgement (so we don't know there's a conflict of interest &amp;mdash; but there's definitely the appearance of one).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is often &amp;mdash; as in the latter case &amp;mdash; impossible even for a person possible affected by a conflict of interest to know whether there is such a conflict.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T18:11:26.720" />
  <row Id="11954" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11961" CreationDate="2011-02-09T18:37:54.767" Score="8" ViewCount="343" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for a word or short phrase that best describes a scenario in which an author seems to have copiously placed uncommon or higher educated vocabulary in a lower reading level book. Meaning that the book seems to be for a fourth grade reading level and then every few paragraphs an English Doctorate level word appears, possibly to impress readers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4809" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T09:28:35.530" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T07:51:27.847" Title="English word that means out of place uncommon word" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11954" CreationDate="2011-02-09T19:08:50.313" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That was one of J.R.R. Tolkien's strategies in writing for children.  He thought that by inserting bits of higher-level phrases and vocabulary, children would learn more from reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to invent a word, I suggest using 'Tolkienesque'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4686" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T19:08:50.313" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11954" CreationDate="2011-02-09T19:12:12.353" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I nominate &lt;em&gt;erudition spikes&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Visualize a chart with the book's erudition level on the Y axis, time or position on the X axis.  These sudden intrusions of sesquipedalian loquacity will appear as spikes on the graph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T19:17:25.157" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T19:17:25.157" CommentCount="14" />
  <row Id="11957" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-09T19:17:22.937" Score="0" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;History sniffing&quot; is an attack in which a malicious website can figure out what other websites you have visited by taking advantage of the way browsers draw visited and unvisited hyperlinks differently.  This &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.forbes.com/kashmirhill/2010/11/30/history-sniffing-how-youporn-checks-what-other-porn-sites-youve-visited-and-ad-networks-test-the-quality-of-their-data/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;made headlines in 2010&lt;/a&gt; thanks to a widely read academic paper and browser vendors figuring out how to block the attack.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://seclists.org/bugtraq/2002/Feb/271&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;oldest &lt;em&gt;description of the attack&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; I have been able to find was in 2002, but the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.niallkennedy.com/blog/2008/02/browser-history-sniff.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;oldest &lt;em&gt;use of the phrase &quot;history sniffing&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; I have been able to find was in 2008.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone antedate the phrase, or the disclosure of the attack?  (I tried Google's timeline search, which you would think would be good for this sort of thing, but it fails to limit its results to uses of the exact phrase &quot;history sniffing&quot; even when I use the quote syntax, so it's useless.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1475" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T23:58:49.757" Title="Coinage of phrase &quot;history sniffing&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11958" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11962" CreationDate="2011-02-09T19:26:01.153" Score="2" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;When do I use 'have' and 'have got'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'I have the answer' or 'I've got the answer' are both correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3508" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T21:21:27.027" Title="When to use 'have' and 'have got'" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11958" CreationDate="2011-02-09T19:28:18.423" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I have the answer&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;I've got the answer&lt;/em&gt; are both correct, yes.  The latter is more colloquial and informal; avoid it in formal writing.  Otherwise, use whatever sounds good to you at the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T19:28:18.423" />
  <row Id="11960" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11963" CreationDate="2011-02-09T20:01:59.190" Score="-3" ViewCount="290" Body="&lt;p&gt;After reading &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6740/obscenities-considered-less-obscene-in-compounds-nsfw&quot;&gt;Obscenities considered less obscene in compounds? [NSFW]&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I became confused with notion, usage and implications of obscenities in English languages and countries.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot understand why the words are scapegoats. In Russian telling about sexual intercourse in decent words, out of medical or other necessity, is considered no less obscene. And this does not depend on choice of words, though there are many more very descriptive extremely short obscenities, usually in 2-5 letters, that do not require further more lengthy expalanations in decent words.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And they are &quot;never&quot; being discussed or exposed, though everybody knows them. Don't ask me where from (from the street and kindergarden, later everybody already knows them). Their purpose is always cynical and usage pnly in context of aiming to degrade and put down someone out of further communication/socializing forever.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doesn't English have stronger obscenities than &quot;motherfuckers&quot; which I have heard in US movies many times? For example, in Russian there are obscenities that impossible to encounter in movies, TV, radio, newspapers, printed dictionaries, etc.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, the translation into Russian  by &lt;a href=&quot;http://translate.google.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://translate.google.com/&lt;/a&gt; I have cited in &lt;a href=&quot;http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3aEzp7XVywFiwJ%3aenglish.stackexchange.com/questions/10752/to-dick-or-not-to-dick-or-to-whom+obscenity+site%3aenglish.stackexchange.com&amp;amp;cd=3&amp;amp;hl=ru&amp;amp;ct=clnk&amp;amp;gl=ru&amp;amp;source=www.google.ru&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;to Dick or not to dick or to whom?(closed)&quot;&lt;/a&gt; is impossible to find anywhere (even less in specialized medical literature).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Was it owner of google who himself entered it into google searchengine database to make &quot;fun&quot; of American linguists and translators?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or does it reflect the fact that Brittish-American cultures do not have any taboos?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Then, why were my questions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3aEzp7XVywFiwJ%3aenglish.stackexchange.com/questions/10752/to-dick-or-not-to-dick-or-to-whom+obscenity+site%3aenglish.stackexchange.com&amp;amp;cd=3&amp;amp;hl=ru&amp;amp;ct=clnk&amp;amp;gl=ru&amp;amp;source=www.google.ru&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;to Dick or not to dick or to whom? [closed]&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3aUHSXyh5QV0MJ%3aenglish.stackexchange.com/questions/10754/scunthorpe-clbuttical-question+Scunthorpe+clbuttical+question+site%3aenglish.stackexchange.com&amp;amp;cd=1&amp;amp;hl=ru&amp;amp;ct=clnk&amp;amp;gl=ru&amp;amp;source=www.google.ru&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Scunthorpe clbuttical question [closed]&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;while I encountered them (later) in other discussions in this board, in TV, movies, literature, etc.?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Reincarnation of this question:&lt;/strong&gt;   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2562/are-er-insults-a-british-phenomenon&quot;&gt;Are -er insults a British phenomenon?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11981/what-is-currently-the-most-obscene-word-in-british-english&quot;&gt;What is currently the most obscene word in British English?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/253/referencing-the-existence-of-words-that-may-be-offensive&quot;&gt;Referencing the existence of words that may be offensive&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12234/is-fkstick-really-an-abusive-word&quot;&gt;Is f**kstick really an abusive word?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/406/how-bad-is-the-f-word-really/12253#12253&quot;&gt;How bad is the f-word really?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update3:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The definition of unprintable is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?hl=ru&amp;amp;source=hp&amp;amp;q=define%3Aunprintable&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;unfit for print because morally or legally objectionable or offensive to good taste; &quot;an unprintable epithet&quot;; &quot;unprintable pictures&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please give me example of any word &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/3085/vgv8&quot;&gt;possibly through my contacts in my profile&lt;/a&gt;  that is not printed by publishers or do not appear in movies.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please vote to reopen this question. Or should I open a new question or ask in other forums?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update (02/20/2011):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Seems the discussion of the meaning and usage of English words and expressions shifted to  meta.english.stackexchange.com:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/719/cant-copies-of-deleted-threads-be-emailed-to-authors&quot;&gt;&quot;Can't copies of deleted threads be Emailed to authors?&quot;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T06:10:01.110" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T06:10:01.110" ClosedDate="2011-02-09T20:56:24.710" Title="Does English have taboo-ed (unprintable) obscenities?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;taboo&gt;&lt;insults&gt;&lt;swearing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11954" CreationDate="2011-02-09T20:02:19.360" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;em&gt;[As requested, posting this as an answer instead of a comment]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lexiphanic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;lexiphanic&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, which is using pretentious wording or language, but it doesn't have the sense of intermittence you wanted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I found the word by plugging &quot;using long words&quot; into a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reverse dictionary&lt;/a&gt;. The first two results, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sesquipedalian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;sesquipedalian&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freedictionary.org/?Query=sesquipedality&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;sesquipedality&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, are also good, but they don't necessarily have a negative connotation like &lt;em&gt;lexiphanic&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T20:02:19.360" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11958" CreationDate="2011-02-09T20:18:14.320" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have the answer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sounds more formal and somber, and it is often used as a statement of fact or as a direct response to the questions: &lt;em&gt;Do you have the answer?&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;em&gt;Who has the answer?&lt;/em&gt; etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've got the answer/I have got the answer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is more of an eureka moment remark, something one is likely to hear often in such a place as a college physics common room where students are bashing heads on seemingly intractable problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;have got&lt;/em&gt; construction is more of a Britishism. In the US, one would be more likely to hear:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I got the answer/Got the answer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T20:18:14.320" />
  <row Id="11963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11960" CreationDate="2011-02-09T20:25:28.390" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You seem to be asking a lot of disjoint questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &quot;Doesn't English have stronger obscenities than &quot;motherfuckers&quot; which I have heard in US movies many times?&quot;, I would say that in American English, the word currently considered most obscene is &quot;cunt&quot;, though the taboo against &quot;nigger&quot; is stronger.  (I've been told &quot;cunt&quot; is a much more pedestrian word in British English; I don't know what's most obscene there, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11981/what-is-currently-the-most-obscene-word-in-british-english&quot;&gt;I'd be curious to know&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your questions toward the end of your text don't really make sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what you say overall, it sounds like, relative to Russian speakers, English speakers have a much stronger tradition of attaching taboo to the &lt;em&gt;word&lt;/em&gt; rather than the &lt;em&gt;concept&lt;/em&gt;, for example &quot;dick&quot; and &quot;cock&quot; being things you &quot;shouldn't say&quot; while &quot;penis&quot; is fine.  The reasons for this are complex, but there's a very strong element of class warfare in it; the taboo words are generally historically those identified as those the &quot;commoners&quot; would use.  (Most of &quot;proper behavior&quot; in the English-speaking world consists of mimicking what the middle class imagines the upper class acts like.)  One of the terms for what's being forbidden is, in fact, &quot;vulgarity&quot;, the root meaning of which is nothing more than &quot;common usage&quot;.  Russia having gone through a period of aggressively trying to eliminate social class markers may be part of the cultural difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We do not have taboos against anything that are so strong we actually will not ever write or speak about them in any circumstances.  Our language taboos are more attenuated constructs that give a certain sort of person an excuse to look down their nose at those who violate them, and give those who violate them a way of letting the other sort know they don't give a fuck what those people think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, if what you're wondering is whether your questions got closed because English speakers are largely squeamish, prim conformists, the answer would be yes.  Or, alternately, we could formulate it as that the preponderance of empowered users and moderators of this site believe that a certain approximation of a formal or professional mode of discourse should be maintained, and consider obscenity and vulgarity inconsistent with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T01:22:30.957" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T01:22:30.957" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11954" CreationDate="2011-02-09T20:33:30.713" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might also consider &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?aq=f&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=definition%3a+euphuistic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;euphuistic&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T20:33:30.713" />
  <row Id="11965" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-09T20:34:33.747" Score="5" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;The title to this question is sort of long-winded but the example here should clarify it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which of these is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Who should be baby-sitting your children, your neighborhood teenagers or professionally trained people?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Who should be baby-sitting your children? Your neighborhood teenagers or professionally trained people?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Who should be baby-sitting your children? Your neighborhood teenagers? Or, professionally trained people?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think option 1 is definitely wrong. Option 2 or 3 could both work but I am not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4816" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T12:10:35.973" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T12:10:35.973" Title="How to punctuate an answer to a question when the answer is also a question?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11965" CreationDate="2011-02-09T20:41:35.263" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sentences 2 and 3 are correct, albeit informal. You can fix sentence 1 by replacing the first comma with a colon, making it perfectly correct and formal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Who should be baby-sitting your children: your neighborhood teenagers or professionally trained people?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are curious as to why this is correct, simply replace the interrogative pronoun, &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt;, with the noun of your choice. You should have the same correct punctuation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Either of these/the following&lt;/em&gt; should be baby-sitting your children: your neighborhood teenagers or professionally trained people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When in doubt as to how to punctuate a question, try to convert it to the non-interrogative form and punctuate accordingly. Questions are sentences in their own right, and thus should follow the same rules of punctuation as statements, except for the question mark at the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T22:24:59.213" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T22:24:59.213" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="11967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3480" CreationDate="2011-02-09T20:42:16.867" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since &lt;em&gt;fait accompli&lt;/em&gt; functions in English as one word, but is written as two, I'd be inclined to keep it italicised. If nothing else, it's a handy hint for anyone who decides to look it up in a dictionary that they should look up the two words together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T20:42:16.867" />
  <row Id="11968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11960" CreationDate="2011-02-09T20:48:29.577" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The line of what is printable or sayable varies so much. Here are some examples I can think of atm, feel free to add more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Newspapers don't like their&#xA;journalists to swear, but will keep&#xA;swearwords in quotes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Daytime TV has&#xA;loosened up, bitch and crap are&#xA;acceptable in something like&#xA;Simpsons, but there are still tight&#xA;standards, crap wouldn't be heard on&#xA;anything news or news-like.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thoroughout&#xA;the evening more and more gets&#xA;allowed. Films get more leeway&#xA;(artistic merit), so you may hear&#xA;shit before nine. BBC1 only allows&#xA;cunt during films, which is certainly&#xA;the strongest word.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In terms of what children learn, it varies a lot. I learnt twat early, and didn't learn it was equal to shit for a few years later, I thought it was equal to idiot. I remember telling younger kids (only what would be considered late), but they were old enough to know how to use it, when not to. This isn't always the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3826" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T20:48:29.577" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="11969" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-09T20:54:44.680" Score="4" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;Compare these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;1. She tried, and, as expected, failed.&#xA;2. She tried, and as expected, failed.&#xA;3. She tried and, as expected, failed.&#xA;4. She tried and as expected, failed.&#xA;5. She tried and (as expected) failed.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first seems most correct, while the last seems most elegant. Is it all a matter of taste/style?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm also curious of these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;6. She tried, and failed.&#xA;7. She tried and failed.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there ever a need for the first form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2380" LastEditorUserId="2380" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T21:08:48.693" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T23:00:47.397" Title="Where to insert comma(s)?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="11970" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-09T20:55:22.950" Score="0" ViewCount="516" Body="&lt;p&gt;This might seem like a silly question, but this situation happens all the time during virtually any type of online correspondence. It's quite common to put something friendly/funny/tongue-in-cheek in parenthesis as an aside, and it's also often important to include the smiley to let the other person know you're being funny, so it's irritating to not know how to combine the two and make it look right. I often end up with rather unfortunate scenarios like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... but sometimes people here just&#xA;  drive me nuts (not you, of course ;)&#xA;  ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen people use a single space like above (perhaps the most common), no space at all, use square brackets instead of parentheses, and also incorporate the smiley into the closing parenthesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what's the best way to handle this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. We probably need a parentheses tag...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4817" LastEditorUserId="4817" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T21:03:05.690" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T04:56:15.073" Title="How to use a smiley at the end of a parenthetical phrase" Tags="&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;parentheses&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4893" CreationDate="2011-02-09T21:00:48.857" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There really isn't any way to make it not look weird (as &lt;a href=&quot;http://xkcd.com/541/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;famously documented by xkcd&lt;/a&gt;), but my preferred form, and I believe the more common practice, is to &quot;merge&quot; the smiley with the closing parenthesis.  (So, like this. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T21:00:48.857" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11969" CreationDate="2011-02-09T21:01:39.847" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the style, complexity, mood/insinuation/stress and standard of the whole thing. My use (colloquially, semi-formal and formal) would be 2 or 5 or 2 without the second comma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same with the second choice, it depends if you are insinuating/stressing that she was expected to try, or expected to fail, or it is just noted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3826" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T21:01:39.847" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11661" CreationDate="2011-02-09T21:05:46.873" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm surprised no one's mentioned &lt;em&gt;Yours truly&lt;/em&gt;. It strikes me as a shade less officious than &lt;em&gt;yours faithfully&lt;/em&gt; but not as boilerplate as &lt;em&gt;Best regards&lt;/em&gt; or its weird sister, &lt;em&gt;Best&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T21:05:46.873" />
  <row Id="11974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11965" CreationDate="2011-02-09T21:08:09.810" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;3 is pushy, you would want to be wary of being pushy with the topic of other people's children or decisions. 2 is often used as a debate starter. If you want to gently make the point to someone you'd want to reword the whole thing, suggestively and passively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3826" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T21:08:09.810" />
  <row Id="11975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4893" CreationDate="2011-02-09T21:08:33.360" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There should not be any spaces after the smiley, in the same way there is no space between a word and a closing parenthesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some messages sent through IM applications, a space is added after the smiley and before a parenthesis, as in some of these applications the textual smilies are replaced from a icon/image; in these applications, the double parentheses are used for a different smiley.&#xA;This could explain why some people are used to add a space after a smiley, and before the following parenthesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T21:08:33.360" />
  <row Id="11976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4893" CreationDate="2011-02-09T21:12:53.893" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In direct conflict with chaos, my preferred form, and I believe the more common practice, is to separate the smiley from the closing parenthesis by a single space.  :-) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally a space should not be included between a parenthesis and the word it is adjacent to, but when using a parenthesis as part of a separate lexical element, spacing between the &quot;word-element&quot; parenthesis and the &quot;syntax-element&quot; parenthesis is very helpful to avoid confusion.  Otherwise you might be sending a double-chin smiley and still have no closing parenthesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best solution, of course, is to avoid such a potentially confusing issue in the first place:  grow a goatee, so that all your smileys can be of the form &quot;:-)&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T21:12:53.893" />
  <row Id="11977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11969" CreationDate="2011-02-09T21:19:38.780" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm always struggling with over-comma-fication, meaning my own inclination to put in too many. [en- and em-dashes are one (lazy) way around this proclivity, as is paying close attention to how the expository pieces in &lt;em&gt;The New Yorker&lt;/em&gt; are punctuated.] &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd choose sentence #3 in your first sampling. It segregates &quot;as expected&quot; (which is incidental to the main event) but otherwise keeps &lt;em&gt;tried&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; together, drawing the reader forward and so letting the sentence flow. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the same token, I think sentence #7 in the second set is preferable. It's a straight-forward exposition wherein the comma's extraneous. If you really wanted to build up tension, use ellipses or an en-dash -before or after the &quot;and&quot;- to signal as much instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastEditorUserId="4752" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T21:40:50.990" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T21:40:50.990" />
  <row Id="11978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11958" CreationDate="2011-02-09T21:21:27.027" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Have got&quot; is certainly more informal.  So if you never use &quot;have got&quot;, you will be fine.  However, if you want to use &quot;have got&quot;, this is how it works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Have&lt;/em&gt; and &quot;have got&quot; are sometimes interchangeable and sometimes not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; is being used as a modal verb (or helper verb), then you &lt;strong&gt;cannot&lt;/strong&gt; use &quot;have got&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I have been there before.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;*I have got been there before.  &lt;em&gt;(wrong)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When have is being used as a main verb, you can replace it with &quot;have got&quot;, &lt;strong&gt;but only in the present tense&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is true for possessive uses of &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I have three dollars.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I have got three dollars.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;*I had got three dollars. &lt;em&gt;(wrong, if you mean possession and not acquisition)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;*I will have got three dollars. &lt;em&gt;(same as above)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And also obligation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I have to go.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I have got to go.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;*I had got to go. &lt;em&gt;(wrong)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;*I will have got to go. &lt;em&gt;(wrong)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lastly, if you are constructing an imperative sentence, you can only use &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Here, have an apple.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;*Here, have got an apple. &lt;em&gt;(wrong)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A note on &quot;have got&quot; when referring to acquisition: this is not possible in US/Canadian English, where &quot;have gotten&quot; is the preferred form.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T21:21:27.027" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11979" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-09T21:29:51.390" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T21:29:51.390" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T21:29:51.390" />
  <row Id="11980" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-09T21:29:51.390" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="This tag is concerned with the usage of the glyphs ( and ), known as parentheses (singular parenthesis) in American English and as brackets in British English." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T21:37:00.727" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T21:37:00.727" />
  <row Id="11981" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12034" CreationDate="2011-02-09T21:37:27.470" Score="2" ViewCount="341" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11960/does-english-have-taboo-ed-non-printable-obscenities&quot;&gt;recent question&lt;/a&gt;, I realized that while I know what's currently considered the most obscene word in American English (&quot;cunt&quot;), I am told that word is much more unexceptional and workaday in British English, and I do not actually know what word &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; bear the distinction of most obscene in that vernacular.  So, what is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking for current rather than historical usage, obscenity rather than taboo for reasons other than obscenity (as with racial slurs in the United States), and obscene &lt;em&gt;words&lt;/em&gt; rather than obscene &lt;em&gt;concepts&lt;/em&gt; -- that is, the taboo attaches to the &lt;em&gt;word itself&lt;/em&gt;.  If it varies between major British English dialects, give me whatever flavors you know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For purposes of this question, &quot;most obscene&quot; means that somebody using the word in a context where obscenity is not normally expected will &lt;em&gt;most commonly&lt;/em&gt; be thought to be performing the &lt;em&gt;greatest&lt;/em&gt; violation of social convention &lt;em&gt;for reason&lt;/em&gt; of the word's obscenity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T00:48:13.400" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T11:30:51.150" Title="What is currently the most obscene word in British English?" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;taboo&gt;&lt;obscenity&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="24" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="11982" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-09T22:21:59.567" Score="1" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/48/gender-neutral-pronoun&quot;&gt;Gender neutral pronoun.&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In everyday use, I often use the pronoun &quot;they&quot; to refer to a unknown person if I do not know their sex. As in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bob: Who was it that emailed you&#xA;  about the company cutting back?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sally: I don't know. They didn't say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember using &quot;they&quot; this way in a paper for my college English 101 class, and my teacher marked off for it, saying that it is incorrect. So is it? It's definitely much easier to say than &quot;he/she&quot;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps it's considered correct (or at least accepted) in speech but not in written form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4817" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T22:36:31.443" ClosedDate="2011-02-09T22:43:07.917" Title="Using 'they' for person of unknown sex" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11982" CreationDate="2011-02-09T22:36:31.443" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason it's considered incorrect is that &quot;they&quot; is plural and the unknown party presumably singular. It's still considered incorrect in formal writing, but becoming accepted in speech and, to a lesser extent, in less-formal writing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English is blessed with a descriptive grammar, rather than prescriptive, but it sometimes takes a while for the rules to catch up....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T22:36:31.443" />
  <row Id="11984" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="11999" CreationDate="2011-02-09T22:46:40.933" Score="3" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a phrase, ‘the new tablet of iPad can sport at least one camera for video conferencing’ in today’s &lt;a href=&quot;http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2011/02/the_circuit_twitter_and_wikile_1.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Washington Post article&lt;/a&gt; reporting iPad 2. I guess ‘Sport’ here implies ‘chase (move) after plural objects' or ‘Catch' them, because it says 'at least one camera.' But I’m not accustomed to the word, ‘sport’ used in a such way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;COD at hand gives only two meanings of ‘Sport’ as a verb, - 1. to have or wear sth in a proud way so that everyone can see. 2. to play in a happy and lively way. In addition to the above definition, an English Japanese dictionary (Readers Plus Dictionary) provides ‘play with other sex’ and ‘give’ as  slang usages, and I can’t find the definition anything near to the context used in the following sentence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does ‘Sport’ here exactly mean? Is this common way of using ‘Sport’ as a verb?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A report from the Wall Street Journal says that Apple has begun production of the next generation of the iPad. The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, claims that the new tablet will be thinner and lighter, will sport at least one camera for video conferencing and will have better graphics and a more memory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T08:01:06.610" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T08:01:06.610" Title="What does ‘Sport’ mean when you say ‘the new Apple iPad sports cameras for video conferencing’?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11984" CreationDate="2011-02-09T22:50:17.787" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a verb that is used in the same sense as &quot;features&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The car sports a brand-new navigation UI&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3709" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T22:50:17.787" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11984" CreationDate="2011-02-09T22:51:18.840" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means to &quot;wear or display&quot; or simply &quot;to have&quot; in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She was sporting a large diamond ring on her left hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it can be used to mean &quot;show off&quot; also.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4129" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T22:51:18.840" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11984" CreationDate="2011-02-09T22:52:29.580" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an established use of the word &lt;em&gt;sport&lt;/em&gt;; it is fairly informal, so I wouldn't write it in an academic paper, but it is not particularly unusual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The relevant definition of the transitive verb, &lt;em&gt;sport&lt;/em&gt;, from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sport&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;to display or wear usually ostentatiously : boast. &quot;&lt;em&gt;sporting expensive new shoes&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T22:52:29.580" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11969" CreationDate="2011-02-09T22:52:37.097" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Read them out aloud. The slight differences will be more obvious. I say that sentence like number three.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4820" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T22:52:37.097" />
  <row Id="11989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11969" CreationDate="2011-02-09T22:58:59.770" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually follow &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Strunk &amp;amp; White&lt;/a&gt; and only deviate from their rules if strict adherence would result in something that breaks the flow of reading/thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Place a comma before and or but introducing an independent clause.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do not join independent clauses by a comma.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This points to number 3 being the correct sentence. As for the last two, I definitely prefer number 7 as well. However:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;She tried, and she failed. &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;She tried; she failed. &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As commonplace as it may sound, I would add: never judge any sentence as it stands by itself. Depending on the mood and style you want to set, anything might be OK in the right context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4821" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T22:58:59.770" />
  <row Id="11990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11969" CreationDate="2011-02-09T23:00:47.397" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In regards to example 6, the comma would be more appropriate if the next word was &quot;but&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She tried, but failed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your example &quot;She tried and failed&quot;, if the sentence continues after the &quot;and failed&quot; you very often see parentheses around the &quot;and failed&quot; also:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She tried (and failed) to...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4129" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T23:00:47.397" />
  <row Id="11991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11954" CreationDate="2011-02-09T23:04:14.290" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would tend to use &lt;em&gt;uncromulent&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4601" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T23:04:14.290" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2152" CreationDate="2011-02-09T23:43:31.463" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Checks (bank drafts) have the transaction amount written twice:  once in numerals and once spelled out.  The numerals are the &quot;convenience amount&quot; and the words are the &quot;legal amount&quot; in banking parlance.  When they don't agree, the legal amount trumps the convenience amount on the theory that it's harder to tamper with the words than the digits.  (This applies in the U.S.  I don't know if the terminology and rules are the same elsewhere.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume the same rules apply to contracts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4822" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T23:43:31.463" />
  <row Id="11993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11957" CreationDate="2011-02-09T23:58:49.757" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an information security professional, I can say that the term &quot;history sniffing&quot; has not really entered InfoSec vernacular.  &quot;Browser history sniffing&quot; or &quot;CSS probing&quot; may be more technically correct, but no single term has gained the same kind of traction as other web browser attacks like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-site_scripting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;XSS&lt;/a&gt; (Cross site scripting) and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Csrf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CSRF&lt;/a&gt; (Cross site request forgery).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The technique you are talking about became well-known after an August 2006 blog post titled &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jeremiahgrossman.blogspot.com/2006/08/i-know-where-youve-been.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;I know where you've been&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.whitehatsec.com/home/resource/grossman.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jeremiah Grossman&lt;/a&gt;, a renowned web security researcher.  References prior to this post, such as the Bugtraq page you noted, did not gain widespread attention (though they probably should have).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4778" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T23:58:49.757" />
  <row Id="11994" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12000" CreationDate="2011-02-10T00:01:47.920" Score="4" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always thought a &lt;em&gt;spelling checker&lt;/em&gt; is a tool that checks spelling.  I know a growing number of people say &lt;em&gt;spell checker&lt;/em&gt;, but I've always considered that slang.  Recently I did a search for the term and saw that many professionally-edited outlets use the shorter version.  Has the shorter term become acceptable in formal writing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it generalize to the verb form as well?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I need to spell check my document.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I need to check the spelling in my document.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4822" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T12:47:11.853" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T15:23:53.670" Title="&quot;Spelling checker&quot; or &quot;spell checker&quot;?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;spelling-checker&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="11995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11984" CreationDate="2011-02-10T00:09:36.683" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have said, in this context, &lt;em&gt;sport&lt;/em&gt; means to have something, essentially, the new iPad has at least one camera.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see from the comments you're also confused about the &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt;. What that means is the reporters have confirmed from their sources that there definitely is one camera, and there is the possibility that there might be two (or more). (As of right now, the current iPad model doesn't have any cameras, so this is a enhancement in technology for the iPad).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T00:09:36.683" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="11996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11994" CreationDate="2011-02-10T00:43:20.220" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've usually seen it used in combination form: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/spellchecker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;spellchecker&lt;/a&gt;. The verb is &lt;em&gt;spellcheck&lt;/em&gt; and it conjugates the same way &lt;em&gt;check&lt;/em&gt; does. It's also used as &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spell_checker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;spell checker&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, and I guess you can take your pick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T00:43:20.220" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="11997" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-10T00:53:39.490" Score="7" ViewCount="436" Body="&lt;p&gt;During office discussion two turns of phrase came up in close proximity: &quot;peace and quiet&quot; shortly followed by &quot;mind your P's and Q's&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of P's and Q's?  I wondered if it might be related to peace and quiet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="618" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T00:59:43.607" Title="What does it mean to mind your P's and Q's?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="11998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11997" CreationDate="2011-02-10T00:56:55.630" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Be on your best behaviour; be careful of your language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The date of the coinage of 'mind your Ps and Qs' is uncertain. There is a citation from Thomas Dekker's play, The Untrussing of the Humorous Poet, 1602, which appears to be the earliest use of the expression:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/mind-your-ps-and-qs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/mind-your-ps-and-qs.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T00:56:55.630" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="11999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11984" CreationDate="2011-02-10T01:11:54.777" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oishi-san: @Kosmonaut's, @SLaks', and @yorkensei's answers are all correct, but I think see where you are getting confused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &quot;sport&quot; something is to have it visible, or &quot;show it off&quot;. Really, all it means in this context is that the new iPad &lt;em&gt;has&lt;/em&gt; a camera and wants you to be impressed with that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were &lt;em&gt;sporting&lt;/em&gt; a new wristwatch, you would be wearing it in a way that implies you are proud of it. You would be hoping others would look and point and be impressed. In Japanese you would hope people were saying: あれ見て！すごいだよ！&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T01:45:50.103" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T01:45:50.103" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11994" CreationDate="2011-02-10T01:20:18.460" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1293013&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Spellcheck&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1293014&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;spellchecker&lt;/a&gt; are both in OED.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4778" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T01:20:18.460" />
  <row Id="12001" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12015" CreationDate="2011-02-10T01:49:02.047" Score="5" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which to/too/two do you use when you are writing, &quot;there are three ways to spell two/too/to in the English language?&quot; My girlfriend has a BS in English and was unable to answer this so I was wondering if you guys had any idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4709" LastEditorUserId="4709" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T02:07:41.703" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T10:03:56.627" Title="Too, two, and to" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="12002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11997" CreationDate="2011-02-10T01:50:24.110" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mind your Ps and Qs&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;be careful to behave well and avoid giving offense&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The NOAD reports that its origin is unknown; it would refer to the care a young student must take in differentiating the tailed letters &lt;em&gt;p&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;q&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T12:07:46.583" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T12:07:46.583" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12001" CreationDate="2011-02-10T01:54:05.863" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're talking about &lt;em&gt;to spell&lt;/em&gt;, the infinitive form of the verb takes &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; to tango. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T01:54:05.863" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12004" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-10T02:00:20.190" Score="5" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;In software, why do we talk about &lt;em&gt;line-of-business applications&lt;/em&gt; (sometimes abbreviated to LOB)? Why not just &lt;em&gt;business applications&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it's useful to distinguish between general software (like email or word processing) and mission critical software specific to the business. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But how did &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;line of&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; ...&quot; come to be used for the latter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="368" LastEditorUserId="368" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T09:28:29.023" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T09:28:29.023" Title="Why &quot;line of business&quot; applications?" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;technical&gt;&lt;business-language&gt;&lt;buzzword&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12004" CreationDate="2011-02-10T02:04:36.423" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_of_business&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Line of business&lt;/a&gt; has a number of meanings, but in computing it refers to any of a set of critical applications for running an enterprise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T02:04:36.423" />
  <row Id="12007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12004" CreationDate="2011-02-10T02:04:38.513" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Line-of-business&quot; in a computing context has taken on a meaning synonymous with &quot;mission-critical&quot;.  So not all business applications are line-of-business applications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T02:04:38.513" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12008" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12010" CreationDate="2011-02-10T02:12:37.593" Score="2" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;HP TouchPad vs. iPad vs. Xoom vs. PlayBook: the tale of the tape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T02:14:04.073" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T02:17:51.397" Title="What does 'tape' mean in this sentence?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12008" CreationDate="2011-02-10T02:17:34.057" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The tale of the tape&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;comparing things&lt;/em&gt;; it comes from boxing where the fighters would be measured with a tape measure before a fight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T02:17:34.057" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12008" CreationDate="2011-02-10T02:17:51.397" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;tale of the tape&lt;/em&gt; is a term from the sport of boxing, which uses it to refer to a boxer's size and, more important, reach. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allwords.com/word-tale+of+the+tape.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.allwords.com/word-tale+of+the+tape.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T02:17:51.397" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="12011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11997" CreationDate="2011-02-10T02:20:31.507" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always heard that it was originally short for &quot;Mind your Pints and Quarts!&quot; Something an innkeeper (or what-have-you) would shout to an unruly common room to settle them down. According to AUE no one's particularly sure, but they list a few other theories, including what they consider to be the most likely: &quot;Mind your 'please's and 'thank you's&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Link: &lt;a href=&quot;http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxmindyo.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxmindyo.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T02:20:31.507" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11949" CreationDate="2011-02-10T02:42:23.300" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A conflict of interest is when you are in a position to take advantage of your position.  So, if your wife is also one of the vendors you are considering to buy from, that is a conflict of interest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An apparent conflict of interest is avoiding what could look like a conflict of interest, even if it makes no sense at all.  So if you work for certain US government sub-contractors, and travel on business, you are not allowed to stay over the weekend and pay for that yourself, even though the subsequent air fare would be cheaper for the company if you stayed over Saturday.  It LOOKS like you're having fun at taxpayer expense, and they want to avoid that apparent conflict of interest, even if it costs taxpayers more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="728" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T02:42:23.300" />
  <row Id="12013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4893" CreationDate="2011-02-10T02:49:21.610" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(what about this (: )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ok... not good enough...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4826" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T02:49:21.610" />
  <row Id="12014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9443" CreationDate="2011-02-10T03:31:47.127" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm completely convinced that confusion over when and how to use &lt;em&gt;affect&lt;/em&gt; as a verb has led directly to the rise of &lt;strong&gt;impact&lt;/strong&gt; as a replacement for it. A development that drives me up the proverbial wall. Oddly, though, I read in passing that &lt;em&gt;contact&lt;/em&gt; was not very long ago considered exclusively as a noun, and that its emergence as a verb also bothered some purists. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastEditorUserId="4752" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T03:43:01.970" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T03:43:01.970" />
  <row Id="12015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12001" CreationDate="2011-02-10T03:39:35.243" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I wrote &quot;there are three ways to spell &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, that would be wrong because there is only one way to spell &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;. Likewise, there is only one way to spell &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; and perhaps two ways to spell &lt;em&gt;two&lt;/em&gt; (the other being &lt;em&gt;2&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the only way to write that sentence correctly would be to include all three, or write the transcription, [tu].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T03:39:35.243" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11661" CreationDate="2011-02-10T03:54:04.893" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When working in England, I've found that &quot;Regards&quot; is most common, even amongst parties that have a good relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When working in Australia, &quot;Best regards&quot; is much more commonly used. Using simply &quot;Regards&quot; would seem quite standoffish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure which is most applicable in Denmark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1963" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T03:54:04.893" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12001" CreationDate="2011-02-10T03:56:27.433" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To flesh out Kosmonaut's answer a little bit, it doesn't make sense to include all three spellings and say that there are three ways to spell those three spellings.  Alternative ways to express what you mean include&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word &quot;to&quot; has two homophones: &#xA;  &quot;two&quot; and &quot;too&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are three words that sound like&#xA;  &quot;to&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If you have an agreed-upon pronunciation notation, like IPA, you could use that.  Presumably that is what Kosmonaut's &lt;i&gt;[tu]&lt;/i&gt; is.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T03:56:27.433" />
  <row Id="12019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12001" CreationDate="2011-02-10T04:06:51.183" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To spell two as too would be wrong, but then too would it be wrong to spell to two or two to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4739" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T04:06:51.183" />
  <row Id="12020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7682" CreationDate="2011-02-10T04:44:16.143" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a question of style, context and your intended audience. Generally, if the use of &quot;i.e.&quot; in the parenthesis is redundant then don't include it. The following doesn't need &quot;i.e.&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;...no historical estimates (estimates prepared prior to 1 February 2001) are available...&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am struggling to think of a situation where &quot;i.e.&quot; is absolutely necessary at all. I use &quot;i.e.&quot; a lot in my writing, but I think in future I am going to assess whether they are necessary at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4776" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T04:44:16.143" />
  <row Id="12021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12004" CreationDate="2011-02-10T04:45:31.480" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_software&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Business applications&lt;/a&gt; is a broader term. Often used to refer to generic applications such as email, whereas Line of Business applications are more specific to business, or the type of business.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.vitarara.net/line-of-business&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;types LOB applications&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Customized E-Commerce Systems&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Workflow Management Systems Support&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tracking Systems Knowledge and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Document Management Systems&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4818" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T04:45:31.480" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4893" CreationDate="2011-02-10T04:56:15.073" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually insert the extra space in between the smile and the closing parenthesis for a couple of reasons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The extra space prevents unintended tokenizing of the second parenthesis.  It bugs me when I write &lt;code&gt;choose (A) or (B)&lt;/code&gt; and the text parser converts the capital B and the right parenthesis to a &quot;cool shades emoticon&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It looks clearer to me.  Without the extra space it just looks like my keyboard hiccuped on the right side.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1954" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T04:56:15.073" />
  <row Id="12023" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12024" CreationDate="2011-02-10T05:38:10.310" Score="4" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to write about a technology which works with other in parallel .. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;can I come up with a single word which phrases like &quot;something which work in parallel&quot;, &quot;work in parallel&quot; etc ..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2152" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T09:10:45.183" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T11:04:09.880" Title="A word which comes with meaning like &quot;something that works in parallel&quot;" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12023" CreationDate="2011-02-10T06:13:54.537" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say that usually you'd need to specify &quot;X works in parallel with Y&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although you could say &quot;X is a concurrent technology&quot; if you qualified earlier what a concurrent technology was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4739" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T06:13:54.537" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12023" CreationDate="2011-02-10T06:15:36.440" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Complementary&lt;/em&gt; is the most likely choice, but we might need more context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4385" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T06:15:36.440" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11997" CreationDate="2011-02-10T06:34:50.900" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read somewhere that it came about, ages ago, to remind people in the printing business, to be careful when typesetting 'p' and 'q', because it was easy to confuse the two. In general, this would mean to take extra care with what you were doing.  Now, it appears to have several meanings including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mind what you say&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mind your manners,    specifically&#xA;'&lt;em&gt;pleases&lt;/em&gt;' and &lt;em&gt;'thank yous'&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mind your own business&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of which are related. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if it would be acceptable to use &lt;em&gt;'mind your Ps and Qs'&lt;/em&gt; to mean &lt;em&gt;take extra care with what you are doing&lt;/em&gt;? I have never heard the phrase used in that context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T06:34:50.900" />
  <row Id="12027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="442" CreationDate="2011-02-10T06:55:21.053" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few out there but some tend to be industry specific. The best general, free and online style guide that I know of is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia%3aManual_of_Style&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia: Manual of Style&lt;/a&gt;. Here are some others: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbctraining.com/pdfs/newsstyleguide.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The BBC News Style Guide&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/APStyleGuide/APSG_2009.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Apple Publications Style Guide&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://styleguide.yahoo.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yahoo! Style Guide&lt;/a&gt; (this one is pretty good).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4776" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T06:55:21.053" />
  <row Id="12028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4893" CreationDate="2011-02-10T07:17:56.183" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think James Joyce would go for a dash instead...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A lot of insertions in parentheses -&#xA;  well, if it's not Lisp :) - can be&#xA;  annoying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="15" LastEditorUserId="15" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T07:40:21.453" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T07:40:21.453" />
  <row Id="12029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12001" CreationDate="2011-02-10T08:11:53.813" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know all the terms for the grammar, I am sure someone else can give the correct terms but here is my attempt at explaining&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Two&quot; refers to a quantity, &quot;I have two apples&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Too&quot; is used in two scenarios. One is to include something, &quot;Me too&quot;, &quot;Include that too&quot;, &quot;You too are going&quot;. The other scenario is when the magnitude or amount is more than desired, &quot;We went too far&quot;, &quot;That is too heavy&quot;, &quot;That costs too much&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;To&quot; is used all the other time, &quot;Lets go to the store&quot;, &quot;I want to run&quot;,&quot;To be or not to be&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4836" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T08:11:53.813" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12001" CreationDate="2011-02-10T08:25:29.953" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question would make more sense if it was about two homophonic nouns - examples of which I can't think of right now - because then it could make sense to mention them together (as a plural). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An oft-used example in French is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=sceau+sot+seau&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;seau/sceau/sot&lt;/a&gt; (with saut, for good measure).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;And as I'm already straying off topic:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's interesting to note that (&lt;em&gt;hand-waving-made-up-fact-warning&lt;/em&gt;) in French they're are often several ways to write the same sound, whereas in English there are several ways to pronounce the same letter sequence (&lt;code&gt;-ough&lt;/code&gt; being a favourite).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastEditorUserId="529" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T10:03:56.627" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T10:03:56.627" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12023" CreationDate="2011-02-10T09:05:12.783" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe &quot;simultaneously&quot; fits perfectly? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4837" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T09:05:12.783" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12023" CreationDate="2011-02-10T09:07:18.760" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Something which is synchronous'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4801" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T09:07:18.760" />
  <row Id="12033" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12054" CreationDate="2011-02-10T09:24:43.460" Score="1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is an example sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At the start of the day you may (if you like) make yourself a slice of toast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are the brackets appropriate to separate the clause &quot;if you like&quot; from the main sentence? Is there a fundamental difference between the following alternatives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At the start of the day you may, if you like, make yourself a slice of toast. (commas)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  At the start of the day you may &amp;mdash; if you like &amp;mdash; make yourself a slice of toast. (em-dashes)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there rules which state when each should be used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3320" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T15:04:24.333" Title="What is the difference between these &quot;clause separators&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11981" CreationDate="2011-02-10T09:27:20.617" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't think of anything stronger than cunt, to be honest, and even that depends on context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(As an aside, I think I'd have to side with @chaos on the debate about whether 'relative obscenity' is a meaningful expression. Even though different people may have different levels of tolerance, I think that in a given society, most will agree on what is 'generally acceptable' or not, and will know how to adapt their vocabulary depending on the company present).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T09:27:20.617" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12035" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12058" CreationDate="2011-02-10T09:30:09.770" Score="1" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find myself these days saying 'cheers' all the time as a kind of mild form of 'thanks', and I heard it said a lot round here (Northamptonshire, England).  It's not even a commoner thing, I'd say the middle class are likely to use it a lot.  Is it used this way in the US, or would you always consider 'cheers' as something to say when toasting?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4801" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T12:54:07.403" Title="Do Americans say 'cheers' to mean 'thanks'?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12023" CreationDate="2011-02-10T09:53:09.637" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being a developer, the first word I'd think of would be &lt;code&gt;concurrent&lt;/code&gt;, however you can also use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;parallel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;synchronous&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;simultaneously&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you mentioned &quot;writing about technology&quot;, I'd say that &lt;code&gt;concurrent&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;synchronous&lt;/code&gt; would &lt;em&gt;technically&lt;/em&gt; be the most correct in this situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;wrt. &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12023/a-word-which-comes-with-meaning-like-something-that-works-in-parallel/12024#12024&quot;&gt;Tom's answer&lt;/a&gt;, I really wouldn't feel the need to explain the meaning of concurrent (unless it was an introductory manual), because most developers (sysadmins, etc.) would already know what that meant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="391" LastEditorUserId="391" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T10:03:15.417" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T10:03:15.417" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11981" CreationDate="2011-02-10T09:56:06.327" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its cunt in Britain too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I think its a perfectly valid question as well btw. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have you seen the movie Atonement, it makes use of the word cunt and its standing.  Bit of a cuntish movie though, probably not worth watching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1180" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T09:56:06.327" />
  <row Id="12038" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-10T10:21:19.343" Score="0" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does the phrase &quot;dip your lights&quot; mean to turn them off or something else? Why the word &quot;dip&quot; is used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quote:&#xA;&lt;em&gt;&quot;If you drive with your headlights on full beam in fog, the light will just reflect back on you. Dip your lights - it will be much easier to see.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4783" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T10:31:32.960" Title="Explain the choice of the verb &quot;dip&quot; in &quot;dip your lights&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="12039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12038" CreationDate="2011-02-10T10:31:32.960" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, dipping the lights means reducing headlight intensity and turning off the ones that aren't angled toward the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4801" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T10:31:32.960" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12040" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-10T10:41:07.783" Score="7" ViewCount="172" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is 'present perfect' present if it happened in the past? And why is it 'perfect'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1750" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T11:30:36.990" Title="Why is 'present perfect' present if it happened in the past? And why is it 'perfect'?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12040" CreationDate="2011-02-10T10:53:13.770" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer: I am not a linguist. But my understanding is that Present Perfect is called like that because it combines the present &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_tense&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;grammatical tense&lt;/a&gt; (you &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt;) and the perfect &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_aspect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;grammatical aspect&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;done&lt;/em&gt;). Compare that to Past Perfect which uses the past tense (you &lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;done&lt;/em&gt;), or the Future Perfect which uses the future tense (you &lt;em&gt;will have&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;done&lt;/em&gt;). The term &lt;em&gt;perfect&lt;/em&gt; comes from Latin &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/perfectus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;perfectus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;achieved, finished, completed&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T10:58:15.430" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T10:58:15.430" />
  <row Id="12042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12023" CreationDate="2011-02-10T10:53:25.733" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most befitting word for your situation is &quot;collateral&quot;, see below for derivation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Collateral derives from the Latin roots&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;col- = &quot;together with/in&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;later- = &quot;side&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, it literally means &quot;together at the side, or parallel&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Web definitions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;col·lat·er·al Adjective /kəˈlatərəl/ /kəˈlatrəl/ &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Additional but subordinate; secondary&#xA;E.g. the collateral meanings of a word&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Situated side by side; parallel&#xA;E.g. collateral veins&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4832" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T10:53:25.733" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12023" CreationDate="2011-02-10T11:04:09.880" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jez: &quot;synchronous&quot; means together in time&quot; (syn + chron + ous)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Potatoswatter: &quot;complementary&quot; would vaguely suggest the connotation of &quot;supporting&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tom &amp;amp; Aviral: &quot;concurrent&quot; could fit the bill, as it literally means &quot;running together with&quot;&#xA;               (con + curr + ent)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alex: &quot;simultaneous&quot; doesn't quite convey the deliberation that &quot;collateral&quot; and &quot;concurrent&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;       do. Such a deliberation is necessary when talking of something that &quot;works together&lt;br&gt;&#xA;       with something.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4832" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T11:04:09.880" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12044" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-10T11:14:11.953" Score="0" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10113/how-long-has-the-f-word-been-in-use-as-an-abusive-term&quot;&gt;How long has the f-word been in use as an abusive term?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I wonder what is the origin of some of the swear words such as the 'F**K' word which English speakers passionately use.  I know this query may sound distasteful, but I would appreciate if someone can shed some light on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4106" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T16:04:21.323" ClosedDate="2011-02-10T18:59:02.113" Title="What's the origin of the swear words like the 'F' word?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12040" CreationDate="2011-02-10T11:22:44.273" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The present perfect, like the simple past, locates the situation, or part of it, in the past:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She &lt;strong&gt;has read&lt;/strong&gt; your letter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She &lt;strong&gt;read&lt;/strong&gt; your letter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the present perfect is a compound tense that combines the present and the past, while the simple past is purely a past tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some reasons its called the &lt;em&gt;present&lt;/em&gt; perfect, and not just the past tense:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Use of time adjuncts&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The present perfect allows the use of time adjuncts referring to the present. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We have, &lt;strong&gt;by now&lt;/strong&gt;, finished most of our work. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*We, &lt;strong&gt;by now&lt;/strong&gt;, finished most of our work. (incorrect)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conversely, the present perfect does not allow the use of time adjuncts referring to the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*We have finished our work &lt;strong&gt;last week&lt;/strong&gt;. (incorrect)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We finished our work &lt;strong&gt;last week&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Current relevance&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the present perfect, the situation in the past is seen to have some kind of current relevance. Compare these two:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;She has lived in this city for ten years.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;She lived in this city for ten years.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've quoted quite a bit from the very descriptive &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.in/books?id=qlxDqB4ldx4C&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;amp;dq=huddleston+pullum&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=WOKJc_fov4&amp;amp;sig=B2cvCw9lvxrMZn6XCZRce8XpJMI&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=5chTTc6rBIa3rAfg7vCQCA&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=8&amp;amp;ved=0CFkQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;A Student's Introduction to English Grammar&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Huddleston and Pullum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As noted in @RegDwight's answer, I understand that the &lt;em&gt;perfect&lt;/em&gt; part comes from the Latin &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=perfect&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;perfectus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, meaning &quot;completed&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastEditorUserId="2972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T11:30:36.990" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T11:30:36.990" />
  <row Id="12046" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12115" CreationDate="2011-02-10T11:41:45.577" Score="5" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm working on an application that takes a special database of words and its word class and determines the such from a given sentence. I'm now working to see if word classes that are found in English are found in other non-European languages. If not, how would do you define word classes for Pacific, Asiatic and other languages?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far, I can take the sentence &lt;em&gt;the boy has a shirt&lt;/em&gt;, tag each word properly and using a Spanish database now, convert that same text to Spanish &lt;em&gt;el nino tiene una camisa&lt;/em&gt;. In essence, I'm creating a multi-functional translation engine, but it won't be used to translate; it's more for simple human-to-machine translation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: I wanted to post this on StackExchange, but the question was more tied to linguistics than programming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4844" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T12:11:07.860" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T19:09:49.683" ClosedDate="2011-02-17T16:27:29.797" Title="Are word classes universal?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;translation&gt;&lt;programming&gt;&lt;linguistics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="12047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11877" CreationDate="2011-02-10T11:42:42.713" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because you say &quot;cycle&quot; and &quot;grows larger...matures&quot;, I'll say, &quot;maturation&quot; - the process of developing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would also go with Fortunate1 and say &quot;evolution&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4832" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T11:42:42.713" />
  <row Id="12048" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-10T11:44:23.770" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T11:44:23.770" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T11:44:23.770" />
  <row Id="12049" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-10T11:44:23.770" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="Questions specifically related to written English" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T11:44:49.947" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T11:44:49.947" />
  <row Id="12050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11637" CreationDate="2011-02-10T11:47:15.343" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a smart way to tackle your problem may be to write &quot;candidate(s)&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4832" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T11:47:15.343" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11981" CreationDate="2011-02-10T12:06:20.507" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It varies from place to place, time to time and person to person.  I really don't think this is an answerable question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T12:06:20.507" />
  <row Id="12052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11954" CreationDate="2011-02-10T12:17:20.850" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;More specifically,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the word is &quot;Grandiloquent&quot;, if the writer has a tendency to use grand words, instead of common ones; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Magniloquent&quot;, if the writer has a tendency to use long/large words, instead of short/small ones &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4832" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T12:17:20.850" />
  <row Id="12053" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-10T12:21:06.573" Score="3" ViewCount="240" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across the following sentence in a technical documentation that explains about integration with HTTP protocol.  What does &quot;rolled your eyes&quot; mean here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Excerpt:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you’re a developer you’re likely&#xA;  fairly familiar with this protocol —&#xA;  you may have even &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;rolled your eyes&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; at&#xA;  the sight of it — but it’s worth&#xA;  mentioning to emphasize our&#xA;  integration’s dependency on proper,&#xA;  well-formed HTTP requests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2663" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T15:30:51.750" Title="What does &quot;roll your eyes&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12033" CreationDate="2011-02-10T12:22:10.267" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Commas are used to set off parenthetical elements if a slight pause is intended. They help set off the parenthetical element without causing a break in narrative. Em dashes or parentheses are used if a longer pause is intended. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Phrases or clauses in parentheses seem less closely related to the sentence than those set off by commas. Em dashes usually set off amplifying statements or asides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At the start of the day you may, if you like, make yourself a slice of toast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At the start of the day you may make yourself a slice of toast (only  if you haven't eaten anything the previous evening of course).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At the start of the day you may--now don't go spreading any butter on it--make yourself a slice of toast. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastEditorUserId="2972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T07:53:52.820" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T07:53:52.820" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12053" CreationDate="2011-02-10T12:29:49.950" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Roll eyes&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;turn (one's eyes) upward, typically to show surprise or disapproval&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sarah rolled her eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T12:29:49.950" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12053" CreationDate="2011-02-10T12:31:59.733" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You (quite literally) roll your eyes when you don't believe something or don't care about it. In this particular case, it is implied that you might be so familiar with the protocol that it's all old news to you. It's all over the place, nothing special, so seeing it &lt;em&gt;yet again&lt;/em&gt; makes you roll your eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T12:31:59.733" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11981" CreationDate="2011-02-10T12:37:57.713" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to research conducted by the British Broadcasting Standards Commission (PDF report at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.asa.org.uk/Resource-Centre/~/media/Files/ASA/Reports/ASA_Delete_Expletives_Dec_2000.ashx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.asa.org.uk/Resource-Centre/~/media/Files/ASA/Reports/ASA_Delete_Expletives_Dec_2000.ashx&lt;/a&gt;) and the New Zealand Broadcasting Standards Authority (PDF report at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bsa.govt.nz/assets/Research/What-Not-to-Swear-Full-BSA2010.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bsa.govt.nz/assets/Research/What-Not-to-Swear-Full-BSA2010.pdf&lt;/a&gt;), the answer appears to most likely also be &quot;cunt&quot; in at least two major branches of British English.  Apparently I was laboring under a misapprehension about its perceived severity outside of the United States.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T12:37:57.713" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12035" CreationDate="2011-02-10T12:54:07.403" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, Americans only use it as a toast, although we're aware that people from the UK and Australia use it as thanks or goodbye.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3244" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T12:54:07.403" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10812" CreationDate="2011-02-10T13:14:08.663" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;American English native speaker, but I've been exposed to the British usage so much that I've ended a couple of emails with it myself.  It always seemed like a fairly reasonable signoff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T13:14:08.663" />
  <row Id="12061" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12063" CreationDate="2011-02-10T13:34:31.833" Score="2" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;What doe the phrase  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110207/00082712982/russian-govt-forced-to-pay-newspaper-editor-it-falsely-accused-piracy.shtml#c40&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;In Soviet Russia, piracy pirates&#xA;  YOU.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;mean?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is implied by &quot;piracy pirates YOU&quot; and what - by &quot;IN Soviet Russia&quot;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My difficulty was because&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The term &quot;pirate&quot; and &quot;piracy&quot; are senseless to apply to Soviet Russia because there was no, strictly speaking, author rights.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Nothing to pirate.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Everything is already belonged by everybody.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12061/what-does-piracy-pirates-mean/12062#12062&quot;&gt;Ed Guiness&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;thanks for the link, I have never heard them.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;At my youth other themes were popular like:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;American to Russian: 'In the USA, I can come to The White House and cry out: &quot;Reagan is a moron&quot;'  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Russian to American: 'I also can come to Red Square and cry out: &quot;Reagan is moron&quot;' &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And those in your link are somewhat unknownat my time and even less now since currently everybody is is quite indifferent to politics.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update2: &#xA;Subjectively, I gave credibility to George Orwell's 1948's 1984, rather more universally known and earlier than Yakoff Smirnoff.     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T14:33:42.717" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T14:33:42.717" Title="What does &quot;piracy pirates&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;metaphor&gt;&lt;word-games&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12061" CreationDate="2011-02-10T13:37:33.827" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a style of humour originated by Yakov Smirnoff&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakov_Smirnoff#Russian_reversal&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakov_Smirnoff#Russian_reversal&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In America, you assassinate president.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Soviet Russia, president assassinate you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T13:37:33.827" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12061" CreationDate="2011-02-10T13:39:07.097" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a (rather unfunny, IMHO) variation of the (rather unfunny, IMHO) &quot;In Soviet Russia&quot; meme. The most famous examples are probably &quot;In Soviet Russia, TV watches you!&quot; and &quot;In Soviet Russia, radio listens to you!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Encyclopedia Dramatica has &lt;a href=&quot;http://encyclopediadramatica.com/In_Soviet_Russia...&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;more examples&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what the sentence basically says is, &quot;in all normal countries, you pirate stuff, but Soviet Russia was so backwards that stuff would pirate you&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T13:39:07.097" />
  <row Id="12064" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12075" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:18:42.430" Score="5" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does &quot;egoistic&quot; and &quot;egotistic&quot; mean the same thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2668" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T14:41:59.990" Title="&quot;egoistic&quot; vs. &quot;egotistic&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12065" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:21:51.023" Score="0" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;in vogue&lt;/em&gt; a commonly used phrase in the UK?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Background:&#xA;The famous Med School book &lt;em&gt;Davidson's Principles and Practice of Medicine&lt;/em&gt; contains the phrase at least once. A med school book is an unusual place for such a phrase to be used in. The reason why I wonder about the usage of the phrase in the UK is that all the three people who authored the book are from Edinburgh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4848" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T17:18:51.903" Title="Usage of 'in vogue'" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12066" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12068" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:23:22.163" Score="3" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know the word &quot;watch&quot; is used as a synonym of spy. Are there other synonyms that are used by native speakers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3997" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T15:27:28.737" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T17:59:25.397" Title="What is the synonym of &quot;spy&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="6" />
  <row Id="12067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12033" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:26:18.180" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think of there being a useful distinction to be made among three roles of parenthetical statements: amplification, clarification and interjection. Although there are definitely no hard-and-fast rules on this, I tend to think they line up as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;amplification: commas or parentheses&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;clarification: commas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;interjection: em dashes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would argue that the commas work best in the original example, because the intent is to clarify the &lt;em&gt;optional&lt;/em&gt; nature of the toast. You don't have to have toast, you may have toast, but only if you want toast. The commas signal that this parenthetical thought is still closely related to the rest of the sentence. At the other extreme would be a true interjection, much less connected to the main thought:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At the start of the day you may -- perhaps if you are in the mood to venerate the great radio comedians Bob and Ray and their &quot;House of Toast&quot; skit -- make yourself a slice of toast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3952" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T14:26:18.180" />
  <row Id="12068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12066" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:30:40.627" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe the word &quot;&lt;strong&gt;snoop&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; could be a good synonym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I caught him &lt;strong&gt;snooping around&lt;/strong&gt; in my office.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Reporters were &lt;strong&gt;snooping on&lt;/strong&gt; the celebrities&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T17:47:55.920" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T17:47:55.920" />
  <row Id="12069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12066" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:30:50.143" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To &lt;em&gt;spy&lt;/em&gt;, in the sense of watching someone or something, could also mean keeping that thing under surveillance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that sense, &lt;em&gt;spy&lt;/em&gt; (the verb) has approximately the same meaning as &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/surveil&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;surveil&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T14:30:50.143" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12070" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:32:46.490" Score="5" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just used this phrase in answering another question, only to realize that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I didn't know its origin and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it is usually used in the negative, as in &quot;..it's not a hard and fast rule, but...&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know the origin, and perhaps why it seems to be more commonly used in the negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3952" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T01:17:03.087" Title="What is the origin of the phrase &quot;hard and fast rule?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12071" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12086" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:36:30.823" Score="0" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;English is my second language, and i don't know much, when to put what word and how to use polite words and not to put big vocabulary.&#xA;Today in conversation with one of my american client i told a sentence like this&#xA;&quot;you refused that time what i told you&quot;, which he felt very ugly and harsh. So in reply he told me not to use Refused beacuse it's a harsh word to put like this. He din't feel much angry on it. But i felt angry about me...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So i just want to know from all my community members how should i learn to use English as simile as possible, and how can i know what vocabulary i should use what time?&#xA;Please give me your suggestion and any resource link if available, or some book names etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4851" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T15:24:03.573" ClosedDate="2011-02-10T16:30:04.533" Title="How to use correct sentence and vocabulary while speaking and writing?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12070" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:37:10.387" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here, &lt;em&gt;fast&lt;/em&gt; doesn't mean &quot;(capable of) moving quickly&quot;. Much rather, it is being used in the sense &quot;firmly fixed&quot; (see &lt;em&gt;fasten your seatbelts&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4577/what-does-fast-friends-mean&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;fast friends&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;). The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/hard-and-fast.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Phrase Finder&lt;/a&gt; says that &quot;This is a nautical term. A ship that was hard and fast was simply one that was firmly beached on land.&quot; It adds that the term was used in figurative sense by the early 19th century. Personally, I don't think it's being used more commonly in the negative, but I am not a native speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T14:37:10.387" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12073" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:39:56.157" Score="3" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of the word 'bats' to mean mad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1860" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T19:04:41.250" Title="The origin of 'bats' to mean mad" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12074" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12082" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:40:39.570" Score="4" ViewCount="250" Body="&lt;p&gt;We've recently moved from New Zealand to New York City, and have noticed that many people (most of whom have good English) pronounce &quot;ask&quot; as &quot;aks&quot;. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Could you please go aks her tomorrow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure, I'll ax her! :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the origin/etymology of &quot;aks&quot;? It seems to be more common among African Americans, but it's definitely used by others too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4850" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T14:47:43.023" Title="Why is &quot;ask&quot; sometimes pronounced &quot;aks&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12064" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:41:55.123" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. While similar, they have some important differences. Consider this note on usage from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1243309#m_en_us1243309&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The words &lt;strong&gt;egoism&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;egotism&lt;/strong&gt; are frequently confused, as though interchangeable, but there are distinctions worth noting. Both words derive from Latin &lt;em&gt;ego&lt;/em&gt; (‘I’), the first-person singular pronoun. &lt;strong&gt;Egotism&lt;/strong&gt;, the more commonly used term , denotes an excessive sense of self-importance, too-frequent use of the word ‘I,’ and general arrogance and boastfulness. &lt;strong&gt;Egoism&lt;/strong&gt;, a more subtle term , is perhaps best left to ethicists, for whom it denotes a view or theory of moral behavior in which self-interest is the root of moral conduct. An &lt;strong&gt;egoist&lt;/strong&gt;, then , might devote considerable attention to introspection, but could be modest about it, whereas an &lt;strong&gt;egotist&lt;/strong&gt; would have an exaggerated sense of the importance of his or her self-analysis, and would have to tell everyone&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T14:41:55.123" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12064" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:41:59.990" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've rarely heard &quot;egoistic&quot;, but to me it indicates a shading of &quot;egotistic&quot; that suggests self-interest or being focused on one's self to the point of ignoring other persons, rather than of flaunting imagined superiority. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Egotistic&quot; and &quot;Egotistical&quot; are much more common and are typically used interchangeably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T14:41:59.990" />
  <row Id="12077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11994" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:44:03.033" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;On the NOAD reports &lt;em&gt;spelling checker&lt;/em&gt;, but it simply describes it as another term for &lt;em&gt;spell-checker&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;spell checker&lt;/em&gt; is reported in the description of &lt;em&gt;spell-checker&lt;/em&gt; as possible variant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To spell-check&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;to spell check&lt;/em&gt;) means to check the spelling of a text using a spell-checker; the meaning of &lt;em&gt;spell-checker&lt;/em&gt; is reported to be &lt;em&gt;a computer program that checks the spelling of words in files of text, typically by comparison with a stored list of words&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To check the spelling&lt;/em&gt; would have a more generic meaning that &lt;em&gt;to spell check&lt;/em&gt;, as the latter verb implicates the use of a computer program. It is possible that, as nowadays the computer is used also as text editor, &lt;em&gt;to spell check&lt;/em&gt; is used even when the operation has not be done with a computer (e.g., &lt;em&gt;the professor has spell-checked my essay&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Searching for &lt;em&gt;[check] the spelling&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;[spellcheck]&lt;/em&gt; on the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;[check]&lt;/em&gt; matches &lt;em&gt;check&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;checks&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;checked&lt;/em&gt;) I get the following data (the values are the frequencies per million; the images can also be seen &lt;a href=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/KJhmL.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/Ah59U.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/KJhmL.png&quot; alt=&quot;usage by context&quot;&gt;&#xA;  &lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/Ah59U.png&quot; alt=&quot;usage per year&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The data evidences that &lt;em&gt;spellcheck&lt;/em&gt; is used more frequently in the last 10 years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T15:23:53.670" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T15:23:53.670" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12053" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:46:10.783" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never seen this phrase used in the context of technical documentation. The phrase is often used specifically in the context of &lt;em&gt;teenagers&lt;/em&gt; rolling their eyes at something their parents, or another authority figure, is saying. Given this context I believe the sense of &quot;rolling your eyes&quot; includes a connotation of silent resistance, or only grudging acceptance, of that authority figure's pronouncement. The resistance could be to excessive repetition, or it could be resistance more generally to the right of the speaker to make the statement or issue the instruction that is met with rolling eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3952" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T14:46:10.783" />
  <row Id="12080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12053" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:47:03.273" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you do &quot;roll your eyes&quot; upward to express disbelief. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To the heavens, specifically, as in &quot;Saints preserve us, is this guy for real?!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T14:47:03.273" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12073" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:47:04.807" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It comes from &quot;bats in the belfry&quot;, a figure of speech drawing an analogy between a person's head and a church belfry, and between bats inhabiting a belfry and mental disturbance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T14:47:04.807" />
  <row Id="12082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12074" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:47:43.023" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This phenomenon is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metathesis_%28linguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;metathesis&lt;/a&gt;. I humbly direct you to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10189/pronunciation-and-spelling-of-asterisk/10242#10242&quot;&gt;my answer&lt;/a&gt; to a related question for details. Here, I will just note that &lt;em&gt;aks&lt;/em&gt; goes back to Old English, where there were two versions of the verb, &lt;em&gt;ascian&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;acsian&lt;/em&gt;. See this &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2734&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Language Log post&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As the OED explains, the verb form spelled &quot;ax&quot;, and meaning &quot;To call upon any one for information, or an answer&quot;, originated more than a thousand years ago in OE. (&quot;Old English&quot;).&lt;br&gt;[...]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The crucial bit of this:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Acsian, axian, survived in ax, down to nearly 1600 the regular literary form, and still used everywhere in midl. and south. dialects, though supplanted in standard English by &lt;em&gt;ask&lt;/em&gt;, originally the northern form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, as a matter of fact, &lt;em&gt;aks&lt;/em&gt; is not a speech error. It is a well-established feature of certain dialects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T14:47:43.023" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="12083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12065" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:53:25.383" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;91 hits in the British National Corpus. The Corpus of Contemporary American is four times larger and has 430 hits. So it seems to be about equally used on both sides of the Atlantic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3542" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T14:53:25.383" />
  <row Id="12084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12066" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:56:03.337" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can also use &quot;notice&quot;, &quot;observe&quot;, &quot;monitor&quot;, &quot;track&quot;, &quot;keep an eye on&quot;, &quot;keep track of&quot;, &quot;keep tabs on&quot; -- all these have slightly different meanings, depending on what you mean to convey when you'd use &lt;em&gt;spy&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use &lt;em&gt;notice&lt;/em&gt; if you mean to say that you suddenly noticed a detail of some sort.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use &lt;em&gt;observe&lt;/em&gt; if you mean to say that you're dispassionately watching something unfold, or noticing a detail or series of details with emotional detachment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use &lt;em&gt;monitor&lt;/em&gt; if you mean to say that you're continually watching something with some measurement in mind that would prompt you to step in or take action if the measurement goes outside a certain range.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All of the &lt;em&gt;keep...&lt;/em&gt; phrases are informal ways of saying that you're going to spend some casual effort going forward to (essentially) monitor something -- they're mostly casual ways of using the &lt;em&gt;monitor&lt;/em&gt; sense of &lt;em&gt;spy&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice that, strictly speaking, &lt;em&gt;spy&lt;/em&gt; can carry a connotation of secret, covert behaviour. When you &lt;em&gt;spy&lt;/em&gt; you have an &lt;em&gt;agenda&lt;/em&gt; of some sort, or a secret purpose. The most neutral version of &lt;em&gt;spy&lt;/em&gt; is to suddenly notice something: the longer the activity spent observing, the more you convey a sense of secretness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4747" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T14:56:03.337" />
  <row Id="12085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12071" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:56:07.170" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Listen to the radio, watch TV, and read books in English. You'll pick things like that up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4675" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T14:56:07.170" />
  <row Id="12086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12071" CreationDate="2011-02-10T15:24:03.573" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You seem to have a pretty good grasp of English already, but what really shows is the way you put together the sentences. It is as if you are taking the sentence structure of your first language and then substituting words. Nathan's suggestion about radio and tv is a good one because it can show you English used in conversation, which will probably be of most use to you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;you refused that time what I told you&quot; might have been better as &quot;you didn't follow my advice&quot; or &quot;you refused my advice&quot;. Both of these are a argumentative (not friendly). &quot;I told you so&quot; is a common choice among friends to point out they were wrong. ANother way to soften it would be &quot;I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T15:24:03.573" />
  <row Id="12087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12053" CreationDate="2011-02-10T15:30:51.750" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An example emote in animated gif form:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://whitefyre.com/rolleyes.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://whitefyre.com/rolleyes.gif&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T15:30:51.750" />
  <row Id="12088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12066" CreationDate="2011-02-10T15:47:03.977" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you mean &lt;em&gt;to spy&lt;/em&gt; then you can use &lt;em&gt;snoop&lt;/em&gt; (informal), &lt;em&gt;keep under surveillance/observation&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;keep a watch on&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;keep an eye on&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;observe&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;spot&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you mean &lt;em&gt;spy&lt;/em&gt; used as noun, then you can use &lt;em&gt;secret agent&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;undercover agent&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;intelligence agent&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;double agent&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;mole&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;snoop&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which word/phrase suits better depends on the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T22:01:01.977" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T22:01:01.977" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12070" CreationDate="2011-02-10T15:55:52.160" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree that it tends to be used in the negative, and I think the reason is pragmatic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are saying there &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; a rule for something, you can in principle point to the rule: you don't need to qualify it. (You might say there is a &quot;specific rule&quot; or a &quot;definite rule&quot;. You might say that there is a rule but it's not certain whether or not it applies to this case. But there is not any pragmatic need to qualify the rule).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are denying the rule, it is much harder to be precise: we often don't know all the rules, or don't know exactly what they say; so there is attraction in being a little bit vaguer. &quot;There is no rule against ...&quot; is a precise statement, which might easily be shown to be wrong, whereas &quot;There are no hard and fast rules against ...&quot; is comfortably vague.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T15:55:52.160" />
  <row Id="12090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11563" CreationDate="2011-02-10T15:56:01.003" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my favorites is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-200778798.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HIPE&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's sort of a riddle game where a player #1 gives player #2 a three or four letter combination of letters that exists somewhere in the middle of another word (known to player #1). Player #2 has to figure out what the word is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;LANN -&gt; FLANNEL&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The name &quot;HIPE&quot; comes from a particularly challenging instance of this game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T15:56:01.003" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-10T15:56:01.003" />
  <row Id="12091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12044" CreationDate="2011-02-10T16:04:21.323" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fuck&quot; appears to be of unknown origin. It is my understanding that many English swear words are typically the English (of course) and the &quot;polite forms&quot; are typically of French origin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T16:04:21.323" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11997" CreationDate="2011-02-10T16:05:57.157" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many theories, (some of them given in answers here) but none of them has any supporting evidence whatever. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/psandqs.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WorldWideWords&lt;/a&gt; has an article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T16:05:57.157" />
  <row Id="12093" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12094" CreationDate="2011-02-10T16:53:26.477" Score="1" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a phrase like &lt;em&gt;the usual yadda yadda&lt;/em&gt;, what does &lt;em&gt;yadda yadda&lt;/em&gt; mean?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What is its origin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please read, this is not the usual yadda yadda! Three things:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because the dumps are quite a bit of work for us, we’re moving to a bi-monthly schedule instead of monthly. Meaning, you can expect dumps every two months instead of every month. If you have an urgent need for more timely data than this, contact us directly, or use the Stack Exchange Data Explorer, which will continue to be updated monthly. —&lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/01/creative-commons-data-dump-jan-11/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Data Dump Jan ’11&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  […]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T23:33:15.533" Title="What does &quot;yadda yadda&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="12094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12093" CreationDate="2011-02-10T16:59:15.803" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was introduced to this phrase by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seinfeld&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jerry Seinfeld&lt;/a&gt; (well, technically, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seinfeld#Main_characters&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Elaine Benes&lt;/a&gt;), but Wikipedia actually says that &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yada_Yada#.22Yada_yada.22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;it's older&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The [&quot;Yada yada&quot;] episode is one of the most famous of the series, specifically for its focus on the phrase &quot;yada yada&quot;. &quot;Yadda yadda&quot; was already a relatively common phrase before the episode aired, used notably by comedian &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenny_Bruce&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lenny Bruce&lt;/a&gt;, among others. The phrase may have originated with the 1950s &quot;yackety-yack&quot;, 1940s vaudeville, and earlier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary has &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yada_yada_yada&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;American, origin unclear, perhaps onomatopoeic of blather; perhaps adaptation of dialectal speech, perhaps from &lt;em&gt;yatata&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;yatter&lt;/em&gt;. Various variant forms appear in the US 1940s–60s; for example, the 1947 American musical Allegro by Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers contains a song called “Yatata, Yatata, Yatata,” about cocktail party chatter[...]. Popularized in the United States in the late 1990s by TV show Seinfeld[...]. Sometimes popularly attributed to Yiddish, but this is dismissed by etymologists[.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the meaning, it's a (colloquial, informal) way of saying &quot;and so on, etcetera&quot;. In your particular case, what is being implied is that when the data dumps are released, there's usually some text in rather standard wording, and if you're a regular, you begin to ignore that text after a while. But this time, the data dump is accompanied by some additional, unusual announcement (namely, &quot;we’re moving to a bi-monthly schedule instead of monthly&quot;), and the author warns you in advance: watch out, this is not the usual &lt;em&gt;blah-blah&lt;/em&gt;, or the usual &lt;em&gt;wall of text&lt;/em&gt;, so don't ignore it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T17:52:18.830" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T17:52:18.830" />
  <row Id="12095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12046" CreationDate="2011-02-10T17:12:17.477" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is some commonality among the word classes appropriate for analysing different languages, but they don't map completely onto each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Bear in mind also that there is not one single agreed classification for any language)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I believe all languages have &lt;em&gt;verbs&lt;/em&gt; but in some languages (eg Japanese) it is possible to regard adjectives as a subclass of verb. Most languages have &lt;em&gt;nouns&lt;/em&gt;, but whether adjectives belong in with them or not may vary (Lojban has no nouns, but I don't know whether there are any natural languages which haven't). I think all languages have &lt;em&gt;pronouns&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;determiners&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T17:12:17.477" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12046" CreationDate="2011-02-10T17:14:14.557" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, some languages like Chinese use &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classifier_%28linguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;classifiers&lt;/a&gt; to specify the class of the next word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1487" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T17:14:14.557" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12065" CreationDate="2011-02-10T17:18:51.903" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would think it comes actually from old French where &lt;em&gt;« vogue »&lt;/em&gt; designates impulsion of a boat. This word is no more used except in the expression &lt;em&gt;« en vogue »&lt;/em&gt;, and in the verb &lt;em&gt;« voguer »&lt;/em&gt; which means “to sail”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1487" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T17:18:51.903" />
  <row Id="12098" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12100" CreationDate="2011-02-10T17:19:38.237" Score="3" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I intended to write full out was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have moved away from obsoleted&#xA;  technologies and technologies being&#xA;  deprecated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I actually wrote feels slightly awkward but I justified leaving it as such because it is concise, sits on my ear in an interesting way and is almost a bit poetic in its simplicity. However what I'm wondering is the validity of the statement: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have moved away from obsoleted and&#xA;  technologies being deprecated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="618" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T21:06:16.020" Title="Validity in the brevity of this prose?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;structure&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12099" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-10T17:23:05.267" Score="2" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm seriously pained when I hear the word &quot;have&quot; used in the present continuous to imply possession. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take for example, the following link from www.wordsmith.org &lt;a href=&quot;http://wordsmith.org/words/fulsome.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://wordsmith.org/words/fulsome.html&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read the Etymology of the word &quot;fulsome&quot;, which has been described as &quot;...-some (&lt;strong&gt;having&lt;/strong&gt; a particular quality). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grammar books have always suggested that this construction implies &quot;eating, consuming, or experiencing&quot;, &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; possession. So, if I say that I'm &quot;having a friend&quot;, I would imply that I'm eating the friend, or having sex with her/him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you folks think? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4832" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T10:00:57.020" Title="Does &quot;having&quot; mean &quot;possession&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12098" CreationDate="2011-02-10T17:33:14.980" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have moved away from obsoleted and technologies being deprecated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;makes no sense. &quot;Obsoleted&quot; what? You have an adjective and no noun to modify.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would be better off saying&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have moved away from technologies that are obsoleted or being deprecated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps you could also say something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have moved away from obsoleted and deprecated technologies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but that sounds very business-speak in a bad way. I don't like the word &quot;obsoleted&quot; anyway. Why not just use &quot;obsolete&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, obsoleted and deprecated are so similar that you might want to try to combine them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have moved away from obsolescent technologies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here &quot;obsolescent&quot; carries both meanings — &lt;em&gt;osbsoleted&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;being deprecated&lt;/em&gt; — and you're already covered with the past tense because that's the job that &quot;We have moved away ...&quot; performs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T17:33:14.980" />
  <row Id="12101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12099" CreationDate="2011-02-10T17:52:43.527" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Have&quot; has many uses in English, and the dictionaries I've just quickly checked do include &quot;possess&quot; as one of its meanings.  The phrase &quot;to have and to hold&quot; in the Book of Common Prayer (1662) suggests that this meaning has been around for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastEditorUserId="1579" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T18:21:44.250" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T18:21:44.250" />
  <row Id="12102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12099" CreationDate="2011-02-10T18:00:21.710" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a difference between the present continuous (&quot;to be&quot; + present participle in &quot;-ing&quot;), and other uses of the present participle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in your example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...-some (having a particular quality)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;there is no &quot;to be&quot;, so this is a use of the participle as an adjective, not a present continuous. It is equivalent to saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...-some (&lt;em&gt;that have&lt;/em&gt; a particular quality)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are correct that using the present continuous here&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*that are having a particular quality&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would be inappropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, in your &quot;friend&quot; example, you are right that saying&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm having a friend&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;that could have a number of meanings(!), but not that the person in question simply is your friend - but, on the other hand, saying&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;People having friends in America knew more about the issues surrounding the president.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is fine, and equivalent to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;People that had friends in America knew more about the issues surrounding the president.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T18:00:21.710" />
  <row Id="12103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12099" CreationDate="2011-02-10T18:05:59.240" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In American English, I can say all of the following without being misunderstood by other native speakers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I have two cats.&quot; (ownership) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;She has several friends.&quot; (Not exactly ownership, but close)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I have a cold.&quot; (experience)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;We have pizza on Friday nights.&quot; (consume)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;He has a beard.&quot; (ownership)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Numbers 1 and 4 would never be mistaken by a native speaker to mean anything other than possession. Context, however, does make a difference. If I were to say, &quot;I had several women last night&quot; that would definitely imply sex.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="573" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T18:05:59.240" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12099" CreationDate="2011-02-10T18:08:36.260" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, you could certainly use &quot;having&quot; to mean possession. Consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I got so used to having a car that I was unprepared for how arduous it was to walk to work every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Having 500 friends on FaceBook isn't as good as having two actual friends in real life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What does having high cholesterol suggest about a person's dietary habits?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T18:08:36.260" />
  <row Id="12106" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12109" CreationDate="2011-02-10T18:19:57.213" Score="0" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whenever possible, default and explicitly mapped names are honored as written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that default and explicitly both talk about how the names are mapped, and thus default would also be an adverb, but I don't see default listed as an adverb in the dictionary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But they could also be nouns when written as thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whenever possible, default and explicit mapped names are honored as written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be the clearest way to write this and can 'default' be an adverb as shown above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another pass at the sentence might read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whenever possible, default mapped names and explicitly mapped names are honored as written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1473" LastEditorUserId="1473" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T18:42:30.097" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T18:46:09.113" Title="Can 'default' be an adverb?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="12107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12106" CreationDate="2011-02-10T18:26:02.547" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I understand the sentence, it's not about &lt;em&gt;defaultly mapped names&lt;/em&gt;, but &lt;em&gt;default names&lt;/em&gt;. That would make &lt;em&gt;default&lt;/em&gt; an adjective, not an adverb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T18:26:02.547" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12106" CreationDate="2011-02-10T18:28:37.390" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I parse the sentence as &quot;default names are honored as written and explicitly-mapped names are honored as written.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Explicitly mapped&quot; would therefore be a phrasal adjective, but leaving out the hyphen in such cases is so common, it is difficult to be sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T18:28:37.390" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12106" CreationDate="2011-02-10T18:34:23.893" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the meaning you apparently want, try &quot;names mapped both explicitly and by default&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T18:34:23.893" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12106" CreationDate="2011-02-10T18:37:44.987" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Building on chaos's answer, and trying to make the sentence less awkward:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whenever possible, all names are&#xA;  honored according to the mapping, whether it is explicitly or by default.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastEditorUserId="3006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T18:46:09.113" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T18:46:09.113" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12106" CreationDate="2011-02-10T18:44:56.757" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps this works?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whenever possible, explicit and default mappings are honored as written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1473" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T18:44:56.757" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12112" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-10T18:52:53.940" Score="0" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2117/are-split-infinitives-grammatically-incorrect-or-are-they-valid-constructs&quot;&gt;Are split infinitives grammatically incorrect, or are they valid constructs?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is a split infinitive still considered bad practice?  It seems to degrade the sentence in my mind to unsplit it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This requires a two-pass approach, one pass to find collisions, and a second to uniquely map their names.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or I can avoid it altogether with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This requires a two-pass approach, one pass to find collisions, and a second uniquely mapping their names.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1473" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T18:52:53.940" ClosedDate="2011-02-10T18:57:44.003" Title="Is a split infinitive still considered bad practice?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;split&gt;" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12113" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12121" CreationDate="2011-02-10T18:56:08.887" Score="9" ViewCount="491" Body="&lt;p&gt;Back in the day, the word &quot;ma'am&quot; (when addressing the Queen) was always pronounced &quot;marm&quot;. British TV shows from before the 80s confirm this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the movie &quot;The Queen&quot;, we are told that the correct pronunciation for &quot;ma'am&quot;  is &quot;ma'am&quot; as in ham, and not &quot;ma'am&quot; as in farm. Some people seem to think this has always been the case. But it has not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this pronunciation a modern development? &#xA;Is it a preference of the current sovereign?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or have we been pronouncing ma'am wrongly throughout the centuries?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4860" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T19:55:42.413" Title="Pronunciation of ma'am when addressing the Queen" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="14" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12073" CreationDate="2011-02-10T19:04:41.250" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usual term I hear is not &lt;em&gt;bats&lt;/em&gt; but &lt;em&gt;batty&lt;/em&gt;, about which &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=batty&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt; says this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;batty&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1580s, &quot;pertaining to bats,&quot; from bat (n.2). Slang sense &quot;nuts, crazy&quot; is attested from 1903, from the expression (to have) bats in (one's) belfry, also meaning &quot;not right in the head&quot; (1901).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T19:04:41.250" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12046" CreationDate="2011-02-10T19:09:49.683" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://email.eva.mpg.de/~haspelmt/2001wcl.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Word classes and parts of speech (pdf)&lt;/a&gt;, a 2001 paper:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Despite the theoretical problems in&#xA;  defining word classes in general, in&#xA;  practice it is often not diﬃcult to&#xA;  agree on the use of these terms in a&#xA;  particular language. This is because&#xA;  nouns, verbs, and adjectives show&#xA;  great similarities in their behavior&#xA;  across languages. [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The general properties of nouns,&#xA;  verbs, and adjectives ... are&#xA;  sufficient to establish these classes&#xA;  without much doubt in a great many&#xA;  languages. However, again and again&#xA;  linguists report on languages where&#xA;  such a threefold subdivision does not&#xA;  seem appropriate. Particularly&#xA;  problematic are adjectives ... but&#xA;  languages lacking a noun- verb&#xA;  distinction are also claimed to exist&#xA;  ..., and ... adverbs ... present&#xA;  difficulties in all languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And towards the end:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hengeveld (1992a) proposed that major&#xA;  word classes can either be lacking in&#xA;  a language (then it is called rigid)&#xA;  or a language may not differentiate&#xA;  between two word classes (then it is&#xA;  called flexible). Thus, `languages&#xA;  without adjectives' ... are&#xA;  either flexible in that they combine&#xA;  nouns and adjectives in one class&#xA;  (N/Adj), or rigid in that they lack&#xA;  adjectives completely. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hengeveld&#xA;  claims that besides the English type,&#xA;  where all four classes (V - N - Adj - Adv)&#xA;  are differentiated and exist, there are&#xA;  only three types of rigid languages&#xA;  (V - N - Adj, e.g., Wambon; V - N, e.g.,&#xA;  Hausa; and V, e.g., Tuscarora), and&#xA;  three types of flexible languages&#xA;  (V - N - Adj/Adv, e.g., German;&#xA;  V - N/Adj/Adv, e.g., Quechua;&#xA;  V/N/Adj/Adv, e.g., Samoan).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Universal&lt;/em&gt; language support is tricky at best, as far as I know linguists are still arguing about which aspects of language are universal and to what extent. (&lt;em&gt;Universal&lt;/em&gt; here meaning &quot;applying to every natural language that could conceivably be used by a human being&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a practical standpoint, e.g. for the purposes of making a program, there is also the question of how common the various language classes are. For example Tuscarora, mentioned as an example above, has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skarure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;grand total of 52 speakers&lt;/a&gt; (according to Wikipedia), and it may become a business decision how far out of your way you are willing to go to support it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IANAL (with the L here meaning Linguist), I merely read up on similar topics in a similar context a few years ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1125" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T19:09:49.683" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12113" CreationDate="2011-02-10T19:25:43.710" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is called &quot;intrusive r,&quot; and is tied up with what is called rhoticity (basically variants of the pronunciation of the &quot;r&quot;). It is part of regional dialects and is encountered in certain areas of the US (such as Baltimore and parts of Pennsylvania &quot;wash&quot;pronounced &quot;warsh&quot;), and I know it also exists in the UK (obviously).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T19:25:43.710" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="12117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12098" CreationDate="2011-02-10T19:28:48.850" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have moved away from deprecated or obsolete technologies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T19:28:48.850" />
  <row Id="12118" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12119" CreationDate="2011-02-10T19:37:28.867" Score="4" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does the phrase &quot;it is up to us to ﬂesh it out&quot; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you suggest any synonyms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4862" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T22:18:53.577" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T15:43:52.037" Title="What does the phrase &quot;it is up to us to ﬂesh it out&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12118" CreationDate="2011-02-10T19:42:27.600" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;up to&lt;/strong&gt;: the duty, responsibility, or choice of (someone): &lt;em&gt;it was up to&#xA;  them to gauge the problem&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;flesh something out&lt;/strong&gt;: add more details to something that exists only in a draft or  outline form: &lt;em&gt;the theorists have fleshed out a variety of scenarios&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this sentence means (it may not fit exactly, you did not give much context): &lt;strong&gt;“it is our responsibility to complete this proposal”&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T15:43:52.037" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T15:43:52.037" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12118" CreationDate="2011-02-10T19:42:44.087" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;flesh it out&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; means to add flesh to the body of something.  That is to say, fatten it up, make it more substantial, take a bare bones skeleton project/example and make it a fully formed entity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short it is using the metaphor of a body, a skeleton, that needs flesh to be complete - to refer to anything that is just the basic structure and needs to be filled in, completed, made whole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T19:42:44.087" />
  <row Id="12121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12113" CreationDate="2011-02-10T19:55:42.413" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an interesting question!  I can’t find any documentation specifically on the issue, so I don’t have a conclusive answer, but here anyway is a lot of relevant information, and a bit of further speculation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The OED lists various pronunciations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Brit. /mam/, /mɑːm/, U.S. /mæm/, /mɑm/; (unstressed) Brit. /məm/, U.S. /əm/, /mˌ/.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also sheds some light on the recent historical usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The γ, δ, and ε forms [respectively &lt;em&gt;mem&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;mim&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;mum&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;mom&lt;/em&gt;; and &lt;em&gt;’m&lt;/em&gt;] represent pronunciations formerly common in British regional usage and in the speech of domestic staff and others of similar status; such forms and pronunciations are also well attested in U.S. regional use, especially in &lt;em&gt;yes ma’am&lt;/em&gt; (see &lt;em&gt;yessum&lt;/em&gt; adv.) and &lt;em&gt;no ma’am&lt;/em&gt;, and as the second element in &lt;em&gt;school-marm&lt;/em&gt; n. Compare &lt;em&gt;marm&lt;/em&gt; n.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Buckingham Palace protocol (c1990) directed that ‘the Queen should be addressed as “Ma’am” (to rhyme with jam).’&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also includes, later:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In 1936, R. W. Chapman ( S.P.E. Tract ii. 241) observed that ‘Except to royal persons, the contraction (whether mahm or măm) seems to be going out.’&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is all informative, but also a bit confusing.  The main thing that’s clear is that the variety of pronunciations goes back quite a long way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second thing is that in modern BrE, the usage of &lt;em&gt;ma’am&lt;/em&gt; is so restricted that it’s very hard to disentangle “what people now use” and “what Buckingham Palace asks for”.  It’s a prescriptivist’s dream!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The third is that the OED itself seems a bit confused: the very pronunciation that the Palace asks for, /mæm/, is one which the OED lists only as U.S. usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The big question this leaves unresolved is: is it only recently that the Palace has asked for “jam”, or was this already officially preferred in the past?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another factor which might be involved is how in many words, the vowel /a/ (of &lt;em&gt;farm&lt;/em&gt;) is partly shifting to /æ/ (of &lt;em&gt;ham&lt;/em&gt;) in prestige BrE accents, and the vowel of &lt;em&gt;jam&lt;/em&gt;/*ham* in these accents has changed.  In eg the early 20th century, in upper-class British accents, the vowel in &lt;em&gt;ham&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;jam&lt;/em&gt; etc. was more raised and fronted than today, somewhat closer to &lt;em&gt;hem&lt;/em&gt;.  Conversely, words like &lt;em&gt;glass&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;class&lt;/em&gt; were uniformly pronounced with the long &lt;em&gt;ah&lt;/em&gt; vowel, /a/.  In many lower-class accents, &lt;em&gt;ham&lt;/em&gt; was much like today, with /æ/, and &lt;em&gt;grass&lt;/em&gt;, etc. were also pronounced with this vowel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since then, the stigma of perceived lower-class and regional accents has decreased, whereas a stigma of being ‘too posh’ has become more widespread; so the raising/fronting of &lt;em&gt;ham&lt;/em&gt; is now very rare, and the pronunciation of &lt;em&gt;grass&lt;/em&gt; with the &lt;em&gt;ham&lt;/em&gt; vowel /æ/ is somewhat more common among RP speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that this shift involves many class issues, and the alternation of /a/ and /æ/, I suspect it may have influenced the pronunciation of &lt;em&gt;ma’am&lt;/em&gt; somewhat.  I’m pretty sure that the shift in the vowel of &lt;em&gt;ham&lt;/em&gt; is relevant, given the older spellings of &lt;em&gt;ma’am&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;mem&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;mim&lt;/em&gt; listed in the OED.  The relevance of the change in &lt;em&gt;grass&lt;/em&gt; is much more speculative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T19:55:42.413" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12098" CreationDate="2011-02-10T20:08:37.287" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have moved away from obsolete and deprecated technologies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can you make &lt;em&gt;obsolete&lt;/em&gt; a transitive verb? I don't get that. And &lt;em&gt;obsolescent&lt;/em&gt; just seems to be a haughtier means of conveying the fact that the technologies are passé; why not use the simpler adjective? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastEditorUserId="4752" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T21:06:16.020" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T21:06:16.020" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9641" CreationDate="2011-02-10T20:44:36.363" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can also use the term &lt;em&gt;desi&lt;/em&gt;, which is commonly used among Indians and other South-central Asians to describe themselves. This term may also be of use to you if you know that the person you've only just met is from that part of Asia, but you're not quite sure from where. I've found, using it, that it's consistently well received -perhaps because of its endonymicity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;from Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Desi [d̪eːsi] or Deshi [d̪e(ː)ʃi] refers to the peoples, cultures, and products of the Indian subcontinent and, increasingly, to the peoples, cultures, and products of their diaspora. Desi countries include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, and there are large desi populations in (e.g.) the UK, US and Canada.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Etymology&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hindi: देसी, Urdu: دیسی, Punjabi: ਦੇਸੀ ,Marathi: देशी, Gujarati: દેશી, Bengali: দেশী, Tamil: தேசி, Telugu: దేశీయుడు, Malayalam: ദേശി, Nepali: देसी,देशी&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This ethnonym belongs in the endonymic category (i.e. it is a self-appellation). Desi originated from the Sanskrit word देश deśa- (&quot;region, province, country&quot;). Its first known usage is in the Natya Shastra (~200 BC), where it defines the regional varieties of folk performing arts, as opposed to the classical, pan-Indian margi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;History&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;During the height of the British Raj, many people from the then-undivided Indian subcontinent emigrated to other British colonies, in search of education and opportunity. After immigration reform in 1965, the US dramatically increased immigration from the Indian subcontinent. Communities that have remained distinct in South Asia have tended to mix in diaspora. Some second or third generation immigrants do not think of themselves as belonging to a particular nation, sub-culture, or caste, but as just plain South Asians or desis, especially as intermarriage between different South Asian diaspora communities increases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T20:44:36.363" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12124" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12125" CreationDate="2011-02-10T20:45:07.320" Score="1" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;They appear to me to mean almost if not exactly the same thing, but I am not sure. Are there differences in meaning between them? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4864" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T23:34:22.487" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T23:34:22.487" Title="&quot;Pending&quot; vs &quot;Impending&quot;. Are they synonyms?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="12125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12124" CreationDate="2011-02-10T20:52:41.810" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are related, but they don't mean the same, not by a long shot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Pending&quot; means something that one is waiting for.  &quot;Patent pending&quot;; a patent for this has been applied for, but it has not yet been granted.  Or &quot;pending confirmation of these changes to the contract, we will sign it&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whereas &quot;impending&quot; means something that is about to happen soon(-ish).  Hmm, I can only think of &quot;impending doom&quot;. ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You wouldn't use one for the other.  &quot;Pending doom&quot;?  No, certainly not synonyms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this from memory, I'm too much of a lazy bastard to look it up. ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastEditorUserId="2701" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T21:03:58.883" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T21:03:58.883" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12126" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12170" CreationDate="2011-02-10T20:55:22.463" Score="4" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;Think of the simple phrase &quot;Bill's friend&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were going to turn this around using the preposition 'of' would you say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A friend of Bill's&#xA;or&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A friend of Bill&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It appears to me that, in the US anyway, people always say &quot;A friend of Bill's&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even though I'm a native American English speaker, this just sounds weird to me. It seems to create a 'double possessive' (a term I just invented). I always want to respond: &quot;A friend of Bill's what?&quot; A friend of Bill's aunt?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what's at work here, and do British English speakers also do this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4859" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T21:41:44.227" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T01:52:54.540" Title="Why use apostrophe-s to denote possession when using 'of'." Tags="&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;double-genitive&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12127" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12128" CreationDate="2011-02-10T21:20:06.530" Score="3" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a recent email I received was this line: &quot;Be under no illusion that 2011 is Our Year.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I understand &quot;Be under no illusion&quot; means the same as &quot;Don't be fooled&quot;. So I would expect that it would be followed by comments such as &quot;It's going to be tough, but we can do it together&quot; or some similar sentiment. However, this statement is then followed by a positive statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me this contradicts the use of &quot;Be under no illusion&quot;. Do I have the meaning wrong or is this one of those crazy phrases that can be used both as a negative and as a positive?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2143" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T19:50:23.280" Title="Can &quot;Be under no illusion&quot; have both positive and negative connotations?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12127" CreationDate="2011-02-10T21:29:11.250" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with you that this, at best, is an unusual use of the phrase &quot;be under no illusion&quot;, while not saying that it's necessarily wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase implies that someone might develop, or has already developed, an illusion (a distorted view) of something. So perhaps if the conventional wisdom was &quot;2011 is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; going to be our year&quot;, the phrase &quot;Be under no illusion, 2011 &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; our year&quot; might make more sense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4859" LastEditorUserId="4859" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T14:00:22.187" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T14:00:22.187" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12127" CreationDate="2011-02-10T21:34:57.303" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interesting question, xiao: running over the possible implications of the phrase, I think it contains both positive and negative allusions.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, &quot;don't be fooled ...it's going to be tough&quot; is a legitimate reading, and the one that I'd have arrived at first.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Equally, it can be seen as &quot;don't be fooled [by the naysayers] ...we'll perform superbly.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I sense a subtle threat in the phrase no matter how it's read: the subtext says &quot;don't be an idiot; believe what we're about to tell you, or else ...&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastEditorUserId="4752" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T21:43:46.690" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T21:43:46.690" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12126" CreationDate="2011-02-10T21:41:21.947" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct form is &lt;em&gt;“a friend of Bill’s”&lt;/em&gt;, and it's called a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genitive_case#Double_genitive&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;double genitive&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (see also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/double%20genitive&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T21:41:21.947" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11826" CreationDate="2011-02-10T21:51:44.583" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Wikipedia entry has sourced its answer from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/261135&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Oxford English Dictionary entry for 'mackem'&lt;/a&gt;. As far as word origins are considered, probably as authentic as it gets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4866" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T21:51:44.583" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5768" CreationDate="2011-02-10T22:26:19.470" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;On the live album &quot;Waiting for Columbus&quot; by Little Feat (recorded August 1977), the emcee begins the record by urging the audience to &quot;give it up for Little Feat.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T22:26:19.470" />
  <row Id="12134" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12140" CreationDate="2011-02-10T22:41:35.110" Score="7" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;The surreal world in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/a-beginners-guide-to-unemployment/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;New York Times article&lt;/a&gt; depicted by a seasoned editor at Harper’s Magazine who was laid off recently and experiencing bitter world, under the title, ‘A Beginner’s Guide to Unemployment’ was entertaining as well as relevant to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I can’t understand phrases, “The great whatever this is,” and “It can’t double dip if it never comes back up.” the writer quoted in the following sentence. Are they 'so called' buzz words? Why do you need to place ‘up’ after ‘never come back’? Can somebody teach me what do these two phrases mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lately it seems people have grown inordinately fond of using the word surreal to describe circumstances and events that are in fact only new and confusing. Take for example last week, when I had the misfortune to be laid off after six mostly satisfactory years from my job at Harper’s Magazine. My friends and relatives insisted almost in unison that I admit to the surrealism of falling victim to what another friend has taken to calling “The Great Whatever This Is,” and which I like to refer to as the “It Can’t Double Dip if It Never Comes Back Up.” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T07:53:12.887" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T07:53:12.887" Title="What do “The great whatever this is,” “It can’t double dip if it never comes back up.”mean?" Tags="&lt;catch-phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12135" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12153" CreationDate="2011-02-10T22:42:59.587" Score="2" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose I have the sentence: &quot;This is a website done right.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds wrong, but I cannot find any grammatical rules that confirm my suspicions. Am I just crazy or is that improper grammar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4872" LastEditorUserId="3591" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T23:58:48.193" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T02:14:19.670" Title="Is the expression &quot;done right&quot; proper grammar?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="12136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12127" CreationDate="2011-02-10T22:44:59.967" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a native (US) speaker, I find the phrase odd-sounding.  I don't believe I've ever encountered it.  Despite that, I wouldn't interpret that phrase as inherently positive or negative; the clause that follows would determine that.  However, I would interpret 'don't be fooled' the same way.  In each case, the speaker is trying to disabuse someone of a concept that the speaker finds incorrect in and of itself, whether or not that incorrectness is positive or negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I encountered a billboard the evening after I posted this answer, with the more common phrase which I could not remember at the time: &lt;em&gt;&quot;Make no mistake&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.  Applied to the original statement, it would be &lt;em&gt;&quot;Make no mistake - 2011 is Our Year.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastEditorUserId="1267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T19:50:23.280" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T19:50:23.280" />
  <row Id="12138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12134" CreationDate="2011-02-10T22:56:50.083" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both of those phrases refer to the current economic situation: &quot;The Great Whatever This Is&quot; is a play on &quot;The Great Depression&quot; &amp;mdash; popular sentiment seems to frown on calling the current downturn a &lt;em&gt;depression&lt;/em&gt;, while &lt;em&gt;recession&lt;/em&gt; doesn't seem strong enough &amp;mdash; and &quot;It Can't Double Dip If It Never Comes Back Up&quot; comes from the concept of a &lt;em&gt;double-dip recession&lt;/em&gt; (which is itself a play on &quot;double-dipping&quot;, i.e. dunking your partially-eaten chip back in the dip).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T22:56:50.083" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12134" CreationDate="2011-02-10T22:58:03.600" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;The Great Whatever This Is&quot; is a reference to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Great Depression&lt;/a&gt;. The economy isn't in a depression, but it is undergoing significant changes. These changes are &quot;great&quot; in some sense, but the author doesn't know exactly what to call them. &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/08/news/economy/double_dip_recession.fortune/index.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Double dip&lt;/a&gt;&quot; is an ill-defined term referring to a double drop in the economy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T22:58:03.600" />
  <row Id="12140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12134" CreationDate="2011-02-10T22:58:32.147" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are economics / economic history terms. Given that the article is about unemployment I think the Great X referred to here is &quot;The Great Depression&quot;, and the recent coinage &quot;The Great Recession&quot;...hence, &quot;The Great...whatever this is.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for &quot;double-dip&quot;, that refers to the economy going down sharply, then rising, then falling sharply again. The shape of the curve is a double dip. What the author is saying is that a double-dip (which everyone is afraid of) isn't possible unless there's a rise after the first decline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T22:58:32.147" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="12141" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:05:50.573" Score="2" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know &quot;fire and brimstone&quot; is an idiomatic expression of signs of God's wrath in the Hebrew Bible. Is the phrase commonly used by Americans or it is only used in Bible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4873" LastEditorUserId="513" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T02:46:03.323" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T02:47:40.107" Title="Is the phrase &quot;fire and brimstone&quot; used by Americans or it is only in Bible?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;common-phrase&gt;&lt;common-expression&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12142" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12145" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:09:52.020" Score="3" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He survived 10 attempts on his life, and at 82 his health was a subject of speculation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do the people speculate, &lt;em&gt;health&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;subject&lt;/em&gt; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T23:20:53.320" Title="what's the meaning of 'subject of speculation' ?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12066" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:10:08.767" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;infiltrator, undercover agent&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4873" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T23:10:08.767" />
  <row Id="12144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12135" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:10:21.667" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you're just crazy.  (Hey, &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; started this! ;-))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds perfectly fine to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T23:10:21.667" />
  <row Id="12145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12142" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:13:46.410" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means the subject of their speculation was his health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T23:13:46.410" />
  <row Id="12146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12141" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:14:23.667" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is commonly used by Americans. It generally refers to a style of Christianity, whether by general practice or specifically as a style of sermon. It is generally used as a pejorative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might hear it like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Kim and I have been trying out a new church, but last week's worship was really full of &lt;strong&gt;fire and brimstone&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T23:18:49.140" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T23:18:49.140" />
  <row Id="12147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12141" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:15:59.943" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen &quot;fire and brimstone&quot; used to describe a certain style of preaching popular in 19th century America. Modernly, if the usage wasn't specifically historical, I would interpret it negatively &amp;ndash; preaching (or more broadly, oration) that is loud and high in predictions of doom and gloom, but low in actual content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T23:15:59.943" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12148" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12154" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:16:29.387" Score="5" ViewCount="263" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does it mean to &quot;have a hard-on for someone&quot; in a non-sexual sense? I've heard it used in contexts that make it seem like the subject is acting aggressive or belligerent toward &quot;someone&quot;. Is that right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3591" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T00:56:39.053" Title="Is there a non-sexual meaning of &quot;to have a hard-on for someone&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;offensive&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12142" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:16:33.227" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are speculating that his health might be in less than stellar shape. What is the subject of speculation? &quot;His health&quot;. Speculation requires a subject, like a conversation, or a contemplation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is either about Mubarak, or perhaps Steve Jobs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T23:16:33.227" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12141" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:20:00.357" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say that it is a fairly common expression.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; returns 77 hits from the last 20 years, including uses by ABC's &lt;em&gt;Nightline&lt;/em&gt;, CNN, USAToday, NPR, Forbes, and many others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Martha says, its original context is primarily religious, but it's often used for any sort of alarmist speechmongering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T23:20:00.357" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12142" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:20:53.320" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The health. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;This talk is on the subject of the local teenagers&quot; It's a formal, but useless addition to many sentences. You would say subjection to talk about what is being done to the teenagers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With your quote it can be ambiguous, his health may have been notably unperfect before, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mubarak#Illness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;as is the case with Mubarak.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3826" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T23:20:53.320" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12135" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:21:22.453" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/right&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary entry&lt;/a&gt; for &quot;right&quot;, there is no meaning of &quot;right&quot; that is an adverb meaning &quot;correctly&quot; (however, there are other adverbial meanings of &quot;right&quot;). So, if you trust it as a source, the (pedantic, technical, grammatical) answer is no. &lt;em&gt;However, &quot;done right&quot; is very commonly used in &lt;strong&gt;informal&lt;/strong&gt; contexts in American English to mean &quot;done correctly&quot;.&lt;/em&gt; I would not say or write &quot;done right&quot; in any formal context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3591" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T23:21:22.453" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12135" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:30:24.940" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/right&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;M-W.com&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;right (adverb)&lt;/em&gt; can mean &quot;in a suitable, proper, or desired manner&quot;, and gives as an example of that usage &quot;knew he wasn't doing it right.&quot;  So I'm gonna have to go with the &quot;you're just crazy&quot; option.  :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T23:30:24.940" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12148" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:33:06.157" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can mean that they have a grudge and are actively trying to settle it, which would often include aggressive or belligerent behavior.  I think the meaning comes from a general sense of being focused on someone to a degree reminiscent of sexual fascination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T23:33:06.157" />
  <row Id="12155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12093" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:33:15.533" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;em&gt;Urban Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; it's a phrase that means &quot;&lt;strong&gt;and so forth&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; or &quot;&lt;strong&gt;on and on&lt;/strong&gt;;&quot; it usually refers to something that is a minor detail or boring and repetitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4873" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T23:33:15.533" />
  <row Id="12156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12148" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:38:08.523" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, it's a clearly sexual term, but I've never heard it used in an aggressive sense.  When used non-sexually, it generally would indicate that someone really likes something (or someone) and is inclined to talk it up at any opportunity.  There's also a connotation that they're rather obnoxiously persistent about doing so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T23:38:08.523" />
  <row Id="12157" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:40:34.950" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T23:40:34.950" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T23:40:34.950" />
  <row Id="12158" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:40:34.950" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="Questions concerning the frequency a phrase is used in contemporary English and how it is common." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T01:21:06.517" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T01:21:06.517" />
  <row Id="12159" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:41:53.060" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T23:41:53.060" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T23:41:53.060" />
  <row Id="12160" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:41:53.060" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T23:41:53.060" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T23:41:53.060" />
  <row Id="12161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12148" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:46:09.283" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard the phrase used in a corporate setting to describe someone who is aggressively focused on surpassing or doing down a particular rival, or on defeating a project or proposal. In this usage, I believe that deploying a phrase with sexual significance is a kind of intensifier, because the speaker is juxtaposing that significance on such a non-sexual context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3952" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T23:46:09.283" />
  <row Id="12162" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12165" CreationDate="2011-02-11T00:17:16.040" Score="3" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;A while back I was talking about it with friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8432/meaning-of-meta&quot;&gt;Another question indicates a few meanings of the &quot;meta-&quot; prefix.&lt;/a&gt; Considering that &quot;meta&quot; means, in simple words, &quot;about itself&quot; (like how metadata is data about data), what would be the appropriate prefix to mean the opposite relationship?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seemed to us that &quot;meta&quot; raised a concept to a new level, and we were wondering what prefix would, conversely, lower a concept to another level. Is there another prefix I could use to cancel out the &quot;meta&quot; in &quot;metadata&quot; to get back to &quot;data&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1432" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T08:58:43.183" Title="What is the opposite of &quot;meta&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;prefixes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12163" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12164" CreationDate="2011-02-11T00:40:14.353" Score="1" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/Oxkhh.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's meaning of the 'Rep.'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T01:41:04.627" Title="About the word 'Rep.'." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="12164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12163" CreationDate="2011-02-11T00:51:48.413" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Representative&lt;/strong&gt;, in the U.S. political sense: that is, someone elected to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;House of Representatives&lt;/a&gt;.  Specifically, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Lee_%28politician%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this guy&lt;/a&gt;.  Not &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Lee&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this more famous guy&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/1uYKC.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; As Justin points out in comments, that’s what &lt;em&gt;Rep.&lt;/em&gt; means in this particular example, but in other contexts it can mean &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rep&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;many other things too&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T01:41:04.627" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T01:41:04.627" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="12165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12162" CreationDate="2011-02-11T00:52:32.580" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Meta-&lt;/em&gt; comes from Ancient Greek, and in this sense means beyond, with, about or after. An example is Aristotle's &lt;em&gt;Metaphysics&lt;/em&gt; which his editors placed after his &lt;em&gt;Physics&lt;/em&gt;, and started readers thinking it might mean more than location.  That suggests to me that the Latin &lt;em&gt;pre-&lt;/em&gt; or Greek &lt;em&gt;pro-&lt;/em&gt; could be possible antonyms used in a similar way.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this would only help if people used it.  Shall we try to push &lt;em&gt;premetadata&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;prometadata&lt;/em&gt;? Or would &lt;em&gt;actual data&lt;/em&gt; be more easily understood?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T00:52:32.580" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12148" CreationDate="2011-02-11T00:56:39.053" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can go either way. When the police &quot;have a hard on&quot; for someone, it means they're looking to put that person in jail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it can mean approval as well. Consider this line from Stanley Kubrick's film &lt;em&gt;Full Metal Jacket&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Gunnery Sergeant Hartman:&lt;/strong&gt; Today ... is Christmas! There will be a magic show at zero-nine-thirty! Chaplain Charlie will tell you about how the free world will conquer Communism with the aid of God and a few Marines! &lt;strong&gt;God has a hard-on for Marines because we kill everything we see!&lt;/strong&gt; He plays His games, we play ours! To show our appreciation for so much power, we keep heaven packed with fresh souls! God was here before the Marine Corps! So you can give your heart to Jesus, but your ass belongs to the Corps! Do you ladies understand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly, Sgt. Hartman means that God likes Marines when he uses this expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T00:56:39.053" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12167" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-11T01:05:49.697" Score="0" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;What was slang for &lt;code&gt;absentminded&lt;/code&gt; before &lt;code&gt;space cadet&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4876" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T01:33:07.770" Title="What was slang for `absentminded` before `space cadet`?" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12167" CreationDate="2011-02-11T01:32:14.743" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;code&gt;scatterbrain&lt;/code&gt;, seemingly from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=scatterbrain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1790&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Or &lt;code&gt;hare-brained&lt;/code&gt; from ca. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=hare-brained&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1540&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although, it's hard to trust those figures without sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4778" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T01:32:14.743" />
  <row Id="12169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12167" CreationDate="2011-02-11T01:33:07.770" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Woolly-headed comes to my mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There seems to be a number of uses for absent-minded beyond the usual 'forgetful' - and plenty of synonyms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://thesaurus.com/browse/absent-minded&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://thesaurus.com/browse/absent-minded&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T01:33:07.770" />
  <row Id="12170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12126" CreationDate="2011-02-11T01:52:54.540" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As @FX_ points out, it’s called a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genitive_case#Double_genitive&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;double genitive&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;double possessive&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this example, it’s not compulsory: both &lt;em&gt;a friend of Bill’s&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;a friend of Bill&lt;/em&gt; are correct, although the first is probably more common.  (Usage data, anyone?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If Bill were replaced by a pronoun, however (poor Bill!), the double genitive would be required: &lt;em&gt;a friend of mine&lt;/em&gt; is correct, but not *&lt;em&gt;a friend of me&lt;/em&gt;.  (Similarly with &lt;em&gt;yours&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;his&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt;, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, sometimes, this is needed to avoid ambiguity between the possessive and other uses of &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt;: for instance, &lt;em&gt;a picture of Bill’s&lt;/em&gt; means that he owns the picture, whereas &lt;em&gt;a picture of Bill&lt;/em&gt; means he’s portrayed in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T01:52:54.540" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12171" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12181" CreationDate="2011-02-11T02:08:16.540" Score="7" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;While Americans (and possibly others) pronounce this as &quot;loo-tenant&quot;, folks from the UK pronounce it as &quot;lef-tenant&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4778" LastEditorUserId="1778" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T07:55:41.943" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T03:22:34.477" Title="&quot;Lieutenant&quot; pronunciation" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12135" CreationDate="2011-02-11T02:14:19.670" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may sound wrong because it's a contraction - the full form is &quot;this is a website that was done right&quot;. Now that's ugly passive voice, I think &quot;someone did a great job on this website&quot; sounds better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, it's wrong in the same way as &quot;as seen on TV&quot; is wrong :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4760" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T02:14:19.670" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12173" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12176" CreationDate="2011-02-11T02:17:02.960" Score="0" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which of the following would be more comprehensible to say in English:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At last I'll tell?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At farewell I'll say? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Last word? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as the title in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL0KNYT5MQU&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;song А напоследок я скажу&lt;/a&gt; (words by Bella Akhmadulina, musics by Andrei Petrov from Eldar Ryazanov's movie &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090368/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Cruel Romance&quot;, 1984&lt;/a&gt;), sang by Ponomareva (in movie &quot;performed&quot;  by Larissa Guzeeva and Nikita Mihalkov)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T02:30:16.270" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T02:30:16.270" Title="I'll say at farewell or at last?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;lyrics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="12174" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-11T02:20:25.297" Score="7" ViewCount="223" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Curiouser&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; in fact, a word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Yes, this question is very short, but that's really all I need to ask.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1862" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T06:09:53.833" Title="Curiouser and curiouser..." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12171" CreationDate="2011-02-11T02:21:35.653" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;en.wiktionary.org claims that &lt;em&gt;leftenant&lt;/em&gt; is an archaic spelling of lieutenant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T02:21:35.653" />
  <row Id="12176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12173" CreationDate="2011-02-11T02:27:07.193" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;And finally, I’ll say…&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;?  Whatever one uses, to make sense in context of the song it has to be something that can be followed by &lt;em&gt;goodbye&lt;/em&gt;, which eg &lt;em&gt;I’ll tell&lt;/em&gt; doesn’t work for.  If you want something that’ll fit the scansion and meaning of the song better: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;And, as the end arrives, I’ll say…&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; — although then it starts to sounds like it should be referring to &lt;em&gt;My way&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T02:27:07.193" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12174" CreationDate="2011-02-11T02:28:52.757" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is because Lewis Caroll says it is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Curiouser and curiouser!” Cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English). “Now I’m opening out like the largest telescope that ever was! Good-bye, feet!” (for when she looked down at her feet they seemed to be almost out of sight, they were getting so far off). “Oh, my poor little feet, I wonder who will put on your shoes and stockings for you now, dears? I’m sure I shan’t be able! I shall be a great deal too far off to trouble myself about you: you must manage the best way you can—but I must be kind to them,” thought Alice, “or perhaps they won’t walk the way I want to go! Let me see. I’ll give them a new pair of boots every Christmas.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T02:28:52.757" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="12178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12174" CreationDate="2011-02-11T02:30:40.717" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not quite&lt;/strong&gt;, apart from in the specific phrase “curiouser and curiouser”, taken from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Alice in Wonderland&lt;/a&gt;.  Lewis Carroll was playing with language there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;-er&lt;/em&gt; ending is almost never used with words of more than two syllables: so eg &lt;em&gt;more beautiful&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;more curious&lt;/em&gt;, not usually &lt;em&gt;?beautifuller&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;?curiouser&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; the OED agrees — it doesn’t list &lt;em&gt;curiouser&lt;/em&gt; as a word or a form of &lt;em&gt;curious&lt;/em&gt;, but does list &lt;em&gt;curiouser and curiouser&lt;/em&gt; as a phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T06:09:53.833" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T06:09:53.833" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12174" CreationDate="2011-02-11T02:32:11.963" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Standard English, this is not a properly formed word; the standard form is &quot;more curious&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a general principle, the comparative &lt;em&gt;-er&lt;/em&gt; suffix attaches to monosyllabic words, and &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; is preferred with polysyllabic words, so even though a word like &lt;em&gt;curiouser&lt;/em&gt; is readily understood, it has an odd quality to it — this is the reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://oed.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;OED&lt;/a&gt;, the word &lt;em&gt;curiouser&lt;/em&gt; was coined by Lewis Carroll in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Alice in Wonderland&lt;/a&gt; in 1865, as the phrase &quot;curiouser and curiouser&quot;.  In fact, the OED cites this phrase only, and does not treat &lt;em&gt;curiouser&lt;/em&gt; as a word unto itself; the phrase has the meaning &quot;increasingly strange&quot;.  With this in mind, you might be able to justify the use of the entire &lt;em&gt;phrase&lt;/em&gt; in a formal context (depending on your audience).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Addendum:&lt;/strong&gt; Let me just state (for the record) that if you are wondering if this would be considered a word in the pure linguistic sense (rather than in Standard English), then I think that most linguists would say yes; it probably has been around long enough and is well-established enough to be considered a word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T02:56:51.987" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T02:56:51.987" CommentCount="13" />
  <row Id="12180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12141" CreationDate="2011-02-11T02:47:40.107" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Gen 19:24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and&#xA;  upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from&#xA;  the LORD out of heaven;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the passage I think the comment comes from. God sent two angels to check out how wicked the cities where. The citizens of the city tried to gang rape the angels, and it's implied that they attempted this with every traveler who passed through the city. God found this so offensive the only option was to more or less nuke the entire city. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the idea behind the phrase &quot;fire and brimstone&quot; is that something is so offensive that destroying it is the only alternative. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This phrase also is applied to certain preaching styles that attempt to use God's judgement to scare people into repentance. For a perfect example for a &quot;fire and brimstone&quot; sermon see &lt;a href=&quot;http://edwards.yale.edu/archive?path=aHR0cDovL2Vkd2FyZHMueWFsZS5lZHUvY2dpLWJpbi9uZXdwaGlsby9nZXRvYmplY3QucGw/Yy4yMTo0Ny53amVv&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God&quot;&lt;/a&gt; by Jonathan Edwards (AD 1739). It's probably one of the best known sermons of this type.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The style is also known in some parts (northern mid-west of the US is where I've heard it) as &quot;Hell-fire and brimstone&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2191" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T02:47:40.107" />
  <row Id="12181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12171" CreationDate="2011-02-11T03:42:18.470" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=lieutenant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt; indicates that spelling with &lt;em&gt;lef-&lt;/em&gt; dates to the 14th century, but that the origins of that spelling (and presumably its associated pronunciation) are &quot;mysterious&quot;. The word comes originally from Old French, and there is evidence (according to the OED) that some dialects of Old French replaced word- or syllable-final [w] with [f]; for the Modern French word &lt;em&gt;lieu,&lt;/em&gt; this is shown by an Old French spelling variant &lt;em&gt;luef.&lt;/em&gt; Both forms, whyever they exist, just happened to stick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T03:42:18.470" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12182" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12184" CreationDate="2011-02-11T03:44:29.980" Score="0" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would it be comprehensible to say &lt;em&gt;I am &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/write-only&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;write-only&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The meaning of &quot;write-only&quot; in IT is that something (content of a file) can be written but not read.         &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T02:55:18.297" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T02:55:18.297" ClosedDate="2011-02-13T09:50:57.090" Title="Is &quot;I'm write-only&quot; comprehensible?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;technical&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12182" CreationDate="2011-02-11T03:56:46.943" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could certainly say that, although it would probably be best to restrict it to when you're in the company of computer geeks.  Without any context, I would assume that you are indicating that you can keep a secret: someone can tell you something and you'll remember it, but nobody will be able to &quot;read&quot; that information back from you because you'll never tell it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T03:56:46.943" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12185" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12186" CreationDate="2011-02-11T04:09:12.893" Score="1" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Typical&lt;/em&gt; actually means &quot;of a particular type&quot; but that particular type may not be difficult.&#xA;What do you people think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4881" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T11:23:33.510" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T22:32:03.970" Title="People usually use &quot;typical&quot; in place of using &quot;difficult&quot;. Does &quot;typical&quot; also mean &quot;difficult&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12185" CreationDate="2011-02-11T04:23:56.750" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Typical does not mean difficult. If something — at task, say, like icing a cake — is usually easy, it would be typical for it to be easy. &lt;em&gt;Difficult&lt;/em&gt;, however, would never mean &lt;em&gt;easy&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Typical&lt;/em&gt; means  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;having the distinctive qualities of a particular type of person or thing &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those qualities might be difficulty, easiness, awkwardness, oddness, friendliness, whatever: the point is, they would be representative of a type.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T04:23:56.750" />
  <row Id="12187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12185" CreationDate="2011-02-11T04:29:46.650" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, they don't mean the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People may however use &quot;typical&quot; to express dissatisfaction with something. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Typical Jim, he's always late&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Typical, I knew I was going to fall into that cake, my day is ruined&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4739" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T04:29:46.650" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12188" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-11T05:24:07.897" Score="4" ViewCount="245" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a colleague who often writes sentences in the form &quot;While, [these circumstances would make X seem unlikely to be the case], [these other circumstances show that X is in fact the case].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: &quot;While, it looks warm outside, there is actually a cold breeze so it is not warm at all.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or take this real life example: &quot;While, the Ports Access Regime does not expressly stipulate that access can be provided on different terms and conditions, the mechanisms in the Regime support the commercial negotiation of individual access arrangements, and access on different terms and conditions is not precluded.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Surely that is incorrect? One gets rid of the comma following the &quot;While,&quot; in all cases, correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4883" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T14:12:48.710" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T14:12:48.710" Title="Can a sentence starting with &quot;While, ...&quot; be grammatically correct?" Tags="&lt;comma&gt;&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12188" CreationDate="2011-02-11T05:40:53.017" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct; &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt; should not have a comma after it in these situations.  It is being used as a conjunction, with a meaning of &quot;in spite of the fact that&quot;.  If you substitute that series of words in for the &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt;, it should be obvious that a comma is not called for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In spite of the fact that, it looks warm outside, there is actually a cold breeze...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T05:40:53.017" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8554" CreationDate="2011-02-11T05:44:02.843" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currently, the correct plural of Prius is Prius since there is no current agreed upon plural, or at least one that doesn't exist.  You wouldn't say &quot;mooses&quot;, you just say, &quot;look at all the moose&quot;. Of course, the plural for mouse is mice; so maybe it's &quot;Price&quot; lol!  If I was a dealership making a commercial, I would just say, &quot;C'mon down and check out our large inventory of Prius.  It may sound awkward, but it's better than Prii, Prium, Prien (what the hell is a Prien?) or even &quot;Prius cars&quot; which is a bit redundant.  I don't think there is any historical basis for the word &quot;Prius&quot; on which to base a Latin plural like Prium or Prii, so Prius would remain grammatically correct.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4885" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T05:44:02.843" />
  <row Id="12191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12182" CreationDate="2011-02-11T05:56:10.987" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would assume that to mean that you are unable to recall anything. Of course, if this is true, it seems pointless to answer your question...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3639" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T05:56:10.987" />
  <row Id="12192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12182" CreationDate="2011-02-11T06:03:46.627" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course if this were in spoken conversation, then write-only would be insdistinguishable from right-only, and you'd sound like you were boasting that you were always right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4846" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T06:03:46.627" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12193" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12304" CreationDate="2011-02-11T07:10:17.790" Score="-1" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;After reading &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/3085/vgv8?tab=accounts&quot;&gt;vgv8&lt;/a&gt;'s:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;comments to answer in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11537/thanks-or-no-thanks/11541#11541&quot;&gt;Thanks or no thanks&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12183/are-heavens-promised&quot;&gt;Are heavens promised?&lt;/a&gt;   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I asked around my colleagues what is the meaning of separate words (the words are not fixed like in idioms and can vary) in some of the mostly frequently used very simple phrases (*) and nobody could tell with a certainty.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would you call words for which you do not know the meaning but apply subconsciously or based on habit or innate feeling?    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(*)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For example, I asked what does convey the word &quot;Дa&quot; in phrase &quot;Да нет&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Some thinks it conveys the meaning &quot;that is&quot;, others that it is emphatic amplification or affirmation of the following word (&lt;strong&gt;though, in my opinion the meaning is to smooth the negation, i.e. the opposite to amplification as others think!&lt;/strong&gt;, and make it more passable and casual), others that it is synonym of flowing conunction (&quot;and&quot;). Anyway, nobody could tell immediately.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;English is not my native language so I coulв not  provice examples in English or poll English speaking people since I do not have anyone around me.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you provide examples in English, I shall substitute mine in Russian &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T01:58:22.527" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T06:21:24.403" ClosedDate="2011-02-12T20:50:01.753" Title="How would you call a word for which you don't know the meaning but use it fluently?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12194" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12210" CreationDate="2011-02-11T07:33:43.477" Score="3" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I appreciate that the correct name for a group of bees is swarm, which is accurate whether the bees are clustered together or not.&#xA;With that in mind, how correct is it to refer to the same group of bees as a bunch as opposed to a swarm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4888" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T12:49:42.720" Title="Can the statement &quot;bunch of bees&quot; be correct?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12195" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12198" CreationDate="2011-02-11T08:20:27.540" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been trying to formulate a question for quite some time, and I haven't been able to come up with a better way to describe it. I hope it's not too confusing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a number of ways to use &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markup_language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;markup languages&lt;/a&gt; to convey information like emphasis in text files. Stack exchange uses 'Markdown' for example. In this case, adding &lt;code&gt;*&lt;/code&gt; (in Markdown) or &lt;code&gt;&amp;lt;emph&amp;gt;&lt;/code&gt; (in HTML) is simply called 'markup' I suppose, but is there a name for this? That is, making something stand out in the text, be it logically like &quot;emphasis&quot; or explicitly like &quot;bold&quot; or &quot;underline&quot;, etc. The only thing that comes to mind is to emphasize, but (to me at least) that implies stressing the word, not what you're doing with the text to achieve that result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This has been bugging me for quite a while, I hope someone can help me out here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4867" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T08:43:32.070" Title="Is there a name for 'markup'?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12194" CreationDate="2011-02-11T08:23:05.383" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;A bunch&quot; can informally be used to mean &quot;many&quot;, &quot;a lot&quot;, or &quot;a large group&quot; in many contexts. In this case, I'd say it's OK. I think it's a subtle distinction; where &quot;swarm&quot; refers to the actual group of bees, but &quot;a bunch&quot; emphasizes the number and not the group. That is, &quot;There's a bunch of bees in that tree!&quot; emphasizes that there are &lt;em&gt;many&lt;/em&gt; bees, while &quot;There's a swarm of bees in that tree.&quot; is simply stating that there's a group. Though &quot;swarm&quot; indicates a large group of insects, a group capable of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/swarm#Verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;swarming&lt;/a&gt;, it not emphasize the number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3591" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T08:23:05.383" />
  <row Id="12197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12195" CreationDate="2011-02-11T08:25:50.217" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;To &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/typeset#Verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;typeset&lt;/a&gt;&quot; might be too general, but it could do the trick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3591" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T08:25:50.217" />
  <row Id="12198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12195" CreationDate="2011-02-11T08:43:32.070" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about simply &lt;em&gt;to format&lt;/em&gt;? You are &lt;em&gt;formatting&lt;/em&gt; the text with Markdown. Or how about &lt;em&gt;to style&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;CSS&lt;/a&gt; is called like that for a reason, it's all about &lt;em&gt;styling&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T08:43:32.070" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12162" CreationDate="2011-02-11T08:58:43.183" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there's a perfect match, but I think &quot;shallow&quot; or &quot;concrete&quot; might do in a pinch. &quot;Ortho&quot; and &quot;para&quot; are also perfectly good prefixes that need a new meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3591" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T08:58:43.183" />
  <row Id="12200" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12203" CreationDate="2011-02-11T09:22:42.210" Score="4" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most common damn-words in English are of course the f-word and the s-word, which are - for my best knowledge - considered vulgarisms. The word &quot;crap&quot; may be used as a damn-word, however I'd bet, that it is not vulgar. Am I correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4890" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T19:15:19.733" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T20:13:10.537" Title="Is word &quot;crap&quot; considered a vulgarism?" Tags="&lt;common-expression&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12201" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12207" CreationDate="2011-02-11T09:31:19.817" Score="3" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;In today’s (Feb.10) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/opinion/11friedman.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; titled &lt;em&gt;Out of Touch, Out of Time&lt;/em&gt; written by Thomas L. Friedman, I found a really cool phrase, &lt;em&gt;this is Rip Van Winkle meets Facebook&lt;/em&gt;, which I understand describes Hosni Mubarak's preposterous decision. In Japanese, when we encounter such an anachronism, we say &lt;em&gt;it’s like meeting an old ghost on the road&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ghost has come back&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;return to Genji/Heike-era&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note:Genji and Heike were two martial clans rivaling for the hegemony of Japan through 11–12 century.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because Friedman uses a recent word, Facebook, this witty remark seems to be his own coinage to me. I think you have many other well-worn English epigrams corresponding to &lt;em&gt;Rip Van Winkle meets Facebook&lt;/em&gt;. Can you give me some of old versions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Watching President Hosni Mubarak addressing his nation Thursday night, explaining why he would not be drummed out of office by foreigners, I felt embarrassed for him and worried for Egypt. This man is staggeringly out of touch with what is happening inside his country. This is Rip Van Winkle meets Facebook.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="1506" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T07:51:35.570" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T07:51:35.570" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-11T17:09:38.540" Title="What other expressions and sayings do you have as an alternative to ‘Rip Van Winkle meets Facebook.’?" Tags="&lt;catch-phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12202" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-11T09:32:31.287" Score="3" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe I'm having a bad day, but I've just written a sentence similar to this one, and it doesn't read well for me, but I can't think of anything better right now:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The task was to build a new accounting system; &lt;strong&gt;up until that time&lt;/strong&gt; they had been doing everything by hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T12:34:12.313" Title="&quot;Up until that time&quot; sounds awkward, is there better?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12200" CreationDate="2011-02-11T09:34:12.250" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meaning of &lt;em&gt;crap&lt;/em&gt; is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Something that is of extremely poor quality: nonsense; rubbish, junk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;excrement: (in singular) an act of defecation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first meaning is similar to the use of the work &lt;em&gt;cock&lt;/em&gt; in the following British English sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's all a lot of cock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The NOAD doesn't mark the second meaning of &lt;em&gt;crap&lt;/em&gt; as vulgar, and I don't think it is interpreted as vulgar from people too.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;To make a comparison, also the word &lt;em&gt;cock&lt;/em&gt; is not considered vulgar, as it has other meanings apart &lt;em&gt;penis&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T09:34:12.250" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12202" CreationDate="2011-02-11T09:36:43.043" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds grammatical to me, though I would probably go with a simple &quot;up until then&quot;, myself. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; have the following stats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;                    BNC    COCA&#xA;&#xA;up until that time    5      46&#xA;up until then        50     123&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T09:36:43.043" />
  <row Id="12205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10489" CreationDate="2011-02-11T09:38:35.413" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have commented, your intuition that &quot;it&quot; is better than &quot;that&quot; is correct. Here is how I would explain why:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;it&quot; is a neutral pronoun, simply referring back to a previously mentioned concept (in this case, the homework). The word &quot;that&quot; is a demonstrative pronoun (carrying with it a sense of pointing something out - either literally or figuratively), and one that carries a sense of distance from the speaker (especially when compared with &quot;this&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, &quot;that&quot; is preferable when:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Something is literally being pointed out (&quot;I want &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;!&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Reference is made (perhaps implicitly) to a specific thing among alternatives (&quot;I want to do &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; before the next class (even if I don't do the reading and other preparation that I'm supposed to)&quot;). Compare &quot;I didn't want to do it&quot;, which refers simply to a choice between doing the action or not, to &quot;I didn't want to do &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, which implies that I did want to do &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There is a desire to distance the object from the speaker (&quot;Did you have to bring &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; in here?&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since (presumably) none of the above applies in your example, the more neutral &quot;it&quot; fits better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T09:38:35.413" />
  <row Id="12206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12202" CreationDate="2011-02-11T09:39:11.493" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...previously they had been doing everything by hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or if you're trying to highlight an accomplishment on a CV you might say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...built a new accounting system which greatly reduced the need to do everything by hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T09:39:11.493" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12201" CreationDate="2011-02-11T09:53:19.517" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;old meets new&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;stone-age meets space-age&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Fred Flintstone meets George Jetson&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastEditorUserId="588" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T11:52:50.473" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T11:52:50.473" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-11T17:09:38.540" />
  <row Id="12208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12202" CreationDate="2011-02-11T11:03:53.857" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use &lt;em&gt;until then&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Until&lt;/em&gt;, in sentences like &lt;em&gt;the kidnappers have given us until October 11th to deliver the documents&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;up to&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary English&lt;/a&gt; to see how much frequently the phrases &lt;em&gt;until then&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;up until then&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;up until that time&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;until that time&lt;/em&gt; are used, I get these data (the frequency is given in per million): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/alIpX.png&quot; alt=&quot;first chart&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I look at when those phrases are used, I get the following data:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/2oBCx.png&quot; alt=&quot;second chart&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T12:34:12.313" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T12:34:12.313" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="824" CreationDate="2011-02-11T11:16:22.100" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I shouldn't start a sentence with &quot; Because&quot;, because, &quot; Because is a conjunction&quot;!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UThra&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4891" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T11:16:22.100" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="12210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12194" CreationDate="2011-02-11T11:55:53.203" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that &lt;em&gt;bunch&lt;/em&gt; means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a number of things, typically of the same kind, growing or fastened together: &lt;em&gt;a bunch of grapes&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(informal) a group of people.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(informal) a large number or quantity; a lot: &lt;em&gt;I had to turn down a bunch of well-paid jobs&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Swarm&lt;/em&gt; means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a large or dense group of insects, especially flying ones.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a large number of people or things: &lt;em&gt;a swarm of journalists&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a series of similar-sized earthquakes occurring together, typically near a volcano.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(astronomy) a large number of minor celestial objects occurring together in space, especially a dense shower of meteors.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Swarm&lt;/em&gt; (except for the meaning #3) is understood as &lt;em&gt;a group made of a large number of people/insects/things&lt;/em&gt;, which is similar to the meaning of &lt;em&gt;bunch&lt;/em&gt; in #3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American&lt;/a&gt; I obtain the following data (I added &lt;em&gt;a swarm&lt;/em&gt;, which includes all the phrases where &lt;em&gt;a swarm&lt;/em&gt; is not followed by &lt;em&gt;of bees&lt;/em&gt;, just as comparison):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/JdDec.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T12:49:42.720" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T12:49:42.720" />
  <row Id="12211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11044" CreationDate="2011-02-11T11:57:30.003" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have a Japanese popular saying, 'the other's agony (trouble) is my own pleasure,' which I think exactly fits to the word shadenfreude.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T03:48:49.197" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T03:48:49.197" />
  <row Id="12212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12171" CreationDate="2011-02-11T12:25:26.437" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lieu from french shows up in English phrases like &quot;in lieu of&quot; meaning &quot;in place of&quot;, so lieu means place and lieutenant essentially means placeholder. There is a rarely used word, lief, which I see in old books in phrases like &quot;I'd as lief jump off this wall as ...&quot; and I think it is another spelling and pronounciation of lieu. I think the &quot;lef-tenant&quot; pronounciation comes from that lief which was no doubt interchangeable with lieu at some point in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW Canadians technically say lef-tenant though many ordinary folks say it the US way because that's what we hear on TV.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3946" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T12:25:26.437" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12194" CreationDate="2011-02-11T12:31:26.850" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Swarm is a technical term relating to bees. It doesn't mean any collection of them (as herd or flock might mean.) It's a really specific thing that bees do, and it happens pretty rarely - many bees will live their whole lives without being in a swarm (especially if they live in a well managed hive) and I doubt any bee has ever been in two. A hive of bees refers to not just the physical box they live in, but the mass of (generally all one family) bees that live there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're out and about and you just meet a large quantity of bees for some reason, and they really are bees and not wasps, I think you can use whatever word you like that means &quot;a lot of&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3946" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T12:31:26.850" />
  <row Id="12214" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12230" CreationDate="2011-02-11T13:47:50.777" Score="4" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;treat 'em and street 'em&lt;/em&gt; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="43" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T14:13:07.227" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T15:58:15.137" Title="&quot;treat 'em and street 'em&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12214" CreationDate="2011-02-11T13:53:41.990" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it means &quot;give them (medical) treatment and then get them out of the facility [and back on the street].&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T13:53:41.990" />
  <row Id="12217" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12220" CreationDate="2011-02-11T14:02:53.397" Score="4" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Waleed made his pilgrimage to Mecca.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a given.&#xA;But I would write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bombay is India’s entertainment mecca&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this correct, or is &lt;em&gt;Mecca&lt;/em&gt; capitalized in its figurative use, as well?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T16:18:09.167" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T16:18:09.167" Title="Is “Mecca” capitalized when used figuratively?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;&lt;figures-of-speech&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12188" CreationDate="2011-02-11T14:08:33.720" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, starting a sentence with &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt; followed by a comma is not wrong, or grammatically not correct.&#xA;In the following sentence, it is correct to use the comma after &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While, for people in industrial countries, the experience of medicalization has often lead to a sense of disempowerment and a desire for alternatives, for many &quot;economically disadvantaged and rural people... it is often the obstacles to access medical services that seem to constitute disempowerment&quot; (Gruenbaum 1998:58). —&lt;em&gt;Reproductive Encounters: Negev Bedouin Women's Lay Encounters at Childbirth in an Israeli Hospital&lt;/em&gt;; Kisch, Shifra.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence you wrote as example should not have a comma after &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While it looks warm outside, there is actually a cold breeze so it is not warm at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That doesn't mean &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt; is never followed by a comma, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American&lt;/a&gt; for sentences containing &lt;em&gt;While&lt;/em&gt; with a comma (marked as [1] in the chart) and &lt;em&gt;While&lt;/em&gt; without a comma (marked as [2]). As the CoCA doesn't allow me to search for a word starting with an uppercase letter (or at least, I could not find a way to do it), I really looked for sentences where &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt; was preceded from a period.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What I have obtained is the following data (the scale is logaritmic):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/dKrNl.png&quot; alt=&quot;CoCA&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/em&gt; report the following data:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/O0gC7.png&quot; alt=&quot;BNC&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both the cases, &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt; not followed by a comma is used in most of the cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T14:08:33.720" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12219" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-11T14:12:16.947" Score="6" ViewCount="222" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the roots ortho (straight) and gon (angle), its meaning in mathematics is understandable. Outside of mathematics it has various meanings depending on the context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Debate - orthogonal: not relevant&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Statistics - orthogonal: unrelated&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Computing - orthogonal: isolated or partitioned&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other definitions. Most seem to imply a meaning of independence or separation. Does anyone know how it came to mean this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4893" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T06:26:46.460" Title="Usage of the word &quot;orthogonal&quot; outside of mathematics" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="12220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12217" CreationDate="2011-02-11T14:13:56.747" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the Associated Press stylebook:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;mecca. Lowercase in the metaphorical sense; capitalize (Mecca) the city in Saudi Arabia.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would seem to be a common sense application of standard English capitalization rules (off the top of my head):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Capitalize proper nouns: towns, people's names, cities in Saudi Arabia, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not capitalize other nouns. In this case, 'mecca' is a noun meaning 'a bustling, lively center of something' (apologies for my definition, made up on the fly)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4859" LastEditorUserId="4859" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T15:09:10.757" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T15:09:10.757" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12217" CreationDate="2011-02-11T14:28:04.060" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD uses &lt;em&gt;Mecca&lt;/em&gt; in both the cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Holland is a Mecca for jazz enthusiasts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American&lt;/a&gt;, you find sentences with &lt;em&gt;Mecca&lt;/em&gt; (where the word is used figuratively), and sentences with &lt;em&gt;mecca&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The experience alarmed the city fathers of Appenzell, pop. 5,600, who worried that the town might become a Mecca for the unclad.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The United States has not begun to realize its potential as either an educational or a tourist Mecca.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Miami Beach has always been an international Mecca whose residents are as diverse as the tourists.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Frank Gehry's museum at Bilbao draws millions of people and has changed this industrial Spanish city into a mecca for tourism.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Writing groups are a mecca for aspiring authors and those who want to meet people with similar thought processes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T14:54:46.317" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T14:54:46.317" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12222" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12229" CreationDate="2011-02-11T14:38:38.503" Score="1" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an Asian, I always wonder how you English-speaking people interpret the concept of 'nirvana'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems very popular in English world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my favorite bands even uses it as their name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T15:30:22.470" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T16:00:57.980" ClosedDate="2011-02-11T16:18:18.687" Title="About the word 'Nirvana'" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="12223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12222" CreationDate="2011-02-11T14:44:29.060" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand it to mean a state of not-being where consciousness is erased. I think that's how &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Cobain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kurt Cobain&lt;/a&gt; took it as well. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, never mind ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T14:44:29.060" />
  <row Id="12224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12219" CreationDate="2011-02-11T15:02:21.777" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;because in mathematics orthogonal is synonym of being independent or absolute lack of dependence.There are intermediate states from no dependence to complete dependence (aka parallel) which is given by vector product  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covariance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covariance&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:  I did not want to implicate but without it my answer is not answering direct question.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Russian primary school the vectors are studied in the 4-7th form and after that children tell in conversations &quot;parallel&quot; instead of &quot;dependent and &quot;orthogonal&quot; (or &quot;perpendicular&quot;) instead of &quot;independent&quot;.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T16:35:09.810" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T16:35:09.810" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12033" CreationDate="2011-02-11T15:04:24.333" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that visual effect comes into play, as well. Dashes seem so jarring to me. Of course, there's a bit of a chicken-or-the-egg aspect to that: perhaps the dashes seem jarring because they typically denote a more significant jump from the idea of the main sentence? In any case, I notice that I tend to use only commas or dashes when writing marketing brochures. Somehow parenthesis look less professional to me. I certainly haven't helped as much as previous responders who provided cut-and-dry classifications, but I do think the visual element is a factor worth considering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4896" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T15:04:24.333" />
  <row Id="12226" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12227" CreationDate="2011-02-11T15:12:28.953" Score="2" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Prepend&quot; is seeing a fair amount of use, both in programmer jargon and elsewhere.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Its use seems to come from a desire to create a word that is a direct parallel to &quot;append.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, such a word already exists in &quot;prefix.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They seem to need to be used differently:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To dial an outside line, prepend a 9 to your number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;versus&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To dial an outside line, prefix the number with 9.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any cases where &quot;prefix&quot; cannot be used in place of &quot;prepend&quot;?&#xA;Any other insights into this word and its origins?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="572" LastEditorUserId="572" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T01:43:53.193" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T01:43:53.193" Title="Are there any cases where &quot;prepend&quot; cannot be replaced by &quot;prefix&quot;?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;programming&gt;&lt;neologisms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12226" CreationDate="2011-02-11T15:28:20.223" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say that the main reason that &lt;em&gt;prepend&lt;/em&gt; is used is that it &quot;sounds&quot; like the reverse of &lt;em&gt;append&lt;/em&gt;. According to &lt;em&gt;Code Complete&lt;/em&gt;, you should have &quot;opposites&quot; for each method on an object, and they should &quot;sound opposite&quot;. That's about it. Think of it like the British having to use American English while programming - they do it just because it's an established convention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About &quot;cases where prepend cannot be replaced by prefix&quot;: There are none, but as I said, it's a matter of convention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="391" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T15:28:20.223" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12226" CreationDate="2011-02-11T15:33:37.610" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aside from Aviral Dasgupta's answer, &quot;prefix&quot; &lt;em&gt;feels&lt;/em&gt; like a noun (despite its etymology), so using it the way you suggest feels like an awkward verbing.  It also suggests the usage of &quot;suffix&quot; as a verb, which feels like an even more awkward verbing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T15:33:37.610" />
  <row Id="12229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12222" CreationDate="2011-02-11T15:50:38.020" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nirvana as understood by different people really depends on their level of understanding and their own beliefs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some believe Nirvana to be unlimited pleasure, that is non-stop sensual pleasure and believe that it can be found in sensual indulgences. I have often read the word nirvana mentioned in a  sexual context, which is almost the opposite of the meaning that Asians attach to the word. Some even attach the word to a drug-induced high !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some believe Nirvana to be a sort of death, a sort of extinguishing of the personality and individualism. They therefore are against the idea of losing their individuality and uniqueness, and thus the concept of nirvana. They think that nirvana means that you lose your ability to think critically and act rationally, and causes you to become a mindless sheep. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Others interpret Nirvana to simply be the state of contentment and joy. If you have a nice farmhouse, and a swimming pool and heated jacuzzis, some people would say that you are in nirvana. If you have a Mclaren F1 and a long lonely highway to drive it on, they will say that you are in nirvana. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Others interpret nirvana to be a state of no-mind, a kind of Zen-like state of pure awareness, without any obfuscating disturbances of thought. Nirvana for them is pure awareness, non-attached to anything, and is the only worthwhile objective in life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on their mental make-up and personality, different interpretations &quot;sound right&quot; to different people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3982" LastEditorUserId="3982" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T16:00:57.980" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T16:00:57.980" />
  <row Id="12230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12214" CreationDate="2011-02-11T15:58:15.137" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Hellion already mentioned, it's about medical treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe it's used primarily in the U.S. where you're not covered by a national (or otherwise common) health insurance. If you lack medical insurance, the hospital is only required (by law) to treat the critical condition, and may then release you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4867" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T15:58:15.137" />
  <row Id="12231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12219" CreationDate="2011-02-11T16:07:18.927" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you think about (simplified for convenience) &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthogonality&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mathematical usage of &quot;orthogonal&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, it is referring to vectors at right angles to each other, so motion in the direction of the first vector produces no corresponding motion in the direction of the second vector.  This independence is what motivates the other meanings; an orthogonal line of argument in debate might be interesting in itself, but doesn't advance the main thrust of the debate, for instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's just as well that the mathematical use of &quot;normal&quot; doesn't bleed across like this, because &quot;normal people&quot; would then be at right-angles to reality.  Then again... :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T16:07:18.927" />
  <row Id="12232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12226" CreationDate="2011-02-11T16:10:41.837" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To prepend&lt;/em&gt; means (as reported from the NOAD):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(jargon, computing) to prefix an expression with another.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(rare) to premeditate; to weigh up mentally.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning of &lt;em&gt;to prefix&lt;/em&gt; is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;add something at the beginning as a prefix or introduction.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;add a prefix or introduction to something.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched for &lt;em&gt;prepend&lt;/em&gt; in the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American&lt;/em&gt; and the &lt;em&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/em&gt;, but I didn't find any sentences containing that word.&#xA;I think &lt;em&gt;prepend&lt;/em&gt; is only used in a specific context, and that it cannot replace &lt;em&gt;prefix&lt;/em&gt; in all the cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T18:16:52.670" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T18:16:52.670" />
  <row Id="12233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12201" CreationDate="2011-02-11T16:24:21.860" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This isn't really about anachronism, it's about being in a completely unfamiliar situation.  Anachronism refers to those cases where the unfamiliarity is because times have changed, but there are also issues that arise from dealing with unfamiliar social groups, jobs, technologies, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usual description for someone making a mess of things like that is &quot;a fish out of water.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T16:24:21.860" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-11T17:09:38.540" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12234" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12235" CreationDate="2011-02-11T16:26:35.557" Score="0" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard the word &lt;em&gt;fuckstick&lt;/em&gt; in a lot of Hollywood movies, most notably in 'The Shawshank Redemption'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is this word even meant to convey? An insult? Is it even abusive? Or is just a combination of two random words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3982" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T16:30:40.850" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T18:12:51.307" Title="Is f**kstick really an abusive word?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;insults&gt;&lt;swearing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12234" CreationDate="2011-02-11T16:40:41.753" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder if the &lt;em&gt;stick&lt;/em&gt; part could have been chosen by analogy with &lt;em&gt;dipstick&lt;/em&gt;, which was used as a mild insult starting in the 1920s. (Of course, &quot;Shawshank Redemption&quot; isn't &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; from that time period, but was written recently by Stephen King, so even if someone from the 1920s wouldn't really have said that, it wouldn't invalidate the theory.) There is no way to really know for sure, unless we ask King himself; and even he might not consciously know why he chose that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dipstick&lt;/em&gt; can still be used today, but remains very mild as far as insults go.  Changing &lt;em&gt;dip&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;fuck&lt;/em&gt; would take that mild insult and make it into something much more offensive. I have certainly heard &lt;em&gt;fuckstick&lt;/em&gt; before, but it isn't particularly common compared to other similar insults.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have to say, as an English speaker, I find it to be one of the more amusing insult constructions involving the word &lt;em&gt;fuck&lt;/em&gt; (because it is almost silly), but if said in the right manner by someone in the right situation, could still make the name-receiver quite quite angry and insulted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned by Martha, a &lt;em&gt;fuckstick&lt;/em&gt; could also be interpreted as a dildo, or something with this sort of sexual connotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T18:08:37.337" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T18:08:37.337" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="12236" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12242" CreationDate="2011-02-11T16:45:21.277" Score="4" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;My immediate thought is that the term &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; generic, and yet I read recently a verbal brickbat described as &lt;em&gt;ad feminam&lt;/em&gt;. Was that just a po-mo back-formation, or is there some merit to the distinction? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Mind you, it's likely I saw it in the same office where a proofer once changed an unrelated text I wrote to read &lt;em&gt;ombudsperson&lt;/em&gt;, so ....] &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T23:58:49.400" Title="Is &quot;ad hominem&quot; gender-neutral?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;gender&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12237" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12258" CreationDate="2011-02-11T16:46:51.917" Score="4" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I generally use the rule of thumb of using &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; when referring to a person and &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; when referring to an object. Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Jim is someone &lt;strong&gt;who&lt;/strong&gt; makes me smile.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I was nearly knocked out by the ball &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; hit me.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what about when we're talking about an organisation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am forever indebted to the charities &lt;strong&gt;who&lt;/strong&gt; helped me.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am forever indebted to the charities &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; helped me&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The former seems somewhat warmer, if that makes sense, although the latter feels more correct. What should I use? And how about this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I'm really happy with the insurance company &lt;strong&gt;who&lt;/strong&gt; helped me with my claim.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I can't stand them, they're the insurance company &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; ripped me off.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me the former evokes a team of helpful people while the latter evokes a cold heartless corporate entity. Is this just a matter of style and so should go with my instincts, or should I aim for what is 'correct?'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1172" LastEditorUserId="1172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T17:10:50.720" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T19:43:49.437" Title="Should I use &quot;who&quot; or &quot;that&quot; when referring to an organisation?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12236" CreationDate="2011-02-11T16:53:58.813" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think if we were Latin speakers, then there would be merit to the distinction. But we're not, and &lt;em&gt;hominem&lt;/em&gt; doesn't mean anything to the average English speaker on its own; it only means something as part of the phrase &lt;em&gt;ad hominem&lt;/em&gt;, which is used to describe the insertion of a personal attack into a debate.  The &quot;man&quot; meaning from Latin is not particularly transparent to English speakers, and so it is not a problem.  (Think of similar things like &quot;fraternal twins&quot;, which is happily applied even to girl twins.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Phrases like &lt;em&gt;ombudsman&lt;/em&gt; do have a transparent structure, at least in the &lt;em&gt;-man&lt;/em&gt; suffix, which many English speakers directly link with the noun &lt;em&gt;man&lt;/em&gt;. So, this type of word would be much more likely to become &quot;neutralized&quot; in the name of political correctness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whoever used &lt;em&gt;ad feminam&lt;/em&gt; was almost certainly using word-play intentionally, and I think it is safe to say that this word is not likely to establish itself in the standard lexicon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T16:53:58.813" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12182" CreationDate="2011-02-11T16:55:29.370" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am write-only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never heard &quot;write-only&quot; applied to people before (and in that sense ShreevatsaR is right, this is an invention), so you would have to rely on people deducing your meaning.  Considered in isolation, it's rather ambiguous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Non-techies might flail around for a bit and decide that you only communicated using the written word (rather than speaking, using sign language, semaphore, or whatever).  More likely they would simply not come up with a meaning that made sense to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Techies might pause to consider whether you are a &lt;em&gt;storage device&lt;/em&gt; (so only take information and never provide any) or an &lt;em&gt;active device&lt;/em&gt; of some sort (so only &quot;write&quot; -- provide information --  and never &quot;read&quot; -- take information in).  Neither of these suggests that the speaker is a source of good quality information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So yes, you could say that, but you'd probably be better understood if you rephrased it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T16:55:29.370" />
  <row Id="12240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12236" CreationDate="2011-02-11T16:56:58.700" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Churchill said, &quot;the masculine embraces the feminine.&quot; It's Latin, so I think only the most, as you say, po-mo pedant would object to &lt;em&gt;ad hominem&lt;/em&gt;. In any case, &lt;em&gt;ad hominem&lt;/em&gt; describes the argument, not the target. The fact that the target is a woman is irrelevant, IMHO.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To take it one step further - the term &quot;ad hominem&quot; has a meaning in English that it doesn't in Latin, since it's part of a classic list of fallacies. The term &quot;Ad feminam&quot;, whatever other merits it may possess, is simply not included in that list. So when you use &quot;ad feminam&quot;, you're simply losing accuracy. Not to mention that the listener probably doesn't speak Latin, and may not have &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; idea what it's supposed to mean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T16:56:58.700" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12182" CreationDate="2011-02-11T17:02:17.820" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This simple (and true) answer is: No. It would not be comprehensible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the general confusion and variety of answers and comments that have been posted so far is evidence enough of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4877" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T17:02:17.820" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12236" CreationDate="2011-02-11T17:09:35.410" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've certainly only used it or seen it used as a generic, gender-neutral term. (And only in the phrase &lt;em&gt;ad hominem&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Kosmonaut mentions, part of it is that it's in a different language, so any gender mismatch&lt;sup&gt;&amp;#42;&lt;/sup&gt; is not going to be apparent to people unless they know some Latin. But there's also the fact that classically, in many languages the word for &quot;man&quot; had two meanings: (1) a masculine person, and (2) a member of mankind; a person (of unspecified gender). Modernly, the second meaning is sometimes seen as prejudiced against women, and thus people come up with all sorts of newfangled constructs to avoid that usage. Thus you get (hopefully&lt;sup&gt;**&lt;/sup&gt;) deliberate plays on words like &quot;&lt;em&gt;ad feminam&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, which doesn't actually mean much of anything, but is understandable if taken in parallel with &lt;em&gt;ad hominem&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;*&lt;/sup&gt; As JSBangs points out, &lt;em&gt;homo&lt;/em&gt; is not actually the Latin word for a specifically masculine person &amp;mdash; that would be &lt;em&gt;vir&lt;/em&gt; &amp;mdash; so there actually is no gender mismatch with using &lt;em&gt;ad hominem&lt;/em&gt; when the subject of the attack is female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;**&lt;/sup&gt; If the usage was not deliberately playful, but meant sincerely and literally, I would find it to be sad evidence of the decline of society.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T23:58:49.400" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T23:58:49.400" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12243" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-11T17:28:09.610" Score="1" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tend to think it is, as &quot;too&quot; serves the role of a referential phrase, repeating the verb-phrase of a preceding sentence, and &quot;you&quot; acts simply as a subject pronoun.  But, I've heard an argument to the contrary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4899" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T21:09:00.840" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T21:09:00.840" Title="In the sentence &quot;You, too.&quot;, is the comma acceptable?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12237" CreationDate="2011-02-11T17:29:00.660" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported from the NOAD (&lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;), &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; is used to replace &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt;; it is also used to introduce a defining or restrictive clause, especially one essential to identification.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The book that I've just written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the sentence &lt;em&gt;I'm really happy with the insurance company that helped me with my claim&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;helped me with my claim&lt;/em&gt; identifies the company you are happy with; you are not happy with every companies.&#xA;The same is true for &lt;em&gt;I am forever indebted to the charities that helped me&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T19:43:49.437" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T19:43:49.437" />
  <row Id="12245" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12246" CreationDate="2011-02-11T17:29:22.283" Score="2" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a word I see often on StackOverflow, &quot;programatically.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Used to indicate that a programmer intends to do something within the code of a program, rather than through user interaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, &quot;a user can check a checkbox on a form, but a programmer may also do it &lt;em&gt;programatically&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since this word isn't in the dictionary, I assume it to be either incorrect to use it at all, or this is a new word that's essentially slang.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a better alternative?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2241" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T15:32:10.920" Title="Frequent use of word not found in dictionary, &quot;programatically.&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="12246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12245" CreationDate="2011-02-11T17:36:43.660" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Programatic&quot; is a misspelling of &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/programmatically&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;programmatic&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, which is in the dictionary. Your understanding of the technical usage is correct, and is slightly different than the common, dictionary definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the only reasonable alternative would be &quot;automatically&quot;, since the programmer is automating the process, but this use is clearly inferior (at least to this programmer's ears) to &quot;programmatically&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T17:36:43.660" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12245" CreationDate="2011-02-11T17:39:15.873" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's &quot;programmatically&quot;, not “programatically”.  However, because many built-in word processor  and web form dictionaries don't recognize the word, your misspelling is relatively common in the IT world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a Software Developer, I frequently use the word &quot;programmatically&quot; at work, both verbally and in writing.  I consider it to be just as valid as &quot;grammatically&quot;, but instead of meaning &quot;using proper grammar&quot;, I mean to convey &quot;using the proper programming syntax&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It does annoy me that the auto-correct of many dictionaries do not consider it to be a word.  I ignore the warning, and if I am properly motivated, I take the time to add the word to the internal dictionary file that the program checks against.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastEditorUserId="3328" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T15:32:10.920" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T15:32:10.920" />
  <row Id="12248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12245" CreationDate="2011-02-11T17:42:08.183" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To the original question in the post, I think there is a better alternative, which is to restructure the sentence to something like &quot;...a programmer may also do it &lt;em&gt;in code&lt;/em&gt;.&quot; This is the usage I hear and read commonly; it's often used to distinguish between coding a system for some objective, or configuring the same system to accomplish that objective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3952" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T17:42:08.183" />
  <row Id="12249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12245" CreationDate="2011-02-11T17:54:08.190" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD lists &lt;em&gt;programmatic&lt;/em&gt;, and it reports it means &lt;em&gt;of the nature of or according to a program, schedule, or method&lt;/em&gt;; one of the derivates reported by the dictionary is &lt;em&gt;programmatically&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As alternative of &lt;em&gt;programmatically&lt;/em&gt;, I can think of &lt;em&gt;by (using a) script&lt;/em&gt; , &lt;em&gt;by code&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;by scripting&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T17:54:08.190" />
  <row Id="12250" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-11T18:07:34.557" Score="2" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;What quantity am I saying here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;3 million athletes, trainers and businesses use my product...&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I saying 3 million in total, or am I saying 9 million in total use my product (3M athletics + 3M trainers + 3M businesses).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4903" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T19:15:54.140" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T19:28:50.697" Title="What quantity am I saying here?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="12251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12250" CreationDate="2011-02-11T18:09:02.857" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are saying 3 million in total.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Athletics&quot; is awkward, incidentally.  You appear to mean &quot;athletes&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T19:28:50.697" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T19:28:50.697" />
  <row Id="12254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12243" CreationDate="2011-02-11T18:38:03.653" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/CMS_FAQ/Commas/Commas31.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Chicago Manual of Style, Commas&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, says no, but it's a pretty soft no. If you felt stylistically compelled, it's not clearly wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T19:58:46.797" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T19:58:46.797" />
  <row Id="12255" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12257" CreationDate="2011-02-11T18:45:46.510" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember that I had a question similar to this a long time ago (when I was in elementary school, I think), and it popped up in my head again today. Is the word &quot;obscure&quot; obscure itself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3198" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T18:57:13.720" Title="Is &quot;obscure&quot; autological?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12236" CreationDate="2011-02-11T18:55:38.543" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ad hominem&lt;/em&gt;, in Latin, literally means &lt;em&gt;to the person&lt;/em&gt;; it doesn't make any reference to the sex of the person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ad feminam&lt;/em&gt; is found in the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American&lt;/em&gt;; it seems a &quot;back-formation&quot;, as it first appears in the period between 1920-1929.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/3t7tU.png&quot; alt=&quot;1990-2010&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/Isn4q.png&quot; alt=&quot;1900-1940&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/LDheY.png&quot; alt=&quot;1810-1850&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T18:55:38.543" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12255" CreationDate="2011-02-11T18:57:13.720" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it's quite mainstream.  Entirely heterological.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T18:57:13.720" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12237" CreationDate="2011-02-11T19:08:03.650" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I couldn't find an authoritative source, but I found several items that touched on the question. The basic differential is that &quot;who&quot; refers strictly to people, and &quot;that&quot; can refer only to anything else:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She is the woman who raised me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;not &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She is the woman that raised me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conversely, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is the school that educated me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and not &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is the school who educated me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The conflict arises here because you're using these companies anthropomorphically - you're happy with them, you're indebted to them. In reality, you're happy with the people AT the companies / charities, not the companies / charities themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would go with &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am forever indebted to the charities&#xA;  that helped me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am forever indebted to the people&#xA;  who helped me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T19:08:03.650" />
  <row Id="12259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2011-02-11T19:12:47.963" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ccsl.mae.cornell.edu/acrogen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Acrogen&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An acronym generator generates acronyms from sets of words. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2559" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T00:08:02.323" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T00:08:02.323" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-11T19:12:47.963" />
  <row Id="12261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12219" CreationDate="2011-02-11T20:05:57.707" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Wikipedia says about the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthogonality#Derived_meanings&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;derived meanings of &lt;em&gt;orthogonal&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, they all &quot;evolved from its earlier use in mathematics&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In statistics, the meaning of orthogonal as &lt;em&gt;unrelated&lt;/em&gt; (or more precisely &lt;em&gt;uncorrelated&lt;/em&gt;) is very directly related to the mathematical definition. [Two vectors x and y are called orthogonal if the projection of x in the direction of y (or vice-versa) is zero; this is geometrically the same as being at right angles.]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The statistical meaning comes exactly from this: one can think of random variables as living in a vector space, and correlation between two random variables is zero precisely when the two vectors are orthogonal/&quot;perpendicular&quot;. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.johndcook.com/blog/2010/06/17/covariance-and-law-of-cosines/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt; for details.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In debate(?), &quot;orthogonal&quot; to mean &quot;not relevant&quot; or &quot;unrelated&quot; also comes from the above meaning. If issues X and Y are &quot;orthogonal&quot;, then X has no bearing on Y. If you think of X and Y as vectors, then X has no component in the direction of Y: in other words, it is orthogonal in the mathematical sense.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In computing, the use of &lt;em&gt;orthogonal&lt;/em&gt; for &lt;em&gt;isolated&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;partitioned&lt;/em&gt; (which I don't actually recall encountering) would come from the same meaning: the behaviour of one component has no bearing on (is isolated from) other components; so they are orthogonal.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T06:26:46.460" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T06:26:46.460" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12262" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12264" CreationDate="2011-02-11T20:29:00.973" Score="7" ViewCount="284" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen some Chinese words like &quot;YUEZHONG&quot;. Also in some other languages like Persian and Arabic I've seen words written with &quot;zh&quot;. Are these two sounds pronounced in the same way? Is there any word in English using the same combination of letters? Is it right to use &quot;zh&quot; to imply the letter &quot;j&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T17:56:37.247" Title="&quot;zh&quot; vs. &quot;j&quot;. Are these pronounced in the same way?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="6" />
  <row Id="12263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12262" CreationDate="2011-02-11T20:37:41.477" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a linguistics major, but I can tell you that the two are not pronounced the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In layman's terms, &lt;em&gt;zh&lt;/em&gt; is a voiced version of &lt;em&gt;sh&lt;/em&gt;. The &lt;em&gt;sh&lt;/em&gt; sound is normally made without engaging the vocal cords. If you add vocal sound to it, it will become &lt;em&gt;zh&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;em&gt;j&lt;/em&gt; sound, you get ready to make the &lt;em&gt;zh&lt;/em&gt; sound, but instead of leaving your tongue in that position, you push it up against the front of your palate, blocking the &lt;em&gt;zh&lt;/em&gt; sound from coming out. Then you release it all at once and stop. This is important. The &lt;em&gt;zh&lt;/em&gt; sound can be continuous, but the &lt;em&gt;j&lt;/em&gt; sound stops almost instantly. If said alone, it will sound something like &quot;juh&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T20:37:41.477" />
  <row Id="12264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12262" CreationDate="2011-02-11T20:58:47.650" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: &quot;zh&quot; and &quot;j&quot; are not pronounced in the same way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;International Phonetic Alphabet&lt;/a&gt;, the &quot;zh&quot; digraph would be transcribed as [&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_postalveolar_fricative&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ʒ&lt;/a&gt;], while the &quot;j&quot; letter would be [&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%CA%92&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dʒ&lt;/a&gt;].  The &quot;zh&quot; sound occurs at the beginning of the name &quot;Jacques&quot; [&lt;b&gt;ʒ&lt;/b&gt;ɔk], and in the middle of the word &quot;leisure&quot; [li&lt;b&gt;ʒ&lt;/b&gt;ɚ].  The &quot;j&quot; sound is two IPA symbols because it is a combination of two sounds, [d] (as in &quot;dog&quot;) and [ʒ]; [dʒ] occurs at the beginning of the word &quot;jock&quot; [&lt;b&gt;dʒ&lt;/b&gt;ɔk]. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;zh&quot; and &quot;j&quot; sounds are definitely not identical to an English speaker. In fact, two words could be distinguished only by the difference between those two sounds.  The following would represent such a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimal_pair&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;minimal pair&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;legion&quot; [li&lt;b&gt;dʒ&lt;/b&gt;ən] (where the &quot;gi&quot; sound is identical to &quot;j&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;lesion&quot; [li&lt;b&gt;ʒ&lt;/b&gt;ən]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&quot;Jock&quot; and &quot;Jacques&quot;, which I already mentioned, also only differ in that one sound.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason you see many borrowed words using &quot;zh&quot; is because English lacks a standard letter to represent the [ʒ] sound.  In French borrowings, it is &quot;j&quot;, because &quot;j&quot; is always [ʒ] in French.  Sometimes it is &quot;si&quot; (as in &quot;lesion&quot;) because of a natural phonological process that occurs in English. So, there is no letter that always gets pronounced [ʒ].  But, in many languages that don't use Latin script, there is a distinct letter for [ʒ]. In these languages, &quot;zh&quot; is often the standard way to translate the sound [ʒ] from their orthographical system to the Latin one in an unambiguous way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to whether you can use &quot;zh&quot; to &lt;em&gt;imply&lt;/em&gt; &quot;j&quot; — I am not certain what you mean by &quot;imply&quot;, but since these are two different sounds, I think the answer is probably no.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T14:14:23.123" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T14:14:23.123" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12265" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12271" CreationDate="2011-02-11T21:01:56.667" Score="2" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like in this example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was worried that X was &lt;strong&gt;putting him on&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T22:55:35.050" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T11:01:23.117" Title="What does &quot;putting someone on&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="6" />
  <row Id="12266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12262" CreationDate="2011-02-11T21:07:56.677" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not always, but sometimes.&lt;/strong&gt; This depends &lt;em&gt;highly&lt;/em&gt; on the languages involved, and on how they’ve been transliterated into the Latin alphabet (if they’re not not normally written in it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Zh&lt;/em&gt; almost(?) never occurs in English itself.  In transliterations from Russian and other Cyrillic languages (eg &lt;em&gt;Dr Zhivago&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;bozhe moi&lt;/em&gt;, …), it represents the sound [ʒ], a &lt;em&gt;voiced&lt;/em&gt; version of the sound represented (in English) by &lt;em&gt;sh&lt;/em&gt; [ʃ].  So, helpfully, the relationship of &lt;em&gt;zh&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;sh&lt;/em&gt; here is just like the relationship of &lt;em&gt;z&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;.  In transliterations from Chinese… well, let’s come back to that later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sound [ʒ] does occur in some English words, but it’s spelled differently: e.g. in &lt;em&gt;beige&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;leisure&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;J&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand represents many, many different sounds.  The main sound it represents in English, in for instance &lt;em&gt;juice&lt;/em&gt;, is [dʒ], similar to &lt;em&gt;zh&lt;/em&gt; [ʒ] but not quite the same.  It’s (approximately) a voiced  version of [tʃ], the &lt;em&gt;ch&lt;/em&gt; sound in e.g. &lt;em&gt;chop&lt;/em&gt;.  It differs from [ʒ] in that at the beginning of the consonant, your tongue should touch the gums above the backs of your teeth, briefly but completely cutting off the airflow and then releasing it as the consonant starts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other Latin-alphabet languages, &lt;em&gt;j&lt;/em&gt; represents various different sounds.  In French, it does indeed mostly represent [ʒ]: e.g. &lt;em&gt;jeune&lt;/em&gt;.  In German, eg &lt;em&gt;ja&lt;/em&gt;, it represents the sound given in English by consonantal &lt;em&gt;y&lt;/em&gt;.  In Spanish, it corresponds roughly to English &lt;em&gt;h&lt;/em&gt; (depending on dialect and context).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In transliterations, &lt;em&gt;j&lt;/em&gt; varies even more!  In modern English-based transliterations of Russian (and other Cyrillic languages), &lt;em&gt;j&lt;/em&gt; is usually not used, but in older and German-based transliterations, it’s often used like it is in German.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, in modern transliterations of Chinese, &lt;em&gt;zh&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;j&lt;/em&gt; represent two different phonemes which to English ears will typically both sound like the [dʒ] of &lt;em&gt;juice&lt;/em&gt;; see John Purdy’s comments for details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T17:56:37.247" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T17:56:37.247" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="12267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12265" CreationDate="2011-02-11T21:21:17.543" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put on here means &quot;&lt;strong&gt;pretending&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; or &quot;&lt;strong&gt;play-acting&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T23:14:59.250" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T23:14:59.250" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12268" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-11T21:26:48.917" Score="4" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is &quot;bloody&quot; considered obscene in the UK but not in US?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4906" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T22:40:19.440" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T18:29:26.983" Title="Why is &quot;bloody&quot; considered obscene in the UK?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12265" CreationDate="2011-02-11T21:27:46.847" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;He was worried that X was playing a trick on him, or setting him up for a little prank; in American English usage it's generally used to indicate that X is trying to get him to believe something extremely improbable (and not actually true), and at the point where he finally accepts the truth of the improbable thing, X could say &quot;No, I was just putting you on.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T21:27:46.847" />
  <row Id="12270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="533" CreationDate="2011-02-11T21:28:11.187" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this fame of a thing needs not to cause furore;that got fame is the correct answer and not even 'who...'It should be well observed that masculine is referred to and not in another context or meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4907" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T21:28:11.187" />
  <row Id="12271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12265" CreationDate="2011-02-11T21:28:36.363" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case it means to tease someone, meaning 2 below (from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answers.com/topic/put-on#ixzz1DgiBofBK&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Answers.com&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;put-on&lt;/strong&gt; n. Slang&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A deceptive outward appearance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The act of teasing or misleading someone, especially for amusement.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Something, such as a prank, intended as a hoax or joke; a spoof.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that this link is for the noun form, but the verb (&quot;to put someone on&quot;) has the same meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sample usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bill said he was going to help me fix my car, but it turns out he was just putting me on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T21:28:36.363" />
  <row Id="12272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12236" CreationDate="2011-02-11T21:29:14.790" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No one seems to have pointed out, so far, that the Latin words for male man and female woman are not &quot;homo&quot; and &quot;femina&quot; but &lt;em&gt;vir&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;femina&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Homo&lt;/em&gt; does not refer to &quot;man&quot; as in &quot;male&quot;, but man as in &quot;human&quot;.  That's (part of the reason) why male things are &quot;masculine&quot;, and not &quot;hominine&quot;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T21:29:14.790" />
  <row Id="12273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12245" CreationDate="2011-02-11T21:32:55.927" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If we restrict ourselves to circumlocutions to avoid constructing useful and sensible words, then communication may well be impaired. In the case of &quot;programmatically&quot;, I wouldn't even say that one has coined a new word. To anyone who understands the concept of using program code to achieve a particular result, the words &quot;programmatic&quot; and &quot;programmatically&quot; seem to me to be rather obvious constructions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a programmer, I have great respect for official documentation. In this case, however, I would say that the official documentation is incomplete, out of date, or has been misinterpreted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3582" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T21:32:55.927" />
  <row Id="12274" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-11T21:40:42.080" Score="4" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;How does one determine the reading level to which a specific word belongs? For example, I want to use the word 'verbose' in some software. So, if I want to determine if it is appropriate to use the word based upon the users of the system, is there a web site where I can enter the word and get feedback?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4876" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T23:01:52.743" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T14:43:19.653" Title="To what reading level does a specific word like 'verbose' belong?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="12275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12274" CreationDate="2011-02-11T21:44:46.743" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that Unix shell scripts like &lt;code&gt;tar&lt;/code&gt; list a &lt;code&gt;-v Verbose&lt;/code&gt; option when you invoke them using a &lt;code&gt;--help&lt;/code&gt; flag, so they think it is accessible to their audience...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2310" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T21:44:46.743" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12268" CreationDate="2011-02-11T21:48:03.213" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it's obscene so much as profane.  By one theory, &quot;Bloody&quot; in this context is a contraction for &quot;by our lady&quot;, essentially swearing by the Virgin Mary (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bloody in Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;).  Other similar oaths include &quot;blimey&quot; (God blind me) and &quot;gadzooks&quot; (by God's hooks (hands)).  As to why &quot;Bloody&quot; is considered obscene/profane in the UK more than in the US, I think that's a reflection of a stronger Catholic presence, historically, in the UK than in the US, if we're accepting the above etymology, as Catholics venerate the Virgin to a greater extent than Protestants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of which is void, of course, if the etymology is incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4244" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T21:48:03.213" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12277" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12289" CreationDate="2011-02-11T21:51:29.733" Score="4" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people seem to stumble over this. The problem can arise with any multi-word phrase that needs a possessive but ends in S, and so sounds awkward using the clitic apostrophe-S. I've heard this particular one variously rendered as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You guys'&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You guys's&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your guys' / your guy's&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's you guys...your...guises...what's your take on it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T20:14:29.377" Title="What is the possessive of &quot;you guys&quot;?" Tags="&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12277" CreationDate="2011-02-11T21:56:45.047" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;You guys'&lt;/em&gt; is correct written, pronounced &lt;em&gt;you guys's&lt;/em&gt;.  (Dropping the &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt; on the written version because &lt;em&gt;guys&lt;/em&gt; is a plural, &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; because I think it should always be dropped if the word ends in an &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;.)  &lt;em&gt;You&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; because &lt;em&gt;you guys&lt;/em&gt; is a unit and the possessive case doesn't need to be commuted across each element of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T21:56:45.047" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12277" CreationDate="2011-02-11T21:58:37.743" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;You guys&quot; is very informal, so... I'd just say &quot;Hey, you guys, your bikes just got run over by a steamroller&quot;.  And then turn around and run like hell in case they want to kill the messenger. ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously, I wouldn't even try to find possessive, since &quot;You guys&quot; is just a form of address.  What I mean is, it's just (my reading) a kind of &quot;plural of dude&quot; (okay, &quot;dudes&quot;... but do people say that?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T21:58:37.743" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12280" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12286" CreationDate="2011-02-11T22:14:59.697" Score="4" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fugly&quot; is a vulgar slang adjective as far as I know, and I wonder how common it is, and how do people react when they hear that word. Native speakers are appreciated if they share their opinions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T23:18:09.513" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T11:39:00.277" Title="How common is &quot;fugly&quot;?" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;vulgar&gt;&lt;common-word&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12280" CreationDate="2011-02-11T22:25:11.097" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was a teenager in Upstate New York about 30 years ago, the word was standard issue. As to how it was perceived: if you said it about a 3rd party, you received smirks and giggles. If you called someone &quot;fugly&quot; to their face, it was met with fists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T22:25:11.097" />
  <row Id="12282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12185" CreationDate="2011-02-11T22:32:03.970" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have mentioned, &quot;typical&quot; does not mean &quot;difficult&quot;.  There are no common English idioms where this is the case, either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I wonder if the people who &quot;usually&quot; use this word are not actually just mispronouncing &quot;difficult&quot;.  Or possibly you are mis-hearing &quot;difficult&quot; as &quot;typical&quot;.  There are some common consonant mutations involved d --&gt; t, f --&gt; p, possibly elision of the final &quot;t&quot;.  I once had Tibetan Buddhist monk as a teacher, and I can imagine him pronouncing &quot;difficult&quot; this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1864" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T22:32:03.970" />
  <row Id="12283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12262" CreationDate="2011-02-11T23:15:20.700" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;zh&lt;/em&gt; does not represent any single Arabic letter but is very occasionally used to represent the 'ǧīm' as pronounced by Arabic speakers in former French colonies -Lebanon &amp;amp; Syria most especially. That's not altogether proper orthography -it's normally transliterated as 'j'- but the closest rendering of how certain Levantines and N.W. Africans with French as a second (or first) language employ it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;zhe&lt;/em&gt; [ﮊ] does exist in both Kurdish and Persian (and further east, too), and is pronounced the same way: in the luscious, mouth-filling style that Robusto so well describes above. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T23:15:20.700" />
  <row Id="12284" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12285" CreationDate="2011-02-11T23:44:06.480" Score="2" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;So I have this database of my categories. And every category can have sub-categories, except for the prime-level ones. In my database I designate a row that is pointing to the category which will contain this category as its sub-category.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I call that? &lt;em&gt;Mother Category&lt;/em&gt;? Maybe there is more &quot;technical&quot; word for that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;P.S.&#xA;Sorry, English is not my native language so I don't know many words&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4908" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T23:56:46.377" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T08:27:19.430" Title="How to name something that has sub-categories" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12284" CreationDate="2011-02-11T23:45:56.090" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In conceptual modelling, where we study whole/part relationships, we would call that the &lt;em&gt;whole&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more technical name would be &lt;em&gt;root&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1304" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T23:45:56.090" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12280" CreationDate="2011-02-11T23:48:04.027" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fugly&quot; is indeed both vulgar and slang.  When I was growing up it in Chicago, it was understood as a combination word built of f***-ugly, where the first word is one of the proverbial words you can't say on the radio.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a combination that was often used on the playground, it has less impact than the core four letter word. But Horatio's description of it sounds about right - a direct insult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4909" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T23:48:04.027" />
  <row Id="12287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12284" CreationDate="2011-02-11T23:55:41.930" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest &quot;Master Category&quot; or &quot;Top Category&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T23:55:41.930" />
  <row Id="12288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12265" CreationDate="2011-02-12T00:28:57.267" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The English English equivalent being &quot;taking the piss&quot; -is that fair?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T00:28:57.267" />
  <row Id="12289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12277" CreationDate="2011-02-12T00:33:42.903" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regardless of the various permutations being thrown around these days, the &lt;em&gt;correct&lt;/em&gt; possessive of &lt;em&gt;you guys&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;strong&gt;you guys’&lt;/strong&gt;, spoken or written, and I quote (emphasis mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To form the possessive case of a plural noun ending in &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;, add &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; the apostrophe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;EXAMPLES    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;highways’ intersection  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;the beetles’ legs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;hr&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;John E. Warriner, &lt;em&gt;Warriner's English Grammar and Composition&lt;/em&gt; (Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1986), 243&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since &lt;em&gt;you guys&lt;/em&gt; is a plural noun, it is subject to the above rule, which has no exception, as far as I know. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, &lt;em&gt;you guys's&lt;/em&gt; is not an uncommon colloqiualism (I have even used it myself on occasion) but it is grammatically incorrect, and thus has no place in standard, proper or formal contexts, whether spoken or written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T00:33:42.903" />
  <row Id="12290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12280" CreationDate="2011-02-12T00:52:42.163" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fugly&quot; is an offensive term which is generally used to refer to a person that the speaker considers to be ugly and unattractive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard the word used and it's one that would be recognized most places in America as vulgar slang.  I've heard it used in the midwest and western United States.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2575" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T00:52:42.163" />
  <row Id="12291" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12292" CreationDate="2011-02-12T01:01:54.650" Score="1" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm interested in the semantic implications of using the words &lt;em&gt;quote&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;estimate&lt;/em&gt; in a business scenario.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the situation: When someone wants to purchase a service that I provide, they can fill out a form on a Website with information about the work to be done. Based on that info, they are instantly given a predicted price. This is intended only to be a ballpark. Once I manually review the work order, I will contact them with a personalized, much more accurate guess at the price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My instinct is to use &lt;em&gt;estimate&lt;/em&gt; for the ballpark and &lt;em&gt;quote&lt;/em&gt; for the more precise guess, but I'm interested in both your opinions and the more subtle distinctions and implications of the two words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4675" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T08:49:27.270" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T08:49:27.270" Title="&quot;Quote&quot; vs &quot;estimate&quot; (business context)" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;connotation&gt;&lt;semantics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12291" CreationDate="2011-02-12T01:10:36.517" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An estimate is an unofficial ballpark figure, the final cost may be lower or higher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once a quote is given for $X, the person who issued the quote is obliged to charge $X. It is effectively the price. If the actual cost differs from the quote the quote is still the amount payed, unless the customer and quoter re-negotiate the price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4739" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T01:10:36.517" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="12293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12291" CreationDate="2011-02-12T01:11:27.327" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with your instinct; a &lt;em&gt;quote&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;here's exactly what you'll pay for this list of exactly what you'll get&quot;, and is almost alway legally binding; while an &lt;em&gt;estimate&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;here's approximately what it should cost for exactly what you're asking to get&quot;.  Sometimes estimates come with a guarantee that &quot;final price will be within X% of the estimate&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T01:11:27.327" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="12294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12280" CreationDate="2011-02-12T02:05:48.230" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Fugly&lt;/em&gt; is used in Britain, amongst certain groups of disreputable youths, as it is American slang, it must get in to the youth culture dialects via the usual media route.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are far more common slang words that are very similar and used instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;butters&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;- a contraction of &lt;em&gt;butt-ugly&lt;/em&gt;, slightly better form than using &lt;em&gt;fugly&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(unless you have heard teen girls use it to bully someone, in which case any semblance of decency would fade beneath your jading eyes)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/minging&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;minging&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;- generally meaning &quot;repulsive&quot;, from the Scots word &lt;em&gt;mingin&lt;/em&gt; with the meaning &quot;stinking&quot;, note it is also used for events/things that are disgusting in addition to the descriptive use for people&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NB. Often used in the form of an agent noun instead, &lt;em&gt;minger&lt;/em&gt; (there is also &lt;em&gt;munter&lt;/em&gt;, but I refuse to explain what &lt;em&gt;munting&lt;/em&gt; means and &lt;strong&gt;strongly&lt;/strong&gt; suggest no one looks it up if you want to retain your latest meal)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;rank&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;- meaning &quot;disgusting&quot; and &quot;repulsive&quot; now, converted from the still used, more standard meaning of &quot;malodorous&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This word has a long etymology, originally from the Old English &lt;em&gt;ranc&lt;/em&gt;, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=rank&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Etymology's account&lt;/a&gt; (the adjectival form)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;rough&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;- should be self explanatory in this context&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;manky&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;- meaning &quot;unclean&quot; or &quot;disgusting&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen mixed etymology on this, some say originating in London, others that it is from the French &lt;em&gt;manqué&lt;/em&gt; (from &lt;em&gt;manquer&lt;/em&gt; - &quot;to lack, to miss out, to fail&quot;) and my personal view, the adjectival form of the archaic Scots word &lt;em&gt;mank&lt;/em&gt;, meaning &quot;maimed&quot; - the Scots use &lt;em&gt;manky&lt;/em&gt; far more than elsewhere in the past.  It fits with the current use best, any body part that is maimed would certainly be referred to as &lt;em&gt;manky&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T02:05:48.230" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10626" CreationDate="2011-02-12T03:02:14.390" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the comment to recent thread  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11780/one-day-only-promotion-or-one-day-only-promotion&quot;&gt;“One-Day Only Promotion” or “One-Day-Only Promotion”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;by @JoseK to answer my question more satisfactorily by giving the reference to on-line grammar rules on usage of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/hyphens.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hypens between Words&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T03:20:25.263" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T03:20:25.263" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10626" CreationDate="2011-02-12T03:49:11.593" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Business report&quot; is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_compound&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;compound noun&lt;/a&gt;. Though this word is &lt;em&gt;written&lt;/em&gt; with a space in the middle in the English writing system, linguistically speaking, &quot;business report&quot; is &lt;strong&gt;one word&lt;/strong&gt;.  This is why we say &quot;the business report&quot; and we can't say &quot;the business the report&quot;, &quot;business the report&quot;, &quot;daily business interesting report&quot; or anything else like that.  &quot;Business report&quot; is a single unit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Nightly&lt;/em&gt; (in the sense you are using it) is an adjective, not an adverb.  In any case, it modifies the entire compound noun, &quot;business report&quot;.  (Adverbs never modify nouns.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the constituency works in this way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;[nightly [business report]]&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T04:46:00.093" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T04:46:00.093" />
  <row Id="12297" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12298" CreationDate="2011-02-12T04:12:19.063" Score="1" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found this text on the internet:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We must polish the Polish furniture.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He could lead if he would get the lead out.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The farm was used to produce produce.&lt;br&gt; &#xA;  ...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  There was a bow tied in the ropes on the bow of the ship.&lt;br&gt; &#xA;  You should &lt;strong&gt;spring&lt;/strong&gt; that on us next &lt;strong&gt;spring&lt;/strong&gt;!&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.corsinet.com/braincandy/hlanguage2.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.corsinet.com/braincandy/hlanguage2.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could you clarify the difference in pronunciation of the word &lt;strong&gt;spring&lt;/strong&gt; in the last line?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2201" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T07:16:10.363" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T07:16:10.363" Title="Pronunciation of &quot;spring&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12297" CreationDate="2011-02-12T04:19:29.220" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no difference between how the two &lt;em&gt;springs&lt;/em&gt; are pronounced. The meanings are different, though: the first spring means &quot;surprise (us) with&quot;; the second is the season. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T04:19:29.220" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12268" CreationDate="2011-02-12T04:44:02.257" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always thought &quot;bloody&quot; was a reference to the blood of christ. kind of like &quot;suffering Jesus&quot; if you've ever heard that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit: I see that this interpretation is also listed on Wikipedia, nonetheless, it uses something of religious value and turns it into an expletive. I think it's more offensive in the UK than the US because it started in the UK, and people actually know what it means, whereas in the US &quot;bloody&quot; is just a funny British curse word. Don't know if that helps in any way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4914" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T04:44:02.257" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12274" CreationDate="2011-02-12T05:38:15.883" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know how to check &quot;reading level&quot; per se, but you can substitute for it by checking the usage frequency of individual English words online. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordfrequency.info/files/entriesWithoutCollocates.txt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.wordfrequency.info/files/entriesWithoutCollocates.txt&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Frequency_lists&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The assumption here being that the more common words are more likely to be known to users than rarely used words. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to a study (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocabulary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocabulary&lt;/a&gt;), high school grads will know approx. 12k word families and approx 17k word families by the time they complete college. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As such, you can use as a rule of thumb that any word past the 12k mark in frequency rating can be considered to be challenging for most users. (with of course of a lot of exceptions)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, keep in mind that while some words are commonly used, some definitions of these words can be very rare, making them likely to be misunderstood. In my opinion, the most challenging words of the English language are small common words such as &quot;to&quot;, &quot;as&quot;, &quot;in&quot;, etc. which can have 10 - 30 different definitions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Checking frequency is a negative test: If the word is not frequently used, you can safely assume that it will stump some of your readers, but it does not guarantee that a word frequently used will be easy enough either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a great question, by the way. I find that one of the most neglected areas of software documentation is the definition of terms used and what they really mean in the context of the software. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3902" LastEditorUserId="3902" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T08:38:44.107" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T08:38:44.107" />
  <row Id="12301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12297" CreationDate="2011-02-12T05:41:52.447" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, there is &lt;strong&gt;no difference&lt;/strong&gt; in pronunciation of the two instances of spring in the last sentence of your example. True, it is the exception to the pattern in the preceding lines. And the meaning is different in each usage of spring. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two words with the same spelling and same pronunciation, with different meanings, such as spring in your example, are &lt;strong&gt;Homonyms&lt;/strong&gt;, see chart below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the other examples had the same spelling, different pronunciation and different meanings. They are &lt;strong&gt;Heteronyms&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is probably a bit of overkill, but I like this kind of thing, and was excited to find this cool Venn diagram just now, so posted what is mostly a repeat of &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/4752/fortunate1&quot;&gt;fortunate1's&lt;/a&gt; fine answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See Venn diagram from Wikipedia of terms for words with similar pronunciation, meaning and spelling, or any combination &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/sMlIE.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://i.imgur.com/sMlIE.png&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I couldn't insert the image because I am new on the English Stackexchange site, sorry!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4915" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T05:41:52.447" />
  <row Id="12302" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12306" CreationDate="2011-02-12T06:01:05.937" Score="0" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the shortest term to refer to representatives of peoples and cultures whose mother tongue is English?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6361/meaning-of-the-phrase-in-the-wash&quot;&gt;Mothertonguers?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Can't I &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11538/origin-of-the-meaning-of-joe/12442#12442&quot;&gt;call them joe&lt;/a&gt;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T23:07:06.183" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T23:07:06.183" Title="What is the shortest term to refer to people whose mother tongue is English?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;technical&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12302" CreationDate="2011-02-12T06:03:42.110" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Native English speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not believe that the term &quot;mothertonguers&quot; would be generally well received.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T06:03:42.110" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12193" CreationDate="2011-02-12T06:05:31.657" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In everyday American English, I'm not sure there's a specific term for what you're describing. If I understand you correctly, you're trying to differentiate between words or phrases you have a definition for, versus words which you can use and basically understand but which you could not satisfactorily define to another person. Is this an accurate impression?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: I recently came across the phrase (to) &quot;tuck in&quot; in some BBC programs. In American English, I've only ever encountered &quot;tucking in&quot; where it's used to describe the act of putting someone in bed, such as a child or sick person. From the context of the program I was watching, the expression seems to be used to describe the beginning of a meal. I haven't looked this up, but I feel familiar enough with the phrase to understand it if I hear it again or use it myself in a similar way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I can describe my familiarity with this phrase in various ways, there isn't really a word that &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; this level of familiarity. The closest thing I can think of would probably be &quot;conversant&quot;, although conversant is more appropriate for &lt;em&gt;categories&lt;/em&gt; of information, rather than a single object within a category. (For example: &quot;I'm conversant with the Visual BASIC programming environment: I haven't actually studied it, but I know enough from working with QBASIC and other Visual Studio software that I can make a functional program.&quot; Or: &quot;I'm conversant in German, but don't call on me to give a presentation using it.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what you've provided, this is the closest answer I can give.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4917" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T06:05:31.657" />
  <row Id="12305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12193" CreationDate="2011-02-12T06:21:24.403" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If one commonly uses a word without knowing its meaning, it is probably a &lt;em&gt;malapropism&lt;/em&gt;. This means a word used incorrectly: if it were used right, the speaker would therefore know its meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Words which are common parts of speech, with mechanical functions that are difficult to express, such as &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;, do not count. Most people cannot define their native language itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Asking your friends what &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; is, is a pastime risky for one's social life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4385" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T06:21:24.403" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12302" CreationDate="2011-02-12T06:40:32.913" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Native &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglophone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;anglophone&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; is, I believe, an even shorter term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;anglophone&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;(noun)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  an English-speaking person&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;hr&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1221862#m_en_us1221862&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T06:40:32.913" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2011-02-12T07:05:59.460" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have an old, well-worn, pocket-sized copy of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Roget's Thesaurus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; on my desk at work (I'm a software engineer) that I find invaluable when writing documentation and emails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T07:05:59.460" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-12T07:05:59.460" />
  <row Id="12308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12297" CreationDate="2011-02-12T07:15:30.113" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two words are not pronounced differently; they have a different meaning as &lt;em&gt;spring (something) on&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;present or propose something suddenly or unexpectedly to someone&lt;/em&gt;, while &lt;em&gt;spring&lt;/em&gt; (as noun) can mean the season (as in the example sentence) or have other meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also two words that have a similar pronunciation (at least in American English): &lt;em&gt;produce&lt;/em&gt; (verb) and &lt;em&gt;produce&lt;/em&gt; (noun): The first is pronounced /prəˈd(j)us/, or /proʊˈd(j)us/; the second is pronounced /ˈprɑˌd(j)us/, or /ˈproʊˌd(j)us/. The difference between /proʊˈd(j)us/ and /ˈproʊˌd(j)us/ is where the primary accent is, and the presence of a secondary accent in place of the primary accent of the first word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T07:15:30.113" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12309" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12314" CreationDate="2011-02-12T08:02:30.503" Score="0" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;liberation&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;free&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Are &lt;em&gt;spiritual liberation&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;free will&lt;/em&gt; the same?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T08:12:08.817" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T08:33:12.277" Title="&quot;Liberation&quot; and &quot;free&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7086" CreationDate="2011-02-12T08:04:27.083" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add to PLL's answer, the phrase is &quot;hard done by&quot;, and it's AFAIK not grammatically incorrect to add a &quot;by&quot; to it, just ungainly and awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just going by Google results, there are 49600 results for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22hard%20done%20by%20by%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;hard done by by&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, and although some are titles, you can see that there are about 91 results &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22hard%20done%20by%20by%22&amp;amp;tbs=bks:1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;in Google Books for &quot;hard done by by&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, including quite a few from reputable sources. On the other hand, most results for &quot;hard done by his/her/the&quot; involve the last word in a different sentence, or at least not signifying who the person was &lt;em&gt;hard done by&lt;/em&gt; by.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T08:04:27.083" />
  <row Id="12311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12309" CreationDate="2011-02-12T08:27:08.857" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question does not have sufficient context for a good answer, but in general, discussions about free will refer to the ability of a person to make a decision without being coerced into it, whereas spiritual liberation would suggest more of personal progression, from a state of spiritual repression to a freer state. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lacking proper context, there not much else that can be said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3902" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T08:27:08.857" />
  <row Id="12312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12284" CreationDate="2011-02-12T08:27:19.430" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you're talking about using a database, I assume you might be looking for what the common technical terms are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, you'd use parent/child to describe the relationship between a category and it's sub-categories. The term root may be used to specify the container of all categories that have no parent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T08:27:19.430" />
  <row Id="12313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12302" CreationDate="2011-02-12T08:27:30.727" Score="-3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mothertongue.com/wordpress/?p=488&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;English is no one's (person or country) native language&lt;/a&gt;. And hence, there is no term that has ever been coined to refer people whose mother tongue is English. Hence, it will be like talking something south of the south pole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T08:27:30.727" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12309" CreationDate="2011-02-12T08:27:47.527" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are two questions. First: What is the difference in meaning between &quot;liberation&quot; and &quot;free&quot;?&#xA;Let's exclude the part of speech aspect. Free can be a verb or an adjective. Liberation is not a verb (the verb would be &quot;liberate&quot;). In terms of usage, liberation usually has a more formal or ideological meaning i.e. liberation from political oppression or liberation of prisoners-of-war. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Free may be substituted for liberated in the examples I just gave. It retains the same meaning. However, free has other meanings as well. It is often used to express a service or product that is gratis, provided at no cost, free of charge, no money required to obtain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the second question: Spiritual liberation is the same as free will in some belief systems, but not in others. As  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/77/shreevatsar&quot;&gt;ShreevatsaR&lt;/a&gt; stated, you must provide some clarification. The question, as it is currently phrased, is about philosophy or religion, not language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4915" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T08:27:47.527" />
  <row Id="12315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12309" CreationDate="2011-02-12T08:33:12.277" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Liberation&lt;/em&gt; can mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;freeing a country, a city, or people from enemy occupation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;releasing someone from a state or situation that limits freedom of thought or behavior.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;freeing someone from rigid social conventions, especially those concerned with accepted sexual roles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Free&lt;/em&gt; can mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not under the control or in the power of another; able to act or be done as one wishes; subject neither to foreign domination nor to despotic government; not or no longer confined or imprisoned.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not physically restrained, obstructed, or fixed; unimpeded.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not subject to or constrained by engagements or obligations.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Given or available without charge.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using or expending something without restraint; lavish.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Spiritual liberation&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;free will&lt;/em&gt; have different meaning, as &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; is generally understood as &lt;em&gt;a deliberate or fixed desire or intent&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;liberation&lt;/em&gt; implicates a change of status (e.g., from &lt;em&gt;without freedom&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;with freedom&lt;/em&gt;) that is not implicit in &lt;em&gt;free will&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T08:33:12.277" />
  <row Id="12316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8554" CreationDate="2011-02-12T09:40:41.790" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since we're all geeks on this here intermanet-thingy, I propose we use geek-speak and declare the plural of &lt;em&gt;Prius&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;Priussen&lt;/em&gt; (like the plural of VAX is VAXXEN.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T09:40:41.790" />
  <row Id="12317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12099" CreationDate="2011-02-12T10:00:57.020" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Have&quot; always doesn't mean &quot;possession&quot;, but in many cases it does. For eg.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;HAVE&quot; AS A TRANSITIVE VERB&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to hold in the hand or in control; own; possess: &lt;em&gt;to have wealth&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to possess or contain as a part, characteristic, attribute, etc.: &lt;em&gt;she has blue eyes; the week has seven days&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to be affected by or afflicted with: &lt;em&gt;to have a cold&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to possess by way of experience; experience; undergo: &lt;em&gt;have a good time&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to possess an understanding of; know: &lt;em&gt;to have only a little Spanish&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to hold or keep in the mind: &lt;em&gt;to have an idea&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to declare or state: &lt;em&gt;so gossip has it&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to gain possession, control, or mastery of; &lt;em&gt;I have been trained in Classical Music&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(a) to get, take, receive, or obtain: &lt;em&gt;to have news of someone, have a look at it&lt;/em&gt;                                                                    (b) to consume; eat or drink: &lt;em&gt;have some tea&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;to bear or beget (offspring)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to perform; carry on; engage in: &lt;em&gt;to have an argument&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to cause to: &lt;em&gt;have them walk home&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to cause to be: &lt;em&gt;have this done first&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to be in a certain relation to: &lt;em&gt;to have brothers and sisters&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to feel and show: &lt;em&gt;have pity on her&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to permit; tolerate: used in the negative: &lt;em&gt;I won't have this nonsense&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;HAVE&quot; USED IN AN INFORMAL WAY&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to hold at a disadvantage or to overcome: &lt;em&gt;I had my opponent now&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to deceive; take in; cheat: &lt;em&gt;they were had in that business deal&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to engage in sexual intercourse with&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;AS A NOUN&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a person or nation with relatively much wealth or rich resources: &lt;em&gt;the haves and have-nots.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4924" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T10:00:57.020" />
  <row Id="12318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12265" CreationDate="2011-02-12T10:28:01.080" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Briefly, related sayings might include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are you &lt;strong&gt;having me on&lt;/strong&gt;? (&lt;em&gt;To kid or mislead someone&lt;/em&gt; )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are you &lt;strong&gt;taking the mickey&lt;/strong&gt; out of me? (&lt;em&gt;Teasing or making fun of someone&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He's &lt;strong&gt;pulled a fast one&lt;/strong&gt;. (&lt;em&gt;To trick or mislead someone&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T10:28:01.080" />
  <row Id="12319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12265" CreationDate="2011-02-12T11:01:23.117" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD describes &lt;em&gt;put someone on&lt;/em&gt; as informal for &lt;em&gt;deceive&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;hoax&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T11:01:23.117" />
  <row Id="12320" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12324" CreationDate="2011-02-12T11:21:31.400" Score="1" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lipolysis&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;ketosis&lt;/em&gt; both end in &lt;em&gt;-sis&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Does that suffix have the same meaning in both the words? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T12:05:26.167" Title="Does the suffix in &quot;lipolysis&quot; and &quot;ketosis&quot; have the same meaning in both the words?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;suffix&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="12321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12280" CreationDate="2011-02-12T11:39:00.277" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dictionary.com reports only that &lt;em&gt;fugly&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;very ugly, extremely unattractive&lt;/em&gt;; it doesn't report if it is vulgar, or slang.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Searching for &lt;em&gt;fugly&lt;/em&gt; in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American&lt;/a&gt;, I find that the frequency that word is used is &lt;strong&gt;0.01 per million&lt;/strong&gt; in fiction, and &lt;strong&gt;0.02 per million&lt;/strong&gt; in magazines; it is not used in other contexts. The word is only found in texts dated between 2005-2010 (with a frequency of &lt;strong&gt;0.03&lt;/strong&gt;).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I didn't find the word in the &lt;em&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/em&gt;, but it doesn't contain data for texts after 1993.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does what you are wearing make me think of you as more feminine or more elegant or more provocative or more intellectual or more street than I thought before? And please forgive my chauvinism, but do I fancy you more? A label in itself is no guarantee of desirability. A hot designer's clothes can be brilliant or flat-out fugly. I think women on the whole are more interested to know how they are being assessed by other women; maybe they feel the details are wasted on men. But as a man, when I see women in outlandish getups, I certainly have some kind of internal dialogue with myself that comes under the heading &quot;What were you thinking?&quot; —When Women Try too Hard, Christopher Brooks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T11:39:00.277" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10900" CreationDate="2011-02-12T11:58:54.007" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It should be &quot;bake a cake&quot; and not &quot;cook a cake&quot;.&#xA;Baking is when you put something in an oven-toaster-griller, and cooking is when you put something on the stove-top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4924" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T11:58:54.007" />
  <row Id="12323" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12325" CreationDate="2011-02-12T11:59:13.537" Score="1" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;In today's New York Times article titled &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/world/middleeast/12revolution.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Uncharted Ground After Stunning End of Egypt’s Regime&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; reporting now 'former' President of Egypt, Hosni Sayyid Mubarak’s departure from office, I found the phrase &lt;em&gt;pose challenges as myriad as Mubarak’s departure was singular&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning of &lt;em&gt;as .... as&lt;/em&gt; used here does not seem to be same as the pattern I’m accustomed to, e.g., &lt;em&gt;as many as&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;as much as&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I think the writer chose &lt;em&gt;myriad&lt;/em&gt; to make contrast to &lt;em&gt;singular&lt;/em&gt;. Can I interpret &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt; preceding to &lt;em&gt;Mr. Mubarak’s departure&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;when&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;although&lt;/em&gt;? If not, how can I paraphrase this line? The text reads as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But in the gray light of dawn, Egypt will face the meaning of its revolution, as will an Arab world that shares its demographic of a younger generation taking the stage, posing challenges as myriad as Mr. Mubarak’s departure was singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T13:38:02.437" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T13:38:02.437" Title="What does ‘Pose challenges as myriad as Mubarak’s departure was singular’ mean?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="12324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12320" CreationDate="2011-02-12T12:05:26.167" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. The suffix in &lt;em&gt;lipolysis&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;-lysis&lt;/em&gt;, while the suffix in &lt;em&gt;ketosis&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;-osis&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=-lysis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;-lysis&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is a 'scientific/medical suffix meaning &quot;loosening, dissolving, dissolution,&quot; from Gk. &lt;em&gt;lysis&lt;/em&gt;'.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The word &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipolysis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;lipolysis&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; means the breakdown of lipids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ketosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;ketosis&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; comes from '&lt;em&gt;keto-&lt;/em&gt; combining form of &lt;em&gt;ketone&lt;/em&gt;, + &lt;em&gt;-osis&lt;/em&gt;', where &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=-osis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;-osis&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is a 'suffix expressing state or condition, in medical terminology denoting &quot;a state of disease,&quot; from L. &lt;em&gt;-osis&lt;/em&gt;, from Gk. &lt;em&gt;-osis&lt;/em&gt;'. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ketosis&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is a disease 'characterised by elevated levels of ketone bodies in the blood'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The connection between the two is that the process of lipolysis produces ketones, an excess of which is called ketosis, but this is not an etymological connection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T12:05:26.167" />
  <row Id="12325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12323" CreationDate="2011-02-12T12:08:57.607" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The author here is probably trying to convey the sense of extremes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mubarak's reign in Egypt was dictatorial and iron-fisted, so it could be said that it was singular. So, his departure was quite unexpected and surprising. That is one end of the spectrum, in the sense of being remarkable, unusual and surprising. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issues faced by Egypt now will be multi-faceted and numerous, so it can be said that there are innumerable problems that are going to be faced by Egypt. That is the other end of the spectrum, in the multiplicity of problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The journo is trying to point out that Egypt has gone from one extreme to another extreme, from a singular huge problem(Mubarak's regime) to a multitude of smaller problems. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The number of problems faced by Egypt will be as remarkable as Mubarak's departure was unexpected and surprising&quot; is another way of conveying the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3982" LastEditorUserId="3982" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T12:31:10.173" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T12:31:10.173" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12326" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12338" CreationDate="2011-02-12T12:13:56.567" Score="25" ViewCount="782" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a particular rule that states that &lt;em&gt;q&lt;/em&gt; should always be followed by a &lt;em&gt;u&lt;/em&gt;? Because in certain cases like &lt;em&gt;Qatar&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;qawwali&lt;/em&gt;, this so-called rule is violated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you folks say?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4924" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T12:34:09.293" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T09:33:31.777" Title="Why is &quot;q&quot; followed by a &quot;u&quot;?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="12327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5317" CreationDate="2011-02-12T12:31:47.830" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;@birdus: if colour and color are the same then, why is it so, that when we are designing a webpage on NotePad, the web browser (could be any) does not accept 'bgcolour'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4924" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T12:31:47.830" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12328" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12331" CreationDate="2011-02-12T12:35:09.683" Score="2" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The result is &lt;em&gt;transparently converted&lt;/em&gt; to another data type?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does &quot;transparently&quot; mean in this context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2332" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T13:44:20.793" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T19:57:00.030" Title="What does &quot;transparently converted&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="12329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9192" CreationDate="2011-02-12T12:36:19.823" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can be both, 'canceled and 'cancelled'. But to me, 'cancelled' looks way better than 'canceled'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S.-Nice play on the words 'canceled' and 'cancelled'!!!!! Seems quite a tongue twister!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4924" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T12:36:19.823" />
  <row Id="12330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12328" CreationDate="2011-02-12T13:23:37.363" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means the conversion is invisible, unnoticable.  Like people bumping into a glass door, being so transparent as to be (nearly, depending on the lighting) invisible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T13:23:37.363" />
  <row Id="12331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12328" CreationDate="2011-02-12T13:27:01.767" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect you are talking about programming, but correct me if that is not the case. I also suspect you mean &quot;data type&quot; and not &quot;date type&quot; but I could be wrong there as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If something in a coding language is &quot;transparently converted to another dat[a] type&quot; it means it is converted invisibly, without giving any sign that it is doing so. This is one reason why some people have a hard time debugging Javascript, because transparent conversions (also known as &quot;coercions&quot;) won't get flagged in a debugger because they are not, strictly speaking, bugs (although Douglas Crockford might &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/questions/359494/javascript-vs-does-it-matter-which-equal-operator-i-use&quot;&gt;have a different opinion&lt;/a&gt; about that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in Javascript, if you write&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;if (3 == &quot;3&quot;) {&#xA;  alert(&quot;String '3' does equal the number 3&quot;);&#xA;}&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you can see that the language has &lt;em&gt;transparently converted&lt;/em&gt; one of the data types into another. (To force Javascript to perform an exact comparison without the transparent conversion, you would have to write &lt;code&gt;if (3 === &quot;3&quot;)&lt;/code&gt; ).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T13:41:08.437" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T13:41:08.437" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12332" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12334" CreationDate="2011-02-12T13:42:13.867" Score="1" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the origin and context of use of the word &lt;strong&gt;kudos&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think these phrases are similar:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Kudos for you&#xA;Karma for you&#xA;Points for you&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first time I read kudos was playing &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_Street_Racer#Kudos&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Metropolis Street Racer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4927" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T13:44:44.297" Title="What's the context of use of the word kudos?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;contexts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="12333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12326" CreationDate="2011-02-12T13:42:21.200" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English, there are no rules about when the &lt;em&gt;q&lt;/em&gt; must be followed from a &lt;em&gt;u&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English words use &lt;em&gt;qu&lt;/em&gt; when it was present in the original word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;English Word | Original word | Language&#xA;quandary     | quando        | Latin&#xA;quantify     | quantificare  | Medieval Latin&#xA;quantum      | quantus       | Latin&#xA;quark        | quark         | German&#xA;quarry       | quarreria     | Medieval Latin&#xA;quest        | queste        | Old French&#xA;question     | question      | Old French&#xA;query        | quaerere      | Latin&#xA;quetzal      | quetzalli     | Aztec&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt; &#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other times, English words use &lt;em&gt;qu&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;cw&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ku&lt;/em&gt; of the original word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;English Word | Original word | Language&#xA;quean        | cwene         | Old English&#xA;quell        | cwellan       | Old English&#xA;queen        | cwēn          | Old English &#xA;quench       | -cwencan      | Old English&#xA;quern        | cweorn(e)     | Old English&#xA;quiche       | Küchen        | Alsatian dialect&#xA;quick        | cwic, cwicu   | Old English&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T09:33:31.777" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T09:33:31.777" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="12334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12332" CreationDate="2011-02-12T13:44:44.297" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=kudos&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this to say&lt;/a&gt; about &lt;em&gt;kudos&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;fame, renown,&quot; 1799, from Gk. kyddos &quot;glory, fame, renown,&quot; from kydos &quot;glory, fame,&quot; lit. &quot;that which is heard of&quot; (see caveat). A singular noun in Gk., but the final -s often is mistaken as a plural suffix in English, leading to the barbarous back-formation kudo (first attested 1941).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Especially note the singular vs. plural issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The normal preposition to use with it is &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; and it can be used without a preposition as well when it is used as a direct object, as in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kudos&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these examples&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kudos to everyone who helped.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The company has earned kudos for responding so quickly to customers' concerns.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T13:44:44.297" />
  <row Id="12335" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-12T13:46:29.927" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for the word that describes a tea making coughing more productive. Is there any concise word for that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2758" LastEditorUserId="2758" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T19:11:18.463" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T19:11:18.463" Title="Is there a concise word for &quot;cough tea&quot;?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12335" CreationDate="2011-02-12T13:50:17.673" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something that prevents coughing is called an &quot;antitussive&quot;. (See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anti-tussive&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; Online.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T13:50:17.673" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12337" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12341" CreationDate="2011-02-12T13:51:16.467" Score="2" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference in meaning between &lt;em&gt;prevalent&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;prevailing&lt;/em&gt;? I'm not sure I get the nuance, if there is one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4088" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T14:00:17.160" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T21:43:45.893" Title="&quot;Prevalent&quot; vs &quot;prevailing&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12326" CreationDate="2011-02-12T13:54:58.820" Score="36" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no &lt;strong&gt;rule&lt;/strong&gt; that &lt;em&gt;q&lt;/em&gt; must be followed by &lt;em&gt;u&lt;/em&gt; in all circumstances. This is merely true in the vast majority of circumstances, and it goes back to Latin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The early Latins had three different letters for the [k] sound: C K Q. However, they only had one letter to represent the [u] and [w] (or [v]) sounds: V. It became customary to write the sequence [kw] (which is fairly common in Latin) as QV and all other instances of [k] as C. (K dropped out of use in most words.) This usage survived into most other European languages that were written with the Latin alphabet, though eventually the letter V was differentiated into U and V, and the accepted spelling of [kw] became QU.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Words spelled with Q without U are generally more recent additions to English, and often represent words borrowed from Semitic languages. Those languages are written with non-Latin alphabets and often have more than one [k]-like sound. When transliterating these scripts, K is usually used for [k], and Q for another sound such as [q], a uvular, &quot;guttural k&quot;. In romanizations of Chinese Q is also used for a sound similar to the English &quot;ch&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T13:54:58.820" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12339" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-12T13:55:13.453" Score="0" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&#xA;    I have to write a formal e-mail for following 2 conditions:    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1)&lt;/strong&gt; There is a month year old '&lt;strong&gt;Industrial Trainee&lt;/strong&gt;' in a company(say xyz). It has been assigned a new task regarding project and also has been asked about the '&lt;strong&gt;Expected Completion Date&lt;/strong&gt;'. But for regular employees the &lt;strong&gt;ECD&lt;/strong&gt; is &lt;strong&gt;3&lt;/strong&gt; days. The ECD is to be communicated to Team Leader. Then I have written following sample for it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hi,&lt;br&gt;&#xA; Currently I have been told to work on ticket #1234. Being a neophyte I can't assure you of completing my task within 3 days but I'll try my level best.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Thanks,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My Name&lt;/strong&gt;    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2)&lt;/strong&gt; The &lt;strong&gt;Industrial Trainee&lt;/strong&gt; is supposed to complete all its assignment as a part of 'Training Program' till 18th Feb.The 'Industrial Trainee' mentioned above has exceeded its limit of 3 days and has been told by annoyed 'Team Leader' to write mail regarding the progress of above ticket to 'Project Manager'.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;**Hi,&lt;br&gt;&#xA; I was assigned ticket 12345 to work on Friday(4th Feb). The issue was replicated on QA site on Monday. I took Tuesday as well as Wednesday to up the dev site. &#xA;  Sir, I apologize you for such slow progress but as a part of training program for 'Industrial Trainees' I am supposed to complete all 14 assignments till 18th Feb.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;My name**  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Will you please provide me suggestions?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4928" LastEditorUserId="4928" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T14:14:00.677" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T14:14:00.677" ClosedDate="2011-02-12T14:16:13.717" Title="Can anybody please check my formal e-mails?" Tags="&lt;email&gt;" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12328" CreationDate="2011-02-12T13:56:51.953" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In programming context, &lt;em&gt;transparently&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;without the programmer writes code to do it&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in the following PHP code&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;$value = 1;&#xA;&#xA;if ($value) {&#xA;  // …&#xA;}&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the content of &lt;code&gt;$value&lt;/code&gt; is automatically (or transparently) converted to a boolean value.&#xA;In other programming languages, the programmer should explicitly convert the value, writing code similar to the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;value = 1;&#xA;&#xA;if ((boolean) value) {&#xA;  // … &#xA;}&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T13:56:51.953" />
  <row Id="12341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12337" CreationDate="2011-02-12T14:02:03.023" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported from the NOAD:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Wildflowers might be prevalent in the mountains during the spring months, but a particular type of wildflower might be the prevailing one. &lt;em&gt;Prevalent&lt;/em&gt;, in other words, implies widespread occurrence or acceptance in a particular place or time (&lt;em&gt;a prevalent belief during the nineteenth century&lt;/em&gt;), while &lt;em&gt;prevailing&lt;/em&gt; suggests that something exists in such quantity that it surpasses or leads all others in acceptance, usage, or belief (&lt;em&gt;the prevailing theory about the evolution of man&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T14:02:03.023" />
  <row Id="12342" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12344" CreationDate="2011-02-12T14:02:17.640" Score="2" ViewCount="277" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm learning modal verbs now and get in trouble with &quot;need&quot; one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my textbook it is said that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;don't need to == needn't -- present simple&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  didn't need to -- past simple&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  needn't have done -- present perfect&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some inexplicable reason I think that &lt;em&gt;needn't have done&lt;/em&gt; sounds weird (may be because I haven't ever heard of such construction).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is: Is there a sentence that equal to &lt;em&gt;needn't have done&lt;/em&gt; but without the &lt;em&gt;needn't&lt;/em&gt; part (like the past simple one)? Or everything is just fine with it and I shouldn't keep in mind?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1167" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T14:11:01.283" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T10:51:10.797" Title="&quot;Needn't do&quot; and &quot;needn't have done&quot;" Tags="&lt;modal-verbs&gt;&lt;present-perfect-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="12343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12342" CreationDate="2011-02-12T14:09:55.863" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The opposite of &lt;em&gt;needn't have done&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;should have done&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's too late to call the bank. I &lt;em&gt;should have done&lt;/em&gt; that earlier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is opposite in sentiment to &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I bought oranges yesterday! I &lt;em&gt;needn't have done&lt;/em&gt; that today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which can be equally expressed as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I bought oranges yesterday! I &lt;em&gt;didn't need to do&lt;/em&gt; that today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3559" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T14:09:55.863" />
  <row Id="12344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12342" CreationDate="2011-02-12T14:10:19.857" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, all of the examples are a little weird. &lt;em&gt;Need&lt;/em&gt; is very rarely used as a modal any more, and it's likely that you'll be able to go your entire life without ever encountering it in speech. It is sufficient that you be able to recognize and understand sentences like the above, but don't expect to use them much. Just treat &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; like any other verb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Present: &lt;code&gt;don't need to&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Present perfect: &lt;code&gt;haven't needed to&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Simple past: &lt;code&gt;didn't need to&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Past perfect: &lt;code&gt;hadn't needed to&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, the three examples are grammatically correct, strictly speaking. The phrase &lt;em&gt;needn't have done&lt;/em&gt; is a fine, though archaic, way of saying &lt;em&gt;didn't need to have done...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T14:10:19.857" />
  <row Id="12345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12342" CreationDate="2011-02-12T14:10:47.453" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is nothing wrong with &quot;needn't have done&quot;. It means, simply, &quot;did not need to do [something].&quot; This is true even though the cases are different. The actions that have been accomplished were done in the past in both cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You paid my bill? You needn't have done that. I was fully prepared to pay it myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You paid my bill? You did not need to do that. I was fully prepared to pay it myself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T14:16:45.260" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T14:16:45.260" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12377" CreationDate="2011-02-12T14:13:27.617" Score="0" ViewCount="345" Body="&lt;p&gt;I became confused by &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12226/are-there-any-cases-where-prepend-cannot-be-replaced-by-prefix/12260#12260&quot;&gt;comments to my answer&lt;/a&gt; insisting that Technical writing is jargon using incorrect English words.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also looked through definitions of &quot;prepend&quot; in internet, all with inserted derogatory remarks, even in IT-specialized dictionaries,  like 'jargon' and:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=prepend&amp;amp;i=49641,00.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;prepend is not an English word. It was created to sound like the opposite of &quot;append,&quot; which means to add to the end. The correct English word is &quot;prefix;&lt;/a&gt;   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/prepend&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Although it sounds correct, prepend is not an English word. It was created to sound like the opposite of &quot;append,&quot; which means to add to the end. The correct English word is &quot;prefix;&quot; for example,&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is Technical Writing jargon or writing-style and the branch of correctly used English?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Would I better avoid to refer to it as  English at all while copywriting (or copylefting) in it?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If I write using the words which are not English WORDS, do I write in English?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update2:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read many definitions of copywriting but basically it is to poularize a product or a point of view to a most general (including illiterate) reader. The term &lt;strong&gt;Copywriting&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://ezinearticles.com/?Technical-Writing---Definition-of-Copyright-and-Copywriting&amp;amp;id=1274103&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;refers to writing in the sense of creating non-technical material&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.  Where is here a &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12346/is-technical-copywriting-jargon-or-style&quot;&gt;&quot;jargon is nearly impossible for the average person to decipher&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, given by all answers, I wonder?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update3:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Some of jargon definitions:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3036959&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jargon (JAR´gen) - Meaningless use of words&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.butte.edu/departments/cas/tipsheets/style_purpose_strategy/definitions.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The technical language of a particular group that is inappropriate in most formal writing since it is frequently not understandable by those outside the group&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is unclear in &quot;prepend&quot; and to whom?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Why isn't busyness letter or step-by-step instructions a formal writing?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update4:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Jargon is not necessarily incorrect words. I can speak a few jargons with completely correct words engagement which will be clear only to representatives of certain groups. It is the matter of enagaging accent, distinctiveness, allusions, metaphors, rare citations or facts and idioms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should it be be understood that insulting obscenities known to everybody are not jargon and full members of &quot;correct&quot; English printed in all dictionaries, exposable in printed books, screened popular movies?  but understandable &quot;technical&quot; ubiquitous words are out?     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.real-knowledge.com/jargon.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jargon, when referring to computers,&#xA;  is the usage of words by a particular&#xA;  group, profession, or culture,&#xA;  especially when the words and phrases&#xA;  are not understood or used by other&#xA;  people. For instance, words like&#xA;  Adware and Spyware are considered&#xA;  Jargon. Many computer related&#xA;  acronyms, such as CPU (another name&#xA;  for computer processor) and RAM&#xA;  (another name for memory), are also&#xA;  considered Jargon terms&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you know anybody who:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  - who does NOT know the words RAM or CPU?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  - who knows, without consulting with dictionaries, all &quot;correct&quot; words of a language?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related question:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11960/does-english-have-taboo-ed-unprintable-obscenities&quot;&gt;Does English have taboo-ed (unprintable) obscenities? [closed]&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The origin of confusion is that the foreign words &quot;jargon&quot; and &quot;slang&quot; make part of Russian and in Russian (as far as I know it, since I am not a linguist) &quot;jargon&quot; covers insulting dialects while &quot;slang&quot; is just peculiar/eqxuisite dialects.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;May I ask to start delete/edit my question, so distorting its sense, after answer to question acceptance?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T06:28:47.810" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T16:45:33.123" Title="Is technical copywriting jargon or style?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;technical&gt;&lt;jargon&gt;&lt;style&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="138" CreationDate="2011-02-12T14:20:20.187" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to go against the grain of the current answers, and say that this is indeed wrong. That said, I should qualify that in a couple of ways: first, whether something is grammatically correct is dependent on a number of factors - what is acceptable in colloquial speech may not be in formal writing, and what is acceptable in one region may not be in another; what's more, there is no &quot;language police&quot;, and accomplished writers often &quot;break the rules&quot;, either to achieve a particular effect, or because doing so allows them to express their meaning more clearly - and there is nothing wrong with this. It's also worth noting that the original context is a lecture, and therefore speech (albeit more formal than conversation) rather than formal writing, so criticising it in the way I am about to is somewhat unfair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that out of the way, I would advise against this in formal written contexts (though it is absolutely fine in speech, where sentence fragments and disjointed sentences are the rule rather than the exception!). My reasoning is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;which&quot;, in this context, is a relative pronoun (functioning as a determiner). As such, it functions as the link between something referred to in the main clause and the same item in a subordinate clause:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am learning mathematics, the study of which subject goes back to ancient times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the relative pronoun is used to join together the two sentences&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am learning mathematics.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The study of this subject [i.e. mathematics] goes back to ancient times.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;with the first as the main clause, and the second as the subordinate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To look at the example in the question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You may find the moral category too severe [...]. In which case, you may want to change the title [...].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, the second sentence contains only a subordinate clause, with no main clause - and this is what is &quot;against the rules&quot;, so to speak - and many readers may find it jarring. It is parallel to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*That is a dog. Which I saw yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...which is much more clearly wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Joining the two sentences with a comma (or perhaps a dash to provide greater separation, since in this case there are already several clauses separated by commas) remedies this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[ On a separate note (for clarification): this usage of &quot;which&quot; - as a determiner qualifying a noun - is different from and much less common than using it as a pronoun in its own right, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am learning mathematics, which is a difficult subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both cases the &quot;which&quot;-clause is subordinate. ]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T14:20:20.187" />
  <row Id="12348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12346" CreationDate="2011-02-12T14:25:26.587" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are making a false equivalence between &lt;em&gt;style&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;jargon&lt;/em&gt;. Here is how my electronic Webster's gives the various synonyms for &quot;dialect&quot;, which includes &lt;em&gt;jargon&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;vernacular&lt;/strong&gt; When a New York City cab driver calls out the window, “Hey, wassa madda wichoo?” he is using the &lt;em&gt;vernacular&lt;/em&gt;, which is the authentic, natural pattern of speech among those belonging to a certain community.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;dialect&lt;/strong&gt; In some areas of London, on the other hand, one might hear the Cockney &lt;em&gt;dialect&lt;/em&gt;, which is a form or variety of a language that is confined to a specific group or locality; it has its own pronunciation, usage, and vocabulary, and may persist for generations or even centuries (: he spoke in the dialect of the Appalachian backwoodsman).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;slang&lt;/strong&gt; A teenager who tells his parents to “Chill out” is using &lt;em&gt;slang&lt;/em&gt;, which is a very informal language that includes “substitute” vocabulary (“wheels” for car, “rug” for toupee), grammatical distortions, and other departures from formal or polite usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;argot&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;Argot&lt;/em&gt; refers to the slang of a group that feels threatened by the hostility of society as a whole; it traditionally refers to the &lt;em&gt;slang&lt;/em&gt; used by criminals and thieves, although it may refer to any peculiar language that a clique or other closely knit group uses to communicate with each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;cant&lt;/strong&gt; At one time &lt;em&gt;cant&lt;/em&gt; was a synonym for &lt;em&gt;argot&lt;/em&gt;, but now it usually refers to pompous, inflated language or the hackneyed use of words and phrases by members of a particular class or profession (: the cant of the fashion industry).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;jargon&lt;/strong&gt; In contrast to &lt;em&gt;cant&lt;/em&gt;, which can at least be understood, &lt;em&gt;jargon&lt;/em&gt; is nearly impossible for the average person to decipher. This term refers to the technical or highly specialized language used by members of an occupational or professional group (: medical jargon;: the jargon of the theater).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;lingo&lt;/strong&gt; If you are frustrated because you can't understand the language used by a particular class or group, you're apt to refer to their way of talking as &lt;em&gt;lingo&lt;/em&gt;, which is a term for any language that is not readily understood (: she tried to reason with the cab driver, but she couldn't understand his lingo).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From these distinctions, I would infer that technical writing is a &lt;em&gt;style&lt;/em&gt; of writing that employs a lot of &lt;em&gt;jargon&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T14:25:26.587" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="12349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12346" CreationDate="2011-02-12T14:30:49.990" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jargon, in that particular context, is not &quot;using incorrect English words&quot;.  It is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jargon?show=0&amp;amp;t=1297520666&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this sense of the word&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the technical terminology or characteristic idiom of a special activity or group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By definition, &lt;em&gt;jargon&lt;/em&gt; is language usage that is not ubiquitous throughout the language, and as such is not standard (though it may have a very standard use within its specialist group).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specialized language that is only understood by a specific group can also have the effect of excluding outsiders.  Jargon terms can also be overused by people.  As such, derogatory connotations for the term also exist; often the word is used when &lt;em&gt;too much&lt;/em&gt; technical terminology is being used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if something is called &lt;em&gt;jargon&lt;/em&gt;, that does not automatically mean it is incorrect or poor writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T14:30:49.990" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="12350" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12383" CreationDate="2011-02-12T14:37:26.990" Score="7" ViewCount="434" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I see someone else being embarrassed / humiliated, for example a singer forgetting their words in a concert, I would say something like &quot;I feel embarrassed for them&quot;. But is there a better word to describe this feeling?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say it's a mix of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Empathetic discomfort for someone else's humiliation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tension; hope that spectators will be forgiving&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Frustration that I cannot help them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other scenarios I would feel the same emotion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seeing someone make a presentation, the slides are all out of order, and their face gets red with embarrassment while there's a tense silence in the room.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seeing someone make an embarrassing social blunder in front of unforgiving people.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seeing a speaker who keeps making a distracting and annoying gesture, and they don't realize that the whole audience is annoyed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seeing someone be taken advantage of, like seeing someone naively and happily accept a terrible offer on a car.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Seeing a person of strong image (for example the CEO of your company) do something like accidentally leave their webcam on after a conference call, and employees see him/her let out a big burp and pick their nose or something.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In these cases it's important that the audience is not forgiving, even if they don't confront the person about it. The person may or may not know they are being humiliated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Pity&quot; as proposed in an answer seems very close, but I think it lacks a few components. I think &quot;pity&quot; has a chronic connotation - that you are referring to the general state of things rather than a specific event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;pity&quot; also depends on the subject suffering, but in my example they are often oblivious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could very well be that there is no word for this at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOTE: Some people do not feel the same way I do in this scenario, so you may not think this question makes any sense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastEditorUserId="4929" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T20:03:39.587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:05:52.733" Title="What is the word for the emotion I feel when I see someone being humiliated?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="12351" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12353" CreationDate="2011-02-12T14:39:17.487" Score="2" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;CIA takes &lt;em&gt;rap&lt;/em&gt; for embassy attack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T15:59:57.290" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T17:20:46.160" Title="Meaning of the word 'rap'" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="12353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12351" CreationDate="2011-02-12T14:52:14.997" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rap?show=0&amp;amp;t=1297522254&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the responsibility for or adverse consequences of an action: &lt;em&gt;refused to take the rap&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The CIA took the responsibility for allowing the embassy attack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T14:52:14.997" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12350" CreationDate="2011-02-12T14:57:31.310" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could also say that you &lt;em&gt;pity&lt;/em&gt; them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;pity&lt;/strong&gt; the feeling of sorrow and compassion caused by the suffering and misfortunes of others [Webster's]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T14:57:31.310" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12351" CreationDate="2011-02-12T15:09:25.033" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I agree with @Kosmonaut, I think it may be useful to advert to the derivation of this word. From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=rap&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline.com&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;quick, light blow,&quot; mid-14c., native or borrowed from a Scandinavian source (cf. Dan. rap, Swed. rapp &quot;light blow&quot;); either way probably of imitative origin (cf. slap, clap). The verb is attested from late 14c. &lt;strong&gt;Slang noun meaning &quot;rebuke, blame, responsibility&quot; is from 1777&lt;/strong&gt;; specific meaning &quot;criminal indictment&quot; (cf. rap sheet, 1960) is from 1903. To rap (someone's) knuckles &quot;give light punishment&quot; is from 1749.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this stems from the meaning of &lt;em&gt;rap&lt;/em&gt; as &quot;a blow&quot; (in the sense of striking someone with the hand) and acquired the additional meaning of &quot;punishment&quot; along the way and then added to that a sense of criminal culpability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T15:09:25.033" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12342" CreationDate="2011-02-12T15:14:00.793" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you write &lt;em&gt;I don't need to&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;I didn't need to&lt;/em&gt;, you are not using &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; as modal verb; you are using it as a normal verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Modal verbs are different from the normal verbs because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The verb doesn't take the &lt;em&gt;-s&lt;/em&gt; for the third person.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To negate a modal verb, you add &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; after the modal verb, even in the present and past tense.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Many modal verbs cannot be used in the past tenses or the future tenses.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She can speak English correctly.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  She should not be here, now.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strike&gt;She will can go with us.&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strike&gt;She musted study very hard.&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; as modal verb (&lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; is used as modal verb only in negatives, or questions), you should write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I need not [verb].&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I need not have [past participle of the verb].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; is used as modal verb, it is used to express necessity or obligation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Need I say more?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I need not have worried.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; is not used as modal verb (which happens most of the times), then it is used as in the following sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I need to go, now.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I didn't need to know all the details.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I have not needed that for ages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T16:25:37.003" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T16:25:37.003" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12357" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12359" CreationDate="2011-02-12T15:28:43.400" Score="5" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across several forums and articles saying that &lt;em&gt;criteria&lt;/em&gt; is plural and &lt;em&gt;criterion&lt;/em&gt; is singular. Some gave me the impression that &lt;em&gt;criterion&lt;/em&gt; is used to denote a set of rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the correct use of these two words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3858" LastEditorUserId="4953" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T09:30:51.623" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T09:34:47.360" Title="&quot;Criteria&quot; versus &quot;criterion&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12357" CreationDate="2011-02-12T15:32:53.103" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that &lt;em&gt;criteria&lt;/em&gt; is used to denote a set of rules, and that one of those rules would be a &lt;em&gt;criterion&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, I wouldn't say that, as a criterion and a rule aren't quite the same thing.  I'd make a GRE-style analogy:  Criteria is to set of rules as criterion is to rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4846" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T15:32:53.103" />
  <row Id="12359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12357" CreationDate="2011-02-12T15:42:05.920" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/criterion&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster.com&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;criteria&lt;/em&gt; is indeed plural and &lt;em&gt;criterion&lt;/em&gt; is singular.  The dictionary definition is &quot;a standard on which a judgement or decision may be made&quot;; it's often used synonymously with &quot;requirement(s)&quot;, as in &quot;if you don't meet the criteria you won't be allowed in&quot; or &quot;I have one all-important criterion by which I judge potential plumbing contractors: is their shirt tucked in to their belted pants?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;M-W.com also notes that the use of &quot;criteria&quot; as singular has been gaining ground for a long time (50 years or so) and may be considered acceptable usage by now. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(To which I say, fight the change!  Use &quot;criterion&quot; correctly!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T22:23:22.690" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T22:23:22.690" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12360" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12380" CreationDate="2011-02-12T15:48:11.607" Score="1" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm studying English and I want to know a little list of possible good literature books are recommend to read. I'm looking for the classics and interesting titles, but I don't want to meet with difficult writers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4931" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T20:26:50.793" ClosedDate="2011-02-14T01:30:49.850" Title="Interesting and best books of English literature for intermediate students" Tags="&lt;literature&gt;&lt;book-title&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12357" CreationDate="2011-02-12T16:30:01.073" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Criterion&lt;/em&gt; comes from Classical Greek. Its gender is neuter and it belongs to the second declension&amp;nbsp;— like the word &lt;em&gt;phenomenon&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4932" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T09:34:47.360" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T09:34:47.360" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12351" CreationDate="2011-02-12T16:58:19.197" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that &lt;em&gt;to take the rap&lt;/em&gt; is used in informal contexts for &lt;em&gt;be punished or blamed, especially for something that is not one's fault or for which others are equally responsible&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice also that &lt;em&gt;rap&lt;/em&gt; is an informal word used for &lt;em&gt;criminal charge&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;a person or thing's reputation&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T16:58:19.197" />
  <row Id="12364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12335" CreationDate="2011-02-12T17:29:36.410" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most teas that help fight cough symptoms are simply &lt;em&gt;herbal teas&lt;/em&gt;. However, a term that encompasses all cough-treating substances is &lt;em&gt;expectorant&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T17:34:56.607" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T17:34:56.607" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12365" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-12T17:40:19.407" Score="2" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I say &quot;I am annoyed&quot; is that in the passive voice? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4835" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T06:34:11.530" Title="Is &quot;annoyed&quot; passive?" Tags="&lt;passive-voice&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="12366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12365" CreationDate="2011-02-12T17:49:49.583" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am annoyed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;uses the passive voice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To use the active voice, you have to have an agent for the annoyance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My little brother annoyed me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;uses active voice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T17:49:49.583" />
  <row Id="12367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12365" CreationDate="2011-02-12T17:52:16.093" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is the passive voice in &lt;em&gt;I am annoyed by you&lt;/em&gt;, where the active voice is &lt;em&gt;you annoy me&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am annoyed&lt;/em&gt; is not the passive voice, as &lt;em&gt;annoyed&lt;/em&gt; is an adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T06:34:11.530" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T06:34:11.530" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12368" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12371" CreationDate="2011-02-12T17:55:55.087" Score="2" ViewCount="187" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had recently appeared for an English Olympiad, and this particular question confused me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Q) Choose the odd pair:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A. cat:feline&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B. monkey:simian&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;C. horse:stallion&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;D. cow:bovine&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, the problem is that, in the 1st two options, the animals look like each other; but in the last two options, the animals are pairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is the correct option?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4924" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T18:00:15.910" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T18:39:06.810" Title="An International English Olympiad question" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;confusables&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12066" CreationDate="2011-02-12T17:59:25.397" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This depends on context and connotation.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;There are spies-heroes and there are sneaks, sneakers, snitches, informers, finks, noses, squeakeres, denunciators, questmans, talebearers, whistlers, grass, nark, noser, stool pigeon, checker, squeal, zuch, rat, rounder, delator, etc.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seems like negative characters are always have better and more specific characteristic terms than positive ones.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T17:59:25.397" />
  <row Id="12370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12368" CreationDate="2011-02-12T17:59:35.503" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Between &lt;em&gt;feline&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;simian&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;stallion&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;bovine&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;stallion&lt;/em&gt; is the only word that is only a noun; the other words are both an adjective and a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T17:59:35.503" />
  <row Id="12371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12368" CreationDate="2011-02-12T18:04:25.110" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very standard relationship question: a cat is feline, a monkey is simian, and a cow is bovine, but a horse is not (necessarily) a stallion. The parallel term for a horse would be &lt;em&gt;equine&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T18:04:25.110" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12372" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-12T18:07:20.287" Score="2" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been stumbling with this phrase for a few days now. I read a book the other day called &quot;Do More Faster&quot;. The title comes from a slogan about startups getting more work done than their competition, and getting work done faster.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, to me the sentence sounds like it is talking about making the &quot;more&quot; faster instead of making the &quot;do&quot; both more and faster. The way I would write the phase would be to add a comma after more: &quot;Do More, Faster&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which Is Correct: &quot;Do More Faster&quot; or &quot;Do More, Faster&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4934" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T21:05:11.203" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T23:38:46.340" Title="Which Is Correct: &quot;Do More Faster&quot; or &quot;Do More, Faster&quot;?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12368" CreationDate="2011-02-12T18:07:57.027" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Horse:stallion&lt;/strong&gt; is the odd one out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Feline&lt;/em&gt; is an adjective, meaning “cat-like or related to cats”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Simian&lt;/em&gt; is an adjective, meaning “monkey-like or related to monkeys”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Stallion&lt;/em&gt; is a noun, meaning “male horse”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Bovine&lt;/em&gt; is an adjective, meaning “cow-like or related to cows”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;feline&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;simian&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;bovine&lt;/em&gt; can all also function as nouns, meaning “cat-like animal”, etc.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T18:39:06.810" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T18:39:06.810" />
  <row Id="12374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12372" CreationDate="2011-02-12T18:12:47.443" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are correct, and while I can see where you're coming from with the meaning distinction you make, I think the intended meaning of both is the same (i.e. both &quot;more&quot; and &quot;faster&quot; apply to &quot;do&quot;). The version with a comma is somewhat more clear, but I can totally see omitting the comma in a title.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T18:12:47.443" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12365" CreationDate="2011-02-12T18:19:17.673" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since there are currently two answers, one &quot;yes&quot; and one &quot;no&quot;, and both are correct, I'll try to add some explanation :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The passive is formed using the verb &quot;to be&quot; plus a past participle; &quot;to annoy&quot; is a verb, so the sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am annoyed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is of the right form to be a passive, and as kiamlaluno notes may be extended with &quot;by&quot; to show the agent who is causing the annoyance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, most speakers would consider that this sentence is instead of the same form as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am angry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or, in other words, that &quot;annoyed&quot; is being used as an adjective rather than a participle. To illustrate the difference consider the sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am very angry.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am very annoyed.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*I am very seen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*I am very hit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no doubt that one can be &quot;seen&quot; or &quot;hit&quot; to a great extent, and yet adding &quot;very&quot; does not work with those, which function only as participles and not as modifiable adjectives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T18:19:17.673" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12365" CreationDate="2011-02-12T18:20:11.197" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It depends on context&lt;/strong&gt; — &lt;em&gt;annoyed&lt;/em&gt; can function in two different ways, either as a participle or as an adjective.  (Or, arguably, there’s a spectrum between those two, along which it can vary a fair bit.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you mean &lt;em&gt;Something annoys me&lt;/em&gt;, then yes — &lt;em&gt;annoyed&lt;/em&gt; is functioning as a participle, and it’s the passive voice.  This is parallel to a case like &lt;em&gt;Help!  I am attacked!&lt;/em&gt;  A clear diagnostic test showing that it could be passive is that you can add &lt;em&gt;by&lt;/em&gt; to incorporate an agent: &lt;em&gt;I am annoyed by the self-reference in this sentence.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you mean &lt;em&gt;The way I feel is: annoyed&lt;/em&gt;, then no — it’s not the passive voice.  Like many participles, &lt;em&gt;annoyed&lt;/em&gt; has made the transition to sometimes acting as an adjective.  The standard diagnostic test for this is that you can talk about, for instance, &lt;em&gt;a very annoyed pedant&lt;/em&gt;.  (By contrast, you can’t talk about &lt;em&gt;*a very attacked castle&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some participles have gone further, and changed almost entirely into adjectives.  If I say &lt;em&gt;My computer was broken&lt;/em&gt;, I’m probably describing a state my computer was in, not the act of something breaking it.  In extreme cases, the original verb has been lost entirely: you can be &lt;em&gt;renowned&lt;/em&gt;, but you can’t &lt;em&gt;*renown&lt;/em&gt; anything any more.  So &lt;em&gt;Lynne Truss is renowned for…&lt;/em&gt;  is not the passive voice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T19:12:17.090" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T19:12:17.090" />
  <row Id="12377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12346" CreationDate="2011-02-12T18:28:53.403" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technical writing is a broad term.  I think the confusion arises because technical writing styles can differ widely with the intended audience.  To pull out of the technical arena, compare a high-school biology text book and a genetics paper published in &lt;em&gt;Nature&lt;/em&gt;.  Both are examples of scientific writing, but the latter can safely lodge itself deeply in the biologists' vernacular, while the former should explain every word that is not plain English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4686" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T18:28:53.403" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12360" CreationDate="2011-02-12T18:35:54.367" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and George Orwell.  In my opinion, those two writers had a truly excellent mastery of the English language, yet their works are not difficult to read.  For a more playful use of English, the works of Lewis Carol and Frank L. Baum can be worth reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4686" LastEditorUserId="4686" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T20:26:50.793" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T20:26:50.793" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12360" CreationDate="2011-02-12T19:21:54.727" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kurt Vonnegut&lt;/strong&gt; was a master at writing sophisticated stories using fairly straightforward language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T19:21:54.727" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12328" CreationDate="2011-02-12T19:57:00.030" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the context of computers transparency is one of three seemingly identical concepts. Think about them this way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;real: it's there and you can see it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;virtual: it's not there but you can see it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;transparent: it's there but you can't see it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A transparent conversion is thus one that is happening but you can't see it. It's not explicit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4639" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T19:57:00.030" />
  <row Id="12382" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-12T20:00:10.523" Score="2" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering, why are the present and the past participle of &lt;em&gt;submit&lt;/em&gt; spelled with two t?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4940" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T23:18:33.887" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T23:18:33.887" Title="Why are the present and the past participle of &quot;submit&quot; spelled with double t?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;morphology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12350" CreationDate="2011-02-12T20:07:15.017" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does &quot;cringe-making&quot; help? I think you're trying to express a feeling of discomfort created in the viewer, irrespective of the other person's self-awareness. I saw this word used to describe moments in Vince Vaughan's performance in the movie &quot;The Dilemma.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3952" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T20:07:15.017" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12350" CreationDate="2011-02-12T20:22:41.550" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't want to use &quot;pity&quot; for it, the phrase I would use in those situations is &quot;feel bad for&quot;, which you already almost touched on when you said &quot;feel embarrassed for&quot;.  Feeling bad for someone has a broader sense than simply feeling embarrassed for them, since it can be applied to many negative situations other than simple humiliation, so in that sense it may actually be less of what you're looking for; but it may also broad enough to encompass the meaning you're seeking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T20:22:41.550" />
  <row Id="12385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12372" CreationDate="2011-02-12T20:24:51.220" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Do More Faster&quot; (no comma), because it provides no break or breathing-space, successfully suggests the speediness that the book is trying to promote.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3952" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T20:24:51.220" />
  <row Id="12386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12382" CreationDate="2011-02-12T20:26:10.100" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a good explanation on &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Doubling Final Consonants&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. I am sure others will post the rules from some recognised entity&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv328.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv328.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T20:26:10.100" />
  <row Id="12387" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12389" CreationDate="2011-02-12T20:37:57.793" Score="0" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;A source says that the word &quot;each&quot; should always be followed by a singular noun, but however I look at it in this sentence it just doesn't seem to fit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;foo comprises of multiple binary programs that each performs a single task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should it be &quot;performs&quot; or &quot;perform&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4943" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T23:02:31.257" Title="'Each' with plural or singular verb" Tags="&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12365" CreationDate="2011-02-12T20:41:17.697" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short answer: if you can replace &quot;am&quot; by &quot;get&quot; or add the word &quot;generally&quot; to the sentence, then it's probably a passive; if you can replace it with &quot;seem&quot;, then it's probably not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The longer answer is that the passive isn't just &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; case of &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt; followed by a past participle: it also has certain constraints:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;passives often allow 'be' to be replaced by 'get' in informal usage without changing the aspect (generality vs stative observation);&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;passives tend to be more compatible with cases denoting an &quot;action&quot; where the objcet (and subject in the passive) is the &quot;recipient of an action&quot; (so e.g. you wouldn't tend to passivise &quot;A bridge ran across the river&quot; as &quot;The river was run across by a bridge&quot; because the interpretation of &quot;ran over&quot; in this case is incompatible with the reading of an &quot;action&quot; having occurred on the subject; simiarly, &quot;Four is equalled by two plus two&quot; sounds odd).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In principle, the form &quot;I am annoyed&quot; can have a passive and a non-passive reading. The passive reading would imply a general action (&quot;am&quot; in the simple present can be stative, but as in the river example, passives tend not to have stative interpretations, so only the general interpretation of the simple present is left). And as a passive, 'get' can be subtituted:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am/get (generally) annoyed (by loud&#xA;  talkers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if the sentence isn't a &quot;true&quot; passive, then it can have a stative interpretation (or put another way, mean &quot;I am annoyed &lt;em&gt;now&lt;/em&gt;&quot; rather than stating a generality). In this case, replacing 'am' with 'get' would change the interpretation, but verbs like 'seem', 'appear' would not change the sentence from a present observation to a generality:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am/seem/appear annoyed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Notice how changing to &quot;I get annoyed&quot; changes it to a generality.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a related note, notice how with verbs denoting an obvious action, to get a present passive interpretation (rather than being interpreted as a generality), the continuous form is used, so that the following sentence is not a contradiction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This wine &lt;em&gt;is drunk&lt;/em&gt; at room&#xA;  temperature, but &lt;em&gt;we're drinking&lt;/em&gt; it&#xA;  chilled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T20:41:17.697" />
  <row Id="12389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12387" CreationDate="2011-02-12T20:44:42.373" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Performs  &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sv_agr.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sv_agr.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T20:44:42.373" />
  <row Id="12390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12351" CreationDate="2011-02-12T20:59:44.080" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Literally, &lt;em&gt;rap&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;knock&lt;/em&gt;! A reprimand or rebuke now considered old-fashioned by some, a knock on the head—quick, instant and effective—was the favorite of parents and disciplinarians who did not shy away from corporal punishment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T20:59:44.080" />
  <row Id="12391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12382" CreationDate="2011-02-12T21:02:55.513" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a &lt;strong&gt;rule of thumb&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the base form is spelt with a&#xA;  single final consonant and the final&#xA;  syllable is stressed, then the final&#xA;  consonant doubles when endings (-ing,&#xA;  -ed, -er, -ist etc) are added&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Final -l usually always doubles in UK spelling, but generally doesn't in US spelling. There's some variation with &quot;s&quot; (so &quot;busing&quot; or &quot;bussing&quot; are generally both acceptable).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A complication concerns cases where the vowel in the final syllable isn't stressed, but it still carries it's &quot;full&quot; quality (so common candidates are &quot;a&quot; or &quot;i&quot; in a final syllable). So for example, &quot;kidnap&quot; would become &quot;kidnapped&quot;. There can be variation in such cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, we're only talking about consonant letters that actually represent consonant sounds (so you wouldn't write &quot;bow&quot; -&gt; &quot;bowwing&quot;, for example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T21:02:55.513" />
  <row Id="12392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12337" CreationDate="2011-02-12T21:43:45.893" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my own words, here is an easy, albeit simplistic, way to differentiate between the two:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;prevailing&lt;/strong&gt;:  dominating, e.g. &lt;em&gt;prevailing factors&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;prevailing army&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;prevalent&lt;/strong&gt;: widespread, e.g. &lt;em&gt;malaria is prevalent in the tropics&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T21:43:45.893" />
  <row Id="12393" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12397" CreationDate="2011-02-12T21:56:51.790" Score="4" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the good alternatives to saying &quot;cheese&quot; while posing for a photo?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T06:43:34.483" Title="Alternatives to saying &quot;cheese&quot; while posing" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="6" />
  <row Id="12394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11342" CreationDate="2011-02-12T22:16:01.373" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;From one year to another&quot; is definitely the correct choice among those three.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would be more inclined to say it &quot;from one year to the next&quot;, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also say &quot;the price change from year to year&quot; or &quot;the year-over-year price change&quot; or even &quot;the annual price differential.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(edit: I should also say that while &quot;from a year to another&quot; may well be grammatically correct, it is absolutely not idiomatic and will sound bad to most if not all native speakers.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T02:43:30.137" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T02:43:30.137" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12395" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12399" CreationDate="2011-02-12T22:23:20.110" Score="6" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;I checked out this &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stack_Exchange_Network&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; to read about the Stack Exchange Network. But still I don't know clearly what &quot;Stack Exchange&quot; means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T22:31:04.273" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T15:46:00.293" Title="What does &quot;stackexchange&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;translation&gt;&lt;website&gt;&lt;web-phrase&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="12396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12393" CreationDate="2011-02-12T22:30:22.057" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason you usually ask people being photographed to say &lt;em&gt;cheese&lt;/em&gt; is the position assumed from the lips when they pronounce the word. Every word that contain the same /tʃi/ sound would work fine. For example, &lt;em&gt;cheer&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;cheap&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;cheat&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;cheek&lt;/em&gt; are some of those words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T06:43:34.483" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T06:43:34.483" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12393" CreationDate="2011-02-12T22:35:07.747" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're intending to invoke a smile, I would suggest words ending in the &quot;ee&quot; sound. Cheese and the ones @kiamlaluno suggest do contain that sound, but they all have a final consonant, which means the smile has to stop at some point. Some possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;free&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;see&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;glee&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;whee! (my favorite)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tell your subjects to say one of those and hold it, and you should get plenty of smiles. I used &quot;whee!&quot; with my own children because it was fun for them to say and had gleeful associations as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T22:35:07.747" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12395" CreationDate="2011-02-12T22:39:45.960" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It started with the site &lt;em&gt;StackOverflow&lt;/em&gt;, where programmers could exchange experiences and help each other. A &lt;em&gt;stack overflow&lt;/em&gt; is an error message, common when you make a logical error in the code.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With the success of the StackOverflow site, more sites were started using the same wiki engine. The sites were connected in a form of network, so that you can use a single identity across all the sites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the &lt;em&gt;Stack Exchange Network&lt;/em&gt; is a network of wiki forums for information exchange, that was started with the StackOverflow site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T22:39:45.960" />
  <row Id="12399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12395" CreationDate="2011-02-12T22:40:34.010" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it's a play on &quot;Stack Overflow&quot; (the first site in the SE network, named for a computer error message&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;) and &quot;Experts Exchange&quot; (a computer Q&amp;amp;A site which exemplifies many of the bad traits that the Stack Exchange engine is specifically designed to avoid).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; As commenters have noted, it's not actually that common an error message, although people who have done any programming at all are likely to at least recognize it as an error message, even if they don't know what it means/haven't encountered it in their own work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T15:46:00.293" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T15:46:00.293" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12395" CreationDate="2011-02-12T22:41:53.650" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is the name of the Question/Answer system you are currently using.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The name came about in this manner:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1. &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/&quot;&gt;Stack Overflow&lt;/a&gt;, the original site, was named after a well-known programming error.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2. The name was modified to be Stack Exchange for the engine, where people could &quot;exchange&quot; questions and answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond that, it has no special meaning, much like many other product names.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T22:41:53.650" />
  <row Id="12401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12387" CreationDate="2011-02-12T23:02:31.257" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Each&lt;/em&gt; in phrases like &lt;em&gt;each battery&lt;/em&gt; is singular; the verb you use in that cases is singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Each battery is in a separate compartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vice versa, in sentences like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They each have their own personality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the verb is plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Foo comprises of multiple binary programs that each perform a single task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Subject and verb must agree in number; in &lt;em&gt;multiple binary programs that each perform a single task&lt;/em&gt;, the subject is &lt;em&gt;multiple binary programs&lt;/em&gt;, which is plural, and the verb needs to be plural too (&lt;em&gt;perform&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T23:02:31.257" />
  <row Id="12402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12393" CreationDate="2011-02-12T23:11:32.227" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone from the UK I met a few years ago used to say &lt;em&gt;syphilis&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He would wait until everybody was assembled for the photo and then let out &quot;everyone, say 'syphilis'&quot;. It was truly hilarious, and the pics came out great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1304" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T23:11:32.227" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12393" CreationDate="2011-02-12T23:15:47.510" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about you just ask people to smile? :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2588" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T23:15:47.510" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12404" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12408" CreationDate="2011-02-12T23:19:02.703" Score="0" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2544/how-many-spaces-should-come-after-a-period-full-stop&quot;&gt;How many spaces should come after a period/full stop?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand the justification for reverting to a single-space system (computers aren't typewriters), but is it &lt;em&gt;actually&lt;/em&gt; inappropriate to use two spaces after a period?  I always learned to write that way, and look at a single-space paper and feel kind of... claustrophobic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4944" LastEditorUserId="4944" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T20:45:04.797" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T20:45:04.797" ClosedDate="2011-02-14T01:31:33.113" Title="Appropriateness of two spaces inbetween words" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;spacing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12395" CreationDate="2011-02-12T23:19:59.563" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the other answers, it may be a pun on &quot;stock exchange&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3591" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T23:19:59.563" />
  <row Id="12406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12372" CreationDate="2011-02-12T23:33:05.617" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both the titles are correct, but I give a different meaning to the first title (without comma).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I interpret &lt;em&gt;more faster&lt;/em&gt; as &quot;comparative&quot; of &lt;em&gt;faster&lt;/em&gt;; startups need to do things not only faster than the competitors, but even more faster. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As alternative, I would use &lt;em&gt;Do More and Faster&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T23:38:46.340" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T23:38:46.340" />
  <row Id="12407" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12411" CreationDate="2011-02-12T23:36:40.103" Score="4" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do &lt;em&gt;in-between&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;between&lt;/em&gt; have different meanings?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;in-between&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;between&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T06:14:14.837" Title="What is the difference between &quot;in-between&quot; and &quot;between&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12404" CreationDate="2011-02-13T00:16:06.060" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a bit confused at what you mean. There are three interpretations of your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The traditional two spaces after a period, which has to do with typewriters. This is ok, but it just looks unnatural with current technology, since most new fonts have special ways to put in extra space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;This is a sentence.  There are two spaces between a period and the next sentence.&lt;/pre&gt;  &#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Double spacing in paragraphs and essays, which is what it sounds like you might be talking about in your last sentence. This is also ok; it makes papers much easier to read.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is a sentence. At the end of this line, we skip  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a line before continuing. This stops papers from&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;looking like they're too dense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Two spaces between each and every word. This is highly not recommended; modern font designers deliberately choose a space width that looks appropriate for the font. The only reason to do so is because of poor &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kerning&lt;/a&gt; by the font designer that makes two words look like one. This is because a space is between two words; using an extra one defeats the purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;This  type  of  spacing  is  unnatural  and  not correct.&#xA;Instead, this natural spacing looks better.&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And when I take it into a non-fixed-width font, it looks even better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T04:23:18.237" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T04:23:18.237" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12409" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12416" CreationDate="2011-02-13T00:25:34.203" Score="18" ViewCount="527" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always been fascinated by these two words, as they seem to have the exact opposite meaning as expected. Is it because of the etymology? Or perhaps the meanings were switched at some point in time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="498" LastEditorUserId="498" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T01:11:42.173" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T04:00:54.573" Title="Why do you drive on a &quot;parkway&quot;, and park on a &quot;driveway&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="12410" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12412" CreationDate="2011-02-13T00:58:55.633" Score="4" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; Wikipedia article does not capitalize &quot;assembly language,&quot; for understandable reasons.  It uses it as an indefinite article, i.e. &quot;an assembly language.&quot;  But how should it be written when using it as a definite article?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He wrote it in Assembly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Versus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He wrote it in assembly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2852" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T11:42:02.413" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T11:42:02.413" Title="Capitalization of &quot;Assembly Language&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;technical&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="12411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12407" CreationDate="2011-02-13T01:06:21.180" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, &lt;em&gt;between&lt;/em&gt; all by itself acts as a preposition, but &lt;em&gt;in between&lt;/em&gt; functions as an adverb. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;preposition&lt;/em&gt;: I found myself caught between a rock and a hard place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;adverb&lt;/em&gt;: There was a rock and a hard place, and there I was lying in between.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T01:06:21.180" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12410" CreationDate="2011-02-13T01:25:15.277" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe &lt;em&gt;assembly language&lt;/em&gt; is a common noun; it is not a brand name and it is really a generic term for a set of languages that varies based on the hardware they support. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; uses it exclusively as a common noun as far as I can tell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other languages have names that are, in a sense, &quot;given&quot; names: Basic, Python, Haskell, Java, Javascript, Lisp, Ada — these all the equivalent of brand names, while assembly was simply a descriptive term for a second-generation computer language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel your discomfort at writing &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He wrote it in assembly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;because as a common noun it can cause confusion between assembly language and some other kind of assembly, notably the kind one attends in school. If it bothers you, you can include the &quot;language&quot; specifier to make clear the distinction: &quot;He wrote it in assembly language.&quot; But it will probably be clear from the context anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It took John two months to get his program working. He wrote it in assembly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people who know anything about programming will understand perfectly well what kind of assembly is under discussion. If you intend the statement for a more general audience, which wouldn't know the difference, you can specify &quot;assembly language&quot; but probably that will still be insufficient to give those listeners an &quot;a-ha&quot; moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T02:39:11.047" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T02:39:11.047" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12393" CreationDate="2011-02-13T01:51:59.513" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My personal favorite is: &quot;Say sex!&quot; - people always smile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3971" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T01:51:59.513" />
  <row Id="12414" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-13T01:57:35.630" Score="1" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Chiropractic&quot; sounds like an adjective because of the &quot;ic&quot;, but the title &quot;Doctor of Chiropractic&quot; seems like a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I just confused?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4835" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T02:12:14.707" Title="What part of speech is &quot;chiropractic&quot;?" Tags="&lt;part-of-speech&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="12415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12393" CreationDate="2011-02-13T02:02:20.237" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say &quot;kimchi&quot;!  And then you can really draw out the final i to give the photographer lots of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4846" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T02:02:20.237" />
  <row Id="12416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12409" CreationDate="2011-02-13T02:07:21.607" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A parkway is supposed to be a pleasant scenic place, like a park.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A driveway is probably the only place on your personal property that you can actually drive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4846" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T02:07:21.607" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12414" CreationDate="2011-02-13T02:12:14.707" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The OED lists it as both an adjective and a noun. Other dictionaries, such as Wiktionary, list it as only a noun. Merriam-Webster Online, curiously enough, defines a noun, and lists a possible adjectival form as a related word, but doesn't seem to mention it again. Based on this, I would say it's definitely a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But is it also an adjective, as the OED supposes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The COCA has the various following usages:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;objected to &lt;em&gt;chiropractic&lt;/em&gt; medicine because&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  have received &lt;em&gt;chiropractic&lt;/em&gt; treatment&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;chiropractic&lt;/em&gt; consultation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You wouldn't say  &quot;podiatry medicine&quot;, &quot;podiatry treatment&quot;, or &quot;podiatry consultation&quot;,. Instead, the proper way is to use the adjectival form: &quot;podiatric medicine&quot;, &quot;podiatric treatment&quot;, &quot;podiatric consultation&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, &lt;em&gt;chiropractic&lt;/em&gt; is both a noun and an adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T02:12:14.707" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11342" CreationDate="2011-02-13T03:43:26.530" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first one is definitely correct. The second one, while not technically wrong, sounds somewhat unidiomatic in my opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a little trick to check the contemporary usage of an expression or a phrase: just Google the two phrases and compare the usage contexts. Also, try to figure out which form is preferred by native English speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;1 &quot;from one year to another&quot;&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2,210,000 results (with links to Britannica, etc., which gives us a clue that this usage is acceptable to certain authoritative users of the language)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=%22from+one+year+to+another%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=%22from+one+year+to+another%22&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;2 &quot;from a year to another&quot;&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;177,000 results, and it occurs more often in the writings of non-native speakers of English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=%22from+a+year+to+another%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=%22from+a+year+to+another%22&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At any rate, in your context, I think you'd be safer with #1 than #2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4860" LastEditorUserId="4860" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T06:39:02.690" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T06:39:02.690" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12420" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12436" CreationDate="2011-02-13T04:52:40.100" Score="3" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;My English textbook use 'i:', and I find some online dictionaries use 'ē'. Where can I find information about this phonics system?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T17:56:57.513" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T20:18:25.380" Title="'ē' and 'i:', I want a tutorial" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12421" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12477" CreationDate="2011-02-13T05:08:55.277" Score="2" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;The 't' in 'listener' is not pronounced, and these kinds of words always make me misspell them. Instead of memorizing each of them, can you give me some advice/insight/cause? &#xA;How common are these kinds of words in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T05:33:11.760" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T16:15:21.063" Title="About the 't' in 'listener'" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12422" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12425" CreationDate="2011-02-13T05:25:03.127" Score="1" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a post on Meta Stack Overflow, I used the word &quot;willingness&quot; in the following context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[X] is showing a willingness to learn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I justified this because [X] had posted a question asking to have a few lines of code explained. However, another user took it to mean&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[X] has not demonstrated that they have put forth any effort to learn. Willingness means actual effort [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I believe that there is a very great difference between the two words, both as defined and the underlying connotation, in that effort is not a prerequisite of willingness. Am I correct, or is &quot;willingness&quot; generally understood to require effort?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T21:34:22.067" Title="Do &quot;willingness&quot; and &quot;effort&quot; imply different things?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;connotation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12421" CreationDate="2011-02-13T05:39:20.597" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tricky question.  I would say these kinds of words are common enough to require attention, but unfortunately I have no insight to give.  In my opinion, it is easier just to memorize them than to try to find some rationale behind them.  Eventually, if you read enough English, these things should start to &quot;look right&quot; on their own.  (Though books are a better source for this than the Internet!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T05:39:20.597" />
  <row Id="12424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12421" CreationDate="2011-02-13T05:41:20.570" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because the British isles were conquered many times over in its history, English has words from many other languages.  Therefore, depending on the source langage, similar sounding phonemes in different words can be written differently.&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, the answer is to either understand the source languages of words or to do the memorisation work.  Regardless of the method, you'll probably want a copy of the OED on hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4686" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T05:41:20.570" />
  <row Id="12425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12422" CreationDate="2011-02-13T05:46:30.970" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Willingness&quot; and &quot;effort&quot; are certainly not interchangeable.  The former is an apt attitude for doing something, while the latter is the work thereof.  Consider, &quot;I want to get this done&quot; compared to &quot;I did that&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4686" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T05:46:30.970" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12426" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-13T06:01:59.547" Score="-1" ViewCount="572" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do the words &lt;em&gt;anal&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;analyst&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;analysis&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;analytical&lt;/em&gt;) have common root and/or origin? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And why?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Should I avoid their usage?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What are the possible substitutions/synonyms for the word &lt;em&gt;analyst&lt;/em&gt; that don't  include the word &lt;em&gt;anal&lt;/em&gt;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am sorry, but I am analyst and should know the possible connotations and implications.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update2:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So, no synonyms?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T05:32:20.110" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T05:32:20.110" Title="What are synonyms to the &quot;analyst&quot; without &quot;anal&quot; inclusions?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="12427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12426" CreationDate="2011-02-13T06:12:28.303" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymology of &lt;em&gt;anal&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;scientific Latin analis  &amp;lt; classical Latin ānus n. + -ālis-al suffix&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etymology of &lt;em&gt;analyst&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;French analyste, apparently &amp;lt; analyse n. + -iste-ist suffix&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No common roots, nor are there any associations in contemporary English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best synonym for &lt;em&gt;analyst&lt;/em&gt; that I can come up with is &lt;em&gt;examiner&lt;/em&gt;, and even that may not work in all situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Etymologies courtesy of the OED.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T06:42:45.910" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T06:42:45.910" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="12428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12407" CreationDate="2011-02-13T06:14:14.837" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe this is the difference: you would never ask, &quot;What is the difference &lt;strong&gt;in-between&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;in-between&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;between&lt;/em&gt;&quot;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4953" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T06:14:14.837" />
  <row Id="12429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12420" CreationDate="2011-02-13T06:57:51.563" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Part of it is whether they're looking at it historically (diachronically, I believe, is the technical term) or from the point of view of present-day usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Historically, the letter I (in English, as in most other European languages) had a sound similar to &quot;ee&quot; (like in &quot;machine&quot;), or maybe a little shorter. English then underwent the Great Vowel Shift, which among other things turned the &quot;standard&quot; sound of this letter into &quot;ai&quot; (like &quot;I&quot; the pronoun, or as in &quot;night&quot;). Its place was taken by E (as in &quot;seen&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your English textbook uses &quot;i:&quot; for historical reasons, while the dictionaries are using a system where, as much as possible, the vowel sounds use variations on the primary letter that bears that sound nowadays (for example, all of the various sounds that usually are spelled with E are denoted with this letter, and distinguished using markings such as acute and grave accents, circumflex, macron, and so forth).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastEditorUserId="3006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T07:03:26.127" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T07:03:26.127" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7476" CreationDate="2011-02-13T07:08:36.783" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If to combine business with pleasure I'd recommed:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Beautiful_Mind_%28film%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A Beatiful Mind&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypto&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Apocalypto&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cube_%28film%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cube&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Matter_%28film%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dark Matter&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_Sunshine_of_the_Spotless_Mind&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_and_Trembling_%28film%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fear and Trembling&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memento_%28film%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Memento&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1148204/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Orhan&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_%28film%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Secretary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0976051&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Reader&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T07:26:45.387" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T07:26:45.387" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-13T07:08:36.783" />
  <row Id="12431" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12440" CreationDate="2011-02-13T07:16:11.073" Score="4" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other languages have gender-specific third-person plural pronouns (e.g., &lt;em&gt;ellos&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;ellas&lt;/em&gt; in Spanish).  English does not, despite the masculine/feminine/neuter distinction being obligatory in the singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a historical reason for this situation?  Was there a time when English had gendered versions of &quot;they&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T14:27:52.830" Title="Why are &quot;he&quot;, &quot;she&quot;, and &quot;it&quot; distinct in the singular, but all &quot;they&quot; in the plural?" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;history&gt;&lt;gender&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11342" CreationDate="2011-02-13T07:20:28.217" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The issue here is that &quot;the price difference&quot; is from one &lt;em&gt;particular&lt;/em&gt; year to another. Therefore it is erroneous to be vague about &quot;the price difference&quot; being from a (general) year to another year. Because this construction is usually made with particular years in mind, the idiom has become &quot;from particular&quot; to &quot;another&quot; (meaning next).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3885" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T07:20:28.217" />
  <row Id="12433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12350" CreationDate="2011-02-13T07:26:40.940" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Embarrassment by proxy&quot; is perhaps accurate, but doesn't roll off the tongue. By the way, the emotion you describe is the basis for popular TV shows (in the US) like &lt;em&gt;The Office&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Curb Your Enthusiasm&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3885" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T07:26:40.940" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2011-02-13T07:35:48.143" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's Beat it, just beat it...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T07:35:48.143" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12421" CreationDate="2011-02-13T07:37:58.320" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's also somewhat dialectal and societal. A person who is proud of their &quot;correct&quot; use of English might slightly pronounce the 't' in &quot;listener&quot;. Similarly, the network of communicative tubes that we are using may be pronounced as the &quot;in'ernet&quot;. There's a lot of this about, but 't's are particularly troublesome, with pronunciations ranging from a full hard 't' through glotal stop to complete omission.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, a learner needs to immerse oneself in an environment to acquire a sense, no, a knowledge, of when each is used. Only later (at near fluency) can the advice/insight you seek be found. However, listening to anything on the BBC (except Radio 1) can give a listener a few examples of &quot;correct&quot; (received pronunciation) usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3885" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T07:37:58.320" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12420" CreationDate="2011-02-13T07:53:12.777" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As @ShreevatsaR commented, the situation with transcribing pronunciations is a mess.  Many different systems exist; they often use the same letters in confusingly different ways.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most widely-used and standardised system is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;International Phonetic Alphabet&lt;/a&gt;.  This is what your textbook is presumably using when it uses /iː/ — for instance, the English word &lt;em&gt;seen&lt;/em&gt; would be transcribed in IPA as /siːn/.  The reason IPA uses /iː/ here is that in many European languages, this vowel is represented by the letter &lt;em&gt;i&lt;/em&gt;; and then the colon represents lengthening of the vowel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IPA isn’t perfect, for a few reasons.  Although in principle it’s completely standardised, books using IPA often still have minor differences in how they use it.  Also, because it’s international, it’s not designed specifically for English, so often (as in this case) its symbols don’t match up well with the letters used in English spelling (and similarly for other languages).  However, IPA is pretty good, and it’s by far the nearest thing in existence to a versatile, accurate, standardised system for representing pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To learn how the IPA works, good places to start are the Wikipedia articles on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the IPA itself&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPA_for_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;IPA for English&lt;/a&gt;, and on IPA in your own language (so you can make comparisons with pronunciations you know well).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many books still prefer not to use IPA, I believe because they see its unusual symbols, and its differences from English spelling, as too off-putting for some readers.  As a result, they use a variety of ad hoc respelling systems, usually trying to imitate ‘standard’ English spelling to a greater or lesser extent.  That’s presumably what the online dictionaries you’ve found are doing with &lt;em&gt;ē&lt;/em&gt; (e.g. Merriam-Webster has such a system).  Any dictionary using such a system should have a page somewhere explaining how their system works; a good overview of the most notable systems is available at (of course) &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronunciation_respelling_for_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T20:18:25.380" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T20:18:25.380" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="12437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12420" CreationDate="2011-02-13T08:04:36.567" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronunciation_respelling_for_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;many different dictionary phonetic notations&lt;/a&gt;, but they mostly use the same conventions for the breve (&amp;#728;) and macron (&amp;#175;) accent marks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The breve indicates a &quot;short vowel&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ă = æ (IPA) = a in &quot;cat&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ĕ = ɛ = e in &quot;met&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ĭ = ɪ = i in &quot;bit&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ǒ = ɒ = o in &quot;pot&quot; (in dialects without cot/caught merger)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ŭ = ʌ = u in &quot;cut&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The macron indicates a &quot;long vowel&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ā = eɪ = ay in &quot;pay&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ē = iː = e in &quot;me&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ī = aɪ = i in &quot;fight&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ō = oʊ = o in &quot;go&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ū = uː &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; juː = u in &quot;tune&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The traditional &quot;short&quot;/&quot;long&quot; distinction would have been more accurate prior to the Great Vowel Shift.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T08:04:36.567" />
  <row Id="12438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3229" CreationDate="2011-02-13T08:20:06.907" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Negative for all audiences except somewhat advanced computer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to the fact that some of its definitions are diametrically opposed one to another and that each are used by different audience, you can not ascribe a fixed connotation to the word &quot;hack&quot; independently of an audience. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hack will have a different connotation to different audiences. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general public is strictly unaware of the positive definitions for hack, and hack suggests something not-quite-legal-but-smart or something shoddily done. Not only do they not know what a Linux Kernel Hacker is, they don't even know what a kernel is, and in some case, they might not know what Linux is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arts majors and related audience will be more familiar with the &quot;poor writer&quot; definition as well as the general audience's definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A computer literate audience will most likely be aware to varying degrees of most definitions. For a white hat Ms programmer, a hack will typically refer to a shoddy solution that works, possibly a clever one, but not necessarily. Something substandard. In the Linux/Unix world, a hack is something brilliant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, I suspect hack has a negative connotation for most audiences and unless you are making an address at the Black Hat convention, you should probably consider it so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above is my opinion only. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3902" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T08:20:06.907" />
  <row Id="12439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8814" CreationDate="2011-02-13T08:22:08.107" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lipsum.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lorem Ipsum&lt;/a&gt; is used in such cases&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T08:22:08.107" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12431" CreationDate="2011-02-13T08:25:04.153" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Old English not only had many plural personal pronouns, but it also distinguished between the nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive cases. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English_pronouns&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;See Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By about 1400 &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt; (which was originally a masculine plural demonstrative pronoun borrowed from Old Norse) gradually replaced these personal pronouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T08:25:04.153" />
  <row Id="12441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2011-02-13T08:31:01.480" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Several options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let's get out of here before the boss&#xA;  comes back&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simple, easy to understand, and if you want to make it more informal, you can just add an intensifier such as &quot;the hell&quot; or some other flavor of the same. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let's dodge before the boss comes back&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let's get the .... out of Dodge before the boss comes back&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3902" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T08:31:01.480" />
  <row Id="12442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11538" CreationDate="2011-02-13T08:40:08.240" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe Joe came from Spanish or Latin-American languages. The latest borrowed it from &lt;a href=&quot;http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A5%D1%83%D0%B9&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ancient Slavic word&lt;/a&gt; pronounced very similar both in Spanish and Slavic languages.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T08:40:08.240" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12443" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12447" CreationDate="2011-02-13T09:00:14.280" Score="2" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know what a lock is. But what is a latch? It seems that it is similar to a lock. What's the difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T09:57:57.097" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T20:47:55.727" Title="What's the difference between latch and lock?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2011-02-13T09:07:20.250" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would have thought &quot;scarper&quot; was a reasonably well known word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently the original meaning derives from cockney rhyming slang: To &quot;Scarpa flow&quot; meaning to &quot;go&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How about some of these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Leg it&quot;&#xA;&quot;Make yourself scarce&quot;&#xA;&quot;Vamoose&quot;&#xA;&quot;Get out of here&quot;&#xA;&quot;Blow this joint&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or if your audience has seen Snatch (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0208092/) you might like to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Avi, pull your socks up!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4739" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T09:07:20.250" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2011-02-13T09:09:00.377" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear &quot;split&quot; a lot but it's more correct to use when you are parting company.  It wouldn't be as common when the entire group is leaving to move elsewhere (as a group).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let's split before the cops find us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also hear &quot;jet&quot; particularly when time is pressing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hate to interrupt, but I gotta jet...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  We gotta jet if we want to make the 10:15 show...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4956" LastEditorUserId="4956" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T09:14:08.903" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T09:14:08.903" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12443" CreationDate="2011-02-13T09:09:12.557" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;latch&lt;/em&gt; keeps something closed but does not &lt;em&gt;lock&lt;/em&gt; it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T09:09:12.557" />
  <row Id="12447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12443" CreationDate="2011-02-13T09:09:39.170" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A latch fastens a door, gate or window in position but does not provide security. (See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latch_%28hardware%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lock prevents anyone without a key from opening a door/gate/etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4739" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T09:55:43.187" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T09:55:43.187" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12422" CreationDate="2011-02-13T09:29:53.450" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Willing&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;ready, eager, or prepared to do something&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was quite willing to compromise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Willingness to doing something doesn't implicate an effort on doing something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in the sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am willing to add the name of your company in the list of the contributors, but I need the vote of other three people before I can do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The willingness to add the name of the company in the list doesn't implicate an effort from who is willing to do it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;To &lt;em&gt;add the name of your company&lt;/em&gt; could simply mean write the name of the company on a paper, or add the company name in a page of a website. It would require an effort if the names of the companies are carved in stone, or if I would need to persuade three people to vote for adding the company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T09:29:53.450" />
  <row Id="12449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12426" CreationDate="2011-02-13T09:38:53.363" Score="-3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that the root is &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annals&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;annal&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, which is &lt;em&gt;a concise form of historical representation which record events chronologically, year by year&lt;/em&gt; (as Wikipedia says).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4958" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T09:57:26.333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T09:57:26.333" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12450" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12455" CreationDate="2011-02-13T10:06:13.640" Score="2" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;When writing scientific discussions (articles, book chapters, reports, ...), I frequently feel short on synonyms of the verb &lt;strong&gt;study&lt;/strong&gt;, which I use extensively in sentences such as &lt;em&gt;“in the next section, we study the influence of ... on ...”&lt;/em&gt;. The alternatives I frequently use include &lt;strong&gt;investigate&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;research&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;look into&lt;/strong&gt;, and &lt;strong&gt;shed light into&lt;/strong&gt; (with a slightly different meaning). What I like in &lt;strong&gt;study&lt;/strong&gt; and its synonyms is its rather generic meaning: it does not actually specify the type of research being done, which is desirable in some occasions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a consequence, I am looking for other alternatives to this verb, or constructs similar to the example quoted above (&lt;em&gt;“in the next section, we study the influence of ... on ...”&lt;/em&gt;), to improve my writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T10:32:41.573" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T11:33:21.293" Title="What are alternatives to the verb “study” (in the meaning of “research”)?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12450" CreationDate="2011-02-13T10:19:42.453" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The alternatives I can think of are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;analyze&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;check out (informal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cram (informal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;explore&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hit the books (informal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;inquire into&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;inspect&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;learn&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;look at&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;read&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;review&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T10:19:42.453" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="12452" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12453" CreationDate="2011-02-13T10:28:09.823" Score="1" ViewCount="201" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both the words &quot;Skeptical&quot; and &quot;Cynical&quot; refer to a doubtful mood, but what is the basic difference between them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T09:35:59.003" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T09:35:59.003" Title="What is the difference between &quot;skeptical&quot; and &quot;cynical&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;tone&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12452" CreationDate="2011-02-13T10:49:54.410" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Skeptical&lt;/strong&gt; means “having reservations”. Someone who is skeptical will not easily be convinced, will be hard to persuade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main meaning of &lt;strong&gt;cynical&lt;/strong&gt; is “believing the worst of people”, or as NOAD says, “distrustful of human sincerity or integrity”. By extension, it has come to mean “doubting something will happen”, which can be somewhat close in meaning to &lt;em&gt;skeptical&lt;/em&gt; in some cases, but not generally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example, in the sentence “John is skeptical about the motorway extension”, you could replace &lt;em&gt;skeptical&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;cynical&lt;/em&gt; without altering the meaning. In the sentence “John is skeptical about global warming”, you could not do this change. Likewise, in “John has a cynical attitude”, you could not use &lt;em&gt;skeptical&lt;/em&gt; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T16:08:52.133" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T16:08:52.133" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12450" CreationDate="2011-02-13T10:50:18.270" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd try to convey how the next section achieves something. For example, the next section ..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;introduces&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;surveys&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;analyzes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;concludes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;compares&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;collects&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;defines&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hypothesizes &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;assumes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;something about your field of study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4639" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T10:50:18.270" />
  <row Id="12455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12450" CreationDate="2011-02-13T11:33:21.293" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think these might work:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1. Pay attention to&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2. Consider&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3. Brainstorm&lt;br&gt;&#xA;4. Canvass&lt;br&gt;&#xA;5. Scrutinize&lt;br&gt;&#xA;6. Discuss&lt;br&gt;&#xA;7. Contemplate&lt;br&gt;&#xA;8. Survey&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T11:33:21.293" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12456" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12463" CreationDate="2011-02-13T11:54:30.990" Score="4" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was just reading an article concerning a product trade and transports between countries and came through these words that made me wonder about their differences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T16:43:23.937" Title="Why is a transportation by road called a &quot;Shipment&quot; but a transportation by seaways called &quot;Cargo&quot;?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12395" CreationDate="2011-02-13T12:07:45.657" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stack Exchange is basically modified out of &lt;strong&gt;Stack Overflow&lt;/strong&gt;, the first website that was designed to aid programmers with their problems via a forum. As the network grew, the administrators might have realized the need to integrate the various networkks under one aegis. That happened to be &lt;strong&gt;Stack Exchange&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As the word &lt;strong&gt;Stack Exchange&lt;/strong&gt; refers, it is an exchange (similar to a telephone exchange) where multiple mutually exclusive forums (say the English forum, SuperUser Forum, ServerFault Forum etc.) integrate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T12:07:45.657" />
  <row Id="12458" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12473" CreationDate="2011-02-13T12:09:09.633" Score="0" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5902/when-should-we-use-can-could-will-would&quot;&gt;When should we  use &amp;ldquo;can&amp;rdquo;, &amp;ldquo;could&amp;rdquo;, &amp;ldquo;will&amp;rdquo;, &amp;ldquo;would&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a native English speaker and this would/could thing always bothers me. Please give some example + explanation on this. Sorry if the question is too naive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4960" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T12:42:44.277" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T15:50:08.117" ClosedDate="2011-02-14T01:28:33.720" Title="How to use would or could in English?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;modal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12452" CreationDate="2011-02-13T12:19:02.570" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meaning of &lt;em&gt;cynical&lt;/em&gt; is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Believing that only selfishness motivates human actions; not believing in disinterested points of view; feeling uncertain if something will happen or it is worth the effort spent.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Showing contempt for accepted standards of honesty or morality by one's actions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pessimistic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning of &lt;em&gt;skeptical&lt;/em&gt; is:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Having/showing doubt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Denying or questioning the tenets of a religion.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;regarding the doctrines or opinions of philosophical Skeptics.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The words have different meanings; even in the case they both mean &lt;em&gt;having doubts&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;cynical&lt;/em&gt; has a more specific meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The examples reported from the NOAD of sentences containing &lt;em&gt;cynical&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;skeptical&lt;/em&gt; are the following:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most residents are cynical about efforts to clean mobsters out of their city.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He gave a cynical laugh.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Stalin had struck a cynical deal with Hitler.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The public were deeply skeptical about some of the proposals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T15:24:38.210" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T15:24:38.210" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12456" CreationDate="2011-02-13T12:28:15.770" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A shipment usually refers to the process of moving goods. It can be made by road, sea or air, since it represents a group of items that will be transported from one place to another once. If you receive a shipment of jeans, for example, it will have traveled at least a bit by ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cargo usually refers to the goods themselves, independently if they are moved by ground, sea or air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4471" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T12:28:15.770" />
  <row Id="12461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12458" CreationDate="2011-02-13T12:31:51.257" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;If I could, I surely would...&quot; -Aerosmith song.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Could&lt;/em&gt; refers to ability while &lt;em&gt;Would&lt;/em&gt; refers to willingness. Sometimes you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; do something, but are not &lt;em&gt;willing&lt;/em&gt; to do it, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4471" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T12:31:51.257" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10857" CreationDate="2011-02-13T12:36:07.007" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nowadays, Dictator doesn't have any positive connotations so as @Jon mentions, it would be hard to find it capitalized correctly. In the past for example, Simón Bolívar, a South American General, was proclaimed Dictator of Peru.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4471" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T12:36:07.007" />
  <row Id="12463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12456" CreationDate="2011-02-13T13:36:14.117" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I disagree with @baquiano to some extent. For one thing, &lt;em&gt;shipment&lt;/em&gt; can also refer to the goods themselves, as in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The shipment of machine parts was due to arrive yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such a shipment can be &lt;em&gt;cargo&lt;/em&gt; when it is in transit. But it can still be a shipment even when it is no longer in transit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The shipment of machine parts arrived yesterday, and is currently in the warehouse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in that respect it differs from &lt;em&gt;cargo&lt;/em&gt;. Once cargo is no longer in transit, it is no longer cargo.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just for the record, my Webster's defines &lt;em&gt;cargo&lt;/em&gt; as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;goods carried on a ship, aircraft, or motor vehicle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and &lt;em&gt;shipment&lt;/em&gt; as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a quantity of goods shipped; a consignment&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of a &lt;em&gt;shipment&lt;/em&gt; as something that is, was, or will be shipped. Think of &lt;em&gt;cargo&lt;/em&gt; as something that is currently being shipped. And take &lt;em&gt;shipped&lt;/em&gt; to mean &quot;carried by some type of long-distance conveyance&quot; (not limited to actual ships).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T13:36:14.117" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12431" CreationDate="2011-02-13T14:27:52.830" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are other languages that have cases more analagous to the English system of distinguishing gender in the singular, but not the plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the singular, the complication doesn't arise of which pronoun to select when the members of the group referred to aren't all of the same gender. However you distribute the usage of, say, &quot;ellos&quot; and &quot;ellas&quot; (or, more notably, &quot;nosotros&quot; vs &quot;nosotras&quot;, where there seems to be more variation in usage) when applied to groups of a mixture of sexes, one word in the pair is liable to be used a smaller fraction of the time, hence the chance for the other word to &quot;oust&quot; it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T14:27:52.830" />
  <row Id="12466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9283" CreationDate="2011-02-13T14:28:32.987" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is “would” the past future tense of “will” or just a modal verb?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Would&lt;/em&gt; is the past tense of &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; in sentences like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He said he would be away for a couple of days.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He wanted out, but she wouldn't leave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference between &lt;em&gt;Would you give me some advice?&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Will you give me some advice?&lt;/em&gt; is that the first is considered a polite way to ask help, while the second (depending on the context) could be also understood as expressing desire, consent, or willingness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will you have a cognac?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T14:28:32.987" />
  <row Id="12467" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12475" CreationDate="2011-02-13T15:21:56.660" Score="0" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;1.Do you think I did well in my Spanish examination? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.Who won the music festival?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3809" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T15:44:46.703" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T15:55:54.787" Title="What are the subjects of these questions?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;subject&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12468" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12479" CreationDate="2011-02-13T15:27:54.867" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, I'm aware of &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3392/lets-vs-lets-which-is-correct&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I want to know is if there are other similar constructs, done by contracting a verb with &lt;em&gt;&quot;us&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2139" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T16:40:22.370" Title="&quot;Let's&quot;: similar contractions." Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="12469" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-13T15:28:43.823" Score="0" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;In programming, for example, one object could be responsible for writing to and reading from files (also called I/O). What would some proper words for this be? I tend to use &lt;em&gt;handler&lt;/em&gt; a lot (e.g. &lt;code&gt;IOHandler&lt;/code&gt;), but feel unsure of this use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4964" LastEditorUserId="4964" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T16:11:23.830" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T17:47:40.003" Title="What are proper words for objects practicing tasks within a specific area of responsibility?" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12467" CreationDate="2011-02-13T15:41:10.500" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's easier to understand which the subject in a question is when you look at the equivalent affirmative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you think I did well in my Spanish examination? =&gt; You think I did well in my Spanish examination.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Who won the music festival? =&gt; Who won the music festival.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T15:41:10.500" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12471" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-13T15:46:57.967" Score="1" ViewCount="219" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just found out that &lt;em&gt;luster&lt;/em&gt; in British English was actually &lt;em&gt;lustre&lt;/em&gt;. This was something that I did not know before.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Are there any other words that behave like this? Why? (According to what?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T15:55:13.960" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T07:02:38.797" Title="Similar words that change from &quot;-ter&quot; to &quot;tre&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2011-02-13T15:48:22.833" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Scamper? Flee? ... Could be synonyms to &quot;Scarper&quot; in general...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T15:48:22.833" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12458" CreationDate="2011-02-13T15:50:08.117" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Would&quot; and &quot;could&quot; really cover different situations, although both can be used to make a request.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Could&quot; generally denotes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Possibility (either &quot;basic&quot; posibility on a particular occasion, or &quot;supposed&quot; possibility): &quot;It could rain this afternoon&quot;, &quot;They could be planning an attack&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Equivalent of &quot;can&quot; (possibility) in the indirect speech: &quot;He said he could come&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To formulate a request: &quot;Could you get the shopping for me?&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that &quot;could&quot; doesn't tend to denote a possibility that is &quot;generally true&quot;; in this case, &quot;can&quot; is used (contrast &quot;it could rain this afternoon&quot; with &quot;it can rain heavily this time of year&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, &quot;would&quot; generally denotes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The result of a condition being fulfilled: &quot;I would spend more time with my children, but I have to work&quot;; &quot;it would be great if you could come&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The notion of future-in-the-past, effectively the equivalent of &quot;will&quot; in indirect speech: &quot;He said he would come&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the negative, to denote a refusal in the past: &quot;He wouldn't help me&quot; = &quot;He didn't want to help me&quot;; &quot;The car wouldn't start&quot; = &quot;The car refused to start&quot;. But note that this is just in the negative: people don't say &quot;*He would help me&quot; to mean &quot;He offered/accepted to help me&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To formulate a request: &quot;Would you come here a minute?&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In slightly literary use, an equivalent of &quot;used to&quot;: &quot;On Saturdays, she would spend the whole day staring out of the window&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T15:50:08.117" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12469" CreationDate="2011-02-13T15:53:24.260" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you use &lt;em&gt;handler&lt;/em&gt; to mean &lt;em&gt;the object that handles or deals with an activity&lt;/em&gt;, then you can use &lt;em&gt;handler&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;The term is usually used with a modifier: &lt;em&gt;event handler&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;protocol handler&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;logging handler&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;exception handler&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the specific context, it's probable you will not find a word to use as synonym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T15:53:24.260" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12467" CreationDate="2011-02-13T15:55:54.787" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The subject is generally the element with which the verb (potentially) agrees. This doesn't change just because it's a question. So in &lt;em&gt;&quot;Do you think...?&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; is the subject: if you changed it to &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt;, for example, the verb would need to change the verb to &lt;em&gt;Does&lt;/em&gt;. The case of &lt;em&gt;&quot;Who won...?&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is slightly more tricky because &quot;who&quot; can't be pluralised in English (as opposed, say, to Spanish). But if you imagine paraphrasing as &quot;Which person/people&quot;, you'll see that this element is the subject: *&quot;Which person &lt;em&gt;has&lt;/em&gt; come?&quot;*, *&quot;Which people &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; come?&quot;*.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T15:55:54.787" />
  <row Id="12476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12471" CreationDate="2011-02-13T16:01:11.217" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They don't &quot;behave&quot; like this, they just &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; different in British (or English) English and American English.  And it is, as far as I'm aware, purely historical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, there are other words with the same &quot;-er&quot;/&quot;-re&quot; difference.  &quot;Theater&quot;/&quot;theatre&quot; comes readily to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T16:01:11.217" />
  <row Id="12477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12421" CreationDate="2011-02-13T16:09:23.350" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few common words like &quot;listen&quot;, i.e. with &quot;st&quot; where the vowel before the &quot;s&quot; is stressed, but the vowel in the following syllable is unstressed. Other examples include &quot;fasten&quot;, &quot;Christmas&quot;, &quot;whistle&quot; (and of course derivations: &quot;whistling&quot;, &quot;Christmassy&quot; etc). The word &quot;often&quot; is an interesting case with two alternative pronunciations (the &quot;t&quot; may or may not be pronounced).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you know enough about English phonology, then another rule of thumb is that if you have two or more consonant letters next to each other which &quot;don't fit&quot; with the phonotactics (&quot;usual combinations of sounds&quot;) of English, then one of those consonants almost certainly isn't pronounced. For example, there's no word in English that has the combination [mb] in the coda (final part) of a syllable. So in the word &quot;comb&quot;, one of the final letters must be silent. (Contrast with &quot;combine&quot;, where the &quot;m&quot; and &quot;b&quot; are in different syllables, and both are pronounced.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in general, the problem with silent letters is that they really span a number of categories, including some cases where the letter in question was just arbitrarily inserted. For example, in the word &quot;debt&quot;, the &quot;b&quot; has never ever been pronounced in English, nor indeed was it in French when the word was borrowed into English: the &quot;b&quot; was simply arbitrarily inserted in effect to &quot;remind people&quot; of the Latin word 'debitum' (from which &quot;debt&quot; only indirectly dervies). So inevitably, there will be some cases that you have to &quot;just learn&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastEditorUserId="4941" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T16:15:21.063" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T16:15:21.063" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12471" CreationDate="2011-02-13T16:13:14.510" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences#-re.2C_-er&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In British usage, some words of French, Latin, or Greek origin end with a consonant followed by -re, with the -re unstressed and pronounced /ər/. &#xA;  Most of these words have the ending -er in the United States.&#xA;  The difference is most common for words ending -bre or -tre: British spellings centre, &lt;em&gt;goitre, kilometre, litre, lustre, mitre, nitre, reconnoitre, saltpetre, spectre, theatre, titre, calibre, fibre, sabre,&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;sombre&lt;/em&gt; all have -er in American spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... Many words spelled with -re in Modern French are spelled with -er in both British and American usage; among these are &lt;em&gt;chapter, December, diameter, perimeter, disaster, enter, filter, letter, member, minister, monster, October, November, number, oyster, parameter, powder, proper, September, sober,&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;tender&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The ending -cre, as in &lt;em&gt;acre, lucre, massacre, mediocre&lt;/em&gt;, is preserved in American English, to indicate the c is pronounced /k/ rather than /s/.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After other consonants, there are not many -re endings ...: &lt;em&gt;louvre&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;manoeuvre&lt;/em&gt; after -v; &lt;em&gt;meagre&lt;/em&gt; (but not eager) and &lt;em&gt;ogre&lt;/em&gt; after -g; and &lt;em&gt;euchre, ochre,&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;sepulchre&lt;/em&gt; after -ch. In the United States, &lt;em&gt;ogre&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;euchre&lt;/em&gt; are standard; &lt;em&gt;manoeuvre&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;sepulchre&lt;/em&gt; are usually spelled as &lt;em&gt;maneuver&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;sepulcher&lt;/em&gt;; ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The e preceding the r is retained in American-derived forms of nouns and verbs, for example, &lt;em&gt;fibers, reconnoitered, centering,&lt;/em&gt; ... &lt;em&gt;fibres, reconnoitred&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;centring&lt;/em&gt; respectively in British usage. ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Exceptions. ... include Germanic words like &lt;em&gt;anger, mother, timber, water&lt;/em&gt; and Romance words like &lt;em&gt;danger, quarter, river&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;More recent French loanwords retain an -re spelling in American English. ... double-entendre, genre, or oeuvre. ... cadre, macabre, maître d', Notre Dame, piastre, and timbre.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T07:02:38.797" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T07:02:38.797" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="12479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12468" CreationDate="2011-02-13T16:40:22.370" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No there are no other contractions of words with &lt;strong&gt;us&lt;/strong&gt; in the above specified form as in other contexts contractions ending with &lt;strong&gt;'s&lt;/strong&gt; refer to contraction for &lt;strong&gt;is, has or does&lt;/strong&gt; which is very informal and hence rarely seen. &lt;strong&gt;Let us&lt;/strong&gt; is a special case that is used in forming the imperative mood in first person singular for &lt;strong&gt;Let us&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contraction_(grammar)#English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here is the link to the reference in case you wish to find further clarifications.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Hope this helps. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T16:40:22.370" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12480" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12487" CreationDate="2011-02-13T16:58:27.750" Score="2" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apologies if this question is inappropriate for the site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the US, what would be equivalent to the OED? The de facto standard. I know there's the New Oxford American Dictionary but in the US does this have the same gravitas as the OED has in the UK?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4967" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T13:29:02.823" Title="US Equivalent to the Oxford English Dictionary" Tags="&lt;dictionaries&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12480" CreationDate="2011-02-13T17:07:34.993" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Collins English Dictionary&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry if I made mistake. I'm not American, but these two are famous as far as I know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4968" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T17:07:34.993" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12471" CreationDate="2011-02-13T17:45:05.260" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Imposing '-er' over '-re' on words from old French is one of the orthographic simplifications by Webster when he wrote his dictionary of American English. These alternate spellings are particular to the USA, and are otherwise not preferred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4686" LastEditorUserId="4686" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T20:50:26.203" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T20:50:26.203" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="12483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12469" CreationDate="2011-02-13T17:47:40.003" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Converting my commen to an answer:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Handler is the word I have seen the most and use since 1986... IOHandler, Event Handler (but also dispatcher, queue)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T17:47:40.003" />
  <row Id="12484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12480" CreationDate="2011-02-13T18:15:31.533" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary (NOAD) is part of the great work done by the OED group and does pull the same weight as the rest of their publications.  The major difference is that the NOAD presents the American variant spellings first and contains words and usage that are not used in other English dialects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4686" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T18:15:31.533" />
  <row Id="12485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="976" CreationDate="2011-02-13T18:28:57.243" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am just attending a public speaking course and our teacher recommended to us a great book: &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0863698263&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Your voice and how to use it&lt;/a&gt;&quot; by Cicely Berry. Cicely is a voice director of Royal Shakespeare Company and during her career she worked with many people who had various issues (including mumbling) with their spoken language. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This book goes into great details on many practical solutions and tips on how to speak with confidence and how to improve your articulation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3656" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T18:28:57.243" />
  <row Id="12486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1535" CreationDate="2011-02-13T19:15:35.987" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, sorry, long two-part idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;of someone&quot; in this case is not really about possession.  My impression is that English speakers do not like to use &quot;of&quot; simply to show possession; we have other grammatical constructions for that.  Instead, &quot;of&quot; is used to refer to patterns of association or constituency in some larger whole, as in &quot;out of&quot; &quot;consisting of&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;a friend of mine&quot; is really a shortened form of &quot;a friend of mine (friends)&quot; as argued by other comments.  This means, literally, &quot;one friend out of my several friends&quot;.  The OED etymology sections have a long but clear explanation of the history of &quot;mine&quot; and &quot;my&quot; that more or less clears this up.  Historically, &quot;my&quot; originates from a singular version (min) and &quot;mine&quot; from a plural version (mine) which were otherwise grammatically the same.  Therefore, &quot;mine&quot; probably does have something to do with the plurality of friends in this case.  Just like &quot;mine eyes&quot; probably made sense in the the past, but not &quot;mine nose&quot;.  One thing that either clinches or messes up this interpretation is that people say &quot;of hers&quot;. OED calls this a &quot;double possessive&quot; which developed by extrapolation from 's.  But some dialectical variants use &quot;of hern&quot; instead, which was definitely plural in the past.  Therefore. &quot;hern friends&quot; was used in the past.  Was &quot;hers friends&quot; ever grammatical?  I'm inclined to think this is (historically) about plurality and not about double possession.   Maybe phrases like &quot;of John's&quot; were originally in the plural possessive sense &quot;of Johns&quot; where John has many of something, not where there are many Johns, but were reanalyzed as a new special kind of possessive when this kind of plural possessive was lost.  Therefore, the idea of double possession is a later way of explaining why people speak like this.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4970" LastEditorUserId="4970" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T19:48:44.540" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T19:48:44.540" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="12487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12480" CreationDate="2011-02-13T19:28:18.773" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably the most famous American dictionary is the controversial &lt;em&gt;Webster’s Third New International Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;, which made headlines when it was first published for taking a hard-line descriptivist stance, particularly for its treatment of the word &lt;em&gt;ain’t&lt;/em&gt;. It remains the most important unabridged dictionary of American English, although it hasn’t received a major revision since it was first published in 1961.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;, which is shorter and can be held in one hand, remains Merriam-Webster’s flagship dictionary, receiving frequent updates and revisions. It is also the best-selling dictionary of American English. The online version is accessible at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster.com&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other significant dictionary of American English is the &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Heritage_Dictionary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Heritage Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, which was published by the owner of the history magazine &lt;em&gt;American Heritage&lt;/em&gt;, who was appalled by the permissiveness of &lt;em&gt;Webster’s Third&lt;/em&gt;. The &lt;em&gt;American Heritage Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; is notable for pioneering the use of corpus linguistics in dictionary compilation, as well as for its 200-member “usage panel” who the dictionary consults when writing usage notes, reporting what percentage of the panel approved or disapproved of different contested usages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are othe American dictionaries which are well-regarded but not as well-known, such as the &lt;em&gt;Oxford American&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Random House&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;Webster’s New World&lt;/em&gt;. Americans generally don’t distinguish among dictionaries and typically refer to all dictionaries as “the dictionary”, as in “I’ll look that up in the dictionary”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T04:58:28.843" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T04:58:28.843" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12471" CreationDate="2011-02-13T19:47:03.713" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English, the final &lt;em&gt;re&lt;/em&gt; in words that end with a consonant followed by &lt;em&gt;re&lt;/em&gt; (where &lt;em&gt;re&lt;/em&gt; is unstressed) is pronounced /ər/.&#xA;Most of the words that in British English are written with the final &lt;em&gt;re&lt;/em&gt;, while in American English are written with the final &lt;em&gt;er&lt;/em&gt; to reflect the pronunciation.&#xA;The list of such words, apart &lt;em&gt;lustre/luster&lt;/em&gt; includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;calibre/caliber&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;centre/center&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fibre/fiber&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;goitre/goiter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;kilometre/kilometer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;litre/liter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;mitre/miter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nitre/niter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;reconnoitre/reconnoiter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sabre/saber&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;saltpetre/saltpeter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;spectre/specter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;theatre/theater&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;titre/titer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are words that are written with the final &lt;em&gt;-er&lt;/em&gt; in both American and British English, even when the original words from which the English words are derived end in &lt;em&gt;re&lt;/em&gt;, or contained &lt;em&gt;tr&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;diameter (from Old French &lt;em&gt;diametre&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;disaster (from Italian &lt;em&gt;disastro&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;filter (from Old French &lt;em&gt;filtre&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;monster (from Old French &lt;em&gt;monstre&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;number (from Old French &lt;em&gt;numbre&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;oister (from Old French &lt;em&gt;oistre&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;perimeter (from Greek &lt;em&gt;perimetros&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reference: &lt;a href=&quot;http://wapedia.mobi/en/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences?t=4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wapedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T19:52:28.433" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T19:52:28.433" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2011-02-13T20:14:22.930" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pretty sure the American for &lt;em&gt;scarper&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;skedaddle&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;em&gt;Amscray&lt;/em&gt;, the Pig Latin for &lt;em&gt;scram&lt;/em&gt;, is also particularly idiomatically appropriate to your particular case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T20:14:22.930" />
  <row Id="12490" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12523" CreationDate="2011-02-13T20:43:26.730" Score="12" ViewCount="823" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do you call a person who betrays his/her spouse? Is the word different for men and women? Is it different for people who are in a relationship and not still married?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T21:15:01.287" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T05:10:52.043" Title="What do you call a person who betrays his/her spouse?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="6" />
  <row Id="12491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12490" CreationDate="2011-02-13T20:46:48.210" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most commonly the betrayer is referred to as an adulterer, although cheater works as a more colloquial term.  I'm pretty sure it is gender neutral, as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4944" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T20:46:48.210" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12443" CreationDate="2011-02-13T20:47:55.727" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A latch is a very simple device that keeps a door or window closed. On a door, it is simply a sliding piece of metal or wood that slips into a slot, or even a piece of rope with a loop that can go over a small post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lock needs a separate device (a key) that will unlock the lock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T20:47:55.727" />
  <row Id="12493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12490" CreationDate="2011-02-13T20:49:35.023" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Adulterer&lt;/em&gt; is gender neutral but refers specifically to a marriage, not other relationships.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit: Merriam-Webster lists a female form, &lt;em&gt;adulteress&lt;/em&gt;, but it seems to have fallen into disuse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T17:00:00.723" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T17:00:00.723" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12494" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12524" CreationDate="2011-02-13T20:49:39.517" Score="0" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the proper way to spell &quot;side dish&quot;?&#xA;Is it: &quot;side dish&quot; or &quot;side-dish&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also,&#xA;Is it &quot;ham-fried&quot; or &quot;ham fried&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, when do you use hyphens?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T01:11:41.753" Title="When is it appropriate to use a hyphen?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;hyphen&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12490" CreationDate="2011-02-13T20:56:51.583" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word for a man/woman who is married and has sex with a woman/man who is not his/her wife/husband is &lt;strong&gt;adulterer/adulteress&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4873" LastEditorUserId="4873" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T09:44:20.127" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T09:44:20.127" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12490" CreationDate="2011-02-13T21:01:23.820" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The technical/formal/old(?) term is adulterer/adulteress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The term used by ordinary people in not-extremely-formal contexts is cheater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastEditorUserId="2701" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T15:24:48.200" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T15:24:48.200" />
  <row Id="12497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12494" CreationDate="2011-02-13T21:23:15.043" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may want to consult &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.economist.com/research/styleguide/index.cfm?page=738537&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Economist's style guide entry on the subject&lt;/a&gt;, it provides useful guidelines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4821" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T21:23:15.043" />
  <row Id="12498" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-13T21:32:43.610" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the meaning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;figurative&lt;/em&gt;: a profound difference&#xA;  between people, viewpoints, feelings,&#xA;  etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is a chasm or a gulf generally interpreted as being a larger difference? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A:&lt;/strong&gt; The gulf between rich and poor has grown into a chasm?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;B:&lt;/strong&gt; The difference is not merely a chasm,&#xA;  but a gulf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4601" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T10:29:48.100" Title="Which is larger a &quot;chasm&quot; or a &quot;gulf?&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;figures-of-speech&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12422" CreationDate="2011-02-13T21:34:22.067" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Willingness&lt;/em&gt; is passive [in the human sense]; &lt;em&gt;effort&lt;/em&gt; is active [in the human sense].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T21:34:22.067" />
  <row Id="12501" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12503" CreationDate="2011-02-13T21:48:07.087" Score="2" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the following Washington Post's article (Feb. 13) reporting the outcome of CPAC 2011, I found the phrase &lt;em&gt;if you must know&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this phrase means &lt;em&gt;though it may not be essential knowledge that you are supposed to have&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;just for your reference&lt;/em&gt;. What is the difference of nuance among &lt;em&gt;if you must know&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;you may know&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;you might know&lt;/em&gt;, which is difficult for non-native English learner to discern?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The three-day Conservative Political Action Conference ended Saturday afternoon with a meaningless presidential straw poll (if you must know, libertarian gadfly Ron Paul won for the second year in a row). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T01:25:21.160" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T13:07:28.470" Title="How does &quot;if you must know&quot; differ from &quot;you may (might) know&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="12502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12498" CreationDate="2011-02-13T22:02:37.730" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's consider their geological meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;chasm&lt;/em&gt; is a deep opening in the earth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;gulf&lt;/em&gt; is deep wide &lt;em&gt;chasm&lt;/em&gt; of water. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By that logic, a gulf is really just a type of chasm. So it's impossible to determine which is actually larger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if we are permitted to be unscientific: usually when I come across the two terms, I tend to think of a gulf as being much larger because the first chasm that comes to my mind is the Grand Canyon, whereas the first gulf that comes to mind is the Gulf of Mexico. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gulf vs. chasm comparison is really very ambiguous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4860" LastEditorUserId="4860" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T22:08:12.720" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T22:08:12.720" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12501" CreationDate="2011-02-13T22:07:12.400" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;If you must know...&quot; typically introduces a fact that the speaker is reluctant to reveal. It's a little rude, as it implies that the listener is being nosy (intrusive). E.g., &quot;Why weren't you at work yesterday?&quot; -- &quot;If you must know, I was visiting a family member in the hospital.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You may/might know&quot; introduces a fact somewhat apologetically. My understanding of it is that it's apologizing for wasting the time of the listener if they already know the fact. I think it also implies that the speaker isn't presuming that the listener is ignorant of the fact (to prevent insulting the listener's intelligence).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3591" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T22:07:12.400" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12498" CreationDate="2011-02-13T22:11:32.847" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Gulf&quot; is used metaphorically to mean a separation between two things with nothing in between. A chasm is a very evocative, dramatic word, implying a very deep, steep hole or crack in the earth. Chasm means impassible depth, gulf does not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3591" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T22:11:32.847" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12505" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-13T22:41:23.123" Score="2" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2933/if-the-cricket-ground-lords-is-a-possessive-what-if-you-want-to-describe-someth&quot;&gt;If the cricket ground Lord&amp;#39;s is a possessive, what if you want to describe something belonging to Lord&amp;#39;s?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hi all,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a tricky one that I can't quite figure out the correct punctuation for.  How do you write the possessive of a noun which is already possessive?  The example which spawned this question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would you describe something belonging to St. John's, where St. John's is any of the colleges, towns or hospitals which bear this name, including the apostrophe, and not the saint?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;edit&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@waiwai933: This is what I've always done, I just wondered if there was any clever punctuation you could use to avoid this kind of rephrasing.  I'm guessing from your immediate reply that the answer is probably no, but I'll see if anyone else comes up with something interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4975" LastEditorUserId="4975" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T22:59:21.353" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T03:37:41.743" ClosedDate="2011-02-14T16:02:14.520" Title="St. John's greatest dinner: how to indicate a possessive of a noun which already ends apostrophe - s" Tags="&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12471" CreationDate="2011-02-13T22:43:50.940" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many words like these: &lt;em&gt;centre&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;centimetre&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;fibre&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;calibre&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;litre&lt;/em&gt;, just to name a few.  (Other answers have given good longer lists.)  I’m sure there are some exceptions escaping me, but all or almost all of these have the same history:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally, the &lt;em&gt;-re&lt;/em&gt; forms are older: these words came into English from French, where they were (and mostly, still are) spelled similarly (&lt;em&gt;centre&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;centimétre&lt;/em&gt;), and where the pronunciation reflects the &lt;em&gt;-re&lt;/em&gt; ending.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After entering English, the pronunciations became anglicised and no longer matched the spellings — so for proponents of spelling reform, these words were an obvious target.  Most influentially, Noah Webster used the &lt;em&gt;-er&lt;/em&gt; forms in his dictionary and his &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Webster#Blue_Backed_Speller&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;‘Blue-backed Speller’&lt;/a&gt;; and (like many of his reforms), they caught on across the US, and are now the standard spellings there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, most other English-speaking countries use the &lt;em&gt;-re&lt;/em&gt; forms; but as the influence of American English increases for ESL students, this may well now be changing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T22:43:50.940" />
  <row Id="12507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12505" CreationDate="2011-02-13T22:52:23.997" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Avoid ambiguity and use the full name if possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;St. John's College's admissions office&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;St. John's Hospital's triage area&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not, rephrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The schoolhouse of St. John's, Redhill&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;hr&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;@waiwai933: This is what I've always&#xA;  done, I just wondered if there was any&#xA;  clever punctuation you could use to&#xA;  avoid this kind of rephrasing. I'm&#xA;  guessing from your immediate reply&#xA;  that the answer is probably no, but&#xA;  I'll see if anyone else comes up with&#xA;  something interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's correct. There's no real way around it, unless you've referred to it already, in which case you could step around mentioning the name altogether: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Its new surgical ward has just opened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T03:37:41.743" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T03:37:41.743" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2011-02-13T23:15:44.543" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although personally a fan of &quot;skedaddle,&quot; another common phrase for this is &quot;bug out.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3952" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T23:15:44.543" />
  <row Id="12509" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12521" CreationDate="2011-02-13T23:43:37.413" Score="6" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;Physics problems are usually written like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;The rate of change of the soup's temperature ...&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a &lt;strong&gt;common&lt;/strong&gt; English word that captures &quot;rate of change&quot; or &quot;speed of change&quot; in a single word, other than &lt;em&gt;derivative&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2210" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T08:42:18.900" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T10:29:02.280" Title="A word for &quot;rate of change&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12509" CreationDate="2011-02-14T00:02:05.703" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could use &lt;em&gt;gradient&lt;/em&gt; for the example given, e.g. &quot;the soup was being warmed with a temperature &lt;em&gt;gradient&lt;/em&gt; of 10 degrees every 5 minutes&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T00:02:05.703" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="12511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12509" CreationDate="2011-02-14T00:16:39.130" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tend to use 'delta', but it's what I call an 'acquired' definition - it's one I picked up along the way, but I have no idea if it's the correct one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4978" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T00:16:39.130" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12512" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-14T00:20:49.437" Score="5" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oddly enough for a computing tutor, I encounter the need for this term fairly often. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm of course referring to words like 'sheep' or 'fish', which can be either singular or plural depending on the context. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4978" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T01:19:33.487" Title="What is the name for a word that is both singular and plural?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="12513" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12516" CreationDate="2011-02-14T00:21:16.433" Score="3" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;Further to my question about the meaning of &quot;If you must know&quot; in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/49417.html#ixzz1DswY7D3M&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Washington Post’s article&lt;/a&gt; on CPAC conference which I posted this morning in the forum, I stumbled on a phrase: &lt;em&gt;the Sarah Palin impersonator&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the article, the votes resulted in Texas Rep. Ron Paul coming up in the 1st place, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the 2nd place. That said, why &lt;em&gt;Sarah Palin impersonator&lt;/em&gt; is not &lt;em&gt;impersonators&lt;/em&gt;. As long as the impersonator is in singular form, who is very Sarah Palin impersonator?  It can be simply many republicans who are followers of Sara Palin's credos and her action patterns. But in that case, &lt;em&gt;inpersonator&lt;/em&gt; should be in plural form. Am I wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could you explain me who is the Sarah Palin impersonator?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Conservative Political Action Conference is over. The thousands of activists who converged on northwest Washington have begun returning home. The Sarah Palin impersonator has left the building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T01:09:22.443" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T01:09:22.443" Title="Who is ‘Sarah Palin impersonator’?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12509" CreationDate="2011-02-14T00:22:02.263" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;@HorusKol: There you go. Differential is the right word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T00:22:02.263" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="12515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12513" CreationDate="2011-02-14T00:30:05.437" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me like the author is speaking metaphorically. The Conservative Political Action Conference itself impersonated the style of Sarah Palin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It can be simply many republicans who are followers of Sara Palin's credos and her action patterns. But in that case, 'inpersonator' should be in plural form. Am I wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since it was a metaphor, there was not a specific &quot;impersonator&quot; or &quot;impersonators&quot; referred to. It makes sense to speak in the singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; It seems there was an actual impersonator there, so the statement wasn't necessarily metaphorical. Good catch Dour High Arch. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastEditorUserId="1871" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T00:35:22.687" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T00:35:22.687" />
  <row Id="12516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12513" CreationDate="2011-02-14T00:32:59.400" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;Sarah Palin impersonator&quot; refers to an actual Sarah Palin impersonator, a person who showed up at the meeting &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/11/sarah-palin-impersonator-cpac_n_821922.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;impersonating Sarah Palin&lt;/a&gt;. This person gained their 15 minutes of fame on broadcast television, but was otherwise not mentioned by the news media.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2949" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T00:32:59.400" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12426" CreationDate="2011-02-14T00:34:51.847" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Anal&lt;/em&gt; means 'referring to the anus' and does not share the same root word as &lt;em&gt;analyst&lt;/em&gt;.  It has nothing to do with records or books.  Also, their pronunciation is different; 'anal' starts with a long A and analyst starts with a short A.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You cannot &lt;em&gt;ass&lt;/em&gt; ume that words that share groups of letters have any relationship to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T00:34:51.847" />
  <row Id="12518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12513" CreationDate="2011-02-14T00:49:18.883" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dour High Arch has this one correct. It was an actual, literal Sarah Palin impersonator: someone who got made up to look like Sarah Palin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oishi-san, this might be a good time to review the definition of &lt;em&gt;impersonator&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;impersonator&lt;/strong&gt;: someone who pretends to be (another person) as entertainment or in order to deceive someone &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, entertainment might have been the object, but the intent was certainly to deceive. The article doesn't mean the other Reupblican candidates were mimicking the &lt;em&gt;style&lt;/em&gt; of Sarah Palin, it means one person was actually pretending to &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt; Sarah Palin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the article &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/49417.html#ixzz1DtDXj07a&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Sarah Palin impersonator has left the building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is meant to echo the famous line:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Elvis has left the building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/elvis-has-left-the-building.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;used to be announced&lt;/a&gt; at the end of Elvis Presley concerts so that the screaming fans would stop chanting for him to return and give yet another encore. The reason the article uses this construction is to emphasize the fact that the CPAC is officially over and everyone can go home and stop pretending something is still happening there. Short version: no more news is coming out of the CPAC, folks. Let's move on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T00:49:18.883" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="12519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7476" CreationDate="2011-02-14T00:55:14.207" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a lot of varied dialogue in &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;The X-Files&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; series.  You'll find a broad mix from common and obscure colloquialisms to technical jargon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T00:55:14.207" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-14T00:55:14.207" />
  <row Id="12520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12512" CreationDate="2011-02-14T00:58:58.240" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think they are called &lt;em&gt;invariable&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;invariant&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:English_invariant_nouns&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1304" LastEditorUserId="1304" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T01:19:33.487" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T01:19:33.487" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12509" CreationDate="2011-02-14T00:59:04.577" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speed is used for the rate of change of distance with respect to time.  Sometimes speed is used in contexts similar to what you mention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How quickly will the soup reach room temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3436" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T00:59:04.577" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12501" CreationDate="2011-02-14T01:04:23.593" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The three-day Conservative Political Action Conference ended Saturday afternoon with a meaningless presidential straw poll (if you must know, libertarian gadfly Ron Paul won for the second year in a row).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article is written in a very chatty style, and the writer has just described the culminating straw poll as essentially meaningless (which straw polls are by their very nature: Webster's defines &lt;em&gt;straw poll&lt;/em&gt; as &quot;an unofficial ballot conducted as a test of opinion&quot;). In other words, it was a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/nonevent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nonevent&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that context, &quot;if you must know&quot; is a chatty way of implying that no one would really want to know the outcome of such a poll unless he suffered from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001926&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;obsessive-compulsive disorder&lt;/a&gt; or some kind of unhealthy fascination with trivia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has nothing to do with the phrases &quot;you may know&quot; or &quot;you might know&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T01:04:23.593" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="12523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12490" CreationDate="2011-02-14T01:05:20.467" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a word that can refer to both married people or people in a relationship, you can use &lt;em&gt;cheat&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;cheater&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;two-time&lt;/em&gt; (informal). &lt;em&gt;Two-time&lt;/em&gt; is also used as verb, as reported from the NOAD: &lt;em&gt;He was two-timing a fiancé back in England&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For people who are married, you can use adulterer (which is gender-neutral) or adulteress (when referring to her).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T01:05:20.467" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12494" CreationDate="2011-02-14T01:11:41.753" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no single answer to this: various conventions exist depending on personal preference and/or the in-house (or &quot;in house&quot;, or &quot;inhouse&quot;) style guide for the particular publication you're writing for. That said, I think that in general, using hyphens between the elements of compound &lt;em&gt;nouns&lt;/em&gt; is less common nowadays (so people would tend to write &quot;side dish&quot;, &quot;ticket office&quot; etc, not &quot;side-dish&quot;, &quot;ticket-office&quot;). I also get the impression (with no hard statistics to back it up) that US usage favours the hyphen still a bit more than UK usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think a common modern convention is to use hyphens mainly for cases of ambiguity or where a compound functions as an adjective (or perhaps more specifically, compounds &quot;in attributive position&quot;[*]). The hyphen is maybe a bit more common with compound verbs as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[*] Bauer, L. (2006), &quot;Compounds and Minor Word-formation Types&quot; in &lt;em&gt;The Handbook of English Linguistics&lt;/em&gt;, Blackwell, pp. 483-506.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the same author:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We might, for instance, find &lt;em&gt;coffee&#xA;  pot&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;coffee-pot&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;coffeepot&lt;/em&gt;,&#xA;  depending on the dictionary we care to&#xA;  consult. When even dictionaries fail&#xA;  to agree, we can be sure that actual&#xA;  usage provides a bewlidering amount of&#xA;  variation. (p.  485)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T01:11:41.753" />
  <row Id="12525" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-14T01:26:25.723" Score="0" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm so confused about when to use &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt;? Is there any rule of thumb to remember?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4984" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T13:43:43.270" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T13:43:43.270" ClosedDate="2011-02-14T03:47:27.240" Title="When to use &quot;in,&quot; &quot;on,&quot; and &quot;at?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12525" CreationDate="2011-02-14T01:46:36.167" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on context, and there are many phrasal verbs which have particular meanings.  Some of these will overlap in meaning.  But generally &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;inside&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;on top of&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;co-located&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if, for example, you ask me &quot;Where is the ball?&quot;, I might reply&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Look in the box&quot; meaning that you might find it inside the box&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Look on the box&quot; meaning that you might find it on top of the box&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Look at the box&quot; meaning that, when your eyes point towards the box, you might see it somewhere&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T01:46:36.167" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12528" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12545" CreationDate="2011-02-14T02:16:25.230" Score="8" ViewCount="266" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;not available&lt;/em&gt; is not &lt;em&gt;not/available&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;not applicable&lt;/em&gt; is not &lt;em&gt;not/applicable&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is it &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/n/a&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;n/a&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T04:29:58.553" Title="Why is there a slash within &quot;n/a&quot;" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12529" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12537" CreationDate="2011-02-14T02:19:58.887" Score="4" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why it is called cascade, instead of &lt;code&gt;inheritable&lt;/code&gt;, or &lt;code&gt;derivable&lt;/code&gt;, or &lt;code&gt;chained&lt;/code&gt;, or something else? Maybe I have misunderstood the word? And, when should I use the word cascade in my own software architectures?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="229" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T03:33:20.357" Title="How to understand the word cascade in CSS?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12509" CreationDate="2011-02-14T02:49:39.473" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another synonym is &quot;velocity&quot;.  In pediatrics they say &quot;height velocity&quot; to refer to the growth in stature per year.  For the second derivative you can say &quot;acceleration&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4970" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T02:49:39.473" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12532" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12533" CreationDate="2011-02-14T02:53:53.370" Score="2" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why does tanking at something mean failing at it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mate, I tanked that maths exam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1429" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T03:11:08.343" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T03:18:57.837" Title="Why does tanking at something mean failing at it?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="12533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12532" CreationDate="2011-02-14T03:17:47.890" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tank&lt;/em&gt; came from Tennis jargon, by way of boxing jargon. Originally, it meant to lose on purpose to gain an advantage. You could &lt;em&gt;tank&lt;/em&gt; a set to get a rest or &lt;em&gt;tank&lt;/em&gt; a boxing match so your backers could make money gambling against you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.slate.com/id/2203028/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Slate article&lt;/a&gt;, in the 19th century, Americans called swimming pools &quot;tanks&quot; and thus &quot;go into the tank&quot; was synonymous with &quot;to dive.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T03:17:47.890" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12528" CreationDate="2011-02-14T03:20:25.807" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lowercase abbreviations require punctuation to distinguish them from words like &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/na#English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;na&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, as opposed to uppercase abbreviations, which are understood not to be words in and of themselves because words are not capitalized in sentences. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T03:20:25.807" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="12536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12529" CreationDate="2011-02-14T03:22:03.770" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Inheritable would be the closest synonym you suggested. The effect of a number of style sheets &quot;cascade&quot; in that their effects are incrementally combined as they are applied in sequence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For an example of when to use the word &quot;cascade&quot; w.r.t. technology (albeit hardware) you might like to look at the operation of &quot;adder&quot; circuits that &quot;cascade&quot; bit operations to perform a full arithmetic operation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4739" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T03:22:03.770" />
  <row Id="12537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12529" CreationDate="2011-02-14T03:26:04.753" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cascading&lt;/em&gt; is used in a manner specifically referring to the priority-based rule matching mechanism.  &lt;em&gt;Inherit&lt;/em&gt; would tend to be avoided because CSS isn't a programming language, and the way cascading rules work illustrates that; CSS cascading is actually very nearly the opposite of OOP inheritance.  &lt;em&gt;Chaining&lt;/em&gt; implies entities being joinable in sequence in a way that isn't the case with CSS.  &lt;em&gt;Derivable&lt;/em&gt; tends to imply a bottom-up organization, like with inheritance, where CSS's is more top-down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are making architecture that involves a broad set of entities with subsets being targeted for processing by arbitrary rule sets that can override each other based on their priority, then I would say sure, use &lt;em&gt;cascading&lt;/em&gt; as part of its description.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T03:26:04.753" />
  <row Id="12538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12529" CreationDate="2011-02-14T03:33:20.357" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;CSS - Cascading Style Sheets&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cascade means &quot;to flow or fall in or like a cascade (ie. a waterfall)&quot; where one flow follows another, each building upon the previous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inheritable doesn't work here, that word is more usually applied to Object Oriented architectures, and elements don't &quot;inherit&quot; a greater set of attributes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know why the word &lt;em&gt;cascading&lt;/em&gt; in particular was chosen, but if you read the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/cascade.html#cascade&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cascading rules&lt;/a&gt; section of the CSS2 specification, you'll see that they speak of a cascading order and precedence, where declarations are declared &lt;strong&gt;one on top&lt;/strong&gt; of another. This process wouldn't be quite as evocative with a word such as &lt;em&gt;chaining&lt;/em&gt; which implies a sequential not a cumulative process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T03:33:20.357" />
  <row Id="12539" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12559" CreationDate="2011-02-14T04:39:22.587" Score="6" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many individuals lost their individual life.&#xA;or&#xA;Many individuals list their individual lives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each person has one life right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4988" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T18:30:14.063" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T18:30:14.063" Title="&quot;Many lost their life&quot; or &quot;Many lost their lives&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;concord&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12539" CreationDate="2011-02-14T04:51:06.843" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Many lost their lives&quot; is correct.  &quot;Many&quot; is plural, &quot;their&quot; is plural, &quot;lives&quot; must be plural too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T04:51:06.843" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12539" CreationDate="2011-02-14T05:01:54.143" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In cases like this, and unlike some other languages, English tends to use what is sometimes called a &quot;distributed plural&quot;, so even though each person only has one life, the plural is used as though representing &quot;all the lives together&quot;. Similarly: &quot;The teacher asked the pupils to get their notebooks out&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T05:01:54.143" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12542" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12551" CreationDate="2011-02-14T05:29:36.540" Score="5" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the sentence below correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The place is lousy with hippies&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked it up on merriam-webster.com but they said that lousy was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;infested with lice&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Close, but not quite there...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="605" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T06:35:38.583" Title="Proper use of the word &quot;lousy&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="6" />
  <row Id="12543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12542" CreationDate="2011-02-14T05:49:42.060" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what you think lousy means, but from your example phrase, it doesn't look like you think it means what I think it means!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general usage, lousy means &quot;of bad quality&quot; or just plain bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, I'd say that you'll find it is almost exclusively used with that meaning. If people are referring to something that is infested with lice, they are more likely to say &quot;infested with lice&quot;, or &quot;lice-infested&quot;, to avoid being misunderstood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because if you say, &quot;my lousy son&quot;, people are more likely to think you are referring to his bad attitude than his bad hair...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(It's interesting to note that on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lousy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Merriam-Webster page&lt;/a&gt;, even though the 1st meaning is give as &quot;infested with lice&quot;, all of the usage examples relate to the one I suggest above)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;, as @Ian points out in his comment below, the ambiguity would be written, because when speaking, one would differentiate between louSSy (with 'louses') and louZy (bad/'naff'). Nevertheless, I can't think of the last time I heard &lt;em&gt;anyone&lt;/em&gt; say louSSy. (&lt;strong&gt;Re-edit&lt;/strong&gt; read the comments)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastEditorUserId="529" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T06:35:38.583" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T06:35:38.583" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12542" CreationDate="2011-02-14T05:50:04.197" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lousy&lt;/em&gt; means literally &lt;em&gt;infested with lice.&lt;/em&gt; That's actually a rather uncommon usage, though; nowadays it's almost always just a synonym for &lt;em&gt;bad.&lt;/em&gt; So you could say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hippies are lousy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; sort of a subtle pun on the idea that hippies have lice, but in general you'd just be saying that hippies are bad. You can't say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This place is lousy with hippies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because that means &lt;em&gt;this place is infested with lice with hippies,&lt;/em&gt; which doesn't make much sense. &lt;em&gt;This place is infested with &lt;strong&gt;hippies with lice&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; does make sense, though: the lice infest the hippies and the hippies infest this place. And you could say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This place is full of lousy hippies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which means that the place is full of hippies, and that you think hippies in general are lousy people. In the right context, it could also be understood to mean that while &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; place is full of &lt;em&gt;lousy&lt;/em&gt; hippies, there's somewhere else that has &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T05:50:04.197" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12528" CreationDate="2011-02-14T06:10:18.447" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The important thing to note is that these abbreviations are much more common in handwritten correspondence than they are online. &lt;em&gt;c/o&lt;/em&gt; is often used when addressing post to someone via a third party, and &lt;em&gt;w/&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;w/o&lt;/em&gt; are common written shorthand for &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;without.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was quite common in older written texts to abbreviate words using some identifying letters and a line, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;w—&lt;/em&gt; for &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;D—r&lt;/em&gt; for &lt;em&gt;Doctor,&lt;/em&gt; which eventually became just &lt;em&gt;Dr.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Rev—d&lt;/em&gt; for &lt;em&gt;Reverend,&lt;/em&gt; which became &lt;em&gt;Revd&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Rev.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are part of a long history of written abbreviations that are just a bit awkward in print. I would guess that printing a slash in these abbreviations arose simply as a way of representing the shorthand that people had already been using in writing for ages. Using a diagonal slash-like mark (&lt;em&gt;c/o)&lt;/em&gt; is just narrower and faster to write than something like &lt;em&gt;c—o—,&lt;/em&gt; which looks awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T06:10:18.447" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11342" CreationDate="2011-02-14T06:28:09.557" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English, 'a' can be interpreted as meaning, literally, 'one', but it can just as easily be interpreted to mean 'any'.  In sentence #2, 'a year' will be viewed as 'any year' by many, if not most, native English speakers.  It is, of course, a very subtle distinction, because the same argument might be made that 'one' can be taken as meaning 'any' within the right context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English can be a very imprecise language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T06:28:09.557" />
  <row Id="12547" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12548" CreationDate="2011-02-14T06:30:22.383" Score="0" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;If A is dependant, what does one call B?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="229" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T16:59:05.070" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T16:59:05.070" Title="A depends on B, is A dependant, or is B dependant?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12547" CreationDate="2011-02-14T06:33:56.977" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A is dependent, it depends on B.  If these were variables, B would be called an independent variable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T06:33:56.977" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12549" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12550" CreationDate="2011-02-14T06:39:41.967" Score="10" ViewCount="346" Body="&lt;p&gt;An object that can be seen is &lt;strong&gt;visible&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something that can be heard is &lt;strong&gt;audible&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's a similar word to indicate that something is &quot;smellable&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4990" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T09:57:40.410" Title="What adjective can be used to mean &quot;smellable&quot;?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12549" CreationDate="2011-02-14T06:50:30.473" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;em&gt;olfactory&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;olfactive&lt;/em&gt; have this meaning, but both words also have the more common meaning of emitting a smell, so they wouldn't be useful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The best choice would be &lt;em&gt;olfactible&lt;/em&gt;.  Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/olfactible&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;includes it&lt;/a&gt;, but as far as I can tell, they're the only ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4846" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T06:50:30.473" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12542" CreationDate="2011-02-14T07:02:07.067" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your sentence,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The place is lousy with hippies &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;means the place is filled with undesirable or unwanted hippies.&#xA;Here the meaning of being infested with lice is not used. You can look up in Oxford English Dictionary - &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0482830#m_en_gb0482830&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore the sentence is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3624" LastEditorUserId="529" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T08:34:03.807" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T08:34:03.807" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2593" CreationDate="2011-02-14T07:05:12.273" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could call them an &quot;up-and-coming&quot; (young) artist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T07:05:12.273" />
  <row Id="12554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12542" CreationDate="2011-02-14T07:51:47.023" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have said, probably the commonest meaning of &lt;em&gt;lousy&lt;/em&gt; today is simply &lt;strong&gt;bad&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ugh, the weather here is lousy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the OP’s example is not quite this sense; it’s a figurative usage a bit closer to the original in meaning.  &lt;strong&gt;Lousy with X&lt;/strong&gt; is roughly equivalent to &lt;strong&gt;swarming with X&lt;/strong&gt;, or more generally, &lt;strong&gt;well-supplied with X&lt;/strong&gt;.  It often implies that X’s are undesirable (as in the OP’s &lt;em&gt;lousy with hippies&lt;/em&gt;), but not always:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Amazon is Lousy with Gaming Deals Today  —&lt;a href=&quot;http://kotaku.com/#!5737029/amazon-is-lousy-with-gaming-deals-today&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;kotaku.com headline&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Random House &lt;em&gt;Mavens’ Word of the Day&lt;/em&gt; has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19971222&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nice little article&lt;/a&gt; on the matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T18:10:53.393" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T18:10:53.393" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12555" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12566" CreationDate="2011-02-14T08:36:56.907" Score="2" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, &lt;strong&gt;sardonic&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;sarcastic&lt;/strong&gt; both stand for mocking gestures, but what is the difference in their contextual use?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Are there any other words that represent a similar gesture?&lt;br&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&#xA;-----------------------------------------------&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE&lt;/strong&gt;-----------------------------------------------&lt;br&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&#xA;And how is &lt;strong&gt;Criticizing&lt;/strong&gt; different from being &lt;strong&gt;Sardonic&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;Sarcastic&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastEditorUserId="4923" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T10:14:50.520" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T12:46:25.653" Title="What is the difference between &quot;Sardonic&quot; and &quot;Sarcastic&quot;?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12556" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12564" CreationDate="2011-02-14T08:44:51.587" Score="2" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw a reference to blancmange in an answer to another question and it got me thinking about pudding.  It is very common in British English for the word &lt;em&gt;pudding&lt;/em&gt; to be used as the general term for &lt;em&gt;dessert&lt;/em&gt;, but in American English the word &lt;em&gt;pudding&lt;/em&gt; seems to be reserved for a particular type of dessert somewhat akin to blancmange.  Any idea why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T10:38:17.097" Title="Anyone for pudding?" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12555" CreationDate="2011-02-14T08:46:46.850" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ldoceonline.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Longman Dictionary of contemporary English:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sardonic&lt;/strong&gt;: showing that you do not have a good opinion of someone or something, and feel that you are better than them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;He looked at her with &lt;strong&gt;sardonic&lt;/strong&gt; amusement.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sarcastic&lt;/strong&gt;: saying things that are the opposite of what you mean, in order to make an unkind joke or to show that you are annoyed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Was she being &lt;strong&gt;sarcastic&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;sarcastic&lt;/strong&gt; remark/comment/question&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;He can’t help making &lt;strong&gt;sarcastic&lt;/strong&gt; comments.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;sarcastic&lt;/strong&gt; manner/smile/laugh etc&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;‘I thought so,’ she said with a &lt;strong&gt;sarcastic&lt;/strong&gt; smile.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T08:46:46.850" />
  <row Id="12558" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12560" CreationDate="2011-02-14T08:57:05.727" Score="4" ViewCount="261" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;strong&gt;Year&lt;/strong&gt; when pronounced starts with a phonetic sound of &lt;strong&gt;e&lt;/strong&gt; which is a vowel sound making it eligible for being preceded by &lt;strong&gt;An&lt;/strong&gt;. Yet, we tend to write &lt;strong&gt;A year&lt;/strong&gt;. Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T17:10:33.573" Title="Which is correct- &quot;A Year&quot; or &quot;An Year&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="12559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12539" CreationDate="2011-02-14T09:03:18.620" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the simplest sentences, the object agrees in number with the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He is a student.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They are students.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the object does not &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; to agree with the number of the subject and the verb. None of these is incorrect:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Most families today own a car.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Both of them sprained an ankle during the trek.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They all thought they had an answer to the problem.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Teenage vandals are a problem in this neighbourhood.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your sample sentences, the object &lt;em&gt;life&lt;/em&gt; takes the plural pronoun &lt;em&gt;their&lt;/em&gt;, and each of the sentences carries a different meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Many lost their life. &lt;em&gt;(All of them together had one life to lose: their life.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Many lost their lives. &lt;em&gt;(Each of them lost one or more lives, practically understood to mean that each of them lost their own life as people usually have only the one life to lose.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All my opponents lost a life trying to collect that torque bow in Level 7 of the game.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All my opponents lost lives trying to collect that torque bow in Level 7 of the game. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also take a look at page 54 of Rodney Huddleston's &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=R4gl7uo7QTMC&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;amp;dq=english+grammar&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=Wf5YTa24NsfPrQf48aDJBw&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=6&amp;amp;ved=0CFgQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;English Grammar&lt;/a&gt; for some more details and examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastEditorUserId="2972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T17:38:42.423" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T17:38:42.423" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12558" CreationDate="2011-02-14T09:04:48.490" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It &lt;strong&gt;doesn't start with a phonetic&lt;/strong&gt; sound of e. It starts with [&lt;strong&gt;j&lt;/strong&gt;] (usually spelled &quot;y&quot; in English), and that the sound is not a vowel here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dictionary.com: &lt;strong&gt;Year: /yɪər/&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dictionary.msn.com: &lt;strong&gt;Year: /yeer/&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T18:10:22.520" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T18:10:22.520" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12558" CreationDate="2011-02-14T09:05:16.467" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A year does not start with an e sound. An ear starts with an e sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4996" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T09:05:16.467" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12558" CreationDate="2011-02-14T09:05:42.690" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I reject your premise that the word &lt;em&gt;year&lt;/em&gt; starts with a phonetic sound of &lt;em&gt;e&lt;/em&gt;. Here's how it is pronounced according to the various dictionaries:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wiktionary: (RP) IPA: /jiə/, /jɜː/, SAMPA: /ji@/, /j3:/; (US) enPR: yîr, IPA: /jiɹ/, SAMPA: /jir/&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Merriam-Webster: \ˈyir\&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: /yîr/&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Collins English Dictionary: /jɪə/&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Words that start with the /j/ sound are preceded by an &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;, not by an &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt;. Compare: &lt;em&gt;a user&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;a utility&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;a yak&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T09:05:42.690" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12556" CreationDate="2011-02-14T09:40:35.330" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Pudding originally referred exclusively to varieties of sweet natural-casing sausage. The meaning grew to encompass anything boiled or steamed in a bag, then shifted to refer primarily to desserts, especially those cooked by boiling or steaming. Most recently, in American English, it has changed to refer exclusively to the thick custardy dessertstuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your guess is as good as mine &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; exactly it changed so much over the years. Perhaps it's simply so much fun to say &lt;em&gt;pudding!&lt;/em&gt; that people can't help but repurpose the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T09:40:35.330" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12556" CreationDate="2011-02-14T09:41:37.670" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My understanding is that in British English it also means any &quot;sweet or savoury steamed dish made with flour&quot; — e.g., Yorkshire pudding. Also it can mean a type of sausage, like black pudding or blood pudding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to why it has come to mean only &quot;a sweet, creamy dessert&quot; in American English, I would suppose it is simply &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5774/do-you-think-american-english-will-keep-on-deviating-from-british-english-or-they/5793#5793&quot;&gt;one more example&lt;/a&gt; of how, as Shaw said, &quot;England and America are two countries separated by a common language.&quot; We say &quot;counter-clockwise&quot; and you say &quot;anti-clockwise&quot;. There are literally hundreds of similar dialectical differences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T09:54:08.953" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T09:54:08.953" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12555" CreationDate="2011-02-14T09:50:15.553" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;@Manoochehr doesn't quite catch the meaning of sardonic. It means &quot;grimly mocking or cynical.&quot; My Webster's gives its origin as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;mid 17th cent.: from French &lt;em&gt;sardonique&lt;/em&gt;, earlier &lt;em&gt;sardonien&lt;/em&gt;, via Latin from Greek &lt;em&gt;sardonios&lt;/em&gt; ‘of Sardinia,’ alteration of sardanios, &lt;strong&gt;used by Homer to describe bitter or scornful laughter&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It really doesn't carry the connotation of superiority or low opinion all by itself, although such feelings may accompany it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sardonic&lt;/em&gt; is in fact distinct from &lt;em&gt;sarcastic&lt;/em&gt; but not by much, and many people use the two as if they are interchangeable, which, strictly speaking, they are not. Sardonic is more extreme and negative, and one can be sarcastic without being sardonic, and vice-versa. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T09:50:15.553" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="12567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12542" CreationDate="2011-02-14T10:16:57.443" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lousy means generally of poor quality (materially or morally). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's pronounced &quot;LOW-zee&quot; in the US and UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Originally it meant &quot;full of lice&quot;, and the implication in calling someone a louse is that they're (metaphorically) a blood-sucking pest. But as noted, it's hardly ever used to &lt;em&gt;actually&lt;/em&gt; say that someone has lice. You'd generally say &quot;has lice&quot;. As I did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4999" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T10:16:57.443" />
  <row Id="12568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12555" CreationDate="2011-02-14T10:18:02.237" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The definition of the words I can read on the NOAD are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sarcastic: marked by or given to using irony in order to mock or convey contempt.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sardonic: grimly mocking or cynical.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She wrote sarcastic comments on their failures.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  She's witty and sarcastic.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Starkey attempted a sardonic smile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The differences between the words are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;sardonic&lt;/em&gt; doesn't implicate the use of irony;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;sarcastic&lt;/em&gt; is not used  referring something/somebody cynical;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;sarcastic&lt;/em&gt; doesn't implicate a grim (sad or relentless) tone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The NOAD, in a note titled &lt;em&gt;The right word&lt;/em&gt;, reports also:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Irony is the implicit humor in the contradiction between what is meant and what is expressed, or in the discrepancy between appearance and reality. An example would be to shout, in the midst of a hurricane, &lt;em&gt;What a perfect day for a wedding!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Although sarcasm may take the form of irony, it is less subtle and is often used harshly or bitterly to wound or ridicule someone. Unlike irony, however, sarcasm depends on tone of voice for its effect (&lt;em&gt;&quot;a fine friend you turned out to be!&quot;, he said, with obvious sarcasm&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T11:33:46.683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T11:33:46.683" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12498" CreationDate="2011-02-14T10:22:22.913" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A sentence such as &quot;The gulf between rich and poor has grown into a chasm.&quot; is really using a kind of mixed metaphor. As others have shown, a gulf is more about width, a chasm about depth. One is filled with water, the other air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The temptation to use them together arises because both are geographical terms often co-opted to mean a large separation that is difficult to reduce or bridge. However we compare molehills with mountains - we don't compare mountains with rivulets or molehills with torrents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be much better to express the thought using words which more naturally form a pair. For example: gulf and ocean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T10:29:48.100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T10:29:48.100" />
  <row Id="12570" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-14T10:25:31.257" Score="3" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Dutch, we have the word &quot;kwartier&quot; to denote a 15-minute period. It is derived from the word &quot;kwart&quot;, which means &lt;em&gt;quarter&lt;/em&gt;. It is very common to use this word in both spoken and written language. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a similar word or expression in English (e.g. &lt;em&gt;quarter&lt;/em&gt;)? And is it very common to use this word, or is it more commonplace to use expressions such as &lt;em&gt;quarter of an hour&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;15 minutes&lt;/em&gt;, etc.?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The scenario I'm considering in particular is that of labels on forms or in software. The 'user' has to indicate how much time was spent on something, in time units of 15 minutes. What would be the most appropritate way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Time spent: # quarters&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Time spent: # quarters of an hour&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Time spent: # times 15 minutes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Time spent: # minutes (in software, make 15-minute increments the only possible way to input the time)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&amp;hellip;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4998" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T21:18:04.043" Title="How to name a 15-minute period?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;time&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12571" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12578" CreationDate="2011-02-14T10:30:50.630" Score="2" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;The owner of a machine may be a company, while the person operating a machine (push buttons, feed material, etc) may be an employee of said company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But is the company also the operator of the machine, as it owns the machine with the intent of having it active/in operation/doing work?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to avoid confusion between the person pushing the buttons and the more abstract 'commisioning' (does that make sense?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5000" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T17:46:56.090" Title="Owner vs. operator of a machine" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12556" CreationDate="2011-02-14T10:38:17.097" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For what I can remember from my British English studies, &lt;em&gt;pudding&lt;/em&gt; is used to generally mean dessert.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For what I can read on the NOAD (which also reports the British meaning of &lt;em&gt;pudding&lt;/em&gt; as I reported), in American English is a &lt;em&gt;dessert with a creamy consistency&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;chocolate pudding&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;rice pudding&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T10:38:17.097" />
  <row Id="12573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12549" CreationDate="2011-02-14T10:50:00.040" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Odorous? &lt;s&gt;(Odourous in the UK)&lt;/s&gt; (Same in the UK, see below)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Scented if the smell was added (Strawberry-scented envelopes, but not scented strawberries) or smelly if the smell is pungent or unpleasant (smelly cheese can be good, smelly socks aren't).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4999" LastEditorUserId="4999" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T12:28:36.847" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T12:28:36.847" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12570" CreationDate="2011-02-14T10:53:33.170" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Quarters of an hour&quot; or &quot;15-minute periods&quot; are the only ways I can think of. But an English speaker would be least confused by seeing a 'reduced fraction', as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Time spent: 2 hours and 15 minutes&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Time spent: 1 hour and 45 minutes&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might take a little extra coding, but seeing &quot;Time spent: 12 15-minute periods&quot; only makes sense if you always use it for one session, and one session is always 15 minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4999" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T10:53:33.170" />
  <row Id="12575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12350" CreationDate="2011-02-14T10:58:33.510" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Pity&quot; carries the implication of superiority: you can pity an animal or a bum on the street, or someone with a terminal illness, but in these situations what you feel is sort of the opposite of schadenfreude: You feel embarrassed and uncomfortable by someone else's embarrassment or discomfort (even if it's something they're not actually feeling, in the case of someone who doesn't know they've left the webcam on).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I'd rather unhelpfully say that we don't have a single word for that feeling, but I'd add that it might help to say you &quot;share&quot; their shame, or embarrassment, or whatever. As long as you don't say you &quot;feel their pain&quot;. That phrase has been taken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4999" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T10:58:33.510" />
  <row Id="12576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12571" CreationDate="2011-02-14T11:03:03.737" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, the company is only the owner of the machine. Indirectly, the company may &lt;em&gt;direct&lt;/em&gt; the operation of the machine, but only the person pushing the buttons is &lt;em&gt;operating&lt;/em&gt; the machine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(You could use those words, &quot;directly&quot; and &quot;indirectly&quot; if you wanted to highlight or emphasize one role or another.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4999" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T11:03:03.737" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12577" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-14T11:15:53.957" Score="1" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I write &lt;em&gt;mispelling&lt;/em&gt; as supposed to &lt;em&gt;misspelling&lt;/em&gt; why does it matter?  The meaning still exists.  Everyone knows what I meant to write.  There is no ambiguity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do  some people consider the proper use so important?  Isn't language flexible?  Can't I use it as I wish?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't say these things to irritate or insult people, I'm saying them to convey meaning, meaning is achieved, so isn't the purpose of language in that instance satisfied?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5002" LastEditorUserId="5002" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T11:53:26.623" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T12:22:17.367" ClosedDate="2011-02-14T12:47:54.500" Title="Why does spelling matter?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;language-evolution&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="12" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12571" CreationDate="2011-02-14T11:24:01.297" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The company is also the operator.  The way a company is regarded legally, it is an entity that acts through its employees.  That's why you can say &quot;Last year, Toyota sold a million cars.&quot;  The company doesn't do any selling; it's the company's salespeople who did, but they did it &lt;em&gt;on behalf of&lt;/em&gt; the company. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This only applies to acts that are within the scope of the employment.  In your example, the company becomes the operator of the machine whenever the employee, as part of his job, pushes the buttons.  However, if the employee eats a ham sandwich during his lunch break, the company does not become a &quot;ham sandwich eater.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastEditorUserId="4744" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T17:46:56.090" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T17:46:56.090" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12350" CreationDate="2011-02-14T11:24:39.013" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;em&gt;commiseration&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/commiseration&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The act of commiserating; sorrow for the wants, afflictions, or distresses of another; pity; compassion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/commiseration&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;sorrow or the capacity to feel sorrow for another's suffering or misfortune&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;the capacity for feeling for another's unhappiness or misfortune&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T11:24:39.013" />
  <row Id="12580" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-14T11:41:15.867" Score="0" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you invent a new word, how do you go about getting this recognised as a real word in dictionaries?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5002" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T17:32:23.113" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T19:13:35.253" Title="Creating a new word" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;dictionaries&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12580" CreationDate="2011-02-14T12:02:57.000" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Words are added to a dictionary on the basis of their usage. Before it gets into the dictionary, the word is carefully monitored to see if people use it often and how they use it (context).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a link to an article that explains &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/help/faq/words_in.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;how a word is added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T19:13:35.253" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T19:13:35.253" />
  <row Id="12583" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12595" CreationDate="2011-02-14T12:07:58.320" Score="1" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it's a British phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found it in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.buyacar.co.uk/cars/fiat/fiat_panda/category_429.jhtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;that&lt;/a&gt; website, as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fiat's Panda can offer an affordable route into 4x4 ownership. You just have to make it Cross.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you happen to know more meanings except for the one example I've provided, please let me know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="762" LastEditorUserId="762" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T00:22:31.617" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T00:22:31.617" Title="What does “make it cross” mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12583" CreationDate="2011-02-14T12:18:46.717" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a really weird marketing slogan. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The car (the Fiat Panda Cross) is meant to be an urban 4x4, which means it's good for urban driving, but it also has some off-road capability, so Panda Cross hints that it's cross-purpose (has multiple uses) and is a kind of cross (mongrel/mix breed).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I guess you could say that 'make it cross' in this context either means push it to do more rugged, off-road things (make it angry?), or make it cross (over) from one driving environment to another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T12:18:46.717" />
  <row Id="12585" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12587" CreationDate="2011-02-14T12:20:32.027" Score="3" ViewCount="459" Body="&lt;p&gt;In some of the non-Latin-based languages that I know there is a special word for your brother's wife. Is there such a word in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usage would be something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She is my &lt;strong&gt;__&lt;/strong&gt;  (My brother's wife)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5006" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T16:56:44.670" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T16:56:44.670" Title="Looking for a word meaning &quot;the wife of one's brother&quot;." Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12577" CreationDate="2011-02-14T12:22:17.367" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is because, in case you write &lt;strong&gt;Red&lt;/strong&gt; in place of the word &lt;strong&gt;Read&lt;/strong&gt; which is the past tense of the verb &lt;strong&gt;to read&lt;/strong&gt; you are not conveying the meaning that you actually wish to convey.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This is one of the primary reasons for the emphasis on spelling of words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T12:22:17.367" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12585" CreationDate="2011-02-14T12:22:47.880" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That would be &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister-in-law&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;sister-in-law&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;sister of one's spouse, the wife of one's brother, or sometimes the wife of one's spouse's brother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; as ShreevatsaR points out in the comments, if you're looking for a single word that means &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; &quot;wife of one's brother&quot; and nothing else, then you're out of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T12:56:08.150" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T12:56:08.150" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12585" CreationDate="2011-02-14T12:23:31.650" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;sister-in-law&lt;/strong&gt;: it can be the sister of your spouse, or the wife of your brother or brother-in-law.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T12:23:31.650" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12585" CreationDate="2011-02-14T12:38:13.540" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are some words in various languages (that don't belong to Latin origin) that refer to your Brother's Wife:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Hindi: Bhabhi&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Marathi: Vahini&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Tamil: Manni&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Urdu: Bhaji&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T12:38:13.540" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-14T12:38:13.540" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="12590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12547" CreationDate="2011-02-14T12:41:00.340" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In programming, if A is a dependant of B, then B is a &lt;strong&gt;dependancy&lt;/strong&gt;. This term is also fairly common in project and resource management.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in human relationships - if A is a child or spouse that is dependent on B, then A would remain a &lt;strong&gt;dependant&lt;/strong&gt; but B would commonly be called a &lt;strong&gt;provider&lt;/strong&gt; or maybe a &lt;strong&gt;supporter&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastEditorUserId="3718" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T22:37:51.067" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T22:37:51.067" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12583" CreationDate="2011-02-14T12:43:29.123" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a play on words between &lt;em&gt;make it cross [the route, the street, the path]&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;make it Cross&lt;/em&gt;, meaning &lt;em&gt;to change to four-wheel drive&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;change from gasoline to methane&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T13:28:27.290" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T13:28:27.290" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12555" CreationDate="2011-02-14T12:46:25.653" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer the currently unanswered half of the question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Criticism, if done correctly, is different to sardonism or sarcasm in that they are a mode of voice, while criticism should be a balanced review of a subject. Unfortunately, bad criticism generally comes over as sardonic and sarcastic - so, you can see the confusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T12:46:25.653" />
  <row Id="12593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12570" CreationDate="2011-02-14T13:07:51.403" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Quarter-hour&quot; is a perfectly good word in my English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T13:07:51.403" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12580" CreationDate="2011-02-14T13:21:37.330" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that any word is a &quot;real&quot; word if it is in some sense established and those using it have a shared concept of what it means. Whether particular dictionaries decide or not to include that word is their problem; it doesn't affect the reality or non-reality of that word. After all, the human species was speaking languages for thousands of years before the first dictionary was invented...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the question of on what criteria particular dictionaries decide to include words, this is really specific to the dictionary in question. In more technical dictionaries, or technical words in general dictionaries, it is usually a question of which words the consultant(s) decide ought to be included. For more general language, there's often a sense that some number of clear, attributable examples must be available (so an example where it is clear that the word is in some kind of &quot;mainstream&quot; use, and where its meaning is clear from the context).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have coined/come across a word that is in some kind of &quot;accepted&quot; use and you think ought to be included in a particular dictionary, you could always contact its editors with your examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastEditorUserId="4941" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T14:14:16.790" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T14:14:16.790" />
  <row Id="12595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12583" CreationDate="2011-02-14T13:25:02.733" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a pun. &quot;Make it cross&quot; without context would mean &quot;Make it angry&quot;; but the second meaning here is &quot;Make it a Fiat Panda Cross rather than just a Fiat Panda&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3542" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T13:25:02.733" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11198" CreationDate="2011-02-14T13:25:04.653" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's also a joke (that as far as I know can be applied to other languages as well with similar constructions; the Greek equivalent «Ναι, καλά» comes to mind for some strange reason :) where the teacher explains that there are times and languages where a double-negative has positive meaning (&quot;Can't say I didn't see you&quot;) or it can keep a negative meaning (&quot;Haven't done nothin!&quot;), but there is no known case of a double-positive having a negative meaning, at which point the smart-alec of the class says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Yeah, right.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="762" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T13:25:04.653" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12585" CreationDate="2011-02-14T13:28:23.403" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;the word should be &quot;sister-in-law&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5008" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T13:28:23.403" />
  <row Id="12598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12480" CreationDate="2011-02-14T13:29:02.823" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The OED is a historical dictionary, which means it shows the meanings of words as they developed over time. People &lt;em&gt;use&lt;/em&gt; it as a standard, but it does not set out to be one, and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oed.com/public/collecting/collecting-the-evidence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;editors of the OED discourage people&lt;/a&gt; from deciding whether or not to use a word based solely on its inclusion in the OED.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The New Oxford American Dictionary is not a historical dictionary, but a dictionary of current English, and is much smaller than the OED in the number of terms covered. (If you have a Mac, you already have this dictionary, because it's the dictionary used by the Dictionary Widget in the dashboard.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for a dictionary that set itself up as a standard, especially for scientific and technical vocabulary of the day you might look at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=A3gAAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA315&amp;amp;dq=%22the+century+dictionary%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=cCtZTfXTB5SftweXmrTuDA&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=10&amp;amp;ved=0CFMQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22the%20century%20dictionary%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Century Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;(commentary at link). It has not been updated for about a hundred years, though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bigger question is: what do you want a standard for? To tell you whether or not something is a word? No dictionary will tell you that, only usage. Etymology? The OED is among the best for etymology, although there are other sites that have better ones for particular words (and despite the Century's age, its etymologies are on a par with the OED). Advice on correct or accepted usage? You'd be better off with the Dictionary of Modern American Usage. An impressive book to put on a stand? True dictionary aficionados like Merriam Webster's Second International (rather than the third), as a prestige thing. (Or again, a copy of the Century, although that's ten volumes.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5009" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T13:29:02.823" />
  <row Id="12599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11877" CreationDate="2011-02-14T13:43:32.740" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word matriculate was redefined as a sports term around 1960 and is now in general use as a process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5010" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T13:43:32.740" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12570" CreationDate="2011-02-14T13:49:54.777" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the meanings reported from the NOAD for &lt;em&gt;quarter&lt;/em&gt; is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a period of fifteen minutes or a point of time marking the transition from one fifteen-minute period to the next: &lt;em&gt;the baby was born at a quarter past nine&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be understood as meaning that, &lt;em&gt;quarter&lt;/em&gt; should be used in a specific context; &lt;em&gt;quarter&lt;/em&gt; (at least in American English) has other meanings (e.g., &lt;em&gt;a quarter of dollar&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;a quarter of pound&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;one fourth of a lunar month&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;one term of four in a college year&lt;/em&gt;) and without a specific context the meaning is not clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T15:52:04.173" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T15:52:04.173" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12570" CreationDate="2011-02-14T14:05:39.577" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Quarter-hour&lt;/em&gt; would be your best bet, although native speakers tend not to use this in regular conversation. &lt;em&gt;Quarter of an hour&lt;/em&gt; is also correct, but, I daresay, less likely to be used. The phrase, &lt;em&gt;every fifteen minutes&lt;/em&gt; can often be heard in everyday usage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the specific software situation you mentioned, again, &lt;em&gt;quarter-hour&lt;/em&gt; would be your best bet. On its own, &lt;em&gt;quarter&lt;/em&gt; in temporal contexts usually refers to &lt;em&gt;quarter of a year&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T14:05:39.577" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12549" CreationDate="2011-02-14T14:18:37.473" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Odiferous&quot;, which seems to be a contraction of &quot;odoriferous&quot; means &quot;yielding an odor&quot; per Merriam Webster (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/odoriferous&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;odoriferous&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4244" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T14:18:37.473" />
  <row Id="12603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12549" CreationDate="2011-02-14T14:35:19.260" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An object that can be smelled might be called &quot;fragrant&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5012" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T14:35:19.260" />
  <row Id="12604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12542" CreationDate="2011-02-14T14:38:35.763" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that &lt;em&gt;lousy&lt;/em&gt; means also &lt;em&gt;teeming with something regarded as bad or undesirable&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You can understand &lt;em&gt;lousy&lt;/em&gt; as metaphorically referring to an infestation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The town is lousy with tourists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T14:38:35.763" />
  <row Id="12605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12549" CreationDate="2011-02-14T14:42:10.050" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Smellable&lt;/em&gt; is reported in the NOAD as derivative of &lt;em&gt;smell&lt;/em&gt;, and I imagine it means &lt;em&gt;able to be smelled&lt;/em&gt;, in the same way &lt;em&gt;calculate&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;able to be calculated&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T09:57:40.410" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T09:57:40.410" />
  <row Id="12606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12274" CreationDate="2011-02-14T14:43:19.653" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a (old -- 1971) book called the Living Word Vocabulary that gave reading levels for different words. In it, &quot;verbose&quot; is given a score of 12-72%, which means that on a multiple-choice test, 72% of 12th graders could identify the correct meaning of &quot;verbose&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5009" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T14:43:19.653" />
  <row Id="12607" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12611" CreationDate="2011-02-14T15:55:38.097" Score="1" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need a common word that in its meaning include either &lt;em&gt;discount&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;supplement&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5016" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T11:10:39.827" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T11:10:39.827" Title="Common word for discount and supplement" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;business-language&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12607" CreationDate="2011-02-14T15:56:58.750" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Incentive? Percentage? Hard to say without a bit more context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4999" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T15:56:58.750" />
  <row Id="12609" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12610" CreationDate="2011-02-14T16:09:20.003" Score="1" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it &lt;em&gt;black's turn&lt;/em&gt; to move in chess, or is it &lt;em&gt;blacks turn&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5018" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T16:22:59.940" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T16:22:59.940" Title="&quot;It is black's turn&quot; or &quot;it is blacks turn&quot;?" Tags="&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12609" CreationDate="2011-02-14T16:20:39.057" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The turn belongs to the black side, so the possessive is called for:  &quot;It's black's turn.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T16:20:39.057" />
  <row Id="12611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12607" CreationDate="2011-02-14T16:43:08.147" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a financial context, I would use the word &quot;Adjustment&quot; to describe a modification of a base amount.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T16:43:08.147" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12456" CreationDate="2011-02-14T16:43:23.937" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A shipment is generally referred to as a collection of goods which at some point will be, are currently, or have already been moved from one geographical location to another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Will Be]: The shipment will be sent out on Friday.&#xA;[Are Currently]: The shipment is in transit to its final destination.&#xA;[Have Already Been]: The shipment arrived yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cargo has a possessive implication as in the cargo of a ship or a truck's cargo. A shipment is non-possessive and can generally span multiple shipment methods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many cases these terms may be used interchangeably. Shipments is most likely an older term which originally referred to products retrieved from a large cargo ship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5021" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T16:43:23.937" />
  <row Id="12613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12452" CreationDate="2011-02-14T16:47:37.177" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A person who is cynical generally has a very bad outlook on life, and has very little faith in others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A person who is skeptical is more likely to put in the appropriate research before believing what they are told.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone who is cynical usually assumes people are out to screw them.&#xA;Someone who is skeptical understands there are bad people out there, and that is why we must be careful and deliberate in our decisions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5021" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T16:47:37.177" />
  <row Id="12614" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12615" CreationDate="2011-02-14T16:55:44.113" Score="2" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am writing an abstract for a paper, where I say the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;In contrast to previous work&lt;/strong&gt;, our method does not rely on ....&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, about three sentences later, I would like to use a similar construct&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;In contrast to previous work&lt;/strong&gt;, where problem X is usually approached this way ....&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These constructs are useful to quickly highlight the contributions of your work in the abstract, but I would prefer avoiding the repetition of the exact same words, since the two sentences are close enough to each other in the text. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anybody think of a &lt;strong&gt;compact&lt;/strong&gt; way of rephrasing either of these two sentences (without changing the structure of the text much) ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4453" LastEditorUserId="4453" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T17:19:18.163" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T17:19:18.163" Title="Compact rephrasing of &quot;In contrast to previous work, our method ....&quot;" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;expression-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="12615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12614" CreationDate="2011-02-14T17:01:10.967" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without a bit more context, it's hard to say how good a fit it would be, but something like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Unlike prior efforts&lt;/strong&gt;, our method does not rely on...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T17:01:10.967" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12549" CreationDate="2011-02-14T17:02:43.140" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is something wrong with &quot;smelly&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T17:02:43.140" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12580" CreationDate="2011-02-14T17:25:13.103" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How you go about getting it into a dictionary is simple: write your own dictionary.  ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seriously, it's simply that you don't &quot;go about getting it recognized&quot;.  You get it &lt;em&gt;used&lt;/em&gt; by others.  The more, the merrier... and finally, the Merriam(-Webster).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can't do anything other than getting it out there, getting it used.  Nobody said it'd be easy, you know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T17:25:13.103" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12618" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-14T17:35:25.310" Score="5" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;A little debate going on here so I just want to know which one it is; I'm saying it's &lt;em&gt;my other account&lt;/em&gt; since &lt;em&gt;my another&lt;/em&gt; would be &lt;em&gt;my one other account&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other person insists they both can be used; however, I'm more than positive that it's only &lt;em&gt;other&lt;/em&gt; in that context. Plus, &lt;em&gt;my another account&lt;/em&gt; just sounds wrong to the ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5024" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T11:29:39.387" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T11:29:39.387" Title="&quot;My another account&quot; vs. &quot;my other account&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12618" CreationDate="2011-02-14T17:39:42.153" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can't be &quot;my another account&quot; in my idiolect and in most standard dialects of English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A standard analysis would be that the &quot;an&quot; element in &quot;another&quot; is an article, and that the use of a possessive adjective (like &quot;my&quot;) replaces the article, so &quot;my another ...&quot; has effectively got the article duplicated, which you can't have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1265" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T17:39:42.153" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12618" CreationDate="2011-02-14T17:40:17.257" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Possessive adjectives take the place of an article like &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; in a phrase (they're both determiners).  So mixing &quot;my&quot; with the &quot;an&quot; from &lt;em&gt;another&lt;/em&gt; is incorrect.  Only &lt;em&gt;My other account&lt;/em&gt; would be correct here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T17:40:17.257" />
  <row Id="12621" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12622" CreationDate="2011-02-14T17:43:47.140" Score="3" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; is one of those overused words that carries little meaning and appears to just clutter up a sentence (oops, did it again).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When is the use of &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; justified?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What are better, clearer constructions (e.g. replace &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When should the word be dropped altogether?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T20:50:54.787" Title="When to use &quot;just&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;editing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12621" CreationDate="2011-02-14T17:47:31.667" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say a good rule of thumb is to use it when you need it for clarity or to add a special emphasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There were just three jars of honey left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is different from&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There were three jars of honey left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;because it gives the sense that three jars of honey is not a lot, or at least that you don't think it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the answer is no, don't give it up entirely. Just trust yourself to use it less. Think of it as dieting. If you have the willpower, you can write lean sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T17:47:31.667" />
  <row Id="12623" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12625" CreationDate="2011-02-14T17:53:15.333" Score="4" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;Frank Herbert's Dune book begins with a sentence that describes Castle Caladan as a pile of stone that has been home to 26 generations of Atreides Dukes. Not being a native English speaker, I am  left to wonder as of what does it mean. Does the word &quot;pile&quot; here really mean that the castle was actually a ruin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5025" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T19:06:35.557" Title="Castle Caladan - why a &quot;pile of stone&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12501" CreationDate="2011-02-14T17:58:06.217" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Phrases of the form &quot;if you must ... &quot; (or indeed &quot;if you must!&quot; without a following verb) are a particular idiom in English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It uses &quot;must&quot; in the sense of obligation, but the idiomatic part is that it is implying &quot;&lt;strong&gt;you&lt;/strong&gt; think you &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; do this, but &lt;strong&gt;I&lt;/strong&gt; don't agree, and I'm going to provide or permit whatever you are asking, but grudgingly&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: actually, it can be used even where there's no suggestion that the other person thinks that they 'must', but just that they're doing it anyway &quot;If you &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; use that word, please don't do it in front of me!&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in the case of &quot;if you must know&quot;, since their knowing is dependent on the speaker's telling them, the implication is indeed &quot;if (in your opinion) you have to know&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T13:07:28.470" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T13:07:28.470" />
  <row Id="12625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12623" CreationDate="2011-02-14T18:01:37.927" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't believe we're meant to think the castle is in ruins. &quot;Pile of stone&quot; here is serving as both a literal description &amp;mdash; anything made of stone can be described as a pile of stone, it's just that some piles are more, um, &lt;em&gt;ordered&lt;/em&gt; than others &amp;mdash; and as a put-down of stone castles and the social class that lives in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T18:01:37.927" />
  <row Id="12626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12623" CreationDate="2011-02-14T18:01:48.410" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Though &quot;pile of stones&quot; literally implies a ruin, the author in your example uses it to express his disdain about Castle Caladan, or at least to describe it in a humorous way.  He thinks it's nothing special. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T18:01:48.410" />
  <row Id="12627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12621" CreationDate="2011-02-14T18:03:41.810" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As other words, use it when it adds a meaning to the sentence, and not just to use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A just and democratic society (it is different from &lt;em&gt;a democratic society&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  We all get our just deserts (it is different from &lt;em&gt;we all get our deserts&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I've just seen the local paper (it is different from &lt;em&gt;I've seen the local paper&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  They were just interested in making money (it is different from &lt;em&gt;they were interested in making money&lt;/em&gt;, but it is similar to &lt;em&gt;they were only interested in making money&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  They are just great (it is different from &lt;em&gt;they are great&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;Simon really messed things up.&quot; &quot;Didn't he just?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Reference: The New Oxford American Dictionary.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T20:50:54.787" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T20:50:54.787" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="12628" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-14T18:11:48.507" Score="1" ViewCount="207" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is another example which (along with it’s non-contraction versions) does not fit the currently accepted answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;JavaScript / Bookmarklets don’t work […]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bookmarklets / JavaScript doesn’t work […]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, the sentence before the above example with the parenthesized segment is itself confusing as to whether the next word should be &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Occasionally when I am writing a sentence, I end up in a situation where I do not know whether to use the singular or plural form of a noun because I used both just prior to it in a conjunction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The worst, and one of the most common, problems is […] &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of the most common, and generally worst, problem is […]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should &lt;em&gt;problem&lt;/em&gt; be singular or plural in those sentences? Is there a rule for situations like this? (It certainly doesn’t help that for &lt;em&gt;one of the most common problems is&lt;/em&gt; has &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; right next to a plural noun.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1648" LastEditorUserId="1648" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T19:24:01.133" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T19:24:01.133" Title="Singular or plural noun in a sentence after using both in a related conjunction?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12628" CreationDate="2011-02-14T18:21:29.170" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you strip out BOTH adjectives, you're left with this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of the problems is...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to make the nouns agree, you use the plural, rendering it thusly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of the worst and most common problems is &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To fix the first sentence, you'll just have to restructure it because you're trying to marry two separate ideas, that it is THE worst (not merely 'one of the worst') and that it is ONE OF the most common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T18:21:29.170" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12628" CreationDate="2011-02-14T18:23:44.100" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two related problems here. First, the idiom &lt;em&gt;one of the X&lt;/em&gt; always has a plural noun as &lt;em&gt;X&lt;/em&gt;, even when there is an intervening phrase or modifier, and even if that modifier seems to want a singular head, as is the case with your &lt;em&gt;One of the most common, and generally worst problem[s]&lt;/em&gt;. So the simple answer is that &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;problems&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is correct in both of the sentences given above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The related problem that you alluded to is the fact that the singular verb &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; occurs in close proximity to the plural noun &lt;em&gt;problems&lt;/em&gt;. This is misleading: the number of the verb is determined by the number of the verb's subject, and the subject of the verb in your examples is &lt;em&gt;One&lt;/em&gt;. The fact that &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; is modified by a prepositional phrase with a plural object does not change the number of the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(There are some exceptions to the rule given above, but none of those exceptions apply to the phrase &lt;em&gt;one of&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T18:23:44.100" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12618" CreationDate="2011-02-14T18:52:05.717" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;My another account&lt;/em&gt; is not correct; it is correct to say &lt;em&gt;my other account&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Googling for &lt;em&gt;my another&lt;/em&gt;, I found many instances of the phrase, but none of those are correct: sometimes who wrote it meant &lt;em&gt;another of my […]&lt;/em&gt;; sometimes who wrote it simply meant &lt;em&gt;my other&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;* That is my another problem. (That is another of my problems.)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I have been suspend from my another accounted!? (My other account has been suspended?)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  * My another acc. is locked, I cannot login! (My other account is blocked. I cannot log in!)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  * Could you please check my another essay. (Could you please check my other essay?)&#xA;  * This is my another friend's profile. (This is another profile of my friend.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking for &lt;em&gt;my another&lt;/em&gt; on the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Historical American&lt;/em&gt;, I found two instance of the phrase; in both the cases &lt;em&gt;my another&lt;/em&gt; replaces &lt;em&gt;my mother&lt;/em&gt;, and it is a transcription error, as &lt;em&gt;my another&lt;/em&gt; is not used to mean &lt;em&gt;my mother&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CARREY&lt;/strong&gt;: Yes, for me, my mother was in pain all the time. I wanted to fix her. She was depressed, so I wanted to make her laugh. But I remember when I was eight years old actually having the thought that I want to make my mother believe she gave birth to a miracle. That was the conscience thought I had, is that I want &lt;strong&gt;my another&lt;/strong&gt; to feel like her life was worth something, that she did something special. And I was going to be that something special.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;KING&lt;/strong&gt;: A conscious thought at Eight?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;CARREY&lt;/strong&gt;: Conscious thought at eight years old.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;KING&lt;/strong&gt;: Did you help her?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;CARREY&lt;/strong&gt;: I did in certain ways and I couldn't in certain ways.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  —Interview with Fran Drescher; Jim Carrey Discusses Movies, Comedy and Relationships.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I wasn't trying to hurt my father.&quot; He looked down. &quot;I love my father.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;Then tell him so,&quot; said our mother.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Caleb looked at our father. &quot;I'm telling you so,&quot; he said.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;Don't you love your mother, too?&quot; she asked, smiling.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;Yes. I love &lt;strong&gt;my another&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;And your brother?&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He looked at me and his face changed. He smiled again, and he pulled me to him. &quot;Yes. Oh, yes. I love my brother.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  —Bloodline, Ernest J. Gaines. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T11:23:25.947" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T11:23:25.947" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="12632" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-14T19:04:10.253" Score="10" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;While talking about ships and countries, is it a good practice to use the feminine form?  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Her economy&quot; - while referring to a country's economy&#xA;&quot;Her flag (or deck etc)&quot; - while referring to a ship&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this practice common? Is it used today?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5028" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T00:49:59.120" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T00:49:59.120" Title="Is it a good practice to refer to countries, ships etc using the feminine form?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;gender&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12623" CreationDate="2011-02-14T19:06:35.557" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pile&lt;/strong&gt; can also mean &lt;strong&gt;castle&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you say, given the commonest modern meaning of &lt;em&gt;pile&lt;/em&gt;, Herbert’s phrase evokes the image of something haphazard, maybe even ruined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &lt;em&gt;pile&lt;/em&gt; also has an older meaning, given by the OED as “A stronghold, a castle, esp. a small castle or tower […] Now arch. and rare.”  Though rare, it’s still used in a few well-known phrases — most notably “&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.ca/search?q=%22ancestral+pile%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ancestral pile&lt;/a&gt;” — enough so that I’m pretty sure Herbert had this meaning primarily in mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;em&gt;heap&lt;/em&gt; has been the primary meaning for long enough that I suspect all modern use of the &lt;em&gt;castle&lt;/em&gt; sense has become somewhat coloured by connotations of haphazardness, disorder, etc.; certainly it’s generally used for slightly humorous effect. (I seem to recall PG Wodehouse being quite keen on the phrase, though I can’t remember any specific examples.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T19:06:35.557" />
  <row Id="12634" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12642" CreationDate="2011-02-14T19:15:37.870" Score="3" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;Common noun for a &lt;em&gt;toad&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;жаба&quot;) is of female gender in Russian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From all English literature that I read, I can remember only one toad-like character: &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Toad&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mr. Toad&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; from &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_in_the_Willows&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Wind in The Willows&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, and he is a male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder, is this an idiom, or a coincidence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you encounter an anthropomorphic toad character in English fiction, without gender-specific hints in text, should you think that it is a &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt; or a &lt;em&gt;she&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I know that real-world toads &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_toad&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;can switch genders&lt;/a&gt; from male to female, but I doubt that most of fiction / folklore take that in account.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Update:&lt;/em&gt; I can't comprehend the third, genderless possibility (I can accept that it may be true, but I can't wrap my mind around it):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I were presented with a toad&#xA;  character without any hints as to&#xA;  gender, I'd have to suspend judgement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;— (From the comments)&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...Can someone think out a query to the Google Ngrams to get a statistics on this? &lt;em&gt;Mr. Toad&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;Mrs. Toad&lt;/em&gt; yield zero results both. (Perhaps that is not a good tool then, toads are not &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; popular.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In common Google search, &lt;em&gt;Mr. Toad&lt;/em&gt; is 489 000 results and &lt;em&gt;Mrs. Toad&lt;/em&gt; is 7 590. But that probably does not mean anything, since &lt;em&gt;The Wind in The Willows&lt;/em&gt; popularity will affect the search too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is curious that &lt;em&gt;toadess&lt;/em&gt; (12 900 results) beats &lt;em&gt;Mrs. Toad&lt;/em&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...Maybe conduct a poll somewhere?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Update 2:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe I've found a way to get statistics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Search for &lt;em&gt;toad &quot;gender: female&quot;&lt;/em&gt; yields 697 000 results, &lt;em&gt;toad &quot;gender: male&quot;&lt;/em&gt; — 576 000. (My assumption is that this search should hit forum profiles for users with relevant nicks.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without the word &quot;toad&quot;: &lt;em&gt;&quot;gender:male&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is 18 800 000 results, &lt;em&gt;&quot;gender: female&quot;&lt;/em&gt; — 12 000 000. This &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; indicate that toads are more female than male...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure if it proves anything though...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1306" LastEditorUserId="1306" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T22:52:44.060" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T22:52:44.060" Title="Gender, generally associated with &quot;toad&quot; characters in English fiction and folklore" Tags="&lt;gender&gt;&lt;literature&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="12635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12632" CreationDate="2011-02-14T19:20:10.690" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-specific_pronoun#Ships_and_countries&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; is pretty accurate on this one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The origins of this practice are not certain, and it is currently in decline (though still more common for ships, particularly in nautical usage, than for countries). In modern English, calling objects &quot;she&quot; is an optional figure of speech, and is advised against by most journalistic style guides such as the Chicago Manual of Style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using “she” for ships is still fairly common, and will not stand out as odd in most contexts; but it is becoming less common, and is discouraged by most authorities (both stylistic and maritime).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using “she” for countries is now quite archaic.  It can certainly still be used, but only if you want to very explicitly conjure up a personification of the country:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ah, proud Britain!  How she is fallen!  Once her empire bestrode the globe; now, her power decimated, her economy hobbled, she wavers uncertainly between the behemoths of the US and Europe on either side, …&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Except in a case like this where &lt;em&gt;she&lt;/em&gt; is used for deliberate rhetorical effect, one would always expect &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;its&lt;/em&gt; instead:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Britain faces tough years.  It stands to receive a fresh influx of immigrants, even while its economy still struggles…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Googling confirms the overwhelming prevalence of &lt;em&gt;its&lt;/em&gt;.  Even for France, with a comparatively enduring female personification, google hits for &lt;code&gt;&quot;France faces its&quot;&lt;/code&gt; outnumber hits for &lt;code&gt;&quot;France faces her&quot;&lt;/code&gt; by a factor of about 6 (matching in each case phrases like “France faces her toughest challenge yet…”); and for other countries I tried (eg Britain) the disparity is much larger (a factor of about 100).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T19:20:10.690" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12636" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12647" CreationDate="2011-02-14T19:26:58.997" Score="4" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;Inspired by comments on &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12542/proper-use-of-the-word-lousy&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Proper use of the word “lousy”?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;lousy&lt;/em&gt; is traditionally pronounced with a /z/ sound, as though it were &lt;em&gt;louzy&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;sup&gt;*&lt;/sup&gt;  Contrastingly, the word &lt;em&gt;mousy&lt;/em&gt; is always pronounced with an /s/ sound.  The difference seems to be pretty consistent and well-established: these are the only pronunciations listed in the OED and Merriam-Webster for each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But their root words, &lt;em&gt;louse&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;mouse&lt;/em&gt;, are pronounced identically, both with /s/.  Indeed, these words are parallel in almost every other way: they form analogous plurals — &lt;em&gt;lice&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;mice&lt;/em&gt; — and have very similar origins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how and why did the pronunciations of &lt;em&gt;lousy&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;mousy&lt;/em&gt; diverge?  And are there any other analogous words that also form analogous adjectives?  (&lt;em&gt;House&lt;/em&gt; doesn’t form &lt;em&gt;*housy&lt;/em&gt;; and &lt;em&gt;blousy&lt;/em&gt; exists, but &lt;em&gt;blouse&lt;/em&gt; is not analogous to the other words.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*: &lt;sub&gt;It seems that recently, since the literal meaning “infested with lice” has become rare, it may sometimes get pronounced with /s/ in this sense, as a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelling_pronunciation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;spelling pronunciation&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T21:06:07.303" Title="Pronunciation: ‘lousy’ vs. ‘mousy’. Why?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12637" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12640" CreationDate="2011-02-14T19:34:51.217" Score="3" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say I'm talking about some day in the past.  In formal writing, I would use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Earlier &lt;strong&gt;that day&lt;/strong&gt;, I had lunch with my boss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But is the following also correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Earlier &lt;strong&gt;today&lt;/strong&gt;, I had lunch with my boss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Clarification&lt;/strong&gt;: I'm not talking about something that happened &lt;em&gt;today&lt;/em&gt; (as of the date when I'm writing), but some day in the past...  last week, 3 months ago, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I still write this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was the 1st of April, 2006.  &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Today&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; had been the worst day of my life...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T09:36:10.987" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T09:36:10.987" Title="&quot;Today&quot; in the past" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="12639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12637" CreationDate="2011-02-14T19:42:27.103" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“Earlier today”&lt;/em&gt; is a totally correct way to refer to a point in time between the beginning of the day and the current time. Because it refers to a moment in the past, it can be used with the past tense, as you did in your example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T19:42:27.103" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12637" CreationDate="2011-02-14T19:44:49.533" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Earlier today&lt;/em&gt; would be understood as referring to something happened this day (&lt;em&gt;today&lt;/em&gt; has origin from a Old English word that means &lt;em&gt;on this day&lt;/em&gt;); &lt;em&gt;earlier that day&lt;/em&gt; is referring to a day that you mentioned before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To reply to your other question, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was the 1st of April, 2006. Today had been the worst day of my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;seems awkward, as &lt;em&gt;today&lt;/em&gt; is not understood to mean &lt;em&gt;on this day&lt;/em&gt; (the original meaning).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In narrative, an event that is happened in the past is narrated as it is the present, as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is the 1st of April, 2006. Today will be the worst day of my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside that specific context, I would write&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was the 1st of April, 2006. That day had been the worst day of my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T02:11:42.590" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T02:11:42.590" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12490" CreationDate="2011-02-14T20:00:02.680" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term &lt;strong&gt;philanderer&lt;/strong&gt; could be used, although it is more rare and often used along with the other terms mentioned (adulterer/adulteress/two-timer/cheater).  The person who engages in philandering is a person who engages in at least one, if not many frivolous sexual exploits outside of the bounds of marriage.  Philanderer has a strong male connotation.  I have not heard this term used in reference to females.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You dirty, rotten, two-timing, cheating,&#xA;  adulterous philanderer! &#xA;  I trusted you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When referring to an unfaithful woman, sometimes much more vulgar terms are used, usually in relation to her sexual morals and/or her potential willingness to engage in prostitution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastEditorUserId="3328" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T20:09:30.050" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T20:09:30.050" />
  <row Id="12642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12634" CreationDate="2011-02-14T20:07:49.240" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;toad&lt;/em&gt; is gender-neuter, like most of the words that refer to animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some cases, there is a word used to refer to a female animal (e.g. &lt;em&gt;cow&lt;/em&gt;, which used also for the female of elephant, whale, rhinoceros; &lt;em&gt;heifer&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;sow&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;lioness&lt;/em&gt;); in some cases, there is a word used to refer the male animal (e.g. &lt;em&gt;drake&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;bull&lt;/em&gt;, which is used also for a male elephant or whale; &lt;em&gt;steer&lt;/em&gt;); in other cases, the same word is used for both the female and male animal (e.g. &lt;em&gt;calf&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;goat&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;fish&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same is true in literature. There are no &quot;rules&quot; that say it must be &lt;em&gt;Mr. Toad&lt;/em&gt; and not &lt;em&gt;Ms. Toad&lt;/em&gt;, nor that Piglet (or Eeyore) in &lt;em&gt;Winnie-the-Pooh&lt;/em&gt; must be a he. They are shown as male or female depending on the convenience of the narration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T20:22:35.650" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T20:22:35.650" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="12643" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12646" CreationDate="2011-02-14T20:14:13.820" Score="2" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the sentence below correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'd like to become a known entity with decision makers in our organization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="605" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T09:36:25.697" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T09:36:25.697" Title="Proper usage of &quot;known entity&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12637" CreationDate="2011-02-14T20:15:15.953" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Earlier today&lt;/em&gt; is certainly correct within this context. &lt;em&gt;Earlier in the day&lt;/em&gt; is also a very popular way of saying the same thing. Some also simply just say &lt;em&gt;earlier&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Earlier today&lt;/em&gt;, I had lunch with my boss.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Earlier in the day&lt;/em&gt;, I had lunch with my boss.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Earlier&lt;/em&gt;, I had lunch with my boss.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, most people would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I had lunch &lt;em&gt;earlier&lt;/em&gt; with my boss.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T20:15:15.953" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12643" CreationDate="2011-02-14T20:22:40.033" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is correct if you replace &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;: “a known entity &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; decision makers”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T20:22:40.033" />
  <row Id="12646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12643" CreationDate="2011-02-14T20:33:01.573" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;On first reading, that sounds like an intentionally humorous misuse of the normal meaning of &lt;em&gt;known entity&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally, a &lt;em&gt;Known Entity&lt;/em&gt; is an object whose values are fully understood, one which will behave in a completely predictable fashion and which therefore will cause no surprises.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Becoming &lt;em&gt;known&lt;/em&gt; to decision-makers in the organization means that you want to increase your visibility within your company, make people aware of you, and presumably pave the way to improve your position.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on the normal meaning, becoming a &lt;em&gt;known entity&lt;/em&gt; to decision-makers carries the implication that they will never need to consult with you because they'll always know what you would say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(also, as FX_ says, &quot;to&quot; is a better preposition to use.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T20:33:01.573" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12636" CreationDate="2011-02-14T21:06:07.303" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The clue may well be in your observation that &quot;lousy&quot; is no longer perceived as being to do with lice, so there's less of a pressure to avoid the sound change and keep the pronunciation similar to the base form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility to consider is that the voicing change accompanying the -y has &quot;gone out of fashion&quot; (possible pair to compare: 'rout' &gt; 'rowdy', where there also appears to have been a voicing change). I wonder if people can come up with other pairs, especially that are earlier derivations, for comparison?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When derivation involves a sound change, it does happen elsewhere that a few words for whatever reason &quot;escape&quot; the change, e.g. because trends in where sound changes occur have changed while the use of the derivation hasn't. For example, compare the vowel change in pairs such as 'pl*ea*se'~'pl*ea*sure', 'comp*e*te'~'comp*e*titive' with the failure of this change to occur in 'obese'~'obesity', and the optionality of the change in 'beast'~'beastial'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T21:06:07.303" />
  <row Id="12648" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12674" CreationDate="2011-02-14T21:12:37.797" Score="3" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/egad&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Looking up the etymology of 'egad'&lt;/a&gt; I saw that it is an archaic, euphemistic form of 'O God' or 'Ye God.' I assume this was a one off evolution, and the 'how' was some idiosyncratic shift in the interjection (if it is specifically known how it happened please include in your answer.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did this 'egad' catch on in a certain region for some reason, leading it to become more popular? Was it used in some popular form that helped it catch on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T02:14:49.820" Title="How, or where, did &quot;Ye God&quot; become &quot;egad&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12649" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-14T21:13:13.187" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi everyone,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd really like to continue on as a moderator for EL&amp;amp;U.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am among the &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users&quot;&gt;most active members of EL&amp;amp;U&lt;/a&gt;, having 13k reputation, and either contributing or moderating daily.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;With a background in linguistic theory, I have firm grasp of most EL&amp;amp;U topics — both in terms of contributing to the site, as well as evaluating content that is appropriate for the site.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am a regular participant in &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;meta&lt;/a&gt; discussions as well as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/95/english-language-and-usage&quot;&gt;chat&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;As a beta moderator for EL&amp;amp;U, I have not only been active, I have (I hope) shown that I am careful in my moderation decisions and strive to be fair.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;And (to me) most important of all: I care a great deal about the site and the subject matter.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T20:15:57.080" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T20:15:57.080" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-14T21:13:13.187" CommentCount="17" />
  <row Id="12650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12570" CreationDate="2011-02-14T21:18:04.043" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those with a science fictional bent may be aware that a kilosecond (often abbreviated &quot;kilosec&quot;) is quite similar in length to a quarter of an hour. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard it in the wild a few times, but it would be a source of confusion in most contexts and would mark you as a little weird even when understood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2851" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T21:18:04.043" />
  <row Id="12651" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12653" CreationDate="2011-02-14T21:33:44.093" Score="4" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was watching the movie L.A. Confidential last night, and was reminded of the phrase &quot;on the QT&quot;, which Danny DeVito's character says several times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if anyone can shed any light on the origin and meaning of this phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="214" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T22:02:54.447" Title="Origin of &quot;on the QT&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12634" CreationDate="2011-02-14T21:47:22.073" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps I am revealing my fundamentally atavistic, sexist nature, but I would assume in the absence of other hints that a toad is male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I examined my copy of &lt;em&gt;Aesop's Fables&lt;/em&gt; and found 3 stories with male frogs/toads, and I also know of a line of children's books, &lt;em&gt;Frog and Toad Together&lt;/em&gt;, in which the protagonists are both male, as well of a couple of other one-off childrens' books and the fairy tale of &quot;The Frog Prince&quot;; but I can think of no counter-examples.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T21:47:22.073" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12651" CreationDate="2011-02-14T21:54:04.063" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apparently Q.T. is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/on-the-qt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;derived from &lt;em&gt;quiet&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and originated in the 19th century, although its provenance is not certain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From phrases.org.uk:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The slang term 'qt' is a shortened form of 'quiet'. There's no definitive source for the phrase 'on the q.t.', although it appears to be of 19th century British origin - not, as is often supposed, American. The longer phrase 'on the quiet' is also not especially old, but is first recorded somewhat before 'on the qt', in Otago: Goldfields &amp;amp; Resources, 1862:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T21:54:04.063" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12651" CreationDate="2011-02-14T22:02:54.447" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/on-the-qt.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Phrase Finder&lt;/a&gt;, the origin, while somewhat uncertain, is most likely 19th-century British. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailywritingtips.com/on-the-qt/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Daily Writing Tips&lt;/a&gt;, on the other hand, puts forth some argument for the US origin since the phrase is documented to have appeared in print in 1884, and was in a song in 1879.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-ont2.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;World Wide Words&lt;/a&gt; cites the use of &quot;QT&quot; as an abbreviation as a clear sign that the origin must have been US, based on abbreviationism being a known linguistic feature of late 19th-century American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All three are clear that the QT is short for &quot;quiet&quot; and the phrase means &quot;confidential&quot; or &quot;off the record&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T22:02:54.447" />
  <row Id="12655" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12660" CreationDate="2011-02-14T22:22:09.977" Score="5" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what &quot;take a stab at doing something&quot; means? For example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'll take a stab at answering these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T22:34:59.993" Title="Meaning of &quot;take a stab at doing something&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12648" CreationDate="2011-02-14T22:26:51.207" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=egad&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt; lists the 1670s without attribution, Merriam Webster &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/egad&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lists 1673&lt;/a&gt;, also without attribution, unfortunately. This date seems to be coming from Geoffrey Hughes' &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hah6AAAAIAAJ&amp;amp;q=Swearing%3a+A+Social+History+of+Foul+Language,+Oaths+and+Profanity+in+English&amp;amp;dq=Swearing%3a+A+Social+History+of+Foul+Language,+Oaths+and+Profanity+in+English&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=jKtZTc3KA8H98AbV6pXUBw&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Swearing: A Social History of Foul Language, Oaths &amp;amp; Profanity in English&lt;/a&gt;, but I do not have a copy, and I can't chase it down any further. You might check your local library for a copy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T22:26:51.207" />
  <row Id="12657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12655" CreationDate="2011-02-14T22:29:22.223" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is simply an informal way of saying &quot;make an attempt&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following are all equivalent answers to the question of &quot;Do you want to do (something)?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sure, I'll take a stab at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sure, I'll give it a try.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sure, I'll have a go at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T22:29:22.223" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12655" CreationDate="2011-02-14T22:29:33.400" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Stab at&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;attempting to do something&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The NOAD report the following example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Meredith made a feeble stab at joining in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T22:29:33.400" />
  <row Id="12659" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-14T22:34:52.343" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not exactly a regular power user of this site, but I've definitely shown that I have both good questions and good answers to contribute to this site, and that I'm interested in its &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/554/why-did-slang-for-breasts-disappear-because-that-was-a-valid-question-no&quot;&gt;progression&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/561/what-should-we-do-about-question-titles-containing-vulgar-words/563#563&quot;&gt;welfare&lt;/a&gt;, and I am a &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/7d888b952ed340279bec8ea20a1d12a8.png&quot;&gt;dedicated SE user&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A moderator should be good at both teaching and leading, and I've demonstrated that with the following list of examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I was a teaching assistant for four semesters in college, leading entire classes for the duration of most of those semesters. This demonstrates my desire and motivation to teach. (consider me on a work-based leave of absence from academia at the moment ;) )&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I was instrumental in setting up a regular and permanent mentoring program at the school where I got my AAS. This demonstrates my ability to communicate with even those considered recalcitrant or uncommitted. I realize sometimes it takes a one-on-one approach to reach some people, and am willing to invest the time.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am currently a pro-tem moderator on &lt;a href=&quot;http://dba.stackexchange.com&quot;&gt;http://dba.stackexchange.com&lt;/a&gt; (thus demonstrating that I know what it means to be a moderator and I've shown my commitment to the process)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am on the network daily, and spend as much time on meta.stackoverflow.com as I do anywhere else, so I'm in tune with the workings of the SE2.0 system. Because of these reasons, I think I would make a good moderator for this site. Thanks for your consideration!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2161" LastEditorUserId="2161" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T22:34:52.343" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T22:34:52.343" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-14T22:34:52.343" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12655" CreationDate="2011-02-14T22:34:59.993" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As everybody has said, &lt;em&gt;to take a stab at&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;to attempt&lt;/em&gt;.  I want to additionally note here that I believe it to be related to the idiom &lt;em&gt;stab in the dark&lt;/em&gt;, meaning an attempt at something with little guidance or hope of success.  It doesn't carry the full weight of that meaning, though, just an attenuated implication of not necessarily knowing what one is doing, more likely used as mild self-deprecating humor than anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T22:34:59.993" />
  <row Id="12661" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12662" CreationDate="2011-02-14T23:05:48.437" Score="2" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what it means as analogy that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;quite a few things are swept under the&#xA;  rug.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T23:11:36.417" Title="Meaning of &quot;things are swept under the rug&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="12662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12661" CreationDate="2011-02-14T23:11:36.417" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Swept under the rug&lt;/em&gt; (or carpet) is an idiom meaning to conceal something that is embarrassing that you don't want other people to know about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think about cleaning the floor. You have all the dirt, and are too lazy or out of time to find something to pick it up, so you lift the corner of the rug and sweep it there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T23:11:36.417" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12663" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-14T23:19:10.603" Score="2" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1655/alternatives-to-and-or&quot;&gt;Alternatives to &amp;ldquo;and/or&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it okay to say &quot;and/or&quot;? How else might I phrase a sentence like the following? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The amount of happiness displayed by&#xA;  the bunny increased when either the&#xA;  bunny was well fed and/or when the&#xA;  bunny was watching a sunset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am writing a scientific paper, and it is important that the events have the same effect when they occur separately or together; I have written a trivial example replacing esoteric words with more familiar ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2559" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T00:27:04.110" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T10:51:12.043" ClosedDate="2011-02-17T01:44:31.760" Title="Is it appropriate to use &quot;and/or&quot; in a sentence, and how else might I achieve this?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12663" CreationDate="2011-02-14T23:29:47.367" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shouldn't the title say &quot;...and/or how else might I achieve this?&quot;  ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the sentence as presented, the use of the initial &quot;either&quot; really requires that you follow it up only with an &quot;or&quot;;  &quot;either/and&quot; just doesn't work.  If the options given are not inherently exclusive, they should be understood to be &quot;one, the other, or both&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, you could say &quot;the amount of X increased when Y, and also when Z.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, &quot;the amount of X increased when Y, or when Z (increasing linearly/exponentially/whatever when both Y and Z).&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T23:29:47.367" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12663" CreationDate="2011-02-14T23:56:35.113" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's used repeatedly in your paper and it's important to specify, then I'd probably stick to &quot;and/or&quot; if the intention is clear: it's fairly widely used and, compared to adding a parenthesis such as &quot;(or where both cases hold)&quot;, it has the merit of being concise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also wouldn't get too bogged down: if the editor really doesn't like it for some reason, they'll change it or ask you to change it. For what it's worth, I translate professionally (both academic material and more general texts) and have never been asked to avoid &quot;and/or&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Conversely, for my own sanity, I have stopped using &quot;iff&quot; for &quot;if and only if&quot; after this 'misspelling' was highlighted to me various times.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T23:56:35.113" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12666" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12669" CreationDate="2011-02-15T00:34:17.243" Score="4" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want a word that can sum up one's experiences in a battlefield but I am unable to find the proper terminology for this purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Military badges are normally placed on the left shoulder as well as the upper left chest of military personnels. What is the proper name for these areas which badges would be placed on? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5037" LastEditorUserId="2986" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T01:26:08.520" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T01:26:08.520" Title="Military personnel normally put their badges on their shoulders - what is that area called?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12667" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-15T00:55:00.813" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi. I'm waiwai933, and I'm running for moderator. (OK, that's really cheesy. Here's the good stuff.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My moderation philosophy is as follows:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A moderator is democratically elected. Therefore, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/xe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;xe&lt;/a&gt; should always yield to the general consensus of the people, and should be held accountable to their decisions.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A moderator is expected to act only when the action should obviously be taken (e.g. spam) or, for borderline actions, when that particular situation has been ruled to be prohibited on &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com&quot;&gt;meta&lt;/a&gt; (e.g. lengthy non-specific grammar checks). Otherwise, the moderator should at most bring the matter to the attention of other community members, who can then come to a decision after a fruitful debate.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;All members are to be treated on a good-faith basis and given the benefit of the doubt. No questions should be closed just because it seems like the user is trolling—reasonable evidence should be presented before action is taken. (Luckily, English.SE doesn't see much of this). &lt;strong&gt;Nevertheless, users should be contacted and appropriate action taken if they have a history of behavior inconsistent with the site.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would be a good moderator because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As a &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.stackoverflow.com/users/89334/waiwai933&quot;&gt;10k user&lt;/a&gt; on &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.stackoverflow.com&quot;&gt;Meta Stack Overflow&lt;/a&gt; (aka the Master/Meta Meta) I'm familiar with all aspects of Stack Exchange policy and how the system works.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Of the 7 badges that Yi Jiang &lt;a href=&quot;http://se.awio.com/election.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;has identified&lt;/a&gt; as important that are available on MSO, I have 4. I've been a member of MSO much longer than I've been one here at English.SE, so I hope this still demonstrates my knowledge of SE moderation principles.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;English Language and Usage is the SE site I spend the most time on, with the singular exception of MSO (see above). On weekdays, I anticipate being actively available for around 10 hours per day, and another 6 hours I can be somewhat intermittently available.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users&quot;&gt;first page of users&lt;/a&gt;, and I hope this demonstrates that I am very invested in this community. 2k rep may not be a lot on other sites, but on English.SE where we see less traffic than other sites, it's not insignificant. I also love English, if that helps any. :)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also, as a side note, I'd love to see this community grow larger. I don't personally know if there are any industry conferences we can attend or whatnot (&lt;strong&gt;update:&lt;/strong&gt; I've started a &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/747/are-there-any-conferences-to-which-se-could-sponsor-a-member&quot;&gt;topic on meta&lt;/a&gt;), but if I'm elected moderator, I wouldn't hesitate to bring these to the attention of the Team, esp. since &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/02/community-conference-sponsorships/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;they want to know about them&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You should vote for me because:&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I will not be timid in communicating with or suspending users who knowingly and willingly degrade side quality.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I will not be afraid to close questions as exact duplicates.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I will act efficiently to obliterate spam and other such nonsense.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I will, in borderline cases, allow the community to take the appropriate action, if necessary (this means that questions I would otherwise have voted to close as off-topic will no longer receive that vote from me, as I would be elevated from community member to moderator).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If there is community consensus against one of my actions, I will reverse my action and yield to the decision of the community.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I will be an efficient moderator because I have intimate knowledge of every aspect of Stack Exchange and I am on for almost half the day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am dedicated to the site's prosperity.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have any questions for me about my nomination or my moderation philosophy, please feel free to ask. I'm happy to address any concerns you might have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T19:04:05.433" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T19:04:05.433" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-15T00:55:00.813" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12668" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12670" CreationDate="2011-02-15T01:01:23.633" Score="7" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;What happens if you have a written phrase like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We were looking at the same poster(s).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but with a noun that has an irregular plural? E.g. with baby/babies, would this be the correct form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We were looking at the same baby(ies).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, as a more exotic case:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We were looking at the same matrix(???). (plural is matrices)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a rule or guideline for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3823" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T01:25:04.257" Title="How to deal with irregular plural(s)?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12666" CreationDate="2011-02-15T01:02:59.730" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well for the US military that have this practice (many do, I know):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoulder_sleeve_insignia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Shoulder sleeve insignia&lt;/a&gt; or SSI as an abbreviation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/VIU1A.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Shoulder Sleeve Insignia&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interesting to note that when it is on the right shoulder, it indicates &lt;em&gt;former&lt;/em&gt; service, not current.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article linked to above notes that they are not continuing with this custom on newer uniforms, opting for a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_Service_Identification_Badge&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Combat Service Identification Badge&lt;/a&gt; (CSIB) instead. :-/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T01:02:59.730" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="12670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12668" CreationDate="2011-02-15T01:17:20.193" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not pretty, but the most common way I've encountered is to list both words, without the parentheses, with either a slash or the word &quot;or&quot; between them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We were looking at the same baby/babies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We were looking at the same matrix or matrices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also try &quot;baby (babies)&quot;, or reword in some way that avoids the question, or if the context permits, just use the plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T01:17:20.193" />
  <row Id="12671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12668" CreationDate="2011-02-15T01:17:33.137" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The simple plural, those formed only by an addition of an &quot;s&quot;, is the only case in which the parentheses are used to indicate the indeterminate plurality, as in &quot;poster(s)&quot;.  In all other cases, the alternatives are both given, separated by an &quot;or&quot;, as in &quot;the same baby or babies&quot;.   (This can also be done for the simple case: &quot;the same poster or posters&quot; is acceptable, and may even be preferred in more formal writing.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T01:17:33.137" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12668" CreationDate="2011-02-15T01:25:04.257" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Write the singular and the plural of the word separated from a slash, as in &lt;em&gt;baby/babies&lt;/em&gt;. &#xA;I don't think there is a shorter way to write it, if not writing only the plural or the singular word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T01:25:04.257" />
  <row Id="12673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2011-02-15T02:08:15.573" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on the age and ethnicity of your co-workers, &quot;bounce&quot; may work quite well in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bounce&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The urban dictionary&lt;/a&gt;'s most popular definition (warning: potentially offensive link) lists &quot;bounce&quot; as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;v. to exit a location/situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it has a similar connotation to &quot;scarper&quot; to some groups in the US, although not all groups use this term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastEditorUserId="3328" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T02:16:26.627" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T02:16:26.627" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12648" CreationDate="2011-02-15T02:14:49.820" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English has a raft of 'minced oaths' to take the place of the original swear words for the sake of politeness. We still use words like &lt;em&gt;darn&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ruddy&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;flippin' 'eck&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Egad&lt;/em&gt;, as well as &lt;em&gt;zounds&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;'sblood&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;struth&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;gadzooks&lt;/em&gt;, etc. are from Elizabethan times. Plays contained plenty of swearing, but in 1606 all oaths on stage were banned. These minced oaths took their place and come down to us in the surviving printed corpus of Elizabethan works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Full article on wikipedia: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minced_oath&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minced_oath&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T02:14:49.820" />
  <row Id="12675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2011-02-15T02:46:08.773" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't believe no one's tossed &quot;run&quot; or &quot;run for it&quot; out yet. That's the word we used in my high school, not even a full year ago, when we joked about all running out of the classroom when the teacher stepped out for a minute, which I think is something like what you're talking talking about. :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Quick! (Let's )run for it before she gets back!&quot; or just &quot;Quick! Run! Before she gets back!&quot; is what I'd say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.....Although I have to admit &quot;Lock the door!&quot; was more common. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T02:46:08.773" />
  <row Id="12676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12663" CreationDate="2011-02-15T03:04:08.717" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard the term &quot;XOR&quot; used in casual conversation, but only among math/computer nerds like myself. If more people accepted the term it would make things a lot easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T03:04:08.717" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12637" CreationDate="2011-02-15T05:00:51.943" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your narrative comes in the form of a diary or journal, then you can use 'today' when referring to a day in the past.  &quot;&lt;em&gt;April 23, 1958.  Today was pivotal in my ongoing attempt to turn lead into gold...&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T05:00:51.943" />
  <row Id="12678" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12679" CreationDate="2011-02-15T05:08:13.370" Score="0" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;whether a father's interest in his sons &lt;strong&gt;has much to do with&lt;/strong&gt; how well his sons &lt;strong&gt;turn out&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T08:29:01.870" Title="Meaning of 'has much to do with' and 'turn out'." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12678" CreationDate="2011-02-15T05:17:58.153" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Has much to do with&lt;/strong&gt;: is related to; has a correlation with; corresponds to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How well something turns out&lt;/strong&gt;: What is the quality of something, once it is finished being produced.  (In this case, do the sons grow up to be good, honest, contributing members of society.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The overall sentence fragment is presumably either asking if, or stating that, the amount of interest a father shows in his sons has a clear effect on how well the sons do once they have grown up and moved out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T05:17:58.153" />
  <row Id="12680" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12681" CreationDate="2011-02-15T06:08:34.067" Score="1" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since verily means truly or certainly. Can I use it where I would normally use certainly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I certainly think that is appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I verily think that is appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If yes, are there instances where these are not interchangeable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="792" LastEditorUserId="3276" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T12:36:00.600" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T12:36:00.600" Title="How do I use &quot;verily&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12680" CreationDate="2011-02-15T06:17:26.930" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Verily&lt;/em&gt; is archaic, and nowadays used primarily as a (facetious) interjection, usually in combination with other archaic terms (&lt;em&gt;&amp;thinsp;forsooth!&lt;/em&gt;&amp;thinsp;) and constructions. So while your example is not wrong, you'd be more likely to hear something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Verily! Methinks that is appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T06:17:26.930" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12680" CreationDate="2011-02-15T06:44:41.253" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you were to join up with a local branch of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_Creative_Anachronism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Society for Creative Anachronism&lt;/a&gt; you would likely find people using it on a regular basis. Otherwise, it is probably best if you ignore this particular word, as the use of it will verily get you awkward looks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, I do believe that's an adverb so bear that in mind as well as you use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2161" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T06:44:41.253" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="12683" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12685" CreationDate="2011-02-15T07:30:50.850" Score="0" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today is Tuesday of week1.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have just been told to do X &lt;b&gt;until next week&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When is the last day I can do X?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Sunday of week1? Sunday of week2?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3080" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T10:16:06.743" Title="&quot;until next week&quot;" Tags="&lt;date&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12683" CreationDate="2011-02-15T07:50:16.977" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would interpret it like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometime unspecified time during week 2, you'll be taken off of X and put on a different task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, many non-native English speakers confuse the words &lt;em&gt;until&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;by&lt;/em&gt; and say something like this when they really mean they want you to finish a project by a certain time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4846" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T07:50:16.977" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12683" CreationDate="2011-02-15T07:58:38.750" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/until&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;According to Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;, Until basically means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Upto the time of (something happening)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hence, accordingly, until next week means, before next week begins, i.e., the Sunday of Week1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T07:58:38.750" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12686" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-15T08:04:42.923" Score="1" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct version?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They have contacted me and discussed &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They have contacted me and have discussed &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5040" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T15:25:27.193" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T18:39:34.350" Title="Conjunctions and modal verbs" Tags="&lt;present-perfect-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12678" CreationDate="2011-02-15T08:29:01.870" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;have something to do with&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; means &lt;strong&gt;&quot;have connection with&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; or &quot;is related to&quot;. the opponent expression is &quot;have nothing to do with&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;turn out&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; in this case mean &lt;strong&gt;&quot;develop or end in particular way&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5041" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T08:29:01.870" />
  <row Id="12688" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12712" CreationDate="2011-02-15T08:29:36.600" Score="2" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;Like: &quot;&lt;em&gt;quite the singer&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, &quot;&lt;em&gt;quite the writer&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, etc. while he/she is just a singer/writer and is not the only singer/writer, etc in that context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1199" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T14:08:13.853" Title="Why do we use the definite article in the expression &quot;quite the [noun]&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;articles&gt;&lt;definite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12688" CreationDate="2011-02-15T08:38:36.670" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We use the definite article to show uniqueness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This case, saying &quot;quite the singer&quot; suggests that the singer is unique in some way -- e.g. being noticeably more talented that the others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4846" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T08:38:36.670" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12690" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12691" CreationDate="2011-02-15T08:50:30.003" Score="2" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what &lt;em&gt;every other time&lt;/em&gt; means. For example:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I know it's being fixed, but rebooting every other time you do something gets old. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5041" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T11:46:15.820" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T11:50:58.657" Title="Meaning of &quot;every other time&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12690" CreationDate="2011-02-15T09:17:57.910" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;every other&lt;/strong&gt;: each second in a series; each alternate: &lt;em&gt;I train with weights every other day&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, it is most probably used figuratively, and means “rebooting very often”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T09:17:57.910" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="12692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12690" CreationDate="2011-02-15T09:18:09.737" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every second time - So you can do something once, then the second time you need to reboot&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/every_other&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/every_other&lt;/a&gt; :  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;All except for some previously mentioned set.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;Two of the bolts were loose, but every other bolt I checked was fine.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Every second; each alternate; the second of each pair in turn&#xA;  (perhaps used because &lt;em&gt;every second&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  could also refer to &lt;em&gt;second&lt;/em&gt; as a unit&#xA;  of time or be interpreted as meaning&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;only the second&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;Every other person in the line wore a pink bowtie.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second meaning is the one relevant here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T11:50:58.657" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T11:50:58.657" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12688" CreationDate="2011-02-15T09:19:07.493" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with @awm as in cases where one says &lt;strong&gt;quite the [noun]&lt;/strong&gt;, he wishes to indicate a specific trait of the &lt;strong&gt;[noun]&lt;/strong&gt; that even among &lt;strong&gt;its&lt;/strong&gt; commonalities makes a difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastEditorUserId="2007" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T14:08:13.853" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T14:08:13.853" />
  <row Id="12694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12686" CreationDate="2011-02-15T09:23:35.423" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallelism_(grammar)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Parallelism&lt;/a&gt; says that the pattern followed with the first verb should be repeated with the following verbs as well. Hence, the second form of the sentence is correct, i.e., They have contacted me and have discussed [this with me.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T09:23:35.423" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2011-02-15T09:40:21.047" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know how popular these are, but they are all American words meaning exactly what you're talking about (if they're not known it's probably because they're mostly used by high school kids running from the cops).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dip (ie: Let's dip from the cops! They dipped out from the corner store.),&#xA;Bounce (same thing),&#xA;and Roll (more casual)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5044" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T09:40:21.047" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12696" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-15T09:41:48.223" Score="1" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not looking for a particular part of speech. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A corollary to this idea, and in some ways the opposite, is when something is defined by/as itself. A lot of times you will find this in bad dictionaries when the definition of a word refers to a word whose definition refers to the original word. I am wondering if there is a word to describe this phenomenon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also recognize that using 'whose' above is grammatically incorrect, as it refers to a person. What would I replace it with?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5044" LastEditorUserId="5044" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T08:31:56.373" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T08:31:56.373" Title="What is it called when something is described by what it isn't?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2011-02-15T09:59:48.423" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, I've never heard &quot;scarper&quot;. However, in (especially) American English, &quot;scamper&quot; is quite common, and would be the word I would use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of &quot;scarper&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4585" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T09:59:48.423" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12686" CreationDate="2011-02-15T10:05:35.500" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel that both are correct. It depends on the level of understanding and assertion.  If you wish to just make a statement (and be brief), then (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They have contacted me and discussed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wish to be clear, then (2)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They have contacted me and have discussed &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if you wish to cover all your bases, then&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They have both contacted me and have discussed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, all options are grammatically correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4585" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T10:05:35.500" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12683" CreationDate="2011-02-15T10:06:51.773" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several problems with the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do X until next week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means carry on doing some continuous work named X from now to [some unspecified day and time in] next week. Then stop doing X [forever or until instructed otherwise]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let me know the name until next week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Means let me know the name every time necessary from now to [some unspecified day and time in] next week. After that, don't let me know the name. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an unusual construction and might be used if the requester is forgetful or if the name changes many times each work - for example if it is the name of the winner of the daily crossword and the requester has to do something with that name every day (print in tomorrows newsletter, send prize ...) but will not be doing it next week (vacation?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;let me know the name next week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Means I don't need the name now, but I will need it next week [probably any day and time in that week]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;let me know the name before next week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Means I can wait but I need it sometime between now and the start of next week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is inherent ambiguity about the start of a week and the point in the week that would be acceptable when you ask that something be done &quot;next week&quot;, you should expect rising anxiety in both parties as the week progresses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T10:16:06.743" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T10:16:06.743" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12688" CreationDate="2011-02-15T10:09:25.013" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Stating &quot;Quite &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; [noun]&quot; indicates that one is notable, while stating &quot;quite &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; [noun]&quot; is remarkable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is mostly the difference between the indeterminate (&lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;—or, just another [noun]) and the determinate (&lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;—a specific [noun]).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4585" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T10:09:25.013" />
  <row Id="12701" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12702" CreationDate="2011-02-15T10:27:44.327" Score="7" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm programming a web application and I need to name the &quot;class of things&quot; that are notes and coins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far the best I could find was &quot;currency piece&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that the correct way of naming the notes and coins of a currency? Are there any alternatives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5047" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T09:37:00.570" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T09:37:00.570" Title="English term that groups notes and coins of a currency" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;hypernyms&gt;&lt;currency&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12701" CreationDate="2011-02-15T10:29:33.437" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go with &lt;strong&gt;cash&lt;/strong&gt;, which is defined by NOAD as “money in coins or notes, as distinct from checks, money orders, or credit: &lt;em&gt;the staff were paid in cash | a discount for cash&lt;/em&gt;”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T10:29:33.437" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1346" CreationDate="2011-02-15T10:31:51.857" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first sentence is the only correct one. In both the second and third, you are using the improper form of &quot;to be&quot; for &quot;you&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The proper forms of &lt;em&gt;arrive&lt;/em&gt; in the second-person singular (2s) are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you arrive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you do arrive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you arrived&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you have arrived&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you will arrive &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you could arrive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you would arrive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you should arrive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you shall arrive&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Did I miss any conjugations?)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both &quot;you are arrived&quot; and &quot;you're arrived&quot; can be attributed to plural forms of &quot;to be&quot;, but in English the plurals are usually reserved for only first- and third-person forms—&lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt;—however in some contexts &quot;you&quot; can be used for the 2P (second person plural—&lt;em&gt;y'all&lt;/em&gt; colloquially) form. However, neither are regularly used in American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4585" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T10:31:51.857" />
  <row Id="12704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12663" CreationDate="2011-02-15T10:40:47.080" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe a scientific paper is expected to use fairly literate English, so use of short-cuts such as &quot;and/or&quot; might be inappropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However your peer reviewers are likely to be preoccupied with the appropriateness of &quot;bunnies&quot; enjoying sunsets, so it won't detract greatly from the result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If &quot;it is important [to record] that the events have the same effect when they occur separately or together&quot; - why not just say so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T10:40:47.080" />
  <row Id="12705" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12706" CreationDate="2011-02-15T10:43:19.867" Score="5" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any single word that is used to indicate a person who reads the psychological aspect of people's handwritings (like what they believe and what type of people they are, etc.)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T21:01:20.300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T21:01:20.300" Title="What do you call a person who takes interest in analyzing people's handwritings?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12705" CreationDate="2011-02-15T10:45:46.463" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The study of handwriting is called &lt;strong&gt;graphology&lt;/strong&gt;, and the person who is inclined to do so is a &lt;strong&gt;graphologist&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T10:45:46.463" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12705" CreationDate="2011-02-15T10:45:58.293" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That would be a &lt;em&gt;graphologist&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T10:45:58.293" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12663" CreationDate="2011-02-15T10:51:12.043" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you have used &lt;strong&gt;either&lt;/strong&gt; in the first part of your sentence, the second part of the sentence must only use &lt;strong&gt;or&lt;/strong&gt;, as &lt;strong&gt;either-or&lt;/strong&gt; is a complementary pair, one must follow the other. &lt;strong&gt;Either-and&lt;/strong&gt; would not make the correct grammatical sense.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In the above case, the use use of &lt;strong&gt;either-or&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; would make two drastically different sentences.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T10:51:12.043" />
  <row Id="12709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12696" CreationDate="2011-02-15T10:56:16.940" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even though I am not able to interpret your question perfectly, in case you mean the habit of using the wrong words at wrong places, then it is called &lt;strong&gt;Malapropism&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The blundering use of an absurdly inappropriate word or expression in place of a similar sounding one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T10:56:16.940" />
  <row Id="12710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12696" CreationDate="2011-02-15T11:06:05.433" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interesting question! Are you looking for a word for “negative definition”?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the theory of logic something can be defined with “double negation”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In philosophy, Hegel helps with antithesis ‒ the opposite of thesis ‒ to explain ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5046" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T11:06:05.433" />
  <row Id="12711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2011-02-15T11:08:30.220" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Show your American Chums &lt;strong&gt;Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban&lt;/strong&gt; and ask them to check out &lt;strong&gt;Ron Weasley's&lt;/strong&gt; rat &lt;strong&gt;Scarpers's&lt;/strong&gt; behavior (running away). That would better aid them better to understand what Scarper means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T11:08:30.220" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12688" CreationDate="2011-02-15T11:43:40.837" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Quite a&lt;/em&gt; (and &lt;em&gt;quite the&lt;/em&gt;, sometimes used ironically) indicates that the specified thing or thing is recognized as notable, remarkable, or impressive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Quite a party, isn't it?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  It has been quite a year.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Quite the little horsewoman, aren't you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Quite the thing&lt;/em&gt; is a dated way to say &lt;em&gt;socially accepted&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She was quite the thing in heels and stockings and lipstick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[The examples are taken from the NOAD]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T11:43:40.837" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12696" CreationDate="2011-02-15T12:48:55.270" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think what you are looking for is &quot;negative definition&quot;.  It is often used where it is much easier to contrast something with what it isn't than define exactly what it is.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://academic.csuohio.edu/polen/LC9_Help/2/25negative.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; gives an example (rather simplistic but...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4335" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T12:48:55.270" />
  <row Id="12714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12701" CreationDate="2011-02-15T12:51:00.613" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, how about &lt;em&gt;&quot;coinage&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, which is defined as &lt;em&gt;&quot;the categories, types, or quantity of coins  issued by a nation&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5049" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T12:51:00.613" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12715" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12725" CreationDate="2011-02-15T13:22:29.043" Score="-1" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;What &lt;em&gt;my always account&lt;/em&gt; would mean?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The text where I read it is the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hello, I am [username], I would need to recover my always user [account name], I&#xA;  have 4 years with yours, is lot of history, never happens any&#xA;  inconvenience from me, my friends in drupal all people knows me for&#xA;  [account name], and I need my user unblocked, so please consider it as a favour&#xA;  to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basing on the text, I am inclined to think the person didn't use &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; in the correct way; is it really so? Is it grammatically correct to use &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; in that way, or is it normally used (even if in specific dialects, like Indian English, or British English)?&#xA;Would the phrase &lt;em&gt;my always account&lt;/em&gt; understood even if it doesn't refer to a user account on a website?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T13:53:39.503" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T21:27:58.547" Title="&quot;My always account&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="12716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2011-02-15T13:27:48.790" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We'd use &quot;jet&quot;, &quot;ditch&quot;, &quot;run&quot;, or &quot;bounce&quot; really depending on the day.   In the context of a boss, I'd probably go with &quot;jet&quot; or &quot;ditch&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Let's ditch the meeting before the boss shows up...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4417" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T13:27:48.790" />
  <row Id="12717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12715" CreationDate="2011-02-15T13:32:43.200" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can't give any more context than that, I'd have to say &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; account meant &lt;em&gt;permanent&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;daily-use&lt;/em&gt; account. This might draw a distinction between a &lt;em&gt;sometimes&lt;/em&gt; account or a &lt;em&gt;temporary&lt;/em&gt; account. As I say, though, a larger context would help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T13:32:43.200" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12718" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-15T13:37:14.697" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi all, my name is Alex. I'm throwing my hat into the ring because I think our site could use a moderator from Europe, so that any pressing issues can be handled in a more timely manner. Right now, we often have to wait for our mods from the States to (literally) wake up, which can be frustrating at times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My pros and cons, in no particular order:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am not a native speaker of English. I do not hold a degree in linguistics.&#xA;60.6% of my answers get marked as accepted. In hindsight, I'm not happy with many of them. But I'm here to help and to learn.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I was among the first 300 users to register on this site. I did not participate in the private beta, but I did help seed the site with questions during the public one.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm actively promoting EL&amp;amp;U on other sites of the network, on Reddit, and offline. I won't be touching Twitter or Facebook with a ten-foot pole any time soon.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have visited the site for 193 consecutive days now. I'm a &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/badges/23/fanatic&quot;&gt;Fanatic&lt;/a&gt;, a &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/badges/49/populist&quot;&gt;Populist&lt;/a&gt;, a &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/badges/33/copy-editor&quot;&gt;Copy Editor&lt;/a&gt;, and just a dozen questions away from becoming, um, a &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/badges/61/sportsmanship&quot;&gt;Sportsmanship&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have &lt;a href=&quot;http://data.stackexchange.com/english/st/792/how-many-questions-have-i-helped-to-close?UserId=300&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;helped close&lt;/a&gt; 100+ questions (50+ dupes, 30+ off-topic).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have approved 19 edit suggestions and rejected 8.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm always happy to lend a helping hand in editing tag wikis, creating tags, re-tagging questions and suggesting tag synonyms.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm quite active on &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;meta&lt;/a&gt; (8 questions, 39 answers, 70+ comments, visited on 177 days) and on &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.stackoverflow.com/&quot;&gt;Meta.StackOverflow&lt;/a&gt; (14 questions, 38 answers, 170+ comments, 2700 rep, visited on 344 days). I have two Yearling badges on &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/&quot;&gt;StackOverflow&lt;/a&gt;. I'm familiar with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://data.stackexchange.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DataExplorer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I like to &lt;a href=&quot;http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/95&quot;&gt;chat&lt;/a&gt; (~1000 posts per week).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm registered on 44 other sites of the network, including &lt;a href=&quot;http://area51.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;Area51&lt;/a&gt;. But I spend most of my time on EL&amp;amp;U.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://data.stackexchange.com/english/st/376/show-the-hours-of-the-day-a-user-is-most-active?UserId=300&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;activity chart&lt;/a&gt; for your convenience:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Hour | Current US mods (avg)   | Myself                                |&#xA;-----|-------------------------|---------------------------------------|&#xA;0    | 30  |**********         | 9  |***                               |&#xA;1    | 29  |**********         | 13 |****                              |&#xA;2    | 17  |******             | 14 |*****                             |&#xA;3    | 19  |******             | 2  |*                                 |&#xA;4    | 17  |******             | 5  |**                                |&#xA;5    | 11  |****               | 3  |*                                 |&#xA;6    | 5   |**                 | 2  |*                                 |&#xA;7    | 2   |*                  | 6  |**                                |&#xA;8    | 1   |*                  | 23 |********                          |&#xA;9    | 1   |*                  | 77 |**************************        |&#xA;10   | 1   |*                  | 81 |***************************       |&#xA;11   | 9   |***                | 62 |*********************             |&#xA;12   | 10  |***                | 74 |*************************         |&#xA;13   | 21  |*******            | 74 |*************************         |&#xA;14   | 38  |*************      | 99 |********************************* |&#xA;15   | 50  |*****************  | 88 |*****************************     |&#xA;16   | 38  |*************      | 80 |***************************       |&#xA;17   | 44  |***************    | 68 |***********************           |&#xA;18   | 54  |****************** | 71 |************************          |&#xA;19   | 41  |**************     | 50 |*****************                 |&#xA;20   | 45  |***************    | 37 |************                      |&#xA;21   | 39  |*************      | 27 |*********                         |&#xA;22   | 31  |**********         | 41 |**************                    |&#xA;23   | 31  |**********         | 32 |***********                       |&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, the graphs complement each other rather nicely &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; I would&#xA;also have enough overlap with mods from the US and other time zones if I got elected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regulars will know that I &lt;a href=&quot;http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/95?m=449255#449255&quot;&gt;wasn't keen to run&lt;/a&gt; in the election up until very recently. I still maintain that our site needs more 10k and 3k users rather than mods. Ever since we went out of beta and a whole bunch of users lost a whole bunch of privileges, I've been voting to close more aggressively, to compensate for the loss. At times I've been overcompensating. There were a number of occasions when I regretted my close vote after reading other users' comments or talking to them in chat; thankfully, those questions ended up being left open, so no harm done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I get elected and my vote become binding, I will get back to being &lt;strong&gt;less trigger-happy on gray-area questions&lt;/strong&gt;, leaving the decision to the community. Many subpar questions can be saved by providing great answers; quite a few &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; been saved by great answers in the past; and there must be &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; room for people to get the &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/badges/50/reversal&quot;&gt;Reversal&lt;/a&gt; badge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, recently we've been seeing lots of extremely poor, blatantly&#xA;off-topic questions, worthy of not just being closed, but completely deleted.&#xA;(Eight did get deleted just yesterday.) &lt;a href=&quot;http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/497440#497440&quot;&gt;Quoting&lt;/a&gt; Kosmonaut, &quot;Someone could ask for a recipe for a really tasty egg salad sandwich and probably get at least one answer before it could be closed.&quot; As the site continues to grow, it's only natural for it to attract more and more such questions, and it's a pity that all I can currently do is close-vote, ping the mods by flagging, ping regular users in chat, and then &lt;em&gt;still&lt;/em&gt; wait for 6+ hours for the questions to get closed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I get elected, I will get &lt;strong&gt;more trigger-happy on broken windows&lt;/strong&gt;. At the same time, in my capacity as the most active voter (1800+ votes), I will continue to help regular users reach 3k, 5k, 10k, 15k, and 20k, gradually making my job obsolete.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T16:40:43.983" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T16:40:43.983" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-15T13:37:14.697" CommentCount="15" />
  <row Id="12719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12715" CreationDate="2011-02-15T13:41:32.523" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming we're talking about bank accounts I'd say a better phrase would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Every day account&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To refer to the account you use for regular expenses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4739" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T13:41:32.523" />
  <row Id="12720" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12723" CreationDate="2011-02-15T14:09:35.787" Score="2" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a forum of a website, I read the following sentences (who writes is referring to a session in a conference):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Makes lots of sense. Not sure what can I be of help (and I already have&#xA;  two sessions on the official schedule), but would be happy to be of&#xA;  help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to say &lt;em&gt;what can I be of help&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is it commonly used? Is it used in restricted groups?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T21:56:14.947" Title="&quot;What can I be of help&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12720" CreationDate="2011-02-15T14:18:44.067" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Better to say &lt;em&gt;How can I be of help?&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;What can I help with?&lt;/em&gt; (yes I know there is a preposition at the end), or even more simply &lt;em&gt;How can I help?&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T14:18:44.067" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12720" CreationDate="2011-02-15T14:30:21.327" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;or &lt;em&gt;Not sure what I can do to be of help&lt;/em&gt;. &#xA;The original reads as though the writer was in a hurry, and so employed faulty grammar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T14:30:21.327" />
  <row Id="12723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12720" CreationDate="2011-02-15T14:31:12.093" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentences contains some quirks, and a lot of references are omitted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sense&lt;/em&gt; is not quantifiable, so the variation &lt;em&gt;a lot of sense&lt;/em&gt; feels more natural and is more commonly used than &lt;em&gt;lots of sense&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The expression isn't &lt;em&gt;what can I be of help&lt;/em&gt; but rather &lt;em&gt;what I can do to help&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;how I can be of help&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I fleshed out the sentences so that they read like written language:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That makes a lot of sense. I'm not sure what I can do to be of help (and I already have two sessions on the official schedule), but I would be happy to be of help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="3365" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T21:56:14.947" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T21:56:14.947" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="12724" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12729" CreationDate="2011-02-15T14:34:52.590" Score="5" ViewCount="211" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please report more details.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Please do not send your faxes from the office.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Please do not hesitate to contact us from our website.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does &lt;em&gt;please&lt;/em&gt; have the same meaning, in those sentences?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In the second sentence, could it be understood as &lt;em&gt;I demand/ask you don't send your faxes from the office&lt;/em&gt;?&#xA;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;please do not sent your faxes from the office&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;do not sent your faxes from the office&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T17:28:49.133" Title="Usage of &quot;please&quot; at the beginning of a sentence" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12715" CreationDate="2011-02-15T14:37:47.687" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that it's an expression that exist in the persons native language, but doesn't translate directly into english.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is that the intended meaning would be &lt;em&gt;the user account that I always have used&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;the user account that I have used from the beginning&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T14:37:47.687" />
  <row Id="12726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12720" CreationDate="2011-02-15T14:47:53.433" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read &lt;em&gt;what can I be of help&lt;/em&gt; as a possible contraction of &lt;em&gt;in what way can I be of help&lt;/em&gt;. Regardless of what the writer means, however, the construction &lt;em&gt;can I&lt;/em&gt; is incongruous here, as is it usually used in the interrogative sense. Thus, it should be &lt;em&gt;I can&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Summary of possible options for this context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;[In] what [way] I can be of help&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;how I can be of help&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;when I can be of help &lt;em&gt;(the writer points to scheduling obligations)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T14:47:53.433" />
  <row Id="12727" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17469" CreationDate="2011-02-15T14:59:36.763" Score="18" ViewCount="580" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a single word to describe an object or idea that is so desirable that everyone wants to attain it but once they have it they are immediately cursed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea is often used in literature--some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In &lt;em&gt;Lord of the Rings&lt;/em&gt;, the 'one ring' is a perfect example of this.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In Guy de Maupassant's story &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Necklace&quot;&gt;The Necklace&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, the necklace might be considered to be this.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There are many stories of people making deals with the devil (see question: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11730/what-does-faustian-bargain-mean&quot;&gt;What does &quot;Faustian bargain&quot; mean?&lt;/a&gt;), or being granted three wishes by a Djinn or fairy, which inevitably turn out bad.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the Twilight Zone episode &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Enough_at_Last&quot;&gt;Time Enough at Last&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, Bemis's desire to be left alone with his books would be an example of this word.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Bane' covers the &lt;em&gt;cursed&lt;/em&gt; part, but no one desires it.  Is there a single word to describe a most highly desired treasure that (knowingly or unknowingly) comes with a curse?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T16:56:21.567" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T23:23:04.143" Title="Is there a word to describe a highly desirable cursed treasure?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;literary-techniques&gt;" AnswerCount="12" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="12728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12727" CreationDate="2011-02-15T15:01:52.737" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something related to the legend of King Midas perhaps?  (Sorry, can't think of a specific term)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T15:01:52.737" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12724" CreationDate="2011-02-15T15:12:05.660" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please is probably a shortened form of the archaic &quot;if it pleases you [to do this, ]&quot;. It is used to indicate that what follows is a request. It is considered polite. It suggests the other party has taken into account the feelings of the recipient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, in spoken English, tone of voice, facial expression and body language can completely change the emotional effect of whatever words are spoken. In written English you have to be more careful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An awful lot depends on context, you can read too much into the presence or absence of words like please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the examples you quote, it is likely the second would be used in two circumstances:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when you have just sent a personal fax from your place of work - chastisement.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when you are being introduced to working practises at a new job - it's not personal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other two are asking you to do something positive, the &quot;do not hesitate to&quot; really means &quot;do&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T15:12:05.660" />
  <row Id="12730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4861" CreationDate="2011-02-15T15:14:13.383" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As adverb, &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;exactly;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;very recently;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;barely; by little;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;simply.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are then cases where &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; can replaced with &lt;em&gt;simply&lt;/em&gt; without to change meaning to the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As examples of usage of &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; the NOAD reports the following sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's just what I need.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  You're a human being, just like everyone else.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Conditions were just as bad.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I've just seen the local paper.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I got here just after nine.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  They were just interested in making money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There also phrases where you need to use &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt;, as in &lt;em&gt;just about&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;just as well&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;just in case&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;just a minute&lt;/em&gt;; replace &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;simply&lt;/em&gt;, and you get a phrase without sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The results obtained from Google don't mean that, as &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; appears more frequently than &lt;em&gt;simply&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; is more preferred. As the words are not synonyms, comparing them is like to compare the number of sentences containing &lt;em&gt;house&lt;/em&gt; with the number of sentences containing &lt;em&gt;moon&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;With Google, then (as reported by other comments), you don't obtain results for English only, and you can obtain also results for phrases that are not grammatically correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T15:14:13.383" />
  <row Id="12732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2011-02-15T15:25:13.790" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dipset&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dipset&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let's dipset, it's the fuzz!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T15:25:13.790" />
  <row Id="12733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12727" CreationDate="2011-02-15T15:26:55.320" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;TVtropes calls it an &lt;a href=&quot;http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ArtifactOfDoom&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Artifact Of Doom&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, but I don't think the term would be understood by anyone not familiar with the site. Also related: &lt;a href=&quot;http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ArtifactOfAttraction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Artifact Of Attraction&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, but that one is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MacGuffin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;MacGuffin&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T15:26:55.320" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="12734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12696" CreationDate="2011-02-15T15:36:38.337" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In art, the terms &quot;interstities,&quot; &quot;negative space,&quot; and &quot;figure-ground&quot; are often used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T15:36:38.337" />
  <row Id="12735" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12737" CreationDate="2011-02-15T15:45:08.563" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would &lt;strong&gt;be much as&lt;/strong&gt; when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, &lt;strong&gt;which&lt;/strong&gt; didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more: &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20003949-71.html#ixzz1E2gBVWga&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20003949-71.html#ixzz1E2gBVWga&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does the &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T16:41:48.017" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T18:15:54.130" Title="Meaning of 'be much as'" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12736" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12739" CreationDate="2011-02-15T15:46:24.917" Score="5" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my country, people use the word &quot;Yahoo&quot; as an expression of enthusiasm, joy, jubiliation and victory. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the origin and original meaning of the word yahoo? As for that matter, what is most commonly accepted meaning of the word today? Is it commonly used as an expressive word nowadays? Or, is it the case that it is just the popular website, and the word has otherwise become redundant? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3982" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T16:29:45.137" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T22:56:43.233" Title="The word 'Yahoo'" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;pop-culture&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12735" CreationDate="2011-02-15T15:53:49.120" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a contraction of &quot;I think the outcome would &lt;em&gt;be much the same as&quot; ...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;&quot;which&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; refers to the outcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2693" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T15:53:49.120" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12736" CreationDate="2011-02-15T15:59:21.033" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo_%28Gulliver%27s_Travels%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yahoo&lt;/a&gt; is a legendary being in the novel Gulliver's Travels (1726) by Jonathan Swift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2588" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T15:59:21.033" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="12739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12736" CreationDate="2011-02-15T16:00:24.897" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word yahoo can be used in English in the same way you mention, that is, as a cheer.  In fact, some commercials for the company Yahoo! actually ends with someone yelling/singing &quot;Yahooooo!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also refer to an uncultured or brutish person.  This usage was coined by Jonathan Swift in Gulliver's Travels, where Yahoo was a race of brutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, as you hinted at, because of the success of the company Yahoo!, it's probably more common to hear it referring to the company rather than one of the other meanings.  That being said, it has not at this point become so conjoined with the company that no one would understand if you cheered &quot;Yahoo&quot; or referred to a group as &quot;a bunch of yahoos&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T16:00:24.897" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12727" CreationDate="2011-02-15T16:36:07.260" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only word I can think of is &lt;em&gt;lost ark&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T16:36:07.260" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12735" CreationDate="2011-02-15T17:02:23.330" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase can be interpreted as having an implicit &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;as much as&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;much as&lt;/em&gt;), and read as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be the same as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Which&lt;/em&gt; is a relative pronoun used to for something previously mentioned; in the example, &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; refers to &lt;em&gt;when Christopher Columbus first landed in America&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The sense of the sentence is that the outcome of aliens visiting us would be the same as when Columbus first landed in America: it would not turn out very well for us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T18:15:54.130" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T18:15:54.130" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12727" CreationDate="2011-02-15T17:04:32.550" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might try &quot;a genie in a bottle&quot; on for size. It &lt;a href=&quot;http://monstropedia.com/index.php?title=Genie&amp;amp;oldid=13570&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;carries the sense&lt;/a&gt; of &quot;be careful what you wish for&quot;, which is common to all these cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T17:04:32.550" />
  <row Id="12743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12724" CreationDate="2011-02-15T17:22:44.943" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could argue that &quot;please&quot; has the same underlying meaning, but the pragmatics of how that meaning is interpreted can vary from context to context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first two cases, the implication is effectively a command. The implication is not &quot;You may optionally decide not to send faxes, and that would please us&quot;. It's a bit like an airport announcement saying &quot;Passengers are invited to proceed to gate 4&quot;, which is not quite the same as if I &quot;invite&quot; you to a party-- they're not actually offering you a real choice to decline that invitation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many languages have this kind of pragmatic subtlty: if a Spanish sign says &quot;Favor de no fumar&quot;, they're not actually implying &quot;You would be doing us a favour if you decided not to smoke&quot;. If a French sign says &quot;Merci de ne pas fumer&quot;, they're not actually saying &quot;If you decide not to smoke, we'll be thankful&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In English, modals are another common area of this kind of subtly. If your boss says to you: &quot;You might want to get this done by lunchtime&quot;, they're not making a supposition about your volition to do the task-- what they're effectively saying is &quot;Do this by lunchtime&quot;; I've heard cases of foreign employees getting caught out by this kind of device.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastEditorUserId="4941" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T17:28:49.133" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T17:28:49.133" />
  <row Id="12744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12727" CreationDate="2011-02-15T18:38:31.917" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Further “close-but-no-cigar” ideas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_apple&quot;&gt;Golden apple&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/strong&gt; differs in that the curse comes usually not from possession of it, but from competition to attain it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalice#Poisoned_chalice&quot;&gt;Poisoned chalice&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/strong&gt; another apparently desirable thing that turns out to be cursed; but differs in that this is usually given, rather than sought out for an extended time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T18:38:31.917" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12686" CreationDate="2011-02-15T18:39:34.350" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In such sentences, where a series of actions is presented (and the subject of the actions is the same), subject and auxiliary verb are normally not repeated after the first action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She should go to home, take her cell phone, and return at work in 30 minutes. She cannot possibly return in time.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  She was having brunch, talking on the phone, and keeping an eye on his son; I am not surprised she didn't notice her son moved away.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  They have contacted me and discussed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't see anything wrong with &lt;em&gt;they have contacted me and have discussed&lt;/em&gt;, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T18:39:34.350" />
  <row Id="12746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6187" CreationDate="2011-02-15T18:58:06.367" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would rather use the word &lt;strong&gt;maximal&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Brian was in charge of scheduling in his maximal role as Project Manager.&#xA;  He was often expected to carry out Project Management duties, even though his business card identified him as a programmer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the word &lt;strong&gt;nominal&lt;/strong&gt; means &lt;strong&gt;existing in name only&lt;/strong&gt;. The word &lt;strong&gt;maximal&lt;/strong&gt; being an exact antonym brings out the apt meaning into the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T18:58:06.367" />
  <row Id="12747" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-15T19:49:30.910" Score="2" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5603/whereas-as-an-alternative-spelling-of-whereas&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Where&amp;#228;s&amp;rdquo; as an  alternative spelling of &amp;ldquo;whereas&amp;rdquo; &lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always wondered which is the correct spelling: &quot;naïve&quot; or &quot;naive&quot;? Are both correct, and it is just a whichever-you-feel-comfortable-with?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T20:27:43.073" ClosedDate="2011-02-15T20:28:53.030" Title="Is it spelt &quot;naïve&quot; or &quot;naive&quot;?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12747" CreationDate="2011-02-15T19:58:55.250" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either way. The &lt;em&gt;dieresis&lt;/em&gt; is optional. Mostly it gets left off because people find it difficult to add it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, spelling it &quot;naïve&quot; is seen less and less, at least in the U.S., and is probably moribund if not actually archaic at this point here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T20:27:43.073" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T20:27:43.073" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7923" CreationDate="2011-02-15T20:12:52.423" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The census shall provide statistics about the population, its total population, structure and spatial distribution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2746" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T20:12:52.423" />
  <row Id="12750" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12758" CreationDate="2011-02-15T20:13:08.660" Score="3" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this context:&#xA;&quot;This [subject] [verb clause] by boosting our [body's || bodies'] immune system?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case the writer is using &quot;our&quot; as a generic substitution for &quot;your&quot;. The argument went that &quot;our body&quot; is actually short for &quot;each of our body&quot;, hence taking the singular form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I maintain that since &quot;our&quot; is plural, bodies must agree with the number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation was to disambiguate by changing &quot;our&quot; to &quot;your&quot;. But in the example sentence above without making this substitution, which is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5058" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T20:48:48.420" Title="Our bodies' or our body's" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12277" CreationDate="2011-02-15T20:14:29.377" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the correct usage is &quot;youse guyses&quot;, though American English spellers may substitute the &quot;s&quot; for a &quot;z&quot;.  :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;T&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5058" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T20:14:29.377" />
  <row Id="12752" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12754" CreationDate="2011-02-15T20:20:17.517" Score="20" ViewCount="923" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can never remember the appropriate use of either. What's the difference and how can I remember?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastEditorUserId="362" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T21:42:09.190" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T10:43:45.690" Title="&quot;Nevermind&quot; versus &quot;never mind&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12752" CreationDate="2011-02-15T20:23:27.927" Score="39" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allmusic.com/album/nevermind-r14159&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nevermind&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; is an album by &lt;em&gt;Nirvana&lt;/em&gt;. &quot;Never mind&quot; means don't bother with something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T20:23:27.927" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12752" CreationDate="2011-02-15T20:28:31.950" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only time I can think of that &quot;nevermind&quot; is written as one word is when it's used as a noun in the colloquial idiom &quot;Pay me no nevermind&quot; (or &quot;Don't pay me no nevermind&quot;), which as you might theorize means &quot;pay no attention to me.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T20:28:31.950" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12750" CreationDate="2011-02-15T20:30:50.483" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In cases like this, it's worth considering what happens with a noun that has a different (phonetic) form in the plural vs possessive:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;this man's immune system&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;?these men's immune system&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;these men's immune systems&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would go for either: &quot;our body's immune system&quot; or &quot;our bodies' immune systems&quot;. As discussed in another post, English has a tendency to prefer a &quot;distributed plural&quot; in cases like this (but other languages don't necessarily). So just as you'd say &quot;The students got their pencils out&quot;, even though each student had a single pencil, it would be common to say &quot;our bodies' immune systems&quot; with everything in the plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T20:30:50.483" />
  <row Id="12756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12750" CreationDate="2011-02-15T20:31:02.527" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be either &quot;our bodies' immune systems&quot; (the plural possessive) or &quot;your body's immune system&quot; (the singular possessive).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that if the plural form is used, then it would have to be &quot;system&lt;b&gt;s&lt;/b&gt;&quot; to agree in count.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Our body's&quot; simply does not work here unless one of the parties is non-human and can occupy the other's body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T20:31:02.527" />
  <row Id="12758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12750" CreationDate="2011-02-15T20:37:23.500" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Our bodies&quot; refers to a collection of bodies owned by a group of people including the speaker.  If a group of people share only a single body, then &quot;our body&quot; would be correct.  When speaking of an actual physical body with an immune system, it's extremely rare for it to be occupied by more than one person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Each of [our|your] bodies&quot; similarly refers to that same collection of bodies.  As such it is still plural; even though it is encouraging us to consider every member individually in sequence, the end result is that we are considering the entire collection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you're referring to &quot;the human body&quot; as a generic construct as opposed to a group of specific people and their physical incarnations, that is an acceptable time to use the collective possessive form &quot;our&quot; and still use the singular &quot;body&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Now consider humanity. Our body is a wonderful, complex thing.  Our body's immune system alone is a system of such vast complexity that supercomputers only now are beginning to model it successfully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T20:48:48.420" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T20:48:48.420" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="274" CreationDate="2011-02-15T20:57:02.943" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regional difference in the way 'in' is pronounced? Perhaps with a certain accent 'in' sounds close enough to 'on' to cause the confusion. They're saying 'in line' but it just sounds more line 'on line'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5060" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T20:57:02.943" />
  <row Id="12760" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12761" CreationDate="2011-02-15T21:06:26.707" Score="3" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would it be appropriate to end a rhetorical question with a period, to show that it is not intended as question that one should ponder or attempt to answer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: Why do I eat so much(?)(.)(!) I dont want anyone to answer it, but its still phrased as a question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4947" LastEditorUserId="4947" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T21:21:31.200" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T21:27:25.450" Title="Should rhetorical questions end with a period?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12760" CreationDate="2011-02-15T21:19:44.993" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rhetorical questions can be ended with either a question mark, an exclamation mark or a period. Using a question mark is probably the most common choice, but it is really up to the writer to use whatever punctuation matches best the intent of the rhetorical question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://styleguide.yahoo.com/editing/punctuate-proficiently/question-marks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yahoo's styleguide&lt;/a&gt;, which I would not consider as a reference, gives some examples of such usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Can you believe it? I just bought that car, and it’s already scratched. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;What kind of a man are you?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Boy, do I!  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;How can you possibly think that!    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Would everyone please rise for the national anthem. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Why don’t you stop asking me questions already. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Why don’t you take a long walk off a short pier.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for my personal style, I don't use rhetorical questions much, but when I do I end them with question marks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T21:19:44.993" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12760" CreationDate="2011-02-15T21:27:25.450" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rhetorical questions are written as any other question, and in English a sentence is never ended with a question mark and a period, even in the case the question is being quoted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never seen a question mark followed by a period to mark the question as rhetorical. It is the context to make a question rhetorical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T21:27:25.450" />
  <row Id="12764" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12766" CreationDate="2011-02-15T21:35:59.457" Score="4" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a short interview where people were introducing themselves I saw something that grammatically sounds to be erroneous. Is it a kind of expression or it's a simple mistake?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;David&lt;/strong&gt;: Hi. I’m David.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rachel&lt;/strong&gt;: Hi. I’m Rachel. Pleased to meet you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;David&lt;/strong&gt;: Likewise. &lt;strong&gt;How's things?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rachel&lt;/strong&gt;: Great thanks. And You?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T00:35:57.960" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T00:35:57.960" Title="&quot;How's things?&quot; or &quot;How are things&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;correction&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12752" CreationDate="2011-02-15T21:38:00.243" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's &lt;em&gt;never mind&lt;/em&gt;. It would be written &lt;em&gt;never-mind&lt;/em&gt; if it would be used as modifier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt; It's a never-mind talk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T21:38:00.243" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12764" CreationDate="2011-02-15T21:39:04.057" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is an idiomatic expression, fairly common here in the Midwestern USA, at least; it is equivalent to &quot;How are things going?&quot; or &quot;How are you?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T21:39:04.057" />
  <row Id="12767" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12769" CreationDate="2011-02-15T21:40:03.750" Score="3" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard people say both.  Which is the right one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4595" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T22:38:21.743" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T11:42:04.493" Title="&quot;Try and produce best output&quot; versus &quot;try and produce the best output&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;definite-article&gt;&lt;correction&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12752" CreationDate="2011-02-15T21:40:25.803" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was always under the impression it was a derivation/corruption from &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Never you mind&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and that it was idiomatic at best. Perhaps I've got the order reversed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2161" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T21:40:25.803" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="12769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12767" CreationDate="2011-02-15T21:44:50.963" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Try and produce the best output.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the right one. Before &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/adjectives-superlative_3.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;superlative adjectives&lt;/a&gt; you should use &quot;the&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T22:00:34.443" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T22:00:34.443" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12770" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12794" CreationDate="2011-02-15T21:49:32.023" Score="4" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the common origin of these and similar phrases, and how are they used? I've seen them in both silly and serious contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;If guns get outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;If freedom gets outlawed, only outlaws will be free.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;If evolution gets outlawed, only outlaws will evolve.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4727" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T01:30:30.190" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T01:48:41.427" Title="If ______ gets outlawed, only outlaws will ______" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;pop-culture&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="12771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12764" CreationDate="2011-02-15T22:01:52.803" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've tried running this through my head to hear what I actually say, and what I wind up with is either &quot;how are things&quot; or &quot;how's everything&quot;, both of which agree in number.  However, I'd regard &quot;how's things&quot; as an acceptable alternative in informal speech, if it's generally used in your region.  In a more formal context (a job interview, for example), I would avoid any of these constructs in favor of &quot;how are you&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4244" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T22:01:52.803" />
  <row Id="12775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12727" CreationDate="2011-02-15T22:16:10.560" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Double-edged sword is close.  It misses the &quot;so desirable that everyone wants to attain it&quot; meaning, but it does convey that it has a positive use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another good term might be &quot;forbidden fruit.&quot;  In &lt;em&gt;Genesis&lt;/em&gt;, it was said to convey great power to its consumer, but it also added a curse to the partakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1340" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T22:16:10.560" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12777" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12780" CreationDate="2011-02-15T22:27:27.467" Score="4" ViewCount="222" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to say I'm looking for a &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;_&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4595" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T04:24:24.923" Title="What's a big vocabulary word for someone with a big vocabulary?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12777" CreationDate="2011-02-15T22:32:02.467" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;lexicographer&lt;/strong&gt; is someone who compiles dictionaries, maybe that would fit the bill? To be honest, your questions isn't crystal-clear...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T22:32:02.467" />
  <row Id="12779" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12785" CreationDate="2011-02-15T22:32:10.363" Score="2" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the phrase &quot;walk the walk&quot; in President Obama's remark on budget cuts in the Washington Post's &lt;em&gt;Today's Quote (Feb. 15)&lt;/em&gt;. As I was unfamiliar with this phrase, I checked an online dictionary (www.phrase.org), that told me &lt;em&gt;walk the walk&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;a lot of things are easier to talk about than to do&lt;/em&gt;, and is almost always said in combination with &lt;em&gt;talk the talk&lt;/em&gt; (for example, &lt;em&gt;if you're going to talk the talk, you've got to walk the walk&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, President used &lt;em&gt;walk the walk&lt;/em&gt; alone, not accompanied by &lt;em&gt;talk the talk&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is www.phrase.org’s &lt;em&gt;walk the walk&lt;/em&gt; definition that the phrase is almost always accompanied by &lt;em&gt;talk the talk&lt;/em&gt; wrong? &#xA;How can I interpret &lt;em&gt;walk the walk&lt;/em&gt; in the specific context of the following President Obama’s remark? And what is the origin of &lt;em&gt;walk the walk&lt;/em&gt;? Is this a well-worn idiom?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It would mean cutting things that I care deeply about. But if we're going to walk the walk when it comes to fiscal discipline, these kinds of cuts will be necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T02:43:59.033" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T02:43:59.033" Title="Can ‘Walk the walk’ stand alone?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12777" CreationDate="2011-02-15T22:34:21.093" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;lexicomane&lt;/strong&gt;?  Literally: someone who’s mad about dictionaries…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to be too new and/or marginal a coinage to appear in the major dictionaries yet; but it’s made from standard parts, and made well, so should be easily comprehensible (certainly by any big-vocabulary-person), and seems to be gaining quite a bit of currency (googling it reveals plenty of use).  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/words/lexicomane&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;On Wordnik.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T22:40:21.803" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T22:40:21.803" />
  <row Id="12781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12736" CreationDate="2011-02-15T22:41:34.563" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meaning of &quot;yahoo&quot; in English is exactly the same as in ancient Slavic eхpression &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.classes.ru/all-russian/russian-dictionary-synonyms-term-96906.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;я хуею&quot;&lt;/a&gt; which is pronounced exactly the same and that can possibly explain its etymology.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Though, it is an example of &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1820/english-words-that-are-their-own-antonyms&quot;&gt;auto-antonym&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T22:56:43.233" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T22:56:43.233" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12779" CreationDate="2011-02-15T22:43:30.583" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not &lt;strong&gt;always&lt;/strong&gt; accompanied by &quot;Talk the Talk&quot;, though they're rhyming expressions. It can stand alone as it's used in the example below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ldoceonline.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Walk the Walk:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;to do the things that people expect or think are necessary in a particular situation&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;People are motivated by leaders who actually walk the walk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Walk the Walk with us! The time for talk is over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T00:01:06.913" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T00:01:06.913" />
  <row Id="12784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12752" CreationDate="2011-02-15T22:59:44.850" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You use &quot;nevermind&quot; in the same context that you would, alternatively, use &quot;payattention.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4817" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T22:59:44.850" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12779" CreationDate="2011-02-15T23:14:39.330" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I might mention that I've heard people who are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; native English speakers regularly confuse this phrase, and instead say, &quot;Walk the talk &amp;amp; talk the walk.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;+1 to Manoochehr for affirming that &quot;Talk the talk&quot; can stand alone, not least because listeners will customarily complete the phrase in their minds anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T23:14:39.330" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="12786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12777" CreationDate="2011-02-15T23:26:13.013" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could go with &quot;logophile&quot;, a lover of words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T23:26:13.013" />
  <row Id="12787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12777" CreationDate="2011-02-15T23:36:34.490" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was going to suggest &lt;strong&gt;sesquipedalian&lt;/strong&gt; -which is certainly a big word, although perhaps not as precisely aligned with an extensive vocabulary as &lt;em&gt;lexicomane&lt;/em&gt; (other than by inference.) Still, I'm unsure that PLL's call is the right one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T23:36:34.490" />
  <row Id="12788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12777" CreationDate="2011-02-15T23:47:02.530" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vocabularian&lt;/strong&gt; has the advantage of being quite adequately hoity-toity while also reasonably clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T23:47:02.530" />
  <row Id="12789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12770" CreationDate="2011-02-16T00:13:23.630" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Each of those phrases is rooted in one of the received myths of the national psyche -in this instance, that Americans are naturally (and justifiably) resistant to the dictates of a central authority. Each phrase opens with the sort of &lt;em&gt;ukase&lt;/em&gt; that a clueless bureaucrat might issue from over the horizon and, in closing, exposes it as a false syllogism, negating the commonweal until it's &lt;em&gt;reductio ad absurdum&lt;/em&gt; (and negating intellectual integrity, too, although that's another debate.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I confess only to have heard of the first of your examples, but I'm sure the rest are employed somewhere in the blogo-sphere. All of those you quote would be construed as conservative by nature, since the conclusions the reader would draw from them are congruent with conservative principles and shibboleths. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[EDIT: grammatically, they'd be better phrased as &quot;if [or 'when'] guns &lt;strong&gt;are&lt;/strong&gt; outlawed; if freedom &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; outlawed; if evolution &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; outlawed.&quot;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T00:13:23.630" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12770" CreationDate="2011-02-16T00:21:10.813" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_said_that_if_guns_are_outlawed_only_outlaws_will_have_guns&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WikiAnswers&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Question: Who said that if guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Answer: Ronald Reagan. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myspace.com/patriotactor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;video link&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also this &lt;a href=&quot;http://changelog.ca/topic/If%20you%20outlaw%20guns,%20only%20outlaws%20will%20have%20guns&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; regards the adage as a modern one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T01:18:19.563" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T01:18:19.563" />
  <row Id="12791" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12793" CreationDate="2011-02-16T00:23:46.260" Score="2" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does this expression mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to be &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/election#post-12718&quot;&gt;&quot;trigger-happy on broken windows&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T00:26:12.150" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T19:06:34.637" Title="What does &quot;trigger-happy on broken windows&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12791" CreationDate="2011-02-16T00:42:38.233" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;broken windows&quot; part refers, at a bit of a distance, to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;broken windows&quot;&lt;/a&gt; criminological theory, which is basically that allowing the effects of bad behavior to visibly persist encourages bad behavior.  &quot;Trigger-happiness&quot; is the condition of being ready to &quot;pull the trigger&quot; on some capability at minimal provocation.  The writer is saying that he will become more aggressive about policing visible effects of blatant misbehavior (in counterpoint to his earlier assertion, that he will become less aggressive about policing arguably acceptable behavior).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T00:42:38.233" />
  <row Id="12793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12791" CreationDate="2011-02-16T00:44:46.080" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ldoceonline.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;trigger-happy&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;em&gt;someone who is trigger-happy is much too willing to use weapons, especially guns&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a trigger-happy cop&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Broken windows refers to those questions he mentioned in the paragraph above which are extremely poor, blatantly off-topic questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I think, he means using more of his power of being a moderator to delete those kind of questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T19:06:34.637" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T19:06:34.637" />
  <row Id="12794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12770" CreationDate="2011-02-16T01:22:05.397" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;“If [X] gets outlawed, only outlaws will [X′]” is what you might call a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowclone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;snowclone&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A snowclone is a type of cliché and phrasal template originally defined as &quot;a multi-use, customizable, instantly recognizable, time-worn, quoted or misquoted phrase or sentence that can be used in an entirely open array of different variants&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Classic examples of snowclones are “[X] is the new [Y]” (like “gray is the new black”) and “If Eskimos have [N] words for snow, [X] surely have [Y] words for [Z]”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I searched using the &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Books Ngram Viewer&lt;/a&gt; for “&lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=outlawed+only+outlaws&amp;amp;year_start=1950&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;outlawed only outlaws&lt;/a&gt;” and found this saying had no examples until the late 1960s. The examples shown from that period are invariably the version of the phrase with guns. Further expanding the search in Google Books search to “outlawed * only outlaws” I antedated the saying to a science fiction publication in 1955:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Outlawing it would be as futile as outlawing ambition; if it is outlawed, then only outlaws would have its advantages, and lawful people would be helpless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;— &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=AaMnAQAAIAAJ&amp;amp;q=%22outlawed+%2a+only+outlaws%22&amp;amp;dq=%22outlawed+%2a+only+outlaws%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=jBFbTYTVF5SctwfzotitCw&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=2&amp;amp;ved=0CCwQ6AEwAQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Astouding science-fiction&lt;/em&gt;: Volume 56, Issue 1&lt;/a&gt;, 1955&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not clear from the snippet what the context of “it” is, but this is clearly an example of this phrasal template. An even earlier citation, from 1930, anticipates the phrasal template with respect to firearms, but doesn’t quite match it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No one has a constitutional right to carry a concealed pistol or other such weapon. The right to bear arms has nothing to do with pistol carrying &lt;strong&gt;when the pistol is outlawed&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;Only outlaws will carry it&lt;/strong&gt;. It became interwoven with our ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;— &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=IG_pAAAAMAAJ&amp;amp;q=%22outlawed+%2a+only+outlaws%22&amp;amp;dq=%22outlawed+%2a+only+outlaws%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=biNbTbj-G4H78Abz0bi9DQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=3&amp;amp;ved=0CC8Q6AEwAg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hearings&lt;/a&gt;, 1930&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We can guess from this that the original use of the phrase relates to guns. The first examples in the Google Books corpus which match the template are from 1968, and clearly reference guns:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;— From a publication by &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=LxFbAAAAMAAJ&amp;amp;q=%22outlawed+%2a+only+outlaws%22&amp;amp;dq=%22outlawed+%2a+only+outlaws%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=XCRbTfb-L8-p8Abpns2KDg&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=2&amp;amp;ved=0CC0Q6AEwAQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Christian Nationalist Crusade&lt;/a&gt;, 1968.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By 1969, this trope is regarded as a well-known standard argument about gun-control legislation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Several forms of this argument state that gun-control legislation simply is not an effective way of reducing crime and violence: (i) Guns don't kill people, people kill people; (ii) when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;— &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=L3EoAAAAMAAJ&amp;amp;q=%22outlawed+%2a+only+outlaws%22&amp;amp;dq=%22outlawed+%2a+only+outlaws%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=XCRbTfb-L8-p8Abpns2KDg&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Science&lt;/em&gt;, Volume 164&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since the late 1960s, the phrase has enjoyed some usage, as shown by this Ngram graph:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/dTNDO.png&quot; alt=&quot;Books Ngram Viewer graph of &amp;quot;outlawed only outlaws&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T01:22:05.397" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12795" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12798" CreationDate="2011-02-16T01:28:32.263" Score="5" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a phrase in the headline of today’s Washington Post article (Feb. 14) that reads &quot;Mubarak loyalists change stripes to fit into the new Egypt.&quot; &#xA;Though I interpreted the meaning of &lt;em&gt;change one’s stripes&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;change sides&lt;/em&gt;, I wasn’t sure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I checked up dictionaries at hand. No dictionary carries &lt;em&gt;change stripes&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I checked online dictionaries of free Merriam-webster, Cambridge dictionary online, and the thesaurus. com. None of them carries &lt;em&gt;change stripe&lt;/em&gt;, except reference.com says &lt;em&gt;refer to “Leopard cannot change its spots”&lt;/em&gt;, which seems to me not applicable to the implication of the phrase used in the above headline. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anybody tell me the exact meaning of &lt;em&gt;change stripes&lt;/em&gt;? Does stripe mean a flag? Is this phrase well-established, though none of dictionary I've checked registers this phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T03:50:21.080" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T03:50:21.080" Title="What does &quot;change one's stripes&quot; exactly mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12795" CreationDate="2011-02-16T01:41:07.050" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;tiger&lt;/strong&gt; cannot change its stripes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T01:41:07.050" />
  <row Id="12798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12795" CreationDate="2011-02-16T01:46:22.147" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found this reference, Yoichi: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The tiger cannot change its stripes. One can't change one's essential nature. For example, He's a conservative, no matter what he says; the leopard cannot change its spots. These metaphoric expressions both originated in an ancient Greek proverb that appears in the Bible (Jeremiah 13:23): “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” It was first recorded in English in 1546.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of Mubarak supporters, the writer is implying that -more than changing sides- they're changing (or appearing to change) their very natures. Having once supported the man and his regime, they're now adopting a different coloration as a way to protect themselves in a society that's still reverberating with revolutionary shockwaves. The more common &lt;em&gt;negative&lt;/em&gt; usage -that animals (and presumably humans) cannot change their stripes any more than their essential natures- is slightly more common than the positive usage employed here, but both meanings are widely understood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T01:46:22.147" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12770" CreationDate="2011-02-16T01:48:41.427" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For your further edification and amusement, I will mention that the figure of speech involved here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/chiasmusterm.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chiasmus&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In rhetoric, a verbal pattern (a type of antithesis) in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first with the parts reversed. Essentially the same as antimetabole. Adjective: chiastic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T01:48:41.427" />
  <row Id="12800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12346" CreationDate="2011-02-16T01:59:35.163" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Jargon&quot; is definitely pejorative.  If you need to describe the informal language that has grown up around a vocation or avocation, I would recommend &quot;argot&quot;.  &quot;Prefix&quot; and &quot;prepend&quot; do &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; mean the same thing.  &quot;Prefix&quot; as verb means to create a new word by adding a morpheme to the front of a stem. &quot;Re&quot; plus &quot;do&quot; yielding &quot;redo&quot; is prefixing.  &quot;Prepend&quot; means to add to the front of a list (or similar sequence).  &quot;Lion&quot; plus &quot;tigers and bears&quot; yielding &quot;lions and tigers and bears (oh, my)&quot; is prepending.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T01:59:35.163" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12801" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12807" CreationDate="2011-02-16T02:15:38.413" Score="1" ViewCount="221" Body="&lt;p&gt;On some forum today I referred to myself as &lt;em&gt;a English nerd&lt;/em&gt;. Now I'm wondering whether maybe I'm &lt;em&gt;an English nerd&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My gut feeling tells me that there is a slight nuance in meaning between the two phrases and that even though the general rule is to use &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; in front of a word starting with a vowel, I think &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; is more appropriate in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;a English nerd&lt;/em&gt; refers to the word &lt;em&gt;nerd&lt;/em&gt; and the adjective is only added to denote the type of nerd that I am.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whereas using the phrasing &lt;em&gt;an English nerd&lt;/em&gt; would imply that I am a nerd who happens to be English (I'm not).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, my question is: Did I analyze this correctly and is there in fact a nuance in meaning? Or should I have used &lt;em&gt;an English nerd&lt;/em&gt; to comply with the general &quot;a versus an&quot; rule?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2929" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T02:25:19.377" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T12:53:18.460" Title="&quot;A English nerd&quot; versus &quot;an English nerd&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12801" CreationDate="2011-02-16T02:23:08.207" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The general rule is that &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; is used when the following word starts with a vowel sound. The rule is also valid for &lt;em&gt;English&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an eagle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a young boy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a young animal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an elephant&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a young elephant&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an English man&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an English airport&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nobody gives a different meaning to &lt;em&gt;a English nerd&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;an English nerd&lt;/em&gt;; they see the first as not grammatical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T12:53:18.460" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T12:53:18.460" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12777" CreationDate="2011-02-16T02:29:32.220" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I dunno, I kinda like &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=TJ4yHeS39uoC&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;amp;dq=Thesaurus+rex&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=ZlYwM7cAHj&amp;amp;sig=CX0b4TuerKddSI6jhOREyjq1rtk&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=ZDZbTcTuA4P88AarlOShDg&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=11&amp;amp;ved=0CGAQ6AEwCg#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Thesaurus Rex&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T02:29:32.220" />
  <row Id="12804" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-16T02:44:02.017" Score="2" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I really want to know what a paronym is because we're supposed use them in class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5072" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T03:08:32.513" Title="What's a paronym?" Tags="&lt;paronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12804" CreationDate="2011-02-16T02:53:53.423" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is a click away at &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/paronymterm.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Answers.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Two words are paronyms when their phonemic representations are similar but not identical. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Salvatore Attardo, Linguistic Theories of Humor. Walter de Gruyter, 1994)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should read the whole entry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T03:01:12.420" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T03:01:12.420" />
  <row Id="12806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12804" CreationDate="2011-02-16T03:08:32.513" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A paronym word is a word that derives from another word, and that has a related meaning.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is also used for words originated from a word in a different language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;wisdom&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;wise&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;angelic&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;angel&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;carry&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;carrus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T03:08:32.513" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12801" CreationDate="2011-02-16T03:17:58.727" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no different nuance in meaning as you describe in any dialect of English I am aware of.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;a/an&lt;/em&gt; pattern is a purely phonological pattern; using one or the other has no impact on meaning.  The use is simply governed by the sound of the following word.  So, we say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;A&lt;/em&gt; boy &lt;em&gt;(&quot;boy&quot; starts with consonant sound)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;An&lt;/em&gt; old boy &lt;em&gt;(&quot;old&quot; starts with vowel sound)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;An&lt;/em&gt; hour &lt;em&gt;(&quot;hour&quot; starts with a vowel sound)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;A&lt;/em&gt; used automobile &lt;em&gt;(&quot;used&quot; starts with a consonant sound)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;An&lt;/em&gt; extremely tired man &lt;em&gt;(&quot;extremely&quot; starts with a vowel sound)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever sound comes directly after the indefinite article determines whether it takes the &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; form or the &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; form.  It doesn't matter if this is a noun, adjective, adverb, or anything else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, there are some dialects that do things differently, but that difference amounts to allowing &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; more often (usually with &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_variation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;free variation&lt;/a&gt;).  Again, semantics does not come into the picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is any true nuance in meaning for you, then it is something that (as far as I know) is attested only in your &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiolect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;idiolect&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T03:17:58.727" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12808" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-16T03:37:12.263" Score="1" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not to be immature or anything (interpret the question as you will...), but I was just thinking about how &quot;V&quot; is essentially a feminine symbol. The masculine symbol is usually the reverse, probably playing off the whole yin/yang thing. The structural similarities between the letters and sexual organs of both or undeniably similar, while somewhat simplistic (though its distant origin would suggest simplicity). Where did the word come from and did the fact that it starts with the letter 'v' influence its creation or propagation as a word? Then again, thinking on it....unless it came from English, then the word probably didn't start with a 'v'. Nevertheless, it would still be interesting to know how the word came to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5069" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T03:42:45.190" Title="Etymology of Vagina?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12808" CreationDate="2011-02-16T03:42:45.190" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Vagina&lt;/em&gt; comes from the Latin word &lt;em&gt;vagina&lt;/em&gt;, which meant &quot;sheath&quot; or &quot;scabbard&quot;. The reason for that etymology should be obvious. However, any visual similarity between the letter V and the anatomy in question is purely coincidental. The word ultimately goes back to a Proto-Indo-European root, which predates written language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=vagina&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T03:42:45.190" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12777" CreationDate="2011-02-16T04:24:24.923" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As @PLL and @fotunate1 noted, &lt;strong&gt;lexicomane&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;sesquipedalian&lt;/strong&gt; are probably the words that most accurately describe someone with a big vocabulary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some other words that mean one who studies or is knowledgeable in words; such a person would have quite an extensive vocabulary, I'd hope:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Philologer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Glottologist&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Wordsmith&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Vocabulist&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T04:24:24.923" />
  <row Id="12811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12727" CreationDate="2011-02-16T06:24:40.230" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monkey%27s_Paw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Monkey's Paw&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, perhaps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T06:24:40.230" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12767" CreationDate="2011-02-16T07:04:00.353" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Try to produce the best output&quot; is more correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5077" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T07:04:00.353" />
  <row Id="12813" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12817" CreationDate="2011-02-16T07:15:01.783" Score="0" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why were all the occurrences of the &quot;Rip&quot; the original question   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12201/what-other-expressions-and-sayings-do-you-have-as-an-alternative-to-rip-van-wink&quot;&gt;What other expressions and sayings do you have as an alternative to ‘Rip Van Winkle meets Facebook.’?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;were upgraded to capitalized &quot;RIP&quot; ?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How does it change the sense of phrases and of the &quot;RIP&quot; over &quot;Rip&quot;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T07:54:36.190" Title="What are hidden meanings in RIP over Rip?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;comparative&gt;&lt;catch-phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12814" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12815" CreationDate="2011-02-16T07:25:28.527" Score="2" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I want to talk to someone and make sure something is done. How to express this meaning using the word &lt;em&gt;confirm&lt;/em&gt;? I'm not sure whether it should be &lt;em&gt;confirm to sb&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;confirm with sb&lt;/em&gt;. Is there another way to say it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T14:04:55.903" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T14:04:55.903" Title="&quot;Confirm with sb&quot; or &quot;confirm to sb&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12814" CreationDate="2011-02-16T07:49:30.890" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;With&lt;/em&gt; is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'd like to confirm with you that you will finish the report by Thursday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also request confirmation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please confirm that you'll finish the report by then.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I need your confirmation that you'll do it on time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With this sense, you can also confirm something &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; someone:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let me look at my calendar to confirm that for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, to act on their request for confirmation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T07:49:30.890" />
  <row Id="12816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12813" CreationDate="2011-02-16T07:53:41.543" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It was an incorrect edit, which I've now reverted. &quot;Rip Van Winkle&quot; is the correct name, the eponymous character of a short story by Washington Irving. RIP is an acronym for &lt;em&gt;rest in peace&lt;/em&gt; or the equivalent Latin &lt;em&gt;requiescat in pace,&lt;/em&gt; used to refer respectfully to the deceased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T07:53:41.543" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12813" CreationDate="2011-02-16T07:54:36.190" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_Van_Winkle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rip Van Winkle&lt;/a&gt; is a fictional character, so &quot;Rip&quot; is just a name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When capitalised, RIP means &lt;em&gt;Rest in peace&lt;/em&gt;. This is commonly found on gravestones, at least in illustrations. A stone with the letters RIP is the standard way of illustrating a gravestone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So capitalising Rip makes no sense in the context. It's a name, not an abbreviation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T07:54:36.190" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12818" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12827" CreationDate="2011-02-16T08:17:07.837" Score="6" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I know &quot;media&quot; is plural itself... So which one is right, &quot;all the media is&quot; or &quot;all the media are&quot;? When you search google for them, both appears at same frequency...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5080" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T14:34:00.207" Title="Which one is right, &quot;all the media is&quot; or &quot;all the media are&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="12819" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-16T08:24:27.133" Score="4" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of the ones I can think of are specific products that have come to represent their kind. This is usually either because it is the first of its kind, as in a Xerox machine (the first office photocopier), or it arises from popularity, as in Sharpie or something like &quot;Google that&quot; (though I'd say that's a bit informal/debatable).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other examples I can think of off the top of my head are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kleenex&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Post-it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5044" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T23:40:32.417" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-16T14:55:39.690" Title="What are some products that are now words?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12818" CreationDate="2011-02-16T08:26:03.020" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think treating &quot;the media&quot; as a singular (when speaking of the Fourth Estate) has become so overwhelmingly common now that it has to be treated as acceptable, though it bothers me and I would always personally prefer the plural usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the sentence were about data storage media or some such, I think the plural would be more strongly called for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T08:26:03.020" />
  <row Id="12821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12819" CreationDate="2011-02-16T08:31:17.353" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aqualung&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aspirin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Astroturf&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Band-aid&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bubble wrap&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Butterscotch&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cellophane&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chapstick&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Coke (only in some regions)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Crock pot&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cuisinart&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dumpster&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dry ice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Escalator&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Frisbee&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jeep&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jello&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jetski&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hacky sack&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heroin&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hoover (mainly in the UK)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Kerosene&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Laundromat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Linoleum&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Muzak&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Q-tip&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tarmac&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Taser&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thermos&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Trampoline&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Velcro&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walkman&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yo-yo&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zipper&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T08:36:22.853" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T08:36:22.853" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-16T14:55:39.690" />
  <row Id="12822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12819" CreationDate="2011-02-16T08:37:27.230" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Duck tape&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;George Foreman grill&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Palm Pilot&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Scotch tape&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastEditorUserId="2396" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T23:40:32.417" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T23:40:32.417" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-16T14:55:39.690" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12818" CreationDate="2011-02-16T08:42:29.473" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The traditionalists say that &lt;em&gt;media&lt;/em&gt; is the plural of &lt;em&gt;medium&lt;/em&gt;, and should only be used as a plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, media can be treated either as singular or plural. When used in the singular, it is often treated as a collective noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The media has gone insane about this trial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is what the &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/media?rskey=Z5SJ5u&amp;amp;result=2#m_en_gb0508310&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;OED online&lt;/a&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word media comes from the Latin plural of medium. The traditional view is that it should therefore be treated as a plural noun in all its senses in English and be used with a plural rather than a singular verb: &lt;em&gt;the media have not followed the reports&lt;/em&gt; (rather than ‘has ’). In practice, in the sense ‘television, radio, and the press collectively ’, it behaves as a collective noun (like &lt;em&gt;staff&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;clergy&lt;/em&gt;, for example), which means that it is now acceptable in standard English for it to take either a singular or a plural verb. The word is also increasingly used in the plural form medias, as if it had a conventional singular form media, especially when referring to different forms of new media, and in the sense ‘the material or form used by an artist’: &lt;em&gt;there were great efforts made by the medias of the involved countriesabout 600 works in all genres and medias were submitted for review.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=2yJusP0vrdgC&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (see page 630)&lt;/a&gt; also notes the use of &lt;em&gt;media&lt;/em&gt; in the singular. It gives examples of it being used as a singular countable noun as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;. . . partly as a cultural media. -- &lt;em&gt;American Journal of Sociology, 1948&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;. . . producing a suitable media for organic life. --&lt;em&gt;Britannica Book of the Year 1946&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;. . . an optical disc media. -- &lt;em&gt;Predicasts Technology Update, 1987&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, the usage of &lt;em&gt;media&lt;/em&gt; as a singular noun is well-documented.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastEditorUserId="2972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T09:38:34.370" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T09:38:34.370" />
  <row Id="12824" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-16T08:43:21.517" Score="4" ViewCount="390" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience there has been a diachronic split between these phrases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is fine with me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am fine with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The latter has overtaken the former in usage although they continue to compete for the exact same meaning (which is discussed &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/693/usage-of-fine-with-me&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;). Is there a meaningful difference between the two phrases? Is the first one indeed on its way out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2396" LastEditorUserId="2396" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T23:46:52.910" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T23:46:52.910" Title="&quot;I am fine with it&quot; or &quot;it is fine with me&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;shift&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12819" CreationDate="2011-02-16T08:43:23.937" Score="-3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of the words that I find in common use nowadays in their domain are as follows:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Blogging (Posting articles on web-logs)&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Magging (Shooting)&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Facebooking (Online on facebook)&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T08:43:23.937" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-16T14:55:39.690" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12824" CreationDate="2011-02-16T08:57:10.907" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; slight implication of greater indifference given by &quot;it's fine with me&quot; relative to &quot;I'm fine with it&quot;.  I don't honestly think either is &quot;on its way out&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T08:57:10.907" />
  <row Id="12827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12818" CreationDate="2011-02-16T08:58:05.123" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, when I google for these phrases, I'm seeing this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22all+the+media+are%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;all the media are&quot;&lt;/a&gt; — 110,000&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22all+the+media+is%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;all the media is&quot;&lt;/a&gt; — 225,000&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; paints a similar picture, though the sample size is rather small (1 vs 3 cites). You get more results if you leave out the &quot;all&quot; (445 vs 602). These numbers also include a few cites of the form &quot;the quality of the media is...&quot; or &quot;many in the media are...&quot;, which are obviously not relevant here, but the overall trend is still rather clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt;, on the other hand, favors the plural form. There are fewer results overall, so I took my time to check every single one for relevance, and here's the overview:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;                      BNC         COCA        Google&#xA;&#xA;the media are         43           445?&#xA;all the media are      1            1         110,000&#xA;the media is          19           602?&#xA;all the media is       0            3         225,000&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the Americans prefer the singular form, while the British prefer the plural. This should come as no surprise knowing that the British like to treat other &lt;em&gt;collective nouns&lt;/em&gt; such as &lt;em&gt;staff&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Microsoft&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Metallica&lt;/em&gt; as plural, too, while Americans prefer the singular. See these answers to related questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3288/is-staff-plural/3291#3291&quot;&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;staff&lt;/em&gt; plural?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1338/is-a-company-always-plural-or-are-small-companies-singular/1339#1339&quot;&gt;Is a company always plural, or are small companies singular?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T08:58:05.123" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12819" CreationDate="2011-02-16T09:09:17.233" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are looking for is called a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genericized_trademark&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;genericized trademark&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;generic trademark&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;proprietary eponym&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, and Wikipedia has a huge list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericized_trademarks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;List of generic and genericized trademarks&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It includes all the examples mentioned by chaos and yourself, and many more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also this related question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7235/what-is-a-word-phrase-for-using-a-term-for-a-popular-special-case-instead-of-a-ge&quot;&gt;What is a word/phrase for using a term for a popular special case instead of a generic term?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T09:09:17.233" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-16T14:55:39.690" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12824" CreationDate="2011-02-16T09:19:40.363" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/em&gt;, which has text from 1990 to 2010, has 9 occurrences of “I am fine with it” (with either “I am” or “I’m”), and 28 occurrences of “It is fine with me”. So, both are still in use, and even though your second sentence seems less used in American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the meaning of the two, I don't think there is any perceived difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T09:19:40.363" />
  <row Id="12830" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12840" CreationDate="2011-02-16T09:56:03.623" Score="4" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;rat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;rats, &lt;em&gt;Slang&lt;/em&gt; . (an exclamation of disappointment, disgust, or&#xA;  disbelief.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary.reference.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where does this meaning/usage of &quot;rat&quot; come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1132" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T13:09:14.197" Title="Etymology of the &quot;Rats!&quot; exclamation" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12830" CreationDate="2011-02-16T10:04:34.350" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rats have a very negative image in the mind of people, and have had for long (I believe it started with 19th century’s urbanisation, and later intensified; earlier tales of rats feature them as rather nice animals living in fields).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They're typically associated with filth, bad smell, and have be blamed for transmitting diseases. This gave rise to a number of expressions, including “to smell a rat” and the associated meaning of rat (“a person regarded as despicable”). I believe this same popular perception of the animal is responsible for the interjection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T10:04:34.350" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12752" CreationDate="2011-02-16T10:43:45.690" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Robusto clearly pointed out, Nevermind is the name of a rock album written and performed by the late (and great, depending on who you ask) grunge rock band, Nirvana. However, the legacy of the term &quot;Nevermind&quot; doesn't end there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevermind is also an album name written / recorded by a popular Philly (Philadelphia, PA) punk band named Clockcleaner. You can check it out at Amazon &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/Nevermind-Clockcleaner/dp/B000FWH1KU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Check it at Amazon&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. It is, unfortunately, out of stock. No doubt because the fan-base didn't warrant a huge number of units. I am sure the album can be found elsewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevermind is also a video game produced by SCE Studio Liverpool. Back in &quot;the day&quot;, the development company was named Psygnosis and it was a subsidiary of that development company, called Psyclapse, that originally wrote the game and released it in 1989. It is a 3D isometric arcade puzzle game, which actually got quite a following from Amiga-heads. The game was distributed on Amiga computers in the UK, much like Window's minesweeper. You can check out the game over at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.retrogames.co.uk/more/on/details/000842&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Retrogames.co.uk&quot;&gt;Retrogames.co.uk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevermind is also a song written by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It appeared on the album Freaky Styley which was released by EMI in 1985. Now, THAT, makes me feel really old.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevermind is also a song written / recorded by a band named Violet and it appeared on their album, The Birthday Massacre. The album was released through Metropolis records in 2004.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevermind is also the name of a children's book written by Edward Irving Wortis (who prefers to be called Avi...just Avi). The eccentric man has written quite a few different titles in quite a few different genres.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevermind is, yet another, song name written / recorded by the underground cult group named Sonic Youth. It was the only single released from their 13th studio album called NYC Ghosts &amp;amp; Flowers. The album has an interesting history to it. The sound and production was very different from their norm. The interesting part is the reason for the &quot;new sound&quot;. Evidently, the album was a direct retaliation to the theft of their instruments in 1999! The album is based on beat poetry and the music is riddled with crazy sound effects. They literally used anything they could get their hands on that would make noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally, for the boring answer. The term &quot;Nevermind&quot;, when used in conversation, is a negation to attention and/or responsiblity. Some examples from dictionary.reference.com:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pay him no nevermind.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's no nevermind of yours.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It boils down to being the noun usage for the verb phrase &quot;never mind&quot;, which originated in the early 1930's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, this was my first &lt;em&gt;answer&lt;/em&gt;. It was fairly fun, except for the editor messing up half the links. I had to fix them manually only to be denied and restricted to only posting two links. Sorry!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5084" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T10:43:45.690" />
  <row Id="12834" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12842" CreationDate="2011-02-16T10:53:48.720" Score="4" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which of the following would be correct? Is it a question of dialect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;If this question gets answered, ...&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;If this question is answered, ...&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Inspired by &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12770/if-gets-outlawed-only-outlaws-will/12789#12789&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4727" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T11:57:02.563" Title="&quot;get&quot; or &quot;is&quot; regarding the future" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;future-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12834" CreationDate="2011-02-16T10:55:58.843" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either one is fine. Functionally there is no difference between the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T10:55:58.843" />
  <row Id="12836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12824" CreationDate="2011-02-16T11:12:00.630" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see a small difference between &lt;em&gt;I am fine with it&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;it is fine for me&lt;/em&gt;, which is the same difference between &lt;em&gt;I am unclear&lt;/em&gt; (used to express doubt or confusion) and &lt;em&gt;it is unclear to me&lt;/em&gt;: in one phrase the grammar subject is &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt;, in the other is &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;For example, the focus could be placed on &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; to mean &lt;em&gt;it is unclear to me, but it can be clear to others&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;it is fine with me, and it will be fine with the others too&lt;/em&gt;; vice versa, the focus could be put on &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt; to mean &lt;em&gt;it is fine with me, but I don't know what others would think&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most probably, both the sentences (the one starting with &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt;, and the one starting with &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt;) are understood to mean the same thing from most the people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking for the frequency those, and similar phrases, are used, I get the following data (&lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=fine+for+me%2CI+am+fine+with%2Cworks+fine+for+me%2C+it+is+fine%2C+it%27s+fine&amp;amp;year_start=1940&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=5&amp;amp;smoothing=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;first chart&lt;/a&gt;; &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=I+am+unclear%2Cit+is+unclear+to+me%2C+it%27s+unclear+to+me&amp;amp;year_start=1940&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=5&amp;amp;smoothing=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;second chart&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/qI1Ok.png&quot; alt=&quot;first chart&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/ybTPK.png&quot; alt=&quot;second chart&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T11:12:00.630" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2743" CreationDate="2011-02-16T11:21:44.883" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;RegDwight has given a correct modern answer.  The traditional approach would be different.  Adopting this approach will sound like you're living in the 1950s or earlier, so you shouldn't actually do this, but I thought it would be useful to document what the modern system is reacting against.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You should always know whether a woman is married or unmarried; a woman will sign a letter as either Rachel Jones [unmarried] or Rachel Smith (Mrs.) [married].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Other than in correspondence, you would have been introduced, or there would be a calling card.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you write to a married or widowed women (&lt;em&gt;divorced&lt;/em&gt; women are excluded from polite company) then you address her in writing as Mrs. Stephen Smith, using her husband's first name, not her own.  For this reason you can write to &quot;Mr. and Mrs. S. Smith&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mrs. and Miss are titles of respect; you only use them in relation to ladies; the lower classes are addressed by their first names, or by a bare surname.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was the usual approach before 1960 or so (after the separation of Mrs. and Miss from the original Mistress in the seventeenth century).  The use of Ms. (at all) was controversial from its proposal by Sheila Michaels in 1961 until some point in the 1980s - William Safire's use of it for Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 is often seen as the pivotal moment for acceptance by its former opponents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're writing historical fiction, or you want a character to sound very old-fashioned, then using the traditional forms would be appropriate; even if not, it's useful to know what they were.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1265" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T11:21:44.883" />
  <row Id="12838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12834" CreationDate="2011-02-16T11:27:54.023" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both the phrases are understood to have the same or similar meaning; &lt;em&gt;to get an answer&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;to obtain an answer&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at which phrase between &lt;em&gt;gets answered&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;gets an answer&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;is answered&lt;/em&gt; is the most used in American English, I obtain the &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=gets+answered%2Cis+answered%2C+gets+an+answer&amp;amp;year_start=1970&amp;amp;year_end=2008&amp;amp;corpus=5&amp;amp;smoothing=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;following data&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/a977A.png&quot; alt=&quot;first chart&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T11:27:54.023" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12814" CreationDate="2011-02-16T11:29:57.813" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think there are three distinct meanings for &quot;confirm&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;get confirmation from&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;give confirmation to&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;mutually reach a firm agreement from some more vague state&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think all of them can use &quot;with&quot; (which can therefore sometimes be ambiguous). The second can also use &quot;to&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T11:29:57.813" />
  <row Id="12840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12830" CreationDate="2011-02-16T11:35:49.540" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Drat&lt;/em&gt; is first used in the early 19th century as shortening of &lt;em&gt;od rat&lt;/em&gt;, which was an euphemism for &lt;em&gt;God rot&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Rats&lt;/em&gt; seems a shortening of &lt;em&gt;od rat&lt;/em&gt; obtained by removing &lt;em&gt;od&lt;/em&gt;, and used as plural to make it seems the plural of &lt;em&gt;rat&lt;/em&gt; (the rodent).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Reference: the New Oxford American Dictionary.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T13:09:14.197" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T13:09:14.197" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12767" CreationDate="2011-02-16T11:42:04.493" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not find &quot;Produce best output&quot; normal in any dialect of English that I recognise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Manoochehr says, superlatives usually need &quot;the&quot;, but there is an idiom &quot;for best results&quot; (typically on instruction sheets and clothing labels), and I wonder if somebody has tried to generalise that construction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't see that &quot;try and&quot; has any relevance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T11:42:04.493" />
  <row Id="12842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12834" CreationDate="2011-02-16T11:57:02.563" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I offered my correction to Tim because, in the question in question, the implication in &quot;if guns &lt;em&gt;get&lt;/em&gt; outlawed...&quot; is that some external agency (malign in this case) would be required for change to be effected.  &quot;If guns &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; outlawed...&quot; seems much more value-neutral to me. I accept that the difference is subtle, but I believe it's there -my ear and kiamaluno's graph say as much to me.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T11:57:02.563" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12843" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12863" CreationDate="2011-02-16T11:59:32.540" Score="3" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I was in a fish and chip shop in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandurah&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mandurah, WA&lt;/a&gt;, selling local crumbed scallops.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;local crumbed scallops&lt;/em&gt; the correct form? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;crumbed local scallops&lt;/em&gt; more appropriate? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What if &quot;nonlocal&quot; scallops were also available?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;[optional] What form would a native German speaker find more natural, and why?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3093" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T12:09:05.567" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T16:33:19.247" Title="&quot;Local crumbed scallops&quot;, or &quot;crumbed local scallops&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12843" CreationDate="2011-02-16T12:17:23.323" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Local crumbed scallops&lt;/em&gt; seems ambiguous, as it could be understood as &lt;em&gt;local-crumbed scallops&lt;/em&gt;, where &lt;em&gt;local&lt;/em&gt; is referring to &lt;em&gt;crumbed&lt;/em&gt;; in that case, the hyphen is necessary to avoid the ambiguity.&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Crumbed local scallops&lt;/em&gt; is more clear, as it's evident that &lt;em&gt;local&lt;/em&gt; is referring to &lt;em&gt;scallops&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In English, the adjectives are written (or should be written) in a particular order; the answers given in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1155/adjective-order&quot;&gt;Adjective order&lt;/a&gt; explain better in which order they should be written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Non-local&lt;/em&gt; is generally not used; if the scallops are not local scallops, then they are generally called &lt;em&gt;scallops&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T12:22:54.720" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T12:22:54.720" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12845" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15933" CreationDate="2011-02-16T12:33:51.600" Score="3" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;In America, it's pretty much universally pronounced &quot;moll&quot; but in the UK, I have heard a few different ways of pronouncing it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mall (rhymes with pal)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Maul (rhymes with ball and hence the American pronunciations match up)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Moll&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may depend on accents but which is the correct way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2160" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T12:53:33.403" Title="How to properly pronounce 'mall'" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12845" CreationDate="2011-02-16T12:40:00.143" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is not a correct pronunciation. As you said, American English and British English speakers give to the word a different pronunciation (/mɔl/ in American English; /mal/ /mɔːl/ /mɒl/ in British English); even inside the same English dialect, different regions can possibly have different pronunciations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T12:40:00.143" />
  <row Id="12847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12845" CreationDate="2011-02-16T12:59:48.880" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want the original prononciation, it would be the one that rhymes with &quot;pal&quot;, from the shopping street The Mall in London, which in turn got it's name from the game pall-mall once played there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1737, &quot;shaded walk serving as a promenade,&quot; from The Mall,  broad, tree-lined promenade in St. James's Park, London (1674), formerly an open alley that was used to play pall-mall,  a croquet-like game involving hitting a ball with a mallet through a ring, from Fr. pallemaille,  from It. pallamaglio,  from palla  &quot;ball&quot; (see balloon) + maglio  &quot;mallet.&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mall&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mall&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The modern use of the word for a shopping centre has of course lost most of it's history, thus the Americans simply pronounce it as other similar words like fall, hall, ball and call.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="3365" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T13:07:43.273" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T13:07:43.273" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2389" CreationDate="2011-02-16T13:26:28.183" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A rooter is used to clean pipes (specifically to remove roots, or other obstructions).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because that pronunciation exists, router is pronounced as indicated in the other answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2161" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T13:26:28.183" />
  <row Id="12849" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12850" CreationDate="2011-02-16T13:28:48.937" Score="17" ViewCount="571" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference in meaning and usage between &lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;may be&lt;/em&gt;? Are they synonymous?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2372" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T09:39:19.897" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T15:09:09.647" Title="What is the difference between &quot;maybe&quot; and &quot;may be&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12849" CreationDate="2011-02-16T13:33:38.747" Score="25" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;maybe&lt;/strong&gt; is an adverb, meaning perhaps or possibly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;may be&lt;/strong&gt; is a verbal construction, formed of the modal verb &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; and the verb &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt;, which can be used in sentences like &lt;em&gt;“he may be in the office today”&lt;/em&gt;. Note that, if you were to rewrite this sentence with &lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;/em&gt;, you would say &lt;em&gt;“maybe he is in the office today”&lt;/em&gt;. Because &lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;/em&gt; is an adverb, you need to add a verb to the sentence (&lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;, a form of &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt;, in that case).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T15:09:09.647" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T15:09:09.647" />
  <row Id="12851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12849" CreationDate="2011-02-16T13:39:36.793" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Maybe&lt;/em&gt; is an adverb, with means &lt;em&gt;possibly&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;perhaps&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;may be&lt;/em&gt; is a verbal phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Maybe you are wrong.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  It may be true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As per the origin, the NOAD reports that the origin of &lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;/em&gt; is late Middle English, from the phrase &lt;em&gt;it may be (that)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T13:46:01.700" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T13:46:01.700" />
  <row Id="12852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1269" CreationDate="2011-02-16T13:43:50.847" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrasal verb is &lt;em&gt;bear with&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;bare with&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Bear with me&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;have patience with me&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;be tolerant with me&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T13:43:50.847" />
  <row Id="12853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12845" CreationDate="2011-02-16T13:43:56.833" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is also a word that's subject to strong regional variations in the U.S.  In Brooklyn English, which is where I, a non-native speaker learned it, it's more like 'mawwl'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my native tongue, the word for &quot;mall&quot; is &quot;קניון&quot; (transliteration &quot;canyon&quot; and also means &quot;canyon&quot;) which leads to puns like this: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canyon_%28mall%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canyon_%28mall%29&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3370" LastEditorUserId="3370" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T00:42:59.990" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T00:42:59.990" />
  <row Id="12854" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-16T14:00:45.783" Score="0" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to localize (i.e: represent in various languages) a sentence as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jenny has shared this file with John,&#xA;  Mary and Joseph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where the number of people the file has been shared with can vary. I need to structuralise this sentence so that I can express it in a great number of languages by simply varying the name of the person that's sharing the file and the names of the people with whom the file is shared with. The problem is that I don't know if most languages have the same structure as English when listing a list of items, that is, separate the items by a comma and differentiate only the last item:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&amp;lt;name1&amp;gt;&amp;lt;separator&amp;gt;&amp;lt;name2&amp;gt;&amp;lt;separator&amp;gt;&amp;lt;name3&amp;gt;&amp;lt;final_separator&amp;gt;&amp;lt;name4&amp;gt;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any languages where this isn't so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="909" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T14:00:45.783" ClosedDate="2011-02-16T14:56:25.443" Title="Representation of a list of items in most languages" Tags="&lt;conjunctions&gt;&lt;structure&gt;" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12818" CreationDate="2011-02-16T14:34:00.207" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Language and usage evolve, but I'm sufficiently reactionary to regard &quot;media&quot; as plural, regardless of comtemporary examples.  In regard to the Fourth Estate, &quot;media&quot; to me signifies the print medium, the broadcast medium, et. al.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, this comes from one who occasianally uses &quot;Yr. obt. svt.&quot; as the complimentary closing on my correspondence...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4244" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T14:34:00.207" />
  <row Id="12856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12819" CreationDate="2011-02-16T14:53:08.627" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;iPod (I've seen many people use iPod to refer to any MP3 player)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Xerox&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Zip-lock&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3709" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T14:53:08.627" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-16T14:55:39.690" />
  <row Id="12857" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-15T19:31:51.283" Score="1" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;If we were asked to write about the &lt;em&gt;contributions a person made to the study of computer science&lt;/em&gt; for example, is that different from if we were asked to write about the &lt;em&gt;contributions a person made to computer science&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T03:36:02.763" Title="Writing about contributions" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="12858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12857" CreationDate="2011-02-15T20:02:51.063" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(You asked if it were different... you didn't ask how.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T20:02:51.063" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12857" CreationDate="2011-02-15T21:15:51.753" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm guessing they're the same. Sometimes when people say &quot;the study of,&quot; they mean &quot;the field of.&quot; I'd bet that that's what the person intended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, they're asking about someone who contributed to the way computer science is studied or taught. That meaning seems less likely to me, though it might make sense in some limited contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My recommendation: Ask the person what they meant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T21:15:51.753" />
  <row Id="12860" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-16T09:47:36.727" Score="1" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every time I hear someone trot out the phrase &quot;I personally&quot; it grates against my ears.&#xA;I wouldn't mind so much, but it very commonly used by a wide variety of people.&#xA;I grates most because I'm not sure anymore whether this is correct grammatically.&#xA;Is it legal in American but not British English (or vice versa)?&#xA;So, could someone solve this conundrum for me, finally, please?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T15:50:13.667" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T17:05:59.440" Title="Is &quot;I personally&quot; incorrect?" Tags="&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12860" CreationDate="2011-02-16T12:23:26.780" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a perfectly legal construction (although the word &lt;em&gt;personally&lt;/em&gt; should probably be set off with commas), even if it is sometimes misused or overused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an evidential marker (something English doesn't require) it tells the listener that what you are saying comes from personal, as opposed to second-hand, experience. This is often left to context, or made more explicit with phrases like, &quot;I saw it with my own eyes.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second usage I am aware of is to distinguish between a simple choice made among equally valid options and an admonition. &quot;I, personally, wouldn't do it that way, but this,&quot; is quite a bit different in tone from, &quot;I wouldn't do it that way, but this.&quot; Where the first merely indicates a preference or habit of the speaker, the second carries an implied, &quot;don't make me say, 'I told you so.'&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T12:23:26.780" />
  <row Id="12862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12843" CreationDate="2011-02-16T16:28:41.250" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a theory that adjective ordering is essentially universal (i.e. the same across all languages), so that in principle we ought to be able to give rules something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;keep words forming a compound or colloquation together;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if the adjectives all come before the noun in your native language, keep them in that same order in English;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if some adjectives come after the noun in your native language, then those adjectives will come before the noun in English, but after other adjectives coming befor the noun in both languages;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if in the adjectives coming after the noun in your native language, colour adjectives come last, then reverse the order of those adjectives in English.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first rule means you could actually end up with variations of the sort &quot;an elderly single mother&quot; or &quot;a single elderly mother&quot; depending on which colloquation is intended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last rule covers some cases where adjectives following the noun can allow a &quot;reversed&quot; order or not, e.g. Rowlett (2007) cites French examples: &quot;une jolie petite jupe [bleue fleurie écossaise']&quot;, which also permits &quot;...[écossaise fleurie bleue]&quot;, with English &quot;A pretty little blue floral Scottish skirt&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This goes for adjectives that are actually adjectives, incidentally: it isn't necessarily valid to class determiners, quantifiers, adverbs and nouns inside compounds as adjectives, for example (one of the links above appears to, and I think this could confuse the issue).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should also be noted that we're talking about the unmarked order; for emphasis, the 'emphasised' adjectives can generally be placed before all others even if that means that it's out of place (&quot;There are lots of cheap lawnmowers, but this is an OLD cheap lawnmower&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you start giving actual lists of orderings (which, as I say, may be universal anyway), there is a danger in assuming that the order that applies with, say, nouns denoting tangible objects will then apply to nouns denoting emotions or actions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T16:28:41.250" />
  <row Id="12863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12843" CreationDate="2011-02-16T16:33:19.247" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A discussion of adjective ordering is the right approach here I think, but...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, “local crumbed scallops” would be already-crumbed scallops obtained locally; “crumbed local scallops” would be scallops obtained locally and then crumbed after being obtained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T16:33:19.247" />
  <row Id="12864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12860" CreationDate="2011-02-16T17:05:59.440" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is that it is grammatically correct. _Personally is an adverb, and in the example you reported, it is being used as adverb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of usage reported from the NOAD includes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She stayed to thank O'Brien personally.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He never forgave his father, holding him personally responsible for this betrayal.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  They had made conclusions without getting to know me personally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T17:05:59.440" />
  <row Id="12865" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12869" CreationDate="2011-02-16T17:06:21.093" Score="4" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;Q: &quot;Do you have any juice?&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A: &quot;Yes, &lt;strong&gt;there's&lt;/strong&gt; some in the fridge.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sounds perfectly fine to me, but:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Q: &quot;Do you have any towels?&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A: &quot;Yes, &lt;strong&gt;there's&lt;/strong&gt; some in the closet.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I asked for towels - plural - so wouldn't &quot;Yes, &lt;strong&gt;there're&lt;/strong&gt; some in the closet,&quot; in which &lt;strong&gt;there are&lt;/strong&gt; is turned into a contraction be the correct way to say it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spellcheck, however, doesn't like &quot;there're&quot;, and I think I'm the only person I've ever heard use the word &quot;there're&quot;.  Even folks who I know say &quot;there are&quot; shorten it to &quot;there's&quot; when possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I saying it wrong, or are both forms acceptable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5099" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T19:08:25.363" Title="&quot;there's&quot; vs &quot;there're&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10527" CreationDate="2011-02-16T17:13:08.930" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's an analogy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When comparing disparate things, you can't use simple, direct comparisons. Whether that comparison is between individuals, between distinct populations or, in the case of your example, between different technologies, there is no apples-to-apples comparison. So how can you compare apples to oranges and get away with it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, we all learned in school that you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; compare things that are different not just in magnitude but in substance. Rational numbers with different denominators can be rewritten as numbers with a common denominator, and can then be treated as things which differ only in magnitude (specifically, in the magnitude of the numerator). The lowest (or least) common denominator is the number (or term) that expresses the greatest commonality between the elements to be compared; the once-disparate elements have been distilled down to the simplest expression of their sameness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T17:13:08.930" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12865" CreationDate="2011-02-16T17:18:43.713" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the first sentence you wrote, you use &lt;em&gt;there is&lt;/em&gt; because the answer is read as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yes, there is some juice in the fridge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second sentence you wrote, you use &lt;em&gt;there are&lt;/em&gt; because the answer read as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yes, there are some towels in the closet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use &lt;em&gt;there're&lt;/em&gt; when I write, and the spell checker doesn't mark it as not correct. In some cases, when I use a contraction, the spell checkers underlines it in green, and it reports me that the word could not match the rest of the sentence; I think it happens when the contraction is used for different words, and the spell checker is not able to understand what I mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To notice that &lt;em&gt;juices&lt;/em&gt; can have a meaning different from &lt;em&gt;juice&lt;/em&gt;, as &lt;em&gt;juices&lt;/em&gt; is used also to refer to the liquid that comes out from the meat when it is cooked, or the fluid secreted from the body (e.g., the stomach).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T17:29:41.437" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T17:29:41.437" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12865" CreationDate="2011-02-16T17:27:00.647" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's my guess:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contracting &quot;there is&quot; to &quot;there's&quot; usefully reduces the number of syllables. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contracting &quot;there are&quot; to &quot;there're&quot; wouldn't. So it isn't done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I reach for a shorter way to say &quot;There are some in the closet&quot;, my mind produces &quot;They are in the closet&quot; (favouring utility over accuracy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously it would help to know how you pronounce each of &quot;there are&quot; and your &quot;there're&quot;. Perhaps we should both study IPA for a few minutes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T17:27:00.647" />
  <row Id="12869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12865" CreationDate="2011-02-16T17:27:34.577" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;There're&lt;/em&gt; is common in speech, at least in certain dialects, but you'll rarely see it written. If I were being pedantic, I'd advise you to use &lt;em&gt;there are&lt;/em&gt; in your example, because &lt;em&gt;there is&lt;/em&gt; is definitely wrong, so &lt;em&gt;there's&lt;/em&gt; could be considered wrong as well. But a huge number of English speakers, even those that are well-educated, use &lt;em&gt;there's&lt;/em&gt; universally, regardless of the number of the noun in question, so you will probably not receive any odd looks for saying or writing &lt;em&gt;there's,&lt;/em&gt; and if you do, just cite the fact that it can't be incorrect if a majority of people use it. As for me (a native New Englander), I use both, but may use &lt;em&gt;there's&lt;/em&gt; in place of &lt;em&gt;there're&lt;/em&gt; if I'm speaking quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastEditorUserId="1506" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T19:08:25.363" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T19:08:25.363" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12865" CreationDate="2011-02-16T17:28:39.223" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think &quot;there're&quot; is ever going to fly -- it's not so much a contraction as a simple elision. The only thing being dropped is a glottal stop, which isn't a &quot;real&quot; sound in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a strict prescriptivist grammar and usage standpoint, &quot;there's&quot; used with a plural is wrong. But in spoken language (which is the real language, squiggles on pages and screens are no more than an approximate rendering) we need to be careful with prescriptivist tendencies. It may offend the grammarian's ear, but the fact that a very large number of native speakers -- likely a preponderance of them -- make exactly the same &quot;mistake&quot; indicates that there is something else going on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that the rules of English, as we received them in school, are only an approximation of the real rules of the language, and that many of those rules were imposed in the 18th and 19th centuries by well-meaning scholars who aimed to make English a respectable, consistent and properly-documented language. It has never been such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T17:28:39.223" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12871" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12903" CreationDate="2011-02-16T17:28:42.327" Score="4" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard and used agnostic to denote &quot;uncaring&quot;.  I was recently corrected on my usage of the word which got me thinking.  What word should I use?  Uncaring seems incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This new applesauce recipe is truly apple agnostic.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Meaning it tastes great with any apple &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultivar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cultivar&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My new computer backup tool is OS agnostic.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Meaning the tool works on any computer regardless of which operating system is running/installed.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The study on american morality is God agnostic.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Meaning the study draws its conclusions without making a statement about the existence of God.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning seems to be that something continues to function with disregard to a particular attribute or detail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4425" LastEditorUserId="4425" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T17:36:12.677" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T19:03:09.490" Title="Odd use of agnostic" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12872" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-16T17:32:11.683" Score="5" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was in school, strictly every abbreviation had a period after each (capitalized) letter, as in U.S.A. These days, it seems ok just to capitalise, as in USA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a new rule? It does look jarring to have those periods everywhere, and it's annoying to type.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11740/omitting-periods-after-title-abbreviations-mr-mrs-dr&quot;&gt;Omitting periods after title abbreviations (Mr, Mrs, Dr)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3743" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T21:03:28.607" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T22:09:49.883" Title="Is it OK to drop the periods in abbreviations?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12873" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-16T17:37:54.290" Score="2" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;Related to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/50/ivent-a-clue-if-this-is-possible-can-a-word-be-contracted-twice&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've'n't a clue what the largest word with multiple contractions is, but I'd've thought I'd've seen it here by now.  I won't know until you've'd a chance to answer!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My initial gambit:&#xA;The &lt;em&gt;fish'n'chips'll've&lt;/em&gt; been all gone by the time we get to the restaurant!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5100" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T18:26:28.273" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T18:26:28.273" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-16T21:28:21.970" ClosedDate="2011-02-17T16:18:40.820" Title="What is the largest multiple contraction possible?" Tags="&lt;contractions&gt;" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12872" CreationDate="2011-02-16T17:41:38.677" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the type of abbreviations. USA is an initialism, and as such, does not require periods. The style of acronyms and initialisms no longer requiring periods is now becoming more prevalent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Abbreviations, generally, still require abbreviations (e.g. Prof. — Oh, and e.g.) Although there are exceptions, especially in British english usage, as noted in your linked related question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which abbreviations take periods and which do not is variable depending on the style guide followed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T17:41:38.677" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12875" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-16T17:42:44.587" Score="3" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;Was there ever a real distinction between the two? I always have the urge to use &lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;/em&gt; for discussing state and &lt;em&gt;perhaps&lt;/em&gt; for actions. I know this is only because &lt;em&gt;perhaps&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;by hap&lt;/em&gt;) and &lt;em&gt;happen&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;befall by hap&lt;/em&gt;) share a root, but at least it's logical. Am I totally misguided here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T17:58:41.307" Title="&quot;Maybe&quot; versus &quot;perhaps&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12875" CreationDate="2011-02-16T17:52:26.917" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't believe there's any discernable difference, and I can't think of a sentence where &lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;perhaps&lt;/em&gt; could be switched and change the meaning or sound awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A search on WordNet shows both words are in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?o2=&amp;amp;o0=1&amp;amp;o7=&amp;amp;o5=&amp;amp;o1=1&amp;amp;o6=&amp;amp;o4=&amp;amp;o3=&amp;amp;s=maybe&amp;amp;i=0&amp;amp;h=0#c&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;same Synset&lt;/a&gt; and aren't a member of any other Synset, if you take WordNet as being semi-authoritative…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T17:52:26.917" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12877" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12886" CreationDate="2011-02-16T17:57:30.607" Score="3" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to improve my American English accent, and I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://learnrealenglish.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Learn Real English&lt;/a&gt;, which is quite interesting to me. Anyway, I don't know much about standard American accent, so I want to know if those teachers (links below) speak standard American or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KazofT_jtHA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Video 1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PipEJYoT0dg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Video 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="2986" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T18:19:53.990" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T02:23:19.347" Title="Are the speakers in this video speaking standard American English?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;accent&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12875" CreationDate="2011-02-16T17:58:41.307" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The differences between &lt;em&gt;perhaps&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;/em&gt; are the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Maybe&lt;/em&gt; is also used as noun, in phrases like &lt;em&gt;no ifs, buts, or maybes&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Perhaps&lt;/em&gt; is also used in polite requests: &lt;em&gt;would you perhaps consent to act as our guide?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning of &lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;possibly, perhaps&lt;/em&gt;. Except in set phrases, you can replace &lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;perhaps&lt;/em&gt;. As far as I know, there is not the distinction in the usage of the words you describe; both the words can be used with actions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[The examples are taken from the NOAD]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T17:58:41.307" />
  <row Id="12879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12871" CreationDate="2011-02-16T18:00:02.023" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best I can come up with is &lt;em&gt;indifferent&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;immaterial&lt;/em&gt;, although it would require changing the structure of your sentences a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This new applesauce recipe is &lt;em&gt;indifferent&lt;/em&gt; to apple variety used.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My new computer backup tool is &lt;em&gt;indifferent&lt;/em&gt; to OS.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The study on american morality is &lt;em&gt;indifferent&lt;/em&gt; to whether God exists.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T18:00:02.023" />
  <row Id="12880" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12883" CreationDate="2011-02-16T18:17:33.243" Score="0" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which of these sentences is correct? Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You must hear to this song.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  You must listen to this song.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Have you heard to this song?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Have you listened to this song?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5102" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T18:29:25.123" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T19:57:25.950" Title="Which of these is the correct usage of the words &quot;listen&quot;, &quot;hear&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12871" CreationDate="2011-02-16T18:19:30.720" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say &quot;does not depend on&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These phrases &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This new applesauce recipe is truly apple agnostic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My new computer backup tool is OS agnostic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The study on American morality is God agnostic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would then mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The recipe does not depend on the type of apples.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The backup tool does not depend on the computer's OS&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The study does not depend on (the existence of or type of) God&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often in a faith context, the meaning is slightly different. An agnostic person is undecided on the existence of God.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5101" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T18:19:30.720" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12871" CreationDate="2011-02-16T18:20:37.257" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've extended the phrase &quot;platform agnostic&quot; (a computing term) beyond its boundaries. In the case of platform-agnostic software, it's not so much that the software doesn't care about the host operating system or the underlying architecture, but that it can remain blissfully unaware of it. There is another system (for instance, the Java virtual machine) abstracting away all of the program's access to the hardware and so forth, so the program does not have to &quot;believe in&quot; any particular platform &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; know the true nature of it &lt;em&gt;if one exists&lt;/em&gt;. The program, then, is analogous to an agnostic to whom the world would look just about the way it does right now whether or not there is a God.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The applesauce in your first example likely &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; need to &quot;believe&quot; in the existence of apples -- otherwise it's just a sauce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Addendum:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(For some reason I can't add a comment today -- did the whole flushing of cache thing, but still no Ajaxy goodness.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question presupposes the existence of a single word that can be dropped into the place vacated by the deletion of &quot;agnostic&quot;. There is &lt;em&gt;no single English word&lt;/em&gt; in common usage that can fulfill that role, since this particular usage of the word &quot;agnostic&quot; was introduced into the language in a fully grammaticalized form at its coinage. Within the tiny world of computer programmers, it makes a degree of sense (even if it is wrong), but it takes the place of several entire phrases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;indifferent&quot; has been proposed, but &lt;em&gt;denotation&lt;/em&gt; is not enough. A century or more back in time it might have made sense, but &quot;indifferent&quot; has since taken on a &lt;em&gt;connotation&lt;/em&gt; of &quot;apathy&quot; rather than &quot;universality&quot; or &quot;inclusive&quot;. There are other single words that have a similar meaning &lt;em&gt;in limited technical realms&lt;/em&gt;, like &quot;non-specific&quot;, but they don't fit into a more general context and are as likely to be misinterpreted as &quot;indifferent&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastEditorUserId="5095" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T19:03:09.490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T19:03:09.490" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12880" CreationDate="2011-02-16T18:21:04.173" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either is correct, but they have a slightly different emphasis in their meaning. &lt;em&gt;Hear&lt;/em&gt; is generally regarded as a passive activity, something that happens whether one wants it to or not. &lt;em&gt;Listen&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, is regarded as an active activity requiring the participation of the user.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I might say the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You have got to hear this song.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the person heard the song, and was unimpressed, I might then reply:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Well, you must not have listened very&#xA;  closely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T18:21:04.173" />
  <row Id="12884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12877" CreationDate="2011-02-16T18:22:57.650" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I listened only briefly to those videos, but their accents are very much unmarked standard American accents, without any obvious regional markers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T18:22:57.650" />
  <row Id="12885" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12887" CreationDate="2011-02-16T18:24:48.890" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently read a sentence containing &lt;em&gt;took them helm&lt;/em&gt;, and I cannot understand the meaning of that sentence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Looks like [username] did not remove you from the commit list, so I&#xA;  cannot answer that. Otherwise, given you complained about this almost 4&#xA;  years after the fact, the only thing I could tell is you did not care&#xA;  inbetween, or at least it was not important for you to raise a concern.&#xA;  Given that, it sounds rational that someone else took them helm, doesn't&#xA;  it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Commit list&lt;/em&gt; is the list of the users who can commit code using CVS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does the last sentence mean? To what is it referring?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T18:37:46.280" Title="&quot;Someone else took them helm&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12877" CreationDate="2011-02-16T18:25:01.650" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that they are definitely speaking with a generic American accent. Many US English speakers would characterize those two people as having no accent at all, and they certainly don't have any obvious regional accent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to standard American constructions and figures of speech, they are probably more formal than you'd typically find, but again there's no doubt that any US English speaker would recognize their speech as regionally neutral.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T18:25:01.650" />
  <row Id="12887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12885" CreationDate="2011-02-16T18:33:20.080" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Them&quot; is a typo of &quot;the&quot; in that sentence.  &quot;Someone else took the helm&quot; means &quot;someone else took over control or leadership&quot;.  The meaning of &quot;helm&quot; being alluded to is &quot;ship's steering mechanism&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T18:33:20.080" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12885" CreationDate="2011-02-16T18:37:46.280" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take the helm is a phrase meaning to &quot;take control&quot; or &quot;take over.&quot; It is referencing the helm of a ship - the steering mechanism (think: ⎈). The helmsman is the one who controls it, to literally take the helm would be to take control of the steering of the ship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5044" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T18:37:46.280" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="12889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12880" CreationDate="2011-02-16T18:50:26.517" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the sentences you reported, you can use either &lt;em&gt;hear&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;listen&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, &lt;em&gt;listen&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;hear&lt;/em&gt; have similar meaning; two of the meanings of &lt;em&gt;hear&lt;/em&gt; are &lt;em&gt;listen&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;pay attention&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She just doesn't hear what I'm telling her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In specific contexts, &lt;em&gt;listen&lt;/em&gt; is used instead of &lt;em&gt;hear&lt;/em&gt;; for example, when a sentence uses the imperative mood, &lt;em&gt;listen&lt;/em&gt; is used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sit and listen to the radio.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Listen me when I am talking to you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T19:32:04.343" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T19:32:04.343" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12890" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-16T18:51:43.287" Score="2" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;In math, you say: &lt;strong&gt;velocity&lt;/strong&gt; is the &lt;em&gt;rate of change&lt;/em&gt; of &lt;strong&gt;position&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;with respect to time&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a better, mathematically correct way to say that, without using the phrase &lt;em&gt;with respect to&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;velocity is the time-derivative of position&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2210" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T23:15:21.970" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T02:15:25.843" Title="y with respect to t" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;mathematics&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="12891" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12895" CreationDate="2011-02-16T18:54:24.597" Score="11" ViewCount="600" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;tuple&lt;/em&gt; in mathematics is a sequence of numbers (n1, n2, n3).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In databases, a &lt;em&gt;tuple&lt;/em&gt; is a single row of data from a table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is a &lt;em&gt;tuple&lt;/em&gt; in normal everyday English, or where does the word come from?  Is there a concrete real-life object from which this word is derived?  WordNet does not have a definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2210" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T19:05:34.437" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T19:05:34.437" Title="What's a tuple in normal English?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="12892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12890" CreationDate="2011-02-16T18:57:43.917" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say &lt;em&gt;velocity is the rate at which an object moves&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;velocity is the measurement of the rate and direction of change in position of an object&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T20:29:29.893" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T20:29:29.893" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="12893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12890" CreationDate="2011-02-16T18:58:39.620" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Velocity is the rate of change of position &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or possibly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An object's velocity is the amount by which its position changes in a given time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T18:58:39.620" />
  <row Id="12894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12891" CreationDate="2011-02-16T19:00:15.277" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nothing&lt;/strong&gt;. The word &lt;em&gt;tuple&lt;/em&gt; is back-formed from Latinisms like &lt;em&gt;quintuple&lt;/em&gt;, and it is only used in technical contexts. The average English speaker has never heard the word, and it has no meaning outside of the context of mathematics or software engineering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T19:00:15.277" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12891" CreationDate="2011-02-16T19:00:48.237" Score="35" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word derives from the extended series of single, double, triple, quadruple, quintuple,..., where named multiples beyond five are generally words that end in &quot;tuple&quot;. The natural (Latin-derived) words peter out pretty quickly, and mathematics needs more terms than a simple bipedal meat unit can easily memorize, so the term &quot;&lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt;-tuple&quot; was coined. Computer science took that ball and ran with it, dropping the &quot;&lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt;-&quot; altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, &quot;tuple&quot; has no meaning in everyday English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T19:00:48.237" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="12896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12890" CreationDate="2011-02-16T19:04:14.907" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, you could say &quot;with relation to&quot; or in some cases &quot;as a function of&quot;. I'm not quite sure what's wrong with &quot;with respect to&quot; in this case, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T19:04:14.907" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12897" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12917" CreationDate="2011-02-16T19:13:05.363" Score="5" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I say, &lt;strong&gt;read it&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;drink it&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;take me&lt;/strong&gt;, there is no &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; in-between. Why is it that when I use the verb &lt;em&gt;listen&lt;/em&gt;, I have to say &lt;strong&gt;listen &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; me&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;listen &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; it&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T06:46:04.043" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T06:46:04.043" Title="Why is &quot;listen&quot; always followed by &quot;to&quot; in the command voice?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12897" CreationDate="2011-02-16T19:15:52.040" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He didn't listen when I told him not&#xA;  to drink arsenic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3593" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T19:15:52.040" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12890" CreationDate="2011-02-16T19:18:10.550" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would just say &lt;em&gt;over&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An object's velocity is the change in its position over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is a natural expression of the derivative &lt;i&gt;dx&lt;/i&gt;/&lt;i&gt;dt&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T19:18:10.550" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="12901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12897" CreationDate="2011-02-16T19:34:05.840" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Listen&lt;/em&gt;, in contemporary usage, is not a transitive verb, so it cannot take a direct object meaning “the thing being heard”. It is intransitive, and you must use a prepositional phrase headed by &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;, as in “listen to something”, in order to specify the thing being heard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T19:34:05.840" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="12902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12877" CreationDate="2011-02-16T19:53:45.220" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a Canadian, I would say they are both speaking with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_American&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;General American&lt;/a&gt; accent. I agree with the other answers that most Americans (and indeed most Canadians) would say they &quot;don't have an accent.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not an expert on dialect or accents, but I have a couple more points. I can tell if I listen very closely that they are American (and not Canadian) — I still maintain that we don't say aboot but I can tell the slight difference in your abawts. ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were to guess where they grew up — and these are really wild guesses from a Canadian steeped in American TV — the woman sounds to my ear to be very slightly southern in her speech, possibly Midland American. The man sounds west-coastish to me for some reason I can't quite put my finger on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T19:53:45.220" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12871" CreationDate="2011-02-16T19:55:34.830" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word has roots in theological or spiritual matters, specifically that the existence of God is unknown or unknowable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In technical and marketing literature, agnostic often has a meaning close to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;independent&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;—for example, &quot;platform agnostic&quot; or &quot;hardware agnostic.&quot;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt; The implication is that the property specified does not affect the object in question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another alternative for the latter meaning could be &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;uninfluenced&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;unaffected&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2178" LastEditorUserId="2178" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T17:29:46.917" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T17:29:46.917" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12880" CreationDate="2011-02-16T19:57:25.950" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported in another recent question, &lt;em&gt;listen&lt;/em&gt; is an intransitive verb and does not take a direct object; you must use a prepositional phrase to specify the thing being perceived.  &lt;em&gt;Hear&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, is transitive and can take an object, so you can say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You must &lt;strong&gt;hear&lt;/strong&gt; this song.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;  Have you &lt;strong&gt;heard&lt;/strong&gt; this song?&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;  You must &lt;strong&gt;listen to&lt;/strong&gt; this song.&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;  Have you &lt;strong&gt;listened to&lt;/strong&gt; this song?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T19:57:25.950" />
  <row Id="12905" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12906" CreationDate="2011-02-16T20:41:47.170" Score="5" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like one or more synonyms for &lt;em&gt;anal retentive&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was chatting last night in an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massively_multiplayer_online_role-playing_game&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mmorpg&lt;/a&gt;, and any message with the word &lt;em&gt;anal&lt;/em&gt; was banned. I ended up talking about my &lt;em&gt;canal retentive minus c&lt;/em&gt; guild-mate instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5108" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T09:23:03.423" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T09:23:03.423" Title="Synonyms for &quot;anal retentive&quot;" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12905" CreationDate="2011-02-16T20:48:28.517" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would probably go with &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;fussy&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Other possibilities include &lt;em&gt;finicky&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;persnickety&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;hair-splitting&lt;/em&gt;, or simply the broader &lt;em&gt;difficult&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T20:48:28.517" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12905" CreationDate="2011-02-16T20:53:43.673" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;excessively fussy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;excessively orderly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;punctilious&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;finicky&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;persnickety&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;demanding&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hard to please&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;picky&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T20:53:43.673" />
  <row Id="12908" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12911" CreationDate="2011-02-16T21:25:18.987" Score="3" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;pulled rank&lt;/em&gt; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Don't worry about it,&quot; Mulder said, &quot;we'll take the heat. You can tell him we pulled rank.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She's the producer on this picture, but she never at any time made you feel that you should keep your place. I'm not talking about me, I'm talking about anybody, the lowliest of jobs. She never pulled rank on anybody, which is hard. —&lt;em&gt;Sandra's secret side&lt;/em&gt;, Juliann Garey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T21:43:31.570" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T21:43:31.570" Title="&quot;We pulled rank&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12908" CreationDate="2011-02-16T21:33:45.247" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;pull rank&lt;/strong&gt;: take unfair advantage of one's seniority or privileged position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The “unfair” connotation is not always very strong, however, and to explain it in my own words, I would say “use one’s hierarchical rank to assert one's authority”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T21:33:45.247" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12910" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12912" CreationDate="2011-02-16T21:35:05.223" Score="4" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;shortening&lt;/em&gt; mean? Is it different from &lt;em&gt;abbreviation&lt;/em&gt;? I checked the dictionary, but I don't get the difference clearly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4873" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T11:39:25.710" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T19:35:32.087" Title="What does &quot;shortening&quot; mean? Is it different from &quot;abbreviation&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12908" CreationDate="2011-02-16T21:38:19.827" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To &lt;em&gt;pull rank&lt;/em&gt; means to make something happen or to override a decision made by others, based solely on the fact that you are in a position with greater authority.  For example, when a group of army officers gets together and wants to decide where to go for lunch, all the lieutenants can say &quot;let's go to restaurant X&quot;; but the captain can &lt;em&gt;pull rank&lt;/em&gt; and say &quot;no, we're going to Y because I want to.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It generally has a negative connotation that someone is doing something because it appeals to them personally, rather than because the decision makes logical sense within whatever bureaucratic structure has granted them authority; often the decision may fly in the face of the greater good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T21:38:19.827" />
  <row Id="12912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12910" CreationDate="2011-02-16T21:39:06.793" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In fact shortening is a kind of abbreviation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.msn.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MSN Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; There are &lt;strong&gt;four main kinds of abbreviations&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shortenings&lt;/strong&gt; of words usually consist of the first few letters of the full form and are usually spelled with a final period when they are still regarded as abbreviations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;cont. = continued&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;bus = omnibus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;taxi = taxicab&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;zoo = zoological garden&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;bike = bicycle&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Contractions&lt;/strong&gt; are abbreviated forms in which letters from the middle of the full form have been omitted.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dr. = doctor&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;St. = saint or street&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;can't = cannot&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;didn't = did not&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Initialisms&lt;/strong&gt; are made up of the initial letters of words and are pronounced as separate letters.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;CIA (or C.I.A.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;NYC&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;pm (or p.m.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;U.S. (or US)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Acronyms&lt;/strong&gt; are initialisms that have become words in their own right, or similar words formed from parts of several words. &lt;strong&gt;They are pronounced as words rather than as a series of letters.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;AIDS&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;laser&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;scuba&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;UNESCO&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please Visit this &lt;a href=&quot;http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?lextype=3&amp;amp;search=abbreviation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt; to read more about abbreviation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T19:35:32.087" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T19:35:32.087" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12910" CreationDate="2011-02-16T21:48:47.960" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shortening also refers to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortening&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fats used for baking&lt;/a&gt;.  Probably not what you meant, though. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T21:48:47.960" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12905" CreationDate="2011-02-16T22:04:29.593" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Less of a synonym than an allusion via an incorrect and overly literal interpretation of what &lt;em&gt;anal-retentive&lt;/em&gt; means, but for a situation like the one you describe, you may get good mileage out of &lt;em&gt;constipated&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T22:04:29.593" />
  <row Id="12915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12872" CreationDate="2011-02-16T22:09:49.883" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lowercase initialisms like &lt;code&gt;e.g.&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;i.e.&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;n.a.&lt;/code&gt;, and &lt;code&gt;q.v.&lt;/code&gt; generally retain their periods to help distinguish them from words (or, in the case of &lt;code&gt;n.a.&lt;/code&gt; and relatives, inexplicably take a slash in the middle instead).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T22:09:49.883" />
  <row Id="12916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1565" CreationDate="2011-02-16T22:30:15.957" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always understood it to be a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minced_oath&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;minced oath&lt;/a&gt; of &quot;holy shit&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T22:30:15.957" />
  <row Id="12917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12897" CreationDate="2011-02-16T22:49:53.317" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The verb &quot;listen&quot; takes a prepositional object, while a verb like &quot;read&quot; takes an 'ordinary' direct object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why should this be so? Well, to some extent, &quot;because it is&quot;: languages allow prepositional objects-- and English allows them readily-- and so some verbs fall into that paradigm. The mechanism for them arising is probably that originally, the preposition has more of its &quot;full&quot; lexical value (e.g. maybe when a person listened &quot;to&quot; another, there was originally the idea of them literally turning their ears towards them), but over time becomes grammaticalised-- i.e. in effect, people become so used to a word occurring in a particular situation, that they become desensitised to its meaning and just &quot;expect&quot; it to be there in that construction. It's in effect how the going-to future arose in English: once upon a time &quot;I'm going to get some water&quot; would have literally implied &quot;I'm going to another place where there is water&quot;, whereas now it could mean &quot;There is some water right here where I am and I will now take some of it&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The arbitrary nature of prepositional objects can be seen in the fact that different languages may have them or not to express a particular concept (English &quot;wait for&quot;, but in French &quot;attendre (après)&quot;, the preposition &quot;après&quot; is optional-- and indeed stigmatised in careful usage), and that within the same language, different verbs expressing the same notion need not share the same argument structure (so &quot;wait for...&quot;, prepositional object, but &quot;await ...&quot;, prepositionless).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incidentally, &quot;listen&quot; and other verbs with a prepositional object are still arguably transitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T22:49:53.317" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12918" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-16T23:39:55.620" Score="2" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;dormitory&quot; means &quot;sleeping place&quot;. Is there any similar word for &quot;eating place&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2019" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T23:44:13.223" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T00:31:06.947" Title="What word means &quot;eating place&quot;?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12897" CreationDate="2011-02-16T23:46:19.040" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should listen up; I don't want to have to say this twice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whether you listen from over there or whether you listen while laying down, you will hear what I have to say and you will understand eventually. Just because you may listen, does not mean that I must listen as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you see what I did there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2161" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T23:46:19.040" />
  <row Id="12920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12918" CreationDate="2011-02-16T23:48:44.730" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe you're looking for the word &quot;&lt;strong&gt;eatery&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One of the best eateries in town.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also the phrase &quot;&lt;strong&gt;eating place&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; is very common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some other words that I don't think you're looking for them. But you can also check them out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other words:&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;cafe&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;self-service&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;diner&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;bistro&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;cafeteria&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;canteen&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;brasserie&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T23:52:03.120" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T23:52:03.120" />
  <row Id="12921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12918" CreationDate="2011-02-16T23:52:16.150" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A restaurant, a diner, an eatery, and a café are all places where people go to eat meals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T23:57:22.463" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T23:57:22.463" />
  <row Id="12922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12918" CreationDate="2011-02-16T23:53:26.870" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no single word for eating place, there are many.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Restaurant&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Diner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cafeteria&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eatery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have to make a choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T23:53:26.870" />
  <row Id="12923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12918" CreationDate="2011-02-16T23:53:50.693" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are lots of words for &quot;eating place&quot;: dining room, cafeteria, restaurant, mess hall (military), galley (Navy), and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be aware that &quot;dormitory&quot; has a specific meaning, and is usually associated with schools, especially colleges. There are other words for sleeping place, including bedroom. If you're wondering if there are any words for eating place that are derived from the Latin meaning &quot;eat&quot; (as &lt;em&gt;dormitory&lt;/em&gt; is from the Latin word for &quot;sleep&quot;), I'm not aware of any.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T23:53:50.693" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3819" CreationDate="2011-02-17T00:15:45.947" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Velocity is a &lt;em&gt;vector&lt;/em&gt; quantity, which means that it has &lt;em&gt;both&lt;/em&gt; a &lt;strong&gt;magnitude&lt;/strong&gt; (aka &lt;strong&gt;size&lt;/strong&gt;) and a &lt;strong&gt;direction&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Example 1:  His car had a &lt;strong&gt;velocity&lt;/strong&gt; of 57 km/h [Going North].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Example 2:  Winds blowing with a &lt;strong&gt;velocity&lt;/strong&gt; of 37 km/h [South-East].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speed is a &lt;em&gt;scalar&lt;/em&gt; quantity, which means that it only has a &lt;em&gt;magnitude&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Example 1:  His car had a &lt;strong&gt;speed&lt;/strong&gt; of 57 km/h.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Example 2:  Winds blowing with a &lt;strong&gt;speed&lt;/strong&gt; of 37 km/h.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see that the &lt;strong&gt;speed&lt;/strong&gt; is simply the &quot;size&quot; component of the &lt;strong&gt;velocity&lt;/strong&gt;, leaving off the direction information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2210" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T00:15:45.947" />
  <row Id="12925" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12933" CreationDate="2011-02-17T00:18:47.793" Score="2" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sorry, I don't how is this element called in english. In spanish it is said to be informally a &quot;zapatilla&quot;, but in english?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/Mbmmd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Socket Strip&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/Fm6ce.gif&quot; alt=&quot;Extension Lead&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks a lot!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5115" LastEditorUserId="2253" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T01:14:57.037" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T01:53:33.517" Title="What is the name of the item in this image?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12925" CreationDate="2011-02-17T00:21:23.667" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The items in the pictures are commonly known as &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_strip&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;power strips&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. Some power strips also have the ability to prevent &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_spike&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;power spikes&lt;/a&gt;, and those can also be called &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surge_protector&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;surge protectors&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T01:48:52.403" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T01:48:52.403" />
  <row Id="12927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12918" CreationDate="2011-02-17T00:24:51.680" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's also &lt;em&gt;refectory&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places it is most often used today is in graduate seminaries. It is derived from the Latin reficere: to remake or restore, via Late Latin refectorium, which means a place one goes to be restored. [Wikipedia]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the root of which it shares with &lt;em&gt;restaurant&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Modern restaurants ... emerged only in 18th-century Europe, although similar establishments had also developed in China. A restaurant owner is called a restaurateur; both words derive from the French verb &lt;em&gt;restaurer&lt;/em&gt;, meaning &quot;to restore&quot;. [Wikipedia] &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and of course &lt;em&gt;beanery&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;hash house&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;greasy spoon&lt;/em&gt;, &amp;amp; &lt;em&gt;automat&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4752" LastEditorUserId="4752" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T00:31:06.947" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T00:31:06.947" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12918" CreationDate="2011-02-17T00:29:18.743" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some common &quot;eating place&quot; words are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;bar, cafeteria, café, canteen, chophouse, coffee shop, diner, dining room, dive, doughtnut shop, drive-in, eatery, eating house, eating place, fast-food place, greasy spoon, grill, hamburger stand, hashery, hideaway, hotdog stand, inn, joint*, luncheonette, lunchroom, night club, outlet*, pizzeria, saloon, soda fountain, watering hole&lt;sup&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://thesaurus.com/browse/restaurant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;src&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2178" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T00:29:18.743" />
  <row Id="12929" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-17T00:31:57.727" Score="5" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;What would be a a linguistic term for those nouns ending with -ing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples: building, scaffolding, ending&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are some other examples, and what do they all share in common semantically?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5118" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T02:49:10.800" Title="Nouns ending with -ing" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="12930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12929" CreationDate="2011-02-17T00:36:52.583" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They could be one of two things, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerund&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Gerunds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deverbal_noun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Deverbal Nouns&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The wikipedia article on Gerunds has a decent section on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerund#Double_nature_of_the_gerund&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nominal and verbal properties&lt;/a&gt; of gerunds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Nominal characteristics&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The gerund can perform the function of subject, object and predicative&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The gerund can be preceded by a preposition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Like a noun the gerund can be modified by a noun in the possessive case, a possessive adjective, or an adjective&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Verbal characteristics&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The gerund of transitive verbs can take a direct object&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The gerund can be modified by an adverb&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The gerund has the distinctions of aspect and voice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on feedback I'll point out a specific section of that Wikipedia article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Not all nouns that are identical in form to the present participle are gerunds. The formal distinction is that a gerund is a &lt;em&gt;verbal&lt;/em&gt; noun – a noun derived from a verb that retains verb characteristics, that functions &lt;em&gt;simultaneously&lt;/em&gt; as a noun and a verb, while other nouns in the form of the present participle (ending in -ing) are &lt;em&gt;deverbal nouns&lt;/em&gt;, which function as common nouns, not as verbs at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So from your examples, the grammatical term you might be looking for is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deverbal_noun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Deverbal Nouns&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Only a subset of deverbal nouns end in -ing, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastEditorUserId="1871" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T01:49:49.587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T01:49:49.587" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12871" CreationDate="2011-02-17T00:37:09.183" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As indicated by Stan Rogers and computermacgyver, &quot;agnostic&quot; originally had a very specific meaning: &quot;A person who is undecided, or refuses to take a position on, whether or not God exists&quot;. It comes from the prefix &quot;a-&quot; (without) and the Greek &quot;gnosis&quot; (knowledge, specifically of sacredness). Contrast &quot;atheist&quot;, meaning, loosely, &quot;one who is without God&quot; (some wags even define an agnostic as &quot;a chickens**t atheist&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It was then co-opted by computer engineers into &quot;platform-agnostic&quot;, not knowing anything about the underlying system (thanks again, Stan). In the process it morphed from a noun to an adjective, but it at least retained the implication of lack of knowledge. From there it's been applied more broadly (and, in my view, incorrectly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T00:37:09.183" />
  <row Id="12932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12925" CreationDate="2011-02-17T00:51:10.573" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Power bar&lt;/em&gt; is another common term. (At least in Canada.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastEditorUserId="1871" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T01:53:33.517" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T01:53:33.517" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12925" CreationDate="2011-02-17T01:00:23.063" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This varies country to country, even internally within English speaking countries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the UK, in shops they usually refer to it as a &quot;multi-way extension lead&quot;.  Also referred to as a &quot;socket strip&quot;, &quot;socketboard&quot;, &quot;power strip&quot;, &quot;extension socket&quot;, &quot;extension cable&quot;, &quot;plug board&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably a few other things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T01:00:23.063" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="12934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12925" CreationDate="2011-02-17T01:14:52.060" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That would be a &quot;Power Board&quot; in Australia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4739" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T01:14:52.060" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4988" CreationDate="2011-02-17T01:24:27.877" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are correct, it is just a question of &lt;strong&gt;colloquialism&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both &quot;more&quot; and &quot;better&quot; can function as either adjective or adverb. The question is which function is being filled in the case of &quot;I like it &lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;.&quot; Once we know what part of speech we are using, we can choose the appropriate word to fit our meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FOR EXAMPLE:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I throw something farther or faster than you, we can say &quot;I throw &lt;strong&gt;better&lt;/strong&gt; than you.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BUT ..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I throw an object to a greater degree, amount, or constancy than I do the other object, we can say &quot;I throw one object &lt;strong&gt;more&lt;/strong&gt; than I do the other.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, having said that, in case of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I like this sweater more&quot; makes sense; &quot;I like this sweater better&quot; does not.&#xA;However, this is a question of colloquialism. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So think about it like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is being compared here? How well we like, or what is liked to a greater degree? If the comparison involves how well (as in how adeptly or correctly or skillfully) we like something, then we are comparing our liking that thing&#xA; vs. somebody else's liking for it, or perhaps to how well (adeptly, correctly, skillfully) we like another item.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5120" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T01:24:27.877" />
  <row Id="12936" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12938" CreationDate="2011-02-17T01:25:33.210" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are offering prices on some subscriptions which are normally priced for a full year, but allow users to buy only a few months worth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We're calling these &lt;em&gt;pro rata prices&lt;/em&gt; and talking about the prices being &lt;em&gt;pro rataed&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;pro rated&lt;/em&gt; (depending on how we want to pronounce it) - is this good English? What would be a better way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T01:29:46.187" Title="Can pro rata be used as a verb? And what should the past tense be?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12936" CreationDate="2011-02-17T01:28:45.363" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you must, I would prefer &lt;em&gt;pro rated&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;pro-rated&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;pro rataed&lt;/em&gt;, which looks as if it has fallen down a hole between Latin and English and is still showing its scars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T01:28:45.363" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12936" CreationDate="2011-02-17T01:29:46.187" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can pro rata be used as a verb? And what should the past tense be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The verb form would be &lt;em&gt;prorate&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;pro rate&lt;/em&gt;. The past tense is &lt;em&gt;prorated&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We're calling these pro rata prices&#xA;  and talking about the prices being pro&#xA;  rataed - is this good english? What&#xA;  would be a better way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, except you would refer to the prices as &lt;em&gt;pro-rated&lt;/em&gt;. The second &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; gets dropped.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T01:29:46.187" />
  <row Id="12939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12929" CreationDate="2011-02-17T01:37:31.977" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I differ somewhat with @ghoppe on this issue. A gerund is still a verb that is being used as a noun with the addition of -ing. But words like &quot;scaffold&quot; are not verbs at all (except as English permits nouns to be used as verbs). So that fails the gerund &quot;sniff&quot; test for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we look at Webster's 3rd New International Dictionary for -ing, we find this tidbit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4:&lt;/strong&gt; something connected with, consisting of, or used in making (a specified thing) &amp;lt;scaffolding&amp;gt;, &amp;lt;sacking&amp;gt; &amp;lt;shirting&amp;gt; — in nouns, esp. collectives formed from nouns&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5:&lt;/strong&gt; something related to (a specified concept) &amp;lt;offing&amp;gt; in nouns formed from parts of speech other than verbs and nouns;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So while the &lt;em&gt;-ing&lt;/em&gt; ending originated as a participial ending and later becoming a gerundial suffix, calling all words ending in &lt;em&gt;-ing&lt;/em&gt; gerunds is a bit overstating the case. The fact that nouns are formed from other parts of speech by taking &lt;em&gt;-ing&lt;/em&gt; endings would seem to eliminate gerund as a catch-all name for this kind of word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T01:37:31.977" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="12940" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-17T01:55:27.013" Score="1" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;One often hears primarily English people (as in people from the UK) using the phrasing &quot;can have&quot; in certain past tenses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could anyone provide an explanation as to what exactly is the difference between using &quot;could have&quot; and &quot;can have&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to believe that &quot;can&quot; turns to &quot;could&quot; in past tense, but from what I understand there is actually a case where &quot;can have&quot; is correct usage and has a slightly different meaning from &quot;could have&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2929" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T02:45:16.457" Title="Can have vs. Could have" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12940" CreationDate="2011-02-17T02:12:35.197" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Believe it or not, there actually &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; a slight difference between the two:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He can have the hammer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has the necessary permission to possess the hammer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people consider this wrong and that the correct word is &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt;, but in contemporary English, using &lt;em&gt;can have&lt;/em&gt; signifies permission over ability, because the cases where someone is unable to possess something are very few and far between. This is not necessarily true in other cases—&quot;You can go the bathroom&quot;, as drilled in by so many teachers, does express ability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He could have the hammer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He has the potential to have the hammer already in his possession. The speaker does not know &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; has the hammer, but he has the potential to have it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I take the large box, he can/could have the hammer lying underneath it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one of the few cases I mentioned above where he might not actually be able to possess the hammer. In this case, &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; signifies ability, because presumably, the box is on top of the hammer, thus not allowing him to reach it. Even here, there is a slight difference—using the word &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; over &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; could, depending on the audience, sound either formal or reluctant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T02:12:35.197" />
  <row Id="12942" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-17T02:43:00.743" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of the two sentences “how the data is accessed” and “how is the data accessed”, which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T12:43:54.000" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T12:43:54.000" Title="&quot;how the data is accessed&quot; and &quot;how is the data accessed&quot;, which one is correct?" Tags="&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12940" CreationDate="2011-02-17T02:45:16.457" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Can have&lt;/em&gt; implies that someone has the opportunity to possess or do something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Edward can have an ice cream cone when he gets home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Gillian can have her friends over after school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can have a whole bottle of wine with my dinner if I so desire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It implies permission or ability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Could have&lt;/em&gt; implies the same thing except that the opportunity is not immediate or is based on a contingency, or that the statement is contrary to actual fact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Edward could have an ice cream cone when he gets home, but he'll have to finish his homework first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Gillian could have her friends over after school if she wasn't so busy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I could have a whole bottle of wine with my dinner but for the fact that I don't want to get caught driving drunk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also used in the past tense to express a possibility that no longer exists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I could have had it all — a wife, a home, a family — but I blew all that when I became an alcoholic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T02:45:16.457" />
  <row Id="12944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12942" CreationDate="2011-02-17T02:46:38.947" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first is a statement, the second is a question.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edit:  IF you added a question mark - (?)!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5124" LastEditorUserId="5124" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T02:58:35.830" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T02:58:35.830" />
  <row Id="12945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12942" CreationDate="2011-02-17T02:47:11.260" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That depends. Either could be correct, given the right context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you know how the data is accessed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How the data is accessed will be of great concern to us. We can't afford to waste CPU cycles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How is the data accessed? Can you tell me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T02:47:11.260" />
  <row Id="12946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12929" CreationDate="2011-02-17T02:49:10.800" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If they genuinely sit within a &lt;strong&gt;phrase permitting some of the syntax of &quot;normal&quot; verb phrases&lt;/strong&gt;, then they are are termed &lt;strong&gt;gerunds&lt;/strong&gt;. As has been commented, this &lt;em&gt;doesn't&lt;/em&gt; apply to any old word ending in &lt;strong&gt;-ing&lt;/strong&gt;. A gerundive structure implies certain properties, such as allowing adverbs that you'd expect in a &quot;normal&quot; verb phrase. Contrast the reversal in grammaticality between the following: the adverb, not the adjective, is used with a &quot;genuine&quot; gerund, whereas the adjective and not the adverb occurs with an 'ordinary' noun:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1(a) *I saw this &lt;em&gt;unexpectedly&lt;/em&gt; scaffolding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(b) I saw this &lt;em&gt;unexpected&lt;/em&gt; scaffolding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 (a) I saw them &lt;em&gt;unexpectedly&lt;/em&gt; scaffolding the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(b) *I saw them &lt;em&gt;unexpected&lt;/em&gt; scaffolding the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, it's really common-- even in linguistics literature-- to just call them &lt;strong&gt;-ing&lt;/strong&gt; forms. You don't always need a fancy word for things...!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Other words like &lt;strong&gt;nominalisation&lt;/strong&gt; don't refer specifically to &lt;strong&gt;-ing&lt;/strong&gt; forms.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T02:49:10.800" />
  <row Id="12947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12905" CreationDate="2011-02-17T03:07:27.063" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Uptight&quot; or &quot;Type A&quot; (as in 'personality'.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T03:07:27.063" />
  <row Id="12948" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-17T03:17:50.933" Score="-3" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does the word &lt;em&gt;ugg&lt;/em&gt; mean? Does it mean &lt;em&gt;made in China&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is an example from a Skype group of my company:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: ... sesion ...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  B: misspelling of session -&gt; sesion&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  C: ugg!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A is a Chinese, B and C are both native English speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T15:44:49.717" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T15:51:29.410" Title="What is the meaning of &quot;ugg&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12171" CreationDate="2011-02-17T03:22:34.477" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The different pronunciation started sometime after England was first at war with France 1337 to 1453. The Politicians and the public wanted nothing that sounded French.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They also did this with the 1337 to 1453German Shepard dog, this was changed to Alsatian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However; we have been at war with the Dutch and still use some expressions. Dutch courage, Go Dutch, Dutch yaw, Double Dutch.  Mind you I think we could still be taking the piss out of them, after all they are Dutch!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aussie Dave&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5126" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T03:22:34.477" />
  <row Id="12950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12948" CreationDate="2011-02-17T03:30:40.953" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.uggaustralia.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ugg&lt;/a&gt; is a shoe brand. The company makes sheepskin boots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/kJfLW.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I have no idea where you got the idea that it means &quot;made in China&quot;...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T03:30:40.953" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12857" CreationDate="2011-02-17T03:36:02.763" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first example is a subset of the second example.  Computer Science is a very broad subject and has many subsets.  Witness the subtle differences in these examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;contributions a person made to computer science&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;contributions a person made to the study of computer science&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;contributions a person made to the application of computer science&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;contributions a person made to the professors of computer science&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;contributions a person made to the founding principles of computer science&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;contributions a person made to the chaos of computer science&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I'm not sure, but I think that last sentence may have been about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_E._Iverson&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kenneth Iverson&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T03:36:02.763" />
  <row Id="12952" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12955" CreationDate="2011-02-17T03:57:10.590" Score="1" ViewCount="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a program for managing products and intermediate artifacts stored in a human concrete building somewhere. The program is not only manage the artifacts existed, but also the resource planning for non-existed artifacts. So, what should I call this program, an &lt;em&gt;inventory manager&lt;/em&gt;, or a &lt;em&gt;repository manager&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;warehouse manager&lt;/em&gt;, or something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I feel that &lt;em&gt;inventory&lt;/em&gt; is not intuitive, it's prefixed with &lt;em&gt;invent-&lt;/em&gt;, however, there are also purchased artifacts which are not invented by ourselves in the repository. Though, most people/documents call this piece of program as &lt;em&gt;inventory manager&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="229" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T04:10:43.753" Title="Inventory or repository?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3819" CreationDate="2011-02-17T03:57:21.193" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/ARhFp.png&quot; alt=&quot;Image graphically depicting velocity vs. speed.  To the visually impaired: this image doesn't add any new content that isn't covered by the other answers.  It only adds a visual representation of that content.&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3294" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T03:57:21.193" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="12954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12952" CreationDate="2011-02-17T04:07:48.133" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;warehouse manager&lt;/em&gt; is more likely to be interpreted as the person in charge of running a warehouse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;repository manager&lt;/em&gt; makes me think of a code repository, such as you might have in Subversion or Mercurial or some other source control system. The manager of a repository, whether human or heuristic, would have the job of dealing with that system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An &lt;em&gt;inventory manager&lt;/em&gt; makes me think of something that manages an &lt;em&gt;inventory&lt;/em&gt; of products, which may, for example, be stored in a human concrete building somewhere. Therefore, I would go with that one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T04:07:48.133" />
  <row Id="12955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12952" CreationDate="2011-02-17T04:10:43.753" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;repository&lt;/em&gt; is a specific location where something is stored. A &lt;em&gt;warehouse&lt;/em&gt; is a specific type of repository. An &lt;em&gt;inventory&lt;/em&gt; is a list of stored objects. In other words, a &lt;em&gt;repository&lt;/em&gt; is a concrete location (although nowadays, it's most commonly referred to in a programming context), a &lt;em&gt;warehouse&lt;/em&gt; is also a concrete location (actually, a building), and an &lt;em&gt;inventory&lt;/em&gt; is a more abstract idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you're talking about a program that will list owned assets, you will want to go with the term &lt;em&gt;inventory manager&lt;/em&gt;, because it's not a physical location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T04:10:43.753" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12897" CreationDate="2011-02-17T04:13:45.247" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not good at english, so I'll describe it in Java why listen needs a &lt;code&gt;to&lt;/code&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;void drink(fluid);&#xA;&#xA;void read(string);&#xA;&#xA;WavePacket listen();&#xA;void listenTo(WavePacket);&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you see, listen() doesn't accept any parameter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="229" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T04:13:45.247" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9655" CreationDate="2011-02-17T04:18:10.897" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Beat it&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;scram&lt;/em&gt; are my top picks from the answers above. Here are my two cents:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Make a run&lt;/em&gt; for it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's &lt;em&gt;blow&lt;/em&gt; before the cops get here. (as in blow like the wind)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Make like the wind&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's &lt;em&gt;get outta&lt;/em&gt; here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Skip town&lt;/em&gt; before the cops get here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's &lt;em&gt;hustle&lt;/em&gt; before they find us. (very 70s)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T04:18:10.897" />
  <row Id="12958" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13013" CreationDate="2011-02-17T04:22:12.093" Score="3" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone tell what's difference between &quot;status&quot; and &quot;state&quot; when I talk about the condition/situation of an object?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what I got from Longman English Dictionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;status: a situation at a particular time, especially in an argument, discussion etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;state: the physical or mental condition that someone or something is in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example, how do you interpret these two sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is the current status of this project?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is the current state of this project?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance for the answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5125" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T14:32:23.643" Title="status vs. state" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12958" CreationDate="2011-02-17T04:28:21.500" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In that context, &lt;em&gt;status&lt;/em&gt; would refer to the progress of a project, e.g. in testing, in preliminary research, etc. &lt;em&gt;State&lt;/em&gt; would refer more to the condition of a project, e.g. green-lighted, cancelled, on hold for financial analysis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When referring to a specific object, you typically want to use &lt;em&gt;state&lt;/em&gt;, e.g. cold, hot, liquid, solid. The &lt;em&gt;status&lt;/em&gt; of a object is rarely used or mentioned, unless it is something that moves or transforms, in which case it is used to mean distance or progress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T04:28:21.500" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12948" CreationDate="2011-02-17T04:50:18.353" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spelled as &quot;ugg&quot;, the only interpretation is Ugg boots, as Kosmonaut mentioned. (I believe the original brand-name boots are/were not made in China, but I'm sure countless imitations are.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, given the context you posted, another interpretation is possible: this may be a misspelling or alternate spelling of &quot;ugh&quot;, an interjection denoting disgust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T04:50:18.353" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12962" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12967" CreationDate="2011-02-17T05:36:20.600" Score="0" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;In about good habit &amp;amp; bad, I run into the sentence like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Doing something over and over again until you don't have to think about &lt;strong&gt;it is how actions become habitual in the first place&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could you explain more easier expression?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5041" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T07:36:47.463" Title="What is the meaning of the sentence?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12963" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12965" CreationDate="2011-02-17T05:42:49.963" Score="5" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;A colleague of mine asked me what is the importance of word order in phrase &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_God_We_Trust&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;In God We Trust&quot;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I could not answer. Is it a shame?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Would it be correct English to write:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In God - we trust&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T05:30:03.607" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T05:30:03.607" Title="&quot;In God We Trust&quot; vs. &quot;We Trust in God&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12964" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-17T05:54:46.217" Score="0" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11887/is-it-thats-the-same-story-know-or-thats-the-same-story-no&quot;&gt;Is it &amp;ldquo;that&amp;#39;s the same story, know?&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;that&amp;#39;s the same story, no?&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which word should I use in this sentence, &lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;you also same college no?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;you also same college know?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4777" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T06:06:12.320" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T06:08:58.087" ClosedDate="2011-02-17T16:17:12.303" Title="Should I use 'no' or 'know'?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12963" CreationDate="2011-02-17T05:59:58.647" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're correct that the more usual order in English is subject-verb-object, which would result in &quot;We trust in God&quot;. However, although English sentence order is pretty restrictive compared to other languages (Latin, for example), there is some wiggle room that can be used to change the emphasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We trust in God.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt;, not someone else, trust in God.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In God we trust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that we trust in &lt;em&gt;God&lt;/em&gt;, not something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T05:59:58.647" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="12966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12964" CreationDate="2011-02-17T06:08:58.087" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither of those sentences are valid English, but to answer your question, when you want to confirm something you've said is correct &lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt; is a valid option while &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt; is not.  In a bit better English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You also attend the same college, no?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe this usage of &lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt; is more a carry over from other languages, however, especially romantic languages.  A native speaker would likely prefer using &lt;em&gt;right&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You also attend the same college, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T06:08:58.087" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12962" CreationDate="2011-02-17T06:18:54.193" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding the appropriate commas clarifies the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Doing something over and over again, until you don't have to think about it, is how actions become habitual in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though a much simpler statement would be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Repetition instills habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4686" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T06:18:54.193" />
  <row Id="12968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1565" CreationDate="2011-02-17T07:04:28.897" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The colour of the smoke signals the&#xA;  results to the people assembled in St&#xA;  Peter's Square. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_conclave&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wikipedia &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;from description of papal conclave to elect the pope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this have anything to do with holy smoke?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5131" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T07:04:28.897" />
  <row Id="12969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12962" CreationDate="2011-02-17T07:36:47.463" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reforming the original sentence into these two sentences may help you understand the original sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Repetition is doing something over and&#xA;  over again until you don't have to&#xA;  think about it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That is how actions become habitual in&#xA;  the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T07:36:47.463" />
  <row Id="12970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12963" CreationDate="2011-02-17T08:12:00.370" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The unusual (English) word order has the effect of emphasizing the part which is moved to the front from the normal order.  The basic meaning is unchanged: the trusting is being done by &quot;we&quot; in both forms.  The normal order, &quot;We trust in God&quot;, places more emphasis on the first word, the subject, &quot;We&quot; (although the emphasis is not large, simply because this is the normal order for most sentences).  Putting &quot;in God&quot; first emphasizes that, and it has a stronger emphasis because the order is not the ordinary order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T08:12:00.370" />
  <row Id="12971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12910" CreationDate="2011-02-17T08:15:00.257" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been shortening the legs on my table, but I have not been abbreviating them!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5137" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T08:15:00.257" />
  <row Id="12972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1364" CreationDate="2011-02-17T08:35:58.663" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You go to jail for up to a year, or if you are waiting for trial. You go to prison for over a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5044" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T08:35:58.663" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="12973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2011-02-17T08:39:05.120" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;OneLook Reverse Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are looking for a word to express a given meaning, this is the place to go. For example, searching for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onelook.com/?loc=revfp2&amp;amp;clue=soul+guide+afterlife&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;soul guide afterlife&quot;&lt;/a&gt; returns &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopomp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;psychopomp&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, and searching for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onelook.com/?loc=revfp2&amp;amp;clue=fear+long+words&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;fear long words&quot;&lt;/a&gt; returns &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1997/what-is-the-story-behind-the-word-hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia&quot;&gt;&quot;hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T08:39:05.120" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-17T08:39:05.120" />
  <row Id="12974" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12975" CreationDate="2011-02-17T08:54:15.243" Score="1" ViewCount="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the following sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;The citizens were forced to render up their town to the conqueror.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;what does &lt;code&gt;were forced&lt;/code&gt; mean exactly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it mean that &lt;em&gt;some proactive party literally forced the citizens (like for example threatened to kill a hostage)&lt;/em&gt; or does it mean that &lt;em&gt;for whatever reason they concluded they had to perform that action&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="623" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T15:12:11.410" Title="Does &quot;was forced&quot; automatically imply some identifiable external activity?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12974" CreationDate="2011-02-17T09:09:39.743" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without further context, I would say it could be both. The conqueror may have threatened to nuke them from orbit (external force). Or they could have been caught unprepared and run out of food within two days, due to not building up stocks (their own fault). Or it hadn't been raining for three months in a row, so they run out of water, or there was a flood approaching, or a hurricane had devastated the town (force of nature). Or they just realized that the conqueror was a saint, bringing justice, peace, and candy for everyone, and &lt;em&gt;in light of these facts&lt;/em&gt; giving up was the most sensible thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, &lt;em&gt;forced&lt;/em&gt; does imply &lt;em&gt;force&lt;/em&gt;, but it does not &lt;em&gt;identify&lt;/em&gt; it all by itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T09:09:39.743" />
  <row Id="12976" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-17T09:27:18.760" Score="2" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;An example would be that the concept of 'light' necessitates an opposite: 'dark.' The idea of one entails the other. Is there a term for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5044" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T09:33:20.030" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T13:29:21.033" Title="What is the term for an idea that requires/creates its opposite?" Tags="&lt;antonyms&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;concept&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12976" CreationDate="2011-02-17T09:37:07.670" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Antithesis&lt;/em&gt; is a counter-proposition, necessitating a proposition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastEditorUserId="588" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T09:55:23.833" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T09:55:23.833" />
  <row Id="12978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3819" CreationDate="2011-02-17T09:48:18.923" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Velocity is means &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; the linear displacement, while speed (although not in physics) may refer to other things (like &quot;speed of internet connection&quot;, &quot;speed of typing&quot;) etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5139" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T09:48:18.923" />
  <row Id="12979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10143" CreationDate="2011-02-17T09:49:14.790" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/magazine/06FOB-onlanguage-t.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; backs up most of the other responses here.  Most English dictionaries do not consider &lt;em&gt;revert&lt;/em&gt; to be a synonym of &lt;em&gt;reply&lt;/em&gt;, but this usage is gaining popularity, especially in India and South East Asia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although some language sticklers may consider this usage to be improper, the rising popularity suggests that it is not right to consider it a mistake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5140" LastEditorUserId="433" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T21:38:50.867" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T21:38:50.867" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12980" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-17T09:58:31.527" Score="0" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12891/whats-a-tuple-in-normal-english&quot;&gt;recent question&lt;/a&gt; has reminded me of something I've been wondering about for a while: what is the correct way to pronounce &lt;em&gt;tuple&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2518" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T15:29:17.067" Title="How to pronounce &quot;tuple&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12980" CreationDate="2011-02-17T10:01:59.773" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two possible pronunciations, one to rhyme with &lt;code&gt;two pull&lt;/code&gt; and the other with &lt;code&gt;supple&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take your pick. There will always be someone to agree with you... &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7231/how-is-sql-pronounced&quot;&gt;violently&lt;/a&gt; :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastEditorUserId="529" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T11:18:24.967" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T11:18:24.967" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12982" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13006" CreationDate="2011-02-17T10:04:48.247" Score="1" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Finite&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;infinite&lt;/em&gt; come from the same root word, but the prefix of the latter completely changes the pronunciation. Speaking English as a second-language and reading a lot more than I listen, it makes me nervous that I might be missing other such changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this an isolated occurrence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4727" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T12:19:55.770" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T13:08:24.133" Title="&quot;Finite&quot; and &quot;infinite&quot;: another example?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="12983" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-17T10:10:26.290" Score="5" ViewCount="257" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if there exists a verb that is equivalent to saying 'adding something in front'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if I have the numbers 1234, then I &lt;em&gt;add in front&lt;/em&gt; 9 and I will get 91234.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5141" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T10:39:29.367" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T17:00:50.377" Title="Is there a verb for &quot;adding something in front&quot;?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12984" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13016" CreationDate="2011-02-17T10:11:49.497" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, if I tell &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12182/is-im-write-only-comprehensible&quot;&gt;“I'm write-only”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;am I perceived as subject (who is writing) or as an object (who is written)?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Related question:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8716/how-do-i-determine-subject-and-subject-complement-in-a-side-effect-is-the-spread&quot;&gt;How do I determine subject and subject complement in “A side-effect is the spread of commercialese to other domains.”?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T06:38:27.190" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T14:56:44.273" Title="Subject versus object in a sentence: how are they determined?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12983" CreationDate="2011-02-17T10:14:20.883" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you're looking for the word &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prepend&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;prepend&lt;/a&gt;, as in &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...when I prepend '9' I will have '91234'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also use &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prefix#Verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;prefix&lt;/a&gt;, the verb, but I prefer prepend for your usage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T10:14:20.883" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="12986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1364" CreationDate="2011-02-17T10:20:39.463" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The terms are synonymous in British english.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work in a prison where part of my training was in jail craft (Learning the sneaky ways prisoners will manipulate you).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The distinction between the US term jail and prison is made by referring to some prisons as local prisons -- as opposed to longterm or training prisons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And incidentally, the term inmate for prisoner is officially deprecated in the UK. Though it still gets used a lot in conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5142" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T10:20:39.463" />
  <row Id="12987" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-17T11:04:05.083" Score="3" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;The feminine of &lt;strong&gt;confidant&lt;/strong&gt; is &lt;strong&gt;confidante&lt;/strong&gt;, probably due to the French origin of the word (&lt;em&gt;confident&lt;/em&gt;, whose feminine is &lt;em&gt;confidente&lt;/em&gt;). I wonder which other words of foreign origin commonly used in English have kept their original feminine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edit:&lt;/em&gt; so there may be entire categories of such words, of course, I should have thought of that. Do people have examples other from languages other than French, Italian and Latin? I was trying to think, for example, of a pair of such words of German origin, but can't find any.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T11:46:38.057" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T11:53:09.873" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-17T16:38:46.607" Title="Which words of foreign origin kept a distinctive feminine?" Tags="&lt;foreign-words&gt;&lt;feminine&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="12988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12984" CreationDate="2011-02-17T11:07:06.410" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the sentence &quot;I am write-only&quot; the verb is not &quot;write&quot; but &quot;am&quot; (i.e. to be). In that sentence &quot;I&quot; is the subject. You are the subject of the sentence. The sentence is describing you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T14:10:15.270" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T14:10:15.270" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12989" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12992" CreationDate="2011-02-17T11:27:26.390" Score="3" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've stumbled over some dialogue in a textbook, where some people have a chat at work, and at the end, when they get back to their urgent tasks, one character says (emph. mine):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Well, I'd better let you carry on&#xA;  then. &lt;em&gt;No rest for the wicked.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I've found out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/257500.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;where the phrase comes&lt;/a&gt; from, but I do not quite follow in which context it can be &quot;used for mild comic effect&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3779" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T12:08:33.117" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T12:08:33.117" Title="When is &quot;no rest for the wicked&quot; used?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;proverb&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="12990" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12991" CreationDate="2011-02-17T11:28:11.697" Score="2" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, one doesn't use the indefinite article with a noun because it's plural, but sometimes you get nouns where, for some reason, the indefinite article isn't used even though the noun is singular.  I would never say 'a software', though it seems to be a singular noun, and I've heard it said (though it sounds wrong).  Instead, we say 'some software' or 'a piece of software' (the latter implying that software is singular), so why does 'a software' sound wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I really meant to ask why we don't consider software singular.  Maybe I should have asked, 'why is software a mass noun?'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4801" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T15:01:43.873" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T21:11:21.743" Title="Why don't we use the indefinite article with 'software'?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="12991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12990" CreationDate="2011-02-17T11:30:32.070" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's because &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4144/plural-form-of-software&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;software&lt;/em&gt; is uncountable&lt;/a&gt;, or a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_noun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mass noun&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In English, mass nouns are characterized by the fact that they cannot be directly modified by a numeral without specifying a unit of measurement, and that they cannot combine with an indefinite article (&lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; in reply to your edit, the key here is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-ware#English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;-ware&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Used to form nouns denoting, collectively, items made from a particular substance. &lt;em&gt;glassware&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Used to form nouns denoting, collectively, items of a particular kind or for a particular use. &lt;em&gt;giftware&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note the word &quot;collectively&quot;. &lt;em&gt;Software&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/software#Etymology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;was coined&lt;/a&gt; in 1953 by contrast with &lt;em&gt;hardware&lt;/em&gt;. You wouldn't say &quot;I need two new hardwares&quot;, either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T11:42:38.067" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T11:42:38.067" />
  <row Id="12992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12989" CreationDate="2011-02-17T11:31:34.753" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's an idiom, generally used when somebody is expressing their belief that they (or someone else) has to work without rest.  'For the wicked' is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek expression implying that the reason the person is having to work is as a punishment for their being wicked, but this meaning is never literally intended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4801" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T11:31:34.753" />
  <row Id="12993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12987" CreationDate="2011-02-17T11:37:18.913" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There must be lots...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;French:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;princess&lt;/em&gt; (from Old French &lt;em&gt;princesse&lt;/em&gt;) and &lt;em&gt;prince&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;countess&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;duchess&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;marquise&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;baroness&lt;/em&gt;, and lots of other &lt;em&gt;-ess&lt;/em&gt; words&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;doyenne&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;doyen&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Italian:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;ballerina&lt;/em&gt; (although you don't see &lt;em&gt;ballerino&lt;/em&gt; very often)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;prima donna&lt;/em&gt; (and rarely &lt;em&gt;primo uomo&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Latin:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;victrix&lt;/em&gt;  and &lt;em&gt;victor&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;aviatrix&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;aviator&lt;/em&gt; (although we seldom use these Latin suffixes anymore)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T11:37:18.913" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-17T16:38:46.607" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="12995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12976" CreationDate="2011-02-17T11:54:57.383" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would either call it dialectical (or, under certain circumstances, controversial). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dialectical&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dialectical&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;dialectic&quot; is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The process especially associated with&#xA;  Hegel of arriving at the truth by&#xA;  stating a thesis, developing a&#xA;  contradictory antithesis, and&#xA;  combining and resolving them into a&#xA;  coherent synthesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5146" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T11:54:57.383" />
  <row Id="12996" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12998" CreationDate="2011-02-17T12:20:12.380" Score="22" ViewCount="773" Body="&lt;p&gt;In practice I find both spellings being used. From a logical point of view, &quot;allright&quot; (as in: &quot;all's right - everything is fine&quot;) seems correct. However, I recall hearing that &quot;alright&quot; is the preferable variant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there consensus over which to use? Do they possibly even mean something different?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="315" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T13:51:22.890" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T13:51:22.890" Title="Is it &quot;alright&quot; or &quot;allright&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="7" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="12997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12996" CreationDate="2011-02-17T12:24:00.677" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second spelling requires a space: it is either “&lt;strong&gt;alright&lt;/strong&gt;” or “&lt;strong&gt;all right&lt;/strong&gt;”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Usage:&lt;/strong&gt; The merging of all and right to&#xA;  form the one-word spelling alright is&#xA;  first recorded toward the end of the&#xA;  19th century (unlike other similar&#xA;  merged spellings such as altogether&#xA;  and already, which date from much&#xA;  earlier). There is no logical reason&#xA;  for insisting that all right be two&#xA;  words when other single-word forms&#xA;  such as altogether have long been&#xA;  accepted. Nevertheless, although found&#xA;  widely, alright remains nonstandard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T12:24:00.677" />
  <row Id="12998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12996" CreationDate="2011-02-17T12:24:46.407" Score="29" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary marks &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/alright&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;alright&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; as an &quot;alternative spelling&quot; of &lt;em&gt;all right&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/allright&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;allright&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; as a &quot;common misspelling&quot; thereof. Merriam-Webster only has entries for &lt;em&gt;alright&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;all right&lt;/em&gt;, and this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alright&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;usage discussion&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The one-word spelling &lt;em&gt;alright&lt;/em&gt; appeared some 75 years after &lt;em&gt;all right&lt;/em&gt; itself had reappeared from a 400-year-long absence. Since the early 20th century some critics have insisted &lt;em&gt;alright&lt;/em&gt; is wrong, but it has its defenders and its users. It is less frequent than &lt;em&gt;all right&lt;/em&gt; but remains in common use especially in journalistic and business publications. It is quite common in fictional dialogue, and is used occasionally in other writing &amp;lt;the first two years of medical school were &lt;em&gt;alright&lt;/em&gt; — Gertrude Stein&amp;gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The stats from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; look as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;            COCA   BNC&#xA;&#xA;all right  59013   6384&#xA;alright     1888   8328&#xA;allright      36      3&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This suggests that &lt;em&gt;alright&lt;/em&gt; is much more popular in Britain than in the US. However, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coha/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Historical American English&lt;/a&gt; paints the following picture:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/fSuco.png&quot; alt=&quot;Usage stats&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;X axis: year, Y axis: incidences per million words.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, &lt;em&gt;alright&lt;/em&gt; seems to be gaining popularity in the States as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T13:34:46.737" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T13:34:46.737" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="12999" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13004" CreationDate="2011-02-17T12:26:00.520" Score="4" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do you call somebody who asks a question and somebody who answers a question?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have exhausted the thesaurus with no real luck... any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: It is in reference to this - or any other StackExchange - site in which the question is posed by X and answer is submitted by Y.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT 2: In the context of StackExchange, and the fact I need plurality (something I neglected to mention oooops), I have decided upon &quot;Posters&quot; and &quot;Respondents&quot;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for all the replies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5147" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T16:55:30.850" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T16:55:30.850" Title="What do you call somebody who asks a question and somebody who answers a question?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3470" CreationDate="2011-02-17T12:26:47.070" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding to the insight given by RedDwight, I found that in practice single marks are commonly used for single words or short sentences while double marks are used to denote longer passages of text. This may have become naturalized to some (me), but I don't know of any consensus on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="315" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T12:26:47.070" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12999" CreationDate="2011-02-17T12:27:43.827" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;May I suggest: Questioner/Respondent&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4955" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T12:27:43.827" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12999" CreationDate="2011-02-17T12:30:23.437" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could consider  &lt;em&gt;Inquirer&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Questioner&lt;/em&gt; or, for instance &lt;em&gt;Interrogator&lt;/em&gt;. Meanings differ slightly, I'd normally go for one of the first two. The third can be used when someone asks multiple questions, i.e., interrogates someone else. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: &lt;em&gt;respondent&lt;/em&gt; has been suggested by others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="640" LastEditorUserId="640" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T12:37:53.790" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T12:37:53.790" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12999" CreationDate="2011-02-17T12:31:06.397" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Asker and responder come to my mind first - these terms may be weird in your use case though, as I have a technical background.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="315" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T12:31:06.397" />
  <row Id="13004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12999" CreationDate="2011-02-17T12:34:05.897" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Asker, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/answerer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Answerer&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/answerer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Answerer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;answerer (plural answerers)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   1. a person or thing that answers or responds&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T12:34:05.897" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="13005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12948" CreationDate="2011-02-17T12:43:48.197" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Uggs are made in Australia, and is Australian slang for &quot;ugly&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5149" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T12:43:48.197" />
  <row Id="13006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12982" CreationDate="2011-02-17T12:49:08.087" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I read your question correctly, you are looking for examples of words that change pronunciation because of prefixes. Another example would be famous (ˈfā-məs) and infamous (ˈin-fə-məs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know what this phenomenon is called, but it can also apply to other derivations from the same word; for instance, house (haʊs) and houses (ˈhaʊzɪz), (or the verb house (haʊz)), photograph (ˈfō-tə-ˌgraf) and photographer (fə-ˈtä-grə-fər).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T12:49:08.087" />
  <row Id="13007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12982" CreationDate="2011-02-17T13:08:24.133" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another example of word that changes pronunciation because a prefix is &lt;em&gt;belief&lt;/em&gt;, which is pronounced /bəˈlif/ or /biˈlif/ in American English, and where the prefix &lt;em&gt;un-&lt;/em&gt; changes the pronunciation to /ˌənbəˈlif/.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T13:08:24.133" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12976" CreationDate="2011-02-17T13:29:21.033" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think I would go with &lt;em&gt;quality&lt;/em&gt; as the good and the bad are a matter of quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the Tao texts i have places this under &lt;em&gt;Qualities&lt;/em&gt; but another has it under &lt;em&gt;Self-Manifestation through Contraries&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;antithesis and dialectical don't really fit as what this is a property of human perception which need not be phrased in terms of logical propositions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;note well that what is called &lt;em&gt;the unity of opposites&lt;/em&gt; is a fallacy because good can exist with evil but we can't recognize the good without knowing the evil and vise versa so i offer the qualification that it's the &lt;em&gt;perceptive opposites&lt;/em&gt; that are unified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2746" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T13:29:21.033" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="13009" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-17T13:41:13.730" Score="0" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question came about in a discussion between myself and another user of the Gaming.SE chat after I linked in this chiptune track called&#xA;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://timbral.dhs.nu/tunes/eskimeau.ogg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;An Eskimeau Experience&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;Here is the gist of the discussion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's either Eskimo or Esquimaux. Not a portmanteau of both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Eskimeau&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; is a portmanteau of two of the different spellings. It's half English, half French.&#xA;  That's like calling something a biscookie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So it's wrong, and I want to know the name of the 'mistake' (or stylistic device, if you prefer)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I thought there was a specific name for a portmanteau of two alternative spellings...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This probably isn't very clear, so I suggest you check out the link below, which will take you to the transcript of the original discussion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/499646#499646&quot;&gt;Original chat transcript&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1862" LastEditorUserId="1862" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T13:48:05.193" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T15:49:51.150" Title="Is there a specific name for a portmanteau of two alternative spellings?" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;alternative&gt;&lt;portmanteau-words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12999" CreationDate="2011-02-17T13:42:32.390" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes they're called &lt;em&gt;counselor&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;witness&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T13:42:32.390" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13009" CreationDate="2011-02-17T13:56:12.940" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you should probably just call it a &lt;em&gt;portmanto&lt;/em&gt; or a &lt;em&gt;portmanteaux&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T13:56:12.940" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12958" CreationDate="2011-02-17T14:32:23.643" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A hotel room might have a status of standard, de-luxe or honeymoon-suite.&#xA;That same room may have a state of dishevelled or clean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A project progresses through a series of predefined stages. It's status tells you where it is in that series. It's state might be in disarray or on target regardless of status.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In considering this I asked myself two questions: What is the status of X? What sort of state is X in?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reality, I suspect there is considerable overlap in the usage of state and status.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T14:32:23.643" />
  <row Id="13014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5897" CreationDate="2011-02-17T14:54:09.037" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the difference between &lt;em&gt;dressing&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;stuffing&lt;/em&gt; is mostly regional or dialect-related: in some places, if it's made of a starchy substance with flavorings, then it's &lt;em&gt;stuffing&lt;/em&gt; regardless of whether it ever saw the inside of a bird, while in other places, it's &lt;em&gt;dressing&lt;/em&gt; even though it was (under)cooked inside the turkey. However, there are certainly people and cookbooks (Joy of Cooking, for example) which make the distinction of stuffing=inside/dressing=outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to why only this one dish type is called dressing, even though the sweet potatoes and cranberries and green beans appear to serve the same purpose, I couldn't tell you. Technically, if we were using &lt;em&gt;dressing&lt;/em&gt; according to its usual definition (e.g. salad dressing), then the &lt;strong&gt;gravy&lt;/strong&gt; should get this appellation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T04:11:40.973" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T04:11:40.973" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13009" CreationDate="2011-02-17T14:54:28.457" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd call it &quot;franglais&quot; (the contraction of &quot;français&quot; and &quot;anglais&quot;), as juxtopositions of these two languages (French and English) typically carry that term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another suggestion would be &quot;french anglicism&quot;, as the French call an English word, spelling, or pronounciation that is lent into another language &lt;a href=&quot;http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglicisme&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;un anglicisme&quot; (French wiképedia link)&lt;/a&gt;.  An example of this in French would be the common usage of the term &quot;e-mail&quot; before (and after) the introduction of its French equivalent, &quot;courriel&quot;.  This seems to be an example of the reverse (French to English instead of English to French) occurring, hence the suggested name.  If you're looking to make a portmanteau of &quot;french anglicism&quot;, I'd suggest &quot;franglicism&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If not that, I suggest &quot;word cocktail&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastEditorUserId="3328" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T15:49:51.150" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T15:49:51.150" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12984" CreationDate="2011-02-17T14:59:51.360" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should be careful to distinguish between syntactical labels and semantic labels. &lt;em&gt;Subject&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;object&lt;/em&gt; are syntactic terms: they mostly say something about the form of the sentence, the way it is ordered. &lt;em&gt;Agent&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;patient&lt;/em&gt; are semantic terms: they apply to meaning only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note that the word &quot;I&quot; is one of the few words in English that can only be used as subject (or subject complement). You can't say &quot;the dog beats I&quot;: if &quot;I&quot; is object, it should be &quot;me&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I beat the dog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The agent of a sentence is the person or thing that acts upon some other thing. The patient is the person or thing that is acted upon. &quot;I&quot; is the person that acts, so that &quot;I&quot; is the agent. &quot;The dog&quot; is the patient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The subject of the sentence can be found by answering the question: who is it that &quot;beat&quot;? - It is I who beat the dog. Therefore &quot;I&quot; is also the subject. You need to always take the full predicate, that is all the verbs in the clause, in your question to determine the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The dog was beaten by me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Who is the person that acts? - Me. Therefore &quot;me&quot; is the agent.&#xA;Who is it that &quot;was beaten&quot;? - The dog. Therefore &quot;the dog&quot; is the subject. As you see, in passive constructions the subject is usually the patient (or recipient: there are more than just two semantic roles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;[Edited:]&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;In your example &quot;I am write only&quot;, the subject is &quot;I&quot;, as Red showed. But I think you want to know whether &quot;I&quot; is the agent or patient of &quot;write&quot; in your sentence. That depends on the meaning of the sentence, which is not clear without context. Since &quot;write-only&quot; is mostly used with computer memory, I will assume that you mean &quot;I&quot; to be analogous to this memory. The sentence to be analysed would then be &quot;this memory is write only&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We could then ask this question: &quot;when someone writes data to a disk, who is it that acts, and who is it that is acted upon?&quot;. It is evident that &quot;someone&quot; is the agent, and &quot;a disk&quot; is the thing that is acted upon: therefore the disk is the patient. It follows that in &quot;this memory is write only&quot;, the memory is the patient in the context of writing data; the adjective &quot;write-only&quot; must therefore accompany its patient. This means that &quot;I&quot; in your sentence is most probably patient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T14:56:44.273" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T14:56:44.273" />
  <row Id="13017" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13019" CreationDate="2011-02-17T15:00:52.720" Score="2" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &quot;most every&quot; and &quot;almost every&quot;? Do they differ in amount?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4727" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T20:10:28.947" Title="&quot;Most every&quot; and &quot;almost every&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12948" CreationDate="2011-02-17T15:01:33.713" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is &quot;ugh&quot; which is a noise one makes in disgust. Here is an example of usage: &lt;a href=&quot;http://perlypalms.com/herbie/women-swoon/19a-04.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://perlypalms.com/herbie/women-swoon/19a-04.jpg&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;( above image credits to this page: &lt;a href=&quot;http://perlypalms.com/herbie/pix.pl?women-swoon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://perlypalms.com/herbie/pix.pl?women-swoon&lt;/a&gt; )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T15:01:33.713" />
  <row Id="13019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13017" CreationDate="2011-02-17T15:07:19.043" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most, as an adverb, can be used informally to mean “almost”. In that sense, there is no difference in meaning between “most every” and “almost every”, except that the first one is informal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should add that the Corpus of Contemporary American English has 290 occurences of “most every”, compared to 5027 for “almost every”. The second alternative is thus vastly favoured, at least in written American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the British National Corpus, “most every” returns 4 occurrences, while “almost every” returns 788 hits. It thus confirms what commenters have said, that “most every” is a regionalism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T17:25:41.463" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T17:25:41.463" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12974" CreationDate="2011-02-17T15:12:11.410" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The example sentence provided serves as a good example of the use of the passive voice (accidentally or on-purpose) to hide what is going on. A clearer construction would be &quot;The conqueror forced the citizens to surrender their town&quot; if that's what happened. Changing to the active voice from the passive forces (heh) the author to be more clear about cause and effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3952" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T15:12:11.410" />
  <row Id="13021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13009" CreationDate="2011-02-17T15:12:16.620" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you'd calling it &quot;spelling mistake&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The error likely comes from the fact that &quot;Esquimaux&quot; is always plural as in &quot;of the Esquimaux&quot;, where the singular would then be &quot;Esquimeau&quot; (which is not used). Eskimeau is just a spelling mistake - there's no need to assume that the artist was deliberately trying to fuse the english &quot;k&quot; spelling with the french singular ending.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;+1 for Franglais though. We use that all the time round here, estie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5058" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T15:12:16.620" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13022" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-17T15:12:19.970" Score="-2" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the points that could come under this topic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5157" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T15:22:41.443" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T15:22:41.443" ClosedDate="2011-02-17T15:37:55.293" Title="What is sexism in English language class mean?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13022" CreationDate="2011-02-17T15:16:12.310" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sexism&lt;/em&gt; is “prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex.” (&lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T15:16:12.310" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13024" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-17T15:17:48.423" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A group of words that make a unit of syntax with a single grammatical function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T21:47:58.227" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T21:47:58.227" />
  <row Id="13025" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-17T15:17:48.423" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="A group of words that make a unit of syntax with a single grammatical function." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T21:47:58.243" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T21:47:58.243" />
  <row Id="13026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12980" CreationDate="2011-02-17T15:29:17.067" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't use either of the pronuncations Benjol mentioned. I say /tjupl/, the first syllable rhyming with &quot;stew&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect that Benjol has a dialect in which &quot;dew&quot; and &quot;do&quot; are homonyms, but they aren't for me or most British speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T15:29:17.067" />
  <row Id="13027" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13124" CreationDate="2011-02-17T15:32:28.207" Score="4" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say you paid for a friend's bus ride, and he insists on paying you back rather than just let it be and stop worrying about it. You even find it rude on his part that he won't just forget about it. Is there an adjective or a phrase for such kind or a person, or for such kind of a behavior?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T00:31:53.667" Title="What would you (negatively) call a person who insists on repaying even a small amount of money?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="13029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13027" CreationDate="2011-02-17T15:42:42.687" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would call such a person &lt;em&gt;overly&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;obsessively proud&lt;/em&gt;, or possibly &lt;em&gt;haughty&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it would depend on the culture. Such a practice is considered normal in Japan, for example, where the concept of &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;face&lt;/em&gt;) requires it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T15:42:42.687" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13030" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13038" CreationDate="2011-02-17T15:45:19.077" Score="3" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard the Latin phrase &lt;em&gt;imperio in imperium&lt;/em&gt; used in political discussions a few times. While I understand what the phrase literally means in Latin (&quot;by command into command&quot;), I'm not sure what the intended meaning is when the phrase is invoked in English as a discussion of political strategy or reality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T22:08:00.327" Title="What does &quot;imperio in imperium&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;latin&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13030" CreationDate="2011-02-17T15:50:00.153" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In politics, it refers to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answers.com/topic/imperium&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a sphere of power or dominion&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T15:50:00.153" />
  <row Id="13032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12948" CreationDate="2011-02-17T15:51:29.410" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported also by others, Ugg is a brand of boots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that the origin of &lt;em&gt;Ugg boot&lt;/em&gt; is 1960s, from the name of cartoon characters (&lt;em&gt;Ugh&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, that user wrote &lt;em&gt;ugg&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;ugh&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T15:51:29.410" />
  <row Id="13033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13027" CreationDate="2011-02-17T15:53:48.213" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd go for &quot;stubbornly independent, even in the face of generosity&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T15:53:48.213" />
  <row Id="13034" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-17T15:57:51.447" Score="2" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know what the difference between &lt;em&gt;the key to the door&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;the the key of the door&lt;/em&gt;, or between &lt;em&gt;the servant to the master&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;the servant of the master&lt;/em&gt; is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5161" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T16:04:40.657" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T18:10:17.463" Title="&quot;The key to&quot; / &quot;of the door&quot;" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13034" CreationDate="2011-02-17T16:03:08.020" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English we speak of the key &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; the door, not the key &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With respect to servants, you can perform as the &lt;em&gt;servant to the master&lt;/em&gt; or be the &lt;em&gt;servant of the master&lt;/em&gt;. You would use &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; when describing the act of performing as a servant, and &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; when describing the state of being a servant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T16:03:08.020" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13036" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13065" CreationDate="2011-02-17T16:04:51.453" Score="0" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do we have any practical uses of onomatopoeia in contemporary English? I can not claim to have read many materials, but I have to confess I have rarely seen it used a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4106" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T23:12:06.530" Title="Are there any practical uses of onomatopoeia in contemporary English?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13030" CreationDate="2011-02-17T16:11:53.413" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Further down on the page that Robusto linked to, the expression is defined: it means &quot;a state within a state&quot; - in other words, a group that exists within a political unit but exercises independent power there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples they give include: the Catholic Church in England before the Act of Supremacy (which made the British monarch the head of the Church of England - i.e., it became subordinate and no longer a separate &lt;em&gt;imperium&lt;/em&gt;), and the Mormons in early territorial Utah. Possibly another example might be the Inquisition in Spain, which was nominally under royal control but in practice operated pretty independently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T16:11:53.413" />
  <row Id="13038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13030" CreationDate="2011-02-17T16:22:29.847" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are right that it would mean something like &quot;in an empire into an empire&quot;, which is nonsense; fortunately, this phrase is wrong: the classic term is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;imperium in imperio&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, which is, as Alex explained, an &quot;empire within an empire&quot;, a group or organisation that functions almost as its own state, even though it is officially not a state, but merely an unofficial entity within a state. The use of the word &quot;imperium&quot; instead of a more neutral word, like &quot;res publica&quot;, implies that the leader(s) of this entity impose some rules on it that would normally be imposed by a formal government.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T22:08:00.327" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T22:08:00.327" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13039" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13047" CreationDate="2011-02-17T16:27:38.803" Score="2" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;These two words are often used interchangeably and the greatest difference I can find between the two is &quot;choose&quot; for choosing multiple items from a set, and &quot;select&quot; for selecting a single item from a set. Are there other qualifiers to consider and is this singular/plural distinction on the right track?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, really, what &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; the difference between the two, if any?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5163" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T17:28:23.940" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T17:28:23.940" Title="Difference between &quot;choose&quot; and &quot;select&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13040" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-17T16:32:46.530" Score="0" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;Every once in a while I'll be writing an article when I'm suddenly stopped in my tracks by a word I'm familiar with but seems odd somehow. The word is usually correct in spelling and in context, but just comes across as strange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm curious if there are others who experience this when they write.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T16:32:46.530" ClosedDate="2011-02-17T18:59:55.417" Title="Why do familiar words seem odd at times?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="13041" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13045" CreationDate="2011-02-17T16:35:42.380" Score="2" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;The basic question I wish to ask here is that I don't understand the scope of the word Alien. I would like to explain my question further as-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If NASA sends a pregnant woman into space, and she gives birth to a baby there, then is the baby an alien?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T09:30:39.190" Title="What does &quot;Alien&quot; actually mean?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="13042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13041" CreationDate="2011-02-17T16:40:51.143" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Alien&lt;/em&gt; can be used to mean &lt;em&gt;extraterrestrial&lt;/em&gt; (as in this case) or &lt;em&gt;foreigner&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case it would mean &lt;em&gt;extraterrestrial&lt;/em&gt; because the baby would born outside the Earth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T16:50:45.250" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T16:50:45.250" />
  <row Id="13043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13041" CreationDate="2011-02-17T16:41:55.307" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case it simply means &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/alien&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;someone from outer space&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. But it also has the added flavor of &quot;no country of origin&quot; because technically the American baby would not be born on American soil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T16:41:55.307" />
  <row Id="13044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13041" CreationDate="2011-02-17T16:43:27.457" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question on the scope of the word alien: &#xA;I've always used 'alien' synonymously with 'foreigner' or to describe anything that is not native to a specified area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster defines alien as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Belonging or relating to another person, place, or thing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T16:43:27.457" />
  <row Id="13045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13041" CreationDate="2011-02-17T16:45:21.667" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The free dictionary ( &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/alien&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/alien&lt;/a&gt; ) says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;An unnaturalized foreign resident of a country. Also called noncitizen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A person from another and very different family, people, or place.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A person who is not included in a group; an outsider.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A creature from outer space.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The scope is &quot;strange, doesn't belong in the group.&quot; The term alien for an outer space creature takes from that meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way: the answer to the hypothetical question is &quot;yes and no.&quot; &quot;Yes&quot; because the baby is indeed a creature from outer space (it is arguable whether &quot;creature&quot; means &quot;non-human creature&quot;).  &quot;No&quot; because the baby is born of presumably at least one US citizen and therefore not an alien in the context of US citizenship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T16:45:21.667" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12983" CreationDate="2011-02-17T17:00:50.377" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I shall say it as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I have the number 1234, then I &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;prefix&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; 9 and I will get 91234.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T17:00:50.377" />
  <row Id="13047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13039" CreationDate="2011-02-17T17:05:17.400" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Select&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;to carefully choose&lt;/em&gt;; it also means &lt;em&gt;to use a mouse or keystrokes to mark something on a computer screen&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both the cases, the number of things chosen or marked does not influence which verb is used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T17:27:45.920" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T17:27:45.920" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13039" CreationDate="2011-02-17T17:09:45.517" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to what you said,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ldoceonline.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Select&lt;/strong&gt; is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;more formal&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; than &lt;strong&gt;choose&lt;/strong&gt;, and in everyday English, people usually say choose rather than select.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also there's a homophone for choose which is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chews&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chews&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to Merriam-Webster&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;choose&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;em&gt;to have a preference for&lt;/em&gt;  or &lt;em&gt;to select freely and after consideration&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;select&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;em&gt;to choose (as by fitness or excellence) from a number or group&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I checked some other sources. In all of them the difference between select and choose is not considered important. so I think maybe it's a better idea not to be fussy about it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T17:09:45.517" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13036" CreationDate="2011-02-17T17:19:47.180" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can say that &lt;em&gt;cuckoo&lt;/em&gt; is an onomatopoeic word, or that is an onomatopoeia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from using &lt;em&gt;onomatopoeia&lt;/em&gt; to mean that a word is formed from the sound it describes, or to refer to the use of such words for rhetorical effect, I don't think you usually use that word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Reference: the New Oxford American Dictionary.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T17:19:47.180" />
  <row Id="13050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13027" CreationDate="2011-02-17T17:34:14.497" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say this person suffers from an &lt;em&gt;aversion to generosity&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not an adjective, but I think the phenomenon may be too complex to boil down to a single word (cultural factors? fear of indebtedness? fear of not being able to return a kindness? feelings of inferiority? etc). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe &lt;em&gt;generosity averse&lt;/em&gt;? :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4859" LastEditorUserId="4859" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T21:39:37.423" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T21:39:37.423" />
  <row Id="13051" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13117" CreationDate="2011-02-17T17:36:44.740" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;safe&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;vault&lt;/em&gt;, where both the words refer to a place where to put things you want to keep safe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As additional question, why does &lt;em&gt;vault&lt;/em&gt; seem more frequently used in computer jargon? For example, the Mac OS X has a &lt;em&gt;File vault&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;vault&lt;/em&gt; is the word used from anti-virus programs to refer to a place where infected files are kept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T17:58:42.280" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:59:30.143" Title="What is the difference between &quot;safe&quot; and &quot;vault&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13051" CreationDate="2011-02-17T17:38:43.823" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;safe&lt;/em&gt; is usually smaller than a &lt;em&gt;vault&lt;/em&gt;. Safes are often portable, or at least movable, while vaults often are entire rooms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T17:38:43.823" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="13053" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-17T17:55:18.443" Score="0" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicates:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12999/what-do-you-call-somebody-who-asks-a-question-and-somebody-who-answers-a-question&quot;&gt;What do you call somebody who asks a question and somebody who answers a question?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11397/how-do-you-call-who-writes-comments-in-this-board-commenter-or-commentator&quot;&gt;How do you call who writes comments in this board? Commenter or commentator?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hey all,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have exhausted the thesaurus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would I call somebody who comments on a stack exchange post?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A commenter? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a follow up to &quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12999/what-do-you-call-somebody-who-asks-a-question-and-somebody-who-answers-a-question&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5147" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T17:55:18.443" ClosedDate="2011-02-17T18:39:45.437" Title="What is somebody who comments on a stack exchange post called?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;words&gt;" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="13054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13034" CreationDate="2011-02-17T18:10:17.463" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English seems to have a preference for &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; when referring to an item for &quot;operating&quot; something. Hence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the key to/for the door&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the switch to/for the hall lights&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the catch to/for the window&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, 'of' is used more when you're naming a component part of something; sometimes either 'of' or 'to/for' is possible, depending on whether you're just naming a part of something or implying its intended use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the leg of the table&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the door of/to/for the fridge&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the ingredients of/to/for this soup&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When identifying a part of something, English also permits other prepositions denoting location:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the handle &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; the fridge&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the largest collection &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; the world&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Various other languages tend to use the equivalent of 'of' in many of these cases: i.e. they have less of a distinction between naming the 'utility' vs 'existence' vs 'identification/location' of a component of something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T18:10:17.463" />
  <row Id="13055" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-17T18:18:48.773" Score="0" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good day!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you recommend a book/website where I can develop better my English proficiency and fluency? My accent is terrible, and when I speak in English I stammer a lot. I cannot afford to take any English lessons, so I rely on books/websites a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5164" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T21:12:25.937" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T21:12:25.937" ClosedDate="2011-02-17T18:36:00.073" Title="Best book/website for English fluency/proficiency" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;&lt;book-title&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13056" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13059" CreationDate="2011-02-17T18:29:03.833" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a phrase I've heard many people use, and it sounds wrong to me; e.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The thing about that is, is that she might take it the wrong way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to treat &quot;The thing [...] is&quot;—the entire &lt;em&gt;phrase&lt;/em&gt;—as the &lt;strong&gt;subject&lt;/strong&gt; of the sentence. Of course, even if that were allowed, the comma placement would still be questionable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm curious to know:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there a name for this wording?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it specific to a certain dialect?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is its etymology known?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2087" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T18:59:13.880" Title="&quot;The thing is, is that...&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13055" CreationDate="2011-02-17T18:34:28.610" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/&lt;/a&gt; is good for general dictionary lookups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/&lt;/a&gt; is good for more in-depth explanations of words and community content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.urbandictionary.com/&lt;/a&gt; is good for slang and rarely-used terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemocha.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.livemocha.com/&lt;/a&gt; is a nice site for learning other languages in general, and interacting (via text or speech) with other language learners/teachers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4801" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T18:34:28.610" />
  <row Id="13058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13056" CreationDate="2011-02-17T18:39:57.107" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is incorrect grammar. However, it looks like something which was spoken out loud: people can not delete or edit their previous utterances, so people often construct sentences verbally which are not strictly grammatical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T18:39:57.107" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="13059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13056" CreationDate="2011-02-17T18:50:22.263" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the linguistics literature, they're referred to as either &quot;double &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;&quot; constructions or &quot;&lt;em&gt;thing is&lt;/em&gt; constructions&quot;. Various papers have been published on the subject which you should find if you Google these terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In one possible analysis, what is happening is that they are  there is effectively an element such as &quot;what&quot; which is implied:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;(What) the thing is, is that I'm going to be late&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;(What) my feeling was, is/was that...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that although they're referred to as &quot;double &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;&quot; or &quot;&lt;em&gt;thing is&lt;/em&gt;&quot; constructions, the construction doesn't necessarily involve either a double &quot;is&quot; (notice &quot;...was, is...&quot; is possible) or &quot;thing&quot; (notice the example with &quot;My feeling&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of a claim that the phenomenon is restricted to a particular dialect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastEditorUserId="4941" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T18:59:13.880" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T18:59:13.880" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13061" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13062" CreationDate="2011-02-17T19:03:42.113" Score="2" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apparently this is a peculiarly British term, but we'll sometimes use the phrase 'slap-up' to mean 'excellent', as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's a slap-up meal!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They held a slap-up do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the origin of the term slap-up?  Nothing obvious comes to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4801" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T20:44:09.780" Title="Etymology of 'slap-up'" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13061" CreationDate="2011-02-17T19:13:52.977" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This comes originally from a Dickens novel (he probably used a common expression of the time).  He used the expression &quot;Slap-bang&quot; to indicate a cheap meal.  Apparently it was &quot;Slap-bang&quot; because people would &quot;bang&quot; the money down for the meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="357" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T19:13:52.977" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12996" CreationDate="2011-02-17T19:15:43.583" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;em&gt;Collins Dictionary and Thesaurus&lt;/em&gt; (UK, 2nd ed. 2000):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;alright&lt;/strong&gt; is &quot;a variant spelling of &lt;strong&gt;all right&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;USAGE NOTE&lt;/strong&gt; The form &lt;em&gt;alright&lt;/em&gt;, though very common, is still considered by many people to be wrong or less acceptable&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The entry for &lt;strong&gt;all right&lt;/strong&gt; includes:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;all-right&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;em&gt;US slang&lt;/em&gt;) acceptable; reliable.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;allright&lt;/strong&gt; doesn't even merit an entry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So 'alright' is all right, but 'allright' is wrong, at least in my book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2673" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T19:15:43.583" />
  <row Id="13064" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13068" CreationDate="2011-02-17T19:47:33.563" Score="3" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;dead as a door nail&lt;/em&gt; mean?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is it used in set phrases, or is it normally used in any context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T20:18:40.233" Title="What does &quot;dead as a door nail&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13036" CreationDate="2011-02-17T19:49:24.037" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Each onomatopoeic word is its own entity.  Asking whether there are any practical uses for onomatopoeia is similar to asking whether there are any practical uses for words ending in &lt;em&gt;f&lt;/em&gt;.  You have to evaluate each word on a case-by-case basis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a list of some onomatopoeic words (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.buzzle.com/articles/examples-of-onomatopoeia.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;from here&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Buzz, Beep, Whirr, Click, Clack, Clunk, Clatter, Clink, Achoo, Ahem, Fizz, Bah, Bump, Bam, Bang, Bash, Puff, Bawl, Boing, Bong, Bonk, Boo, Varoom, vroom, Bubble, Whoosh, Slurp, Wham, Biff, Pow, Snore, Swish, Swoosh, Blare, Blurt, Boing, Boink, Boom, Slurch, Clank, Clatter, Click, Ring, Ting, Honk, Jingle, Toot, Hum, Thud, Tick-tock, Cluck, Poof, Crackle, Ding, Hiccup, Crunch, Eek, Flick, Ping, Plop, Zap, Zing, Zip, Zoom&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Buzz&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;beep&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;honk&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;plop&lt;/em&gt; (and so on) are perfectly normal, commonly-used English words. These words can be any type of lexical category, and can be just as useful as any other type of word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T23:12:06.530" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T23:12:06.530" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13064" CreationDate="2011-02-17T19:50:13.373" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;doornail&lt;/strong&gt; (noun):&#xA;  a stud set in a door for strength or as an ornament.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(as) dead as a doornail&lt;/strong&gt;: quite dead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that it is “doornail” with no space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T19:50:13.373" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="13067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13036" CreationDate="2011-02-17T19:50:35.597" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is plenty of onomatopoeia going on in English all the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few common words that are largely onomatopoetic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sigh whack whoosh plink ping-pong plop flop whisk blab murmur susurrus pop click honk bark yap&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T19:50:35.597" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13064" CreationDate="2011-02-17T19:59:23.047" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dead as a doornail&lt;/em&gt; is one of the many idiomatic similes used for emphasis (to intensify the adjective). Thus, it simply means &lt;em&gt;dead&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;very dead&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;quite dead&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;certainly dead&lt;/em&gt;, etc. It can be used figuratively or literally in any context. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another simile that comes to mind is &lt;em&gt;poor as a church mouse&lt;/em&gt;, which simply means &lt;em&gt;dirt poor&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;very poor&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;flat broke&lt;/em&gt;, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I'm sure Cambridge and Longman still publish compendiums of English similes, proverbs and idioms. They're fun to peruse.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T19:59:23.047" />
  <row Id="13069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13017" CreationDate="2011-02-17T20:10:28.947" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Most every&lt;/em&gt; is a very informal version of &lt;em&gt;almost every&lt;/em&gt;. Both phrases mean the same thing, but one would be hard-pressed to find &lt;em&gt;most every&lt;/em&gt; in formal contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T20:10:28.947" />
  <row Id="13070" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-17T20:16:19.813" Score="0" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2809/when-to-use-passive-and-active-voice&quot;&gt;When to use passive and active voice&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When shall I use passive and when active voice? Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4656" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T20:16:19.813" ClosedDate="2011-02-17T20:18:55.010" Title="When shall I use passive voice?" Tags="&lt;passive-voice&gt;" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13064" CreationDate="2011-02-17T20:18:40.233" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would not be right to discuss this idiom without reference to this quote from the opening of Dickens's &lt;em&gt;A Christmas Carol&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T20:18:40.233" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13072" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13078" CreationDate="2011-02-17T20:28:42.793" Score="0" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of &lt;em&gt;slam-bang&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I walked slam-bang into this character.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T20:51:58.083" Title="What is the origin of &quot;slam-bang&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13073" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13075" CreationDate="2011-02-17T20:34:34.250" Score="2" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I searched for this on the site, but couldn't find it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When using zero as a quantifier, is it correct to use singular form on the object of the quantifier, or the plural form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sounds confusing when I put it that way, but I mean is: Which is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your password expires in 0 days.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your password expires in 0 day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Essentially I suppose I'm asking- does &quot;singular&quot; mean &quot;one&quot; or &quot;the opposite of more than one&quot;, as zero is not &quot;plural&quot; in the traditional &quot;more than one&quot; sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure &quot;days&quot; &lt;em&gt;sounds&lt;/em&gt; correct, but I can't be sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4718" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T21:38:40.480" Title="Correct plural form of a zero quantified noun" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13074" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-17T20:37:33.700" Score="0" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't want to repeat &quot;working&quot; in the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;We are working on a working arrangement.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5172" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T21:34:48.173" Title="What is another way to say &quot;working on&quot;?" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="13075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13073" CreationDate="2011-02-17T20:40:42.077" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English, every number that is not 1 is considered plural. The correct sentence is the first you wrote.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your password expires in 0 days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T20:40:42.077" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13061" CreationDate="2011-02-17T20:44:09.780" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both Partridge and Green have &quot;slap-up&quot; meaning &quot;first-rate, of superior quality&quot;. The earliest reference they cite is from 1829, a little early for Dickens. The &quot;slap-bang shop&quot;, a restaurant where one paid in advance, is earlier still (1796), cited in the Lexicon Balatronicum of 1811.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would think that Green's earliest reference to &quot;slap&quot;, the proceeds of a robbery, is the source of the phrase; that first appeared in 1790, apparently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T20:44:09.780" />
  <row Id="13077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11053" CreationDate="2011-02-17T20:48:53.563" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I didn't think alliteration was completely restricted to the start of words. I think the repeating of the &quot;plosive&quot; &quot;D&quot; sounds Su*&lt;em&gt;DD&lt;/em&gt;*en *&lt;em&gt;D&lt;/em&gt;*eparture is a form of alliteration too, even though the &quot;D&quot; sounds aren't at the beginning of the word Sudden.&#xA;This gives the phrase an almost explosive impact - which perhaps reflects the &quot;Sudden-ness&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5174" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T20:48:53.563" />
  <row Id="13078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13072" CreationDate="2011-02-17T20:51:58.083" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I have my Green's open at nearly the right page (from a previous answer), I can suggest it could be one of two meanings; either &quot;vigourously or energetically&quot;, or &quot;precisely, directly&quot;. Both of these meanings date from ~1840. As to the origin, the earliest reference has a firearm sort of sound: &quot;Down went the Major, shot right through the hips, &lt;em&gt;slam-bang&lt;/em&gt;. (R.M.Bird, Nick of the Woods, 1837).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T20:51:58.083" />
  <row Id="13079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13074" CreationDate="2011-02-17T20:54:03.713" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If &lt;em&gt;working&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;that works&lt;/em&gt;, then you can use &lt;em&gt;functioning&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;functional&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;operational&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;performant&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If &lt;em&gt;working&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;related to work&lt;/em&gt;, then you can use &lt;em&gt;job&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;service&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;task&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T20:54:03.713" />
  <row Id="13080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13074" CreationDate="2011-02-17T20:54:46.930" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are constructing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are formulating?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are writing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are making?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4999" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T20:54:46.930" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13027" CreationDate="2011-02-17T21:01:42.130" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps &lt;em&gt;punctilious&lt;/em&gt; would be the word you are looking for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T21:01:42.130" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12990" CreationDate="2011-02-17T21:11:21.743" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember being told once that &lt;em&gt;software&lt;/em&gt; was originally jargon in the Victorian refuse-collection industry, where it meant &quot;things that would decay or decompose&quot;, as opposed to &lt;em&gt;hardware&lt;/em&gt;, which would not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this is so, and I can find no source for this on the internet, it would seem to be a non-count noun, as in that trade one would not count individual apple-cores, dead rats, and so forth, but be rather concerned with the bulk or weight (&quot;I've picked up ten hundredweight of &lt;em&gt;software&lt;/em&gt;&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T21:11:21.743" />
  <row Id="13084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13027" CreationDate="2011-02-17T21:24:22.350" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would call him a nitpicker, after revieing this I'm not sure whether it would be approriate:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitpicking&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nitpicking&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastEditorUserId="519" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T21:42:28.807" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T21:42:28.807" />
  <row Id="13085" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-17T21:26:07.760" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vote for me and I'll THWACK every damn one of ya!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I'm Martha and I approved this message.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;... nope, still too cowardly to leave it at that, so here's some actual content: I'm not an English expert &amp;mdash; my degree is in math &amp;mdash; but I've been a nitpicker about language as long as I can remember, I read voraciously, I spend way too much time on this site, I'm located on the U.S. east coast, and I respond to puns by thwacking the perpetrator. Oh, and I suck at writing stuff like this, so I asked the folks in the chat for help, and the above is what they came up with.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T03:51:16.507" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T03:51:16.507" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-17T21:26:07.760" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13074" CreationDate="2011-02-17T21:33:05.040" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few more ideas:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;putting together&#xA;&lt;li&gt;coming up with&#xA;&lt;li&gt;setting up&#xA;&lt;li&gt;composing&#xA;&lt;li&gt;making progress on&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T21:33:05.040" />
  <row Id="13087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13074" CreationDate="2011-02-17T21:34:48.173" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are pursuing a working arrangement?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We are developing a working arrangement?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's a document that you're preparing, &quot;preparing&quot;, &quot;compiling&quot;, &quot;creating&quot; perhaps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And in response to an earlier answer, please, there is &lt;em&gt;no such word&lt;/em&gt; as &quot;performant&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5130" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T21:34:48.173" />
  <row Id="13088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13073" CreationDate="2011-02-17T21:38:40.480" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For your specific example, since you're doing processing to check for != 1 day, I'd recommend spending the few extra lines of code to produce &quot;Your password expires today&quot;, &quot;Your password expires tomorrow&quot;, or &quot;your password expires in X days&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the general case, 0 does count (rather non-intuitively) as a plural number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T21:38:40.480" />
  <row Id="13089" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13091" CreationDate="2011-02-17T21:42:29.147" Score="1" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;I considered 'self-proclaimed' but that, I believe, suggests an element of self-&lt;em&gt;promotion&lt;/em&gt; (the proclamation aspect) whereas soi-disant, at least as I think of it, is more about self-presentation and in some contexts self-deceit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3952" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:14:01.963" Title="Does 'soi-disant' have a close English equivalent?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;foreign-words&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2389" CreationDate="2011-02-17T21:47:43.507" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A router (rooter) routes. A router (rauter) routs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my ear, the American pronunciation is really grating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5130" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T21:47:43.507" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13089" CreationDate="2011-02-17T21:49:06.773" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;self-styled&quot; would be the closest match.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T21:49:06.773" />
  <row Id="13092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13089" CreationDate="2011-02-17T21:49:18.520" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;how about &quot;self-appointed&quot;? Or &quot;so-called,&quot; depending on the context? &quot;Alleged&quot; might work, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T21:49:18.520" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13093" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-17T21:52:21.660" Score="0" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1073/what-is-the-correct-possessive-for-nouns-ending-in-s&quot;&gt;What is the correct possessive for nouns ending in s?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hello! New to English, but doing fairly fine so far... well, here's a situation I had a couple times, and... well, I kind of failed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When my word ends with 's', and I need to use it for a... umm... possessive statement, do I use the possessive apostrophe? If yes, do I have to put another 's' after the apostrophe? Like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The beasts's claws!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The beasts' claws!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4643" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:18:09.727" ClosedDate="2011-02-17T23:14:36.403" Title="About possessive apostrophe usage!" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13093" CreationDate="2011-02-17T21:58:03.457" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both methods are acceptable. However, in this case I think the second is preferable for no better reason than the fact that it looks better without the extra 's'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2704" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T21:58:03.457" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13095" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13100" CreationDate="2011-02-17T21:59:48.920" Score="1" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;loose change&lt;/em&gt; mean?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What is the origin of the phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T21:38:24.620" Title="What does &quot;loose change&quot; mean and what is its origin?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="13096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13089" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:02:02.023" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;self-styled&lt;/strong&gt;: this is the phrase used in the first definition on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/soi-disant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2004/01/29.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answers.com/topic/soi-disant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wordnet&lt;/a&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;self-proclaimed&lt;/strong&gt;: this is used in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/word/word.php?date=Apr-27-2010&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;. And I don't think that &quot;self-proclaimed&quot;  necessarily implies self-promotion.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;soi-disant&lt;/strong&gt; itself: It &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; used in English, though it's a bit rare these days. (Actually I only recall encountering it in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/saki/beasts/chapter33.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Saki short story&lt;/a&gt;: &quot;the &lt;em&gt;soi-disant&lt;/em&gt; aunt&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://thesaurus.com/browse/soi-disant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;thesaurus&lt;/a&gt; gives &quot;alleged, allegedly, commonly named, formal, titular, nominal, ostensible, pretended, professed, purported, self-named, self-styled, soi-disant&quot; — most of them don't work, though &lt;strong&gt;self-professed&lt;/strong&gt; would.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:02:02.023" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13089" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:06:59.720" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of &quot;self-styled&quot;, &quot;so-called&quot; and &quot;supposed&quot; work well. Which one you choose just depends on the context and personal preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2704" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:06:59.720" />
  <row Id="13098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13095" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:10:42.870" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's the coins loose in your pocket, usually as a result of the change returned after payment in cash.  I'm not sure what is the earliest known recording of the phrase, but I think it's a 20th century expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4686" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:10:42.870" />
  <row Id="13099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13095" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:11:26.817" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Coins. You probably got them as change when you paid for something in a shop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Loose&quot; as in coins rattling around in your pocket. If you had a large number of coins, you might roll them up in a paper tube as banks do. So &quot;loose&quot; change would be a smaller number of coins that you might typically have in your pocket or purse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5130" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:11:26.817" />
  <row Id="13100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13095" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:11:49.047" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Loose change&lt;/em&gt; refers to small amount of coins. &lt;em&gt;Change&lt;/em&gt; refers to the money you get back when you do not pay exactly the right amount--for example, if you pay for a $0.90 item with a $1 bill, you would get back 10 cents in &lt;em&gt;change&lt;/em&gt;. The modifier &lt;em&gt;loose&lt;/em&gt; is added to the word because small amounts of coins tend to not be put into a wallet, but just put into your pocket and allowed to be &lt;em&gt;loose&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:11:49.047" />
  <row Id="13101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13089" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:14:01.963" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it would help to give an example sentence. I confess, I've never heard &lt;em&gt;soi-disant&lt;/em&gt; used in English. But in French, it is used in three ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;attributed to people who actually can proclaim themselves to be something: in this case &lt;em&gt;self-proclaiming&lt;/em&gt; or synonyms would cover the meaning;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;attributed to inanimate objects that can't actually speak/proclaim anything: in this case, &lt;em&gt;alleged, so-called&lt;/em&gt; would cover the meaning;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;as an adverb, in which case &lt;em&gt;allegedly&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;supposedly&lt;/em&gt; would work in English.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:14:01.963" />
  <row Id="13102" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:16:19.230" Score="0" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am interested to know if, for some, there is a subtle difference between the two phrases in the title. I am equally interested in knowing if there is a subtle difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2704" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T23:10:35.103" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T23:10:35.103" Title="&quot;Interested in knowing&quot; versus &quot;interested to know&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13093" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:18:09.727" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both can occur. Which to use generally depends on how the spoken word sounds: if the word has an extra syllable (with an 's' or 'z' sound) added to it for the possessive, then both apostrophe and 's' are added.  If it does not, the only an apostrophe is used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the word ends in an 's' but is not a plural, like &quot;class&quot;, then the possessive form sounds just like the plural (when the plural is formed by an 's' or 'z' sound).  This tells you the answer, but remember that the plural would be spelled with &quot;es&quot; while the possessive would spelled with &quot;'s&quot; (&quot;classes&quot; and &quot;class's&quot;).  (A triple 's' sound rarely used, so the possessive of &quot;classes&quot; just adds an apostrophe.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usages varies, however, and if one does not know the spoken sound of the root word, this will add to the difficulties.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://stason.org/TULARC/languages/english-usage/218-Where-to-put-apostrophes-in-possessive-forms-Nouns.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This page&lt;/a&gt; may be of some help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:18:09.727" />
  <row Id="13104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13102" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:19:01.237" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is, at least in American English, no discernible difference as far as meaning between the two phrases. Both phrases introduce something which you wish to learn. However, the form &lt;em&gt;interested in knowing&lt;/em&gt; is a bit more common that &lt;em&gt;interested to know&lt;/em&gt;, which does sound a bit more awkward (at least in my opinion).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another phrase, if you're curious, would be &lt;em&gt;interested in learning&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am interested in learning whether or not dogs have legs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:19:01.237" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13105" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13113" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:22:44.233" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;My grandma phoned me recently for some help with a crossword.  The clue was 'excitement', we had a few letters but couldn't think of anything.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway the answers came out and she rang me back a little put out that the answer was 'fermentation'.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She has looked up in several dictionaries and doesn't feel that the clue is suitable for the answer.  I can maybe see it from a chemical sort of viewpoint with fermentation involving bubbling, frothing etc.  So is this a suitable clue?  Is there a definition of fermentation that could mean excitement?  Or the other way round? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="411" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:52:35.470" Title="Is fermentation another word for excitement?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13105" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:27:30.423" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can sort of see it as a possibility based on some figurative uses of the word, such as &quot;a period of social fermentation&quot; when ideas and changes are bubbling about in the community, but unless someone posts a really great answer explaining it a lot better, I'm inclined to agree that it's a poor clue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:27:30.423" />
  <row Id="13107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="750" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:28:09.337" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because English has loan words from so many languages and so many shades of meaning, I suspect there are more opportunities to express yourself in a more or less posh way compared to other languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Norman-Anglo Saxon thing is particularly interesting: cow-beef, sheep-mutton. The indigenous Anglo-Saxon word is the word for the beast. The conqueror's word is the word for the meat. Who do you think reared the animal, and who got to eat it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if you want to have a certain panache, to show savior faire, to not appear gauche, why! you speak French!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5130" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:28:09.337" />
  <row Id="13108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="750" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:33:05.633" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Winston Churchill's famous &quot;we will fight them on the beaches&quot; speech is entirely Anglo-Saxon but for one word, surrender. When you want spare, simple, direct communication, it's Anglo-Saxon you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my IT field, it is common to use Latin to be technical and perhaps obscure. A good example is the concept of &quot;instantiation&quot;, creating a new instance of a predefined class. In many programming languages, the word you use to do the instantiation is &quot;new&quot;. Instantiation - Latin. New - Anglo-Saxon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5130" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:33:05.633" />
  <row Id="13109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13102" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:35:08.543" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A common view generally is that the &lt;em&gt;-ing&lt;/em&gt; form focusses more on the &quot;middle&quot; of an action when a choice between it and the infinitive is available. I think this view could work here, though the difference is subtle as you say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:35:08.543" />
  <row Id="13110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5264" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:36:53.803" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To my ear &quot;my bad&quot; is very much an Americanism. Handle with care.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5130" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:36:53.803" />
  <row Id="13111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13105" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:39:44.903" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an occasionally used meaning of fermentation, but the meaning is more commonly encountered in the form &lt;em&gt;ferment&lt;/em&gt;, as in &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Egypt has recently been in ferment&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Crossword clues are notorious for being obscure; this is one of the sources of frustration with these puzzles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:39:44.903" />
  <row Id="13112" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13116" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:46:37.130" Score="0" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am writing a study proposal broken into three sections. The third section will cover &quot;what I hope to learn,&quot; which is not the greatest phrasing for a section. Alternative suggestions would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Document breakdown:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Problem Statement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Measurement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What I Hope to Learn &lt;em&gt;&amp;lt;-- Need better phrasing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5179" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T22:59:15.897" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:59:15.897" Title="Different ways to say &quot;hope to Learn&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrasing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13105" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:52:35.470" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported by the NOAD, &lt;em&gt;fermentation&lt;/em&gt; has also the archaic meaning of &lt;em&gt;agitation, excitement&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I had found Paris in high fermentation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:52:35.470" />
  <row Id="13114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13112" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:53:13.707" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What I &lt;em&gt;Expect&lt;/em&gt; to Learn&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Expected Outcomes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1304" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:53:13.707" />
  <row Id="13115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13112" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:54:30.587" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;em&gt;What I hope to learn&lt;/em&gt; - sorry, that's just my dislike of random capitalisation showing through ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things that cross my mind, depending on what you're going to put in the section:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Desired outcomes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hypotheses&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Expectations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Introduction (this would require that the section be put at the beginning. When I write a paper or similar, what I hope to learn goes in there.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3559" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:54:30.587" />
  <row Id="13116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13112" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:56:03.920" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say &lt;em&gt;learning expectations&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;learning aims&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;learning goals&lt;/em&gt;. If the context allows it, you can also avoid to say &lt;em&gt;learning&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:56:03.920" />
  <row Id="13117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13051" CreationDate="2011-02-17T22:59:30.143" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A safe connotes something smaller than a vault, and may be movable, while a vault is generally built in-place and would be torn down rather than moved.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The computer jargon use of &lt;em&gt;vault&lt;/em&gt; may be due to its connotation of greater security.  It is also attractive because it is less common, and is only a noun (in this sense) and thus quicker to interpret, whereas &lt;em&gt;safe&lt;/em&gt; can be noun, verb, or adjective (and heavily used in the latter sense in the computer security context).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T22:59:30.143" />
  <row Id="13118" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-17T23:37:54.357" Score="0" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read that a looking glass is a surface with sufficient reflection to form an image of an object... doesn't that sound like a mirror?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1705" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T10:07:23.710" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T10:07:23.710" Title="What's the difference between &quot;mirror&quot; and &quot;looking glass&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13118" CreationDate="2011-02-17T23:46:30.133" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1264308?rskey=04bPXG&amp;amp;result=2#m_en_us1264308.002&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;looking glass&lt;/a&gt; is indeed a mirror. As @JSBangs alluded to, it is only largely used in literary contexts. Two notable examples (book titles) are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Through_the_Looking-Glass&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Through the Looking-Glass&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (Lewis Carroll)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Looking_Glass&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Into the Looking Glass&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (John Ringo)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T00:58:49.717" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T00:58:49.717" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13118" CreationDate="2011-02-17T23:48:21.037" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no difference. &quot;Looking glass&quot; is a poetic and archaic way to refer to a mirror.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T23:48:21.037" />
  <row Id="13121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13118" CreationDate="2011-02-17T23:59:11.083" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference between &lt;em&gt;looking glass&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;mirror&lt;/em&gt; is that &lt;em&gt;looking glass&lt;/em&gt;, when used as adjective, means &lt;em&gt;being or involving the opposite of what is normal or expected&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;a looking-glass land&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;looking-glass logic&lt;/em&gt;); &lt;em&gt;mirror&lt;/em&gt; can also be figuratively used to mean &lt;em&gt;something regarded as accurately representing something else&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;the stage is supposed to be the mirror of life&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Reference: the New Oxford American Dictionary.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T23:59:11.083" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13122" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13125" CreationDate="2011-02-18T00:04:24.107" Score="1" ViewCount="25" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;set phrase&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;catch phrase&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Do the expressions describe something without relation with each other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T00:50:56.417" Title="What is the difference between &quot;set phrase&quot; and &quot;catch phrase&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2011-02-18T00:16:26.930" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Google Books NGram Viewer&quot;&gt;Google Books NGram Viewer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google Books NGram Viewer displays a graph showing how those phrases have occurred in a corpus of books over the selected years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T00:16:26.930" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-18T00:16:26.930" />
  <row Id="13124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13027" CreationDate="2011-02-18T00:31:53.667" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Fastidious&lt;/em&gt; can have the sort of connotation I think you're looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;fas·tid·i·ous&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;em&gt;adj&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Possessing or displaying careful, meticulous attention to detail.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Difficult to please; exacting.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Excessively scrupulous or sensitive, especially in matters of taste or propriety.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;He was the sort of guy who might ring you at 4 in the morning to repay sixpence; the chap was fastidious about his debts.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T00:31:53.667" />
  <row Id="13125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13122" CreationDate="2011-02-18T00:50:56.417" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;set phrase&lt;/strong&gt; an unvarying phrase having a specific meaning, such as “raining cats and dogs,” or being the only context in which a word appears, e.g., “aback” in “take aback.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;catch phrase&lt;/strong&gt; A phrase in wide or popular use, especially one serving as a slogan for a group or movement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first is widely used and a synonym for &lt;em&gt;cliché&lt;/em&gt;. The second is usually more specifically applied. &quot;It's morning in America&quot; was the catch phrase used to get Ronald Reagan elected president of the U.S. But it had no wider currency than that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T00:50:56.417" />
  <row Id="13126" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13127" CreationDate="2011-02-18T00:51:30.643" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/3438/marc-gravell&quot;&gt;Marc Gravell&lt;/a&gt; recently provided &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/79641/why-cant-i-login-to-chat-stackexchange-com/79724#79724&quot;&gt;this answer&lt;/a&gt; to a question on Meta Stack Overflow:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you try Jeff's link above, and everything reports OK but it still doesn't work, please let me know. In the interim, there is a ghetto login route:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      http://{some site}/users/chat-stackexchange-login&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;for example:&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/users/chat-stackexchange-login&quot;&gt;http://stackoverflow.com/users/chat-stackexchange-login&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;ghetto login route&lt;/em&gt; mean, here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2143" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T00:57:13.777" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T00:57:13.777" Title="What does &quot;ghetto login route&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;jargon&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13126" CreationDate="2011-02-18T00:54:54.213" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To call something &lt;em&gt;ghetto&lt;/em&gt; is to say it is inferior to the usual variety of something. It's a short-cut, cheap but serviceable perhaps, low-grade, whatever. It comes from &quot;the ghetto&quot;, which is how people refer to the Inner City urban areas in the United States where a lot of the poorer people live. From Webster's:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ghetto&lt;/strong&gt; a part of a city, esp. a slum area, occupied by a minority group or groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has in the last few years acquired the wider currency I mention above. So a &quot;ghetto login route&quot; would be a way to login that is non-standard and not really what people would consider a &quot;proper&quot; way to do a login.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T00:54:54.213" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13128" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13129" CreationDate="2011-02-18T01:00:16.627" Score="5" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;beggars belief&lt;/em&gt; mean, in general and in this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It beggars belief that removing the tag was so urgent that you couldn't wait for a response more than 40 minutes before removing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T01:14:04.740" Title="What does &quot;beggars belief&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13128" CreationDate="2011-02-18T01:08:01.377" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means that something is as close to unbelievable as it can get. To &lt;em&gt;beggar&lt;/em&gt; something is to turn it into a pauper, squash it flat, eradicate it, or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/embiggen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;unembiggen&lt;/a&gt; it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Webster's:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;beggar belief&lt;/strong&gt; (or &lt;strong&gt;description&lt;/strong&gt; ) be too extraordinary to be believed or described.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Oh, by the way, &lt;em&gt;beggar&lt;/em&gt; is used as a verb here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Oh, yeah, so in this sentence it means &quot;I can't believe you couldn't wait for more than 40 minutes for a response.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T01:14:04.740" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T01:14:04.740" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="13130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12877" CreationDate="2011-02-18T02:23:19.347" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The woman states that she is originally from Georgia. While many Georgians have distinct southern accents, she lacks one. The man has a similarly indistinct American accent. I am from Virginia, and I interact with people who have very similar accents and speech habits/mannerisms every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5186" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T02:23:19.347" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12996" CreationDate="2011-02-18T02:53:03.693" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To my (overly pedantic) mind, &quot;all right&quot; is the only correct spelling.  The other abominations arose from the colloquial &quot;alrighty,&quot; as an analog to &quot;already,&quot; I suspect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5188" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T02:53:03.693" />
  <row Id="13134" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13138" CreationDate="2011-02-18T02:56:08.713" Score="2" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard from some of TV series. They are saying &quot;suite your self&quot;, what does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5189" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T10:00:55.337" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T10:00:55.337" Title="What does &quot;suite your self&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13135" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13139" CreationDate="2011-02-18T02:56:37.543" Score="2" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/270/octopuses-octopi-or-octo&quot;&gt;Octopuses, octopi, or octo?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the &quot;proper&quot; plural of &quot;octopus&quot;?  A web search turns up three candidates, but is there a &quot;right&quot; answer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5188" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T03:40:35.400" ClosedDate="2011-02-18T04:08:59.090" Title="Two octopi? What's the proper plural?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12996" CreationDate="2011-02-18T03:04:10.450" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm my humble and uninformed opinion they are both correct, but are a little different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would use &quot;alright&quot; in a sentence such as:  &quot;Alright, I finished fixing the engine, now to test it.&quot;, or &quot;alright, alright already, I'll fix the brakes.&quot;&#xA;  while I would say &quot;The car's running all right, but it really needs a wash.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I would use &quot;all right&quot; when it really means all of it's right, while &quot;alright&quot; is used in more informal or derivative uses where it doesn't really mean all is right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2079" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T03:04:10.450" />
  <row Id="13137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13135" CreationDate="2011-02-18T03:10:58.713" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;em&gt;octopuses&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;octopi&lt;/em&gt; are accepted alternatives.  &lt;em&gt;Octopuses&lt;/em&gt; is probably more common and gaining ground since it follows the most common rule for plurals.  (The form &lt;em&gt;octopi&lt;/em&gt; is the plural form from Latin; the biological genus name &lt;em&gt;Octopus&lt;/em&gt; is from Latin, of course.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T03:10:58.713" />
  <row Id="13138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13134" CreationDate="2011-02-18T03:11:01.567" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you sure they're saying &quot;suite&quot;? I think it more likely they're saying &quot;suit yourself.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;suit yourself&lt;/strong&gt; — Have it your way, however you like it, do what you like, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T03:11:01.567" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13135" CreationDate="2011-02-18T03:20:40.740" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There is no one &quot;right&quot; answer per se.&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/octopus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;According to Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;, both &lt;em&gt;octopuses&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;octopi&lt;/em&gt; are acceptable plurals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for the &lt;em&gt;octopi&lt;/em&gt; plural is because some people mistakenly associate &lt;em&gt;octopus&lt;/em&gt; with Latin words like &lt;em&gt;syllabus&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;alumnus&lt;/em&gt;.  Since these words take an &lt;em&gt;-i&lt;/em&gt; plural in the original Latin, and since Latin has enjoyed such a high status in the minds of English speakers for such a long time, people have attempted to maintain or reintroduce the Latin plural form for such words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the word &lt;em&gt;octopus&lt;/em&gt; is actually of Greek origin.  The plural of &lt;em&gt;octopus&lt;/em&gt; in Greek is, in fact, &lt;em&gt;octopodes&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I am not advocating using the form &lt;em&gt;octopodes&lt;/em&gt; as the plural for this word. English borrows many nouns from other languages (Japanese, Russian, Arabic, and so on) and only rarely ever uses the morphological system of that language to create plural forms.  (Even many borrowed Latin &lt;em&gt;-us&lt;/em&gt; words do not ever take the &lt;em&gt;-i&lt;/em&gt; plural suffix, like &lt;em&gt;circus&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So, you have three choices:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use &lt;em&gt;octopuses&lt;/em&gt; and pluralize it like any other average English word.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use &lt;em&gt;octopi&lt;/em&gt; and force an etymologically inappropriate Latin suffix onto an innocent Greek word.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use &lt;em&gt;octopodes&lt;/em&gt; and probably have to explain each time that &quot;technically&quot; this is the correct plural in Greek (which might be a hit at parties?).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said, there is no one right answer.  Good luck to you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T03:40:35.400" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T03:40:35.400" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13135" CreationDate="2011-02-18T03:24:23.623" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Octopuses&lt;/em&gt; is the normal English plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Octopi&lt;/em&gt; is common, but incorrect -- it might be correct if &lt;em&gt;octopus&lt;/em&gt; were of Latin derivation, but it is actually from the Greek. Like other abominations such as &lt;em&gt;irregardless&lt;/em&gt;, though, it is recorded as a common usage in dictionaries (which are descriptive, not prescriptive).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The technically correct, but vanishingly rare, plural is &lt;em&gt;octopodes&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T03:24:23.623" />
  <row Id="13141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13135" CreationDate="2011-02-18T03:29:32.363" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most common plural for &lt;em&gt;octopus&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;octopuses&lt;/em&gt;. People with a background in Greek or who want to sound pedantic may use &lt;em&gt;octopodes&lt;/em&gt; although it is rarely used. Some people (and dictionaries) also use &lt;em&gt;octopi&lt;/em&gt; thinking it is how Latin would do the plural for &lt;em&gt;octopus&lt;/em&gt;, but &lt;em&gt;octopus&lt;/em&gt; actually comes from Greek not Latin. I don't know if there is a &quot;right&quot; answer since what is right in language comes from how words are used over time. Here is how I would describe the plurals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;octopuses&lt;/strong&gt; - sounds the least strange and most commonly used&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;octopodes&lt;/strong&gt; - technically correct based on etymology, but rare and people may assume you are incorrect&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;octopi&lt;/strong&gt; - technically incorrect, but not uncommon&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="860" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T03:29:32.363" />
  <row Id="13142" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13143" CreationDate="2011-02-18T03:41:36.320" Score="2" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's 7:30pm, which of these phrases is correct, &lt;em&gt;Good night&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Good evening&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1107" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T07:55:30.913" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T21:38:05.490" Title="&quot;Good night&quot; or &quot;good evening&quot;?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;correction&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="13143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13142" CreationDate="2011-02-18T03:42:28.937" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on context. Good Night is generally reserved as a replacement for &quot;Goodbye&quot;. Good Evening is a form of hello.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5190" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T03:42:28.937" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13144" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13157" CreationDate="2011-02-18T03:45:53.317" Score="2" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Keep both of them separate.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Keep both of them separated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Between the above two sentences, which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4692" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T07:16:16.127" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T10:32:29.647" Title="&quot;Separated&quot; versus &quot;separate&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13144" CreationDate="2011-02-18T03:49:19.503" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Keep both of them separate&quot; implies more &quot;for now&quot;. It's not perpetual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Keep both of them separated&quot; is more permanent, as in they should always be separated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure someone else knows the proper grammatical names (future/present tense terminology), but that's how they differ.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5190" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T03:49:19.503" />
  <row Id="13146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13144" CreationDate="2011-02-18T03:49:53.257" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Keep both of them separated&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the correct way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1107" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T03:49:53.257" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12996" CreationDate="2011-02-18T04:11:17.590" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The British &lt;strong&gt;Shorter Oxford Dictionary&lt;/strong&gt; as of 1992 lists &lt;em&gt;alright&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;frequent sp. of &lt;em&gt;all right&lt;/em&gt; 1893.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Australian &lt;strong&gt;Macquarie Dictionary&lt;/strong&gt; as of 1991 simply has&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;adj., adv., interj.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;→ all right.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I always use &lt;em&gt;alright&lt;/em&gt; even though I'm aware some pedants might not approve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3175" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T04:11:17.590" />
  <row Id="13148" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13149" CreationDate="2011-02-18T04:16:06.553" Score="9" ViewCount="278" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I know technically the English language has a distinction because when there's a conflict between the possessive form and a contraction, the contraction wins. That is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Its&lt;/strong&gt; is the possessive form of it -- and this will presumably be followed by some form of noun spec or something.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It's&lt;/strong&gt; is short for &quot;it is&quot; or &quot;it has&quot; (as in &quot;it's been years since...&quot;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rule of thumb I use to remember this is that it follows the same pattern as whose and who's, for which the correct use is much more obvious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While technically I see why there's (ha ha) a distinction, I can't think of any case why it really needs to be there, because for every use of either construct, the meaning intended is usually (if not always) obvious from context. Case in point: many questions and answers written on the Stack Exchange network are written incorrectly, yet nobody notices or cares. (Usually in my case, I default to &quot;it's&quot; then realize I screwed up)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While technically as a single word I could see why it'd be ambiguous, but I don't see why in typical prose it would matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a specific reason for this in earlier dialects of English, or specific cases where choosing the incorrect form leads to lack of understanding of a particular sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1209" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T18:01:12.553" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T18:01:12.553" Title="Why is there a distinction between &quot;its&quot; and &quot;it's&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13148" CreationDate="2011-02-18T05:05:54.527" Score="23" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not about a contraction &quot;winning&quot; over a possessive. &quot;Its&quot; is the possessive form of &quot;it&quot;, like &quot;his&quot; is of &quot;he&quot;, &quot;hers&quot; is of &quot;she&quot; or &quot;their&quot; is of &quot;they&quot;. There is no missing apostrophe; the forms go back to a time when English was a highly inflected language. It predates modern, or even Middle, English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The possessive formed by the apostrophe+s construct is a more modern, uninflected, less-marked form. There are only a very few commonly used words -- pronouns -- that still use the older forms. Markedness tends to survive in words that are used very frequently, even when other aspects of the language are losing their markedness. It's the same reason why we still say &quot;men, women and children&quot; rather than &quot;mans, womans and childs&quot; when the plural ess marker is nearly universal in the rest of the language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastEditorUserId="5095" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T07:02:41.463" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T07:02:41.463" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="13150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12996" CreationDate="2011-02-18T05:51:20.853" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was taught that &quot;alright&quot; was never correct. I don't see any problem with it in informal contexts, but I would avoid it elsewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5192" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T05:51:20.853" />
  <row Id="13151" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13153" CreationDate="2011-02-18T06:01:59.337" Score="-2" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;If &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12984/subject-versus-object-in-a-sentence-how-are-they-determined&quot;&gt;I am write-only&lt;/a&gt;, i.e. writing but not reading, which sentence would be correctly to say?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have write-only deficiency (syndrome)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I have read-only deficiency (syndrome)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T07:09:52.297" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T07:09:52.297" ClosedDate="2011-02-18T15:56:17.460" Title="&quot;Read-only syndrome&quot; versus &quot;write-only syndrome&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13151" CreationDate="2011-02-18T06:09:40.513" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You would say-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have read-only deficiency (syndrome).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is because, being a write-only person/thing you have the capability to write but not read. And hence, you'll have a deficiency, or rather, lack of reading capability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T06:09:40.513" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13151" CreationDate="2011-02-18T06:15:17.967" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;deficiency&quot; wouldn't fit at all with either of the &quot;x-only&quot; phrases. You could say, &quot;I have &lt;em&gt;write-only syndrome&lt;/em&gt;,&quot; or you could say, &quot;I have a reading deficiency&quot;. You cannot say that you have &quot;read-only deficiency&quot; since you are not in read-only mode (you admit to writing), nor can you say you have &quot;write-only deficiency&quot;, since that would indicate that you only write -- and do that either rarely or poorly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T06:15:17.967" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13154" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13155" CreationDate="2011-02-18T06:17:33.893" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would it be correct to merge with hyphens &lt;em&gt;one-third-contiguously&lt;/em&gt; in the following phrase? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/709/i-propose-to-elect-by-3-quotas-each-per-one-thirds-contiguously-of-time-zones&quot;&gt;I propose to elect by 3 quotas, each per one-thirds-contiguously of time-zones&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T07:13:58.110" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T07:13:58.110" Title="How to modify &quot;one-third&quot; by an adverb?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;hyphen&gt;&lt;modifiers&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13154" CreationDate="2011-02-18T06:35:15.337" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. &quot;One-third-contiguously&quot; would indicate things that are only partially contiguous, which means that they would abut at something less substantial than a mathematical point (the minimum requirement for contiguity), and the whole phrase being used adverbially. Perhaps if you were to put it into context someone could suggest a wording less damaging to Broca's area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T06:35:15.337" />
  <row Id="13156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13154" CreationDate="2011-02-18T07:10:47.140" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to modify &quot;one-third&quot; with an adverb, put it in front with no hyphen:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's nearly one third of the total.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've eaten easily one third of the cake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We're roughly one third of the way there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pay me exactly one third of the total.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However this tends to modify the amount, or how confident one is about the precision; I'm not sure exactly what you're saying but using &quot;contiguously&quot; in this position would sound strange and the meaning would be unclear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may better off using an adjective instead:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;each contiguous third&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but inserting this back into your original sentence makes it clumsy; depending on your precise meaning something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;per contiguous section making up one third of the time zones&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;may be your best bet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T07:10:47.140" />
  <row Id="13157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13144" CreationDate="2011-02-18T07:34:51.983" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both the sentences are correct.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Separate&lt;/em&gt; is an adjective meaning &lt;em&gt;forming or viewed as a unit apart or by itself&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;separated&lt;/em&gt; is the past participle of &lt;em&gt;separate&lt;/em&gt;, which means &lt;em&gt;cause to move or be apart&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the people will consider the sentences synonym of each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Reference: the New Oxford American Dictionary.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T07:34:51.983" />
  <row Id="13158" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13163" CreationDate="2011-02-18T07:39:58.440" Score="4" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, In 1990 Portuguese alphabet was extended by 3 foreign letters which are K (capa, pronounced as &quot;kappa&quot;), Y (pronounced as &quot;ípsilon or &quot;ipsilão&quot; or &quot;i greg&quot;), W (pronounced as &quot;diáblio&quot;). Hmmm, Portugueses certainly hate W.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many English dialects. For example, I know about existence of British English, American English and I guess there are a couple of hundreds more dialects.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does any of them include or plan to include foreign letters?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T08:12:41.063" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T17:50:49.893" Title="Does any of English dialects engage non-English foreign letters in their alphabets?" Tags="&lt;alphabet&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="13159" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13168" CreationDate="2011-02-18T07:50:43.743" Score="1" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I started to learn English, I was used to write &lt;em&gt;phantasy&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;fantasy&lt;/em&gt;, and I was always corrected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recently noticed that &lt;em&gt;phantasy&lt;/em&gt; is an English word too.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Do people give to those words a different meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T10:32:44.493" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T10:32:44.493" Title="Do people perceive a difference between &quot;phantasy&quot; and &quot;fantasy&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13159" CreationDate="2011-02-18T07:54:35.807" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is what someone else has to say about this question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://changingminds.org/disciplines/psychoanalysis/concepts/phantasy_fantasy.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://changingminds.org/disciplines/psychoanalysis/concepts/phantasy_fantasy.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T07:54:35.807" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13158" CreationDate="2011-02-18T08:00:08.127" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, there are no letters in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_basic_Latin_alphabet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Latin alphabet&lt;/a&gt; which are missing from English, so there is nothing more to add. On the contrary, English used to have more letters in the past, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English_Latin_alphabet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;such as eth and thorn&lt;/a&gt;. They are not likely to come back, I presume. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for letters with diacritics, there are several words, primarily (or always?) borrowed from French, that are often written in English with diacritics, such as naïve, naïveté, fiancé.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T17:50:49.893" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T17:50:49.893" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="13163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13158" CreationDate="2011-02-18T08:15:50.500" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usual pattern is that words that are still perceived as foreign retain their original spelling, but if they become a part of the English lexicon, the spelling is modified to a more English-seeming orthography. For instance, Conan Doyle used the spelling &lt;em&gt;cañon&lt;/em&gt; at around the beginning of the twentieth century for a word we now spell as &lt;em&gt;canyon&lt;/em&gt;. Where the characters are truly uncommon, English has always tended to transliterate into existing symbols.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have and use diacriticals in English, although they seem to have fallen out of use since the introduction of word processing. One still often sees a diaeresis used in &lt;em&gt;naïve&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;noël&lt;/em&gt;, but one rarely sees &lt;em&gt;coöperate&lt;/em&gt; anymore. We also  use ligature graphemes like &lt;em&gt;ash&lt;/em&gt; (Æ or æ), but the trend has been toward either dropping one of the two ligated letters or setting the letters separately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T08:15:50.500" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="13164" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13171" CreationDate="2011-02-18T08:16:47.893" Score="1" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my game, I have three levels of difficulty, each represented by an icon. Of course, each level is also indicated by a word; the icons are there just to spice things up, and as a visual pun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Easy&lt;/strong&gt; is represented by a &quot;piece of cake&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Medium&lt;/strong&gt; is represented by ...?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hard&lt;/strong&gt; is represented by a &quot;tough nut&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what could be used for the medium difficulty level?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="323" LastEditorUserId="323" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T08:22:07.077" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T10:01:04.213" Title="Expression for &quot;medium difficult&quot;?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="13165" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13172" CreationDate="2011-02-18T08:23:02.100" Score="1" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;What did Philip Pullman mean by writing the following sentences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rapacity was sexy. Compassion was not.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T15:15:25.763" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T15:15:25.763" ClosedDate="2011-02-19T03:52:15.100" Title="Why wasn't compassion sexy?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13164" CreationDate="2011-02-18T08:34:37.130" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe a crystal ball?  (Used by a &quot;Medium&quot;)  :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4955" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T08:34:37.130" />
  <row Id="13167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13158" CreationDate="2011-02-18T09:09:41.570" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does any of them include or plan to include foreign letters?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible that English alphabet will include letters that are not included in the today alphabet, in the same way English passed from the alphabet used in Old English to the nowadays alphabet.&#xA;I cannot say it is planned, as English doesn't have an academy (or any authoritative agency, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/462/regulatory-bodies-and-authoritative-dictionaries-for-english&quot;&gt;Regulatory bodies and authoritative dictionaries for English&lt;/a&gt;) that plans such things, or proposes those things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T15:11:03.070" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T15:11:03.070" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13159" CreationDate="2011-02-18T09:41:15.543" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never seen it written &lt;strong&gt;phantasy&lt;/strong&gt; much, except in medical texts. The &lt;em&gt;NOAD&lt;/em&gt; seems to confirm this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;phantasy&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  (noun):&#xA;  variant spelling of &lt;strong&gt;fantasy&lt;/strong&gt; (restricted to archaic uses or, in modern use, to the fields of psychology and psychiatry).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T09:41:15.543" />
  <row Id="13169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13164" CreationDate="2011-02-18T09:49:14.630" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about &lt;strong&gt;Bittersweet Salad&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T09:49:14.630" />
  <row Id="13170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13164" CreationDate="2011-02-18T09:57:31.837" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest the word-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Springboard&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;Trampoline&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as it is the first word that came to my mind&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T09:57:31.837" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13164" CreationDate="2011-02-18T10:01:04.213" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A steak? Cooked Medium, of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3320" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T10:01:04.213" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13165" CreationDate="2011-02-18T10:21:51.747" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rapacity was sexy. Compassion was not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is basically a six word story by Philip Pullman. Six word stories are meant to stimulate a lot of dynamic emotions and feelings into every second person. This is because every person doesn't address the same statement in the same way.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For Example, the sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why don't you just move out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;can be addressed in different ways. If you're in a frustrated mood, you might find the sentence to be a yell over someone to get out of the room. If you're in a bored mood, you might find the same sentence to be a call to you by your mind asking you to have a hang out to pass time.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(Note: This is just an example, and hence, there is a possibility that your mind responds to the same sentence differently.)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Similarly, what Philip Pullman meant by the sentence was to stimulate diverse emotions into your minds as you read the sentence (and probably he succeeded).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T10:21:51.747" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13144" CreationDate="2011-02-18T10:32:29.647" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is just how I would use them differently, but it is subjective; they mean the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Keep them separate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Keep them separately&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would expect that to be talking objects, that are normally separate and should remain so for a good reason, such as such as the constituent ingredients for nitroglycerine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Keep them separated&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would expect that to be talking about people, for example two unruly school children who have been caught fighting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3559" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T10:32:29.647" />
  <row Id="13174" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13176" CreationDate="2011-02-18T10:34:21.650" Score="1" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/delegatable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;defines&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;delegetable&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;capable of being delegated&lt;/em&gt;, which seems correct to the French speaking that I am. However, the same Wiktionary also &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/delegable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;defines&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;delegable&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;that can be delegated&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does &lt;em&gt;delegable&lt;/em&gt; exist? Is it a synonym for &lt;em&gt;delegatable&lt;/em&gt;? If not, what does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5196" LastEditorUserId="5196" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T10:50:07.980" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T10:50:07.980" Title="Is &quot;delegable&quot; a word?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13175" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13177" CreationDate="2011-02-18T10:39:59.750" Score="0" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;When some one says &quot;I watched anime 3 days straight&quot;, Does it mean they watched anime for three days sitting in one place &lt;strong&gt;without taking bath, brushing teeth etc&lt;/strong&gt; for three days or does it mean that they watched anime for three days &lt;strong&gt;including personal grooming, eating etc&lt;/strong&gt; but didn't do any other useful (like school, office etc) work? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5198" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T10:45:12.080" Title="&quot;I watched anime 3 days straight&quot; - What does it mean?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13174" CreationDate="2011-02-18T10:43:55.243" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD, OED, and dictionary.com reports &lt;em&gt;delegable&lt;/em&gt; as derivative word of &lt;em&gt;delegate&lt;/em&gt;; none of them reports &lt;em&gt;delegetable&lt;/em&gt; as English word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T10:43:55.243" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13175" CreationDate="2011-02-18T10:45:12.080" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;straight&lt;/strong&gt; means &lt;strong&gt;in a row&lt;/strong&gt;. It conveys the meaning of three entire days spent watching anime, without specifying in particular what is included or not as part of “entire”. I think one can reasonably assume that this means “as a main task”, and it excludes office work or school, as well as other kinds of socialisation (such as parties).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T10:45:12.080" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13178" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13180" CreationDate="2011-02-18T10:46:51.550" Score="0" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;wassup hussla?&lt;/em&gt; (also &lt;em&gt;gangsta&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;killa&lt;/em&gt; etc.) appropriate to say to a friend or a colleague?&#xA;I mean, I know that it's not any sort of an official phrase I'd say to my boss. What I mean to ask is whether this word may be taken offensively, like &lt;em&gt;nigger&lt;/em&gt; in the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for the advise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5197" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T10:48:49.807" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T12:52:18.093" Title="Is the word 'hussler' appropriate?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;offensive&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13158" CreationDate="2011-02-18T10:47:12.977" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some loanwords from French, some of them preserving original spelling. For example &quot;façade&quot; (although in English spelling &quot;facade&quot; is also accepted).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing that comes into mind is load from German, prefix &quot;über-&quot;, although it's not really part of official language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In science -- 1Å (ångström) == 0.1nm. Not sure if you'd count that as part of language...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure where you'd put Æ, after all it's not foreign, it's Old English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5139" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T10:47:12.977" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13178" CreationDate="2011-02-18T10:53:04.017" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word is &lt;em&gt;hustler&lt;/em&gt;, and it can be very appropriate depending on the situation. At it's broadest, it means nothing more than &quot;somebody who will put in the effort necessary to get things done&quot;. In the darker corners of the streets, it carries a different connotation (&quot;one who will do &lt;em&gt;anything&lt;/em&gt; to make a deal&quot;), but the word lives a respectable life in the suburbs as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Killer&lt;/em&gt; may be an appropriate nickname as well -- it doesn't necessarily mean, well, a killer. It could mean nothing more than, say, a reliable closer in a sales department.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Gangster&lt;/em&gt; (or any street-spelling variation thereof) is probably not appropriate for the workplace -- even if your are working for, um, &quot;legitimate businessmen&quot; whose legitimate businesses seem to do very little actual business. They have their own preferred vocabulary, and it doesn't involve interesting any outside parties who ought to stay disinterested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T10:53:04.017" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="13181" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-18T10:56:44.883" Score="1" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a word for practicing in secret to surprise or impress?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5200" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T11:03:01.867" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T11:21:49.533" Title="Is there a word for practicing in secret to surprise or impress?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13181" CreationDate="2011-02-18T11:21:49.533" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a great number of words for operating secretly (clandestinely, covertly, furtively, surreptitiously, stealthily, unobserved), but none in common usage that implies a happy revelation at the end of the day. Let's face it -- skulduggery is skulduggery, and the actor is working in the hope of being undiscovered while performing the actions in question, and will act in the same odd ways that someone who was up to no good would. The language used to describe it shouldn't be too very different until one gets to the twist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T11:21:49.533" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13183" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13186" CreationDate="2011-02-18T11:25:20.753" Score="6" ViewCount="241" Body="&lt;p&gt;Roofs is generally used, but is rooves archaic or just wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5202" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T11:38:57.720" Title="Plural of roof?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13183" CreationDate="2011-02-18T11:29:00.890" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rooves&lt;/strong&gt; as a plural for of &lt;strong&gt;roof&lt;/strong&gt; is dated, but not incorrect. The &lt;em&gt;Oxford English Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; lists “rooves” as an alternate to &lt;em&gt;roofs&lt;/em&gt;, one of several outdated spellings used in the UK, and in New England as late as the 19th century.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T11:29:00.890" />
  <row Id="13185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13183" CreationDate="2011-02-18T11:38:30.620" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Dictionary of my Mac (which looks for words in the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; because I set American English as default language), when I search for &lt;em&gt;rooves&lt;/em&gt; it redirects me to the page explaining the meaning of &lt;em&gt;roof&lt;/em&gt;, where the only reported plural word is &lt;em&gt;roofs&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T11:38:30.620" />
  <row Id="13186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13183" CreationDate="2011-02-18T11:38:57.720" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Rooves&lt;/em&gt; is not wrong per se, but extremely uncommon nowadays. Here are the stats from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;           COCA      BNC&#xA;roofs      2307      653&#xA;rooves        1        5&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coha/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Historical American English&lt;/a&gt; has 6 cites for &lt;em&gt;rooves&lt;/em&gt;, one from 1890, two from 1930, two from 1950, and one from 1980.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster doesn't even mention &lt;em&gt;rooves&lt;/em&gt; at all. The Collins English Dictionary mentions the pronunciation /ruːvz/, but not the spelling &lt;em&gt;rooves&lt;/em&gt;. Finally, Wiktionary has &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/roof#Usage_notes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;these usage notes&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The plural &lt;em&gt;rooves&lt;/em&gt; is uncommon and is usually considered incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you want to be on the safe side, I would recommend going with &lt;em&gt;roofs&lt;/em&gt;, especially if your audience is American.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T11:38:57.720" />
  <row Id="13187" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13264" CreationDate="2011-02-18T12:09:56.017" Score="0" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is one more formal then the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2643" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T12:19:09.743" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T20:23:29.760" Title="What's the difference between &quot;teacher&quot; and &quot;professor&quot;?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13187" CreationDate="2011-02-18T12:18:27.653" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Professor&lt;/em&gt; is more specific of &lt;em&gt;teacher&lt;/em&gt;, as it is used when referring to a teacher of the highest rank in a college or university.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Informally, &lt;em&gt;professor&lt;/em&gt; is used to refer to any instructor, especially the specialized ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Reference: the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T12:18:27.653" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="13189" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13194" CreationDate="2011-02-18T12:41:30.020" Score="5" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's very difficult for me to separate them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was just listening to some video and it said&#xA;&quot;Fat cells can’t reproduce themselves.&quot;&#xA;What I thought I've heard is &quot;... CAN reproduce ...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frankly, that's pretty annoying.&#xA;Hope you guys can help me. Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T06:49:19.000" Title="How to distinguish can &amp; can't from pronunciation?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="13190" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13192" CreationDate="2011-02-18T12:49:19.900" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The universe continually expanded but remained statistically unchanged as new matter is constantly created.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the &lt;em&gt;statistically unchanged&lt;/em&gt;? Could you give me an example? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T13:06:25.813" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T14:27:34.963" Title="What does &quot;statistically unchanged&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13178" CreationDate="2011-02-18T12:52:18.093" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everything can be taken as offensive.  Some may confuse your &quot;hussler&quot; with the porn magazine, and thus take offense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be... nah, I can't get myself to call &quot;appropriate&quot;.  &quot;Inoffensive&quot; it may be, but even though I'm generally used to very informal workplaces, I wouldn't call a co-worker &quot;hustler&quot;.  It doesn't just depend on the workplace, it depends much more on how friendly or maybe even close you are to/with your co-workers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or are you working in a pharmaceutical company?  You know, with other &quot;drug dealers&quot;? ;-) Then it may... well, it would still be &lt;em&gt;extremely&lt;/em&gt; informal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T12:52:18.093" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13190" CreationDate="2011-02-18T12:56:41.303" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That would be referring to the average density of the universe. If space is expanding in a measurable manner (that is, if expansion is such that localised clusters of mass, such as an observer can detect the change[1]), then the statement asserts that matter is being created in the &quot;new space&quot; at a rate sufficient to maintain the average density of matter in the universe. It's that average, or statistical &lt;em&gt;mean density&lt;/em&gt; that is being referred to in the your example sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] If &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; space were expanding at the same rate, including the space between particle probability waves and their wavelengths, then the observer would be expanding at the same rate as the universe, as would any measurement references, so the expansion would be unmeasurable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T12:56:41.303" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13193" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13205" CreationDate="2011-02-18T13:04:07.890" Score="1" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;When did people start using the corporate jargon &quot;let's take it offline&quot; (let's discuss that after this meeting in private)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=online&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;, the origin of &lt;em&gt;online&lt;/em&gt; is from 1950:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;online&lt;/strong&gt; in ref. to computers, &quot;directly connected to a peripheral device,&quot; is&#xA;  attested from 1950 (originally as&#xA;  on-line).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the word &lt;em&gt;offline&lt;/em&gt; in the jargon is the antonym of &lt;em&gt;online&lt;/em&gt; as defined above, then the jargon cannot be interpreted literally. It is often used in meetings where people are all physically in the same room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T07:19:02.363" Title="Origin of &quot;let's take it offline&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;jargon&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13189" CreationDate="2011-02-18T13:26:54.297" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The strongest cue for distinguishing these two words is the &lt;strong&gt;length of the vowel&lt;/strong&gt; (in American English at least).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; has a lengthened vowel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;can't&lt;/em&gt; has a much shorter vowel&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the telephone, where the auditory signal is compressed, exaggerating the length of the vowels (&quot;did you say &lt;em&gt;ca-an&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;can't&lt;/em&gt;?&quot;) is how most people distinguish these two words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The cause of this vowel length difference is the presence of the voiceless stop /t/ at the end. Even if the /t/ is realized as the glottal stop (which it often is), this has the same effect.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T13:26:54.297" CommentCount="13" />
  <row Id="13195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10094" CreationDate="2011-02-18T13:34:12.373" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking from the technology perspective, naming is specific depending on the device characteristics, two main categories being landline and mobile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Landline&lt;/em&gt; is a device receiving signal through a fixed phone line (which is not always a circuit; sometimes the device is a pretty large phone with a SIM making it quite mobile, sometimes handheld, still it's considered a landline phone).&lt;br&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mobile&lt;/em&gt; phones have a couple different technology-dependent types: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;cellular&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;cell&lt;/em&gt; for short) are called the devices utilizing signal received through a &quot;cellular network&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;satellite&lt;/em&gt; devices are powered by the satellite network&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These terms describe your device in respect to differences implied by phone networks, but the total of non-landline phones are mobile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also there are &lt;em&gt;smartphones&lt;/em&gt;. This term distinguishes the device in a bit different dimension; it describes the capabilities as opposed to older handheld devices (smartphones are the devices that combine a microcomputer and a telephone).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, strictly speaking, if you want to be specific to different types of devies you should use different terms in different cases. That would make a lot of difference if you wanted, per se, sell software for a particular kind of devices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5197" LastEditorUserId="5197" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T13:42:02.863" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T13:42:02.863" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13193" CreationDate="2011-02-18T13:41:31.227" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe I started hearing it (or more often &quot;let's take this offline&quot;) around 2000, and a Google search confirms that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say its fairly common, and when used between people in a meeting no one thinks it's supposed to refer to the internet-related meaning of &quot;offline&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3244" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T13:41:31.227" />
  <row Id="13197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10094" CreationDate="2011-02-18T13:48:14.690" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the UK &quot;mobile&quot; or &quot;mobile phone&quot; were the main terms but I think that is being replaced now by just &quot;phone&quot; - which is strange in that that is the one thing they are least used as.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4335" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T13:48:14.690" />
  <row Id="13198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="605" CreationDate="2011-02-18T14:07:30.743" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would normally give the response &quot;Not bad&quot; - which I think answers all parts of the question grammatically and the tone of voice distinguishes between I am just about continuing to exist to the world is a wonderful place and I feel like doing a little dance about it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4335" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T14:07:30.743" />
  <row Id="13199" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-18T14:09:26.507" Score="2" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Check out this article&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where did this term come from and why those choice of words?  I understand it perfectly semantically, but when you think about it it doesn't make sense, check out seems to mean to exit, e.g. “I checked out of the hospital, my toe was fine”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5002" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T14:46:58.867" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T02:22:37.160" Title="The phrase &quot;Check out&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;phrasal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13193" CreationDate="2011-02-18T14:16:05.947" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess would be, that it comes from &quot;offline&quot; meaning as in &quot;offline processing&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answers.com/topic/off-line-processing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.answers.com/topic/off-line-processing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(computer science) Any processing&#xA;  which takes place independently of the&#xA;  central processing unit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus &quot;discuss it offline&quot; as &quot;discuss it independently of main discussion&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5139" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T14:16:05.947" />
  <row Id="13201" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13203" CreationDate="2011-02-18T14:26:44.310" Score="0" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;When someone says they keep their fingers crossed, it means they wish or hope for a good outcome for someone or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where does this idiom originate from? Why do people fold their one finger on another to hope for the best?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T14:31:50.497" Title="Where does &quot;to keep fingers crossed&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13190" CreationDate="2011-02-18T14:27:34.963" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the author may be using the phrase in a slightly unscientific/unorthodox way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually, following an apparent change, something remains &quot;statistically unchanged&quot; if the change is not statistically significant. If you measure something, there will usually be some degree of change that indicates that the phenomenon you are measuring has &quot;really&quot; changed due to some factor/influence, and smaller changes in the measurement which are just down to &quot;random&quot; fluctuation or measurement errors and which you'd expect to get by pure chance on repeatd measures even if nothing has really changed the thing you're measuring. There are statistical tests to determine the probability of an observed change in a measurement actually reflecting a &quot;real&quot; change in the observed variable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't exactly reconcile this with the example sentence you gave-- I think they could be misusing the term slightly-- but usually, &quot;statistically unchanged&quot; would imply &quot;may have changed in terms of the raw measurement, but this change does not pass the relevant test(s) for statistical significance&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T14:27:34.963" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13201" CreationDate="2011-02-18T14:31:50.497" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;cross one's fingers&lt;/strong&gt; (or &lt;strong&gt;keep one's fingers crossed&lt;/strong&gt;): put one finger across another as a sign of hoping for good luck. • hope that someone or something will be successful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The origin of this hand gesture is discussed, for example, in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossed_fingers&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;. It is not fully clear, but probably comes from pre-Christian times, and thus does not have a relation to the Christian symbol of the cross.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T14:31:50.497" />
  <row Id="13204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13189" CreationDate="2011-02-18T14:41:08.467" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid the opposite to what Kosmonaut says applies in the case of British English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Can&lt;/em&gt; rhymes with can (the object), ban, tan, man.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Can't&lt;/em&gt; rhymes with car, bar, mar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T14:41:08.467" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13193" CreationDate="2011-02-18T14:51:32.517" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Warning: pure speculation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It used to be that time spent connected to the network was very expensive. Back then, dealing with information to be processed &lt;em&gt;offline&lt;/em&gt; was to use cheaper cycles to deal with that information. I most commonly hear this phrase in meetings, where a great deal of expensive engineer time is being wasted by details that only relate to 2 of the participants. Thus, taking the conversation offline is a metaphor for having the conversation on cheaper time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5175" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T14:51:32.517" />
  <row Id="13207" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13221" CreationDate="2011-02-18T15:17:22.220" Score="1" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've found &quot;enterprise&quot;, which is 10 letters long. Does anyone know of any longer words that start and end with the same letter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That letter doesn't have to be 'e', by the way. It just means that the first and last letter of the word have to be identical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5206" LastEditorUserId="5206" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T18:56:24.010" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T18:56:24.010" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-18T21:11:56.723" Title="What is the longest English word that starts and ends with the same letter?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;word-games&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13187" CreationDate="2011-02-18T15:20:22.760" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe a 'teacher' is someone who teaches you anything. 'Professor' is a specialist in a field of study and teaches by profession.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A mother can be a teacher but not a professor (unless she is falls into the category mentioned above).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5207" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T15:20:22.760" />
  <row Id="13209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3112" CreationDate="2011-02-18T15:26:24.100" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always thought agreeance was not a valid word. I just heard someone use it in a meeting and decided to look it up - I refuse to use it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5209" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T15:26:24.100" />
  <row Id="13210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12346" CreationDate="2011-02-18T15:31:51.267" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw this question from Stack Overflow, so I thought I'd add my input. You state:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I became confused by comments to my&#xA;  answer insisting that Technical&#xA;  writing is jargon using incorrect&#xA;  English words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would disagree with that. Consider the following sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It failed because of an exception that&#xA;  caused the virtual machine to run out&#xA;  of heap space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people (that aren't Java programmers) would consider the above sentence to be jargon, yet it doesn't use any incorrect English words. The non-technical equivilent would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It failed because a problem caused the&#xA;  application to run out of memory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the above sentence is far too vague for it to be useful to a programmer trying to find a cure for the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, jargon is the (unnecessary) use of technical terms when a simpler one would have sufficed. I find this especially common in the medical profession:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The patient has diaphoresis = sweating&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;tension pneumothorax = a collapsed lung&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5208" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T15:31:51.267" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="13211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13207" CreationDate="2011-02-18T15:33:55.390" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Naturalisation has 14 letters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T15:33:55.390" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-18T21:11:56.723" />
  <row Id="13212" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13222" CreationDate="2011-02-18T15:35:36.993" Score="2" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say that somebody from a partner firm with whom I've never spoken before starts an email to me with &quot;Dear Mr. Rossi,&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When a reply to her, I think I will then have to start with &quot;Dear Ms. Her-Surname,&quot; to not sound disrepectful. But I would like to make this email conversation less formal next time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any better alternative to the sentence below?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear Ms. Her-Surname,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;First of all, feel free to call me&#xA;  Ivo. Regarding your...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="740" LastEditorUserId="740" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T15:46:50.947" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T16:23:11.000" Title="How to politely request to be called by first name instead of Mr. Surname?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;formality&gt;&lt;email&gt;&lt;politeness&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13142" CreationDate="2011-02-18T15:36:57.343" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;So far as I know, there is no generally accepted definition of the exact times that evening starts and ends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have said, good night is most often used when parting. If you said this at 7:30 people might respond &quot;goodbye&quot; and turn away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you enter the home of a friend, you might say good night to someone leaving and good evening to your host (assuming it isn't the sort of occasion where &quot;wassup hussler&quot; and &quot;yo bitch&quot; are appropriate).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T15:36:57.343" />
  <row Id="13214" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13218" CreationDate="2011-02-18T15:38:51.693" Score="1" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;How is &quot;Messrs&quot; pronounced?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning is the plural of &quot;Mister&quot;, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does that mean that &quot;Misters&quot; is not a word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;Messrs&quot; a word that is more commonly used in England than the United States?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for the help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5210" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T18:14:39.210" Title="A couple of quick questions related to &quot;Messrs&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13215" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13220" CreationDate="2011-02-18T15:42:21.643" Score="3" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;FAQ stands for 'Frequently asked questions', with the plural being implicit in the acronym FAQ. But it is common to see the word 'FAQs' being used, which treat the word FAQ as an object in itself, and an s being added to its end in order to pluralize it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is the correct usage for FAQ ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3982" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T17:15:25.397" Title="Correct usage of FAQ" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;common-word&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13142" CreationDate="2011-02-18T15:43:40.903" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Good evening&quot; is something that can be used from roughly 5 PM on.  &quot;Good night&quot; can also be said from 5 PM on, but usually means one of two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;goodbye (for the rest of the day, because we are leaving work, the bar, etc.)&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I'm going to bed now &lt;em&gt;and/or&lt;/em&gt; &quot;you're going to bed now&quot; (said to family members, people I am chatting with online or on the phone, when one or both of us is going to bed)&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It basically never means &quot;hello (late evening)&quot; that equivalent phrases can have in other languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T15:43:40.903" />
  <row Id="13217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13207" CreationDate="2011-02-18T15:46:48.550" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;sanctimoniousness&quot; has 17 letters...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5210" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T15:46:48.550" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-18T21:11:56.723" />
  <row Id="13218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13214" CreationDate="2011-02-18T15:48:05.977" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is pronounced &lt;em&gt;Mess-ers&lt;/em&gt; derived from the French plural &lt;em&gt;messieurs&lt;/em&gt;, while &lt;em&gt;Mr&lt;/em&gt; comes from &lt;em&gt;master&lt;/em&gt;.  Its use is correct but fairly uncommon: &lt;em&gt;Mr Smith and Mr Jones&lt;/em&gt; is more usual than &lt;em&gt;Messrs Smith and Jones&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;Misters Smith and Jones&lt;/em&gt; is extremely rare while &lt;em&gt;Mrs Smith and Jones&lt;/em&gt; would suggest a sex-change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastEditorUserId="4333" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T15:53:13.023" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T15:53:13.023" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13207" CreationDate="2011-02-18T15:48:26.093" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;straightforwardness:  19 letters&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Andrianampoinimerina: 20 letters (if we're counting proper nouns)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3294" LastEditorUserId="3294" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T15:59:04.790" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T15:59:04.790" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-18T21:11:56.723" />
  <row Id="13220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13215" CreationDate="2011-02-18T15:50:48.543" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While the acronym does indeed stand for &lt;em&gt;Frequently Asked Questions&lt;/em&gt;, in many cases, there is an implied &lt;em&gt;list of&lt;/em&gt; (or perhaps &lt;em&gt;document containing&lt;/em&gt;) in the acronym's usage, which is why it's treated as a singular object.  For example, I could have a FAQ that covers home buying and a separate one that has questions regarding home purchasing.  In this case, I might suggest that you check out &lt;em&gt;the FAQs&lt;/em&gt;, meaning &lt;em&gt;The lists of frequently asked questions&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, I see nothing wrong with adding an &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt; to pluralize the implied list (making it clear there there are multiple sets).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I would suggest that if you have a single list, and the &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt; merely refers to the fact that multiple questions exist, the &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt; is not needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T15:50:48.543" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13207" CreationDate="2011-02-18T15:58:54.133" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;achondroplasia - 14&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;breadcrumb - 10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chromolithographic - 18&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;deinstitutionalized - 19&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ethylenediaminetetraacetate - 27&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;flameproof - 10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;governmentalizing - 17&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;handsbreadth - 12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;interstimuli - 12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(There is no word beginning and&#xA;ending with J)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;kinnikinnick - 12&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lepidopterological - 18&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;mesembryanthemum - 16&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nondiscrimination - 17&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;obbligato - 9&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;postmastership - 14&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(There is no word beginning and&#xA;ending with Q)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;remanufacturer - 14&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;straightforwardnesses - 21&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;transformationalist - 19&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;unau - 4&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vav - 3&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wheelbarrow - 11&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;xerox - 5&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;youthfully - 10&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(There is no word beginning and&#xA;ending with Z)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many of these words may not feature in the English dictionary. Some are medical or technical words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5207" LastEditorUserId="3579" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T17:41:22.960" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T17:41:22.960" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-18T21:11:56.723" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="13222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13212" CreationDate="2011-02-18T16:07:08.277" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear Ms. Her-Surname,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;First of all, feel free to call me&#xA;  Ivo. Regarding your...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="740" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T16:07:08.277" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13214" CreationDate="2011-02-18T16:16:42.177" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does that mean that &quot;Misters&quot; is not a word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The plural of Mister is used; you can find sentences like the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The gold medals they won at earlier races aren't the only thing that Misters Hedrick and Cheek have in common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is &quot;Messrs&quot; a word that is more commonly used in England than the United States?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The NOAD describes &lt;em&gt;Messrs.&lt;/em&gt; as dated or chiefly British. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T18:14:39.210" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T18:14:39.210" />
  <row Id="13225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13214" CreationDate="2011-02-18T16:20:55.480" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not think you would find &quot;Messrs&quot; used in speech except for comic effect. Its use now is pretty well restricted to addressing envelopes - and probably only from old-fashioned organisations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T16:20:55.480" />
  <row Id="13226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13212" CreationDate="2011-02-18T16:23:11.000" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that might be about as good as you can get in English. In some other languages, there are words for that, e.g. in Spanish, the verb &quot;tutear&quot; has roughly this meaning (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/tutear&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;spanishdict.com&lt;/a&gt; translates it as &quot;to treat with familiarity&quot;), which invites a degree of informality, and probably implies that the speaker wants the listener(s) to call him or her by a given name or nickname. English doesn't have different conjugations for the formal and informal second person, so it makes sense that there isn't one word for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were writing this, I would write it either exactly as you did &quot;feel free to call me...&quot;, or possibly &quot;please call me...&quot; if I strongly prefer to be called by something. I think there is rarely a social stigma in American English to one person inviting the other to use an informal address—and the cases in which there might be, it's the kind of thing you usually know when you see it, such as talking with the president, prime minister, head of a company, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1787" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T16:23:11.000" />
  <row Id="13230" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-18T16:47:09.850" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been living in japan so long I don't remember how to speak English.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;On some websites the authors uses the phrase &quot;passive form&quot; &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/activepassive.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/activepassive.html&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;While here I often read &lt;em&gt;passive construction&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;passive voice&lt;/em&gt; but in highschool I never heard the phrase &lt;em&gt;passive voice&lt;/em&gt;. The teacher only ever described a sentence as passive or active. I didn't hear that there was such a thing as passive &lt;em&gt;voice&lt;/em&gt; until I began studying ancient Greek and had no idea that English verbs in the passive &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;_&lt;/strong&gt; could be referee to as being in the passive voice but. Can I also use the word &lt;em&gt;passive&lt;/em&gt; as a noun?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ie. This verb is written in the passive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4988" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T00:45:13.090" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T00:45:13.090" Title="&quot;Passive voice&quot; versus &quot;passive construction&quot; versus &quot;passive sentence&quot; versus &quot;passive form&quot;" Tags="&lt;passive-voice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13231" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-18T17:03:58.623" Score="5" ViewCount="280" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi, there is a banner in StackOverflow pointing to the careers website (programmers):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you haz teh codez?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions about the sentence/question are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What's the question in plain English?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why do they write it like that?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it like a word game?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How should I read it in terms of pronunciation?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/OrGEy.png&quot; alt=&quot;Do you haz teh codez?&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2702" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T21:56:14.050" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T21:56:14.050" Title="What does &quot;Do you haz teh codez?&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13232" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13241" CreationDate="2011-02-18T17:12:38.800" Score="2" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I get lost in my job.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does it mean? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I get immersed in my work so deeply even the outside world seems to cease to exist (because I'm concentrating so much on what I'm doing). (Which sounds kind of positive, in general.) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Even though I concentrate on my job as much as I can (not paying attention to the outside world), I can't really solve some problems in my work. (Which implies strong negative feelings).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the first one's correct, but I need confirmation and/or correction, please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1132" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T20:05:27.667" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T20:05:27.667" Title="Does &quot;be lost in something&quot; have a positive or negative meaning?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13233" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13252" CreationDate="2011-02-18T17:13:17.223" Score="1" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the colloquial / casual / conversational form of the word &quot;compliment&quot; in this context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A: I hate John.&#xA;B: why? He's like a genius.&#xA;A: exactly! He's such a teachers pet. He's always gotta answer all the questions and Ms. Johnson is always complimenting him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here in Japan the phrase &quot;ms. Johnson is always complimenting him.&quot; carries a negative nuance. And this diologue does not sound natural to me at all. School kids do not use the word compliment in this context as Japanese kids do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4988" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T18:41:07.097" Title="Colloquial Expression for &quot;compliment&quot;" Tags="&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13215" CreationDate="2011-02-18T17:15:25.397" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I disagree that FAQ always stands for &lt;em&gt;Frequently Asked Question&lt;b&gt;s&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/em&gt;; a single question that is frequently asked is also a &lt;b&gt;f&lt;/b&gt;requently &lt;b&gt;a&lt;/b&gt;sked &lt;b&gt;q&lt;/b&gt;uestion, or FAQ. Thus, a list of such questions is a list of FAQs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T17:15:25.397" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13231" CreationDate="2011-02-18T17:15:32.203" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Literal translation is &quot;Do you have the code?&quot; but what is implied is &quot;Please can you write my application for me?&quot; or &quot;Please solve my problem so I don't have to put any effort in.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is written like that as a mockery of people who ask questions on Stack Overflow, and other such websites, where their question is a thinly veiled, or completely unveiled, attempt to get someone to do their work for them. So the questioner won't have even tried to solve their problem and will possibly be asking for an entire software application to be written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what you mean by &quot;Is there like a word game?&quot; If you mean &lt;em&gt;is this like a word game&lt;/em&gt; then not really, it's just a joke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should be pronounced &quot;Do you haz (as in Mazda) teh (as in meh) codes?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For an example of the type of thing this is mocking: &lt;a href=&quot;http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/plz-email-me-teh-codez.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/plz-email-me-teh-codez.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3559" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T17:15:32.203" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="13236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13231" CreationDate="2011-02-18T17:18:09.017" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, to break it down:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;haz=have&#xA;teh=the&#xA;codez=codes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it means &lt;em&gt;Do you have the codes?&lt;/em&gt; or in a bit more sensible form considering the context &lt;em&gt;Are you able to code?&lt;/em&gt; (Code here meaning to write code, or program)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are variations from internet memes (google lolcats, if you dare) that have become mainstream (usually in a tongue-in-cheek way).  I'll stress this is NOT standard English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presumably the banner is done that way to catch someone's attention by avoiding a more standard (and therefore less engaging) phrase.  It also may indicate that they're more tied into to internet/programming culture which has a history of using intentionally obfuscated terms/spellings/etc. to set them apart and to act as a shibboleth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the pronunciation, you can pretty much just read it phonetically, as the alterations are intended to be applied to the pronunciation as much as the spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T17:18:09.017" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="13237" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-18T17:27:05.137" Score="5" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I've had a few people mention that the phrase &quot;cellar door&quot; is beautiful. I don't see what makes this so - it's not anything ironic like &quot;driveway&quot; or &quot;parkway&quot; so what makes this so beautiful?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3574" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T16:40:28.663" Title="Why do some consider &quot;cellar door&quot; a beautiful phrase?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="13238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13233" CreationDate="2011-02-18T17:51:45.973" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say &quot;to pay somebody a compliment&quot; (we also say &quot;to receive/accept/acknowledge a compliment&quot;) . Also, when someone &quot;pays a compliment&quot; to us, we might consider &quot;repaying/returning&quot; the compliment. Well, these are the colloquial phrases that come into my mind regarding &quot;compliment&quot;. Hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5146" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T17:51:45.973" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13233" CreationDate="2011-02-18T18:02:25.173" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An informal word for &lt;em&gt;compliment&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;kudos&lt;/em&gt;. I have never heard it used as verb (as in [&lt;em&gt;?&lt;/em&gt;] &lt;em&gt;he was kudosing her&lt;/em&gt;), but you can say &lt;em&gt;to receive kudos&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;to get kudos&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;to give kudos&lt;/em&gt;, or similar phrases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T18:21:35.727" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T18:21:35.727" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13230" CreationDate="2011-02-18T18:12:20.453" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In most cases, it doesn't matter terribly much whether you say &quot;a passive verb&quot; or &quot;a verb in the passive&quot; or &quot;a verb in the passive voice&quot; or &quot;a verb with a passive construction&quot;. (Strictly, there isn't necessarily just one passive construction, e.g. you might say that &quot;They were hurt&quot; and &quot;They got hurt&quot; are two different passive constructions.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T18:12:20.453" />
  <row Id="13241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13232" CreationDate="2011-02-18T18:14:23.500" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first interpretation (becoming immersed to the exclusion of other concerns) is correct, but that doesn't necessarily make it a positive. (The second would probably be better phrased as &quot;I get lost &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; my job&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The speaker may be referring to &quot;being in the zone&quot;, or may be saying &quot;I could get drunk and stay that way, but I've chosen to hide from the harshness of reality in an artificial process instead&quot;. One is becoming one with the Zen of creativity; the other indicates a level of dysfunction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T18:14:23.500" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13207" CreationDate="2011-02-18T18:14:23.797" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's your definition of &quot;word&quot;? Names of chemical compounds can be of any arbitrary length (and various chemical prefixes both start and end with &quot;e&quot;, for example)...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T18:14:23.797" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-18T21:11:56.723" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13233" CreationDate="2011-02-18T18:18:19.860" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this sense, something along the lines of &lt;em&gt;Brownie points&lt;/em&gt; would seem to fit the bill. It has that combination of childishness, contempt (from peers) and favoritism (from the teacher) that you'd expect from 'tweens and teens. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T18:18:19.860" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13207" CreationDate="2011-02-18T18:18:23.587" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious comes to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although some might claim the word is a bit artificial. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5188" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T18:18:23.587" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-18T21:11:56.723" />
  <row Id="13245" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13246" CreationDate="2011-02-18T18:20:31.000" Score="8" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between &quot;burn up&quot; and &quot;burn down&quot;?  Or is there no difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5188" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T18:25:58.410" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T20:55:57.517" Title="Burn up or burn down?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;&lt;phrasal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13245" CreationDate="2011-02-18T18:29:06.727" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My take is that &quot;burn up&quot; comes from some sense that the thing is used up (fuel is used and is gone). &quot;Burn down&quot; means the thing has &quot;burned down to the ground&quot; in that all structure and support is gone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One might say that &quot;all my stuff was burned up in the fire when my house burned down.&quot; You'd be less likely to hear &quot;my house burned up,&quot; but it is not totally unheard of usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also a common third option--&quot;burn through&quot;--which evokes the idea of a wave of fire moving across or through something. &quot;I burned through all my money at that casino in about 2 hours.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T18:29:06.727" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="13247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13231" CreationDate="2011-02-18T18:29:24.573" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sure, it means &quot;do you have the code&quot; ie. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;are you capable of writing quality code&lt;/strong&gt; (ie, since it's a career ad you're reading, are you a programmer looking for work) &lt;strong&gt;and are you &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geek&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;geek&lt;/a&gt; enough&lt;/strong&gt; (since it's an ad you're reading, in the positive sense of the word, of course) &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; understand and like geekish talk like this (which implies that you'd &lt;strong&gt;fit a similarly geek company of computer experts&lt;/strong&gt; well)?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They write it like that because it's supposed to be cool and to match the target audience's usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for a word game being there - no, there's none imo, apart from the above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the pronunciation, &lt;a href=&quot;http://translate.google.com/translate_t?hl=&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;text=Do+you+haz+teh+codez+%3F&amp;amp;sl=en&amp;amp;tl=en#&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;go here and click listen&lt;/a&gt;. ;) (That's half a joke, sure. But I'm fairly sure the majority of... errr... geeks would get and like it.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1132" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T18:29:24.573" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1482" CreationDate="2011-02-18T18:32:25.173" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h2&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Urban Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An invaluable and up-to-date resource for looking up slang and other words that are often absent in conventional dictionaries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3294" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T18:32:25.173" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-18T18:32:25.173" />
  <row Id="13249" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-18T18:34:22.973" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi, I'm Jen.  I am passionate about language.  I love this site and want to help make it great!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as my moderation philosophy is concerned, please see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF099-Grammar_Wizard.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this link&lt;/a&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt; * * * Vote for Jen * * * Fighting Bad Grammar Since 2010 * * * &lt;/b&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Disclaimer:  Jen does not condone violence towards wizards ... and yes, &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/16/when-is-it-okay-to-end-a-sentence-in-a-preposition&quot;&gt;you may end your &#xA;sentence with a preposition&lt;/a&gt;! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastEditorUserId="4744" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T18:40:22.660" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T18:40:22.660" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-18T18:34:22.973" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13245" CreationDate="2011-02-18T18:34:25.063" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Burn up is usually meant to indicate the usage of something:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We're burning up all our fuel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Burn up can also mean angry:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That comment is really burning me up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or traverse something quickly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Those racers are burning up the track!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Burn down is normally structural, but it can also mean to go through something (as a fire 'goes through' a house):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My house burned down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let's burn down these tasks until&#xA;  they're done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a type of chart called a 'burndown chart' which demonstrates the second option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T18:34:25.063" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13233" CreationDate="2011-02-18T18:35:03.460" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about, &lt;em&gt;give him props&lt;/em&gt;?  As in,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I had to give him props for finishing a 50-page paper in a single late-nighter.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One often hears &quot;props&quot; used colloquially as a replacement for the word &quot;compliment&quot; in urban slang.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T18:35:03.460" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13233" CreationDate="2011-02-18T18:41:07.097" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't think of a word replacement for compliment that carries a negative connotation, but I can restructure your dialog slightly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: I hate John. B: why? He's like a genius. A: exactly! He's such a teachers pet. He's always kissing up to Ms. Johnson and she totally rewards him for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure that receiving compliments is considered negative in the US, the negativity comes from asking for compliments (often referred to as &quot;fishing&quot;) or accepting them without humility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T18:41:07.097" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13253" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13263" CreationDate="2011-02-18T19:08:40.730" Score="2" ViewCount="160" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the term for a system/organization/things order rigidly governed by rules without any exceptions?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T20:15:28.560" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T06:31:00.113" Title="What is a term for a system with rules without any exceptions?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13253" CreationDate="2011-02-18T19:11:12.677" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if there is a single word that means exactly that. I would describe such a system as &lt;em&gt;strictly rule-based&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T19:11:12.677" />
  <row Id="13255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13253" CreationDate="2011-02-18T19:17:41.173" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_system&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;formal system&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T19:17:41.173" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13253" CreationDate="2011-02-18T19:19:45.040" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Canonical&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is probably stretching the definition a little but it works in its more generic sense.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From dictionary.com,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;canonical&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    1. pertaining to, established by, or conforming to a canon  or canons.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;canon&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    4. a fundamental principle or general rule: the canons of good&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To address your question, I suppose you could say &quot;an overly-canonical government.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3294" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T19:19:45.040" />
  <row Id="13257" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13265" CreationDate="2011-02-18T19:26:43.450" Score="1" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering how many ways/tones to speak &quot;How are you?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which tone/way to use in different situations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when seeing somebody you don't expect&#xA;to have a conversation after?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when seeing your supervisor/boss?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when seeing your friends?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in this movie &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hulu.com/watch/211898/beauty-and-the-briefcase&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;beauty-and-the-briefcase&lt;/a&gt;, at 30:15, Lane says &quot;How are you?&quot; to Seth and then Seth relies with a different way of &quot;How are you?&quot; Is Lane putting stress on &quot;are&quot;? In what kinds of situation will one  stress &quot;are&quot;, what kinds of situation will one stress &quot;How&quot;, and what kinds for speaking like Seth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T19:39:44.427" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T21:21:52.473" Title="Different ways to say &quot;How are you?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;conversation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13253" CreationDate="2011-02-18T19:27:04.810" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go with &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;orthodox&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;strict&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, or &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;conformist&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T19:27:04.810" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13253" CreationDate="2011-02-18T19:28:10.377" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can express what you want in a different way, but don't have a specific term for the system itself.  I might say something like, &quot;...that organization is governed by &lt;em&gt;mandarins&lt;/em&gt;...&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;mandarin&quot; is a synonym for bureaucrat that has a very unyielding and officious connotation. From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mandarin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikitionary&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;mandarin&lt;/strong&gt; /ˈmæn.dər.ɪn/ (&lt;em&gt;n.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(historical) A high government bureaucrat of the Chinese Empire.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A pedantic or elitist bureaucrat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A pedantic senior person of influence in academia or literary circles, often used pejoratively.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a historian of any sort, but I think the term alludes to the huge role that the very rigidly structured civil service examinations played in Imperial China, and the vast powers those who passed those tests and eventually became officials in the government exercised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T19:53:09.423" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T19:53:09.423" />
  <row Id="13260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13253" CreationDate="2011-02-18T19:29:09.823" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like &lt;code&gt;algorithmic&lt;/code&gt;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1298" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T19:29:09.823" />
  <row Id="13261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13187" CreationDate="2011-02-18T19:49:47.163" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Professor is also a rank, and a title, in the American university system and as such, confers status on its recipients.  There are lots of &quot;instructors&quot; and &quot;lecturers&quot; and &quot;graduate assistants&quot; who teach and publish original research who would love to be called &quot;professor.&quot;  So yes, &quot;professor&quot; is more formal than &quot;teacher.&quot;  In any sort of professional setting, for example in asking for the referral of an article or seeking university employment, I would be very careful to refer to the professor I'm mailing as &quot;Professor&quot; and not &quot;teacher&quot;, so as not to seem overly familiar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T19:49:47.163" />
  <row Id="13263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13253" CreationDate="2011-02-18T20:11:50.753" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you're looking for the word &quot;fascism&quot; or &quot;autocratic&quot;. Though for answering the question more details are required. So I give you some choices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Autocratic&lt;/strong&gt;: a system in which someone makes decisions and gives orders to people without asking them for their opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;fascism&lt;/strong&gt;: a  right-wing  political system in which people’s lives are completely controlled by the state and no political opposition is allowed &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;dictatorial&lt;/strong&gt;: a dictatorial government or ruler has complete power over a country&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;fundamentalism&lt;/strong&gt;: a religious or political movement based on a literal interpretation of and strict adherence to doctrine, especially as a return to former principles&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;absolutism&lt;/strong&gt;: a political system in which a ruler has complete power and authority &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some other words that usually refer to special country or religion like tsarism, canonical, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T20:11:50.753" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13187" CreationDate="2011-02-18T20:23:29.760" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Teach is including a more general concept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Dictionary&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Teacher&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;someone whose job is to teach, especially in a school&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Professor&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;American English&lt;/em&gt;: a teacher at a university or college&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;British English&lt;/em&gt;: a teacher of the highest rank in a university department&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To see academic degrees visit &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_degree&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also you may find it interesting to know:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;teacher&lt;/strong&gt;   someone who teaches as their job, especially in a school :  a high school teacher &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;principal&lt;/strong&gt;  ( also   headteacher   British English )   the teacher who is in charge of a school or college :  The teacher sent him to the principal’s office. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;tutor&lt;/strong&gt;   someone who gives private lessons to one student or a small group of students. In Britain, a tutor is also a teacher in a university :  They hired a tutor to help him with his English.  |  Your tutor will help you find a subject for your essay. &#xA;lecturer   someone who teaches in a university or college :  University lecturers aren’t very well paid. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;professor&lt;/strong&gt;   a teacher in a college or university. In Britain, a  professor   is a high-ranking university teacher, especially one who is head of a department :  She was professor of linguistics at Cambridge University. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;instructor&lt;/strong&gt;   someone who teaches a sport or a practical skill such as swimming or driving :  He works as a ski instructor in the winter.  |  a driving instructor &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;coach&lt;/strong&gt;   someone who helps a person or team improve in a sport :  a professional tennis coach &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;educator&lt;/strong&gt;   especially American English   formal   someone whose job involves teaching people, or someone who is an expert on education :  Most educators agree that class sizes are still too big. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;trainer&lt;/strong&gt;   someone who teaches people particular skills, especially the skills they need to do a job :  a teacher trainer  |  Many companies pay outside trainers to teach management skills to their staff. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;governess&lt;/strong&gt;   a woman who lived with a family and taught their children in past times :  As a governess, Charlotte Brontë received twenty pounds a year. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T20:23:29.760" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13257" CreationDate="2011-02-18T20:33:20.800" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are a few ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Casual non-acquaintance: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; - Hi.&#xA; - Hey.&#xA; - How are you?&#xA; - How are you doing?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Formal (to whatever level above you that requires some measure of obsequiousness)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; - Good morning.&#xA; - Good afternoon.&#xA; - Good evening.&#xA; - Hello.&#xA; - Nice to meet you.&#xA; - How are you?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Informal (to friends)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; - Hey!&#xA; - Sup?&#xA; - Dude.&#xA; - What up?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And so on. You almost never say &quot;How are you?&quot; to your friends, unless they've been ill or away and you have a legitimate reason for wondering about their health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for different tones:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can mean either indifference or extreme interest. Look at the person's face and decide for yourself. If you're in the hospital it signifies interest. If at a fund-raiser for a political candidate, not so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How are &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indicates a sudden focus of attention on you, as if you were The Most Interesting Man in The World or someone knows and likes you but hasn't seen you for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;How&lt;/em&gt; are you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indicates a correction to your misunderstanding of the unstressed &quot;How are you?&quot; in which you thought the person was asking &quot;Who are you?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T21:21:52.473" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T21:21:52.473" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13266" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-18T20:49:37.150" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do players begin their answers with &quot;Who is&quot;/&quot;What is&quot; in Jeopardy! TV game?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2609" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T20:49:37.150" ClosedDate="2011-02-18T21:08:21.500" Title="&quot;Who is ... &quot; answer in Jeopardy! game" Tags="&lt;jargon&gt;" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13245" CreationDate="2011-02-18T20:55:57.517" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Burn Up&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 if something burns up or is burnt up, it is completely destroyed by fire or heat :&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The satellite will burn up as it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere. &#xA;burn something up &#xA;Most of the woodland has now been burnt up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 &lt;strong&gt;burn something up&lt;/strong&gt;   &lt;em&gt;informal&lt;/em&gt;   to use a lot of something in a careless way :&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Most household appliances burn up loads of electricity. &#xA;He just burns up money! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3 &lt;strong&gt;be burning up&lt;/strong&gt;   &lt;em&gt;spoken&lt;/em&gt;   if someone is burning up, they are very hot, usually because they are ill :&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Feel his forehead – he’s burning up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 &lt;strong&gt;burn somebody up&lt;/strong&gt;   &lt;em&gt;American English&lt;/em&gt;   informal   to make someone very angry :&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The way he treats her really burns me up. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5 &lt;strong&gt;burn something up&lt;/strong&gt;   to use energy that is stored in your body, by being physically active:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As we get older, our body becomes less efficient at burning up calories. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Burn Down&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1 if a building burns down or is burned down, it is destroyed by fire :&lt;br&gt;&#xA;She was worried that the house might burn down while they were away. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;burn something  down&lt;/strong&gt;  The old town hall was burnt down in the 1970s. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2 if a fire burns down, the flames become weaker and it produces less heat &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5215" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T20:55:57.517" />
  <row Id="13268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13237" CreationDate="2011-02-18T21:10:42.310" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;CLARIFICATION: Tolkien is considered by many (including me) the author of this observation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are definitely some comments above, and it's only my OCD need to not have unanswered questions on this board that compels me to answer, but here goes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is the combination of two factors: a smooth ellision of vowel sounds from one to another, and that that ellision is &lt;em&gt;downward&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, consider that Tolkien is (most likely) referring to a posh British vowel pronunciation. A nasal, Midwestern American pronunciation of &quot;cellar door&quot; is positively grating. So here's what we're looking at:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;SEH - LAH - DOH&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you look at yourself in the mirror pronouncing this, your jaw moves smoothly downward as the phrase progresses. If you reverse the order (&quot;Duracell&quot; is a fair approximation), you have the same progression, but in the opposite direction, and it's not as pleasing...I can't say precisely why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, I think we're stepping into the murky waters of evolutionary psychology, but I think that at least part of the appeal of &quot;cellar door&quot; is the smooth transition of vowel sounds, and the fact that the consonants don't get much in the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastEditorUserId="2986" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T16:40:28.663" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T16:40:28.663" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13269" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13285" CreationDate="2011-02-18T21:11:54.493" Score="0" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/78/when-is-it-appropriate-to-use-that-as-opposed-to-which&quot;&gt;When is it appropriate to use &amp;#39;that&amp;#39; as opposed to &amp;#39;which&amp;#39;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I understand the second sentence is correct, and the first is not. What are the rules on using which versus using that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Instead it produces the above, which&#xA;simply is a silent error. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Instead it&#xA;produces the above, that is simply a&#xA;silent error.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3802" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T23:05:36.537" ClosedDate="2011-03-07T13:11:10.833" Title="Correct usage of which/that" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="13270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13237" CreationDate="2011-02-18T21:24:02.440" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A complex interplay of of many factors. The main one is that Drew Barrymore said so in Donny Darko.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5217" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T21:24:02.440" />
  <row Id="13271" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-18T20:17:46.890" Score="2" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there is two of something, can you say &quot;all of&quot; instead of &quot;both of&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if there are two people in an email, and you start off with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;All,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Blah blah... Blah blah - blah, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;v/r&#xA;Me&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that at all appropriate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T21:30:10.943" Title="Is it wrong to use &quot;All&quot; when there is only two?" Tags="&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="13272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13271" CreationDate="2011-02-18T20:32:22.073" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that email typically takes on a conversational tone, sure.  If the email (or letter) is more formal, perhaps use an alternative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5223" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T20:32:22.073" />
  <row Id="13273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13271" CreationDate="2011-02-18T20:52:58.437" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say use &quot;All&quot; if you have three or more. If there are only two addressees, just name them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;To: Dick@home.com, Jane@home.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From: Dad@home.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Re: Doghouse plans&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dear Dick and Jane,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please let me know if you have reviewed the plans for Spot's new doghouse. The contractor will be arriving Monday and we need to have any changes settled before then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regards,&#xA;Dad.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;To: Dick@home.com, Jane@home.com, Dad@home.com, Mom@home.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From: Spot@home.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Re: Doghouse plans&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not to hurry you or anything, but it has been raining for the last three days, and Grandmom has been complaining about my bivouacking under the kitchen table. The sooner we can get this thing built, the faster you can get me out of the house so I'm not stinking up the kitchen with the smell of wet dog. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bark bark,&#xA;Spot&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T20:52:58.437" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13274" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-18T21:39:31.247" Score="0" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1095/use-of-that-in-a-sentence&quot;&gt;Use of &amp;ldquo;that&amp;rdquo; in a sentence&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English-newbie-here! =D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, let me present you with a situation where I ended up using both choices actually:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She said &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; they won't come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She said they won't come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well? Both sound fine for me, but I can't really tell... I believe there are other situations where the usage of &quot;that&quot; is questionable...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4643" LastEditorUserId="519" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T23:08:18.793" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T23:08:18.793" ClosedDate="2011-02-19T00:04:05.210" Title="Usage of &quot;that&quot;." Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;beginner&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13274" CreationDate="2011-02-18T21:49:07.847" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are both correct, but the meaning is subtly different. In the first sentence, the speaker is indicated that &quot;she&quot; has indicated in some way that they won't come. In the second sentence, the speaker is indicating that  &quot;she&quot; said something close to the specific words &quot;they won't come&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I say &quot;something close&quot; because the margin of error for that indication generally includes personal pronouns, e.g., when I say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She said they won't come&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I really mean is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She said &quot;we won't come&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usage of &quot;that&quot; indicates that you're about to paraphrase the message, while its absence indicates that you're sticking more closely to the precise words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T21:49:07.847" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="13277" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13278" CreationDate="2011-02-18T21:54:44.253" Score="6" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;In informal speech, how would you describe a bus that travels from point A to point B by passing through every part of the city instead of using the straight way? When you give someone an advice which bus to take, how would you explain that it's not recommended to take bus X because its route is too long?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T13:50:03.500" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T13:50:03.500" Title="A non-straight route" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13277" CreationDate="2011-02-18T21:59:18.040" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would describe the route as &lt;em&gt;roundabout&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;&quot;That bus takes a roundabout way to get there.  It's much more direct to take route X&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5217" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T10:54:47.100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T10:54:47.100" />
  <row Id="13279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13277" CreationDate="2011-02-18T21:59:19.507" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say it's a &lt;strong&gt;local&lt;/strong&gt; bus instead of an &lt;strong&gt;express&lt;/strong&gt; bus, meaning that it makes a lot of stops along the way; or you could say that its route is too &lt;strong&gt;indirect&lt;/strong&gt; or too &lt;strong&gt;winding&lt;/strong&gt;, meaning that its path meanders all over the city instead of making a beeline for the destination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T21:59:19.507" />
  <row Id="13280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13277" CreationDate="2011-02-18T22:04:31.703" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;circuitous&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;meandering&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;serpentine&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;tortuous&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Roundabout&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is more common, but less fun!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T22:04:31.703" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13277" CreationDate="2011-02-18T22:12:41.100" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In middle-America the colloquialism &quot;goose chase&quot; is used to describe this.  &quot;Goose chase&quot; is also a type of stitching pattern used in quilting because it has the same &lt;em&gt;meandering&lt;/em&gt; property.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T22:12:41.100" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13269" CreationDate="2011-02-18T22:14:16.343" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, only &quot;which&quot; is grammatical in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, &quot;that&quot; is not used in a &lt;em&gt;non-restrictive&lt;/em&gt; relative clause like this (where in effect, the relative clause adds 'additional information' about the referent but doesn't serve to &lt;em&gt;identify&lt;/em&gt; the referent).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrast:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Any of the above, &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; constitutes an error, should be removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Any of the above &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; constitutes an error should be removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first case means &quot;the whole of the above constitutes an error and should be removed&quot;; the second implies &quot;those parts of the material above which are erroneous should be removed, but other parts may remain&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T22:14:16.343" />
  <row Id="13283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13274" CreationDate="2011-02-18T22:36:50.943" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are saying the same thing.  Most people find &quot;that&quot; superfluous, and will both omit it and recommend omitting it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T22:36:50.943" />
  <row Id="13284" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13286" CreationDate="2011-02-18T22:37:17.793" Score="2" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should the phrase be: One or more &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt;...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5219" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T22:01:11.740" Title="One or more...is, or are?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13269" CreationDate="2011-02-18T22:47:28.893" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The notes about when to use &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; reported from the NOAD are the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In U.S. English, it is usually recommended that which be employed only for nonrestrictive (or nonessential) clauses: &lt;em&gt;the horse, which is in the paddock, is six years old&lt;/em&gt;. (The &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; clause contains a nonessential fact, noted in passing; the horse would be six years old wherever it was.) A &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; clause is restrictive (or essential), as it identifies a particular thing: &lt;em&gt;the horse that is in the paddock is six years old&lt;/em&gt; (not any horse, but the one in the paddock).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To notice that (in sentences similar to the ones you used as example) &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; is generally preceded by a comma, and &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; is generally not preceded by a comma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T23:05:36.537" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T23:05:36.537" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13284" CreationDate="2011-02-18T22:58:06.760" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a sentence like &lt;em&gt;a sandwich or other snack is included in the price&lt;/em&gt; you use &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;This is the traditional rule, which says that in a sentence where the verb follows a list separated from &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; (and the single items of the list are singular), the subject is singular.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(Reference: the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a sentence like &lt;em&gt;one or more photos are better&lt;/em&gt; you use &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; because the noun closer to the verb is plural (&lt;em&gt;more photos&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T23:21:22.557" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T23:21:22.557" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13287" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13294" CreationDate="2011-02-19T01:29:49.980" Score="3" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;There was an article contributed by Jena McGregor titled &lt;a href=&quot;http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/post_leadership/2011/02/palin-breastfeeding-joke-gos-sour.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;‘Palin’s milk joke goes sour'&lt;/a&gt;&#xA; in Feb 18th Washington Post, which dealt with Salah Palin’s speech mocking Michelle Obama’s recommendation of breastfeeding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the following quote from her speech, I don’t understand what the subject of sentence - ‘may that not be the takeaway of this speech’ is, or what ‘takeaway’ means. Does it mean ‘essence’? Cambridge Dictionary online simply define ‘takeaway’ to be ‘a meal cooked and bought at a shops and restaurants but taken often home to be eaten.’ Can you teach me what it means and what the subject of this line is? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When the conversation turned to the&#xA;  escalating price of gas and groceries,&#xA;  Palin reportedly said, &quot;It's no wonder&#xA;  Michelle Obama is telling everybody&#xA;  you better breastfeed your baby--yeah,&#xA;  you better--because the price of milk&#xA;  is so high right now!&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It may have&#xA;  just been an attempt to draw a laugh&#xA;  from the crowd over issues--childhood&#xA;  obesity and the medically proven&#xA;  benefits of breastfeeding--that are no&#xA;  laughing matter. But even though she&#xA;  followed up by saying &quot;and may that&#xA;  not be the takeaway, please, of this&#xA;  speech,&quot; it has become one of them.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T08:29:47.530" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T08:29:47.530" Title="What does ‘May that not be the takeaway of this speech’ mean in Salah Palin’s mocking Michelle Obama’s recommendation of breastfeeding?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="13288" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13292" CreationDate="2011-02-19T01:33:26.673" Score="3" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From google dictionary: /əˈkəlt/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From my textbook: ['ɔkʌlt, ɔ'kʌlt, ə-]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference of those two is HUGE, Could you give me an explanation ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T02:21:44.187" Title="the pronunciation of 'occult'" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;ipa&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13287" CreationDate="2011-02-19T01:36:24.930" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this context, &lt;em&gt;takeaway&lt;/em&gt; means the message or lesson that is taken away from an experience; that which is remembered from it.  It may or may not be the &quot;essence&quot;, but it's the part that stays with you.  Or, to repeat the idiom, that you &lt;em&gt;take away with&lt;/em&gt; you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T01:36:24.930" />
  <row Id="13290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3876" CreationDate="2011-02-19T02:09:37.040" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question said to beat someone &lt;strong&gt;brutally&lt;/strong&gt;.  I think &quot;brutalize&quot; is therefore a great candidate that no one has yet mentioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5188" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T02:09:37.040" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13199" CreationDate="2011-02-19T02:17:06.513" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We &quot;check&quot; with someone before coming and going in various circumstances.  You mention a hospital; other examples include a hotel, a grocery store, a secure apartment complex.  The expression comes from your identity, credentials, or authorization being examined (&quot;checked&quot;) on your way in or out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The expression has been variously extended to encompass other meanings nowadays: &quot;I tried to get Joe to help, but he seems checked out these days&quot; meaning that Joe is disengaged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your original question, before and after editing, exhibits yet another example of how subtle English can be; these two sentences mean very different things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I checked out that hotel; it was awful!&#xA;I checked out of that hotel; it was awful!&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first implies you merely examined the hotel; the second implies you were staying there and decided to leave.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5188" LastEditorUserId="5188" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T02:22:37.160" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T02:22:37.160" />
  <row Id="13292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13288" CreationDate="2011-02-19T02:21:44.187" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In practice, the distinction between /ʌ/ and /ə/ is close to nonexistent in English. They are very similar phonetically, and [ə] can only occur in unstressed syllables, while [ʌ] can only occur in stressed, closed syllables. Because of this many linguists consider them to be &lt;em&gt;allophones&lt;/em&gt;, and many dictionaries transcribe them with the same syllable or treat them interchangably. So the fact that your textbook has [ʌ] while google has [ə] is of little significance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only other difference between the two transcriptions is the treatment of the first syllable. I believe that the pronunciation with stress on the first syllable is non-standard, but if the first syllable &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; stressed, then the vowel is unambiguously [ɔ]. If the first syllable is unstressed, then [ɔ] will normally be reduced to [ə], which your textbook has as an alternate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So they're not very different, after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Edit: If I'm picking nits, I would point out that the second syllable in my speech has no vowel at all, but rather a syllabic /l/: [ə'kʰl̩t]. The vertical line beneath the [l] indicates syllabicity. However, I've never seen a dictionary that actually transcribes syllabic liquids as such, since it tends to freak out language learners, and linguistically naive native speakers disbelieve in them.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T02:21:44.187" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13287" CreationDate="2011-02-19T03:13:23.357" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It has nothing to do with food. &lt;em&gt;Takeaway&lt;/em&gt; in the sense of food is the British version of the American &lt;em&gt;takeout&lt;/em&gt;, which is food ordered from a restaurant but picked up and taken away to eat at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;takeaway&lt;/em&gt; of something is something like the &lt;em&gt;gist&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;gist&lt;/strong&gt; — the substance or essence of a speech or text : &lt;em&gt;she noted the gist of each message.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you've probably gathered as much already. What I think is confusing to you is this construction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... and may that not be the takeaway ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; is used as a wishful statement, expressing the hope that a thing may happen. There is probably no better way to illustrate this than with the traditional Irish blessing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The speaker here is expressing the wish or hope that all these good things will happen to the recipient of the blessing. If you were to write it another way, it would be something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I pray it may happen that the road will rise up to meet you ... etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a different light, prisoners condemned to be executed used to be read the statement of their sentence (i.e. punishment by being put to death) and at the end of that statement the official would say, &quot;And may God have mercy on your soul.&quot; This was not a blessing, like the Irish one above, but something more like a pro forma dismissal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In view of all this, Sarah Palin was telling people she hopes that the laugh she got from the crowd would not be all that was remembered from what she said. In a sense, she wanted to get the laugh from her statement but not really take responsibility for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T03:13:23.357" />
  <row Id="13297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12528" CreationDate="2011-02-19T04:17:42.530" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As always, medieval palaeography to the rescue! In medieval cursive, a great variety of spellings, punctuation marks, and diacritical marks were used; you wouldn't believe how inconsistent even a single document could be. There were dozens of abbreviation and contraction marks in use, which were reduced gradually as the European languages became increasingly uniform over the centuries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A diagonal line was for a long time universally used to truncate words: my estimate would be that it was in use at least between 1200 and 1800, possibly much longer. I suspect that this is the origin of the diagonal line used in these modern multi-word acronyms or abbreviations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, it was not used in exactly the same way; that is, it was usually written as a long downwards continuation of the final stroke of the truncated word, or as a strike through the final stroke (see below): but the modern form can very well be ascribed to the limitations of the printing press. The same mark can be found in many other modern languages too, like Dutch v/d (van de), t/m (tot en met), etc, in which it feels no more logical than in English. That we chose certain marks over others in certain contexts probably happened more or less at random for a large part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://inkunabeln.ub.uni-koeln.de/vdibProduction/handapparat/nachs_w/cappelli/cappelli.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://inkunabeln.ub.uni-koeln.de/vdibProduction/handapparat/nachs_w/cappelli/cappelli.html&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/ToeKt.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T04:29:58.553" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T04:29:58.553" />
  <row Id="13299" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13311" CreationDate="2011-02-19T05:30:47.373" Score="2" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you just pronounce it as &quot;at&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5220" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T09:39:50.267" Title="How do you native speakers pronounce @ in an email address?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13300" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13301" CreationDate="2011-02-19T05:58:13.433" Score="4" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometime when I speak with my fellows at work, I start my sentence by &quot;so&quot; or &quot;um&quot;. I don't know is this a bad behavior in business speaking or not? If so, how can I get rid those filler words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T11:30:24.303" Title="Is it bad behavior to add filler word such as &quot;so&quot;, &quot;um&quot; in business speaking?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;business-language&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13300" CreationDate="2011-02-19T06:04:01.573" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a bad speaking habit in general; however, most people do it, myself included.  It takes a fair amount of practice and training to discipline one's speech.  If you find yourself doing it to often, you may consider taking some lessons from a speaking coach.  I suggest you watch the movie &lt;em&gt;The King's Speech&lt;/em&gt;: even royalty have this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4686" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T06:04:01.573" />
  <row Id="13302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13299" CreationDate="2011-02-19T06:12:05.080" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. The &lt;code&gt;@&lt;/code&gt; symbol is just another way of writing &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T06:12:05.080" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13041" CreationDate="2011-02-19T06:37:57.327" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did not see &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_%28TV_series%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TV series &quot;Lost&quot;&lt;/a&gt; but I observed my son and wife watching it   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I understood it was all about to explain the notion of Aliens in the form of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Others_%28Lost%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Others&quot;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I understood also, that after few hundreds hours of series, nobody understood who are aliens.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T06:43:46.023" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T06:43:46.023" />
  <row Id="13306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13193" CreationDate="2011-02-19T07:19:02.363" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard this used in conference calls, where it actually has nearly the literal meaning. Rather than tie up everyone on the phone, a smaller group can discus it at another time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5225" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T07:19:02.363" />
  <row Id="13307" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13308" CreationDate="2011-02-19T08:43:23.080" Score="3" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;My idea of using of various brackets is unclear; can anybody clarify as to where exactly I use &lt;em&gt;()&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;[]&lt;/em&gt;? Furtermore, are &lt;em&gt;{}&lt;/em&gt; used in regular grammar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5226" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T11:12:07.940" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T11:12:07.940" Title="Bracket placement" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13307" CreationDate="2011-02-19T09:20:44.603" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Parentheses are used to indicate, well, parenthetical thoughts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We discussed the value (or lack&#xA;  thereof) of homeopathic medicine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Square brackets are used to indicate alterations, omissions, or supplementary material in quotations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I believe it was Thomas Paine who said&#xA;  &quot;These [the years leading up to the&#xA;  American Revolution] are times that&#xA;  try men's souls.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot think of a use for curly braces in ordinary writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T09:20:44.603" />
  <row Id="13309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13041" CreationDate="2011-02-19T09:24:23.807" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was dating a woman who just recently arrived in the US, and took her to see the movie &lt;i&gt;Aliens&lt;/i&gt;.  She was disappointed to find that it was not, as she'd expected from consulting her dictionary, a movie about immigrants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T09:24:23.807" />
  <row Id="13310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13041" CreationDate="2011-02-19T09:30:39.190" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alien = belonging to another country or race&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;em&gt;SYN&lt;/em&gt;  foreign :&lt;br&gt;&#xA;alien cultures &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;an alien multiracial society &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5228" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T09:30:39.190" />
  <row Id="13311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13299" CreationDate="2011-02-19T09:39:50.267" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;at sign&lt;/strong&gt; (@), also called the at symbol or &lt;strong&gt;asperand&lt;/strong&gt;,is formally an abbreviation of the accounting and commercial invoice term &quot;at the rate of&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In recent years its meaning has changed to also mean &quot;at&quot; in the sense of &quot;located at&quot;, especially in e-mail addresses. Now it's simply pronounced &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5228" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T09:39:50.267" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13312" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-19T09:45:20.530" Score="0" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please pray for all of those suffering or have died.... Somebody can be taken away from you in the matter of seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this stated grammatically?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5229" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T11:35:37.203" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T11:35:37.203" Title="Please correct my sentence if there is any mistake" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3876" CreationDate="2011-02-19T09:55:34.020" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One word missing from the list at this point is &lt;strong&gt;savage&lt;/strong&gt; (usually used in the past tense or in its adverbial form, &lt;em&gt;savagely&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T09:55:34.020" />
  <row Id="13315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13312" CreationDate="2011-02-19T10:09:32.003" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, it's spelled &quot;sentence&quot;.  You have two sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please pray for all of those suffering or have died.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You have a parallel structure problem:  You mean &quot;Please pray for all of those suffering and for all of those who have died.&quot;  You are trying to elide the repetitive &quot;for all of those&quot;, but &lt;em&gt;where did the &quot;who&quot; go&lt;/em&gt; ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Please pray for all of those suffering or who have died&quot; would be grammatically correct but just doesn't flow properly.  Given the solemnity of the sentiment, I would go ahead and use the full sentence, &quot;Please pray for all of those suffering and for all of those who have died.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Somebody can be taken away from you in the matter of seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grammatically, that's perfect, but &quot;taken away&quot; suggests that the person has been kidnapped, or perhaps just transferred to Cleveland by his employer.  Better to remove the &quot;away&quot;.  Also, the vagueness of &quot;somebody&quot; makes it sound a little ominous, like you are threatening to kill someone yourself.  Finally the idiom is &quot;a matter of&quot; not &quot;the matter of&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;A loved one can be taken from you in a matter of seconds.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure we all hope that this is exercise and that you are not actually composing a letter of condolence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T10:09:32.003" />
  <row Id="13316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13312" CreationDate="2011-02-19T10:31:23.803" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would be better to break that up into two sentences. The first would be better written this way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please pray for all of those who are suffering or have died.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The compound sentence has the problems described in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/13312/please-correct-my-sentense-if-there-is-any-mistake/13315#13315&quot;&gt;Malvolio's answer&lt;/a&gt;, but even if the sentence were to be simplified to &quot;Please pray for all those suffering&quot; it would not &quot;ring true&quot; in modern English. We still see it, especially in liturgical applications, because of the continuing influence of &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Common_Prayer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Book of Common Prayer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; on the English language, but it is an archaic way of putting things. (A lot of what is in the BCP was deliberately left old-fashioned in the 1662 edition so that it would have the air of age and authority. Even the modern additions, like the collects for the current sovereign and for world peace, keep the old language for that reason.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the second half, a &quot;matter of seconds&quot; suggests a process with a defined starting and ending point. I think what you're after is something more along the lines of &quot;the blink of an eye&quot; -- something that happens quickly, and for which there is no preparation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T10:31:23.803" />
  <row Id="13317" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13338" CreationDate="2011-02-19T10:32:49.917" Score="9" ViewCount="197" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have just finished watching the 3rd season of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1235099/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lie to Me&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wonder whether there is a word for somebody who cares for his/her son/daughter/child too much, like &lt;em&gt;Dr. Cal Lightman&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastEditorUserId="3812" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T00:34:11.110" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T00:34:11.110" Title="Is there a word for somebody who cares for his/her child too much?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12342" CreationDate="2011-02-19T10:51:10.797" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like you to send the exammple of needn't to my e-mail for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1- Iam  a student in a school . I'm very tired so I needn't work so hard .&#xA;2- He is a journalist . he is in his office. He can't write any report because he needs more truth information.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3- Jane is a secreatary .she can't answer the phone because her phone is out of order so she  needs a telepnohe reepairer.&#xA;             etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5230" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T10:51:10.797" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13300" CreationDate="2011-02-19T11:04:40.333" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Everyone&lt;/em&gt; does this when speaking extemporaneously.  In consequence, no one notices when anyone else does it.  Unless you notice other people making those almost unconscious tiny encouraging nods -- yes, please, go ahead, finish your sentence, &lt;em&gt;while we're young&lt;/em&gt; -- don't worry about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T11:04:40.333" />
  <row Id="13320" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-19T11:20:44.537" Score="0" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to use &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; in this question?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Where is my mother and father?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grammatically, it should be &lt;em&gt;where are my mother and father?&lt;/em&gt; but, for some strange reason, I think I would use &lt;em&gt;where is my mother and father?&lt;/em&gt; and I can't explain why that is.  Perhaps, I used this structure before while growing up, without knowing all of the grammar &quot;rules&quot;; if there is an explanation for it, that would be great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5231" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T17:59:53.627" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T17:59:53.627" Title="&quot;Where is&quot; versus &quot;where are&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="13321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13317" CreationDate="2011-02-19T11:27:33.437" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could call such a parent &lt;em&gt;over-protective&lt;/em&gt;. Sometimes such parents are called &lt;em&gt;intrusive&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;smothering&lt;/em&gt; (in the sense that their habit of getting between a child and the real-life ups and downs of experience may stifle a child's emotional growth).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T11:27:33.437" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13300" CreationDate="2011-02-19T11:30:24.303" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Everyone does this too some extent. I doubt that anyone speaks in perfectly constructed sentences all the time. In fact, if somebody were to speak in such a way their speech would lose a lot of its character and they would in some sense appear less human.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So don't worry about it, unless your use of &quot;filler&quot; words is really excessive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2704" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T11:30:24.303" />
  <row Id="13323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13320" CreationDate="2011-02-19T11:35:55.177" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct to say that it should be, &quot;Where are my mother and father?&quot; You probably picked up the use of &quot;is&quot; in this sentence, and similar sentences, from your family environment when you were young and that's why it sounds natural to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2704" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T11:35:55.177" />
  <row Id="13324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13320" CreationDate="2011-02-19T11:37:46.767" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because your father and mother cannot be the same person, you should use &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; (the plural form &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, the form of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predicate_%28grammar%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;predicate&lt;/a&gt; is decided by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subject_%28grammar%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;subject&lt;/a&gt; of the sentence in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Question&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;question&lt;/a&gt; (and in every kind of sentences as well).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only special point of some questions is that the structure of the sentence is (at least partially) in reverse order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take your question as an example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Where are my mother and father?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;where are&lt;/em&gt; comes before &lt;em&gt;my father and mother&lt;/em&gt;, while in a declarative sentence, it is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My father and mother are at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastEditorUserId="3812" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T12:04:29.503" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T12:04:29.503" />
  <row Id="13325" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13330" CreationDate="2011-02-19T11:38:13.087" Score="0" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wanted to ask it already for some time but was in doubt until I've read the comment by &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/5095/stan-rogers&quot;&gt;Stan Rogers&lt;/a&gt; to this &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12346/is-technical-copywriting-jargon-or-style/12348#12348&quot;&gt;answer&lt;/a&gt;:   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the case of prepend, we have&#xA;  created an artificial term that is&#xA;  meaningless outside of the &quot;in group&quot;,&#xA;  since to append means merely to add --&#xA;  it does not have a positional&#xA;  implication; it can be prepositional&#xA;  or postpositional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If &quot;prepend&quot;   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=prepend&amp;amp;i=49641,00.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;is not an English word. It was created to sound like the opposite of &quot;append,&quot; which means to add to the end. The correct English word is &quot;prefix;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/prepend&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Although it sounds correct, prepend is not an English word. It was created to sound like the opposite of &quot;append,&quot; which means to add to the end. The correct English word is &quot;prefix;&quot;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;then why there are no words &quot;postpend&quot;, &quot;subpend&quot;, &quot;sidepend&quot;, &quot;uppend&quot;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Who does introduce incorrect words into English which are not English words?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T22:23:40.930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T22:23:40.930" ClosedDate="2011-02-19T23:52:55.260" Title="If prepend is not part of English, why is there no postpend or subpend? And who introduces them?" Tags="&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;technical&gt;&lt;jargon&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="13326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13325" CreationDate="2011-02-19T11:43:08.770" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Words are introduced into English by continual common usage. Despite what others have said, I personally find nothing objectionable about &lt;em&gt;prepend&lt;/em&gt;, and fully expect that if that word gets used enough it will come to be accepted. Nevertheless, there is no board of language overseers (like the &lt;em&gt;Académie Française&lt;/em&gt; for French) that governs what words will or will not be part of the language&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T13:32:47.200" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T13:32:47.200" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13327" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13331" CreationDate="2011-02-19T12:24:47.780" Score="3" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4165/what-is-the-commonly-accepted-pronunciation-of-faq&quot;&gt;What is the commonly accepted pronunciation of FAQ?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions. I checked some dictionaries, they list both of the pronunciations. So I'm confused. What is the common way to pronounce FAQ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T12:58:42.497" ClosedDate="2011-02-19T15:57:40.307" Title="How to pronounce FAQ? ˈɛfˈeɪˈkyu or fæk?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;common-pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13325" CreationDate="2011-02-19T12:32:08.670" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As with any endeavor in life, it is usually best to learn the rules before breaking them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Prepend&lt;/em&gt; arose because &lt;em&gt;append&lt;/em&gt; began to mean &lt;em&gt;add to the end&lt;/em&gt; rather than merely &lt;em&gt;add&lt;/em&gt; in common usage. It would have been correct to say &lt;em&gt;append to the front of the list&lt;/em&gt;, but it is increasingly likely that some people would find it confusing. Not to mention that it takes more keystrokes or syllables to do the job &quot;properly&quot; and we all operate on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_least_effort&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Principle of Least Effort&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (that is to say, we're fundamentally lazy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;New word coinages happen all of the time. Some new words become vogue words for a while and quickly fall out of general use. some are useful enough to become part of a group's jargon, but never see any use outside of a specific field. Some are co-opted from jargon into general use. Others just make so much sense (their meaning is obvious &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; they neatly package a concept that is otherwise difficult to express) that they almost immediately become part of the standard language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of this means that you can take a word that has a precise meaning in one context and spring it on the general public with the expectation that they will have any idea what you're saying. If you use a technical term, for instance, it might not help that there are resources that define the term perfectly -- if people don't understand the terms used in the definition, they still won't know what you're talking about. The same thing goes for new coinages. If you make up a word, there's a chance that people won't know what you mean -- but there's also a chance that the meaning is perfectly clear and obvious. (Shakespeare did quite a lot of that, sometimes very successfully, sometimes not.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing to keep in mind is that it's horribly impolite to go breaking into someone else's property and declaring yourself to be in charge. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humpty_Dumpty#In_Through_the_Looking-Glass&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Humpty Dumpty&lt;/a&gt; approach rarely works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T12:32:08.670" />
  <row Id="13329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13327" CreationDate="2011-02-19T12:35:12.943" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are common, or they wouldn't be listed in the dictionary.  Although most dictionaries give the (slightly?) more prevalent pronunciation first (same goes for spelling, if more than one variation exists).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now to your unstated question, &quot;Which one should I use?&quot;: use the one you like better.  Or the one that is more common among your colleagues or friends, whichever applies to your circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T12:35:12.943" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13325" CreationDate="2011-02-19T12:46:13.433" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use prefix for&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;prefix_object_suffix&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;prepend,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;object,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;append  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T12:46:13.433" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13327" CreationDate="2011-02-19T12:58:42.497" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In more than 20 years of Internet and BBS usage I have only ever heard FAQ pronounced &quot;fack&quot; (fæk), at least in American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T12:58:42.497" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11981" CreationDate="2011-02-19T12:59:50.993" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it coincidence? Because here in Chinese, the most offensive word towards a person also stands for the outer female sex organ.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I Don't know if you guys from other countries have words with similar meanings that can be used this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T12:59:50.993" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13320" CreationDate="2011-02-19T13:27:25.393" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many cases in language where the form that sounds natural isn't necessarily the form that you'd &quot;logically&quot; expect, according to a specific type of logic (that you might apply in mathematics but which isn't necessarily the logic upon which language works).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least three factors could be at play for why &quot;Where is my mother and father?&quot; (or at least &quot;Where's my mum and dad?&quot;) sounds more natural than with &quot;are&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in general, there's a tendency to use &quot;is&quot; instead of &quot;are&quot; with a plural in informal usage in certain set expressions such as &quot;there's....&quot;, &quot;it's...&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in some cases there's a tendency for elements near to each other to &quot;leak&quot; on to one another even though if you analyse the structure of the sentence you wouldn't expect it-- there are all sorts of cases of this in different languages, some of which have become more or less acceptable even in careful usage (in languages with agreement between adjective and noun, you get cases e.g. of two nouns with differing genders modified by the same adjective, and the adjective may just take the gender of the noun that's nearest to the adjective, rather than a combined gender)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;your &quot;mind&quot; may just be treating &quot;mum and dad&quot; as a singular item (another example to consider: &quot;My mum and dad is what's important to me&quot;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T13:27:25.393" />
  <row Id="13334" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-19T15:01:06.407" Score="2" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some options when you use the word &lt;em&gt;way&lt;/em&gt; and some verb together:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) a. There are some way of writing.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;b. There are some way to write. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference between (1a) and (1b)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it seems that you cannot use &lt;em&gt;way&lt;/em&gt; plus the possessives and &quot;to Verb&quot; together:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(2) a.   I'm used to their way of doing business.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;b. &lt;strong&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt; I'm used to their way to do business. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you agree with this judgement? If so, why is it impossible to use &lt;em&gt;way&lt;/em&gt; plus the possessives and &quot;to verb&quot; at the same time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5234" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T15:09:52.033" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T16:10:51.410" Title="one's way of V-ing / one's way to V / a/the way of V-ing / a/the way to V" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;gerund&gt;&lt;infinitive&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13334" CreationDate="2011-02-19T15:24:16.463" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, it should be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are some ways of writing ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are some ways to write ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; implies a plural noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, &quot;to write&quot; and &quot;of writing&quot; in those sentences are identical in meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T15:24:16.463" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13334" CreationDate="2011-02-19T15:29:06.457" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both of your sentences in (1) are incorrect. They should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a. There are some ways of writing [the sentence continues].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;b. There are some ways to write [the sentence continues].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The plural &lt;em&gt;ways&lt;/em&gt; is important. Now that that is out of the way...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your examples in (1) are not quite interchangeable. In mathematical terms, you might say that they are equal, but not congruent (or congruent, but not identical). The nuance is difficult to see in that pair of examples, but I'll try to highlight it as best I can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 1a, &lt;em&gt;ways of writing&lt;/em&gt; is a noun phrase, and can be replaced with a single word or a different phrase without changing the underlying semantic structure of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 1b, though, &lt;em&gt;ways&lt;/em&gt; stands alone as a noun and &lt;em&gt;to write&lt;/em&gt; is the predicate of a separate clause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference is subtle, I will grant, but it is a difference. &lt;em&gt;Ways to write&lt;/em&gt; could not, for instance, be directly replaced with the noun &lt;em&gt;orthographies&lt;/em&gt; or the noun phrase &lt;em&gt;writing systems&lt;/em&gt; easily, although one can imagine them easily replacing &lt;em&gt;ways of writing&lt;/em&gt; in any number of contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastEditorUserId="5095" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T16:10:51.410" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T16:10:51.410" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13320" CreationDate="2011-02-19T15:32:08.713" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A note on the NOAD about the usage of &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; reports that where a number of items are separated by and, the following verb needs to be in the singular.&#xA;This means that the correct sentence is &lt;em&gt;where are my mother and my father?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other sentence you wrote, as already reported in another answer, would be understood as &lt;em&gt;where is &quot;my mother and father&quot;?&lt;/em&gt;, as if you would be referring to a single person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When learning English it is probably easy to use the singular verb because the word close to the verb is singular; if you are learning English as second language, that depends also from what in your native language is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T15:32:08.713" />
  <row Id="13338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13317" CreationDate="2011-02-19T16:08:32.463" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An entertaining neologism for this is &lt;em&gt;helicopter mom&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;helicopter dad&lt;/em&gt;.  (The implication is that the parent is &quot;hovering&quot; over their child at all times.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T16:08:32.463" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13317" CreationDate="2011-02-19T16:24:07.107" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One classic phrase is a 'doting parent'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T16:24:07.107" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13325" CreationDate="2011-02-19T17:08:00.190" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why there are no words &lt;em&gt;postpend&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;subpend&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;sidepend&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;uppend&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Robusto’s answer says, words are introduced into English by common usage, at least within some group of speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But one can trace this back further.  Why do some words come in to common usage in a group, and not others?  There are several factors that can cause a word to catch on:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They fill a gap in the language.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They’re easily comprehensible.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They catch the group’s imagination, by humour, aesthetics, or similar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They’re used by people who are seen as ‘cool’ within the group.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Prepend&lt;/em&gt; fits both the first two points very well.  The gap in the language had appeared because, as Stan Rogers says, &lt;em&gt;append&lt;/em&gt; had shifted to mean &lt;em&gt;attach to the end of&lt;/em&gt;, no longer just &lt;em&gt;attach to&lt;/em&gt;.  And the meaning is quite clear: there’s a transparent analogy to &lt;em&gt;append&lt;/em&gt;, and the prefix &lt;em&gt;pre-&lt;/em&gt; is very familiar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When there aren’t any strong reasons for a new coinage to catch on, it probably won’t.  People will use more familiar words by default.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why don’t the other words you mention exist?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Postpend&lt;/em&gt; isn’t in wide use, probably because doesn’t fill much of a gap in the language at present: &lt;em&gt;append&lt;/em&gt; means roughly the same as &lt;em&gt;postpend&lt;/em&gt; would mean.  But it’s easily comprehensible, like &lt;em&gt;prepend&lt;/em&gt;; so it can quite easily become a word, and in fact it does get used &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.ca/search?q=postpend&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;occasionally&lt;/a&gt;.  Most of these usages are indeed in a case where there’s a clear reason to prefer it to &lt;em&gt;append&lt;/em&gt;: they want something that pairs well against &lt;em&gt;prepend&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Subpend&lt;/em&gt; is reasonably clear in meaning (to attach beneath something) but there would rarely be any call for it: I guess you could say you subpend a cedilla to &lt;em&gt;c&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;ç&lt;/em&gt;?  But it also has an awkwardness to it: the cluster &lt;em&gt;-bp-&lt;/em&gt; is rare for phonological reasons, usually having been assimilated to &lt;em&gt;-pp-&lt;/em&gt; (in eg &lt;em&gt;suppose&lt;/em&gt;), but &lt;em&gt;suppend&lt;/em&gt; wouldn’t work either as it’s less transparent in meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sidepend&lt;/em&gt; is similar, but worse: more awkward in meaning, since &lt;em&gt;side-&lt;/em&gt; is not often used as a verb prefix (&lt;em&gt;sideswipe&lt;/em&gt;, …?), and more rarely wanted — when would you want &lt;em&gt;sidepend&lt;/em&gt; that you couldn’t just use &lt;em&gt;append&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Uppend&lt;/em&gt; is completely unclear.  It’s confusingly close to the word &lt;em&gt;up-end&lt;/em&gt;, meaning &lt;em&gt;to turn over&lt;/em&gt;, and I’m not even sure what it would mean.  &lt;em&gt;Overpend&lt;/em&gt; would be a bit more plausible — it’s perhaps close to &lt;em&gt;subpend&lt;/em&gt; in comprehensibility.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T17:08:00.190" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13343" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13359" CreationDate="2011-02-19T18:22:58.773" Score="4" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take an expression like &lt;em&gt;déjà vu&lt;/em&gt;. This is a French term which is frequently seen in English. In fact, it is included in English dictionaries. But it is often seen in English in a variety of forms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;déjà vu&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;déjà vu&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;deja vu&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, one would probably not consider using &lt;em&gt;frisson&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;soupçon&lt;/em&gt;, both proper unanglicized French words [uh-oh, see edit], without italics to indicate that they were foreign words. But once anglicized, do the words require non-English diacritical marks? Or, if such are used, does that push the word back into foreign status, so that italics are again required?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's probably a continuum in operation here, during which a word goes from foreign with foreign markings to English with only English markings (or lack thereof). What I want to know is how one can tell where to draw the line. Does anybody have any useful information about this? Guidelines? Or is it on a case-by-case basis?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, I feel affected writing &lt;em&gt;à la carte&lt;/em&gt; when every damn diner you walk into has an &quot;a la carte&quot; (or &quot;ala carte&quot; or &quot;a la cart&quot;) category on the menu.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: For example, see the Free Online Dictionary's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Soupcon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;schizophrenic listing&lt;/a&gt; for &lt;em&gt;soupçon&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Soup`con´&lt;/strong&gt; n. 1. A suspicion; a suggestion; hence, a very small portion; a taste; as, coffee with a soupçon of brandy; a soupçon of coquetry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and then in the Thesaurus part:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;soupcon&lt;/strong&gt; - a slight but appreciable amount; &quot;this dish could use a touch of garlic&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if dictionary entries can't even remain consistent &lt;strong&gt;within the same definition&lt;/strong&gt;, what chance does a mere mortal have?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T18:31:06.473" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T23:56:40.357" Title="Diacriticals and non-English letters in anglicized loan words: keep 'em, dump 'em, italicize the words, or what?" Tags="&lt;diacritic&gt;&lt;diacriticals&gt;&lt;loan-words&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="13344" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13345" CreationDate="2011-02-19T18:38:53.133" Score="5" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I looked up the two words on wikitionary &amp;amp; got this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/satire&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;satire:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A literary technique of writing or art&#xA;  which principally ridicules its&#xA;  subject often as an intended means of&#xA;  provoking or preventing change. Humour&#xA;  is often used to aid this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sarcasm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sarcasm:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A form of humor that is marked by&#xA;  bitter mockery, often using irony, and&#xA;  sometimes conveyed in speech with&#xA;  vocal over-emphasis. With irony, it is&#xA;  insincerely saying something positive&#xA;  which is obviously the opposite of&#xA;  one's intended, cruel meaning. On the&#xA;  other hand it may be a direct taunt&#xA;  where the jibe means exactly what it&#xA;  says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At first glance, they seem equivalent to me. Is there a clear distinction about when to use one &amp;amp; when to use the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T19:43:51.370" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T19:43:51.370" Title="&quot;Satire&quot; versus &quot;sarcasm&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;semantics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13344" CreationDate="2011-02-19T18:47:32.690" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Satire&lt;/em&gt; is usually prepared and lengthy. For example, the fake news site &lt;a href=&quot;http://onion.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Onion&lt;/a&gt; is satire because its staff members carefully prepare each article to make fun of a particular subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, &lt;em&gt;sarcasm&lt;/em&gt; is usually off-the-cuff and short. For example, if while watching a news broadcast about the war in Afghanistan, I remark &quot;The war is going great! We've managed to kill a million civilians!&quot;, that would be sarcasm because I haven't prepared it and I'm making fun of the uselessness of the Pentagon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T18:47:32.690" />
  <row Id="13346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13350" CreationDate="2011-02-19T18:48:00.053" Score="1" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the relationship name of my wife's brother to me? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5123" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T19:01:46.697" Title="What is the relationship name of my wife's brother to me?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13343" CreationDate="2011-02-19T18:49:38.367" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, if it's worthy of italics, it's worthy of diacritics (and vice versa). (Note that I left &quot;vice versa&quot; unitalicised. It's as English as spotted dick these days, even if it comes to us unmodified from elsewhere.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's likely time to stop pretending that &quot;a la carte&quot; has not been completely incorporated into the English lexicon. Once it makes it into the greasy spoon, it's not French cuisine anymore -- it's just a somewhat less unfriendly way of saying, &quot;that costs extra, Mac.&quot; You might want to keep it italicised when referring to a list of alternates on a fine dining menu.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My rule of thumb is that if I can imagine it being used anywhere that beer is going to be served more often than Chablis, it's safe to treat it as English &lt;em&gt;unless there is a style guide in effect dictating otherwise&lt;/em&gt;. If you are writing for publication, there is usually a house style guide to follow with a list of words that are not yet sufficiently English. If you find &lt;em&gt;façade&lt;/em&gt; there, then you might as well keep the ol' character map open at all times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T18:49:38.367" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13346" CreationDate="2011-02-19T18:53:03.123" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Brother-in-law&lt;/em&gt; is the usual term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4686" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T18:53:03.123" />
  <row Id="13349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13344" CreationDate="2011-02-19T18:56:06.333" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Satire&lt;/em&gt; is a form or genre, like comedy or tragedy, while &lt;em&gt;sarcasm&lt;/em&gt; is a tone a style or tone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4686" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T18:56:06.333" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13346" CreationDate="2011-02-19T19:01:46.697" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;He is your &lt;strong&gt;brother-in-law&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There has already been a similar question posted here to which the answer was &quot;sister-in-law&quot;, so I'll finish the list here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your spouse's brother &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; your sister's husband is your &lt;strong&gt;brother-in-law&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your spouse's sister &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; your brother's wife is your &lt;strong&gt;sister-in-law&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your spouse's father is your &lt;strong&gt;father-in-law&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your spouse's mother is your &lt;strong&gt;mother-in-law&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your daughter's husband is your &lt;strong&gt;son-in-law&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your son's wife is your &lt;strong&gt;daughter-in-law&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where applicable (and where disowning has not occurred), you child's same-sex life partner under a legal bond (whether marriage or civil union or what have you) or a bond you recognise even when the law does not would be either a son-in-law or daughter-in-law, as applicable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T19:01:46.697" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13343" CreationDate="2011-02-19T19:06:23.913" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Historically, diacritics were dropped to save money.  If you had a printing press, you could buy the extra characters with the markings or save money by using the plain characters.  Those little character blocks were expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today, writers have less of an excuse. You can take an extra few seconds and learn to type in the characters with the diacritics (on OS X), or be lazy and type the letters in plainly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That aside, I do encourage use of fully using the diacritics as to preserve the meaning of the words.  To use your example of &lt;em&gt;à la carte&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;à&lt;/em&gt; have different meanings in French: the phrase &lt;em&gt;a la carte&lt;/em&gt; would translate as &lt;em&gt;he/she/it has the menu&lt;/em&gt; instead of the intended &lt;em&gt;from the menu&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4686" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T23:56:40.357" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T23:56:40.357" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13343" CreationDate="2011-02-19T19:36:12.393" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But once anglicized, do the words require non-English diacritical marks?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends from the word, in which context the word is used, and how much anglicized the word is.&#xA;Taking as example &lt;em&gt;déjà vu&lt;/em&gt;, I would write it with the diacritics because &lt;em&gt;déjà vu&lt;/em&gt; is still pronounced as a French word (compare the pronunciation of the &lt;em&gt;j&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;déjà vu&lt;/em&gt;, which is pronounced /|ˌdeɪʒɑ ˈv(j)u/ or /ˈdeɪʒɑ ˈv(j)u/, from the pronunciation of the same letter in &lt;em&gt;deject&lt;/em&gt;, which is pronounced /dəˈdʒɛkt/ or /diˈdʒɛkt/). In informal writing, the word is probably written without any diacritics, as it is normally understood that who writes is referring to &lt;em&gt;déjà vu&lt;/em&gt;, and not to different English word.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Taking as example a word that derives from the Greek, I would think that nobody is expecting the word to be written using Greek letters, or the plural of the word to be written as it is written in Greek (even without using Greek letters).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Or, if such are used, does that push the word back into foreign status, so that italics are again required?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It depends from the context.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Taking as example &lt;em&gt;déjà vu&lt;/em&gt;, I would normally not write it in italics, but I would write it in italics in sentences like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Déjà vu&lt;/em&gt; in French means &lt;em&gt;already seen&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Differently, I would write &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have a sense of déjà vu.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T19:36:12.393" />
  <row Id="13353" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13360" CreationDate="2011-02-19T19:47:11.523" Score="5" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any differences between &quot;update&quot; and &quot;upgrade&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T18:40:44.413" Title="Are there any differences between &quot;update&quot; and &quot;upgrade&quot;?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13353" CreationDate="2011-02-19T19:53:40.203" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Update&lt;/em&gt; is a shortening of &quot;bring up to date&quot; and &lt;em&gt;upgrade&lt;/em&gt; means to put at a higher grade (as in to make better).  You can &lt;em&gt;upgrade&lt;/em&gt; your your CPU from 2.4 GHz to 3.2 GHz, but your software &lt;em&gt;update&lt;/em&gt; can have bugs that break your computer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4686" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T19:53:40.203" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13353" CreationDate="2011-02-19T19:55:56.783" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To update means to bring someone or something up to date, whereas to upgrade means to raise or improve something to a higher standard. The difference between these two is particularly apparent in the world of computers: an update is not always and improvement!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2704" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T19:55:56.783" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13343" CreationDate="2011-02-19T20:00:39.770" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3480/fait-accompli-to-italicize-or-not-to-italicize/3484#3484&quot;&gt;my answer about when to italicize loaned words and phrases&lt;/a&gt; is also the most appropriate answer to this question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think this is a case where authors can decide for themselves where to draw the line. Or, if the writing is for a certain publication, the editors will have a policy for whether a given word should or should not [have diacritics].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(However, that answer got zero votes, so who knows? I still think it is a good answer.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Various publications will have strict rules about what diacritics are used and when.  For example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dscriber.com/news/121-the-new-yorkers-odd-mark-the-diaeresis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The New Yorker always uses diaeresis&lt;/a&gt;.  Each publication seems to have its own rules for bolding, headers, section numbering, hyphenation, capitalization, reference citation, and so on.  And there is no definitive format.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that diacritics fall into this category, as evidenced by their generally inconsistent use (though internally consistent within many publications).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T20:00:39.770" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13353" CreationDate="2011-02-19T20:01:26.943" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're talking about software, there is, imo, even though the two do overlap. (A lot depends on the context: I'm assuming a general one below.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually, when you update a software, you apply patches and additional bits and pieces that the seller provides you for free, in theory to keep your copy in line with the official version (which is likely more stable, more secure and may even provide you with some new / better options, functionalities.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, when you upgrade a software, you usually buy / pay extra for a version unavailable for free. Of course, an upgrade serves as an update as well (in most cases.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example: say you have an antivirus program that you did not pay for (it being made legally available for free), but which has a commercial version as well: You usually update its database (to keep you safe from newer threats) - but if you upgrade it, it means you pay for an advanced version that gives you extended protection: not just via an updated database but also through extended capabilities (like email-scanning, link-scanning etc that were unavailable in the free version, no matter how up to date your database was.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Again, a real lot depends on the context.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1132" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T20:01:26.943" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13361" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13362" CreationDate="2011-02-19T20:27:08.150" Score="0" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;So what's the opposite of feeding material to a machine? Are products ejected or discharged? While I think this may apply to a fast process where the product gets tossed out or dumped onto a hopper/bin, what is an appropriate term for a slower process?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The oven __ the pizza.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The pizza is __ from/by the oven. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5000" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T23:06:13.537" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T23:06:13.537" Title="A machine spits out the product" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13361" CreationDate="2011-02-19T20:41:41.517" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case, I think the most common phrase would be &quot;the pizza emerges from the oven&quot;. Similarly, a photograph would emerge from a printer (although text documents may well be spit out of some of the larger production printers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can also imagine a process like this being phrased in terms of the mechanism performing the action rather than the machine as a whole. For example, &quot;the conveyor belt moves/carries the pizza from the oven to the holding area&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T20:41:41.517" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13361" CreationDate="2011-02-19T20:45:25.707" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;to emit&quot; is a nice term.  Another that popped in my head immediately was &quot;disgorged&quot;, but that is &lt;em&gt;sloooow&lt;/em&gt;.  Or at least it sounds that way (and it sounds slightly disgusting).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T20:45:25.707" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13364" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13365" CreationDate="2011-02-19T21:06:31.857" Score="2" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any semantic difference between these two sentences? Also, is any of them more &quot;correct&quot; or frequently used than the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This problem &lt;strong&gt;has been recently&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  addressed by several authors&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;vs&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This problem &lt;strong&gt;has recently been&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  addressed by several authors&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4453" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T21:14:55.523" Title="Semantics and frequency of use of different adverb orderings" Tags="&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13364" CreationDate="2011-02-19T21:14:55.523" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second is more naturally English. The first feels like an attempt to wrestle the order into grammatical correctness, although it fails. The blackboard grammar version would have been:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This problem has been addressed recently by several authors&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the entire verb construct has been neatly drawn together, as if it were a single word in a complex conjugation. Note, too, that it is something you would never hear in spontaneous speech from anyone but a schoolteacher or that curmudgeonly pedant who, quite understandably, has little in the way of company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T21:14:55.523" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="13366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13142" CreationDate="2011-02-19T21:38:05.490" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good evening can be used to say hello or goodbye depending on the context. Good evening can be used to say hello once it gets dark outside and the time varies depending on the season. Good evening can be used to say goodbye usually just after it turns dark outside.&#xA;Good night is usually used to say goodbye later on at night when people separate for the rest of the evening/night. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5238" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T21:38:05.490" />
  <row Id="13367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13353" CreationDate="2011-02-19T21:46:34.660" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To update&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;to make something more modern or up to date&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;it also means to give to somebody the latest (or up to date) information&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;To upgrade&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;to take something to a higher standard/level&lt;/em&gt;; it also means &lt;em&gt;to raise somebody to a higher grade or rank&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking in the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American&lt;/em&gt; for phrases containing &lt;em&gt;update&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;upgrade&lt;/em&gt;, I get the following data:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;                    Instances&#xA;computer update     1&#xA;computer upgrade(s) 12&#xA;hardware update     2 &#xA;hardware upgrade(s) 11&#xA;software update(s)  30&#xA;software upgrade(s) 31&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentences containing &lt;em&gt;hardware update&lt;/em&gt; are both referring to a software tool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Hardware Update Wizard will search for an updated driver on your local drives as well as on Microsoft's Windows Update site, and it will install the driver if it finds one.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Select the option in the Hardware Update Wizard that lets you choose the location of the search and select the driver (the wording varies).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T14:24:37.903" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T14:24:37.903" />
  <row Id="13368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2123" CreationDate="2011-02-19T21:48:30.077" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kiamlaluno,&#xA; 'I have forgotten' is the past perfect in British English and never 'I have forgot'. This is simply bad grammar in every other part of the English speaking world except some parts of the US.  'Gotten' is also very bad form in British English, so no sweeping rules please, many of us are not strictly governed by US common usage..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5239" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T21:48:30.077" />
  <row Id="13369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13284" CreationDate="2011-02-19T22:01:11.740" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no general agreement on whether or not the phrase &quot;one or more&quot; should be taken to be singular or plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Cambridge Guide to English Usage says: For most writers the choice depends on whether you’re thinking of a single case or general principle. Usage commentators in the UK and the US have been inclined to say it should be plural; and the Harper–Heritage usage panel voted heavily in its favor (78%). Yet Webster’s English Usage (1989) found ample American evidence for the singular construction, and it’s just as common as the plural in British data from the BNC. Writers using the singular take their cue from one, whereas the plural-users are responding to those [people] or the [things].&#xA;(BNC stands for British National Corpus. It is a computer database of 100 million words.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I prefer the plural usage (one or more are), taking my cue from &quot;one or more people&quot; or &quot;one or more workmen&quot; rather than the unnatural sounding (to my ear), &quot;one or more person&quot; or &quot;one or more workman.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2704" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T22:01:11.740" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13370" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13371" CreationDate="2011-02-19T22:55:28.150" Score="3" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;writing the bill with a &quot;double meat ax&quot;&lt;/em&gt; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found the phrase &lt;em&gt;double meat ax&lt;/em&gt; in today's &lt;em&gt;Washington Post&lt;/em&gt; article, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/19/AR2011021900503_pf.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;House approves dramatic cuts in federal spending in 235-189 vote&lt;/a&gt;, dealing with last night's House vote on drastic federal budget cuts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the meaning of &lt;em&gt;double ax&lt;/em&gt; as a double-bladed ax, but I don't know &lt;em&gt;double meat ax&lt;/em&gt;, and why the phrase was used with quotation marks, which suggests the writer used the phrase with special implication. Can you tell me exactly what &lt;em&gt;writing the bill with a &quot;double meat ax&quot;&lt;/em&gt; means? The text reads:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;During the bleary-eyed final roll call at 4:35 a.m., 235 Republicans were joined by no Democrats in support of dramatic spending reductions that they said were needed to address a soaring annual deficit of $1.6 trillion; 189 Democrats—as well as three Republicans—opposed it, accusing Republicans of writing the bill with a &quot;double meat ax.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="513" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T03:16:10.107" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T04:24:50.827" Title="What does &quot;write the bill with a ‘double meat ax’&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13370" CreationDate="2011-02-19T23:13:51.173" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Going after something &quot;with a meat axe&quot; means going at it very crudely and vigorously, with an intention to do great damage. To call it here a &quot;double meat axe&quot; means the Republicans intend to cut the budget drastically, without looking at any of the particulars very closely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should your doctor ever diagnose you with a pre-cancerous mole or a cyst, and then suggest a surgeon should attack it &quot;with a meat axe,&quot; it would be a good idea to find another doctor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, and this would be a good time to compare the statement with the expression you taught me: 鶏を割くに牛刀を用いる (to cut a chicken with a butcher's knife).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T23:24:27.667" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T23:24:27.667" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="13372" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-19T23:43:34.330" Score="1" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bfe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BFE&lt;/a&gt; is an abbreviation for &quot;Bum Fuck Egypt&quot; or &quot;Butt Fuck Egypt,&quot; which is used to denote &quot;out in the middle of nowhere.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm curious how this expression came about. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bfe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;UrbanDictionary.com&lt;/a&gt; has a user-submitted definition with the following etymology:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As I understand (and other people have corroborated), it derives its existence from another expression “bumble fuck” (I am unsure if it's one word or two), both of which mean &quot;out in the middle of nowhere.&quot; I am fairly certain that the inaccurate “butt fuck Egypt” derived from bum being the English term for buttocks. Clearly the definition of BFE is the same regardless of what one believes the “B” stands for, but I thought is was worth correcting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have no idea how accurate or reliable the above etymology is. There is no entry on EytmologyOnline.com.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T04:54:47.387" Title="What is the etymology of &quot;BFE&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;vulgar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13372" CreationDate="2011-02-20T00:06:23.013" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There was a time when one would have simply said &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podunk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Podunk&lt;/a&gt;&quot; to mean &quot;the middle of nowhere&quot;. Some time after &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deliverance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Deliverance&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, and, not coincidentally, during a time when vulgarity began to be a more regular feature of comic acts, the exact geometric centre of nowhere became a fictional hamlet called Buttfuck, &amp;lt;insert poor or &quot;backward&quot; Southern State&amp;gt; (often Tennessee or Arkansas).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lately, though, and especially in light of the Gulf Wars and 9/11, the Islamic world has become the target of choice for pejoratives. Buttfuck was moved from the territory of the hill folk to somewhere a little less offensive to people living south of the Mason-Dixon line. The cultural origin of the original fictional town (the famous &quot;squeal like a pig&quot; scene) was lost, but the idea of backward sodomites in a foreign world survived the translation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the abbreviation, well, that's something that tends to happen quickly in the world of SMS and tweets. If something occurs frequently and requires more than a couple of characters, somebody is going to abbreviate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T00:06:23.013" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="777" CreationDate="2011-02-20T01:23:26.413" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That would be an example of a sensory image. Sensory imagery includes: visual/sight, auditory/sounds, tacile/touch, Smell, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5241" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T01:23:26.413" />
  <row Id="13375" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13378" CreationDate="2011-02-20T04:14:19.890" Score="2" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;When writing scientific research proposals I have been advised to try and stick to active voice because passive tends to sound indirect and to imply doubt.  However, when writing in active voice, I find it difficult to not use personal pronouns.  Does anyone have any tips for maintaining active voice without using personal pronouns?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4765" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T04:36:33.800" Title="Using active voice without personal pronouns." Tags="&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;&lt;active-voice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13370" CreationDate="2011-02-20T04:24:50.827" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wow, that is some bad writing.  &quot;With a meat-axe&quot; is a cliché (I almost wrote &quot;a tired cliché&quot;, which would be quite autological) and the writer tried, and failed, to enliven it by adding &quot;double&quot; (from &quot;double-bladed axe&quot;, but there's no such thing as a double-bladed meat-axe).  Then depressed by his failure there (or elated by a false sense of success), he proceeded to mix the metaphor in with &quot;write&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/13287/what-does-may-that-not-be-the-takeaway-of-this-speech-mean-in-salah-palins-moc&quot;&gt;takeaway&lt;/a&gt; in this is, when you find yourself using a cliché, just &lt;i&gt;stop&lt;/i&gt;.  Express yourself in some entirely different (ideally metaphor-free) way.  Do not try to &quot;freshen&quot; the phrase, &quot;spice it up&quot;, &quot;put a new spin on it&quot;.  You'd just be flogging a dead, uh, Clydesdale...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T04:24:50.827" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13377" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13380" CreationDate="2011-02-20T04:36:29.313" Score="2" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thus they are compelled to cut all connection between their statements and experience; and precisely by this procedure they &lt;strong&gt;deprive them of any sense&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T05:40:33.227" Title="Meaning of 'deprive them of any sense'." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13375" CreationDate="2011-02-20T04:36:33.800" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, if you're that bothered about avoiding personal pronouns, you can always say &quot;The author&quot;, &quot;The researcher&quot; etc. It's really a matter of preference; not all scientists think there's anything terribly wrong with good old-fashioned words like &quot;I&quot; and &quot;we&quot;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may also want to see if you can actually find a scientific study attesting to the perceived indirectness or doubt of the passive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T04:36:33.800" />
  <row Id="13379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13377" CreationDate="2011-02-20T04:44:00.740" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because their statement have no connection to their experience, their statements are not sensible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T04:44:00.740" />
  <row Id="13380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13377" CreationDate="2011-02-20T04:54:35.453" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;em&gt;deprive them of any sense&lt;/em&gt; the word &quot;them&quot; refers to &quot;their statements&quot; in the preceding phrase.  &quot;Deprive&quot; means &quot;to take away from&quot; or &quot;to withhold from&quot;.  &quot;Sense&quot; in this context means &quot;meaning&quot;.  So the sentence with &lt;em&gt;deprive them of any sense&lt;/em&gt; is saying that their statements do not make sense because they are separated from experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastEditorUserId="4951" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T05:40:33.227" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T05:40:33.227" />
  <row Id="13381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13372" CreationDate="2011-02-20T04:54:47.387" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have an better explanation than Stan for the &quot;butt-fuck&quot; part (I'd always heard it as &quot;bum-fuck&quot;, which made me think it was originally British) but it certainly ante-dates the First Gulf War.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placeholder_name&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; suggests that &quot;Egypt&quot; was originally a Chicago-area expression referring to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Egypt_%28region%29#Origin_of_.22Little_Egypt.22_name&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;southern third of Illinois&lt;/a&gt;, especially the towns of Cairo, Thebes, and Karnak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T04:54:47.387" />
  <row Id="13382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1827" CreationDate="2011-02-20T04:59:36.163" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just thought I'd share &lt;a href=&quot;http://xkcd.com/727/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T04:59:36.163" />
  <row Id="13383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10743" CreationDate="2011-02-20T05:17:18.187" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While it is very common, I find this sentence a bit ugly, and slightly incorrect. The noun adjective &quot;viewer&quot;—which I presume it must be—is ugly here, probably because it suggests that the entire noun phrase is a common term (&quot;viewer discretion&quot;), which I believe it wasn't until this formula was invented.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We could rephrase it as &quot;we advise the viewer to &lt;strong&gt;use his discretion&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;. We need &quot;his&quot; because the use of a noun adjective suggests possession. But &quot;his / her / the King's discretion&quot; is mostly said of people with some discretionary power, like a judge who has the right to make a decision based on his own judgement as opposed to on some external rule or power. Now, that is not what it is supposed to mean here; the phrase is somewhat misleading on that account.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What might have been intended was that the viewer should &quot;&lt;strong&gt;use his own discretion&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; to decide whether he wanted to keep watching, which means his own ability to discern what the right course of action is in a given situation. But then we'd get &quot;we advise the viewer to make a sensible decision&quot;: that is nearly a tautology. If this is the advice we get, then it is an out-of-control euphemism that hardly means anything. Moreover, the formula should then be &quot;viewer's own discretion advised&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, what is intended might be that the viewer should &quot;&lt;strong&gt;use discretion&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;: this means that he should be careful when considering his options, presumably because he will regret it if he doesn't give this decision the attention it deserves. This is the most reasonable explanation of the formula—but then it should have said &quot;viewer is advised discretion&quot;: otherwise the viewer would be taken as the possessor of the discretion, which would take us back to &quot;his discretion&quot; as above. Moreover, &quot;caution&quot; would have been better then, because &quot;discretion&quot; usually means that you need to be careful in your behaviour with regard to its effect on others. In short, &quot;viewer discretion&quot;, while not absurd or entirely impossible, is slightly off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the passive voice in a notice like this—it may be a bit stiff, but it looks quite all right to me this way. It is clear that whoever is responsible for broadcasting the programme is advising the viewer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T05:17:18.187" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13384" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13389" CreationDate="2011-02-20T05:20:59.480" Score="4" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like to say this in jest when cats &amp;amp; dogs munch loudly on their dinner: &quot;Your cat Molly is eating at me again!&quot;&#xA;I'm not sure what's &quot;off&quot; about it. Is it in fact incorrect, or is it merely awkward?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5245" LastEditorUserId="5245" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T05:27:53.360" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T15:38:43.400" Title="What's wrong with the phrase &quot;eating at me&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="13385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10459" CreationDate="2011-02-20T05:45:54.060" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One subtle distinction between the two is that where the complexity was in some sense &lt;em&gt;introduced&lt;/em&gt;, it is probably more common to use &quot;complicated&quot; than &quot;complex.&quot;  For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The instructions were way too &lt;em&gt;complicated&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is of course true that the instructions were also complex, but the silent implication in using &quot;complicated,&quot; the past participle of &quot;to complicate,&quot; is that somebody &lt;em&gt;caused&lt;/em&gt; the complexity, as opposed to it being inherent in the subject.  As a result, &quot;complicated&quot; sometimes has a negative connotation, effectively meaning &quot;unnecessarily complex.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Quantum mechanics is an inherently &lt;em&gt;complex&lt;/em&gt; subject, but the textbook was an even tougher slog because of the author's &lt;em&gt;complicated&lt;/em&gt; explanations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as others have said, there is a large overlap in the use of the two words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the idiomatic retort &quot;It's complicated&quot; is a sort of defense or apology for not being able to give a simple, and often expected, answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;What were you doing with Teresa?  Don't you love your wife?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Yes, but ... it's &lt;em&gt;complicated&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5246" LastEditorUserId="5246" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T19:50:48.463" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T19:50:48.463" />
  <row Id="13386" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-20T05:46:58.687" Score="6" ViewCount="249" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read in a newspaper, the writer is using 'to becoming'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;eg: &quot;We're on track to becoming developed nation.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this sentence really correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5247" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T06:12:57.907" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T14:29:56.117" Title="Is to + ing (to becoming) correct ?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13386" CreationDate="2011-02-20T05:57:40.687" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would have to be &lt;em&gt;to becoming &lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt; developed nation&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clarify, the reason is that in this sentence, &quot;to&quot; is being used not as part of an infinitive (like &quot;to talk,&quot; for example). It's a simple preposition; the sentence could be recast into something like &quot;We're getting closer to the state of being a developed nation.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T05:57:40.687" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13388" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13391" CreationDate="2011-02-20T06:00:47.497" Score="5" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regular Joe, not English major!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My girlfriend, someone from southern New Jersey, constantly says phrases like &quot;I'm done my homework&quot; or &quot;I'm done my dinner.&quot;  I try to correct her and say, &quot;I'm done with my homework&quot; or &quot;I'm done with my dinner,&quot; but she insists this is what she has always said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is her grammar just plain incorrect, or is this allowed if she actually has a different dialect where everyone in the region says the same thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5248" LastEditorUserId="3711" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T08:23:30.117" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T08:56:17.053" Title="Incorrect grammar versus different dialects" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13384" CreationDate="2011-02-20T06:03:45.283" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like a humorously intentional misuse of the phrase &quot;eating at;&quot; ordinarily when something is eating at you, it means that there is an unresolved situation, and that you are unhappy leaving it unresolved and are distracted and annoyed by it.  Your use of the phrase to refer to a pet directing the noise of its consumption in your direction is incongruously literal, and therefore funny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T06:03:45.283" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13388" CreationDate="2011-02-20T06:07:41.580" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not really a matter of being &quot;allowed&quot; to use non-standard grammar: there is no law, as far as I know. It may very well be so that this is part of some dialect. However, non-standard grammar is often advised against by those who use standard grammar. That is why she might want to learn the standard construction too—at least well enough to be able to use it in job interviews etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T06:07:41.580" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="13391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13388" CreationDate="2011-02-20T06:11:48.750" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd put this in the same category as &quot;ain't&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While regularly used in conversation, I'd never use it in any written paper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ask her if that's how she would write it should she be writing a formal document.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spoken language is generally more flexible, and I'm wondering if she doesn't mean &quot;I've done my homework&quot; and due to accent it sounds like &quot;I'm&quot;, because &quot;I've done my homework&quot; would be proper English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5190" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T06:11:48.750" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="13392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12346" CreationDate="2011-02-20T06:54:49.883" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Jargon&lt;/em&gt; does not refer to using words that are not part of English*. Jargon simply refers to words that are used by small groups of people (eg. &lt;em&gt;Hackers&lt;/em&gt;) and would not (easily) be understood by the masses. In my humble and worthless opinion, &quot;Technical/Legal Language&quot; is not necessarily the same as jargon, as often, &quot;legal language&quot; can even refer to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a &quot;different&quot; way of writing English&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*Oh, and about that: You can't define English. English is simply what people make it to be. The closest you can get to a &quot;definition&quot; of English would be something like the OED.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rhetoric Questions (that answer your question):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabberwocky&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jabberwocky&lt;/a&gt; written in English?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Would you consider it to be &quot;jargon&quot;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If not, why?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="391" LastEditorUserId="391" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T07:13:03.777" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T07:13:03.777" />
  <row Id="13393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13388" CreationDate="2011-02-20T07:00:39.287" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an example of a very interesting question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When does incorrect English usage become a dialect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer to which I would guess, is when a whole lot of people use it &quot;incorrectly&quot; for a sustained period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is acceptable within a group, but not the whole - it is dialectical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T07:00:39.287" />
  <row Id="13394" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13397" CreationDate="2011-02-20T07:20:16.373" Score="2" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;as oft&quot; a valid contraction of &quot;as often&quot;? If it is, then why doesn't it have an apostrophe at the end?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="391" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T07:31:58.320" Title="Is &quot;as oft&quot; a valid contraction of &quot;as often&quot;? If it is, then why doesn't it have an apostrophe at the end?" Tags="&lt;contractions&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13386" CreationDate="2011-02-20T07:24:29.543" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main issue here is that there are two main forms of the &lt;em&gt;on track…&lt;/em&gt; phrase, one taking a noun (with &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt;), one taking an infinitive:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We’re on track for our development goals next year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We’re on track to reach our development goals next year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first of these, the &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; form, can be used with any noun phrase, so in particular works fine with a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerund&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gerund&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We’re on track for reaching our development goals next year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(‘Gerund’ means that &lt;em&gt;reaching…&lt;/em&gt; here is acting as a noun phrase.  Compare, for instance, “Reaching our development goals will be wonderful!”)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main problem with the example you give is that &lt;em&gt;becoming&lt;/em&gt; is a gerund, so &lt;em&gt;becoming a developed county&lt;/em&gt; acts as a noun phrase, but &lt;em&gt;on track to&lt;/em&gt; isn’t usually used with noun phrases — &lt;em&gt;on track for&lt;/em&gt; is much more common.  So you would not usually write or say either of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;?We’re on track to our development goals next year&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;?We’re on track to reaching our development goals next year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, though, &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; is fine with a gerund, anywhere you could use &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; with a noun phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We’re very close to reaching our development goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[There’s also a second, unrelated, much simpler issue in your sentence: it should be &lt;em&gt;“becoming &lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt; developed nation.”&lt;/em&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T07:24:29.543" />
  <row Id="13396" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-20T07:29:40.017" Score="0" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it me or there are few books that focus on American English pronunciation vs. British English pronunciation? There is an entire school in UK. We have Oxford or Cambridge pronunciation dictionary. It all started with the great Daniel Jones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5249" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T19:39:30.890" ClosedDate="2011-02-20T19:50:42.977" Title="Is it me or there are few books that focus on American English pronunciation vs. British ?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13394" CreationDate="2011-02-20T07:31:58.320" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=oft&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline.com&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;oft&quot; is the original form of &quot;often&quot;; it was lengthened around 1300, presumably as a parallel to &quot;selden&quot; (which later mutated spelling slightly to &quot;seldom&quot;).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So no, &quot;oft&quot; is not a contraction, and therefore has no need of an apostrophe; but it does mean exactly the same thing as &quot;often&quot;, it's simply the archaic form of the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T07:31:58.320" />
  <row Id="13398" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13430" CreationDate="2011-02-20T08:50:56.853" Score="3" ViewCount="239" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the term for accusing a person of invented wrongdoing in such a way that he cannot respond or even clearly understand the accusations? For example, frequently reversing the definitions of the terminology used, or basing argumentation on hints and roundabout phrasings, metaphors, invented-on-the-fly floating definitions and rules to fit with the accusations.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I think &lt;strong&gt;inquisitorial&lt;/strong&gt; is the most proper term for context in which the result does not depend on the argumentation of one of the sides.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though, &lt;strong&gt;jargonaut&lt;/strong&gt; was completely unheard by me and incrementally more useful.     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="513" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T08:36:34.813" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T09:57:10.873" Title="What is the term for accusing a person of mischief through invented, twisting and changeable terminology?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13388" CreationDate="2011-02-20T08:56:17.053" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If she insists on using, &quot;I'm done my homework,&quot; and she wants to be understood then it's better to restrict its usage to those people fully conversant with the lingo. Otherwise, some will hear, &quot;I've done my homework,&quot; meaning it's finished and complete, while others will hear, &quot;I'm done with my homework,&quot; meaning that I'm fed up with it and have no intention to work on it further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The important point is that these two meanings are almost complete opposites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2704" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T08:56:17.053" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13400" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13411" CreationDate="2011-02-20T09:45:42.730" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is the word &quot;head&quot; used in the following context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Daddy he once told me 'son you be hard workin' man'&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  and Momma she once told me 'son you do the best you can'&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  but, then one day I met a man who came to me and said&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  'Hard work good, and hard work fine, but first take care of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Head&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;'&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Smoke Two Joints - Sublime (perhaps they didn't originally write the song, but whatever)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all, is this related to the usage of &quot;head&quot; in &quot;headshops&quot;? I couldn't even find a clear answer on why this is the case, the wikipedia article on headshops says Jeff Glick opened &quot;Head Shop&quot; in New York, but does not explained why he called it that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some other explanations I saw floating around were &quot;because drugs make your &lt;em&gt;head&lt;/em&gt; feel good&quot;, &quot;because it's for pot-&lt;em&gt;heads&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, and something to do with the Grateful Dead and &quot;dead-&lt;em&gt;heads&lt;/em&gt;&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These all sound plausible, but does anyone have the definitive story behind the use of &quot;head&quot; in this sort of context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5210" LastEditorUserId="5210" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T12:07:33.957" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T13:16:37.343" Title="Usage of the word &quot;head&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13401" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13402" CreationDate="2011-02-20T10:11:31.493" Score="8" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm just curious if the word &quot;holiday&quot; is derived from &quot;holy day&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3105" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T08:17:03.963" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T08:17:03.963" Title="Is &quot;holiday&quot; derived from &quot;holy day&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13401" CreationDate="2011-02-20T10:13:16.923" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes&lt;/strong&gt;, from the Old English. The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; says “ORIGIN: Old English hāligdæg [holy day.]”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T10:13:16.923" />
  <row Id="13403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13401" CreationDate="2011-02-20T10:45:30.193" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's right. According to &lt;em&gt;Etymonline&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;O.E. &lt;em&gt;haligdæg&lt;/em&gt;, from &lt;em&gt;halig&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  &quot;&lt;strong&gt;holy&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; + &lt;em&gt;dæg&lt;/em&gt; &quot;&lt;strong&gt;day&lt;/strong&gt;;&quot; in 14c.&#xA;  meaning both &quot;&lt;strong&gt;religious festival&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;&#xA;  and &quot;&lt;strong&gt;day of recreation&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, but&#xA;  pronunciation and sense diverged 16c.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T10:45:30.193" />
  <row Id="13404" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-20T11:06:14.483" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason I am asking this is the following. Some time ago I performed proofreading of a book, and there was a phrase containing &quot;Protein-encoding genes&quot;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://forthescience.org/blog/2008/04/19/code-or-encode-this-is-the-problem/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;I wrote a post on my blog&lt;/a&gt;, detailing why this is wrong, according to the assumption that &quot;to code&quot; means to write something in a given standard representation (like &quot;I code a program&quot; in the sense that I write a program in a standard representation of a programming language). Another example is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huffman_coding&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Huffman coding&lt;/a&gt;, which is an algorithm for compression. To encode, on the other hand, means to transform something into something else, for example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base32&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;base32 encoding&lt;/a&gt; transforms binary data into text, so it is possible to send it via email. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I am not really sure about it anymore. What I can say for sure, is that genes do not perform any operation, they just store information, so to me &quot;Protein-coding genes&quot; makes a lot more sense than &quot;Protein-encoding genes&quot;. I don't understand, in particular, the exact grammar of suffixes like &quot;-coding&quot;. Is it a verb, an adjective, or something I'm not aware of ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T15:22:54.683" Title="&quot;Protein-coding&quot; or &quot;Protein-encoding&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="13405" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13414" CreationDate="2011-02-20T11:26:18.343" Score="1" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;While consulting the version of the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; provided with Mac OS, I came across the following “word spectrum”, which its says “show shades of meaning between two polar opposites”. While I generally appreciate its notes such as “The right word”, I was surprised by this spectrum:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/4pO0F.png&quot; alt=&quot;Word spectrum&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some of the words in there appear next to one another, which I would truly treat as synonymous, like “honest” and “truthful”. However, I am surprised by the ordering of some other words. For example, I would have classified “upfront” even higher than “frank”. Also, I would classify words like “taciturn” and “of few words” as neutral on this scale, as I don't feel they convey any negative connotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my question is (and I'm sorry it took so long to get to it!): &lt;strong&gt;is this spectrum corroborated by usage in your experience?&lt;/strong&gt; That may depend on local factors, of course, which I'd be happy to be referred to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T14:16:23.190" Title="Do you agree with these intermediate gradations between “frank” and “evasive”?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;scale&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13409" CreationDate="2011-02-20T11:54:21.420" Score="2" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of the word “&lt;em&gt;bootleg&lt;/em&gt;”?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T12:43:40.277" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T12:43:51.017" Title="Origin of the word “bootleg”" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13404" CreationDate="2011-02-20T12:39:24.213" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports the meaning that &lt;em&gt;encoding&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;coding&lt;/em&gt; have in biochemistry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;encode&lt;/em&gt; (verb): be responsible for producing a substance or behavior;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;coding&lt;/em&gt; (noun): the process of coding genetically for an amino acid, protein, or characteristic.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Coding&lt;/em&gt; is generally defined as &lt;em&gt;the process of assigning a code to something for the purposes of classification or identification&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking for sentences that contains &lt;em&gt;coding&lt;/em&gt; in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American&lt;/a&gt;, I find the following sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A gene is the hereditary unit such as a segment of &lt;strong&gt;DNA coding&lt;/strong&gt; for a specific protein. Human beings have about 80,000 genes, and we are more than ninety-nine percent identical in our genetic makeup.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Moreover, there are large segments of nonfunctional DNA between genes (i.e., between segments with &lt;strong&gt;known coding&lt;/strong&gt; or regulatory roles). The existence of introns and other nonfunctional DNA segments makes it impossible to simply read off a DNA sequence and predict an amino acid sequence (even when all regulatory regions are known).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking for &lt;em&gt;encode&lt;/em&gt;, I obtain the following sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The gene &lt;strong&gt;encodes&lt;/strong&gt; a cell-surface protein dubbed CED-1, which resembles the scavenger receptors in people. Whether the protein recognizes phosphatidylserine or another eat-me sign on a worm's apoptotic cells remains a mystery. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The mammalian proglucagon gene &lt;strong&gt;encodes&lt;/strong&gt; three related sequences, glucagon and the glucagon-like peptides 1 and 2 (GLP-1 and GLP-2), of which has an essential role in metabolism. A family of closely related receptors mediates the physiological actions of these hormones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thanks to the efforts of Paul Hebert at the University of Guelph in Canada, a broad consensus has been reached regarding the gene that is the primary focus of this effort: the cytochrome c oxidase subunit1 (CO1) gene &lt;strong&gt;encoded&lt;/strong&gt; in the mitochondrial DNA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying it with simple words, &lt;em&gt;coding&lt;/em&gt; refers to the process, while &lt;em&gt;encode&lt;/em&gt; refers to the action of doing that process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T15:22:54.683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T15:22:54.683" />
  <row Id="13408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13404" CreationDate="2011-02-20T12:40:56.800" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regarding usage, two metrics point towards “&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;protein-coding gene&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;” being used more than “protein-&lt;b&gt;&lt;em&gt;en&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/b&gt;coding gene” by a factor of 2 or 3. The two searches I did where a competitive Google Scholar search, and a standard Google search restricted to the &lt;code&gt;.edu&lt;/code&gt; top-level domain (which should restrict to academic sources of information).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, regarding grammar, &lt;em&gt;-coding&lt;/em&gt; is not a suffix. It is a &lt;strong&gt;noun + gerund compound, used adjectivally&lt;/strong&gt;. You are talking about &lt;em&gt;a gene that codes a protein&lt;/em&gt;, your verb is &lt;em&gt;code&lt;/em&gt;, your noun is protein, so the compound is &lt;em&gt;“protein coding”&lt;/em&gt;. You would say, for example, that &lt;em&gt;protein coding is one of the functions of the gene&lt;/em&gt;. When used adjectivally, you add a hyphen, and say: &lt;em&gt;this is a protein-coding gene&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T12:55:56.080" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T12:55:56.080" />
  <row Id="13409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13406" CreationDate="2011-02-20T12:43:01.760" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; has:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ORIGIN late 19th cent.: from the smugglers' practice of concealing bottles in their boots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T12:43:01.760" />
  <row Id="13410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13406" CreationDate="2011-02-20T12:43:51.017" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Originally &lt;em&gt;bootleg liquor&lt;/em&gt;, it came from smuggling a flask hidden between your boot and your leg&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T12:43:51.017" />
  <row Id="13411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13400" CreationDate="2011-02-20T13:16:37.343" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From urbandictionary.com:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To take care of head is to literally &quot;take care&quot; of your own personal head, specifically by usage of drugs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Originally used in 1980 by the band The Toyes in the song Smoke Two Joints, the phrase became mainstream popularized when Sublime covered it in their album 40 Oz. to Heaven 16 years later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5256" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T13:16:37.343" />
  <row Id="13412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10609" CreationDate="2011-02-20T13:25:01.223" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use the term &lt;em&gt;student assistant&lt;/em&gt;. Research and Teaching Assistants are usually paid more and have goodies like tuition stipend, whereas student assistants get paid considerably less. I've done all three roles :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5254" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T13:25:01.223" />
  <row Id="13413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13405" CreationDate="2011-02-20T13:39:09.363" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, let's consider the definitions a priori.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Frank' is about content and form: if I am frank, I will not hesitate to tell you what I think, and I will say it in a straightforward manner. The majority of the words listed are about form only, content only, or verbosity only: one could be sincere in their content and flowery and verbose in their phrasing while still being of few utterances, which would probably mark them as taciturn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, a priori, this spectrum is incorrect, since it goes through at least three axes and is inconsistent about which are required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, let's consider the spectrum as a spectrum reflected by human speech. There are 56 gradations listed. I'm not doubting that humans have a very nuanced view of honesty and forthrightness and verbosity. However, conveying these nuanced views consistently enough for &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; spectrum of 56 words to be meaningful strains credulity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Were I forced to put those words into a spectrum, I don't doubt I'd come up with something similar, but those words simply do not fit in the same spectrum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5257" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T13:39:09.363" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13405" CreationDate="2011-02-20T14:03:53.323" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a difficult question to answer, mostly because there are so many words in the spectrum. Trying to draw out some key points:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The scale is one-dimensional, and there are multiple dimensions to consider: truthfulness/deception; good/evil intent; pure information content; clarity of information. I believe the scale makes most sense if you look at it as rating the words on &quot;how much information you receive&quot;: &lt;em&gt;vague&lt;/em&gt; is very close to the bottom, but does not necessarily imply deception or ill intent.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;That said, of course a lot of the words have connotations besides their position on the scale - simply assigning an &quot;information content percentage&quot; to each one would not tell the full story of their meaning. For instance, &lt;em&gt;sly&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;slippery&lt;/em&gt; have a connotation of wishing to deceive for nefarious purposes: if I avoided answering someone's questions because I didn't want to spoil the surprise of a present they were going to receive, that could certainly be called &lt;em&gt;evasive&lt;/em&gt;, but it would be unlikely to be described as &lt;em&gt;sly&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;slippery&lt;/em&gt;; similarly, someone's answer can be &quot;concise&quot; without being &quot;to the point&quot; - if it's brief but doesn't address the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;With many of these words, there is a difference between applying them to a person about their character in general, and applying them to their response (or otherwise) to a specific question. For instance, saying &quot;John is quiet.&quot; is neither positive nor negative - it just means he doesn't tend to make a lot of noise; whereas &quot;John is quiet on this matter.&quot; starts to sound as if he may be being &lt;em&gt;deliberately&lt;/em&gt; evasive, and hence is slightly negative.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;taciturn&lt;/em&gt; falls into this category - applied generally I'd say it's fairly neutral, but applied about a specific topic it implies more evasiveness than &lt;em&gt;quiet&lt;/em&gt;. But all of these words appear at the middle of the scale, with mostly neutral words between (except for &lt;em&gt;uncommunicative&lt;/em&gt;, which to my mind falls somewhat lower down the scale), so there's not necessarily anything wrong here.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I would also place &lt;em&gt;upfront&lt;/em&gt; into this category: saying &quot;Bob was upfront about this matter&quot; simply means he made an effort to inform us about it / did not attempt to hide anything; however saying &quot;Bob is an upfront kinda guy&quot; would suggest that he expresses all feelings and opinions forthrightly all the time, even without invitation - which might well qualify for placing above &lt;em&gt;frank&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Similarly some of the words apply to the person, and some to their response (the prime example here being &lt;em&gt;short and sweet&lt;/em&gt;, which if applied to a person would describe their height and looks rather than how talkative they are!); on the other hand one would rarely say &quot;his answer was silent&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;On top of all that, I'd say that any attempt like this to rank words along a continuum is always going to be approximate, unless the words have precise, technical definitions that allow it. Therefore the diagram should be taken with a pinch of salt - just because one word is a little higher or lower than another doesn't necessarily imply it is stronger or weaker (or even appropriate) in all contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, with all of those qualifications (and there are a lot!) - I'd say that the classification is a reasonable guideline, in that each word listed &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; be used in a way that justifies its position on the scale, though many can also be used in ways that contradict it. But it would be good if it had been published with some of these caveats alongside it :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T14:03:53.323" />
  <row Id="13415" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13417" CreationDate="2011-02-20T14:10:45.643" Score="2" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a book talking about Linux, I found the following text.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A typical Linux system will run six virtual consoles and one graphical console &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Server systems often have only virtual consoles &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Desktops and workstations typically have both&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could anyone explain these three words, please?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T14:45:47.940" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T10:32:59.327" Title="What's the differences between &quot;server&quot;, &quot;workstation&quot; and &quot;desktop&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13405" CreationDate="2011-02-20T14:16:23.190" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a constellation of words that, like star constellations, only looks like something recognizable when seen in two dimensions. In point of fact, &lt;em&gt;terse&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;concise&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;innocent&lt;/em&gt; and many others in this list (&lt;em&gt;sly&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;em&gt;slippery&lt;/em&gt;?) are not directly on a path between &lt;em&gt;frank&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;evasive&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This kind of exercise only shows that human beings see patterns where none exist because our minds are programmed to recognize patterns. I think the continuum would be clearer if it were edited down to fewer than a dozen words. A word cloud that gathers nebulous relationships together and delineates them explicitly does nothing to promote clarity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T14:16:23.190" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13415" CreationDate="2011-02-20T14:18:37.250" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h1&gt;Précis&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Server: Designed to concurrently provide (shared) services to many people.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Desktop: Designed for use by one person on their desk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Workstation: Usually a more powerful desktop.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Server&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Hardware&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A server is a computer that is used to provide shared services to many people. In a business context, the server is usually kept in a room dedicated to this purpose (the server room). Servers are often dedicated to one purpose: a file-server provides shared file-storage services to a group of people. An email server provides email collection, transmission and storage services to a group of people. This does not mean that the information is shared (though it can be) but that the computer and the services it provides are concurrently used by tens, hundreds or thousands of people. Servers are typically housed in tower or rack-mount cases. Servers do not typically have a dedicated screen, keyboard or mouse attached - they are managed by other means or by using a KVM-switch to share one keyboard etc between large numbers of servers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apart from the above, computer hardware designed for server use in an enterprise is often distinguishable from desktop computers (including workstations) in &lt;strong&gt;some&lt;/strong&gt; or all of the following ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rack-mount case.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;designed for &quot;lights-out&quot; usage. &#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;out-of-band management.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;boot-up messages diverted to remote monitoring devices.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hardware RAID controllers. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;SCSI variants more often than SATA.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;front-accessible hot-plug disks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;greater backplane bandwidth.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;higher noise levels.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;redundant hot-swap power supplies.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;support for SAN hardware.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;basic or absent graphics capability.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;often sold without a bundled keyboard or mouse.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are home and SME &quot;server&quot; hardware devices which follow an almost opposite trend. They are designed to be very small quiet and unobtrusive and to sit on a desk or shelf. An example is the Excito Bubba, the size of a paperback book, sold without keyboard or mouse (it doesn't need one). These are also hardware designed specifically for a &quot;server&quot; rôle. There can be some overlap in form-factor with the &quot;net-top&quot; category of personal desktop computers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Other usage&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, in general this term means &quot;one who serves&quot; and can be applied to waiters in restaurants for example. This term is also used for software, for example the Apache project's HTTPD software is invariably described as web-server software. Some people associate the term most strongly with software.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Dictionary&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0757670#m_en_gb0757670&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford&lt;/a&gt; says &quot;a computer or computer program which manages access to a centralized resource or service in a network.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3aANd9GcSWhq4pxbteeb4rUrdAxtvAwD3RhuQOfP5lik1oBKEBx1IvxAm24w&quot; alt=&quot;rack-mount server&quot; title=&quot;HP rack-mount server&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3aANd9GcThgTNMzziNONQajq3Sa4C6p4_2IsZ8mHFTUu-kOQsOSDZg9J9Qqw&quot; alt=&quot;pedestal server&quot; title=&quot;HP tower server&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Desktop&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Hardware&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A desktop computer sits on the desk of one person and is primarily dedicated to the use of a single person. Whilst it might be shared consecutively (e.g. in &quot;hot desking&quot;), usually only one person is using it at any given time. It doesn't matter if the main part of the computer is placed under the desk. Desktops are often in tower cases (sometimes horizontally under a monitor) or all-in-one cases combined with the display. A desktop computer usually has a dedicated display, keyboard, mouse and other peripherals directly attached to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Other usage&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other usage isn't especially relevant but the term can obviously mean the upper surface of a desk. It can therefore be applied as an adjective for objects designed to be placed on that surface.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Dictionary&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0219630#m_en_gb0219630&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford&lt;/a&gt; says &quot;the working surface of a desk.&#xA;(also desktop computer)a computer suitable for use at an ordinary desk.&#xA;the working area of a computer screen regarded as a representation of a notional desktop and containing icons representing items such as files.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3aANd9GcRlzCP17-nDnb7e4OOhxhbBeW7RGEwLZi-hR6c1sBM7zLy4SrjReQ&quot; alt=&quot;all-on-one desktop&quot; title=&quot;HP All-in-one&quot;&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportDocument/c00323629/c00406696.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;compact&quot; title=&quot;HP compact desktop&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Workstation&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Hardware&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A workstation is a name usually reserved for a very high-performance desktop computer of the sort that might be used by scientists, engineers or on the trading floors of banks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Other usage&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;workstation&quot; has a more general use. In some cases it means a position equipped for a worker. Sometimes furniture makers describe use this word in the description of their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/categories/departments/workspaces/18967/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;products&lt;/a&gt;. Some people use the term workstation to mean any personal computer. Sometimes the word is used to define a computer used, by one person at a time, for a specialised task.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Dictionary&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0960430#m_en_gb0960430&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford&lt;/a&gt; says &quot;a desktop computer terminal, typically networked and more powerful than a personal computer.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://h41111.www4.hp.com/new_workstations/adlanding/img/z800new.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Workstation&quot; title=&quot;HP Workstation&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;images linked from hp.com and are probably (c)HP&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Related Terms&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;All-in-One&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some examples of current &lt;strong&gt;all-in-one&lt;/strong&gt; desktop PCs:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;HP Omni 200t -- &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/series/category/desktops/200t_series/3/computer_store&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The integrated, space-saving design of our Omni 200t series puts everything in the display&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;HP All-in-one 200-5210 --  &lt;a href=&quot;http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.210-3866.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HP Pavilion all-in-one 200-5210uk desktop&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dell Inspiron One 22 -- &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://uk.dell.com/uk/en/home/Desktops/inspiron-one-2205/pd.aspx?refid=inspiron-one-2205&amp;amp;cs=ukdhs1&amp;amp;s=dhs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the sleek, space-saving, all-in-one Inspiron One 2205 desktop&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Apple iMac -- &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.apple.com/imac/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The ultimate all-in-one&lt;/a&gt;&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sony VAIO L-Series -- &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sony.co.uk/product/vd-l-series/tab/editorialarticle1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;all-in-one desktops&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lenovo C200 -- &lt;a href=&quot;http://shop.lenovo.com/us/desktops&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Desktops &amp;amp; all-in-ones&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Gateway ZX series -- &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gateway.com/programs/zxseries/index.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;An all-in-one for everyone&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T10:32:59.327" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T10:32:59.327" CommentCount="15" />
  <row Id="13418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6724" CreationDate="2011-02-20T14:29:02.343" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The teacher's wrong and you're right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Teachers are too often too full of themselves (or full of something else I can't say in this polite company ;-)).  Case in point: the granddaughter of my gran's sister, born in the US (and thus a natural-born citizen), had to spend a time in the school here in Germany.  They got in a dispute about &quot;Ostern&quot;.  Teacher insisted it translates as &quot;eastern&quot;, while my relative insisted (rightfully) it's &quot;easter&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T14:29:02.343" />
  <row Id="13419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13386" CreationDate="2011-02-20T14:29:56.117" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Becoming a developed nation -- we're &lt;strong&gt;on track to&lt;/strong&gt; it.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5258" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T14:29:56.117" />
  <row Id="13420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6302" CreationDate="2011-02-20T14:38:55.810" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a game called &lt;code&gt;Breath of Fire IV&lt;/code&gt;, one of the main characters is a god and he just speak in the archaic format.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it very easy to understand. It is all mixed up but perhaps you can look for his lines on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dragon-tear.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7480#post253144&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;game script&lt;/a&gt;, or perhaps you can play it :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some quotes from the game:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;T'would appear thou dost mean not to&#xA;  fulfill thine duty, as thou art called&#xA;  upon to do by our promise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We art one mind, if not one body! Yet&#xA;  I cannot fathom thy thoughts!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;T'would appear that something is&#xA;  amiss. Where art the courtiers? The&#xA;  priests? Why is there not a single&#xA;  voice raised in greeting at thy&#xA;  return?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They art gods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also have been looking for resources, I found a page that explains briefly verb conjugation, past tense and some other things...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dan.tobias.name/frivolity/archaic-grammar.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Archaic English Grammar&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4534" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T14:38:55.810" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13415" CreationDate="2011-02-20T14:44:02.933" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported by the NOAD:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Server: a computer or computer program that manages access to a centralized resource or service in a network.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Desktop: a microcomputer that is suitable for use at an ordinary desk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Workstation: a general-purpose computer with a higher performance level than a personal computer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T14:44:02.933" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="13422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13384" CreationDate="2011-02-20T15:38:43.400" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That particular usage seems to parallel a usage particular to therapeutic psychology and interpersonal dynamics. An example of that might be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You aren't caring &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; your mother, you're caring &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; her, playing the martyr and making sure she knows how very inconvenient it is for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It carries the same sense as &quot;your cats are making a lot of noise while eating because they know it bothers me (or because they want me to be very aware of the fact that they're eating and I'm not, etc.)&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that is the sense in which you're using it, it is not standard, but it would certainly be understood by anyone who has been exposed to, say, Dr. Phil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T15:38:43.400" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13398" CreationDate="2011-02-20T15:42:52.513" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe &lt;em&gt;inquisitorial&lt;/em&gt;? Some if not all of your description pretty well describes their methods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T15:42:52.513" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13424" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13426" CreationDate="2011-02-20T16:18:28.227" Score="12" ViewCount="704" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given the following expression:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;5 (+-×÷%) 4&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would say &quot;5 plus 4,&quot; &quot;5 minus 4,&quot; &quot;5 times 4,&quot; &quot;5 divided by 4,&quot; and &quot;5 mod(ulo) 4&quot; respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, &quot;divided by&quot; does not have any shorthand form in the same way the above examples do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="739" LastEditorUserId="739" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T20:15:35.283" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T20:15:35.283" Title="Is there a shorter term for &quot;divided by&quot; in American English?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;mathematics&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="13425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12346" CreationDate="2011-02-20T16:18:52.073" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to answer your principal question, comment on your approach to revising your questions on english.stackexchange.com and finally attempt to address each of your supplementary questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Primary question&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is technical copywriting jargon or style?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technical copywriting is a style of writing that employs technical terms. People unfamiliar with those technical terms would regard them as jargon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word jargon is not always used in an insulting way, it is sometimes used as a complaint by people who feel the written material uses technical terms which are inappropriate for it's audience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Revisions of questions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I write this, you question appears as a rather long, slightly rambling, collection of complaints, supplementary material and additional questions. As a copywriter you will be aware that this is not the best way to communicate a complicated subject to your general audience here. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that the facility on english.stackexchange for editing questions is there to enable you (and others) to gradually improve the question. I may be wrong but I believe improvement would best be accomplished, not by periodically extending the text with new material, but by rewriting to produce a clear succinct expression of the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Supplementary questions&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Technical writing is jargon using incorrect English words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have said, jargon isn't incorrect English. It is only a specialised vocabulary used by a limited group of people. Every profession has their own jargon. This is nothing to be ashamed of. It is only when we use that private vocabulary to communicate with people outside the group that we are making an error.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;definitions of &quot;prepend&quot; in internet, all with inserted derogatory remarks ... like 'jargon' &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Describing a specialised vocabulary as &lt;em&gt;jargon&lt;/em&gt; is not especially derogatory. It is usually faintly disparaging but not always. In this reply I am mainly using &lt;em&gt;jargon&lt;/em&gt; to mean &lt;em&gt;specialised vocabulary used by a small group of people&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is Technical Writing jargon or writing-style ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You restate your main question - see above for my answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However I note that in various places you say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Technical copywriting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Technical writing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Copywriting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am assuming you mean the same thing in each case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;and the branch of correctly used English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technical copywiting can be regarded as a branch of English, a subset of English writing, that is a legitimate use of English. When done well, the appropriate audience should regard it as a &lt;em&gt;correct&lt;/em&gt; use of English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would I better avoid to refer to it as English at all,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see no harm in referring to a subset of English as English. All of us do. If it involves technical terms you might refer to it as &lt;em&gt;technical English&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I write using the words which are not English WORDS, do I write in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. English is still English even when it uses the occasional non-English words where necessary. If I say I visited München, I am still writing English - though some might wonder why I chose not to use an anglicized form of the place-name. If you carry this too far, you might end up using a mixture of languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The term Copywriting &quot;refers to writing ... non-technical material&quot;. Where is here a &quot;jargon ... nearly impossible for the average person to decipher&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are we still referring to what you elsewhere call &quot;Technical copyrighting&quot; or are you making a distinction?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my inexpert view:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Copywriting for a general audience should not contain unexplained jargon.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Technical copywriting (for a technical audience) &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; make appropriate use of a technical vocabulary that a general audience might regard as jargon.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is unclear in &quot;prepend&quot; and to whom?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far as I know &lt;em&gt;prepend&lt;/em&gt; isn't in general use amongst English speakers - I think some of the other answers may have shown this - I'll update this part of my answer with some statistics later, if I can find some.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why isn't busyness letter or step-by-step instructions a formal writing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Business letters and step-by-step instructions can be formal writing. You &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; write them in an informal way but this would often be inappropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Should it be be understood that insulting obscenities known to everybody are not jargon [but] full members of &quot;correct&quot; English ... [whereas] understandable &quot;technical&quot; ubiquitous words are out?.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No it should not. Some insulting obscenities might be both jargon and full members of English. English jargon words are as much members of the English vocabulary as English obscene words. As discussed elsewhere, there is no single authoritative nor prescriptive authority for what is English. I think you may be focussing on the wrong thing here. At issue is whether it is &lt;em&gt;appropriate&lt;/em&gt; to use certain words in certain types of writing - not whether they are English words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you know anybody who ... does NOT know the words RAM or CPU?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. Members of my family have complained to me saying &quot;why should I need to know this? I just want to send an email to my sister!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you know anybody who ... knows, without consulting with dictionaries, all &quot;correct&quot; words of a language?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes. JRR Tolkein knew all the words of the languages he invented. I doubt anyone could recite the million or so words that some say are in English. I don't think you can draw any conclusions from these two facts - certainly none that seem relevent to your main question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;May I ask [people] to [not] delete/edit my question, so distorting its sense, after [an] answer to [my] question [has been accepted]?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can ask. In my view, the question desperately needs editing. There is a good reason why the designers of english.stackexchange designed it to allow people to edit other's questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I hope the above helps and does not cause offence, none is intended. If offence is caused, I regret it and apologise for any deficiency in my writing, or carelessness on my part, that caused it.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T16:45:33.123" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T16:45:33.123" />
  <row Id="13426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13424" CreationDate="2011-02-20T16:24:46.253" Score="26" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps alternatives suffice to the extent that no great pressure exists to shorten &quot;divided by&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;5 over 4&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;five fourths&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T16:24:46.253" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="13427" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13428" CreationDate="2011-02-20T16:30:16.587" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technical English for a foreigner - please correct and rephrase if you can come up with better alternatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A machine in manufacturing usually is fed material or a workpiece to be processed. Sometimes, the orientation of the workpiece [synonyms?] is defined by a kind of jig into which the workpiece is inserted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a better word for &lt;em&gt;jig&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5000" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T16:56:36.253" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T16:56:36.253" Title="Jig or template to hold a workpiece" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;technical&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13427" CreationDate="2011-02-20T16:38:14.700" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No -- &lt;em&gt;jig&lt;/em&gt; is the correct technical term for any bit of tooling designed to hold a workpiece for the purpose of facilitating a specific operation. A &lt;em&gt;vise&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;clamp&lt;/em&gt; is a general-purpose tool; it lacks the constraints that make a jig a jig.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A jig may incorporate a &lt;em&gt;template&lt;/em&gt;, as in the case of a jig designed to hold a workpiece for routing a particular shape against a bearing or bushing guide, but the template is not a jig until the clamps, stops and handles (as may be appropriate) are added.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T16:38:14.700" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13398" CreationDate="2011-02-20T17:11:09.843" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Caroll's Through the Looking Glass says&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Through_the_Looking-Glass#Chapter_6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess you could call them that, although it doesn't exactly cover everything you ask for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3559" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T17:11:09.843" />
  <row Id="13430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13398" CreationDate="2011-02-20T17:13:48.617" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Jargonaut&quot; would be a possible neologism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T17:13:48.617" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="13431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13424" CreationDate="2011-02-20T17:15:14.780" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use &quot;5 by 4&quot; in a generic setting like @Jasper mentioned. @Stan's point is valid, however in a matrix setting we're usually specific, like &quot;A five by four matrix&quot;.&#xA;From what I've seen/heard/experienced, &quot;5 times 4&quot; is the colloquial norm for multiplication and &quot;5 by 4&quot; is the colloquial norm for division.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5254" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T17:15:14.780" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="13432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12351" CreationDate="2011-02-20T17:20:46.160" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A rap on the knuckles&lt;/em&gt; is a commonly used idiom, synonymous with &lt;em&gt;a slap on the wrist&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5254" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T17:20:46.160" />
  <row Id="13433" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13436" CreationDate="2011-02-20T17:40:18.773" Score="4" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;In which cases is &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; used with the same meaning it has in a phrase like &quot;the very minute after&quot;?&#xA;Is it a set phrase, or are there other similar phrases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The very minute after I leave, they start taking my books from the shelf, reading them, and leaving them in the kitchen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T17:56:44.480" Title="&quot;The very minute after&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="13434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13433" CreationDate="2011-02-20T17:51:36.953" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dictionary.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;very: precise; particular: That is&#xA;  the very item we want.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be used with a variety of nouns. From &lt;a href=&quot;http://pinedalepumpkinpatch.blogspot.com/2009/08/giant-pumpkin-in-making.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://pinedalepumpkinpatch.blogspot.com/2009/08/giant-pumpkin-in-making.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;You may see the very pumpkin that you&#xA;  wish to purchase.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://fuckyeahtvpicspam.tumblr.com/post/379433655/daisy-what-do-you-say-the-very-second-were-done&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://fuckyeahtvpicspam.tumblr.com/post/379433655/daisy-what-do-you-say-the-very-second-were-done&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;DAISY: What do you say the very&#xA;  second we're done here, we go back to&#xA;  my place for a drink?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5256" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T17:51:36.953" />
  <row Id="13435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13433" CreationDate="2011-02-20T17:52:09.923" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/very#Adjective&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;very&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; is used in that context, it takes the place of &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mere#Etymology_3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mere&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, the form originally derived from the Latin &lt;em&gt;merus&lt;/em&gt; (meaning pure or undiluted), a comparitive meaning &quot;nothing less than&quot; or &quot;downright&quot;, or indeed &quot;just&quot;, &quot;only&quot;, &quot;no more than&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that context it particularly means &lt;em&gt;immediately&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;&quot;as soon as&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.  It is pretty much always prefixed with &quot;the&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; idea of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; best of luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That is the &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; worst thing that could have happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T17:52:09.923" />
  <row Id="13436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13433" CreationDate="2011-02-20T17:53:04.797" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Very&lt;/em&gt; is acting here in a sense closer to its old meaning of &lt;em&gt;truly&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;precisely&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;literally&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You’re the very man they’re looking for!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The very fact that we’re alive is a miracle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The given sentence is very similar to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Literally the minute after I leave, they start taking my books from the shelf…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The evolution that &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; underwent, from this older sense to its more common modern usage as an intensifier, is the very same shift in meaning that &lt;em&gt;literally&lt;/em&gt; is now undergoing, to the chagrin of many pedants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T17:53:04.797" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13433" CreationDate="2011-02-20T17:56:44.480" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Very&lt;/em&gt; is just a means to give emphasis to something. In your example, &quot;The &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; minute after I leave...&quot; gives emphasis to people taking the person's books the moment he/she leaves and so on (though I think &lt;em&gt;the very minute I leave...&lt;/em&gt; is better usage).&#xA;Another example of &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; used for emphasis is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You're the very person I need to talk&#xA;  to...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is the very book I was looking for&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5254" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T17:56:44.480" />
  <row Id="13438" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13439" CreationDate="2011-02-20T18:00:48.060" Score="4" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;replete&lt;/em&gt; used appropriately in the following sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;His office was like a Hollywood museum, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;replete&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; with an autographed photo of Marilyn Monroe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or should &lt;em&gt;replete&lt;/em&gt; only be used with categorical plurals, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;His office was like a Hollywood museum, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;replete&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;with autographed photos of famous stars&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T01:07:12.180" Title="Proper use of &quot;replete&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="13439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13438" CreationDate="2011-02-20T18:05:08.257" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a room is &lt;em&gt;replete&lt;/em&gt; with something, then it's full or abundantly supplied with it. If there's only one thing -- in this case, a picture of Marilyn Monroe -- then the room can't be &lt;em&gt;replete&lt;/em&gt; with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5256" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T18:05:08.257" />
  <row Id="13440" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-20T18:06:00.300" Score="3" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/412/comma-before-last-item-in-a-list&quot;&gt;Comma before last item in a list&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I grew up learning British English rules and we were taught that while using commas to list or enumerate items, there should &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; be a comma before the &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt;. For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I bought bread, milk, apples and oranges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen this rule less prominent these days, especially in the US. The same sentence would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I bought bread, milk, apples, and oranges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this usage would have my English teachers up in arms, it seems quite normal here. Is it more of a pseudo-archaic use, is it more enforced in British English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5254" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T18:23:15.810" ClosedDate="2011-02-20T18:35:14.630" Title="Usage of 'and' with commas" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="13441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13438" CreationDate="2011-02-20T18:07:32.710" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that &lt;em&gt;replete&lt;/em&gt; means gorged, plentiful, stuffed.  From the Latin &lt;em&gt;repleo&lt;/em&gt;, meaning &lt;em&gt;&quot;to fill up&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I doubt a place can be &lt;em&gt;replete&lt;/em&gt; with a single autograph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I have seen it used in worse context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastEditorUserId="2253" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T01:07:12.180" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T01:07:12.180" />
  <row Id="13442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="412" CreationDate="2011-02-20T18:12:27.183" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The comma before the &quot;and&quot; is called an &lt;em&gt;Oxford comma&lt;/em&gt; or a &lt;em&gt;serial comma&lt;/em&gt;. Despite being called an &lt;em&gt;Oxford comma&lt;/em&gt;, Brits don't commonly use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Opinions vary among writers and editors on the usage or avoidance of the serial comma. In American English, the serial comma is standard in most non-journalistic writing, which typically follows the Chicago Manual of Style. Journalists, however, usually follow the AP Stylebook, which advises against it. It is less often used in British English.[4][5] In many languages (e.g. French,[6] German,[7] Italian,[8] Polish,[9] Spanish[10]), the serial comma is not the norm; it may even go against punctuation rules, but it may be recommended in some cases to avoid ambiguity or to aid prosody.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5256" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T18:12:27.183" />
  <row Id="13443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="412" CreationDate="2011-02-20T18:15:09.737" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I, too, was taught &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; to use a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Serial comma&lt;/a&gt;, but it is by no means solely an American thing to add the extra punctuation - the extra comma is actually frequently known as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford comma&lt;/a&gt;, because it is the house style of Oxford University Press, one of the oldest and most influential publishers in the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with Wikipedia on this issue - opinions on the use of the serial comma &quot;vary among writers and editors.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In American English,&#xA;  the serial comma is standard in most&#xA;  non-journalistic writing, which&#xA;  typically follows the Chicago Manual&#xA;  of Style. Journalists, however,&#xA;  usually follow the AP Stylebook, which&#xA;  advises against it. It is less often&#xA;  used in British English. In many&#xA;  languages (e.g. French, German,&#xA;  Italian, Polish, Spanish),&#xA;  the serial comma is not the norm; it&#xA;  may even go against punctuation rules,&#xA;  but it may be recommended in some&#xA;  cases to avoid ambiguity or to aid&#xA;  prosody.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4562" LastEditorUserId="4562" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T18:23:15.810" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T18:23:15.810" />
  <row Id="13444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13438" CreationDate="2011-02-20T18:18:59.880" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll just add to the other answers that the first sentence would be much better off with the other &quot;plete&quot; word, &lt;strong&gt;complete&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T18:18:59.880" />
  <row Id="13445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10459" CreationDate="2011-02-20T18:22:54.727" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am forced by my nature to add a more pedantic answer to the list. The content of this answer does not reflect my personal opinion, nor does it reflect common usage, but it does explain why the two words are not precisely interchangeable in all circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Complexity is intrinsic. Something is &lt;em&gt;complex&lt;/em&gt; if it involves a lot of [metaphorical] moving parts even when considered as a Platonic ideal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Complication is extrinsic. Something is &lt;em&gt;complicated&lt;/em&gt; by external influences, or because of external influences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pedantically, something can be complex without being complicated, or complex because it is complicated. (Things are rarely complicated without also being complex.) In realms where precision is important, there is often a distinct division between the terms. In medicine, for instance, a broken bone may be described as a &lt;em&gt;complex fracture&lt;/em&gt; because the fracture is &lt;em&gt;complicated&lt;/em&gt; by breaking the skin, inviting the risk of infection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here endeth the pedantry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In common use, &lt;em&gt;complex&lt;/em&gt; is more usually used in a technical sense. &lt;em&gt;Complicated&lt;/em&gt; is more likely to appear in everyday language among the general population since most complexity in everyday life is complicated in some way. &lt;em&gt;Complicated&lt;/em&gt; may not always be precisely correct, but most people don't spend their lives with a dictionary in one hand and a thesaurus in the other looking for &lt;em&gt;le seul mot juste&lt;/em&gt; -- they already have a word that means what they want to say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T18:22:54.727" />
  <row Id="13446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13424" CreationDate="2011-02-20T18:31:54.687" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about &quot;per&quot;? While not usually used in the same context as plus, minus, etc., it does mean &quot;divided by&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5266" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T18:31:54.687" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13447" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13449" CreationDate="2011-02-20T18:39:58.917" Score="6" ViewCount="404" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for a word (or two words) to describe a woman's voice that is &quot;sexy&quot; in a slightly deep, smooth, alluring way.  The best I could come up with is &lt;em&gt;mellifluous&lt;/em&gt;, but I'm looking for something simpler...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T20:23:19.117" Title="What word(s) describe a woman's voice as &quot;sexy&quot;?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="8" />
  <row Id="13448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13447" CreationDate="2011-02-20T18:43:26.510" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say she has a &lt;em&gt;sultry&lt;/em&gt; voice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sultry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;entry 2b&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;exciting or capable of exciting strong sexual desire&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T18:43:26.510" />
  <row Id="13449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13447" CreationDate="2011-02-20T18:44:18.777" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;maybe &quot;Sultry&quot;? It's not specifically used to describe a voice, but it's a common use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;(of a person, esp. a woman) attractive in a way that suggests a passionate nature.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="831" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T18:44:18.777" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13450" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13453" CreationDate="2011-02-20T18:44:51.773" Score="4" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for a word that conveys the strongest level of inciting someone, pushing someone to do something:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Their boss &lt;em&gt;VERB'd&lt;/em&gt; them to work as hard as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The strongest I can think of is &lt;em&gt;spur&lt;/em&gt;, is there something better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T06:24:44.830" Title="Is there a stronger word than &quot;incite&quot;?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13447" CreationDate="2011-02-20T18:48:17.017" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She has a tantalizing voice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As reported by the NOAD, the meaning of &lt;em&gt;tantalize&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;excite the senses or desires of someone&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T18:48:17.017" />
  <row Id="13452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13450" CreationDate="2011-02-20T19:01:20.267" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Exhorted might be the word you seek.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instructed, impelled, ... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compelled and forced suggest more than mere words..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T19:01:20.267" />
  <row Id="13453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13450" CreationDate="2011-02-20T19:02:02.190" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can think of &lt;em&gt;inflame&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;stir up&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;galvanize&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;goad&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;rouse&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be useful to also read the note reported by the NOAD.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The best way to start a riot is to incite one, which means to urge or stimulate to action, either in a favorable or an unfavorable sense.&#xA;  If you instigate an action, however, it implies that you are responsible for initiating it and that the purpose is probably a negative or evil one (&lt;em&gt;the man who instigated the assassination plot&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;Foment&lt;/em&gt; suggests agitation or incitement over an extended period of time (&lt;em&gt;foment a discussion&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;foment the rebellion that leads to war&lt;/em&gt;). An instigator, in other words, is someone who initiates the idea, while a fomenter is someone who keeps it alive.&#xA;  You can provoke a riot in the same way that you instigate one, but the emphasis here is on spontaneity rather than on conscious design (&lt;em&gt;her statement provoked an outcry from animal rights activists&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;To arouse&lt;/em&gt; is to awaken a feeling or elicit a response (&lt;em&gt;my presence in the junkyard aroused suspicion&lt;/em&gt;), or to open people's eyes to a situation (&lt;em&gt;we attempted to arouse public awareness&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  But once you've aroused people, you may have to exhort them, meaning to urge or persuade them, by appealing to their sympathy or conscience, to take constructive action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T19:02:02.190" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13454" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13615" CreationDate="2011-02-20T19:15:25.047" Score="2" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the following quote correct English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Strength cannot beat &lt;strong&gt;more&lt;/strong&gt; strength without ju jitsu&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3295" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T09:13:35.343" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T23:44:55.320" Title="Is the construct “Strength cannot beat MORE strength without ...” correct?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13454" CreationDate="2011-02-20T19:29:13.297" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of course not -- there are many martial arts that can do the job ;o).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a more relevant and grammatical note, this would be more correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Strength cannot beat &lt;em&gt;greater&lt;/em&gt; strength without Ju Jitsu.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;More&lt;/em&gt; would be appropriate if strength were something that came in units rather than in degree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T19:29:13.297" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="13456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13447" CreationDate="2011-02-20T19:29:16.873" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;A &lt;em&gt;seductive&lt;/em&gt; voice&quot; sounds good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5254" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T19:29:16.873" />
  <row Id="13457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13447" CreationDate="2011-02-20T19:30:45.867" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;husky&lt;/strong&gt; voice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Husky voice is the key to seduction&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;—headline in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hindustantimes.com/Husky-voice-is-the-key-to-seduction/Article1-547439.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hindustan Times&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Husky&lt;/em&gt; has the specific connotations of &lt;em&gt;deep&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;alluring&lt;/em&gt; that you’re asking for — though maybe not so much of &lt;em&gt;smooth&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T19:30:45.867" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13454" CreationDate="2011-02-20T19:31:47.173" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Grammatically, I think that your statement is fine, but I'd find it easier to understand if you included the subject in the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One cannot beat a stronger opponent without ju jitsu.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4562" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T19:31:47.173" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13396" CreationDate="2011-02-20T19:39:30.890" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are comfortable with the International Phonetic Alphabet, you can find pronunciation guidance in a decent American dictionary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5192" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T19:39:30.890" />
  <row Id="13461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13424" CreationDate="2011-02-20T19:41:39.350" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Invert the question/problem&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 into 5 goes 1.2 was the way I was brought up...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5271" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T19:41:39.350" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13447" CreationDate="2011-02-20T19:49:27.663" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Moving beyond simple adjectives, there’s a long tradition of using similes, especially food and drink, for sexy female voices:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;like honey&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;like Bourbon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;like (melted) chocolate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;like melted butter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;like (fine) (red) wine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;like velvet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are especially popular for describing jazz and soul singers singers — I remember some Nina Simone and Ells Fitzgerald liner notes from the 60’s and 70’s with great examples, which I wish I could find online…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T19:49:27.663" />
  <row Id="13463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13450" CreationDate="2011-02-20T19:51:29.417" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use &lt;strong&gt;prompt&lt;/strong&gt;, or &lt;strong&gt;induce&lt;/strong&gt; (in the case where the incitation succeeded).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T19:51:29.417" />
  <row Id="13464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11363" CreationDate="2011-02-20T20:05:42.630" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The pronunciation of Greek letters by scientists isn't very different from the pronunciation of the Greek letters in the respective countries: American scientists pronounce them pretty much the same way the general American population does, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your question is actually about why the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_pronunciation_of_Greek_letters&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;English pronunciation of Greek letters&lt;/a&gt;, and the answer is that it is based on (but not always &lt;em&gt;actually&lt;/em&gt; very close to) the reconstruction of the &lt;em&gt;Classical Greek&lt;/em&gt; pronunciation by Erasmus in 1528 and by John Cheke and Thomas Smith around 1540, which were adopted in schools. This pronunciation underwent some change along with the rest of English during the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Great Vowel Shift&lt;/a&gt;, and a re-reconstruction in the mid-19th century brought it back in line (incompletely) with Ancient Greek. The Wikipedia page on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronunciation_of_Ancient_Greek_in_teaching&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pronunciation of Ancient Greek in teaching&lt;/a&gt; has more details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For sake of completeness, here's a (very incomplete) table showing the pronunciation in American English, British English, Ancient Greek, and Modern Greek. I've rearranged the alphabet to put sort-of rhyming letters together, but all letters are there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Disclaimer: Many of the entries may be terribly wrong. The American and British IPA entries are based on the article &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_pronunciation_of_Greek_letters&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;English pronunciation of Greek letters&lt;/a&gt;, the &quot;pseudo-phonetic spellings&quot; are from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.skyandtelescope.com/howto/The_Greek_Alphabet.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mathacademy.com/pr/prime/articles/greek/index.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. The Classical and Modern Greek pronunciation columns I made up, partly from &lt;a href=&quot;http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grekiska_alfabetet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Swedish Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;, partly from piecing together each letter's pronunciation in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_alphabet#Main_letters&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this table&lt;/a&gt;, partly from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.webtopos.gr/eng/languages/greek/alphabet/chart1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for Modern Greek, and partly on my own — and I don't actually know IPA.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;| Name     |American English     |British English           |Classical       |Modern    |Greek name|&#xA;|          |                     |                          | Greek          | Greek    |          |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Alpha     |/ˈælfə/ AL-fuh       |/ˈælfə/ AL-fuh            |[aːlpʰa]        |[aːlfa]   |ἄλφα      |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|          |                     |                          |                |          |          |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Beta      |/ˈbeɪtə/ (BAY-tuh)   |/ˈbiːtə/ (BEE-tuh)        |[bɛːta]         |[vita]    |βῆτα      |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Zeta      |/ˈzeɪtə/ (ZAY-tuh)   |/ˈziːtə/ (ZEE-tuh)        |[zɛːta]         |[zita]    |ζῆτα      |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Eta       |/ˈeɪtə/ (AY-tuh)     |/ˈeɪtə/ (EE-tuh)          |[ɛːta]          |[ita]     |ἦτα       |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Theta     |/ˈθeɪtə/ (THAY-tuh)  |/ˈθiːtə/ (THEE-tuh)       |[tʰɛːta]        |[θita]    |θῆτα      |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|          |                     |                          |                |          |          |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Pi        |/ˈpaɪ/ (PIE)         |/ˈpaɪ/ (PIE)              |[peɪ], [piː]    |[pi]      |πεῖ       |&#xA;|          |                     |                          |                |          |          |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Phi       |/ˈfaɪ/, /ˈfiː/       |/ˈfaɪ/, /ˈfiː/            |[feɪ], [fiː]    |[fi]      |φεῖ       |&#xA;|          |(FIE, FEE)           |(FIE, FEE)                |                |          |          |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Chi       |/ˈkaɪ/ (KIGH, KEE)   |/ˈkaɪ/ (KIGH, KEE)        |[kʰeɪ], [kʰiː]  |[çi]      |χεῖ       |&#xA;|          |                     |                          |                |          |          |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Psi       |/ˈsaɪ/,/ˈpsaɪ/,/ˈsiː/|/ˈsaɪ/, /ˈpsaɪ/, /ˈsiː/   | [pseɪ], [psiː] | [psi]    |ψεῖ       |&#xA;|          |(SIGH, PSIGH, PSEE)  |(SIGH, PSIGH, PSEE)       |                |          |          |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Xi        |/ˈzaɪ/, /ˈksaɪ/      |/ˈzaɪ/, /ˈksaɪ/ (ZIGH,    |  [kseɪ], [ksiː]|  [ksi]   |χεῖ       |&#xA;|          |(ZIGH, KS-EYE, KSEE) |KS-EYE, KSEE)             |                |          |          |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|          |                     |                          |                |          |          |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Gamma     |/ˈɡæmə/ (GAM-uh)     |/ˈɡæmə/ (GAM-uh)          |[gamma]         |[ɣamma]   |γάμμα     |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Delta     |/ˈdɛltə/ (DELL-tuh)  |/ˈdɛltə/ (DELL-tuh)       |[delta]         |[ðelta]   |δέλτα     |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Epsilon   |/ˈɛpsɨlɒn/           |/ˈɛpsɨlɒn/ (EP-sil-on),   |[e psilon]      |[e psilon]|ἒ ψιλόν   |&#xA;|          |(EP-suh-lon)         |/ɛpˈsaɪlən/ (ep-SIGH-lun) |                |          |          |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Upsilon   |/ˈʌpsɨlɒn/           |/ˈʊpsɨlɒn/, /juːpˈsaɪlən/ |                |[ipsilon] |ὖ ψιλόν   |&#xA;|          |(UP-suh-lon)         |(OOP-sil-on, YOOP-sil-on) |                |          |          |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Omicron   |/ˈɒmɨkrɒn/           |/ˈɒmɨkrɒn/,               |                |[omikron] |ὂ μικρόν  |&#xA;|          |(AH-mih-cron,        |/ˈoʊmaɪkrɒn/ (OM-ih-cron  |                |          |          |&#xA;|          |OH-mih-cron)         | OH-my-cron)              |                |          |          |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Omega     |/oʊˈmeɪɡə/           |/oʊˈmeɪɡə/, /ˈoʊmɨɡə/     |                |[o'meγa]  |ὦ μέγα    |&#xA;|          |(oh-MAY-guh)         |(oh-MAY-guh, OH-mee-guh,  |                |          |          |&#xA;|          |                     |OH-meg-uh)                |                |          |          |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Iota      |/aɪˈoʊtə/            |/aɪˈoʊtə/ (eye-OH-tuh)    |                |['jota]   |ἰῶτα      |&#xA;|          |(eye-OH-tuh)         |                          |                |          |          |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Mu        |/ˈmjuː/, /ˈmuː/      |/ˈmjuː/ (MYOO)            |                |[mi]      |μῦ        |&#xA;|          |(MYOO, MOO)          |                          |                |          |          |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Nu        |/ˈnuː/ (NOO)         |/ˈnjuː/ (NYOO)            |                |[ni]      |νῦ        |&#xA;|          |                     |                          |                |          |          |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Kappa     |/ˈkæpə/ (CAP-uh)     |/ˈkæpə/ (CAP-uh)          |                |['kapa]   |κάππα     |&#xA;|          |                     |                          |                |          |          |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Lambda    |/ˈlæmdə/ (LAM-duh)   |/ˈlæmdə/ (LAM-duh)        |                |['lamδa]  |λάμβδα    |&#xA;|          |                     |                          |                |          |          |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Rho       |/ˈroʊ/ (ROE)         |/ˈroʊ/ (ROE)              |                |[ro]      |ῥῶ        |&#xA;|          |                     |                          |                |          |          |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Sigma     |/ˈsɪɡmə/ (SIG-muh)   |/ˈsɪɡmə/ (SIG-muh)        |                |['siγma]  |σῖγμα     |&#xA;|          |                     |                          |                |          |          |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;|Tau       |/ˈtaʊ/, /ˈtɔː/       |/ˈtaʊ/, /ˈtɔː/            |                |[taf]     |ταῦ       |&#xA;|          |(TOW (rhyming with   |(TOW (rhyming with COW),  |                |          |          |&#xA;|          |cow), TAW)           |TAW)                      |                |          |          |&#xA;+----------+---------------------+--------------------------+----------------+----------+----------+&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notes: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The table, especially the all-important Classical Greek pronunciation column, is incomplete; I ran out of patience.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For the rhyming letters Beta-Zeta-Eta-Theta, the American pronunciation (&lt;em&gt;-ayta&lt;/em&gt;) is closer to Classical Greek and the British pronunciation (&lt;em&gt;-eeta&lt;/em&gt;) closer to Modern Greek. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;For the rhyming letters Phi-Chi-Psi-Xi (but not Pi for some reason!) there seems to be a variant (&lt;em&gt;-ee&lt;/em&gt;) pronunciation close to modern Greek that exists only(?) in science and mathematics.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've made this community wiki so that someone can fix the errors or complete the table (including possibly myself if I regain the patience to finish this sometime!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T03:21:48.637" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T03:21:48.637" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-20T20:05:42.630" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13438" CreationDate="2011-02-20T20:20:25.433" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The more correct sentence is the second one.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The first sentence you wrote could be understood as describing a very small office, so small that a photograph would fill it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use &lt;em&gt;replete&lt;/em&gt; with a singular noun, as in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sensational popular fiction, replete with adultery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T20:20:25.433" />
  <row Id="13467" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13468" CreationDate="2011-02-20T20:35:06.513" Score="1" ViewCount="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;The operator of a machine solely needs to be in control of the machine controls. Thus, he/she needs to be physically in a location near the control panel, and in order to make sure nobody else pushes the button that would fry said operator, he/she needs &quot;visuals&quot; of the area.&#xA;Does he/she observe the control panel or is he/she overseeing the control panel?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid that to oversee is (visually) controlling an act carried out by another party - true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5000" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T20:40:13.880" Title="Observe vs. oversee" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13467" CreationDate="2011-02-20T20:40:13.880" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To &lt;em&gt;observe&lt;/em&gt; something is to see it with your eyes. To &lt;em&gt;oversee&lt;/em&gt; something or someone is to be responsible for it/him/her (usually, sommeone oversees something by visually examining it from time to time, so that's where the word comes from).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, the operator is both observing the panel because he is watching it and overseeing the machine because he is taking responsibility for its well-functioning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T20:40:13.880" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13469" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-20T20:40:19.627" Score="6" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;solicitor&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;barrister&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5274" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T21:15:14.240" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T21:28:23.510" Title="Difference between &quot;solicitor&quot; and &quot;barrister&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13469" CreationDate="2011-02-20T20:44:25.140" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are both lawyers, but a barrister has passed the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_examination&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bar&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Bar is an examination (from Wikipedia):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A bar examination is an examination conducted at regular intervals to determine whether a candidate is qualified to practice law in a given jurisdiction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3559" LastEditorUserId="3559" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T21:28:23.510" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T21:28:23.510" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="13471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="92" CreationDate="2011-02-20T20:45:22.810" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oddly enough, the semicolon should be used exactly as its appearance suggests - something between a period and a comma; you use it when a period would be too strong and a comma too weak. Read the works of Charles Dickens and Edgar Allen Poe to see it used heavily in practice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T20:45:22.810" />
  <row Id="13472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3663" CreationDate="2011-02-20T20:47:45.463" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=1OVIqCV57pYC&amp;amp;pg=PA121&amp;amp;lpg=PA121&amp;amp;dq=ish+suffix+informal&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=K1nVdH4q5v&amp;amp;sig=vCYgmQy7M0-vhoAhTkqQP0YpkIw&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=Bn1hTcLIHsP88Ab769mjDA&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=3&amp;amp;ved=0CCoQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=1OVIqCV57pYC&amp;amp;pg=PA121&amp;amp;lpg=PA121&amp;amp;dq=ish+suffix+informal&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=K1nVdH4q5v&amp;amp;sig=vCYgmQy7M0-vhoAhTkqQP0YpkIw&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=Bn1hTcLIHsP88Ab769mjDA&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=3&amp;amp;ved=0CCoQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5276" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T20:47:45.463" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13401" CreationDate="2011-02-20T20:52:38.377" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answers are above, but Barnhart's &lt;em&gt;Dictionary of Etymology&lt;/em&gt; offers a bit more:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Old English had a concurrent open&#xA;  compound &lt;em&gt;halig daeg,&lt;/em&gt; found later in&#xA;  Middle English &lt;em&gt;holy day,&lt;/em&gt; which&#xA;  became modern English &lt;em&gt;holiday,&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  meaning both a religious festival and&#xA;  a day of recreation. This eventually&#xA;  replaced the earlier form &lt;em&gt;haliday,&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  leaving two forms &lt;em&gt;holiday&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;holy&#xA;  day.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T20:52:38.377" />
  <row Id="13475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11070" CreationDate="2011-02-20T20:59:35.943" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, the &quot;reduce by 10%&quot; meaning is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; the classical sense, and is in fact a modern invention! So if at all &lt;em&gt;decimate&lt;/em&gt; has been used in this sense, it's only in the modern period, not in any classical period. As the &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=2yJusP0vrdgC&amp;amp;pg=PA320&amp;amp;dq=decimate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster's dictionary of English Usage&lt;/a&gt; explains, &lt;em&gt;decimate&lt;/em&gt; has had three main uses in English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A specific Roman military practice of punishment (an army punishing its own soldiers), and only in this specific context (not a general-purpose &quot;reduce by 10%&quot;). The practice was that if a unit had exhibited cowardice or insubordination, one-tenth of the unit would be chosen at random, and clubbed to death by the other nine-tenths. You can read a five-page description of decimation in &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=OhI1okJ5l6MC&amp;amp;pg=PA124&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this book&lt;/a&gt;. Anyway, this sense carries over from Latin, and is attested in English since at least 1600.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A ten percent tax (esp. the one levied by Cromwell on the Royalists). This short-lived usage, attested since 1659, seems to have gone out of use (though the word &lt;em&gt;tithe&lt;/em&gt; has taken some of its function).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;modern&quot; sense: emphatically destroy, devastate, severely reduce (not by just 10%) the numbers of, etc. This is in fact &lt;strong&gt;attested since 1663&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, it seems that &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Murray_%28lexicographer%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sir James Murray&lt;/a&gt;, primary editor of the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, &lt;strong&gt;inserted&lt;/strong&gt; a definition of &lt;em&gt;decimate&lt;/em&gt; as &quot;to kill, destroy, or remove one in every ten of&quot; (the &quot;reduce by 10%&quot; meaning) between sense 1 and sense 3, to have a &quot;semantic bridge&quot; between them. This definition was given without citations (unusual for the OED) — perhaps &lt;em&gt;decimate&lt;/em&gt; had never been used in this sense in English till then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And it hasn't been much used in that sense since, either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[The only exception is in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimation_%28signal_processing%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;engineering&lt;/a&gt;, where &quot;decimation&quot; means reducing the number of samples (resulting in a lower 'resolution'), with no implication about the extent of the reduction: so you see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks:1&amp;amp;q=%22decimate+by+a+factor%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;phrases&lt;/a&gt; like &quot;decimate by a factor of 4&quot;. In such a context, &quot;decimate by a factor of 10/9&quot; would effectively mean &quot;reduce by 10%&quot;.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T19:14:16.680" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T19:14:16.680" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13469" CreationDate="2011-02-20T21:23:45.340" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Solicitor&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;barrister&lt;/em&gt; have a different meaning, in American and British English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In British English, they mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Solicitor: a member of the legal profession qualified to deal with conveyancing, the drawing up of wills, and other legal matters.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Barrister: a lawyer entitled to practice as an advocate, particularly in the higher courts.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In American English, they mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Solicitor: a person who tries to obtain business orders, advertising, etc.; a canvasser; the chief law officer of a city, town, or government department.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Barrister&lt;/em&gt; is not used, in American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Reference: the New Oxford American Dictionary.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T21:23:45.340" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13477" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-20T21:34:27.913" Score="0" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;What grammar rules do you think is essential for the daily life English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5279" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T22:20:52.130" ClosedDate="2011-02-20T22:29:58.597" Title="Essential Grammar Rules" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13477" CreationDate="2011-02-20T22:15:09.253" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gender inclusive language would get my vote &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5280" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T22:15:09.253" />
  <row Id="13483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13477" CreationDate="2011-02-20T22:20:52.130" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends on what type of stereotype you wish to avoid, since different foreign languages bring different ways of writing and speaking. For example, if you come from Spanish, one of the most common mistakes is to place the adjective after the noun as in Spanish. (E.g. &lt;em&gt;casa grande&lt;/em&gt; is flipped in English to &lt;em&gt;big house&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4471" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T22:20:52.130" />
  <row Id="13484" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13486" CreationDate="2011-02-20T22:21:39.480" Score="3" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct punctuation in English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are two types of insects&lt;b&gt;XX&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a) white&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  b) black&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should the punctuation at &lt;strong&gt;XX&lt;/strong&gt; be “;” or “:”?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5281" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T01:25:42.807" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T01:25:42.807" Title="What punctuation belongs before a list?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4972" CreationDate="2011-02-20T22:22:29.243" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Palmer (The English Verb) distinguishes three uses of should.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;to lay a tentative obligation&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA; &lt;em&gt;You should come to the party tomorrow.&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;(ought to and should are completely interchangeable)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;to express a probability&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA; &lt;em&gt;They should be at their destination by now.&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;(ought to is theoretically possible, but is rarely used with this meaning)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;evaluative&lt;/em&gt; should&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;It's strange that he should say such a thing.&lt;/em&gt;&#xA; (ought to is not used)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishforums.com/English/OughtToVsShould/drjxm/post.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Palmer, the English Verb/This forum&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4613" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T22:22:29.243" />
  <row Id="13486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13484" CreationDate="2011-02-20T22:23:23.360" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should go with the colon (:), which is defined as “a punctuation mark indicating [...] that a writer is introducing a quotation or a list of items”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T22:23:23.360" />
  <row Id="13487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13484" CreationDate="2011-02-20T22:26:36.643" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The colon is more appropriate since you're presenting a list. If you wanted to use the semicolon however, it would look something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are two kinds of insects; the white insect is white in color and the black insect is black in color.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The semicolon essentially preserves the flow of thought within a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5254" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T22:26:36.643" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13488" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13491" CreationDate="2011-02-20T22:33:13.083" Score="1" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy this morning, and he compares his characters to the 'pros from Dover'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was a phrase that I also remember hearing in the movie M*A*S*H - so it seems to be a phrase in use in 1970 (and possibly 1950s, although the historical accuracy of the movie could be put into question).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So - where is this Dover? And who are the pros and why are they held in such regard?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T22:39:05.783" Title="Who were the 'pros from Dover'?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;metaphor&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13488" CreationDate="2011-02-20T22:37:55.380" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An easy Google (http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/29/messages/306.html)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The term comes from the 1968 book&#xA;  M*A*S*H by Richard Hooker. In the&#xA;  book, the character Hawkeye is&#xA;  described as using the guise of being&#xA;  the pro from Dover to obtain free&#xA;  entrance to golf courses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T22:37:55.380" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13488" CreationDate="2011-02-20T22:38:04.653" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first hit on Google for that phrase is “The pros from Dover is an American slang term for outside consultants who are brought into a business to troubleshoot and solve problems.” You can have a look at the full answer &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/29/messages/306.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;there&lt;/a&gt;. If you don't find this an authoritative enough source, others are available with the same search.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T22:38:04.653" />
  <row Id="13491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13488" CreationDate="2011-02-20T22:39:05.783" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/29/messages/306.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Phrases.org.uk&lt;/a&gt;, the term originated in the book M*A*S*H, and was used again in the movie.  In the book, Hawkeye would claim to be a pro (golfer) from Dover (in a variety of states) in order to be offered free play at a variety of golf courses; the line was used later on in the book, in a surgical setting, to demand more up-to-date information about a patient.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the movie, the secondary plot about free golfing was not included, but the surgical scene was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T22:39:05.783" />
  <row Id="13492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3971" CreationDate="2011-02-20T22:51:10.880" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would remove the first &quot;had&quot; - you mean to imply that you were using Illustrator until the introduction of the assignment, so using &lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt; in both cases fails to grammatically convey that point.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The introduction of this assignment made me rethink many previous&#xA;  ideas that I had held on to in&#xA;  previous assigned projects. For one, I&#xA;  had mainly been using Illustrator to...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5254" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T22:51:10.880" />
  <row Id="13493" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-20T23:00:01.413" Score="5" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6114/how-to-handle-a-name-that-includes-an-exclamation-point-or-other-punctuation&quot;&gt;How to handle a name that includes an exclamation point (or other punctuation)?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just like the title of this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was reading an article about CAPTCHAs on Wikipedia and I read this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These methods have been used by spammers to set up thousands of accounts on free email services such as Gmail and Yahoo!.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this correct or should the period be omitted? It looks very strange.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3406" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T03:28:27.007" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T03:28:27.007" ClosedDate="2011-02-21T15:15:37.637" Title="What to do if a sentence ends with &quot;Yahoo!&quot;?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;period&gt;&lt;exclamation-mark&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="13494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13493" CreationDate="2011-02-20T23:04:10.577" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yahoo! is the name of the entity so ending a sentence with '&lt;em&gt;Yahoo!.&lt;/em&gt;' and a question with '&lt;em&gt;Yahoo!?&lt;/em&gt;' is appropriate, as weird as it may seem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5254" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T23:04:10.577" />
  <row Id="13495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13493" CreationDate="2011-02-20T23:04:25.427" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should omit the period. Only include the period in the absence of otherwise final punctuation, such as &lt;strong&gt;!&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt; (as in etc.) or &lt;strong&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt; — and see how I skirted the issue here? :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: If it bothers you, it would be easy enough to switch the order: &quot;... Yahoo! and Gmail.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-20T23:13:14.370" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T23:13:14.370" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13493" CreationDate="2011-02-20T23:09:48.793" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The exclamation mark in Yahoo!'s brand name can be annoying when it interferes with existing punctuation. One way to disambiguate is to drop it altogether, while another way is to use quotes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So, did they reach a deal with “Yahoo!”?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T23:09:48.793" />
  <row Id="13497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13493" CreationDate="2011-02-20T23:12:29.510" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My admittedly prescriptivist opinion is this. When companies (it is always companies) choose to break basic rules of language, like adding stops to their names, I feel no obligation at all to make any effort to accommodate this. I use my own discretion to write their names in a way that seems reasonable to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I treat commercialese as a foreign language: I adapt it into my own language as I see fit. Does anyone feel obliged to write Peking in Chinese characters? Or to write any foreign name in exactly the same way as it is written in its language of origin? I write Germany, Netherlands, Peter the Great, Charlemagne, etc., etc., none of which are written the same way in their respective languages of origin. Nowadays some newspapers seem to change their designation of a country whenever its regime invents a new name; I consider this unnecessary and contrary to historical practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just write Tomtom, Yahoo, etc, unless there is a specific reason not to, such as in a database; in a random weblog, there is no such reason, since Google's search is fuzzy enough (too fuzzy for my taste in fact—but that is another story). &lt;strong&gt;[Edited from here on:]&lt;/strong&gt; If the rules for a specific publication demand that you should do otherwise, it is up to you to decide whether you can get away with disobedience. It is generally a good idea to at least stick with one spelling throughout a document or publication, whichever it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some cases, you might have a unique chance to lead the development of the spelling of a particular term into a different direction: if you write for a major newspaper about a new institution—say, if the tax agency had a new collecting division called &lt;code&gt;Contr!butions :-)&lt;/code&gt;—, you might want to leave out any smiley faces and weird marks, to make the world a better place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T00:30:16.977" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T00:30:16.977" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12426" CreationDate="2011-02-21T00:07:46.933" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since you now seem to be looking for synonyms, let me suggest a few.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many cases, &quot;analyst&quot; can be replaced with &quot;specialist.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Internet Security &amp;amp; Usability Analyst --&amp;gt; Internet Security &amp;amp; Usability Specialist  &#xA;Marketing Analyst --&amp;gt; Marketing Specialist  &#xA;Business Analyst --&amp;gt; Business Specialist  &#xA;Handwriting Analyst --&amp;gt; Handwriting Specialist  &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the above examples could be replaced with &quot;expert&quot; or &quot;advisor.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I maintain that I do not know a single person who thinks negatively of the word analyst as a result of its substring &quot;anal.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3294" LastEditorUserId="3294" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T00:40:58.357" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T00:40:58.357" />
  <row Id="13499" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13500" CreationDate="2011-02-21T01:40:27.560" Score="5" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the word &lt;em&gt;quadrants&lt;/em&gt; in the opening of a &lt;em&gt;New York Times&lt;/em&gt; Opinion column, titled &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/opinion/20sun3.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This Just In… President Obama Is an American Citizen&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its opening paragraph:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;President Obama is not a foreigner. He is not secretly a Muslim. Those are the facts, but they do not seem to matter in many quadrants of the Republican Party. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oxford Dictionary defines quadrant simply as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a quarter of a circle of its circumference&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an instrument for measuring angles (and that was my understanding) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;em&gt;quadrants&lt;/em&gt; seems to be used with a different meaning, here. Does it mean &lt;em&gt;members&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;supporters&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;sectors&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="513" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T02:52:34.487" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T02:52:34.487" Title="What does &quot;quadrants&quot; mean in an article stating that Obama's birth facts &quot;do not seem to matter in many quadrants of Republican Party&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13499" CreationDate="2011-02-21T02:07:59.493" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is being used in the sense of &quot;areas&quot;, &quot;divisions&quot; or &quot;segments&quot;. While a whole can only have four quadrants when the word is used correctly, people who spend a lot of time exploring the thesaurus for words that don't seem overused often don't care much about the precision of their language. (One need only look at a handful of poems written for high school English assignments to see how badly a thesaurus can be misused.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T02:07:59.493" />
  <row Id="13501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13499" CreationDate="2011-02-21T02:22:40.613" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means that those facts don't seem to matter to all the members of the Republican Party.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T02:22:40.613" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13502" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-21T02:23:53.233" Score="4" ViewCount="626" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today's &lt;em&gt;Washington Post&lt;/em&gt; has the article &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/19/AR2011021903916_pf.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Congress, Obama Brace for Showdown as Government Shutdown Looms&lt;/a&gt;, which contains the following sentence:   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The prospect of a government shutdown appeared more possible Saturday after the House passed a budget measure in the pre-dawn hours that cuts $61 billion - and was immediately rejected by Senate Democrats and President Obama.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;government shutdown&lt;/em&gt; mean? Unlike stores and factories, or Greece and Iceland, how can the government of America shut down, or get paralyzed with its operation? I know it's a naive question, but I don't understand a government can stop its function in reality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="513" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T02:58:32.940" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T03:53:30.673" ClosedDate="2011-02-23T17:43:39.943" Title="What does ‘government shutdown’ mean exactly?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13502" CreationDate="2011-02-21T02:32:55.513" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Right now the US government &lt;em&gt;needs&lt;/em&gt; to pass a budget before it can move on to other issues. The House of Representatives is dominated by the Republican Party, which means that any bill that they pass is going to have very strong support from the Republicans and be strongly opposed by the Democrats. However, every bill must be signed or vetoed by the president, and as a Democrat Obama is unlikely so sign any bill his party opposes. So until these two sides can come to an agreement on the budget then the government will be effectively &quot;shut down&quot;--incapable of passing any legislation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="502" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T02:32:55.513" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="13504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13398" CreationDate="2011-02-21T02:56:19.760" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no need to make up a new word for this; it has been called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivocation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;equivocation&lt;/a&gt; since the 1700s. A person who does this is an equivocator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2949" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T02:56:19.760" />
  <row Id="13505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13502" CreationDate="2011-02-21T02:58:19.087" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What jjackson described is something else - &lt;em&gt;gridlock&lt;/em&gt;. (The metaphor is taken from a traffic jam where all of the cars are &quot;locked&quot; in the &quot;grid&quot; of streets - so each car is blocked by another one, and none of them can move. In a similar vein, then, when you have - as now - one house of Congress controlled by one party and the other by the other one, then each one can block the other from passing legislation.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &quot;government shutdown,&quot; on the other hand, means basically what it sounds like: various federal offices will be closed, and their workers will be out of the office, until a budget is passed and their funding is allocated (or until they are defunded by an act of Congress). Exceptions are made for essential services such as police and firefighters; these continue to operate normally during a government shutdown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T02:58:19.087" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13502" CreationDate="2011-02-21T03:04:19.580" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means the government is stalled, as the party who has the majority in the House of Representatives is not the President's party. In this situation, there will not possibly be any progress, as the President will probably reject what the House of Representative has approved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What reported from newspapers or magazines should not be taken too literally, as they usually exaggerate the situation, especially a negative one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T03:04:19.580" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13447" CreationDate="2011-02-21T03:16:51.513" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Smokey. Often used to refer to singers, but conveys the sense without the &quot;weight&quot; of husky or the overtness of sultry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5284" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T03:16:51.513" />
  <row Id="13508" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13509" CreationDate="2011-02-21T03:35:26.693" Score="3" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one would be correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I wish it weren't raining today.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I wish it wasn't raining today.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I wish it were raining today.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I wish it was raining today.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4947" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T12:54:05.040" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T12:54:05.040" Title="&quot;Wasn't&quot; vs &quot;weren't&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13508" CreationDate="2011-02-21T03:46:24.210" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fact that you wish something was or wasn't true means you should use the indicative. You are stating that something is factually one way or another, and wishing for the situation to be reversed. So &quot;I wish it wasn't raining today&quot; and &quot;I wish it was raining today&quot; are how to express those concepts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were trying to imply something contrary to fact, then &lt;em&gt;were&lt;/em&gt; would be the way to go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I were you, I wouldn't be wishing it wasn't raining: rain is good for your garden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Because Stan Rogers, whose opinion I respect, has weighed in with the polar opposite viewpoint from mine, I feel obliged to elaborate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Morton S. Freeman, writing in &lt;em&gt;A Treasury for Word Lovers&lt;/em&gt;, elaborates on a parallel idea using &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; clauses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some people have a mistaken belief that a clause beginning with &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; must always be in the subjunctive mood, reflecting doubtful fulfillment of the condition or a condition contrary to fact. This is not so. A clause introduced by &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; may express a simple condition relating to the past and take the indicative form of the verb. For example, in &quot;If Allan was there, he was drunk,&quot; the &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; clause introduces a supposition, hence a verb in the indicative mood. And so with the sentences &quot;If Curran was absent, he was probably out of town&quot; and &quot;If I was long-winded, I'm sorry.&quot; &lt;strong&gt;None of the examples imply doubt or suggest circumstance contrary to fact, as in &quot;If I &lt;em&gt;were&lt;/em&gt; President, I wouldn't pardon him.&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;[Emphasis added.]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you can see the parallel here. Far from indicating a circumstance contrary to fact, the &quot;I wish&quot; construction is lamenting an actual fact. So subjunctive mood is not called for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T04:14:48.503" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T04:14:48.503" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="13510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13508" CreationDate="2011-02-21T03:47:03.083" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Were&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;weren't&lt;/em&gt; are correct (and the subjunctive mood is weird). &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_subjunctive#To_express_a_wish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;When you express a wish&lt;/a&gt;, the past subjunctive is the correct tense and mood. [Link added -- I did say the subjunctive is weird.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastEditorUserId="5095" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T04:33:47.313" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T04:33:47.313" />
  <row Id="13512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13398" CreationDate="2011-02-21T03:53:56.767" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The art of winning an argument through the use of deliberately confusing language is casuistry.  A person who engages in it is a casuist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5286" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T03:53:56.767" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13513" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13514" CreationDate="2011-02-21T05:35:24.967" Score="3" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;An office colleague wrote this email. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Kindly log a ticket for the same and&#xA;  assign it to the &lt;em&gt;concerned team&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wrote back the following - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I believe it should be &#xA;  &quot;Kindly log a ticket for the same and assign it to the &lt;em&gt;team concerned&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct, and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2020" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T06:54:55.453" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T23:37:21.590" Title="Should it be &quot;concerned person&quot; or &quot;person concerned&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13513" CreationDate="2011-02-21T05:40:28.000" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The team concerned&lt;/em&gt; is short for something like &lt;em&gt;the team that is concerned with it&lt;/em&gt;. While &lt;em&gt;the concerned team&lt;/em&gt; is also valid in that context, on its own I'd be more likely understand it as referring to a team of people that are feeling worried. So you're both correct, but I'd say your phrasing is generally preferable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T05:40:28.000" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13508" CreationDate="2011-02-21T05:43:35.063" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Both forms are fine.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wish it was…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wish it were…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The traditional formal line on this is unclear.  I’d always understood that the subjunctive, &lt;em&gt;were&lt;/em&gt;, is the correct mood to use with &lt;em&gt;wish&lt;/em&gt;; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_subjunctive#To_express_a_wish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;, various other online sources, and Stan Rogers agree.  However, Robusto disagrees articulately… so until someone finds what a serious authoritative modern grammar says on this, it seems open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;strong&gt;either form is undoubtedly acceptable&lt;/strong&gt; — and indeed, this has been the case for at least two centuries.  Comparing &lt;code&gt;I wish I was&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;I wish I were&lt;/code&gt; in &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coha/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;COHA&lt;/a&gt; shows that their relative popularities have fluctuated — &lt;code&gt;was&lt;/code&gt; was the commoner through the 19th century and is again in recent decades, while &lt;code&gt;were&lt;/code&gt; predominated in the early/mid 20th century — but that the difference between the two has never been overwhelming either way.  For the 2000’s, COHA shows &lt;code&gt;I wish I was&lt;/code&gt; to be roughly twice as frequent as &lt;code&gt;I wish I were&lt;/code&gt;.  (Comparing &lt;code&gt;I wish it was&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;I wish it were&lt;/code&gt; shows similar fluctuations, but with a rather smaller sample size, so the trends are less clear.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T05:43:35.063" />
  <row Id="13516" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13517" CreationDate="2011-02-21T05:59:50.690" Score="0" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does &quot;&lt;em&gt;to phrase it another way&lt;/em&gt;&quot; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2332" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T06:54:02.130" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T07:28:29.183" Title="What does &quot;to phrase it another way&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13516" CreationDate="2011-02-21T06:18:15.283" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means to say the same thing in a different way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That could mean just using different words, or it could mean using a different example or a different metaphor. Often, it is a matter of summarizing a long explanation with a much shorter version that gets the gist of the matter across without being quite as complete or technically precise. The object, in that case, is to make the statement clearer to anyone who had difficulty understanding it the first time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may also involve changing the tone or the language of a statement to make it less confrontational or offensive. In that case, the object of the rephrasing would be to stay within the bounds of community standards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T06:18:15.283" />
  <row Id="13518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13398" CreationDate="2011-02-21T06:19:03.227" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;witch hunt&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;witch trial&lt;/strong&gt; would be another option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This doesn’t specifically relate to the terminology used, but to the general process of accusing someone while leaving them no reasonable way to defend themself.  One notorious method was &lt;strong&gt;witch ducking&lt;/strong&gt;: a suspected ‘witch’ would be forcibly submerged in a pond.  If she survived, this showed she was in league with the devil, so she would be condemned as a witch.  If she drowned, then… well, in that case it didn’t really make much difference whether she was considered innocent or not.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T06:19:03.227" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13516" CreationDate="2011-02-21T06:20:28.633" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'To phrase' something is to put into words, and 'to phrase it another way' means using a different method to explain an idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most commonly, you get someone saying something a bit complicated and/or abstract, and then 'to phrase it another way' they then repeat the same idea but in a simpler, hopefully more understandable answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T06:20:28.633" />
  <row Id="13520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13450" CreationDate="2011-02-21T06:24:44.830" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My choice would be 'coerced' for that particular sentence.  As in 'Foxconn workers were coerced into working beyond their physical and mental limits.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5286" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T06:24:44.830" />
  <row Id="13521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13253" CreationDate="2011-02-21T06:31:00.113" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I run into systems of arbitrary rules that have absolutely no flexibility, I think of the innkeeper Procrustes and the associated adjective 'procrustean'.  Procrustes had an inn with beds that were of a fixed size. If you were shorter than his bed, he would stretch you to fit and if you were too tall, he would cut off your feet.  See more here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrustes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrustes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5286" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T06:31:00.113" />
  <row Id="13522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13398" CreationDate="2011-02-21T06:39:37.953" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your description suggests a &lt;em&gt;sophist&lt;/em&gt; engaging in &lt;em&gt;sophistry&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T06:39:37.953" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="13523" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-21T06:44:50.550" Score="4" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;English is not my mother tongue. I've read an article with these sentences. I have no idea if the phrase &quot;perfect storm&quot; is supposed to be positive or negative. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Social gaming is sitting on perfect storm,” add Relan, “And the storm revolves around three basic areas-mobile, internaional[&lt;em&gt;sic&lt;/em&gt;] and Facebook.”&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/20/peter-relan-on-how-crowdstar-plans-to-take-on-zynga-ea-and-playdom-in-2011/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TechCruch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5288" LastEditorUserId="4814" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T08:36:15.483" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T08:36:15.483" Title="Does &quot;Perfect Storm&quot; have a positive meaning ?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13523" CreationDate="2011-02-21T06:53:02.210" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &quot;perfect storm&quot; is not normally good news for anybody but the storm itself, but it appears that the speaker being quoted is using it in a positive sense. Social gaming, in this metaphor, would &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt; the storm rather than something that would be subject to the storm's force. It was probably not the best way to phrase it, but an off-the-cuff statement given during an interview is not normally subject to a lot of editing and revision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T06:53:02.210" />
  <row Id="13525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13523" CreationDate="2011-02-21T07:06:23.457" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The key element of the (much overused and irritating, IMO) metaphor here is that of a synergy of forces leading to a release of energy much greater than any of its individual contributors would ever generate.  It may be that the speaker is ignoring the &quot;storm&quot; part, i.e. that the energy release is &lt;em&gt;destructive&lt;/em&gt;, but possibly not; it's not uncommon to notice that transformative new media are broadly destructive to the old media they replace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T07:06:23.457" />
  <row Id="13526" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13533" CreationDate="2011-02-21T07:26:06.203" Score="0" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the best way to write dollar amounts in a narrative (such as a novel), particularly if the amounts are large and/or fractional?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would use this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The national debt just hit &lt;strong&gt;14.6 trillion dollars&lt;/strong&gt;,&quot; said Jack, &quot;yet you complain about my &lt;strong&gt;$2 million&lt;/strong&gt; fee and &lt;strong&gt;$5,000&lt;/strong&gt; airline tickets?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there better ways to write this?  Specifically:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is a rule of thumb for spelling out amounts vs. keeping is as a number?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If I spell out &lt;em&gt;dollars&lt;/em&gt; once, do I need to keep spelling it out within the same context?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T14:17:25.433" Title="How to write dollar amounts in a narrative" Tags="&lt;numbers&gt;&lt;style&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13516" CreationDate="2011-02-21T07:28:29.183" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Phrase&lt;/em&gt;, when used as verb, means &lt;em&gt;put into a particular form of words&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;to phrase it another way&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;to use a different form of words&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is important to phrase the question correctly.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The original phrasing carried a different meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T07:28:29.183" />
  <row Id="13528" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13531" CreationDate="2011-02-21T07:30:06.060" Score="2" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two complete sentences; the second is in parentheses, essentially a comment on the first.  Where do I place the periods?  I would use this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They played opera. (I covered my ears.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this punctuation correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T08:19:02.013" Title="Where to put the periods when using a parenthetical sentence?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;period&gt;&lt;parentheses&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13528" CreationDate="2011-02-21T07:35:33.703" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The punctuation marks are correct.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When a full sentence is placed between parentheses, the period is placed inside them too. For the sentences surrounding the parenthetical one, the rule is the usual one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T07:35:33.703" />
  <row Id="13530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13526" CreationDate="2011-02-21T07:42:42.203" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find the sentence perfectly fine, except when you write &lt;em&gt;$2 million&lt;/em&gt;; I don't think there is a better way to write it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is not clear to which currency you are referring because the symbol is used for more currencies, I would first write something like &quot;14.6 trillion of American dollars&quot;, and then write the other amounts like &lt;em&gt;$2,000,000&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;If there isn't ambiguity, I would write the amounts prefixing them with the currency symbol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T14:17:25.433" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T14:17:25.433" />
  <row Id="13531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13528" CreationDate="2011-02-21T07:48:53.970" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Punctuation within parentheses&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your parentheses enclose a sentence-within-a-sentence, don't use a period within the parentheses. Do, however, use a question mark or an exclamation point if it is called for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mother love (hers was fierce) ruined&#xA;  the young boy's life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They finally said (why couldn't they&#xA;  have admitted it earlier?) that she&#xA;  had been there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The wedding reception (what a fiasco!)&#xA;  ended abruptly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the parentheses enclose a complete sentence that stands alone, keep the period within the parentheses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(Her father was the only one who&#xA;  didn't attend.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/Uses-of-Parentheses.topicArticleId-29011,articleId-28994.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cliffsnotes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4814" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T08:19:02.013" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T08:19:02.013" />
  <row Id="13532" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13534" CreationDate="2011-02-21T07:49:39.533" Score="4" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been wondering if this particular speaking device had a specific name.  My wife uses a speaking technique where, instead of just making a statement, she presents it in the form of a question, and then immediately answers her own question.  For example, instead of saying&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think you are wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;she would say,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do I think you are wrong? Yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, similarly, instead of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hate when he does that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;she would say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do I hate when he does that? Yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this particular technique have a name?  I have been trying to Google this, but have been stumped as to exactly what to search for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5291" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T23:41:50.557" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T23:41:50.557" Title="Answering your own question" Tags="&lt;speech&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13526" CreationDate="2011-02-21T07:52:46.597" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In fictional dialogue I prefer to spell things out in words. It's not just a matter of getting the amounts across, but of getting across the language that the character uses. And getting specific about the currency doesn't matter in the least -- one can assume that the character(s) being spoken to are familiar with the system the speaker is using.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, if your character is saying &quot;fourteen point six &lt;em&gt;trillion&lt;/em&gt; dollars&quot;, then those are the words that ought to appear on the page. I would also use &quot;two million dollar fee&quot; and &quot;five thousand dollar airline tickets&quot;. (I might phrase that last more like &quot;and a lousy five grand for airline tickets&quot; just to spice things up a bit.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T07:52:46.597" />
  <row Id="13534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13532" CreationDate="2011-02-21T07:54:29.000" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This figure of speech is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypophora&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;hypophora&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. If you follow the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_of_speech&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;figures of speech&lt;/a&gt; link or visit this web page about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric3.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rhetoric&lt;/a&gt; you can find more information about this and other devices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4814" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T08:05:35.367" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T08:05:35.367" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13535" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-21T07:59:04.830" Score="0" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am doing a comparative research project on verb collocations. I have tried to copy &amp;amp; paste verbs from a software dictionary but it is quite cumbersome. I wonder if anybody knows anything about such a list. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5161" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T08:25:20.357" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T08:25:20.357" ClosedDate="2011-02-21T15:16:26.543" Title="Source of a list of English verbs" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13535" CreationDate="2011-02-21T08:00:20.833" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think you'll get far by searching for words which are defined as potential verbs. You need to do &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Part-of-speech_tagging&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;part-of-speech analysis&lt;/a&gt;, and might as well ignore what the dictionary says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4385" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T08:00:20.833" />
  <row Id="13537" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13560" CreationDate="2011-02-21T08:37:02.097" Score="2" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/979/why-do-english-writers-avoid-explicit-numerals&quot;&gt;Why do English writers avoid explicit numerals?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/13526/how-to-write-dollar-amounts-in-a-narrative&quot;&gt;my previous question regarding spelling out monetary amounts&lt;/a&gt;, is there a rule of thumb when a number should be spelled out?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These examples are easy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have &lt;strong&gt;two&lt;/strong&gt; brothers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's exactly &lt;strong&gt;823&lt;/strong&gt; miles to New York.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But do I have &lt;strong&gt;15&lt;/strong&gt; minutes of fame, or &lt;strong&gt;fifteen&lt;/strong&gt; minutes of fame?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/979/why-do-english-writers-avoid-explicit-numerals&quot;&gt;This related question&lt;/a&gt; asks how the practice of spelling out numbers originated; I'm looking for &lt;em&gt;specific guidelines&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastEditorUserId="4744" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T08:56:58.470" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T11:01:49.640" ClosedDate="2011-02-21T15:15:59.133" Title="When to spell out numbers" Tags="&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13538" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13578" CreationDate="2011-02-21T08:38:42.567" Score="4" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;See picture -- is there a better term than &lt;em&gt;glass elevator&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/PXx0Q.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T15:49:32.007" Title="What do you call this type of elevator?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13538" CreationDate="2011-02-21T08:42:39.903" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on whether you are referring to the glass-ness of them, or the 'inside-out-ness', in which case you could say 'external elevator', though I've no idea if that's the 'official' term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="529" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T08:42:39.903" />
  <row Id="13540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13538" CreationDate="2011-02-21T08:43:27.727" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Observation elevator&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;sightseeing elevator&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;em&gt;observation elevator&lt;/em&gt; is more commonly used, as Google returns pictures and more results (76 thousand vs. 44 thousand, with quotes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastEditorUserId="3812" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T08:56:08.407" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T08:56:08.407" />
  <row Id="13541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13537" CreationDate="2011-02-21T08:57:17.883" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spell out numbers one through ten&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spell out numbers above ten, unless&#xA;you have to use more than two words&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always spell out numbers that begin&#xA;sentences &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;However, you should try to&#xA;avoid using long, clunky numbers at&#xA;the beginning of a sentence&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use numbers for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dates&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Phone numbers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Time; except when using &quot;o'clock&quot; or when omitting a.m. or p.m.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From  &lt;a href=&quot;http://homeworktips.about.com/od/essaywriting/a/numbers.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Homeworktips&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to the previous, The Bedford Handbook, Seventh Edition, says at 41b&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Generally, figures are accepted for dates, addresses, percentages, fractions, decimals, scores, statistics, and other numerical results, exact amounts of money, divisions of books and plays, pages, identification numbers, and the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4814" LastEditorUserId="4814" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T09:10:29.250" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T09:10:29.250" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13513" CreationDate="2011-02-21T09:02:32.180" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Kindly log a ticket for the same and assign it to the concerned team.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence could be understood as referring to the worried (or troubled, or anxious) team. As &lt;em&gt;concerned team&lt;/em&gt; is preceded by &lt;em&gt;assign it to&lt;/em&gt;, most of the people would understand what you exactly meant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Kindly log a ticket for the same and assign it to the team concerned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sentence would be understood as if it was referring to &quot;the team concerned in [handling such tickets]&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is similar to the phrase &quot;the organs concerned in digestion and in blood-making&quot;, where the part after &lt;em&gt;concerned&lt;/em&gt; is explicit. In both the phrases, &lt;em&gt;be concerned in&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;have a specific connection with or responsibility for&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T23:37:21.590" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T23:37:21.590" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13543" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13546" CreationDate="2011-02-21T09:05:10.010" Score="1" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the definition of a &quot;one-note joke&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T14:06:44.513" Title="What is a &quot;one-note joke&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13526" CreationDate="2011-02-21T09:05:55.180" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often see K used too. Especially salaries, e.g. 200K salary instead of $200,000&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T09:05:55.180" />
  <row Id="13545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13543" CreationDate="2011-02-21T09:13:54.453" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't find any authoritative reference (i.e. dictionary) on that, but the way I understand it is “&lt;strong&gt;a short joke&lt;/strong&gt;”, also known as “a one-line joke”, aka “&lt;strong&gt;a one-liner&lt;/strong&gt;”. Uses reported by a Google search seem to agree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It may also be used figuratively. For example, when used to refer to a film or video game, it means that the production has few funny elements, but otherwise isn't very funny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T09:13:54.453" />
  <row Id="13546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13543" CreationDate="2011-02-21T09:17:12.593" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &quot;one-note joke&quot; is a character with so few dimensions it's difficult to see him (or her -- or, occasionally, them) from most angles. The one-note joke may have served a valid purpose when the author introduces the character(s), but if the ONJ shows up twice, you get a feeling of &lt;em&gt;déjà vu&lt;/em&gt;, and by the third time you find yourself asking &quot;is that all they do?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Entire movies, novels, and even series of works have been written around a one-note joke. Call it &quot;high concept&quot; if you wish, but there is nothing to it but a single premise and a lot of giving the audience exactly what they expect over and over again. One note, played again and again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T09:17:12.593" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13454" CreationDate="2011-02-21T09:32:26.207" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a comment, I asked:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What exactly is the question here? You said that &quot;its [sic] a quote, so I would rather not change it.&quot; So if you aren't asking about spelling, and you aren't asking about rephrasing—what are you asking? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And just so you know: in American English, it's almost always spelled &lt;em&gt;jiu jitsu&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The OP replied:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was wondering if the quote was correct, thats it. there is nothing more here. it sounded like it was not grammatically correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the quote correct? I can't say for sure, but I can say that there are zero Google hits for that full phrase (other than to &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; page, which I figure doesn't count).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similar phrases I did find:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Strength cannot beat more strength without Gracie Jiu jitsu..&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;—&lt;a href=&quot;http://twitter.com/#!/dartfordbjj/statuses/37425541254488064&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Twitter/@Dartford BJJ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Brute strength cannot beat amazingness.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;—comment on &lt;a href=&quot;http://fishslapsababy.blogspot.com/2008/02/who-is-strongest-person-in-world.html?showComment=1202792040000#c1614201494643033802&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Who Is the Strongest Person in the World?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Size and strength cannot beat style and technique&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;—comment on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mmanews.com/forums/general-mma-forum/45446-what-brocks-loss-means-me-2.html#post767899&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;What Brock's loss means to me...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Brute strength cannot beat a technical fighter.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;—comment on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f61/kimbo-wants-another-shot-sean-gannon-706245/index4.html#post19981706&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Kimbo wants another shot at Sean  Gannon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Strength cannot beat superior strength; but, superior skill can beat superior strength.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;—comment on &lt;a href=&quot;http://celticsword.websitetoolbox.com/post/show_single_post?pid=5324799&amp;amp;postcount=4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yashai Warcraft Discussion Board&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The best strength cannot beat technique&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;—&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bjpenn.com/profile/DakotaRehbein&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dakota Rehbein's Page&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, there's very few hits for this, so I wouldn't call it a common saying. And it's definitely not a common saying about jiu jitsu.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="513" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T09:32:26.207" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13548" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13549" CreationDate="2011-02-21T09:43:45.763" Score="0" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I read a Children's Illustrated Dictionary, I found an example sentence as this,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Apricot&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An apricot is a soft round fruit. It has a big &lt;code&gt;stone&lt;/code&gt; in the middle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to replace the &lt;code&gt;stone&lt;/code&gt; with another better word in the example? &lt;em&gt;core&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2661" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T10:13:17.390" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T10:13:17.390" Title="Stone in the middle?" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="13549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13548" CreationDate="2011-02-21T09:47:53.647" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;kernel&lt;/strong&gt; is a synonym to &lt;strong&gt;stone&lt;/strong&gt; in that context, as is &lt;strong&gt;pit&lt;/strong&gt;. If the stone in question is small, you could use &lt;strong&gt;pip&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;seed&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T09:47:53.647" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13398" CreationDate="2011-02-21T09:57:10.873" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;cunning&lt;/strong&gt; adjective: 1 having or showing skill in achieving one's ends by deceit or evasion&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that this include your idea of inventing (deceit), twisting and changing (evasion) terminology. It is considered a negative adjective unlike inquisitorial, which would be used as a desirable skill for a detective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4814" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T09:57:10.873" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13551" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13555" CreationDate="2011-02-21T09:58:29.607" Score="7" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is the correct form: &quot;ten euro&quot; or &quot;ten euros&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5139" LastEditorUserId="5139" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T12:00:49.830" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T12:00:49.830" Title="€10 = &quot;ten euro&quot; or &quot;ten euros&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;currency&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="13552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13551" CreationDate="2011-02-21T10:00:27.763" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ten euro, please &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro#Coins_and_banknotes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro#Coins_and_banknotes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/euro/cash/symbol/index_en.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Community legislative&lt;/a&gt; acts the&#xA;  plural forms of euro and cent are&#xA;  spelled without the s, notwithstanding&#xA;  normal English usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hmm However from the same document referred to: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In all EU legal texts, the nominative&#xA;  singular spelling must be 'euro' in&#xA;  all languages ('ευρώ' in Greek&#xA;  alphabet; 'евро' in Cyrillic&#xA;  alphabet). Plural forms and&#xA;  declensions are accepted as long as&#xA;  they do not change the 'eur-' root.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However (again) &lt;a href=&quot;http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/publication6336_en.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here is the spelling in the official languages&lt;/a&gt; - Only plural in non-English languages:)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T10:05:47.337" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T10:05:47.337" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13551" CreationDate="2011-02-21T10:02:10.477" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case, in English Euro (or euro) has two accepted plural forms: &lt;strong&gt;euros&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;euro&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In Community legislative acts the plural forms of euro and cent are spelled without the s, notwithstanding normal English usage. Otherwise, normal English plurals are recommended and used; with many local variations such as 'centime' in France. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4814" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T10:02:10.477" />
  <row Id="13554" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13557" CreationDate="2011-02-21T10:09:33.180" Score="0" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sentence talks about capability. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can never do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sentence talks about a choice. A personal preference maybe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will never do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this correct or can we use it interchangeably?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2020" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T10:31:59.630" Title="When should I use &quot;can&quot; and when should I use &quot;will&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13551" CreationDate="2011-02-21T10:10:54.923" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The situation is actually a mess. Here are only &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; of the relevant bits from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_issues_concerning_the_euro&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Official practice for English-language EU legislation (not necessarily in national legislation) is to use the words &lt;em&gt;euro&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;cent&lt;/em&gt; as both singular and plural. [...] Because the s-less plurals had become &quot;enshrined&quot; in EU legislation, the Commission decided to retain those plurals in English in legislation even while allowing regular plurals in other languages. The Directorate-General for Translation now recommends that the regular plurals, &lt;em&gt;euros&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;cents&lt;/em&gt;, be used. The European Commission Directorate-General for Translation's &lt;em&gt;English Style Guide&lt;/em&gt; (a handbook for authors and translators in the European Commission) previously recommended the use of regular plurals for documents intended for the general public but now has no restriction on usage[.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Prior to 2006, the inter-institutional style guide recommended use of &lt;em&gt;euro&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;cent&lt;/em&gt; without the plural s, and the translation style guide recommended use of invariant plurals (without s) when amending or referring to original legislation but use of regular plurals in documents intended for the general public.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As the euro was being adopted in Ireland the Department of Finance decided to use the word &lt;em&gt;euro&lt;/em&gt; as both the singular and plural forms of the currency, and because Irish broadcasters took their cue from the Department&lt;sup&gt;[citation needed]&lt;/sup&gt;, the &quot;legislative plurals&quot; tend to also be used on the news and in much Irish advertising. This has had the effect of reinforcing the s-less plurals, although advertisements made in the UK for broadcast in Ireland tend to use the plurals &lt;em&gt;euros&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;cents&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Common usage in the rest of the English-speaking world, where the euro is not the local currency, is to use the -s plurals. The media in the UK prefer &lt;em&gt;euros&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;cents&lt;/em&gt; as the plural forms. Broadcasts of currency exchange rates outside of the European Union tend to use the plural in -s, with NPR in the United States and CBC in Canada being two examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, both plural forms are correct. Just go with whichever your audience is more accustomed to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T10:10:54.923" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13556" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13598" CreationDate="2011-02-21T10:14:26.017" Score="7" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Content&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;contents&lt;/em&gt; — when do I use which form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize that the one is the plural form of the other, but they seem to be used interchangeably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2466" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T17:06:40.713" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T19:03:58.397" Title="&quot;Content&quot; or &quot;Contents&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13554" CreationDate="2011-02-21T10:31:59.630" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You shouldn't be using it interchangeably. Like you said, one is about ability while the other one is about choice. It's the same thing when you're using 'may'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can jump six feet into the air, but I will not because I might strain my hip. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5293" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T10:31:59.630" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13556" CreationDate="2011-02-21T10:36:17.063" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; entry for &lt;strong&gt;content&lt;/strong&gt; has:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1.&lt;/strong&gt; (usu. &lt;em&gt;contents&lt;/em&gt;) the things that are held or included in something: &lt;em&gt;he unscrewed the top of the flask and drank the contents | he picked up the correspondence and scanned the contents&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;• [usually in singular] the amount of a particular constituent occurring in a substance: &lt;em&gt;milk with a low-fat content&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2.&lt;/strong&gt; the substance or material dealt with in a speech, literary work, etc., as distinct from its form or style: &lt;em&gt;the outward form and precise content of the messages&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, it tends to be used in the plural, except in certain particular cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T10:36:17.063" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13559" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13564" CreationDate="2011-02-21T10:59:49.627" Score="0" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;A machine can be programmed, and different programs can be chosen for different tasks. One such task may be to initialise the machine, while the main purpose of the machine is to manufacture something. Could such a program, that causes the machine to process/manufacture something be called a &quot;work program&quot; or &quot;working program&quot;? What other scenarios / classifications of programs can you think of?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5000" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T12:30:10.917" Title="Names for automatic machines' programs" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13537" CreationDate="2011-02-21T11:01:49.640" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's all about style and consistency. If you're writing for a specific publication or medium, you should adopt its guidelines. The rules tend, however, to follow the broad guidelines below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Small numbers (below twelve) should typically by spelt out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For larger numbers, consider the space available to you and the length of the number when spelt out. If you're restricted in space (journal column, letter, headlines, display text, etc.), use numbers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If the numbers are round or approximate, they're more likely to be spelt out: “the accidental release resulted in the death of two hundreds”, but “at the end of the day, 137 people lost their life in the explosion”.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you are comparing numbers, or describing series of number, spell them out for clarity: “of the 129 units sold in the fourth quarter, 54 were shipped to European countries and 21 were sent to Russia”.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with anything, the rule ends up being: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;you are writing to be read, so do what you can to maximise legibility&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T11:01:49.640" />
  <row Id="13561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13559" CreationDate="2011-02-21T11:04:51.507" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of work, how about a word that has a clearer (more restricted) meaning, like &lt;strong&gt;production program&lt;/strong&gt;, or &lt;strong&gt;manufacturing program&lt;/strong&gt;, or &lt;strong&gt;building program&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T12:30:10.917" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T12:30:10.917" />
  <row Id="13562" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13563" CreationDate="2011-02-21T11:10:45.993" Score="1" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does the word &lt;em&gt;spouse&lt;/em&gt; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5294" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T16:02:13.513" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T16:02:13.513" ClosedDate="2011-02-23T17:33:20.173" Title="What is a spouse?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13562" CreationDate="2011-02-21T11:26:03.180" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A spouse is a husband or wife, i.e. someone you are married to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T11:26:03.180" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13559" CreationDate="2011-02-21T11:30:03.497" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The terminology I'm familiar with is that housekeeping programs (boot, reset, shutdown) are called &lt;em&gt;routines&lt;/em&gt; and mechanical processing instructions are either called &lt;em&gt;jobs&lt;/em&gt; or simply &lt;em&gt;programs&lt;/em&gt;. That may be specific to the CNC (Computer Numerical Controlled tools) world, but it seemed to be universal in the shops I've worked in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T11:30:03.497" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13565" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13643" CreationDate="2011-02-21T11:31:15.063" Score="11" ViewCount="596" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am wondering if there is a specific kind of writing that people would typically associate with Old English language. Are there well-known manuscripts that typically represent the kind of writing (letters, formatting, etc.) that would be used at the time and in the regions where Old English spread?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a related question, are there any specific typefaces that people would typically associate with the Old English language? Are there typefaces designed from Old English manuscripts, or that convey this distinctive look, if it exists?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T09:09:30.567" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T15:08:22.373" Title="What did Old English writing (letters and formatting) typically look like?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;style&gt;&lt;old-english&gt;&lt;typefaces&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="13566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13565" CreationDate="2011-02-21T11:38:39.523" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are well known manuscripts, such as &lt;em&gt;The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle&lt;/em&gt;, which were written entirely in Old English. Also &lt;em&gt;Beowulf&lt;/em&gt;, a few poems and so forth, but the &lt;em&gt;Chronicle&lt;/em&gt; remains the longest piece of Old English writing we have. It was written by monks in calligraphic style. It was not written (and certainly not typeset) in the characters we come to think of as &quot;Old English&quot;, although some of the letters might look similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_Chronicle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;image&lt;/a&gt; from the &lt;em&gt;Chronicle&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/PPlWP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T13:20:41.090" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T13:20:41.090" />
  <row Id="13567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13565" CreationDate="2011-02-21T11:41:01.497" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The writing system for Old English was pretty consistent across its history. Here are a couple of image links:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/images?q=beowulf+manuscript&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;to manuscripts of Beowulf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/images?q=bede+historia+ecclesiastica+manuscript+image&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;to manuscripts of Bede's &lt;em&gt;Historia Ecclesiastica&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, the letter forms are not very different from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolingian_minuscule&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Carolingian minuscule&lt;/a&gt;, but there is more frequent use of ligature digraphs, and, of course, there are letters like &lt;em&gt;thorn&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;eth&lt;/em&gt; that don't appear in Latin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastEditorUserId="5095" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T11:48:59.987" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T11:48:59.987" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13568" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-21T11:51:06.413" Score="2" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've come across phrases like &quot;What price freedom?&quot; a lot. I speak British English and it doesn't read nicely to me. It seems some words are missing. Does it mean &quot;What is the price of X?&quot;? Where did this phrase originate from and why is it used in this way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5296" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T12:04:25.053" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T12:04:25.053" Title="What does &quot;What price X?&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13277" CreationDate="2011-02-21T11:58:46.557" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In informal British English, I'd say the indirect bus goes &lt;b&gt;round the houses&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5297" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T11:58:46.557" />
  <row Id="13570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13568" CreationDate="2011-02-21T12:02:47.690" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;what price ——?&lt;/strong&gt; used to ask what has become of something or to suggest that something has or would become worthless: &lt;em&gt;what price justice if he were allowed to go free?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, it doesn't give an origin for this specific expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T12:02:47.690" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13571" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13574" CreationDate="2011-02-21T12:14:52.370" Score="0" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1073/what-is-the-correct-possessive-for-nouns-ending-in-s&quot;&gt;This question&lt;/a&gt; deals with the proper possessive for words that end with &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am wondering how common it is to restructure a sentence as to avoid the awkward possessive form.  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I visited &lt;strong&gt;Paros' lighthouse&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;appears less attractive than:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I visited &lt;strong&gt;the lighthouse of Paros&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am particularly interested how this affects spoken English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T13:13:39.587" Title="Avoiding the possessive form of words ending with &quot;s&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13572" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-21T12:37:55.290" Score="4" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to say &quot;cold temperature&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5298" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T17:03:13.683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T10:23:48.157" Title="&quot;Cold temperature&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13572" CreationDate="2011-02-21T12:51:29.767" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can simply say &lt;em&gt;cold&lt;/em&gt;, as it implies &lt;em&gt;temperature&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T12:51:29.767" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13571" CreationDate="2011-02-21T13:07:28.630" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this kind of avoidance technique appears more often in written English, where people are unsure of how to mark possessives. In spoken English you constantly hear constructions like &quot;Dennis's zucchini&quot; and &quot;Lois's sister&quot; and &quot;the buses' scheduled downtime&quot;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I think &lt;em&gt;the lighthouse of Pharos&lt;/em&gt; just sounds better than &lt;em&gt;Pharos' lighthouse&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T13:13:39.587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T13:13:39.587" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13572" CreationDate="2011-02-21T13:12:59.417" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;temperature&lt;/em&gt; is value-neutral without a modifier. It implies neither heat nor cold. If you can say &quot;a temperature of 0°C&quot; or &quot;a temperature of 98.6°F&quot; you certainly ought to be able to talk about a &quot;cold&quot; or a &quot;hot&quot; temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When serving beer, purists will tell you that the temperature of the beverage should be cool, not cold, despite what American beer commercials would have you believe. In England, beer is served at room temperature, but one should remember that this implies a colder temperature than it does in America.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T23:01:04.760" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T23:01:04.760" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="13576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13572" CreationDate="2011-02-21T13:30:38.760" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cold&lt;/em&gt;, when used as adjective, means &quot;of a low temperature&quot;, or &quot;at a low temperature&quot; (it could also be used as relative term); when it is used as noun, it means &quot;low temperature&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can say &lt;em&gt;low temperature&lt;/em&gt;, or simply &lt;em&gt;cold&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T13:30:38.760" />
  <row Id="13577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13543" CreationDate="2011-02-21T14:06:44.513" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/one-note&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;One-note&lt;/a&gt; is an expression that describes something repetitive, in the same manner as the same note played over and over again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A one-note joke is a joke that is repeated with little or no variation. It's also an expression for a character or story built around a single cliché or stereotype, often used to describe it's two-dimensional appearance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A repeated joke can be used to great effect, and the repetition then becomes a joke in itself. However, it can also easily fail and become annoying instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T14:06:44.513" />
  <row Id="13578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13538" CreationDate="2011-02-21T14:09:08.637" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;[I used to work in an elevator company]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We usually referred to these as &quot;panoramic elevators&quot;. (Google returns a few hundred thousand hits on this).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1519" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T14:09:08.637" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11874" CreationDate="2011-02-21T14:13:33.783" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm Canadian and have only started hearing &quot;orientated&quot; recently.  It sounds awful to my ears and back-formed as if someone is trying to sound smart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T14:13:33.783" />
  <row Id="13580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13565" CreationDate="2011-02-21T14:36:32.860" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In contrast to the accurate answers that the others have given, what would in popular culture be thought of as the writing for Old English (and of course it depends whether you mean &quot;Old English&quot; in a technical sense) would be some sort of black letter like these: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fontspace.com/category/blackletter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.fontspace.com/category/blackletter&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackletter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; for more information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4335" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T14:36:32.860" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13581" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13583" CreationDate="2011-02-21T15:08:03.807" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the phrase &lt;em&gt;unexpected repercussion&lt;/em&gt; unnecessary redundantly repetitive?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I looked up &lt;em&gt;repercussion&lt;/em&gt; I see that &lt;em&gt;unexpected&lt;/em&gt; is implicit in its meaning. Should I prefer to say &lt;em&gt;unexpected consequence&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="953" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T20:55:25.073" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T20:55:25.073" Title="Is &quot;unexpected repercussion&quot; repetitive?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;pleonasms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13581" CreationDate="2011-02-21T15:17:05.997" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does not seem particularly redundant to me, and I do not think it is a blatant tautology. In addition, at least one dictionary (NOAD) does not define it as &lt;em&gt;unexpected&lt;/em&gt;, but as &lt;em&gt;unintended&lt;/em&gt;, which is not the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T16:11:26.600" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T16:11:26.600" />
  <row Id="13583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13581" CreationDate="2011-02-21T15:18:32.527" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.  You can have expected repercussions.  For example, if you steal something, one of the reasonably expected repercussions is that you'll find yourself in court, if not jail, because of your action.  What might be an unexpected repercussion is that you are wrestled to the ground by an alert rugger player who sees you stealing the object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T15:18:32.527" />
  <row Id="13585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13538" CreationDate="2011-02-21T15:49:32.007" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, in some parts of the anglosphere, &quot;glass lift&quot; (or indeed panoramic lift) is a better term :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T15:49:32.007" />
  <row Id="13586" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13595" CreationDate="2011-02-21T16:14:20.137" Score="11" ViewCount="431" Body="&lt;p&gt;When should one sign a letter with &quot;Yours faithfully&quot; or &quot;Yours sincerely&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4106" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T14:19:29.310" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T14:19:29.310" Title="Is it &quot;Yours faithfully&quot; or &quot;Yours sincerely&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;letter-writing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13586" CreationDate="2011-02-21T16:39:10.297" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually just write &quot;Sincerely,&quot;.  I understand it to be a contraction of &quot;I am yours sincerely&quot; or &quot;I am yours faithfully&quot;.  If I used it, I'd probably invert it to &quot;Sincerely yours,&quot; or &quot;Faithfully yours,&quot;. These statements are typically reserved for love letters or other personal correspondence, although faithful could technically describe a business relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastEditorUserId="3328" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T17:23:14.957" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T17:23:14.957" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13588" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13586" CreationDate="2011-02-21T17:12:52.137" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been taught the following distinction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use &quot;Yours sincerely&quot; when you know the person you are addressing, i.e. Mr. Smith.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use &quot;Yours faithfully&quot; when you are starting your letter with Dear Sir/Madame, or a similar construction.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, it has been my experience that these are used less and less, especially in electronic communications. I would still prefer them in dead-tree letters, but only in most formal of circumstances (probably when invited to a cup of tea by the Queen of England).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1519" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T17:12:52.137" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13589" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-21T17:25:52.787" Score="0" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia has a great definition of metonymy &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, but I have a more specific question.  Can I have a list of metnonyms used in Professional European Football (Soccer), particularly the English Premier League (EPL)?  I'm relatively new to EPL fandom and want to understand more of the references used in commentary and conversation about the sport.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T20:58:38.727" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-25T14:20:55.047" Title="Metonymy in Professional European Football (Soccer)" Tags="&lt;metonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="13590" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-21T17:35:08.880" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia has a great definition of metonymy &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, but I have a more specific question.  The biggest user of NFL metonyms appears to be Gregg Easterbrook, writer of the Tuesday Morning Quarterback at ESPN.COM.&#xA;Can I have a list of metonyms used in American Football, particularly the National Football League (NFL)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T19:58:04.727" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T22:40:05.507" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-25T14:20:34.050" Title="Metonyms in American football: the National Football League" Tags="&lt;metonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13590" CreationDate="2011-02-21T17:44:32.760" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Canton: The Pro Football Hall of Fame. (The Hall of Fame is located in Canton, Ohio.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1265: The Green Bay Packers Front Office and Executives (Stadium and exectutive are offices located at 1265 Lombardi Avenue in Green Bay.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Jersey/A and Jersey/B: The New York Jets and the New York Giants (Both play in The Meadowlands, a stadium located in New Jersey, not New York.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Hoodie: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.patriots.com/team/index.cfm?ac=coachbio&amp;amp;bio=506&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bill Belichick&lt;/a&gt; (His typical attire on the sideline is a hooded sweatshirt.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastEditorUserId="3328" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T22:40:05.507" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T22:40:05.507" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-25T14:20:34.050" />
  <row Id="13592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13317" CreationDate="2011-02-21T17:45:24.143" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/overbearing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Overbearing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T17:45:24.143" />
  <row Id="13593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13581" CreationDate="2011-02-21T18:09:01.813" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Merriam Webster defines it as a &quot;reciprocal action; a widespread, indirect, or unforseen effect.&quot; I don't think it's necessarily redundant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T18:09:01.813" />
  <row Id="13594" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-21T18:10:41.927" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;After some consideration, I have decided to run for moderatorship here on the English Language &amp;amp; Usage Stack Exchange. My qualifications:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a top-rated contributor. I set the standard for high-quality, data-driven answers that reference but don’t defer to prescriptive authorities.&#xA;For example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1925/email-or-e-mail/1947&quot;&gt;&quot;Email&quot; or &quot;e-mail&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10021/is-the-correct-usage-of-diagnose-verb-losing-its-ground/10398&quot;&gt;Is the correct usage of “Diagnose (verb)” losing its ground?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2502/dreamed-vs-dreamt-leaped-vs-leapt-lighted-vs-lit/2535&quot;&gt;Dreamed vs. Dreamt, Leaped vs. Leapt, Lighted vs. Lit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many question askers don’t know the terminology to describe what they are asking about. My degree in linguistics helps me to identify the grammatical category or issue at the heart of the question and provide guidance and leadership in the tricky task of re-tagging.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am willing to stand up for the community when the sometimes bumbling powers that be unleash chaos on the site. For example, see here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/609/is-acceptability-a-meta-tag/612#612&quot;&gt;Is [acceptability] a meta-tag?&lt;/a&gt; wherein I resurrected a tag that had been deleted under a new name. See also my stand here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/87/using-asterisks-as-in-fuck-or-fck/91&quot;&gt;Using asterisks, as in fuck or f*ck?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, I have taken a leadership role on meta in helping to fill in the blanks of how our community defines itself and what the area of discussion on this site should and should not be. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/273/what-questions-are-on-topic-and-off-topic-here/283&quot;&gt;What questions are on-topic and off-topic here?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/63/what-should-our-faq-contain/284&quot;&gt;What should our FAQ contain?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Our site continues prosper under a lack of significant personality conflict. For the most part we have a dedicated core of knowledgeable participants who competently answer questions. Until very recently, our meta has been notable for lacking bitter personality conflict. I hope to keep it that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for how I intend to actually carry out the task of moderation, I will continue to use a light touch. I will be transparent about what I do and why. I will respond thoughtfully to any criticism of my use of moderator powers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will be honored to continue serving as a leader in the EL&amp;amp;U community should the users elect me. If not, I will keep participating in the community by continuing to write high-quality answers to questions. I’m not interested in electioneering. If you like what I’ve been doing and want me to keep doing it, vote for me. If not, I will be honored to have served and more than pleased to pass on the powers of moderation to my successor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T19:25:56.350" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T19:25:56.350" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-21T18:10:41.927" />
  <row Id="13595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13586" CreationDate="2011-02-21T18:43:53.290" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is called &quot;&lt;strong&gt;complimentary close&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to Oxford Handbook of Commercial Correspondence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the letter begins with Dear Sir, Dear Sirs, Dear Madam, or Dir Sir or Madam, the COMPLIMENTARY CLOSE should be &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Yours faithfully&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the letter begins with a personal name, e.g. Dear Mr James, Dear Mrs Robinson, or Dear Ms Jasmin, it should be &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Yours sincerely&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A letter to someone you know well may close with the more informal &quot;Best wishes&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Note that the Americans tend to close even formal letters with Yours truly or Truly yours, which is unusual in the UK in commercial correspondence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Avoid closing &lt;strong&gt;old-fashioned phrases&lt;/strong&gt;, e.g. We remain yours faithfully, Respectfully yours.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T18:43:53.290" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13596" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13597" CreationDate="2011-02-21T18:50:13.323" Score="7" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does &quot;lost sales&quot; mean in the sentence below?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The most important quality cost, lost sales, is often omitted from quality cost reports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5215" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T18:51:56.737" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T19:12:40.710" Title="What does &quot;lost sales&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;translation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13596" CreationDate="2011-02-21T18:52:06.243" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lost sales&lt;/strong&gt; are those selling opportunities that you have lost because an item was out of stock or because you do not carry a particular brand or line of merchandise or any other reason that caused you to lose the opportunity to sell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Check out this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.xpertmart.com/Manual/Lost_Sales.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T19:12:40.710" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T19:12:40.710" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13556" CreationDate="2011-02-21T19:03:58.397" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should be aware where you're using it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ldoce.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ldoce&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;contents&lt;/strong&gt;  [&lt;em&gt;plural&lt;/em&gt;] : 1) the things that are inside a box, bag, room etc 2) the things that are written in a letter, book etc &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She kept the contents of the letter a secret. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;content&lt;/strong&gt; [&lt;em&gt;singular&lt;/em&gt;]   the amount of a substance that is contained in something, especially food or drink&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;water with a low salt content&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;content&lt;/strong&gt; [&lt;em&gt;singular, &lt;strong&gt;uncountable&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;]: the ideas, facts, or opinions that are contained in a speech, piece of writing, film, programme etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The content of the media course includes scripting, editing, and camera work.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;content&lt;/strong&gt; [&lt;em&gt;singular, &lt;strong&gt;uncountable&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;]: the information contained in a website, considered separately from the software that makes the website work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The graphics are brilliant. It’s just a shame the content is so poor.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T19:03:58.397" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13596" CreationDate="2011-02-21T19:11:14.403" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lost sales&lt;/em&gt; is the difference between actually sold items and potentially sold items, i.e. how many more items you would sell under different circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the sentence, the difference is due to the quality of the product. If you sell a product with a lower quality, fewer will buy it. Improving the quality would give an increase in sales.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T19:11:14.403" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13600" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-21T19:21:22.113" Score="5" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the apostrophe in the right place in the following sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pendleton, et al. (2002)&lt;strong&gt;’s&lt;/strong&gt; research implies that extension of treatment allows for greater weight loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5307" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T15:13:58.130" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T15:13:58.130" Title="How do I correctly use the possessive apostrophe with a parenthetical citation?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13600" CreationDate="2011-02-21T19:24:29.387" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Logic suggests that, but it's pretty ugly. No one is coercing you into using the &lt;strong&gt;’s&lt;/strong&gt; mark of the possessive, and it would be much nicer to rewrite it as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The research of Pendleton et al. (2002) implies that…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T12:01:57.723" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:01:57.723" />
  <row Id="13603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5390" CreationDate="2011-02-21T20:23:02.543" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're interchangeable. With both spellings available, some people like to assert that they denote slightly different hues. But they don't, consistently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5310" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T20:23:02.543" />
  <row Id="13604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13589" CreationDate="2011-02-21T20:30:17.503" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only one that springs to mind at the moment is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosman_ruling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bosman&lt;/a&gt;.  Under the &quot;Bosman ruling&quot;, players may transfer freely between clubs once their contracts end.  Before the ruling, clubs had been able to demand transfer fees for players, even when they were no longer under contract as first team players.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is still moderately common to hear that a player has transferred &quot;under (a) Bosman&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T20:30:17.503" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-25T14:20:55.047" />
  <row Id="13605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13589" CreationDate="2011-02-21T20:58:38.727" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They sometimes refer to the goals (posts and crossbar) as &quot;the woodwork&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5278" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T20:58:38.727" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-25T14:20:55.047" />
  <row Id="13606" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13614" CreationDate="2011-02-21T21:40:22.507" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He still had the moment filed away in his memory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the meaning of the sentence I wrote widely understood?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Should that sentence be used in a particular context (e.g., when writing a book)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T09:23:22.153" Title="Usage of &quot;filed away&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrasal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="13607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13590" CreationDate="2011-02-21T21:43:36.970" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can give you one. The &lt;em&gt;gridiron&lt;/em&gt; refers to the playing field, and to football in a general sort of way as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;gridiron&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2 a field for football, marked with regularly spaced parallel lines.&#xA;  • the game of football : [as adj. ] the national gridiron season . [NOAD]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the football itself is called &lt;em&gt;the pigskin&lt;/em&gt;. (Note: it's almost never used with the indefinite article, so be careful about calling it &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; pigskin.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T21:43:36.970" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-25T14:20:34.050" />
  <row Id="13608" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13611" CreationDate="2011-02-21T21:45:37.980" Score="11" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;John Doe writes a book -- &lt;em&gt;Me and My Dog Spot&lt;/em&gt;.  On the page after the title, he writes: &lt;em&gt;For Nancy&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;My aunt gives this book to me for my birthday, and on the title page, she adds in her penmanship: &lt;em&gt;Dear Jen, this reminds me of you and Fluffy. Love, Aunt Marge&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd refer to #1 and #2 as a &lt;em&gt;dedication&lt;/em&gt;, but are there more appropriate terms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T22:20:26.333" Title="Term for dedicating a book" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="13609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13606" CreationDate="2011-02-21T21:50:05.203" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your usage sounds fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though I wouldn't say use it if I talked about my first kiss, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T21:50:05.203" />
  <row Id="13610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13608" CreationDate="2011-02-21T22:01:48.097" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Inscription&lt;/em&gt; is the word I was looking for regarding #2&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T22:01:48.097" />
  <row Id="13611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13608" CreationDate="2011-02-21T22:02:02.903" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The printed, authorial kind is definitely a &lt;strong&gt;dedication&lt;/strong&gt;, as you say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The handwritten personal kind, I would usually call an &lt;strong&gt;inscription&lt;/strong&gt;, though I’ve also heard &lt;em&gt;dedication&lt;/em&gt;.  See e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/groups/bookinscriptions/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this flickr group&lt;/a&gt; for confirmation of this usage of &lt;em&gt;inscription&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T22:02:02.903" />
  <row Id="13612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13600" CreationDate="2011-02-21T22:04:04.750" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If this is academic writing, then there is no one answer that will work in any situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer actually depends on the specific field you are writing in.  In my field (linguistics), there is a standard way that this is done, and it is like the following, e.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Chomsky's (1957) analysis of...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dupoux et al.'s (1999) finding of...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other fields might specifically demand that you do it the other way, but in linguistics, this is just what you do.  If you do it the other way in a peer-reviewed publication, it will be corrected.  It's not really a matter of logic, but of formality and tradition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Also: the best way to know what happens in your field?  Outside of asking someone knowledgable in the field, you can look at two or three papers and probably find at least a few examples.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T12:38:55.617" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:38:55.617" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13608" CreationDate="2011-02-21T22:20:26.333" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard and seen &lt;strong&gt;dedication&lt;/strong&gt; used for both. The handwritten kind can be called &lt;strong&gt;inscription&lt;/strong&gt;, as others have said, or an &lt;strong&gt;autograph&lt;/strong&gt; (though this is more used when carrying a signature, possible of someone well-known).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T22:20:26.333" />
  <row Id="13614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13606" CreationDate="2011-02-21T22:55:30.823" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence sounds fine grammatically, it's perfectly understandable, and it evokes some nice imagery that could be useful for characterization - i.e. this person is perhaps more organized (and/or rigid) than most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T22:55:30.823" />
  <row Id="13615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13454" CreationDate="2011-02-21T23:44:55.320" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The quote&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Strength cannot beat more strength without ju jitsu&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;may sound awkwardly phrased to some, but it is correct in every grammatical sense. This is readily apparent if one considers &lt;em&gt;strength&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;more strength&lt;/em&gt; personified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T23:44:55.320" />
  <row Id="13616" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13629" CreationDate="2011-02-22T00:05:30.110" Score="0" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across a headline of the article of today’s New York Times (Feb.22) giving tips for selling a second-hand apartment, that says &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To sell an apartment, no detail is too small&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think ‘‘No detail is too small’ means ‘you cannot be more attentive to the details of things to do it better.’ The phrase reminds me of the old cliché, ‘The God resides in details’ used in secular sense. But ‘No detail is too small’ sounds novel to me. Is ‘No detail is too small’ a common English phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The headline is followed by the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jamella Swift, a Citi Habitats broker, was trying to anticipate every detail that would prevent a potential buyer from purchasing the two-bedroom condo she was selling in Brooklyn. She put a full-size bed in the bedroom so buyers wouldn’t think the room was too small. She dragged in a Lucite coffee table to create the illusion of a larger living space and set up three floor lamps to supplement the recessed lighting. Ms. Swift hoped that the $5,000 she had spent would help her land $395,000 to $425,000 for the apartment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="3119" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T02:33:50.377" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T02:49:38.497" Title="Is ‘No detail is too small’ a frequently used phrase, or just a cliche?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="13617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13616" CreationDate="2011-02-22T00:14:16.590" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a fairly common phrase, and it just means that you have to pay attention to every detail, no matter how insignificant it may seem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T00:14:16.590" />
  <row Id="13619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13616" CreationDate="2011-02-22T00:43:16.987" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The original expression was &quot;No job too large, no job too small&quot; (for companies like printers and moving companies that can handle assignment of different sizes).  It snowcloned from there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T00:43:16.987" />
  <row Id="13621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13616" CreationDate="2011-02-22T01:07:41.393" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's definitely been used before, but I wouldn't exactly call it a cliché. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1924&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a reference&lt;/a&gt; to it from Language Log:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John V. Burke wrote to draw my attention to a phrase in Walter Kaiser's &quot;Saving the Magic City&quot;, NYRB, 12/3/2009 (emphasis added):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Roeck's book, for which he has done an impressive amount of research, tries to be a number of things at once: it is an account of the social and intellectual world of the expatriate community in fin-de-siècle Florence; it continues the biography of Aby Warburg he began with his earlier book; it is a history of late-nineteenth-century Florentine urban development; it is a cultural history; it addresses a wide variety of ancillary topics such as anti-Semitism, anarchism, labor conditions, and economic trends; and it discusses the various aesthetic theories being formulated at the turn of the century. &lt;strong&gt;No detail is too small to escape Roeck's net&lt;/strong&gt;, not even the plans formed in 1898 to produce artificial ice commercially in Florence.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This echoes the classic example &quot;No head injury is too trivial to ignore&quot;, discussed by Peter Wason and Shuli Reich, &quot;A Verbal Illusion&quot;, The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 31(4):591-97, 1979.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is familiar enough to be well understood, but hardly rises to the level of overuse one expects from a cliché.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, Oishi-san, I usually hear the other phrase you mentioned rendered as &quot;The Devil is in the details&quot; — a diametrically opposite perspective, but the same basic meaning. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T01:07:41.393" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4577" CreationDate="2011-02-22T01:13:09.033" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sense of &quot;fast&quot; here is almost obsolete; it's the &quot;fast&quot; of &quot;steadfast,&quot; as noted by RegDwight above. It means &quot;tight&quot; or &quot;secure,&quot; and you'll see it in literature in expressions like &quot;hold fast&quot; meaning to &quot;get a tight grip&quot; (on something). &quot;Hold fast to your dreams&quot; means to keep them close and never let them go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is exactly what you should do with a good friend. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T01:13:09.033" />
  <row Id="13624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12070" CreationDate="2011-02-22T01:17:03.087" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Same meaning of &quot;fast&quot; as in &quot;fasten.&quot; Confer the online etymological dict. (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=fasten):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;O.E. fæstnian &quot;make fast, firm,&quot; also&#xA;  &quot;ratify, betroth,&quot; from P.Gmc.&#xA;  *fastinojanan (cf. O.Fris. festnia &quot;to make firm, bind fast,&quot; O.S. fastnon,&#xA;  O.H.G. fastnion, O.N. fastna &quot;to&#xA;  pledge, betroth&quot;), from *fastuz (see&#xA;  fast (adj.)). Related: Fastened;&#xA;  fastener; fastening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So a &quot;hard and fast&quot; rule is one firmly fixed in place - it isn't going anywhere or changing soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T01:17:03.087" />
  <row Id="13625" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13627" CreationDate="2011-02-22T01:44:10.750" Score="2" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is correct &lt;em&gt;“Is that yours?”&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;“Is that your’s?”&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ask because it is possessive, so I would think it would be the latter, but I typically use and see the former usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there particular cases in which one should be used instead of the other? Or is one simply correct and the other not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is one of the few things that still confuse me, so help is greatly appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5076" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T02:05:20.537" Title="Yours vs. your's" Tags="&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13625" CreationDate="2011-02-22T02:05:20.537" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would definitely, unequivocally, and undeniably be &lt;em&gt;yours&lt;/em&gt;. Same with &lt;em&gt;ours&lt;/em&gt;. No apostrophe needed, and if you put one in, dark things may happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From NOAD:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;yours&lt;/strong&gt; |yôrz; yoŏrz|&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;possessive pronoun&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1&lt;/strong&gt; used to refer to a thing or things belonging to or associated with the person or people that the speaker is addressing : &lt;em&gt;the choice is yours | it's no business of yours.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T02:05:20.537" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13628" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-22T02:48:10.080" Score="6" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does it mean to &quot;grab a hold&quot;? There is a song by Cyndi Lauper that says &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you wanna grab a hold, let it go...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5320" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T14:38:41.060" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:38:41.060" Title="What's the meaning of the expression &quot;Grab a hold&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13616" CreationDate="2011-02-22T02:49:38.497" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=no+detail+is+too+small,no+job+is+too+small,no+detail+too+small,no+job+too+small&amp;amp;year_start=1840&amp;amp;year_end=2011&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=10&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Ngram graph&lt;/a&gt; comparing incidences of the phrases “no detail too small”, “no detail is too small”, “no job too small”, “no job is too small” since 1840. It appears that the original phrase is in fact “no detail too small”, with incidences appearing &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=-AcPAQAAIAAJ&amp;amp;q=%22no+detail+too+small%22&amp;amp;dq=%22no+detail+too+small%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=eh5jTbjAONG1tweZ2LHPCw&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=2&amp;amp;ved=0CC8Q6AEwAQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;as early as 1841&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/N5BfV.png&quot; alt=&quot;Google ngram graph&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see from the graph, the phrase had a peak usage in the early part of the 20th century, depending on the exact formulation, but dropped in favor dramatically until about 1980, since when it has steadily been increasing in usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T02:49:38.497" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13628" CreationDate="2011-02-22T03:00:15.783" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase is actually &quot;grab &lt;em&gt;ahold&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, and when you grab ahold of something, you grasp it or hold onto it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if you are watching a scary movie with someone, you might grab ahold of their arm during the frightening parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T03:00:15.783" />
  <row Id="13631" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13632" CreationDate="2011-02-22T03:36:42.350" Score="3" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I typically don't use an apostrophe with plurals in any situation, but I always assumed that the use of an apostrophe in constructions like acronyms...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Forty BA's were given out to students this year...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...or numbers...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Though the greatest period instability occurred during the 1950's when...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would personally use &lt;code&gt;BAs&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;1950s&lt;/code&gt; here, but I've never thought the apostrophe in this case was necessarily &lt;em&gt;incorrect&lt;/em&gt;. What say ye?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3454" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T03:48:47.383" Title="Is use of an apostrophe with a decade (e.g. 1920's) generally considered &quot;incorrect&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13631" CreationDate="2011-02-22T03:48:47.383" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not an easy question. With dates, the rule is simple: no apostrophes. It's &quot;1960s&quot; and so forth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The apostrophe is needed when it serves to avoid confusion: She earned all A's and B's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T03:48:47.383" />
  <row Id="13633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13586" CreationDate="2011-02-22T04:05:30.963" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Best,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Raven&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The modern era does not routinely recognize the &quot;complimentary close&quot; as such, and its use is becoming rather quaint. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T04:05:30.963" />
  <row Id="13634" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13655" CreationDate="2011-02-22T04:06:23.490" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hegel asserted that in order for the thinking subject (human reason or consciousness) to be able to know its object (the world) at all, there must be in some sense &lt;strong&gt;an identity of thought and being&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could you give me an example?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T04:39:22.607" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T01:41:46.527" Title="Meaning of &quot;an identity of thought and being&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13635" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14045" CreationDate="2011-02-22T04:30:28.500" Score="4" ViewCount="200" Body="&lt;p&gt;In managementese, &quot;actionable&quot; means &quot;able to be acted upon&quot;.  Unfortunately, its primary meaning is &quot;giving sufficient reason to take legal action&quot; in legalese.  I'm looking for a better alternative to the managementese meaning that doesn't have the unfortunate associations, but still has good Sexy Buzzword Value; help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example sentence per request: &quot;This has now become one of our actionable items.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another, related meaning that's within the range of what I'm looking for is &lt;em&gt;able to be actively used&lt;/em&gt;.  To illustrate, the best alternative to &quot;actionable&quot; that we've come up with in the original context is &lt;em&gt;deployable&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T16:21:18.890" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T19:47:32.900" Title="Better synonym for &quot;actionable&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13636" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13642" CreationDate="2011-02-22T05:00:40.413" Score="1" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;When starting a sentence with a lower case pseudonym, such as a screen name of a user account on a website, should it be capitalized? Or are there different cases where it would and would not be appropriate to do so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My curiosity was sparked by &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/253/referencing-the-existence-of-words-that-may-be-offensive/265#265&quot;&gt;this meta EL&amp;amp;U page&lt;/a&gt; where a user comments that he does not mind if his name is lower-cased or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any established standards on this practice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5253" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T00:49:36.300" Title="Capitalizing a lower case screen name at the beginning of a sentence" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;internet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13635" CreationDate="2011-02-22T05:13:52.257" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think, like many &quot;managementese&quot; buzzwords, &quot;actionable item&quot; is pretty much devoid of informational content. I would find a more descriptive word &lt;em&gt;milestone&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;objective&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;task&lt;/em&gt;, or perhaps &lt;em&gt;target&lt;/em&gt; and specifically describe the nature of the &quot;item&quot; and why it is &quot;actionable&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This has now become one of our primary objectives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This has now become a task that needs to be completed first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T05:13:52.257" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13606" CreationDate="2011-02-22T05:20:59.780" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is nothing wrong with your sentence. It is a perfect way to put up the unforgettable / everlasting event stored in ones memory. The event might be a pleasing one or something that is too bad, but in both context, the usage of your sentence brings its importance to the person involved. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5322" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T05:20:59.780" />
  <row Id="13639" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-22T05:40:44.723" Score="1" ViewCount="971" Body="&lt;p&gt;The song &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who%27s_That_Chick%3F&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;'Who's That Chick?'&lt;/a&gt; by David Guetta featuring Rihanna features the following line in the chorus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She's been a crazy &lt;strong&gt;dicta&lt;/strong&gt;, disco fever and you wonder...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lyrics websites disagree on the word in bold: 'dita' seems to be a common alternative. To my ear it sounds more like /ˈdɪktə/ than /ˈdɪtə/ or /ˈdɪttə/. (You can listen &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAc4zHEDd7o&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; - the chorus starts at about 1:10.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't find any definitions of 'dita' (or 'ditta' or 'ditter' etc.) that make any sense in the context of this song.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for 'dicta', there is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dicta&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sole entry on UrbanDictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A woman that appears to be quiet when you first meet her, but once you begin unraveling her personality you realize that she scarily independent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this might fit the song, I can't find any evidence for it apart from &lt;a href=&quot;http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110215111018AAF26u4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an anonymous answer on Yahoo! Answers&lt;/a&gt;. The wording of the answer is very similar to that of the UrbanDictionary definition; both may well have been written by the same person. The definition happened to appear in December last year, not long after the song was released.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps the lyricist was out of ideas and decided to invent a new word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4002" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T02:30:13.343" Title="What does the word 'dicta' ('dita'?) mean in the song 'Who's That Chick?'?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;lyrics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13640" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-22T06:04:47.413" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi all,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know which word I should use in the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How many/much feces does a human&#xA;  produce in one year?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found that both versions are existing on the Internet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sincerely,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kai.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4646" LastEditorUserId="4814" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T07:56:50.523" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T12:37:03.227" Title="Much feces vs. Many feces" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13640" CreationDate="2011-02-22T06:08:11.170" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Much.&lt;/em&gt; Feces cannot be counted individually, so it is used with &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Many&lt;/em&gt; is only used with &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countable_noun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;Link to the Wikipedia article on countable nouns&quot;&gt;countable nouns&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T06:08:11.170" />
  <row Id="13642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13636" CreationDate="2011-02-22T06:15:53.797" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When writing professionally, the first letter in the sentence is capitalized, sole exceptions being when the capitalization could result in a misunderstanding. In such cases, the word is usually typeset differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when writing in an informal context, you might want to take into consideration the preference of the user. For example, Randall Munroe prefers his username &lt;a href=&quot;http://xkcd.com/about&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;xkcd to remain lowercase&lt;/a&gt;; however, as you've linked, some users like nohat do not mind it being capitalized. If you are unsure, I would suggest capitalizing it and adhering to professional writing style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T00:49:36.300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T00:49:36.300" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13565" CreationDate="2011-02-22T06:31:56.680" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just spent some quality time perusing the Insular and Anglo-Saxon chapters of Michelle P. Brown's &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.librarything.com/work/171617&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A Guide to Western Historical Scripts from Antiquity to 1600&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; (pp. 48-49 and 58-59), as well as pp. 34-42 of Marc Drogin's &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.librarything.com/work/171688&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Medieval Calligraphy: Its History and Technique&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. The names they use for the scripts are varied and often conflicting, but they seem to agree on something like the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saints Patrick and Augustine imported versions of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncial_script&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Uncial&lt;/a&gt; and Roman &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-uncial#Half-uncial&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Half-Uncial&lt;/a&gt; scripts into Ireland and Britain, respectively, in the early 5th and late 6th/early 7th centuries, again respectively. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tug.dk/FontCatalogue/auncial/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Those&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tug.dk/FontCatalogue/huncial/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;scripts&lt;/a&gt; evolved, cross-fertilized, and developed along the usual pattern of utility &amp;rarr; formalization &amp;rarr; decoration &amp;rarr; exaggeration &amp;rarr; need for a new utility script. The result was something probably best termed &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tug.dk/FontCatalogue/inslrmaj/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Insular Majuscule&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;; think the &lt;a href=&quot;http://faculty.txwes.edu/csmeller/Human-Experience/ExpData09/03Biee/BieePICs/3fEurPICs/Kells/K183vCruc444.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Book of Kells&lt;/a&gt; or the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hf.ntnu.no/engelsk/staff/johannesson/!oemac/texts/oedial/aldred.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lindisfarne Gospels&lt;/a&gt;. This continued in use on both islands until the 9th century. Shortly after it appears, the utility version, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tug.dk/FontCatalogue/inslrmin/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Insular Minuscule&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; also appears, and by the mid to late 9th century, entirely replaces the majuscule (uppercase) version. At that point, influences from the continent (read: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolingian_minuscule&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Carolingian minuscule&lt;/a&gt;) would lead to a shift in writing styles for Latin documents, but Anglo-Saxon (aka &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Old English&lt;/a&gt;) continued to be written in Insular Minuscule until as late as the 12th century. Of course, Carolingian minuscule itself was developed at the court of Charlemagne under a certain abbot named &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcuin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Alcuin&lt;/a&gt;, born in &amp;mdash; you guessed it &amp;mdash; England.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T15:08:22.373" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T15:08:22.373" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13644" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-22T07:12:48.580" Score="1" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should there be spaces after a semicolon in a sentence? For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;...minimum/standard requirements for a base diploma;there has been...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;...minimum/standard requirements for a base diploma; there has been...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="4951" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T07:56:55.330" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T07:56:55.330" Title="Space After Semicolons?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13644" CreationDate="2011-02-22T07:38:35.843" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes.  Generally a space is needed after punctuation and before the start of a new word, the exceptions being the beginning of an enclosed pair such as (parentheses) and &quot;quote&quot; marks.  Compound word separators such as hyphens - and slashes &quot;and/or&quot; are also exceptions to using a space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T07:38:35.843" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13646" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13650" CreationDate="2011-02-22T07:47:52.090" Score="5" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone copyedited something I wrote in this form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most elections take between two and three weeks, but this &lt;strong&gt;depends how&lt;/strong&gt; many candidates there are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;to &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most elections take between two and three weeks, but this &lt;strong&gt;depends on how&lt;/strong&gt; many candidates there are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't have strong feelings about it, but the first form does not seem entirely wrong to me. I can find a bunch of other examples, like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This depends how much benefits were increased&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This depends how much roof space you have&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;etc. Of course that does not make it correct, but it's out there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does &quot;depends how&quot; require &quot;depends on how&quot; to be correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="91" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T10:53:48.670" Title="Does &quot;depends how&quot; require an &quot;on&quot;?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13639" CreationDate="2011-02-22T07:48:41.007" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;David Guetta's own youtube channel spells it DITA &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOdmf4N5aPE&amp;amp;t=1m42s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOdmf4N5aPE&amp;amp;t=1m42s&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dita von Teese comes to mind - she is a crazy diva :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T07:48:41.007" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13648" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13651" CreationDate="2011-02-22T07:58:45.197" Score="5" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; take too much space in a slide, and I delete all of them to save me extra lines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a good practice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:06:04.460" Title="Do native speakers leave out articles in slides for space?" Tags="&lt;articles&gt;&lt;typesetting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13646" CreationDate="2011-02-22T08:01:51.397" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it does. You can google &quot;depends how&quot;. Most results say &quot;depends on how ...&quot; :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5326" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T08:01:51.397" />
  <row Id="13650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13646" CreationDate="2011-02-22T08:02:32.100" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The preposition &lt;em&gt;on/upon&lt;/em&gt; must always follow the verb &lt;em&gt;to depend&lt;/em&gt; in a sentence except in the case where nothing else follows the verb, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;That depends. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;It [all] depends.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you have noted, &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; tends to be dropped by some, but this is, strictly speaking, incorrect, and thus it should be avoided in formal contexts. Here is a note on usage from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1239513#m_en_us1239513&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In informal use, it is quite common for the &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; to be dropped in sentences such as: &lt;em&gt;it all &lt;strong&gt;depends how&lt;/strong&gt; you look at it&lt;/em&gt; (rather than &lt;em&gt;it all &lt;strong&gt;depends on how&lt;/strong&gt; you look at it&lt;/em&gt;), but in well-formed written English, the &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; should be retained. In more formal writing, and sometimes for sound, rhythm, or other rhetorical effect, &lt;strong&gt;upon&lt;/strong&gt; is the preferred preposition: &lt;em&gt;You may &lt;strong&gt;depend upon it&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T08:30:28.310" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T08:30:28.310" />
  <row Id="13651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13648" CreationDate="2011-02-22T08:17:04.273" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's nothing &lt;em&gt;wrong&lt;/em&gt; with this: it's common practice in news headlines, and native speakers will find a well-worded sentence perfectly intelligible if the articles are removed. You must be careful about your choice of words, however, to avoid negatively affecting the clarity of your writing. It's probably not a problem as long as the text is relatively short, and presentation slides shouldn't have a lot of text, anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if you're going to remove any of the articles, you should probably remove &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; of them, otherwise it looks awkward, and might be interpreted as an error.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T08:17:04.273" />
  <row Id="13652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13640" CreationDate="2011-02-22T08:29:45.270" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would avoid this construction altogether and go for something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How &lt;strong&gt;much&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;fecal matter&lt;/em&gt; does a human produce in one year?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, &lt;em&gt;many feces&lt;/em&gt; is incorrect, as feces are uncountable. &lt;em&gt;Much feces&lt;/em&gt; is also quite incorrect (and sounds awkward, too), as &lt;em&gt;feces&lt;/em&gt; is plural by default. Not all uncountable nouns go with &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt;. For instance, &lt;em&gt;scissors&lt;/em&gt; is a &lt;strong&gt;plural uncountable&lt;/strong&gt; and both &lt;em&gt;much scissors&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;many scissors&lt;/em&gt; are incorrect. Instead, one says &lt;em&gt;many pairs of scissors&lt;/em&gt; to indicate the plural. Thus, you could also introduce a unit of measurement to quantify &lt;em&gt;feces&lt;/em&gt; in your example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How &lt;strong&gt;many&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;kiograms/pounds of feces&lt;/em&gt; does a human produce in one year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T08:29:45.270" />
  <row Id="13653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13646" CreationDate="2011-02-22T08:33:11.560" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/6Mtqy.png&quot; alt=&quot;Comparision&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the graph it seems to be sloppy to omit “&lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt;”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=depends+on+how%2Cdepends+how&amp;amp;year_start=1800&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=5&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google NGram Viewer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T10:53:48.670" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T10:53:48.670" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="13654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13628" CreationDate="2011-02-22T08:52:34.983" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;grab a hold of yourself&lt;/strong&gt;: don't lose heart, control yourself&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Grab a hold of yourself, grab a hold of your mind and change your life.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ldoce.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ldoce&lt;/a&gt; defines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Catch/grab/seize etc hold of something&lt;/strong&gt; = start holding something quickly and firmly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;She grabbed hold of letter and tore it open.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;grab a hold of&lt;/strong&gt; [sb's arm]: take hold of someone or something with a sudden or violent movement &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Kay grabbed hold of my arm to stop herself falling.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: The term get a hold of somebody/something has a different meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T09:08:53.027" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T09:08:53.027" />
  <row Id="13655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13634" CreationDate="2011-02-22T08:54:18.600" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;identity&lt;/em&gt; is being used here in something like its mathematical sense. That is to say that thought and being are inextricable, that they are in essence the same thing, that human thoughts are in some sense governed by the condition of being human animals who interact with the world around us with human senses and human means of locomotion, et cetera.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Identity&lt;/em&gt;, in this context, means &lt;em&gt;sameness&lt;/em&gt;. In mathematical (and computing) use, things share an identity if they are precisely the same thing. Adding or subtracting zero, or multiplying or dividing by one are &lt;em&gt;identity operations&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In common usage, we are often referring to a metaphorical &quot;on paper&quot; or conceptual representation of ourselves when we use the word &lt;em&gt;identity&lt;/em&gt;. It isn't exactly who we are, but who we think we are, who others think we are, or the distorted picture of us created by the trails we leave behind. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T08:54:18.600" />
  <row Id="13656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13572" CreationDate="2011-02-22T09:00:58.727" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on context. When &lt;em&gt;temperature&lt;/em&gt; is used as an attribute of an object, you can say &lt;em&gt;the temperature of the coffee is hot&lt;/em&gt;. It's possible to analyse this as an example of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use%E2%80%93mention_distinction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;use&amp;ndash;mention distinction&lt;/a&gt;, which is clearly illustrated by using quotes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The temperature of the coffee is &amp;ldquo;hot&amp;rdquo;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or by substituting a different attribute, as in &lt;em&gt;the colour of the coffee is brown&lt;/em&gt;. But while this is not wrong, it sounds somewhat stilted, and may be semantically misleading. As others have mentioned, it's possible to analyse &lt;em&gt;the temperature of the coffee is hot&lt;/em&gt; as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The temperature of the coffee has a high temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is clearly wrong, or at least some strange kind of redundant. In phrases such as &lt;em&gt;cold temperature&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;fast speed&lt;/em&gt;, I think there are two things at work. First and most importantly, people associate &lt;em&gt;low temperature&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;cold thing&lt;/em&gt; and synthesise them into one term, &lt;em&gt;cold temperature&lt;/em&gt;. Second, you can still analyse this as a &lt;em&gt;mention&lt;/em&gt; of the adjective, in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apposition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;apposition&lt;/a&gt; with the noun it modifies. Quotes, again, serve to illustrate how this can work, and also how awkward it is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was going at a &amp;ldquo;fast&amp;rdquo; speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which you can restructure to be compatible with the earlier examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The nature of his speed was &amp;ldquo;fast&amp;rdquo;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of this, it's possible to analyse such sentences as &lt;em&gt;20&amp;deg;C is a colder temperature than 30&amp;deg;C&lt;/em&gt; by referring to the &lt;em&gt;nature&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;quality&lt;/em&gt; of the things involved: the &lt;em&gt;nature&lt;/em&gt; of the temperature &amp;ldquo;20&amp;deg;C&amp;rdquo; is that it is colder than the temperature &amp;ldquo;30&amp;deg;C&amp;rdquo;. It is equally valid to use words such as &lt;em&gt;temperature&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;speed&lt;/em&gt; to refer to the literal scientific concept as well as the subjective experience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;However&lt;/strong&gt;, regardless of whether you'll be understood, it's usually considered better to write according to the clearer and more literal semantic interpretation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The coffee is hot. The coffee has a high temperature.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He was driving fast. He was travelling at high speed.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The event is probable. It has a high probability.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The dress is cheap. It has a low price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T09:00:58.727" />
  <row Id="13657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13606" CreationDate="2011-02-22T09:23:22.153" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just be aware that the meaning is subjective. The other answers here so far indicate that for some people, &quot;filed away&quot; means something along the lines of &quot;alphabetised, categorised, taxonomically classified, and available for instant retrieval&quot;. For me, it means &quot;I can find it if I really have to, but it'll be a chore at best&quot;. I guess it depends on whether you're a &lt;em&gt;clean desk&lt;/em&gt; or a &lt;em&gt;messy desk&lt;/em&gt;. I live in heaps, bundles and piles; the only things straightened away are things I'm pretty sure I won't be needing any time soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T09:23:22.153" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6463" CreationDate="2011-02-22T09:27:38.057" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say &lt;strong&gt;food enthusiast&lt;/strong&gt;, or maybe &lt;strong&gt;food lover&lt;/strong&gt; (though the second is too close to “someone who loves food in great quantity” for me to be completely confortable with it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T09:27:38.057" />
  <row Id="13659" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13660" CreationDate="2011-02-22T09:33:31.267" Score="4" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a difference between starting a question with &quot;How about&quot; and &quot;What about&quot;? Can we use both expressions interchangeably?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T15:42:44.803" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T15:42:44.803" Title="&quot;How about&quot; vs. &quot;What about&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13659" CreationDate="2011-02-22T09:37:56.443" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think they can be used interchangeably, there is a lot of overlap between the two, but I would usually use &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;How about&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; when making a suggestion that I feel is best. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I would use &quot;&lt;strong&gt;What about&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; when I am less set on the idea and more willing to listen to other suggestions. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about can also express an objection, whereas how about does not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How about&lt;/strong&gt; going to a movie?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I would love to, but &lt;strong&gt;what about&lt;/strong&gt; the kids?&lt;/em&gt; [&lt;em&gt;meaning, we would have to arrange for their care.&lt;/em&gt;] &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blogs.english4today.com/?p=73&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this link&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=157173&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T09:49:02.680" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T09:49:02.680" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13661" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13666" CreationDate="2011-02-22T09:44:25.507" Score="6" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always found the &lt;strong&gt;a-&lt;/strong&gt; prefix to words (as in &lt;strong&gt;anew&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;ajar&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;aside&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;awake&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;afoot&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;a-hunting&lt;/strong&gt;, etc.) fascinating. The &lt;em&gt;NOAD&lt;/em&gt; says on this topic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;a- 2.&lt;/strong&gt;  prefix&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;•to; toward : &lt;em&gt;aside | ashore&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;• in a specified state or&#xA;  manner : &lt;em&gt;asleep | aloud&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;• in the&#xA;  process of (an activity) : &lt;em&gt;a-hunting&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;• on : &lt;em&gt;afoot&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;• in : &lt;em&gt;nowadays&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ORIGIN&#xA;  Old English , unstressed form of on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;a- 4.&lt;/strong&gt; prefix&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1 of: &lt;em&gt;anew&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[ORIGIN: unstressed form of of ]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2 utterly: &lt;em&gt;abash&lt;/em&gt;. [ORIGIN: from Anglo-Norman&#xA;  French (corresponding to Old French&#xA;  e-, es-), from Latin ex.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this gives quite a few examples, it leaves some areas of doubt to me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;At what time did this phenomenon happen?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It seem quite restricted to words of Saxon origin, as I don't see it used with words of Romance languages. Is that a consequence of point 1, or is it because usage wouldn't aggregate an Old English prefix with, e.g., a word of French origin?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Were there others words formed which haven't endured? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Arguably subjective:&lt;/em&gt; I wonder how it came to pass that the same prefix is used with so many different meanings. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T15:56:36.263" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T15:56:36.263" Title="What is the history of adding the a- prefix to form words?" Tags="&lt;history&gt;&lt;prefixes&gt;&lt;old-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13662" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-22T10:06:50.647" Score="11" ViewCount="497" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to make a question having an answer as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;5 is &lt;strong&gt;the third prime number&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bold part is the answer. How to phrase the question?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5328" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T08:58:43.643" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T15:20:01.547" Title="How to phrase an asking sentence that must be answered with an ordinal number (e.g., the third prime) ?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;questions&gt;&lt;ordinals&gt;&lt;jeopardy&gt;" AnswerCount="15" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="13663" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13675" CreationDate="2011-02-22T10:13:18.207" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my peers insist that one should say &quot;install a patch&quot;. I believe on the contrary that &quot;apply a patch&quot; is more natural and one can only &quot;install a program&quot; when it comes to piece of software.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A quick search in google tells me that the words &lt;em&gt;apply&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;patch&lt;/em&gt; are more often associated as the words &lt;em&gt;install&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;patch&lt;/em&gt;. There is nonetheless a lot of result for it, and searching for &quot;install a patch&quot; is more succesful as searching for &quot;apply a patch&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Knowing that a google search is not ideal to find an answer in this domain, I would like to know when using &lt;em&gt;apply&lt;/em&gt; is favored, and when it is better to use &lt;em&gt;install&lt;/em&gt; with the word &lt;em&gt;patch&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T13:09:57.000" Title="&quot;Apply a patch&quot; vs. &quot;Install a patch&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13662" CreationDate="2011-02-22T10:13:29.623" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whew, I had to read this a few times&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a list of prime numbers, where is the number 5?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T10:13:29.623" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13662" CreationDate="2011-02-22T10:13:49.330" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no single, definite, one or two-word answer to that. There is some usage, mostly oral, of constructs like &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;“5 is the how many’th prime number?”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, but it is definitely not correct English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the answer to your question will be to reformulate it. For example, if it were a question to a math test, I would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For the sentence “5 is the &lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt;th prime number” to be correct, what should be the value of &lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;5 is the &lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt;th prime number. What is the correct value of &lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T10:13:49.330" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13661" CreationDate="2011-02-22T10:17:54.097" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think that it's the &lt;em&gt;same&lt;/em&gt; prefix as much as it is the remnant of a number of different grammaticalised pre-fixings. Most of them seem to have happened during the period when then curious admixture of French, Viking Danish, Anglo-Saxon and a sprinkling of Gaelic were distilling themselves down into the various dialects of Middle English. The spelling's kind of arbitrary, but &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; is the letter we tend to use when a word starts with a schwa that's flatter than we'd represent with a short &lt;em&gt;e&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English was essentially an unwritten language during that period (and the population essentially illiterate), so it &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; be a time of great flux. A lot of words were repartitioned. &lt;em&gt;All one&lt;/em&gt; became &lt;em&gt;alone&lt;/em&gt;, the &lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt; sound migrated from the ends of words like &lt;em&gt;mine&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;thine&lt;/em&gt; to become the initial (and previously non-existent) consonant of words (especially &lt;em&gt;eke names&lt;/em&gt; -- &lt;em&gt;thine eke name&lt;/em&gt; also became &lt;em&gt;thy nickname&lt;/em&gt;) and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with a lot of what happened during this period, what we have now in the language is mostly what was present in and around London when the orthography was fixed by printing. Many of the &lt;em&gt;a-&lt;/em&gt; words that one recognises as quaint regionalisms today (like &lt;em&gt;a-hunting&lt;/em&gt;) were standard in dialects that did not, themselves, have the good fortune to become the standard themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for new words, well, printing (and general literacy) sort of put a stop to arbitrary movement of word boundaries. A question was posted here earlier asking about the meaning of &quot;grab a hold&quot;, and it didn't take long for somebody to reply that the phrase was actually &quot;grab ahold&quot; (something my spell checker has decided is a problem). I would bet that &quot;grab a hold&quot; or &quot;take a hold&quot; (&lt;em&gt;hold&lt;/em&gt; being synonymous with &lt;em&gt;handle&lt;/em&gt;, as preserved in &lt;em&gt;hand-hold&lt;/em&gt;) was the original phrase. They sound the same, and if you hear &lt;em&gt;a hold&lt;/em&gt; often enough without seeing it written down, there's no real reason why you might not think of them as a single word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T10:17:54.097" />
  <row Id="13667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13661" CreationDate="2011-02-22T10:21:06.813" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The prefix &lt;em&gt;a-&lt;/em&gt; is present in native (derived from Old English) words where it commonly represent the Old English &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; (which means &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt;): &lt;em&gt;alive&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;asleep&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;abroad&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ashore&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;It can also be the Middle English &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;em&gt;anew&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;abreast&lt;/em&gt; (1590s).&#xA;It is a reduced form of the Old English past participle prefix &lt;em&gt;ge-&lt;/em&gt; in words like &lt;em&gt;aware&lt;/em&gt;, or the Old English intensifier, as in &lt;em&gt;arise&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;awake&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ashame&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;In words from Romanic languages it usually represent the Latin &lt;em&gt;ad&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Source: Etymonline.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T15:43:40.623" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T15:43:40.623" />
  <row Id="13668" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-22T10:22:15.273" Score="2" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always believed that &quot;Saffer&quot; is a derogatory term for a South African. &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;But a few minutes earlier, I saw &lt;a href=&quot;http://twitter.com/espncricinfo/status/39974458194141184&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this tweet&lt;/a&gt; by ESPN: &lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/0sa9P.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, isn't &quot;Saffer&quot; a derogatory term? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2237" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T16:20:40.490" Title="Is &quot;Saffer&quot; an offensive term for a South African?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;offensive&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13572" CreationDate="2011-02-22T10:23:48.157" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The words hot and cold (also warm, freezing etc) is actually used as comparatives even when we don't think about it. If we say something is just &quot;hot&quot; we mean it has a higher temperature than usual, or higher temerature than our body temperature (or something else we would typically compare it to). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hot and cold really doesn't relate directly to temperature, but rather our perception of temperature which is not absolute but rather based on temperature differences. When we touch an object we feel it as cold, warm, or hot depending on the relative temperature difference between the object and our skin, and when the difference is great enough we feel only pain (often referred to as a &quot;burning&quot; sensation, dry ice and red hot metal feels the same, only the surrounding tissue that don't get hurt can give a guess about the hotness/coldness of an object; but it can be fooled: try toucing an ice cube in a sauna and you'd swear it's red hot, not cold)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but when we feel cold or warm, we actually feel the difference between our body's actual temperature and the ideal temperature our internal &quot;thermostat&quot; want it to be. We produce heat all the time so we depend on a certain loss of heat to function, which means we want the surroundings to be colder than our core temperature, so what we feel when we think the surroundings is cold, warm or comfortable is how hard the body has to work to increase or decrease the temperature. This is very apparent when we have a rising fever; we feel cold as we get hotter because we feel the body trying to warm up, and when the feever is falling we feel hot as we get colder again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I mean by this long rant, is that using &quot;hot&quot; and &quot;cold&quot; together whith &quot;temperature&quot; is not very useful, except for comparing temperatures: especially when temperature scales with negative numbers is used (Celsius and Farenheit etc) its better to say its &quot;10 degrees colder&quot; than saying its &quot;10 degrees less&quot; when talking about the difference between -10°C and -20°C because the negative numbers may confuse us. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And btw, don't ever talk about &quot;doubling&quot; temperatures unless using Kelvin (or any other scale with an absolute zero point), 100°C (373.15 K) is not &quot;twice&quot; as hot as 50°C (323.15 K).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2820" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T10:23:48.157" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13668" CreationDate="2011-02-22T10:30:04.737" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would think derogatory since it rhymes with kaffer. But according to SA Friends it is not:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...simply short for 'saff efrican' as&#xA;  we would say it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there you have it from the Saffer's mouth ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T16:20:40.490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T16:20:40.490" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="13671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13668" CreationDate="2011-02-22T10:30:39.853" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, not derogatory (at least in the above context). When three-letter abbreviations are used for countries, &quot;South Africa&quot; often gets the abbreviation &quot;SAF&quot; (standard in cricket), thus a &quot;saffer&quot; is someone from SAF. It's just a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regional_nicknames&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;regional nickname&lt;/a&gt; like &quot;Aussie&quot; or &quot;Ozzie&quot; for someone from Australia or &quot;Kiwi&quot; for someone from New Zealand: in this context it's playful/colloquial, not offensive/derogatory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's self-applied often enough: see the Google results for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22I%27m+a+saffer%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;I'm a saffer&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22am+a+saffer%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;am a saffer&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22as+a+saffer%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;as a saffer&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22us+saffers%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;us saffers&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22we+saffers%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;we saffers&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T10:41:20.230" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T10:41:20.230" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13672" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13703" CreationDate="2011-02-22T10:44:29.680" Score="5" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a non-native English speaker, I have a little doubt about using, or not, the auxiliary verb &quot;to do&quot; with the verb &quot;to have&quot;. Are there differences in meaning between &quot;I have not&quot; and &quot;I do not have&quot;? Is a British vs. American thing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4501" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T13:46:30.553" Title="&quot;Have not&quot; versus &quot;do not have&quot;" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;auxiliary-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="13673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13663" CreationDate="2011-02-22T10:45:40.110" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think “apply a patch” is much more in line with the pre-computer era usage of the word “patch”, and so might fit better with the image conveyed by the word (the analogy between a cloth patch and the software patch).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both options are perfectly understandble, however, which is the most important issue!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T10:45:40.110" />
  <row Id="13674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13663" CreationDate="2011-02-22T10:47:36.973" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Install&lt;/em&gt; implies that something is individual or separate (a component or an entire program) ; &lt;em&gt;apply&lt;/em&gt; refers to something that is added to enhance an existing component.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T10:47:36.973" />
  <row Id="13675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13663" CreationDate="2011-02-22T10:48:25.943" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Apply a patch&lt;/em&gt; seems more natural, to me, as it reminds me of &lt;em&gt;apply a patch&lt;/em&gt; referred to a piece of cloth applied to a weak point.&#xA;I also normally use the word &lt;em&gt;patch&lt;/em&gt; when referring to an operation made to source code.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Install a patch&lt;/em&gt; would mean to run an installation program that patches an application, or a file present on a computer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of using &lt;em&gt;apply a patch&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;install a patch&lt;/em&gt;, I would use &lt;em&gt;patch&lt;/em&gt; as a verb.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As reported by the NOAD, &lt;em&gt;to patch&lt;/em&gt; means, when used in computing contexts, &quot;correct, enhance, or modify (a routine or program) by inserting a patch&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T13:09:57.000" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T13:09:57.000" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13672" CreationDate="2011-02-22T10:52:39.637" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;At least in American usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I don't have&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is the most natural&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Say &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;I do not have&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; for more emphasis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I haven't / I have not (got)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; sounds British, and a bit stuffy to American ears &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T10:52:39.637" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13636" CreationDate="2011-02-22T10:57:30.137" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would avoid this issue by starting the sentence differently:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The user &lt;code&gt;elufan123&lt;/code&gt; is running for moderator ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T10:57:30.137" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13648" CreationDate="2011-02-22T11:13:34.947" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, this is perfectly acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can turn&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Step 2: The user chooses a password&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;into&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Step 2: User chooses password&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;without any loss of meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T11:13:34.947" />
  <row Id="13680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13672" CreationDate="2011-02-22T11:41:41.347" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I have not&quot; is not used to mean &quot;I don't have.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The negative of the present tense is formed by adding &lt;em&gt;do not&lt;/em&gt;&amp;#47;&lt;em&gt;does not&lt;/em&gt; (or the abbreviated form) between the subject and the verb; only with modal verbs you place &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; after the modal verb to form the negative.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;I have not&quot; could be understood as short for &quot;I have not [past participle]&quot;, which is the negative form of the present perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T12:19:31.453" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T12:19:31.453" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13681" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-22T11:44:36.127" Score="1" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it OK when I say &quot;I have a little request from you&quot;? Is it commonly used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5329" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T09:06:21.517" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T09:06:21.517" Title="Is it OK when I say &quot;I have a little request from you&quot;? Is it commonly used?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13681" CreationDate="2011-02-22T11:51:29.937" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming you mean “a little request &lt;strong&gt;for&lt;/strong&gt; you”, because it otherwise doesn't make much sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is understandable, though quite informal. If I want to answer positively, I would typically reply &lt;em&gt;“Yes, what do you want me to do?”&lt;/em&gt; or, if the context is more formal, &lt;em&gt;“I'd be happy to help. What can I do?”&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T11:51:29.937" />
  <row Id="13683" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13687" CreationDate="2011-02-22T11:53:08.847" Score="6" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;In connection with my question about the usage of ‘No detail is too small’ I posted today, I’m curious to know whether you have axioms to correspond to my favorite Japanese old saying, ‘There is no wild pig larger than the mountain (from where he emerges).’ &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wild pigs are perceived as violent, reckless and dangerous animal that attack people in the mountain in Japan. The meaning of this proverb is the God is merciful. He does not impose you heavier hardship and acuter agony than you can bear, thus things always go better than you worry about, don’t panic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used to tell this proverb to myself like a mantra to keep myself every time I have encountered hardship in my life. I bet it actually works. I’m curious to know whether there is a proverb similar to ‘There is no wild pig larger than the mountain,' which I would like to try to utter in case of emergency. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="3119" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T12:00:03.737" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T23:44:08.023" Title="Are there English sayings that correspond to Japanese old saying, ‘There is no wild pig larger than the mountain from where he emerges’?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13683" CreationDate="2011-02-22T11:56:03.433" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;The devil is not so black as he is painted&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; oh, and then there's always the plain and simple &quot;Things are never as bad as they seem&quot;. I've seen it attributed to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harper_Lee&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Harper Lee&lt;/a&gt;; not sure if that's actually true, but in any case it's a rather common phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T12:11:53.707" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T12:11:53.707" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13685" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13689" CreationDate="2011-02-22T12:14:22.703" Score="3" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apologies in advance for this question being only indirectly related to the English language, but I find it fascinating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I note with interest that the English words &quot;mother&quot; and &quot;mama&quot; have similar sounding equivalents in almost all languages, even those that appear to have no historical recent relationship. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mothersdaycelebration.com/mother-in-different-languages.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.mothersdaycelebration.com/mother-in-different-languages.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not even mentioned in that link is the Mandarin word &quot;māmā&quot;, a language I always assumed had no relationship with English whatsoever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This suggests to me that &quot;mother&quot; / &quot;mama&quot; could be one of the oldest surviving words, belonging to some lost parent language from which most modern languages derive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this theory remotely plausible, or just fanciful thinking on my part?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there any other &quot;universal&quot; words like this? (Could &quot;OK&quot; be considered such?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5330" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:48:29.970" Title="Origins of the word &quot;mother&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13686" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-22T12:14:48.740" Score="2" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would call them &quot;Frenchisms&quot; or some such -ism, but I figured I'd at least ask first. So is there a name for such adopted foreign phrases? Also, how about those adopted from languages other than French? Same deal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know neologisms are new terms or phrases that have yet to be made official, but that's not so relevant here, since these adopted phrases aren't exactly new.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3862" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T12:19:00.873" Title="Is there a term for French words adopted by the English language, such as &quot;hors d'oeuvres&quot; or &quot;objet d'art&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;foreign-words&gt;&lt;neologisms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13683" CreationDate="2011-02-22T12:15:50.563" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We're a much more prosaic people, I guess. The phrase &lt;em&gt;God will not give you more than you can handle&lt;/em&gt; is a relatively common one in English. It's a popularised version of the phrase &lt;em&gt;He [God] will not test you beyond your strength&lt;/em&gt; (1 Corinthians 10:13).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have a lot of colouful old phrases in English, but English is also a language where a surprisingly large number of idioms are drawn from only three sources: The King James (or the Authorised) version of the Christian Bible, &lt;em&gt;The Book of Common Prayer&lt;/em&gt;, and the works of William Shakespeare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T12:15:50.563" />
  <row Id="13688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13686" CreationDate="2011-02-22T12:19:00.873" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term is &lt;em&gt;loan words&lt;/em&gt;; I am not aware of any language-specific term other than &lt;em&gt;Latinate words&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Loan&lt;/em&gt; is a bit of a misnomer, though, for words that have become part of the English lexicon -- we're never giving them back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T12:19:00.873" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13685" CreationDate="2011-02-22T12:23:15.430" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mother&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From Middle English moder, from Old English mōdor, from Proto-Germanic *mōdēr (cf. East Frisian muur, Dutch moeder, German Mutter), from &lt;strong&gt;Proto-Indo-European&lt;/strong&gt; *méh₂tēr (cf. Irish máthair, Tocharian A mācar, B mācer, Lithuanian mótė).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's abosultely right. Proto-Indo-European is the hypothetical ancestor language or protolanguage of most European and Indian languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's why in many languages of the same origin the word &quot;Mother&quot; is used with trivial variations. I'm don't have a listing of the words you're looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that some words might have been used in other languages because of reasons other than language origins. For example many Arabic words are used by Muslims in middle east in countries like Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, etc. Or some other words like okay are gaining popularity in different languages and get used by many people. But as RegDwight mentions for the word okay this is a case of borrowing a word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word Mama or Papa are one of the easiest words that can be produced or repeated or by babies. Maybe that's one of other reasons which has made the words being used in most of the languages around the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get more information about Proto-Indo-European language visit &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get more information about the list of Proto-Indo-European languages visit &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_languages&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T12:51:11.610" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T12:51:11.610" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="13690" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-22T12:27:44.123" Score="3" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for a word or phrase for&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;someone who has things done to them and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;someone who does things to people.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I.e. someone with no power and someone who has all the power.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would be really great if you brainy people could help... to stop my brain from exploding!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5332" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T12:54:01.077" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:44:41.397" Title="Can anyone tell me the word or phrase that means 'someone who things are done to'?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="6" />
  <row Id="13691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13690" CreationDate="2011-02-22T12:34:51.343" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is first too vague and then too confused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, I guess &quot;victim&quot; or &quot;powerless victim&quot; seems to be the (a).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3579" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T12:34:51.343" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13690" CreationDate="2011-02-22T12:35:16.303" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;subject&quot; and &quot;sovereign&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T12:35:16.303" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13640" CreationDate="2011-02-22T12:37:03.227" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Much&lt;/em&gt; would be correct in this case. If you wish to count them, &lt;em&gt;faecal coliforms&lt;/em&gt; is apparently the polite phrase for turds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T12:37:03.227" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13685" CreationDate="2011-02-22T12:38:46.603" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;mother&lt;/em&gt; can be traced back cleanly to Proto-Indo-European, as can &lt;em&gt;father&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;brother&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;sister&lt;/em&gt; -- it appears in cognate form in languages like Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, and so forth, and it may go back further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mama&lt;/em&gt; and its cognates are among the easiest (and most likely) sounds for a baby to form deliberately; it has been theorised (quite reasonably) that the word arose as the result of associating meaning with a spontaneous utterance. After all, an infant is most likely going to want something from Mama when making a fuss, so why not make it mean exactly that? It wouldn't exactly take eons for something like that to spread, would it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mother&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;mater&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;matar&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;mère&lt;/em&gt; and other variants) smacks of a little more deliberation, a little more adult involvement, don't you think? It's old, no doubt about it, but it has a more precise meaning than &lt;em&gt;she who feeds me&lt;/em&gt;, and can be used by a third party to describe a relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastEditorUserId="5095" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T12:48:32.270" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T12:48:32.270" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13695" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13697" CreationDate="2011-02-22T12:47:43.320" Score="1" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;By &quot;external&quot; I mean a person who has a fear or worry of things that could cause serious illness, rather than the fear of already having a serious illness itself. For example, say you worry about things like contaminants in your drinking water, or lead in the products you own or buy that were made in China, and so on. Is there a term for such hypochondriac-ish people like that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3862" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T12:52:27.320" Title="Is there a term similar to &quot;hypochondriac&quot; except more externally based?" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13695" CreationDate="2011-02-22T12:51:05.573" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That would be covered by &lt;em&gt;germaphobe&lt;/em&gt; in the case of being afraid of germs everywhere and &lt;em&gt;toxicophobe&lt;/em&gt; in the case of chemical contaminants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T12:51:05.573" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13695" CreationDate="2011-02-22T12:52:27.320" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;mysophobe&lt;/strong&gt; (or &lt;strong&gt;germaphobe&lt;/strong&gt;) is someone who has a a pathological fear of contamination and germs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T12:52:27.320" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13690" CreationDate="2011-02-22T12:54:34.243" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the more colourful variations on this theme comes to us from Yiddish. The hapless victim would be a &lt;em&gt;schlemazel&lt;/em&gt;, and the careless inflictor of the damage would be a &lt;em&gt;schlemiel&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T12:54:34.243" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13672" CreationDate="2011-02-22T13:08:41.480" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English is almost unique in the phenomenon of &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do-support&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;do-support&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. Only a few of the Celtic languages and two very small Italian dialects use &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; in the way English does (and another that uses &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; in a similar way). It is not unusual, then, that people coming to English from any other language will have a bit of trouble with our use of the word &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, the verb &lt;em&gt;to do&lt;/em&gt; is a required part of negating a statement or making a question out of it. Tense is applied to the verb &lt;em&gt;to do&lt;/em&gt; rather than to the main verb. (&lt;em&gt;I worked&lt;/em&gt; becomes &lt;em&gt;I didn't work&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Did you work?&lt;/em&gt; in English. In almost every other language even remotely related to English, the negation would be &lt;em&gt;I worked not&lt;/em&gt; and the question would be &lt;em&gt;worked you?&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Have not&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;haven't&lt;/em&gt; will generally occur only when the verb &lt;em&gt;to have&lt;/em&gt; is being used as an auxiliary. &lt;em&gt;I haven't any ...&lt;/em&gt; is also heard occasionally, but it's rare in modern English, especially outside of Britain, and never appears as &lt;em&gt;I have not any ...&lt;/em&gt; (except as something that will be marked as incorrect on a student's composition assignment). &lt;em&gt;I haven't got&lt;/em&gt; is more common, but in that case &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; is being used as an auxiliary to the verb &lt;em&gt;to get&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastEditorUserId="5095" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T13:38:59.180" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T13:38:59.180" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13700" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13701" CreationDate="2011-02-22T13:17:45.123" Score="0" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is what my uncle does to me. I want write him a letter in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T14:37:24.197" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T00:59:40.747" Title="Are there words meaning “helping somebody to think different/freely/more widely”?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13700" CreationDate="2011-02-22T13:23:47.040" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;maieutic&lt;/strong&gt; (adjective)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;of or denoting the Socratic mode of inquiry, which aims to bring a person's latent ideas into clear consciousness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T13:23:47.040" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13690" CreationDate="2011-02-22T13:28:45.773" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Off the top of my head...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Victim and Perpetrator&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Puppet and Puppeteer (or puppet-master)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pawn and Player&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Serf and Lord&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are any of these on the right track for you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T13:28:45.773" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13672" CreationDate="2011-02-22T13:46:30.553" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The confusion arises from the way &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; commonly occurs both as an auxiliary verb and as a main verb in its own right.  As an auxiliary it handles negation and question formation without needing a &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I have got a book.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Negation: &quot;I haven't got a book.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Question: &quot;Have you got a book?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; is used as a main verb, the &quot;do support&quot; that @Stan mentioned generally cuts in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I have a book&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Negation: &quot;I don't have a book.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Question: &quot;Do you have a book?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Have you a book?&quot; and &quot;I haven't a book&quot; are understandable but awfully odd in most contexts.  They can happen in British English, most famously in the title of the radio panel game &lt;em&gt;I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue,&lt;/em&gt; but most English speakers would insert &quot;got&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T13:46:30.553" />
  <row Id="13704" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-22T13:58:44.307" Score="0" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/13586/is-it-yours-faithfully-or-yours-sincerely&quot;&gt;Is it &amp;ldquo;Yours faithfully&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;Yours sincerely&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just googled and found that I can say &quot;Yours faithfully&quot; instead of “Yours sincerely”. I think its very funny, because for me it means that I'm not a cheater and I don't cheat. Thats how faithfully is translated to my language. Can I use it in e-mail to anybody or only to spouse/girlfriend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3295" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T13:58:44.307" ClosedDate="2011-02-22T14:27:07.510" Title="usage of &quot;Yours faithfully&quot;" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13635" CreationDate="2011-02-22T13:59:17.220" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An improvable item&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Augmentable&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Progressable &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T13:59:17.220" />
  <row Id="13706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13648" CreationDate="2011-02-22T14:06:04.460" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, they may leave out articles for space. Note that in addition, even besides the sapce issue, it is sometimes more natural in English to leave out articles in titles (and slides often consist of what are effectively lists of titles).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:06:04.460" />
  <row Id="13707" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13710" CreationDate="2011-02-22T14:08:00.280" Score="6" ViewCount="576" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have been using the term &lt;code&gt;Ofcourse&lt;/code&gt; ever since Kindergarten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I recently stumbled upon a site that claims &lt;code&gt;Of course&lt;/code&gt; is how the term is correctly used and not &lt;code&gt;Ofcourse&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to seek the community's opinion about which is the correct usage of that term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2843" LastEditorUserId="572" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T16:53:24.897" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T19:01:57.363" Title="Ofcourse or of course?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="13708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13707" CreationDate="2011-02-22T14:09:31.323" Score="28" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Of course&quot; is two words. I have never seen it as one except in typos and this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:09:31.323" />
  <row Id="13709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13635" CreationDate="2011-02-22T14:09:57.533" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This has now become a higher priority?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... a high priority item?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... been raised in priority?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... become a blocking task?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This is good practice: I've got a meeting later this afternoon when I'm going to need all these synonyms. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:09:57.533" />
  <row Id="13710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13707" CreationDate="2011-02-22T14:13:51.603" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what novels you are referring to, but &lt;em&gt;ofcourse&lt;/em&gt; is a typo. Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ofcourse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;doesn't have an entry &lt;/a&gt; for it, and neither does &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ofcourse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onelook.com/?w=ofcourse&amp;amp;ls=a&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;any dictionary&lt;/a&gt; I have checked. Here are the usage stats from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;             BNC     COCA&#xA;&#xA;of course   29651  100939&#xA;ofcourse        1      12&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:13:51.603" />
  <row Id="13711" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13731" CreationDate="2011-02-22T14:27:34.923" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;When should I use &quot;as part of&quot;, and when &quot;as a part of&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4595" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T16:13:51.450" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T16:13:51.450" Title="&quot;As part of&quot; versus &quot;as a part of&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13690" CreationDate="2011-02-22T14:29:40.767" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In grammar or literary criticism, the first is &lt;em&gt;object&lt;/em&gt;, the second is &lt;em&gt;subject&lt;/em&gt;. In syntax, the first is a &lt;em&gt;patient&lt;/em&gt;, while the second is &lt;em&gt;agent&lt;/em&gt;. Unfortunately, most of these words have other meanings and may be misunderstood out of context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wish to combine them, &lt;em&gt;agent&lt;/em&gt; / &lt;em&gt;object&lt;/em&gt; are likely to be understood in the correct way by most people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:29:40.767" />
  <row Id="13713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12350" CreationDate="2011-02-22T14:36:59.547" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;apparently this answer has to be 30 characters long, i think im there now.&#xA;how about shame?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5332" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:36:59.547" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13690" CreationDate="2011-02-22T14:44:41.397" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;of course, in yiddish style, the difference between schelmiel and schlemazel is best told in joke form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;What's the difference between a schlemiel and a schlemazel? a schlemiel is the guy who always spills the soup. A schlemazel is the guy he spills it on&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5337" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:44:41.397" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13685" CreationDate="2011-02-22T14:48:29.970" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have said, &quot;mother&quot; is a word that we can trace back to Proto Indo-European.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the occurrence of similar words all over the world is not reliable evidence of genetic connection between languages, since there is such a strong alternative hypothesis (a baby's first sounds, and sucking sounds). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not saying all languages are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; related, just that this is not evidence for it. There is a body of opinion that the ultimate relationship of all languages has been demonstrated, but it's a pretty marginal view in the linguistics community (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto_Human_language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Proto-World&lt;/a&gt;). My own belief, which I think is quite widely held, is that we are unlikely ever to obtain enough evidence either to establish or to refute the hypothesis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Incidentally, Georgian has &quot;მამა&quot; (&quot;mama&quot;) for &quot;father&quot; and &quot;დედა&quot; (&quot;deda&quot;) for &quot;mother&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:48:29.970" />
  <row Id="13716" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-22T14:53:00.667" Score="1" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi! I am not a native English speaker, and I learn from people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I often hear people say “&lt;strong&gt;I have come to a place&lt;/strong&gt; where there is no end…”.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I am wondering, isn't the right way to say it: “I have &lt;strong&gt;came&lt;/strong&gt;” (I know that sounds awful, I am asking what's proper)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2212" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T15:35:37.053" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T00:17:57.100" Title="“I have come to” vs. “I have came to”" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13717" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-22T14:53:51.817" Score="6" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;What exactly is the meaning of the phrase “The morning constitutional”? Is it an early morning walk or the first visit to the bathroom during the day?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of this phrase? What is the word “constitutional” doing here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3982" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T14:58:36.323" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T17:00:22.067" Title="The morning constitutional" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;common-phrase&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13718" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13716" CreationDate="2011-02-22T14:55:30.193" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The past participle of the verb &lt;em&gt;to come&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;strong&gt;come&lt;/strong&gt;, so you should say “I have come to a place where…”. &lt;em&gt;came&lt;/em&gt; is the past tense (or preterite), so you would say “I came to a place where…”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:55:30.193" />
  <row Id="13719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13717" CreationDate="2011-02-22T14:57:47.120" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; has for &lt;strong&gt;constitutional&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;noun (dated): a walk, typically one taken regularly to maintain or restore good health.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding etymology, &lt;em&gt;constitution&lt;/em&gt; means “a person's physical state with regard to vitality, health, and strength”, so the &lt;em&gt;constitutional&lt;/em&gt; comes from its supposed benefits to the health. (Think of it as a “walk to improve one's constitution”, if you will.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T15:57:54.237" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T15:57:54.237" />
  <row Id="13721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13716" CreationDate="2011-02-22T15:34:48.897" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I have come to a place where[…]&quot; is correct, as &lt;em&gt;I have come&lt;/em&gt; is the present perfect tense.&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Came&lt;/em&gt; is used in sentences like &quot;I came to visit you&quot;, where the used tense is the simple past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When to use the present perfect, and when to use the simple past, is then &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1357/present-perfect-tense-versus-past-tense&quot;&gt;a different topic&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T00:17:57.100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T00:17:57.100" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13700" CreationDate="2011-02-22T15:39:19.313" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say that your uncle has really &lt;strong&gt;opened your mind&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;mdash;introduced you to new things, changed the way you think about things, and made you more interested in considering other possible viewpoints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T15:39:19.313" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13724" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13728" CreationDate="2011-02-22T15:44:24.733" Score="5" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;In and of itself&quot; is a phrase I find myself using all the time. But in and of itself, the phrase &quot;in and of itself&quot; has no meaning. That is, the individual words don't seem to contribute to the whole meaning of the phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1209" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T17:13:05.110" Title="What is the reasoning for the idiom &quot;in and of itself&quot; having the meaning it has?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13724" CreationDate="2011-02-22T15:53:48.183" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a very stylish turn of phrase when used correctly. It's a way of showing a delicate relationship between things. For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The necktie was not, in and of itself, the cause of his strangulation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The necktie was not the cause of his strangulation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first example, the tie is being acknowledged as being a factor in the event, but not a major or causative agent. In the second example, the tie is being completely ruled out. It has a slight nuance of removing blame from the item in question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastEditorUserId="5262" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T17:13:05.110" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T17:13:05.110" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13717" CreationDate="2011-02-22T15:55:44.317" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It literally means &quot;something that is good for your constitution&quot;, usually a walk, &lt;strong&gt;but&lt;/strong&gt; it's also a common euphemism for the first visit to the washroom, particularly in areas where heading out to use the facilities is not a very distant memory. It was much more common in my youth (and it's been a while since I was a youth) among older people, and it seemed to carry a bit of feigned poshness among the working class (who didn't need to go for a purposeless walk to get their exercise).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T15:55:44.317" />
  <row Id="13727" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13730" CreationDate="2011-02-22T16:04:13.447" Score="1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please &lt;strong&gt;present&lt;/strong&gt; your next idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did you buy her a &lt;strong&gt;present&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No vacancies at &lt;strong&gt;present&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do all the bold words have the same spelling, yet all of them have different meanings based on the context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4461" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T17:58:49.683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T17:58:49.683" Title="Present, present, and present?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13724" CreationDate="2011-02-22T16:06:39.340" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The &amp;lt;thing&amp;gt;, in and of itself, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;means the same as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The &amp;lt;thing&amp;gt; &lt;em&gt;qua&lt;/em&gt; &amp;lt;thing&amp;gt; ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In and of itself&quot; is very old, and the usages of &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; from which it springs are very rare now (&lt;em&gt;in itself&lt;/em&gt; is merely rare on the ground; &lt;em&gt;of itself&lt;/em&gt; seems to be nearly extinct in those meanings), but if it helps you can expand it to &quot;in its essence and of its nature&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Words and phrases often hang on long after the things they originated from have vanished. You may know a few people who are ruthless, for instance, but when was the last time you described anyone as &lt;em&gt;ruthfull&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastEditorUserId="5095" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T16:34:35.717" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T16:34:35.717" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13727" CreationDate="2011-02-22T16:11:47.603" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the word has a different pronunciation in the first sentence [prəˈzɛnt] compared to the other two [ˈprɛ zənt].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T16:11:47.603" />
  <row Id="13731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13711" CreationDate="2011-02-22T16:13:00.313" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference between &quot;as part of&quot; and &quot;as a part of&quot; is essentially the difference between &lt;em&gt;part&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;a part&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As part of this community, I feel the need to express my opinion.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Your comment is useless, as a part of my recent comments is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first case, &lt;em&gt;part&lt;/em&gt; is used with the meaning &lt;em&gt;an element or constituent that belongs to something and is essential to its nature&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;In the second case, &lt;em&gt;part&lt;/em&gt; is used to mean &lt;em&gt;a piece or segment of something such as an object, activity, or period of time, which combined with other pieces makes up the whole&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other phrases uses &lt;em&gt;part&lt;/em&gt;, and would have a different meaning (or no meaning) if they would use &lt;em&gt;a part&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have come here to take part in a major game. (&lt;em&gt;Take part&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;join in&lt;/em&gt;.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T16:13:00.313" />
  <row Id="13732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13727" CreationDate="2011-02-22T16:13:57.143" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, they all have the same spelling, but not the same pronunciation. You could also include other examples such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wasn't &lt;strong&gt;present&lt;/strong&gt; when the vote took place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We are trying to build not only for the &lt;strong&gt;present&lt;/strong&gt;, but for the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;present&lt;/strong&gt; manuscript is not good enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Before popping the question, I &lt;strong&gt;presented&lt;/strong&gt; her with flowers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The policeman asked me to &lt;strong&gt;present&lt;/strong&gt; a proof of my identity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I convinced him easily, he &lt;strong&gt;presented&lt;/strong&gt; little resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The opportunity &lt;strong&gt;presented itself&lt;/strong&gt;, and I jumped on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He &lt;strong&gt;presented&lt;/strong&gt; with fever and was quickly treated by his doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T16:31:13.140" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T16:31:13.140" />
  <row Id="13733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13727" CreationDate="2011-02-22T16:21:25.977" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are &lt;em&gt;homographs&lt;/em&gt; -- different words that share the same spelling. Your first two examples&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please &lt;strong&gt;present&lt;/strong&gt; your next idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did you buy her a &lt;strong&gt;present&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;are closely related. The &lt;em&gt;present&lt;/em&gt; that you give is something you &lt;em&gt;present&lt;/em&gt; to someone else. The noun is derived from the verb, and probably would have been &lt;em&gt;presentation&lt;/em&gt; if there were any grammar police around at the time to control things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The third is related to time, and unrelated to the others except by spelling and pronunciation. That word is a troublesome one, since it means &quot;the current moment&quot; in its noun form and &quot;the immediate future&quot; in its adverb form, &lt;em&gt;presently&lt;/em&gt;. It is often misused in that form in the place of &lt;em&gt;currently&lt;/em&gt;, so much so that it is more prevalent these days. That's not such a problem in the current corpus of literature, but it does make reading older texts (where &quot;I will do that &lt;em&gt;presently&lt;/em&gt;&quot; means &quot;it's on my to-do list&quot;) more difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T16:21:25.977" />
  <row Id="13734" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13736" CreationDate="2011-02-22T16:36:39.693" Score="1" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are serving apple pie and you want to write the menu so that the customer understands that the apples in the pie are from THE VERY CITY that the restaurant is in, how can I rewrite this phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Home-made apple pie, with DOMESTIC&#xA;  apples grown right here in San Diego.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like the word 'domestic' refers to meat, but is there a good word for a menu that refers to local produce?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4988" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T16:48:11.150" Title="How do we say &quot;domestic apples&quot; in normal English" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;common-expression&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13735" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-22T16:38:39.927" Score="0" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/570/what-is-a-less-offensive-synonym-for-retarded&quot;&gt;What is a less offensive synonym for &amp;ldquo;retarded&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone please furnish me with a word, or short phrase, that would eloquently describe a person who has never had to countenance failure, one who is so self satisfied and self assured with himself that he has no humility?&#xA;I am afraid that any words like &quot;super smug prig&quot; (my own personal favorite) would be invalid in the context of an academic essay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5332" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T17:56:43.367" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T19:24:49.563" ClosedDate="2011-02-23T02:42:04.290" Title="More eloquent word or phrase" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;alternative&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13734" CreationDate="2011-02-22T16:47:46.517" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Domestic&lt;/em&gt; refers not so much to meat as the animals it came from. It can sometimes be used to mean &quot;local&quot;, but only as opposed to &quot;imported from abroad&quot;, not as in &quot;locally-grown&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;em&gt;locally-grown&lt;/em&gt; is your best bet on a menu.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Homemade apple pie with locally-grown apples from right here in San Diego.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T16:47:46.517" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13707" CreationDate="2011-02-22T16:47:49.343" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Of course&quot; is always 2 words, and is a shorter form of &quot;As a matter of course&quot;. Furthermore, Google Fight says of course wins at 75 900 000 vs ofcourse which has only 521 000. If you Google it, half of the results on the first page are in the url, and the first result is another forum where this was asked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the Google Fight results: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&amp;amp;word1=ofcourse&amp;amp;word2=of+course&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Fight - &lt;code&gt;ofcourse&lt;/code&gt; VS &lt;code&gt;of course&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="62" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T16:47:49.343" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13734" CreationDate="2011-02-22T16:48:11.150" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only word I can think of that really fits there is &lt;em&gt;local&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With that being said, given that you say &quot;&lt;em&gt;grown right here in San Diego&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, I'm not sure you need an adjective there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T16:48:11.150" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13739" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13744" CreationDate="2011-02-22T17:10:58.263" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's suppose there exists a standard that documents fruits.&#xA;This standard has already accepted apple and peach. Banana has just been accepted as a standard. When I say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The proposal of banana has just been accepted as a standard.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should banana be written? In quotes (&quot;banana&quot;) or in italic (&lt;em&gt;banana&lt;/em&gt;)? Because it is not the fruit banana that entered the standard, but the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T19:42:39.997" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T19:42:39.997" Title="Should this word be in quotes or in italic?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;typesetting&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="13740" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-22T17:15:30.647" Score="1" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a word for playgoers' behavior when hissing and booing the villain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5332" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T17:28:03.427" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T17:33:49.413" Title="Alternative word for playgoers' behavior" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;alternative&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13739" CreationDate="2011-02-22T17:20:15.317" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the standard is &quot;A list of all words that refer to fruits&quot; and you have just accepted the word &quot;banana&quot; into the standard, I would say that the word should be in quotes; because, as you say, we are accepting the word itself, not the object that it represents, and enclosing a word in quotes is the accepted method of making the &quot;use/mention&quot; distinction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if the standard is &quot;a list of all fruits&quot; and you have just accepted that a banana is indeed a fruit, then italicizing the word &lt;em&gt;banana&lt;/em&gt; would be preferable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T17:20:15.317" />
  <row Id="13742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13740" CreationDate="2011-02-22T17:26:27.593" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The crowd as a whole, or members of it, could be &lt;em&gt;razzing&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;heckling&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people in the crowd might be a little more obnoxious than others and engage in &lt;em&gt;badgering&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;taunting&lt;/em&gt;, although those are generally more appropriate for a one-on-one situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T17:26:27.593" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13740" CreationDate="2011-02-22T17:33:49.413" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use &lt;em&gt;jeer&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;catcall&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;heckle&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;hoot&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T17:33:49.413" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13739" CreationDate="2011-02-22T17:48:23.417" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both quotation marks and italics are used to make a use–mention distinction; italics are probably more used in specific contexts, for example when introducing or defining terms, especially technical terms or those used in an unusual or different way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a matter of preferences, there is who prefers to use quotation marks with multi-word phrases, and italics with single words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Reference: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italic_type#When_to_use&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T19:39:19.650" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T19:39:19.650" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="13745" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13747" CreationDate="2011-02-22T17:53:20.077" Score="4" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of &lt;em&gt;kiwifruit&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is there any relation between the fruit and New Zealand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/dPShh.png&quot; alt=&quot;kiwifruit&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T19:51:44.433" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T19:51:44.433" Title="What is the origin of &quot;kiwifruit&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13745" CreationDate="2011-02-22T18:01:07.817" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It was a marketing name for exports from New Zealand to the USA in the 1950s, according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwifruit#Names&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;, having previously been known as a &lt;em&gt;Chinese gooseberry&lt;/em&gt; and then briefly  &lt;em&gt;melonette&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think there was slightly more than that, in that the USA had an import tax on real gooseberries and on real melons, so the new name was designed to allow duty-free trade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T18:01:07.817" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13745" CreationDate="2011-02-22T18:35:10.773" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because, you see, the fruit actually comes from the Kiwi bird from New Zealand:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/VlG7D.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;How to prepare a Kiwi&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T18:35:10.773" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13735" CreationDate="2011-02-22T18:40:20.157" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not an exact match, but &lt;em&gt;vainglorious&lt;/em&gt; comes to mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;vainglory: excessive or ostentatious pride especially in one's achievements ( &lt;a href=&quot;http://merriam-websterscollegiate.com/dictionary/vainglory&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://merriam-websterscollegiate.com/dictionary/vainglory&lt;/a&gt; )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And by following a few links on that page: &lt;em&gt;overweening&lt;/em&gt; ( &lt;a href=&quot;http://merriam-websterscollegiate.com/dictionary/overweening&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://merriam-websterscollegiate.com/dictionary/overweening&lt;/a&gt; ). I've not actually seen this one used personally, but I do like the fact that it sounds like &quot;wieny/weeny&quot; ( =&gt; wiener =&gt; sausage =&gt; slang for penis )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T18:40:20.157" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13735" CreationDate="2011-02-22T18:42:28.150" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if this covers the entire spectrum of what you're looking for, but perhaps &quot;golden boy&quot; or &quot;golden child&quot; or &quot;fortunate son&quot; could be used to cover the &quot;always successful, never failed&quot; part, at least.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T18:42:28.150" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13751" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13768" CreationDate="2011-02-22T18:45:27.620" Score="4" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've done some online etymological research on the word &quot;whatnot&quot;, but I've been unable to figure out why it is a construction of &quot;what&quot; and &quot;not&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does the combination of the words &quot;what&quot; and &quot;not&quot; relate to the meaning of &quot;whatnot&quot; (simply, &lt;em&gt;anything&lt;/em&gt;)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T19:02:42.053" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T23:33:38.540" Title="Why is the word &quot;whatnot&quot; a construction of &quot;what&quot; and &quot;not&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13707" CreationDate="2011-02-22T19:01:57.363" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quoth the talking horse from a 1960s American sitcom:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A horse is a horse, of course, of course, &#xA;  And no one can talk to a horse, of course.&#xA;  That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mr. Ed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd take it straight from the horse's mouth and write it thus: &lt;em&gt;of course&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3306" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T19:01:57.363" />
  <row Id="13753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13683" CreationDate="2011-02-22T19:12:14.417" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The meaning of this proverb is the God is merciful. He does not impose you heavier hardship and acuter agony than you can bear, thus things always go better than you worry about, don’t panic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the common english expression &quot;every cloud has a silver lining&quot; is related to this sentiment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T19:12:14.417" />
  <row Id="13754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13735" CreationDate="2011-02-22T19:24:49.563" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One adjective for this is &quot;cocksure.&quot; Another is &quot;hubristic.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T19:24:49.563" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13683" CreationDate="2011-02-22T19:30:23.133" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably the best fit to your ascription of meaning is &quot;every cloud has a silver lining&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where the cloud in question is understood to be a dark storm cloud. (see: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_lining_%28idiom%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_lining_%28idiom%29&lt;/a&gt; )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note, it is also common to say &quot;not every cloud has a silver lining&quot; as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T19:30:23.133" />
  <row Id="13756" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14179" CreationDate="2011-02-22T19:47:29.733" Score="0" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will probably get a lot of flak about this, but why not combine the often used together words &quot;with the&quot; into &quot;withe&quot; which is pronounced &lt;em&gt;similarly&lt;/em&gt;, and it much shorter and easier to write?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sure there are other candidates for such concatenations, which are bound to show up especially in the world of Twitter and SMS messages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS. English is my 2nd language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4575" LastEditorUserId="4575" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T20:29:56.560" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T20:00:16.057" Title="Why not concatenate two frequently used words into a new one?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;common-phrase&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13751" CreationDate="2011-02-22T19:54:47.017" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Whatnot&lt;/em&gt; was originally a placeholder name like &lt;em&gt;whatsit&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;thingamebob&lt;/em&gt; for miscellaneous trifling items.  It is just something that did not have an obvious name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It later became a word describing furniture for holding such things, typically a small stack of corner shelves.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=whatnot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt; gives 1530s for the first use and 1808 for the second.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T19:54:47.017" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="13758" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-22T19:58:43.980" Score="0" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4481/should-the-word-boolean-be-capitalized&quot;&gt;Should the word Boolean be capitalized?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I notice that many online articles geared toward programmers refer to &lt;em&gt;boolean variables&lt;/em&gt;, which are variables that have only two states: true or false. Is this correct usage? I'd contend that the &quot;b&quot; in Boolean should be capitalized because the term &lt;em&gt;Boolean&lt;/em&gt; is named after mathematician &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boole&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;George Boole&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More generally, are there any grammatically correct examples of terms named after someone that are no longer capitalized?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T20:18:07.080" ClosedDate="2011-02-22T20:28:51.843" Title="Must the &quot;b&quot; in &quot;Boolean variable&quot; be capitalized?" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="13759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13756" CreationDate="2011-02-22T20:07:34.163" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not exactly true that &lt;em&gt;with the&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;withe&lt;/em&gt; are pronounced in the same way (compare /wɪð ði/ and /wɪð/). Also, &lt;em&gt;withe&lt;/em&gt; is an English word that means &quot;a tough flexible branch of an osier or other willow, used for tying, binding, or basketry.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of these facts have probably contributed to preventing &lt;em&gt;with the&lt;/em&gt; from being shortened into &lt;em&gt;withe&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are asking why other words are not shortened in a similar way, then there is no answer. English, like any other natural language, is not changed because a group of people meet to decide what to change in the language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T20:46:08.200" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T20:46:08.200" />
  <row Id="13760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4481" CreationDate="2011-02-22T20:11:32.067" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many scientific nouns and adjectives that derive from their inventor's name, and which are still capitalized even though they are widely used. Examples include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;the Gaussian function (or distribution)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Coulombic interactions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;the Lagrangian and the Laplacian operators&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;the Ohmic dissipation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;an Arrhenian behaviour (in chemistry)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;the trans-Planckian problem&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The notable exceptions are chemical elements, whose name are never capitalized (e.g., &lt;em&gt;“the symbol of einsteinium is Es”&lt;/em&gt;), and units of measurement (“a current of two amperes”).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T09:49:39.217" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T09:49:39.217" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13758" CreationDate="2011-02-22T20:18:07.080" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first example that comes to mind is the word &quot;xerox&quot; which is typically not capitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Can you xerox these documents for me so I can send copies to my parole officer?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another is &quot;hoover&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;He hoovered up his food like he hadn't eaten in weeks.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both are capitalized in dictionaries, but usage examples don't always feature capitalization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T20:18:07.080" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13762" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13764" CreationDate="2011-02-22T20:31:04.667" Score="3" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any grammatically correct examples of terms named after someone that are no longer capitalized?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know certain &lt;em&gt;brand names&lt;/em&gt; have become so ingrained in the lexicon that they are no longer capitalized - xerox, coke, hoover, etc. - but are there examples where the now-lower cased item is named after a person?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T11:45:45.853" Title="Are there examples of terms named after a person that are no longer capitalized?" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13763" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-22T20:32:42.890" Score="1" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;assess&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;evaluate&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5348" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T20:35:34.850" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T23:28:42.587" Title="What is the difference between &quot;assess&quot; and &quot;evaluate&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13762" CreationDate="2011-02-22T20:42:51.047" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A quick &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eponym&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; search gave me these words: &lt;em&gt;quixotic&lt;/em&gt; (I'm not sure this counts), &lt;em&gt;draconian&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;cesarean&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5256" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T20:42:51.047" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13763" CreationDate="2011-02-22T20:44:59.307" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking they are synonyms. In specific cases, only one of the word is used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Evaluate: form an idea of the amount, number, or value of; assess.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(usually &lt;em&gt;be assessed&lt;/em&gt;) calculate or estimate the price or value of.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(often be assessed) set the value of a tax, fine, etc., for a person or property at a specified level. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Assess: evaluate or estimate the nature, ability, or quality of.&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(Mathematics) find a numerical expression or equivalent for an equation, formula, or function.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The damage was assessed at $5 million.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  All empty properties will be assessed at 50 percent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Reference: The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T20:44:59.307" />
  <row Id="13766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13762" CreationDate="2011-02-22T20:45:25.190" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also &lt;em&gt;boycott&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;euclidean&lt;/em&gt; (as in geometry), although that latter one usually is still capitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T20:45:25.190" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13767" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13803" CreationDate="2011-02-22T20:47:42.410" Score="0" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm writing a PhD thesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I use &quot;upcoming&quot; in the following sentence, or is it too informal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;. . . the modifications will be&#xA;  included in the &lt;strong&gt;upcoming&lt;/strong&gt; fourth&#xA;  version of the manual . . .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By upcoming I mean &quot;to be released&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T00:28:13.070" Title="Is &quot;upcoming&quot; too informal?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13751" CreationDate="2011-02-22T20:50:57.603" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think of it as a contraction of &quot;what[ever was] not [mentioned]&quot; - i.e., everything else. I don't know whether that's etymologically correct, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T20:50:57.603" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13762" CreationDate="2011-02-22T20:51:12.160" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, just because the origin of a word is originally a person's name doesn't automatically mean it is always capitalised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, a &quot;spoonerism&quot; is a type of speech error that allegedly somebody called Spooner tended to make. A &quot;nosy parker&quot; is somebody exhibiting a behaviour that allegedly somebody called &quot;Parker&quot; had.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Notice how in these examples, and unlike cases such as &quot;Chomskyan&quot;, &quot;Thatcherite&quot;, we're not naming something after that person's deliberate doctrine/invention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There may also be a factor involved of time and/or how much the person in question is still known to contemporary speakers (which may be why we'd tend to write &quot;sadistic&quot; rather than &quot;Sadistic&quot;, for example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T20:51:12.160" />
  <row Id="13770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13767" CreationDate="2011-02-22T21:03:56.460" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dictionary I have does not report &lt;em&gt;upcoming&lt;/em&gt; as informal word, nor do I give to the word an informal meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I normally see the word associated to events that are about to happen (e.g., election), but I have also seen the word used in &lt;em&gt;upcoming newsletter&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of &lt;em&gt;upcoming&lt;/em&gt;, you could use &lt;em&gt;forthcoming&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;future&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;imminent&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;coming&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;impending&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T21:03:56.460" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13771" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-22T21:15:10.427" Score="0" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a linguistic perspective, would it be possible to build a system for Contextual Grammar checking (ie. making sure the sentence is not only grammatically correct in order of noun/verb/etc, but also in the correct usage of words)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5351" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T18:25:36.347" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:25:36.347" ClosedDate="2011-02-22T21:31:45.633" Title="Contextual Grammer Checking" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;linguistics&gt;&lt;contexts&gt;" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13772" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13776" CreationDate="2011-02-22T21:23:24.067" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has a Project Management Body of Knowledge.&#xA;When referring to the PMBOK, should I use the possessive:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;IEEE &lt;strong&gt;'s&lt;/strong&gt; Project Management Body of&#xA;  Knowledge&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;IEEE Project Management Body of&#xA;  Knowledge&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T21:41:23.713" Title="IEEE X or IEEE's X" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13762" CreationDate="2011-02-22T21:27:11.037" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The diesel. A guillotine. &#xA;I guess you're looking for nouns without suffixes only?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To lynch (John was quicker). cesarean. &#xA;Wow, never heard about that: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;goethite |ˌgoʊθaɪt|&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  a dark reddish-brown or yellowish-brown mineral consisting of oxyhydroxide iron, occurring typically as masses of fibrous crystals.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  ORIGIN early 19th cent.: from the name of J.W. von Goethe + -ite &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tsar/czar – ORIGIN from Russian tsar’, representing Latin Caesar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Found a series: einsteinium, nobelium, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's fun. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5275" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T22:35:11.470" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T22:35:11.470" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13772" CreationDate="2011-02-22T21:36:43.183" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on whether you use it in a title or not. If the title of the PMBOK is actually &lt;strong&gt;The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Project Management Body of Knowledge&lt;/strong&gt; then no possessive is necessary. If the two things are always referred to separately, and joined only when one wants to emphasize ownership of the PMBOK, then a possessive would be in order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T21:36:43.183" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13762" CreationDate="2011-02-22T21:36:46.583" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;narcissus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Try some personal names:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(Oh, peter, too)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;louis |ˈluwəs| |ˈluwi| (also louis d'or )&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun (pl. same)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  a gold coin issued in France between 1640 and 1793.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  • another term for napoleon (sense 2).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  ORIGIN from Louis, the name of many kings of France.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;joe |ʤoʊ|&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun informal&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1 coffee. [ORIGIN: 1940s: of unknown origin.]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2 an ordinary man: the average joe. [ORIGIN: mid 19th cent.: nickname for the given name Joseph; compare with Joe Blow.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;john |dʒɑn|&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun informal&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1 a toilet.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2 a prostitute's client.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  ORIGIN early 20th century (sense 2): from the given name John, used from late Middle English as a form of address to a man, or to denote various occupations, including that of priest (late Middle English) and policeman (mid 17th century).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other physical units, e.g. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;henry |ˈhɛnri| (abbreviation: H)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  noun (plural henries |ˈhɛnriz| or henrys |ˈhɛnriz|) Physics&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  the SI unit of inductance, equal to an electromotive force of one volt in a closed circuit with a uniform rate of change of current of one ampere per second.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  ORIGIN late 19th cent.: named after Joseph Henry (1797–1878), the American physicist who discovered the phenomenon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5275" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T22:38:59.520" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T22:38:59.520" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13772" CreationDate="2011-02-22T21:40:10.677" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I could find, the PMBOK is an IEEE standard, but it cannot be said that “IEEE &lt;em&gt;has&lt;/em&gt; a PMBOK”. A Google search for “IEEE's PMBOK”, “IEEE's Project Management Body of Knowledge”, “IEEE PMBOK” and “IEEE Project Management Body of Knowledge” all returned few (and irrelevant) hits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I think &lt;strong&gt;neither of your sentences is appropriate&lt;/strong&gt;. The best that can be said, as far as I understand, is that “PMBOK is an IEEE standard”, or to “IEEE’s PMBOK standard”. I'd be happy to revise that opinion if more context was provided, of course!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T21:40:10.677" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13772" CreationDate="2011-02-22T21:41:23.713" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The possessive is used to mention something by name, while the appositive is the actual name of the thing. In practice, there is almost no difference between the two. However, in the latter case, you should use &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; to indicate that there is only one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The IEEE PMBOK contains information about best practices in project management.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T21:41:23.713" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13763" CreationDate="2011-02-22T22:06:45.243" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a more common, non-mathematical, usage, such as &quot;to evaluate a situation&quot; or &quot;to assess a situation&quot; the difference in implication would be that evaluating the situation is more results oriented (such as viewing the situation while looking for solutions,) while assessing the situation would be closer to simply looking and analyzing the situation is it presently is with less of an inclination to look at solutions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5353" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T22:06:45.243" />
  <row Id="13779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13636" CreationDate="2011-02-22T22:08:00.393" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, it is a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;H/horatio is right about the common practice: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Though both answers below merely suggest avoidance, I would say that the standard practice is to avoid doing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess it gets down to the standard answer to orthography questions: choose some way to cope with it. If you're important enough, it may stick (think iMac etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5275" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T22:08:00.393" />
  <row Id="13780" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13785" CreationDate="2011-02-22T22:12:35.847" Score="2" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;If book A is sponsored by entity B, how can I say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;. . . in the upcoming B &lt;strong&gt;'s&lt;/strong&gt; sponsored book A .&#xA;  . .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;. . . in the upcoming B sponsored book A . .&#xA;  .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T22:31:41.630" Title="How to say something sponsors another" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13756" CreationDate="2011-02-22T22:13:15.757" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another thing to consider is that concatenating two words into one would require many English speakers to retrain themselves in standard reading.  I have always considered the point for using proper grammar and spelling to make it as easy as possible for the reader or listener to understand what it is you want to say.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Turning &quot;with the&quot; into &quot;withe&quot; and other similar situations would interrupt normal reading flow.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For non-native speakers, in addition to learning the differences between &quot;there&quot; &quot;they're&quot; and &quot;their&quot; or &quot;bear&quot; (the animal) and &quot;bear&quot; (to carry a burden,) learning another set of shortened/combined words would make English more difficult to learn fluently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5353" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T22:13:15.757" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13780" CreationDate="2011-02-22T22:23:08.610" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The possessive is wrong, unless the sponsor is also the author, in which case you probably don't call it a sponsor anyway. So, I would recommend the second sentence, but I would add a hyphen, as you're using “B sponsored” adjectivally:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the upcoming Verizon-sponsored book &lt;em&gt;A tale of two cellphones&lt;/em&gt;, author John Penman describes…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T22:23:08.610" />
  <row Id="13783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5894" CreationDate="2011-02-22T22:25:52.460" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even though Mary Shelly's monster terrorized both its creator, Frankenstein, and the surrounding village, it is in the genre of Gothic horror. I think this is because the reader is horrified at Dr. Frankenstein's obsession with working with dead bodies and creating life from death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This work makes you feel horror (revulsion) rather than terror (fear). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3306" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T22:25:52.460" />
  <row Id="13784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13762" CreationDate="2011-02-22T22:30:25.090" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All units of measurement named after scientists are, when used in English, in lowercase. So, you can add to your list: kelvin, joule, ampere, henry, newton, hertz, pascal, watt, coulomb, volt, farad, ohm, siemens, weber, tesla, becquerel, gray, sievert, and others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T22:30:25.090" />
  <row Id="13785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13780" CreationDate="2011-02-22T22:31:41.630" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;The upcoming B's sponsored book A&quot; would be understood as &quot;the upcoming B's book A&quot;; the same is true for the second phrase you wrote.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would write the sentence as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The upcoming book A, sponsored by B, […].&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The upcoming B-sponsored book A […].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My personal preference is for the first of these sentences. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T22:31:41.630" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13762" CreationDate="2011-02-22T22:32:58.707" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The one I can think of off the top of my head are &quot;cartesian,&quot; as in cartesian plane, named after Rene Descartes. My second though was &quot;hermaphrodite,&quot; but that's not exactly named after a person...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also found a really big list of these &quot;eponyms.&quot; Many of them are not capitalised.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://foxdreamer.tripod.com/page2.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://foxdreamer.tripod.com/page2.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Have fun! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T22:32:58.707" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13787" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-22T23:00:02.930" Score="0" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you say the verb &lt;em&gt;run&lt;/em&gt; in a sentence as a noun?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5355" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T23:43:38.960" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T02:52:57.217" Title="Using &quot;run&quot; as a noun" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;homework&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13787" CreationDate="2011-02-22T23:06:18.320" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The part of speech you are looking for is known as a &lt;strong&gt;gerund&lt;/strong&gt;.  Usually, the verb is conjugated with the form that terminates in &quot;&amp;mdash;&lt;strong&gt;ing&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; when it's used in a sentence. For example, in the sentence, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As an aspiring Olympic athlete, every day Alex strove to master the art of running.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;running&quot; is not being used as a verb, because it is not an action that Alex is (necessarily) performing or the state that Alex is in, but rather a noun, used to describe a field of knowledge or a general class of activities that involve the verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T23:24:53.617" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T23:24:53.617" />
  <row Id="13789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13762" CreationDate="2011-02-22T23:12:18.673" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found out two last night, watching Melvyn Bragg's excellent series about the English language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;orrery&quot; was named for the Earl of Orrery, who funded the making of the first modern one.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;johnson&quot; for the male organ, reportedly named for Samuel Johnson during Jane Austen's time because 'he would stand up to anybody'.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5356" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T23:12:18.673" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13787" CreationDate="2011-02-22T23:17:08.143" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to Billare's answer, since the question is unclear, if you are trying to use the word 'run' in itself as a noun, you can say 'they took part in the run'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T23:17:08.143" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="13791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13763" CreationDate="2011-02-22T23:28:42.587" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me, an assessment is concrete: the gold is .999 fine, the car is worth $4500, the patient is dead. (It's connected with an assay or an appraisal.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An evaluation is much more subjective: this plan is risky but worthwhile, the chili is bland, that chick is hot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T23:28:42.587" />
  <row Id="13792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13751" CreationDate="2011-02-22T23:33:38.540" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had always assumed that &lt;code&gt;whatnot&lt;/code&gt; is an abbreviation of sorts for a exclamation like &quot;My, what &lt;em&gt;isn't&lt;/em&gt; on that list!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T23:33:38.540" />
  <row Id="13793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1183" CreationDate="2011-02-22T23:35:02.390" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both can be correct. It depends on quite what you are intending to convey and the context surrounding the statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first one shows two coupled actions with equal priority in the narrative. The semi-colon couples them closer than if they were two sentences, but the comparative effect depends strongly on the surrounding text, such as where they are in the paragraph, how big or small the paragraph is, and what else is being described.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second example, using the colon, shows a more direct relationship between the clauses. They are not equal in this construct, but dependant. The second clause is the focus of the sentence, but again, the effect still depends on the surrounding text. Your second example would work well at the end of a passage where the apple is an important item and that it tasted good was a satisfying resolution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5356" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T23:35:02.390" />
  <row Id="13794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4526" CreationDate="2011-02-22T23:38:25.973" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yeah, what's wrong with mixing roots?  In particular, &quot;aquaphobia&quot; means &quot;fear of water&quot; if only because the monoracinate[1] &quot;hydrophobia&quot; means &lt;em&gt;rabies&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] Heh-heh, I just made that up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T23:38:25.973" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13683" CreationDate="2011-02-22T23:44:08.023" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;People say, &quot;What God closes a door, He opens a window.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T23:44:08.023" />
  <row Id="13796" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-22T23:48:19.657" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;if someone says a phrase that sounds like &quot;I'd just as soon you don't get in an accident, so I'll call you later&quot;, are they actually saying &quot;just as soon&quot; or &quot;just assume&quot; or something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5358" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T23:57:41.907" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T00:57:37.980" Title="Is it &quot;just as soon&quot; or &quot;just assume&quot;?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13796" CreationDate="2011-02-23T00:02:50.950" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Just as soon&quot;, meaning something very like &quot;I would sooner you don't...&quot;, but with the preference left up to the listener. It's a kind of &quot;I can take it or leave it, but, well, leaving it would be easier for me -- still, it's your decision&quot; idea; the speaker's desire is obvious, but not being pressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T00:02:50.950" />
  <row Id="13798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13796" CreationDate="2011-02-23T00:03:03.473" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll ignore the 'actually saying' deliberately. They say what they say, after all. Rather I speak about what they may mean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never heard or seen it. &#xA;But it reminds me of ”I'd rather you go away“, which perplexes me as a non-native speaker time and again. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my vote is 'I prefer you don't get in an accident'. The phrase may be a blending of ”I'd rather“ and ”I assume“. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My 2 Euro cents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5275" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T00:03:03.473" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13799" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-23T00:10:12.267" Score="3" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an Australian so I don't understand what this means in the following quotation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Painting by numbers, Scott Walker,&#xA;  following Reagan's first stroke, took&#xA;  on labour. But Walker's Patco moment&#xA;  (the busting of the Air Traffic&#xA;  Controller's union) has proved an&#xA;  overreach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As requested, here is a link to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/feb/22/wisconsin-tea-party-movement&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;original article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2143" LastEditorUserId="2143" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T01:26:45.320" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T15:45:07.003" Title="What is a &quot;Patco moment&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13799" CreationDate="2011-02-23T00:15:39.020" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've managed to find my answer in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organization_%281968%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PATCO = Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Patco moment appears to be when:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Reagan demanded those&#xA;  remaining on strike return to work&#xA;  within 48 hours, otherwise their jobs&#xA;  would be forfeited. On August 5, following the PATCO workers' refusal to return to work, Reagan fired the 11,345 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored the order, and banned them from federal service for life&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2143" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T00:15:39.020" />
  <row Id="13801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13799" CreationDate="2011-02-23T00:15:54.497" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basing on the context, I would suppose that Patco is simply the &lt;em&gt;Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T00:15:54.497" />
  <row Id="13803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13767" CreationDate="2011-02-23T00:28:13.070" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could omit it altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The salient point is that the modifications will be in the fourth version of the manual. Since your PhD will be published and readable at any date that follows it, including the word 'upcoming' will result in your text becoming out of date.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is useful to note that the fourth version has not been released at the time of the publishing of your PhD, a footnote along the lines of &quot;Expected release date: blah blah 2011&quot; might be appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5360" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T00:28:13.070" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13804" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13805" CreationDate="2011-02-23T00:35:08.600" Score="3" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;Okay, so recently I ended up saying this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Well, that is unfortunate... sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Okay. You know, just saying &quot;Sometimes it happens&quot; already tells you that something happens sometimes and other times it doesn't. But, sometimes, I need to make &lt;strong&gt;very&lt;/strong&gt; clear that this &quot;something&quot; doesn't happen always. That's why I say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;sometimes it happens, &lt;strong&gt;sometimes it doesn't&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But is there a way to shorten this phrase? To make it simpler, but still making &lt;strong&gt;very clear&lt;/strong&gt; the fact that this &quot;something&quot; may not happen? Repeating &quot;sometimes&quot; is not very much of my liking...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4643" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T02:15:38.693" Title="&quot;Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13804" CreationDate="2011-02-23T00:40:11.520" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an example of a rhetorical device called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphora&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;anaphora&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the very repetition of the word 'sometimes' that is emphasizing your point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, rhetoric can sometimes be the enemy of conciseness; what you lose in conciseness, you gain (one hopes) in effectiveness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5360" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T02:14:07.130" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T02:14:07.130" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13804" CreationDate="2011-02-23T00:41:21.813" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To make it very clear, you can say 'it happens sometimes but not always'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T00:41:21.813" />
  <row Id="13807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13796" CreationDate="2011-02-23T00:57:37.980" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's &quot;I'd just as soon&quot; and it means, in expanded form, &quot;I would just as soon have it that [something be true] as that [something else be true]. It is making a comparison between the benefits of something happening one way versus another, and stating a preference regarding the outcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'd just as soon eat live cockroaches as go see another movie about vampires.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the person is stating a distaste for vampire movies. He would as soon, or as eagerly, eat live cockroaches than watch one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'd just as soon you spoke to Bill before telling Marie about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the person believes Bill needs to know something before Marie finds out about it. There is only an implied comparison here, between telling Bill first and not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T00:57:37.980" />
  <row Id="13808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13700" CreationDate="2011-02-23T00:59:40.747" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;strong&gt;inspired&lt;/strong&gt; would be appropriate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inspire&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;inspire&lt;/a&gt; means to guide, influence and motivate and may capture the essence of what you're trying to say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5360" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T00:59:40.747" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13809" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13810" CreationDate="2011-02-23T01:01:19.793" Score="3" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of &lt;em&gt;wrt&lt;/em&gt; in the following text?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think this is an excellent idea, but I'd like to see this explicitly reframed under the banner of providing Drupal.org data through publicly-accessible APIs. We started kicking off at least one discussion like that &lt;strong&gt;wrt&lt;/strong&gt; Git over at &lt;a href=&quot;http://groups.drupal.org/node/126529&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://groups.drupal.org/node/126529&lt;/a&gt;, which also led back to &quot;#112805: XML-RPC Interface&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T01:07:54.253" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T07:13:47.600" Title="What does &quot;wrt&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13809" CreationDate="2011-02-23T01:03:17.210" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's an abbreviation for &quot;with respect to&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: regarding the lack of punctuation (thanks for bringing it up, ukayer), that's definitely because of the informal nature of the context. It would be more standard to write it as &lt;em&gt;w.r.t.&lt;/em&gt;, except that in any context where punctuation matters, you probably shouldn't use this abbreviation in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T07:13:47.600" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T07:13:47.600" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13787" CreationDate="2011-02-23T01:03:27.503" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use it in the sense of &quot;a continuous spell of a particular situation or condition&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Tom has had a run of bad luck recently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or to describe the scoring of a point in baseball:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Tom scored a run in the bottom of the ninth inning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or in the sense of &quot;a widespread and sudden or continuous demand for [something]&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There was a run on the bank, with customers yelling for their deposits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or as &quot;a track made or regularly used by a particular animal&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We made a run for the dogs so they could get some exercise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or in the meaning of a &quot;journey accomplished or route taken by a vehicle, aircraft, or boat, esp. on a regular&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I make the Boston to New York run on Amtrak at least twice a week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are others, but you get the idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T01:10:21.740" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T01:10:21.740" />
  <row Id="13812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13809" CreationDate="2011-02-23T01:04:06.300" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;WRT is an abbreviation that stands for &lt;strong&gt;with respect to&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;with regard to&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5360" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T01:04:06.300" />
  <row Id="13814" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13817" CreationDate="2011-02-23T01:33:41.873" Score="2" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been seeing many articles on myths about Ronald Reagan recently in newspapers. I don’t know why Reagan is mentioned so often these days. I guess it is related with American people’s growing frustration with the leadership of President Obama in handling health care and budget cuts issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today's Washington Post carries the article titled &quot;Five Myths about Ronald Reagan&quot;, in which I found the phrase &quot;his colossus with gilded pecs, red-painted smile and an NRA-approved pistol in each manly fist&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems his acolytes led by Salah Palin are eager to reestablish Reagan’s patriarch image among American public. Does &lt;em&gt;pec&lt;/em&gt; here mean muscular pectoral muscles? I understand red-painted nail, but what does &quot;red-painted smile&quot; mean? To me, it doesn't fit to his mascular image. And why his statue should have a gun? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The headline is followed by the following lines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The sentimental colossus his acolytes are trying to erect today, with gilded pecs, red-painted smile and an NRA-approved pistol in each manly fist, bears no resemblance to the man I knew: in private a person of no ego and little charisma, in public a statesman of formidable purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T03:39:12.500" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T17:51:15.693" Title="What does ‘[Ronald Reagan’s] colossus with gilded pecs, red-painted smile and an NRA-approved pistol in his fist' mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13815" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-23T01:39:54.593" Score="2" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference? The dictionary definitions sound awfully similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4424" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T02:10:19.520" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T02:10:19.520" Title="&quot;Restrict&quot; versus &quot;constrict&quot;" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13815" CreationDate="2011-02-23T01:46:08.557" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Restrict&lt;/em&gt; means to limit or control a thing; &lt;em&gt;constrict&lt;/em&gt; means to tighten or narrow something, usually by applying pressure. Here's a sentence that illustrates the difference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The snake coiled around his torso, constricting his chest; this, in turn, restricted his breathing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T01:46:08.557" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13814" CreationDate="2011-02-23T01:57:26.277" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ongo.com/v/348694/-1/CD45535C57BB545F/five-myths-about-ronald-reagan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;full paragraph&lt;/a&gt; is quoted as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It has been argued that Ronald Reagan was a myth himself, a construct of his own and other people's imaginings, rather than an extraordinary American about whom some untruths are told. The sentimental colossus his acolytes are trying to erect today, with gilded pecs, red-painted smile and an NRA-approved pistol in each manly fist, bears no resemblance to the man I knew: in private a person of no ego and little charisma, in public a statesman of formidable purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The colossus here is a figurative statue, not a real one. What the author is saying here is that the &lt;em&gt;image&lt;/em&gt; the Reagan fans are trying to present is one that did not closely match reality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;gilded pecs&quot;: Yes, these would be pectoral muscles, such as would be depicted on a comic-book hero.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;red-painted smile&quot;: This is another cartoonish image, emphasizing that the makeup on this character does not match real life.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;an NRA-approved pistol in each manly fist&quot;: comic-book superheroes are often depicted with weapons at the ready.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The author is contrasting these outsized and comically false images (which the author claims Sarah Palin and her followers paint with their rhetoric) with the humble, private person the author actually knew in real life. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The author, Edmund Morris, it should be noted, is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch%3a_A_Memoir_of_Ronald_Reagan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;famous biographer&lt;/a&gt; who wrote a highly acclaimed biography of Ronald Reagan himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T01:57:26.277" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13814" CreationDate="2011-02-23T02:06:53.700" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not sure about the details. I can only take an educated guess:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Those who are trying to profit from associating themselves with the memory of this often-revered president are describing him in terms that would normally apply to a god. The Colossus of Rhodes was a giant statue of the Greek god of the sun, Helios.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The red-painted smile is the least obvious one. My guess would be (I could be wrong) that this refers to Palin: I believe she is often seen wearing red lipstick. It is her goal to make people believe she resembles Reagan; that is why she tries to portray him in a way that resembles herself, even though putting her red lipstick on him makes the image most incredible.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The pecs are his pectoral muscles, a sign of manliness and power; his &quot;acolytes&quot; feel that strength and manliness are part of any hero or god, and this should be visible in the image of his statue. Gilding them takes the image even further over the top, like the gilded statues of saints.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The acolytes intended are probably mostly against gun control, hence they want to depict him as a gun lover.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T17:51:15.693" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T17:51:15.693" />
  <row Id="13819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13804" CreationDate="2011-02-23T02:15:38.693" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could reduce it by negating &quot;always&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It doesn't always happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This implies that it happens sometimes, but it emphasises that there are times when it does &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; happen. The sentence accent will fall on &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you could use &quot;only&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This only happens sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This emphasises that the number of times it happens is limited. The primary sentence accent falls on &lt;em&gt;some-&lt;/em&gt;, the secondary accent on &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T02:15:38.693" />
  <row Id="13820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13787" CreationDate="2011-02-23T02:52:57.217" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answers here explain well the situation with &lt;em&gt;run&lt;/em&gt;, but in general, verbs cannot be used as nouns. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many verbs do have noun senses—that is, when used as a noun, the word has a set meaning related to the verb. However, the nature of the relationship between the verb sense and the noun sense is not necessarily predictable. In some cases, the noun use of a verb is an instance of that verb being acted—e.g. &lt;em&gt;run&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;drop&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;bounce&lt;/em&gt;. In other cases, the noun use is the result of the verb—e.g. &lt;em&gt;mash&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;mix&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;spit&lt;/em&gt;. In most cases, however, you form a noun from a verb by adding a nominal suffix, such as these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-sion/tion: &lt;em&gt;prevent–prevention&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;provide–provision&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-ance/ence: &lt;em&gt;avoid–avoidance&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;provide–providence&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-ment: &lt;em&gt;manage–management&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;disagree–disagreement&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-ure: &lt;em&gt;please–pleasure&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;license–licensure&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;-y: &lt;em&gt;discover–discovery&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you cannot predict which suffix to use, or whether to use a suffix at all, you have to memorize each case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does this relate to the original question? The questioner asked “how do you say the verb run in a sentence as a noun”. The answer is “you don’t”. You can use the &lt;strong&gt;word&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;run&lt;/em&gt; as a noun—because it has meaning as a noun—but the &lt;strong&gt;verb&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;run&lt;/em&gt; can only be used as a verb. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is one further point: that of the gerund-participle inflection &lt;em&gt;-ing&lt;/em&gt;, which can be added to most any verb and used in noun position. The gerund-participle &lt;em&gt;running&lt;/em&gt; can be used as a noun—e.g. “&lt;em&gt;running&lt;/em&gt; is not my idea of a good time”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T02:52:57.217" />
  <row Id="13821" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-23T03:11:15.753" Score="12" ViewCount="889" Body="&lt;p&gt;This name, which is spelled القذافي in Arabic, is spelled in so many different ways in the Latin alphabet: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Gadafi, Gadaffi,  Gaddafi,  Gaddaffi,  Gadhafi, Gadhaffi,  Ghadafi, Ghadaffi, Ghaddafi, Ghaddaffi,  Ghadhafi, Ghadhaffi, Kadafi, Kadaffi, Kaddafi,   Kadhafi,  Khadafi, Khaddafi, Khaddaffi, Khadhafi, Khadhaffi, Qadafi, Qadaffi, Qaddafi, Qaddaffi, Qadhafi, Qadhaffi, Qadhdhafi, Qathafi&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why are there so many ways of spelling it? Which one should be used in general usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T11:10:24.380" Title="How do you spell Muammar Qaddafi?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;&lt;foreign-words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12426" CreationDate="2011-02-23T03:12:15.717" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;researcher&quot;? It's not exactly a synonym, and it might invoke unwanted associations with 'pure research' or 'academia', but it's the only word that comes to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4760" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T03:12:15.717" />
  <row Id="13823" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13825" CreationDate="2011-02-23T03:20:22.773" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a great way of saying that two things are so similar that there is no significant difference between them.  I'm sure there are many more and thought this might make a great community wiki.  How did the phrase/idiom come about and is it more prevalent in one english-speaking region than another? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T11:38:09.480" Title="How did the phrase &quot;much of a muchness&quot; come to be?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13821" CreationDate="2011-02-23T03:27:59.250" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, good question. I hate to dump a Wikipedia answer on you, but the site does &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muammar_al-Gaddafi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;point us in an interesting direction&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In 1986, Gaddafi reportedly responded to a Minnesota school's letter in English using the spelling &quot;Moammar El-Gadhafi&quot;.[106] The title of the homepage of algathafi.org reads &quot;Welcome to the official site of Muammar Al Gathafi&quot;.[107]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article also references &lt;em&gt;The Straight Dope&lt;/em&gt;, a mainstay fact-finding and generally informative and entertaining column written by &quot;Cecil Adams&quot; for &lt;em&gt;The Reader&lt;/em&gt;, my hometown's free weekly, which &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nowpublic.com/world/how-do-you-spell-moammar-gadhafi-kadafi-qadafi-gaddafi-2759916.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;elaborates&lt;/a&gt; on the issue. In it we find this bit of corroborative information: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How Should We Spell Gadhafi?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Well, there's no real right answer. However, the Straight Dope provides some sound advice. It notes that &lt;strong&gt;it is a general rule of thumb that if there is doubt over how to spell a person's name, you simply use the version that the person in question uses&lt;/strong&gt;. In this case, it's a bit tricky since Khadafi spells his name in Arabic. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;However, the Straight Dope points out a strange incident that sheds some light on this issue. Back in May, 1986, Kadafi wrote a letter to a class of second-graders in St. Paul, Minnesota. &lt;strong&gt;Underneath his Arabic signature was typed &quot;Moammar El-Gadhafi.&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;[Emphasis my own]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Wikipedia article also notes the difficulty in standardizing Arabic names:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because of the lack of standardization of transliterating written- and regionally-pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been transliterated in many different ways into English and other Latin alphabet languages. Even though the Arabic spelling of a word does not change, the pronunciation may vary in different varieties of Arabic, which may cause a different romanization. In literary Arabic the name معمر القذافي can be pronounced /muˈʕamːaru lqaðˈðaːfiː/. [ʕ] represents a voiced pharyngeal fricative (ع). Geminated consonants can be simplified. In Libyan Arabic, /q/ (ق) may be replaced with [ɡ] or [k] (or even [χ]; and /ð/ (ذ) (as &quot;th&quot; in &quot;this&quot;) may be replaced with [d] or [t]. Vowel [u] often alternates with [o] in pronunciation. Thus, /muˈʕamːar alqaðˈðaːfiː/ is normally pronounced in Libyan Arabic [muˈʕæmːɑrˤ əlɡædˈdæːfi]. The definite article al- (ال) is often omitted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T03:35:47.647" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T03:35:47.647" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13823" CreationDate="2011-02-23T03:28:45.657" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/251550.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This site&lt;/a&gt; says that it comes from a 1728 play. To the extent that it's known nowadays, though (it's not really prevalent anywhere, as far as I know), it's due to its use in Lewis Carroll's &lt;em&gt;Alice in Wonderland&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T03:28:45.657" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13826" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13832" CreationDate="2011-02-23T03:37:03.840" Score="2" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to come up with a word to describe what happens in cartoons (and probably real life) when a traumatic event leads to a group of ordinary people (usually children) to fend for themselves. They then form a new society resembling a dictatorship ruled by bullies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1082" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T02:16:11.607" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T04:22:16.380" Title="What do you call it when a group of neglected people spontaneously forms a cruel society?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="13827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1175" CreationDate="2011-02-23T03:45:58.623" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;British English is perfectly fine and is mainly used to mean &quot;not American English&quot;.  It is only used when you actually need to differentiate between the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1778" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T03:45:58.623" />
  <row Id="13829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5927" CreationDate="2011-02-23T04:27:43.910" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Then there's the awkward post-coital question, &quot;Was it good for you?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T04:27:43.910" />
  <row Id="13831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12426" CreationDate="2011-02-23T05:45:03.480" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;y&quot; in analyst is a major clue here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English may have derived the word &lt;em&gt;analyst&lt;/em&gt; immediately from the French &lt;em&gt;analyste&lt;/em&gt;, but one should always suspect Greek involvement when the &lt;em&gt;i grec&lt;/em&gt; (the French name for the letter &lt;em&gt;y&lt;/em&gt;) rears its head. And, true to form, &lt;em&gt;analysis&lt;/em&gt; (from which &lt;em&gt;analyst&lt;/em&gt; ultimately derives) is indeed a Greek word which made a brief tour of Mediaeval Latin before making its way into French where, finally, somebody decided there needed to be a word for the sort of person who does analyses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Analysis&lt;/em&gt; originally meant &quot;breaking up&quot;, from the prefix &lt;em&gt;ana-&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;up&quot; or &quot;throughout&quot;) and &lt;em&gt;lysis&lt;/em&gt;, a noun formed from the verb &lt;em&gt;lyein&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;to loosen&quot; or &quot;to unfasten&quot;). An &lt;em&gt;analyst&lt;/em&gt;, then, is somebody who reduces complex things to its components for examination or study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is entirely unrelated to the word &lt;em&gt;anal&lt;/em&gt;, which means &quot;of or relating to the &lt;em&gt;anus&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, a word which we have taken unmodified from Latin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T05:45:03.480" />
  <row Id="13832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13826" CreationDate="2011-02-23T05:52:45.307" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you exclude the &quot;traumatic event&quot; part, then &quot;anarchy&quot; works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;from dictionary.com,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;4 :  confusion; chaos; disorder: Intellectual and moral anarchy&#xA;  followed his loss of faith.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3294" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T05:52:45.307" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13809" CreationDate="2011-02-23T05:54:45.970" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;WRT can be used in many sense , abbreviations etc. Some examples are -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;WRT - With Regard To&#xA;WRT - With Respect To&#xA;Wrt - Wrought&#xA;wrt - Write&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-&gt;W.R.T. abbreviations -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;WRT-Walter Reade Theater&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;WRT-Westchester Reform Temple&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;WRT-Wallace Roberts &amp;amp; Todd&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;WRT=Workforce Review Team (National&#xA;  Health Service body responsible for&#xA;  workforce planning in England)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;WRT-Water Restoration Technician&#xA;  (Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and&#xA;  Restoration Certification)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;WRT-Wealth Replacement Trust&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;WRT-Workshop on Refactoring Tools&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;WRT-Water Round Torpedo&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5366" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T05:54:45.970" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12426" CreationDate="2011-02-23T06:52:51.867" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are asking for the synonyms for Analyst  without inclusion of &quot;anal&quot;, I can provide you some -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forecaster , Predictor..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't want to tell you the Synonyms for &quot;Anal&quot; .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note - There are no similarities between Analyst and Anal. Not even the origins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5366" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T06:52:51.867" />
  <row Id="13835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13635" CreationDate="2011-02-23T07:15:34.947" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We can have some synonyms of Actionable like -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Prosecutable &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Triable&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Unjust&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some Research : Actionable &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Part of Speech: adjective&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Definition:  litigable&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Outlawed is also similar to actionable.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5366" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T07:15:34.947" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8777" CreationDate="2011-02-23T07:38:39.907" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regarding the use in Another Brick in the Wall, just as important as the irony it's also how a child of that class, era and region would probably express that they didn't think they needed educating. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While some hear a double negative as incorrect, some hear it as emphasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastEditorUserId="774" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T13:12:00.377" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T13:12:00.377" />
  <row Id="13837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13826" CreationDate="2011-02-23T07:53:11.857" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would call this &lt;em&gt;social atavism&lt;/em&gt; in general.  The term for the form of government involved (rule by those best at causing fear, pain, injury and death) is &lt;em&gt;despotism&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T07:53:11.857" />
  <row Id="13838" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13842" CreationDate="2011-02-23T08:14:32.757" Score="4" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is from Alexander Pope's Eloisa to Abelard, also appeared in the movie Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind(2004).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could anyone parse this sentence for me? Where's the predicate? What does &quot;the world forgetting&quot; mean? I think if it means two worlds forgetting each other, it should be something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The world is forgotten, by the world (that has been) forgotten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks, you guys really illuminated me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you talk about your thoughts on the following lines?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T14:11:54.817" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T15:43:09.910" Title="&quot;The world forgetting, by the world forgot.&quot;" Tags="&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;poetry&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="13839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13838" CreationDate="2011-02-23T08:32:44.213" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eloisa_to_Abelard&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; gives a fuller quote and background information on the plot, which makes it easier to understand the poetic phrasing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      The world forgetting, by the world forgot.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the context (of Eloise going into a monastery), the line in question means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;s&gt;Eloise&lt;/s&gt; 'The blameless vestal [virgin]' forgets about the world, and the world forgets about &lt;s&gt;Eloise&lt;/s&gt; her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The blameless vestal is able to forget about the world (outside the monastery), and the world forgets about her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find the complete poem &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.monadnock.net/poems/eloisa.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastEditorUserId="2386" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T15:43:09.910" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T15:43:09.910" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13838" CreationDate="2011-02-23T08:35:22.723" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have to take the previous line&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your line means &lt;em&gt;She is to forget the world and she is to be forgotten by the world&lt;/em&gt; or if you prefer something simpler, then perhaps &lt;em&gt;She is forgetting the world and she is forgotten by the world&lt;/em&gt;.  The passive participle &lt;em&gt;forgotten&lt;/em&gt; becomes &lt;em&gt;forgot&lt;/em&gt; through poetic licence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T08:35:22.723" />
  <row Id="13841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13838" CreationDate="2011-02-23T08:35:40.513" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a line of a poem, and so is not necessarily a sentence.  Poetry often takes many liberties in structure (poets have a license). The first three lines of the stanza are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The world forgetting, by the world forgot.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I take the subject of the second line to be implied from the first: the vestal, and the line is saying the vestal is forgetting the world, and is forgotten by the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T08:35:40.513" />
  <row Id="13842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13838" CreationDate="2011-02-23T08:36:49.737" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1630.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;In&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eloisa_to_Abelard&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;context&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The world forgetting, by the world forgot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second line, in more conventional syntax:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Forgetting the world, and by the world forgotten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a sentence fragment (common in poetry), and the &quot;subject&quot; is only in the previous line. So here, the meaning is that a &quot;blameless vestal&quot; (chaste woman) would be happy, forgetting the world, and forgotten by the world (unlike Eloisa).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of &quot;forgot&quot; instead of &quot;forgotten&quot; is common in old poems. (&quot;I know of no reason / Why the Gunpowder Treason / Should ever be forgot.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The world forgetting, by the world forgot.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heloise_%28abbess%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;context&lt;/a&gt; of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eloisa_to_Abelard&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the poem&lt;/a&gt;, the meaning of the lines is straightforward, syntactically: Eloisa is comparing the 'happy lot' of a hypothetical blameless virgin (&quot;vestal&quot;) in the convent with her own tragic fate. The vestal with her spotless mind experiences &quot;eternal sunshine&quot; (sunshine is metaphorically used for brightness, happiness, etc) unlike Eloisa's darkness and torment because of her persisting love for Abelard. All of the vestal's prayers are accepted, presumably because they (and she) are pure and simple, and the vestal easily resigns (gives up) her wishes and submits to the will of God — unlike Eloisa, whose prayer/wish for Abelard can neither be fulfilled nor can she succeed in giving it up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T10:44:26.650" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T10:44:26.650" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1175" CreationDate="2011-02-23T08:50:13.953" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an Englishman I think it should be just 'English'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="774" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T08:50:13.953" />
  <row Id="13844" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13846" CreationDate="2011-02-23T09:02:13.110" Score="7" ViewCount="406" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know what is the longest palindrome word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5294" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T09:14:28.017" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T02:03:45.407" Title="What is the longest palindrome word in English?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;palindrome&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13823" CreationDate="2011-02-23T09:05:16.830" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes an idiom seems like a cliche, where there is a vague meaning. When their history is seen, they are often easier to understand, and any doubt about their meaning can be put into context. It's always better to know what we mean when we use them, and have a better idea of what others are likely to think they mean. Knowing their history can color in some of the blank spaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For &quot;much of muchness&quot; - Similar - difficult to distinguish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Credit : Pokket&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5366" LastEditorUserId="5366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T11:38:09.480" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T11:38:09.480" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13844" CreationDate="2011-02-23T09:06:47.513" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/detartrated&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Detartrated&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; surprise, surprise, Wikipedia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palindrome#Long_palindromes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;has more&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The longest palindromic word in the Oxford English Dictionary is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onomatopoeia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;onomatopoeic&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;tattarrattat&lt;/em&gt;, coined by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joyce&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;James Joyce&lt;/a&gt; in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_%28novel%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ulysses&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (1922) for a knock on the door. The Guinness Book of Records gives the title to &lt;em&gt;detartrated&lt;/em&gt;, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preterite&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;preterit&lt;/a&gt; and past participle of &lt;em&gt;detartrate&lt;/em&gt;, a chemical term meaning to remove &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartrate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tartrates&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_tiller&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Rotavator&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, a trademarked name for an agricultural machine, is often listed in dictionaries. The term &lt;em&gt;redivider&lt;/em&gt; is used by some writers but appears to be an invented or derived term—only &lt;em&gt;redivide&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;redivision&lt;/em&gt; appear in the Shorter Oxford Dictionary. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayalam&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Malayalam&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, an Indian language, is of equal length.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So let's see:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;tattarrattat  (onomatopoeic)&#xA;detartrated&#xA;Rotavator     (trademark)&#xA;redivider     (disputed)&#xA;Malayalam&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T09:16:15.750" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T09:16:15.750" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="13847" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13848" CreationDate="2011-02-23T09:29:14.080" Score="2" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I write &quot;all-in-one&quot;? Should it have capital letters? Should it have hyphens?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have done some googling, but I have not found a consistent result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1793" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T09:50:59.327" Title="How do I write &quot;all-in-one&quot; correctly?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13847" CreationDate="2011-02-23T09:32:09.290" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It takes hyphens:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;all-in-one:&lt;/strong&gt; adjective [ attrib. ]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;combining two or more items or functions in a single unit: &lt;em&gt;an all-in-one shampoo/conditioner.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(from the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No capitalization is required, unless it's at the beginning of a sentence, of course.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T09:50:59.327" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T09:50:59.327" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13849" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13850" CreationDate="2011-02-23T09:40:29.593" Score="1" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a book that is divided in 5 main topics. What would be a good synonym for &quot;main topic&quot;, in a formal document?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Main theme&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Main subject&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; would be better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, if I wanted to replace &quot;main&quot;, what should I use? I want to stress how &quot;vital&quot; these topics are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T10:17:31.140" Title="Synonym for &quot;main topic&quot; (of a book)?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13849" CreationDate="2011-02-23T09:43:43.010" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Subject&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;theme&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;issue&lt;/strong&gt; are all fine synonyms of &lt;em&gt;topic&lt;/em&gt; for the usage you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T09:43:43.010" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8777" CreationDate="2011-02-23T09:46:17.363" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could assume that commas have been left out:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;We do, not need, no education&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;in which case the implication would me that although education is needed, they do not 'do' it (incorrect, but could be appropriate as slang).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;We do not [have], need no, education&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where the repition is used as emphasis: &lt;code&gt;&quot;we do not [have] education, and we need no education&quot;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of these are a bit of a stretch, and while possible, I doubt they are what Pink Floyd intended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2235" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T09:46:17.363" />
  <row Id="13852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6857" CreationDate="2011-02-23T09:56:43.427" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a native speaker of british english, to me, 'towards' implies motion - so I would probably use them like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;He faced toward the house&quot;&#xA;&quot;He walked towards the house&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;only adding the 's' when associated with a verb that includes movement.&#xA;I don't know if that's correct in any official sense, but that is how I would use them in ordinary speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2235" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T09:56:43.427" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6857" CreationDate="2011-02-23T10:11:36.867" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's quote here the “Word note” about this issue in the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;toward, towards:&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  It might seem pedantic to point out that toward is the correct U.S. spelling and towards is British. On the other hand, so many writers at all levels seem ignorant of the difference that always using toward is a costless, unpretentious way to signal your fluency in American English. It's the same with gray (U.S.) and grey (Brit.), though many Americans have been using these two interchangeably for so long that some U.S. dictionaries now list grey as a passable variant. This is not likely to happen with toward/towards, though—at least not in our lifetimes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;It is followed by a note: “Conversational, opinionated, and idiomatic, these Word Notes are an opportunity to see a working writer's perspective on a particular word or usage.”&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T10:11:36.867" />
  <row Id="13854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13849" CreationDate="2011-02-23T10:17:31.140" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also, if I wanted to replace &quot;main&quot;, what should I use? I want to stress how &quot;vital&quot; these topics are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, perhaps you could call them &lt;em&gt;vital topics&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other possibilities include core, fundamental, important, essential, major. These are not exact synonyms so suitability depends on context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T10:17:31.140" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13855" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13857" CreationDate="2011-02-23T10:18:32.123" Score="3" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do you call words like &lt;em&gt;one-note&lt;/em&gt; that are separated by an hyphen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastEditorUserId="5342" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T15:06:29.657" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T15:06:29.657" Title="What do you call words that are separated by an hyphen?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;hyphen&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="13856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13855" CreationDate="2011-02-23T10:23:01.027" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The “-” sign is not a dash, but a &lt;strong&gt;hyphen&lt;/strong&gt;. Words that contain one or more hyphens are said to be &lt;strong&gt;hyphenated&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dashes of various length are used in English writing: “–” is an &lt;em&gt;en dash&lt;/em&gt;, and “—” is an em dash. Their names (&lt;em&gt;en&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;em&lt;/em&gt;) are those of typographic units of measurements. The former is used in particular to separate dates in ranges (“Lee, Bruce (1941–73)”), and the latter is used to indicate a break of thought or an unfinished sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T14:26:11.970" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T14:26:11.970" />
  <row Id="13857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13855" CreationDate="2011-02-23T10:23:31.443" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would call them &lt;em&gt;hyphenated &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_compound&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;compounds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, as opposed to &lt;em&gt;solid compounds&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;open compounds&lt;/em&gt;. Note how they are not &lt;em&gt;dashed&lt;/em&gt;. That's because a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyphen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hyphen&lt;/a&gt; (-) is not the same as a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dash&lt;/a&gt; (–, —, ⁓, ‒).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Short compounds may be written in three different ways, which do not correspond to different pronunciations, however:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The &quot;solid&quot; or &quot;closed&quot; forms in which two usually moderately short words appear together as one. Solid compounds most likely consist of short (monosyllabic) units that often have been established in the language for a long time. Examples are &lt;em&gt;housewife&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;lawsuit&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;wallpaper&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The &lt;em&gt;hyphenated&lt;/em&gt; form in which two or more words are connected by a hyphen. Compounds that contain affixes, such as &lt;em&gt;house-build(er)&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;single-mind(ed)(ness)&lt;/em&gt;, as well as adjective-adjective compounds and verb-verb compounds, such as &lt;em&gt;blue-green&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;freeze-dried&lt;/em&gt;, are often hyphenated. Compounds that contain articles, prepositions or conjunctions, such as &lt;em&gt;rent-a-cop&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;mother-of-pearl&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;salt-and-pepper&lt;/em&gt;, are also often hyphenated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The &lt;em&gt;open&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;spaced&lt;/em&gt; form consisting of newer combinations of usually longer words, such as &lt;em&gt;distance learning&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;player piano&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;lawn tennis&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T10:28:43.137" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T10:28:43.137" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13855" CreationDate="2011-02-23T10:24:25.693" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the term you are looking for is &lt;em&gt;hyphenated&lt;/em&gt; words. Note that the hyphen and the dash (or, rather, dashes -- there are several of them) are different characters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T10:24:25.693" />
  <row Id="13859" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13863" CreationDate="2011-02-23T10:39:46.393" Score="2" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's imagine we have an organization named EFSMA-EE and another called EFSMA Telecom (EFSMA is an acronym).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I want to compose these with another word (e.g. &quot;time&quot; - as in &quot;full-time&quot;), what should I do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just add the hyphen?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;EFSMA-EE-time and EFSMA Telecom-time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T10:50:39.470" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T10:54:22.313" Title="What is the rule for composing two words, when one of them is hyphenized or has spaces?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;acronyms&gt;&lt;compounds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13860" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13862" CreationDate="2011-02-23T10:43:27.727" Score="17" ViewCount="349" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of the suffix &lt;em&gt;-ing&lt;/em&gt; used to form gerunds and present participles?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Why the suffix is the same in both the cases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T10:53:36.637" Title="Origin of &quot;-ing&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;suffix&gt;&lt;word-formation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13861" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13904" CreationDate="2011-02-23T10:45:52.013" Score="2" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of the personal pronouns &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;she&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T19:49:23.470" Title="Origin of the personal pronouns" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13860" CreationDate="2011-02-23T10:53:36.637" Score="22" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two &lt;em&gt;-ing&lt;/em&gt;'s are actually not the same etymologically. One developed from Proto-Germanic *&lt;em&gt;-ungō&lt;/em&gt;, which has survived in contemporary German (&lt;em&gt;packaging&lt;/em&gt; — &lt;em&gt;Verpackung&lt;/em&gt;). The other &lt;em&gt;-ing&lt;/em&gt; developed from Old English &lt;em&gt;-ende&lt;/em&gt;, from Proto-Germanic *&lt;em&gt;-andz&lt;/em&gt; — again, compare contemporary German (&lt;em&gt;singing&lt;/em&gt; — &lt;em&gt;singend&lt;/em&gt;) — and goes back to the Proto-Indo-European *&lt;em&gt;-nt-&lt;/em&gt; (cf. Greek &lt;em&gt;-ον&lt;/em&gt; or Latin &lt;em&gt;-ans&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For further details, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=-ing&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-ing#English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T10:53:36.637" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13859" CreationDate="2011-02-23T10:54:22.313" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is usually better to rephrase such constructions. However, if you cannot do this, you can use an en dash instead. Quoting from The Chicago Manual of Style:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The en dash is used in place of a hyphen in a compound adjective when one of its elements is an open compound or when two or more of its elements are open compounds or hyphenated compounds (e.g., &lt;em&gt;a quasi-public–quasi-judicial body&lt;/em&gt;, the post–World War II years).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can write the phrase in your question as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;EFSMA-EE–time and EFSMA Telecom–time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T10:54:22.313" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13864" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13879" CreationDate="2011-02-23T10:56:20.543" Score="4" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;I only heard &quot;cleanness&quot; for the first time yesterday - I did not know this word existed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what's the difference between cleanness and cleanliness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read this &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=973672&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=973672&lt;/a&gt; but am not clear when I would use &quot;cleanness&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1798" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T14:44:50.067" Title="Cleanness vs Cleanliness" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13864" CreationDate="2011-02-23T11:01:59.243" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quoting from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.learnersdictionary.com/blog.php?action=ViewBlogArticle&amp;amp;ba_id=88&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Learner’s Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cleanliness&lt;/strong&gt; is a much more common word than &lt;strong&gt;cleanness&lt;/strong&gt;.&#xA;They look similar and are certainly related.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &lt;strong&gt;cleanness&lt;/strong&gt; is usually used to refer to the senses of clean that have to do with shape, appearance, or impression (such as &quot;pleasingly simple&quot; and &quot;having edges that are straight and smooth&quot;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;cleanness&lt;/strong&gt;, tidiness, and manageability of city life kept surprising her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;…the bareness, &lt;strong&gt;cleanness&lt;/strong&gt;, and sobriety of Doric architecture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The performance showed all the technical exactitude and &lt;strong&gt;cleanness&lt;/strong&gt; of tone that earlier music demands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cleanliness&lt;/strong&gt; refers to being clean or not messy or dirty:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The restaurant's kitchen is regularly inspected for &lt;strong&gt;cleanliness&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;His habits of personal hygiene and &lt;strong&gt;cleanliness&lt;/strong&gt; were learned in the army.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She was much concerned with the &lt;strong&gt;cleanliness&lt;/strong&gt; of public bathrooms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5366" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T14:02:17.583" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T14:02:17.583" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="13867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5927" CreationDate="2011-02-23T11:02:32.663" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Good for you&lt;/em&gt; is usually used to express approval toward a person, but in some contexts it has a different meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm taking my driving test next month.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    Good for you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have a new car.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    Good for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning of the more generic phrase &lt;em&gt;good for&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;having a advantageous effect on&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Eating spinaches is good for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T11:22:46.357" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T11:22:46.357" />
  <row Id="13868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13821" CreationDate="2011-02-23T11:10:24.380" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Germany we spell it Gaddafi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5376" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T11:10:24.380" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11607" CreationDate="2011-02-23T12:04:01.337" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. If you have a knack of playing with exclaimers the way Tom Wolfe does, you can throw them in by the handful.&quot;&#xA;(Elmore Leonard)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T12:04:01.337" />
  <row Id="13870" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-23T12:04:46.910" Score="1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;A book divided in several chapters/topics, can also be considered to be divided in categories (or have categories)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure if category can be used in this case, or if it should only be used in the context of category theory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T22:13:30.923" Title="Can a book be divided in categories?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13871" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-23T12:20:47.083" Score="0" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7986/why-should-the-first-person-pronoun-i-always-be-capitalized&quot;&gt;Why should the first person pronoun &amp;#39;I&amp;#39; always be capitalized?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On all of the stack exchange sites, my post always get edited to capitalise &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is completely different from my mother language and I was wondering why it is done so. I've never noticed any other word that is always capitalised (like &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;, for example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4398" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T12:37:56.297" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T12:37:56.297" ClosedDate="2011-02-23T13:22:46.057" Title="Why is &quot;I&quot; always capitalised?" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13870" CreationDate="2011-02-23T12:43:24.150" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Books can be &lt;em&gt;sorted&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;put&lt;/em&gt; in categories. For example, a book about Philippine cuisine written by Dostoyevski could be sorted into the categories &quot;Cooking&quot;, &quot;Russian author&quot;, &quot;Philippines&quot;. But it would be sorted into each of these categories &lt;em&gt;as a whole&lt;/em&gt;. You can't &lt;em&gt;divide&lt;/em&gt; the book into categories. A category is a &lt;em&gt;superordinate&lt;/em&gt; concept, while chapters is a &lt;em&gt;subordinate&lt;/em&gt; one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T12:43:24.150" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="13874" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13875" CreationDate="2011-02-23T12:47:10.270" Score="8" ViewCount="260" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what is the origin of this idiomatic expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also: is it correct to use the idiom in reverse, i.e. &quot;rub someone the right way&quot;, possibly meaning &quot;to calm&quot; or &quot;to please&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1519" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T17:37:56.867" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T17:37:56.867" Title="What is the origin of &quot;rub someone the wrong way&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13874" CreationDate="2011-02-23T12:50:01.983" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; has:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;rub someone&lt;/strong&gt; (or Brit. rub someone up) &lt;strong&gt;the wrong way:&lt;/strong&gt; irritate or repel someone as by stroking a cat against the lie of its fur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So clearly, the origin is that of stroking a cat: cats like to be petted from head to tail, rather than in the opposition direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T12:50:01.983" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13874" CreationDate="2011-02-23T13:05:03.630" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For your second question, It does exist: &lt;a href=&quot;http://thesaurus.com/browse/rub+right+way?qsrc=2446&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rub the right way&lt;/a&gt; but I have only seen it as a word play on rub the wrong way. It does not feel like an official antonym to &lt;em&gt;rub the wrong way&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T13:05:03.630" />
  <row Id="13877" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-23T13:07:07.203" Score="2" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Written in 1836 in Texas&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To the People of Texas &amp;amp; All Americans&#xA;  in the World:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fellow citizens &amp;amp;&#xA;  compatriots—I am besieged, by a&#xA;  thousand or more of the Mexicans under&#xA;  Santa Anna—I have sustained a&#xA;  continual Bombardment &amp;amp; cannonade for&#xA;  24 hours &amp;amp; have not lost a man. The&#xA;  enemy has demanded a surrender at&#xA;  discretion, otherwise, the garrison&#xA;  are to be put to the sword, if the&#xA;  fort is taken—I have answered the&#xA;  demand with a cannon shot, &amp;amp; our flag&#xA;  still waves proudly from the walls. I&#xA;  shall never surrender or retreat.&#xA;  Then, I call on you in the name of&#xA;  Liberty, of patriotism &amp;amp; everything&#xA;  dear to the American character, to&#xA;  come to our aid, with all dispatch—The&#xA;  enemy is receiving reinforcements&#xA;  daily &amp;amp; will no doubt increase to&#xA;  three or four thousand in four or five&#xA;  days. If this call is neglected, I am&#xA;  determined to sustain myself as long&#xA;  as possible &amp;amp; die like a soldier who&#xA;  never forgets what is due to his own&#xA;  honor &amp;amp; that of his country—Victory or&#xA;  Death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;William Barret Travis Lt. Col.comdt&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;P.S. The Lord is on our&#xA;  side—When the enemy appeared in sight&#xA;  we had not three bushels of corn—We&#xA;  have since found in deserted houses 80&#xA;  or 90 bushels &amp;amp; got into the walls 20&#xA;  or 30 head of Beeves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_the_People_of_Texas_%26_All_Americans_in_the_World&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_the_People_of_Texas_%26_All_Americans_in_the_World&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The bit I found interesting was the last line about the Lord being on their side.  Was this used as an expression to encourage people to join them, or was it used as a literal statement, as in, the Lord literally put bushels of corn in the house for them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5002" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T21:29:23.523" Title="Disambiguation of American English" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;ambiguity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13877" CreationDate="2011-02-23T13:36:59.767" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a bit of both, I think.  The writer is probably taking their &quot;luck&quot; in finding grain and obtaining cattle as a sign of divine favor (in the sort of hedged half-believing way that seems particularly American to me, but doubtless people of other nationalities are perfectly familiar with), and in any event describing it that way sounds better and more devout than saying &quot;oh, hey, we got lucky with food, good thing since we had all the military preparedness in that area of a kid's tea party&quot;.  It serves the purpose of both helping give the letter a tone of cheerful bravado and, probably, easing people's fears that if they answer the call to arms they'll wind up starving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T13:36:59.767" />
  <row Id="13879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13864" CreationDate="2011-02-23T14:44:50.067" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It might help to consider that, on the one hand, &lt;em&gt;cleanliness&lt;/em&gt; is derived from the dated adjective &lt;em&gt;cleanly&lt;/em&gt;, which means&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(of a person or animal) habitually clean and careful to avoid dirt.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;— &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1233601#m_en_us1233601&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, &lt;em&gt;cleanness&lt;/em&gt; is derived from the adjective &lt;em&gt;clean&lt;/em&gt;, which has the following basic meanings:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;free from dirt, marks, or stains:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;morally uncontaminated; pure; innocent:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;free from irregularities; having a smooth edge or surface:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;— &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1233595#m_en_us1233595&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;(Visit for elaboration on various meanings and usage)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;cleanness&lt;/em&gt; can thus be used in any of the senses of the word, &lt;em&gt;clean&lt;/em&gt;, in reference to people, places, things (inanimate and abstract e.g. buildings, sounds, etc.), actions, and so forth. Also, note that &lt;em&gt;cleanliness&lt;/em&gt; can only be used for people or animals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T14:44:50.067" />
  <row Id="13880" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13884" CreationDate="2011-02-23T14:53:28.877" Score="3" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is saying &lt;em&gt;much more&lt;/em&gt; grammatically correct? &#xA;For instance, some purists argue that this is wrong:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm much more comfortable with A than B&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and that it should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm more comfortable with A than B&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or, to emphasize:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm a lot more comfortable with A than B&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Much more&lt;/em&gt; does sound colloquial but I've seen it used in newspapers and articles so I was curious. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5254" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T15:36:32.133" Title="Usage of 'much more'" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1175" CreationDate="2011-02-23T15:05:31.653" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Methinks &lt;em&gt;English&lt;/em&gt; would be appropriate to refer to British English while other variants would be qualified with the corresponding type, like &lt;em&gt;American English&lt;/em&gt; and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5254" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T15:05:31.653" />
  <row Id="13882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13880" CreationDate="2011-02-23T15:08:17.000" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say it's fine. There may be some words where adding &lt;code&gt;much&lt;/code&gt; is not correct but I can't think of them. (I'm thinking of overspecifications like &lt;code&gt;more unique&lt;/code&gt;, but applying to the adverb.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3612" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T15:08:17.000" />
  <row Id="13883" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13922" CreationDate="2011-02-23T15:26:21.013" Score="1" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi all,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the term &quot;blind spot&quot; peculiar to the English language, or is it likely to be well understood worldwide, even by people who don't have English as their first language?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Some background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I'm currently searching for a term I can use in some software I'm developing. The feature in question allows the user to draw rectangles over an image to denote areas they'd like to ignore in a later analysis of the image. I need the user to be able to create and delete as many of these areas as they like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently, the areas are called &quot;exclusion areas&quot;, but that causes problems when you've got a button labelled &quot;Remove exclusion area&quot;. We've seen people being tripped up by the double negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thought was to rename the &quot;exclusion areas&quot; to &quot;blind spots&quot;. However, do you think this will cause more problems for non-native English speakers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="770" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T22:53:36.150" Title="Is the term &quot;blind spot&quot; something that only native English speakers would understand?" Tags="&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="13884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13880" CreationDate="2011-02-23T15:28:17.797" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Much more&lt;/em&gt; is perfectly grammatical, and in fact much more popular than &lt;em&gt;a lot more&lt;/em&gt;, according to both the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;                         BNC   COCA&#xA;&#xA;much more               8024  29549&#xA;a lot more              1209   9954 &#xA;much more comfortable     28    203&#xA;a lot more comfortable    12     72&#xA;much more expensive       47    186&#xA;a lot more expensive      13     47&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Much more comfortable&lt;/em&gt; is more popular in all contexts, from spoken to academic. In fact, in academic contexts it is preferred by a significantly larger margin than in speech:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;                        SPOKEN  FICTION  MAGAZINE  NEWSPAPER  ACADEMIC&#xA;&#xA;much more comfortable    0.65     0.26     0.73      0.51       0.22&#xA;a lot more comfortable   0.33     0.06     0.21      0.22       0.02 &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(Average number of occurrences per million words.)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T15:36:32.133" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T15:36:32.133" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13883" CreationDate="2011-02-23T15:35:18.050" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Knowing if non-English speakers know the term &quot;blind spot&quot; is nearly impossible for a native English speaker, for obvious reasons. A more technical alternative for you might be &lt;em&gt;image mask&lt;/em&gt; and the button might read &quot;remove selected mask&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T15:35:18.050" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13883" CreationDate="2011-02-23T15:37:05.197" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think so. It is certainly idiomatic, but it is rather frequently encountered in writing (newspaper articles, in particular). It is well-documented in dictionaries, and neither slang nor informal. I would not expect to cause any particular difficulty to a non-native speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;FYI: I'm not a native speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T15:37:05.197" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13799" CreationDate="2011-02-23T15:45:07.003" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the others have established, PATCO is a labor union for air traffic controllers. Reagan fired everyone, essentially breaking the union. So in this context &quot;a PATCO moment&quot; is a situation which is similar to what Reagan did to that union. It looks like Scott Walker has busted or is attempting to bust up a union&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T15:45:07.003" />
  <row Id="13888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13635" CreationDate="2011-02-23T16:43:15.630" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I currently say an item is &quot;blocked&quot; or &quot;unblocked&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How can we unblock X?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is blocking Y?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have too many blocked tasks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may work especially well in my field because the term &quot;blocking&quot; means in software development almost what &quot;un-actionable&quot; means in managementese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Off-topic anecdote: I wondered the same as you, but my motivations were different than yours. I &lt;em&gt;hate&lt;/em&gt; management speak for the reason @ghoppe stated - they are often an artificial cluster of meaningless words to pretentiously avoid simplicity (ok I said it much stronger). I will never forget when my non-native English speaking friend laughed when she heard, &quot;So now what you are going to want to do here is X&quot; instead of simply &quot;X&quot;. Not management speak, but illustrates what lengths we're willing to take just to use more syllables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastEditorUserId="4929" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T17:31:57.390" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T17:31:57.390" />
  <row Id="13889" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13892" CreationDate="2011-02-23T17:01:54.990" Score="2" ViewCount="193" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;A or B&quot; includes &quot;A and B&quot;&#xA;Does &quot;either&quot; mean &quot;A or B but (A and B not true)&quot; or does it include the possibility of &quot;A and B&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5249" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T19:32:51.980" Title="Does &quot;either A or B &quot; mean &quot;A or B&quot;?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13889" CreationDate="2011-02-23T17:12:34.070" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Either/or means &quot;one or the other.&quot; Its usage, versus the simple or structure, is often for emphatic purposes, sometimes intending to emphasize that only one option is possible, or to emphasize that there are only two options. Its use in a sentence lets the reader/listener know in advance that a list of two or more possibilities will be given.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you correctly recognize &quot;or&quot; used alone can also include the possibility of both A and B (especially important in mathematics).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5210" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T17:12:34.070" />
  <row Id="13891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13889" CreationDate="2011-02-23T17:13:33.723" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means that it can't be both. I believe one would call it an &quot;exclusive or&quot; or XOR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T17:13:33.723" />
  <row Id="13892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13889" CreationDate="2011-02-23T17:15:08.277" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Either A or B&quot; most precisely means, in symbolic logic terms, &quot;A &lt;code&gt;XOR&lt;/code&gt; B&quot;, where &lt;code&gt;XOR&lt;/code&gt; is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusive_or&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;exclusive or&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.  So yes, it means &quot;A or B but not both&quot;.  It isn't always actually &lt;em&gt;used&lt;/em&gt; with full precision, though, so, as usual, context has to be taken into account.  If somebody says, &quot;select either A or B&quot;, for example, they definitely mean that you should not select both.  If they say &quot;if either A or B is true&quot;, though, they probably mean a &lt;em&gt;non&lt;/em&gt;-exclusive &lt;code&gt;OR&lt;/code&gt;, and the condition is still true if both A and B are true.  Unfortunately, if there's a generally reliable rule for telling which is meant, I'm failing to think of what it would be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without the &quot;either&quot;, the presumption would be more toward &quot;A &lt;code&gt;OR&lt;/code&gt; B&quot;, where &lt;code&gt;OR&lt;/code&gt; allows the case where both are true.  Which is why computer geeks and propositional calculus nerds will, when asked &quot;do you want to go to lunch now or later?&quot;, answer &quot;yes&quot;.  (Illustrating that the &quot;either&quot; part is &lt;em&gt;implied&lt;/em&gt; by context as often as it's &lt;em&gt;cancelled&lt;/em&gt; by context.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T19:32:51.980" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T19:32:51.980" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13889" CreationDate="2011-02-23T17:16:40.750" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you have confused yourself in some sense.  &quot;A or B&quot; includes A or B or both. That needs to be clear.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Usage of 'either' as a conjunction has different meaning than 'Or' as it means 'A' or 'B' but not both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4106" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T17:16:40.750" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13895" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-23T17:29:09.557" Score="1" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard there is a difference between movies 'based on' verses those 'inspired by' true events. Does one relationship with the 'true events' have more license than another, or is it just the director's discretion as to which phrase to use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2178" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T06:52:31.497" Title="Movies 'based on' v. 'inspired by' true events" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="13896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13635" CreationDate="2011-02-23T17:43:40.883" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just throwing some ideas out, trying to maintain that management buzzword feel at the cost of grammatical accuracy (agreeing with ghoppe that once a term falls under the purview of management parlance, it starts to bleed meaning until it is an empty husk - c.f. &quot;leverage&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;...has become one of our critical tasks.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;...is now on the critical path.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;...is an agenceable item.&quot; &lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;...is a scheduleable task.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;...is now prioritary.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5058" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T19:57:29.720" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T19:57:29.720" />
  <row Id="13898" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13901" CreationDate="2011-02-23T17:53:51.897" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm tired of my junior employees abusing, misusing and otherwise being cavalier about possessives and the use of apostrophes. I could wag my finger at them, point them to some Guide of Style or to any of a myriad of pedantic websites that come up in a simple Google Search.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm looking for specifically is a good writeup, whose intended target audience is this younger generation who seem to neither know, nor care, much about grammar (nor spelling for that matter, but I digress).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the article is humorous, or even sarcastic, so much the better. The goal is to make sure a young blase audience reads it through to the end, and retains the salient points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Throw up your links, fellow pedants!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Tom&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5058" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T18:01:01.353" Title="Best link to forward to juniors re: correct use of apostrophes, possessives and contractions" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;&lt;example&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13899" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-23T17:56:23.077" Score="3" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm curious about why we say things like, &quot;If I could have your attention please&quot;, &quot;Please give me your focus&quot;, and &quot;Please give me the same respect you want for yourself&quot;. When did these become distributable resources?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone have insight into how this came about and &lt;strong&gt;why we use these as we do&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;We don't use other intangible nouns like this, so why do we use a select few in this special way? (&quot;Could I have your kindness?&quot; sounds weird, as do things like, &lt;em&gt;good humor&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;excitement&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any insight and speculation is appreciated. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4675" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T19:58:21.030" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T19:58:21.030" Title="Attention, focus, and respect as distributable resources" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;language-evolution&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10169" CreationDate="2011-02-23T17:59:53.760" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It does make some sense that computers and the Internet stifle change in English. However, in the opposite direction, there are some changes that are &lt;em&gt;due to&lt;/em&gt; modern technology. While I can't think of any in English, one in Romanian is the now-common use of cedillas under the letters &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;t&lt;/em&gt; where &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-comma&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;commas&lt;/a&gt; used to be used: computer systems for a long time only supported cedillas, so those became common. (Unicode now supports both, so perhaps the pendulum will swing back.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T17:59:53.760" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13898" CreationDate="2011-02-23T18:01:01.353" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love a comic by The Oatmeal called, &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apostrophe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;How To Use An Apostrophe&lt;/a&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a fun, light (a little humorous) way to teach about the problems you mentioned above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4675" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T18:01:01.353" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13895" CreationDate="2011-02-23T18:07:45.663" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Presumably the courts might look slightly more kindly upon your lawsuit if my film about an evil super-villain was advertised as being based on your life story rather than being merely inspired by it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T18:07:45.663" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13889" CreationDate="2011-02-23T18:11:18.397" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I somewhat disagree with the other answers. To me, 'either A or B' means the same as 'A or B'. Each can mean 'or' used in the inclusive or exclusive sense, depending on context. In mathematics, the inclusive sense is used, while in everyday life, the exclusive sense is usually what is meant. In any case, further specification will remove any doubt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T18:11:18.397" />
  <row Id="13904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13861" CreationDate="2011-02-23T18:16:01.337" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't got time to take them all the way (or to check references, so this is from memory), but yes they do go back to PIE, with the possible exception of &lt;em&gt;she&lt;/em&gt;. But they come by different routes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; from Old English &lt;em&gt;ic&lt;/em&gt;, ultimately from PIE &lt;em&gt;eghom&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;You&lt;/em&gt; is historically the object case of &lt;em&gt;ye&lt;/em&gt;, cognate with German &lt;em&gt;euch&lt;/em&gt;, and Sanskrit &lt;em&gt;yuyam&lt;/em&gt;. Note that these are plural: the singular &lt;em&gt;thou&lt;/em&gt; has dropped out of use in most English dialects.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;He&lt;/em&gt; is certainly common Germanic (Cf Swedish &lt;em&gt;hän&lt;/em&gt;) and I think it goes back to the same root as Latin &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;She&lt;/em&gt; is another word that came in after the Old English period, but I think it's cognate with German &lt;em&gt;sie&lt;/em&gt;. I'm not sure of its earlier history. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;We&lt;/em&gt; is also Germanic (German &lt;em&gt;wir&lt;/em&gt;), but I don't recall its older history offhand.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;They&lt;/em&gt; is Old Norse, and replaced Old English &lt;em&gt;hie&lt;/em&gt;. It goes back to the same demonstrative root as &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope somebody has time to expand my random recollections.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T19:49:23.470" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T19:49:23.470" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13899" CreationDate="2011-02-23T18:22:36.197" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As nouns, &lt;em&gt;attention&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;respect&lt;/em&gt; have always been exchangeable commodities -- one &lt;em&gt;pays respect to&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;pays attention to&lt;/em&gt; a person or object worthy of such payment, and we seem always to have done so. (In French, one &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; attention*, but I have never run across that usage in English except when I was teaching ESL.) People have also always asked for or demanded attention and respect. It's the standard usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That use of &lt;em&gt;focus&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, is definitely non-standard. I have never heard or seen it until you posted this question -- the usual use is to ask that the listener focus, or &quot;focus on me&quot;, &quot;focus on what we're doing&quot;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*The phrase is &lt;em&gt;faire attention&lt;/em&gt;, and the verb &lt;em&gt;faire&lt;/em&gt; is used in the sense of &lt;em&gt;to do&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;to make&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastEditorUserId="5095" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T18:33:36.107" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T18:33:36.107" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="13906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13895" CreationDate="2011-02-23T18:41:27.247" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are sufficiently vague that the author can use them however he/she wants. Both wordings could mean anything from &quot;nothing like the actual events&quot; on up to &quot;exactly like the actual events&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the director / author can and will decide which best fits their marketing motivations, in a matter of connotation and style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could imagine that a more artistic movie would use the term &quot;inspired by&quot;, and an action movie would connect better with &quot;based on&quot; for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Outside the context of art, I think &quot;based on&quot; does imply a closer resemblance to fact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T18:41:27.247" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13883" CreationDate="2011-02-23T19:56:10.097" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Blind spot&lt;/em&gt;, at least when it means the part of the eye without photo-receptors, seems to have exactly the same name (or with the words reversed) calqued in a large number of different languages: &lt;em&gt;point aveugle&lt;/em&gt; in French, &lt;em&gt;Blinder Fleck&lt;/em&gt; in German, অন্ধবিন্দু in Bengali, &lt;em&gt;bintik buta&lt;/em&gt; in Malay, 盲点 in Japanese, and many more.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I suspect a mild and fairly obvious metaphorical use in English should not be too much of a problem. Some people may expect it to be a small area.     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T19:56:10.097" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13883" CreationDate="2011-02-23T20:28:22.230" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My first and second languages are Galician and Spanish (not sure what order), and literal translations of &quot;blind spot&quot; make total sense in both, and are often used in the context that you describe. I don't see any problem with the phrase, other than perhaps sounding a bit too techie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1304" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T20:28:22.230" />
  <row Id="13909" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13910" CreationDate="2011-02-23T21:05:10.507" Score="2" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;connexion&quot; synonymous with &quot;connection&quot;? For example, &quot;an ethernet connexion&quot;. Can I use it like that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5388" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T02:53:55.987" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T02:53:55.987" Title="Is &quot;connexion&quot; synonymous with &quot;connection&quot;?" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13909" CreationDate="2011-02-23T21:07:40.540" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connexion&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;No, at least not in American English.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Connexion is the original and variant&#xA;  spelling of &quot;connection&quot;, common until&#xA;  at least the 19th century, and still&#xA;  occasionally used in British English&#xA;  (it was the house style of The Times&#xA;  of London as recently as the 1980s).&#xA;  It is derived from the Latin connexio,&#xA;  hence the spelling, unlike most words&#xA;  ending in &quot;-ction&quot; which are derived&#xA;  from Latin words ending in &quot;-ctio&quot;&#xA;  (e.g. &quot;protection&quot; from protectio).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never seen that spelling in use in the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T21:07:40.540" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13877" CreationDate="2011-02-23T21:09:40.827" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In context, that has two possible meanings to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Lord is on our side could be equivalent to &quot;Thank God...&quot;. Expressing relief at good fortune in the most typical manner. Not necessarily prescribing it to God.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;We are on the side of the Right/Good/Just&quot;. The Lord only ever siding with those who are good, and just, by saying this he is implying that they are in the right. Then using their good fortune to prove it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would depend on the writer for which meaning is to be taken. In that time period, it is more likely definition 2 is intended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Today, it would be either definition 1, or a mixture of both, expressing God is on our side and as a thanks for what we found (without prescribing it to God).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5190" LastEditorUserId="5190" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T21:29:23.523" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T21:29:23.523" />
  <row Id="13912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13909" CreationDate="2011-02-23T21:19:07.303" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In British English, &lt;em&gt;connexion&lt;/em&gt; is an alternative spelling of &lt;em&gt;connection&lt;/em&gt;; American English only uses &lt;em&gt;connection&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The origin of the word connection explains the reason of this.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Connection&lt;/em&gt; has origin from the Latin &lt;em&gt;connexio(n-)&lt;/em&gt;; only in the 18th century the spelling &lt;em&gt;-ct-&lt;/em&gt; started to be used, on the pattern of words like &lt;em&gt;collect&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;collection&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T21:19:07.303" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13913" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13920" CreationDate="2011-02-23T21:26:57.817" Score="4" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a region-specific question--Indian English&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed when working with colleagues from India that they use the word 'doubts' where the typical American would use the word 'questions' or 'concerns'.  This is most prevalent at the end of a meeting or discussion where an Indian colleague will ask &quot;Do you have any doubts?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed the same word being used in the same way on several StackExchange forums (I assume from Indian users) and I'm curious how this word came to be used this way in India.  I don't think I've ever heard this in British English (should that be the Queen's English?), so I &lt;em&gt;doubt&lt;/em&gt; it started directly during the colonization period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How, then, did it come about?&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;Edit-clarification for some very good point already provided in answers below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In current American English, 'doubt' could be considered to be a synonym of 'question', but the difference is that 'doubt' implies &lt;em&gt;lack of belief&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;lack of knowledge&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, a math teacher may explain that any number raised to the 0 power is 1.  For the uninitiated it may seem counter-intuitive because raising to a power implies multiplication and any number multiplied by 0 is 0, not 1.  In this case an American student might say &quot;I have doubts&quot;, meaning &quot;I don't believe you&quot;, rather than &quot;I don't understand you.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastEditorUserId="3800" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T01:53:54.357" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T02:19:55.383" Title="'Questions' vs. 'Concerns' vs. 'Doubts'" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;indian-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10169" CreationDate="2011-02-23T21:33:41.040" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that it's a bit of both. Many, if not every language has a large portion of its words borrowed from other languages, nearly all of English is Nordic, French, German, Latin or Arabic. Native speakers of many different languages talking together (even if in one language) will bring more words in, maybe just as a note of &quot;how we say it&quot; or &quot;this is what we call it, I can't fully translate it to English&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other side of it, people shortening words doesn't do much harm, it's always temporary, and not all many use it. A lot of companies come up with silly new words for their products.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3826" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T21:33:41.040" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13915" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15120" CreationDate="2011-02-23T21:41:52.963" Score="5" ViewCount="268" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for as many words (and corresponding definitions) as I can find for different specific types of leatherworking.  Archaic words are fine, even preferred.  Of particular interest is a single word for repairs performed by cutting away damaged areas and stitching together with lanyard, if available.  I'm looking for words related to leather &lt;em&gt;crafting&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;repair&lt;/em&gt;, not so much production.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Multi-word terms that aren't specific to leatherwork or may only be read as specific to leatherwork in context (like &quot;rip work&quot; for the specific term I describe above) are probably not useful to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T23:31:24.667" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T18:27:02.470" Title="Words for different types of leatherworking" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;archaic&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13870" CreationDate="2011-02-23T22:13:30.923" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;catalog&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is a type of book that can have categories.  The categories may be related to the book as a whole and have no relation to each other, or they may be related to each other using categories to delineate between subtleties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reference books, in general, and especially repair manuals, have categories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can imagine a book entitled &quot;The Usage of English Around the World&quot; having categories based on geography or history or any other method one may choose for categorizing how English is used throughout the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can also imagine someone writing an autobiographical book having a category consisting of poetry they've written, another category for personal correspondence, another for diary entries, and another with newspaper clippings about them.  Taken separately they do not provide a complete picture of the author's life, but taken together you could get a better understanding than with narrative alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T22:13:30.923" />
  <row Id="13917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13913" CreationDate="2011-02-23T22:18:23.390" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw this answered once, but I can't remember where.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This comes from a term in the school system in India. They use the term &lt;em&gt;doubts&lt;/em&gt; when students have questions about something that the teacher has just explained to the class. From this many students get the misconception that &lt;em&gt;doubts&lt;/em&gt; can be used like that in other situations, and that is a synonym to &lt;em&gt;questions&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T22:18:23.390" />
  <row Id="13918" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13919" CreationDate="2011-02-23T22:39:09.103" Score="4" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference in the meaning between the following two tenses?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I used to travel alone.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I was used to traveling alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2029" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T23:16:25.657" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T23:25:51.737" Title="What is the difference between &quot;used to&quot; and &quot;I was used to&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13918" CreationDate="2011-02-23T22:43:09.307" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I used to [do X]&quot; indicates an activity that you have previously performed regularly, but no longer do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I was used to [doing X]&quot; indicates that you were accustomed to engaging in a particular activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I used to travel alone, but now I always take my whole family with me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was used to traveling alone, so having my whole family along has been a big adjustment for me to make.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T23:25:51.737" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T23:25:51.737" />
  <row Id="13920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13913" CreationDate="2011-02-23T22:45:19.517" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The use of &lt;em&gt;doubts&lt;/em&gt; to mean &lt;em&gt;questions&lt;/em&gt; is, AFAIK, Indian and also Spanish and Portuguese. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2429/a-question-regarding-the-use-of-doubt-to-mean-question&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for an explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said elsewhere, saying &quot;tengo una duda&quot; (I've got a doubt) when putting your hand up is a common way to make a question in class for kids in Spain. It makes me wonder why English views interaction in terms of answering questions whereas Spanish (and Portuguese) sees it in terms of clarifying doubts. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1304" LastEditorUserId="1304" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T23:14:18.253" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T23:14:18.253" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="13921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13844" CreationDate="2011-02-23T22:52:45.293" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not that long, but indisputable: racecar&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Though my browser does not care for the spelling. Did my 6th grade English teacher mislead me?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3337" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T22:52:45.293" />
  <row Id="13922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13883" CreationDate="2011-02-23T22:53:36.150" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like @horatio's answer, the common term for what you're doing is &lt;em&gt;masking&lt;/em&gt; unwanted parts of the image, so it could be called a &lt;em&gt;mask rectangle.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to come up with a better word, but I think there's a deeper problem: what the word &lt;em&gt;removed&lt;/em&gt; means. What does a button labelled &quot;Remove Exclusion Area&quot;, &quot;Remove Blind Spot&quot; or even &quot;Remove Ignored Area&quot; do? To me it sounds like it will actually remove the area the rectangle covers from the image. It sounds like, no, what it does is remove the &lt;em&gt;rectangle&lt;/em&gt; denoting what parts of the image are &lt;em&gt;to be ignored.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's why I would go with &lt;em&gt;mask&lt;/em&gt;. It's specific enough to refer to what's doing the covering, not's what's underneath. &quot;Remove Mask&quot; should be understood in English, although I'm not sure how it translates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T22:53:36.150" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13918" CreationDate="2011-02-23T23:10:49.170" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Used to&lt;/em&gt; describes an action or state of affairs that was done repeatedly or existed for a period in the past; &lt;em&gt;to be used to&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;to get used to&lt;/em&gt;) means &quot;be or become familiar with someone or something through experience&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I used to go in southern Italy every summer.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I was used to understand when somebody was lying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both the phrases imply that an action has been done repeatedly; they are not used to refer to actions that happened only once.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt; I used to go in souther Italy once in all my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports the following notes about &lt;em&gt;used to&lt;/em&gt; that could interest you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The construction &lt;em&gt;used to&lt;/em&gt; is standard, but difficulties arise with the formation of negatives and questions. Traditionally, &lt;em&gt;used to&lt;/em&gt; behaves as a modal verb, so that questions and negatives are formed without the auxiliary verb do, as in:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  - It used not to be like that.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  - Used she to come here?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  In modern English, this question form is now regarded as very formal or old-fashioned and the use with &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; is broadly accepted as standard, as in:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  - Did she use to come here?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Negative constructions with do, on the other hand (as in &lt;em&gt;it didn't use to be like that&lt;/em&gt;), although common, are informal and are not generally accepted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is sometimes confusion over whether to use the form &lt;em&gt;used to&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;use to&lt;/em&gt;, which has arisen largely because the pronunciation is the same in both cases. Except in negatives and questions, the correct form is &lt;em&gt;used to&lt;/em&gt;:  &lt;em&gt;we used to go to the movies all the time&lt;/em&gt; (not &lt;em&gt;we use to go to the movies&lt;/em&gt;).   However, in negatives and questions using the auxiliary verb &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt;, the correct form is &lt;em&gt;use to&lt;/em&gt;, because the form of the verb required is the infinitive: &lt;em&gt;I didn't use to like mushrooms&lt;/em&gt; (not &lt;em&gt;I didn't used to like mushrooms&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T23:25:11.457" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T23:25:11.457" />
  <row Id="13924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7059" CreationDate="2011-02-23T23:19:03.360" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since when is telling someone, &quot;C u next tuesday!&quot; meant to be offensive anyway?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1429" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T23:19:03.360" />
  <row Id="13925" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13962" CreationDate="2011-02-23T23:33:17.393" Score="0" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to pronounce &quot;IFRS,&quot; International Financial Reporting Standards?&#xA;Anybody knows its phonetic symbols with IPA symbols?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5323" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T06:12:50.547" Title="How To Pronounce &quot;IFRS&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13926" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13930" CreationDate="2011-02-23T23:38:09.057" Score="2" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does this mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Good Grief.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a formal or informal expression?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks and regards!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T06:17:07.907" Title="Meaning of &quot;Good Grief&quot;." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13925" CreationDate="2011-02-23T23:41:41.343" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You pronounce it as initials, so in phonetic transcription of typical British English I'd suggest e.g. [ɑjɛfɑɹɛs].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T23:41:41.343" />
  <row Id="13928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13926" CreationDate="2011-02-23T23:42:18.753" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Good grief&lt;/em&gt; is an expression of annoyance or irritation. It's an informal expression. Typically you should say it when wearing an expression like this one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/9y9uk.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T23:42:18.753" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13913" CreationDate="2011-02-23T23:49:33.317" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason &lt;em&gt;doubt&lt;/em&gt; is used in the reported phrases, when you would expect &lt;em&gt;concerns&lt;/em&gt; can be explained from the origin of the word &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=doubt&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;doubt&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Doubt&lt;/em&gt; has origin from Old French &lt;em&gt;doter&lt;/em&gt; (doubt, be doubtful; be afraid), which derives from Latin &lt;em&gt;dubitare&lt;/em&gt; (to doubt, question, hesitate, waver in opinion).&#xA;The NOAD reports the origin is the same; the only difference is that for the NOAD the Old French words are &lt;em&gt;douter&lt;/em&gt; (verb) and &lt;em&gt;doute&lt;/em&gt; (noun).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other languages use the equivalent of &lt;em&gt;doubt&lt;/em&gt; to mean &lt;em&gt;question&lt;/em&gt;. In Italian, somebody who talked in a meeting, or during a class can say &lt;em&gt;avete dubbi?&lt;/em&gt; at the end of his talk to ask if somebody have questions.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In these languages, the question equivalent to &lt;em&gt;do you have doubts?&lt;/em&gt; is used to mean &lt;em&gt;do you doubt you understood what I said?&lt;/em&gt; as an invite to ask questions. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another explanation of using &lt;em&gt;doubt&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;concerns&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;questions&lt;/em&gt; is that the word used in the native language of the speaker is a false friend of &lt;em&gt;doubt&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T02:19:55.383" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T02:19:55.383" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13926" CreationDate="2011-02-23T23:49:35.067" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Believe it or not, it's a bowdlerized version of &quot;Good God!&quot; (or &quot;Good Lord!&quot;), which is, in turn, a shortening of the liturgical response &quot;Good Lord, deliver us&quot; (from the hardship or vexation just mentioned in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.commonprayer.org/offices/litany_n.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;The Litany from The Book of Common Payer&quot;&gt;Litany&lt;/a&gt;). In this case, it's a response to a clear and present bit of unpleasantness, often a mechanical device that won't co-operate or a vexatious person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to imagine a world in which &quot;Good Lord&quot; would have been unfit for the tender ears of the listener, given what passes for ordinary conversation these days, but it was a concern at one time -- and the phrase's use by the Charles Schulz &lt;em&gt;Peanuts&lt;/em&gt; characters has firmly fixed it in the lexicon of people of my generation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is an expression of exasperation, and informal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastEditorUserId="5095" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T06:17:07.907" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T06:17:07.907" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10169" CreationDate="2011-02-24T00:15:19.327" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Consider if the letter u being represented as v (as I pointed to earlier) — this would be a monumental change which would be unlikely to appear in the modern era, simply because of the number of standards (i.e. ASCII, Unicode, most all information exchange definitions, fonts, most programming language definitions, etc) which would be affected would be enormous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don’t think this is a particularly useful example for your hypothesis.  If the English language needed to create another letter distinction such as the one that evolved between u and v, many of these pragmatic considerations might be avoidable if we simply borrowed another commonly-available glyph (from another language, a ligature or currency symbol, or whatever) instead of creating an entirely new letter shape.  After all, that’s pretty similar to what happened with u and v:  as you point out, the two shapes started off as orthographic variants of the same letter.  In the 1800s, it would have been extremely expensive to add a new glyph to the metal type on printing presses — so when a distinction arose, they stuck to the glyphs everyone already had on hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spelling reforms might be another “systematic change” in the English language.  While it’s true that popular dictionaries have regularized formal spelling in the past couple centuries, that shift began before your hypothesized timing.  Also, note that informal spelling has resisted such change; the orthographic shorthand often used in SMS and instant messaging represents one obvious example of the continuing evolution of accepted spelling in informal contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You’ve indicated that adopting new vocabulary isn’t a systematic change, so widespread importation of words when English is forced to co-exist closely with another language doesn’t seem to be a relevant issue either.  You also mentioned “structure words”, but those haven’t changed noticeably in the last couple hundred years, either.  I’m pretty sure there haven’t been any major changes in the acceptability of different syntax structures in modern English, although I don’t have handy data for that one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’m unsure how to get solid data about the frequency of significant morphological and grammatical changes on this 100–200 year timescale, so I can’t address those aspects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5390" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T00:15:19.327" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13932" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-24T00:17:09.463" Score="2" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;September 11 attacks&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;September eleven attacks&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;September eleventh&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Nine-eleven&lt;/em&gt;? None of the above? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's recommended for formal writing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="502" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T15:30:24.783" Title="What's the recommended way to refer to the September 11 attacks in formal writing?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;names&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="13933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13932" CreationDate="2011-02-24T00:21:30.377" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think your question uses the most readily understood and formal way of referring to the events of that day: &lt;em&gt;September 11 Attacks&lt;/em&gt;. Indeed, that's the name of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia page&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;9/11 (nine-eleven) is the informal &quot;shorthand&quot; that usually comes from people wanting to either exploit the event to push an agenda or bring out a more emotional response. Personally, I'd avoid using it in formal writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T00:21:30.377" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13934" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-24T00:26:05.537" Score="2" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does a person who doesn't sweat really&#xA;  exist?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yes. The bastard spawn of Spoo and Vox&#xA;  raised by RSS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of the reply? What do &quot;bastard spawn&quot; and &quot;Spoo and Vox&quot; and &quot;RSS&quot; mean actually?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks and regards!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T00:36:58.583" Title="&quot;The bastard spawn of Spoo and Vox raised by RSS&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13935" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13937" CreationDate="2011-02-24T00:29:25.953" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was asking a question about how to deal with sweat in shoes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some replied:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Wash.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Let them dry out.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Profit.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what &quot;Profit&quot; means here? Someone suggested it is related to South Park. I have no idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T00:37:36.830" Title="Meaning of &quot;Profit&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13934" CreationDate="2011-02-24T00:36:58.583" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;bastard spawn&quot;&lt;/em&gt; - means the illegitimate offspring of a couple.  In this context it is used to mean &lt;em&gt;unholy&lt;/em&gt; or unpleasant in some way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the meaning of &lt;strong&gt;Spoo&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;Vox&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;RSS&lt;/strong&gt; they are names for things or people, or given that &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RSS is perhaps the feed protocol&lt;/a&gt;, possibly bits of software.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you give details of the context, I may be able to fill in further as to what exactly they are implying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?p=4162621&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;styleforum thread&lt;/a&gt; is the context, I am still none the wiser, unless they are brands of sneaker, given the discussion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T00:36:58.583" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="13937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13935" CreationDate="2011-02-24T00:37:36.830" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an internet meme from South Park that has no actual meaning. It is often used when listing steps to achieving a goal, usually with a step before that labelled &lt;code&gt;???&lt;/code&gt; to indicate that they are not sure how to get from the existing goal to actually make money. You can find more information &lt;a href=&quot;http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/profit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T00:37:36.830" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13932" CreationDate="2011-02-24T00:38:15.113" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are writing for posterity (as opposed to writing for a periodical or something of similar, limited currency) I would introduce the event as &quot;the attacks of September 11, 2001&quot;. We are nearly a decade out now, and people have a horrible habit of memorializing one such event with another, similar one. That leaves aside consideration of mere coincidence -- Ireland now has &lt;em&gt;two&lt;/em&gt; Bloody Sundays, so when discussing the particulars of one or the other, you need to distinguish which one you are talking about. (Both carry the same emotional resonance if they're just mentioned in passing.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T00:38:15.113" />
  <row Id="13939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6857" CreationDate="2011-02-24T00:48:15.707" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Right - American English favors &quot;toward,&quot; and UK standard tends to add an 's.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This also applies to &quot;forward,&quot; &quot;backward,&quot; etc. These are explained in more detail by Fowler, Merriam-Websters Dictionary of English Usage, et al.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T00:48:15.707" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10169" CreationDate="2011-02-24T00:57:24.903" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer the original question: No, technology has not slowed or stopped the development of the English language. This is partly because language is &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; developing, but also because it is difficult to define what you might mean by &quot;slowed or stopped development&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, technology has proven effects on &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; English has developed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a historical fact that the advent of widespread printing encouraged fixed and consistent spelling. Unfortunately, it happened just as English was undergoing a wave of spelling changes, so many words are stuck. This was not helped by numerous scholars &quot;correcting&quot; the spelling of words, often based on perceived etymology. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Likewise, it is also true that the loss of the letters thorn (þ) and eth (ð) were finalised with the popularity of movable type, because movable type was popularised in Germany and German doesn't have those letters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more modern example is the advent of trans-Atlantic communication. Scholars have argued that North American English was on the road to diverging from British English, until this was slowed by the advent of radio communication. It could be argued that even today, this still helps keep the major dialects of English mutually intelligible, whilst at the same time encouraging faster development by borrowing from more places than ever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5356" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T00:57:24.903" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13941" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13955" CreationDate="2011-02-24T01:25:14.340" Score="1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi guys, what's the difference between censor, moderate and review?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Real-world example would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: thanks for the answers guys, from my understanding, censorship means the action to prevent readers from knowing stuff, moderating means making readers get an altered version of stuff, and review means feedback for editing. Is my understanding OK?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4355" LastEditorUserId="4355" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T06:12:33.527" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T06:12:33.527" Title="What's the difference between censor, moderate and review?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="13942" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13945" CreationDate="2011-02-24T01:39:21.243" Score="4" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5442/pronunciation-of-years-in-english&quot;&gt;Pronunciation of years in English&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hello&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I know, I can read &lt;em&gt;1991&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;nineteen ninety one&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I read &lt;em&gt;2008&lt;/em&gt;?&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;twenty o eight&lt;/strong&gt;? or &lt;strong&gt;twenty and eight&lt;/strong&gt; simply?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2661" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T03:07:27.420" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T03:53:07.173" ClosedDate="2011-02-24T09:37:17.170" Title="How to read a year?" Tags="&lt;reading&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="13943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13941" CreationDate="2011-02-24T01:41:31.040" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Censoring&lt;/em&gt; has to do with removing parts of a text.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Moderating&lt;/em&gt; has to do with examining a text for appropriateness and taking action as appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Reviewing&lt;/em&gt; has to do with examining a text for appropriateness, but the reviewer may not necessarily have the power to take action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if I write an article critical of a country, the country might censor me by removing that article. If I were to curse, a moderator might edit my post to remove that word and send me a warning. Reviewing generally has less to do with this type of situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T01:41:31.040" />
  <row Id="13944" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13947" CreationDate="2011-02-24T01:43:13.170" Score="2" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to transition from a list of pros to a list of cons, and would like to have some sort of transition quote. Something in the form of,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;But, alas, (((something something quote quote)))&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everything that has a beginning has an end, something along the lines of that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3141" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T07:22:25.130" Title="A saying for something that's good but also has a downside." Tags="&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="13945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13942" CreationDate="2011-02-24T01:43:20.160" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's usually referred to orally as &quot;Two thousand eight&quot; or informally as &quot;Oh Eight&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T01:43:20.160" CommentCount="14" />
  <row Id="13946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13944" CreationDate="2011-02-24T01:54:05.323" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could call that &quot;a mixed bag&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I used to think I had the perfect job, but as time went on I realized it was something of a mixed bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T01:54:05.323" />
  <row Id="13947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13944" CreationDate="2011-02-24T01:56:19.823" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;More context would make providing a more elegant transition easier. In the absence of that, here's a few general transitions that use the &quot;But, alas,&quot; starting point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;But, alas, that which glitters is not always gold.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;But, alas, every rose has its thorn.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;But, alas, nothing is ever free.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;But, alas, there are downsides [to this item being discussed].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;But, alas, [this item] is not perfect.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T01:56:19.823" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13844" CreationDate="2011-02-24T02:03:45.407" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about an eatery in northern California called the Yrekabakery?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5395" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T02:03:45.407" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13949" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13950" CreationDate="2011-02-24T02:16:23.587" Score="3" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is to become of them? = What are they to become?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What has become of them? = What have they become?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What will become of them? = What will they become?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if the three equivalences are correct. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of usage is that in general, not just for &quot;become&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks and regards!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T02:48:46.773" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T02:48:46.773" Title="&quot;What is to become of them?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13949" CreationDate="2011-02-24T02:21:44.967" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It usually means that you're asking &lt;em&gt;what will happen to them&lt;/em&gt; / &lt;em&gt;how they will end up&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never seen it used to ask literally what they will become.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4675" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T02:21:44.967" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13949" CreationDate="2011-02-24T02:23:53.767" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &lt;em&gt;become of&lt;/em&gt; has its own definition. I quote the OED:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;become of (after ‘what’) was used formerly in sense of ‘come out of, result from,’ but has also taken the place of ‘where is it become,’ etc., in 1b, in reference to the later locality, position, or fate of a person or thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In modern usage, it basically means &quot;What will happen to them?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T02:23:53.767" />
  <row Id="13952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13941" CreationDate="2011-02-24T03:05:38.700" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;censor: examine a book, a movie, etc. officially and suppress unacceptable parts of it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;moderate: make or become less extreme, intense, rigorous, or violent; (in academic and ecclesiastical contexts) preside over a deliberative body or at a debate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;review: examine or assess something formally with the possibility or intention of instituting change if necessary; write a critical appraisal of a book, play, movie, etc. for publication in a newspaper or magazine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Her mail was being censored.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  She shall not moderate her criticism.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  A panel moderated by a Harvard University law professor was assembled to resolve the issues.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The company's safety procedures are being reviewed.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I reviewed her first novel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Reference: the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T03:05:38.700" />
  <row Id="13953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13941" CreationDate="2011-02-24T03:16:03.550" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Agreeing with waiwai933, but I would add:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you &lt;i&gt;censor&lt;/i&gt;, you edit out what you don't like, or suppress the work entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you &lt;i&gt;moderate&lt;/i&gt;, you re-write what you don't like (although &quot;moderating&quot; a written work is a rare usage).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you &lt;i&gt;review&lt;/i&gt;, you produce a separate document summarizing your opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T03:16:03.550" />
  <row Id="13954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13944" CreationDate="2011-02-24T03:19:40.237" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to Shaun's excellent suggestions, I like to turn the old adage on its head and say &quot;every silver lining has a cloud.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also say &quot;There is no light without darkness&quot;; of course you could substitute two other related polar opposites that might be more appropriate for your subject matter.  (warmth/cold, love/hate, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More prosaically, there's also &quot;There's always a catch&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Also, for his first suggestion, I prefer the phrasing &quot;Not all that glitters is gold&quot;.  :-) )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T03:19:40.237" />
  <row Id="13955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13941" CreationDate="2011-02-24T03:41:35.170" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Censoring&lt;/strong&gt; removes material from a work; deleting a scene, placing black bars over exposed genitalia, &quot;bleeping out&quot; obscenities, and so forth.  For example, Pink Floyd's song &lt;em&gt;Money&lt;/em&gt; had a censored version for radio play throughout most of the 80s and 90s where the line &quot;Don't give me that do-goody-good bullshit&quot; had the word &quot;shit&quot; replaced with silence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Moderating&lt;/strong&gt; in internet usage is often a combination of editing and censoring; you look over existing posts for offensive or off-topic material and either re-word the offensive parts or remove the posts.  Preferably there is an element of feedback in this process to provide the offending poster with a chance to improve their habits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other type of &lt;strong&gt;moderating&lt;/strong&gt; generally is as the person who facilitates a debate between two or more people, making sure that all debaters get asked the same questions, get the same chance to answer them, and do not monopolize the microphone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reviewing&lt;/strong&gt; is providing feedback regarding a work (sometimes directly to the author, sometimes to the potential audience of the work), where you explain what you liked and didn't like about it, and in the case of direct feedback given prior to the work's final production, make suggestions on how to change the work to improve it.  For example, Many authors provide pre-release copies of their latest book in a series to a small core of dedicated fans, who point out problems with continuity, plot holes, and the like so that the author can fix things up before the book is published.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T03:41:35.170" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13956" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13957" CreationDate="2011-02-24T03:46:09.723" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the following use of &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;behavior&lt;/em&gt; correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All programs have the expected behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5396" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T10:52:12.073" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T10:52:12.073" Title="To have behavior?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13956" CreationDate="2011-02-24T03:50:25.867" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes.  That is reasonable, idiomatic English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One might instead say that the programs 'show' or 'exhibit' the expected behaviour, and you might or might not put the 'u' in behaviour, but the original sentence is very reasonable.  It's probably an unrealistic claim — programs don't often all have the expected behaviour — but that's a different discussion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T10:51:18.877" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T10:51:18.877" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13942" CreationDate="2011-02-24T03:53:07.173" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless you are in America, it is probably 'two thousand and eight'.  In America, 'two thousand eight'.  Who knows why they decided to do it differently, but they do.  But, this year is (currently) 'twenty-eleven' as often as, or more often than, 'two thousand [and] eleven'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T03:53:07.173" />
  <row Id="13959" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13960" CreationDate="2011-02-24T04:54:44.577" Score="1" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I pronounce the word &lt;em&gt;call&lt;/em&gt;? I am always struggling with this word. I want to know how British people pronounce this word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5294" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T05:18:10.413" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T23:57:00.277" Title="How is &quot;call&quot; pronounced?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13959" CreationDate="2011-02-24T05:02:13.863" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Okay, the commenters have spoken, and there is no difference. You may ignore the section below if you disagree.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;Please don't downvote if you feel differently. I'm not British, so I'm going by the sources I have. My two independent sources agree, but they may well be wrong. I really don't know. Since many people here seem not to agree, I would like to delete this answer; but I can't because it's accepted. I am including the original answer because I hate to have an empty post. Please don't hate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Original answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It appears that in the US, it is kahl&#xA;  and in the UK/Britain, it is kohl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sound samples on the Wiktionary page&#xA;  (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/File%3aen-us-call.ogg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;US&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/File%3aEn-uk-to_call.ogg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;UK&lt;/a&gt;), and an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxfordadvancedlearnersdictionary.com/dictionary/call_2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford&#xA;  page&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4675" LastEditorUserId="4675" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T23:40:47.710" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T23:40:47.710" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="13961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13959" CreationDate="2011-02-24T06:04:24.217" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported from the NOAD, &lt;em&gt;call&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced /kɔl/ in American English, and /kɔːl/ in British English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T06:04:24.217" />
  <row Id="13962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13925" CreationDate="2011-02-24T06:12:50.547" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In American English is pronounced /aɪ ɛf ɑr ɛs/; in British English is pronounced /ʌɪ ɛf ɑː ɛs/.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T06:12:50.547" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13963" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-24T06:30:50.510" Score="1" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a word to describe &quot;a person present in the right place at the right time&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5402" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T05:15:56.703" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T05:15:56.703" Title="Person present at the right time and at the right place" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6857" CreationDate="2011-02-24T06:36:48.803" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a Canadian and I use them both interchangeably. I would have to spend a lot of time trying to find a usage pattern, but each of the variants has places where it seems to fit naturally and places where it just sounds wrong. It could be that we spoke the Queen's English at home (along with French) and watched mostly American television, or it could simply be that a particular variant got associated with various phrases in common use locally, in the television and movies I watched and in the literature I read.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T06:36:48.803" />
  <row Id="13965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13895" CreationDate="2011-02-24T06:52:31.497" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In common use, &lt;em&gt;based upon a true story&lt;/em&gt; means that the essential trajectory of the actual story remains intact. The author/screenwriter may have made significant adaptations -- renaming characters, shifting the location in time or space, exchanging genders, compositing several real people into a single representative character, and so forth -- but the core of the story remains the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Inspired by a true story&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, generally means that an actual event was used only as a sort of springboard for the finished work; a &quot;what if&quot; scenario, if you will. Often some very significant changes are made -- the murderer hanged in real life may get away with the crime, or vice versa. It is often an indication that the writer is using a situation familiar to the audience as a stepping stone to exploring an issue they might not otherwise have considered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T06:52:31.497" />
  <row Id="13966" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13967" CreationDate="2011-02-24T06:54:13.053" Score="1" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I understand why &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT_Act&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;USA PATRIOT&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is a contrived acronym, I don't understand if &lt;em&gt;CAPTCHA&lt;/em&gt; should be considered a contrived acronym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;CAPTCHA&lt;/em&gt; a contrived acronym? Why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T12:49:47.240" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T12:49:47.240" Title="Is CAPTCHA a contrived acronym?" Tags="&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13966" CreationDate="2011-02-24T06:59:36.357" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;CAPTCHA&lt;/em&gt; is homophonous to &lt;em&gt;capture&lt;/em&gt;, and thus its contrived acronym, as described on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPTCHA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;. As to why it is a contrived acronym, it that the goal of the &lt;em&gt;CAPTCHA&lt;/em&gt; system is to &lt;em&gt;capture&lt;/em&gt; bots trying to pass out as human beings, in order to prevent them to do some actions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T06:59:36.357" />
  <row Id="13968" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13971" CreationDate="2011-02-24T06:59:56.607" Score="3" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the definition of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT_Act&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;USA PATRIOT&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, I read the following text:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many of the act's provisions were to &lt;strong&gt;sunset&lt;/strong&gt; beginning December 31, 2005, approximately 4 years after its passage. In the months preceding the &lt;strong&gt;sunset&lt;/strong&gt; date, supporters of the act pushed to make its sunsetting provisions permanent, while critics sought to revise various sections to enhance civil liberty protections. In July 2005, the U.S. Senate passed a reauthorization bill with substantial changes to several sections of the act, while the House reauthorization bill kept most of the act's original language. The two bills were then reconciled in a conference committee that was criticized by Senators from both the Republican and Democratic parties for ignoring civil liberty concerns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;sunset&lt;/em&gt; mean?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In which cases can the word be used with a similar meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T11:20:35.550" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T11:20:35.550" Title="What does &quot;sunset&quot; mean in this text?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13968" CreationDate="2011-02-24T07:03:42.000" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sunset&lt;/em&gt;, in this case, means that those portions of the bill expired. A &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset_clause&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sunset provision&lt;/a&gt; is a special type of clause in a bill that automatically kills certain portions of the bill without requiring the need for it to be repealed. Because this particular use is unique to government, it can generally only be used when referring to laws.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The term, of course, comes from the actual sunset—it ends at a predetermined time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T07:03:42.000" />
  <row Id="13970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13944" CreationDate="2011-02-24T07:22:25.130" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a phrase &quot;curate's egg&quot; referring to a (mythical, surely) man of the cloth who, when asked by his host how his egg was, replied that it was &quot;Good in parts&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be used directly as &quot;But, alas, it's rather curate's egg&quot;, but you might prefer a more verbose option such as &quot;But, alas, like the curate's egg it is good in parts&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3542" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T07:22:25.130" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13968" CreationDate="2011-02-24T07:24:16.753" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Waiwai says, &quot;sunset&quot; as a verb means basically &quot;to expire (or run out, shut down, terminate) at its predetermined time.&quot;  Besides government and laws, you may also hear it in project management; at my current job I was tasked with sunsetting several applications and servers, which meant I had to deal with all the details about taking them out of general use and making sure there were no issues due to them being removed on schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T07:24:16.753" />
  <row Id="13972" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13973" CreationDate="2011-02-24T07:47:05.010" Score="3" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do &lt;em&gt;O'er&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;O!&lt;/em&gt; in the national anthem of USA mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T23:12:20.000" Title="What does &quot;O'er&quot; in &quot;The Star-Spangled Banner&quot; anthem mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;anthems&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13972" CreationDate="2011-02-24T07:49:54.367" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;O'er&lt;/em&gt; is an contraction for &quot;over.&quot; It is often used in poetry and in songwriting when one wants to say the word &quot;over&quot; but only use one syllable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;O!&lt;/em&gt; is an exclamation, akin to &quot;Oh!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5403" LastEditorUserId="5403" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T23:12:20.000" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T23:12:20.000" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="13974" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13979" CreationDate="2011-02-24T07:50:53.827" Score="3" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find the phrase ‘gut the (one’s) roster’ very often in the sport section of news papers as used in the following examples. What does it mean? Is it used only in sport related context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1.He ‘gutted the roster’ of almost all of the players that were in the majors before he arrived, ....  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2.The New York Knicks ‘gutted their roster’ on Monday evening to acquire Carmelo Anthony from the Denver Nuggets. ..... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3.When Phoenix ‘gutted its roster’ this offseason, I honestly don't think many Suns fans expected their team to be at ....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4.The trade that finally united the Knicks and Carmelo Anthony resulted in ‘a gutted roster’ and a fractured front office, but those details were deemed secondary to winning a championship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T07:56:11.607" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T08:14:23.030" Title="What does ‘Gut the Roster’ mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;common-expression&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13975" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-24T07:52:13.820" Score="2" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;When something is called &lt;em&gt;peculiar&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;having a peculiarity&lt;/em&gt; what does that mean? Does it just mean it has some specific features or does it mean that those specific features are unusual, not normally expected?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="623" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T08:05:09.587" Title="Does &quot;peculiar&quot; imply &quot;unusual&quot;/&quot;hard to expect&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="13976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13966" CreationDate="2011-02-24T07:56:46.287" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.captcha.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The  Official CAPTCHA Site&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The term CAPTCHA (for Completely&#xA;  Automated Public Turing Test To Tell&#xA;  Computers and Humans Apart) was coined&#xA;  in 2000 by Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum,&#xA;  Nicholas Hopper and John Langford of&#xA;  Carnegie Mellon University.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since  CAPTCHA it is pronounced like a normal word it is an acronym, and not an initialism like e.g. IBM.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer the question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronym_and_initialism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Acronym and initialism&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A contrived acronym is one&#xA;  deliberately designed to be especially&#xA;  apt for the thing being named (by&#xA;  having a dual meaning or by borrowing&#xA;  the positive connotations of an&#xA;  existing word).[citation needed] Some&#xA;  examples of contrived acronyms are USA&#xA;  PATRIOT, CAN SPAM, CAPTCHA and ACT UP.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T07:56:46.287" />
  <row Id="13977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13975" CreationDate="2011-02-24T08:05:09.587" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pecularity&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;an odd or unusual feature or habit&quot;, but also &quot;a characteristic or quality that is distinctive of a particular person or place&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For all her peculiarities, he finds her personality quite endearing.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Her essays characterized decency as a British peculiarity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Peculiar&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;strange or odd&quot;, but also &quot;unusual&quot;, or (in &lt;em&gt;peculiar to&lt;/em&gt;) &quot;belonging exclusively to&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Her accent was a peculiar mixture of Cockney and Irish.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The air hung with an antiseptic aroma peculiar to hospitals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Peculiar&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;having a peculiarity&lt;/em&gt; have both the meanings you supposed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Informally, &lt;em&gt;peculiar&lt;/em&gt; means also &lt;em&gt;unwell&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;em&gt;she felt a little peculiar for a while&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Reference: the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American English&lt;/em&gt;.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T08:05:09.587" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13963" CreationDate="2011-02-24T08:10:33.880" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you looking for &lt;strong&gt;punctual&lt;/strong&gt; and its synonyms like &lt;strong&gt;on time&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;on-the-dot&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Punctual&lt;/strong&gt;: arriving, happening, or being done at exactly the time that has been arranged&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*She’s always very &lt;em&gt;punctual&lt;/em&gt; for appointments.*&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the closest word I can think of, though some other words like omnipresent might help you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T08:28:04.490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T08:28:04.490" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13974" CreationDate="2011-02-24T08:14:23.030" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;roster&lt;/em&gt; is the list of players who are on your team.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &lt;em&gt;gut&lt;/em&gt; something means to remove its vital organs and other innards (lungs, intestines, spleen, etc; whatever fits inside its chest/abdomen cavity).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &lt;em&gt;gut the roster&lt;/em&gt;, therefore, means to get rid of a large chunk of players that people would ordinarily consider essential to the team.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From your examples 2 and 4, The New York Knicks traded away a lot of good players who had performed well for the team and who had been considered solid, dependable athletes at the core of the team's structure, all in order to acquire a single player who can be a superstar and who can (hopefully) win them a championship basically on his own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a sport-based phrase, but you might find it anywhere that a sports metaphor can be used, such as when a new manager comes into a department and fires a bunch of people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T08:14:23.030" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="13980" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13982" CreationDate="2011-02-24T08:26:08.780" Score="5" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why, in American English, is the word &lt;em&gt;Italy&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced /ˈɪdəli/ and not /ˈɪtəli/?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What is the rule that is followed in the pronunciation of &lt;em&gt;Italy&lt;/em&gt; to make the letter t pronounced like a d? Why is the same rule not followed for &lt;em&gt;Italian&lt;/em&gt;, which is pronounced /əˈtæljən/ or /ɪˈtæljən/?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T19:18:08.577" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T19:18:08.577" Title="Why is &quot;t&quot; sometimes pronounced like &quot;d&quot; in American English?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="13981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13980" CreationDate="2011-02-24T08:37:51.537" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not all Americans do, and not consistently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Flap-t (/d/ instead of /t/) often happens between vowel sounds or after a vowel and before a liquid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The t in &quot;-teen&quot; is always pronounced as t. As Henry mentions the reason is that flap rarely happens in stressed positions. As it doesn't happen in Italian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.learnersdictionary.com/blog.php?action=ViewBlogArticle&amp;amp;ba_id=74&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt;'s good explanation of T pronounced D.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T08:46:30.107" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T08:46:30.107" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="13982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13980" CreationDate="2011-02-24T08:44:32.937" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First two questions:&lt;/strong&gt; The pronunciation of some American English consonants can be quite different from British English, in particular for &lt;em&gt;R&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;T&lt;/em&gt;. A &lt;em&gt;t&lt;/em&gt; in the middle of a word can be pronunced as a soft &lt;em&gt;d&lt;/em&gt; in American English (think of &lt;em&gt;bottle&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;cattle&lt;/em&gt;, etc.). See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americanaccent.com/pronunciation.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, for example, for examples of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Third question:&lt;/strong&gt; Why it does happen for &lt;em&gt;Italy&lt;/em&gt; and not for &lt;em&gt;Italian&lt;/em&gt; is clearly a matter of &lt;strong&gt;stress&lt;/strong&gt;. If the stress is on the &lt;em&gt;t&lt;/em&gt;, it usually keeps its pronunciation and is not changed into a soft &lt;em&gt;d&lt;/em&gt;. Thus /ˈɪdəli/ but /əˈtæljən/. Another example is (taken from the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;, in US English pronunciation): &lt;em&gt;tautology&lt;/em&gt; (/tɔˈtɑlədʒi/) vs &lt;em&gt;tautological&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;(/ˈˌtɔdlˈɑdʒəkəl/), which clearly demonstrate that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T19:00:48.123" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T19:00:48.123" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="13983" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14018" CreationDate="2011-02-24T08:46:29.410" Score="5" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to say that, nowadays, English has the dative case, or was it only present in Old English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T18:09:46.650" Title="Is it correct to say that English has the dative case?" Tags="&lt;grammar-case&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="13984" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="13988" CreationDate="2011-02-24T08:58:10.187" Score="4" ViewCount="159" Body="&lt;p&gt;How would you describe the pronunciation of &lt;em&gt;r&lt;/em&gt; to somebody who speaks English as second language?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T01:59:54.647" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T01:59:54.647" Title="Pronunciation of &quot;r&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;learning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13983" CreationDate="2011-02-24T08:59:17.127" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English cases are most obvious in pronouns, which have subjective, objective, possessive and reflexive cases.  The objective case corresponds to what other languages often use as the accusative and dative cases as with &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;She hugged me&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;He gave me the book&lt;/em&gt;.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the dative case is not distinct in English, but saying that English does or does not have a dative case is (for me) a matter of personal preference.  Better not to say either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T08:59:17.127" CommentCount="14" />
  <row Id="13986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13983" CreationDate="2011-02-24T09:00:09.687" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hardly right to say that English still has a separate dative case. The case exist in the theoretical sense (in “he gave me flowers”, the grammatical case of &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; is the dative case), but it is not expressed by specific pronouns. Indeed, uses prepositions such as &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only remnants of the dative case in modern English are pronouns such as “whom”, “him”, “her”, etc., which have absorbed both the accusative and dative case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dative_case&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia entry on the topic&lt;/a&gt; has decent, if basic, information on the topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T09:00:09.687" />
  <row Id="13987" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-24T09:07:30.103" Score="4" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I lately learnt these three words of similar meanings: &lt;em&gt;peel&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;pare&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;skin&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In what case do you use each of them? Could you give me example sentences along with a concise description for each?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3903" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T13:27:26.813" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T16:29:34.437" Title="&quot;Peel&quot;, &quot;pare&quot;, and &quot;skin&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="13988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13984" CreationDate="2011-02-24T09:12:32.290" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The pronunciation of [r] is very difficult for some Asians, especially r in the middle of a word such as &quot; murder&quot;. Also Germans pronounce [r] completely different with the forms existing in English, also it's different in many other languages. It's a good idea to teach them with Visual aids and graphical content. Also that would be helpful to teach them the differences that will happen in meaning by wrong pronunciation of [r] in some of the words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To pronounce [r]:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lips&lt;/strong&gt;: Rounded&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tongue tip&lt;/strong&gt;: curled upward but not touching the roof of the mouth&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Airstream&lt;/strong&gt;: continuous&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vocal cords&lt;/strong&gt;: Vibrating&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's good to tell them &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you say [&lt;strong&gt;l&lt;/strong&gt;] instead of [&lt;strong&gt;r&lt;/strong&gt;]: &lt;strong&gt;berry&lt;/strong&gt; will sound like &lt;strong&gt;belly&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you say [&lt;strong&gt;w&lt;/strong&gt;] instead of [&lt;strong&gt;r&lt;/strong&gt;]: &lt;strong&gt;red&lt;/strong&gt; will sound like &lt;strong&gt;wed&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T10:33:46.120" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T10:33:46.120" />
  <row Id="13989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13987" CreationDate="2011-02-24T09:18:28.523" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ldoce.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ldoce&lt;/a&gt; defines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Peel&lt;/strong&gt; [&lt;em&gt;noun&lt;/em&gt;]: the skin of some fruits and vegetables, especially the thick skin of fruits such as oranges, which you do not eat:  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;orange peel&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Peel&lt;/strong&gt; [&lt;em&gt;verb&lt;/em&gt;]: to remove the skin from fruit or vegetables&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Peel and dice the potatoes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Skin&lt;/strong&gt; [&lt;em&gt;noun&lt;/em&gt;]: the natural outer cover of some fruits and vegetables, the word also has many other meanings.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;banana skins&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Skin&lt;/strong&gt; [&lt;em&gt;verb&lt;/em&gt;]: to remove the skin from an animal, fruit, or vegetable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Add the tomatoes, skinned and sliced. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pare&lt;/strong&gt; [&lt;em&gt;verb&lt;/em&gt;]: to cut off the outer layer of something, using a sharp knife&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pare the rind from the fruit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's good to know:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;rind&lt;/strong&gt; [&lt;em&gt;noun&lt;/em&gt;]: the thick outer skin of some types of fruit, such as oranges&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;grated lemon rind&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;zest&lt;/strong&gt; [&lt;em&gt;noun&lt;/em&gt;]: the outer skin of an orange or  lemon , used in cooking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;grated orange zest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T09:18:28.523" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="13990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13987" CreationDate="2011-02-24T09:21:37.600" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meaning of those verbs is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pare: trim something by cutting away its outer edges; cut off the skin of something&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;peel: remove the outer covering or skin from a fruit, vegetable, or shrimp&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;skin: remove the skin from an animal, a fruit, or vegetable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Carlo pared his thumbnails with his knife.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Peel off the skins and thickly slice the potatoes.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He scrambled down from the tree with such haste that he skinned his knees.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Reference: the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T09:21:37.600" />
  <row Id="13991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13987" CreationDate="2011-02-24T09:21:53.827" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While &lt;em&gt;peel&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;skin&lt;/em&gt; are both nouns and verbs, &lt;em&gt;pare&lt;/em&gt; is only a verb, from which I deduce you're talking about these words used as verbs. So:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;peel&lt;/strong&gt; is primarily used for fruits and vegetables (&lt;em&gt;peel an apple&lt;/em&gt;), as well as clothing  (in the sense of removing: &lt;em&gt;to peel off one’s pullover&lt;/em&gt;); it can also refer to other coverings on the surface of things&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;skin&lt;/strong&gt; is mainly used for persons, animals (&lt;em&gt;skin the cat&lt;/em&gt;!) and fruits&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;pare&lt;/strong&gt; is, in my book, used much less frequently, but is as generic as &lt;em&gt;skin&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, as I see it, &lt;strong&gt;skin&lt;/strong&gt; is the most generic term, while &lt;strong&gt;peel&lt;/strong&gt; refers mostly to fruits and vegetables (you probably wouldn't say you're &lt;em&gt;peeling the cat&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;strong&gt;pare&lt;/strong&gt; is much less used, but as broad as &lt;strong&gt;skin&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T09:21:53.827" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="13992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13984" CreationDate="2011-02-24T09:24:44.320" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That depends on where that person comes from. People from some Asian countries for example can seem incapable of pronouncing &lt;em&gt;r&lt;/em&gt; in the way that westerners do, but this is simply because it's considered utterly unsophisticated, not because the sound doesn't exist in their language or because they don't know how to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just imagine if you were told that &lt;em&gt;r&lt;/em&gt; should be pronounced by sticking out the tounge and making a loud noise. I imagine that this is what some Asians feel when someone tries to make them pronounce &lt;em&gt;r&lt;/em&gt; in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, describing the sound itself should be easy by just playing a sound file. Explaining that the prononciation does not make you seem like a hairy barbarian screaming RRRRRRRRRRR might be more difficult...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="3365" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T00:37:21.947" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T00:37:21.947" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="13993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13963" CreationDate="2011-02-24T09:28:38.767" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;serendipitous?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;serendipity (noun): the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way: &lt;em&gt;a fortunate stroke of serendipity | a series of small serendipities.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T09:28:38.767" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="13995" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14008" CreationDate="2011-02-24T09:39:06.233" Score="8" ViewCount="430" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a word that means &quot;left alone and to die&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I believe there is such a word. I think I'm looking for abandoned and alone. Others expectations are that you'll die.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5406" LastEditorUserId="5406" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T10:35:05.143" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T16:05:15.537" Title="Word for &quot;left alone and to die&quot;?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="13996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13995" CreationDate="2011-02-24T09:47:27.120" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot think of anything that specifically means “to leave someone alone to die”, even though “leave alone” has many synonyms. The closest I can think of are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;“to be left for dead”&lt;/strong&gt;: to be abandoned as certain to die, but it can also have the connotation of “almost dead”, which may or may not be desirable depending on the context&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;“to leave him to his fate”&lt;/strong&gt;: although it does not imply death in particular, it is usually implied that the fate in question is unfavourable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;strand&lt;/strong&gt;, which means leave someone without means to move, may also be relevant in some cases (&lt;em&gt;stranded on an deserted island&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T11:11:34.380" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T11:11:34.380" />
  <row Id="13997" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14014" CreationDate="2011-02-24T09:58:27.460" Score="3" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is the context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I’m just going to come right out and&#xA;  say it, I have a huge nerd-crush on&#xA;  jQuery. I have for several years.&#xA;  Actually, it may be more of a love&#xA;  affair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="833" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T15:05:23.743" Title="What's the meaning of the word &quot;nerd-crush&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="13998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13997" CreationDate="2011-02-24T10:03:51.073" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be defined as an &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/infatuation?show=0&amp;amp;t=1298541866&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;infatuation&lt;/a&gt; on a technical topic&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Since it could actually be a &quot;love affair&quot; means this is more than a temporary love or a short-lived passion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="110" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T10:03:51.073" />
  <row Id="13999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10653" CreationDate="2011-02-24T10:10:12.937" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd probably say something like 'old hat', but it does depend on the context.  'History' could be a better autonym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4801" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T10:10:12.937" />
  <row Id="14000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13932" CreationDate="2011-02-24T10:30:28.387" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also please take in account that &quot;9/11&quot; can be misleading to most of the world. There are already a lot of people, who think that the attacks have occurred on 9th of November. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue is, that USA is almost the only country in the world, which uses &lt;code&gt;MM/DD/YYYY&lt;/code&gt; date format. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_format_by_country&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_format_by_country&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5139" LastEditorUserId="5139" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T12:11:40.040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T12:11:40.040" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13956" CreationDate="2011-02-24T10:39:30.673" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Display, exhibit, show, mimic, model behaviour. From Oxford Collocations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5407" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T10:39:30.673" />
  <row Id="14002" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-24T10:56:19.787" Score="4" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;We regularly use these &quot;hi visibility jackets/vests&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/qyvSp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;picture of the item in question&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We use them often enough to informally abbreviate it to simply &quot;&lt;strong&gt;hi vis&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am struggling as to how to pluralise such a term. In speech it sounds moderately okay to say &quot;hi vises&quot; but as you can see it looks terrible in writing. Any better suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also would such a term be hyphenated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5408" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T19:22:17.767" Title="Spelling and plural of abbreviation &quot;hi vis&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14003" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14015" CreationDate="2011-02-24T10:59:27.570" Score="9" ViewCount="244" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4645/a-space-before-a-question-or-an-exclamation-mark-can-it-be-correct&quot;&gt;A space before a question or an exclamation mark. Can it be correct?&lt;/a&gt; is affirming what I always use, but now some translators at my office said that I always need a space before. I am sure they are French or something but before I answer them, I would like to see some British source confirming it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE: No, Wikipedia is not authoritative unless it has a link to a publication that is.&#xA;The people I need to correct are likely native English speakers who sat too long next to French translators or something. I need some heavy tome to throw at them :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UPDATE: The translators ate their words. All is well in the world. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T20:21:36.057" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T18:56:09.127" Title="Any authoritative source on British rules on space before question mark?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;question-mark&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="14004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13995" CreationDate="2011-02-24T11:11:09.217" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apart from the obvious close-but-no-cigar candidates &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/abandon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;abandoned&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/forsake&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;forsaken&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, how about &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/maroon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;marooned&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;[put] ashore on a desolate island or coast and [left] to one's fate&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;[placed or left] in isolation or without hope of ready escape &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T11:11:09.217" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14003" CreationDate="2011-02-24T11:21:54.033" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is Wikipedia authoritative enough?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Question_mark#Stylistic_variants&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Question_mark#Stylistic_variants&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It clearly mentions the French usage of having a space before the question mark - unhappily without reference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However &lt;a href=&quot;http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponctuation#Les_espaces_autour_des_signes_de_ponctuation_%28r%C3%A8gles_actuelles%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this French wiki page&lt;/a&gt; explicitly states that French typography requires a space before a question mark, but other typographies 'American in particular' omit a space:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;De nombreuses autres (américaine, en particulier) ne mettent aucune espace avant ces signes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That wiki page has a number of references.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of the examples on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/365&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Oxford Dictionaries online page&lt;/a&gt; omit a space before, but other than that, the only references I can find to spacing in English are on sites aimed at teaching English as a foreign language, e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/punctuationtext.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this German one&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://french.about.com/library/writing/bl-punctuation.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this about.com page&lt;/a&gt; comparing English and French punctuation, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishclub.com/writing/punctuation-question-mark.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this EnglishClub page&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastEditorUserId="3876" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T22:09:41.603" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T22:09:41.603" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14003" CreationDate="2011-02-24T12:16:52.353" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This appears to be a typesetting question, more than a usage one. Terminal punctuation is not set off with spaces in English because it is, well, &quot;terminal&quot; punctuation. You cannot terminate a space. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a question of typesetting, however, a designer might use spacing - particularly in a title or such - to get a particular look. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T12:16:52.353" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14002" CreationDate="2011-02-24T12:48:40.590" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As &lt;em&gt;vises&lt;/em&gt; is an American English word (the plural of &lt;em&gt;vise&lt;/em&gt;, which the equivalent of the British &lt;em&gt;vice&lt;/em&gt;), I would use &lt;em&gt;hi vis's&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If the word is preceded from an adjective, then I would write &lt;em&gt;hi-vis&lt;/em&gt; for the singular and &lt;em&gt;hi-vis's&lt;/em&gt; for the plural. &lt;em&gt;Hi vis&lt;/em&gt; seems a greeting; that is the reason I would write &lt;em&gt;hi-vis&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;hi-vis's&lt;/em&gt;, if I would really need to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T12:48:40.590" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13995" CreationDate="2011-02-24T12:52:00.003" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Neglected&lt;/em&gt; immediately comes to mind (particularly in the context of elderly people in hospitals), my Thesaurus is also suggesting &lt;em&gt;condemned&lt;/em&gt; which would fit better in the context of a prisoner on death row although a building can also be declared unfit and condemned. &lt;em&gt;Forsaken&lt;/em&gt; might also work depending on context (it has many Biblical connotations).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1261" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T12:52:00.003" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2758" CreationDate="2011-02-24T12:56:38.517" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vowels in English are very blurred - particularly between different accents.  To me (Scottish) Mary, marry and merry are three totally different vowels whereas I keep coming across things about how to pronounce things that make distinction between vowels I consider identical.  Most of English would be totally comprehensible if all vowels were replaced with a generic vowel sound.  I spent a while in Guernsey where most vowels became &quot;awe&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4335" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T12:56:38.517" />
  <row Id="14010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13984" CreationDate="2011-02-24T13:32:59.273" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; American English.  Sigh.  One day I will learn to read the tags.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'r' is pronounced in a number of different ways in English.  Like 'l' there are two basic forms; a short consonant and a longer, more vowel-like &quot;darker&quot; sound.  Consider the differences between the two 'r's in &quot;reader&quot; (and similarly the two 'l's in &quot;little&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Basic sound: start with an 'l' (forward half of tongue flat against the roof of your mouth).  Cup your tongue so only the edges touch and let the tip drop a little.  Voice this.  Exactly how far forward your tongue is when you sound the letter is one of the many regional variations.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rolled 'r': only usually turns up for consonantal 'r's unless you are putting on a very fake Scottish accent.  As above, but relax the tongue and let the tip vibrate against your hard palette.  Quite easy to do once you can stop thinking about the mechanics of it.  Rare in the US, though it is normal in Scottish and Welsh accents (for instance).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Vowel variations: Particularly in &quot;-er&quot; endings, 'r' has a tendency to shift towards whatever the main colour sound is for a given accent.  Commonly this is a schwa [ə] or aesc [æ], or in drawling southern accents a long &quot;ah&quot;.  These are tendencies, though; the sound doesn't get all the way to the relevant vowel.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastEditorUserId="1579" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T13:55:54.490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T13:55:54.490" />
  <row Id="14011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14002" CreationDate="2011-02-24T13:42:31.890" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it should be hyphenated, hi-vis, making the plural hi-vises. I think from context it's clear that you don't mean a vise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5412" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T13:42:31.890" />
  <row Id="14012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13997" CreationDate="2011-02-24T13:55:35.080" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may also mean an admiration for a fellow member of a subgroup oriented around a technical matter or bit of fandom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;e.g., &lt;em&gt;I have a nerd-crush on Wil Wheaton&lt;/em&gt;. This implies that I admire and appreciate his work, presumably reaching all the way back to his Wesley Crusher years, perhaps I follow his blog or twitter feed. This doesn't imply physical or sexual attraction so much as intellectual affinity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="676" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T13:55:35.080" />
  <row Id="14013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14002" CreationDate="2011-02-24T14:08:27.057" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Hi-vis jackets&quot; / &quot;Hi-vis vests&quot;. These have the most naturalness, at the cost of an extra word.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Hi-vis&quot;. In a sentence you'd write, for instance, &quot;we got a new batch of a dozen hi-vis today&quot;. &lt;em&gt;Could&lt;/em&gt; be somewhat awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Define a new abbreviation in whatever you're writing, like &quot;HVJ&quot; or &quot;HVV&quot;, and write &quot;HVJs&quot; or &quot;HVVs&quot;. Or even &quot;HVs&quot;.  All it takes is putting a &quot;(HV)&quot; after the first mention: &quot;A hi-vis (HV) is indispensable. How many HVs does it take…&quot; etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own preference is for 1 over 3 over 2. In any case, whatever you choose, do include a hyphen: it comes from &quot;high-visibility jacket&quot; where &quot;high-visibility&quot; is a multiple-word adjective that needs a hyphen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T14:08:27.057" />
  <row Id="14014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13997" CreationDate="2011-02-24T14:29:43.240" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;nerd&lt;/em&gt; in &quot;nerd crush&quot; identifies it as decidedly non-sexual. It is a technical love, the slavering &quot;fanboi&quot; lust geeks (myself included) display when they encounter something of a software or hardware nature that is particularly delightful (i.e. &quot;pushes all our buttons). It borrows the term &quot;crush&quot; to indicate love or infatuation, but that is used semi-ironically. It is probably more of an obsession, really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T15:05:23.743" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T15:05:23.743" />
  <row Id="14015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14003" CreationDate="2011-02-24T14:50:52.707" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as authority goes, I'd put my money with Fowler's &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dictionary_of_Modern_English_Usage&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Modern English Usage&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. In the first edition, Fowler uses spaces before colons, semicolons, question marks, and exclamation marks, but not before full stops or commas. In the second edition, edited by Gowers, none of these stops are preceded by a space any more. The third edition by Burchfield (another authority in the field) doesn't have them either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Frankly spaces do look a bit old fashioned to me. My advice would be to not use spaces any more; however, if you should decide to use them after all, it would still be correct—just uncommon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T14:57:59.907" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T14:57:59.907" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="14016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13932" CreationDate="2011-02-24T15:30:24.783" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to avoid a mere reference to the date, you could say &quot;WTC Attacks&quot; or &quot;Twin-Tower Attacks&quot;, though this only includes the two most prominent attacks—not the other air planes, which crashed elsewhere and killed fewer people. Note that there should be a hyphen in &quot;September-11 Attacks&quot; and &quot;September-Eleven Attacks&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T15:30:24.783" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14002" CreationDate="2011-02-24T15:32:00.553" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wouldn't it be more in keeping with usual English spelling to double the final 's' and get &lt;strong&gt;hi visses&lt;/strong&gt; / &lt;strong&gt;hi-visses&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3542" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T15:32:00.553" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13983" CreationDate="2011-02-24T15:36:16.850" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It actually depends on what kind of theoretical framework you are operating under.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your question is whether English has some sort of overt &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affix&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;affix&lt;/a&gt; that attaches to words that marks dative case unambiguously, then the answer is no.  (If ambiguity between accusative and dative case is fine, then many of the pronouns, as well as &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt;, could be considered to be marking dative).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, case marking does not have to necessarily be done with an affix, it can be done with a preposition.  In English, &lt;strong&gt;the preposition &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; is used to mark dative case&lt;/strong&gt;. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To me&lt;/strong&gt;, this is an easy problem.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I gave ten dollars &lt;strong&gt;to them&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She's like a sister &lt;strong&gt;to him&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could say that this &quot;replaced&quot; case marking, but, in fact, this &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; case marking! The word &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; has essentially no meaning except to mark the specific function in the sentence of the noun it modifies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To compare, in German (a language with a clear dative case), the equivalent sentences would all have a dative pronoun in place of the entire &quot;to X&quot; phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note: Sometimes &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; is used as well, although I think one could argue that &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; might also contribute some additional meaning — &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; is the &quot;purest&quot; dative marker. Also, keep in mind that not all instances of the &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; preposition are simply dative case markers.  For example, as part of the infinitive, or as a locative preposition: &quot;I went to the park&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T15:41:56.823" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T15:41:56.823" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14019" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-24T15:45:11.780" Score="0" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/420/date-format-for-written-english&quot;&gt;Date format for written English&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which of these forms is correct and preferred in which English dialect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;24 February&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;February 24&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;24th of February&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So far I can see, that first is mostly used in the Commonwealth, second in USA, and third by non-native English speakers.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5139" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T15:45:11.780" ClosedDate="2011-02-24T16:23:06.290" Title="&quot;24 February&quot;, &quot;February 24&quot; or &quot;24th of February&quot;?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;&lt;date&gt;" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="14020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13995" CreationDate="2011-02-24T16:05:15.537" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Perhaps &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castaway&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;castaway&lt;/a&gt; is sufficient&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sailors were cast away onto desert islands with the intention that they would suffer a slow and painful death, or go mad (although that is technically being marooned).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1995" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T16:05:15.537" />
  <row Id="14021" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-24T16:24:42.480" Score="12" ViewCount="542" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a noun that can fit well in a 3-level scale: &lt;i&gt;apprentice, ____, master.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The scale describes the progress of a person from a layman/uninitiated (&lt;em&gt;apprentice&lt;/em&gt;), through being accomplished and versed in the secret knowledge he acquired, and finally arriving at the ability to teach and mentor apprentices into the same knowledge (&lt;em&gt;master&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The noun &lt;em&gt;initiate&lt;/em&gt; has connotations of being a beginner and thus isn't good for my need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5417" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T16:33:39.177" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T18:21:18.047" Title="Word for a person who has been initiated into secret knowledge" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13987" CreationDate="2011-02-24T16:29:34.437" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;pare&quot; has additional meaning and use over &quot;skin&quot; and &quot;peel&quot; in that &quot;skin&quot; and &quot;peel&quot; refer to the removal of a thin outer layer of something (as indicated in the other answers).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;pare&quot; is often used to indicate something was reduced in size or number, but in small increments. It is quite common to hear someone speak of paring something down to its essential elements or paring back the budget for the next fiscal year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One might think of this as peeling something, then peeling it again, repeatedly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T16:29:34.437" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14021" CreationDate="2011-02-24T16:30:05.670" Score="28" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journeyman&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Journeyman&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; would feel like the most natural choice to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Addendum: Freemasonry goes with &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry#Degrees&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;fellow craft&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; between &lt;em&gt;entered apprentice&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;master mason&lt;/em&gt;, but that's a bit wordy for my tastes.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T16:30:05.670" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="14024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14021" CreationDate="2011-02-24T16:31:10.070" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I hear &lt;em&gt;secret knowledge&lt;/em&gt;, naturally I immediately think of Freemasonry. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I understand there are three degrees of Craft or Blue Lodge Freemasonry (info via Wikipedia):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Entered Apprentice – the degree of an Initiate, which makes one a Freemason;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fellow Craft – an intermediate degree, involved with learning;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Master Mason &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, &lt;em&gt;fellow&lt;/em&gt; seems appropriate here. You may simply go with &lt;em&gt;member&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another word that may fit is &lt;em&gt;journeyman&lt;/em&gt;. Might have problems with gender neutrality on that one, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T16:31:10.070" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14025" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14031" CreationDate="2011-02-24T16:45:43.720" Score="7" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, I pronounced the word &lt;em&gt;enqueue&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;ahn-queue&lt;/em&gt;.  The person I was talking to said he would have pronounced it with a more normal &lt;em&gt;en&lt;/em&gt; sound (like in Ben or den).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure why I thought that &lt;em&gt;ahn-&lt;/em&gt; was the way to pronounce this—it seems to be wrong according to the dictionary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cases that &lt;em&gt;ahn-&lt;/em&gt; seems to be correct are two-word french phrases (e.g., &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/en+route&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;en route&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;).  I also thought of &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/envoy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;envoy&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, which does allow the &lt;em&gt;ahn-&lt;/em&gt; pronunciation as a second option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a pattern for which words allow or require &lt;em&gt;en-&lt;/em&gt; to be pronounced as &lt;em&gt;ahn-&lt;/em&gt;?  Or is this just something you have to know word-by-word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4281" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T21:08:38.163" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T21:08:38.163" Title="Pronunciation of en- prefix as ahn-" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;prefixes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="14027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14025" CreationDate="2011-02-24T16:51:19.050" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;En-&lt;/code&gt; is pronounced in French roughly like English's &lt;code&gt;ahn&lt;/code&gt;. Most words beginning with &lt;code&gt;en-&lt;/code&gt; have a French origin, explaining this behavior. When in doubt, if the word looks French, go with &lt;code&gt;ahn&lt;/code&gt;. Of course that doesn't work for all cases, for example &lt;code&gt;engage&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;envy&lt;/code&gt;. I don't know of any steadfast rule to follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastEditorUserId="4929" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T16:59:13.610" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T16:59:13.610" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="14028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14025" CreationDate="2011-02-24T17:03:36.323" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In American English, &lt;em&gt;en-&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced /ɪn/, or /ɛn/.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In most of the words starting with &lt;em&gt;en-&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;en-&lt;/em&gt; is a prefix that has origin from French, from Latin &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T17:03:36.323" />
  <row Id="14029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14025" CreationDate="2011-02-24T17:21:33.837" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indeed, most of the &lt;em&gt;en-&lt;/em&gt; words are of French origin. However, majority of them are pronounced |&lt;em&gt;en&lt;/em&gt;|, as in &lt;em&gt;envy&lt;/em&gt;. It is not uncommon to hear some of them mispronounced |&lt;em&gt;ahn&lt;/em&gt;|. This is rife and quite acceptable in America, most especially for the word &lt;em&gt;envelope&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All the compound French-derived words beginning with &lt;em&gt;en&lt;/em&gt; are pronounced &lt;em&gt;|ahn|&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;En route&lt;/em&gt; can also be pronounced as written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T17:21:33.837" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14021" CreationDate="2011-02-24T17:22:08.323" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like &lt;em&gt;adept&lt;/em&gt; may meet your needs.  The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn initiatory structure has 10 grades divided into three tiers, and the middle tier is the adept grades (5=6 &lt;em&gt;adeptus minor&lt;/em&gt;, 6=5 &lt;em&gt;adeptus major&lt;/em&gt;, and 7=4 &lt;em&gt;adeptus exemptus&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, I would also be perfectly comfortable using &lt;em&gt;initiate&lt;/em&gt; for your situation, not really feeling it very strongly has the beginner implications you mention.  &lt;em&gt;Adept&lt;/em&gt; clearly has a much stronger connotation of competence, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were to go with this option for your middle grade, I would also suggest thinking about using &lt;em&gt;initiate&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;neophyte&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;apprentice&lt;/em&gt; for your initial grade, to distance a bit further from the traditional guild apprentice-journeyman-master structure.  In fact, drawing a bit further from the Golden Dawn, in which the next grade up from the adept tier is 8=3 &lt;em&gt;magister templi&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;Master of the Temple&quot;), we could get a super-sexy progression of &lt;em&gt;neophyte-adept-magister&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T18:21:18.047" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T18:21:18.047" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14025" CreationDate="2011-02-24T18:03:09.277" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The list of &lt;em&gt;en-&lt;/em&gt; words that can be pronounced /an/ rather than /ɪn/ or /ɛn/ is pretty short. From a quick search of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.speech.cs.cmu.edu/cgi-bin/cmudict&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Carnegie-Mellon Pronouncing Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;, these words start with &lt;em&gt;en-&lt;/em&gt; and can be pronounced /an/ (some have alternate pronunciations with /ɛn/):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;ENCLAVE&#xA;ENCLAVES&#xA;ENCORE&#xA;ENCORES&#xA;ENFANT&#xA;ENSEMBLE&#xA;ENSEMBLES&#xA;ENTENDRE&#xA;ENTOURAGE&#xA;ENTOURAGES&#xA;ENTRE&#xA;ENTREE&#xA;ENTREES&#xA;ENTREPRENEUR&#xA;ENTREPRENEUR'S&#xA;ENTREPRENEURIAL&#xA;ENTREPRENEURS&#xA;ENTREPRENEURSHIP&#xA;ENVOY&#xA;ENVOYS&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will note also that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/envelope&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster does also countenance /an/ for &lt;em&gt;envelope&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. However, few if any other &lt;em&gt;en-&lt;/em&gt; words can be pronounced /an/.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T18:03:09.277" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="14032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13983" CreationDate="2011-02-24T18:09:46.650" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are clearly a number of views on this matter. Firstly, it's worth mentioning that some frameworks have the notion that every noun phrase must be assigned &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; case or other. But Case can then be an underlying phenomenon rather than an overt one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you accept such principles, then the question effectively becomes one of deciding if in English &quot;I gave &lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt; the book&quot;, &lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt; is in the same case as in German &quot;Ich gab &lt;em&gt;ihm&lt;/em&gt; das Buch&quot; (assuming again that you accept the notion that German &lt;em&gt;ihm&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;dative case&quot;), and possibly whether English &lt;em&gt;&quot;for him&quot;&lt;/em&gt; and/or German &lt;em&gt;&quot;für ihn&quot;, &quot;an ihn&quot;&lt;/em&gt; etc can also be examples of dative case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's really no consensus on this, but some things to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in &lt;strong&gt;languages with overt case marking, coordinated nouns pretty much always share the same case&lt;/strong&gt;: so to my knowledge, a German would always say &quot;mit David und ihm&quot; (&quot;with David and him&quot;, with &quot;ihm&quot; being in the case governed by the preposition &quot;mit&quot;), and would never say the equivalent of e.g. &quot;with David and I&quot;, as does readily occur in English; so we have grounds not to try and shoehorn English into a &quot;canonical&quot; case system;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;English &quot;dative&quot; objects can become subject pronouns&lt;/strong&gt; in the passive, as though they were &quot;direct&quot; objects; if English behaved like German with its overt case marking, then that &lt;strong&gt;overt case would be maintained in the passive&lt;/strong&gt; (contrast English &lt;em&gt;&quot;He was given the book&quot;&lt;/em&gt; with German &quot;Ihm/*Er wurde das Buch gegeben&quot;, where only &quot;Ihm&quot;, dative, and not &quot;Er&quot;, nominative, is possible)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in various languages, there is &lt;strong&gt;some alternation between an overt dative&lt;/strong&gt; and a prepositional phrase, similar to English &quot;I made &lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt; a cake&quot;~&quot;I made a cake &lt;em&gt;for him&lt;/em&gt;&quot;; &quot;I sent him a package&quot;~&quot;I sent a package to him&quot; e.g. German dative can often be replaced with &quot;an/für...&quot;; in as much as &quot;lui&quot;, &quot;le&quot; are overtly dative, French often allows &quot;lui/pour lui&quot; to alternative, Spanish &quot;le/para él&quot; etc, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On the other hand, &lt;strong&gt;&quot;dative&quot; objects in English do have &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; special properties&lt;/strong&gt; meaning they don't behave like &quot;normal&quot; direct objects: e.g. they don't tend to relativise as readily (&quot;I saw the guy you mentioned&quot; vs &quot;??I saw the guy you gave a headache&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So on the one hand, English &quot;him&quot; etc can have some properties of what we might see as &quot;canonically dative&quot;, but on the other hand, it has some properties that aren't, and it's clear that English isn't a language with canonical overt case marking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T18:09:46.650" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14033" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14039" CreationDate="2011-02-24T18:28:47.617" Score="5" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are the phrases &quot;in total&quot; and &quot;in toto&quot; interchangeable, or is &quot;in total&quot; a corruption of &quot;in toto&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5419" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T20:47:22.330" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T20:47:22.330" Title="&quot;In toto&quot; versus &quot;in total&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;latin&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12268" CreationDate="2011-02-24T18:29:26.983" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;i always thought bloody was a reference to menstrual blood, which was considered nasty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5421" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T18:29:26.983" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14033" CreationDate="2011-02-24T18:30:01.373" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're interchangeable.  &quot;In toto&quot; is the Latin for &quot;in total&quot;, so more appropriate to the sort of formal context where randomly lapsing into Latin is least likely to result in accusations of being &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lexiphanic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lexiphanic&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though of course, &lt;a href=&quot;http://translate.google.com/#la|en|quidquid%20Latine%20dictum%20sit,%20altum%20sonatur&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum sonatur&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T19:30:33.907" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T19:30:33.907" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14036" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14038" CreationDate="2011-02-24T18:42:00.220" Score="1" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5174/what-is-the-difference-between-good-and-well&quot;&gt;What is the difference between &amp;ldquo;good&amp;rdquo; and &amp;ldquo;well&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I work equally well as part of a team or as an independent researcher.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I work equally good as part of a team or as an independent researcher.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5423" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T18:44:04.397" ClosedDate="2011-02-24T19:09:17.470" Title="Which is more correct: well or good? within the context given:" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14036" CreationDate="2011-02-24T18:43:53.727" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I work equally well&quot;, certainly.  &quot;Good&quot; is an adjective, &quot;well&quot; is an adverb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T18:43:53.727" />
  <row Id="14038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14036" CreationDate="2011-02-24T18:44:04.397" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Well&lt;/em&gt; is correct here.  You need an adverb to modify the verb &lt;em&gt;work&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4281" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T18:44:04.397" />
  <row Id="14039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14033" CreationDate="2011-02-24T18:48:37.357" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;In toto&lt;/em&gt; has taken on the more general sense of &quot;taken as a whole&quot; in general English usage. &lt;em&gt;In total&lt;/em&gt; means something closer to the original meaning of the Latin version, though there's little doubt in my mind that its use is influenced by the presence of &lt;em&gt;in toto&lt;/em&gt;, since we already had the phrase &lt;em&gt;in all&lt;/em&gt; to describe a final sum.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T18:48:37.357" />
  <row Id="14040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14003" CreationDate="2011-02-24T18:55:04.837" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that the Oxford Style Manual and the Times Manual of Style would likely be sufficiently authoritative for your purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T18:55:04.837" />
  <row Id="14041" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14047" CreationDate="2011-02-24T19:11:08.023" Score="4" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/308951/jutha&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;From The Encyclopedia Britannica&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Food left on plates after eating is&#xA;  defined as garbage (jutha) because it&#xA;  has been polluted by the eater’s&#xA;  saliva. It may be handled in the&#xA;  family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there an English word for something that is not eatable or usable by others because it has someone's saliva on it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5426" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T19:37:05.677" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T22:04:57.027" Title="Is there a term for something that is tainted with another's saliva?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="14042" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-24T19:13:02.190" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This tag refers to how the grammar works — different grammatical usages and how they can be used or what they mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These questions aren't about whether something is grammatical or not; such questions should use the tag &lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/grammaticality&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'grammaticality'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;grammaticality&lt;/a&gt; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T19:13:02.190" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T19:13:02.190" />
  <row Id="14043" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-24T19:13:02.190" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="How the grammar works: different grammatical usages and how they can be used or what they mean." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T19:13:02.190" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T19:13:02.190" />
  <row Id="14044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14002" CreationDate="2011-02-24T19:22:17.767" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's &lt;em&gt;extremely&lt;/em&gt; uncommon for new singular words ending in &quot;s&quot; to be pronounced with a &quot;z&quot; sound; a &quot;proper&quot; spelling (even though one can never say that the spelling of a new word that isn't a brand name or technical coinage is proper until it has achieved a certain critical mass of usage) would probably be the hyphenated &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;hi-viz&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would have pronounced &quot;hi vis&quot; as if it were the plural of &quot;hi vi&quot; if the term hadn't been explained, and I think that would be the first inclination of most readers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The plural, if there is one, would probably be best spelled as &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;hi-vizzes&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, but there's probably a better way around it -- like instructing people to wear their hi-viz gear rather than their hi-vizzes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T19:22:17.767" />
  <row Id="14045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13635" CreationDate="2011-02-24T19:28:45.620" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding, as noted in the question, the best alternative we've come up with in the original context, &lt;em&gt;deployable&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T19:28:45.620" />
  <row Id="14046" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14063" CreationDate="2011-02-24T19:31:23.273" Score="7" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do you call the rush of air you experience when riding on a motorcycle or in a speed boat?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to say &lt;em&gt;breeze&lt;/em&gt;, but that is caused by the wind, not the movement of the vehicle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; I am not looking for a technical term.  I want to express this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Riding my Harley, I felt the &lt;em&gt;NOUN&lt;/em&gt; in my hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastEditorUserId="4744" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T11:23:54.447" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T14:19:14.483" Title="Word for &quot;rush of air&quot;" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14041" CreationDate="2011-02-24T19:33:49.660" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not believe there is a single word that exactly means the same as &lt;em&gt;jutha&lt;/em&gt;, as that concept is particular to Hinduism.  We would use the word as a loanword if necessary to be specific.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, there are several general terms for left over food from plates, as opposed to leftover food which was never served (that being called &lt;em&gt;leftovers&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;slops&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;swill&lt;/em&gt; (specific to food waste given to pigs)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;scraps&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;food waste&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;remains&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, whilst this concept persists as a religious observance, there is the opposite end of the scale that should be more widely known, see the Filipino slum food &lt;em&gt;pagpag&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastEditorUserId="2253" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T19:41:50.130" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T19:41:50.130" />
  <row Id="14048" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14050" CreationDate="2011-02-24T19:34:48.263" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are both forms grammatically correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As I &lt;strong&gt;was entering&lt;/strong&gt; the shop, I saw her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As I &lt;strong&gt;entered&lt;/strong&gt; the shop, I saw her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastEditorUserId="4744" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T11:48:28.603" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T11:48:28.603" Title="Progressive form required for &quot;as&quot;, &quot;while&quot;, etc.?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;gerund&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14048" CreationDate="2011-02-24T19:39:44.267" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use either. In that sentence, there is no difference in meaning between those two uses. The &quot;as I was&quot; adds immediacy to &quot;entered&quot; and doesn't give any extra immediacy to &quot;was entering&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T19:39:44.267" />
  <row Id="14050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14048" CreationDate="2011-02-24T19:43:40.627" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, because the action of entering can be seen as either an instant in time (one moment you're out, the next you're in), or an process with a certain duration (the time during which you open the door, get past the entrance, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your first case (“as I was entering the shop”), you're saying that you saw here during that lapse of time. In the second case (“as I entered the shop”), you're saying things happened simultaneously. Both cases may be best exemplified as equivalent to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;As I was drying my hair, I dropped the hair dryer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;As I fired the shot, I heard the loud noise of the gun&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T19:43:40.627" />
  <row Id="14051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14046" CreationDate="2011-02-24T19:45:38.377" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In aerodynamic and aeronautics, it is called the &lt;strong&gt;relative wind&lt;/strong&gt;. I don't know if there exist a non-technical to describe it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T19:45:38.377" />
  <row Id="14052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13635" CreationDate="2011-02-24T19:47:32.900" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about just calling it an &quot;action item?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's just as jargon-y, and anybody who would understand &quot;actionable item&quot; will grasp &quot;action item.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I figure this is an extension of my rule not use a long word when a shorter one will do (&quot;use&quot; instead of &quot;utilize&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2707" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T19:47:32.900" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14021" CreationDate="2011-02-24T19:49:34.037" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;strong&gt;practitioner&lt;/strong&gt;? It is “a person actively engaged in an art, discipline, or profession” (&lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T19:49:34.037" />
  <row Id="14054" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-24T19:54:01.483" Score="6" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;Am I actually contracting the phrase by omitting &quot;good&quot; from it, hence the need for the use of an apostrophe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5427" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T20:09:10.273" Title="With the phrase &quot;good night&quot; do you have to use an apostrophe before the word &quot;night&quot; if you are to omit the use of &quot;good?&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14003" CreationDate="2011-02-24T20:03:06.170" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you trust Microsoft? When you type a question in Microsoft Word and leave a space before the question mark. It says you have a grammar mistake and puts a green line under it.&#xA;I know you're looking for a book or something though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5430" LastEditorUserId="5430" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T18:56:09.127" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T18:56:09.127" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14054" CreationDate="2011-02-24T20:09:10.273" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You don't need an apostrophe if you just say &quot;Night.&quot; If you clip part of the &quot;good&quot; and say &quot;g'night&quot; then you need an apostrophe. This is actually how the phrase is heard most often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sense your discomfort at just using the single word as a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He rolled over and turned off the light. &quot;Night,&quot; he whispered, and kissed his wife on the cheek.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's a perfectly understandable and even grammatical expression. The &quot;good&quot; is understood, because it is such a common expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T20:09:10.273" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14057" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14058" CreationDate="2011-02-24T20:15:05.327" Score="12" ViewCount="261" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was at an Model UN conference and often notes like the following get passed. As I'm not a native speaker, I assume that this has to do with some pronunciational issue. Can you please explain what's so funny about this sentence? (Djibouti seemed to be often used in such context.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If Bangkok invaded Djibouti would Greece help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5431" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T07:14:46.503" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T07:14:46.503" Title="Explain this pickup line: &quot;If Bangkok invaded Djibouti, would Greece help?&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;pun&gt;&lt;obscene&gt;&lt;jokes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="14058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14057" CreationDate="2011-02-24T20:18:49.490" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The punning here is obscene. It means&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If bang cock invaded your booty, would grease help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;cock = penis&#xA;booty = ass &#xA;grease = lubricant&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T20:18:49.490" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="14059" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-24T20:33:40.237" Score="6" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am bored (read: lazy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wish to know if English Grammar has a formal construct for this usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5433" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T20:44:53.673" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T09:07:35.280" Title="Is there a grammatical rule for using &quot;read&quot; between parentheses?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;parentheses&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14041" CreationDate="2011-02-24T20:47:59.290" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't think of a specific word, but &lt;code&gt;&quot;I don't want to share your germs&quot;&lt;/code&gt; is a typical way to say it. It's a tiny bit offensive for some people if they are told this, but most people understand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a related phrase that is used which might be appropriate: &lt;code&gt;&quot;double dipping.&quot;&lt;/code&gt; This is where (for example) a person who is taking food from a shared bowl eats using a spoon and then places the same spoon back into the food for another bite (could also be a potato chip, vegetable, etc.) [ see: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J3w4cS2MvM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J3w4cS2MvM&lt;/a&gt; ]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T20:47:59.290" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14059" CreationDate="2011-02-24T21:06:17.543" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking for occurrences of &lt;code&gt;(read&lt;/code&gt; in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, I find among the 33 first hits:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;18 are of the form: “&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;she promised her supporters (read: voters)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5 are of the form: “&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;she promised her supporters (read voters)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;10 are unrelated to your question, like “&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;(read more in…)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These shows two things: there are two alternatives, and while the use of a colon after &lt;em&gt;reading&lt;/em&gt; is preferred, it is not a hard and fast rule. Also, when the colon is omitted, italicisation may be used for clarification of the intent, as in: “she promised her supporters (read &lt;em&gt;voters&lt;/em&gt;)”; unfortunately, this is not reflected in the statistics given above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I prefer using the colon, as I find it more readable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T09:07:35.280" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T09:07:35.280" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14046" CreationDate="2011-02-24T21:07:48.827" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, there is no distinction made between air motion caused by natural means, air motion caused by mechanical means, and air motion experienced due to the observer being in motion while the air stands still; they're all &quot;wind&quot; or &quot;breeze&quot; or &quot;gale&quot; or &quot;gust&quot; or &quot;zephyr&quot; or &quot;scirocco&quot; or whatever other word suits the velocity of the air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I stuck my head out the window to feel the cool breeze.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I relaxed in the gentle breeze from the fan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hate riding my motorcycle with a helmet on because it means I can't feel the wind in my hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T21:07:48.827" />
  <row Id="14064" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14072" CreationDate="2011-02-24T21:14:42.257" Score="3" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;After having watched British TV and movies for a while, I came across several accents I liked. But I'm not completely sure what they are, so I need your help :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itaJANntDp8&amp;amp;feature=player_detailpage#t=40s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;David Tennant as The 10th Doctor&lt;/a&gt; (skip to 0:39 if it doesn't for you).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When he &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/qjz-ynF2o34&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;speaks more calmly&lt;/a&gt;, he sounds almost RP to me, but when he's &lt;a href=&quot;http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17252409/b/doctor-part.avi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;more agitated&lt;/a&gt;, I hear something else.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/o3Q8RYMSkJo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;David Tennant in real life&lt;/a&gt; — (skip to 1:24) — sounds more Scottish (?) to me.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/6Jg0L5lD9bM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Charlie McDonnell&lt;/a&gt;. He sounds fairly &quot;neutral&quot; to me, but I doubt it's RP.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt; Dancrumb and ShreevatsaR provided info that apparently &lt;a href=&quot;http://vkontakte.ru/video_ext.php?oid=1084237&amp;amp;id=159300029&amp;amp;hash=c6fe6cc70a87820f&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Tenth Doctor&lt;/a&gt; speaks Estuary English. But to me it's a very confusing revelation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't find similarities between his accent and that of other notable Estuary speakers, such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/sm-Ux0q3Mrg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;David Beckham&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGBsbYIyduk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nasser Hussain&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/Dtjo8DDspx0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jamie Oliver&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The Tenth Doctor &lt;strong&gt;doesn't&lt;/strong&gt; have:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- glottal stops (he pronounces &lt;em&gt;daughter&lt;/em&gt; as door-tsah, not as door.ah — sorry for the lame transcription)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- intrusive R (either that or I just didn't notice)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- L-vocalization (same comment as above)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;- A deeper &quot;i&quot; (that sounds almost like &quot;oi&quot; with Estuary speakers)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Overall, The Tenth Doctor sounds much more RP than the other Estuary speakers, and they, respectively, sound much more Cockney.&#xA;I can't find a single Estuary speaker on the web that would sound like The Tenth Doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5425" LastEditorUserId="5425" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T19:39:14.427" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T19:39:14.427" Title="Please help me pinpoint several British accents" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;learning&gt;&lt;accent&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14064" CreationDate="2011-02-24T21:33:38.153" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;David Tennant is Scottish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His accent in Dr. Who? is Gallifreyan, since he's from the planet Gallifrey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://charliemcdonnell.com/about/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Charlie McDonnell&lt;/a&gt; is from Bath, UK. So I guess it's a regular middle class accent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3559" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T21:33:38.153" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14064" CreationDate="2011-02-24T21:37:56.133" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Wikipedia, &quot;Tennant was born on 18 April 1971 in Bathgate, West Lothian in Scotland and grew up in Ralston, Renfrewshire&quot;. I would expect that his accent derives from that part of Scotland but that he adjusts his accent towards RP for some acting rôles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same source says &quot;Charles Joseph &quot;Charlie&quot; McDonnell (born 1 October 1990) is a British vlogger and musician from Bath, Somerset.&quot; The stereotypical rural Somerset accent is very distinctive. I am unable to distinguish his accent from an average British home counties accent though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T21:37:56.133" />
  <row Id="14068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14041" CreationDate="2011-02-24T22:04:57.027" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there an English word for something that is not eatable or usable by others because it has someone's saliva on it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not specifically, but people might say it was &lt;em&gt;unhygenic&lt;/em&gt; (to eat someone-else's left-over food).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T22:04:57.027" />
  <row Id="14069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14048" CreationDate="2011-02-24T22:18:56.863" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, when I read the question, I wondered about ‘As entering’. ‘entering’ is the gerund form, ‘was entering’ is past progressive/continuous. [Oh, checked back, psmears beat me to it.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the ‘ing’ form, gerund = participle. There's another participle, ‘entered’, ‘gone’. It's often confusing labeled ‘past partciple’.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5275" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T22:18:56.863" />
  <row Id="14070" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14080" CreationDate="2011-02-24T22:26:08.160" Score="6" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it possible that &lt;em&gt;et cetera&lt;/em&gt; gained its popularity thanks to the 1956 movie &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_and_I_%281956_film%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The King and I&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since I wasn't around before 1956, I'm not sure how common &quot;et cetera&quot; was in day to day speech. Or was it still as common in everyday speech back then as it is today?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5438" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T02:52:24.207" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T15:10:42.523" Title="Did et cetera gain its popularity from &quot;The King and I&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;history&gt;&lt;foreign-words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6857" CreationDate="2011-02-24T22:39:41.057" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that since the two are interchangeable you can pick one you like better and use it. I doubt a native speaker will even notice. Try to be consistent, I guess.  Or, if you'd rather fit in as much as possible, try to listen to the people around you and imitate them. But for this one word you might have a hard time finding out if you're with a bunch of '-s' using people or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T22:39:41.057" />
  <row Id="14072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14064" CreationDate="2011-02-24T22:47:02.087" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;David Tennant as The Doctor speaks with an Estuary English accent&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;David Tennant as David Tennant speaks with a 'Scottish' accent; since there's not single Scottish accent, that's not really a complete answer, but I can't place it since he was born near Edinburgh, but raised near Glasgow&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5360" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T22:47:02.087" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14070" CreationDate="2011-02-24T22:53:43.140" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This has been around for a long, long time. According to Etymonline,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;et cetera&lt;/strong&gt; also &lt;em&gt;etcetera&lt;/em&gt;, early 15c., from L. et cetera, lit. &quot;and the others,&quot; from et &quot;and&quot; + neut. of ceteri &quot;the others.&quot; The common abbreviation was &amp;amp;c. before 20c., but etc. now prevails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally people will say &quot;and so on&quot; or &quot;and so forth&quot; when speaking, but plenty of times you will hear &quot;et cetera.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the 19th and early 20th centuriesy the one-word version, &lt;em&gt;etcetera&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;etceteras&lt;/em&gt;) was used as a synonym for &lt;em&gt;sundries&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;odds and ends&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;Webster's 3rd New Int'l. Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; cites &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Bowen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Elizabeth Bowen&lt;/a&gt; (who consorted with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomsbury_Group&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bloomsbury&lt;/a&gt; group) using it in a sentence. So it must have had some currency before &lt;em&gt;The King and I&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T15:10:42.523" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T15:10:42.523" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="14074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10653" CreationDate="2011-02-24T23:04:02.937" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often hear old media being described as &quot;&lt;em&gt;from the vault&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.  When referring to a news story you could say &quot;And now something from the vault... [insert old news story here.]&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T23:04:02.937" />
  <row Id="14075" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14095" CreationDate="2011-02-24T23:13:17.777" Score="0" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is an alternative expression to &quot;this&quot;? As in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Medicine is very important. &lt;strong&gt;This&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  can be ascertained from the fact&#xA;  that...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a &quot;synonym&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T18:32:06.527" Title="What is an alternative expression to &quot;this&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14075" CreationDate="2011-02-24T23:23:38.717" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oh dear, I don't think there exists any word close enough to be considered a synonym. The closest words would be &quot;that&quot; and &quot;it&quot;, but they do not fit in with the rest of your example very well. I can think of a few ways to rephrase your example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Medicine is very important, which can&#xA;  be ascertained from...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Medicine is very important. The fact&#xA;  that ... proves its importance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why exactly do you want to do away with this &quot;this&quot;? It looks fine in your example. A bit more context (purpose?) might get you better suggestions. Is this a real sentence, or just an example?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T23:23:38.717" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14078" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14079" CreationDate="2011-02-24T23:33:55.950" Score="1" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often find it difficult to interpret meaning of &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt; in some of the sentences where it is used to imply exclusion/inclusion. For example: &lt;em&gt;Drink everything you want but alcohol&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, sometimes &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt; is used to imply inclusion, however I don't remember any example on top of my mind right now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could you explain with examples how to interpret the meaning of &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt; in these types of sentences? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2532" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T23:55:19.360" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T00:26:24.193" Title="Interpreting the meaning of 'but' as an implication for exclusion/inclusion" Tags="&lt;interpretation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14078" CreationDate="2011-02-24T23:46:35.507" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;[Edited]&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Holy Roman Emperor had but a dozen&#xA;  domains left under his direct&#xA;  control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;only&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Drink everything you want but alcohol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here it means &quot;except&quot;: everything except alcohol. It means &quot;except&quot; when two things are mentioned, both the whole (&lt;em&gt;everything&lt;/em&gt;) and a part (&lt;em&gt;alcohol&lt;/em&gt;). In the first example above, no whole was mentioned, so that &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt; had to mean &quot;only a dozen domains&quot;—but not so here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She was all but killed by the&#xA;  assassin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here it means &quot;except&quot; as well. The &quot;whole&quot; is &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt;. Then we get &quot;all except killed&quot;; this means that the assassin came very close to killing her, but he did not actually kill her. She might be badly wounded, or she might have quickly ducked behind the statue when he fired. &quot;Short of&quot; has roughly the same sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All senses of &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt; probably come from some older sense similar to &quot;only&quot; or &quot;except&quot;: if the &quot;except&quot; cases came from &quot;only not&quot; and &quot;not&quot; had been dropped somewhere along the way, it would all be logical; but I'm not sure whether that is how it came to be as it is now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She left me behind at the gas station,&#xA;  except she came back later out of&#xA;  guilt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In informal language you might hear this; you could even use &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The funny thing is that you can see a similar development in some other languages. In Dutch, &lt;em&gt;maar&lt;/em&gt; means both &quot;but&quot; as in &quot;I like you but you stink&quot; and &quot;but&quot; as in &quot;I have but (only) two socks left&quot;. But if you wanted to use &lt;em&gt;maar&lt;/em&gt; with the sense &quot;except&quot;, you'd need a negation (which is only logical).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T00:26:24.193" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T00:26:24.193" />
  <row Id="14080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14070" CreationDate="2011-02-24T23:50:01.357" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I searched for &lt;em&gt;et cetera&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;etcetera&lt;/em&gt; in the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Historical American&lt;/em&gt;, and I found the following data:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/XBJCO.png&quot; alt=&quot;first screenshot&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The chart shows that &lt;em&gt;et cetera&lt;/em&gt; was already used before 1956, and its usage has been constant in the period 1950-1960.&#xA;The usage frequency of the word, in the years between 1950 and 1979, has been 1.47, 1.54, and 3.44 per million, which is lower than the frequency of words like &lt;em&gt;vice versa&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;etc.&lt;/em&gt;, but higher than the frequency of words like &lt;em&gt;et al.&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;et seq.&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T00:34:08.737" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T00:34:08.737" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14081" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13959" CreationDate="2011-02-24T23:57:00.277" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Additionally, you can always hear a recording of words on dictionary.com: &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/call&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/call&lt;/a&gt;. Just click the speaker symbol. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4129" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T23:57:00.277" />
  <row Id="14082" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14100" CreationDate="2011-02-24T23:58:12.043" Score="5" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does the phrase &quot;little big&quot; mean? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Samples (game titles):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Little big planet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Little big adventures&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Little big magazine&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5441" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T14:20:02.833" Title="What does the phrase &quot;little big&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14070" CreationDate="2011-02-25T00:02:42.353" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While certainly not a good measure of 'everyday speech', the &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=et+cetera&amp;amp;year_start=1700&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Ngrams chart from 1700 to 2000&lt;/a&gt; actually indicates that the highest peaks in literature were in the early 1930s and mid 1940s.  You can see a more zoomed in view &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=et+cetera&amp;amp;year_start=1920&amp;amp;year_end=1960&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would indicate a higher correlation with the 1944 novel &lt;em&gt;Anna and the King of Siam&lt;/em&gt; than the movie version.  It might also indicate that the novel instead drew on other works rather than being the prime mover.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T00:02:42.353" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="14084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14082" CreationDate="2011-02-25T00:09:05.353" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Little big&quot; isn't really a standard phrase in English, so it's subject to interpretation. It's meant to be more evocative than precise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the above cases you could take it to mean something that is suitable for both little and big people (children and adults), or something that is big in scope but miniature in size.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5419" LastEditorUserId="5419" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T00:14:48.857" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T00:14:48.857" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14086" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14088" CreationDate="2011-02-25T00:28:25.843" Score="3" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Place the pot somewhere where it is 20-22 degrees warm.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The double &lt;em&gt;where&lt;/em&gt; sounds a bit silly. Is there a better way to word this sentence? &quot;Someplace 20-22 degrees warm&quot; sounds too informal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4727" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T01:26:09.157" Title="Somewhere where" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="14087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14086" CreationDate="2011-02-25T00:29:36.950" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Place the pot somewhere that is 20-22&#xA;  degrees warm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5419" LastEditorUserId="5419" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T00:44:31.317" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T00:44:31.317" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14086" CreationDate="2011-02-25T00:40:07.467" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Place the pot where the cat can't&#xA;  reach it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would be the simplest, default construction. It will do in many cases. The point is that &lt;em&gt;somewhere&lt;/em&gt; as the antecedent of &lt;em&gt;where&lt;/em&gt; is superfluous, because, if you use &lt;em&gt;where&lt;/em&gt; without an antecedent, something like &lt;em&gt;somewhere&lt;/em&gt; is already implicit in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T01:26:09.157" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T01:26:09.157" />
  <row Id="14089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14086" CreationDate="2011-02-25T00:40:16.983" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The smallest change would be to replace &quot;somewhere&quot; with &quot;someplace&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Place the pot someplace where it is 20-22 degrees warm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Note that both this and the original sound a bit... awkward to my ear. I wouldn't say &quot;X degrees warm&quot;, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Place the pot someplace warm (20 &amp;ndash; 22 degrees).&#xA;  &lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T00:40:16.983" />
  <row Id="14090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14021" CreationDate="2011-02-25T00:46:14.117" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Expert&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is commonly used as a skill level between &lt;em&gt;apprentice&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;master&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;disciple&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;mentor&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="344" LastEditorUserId="344" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T01:10:06.327" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T01:10:06.327" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14086" CreationDate="2011-02-25T00:48:13.900" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Place the pot at a(ny) location where it is 20–22 degrees Celsius.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, to go to an extreme and sound really formal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ensure that the device used for containing items is located at a site which has a temperature between 20 degrees and 22 degrees Celsius, and should it fail to be at such a location, proceed to correct it until it is at a location at the desired temperature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T00:48:13.900" />
  <row Id="14092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14021" CreationDate="2011-02-25T00:59:13.310" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just for fun, I'll throw in another word, based on the question's tag line more than on the content: &lt;strong&gt;Acolyte&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5245" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T00:59:13.310" />
  <row Id="14093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14086" CreationDate="2011-02-25T01:00:24.277" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported in the other answers, &lt;em&gt;somewhere&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;where&lt;/em&gt; are superfluous; it's enough to say &lt;em&gt;where&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Place the pot where the temperature is 20-22 degrees.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Place the pot where the cat cannot reach it.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T01:00:24.277" />
  <row Id="14094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14082" CreationDate="2011-02-25T01:09:45.817" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably best known is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Little_Big_Horn&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Battle of Little Big Horn&lt;/a&gt; of 1876 (other spacing and names are also used).  It is named for the nearby Little Big Horn River, a tributary of the Big Horn River, in turn a tributary of the Yellowstone River, and then the Missouri River and Mississippi River. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The apparent oxymoron makes it easy to remember, but in fact &lt;em&gt;little&lt;/em&gt; does not apply to &lt;em&gt;big&lt;/em&gt; but to &lt;em&gt;Big Horn River&lt;/em&gt;; similarly &lt;em&gt;big&lt;/em&gt; does not apply to &lt;em&gt;Horn River&lt;/em&gt;, but &lt;em&gt;river&lt;/em&gt; applies to &lt;em&gt;big horn&lt;/em&gt;.  I would not be surprised is your examples copied this.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T01:09:45.817" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14075" CreationDate="2011-02-25T01:24:33.883" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There do exist alternatives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Medicine is very important. &lt;em&gt;Such&lt;/em&gt; can be ascertained from the fact that...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Medicine is very important. &lt;em&gt;As much&lt;/em&gt; can be ascertained from the fact that...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Medicine is very important. &lt;em&gt;That&lt;/em&gt; be ascertained from the fact that...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Medicine is very important. &lt;em&gt;So obvious a conclusion&lt;/em&gt; can be ascertained from the fact that...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And so on. Be creative, don't let yourself be boxed in by a single word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T01:24:33.883" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14096" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-25T01:44:27.810" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use this tag for questions that are about finding a single word to fit a meaning. Describe the intended meaning, connotation, and/or context in as much detail as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few sample questions that definitely belong in this tag:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2856/english-word-that-means-a-community-of-experts&quot;&gt;“community of experts”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4754/word-that-means-obsession-with-publishing&quot;&gt;“obsession with publishing”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5089/word-to-describe-compliance-with-unspoken-resistance&quot;&gt;“compliance with unspoken resistance”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1103/read-beautiful-interesting-stories&quot;&gt;“beautiful and interesting”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4311/word-for-device-that-provides-constant-doses-of-a-liquid-dust-substance&quot;&gt;“device that provides constant doses of a liquid/dust/substance”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This tag should be distinguished from:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/word-choice&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'word-choice'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;word-choice&lt;/a&gt; — &quot;versus&quot; questions, when you already have several alternatives at your disposal, but are not sure which one to use &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/vocabulary&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'vocabulary'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;vocabulary&lt;/a&gt; — for more broad questions, e.g. those that ask for lots of words at once&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="5286" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T11:02:11.397" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T11:02:11.397" />
  <row Id="14097" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-25T01:44:27.810" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="Questions that are about finding a single word to fit a meaning." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="5286" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T11:02:34.720" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T11:02:34.720" />
  <row Id="14098" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-25T01:53:57.673" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use this tag for questions that are about choosing the best word to fit a particular situation, either from a list of synonyms (&quot;what's the difference between X1, X2, and X3&quot;), or more open-ended (&quot;what can I use instead of X&quot;). Provide as much detail as you can about the intended context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few sample questions that are a good fit for this tag:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/315/effect-vs-affect&quot;&gt;effect vs. affect&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4823/geek-vs-nerd&quot;&gt;geek vs. nerd&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/495/less-vs-fewer&quot;&gt;less vs. fewer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1364/jail-vs-prison&quot;&gt;jail vs. prison&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3933/per-year-vs-per-annum&quot;&gt;“per year” vs. “per annum”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1070/i-believe-vs-i-think-vs-i-reckon&quot;&gt;“I believe” vs. “I think” vs. “I reckon”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1499/do-plaza-and-square-have-a-different-meaning&quot;&gt;plaza vs. square&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This tag should be distinguished from:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/single-word-requests&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'single-word-requests'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;single-word-requests&lt;/a&gt; — for questions about finding a word to fit a meaning, when you don't yet have any alternatives to choose from &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/questions/tagged/vocabulary&quot; class=&quot;post-tag&quot; title=&quot;show questions tagged 'vocabulary'&quot; rel=&quot;tag&quot;&gt;vocabulary&lt;/a&gt; — for more broad questions, e.g. those that ask for lots of words at once&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T18:03:54.017" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:03:54.017" />
  <row Id="14099" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-02-25T01:53:57.673" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="Help with choosing the best word" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T02:12:21.093" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T02:12:21.093" />
  <row Id="14100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14082" CreationDate="2011-02-25T02:00:17.570" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It usually implies that something is little in one way but big in another; for example, a game may want to imply that it is &quot;little&quot; in being approachable and friendly, but &quot;big&quot; in having lots of things to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T02:00:17.570" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14104" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-25T02:51:48.453" Score="-1" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a certain slant of light, On winter afternoons, That oppresses, like the weight Of cathedral tunes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Heavenly hurt it gives us; We can find no scar, But internal difference Where the meanings are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None may teach it anything, 'Tis the seal, despair,- An imperial affliction Sent us of the air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes, the landscape listens, Shadows hold their breath; When it goes, 't is like the distance On the look of death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5446" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T02:51:48.453" ClosedDate="2011-02-25T03:01:01.793" Title="What does the following poem mean?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="14106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14059" CreationDate="2011-02-25T02:53:46.470" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, the use of &quot;read&quot; here is fairly informal and chatty. For a more polished effect, prefer &quot;id est&quot; or &quot;i.e.,&quot; viz: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am bored, i.e., lazy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T02:53:46.470" />
  <row Id="14110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13826" CreationDate="2011-02-25T04:22:16.380" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd call it a &quot;&lt;em&gt;Lord of the Flies&lt;/em&gt; situation&quot;. &lt;em&gt;Lord of the Flies&lt;/em&gt; is a novel about some school kids on a field trip that are shipwrecked and wash up on an island with no adults, and form just what you described: a spontaneous, cruel society of neglected people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think nearly all somewhat-educated adult English speakers would understand exactly what you're talking about; we all had to read it in high school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3591" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T04:22:16.380" />
  <row Id="14112" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14113" CreationDate="2011-02-25T06:03:35.083" Score="8" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of the usage of the word &quot;Man&quot; as a word of exclamation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Man&lt;/em&gt; this curry is delicious!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Man&lt;/em&gt; my feet hurt!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastEditorUserId="61" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T15:50:07.730" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T15:50:07.730" Title="Origin of the usage of &quot;Man&quot; as a word of exclamation" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14112" CreationDate="2011-02-25T06:16:14.813" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It started as a generic vocative expression, like calling somebody &quot;buddy&quot; today -- the word meant &quot;person&quot;, the sense of &quot;adult male&quot; came later.  According to the OED, it started to switch over to being a more general interjection about 1823.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T06:16:14.813" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14115" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14116" CreationDate="2011-02-25T06:46:23.580" Score="2" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1314/user-accounts-or-users-account&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;user accounts&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;users account&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I mean &quot;number of lessons&quot;, which grammatical construction should I go for? I can imagine three of them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lesson count&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lessons count&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lessons' count&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3463" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T06:53:14.300" ClosedDate="2011-02-25T14:21:31.163" Title="Is it correct to say &quot;lesson count&quot; or &quot;lessons count&quot;?" Tags="&lt;count&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14115" CreationDate="2011-02-25T06:53:14.300" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Lesson count' will do. This is a compound noun with 'count' modified by 'lesson'. In such cases we use the singular form of the first noun. Examples are 'car keys' and 'house windows'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T06:53:14.300" />
  <row Id="14119" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14121" CreationDate="2011-02-25T08:53:29.423" Score="0" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, I develop for a company that does workplace-surveys. And one of our report-formats has just been translated into English. And with it a description on how to read the reports. This description contains the following sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When historical reporting is included, the column for this year's survey will be thinner, and the column for last year will appear behind it in grey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this the correct spelling of &lt;em&gt;year's&lt;/em&gt; in this context? I'm not a native English speaker/writer, but I do consider myself fluent, and this spelling tickled something in the back of my brain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it matters, the report format only displays a maximum of two years at a time (this year, and last year).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5457" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T09:22:50.003" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T09:22:50.003" Title="Year's vs years' vs years" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14119" CreationDate="2011-02-25T08:59:58.527" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes,  it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Year's&lt;/em&gt; means what belongs to the year.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Years&lt;/em&gt; means more than one year, but not what belongs to them.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Years'&lt;/em&gt; means what belongs to a group of more than one year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T08:59:58.527" />
  <row Id="14121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14119" CreationDate="2011-02-25T09:02:05.943" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would use &lt;em&gt;years&lt;/em&gt; when talking about more than one year with no possessive involvement:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It had been years since I last thought about her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have been arguing over the same point for more than twenty years now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Between the years 1914 and 1918, Newfoundland lost an entire generation of young men to an unspeakable horror that was supposed to be the war to end all wars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would use &lt;em&gt;years'&lt;/em&gt; when talking about more than one year in a possessive sense:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We agreed to review our agreement in five years' time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T09:02:05.943" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14123" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-25T10:33:21.370" Score="0" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between 'collision' and 'conflict'? In SQL language, should I say 'PK collision' or 'PK conflict'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T10:56:59.203" Title="What's the difference between 'collision' and 'conflict'?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14123" CreationDate="2011-02-25T10:56:13.230" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A collision is usually taken to mean a physical impact: two cars which crash into each other would be a collision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A conflict is normally between two or more things which disagree in some way, although its meaning can be extended across both tangible and intangible notions. For instance, you can have a conflict of opinions, where someone disagrees with the other, but you can also have a physical conflict (a fight, or a war).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conflict, used in its physical sense, could be synonymous with collision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, you should say a Primary Key (PK) &lt;em&gt;Conflict&lt;/em&gt;, as &amp;mdash; and I'm assuming it's a duplicate here &amp;mdash; the primary keys disagree with each other because they are the same.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They don't physically bump into each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3320" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T10:56:13.230" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14123" CreationDate="2011-02-25T10:56:59.203" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the First Question -&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/conflict&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Conflict&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/collision&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Collision&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And for the second question you should call it as Primary Key Conflict.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5366" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T10:56:59.203" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14126" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14128" CreationDate="2011-02-25T11:02:19.537" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which word or phrase to use instead of &quot;Ray of Hope&quot; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT : In a general context. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Suppose there is one line - There is a Ray Of Hope in darkness always.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5366" LastEditorUserId="5366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T11:51:00.177" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T19:49:53.740" Title="Word for &quot;Ray of Hope&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14127" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-25T11:14:54.477" Score="4" ViewCount="448" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know in every language there are a lot of ways and cute names to address your girlfriend or your boyfriend to show you love her/him. The names can be creative for any couple.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are some examples I've seen in movies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Come here, &lt;strong&gt;sweetheart&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Relax &lt;strong&gt;baby&lt;/strong&gt;, we're on holiday!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Look, &lt;strong&gt;darling&lt;/strong&gt;, there's Mary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What else can be used to address your girlfriend/boyfriend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T12:51:54.683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T12:51:54.683" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-25T17:47:10.683" Title="What do you call your girlfriend/boyfriend to show you love her/him?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;common-expression&gt;&lt;endearment&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14126" CreationDate="2011-02-25T11:26:39.553" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Similar phrases include &quot;shaft of light&quot; or &quot;light at the end of the tunnel&quot;. If you're looking for something more formal, perhaps &quot;potential opportunity&quot; or &quot;possibile solution&quot; might fit the bill. A lot depends on the context in which the phrase is to be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4796" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T11:26:39.553" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14126" CreationDate="2011-02-25T11:26:49.030" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_lining_%28idiom%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Silver lining&quot;&lt;/a&gt; comes to mind as one expression for new hope.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="239" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T11:26:49.030" />
  <row Id="14130" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-25T11:28:06.073" Score="5" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have been living in Australia for 7 years now, and still haven't been able to pin down the local regional accents. I can tell a &quot;Town&quot; from a &quot;Country&quot; accent, but I can't reliably tell which state a speaker comes from. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only shibboleth I am aware of is &quot;The Melbourne Noy&quot; which is how some but not all Melburnians pronounce the word &quot;No&quot;. Also, think of Kath from &quot;Kath and Kim&quot; saying &quot;Look at moi, look at moi!&quot; Unfortunately, this pattern isn't restricted to Melbourne or even Victoria.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So does anyone have any other tips for recognizing Australia's regional accents?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2819" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T13:01:40.093" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T13:01:40.093" Title="Australian regional shibboleths" Tags="&lt;dialects&gt;&lt;australian-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14127" CreationDate="2011-02-25T11:30:13.530" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; has a list of terms that are rather standard: &lt;em&gt;darling, dear, dearest, love, beloved, sweet, angel, honey, hon, sweetie, sugar, baby, babe, pet, treasure&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T11:30:13.530" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-25T17:47:10.683" />
  <row Id="14132" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14134" CreationDate="2011-02-25T11:41:24.443" Score="2" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a university researcher's curriculum vitæ, it is typical to split items between categories such as &lt;em&gt;Education&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Research activity&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Publications&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Teaching&lt;/em&gt;, etc. I want to include as a separate categories the things that you do for the community, in my own group and at large (i.e., people from my research domain). This includes things like peer review of publications and funding proposals, organizing seminars and workshops, etc. &lt;em&gt;(&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: it is part of my job, not volunteer work outside of the scope of my job.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The term I came up with for the name of that category was “Collective responsibilities”, but I am not satisfied at all with that. What name would you suggest in this context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T04:55:28.383" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T04:55:28.383" Title="What section heading for a CV, regrouping things you do for the community?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;heading&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14132" CreationDate="2011-02-25T11:49:48.930" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it's something that you do in your own free time that you don't get paid for, then &lt;strong&gt;Volunteer Work&lt;/strong&gt; carries none of the negative connotations of Community Service whilst essentially meaning the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3320" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T11:49:48.930" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14132" CreationDate="2011-02-25T12:16:57.127" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Other Professional Activities&lt;/em&gt; or Other &lt;em&gt;Professional Responsibilities&lt;/em&gt; would suffice, IMHO. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A reasonably granular taxonomy is useful, but only up to a point - at which time, it is useful to have a catch-all category.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: How about &lt;em&gt;Professional Community Activities/Responsibilities&lt;/em&gt;? Say it how it is... you need the &lt;em&gt;professional&lt;/em&gt; to clarify it is work-related, the * Community* to indicate the nature of the work, and optionally - &lt;em&gt;Activities&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Responsibilities&lt;/em&gt; - if the title is too long, you could arguably trim this last word without compromising the meaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, if you don't feel the need to stress &lt;em&gt;Professional&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Community Activity&lt;/em&gt; might suffice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastEditorUserId="2302" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T12:32:24.297" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T12:32:24.297" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14127" CreationDate="2011-02-25T12:28:11.630" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want are horrifyingly large list of terms of endearment, you could do worse than &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yourlovecoach.co.uk/blog/terms-of-endearment/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;try here&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two of my personal favourites are 'ma petit chou' and 'ma petit cochon' (my little cabbage/my little piglet). Partly it amuses me because, to many English, the French langauge is often considered to sound romantic - yet the literal translations are rather daft (but still innocent).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T12:57:27.170" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T12:57:27.170" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-25T17:47:10.683" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14130" CreationDate="2011-02-25T12:28:50.943" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm in a similar boat to you. I don't know that it's really possible to pin down a regional accent. The consensus appears to be that there are three types of accent, broad (that's your country, 'ocker' or Strine), cultivated (like Peter Costello or Geoffrey Rush), and general (that'll be your town accent).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're more likely to pick up on someone's region from their vocabulary since this is what appears to change from state to state. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_variation_in_Australian_English#Regional_vocabulary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia has some examples&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed differences in accent based on people's ethnic or cultural background... I had originally thought I was hearing a 'Westie' accent from the western suburbs of Sydney, but I realised the actual differentiating factor wasn't where the people lived, but where their families are from. Mediterranean immigrants (Italian, Greek, Lebanese) have a particular twang which is not ocker, but I can't actually explain it or give an example. I'm in Sydney too, so I'm not sure if this exists in Melbourne or anywhere else where that Mediterranean community exists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T12:28:50.943" />
  <row Id="14137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14046" CreationDate="2011-02-25T12:42:01.030" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd prefer &lt;em&gt;rush of wind&lt;/em&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know you are looking for one word, but I don't see a perfect one-word alternative, and &lt;em&gt;rush of wind&lt;/em&gt; (not air) fits perfectly in poetic/emotional terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T12:42:01.030" />
  <row Id="14139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14127" CreationDate="2011-02-25T12:43:41.603" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why resort to cliché? If you really want to find a great term of endearment, create your own. Find something that the both of you share and use that. Is there a character from a novel you both love? Something you both shared a joke about? Try that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often the best terms of affection are inversions of insults. For example, if your special someone was eating a doughnut once and got powdered sugar on her nose, you might have called her &quot;Sugar Nose&quot; (in an affectionate way, of course) and shared a laugh about it. Henceforth, Sugar Nose might serve as a special bit of sweet talk only the two of you can enjoy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: You might want to make sure you use these only in private, as they can have adverse effects if spoken within earshot of other people. Sickness, nausea ... you know what I'm talking about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T12:57:44.433" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T12:57:44.433" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-25T17:47:10.683" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14140" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14141" CreationDate="2011-02-25T12:45:23.133" Score="1" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are classical languages? How they are different from other languages? Is English is an example of classical language?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5294" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T13:00:06.143" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T13:00:06.143" ClosedDate="2011-02-25T14:23:44.730" Title="Classical language" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;language-evolution&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14140" CreationDate="2011-02-25T12:54:51.897" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; is a good reference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A Classical language should be&#xA;  ancient, it should be an independent&#xA;  tradition that arose mostly on its&#xA;  own, not as an offshoot of another&#xA;  tradition, and it must have a large&#xA;  and extremely rich body of ancient&#xA;  literature&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is English is an example of classical language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the context of traditional European&#xA;  Classical studies, the &quot;Classical&#xA;  Languages&quot; refer to Ancient Greek and&#xA;  Latin. In terms of worldwide cultural&#xA;  importance, Edward Sapir in Language&#xA;  (1921) would extend the list by&#xA;  Chinese, Arabic, and Sanskrit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it also states&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Early Modern English (language of KJV Bible and Shakespeare, 16th to 17th c.) is the classical &lt;strong&gt;stage&lt;/strong&gt; of English - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Such a stage is limited in time, and&#xA;  is considered &quot;classical&quot; if it comes&#xA;  to be regarded as a literary &quot;golden&#xA;  age&quot; retrospectively&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means today you would consider the Shakespearean period to be the golden age of the English language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1798" LastEditorUserId="1798" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T13:01:01.520" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T13:01:01.520" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14132" CreationDate="2011-02-25T13:29:26.750" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are these &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Community Collaborations&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Collaborative Activities&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I might be on the wrong track here, since you might be doing these independently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1798" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T13:29:26.750" />
  <row Id="14143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14132" CreationDate="2011-02-25T13:48:21.577" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Community' connotes involvement in the wider community outside academia, such as helping out in a local charity shop.  You seem to be talking about activities within the academic community, so 'Community' on its own won't fit well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps something like &quot;Wider Academic Responsibilities&quot; is what you're looking for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T13:48:21.577" />
  <row Id="14144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14046" CreationDate="2011-02-25T13:53:56.440" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In your specific example, the common phrase is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Riding my Harley, I felt the &lt;em&gt;wind&lt;/em&gt; in my hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T13:53:56.440" />
  <row Id="14145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14082" CreationDate="2011-02-25T14:20:02.833" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My take on the titles you mention is that &quot;little&quot; refers to physical size, and &quot;big&quot; refers to aspiration or scope.  So &quot;little big magazine&quot; would be a small sized magazine aspiring to cover a great deal of subject matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4244" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T14:20:02.833" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14146" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14147" CreationDate="2011-02-25T14:37:45.347" Score="0" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the usage, and why use plural?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The context is here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The automatic support for long -&#xA;  running workfl ows that the WF&#xA;  infrastructure provides is the most&#xA;  evident benefi t. The execution of a&#xA;  long - running workfl ow can be&#xA;  suspended or resumed on multiple&#xA;  points, so the internal state of the&#xA;  execution and activities must be&#xA;  preserved. WF automatically &lt;strong&gt;takes&#xA;  cares of&lt;/strong&gt; saving the workfl ow state&#xA;  through the use of confi gurable&#xA;  providers. Therefore, you do not need&#xA;  to worry about these details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="833" LastEditorUserId="833" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T14:47:12.260" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T14:51:56.900" Title="What's the meaning of the phrase &quot;take cares of&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="14147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14146" CreationDate="2011-02-25T14:41:46.510" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's not a word, it's a fragment.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Please give an example of its being used.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I can't think of a realistic example where &lt;em&gt;take cares of&lt;/em&gt; wouldn't be grammatically incorrect.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update on your example: Your example is grammatically incorrect, so I guess it's a typo.  The phrase should be 'takes care of', and it means 'deals with' or 'handles'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4801" LastEditorUserId="4801" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T14:51:56.900" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T14:51:56.900" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14146" CreationDate="2011-02-25T14:42:10.707" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase is &quot;takes care of&quot; and there is no plural involved. &lt;em&gt;Takes&lt;/em&gt; is the 3rd person singular form of the verb, as in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John takes care of someone on the weekends, so he won't be available then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T14:42:10.707" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14149" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14161" CreationDate="2011-02-25T15:28:54.900" Score="26" ViewCount="1400" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where does the internet jargon &quot;Troll&quot; come from? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way I see it. If it's a fishing reference, then you can't accuse someone of &quot;Being a troll&quot; and if it's a mythology reference then someone isn't really &quot;Trolling&quot; they're just &quot;Being a troll&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like it has roots in both. 1 because it's like they're waiting under a bridge to pop out and get you and 2. because it's like dropping a line in and waiting for someone to take the bait while moving around a lot.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3122" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T02:37:15.393" Title="Trolling: billy goats gruff or fishing reference?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14149" CreationDate="2011-02-25T15:37:12.113" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fishing reference is the original root -- the idea is that you're fishing for people to get a rise out of -- but other meanings of &quot;troll&quot; mixed in very quickly.  (Why wouldn't they?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Billy Goats Gruff story is not really a single or definitive source for the mythological troll, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T15:37:12.113" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14149" CreationDate="2011-02-25T15:37:44.203" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's both for sure. I think the original reference to &quot;trolling&quot; is most definitely a fishing reference, because it is such an apt description of the activity. However probably almost immediately, calling the person a Troll for trolling brings you to the creature reference, and then you get &quot;don't feed the troll.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T18:05:11.543" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T18:05:11.543" />
  <row Id="14152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12350" CreationDate="2011-02-25T15:56:20.297" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I picked up a phrase &quot;&lt;strong&gt;second-hand embarrassment&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; from a review of a certain movie. Not a reliable source, but seems like a legit phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5425" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T15:56:20.297" />
  <row Id="14153" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14154" CreationDate="2011-02-25T16:18:03.233" Score="5" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's a word that means &quot;a single thing or a subset of things that could be used to represent greater overall trends&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work for a bookseller. The other day I was discussing a subset of several books that have consistently been bestsellers for the past few months. These books could be used to represent sales trends on a larger scale - something like &quot;blue chip&quot; books. In the conversation I referred to them as &quot;bellwether books&quot;, but later on I doubted this was the correct usage of the word. &quot;Bellwether&quot; is defined as &quot;an indicator or predictor of something&quot;. Is there a more appropriate word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5419" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T16:32:20.983" Title="Word Meaning &quot;A single thing that's an indicator of greater overall trends&quot;?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14153" CreationDate="2011-02-25T16:32:20.983" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Bellwether&lt;/em&gt; seems like an excellent usage for the situation you describe, because when you're talking about trends (at least, other than retrospectively) you're somewhat inherently talking about prediction.  If prediction weren't relevant to the situation I might use &lt;em&gt;exemplar&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;typifier&lt;/em&gt;, or perhaps something like &lt;em&gt;quintessential example&lt;/em&gt; if I were wont to wax verbose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are all for a single item; for a subset of items, &lt;em&gt;representative sample&lt;/em&gt; comes thundering out of the land of statistics to dominate the lexical landscape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T16:32:20.983" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14155" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-25T17:24:22.620" Score="4" ViewCount="286" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw it in some british show and it looked to be offensive.&#xA;Signs are part of language and I don't understand that one, please explain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3295" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T23:17:28.290" ClosedDate="2011-03-06T09:16:32.747" Title="What does it mean to show reversed two fingers?" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;signage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="14156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14155" CreationDate="2011-02-25T17:29:53.633" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One might call this the &quot;V&quot; sign. It can mean &quot;V&quot; for &quot;victory&quot; but in the UK at least, is an offensive gesture. ( see: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_sign#V_sign_as_an_insult&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_sign#V_sign_as_an_insult&lt;/a&gt; ). I am not British/Scottish/etc so I can't be too specific, but I think it depends on the direction the palm is facing, and is usually started low and moved in an upwards direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the US, &quot;V&quot; sign with the palm outward means &quot;peace.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T17:29:53.633" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="14158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14155" CreationDate="2011-02-25T17:57:34.847" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The source of the offensive meaning is the topic of considerable debate, but I have a great fondness for the explanation propounded in the most fun history lesson ever, Warren Ellis's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.avatarpress.com/titles/warren-ellis-crecy/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Crécy&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, which is that it's rooted in an English longbowman displaying his arrow-drawing fingers and saying &quot;Hey, Frenchie, I can kill you from five hundred paces with &lt;em&gt;these&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As noted by Horatio, the offensive meaning is specific to the index and middle fingers raised with palm &lt;em&gt;inward&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T17:57:34.847" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14159" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-25T18:11:59.337" Score="3" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the significance of the name John Doe in the 1940's?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5466" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T12:39:47.473" Title="What is the significance of the name John Doe in the 1940's?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14160" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14171" CreationDate="2011-02-25T18:18:07.120" Score="4" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to come up with a word that would describe someone who is the first among equals. I did a quick search on the term on Google, and didn't come up with anything really satisfactory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2165" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T18:20:11.643" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T19:35:20.340" Title="Word that means &quot;First Among Equals&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="14161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14149" CreationDate="2011-02-25T18:25:52.550" Score="30" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You really have to go to the newsgroups to see the evolution of the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before 1991, the word almost exclusively meant actual trolls of the D&amp;amp;D / Tolkien / Scandinavian vein. Troll dolls became popular that year, and that kind of diluted the issue a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then around early 1992, there came a user named Troll on the old alt.flame usergroup that was (for lack of a better word) a troll - more of a proto-troll, as he was on a usergroup dedicated to flaming, so he fit in. But even by their standards he brought the race-baiting, sexism, feigned ignorance, extremist political views, etc. to a new high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First post July 8, 1992.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://groups.google.com/group/alt.flame/msg/472da61199f426b1?utoken=3mCmCCkAAACa7VhXKNFnDL2EKUH4mq34cDgoNievjXoMAC-Lp0spl0T7OnOQKuqZvRM6KifiAp0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://groups.google.com/group/alt.flame/msg/472da61199f426b1?utoken=3mCmCCkAAACa7VhXKNFnDL2EKUH4mq34cDgoNievjXoMAC-Lp0spl0T7OnOQKuqZvRM6KifiAp0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He seems to indicate his name comes from being a good insulter, and thus a sort of nasty guy -in other words, a troll.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe his name popularized a growing concept and made it the meme it is today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eventually it spread out, here's a 1993 post on alt.folklore.urban that still uses quotes around trolling to indicate its status as jargon..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://groups.google.com/group/alt.folklore.urban/browse_thread/thread/cd29352f5cb19116/16e2d7b5e327a44b?#16e2d7b5e327a44b&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://groups.google.com/group/alt.folklore.urban/browse_thread/thread/cd29352f5cb19116/16e2d7b5e327a44b?#16e2d7b5e327a44b&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second post explicitly conflates trolling and fishing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And the third confirms that trolling at a.f.u. began &quot;1-1.5 years earlier&quot;, which syncs with what Wikipedia broadly states about the etymology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then Kibology blew up and kind of ran with it, and actually added notes about it to their FAQ, and stabilized it forever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So trolling when it was just flaming was &quot;nasty thing&quot;, then when it became more sophisticated it became &quot;fish baiting.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5467" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T18:25:52.550" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14160" CreationDate="2011-02-25T18:28:24.463" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only single words that I can think of that have ever been used to mean that have lost the meaning through the somewhat natural process where the &quot;among equals&quot; part becomes more or less of a joke: &lt;em&gt;prince&lt;/em&gt; and its Latin root &lt;em&gt;princeps&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In phrases, &lt;em&gt;first citizen&lt;/em&gt; is commonly employed, and the plain Latin for first among equals, &lt;em&gt;primus inter pares&lt;/em&gt;, has some history behind it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T18:28:24.463" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14160" CreationDate="2011-02-25T18:39:41.180" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was going to suggest &quot;primus&quot; as Chaos has already done.&#xA;Alternatively, &quot;principal&quot; could be appropriate in some circumstances - although I imagine this could be confused with the use as &quot;senior teacher within a school&quot; in the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5468" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T18:39:41.180" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14159" CreationDate="2011-02-25T18:53:02.313" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If anything, its usage to mean &quot;anonymous man&quot; started during or before the 1940s. This is largely used in English speaking North America, as I believe that the UK has a different term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5470" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T18:53:02.313" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="14165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14159" CreationDate="2011-02-25T18:53:30.737" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The name &quot;John Doe&quot; is used in several English-speaking countries to refer to a person whose actual identity is unknown. You may hear this in police reports, hospital admissions, forensic examinations, or any other context in which officials need to refer to a person whose actual name they don't know. John Doe (and its feminine equivalent Jane Doe) are effectively &quot;placeholder names&quot; used when a name is required and nothing else is available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not unique to the 1940's, and as far as I know the usage has not changed since that time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T18:53:30.737" />
  <row Id="14166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12200" CreationDate="2011-02-25T19:09:15.987" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, it's &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; vulgar than its synonym &quot;shit&quot;, and more vulgar than the term &quot;junk&quot; or &quot;garbage&quot;, so it's a matter of scale. I wouldn't use &quot;crap&quot; in polite company, or when speaking to a customer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coincidentally, when broadcasting on TV or the Radio in the USA, it's OK to use the word &quot;crap&quot;, but illegal to use the word &quot;shit&quot;, so it doesn't need to be censored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5470" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T19:09:15.987" />
  <row Id="14167" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-25T19:13:18.417" Score="5" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do you call it when someone has a strong opinion about something without having any experience with that thing? For example, if someone writes an entire newspaper article about how disgusting pie is without having ever eaten pie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word lodged in my brain is &quot;hypocritical&quot;, but I know that's not correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="151" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T21:17:22.680" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T22:11:04.897" Title="What's a word for an instance in which one has an opinion about something without having tried it?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="14168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14167" CreationDate="2011-02-25T19:15:05.293" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you thinking of &quot;prejudiced&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4955" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T19:15:05.293" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="14169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14167" CreationDate="2011-02-25T19:27:01.870" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Charlatan; fraud; counterfeit expert. My own invention is &quot;instant expert: just add water!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Poseur (poser).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T19:27:01.870" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14160" CreationDate="2011-02-25T19:35:20.340" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;preeminent&quot;? I think it fits your definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5472" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T19:35:20.340" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14046" CreationDate="2011-02-25T19:39:22.790" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Certainly with airplanes you have the term &quot;slipstream&quot; to refer to the air coming from the propeller(s) and following the craft.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5472" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T19:39:22.790" />
  <row Id="14173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14127" CreationDate="2011-02-25T19:46:11.323" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My husband and I are fans of &lt;em&gt;Schatz&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Schatzi&lt;/em&gt; from the German language meaning &quot;treasure&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5353" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T19:46:11.323" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-25T19:46:11.323" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14126" CreationDate="2011-02-25T19:49:53.740" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Beacon of hope&quot; and &quot;beacon of light&quot; come to mind.  However, they are not quite the same in that they don't imply a darkness 'elsewhere' in the way &quot;light at the end of the tunnel&quot; or &quot;silver lining&quot; does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5353" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T19:49:53.740" />
  <row Id="14175" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14187" CreationDate="2011-02-25T19:53:43.220" Score="4" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need a word to define a set which includes companies, NGOs and faculties that sounds equally distant to those 3. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a native English speaker so I might be wrong but &quot;Corporation&quot; sounds like it is favoring &quot;companies&quot; more, and &quot;institution&quot; evokes &quot;faculties&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a more natural generic term for those? What would you think about &quot;foundation&quot; or &quot;establishment&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;edit:&lt;/strong&gt; I was thinking what is common to those 3. They are all &lt;em&gt;bodies with members&lt;/em&gt;. So how about calling them &lt;em&gt;bodies&lt;/em&gt;? A bit too general, though. What about &lt;em&gt;associations&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5473" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T20:53:02.773" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T21:18:56.543" Title="A generic word to define the superset of companies, NGOs and faculties" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14167" CreationDate="2011-02-25T19:53:51.067" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would call that person a &lt;em&gt;blowhard&lt;/em&gt;, possibly an &lt;em&gt;ignorant blowhard&lt;/em&gt; if I didn't mind the arguable redundancy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T19:53:51.067" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14175" CreationDate="2011-02-25T19:56:37.210" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;em&gt;organization&lt;/em&gt;?  Possibly close to NGO, but NGO is quite explicitly a limited subset.  &quot;Organization&quot; is certainly the term I would use as an American English speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that NGO even has the meaning it does (American equivalent is &quot;non-profit organization&quot;) suggests that &quot;organization&quot; has more specific connotations outside the US than I'm used to, though.  If these make it unsuitable, the most generic alternate term I can think of is &lt;em&gt;concern&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T20:01:45.550" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T20:01:45.550" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13756" CreationDate="2011-02-25T20:00:16.057" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;With and the are used frequently and not always together. So combining them in this way means a reader has to recognize with, the, and withe. It would seem to me that this would make reading much harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T20:00:16.057" />
  <row Id="14180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12200" CreationDate="2011-02-25T20:13:10.537" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't label &lt;em&gt;crap&lt;/em&gt; as vulgar by today's standards, but it isn't a word you'd want to use in a professional setting or with people who are prim and proper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word itself is used in a many different ways. &lt;strong&gt;kiamlaluno&lt;/strong&gt; pointed out two popular usages:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Something that is of extremely poor quality: nonsense; rubbish, junk.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;excrement: (in singular) an act of defecation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it is also used as an exclamation, as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Holy crap, this test is difficult!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do think that the word &lt;em&gt;crap&lt;/em&gt; has become more acceptable over time. When I was a child in the 80s I once said, in front of a friend's mother, &quot;This is crap,&quot; after seeing a long line at an amusement park. She gave me a very stern look and told me I should not use such vulgar language. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another time I was helping a classmate clean out his desk and I said something along the lines of, &quot;There is a lot of crap in here,&quot; and he shushed me as he was concerned that we would get in trouble if the teacher heard us using that word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T20:13:10.537" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14127" CreationDate="2011-02-25T20:21:03.793" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try &lt;em&gt;pigsney&lt;/em&gt;, if you were feeling especially courageous. See here... &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Pigsney&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Pigsney&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T20:21:03.793" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-25T20:21:03.793" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14182" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14183" CreationDate="2011-02-25T20:31:32.330" Score="5" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know similar questions have been asked before, but I'm having trouble reconciling the following sentence, received in an email:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can we ask whomever is your contact there to email us a job so we can check backward compatibility?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could understand using objective case if the sentence were &quot;can we ask (him) to email...&quot;, but I get tripped up considering &quot;whomever&quot; to be the subject of &quot;(he) is your contact there&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4244" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T22:24:54.460" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T22:24:54.460" Title="Subject vs. Object marking for *whoever*?" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;case&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14182" CreationDate="2011-02-25T20:41:45.827" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The part that tricked the original writer is that &quot;whomever is your contact there&quot; is a noun clause that is collectively the object of &quot;can we ask...&quot;.  The rule is that, in a situation like that, you're supposed to look &lt;em&gt;inside&lt;/em&gt; the clause for your objective/subjective case, though, so actually the sentence should use &quot;whoever&quot;, as you suspected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T20:41:45.827" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14182" CreationDate="2011-02-25T20:58:17.243" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think most prescriptive sources with an opinion on the matter would consider this to be a hypercorrection. The logic is that the clause must have a subject, and in the absence of anything else, &quot;whoever&quot; is deemed the subject. The hypercorrection probably occurs because:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;whomever&quot; is an incredibly rare word, and the choice between &quot;who&quot; and &quot;whom&quot; is probably no longer part of the naturally acquired syntax of English;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;there are other, clearly grammatical, instances of &quot;exceptional case marking&quot; where the subject of a clause takes on the objective case due to influence from outside the clause (&quot;they hoped for &lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt; to be available&quot;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're ever wondering whether to distinguish between &quot;whoever&quot; and &quot;whomever&quot;, I would suggest a really simple rule:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't ever use &quot;whomever&quot;: it's a pointless and old-fashioned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest not getting bogged down in spurious debates about &quot;subject&quot; and &quot;object&quot; here: it's nowadays perfectly natural English to say: &quot;I'll give it to whoever&quot;, &quot;Pick whoever&quot;, &quot;Pick whoever you like&quot; etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T20:58:17.243" />
  <row Id="14185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14167" CreationDate="2011-02-25T21:14:01.523" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might go with &quot;closed-minded&quot; or &quot;small-minded&quot; for the sense of not being interested in learning anything that might change their opinion, or perhaps &quot;willfully ignorant&quot; if you believe they've made a conscious decision not to educate themselves further about the matter.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would describe what such a person is doing in that case as &quot;speaking from ignorance&quot; (in opposition to speaking from experience), but I can't come up with an existing word or phrase to describe someone as a person who routinely speaks from ignorance.  To coin a phrase for it, I might go with &quot;an oral flatulator.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The speaker has a &lt;strong&gt;preconceived bias&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T22:11:04.897" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T22:11:04.897" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14167" CreationDate="2011-02-25T21:14:01.653" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My answers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;prejudice&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ignorance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;naïveté&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I voted up prejudice, I think it fits. In your comments you stated you want to emphasize the fact the prejudice is uniformed. In that case, I think you could just qualify the prejudice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;naive prejudice&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ignorant prejudice&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;unfounded prejudice&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;groundless prejudice&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;uninformed prejudice&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T21:14:01.653" />
  <row Id="14187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14175" CreationDate="2011-02-25T21:18:56.543" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest &lt;strong&gt;group&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;entity&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T21:18:56.543" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2086" CreationDate="2011-02-25T22:04:29.080" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like &lt;code&gt;philippic&lt;/code&gt;, from Demosthenes' speeches against Philip the Great.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T22:04:29.080" />
  <row Id="14189" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14197" CreationDate="2011-02-25T22:18:31.573" Score="0" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw the sentence in the following quote of Kenneth M. Pollack, director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, about Middle East upheaval in New York Times’ ‘Quotation of Today.’ &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand the meaning of &lt;em&gt;stand above the fray.&lt;/em&gt; But as I was unsure of the meaning of &lt;em&gt;have going for someone / something&lt;/em&gt;, I checked a dictionary. It carries &lt;em&gt;have a lot going for&lt;/em&gt; and  its definition as &lt;em&gt;Having many positive personal attributes and achievement&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having seen this, I’m not still very clear about the exact meaning of the line, &lt;em&gt;What the monarchies have going for them are royal families that allow them to stand above the fray.&lt;/em&gt; Though I can 'guess' the meaning of the whole by context, can somebody rephrase or restructure this line so it is easier for a foreign English learner to understand? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The quote in question reads;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What the monarchies have going for them are royal families that allow them to stand above the fray, to a certain extent. It allows them to sack the government without sacking themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;--- Kenneth M. Pollack, director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, on why monarchs are weathering political upheaval in the Middle East.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T22:37:13.567" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T02:36:25.393" Title="What does &quot;What the monarchies have going for them are royal families that allow them to stand above the fray,’ mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="14190" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-25T22:23:20.467" Score="1" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should I write&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A certain property is represented with a special color&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  A certain property is represented by a special color&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or maybe even indicated with/by? But the main point of this question remains: with or by?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5396" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T02:50:42.980" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T02:50:42.980" Title="Represented by or with a color" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14190" CreationDate="2011-02-25T22:26:50.160" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You would say it is represented &lt;em&gt;by&lt;/em&gt; a certain color. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T22:26:50.160" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14189" CreationDate="2011-02-25T22:33:06.357" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't quite understand the distinction the person is making between government, royal families, and monarchies, but I read this as something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The royal families are a buffer between the monarchy (king) and the government bureaucracy, which protects the (king) during times of scandal and unrest. They allow the monarch to lay blame upon the lower government.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T22:33:06.357" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14193" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14214" CreationDate="2011-02-25T22:39:13.083" Score="6" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard the phrase, &quot;the exception that proves the rule,&quot; but it's not clear to me what it means. It sounds self contradictory. What is a good example of &quot;an exception that proves the rule?&quot; Can this phrase be used effectively in formal dialog, or is it only colloquial?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5027" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T18:18:29.673" Title="What is &quot;the exception that proves the rule&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="14194" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14241" CreationDate="2011-02-25T22:47:06.580" Score="3" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;The title says it all! What is &lt;em&gt;newbie&lt;/em&gt; as an adverb?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5481" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T13:53:42.550" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T13:53:42.550" Title="What is &quot;newbie&quot; as an adverb?" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14193" CreationDate="2011-02-25T22:57:34.160" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a widely misunderstood and often badly used phrase, commonly said to confirm something in the face of contradictory evidence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;John always eats his lunches at Chez Blob.  Never goes anywhere else.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Oh yeah?  But I just saw him snarfing down some food in Pete's Eats.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Well, that's just the exception that proves the rule.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When used in this way, it essentially means &quot;I don't care about what you just said, I'm sticking to my interpretation of the facts.&quot;  (Also, this is the only way I've ever actually heard it used.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The saying originates from a now-rare use of the word 'prove': &lt;em&gt;to subject to a test, experiment, comparison, analysis, or the like&lt;/em&gt; (dictionary.com, definition 4); the intended meaning is that &quot;a rule is tested when you find something that appears to be an exception&quot;, not &quot;one or two exceptions to a rule can safely be ignored.&quot;  (Another example of this meaning of 'prove' is the old saying, &quot;The proof of the pudding is in the tasting&quot;, meaning that the best way to make sure if something is good or not is to test it in its intended use.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think that the saying should be used in a formal setting because of its widely understood meaning of ignoring some contradictory data.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T22:57:34.160" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14196" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-25T23:04:53.340" Score="7" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an American and I refer to a situation which is settled as &quot;sorted out.&quot;  My English family would just say that it's &quot;sorted&quot;.  Which is the earlier expression?  Did Americans add the preposition or did the English drop it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T09:33:25.610" Title="Sorted vs Sorted out" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="14197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14189" CreationDate="2011-02-25T23:12:00.403" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might rephrase it thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because, in a monarchy, the royal families are not involved in the day-to day (mis)management of the country, this allows the monarch to take action against the rest of the government [parliament, congress, whatever] without being perceived as taking that action solely in order to further one particular side of a political agenda.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the USA, the presidency is so tightly bound to one political party or the other that anything the president does is viewed almost exclusively through the lens of that party.  If he cozies up to the other side, it's not because he wants to improve relations and smooth out disagreements between sides, it's because he needs some particular support in order to advance his agenda.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a monarchy, the monarch is not supposed to have an agenda in the way that members of parliament might, and can much more readily be perceived as working for the good of the country as a whole instead of working for the advancement of his party's objectives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T23:12:00.403" />
  <row Id="14198" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14199" CreationDate="2011-02-26T00:16:42.557" Score="3" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I understand it, omnidirectional and non-directional both indicate that something:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...is not affected by direction in any way&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So are these two word equivalent in meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="970" LastEditorUserId="970" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T02:18:17.577" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T06:27:41.593" Title="What is the difference between omnidirectional and non-directional?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14198" CreationDate="2011-02-26T00:28:27.353" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Omnidirectional&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;nondirectional&lt;/em&gt; are very similar, but they emphasize different things. If I say something is &lt;em&gt;omnidirectional&lt;/em&gt;, I'm emphasizing the fact that all directions are equal. For example, I could be in front of, behind, to the right or left, on top of, or underneath an omnidirectional microphone and it could pick up sound just as equally from any of those directions. On the other hand, &lt;em&gt;nondirectional&lt;/em&gt; carries a connotation that direction isn't that important—a sidewalk is nondirectional because I can walk either way without coming upon restriction, but there's no reason to emphasize the fact that I could walk any which way I wanted to.&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; Which would, for the record, be a very bad idea, because of the narrow width of the sidewalk and the proximity of the actual road with motor vehicles bearing down upon you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T02:23:57.340" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T02:23:57.340" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14194" CreationDate="2011-02-26T00:30:22.247" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Naively&quot; comes to mind, from a functional standpoint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The adjectival is fairly straightforward: newbish, noobish, etc. But noob, nooby, or newbie is a noun. We don't normally add 'ly' to nouns to form adverbs. Rather, first we have to create an adjectival, then proceed to to the adverb. Hence, &quot;newbishly&quot; or some variant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However you elect to go, it will be a nonce coinage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T00:30:22.247" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14201" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14203" CreationDate="2011-02-26T00:57:56.537" Score="3" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;I stumbled on the word &lt;em&gt;tear yet&lt;/em&gt; in the following sentence in today's Washington Post article titled &quot;Charlie Sheen radio outburst spurs shutdown of ‘Two and a Half men.’&quot; What does &lt;em&gt;tear (yet)&lt;/em&gt; mean here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;CBS and Warner Bros. TV have taken the extraordinary step of scrapping production on the country's most popular comedy series, &quot;Two and a Half Men,&quot; for the rest of the season after star Charlie Sheen went on his most breathtaking radio tear yet Thursday. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T02:02:29.760" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T02:02:29.760" Title="What does 'Tear yet’ mean on the Charlie Sheen’s rant about his qualms with CBS." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14201" CreationDate="2011-02-26T01:12:50.303" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're referring to the phrase &quot;To go on a tear&quot; (pronounced like &lt;em&gt;'tear some paper'&lt;/em&gt;), which means to go on a spree, sometimes in a violent or passionate manner.  I don't believe it's necessarily verbal, but certainly a verbal rant would fit the bill.  Synonym phrases would be &lt;em&gt;'raise hell'&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;'cut loose'&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the context of the sentence, it sounds like Charlie Sheen went on a rant on the radio. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T01:12:50.303" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14201" CreationDate="2011-02-26T01:13:36.247" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look at it this way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Charlie Sheen went on his most breathtaking _ _ _ _  yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Charlie Sheen went on his most breathtaking journey yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, &quot;radio tear&quot; is the thing he &quot;went on.&quot;  (like &quot;journey&quot; in my example)&#xA;&quot;Radio tear&quot; being, essentially, an outburst on the radio.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3294" LastEditorUserId="3294" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T01:22:36.443" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T01:22:36.443" />
  <row Id="14204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14127" CreationDate="2011-02-26T01:24:32.930" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As they aren't already reported by others, I can report &lt;em&gt;babycakes&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;sweet cheeks&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T01:24:32.930" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-26T01:24:32.930" />
  <row Id="14205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14194" CreationDate="2011-02-26T01:44:38.280" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a newbie english.stackexchange.com question-answerer. It has the connotation of being at the very beginning of learning something, and is implicitly a request for forgiveness if the person describing him-or-herself as a newbie says something completely incorrect about the subject s/he is new to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5450" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T01:44:38.280" />
  <row Id="14206" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14207" CreationDate="2011-02-26T02:09:46.690" Score="3" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking for a general term for things one would store on a spool -- thread, string, lanyard, wire, that sort of thing.  Things that occur in long lines and will get tangled up if you don't organize them properly. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T14:18:44.170" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T14:18:44.170" Title="Term encompassing thread, string, lanyard, and wire" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;hypernyms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14206" CreationDate="2011-02-26T02:29:23.260" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might refer to all of those as &lt;em&gt;line&lt;/em&gt;, which means&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a length of cord, rope, wire, or other material serving a particular purpose&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T02:29:23.260" />
  <row Id="14208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14189" CreationDate="2011-02-26T02:36:25.393" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It might help you to be acquainted with some of the vocabulary used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;fray&lt;/strong&gt; a situation of intense activity, typically one incorporating an element of aggression or competition &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to &quot;stand above the fray&quot; means to be standing out of danger, while others fight out their (possibly bloody) battles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Sack&quot; is an interesting word as used here. It has two meanings that apply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;sack&lt;/strong&gt; [British, informal] to dismiss from employment &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;sack&lt;/strong&gt; (chiefly in historical contexts) plunder and destroy (a captured town, building, or other place).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So by &quot;sacking&quot; the government (dismissing government officials from service) the monarchs can avoid a rebellion that might ultimately plunder and destroy the monarchy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T02:36:25.393" />
  <row Id="14209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14196" CreationDate="2011-02-26T02:42:12.770" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, when I've spent time in England I frequently heard the term &quot;sort you out&quot; as meaning &quot;get you what you need.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Person 1: &quot;I need two tickets to the Man-United / Liverpool match tonight.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Person 2: &quot;Well, just see me mate Archie then. He'll sort you out.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T02:42:12.770" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14210" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14238" CreationDate="2011-02-26T02:42:28.283" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm always confused by this and can't find it anywhere. Here's an example of what I mean: (literature here in context of academic literature, such as journals, proceedings, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the literature ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On the literature ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... an overview on the advances of ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... an overview in the advances of ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone care to say which ones are correct and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5482" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T11:31:24.377" Title="How to use &quot;in&quot; or &quot;on&quot; with nouns?" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14211" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14217" CreationDate="2011-02-26T02:43:35.920" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;How would you explain to a person who is learning English, and whose native language does not have attributive nouns, when the possessive should be used instead of an attributive noun?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular, how would you explain it referring to the following list of sentences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Today's news is bad&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This week's schedule has been changed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Tomorrow's lunch will be at the French restaurant&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This year's report will be communicated in the reunion room&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Last summer's vacations were memorable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Last year's meetings were a complete disaster&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T04:13:22.413" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T04:13:22.413" Title="Explanation on when the possessive should be used instead of an attributive noun" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;modifiers&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14159" CreationDate="2011-02-26T03:12:45.520" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking for &lt;em&gt;a John Doe&lt;/em&gt; in the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Historical American&lt;/em&gt; I notice that the phrase was used before the 1940s in sentences like the following ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mr. Craig could be spared from his office as readily as Mayor Hylan has been, nor would his family be left in want as in the case of many a poor devil of &lt;strong&gt;a John Doe&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The proceedings before the grand jury will be in the nature of &lt;strong&gt;a John Doe&lt;/strong&gt; action involving a possible indictment for felony under the law forbidding the granting or obtaining of public office in exchange for a gift, promise or other compensation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The CoHA didn't report any sentences containing &lt;em&gt;a John Doe&lt;/em&gt; dated 1940s, but it reports sentences like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Filipino health was about, the best in the Orient: in 35 years, cholera, smallpox and bubonic plague had been wiped out; the population had increased from seven to 16 million, and the average height of the &quot;tao&quot; (&lt;strong&gt;John Doe&lt;/strong&gt;) from 4 ft. 11 in. to 5 ft. 4 in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T12:39:47.473" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T12:39:47.473" />
  <row Id="14213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14193" CreationDate="2011-02-26T03:20:36.447" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rule&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The phrase&lt;/a&gt; has its &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/exception-that-proves-the-rule.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;origin in the law&lt;/a&gt;. It means that a law written in broad terms but provided with an exceptions for some special case is properly understood broadly because the authors of the law saw fit to make a special exception for special cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Driving is not allowed in the park.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is a very broad rule that make no allowance for special cases, and one might see fit to interpret it with some leniency, perhaps allowing ambulances, police cars and early morning deliveries to venues in the park. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Driving is not allowed in the park except for emergency vehicles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;shows that the author has explicitly considered what special cases might merit an exception, so the rule should be interpreted broadly, and delivery vehicles excluded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The existence of the exception proves that the author meant what he or she said and that the rule applies to cases not excepted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2851" LastEditorUserId="2851" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T03:36:59.787" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T03:36:59.787" />
  <row Id="14214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14193" CreationDate="2011-02-26T03:39:54.047" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The least stupid usage I have encountered for this phrase -- no real idea whether it's actually to do with its origins -- is when a rule expresses a tendency or preference rather than a hard-and-fast delineation, and the difficulty encountered in going against that tendency demonstrates the force of the rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A random example might be a rule that &quot;bears do not dance&quot;.  The amazing Dr. Florenheimer trains a bear to dance in his traveling circus.  This forms an exception to the rule, but the years that it took Dr. Florenheimer to train the bear, along with the expense and injuries to staff, make it an exception that &quot;proves&quot; the rule, in some sense -- at the least, proving that it may not be violated lightly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T03:39:54.047" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14210" CreationDate="2011-02-26T03:50:12.350" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there are portions of the literature that you are referencing in order to make or support a point, you would say &quot;In the literature regarding this topic, we can see...&quot;, because you are looking at various passages inside the literature as a whole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For &quot;overview&quot;, the correct preposition to use is &quot;of&quot;:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is an overview of the advances of Dr. Bork in the field of Podiatric Phalangeal Ordinal Dactyl Scansion Patterns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T03:50:12.350" />
  <row Id="14216" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14271" CreationDate="2011-02-26T03:53:12.020" Score="5" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard this pattern used before in American English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She's 6 feet tall if she's an inch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was a gallon of blood if it was a drop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The baby was 10 pounds if it was an ounce.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that it means something like, &quot;She is 6 feet tall, which is very tall.&quot; But this to me is such a bizarre and illogical way of conveying the message that it's distracting, and I cannot get myself to say it even if it comes to me. Anyone know the origin of this, or can breathe some reasoning into this phrase to justify its appreciation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T18:36:30.667" Title="Origin of &quot;he's 6 feet tall if he's an inch&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="14217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14211" CreationDate="2011-02-26T04:34:33.050" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of your examples have something in common: though some of the attributives that you give have the form of noun phrases, they are all primarily &lt;em&gt;adverbial&lt;/em&gt; in usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Today&lt;/em&gt; we're watching the news.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;This week&lt;/em&gt; we have to make a schedule.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tomorrow&lt;/em&gt; we should have lunch.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;This year&lt;/em&gt; they gave a good report.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We visited there &lt;em&gt;last summer&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She had the records of the meetings &lt;em&gt;last year&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These &lt;em&gt;adverbial&lt;/em&gt; phrases have limited currency as nouns. You can sometimes use them as the objects of prepositions, as in &lt;em&gt;Before yesterday I had never heard of her&lt;/em&gt;, or as the subject of a sentence as in &lt;em&gt;Today was a good day&lt;/em&gt;. However, they don't show the full range of syntactic variation that ordinary noun phrases do: they can't be pluralized and &lt;strong&gt;they resist being used as attributives&lt;/strong&gt;. As your examples show, if you want to use an adverbial in this manner, you're required to mark it with the possessive &lt;em&gt;-'s&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T05:27:19.567" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T05:27:19.567" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="14218" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14220" CreationDate="2011-02-26T04:36:30.437" Score="4" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;In object oriented programming, it is said that messages are sent to methods.  In this context, why is the word &quot;method&quot; used instead of &quot;procedure&quot; or &quot;function&quot;.  In other words, why was the word &quot;method&quot; introduced to programming?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3422" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T20:19:33.417" Title="why is it said that &quot;messages are sent to methods&quot;" Tags="&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14218" CreationDate="2011-02-26T05:07:37.840" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The terminology is not well designed in my opinion.  I believe the earliest usages talked &quot;sending a message to an object&quot;, which at least can be pictured.  &lt;em&gt;Object&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;message&lt;/em&gt; were in use before &lt;em&gt;method&lt;/em&gt;, probably with Smalltalk or earlier.  I think &lt;em&gt;method&lt;/em&gt; must have been introduced by someone who desperately wanted to divorce the method from old hat functions (or procedures).  They differ slightly in the hidden nature of the implementation and the hidden instance parameter (&quot;&lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt;&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T05:07:37.840" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14220" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14218" CreationDate="2011-02-26T05:10:15.273" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's simply to distinguish a function that's part of a class or object from one that isn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T05:10:15.273" />
  <row Id="14221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14216" CreationDate="2011-02-26T05:23:28.863" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase is perhaps better understood in a prototypical context.  Imagine three acquaintances sitting around casually talking:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Man A: So, how tall is this fellow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Man B: Oh, he's about five feet ten.&#xA;  [inches]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Man C: Nah, he's six feet if he's an&#xA;  inch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usage is colloquial and meant to be a more entertaining turn of phrase than a plain statement like &quot;No.  I think he is six feet tall.&quot;  It probably started out being used in contradicting or contrasting situations like above, but it is also found standing alone.  It doesn't mean &quot;very tall&quot; but more like &quot;taller than was previously said&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T05:23:28.863" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14211" CreationDate="2011-02-26T05:40:14.563" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect the confusion is more dependent on culture than language.  Germanic (at least, probably other cultures as well) thinking allows an inanimate object to have 'ownership' of other objects (animate and inanimate.)  I use 'ownership' to mean a relationship that has special importance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Today's news&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The events that occurred today 'belong' to today.  Yesterday cannot claim 'ownership' of the events of today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The previous class's students&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, a class cannot actually &lt;em&gt;own&lt;/em&gt; a student, but the students &lt;em&gt;belong&lt;/em&gt; to a particular class--i.e. there is an extra-special relationship between the students and the previous class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of the examples in the original question were related to time ownership--a particular period of time having ownership of an object (physical or non-physical.)  It's possible that the confusion is due to the way time is perceived.  Germanic thought sees time as linear, therefore a given event or object can exist only in a single period of time.  If an event repeats (eg. solar eclipse), it is seen as a different event than all other previous events having the same properties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possible point of confusion could be the method of categorization. When considering 'vacations', what kinds of vacations can we have?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bus trip vacation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;European vacation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Working vacation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Summer vacation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Summer's vacation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Summers' vacations&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Last summer's vacation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Germanic thinking, a bus trip cannot 'own' a vacation, 'bus trip' is a &lt;em&gt;kind&lt;/em&gt; of vacation.  In the same way 'summer' is a category of vacation, but 'summer's' vacation is that vacation-event that occurred during a particular summer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T09:35:41.753" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T09:35:41.753" />
  <row Id="14223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14210" CreationDate="2011-02-26T05:50:16.393" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In all languages generally, the distribution of prepositions is highly idiomatic and subject to particular prepositions being associated with particular nouns or quite narrow concepts; it's difficult to give simple rules that will work in all cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, as a native English speaker, I'd say that the two cases here are quite conceptually different to me: &quot;in&quot; in the first case is more or less synonymous with &quot;within&quot;, and-- in case this helps-- there's almost a figurative idea of picturing yourself &quot;inside&quot; a box containing information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second case, &quot;overview&quot; functions as a &quot;picture&quot; noun (like &quot;a photo/image/collage/snapshot/montage/film of ...&quot;), where English tends to prefer &quot;of&quot;. Coincidentally, some languages might allow the same preposition in these two cases, but they're essentially different constructions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T05:50:16.393" />
  <row Id="14225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14194" CreationDate="2011-02-26T06:44:18.667" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Newbish. If you want to use proper English words, &quot;unskilled&quot; may work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5485" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T06:44:18.667" />
  <row Id="14226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13681" CreationDate="2011-02-26T06:55:33.653" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Can I ask a small favor of you?&quot; Is a more commonly used phrase, that expresses the same meaning as a request.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5485" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T06:55:33.653" />
  <row Id="14227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14194" CreationDate="2011-02-26T08:34:26.240" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I wanted to use newbie in an adverb like manner I would go with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;he was running &lt;em&gt;like a newbie&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;rather than creating some clumsy construction like &lt;em&gt;newbily&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;newbishly&lt;/em&gt;, although I have heard the latter used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3559" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T08:34:26.240" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13681" CreationDate="2011-02-26T08:38:44.380" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you have received a little request from someone, then saying something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have a little request from you, sat in my inbox. I won't be able to get to it until later, sorry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is perfectly fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3559" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T08:38:44.380" />
  <row Id="14229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14194" CreationDate="2011-02-26T09:10:49.903" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=newbish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Urban Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;used as an adjective:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I have a newbish question...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or as an adverb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;That looks quite newbish...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T09:10:49.903" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14218" CreationDate="2011-02-26T09:29:57.960" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the OO-Paradigma messages are send to an object. Technically this will be accomplished by invoking a method. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more details see also: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object-oriented_programming&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Object Oriented&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T09:29:57.960" />
  <row Id="14231" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14240" CreationDate="2011-02-26T09:32:59.253" Score="0" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a statement. And after that statement I have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is further acknowledged by the&#xA;  consolidation of the material.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I want to remove the &quot;This&quot;. What preposition can I use here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Further acknowledgement &lt;strong&gt;arrives&lt;/strong&gt; from&#xA;  the consolidation of the material.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if &quot;arrives&quot; should is correct or formal enough. This is for a PhD thesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T18:22:54.210" Title="Preposition to follow &quot;Further acknowledgment&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14196" CreationDate="2011-02-26T09:33:25.610" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sorted&lt;/em&gt; has a few specific meanings in British English that are extrapolations from the usual meaning of 'sort out', ie to put things in order. They are slang expressions and 'sort out' would still be preferable in formal or written English, although not for all the slang meanings below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The slang meanings of 'sorted' are described by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/search?q=sorted&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;OED&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;British informal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;organized, arranged, or dealt with satisfactorily: &lt;em&gt;‘And your social commitments?’ ‘They’re well sorted 'he‘s working on that old car he’s been trying to get sorted&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(of a person) confident, organized, and emotionally well balanced: &lt;em&gt;after a while, you realize they're not as sorted as they seema pretty sorted kind of bloke&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(of a person) prepared for or provided with something (especially illegal drugs). &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@Henry mentioned the more menacing usage above, described by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/search?q=sort&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;OED here&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;sort someone out (informal)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;deal with a troublesome person, typically by reprimanding or punishing them:&lt;em&gt;if he can‘t pay you, I’ll sort him out&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T09:33:25.610" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14233" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14239" CreationDate="2011-02-26T09:49:38.373" Score="7" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am talking about something you should pay. &quot;Invoice&quot; here doesn't mean the proof of payment.&#xA;Sometimes I am told to pay my &quot;bill&quot;, and sometimes they may refer to the similar paper (physical or virtual) as &quot;invoice&quot;. The only difference I can think of is that &quot;invoice&quot; seems to be something you pay before you use while &quot;bill&quot; is the opposite. But this distinction is not clear since my university also calls the tuition fee as invoice now (I am already studying when I pay the &quot;invoice&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could someone tell me the difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1890" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T09:56:52.453" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T18:31:10.693" Title="Difference between &quot;invoice&quot; and &quot;bill&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14233" CreationDate="2011-02-26T10:01:28.663" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An &lt;em&gt;invoice&lt;/em&gt; is a formal written demand for payment: if you accept that it is valid then you should pay it in accordance with the terms of the contract, e.g. within 30 days.  A &lt;em&gt;bill&lt;/em&gt; is simply a list, so might contain details which are not necessary for the invoice, and may or may not be a demand for immediate payment.  So you could imagine being told &quot;Here is a bill showing everything you've ordered.  I'll send you an invoice as soon as it's been delivered.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T10:01:28.663" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="14235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14233" CreationDate="2011-02-26T10:46:00.110" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A bill is &quot;an amount of money owed for goods supplied or services rendered, set out in a printed or written statement of charges&quot;, while an invoice is &quot;a list of goods sent or services provided, with a statement of the sum due for these&quot;; the NOAD reports also that &lt;em&gt;invoice&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;bill&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some contexts, &lt;em&gt;invoice&lt;/em&gt; is used as synonym of &lt;em&gt;bill&lt;/em&gt;; in other contexts, &lt;em&gt;invoice&lt;/em&gt; is used to mean a document that contains a list of goods or services and the bill, but it contains also other specific data that are required by specific laws/regulations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T10:46:00.110" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14218" CreationDate="2011-02-26T10:53:09.230" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Method&lt;/em&gt; is used instead of &lt;em&gt;procedure&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;function&lt;/em&gt; because the authors wish to maintain a distinct terminology for object-oriented programming that separates it from procedural programming.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In procedural programming your major primary units are procedures or functions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In object oriented programming your major primary units are classes and instances (i.e. objects) of those classes. Methods only exist in the context of a class or an instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but sometimes it helps to have a distinct name when you want to break old habits and look at things in a new way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T10:53:09.230" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14218" CreationDate="2011-02-26T11:08:40.483" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In other words, why was the word &quot;method&quot; introduced to programming?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A method is something more than a function; as the word &lt;em&gt;function&lt;/em&gt; was already used in programming with a specific meaning, it has been necessary to introduce a new word in the programming jargon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T11:08:40.483" />
  <row Id="14238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14210" CreationDate="2011-02-26T11:25:03.707" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Literature&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Words are contained &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; sentences. Meaning resides &lt;strong&gt;within&lt;/strong&gt; sentences. Sentences are &lt;strong&gt;within&lt;/strong&gt; paragraphs. Paragraphs are &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; articles or &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; chapters &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; books. articles, books and other writings make up literature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If something was &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; literature it would be external to it. &quot;Essays on the Literature of Sao Tome and Principe.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Overview&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a conjunction of &lt;em&gt;over&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;view&lt;/em&gt; suggesting the view from a high place where one can look over nearby obstacles to see the whole surrounding context. It uses, as a metaphor, the visual meaning of &lt;em&gt;view&lt;/em&gt; (rather than it's meaning as a synonym of &lt;em&gt;opinion&lt;/em&gt; for example)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We most often use &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;view&lt;/em&gt; so this carries across to &lt;em&gt;overview&lt;/em&gt;. Sometimes we use &lt;em&gt;into&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;view&lt;/em&gt; but this isn't appropriate here because an overview isn't concerned with looking primarily at detail inside something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T11:31:24.377" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T11:31:24.377" />
  <row Id="14239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14233" CreationDate="2011-02-26T11:25:21.700" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An &lt;em&gt;invoice&lt;/em&gt; is a request for payment that contains information necessary to remit payment to the issuer. Normally that would include the issuer's name, address, terms of payment and if necessary an account number. The invoice also is given a number - a unique key identifier with respect to the issuer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later, this number can be referred to in future correspondence. A bill may or may not include any of the above, but an invoice usually will. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather, the distinction between these two words is more a matter of custom and the business in question being transacted. For example, a lawyer &lt;em&gt;bills&lt;/em&gt; a client, for &lt;em&gt;billable&lt;/em&gt; hours. In the abstract, &quot;you should pay your bills on time.&quot; Work that is commissioned will usually generate an invoice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Bill&lt;/em&gt; in the sense we're discussing is Anglo Saxon and dates from the 1400s, and &lt;em&gt;invoice&lt;/em&gt; is French (&lt;em&gt;envoyer&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;dispatch&quot;) from the 1500s. You might make the case that invoices are attached to things that are delivered, but in practice it seems that various trades over time have selected one term or the other by tradition and custom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T11:25:21.700" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14231" CreationDate="2011-02-26T12:09:26.537" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We receive further acknowledgement from the consolidation of the material.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Further acknowledgement comes from the consolidation of the material.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The consolidation of the material constitutes further acknowledgement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I too wonder, as does @RegDwight, why the demonstrative pronoun &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; bothers you so much? I find this very puzzling, as &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; is not only common and clear but allows for more succinct referencing of subjects than other constructions might. The only time it becomes difficult to parse is when the antecedent is unclear (e.g., when it is the subject of a clause or sentence which might refer to multiple subjects from a previous clause or sentence).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T18:22:54.210" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T18:22:54.210" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14194" CreationDate="2011-02-26T12:11:41.710" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Noobishly/n00bishly&lt;/strong&gt; is the most widely used adverbial form, I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you talk that n00bishly about it, do you even know what it is? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;can someone noobishly splain to me the O(1), O(N), O(N^2) and O(log N)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After googling for various possible adverbifications and comparing hit counts, this seems by far the most common:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;newbishly    2,390  &#xA;noobishly   14,300  &#xA;n00bishly   13,800  &#xA;newbily      4,670  (mostly not genuine adverbial usages)&#xA;noobily      2,600  (ditto)&#xA;n00bily        100  (ditto)&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google hit counts are, of course, not a terribly precise measurement; but in this case the results seem reasonably convincing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other relevant question is whether &lt;em&gt;newbie&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;noob&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;n00b&lt;/em&gt; themselves get used as adverbs.  This is of course much harder to search for; I’ve not been able to find any examples, and I can’t imagine any that would sound natural, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T12:11:41.710" />
  <row Id="14242" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-26T12:58:03.253" Score="4" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which of these is correct: &quot;I am on the train&quot; or &quot;I am in the train&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5488" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T23:13:49.190" Title="&quot;on the train&quot; or &quot;in the train&quot;?" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="6" />
  <row Id="14243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14216" CreationDate="2011-02-26T13:04:26.340" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I disagree that the phrase is meant merely to be entertaining. What &quot;if he's an inch&quot; represents is, first of all, an example of the rhetorical device known as &lt;em&gt;prolepsis&lt;/em&gt;, which in one of its meanings is the anticipation and addressing of objections to a premise before they may be introduced, in order to weaken opposing arguments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By saying &quot;She's six feet tall if she's an inch,&quot; the speaker is dismissing in advance all arguments that the subject's height may be less than that the stated measure. He is in effect summing up the entire list of contradictory assertions (&quot;Is she an inch tall? Is she two inches tall? Is she three ...?&quot; and so on) with the obviously absurd notion that the subject might actually be so ridiculously small, and inviting the listener to laugh at such impossibilities. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For all its rhetorical resonance, however, this is also an example of the logical fallacy known as &lt;em&gt;false dichotomy&lt;/em&gt; (similar to a &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;straw man&lt;/a&gt;&quot; argument), in which two things are compared which are not in fact equivalent, so as to dismiss the one that is obviously false and therefore represent the alternative as truth. In actuality both may be false, and therein lies the fallacy. Fallacious arguments sound plausible, and actually constitute a kind of rhetoric (although a spurious one): today's &quot;fair and balanced&quot; news programs use them all the time to sway people who do not look deeply or critically into the &quot;arguments&quot; being made. While the statement &quot;She's six feet tall if she's an inch&quot; may be a bold and emphatic proclamation, it offers no real evidence. It indicates only that the speaker has a firm opinion and wishes to preempt further discussion on the matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All these points aside, the &quot;X is [quality] ... if X is [inferior quality]&quot; is a fairly standard and harmless formula in English, and if you want to sound like a native American (assuming you're not) it's one you should feel free to copy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T13:27:10.150" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T13:27:10.150" />
  <row Id="14244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14242" CreationDate="2011-02-26T13:06:11.397" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both, but they are used differently. Being &lt;em&gt;on the train&lt;/em&gt; is the most common use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you travel by train, you usually say that you are &lt;em&gt;on the train&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to describe your position, you could say that you are &lt;em&gt;in the train&lt;/em&gt;, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The train has derailed, I have a broken leg. You can find me in the train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T13:06:11.397" />
  <row Id="14245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14242" CreationDate="2011-02-26T13:17:53.700" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am in the train right now.   (I'm not outside the train.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am on the train right now.   (Could be I'm travelling on the train.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that answers your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2843" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T13:17:53.700" />
  <row Id="14246" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14251" CreationDate="2011-02-26T13:28:36.557" Score="2" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do &lt;em&gt;carat&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;karat&lt;/em&gt; have the same origin?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to say that &lt;em&gt;carat&lt;/em&gt; derives from the Italian &lt;em&gt;carato&lt;/em&gt;, while &lt;em&gt;karat&lt;/em&gt; derives from the from Arabic &lt;em&gt;ḳīrāṭ&lt;/em&gt;?  Is it possible that both words derive from Italian &lt;em&gt;carato&lt;/em&gt;, but one is written with a &lt;em&gt;k&lt;/em&gt; to avoid confusion with the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T13:55:27.393" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T14:37:46.627" Title="Do &quot;carat&quot; and &quot;karat&quot; have the same origin?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14246" CreationDate="2011-02-26T13:33:40.600" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD lists the etymology of both spellings thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ORIGIN late Middle English (sense 2) : from French, from Italian carato, from Arabic ḳīrāṭ (a unit of weight), from Greek keration ‘fruit of the carob’ (also denoting a unit of weight), diminutive of keras ‘horn,’ with reference to the elongated seedpod of the carob.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T13:33:40.600" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14242" CreationDate="2011-02-26T13:36:27.573" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer this question, I cannot offer a better explanation than you will find in this George Carlin monologue:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DagVklB4VHQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DagVklB4VHQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll want to listen to the whole thing, but the part that addresses your question begins at 2:55 in the video.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T13:50:03.773" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T13:50:03.773" />
  <row Id="14249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6275" CreationDate="2011-02-26T13:43:44.750" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Er, I agree.  It is a rubbish / trash / waste / garbage bin - it may contain erstwhile litter but its contents are the aforementioned synonyms for unwanted detritus.  &quot;Litter&quot; connotes miscellaneous, discarded items laying about and which, once picked up and placed in the bin - become mere rubbish. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sign on the bin is not an exhortation for how we want people to behave, but a label for what the receptacle CONTAINS.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5489" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T13:43:44.750" />
  <row Id="14250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14246" CreationDate="2011-02-26T14:26:27.617" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary defines: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etymology:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Carat&lt;/strong&gt;: Middle French carat, from Italian carato, from Arabic قيراط (qirāṭ, “husk”), from Ancient Greek κεράτιον (keration, “carob seed”), diminutive form of κέρας (keras, “horn”).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Karat&lt;/strong&gt;: From Middle English, from Middle French carat, from Medieval Latin carratus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I think they both have the same word origin, but I couldn't find a source to report the word origin is from Italy. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ldoce.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ldoce&lt;/a&gt; lists the same origin for both. Is it Greek or Arabic?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://http://www.loghatnameh.com/dehkhodaworddetail-e94b235bfec94077945b57b0c441dc7e-fa.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dehkhoda&lt;/a&gt; (the most reliable Persian dictionary) the word qirāṭ was borrowed by Greeks (keration) from Arabic and it's been reported by another book of that time (نقودالعربیه) the same way. It has been used long before in many parts of the Arab territories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are some Persian poems (and for sure some Arabic) using the original form of word, back in 1000 years ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ldoce.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ldoce&lt;/a&gt; defines &lt;strong&gt;karat&lt;/strong&gt; an &lt;em&gt;American Spelling&lt;/em&gt; of &lt;strong&gt;carat&lt;/strong&gt; and makes no differences in meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T14:26:27.617" />
  <row Id="14251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14246" CreationDate="2011-02-26T14:28:21.693" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's essentially one word, with two meanings and two spellings. Wikipedia has articles at &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carat_%28purity%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Carat&amp;nbsp;(purity)&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carat_%28mass%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Carat&amp;nbsp;(mass)&lt;/a&gt;. As a unit of mass, one carat (used for gemstones) is 200 g, and as a measure of purity, n-carat gold (n≤24) is n/24 gold by weight. (12-carat gold is 50% gold, etc.) The spellings &lt;em&gt;carat&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;karat&lt;/em&gt; are spelling variants of the same term. In America, a &lt;strong&gt;convention&lt;/strong&gt; has been adopted to use the spelling &lt;em&gt;carat&lt;/em&gt; for mass, and &lt;em&gt;karat&lt;/em&gt; for purity. While this is a very fine convention to avoid confusion between the two meanings, does this make them two different words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etymologically, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=carat&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; says&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;carat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  mid-15c., from M.Fr. &lt;em&gt;carat&lt;/em&gt; &quot;measure of the fineness of gold&quot; (14c.), from It. &lt;em&gt;carato&lt;/em&gt;, from Arabic &lt;em&gt;qirat&lt;/em&gt; &quot;pod, husk, weight of 4 grains,&quot; from Gk. &lt;em&gt;keration&lt;/em&gt; &quot;carob seed,&quot; lit. &quot;little horn&quot; dim. of &lt;em&gt;keras&lt;/em&gt; &quot;horn.&quot; Carob beans were a standard for weighing small quantities. As a measure of diamond weight, from 1570s. The Gk. measure was the equivalent of the Roman &lt;em&gt;siliqua&lt;/em&gt;, which was one-twentyfourth of a golden solidus of Constantine; hence the word took on a sense of &quot;a proportion of one twentyfourth&quot; and became a measure of gold purity (1550s). Eighteen carat gold is eighteen parts gold, six parts alloy. It is unlikely that the classical carat was ever a measure of weight for gold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;karat&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  variant of &lt;em&gt;carat&lt;/em&gt; (q.v.). In U.S., &lt;em&gt;karat&lt;/em&gt; is used for &quot;proportion of fine gold in an alloy&quot; and &lt;em&gt;carat&lt;/em&gt; for &quot;weight of a precious stone.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So both the weight meaning and the 1/24th meaning come from Greco-Roman times (via Arabic, Italian, Middle French, in that order).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Wikipedia sections &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carat_%28purity%29#Derivation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Carat&amp;nbsp;(purity)#Derivation&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carat_%28mass%29#Etymology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Carat&amp;nbsp;(mass)#Etymology&lt;/a&gt; agree: once upon a time, carob seeds, because of their reputation for uniform weight, were used as measures of weight. This measure was roughly 1/24th of another unit, so the purity measure arose of it. There was no confusion because as weight, &lt;em&gt;carat&lt;/em&gt; was probably never used for gold (and is today only used for diamonds, pearls, other gemstones).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T14:37:46.627" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T14:37:46.627" />
  <row Id="14252" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14254" CreationDate="2011-02-26T14:32:00.513" Score="7" ViewCount="377" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to name a variable containing &lt;code&gt;()[]{}&lt;/code&gt;, what is the common name for all of them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two side questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;parentheses is plural, or singular, or both?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;is abbreviating it as &lt;code&gt;parens&lt;/code&gt; understandable?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5491" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T21:58:45.477" Title="What is the common name for brackets, braces, and parentheses?" Tags="&lt;parentheses&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14252" CreationDate="2011-02-26T14:36:10.430" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These can be called &quot;brackets.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the side questions, &quot;marks of parenthesis&quot; is the standard term, and parentheses is possible, but a bit breezy. &quot;Parens&quot; is the usual abbreviation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T14:36:10.430" />
  <row Id="14254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14252" CreationDate="2011-02-26T14:40:36.093" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There isn't really an established generic for them; if I had to say something, I'd probably say &lt;em&gt;enclosing glyphs&lt;/em&gt;.  Trying to use &quot;bracket&quot; as a generic doesn't really work because &quot;brackets&quot; usually specifically means &lt;code&gt;()&lt;/code&gt; in British English and &lt;code&gt;[]&lt;/code&gt; in American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seeing that you're naming a variable, I would probably go with &lt;code&gt;$enclosures&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Parentheses is a plural; the singular is parenthesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Parens&quot; is usual and understandable, yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T15:46:15.373" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T15:46:15.373" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="14255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14206" CreationDate="2011-02-26T15:04:03.210" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the record, I'm considering using &quot;filament&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T15:04:03.210" />
  <row Id="14256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14218" CreationDate="2011-02-26T15:07:46.643" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me, it just complies with common sense.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Say, you have an object; for example, a garage. Its &lt;em&gt;function&lt;/em&gt; is to store cars, but it isn't represented by a function as a part of the object. However, the garage lives up to its &lt;em&gt;function&lt;/em&gt; by way of &lt;em&gt;methods&lt;/em&gt;: you drive up to the garage, press a button on your keychain (thus sending a &lt;em&gt;message&lt;/em&gt;) and the &lt;em&gt;method&lt;/em&gt; that lifts the door is invoked.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is not the garage's &lt;em&gt;function&lt;/em&gt; to lift the door, but it can do it. It's just one of the many &lt;em&gt;methods&lt;/em&gt; that help achieve a certain goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5425" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T15:07:46.643" />
  <row Id="14257" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14259" CreationDate="2011-02-26T15:24:02.823" Score="3" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where does the expression &quot;beat around the bush&quot; come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4988" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T15:56:14.753" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T15:56:14.753" Title="Where does &quot;beat around the bush&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14252" CreationDate="2011-02-26T15:24:04.847" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In every IDE I've used, the concept of highlighting or validating matching enclosures has been referred to as &lt;em&gt;brace-matching&lt;/em&gt;, so I would suggest &lt;em&gt;brace&lt;/em&gt; as a candidate to cover all of the glyphs you mention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;brace&lt;/em&gt; of things refers to a pair of something (the origin is from hunting), and is synonymous with &lt;em&gt;pair&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T15:24:04.847" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14257" CreationDate="2011-02-26T15:45:31.297" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Beat around the bush&lt;/em&gt; (meaning &quot;discuss a matter without coming to the point&quot;) has been first used in 1570s; its sense has shifted from &quot;make preliminary motions&quot; to &quot;avoid, evade.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;See also &lt;em&gt;beat the bushes&lt;/em&gt;, which is a way to rouse birds so that they fly into the net which others are holding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Reference: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T15:45:31.297" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14260" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-26T15:50:01.137" Score="3" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;to pull it off&quot; was at one time used meaning &quot;to win.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And in sentences such as,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't think you can pull it off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;, it often implies the idea of &quot;success.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But how did this expression originate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4988" LastEditorUserId="4988" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T08:22:49.093" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T21:05:53.957" Title="Where does &quot;pull it off&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14261" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14290" CreationDate="2011-02-26T16:36:21.050" Score="9" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between these two expressions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mike brought his guitar.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mike brought his guitar with him.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How does &quot;with him&quot; change the meaning of the sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4988" LastEditorUserId="4988" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T08:16:46.650" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T08:16:46.650" Title="Mike brought cake VS mike brought cake with him" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14261" CreationDate="2011-02-26T17:04:31.363" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems completely unnecessary because it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; completely unnecessary. I don't think it could ever add anything useful except in the unlikely instance that there were other ways Mike could have brought his guitar and the speaker desperately needs to distinguish among them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T17:04:31.363" />
  <row Id="14264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14252" CreationDate="2011-02-26T17:54:53.357" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Robusto, The Raven, and ShreevatsaR:  You can call all of them braces or call all of them brackets.  I have heard &lt;code&gt;[]&lt;/code&gt; called &lt;em&gt;brackets&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;square brackets&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;square braces&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;code&gt;{}&lt;/code&gt; called &lt;em&gt;braces&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;curly braces&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;curly brackets&lt;/em&gt;.  While it's true I have never heard &lt;code&gt;()&lt;/code&gt; referred to as &quot;curved braces&quot; or &quot;curved brackets&quot; or anything like that, it is fine to lump them in with other &quot;enclosing punctuation&quot; as those other answers and comments suggest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I specifically recommend against &lt;em&gt;enclosing glyphs&lt;/em&gt; because it is a little too snooty, as if you're some kind of English show-off trying to talk to programmers about programming.  I don't mind calling these symbols &lt;em&gt;enclosures&lt;/em&gt;, though in programming contexts, this term might be a little too close to &lt;em&gt;closures&lt;/em&gt;, which are something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't forget that &lt;code&gt;&amp;lt;&amp;gt;&lt;/code&gt; are also common enclosures, referred to as &lt;em&gt;angle brackets&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;angle braces&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, so that this answer addresses everything asked, I'll reiterate that &lt;code&gt;()&lt;/code&gt; are &lt;em&gt;parentheses&lt;/em&gt;; one of them is a &lt;em&gt;parenthesis&lt;/em&gt;; and that these can be freely shortened to &lt;em&gt;parens&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;paren&lt;/em&gt;, respectively, especially when talking to programmers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T17:54:53.357" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14265" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14266" CreationDate="2011-02-26T17:59:32.273" Score="22" ViewCount="663" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many times I saw the phrase &lt;code&gt;something 101&lt;/code&gt;, such as &lt;code&gt;Microsoft Excel 101&lt;/code&gt;. What exactly does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T18:19:51.780" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T03:07:47.643" Title="What does it mean by &quot;something 101&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14265" CreationDate="2011-02-26T18:00:35.237" Score="28" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means &quot;introductory something&quot;.  The allusion is to a college course with the course code 101, which in the American system and probably others indicates an introductory course, often with no prerequisites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T18:00:35.237" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14231" CreationDate="2011-02-26T18:02:04.137" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Slightly less verbose:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Further acknowledgement follows the consolidation of the material.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or, slightly more precise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Further acknowledgement results from consolidation of the material.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note: I hope that your context answers the questions: &quot;Acknowledgement of what?&quot; and &quot;What material?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1133" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T18:02:04.137" />
  <row Id="14268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14260" CreationDate="2011-02-26T18:10:36.277" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eric Partridge, in his &lt;em&gt;A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English&lt;/em&gt;, says this comes from late 19th century sporting jargon meaning &quot;to win&quot;. He cites two OED references, one from 1870 and the other from 1887.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T18:10:36.277" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14193" CreationDate="2011-02-26T18:18:29.673" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The version I heard is that if there is an exception to a rule, then there most likely is a rule stating the opposite of the exception in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example if you have &quot;Minors are not allowed to drink alcohol&quot; then most likely drinking alcohol isn't forbidden in general. Since the exception for minors would be superfluous if nobody were allowed to drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or if certain drugs is allowed for medical use, then this is the exception to the rule that those drugs are not allowed in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5498" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T18:18:29.673" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14075" CreationDate="2011-02-26T18:32:06.527" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most succinct way that I can conjure to rephrase your connected pair of statements would convert the second statement into a dependent clause of the first. E.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Medicine is very important, as proved by...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1133" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T18:32:06.527" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14216" CreationDate="2011-02-26T18:36:30.667" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll repeat what I said in the comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, the meaning of &quot;She's 6 feet tall if she's an inch&quot; is not &quot;She is 6 feet tall, which is very tall&quot;, but &quot;She's &lt;em&gt;definitely&lt;/em&gt; 6 feet tall&quot; or &quot;I'm &lt;em&gt;very sure&lt;/em&gt; she's 6 feet tall&quot;. That is, it's an emphatic version of &quot;She's [at least] 6 feet tall&quot;, with the emphasis being on the truth of the statement, not necessarily the great height. As such, in usage it typically (but not always) follows a statement made by someone else (borrowing from mgkrebbs):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;She looks 5' 10'', don't you think?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Five ten?! She's 6 feet tall if she's an inch!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The purpose here is not just entertainment, but rhetorical effect: it's saying &quot;I'm as sure of her being 6 feet tall as I'm sure of her being at least an inch tall&quot; — and since I &lt;em&gt;am&lt;/em&gt; obviously very sure she's at least an inch tall, I'm also very sure she's 6 feet tall. It's equating her being 6 feet tall to her being an inch tall: saying (not necessarily with justification, but that's rhetoric for you) that if you deny that she's 6 feet tall, you must also deny she's at least an inch tall, which you obviously cannot do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;The use of &quot;logic&quot; in rhetoric&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More generally, the use of such implication sentences in rhetoric seem (to me) to be of two kinds. If you want emphasise a statement X (say emphatically that X is true), you can pick either the form&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;If T, then X&quot; (= &quot;X if T&quot;)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&amp;nbsp;or    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If not X, then F (= &quot;X or F&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where T is some trivially true statement, and F is some trivially false statement. Examples of the &quot;X if T&quot; type include the ones you gave:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She's 6 feet tall if she's an inch.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  It was a gallon of blood if it was a drop.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The baby was 10 pounds if it was an ounce.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  She's forty if she's a day.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  If I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  If I'm not hallucinating, I heard you come in at 3 am last night.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of &quot;If not X, then F&quot; type include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If he's a doctor, then I'm the Pope.&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; (X = &quot;he's not a doctor&quot;, F=&quot;I'm the Pope&quot;)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The prices will fall next week, or my name isn't [Name].&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  If he can hit a ball, then pigs can fly.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  If that's pure gold, then the moon is made of cheese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not very good examples I'm afraid, but you get the idea. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;: Entirely unrelated aside: There's an anecdote that once, when Bertrand Russell mentioned in a lecture that starting from a false premise you can prove anything, some smart alec said &quot;1=2, prove you're the Pope&quot;. Russell immediately replied with &quot;The Pope and I are two, therefore the Pope and I are one&quot;.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This rhetorical device &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; of course be entertaining or humorous, as in Dorothy Parker's poem &lt;em&gt;Comment&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  A medley of extemporanea!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  And love is a thing that can never go wrong&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  And I am Marie of Roumania.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T18:36:30.667" />
  <row Id="14272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14261" CreationDate="2011-02-26T18:45:11.643" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Listen, the thing is, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkaJnpnk4LY&amp;amp;feature=related&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;people&lt;/a&gt;, like, often decorate their speech with, like, meaningless, er, decorations. Innit. Know what I mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T18:54:13.960" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T18:54:13.960" />
  <row Id="14273" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14275" CreationDate="2011-02-26T19:04:12.193" Score="5" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering about the phrase &lt;em&gt;it's raining cats and dogs&lt;/em&gt;; I've heard two versions of the meaning of the phrase and I was wondering which one was correct or wrong altogether. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first: with 16th century European peasant homes frequently being thatched, animals seeking shelter from the elements would fall out during heavy rains. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second: that drainage in 17th century Europe was typically poor so they would, during heavy rains, disgorge any of the animal corpses that had accumulated in them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4861" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T07:31:39.523" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T07:31:39.523" Title="The etymology of the phrase &quot;it's raining cats and dogs&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="14274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14252" CreationDate="2011-02-26T19:05:05.487" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of &quot;Enclosing glyphs&quot;, which sounds like something a technical standards organization would come up with to classify the symbols for something like Unicode, I'd suggest &quot;grouping symbols.&quot; &quot;Grouping symbols&quot; may imply a mathematical usage, but I doubt that the association with math is very strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3497" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T19:05:05.487" />
  <row Id="14275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14273" CreationDate="2011-02-26T19:20:58.950" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a few theories, that's for sure. But the bottom line is, &lt;em&gt;the etymology is unknown&lt;/em&gt;. I won't leave you without these pointers, though:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/raining%20cats%20and%20dogs.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Phrase Finder&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is an interesting phrase in that, although there's no definitive origin, there is a likely derivation. [...] The fact that [Jonathan] Swift had alluded to the streets flowing with dead cats and dogs some years earlier and [in 1738] used 'rain cats and dogs' explicitly is good evidence that poor sanitation was the source of the phrase as we now use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raining_animals#.22Raining_cats_and_dogs.22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The English idiom &quot;it is raining cats and dogs&quot;, used to describe an especially heavy rain, is of unknown etymology [...] There may not be a logical explanation; the phrase may have been used just for its nonsensical humor value[.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T19:20:58.950" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14242" CreationDate="2011-02-26T19:22:54.900" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being &lt;em&gt;on the train&lt;/em&gt; has the sense of being &lt;em&gt;aboard&lt;/em&gt; or being &lt;em&gt;a passenger on&lt;/em&gt; a conveyance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being &lt;em&gt;in the train&lt;/em&gt; has the sense of being a component member of the train. Keep in mind that the word &lt;em&gt;train&lt;/em&gt; refers to more than just railroads, and that a railroad train is something that comprises a group of connected cars and locomotive engines. It is proper to say that the car you are riding in is &lt;em&gt;in the train&lt;/em&gt;. You would be &lt;em&gt;in the train&lt;/em&gt; if you were part of a walking tour group or pilgrimage -- or even caught up in a conga line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T19:22:54.900" />
  <row Id="14277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14252" CreationDate="2011-02-26T19:57:09.053" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;PairedPunctuationMarks is the clearest that I can come up with.  However, as a programmer I would strongly urge you to name variables based on how they're used instead of what they are.  It makes for easier to read code.  So, if these symbols are going to be, say, part of the legal ways to delimit a certain kind of token in your code, a name like LegalUserInputDelimitersForFooRegex might be a better variable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5505" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T19:57:09.053" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14218" CreationDate="2011-02-26T20:19:33.417" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The name 'method' came from a philosophy of object orientation that was fundamentally about message-passing: the object model of the universe can be summed up as &quot;there are objects; they send each other messages&quot;. Eventually, of course, there are objects that actually have some effect on the outside world, but that's a detail that's swept under the carpet in the name of uniformity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When an object receives a message, it goes on to send further messages to other objects. Naturally, it has to have a way of deciding what messages to send - a procedure to follow, a routine to go through, or, if you like, a method to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see this usage in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://stephane.ducasse.free.fr/FreeBooks/BlueBook/Bluebook.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Blue Book&lt;/a&gt;, the original description of Smalltalk-80 (this is from the first section, &lt;em&gt;Classes and Instances&lt;/em&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An object's public properties are the messages that make up its interface. All instances of a class have the same message interface since they represent the same kind of component. An object's private properties are a set of instance variables that make up its private memory and a set of methods that describe how to carry out its operations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5495" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T20:19:33.417" />
  <row Id="14279" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14283" CreationDate="2011-02-26T20:31:35.053" Score="4" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between sorcerer and a wizard?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that the nomenclature is unclear; however, the common usage seems to indicate&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1. a wizard is born an ordinary mortal, learns magic &amp;amp; spells from books,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2. a sorcerer is born a sorcerer, but needs to learn spells (possibly of certain type) from a master&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this correct, or is there more to it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5507" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T22:17:46.433" Title="Difference between a sorcerer and a wizard" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14279" CreationDate="2011-02-26T20:35:45.490" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The terms do not have precise enough meanings in the general usage to articulate any clear delineations between them.  &quot;Wizard&quot; has greater implications of age, wisdom, and having a long flowing gray beard and pointy hat, while a &quot;sorceror&quot; (I prefer the &lt;em&gt;-or&lt;/em&gt; to the &lt;em&gt;-er&lt;/em&gt;) is more likely to be ill-intentioned and wear a metal skullcap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The specific meanings you're talking about seem closely related to the Dungeons &amp;amp; Dragons usage of the terms; clarification of that is a question for &lt;a href=&quot;http://rpg.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;rpg.stackexchange.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T20:35:45.490" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="14281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14265" CreationDate="2011-02-26T21:33:54.983" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;101 is the lowest course number, there's no 'zeroth' level. If someone attends a 220 course, they probably had 101 and 201 first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5275" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T21:33:54.983" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14252" CreationDate="2011-02-26T21:58:45.477" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delimiter#Bracket_delimiters&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article on delimiters&lt;/a&gt; gives &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Bracket delimiters&lt;/strong&gt; (also &lt;strong&gt;block delimiters&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;region delimiters&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;balanced delimiters&lt;/strong&gt;)...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2673" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T21:58:45.477" />
  <row Id="14283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14279" CreationDate="2011-02-26T22:17:17.627" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid that there is no definite answer, since both roles are pure fiction and their attributes may change as in role playing games they have a difference (different spells and skills). Only the etymology could give a clue&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;etymonline&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sorcerer &#xA;1520s, earlier sorcer, from O.Fr. sorcier (see sorcery). Sorcerer’s apprentice was a symphonic poem by Paul Dukas (1897) based on a Goethe ballad (&quot;Der Zauberlehrling,&quot; 1797), but the common figurative use of the term (1952) comes after Disney’s “Fantasia” (1940).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;wizard &#xA;mid-15c., &quot;philosopher, sage,&quot; from M.E. wys &quot;wise&quot; (see wise (adj.)) + -ard. Cf. Lith. zynyste &quot;magic,&quot; zynys &quot;sorcerer,&quot; zyne &quot;witch,&quot; all from zinoti &quot;to know.&quot; The ground sense is perhaps &quot;to know the future.&quot; The meaning &quot;one with magical power&quot; did not emerge distinctly until c.1550, the distinction between philosophy and magic being blurred in the Middle Ages. As a slang word meaning &quot;excellent&quot; it is recorded from 1922.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="519" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T22:17:17.627" />
  <row Id="14284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14279" CreationDate="2011-02-26T22:17:46.433" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These words have been used to describe a variety of characters in works of fiction.  There are common ideas which generally present themselves to one type or the other, but realize that nobody really existed who was either of these.  So there is no right answer here.  There are some things which seem to be common, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wizards are wise and intelligent, and magically seem to be able to do whatever they wish with a gesture.  They solve problems by cunning, creativity, or generally thinking outside the box.  If you angered a wizard, he would be more likely to get back at you through a practical joke than to kill you. Dictionary: a wise man (sage), one skilled in magic (sorceror)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorcerors derive their magic from a control of the world around them or nature's spirits.  There is also often an implication of evil.  Their power frequently manifests itself in command of fire, control of wind and rain, or the ability to animate elemental forces.  If you angered a sorceror, you probably wouldn't last long. Dictionary: a person who practices sorcery (wizard), a person who possesses supernatural powers aided by evil spirits&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4000" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T22:17:46.433" />
  <row Id="14285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14265" CreationDate="2011-02-26T22:24:03.410" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;(chiefly US, postpositive) Basic, beginner, starting from scratch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; Geology 101 tells us that you can't build a reservoir on sandstone.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/101#Adjective&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="244" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T22:24:03.410" />
  <row Id="14286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14242" CreationDate="2011-02-26T22:30:18.680" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; the train, but I'm &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; carriage D. Don't ask my why; there's often no rhyme or reason to English prepositions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2673" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T22:30:18.680" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14287" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14288" CreationDate="2011-02-26T22:40:13.570" Score="5" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, we know &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; is the same as &lt;em&gt;do not&lt;/em&gt;, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, can I say &quot;Do not you know?&quot;, instead of &quot;Don't you know?&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, I know that chances are I can't do that, but technically that should be correct, no?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4643" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T23:57:38.033" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T21:49:50.200" Title="Is &quot;Don't you know? &quot; the same as &quot;Do not you know?&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14287" CreationDate="2011-02-26T22:48:23.853" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should also be able to say 'Are I not?' instead of the typical 'Aren't I?' Presumably these colloquialisms result from the fact that neither 'Do you not know?' nor 'Am I not?' have a contraction that is at once easily pronounceable and logical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5513" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T22:48:23.853" />
  <row Id="14289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14287" CreationDate="2011-02-26T22:49:11.183" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Curiously, it is the same as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you not know?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The words are transposed when the contraction comes in to make:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't you know?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, it is corrupted in the right order to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;D'ya not know?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;D'ya&lt;/em&gt; being pretty much single syllable when uttered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I prefer the Scots version:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dinnae ken?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T22:49:11.183" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14261" CreationDate="2011-02-26T22:50:40.443" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'With him' may be used to emphasize 'at the moment'.  E.g.  'Does he have his guitar?'  May be interpreted more ambiguously than 'Does he have his guitar with him?'.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When using 'brought', the assumption that it is 'with him' is a pretty safe one to make, but occasionally people will automatically add the redundant 'with him' without realizing it's unnecessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5278" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T22:50:40.443" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14242" CreationDate="2011-02-26T23:13:49.190" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're on because you got on.  Like you're in the shower, bath or car because you got in.  Unless you're on the roof of the car.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are on the roof of the train, you're on [the] top of the train.  When you're on the train, you can go in the buffet car, when you do, you'll be in the buffet car of the train.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also get off the train, but get out of your car, bath or shower.  Probably because you got on, possibly because it is short for getting on board.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word train, is from the French verb traîner, to pull.  So it's called a train because it's being pulled, that might explain why you need to be on the train (to be pulled), rather than in it (to be pulling).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5278" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T23:13:49.190" />
  <row Id="14292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14273" CreationDate="2011-02-26T23:16:10.850" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Phrase to &lt;em&gt;rain cats and dogs&lt;/em&gt; is&#xA;  attested from 1738 (variation &lt;em&gt;rain&#xA;  dogs and polecats&lt;/em&gt; is from 1652), of&#xA;  unknown origin, despite intense&#xA;  speculation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[&lt;em&gt;Reference:&lt;/em&gt; Etymonline.com]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some other theories:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The archaic French catdoupe is a waterfall or cataract, lightning and &#xA;  thunder sounds like that of a cat/dog &#xA;  fight, cats had a big influence on&#xA;  the weather, and the sky dog Odin was &#xA;  attended to by wolves according to &#xA;  Norse Mythology.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Another theory is that in old England, they had hay roofs on their&#xA;  houses and the cats and dogs would &#xA;  sleep on the roof. When it rained, &#xA;  the roofs got slippery and the cats &#xA;  and dogs would slide off of the &#xA;  roofs. There for it was &quot;Raining Cats&#xA;  and Dogs&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;Rain Cats and Dogs&quot; stems from the Norse Mythology. Cats were believed &#xA;  to represent the wind and dogs &#xA;  represented rain. Different animals &#xA;  represented different weather and &#xA;  natural phenomenon.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-26T23:22:05.253" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T23:22:05.253" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14287" CreationDate="2011-02-26T23:22:05.177" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, there's no technical reason to &lt;em&gt;assume&lt;/em&gt; this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whereas &lt;em&gt;do not&lt;/em&gt; consists of two separate words, and only the &quot;do&quot; part is the &quot;verb&quot; for the purposes of inversion, in &lt;em&gt;couldn't&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;shouldn't&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt;, we can say that &lt;em&gt;-n't&lt;/em&gt; is essentially a &lt;em&gt;clitic&lt;/em&gt;, i.e. not a &quot;word in its own right&quot;. (On phonological grounds, we might end up saying that &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; is some kind of &quot;fused&quot; form standing in for a verb plus clitic.) A clitic is dependent upon a particular word, so that generally when that word moves, so does the clitic(s) dependent on it (like the &quot;object pronouns&quot; in Romance languages if you're familiar with them).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T23:22:05.177" />
  <row Id="14294" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14295" CreationDate="2011-02-26T23:27:32.873" Score="4" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;In high school we learned to say &quot;than I&quot; and &quot;as I&quot; because you could potentially add an &quot;am&quot; to the end of the sentence.  Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;She is smarter than I.&quot;  (Think: &quot;...than I &lt;strong&gt;am&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot;)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;He is as tall as I.&quot;  (Think &quot;...as I &lt;strong&gt;am&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So analogously, shouldn't it be &quot;like I&quot; as well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;He is sincere, just like I.&quot;  (Think: &quot;... like I &lt;strong&gt;am&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot;)  But universally, it seems that we use &quot;like me&quot;.  Where does this reasoning break down?  Is there history here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5188" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T07:19:59.850" Title="&quot;like I&quot; or &quot;like me&quot;?" Tags="&lt;object&gt;&lt;subject&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14294" CreationDate="2011-02-26T23:55:03.483" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The rules you were taught are artificial. It is &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; rare to hear &quot;as I&quot; used in the way you have it in your examples out in the wild. It may be correct according to prescriptive English grammar, but it is not idiomatic to the language &lt;em&gt;until&lt;/em&gt; you add the extra bits. One would say either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She is smarter than me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She is smarter than I am.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same pattern emerges when looking at &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt;. Used by itself, in idiomatic English, you would use the object pronoun when the word is used alone, and the subject pronoun when the phrase extends into a sentence-like structure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Despite the vain longings of those few people who want English to be nice and neat (and have a one-to-one correspondence with Latin and Greek), our language has its wrinkles and inconsistencies. This is one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-26T23:55:03.483" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="14296" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14298" CreationDate="2011-02-26T23:58:51.913" Score="2" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read the following lead copy in today's Washington Post article titled &quot;Back home, GOP freshmen find fiscal responsibility can be tricky business.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does &quot;cutting with&quot; mean? I don’t find the meaning of &quot;cut with&quot; other than in the ordinary usage of cut something with a knife, scissors or any other tools in a dictionary at hand, or in Google search. Does it mean &lt;em&gt;alone, separate&lt;/em&gt; from the rest? I'm confused with the usage of basic and short words very often that are quite plain to native speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As the government programs fell and the tens of billions in savings piled up during the budget debate in the House last week, freshman Republican Frank Guinta was right there cutting with the rest of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T00:04:03.087" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T00:37:03.890" Title="What does ‘cutting with’ mean in ‘someone is right there cutting with the rest of them’?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14296" CreationDate="2011-02-27T00:15:25.910" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here &lt;em&gt;cutting&lt;/em&gt; means reducing government expenditure and removing parts of the proposed budget, while &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; means alongside and together.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T00:15:25.910" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14296" CreationDate="2011-02-27T00:37:03.890" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Henry's answer is exactly right. Here is confirmation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A clearer, more complete use of &quot;cutting&quot; comes later in the same paragraph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He wasn't willing to cut a subsidy for heating bills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This illustrates that &quot;cutting,&quot; as used in your example, had an object (parts of the proposed budget), and was not just used as an expression meaning something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence in your question might be paraphrased in this way, for the sake of this explanation: &quot;As the government programs fell and the tens of billions in savings piled up during the budget debate in the House last week, freshman Republican Frank Guinta joined fellow congressmen in reducing spending and removing parts of the proposed budget. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5471" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T00:37:03.890" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14287" CreationDate="2011-02-27T01:07:10.340" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technically one could dissolve the contraction into &quot;Do not you know?&quot; but this would be an awkward construction, because English favors a negative after the subject and before the verb in this interrogative form, as in &quot;Do you not know?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even this sounds a bit cumbersome given the contracted alternative. It may be used for emphasis, however, as in the following sentence: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Do you &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; know how to do your own laundry after all these years?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5471" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T01:07:10.340" />
  <row Id="14300" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14303" CreationDate="2011-02-27T01:27:04.643" Score="2" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you add text which provides context to a quote?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, consider if I were to quote someone as having said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is unacceptable!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Were that the &lt;em&gt;whole&lt;/em&gt; quote, can I add any text to the quote to indicate what &quot;This&quot; refers to? I think I've seen it done with square brackets...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This [the death threats directed towards bloggers] is unacceptable!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this correct? If no, how can it be done?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note my citation is simply from the top search result for the term &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&amp;amp;source=hp&amp;amp;biw=1284&amp;amp;bih=484&amp;amp;q=thisn+is+unacceptable&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;This is unacceptable&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5514" LastEditorUserId="5514" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T01:37:30.313" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T23:11:19.880" Title="How to add contextualizing text to a quotation?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14300" CreationDate="2011-02-27T01:37:04.447" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yup, that's the whole point of square brackets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T01:37:04.447" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14300" CreationDate="2011-02-27T01:40:37.027" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, that's perfectly correct, that's perhaps the most frequent use of square brackets.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quoth &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracket#&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Square brackets – also called simply brackets (US) – are mainly used to enclose explanatory or missing material usually added by someone other than the original author, especially in quoted text...bracketed comments [can be used to] indicate when original text has been modified for clarity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;with a demonstration for good measure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T01:40:37.027" />
  <row Id="14303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14300" CreationDate="2011-02-27T01:44:50.743" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following comes from the Purdue Online Writing Lab's MLA Formatting and Style Guide. Go &lt;a href=&quot;http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/03/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; to check it out for their citation of the original MLA handbook.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you add a word or words in a quotation, you should put brackets around the words to indicate that they are not part of the original text.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jan Harold Brunvand, in an essay on urban legends, states: &quot;some individuals [who retell urban legends] make a point of learning every rumor or tale&quot; (78).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And here is corroboration from &lt;em&gt;Doing Honest Work in College: How to prepare citations, avoid plagiarism, and achieve real academic success&lt;/em&gt;, by Charles Lipson: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ADDING WORDS [IN BRACKETS] TO CLARIFY A QUOTE&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Occasionally, you need to add a word or two to clarify a quote. Perhaps the original sentence uses a pronoun instead of a person's name. For clarity, you might wish to include the name. Again, you cannot change the quote's meaning, and you need to signal the reader that you are modifying it slightly. You do that by using [brackets] to show exactly what you have inserted. Consider this original text: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Original Text&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Q237 Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's closest advisor, was       speaking in New York that day. The President called and asked her to return to Washington immediately.Q&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Now, let's say you want to quote only the second sentence. An exact quote wouldn't make much sense since the reader won't know whom the president was summoning. To correct that, you need to add a few words and bracket them to make it clear that you've added them to the original:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Your quote with brackets&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;The President called and asked [his National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice] to return to Washington immediately.&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's an accurate quote even though you added several bracketed words. If you added the same words without brackets, however, it would be a misquotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One important rule: These additions [with brackets] . . . should not change quote's meaning in any way. The statement belongs to another writer, not to you. You're welcome to praise it or to damn it, but not to twist it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lipson (40-41)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: The brackets used within the above quotation are Lipson's own. I think they are meant to be illustrative, though in this context they become a bit confusing. Just to clarify, I didn't put them in. My only change was to omit a reference to an unrelated section of Lipson's book in the &quot;One important rule section.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope that helps!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5471" LastEditorUserId="5471" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T23:11:19.880" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T23:11:19.880" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="14304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13915" CreationDate="2011-02-27T01:47:21.353" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Leatherworking&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Leatherworking&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This provides additional wikipedia links to more detailed explanations about leather carving, swivel knives, stamping, dying, tanning, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T01:47:21.353" />
  <row Id="14305" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14306" CreationDate="2011-02-27T02:00:55.707" Score="1" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was thinking about the word &quot;acyclic&quot; meaning not having or containing a cycle. Then I thought of the word &quot;bicycle&quot; and wondered if it made sense to call something that an &quot;acycle&quot;. As an example I would want to say that stilts are an acycle (because they do not inherently contain a cycle or cyclic motion).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5515" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T02:28:54.997" Title="Can I conjugate &quot;acyclic&quot; as &quot;acycle&quot;" Tags="&lt;conjugation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14305" CreationDate="2011-02-27T02:12:33.963" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Referring to stilts as an &quot;acycle&quot; seems to me a bizarre formation. &quot;Acyclic&quot; is used to distinguish between things that might or should have a cycle but don't. Simply because stilts do not have a &quot;cycle&quot; does not make them acyclic, because stilts do not belong to a class of objects that could conceivably have a cycle. Neither do tree stumps, Frank Frazetta book covers, or fingernail parings, except in the sense that all things have a cycle of creation and destruction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Acyclic&lt;/em&gt; refers to concepts like molecules that contain no rings of atoms, or women who don't have a menstrual cycle [see NOAD definition]. Both of those are commonly thought to have cycles, and so may require a term to describe the absence of what should be a normal property for them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T02:12:33.963" />
  <row Id="14307" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14317" CreationDate="2011-02-27T02:12:51.763" Score="4" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do know that there isn't only one pronunciation for syllables, and I also know that there isn't only one way to write a phoneme, but this intrigues me a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Lose is spelled with only one O, and it's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com.br/search?hl=en&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;client=firefox-a&amp;amp;hs=P1B&amp;amp;rlz=1R1GGLL_pt-BR___BR361&amp;amp;q=loose+OR+loosing+OR+looser&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;frequently misspelled with two Os.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Choose is spelled with two Os, and it's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com.br/search?hl=en&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;client=firefox-a&amp;amp;hs=nOr&amp;amp;rlz=1R1GGLL_pt-BR___BR361&amp;amp;q=%22to+chose%22+OR+%22can+chose%22+OR+%22will+chose%22&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;frequently misspelled with one O.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the forms of the past tense of &quot;to choose&quot; is &quot;chose&quot;, which is pronounced very differently from &quot;lose&quot;, even though both words share the same vocals and ending syllable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to see an explanation for this. Even on origin, or something I'm missing out here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: for me, double Os seems way more logical, as every time I read &quot;lose&quot;, it seems a little weird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5517" LastEditorUserId="4951" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T04:00:19.840" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T12:56:37.283" Title="Why are the words &quot;lose&quot; and &quot;choose&quot; written differently and pronounced the same way ?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="14308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14300" CreationDate="2011-02-27T02:21:59.483" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I hate to disagree with everyone here, but the way you have used it is not quite right. When inserting or altering words in quoted text, the insertion or alteration should replace the quoted word like a seamless patch in the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This [the death threats directed towards bloggers] is unacceptable!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;should first be changed to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[The death threats directed towards bloggers] is unacceptable!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and then because the number of the subject fails to agree with the singular copula, one of those needs to be changed, either to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[The death threats directed towards bloggers are] unacceptable!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or, since that rather ludicrously leaves only a single word from the original quote, to something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[A threat of death directed towards a blogger] is unacceptable!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you are still free to make an editorial comments in square brackets, but they should still flow with the sentence, either the way the sentences above are patched but still smooth or else as obviously parenthetical expressions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This [i.e. death threats against bloggers] is unacceptable!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T02:21:59.483" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14300" CreationDate="2011-02-27T02:23:50.773" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Square brackets are correct, but sometimes, stylistically, they're inadvisable. They can break up the flow of an important sentence in an essay, for example. In a case like that, I would add any context outside of the quote itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, for your example in the question, I might write: &quot;These death threats against bloggers raised a forceful response from Mike, simply that &quot;This is unacceptable!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I said, square brackets are correct, but not always necessary, and sometimes even inadvisable. It's a question of stylistic intent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I only wanted to point out an alternative to shoving bulky square brackets into a particularly eloquent/forceful/whatever quote if doing so seems odious for whatever reason. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastEditorUserId="23" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T02:31:15.167" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T02:31:15.167" />
  <row Id="14310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14305" CreationDate="2011-02-27T02:28:54.997" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Calling stilts an acycle makes exactly as much sense as calling them a motorless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T02:28:54.997" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13639" CreationDate="2011-02-27T02:30:13.343" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe it's short for dictator, in reference to some 'boss lady' type thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5518" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T02:30:13.343" />
  <row Id="14312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14294" CreationDate="2011-02-27T02:37:07.760" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As with many prescriptive &quot;rules&quot;, the rule you mention (a) generally does not reflect the actual usage of educated native speakers, and (b) is based on spurious argumentation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The argument is usually based on a couple of (probably largely unfounded) presumptions, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;that &quot;He's as tall as [me/I]&quot; somehow has to be &quot;short&quot; for &quot;He's as tall as [I am]&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;that sentences like &quot;He's as tall as me&quot; somehow introduce some ambiguity that can't be resolved by context/other natural means.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The spuriousness of the first suggestion can be shown, for example, if you look cross-linguistically. In French, &quot;plus/aussi grand que *je&quot; is not grammatical, and no French speaker is suggesting that the grammatical version &quot;plus/aussi grand que [moi]&quot; is short for &quot;plus/aussi grand que [je (ne) suis]&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second case, did your teacher or does grammar book actually point to a documented case where an real-life misunderstanding occurred because of &quot;as/than me&quot; being used where it &quot;should&quot; have been &quot;as/than I&quot;-- and if it does, does it explain why saying &quot;as/than I&quot;, rather than &quot;as/than I am&quot; (etc) is the best solution?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastEditorUserId="4941" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T07:19:59.850" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T07:19:59.850" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14313" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14367" CreationDate="2011-02-27T03:07:07.510" Score="1" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the etymology of the word &quot;inviolate&quot; and where does it appear out of the context of privacy (opposing how Warren and Brandeis used in to help define privacy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the full context please see my question here &lt;a href=&quot;http://mi.yodeya.com/questions/6012/is-the-term-idea-inviolate-used-in-the-old-testament&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://mi.yodeya.com/questions/6012/is-the-term-idea-inviolate-used-in-the-old-testament&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5515" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T22:59:22.283" Title="Etymology of &quot;Inviolate&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14265" CreationDate="2011-02-27T03:07:47.643" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In universities courses are (usually) marked by numbers, since they are hard to remember by name. First number corresponds to study year this course should be taken in, followed by 2 (or 3) course id. Usually the same subject course has greater id if they have to be taken in the same year. Therefore lower ids are usually assigned to basic courses. Most basic course would be 100 then, but, I guess, Subject One-Ow-One sounds nicer than Subject One-Ow-Ow, so 101 is used to indicate the very basics in that subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5520" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T03:07:47.643" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2975" CreationDate="2011-02-27T03:16:07.257" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few more words for people who share knowledge:&#xA;teacher,&#xA;&quot;teaching assistant&quot;,&#xA;tutor,&#xA;mentor,&#xA;coach,&#xA;guru,&#xA;contributor,&#xA;author,&#xA;polyglot,&#xA;blogger,&#xA;Wikipedian, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5510" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T03:16:07.257" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14313" CreationDate="2011-02-27T03:26:18.420" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the Oxford English Dictionary, &lt;em&gt;inviolate&lt;/em&gt; comes directly from the Latin &lt;em&gt;inviolātus&lt;/em&gt;, which is composed of &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/em&gt; (expressing negation) + &lt;em&gt;violātus&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a religious context, it can be used to mean that the person is &lt;em&gt;&quot;of unbroken faith&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, but the OED marks this usage as obsolete. (Obviously, since you're discussing the Old Testament, its obsoleteness does not apply in that context).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T03:26:18.420" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14307" CreationDate="2011-02-27T03:46:08.990" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hope I can answer at least part of your question, and with luck perhaps assuage your frustration to some small degree. You asked about origins:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lose&lt;/em&gt; comes to us from Old English&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ORIGIN Old English &lt;em&gt;losian&lt;/em&gt; [perish, destroy,] also [become unable to find,] from &lt;em&gt;los&lt;/em&gt; [loss.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Choose&lt;/em&gt; comes from the same language:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ORIGIN Old English &lt;em&gt;cēosan&lt;/em&gt;, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch &lt;em&gt;kiezen&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Old English, &lt;em&gt;losian&lt;/em&gt; would have sounded something like LOH-zee-ahn, while &lt;em&gt;cēosan&lt;/em&gt; would have sounded like CHAY-oh-zahn. Both these words are in infinitive form, and would have different conjugations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Middle English, &lt;em&gt;losian&lt;/em&gt; became &lt;em&gt;losien&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;cēosan&lt;/em&gt; became &lt;em&gt;chesen&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;chosen&lt;/em&gt;. Now, the double-&lt;em&gt;o&lt;/em&gt; construction, seen in words like &lt;em&gt;choose&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;boot&lt;/em&gt;, originally indicated a long vowel sound, which itself originally meant &lt;em&gt;literally&lt;/em&gt; a long vowel sound, i.e. one that was held for a longer period of time. There weren't any markings to indicate duration, so an extra letter was added to indicate that a word like &lt;em&gt;boot&lt;/em&gt; should actually be pronounced the way we pronounce &lt;em&gt;boat&lt;/em&gt; today — exactly analogous to German's pronounciation of &lt;em&gt;das Boot&lt;/em&gt;, which does not sound like something one wears on one's feet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there was another Middle English word for &lt;em&gt;lose&lt;/em&gt;, which was &lt;em&gt;leosen&lt;/em&gt; (from OE &lt;em&gt;lēosan&lt;/em&gt;), and it's not clear if our current word has a single ancestor. Possibly a merging of the two histories resulted in the pronunciation we have today. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I wish I could draw a clear line for you that brings us from past to present and illustrates why today &lt;em&gt;choose&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;lose&lt;/em&gt; and even &lt;em&gt;whose&lt;/em&gt; perfectly rhyme but &lt;em&gt;dose&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;moose&lt;/em&gt; do not, and why we pronounce &lt;em&gt;close&lt;/em&gt; (meaning near) differently from &lt;em&gt;close&lt;/em&gt; (meaning to shut), but the plain truth is I'm just not that smart. English pronunciation is quirky and peculiar in ways that defy description, much less understanding. If there were anything at all to be done about this, we would have an intolerable situation on our hands; but as there is nothing we &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; do about it, the situation must be endured. Be comforted by the belief that all these pronunciations will change in time — although to what is not at all clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll leave you with an old joke, and hope you can put aside your frustration long enough to laugh at the pronunciation and spelling mess we have inherited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Q. How do you spell &lt;em&gt;fish&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A. &lt;em&gt;Ghoti&lt;/em&gt;! Just use the &lt;em&gt;gh&lt;/em&gt; from &lt;em&gt;rough&lt;/em&gt;, the &lt;em&gt;o&lt;/em&gt; from &lt;em&gt;women&lt;/em&gt;, and the &lt;em&gt;ti&lt;/em&gt; from &lt;em&gt;action&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;ration&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;station&lt;/em&gt; or — well, you get the idea).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Source for the above etymologies: &lt;em&gt;Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English&lt;/em&gt;, by Eric Partridge]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T12:56:37.283" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T12:56:37.283" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14287" CreationDate="2011-02-27T04:11:00.160" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The raising of the negative from the subordinate verb &quot;know&quot; to the main verb &quot;do&quot; is known by (some) linguists as (variously) &lt;em&gt;not hopping&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;negative transportation&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;neg raising&lt;/em&gt;, and there's at four decades' worth of discussion as to what its rules are.  (This includes such things as what verbs are &lt;em&gt;neg-raising verbs&lt;/em&gt; in various languages.)  Of course, when expanding it back out you have to &quot;lower&quot; the negative back down to the subordinate verb again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One randomly chosen example of the literature in the field, that gives some pointers to others: &lt;a href=&quot;http://jstor.org./pss/412568&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Syntax and Semantics of Neg-Raising, with Evidence from French&lt;/em&gt;, Ellen F. Prince, &lt;em&gt;Language&lt;/em&gt;, June 1976&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5521" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T04:11:00.160" />
  <row Id="14320" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14321" CreationDate="2011-02-27T04:50:43.650" Score="3" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the basic meaning of &lt;strong&gt;Credulous&lt;/strong&gt; , in which context it will be the best to use instead of &quot;willing to believe&quot; ? How formally we can use &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Credulous&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5366" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T05:13:18.850" Title="&quot;Credulous&quot; - Formal Use" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14320" CreationDate="2011-02-27T05:01:35.303" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Credulous&lt;/em&gt; isn't a terribly common word, but it's not especially formal and can potentially be used in any register. The most important thing is its connotation: it means not just someone who is willing to believe, but implies a negative opinion of the person's intelligence and judgement. In this sense it's a near synonym of &lt;em&gt;gullible&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T05:01:35.303" />
  <row Id="14322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14320" CreationDate="2011-02-27T05:13:18.850" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Willing to believe&quot; is a much more neutral-sounding phrase than &quot;credulous&quot;, which is more along the lines of &quot;willing to believe anything (no matter how far-fetched or improbable)&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T05:13:18.850" />
  <row Id="14323" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14325" CreationDate="2011-02-27T05:54:14.557" Score="2" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between 'resolve' and 'solve'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T19:53:02.543" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T19:53:02.543" Title="What's the difference between 'resolve' and 'solve'?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14323" CreationDate="2011-02-27T06:27:17.873" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Resolve&lt;/em&gt; is used to mean the end of a conflict--&quot;The differences between the two parties were resolved.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Solve&lt;/em&gt; is used to mean the solution to a logical problem--&quot;He solved the math puzzle.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=resolve&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=resolve&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=solve&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=solve&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="502" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T06:27:17.873" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14323" CreationDate="2011-02-27T06:27:56.430" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, &lt;em&gt;resolve&lt;/em&gt; has several meanings.  There is one meaning that is clearly closest to &lt;em&gt;solve&lt;/em&gt;, which I will assume is the one you want to differentiate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So: When you &lt;em&gt;resolve&lt;/em&gt; something (a problem, an issue, a question), you deal with it conclusively.  You have finished it, it is done, there is nothing left to concern yourself about.  This is not to say, however, that your handling of the matter was ideal, nor even necessarily satisfactory; there are many possible ways that the thing could have been dealt with, you picked one and saw it through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you &lt;em&gt;solve&lt;/em&gt; something, you find (and presumably implement) a solution to it.  This means that you have dealt with it &lt;strong&gt;successfully&lt;/strong&gt;, finding what was quite possibly the only way (or at most one of a few ways) to succeed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The issue has been resolved, although none of us is happy with the final outcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The question has been solved; the correct answer is posted for all to see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T06:27:56.430" />
  <row Id="14326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13189" CreationDate="2011-02-27T06:49:19.000" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my dialect of American English (mid-western), the unstressed &quot;can&quot; is generally pronounced [ken] or  [kən], whereas &quot;can't&quot; is always pronounced with a short &quot;a&quot;, as [kænt].  In a stressed position, it's [kæn] vs. [kænt], but the final 't' sound is always aspirated instead of glottal-stopped, making the distinction fairly easy to recognize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T06:49:19.000" />
  <row Id="14327" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14343" CreationDate="2011-02-27T07:50:56.393" Score="2" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you have this construct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;. . . is a key factor in the &lt;strong&gt;making&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;controlling&lt;/strong&gt; of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should you leave only the last verb in the gerund:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;. . . is a key factor in the &lt;strong&gt;make&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;controlling&lt;/strong&gt; of the water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastEditorUserId="5342" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T15:58:08.473" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T17:37:22.480" Title="Using the gerund two times in a row" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="14328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14327" CreationDate="2011-02-27T07:55:59.320" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No; the first version is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T07:55:59.320" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="14329" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14330" CreationDate="2011-02-27T09:08:25.217" Score="0" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;By using this behavior, you can change&#xA;  some of the default settings for this&#xA;  provider like the connection string or&#xA;  whether the instance should be removed&#xA;  from the database after its&#xA;  completion, &lt;strong&gt;to name others&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="833" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T10:14:29.183" Title="What's the meaning of the phrase &quot;to name others&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14329" CreationDate="2011-02-27T09:12:34.073" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means: To mention other settings&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;see -verb here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/name&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/name&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also say, &lt;em&gt;to name a few&lt;/em&gt;.  In this case, that would sound better if there are many more settings. Alternative: &lt;em&gt;to name some examples&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T10:14:29.183" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T10:14:29.183" />
  <row Id="14331" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-27T12:24:12.243" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/192/is-it-correct-to-use-their-instead-of-his-or-her&quot;&gt;Is it correct to use &amp;ldquo;their&amp;rdquo; instead of &amp;ldquo;his or her&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I, and many people I have heard, occasionally use 'they' and 'their' in the singular when gender is not known. For example, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Someone burgled our house yesterday. &lt;strong&gt;They&lt;/strong&gt; must've cut &lt;strong&gt;their&lt;/strong&gt; head on the broken window, because there is blood there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this incorrect or not used in some places?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If not, I have read, such as in style books, the awkwardness of not assuming certain people are a 'he' or 'she' and using 'his' and 'hers' with them respectively, thereby having to say 'the reader... he/she should...his/her'. Why don't they simply use 'they' and 'their'?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this a recent development in English?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this type of usage present in other languages (pronouns for both genders)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="852" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T14:30:15.273" ClosedDate="2011-02-27T16:32:22.297" Title="Use of they as singular" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14331" CreationDate="2011-02-27T13:16:21.597" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;singular they&lt;/a&gt; and is highly controversial.  Some forms are more acceptable than others.  It is a old usage and Caxton wrote in the 15th century something like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Each of them should ... make themself ready&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;though I suspect many people might now prefer &lt;em&gt;themselves&lt;/em&gt; to make the clash of grammatical number less obvious.  Here are are four examples of which the first is probably most widely acceptable, and the fourth least.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Students should work by themselves &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Each student should work by themselves &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Students should work by themself &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Each student should work by themself&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer where possible is to rewrite to either of &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Students should work alone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Each student should work alone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and then there will be no objection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T13:16:21.597" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14331" CreationDate="2011-02-27T13:28:47.553" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an old problem. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/austheir.html#X1x&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Please see this comprehensive history and analysis&lt;/a&gt; of &quot;singular they.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T13:28:47.553" />
  <row Id="14334" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14335" CreationDate="2011-02-27T13:30:40.183" Score="5" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does it mean when someone or something is referred to as being &quot;86'd&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="5262" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T23:07:44.377" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T23:07:44.377" Title="What does the term &quot;86'd&quot; relate to?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="14335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14334" CreationDate="2011-02-27T13:40:38.433" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without further context, I would take it to mean that that someone or something was rejected, thrown out or discarded. It's a slang expression, encountered primarily in restaurant context. When you eighty-six someone, you refuse to serve them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/86#Verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lists&lt;/a&gt; a few more meanings, along with this bit about etymology:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Origin uncertain. The [Oxford English Dictionary] suggests possible rhyming slang for &lt;em&gt;nix&lt;/em&gt;. Other more elaborate theories include Delmonaco Restaurant in New York City, as item #86 on their menu, their house steak, is supposed to have run out often in the 19th century; another theory is that this term came from the New York speakeasy Chumley’s, which was a hotspot in the 20s. Chumley’s is hidden inside a west village building which has two entrances, a well set back main entrance on Barrow Street and an obscure back-door exit on 86 Bedford Street. When police were sighted approaching the main entrance, the barkeeps yelled ‘86-it' to hide the liquor and signal the patrons to quickly exit the back door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Maven's Word of the Day has some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19961101&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;additional discussion&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The ultimate origin of &lt;em&gt;eighty-six&lt;/em&gt; is unknown. The most widely accepted theory is that eighty-six is rhyming slang for nix[.] One problem with this theory is that rhyming slang has never been very popular in the United States. Another problem is that it doesn't account for the origin of other numeric codes such as [eighty-two, ninety-five, and ninety-nine], which would seem to be related to eighty-six. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T13:47:48.133" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T13:47:48.133" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14334" CreationDate="2011-02-27T13:49:55.930" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a fuller rundown of the term and its etymology, check out snopes.com's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/86.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;explanation&lt;/a&gt;. [Warning: the site uses annoying pop-behind windows, but the material is, in my estimation, worth the minor aggravation.] &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T13:49:55.930" />
  <row Id="14337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14206" CreationDate="2011-02-27T14:16:04.003" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All things that could be stored on a spool have coils.  So perhaps the word 'windings' in combination with coils.  As in: &quot;Windings, left uncoiled, are hazardous.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5286" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T14:16:04.003" />
  <row Id="14338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14046" CreationDate="2011-02-27T14:19:14.483" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest the word &quot;gust&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5286" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T14:19:14.483" />
  <row Id="14339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14331" CreationDate="2011-02-27T14:30:15.273" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's perfectly common and acceptable to a large number of speakers and writers. It is also common and acceptable, for example, in the drafting of legal documents. So it is perfectly acceptable to write in a contract e.g. &quot;The Vendor declares that &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt; will...&quot; rather than &quot;he or she&quot; or another circumlocution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is quite common across languages for a &quot;plural&quot; pronoun to also refer to a singular, or vice versa, and indeed to refer to different persons generally. A couple of examples in &quot;mainstream&quot; languages are German &quot;Sie&quot; and French &quot;vous&quot; and &quot;on&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T14:30:15.273" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14334" CreationDate="2011-02-27T16:20:11.107" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cecil Adams, author of the &quot;Straight Dope&quot; columns, is usually pretty good on etymology and you can read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/255/where-does-the-term-86-come-from&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;his take on &quot;86&quot; here&lt;/a&gt;. His conclusion that it is restaurant code is compelling because there were other code numbers as well, to whit: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Other lunch counter code numbers (I&#xA;  rely here on the Morris Dictionary of&#xA;  Word and Phrase Origins) include 82, I&#xA;  need a glass of water (80 and 81 at&#xA;  times meant the same thing); 99, the&#xA;  manager is on the prowl; 98, ditto for&#xA;  the assistant manager; 33, gimme a&#xA;  cherry-flavored Coke; 55, I crave a&#xA;  root beer; 19, I yearn for a banana&#xA;  split; and 87-1/2, check out the babe&#xA;  over yonder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rhyming slang is not a feature of American English and the suggested cognate with &quot;nix&quot; is non-compelling, except that it &lt;em&gt;actually is&lt;/em&gt; thinkable with respect to a restaurant number code. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T16:20:11.107" />
  <row Id="14342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2975" CreationDate="2011-02-27T16:40:57.083" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word you are looking for is 'pedagogue'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T16:40:57.083" />
  <row Id="14343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14327" CreationDate="2011-02-27T17:37:22.480" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to say &quot;making and controlling&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you have there is a &lt;strong&gt;parallel structure&lt;/strong&gt;.  A parallel structure is basically when you condense multiple sentences varying in only one item down to a single sentence with a list of the varied items:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I entered the marathon.  I entered the decathlon.  I entered the pole vault.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;becomes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I entered the marathon, decathlon, and pole vault.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you form a parallel structure, all the elements in the parallel MUST be in the same grammatical form: all nouns, all gerunds, all infinitive verbs, all prepositional phrases, etc.  No mixing and matching is allowed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T17:37:22.480" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14344" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-27T17:39:32.510" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say the first is the correct one (with apostrophe), but I see the other one much more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Don't know if it is relevant, but I'm a British English user.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T22:49:06.880" Title="&quot;practitioners' community&quot; or &quot;practitioners community&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14345" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-27T18:05:54.203" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;Researchers' communities think bananas have a lack of reliability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I say this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;There was a lack of reliability &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; the bananas, from the researchers' communities.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;There was a lack of reliability &lt;strong&gt;of&lt;/strong&gt; the bananas, in the researchers' communities.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or none of the above?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T11:13:34.650" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T11:13:34.650" Title="Lack of reliability &quot;in&quot; or &quot;of&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14345" CreationDate="2011-02-27T18:36:25.503" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Between those two choices I would have to go with &quot;of&quot;, as reliability is a concept possessed by the banana as a whole rather than an ingredient contained by the banana.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the sentence would benefit greatly from re-wording to eliminate the passive voice and its unnecessarily complex structure:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The bananas were unreliable in the researchers' communities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The researchers' communities felt that the bananas could not be relied upon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The bananas had no reliability as far as the researchers' communities were concerned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T18:36:25.503" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14348" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-27T18:47:21.093" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a problem that has long troubled me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imagine that I have a block of prose organized in three paragraphs. I want to construct a single quotation that contains only the first and third paragraph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I use ellipsis if I want to tell readers that I am skipping sentences in a quotation. How do I tell readers that the quotation is skipping a paragraph?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5536" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T23:23:01.337" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T23:23:01.337" Title="Quotations that skip paragraphs" Tags="&lt;quotations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14348" CreationDate="2011-02-27T18:58:03.510" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use an ellipsis, typeset on a line by itself (or paragraph).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first paragraph of the quotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[…]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The third paragraph of the quotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T18:58:03.510" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14348" CreationDate="2011-02-27T19:13:24.427" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with ShreevatsaR, but I would also suggest that you could also provide a small bit of linking text, like so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Further on, he elaborated on the point:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If an ellipsis is going to take an entire paragraph anyway, a bit of text takes up no more room and may add clarity. Use your judgment. Here are some types of linking text I would use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Later, he seems to refine his assertion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After a little more descriptive text, he finally gets to the point:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While that seems forceful enough by itself, Ms. Peters later on delivers this devastating critique:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And so on. Obviously the linking text would depend on the subject and the type of narrative that's being interrupted by your deletion. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T19:13:24.427" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14351" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-27T19:29:31.977" Score="13" ViewCount="503" Body="&lt;p&gt;My daughter's English teacher insists that synonyms for &quot;turn up&quot; and &quot;turn down&quot; (volume)do not include the words increase and decrease.  We wondered if we had been using increase and decrease incorrectly for years or....? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5537" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T00:35:04.633" Title="Can one &quot;decrease&quot; or &quot;increase&quot; sound volume?" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="14352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14351" CreationDate="2011-02-27T19:42:07.663" Score="27" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your daughter's English teacher is nuts.  Sound volume certainly may be increased or decreased (as a non-countable mass noun).  Possibly the teacher may be focusing on the &lt;em&gt;setting&lt;/em&gt; on the volume control as distinct from the sound volume itself, but even if so that doesn't hold much water; even if the setting is a countable quantity, we still speak of those as being increased or decreased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really want to know the teacher's detailed reasoning behind this assertion, because it seems nonsensical as given.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T19:42:07.663" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14351" CreationDate="2011-02-27T19:53:02.337" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your daughter's English teacher could very easily open a dictionary and find that she's incorrect:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Turn something up&lt;/strong&gt; 1 &lt;em&gt;increase&lt;/em&gt; the&#xA;  volume or strength of sound, heat,&#xA;  etc., by turning a knob or switch on a&#xA;  device. 2 reveal or discover something&#xA;  : New Yorkers confidently expect the&#xA;  inquiry to turn up nothing. 3 shorten&#xA;  a garment by raising the hem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5419" LastEditorUserId="5419" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T19:58:10.930" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T19:58:10.930" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14344" CreationDate="2011-02-27T20:20:47.213" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't seen this specific phrase, so not sure if context would alter the question. Grammatically both can be correct.  You can have a community of practitioners that they themselves do not own, in which case the second choice would be correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3269" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T20:20:47.213" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14355" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14363" CreationDate="2011-02-27T20:24:27.507" Score="0" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a formal context, I would like to tell the author (whom I admire) of a posting that I was happy that I discovered/found it because I did not expect it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was very pleased to read your posting in last week's issue of ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am concerned that &lt;em&gt;pleased&lt;/em&gt; might come across as &lt;em&gt;satisfied&lt;/em&gt;, like I am his boss telling him that he did a good job. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also thought about&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was very pleased to &lt;em&gt;have found&lt;/em&gt; your posting in last week's issue of ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any comment would be appreciated. (I am not a native speaker.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2742" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T23:01:19.747" Title="&quot;very pleased to read your posting&quot; -- pleased=happy vs. pleased=satisfied" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;politeness&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="14356" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14357" CreationDate="2011-02-27T20:29:41.917" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;If one says that a road &lt;em&gt;snakes&lt;/em&gt;, does it necessarily imply that the road is &lt;em&gt;winding&lt;/em&gt;?  Or can it also express that the road is &lt;em&gt;long&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;stretched out&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T20:33:41.947" Title="Does a road that &quot;snakes&quot; always imply a &quot;winding&quot; road?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;figures-of-speech&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14356" CreationDate="2011-02-27T20:33:41.947" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The verb &lt;em&gt;snakes&lt;/em&gt; indicates that something winds or twists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;snake&lt;/strong&gt; v. [&lt;em&gt;intrans.&lt;/em&gt;] move or extend with the twisting motion of a snake&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/snake#Verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary definition&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To move in a winding path.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T20:33:41.947" />
  <row Id="14358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14355" CreationDate="2011-02-27T20:36:33.033" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think both of your examples would have the effect you are looking for.   The second is the better of the two in my opinion though; it conveys a little more context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5266" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T20:36:33.033" />
  <row Id="14359" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14362" CreationDate="2011-02-27T21:17:24.060" Score="3" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the word, ‘Pinkie-sized’ in the following examples. From the definition of ‘pinkie’ as ‘small –Scottish / child talk in a dictionary at hand, and ‘small finger’ in Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, I guess it ‘small-sized,’ though I’m not sure. ‘Pinkie’ gives me an image just like pinkish, therefore strange combination with 'size.'  What does it mean? Is it a technical term?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pinkie-sized laser-powered video projectors coming soon ... Resolution is standard definition at 640 x 480, so it's not exactly going to be running your home theater, but that's not the intended use. ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The brain's pinkie-sized hippocampus, which helps to archive memories, shrinks naturally as we age. But studies indicate that aerobic activities such as walking not only may help the hippocampus stop shrinking, but might even help it grow.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T21:26:40.423" Title="What does ‘Pinkie-sized’ mean?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="14360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14359" CreationDate="2011-02-27T21:22:38.237" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;pinkie&lt;/em&gt; is the smallest finger in your hand.  This is the one farthest from your thumb.  The pinkie may also be called the fifth finger.  &lt;em&gt;Pinkie-sized&lt;/em&gt; means roughly the size of a pinkie (usually an adult pinkie).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T21:22:38.237" />
  <row Id="14361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14359" CreationDate="2011-02-27T21:24:09.733" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pinkie&lt;/em&gt; is an informal term used to refer to the smallest finger on the hand. &lt;em&gt;Pinkie-sized&lt;/em&gt; is derived from that—something &lt;em&gt;pinkie-sized&lt;/em&gt; is about the size of the average human's pinkie or smaller (it sometimes refers to just the distance between the last joint and the tip of the finger). It is not a technical term, and shares nothing relevant in common with the color &lt;em&gt;pink&lt;/em&gt; (it may possibly be etymologically similar, but that has no bearing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T21:24:09.733" />
  <row Id="14362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14359" CreationDate="2011-02-27T21:26:40.423" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means &quot;sized like the small finger&quot;; it is generally used to refer to something that is small, in the same way &lt;em&gt;thumbnail&lt;/em&gt; is used to means a small picture of an image.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T21:26:40.423" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14355" CreationDate="2011-02-27T21:46:55.583" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pleased&lt;/em&gt; can be used to express enjoyment; &quot;pleased to read&quot; can also mean &quot;glad to read&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also write one of the following sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was glad to read your post on the last week issue's […].&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I enjoyed reading your post […].&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I was glad to find your post […].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T23:01:19.747" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T23:01:19.747" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14287" CreationDate="2011-02-27T21:49:50.200" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to add some historical and lexicographic details. (the daily update is just too slow) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A hint is it isn’t &lt;em&gt;doont&lt;/em&gt;, but &lt;em&gt;doe-nt&lt;/em&gt; rhyming with &lt;em&gt;toe&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;&lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; and other auxiliary-clitic combinations are no longer ‘the sum of their parts’. They have diverged some centuries ago. It’s more obvious with &lt;em&gt;won't&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ain't&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;mustn't&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;mussnt&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's no synchronic way to tell why it isn’t &lt;em&gt;willn’t&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;mustnt&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;doont&lt;/em&gt; - other than learning those forms, consciously or unconsciously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good question, it’s one of the points that shows grammar isn’t as simple as a ‘technical’ or ‘logical’ combination of strings of phonemes (or letters if you prefer so). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The line of thought JdeBP hints to is right, but only if you &lt;strong&gt;believe&lt;/strong&gt; in (sorry, I mean it like that) underlying structures, which often require a lot of language-specific fiddling, beating the purpose of descriptions of Language-in-General.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5275" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T21:49:50.200" />
  <row Id="14365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14355" CreationDate="2011-02-27T22:17:19.100" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This one contains all your sentiments:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was pleasantly surprised to find your posting...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T22:17:19.100" />
  <row Id="14366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14344" CreationDate="2011-02-27T22:49:06.880" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The ess-apostrophe version is correct if it is equivalent to &lt;em&gt;community of practitioners&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;community to which the practitioners belong&lt;/em&gt; (and it's difficult for me to imagine how it wouldn't be with a plural &lt;em&gt;practitioners&lt;/em&gt; unless the host sentence is very convoluted).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is equivalent to &lt;em&gt;the community to which the practitioner belongs&lt;/em&gt;, then it would be &lt;em&gt;practitioner's community&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tried to imagine a sentence where there would be no apostrophe, but everything I can think of would require a comma between &lt;em&gt;practitioners&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;community&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T22:49:06.880" />
  <row Id="14367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14313" CreationDate="2011-02-27T22:59:22.283" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume you're talking about the passage at &lt;a href=&quot;http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/privacy/#PriHumDig&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/privacy/#PriHumDig&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;According to Bloustein, Warren and&#xA;  Brandeis failed to give a positive&#xA;  description of privacy, however they&#xA;  were correct that there was a single&#xA;  value connecting the privacy&#xA;  interests, a value they called&#xA;  “inviolate personality.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not being a lawyer, ethicist, or philosopher, it seems to me that the term is an attempt to abstract that part of an individual which holds a right to privacy - not everything we say or do is subject to privacy (for example, a public statement made by you can then be reported freely by anyone to anyone), but there is an 'inviolate' aspect of the individual (for example, a private conversation cannot be recorded without agreement by both parties).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, the exact extent of the 'inviolate personality' versus the 'public personality' is something rather vague, and a lot of time is spent in courts and governments concerning the protection of these privacies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T22:59:22.283" />
  <row Id="14368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14155" CreationDate="2011-02-27T23:17:28.290" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Daniel. As a fellow Brit, when the palm is facing it means Victory and is relatively inoffensive (Churchill is famous for this sign). When the back of the hand is shown then it's deliberately offensive and means F*** Off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5541" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T23:17:28.290" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14369" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16389" CreationDate="2011-02-27T23:24:53.790" Score="7" ViewCount="348" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some background first: As I was reading some past answers on English L&amp;amp;U, I came across &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1628/cheers-vs-thanks-in-england&quot;&gt;this old question&lt;/a&gt;, where the top accepted answer maintained there were distinct class differences in the use of the expression &quot;cheers&quot; amongst the British. Some people disagreed with the tone of the accepted answer; in particular, the answerer was accused of stereotyping in the comments, and his response was challenged by another user who in response gave what he obviously considered a laughable stereotype of upper-class English speaking: &quot;Top drawer, what?!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remembered then that I'd often seen and heard &quot;wot wot&quot; used in the same mocking way.  For example, one of my childhood friends, if he wanted to play mock-Briton, might say something like: &quot;Tally-ho, old bean, wot wot?&quot;  Googling informs me this usage isn't just idiosyncratic on his part; evidently, lots of people are interested in the history of this phrase, as Google suggests &quot;wot wot British&quot; as a query, with IMO few helpful responses on the first couple of pages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is this impression accurate: Did upper-class (or any class, for that matter) British really use to speak like this, i.e.  is this expression mocking because it's so archaic that it seems funny now?  If not, where did this caricature come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T08:22:34.727" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T10:02:42.033" Title="Is &quot;wot wot&quot; or &quot;what-what&quot; an authentic British expression? If it's supposed to be mocking, what is it mocking?" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14370" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14371" CreationDate="2011-02-27T23:38:19.597" Score="5" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I.e. is there a known historical reason behind why the British began calling each other &quot;governor&quot; and &quot;guv&quot;? The various online dictionaries I've consulted say it is now a way to refer to those of elder status, but I was wondering how it was adopted in the first place.   And is it still used frequently amongst native British speakers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T23:56:46.383" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T16:01:57.600" Title="What is the origin of the British &quot;guv&quot;? Is it still used colloquially?" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14370" CreationDate="2011-02-28T00:15:33.287" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends where you go.  In some communities it is used a lot, in others not so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not used for elders at all, not that I've ever noticed.  It is used to show deference to either your boss, or a person you are currently serving.  It is quite common in East London, among a certain type of people, almost always men, to other men, can't recall ever hearing a woman use it in public, or to a woman, apart from inside the civil forces (it is often used in the police and fire brigade for superiors by subordinates, regardless of sex).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using it in full, as governor (usually slightly contracted by accent to guv'ner), is not overly common, it sounds odd to my London ear, slightly archaic.  If someone used it to someone, I would assume they were being insincere with the respect it implies; the senior prison manager is called a governor usually and the prisoners will use it with contempt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Guv&lt;/em&gt; is used plenty though, plenty of people use &lt;em&gt;boss&lt;/em&gt; instead, in the same way.  Particularly in immigrant communities.  I personally use &lt;em&gt;sir&lt;/em&gt; in the same way, as do some more old fashioned people as a form of general politeness.  This usage is mainly employed in trade, if I get a taxi, the driver is liable to call me guv, or boss, or sir.  I am liable to call him sir.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By no means all people do this, it is just a form of politeness particular to certain situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Guv&lt;/em&gt; is still used in certain companies and organisations for the manager, or, more likely, foreman.  Just a form of address.  This is it's original usage in the current form, coming down from Latin via French.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T16:01:57.600" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T16:01:57.600" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14372" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T01:12:38.593" Score="6" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;So...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am seeking a new job and several recruiters are helping me. Instead of saying 'Thank you', should I say 'I appreciate'? Which one is more polite?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could someone please tell me how to express one's gratefulness to someone else in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1268" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T08:44:34.443" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T21:01:26.230" Title="What is an alternative for &quot;thank you&quot;?" Tags="&lt;alternative&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="14373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14372" CreationDate="2011-02-28T01:19:39.103" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Thank you&quot; is serviceable in all contexts. Since it is so common, though, it may not feel like enough. In that case, you can say &quot;I appreciate your help&quot; or &quot;Thank you so much&quot; or &quot;I'm very grateful&quot; — there are many ways to express gratitude.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, remind yourself that recruiters &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; getting paid for their work, so you shouldn't feel you have to be too effusive in your thanks. A simple &quot;thank you&quot; will probably suffice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T01:19:39.103" />
  <row Id="14374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14372" CreationDate="2011-02-28T01:32:15.393" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best one is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am honored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Longer ones describing what you are honored by are even better:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am honored to be graced by your&#xA;  presence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It reminds me of Tolkien and Paolini. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't like being a hobbit, there's always &quot;Thanks&quot;, which makes everyone but elves comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Sauron doesn't like being thanked either.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2411" LastEditorUserId="2411" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T01:37:23.703" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T01:37:23.703" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14372" CreationDate="2011-02-28T01:37:22.327" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like to use &lt;em&gt;obliged&lt;/em&gt; in these types of situations, although &lt;em&gt;thank you&lt;/em&gt; really is sufficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4944" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T01:37:22.327" />
  <row Id="14376" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T01:50:06.970" Score="7" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there any words that are slang for another word which is itself a slang term for something else, but the secondary slang term is not slang for the original word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, given words &lt;code&gt;Y&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;Z&lt;/code&gt;, where &lt;code&gt;Y&lt;/code&gt; is a slang term for &lt;code&gt;Z&lt;/code&gt;, does there exist a word &lt;code&gt;X&lt;/code&gt; such that it is slang for &lt;code&gt;Y&lt;/code&gt;, but not for &lt;code&gt;Z&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1648" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T03:04:12.347" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T11:03:08.977" Title="Do any non-transitive (in mathematical sense) slang terms exist?" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14377" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14392" CreationDate="2011-02-28T01:59:02.033" Score="3" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;As we all know, English is evolving.  Constructs considered repugnant 100 years ago are widely-accepted today.  Thousands of words in our vocabulary have fallen into disuse while thousands more have been adopted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question: is English becoming easier to learn or harder?  This is especially relevant given that--for better or worse--learning English is fast becoming a requirement for many non-native speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5188" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T06:36:50.750" ClosedDate="2011-02-28T10:35:52.437" Title="Is English becoming easier or harder to learn?" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;&lt;language-evolution&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14378" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T02:03:28.910" Score="0" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi.&#xA;What is the difference between the following sentences:&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;This product is sold very well.&#xA;This product sells very well.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;If the meaning is the same, what pragmatic difference is there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5161" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T02:48:23.967" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T02:48:23.967" Title="Active or passive verbs" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;passive-voice&gt;&lt;active-voice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14378" CreationDate="2011-02-28T02:23:47.073" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meaning is not the same. (And I think you mean &quot;practical&quot; instead of &quot;pragmatic&quot; as well.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This product is sold very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That statement implies little about the product, and more about the person selling it. Nevertheless, it is poorly constructed and something a native speaker would not be likely to say. You could use the passive voice to say &quot;This product is sold in pharmacies,&quot; or &quot;This product is sold by the gallon,&quot; or even &quot;This product is sold all across America.&quot; But you would not describe the sales volume in this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead, your second sentence works just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This product sells very well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This statement means that the product is very popular: a lot of people buy it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T02:23:47.073" />
  <row Id="14380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14377" CreationDate="2011-02-28T02:36:03.073" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just because thousands of words have fallen into disuse does not imply that English has become 'easier'. The purpose of any language is communication, and as society changes, the things that we wish to express also change. It is therefore inevitable that any language, let alone English which is so widely used, will be in a state of constant flux. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English is no easier to learn, today. If 10 words have gone out of usage, another 10 have come into usage. It is just as hard to write good, expressive English today as it was 100 years ago. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the amount of English spoken around and written around the world, definitely exposes people to a lot of English. So, it might be possible to pick up the language more easily just because so many people use it. So, it might have become slightly easier to learn, just because of its immense popularity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3982" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T02:36:03.073" />
  <row Id="14381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14376" CreationDate="2011-02-28T02:56:57.970" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Wiener&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;frank&lt;/em&gt; are slang terms for a hot dog.  A &quot;hot dog&quot; is a slang term for a show-off.  Neither &lt;em&gt;wiener&lt;/em&gt; nor &lt;em&gt;frank&lt;/em&gt; is a slang term for a show-off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T02:56:57.970" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14382" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14384" CreationDate="2011-02-28T03:02:27.183" Score="6" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across this word in the answer provided by &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/2303/robusto&quot;&gt;Robusto&lt;/a&gt; for the question about &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/14372/what-is-alternative-for-thank-you&quot;&gt;Thank you&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because the last &lt;em&gt;e&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;service&lt;/em&gt; is not pronounced, I thought it should be deleted when &lt;em&gt;service&lt;/em&gt; is appended by &lt;em&gt;able&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess the reason for &lt;em&gt;serviceable&lt;/em&gt; may be related to the fact that the &lt;em&gt;i&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;service&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced as [ɪ] but not [aɪ].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I am not sure, and I would like to know the reason behind that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T03:18:15.177" Title="Why is it &quot;serviceable&quot; but not &quot;servicable&quot;?" Tags="&lt;suffix&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14382" CreationDate="2011-02-28T03:05:29.130" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because &quot;servicable&quot; would be pronounced with a hard c.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5450" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T03:05:29.130" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="14384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14382" CreationDate="2011-02-28T03:18:15.177" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The c is pronounced like k except when it comes before i or e: then it is pronounced like s. In &lt;em&gt;service&lt;/em&gt;, c comes before e, so that it is pronounced s. If we add -&lt;em&gt;able&lt;/em&gt;, we should normally remove the e, as you said; but then we'd get &lt;em&gt;servicable&lt;/em&gt;. Because c before a is pronounced k, the sound of the word would change profoundly; that is undesirable, which is why we add an extra e: serviceable. The same applies to g: &lt;em&gt;change =&gt; chang-able =&gt; changeable.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T03:18:15.177" />
  <row Id="14385" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14386" CreationDate="2011-02-28T03:45:40.163" Score="4" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;The context is :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think you are dug into a position.  And you think it's a sign of weakness to change your mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="786" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T09:02:16.097" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T09:02:16.097" Title="What does dig mean in &quot;You are dug into a position&quot;? " Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14385" CreationDate="2011-02-28T03:48:33.327" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Dug in&quot; refers to earthen field fortifications used in military conflict.  The idea is that the person has &quot;fortified their position&quot; and is prepared to defend rather than abandon it.  It implies that they're invested in the stance they've taken and lack flexibility to change (just as fortifications increase one's ability to defend a position, but rob one of mobility).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T03:53:46.410" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T03:53:46.410" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14387" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T03:54:28.217" Score="4" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;For a game I need an &quot;orbital weapon platform&quot;/&quot;orbital weapons platform&quot; and wonder which one is correct, or sounds better for an English native speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5546" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T04:12:45.830" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T07:54:03.223" Title="&quot;Weapon platform&quot; or &quot;weapons platform&quot;?" Tags="&lt;modifiers&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14387" CreationDate="2011-02-28T04:11:07.687" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's the singular of a noun that is normally used as modifier for another noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Apple will publish the new version of its 64-bit operating system very soon.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The new orbital weapon platform will be operative before the end of June.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I look at &lt;em&gt;weapons platform&lt;/em&gt; on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American&lt;/a&gt;, I find eleven instances of the phrase (with six instances used in fiction contexts), and two instances of &lt;em&gt;weapon platform&lt;/em&gt;). Five instances of &lt;em&gt;weapons platform&lt;/em&gt; have been used in the period 2005-2010.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T07:54:03.223" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T07:54:03.223" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14387" CreationDate="2011-02-28T04:14:33.367" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Orbital weapons platform&quot; is typical usage for the topic (compare &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22orbital+weapons+platform%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exhibit A&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22orbital+weapon+platform%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exhibit B&lt;/a&gt;, displaying an 18:1 ratio in favor), and sounds better to my native English-speaking ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T04:14:33.367" />
  <row Id="14391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14387" CreationDate="2011-02-28T04:28:54.020" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think they're both possible; the difference to my ear is that I would expect an &quot;orbital weapons platform&quot; to be some sort of, well, platform, which supports or can support multiple weapons, while an &quot;orbital weapon platform&quot; could just be shortened to &quot;orbital weapon.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5548" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T04:28:54.020" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14377" CreationDate="2011-02-28T04:30:00.357" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that English is in fact becoming easier to learn, because the pressure from the corpus of speakers is always toward simpler and more accessible communication, and the pushback from prescriptive linguistics on a number of points that have made &quot;proper&quot; English more difficult to learn (such as idiotic rules about how you should refuse to casually split infinitives and that a preposition isn't a good thing to end a sentence with) has gradually eroded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T04:30:00.357" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14387" CreationDate="2011-02-28T04:31:21.693" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Orbital weapon platform&quot; sounds like there might be only one (very large) weapon on the platform, whereas &quot;Orbital weapons platform&quot; sounds like it might be bristling with many weapons. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's how it sounds to my native English ears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T04:31:21.693" />
  <row Id="14394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14377" CreationDate="2011-02-28T04:49:19.743" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Comparing Modern English with Old English, you can say Modern English has been simplified, especially because Modern English doesn't use most of the grammar cases previously used in Old English.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Simplifying it doesn't mean to make it easier, though. It also means that English now uses a single word (with different meanings) where Old English (or Middle English) used two different words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T04:49:19.743" />
  <row Id="14395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14351" CreationDate="2011-02-28T05:25:01.230" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sound volume could also be refered to as the measure of the pressure generated by a sound in decibels. As the measured result of the actions &lt;code&gt;turn up&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;turn down&lt;/code&gt; the synonyms &lt;code&gt;increase&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;decrease&lt;/code&gt; make complete sense. I think that the teacher needs to re-evaluate their ability for critical reasoning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5551" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T05:25:01.230" />
  <row Id="14396" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T05:51:43.777" Score="3" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding a question mark to the end of a &quot;How to&quot; or &quot;Where to&quot; sentence appears to be quite common. Here are two examples from this very site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to punctuate a list of questions?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Where to put the periods when using a parenthetical sentence?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my mind, the question mark doesn't belong at all, and it bothers me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I being unreasonable? Is this practice defensible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5549" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T17:39:37.033" Title="&quot;How to [...]?&quot; and &quot;Where to [...]?&quot; Questions that are not questions. Is this defensible?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14387" CreationDate="2011-02-28T06:02:57.433" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Orbital weapon platform&quot; would be a single vehicle which is launched into orbit to stage a weapon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Orbital weapons platform&quot; would be a system or vehicle design allowing many weapons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, if it's a &lt;em&gt;Civilization&lt;/em&gt;-style technology which the user develops, it would be an orbital weapons platform.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If they launch a number of them one at a time, each is an orbital weapon platform.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4385" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T06:02:57.433" />
  <row Id="14398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14396" CreationDate="2011-02-28T06:03:47.557" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentences would be properly phrased in prose as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How do I punctuate a list of questions?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Where do I put the periods when using a parenthetical sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;[D]o i&lt;/em&gt; can be alternatively phrased as &lt;em&gt;does one&lt;/em&gt;, if formality or third-person point of view is required. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The examples you gave would be more suited to the title of a how-to guide, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How to Punctuate a List of Questions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, the article that follows would instruct one on punctuating a list of questions. This form is not for a question, but instead for a title, and thus should not be punctuated at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T06:03:47.557" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14399" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14401" CreationDate="2011-02-28T06:33:33.043" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a word that would mean &quot;disqualifier&quot; if &quot;disqualifier&quot; were a word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, let's say someone presents a list of qualifiers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;x&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;y&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;z&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and says you do not qualify if any of them apply to you. I would call these &quot;disqualifiers&quot; but apparently that is not actually a word. What is the right name for them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5029" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T09:42:00.043" Title="Word for &quot;disqualifier&quot;?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="14400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14377" CreationDate="2011-02-28T06:36:50.750" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think that the changes to the language themselves makes the language much easier or harder to learn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the language would have been unchanged for a long time, it would definitely be harder to learn, simply because it would be harder to use to form sentences that are relevant for the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can look at the spelling in english, which hasn't changed much. It would be easier to learn english if the spelling was based on how words are pronounced now instead of how they were pronounced a hundred years ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T06:36:50.750" />
  <row Id="14401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14399" CreationDate="2011-02-28T06:55:04.523" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd stick with &lt;em&gt;disqualifier&lt;/em&gt;, as its meaning quite obvious in context.  And there are several dictionaries that list it, including &lt;a href=&quot;http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?lextype=3&amp;amp;search=disqualifier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MSN Encarta&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/disqualifier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T06:55:04.523" />
  <row Id="14402" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14410" CreationDate="2011-02-28T07:10:27.427" Score="3" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes during instant messaging, people will want to express an action, possibly something where an acronym doesn't exist for, yet. The formula is generally opened by two colons, an action-description, and then closed by two colons (:: &lt;em&gt;action-description&lt;/em&gt; ::).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They will type something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;:: hugs ::&#xA;::jumps for joy::&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the name for this and where did it come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1454" LastEditorUserId="1454" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T14:38:52.057" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T14:38:52.057" Title="Where did ::action:: come from?" Tags="&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;internet&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14399" CreationDate="2011-02-28T07:31:46.817" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The words you list are qualifiers that don't apply to you.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Disqualifier&lt;/em&gt; is not a word I find in the NOAD; the closer word I can find is &lt;em&gt;disqualify&lt;/em&gt; (the verb), which means &quot;to declare someone not eligible for an office or activity&quot;, and it cannot be used in the sense you would use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T07:31:46.817" />
  <row Id="14404" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14417" CreationDate="2011-02-28T07:32:11.107" Score="6" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do you say &lt;em&gt;Bless you&lt;/em&gt; when people sneeze?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is there good reason or history?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When someone sneeze, if I don't say &lt;em&gt;Bless you&lt;/em&gt;, am I rude?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3106" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T07:39:01.460" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T11:42:44.900" Title="&quot;Bless you&quot; &amp; sneezing" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;learning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="14406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14451" CreationDate="2011-02-28T07:50:56.847" Score="2" ViewCount="260" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to express hate about someone that passed away, how would you say that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2212" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T14:59:42.420" Title="What's the opposite of &quot;Rest In Peace&quot;" Tags="&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14369" CreationDate="2011-02-28T07:53:18.843" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would associate &quot;..., what what?&quot; with a old-fashioned military officer stereotype like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_Blimp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Colonel Blimp&lt;/a&gt;.  &quot;Wot wot&quot; (pronounced the same, so a deliberate illiteracy) might be an affectation by comedian &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Brand&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Russell Brand&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Currently the most common use is in a pre-school children's television programme &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_WotWots&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The WotWots&lt;/a&gt; and the linked range of toys.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T07:53:18.843" />
  <row Id="14408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14406" CreationDate="2011-02-28T07:59:58.883" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a range of curses which would express such a sentiment, partly affected by religious belief, so &quot;be reincarnated as a cockroach&quot; might be suitable for those who think such a thing is possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common Christian antonym is probably &quot;burn in hell&quot;, particularly in opposition to the modern prayer: &quot;May they rest in peace, and rise in glory&quot; which is replacing the older &quot;Rest eternal grant unto them O Lord and may light perpetual shine upon them&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastEditorUserId="4333" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T08:05:09.533" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T08:05:09.533" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14406" CreationDate="2011-02-28T08:00:27.383" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good riddance? There are an awful lot of ways you could express that sentiment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5443" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T08:00:27.383" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14402" CreationDate="2011-02-28T08:05:11.430" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is one of the many, many variations on what is called, in my neck of the woods, &lt;em&gt;emote syntax&lt;/em&gt;.  The version you describe may be a descendant of &quot;emotes&quot; (generally meaning a freeform message display) as they are typically implemented on MUDs, MUSHes, MUCKs, and so on, which uses a command form like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;:jumps for joy&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which results in everybody in the same virtual &quot;room&quot; seeing, for a user named Somebody,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Somebody jumps for joy.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In IM, I personally use &lt;code&gt;*action*&lt;/code&gt; emote syntax.  &lt;code&gt;&amp;lt;action&amp;gt;&lt;/code&gt; is also popular, and &lt;code&gt;/action&lt;/code&gt; has made some headway from the MMORPGs where it's used for &quot;social actions&quot;.  People routinely just invent their own personal syntaxes out of whole cloth, which is another likely origin for your &lt;code&gt;::action::&lt;/code&gt; form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general idea of emote syntax may go back to the first MUD, which opened in 1978, and certainly isn't much older than Usenet, which dates to 1980.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T08:12:54.233" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T08:12:54.233" />
  <row Id="14411" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14490" CreationDate="2011-02-28T08:16:50.750" Score="0" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any differences between these two expressions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T17:30:16.640" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T18:23:07.920" Title="&quot;You are not going to be able to ... &quot; versus &quot;you can't ...&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;expression-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="14412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14411" CreationDate="2011-02-28T08:26:47.573" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, using &quot;you can't...&quot; doesn't imply any reason for what's keeping you from doing something. It might be something that you are clearly able to do, but should avoid for some other reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The expression &quot;you can't...&quot; can also be used as a request to keep someone from doing something, in that case the person is always able to do that action, or there would be no point in the request.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="3365" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T08:33:14.090" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T08:33:14.090" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14351" CreationDate="2011-02-28T08:38:05.460" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to offer another perspective in addition to the answers given. Perhaps the way the amplitude of the sound is modified is important in that context. &lt;em&gt;Turn up&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;turn down&lt;/em&gt; would suggest that there is a knob of some kind for one to turn to increase or decrease the amplitude. Also, &lt;em&gt;increase&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;decrease&lt;/em&gt;, though they are simple words, sound more technical, and that may be the concern of the teacher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T00:35:04.633" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T00:35:04.633" />
  <row Id="14414" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T08:40:02.840" Score="2" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi, I use Stackoverflow a lot and have noticed a certain trend that I myself got caught up in at one time of using the phrase &quot;I am having a problem&quot; in place of &quot;I have a problem.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would use this phrase for an event in the future &quot;I am having a steak dinner tonight,&quot; but for a problem that I need solved and am asking for a solution, I'd use &quot;I have a problem...&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would force us to use this phrase? Is it even valid English for the present tense?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2101" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T14:50:34.983" Title="Use of &quot;I am having&quot; in SO sites..." Tags="&lt;future-tense&gt;&lt;present-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="14415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14414" CreationDate="2011-02-28T08:43:26.080" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I am having a problem&quot; sounds more like the speaker is talking about a current and recent ongoing process, which is probably why it tends to show up on SO.  &quot;I have a problem&quot; also has an idiomatic usage meaning the speaker is &lt;em&gt;objecting&lt;/em&gt; to something, which isn't a meaning that occurs with &quot;I am having a problem&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's perfectly valid; it is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;present participle&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T08:43:26.080" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14404" CreationDate="2011-02-28T09:10:00.197" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following excerpt from &lt;a href=&quot;http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/respiratory/sneezing.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;howstuffworks.com&lt;/a&gt; gives some insight:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;God bless you&quot; is&#xA;  attributed to Pope Gregory the Great,&#xA;  who uttered it in the sixth century&#xA;  during a bubonic plague epidemic&#xA;  (sneezing is an obvious symptom of one&#xA;  form of the plague). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The exchangeable term &quot;gesundheit&quot;&#xA;  comes from Germany, and it literally&#xA;  means &quot;health.&quot; The idea is that a&#xA;  sneeze typically precedes illness. It&#xA;  entered the English language in the&#xA;  early part of the 20th century,&#xA;  brought to the United States by&#xA;  German-speaking immigrants. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For the most part, the various sneeze&#xA;  responses originated from ancient&#xA;  superstitions. Some people believed&#xA;  that a sneeze causes the soul to&#xA;  escape the body through the nose.&#xA;  Saying &quot;bless you&quot; would stop the&#xA;  devil from claiming the person's freed&#xA;  soul. Others believed the opposite:&#xA;  that evil spirits use the sneeze as an&#xA;  opportunity to enter a person's body.&#xA;  There was also the misconception that&#xA;  the heart momentarily stops during a&#xA;  sneeze (it doesn't), and that saying&#xA;  &quot;bless you&quot; was a way of welcoming the&#xA;  person back to life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We now know that sneezing is a reflex&#xA;  action and is most often the sign of&#xA;  something relatively benign, such as a&#xA;  cold or allergy. A sneeze also can be&#xA;  provoked by being outside in the&#xA;  sunlight or from smelling a strong&#xA;  odor. Still, we persist in the custom&#xA;  of saying &quot;bless you&quot; or &quot;gesundheit,&quot;&#xA;  mainly out of habit and common&#xA;  courtesy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the second part of your question; according to me, it depends on the context. If someone I'm talking to sneezes at that moment, I say it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T09:49:53.360" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T09:49:53.360" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14418" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T09:19:58.017" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Eventually we're hoping to compile a&#xA;  list of schools[?] ones that would&#xA;  benefit considerably from ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where &lt;code&gt;[?]&lt;/code&gt; is, would a semi-colon suit? What punctuation mark would be correct here and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A simple comma perhaps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3339" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T13:10:43.627" Title="What punctuation mark should I use here?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14418" CreationDate="2011-02-28T09:23:56.830" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A simple comma will do, as &lt;em&gt;ones that...&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;schools&lt;/em&gt; are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apposition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;apposition&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One hint is that &lt;em&gt;ones that...&lt;/em&gt; is not a complete sentence, but a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noun_phrase&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;noun phrase&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastEditorUserId="3812" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T09:31:05.217" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T09:31:05.217" />
  <row Id="14420" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T09:34:42.207" Score="0" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am normally good in english conversations, but if i talking to some strangers i can not even start the conversation (Instead of how may i help you .. i end up saying how i help you ..). Is there any way i can get rid of this ?I am nervous and i replace had with have or has most of the time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5557" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T09:34:42.207" ClosedDate="2011-02-28T14:32:58.830" Title="Difficulty to start a conversation ." Tags="&lt;conversation&gt;" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="14421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14399" CreationDate="2011-02-28T09:42:00.043" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If &lt;em&gt;disqualifier&lt;/em&gt; is truly not a word (as the red line under it indicates), I suggest you to simply use &lt;em&gt;qualifier&lt;/em&gt;. In my opinion, a &lt;em&gt;disqualifier&lt;/em&gt; is a qualifier to disqualify.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T09:42:00.043" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14422" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T10:34:33.353" Score="0" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a non-native English speaker. I usually write scientific technical reports which need to be in &quot;order&quot;, in terms of grammar, English, etc. Thanks to Microsoft Word, I can correct some type of obvious mistakes, but some other more complicated grammar errors or problems are not detected by such software, like &quot;it depends of&quot; instead of &quot;it depends on&quot; (right one), etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wonder if you can recommend me some software or online service that can detect such more complicated grammar, syntax and form errors/mistakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5281" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T18:25:14.613" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:25:14.613" ClosedDate="2011-02-28T14:34:30.980" Title="Software to detect grammar, syntax and form errors" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;formality&gt;" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14418" CreationDate="2011-02-28T10:50:09.617" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest using &quot;such - which&quot; as in &lt;em&gt;Eventually we're hoping to compile a list of &lt;strong&gt;such&lt;/strong&gt; schools &lt;strong&gt;which&lt;/strong&gt; would benefit considerably from&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T10:50:09.617" />
  <row Id="14424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14376" CreationDate="2011-02-28T11:03:08.977" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's arguable that what you ask for is impossible, slang or not.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Any example would have to involve a word with multiple meanings.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Strictly interpreted &quot;is synonymous with&quot; is an equivalence relation, therefore by definition transitive.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So if you say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A wanker is a tosser.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  A tosser is a thrower.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  But a wanker isn't a thrower.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are relying on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polysemy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;polysemy&lt;/a&gt; of &quot;tosser&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It has two separate meanings: masturbator and thrower.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;See also  &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivocation#Fallacious_reasoning&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the fallacy of equivocation&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5558" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T11:03:08.977" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14425" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T11:41:57.257" Score="2" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi. I'd like to have a dictionary in paper that won't be very big, at least there should be one tome, and it should be something like thefreedictionary.com but in paper, to use it offline.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Please advise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5560" LastEditorUserId="2415" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T12:58:53.493" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T18:01:47.373" Title="What is the best in-paper dictionary?" Tags="&lt;dictionaries&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14404" CreationDate="2011-02-28T11:42:44.900" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following is an excerpt from &lt;a href=&quot;http://ask.yahoo.com/20060411.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://ask.yahoo.com/20060411.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Another story veers toward the&#xA;  medical. Once upon an unenlightened&#xA;  time, people believed that the heart&#xA;  stopped during a sneeze. A hearty &quot;God&#xA;  bless you&quot; set the ol' ticker back in&#xA;  motion. Keep in mind these were the&#xA;  days before defibrillators and HMOs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And This is what &lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_do_people_say_%27God_Bless_You%27_when_you_sneeze&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WikiAnswers.com &lt;/a&gt;says &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are several theories for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One says that the phrase &quot;God Bless&#xA;  you&quot; originated from an Islamic&#xA;  practice around more than 1400 years&#xA;  ago. According to Islam religion, when&#xA;  someone sneezed, he should say &quot;All&#xA;  Praises to God&quot; and in reply to him,&#xA;  on sneezing, the people would say &quot;May&#xA;  God Bless You&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Another explanation is that when&#xA;  people sneezed it was thought that the&#xA;  heart would skip a beat and that&#xA;  instance would allow the devil to&#xA;  enter the body, so saying &quot;God bless&#xA;  you&quot; would keep the devil from&#xA;  entering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was thought, in the middle ages,&#xA;  that when one sneezed a significant&#xA;  amount of breath (the breath of life)&#xA;  could be expelled from the body and&#xA;  thus cause death. In which case one&#xA;  would go to heaven with God's&#xA;  Blessing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Written records state that the saying&#xA;  goes back to the time of Pope Saint&#xA;  Gregory I, or Gregory the Great, who&#xA;  was Pope of the Catholic Church from 3&#xA;  September 590 until he died in 604.&#xA;  When Pope Gregory ascended to the&#xA;  Papacy, it was just in time for the&#xA;  start of the Plague, so this Pope is&#xA;  unfortunately known as the patron&#xA;  saint of plague. He believed that&#xA;  constant repetition of litanies and&#xA;  unceasing prayer for God's help and&#xA;  intercession would help ward off&#xA;  sickness. On 16 February 590 A.D.,&#xA;  Pope Gregory decreed that whenever&#xA;  someone sneezed, others should say&#xA;  &quot;God bless you&quot; in response. The&#xA;  blessing was given in the hope that&#xA;  the one who sneezed wouldn't develop&#xA;  the plague.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Perhaps there was more to this than&#xA;  people realized: it is interesting to&#xA;  note that the plague of 590 A.D.&#xA;  dissipated very quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4217" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T11:42:44.900" />
  <row Id="14427" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T12:00:50.087" Score="0" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the sentence &quot;Testing for non failure as &lt;code&gt;apposed&lt;/code&gt; to success.&quot; Should it be &lt;code&gt;apposed&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;opposed&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My initial feeling was &lt;code&gt;apposed&lt;/code&gt;, because &lt;code&gt;opposed&lt;/code&gt; suggests opposition?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Interestingly chromium flags &lt;code&gt;apposed&lt;/code&gt; as an unknown word!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5561" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T12:10:08.163" Title="&quot;opposed&quot; as apposed to &quot;apposed&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14427" CreationDate="2011-02-28T12:10:08.163" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It should be &quot;opposed&quot;. &quot;Apposed&quot; would mean sitting next to each other instead of diametrically opposed, as failure and success are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T12:10:08.163" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14429" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14430" CreationDate="2011-02-28T12:43:16.587" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicates:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2736/an-sqa-or-a-sqa&quot;&gt;an SQA or a SQA?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1016/do-you-use-a-or-an-before-acronyms&quot;&gt;Do you use &amp;ldquo;a&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;an&amp;rdquo; before acronyms?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since SSD (solid-state drive) is pronounced es-es-dee, I'm wondering whether one should write &quot;an SSD&quot; or &quot;a SSD&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Saying &quot;a SSD&quot; out loud feels a bit off...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2415" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T12:57:07.657" ClosedDate="2011-02-28T15:52:05.393" Title="Is it &quot;a SSD&quot; or &quot;an SSD&quot;?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="14430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14429" CreationDate="2011-02-28T12:57:07.657" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely &lt;strong&gt;an SSD.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; is always determined by pronunciation, not by spelling.  You don’t even need to find acronyms to give examples where they disagree: one would always say/write &lt;em&gt;a European&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;*an European&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;an honest man&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;*a honest man&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only case where there’s doubt is when pronunciation varies.  For instance, with the acronym SCSI, computer professionals usually say “scuzzy”, but non-techies meeting it for the first time usually say “ess see ess eye”.  So one might reasonably encounter either &lt;em&gt;a SCSI cable&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;an SCSI cable&lt;/em&gt;, depending on the writer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, as you say, SSD is (as far as I know!) always pronounced letter-by-letter; so it’s definitely &lt;em&gt;an SSD&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T12:57:07.657" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14431" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14432" CreationDate="2011-02-28T13:05:56.250" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;China is a rich country, yet food prices are &lt;strong&gt;sky high&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 'sky' seems an adj.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T14:21:48.387" Title="Meaning of 'sky high' ?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14431" CreationDate="2011-02-28T13:09:12.643" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's an idiomatic way of saying &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/extremely&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;extremely&lt;/a&gt; high&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/exorbitantly&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;exorbitantly&lt;/a&gt; high&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Sky&lt;/em&gt; is not an adjective here; much rather, both words form a single entity that can work as an adjective or an adverb. You will often see it hyphenated, &lt;em&gt;sky-high&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T13:09:12.643" />
  <row Id="14433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14418" CreationDate="2011-02-28T13:10:43.627" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;None.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Toss out &lt;em&gt;ones&lt;/em&gt;:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... schools that would benefit...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T13:10:43.627" />
  <row Id="14434" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14435" CreationDate="2011-02-28T13:11:29.020" Score="0" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine bought something on &lt;em&gt;Groupon&lt;/em&gt;, and received a mail about how to use the voucher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Open the pdf file attachment&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Print voucher&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Take note of the fine print&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Redeem your voucher&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 1 and 2 are obvious, and 4 seems obvious as well, but what does the 3 mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T14:02:23.937" Title="What is &quot;take note of the fine print&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14434" CreationDate="2011-02-28T13:16:32.017" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means look out for any conditions, restrictions, limitations etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fine print&quot; refers to any kind of legalese that may be part of a contract or offer, usually written at the bottom in small letters (in hopes that the consumer will overlook it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example for a coupon:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Must be redeemed by 3/10/2011.  Minimum purchase $50.  Not valid for beverages.  Cannot be combined with other offers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T13:16:32.017" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14436" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T13:42:07.323" Score="9" ViewCount="281" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often hear an unlawful act, so what is an illegal act?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5564" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T18:32:06.267" Title="What is the difference between illegal and unlawful?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="6" />
  <row Id="14437" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14439" CreationDate="2011-02-28T13:45:35.590" Score="1" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;Question is self-explanatory. Just curious and want to expand my knowledge of English. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5565" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T14:23:56.757" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T17:51:13.923" Title="What does 'pregnant pause' mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14434" CreationDate="2011-02-28T13:49:17.880" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's probably useful to note that &lt;em&gt;fine&lt;/em&gt; in this sense does not mean &quot;of superior quality, skill, or appearance&quot;. Instead it welds &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;two other meanings&lt;/a&gt; together:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2&lt;/strong&gt; Very small in size, weight, or thickness&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and, in my opinion,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6&lt;/strong&gt; Exhibiting careful and delicate artistry&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the main &quot;fine print&quot; refers to the smallness of the type used, but whether by coincidence or sardonic intent the &quot;careful and delicate artistry&quot; certainly applies, as a great deal of careful and delicate lawyerly craft goes into it. Note that I'm not necessarily equating &quot;lawyerly&quot; with &quot;duplicitous&quot; or &quot;evil&quot; here, but many people would. Lawyers have to draw very &quot;fine&quot; distinctions in every contract they write, and the terms of a contract are what you are agreeing to in the example you cite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T14:02:23.937" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T14:02:23.937" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14437" CreationDate="2011-02-28T13:53:12.343" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A pregnant pause is a pause that builds up suspension in the listener/viewer, for a greater dramatic (especially comic) effect of what follows after the pause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Merriam-Webster &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pregnant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;has this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;3. rich in significance or implication &amp;lt;the pregnant phrases of the Bible — Edmund Wilson&amp;gt; &amp;lt;a pregnant pause&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia has &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_timing#Pregnant_pause&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this bit&lt;/a&gt; specifically on comic timing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A pregnant pause (as in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pregnant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;classical definition&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;many possibilities&quot;) is a technique of comic timing used to accentuate a comedy element, where the comic pauses at the end of a phrase to build up suspense. It's often used at the end of a comically awkward statement or in the silence after a seemingly non-comic phrase to build up a comeback. Refined by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Benny&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Jack Benny&lt;/a&gt;, the pregnant pause has become a staple of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-up_comedy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stand-up comedy&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T14:24:29.020" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T14:24:29.020" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14437" CreationDate="2011-02-28T13:58:56.747" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that pregnant in this case has the meaning of heavy, loaded, gravid, with burden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(In most slavic languages the word for pregnant is derived from &quot;with burden&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4695" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T13:58:56.747" />
  <row Id="14441" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T14:03:10.217" Score="1" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do we have products in stock or on stock?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5564" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T14:26:24.773" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T23:58:38.047" Title="What is correct, &quot;in-stock&quot; or &quot;on-stock&quot;?" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14441" CreationDate="2011-02-28T14:04:49.250" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct phrase is &lt;em&gt;in stock&lt;/em&gt;. No hyphen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T14:04:49.250" />
  <row Id="14443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14414" CreationDate="2011-02-28T14:09:35.043" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my observation, I think that Indian English uses the present progressive in a number of cases where other Englishes do not. &quot;I am having a problem&quot; or &quot;I am facing a problem&quot; is a phrase I have often seen in posts from people in India, on this site and elsewhere. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T14:09:35.043" />
  <row Id="14444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14436" CreationDate="2011-02-28T14:16:07.683" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If something is &lt;em&gt;unlawful&lt;/em&gt;, it means it is against the law, but not necessarily a criminal act; it can be a civil wrong, such as trademark infringement, for which the wrongdoer may be sued, but will unlikely face criminal prosecution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Illegal&lt;/em&gt; describes an act that is &lt;em&gt;unlawful&lt;/em&gt; and also a criminal act, such as drug trafficking.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; It appears these definitions aren't so cut and dry. &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/unlawful-versus-illegal.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; discusses their usage in greater detail... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastEditorUserId="4744" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T14:34:00.357" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T14:34:00.357" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14436" CreationDate="2011-02-28T14:16:19.883" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For all practical purposes, they are synonyms. Various sources describe possible minor differences, such as that &lt;em&gt;illegal&lt;/em&gt; acts are criminal acts, whereas &lt;em&gt;unlawful&lt;/em&gt; acts may be contrary to some non-criminal law, like tort law or contract law; however, if you check actual usage, I doubt whether you will find much of a pattern in that regard. The Oxford English Dictionary gives one as a synonym of the other. &lt;em&gt;Unlawful&lt;/em&gt; obviously comes from &lt;em&gt;un-&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;law&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;illegal&lt;/em&gt; comes from Latin &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt; (which means &quot;un-&quot;) and &lt;em&gt;lex&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;law&quot;). I believe &lt;em&gt;unlawful&lt;/em&gt; is mostly just a more formal or technical synonym. Usage may very well vary in different countries, since each country has its own legal system, even though Anglo-Saxon systems are often much alike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T14:35:19.763" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T14:35:19.763" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="14446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14431" CreationDate="2011-02-28T14:21:48.387" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many more-or-less idiomatic expressions which qualify an adjective by a noun expressing a conventional standard. They're particularly common for colours &quot;rose red&quot;, &quot;snow white&quot;, &quot;sea green&quot;, &quot;sky blue&quot;; but also found for other qualities: &quot;sky high&quot;, &quot;lightning quick&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For colours they seem to be fairly open-ended - you can certainly replace the standard, as in &quot;cherry red&quot;, &quot;blood red&quot;, &quot;pillar-box red&quot;. But I think the non-colour phrases are more conventional: &quot;mountain high&quot; or &quot;skyscraper high&quot; would sound odd. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T14:21:48.387" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14425" CreationDate="2011-02-28T14:32:27.520" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For American English, at least, you can't go wrong with either of these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/Merriam-Websters-Collegiate-Dictionary-Laminated-Cover/dp/B0026IBXXM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1298903362&amp;amp;sr=8-3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/American-Heritage-College-Dictionary-Fourth/dp/B001CB064G/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1298903362&amp;amp;sr=8-12&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;American Heritage Collegiate Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For British English, I recommend:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0199548412&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Concise Oxford English Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T14:32:27.520" />
  <row Id="14448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14436" CreationDate="2011-02-28T14:47:22.643" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Very occasionally (C.S. Lewis?), one hears &quot;unlawful&quot; used in the sense of 'Moral Law', as opposed to 'man made' laws. Otherwise, for practical purposes synonymous, as already stated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T14:47:22.643" />
  <row Id="14449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14414" CreationDate="2011-02-28T14:50:34.983" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me, &quot;I am having a problem&quot; implies that I expect a resolution to it. (Hopefully from responses to my post!). If I &quot;have a problem&quot;, I&quot;m not so certain that I will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T14:50:34.983" />
  <row Id="14450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14406" CreationDate="2011-02-28T14:55:14.793" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Pissing on their grave&quot; or &quot;Dancing on their grave&quot; always resonated with me...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T14:55:14.793" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14406" CreationDate="2011-02-28T14:59:42.420" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's also &quot;rest in pieces.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T14:59:42.420" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14396" CreationDate="2011-02-28T15:08:35.210" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always thought of &lt;em&gt;how to do x?&lt;/em&gt; as short for something like &lt;em&gt;how [is one] to do x?&lt;/em&gt;, where the question mark is necessary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T15:08:35.210" />
  <row Id="14453" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T15:09:48.640" Score="0" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the interjections / exclamations commonly used in English (e.g. &lt;em&gt;aha&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;wow&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;eh&lt;/em&gt;, etc.)? I'd appreciate if you can provide me with a full list with the meaning of each term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T15:35:59.683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T15:35:59.683" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-28T15:35:00.780" Title="Common interjections / exclamations in English" Tags="&lt;list-request&gt;&lt;interjections&gt;&lt;exclamations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14436" CreationDate="2011-02-28T15:10:06.467" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD (third edition) describes &lt;em&gt;illegal&lt;/em&gt; as &quot;contrary to or forbidden by law, especially criminal law&quot;, and describes &lt;em&gt;unlawful&lt;/em&gt; as &quot;not conforming to, permitted by, or recognized by law or rules.&quot; In American English, then, &lt;em&gt;illegal&lt;/em&gt; is used in phrases like &lt;em&gt;illegal alien&lt;/em&gt;, where is never replaced by &lt;em&gt;unlawful&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at the OED, I find a note about the usage of &lt;em&gt;illegal&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;unlawful&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Illegal&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;unlawful&lt;/em&gt; have slightly different meanings, although they are often used interchangeably. Something that is illegal is against the law, whereas an unlawful act merely contravenes the rules that apply in a particular context. Thus handball in soccer is unlawful, but it is not illegal. A third word with a similar meaning is &lt;em&gt;illicit&lt;/em&gt;: this tends to encompass things that are forbidden or disapproved of by custom or society, as in an illicit love affair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T15:10:06.467" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14453" CreationDate="2011-02-28T15:11:25.817" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot recommend a more suitable list than this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:English_interjections&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:English_interjections&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T15:11:25.817" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-28T15:35:00.780" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14372" CreationDate="2011-02-28T15:17:26.017" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I tend to use &lt;em&gt;thank you kindly&lt;/em&gt; a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T15:17:26.017" />
  <row Id="14458" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14459" CreationDate="2011-02-28T15:24:28.720" Score="5" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;Person A: &quot;Is it just because you think I am sad, that you want to talk with me?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Person B: &quot;No, I want to talk with you &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;___&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the blank, which word will be correct? Also, can you give an example towards the usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2326" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T14:29:11.363" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T14:29:11.363" Title="Usage of &quot;nonetheless&quot; and &quot;nevertheless&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14458" CreationDate="2011-02-28T15:28:09.440" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct word to use in this situation is &lt;em&gt;nonetheless&lt;/em&gt;, although it sounds somewhat awkward to my ear:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want to talk to you nonetheless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more idiomatic alternative would be to use the word &lt;em&gt;regardless&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want to talk to you regardless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't believe that &lt;em&gt;nevertheless&lt;/em&gt; is idiomatic here. &lt;em&gt;Nevertheless&lt;/em&gt; is usually used as a clause-initial adverb, and doesn't fall naturally at the end of a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, I want to talk to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T15:28:09.440" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14460" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14463" CreationDate="2011-02-28T15:53:24.283" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;Monday morning.  A colleague of mine is blasting country music from his cube...fantastic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After hearing the work &quot;honky&quot; and &quot;honky tonk&quot; quite a few times, I'm intrigued.  This is obviously a Southern term, but does anyone have more information on the origin and actual meaning??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5569" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T16:05:00.050" Title="Meaning and Origin of &quot;Honky Tonk&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14461" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T16:02:34.323" Score="1" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicates:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12632/is-it-a-good-practice-to-refer-to-countries-ships-etc-using-the-feminine-form&quot;&gt;Is it a good practice to refer to countries, ships etc using the feminine form?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/118/when-referring-to-a-noun-when-does-the-gender-matter&quot;&gt;When referring to a noun, when does the gender matter?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of referring to some nouns by &quot;she&quot; but never by &quot;he&quot;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Can I refer to Internet as &quot;she&quot;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T01:56:29.933" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T01:56:29.933" ClosedDate="2011-03-01T16:07:20.330" Title="Why are some English nouns referred by &quot;she&quot; but never by &quot;he&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="14462" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T16:04:12.623" Score="2" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have come across a number of expressions (both...and..., if...then...) which are named as &quot;correlative&quot; in different grammars (namely Quirk et al.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question: What makes an expression a correlative one? Do you know any definition in the Literature?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5571" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T21:34:42.087" Title="What defines a correlative?" Tags="&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;structure&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14460" CreationDate="2011-02-28T16:05:00.050" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=honky+tonk&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;honky-tonk, &quot;cheap night club,&quot; 1924, earlier honk-a-tonk (1894), of unknown origin. As a type of music played in that sort of low saloon, it is attested from 1933.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honky-tonk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adds&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The origin of the term honky tonk is unknown. The earliest source explaining the derivation of the term (spelled &quot;honkatonk&quot;) was an article published in 1900 by the &lt;em&gt;New York Sun&lt;/em&gt; and widely reprinted in other newspapers. It states that the term came from the sound of geese, which led an unsuspecting group of cowboys to the flock instead of to the variety show they expected. The [Oxford English Dictionary] also states that the first use in print was in 1894, [...] written &quot;honk-a-tonk&quot;. However, the terms &lt;em&gt;honky tonk&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;honk-a-tonk&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;honkatonk&lt;/em&gt; have been cited from at least 1889[.] The &quot;tonk&quot; portion of the name may have come from a brand name of piano. [...] It is unlikely, however, that a Tin Pan Alley piano manufactured in 1889 would have influenced the vocabulary in Texas by January of that same year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Phrase Finder has some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/13/messages/192.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;additional discussion&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T16:05:00.050" />
  <row Id="14464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14461" CreationDate="2011-02-28T16:14:13.267" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In many non English languages, nouns often have &quot;gender&quot;. Words ending in &lt;code&gt;a&lt;/code&gt; are often &quot;female&quot; and words ending in &quot;e&quot; or &quot;o&quot; are often &quot;male&quot;. This varies by languages.  (Similarly, in Spanish, you have &lt;code&gt;la&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;el&lt;/code&gt;, in German you &lt;code&gt;Der&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;Die&lt;/code&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English does not have gender-based nouns, but some of the feminity gets translated as a show of affection for something. A &quot;Mother&quot; is the epitome of affection. So when someone says something about the &quot;Mother&quot; land, it's a sign of love for their country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Theoretically, you can call the Internet whatever you want, but &quot;he&quot; is incorrect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2019" LastEditorUserId="2019" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T16:51:50.613" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T16:51:50.613" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="14465" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14472" CreationDate="2011-02-28T16:23:25.680" Score="1" ViewCount="19" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using a CMS, I found the following description for a user setting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If checked, this user will be granted &quot;vetted&quot; status. Vetted users create full projects and promote existing experimental sandboxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Vetted users&lt;/em&gt; is used to refer to users who can create full projects and sandbox projects; non-vetted users are only allowed to create sandbox projects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to use &lt;em&gt;vetted&lt;/em&gt; in this case?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If it is correct, what is the meaning of &lt;em&gt;vetted&lt;/em&gt;, in this case?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T16:38:20.923" Title="Can &quot;vetted&quot; be used to mean somebody to whom some restrictions are not applied?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14466" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T16:25:17.737" Score="0" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4419/in-the-internet-and-on-the-internet&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;in the internet&amp;rdquo; and &amp;ldquo;on the internet&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do we say &quot;on the Internet&quot; but not &quot;in the Internet&quot;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to be against the meaning of these prepositions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T01:59:58.497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T01:59:58.497" ClosedDate="2011-02-28T22:58:54.857" Title="What's the reason of prepositioning Internet with &quot;on&quot; but not &quot;in&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14436" CreationDate="2011-02-28T16:32:21.880" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One difference to note is that &lt;em&gt;unlawful&lt;/em&gt; is generally only used in the context of state or federal laws, wereas &lt;em&gt;illegal&lt;/em&gt; can be used to refer to any set of rules. For example, in sports people can perform illegal moves, and when a computer program crashes it will sometimes say that it performed an illegal operation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Within the context of the law though, they are much more synonymous save for the differences that the other answers mention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="502" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T16:32:21.880" />
  <row Id="14468" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14474" CreationDate="2011-02-28T16:32:53.810" Score="1" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This sounds very &lt;strong&gt;fishy&lt;/strong&gt;. I think Mr xxx is pulling &lt;strong&gt;our collective&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;collectivist leg&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T01:45:04.470" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T01:45:04.470" Title="Meaning of ' our collective and collectivist leg'" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14466" CreationDate="2011-02-28T16:34:51.863" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd think it's a carryover from the phrase &quot;online&quot; (or &quot;on line&quot;). Which in turn probably goes back to &quot;on the phone.&quot; And in that last one, &quot;in&quot; wouldn't make sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T16:34:51.863" />
  <row Id="14470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14462" CreationDate="2011-02-28T16:37:14.810" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Correlative in this case means paired or having a relationship with another syntactic element. &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/correlaconhterm.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;For example&lt;/a&gt;, a &lt;em&gt;correlative conjunction&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A paired conjunction (such as not only . . . but also) that links balanced words, phrases, and clauses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;either . . . or&#xA;neither . . . nor&#xA;not . . . but&#xA;not only . . . but also&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T16:37:14.810" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14466" CreationDate="2011-02-28T16:38:08.317" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When talking about information that's &lt;em&gt;on the internet&lt;/em&gt;: preposition &quot;on&quot; is used for information that is disseminated by certain media &quot;on the television&quot;, &quot;on the radio&quot;, &quot;on the grapevine&quot; and therefore by analogy &quot;on the internet&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When talking about someone being &lt;em&gt;on the net&lt;/em&gt;: this is perhaps more akin to being &quot;on the telephone&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to give reasons why something &lt;em&gt;isn't&lt;/em&gt; done, but I'd say that we don't use &quot;in&quot; in these cases because that conjures up a spatial image, and the internet isn't really a place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T16:38:08.317" />
  <row Id="14472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14465" CreationDate="2011-02-28T16:38:20.923" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Vet&quot; here is being used with &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this meaning&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;to appraise, verify, or check for accuracy, authenticity, validity, etc.: &lt;em&gt;An expert vetted the manuscript before publication.&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So a &quot;vetted&quot; user is one who's been checked out (by the project manager or whoever) and can therefore be given expanded permissions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T16:38:20.923" />
  <row Id="14473" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14476" CreationDate="2011-02-28T16:41:03.667" Score="0" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does the word &lt;em&gt;proud&lt;/em&gt; have a bad connotation? I want to use 'proud+something' as a company and website name but I'm not sure what connotation it can have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5572" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T01:36:09.907" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T01:36:09.907" Title="Connotation of &quot;proud&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="14474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14468" CreationDate="2011-02-28T16:44:09.517" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, the operative expression here is &quot;pulling our leg&quot;, which means to play a joke on someone by getting them to believe something that is not true. &quot;Collective&quot; refers to everyone the writer is referencing by use of the 1st person plural (i.e. &quot;our&quot;) in that sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/collectivist&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Collectivist&lt;/a&gt;&quot; refers to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The principles or system of ownership and control of the means of production and distribution by the people collectively, usually under the supervision of a government.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's an odd word to use here, as it implies that the writer considers &quot;us&quot; to be in some sense socialistic or even communistic. More context would probably make it clear what the point of that word is here. Is this by any chance from an article about the recent legislative debacle in Wisconsin, wherein the governor has been trying to get rid of government employees' collective bargaining rights? If so, that may clear things up. It's possible the writer doesn't know that collective bargaining and &quot;collectivist&quot; practices are not really the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T16:44:09.517" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14473" CreationDate="2011-02-28T16:50:53.317" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this really depends on the context, and I can't imagine anyone would misinterpret a line like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm proud of you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as being something bad. And to connect to your case, it's not very uncommon to see stuff like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Proud sponsor of ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and there's nothing wrong with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4867" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T16:50:53.317" />
  <row Id="14476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14473" CreationDate="2011-02-28T16:52:19.167" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, as pride is one of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_deadly_sins&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Seven Deadly Sins&lt;/a&gt; and was considered to be the pivotal element leading to the downfall of the protagonist in Greek tragedy, you might say it can have negative connotations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people use it in a positive way, however. You're probably safe with whatever construction you're contemplating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T16:52:19.167" />
  <row Id="14477" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14479" CreationDate="2011-02-28T17:04:08.710" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would definitely say that the term &lt;em&gt;TV&lt;/em&gt; is informal (while &lt;em&gt;television&lt;/em&gt; is formal), however I have found &quot;TV&quot; in some formal compositions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5573" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T17:38:38.040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T17:38:38.040" Title="&quot;TV&quot;: is it formal or informal?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;formality&gt;&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="14478" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14499" CreationDate="2011-02-28T17:16:31.560" Score="2" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that the word &quot;Kindly&quot; is used a lot by some Indians speaking English as a second language.  Does anyone know the origin of this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="885" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T19:01:57.963" Title="Indian-English usage of &quot;Kindly&quot;" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;formality&gt;&lt;esl&gt;&lt;indian-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14477" CreationDate="2011-02-28T17:20:39.373" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is somewhat more informal than &lt;em&gt;television&lt;/em&gt;, but not very much so; while I'd certainly prefer &lt;em&gt;television&lt;/em&gt; in most written texts, I'd not be shocked at reading &lt;em&gt;TV&lt;/em&gt; either, perhaps not even in a scientific research paper. Others might disagree. In official documents, however, I strongly recommend &lt;em&gt;television&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T17:20:39.373" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14480" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T17:21:19.357" Score="0" ViewCount="184" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/14334/what-does-the-term-86d-relate-to&quot;&gt;&quot;What does the term “86'd” relate to?&quot;&lt;/a&gt; made me wonder what similar cases we have in English. I'd like to know some other numbers that have a commonly understood meaning beyond their use as a mere number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen &quot;666&quot; used many times with a special meaning. It is written on fences, and used in US movies like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exorcism_of_Emily_Rose&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;The Exorcism of Emily Rose&quot;&lt;/a&gt;: I believed that its meaning is commonly known. However, I was bewildered by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishforums.com/English/WhatDigitsMeaningCommonlyKnown/pvdvb/post.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an answer contending that the meaning of &quot;666&quot;&lt;/a&gt; was unknown. Is 666 commonly understood?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(For example, in Russian, the number 7 symbolises luck, &#xA;if anyone knows any Russian.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T05:34:38.040" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T05:34:38.040" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-28T17:31:22.643" ClosedDate="2011-02-28T22:47:16.223" Title="Could you name some numbers that have a special meaning in English, like 666?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14480" CreationDate="2011-02-28T17:24:31.990" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some that come to mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;69 -- &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/69_%28sex_position%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a position...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;31337 or 1337 -- &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;eleet&quot;&lt;/a&gt; way of spelling &quot;eleet&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;42 -- &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Answer_to_Life,_the_Universe,_and_Everything#Answer_to_the_Ultimate_Question_of_Life.2C_the_Universe.2C_and_Everything_.2842.29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;answer to everything&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5139" LastEditorUserId="5139" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T17:45:33.797" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T17:45:33.797" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-28T17:31:22.643" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="14482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14396" CreationDate="2011-02-28T17:39:37.033" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll give a shot at answering my own question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The obvious correct alternatives are not entirely satisfying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How does one punctuate a list of&#xA;  questions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This comes across as too formal for many people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How do I punctuate a list of&#xA;  questions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is too personal, perhaps selfish sounding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How do you punctuate a list of&#xA;  questions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sounds like it's asking for opinions rather than established usage. (On this site you'd get a warning about a subjective question.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How to Punctuate a List of Questions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sounds like an introduction to a guide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the problem is probably that using &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; has become too formal and nothing has reliably taken its place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps a better alternative would be to rephrase the question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How should a list of questions be&#xA;  punctuated?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5549" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T17:39:37.033" />
  <row Id="14484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14480" CreationDate="2011-02-28T17:46:29.383" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that the number of numbers with a non-numeric meaning to &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; anglophones is rather limited, since they are very cultural in nature.  The answer that you link to indicates for instance that Biblically based meanings (such as 3, 7, 12, 13 or 666) aren't as universal as I'd assumed, for instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T17:46:29.383" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-28T17:46:29.383" />
  <row Id="14486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14480" CreationDate="2011-02-28T17:49:41.987" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;13 - Considered unlucky (in most English-speaking countries)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;616 - the 'real' &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/616_%28number%29#The_Number_of_the_Beast&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;number of the beast&lt;/a&gt;! &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T17:49:41.987" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-28T17:49:41.987" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14480" CreationDate="2011-02-28T17:58:41.790" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;7 is also generally considered lucky in the West.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;13 is regarded by many as unlucky, but by others as lucky (the latter tend to be antinomian sorts).  The British royal family is infamously &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triskaidekaphobia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;triskaidekaphobic&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 means location to those familiar with the sort of radio code where one would say &quot;what's your 20?&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;23 has some sub-cultural currency as a number associated with strange coincidences, among other things.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;93 means &quot;love&quot; and &quot;will&quot; to occultists who follow traditions derived from Aleister Crowley's work.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;101 means &quot;introductory&quot; or &quot;basic&quot;, from the American college course code.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;404 means &quot;missing&quot;, &quot;not found&quot; or &quot;unavailable&quot;, from the HTTP status code.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;411 means &quot;information&quot;, from a common dialing code for telephone company information services.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;420 refers to cannabis use.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;5150, a California police shorthand for a mentally disturbed person, was made famous by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5150_%28album%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Van Halen album of the same name&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T17:58:41.790" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-28T17:58:41.790" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14425" CreationDate="2011-02-28T18:01:47.373" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like these: Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Collins Cobuild Advanced Learners Dictionary. They have a good selection of words and good definitions. Your choice will ultimately depend on what level you are targetting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T18:01:47.373" />
  <row Id="14490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14411" CreationDate="2011-02-28T18:03:34.797" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When talking about physical or other external (im)possibility in the future, they are synonymous:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;   &quot;You can't get in to the building tomorrow&quot;&#xA;   &quot;You are not going to be able to get into the building tomorrow&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if the issue is of permission, you would not normally say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;You are not going to be able to go tomorrow&quot; &#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;unless perhaps you mean that somebody who has authority to give you permission has not yet made a decision but you think that tomorrow they will forbid you to go. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since &quot;you are not going to be able to&quot; has a future feel to it, it also cannot be used for a an impossibility or prohibition right now:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;You can't do that!&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T18:03:34.797" />
  <row Id="14491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14473" CreationDate="2011-02-28T18:06:50.053" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you were to call your company &quot;Proud Office Supplies&quot;, it would make me think of a homosexual semi-charity thing, like rainbow-coloured stationary. In general &quot;proud&quot; and &quot;pride&quot; are often associated with groups that feel under-represented in society, like homosexuals, blacks, racists, women—basically any group that traditionally likes to bring it to anyone's attention that they have favourable qualities. This connotation does not apply to any possible name with &quot;proud&quot; in it, but it might; that is something you should consider.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T18:06:50.053" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="14492" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14494" CreationDate="2011-02-28T18:08:32.593" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;When to use &lt;em&gt;cry&lt;/em&gt; and when to use &lt;em&gt;weep&lt;/em&gt;? Which one goes more formal? Which one should have preference in general use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5366" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T01:11:09.380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T01:11:09.380" Title="&quot;Cry&quot; versus &quot;weep&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14478" CreationDate="2011-02-28T18:11:49.453" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is hardly ever possible to find strong reasons for why a language is used in a particular way. Why do British speakers use &quot;Autumn&quot; much more than Americans? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I (UK speaker) find Indian English very full of words and phrases which sound polite, and sometimes old-fashioned, and it may be that this reflects some cultural habits in India. I suspect that Americans may have the same reaction to British usage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T18:11:49.453" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14492" CreationDate="2011-02-28T18:12:51.203" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short, &lt;em&gt;weep&lt;/em&gt; is more about tears, while &lt;em&gt;cry&lt;/em&gt; is more about the sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster entries:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/weep&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Weep&lt;/a&gt;: [&lt;em&gt;vi&lt;/em&gt; 1] to express passion (as grief) by shedding tears&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cry&lt;/a&gt;: [&lt;em&gt;vi&lt;/em&gt; 2] to shed tears often &lt;strong&gt;noisily&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sob&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sob&lt;/a&gt;: [&lt;em&gt;vi&lt;/em&gt; 1b] to cry or weep with convulsive catching of the breath&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastEditorUserId="3812" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T18:20:53.597" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T18:20:53.597" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="14495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14480" CreationDate="2011-02-28T18:18:34.503" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;42&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is the Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2178" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T18:18:34.503" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-28T18:18:34.503" />
  <row Id="14496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14492" CreationDate="2011-02-28T18:21:30.290" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Weep&lt;/em&gt; is a little more archaic or poetic, so there's a mild preference for using &lt;em&gt;cry&lt;/em&gt; instead.  The only time you must use &lt;em&gt;weep&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;cry&lt;/em&gt; is if you think the wrong meaning of &lt;em&gt;cry&lt;/em&gt; will be understood by mistake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T18:21:30.290" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14480" CreationDate="2011-02-28T18:26:12.393" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;666&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; comes from common translations of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.esvonline.org/search/Revelation%2013:18/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Revelation 13:18&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666. (ESV)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_the_Beast&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;many theories&lt;/a&gt; as to the meaning of this number (even theories contesting the number itself). The connotation is commonly understood to be bedevilment, curse, or evil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2178" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T18:26:12.393" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-28T18:26:12.393" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14498" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14503" CreationDate="2011-02-28T18:29:28.910" Score="0" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard a great story the other day about a guy with a bloody hook for a hand - but then, when I retold it to my kids at bedtime my Au Pair informed me that it was just a silly Urban Legend.  What does she mean by that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T18:35:08.327" Title="What does the term &quot;Urban Legend&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="14499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14478" CreationDate="2011-02-28T18:29:47.373" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meaning of &lt;em&gt;kindly&lt;/em&gt; is hopefully clear: &quot;kindly help me&quot; means &quot;please be kind and help me&quot; (or &quot;please help me out of kindness&quot;), etc. It's a word used for polite requests; a bare &quot;help me&quot; is impolite relative to &quot;kindly help me&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're asking why &lt;em&gt;kindly&lt;/em&gt; is more common in Indian English than elsewhere, it's just one of the hundreds of things that have remained in Indian English long after they have gone out of fashion elsewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Searching &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&amp;amp;q=%22kindly+do+this%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Books for &quot;kindly do this&quot;&lt;/a&gt; and looking through the first ten pages, most results, besides a few from India, seem to be from British and some American books, &lt;strong&gt;pre-1920&lt;/strong&gt;. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;If our friends will kindly do this for us, we shall feel indebted to them.&quot; [The Penny Protestant operative, 1842]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;Would you kindly do this?&quot; [Letter from Florence Nightingale, ≈1886]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;If you will kindly do this, I will be very thankful&quot; [Southern and Southwestern Railway Club, Atlanta, 1914]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;If you will kindly do this I will pay you for the two together&quot; [Anthony Trollope, 1864]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;Would you kindly do this library another favor and again place it under obligation?&quot; [Washington State Traveling Library, 1913]  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and so on and on (there are hundreds of results), and most interestingly, &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=In9HAAAAIAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA8&amp;amp;dq=%22kindly+do+this%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;one 1886 book&lt;/a&gt; showing it must have been standard in England:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first thing that strikes you on landing in America is the want of deference and courtesy among all classes. Not only from the inferior to the superior, but &lt;em&gt;vice versa&lt;/em&gt; also. The maxim &lt;em&gt;noblesse oblige&lt;/em&gt; has no sway there. In England, speaking to an equal or a social inferior, &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Kindly do this,&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; or &quot;Please give me that,&quot; is general. In America the &quot;kindly&quot; and &quot;please&quot; are carefully omitted…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[From context, he doesn't mean it's used &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; with inferiors, but &lt;em&gt;even&lt;/em&gt; with inferiors.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, given that &lt;em&gt;kindly&lt;/em&gt; was standard, this word for politeness entered India when English did—during colonial rule—and it has stayed on. Why something has continued to exist is not a question that can be answered (inertia?); perhaps the right question is why it went out fashion in the UK and US. (And I'd be interested to learn.) My guess is that either the phrase became clichéd, or such politeness came to be deemed excessive. In the US it seems to have taken on a slightly sarcastic meaning: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kindly&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary says&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;kindly&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. (US) Please; used to make a polite request.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;Kindly refrain from walking on the grass.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;Kindly move your car out of the front yard.&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Usage notes&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;(please): Kindly&lt;/em&gt; is used in a slightly more peremptory way than &lt;em&gt;please&lt;/em&gt;. It is generally used to introduce a request with which the person addressed is expected to comply, and takes the edge off what would otherwise be a command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, in Indian English it happens to have retained its original meaning, is not peremptory, and is a request rather than an expectation. (And in general it seems safe to assume that Indian English expressions are not sarcastic, and to take them at face value.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T19:01:57.963" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T19:01:57.963" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="14500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14480" CreationDate="2011-02-28T18:30:54.337" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0000007/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;007&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T18:30:54.337" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-28T18:30:54.337" />
  <row Id="14501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14478" CreationDate="2011-02-28T18:31:04.643" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I find that many say 'kindly' as they think it is the more polite version of 'please'. 'Please' is a request while 'kindly' is an order said nicely, so 'please' is actually more polite than 'kindly'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T18:31:04.643" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14436" CreationDate="2011-02-28T18:32:06.267" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Unlawful&lt;/em&gt; is something against the law.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Illegal&lt;/em&gt; is a sick bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2178" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T18:32:06.267" />
  <row Id="14503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14498" CreationDate="2011-02-28T18:34:42.197" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An urban legend is a tale which purports to actually be true, but which has little basis in fact--or at least a highly contested factual basis. What makes urban legends &quot;urban&quot; is the fact that they're set in contemporary, urban settings and are widely believed today, as opposed to more traditional legends and myths which are set further in the past and are largely disbelieved by modern audiences. See: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_legend&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_legend&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T18:34:42.197" />
  <row Id="14505" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14513" CreationDate="2011-02-28T18:37:04.503" Score="0" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the point at which a &lt;em&gt;non sequitur&lt;/em&gt; morphs into the incongruous?  Is it predicated upon contextual ideas leading up to the statement, or is it subjective based on the conclusion of the idea being propagated?  I'm just curious if there are any hard/fast rules, or is it subjective - like finding something funny or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="5531" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T13:51:23.210" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T15:03:17.287" Title="What is the tipping point for &quot;non Sequitur&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14506" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T18:39:44.677" Score="2" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;Somewhat related to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/13844/what-is-the-longest-palindrome-word-in-english&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, but I'm interested in a &lt;em&gt;phrase&lt;/em&gt;, not just a single word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The longest I am aware of is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A man, a plan, a canal: Panama&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there longer palindromic phrases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2178" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T19:26:23.673" Title="What is the longest palindromic phrase?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;palindrome&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14505" CreationDate="2011-02-28T18:41:00.193" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A non-sequitur is always incongruous, in that it does not follow (literally) from the preceding conversation.  Did you have something more specific in mind?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T18:41:00.193" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14506" CreationDate="2011-02-28T18:44:00.197" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no upper limit to how long a palindrome can be.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/02/demetri-martins-palindrome-poem.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Poems have been written that are palindromes&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T18:44:00.197" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="14509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10992" CreationDate="2011-02-28T18:51:50.177" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed in some technical manuals, the pipe being used as a delimiter on menu interactions. For example: Edit|Copy. I used to use this as well but have since moved to using Edit&gt;Copy instead as it feels more like a flow of commands, especially when the interactions are long and mix menus and tabs (for example: System&gt;Preferences&gt;Network&gt;IP).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T18:51:50.177" />
  <row Id="14510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14506" CreationDate="2011-02-28T18:57:31.287" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The longest coherent palindromic &lt;strike&gt;statement&lt;/strike&gt; &lt;em&gt;sentence&lt;/em&gt; I've ever heard of was reported by Brendan Gill of &lt;em&gt;The New Yorker&lt;/em&gt;, which I encountered in a book of his some years ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;T. Eliot, top bard, notes putrid tang emanating, is sad; I'd assign it a name: gnat dirt upset on drab pot toilet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T19:04:49.580" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T19:04:49.580" />
  <row Id="14511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14506" CreationDate="2011-02-28T19:05:45.607" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Peter Norvig discusses this &lt;a href=&quot;http://norvig.com/palindrome.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, suggests his own, and links to another possibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1787" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T19:05:45.607" />
  <row Id="14512" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14518" CreationDate="2011-02-28T19:10:40.840" Score="0" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I teach fishing, at a local community college - recently was awarded a Master Baiter honorary certificate,  and one of my students asked me &quot;Why are fisherman called Anglers&quot;?  I floundered around for a few minutes but could not come up with a conclusive answer - help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T09:26:06.513" Title="Why are fishermen(women) referred to as 'Anglers'?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="14513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14505" CreationDate="2011-02-28T19:12:25.073" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see it as somewhat orthogonal, though often related. &lt;em&gt;incongruous&lt;/em&gt; means “not in harmony or keeping with the surroundings or other aspects” (&lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;), while a &lt;em&gt;non sequitur&lt;/em&gt; is something that doesn't follow logically from the premises. A &lt;em&gt;non sequitur&lt;/em&gt; is thus often &lt;em&gt;incongruous&lt;/em&gt;, but might not always be: in a series of collected non sequiturs, they would not be &lt;em&gt;incongruous&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;sup&gt;[1]&lt;/sup&gt; Nor would a non sequitur be incongruous if the speaker were known to be subject to dementia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, the distinctive element is: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;incongruous&lt;/strong&gt; is linked to the absence of harmony, while &lt;strong&gt;non sequitur&lt;/strong&gt; relates to the absence of logic.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note [1]: I believe there are quite a few comic strip series that follow this scheme, but can't think of any (in English), so suggestions in comments would be welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T19:37:48.187" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T19:37:48.187" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14480" CreationDate="2011-02-28T19:15:24.073" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_slang_terms_for_police_officers&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;50&lt;/a&gt; (pronounced &quot;five-oh&quot;) count?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There's also &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/187_%28murder%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;187&lt;/a&gt;, a slang term for murder.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1787" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T19:15:24.073" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-28T19:15:24.073" />
  <row Id="14515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14512" CreationDate="2011-02-28T19:16:02.800" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Angling&quot; is another term for fishing, and it goes back a long way. At least to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izaak_Walton&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Izaak Walton (9 August 1593 – 15 December 1683)&lt;/a&gt; and his famous guide.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T19:16:02.800" />
  <row Id="14516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14506" CreationDate="2011-02-28T19:26:23.673" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palindrome#Long_palindromes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In English, &lt;strong&gt;two palindromic novels have been published&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;em&gt;Dr Awkward &amp;amp; Olson in Oslo&lt;/em&gt; by Lawrence Levine (1986, 31954 words), and &lt;em&gt;Satire: Veritas&lt;/em&gt; by David Stephens (1980, &lt;strong&gt;58795 words&lt;/strong&gt;). In French, Oulipo writer George Perec's &quot;Grand Palindrome&quot; (1969) is 5,556 letters in length. In Hebrew, Ghil'ad Zuckermann wrote a 153-word palindromic story called &quot;Lear's in Israel.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For &lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; shorter palindromes: The first place I look for constrained writing is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cadaeic.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mike Keith's website&lt;/a&gt;, and it has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cadaeic.net/palind.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;few short palindromes&lt;/a&gt; and a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cadaeic.net/silopolis.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;story about them&lt;/a&gt;, though neither is as impressive as some of his other work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T19:26:23.673" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14517" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14519" CreationDate="2011-02-28T19:32:54.203" Score="4" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general usage (and hopefully correct usage) a &quot;notifier&quot; is someone who notifies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the word for the person who is notified?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: &quot;Instruct each [X] to respond to the notification within 3 days.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5575" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T21:08:44.690" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T00:11:31.567" Title="The word for &quot;Those who are notified&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14512" CreationDate="2011-02-28T19:41:25.307" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is the &lt;em&gt;treatyse of fysshynge wyth an Angle&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;Treatise of Fishing with an Angle&lt;/em&gt;) by Dame Juliana Berners, published in 1496 as part of the Book of St Albans.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems clear that &lt;em&gt;angle&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;hook&lt;/em&gt;.  Just be grateful that you don't teach &lt;em&gt;hooking&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T19:41:25.307" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14517" CreationDate="2011-02-28T19:43:16.333" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I expect that you're looking for something like &lt;em&gt;notifiee&lt;/em&gt;, I'm not aware of any such word that would have that exact meaning.  That being said, there are several good options that could work:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the general case, (though these may overuse the &lt;em&gt;notify&lt;/em&gt; root for your taste):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Instruct each of the notified to respond...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Instruct each notified individual to respond...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the notification is a written message that they received.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Instruct each recipient to respond...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the notification is some sort of pop-up in a program&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Instruct each user to respond...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T19:43:16.333" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14512" CreationDate="2011-02-28T20:20:19.580" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=angle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymology Online&lt;/a&gt; states that the word &quot;angle&quot; in Old English meant hook. Thus an angler uses an angle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T09:26:06.513" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T09:26:06.513" />
  <row Id="14521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10169" CreationDate="2011-02-28T20:27:50.777" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the meanings and subtle connotations of words change far less now, principally because people read so much now from such a geographically wide range of writing. Especially those who use the internet, who are likely to read many articles and perhaps write some that will also be read worldwide. For example, before the internet people might be exposed for the most part to content written quite locally, whereas now, blogs, news websites, &lt;em&gt;question and answer&lt;/em&gt; websites, general websites, computer operating systems (menus, help instructions, etc.), adverts etc. all use very standard english that will seem normal to most who view it; therefore minorities (of those using some other meaning of a word, a little known word or phrase, etc.) consume material almost &lt;em&gt;solely&lt;/em&gt; intended for the majority, and so are likely to adopt that over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These reasons could apply to other parts of language too, but this seems most obvious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However this is only in written language; the majority of verbal communication will still be very local and this is unlikely to change much. In spite of that, technology in a sense not considered much on this question, that is, not information technology I suspect has changed speech quite significantly: temporary and permanent travel around is so much easier, internationally and nationally, and so people are much more exposed to other dialects, nuances, idioms, phrases, and meanings and connotations from others. For example, here in the UK accents of different regions and cities are very intermingled, compared to those of previous generations, when people and families tended to stay and live where they'd been born. Still though, I reckon speech is less yielding to changes resulting from technolofy than writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="852" LastEditorUserId="852" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T17:57:52.650" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T17:57:52.650" />
  <row Id="14522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14369" CreationDate="2011-02-28T21:27:18.727" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;P.G. Wodehouse's fictional character Bertie Wooster says &quot;what?&quot; a lot. Bertie Wooster is a caricature of an English upper class twit. See some examples at &lt;a href=&quot;http://f2.org/humour/quotes/fic/wodehouse.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://f2.org/humour/quotes/fic/wodehouse.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5130" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T21:27:18.727" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14462" CreationDate="2011-02-28T21:34:42.087" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most conjunctions link one clause or phrase to another: a coordinate conjunction (like &quot;but&quot; and &quot;or&quot;) links two clauses or phrases that are at the same level; a subordinate conjunction (like &quot;although&quot; and &quot;since&quot;) links one clause to another one that is at a higher level. Each main clause of a sentence is such that it could still make a complete sentence on its own if you cut off all other clauses plus al conjunctions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A correlative &quot;conjunction&quot; (like &quot;not only ... but also ...&quot; is basically a subclass or an extension of coordinate conjunctions. As can be seen, a correlative conjunction uses a coordinate conjunction with some extra adverbs in a fixed order (first &quot;not only&quot;, then &quot;also&quot;), which could be in either of the two parallel clauses or both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only interesting thing about them is that some have an adverb in the first phrase that is only used when a parallel phrase with a specific linked conjunction follows: if you see &quot;either&quot;, you know there must be an &quot;or&quot; following it; note that this &quot;or&quot; may be implicit, as in &quot;I don't think either one of them [or the other] did it&quot;. But to many correlative conjunctions this does not apply, like &quot;not ... but&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here follows my own personal, provisional, highly biased opinion, which it would be an honour to receive counter-arguments to. The term &quot;correlative conjunction&quot; is only useful as a category in school books: there is nothing syntactically unique to it; and it is not very useful in linguistics, because there is nothing significant that distinguishes a correlative conjunction from any other combination of conjunction plus adverbial constituent. The fact that it links two closely related phrases is nothing special, unless defined in some exclusive way that I am unaware of. I hope someone can prove me wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T21:34:42.087" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="14524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4474" CreationDate="2011-02-28T21:35:55.910" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an Australian, I don't mind a web site using US English if some care is taken. &quot;Zip code&quot; is a good example of something to avoid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; mind web sites that think that only the US and Canada have states and provinces, and that states always have two-letter abbreviations. Saying that a product will be ready in &quot;the spring&quot; is only true for half the world, admittedly the more populous half. Say &quot;second quarter&quot; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5130" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T21:35:55.910" />
  <row Id="14526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14461" CreationDate="2011-02-28T22:05:10.247" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since English does not have grammatical genders any more, as German still has them, using &quot;she&quot; for inanimate objects is a form of personification (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personification&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Traditionally some nouns are personified more often than others; geographic concepts (&quot;Britain&quot;), emotions (&quot;Jealousy&quot;), and vehicles (&quot;the Lusitania&quot;) are among the things more often personified as &quot;she&quot;. Personification is a prominent rhetorical device that should only be used when a writer is prepared to draw some attention to his language, because it is not the neutral way to refer to inanimate objects (which is &quot;it&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Edited:] The reason why some nouns are personified more often than others is probably tradition, in addition to a feeling that they share more characteristics with persons. A ship is an elegant thing that is lovingly cared for by its captain; a country is what has brought forth its people like a mother; an emotion is an important thing that we sometimes curse but could not live without, and it can have the power to make us do both bad and good things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T22:11:54.363" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T22:11:54.363" />
  <row Id="14527" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14528" CreationDate="2011-02-28T22:27:43.243" Score="6" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;funny farm&lt;/em&gt; mean in the following lyrics?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They're coming to take me away ha ha&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  They're coming to take me away ho ho hee hee ha ha&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  To the funny farm&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Where life is beautiful all the time  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T22:51:25.393" Title="What does &quot;funny farm&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14527" CreationDate="2011-02-28T22:30:45.523" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A funny farm is a slang term for a facility for psychiatric patients, a place where they take care of crazy people. They might get drugs there that make them feel happy; that may be why &quot;life is beautiful all the time&quot; there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T22:30:45.523" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14527" CreationDate="2011-02-28T22:51:25.393" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is commonly known these days as a &lt;strong&gt;psychiatric ward&lt;/strong&gt;; more commonly known in the past as an &lt;strong&gt;insane asylum&lt;/strong&gt; or just &lt;strong&gt;asylum&lt;/strong&gt;, or &lt;strong&gt;mental ward&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;mental hospital&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T22:51:25.393" />
  <row Id="14530" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T22:52:50.023" Score="4" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a question about American English usage of the word &quot;already&quot;. As a UK resident I don't completely understand when I hear Americans give commands like &quot;Stop it already!&quot; In the UK the word already is not normally used in the imperative mood and the sentence I've just quoted would leave an English person thinking &quot;If you're saying I've already stopped it why are you asking me to stop it again?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5579" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T00:48:09.900" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T03:15:33.250" Title="What exactly does &quot;already&quot; mean when used in the imperative mood?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="14531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14530" CreationDate="2011-02-28T22:55:38.953" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is informal, and I understand it to express impatience, i.e. to mean something like “right now”. The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; has:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(informal) used as an intensive after a word or phrase to express impatience: &lt;em&gt;enough already with these crazy kids and their wacky dances!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T22:55:38.953" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14530" CreationDate="2011-02-28T23:07:48.563" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is most likely rooted from the Yiddish idiom, as in &quot;enough, already&quot;, and can be taken to indicate lack of patience in most contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="653" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T23:07:48.563" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14533" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T23:28:59.300" Score="2" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;At the risk of saying something foolish, I won't attempt to answer the question myself. I understand that all three synchronically more or less equivalent and substitutable, but it would be quite nice to know the traditional usage notes on the abbreviations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2211" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T00:59:18.097" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T00:59:18.097" Title="Usage of &quot;p.&quot; versus &quot;pp.&quot; versus &quot;pg.&quot; to denote page numbers and page ranges" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14534" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-28T23:36:59.393" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to say I found the map or I have found the map?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5580" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T00:56:16.163" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T00:56:16.163" Title="Is it correct to say &quot;I found the map&quot; or &quot;I have found the map&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14534" CreationDate="2011-02-28T23:45:32.297" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first is the &lt;em&gt;past tense&lt;/em&gt; and the second is the &lt;em&gt;present perfect tense.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T23:45:32.297" />
  <row Id="14536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14517" CreationDate="2011-03-01T00:11:31.567" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If those that are notified had to subscribe (e.g. to a mailing list) to receive the notifications, then you can call them subscribers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T00:11:31.567" />
  <row Id="14537" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T00:12:50.137" Score="2" ViewCount="186" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3139/when-should-the-word-god-be-capitalized&quot;&gt;When should the word &amp;ldquo;God&amp;rdquo; be capitalized?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I thought god is a common noun, but many people capitalize it when it is not the first letter of a sentence or a title.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5481" LastEditorUserId="5481" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T00:18:58.990" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T12:25:17.730" ClosedDate="2011-03-02T00:54:13.853" Title="Why is god, a common noun, capitalized?" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14534" CreationDate="2011-03-01T00:16:23.720" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are both correct as the first is past and the second is present perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5481" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T00:16:23.720" />
  <row Id="14539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14533" CreationDate="2011-03-01T00:16:24.233" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, &lt;em&gt;pg.&lt;/em&gt; is not an acceptable form, at least in formal writing. The correct forms are &lt;em&gt;p.&lt;/em&gt; for a single page, and &lt;em&gt;pp.&lt;/em&gt; for a range.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many cases, actually, you don't need any of them. Quite commonly you'll find references in the form &lt;em&gt;volume:page(s)&lt;/em&gt;, like 5:204 or 8:99–108 (or, for works of a single volume, something like &lt;em&gt;Blah Blah Blah&lt;/em&gt; 108).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T00:16:24.233" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14537" CreationDate="2011-03-01T00:17:35.213" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Answer:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It (and some pronouns), when referring to the creator of the universe, is a proper noun and is capitalized (just like &quot;Bob&quot; or &quot;Joe&quot; would be).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When being used as a common noun, it is referring to the concept of a god (or god as a &quot;type,&quot; if you will) and is not capitalized (just like &quot;human&quot; or &quot;dog&quot; would be)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Examples:&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following are all correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I pray to God three times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I pray to a god three times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I pray to Him three times a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3294" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T00:17:35.213" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="14541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14534" CreationDate="2011-03-01T00:22:10.090" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's correct to say, &quot;I found the map,&quot; (past tense) if one is directly reporting that event as it happened in the past, no matter how recent or distant. &quot;I have found the map&quot; (present perfect tense) indicates the map has &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; been found, or was found in the not-too-distant past; it conveys an air of finality. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider these two examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John combs the cellars, looking for the precious document. His week-long search has, thus far, proved abortive. Suddenly, he happens upon a chest half-buried in the dirt floor of a long-forgotten chamber. With some effort, John pries it open and, to his amazement, there lies the ancient scroll—the Map of __.  &lt;em&gt;Incredible!&lt;/em&gt; Unable to contain his excitement, John rushes out to find his mates, screaming at the top of his lungs, &quot;I found the map! I found the map! I found IT!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;hr&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;It's absolutely impossible to get to the island. We don't know how to get there and the secret map has been lost for ages.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John turned around in his chair and said calmly, &quot;There, you got it wrong Kevin. It is absolutely possible to reach the island.&quot; Measuring his words for effect, he pronounced: &quot;I have found the map.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Everyone stared at him, dumbfounded.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T00:22:10.090" />
  <row Id="14542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10992" CreationDate="2011-03-01T00:23:09.617" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The | character is not part of English punctuation. You will notice that in places where it is used, such as the dictionary, near the preface you will see a section titled &quot;How to use this dictionary&quot; explaining the meaning of the | as used in this dictionary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T00:23:09.617" />
  <row Id="14543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10169" CreationDate="2011-03-01T00:25:34.583" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a coda to this discussion, let me add that the modern editor has a played a role in standardizing the language. Newspaper, magazine, journal, and book editors work professionally to ensure that written expression conforms to the best examples of usage and (usually) adheres to the American standard dialect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, if a writer from New York submits copy that contains the phrase, &quot;standing on line,&quot; unless the publican is highly provincial, most editors will silently emend that to &quot;standing in line.&quot; It isn't widespread printing that has leveled out usage as much as systematic editing and the use of style sheets.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A secondary consideration is the role of language as a class marker. This exerts continuous pressure that devalues dialects and promotes conformity to standard English.* Of course, much about language is highly political and postmodern theory is sharply critical of notions regarding authority. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All this said, the Internet &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; strongly encourage language play, as seen with l33tspeak, lolcatspeak, &quot;fail,&quot; &quot;ur doin it wrong,&quot; and other linguistic memes. Many users frequently employ specialized jargon and syntax (e.g., Anonymous/4chan) to solidify group identity and mark insiders versus outsiders.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(*&quot;Standard English&quot; in the context above should be interpreted as the dialect favored by national news readers. Some consider this to be a Midwestern accent, free of regionalisms. Matt Lauer, Katie Couric, et al., are representative speakers.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T00:25:34.583" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14537" CreationDate="2011-03-01T00:29:02.280" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you are referring to the creator of the universe of some religions, you write &lt;em&gt;God&lt;/em&gt;; when you are referring to a superhuman being (or a deity) of some other religions, you write &lt;em&gt;god&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference is that in monotheistic religions there is only one god, and &lt;em&gt;God&lt;/em&gt; often becomes (as in Christianity) a proper noun; in non monotheistic religions (e.g. Hinduism), there isn't a single god, and &lt;em&gt;God&lt;/em&gt; is not the name of one of the gods (it is god Vishnu, not God Vishnu).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is similar to what happen with &lt;em&gt;Moon&lt;/em&gt;, used when referring to the natural satellite of planet Earth, and &lt;em&gt;moon&lt;/em&gt;, used to refer to the natural satellite of any planet (e.g., Jupiter moons); the same happens with &lt;em&gt;Sun&lt;/em&gt;, which is the star around which planet Earth orbits, and &lt;em&gt;sun&lt;/em&gt;, which is used to refer any star similar to Sun (with or without planets). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T12:25:17.730" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T12:25:17.730" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14537" CreationDate="2011-03-01T00:31:22.033" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Only religious writings and publications, and material written by the devout, would capitalize pronouns and possessives when in reference to the Christian god. Secular writing is not enjoined to follow the practice. Capitalization of &quot;God&quot; generally serves as a marker for the Judeo-Christian-Islamic deity. Secular writers will usually capitalize &quot;God&quot; out of convention, but not &lt;em&gt;necessarily&lt;/em&gt; respect for said deity or the adherents of same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T00:31:22.033" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14546" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14548" CreationDate="2011-03-01T01:01:57.160" Score="2" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Washington Post’s article on the 83rd Annual Academy Awards on ABC written by Hank Stuever under the headline, &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/27/AR2011022704839.html?nav=hcmodule&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;At Oscars, the kids were all right and the 'Speech' was well-prepared&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; was full of Greek to me who have little knowledge about American culture and entertainment world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I cannot pick up all the words and expressions I felt difficulty in understanding, I just want to make sure of the meaning of three phrases: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;NYU, whassup&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;a little Marilyn Monroe drag&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;worked her derriere off&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do these phrases mean? Though I guess &lt;em&gt;whassup&lt;/em&gt; is ‘What’s up,’ and &lt;em&gt;work one’s derriere off&lt;/em&gt; means ‘Work very hard,’ I’m not sure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it very rude if I tell somebody, particularly to a lady, that ‘I worked my derriere off in the office?’&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the context for the above-mention phrases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Anne Hathaway hosted the 83rd Annual Academy Awards on ABC Sunday night. And her co-host, James Franco, did what exactly? (Besides be handsome? Besides a little Marilyn Monroe drag? And besides shouting &quot;NYU, whassup!&quot; to the Best Live Action Short winner? What, that's not enough?) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hathaway worked her derriere off and Franco came off like that lacrosse boy you wish your daughter didn't hang out with so much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T01:14:33.073" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T01:33:00.460" Title="What do ‘a little Marilyn Monroe drag,’ 'whassup,’ and 'worked her derriere off' mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="14547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14530" CreationDate="2011-03-01T01:16:34.663" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not only is &lt;em&gt;already&lt;/em&gt; used in this way informal, it can be downright peremptory and even aggressive, but it is always imperative. It indicates that the speaker is out of patience and wants to end this part of the conversation and proceed to the next stage (or to exit it altogether).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stop being such a jerk already!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Shut up already! We've gone over the details, now let's just do this thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are you going to let him push you around like that? Grow a pair already! Fight back!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, it doesn't have to be an angry or negative statement. It can be spoken among friends&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You want me to introduce you to that chick? So buy me a beer already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dude! I haven't seen you in, like, months. Sit your ass down already and tell me what's shakin' with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or lovers&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yeah, it was a great party. But enough talk — unzip my dress already!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I like to read too, but right now I want you to put down that book and give me a kiss already.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T01:16:34.663" />
  <row Id="14548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14546" CreationDate="2011-03-01T01:19:49.513" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To &lt;em&gt;go in drag&lt;/em&gt; means to dress appropriately for the opposite sex; almost exclusively used to refer to a man dressing as a woman, although theoretically it could refer to a woman dressing as a man.  &quot;Marilyn Monroe drag&quot; would be James Franco dressing up as Marilyn Monroe, the famous actress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Derriere&lt;/em&gt; is French for &lt;em&gt;butt&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;working your butt off&lt;/em&gt; is indeed working very hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;NYU, whassup!&quot;  is a &quot;shout-out&quot;, basically a mention of someone (in this case, New York University) while on the air (or in print) as a public acknowledgement that you hold them in some esteem.  (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name-dropping&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wikipedia's Name-Dropping entry&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T01:19:49.513" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="14549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14546" CreationDate="2011-03-01T01:20:18.220" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, there are three questions here, I'll take one to start with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;derriere&lt;/em&gt;, means &lt;em&gt;backside, bottom, butt, ass&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you &quot;work your derriere off&quot;, it means you work really hard, intensely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe the phrase comes from the usage of &quot;to work off&quot;, meaning to lose or incrementally reduce something by work.  You can &quot;work off a debt&quot;, by performing work in return for money to pay your debt off.  In dieting you can &quot;work off some excess weight&quot; by exercising or working hard.  It is this last meaning that may hold the key, &quot;work my butt off&quot; may mean work so hard your bottom reduces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could also mean you worked so hard you wore yourself out, no strength left.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T01:20:18.220" />
  <row Id="14550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14546" CreationDate="2011-03-01T01:23:15.317" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;NYU, wassup!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is known as a &quot;shout-out&quot;; in this case James Franco was referring to the fact that one of the Oscar recipients thanked the film school at New York University, and was either saying that in a gently mocking way or else actually did attend NYU film school himself and was calling out to acknowledge that fact and the people at that school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A little Marilyn Monroe drag ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Marilyn Monroe was a film star of the 1950s and early 1960s. Generally &lt;em&gt;drag&lt;/em&gt; means dressing in the clothing of the opposite sex, but in this case it might be more figurative. It could be that Franco merely did some kind of Marilyn Monroe impression. I didn't see that part, so I can't tell you exactly which.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Working off her derriere&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a polite way of saying &quot;working her butt off&quot; or &quot;working her ass off&quot;, which means working very hard. Figuratively speaking, it implies that one works so hard that one's buttocks actually fall off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T01:23:15.317" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14546" CreationDate="2011-03-01T01:33:00.460" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Whassup&lt;/em&gt; does indeed mean &quot;what's up&quot;. NYU stands for New York University; the Best Live Action Short winner goes (or went? he certainly looked young enough to still be a student, but it wasn't clear from his acceptance speech) to that school.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;a little Marilyn Monroe drag&lt;/em&gt;: at one point in the program, James Franco appeared in drag, i.e. dressed as a woman. I didn't think the intent was to make him look like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000054/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Marilyn Monroe&lt;/a&gt;, but apparently his pink dress reminded this reviewer of the famous screen siren&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;worked her derriere off&lt;/em&gt;: again, you're correct that this means &quot;worked very hard&quot;. While it's somewhat informal, it is not impolite at all; in fact, &lt;em&gt;derriere&lt;/em&gt; is a euphemism for &lt;em&gt;ass/arse&lt;/em&gt; (depending on which side of the pond&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; you hail from), so this is a more polite version of the phrase &lt;em&gt;worked her ass off&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; Screen siren = female movie star, often more famous for her sex appeal than her acting ability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; &lt;em&gt;Pond&lt;/em&gt; in this context = the Atlantic Ocean; British and American English use the words &lt;em&gt;ass&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;arse&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4452/how-to-differentiate-arse-and-ass&quot;&gt;slightly differently&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T01:33:00.460" />
  <row Id="14552" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14554" CreationDate="2011-03-01T01:36:06.943" Score="2" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a sentence that currently reads &quot;All they want is to be extraordinary.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's nothing wrong with that. I can certainly live with it. But what I want is a sentence in the form &quot;All they want is 'extraordinariness.'&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a good word for that in English? My vocabulary doesn't usually fail me so spectacularly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case it helps anyone, I'm writing an essay about the inevitable choice between dual mediocrities which characterises the identity of East German youth in &lt;em&gt;Sonnenallee&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;....I'm also writing it in German. So if anyone happens to know a word in German that doesn't necessarily have a good English translation, I'd be happy to learn of it (preferably in a comment.) :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T03:33:06.493" Title="What's a good word that means extraordinariness or exceptional-ness?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14552" CreationDate="2011-03-01T01:40:36.230" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about &lt;strong&gt;uniqueness&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;unicity&lt;/strong&gt;? Or &lt;strong&gt;singularity&lt;/strong&gt;? To be honest I have always found such words to be dubious sociologese jargon...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T01:40:36.230" />
  <row Id="14554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14552" CreationDate="2011-03-01T01:44:24.667" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the word you are looking for is &lt;em&gt;greatness&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shakespeare in &lt;em&gt;Twelfth Night&lt;/em&gt; coined what is probably the most famous usage of this word&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: You could also try &lt;em&gt;exceptionality&lt;/em&gt;, but that is somewhat odd sounding, not very common, and in my opinion nowhere near as great as &lt;em&gt;greatness&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T01:51:43.227" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T01:51:43.227" />
  <row Id="14555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14552" CreationDate="2011-03-01T01:45:58.900" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest &lt;em&gt;excellence&lt;/em&gt;, or, if it's the slightest bit appropriate to your context, a gorgeous loan word from the Greek that is something like the concept of excellence greatly intensified, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arete&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;arete&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T01:45:58.900" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14556" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14560" CreationDate="2011-03-01T02:28:37.337" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;We had an interesting discussion yesterday about the use of &lt;strong&gt;administer&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;administrate&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel that there is a use case for bother (sometimes you would administer something, and other times you would administrate something) - but I couldn't convince my fellow worker who thought that administrate was some kind of neo-abomination. This is mainly because I couldn't cite a convincing example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;strong&gt;administrate&lt;/strong&gt; an acceptable verb - and what use cases are there to differentiate it from &lt;strong&gt;administer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3718" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T13:52:06.827" Title="administrate vs administer" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="14557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14556" CreationDate="2011-03-01T02:34:31.243" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you would have to come up with the use case &lt;em&gt;first&lt;/em&gt;.  Once a use case has been found, then we can ask if we need the word.  Until then, I'll choose to regard &quot;administrate&quot; as shoddy jargon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T02:34:31.243" />
  <row Id="14558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14556" CreationDate="2011-03-01T02:35:28.450" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Administrate&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/administrate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;appears to have a history going back almost 400 years&lt;/a&gt; (rather to my surprise), and is an exact synonym for administer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5450" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T02:35:28.450" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14512" CreationDate="2011-03-01T02:37:27.483" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read one theory that the Germanic tribe, the Angles, were named so because they fished with poles and lines rather than with nets.  Then again, maybe fishing with a pole and line is called 'angling' after the tribe that invented it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T02:37:27.483" />
  <row Id="14560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14556" CreationDate="2011-03-01T02:40:20.227" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Off the top of my head, the only thing that springs to mind is that &quot;administer&quot; is maybe more common in the senes of &quot;give (out)&quot;. So if you want to avoid connotation with that meaning, &quot;administrate&quot; could serve this purpose (though you could also &quot;manage&quot;, &quot;organise&quot;, &quot;steer&quot;...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just possibly &quot;administrate&quot; suggests more closer being an &quot;administrator&quot; in the sense of it being one's job title/function (as opposed to just administering something on an ad-hoc basis).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So apart from that, it may just depend on whether you like the sound of verbs ending in -ate...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T02:40:20.227" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14537" CreationDate="2011-03-01T02:40:48.573" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on whether you subscribe to a monotheistic universe (where you use a capital letter, since there is only one God), or a polytheistic universe (where you use a lower case letter since there are many gods), or an atheistic universe (where you probably use a lower case letter, but don't believe that 'god' exists and avoid the term whenever possible).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T02:40:48.573" />
  <row Id="14562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14552" CreationDate="2011-03-01T02:42:42.173" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;em&gt;transcendence&lt;/em&gt; (The state of exceeding usual limits)?  Merriam-Webster gives as an example &quot;...makes a case for the transcendence of Louis Armstrong's contributions to the field of jazz...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4244" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T02:42:42.173" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10169" CreationDate="2011-03-01T02:50:35.833" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;New things in structure and representation still happen. Sometimes exactly because of the introduction of new technology. Two examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Emoticons. As far as I know they were mostly unheard of before the rise of email / online communication.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;SMS messages often bear only remote resemblance to standard English grammar and spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T02:50:35.833" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14530" CreationDate="2011-03-01T03:15:33.250" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The implication of an imperative with &quot;already&quot; is that the proper time for carrying out the command has passed, and the person being spoke to is remiss in waiting to be told:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bob: Oh, I really should be going.  My meeting starts in a minute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mary: So leave already!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mary's point is that Bob should have left some time ago, and she's annoyed by his delay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Be careful when using this construction.  Saying it to your boss, for example, if he is an American and at all ill-natured, would be a CLM, a Career-Limiting Move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T03:15:33.250" />
  <row Id="14565" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T03:16:26.170" Score="3" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;In sentences like the following one, what is the pronunciation of the word &lt;em&gt;read&lt;/em&gt;? I have always pronounced it &lt;em&gt;red&lt;/em&gt;, as past-tense, but I have, a couple of times, heard it pronounced &lt;em&gt;reed&lt;/em&gt;, as instruction to the reader.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The text was unhelpful (read a waste of money) for the class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(As a side note/question, is there a specific term for that usage of read or its parenthesized sub-sentence?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1648" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T09:53:24.053" Title="What is the pronunciation of parenthesized ‘read’?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14566" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T03:22:12.827" Score="1" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've only heard it from Kiwis, but I am told it's used in other countries as well: &quot;I can't be arsed&quot; means (IIUC) &quot;I can't be bothered&quot;.  Where could the expression come from?  It's the only expression I know of that uses &quot;arse&quot; as a verb -- assuming that is the correct spelling.  Is it from &quot;arse&quot; (British English for &quot;ass&quot;) or some weird mangling of &quot;ask&quot; or something even stranger?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, do the Brits even still say &quot;arse&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T06:47:21.207" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T14:14:12.477" Title="Where does &quot;can't be arsed&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14552" CreationDate="2011-03-01T03:33:06.493" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-actualization&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Self-actualization&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Selbstverwirklichung&lt;/em&gt; auf Deutsch) seems to map fairly well to the meaning you're looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T03:33:06.493" />
  <row Id="14568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14565" CreationDate="2011-03-01T03:35:45.277" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always said it &lt;em&gt;reed&lt;/em&gt;, understanding it in the instruction-to-the-reader sense.  I can't have heard somebody say it out loud more than a handful of times in my life, but in none of the cases did the speaker say &lt;em&gt;red&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T03:35:45.277" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14565" CreationDate="2011-03-01T04:15:36.977" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't heard it spoken much either, but I have heard both.  Both make sense to me.  The &quot;red&quot; pronunciation could be just as much an instruction to the reader as &quot;reed&quot;, simply expressed differently.  (Imagine demonstrating something, and saying &quot;it's done like so&quot;, or saying &quot;do it like so&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T04:15:36.977" />
  <row Id="14571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14566" CreationDate="2011-03-01T05:06:13.220" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be more the structure than the word &quot;arse&quot; that is at the origin of this. There are a few expressions where you can use a whole range of words, but the important thing is the structure. For example, you can put pretty much any past participle in the following and it will be understood to mean either &quot;he was extremely drunk&quot; or &quot;he was extremely drugged&quot; (or one or two other notions such as &quot;tired&quot;-- the point is there are a narrow range of interpretations compared to 'all the past participles in the universe'):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was completely ...ed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He was one ... short of a full ... .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;with any pair of words that semantically go together will effectively be taken to mean &quot;he wasn't very intelligent&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So similarly with &quot;arsed&quot;, you can insert a wide variety of words (many of them expletives): &quot;bothered&quot;, &quot;fucked&quot;, &quot;frigged&quot;, &quot;buggered&quot;, &quot;shagged&quot;. Indeed, if you say &quot;I couldn't be jingled to do it&quot; it would probably be interpreted in the same way. So it's not clear that there's some special meaning attached to &quot;arsed&quot; in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T05:06:13.220" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14572" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14578" CreationDate="2011-03-01T05:38:17.217" Score="7" ViewCount="409" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am of the belief that Hell should be capitalized because real or not, it is the name of a place, and thus a proper noun. It should be capitalized correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen it written without capitalization plenty of times, but I suspect that most of those were just due to laziness or illiteracy (it tends to be written with a lower-case ‘h’ mostly on the Internet–sigh).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other uses, including expletives seem to use it as a place name as well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;What [in] the Hell‽&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Go to Hell!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google gives mixed results and checking the WikiPedia entry for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hell&lt;/a&gt; to get a proper definition does indicate that it is a location, but even on that same page, there are plenty of instances with a lower-case ‘h’.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a situation in which it would not be capitalized? What about uses as an adjective:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;that job was Hell&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1648" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T14:25:29.823" Title="Should “Hell” be capitalized?" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14572" CreationDate="2011-03-01T05:42:31.550" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hell&lt;/em&gt; need not be capitalized, even when it refers to a specific place, in the same way we need not capitalize &lt;em&gt;equator&lt;/em&gt; (see for example Larry Trask's Guide to Punctuation - Capitalization). The CALD and OALD also allow for it to remain uncapitalized. Its capitalization then is possibly due to its religious significance and not its reference to a specific place. Checking several Bibles (that is as real as hell can be) also shows that it need not be capitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T14:25:29.823" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T14:25:29.823" CommentCount="23" />
  <row Id="14574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14572" CreationDate="2011-03-01T05:51:34.177" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you believe it's a real place, then make it capitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hypothetical locations, on the other hand, can go without capitalization - no one would capitalize &quot;la-la land&quot;, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4760" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T05:51:34.177" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="14575" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T05:53:25.503" Score="6" ViewCount="190" Body="&lt;p&gt;A word that starts with a lower-case (lowercase?) letter can be &lt;em&gt;capitalized&lt;/em&gt;, but what is the converse action?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google has only one page in the top results that addresses this and the closest thing to a proposed answer is &lt;em&gt;decapitalize&lt;/em&gt;, which trips spell-checkers, so &lt;em&gt;de-capitalize&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1648" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T16:30:47.550" Title="Is there an antonym for “capitalize” (as in letter-case)" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="14576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14575" CreationDate="2011-03-01T06:04:27.863" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I'll caveat that some people aren't fond of it being used as a verb, &lt;em&gt;lowercase&lt;/em&gt; is frequently used in the manner you're referring to.  For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Chicago style is to lowercase all of these. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/CMS_FAQ/Capitalization/Capitalization03.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chicago Manual of Style&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lowercase shortened, informal or descriptive names of committees. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.styleguide.ku.edu/c.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;KU University Style Guide&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T06:04:27.863" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14577" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T06:07:37.827" Score="1" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;When is it correct to use nominalizations? (Isn't nominalization a nominalization?) It seems the main problem is that they tend to mislead the reader. It is appealing to think that &quot;being&quot; and &quot;understanding&quot; are &quot;things.&quot; I see how this sort of misuse of words can be misleading. But when does concise become too compact? The English language seems to nominalize words frequently--and often effectively (I'm thinking of George Eliot). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3913" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T13:37:27.247" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T22:14:09.343" Title="When to nominalize?" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14572" CreationDate="2011-03-01T06:28:24.057" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Hell&quot; is capitalized when it is used as a proper noun. That is, you capitalize it when you are referring to it as a specific place. However, it can be perfectly legitimate to leave it uncapitalized if you are not referring to a specific place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;That job was hell&quot; does not refer to a specific location, but rather a nebulous concept of torture. Thus, it is not capitalized in this sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5584" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T06:28:24.057" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10169" CreationDate="2011-03-01T06:55:22.500" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We use language correctly when other people understand what we say and write. So &quot;fail&quot; can, and perhaps will, become a noun when people understand what it means as a noun. What happened to the words &quot;action,&quot; &quot;recognition,&quot; and so on? Most new words are either technical. Although some are simply misused words. When we understand how they are used, they will no longer be misused. Our needs determine our language. So it is unlikely that technology has slowed or stopped the development of the core English language. What do we mean when we use the word &quot;development?&quot;&quot;Google&quot; is now a verb that either means to use the search engine Google to search on the internet (trans.) or to simply search on the internet (intrans). Think about what &quot;to facebook&quot; someone means. Will these terms takeover words and phrases such as &quot;search&quot; and &quot;make friends?&quot; --Probably not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read an article a few years ago in Harper's Magazine that went something like this: they are destroying the minds of the youth, as the children spend all day sitting on couches and not doing anything productive. The article was written in the 1850s and was referring to the influence novels. The article was much better than my poor paraphrasing of it. However, the point should be clear.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3913" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T06:55:22.500" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14580" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14581" CreationDate="2011-03-01T07:16:10.413" Score="3" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;When something is undoable, does it mean that it has the ability to be reverted back to its previous state or does it mean that it's not feasible?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I broke something on my computer and a fix is undoable. :(&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I broke something on my computer but it's undoable. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="146" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T09:00:51.697" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T09:00:51.697" Title="What does &quot;undoable&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14580" CreationDate="2011-03-01T07:23:45.173" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both, actually. In the sense that something can be reverted to its prior state, the word is formed by joining &lt;em&gt;undo&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;-able&lt;/em&gt;, literally something that is able to be undone. In the sense that something cannot be done, the word is formed by joining &lt;em&gt;un-&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;doable&lt;/em&gt;, literally something that is not doable. While the two etymologies converge at &lt;em&gt;un-&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;-able&lt;/em&gt;, the order in which the affixation occurs is the important thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/undoable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; and personal experience&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T07:23:45.173" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14582" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14592" CreationDate="2011-03-01T08:15:34.833" Score="4" ViewCount="317" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Please close this if off-topic or duplicate.) After googling to find out what 'native speaker' really means, I'm left a little confused by the answers, so I'd like to find out from the real experts on this site. Who is considered a 'native speaker' of English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T19:13:23.430" Title="Who is considered a 'native speaker' of English?" Tags="&lt;linguistics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="14583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14582" CreationDate="2011-03-01T08:39:09.243" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Literally, a native speaker of English is somebody that learned English as their first language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reality, I  would say that a native speaker of English is a speaker of English which also thinks primarily in English and which other native speakers of English would recognize as such. It's certainly a circular definition but I think that that's a key part of any definition. Trying to leave it out caused me to give an incomplete definition earlier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2385" LastEditorUserId="2385" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T09:02:05.450" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T09:02:05.450" CommentCount="22" />
  <row Id="14584" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14597" CreationDate="2011-03-01T09:21:09.537" Score="2" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Quantity is a kind of property which exists as &lt;strong&gt;magnitude&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;multitude&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T13:06:29.717" Title="What's the difference between 'magnitude' and 'multitude'?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14584" CreationDate="2011-03-01T09:25:59.057" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the example sentence, &lt;em&gt;magnitude&lt;/em&gt; is used to refer to size (how big) while &lt;em&gt;multitude&lt;/em&gt; is used to refer to numbers (how many).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T09:25:59.057" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14586" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14596" CreationDate="2011-03-01T09:41:57.800" Score="0" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;Or, in the same manner, &quot;John Smith for Olympics&quot; meaning any place in a team, crew, etc?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that it's common practice to say &quot;John Doe for president,&quot; but here &quot;president&quot; is a profession/title, while &quot;World cup&quot; and &quot;Olympics&quot; aren't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5425" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T12:59:35.250" Title="Can one say, &quot;John Doe for World Cup,&quot; meaning &quot;I vote for John Doe to have a place in the national team&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14565" CreationDate="2011-03-01T09:53:24.053" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two forms of the word are spelled the same in English, but the same construction exists in Swedish, and as the spelling differs it's clearly in the form of an instruction to read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Texten var värdelös (läs pengaslöseri) för klassen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read [rid] translates to &lt;em&gt;läs&lt;/em&gt; while read [rɛd] translates to &lt;em&gt;läste&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T09:53:24.053" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14588" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14589" CreationDate="2011-03-01T10:02:28.953" Score="5" ViewCount="367" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you pronounce the acronym &lt;em&gt;AKA&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;also known as&lt;/em&gt;)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1317" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T12:48:30.830" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T10:53:01.483" Title="How to pronounce &quot;AKA&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="14589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14588" CreationDate="2011-03-01T10:04:51.333" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I pronounce it &lt;em&gt;ay-kay-ay&lt;/em&gt; /ˌeɪkeɪˈeɪ/. Or I just say, &quot;also known as&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T10:04:51.333" />
  <row Id="14590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14588" CreationDate="2011-03-01T10:05:46.033" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I say A. K. A. (like Reg posted at the same time) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/aka&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/aka&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T10:53:01.483" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T10:53:01.483" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14575" CreationDate="2011-03-01T10:59:23.030" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The standard options are &quot;titlecase,&quot; &quot;sentencecase,&quot; &quot;uppercase,&quot; and &quot;lowercase.&quot; Various abbreviations and marks for these are used in proofreading. It's somewhat specialized vocabulary because outside of publishing you rarely have cause to say things like, &quot;this word needs to be lowercased.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T10:59:23.030" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14582" CreationDate="2011-03-01T11:32:06.877" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &quot;native speaker of English&quot; refers to someone who has learned and used English from early childhood. It does not necessarily mean that it is the speaker's only language, but it means it is and has been the primary means of concept formation and communication. It means having lived in a truly English-speaking culture during one's formative years, so that English has been absorbed effortlessly as by osmosis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One can have been born and grown up in a country that lists English as one of its official languages and not be a &quot;native&quot; speaker. For example, Canadians from Quebec cannot &lt;em&gt;automatically&lt;/em&gt; be considered native English speakers even though many speak English quite well; they were brought up speaking French as a first language and think in French (or &lt;em&gt;Canardien&lt;/em&gt;, as I have heard unkind Parisians refer to it). But the rest of Canada does consist of native speakers of English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking &quot;like a native&quot; of any language means more than just knowing vocabulary and grammar. Many educated foreign speakers speak better formal English than, say, many Americans or British or Australians. But formal English is only one aspect of the language. Knowing instantly what slang means, what cultural references mean, how to reduce syntax to a bare minimum and still convey precise meaning — all these things, and more, are what constitute native speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T11:32:06.877" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14593" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14594" CreationDate="2011-03-01T12:06:24.033" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10020/definite-article-before-proper-nouns&quot;&gt;Definite article before proper nouns&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was updating my LinkedIn tagline and thinking about whether I should put the article before the name of the university.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Student at &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; University of […].&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Student at University of […].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am leaning towards the former but I am not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5589" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T12:46:29.567" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T12:46:29.567" ClosedDate="2011-03-01T14:02:48.457" Title="Do I need &quot;the&quot; before the name of my university?" Tags="&lt;articles&gt;&lt;definite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="14594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14593" CreationDate="2011-03-01T12:11:38.433" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You would need it before, say, &quot;the University of Illinois&quot; but not before &quot;Iowa State University&quot; or &quot;Harvard&quot; or &quot;Case Western Reserve&quot; or &quot;Columbia University&quot; and so on. This is if you were using the name as a noun. If you were to write the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Students at University of Illinois functions are expected to behave in a manner befitting adults.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the article is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; necessary, but it is in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Students at the University of Illinois are expected to behave in a manner befitting adults at public functions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T12:11:38.433" />
  <row Id="14595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13915" CreationDate="2011-03-01T12:21:21.173" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I could only help with some adjectives :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1)leather&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2)dermal  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3)leathern &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4)dermic &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5)dermatic , See if this can help :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5366" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T12:21:21.173" />
  <row Id="14596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14586" CreationDate="2011-03-01T12:59:35.250" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can say (as JoseK already reported in a comment) &quot;John Smith for the Olympics&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T12:59:35.250" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14584" CreationDate="2011-03-01T13:06:29.717" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Magnitude &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definition: Extent of dimensions; size; applied to things that have length, breath, and thickness.                                                             &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Multitude&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Definition : The state of being many; numerousness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more details you can follow these links -&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Link 1 : &lt;a href=&quot;http://ardictionary.com/Magnitude/446&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Magnitude&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Link 2 : &lt;a href=&quot;http://thinkexist.com/dictionary/meaning/multitude/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Multitude&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope it'll help :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5366" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T13:06:29.717" />
  <row Id="14598" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14635" CreationDate="2011-03-01T13:13:06.457" Score="1" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know nothing about fishing, but I need to describe what happens when a fish snaps at the bait and gets hooked.  Specifically, what does the hook do?  Does it &lt;em&gt;catch&lt;/em&gt;?  Does it &lt;em&gt;burrow&lt;/em&gt;?  Does it &lt;em&gt;seat itself&lt;/em&gt;?  Does it &lt;em&gt;embed itself&lt;/em&gt;?  I'm looking for vivid, evocative phrasing, not a dry, technical description.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, what does a fisherman do to ensure the fish is hooked properly and won't jump off the hook?  What terms describe this action? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T11:07:32.603" Title="Fishing terminology: What phrase describes a fish getting caught on the hook?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="152" CreationDate="2011-03-01T13:29:56.020" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, I'm quite happy with waiwai's answer and many of the other points made here. However, one point not really addressed so far is why this rule is so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer is fairly simple. For native english speakers, it's easier to physically say 'an apple' rather than 'a apple', 'an hour' rather than 'a hour'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure speech therapists can explain technically in terms of phonation and resonance, but it's not my area of expertise. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's understandable therefore, that some non-native English speakers might be puzzled - since their vocal chords may be trained differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T13:29:56.020" />
  <row Id="14600" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T13:38:21.977" Score="0" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to improve speaking skills? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5593" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T13:42:04.513" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T13:42:04.513" ClosedDate="2011-03-01T13:52:02.347" Title="How to improve speaking skills?" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;&lt;speech&gt;" />
  <row Id="14601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14598" CreationDate="2011-03-01T13:47:16.160" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually hear people who fish a lot say a fish &lt;em&gt;hits&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;strikes&lt;/em&gt; when it takes the bait.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T13:47:16.160" />
  <row Id="14602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14556" CreationDate="2011-03-01T13:52:06.827" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that &lt;em&gt;administrate&lt;/em&gt; is a less common term for &lt;em&gt;administer&lt;/em&gt;, when it is used to mean &quot;manage and be responsible for the running of a business, organization, etc.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Administrate&lt;/em&gt; has been first used in the sixtenth century, and it derives from the Latin &lt;em&gt;administrat&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;administrated&lt;/em&gt;), from the verb &lt;em&gt;administrare&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Administer&lt;/em&gt; has been first used in Middle English, and it derives from the Old French word that comes from the Latin &lt;em&gt;administrare&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T13:52:06.827" />
  <row Id="14603" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14605" CreationDate="2011-03-01T13:54:22.023" Score="4" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm building a web site where I have a list of topics, and I need to denote the relation between them. e.g.:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Topic: Italian.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Ancestors: Languages -&gt; European&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Predecessors: Verbs, Nouns...  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example may be:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Topic: Internet Explorer.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Ancestors: Software -&gt; Browsers&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Predecessors: Menus, Add-Ons, keyboard-shortcuts...   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And so on..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The problem is that I'm not sure &quot;Ancestors&quot; and &quot;predecessors&quot; are suitable.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other options I had in mind are subtopics/supertopics, and children/parents.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you think? Which way articulates the meaning best? (Of course new suggestions are welcomed as well.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1671" LastEditorUserId="1671" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T14:17:18.637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T19:31:53.523" Title="How would you define the relation between (for example) &quot;Italian&quot; and &quot;languages&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14604" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14979" CreationDate="2011-03-01T13:59:43.733" Score="4" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the name of a type of painting that typically contains a crowd of people posed along a plane? Usually they're all focused on one point or an event that is happening in the painting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen lots of of examples but I can't find any good ones at the moment. The best I could find is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3aZeno_of_Elea_Tibaldi_or_Carducci_Escorial.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5594" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T08:58:05.037" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T08:58:05.037" Title="Looking for the name of a type of painting." Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14603" CreationDate="2011-03-01T13:59:55.793" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;category&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;subcategory&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T13:59:55.793" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14603" CreationDate="2011-03-01T14:00:11.703" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The precise words for what you mean are: hyponym (to be more specific) and hypernym (to be less specific).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The typical example is: horse is a hyponym of animal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About your language example, I would say that Italian (as a language) is &lt;strong&gt;hyponym&lt;/strong&gt; of european language, which is &lt;strong&gt;hyponym&lt;/strong&gt; of language. But it is another relationship between Italian and verb, or noun. I would say that Italian &lt;em&gt;contains&lt;/em&gt; words (and words are &lt;strong&gt;hypernym&lt;/strong&gt; of verbs and nouns).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="41" LastEditorUserId="41" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T14:09:04.427" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T14:09:04.427" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14603" CreationDate="2011-03-01T14:06:32.590" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can consider superset/subset or branches/leaves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T14:06:32.590" />
  <row Id="14609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14566" CreationDate="2011-03-01T14:14:12.477" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To make an effort to do something, you have to &quot;get off your arse&quot;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hence &quot;can't be arsed&quot; means don't feel it worthwhile to make the effort of standing up and doing something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also heard in Britain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T14:14:12.477" />
  <row Id="14610" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14611" CreationDate="2011-03-01T14:15:49.477" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand the expression to mean doing something on a holiday that you would normally do at your job. So, am I to understand that the expression simply refers to a bus driver going for a ride on the bus on his day off?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5475" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T14:28:20.290" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T14:28:20.290" Title="Where does the &quot;busman's holiday&quot; expression come from?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14610" CreationDate="2011-03-01T14:27:36.440" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Various dictionaries confirm this as the meaning and give the first use as 1893:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/busmans_holiday/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wordorigins.org&lt;/a&gt; points to it in &lt;em&gt;English Illustrated Magazine&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I shall indeed take a holiday soon,...but it will be a &quot;Busman’s Holiday&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T14:27:36.440" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14612" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14614" CreationDate="2011-03-01T14:46:07.797" Score="2" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which of the following sentences should I prefer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All widgets may be assumed perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All widgets may be assumed to be perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my eye, the first seems a little terse and the second rather verbose. What would you suggest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T16:58:35.407" Title="What construction should I prefer with &quot;assumed&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14613" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14616" CreationDate="2011-03-01T14:51:55.577" Score="5" ViewCount="402" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you think you are smarter then me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this question should be using &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt;...I have to wonder if this is a debatable topic within English or is this cut and dry? If this specific instance is indeed cut and dry are there any instances on the usage of &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt; that would cause a hot debate amongst English professors?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5612" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T14:26:10.257" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T14:26:10.257" Title="&quot;Then&quot; versus &quot;than&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;confusables&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14612" CreationDate="2011-03-01T14:52:13.173" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of the two, the second (&quot;All widgets may be assumed to be perfect&quot;) sounds more natural to me than the first. Depending on the context, I might prefer to write this in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_voice&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;active voice&lt;/a&gt; instead of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_voice&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;passive voice&lt;/a&gt;, which is frowned upon in some situations, including many formal ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1787" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T14:52:13.173" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14613" CreationDate="2011-03-01T14:59:07.270" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's cut and dry: people who use &quot;then&quot; in a comparison are spelling it wrong.&#xA;I can't think of a situation where there's any ambiguity about the choice between &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt;; they're completely different parts of speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5548" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T14:59:07.270" />
  <row Id="14616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14613" CreationDate="2011-03-01T15:02:56.023" Score="26" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no ambiguity between when to use &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; and when to use &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt;.  It is purely a phonologically driven error that people make when they are writing, because often the vowel in &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt; is reduced, causing &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt; to sound similar or identical (depending on your accent).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that it is possible for the improper use of &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; in place of &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt; to lead to an unintended meaning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am more interested in taking a nap than going to the party.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above means: I prefer a nap over attending the party.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am more interested in taking a nap then going to the party.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one means: I prefer taking a nap, and afterwards attending the party.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T15:02:56.023" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14505" CreationDate="2011-03-01T15:03:17.287" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is 100% subjective. The connection may make complete sense to me, the speaker, while you as the listener simply &quot;don't know what I'm talking about&quot;. To you, it's a non sequitur, to me, I'm just speaking within my own world view and not bending my speech to ensure that it will be close enough to yours that it &quot;makes sense&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;+42&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T15:03:17.287" />
  <row Id="14618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14613" CreationDate="2011-03-01T15:03:30.253" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct way to write this is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you think you are smarter &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt; me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Than&quot; is a conjunction or preposition, whereas &quot;then&quot; is an adverb, noun, or adjective. I do not believe there is a situation where they are interchangeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A brief explanation which illustrates the differences well can be found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/difficulties/thanthen.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I originally suggested that it should be written &quot;Do you think you are smarter than &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt;?&quot; I rescinded it because @Kosmonaut pointed out that many people use &quot;me&quot; instead. His comment links to 2 discussions on the subject. I don't believe that &quot;I&quot; is incorrect, but most people probably wouldn't find fault with your using &quot;me&quot; instead, and I don't want to derail this thread any more.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1787" LastEditorUserId="1787" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T15:24:44.733" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T15:24:44.733" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="14619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14613" CreationDate="2011-03-01T15:05:42.723" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two words are quite distinct. In the example sentence, &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt; is certainly correct while &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One construction in which there could be confusion is this: Hardly had he laid his head down on the pillow &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt; the phone started to ring. Here &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt; means the phone started to ring &lt;em&gt;immediately&lt;/em&gt; after he laid his head down, and this could be confused with &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt;, since &lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt; can be used to mean something happening after another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T15:42:40.760" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T15:42:40.760" />
  <row Id="14620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14604" CreationDate="2011-03-01T15:24:19.057" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't recall a specific technical name for that particular construction in painting. In sculpture, low depth of field is &lt;em&gt;bas relief&lt;/em&gt;, but I have never heard that used in conjunction with painting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the example you gave, it is probably an artifact of using stage props or backgrounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I have heard people discuss this (I have an art background), but never use a specific technical term.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T15:24:19.057" />
  <row Id="14621" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14626" CreationDate="2011-03-01T15:28:52.783" Score="0" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all: it should be obvious English is not my native language. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A customer of mine just bought a domain, gotinsane, and I am just wondering if it has some meaning and if it is correct English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5599" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T16:03:11.630" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T16:40:36.293" Title="Is &quot;got insane&quot; a correct sentence with a meaning?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14621" CreationDate="2011-03-01T15:31:33.313" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I went insane&lt;/em&gt; is the correct way of saying this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can use &lt;em&gt;I got insane demands from my boss&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;but then it is an adjective&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T15:37:30.627" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T15:37:30.627" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14598" CreationDate="2011-03-01T15:37:06.817" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While not terribly vivid, the standard term I've always heard/used for what the fisherman does is to &lt;em&gt;set the hook&lt;/em&gt; once the fish &lt;em&gt;strikes&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T15:37:06.817" />
  <row Id="14624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14621" CreationDate="2011-03-01T15:39:21.947" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could be something similar to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Got_Milk%3F&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Got Milk?&lt;/a&gt; campaign slogan which has been borrowed countless times. I am sure there are hundreds of &quot;Got [noun]&quot; domain names taken in this spirit. Of course I would expect something more like, &quot;Got Insanity?&quot; instead of &quot;Got Insane&quot; though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As-is, it is very cryptic to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T15:39:21.947" />
  <row Id="14625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14621" CreationDate="2011-03-01T15:39:37.063" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not a complete sentence, and it's... unusual English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Get&quot; has quite a lot of meanings as a transitive verb, but most of them centre around the idea of acquiring or obtaining something, not necessarily willingly.  &quot;Insane&quot; is a state of being, and we wouldn't normally &quot;get&quot; it in that sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most likely meaning of &quot;get&quot; to work in this context is &quot;to understand&quot;.  &quot;I get that this is complicated, but do try to keep up!&quot;  In that sense, &quot;got insane&quot; means &quot;[I] understood what it means to be insane.&quot;  It's a stretch though, and most people wouldn't recognise it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T15:39:37.063" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14621" CreationDate="2011-03-01T15:48:08.287" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using &lt;em&gt;got insane&lt;/em&gt; in something like the following &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That party got insane after you left&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is a fairly common way to indicate that the state of affairs became out of control or &quot;insane&quot;. (I should note, in this case, insane does not mean literally insane, but is figuratively applied to mean wild or exciting).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same construction can be pretty widely applied:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The evening got really depressing after she brought up her friend's illness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The game got exciting when the final goal sent it to OT.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It got difficult after they introduced the new rule set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that we're just working with a domain name out of context, it could indicate a lot of things, but a site that allows users to show off events that got 'insane' would be a reasonable guess I'd say. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T15:48:08.287" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14582" CreationDate="2011-03-01T16:10:36.617" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's apparent that different people have different notions of what a &quot;native speaker&quot; is. To a linguist, the term generally implies that a speaker has &quot;internalised&quot; the language through &quot;natural acquisition&quot;, rather than through deliberate instruction/learning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &quot;native speaker&quot;, as opposed to an extremely proficient second language speaker, can often make instant judgements about whether sentences &quot;on the fringe&quot; of the language's grammar sound grammatical. So for example, native speakers can probably instantly make judgements about whether the following sentences of English &quot;sound normal&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Which students did you think had done their homework?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Which students did you wonder whether would turn up late?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These are the parents affected by the measures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These are the parents baked a cake by their children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It appears that a non-native speaker, even an extremely proficient one, will tend to make a judgement about these sentences much less readily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other, essentially non-linguistic, definitions of &quot;native speaker&quot;, e.g. &quot;the language that I speak most and have the most cultural attachment to&quot; or &quot;The language that I acquired first&quot;. An issue which I'm actually currently discussing on another forum with fellow translators is that there are people claiming to be &quot;native speakers&quot; of English who write sentences such as &quot;I have experience of translator since 4 years&quot;. I personally think this is an unuseful definition of &quot;native speaker&quot;, but it shows how much confusion/variability there is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T16:10:36.617" />
  <row Id="14628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14598" CreationDate="2011-03-01T16:14:15.020" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always heard (and read) the term &quot;the fish &lt;em&gt;bites&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T16:14:15.020" />
  <row Id="14629" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T16:21:33.787" Score="0" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/16/when-is-it-okay-to-end-a-sentence-in-a-preposition&quot;&gt;When is it okay to end a sentence in a preposition?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this sentence make sense &quot;I would like to propose forming a partnership where we work together to provide optimal service to the new developments you are building, or have already started construction on.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5600" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T16:53:40.340" ClosedDate="2011-03-02T03:01:58.517" Title="Can I end a sentence with &quot;on&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14630" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T16:23:40.367" Score="1" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to remember the phrase that describes a particular kind of folly - trying to &quot;beat the house&quot;, or willingness to play a rigged game.  As I recall it has the form of &quot;a fool's errand&quot; - that is, the game is referred to as belonging to the person who is silly enough to play it.  I'd appreciate knowing the origin of the phrase, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4953" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T16:58:39.247" Title="What is the phrase ending in &quot;game&quot; that means a fool's errand?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14629" CreationDate="2011-03-01T16:23:48.620" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sounds like stilted corporate speech but if it is, it parses and can be understood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4955" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T16:23:48.620" />
  <row Id="14632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14629" CreationDate="2011-03-01T16:26:06.650" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're putting me on. Of course you can end a sentence with &quot;on&quot;. It is a construction I rely on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T16:26:06.650" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="14633" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14649" CreationDate="2011-03-01T16:28:00.597" Score="3" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;The age of texting and instant messaging as we all know has created a phenomenon of using shorter versions of words to save on keystrokes. On tiny keypads or phone buttons this obviously can be a time saver. However, in a medium where these shortcuts are not expected (for example, &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; very Q&amp;amp;A site collection), I find it aggravating and annoying that someone cannot be bothered to type two extra characters for word substitutions such as &quot;u&quot; (you), &quot;r&quot; (are), and &quot;4&quot; (for).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sometimes want to refer to this activity as something other than &quot;lazy spelling&quot; or &quot;texty-speak...&quot; Is there a term for this type of lazy word substitution?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2241" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T20:20:30.663" Title="What is the term for neglectful spelling of words such as &quot;you&quot; as &quot;u&quot;?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="14634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14588" CreationDate="2011-03-01T16:29:42.390" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;AKA&quot; is an abbreviation, not an acronym. Acronyms are pronounced as words (i.e. SCUBA); Acronyms are a &lt;em&gt;type&lt;/em&gt; of abbreviation.&lt;del&gt;, but generally abbreviated words are read one letter at a time.&lt;/del&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;AKA is an initialism, which is read one letter at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3846" LastEditorUserId="3846" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T18:17:05.230" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T18:17:05.230" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14598" CreationDate="2011-03-01T16:30:10.773" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dedicated amateur fisherman here, not linguist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Nibble&quot; refers to a seemingly tentative attempt to take the hook and can be used as the event takes place or in later descriptions. Nibble is often used in a derogatory ( self-deprecating) fashion as in &quot;I (he) caught 3 fish, but he (I) only had a couple of nibbles.&quot; This is most frequently used when &quot;still fishing&quot; (just letting the hook dangle instead of pulling it through the water) with &quot;bait&quot; (see below).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Bite&quot;, when used as the event takes place, could be a moderate or normal attempt to take the hook, but is often used synonymously with &quot;strike&quot; or &quot;hit&quot;. When used in later descriptions, &quot;bite&quot; is pretty much the only term I use or hear used (other than nibble).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Strike&quot; and &quot;hit&quot; are aggressive attempts to take the hook and are normally used only as the event takes place. I see those words used in print more often that I hear them spoken even when there is an obviously aggressive attack on the hook.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Take&quot; is when the fish actually becomes &quot;hooked&quot;: &quot;He (the fish) took it (the hook).&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I have a fish &quot;on&quot;, then the fish is hooked, but the fish is not &quot;caught&quot; until I've &quot;landed&quot; the fish or otherwise prevented it from getting away. Deliberately letting a fish go is called &quot;releasing&quot; the fish and is an obvious and necessary part of a form of fishing called &quot;catch and release&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Snag&quot; is what happens when I've hooked a fish that seems to have not deliberately taken the hook. Snags are most frequent around the mouth area, so the fish was likely attacking in some fashion, but the hook is embedded outside the mouth in a way that looks like there was no attempt to actually eat it. As it happens, &quot;snag&quot; is also used to refer to getting the hook caught in weeds, rocks, etc. and to tangled line, especially at the reel (sometimes bad enough to be called a &quot;bird's nest&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When the fish takes the hook, I'll &quot;set&quot; it by pulling fairly sharply on the rod/line. If I try to set the hook on a nibble, I'll likely scare the fish away. If I set the hook on a strike or bite, I could jerk the hook out and scare the fish away or I could successfully hook the fish, possibly as a snag. I always attempt to set the hook except when it's just a nibble; in that case, I wait to see if the fish actually takes the hook.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, &quot;hook&quot;, &quot;lure&quot;, are colloquially used synonymously, for the most part. Technically, the hook is the sharpened curved bit that actually pierces the flesh and holds the fish, the lure being the (usually) metal bit that's shaped and colored to attract the fish. The assembly of lure and hook is frequently referred to as a lure or a hook pretty much interchangeably. &quot;Bait&quot; is something added to the hook by the fisher (worms, leeches, strips of meat, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3582" LastEditorUserId="3582" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T17:32:22.210" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T17:32:22.210" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14575" CreationDate="2011-03-01T16:30:47.550" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Majuscule/miniscule?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just tried to write a few example sentences, but I can't make them suggest anything helpfully different to the above...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5601" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T16:30:47.550" />
  <row Id="14637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14630" CreationDate="2011-03-01T16:32:03.267" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;it is a fool's game&quot; seems common and idiomatic enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T16:32:03.267" />
  <row Id="14638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14633" CreationDate="2011-03-01T16:37:35.317" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I (and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/music/96575094.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;others&lt;/a&gt;) have been known to refer to it as Princespeak, since &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_%28musician%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly Known As Prince&lt;/a&gt; was a pioneer in the area, inflicting it on the mass consciousness as early as 1985 with the initial release of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_Compares_2_U&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Nothing Compares 2 U&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, though Sinead O'Connor's 1990 cover was when it really got out there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T16:14:50.873" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T16:14:50.873" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14621" CreationDate="2011-03-01T16:40:36.293" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you're trying to say &quot;Go insane.&quot; That would be a complete sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T16:40:36.293" />
  <row Id="14640" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14673" CreationDate="2011-03-01T16:45:09.843" Score="1" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a word/phrase that would distinguish the combination of a year and month from a month?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd call &quot;January&quot; a month&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd call &quot;January 2011&quot; a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;___&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5602" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T08:57:10.750" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T08:57:10.750" Title="Is there a word to make the distinction between a Year/Month Combination and a Month" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="14641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14640" CreationDate="2011-03-01T16:47:28.220" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd call January 2011 a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd call January 31, 2011 a day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd call 2011 a year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T16:47:28.220" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14629" CreationDate="2011-03-01T16:53:40.340" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be grammatically correct with regard to use of prepositions, you should reword the phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would like to propose forming a partnership where we work together to provide optimal service to the new developments you are building, or those on which you have already started construction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the last two phrases seem redundant. If they are building a development, it's understood they have started construction on it. As such, the end can be omitted:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would like to propose forming a partnership where we work together to provide optimal service to the new developments you are building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, I would tweak it a bit further to make it flow better:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would like to propose a partnership wherein we work together to provide optimal service to the new developments you are building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's understood that the partnership is between you and the other party if the goal is that you would be working together for a common goal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3918" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T16:53:40.340" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14612" CreationDate="2011-03-01T16:58:35.407" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Part of the problem is the ambiguous meaning of these sentences. The use of the word &lt;em&gt;perfect&lt;/em&gt; implies no doubt about the quality of the widgets. Adding the phrase &quot;may be assumed&quot; brings back that doubt, and puts the onus on the audience to decide wether or not to make the assumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am a native English speaker with a technical background. To me, these sentences raise an immediate question: &lt;em&gt;Why&lt;/em&gt; would I assume that all widgets are perfect? If the author had no doubt about the widgets, they would simply have said: &quot;all widgets are perfect&quot;. This implies that widgets are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; all perfect (which seems realistic), but I &quot;may&quot; assume that they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To address this problem, I would use the following sentence instead:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is safe to assume that all widgets are perfect&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sentence maintains the passive voice, but specifically addresses the ambiguity. It acknowledges that there is no such thing as a perfect widget, but implies that the author has considered the situation and is confident enough to treat all widgets as ideal. The author takes responsibility for the quality of the widgets, and leaves the audience free to ignore any imperfections in the widgets for the remainder of the discussion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T16:58:35.407" />
  <row Id="14644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14630" CreationDate="2011-03-01T16:58:39.247" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A little reflection brought to mind the phrase I was seeking: &lt;a href=&quot;http://wordsmith.org/words/mugs_game.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A Mug's Game&lt;/a&gt;.  Originated &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mug%27s+game?show=0&amp;amp;t=1298998690&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1910&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4953" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T16:58:39.247" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14645" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14646" CreationDate="2011-03-01T17:06:50.390" Score="-1" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;Phil Spector/Spector Sound;Polaroid/a polaroid;Xerox/a xerox?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T17:30:00.403" Title="Is there a term for the transformation of nouns into verbs?" Tags="&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="14646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14645" CreationDate="2011-03-01T17:21:04.510" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm gonna go with Conversion (and for verbs specifically it would be &lt;code&gt;verbing&lt;/code&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_(linguistics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_(linguistics&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In linguistics, conversion, also&#xA;  called zero derivation, is a kind of&#xA;  word formation; specifically, it is&#xA;  the creation of a word from an&#xA;  existing word without any change in&#xA;  form. Conversion is more productive in&#xA;  some languages than in others; in&#xA;  English it is a fairly productive&#xA;  process. Often a word of one lexical&#xA;  category (part of speech) is converted&#xA;  to a word of another lexical category;&#xA;  for example, the noun green in golf&#xA;  (referring to a putting-green) is&#xA;  derived ultimately from the adjective&#xA;  green. Conversions from adjectives to&#xA;  nouns and vice versa are both very&#xA;  common and unnotable in English; much&#xA;  more remarked upon is verbing, the&#xA;  creation of a verb by converting a&#xA;  noun or other word (e.g. the adjective&#xA;  clean becomes the verb to clean). The&#xA;  boundary between conversion and&#xA;  functional shift (the extension of an&#xA;  existing word to take on a new&#xA;  syntactic function) is not&#xA;  well-defined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Verbification, or verbing, is the&#xA;  creation of a verb from a noun,&#xA;  adjective or other word. Verbification&#xA;  is a type of functional shift. It is&#xA;  also a form of derivation, and may&#xA;  involve any of the various&#xA;  derivational processes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2161" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T17:21:04.510" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="14647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14645" CreationDate="2011-03-01T17:30:00.403" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, transformation of nouns into verbs is &lt;em&gt;verbing&lt;/em&gt; (and of course the word &lt;em&gt;verbing&lt;/em&gt; is itself an example of verbing), but your second and third examples are of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genericized_trademark&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;genericized trademarks&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, for which the process is &lt;em&gt;genericization&lt;/em&gt;.  Spector Sound isn't an example of either, it's an example of a person using their name in a trademark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T17:30:00.403" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14633" CreationDate="2011-03-01T17:31:10.103" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is known as &lt;em&gt;txtspk&lt;/em&gt;, from the shortened forms of &lt;em&gt;text&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;speak&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more scientific name is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_language&quot;&gt;SMS language&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T17:31:10.103" />
  <row Id="14649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14633" CreationDate="2011-03-01T17:31:54.283" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_language&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia suggests&lt;/a&gt; the name &quot;SMS Language&quot;, but also offers &quot;textese&quot;, &quot;texting language&quot;, and &quot;chatspeak&quot;, among others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T17:31:54.283" />
  <row Id="14650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14640" CreationDate="2011-03-01T17:35:40.303" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;January is a month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;January 2011 is a month of a year, or a month and a year.  (It is not a year and a month;  a year and a month is a duration.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;January 31, 2011 is a date.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't think of any way other than that to name the month-and-year combination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T17:35:40.303" />
  <row Id="14651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14640" CreationDate="2011-03-01T17:50:25.830" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid all that is is a &quot;month and year&quot;.  Even database design has not come up with jargon for that yet, shockingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T17:50:25.830" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14411" CreationDate="2011-03-01T18:09:07.607" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two sentences have a slightly different meaning because the second sentence contains &lt;em&gt;going to&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She can't speak Italian.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  She is not going to be able to speak Italian before tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the first sentence is equivalent to &quot;she is not able to speak Italian&quot;, the second sentence is roughly equivalent to &quot;she will not be able to learn Italian and speak it before tomorrow.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The NOAD (third edition) reports the following note about &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there any difference between &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; when used to request or express permission, as in &quot;may I ask you a few questions?&quot; or &quot;can I ask you a few questions?&quot; Many people feel that can should be reserved for expressions denoting capability, as in &quot;can you swim?&quot;, rather than for those relating to permission. &lt;em&gt;May&lt;/em&gt; is, generally speaking, a politer and more formal way of asking for something, and is the better choice in more formal contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T18:09:07.607" />
  <row Id="14653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14411" CreationDate="2011-03-01T18:23:07.920" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that most commonly, &quot;You're not going to be able to&quot; is used in response to a stated intention to engage in a future action:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I think I'll go to the fair tomorrow.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;You're not going to be able to do that, you already promised Mom you'd spend all day re-grouting her kitchen.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You can't&quot; is often used in response to an action that has just been taken or is about to be taken, as a precursor to an explanation of why that action is against the rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I'll move my bishop here.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;You can't do that, bishops can only move diagonally.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T18:23:07.920" />
  <row Id="14654" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14708" CreationDate="2011-03-01T18:47:34.903" Score="5" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose you have some elements (let's say coins) laid out over a table in vertical order. How can I make reference to the coin at the bottom? The lowest coin? The one that is below any other? I just don't know how to say that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks a lot and I will appreciate if you also correct the errors in this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5115" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T18:53:47.487" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T00:03:32.663" Title="How can I express &quot;bottom&quot; superlative?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;superlative&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14654" CreationDate="2011-03-01T18:48:38.877" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The one at the bottom is the &quot;bottommost&quot; coin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bottommost&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bottommost&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T18:48:38.877" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14656" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T18:53:16.883" Score="0" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/13214/a-couple-of-quick-questions-related-to-messrs&quot;&gt;A couple of quick questions related to &amp;ldquo;Messrs&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that the plural form of Mr is spelled messrs, but how is it pronounced?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4215" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T18:53:16.883" ClosedDate="2011-03-01T19:01:17.290" Title="How does one pronounce the plural of Mr?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;salutation&gt;" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14657" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T19:11:30.277" Score="0" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nabakov, Burroughs, Mundi come to mind...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T19:11:30.277" ClosedDate="2011-03-01T19:38:11.043" Title="What are the characteristics of a hallucinatory style in modern writing?" Tags="&lt;writing-style&gt;" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14658" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14663" CreationDate="2011-03-01T19:12:35.073" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;Or, put in examples: which of the following is grammatically correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Either you or your sister is going to have to do the chores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Either you or your sister are going to have to do the chores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second option comes off as really strange; am I right to say that the first is grammatically correct because &quot;is&quot; directly follows &quot;your sister&quot; as opposed to &quot;you&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="196" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:10:17.453" Title="Is &quot;either you or [third-person]&quot; followed by a singular verb or a plural verb?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14654" CreationDate="2011-03-01T19:22:59.223" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there is a single column, referring to the top and bottom coins in the column is perfectly appropriate.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are multiple columns, then topmost and bottommost are (at least theoretically) the less ambiguous way to refer to the coin at the top of the highest column and the bottom of the deepest column respectively, although many people may feel obliged to further clarify with something like &quot;take the topmost or bottommost of all the coins&quot; instead of just &quot;take the topmost or bottommost coin&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T19:22:59.223" />
  <row Id="14660" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14662" CreationDate="2011-03-01T19:28:25.513" Score="1" ViewCount="11633" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today’s Quote of Time.com (TIME@time.chtah.com) carries the following line of Charlie Sheen’s remark. Being totally ignorant of the background of CBS and Warner Brothers’ cancellation of the production of the program, I have no idea about the phrase, ‘bang 7 gram rock.’ &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand the line after ‘Because that’s how I roll ...’ means he is single-mindedly do what he decided to do – to sue CBC and Warner Broth. Can somebody translate the above line into English easier for a foreign learner like me to understand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I probably took more than anybody&#xA;  could survive. I was banging 7 gram&#xA;  rocks. Because that's how I roll. I&#xA;  have one speed. I have one gear: Go.&quot; &#xA;  CHARLIE SHEEN, who on Monday night, in&#xA;  addition to giving incoherent&#xA;  interviews, announced that he plans to&#xA;  sue CBS and Warner Brothers for&#xA;  canceling the production of Two and a&#xA;  Half Men.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T19:53:03.330" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T03:16:20.343" Title="&quot;I took more than anybody could survive. Banging 7 gram rocks. That's how I roll. I have one speed and one gear: Go.&quot; What does this mean?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="14661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14660" CreationDate="2011-03-01T19:40:14.857" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Banging 7-gram rocks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's talking about taking (&quot;banging&quot;) crystals of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crack_cocaine&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;crack cocaine&lt;/a&gt;. Seven grams is a LOT. According to the Wikipedia article, &quot;Large amounts (several hundred milligrams or more) intensify the user's high, but may also lead to bizarre, erratic, and violent behavior.&quot; If a large dose is less than a gram, one wonders how Mr. Sheen survived at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's how I roll.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Slang for &quot;this is my normal, customary behavior.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have one speed and one gear: go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If he is moving at all, he is moving at his maximum speed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T19:50:00.883" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T19:50:00.883" />
  <row Id="14662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14660" CreationDate="2011-03-01T19:41:42.810" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;taking it a sentence at a time:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I probably took more than anybody could survive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-&gt; I did so many drugs I should have died [from an overdose].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was banging 7 gram rocks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-&gt; I was taking 7 grams of hard drugs [crack cocaine, probably] at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's how I roll.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-&gt; That's the way I am.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have one speed.  I have one gear: Go.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-&gt; I take chances, I take risks, I don't care about the negatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T19:41:42.810" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14658" CreationDate="2011-03-01T19:53:04.060" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are correct; the correct way to write it is based on the number of the closer subject:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Either you or your sister is going to have to do the chores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As suggested in point 5 on &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sv_agr.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt;, you might consider the order of the subjects to avoid awkward phrases if one is singular and the other is plural. Compare&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Neither my father nor my brothers are going to sell the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;with&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Neither my brothers nor my father is going to sell the house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1787" LastEditorUserId="1787" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T20:04:08.300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:04:08.300" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14664" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14670" CreationDate="2011-03-01T19:53:26.177" Score="4" ViewCount="144" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Liquorice&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced &lt;strong&gt;ˈlɪkərɪʃ&lt;/strong&gt;. But every other word I can think of ending with -ice is pronounced differently (such as &lt;em&gt;police&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;rice&lt;/em&gt;). How did liquorice get such a strange pronunciation, or alternatively, to be spelt like that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:02:36.443" Title="Why is &quot;liquorice&quot; pronounced (or spelt) so strangely?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14658" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:10:17.453" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short, it is best to recast the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the 3rd edition of &lt;em&gt;Fowler's Modern English Usage&lt;/em&gt; (R.W. Burchfield ed.), the verb should follow the number of the first element of a double subject if its elements are coordinated by &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt;. Since the first element is &quot;you&quot; here, it should be &quot;are&quot;; but Burchfield seemed to be thinking rather about whether to use plural or singular in cases like &quot;neither my opinion nor yours matters in this company&quot;, where both elements of the subject are singular 3rd person—not so much about cases where each element would require a different form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About double subjects coordinated by &quot;and&quot;, he says that they should normally take a plural verb, unless they are so strongly connected that they may be regarded as one in thought, in which case singular is also possible. He mentions &quot;a certain cynicism and resignation comes along with the poverty of Italian comedy&quot; as a good example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems Burchfield, otherwise a fine chap, is skirting the issue. Credit must be given where it is due: the real Fowler did find the courage. In the 1st edition, he advises the following options, &quot;in order of merit&quot; from top to bottom:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A. Recast the sentence by substituting a modal verb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Either you or your sister will have to&#xA;  do the chores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B. Recast the sentence by ellipsis and rearrangement:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Either you are going to have to do the&#xA;  chores or your sister.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;C. Have the verb agree with the element nearest to it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Either you or your sister is going to&#xA;  have to do the chores.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After all these years, Fowler never ceases to amaze with his sense of style combined with common sense. I wish I could write like him—such clarity and vigour. If anyone knows of a modern incarnate, do let me know; he is not always up to date at present (...), and Burchfield does not have his great style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:10:17.453" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="152" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:11:47.203" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Language is most easily spoken and listened to when there is an alternating pattern between consonants and vowels.  It's very easy for the ear to distinguish between vowels and consonants, but not so easy when they are clumped together.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An easily spoken sentence would look like this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vowel consonant vowel consonant vowel consonant vowel consonant vowel consonant&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To maintain this pattern while using an indefinite article, it's necessary to insert a consonant (n) between two vowel sounds or remove the n between a vowel and consonant, whichever way you prefer to view it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An apple is easier to speak and hear than a apple.&#xA;A bear is easier to speak and hear than an bear.&#xA;An IBM employee is easier to speak and hear than a IBM employee.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some regional dialects actually do not pronounce their &quot;h&quot;, such as British English. In those regions, it's easier to speak and hear &quot;an historic event&quot; than &quot;a historic event&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5609" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:11:47.203" />
  <row Id="14667" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14669" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:16:55.033" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to quote a sentence from a book which is a collection of stories of various authors. So usually when quoting a book I would put something like &quot;lalalalala&quot;(John Doe p.101) Now I am not sure if in this case for the authors name I should put down the textbook's author's name or the short story's author name that I am quoting. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5235" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T19:05:40.640" Title="How to quote from a book which is a collection of stories by various authors?" Tags="&lt;quotes&gt;&lt;homework&gt;&lt;essay&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14664" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:35:16.337" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Liquorice&lt;/em&gt; (American English: &lt;em&gt;licorice&lt;/em&gt;) is a word that derives from the Old French &lt;em&gt;licoresse&lt;/em&gt; (the equivalent of the modern French &lt;em&gt;règlisse&lt;/em&gt;). The English word kept the pronunciation of the original word.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is another word that has a similar pronunciation of &lt;em&gt;-rice&lt;/em&gt;, and that has origin from a French word: &lt;em&gt;caprice&lt;/em&gt; (AmE /kəˈpris/, BrE /kəˈpriːs/).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T20:41:18.563" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:41:18.563" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14667" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:35:30.827" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The standard way I was taught to do it is like this, in a footnote or end note:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;hr&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1.) F. Olly, 'Semi-Erotic Dreams From&#xA;  Under the Pear Tree', in: &lt;em&gt;The&#xA;  Collected Essays of a Reactionary&#xA;  Spirit&lt;/em&gt;, B. Ugger and N. Inny eds.&#xA;  (Yokohama 1951), pp. 23-74: 24.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First the author of the article or story; the part in '...' is the title of the story; the &lt;em&gt;italicised title&lt;/em&gt; is of the collection it is a part of; then follow the editors of the collection (if any: otherwise leave blank) and the place and year of printing; lastly the pages within the collection that contain the story, and the specific page to which you are referring.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you quote the same article for the second time, you leave out anything between the name of the article and the final page number. Alternatively you could keep the year too, if you have many articles by the same author and the years are relevant for your readers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T19:05:40.640" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T19:05:40.640" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14664" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:39:24.647" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It actually used to be pronounced /lɪkoɹˈɛs/, as evidenced by the Old French word we borrowed it from, &quot;licoresse&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last phoneme probably shifted from /s/ to /ʃ/ do to a similar process that happened with the words &quot;pressure&quot; and &quot;sugar&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why it changed and not other similar words? Who knows. English speakers for a long time have had a twisted lack of consistency. Why are the two words, from the same language and borrowed at roughly the same time period, &quot;prestige&quot; and &quot;vestige&quot; pronounced so differently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5584" LastEditorUserId="5584" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T17:02:36.443" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:02:36.443" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14671" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14672" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:40:43.150" Score="9" ViewCount="277" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main site Meta is currently displaying a banner that reads &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lose some reputation points? A system-wide recalc of scores happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This raised the question &lt;a href=&quot;http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/81220/fix-the-grammar-please-lose-lost-some-reputation-points&quot;&gt;Fix the grammar please? “Lose”-&gt;“Lost” some reputation points?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case &quot;lose&quot; sounds correct to me, since the full sentence is &quot;Did you lose some reputation?&quot;  Is one form more correct than the other, or does it not matter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1101" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:13:48.940" Title="Should this abbreviated question use &quot;lose&quot; or &quot;lost?&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="14672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14671" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:43:29.747" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either could be correct; it simply depends on how you reconstruct the full sentence from the headline:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did you lose some reputation points?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Have you lost some reputation points?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since English telegraphic style allows both &quot;Did you...&quot; and &quot;Have you...&quot; to be omitted, neither is incorrect, and some readers might balk at either one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:43:29.747" />
  <row Id="14673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14640" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:47:47.457" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;January is (the name of) a month&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;January 2011 is (the name of) a (specific) calendar month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5615" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:47:47.457" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14671" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:49:24.577" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first one is more ambiguous and can support multiple &quot;timeframe&quot; references.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(Did you) lose some reputation points? - past&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (Would you like to) lose some reputation points? - future&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whereas the latter implies something that has happened&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(Have you) lost some reputation points?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The ambiguity of the first form leans towards choosing the latter form for clarity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5614" LastEditorUserId="5614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T21:03:16.283" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:03:16.283" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14675" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14676" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:55:05.453" Score="3" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my English learning book the exercise often reads:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Read the text opposite and answer the questions below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does the word 'opposite' mean in this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3406" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:59:44.933" Title="What does it mean to 'read the text opposite'?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;reading&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14675" CreationDate="2011-03-01T20:59:44.933" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Opposite&quot; in this context means &quot;across from this text you are reading right now&quot;.  It may mean on the other open page of the book, in a sidebar column, or just to the right or left.  The root of the usage is that the text you're being instructed to read is positioned &quot;opposed&quot;, or counterposed, to the text doing the instructing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T20:59:44.933" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="14677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14671" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:13:48.940" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going on shades of meaning here, but to my ear, &quot;(did you) lose some reputation points?&quot; has an underlying connotation that you took some action that, directly or not, caused the loss of points.   &quot;(Have you) lost some reputation points?&quot; has no such implication of agency; something happened, maybe as a result of your action but also maybe because of something entirely out of your control, and now the points cannot be located.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in addition to the ambiguity that Richard cites in his answer, I prefer the &quot;lost&quot; formation for its closer (in my opinion) approximation to the actual truth, which is that the system did something that made your reputation vanish, not you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:13:48.940" />
  <row Id="14679" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14684" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:25:00.397" Score="3" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2246/how-do-i-say-our-meeting-is-preponed&quot;&gt;How do I say &amp;ldquo;Our meeting is preponed&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine asked me this question a little bit again, and it caught my curiosity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there an explicit opposite of the word postpone?  As in, do something in advance?  Clearly what I just aid is functionally equivalent to the answer I am seeking, but I was wondering if there was a single word that is the antonym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More context: Bob was supposed to start work in July, but due to a work visa issue, he had to begin in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4944" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:54:59.433" ClosedDate="2011-03-03T14:11:22.870" Title="What is the opposite of postpone?" Tags="&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14680" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:25:39.633" Score="2" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;offer&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;propose&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;suggest&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5616" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T21:38:54.363" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:38:54.363" Title="What is the difference between 'offer', 'propose', 'suggest'?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14679" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:27:24.957" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prepone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Prepone&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which appears to be Indian based...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Found this on Urban Dictionary with regard to prepone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Has been in use in urban English&#xA;  spoken in India since at least the&#xA;  1950s&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also noticed that the SE spell checker does not know what to do with prepone other then mark it misspelled.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5612" LastEditorUserId="5612" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T21:54:59.433" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:54:59.433" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="14682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14679" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:27:47.907" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the best antonym is &quot;bring forward&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5571" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:27:47.907" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14680" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:30:48.747" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Suggest&lt;/em&gt; an idea to grab something&#xA;sweet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Propose&lt;/em&gt; we go eat ice cream&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Offer&lt;/em&gt; to pay for the ice cream&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5612" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:30:48.747" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14679" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:31:47.123" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most business-speaky option is &lt;em&gt;expedite&lt;/em&gt;.  Other alternatives include &lt;em&gt;accelerate&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;hasten&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;advance&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Technically &lt;em&gt;prepone&lt;/em&gt; is in fact the precise antonym, but I honestly wouldn't be caught dead using it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:31:47.123" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14685" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14686" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:37:19.800" Score="3" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I seem to recall that there is an expression for when you are throwing something too big at a particular challenge: &quot;To kill a fly with a...&quot;? Or am I way off here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT maybe it's not a fly after all? I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/sledgehammer-to-crack-a-nut.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; article talking about 'Using a sledgehammer to crack a nut'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5559" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T04:08:04.667" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T04:08:04.667" Title="&quot;To kill a fly with a...&quot;?" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="14686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14685" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:40:38.423" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;... tactical nuclear weapon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google autocomplete suggests &quot;sledgehammer&quot;, &quot;bazooka&quot;, and &quot;cannon&quot;.  I think &quot;sledgehammer&quot; is the only one I've actually heard used, and I suspect it's what you're looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:40:38.423" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="14687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14685" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:42:17.090" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be &quot;kill a fly with a sledgehammer&quot;, &quot;kill a fly with a cannon&quot;, &quot;kill a fly with a bazooka&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To reply to the additional question, &quot;to kill a fly with […]&quot; is the usual phrase. There are other phrases that are used to mean &quot;using something that is excessive&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Use a bistoury to slice bread.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T22:30:50.013" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:30:50.013" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14679" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:42:58.493" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although &quot;prepone&quot; is the obvious counterpoint to postpone, it smacks of neologism (in American English, at least).  I would argue that &quot;do in advance&quot; also doesn't cover it, since it doesn't have a sense of &quot;move the schedule forward&quot;, only &quot;complete prior to the scheduled time&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, &quot;move the schedule forward&quot; is the best way I can think of to say it, or &quot;reschedule at an earlier date&quot; to be even more wordy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;(Given human nature, I'm not at all surprised that a word so common as &quot;postpone&quot; has no clear antonym; but perhaps we'll get around to making one eventually.)&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:42:58.493" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14685" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:44:01.160" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A Korean proverb exists which states...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do not draw your sword to kill a fly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5612" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:44:01.160" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14690" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:46:02.623" Score="1" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1155/adjective-order&quot;&gt;Adjective order&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One a comedy show, one of the comedians was a female who was black and from the UK. The host introduced her as a the first &lt;em&gt;black, female, British comedian&lt;/em&gt; he has had on the show.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a package of salmon, the label read &lt;em&gt;Smoked Norwegian Steelhead Salmon&lt;/em&gt;. (There were no commas because it was a package—commas are necessary in prose though right?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When using multiple, consecutive adjectives for a noun, is there a rule of thumb (or even hard and fast rule) for ordering of the adjectives? A reasonable theory is that it should go from least to most specific, but since English tends to do things in reverse, it would go the other way around. That fits for the salmon, but not the comedienne’s list, yet both feel natural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1648" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:46:02.623" ClosedDate="2011-03-01T21:56:46.627" Title="Ordering of multiple, consecutive adjectives" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;list&gt;" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14604" CreationDate="2011-03-01T21:59:10.213" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if there's a term for what you're trying to explain, but that painting you linked looks to be an example of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_painting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;History Painting&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might want to look through Wikipedia's list of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category%3aArt_genres&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Art Genres&lt;/a&gt;. Nothing jumped out at me…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T21:59:10.213" />
  <row Id="14692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14685" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:00:49.370" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any expression can be improvised. Killing a fly with any weapon will probably get the point across. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favorite expression of this type is &quot;to use a hammer to slice bread.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5584" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:00:49.370" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14685" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:02:48.590" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've often used the phrase&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Using a cannon to kill a housefly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(or some variant) to communicate an extreme solution to a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2178" LastEditorUserId="2178" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T23:47:54.867" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T23:47:54.867" />
  <row Id="14694" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:05:52.790" Score="0" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can &lt;em&gt;adjust&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;settle&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;arrange&lt;/em&gt; be used interchangeably?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5616" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T22:18:32.677" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:18:32.677" Title="What is the difference between 'adjust', 'settle' and 'arrange' ?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14694" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:14:11.217" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. Here are some sentences where they cannot be used intechangeably:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Have you adjusted to the weather yet?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would not make sense in this sentence to replace &quot;adjust&quot; with &quot;arranged&quot;. (Although &quot;settled&quot; is a possible alternative.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Arrange these cards in alphabetical order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cards are not adjusted or settled in alphabetical order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Seconds after the rock had been thrown into the pond, the water began to settle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Water does not adjust or arrange in this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arrange roughly means, &quot;to put in order&quot;. &#xA;Settle roughly means, &quot;come to rest.&quot; &#xA;Adjust roughly means, &quot;to change for the purpose of being more suitable.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5584" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:14:11.217" />
  <row Id="14696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14694" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:17:57.713" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, they're not at all interchangeable under most circumstances; for instance, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We had to adjust some things before we could settle on an arrangement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &lt;em&gt;adjust&lt;/em&gt; generally means to make small changes to something in order to make it better-suited to something:  &quot;He adjusted the airplane seat to be as comfortable as possible, which wasn't saying much under the circumstances.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &lt;em&gt;settle&lt;/em&gt; means to calm, or to (cause to) reach an agreement:  &quot;The teacher settled the boys' disagreement by confiscating the toy they were fighting over.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &lt;em&gt;arrange&lt;/em&gt; something means to place in a particular layout, or to make a plan (with the help of others) for something: &quot;I have arranged for my daughter to go visit her cousins for a week this summer.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:17:57.713" />
  <row Id="14697" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14735" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:26:50.080" Score="0" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;make a monkey of someone&quot;, &quot; don't monkey with that lock!&quot;, and &quot;where have you been, you little monkey!&quot; are examples of sentences where &lt;em&gt;monkey&lt;/em&gt; have different meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should the comma be placed inside the quotes, or outside?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T06:40:34.020" Title="Punctuations for quotes in a list" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14697" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:36:20.190" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;American usage is &quot;yes,&quot; it should be inside the quotes even if it is not part of the quotation. British usage has it outside unless it is part of the quotation (as far as I know).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that it is becoming increasingly common in American usage to move the comma outside of the quote because there is a growing subset of the population who use string literals in programming and the comma is not part of the data. The &quot;Comma in the Quotes&quot; rule is still expected however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:36:20.190" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14699" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:41:34.220" Score="2" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should it read &quot;The contractor shall provide details of the companies ability with regard to resources&quot; or &quot;The contractor shall provide details of the companys ability with regard to resources&quot;? Is there a need for an apostrophe here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5618" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T01:58:09.350" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T01:58:09.350" Title="Use of apostrophes" Tags="&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14699" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:44:13.993" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The contractor shall provide details of the company's ability with regard to resources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that the sentence contains &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; is irrelevant; &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; is merely a preposition that governs the noun phrase &lt;em&gt;[the company's ability with regard to resources]&lt;/em&gt;. Strip away the modifying phrase &lt;em&gt;[with regard to resources]&lt;/em&gt; and you're left with &lt;em&gt;[the company's ability]&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, it should be clear that this is a straightforward singular possessive, hence &lt;em&gt;company's&lt;/em&gt; rather than any other alternative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T23:00:26.153" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T23:00:26.153" />
  <row Id="14701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14699" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:44:14.547" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use &lt;em&gt;companies'&lt;/em&gt; ability if there are many companies. Use &lt;em&gt;company's&lt;/em&gt; ability if there is one company.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T22:44:14.547" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14702" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-01T22:51:53.333" Score="4" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between 'appropriate' and 'suitable' ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5616" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T23:13:23.033" Title="What is the difference between 'appropriate' and 'suitable' ?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14702" CreationDate="2011-03-01T23:04:50.317" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In many contexts they are exactly equivalent. However &lt;em&gt;suitable&lt;/em&gt; has the meaning of simply being usable for a particular purpose, while &lt;em&gt;appropriate&lt;/em&gt; has additional connotations of being non-offensive, of the proper register, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T23:04:50.317" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14654" CreationDate="2011-03-01T23:05:42.843" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are they in a stack or laid out in a line?  If they're in a stack, it's the bottom one, if they're in a line, it might be clearer to say &quot;The closest one&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5278" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T23:05:42.843" />
  <row Id="14705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14702" CreationDate="2011-03-01T23:13:23.033" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The definitions of the adjectives reported by the NOAD are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;suitable&lt;/strong&gt;: right or appropriate for a particular person, purpose, or situation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;appropriate&lt;/strong&gt;: suitable or proper in the circumstances&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference is that you say &quot;these toys are not suitable for children under five&quot; (appropriate for a particular person), but &quot;a measure appropriate to a wartime economy&quot; (proper in the circumstances). You can also say &quot;this watch is suitable for scuba diving&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T23:13:23.033" />
  <row Id="14706" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14715" CreationDate="2011-03-01T23:37:31.567" Score="9" ViewCount="215" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was a kid I remember distinctly this lesson on how to pronounce a word. If there is only one consonant between two vowels like in the word &quot;make&quot; then the &lt;em&gt;e&lt;/em&gt; jumps over the &lt;em&gt;k&lt;/em&gt; and the &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; yells its name &quot;eh&quot; instead of its sound &quot;ah&quot;. For a word like &quot;little&quot; there are a bunch of consonants there so the &lt;em&gt;e&lt;/em&gt; can't jump and make the &lt;em&gt;i&lt;/em&gt; say &quot;I&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know about &quot;whole word&quot; vs &quot;phonics&quot; is an ongoing debate but is the jumping letter concept a phonics thing? Or did I just have a creative teacher?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="228" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T05:17:28.183" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T20:37:08.020" Title="Is it common to teach kids about the jumping letters?" Tags="&lt;phonics&gt;&lt;whole-word&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14441" CreationDate="2011-03-01T23:58:38.047" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It should be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do we have products &lt;em&gt;in stock&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where &lt;em&gt;in stock&lt;/em&gt; functions as an adjective. If products are not &lt;em&gt;in stock&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;available&lt;/em&gt;), then they are &lt;em&gt;out of stock&lt;/em&gt;. When these adjectives precede the nouns they modify, they are compounded as &lt;em&gt;in-stock&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;out-of-stock&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;How many candles do we have &lt;em&gt;in stock&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;How many &lt;em&gt;in-stock&lt;/em&gt; items have expired?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The online store displays mostly &lt;em&gt;out-of-stock&lt;/em&gt; merchandise.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that there also exists the phrase, &lt;em&gt;on the stocks&lt;/em&gt;, which means &lt;em&gt;in progress/in the making&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Plans to introduce better products are &lt;em&gt;on the stocks&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-01T23:58:38.047" />
  <row Id="14708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14654" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:03:32.663" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should use bottommost and topmost. The postfix &quot;most&quot; shows physical position. Use the postfix &quot;most&quot; with adjectives that compare three or more things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have two coins, do not use bottommost and topmost. You'd use bottom coin or top coin. If you have three coins, two are potential bottom coins, since only one is on the top. Because there are more than two possibilities to be the bottom coin, it is appropriate to use bottommost to refer to the coin on the opposite end of the top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bottommost: Situated at the very bottom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Topmost: Situated at the very top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5609" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T00:03:32.663" />
  <row Id="14709" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14713" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:30:11.210" Score="5" ViewCount="177" Body="&lt;p&gt;A line from William Golding's &lt;em&gt;The Lord of the Flies&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it just me or does the sentence seem grammatically off? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5254" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T18:48:50.827" Title="Does this sentence seem weird?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="14710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14709" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:33:41.160" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a little awkward but grammatically acceptable.  The point of confusion is that &lt;em&gt;smashed&lt;/em&gt; in that sentence is the past participle, but the sentence structure invites the reader to initially read it as the past simple (used in the narrative mode indicating &lt;em&gt;present&lt;/em&gt; action in the storyline).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would have been clearer, if presumably less satisfying to Mr. Golding and/or his editor, if it had been written:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All round him the long scar that had&#xA;  been smashed into the jungle was a&#xA;  bath of heat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T00:47:36.610" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T00:47:36.610" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="14711" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14712" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:36:18.027" Score="4" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wrote code to detect a problem where live video playout of a file had moved beyond the end of the clip on disk.  The clip itself may be growing due to an ongoing recording or a transfer of the file across a network.  The error message described the effect (&quot;displayed black&quot;) followed by a helpful hint about the possible reason:  &lt;code&gt;passed media EOF?&lt;/code&gt;  I waffled for quite a while between that and &lt;code&gt;past media EOF?&lt;/code&gt;  Both are true:  The &quot;play head&quot; has &lt;em&gt;passed&lt;/em&gt; the end of the file and it is now &lt;em&gt;past&lt;/em&gt; the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ultimately I chose &lt;code&gt;passed&lt;/code&gt; because it described the event.  It allows for the fact that the file may grow and then stop again, causing a second occurrence of the message when we &lt;em&gt;pass&lt;/em&gt; the EOF once again.  It does cause confusion for people who are dealing with a file that &lt;em&gt;won't&lt;/em&gt; grow.  In that case &lt;em&gt;past EOF&lt;/em&gt; seems more accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is one clearly better than the other in this application?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4415" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T14:23:24.003" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T15:34:54.520" Title="&quot;Passed&quot; vs &quot;past&quot;: Usage in an error message" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;past-participle&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14711" CreationDate="2011-03-02T00:43:24.973" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A key difference between them is that &lt;em&gt;passed&lt;/em&gt; is talking about &lt;strong&gt;process&lt;/strong&gt; while &lt;em&gt;past&lt;/em&gt; is talking about &lt;strong&gt;state&lt;/strong&gt;.  Because of that, I would tend to go with &lt;em&gt;passed&lt;/em&gt; for a transient message that will naturally go away some time after its described event occurs and &lt;em&gt;past&lt;/em&gt; for a message that will continue to be displayed as long as the state it is describing applies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T00:43:24.973" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14709" CreationDate="2011-03-02T01:21:41.220" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I disagree that it's awkward at all. To add &quot;that had been&quot; to the sentence would be to weaken it. Golding employs here a rhetorical device known as &lt;em&gt;ellipsis&lt;/em&gt;, the deliberate &quot;omission of expected words&quot;; and rhetorical impact trumps grammatical nicety any ol' day of the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what Ward Farnsworth (quoted above) says about &lt;em&gt;ellipsis&lt;/em&gt; in his book &lt;em&gt;Classical English Rhetoric&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An ellipsis involves the audience in an utterance; the reader or listener fills in the missing language, consciously or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whatever your feeling about the sentence, you noticed it. It got under your skin and stayed with you. That, my friend, is good writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A scar smashed into a jungle ought to be pretty damn jarring, don't you think? And if it took you more than a few milliseconds to recover and parse the sentence correctly, I would be very surprised.&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; &lt;em&gt;Edit to promote material from my comment to the answer proper.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T18:48:50.827" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T18:48:50.827" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14711" CreationDate="2011-03-02T01:25:13.107" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the act of passing the EOF is what caused the error to arise, then the implication is that now that we are safely on the other side of it, there should be no more error.  Also, passing the EOF marker in the other direction should raise the error again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the fact that we are on the wrong side of the EOF is what is causing the error, then our condition of being past the EOF marker is the issue, and we can expect that moving back onto the other side of it will fix the error.  (This usage is also perfectly consistent with a file that can grow or shrink.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore I would prefer the use of &quot;past.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T01:25:13.107" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14706" CreationDate="2011-03-02T01:33:04.567" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I was just learning to read, my teacher had a sock puppet named Mr. Easy, whose face was a lower-case e with a dot in the enclosure to form his &quot;eye&quot;. Mr. Easy's job was to help the vowels say their name. He would tack himself on to &lt;strong&gt;mat&lt;/strong&gt; and call out to the vowel: &quot;Tell me your name!&quot; And we, being 5 or 6 and eager to help the vowel, would call out &quot;&lt;em&gt;A&lt;/em&gt;. Your name is &lt;em&gt;A&lt;/em&gt;!&quot; And Mr. Easy would then turn to us and ask us what word the &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; was trying to make. And we would shout the answer, laughing and having a great time. And thus &lt;em&gt;mat&lt;/em&gt; became &lt;em&gt;mate&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;them&lt;/em&gt; would become &lt;em&gt;theme&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;bit&lt;/em&gt; would become &lt;em&gt;bite&lt;/em&gt;, and to this day I remember Mr. Easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not intended as a glowing little remembrance, but to point out that whatever device a teacher uses to bring an idea to life is a good idea. Kids like games, they like fun, they like cartoonish characters, and they actually love solving problems. Whether the teacher uses a sock puppet or a jumping game, the important thing is that good teaching involves engaging children in a way that makes a lesson fun and memorable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T10:10:48.787" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T10:10:48.787" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14660" CreationDate="2011-03-02T01:51:09.927" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Banging&quot; means snorting or smoking cocaine. He probably sniffed a ton of coke, I can't see Charlie being a crackhead. Cocaine, as we all know, is very common in Hollywood. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He's been on the stuff for years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Over time, he probably needed to do more to get high (obviously). I'd say doing seven grams at a time is insane, but I think he meant he did seven grams in a sitting, or a night, and it was nothing to him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How's that for translation? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5623" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T01:51:09.927" />
  <row Id="14717" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14720" CreationDate="2011-03-02T04:16:02.900" Score="3" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always thought that colons were used to clarify, expand, provide evidence for the preceding sentence, or show an example. I have heard that this is not true. (Truly, it is a shame if it is so: colons are my favorite punctuation.) Which of the following sentences uses the colon correctly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are three children in my class: two boys and one girl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are three children in my class: Jack, Larry, and Susan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is undoubtedly a true man: his beard is long and his hands are strong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was a big fireplace: not one of those ornamental dainties you find in the houses of snobs, but a real fireplace that had a utility surpassed only by the greatest furnaces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She was a promiscuous fiend: she had seduced every guest who had dared to pass her threshold with her fiery eyes and her wealth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is the problem with your stubbornness: if you happen to be wrong, it will be all the more embarassing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Never in my life have I been homesick: perhaps I am emotionally stronger than others, or perhaps they have a better home than I.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5584" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T18:22:36.090" Title="Colon usage in English" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;colon&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14718" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14733" CreationDate="2011-03-02T04:19:31.977" Score="0" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this a hard/fast rule, or are there exceptions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As he had done during oral argument in January, the Chief Justice used his opinion to discuss how words and their derivatives can mean very different things, or very similar things, and so need to be read in context. 'Corny,' for example, has little to do with 'corn,' the opinion suggested&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="5531" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T16:48:08.060" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T03:02:59.913" Title="Do adjectives typically reflect the meaning of corresponding nouns?" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="14719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14717" CreationDate="2011-03-02T04:22:30.540" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say that all of the examples you give are generally within the bounds of normal use of the colon. Possibly in the last case I'd personally have a slight preference for a dash or just a full stop (on the grounds that the second utterance isn't actually a 'narrowing explanation' of the first), but I think a colon would also be common enough here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T04:22:30.540" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14717" CreationDate="2011-03-02T04:45:56.260" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th Edition&lt;/em&gt;, section &lt;strong&gt;5.97&lt;/strong&gt; agrees with you that a colon is used &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;to indicate a sequence in thought between two clauses that form a single sentence or to separate one clause from a second clause that contains an illustration or amplification of the first[.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also notes, however, that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In contemporary usage [...] such clauses are frequently separated by a semicolon [...] or are treated as separate sentences[.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally would go for a semicolon in your 4th and 5th examples, and a full stop in the last, but the colon is certainly a viable choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Section &lt;strong&gt;5.99&lt;/strong&gt; also agrees with you that a colon is absolutely the correct punctuation to introduce an otherwise unadorned list as in your examples 1 and 2.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T04:45:56.260" />
  <row Id="14721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14718" CreationDate="2011-03-02T05:09:59.750" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, adjectives do not reflect the meaning of the nouns from which they derive. For example, &lt;em&gt;yellow&lt;/em&gt; as adjective means also &lt;em&gt;cowardly&lt;/em&gt;, but &lt;em&gt;yellow&lt;/em&gt; as noun does not mean &lt;em&gt;coward&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;yellow&lt;/em&gt; as adjective has also the archaic meaning of &quot;showing jealousy or suspicion&quot;, while &lt;em&gt;yellow&lt;/em&gt; as noun doesn't mean &quot;who shows jealousy or suspicion&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T03:02:59.913" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T03:02:59.913" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14722" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-02T06:02:20.363" Score="2" ViewCount="188" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The object model and relational model are different schemas and as such compromises have to happen. NHibernate makes a very good job in hiding those compromises in most cases, but when it comes to inverse management you the developer need to &lt;strong&gt;take a stand on&lt;/strong&gt; what compromise is the right one for your solution. Now you know your options, choose wisely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="833" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T06:07:21.463" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T06:35:33.673" Title="What's the meaning of the phrase &quot;take a stand on&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14722" CreationDate="2011-03-02T06:06:44.540" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is another way to say &quot;commit to&quot; or &quot;take a position on.&quot;  I'm not sure on this, but it probably comes by a battlefield analogy, where it can be important for symbolic reasons for one side to hold some particular piece of ground in the face of adversity.   For example, in the United States, the famous Martin Luther King Jr. might be described as having &quot;taken a stand&quot; on civil rights issues, because he protested bigotry and segregation despite being at risk for his life and being jailed for his activism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Eug%C3%A8ne_Delacroix_-_La_libert%C3%A9_guidant_le_peuple.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Liberty&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pictures make the best examples: A caption for this famous painting of Delacroix's might describe her, Lady Liberty, as &quot;taking a stand&quot; for liberty, the revolution, and France.  You can see how the meaning of the phrase derives from its imagery; note the Lady's body language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...the developer needs to take a stand on what compromise is the right one for your solution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the sentence you gave here, the usage is not quite so dramatic as in the above; an adequate replacement would be &quot;make a firm choice&quot; or &quot;take a firm commitment to&quot; whatever solution your text is talking about. The key, in all the various meanings I've given, is the importance of the adjective &quot;firm&quot;; taking a stand, now matter dramatic you want to be, is the opposite of its antonyms &quot;noncommital,&quot; &quot;wavering,&quot; or &quot;wishy-washy.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T06:35:33.673" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T06:35:33.673" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14724" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14730" CreationDate="2011-03-02T06:11:57.840" Score="2" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a fan of &lt;a href=&quot;http://devilmaycry.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Devil May Cry&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Devil May Cry 4, the highest rank for fighting is called &lt;em&gt;smokin' sick style&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, it seems that &lt;em&gt;smokin'&lt;/em&gt; is used as an adverb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess it is derived from the usage of the &lt;em&gt;f&lt;/em&gt; word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it acceptable to take an &lt;em&gt;-ing&lt;/em&gt; word as an adverb, which is commonly used as an adjective? Are there any other examples?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/VfBzr.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastEditorUserId="3812" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T10:19:14.477" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T14:52:36.763" Title="Take -ing as adverb" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14640" CreationDate="2011-03-02T06:12:42.490" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, there is nothing I would consider elegant, nor anything close to universally understood, to distinguish those two types of month.  In fact, I would simply use the term &lt;em&gt;month&lt;/em&gt; to describe either of them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In programming contexts, you usually have other cues, like the length and data type of the field.  In lay contexts, you usually provide other verbal cues.  It should be clear whether you are talking about a month in a particular year or a month in any nonspecific year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note that adding &lt;em&gt;calendar&lt;/em&gt; to one of them is not very effective, as it could easily work for either type of month.  If I had to choose, I would go the opposite way as antonio.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T06:12:42.490" />
  <row Id="14726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1313" CreationDate="2011-03-02T08:01:16.187" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say &quot;you must&quot;, as in &quot;you must forgive me&quot; or &quot;... you must come with us&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5625" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T08:01:16.187" />
  <row Id="14727" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14728" CreationDate="2011-03-02T08:47:34.757" Score="3" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I found my present flat completely by &lt;strong&gt;__&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;luck &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;coincidence &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;chance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What will be the most appropriate word in this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5366" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T09:28:40.947" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T10:08:46.870" Title="&quot;Luck&quot;, &quot;coincidence&quot;, &quot;chance&quot; — most appropriate in this situation?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14727" CreationDate="2011-03-02T09:01:44.950" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/by_chance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;By chance&lt;/a&gt; is what you are looking for, as you found it unexpectedly. Also it sounds the most natural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T09:01:44.950" />
  <row Id="14730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14724" CreationDate="2011-03-02T10:03:15.530" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It it's not uncommon to see such words used as adverbs. The word &lt;em&gt;fucking&lt;/em&gt; and its many euphemisms furnish us the prime examples of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is fucking great. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't be so frickin' stupid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Learn to bleepin' drive!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there are other examples that don't involve profanity:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's boiling hot outside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Put on a jacket. It's freezing cold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These use cases, as you see, all involve intensifiers of some kind. That's how &lt;em&gt;smokin'&lt;/em&gt; works in your example. All the example words may be used as adjectives as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T10:03:15.530" />
  <row Id="14731" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14727" CreationDate="2011-03-02T10:08:46.870" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, any of the words would work just about as well in your example: &lt;em&gt;by chance&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;by coincidence&lt;/em&gt; emphasize the random nature of the occurrence and are interchangeable, while &lt;em&gt;by luck&lt;/em&gt; adds an element of good fortune to it. The concept of luck mitigates the sense of randomness to some extent, as many people perceive luck to be a mystical, deterministic power that operates on behalf of someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it all depends on what you mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T10:08:46.870" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="14732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14598" CreationDate="2011-03-02T11:07:32.603" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No one has yet mentioned the verb &quot;to gaff.&quot;  The verb is coined from instrument used to perform the task, itself also known as a gaff, the wicked looking thing pictured below.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Q2QFxsf2sF4/TNWtJIj2afI/AAAAAAAAAB0/gB9mZHTFfE0/s1600/Gaff-hook,barb.gif&quot; alt=&quot;A Gaff&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the fish is particularly vigorous or large, a fisherman will jab this thing violently into the gills or the mouth of his catch to control and eventually subdue it until it dies of asphyxiation.  However, the verb has gained wider currency than only being applicable to the cruel object from which it was birthed; it can be used as a general term to describe any hooking of a carcass, I believe.  I've seen it been used to describe a butcher's work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T11:07:32.603" />
  <row Id="14733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14718" CreationDate="2011-03-02T11:41:59.633" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a general rule, adjectives are likely to reflect the meaning of the corresponding noun if they're derived via a derivational suffix (&lt;em&gt;-al&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;-ial&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;-ous&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;-ful&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;-worthy&lt;/em&gt; etc) that is still productive. And vice versa if the noun is derived using a productive suffix (&lt;em&gt;-ness&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the noun isn't actually derived from the related adjective, or derived in a way that isn't very productive, there's probably more chance of one of the words taking on a figurative meaning without the other necessarily following suit. In the case of &lt;em&gt;yellow&lt;/em&gt;, I think you could consider that the adjective essentially &quot;came first&quot; and isn't derived from the noun as such; notice that &lt;em&gt;yellowness&lt;/em&gt;, derived productively from &lt;em&gt;yellow&lt;/em&gt;, can have the related figurative meaning of &quot;cowardliness&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T22:50:06.110" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T22:50:06.110" />
  <row Id="14734" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14736" CreationDate="2011-03-02T12:32:03.103" Score="3" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &quot;There will be users who &lt;em&gt;doesn't&lt;/em&gt; buy something&quot; and &quot;There will be users who &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; buy something&quot;? Are they both grammatically correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5632" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T14:22:09.197" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T14:22:09.197" Title="&quot;who doesn't&quot; vs. &quot;who don't&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verb-agreement&gt;&lt;concord&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14697" CreationDate="2011-03-02T12:33:10.837" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;American style is to place the comma inside the quotes. This is universally the case in publishing and accords with all style guides (Chicago, AP, NYT, etc.). The only exception is is in academic works, particularly philosophy texts, where a word is being specially defined and offset with single quotes. That exception, however, is not widespread and some houses, such as Oxford University Press, use the single quote as closing punctuation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T12:33:10.837" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14734" CreationDate="2011-03-02T12:39:47.047" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's &lt;em&gt;users&lt;/em&gt;, plural. The verb has to agree. Users buy X. Users don't buy Y. Users who don't buy Z. Saying &quot;users who doesn't buy something&quot; would be ungrammatical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; I took the &quot;something&quot; in your example to be a placeholder for a product name. If that is not the case, i.e. if what you actually want to say is that there will be users who will buy &lt;em&gt;nothing at all&lt;/em&gt;, then, as JoseK points out, you should be using &quot;anything&quot; rather than &quot;something&quot;. That's because &lt;em&gt;anything&lt;/em&gt; is a negative &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarity_item&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;polarity item&lt;/a&gt;, while &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt; is a positive one. So, to sum it up:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There will be users who don't buy X.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There will be users who don't buy anything.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;There will be users who buy nothing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;*&lt;/em&gt; There will be users who doesn't buy something. (Ungrammatical.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T12:56:25.370" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T12:56:25.370" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14734" CreationDate="2011-03-02T12:42:28.003" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Doesn't&lt;/em&gt; is 3rd person singular.  &lt;em&gt;Don't&lt;/em&gt; is everything else, including 3rd person plural.  So &quot;there will be users who doesn't buy something&quot; is wrong and should be &quot;there will be users who don't buy something&quot; or &quot;there will be at least one user who doesn't buy something&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T12:42:28.003" />
  <row Id="14738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14734" CreationDate="2011-03-02T12:44:25.377" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference is singular vs. plural. It's the conjugation of &quot;to do&quot; that creates this distinction; &quot;He does&quot; vs. &quot;They do&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;He does -&amp;gt; He does not -&amp;gt; He doesn't -&amp;gt; Who doesn't&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Implies that &quot;who&quot; is singular (a he or she). Appropriate answers to &quot;Who doesn't?&quot; would be &quot;He does&quot;, &quot;Sally does&quot;, or even &quot;I do&quot;. A plural &quot;we don't&quot; or &quot;they don't&quot; would still be appropriate but it will mean that the asker didn't ask the right question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;They do -&amp;gt; They do not -&amp;gt; They don't -&amp;gt; Who don't&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Implies that &quot;who&quot; is plural. The same applies here, but opposite. The obvious answer is &quot;They don't&quot;. If you answer a singular, &quot;He doesn't&quot;, it's actually a bit ambiguous whether he is the only one that doesn't, or if he's part of the group that doesn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastEditorUserId="4929" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T12:50:47.707" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T12:50:47.707" />
  <row Id="14739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14660" CreationDate="2011-03-02T13:32:06.097" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've gotta be kidding me. This page is hilarious. People actually analyzing common slang? The only way I can see this page being for real is if you're all from another country, or where english is your second language. Or you're 13. But hey, let's see if I can help. We're all family here right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;That's how I roll&quot; is a common phrase, popularized by the gangster rappers. Roll, because of the previous term &quot;Let's roll&quot;, or &quot;let's roll out&quot;. Mostly referring to driving, then re-interpreted (like the majority of english slang) to &quot;That's how I am&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've watched his other interviews, and I can 100% tell you that he is referring to smoking crack cocaine, in a pipe, all night, over and over again. Watch the movie &quot;The Fighter&quot;, it features Christian Bale as a Charlie Sheen type character. hehe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Banging&quot; usually actually means injecting, but because you can watch him describe how he did the crack in other interviews, this may have been a slip. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's another thing - Charlie is super hyper, so putting his words under a microscope like this and looking for the meaning is sort of anti-productive. Better to look for the overal feel or meaning of the entire interview. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Full tilt ahead - Live free or die - One speed, and that's go.&#xA;All of these are sort of saying the same thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I hope that helps. Good morning, and take care everyone. This page put a smile on my face. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5633" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T13:32:06.097" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14724" CreationDate="2011-03-02T14:01:03.797" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Smoking is a normal adjective meaning great. &#xA;Smokin' is just a way to make it more &lt;em&gt;slangy&lt;/em&gt;, like &lt;em&gt;friggin'&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;smokin' hot babe&lt;/em&gt; for example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I even saw this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Smoking or Smokin', a slang term for&#xA;  overtaking other vehicles in&#xA;  motor-sport events&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T14:52:36.763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T14:52:36.763" />
  <row Id="14742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14711" CreationDate="2011-03-02T14:53:11.837" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since &quot;passed&quot; in this context could refer to a bad parameter being passed to a function, I would lean toward &quot;past.&quot; I do agree with the other answer in that you might consider adding an extra word or two to make things clearer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T14:53:11.837" />
  <row Id="14743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3620" CreationDate="2011-03-02T14:59:53.557" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to a couple of dictionary sources (since the question stumped me), there is a difference in these two words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Allocate&quot; means to set aside for a specific purpose, to fix the place of, to locate. &quot;Allot&quot; means to divide or distribute by share, to appropriate for a specific purpose, to set apart or dedicate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Very close, but to me the difference is in this sentence. &quot;The Parks Council has allocated 10 hectares of XXX Park for community gardens. The garden was divided into 10 plots which were each allotted to a specific local charity.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1774937&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Allot and Allocate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5366" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T14:59:53.557" />
  <row Id="14744" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14752" CreationDate="2011-03-02T15:15:47.267" Score="2" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;In an email, I would like to write the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The weight of services given by&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;Company B&lt;/em&gt; is not less than the weight of services given by &lt;em&gt;Company&#xA;  A&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to contract this sentence, but I'm not sure if this is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The weight of services given by&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;Company B&lt;/em&gt; is not less than &lt;em&gt;Company&#xA;  A&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are my options for explaining this with just one sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make the context more clear: &lt;em&gt;Company A&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Company B&lt;/em&gt; are two partner firms in the same sector sharing the revenues according to specific conditions. They can merge or split in the near future. The aim of this sentence is to emphasize that the service quantity of &lt;em&gt;Company B&lt;/em&gt; is larger than or (at worst) equal to the service quantity of &lt;em&gt;Company A&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T16:28:56.940" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T22:07:22.207" Title="How should I contract this sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14744" CreationDate="2011-03-02T15:25:17.920" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your proposal is OK, but to lessen the (remote) possibility of someone taking it to mean that &quot;Company A weighs as much as the services,&quot; you could say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The weight of services given by Company B is not less than that of Company A.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am guessing, but by not saying company B has MORE weight than A, I assume then that they are the same. In that case:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The weight of services given by both companies is comparable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T15:25:17.920" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="14746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14711" CreationDate="2011-03-02T15:34:54.520" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using &lt;em&gt;past&lt;/em&gt; would actually be wrong. If you are at a point in the media time line that is in the &lt;em&gt;past&lt;/em&gt; of the end of the stream, then you are still within the media (or even before it started). If you have &lt;em&gt;passed&lt;/em&gt; the end of the stream, then you are in the &lt;em&gt;future&lt;/em&gt; of the end of the media time line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T15:34:54.520" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14747" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-02T15:46:40.140" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12996/is-it-alright-or-allright&quot;&gt;Is it &amp;ldquo;alright&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;allright&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is difference between &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;alright&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;all right&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1109" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T15:46:40.140" ClosedDate="2011-03-02T16:05:29.610" Title="What is difference between &quot;alright&quot; and &quot;all right&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14748" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14750" CreationDate="2011-03-02T15:52:50.267" Score="3" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;How dissimilar are &quot;they're not&quot; and &quot;they aren't&quot;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is it dependent on context or are these exactly the same?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They are supposed to be going, but they are not.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  They are not going.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5635" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T03:43:37.087" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T03:43:37.087" Title="&quot;They are not&quot;: &quot;they're not&quot; versus &quot;they aren't&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14744" CreationDate="2011-03-02T16:02:16.890" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Options for contraction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The weight of services given by Company B is not less than &lt;em&gt;that of&lt;/em&gt; Company A.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The weight of services given by Company B is not less than &lt;em&gt;that of those given by&lt;/em&gt; Company A.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The weight of services given by Company B is not less than &lt;em&gt;the weight of those given by&lt;/em&gt; Company A.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A couple suggestions that could do the job just as well, or better:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Company B offers just as many services as [does] Company A.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Company B offers just as substantial a range of services as [does] Company A.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The range of services offered by Company B is as broad/substantial as that of Company A.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T16:02:16.890" />
  <row Id="14750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14748" CreationDate="2011-03-02T16:03:10.470" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are pretty much equivalent. If you desire to place more emphasis on the negative, use &quot;They're not.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T16:03:10.470" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4117" CreationDate="2011-03-02T16:13:26.407" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another data point:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Americans, if they are good workers, get a &lt;em&gt;raise&lt;/em&gt; in pay. The British, however, get a &lt;em&gt;rise&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T16:13:26.407" />
  <row Id="14752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14744" CreationDate="2011-03-02T16:49:08.670" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like Jimi Oke's shortest suggestion, but I will also add one further minor tweak:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The weight of services given by Company B is &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt; less than that of Company A.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;No less than&quot; is a better idiom for expressing &quot;at least equal to&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T16:49:08.670" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14753" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14760" CreationDate="2011-03-02T17:33:58.887" Score="2" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I need to find a solution to/for this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; be used interchangeably here? Is one of them just plain wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5559" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T11:20:09.923" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T11:20:09.923" Title="solution for or to a problem?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="14754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14753" CreationDate="2011-03-02T17:37:51.400" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a native English speaker I regard &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; as interchangeable in the sentence you quoted. I would probably use &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; more often, but I wouldn't regard &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; as wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: I searched the British National Corpus (BNC) at Brigham Young University (BYU). &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BYU-BNC&lt;/a&gt; found 1165 examples of &quot;solution to&quot; but only 208 examples of &quot;solution for&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T10:57:58.687" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T10:57:58.687" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14755" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14756" CreationDate="2011-03-02T17:40:51.877" Score="0" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one of the following sentences is grammatically better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hope she has started doing that by then.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I hope she will have started doing that by then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if I make it indirect, it will probably be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My hope is that she will have started doing that by then&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...Which makes me think the second one might not be correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, is there any difference between American and British English usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="972" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T18:37:21.040" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T18:37:21.040" Title="&quot;Has started&quot; versus &quot;will have started&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;future-tense&gt;&lt;present-perfect-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14755" CreationDate="2011-03-02T17:59:05.753" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The use of the future perfect tense (&quot;will have started&quot;) is the more correct construction there; you are talking about a time in the future, before which time something should have occurred; but that thing has not occurred as of the moment at which you are speaking.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you were to use the first construction, you would still be understood perfectly well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T17:59:05.753" />
  <row Id="14757" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16256" CreationDate="2011-03-02T18:00:33.403" Score="2" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking at a corporate brochure that includes the phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our international &lt;strong&gt;target group&lt;/strong&gt; includes governments, businesses and semi-private organisations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Somehow the word 'target group' does not sit well with me in this context. The company is Dutch (as am I) and we know the word 'doelgroep' to identify those businesses or individuals you are creating your services or products for. 'Target group' is a literal translation of this word. I'm inclined to use '(target) market' instead. What do you think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5559" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T23:26:04.200" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T10:06:33.883" Title="'Target group' or '(Target) market'?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;economics&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="14758" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-02T18:02:03.567" Score="4" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is called a film's info such as year, director, country, actors, actresses, language, length... all the info related to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to say metadata or credits. Any other words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:&#xA;I want to find film equivalent of masthead (used in print)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5637" LastEditorUserId="5637" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T19:27:25.007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T19:43:32.310" Title="What to call information related to a film?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14757" CreationDate="2011-03-02T18:04:54.407" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use &quot;target group&quot; if the company is giving a service or making a product. It fits with the term &quot;user group&quot;. If company is functioning in economics, trade or advertisement I would call &quot;target market&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way to look at might be if you are referring to people, then group sounds better. If you are referring to all the other assets along with people (like companies...) then market sounds right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5637" LastEditorUserId="5637" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T10:06:33.883" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T10:06:33.883" />
  <row Id="14760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14753" CreationDate="2011-03-02T18:05:06.090" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use 'to' exclusively. The problem has a solution, the solution belongs to the problem.  I will find a solution &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; the problem &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; my boss, because that's what he pays me to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will agree with both RGB and JasperLoy that if I heard &quot;a solution for the problem&quot; I wouldn't think it was necessarily incorrect, it just doesn't sound as good to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T18:05:06.090" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14761" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-02T18:07:35.753" Score="1" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am still very confused on when to use &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt;, I understand the idea these sentences are correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He is the person who won the competition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;That is the person whom I went on holiday with.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what would be correct in the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This image shows a patient who is... or whom is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it be &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; because the patient is the subject, or is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5638" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T01:24:22.780" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T01:24:22.780" Title="What is the correct usage of &quot;whom&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;whom&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14758" CreationDate="2011-03-02T18:08:48.770" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's not &quot;metadata&quot;, it's just &quot;data&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: the approximate equivalent in film of a print publication's masthead is, I believe, the &quot;billing block&quot;; that's what appears at the bottom of a movie poster and on the back of the DVD label, with director info, main actors, run length, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T19:43:32.310" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T19:43:32.310" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="14763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14761" CreationDate="2011-03-02T18:11:56.087" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;A patient&quot; is indeed the object of the sentence, but &quot;who is...&quot; is an adjectival clause modifying that object, so effectively it's standing in for the subject of a new sentence. So &quot;who&quot; is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, in your second sentence, it should more correctly be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;...with whom I went on holiday.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T18:11:56.087" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14717" CreationDate="2011-03-02T18:22:36.090" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What Hellion and Neil said—though I think the colons in your examples are absolutely fine and no worse than semicolons. I do agree with Hellion that the ones in your question itself might be better off replaced with a semicolon and a question mark, respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using a colon when the second clause is clearly a clarification etc. of the first is widely accepted. The fundamental problem is that it could be said that any sentence that follows another is quite often the continuation of a thought initiated earlier, and often provides further information connected with the sentence before it. Consider, as a random example, the second sentence of Neil's answer: it gives further (limiting) information about the statement made in the first sentence. Would it be worthy of a colon? I think it would not; but there is no definite line to be drawn between common and colon-deserving clarification.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the first sentence seems evidently incomplete without the second one, if it seems to be begging for something, this might indicate that a colon would improve it. That would be the case if the reader, had there been a full stop, would have wondered, &quot;huh, what is this supposed to mean?&quot;. A colon notifies the reader that he should not worry if he doesn't fully understand what he has just read: if he will just read on, all will be clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your examples, it also matters what came before each sentence: could the reader have known what was meant by the first clause based on the preceding text or other context, or did he really need the second clause to stop wondering?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is all rather abstract; I think everyone should decide for himself when circumstances are forcing enough for a colon. Too many colons can be tiring for the reader, because he is pressed on too often, allowed too few pauses to reflect. You may observe my natural usage of colons above, and see how you would use them differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, a colon can be used between two clauses in an opposition unmarked by words like &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt; etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The contingents of the two countries&#xA;  had trouble cooperating, owing to&#xA;  their divergent views on the art of&#xA;  war. The Germans are fond of order:&#xA;  the French prefer bravado.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could say that the French clause &lt;em&gt;explains&lt;/em&gt; why the Germans clause is relevant and is hence nothing special; but I think regarding it as a separate use of the colon is somewhat more intuitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T18:22:36.090" />
  <row Id="14765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14233" CreationDate="2011-03-02T18:31:10.693" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that invoice does not presuppose obligatory payment. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, as developer of plug-ins for different CMSs (Content Management Systems) I can obtain a copy of any commercial СТS as developer-contributor.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, I frequently have to fill and submit an invoice with a zero price for billing system of a vendor.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T18:31:10.693" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14766" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14767" CreationDate="2011-03-02T18:35:08.563" Score="3" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I have a non-person object or idea that I consider to be my nemesis&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;, how could I refer to the object as a noun but use an embellishing adjective to emphasize that the object is my nemesis?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, &quot;Since the end of World War II, Communism has been the [nemesisical] ideology of the United States.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some words that come to mind include &lt;em&gt;adversarial&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;opposing&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;antagonistic&lt;/em&gt;, but these don't have quite the same  meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;This question was prompted by a question on the 'Programmers' Stack: &lt;a href=&quot;http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/53718/do-you-have-a-language-thats-your-nemesis&quot;&gt;Do you have a [programming] language that's your nemesis?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T04:38:07.383" Title="What is the adjective form of 'Nemesis'?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;subtlety&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14766" CreationDate="2011-03-02T18:43:11.177" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there's any graceful way to turn nemesis into an adjective, but you might turn it into one all by itself:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since the end of World War II, Communism has been the nemesis ideology to the United States.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, better, turn it around and make the current noun the adjective:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since the end of World War II, Communism has been the ideological nemesis of the United States.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T18:43:11.177" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14766" CreationDate="2011-03-02T18:47:40.220" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While a bit clumsy, &quot;nemesis-like&quot; is possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T18:47:40.220" />
  <row Id="14769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14761" CreationDate="2011-03-02T19:05:36.677" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The distinction between cases in the English language is not as strong as it used to be, or as it still is in some other languages, such as German.  Because of that, we are left with those odd words that are case-dependent, such as 'who' and 'whom', that continue to be problematic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When used in the &lt;em&gt;nominative&lt;/em&gt; case, such as in the &lt;em&gt;subject&lt;/em&gt; of a sentence, use the word 'who'.  When used in the &lt;em&gt;accusative&lt;/em&gt; case, such as in the &lt;em&gt;object&lt;/em&gt; of a sentence, use the word 'whom'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T19:05:36.677" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6602" CreationDate="2011-03-02T19:40:23.710" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think we should differentiate between centralized version control systems, wherein commits are only linear, and decentralized ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Assuming a decentralized VCS&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To someone reading a log of comments, each commit begs the question: &quot;What do I change by using this commit?&quot;. This is especially true in a scenario wherein one is cherry-picking a changeset from one branch into another. Also, consider if one fetches commits from a remote repository and wants to inspect them first. With this audience in mind, the imperative mood in present tense makes most sense. E.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[Use this commit to] Refactor the User model.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since this is normally the only context in which I am reading VCS comments, I prefer this style of writing them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The past tense just seems superfluous to me. Of course each revision has already occurred (in the past), or it would not have been committed yet! The temporal context is simply unnecessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Assuming a centralized VCS&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this situation I can see the logic in using the simple past tense, as changes are made completely linearly. However, I think the tense of commit messages becomes a stylistic concern (since the past tense is still assumed). I believe that the current tense, imperative mood scans better (no superfluous &quot;d&quot;s or &quot;ed&quot;s in verbs), but that may simply be a personal preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I do agree with CJM: I think that consistency is more important than grammar or style points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1133" LastEditorUserId="1133" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T06:42:46.563" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T06:42:46.563" />
  <row Id="14771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14761" CreationDate="2011-03-02T19:48:18.950" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Counter-question: does it really sound natural to you to use &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; in your second example? Of course, if you do, then fair enough, but I suspect that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;most speakers would automatically use &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; and find it more natural;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;if anything, &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; split from the preposition is something of a hypercorrection-- it may well be that what makes the stranding preposition so productive is partly the breakdown of the case system, so there doesn't seem to be so much rationale in pretending that this is an example of &quot;normal&quot; case marking and maintaining &quot;whom&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I can observe, &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; is only really very common &lt;em&gt;directly&lt;/em&gt; after a preposition, and even then, &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; is possible (&quot;these are the people for who(m) it's difficult to find work&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The prescriptive answer would generally be that &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; is used specifically in cases deemed to be in the &quot;objective&quot; case. So this means direct and indirect objects, objects of prepositions, but not subjects or complements that aren't actually direct or indirect objects (so: &quot;He was not the person &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; he seemed/appeared/was deemed to be&quot;). In your third example, &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; would indeed be deemed to be the subject of the relative clause. The fact that this distinction doesn't generally come naturally to speakers shows that it isn't really case marking, and hence there's actually not that much rationale for using &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to make your life simpler, you could just not use &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; at all ever...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastEditorUserId="4941" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T19:53:36.733" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T19:53:36.733" />
  <row Id="14772" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14776" CreationDate="2011-03-02T20:20:07.550" Score="0" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1016/do-you-use-a-or-an-before-acronyms&quot;&gt;Do you use &amp;ldquo;a&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;an&amp;rdquo; before acronyms?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am writing about Random Variables, which I am abbreviating to RV. Should I write 'an RV' (an Arr-Vee) or 'a RV' (a Random Variable)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5641" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T04:20:13.503" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T04:20:13.503" ClosedDate="2011-03-03T08:26:31.030" Title="&quot;An RV&quot; or &quot;a RV&quot;?" Tags="&lt;acronyms&gt;&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="14774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14772" CreationDate="2011-03-02T20:25:41.407" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;An RV&quot;.  It's whether it would be pronounced with a vowel sound that controls, and what you would actually say rather than the expansion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T20:25:41.407" />
  <row Id="14775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14772" CreationDate="2011-03-02T20:26:09.403" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When someone reads &quot;RV&quot; aloud, they will say &quot;Arr-Vee&quot;, not &quot;random variable&quot;; so 'an' is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T20:26:09.403" />
  <row Id="14776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14772" CreationDate="2011-03-02T20:26:13.860" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This depends entirely on how you expect people to read the letters &lt;code&gt;RV&lt;/code&gt;. If you expect them to say &quot;random variable&quot; every time, then use &lt;em&gt;a RV&lt;/em&gt;. If you expect that they'll pronounce the letter names, use &lt;em&gt;an RV&lt;/em&gt;. Personally, I would lean towards the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's because &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8181/does-one-use-a-or-an-before-the-word-x-ray&quot;&gt;the choice of &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; is determined entirely by pronunciation&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T20:26:13.860" />
  <row Id="14777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14706" CreationDate="2011-03-02T20:37:08.020" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a tutor, and have great success in using a game, Ring Around the Phonics, to teach phonics and reading.  I think getting into the rules of phonics (except for e at the end of a word) is a bit much until they are reading well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5643" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T20:37:08.020" />
  <row Id="14778" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14779" CreationDate="2011-03-02T20:48:27.957" Score="2" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;With seemingly increasing frequency I come across a phrase using 'learn' when I think it should be 'teach'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The classic example is 'that will learn them!', as in &quot;Shoot all criminals - that will learn them!&quot;. I thought this was being deliberately wrong for comedic effect, in keeping with the general sentiment of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example from a Stack Exchange site (http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/53880/stuff-you-should-have-learned-in-school-but-didnt-pay-attention-to-at-the-time)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't know if you can learn someone&#xA;  to write at this age&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I being overly fussy/old fashioned or is this just wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="550" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T21:07:03.033" Title="Is 'learn' the new 'teach'?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14778" CreationDate="2011-03-02T20:59:34.220" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In standard English, using &lt;em&gt;learn&lt;/em&gt; to mean &lt;em&gt;teach&lt;/em&gt; is incorrect. It is, however, a feature of some non-standard dialects. The examples you give all seem to be to be using &lt;em&gt;learn&lt;/em&gt; for comedic effect, mimicking the non-standard dialects where this sort of thing is common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T20:59:34.220" />
  <row Id="14780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14778" CreationDate="2011-03-02T21:07:03.033" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to what @JSBangs said, you might consider the possibility that the word is being used by the authors in a humorous or ironic sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T21:07:03.033" />
  <row Id="14781" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14786" CreationDate="2011-03-02T21:22:44.517" Score="5" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming there isn't a word that contains every letter in the alphabet, so which word contains the most?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;antidisestablishmentarianism - 12 &lt;code&gt;[antidseblhmr]&lt;/code&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;psychotherapy - 12 &lt;code&gt;[psychotherap]&lt;/code&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;handcraftsmanship - 13 &lt;code&gt;[handcrftsmhip]&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5641" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T08:48:31.130" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:05:06.327" Title="What word contains the most unique letters?" Tags="&lt;word-games&gt;&lt;alphabet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14782" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14829" CreationDate="2011-03-02T21:29:34.317" Score="1" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;Flapping my ears near other people's conversations, as I am wont to do, I have noticed that the people we used to call &lt;em&gt;batsmen&lt;/em&gt; have (it would seem) turned into &lt;em&gt;batters&lt;/em&gt;. Does anyone know why this should be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T08:29:46.873" Title="Why are &quot;batsmen&quot; becoming &quot;batters&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13634" CreationDate="2011-03-02T21:44:36.320" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, it is likely that &lt;em&gt;identity&lt;/em&gt; means something akin to harmony here. So, in mathematical terms, it would be a sort of congruity of thought and being. I'm thinking of what Hegel says in J. Sibree's translation of the &lt;em&gt;Philosophy of History,&lt;/em&gt; &quot;This comprehension--the penetration of the Ego into and beyond other forms of being with the most profound self-certainty [the identity of subjective and objective Reason being recognized], directly involves the harmonization of Being...&quot; (&lt;em&gt;Philosophy of History&lt;/em&gt;, 439). Thought, for Hegel, is the *ne plus ultra*of subjectiveness. So, when a man thinks, the object of thought is harmonized and is &quot;no longer an absolutely distinct form of existence&quot; from the intelligible (&lt;em&gt;POH&lt;/em&gt;, 439). [Edit: &lt;em&gt;POH&lt;/em&gt; was mistakenly written as &lt;em&gt;POF&lt;/em&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is to say, Hegel does not mean that thought and being are &quot;in essence the same thing,&quot; as Mr. Rogers' comment claims. To understand Hegel's use of language and terminology, it is actually important to read Hegel, and Kant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3913" LastEditorUserId="3913" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T01:41:46.527" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T01:41:46.527" />
  <row Id="14784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14781" CreationDate="2011-03-02T22:05:37.843" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch&lt;/a&gt; clocks in at 18 distinct characters, but arguably a near-infinite number of 25-character answers exist, since organic chemistry nomenclature allows one to build valid hypothetical compound names of essentially arbitrary length, and the full alphabet less only J appears on the periodic table (though this does require one to refer to rutherfordium by its old placeholder name unnilquadium or arrogate a placeholder name for a transuranic element with an atomic number ending in 4 that hasn't been named yet, so it may only get us to 24 characters).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T22:18:30.827" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T22:18:30.827" />
  <row Id="14785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14781" CreationDate="2011-03-02T22:06:23.957" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'uncopyrightable' is supposedly the longest word in the English language with no repeated letters, which makes it a logical starting point.  That sets the bar at 15 unique letters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5644" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T22:06:23.957" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14781" CreationDate="2011-03-02T22:07:01.420" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Among words in a certain &lt;a href=&quot;http://wordlist.sourceforge.net/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;word list&lt;/a&gt; I found:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;(18, 'llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch')&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has ten words with 16, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;(16, 'superacknowledgement')&#xA;(16, 'pseudolamellibranchiate')&#xA;(16, 'pneumoventriculography')&#xA;(16, 'phenylthiocarbamides')&#xA;(16, 'hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia')&#xA;(16, 'formaldehydesulphoxylic')&#xA;(16, 'blepharoconjunctivitis')&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are several dozen with 15, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;(15, 'undiscoverability')&#xA;(15, 'uncopyrightable')&#xA;(15, 'supermagnificently')&#xA;(15, 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious')&#xA;(15, 'submetaphorically')&#xA;(15, 'spondylotherapeutics')&#xA;(15, 'semiautobiographical')&#xA;(15, 'pterygomandibular')&#xA;(15, 'pseudoromantically')&#xA;(15, 'overdiscriminatingly')&#xA;(15, 'neuropharmacologists')&#xA;(15, 'hyperconstitutionalism')&#xA;(15, 'honorificabilitudinities')&#xA;(15, 'gumpoldskirchner')&#xA;(15, 'formaldehydesulphoxylate')&#xA;(15, 'encephalomyocarditis')&#xA;(15, 'dermatoglyphics')&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and several hundred with 14 (including a few 14-letter words like 'pseudomythical', 'hydropneumatic' and 'ambidextrously').&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In case anyone cares, this was done with Python, something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;F = open('words.list').readlines()&#xA;for i in range(len(F)):&#xA;    w = F[i].strip().lower()&#xA;    F[i] = (len(set(w)), w)&#xA;F = sorted(F, reverse=True)&#xA;for i in range(len(F)): print F[i]&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better word list (one that includes &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/834/what-is-the-longest-word-in-the-english-language-without-a-repeated-letter/849#849&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;subdermatoglyphic&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, for instance!) may give longer words. And you didn't ask about two words, but just for reference: &lt;a href=&quot;http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2035&amp;amp;context=wordways&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; says &quot;Ralph Beaman proposes &lt;strong&gt;formaldehydesulphoxylic ventriloquizing&lt;/strong&gt; as a two-word combination having 22 different letters which should be difficult to beat&quot;; I haven't checked this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T18:05:06.327" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:05:06.327" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14744" CreationDate="2011-03-02T22:07:22.207" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strange phrase &quot;weight of services&quot; does 'weight' imply weakness (as in burden) or strength?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;Company A's services outweigh Company B's&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5278" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T22:07:22.207" />
  <row Id="14788" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14789" CreationDate="2011-03-02T22:16:25.470" Score="1" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2933/possessive-of-a-word-thats-already-possessive&quot;&gt;Possessive of a word that&amp;#39;s already possessive?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ran into this issue today. Referring to Queen's University, how would you say &quot;I've been accepted to Queen's MA program?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you move the apostrophe over to make it Queens'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5645" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T22:24:01.843" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T22:24:01.843" ClosedDate="2011-03-02T23:58:41.247" Title="Possessive of Queen's?" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="14789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14788" CreationDate="2011-03-02T22:20:42.947" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, we would wind up with &quot;Queen's's&quot;, which is just not happening, so I would studiously avoid the issue by saying &quot;I've been accepted to Queen's University's MA program&quot; or &quot;I've been accepted to the MA program at Queen's&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T22:20:42.947" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14790" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14791" CreationDate="2011-03-02T22:58:37.080" Score="12" ViewCount="275" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it recommended to use &quot;we&quot; in research papers? If not, should I always use passive voice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5648" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T23:23:42.577" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T01:42:01.937" Title="Is it recommended to use &quot;we&quot; in research papers?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;passive-voice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14790" CreationDate="2011-03-02T23:15:40.583" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;We&lt;/em&gt; is used in papers with multiple authors. Even in papers having only one author/researcher, &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt; is used to draw the reader into the discussion at hand. Moreover, there are several ways to avoid using the passive voice in the absence of &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt;. At the end of the day, however, the bottom line is to convey the information as succinctly as possible. On the one hand, there are many instances where the passive voice cannot be avoided while, on the other, &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt; can also be overused to the point of irritation. Variety is indeed the spice of a well written scientific paper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T23:15:40.583" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14753" CreationDate="2011-03-02T23:32:23.523" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I need to find a solution &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; this problem&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I need to find a solution &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; this problem&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I need to find a remedy &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; this problem&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All three sentences are correct, although the second is less common. Usually, one will find that &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; is the preposition of choice for the word &lt;em&gt;solution&lt;/em&gt;. However, &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; is preferred in certain cases, and I give two examples to illustrate this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A bunch of students are working on a physics problem set in the common room. &lt;em&gt;C&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;J&lt;/em&gt; are done with questions 1 through 4 and are currently working on 5. &lt;em&gt;A&lt;/em&gt; just finished solving question 4 and wants to check her work with &lt;em&gt;C&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;J&lt;/em&gt;: &quot;Hey guys, could you show me your solution &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; number four? I'm not sure I did it correctly.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Joe had just bought a fridge for a dollar from an old lady down the road. Still unable to believe his luck, he wasted no time in setting it up in the corner of the hovel he shared with his brother, Alex. Only after plugging in the fridge did Joe realize that the door wouldn't close properly. He repeatedly slammed the door shut only to have it slowly creak open each time to his chagrin. &quot;Hey, bro,&quot; Alex finally said, &quot;calm down. Calm down!&quot; He pulled out a crowbar. &quot;There's a quick solution &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; this.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-02T23:45:23.377" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T23:45:23.377" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="14793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14757" CreationDate="2011-03-02T23:37:07.670" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either &lt;em&gt;target group&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;market&lt;/em&gt; would be fine. &lt;em&gt;Target market&lt;/em&gt; is unidiomatic. Also, &lt;em&gt;market&lt;/em&gt; may be your better bet in this context, as &lt;em&gt;target group&lt;/em&gt; could be too general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T23:37:07.670" />
  <row Id="14794" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-02T23:57:20.127" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am hoping to help my girlfriend improve her english.  Sometimes I correct her sentences but I would like to tell her more than just, &quot;You are wrong. This is the correct sentence.&quot; What are some general tips I can give her?  Are there any resources that would do automatic improper grammar detection for sentences like this one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does it means that when your computer&#xA;  is taken than longer is is not ok?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What she meant was:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does it (your previous message) mean that when&#xA;  your computer is taking longer than it&#xA;  should, it is not ok?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So things I can identify but do not know how to properly describe and fix in general are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adding punctuation such as a comma makes the sentence easier to understand, even if there are other gramatical errors&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Matching &quot;it&quot; with &quot;means&quot; not &quot;mean&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Verb tense and spelling of &quot;taking&quot; rather than &quot;taken&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Typo of &quot;is is&quot; rather than &quot;it is&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="846" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T18:24:46.860" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:24:46.860" ClosedDate="2011-03-03T08:40:58.653" Title="Provide general terms for grammatic errors in sentence and resources to fix the source of the errors" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verb-agreement&gt;&lt;subject&gt;" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14761" CreationDate="2011-03-03T00:04:02.510" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Whom' is an objective pronoun. It can be the target of a verb or the object of a preposition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whom as the target of a verb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You kicked whom?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whom as the object of a preposition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To Whom It May Concern:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T00:04:02.510" />
  <row Id="14796" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14797" CreationDate="2011-03-03T00:20:19.683" Score="3" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;Observation: It seems that it's common to turn a store name into a possessive, for example a store named &quot;Palisade&quot; gets transformed to possessive in speech like, &quot;Hey how about going to Palisade's for breakfast?&quot; Many (most?) store names do not get this treatment. It seems most common if the store name is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Abstract: &quot;I saw a great concert at BOOT's last night.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A person's name, or what looks like a person's name: &quot;I got this at JC Penny's&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Totally unknown word: &quot;I get my hair cut at Foofum's&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;[UPDATE] Is it ungrammatical to do this?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My assumption is that it's a short form of saying &quot;BOOT's performance venue&quot; (nonsensical though?), &quot;JC Penny's shop&quot;, or &quot;Foofum's salon&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this common, or is it just my home town or something? Or my imagination?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why must we do this instead of simply calling the store by &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/13148/why-is-there-a-distinction-between-its-and-its&quot;&gt;its&lt;/a&gt; rightful name? To me &quot;I saw a concert last night at BOOT.&quot; is no less clear, and no more difficult to say.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/13895/movies-based-on-v-inspired-by-true-events&quot;&gt;Inspired by&lt;/a&gt; a &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2933/possessive-of-a-word-thats-already-possessive&quot;&gt;previous question&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastEditorUserId="4929" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T10:26:53.900" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T10:26:53.900" Title="Store names &amp; possessive" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14796" CreationDate="2011-03-03T00:45:55.047" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The fact is, we &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; do this by calling a store by its rightful name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I got this at The Gap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I got this at Sears.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I got this at Kohl's. [Kohl's is the store's real name.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I got my snow thrower at Lowe's. [Lowe's is the store's real name.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I got this book at Barnes &amp;amp; Noble, because it was cheaper than Brentano's was selling it for. [Yeah, I know Brentano's sold out, but that was their real name.] &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes people feel they have to add a possessive to a store's name, but they really don't. People who say JC Penney's just don't know what the store's name really is. They may even think Sears is Sears' or Sear's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T01:29:24.243" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T01:29:24.243" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14796" CreationDate="2011-03-03T01:16:50.197" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that this is rooted in the nineteenth century habit of labeling a business by a sign giving the proprietor's name and the type of goods or services provided: &quot;&lt;em&gt;A. Anderson / Dry Goods&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, &quot;&lt;em&gt;GENERAL STORE / C. Johnson, prop.&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, etc.  (This differs from some later forms of business names, like &quot;Dairy Belle&quot;.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How are people going to succinctly refer to such a business?  The obvious way is with &quot;Anderson's store&quot; or some such, and that quickly becomes abbreviated to &quot;Anderson's&quot; or equivalent.  I think this explains most cases; others may simply applying the same form of shortening to a business name which is mistakenly thought to be based on a personal name.  Certainly, this is the case with the stores of J. C. Penney, where it never identified itself as Penney's, but was widely known that way.  (You won't find Burger King referred to as &lt;em&gt;King's&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T01:16:50.197" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14799" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-03T01:28:28.030" Score="0" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can someone recommend a good book about technical writing, more specifically, writing research papers or books in science and engineering?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, I found that question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8068/recommended-books-on-writing-well-in-english&quot;&gt;Recommended books on writing well in English?&lt;/a&gt; was closed as off topic. But I didn't find anything in FQA about book recommendation as off topic. Please correct me if I missed anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5648" LastEditorUserId="5648" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T05:10:04.963" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T05:10:04.963" ClosedDate="2011-03-03T08:09:21.617" Title="Can someone recommend a good book about technical writing?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;technical&gt;&lt;book-title&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14790" CreationDate="2011-03-03T01:42:01.937" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's definitely OK to use &quot;we&quot; in research papers. I edit them professionally and see it used frequently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, many papers with multiple authors use such constructions as &quot;the investigators,&quot; or &quot;the researchers.&quot; In practice, there really aren't that many occasions when the authors of a scientific paper need to refer to themselves as agents. It happens, sure. But not that often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather, the Introduction, Methods, Results, and Conclusion sections should speak for themselves. Any reference to the authors should be minimal as except in rare cases they are not germane to the findings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T01:42:01.937" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14801" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-03T01:52:59.917" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;If there is a phone call I forget to call, can I say this call is a &quot;due call&quot;? Or any other word can describe it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5650" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T02:21:50.327" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T03:43:32.367" Title="Can I say &quot;due call&quot;?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="14802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14801" CreationDate="2011-03-03T02:20:58.270" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you mean a call that was planned, then you can say &quot;a due call&quot;, in the same way you say &quot;talks are due to adjourn tomorrow&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T02:20:58.270" />
  <row Id="14803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14801" CreationDate="2011-03-03T02:38:45.943" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the phone call has not been made by the expected time, I would recommend using &quot;overdue&quot; instead.  For example:  &quot;I need to make an overdue call.&quot; or &quot;The phone call is overdue.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The phone call is due tomorrow&quot; can be used to indicate an expected time in the future or &quot;The phone call was due yesterday&quot; for a missed call.  I cannot think of a situation where I would use the phrase &quot;due call&quot; to refer to a call that was not made at the expected time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5644" LastEditorUserId="5644" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T02:44:39.650" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T02:44:39.650" />
  <row Id="14805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14782" CreationDate="2011-03-03T02:46:23.117" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported also by ShreevatsaR in a comment, &lt;em&gt;batter&lt;/em&gt; is preferred because it does not sound like referring to a male player.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word is common enough in British English that the OED doesn't report the word is American or chiefly American.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T02:46:23.117" />
  <row Id="14806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14801" CreationDate="2011-03-03T02:57:10.950" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you forgot, then I assume there was a predetermined time you were supposed to call. In that case, &quot;past due call&quot; would be more applicable, and I think perfectly acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5651" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T02:57:10.950" />
  <row Id="14807" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-03T02:57:45.100" Score="2" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;A moment ago on &lt;em&gt;Mr. Sunshine&lt;/em&gt;, Matthew Perry pronounced the end of a conch shell as in ‘church’. I learned it as being pronounced with a ‘k’ sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On WikiPedia, both are listed as pronunciations, but on the Merriam Webster and Dictionary.com sites, the audio clip pronounces with a ‘k’.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a proper or official pronunciation, perhaps from a different, originating language?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1648" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T19:58:15.603" Title="What is the proper/offical pronunciation of “conch”?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14772" CreationDate="2011-03-03T03:03:19.010" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;That there's an RV, Clark.&quot; - Cousin Eddie, Christmas Vacation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think cousin Eddie got it right, as did @JSBangs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5651" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T03:03:19.010" />
  <row Id="14809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14807" CreationDate="2011-03-03T03:06:16.957" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The New Oxford American Dictionary lists three: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;conch&lt;/strong&gt; |kä ng k; kän ch; kô ng k|&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or &lt;em&gt;kahnk&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;kahnch&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;kawnk&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Take your pick. They're not making it easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T03:06:16.957" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14807" CreationDate="2011-03-03T03:22:50.870" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the most official source we have in English, the dictionary, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/conch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;both pronunciations are valid&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pronunciation of a borrowed word in the originating language has no bearing on the &quot;proper&quot; pronunciation of the word in English.  However, the word &lt;em&gt;conch&lt;/em&gt; comes from Latin &lt;em&gt;concha&lt;/em&gt;, which would have been pronounced /konkʰa/ in Latin (to my knowledge).  The raised &quot;h&quot; represents an aspirated /k/ sound, and it is different from both of the /tʃ/ and /k/ sounds suggested in the dictionary.  As it happens, we also sometimes have an aspirated-k (kʰ) in English — however, we do it word-initially and in stressed syllables (only), and never in non-word-initial unstressed syllables.  So, the unaspirated-k at the beginning of that word and the aspirated-k in the second syllable are reversed with respect to the natural English pronunciation (i.e. /kʰonka/ would follow English aspiration rules), and so pronouncing the word in the Latin way would sound quite odd mixed in with normal English speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T03:22:50.870" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="14812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14807" CreationDate="2011-03-03T03:36:52.713" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In American English, the word is pronounced /kɑntʃ/; in British English, the pronunciation is /kɒŋk/, /kɒn(t)ʃ/.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pronunciation you expected (with the final &lt;em&gt;k&lt;/em&gt;, as in /kɒŋk/) is just one of the possible pronunciations, and it is not the pronunciation I hear on Long Island.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T03:36:52.713" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14801" CreationDate="2011-03-03T03:37:28.687" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Due&lt;/em&gt; could take on different meanings depending on whether it is placed before or after the noun it modifies. Ordinarily, &lt;em&gt;due&lt;/em&gt; would mean &lt;em&gt;necessary; appropriate; required (not with respect to time)&lt;/em&gt; when placed before a noun, as in &lt;em&gt;due attention, due diligence, due regard, etc&lt;/em&gt;. In this case, however, &lt;em&gt;due&lt;/em&gt; should follow the noun if it is to acquire it's more popular meaning of &lt;em&gt;required at a certain time; owed; etc.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Options in this case are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A call I forgot to make&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A call I am yet to make&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A call I [still] have to make&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A call I need to make&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;An overdue call &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A long overdue call&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A call [long] overdue&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A call due [&lt;em&gt;when&lt;/em&gt; e.g. yesterday]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A call past due&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also add that &lt;em&gt;due call&lt;/em&gt; would usually be taken to mean &lt;em&gt;a required call&lt;/em&gt; (not of the telephone variety, more often than not), as in the following example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;First speaker: 'I wish Joe hadn't called the superintendent out on that issue.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Second speaker: 'I disagree! The superintendent was clearly in the wrong.' &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Third speaker: 'Yeah, that was definitely a &lt;em&gt;due call&lt;/em&gt;.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T03:43:32.367" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T03:43:32.367" />
  <row Id="14814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14807" CreationDate="2011-03-03T04:22:14.250" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My scuba diving adventures have taken me to many places where conch is a delicacy, served raw, fried, and so forth, and in all cases it is pronounced &quot;conk&quot; by the locals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T04:22:14.250" />
  <row Id="14815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14766" CreationDate="2011-03-03T04:38:07.383" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A catching point is that &lt;em&gt;Nemesis&lt;/em&gt; was originally the name of a Greek goddess. While it's no longer considered a proper noun, perhaps its origin lends some clarity as to why it's so difficult to modify. Turning any proper noun into an adjective presents unique problems. Examples (of dubious etymology) convert the word into a verb first, and then participle. For example, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Zuckerberged&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Urban Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; defines both &lt;em&gt;Zuckerberged&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Zuckering&lt;/em&gt;, but doesn't have a definition for &lt;em&gt;to Zucker&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;to Zuckerberg&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But just for fun, let's try it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since the end of World War II, Communism has been the &lt;em&gt;Nemesised&lt;/em&gt; ideology of the United States.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A rephrase makes this slightly easier to accept, in my opinion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since the end of World War II, the United States has &lt;em&gt;Nemesised&lt;/em&gt; the Communist ideology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think you should give up, though, unless you &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailywritingtips.com/verb-words/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;like to verb words&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5640" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T04:38:07.383" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12490" CreationDate="2011-03-03T04:46:08.910" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a British perspective, I would say that &lt;em&gt;cheat&lt;/em&gt; (exactly the same spelling as the verb) and &lt;em&gt;two-timer&lt;/em&gt; (with an &lt;em&gt;r&lt;/em&gt;) are the standard nouns describing people outside a marriage. &lt;em&gt;Cheater&lt;/em&gt; is used colloquially, but is frowned upon as incorrect. &lt;em&gt;Two-time&lt;/em&gt; is used as a verb, not a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have stated, &lt;em&gt;adulterer&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;adulteress&lt;/em&gt; are the standard, formal terms for people within a marriage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5654" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T04:46:08.910" />
  <row Id="14817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12490" CreationDate="2011-03-03T05:10:52.043" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cheating on one's spouse is not the only way to betray them; there are several others e.g. disclosing a spouse's deepest secrets, causing your spouse some form of public humiliation, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the betrayal involves sexual escapades or an illicit/extramarital affair, then relevant terms are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;cheat • womanizer • skirt-chaser • adulterer[ress] • fornicator • heartbreaker • philanderer • husband-snatcher • two-timer • unfaithful spouse • ladies' man • seductress • Don Juan • Casanova&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T05:10:52.043" />
  <row Id="14819" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14820" CreationDate="2011-03-03T05:47:59.243" Score="3" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been wondering this for a long time and Google doesn't seem to want to give me the answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the United States, the term &quot;miles per gallon&quot; is most commonly used to express the fuel efficiency of an automobile. Given that &quot;mile&quot; and &quot;gallon&quot; are artifacts of the U.S. customary system of measurement, how would someone in a country that uses the Metric system go about expressing this rate? &quot;Kilometers per liter&quot;? &quot;Meters per U.K. gallon&quot;? &quot;Furlongs per hogshead&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5655" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:25:02.317" Title="How is vehicle fuel efficiency expressed outside the United States?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14819" CreationDate="2011-03-03T06:00:43.510" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The standard measure is in litres per hundred kilometres.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T06:00:43.510" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="14821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14819" CreationDate="2011-03-03T06:01:34.007" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;See answer here: &#xA;en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_efficiency&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the context of transport, &quot;fuel efficiency&quot;, more commonly known as &quot;fuel economy&quot;, refers to the energy efficiency of a particular vehicle model, where its total output (range, or mileage [U.S.]) is given as a ratio of range units per unit of fuel input (gasoline, diesel, etc.), usually measured in miles per gallon (mpg) (prevalent in the USA, UK, and often in Canada, using their respective gallon measurements) or kilometres per litre (km/L) (prevalent in several Latin America and Asian countries such as Brazil, India and Japan). The reciprocal ratio, &quot;fuel consumption&quot;, is usually measured in liters per 100 kilometers (L/100 km) (common in Europe, Canada and Australia) or litres per mil (Norway/Sweden). Though the typical output measure is vehicle range, for certain applications output can also be measured in terms of weight per range units (freight) or individual passenger-range (vehicle range / passenger capacity). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4860" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T06:01:34.007" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14819" CreationDate="2011-03-03T06:23:45.800" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its kilometers per liter. Like 40km average that means in a liter vehicle has ability to run 40 km.&#xA;(Indian measurement)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5630" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T06:23:45.800" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14823" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-03T06:36:24.960" Score="2" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;Native speakers, would you helping me out from this question? A hypothesis scenario is as below&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A Colleague comes to you and ask &quot;Coffee?&quot;. The fact is, suppose he didn't come I was thinking go say &quot;Have a coffee break?&quot; to him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I might compose a response as following but thought there'd be more decent ways? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;em&gt;Oh Great! I'd have asked you to have a cup of coffee if you didn't ask!&lt;/em&gt;&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5657" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:25:10.163" Title="Decent way to say &quot;I would have gone to say XXX if you didn't mention YYY'&quot;" Tags="&lt;conversation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="412" CreationDate="2011-03-03T06:37:23.807" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes the serial comma is necessary to delineate the final two items in the list when the final item is a compound item (containing the word &quot;and&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My favorite drinks are Long Island Iced Tea, Bloody Mary, vodka, and Jack and Coke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...and:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My favorite drinks are Long Island Iced Tea, Bloody Mary, vodka and Jack and Coke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if anyone really drinks a vodka+Jack+Coke, but it could happen!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1133" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T06:37:23.807" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14823" CreationDate="2011-03-03T06:51:58.537" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I might say something along the lines of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was thinking the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was just about to suggest the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or (this is a bit more of an idiom):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Great minds think alike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5403" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T17:25:10.163" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:25:10.163" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14827" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-03T06:59:40.540" Score="0" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;hi all,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to attend the GRE examination after 4 months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am bit weak in English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I want to study the english topics thoroughly for that examination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to know,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Which book i need to follow?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Which area i need to concentrate more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All suggestions are welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3172" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T06:59:40.540" ClosedDate="2011-03-03T08:25:17.333" Title="Preparing for GRE examination - learning English" Tags="&lt;book-title&gt;" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14823" CreationDate="2011-03-03T07:08:08.233" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some options that are a bit more casual (i.e. best with friends, not bosses):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You took the words right out of my mouth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's like you read my mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whoa, get out of my head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Synchronicity!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T17:07:53.377" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:07:53.377" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14782" CreationDate="2011-03-03T07:43:47.020" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Presumably you're referring to cricket, where 'batsman' is still by far the standard; 'batter' is only slightly increasing in usage recently. My guess about the reasons for the rise of 'batter':&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The influence from American English, specifically baseball: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batter_%28baseball%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;'batter'&lt;/a&gt; is the term in baseball.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;With the rise of women's cricket (for some loose definition of 'rise') and the feeling in some quarters that 'batsman' is inappropriate for women.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Batter' actually has a history of use in cricket. A 1934 book, &lt;em&gt;The language of cricket&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=JFMmAAAAMAAJ&amp;amp;q=batter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt; of 'batter' that it was &quot;Formerly used concurrently with 'batsman', as an alternative term.&quot; Similarly, M. A. Pervez's &lt;em&gt;A Dictionary of Cricket&lt;/em&gt; (2001) &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=VwYsHe-F-IUC&amp;amp;pg=PA7&amp;amp;dq=batter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;defines&lt;/a&gt; 'batter' as: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A nineteenth-century term for a batsman; now used mainly in women's cricket to mean 'batswoman'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point is that as late as 2001, 'batter' was considered mainly an archaic term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found a discussion of 'batter' in &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=P3mOV7kXwn4C&amp;amp;pg=PA315&amp;amp;dq=batter&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this 2005 book&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;‘Women's cricket’ is virtually ignored by the mainstream media […] Some would argue that the imperatives of changing cultural &lt;em&gt;mores&lt;/em&gt; require the ‘neutralization’ of cricket's lexicon so that, for example, batsman becomes ‘batter’. Others would argue that because of the linguistic and cultural literary traditions of cricket, everyone should become a ‘batsman’. The first narrative wants to tell, or at least begin, a new story about cricket, creating a new text and a new textual practice. The second view wants women to be treated as true cricketers according to the historically validated practices of the game. […] It would appear for the time being that the latter view has won out in England. As Rachel Heyhoe Flint explains:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;Another move firmly to establish women as cricketers was taken at the International Women's Cricket Council in Melbourne in 1985 'that all players should be known as batsman—not batswomen or batspersons’.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Seems a mess; we'll see how this plays out in a few years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; seen &quot;batter&quot; around, but 'batsman' is still more common. Looking at Cricinfo, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc_cricket_worldcup2011/engine/match/433572.html?innings=1;view=commentary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;commentary&lt;/a&gt; to yesterday's England v Ireland game (perhaps you don't want to be reminded? :p) uses only 'batsman', not 'batter'. Elsewhere there is 'batter' used in quotes, and it seems to use both 'batswoman' and 'batter' for women's cricket (but it seems to me they more often find ways to avoid using either term!). (Only nine results for &lt;a href=&quot;http://search.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/site/search.html?search=batswoman&amp;amp;gblsearch=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;'batswoman'&lt;/a&gt; in the last ten years.) So it's inconsistent, and again, probably the dust will settle in a few years and we'll arrive at consensus on terminology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T08:29:46.873" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T08:29:46.873" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14782" CreationDate="2011-03-03T07:44:18.600" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although both 'batsmen' and 'batters' have definitions in dictionaries that suggest they can be used interchangeably, it is more common to use the term 'batsmen' in cricket and 'batters' in baseball. For women's cricket, the term 'batswoman' is more commonly used than 'batter'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4866" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T07:44:18.600" />
  <row Id="14831" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14837" CreationDate="2011-03-03T07:59:38.860" Score="2" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct pronunciation for the mathematical abbreviation 'cos' when it is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; pronounced in its complete form 'cosine'? I pronounce it as 'k-aw-ss', but a couple of Canadian friends I have pronounce it as 'k-oh-s' (like 'close'). I tried looking up dictionaries but none that I came across list the IPA / phonetic pronunciation for the mathematical abbreviation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I think the former is the British English pronunciation, and the latter is the American English / Canadian English pronunciation.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4866" LastEditorUserId="4866" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T08:26:23.947" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T09:06:21.130" Title="Pronunciation of 'cos' (as in the mathematical term)" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14832" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14834" CreationDate="2011-03-03T08:06:03.257" Score="0" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;after the break&quot; is sometimes used before a commercial. It can also used in an article. e.g. &quot;watch the video after the break&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these two usages related to each other, apart from having the same three words in the same order?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1031" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T08:22:07.287" Title="Is the usage of &quot;after the break&quot; before the start of a commercial and in an article related?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14831" CreationDate="2011-03-03T08:16:57.477" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I'm Canadian, and I was always taught (and taught, myself, when I was teaching) what would be rendered koʊs in the IPA (hard &lt;em&gt;c&lt;/em&gt;, long &lt;em&gt;o&lt;/em&gt;, hard &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;) -- exactly like &quot;cosine&quot; with the &quot;ine&quot; left off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastEditorUserId="5095" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T08:33:38.007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T08:33:38.007" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14832" CreationDate="2011-03-03T08:22:07.287" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The basic idea that is being communicated is the same - an interruption in continuity. The context, however, slightly changes the usage of the term. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/22913&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the OED entry on 'break' (noun)&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'break', as used on television, is definition 8k, and most often used in the context of a commercial / advertisement interruption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'break', as used in articles, is definition 8c; it is used these days in the context of an in-text advertisement that the reader must scroll past to read the rest of the article, but it can also denote any other kind of break in continuity of the article - not just a 'commercial' interruption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4866" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T08:22:07.287" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14835" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14844" CreationDate="2011-03-03T08:43:23.693" Score="0" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’ve read this expression in a news article related to a Hawaiian politician: &lt;em&gt;“He is well-regarded in both Washington and in the islands for his gracious manner and &lt;strong&gt;spirit of aloha&lt;/strong&gt;.”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that &lt;em&gt;aloha&lt;/em&gt; is a Hawaiian greeting and, as such, I understand the expression in the quote above as “his gracious manner and openness”. I tried to look up the entire expression “spirit of aloha”, but search engines’ results are polluted by commercial uses (including a Disney show).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would you express this sentence to exclude the Hawaiian-specific reference (if at all possible)? What are the cultural elements that I am missing (as a European who doesn't know much about Hawai, except that it's a popular holiday destination).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T09:24:36.450" Title="What is “the spirit of aloha”?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;hawaiian-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14831" CreationDate="2011-03-03T08:47:58.197" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In England everybody I know pronounces this so that it rhymes with &quot;because&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5659" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T08:47:58.197" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14838" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14841" CreationDate="2011-03-03T08:50:01.957" Score="4" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often find a &lt;a href=&quot;http://lawyerlaughter.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;joke&lt;/a&gt; titled, ‘When a grandma goes to court’ followed by the line, ‘Lawyers should never ask a question if they aren’t prepared for the answer.’&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don’t know if it’s a popular joke or not. It deals with an elderly woman called to the stand as the first witness. She knows everything about the background and secrets of both prosecuting and defense attorneys. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Realizing that she knows too much, the judge asks both attorneys to come to the bench and tells, “If either of you idiots asks her if she knows me, I’ll send you both to the electric chair.” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this joke, the old woman says to the prosecuting attorney, &quot;You think you are some big shot on the rise, but you don't have the brains to realize you are nothing more than a '&lt;strong&gt;two-bit paper pusher&lt;/strong&gt;.' Yes sir, I know you!&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does “two-bit paper pusher” mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T02:15:42.700" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T02:15:42.700" Title="What does 'two-bit paper pusher' mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14831" CreationDate="2011-03-03T09:06:21.130" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In speaking, I'd never use either of those pronounciations. &quot;cos&quot; means &quot;cosine&quot; -- say &quot;cosine&quot;. Therefore I'd pronounce it &quot;co-sign&quot; ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1209" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T09:06:21.130" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14838" CreationDate="2011-03-03T09:09:57.790" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two bit: small change - &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_%28money%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A bit&lt;/a&gt; - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word bit is a colloquial&#xA;  expression referring to specific coins&#xA;  in various coinages throughout the&#xA;  world.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &quot;Two bits&quot; or &quot;two bit&quot; continues in&#xA;  general use as a colloquial&#xA;  expression, primarily because of the&#xA;  song catchphrase &quot;Shave and a Haircut,&#xA;  two bits.&quot; As an adjective, &quot;two-bit&quot;&#xA;  can be used to describe something&#xA;  cheap or unworthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Paper pusher: someone who does nothing but push paper around on a desk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T09:09:57.790" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14838" CreationDate="2011-03-03T09:10:08.257" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/two-bit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;'two-bit' means 'petty, insignificant'&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;'paper pusher' is a term used for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/paper-pusher&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;office workers who do paperwork&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this context, the term 'two-bit paper pusher' is being used as a put-down or a mild insult. The old woman considers the attorney to be working in a menial job; this is further clarified by her saying she does not think the attorney is a '&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/big-shot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;big shot&lt;/a&gt;'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4866" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T09:10:08.257" />
  <row Id="14843" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14848" CreationDate="2011-03-03T09:21:23.753" Score="2" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have this term:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;((x ,y, z))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and I need to describe in words that the &lt;strong&gt;x&lt;/strong&gt; in this term should be outside the bars? &#xA;Is this correct? &lt;em&gt;outside the bars&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;x ((y,z))&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The position of the x doesn't matter, it could be also behind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;((y,z)) x&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5169" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T07:51:16.483" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T07:51:16.483" Title="How to describe braces, brackets, parentheses?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;descriptivism&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14835" CreationDate="2011-03-03T09:21:44.160" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Aloha' is most commonly used the English language as a form of greeting, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.to-hawaii.com/aloha.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;according to this link, it can encompass a range of thoughts / concepts related friendliness&lt;/a&gt;. An interesting thing is mentions on that page is that 'Aloha Spirit' is a part of their state law and defined as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Aloha Spirit&quot; is the coordination of&#xA;  mind and heart within each person. It&#xA;  brings each person to the self. Each&#xA;  person must think and emote good&#xA;  feelings to others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4866" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T09:24:36.450" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T09:24:36.450" />
  <row Id="14845" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-03T09:23:45.873" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T09:23:45.873" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T09:23:45.873" />
  <row Id="14846" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-03T09:23:45.873" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="Questions dealing with Old English, i.e. the language of the Anglo-Saxons up to about 1150." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T09:27:01.423" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T09:27:01.423" />
  <row Id="14847" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14905" CreationDate="2011-03-03T09:24:06.483" Score="10" ViewCount="238" Body="&lt;p&gt;Surely, if I were the owner of a shop selling archery goods and wanted to portray my shop as some kind of old-fashioned, high-quality traditional outlet, I might be tempted to call it “Ye Olde Archery Shoppe”. This is a deliberate use of archaic spellings (and the “ye” pronoun) for branding purposes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is about the plausibility of this expression as an actual Old English sentence. Beyond the use of archaic spelling of each word, is there any point in time were this kind of shop name would have been plausibly used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T14:54:36.080" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T17:56:46.503" Title="Was the “Ye Olde Shoppe” ever used or is it just an ancient-looking construct of modern times?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;early-modern-english&gt;&lt;archaic&gt;&lt;old-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="14848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14843" CreationDate="2011-03-03T09:24:44.780" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These - ( ) - are called 'parentheses' in English punctuation, but in maths they are called 'brackets'. In this situation I would say, 'x is outside the brackets'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4866" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T06:27:29.633" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T06:27:29.633" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14849" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14850" CreationDate="2011-03-03T09:55:10.350" Score="0" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to say &quot;get maze&quot;? If yes, what's the meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, &quot;Maze&quot;, does it have a bad connotation? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5572" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:06:09.020" Title="Connotation of &quot;maze&quot; and &quot;get maze&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;connotation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14849" CreationDate="2011-03-03T10:25:31.170" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can &lt;strong&gt;get mazed&lt;/strong&gt;, which means “get confused”:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;verb (be mazed): archaic or dialect —&#xA;  be dazed and confused: &lt;em&gt;she was still mazed with the drug she had taken&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(from the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; for maze). But you cannot &lt;strong&gt;get maze&lt;/strong&gt; anymore than you can &lt;strong&gt;get labyrinth&lt;/strong&gt;: it doesn't fit grammatically, whether &lt;em&gt;maze&lt;/em&gt; is the noun or the verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T10:35:00.320" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T10:35:00.320" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14847" CreationDate="2011-03-03T10:37:43.297" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of the component pieces are real (or at least real-ish); the whole may not be. The &quot;Ye&quot;, in particular, is an actually corrupt interpretation of a manuscript &lt;em&gt;Þe&lt;/em&gt; (that's a &lt;em&gt;thorn&lt;/em&gt;, a letter that is pronounced the same as &lt;em&gt;th&lt;/em&gt; in modern English, followed by the letter e), which was a common abbreviation of the word &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; in the Middle English period, when &lt;em&gt;olde&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;shoppe&lt;/em&gt; would have been at least common variants if not &lt;em&gt;quite&lt;/em&gt; standard. (There was no real standard at the time -- it would not have been uncommon to see the same word spelled several different ways in the same piece of writing.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some script styles, the thorn looks like a backwards-facing lower-case &lt;em&gt;y&lt;/em&gt;. The &quot;Ye&quot;, then, is a close approximation in modern English script of &lt;em&gt;Þe&lt;/em&gt;, but it's really a misreading of the older letterforms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastEditorUserId="5095" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T10:46:52.480" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T10:46:52.480" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14852" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-03T10:52:56.053" Score="1" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/412/comma-before-last-item-in-a-list&quot;&gt;Comma before last item in a list&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When listing items in a sentence, is it more acceptable to omit the comma between the penultimate and last item?  (assume there will always be an &quot;and&quot; between these two items).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5662" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T08:57:37.127" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T08:57:37.127" ClosedDate="2011-03-03T10:55:33.477" Title="comma question: (one, two, and three) vs. (one, two and three)" Tags="&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="14853" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-03T11:54:46.163" Score="2" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this sentence correct? &quot;I talk to you when i will reach home?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5664" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T12:28:32.887" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T12:51:35.783" Title="Is this sentence correct? &quot;I talk to you when i will reach home?&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14853" CreationDate="2011-03-03T11:59:23.850" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;no, as 'will' is in the wrong place: &quot;Will I talk to you when i reach home?&quot; or &quot;I will talk to you when i reach home.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2746" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T11:59:23.850" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14853" CreationDate="2011-03-03T12:11:15.980" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'Will' is out of place&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We typically do not say &quot;reach home&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'I' should be capitalized&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It's slightly better to say &quot;we talk&quot; instead of &quot;I talk to you&quot; (subjective, and depends on your intention).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So better is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will we talk when I get home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T12:11:15.980" />
  <row Id="14856" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14858" CreationDate="2011-03-03T12:29:49.783" Score="6" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually, I think &quot;have to&quot; indicates obligation, which is pretty similar to &quot;must&quot;. But today I found this sentence and its usage of &quot;have to&quot; confused me: (it is from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2010/12/27/why-do-we-need-to-predict-the-future/well-all-go-extinct-one-day&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NYTimes.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Long-term forecasts seem to me rather like time capsules, designed more to provide retrospective amusement for those who eventually &lt;strong&gt;have to&lt;/strong&gt; read them, than to be taken seriously as they are first uttered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be uncomfortable to interpret &lt;em&gt;have to&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; since we are not &quot;compelled to read them&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anybody explain this for me? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T02:12:27.120" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T02:12:27.120" Title="How does &quot;have to&quot; function in this sentence?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14853" CreationDate="2011-03-03T12:34:22.883" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are probably looking for this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will talk to you when I get home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am assuming the question mark within your quotation is supposed to mark that the entire line is your question to us—or did you mean the quoted sentence itself to be a question?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T12:34:22.883" />
  <row Id="14858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14856" CreationDate="2011-03-03T12:46:08.287" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;And yet this kind of &quot;have to&quot; is similar to being compelled to read them. Apparently this reading is unpleasant; that is why &quot;have to&quot; is used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whenever you are doing something you do not like, it is assumed that you &quot;have to&quot; to do it: why else would you be doing it? This &quot;compelling&quot; may not be literal: a long-term goal may be compelling; there may be compellings reasons or arguments, etc. based on which you feel you &quot;have to&quot; do something. Compare this example, with the even stronger word &quot;to force&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Once it dawned on me that the author&#xA;  had been using the word &quot;compelling&quot;&#xA;  in a very unusual way, I was forced to&#xA;  reread the whole paragraph, because it seemed nonsense the first&#xA;  time I read it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the word &quot;forced&quot; is used in the same, non-literal way: I was not actually forced by brute force, but rather &quot;incited, moved&quot; to reread it, by my desire to understand the paragraph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T12:51:11.590" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T12:51:11.590" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14819" CreationDate="2011-03-03T12:54:01.267" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here in Germany, it's measured in how many litres of fuel you need to drive 100km (presumably in a particular fashion and with a particular load).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that Volkswagen were very proud about 10 years ago when they claimed that the production version of the VW Lupo was the first '3l car' - i.e. used 3L (or less) to go 100 km. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Lupo#Lupo_versions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Lupo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T12:54:01.267" />
  <row Id="14860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14856" CreationDate="2011-03-03T12:55:38.593" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, this “have to” has the meaning of “are compelled to” or “are forced to”. In the context, the readers may not be compelled by law or their actual obligations, but by other reasons such as a need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T12:55:38.593" />
  <row Id="14861" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14863" CreationDate="2011-03-03T13:01:11.007" Score="2" ViewCount="248" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do I replace F*** while expressing fully my disbelief, anger, etc?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g., &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I think Homer Simpson is incredibly sexy&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My reply &quot;Get out of here! That's f***ing ridiculous.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5668" LastEditorUserId="5668" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T13:08:56.317" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T05:15:47.963" Title="Substitute for F*** in emphasizing disbelief, anger, etc" Tags="&lt;vulgar&gt;&lt;euphemisms&gt;" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14853" CreationDate="2011-03-03T13:04:42.123" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;People have given you answers without explanation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The simple present (&quot;I talk&quot;) for most verbs is only possible in a main clase when we mean a habitual sense. For a specific time it needs to be &quot;I am talking&quot; or &quot;I will talk&quot;. (This does not apply to verbs of sensing or inner state: &quot;I see&quot;, &quot;I want&quot;, &quot;I know&quot;). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;We hardly ever use &quot;will&quot; in an adverbial &quot;when&quot; clause: future meaning there is expressed by the present &quot;When he arrives [tomorrow]&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T12:51:35.783" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T12:51:35.783" />
  <row Id="14863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14861" CreationDate="2011-03-03T13:06:31.997" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, the most obvious choice would be &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/freaking&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;freaking&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/effing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;effing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T13:06:31.997" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="14864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14861" CreationDate="2011-03-03T13:28:32.373" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Besides RegDwight’s excellent suggestions, &lt;strong&gt;flaming&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;frigging&lt;/strong&gt; are both widely used (respectively more common in the UK and US, I think).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my family, when I was small, my father would always say “That’s ff… &lt;em&gt;frankly&lt;/em&gt; ridiculous,” and so on — going completely over my head at the time, and much to the amusement of the adults around.  “Shiver me timbers!” was another favourite exclamation of his, for similar reasons…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s easy to vary the subtlety/blatantness of these, and hence to sound completely innocuous to outsiders while ensuring that your friends know what you’re &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; thinking :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T13:28:32.373" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14861" CreationDate="2011-03-03T13:30:14.133" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;French Connection UK has made a brand out of their substitute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/BTXxp.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T13:30:14.133" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14861" CreationDate="2011-03-03T13:38:26.700" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since I watched Battlestar Galactica (the new series), I've been using '&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Frak&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;frakking&lt;/a&gt;' a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5559" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T13:38:26.700" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14867" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14898" CreationDate="2011-03-03T14:14:39.693" Score="1" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was recently answering a question on Super User about RAID. In this context RAID means redundant array of independent (or inexpensive) disks. I wanted to point out to fellow user that he should make sure that computer is set to boot from the array.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used syntagma &quot;RAID set&quot; but I'm not sure if it fits. I felt that the best way to say what I wanted would be to use &quot;RAID array&quot; but then we have array array problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen that automated teller machine machine problem is solved by simply dropping the second machine, but here I also had RAID card so using just RAID wouldn't work and I wanted to avoid just saying array because I think that it's unlikely that any of the settings which would need to be changed would contain RAID in its expanded form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3830" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:09:16.503" Title="How to avoid repeating word contained in an acronym?" Tags="&lt;acronyms&gt;&lt;redundancy&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14868" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14882" CreationDate="2011-03-03T14:15:11.547" Score="2" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;We often say &quot;PIN Number&quot;, this is part of everyday conversation. But why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PIN stands for Personal Identification Number, so what we're actually saying is Personal Identification Number Number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a reason for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3749" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:46:57.223" Title="PIN Number - why we say it?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;acronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14869" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14871" CreationDate="2011-03-03T14:17:21.173" Score="10" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;Eisenhower used it constantly to fend off reporters. Is there a term to describe this type of phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T02:09:40.930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T02:09:40.930" Title="What is this an example of: &quot;I couldn't fail not to disagree with you less&quot;?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;figures-of-speech&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14868" CreationDate="2011-03-03T14:19:51.407" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The, so called, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAS_syndrome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RAS syndrome&lt;/a&gt; is quite common. Other examples are &quot;LCD displays&quot; and &quot;ATM machines&quot;. Technically, it is a form of &lt;strong&gt;tautology&lt;/strong&gt;. It happens because people are not aware of what the acronym stands for, they just use it like any other word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4955" LastEditorUserId="3625" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T18:46:57.223" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:46:57.223" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14869" CreationDate="2011-03-03T14:22:34.383" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's a rather extreme case of litotes. From the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ironical understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary (e.g., &lt;em&gt;you won't be sorry&lt;/em&gt;, meaning &lt;em&gt;you'll be glad&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T14:22:34.383" />
  <row Id="14872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14867" CreationDate="2011-03-03T14:23:53.277" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just fight the urge, and use RAID as if it were the expanded form! E.g., “You will still be able to boot from the RAID.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T14:23:53.277" />
  <row Id="14873" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15002" CreationDate="2011-03-03T14:43:20.623" Score="4" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you wear &lt;em&gt;headphones&lt;/em&gt; (plural) in only one ear?  Or would I have to use a singular form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She wore headphones in one ear and listened to him with the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; I want to show that even though she has a &lt;em&gt;set of headphones&lt;/em&gt;, she's only wearing a singular piece of it in one ear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastEditorUserId="4744" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T15:19:22.087" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T00:42:24.723" Title="Singular form for “headphones”?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14874" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14877" CreationDate="2011-03-03T14:44:17.423" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a word that connotes &lt;em&gt;multiple strands of hair&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T14:54:25.010" Title="Multiple strands of hair" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14861" CreationDate="2011-03-03T14:45:28.650" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Frickin'&quot; As in &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sharks with Frickin' Laser Beams&#xA;  attached to their Frickin' Heads&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3749" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T14:45:28.650" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14876" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14883" CreationDate="2011-03-03T14:45:38.860" Score="2" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;In narrative writing, should I use quotation marks or italics when I quote something someone &lt;em&gt;wrote&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would go with italics to differentiate written from spoken quotes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“I know who the killer is,” she said and hung up the phone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I know who the killer is&lt;/em&gt;, she wrote, but she never managed to send her message.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:21:01.870" Title="Use quotation marks or italics for written quotes?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;&lt;quotations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14874" CreationDate="2011-03-03T14:46:27.997" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's usually referred to as a &lt;em&gt;lock&lt;/em&gt; of hair. Multiple locks are tresses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: (Actually, &lt;em&gt;tress&lt;/em&gt; is also a synonym for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/lock&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lock&lt;/a&gt;.) But one seldom hears &lt;em&gt;tress&lt;/em&gt; in its singular form, whereas &lt;em&gt;lock&lt;/em&gt; is familiar in either case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a. A length or curl of hair; a tress.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T14:54:25.010" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T14:54:25.010" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14873" CreationDate="2011-03-03T14:47:27.780" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In one ear, it's an &lt;strong&gt;earphone&lt;/strong&gt;. The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; actually defines &lt;em&gt;headphones&lt;/em&gt; as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a pair of earphones typically joined by a band placed over the head, for listening to audio signals such as music or speech&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T14:47:27.780" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14873" CreationDate="2011-03-03T14:51:59.667" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As with &lt;em&gt;pants&lt;/em&gt;, which always come as a &lt;em&gt;pair&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;headphones&lt;/em&gt; always come as a &lt;em&gt;set&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can put on my &lt;em&gt;pants&lt;/em&gt;, one leg at a time, before going to the store to buy a new &lt;em&gt;pair of pants&lt;/em&gt;.  I can also wear my old &lt;em&gt;headphones&lt;/em&gt; while shopping for a new &lt;em&gt;set of headphones&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T14:51:59.667" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5712" CreationDate="2011-03-03T14:53:35.543" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;h2g2 Writing Guidelines say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please use the word spelled rather&#xA;  than spelt. There was a long-running&#xA;  discussion about it and 'spelled' won&#xA;  10 votes to 8. Besides, loads of&#xA;  people thought that 'spelt' was a type&#xA;  of wheat. Schpelled and spellted were&#xA;  among the other suggestions. But no,&#xA;  you can't use them&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T14:53:35.543" />
  <row Id="14881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14849" CreationDate="2011-03-03T14:56:03.237" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also, &quot;Maze&quot;, does it have a bad connotation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not by itself. It depends how it is used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is a fine maze at Hampton Court.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is positive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;His mind was like a maze&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Isn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T14:56:03.237" />
  <row Id="14882" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14868" CreationDate="2011-03-03T14:59:51.977" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a special case of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymological_fallacy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;etymological fallacy&lt;/a&gt;. &quot;PIN&quot;, like almost all words in every language, has its own meaning which is divorced from its etymology (in this case, its origin as an acronym). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact it has two related meanings, because it is still used as a stand-alone noun, closer to its origin (&quot;I've forgotten my PIN&quot;), as well as in its derived sense as a modifier (&quot;PIN number&quot;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the reasons for the prevalence of the derived sense is possibly the homophony of the ordinary word &quot;pin&quot;. It's not that it's likely to be confused with the other meaning; it's that without context it may be unclear what you are talking about, so &quot;PIN number&quot; serves to narrow it down and give context. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T16:34:55.950" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:34:55.950" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14876" CreationDate="2011-03-03T15:02:46.627" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normal style in narrative writing is to use quotes, not italics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some authors of fiction, notably &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joyce&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;James Joyce&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gaddis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;William Gaddis&lt;/a&gt;, used an em dash at the beginning of a paragraph that started with a quote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;— Do you have the money? he asked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But that was an idiosyncratic usage. Since this is an element of style, you are free to do whatever you wish, but remember that you may only winding up confusing your audience if you stray too far from what they perceive to be customary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some authors use italics to denote what a character may be thinking:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Do you have the money?&quot; he asked. &lt;em&gt;He didn't have it. She was sure of it.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Jen is asking about how to quote something a character is writing. Here is how I have mainly seen it done, with the entire written text offset. Note that I'm not good enough at formatting in these answers to make it exact, so I'm putting everything into a blockquote and then formatting the written part as code. But on a real page the background would be all white:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jen took a pen and began writing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;This is the first time I have written to you. I would like to ask you&#xA;if you might be interested in a manuscript that has come into my&#xA;possession, one which&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She put down the pen. &quot;Dammit,&quot; she muttered under her breath. &lt;em&gt;What could she say to pique Roderigo's interest?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The last paragraph would not be indented, but I can't seem to make that work with the formatting tools available to me here.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point is, representing writing on a written page is a different convention from representing speech or thought. Sometimes, if the writing consists of only a few words, a different font or use of uppercase lettering does the job:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mary yelled, &quot;I know what we need. A sign we can hang on the front of our clubhouse!&quot; And she picked up a marker and a piece of cardboard and wrote: NO BOYS ALLOWED!!! She put down the marker and surveyed her work, then displayed it to the other girls. &quot;What do you think?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T17:21:01.870" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:21:01.870" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="14884" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14891" CreationDate="2011-03-03T15:11:01.047" Score="4" ViewCount="200" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one has red color in the following phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the red bottle's lid&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the bottle or the lid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Edit&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for answering my question. Now I understand the actual sentence with which I am faced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A more insidious attack strategy is to&#xA;  coerce &lt;strong&gt;an unwitting third-party&#xA;  visitor’s browser&lt;/strong&gt; to send unwanted&#xA;  HTTP requests on the attacker’s&#xA;  behalf, abusing the identity&#xA;  relationship already established&#xA;  between your application and that&#xA;  victim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5328" LastEditorUserId="5328" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T15:44:33.387" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T15:44:33.387" Title="Which one has red color in this phrase &quot;the red bottle's lid&quot;? the bottle or the lid?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="14885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14838" CreationDate="2011-03-03T15:11:39.097" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When used literally, two bits is the same as 25 cents, or 'a quarter'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I had always assumed that this derived from the term 'pieces of eight'.  If a whole 'dollar' is divided into eight equal bits, then two bits are equal to a quarter.  I do not know if this is the true origin or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T15:11:39.097" />
  <row Id="14886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14884" CreationDate="2011-03-03T15:13:15.630" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The bottle has the red colour in that sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the colour of the lid is completely unknown&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T15:13:15.630" />
  <row Id="14887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14884" CreationDate="2011-03-03T15:16:28.767" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the red bottle's lid&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;means the &lt;strong&gt;bottle&lt;/strong&gt; is red.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the red bottle lid&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;means the &lt;strong&gt;bottle lid&lt;/strong&gt; is red.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T15:16:28.767" />
  <row Id="14888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14884" CreationDate="2011-03-03T15:17:41.967" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“The bottle's red lid” refer to the red lid of a particular bottle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“The red bottle's lid” refers to the lid of a red bottle, which is indicated to be uniquely identifiable by its colour (i.e., you can't say that if there is more than one red bottle)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“The red bottle lid” refers to a red lid belonging to a bottle; it can also weakly imply that the lid is not currently attached to a particular bottle.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T15:17:41.967" />
  <row Id="14889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14884" CreationDate="2011-03-03T15:18:11.777" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;the red bottle's lid = the bottle is red.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a lid were red = the red bottle lid (or of course, the bottle's red lid if talking specifically about a specific bottle)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5672" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T15:18:11.777" />
  <row Id="14890" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14895" CreationDate="2011-03-03T15:29:46.530" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a similar vein to my &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/14876/use-quotation-marks-or-italics-for-written-quotes&quot;&gt;previous question on styling written quotes&lt;/a&gt;, should I use quotation marks for interior monologue in narrative writing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is common to use italics to denote thoughts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This won't be easy&lt;/em&gt;, she thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I would use quotation marks in this scenario:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;This won't be easy,&quot; she said to herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T15:32:53.033" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T15:19:14.987" Title="Use quotation marks for internal monologue?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;quotes&gt;&lt;quotations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14884" CreationDate="2011-03-03T15:31:59.797" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The red bottle's lid&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally it would be the bottle that was red. Because &quot;red&quot; stands before &quot;bottle&quot;, and &quot;bottle's lid&quot; is not a single compound noun but two separate nouns, the ordinary pattern of &lt;code&gt;[adjective, noun it belongs to, anything else]&lt;/code&gt; take precedence over the less frequent pattern &lt;code&gt;[adjective, noun that is the possessor of another noun, head noun to which the adjective belongs]&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of a lid do we have here? A &lt;em&gt;red bottle's&lt;/em&gt; lid. Ah, but how do you know this lid comes off a red bottle? I see some glass splinters stuck to the lid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Things change if you are using the first noun as a noun adjective, resulting in a compound noun:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The red bottle lid&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, &quot;bottle&quot; is a noun adjective, not simply a regular noun with the possessive s; that makes &quot;bottle lid&quot; a single compound noun. Then &quot;red&quot; belongs to the entire compound noun; and because the final element of a compound noun (&quot;lid&quot;) is the head (the &quot;core&quot; of the compound), the adjective mostly describes a property of the head. The lid is red.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of red lid do we have here? A red &lt;em&gt;bottle&lt;/em&gt; lid. Ah, right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The red lid of the bottle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here &quot;red&quot; simply belongs to the first noun that follows it, because we have no compound noun, merely a prepositional attribute &quot;of the bottle&quot; and a head &quot;lid&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What kind of a red lid do you have there? It is the red lid &lt;em&gt;of the bottle&lt;/em&gt;! Huh, of what bottle? Oh, you know, of the bottle you got me drunk with yesterday, in order to have sex with you, which I would otherwise never have subjected myself to? Ah, right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T15:31:59.797" />
  <row Id="14892" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14893" CreationDate="2011-03-03T15:34:40.693" Score="2" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;Book titles, among others, are commonly written in italics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She had read this quote in &lt;em&gt;Pride and Prejudice&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But what should I do if a title appears in a block of text that is already italicized, such as a character's thoughts?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I reverse the italics?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I've read this quote in&lt;/em&gt; Pride and Prejudice, she thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I use quotation marks, instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I've read this quote in &quot;Pride and Prejudice,&quot;&lt;/em&gt; she thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or do I use another approach altogether?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:45:51.870" Title="How do I style book titles in a block of italicized text?" Tags="&lt;style&gt;&lt;book-title&gt;&lt;title&gt;&lt;italics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14892" CreationDate="2011-03-03T15:35:41.480" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reverse the italics to roman as you've done in the first example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T15:35:41.480" />
  <row Id="14895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14890" CreationDate="2011-03-03T16:02:08.553" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;This won't be easy,&quot; she said to herself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This doesn't read as internal monologue to me at all; it reads as someone speaking aloud, but &quot;to herself&quot;, i.e. in an undertone, maybe muttering, not apparently directed at anybody else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's meant to be truly internal, I'd stick with the italics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:02:08.553" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14849" CreationDate="2011-03-03T16:06:09.020" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are talking about a physical maze that you can hold in your hands (such as one printed in a &quot;solve the maze&quot; book) then you could say &quot;get the maze&quot;, as in &quot;I got the maze from this book.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, if you're looking at a maze of any size and you want to express that you understand the method by which the maze was designed or can be solved, you could say &quot;I get the maze&quot;, using 'get' in the sense of &lt;em&gt;comprehend&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both cases, the definite article is required to indicate that you are talking about a specific maze.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond that, no likely interpretations of &quot;get maze&quot; come to my mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:06:09.020" />
  <row Id="14897" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14900" CreationDate="2011-03-03T16:07:15.403" Score="4" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does part &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;she pokes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;of phrase &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If she smokes, she pokes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;exactly mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1109" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:41:39.767" Title="What does &quot;If she smokes, she pokes&quot; exactly mean?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14867" CreationDate="2011-03-03T16:09:16.503" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Storage management jargon to the rescue: I believe you want &lt;em&gt;RAID volume&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:09:16.503" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14897" CreationDate="2011-03-03T16:13:07.297" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;she pokes&quot; part means &quot;she engages in sexual intercourse of a heterosexual variety&quot;.  There is an implication of doing so more readily or enthusiastically than may be otherwise expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may wish to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=If%20she%20smokes...she%20pokes&amp;amp;defid=3304231&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;consult Urban Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; on the topic.  But then again you may not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:13:07.297" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14901" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14929" CreationDate="2011-03-03T16:14:19.540" Score="4" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would the phrase 'With me being one of them' be grammatically correct? Sounds a bit odd in my head and I triple-checked mentally but couldn't tell if it was correct or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'With I being one of them' doesn't sound correct either. Has to be 'me' or 'I'. Those two are the only first person pronouns... if I recall correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T04:55:45.927" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T17:15:18.827" Title="‘With me being one of them’—grammatically correct?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13662" CreationDate="2011-03-03T16:14:52.950" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &lt;em&gt;n...nth&lt;/em&gt; is conventionally used for cases like this. &#xA;In one sentence, the question can concisely be phrased thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For what value of &lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt; is five the &lt;em&gt;nth&lt;/em&gt; prime number?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wanted to use words that are not coined by math, you could use a slightly more ambiguous question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Which term is five on the series of prime numbers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5584" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:14:52.950" />
  <row Id="14903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13662" CreationDate="2011-03-03T16:15:24.760" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you could say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;5 is which prime number?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:15:24.760" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14901" CreationDate="2011-03-03T16:20:17.460" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;With me being one of them&quot; is, at minimum, accepted usage, but if it bothers you, you have another option you haven't mentioned: &quot;With myself being one of them&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:20:17.460" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="14905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14847" CreationDate="2011-03-03T16:22:04.337" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Per the &lt;a href=&quot;http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/med/&quot;&gt;Middle English Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;, the answer is 'yes'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ye forsaides ... John And Robert schall make a brigge of stane oure ye water of Swalle atte Catrik, be twix ye olde stane brigge and ye Newbrigge of tree, quilke forsaide brygge with ye grace of God sall be mad Sufficiant and workmanly in masoncraft. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;sub&gt;(1421) Indent.Catterick in Archaeol.J.7&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd translate this as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The aforesaid ... John and Robert shall make a bridge of stone over the water of [Swalle] at the Catterick, between the old stone bridge and the new bridge of wood, which aforesaid bridge with the grace of God shall be made sufficient and workmanly in masoncraft.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-so while it's clear that the y in &quot;Ye&quot; is a form of th/thorn, it's also clear that transcribing it as a y is not necessarily a mistake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The MED entry for &lt;a href=&quot;http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/m/mec/med-idx?type=byte&amp;amp;byte=178315725&amp;amp;egdisplay=open&amp;amp;egs=178333111&quot;&gt;shop(pe&lt;/a&gt; includes the spelling &lt;em&gt;shoppe&lt;/em&gt; as a variant header form. Similarly, the entry for &lt;a href=&quot;http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/m/mec/med-idx?type=id&amp;amp;id=MED30494&quot;&gt;old(e&lt;/a&gt; includes the spelling &lt;em&gt;olde&lt;/em&gt; as a standard variant, among an astonishing variety of spellings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both words have the desired meanings &amp;mdash; &lt;em&gt;old&lt;/em&gt; &quot;3.(a) Of things: long in existence or in use&quot;; &lt;em&gt;shop&lt;/em&gt; &quot;A room or building used as a place of business by a victualer, craftsman, etc.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, although I didn't find the actual phrase &quot;the old shop&quot; (in any spelling) in the quotes, it fully conforms with the usage patterns I can see. I think the spelling &quot;ye olde shoppe&quot; would be unremarkable in a Middle English context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T17:49:27.960" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:49:27.960" />
  <row Id="14906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14901" CreationDate="2011-03-03T16:22:51.073" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; are indeed the only first person singular pronouns. Since it is not the subject, &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; is the correct choice in this instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase, while not technially incorrect grammatically, does seem rather awkward when it is not used colloquially. This:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Five people went to the party last night, with me being one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would generally be rephrased.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Five people went to the party last night; I was one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5584" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:22:51.073" />
  <row Id="14907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14901" CreationDate="2011-03-03T16:25:16.127" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;me&quot; would be far more usual here than &quot;I&quot;. In general, &quot;I&quot; is only used as the subject of a finite verb (so not gerunds and infinitives), so for example even without a preposition people would tend to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Him&lt;/em&gt; being older than the rest helped&#xA;  us a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don't like this phrasing, then you could always paraphrase &quot;with the fact that I am one of them&quot;, &quot;the fact that he was older than the rest&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:25:16.127" />
  <row Id="14908" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14928" CreationDate="2011-03-03T16:40:01.410" Score="4" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;To make something opaque is to 'opaquen' ??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How about to make something transparent? Is it 'trasparentize' ??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for the help, in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit 1&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;This is for a computer code library that manipulates colors. I have verbs to describe the actions like &lt;code&gt;Brighten&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;Saturate&lt;/code&gt;, but I also want to find a nice words to describe making something more or less opaque.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4575" LastEditorUserId="4575" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T16:53:16.647" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T03:29:41.933" Title="To make something opaque = opaquen ??" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="14909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14897" CreationDate="2011-03-03T16:41:39.767" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Women smokers were considered to be more promiscuous - mass culture with the advent of the roaring Twenties, but traveling across the Americas prior to that through literature post Civil War (see Elmer Gantry)  - which was really an American version of an idea that had been circulating via French Postcards visually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She smokes, she will have sex&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:41:39.767" />
  <row Id="14911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14908" CreationDate="2011-03-03T16:46:08.503" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know of any verbs for your uses of &lt;em&gt;to make something xxx&lt;/em&gt;.  If there are any, they will likely not be known to your average audience, so it's best to stick with the &lt;em&gt;to make&lt;/em&gt; form for the sake of clarity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:46:08.503" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14908" CreationDate="2011-03-03T16:47:49.247" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never seen &lt;em&gt;opaquen&lt;/em&gt; used; in its place, I've simply seen &lt;em&gt;opaque&lt;/em&gt; verbed.  For the inverse operation I've seen &lt;em&gt;deopaque&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:47:49.247" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14901" CreationDate="2011-03-03T16:49:49.540" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Me being one of them&quot; is an inversion of the normal subject/object order in order to emphasize the object, &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt;.  Since &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; is still the object, the objective case is still called for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T16:49:49.540" />
  <row Id="14914" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14920" CreationDate="2011-03-03T17:06:56.187" Score="2" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;A cashier in a grocery store has &lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;_ 80 customers today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Expedited?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Served?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Handled?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a feeling there's a better word...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5285" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T02:02:29.740" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T02:02:29.740" Title="A word for the job a cashier does for each customer" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="14915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14908" CreationDate="2011-03-03T17:09:05.173" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Opaquen&lt;/em&gt; is not a word. According to the &lt;em&gt;Random House Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;, opaque is an acceptable word as an adjective, a noun (i.e. something that is opaque), or as a verb (i.e. to cause to be opaque). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, people reading your code (undrestandably) might not realize that you are using &lt;em&gt;opaque&lt;/em&gt; as a verb, so it probably is not the best option. I would reccommend &lt;code&gt;SetOpacity&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5584" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:09:05.173" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14914" CreationDate="2011-03-03T17:09:23.737" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;helped&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[off topic: why do single word requests require 30 characters in an answer?]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4292" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:09:23.737" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14914" CreationDate="2011-03-03T17:15:06.180" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/deal_with&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;dealt with&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; or simply &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/deal_with&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:15:06.180" />
  <row Id="14919" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14927" CreationDate="2011-03-03T17:17:45.243" Score="3" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should I use &lt;em&gt;got&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt; in the sentence below?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Many years thereafter, he &lt;code&gt;...&lt;/code&gt; promoted to [...]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might be somewhat related to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5531/ive-got-vs-ive-gotten&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, but I'm not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After reading some of the answers, I realize that I should have specified that I am writing a paragraph for a formal, business-related biography. If I would like to emphasize that the promotion was &lt;em&gt;earned&lt;/em&gt;; would it be more natural to use &lt;em&gt;got&lt;/em&gt;? I am asking, because people seem to perceive &lt;em&gt;got&lt;/em&gt; as the less formal option, whereas, to me, &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt; implies an &quot;effortless&quot; promotion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, it becomes a debate of what I would like to emphasize:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;They promoted him because he deserved it.&quot;&lt;/em&gt; (Got)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;They promoted him because they had to.&quot;&lt;/em&gt; (Was)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5263" LastEditorUserId="5263" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T18:28:47.567" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:51:20.890" Title="&quot;Got promoted&quot; vs. &quot;Was promoted&quot;" Tags="&lt;past-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="14920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14914" CreationDate="2011-03-03T17:18:20.390" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;em&gt;served&lt;/em&gt; is the only word that really works here. The ambiguity of &lt;em&gt;handled&lt;/em&gt; leaves one open for the Beavises and Buttheads of the world to snicker and joke, while &lt;em&gt;expedited&lt;/em&gt; has an entirely different meaning, one that doesn't take human beings as direct objects. Processes, requests, directives — all these can be expedited, but not people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see @beetstra has offered &lt;em&gt;helped&lt;/em&gt; as a synonym, and that may work in some cases. But &lt;em&gt;helped&lt;/em&gt; implies that one has assisted someone, not necessarily sold someone something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@RegDwight just offered &lt;em&gt;dealt with&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt;. I submit that &lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt; may not be particular enough, and has the same Beavis and Butthead problem that &lt;em&gt;handled&lt;/em&gt; does. &lt;em&gt;Dealt with&lt;/em&gt; may be applicable, but may have connotations that are too severe. One &quot;deals with&quot; problems, and might say a certain person should be &quot;dealt with&quot; if he causes trouble, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:18:20.390" />
  <row Id="14921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14914" CreationDate="2011-03-03T17:21:11.167" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Helped, served, rung up, had, assisted?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:21:11.167" />
  <row Id="14922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14914" CreationDate="2011-03-03T17:22:28.810" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Rung up&quot;, &quot;Checked out&quot;, or &quot;Processed&quot; could all work.  &quot;Rung up&quot; is the most colloquial but also the most cashier-specific, and feels to me like the best fit; &quot;checked out&quot; has an unfortunate secondary meaning; and &quot;processed&quot; sounds quite impersonal, which may also be appropriate for some cashiers....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:22:28.810" />
  <row Id="14923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14919" CreationDate="2011-03-03T17:23:01.603" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This would be a colloquial use of the word, &quot;got&quot;. Which one you use depends on your emphasis, and the formality of your writing. If you want to emphasize that then was was promoted, as opposed to before where he was not, you would say &quot;he got promoted,&quot; or if your writing is more formal, but you want the same emphasis, you would say, &quot;he &lt;em&gt;became&lt;/em&gt; promoted.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you are just saying that it happened sometime in the past as-a-matter-of-fact, it would just be, &quot;he was promoted&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5584" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:23:01.603" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14919" CreationDate="2011-03-03T17:23:22.950" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In formal writing, use &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For informal writing, you can also use &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;got&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:23:22.950" />
  <row Id="14925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14919" CreationDate="2011-03-03T17:23:39.993" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either is fine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many years thereafter, he was promoted to Lord High Poobah.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many years thereafter, he got promoted to Lord High Poobah.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only difference is that &quot;got&quot; may have a very vague implication that &quot;he&quot; did something to cause the promotion to happen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two new answers just came in, so let me address one more thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is perfectly correct to ask &quot;How does an employee get promoted around here?&quot; This is the simplest and most direct way of asking that question, in fact. &quot;How is an employee promoted around here?&quot; sounds a little off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if one can &quot;get promoted&quot; I think it is fair to say that it's possible (and correct) to say that one &quot;got promoted&quot; after the fact has occurred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:23:39.993" />
  <row Id="14926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14819" CreationDate="2011-03-03T17:25:02.317" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the UK we use &lt;strong&gt;miles per gallon&lt;/strong&gt; (m.p.g.), but bear in mind that while our miles are the same as American ones, our gallons are bigger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:25:02.317" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="14927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14919" CreationDate="2011-03-03T17:25:23.207" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer &quot;was promoted&quot; and &quot;got a promotion&quot;; but &quot;got promoted&quot; is acceptable, although as already mentioned it sounds much less formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:25:23.207" />
  <row Id="14928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14908" CreationDate="2011-03-03T17:27:50.810" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/opacify?r=66&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;opacify&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;to cause to become opaque. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds a bit awkward/made up, but the meaning is unambiguous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Make transparent&lt;/em&gt; is more difficult. &lt;em&gt;Clarify&lt;/em&gt; could work in certain limited contexts, but not in yours, I think. Unfortunately, I think a multi-word construction such as SetTransparency is your only choice here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T17:34:50.323" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:34:50.323" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14901" CreationDate="2011-03-03T17:30:08.400" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have several options. I am repeating some of the other answers because it seems practical to have them all together: I hope my plagiarism will be forgiven!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1) Five people went to the party last night, &lt;strong&gt;with me being one of them.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is common and accepted, though not by all purists: it does look a bit informal to me (mostly owing to &quot;with&quot;), which might be fine in the context of a party. &quot;Being&quot; would be a participle; the construction would be called &quot;fused participle&quot;, or &quot;accusative with participle&quot; in classicist terms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2) Five people went to the party last night, &lt;strong&gt;with my being one of them.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is how &quot;me&quot; would traditionally be expressed; but &quot;with&quot; still looks informal, which contrasts weirdly with traditional &quot;my&quot;. &quot;Being&quot; would be a gerund here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;3) Five people went to the party last night, &lt;strong&gt;I being one of them.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would be the classical absolute construction. It is impeccably correct, but it sounds rather stiff, especially in this context. &quot;Being&quot; would be a participle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;4) Five people went to the party last night, &lt;strong&gt;with myself being one of them.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this construction exists, but using &quot;myself&quot; this way might result in some criticism. This would certainly not be my choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;5) Five people went to the party last night, &lt;strong&gt;and I was one of them.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This looks much cleaner. Why use complex constructions in this context if you don't need to? The version with &quot;...; I was one of them&quot; looks OK as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T17:30:08.400" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14931" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14951" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:05:29.367" Score="7" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there other literary examples where-in a character or subject eventually morphed into descriptive verb/genre?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T14:43:07.460" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-08T15:11:49.543" Title="Mrs. Malaprop = Malapropism - any other examples" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="14932" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14933" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:07:37.017" Score="2" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I refer collectively to a group of people with the same name, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Having so many Johns around is confusing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Having so many John's around is confusing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is the correct usage? Or should I only refer to them as &quot;people named John&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could be somewhat compounded when surnames are used, if the pluralized version is also common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1519" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T18:30:23.637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:30:23.637" Title="A collective noun when referring to a group of people with the same name?" Tags="&lt;names&gt;&lt;pluralization&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14932" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:09:05.107" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Johns&lt;/em&gt; is fine (if a bit &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/john&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;unfortunate in its implications&lt;/a&gt; for that particular name).  &lt;em&gt;John's&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;belonging to John&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:09:05.107" />
  <row Id="14934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14861" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:11:31.163" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oh, that's easy. Just substitute your least liked bread. I often scream &quot;corn bread!&quot; when I'm frustrated. Some people go with biscuits. Nice thing about English is you can add suffix &quot;ing&quot; to anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="228" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:11:31.163" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14935" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15065" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:15:16.643" Score="6" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I noticed today that ENOUGHS is valid in Scrabble(tm), and I realize &quot;enough&quot; can be used as a noun (&quot;I've had enough!&quot;), but I'm unaware of any context where one might use its plural.  Perhaps it's used in some setting I'm not aware of?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5188" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T16:04:34.710" Title="Is there any common context for &quot;enoughs&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="14936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14931" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:17:08.110" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We seem to be talking about eponymous terms derived from fictional characters?  Four of the most famous of those would have to be &lt;em&gt;quixotic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;faustian&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;gargantuan&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;holmesian&lt;/em&gt;.  Another may be &lt;em&gt;chauvinism&lt;/em&gt;, but it's unclear whether Nicolas Chauvin was a real person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Evidently &lt;em&gt;pecksniffian&lt;/em&gt; had some currency at some point, but seems to have declined in popularity.  Lamentably similar is &lt;em&gt;panglossian&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T18:23:34.000" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:23:34.000" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-08T15:11:49.543" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14932" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:17:51.180" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As evidenced by the common phrase &quot;keeping up with the Joneses&quot;, simply pluralizing, even if the name is already theoretically in a plural form, is the way to go.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:17:51.180" />
  <row Id="14939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14861" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:24:35.263" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since watching the movie &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0432283/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fantastic Mr. Fox&lt;/a&gt; I have been enamoured with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJP31ZiUgeM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;cussing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:24:35.263" />
  <row Id="14940" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14998" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:28:38.080" Score="3" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The assets &lt;strong&gt;suffer&lt;/strong&gt; from a lack of reliability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is suffer an admissible word in this context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T01:00:50.953" Title="&quot;suffer&quot; and &quot;lack&quot; can be used together?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="14941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14908" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:30:10.747" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Translucent is between opaque and transparent, so... Translucify?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(As a bonus, it sounds bad-ass, like an album from a band called Translucifer!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5679" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:30:10.747" />
  <row Id="14942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14861" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:31:59.860" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any substitute sounds contrived and ridiculous.  If you don't want to swear, simply don't.  E.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I think Homer Simpson is incredibly&#xA;  sexy&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My reply &quot;Get out of here! That's&#xA;  ridiculous.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You see?  Just as effective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3974" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:31:59.860" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14943" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14945" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:35:23.930" Score="1" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was thinking about the &quot;intimate&quot; word used here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I differentiate both words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; in response to comments, I don't quite understand the meaning of the sentence. What is the difference between the first &quot;intimate&quot; and the second?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5366" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T19:19:03.453" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T19:19:03.453" Title="Intimate and Intimate" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="14944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14940" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:35:43.727" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's fine.  &quot;Suffer&quot; and &quot;lack&quot; work well together; a lack of something is possibly the most common cause of suffering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:35:43.727" />
  <row Id="14945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14943" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:36:47.470" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, if you're speaking, they're pronounced differently.  In the adjective, the A is a schwa sound (an attenuated &quot;uh&quot;); in the verb, it's a long A.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first word &quot;intimate&quot; in the sentence you posted is a verb meaning to communicate something confidentally.  The second word &quot;intimate&quot; in the sentence is an adjective meaning close and mutually well-known/understood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T19:03:56.243" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T19:03:56.243" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="14946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4823" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:44:39.603" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A theory of a hierarchy, based on level of social interaction capabilities, has been discussed over numerous, excellent bottles of beer.  &quot;Geeks,&quot; &quot;nerds,&quot; and &quot;dorks&quot; all have the same level of passion for their field of study.  As a result, it is impossible to distinguish among them based on their level of skill and degree of interest.  Instead, it was concluded, one night, that it was better to organize them by their social skills.  &quot;Geeks&quot; have a high level of social skills and are able to interact with people outside their area of expertise: they might be geeks in, say, Ruby on Rails programming, but they can chat up an art historian with alacrity.  Nerds, on the other hand, are less comfortable outside their circle of peers--a C# programming nerd &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; talk to an advertising sales rep, if he/she must, but only if there is a substantial amount of alcohol involved.  For those unfortunate people who are so absorbed in their subject matter as to consider social interaction with anyone beyond their ken...we tend to call them dorks.  It's an cruel classification, but it exists all the same.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A fourth class have been discussed, usually late into the drink, and it's the question of the &quot;poser,&quot; or someone who thinks they are an expert in something and think they belong in the &quot;geek&quot; or &quot;nerd&quot; class.  Even &quot;dorks&quot; agree that the proper term for them is probably &quot;dweeb.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5683" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:44:39.603" />
  <row Id="14947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14861" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:47:23.683" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with JasonFruit's answer, and will add another option:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Get out of here! That's completely ridiculous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;completely&lt;/em&gt; works here, though not in all contexts. Having to think of an appropriate adverb (or, sometimes, other word) in a given context will provide good exercise for your brain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:47:23.683" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14931" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:49:05.350" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my favorites is &lt;em&gt;milquetoast&lt;/em&gt;, describing a timid, submissive person. It comes from the name of a cartoon character, Caspar Milquetoast, created by H. T. Webster in 1924.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's also &lt;em&gt;Faustian&lt;/em&gt;, to describe a bargain in which one trades their moral integrity for material gains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pandemonium&lt;/em&gt; came from &lt;em&gt;Paradise Lost&lt;/em&gt;. We now associate it with mayhem and discord. Milton conceived of it as the name of the place where demons live.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5419" LastEditorUserId="5419" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T18:59:03.033" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:59:03.033" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-08T15:11:49.543" />
  <row Id="14949" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14950" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:49:48.220" Score="26" ViewCount="957" Body="&lt;p&gt;Comedians seem to use phrases that employ this type of sentence structure - is there a name for it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples of Groucho Marx's one liners seem to fit this pattern - and if memory serves, Emo Philips. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas, how he got in my pajamas, I don't know.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I've had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T04:21:19.567" Title="What is this an example of: &quot;She looks as though she's been poured into her clothes, and forgot to say 'when&quot;" Tags="&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;&lt;structure&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="9" />
  <row Id="14950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14949" CreationDate="2011-03-03T18:52:54.613" Score="48" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is called &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraprosdokian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;paraprosdokian&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;paraprosdokian&lt;/strong&gt; (from Greek &quot;παρα-&quot;, meaning &quot;beyond&quot; and &quot;προσδοκία&quot;, meaning &quot;expectation&quot;) is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes producing an anticlimax. For this reason, it is extremely popular among comedians and satirists.&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraprosdokian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll find exactly the example you mentioned on the page linked above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's one of my favorite examples among the many they list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I've had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it.&quot; — Groucho Marx&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T18:52:54.613" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="14951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14931" CreationDate="2011-03-03T19:03:35.727" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're looking for cases in which &quot;a character or subject eventually morphed into descriptive verb/genre&quot;. Other answerers have assumed you mean just a fictional character (and not a subject, by which, to be honest, I don't know what you mean), and I'll do the same. They've also not restricted to descriptive verbs and genres, suggesting &lt;em&gt;milquetoast&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;quixotic&lt;/em&gt;, so I, too, won't so restrict.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some they haven't mentioned are &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Achillean&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Achillean&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;aphrodisiac&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/argonaut&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;argonaut&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;bacchanalia&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Mickey_Mouse#Adjective&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mickey Mouse&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Falstaffian&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Ichabod&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ichabod&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Moses_basket&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Moses basket&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Oedipus complex&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;oedipal&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Electra complex&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Timonism&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sword_of_Damocles&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;sword of Damocles&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T19:03:35.727" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-08T15:11:49.543" />
  <row Id="14952" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-03T19:09:08.767" Score="5" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may not be appropriate for this site, I couldn't tell from the FAQ or a quick search on meta. I am looking for the proper attribution, origin, and correct version of the quote: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That which is measured, improves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen various versions and attributions to different people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some versions of it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pearson's Law:&#xA;&quot;That which is measured improves. That which is measured and reported&#xA;improves exponentially.&quot; - Karl Pearson&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance&#xA;is measured and reported back, the rate of improvement accelerates.&quot; - Thomas S. Monson&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few sources say it was used often at Sun Microsystems but do not attribute it to anyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5686" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T19:31:20.267" Title="&quot;That which is measured, improves&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14935" CreationDate="2011-03-03T19:09:22.493" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;7th here&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.english-test.net/toeic/vocabulary/words/333/toeic-definitions.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.english-test.net/toeic/vocabulary/words/333/toeic-definitions.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Definition of enough (noun) form&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  plural: enoughs&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  adequate amount; sufficient degree&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T19:09:22.493" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3785" CreationDate="2011-03-03T19:11:55.707" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Contrary to many of the other answers, many of the modal verbs that are listed in the dictionary as the past tense of another modal are in fact still used commonly used in that way in modern English - but sometimes only in certain senses. But the other answers are spot on that correct use of modals in English is a minefield for the learner :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;May/might: The two most common uses of &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; are to indicate &lt;em&gt;permission&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;I'm about to tell the students they may ask questions after the class&quot;) and &lt;em&gt;possibility&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;I think it may rain later&quot;). While it's technically correct to use &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; for the past tense of both, only the possibility sense works well: &quot;I thought it might rain later&quot; is identical to its counterpart apart from the tense, whereas &quot;I was about to tell the students they might ask questions after the class&quot; sounds slightly odd because the &quot;unlikely possibility&quot; sense of &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; comes to mind first - and, while the context here makes it clear that's unlikely, the reader will likely have to pause to figure that out. This difference between the meanings is why example 1 in the question sounds a little strange.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can/could: This works in all senses - for example: &quot;I think I can do it&quot; -&gt; &quot;I thought I could do it&quot;; &quot;I'm told I can have one&quot; -&gt; &quot;I was told I could have one&quot;; &quot;He can't have eaten it all by now&quot; -&gt; &quot;He couldn't have eaten it all by then&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Will/would: Again, this works in all senses: &quot;I know someone will take the job&quot; -&gt; &quot;I knew someone would take the job&quot;; &quot;These days he will lose his temper at the drop of a hat&quot; -&gt; &quot;In those days he would lose his temper at the drop of a hat&quot;; &quot;I think that will work&quot; -&gt; &quot;I thought that would work&quot; etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Shall/should: This is largely the exception to the rule - use of &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; as a past of &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; is somewhat archaic, largely because &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; is, itself, archaic in most uses. In practice the &quot;obligation&quot; sense of &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; dominates. For instance, &quot;You &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; go to the ball&quot; tells Cinderella emphatically what is about to happen, whereas &quot;The fairy godmother told Cinderella she &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; go to the ball&quot; implies that Cinderella was told of an obligation upon her rather than a prediction of her future. Of course, this is why there seems to be a meaning shift in example 2 from the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one sense in which &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; does almost work as the past tense of &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; is the use of &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; for commands (&quot;You shall leave!&quot; -&gt; &quot;I told them they should leave&quot;), though they are not equivalent in tone (the former is a very forceful command given with confidence that it will be obeyed, whereas the latter gives a sense that it is better to leave than not to, but that there is some choice involved in the matter).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(In producing the examples I've used the definitions from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam Webster&lt;/a&gt; - I've tried to cover the common definitions, but I've ignored some of the rarer ones, and some examples span more than one definition.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T19:11:55.707" />
  <row Id="14955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14931" CreationDate="2011-03-03T19:19:30.100" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;mondegreen&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; may be another example of a term derived from a fictional character. The caveat is that it's not derived from an &lt;em&gt;actual&lt;/em&gt; fictional character, but instead from a character by the name of Lady Mondegreen that Sylvia Wright &lt;em&gt;thought&lt;/em&gt; was in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bonny_Earl_O%27Moray&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a poem&lt;/a&gt; due to the mishearing of the line &lt;em&gt;&quot;laid him on the green&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5688" LastEditorUserId="5688" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T19:32:52.670" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T19:32:52.670" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-08T15:11:49.543" />
  <row Id="14956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14952" CreationDate="2011-03-03T19:31:20.267" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is possible that these quotes were inspired by Lord Kelvin who is frequently attributed the quote: &quot;If you can not measure it, you can not improve it.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is not an exact logical match, but it certainly expresses a similar idea regarding the importance of empirical measurement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5644" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T19:31:20.267" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14957" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-03T19:34:55.327" Score="-2" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mathematical Axiom/Postulate: A thing suggested or assumed as true as the basis for reasoning, discussion, or belief&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Axiom: An established principle in some art or science, which,&#xA;        though not a necessary truth, is universally received; as,&#xA;        the axioms of political economy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ad infinitum - infinity : another example&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cross-platform - any other examples words that have meanings in both literature and math?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="5531" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T20:44:35.187" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T08:37:48.120" Title="Axiom: Literary usage and Mathematical rule - other examples?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14935" CreationDate="2011-03-03T19:45:04.757" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I decided to consult Google and found &quot;close enoughs&quot; and &quot;just enoughs.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These could be used as &quot;There have been too many close enoughs already!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the same phrase more properly written would be &quot;There have been too many 'close enough's already!&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot think of a time where enoughs would be used alone so this is a meager answer at best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5353" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T19:45:04.757" />
  <row Id="14959" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14960" CreationDate="2011-03-03T19:47:30.903" Score="4" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why does &quot;one&quot; pronounce as &quot;wan&quot;, not &quot;oh-ne&quot;? &lt;br&gt;&#xA;Why the spelling and the pronunciation of &quot;one&quot; are so strangely? &lt;br&gt;&#xA;In French, one is written as &quot;un&quot;, and pronounced as &quot;oe&quot; (with nasal sound).&#xA;The sound is similar to French. Is this English word affected by French? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5689" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T20:08:10.210" Title="Why &quot;one&quot; is pronounced as &quot;wan&quot;, not &quot;oh-ne&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="14960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14959" CreationDate="2011-03-03T19:56:35.090" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=one&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Originally pronounced as it still is in &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt;, and in dial. &lt;em&gt;good 'un&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;young 'un&lt;/em&gt;, etc.; the now-standard pronunciation &quot;wun&quot; began c.14c. in southwest and west England (Tyndale, a Gloucester man, spells it &lt;em&gt;won&lt;/em&gt; in his Bible translation), and it began to be general 18c. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/one#Pronunciation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adds&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;once&lt;/em&gt; are pronounced differently from the related words &lt;em&gt;alone&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;atone&lt;/em&gt;. Stressed vowels often become diphthongs over time (Latin &lt;em&gt;bona&lt;/em&gt; → Italian &lt;em&gt;buona&lt;/em&gt; and Spanish &lt;em&gt;buena&lt;/em&gt;), and this happened in the late Middle Ages to the words &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;once&lt;/em&gt;, first recorded ca 1400: the vowel underwent some changes, from &lt;em&gt;ōn&lt;/em&gt; → &lt;em&gt;ōōōn&lt;/em&gt; → &lt;em&gt;wōn&lt;/em&gt; → &lt;em&gt;wōōn&lt;/em&gt; → &lt;em&gt;wŏŏn&lt;/em&gt; → &lt;em&gt;wŭn&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is worth noting that &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt; comes from the same source as the indefinite articles &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; (of which &lt;em&gt;an&lt;/em&gt; is actually the older form). It is cognate with the Latin &lt;em&gt;unus&lt;/em&gt; — whence the French &lt;em&gt;un&lt;/em&gt; you mention (and the Spanish &lt;em&gt;un&lt;/em&gt;, and the Portuguese &lt;em&gt;um&lt;/em&gt;...) — as well as with the German &lt;em&gt;ein&lt;/em&gt;, the Russian &lt;em&gt;один&lt;/em&gt;, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T20:08:10.210" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T20:08:10.210" />
  <row Id="14961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13662" CreationDate="2011-03-03T20:06:10.037" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;FX's answer is an excellent option (and has my vote).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One other technique that is sometimes used in math or science questions is to give an example response as part of the question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The number two is the first prime&#xA;  number.  In the sequence of prime&#xA;  numbers, what is the position of the&#xA;  number five?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is particularly effective for a verbal question, where using a variable 'n' &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; be more confusing than it is in print (depending on the audience).  One disadvantage is the relative verbosity of this form, but it is mathematically unambiguous while expressly stating the desired form of the answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5644" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T20:06:10.037" />
  <row Id="14962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14957" CreationDate="2011-03-03T20:10:27.240" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Axiom&lt;/strong&gt; has a slightly different meaning in general use and in mathematics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For the general meaning, my dictionary&lt;sup&gt;[1]&lt;/sup&gt; defines it as a proposition &quot;regarded as being established, accepted, or self-evidently true”. In that sense, it can synonymous of &lt;em&gt;accepted truth&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;general truth&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;dictum&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;truism&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mathematics deals with constructing systems of knowledge based on well-defined building blocks, which are called &lt;em&gt;axioms&lt;/em&gt;. Mathematics isn't concerned about whether axioms are true or false, but what conclusions can be derived from a set of axioms. Modern mathematics have build different theories of arithmetic derived from different possible sets of axioms (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axiom#Non-logical_axioms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this link&lt;/a&gt; for examples). As such, a mathematical axiom is not self-evident; it is postulated and its consequences are studied.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, assuming you are asking: &lt;strong&gt;“does ‘axiom’ have any meaning other than the two above (general sense and mathematical meaning)?”&lt;/strong&gt;, then the answer (according to my knowledge and dictionary) is: &lt;strong&gt;no&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1]  &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T23:09:43.123" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T23:09:43.123" />
  <row Id="14963" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-03T20:16:54.193" Score="5" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;I got a bit mixed up just now over the difference between &quot;complimentary&quot; and &quot;complementary&quot;.  My colleagues were arguing over the correct spelling of &quot;complimentary drink&quot; at a nightclub event, and I proposed that it be with an &quot;e&quot;.  But apparently a free promotional gift is, in fact, spelled with an &quot;i&quot;... Egg on my face!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question though is if it's always as simple as this.  Obviously a glass of wine can &lt;em&gt;also&lt;/em&gt; be complementary, if it's specially chosen to go with a meal.  (I wonder if any restaurant has ever offered a &quot;complimentary complementary glass of wine&quot;, or would that be too silly?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And it still feels to me as if as &quot;complementary breakfast&quot; could quite logically be one that is included in the bill, &quot;making up the complement&quot; of the price charged.  Am I just crazy?  Has it always been unequivocally &quot;complimentary&quot; when a service is provided free of charge as a sweetener to a deal?  I kind of prefer &quot;complimentary&quot; to relate specifically to compliments.  A restaurant owner is not &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; paying you a compliment by not charging you extra for breakfast, he's just doing business...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T04:00:30.997" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T04:00:30.997" Title="&quot;Complimentary&quot; vs &quot;complementary&quot;" Tags="&lt;homophone&gt;&lt;paronyms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14963" CreationDate="2011-03-03T20:18:10.890" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Acomplimentary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;complimentary&lt;/a&gt;: free on the house&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Acomplementary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;complementary&lt;/a&gt;: to go with something&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T20:18:10.890" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14965" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14968" CreationDate="2011-03-03T21:00:52.613" Score="6" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should cardinal points be capitalised? Please give a reason why they should or should not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5693" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T14:41:13.700" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T14:41:13.700" Title="Should north, south, east and west be capitalised?" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14963" CreationDate="2011-03-03T21:01:17.920" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it really is that simple.  Complimentary = free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A possible mnemonic device for you: If it's compl-&lt;strong&gt;I&lt;/strong&gt;-mentary, &lt;strong&gt;I&lt;/strong&gt; get it for free.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T21:01:17.920" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14967" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14970" CreationDate="2011-03-03T21:03:07.180" Score="2" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;One often wants to convey a kind of mood when writing a comment to another person, especially if what we're saying is ambiguous or can be taken offensively.  So, one adds a smiley or an emoticon.  Is there a technical term for what they add or impart to the English language?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T01:54:00.370" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T01:54:00.370" Title="Is there a technical term to describe why we feel the need to put emoticons and smileys in our writing?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="14968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14965" CreationDate="2011-03-03T21:03:07.880" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;North as an adjective (and other cardinal points) is never capitalized, except when part of a construct that is capitalized in itself, such as a country name (&lt;em&gt;North Korea&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;South Africa&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a noun, it is capitalized when used in the game of bridge (&lt;em&gt;North and South play together&lt;/em&gt;) and, more commonly, when designating a known part of a country (&lt;em&gt;Virginia joined the North&lt;/em&gt;) or of the world (&lt;em&gt;the mysterious East&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;the history of music in the West&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T21:23:46.683" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T21:23:46.683" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14919" CreationDate="2011-03-03T21:06:28.940" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other answers are right that &quot;got&quot; sounds informal in this sense - and it doesn't &lt;em&gt;necessarily&lt;/em&gt; carry the implication that he had to work for the promotion (it can even imply the reverse - there is a slight connotation that it happened to him without his involvement, compare &quot;he got mugged&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to emphasise that the promotion was deserved, you might say &lt;em&gt;he earned a promotion&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;he obtained a promotion&lt;/em&gt;, or possibly even &lt;em&gt;he achieved a promotion&lt;/em&gt;. Or you could paraphrase to say something like &lt;em&gt;he was awarded a well-deserved promotion&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastEditorUserId="3405" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T13:51:20.890" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:51:20.890" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14967" CreationDate="2011-03-03T21:13:54.283" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, if you want a technical term, it's the &lt;em&gt;limited bandwidth&lt;/em&gt; of text.  (For certain values of &quot;technical&quot;...)  It's frequently claimed that in-person vocal communication is something like 60% body language and 30% tone of voice; in text communication we get neither, implying that we're making do with 10% of the normal bandwidth, or range of expression.  This makes many things that would be clear in in-person vocal communication ambiguous in text, so we invent things like emoticons to try to compensate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also occasionally refer to the &lt;em&gt;emotive flatness&lt;/em&gt; of text.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T21:13:54.283" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14967" CreationDate="2011-03-03T21:14:28.483" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There may well be a better term for it, but at first blush I would say this is adding &lt;em&gt;non-verbal cues&lt;/em&gt; to our written interactions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T21:14:28.483" />
  <row Id="14973" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14974" CreationDate="2011-03-03T21:33:25.873" Score="2" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to say the factors are responsible for the lack of credibility?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This lack of reliability can be &lt;strong&gt;imputed&lt;/strong&gt; to several factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;imputed&quot; is probably wrong. What word should I use, in an academic environment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastEditorUserId="5342" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T10:44:48.963" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T10:44:48.963" Title="This lack of reliability, can be .. ?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14973" CreationDate="2011-03-03T21:36:34.613" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;em&gt;attributed&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ascribed&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;put down&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;traced back&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, the comma in your sentence is completely uncalled for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T21:41:45.247" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T21:41:45.247" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14973" CreationDate="2011-03-03T21:45:37.193" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;blamed on, caused by one or more of, caused by any of, placed at the feet of, pinned on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T21:45:37.193" />
  <row Id="14976" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14983" CreationDate="2011-03-03T21:50:04.690" Score="-1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the purpose of the word 'THE'?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What is its meaning? &#xA;From where did it orgin from?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When should I capitilize &quot;THE&quot;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Please provide some examples of when I should not use &quot;THE&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5400" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T03:28:22.450" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T03:28:22.450" ClosedDate="2011-03-03T22:59:17.813" Title="What is the purpose/meaning of the word &quot;THE&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10423" CreationDate="2011-03-03T22:08:25.677" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I understand, &quot;I have done&quot; is perfectly alright. But if someone is asking after whether you're completed with a task it may be more direct just to reply &quot;I have finished (it).&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4184" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T22:08:25.677" />
  <row Id="14978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14931" CreationDate="2011-03-03T22:20:30.130" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Sati&quot; was the name of a Hindu goddess, which turned into a term for a widow killing herself at her husband's funeral pyre.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have time to waste, TV Tropes' neologism page would have an example of works of literature creating new terms. &lt;s&gt;It'd list not just neologisms based on character names, but other neologisms such as &quot;thought police&quot;, however.&lt;/s&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: Not a single example - people haven't spent enough time on the web site!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastEditorUserId="1420" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T09:26:24.680" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T09:26:24.680" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-08T15:11:49.543" />
  <row Id="14979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14604" CreationDate="2011-03-03T22:26:23.027" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You call this &lt;strong&gt;isocephaly&lt;/strong&gt; (all heads looking in the same direction).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/isocephalic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(of a composition) having the heads of all figures on approximately the same level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3619" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T22:26:23.027" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14976" CreationDate="2011-03-03T22:38:51.983" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/the&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt; for the answers to your first two questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should capitalize &quot;the&quot; when it is the first word in a sentence, or the first word in a proper name (such as &quot;The Ladders&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last question is much too vague to give a good answer to.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T22:38:51.983" />
  <row Id="14981" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-03T22:48:06.870" Score="6" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;In other words: should it be &lt;em&gt;“Guess what?”&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;“Guess what!”&lt;/em&gt;? Or does the correct usage depend on the context and intent of the speaker?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5076" LastEditorUserId="5076" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T23:07:44.560" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T14:21:45.990" Title="Should &quot;guess what&quot; be a question or command?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="14982" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="14985" CreationDate="2011-03-03T22:54:27.277" Score="4" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often hear people saying &quot;excuse me&quot; when I open a door and someone else is entering/leaving from the other side. In spite of the fact that I may be the first person to have opened the door and making my way out, the other guy would say &quot;excuse me&quot; in a way as if I should make a way for him first. What do you think it means—a polite expression or a curt way of asking me to step aside? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2532" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T21:38:58.183" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T21:38:58.183" Title="&quot;Excuse Me&quot;... Is it polite or just a terse way to ask others to step aside?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;common-expression&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="14983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14976" CreationDate="2011-03-03T22:56:08.407" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'The' is a definite article used to indicate a specific person, place, object or idea of which there is only one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It came from middle english. (as far as I can tell)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should capitalize it at the beginning of sentence or title of a published work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You should not use the when an indefinite article (a or an) would be better suited, which is the case if &quot;the&quot; would cause confusion. This is the case when you are not referring to a single specific object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example: &quot;Have you ever seen the movie?&quot; This is not clear on its own. You would either need to specify a movie or ask, &quot;Have you ever seen a movie?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T22:56:08.407" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14981" CreationDate="2011-03-03T22:59:29.013" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it should actually be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Guess &quot;What?&quot;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2569" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T22:59:29.013" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14982" CreationDate="2011-03-03T22:59:30.403" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could be either, and is entirely context and attitude/tone of voice dependent. &quot;Smile when you say that, partner.&quot; I'm told English is not so bad as some other languages in this regard - sometimes the meaning is entirely in the &quot;atmosphere&quot; rather than in the grammar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T22:59:30.403" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14982" CreationDate="2011-03-03T22:59:50.713" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can be either, but often enough it's just an acknowledgement that the vagaries of movement have caused either or both of you to inconvenience the other, with no particular implication of anybody needing to do anything.  This is illustrated by how often people say &quot;excuse me&quot; in polite tones when it was apparently the other person who made an error.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say it is mostly &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.iwise.com/UOLYe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;social lubricant&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T22:59:50.713" />
  <row Id="14987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14931" CreationDate="2011-03-03T23:04:00.807" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Spoonerism&quot; - after the Rev. Spooner, who reputedly continually interchanged the first letters/sounds of words. &quot;Today we'll learn how to build a turdy stable&quot; - (a Sturdy Table).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, if we're limiting ourselves to fictitious persons (not that I see that in the question), I suppose &quot;Bushism&quot; is out. Too bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastEditorUserId="597" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T14:35:50.197" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T14:35:50.197" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-08T15:11:49.543" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14981" CreationDate="2011-03-03T23:10:07.933" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it can vary by speaker.  My inclination would be to use &quot;guess what!&quot; when the speaker keeps on speaking, and &quot;guess what?&quot; when the speaker pauses to accept guesses, thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I got something for you,&quot; Sue said brightly.  Guess what?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;A book?  ... a donut? ... a chicken?&quot; Fred guessed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;No, silly!  The keys you left at the restaurant!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Guess what!&quot;  Sally shouted as she ran into the room.  &quot;I made bail!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T23:10:07.933" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14957" CreationDate="2011-03-03T23:15:31.433" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;OK, adding another answer for another possible interpretation of your question: “&lt;strong&gt;any other examples words that have meanings in both literature and math&lt;/strong&gt;” (seeing your edit).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;vector: “a quantity having direction as well as magnitude” vs “an organism that transmits a disease or parasite”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;product: “an article or substance that is manufactured or refined for sale” vs “a quantity obtained by multiplying quantities together”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;injection: “an instance of injecting or being injected” vs “a function that preserves distinctness”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T23:15:31.433" />
  <row Id="14990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14963" CreationDate="2011-03-03T23:24:18.400" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Compl-&lt;strong&gt;E&lt;/strong&gt;-ment = Compl-&lt;strong&gt;e&lt;/strong&gt;-tes something&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5254" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T23:24:18.400" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13915" CreationDate="2011-03-03T23:37:36.000" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Repair terms seem few, but here are some leather working terms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;barkened, tanned&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;barkometer, instrument for testing tanning solutions&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;box-grain, a grain put into leather where lines are crossed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;catechu, a tanning material&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chagrin or shagreen, a leather with a rough surface&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chamar, an (east) Indian leather worker&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chuckler, an (east) Indian leather worker&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;clout-leather, leather for shoe mending &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;codder, leather worker or saddler&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cordwainer leather worker or shoemaker&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cordwainery, shoemaker's work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;crimp, to bend or mold leather, as in saddle making&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cuir-bouilli, soaked leather molded into some shape which is retained when dry&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;currier, someone who dresses or colors leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dub, to rub grease into leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dubbing or dubbin, grease to apply to leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fellmonger, a dealer or worker of hides&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fisher, a tanner's implement&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fluff, to buff leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;footing, material for footwear&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;frieze, an imperfection in leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;frizz, to rub leather to smooth and soften&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;frot, to soften leather by rubbing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;grainer, a tool to impart a grain in leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;grindery, tools &amp;amp; materials of leather workers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hidebound, edged with leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hided, made of twisted hide&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;jacked, hardened, as in leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;kench, a box to hold salted seal skins&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;leathern, made of leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;mace, mallet to beat leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;moellon, a wax for leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;mulled, treated to make softer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pannus corium, leather for footwear uppers.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;patch leather. leather for patching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pebbling, using a roller to make an indented surface on leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pommel, ribbed wooden tool to improve leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pricker, tool to put spaced holes, as for sewing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Rexine, an imitation leather (proprietary)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;riempie, leather strip used in chair backs, etc.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sammy, to dampen or dry leather slightly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;scoring iron, tool to run lines on leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shaganappi, cord made from rawhide&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shamoy, to work grease into leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;skiver, worker who splits leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sleeker, tool to smooth leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;slicker, tool to smooth leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;smoothing, an iron to smooth leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;snuff, to curry or smooth leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;spetch, a leather patch for mending leather items&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stamper, tool to beat leather with&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stark, tool to dress leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;stitch-wheel, tool to put spaced holes (pricker) &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;zug, a waterproof leather&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, there may be a bunch of unusual terms for tanning materials and types of leather.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastEditorUserId="4951" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T23:45:43.000" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T23:45:43.000" />
  <row Id="14992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13662" CreationDate="2011-03-03T23:43:36.843" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why not simply use the term &lt;em&gt;ordinal&lt;/em&gt; directly? For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What ordinal number reflects the position of the number five in the set of prime numbers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or more succinctly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the ordinality of five in the set of prime numbers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ordinality might be a bit of a neologism, but the meaning should be clear to anyone familiar with the root, I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5119" LastEditorUserId="5119" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T23:53:23.590" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T23:53:23.590" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="14993" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15064" CreationDate="2011-03-03T23:44:55.280" Score="6" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a word or idiom describing a situation where a rebuttal to an argument is evidence to it (especially when it is ironic/meta)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A very simple example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John: “You can talk!”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mary: “No I can't!”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;John put forth an argument, and Mary rebutted it; in doing so, she inadvertently gave evidence to the contrary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5697" LastEditorUserId="2172" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T08:53:06.853" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T13:27:41.873" Title="What's the word — an ironic situation" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14994" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15000" CreationDate="2011-03-03T23:48:40.360" Score="4" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;Our local newspaper had the headline today &quot;Gadhafi forces retreat&quot; and I read it with &quot;retreat&quot; as the verb instead of &quot;forces&quot; as the verb.  I know it is a poorly written headline, but which way is the more common way to read it?  (In other words, is it likely that no-one at the newspaper noticed the ambiguity?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="728" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T01:19:46.177" Title="&quot;Gadhafi forces retreat&quot; - how do you understand that?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;ambiguity&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="14995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14982" CreationDate="2011-03-03T23:55:08.287" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends not just tone of voice, but it also on what part of the anglosphere you happen to be on. British [and related] speakers would likely use &lt;em&gt;excuse me&lt;/em&gt; to politely ask someone to make way. Here in the US, it's almost the other way round, where the person who somehow happens to be in your way would be more likely to say &lt;em&gt;excuse me&lt;/em&gt;. Regardless of the tone, one may find this rude if they are not used to this particular usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was brought up to always say, &quot;Please, excuse me&quot;, and I consider this the gold standard in politeness if you want someone out of your way. If someone were about to bump into me or found me in their way, however, the first thing that would come to my mouth would most likely be, &quot;[Oops,] I'm sorry&quot; (whether or not I was at fault). Most people around me would naturally say, &quot;Excuse me&quot;. No &lt;em&gt;please&lt;/em&gt; would be required in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T23:55:08.287" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="14996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14994" CreationDate="2011-03-04T00:00:27.037" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The editors assume readers are in the know. Regardless, it would probably be more common to read it with &lt;em&gt;retreat&lt;/em&gt; as a verb. If &lt;em&gt;forces&lt;/em&gt; were to be the verb, then it would be a much poorer headline, as one question would naturally follow: &lt;em&gt;Whose retreat?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T00:00:27.037" />
  <row Id="14997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14994" CreationDate="2011-03-04T00:09:42.917" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the editors never noticed the ambiguity.  (It's possible they did but didn't care about it since headlines don't follow normal grammar.)  Usually the intended structure would have an adjective as the first word, as &quot;Libyan forces retreat&quot;, but here they didn't have an adjectival form, so the noun got used, leading to the ambiguity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T00:09:42.917" />
  <row Id="14998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14940" CreationDate="2011-03-04T00:14:45.297" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Suffer&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;lack&lt;/em&gt; can most certainly be used together. Thus, your example is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The assets suffer from a lack of reliability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Suffer&lt;/em&gt; goes well directly with negative nouns; some common phrases (mostly literary) are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;suffer loss • suffer want • suffer defeat • suffer depression • suffer pain • suffer shame • suffer neglect&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T00:14:45.297" />
  <row Id="14999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14994" CreationDate="2011-03-04T00:28:23.077" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My initial reading was with &quot;forces&quot; as the verb.  Definitely a poorly-written headline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T00:28:23.077" />
  <row Id="15000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14994" CreationDate="2011-03-04T00:36:15.583" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a type of ambiguous headline known as a &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash_blossom#In_headlines&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;crash blossom&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. From the Wikipedia link:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Newspaper headlines are written in a telegraphic style (headlinese) which often omits the copula and therefore lends itself to syntactic ambiguity, usually of the garden path type. The name 'crash blossoms' was proposed for these ambiguous headlines by Dan Bloom and Mike O'Connell in the Testy Copy Editors discussion group in August 2009 based on a headline &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Violinist linked to JAL crash blossoms&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.[3] The Columbia Journalism Review regularly reprints such headlines in its &quot;The Lower case&quot; column, and has collected them in the anthologies &lt;strong&gt;Squad helps dog bite victim&lt;/strong&gt;[4] and &lt;strong&gt;Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge&lt;/strong&gt;.[5]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of my favorites from the list there is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The British left waffles on Falklands&lt;/strong&gt; (Did the British leave waffles behind, or was there waffling by the British Left?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T01:14:01.133" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T01:14:01.133" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15001" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-04T00:38:04.987" Score="3" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is one stronger than the other? More correct? Just curious, one of the many abstract things to pop into my head on the drive home today...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5700" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T03:43:12.877" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T15:03:36.723" Title="&quot;It isn't&quot; versus &quot;it's not&quot;" Tags="&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="15002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14873" CreationDate="2011-03-04T00:42:24.723" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Earphones/earbuds&lt;/em&gt; are those worn in the ears without a headband. While they come in pairs, one can have an earphone/earbud in one ear, leaving the other dangling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some, but not all, &lt;em&gt;headphones&lt;/em&gt; have a band. The &lt;em&gt;earphones&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;earcups&lt;/em&gt; (you may not find this in the dictionary) that make up the pair are worn over or on the ears. Thus, one can wear headphones with only one earcup/earphone on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your example could be correctly written in a number of equivalent ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She wore an earphone in one ear and listened to him with the other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She had headphones on with an earcup slid off so she could also listen to him.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She left an earbud in one ear and listened to him with the other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She wore headphones but had only one ear covered while she listened to him with the other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She wore headphones with only one earcup on, and listened to him with the other ear.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She wore headphones with a cup over one ear and listened to him with the other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the word &lt;em&gt;earphone&lt;/em&gt; is used, it is implied that it is present in a pair or set of earphones/headphones, with only a very few exceptions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T00:42:24.723" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14940" CreationDate="2011-03-04T01:00:50.953" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason you ask this is probably that you perceive some slight overlap in meaning, which usually indicates bad style, as do most pleonasms. &lt;em&gt;To suffer&lt;/em&gt; = to go through something negative (as in &quot;I can tell she is suffering&quot;); &lt;em&gt;a lack&lt;/em&gt; = the negative situation in which there is something you do not have. And yet this collocation is fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the others have noted, the verb &lt;em&gt;to suffer&lt;/em&gt; happens to have many cast-iron idioms that contain other negative words as well. Perhaps you may feel somewhat relieved if you consider the origin of the word. It comes from Latin &lt;em&gt;suffero&lt;/em&gt;, which means &quot;to undergo, to bear&quot; (its elements are &lt;em&gt;sub&lt;/em&gt; &quot;under&quot; and &lt;em&gt;fero&lt;/em&gt; &quot;carry, bear&quot;). &quot;To undergo something negative&quot; has much less of this overlap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe the English verb was used with the sense &quot;to undergo&quot; more frequently in the past than it is now; that is probably why it sometimes feels a bit unusual in some idioms if you are not familiar with them. But any decent dictionary will still give you the sense &quot;to undergo&quot;, even though it is now somewhat less common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T01:00:50.953" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14994" CreationDate="2011-03-04T01:19:46.177" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have mentioned, the meaning is ambiguous without further context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There seems to be a broad assumption here that media headlines are intended to be unambiguous.  Headlines are designed to catch your eye.  Full stop.  Ambiguity is a &lt;em&gt;frequently&lt;/em&gt; used tool by editors to achieve this purpose.  In this case, the reader may be motivated to find out who is actually retreating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Headlines are often poorly written, whether due to a lack of space or human error.  However, as with most types of writing, there is a very specific purpose to a headline that should be considered in any evaluation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; be a poorly written headline, or it could be a &lt;em&gt;masterful&lt;/em&gt; headline.  Only the editor knows for sure :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5644" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T01:19:46.177" />
  <row Id="15005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14993" CreationDate="2011-03-04T01:26:35.177" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This situation is best described as a catch-22, or a logical paradox which can be escaped only by denying its premise. The eponymous novel by Joseph Heller, &lt;em&gt;Catch-22&lt;/em&gt;, contains the following illustration: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;One must seek a declaration of insanity to be exempt from combat duty.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Those who go into combat duty are insane.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, to seek exemption from combat duty is tacit proof of one's own sanity. Under these circumstances, no declaration of insanity can ever be granted,  but there is no recourse but to seek one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The situation you set up between John and Mary is not exactly the same, because in reality Mary has a valid rebuttal available to her. She could respond with silence, and thereby disprove John's statement. Assuming you had constrained the situation so that only verbal rebuttals were acceptable, however, then I believe the word/idiom you're looking for is catch-22. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5471" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T01:26:35.177" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14993" CreationDate="2011-03-04T01:47:45.830" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may be thinking of paralepsis or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophasis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;aphophasis&lt;/a&gt; -- 'mentioning by not mentioning'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4184" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T01:47:45.830" />
  <row Id="15007" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15009" CreationDate="2011-03-04T02:34:05.353" Score="1" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across an article talking about the difference between &lt;em&gt;state&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;country&lt;/em&gt;, when they mean &lt;em&gt;nation&lt;/em&gt;, like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usa&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;United States of America&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;United Kingdom of Great Britain&#xA;and Northern Ireland&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korea&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Democratic People's Republic of Korea&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The article says that the USA and the UK can be referred to as &lt;em&gt;country&lt;/em&gt; while North Korea can &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; be referred to as &lt;em&gt;state&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rationale behind that is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;country&lt;/em&gt; means people with citizen rights + elected government + land&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;while&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;state&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; government.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because in my native language, there is no difference between &lt;em&gt;state&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;country&lt;/em&gt; when they are translated as &lt;em&gt;nation&lt;/em&gt;, I am curious to know whether the point the article tries to make is true or not, or to what extent it is true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The people in Libya are now fighting for their rights. When they say &lt;em&gt;we love Libya&lt;/em&gt;, they certainly do not refer to Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to distinguish &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; Libya from the GSPLAJ? According to the article, the former may be called &lt;em&gt;country&lt;/em&gt; while the latter may be called &lt;em&gt;state&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T10:41:20.150" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T10:41:20.150" Title="&quot;State&quot; vs &quot;country&quot; as &quot;nation&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14931" CreationDate="2011-03-04T02:39:16.703" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the American version of 'malapropisms' is 'Archie Bunkerisms'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T02:39:16.703" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-08T15:11:49.543" />
  <row Id="15009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15007" CreationDate="2011-03-04T02:52:01.917" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; heard of this distinction, and I am highly doubtful of its legitimacy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's how I think of them:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;State: a group of people where at least one person has power and authority  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nation: identical to a state in the legal sense; alternatively, a group of people identified by one culture (less common)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Country: land that is under the control of a state&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that there is also a distinction between &lt;em&gt;state&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;government&lt;/em&gt;, which your quote seems to not note. The state is the sovereign power, but delegates the actual governing to the government. In the United States, for example, the state is the government and vice versa--the President is elected to become both the head of state and government. However, in contrast, the United Kingdom has a separate state and government. Her Majesty is the head of state, and the Crown is the state, but the government is the Cabinet and is headed by the head of government, the Prime Minister. While Her Majesty does not actually make policy, she still rules the United Kingdom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T02:52:01.917" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14908" CreationDate="2011-03-04T03:23:21.097" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on what you are making opaque.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some words that can be used include: obfuscate, solidify, cloud, darken, muddle, and confuse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Antonyms include: evanesce, clarify, purify, and lighten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastEditorUserId="3800" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T03:29:41.933" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T03:29:41.933" />
  <row Id="15011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15007" CreationDate="2011-03-04T03:25:56.633" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports the following definitions for those words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;state: a nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nation: a large aggregate of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;country: a nation with its own government, occupying a particular territory&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference between &lt;em&gt;nation&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;country&lt;/em&gt; is that &lt;em&gt;country&lt;/em&gt; refers to the people, the territory, and the government, while &lt;em&gt;nation&lt;/em&gt; refers to the people, and the territory.&#xA;In the case of federal countries (e.g., USA, Austalia, Germany) a state is just a part of the country; in the other countries (e.g., Italy, France), the state coexists with the country. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T03:25:56.633" />
  <row Id="15012" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-04T04:09:02.063" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bob and I are working on a project. I want to refer to &quot;Bob's work&quot; and &quot;my work&quot; collectively, without referring to Bob and myself collectively. (This will be the first reference to Bob and myself in my writing.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I do this, without resorting to the ungainly &quot;Bob's and my work&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5575" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T05:34:45.160" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T06:03:40.633" Title="Possessive for a third person and a first person." Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14981" CreationDate="2011-03-04T04:12:33.283" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If &quot;Guess what&quot; is to be a complete sentence, it's unequivocally an imperative one. Logically, if not linguistically, the reply has to be a question itself…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Guess what.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;…unless the responder &lt;a href=&quot;http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080214073702AA3MdgF&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;actually plans to guess&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5640" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T04:12:33.283" />
  <row Id="15015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14981" CreationDate="2011-03-04T04:24:29.897" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is a command rather than question. The speaker is forcing / telling the listener to guess correctly about the fact in their context of speach. Because he knows the fact and now he is putting a puzzle in excitement in front of listener to guess it right.. Guess what!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5704" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T04:24:29.897" />
  <row Id="15016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15001" CreationDate="2011-03-04T04:28:04.083" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're very similar in meaning -- both are correct, both are contractions of &quot;it is not&quot;, and both are fairly casual in tone. The differences are &lt;em&gt;extremely&lt;/em&gt; slight, and easily negated in spoken speech by word emphasis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Of course, contractions are often discouraged in formal or technical writing.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps one might avoid &quot;it's not&quot; because it sounds a bit like &quot;it snot&quot;. I can't think of ant other reasons one might prefer one or the other. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T04:28:04.083" />
  <row Id="15017" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15024" CreationDate="2011-03-04T04:28:18.320" Score="2" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;When we say &quot;Our team worked hard&quot;, then is it expected to refer the speaker + his own team OR the speaker  + listener + their team together? Because in both these cases OUR is common word to be used!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5704" LastEditorUserId="161" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T05:57:09.780" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T05:57:09.780" Title="Unclear use of the word &quot;our&quot;" Tags="&lt;common-phrase&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15017" CreationDate="2011-03-04T04:32:58.497" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends greatly on context. If the sentence were preceded by a statement defining the team, or including/excluding the listener, then this would be clarified, but otherwise, the phrase is unclear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In what situation was the phrase used? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T04:32:58.497" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13662" CreationDate="2011-03-04T04:40:06.813" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can be &quot;What is the rank of 5 in prime number series?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5704" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T04:40:06.813" />
  <row Id="15020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15012" CreationDate="2011-03-04T04:43:06.983" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could transpose the words to &quot;...work done by Bob and me&quot; or &quot;...work Bob and I did.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastEditorUserId="3800" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T05:23:15.140" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T05:23:15.140" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15017" CreationDate="2011-03-04T04:45:32.057" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to be sure to exclude the listener, you can say &quot;My team&quot; instead of &quot;our team&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T04:45:32.057" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2516" CreationDate="2011-03-04T04:59:22.293" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well I am not native speaker but my friend always reply my thank with the word you most welcome or no problem but they replied me almost you are welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T04:59:22.293" />
  <row Id="15023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14982" CreationDate="2011-03-04T05:01:25.440" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is a polite way. Beause the speaker is asking to excuse him even if it is not his mistake. e.g. Some person is standing in his way on a footpath. Then it is that person's mistake but still the speaker will say 'excuse me (speaker)' to request the person to give a way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5704" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T05:01:25.440" />
  <row Id="15024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15017" CreationDate="2011-03-04T05:02:06.397" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The ability to distinguish between the inclusive &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt; and the exclusive &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt; is referred to as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clusivity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;clusivity&lt;/a&gt; and is a feature lacking in English.  Without additional context, you're correct that it's impossible to determine whether you intended to include the listener in the pronoun or not, although in many cases knowledge of the basic scenario you're describing can be enough to clarify (e.g. if you and the listener were never on a team together or at least a hard working one).  However, should it fail to be clear based on such knowledge you're pretty much stuck either adding in a clarifying phrase or simply avoiding the use of &lt;em&gt;our&lt;/em&gt; by spelling out who you mean. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T05:02:06.397" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15012" CreationDate="2011-03-04T05:04:45.130" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bob and I did it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bob and I have done it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5630" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T06:03:40.633" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T06:03:40.633" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15012" CreationDate="2011-03-04T05:14:08.653" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would rewrite the sentence to avoid this clumsy construction and use the humble pronoun &lt;em&gt;our&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something like this would read well: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bob and I are working on a project; our work was a spectacular example of eloquence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Annual Report Writing Team was composed of Bob and myself; the team's work was exemplary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure, there's a way to do it without pronouns, but it'd be clumsy and would simply call attention to the language rather than the message. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T05:14:08.653" />
  <row Id="15027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13662" CreationDate="2011-03-04T05:30:22.097" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rephrasing slightly, I'd ask: what is the position of 5 in the sequence of prime numbers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5698" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T05:30:22.097" />
  <row Id="15028" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15031" CreationDate="2011-03-04T05:47:35.453" Score="5" ViewCount="455" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading the wiki page about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraprosdokian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Paraprosdokian&lt;/a&gt; when I come across this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas, how he got in my pajamas, I don't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone please explain to me what is funny about it? Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1872" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T02:05:00.937" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T04:15:23.270" Title="What is funny in this sentence?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;figures-of-speech&gt;&lt;humor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15028" CreationDate="2011-03-04T05:49:52.840" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;in my pajamas&quot; -&gt; Inside your pajamas&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;whereas to avoid ambiguity, one possibility would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;wearing my pajamas&quot; -&gt; shot the elephant when you were in your pajamas&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically the funny thing here is that the elephant is not &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; your pajamas but the sentence somehow ends up painting that picture. Or so I think...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5708" LastEditorUserId="5708" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T05:55:05.550" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T05:55:05.550" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15028" CreationDate="2011-03-04T06:13:41.420" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The default interpretation of the first part of the sentence, &quot;I shot an elephant in my pajamas&quot;, is that &quot;while I was wearing my pajamas, I shot an elephant.&quot;  At least 99% of all listeners who hear the sentence will parse it that way.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The humorous part comes from the disconnect generated by the second phrase, wherein the initial default interpretation is turned on its head; rather than &quot;I shot an elephant [while I was] in my pajamas, the speaker forces you to reinterpret it as &quot;I shot an elephant (who was) in my pajamas.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T06:13:41.420" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15032" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-04T06:33:11.833" Score="5" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between &lt;em&gt;version&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;edition&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2581" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T14:57:24.793" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T14:57:24.793" Title="&quot;version&quot; vs. &quot;edition&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15032" CreationDate="2011-03-04T07:42:54.490" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For one, 'edition' pertains to a publication of sorts in particular, whereas 'version' could pertain to anything from a software program to a narrated story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, 'a newer version' implies improvements or corrections have been made, whereas 'a newer edition' could just have been commissioned because the previous edition sold out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5559" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T07:42:54.490" />
  <row Id="15034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15032" CreationDate="2011-03-04T07:55:09.587" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many different uses of each of those words (including the heavy use of &lt;em&gt;version&lt;/em&gt; for software), but in their main meaning, the difference is mainly given by the (&lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;) definition of &lt;em&gt;edition&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;edition (noun): a particular form or version of a &lt;strong&gt;published&lt;/strong&gt; text&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The emphasis is mine, and it outlines the core of the matter. If you're thinking of a text, each state of the manuscript or typescript is a version of the text, while only published versions are &lt;em&gt;editions&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give an example: over a span of one year, there were many many versions of my thesis, but there was only one edition of it (the final, published work).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T07:55:09.587" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15007" CreationDate="2011-03-04T08:30:08.740" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no standard definition.  &lt;em&gt;State&lt;/em&gt; can mean sub-national or national, or wider in the case of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Plurinational State of Bolivia&lt;/a&gt;; in the United Kingdom it is often taken to mean all levels of government considered together.  For example, the United Kingdom currently regards itself as made up of four countries (for example &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/uk_countries.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;) in one nation, which is not how other places see themselves.  It is all a matter of local use, usually driven by political and historical reasons. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other oddities: the Commonwealth of Nations has the Commonwealth of Dominica and the Commonwealth of Australia as members; Australia is a federation made up of states and territories.  Meanwhile the United States includes four commonwealths as if they were states and holds two more as unincorporated territories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T08:30:08.740" />
  <row Id="15036" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15044" CreationDate="2011-03-04T08:37:12.980" Score="4" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always been intrigued by the English use of asterisks to replace vowels in words considered as offensive, and the reasons it seems somewhat language-specific. My (very related) questions on this are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there a name for this process? This is encompassed by &lt;em&gt;bowdlerisation&lt;/em&gt;, but is there a more specific way to refer to it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This works fairly well for short words (f*ck, sh*t, c*nt), but how is it used with longer words, if deemed offensive (I can't think of any long word that would be very offensive, maybe that makes this a non-question)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my native French, words are typically bowlderized with first letter and an ellipsis: &lt;em&gt;“M..., tu es vraiment c...!”&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Sh*t, you're such a dumb-*ss!&lt;/em&gt;). It's a bit dated, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T10:56:34.713" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T10:56:34.713" Title="What name for bowdlerisation with asterisks (e.g., “f*ck”)?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;profanity&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="15037" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15038" CreationDate="2011-03-04T08:59:56.233" Score="1" ViewCount="928" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the latest interview of Charlie Sheen in the NBC’s ‘The Good Morning America,’ Sheen said that he was tired of pretending he’s not a total bitchin rock star from Mars. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I guess he is saying he is special, I can’t process this line with my brain as he says. Is ‘Tired of pretending like not --’ gramatically right? &#xA;Can somebody parse this line for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, can I use the word, ‘bitchin’, quite casually in day-to-day conversation, and also in writing, if it’s not formal? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The part in question in the interview reads:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Clearly, Sheen thinks quite highly of himself. ‘Come on, bro, I won Best Picture at 20. Wasn't even trying. Wasn't even warm,’ he bragged to NBC. He also said, ‘I'm tired of pretending like I'm not special. I'm tired of pretending like I'm not a total bitchin' rock star from Mars. ... You can't process me with a normal brain.’&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T01:59:11.353" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T00:15:00.690" Title="What does ‘Tired of pretending like not a total bitchin' rock star from Mars’ mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15037" CreationDate="2011-03-04T09:10:50.720" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“he's tired of pretending he's not” = “he now wants to claim he is”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“bitchin” = “excellent” (informal; you can use it in day-to-day talk with friends)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“a total bitchin rock star” = “an utterly extraordinary performer of rock 'n' roll”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“from Mars” = “so good he surely is from another planet”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the man he apparently proud of his astounding accomplishments and would like (at long last) some recognition of it. All in all, I see it as a cry for empathy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T09:42:18.010" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T09:42:18.010" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15039" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15041" CreationDate="2011-03-04T09:34:01.853" Score="8" ViewCount="603" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never understood this. Why is the proper usage &quot;uninstall&quot;? You can't actually &quot;unin&quot; something at all and this isn't that case with most (all?) other use cases. Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You make someone sane, but you don't uninsane them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You make something accessible but never uninaccessible something.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You can make something adequate but never uninadequate something.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5716" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T16:43:24.970" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T22:33:38.397" Title="Isn't the word &quot;uninstall&quot; wrong?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prefixes&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15039" CreationDate="2011-03-04T09:39:40.990" Score="49" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Insane&lt;/em&gt; is the opposite of &lt;em&gt;sane&lt;/em&gt;, from Latin &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt; “not” and &lt;em&gt;sanus&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Inaccessible&lt;/em&gt; is the opposite of &lt;em&gt;accessible&lt;/em&gt;, from Latin &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt; “not” and &lt;em&gt;accessibilis&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Inadequate&lt;/em&gt; is the opposite of &lt;em&gt;adequate&lt;/em&gt;, from &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;adequate&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Install&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; the opposite of &lt;em&gt;stall&lt;/em&gt;. It comes from Latin &lt;em&gt;installare&lt;/em&gt;, from &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt; in the meaning “in” (not “not”) and &lt;em&gt;stallum&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Uninstall&lt;/em&gt; is not a double negative. &lt;em&gt;Install&lt;/em&gt; simply happens to begin with an &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt;, much like &lt;em&gt;insert&lt;/em&gt; (not the opposite of &lt;em&gt;sert&lt;/em&gt;), &lt;em&gt;invert&lt;/em&gt; (not the opposite of &lt;em&gt;vert&lt;/em&gt;), &lt;em&gt;invent&lt;/em&gt; (not the opposite of &lt;em&gt;vent&lt;/em&gt;), &lt;em&gt;indicate&lt;/em&gt; (not the opposite of &lt;em&gt;dicate&lt;/em&gt;), &lt;em&gt;include&lt;/em&gt; (not the opposite of &lt;em&gt;clude&lt;/em&gt;), etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; here are a few more words beginning with &lt;em&gt;unin-&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;from &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt;: unintentional, unindexed, uninclined, uninfected, uninquiring, uninjected, uninitiate, uninformative, unincluded, unindent, unintuitive, uninvitingly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;from &lt;em&gt;inter-&lt;/em&gt;: uninteresting, unintelligent, unintelligible, uninterpretable, uninterpolated...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Courtesy of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Index%3aEnglish/u&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T10:03:25.410" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T10:03:25.410" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15037" CreationDate="2011-03-04T09:44:04.727" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Total bitchin' means really fantastically amazing&lt;br&gt;&#xA;rockstar in this case would mean he feels like he deserves to be treated like a rockstar &#xA;From Mars is even more fantastic, and probably means that he is difficult to understand too&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T09:44:04.727" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15036" CreationDate="2011-03-04T10:39:06.860" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bowdlerization is clearly much broader in scope, as it refers to the general editing of any text to remove potentially offensive content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The substitution of letters in profanities with asterisks or other characters was a practical solution for U.S. and U.K. publishers in the 20th century, devised to avoid the possibility of prosecution for the violation of obscenity laws. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the U.S., 7 words were considered profane and their use forbidden in radio, television and most sorts of printed media. Those were: shit, fuck, piss, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, tits. These words are still not used on the major American television networks or in some publications (national newspapers such as the &quot;New York Times&quot;, etc.). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One term invented in 1980 to describe textual symbols meant to represent profanities is &quot;grawlix/grawlixes&quot;. Other suggestions for the same thing are &quot;obscenicons&quot; or &quot;maledicta&quot;. These refer to e.g. old comic strips in which the dialog bubbles of characters sometime contain expressions like &quot;@#*!%!&quot;, meant to represent a profanity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2457&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2457&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5719" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T10:39:06.860" />
  <row Id="15045" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15055" CreationDate="2011-03-04T10:47:24.673" Score="2" ViewCount="208" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you read &quot;crab&quot;, do you think of &quot;crap&quot;?&#xA;Is it usual to pronounce wrongly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5572" LastEditorUserId="4279" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T11:58:28.367" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T16:14:50.910" Title="Is it common for English people to say &quot;crap&quot; instead of &quot;crab&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15046" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15048" CreationDate="2011-03-04T10:52:53.967" Score="2" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many issues can be blamed for this ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T11:00:30.853" Title="Can an issue be blamed for something?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="15047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15045" CreationDate="2011-03-04T10:58:56.243" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. They are two different words. If someone is &lt;em&gt;saying&lt;/em&gt; crap when they mean &lt;em&gt;crab&lt;/em&gt;, either their accent still needs a lot of work or else they really don't like the meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T10:58:56.243" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15046" CreationDate="2011-03-04T11:00:30.853" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can. Some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Identity issues can be blamed for adolescent depression…&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mechanical stability issues were blamed for the collapse of the structure…&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T11:00:30.853" />
  <row Id="15049" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15050" CreationDate="2011-03-04T11:01:45.227" Score="2" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;PM who have approved &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the phrase correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it should be &quot;PM who has approved&quot; (PM: Project Manager). Am I wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1109" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T13:33:03.657" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T13:33:03.657" Title="Is the phrase &quot;PM who have approved&quot; correct?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15049" CreationDate="2011-03-04T11:07:41.300" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both might be ok depending on what PM means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Prime Minister who has approved&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Project Managers who have approved&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T11:07:41.300" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15045" CreationDate="2011-03-04T11:08:07.877" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect the two words have significantly different collocational profiles, so it seems unlikely that they would be mistaken for one another even during speech, although one could imagine a situation on a dock on the Chesapeake Bay, where a deck-hand on a fishing vessel saying &quot;I have to take a crab&quot; might be misunderstood as meaning &quot;I have to take a crap&quot;, or vice-versa. In American English at least it seems that in addition to devoicing, vowel length might also distinguish the pronunciation of &quot;crab&quot; from that of &quot;crap&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5719" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T11:08:07.877" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15045" CreationDate="2011-03-04T11:19:06.107" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you are thinking that these two words (crab and crap) are same , but it's not like that. Crab and crap both are different words. Go to the links , you'll get the things clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://thinkexist.com/dictionary/meaning/crab/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Crab&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/crap&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Crap&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5366" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T11:19:06.107" />
  <row Id="15053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15039" CreationDate="2011-03-04T11:32:53.480" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What Reg says. I'd like to add that you are not the only one who is reluctant to use &quot;uninstall&quot; for one reason or another, as I have heard similar complaints elsewere. I think there are two other things that add to this dislike:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Un&quot; followed by &quot;in&quot; sounds almost like a duplicate syllable, which generally doesn't sound good.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you were to negate a prefixed verb in Latin or needed a verb with opposite meaning, you would usually not simply add another prefix, but rather replace the old suffix, as in &lt;em&gt;increase–decrease&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;inhale–exhale&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;convert–revert&lt;/em&gt;, etc. Using &lt;em&gt;unin-&lt;/em&gt; clearly marks the word as a hybrid construction. Note that hybrid constructions go further than mere Anglicising: instead of only adjusting the sound of the foreign word a bit and inflecting it, as in Anglicisation, whole new dictionary articles are being created. Of course we use hybrid constructions all the time, and a great many now feel completely natural; but a newfangled odour might still cling to some newly formed ones, though it remains unclear why some are immediately acceptable while others are not (like &lt;em&gt;unrevertableness&lt;/em&gt;). I think prefixes are generally harder to swallow than suffixes, like &lt;em&gt;-able&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Probably owing in part to these considerations, alternatives have been proposed, like &lt;em&gt;deinstall&lt;/em&gt; and simply &lt;em&gt;remove&lt;/em&gt;, which I think are both acceptable, and even &lt;em&gt;exstall&lt;/em&gt;, which nobody would understand. While I have some sympathy with those who resist new words, there comes a time when we need to give up; I think that time has come for &lt;em&gt;uninstall&lt;/em&gt;. It is still not my favourite word of all times, but I won't stop using it now. At least it is not gaudy, like many new words from the advertising business.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T11:52:55.663" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T11:52:55.663" />
  <row Id="15054" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15056" CreationDate="2011-03-04T11:34:00.640" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2977/how-to-connect-a-word-and-a-phrase-with-a-dash&quot;&gt;How to connect a word and a phrase with a dash?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hello, I'm a non-native English speaker and I'm writing a scientific paper about biometric identification based on heart sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this context, is the following phrase correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Comparison of recent articles on heart sounds-based biometrics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am using it as a caption for a table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4533" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T13:30:49.103" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T13:30:49.103" ClosedDate="2011-03-06T15:12:49.230" Title="Multiple compound words" Tags="&lt;hyphen&gt;&lt;compounds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="15055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15045" CreationDate="2011-03-04T11:48:09.067" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Native speakers' brains are already on the right path. We won't mess it up in a conversation between native English speakers. When a native speaker hears, &quot;What's your name? Mine ...&quot; we already have &quot;is&quot; in our heads queued up. If we hear anything else, we will be surprised. A non-native speaker may not have this anticipation, and may hear &quot;Minus&quot; instead of &quot;Mine is&quot;. &lt;em&gt;This exact problem happened this morning between my German roommate and me.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Native speakers would almost &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; hear &quot;minus&quot; where the speaker said &quot;mine is&quot;, and likewise we will never confuse &quot;crab&quot; for &quot;crap&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, I make the assumption that the speaker is also a native speaker. Non-native English speakers also have subtle linguistic clumsiness that throws off this anticipation effect. So another time we could mess it up is if the speaker says something that we have to parse word-by-word to understand, throwing off the sense of rhythm and anticipation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T16:14:50.910" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T16:14:50.910" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15054" CreationDate="2011-03-04T11:49:18.957" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct form would require another hyphen:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Comparison of recent articles on&#xA;  heart-sound(s)-based biometrics&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, such long compound adjectives are a bit ugly. Instead you could write this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Comparison of recent articles about&#xA;  biometrics based on heart sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or perhaps this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Comparison of recent articles on&#xA;  heart-sound biometrics&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems clear that these biometrics are based on whatever word you use to specify them, which is why I suspect the word &quot;based&quot; isn't really necessary; or is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T11:55:34.583" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T11:55:34.583" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15057" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-04T12:05:01.983" Score="4" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;pet&quot; has a few different definitions (my own paraphrase):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;n: An animal kept for companionship.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;v: To affectionately caress.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is, which of these usages originated first? Do we refer to companion animals as &quot;pets&quot; because we pet them? Or is the act of &quot;petting&quot; so dubbed because it is what we do to pets?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5723" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T16:30:25.213" Title="Which of these meanings for the word &quot;pet&quot; came first?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;history&gt;&lt;dictionary&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15057" CreationDate="2011-03-04T12:08:53.727" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=pet&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;to the rescue&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;tamed animal,&quot; originally in Scottish and northern England dialect (and exclusively so until mid-18c.), of unknown origin. Sense of &quot;indulged child&quot; (c.1500) is recorded slightly earlier than that of &quot;animal kept as a favorite&quot; (1530s), but the latter may be the primary meaning. [...] The verb is 1620s meaning &quot;treat as a pet;&quot; the sense of &quot;to stroke&quot; is first found 1818.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the noun came first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T12:08:53.727" />
  <row Id="15059" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15068" CreationDate="2011-03-04T12:20:22.190" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are they the same? What do they mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was one of the most experienced. All of us were judged by our ability to &lt;strong&gt;rake muck&lt;/strong&gt;. The head &lt;strong&gt;muckraker&lt;/strong&gt; was Frederica Jansz...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T01:55:02.233" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T01:55:02.233" Title="What do &quot;muckraker&quot; and &quot;rake muck&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrasal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15060" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-04T12:25:36.007" Score="5" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does it strictly refer to taking someone's virginity, or does it express sexual intercourse in general? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5726" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T13:21:36.537" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T13:21:36.537" Title="What does &quot;to pick someone's cherry&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;vulgar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15060" CreationDate="2011-03-04T12:32:27.017" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;cherry&lt;/strong&gt; (noun) 4. [in sing.] [vulgar, slang] the hymen, as representing a woman's virginity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T12:32:27.017" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15059" CreationDate="2011-03-04T12:32:32.803" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;See definition in this &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muckraker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;strong&gt;Muckraker&lt;/strong&gt; is the noun (more widely used), &lt;strong&gt;rake muck&lt;/strong&gt; the corresponding verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T12:32:32.803" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15060" CreationDate="2011-03-04T12:32:57.523" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nobody &quot;picks&quot; anybody's cherry. Cherries are &quot;popped&quot; and &lt;em&gt;cherry&lt;/em&gt; in this case refers to hymen. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &quot;pop one's cherry&quot; in a non-sexual way is to do a thing for the first time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_picking_%28fallacy%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cherry-picking&lt;/a&gt; is something else altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T12:32:57.523" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14993" CreationDate="2011-03-04T12:45:52.030" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word is self-refuting (or self-defeating).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In his Introduction to Logic, Harry Gensler defines a self-refuting statement as “[A] statement that makes negative claims so sweeping that it ends up denying itself.” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, Truth does not exist (Is that a true statement?);&#xA;Nothing is absolute (Is that absolutely true?); &quot;I cannot speak a word of English”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a difference between self-contradiction and self-refutation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are you asleep? yes (self-refutation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sleeping and not sleeping. (self contradiction) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5725" LastEditorUserId="5725" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T13:27:41.873" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T13:27:41.873" />
  <row Id="15065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14935" CreationDate="2011-03-04T13:01:12.393" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0267080#m_en_gb0267080&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Enough&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is being used as a pronoun in &quot;I've had enough!&quot; Like other &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indefinite_pronoun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;indefinite pronouns&lt;/a&gt; of this kind (&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0640150#m_en_gb0640150&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;plenty&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0566340#m_en_gb0566340&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;nothing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, etc.), it is usually only used in the singular. (&quot;Enough is enough.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only use of &lt;em&gt;enoughs&lt;/em&gt; that I could find is in &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.in/books?id=KqcOAAAAQAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA411&amp;amp;lpg=PA411&amp;amp;dq=%22all+the+enoughs%22&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=h74zqEJTd4&amp;amp;sig=4G1qtYg-23PF7p6TUBA6Cul0DPs&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=DNpwTcC_HIrmrAe6yYjSCg&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=6&amp;amp;ved=0CD8Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22all%20the%20enoughs%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this book&lt;/a&gt;. Even here, it is used within quotation marks to show its unusual usage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lerner thinks that this won't work; the connections are too tenuous as all the &quot;enoughs&quot; show.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; cites 5 instances of &lt;em&gt;enoughs&lt;/em&gt; being used. Apart from errors like &quot;Enoughs enough&quot;, it has a couple that might work:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Good enoughs, 40%. Divorce caused tumult but didn't make lasting impression, good or bad... -- &lt;em&gt;USA Today&lt;/em&gt; (Presumably, this is in explanation to some kind of graph or study.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...if you were nimble enough and canny enough and stubborn enough and enough other enoughs... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Make of that what you will. I'm not sure if this kind of usage qualifies the word's acceptance in Scrabble.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastEditorUserId="2972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T16:04:34.710" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T16:04:34.710" />
  <row Id="15066" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15067" CreationDate="2011-03-04T13:02:10.953" Score="3" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can the verb &quot;to scratch&quot; mean &quot;begin from the beginning&quot; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I say &quot;I scratched&quot; to say &quot;I started from the beginning ?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5728" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T13:38:09.657" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T14:38:35.450" Title="Meaning of &quot;to scratch&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15066" CreationDate="2011-03-04T13:05:02.340" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, to scratch cannot mean “start from the beginning”. This is expressed by “to start from scratch”:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;from scratch:&lt;/strong&gt; from the very beginning, esp. without utilizing or relying on any previous work for assistance: &lt;em&gt;he built his own computer company from scratch&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr/&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, beware! The verb &lt;em&gt;scratch&lt;/em&gt; can also mean &lt;em&gt;to cancel or abandon&lt;/em&gt;, so saying “I scratched the project” would not mean you've started it from nothing, but that you cancelled it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T14:38:35.450" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T14:38:35.450" />
  <row Id="15068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15059" CreationDate="2011-03-04T13:20:22.437" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One who investigates and exposes issues of corruption that often violate widely held values.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5731" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T13:20:22.437" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15039" CreationDate="2011-03-04T13:23:37.003" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's un-install, not unin-stall!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5731" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T19:07:46.323" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T19:07:46.323" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15070" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-04T13:51:24.113" Score="0" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi all, i wanted to learn MS. So i need to learn for GRE exams, can you people specify some online links where i can find many useful tutorials for GRE preparation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5733" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T13:51:24.113" ClosedDate="2011-03-04T13:57:36.797" Title="Links for GRE preparation:)" Tags="&lt;gre&gt;" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15045" CreationDate="2011-03-04T14:05:31.757" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Voiced and unvoiced stop consonants at the ends of words can be hard to distinguish.  Particularly at a break in the sentence or immediately before another stop consonant there really isn't much to voice, so the difference between 'p' and 'b' (and 't' and 'd', and 'k' and 'g') can be quite slight.  Colin Fine points out that the preceding vowel tends to be lengthened before a final stop consonant, and thinking about it I have an unproven suspicion that it happens for stressed syllables too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @tenfour pointed out this doesn't matter so much for native speakers.  We know without having to think about it what the next words plausibly could be in a spoken sentence, both from syntax and semantic information.  We will frequently 'correct' what was actually said to fit our expectations.  This can go as far as inserting entire omitted words because we know they must have been there.  We have to be paying attention to notice that a mistake actually occurred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I saw an entertaining experiment that demonstrated this effect in a TV documentary some years ago.  One person was given a piece of text to recite, with secret instructions to get a word wrong.  A second had to listen to what was being said and repeat it a second or so later -- English to English simultaneous translation, if you like!  The repeater passed on the right word, without realising that there had been any error.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastEditorUserId="1579" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T14:37:12.353" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T14:37:12.353" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15072" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-04T14:09:23.797" Score="4" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am writing an academic thesis related to a specific topic (the actual topic is irrelevant, so let's just call it XXX). The thesis basically consists of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pointing out a couple of problems in existing literature related to XXX,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;methodology that according to my research can be used to lessen these problems, and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;some more or less random extensions to the topics covered.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My working title for the thesis is &quot;XXX: Pitfalls, Remedies, and Extensions&quot;. I like it in the sense that it reflects the three aspects described above – without referring to &quot;problems&quot; too directly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, what I do not like is my feeling that there are no &quot;remedies&quot; for &quot;pitfalls&quot;, are there? I would assume that remedies exist for illnesses and such, whereas a pitfall you can for instance avoid, or circumvent – but how to express this in such a title?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, replacements for the word &quot;pitfalls&quot; can be suggested, even though in my opinion it fits in rather nicely regarding the specific issues that the thesis happens to address. Finally, reworking the whole title can be suggested as well, of course – I've already considered just &quot;XXX&quot;, but I feel that it is not a very good match regarding the actual contents of the thesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: &quot;XXX&quot; is &quot;Overfitting in Feature Selection&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1989" LastEditorUserId="1989" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T14:36:36.987" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T15:20:43.330" Title="What is a &quot;remedy&quot; for a &quot;pitfall&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15072" CreationDate="2011-03-04T14:14:12.310" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try &quot;precautions,&quot; as it gives you both the desired sense and some snazzy alliteration. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T14:14:12.310" />
  <row Id="15074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14981" CreationDate="2011-03-04T14:21:45.990" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Logically it seems that it is an imperative statement. But if you do a google search for &quot;guess what&quot; or a COCA search for &quot;guess what&quot; you'll see that it is quite frequently written as a question. In addition to the two cases mentioned by Hellion it is also used in other ways, such as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://paidcontent.org/article/419-guess-what-netflix-is-now-primarily-a-digital-video-company/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Guess What: Netflix Is Now Primarily A Digital Video Company&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/7750611/Google-Guess-what-Apple-weve-discovered-the-internet.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google: Guess what, Apple, we've discovered the internet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In these examples it's neither an imperative nor a question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T14:21:45.990" />
  <row Id="15075" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15083" CreationDate="2011-03-04T14:32:04.620" Score="4" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is some type of mushroom.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is some kind of mushroom.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are different types of books&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are different kinds of books&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that there are all valid sentences but somehow I have the impression that a type is a bigger group than a kind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2403" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T15:14:45.933" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T15:14:45.933" Title="What's the difference between &quot;Kind&quot; and &quot;Type&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="15076" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15095" CreationDate="2011-03-04T14:33:17.207" Score="5" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;p&gt;What term expresses an increase of troops or other military units in a standoff between two armies, when no actual fighting has yet occurred?  Specifically, I'm looking for something in the context of a naval battle.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For land-based tactics, I've heard &lt;em&gt;massing of troops&lt;/em&gt;, but what is a better term for a conflict at sea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; Ideally, I'm looking for a verb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The warships were &lt;em&gt;VERB&lt;/em&gt;-ing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastEditorUserId="4744" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T14:45:52.207" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T16:44:06.597" Title="Term for increasing military presence at sea" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15077" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-04T14:34:26.570" Score="2" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across the term &quot;sex film actress&quot; in the Op-Ed column &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/opinion/04holmes.html?_r=1&amp;amp;ref=opinion&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Disposable Woman&lt;/a&gt;. I could guess what the phrase meant, as &quot;sex worker&quot; is a new term for &quot;prostitute&quot;, and therefore &quot;sex film actress&quot; would be the equivalent for &quot;porn star&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I checked if this term had been used before, and there were a smattering of uses, but it looked so infrequent it seemed as if the term was coined each time. Is there a name for such a phenomenon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T21:39:15.440" Title="Is there a name for a word or term that is persistently re-coined?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10623" CreationDate="2011-03-04T14:38:14.990" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect it's yet another cliche that people don't know what it actually means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Avoid it like the plague.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T14:38:14.990" />
  <row Id="15079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15076" CreationDate="2011-03-04T14:41:09.293" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure, but possibly a military build-up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T14:41:09.293" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15080" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16235" CreationDate="2011-03-04T14:42:44.547" Score="3" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The establishment of &lt;strong&gt;trust&lt;/strong&gt; is quite difficult but for &lt;strong&gt;cartel&lt;/strong&gt; it is comparatively easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;strong&gt;trust&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;cartel&lt;/strong&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the word &quot;&lt;strong&gt;oligopoly&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; have a different meaning in comparison with both of the words above?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T14:54:45.957" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T23:22:25.140" Title="&quot;Trust&quot; vs. &quot;Cartel&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;economics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15081" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15086" CreationDate="2011-03-04T14:42:57.870" Score="5" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;I sometimes see cases where &quot;off&quot; is followed by an &quot;of&quot;, and it sounds awkward to me. For example, I would prefer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This story is based on a true story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;upon&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This story is based &lt;strong&gt;off of&lt;/strong&gt; a true&#xA;  story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do native speakers think/prefer? Should I avoid that kind of usages?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T23:39:36.937" Title="&quot;Based on&quot; instead of &quot;based off of&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15075" CreationDate="2011-03-04T14:45:10.507" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid it's rather nebulous and very context dependent.  Both can be very general or very specific depending on what you're talking about.  For this kind (or type) of general purpose use you can regard them as equivalent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T14:45:10.507" />
  <row Id="15083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15075" CreationDate="2011-03-04T14:53:52.527" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short, type is used to differentiate one group from the rest and kind is used to link an individual to a group. They are sometimes interchangeable, but not always.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Type&lt;/strong&gt; refers to clearly distinguishing and essential characteristics or traits shared by members of a group. Its root meaning is &quot;impression.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;O+ is the most common blood &lt;strong&gt;type&lt;/strong&gt; in the United States of America.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To mankind in general Macbeth and Lady Macbeth stand out as the supreme &lt;strong&gt;type&lt;/strong&gt; of all that a host and hostess should not be - Max Beerbohm.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kind&lt;/strong&gt;, on the other hand, usually refers to a group trait that is shared innately by the members (see &quot;mankind&quot; above). Its root meaning is &quot;race&quot; or &quot;offspring.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The true test of civilization is, not the census, nor the size of the cities, nor the crops, but the &lt;strong&gt;kind&lt;/strong&gt; of man that the country turns out - Ralph Waldo Emerson.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The rule which forbids ending a sentence with a preposition is the &lt;strong&gt;kind&lt;/strong&gt; of nonsense up with which I will not put&quot; - Winston Churchill.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interchangeable Use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She's not that &lt;strong&gt;kind/type&lt;/strong&gt; of person. She is not nasty. She's very nice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See examples below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;She's not my type&lt;/strong&gt;. (=&lt;em&gt;I'm attracted to a different kind of girl&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;She's not your kind.&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;em&gt;=She's a fundamentally different sort of person&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_the_words_%27type%27_and_%27kind%27&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link1&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=207201&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;link2&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T14:59:08.137" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T14:59:08.137" />
  <row Id="15084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15076" CreationDate="2011-03-04T14:54:13.757" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I second the suggestion of &quot;naval buildup&quot;, but for the specific example you give &quot;massing&quot; (as you first suggested) or &quot;gathering&quot; is the best fit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The warships were massing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T14:54:13.757" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="15085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15081" CreationDate="2011-03-04T14:55:19.983" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Based on&lt;/em&gt; is the regular combination according to convention. &lt;em&gt;Based off of&lt;/em&gt; is rather informal but also frequent. In academic papers I'd stick to &lt;em&gt;based on&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T14:55:19.983" />
  <row Id="15086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15081" CreationDate="2011-03-04T14:56:01.403" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The former is certainly preferable in UK English, formal or otherwise, whereas the latter is a style usually heard in conversational American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="653" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T14:56:01.403" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15072" CreationDate="2011-03-04T15:20:43.330" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Workarounds&lt;/em&gt; would be one possibility, although it might be too technical, and it might imply that the solution is only temporary while waiting for a better one. Alternatively &lt;em&gt;Solutions&lt;/em&gt; might be the word you are searching for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2172" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T15:20:43.330" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15088" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15100" CreationDate="2011-03-04T15:21:55.823" Score="2" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;Take for example the two sentences &quot;Ria was blind&quot; and &quot;Yet she became a lawyer.&quot;&#xA;When we join these 2 sentences using a subordinating conjunction, which is correct and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In spite of Ria being blind, she became a lawyer.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In spite of being blind, Ria became a lawyer.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3961" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T15:46:30.547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T23:12:09.730" Title="Where does the name of the subject go when joining sentences with a conjunction?" Tags="&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15081" CreationDate="2011-03-04T15:23:43.650" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, it's better to avoid wordy ways of stating the same thing.  So in this instance, &quot;based on a true story&quot; is more correct even if it is the same meaning as &quot;based off of a true story.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really the only time when &quot;based off of&quot; is used is when it replaces &quot;serves as a basis for&quot; since &quot;based on&quot; provides essentially all the same meaning except for that.  Though it's more like a guideline than a rule, and if you used one other than the other, most people would likely not even notice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T15:23:43.650" />
  <row Id="15090" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-04T15:38:58.433" Score="3" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apparently both words ('Empathetic' and 'Empathic') mean the same thing, yet I see one person refer to the specific type of writing as 'empathetic writing', while another 'empathic writing'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Who's correct and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T18:24:22.510" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:24:22.510" Title="Difference Between &quot;Empathetic&quot; and &quot;Empathic&quot;?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15076" CreationDate="2011-03-04T15:42:58.680" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A nautical term doesn't come to mind, though I would use &quot;amass&quot; as opposed to &quot;mass&quot; which technically implies a grouping of things or persons, usually unintelligibly.  In other words, sheep mass; armies amass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T15:42:58.680" />
  <row Id="15092" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15114" CreationDate="2011-03-04T15:47:57.447" Score="1" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;As in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many factors are to blame for this disaster, &lt;strong&gt;such as&lt;/strong&gt;: «bulleted list»&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T17:24:43.923" Title="Synonym for &quot;such as&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15092" CreationDate="2011-03-04T15:53:36.500" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;, for example:&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;, like:&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;, including:&quot; &lt;em&gt;[added in response to your comment]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or just &quot;:&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastEditorUserId="4929" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T16:01:43.293" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T16:01:43.293" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15090" CreationDate="2011-03-04T15:54:58.160" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An empath is a person who reads the emotions of those in the vicinity, so logically empathic implies a connection to an empath.  Empathetic is more like the tendency of someone to care for another in general.  So where empathic seems to pertain to a person's ability to perceive emotion, empathetic is more like how others tend to sympathize with a person or situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if you're referring to a writing, I would use &quot;empathetic&quot; unless you want to imply that it's something for which you personally feel emotion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T16:05:17.067" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T16:05:17.067" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15076" CreationDate="2011-03-04T16:02:16.730" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the context of a naval buildup, some phrases that are frequently used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;warships &lt;em&gt;converged&lt;/em&gt; on&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;warships &lt;em&gt;deployed&lt;/em&gt; to&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;The Navy &lt;em&gt;marshaled&lt;/em&gt; warships in the theater&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;naval forces were &lt;em&gt;reinforced&lt;/em&gt; by two additional battleships&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5644" LastEditorUserId="5644" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T16:18:11.113" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T16:18:11.113" />
  <row Id="15096" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15045" CreationDate="2011-03-04T16:08:17.687" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't say I find it particularly common, but Dutch speakers of English might well pronounce them the same way due to their native language's devoicing of the final consonant (in a similar way that a Dutch speaker may have problems pronouncing a difference between beat and bead, and pod and pot.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4089" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T16:08:17.687" />
  <row Id="15097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15080" CreationDate="2011-03-04T16:21:21.920" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cartel and trust can both mean the same thing: a group of companies or organisations who (illegally) collude to fix prices/eliminate competition/etc. I hint at illegality, because in my country this behaviour would be illegal - but perhaps it isn't in other countries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is a difference between the two, it might be that technically a trust would be run by a board of trustees (&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/trust&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;See 10a&lt;/a&gt;), whereas there is no specific organisational structure assumed with a cartel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, cartel is most commonly used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oligopoly is different; it simply means that there are a small number of organisations dominating the market or industry - there is no inference that they are colluding or co-operating in any particular way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T16:21:21.920" />
  <row Id="15098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15077" CreationDate="2011-03-04T16:26:42.803" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there's currently a word for it, but you could probably get away with calling it a &lt;em&gt;re-neologism&lt;/em&gt;.  (Although in the case of &quot;sex film actress&quot;, the re-phrasing is so pointless even by PC standards that I'd have to label it a &quot;useless euphemism&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T16:26:42.803" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15099" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-04T16:28:17.833" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12580/creating-a-new-word&quot;&gt;Creating a new word&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The rule of thumb used to be that when a word hit the Oxford Dictionary, it was considered to be an accepted word - this, however, seems to have transitioned into a lagging indicator in the last 5 years, primarily because so many new words are being created around the technological advances/services/products which seem to dominate our lives.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When does a word 'officially' become a word - usage, social impact, cultural acceptance, mass media propagation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T17:37:44.150" ClosedDate="2011-03-04T17:54:17.037" Title="When does a word become a 'word'?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15088" CreationDate="2011-03-04T16:29:30.130" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are possible. I agree that the second is more natural, but I would not be surprised to find the first as the opening sentence of a piece of writing, particularly fiction. To me it has a presentational quality, and is foregrounding her blindness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T16:29:30.130" />
  <row Id="15101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15081" CreationDate="2011-03-04T16:36:39.743" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Off of&quot; is used in various forms of English (UK as well as US) where standard dialects have &quot;from&quot; or &quot;off&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I have never heard &quot;based off of&quot;, &quot;based off&quot; or &quot;based from&quot;: in my experience the phrase is only &quot;based on&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T16:36:39.743" />
  <row Id="15102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15076" CreationDate="2011-03-04T16:37:19.880" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Due to an &lt;em&gt;escalation of force&lt;/em&gt;, the warships were &lt;strong&gt;converging&lt;/strong&gt; on the strait of ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T16:44:06.597" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T16:44:06.597" />
  <row Id="15103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15099" CreationDate="2011-03-04T16:43:47.387" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When is an embryo considered to be a baby?  The creation and evolution of a word is determined by the frequency and context of those who use it.  Dictionaries merely 'make it official.'  They don't create words anymore than filling out the paperwork for purchasing a new car  &quot;creates&quot; the car.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T16:43:47.387" />
  <row Id="15104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15099" CreationDate="2011-03-04T16:44:24.400" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no answer, or several. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First of all your &quot;officially&quot; is meaningless: there is no authority who can make this determination. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is clear that there is a continuum from a nonce-word (that somebody made up and used once) to an ordinary word that everybody acknowledges as such. But there are various lines to be drawn within that. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once a &quot;word&quot; has been used several times in print, (and not just quoting each other) it is almost certainly a word. In earlier ages there were plenty of words (for example, profanity) which never or hardly ever got written, because they were not regarded as &quot;proper&quot;, but no sensible description of the language today would exclude them as words). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What of a &quot;word&quot; which is in general use among some particular group (for example, an occupation, or a social clique): is it a word? Probably yes, but some might disagree. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;BTW, the dictionaries, including the OED, tend to react somewhat faster than you're implying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T16:44:24.400" />
  <row Id="15105" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-04T16:44:49.543" Score="5" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which sentence below is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ben received a pay rise.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Ben received a pay raise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2737" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T19:32:09.310" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T19:32:09.310" Title="&quot;Pay rise&quot; vs &quot;pay raise&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;transitive-verbs&gt;&lt;intransitive-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15105" CreationDate="2011-03-04T16:50:52.783" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second is correct.  See &lt;a href=&quot;http://hubpages.com/hub/Grammar_Mishaps__Raise_vs_Rise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for a nice explanation of the difference.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T16:50:52.783" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15107" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-04T16:57:04.417" Score="4" ViewCount="145" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12618/my-another-account-vs-my-other-account&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;My another account&amp;rdquo; vs. &amp;ldquo;my other account&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometime it's vague for me when to use &lt;em&gt;other&lt;/em&gt; vs &lt;em&gt;another&lt;/em&gt;. For example, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You need to buy &lt;em&gt;other&lt;/em&gt; book&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You need to buy &lt;em&gt;another&lt;/em&gt; book.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between them, and when to use &lt;em&gt;other&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;another&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T02:27:50.853" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T22:41:10.693" ClosedDate="2011-03-05T23:21:14.823" Title="What's the difference between &quot;another&quot; and &quot;other&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;determiners&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="15108" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-04T17:04:08.403" Score="1" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11481/framing-a-question&quot;&gt;Framing a question&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let me explain the scenario.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say you have 'n' number of siblings (brothers/sisters) in your family,i.e your parents have n+1 children.A random person wants to know whether you are the 1st child or 2nd child or..so on,&lt;em&gt;without&lt;/em&gt; knowing apriori the value (n+1).Is it possible to frame a question for this?This has puzzled me for long because it is possible in many Indian languages to frame one which would prompt a response like this: &quot;I am the 3rd child of my parents&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note:english.se warns me that &quot;The question you're asking appears subjective and is likely to be closed.&quot;But asking it anyway :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5739" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T17:34:14.907" ClosedDate="2011-03-04T18:09:34.933" Title="How do you frame a question for this situation?" Tags="&lt;questions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15105" CreationDate="2011-03-04T17:06:08.200" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That depends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In American English, a person receives a raise  in salary. In British English it is a rise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/raise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In each region you can even use &lt;em&gt;raise&lt;/em&gt; / &lt;em&gt;rise&lt;/em&gt; without &lt;em&gt;pay&lt;/em&gt; and there is no question about what's increased:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ben received a raise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ben received a rise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T17:06:08.200" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15107" CreationDate="2011-03-04T17:07:44.577" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Another&lt;/em&gt; implies extra or additional with respect to the current amount.  &quot;I'm going back for another sandwich.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Other&lt;/em&gt; is an adjective implying it is different than the object in discussion.  &quot;Pass me my book.  Not that one, the other one.&quot;  It can also be a pronoun referring to things or people:  &quot;Let's wait for the others to arrive.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going back to your example, if I said &quot;You need to buy the &lt;em&gt;other&lt;/em&gt; book,&quot; I'd be implying a mistake has been made, &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; that you should buy an additional book as if I had said &quot;You need to buy &lt;em&gt;another&lt;/em&gt; book.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastEditorUserId="5735" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T17:13:03.593" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T17:13:03.593" />
  <row Id="15111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15105" CreationDate="2011-03-04T17:08:29.277" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hmmm -  just based the general usage of the words in other contexts, I would say &quot;pay rise&quot; denotes some across the board increase that everyone got due to contract negotiations or gov't action.  A &quot;pay raise&quot; would denote that Bill alone got the increase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even so - it's a stretch and I would normally ask for clarification as the meaning is unclear - I'm not sure anyone else would see the difference.  It strikes me as the sort of differentiation that a specialist in accounting or management would make aot the normal guy on the street.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4116" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T17:08:29.277" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15108" CreationDate="2011-03-04T17:21:31.707" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interesting -&#xA;I can think of several ways actually, but they would all be considered somewhat rude or brusk.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where are you in your sibling hiearchy or&#xA;what number child were you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A bit more vauge, but likely to trigger the wanted answer -&#xA;Are you the number 1/youngest/oldest child ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is more a cultural thing - it feels like it demeans either your position or your siblings to reduce them to a number.  Also the anglo-european background tends to go 'First Born' - everyone else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's a neat question actually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4116" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T17:21:31.707" />
  <row Id="15113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15108" CreationDate="2011-03-04T17:22:55.793" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hmm, as a native english speaker, I think that normally you'd ask a question along the lines of &quot;Are you the oldest of your siblings?&quot; or &quot;Are you the middle child?&quot; or &quot;Are you the youngest of your siblings?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if a stranger may not know, the only way to propose a question which would give the intended results would be to guess.  Presumably, you wouldn't simply say &quot;no&quot; without also explaining your position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there are only three children, you can respond with &quot;Yes/No, I am the oldest&quot; &quot;Yes/No, I am the middle child&quot; or &quot;Yes/No, I am the youngest.&quot;  If you have more than two siblings, it begins to get more complicated.  In that case, you'd simply have to say &quot;I am the nth child of my parents.&quot;  Technically, you can say that even when you have one sibling, though it sounds terrible and it's usually avoided if possible for this reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T17:22:55.793" />
  <row Id="15114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15092" CreationDate="2011-03-04T17:24:43.923" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few possible options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Many factors are to blame for this disaster, &lt;strong&gt;including[, but not limited to*, the following]:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Many factors are to blame for this disaster, &lt;strong&gt;some of which are:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Many factors are to blame for this disaster. &lt;strong&gt;These include&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Many factors are to blame for this disaster, &lt;strong&gt;e.g.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  &lt;hr&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;em&gt;but not limited to&lt;/em&gt; may be considered superfluous, as &lt;em&gt;including&lt;/em&gt; does not indicate a complete list of the factors.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T17:24:43.923" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15108" CreationDate="2011-03-04T17:34:14.907" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no concise way that I can think of to ask this in English without presupposing a position, such as &quot;Are you the oldest child?&quot;  But you could ask something like &quot;in what position of the birth order of your siblings are you?&quot; (Although you may very well have to follow that up with &quot;first-born, second child, ...?&quot; in order to further clarify the question.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T17:34:14.907" />
  <row Id="15116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15099" CreationDate="2011-03-04T17:37:44.150" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Despite what many people seem to think, there is no such thing as the English Language Police Force. :-) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No official body exists to decide whether or not a word is &quot;officially&quot; a word. A good rule of thumb would be &quot;it's a word when you can use it without worrying whether or not your audience will understand you. It isn't hard and fast for all situations, but it works most of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T17:37:44.150" />
  <row Id="15117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15080" CreationDate="2011-03-04T17:45:21.717" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A trust was a particular kind of oligopoly used in early 20th century America to prevent competition. Technically, it is a cartel run by a board of trustees not necessarily as a conspiracy to prevent competition. The word gained its connotations of illegality after the US anti-trust laws targeted trusts and defined them as &quot;a conspiracy in restraint of trade.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a completely irrelevant (and irreverent) aside, many libertarians find these laws slightly amusing since they define the federal government itself the same way. ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T17:45:21.717" />
  <row Id="15118" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-04T17:46:32.913" Score="0" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8543/what-is-it-called-when-an-interjection-is-inserted-inside-another-word&quot;&gt;What is it called when an interjection is inserted inside another word?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have &quot;broken&quot; words, e.g. fan-bloody-tastic, etc. What are these expressions called?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5564" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T17:46:32.913" ClosedDate="2011-03-04T18:01:02.523" Title="What are &quot;broken&quot; words called?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="15119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15107" CreationDate="2011-03-04T17:53:14.650" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English can use definite and indefinite articles before &lt;em&gt;other thing&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;other&lt;/em&gt; used as a noun) in the same way it uses them before nouns in general; by contrast, Spanish, for example, does not use an indefinite article before &lt;em&gt;otra cosa&lt;/em&gt;.  But instead of writing &lt;em&gt;an other thing&lt;/em&gt;, English writes &lt;em&gt;another thing&lt;/em&gt;, losing a space.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it is &quot;You need to buy another book&quot; in the same way it is &quot;You need to buy a red book&quot; developing from &quot;You need to buy a book&quot;, but &quot;You need to read my other book&quot; coming from &quot;You need to read my book&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can break &lt;em&gt;another&lt;/em&gt; apart as in &quot;I'm not a partner or a bit-on-the-side, I'm a significant other&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T17:53:14.650" />
  <row Id="15120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13915" CreationDate="2011-03-04T18:23:47.217" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lacing - a way of joining two pieces of leather with thin strips&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;saddle-stitch - a specific type of stitch used when both sides of the seam is exposed, like the edges of a saddle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;skiving - thinning the leter at the edges to avoid a double layer at a seam&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;tooling - using a variety of methods/tools to impress designs into a piece of leather for decoration (much like copper tooling)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oh, there was a Inuit one for softening the leather by having old women chew it - (I'm not being sexist or agest - the word is that specific ...) but I forget it - any Inuit leather worker would probably know it though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4116" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T18:23:47.217" />
  <row Id="15121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13915" CreationDate="2011-03-04T18:27:02.470" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No one has said cobbler -&#xA;A shoe maker - most shoes are leather ??  Hmmm might not be specific, a dutch shoemaker could work in wood I guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4116" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T18:27:02.470" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15122" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15124" CreationDate="2011-03-04T18:37:31.797" Score="1" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen a lot of forms that ask for the name (first name, middle name, last name) and then &lt;strong&gt;initials&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does anyone want to ask for initials? Isn't initials the first letters of the name?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, &lt;code&gt;name = john doe =&amp;gt; initials = J D&lt;/code&gt;. Isn't this always true?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="296" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T19:04:59.680" Title="Why do most of the forms ask for initials?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="15123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15122" CreationDate="2011-03-04T18:42:44.010" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The initials can be more complex.  My friend Patrick John O'Neill uses the initial &quot;PJO'N&quot;, for example - when the software isn't so stupid as not to let him; then he uses &quot;PJON&quot;.  Also, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore might use the initials APWBD.  Also, some people do not have middle names (for example, me).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastEditorUserId="2386" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T18:48:02.503" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T18:48:02.503" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15122" CreationDate="2011-03-04T19:04:59.680" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not 100% certain what you're asking, but I can think of a few possibilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As Kosmonaut commented, on most forms, an initials field is asking for a middle initial. If the form designer was sane, the field will appear &lt;em&gt;between&lt;/em&gt; the first and last name fields, but you never know.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The field could be asking for degrees and other initialisms that people put after their names &amp;ndash; &quot;John Henry Doe, OD, FAAO&quot;, &quot;Lucy Smith, CBE&quot;, etc. If the field appears after the first &amp;amp; last names, and especially if there's a separate field already for a middle name or initial, then this would be the most logical explanation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As a remote possibility, the field could be asking for a title - Mr., Mrs., Ms., etc. Like the middle initial field, though, it would be bad design to have this &lt;em&gt;after&lt;/em&gt; the name fields.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If it's a long form, there could be places where you need to &quot;initial&quot; (give a quick sign-off for) some important clauses. I haven't encountered this with computerized forms, but it's standard practice with long contracts such as for buying a house.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T19:04:59.680" />
  <row Id="15125" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-04T19:09:56.360" Score="5" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read a paper today that kept using &quot;multistrata&quot; to describe an object with multiple layers.  For example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I love multistrata cakes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sounds wrong to my ear, I think &quot;multistratum&quot; sounds better, even though the plural of stratum is strata.  Certainly &quot;multilayer cakes&quot; sounds better than &quot;multilayers cakes&quot;, which is the analogue to &quot;multistratum&quot; and &quot;multistrata&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there definitive rules for forming adjectives from Latin nouns?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5747" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T22:43:52.003" Title="Rules for forming adjectives from Latin nouns" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;latin&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15126" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15141" CreationDate="2011-03-04T19:23:31.013" Score="3" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Space&lt;/strong&gt;: Place, having more or less extension; room.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Room&lt;/strong&gt;: Unobstructed space; space which may be occupied by or devoted to any object (…)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (from Webster's)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general guiding his troops wants &lt;em&gt;space&lt;/em&gt; to manoeuvre, but most people want &lt;em&gt;room&lt;/em&gt;, breathing &lt;em&gt;room&lt;/em&gt;. There's no &lt;em&gt;space&lt;/em&gt; for a new file on my hard disk, but no &lt;em&gt;room&lt;/em&gt; for a new book on my shelves. Maybe there's &lt;em&gt;room&lt;/em&gt; for argument here. (Are my examples idiomatic? I am not a native English speaker.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What guides the choice between &lt;em&gt;room&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;space&lt;/em&gt; in this sense? Are there other words to consider (such as &lt;em&gt;place&lt;/em&gt;, which I would have thought to be a Gallicism)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1165" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T20:43:03.440" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T20:43:03.440" Title="&quot;Room&quot; versus &quot;space&quot; (in the sense of unoccupied volume)" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15127" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-04T19:23:53.883" Score="2" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any other word or phrase that could be used instead of &quot;after all&quot; in a case where it comes at the end of a sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Running away was in his nature, after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If you can think of a better example sentence, please let me know.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="427" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T01:53:01.470" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T15:53:21.560" Title="Synonym for a specific usage of &quot;after all&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="15128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15127" CreationDate="2011-03-04T19:26:08.513" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could use &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;at the end of the day&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, or &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;ultimately&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T19:26:08.513" />
  <row Id="15129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11233" CreationDate="2011-03-04T19:28:41.913" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Go X!&quot; stands mainly for encouragement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You go girl!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is another common usage &lt;a href=&quot;http://onlineslangdictionary.com/definition+of/you+go+girl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;. It probably means &quot;go out and do something.&quot; Other uses I have seen is &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She is a typical New-York-go-getter type of girl.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5507" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T19:28:41.913" />
  <row Id="15130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15126" CreationDate="2011-03-04T19:38:43.483" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In most of your examples, you could exchange &lt;em&gt;space&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;room&lt;/em&gt; without a change of meaning and without sounding notably unidiomatic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The general wants &lt;em&gt;room&lt;/em&gt; to manoeuvre.&#xA;  There's no &lt;em&gt;room&lt;/em&gt; for a new file on my hard disk.&#xA;  There's no &lt;em&gt;space&lt;/em&gt; on my shelves for a new book.&#xA;  Maybe there's &lt;em&gt;space&lt;/em&gt; for argument here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&quot;space for argument&quot; is marginal but not totally wrong to my ear.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only exception is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[?] Most people want breathing &lt;em&gt;space&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is because &quot;breathing room&quot; is a fixed idiom, and you can't freely replace &quot;room&quot; with a synonym without damaging the idiom. There are probably other idioms that don't come to mind at the moment, but outside of specific idiomatic expressions, you can assume that &quot;space&quot; and &quot;room&quot; are interchangeable synonyms when used as above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the more literal uses of these words are clearly &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; interchangeable, such as when &quot;room&quot; refers to a physical enclosure with four walls, or when &quot;space&quot; refers to the region beyond the Earth's atmosphere or ASCII character &lt;code&gt;0x20&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T19:38:43.483" />
  <row Id="15131" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-04T19:39:15.477" Score="0" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicates:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/9752/question-about-capitalization-for-a-bullet-list&quot;&gt;Question about Capitalization for a Bullet List&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5241/periods-for-bullet-point-items&quot;&gt;Periods for bullet point items&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should each item be in uppercase or not? I've seen both forms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yada, yada, yada, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;standardized bananas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Standardized bananas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if each bulleted item is a complete sentence, should it be punctuated? And even if it isn't, should it have a comma?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T19:47:57.430" ClosedDate="2011-03-05T08:43:11.447" Title="How to write a bulleted list?" Tags="&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15131" CreationDate="2011-03-04T19:44:53.340" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This depends on your style guide. For formal writing, or when every item in a bulleted list is its own sentence, you should always capitalize the first letter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For example, my first point is a sentence of its own.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;My second point is, as well.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you're listing things that aren't sentences of their own, you can use lower-case, as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lists that begin in the middle of a sentence&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;standalone items without a grammatical relationship between them&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, specific style guides might always want you to capitalize the first letter of bulleted lists.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T19:44:53.340" />
  <row Id="15133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15131" CreationDate="2011-03-04T19:46:02.763" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the items in the list. If you are writing a list of complete sentences, then use regular Capitalization and punctuation. For list of word, they should not be capitalized or punctuated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5748" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T19:46:02.763" />
  <row Id="15134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15131" CreationDate="2011-03-04T19:47:57.430" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's quite common to end list items with semi-colons, and to end the last item with a full stop. Commas are rarer. The one rule is to ensure that each item in the list is grammatically equivalent. Have them all complete sentences (ending them with full stops, question marks, or exclamation marks as appropriate in each case), or have them all sentence fragments which can be added to the same beginning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a bulleted list:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In this list, each item is a complete&#xA;sentence.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It does not matter whether&#xA;some items are questions, does it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Each item begins, of course, with a&#xA;capital letter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And here's another list. In this list,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;each item is a sentence-fragment;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;items end with semi-colons;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;items cannot be questions, because each has to be grammatically equivalent;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;items begin with lowercase letters;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the last item ends with a full stop.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1696" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T19:47:57.430" />
  <row Id="15135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11233" CreationDate="2011-03-04T19:57:24.267" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Was it used in races before it became a general expression of encouragement?  If so, it would explain the origin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5749" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T19:57:24.267" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15136" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15138" CreationDate="2011-03-04T19:58:35.597" Score="5" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say a child says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want some ice cream!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The parent's response is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Well&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, you can't have ice cream right now, we need to have dinner first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is the word &quot;well&quot; used as a conversational introduction to an argument? Is it a shortened form of another phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="61" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T20:11:13.147" Title="&quot;Well&quot; as an introduction to an argument" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15136" CreationDate="2011-03-04T20:08:04.273" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be a vestigial form of &quot;that's well&quot;, &quot;that's all well&quot;, &quot;that's all well and good&quot; and similar sentiments, which in the exchange you describe would indicate that it's perfectly all right that the child wants the ice cream, though it isn't going to be happening right now.  Other uses of &quot;well&quot; as an interjection don't fit this pattern, but the one you're asking about, a conversational introduction to an argument, does.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is, in fact, how &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/well&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; understands &quot;well&quot; as an interjection used to acknowledge a statement or situation to have derived: as short for &quot;that is well&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T20:08:04.273" />
  <row Id="15138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15136" CreationDate="2011-03-04T20:11:13.147" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Well&lt;/em&gt; might originally be a shortened form of a phrase, but I think it is safe to say that people who use it are generally treating it as a distinct entity (not short for something); it is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_particle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;grammatical particle&lt;/a&gt; that is used to &quot;facilitate discourse&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this situation, it is being used by one speaker to acknowledge what the other speaker said.  It can also be used to additionally indicate &quot;I'm about to say something now, so wait a moment and don't say more until I've taken my turn.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have many discourse markers, and in general they are used to assist turn-taking and comprehension in a conversation.  Every language (as far as I know) has them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T20:11:13.147" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15139" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16565" CreationDate="2011-03-04T20:22:50.570" Score="4" ViewCount="238" Body="&lt;p&gt;Historical examples: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Croesus asked the oracle what would happen if he&#xA;attacked Persia. The reply: ‘A mighty empire will be humbled’.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Thanks you so much for the book. I shall lose no time in reading it.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Modern example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am opposed to taxes which slow economic growth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Humorous:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The anthropologists went to a remote area and took photographs of some native women, but they weren't developed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the term used for these examples?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="5531" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T21:03:17.660" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T17:51:54.167" Title="What is this an example of: &quot;FOR SALE: Car by elderly lady with new body and spare tire&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="15140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15139" CreationDate="2011-03-04T20:36:12.197" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are examples of &lt;em&gt;syntactic ambiguity&lt;/em&gt;. They demonstrate ambiguity between alternate syntactic structures underlying a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The man saw the boy with the binoculars.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They are hunting dogs.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Free whales.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Police help dog bite victim.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He saw that gas can explode.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We saw her duck.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The kiwi eats roots and leaves.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_linguistic_example_sentences&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_linguistic_example_sentences&lt;/a&gt; for this and other types of lexical ambiguity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T20:36:12.197" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15126" CreationDate="2011-03-04T20:39:52.780" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD defines &lt;em&gt;space&lt;/em&gt; and room as follow:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;room: space that can be occupied or where something can be done, especially viewed in terms of whether there is enough&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;space: a continuous area or expanse that is free, available, or unoccupied&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference is that &lt;em&gt;room&lt;/em&gt; is used to refer to space that can be occupied, while &lt;em&gt;space&lt;/em&gt; is used to refer to an unoccupied area, and which could be kept unoccupied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T20:39:52.780" />
  <row Id="15142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15125" CreationDate="2011-03-04T21:02:17.597" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A search in Google suggests that &quot;multi-stratal&quot; is widely used. Another example: &quot;fungal species&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T21:02:17.597" />
  <row Id="15143" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15153" CreationDate="2011-03-04T21:23:27.493" Score="2" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the use of the word &quot;of&quot; correct in the following sentence, or this there a better word?&#xA;The meaning should be &quot;which requirement the platform must fulfil&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The most important requirements &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; the platform are performance and functionality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4037" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T02:29:54.890" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T02:29:54.890" Title="&quot;Requirement of&quot; - correct preposition?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15127" CreationDate="2011-03-04T21:25:20.437" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe &quot;admittedly&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Admittedly running away was in his nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T21:25:20.437" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15145" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15150" CreationDate="2011-03-04T21:28:18.063" Score="3" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was puzzled to find the headline – ‘&lt;em&gt;D’Antoni Adjusts Playbook with a Pencil, Not a Sharpie&lt;/em&gt;’ in the sport article in today’s New York Times (&lt;a href=&quot;http://wwwnytimes.com/2011/03/04/sport/basketball&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://wwwnytimes.com/2011/03/04/sport/basketball&lt;/a&gt; ). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although I understand ‘a pencil, not sharpie’ is a figurative expression comparing metal cylinder sharpie to wood pencil, what does it exactly mean? Adjust his hard style to softer style? &#xA;Is ‘Adjusts playbook with a pencil, not a sharpie’ a kind of cliché?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The headline is followed by the following sentence: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mike D’Antoni is fighting against perceptions, resisting his impulses and wrestling with his playbook. &#xA;  For years, D’Antoni cultivated an image and an offense based on speed and small lineups, constant movement and contrarian thinking. In Phoenix, that offense produced 60-win seasons and deep playoff runs. In New York, it re-energized a moribund franchise. But circumstances have changed, drastically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T21:33:42.613" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T21:43:03.213" Title="What does ‘Adjusts playbook with a pencil, not a sharpie’ mean?" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15145" CreationDate="2011-03-04T21:34:48.727" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read it as an implicit comparison of the nature of the Sharpie (an unerasable marker, generally making a heavy line) to that of the pencil (a lighter writer which can easily be erased or modified); D'Antoni is approaching his new situation with an eye toward making smaller changes that can be easily undone or adjusted to match his players, as opposed to coming in with a bunch of big ideas about exactly how things are going to work and making his players adjust to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T21:34:48.727" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15145" CreationDate="2011-03-04T21:35:16.620" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means he is making very precise adjustments. A pencil has a much finer point than does a Sharpie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T21:35:16.620" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15077" CreationDate="2011-03-04T21:39:15.440" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;sex film actress&quot; is more precise than &quot;porn star&quot; as there are many kinds of porn media (and many kinds of porn) and &quot;sex film&quot; narrows it down a lot. Also, &quot;actress&quot; narrows it down to &quot;female&quot; but that's probably redundant based on the context. So using the phrase &quot;sex film actress&quot; might not be a euphemism nor an attempt at being PC, but rather an attempt at being explicit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that this is not a word but rather a phrase with a pretty obvious meaning, it doesn't strike me as being remarkable.  If I described Lon Chaney as a &quot;silent film actor&quot; you should know immediately what that means even if &quot;silent film actor&quot; isn't a set phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T21:39:15.440" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15149" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15151" CreationDate="2011-03-04T21:39:44.943" Score="0" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the meaning of &quot;cub&quot; or &quot;cubs&quot; and in what context is it used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5572" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T21:57:19.797" Title="What's the meaning of 'cub/s'?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15145" CreationDate="2011-03-04T21:43:03.213" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the analogy being drawn is between writing with a pencil &amp;mdash; light colored, erasable, fine/hard to see; and writing with a Sharpie marker &amp;mdash; bold, dark, permanent; with the point being that D'Antoni is less effective, or at least less revolutionary, in his new job than he has been in others. Think of solving a crossword puzzle with a pen vs. a pencil.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T21:43:03.213" />
  <row Id="15151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15149" CreationDate="2011-03-04T21:43:06.163" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cubs&lt;/em&gt; is the plural of &lt;em&gt;cub&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Cub&lt;/em&gt; is the name for the infant offspring of bears, lions and some other creatures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T21:43:06.163" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="15152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15125" CreationDate="2011-03-04T21:45:10.857" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your suggestion using &lt;em&gt;stratum&lt;/em&gt; is logically sound, but unfortunately the reality is that it isn't totally consistent. With words that have clearly marked plurals, we can see that we use singular, e.g. &lt;em&gt;multicolor&lt;/em&gt;. However, we also have words like the well-established &lt;em&gt;multimedia&lt;/em&gt;. The pattern seems to fall apart sometimes in places where the plural is irregular. Not always, but sometimes. (I am sure that is very unsatisfying!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T21:45:10.857" />
  <row Id="15153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15143" CreationDate="2011-03-04T21:50:22.057" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say 'for', but it's understandable as is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5548" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T21:50:22.057" />
  <row Id="15154" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15160" CreationDate="2011-03-04T22:07:30.747" Score="3" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do you call objects, or kinds of objects, that cannot be described without visual aids?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2841" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T19:48:26.613" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T20:03:24.433" Title="What can't you describe without a picture?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;semantics&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15155" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-04T22:12:27.810" Score="0" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am currently writing an assignment about Network Security. And I have been reading at this great webiste ( &lt;a href=&quot;http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/02/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/02/&lt;/a&gt; ) about correct use of citation and research.. I get that I have to cite direct quotes and paraphrasing. But what I don't understand is what I do if I read a chapter about a widley known topic, e.q. how a mobile phone work. Do i cite the source directly in the text? What if I have multiple sources? Or do I just put the source in the reference list at the end of the text?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5753" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T22:12:27.810" ClosedDate="2011-03-05T08:48:49.337" Title="Correct citation when writing a fact based assignment?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15039" CreationDate="2011-03-04T22:21:35.663" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shouldn't it more logically be &quot;disinstall&quot; by analogy with disinvite, disinfect, disinherit, disinter?  But it's too late ... the software developers have already invented the word; we can't disinvent it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5754" LastEditorUserId="5754" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T22:33:38.397" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T22:33:38.397" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15157" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15164" CreationDate="2011-03-04T22:22:37.397" Score="2" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;clickcub&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;clickcube&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;clickcrab&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;clickcrate&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;clickcone&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In which of those cases do you read the 'c' and not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5572" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T23:28:46.407" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T11:32:34.480" Title="Do you read the 'c' in 'kc'?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;compounds&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15154" CreationDate="2011-03-04T22:23:10.983" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I suppose I would call them &lt;em&gt;indescribable&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T22:23:10.983" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15154" CreationDate="2011-03-04T22:27:07.683" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A pretty word for things that cannot be expressed in words is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ineffability&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;ineffable&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, but if it's describable with a picture, it doesn't &lt;em&gt;feel&lt;/em&gt; ineffable. Unless you're talking about &lt;em&gt;qualia&lt;/em&gt;. An example would be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5676" LastEditorUserId="5676" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T22:33:52.717" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T22:33:52.717" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15154" CreationDate="2011-03-04T22:31:32.957" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a phrase &quot;beyond words&quot;, but it is not usually used for objects, more for emotions or situations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oops, logic has just given me a good kick - if there was a word for such objects, then such objects would cease to fall into this category. ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, there are words like &quot;thing&quot;, &quot;nondescript&quot;, &quot;thingamajig&quot;, &quot;visual&quot;, &quot;spectacle&quot;, &quot;sensory&quot; and &quot;picturesque&quot;, and phrases like &quot;to be seen&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5278" LastEditorUserId="5278" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-04T22:46:20.360" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T22:46:20.360" />
  <row Id="15162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15125" CreationDate="2011-03-04T22:43:52.003" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you love one multistratum cake, or several multistrata cakes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5450" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T22:43:52.003" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7949" CreationDate="2011-03-04T23:16:20.480" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I thought it was short for &quot;come to climax&quot;, but that's just a guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastActivityDate="2011-03-04T23:16:20.480" />
  <row Id="15164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15157" CreationDate="2011-03-04T23:35:37.003" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is difficult to answer without referring to phonetic details, but I'll do the best I can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of the words that you mentioned are compounds (and new, unfamiliar compounds at that), which will be pronounced with a &lt;em&gt;geminate&lt;/em&gt; &lt;code&gt;[k]&lt;/code&gt; in careful speech. For example, your &quot;clickcub&quot; would be something like &lt;code&gt;['klɪk:ʰʌb]&lt;/code&gt;. Two consecutive /k/ sounds run together as a geminate or &quot;long&quot; &lt;code&gt;[k]&lt;/code&gt;. Whether you perceive this as one /k/ or two has more to do with your native language than with English phonetics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; dialect of English where you pronounce these words with two distinct releases, as &lt;code&gt;[kʰkʰ]&lt;/code&gt;. Furthermore, in rapid speech even the geminates will be shortened, rendering all of them as a single &lt;code&gt;[k]&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T00:18:40.667" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T00:18:40.667" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15165" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15166" CreationDate="2011-03-05T00:00:58.183" Score="4" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know it's a way of greeting someone, but I am not so sure when should I be using it, and how they differ from &quot;hey&quot; or &quot;hi&quot;. Thank you very much in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5220" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T04:36:20.830" Title="When should I use &quot;hey there&quot; or &quot;hi there&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="15166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15165" CreationDate="2011-03-05T00:11:20.567" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a personal preference.  Both &quot;hi there&quot; and &quot;hi&quot; are informal greetings that can be used interchangeably.  That being said, I rarely (if ever) hear someone use &quot;hey there&quot; or &quot;hi there&quot;.  I would say that those forms have fallen into relative disuse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you happen to be a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hitslyrics.com/d/disney-lyrics-6472/mickeymousemarch-lyrics-511846.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mouseketeer&lt;/a&gt; in the 1950's, you may not have a choice in the matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5644" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T00:11:20.567" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15167" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15168" CreationDate="2011-03-05T00:18:14.710" Score="6" ViewCount="179" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that one can have a  greater or lesser amount of surety (i.e. &quot;I'm not really sure&quot;), but don't you either know or not know something?  Are there degrees of knowledge?  I hear this phrase often from reporters and news correspondents: &quot;We don't really know...&quot;  I think that this is a way to avoid saying &quot;We don't know&quot;, which sounds more blunt, but is more precise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3354" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T23:52:10.180" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T01:15:19.073" Title="Is the &quot;really&quot; in &quot;I don't really know&quot; necessary?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15167" CreationDate="2011-03-05T00:39:40.417" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Frequently, it is simply a matter of preference.  However, the following variations &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; be interpreted slightly differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A simple declaration.  Unambiguous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't really know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is often used to deflect a negative self-assessment.  It's common to not want to admit that we don't know something, so we occasionally de-emphasize the declaration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I really don't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You didn't mention this variation, but this is often used to do the opposite, actually emphasizing the fact that we don't know.  This can be used to stress to someone who may not believe you, that you in fact, &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; don't know something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are really just minor nuances, and the phrases are often used interchangeably.  If someone wants to express a degree of knowledge, some other phrase is usually used in conjunction with the declaration.  For example, &quot;I don't know enough about X to answer that.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5644" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T00:39:40.417" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15167" CreationDate="2011-03-05T00:47:44.997" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Different languages emphasize different things. Japanese, for example, has a tendency to emphasize the speaker's belief in the probability of events and the certainty of knowledge. The number of ways a Japanese speaker can say &quot;I think it will rain tomorrow&quot; is quite large.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English, in contrast, is very sensitive to order in which things occur or are likely to occur, as evidenced by such things as the future perfect tense (e.g., &quot;by then I will have known the result).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But English also has a strong bias toward stress, so that degrees of knowledge are able to be pinpointed: I don't know. I'm not sure. I sort of know. I guess. Maybe. It's possible that... Etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T00:47:44.997" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15167" CreationDate="2011-03-05T00:57:55.300" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I don't really know&lt;/em&gt; suggests that the speaker may know a little about the subject discussed but does not have a deep understanding of it - he knows a little but not really that much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I don't know Jimi&lt;/em&gt; probably means you have never heard of Jimi, while &lt;em&gt;I don't really know Jimi&lt;/em&gt; means you may have heard of or even met Jimi but you do not know much about him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T01:11:47.677" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T01:11:47.677" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15172" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15178" CreationDate="2011-03-05T01:36:00.953" Score="5" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;And why was this ever considered grammatically correct?  Why not &quot;Ithinks&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I ask &quot;why,&quot; I'm wondering for example, whether or not &quot;me&quot; has always been the first-person objective case in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T02:13:13.037" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T02:39:11.893" Title="Are there or were there any other conjoined pronoun-verb combinations like &quot;methinks&quot; in English?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15172" CreationDate="2011-03-05T02:08:29.280" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One relatively similar historical example that comes to mind is:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;prithee&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;  - &quot;(I) pray thee&quot; (I beseech thee)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Updated&lt;/strong&gt;:  I was adding a link and an explanation, but I think Jon's answer explains it far better than I could.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the link to an excellent resource that you may find helpful:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=methinks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=methinks&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5644" LastEditorUserId="5644" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T02:39:11.893" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T02:39:11.893" />
  <row Id="15174" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-05T02:10:35.187" Score="4" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just saw an update on Facebook saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Watch Russell present LIVE at the 42nd Annual NAACP Image Awards. Tonight at &lt;strong&gt;8/7c&lt;/strong&gt; on FOX.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does &quot;8/7c&quot; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="296" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T02:23:29.627" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T17:40:48.107" Title="What does &quot;8/7c&quot; stand for?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;time&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12890" CreationDate="2011-03-05T02:15:25.843" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok how about &lt;strong&gt;as&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Velocity is the &lt;em&gt;rate of change&lt;/em&gt; of distance &lt;strong&gt;AS TIME&lt;/strong&gt; changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say we have the volume of a cone&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/e/a/a/eaaef399666ed403b22c833cb398cd62.png&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then say we take the partial derivative &lt;em&gt;with respect to cone radius&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/0/e/d/0eda56ca744f1e740f2601939b8bd1b5.png&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then we could say the &lt;em&gt;rate of change&lt;/em&gt; of that volume &lt;strong&gt;AS radius&lt;/strong&gt; changes, is that equation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2210" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T02:15:25.843" />
  <row Id="15176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15174" CreationDate="2011-03-05T02:21:01.363" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;8/7c&lt;/em&gt; = &lt;em&gt;eight-seven-central&lt;/em&gt;. It's a convenient abbreviation of &lt;em&gt;8 p.m. Eastern Time; 7 p.m. Central Time&lt;/em&gt;. This form is popular in broadcasting circles, where television networks serve viewers in both the Eastern and Central time zones in the United States.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T17:40:48.107" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T17:40:48.107" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15174" CreationDate="2011-03-05T02:21:59.147" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;8/7c&quot; or &quot;8 - 7 Central&quot; means that this show is occurring at 8 o'clock Eastern Time, or 7 o'clock Central time.  The reason Eastern Time is commonly omitted and &quot;Central Time&quot; / &quot;c&quot; is not is because most of the American population and much of American media apparatus is concentrated on the coasts of the country, mostly the East Coast actually, and thus Easterners are considered the &quot;default&quot;; that means shows first air for Eastern viewers, and they are also the demographic advertisers and television networks first accommodate for scheduling before other time zones.  (Show performance at 8 - 11 PM is a hugely important metric for advertisers and the continued viability of network television shows; that time block is commonly known in the United States as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_time&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;prime time&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Added&lt;/strong&gt;:&#xA;Eastern Time viewing and Central Time viewing are often scheduled together in network television programs, because simultaneity for them is not too unaccomodating. Mountain Time and Pacific viewers can and often are scheduled for their own separate block.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T03:36:22.517" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T03:36:22.517" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15172" CreationDate="2011-03-05T02:28:29.527" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Methinks&quot; comes from &lt;em&gt;me þyncð&lt;/em&gt;, meaning &lt;em&gt;(it) seems to me&lt;/em&gt;. There were originally two distinct but related verbs, &lt;em&gt;þyncan&lt;/em&gt; (to seem) and &lt;em&gt;þencan&lt;/em&gt; (to think). The former eventually fell out of favour while the latter became the modern &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt;. Commonly used multi-word phrases and terms are often joined into single words over time: look at &lt;em&gt;almost&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;whoever&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;prithee&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;perhaps&lt;/em&gt;, and countless others. It does seem that relatively few of these involve personal pronouns, though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T02:28:29.527" />
  <row Id="15179" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15181" CreationDate="2011-03-05T02:37:50.110" Score="2" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should the words inside a set of parentheses be capitalised? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... usually read for personal&#xA;  enjoyment (&lt;b&gt;R&lt;/b&gt;ecreation) or ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... usually read for personal&#xA;  enjoyment (&lt;b&gt;r&lt;/b&gt;ecreation) or ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T02:40:19.913" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T02:48:08.167" Title="Capitalising Words in Parentheses?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;parentheses&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="15180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15179" CreationDate="2011-03-05T02:39:45.483" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no need to capitalize words in parentheses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Where we were going (it was not open for discussion) was kept secret from us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T02:39:45.483" />
  <row Id="15181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15179" CreationDate="2011-03-05T02:48:08.167" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You only need capitalize a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parenthesis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;parenthesis&lt;/a&gt; if it is a complete sentence terminating with a period or full stop. Thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... usually read for personal enjoyment (recreation) or ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T02:48:08.167" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15167" CreationDate="2011-03-05T02:58:17.183" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; used in this context is an all-purpose intensifier:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I really don't understand. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You're really getting on my nerves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She really had me going there for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In each of those cases the &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; could be dropped without a change of meaning, but the level of intensity of the statement would not be the same. The word fairly implores the listener to believe what is being said. It anticipates and attempts to preempt objections to a statement. In the normal course of a conversation, such an objection might be raised as the word itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;John&lt;/strong&gt;: I don't understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Joan&lt;/strong&gt;: Really?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;John&lt;/strong&gt;: Yeah, really. I just don't get it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By adding the &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; John would be attempting to avoid having to repeat himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T02:58:17.183" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15183" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15185" CreationDate="2011-03-05T03:37:50.453" Score="2" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard both of these before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All the good people&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All of the good people&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they both correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4595" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T03:48:46.250" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T03:48:46.250" Title="&quot;All the good people&quot; vs. &quot;all of the good people&quot;" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="15185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15183" CreationDate="2011-03-05T04:43:57.447" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both correct! They both have the same meaning. The &quot;of&quot; variant is a partitive genitive, like French &lt;em&gt;bouteille de vin&lt;/em&gt; (bottle of wine). I'd say &quot;all of&quot; has a connotation of &quot;all members of group x&quot;, whereas &quot;all&quot; without &quot;of&quot; is completely neutral, just the entirety of x. In most cases either connotation will result in the exact same meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T04:43:57.447" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15090" CreationDate="2011-03-05T05:35:15.687" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For better or worse, the meaning of the word &lt;em&gt;empathic&lt;/em&gt; has been forever tainted by its use in the science fiction and fantasy realm -- I would avoid using it interchangeably with &lt;em&gt;empathetic&lt;/em&gt; just to avoid the connotation of spooky action at a distance. &quot;Correct&quot; and &quot;right&quot; aren't interchangeable either -- using language correctly isn't right if it raises unnecessary misunderstanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T05:35:15.687" />
  <row Id="15187" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15202" CreationDate="2011-03-05T05:45:48.867" Score="5" ViewCount="183" Body="&lt;p&gt;I already asked a similar question (&lt;a href=&quot;http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/21167/customer-vs-client-vs-user-vs-consumer-of-on-line-service&quot;&gt;customer vs. client vs. user vs. consumer of on-line service&lt;/a&gt;) but, I believe, there may be some differences between technical and legal jargon and general usage of English.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to find the distinct most appropriate and unambiguous terms to distinguish the users of on-line services:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;malicious bot vs. entity using programming tools to access online services;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;general public vs. registered for a free service user;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;registered for free service user vs. user who paid for a fee-based additional on-line service;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, the terms under consideration, so far, are:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;user  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;consumer &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;client  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;customer&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;client&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What are other possible pertinent terms?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T21:49:22.693" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T21:49:22.693" Title="What's the difference between &quot;client&quot; and &quot;customer&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;technical&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15188" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15191" CreationDate="2011-03-05T05:57:38.407" Score="4" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;I drowned in the search results of articles using &quot;Color me confused&quot; phrase.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is its meaning and origin?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T13:07:07.560" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T13:07:07.560" Title="What is the origin of &quot;Color me confused&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15189" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-05T06:02:19.447" Score="0" ViewCount="16" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see in this boards two tags:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;word-origin  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etymology  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the difference in meaning between them?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T06:19:37.810" ClosedDate="2011-03-05T08:44:58.387" Title="What's the difference between &quot;word origin&quot; and etymology?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="0" />
  <row Id="15190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15188" CreationDate="2011-03-05T06:07:57.843" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's an extension of older common phrases like &quot;color me pink&quot; (that is to say, &quot;I'm embarrassed -- imagine me blushing&quot;) or &quot;color me green&quot; (&quot;I'm envious&quot;). Obviously, since there are no color associations for emotional states like confusion, the extension of that phrase is a bit tortured -- but it gains a bit of a comedic aspect from that torture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T06:07:57.843" />
  <row Id="15191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15188" CreationDate="2011-03-05T06:15:09.060" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Colour me (something)&quot; means the same as &quot;call me (something)&quot;, typically, &quot;colour me stupid&quot; or &quot;colour me gone&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Green's Slang Dictionary has &quot;color&quot; (US) as &quot;to see, present as&quot;, and the first citation is for an advertisement for a television series (I'm Dickens He's Fenster) in 1962 &quot;Color her married&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T06:15:09.060" />
  <row Id="15193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15187" CreationDate="2011-03-05T06:25:51.023" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;client&lt;/em&gt; is generally someone purchasing a professional service, contrasted with a &lt;em&gt;customer&lt;/em&gt; who might be buying a box of matches. Perhaps a &lt;em&gt;client&lt;/em&gt; is a bit more genteel, and possibly richer. (Myself, I call them both &lt;em&gt;customers&lt;/em&gt; because I call a spade a bloody shovel.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(See &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/customer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/customer&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/client&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/client&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T06:25:51.023" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="15194" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15200" CreationDate="2011-03-05T06:28:33.887" Score="4" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one should I use of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Compile Error&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Compiler Error&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compilation_error&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Compilation Error&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the &quot;Compilation Error&quot; is way too long for everyday use, even though it's the &quot;correct&quot; term. So, which one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2411" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T07:19:43.507" Title="Compil[e/er/ation] Error" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="15195" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15199" CreationDate="2011-03-05T06:31:54.203" Score="5" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's have, for example, the following phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To create fancy product will require more effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a grammatically complete and correct sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2049" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T14:59:41.320" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T14:59:41.320" Title="Is &quot;to [verb] will [verb]&quot; a complete statement?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15196" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15194" CreationDate="2011-03-05T06:35:34.450" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd prefer &lt;em&gt;compilation error&lt;/em&gt; myself, as it is the &quot;correct&quot; term, as you say, and only a few letters longer than the alternatives. &lt;em&gt;Compiler error&lt;/em&gt; would mean  that there is a problem with the compiler, rather than the source code. &lt;em&gt;Compile error&lt;/em&gt; sounds a bit baby-talk to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T06:35:34.450" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15197" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15198" CreationDate="2011-03-05T06:36:42.823" Score="5" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to invert the subordinate sentence in English? For instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When the time comes, so shall we reign&#xA;  the land!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is correct, what is the rule? Or is it only in old English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5388" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T06:49:04.063" Title="Inversion in English" Tags="&lt;inversion&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15197" CreationDate="2011-03-05T06:49:04.063" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is an archaic construction (and not limited to subordinate clauses/sentences); one wouldn't use it today except in dialog in a period piece.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5095" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T06:49:04.063" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15195" CreationDate="2011-03-05T07:06:26.950" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technically, the structure is actually &quot;To verb-phrase will verb&quot;, and yes, it's a perfectly valid structure, although it can sound a bit stilted.  In your particular example, you almost certainly need an &quot;a&quot; before &quot;fancy product&quot;, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it's probably more common (and definitely sounds less stilted) to use a gerund phrase rather than an infinitive-to phrase, thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Creating a fancy product will require more effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T07:06:26.950" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15194" CreationDate="2011-03-05T07:09:28.540" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at the number of results on Google Books and Google Scholar, and also Google:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;+--------------------+------------+---------------+---------+&#xA;|                    |Google Books|Google Scholar |Google   |&#xA;|                    |            |               |         |&#xA;+--------------------+------------+---------------+---------+&#xA;|compiler error      |7,480       |1,950          |386,000  |&#xA;+--------------------+------------+---------------+---------+&#xA;|compile-time error  |6,620       |1,850          |311,000  |&#xA;+--------------------+------------+---------------+---------+&#xA;|compilation error   |5,260       |1,620          |1,660,000|&#xA;+--------------------+------------+---------------+---------+&#xA;|compile error       |2,280       |710            |2,550,000|&#xA;+--------------------+------------+---------------+---------+&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Books and Scholars show a clear order of preference, for &lt;em&gt;compiler error&lt;/em&gt; over &lt;em&gt;compile-time error&lt;/em&gt; over &lt;em&gt;compilation error&lt;/em&gt; over &lt;em&gt;compile error&lt;/em&gt;, but unfortunately the general public seems to show the opposite tendency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grammatically, all four (or at least all but the last one, which is ironically the most popular) are fine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;compiler error: an error detected by the compiler, an error message produced by the compiler, an error within the purview of the compiler. Not an error in the compiler.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;compilation error: not an error in the compilation (the compilation did what it was supposed to do), but an error found during compilation, etc. Same as above.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;compile-time error: an error found at compile-time (cf. &quot;runtime error&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;compile error: …&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google n-gram viewer tells a similar story (click on the image), though, as if underscoring its unreliability, &lt;em&gt;compile-time error&lt;/em&gt; seems to be missing from its corpus for some reason (zero results).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=compiler+error,compilation+error,compile+error,compile-time+error&amp;amp;year_start=1960&amp;amp;year_end=2008&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/h0der.png&quot; alt=&quot;Google N-gram viewer&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Aside: broadening the date range gives a few results in 1890–1910… what's with that?]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T07:19:43.507" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T07:19:43.507" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15187" CreationDate="2011-03-05T07:41:15.240" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Client&lt;/em&gt; to me has an element of &quot;ongoing relationship with the seller&quot; in its meaning: if you go to the store to buy a box of matches, you're just a customer, but if you &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; go to that store because you know you'll get good service and good prices, you're a client.  (However, the dictionary does list &quot;customer&quot; as one of the meanings of &quot;client&quot;, so they are very close in meaning if not identical.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that someone who pays a monthly fee in order to have continued access to an online service could be called a client.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some suggestions for your terms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;malicious bot = Abuser&#xA;&lt;li&gt;entity using programming tools = accessor&#xA;&lt;li&gt;non-using public = public&#xA;&lt;li&gt;registered but not paying = user&#xA;&lt;li&gt;payer = client&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T07:41:15.240" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15187" CreationDate="2011-03-05T08:32:00.107" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A client is the one to be served, economically or not, the economical one being a customer. A customer (purchaser) is not necessarily a client, when product(s) rather than services are offered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A consumer is the one who uses products or services, paid or not. So, a consumer is not necessarily a customer. Children at toy shops are usually consumers, their mothers being customers.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5725" LastEditorUserId="5725" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T11:03:23.843" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T11:03:23.843" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14957" CreationDate="2011-03-05T08:37:48.120" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is impossible to properly answer this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A complete set of words &quot;that have meanings in both literature and math&quot;  would be immensely large, since almost every word used in mathematics tends to come from general language. Off the top of my head: group, set, field, ring, rational, real, imaginary, complex, map, function, equivalence, symmetric, translation, rotation, shear, graph, edge, tree, directed, faithful, forgetful, diverge, dense, compact, limit, sequence, adjacent, congruent, contraction, absolute, free, regular, normal, simple. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some more: chaos, combination, derangement, direct, dual, dynamics, mechanics, ear, extreme, factor, product, divide, prime, perfect, abundant, amicable, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexy_prime&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sexy&lt;/a&gt;, twin (I could spend all day listing number-theoretic terms), floor, ceiling, game, general, abstract, continuous, point, space, vector, harmonic, ideal, variety, incident, index, orbit, inversion, knot, lattice, linear, matrix, model, acute, obtuse, operator, orientation, parity, partition, pedal, projection, polar, radical, uniform, order, path, smooth, relation, identity, principal, bundle, connected, open, closed, kernel, domain, inseparable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps when you think of mathematical terms you think of the stand-out words like &lt;em&gt;equilateral&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;endomorphism&lt;/em&gt; that tend not to be used outside mathematics, but these are only a small fraction of the mathematical vocabulary. The general-meaning words in mathematics are what make &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTby_e4-Rhg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wonderful puns&lt;/a&gt; possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T08:37:48.120" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15204" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-05T09:20:10.477" Score="0" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/412/comma-before-last-item-in-a-list&quot;&gt;Comma before last item in a list&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a list, do you use a comma before the 'and' in a list? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was this, that &lt;strong&gt;,&lt;/strong&gt; and then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was this, that and then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first example was taught by one of my teachers a long time ago. I still remember her saying that it &lt;em&gt;wasn't&lt;/em&gt; necessary, but it &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; be wise and would be appreciated if you used this format. I followed that format since then.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, someone recently pointed out to me that my formatting was wrong. I was appalled, attributing this habit to one of my previous teachers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which version is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T18:23:54.320" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:23:54.320" ClosedDate="2011-03-05T09:22:18.607" Title="Comma before an 'and' in a list?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="15205" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-05T09:31:07.690" Score="2" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found a poem named &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.panhala.net/Archive/Any_Morning.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Any Morning&lt;/a&gt;,  I'm not sure if &quot;the quiet sound&quot; in the second line is represented to what somebody in humming or something related to trouble?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Just lying on the couch and being happy.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Only humming a little, the quiet sound in the head.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Trouble is busy elsewhere at the moment, it has&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  so much to do in the world.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5765" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T13:02:53.117" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T13:10:55.270" Title="&quot;Only humming a little, the quiet sound in the head&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;contexts&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15207" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-05T10:04:31.670" Score="0" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2933/possessive-of-a-word-thats-already-possessive&quot;&gt;Possessive of a word that&amp;#39;s already possessive?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm having trouble with possessives sometimes. Take this sentence, I'm quite confident there's a few things wrong with it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;McDonald's' burgers are not as good as Five Guys's&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be the correct way to write this? And, even more puzzling to me, how would you correctly pronounce?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5559" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T10:04:31.670" ClosedDate="2011-03-05T12:05:03.897" Title="McDonald's' burgers are not as good as Five Guys's" Tags="&lt;possessive&gt;" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15208" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-05T10:44:43.367" Score="6" ViewCount="189" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;relation&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;relationship&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some say that &lt;em&gt;relationship&lt;/em&gt; often refers to social connections. For instance,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She has a close relationship with her daughter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How about the following? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the relationship between poor housing and health problems (Longman Dictionary)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the special relationship between Britain and the US (Longman Dictionary)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5725" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T16:58:41.937" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T09:15:06.593" Title="&quot;Relation&quot; versus &quot;relationship&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15208" CreationDate="2011-03-05T10:56:29.410" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me, the main difference is that &lt;em&gt;relationship&lt;/em&gt; is broader than &lt;em&gt;relation&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;both can mean “the way in which two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected”;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in addition, &lt;em&gt;relationship&lt;/em&gt; can mean “the state of being connected”.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in “She has a close relationship with her daughter”, because you're talking about the fact a particular existing connection, I wouldn't use “relation”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your second example, if “the relationship between poor housing and health problems” is merely an academic study of the possible correlation, then “relation” would fit well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the third, again, the “special relationship” is a particular, existing connection, so “relation” wouldn't fit the bill. In addition, “&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Relationship&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;special relationship&lt;/a&gt;” is a well established phrase since post-World War II times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T11:05:39.380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T11:05:39.380" />
  <row Id="15210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15205" CreationDate="2011-03-05T10:59:29.543" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Only humming a little, the quiet sound in his head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;quiet sound&quot; may mean &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the sound of &quot;his&quot; humming&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;that the humming was produced by &quot;the quiet sound&quot; in his head&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;that the two things are separate and possibly unrelated&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Poetry is often written in a very dense style, wherein each line layers much meaning over few words, so it could even mean &quot;all of the above.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of the three things listed, however, if I had to pick a single one I would favor the second choice. The only thing that looks like a subject in that sentence (not that it &lt;em&gt;needs&lt;/em&gt; a subject, this being poetry), is &quot;the quiet sound&quot;. Let's rearrange that sentence and put the subject first:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The quiet sound in his head [was] only humming a little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now its meaning becomes a little clearer, especially if we furnish the missing copula (verb of being).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the original order, the line is an example of &lt;em&gt;anastrophe&lt;/em&gt;, which is a rhetorical device which means&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a departure from the conventional &lt;em&gt;subject&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;verb&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;object&lt;/em&gt; word order. [Ward Farnsworth, &lt;em&gt;Classical English Rhetoric&lt;/em&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Farnsworth goes on to say that &quot;the unexpected order of words calls attention to them ... [and this ordering] mildly violates the reader's expectations.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It appears to be the poet's intention here to place greater emphasis on the slight humming, and to reveal the topic of the sentence only later after the object had been introduced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that removal of the copula &quot;was&quot; is an example of the rhetorical device called &lt;em&gt;ellipsis&lt;/em&gt;, which is the removal of words for dramatic effect. Poetry is all about dramatic effect, so one should not be surprised to find more than one literary technique to be used in each and every line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T13:10:55.270" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T13:10:55.270" />
  <row Id="15211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15208" CreationDate="2011-03-05T11:08:41.623" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While &lt;em&gt;relation&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;relationship&lt;/em&gt; refer to the connection between two things, &lt;em&gt;relation&lt;/em&gt; shades more toward the &lt;em&gt;way&lt;/em&gt; things are connected, while &lt;em&gt;relationship&lt;/em&gt; refers to the connection itself. The difference is not spacious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T11:08:41.623" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15212" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-05T11:15:00.850" Score="0" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicates:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/13269/correct-usage-of-which-that&quot;&gt;Correct usage of which/that&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/78/when-is-it-appropriate-to-use-that-as-opposed-to-which&quot;&gt;When is it appropriate to use &amp;#39;that&amp;#39; as opposed to &amp;#39;which&amp;#39;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a native English speaker and I must confess I'm quite confused about when I should use &lt;code&gt;which&lt;/code&gt; in place of &lt;code&gt;that&lt;/code&gt; and viceversa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a particular rule?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, let's take this sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The method returns a &lt;code&gt;Whois::Answer&lt;/code&gt; instance which essentially looks and behaves like a &lt;code&gt;String&lt;/code&gt; but it's way more powerful than a string.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it &lt;code&gt;which&lt;/code&gt; correct or should I have used &lt;code&gt;that&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few more examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It also includes a huge set of data parsers which converts a raw registry response into a pure Ruby object. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The only exception to this rule is the &lt;code&gt;Timeout::Error&lt;/code&gt; exception which is intentionally left unmanaged.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="719" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T12:29:15.290" ClosedDate="2011-03-05T14:44:55.773" Title="&quot;which&quot; vs &quot;that&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="15213" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15215" CreationDate="2011-03-05T11:20:06.883" Score="3" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can understand the meaning of the phrase &lt;em&gt;off to hell...&lt;/em&gt;, but I was wondering why, of all the possible vehicles that may have been chosen, it came to be in a &lt;em&gt;handcart&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T12:08:04.907" Title="Why &quot;off to hell in a handcart&quot;?" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;catch-phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="15215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15213" CreationDate="2011-03-05T12:08:04.907" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is mainly due to the alliteration of the phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Going to hell in a handbasket&quot;, &quot;going to hell in a handcart&quot;,&quot;going to hell on a Harley&quot;, &quot;going to hell in a handbag&quot; and '&quot;sending something to hell in a handbasket&quot; are variations on an American alliterative locution of unclear origin, which describes a situation headed for disaster without effort or in great haste.&#xA;  — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_hell_in_a_handbasket&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_hell_in_a_handbasket&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see that all of the objects above begin with the letter &lt;em&gt;h&lt;/em&gt;. To say &quot;going to hell in a VW&quot; or &quot;going to hell in an ice cream truck&quot; would have less impact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pithy sayings of this sort often involve either alliteration or rhyme (&quot;In like Flynn,&quot; &quot;wake and bake&quot;), which give them a tag-like quality that's easy to remember and rhetorically more emphatic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T12:08:04.907" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="78" CreationDate="2011-03-05T12:12:26.540" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, the difference is slight but real. According to the New Oxford American Dictionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In U.S. English, it is usually recommended that which be employed only for nonrestrictive (or nonessential) clauses: : &lt;em&gt;the horse, which is in the paddock, is six years old&lt;/em&gt; (the : &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; clause contains a nonessential fact, noted in passing; the horse would be six years old wherever it was). A : &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; clause is restrictive (or essential), as it identifies a particular thing: : &lt;em&gt;the horse that is in the paddock is six years old&lt;/em&gt; (not any horse, but the one in the paddock). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note also that the word &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; can be omitted where it introduces a subordinate clause:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He said he was coming. &lt;em&gt;[He said that he was coming.]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it is required when it is the subject of the clause:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The family that plays together stays together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More usage notes from NOAD:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there any difference between the use of &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;which&lt;/strong&gt; in sentences such as : &lt;em&gt;any book that gets children reading is worth having&lt;/em&gt;, and : &lt;em&gt;any book which gets children reading is worth having?&lt;/em&gt; The general rule is that, in restrictive relative clauses, where the relative clause serves to define or restrict the reference to the particular one described, &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; is the preferred relative pronoun. However, in nonrestrictive relative clauses, where the relative clause serves only to give additional information, &lt;strong&gt;which&lt;/strong&gt; must be used: : &lt;em&gt;this book, which is set in the last century, is very popular with teenagers&lt;/em&gt;, but not : &lt;em&gt;this book, that is set in the last century, is very popular with teenagers&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T12:29:15.290" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T12:29:15.290" />
  <row Id="15217" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15219" CreationDate="2011-03-05T12:40:40.810" Score="0" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;I already asked this question in &lt;a href=&quot;http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/21166/is-public-offer-synonym-of-tos&quot;&gt;Is “Public Offer” synonym of ToS?&lt;/a&gt; but, I am afraid, an answer will not be exhaustive or authoritative without linguists.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the use of &quot;Public Offer&quot; is:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1)    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.circuitigioielli.com/_en_/legals.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Public offer:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;All products and prices in the Site constitute an offer to the public with the limitations and conditions contained in this site and in these general conditions of sale&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1a)(Restoring what I deleted from original question)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The problem is that ToS in Russian legislature is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.consultant.ru/popular/gkrf1/5_59.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Публичная Оферта&quot;&lt;/a&gt; what literally translates into English as &quot;Public Offer&quot;   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;While &lt;a href=&quot;https://securities.standardbank.co.za/ost/nsp/Glossary/glossary.asp?strStartingLetter=P&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the other (main?) meaning&lt;/a&gt; is:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Offer made by a company to the public to subscribe to its issue of shares. The offer must be made by way of a prospectus to which a form of application is attached&quot;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is related with IPO capitalization (issuing of shares) and selling/cosharing a company rather than its services.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I looked through ToSs of many top multi-national companies offering on-line services:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/marketingweb?cmd=_render-content&amp;amp;fli=true&amp;amp;content_ID=ua/BuyerProtComp_full&amp;amp;locale.x=en_US&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;PayPal ToS&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://akismet.com/tos/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Akismet ToS&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wordpress.com/tos/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WordPress.com ToS&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/utos-173.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yahoo ToS&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/accounts/TOS&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google ToS&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://twitter.com/tos&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Twitter ToS&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.facebook.com/terms.php?ref=pf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FaceBook ToS&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and could not find a single use of &quot;Public Offer&quot; term in their ToSs.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I am in doubt: Can the term &quot;Public Offer&quot; be used as synonym of a Public Offer of public services to public in English?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T14:26:22.543" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T14:26:22.543" ClosedDate="2011-03-05T15:05:00.333" Title="Is &quot;Public Offer&quot; synonym to ToS?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;technical&gt;&lt;confusables&gt;&lt;jargon&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15217" CreationDate="2011-03-05T13:16:32.190" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The primary sense of a &lt;strong&gt;Public Offer(ing)&lt;/strong&gt; is the one you gave concerning the issuing of shares. I have never heard of the other one. It may not really exist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The site you linked to was of an Italian company, and I saw several grammar and lexical mistakes on it; that is why I do not think it means much that this term is used in an unusual way on that website. Their &quot;Public Offer&quot; may very well be a bad translation of something in Italian.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The definitions you saw there are not definitions meant to educate those who don't know much about legalese, but rather definitions of how this website uses certain phrases in their own legal disclaimer. It is like saying &quot;there is complicated issue x bla bla, and we shall call it simply &lt;em&gt;the agricultural issue&lt;/em&gt; from now on for brevity&quot;. They chose some definition of their own for &lt;em&gt;Public Offer&lt;/em&gt; that is not necessarily current.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T13:16:32.190" />
  <row Id="15220" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15221" CreationDate="2011-03-05T13:54:52.080" Score="4" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are some plants whose leaves and stems are not the usual glossy green, but which are covered in very fine white hairs, or white fuzz. One example I have right now in my kitchen would be sage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/DLPDk.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am sure that there is a word in the English language which describes the appearance of such plants (not just fuzzy plants, but specifically ones covered in white fuzz). But I don't remember the word. Does someone know it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T15:42:58.233" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T15:42:58.233" Title="What is the word for a plant covered in fine white hairs?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15220" CreationDate="2011-03-05T14:20:50.707" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/words/hoary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hoary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/words/canescent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;canescent&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/words/incanous&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;incanous&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T14:20:50.707" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15127" CreationDate="2011-03-05T15:03:01.293" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say, though less formally, &quot;well, running away &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt; [italicisation quite important, but not absolutely necessary here] in his nature.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, in the first person: &quot;I suppose running away was in his nature.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="852" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T15:03:01.293" />
  <row Id="15224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15195" CreationDate="2011-03-05T15:49:37.353" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a sentence because there are subject (&quot;to create fancy product&quot;) and a predicate that refers to the subject (&quot;will require&quot;), and it ends with a period.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T14:58:41.680" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T14:58:41.680" />
  <row Id="15225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15127" CreationDate="2011-03-05T15:53:21.560" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Instead of &quot;after all&quot;, you can say &quot;above all&quot;, &quot;beyond everything&quot;, &quot;most important&quot;, &quot;most importantly&quot;, &quot;ultimately&quot;, &quot;when push comes to shove&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T15:53:21.560" />
  <row Id="15226" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-05T17:03:24.533" Score="1" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_Thirtythree&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_Thirtythree&lt;/a&gt; explains:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lyrically, the album is a concept&#xA;  album, revolving around different&#xA;  kinds of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;paradoxes&lt;/a&gt;, hence the title&#xA;  Catch Thirtythree (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22_%28logic%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Catch-22&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I could not understand the derivation of 33 from 22&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Can you explain me?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T17:34:10.657" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T23:04:27.130" Title="What is the origin of &quot;33&quot; in &quot;catch-33&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;catch-phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15227" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-05T17:08:09.833" Score="1" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zugzwang&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;zugzwang&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22_%28logic%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;catch-22&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-33&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;catch-33&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;synonyms?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T17:33:04.280" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T01:36:10.760" Title="Are &quot;zugzwang&quot;, &quot;catch-22&quot; and &quot;catch-33&quot; synonyms?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;catch-phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="15228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15226" CreationDate="2011-03-05T17:08:56.763" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My reading of a &lt;em&gt;catch-33&lt;/em&gt; would be a situation that involves &lt;em&gt;three&lt;/em&gt; mutually logically contradictory necessary conditions, where a &lt;em&gt;catch-22&lt;/em&gt; involves two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T17:08:56.763" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15226" CreationDate="2011-03-05T17:16:29.290" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would read this as Catch-33 being just like Catch-22 except each digit is incremented, therefore it is deemed by Meshuggah to be a more (or &lt;em&gt;moar&lt;/em&gt;) emphatic statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) in &lt;em&gt;This is Spinal Täp&lt;/em&gt; talking about how his band's amps &quot;go to 11&quot; where ordinary amps only go to 10? &quot;Well, it's louder, innit?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nigel Tufnel&lt;/strong&gt;: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Marty DiBergi&lt;/strong&gt;: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nigel Tufnel&lt;/strong&gt;: Exactly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Marty DiBergi&lt;/strong&gt;: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nigel Tufnel&lt;/strong&gt;: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Marty DiBergi&lt;/strong&gt;: I don't know. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nigel Tufnel&lt;/strong&gt;: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Marty DiBergi&lt;/strong&gt;: Put it up to eleven. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nigel Tufnel&lt;/strong&gt;: Eleven. Exactly. One louder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Marty DiBergi&lt;/strong&gt;: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nigel Tufnel&lt;/strong&gt;: [pause] These go to eleven. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hey, it's only rock 'n' roll ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T17:16:29.290" />
  <row Id="15230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15227" CreationDate="2011-03-05T17:23:30.243" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;catch-22&lt;/em&gt; is not a synonymous to &lt;em&gt;zugzwang&lt;/em&gt;. The first one means a dilemma, or a situation from which there is no escape. &lt;em&gt;Zugzwang&lt;/em&gt;, while it also pertains to difficult situations, is about being in a tight spot because of a specific rule of chess: you have to make a move at your turn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: I don't know about &lt;em&gt;catch-33&lt;/em&gt;, but I am sure to be enlightened by the answers to your other question dealing with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T17:23:30.243" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15227" CreationDate="2011-03-05T17:23:46.490" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. &lt;em&gt;Zugzwang&lt;/em&gt; is a chess term (as I suspect you may already know) meaning a state in the game when a player can't make a move without ruining his position: no alternative is acceptable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You know what &lt;em&gt;Catch-22&lt;/em&gt; means, as you demonstrate in your previous question. And you asked about &lt;em&gt;Catch-33&lt;/em&gt; there as well. Maybe you should wait until you are satisfied with an answer there and then compare those ideas to the chess term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T17:45:39.647" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T17:45:39.647" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15232" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15234" CreationDate="2011-03-05T17:43:50.100" Score="0" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;Subquestioning &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/14861/substitute-for-f-in-emphasizing-disbelief-anger-etc&quot;&gt;&quot;Substitute for F*** in emphasizing disbelief, anger, etc&quot;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How would you substitute the vulgar English word in foreign phrases like in:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1) brand name:&lt;br&gt;&#xA; &lt;a href=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/SUt0S.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Fucking beer&quot;&lt;/a&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2)in village name  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/SUt0S.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T17:51:15.700" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T18:08:22.237" Title="How would you substitute English vulgar words in foreign phrases?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;vulgar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="15233" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15239" CreationDate="2011-03-05T17:51:22.250" Score="4" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of &quot;you made my day&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T17:36:47.343" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T17:36:47.343" Title="Origin of &quot;You made my day!&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15232" CreationDate="2011-03-05T18:08:22.237" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't.  Bowdlerizing actual foreign names because of English-speaker squeamishness is just over so many lines, for me.  If people are in a situation where they need to discuss Fucking, Austria, they just need to learn to deal with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides, if we can learn to handle Bangkok, we can handle anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T18:08:22.237" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14861" CreationDate="2011-03-05T18:12:14.030" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FUBAR&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FUBAR&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Verbally I prefer French &lt;a href=&quot;http://translate.google.com/#fr|en|foutu&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;foutu&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is, by the way, printable word. One can find it in lyrics, for example, in&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://musique.ados.fr/Notre-Dame-De-Paris/Le-Temps-Des-Cathedrales-Bruno-Pelletier-t99643.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Le Temps Des Cathédrales - Bruno Pelletier - Notre-Dame de Paris (comédie musicale)&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In internet (chat, twitter, Email) I usually give/insert the link to multi-media &lt;a href=&quot;http://goo.gl/iT2aq&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Polar Bear&quot;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also my related question  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/15232/how-would-you-substitute-english-vulgar-words-in-foreign-phrases&quot;&gt;&quot;How would you substitute English vulgar words in foreign phrases?&quot;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T05:15:47.963" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T05:15:47.963" />
  <row Id="15236" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15238" CreationDate="2011-03-05T18:36:13.637" Score="4" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does the word &lt;em&gt;realize&lt;/em&gt; always include the process of becoming cognizant of the matter at hand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;e.g. I realize that the iPhone is a popular device.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this mean the speaker become cognizant of this fact upon the statement? Or does he means: I 'know' that ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have this question because I recently came across the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I realize that the iPhone is a popular device but its technical inferiority comparing to others is apparent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does the speaker uses &lt;em&gt;realize&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;be aware&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;understand&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5772" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T19:24:17.960" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T19:24:17.960" Title="Usage of 'realize'" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="15237" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-05T18:46:04.450" Score="0" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1/when-do-i-use-can-could&quot;&gt;When do I use &amp;ldquo;can&amp;rdquo; &amp;amp; &amp;ldquo;could&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;If you could read this, thank your teacher.&quot;&#xA;Or &#xA;&quot;If you can read this, thank your teacher.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does using &quot;could&quot; mean having the ability to read in the past or saying that you might acquire this skill in the future?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can 'could' be used to talk abt the present?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or the more appropriate usage is 'can'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5773" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T18:46:04.450" ClosedDate="2011-03-05T18:48:46.307" Title="Using 'can' vs 'could'" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="15238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15236" CreationDate="2011-03-05T19:01:47.963" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The verb &lt;em&gt;realize&lt;/em&gt; is used to describe the breadth of understanding, not the process of understanding. i.e. &quot;I realize that...&quot; is equivalent to saying &quot;I am well aware that...&quot; or &quot;I completely understand that...&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the speaker had wanted to indicate a sudden onset of understanding, the sentence would read &quot;I suddenly realize that...&quot; or &quot;I have just realized that...&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/realize&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary.reference.com&lt;/a&gt; (with some definitions removed for clarity):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/realize&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;re·al·ize&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; /ˈriəˌlaɪz/ -ized, -iz·ing  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;to grasp or understand clearly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;to make real; give reality to (a hope, fear, plan, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;to bring vividly to the mind&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T19:01:47.963" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15233" CreationDate="2011-03-05T19:09:24.963" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline only has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=make&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a date&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To make (one's) day&lt;/em&gt; is from 1909; menacing &lt;em&gt;make my day&lt;/em&gt; is from 1971, popularized by Clint Eastwood in film &quot;Sudden Impact&quot; (1983). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/gqp0L.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Image courtesy of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_ahead,_make_my_day&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Phrase Finder &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/242000.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;has this&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dirty Harry wasn't the first to use the phrase [&quot;Make my day&quot;] with that meaning [&quot;Carry on with what you are doing — it will give me an excuse to behave badly&quot;] though. It had been spoken earlier by the character Tom Walsh — played by Gary Swanson in the film Vice Squad, 1982. In that film the line was, &quot;Go ahead scumbag, make my day&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, none of this actually answers your question, but I've been reprimanded for posting much less informative stuff as comments rather than answers before, so here goes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T19:09:24.963" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15241" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15247" CreationDate="2011-03-05T19:14:51.620" Score="5" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The fundamental principle of gestalt perception is the law of prägnanz (German for pithiness).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In German, all nouns are capitalized. Should the above text be written as is, or with &quot;the law of Prägnanz&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4727" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T21:21:08.233" Title="Should capitalization be preserved in loanwords?" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;loan-words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14861" CreationDate="2011-03-05T19:17:03.427" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Along the lines of @mvexel's response I use frakking, but before Battlestar Galatica there was &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.farscape.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Farscape&lt;/a&gt;, and from it I took &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://farscape.wikia.com/wiki/Frell&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;frelling&lt;/a&gt;&quot; which I use more than &quot;frakking&quot; or the original.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T19:17:03.427" />
  <row Id="15243" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15252" CreationDate="2011-03-05T19:31:18.373" Score="3" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;I searched on Internet for &lt;em&gt;country fellows&lt;/em&gt;, but I couldn't find definition. What is the origin and the real meaning of &lt;em&gt;country fellows&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5775" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T20:24:37.190" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T11:44:19.473" Title="What does &quot;country fellows&quot; actually mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14603" CreationDate="2011-03-05T19:31:53.523" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about hierarchies?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_analytical_processing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;OLAP&lt;/a&gt; terminology one can have multiple overlapping &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLAP_cube#Hierarchy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hierarchies&lt;/a&gt; with different relationships. This is quite flexible and comfortable approach, I daresay concept &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T19:31:53.523" />
  <row Id="15245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15243" CreationDate="2011-03-05T19:42:59.753" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As adjective, &lt;em&gt;fellow&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;being of the same kind, group, occupation, society, or locality&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They urged the troops not to fire on their fellow citizens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Fellows&lt;/em&gt; can be used as noun to mean &quot;who is of the same kind, group, occupation, society or locality&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Informally, &lt;em&gt;fellow&lt;/em&gt; means also &quot;man or boy&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Example taken from the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T19:42:59.753" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2975" CreationDate="2011-03-05T19:47:15.007" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;guru, MVP (Microsoft Valuable Professional), nerd, extrovert&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T19:47:15.007" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15241" CreationDate="2011-03-05T19:53:39.197" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English, only proper nouns and (most of the) adjectives derived from proper nouns are capitalized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question is similar to the one asking if diacritics of loan-words should be kept as in the original language. There is who writes &lt;em&gt;deja vu&lt;/em&gt;, who writes &lt;em&gt;déjà vu&lt;/em&gt;, who writes &lt;em&gt;gestalt&lt;/em&gt;, and who writes &lt;em&gt;Gestalt&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;More time passes from the moment the word has been introduced, the more probable is the word is written how an English word is written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T19:53:39.197" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15227" CreationDate="2011-03-05T19:54:52.630" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Zugzwang&lt;/em&gt;, although it is usually defined otherwise, means that you are already losing and it will become obvious after your next move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Catch-22&lt;/em&gt; is about the paradoxes of military life, in particular the impossibility of benefiting from a provision to protect the insane described in the book, and is used for other cases in life where the preconditions for something make it impossible to obtain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Catch-33&lt;/em&gt; is simply a play on Catch-22 and means whatever its user wants it to mean; in Meshuggah's case it allowed them to nod towards Heller's book in their album title without attempting to cover it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T19:54:52.630" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15241" CreationDate="2011-03-05T20:07:24.257" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As noted, it is related to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/13343&quot;&gt;whether loanwords from latin script languages should keep their diacritics&lt;/a&gt; when used in English. The answer is actually rather similar, too: as usage increase, and the word will be considered more and more “standard” to use in English, capitalization will diminue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I think that non-capitalization is even more favoured than not using diacritics, as it disrupts the normal flow of text even more. For example, in your example, if I were to read “the law of &lt;em&gt;prägnanz&lt;/em&gt;”, I'd look the term up as being of foreign origin. If it were “the law of Prägnanz”, I'd simply assume it's the name of a place (city, province, Land&lt;sup&gt;[1]&lt;/sup&gt;, …).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To give some numbers to back this up: over the first 60 hits of &lt;em&gt;schadenfreude&lt;/em&gt; returned by the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/em&gt;, 16 have the noun capitalized, and the remaining 44 have it lowercase. This is almost a 3:1 ratio, exhibiting a clear trend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/13343&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt; This is funny, because it's actually one case where I would keep the capitalization as all cost. If you say “the regulation is specific to this Land”, losing the upercase L would make things very different, as ‘land’ is a word in its own right in English!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T21:21:08.233" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T21:21:08.233" />
  <row Id="15250" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15260" CreationDate="2011-03-05T20:14:15.853" Score="4" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does it mean to say, &quot;Everyone in this city has 2.1 kids&quot;? Is this an idiom?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1928" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T21:32:34.073" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T22:57:29.823" Title="Meaning of the expression &quot;2.1 kids&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="15251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15250" CreationDate="2011-03-05T20:15:04.747" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's an ironic expression of an average as if it were an actual number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5450" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T20:15:04.747" />
  <row Id="15252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15243" CreationDate="2011-03-05T20:15:59.287" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most common meaning is &lt;em&gt;people (friends) from the same country (nation)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to the multiple meanings of both &lt;em&gt;country&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;fellows&lt;/em&gt;, it could take other meanings in certain situations. &lt;em&gt;Country&lt;/em&gt; could be a nation, it could be the countryside i.e. non-urban regions, or it could be the music style Country and Western. &lt;em&gt;Fellows&lt;/em&gt; could mean friends, but also just a group of persons. There is for example a Country and Western band called &lt;em&gt;Country Fellows&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="3365" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T06:14:21.490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T06:14:21.490" />
  <row Id="15253" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15254" CreationDate="2011-03-05T20:34:55.153" Score="3" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a difference between 'mysterious' and 'perplexing' when used with regard to some unexplained phenomena?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T21:31:53.230" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T02:17:57.467" Title="&quot;Mysterious&quot; vs. &quot;Perplexing&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;semantics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15253" CreationDate="2011-03-05T20:45:40.433" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;mystery&lt;/strong&gt; is something you do not understand, probably because it is (very) difficult to understand based on what you know about it; you may or may not care about this lack of understanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a phenomenon is &lt;strong&gt;perplexing&lt;/strong&gt;, you are emotionally moved because you have come upon a phenomenon that you do not understand: you might be merely very surprised, or possibly annoyed owing to your failure to understand, or (rarely) pleasantly surprised. Perplexity is mostly a stronger version of surprise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T20:51:37.367" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T20:51:37.367" />
  <row Id="15255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15253" CreationDate="2011-03-05T20:54:52.607" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mysterious refers to a vague unknown, with an implication that there is something exotic, maybe even dangerous going on. You don't necessarily want to find out what it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perplexing refers to something more specific, something like a puzzle you want to solve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3244" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T20:54:52.607" />
  <row Id="15256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15250" CreationDate="2011-03-05T21:14:31.610" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h1&gt;2.1 Kids: Stable Population&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBS6f-JVvTY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBS6f-JVvTY&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: Not necessarily reflecting my personal views.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T21:14:31.610" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15149" CreationDate="2011-03-05T21:57:19.797" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Robusto points out, the most basic definition of &lt;em&gt;cub&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;young offspring&lt;/em&gt;, and it is used in reference to those of some common wild animals, such as lions (and other felines), bears, foxes, hyenas, etc. &lt;em&gt;Cub&lt;/em&gt; can also be compounded with the name of an animal for specificity, e.g. &lt;em&gt;lion-cub&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;bear-cub&lt;/em&gt;, and so forth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some parts of the English-speaking world, the word &lt;em&gt;cub&lt;/em&gt; is also used in a similar sense for a boy scout in the making; hence, the term &lt;em&gt;cub scout&lt;/em&gt;. Cubs or cub scouts have to work hard to earn points and gain a certain level of maturity before Akela can declare them boy scouts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T21:57:19.797" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14577" CreationDate="2011-03-05T22:14:09.343" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question's more like a starting point for philosophical, linguistic, and other research. No kidding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're right about the 'thinginess'. Anyway, humans just do what they can and try some more with language. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's start with an issue you may find interesting, I hope: nominalizations in English and many other languages most often allow to leave out the agent, patient, and other participants: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Killing&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;a sell&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;a visit&lt;/em&gt; doesn't say who, whom, when, where. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's one reason why excessive nominalization can be used in malicious ways. ('Nominalstil', if you want to adopt a German term)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's hard to say in general when useful flexible constructions get misleading. Mostly because verbs are so complicated, allowing for many different roles expressed by noun phrases, prepositions, dependent clauses and some more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for my alluding overgeneral formulations. There's no short answer to your question for all I know about linguistics. Perhaps I read and heard too much on those issues. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, verbalizations (&lt;em&gt;to hammer&lt;/em&gt;, (&lt;em&gt;to mouse&lt;/em&gt; as a cat or on a computer) are a totally different beast: the noun names a class of referents which nearly always fulfills a single role. The fun is you can't say which role just by looking at the noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5275" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T22:14:09.343" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15107" CreationDate="2011-03-05T22:41:10.693" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a formula: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;another = an + other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Think of it as of an article plus the word &quot;other&quot; that have historically merged into one word.&#xA;Grammar requires some article before &quot;other book&quot;; either &quot;the&quot; or &quot;a.&quot; Depending on the context, you get either &quot;You need to buy the other book&quot; (if, for instance, the guy bought only the first book out of the set of two) or &quot;You need to buy an_other book&quot; (any other).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5425" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T22:41:10.693" />
  <row Id="15260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15250" CreationDate="2011-03-05T22:42:53.233" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means that the people in the city is stereotypically average-like, with a humorous twist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Famililes in a region may have 2.1 kids by average. Saying that each familiy literally have 2.1 kids implies that they are average-like to absurdity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T22:42:53.233" />
  <row Id="15261" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-05T22:48:57.507" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12632/is-it-a-good-practice-to-refer-to-countries-ships-etc-using-the-feminine-form&quot;&gt;Is it a good practice to refer to countries, ships etc using the feminine form?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My English teacher asked me which third-person personal pronoun is used for the word &quot;ship&quot;. I answered &quot;it&quot;, since a ship is an object. He told me I was wrong and that it was &quot;she&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, I have seen &quot;ship&quot; being referred to as &quot;she&quot; many times but I have always thought it was some kind of poetic thing, not a grammatical rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;ship&quot; really a feminine word or are both of them correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2740" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T22:48:57.507" ClosedDate="2011-03-05T23:20:45.197" Title="Is &quot;ship&quot; a feminine word?" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;&lt;gender&gt;" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="15262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15250" CreationDate="2011-03-05T22:57:29.823" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a phrase in common use to mean a stereotypically average family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There was a situation comedy on British TV a few years back called &quot;2.4 Children&quot; which got its title from the average size of a British family (family sizes vary from country to country). They obviously didn't have 2.4 children, unless you count the Dad acting childish 40% of the time, but the title was meant to imply that the family were average in every way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2819" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T22:57:29.823" />
  <row Id="15263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15226" CreationDate="2011-03-05T23:04:27.130" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does their album involve guns? (I notice it refers to nuclear warfare)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, maybe it's a reference to .33 caliber guns, like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_martial_of_Breaker_Morant#The_Visser_case&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rule 303&lt;/a&gt; refers to .303 caliber guns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T23:04:27.130" />
  <row Id="15264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15088" CreationDate="2011-03-05T23:12:09.730" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the first sentence, it seems that the subject of the first clause is different from the subject of the second clause. I would use it in a context where it is clear the subject of the sentence is only one.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Apart that, both the sentences have the same meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T23:12:09.730" />
  <row Id="15265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15139" CreationDate="2011-03-06T00:02:49.773" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a classic example of a misplaced modifier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5780" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T00:02:49.773" />
  <row Id="15266" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-06T00:14:37.243" Score="6" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is this phenomenon called?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it common in all English-speaking countries?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5781" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T03:55:00.703" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T03:55:00.703" Title="Omission of &quot;and&quot; in headlines" Tags="&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15266" CreationDate="2011-03-06T00:28:41.143" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Headlines, like speech, tweets, and book titles, are often not made of full, grammatical sentences. It's a method of saving space while retaining readability; the &quot;and&quot; is usually replaced by a comma, as in &quot;Site Answers Questions about Cooking, English, Gaming&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastEditorUserId="161" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T00:47:12.710" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T00:47:12.710" />
  <row Id="15269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15266" CreationDate="2011-03-06T00:40:56.690" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The omission of conjunctions is officially called &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;asyndeton&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Greek &lt;em&gt;deo&lt;/em&gt; = &quot;to tie, to bind&quot; (just like Latin &lt;em&gt;iungo&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;conjunction&lt;/em&gt;); &lt;em&gt;syn&lt;/em&gt; = &quot;together (with)&quot;; &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; = &quot;non-&quot;. A &lt;em&gt;syndeton&lt;/em&gt; is a conjunction; &lt;em&gt;asyndeton&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;non-conjunction&quot;. That is what the omission of conjunctions for rhetorical effect or otherwise has been called since Antiquity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe it is quite common in most European languages, both in headlines for brevity and in literature as a figure of speech. It can also be a natural and quite neutral feature of ordinary texts, with hardly any special effect. You will find it in speech as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T00:49:34.007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T00:49:34.007" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15243" CreationDate="2011-03-06T01:02:28.607" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There appears to be a band by this name; in that context it probably means &quot;fellows from the country&quot;, i.e. men or friends from the countryside. This probably refers to Country music.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other than that, I think this word is only used by non-native speakers, as a variation of &quot;fellow countrymen&quot;: I do not believe this to be an actual native English word or expression. I have only found it on foreign websites whose English was of questionable quality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T11:44:19.473" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T11:44:19.473" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15139" CreationDate="2011-03-06T01:34:29.397" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those are examples of double entendres.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5175" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T01:34:29.397" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="15272" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15227" CreationDate="2011-03-06T01:36:10.760" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While zugzwang is predominantly a chess term, it is also occasionally used metaphorically for real-life situations where whoever makes the next move is left at a disadvantage. This doesn't mean quite the same thing as a Catch-22, although it's similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5754" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T01:36:10.760" />
  <row Id="15273" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-06T01:45:08.523" Score="5" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider these two sentences: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A Scranton family has an average of 2.1 children.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The average Scranton family has 2.1 children. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen both used. The first one seems reasonable, but the second &#xA;one seems wrong because you're applying average to &lt;em&gt;family&lt;/em&gt;, not to &#xA;numbers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, saying &quot;the Jones are an average family&quot; seems legitimate, but  if the Jones have 2.1 children, they're anything but average. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the second sentence gramatically correct? Is it understood to mean &#xA;the same as the first sentence? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inspired by: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/15250/meaning-of-the-expression-2-1-kids&quot;&gt;Meaning of the expression &quot;2.1 kids&quot;&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3065" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T02:11:39.483" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T03:53:42.143" Title="The &quot;average family&quot; vs the &quot;family average&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15273" CreationDate="2011-03-06T02:06:21.153" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you pointed out, the two sentences would typically be interpreted as having the same meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A Scranton family has an average of&#xA;  2.1 children.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The average Scranton family has 2.1&#xA;  children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The prototypical (average) family has 2.1 children.  &quot;The average family&quot; in this case is a non-existent family, one whose properties are &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; equal to the statistical mean of the implied domain.  This is a construct used for some statistical analysis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Jones are an average family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of &quot;average family&quot; in this case means that this &lt;em&gt;specific&lt;/em&gt; family is not an extraordinary case.  Their properties are probably &lt;em&gt;close&lt;/em&gt; to the statistical mean.  However this is very much dependent on context.  Perhaps the Jones are average with respect to income but not necessarily number of children.  Using this phrase would not indicate that the Jones family has &lt;em&gt;exactly&lt;/em&gt; 2.1 children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5644" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T02:06:21.153" />
  <row Id="15275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15273" CreationDate="2011-03-06T02:09:03.870" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the first sentence, &lt;em&gt;average&lt;/em&gt; refers to the the result obtained by adding together all the children in Scranton, and dividing this total with the number of families in Scranton.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In the second sentence, &lt;em&gt;average family&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;an ordinary family&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both sentences are grammatically correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T03:53:42.143" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T03:53:42.143" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15276" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15278" CreationDate="2011-03-06T02:14:07.797" Score="11" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;Lately I've noticed increasing usage of the phrase &quot;free reign&quot;. Is this a legitimate usage of the word &quot;reign&quot;, or is this a corruption of the phrase &quot;free rein&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been dismissing usages of &quot;free reign&quot; as grammatical errors, but I'm beginning to see this phrase used even in print, so I'm questioning my initial dismissal of this phrase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5206" LastEditorUserId="2249" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T14:56:12.480" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T14:56:12.480" Title="Is this usage of &quot;reign&quot; correct?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15253" CreationDate="2011-03-06T02:17:57.467" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Perplexing&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;completely impossible to understand&quot;, while &lt;em&gt;mysterious&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;difficult or impossible to understand, explain, or identify&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is a perplexing problem.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  His colleague had vanished in mysterious circumstances.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  She is a mysterious woman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T02:17:57.467" />
  <row Id="15278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15276" CreationDate="2011-03-06T02:25:02.017" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports the following note, in the definition of &lt;em&gt;reign&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The correct idiomatic phrase is free rein, not free reign.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the definition of &lt;em&gt;rein&lt;/em&gt;, the dictionary adds the following notes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The idiomatic phrase &lt;em&gt;a free rein&lt;/em&gt;, which derives from the literal meaning of using reins to control a horse, is sometimes misinterpreted and written as &lt;em&gt;a free reign&lt;/em&gt;. More than a third of the citations for the phrase in the Oxford English Corpus use &lt;em&gt;reign&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;rein&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grammatically speaking, both the phrases would be correct, but the idiomatic phrase should be &lt;em&gt;free rein&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T02:25:02.017" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15279" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-06T03:21:51.840" Score="0" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;I could not find any &quot;33&quot; (or &quot;thirty-three&quot;) by search&lt;br&gt;&#xA;but I, somehow, used to say &quot;33 troubles (or misfortunes)&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where did it came to my head from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, I found: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sayingsofthesalaf.net/index.php/a-penny-worth-thirty-three/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;A Penny worth Thirty-Three&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ka’b Al-Ahbâr – Allâh have mercy on&#xA;  him – said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would rather fornicate thirty-three&#xA;  times than consume a dirham of usury&#xA;  while Allâh knows that I knowingly&#xA;  consumed it as usury&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I am not sure - is it in English at all? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is quite unexpected usage and meaning&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What does it mean in saying and in example?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;33&quot; used/comprehensible in English?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;and in which meaning?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="2386" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T04:51:45.053" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T11:56:46.417" ClosedDate="2011-03-07T14:53:11.923" Title="Is &quot;33&quot; used in English sayings?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;catch-phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="15280" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-06T03:55:43.397" Score="3" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;And what does it mean?  When I first started hearing someone using it a few years ago, I figured it was a personal spin on &quot;agree sometimes&quot;, but apparently, he's not the only one who uses this phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Clarified to indicate that &quot;I tend to agree that/with...&quot; makes complete sense. It's when people say, &quot;I tend to agree.&quot;, period. That's what strikes me as strange to say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2945" LastEditorUserId="2945" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:03:37.550" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:03:37.550" Title="Where did &quot;I tend to agree.&quot; as a standalone statement originate?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4871" CreationDate="2011-03-06T04:13:29.357" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Giving blanket advice about contractions in &quot;formal&quot; writing is impossible because norms differ by discipline or purpose. When using contractions &lt;em&gt;doesn't&lt;/em&gt; breach the specific governing norms, you should pursue the greatest clarity and concision, achieved by &lt;em&gt;avoiding&lt;/em&gt; expanded verbs that are ordinarily contracted. I discuss this in depth in &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://tinyurl.com/4txemh2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The celebration of informality and the unsettled status of contractions.&lt;/a&gt;&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5783" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T04:13:29.357" />
  <row Id="15282" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-06T04:52:04.280" Score="2" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used the phrase &quot;open-and-shut&quot; today, as in, &quot;It's not an open-and-shut case&quot;, meaning that the item under discussion has not been decided and the outcome is not obvious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think I've ever heard the positive, only the negative. &quot;It's not an open-and-shut case&quot; seems to be the idiomatic way to use the phrase. I'm curious:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What's the origin of &quot;open-and-shut&quot;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What's the origin of the idiomatic usage, &quot;not an open-and-shut case&quot;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="154" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T06:36:05.657" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T07:05:34.247" Title="Origin of phrase &quot;open-and-shut&quot; as in &quot;it's not an open-and-shut case&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="15283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15279" CreationDate="2011-03-06T04:53:43.333" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thirty-three doesn't hold any particular significance in English that I can think of.  It isn't a number that's widely used -- which makes it curious that there is also a question about Catch-33 on EL&amp;amp;U at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T11:56:46.417" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T11:56:46.417" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15284" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-06T04:56:00.803" Score="0" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;Coming from &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8767/changes-in-english-names-of-people&quot;&gt;&quot;Changes in English names of people&quot;&lt;/a&gt;  telling:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Richard → Dick&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I substitute Dick by Richard?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I need it to know because my Emails with the use of name Dick are being returned by Email filtering as obscene      &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or what is substitute for name Dick?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I already asked it before but my question was deleted  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Why is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Cheney&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dick Cheney&lt;/a&gt;, former Vice President of the USA, is always written/addresses everywhere in a tone of familiarity?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How can I call/address him without a tone of familiarity by a synonymous name?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, I should address Dick Cheney as Richard Cheney instead?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Have I understood correctly the answers?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T07:08:15.653" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T07:08:15.653" Title="What is another name for Dick?" Tags="&lt;names&gt;&lt;vulgar&gt;&lt;nicknames&gt;&lt;obscenity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15285" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15296" CreationDate="2011-03-06T04:58:00.693" Score="8" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;A book suggests that we should not interchange &quot;so&quot; and &quot;so that&quot;. &quot;So&quot; means &quot;therefore&quot;, and &quot;so that&quot; means &quot;in order that&quot;. However, it seems to me that in many cases they don't actually have a difference. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Alice got up at 5:00 A.M., &lt;strong&gt;so that&lt;/strong&gt; she could drive her son to school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I substitute &quot;so that&quot; with &quot;so&quot;, this sentence presents the exact same causal relation to me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Alice got up at 5:00 A.M., &lt;strong&gt;so&lt;/strong&gt; she could drive her son to school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I must have missed something here, since English is my second language. Could somebody explain the difference? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5648" LastEditorUserId="5725" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T08:51:26.963" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T00:50:42.817" Title="Are &quot;so&quot; and &quot;so that&quot; interchangeable?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15280" CreationDate="2011-03-06T05:01:18.707" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It isn't so much 'agree sometimes' as 'agree somewhat' - often with an undertone of reluctance to agree.  It can, obviously, depend on context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I tend to agree with the people who resist raising taxes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I tend to agree that the club should incur the expense, but I'm not completely sure yet.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T05:01:18.707" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15280" CreationDate="2011-03-06T05:12:45.090" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tend&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;be inclined&quot;, &quot;feel willing or favorably disposed&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She tends to believe I can get that job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The origin of the word is middle 14th century, from the Old French &lt;em&gt;tendre&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T05:12:45.090" />
  <row Id="15288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15285" CreationDate="2011-03-06T05:22:50.697" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;So that&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;with the result that&quot;, &quot;with the aim that&quot;, &quot;in order that&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was overgrown with brambles, so that she had difficulty making any progress.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  They whisper to each other so that no one else can hear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;So&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;to such a great extent&quot;, &quot;extremely&quot;, &quot;very much&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As conjunction, it means &quot;and for this reason&quot;, &quot;therefore&quot;, &quot;and then&quot;; it is also used to introduce a question, or a concluding statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She looked so pretty.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  She likes it so.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  She is not so foolish as to believe that.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  It was still painful, so I went to see a specialist.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  So, what is her name?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  So that is the reason.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  So you are free.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You cannot replace &lt;em&gt;so&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;so that&lt;/em&gt; without changing the meaning of the sentence, or without changing the rest of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T00:50:42.817" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T00:50:42.817" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15289" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-06T05:44:31.703" Score="-2" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8131/why-does-integrity-mean-honesty&quot;&gt;Why does integrity mean honesty?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Subquestioning &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8131/why-does-integrity-mean-honesty&quot;&gt;&quot;Why does integrity mean honesty?&quot;&lt;/a&gt;:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never thought that &quot;integrity&quot; is synonym of &quot;honesty&quot; but rather as antonym to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissociative_identity_disorder&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dissociative Identity Disorder&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/multiple+personality+disorder&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Multiple Personality Disorder&lt;/a&gt; !   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Just tonight I was watching &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downton_Abbey&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Downton Abbey&quot;&lt;/a&gt; &#xA;in which, I believe, I've heard the phrase:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;a man of integrity and honesty&quot; (or honor)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would have been strange to say &quot; a man of honesty and honesty&quot;, &#xA;have &quot;integrity&quot; been synonym to &quot;honesty&quot;    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update2&lt;/strong&gt;, @psmears,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Let me give you an example of a person who satisfied &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/15289/isnt-integrity-antonym-to-multiple-personality/15341#15341&quot;&gt;all mentioned by you in your answer criteria&lt;/a&gt;,&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;was honest and by your definition was a man of integrity and by my definition was not a man of integrity (because he had psychic disorders from childhood)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;That person was Hitler having very good principles:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he was a vegetarian, did not eat meat;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;loved animals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;did not smoke (and chose non-smoking staff), &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;did not drink alcoholic drink and could not bear anyone drinking), &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;loved arts, painted himself, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;was very charming and supporting person, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;loved his country, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;insisted on suppressing violence as method of taking a power,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;he did not lie or hide his intentions, even more - he made them the principles of his country and people  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T18:35:49.333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:35:49.333" ClosedDate="2011-03-07T15:11:08.497" Title="Isn't &quot;integrity&quot; antonym to &quot;Multiple Personality&quot;?" Tags="&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15290" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15295" CreationDate="2011-03-06T05:54:40.940" Score="1" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should not the &quot;personality&quot; have been pluralized in &lt;a href=&quot;http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/multiple+personality+disorder&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Multiple Personality Disorder&quot;&lt;/a&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the single usage of &quot;personality&quot; with prepending &quot;multiple&quot; a professional jargon or it is the correct English usage?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T10:54:13.803" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T12:56:53.493" Title="Is single usage of &quot;personality&quot; in &quot;Multiple Personality&quot; jargon or correct English?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15289" CreationDate="2011-03-06T06:00:54.113" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the usage where integrity means honesty, it comes from a meaning that what you communicate and your actions/intentions are coherent with each other, forming a whole that has the property of integrity.  If you wanted to speak of the sort of integrity that the disorders you mention are antonymic to, it would be clearer that that's what you mean if you used a phrase like &lt;em&gt;mental integrity&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;psychic integrity&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T06:00:54.113" />
  <row Id="15292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8131" CreationDate="2011-03-06T06:01:30.367" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the usage where integrity means honesty, it comes from a meaning that what you communicate and your actions/intentions are coherent with each other, forming a whole that has the property of integrity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T06:01:30.367" />
  <row Id="15293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15284" CreationDate="2011-03-06T06:04:17.353" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure I understand your question. Are you looking for other nicknames for Richard because an (over-zealous) obscenity filter choked on Dick? If so, some possibilities include Rich, Richie, Rick, or Ricky. If you want, you could even try resurrecting some now-obsolete nicknames: Hitch, Hick, Dickon, Ricket, Hicket, or Hudde. (I got these from &lt;em&gt;The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names&lt;/em&gt; by E.G. Withycombe, under Richard.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5548" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T06:04:17.353" />
  <row Id="15294" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-06T06:24:20.893" Score="0" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5174/what-is-the-difference-between-good-and-well&quot;&gt;What is the difference between &amp;ldquo;good&amp;rdquo; and &amp;ldquo;well&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When should I use &lt;strong&gt;well&lt;/strong&gt;, and when should I use &lt;strong&gt;good&lt;/strong&gt; in a sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5787" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T06:37:28.027" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T06:37:28.027" ClosedDate="2011-03-06T08:47:38.663" Title="When should I use &quot;well&quot;, and when should I use &quot;good&quot; in a sentence?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="15295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15290" CreationDate="2011-03-06T06:29:09.983" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In compound adjectives of this kind, where the first element is a number (or, as in this case, a numeric adjective), the second element is indeed always in singular form. Examples include &lt;em&gt;three-dog night&lt;/em&gt; (a night so cold that you have to curl up with three dogs for warmth), &lt;em&gt;Six-Party Talks&lt;/em&gt; (about North Korea, a few years back), &lt;em&gt;seven-layer cake&lt;/em&gt;, and so forth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T06:29:09.983" />
  <row Id="15296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15285" CreationDate="2011-03-06T06:44:35.510" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are wondering about the difference between the two sentences, the first states Alice's reason for waking up early, while the second implies that she was successful in her intention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not a distinction always observed by native speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is confusing, because &quot;so&quot; (when used as a conjunction) can mean &quot;therefore&quot; or can be an abbreviated form of &quot;so that&quot; (meaning &quot;in order that.&quot;) In this way &quot;so&quot; has two distinct but similar meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Subjectively I would say that using &quot;so&quot; in place of &quot;so that&quot; sounds a little informal and maybe a tiny bit childish, but is fine in conversational contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5788" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T06:44:35.510" />
  <row Id="15297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15284" CreationDate="2011-03-06T06:49:49.430" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Richard is the safest one. The others assume a tone of familiarity that may be unwelcome (or are just outright bizarre.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5788" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T06:49:49.430" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15282" CreationDate="2011-03-06T07:05:34.247" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=open-and-shut&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Open-and-shut&lt;/em&gt; &quot;simple, straightforward&quot; first recorded 1841 in New Orleans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No further information on the origin of this phrase is available from the other sources I checked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Open-and-shut&lt;/em&gt; is certainly used in the positive sense. In fact, &lt;em&gt;open-and-shut case&lt;/em&gt; is a common expression. Two examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4370&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;An Open-and-Shut Issue on Cruise Ships&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/19/opinion/la-ed-dcfs-20101219&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;An open-and-shut case&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/sports/golf/2003-04-09-club-policies_x.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Golf's host clubs have open-and-shut policies on discrimination&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I also discovered that this phrase (&lt;em&gt;open-and-shut&lt;/em&gt;) is extremely popular in golfing circles (think &lt;em&gt;Open&lt;/em&gt;) with the hyphens dropped (&lt;em&gt;open and shut&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Open and shut&lt;/em&gt;). Examples (headlines):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://davidhbarrett.com/golf/golf/personalities/207/some-open-and-shut-rules-cases/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Some Open and shut Rules cases&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/golf/article-1295796/MARTIN-SAMUEL-The-Open-shut-case-Louis-Oosthuizen-shows-charm-runner-join-golfs-history-men.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Open and shut case: Louis Oosthuizen shows the charm of a front-runner...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.middletownpress.com/articles/2010/07/28/sports/doc4c50d72807da5805255587.txt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;It’s an Open and shut case for Gallo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/devil_ball_golf/post/The-gospel-according-to-Gulbis-Open-and-shut?urn=golf-175511&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The gospel according to Gulbis: Open and shut&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/golf/woods-wins-first-open-and-shut-championship-708692.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Woods wins first Open and Shut Championship&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T07:05:34.247" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15285" CreationDate="2011-03-06T08:40:47.343" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They aren't interchangeable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;so&quot; is ambiguous, meaning both &lt;code&gt;therefore&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;in order that&lt;/code&gt;, but &quot;so that&quot; isn't. Every occurrence of &quot;so that&quot; can be replaced with &quot;so&quot; without losing meanings, but &lt;strong&gt;not vice versa&lt;/strong&gt;. For instance,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You are a bachelor, so you are a man.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;so&quot; means &lt;em&gt;therefore&lt;/em&gt; in this context. It doesn't make sense replacing &quot;so&quot; with &quot;so that&quot;, the latter of which means &quot;in order that&quot;. You are a bachelor in order to be a man? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: If two words can only be replaced with each other in &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; cases, your example being one of them, but not all, are they really interchangeable?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5725" LastEditorUserId="5725" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T17:05:38.513" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T17:05:38.513" />
  <row Id="15300" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-06T09:02:18.533" Score="1" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's a good book (Or resource) on Literary Techniques/Devices in English Literature?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T11:18:41.750" Title="A Good Resource (Book, ...) For Literary Techniques/Devices?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;technical&gt;&lt;literature&gt;&lt;resource&gt;&lt;literary-techniques&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="15301" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-06T09:16:44.027" Score="3" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;(I'm not really sure if the title is a correct definition of my problem at all)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a native English speaker, and I'm used to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Spaghetti suddenly can talk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I've seen a phrase from a native speaker&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Spaghetti can suddenly talk&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to rush to conclusions based on one example, so please tell me what's the correct way to say such sentences and how incorrect is the other way (informal or maybe rough error)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5791" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T21:10:02.540" Title="Auxiliary verb and adverb ordering" Tags="&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;auxiliary-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15301" CreationDate="2011-03-06T10:33:42.353" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ignoring the fact that nobody would suggest that spaghetti can talk, suddenly or not, the phrases &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Suddenly spaghetti can talk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Spaghetti suddenly can talk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;mean that there is a sudden change after which spaghetti are able to talk.  By contrast the natural meaning of &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Spaghetti can talk suddenly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;should mean that spaghetti are able to talk in a sudden manner.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common form &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Spaghetti can suddenly talk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is slightly ambiguous between the two, but probably is usually intended to take the former meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The four phrases are correct, though the most common is also most ambiguous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T12:38:59.390" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T12:38:59.390" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15303" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15304" CreationDate="2011-03-06T10:47:33.050" Score="5" ViewCount="296" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know a male ass is a &lt;em&gt;jackass&lt;/em&gt;, but what is a female ass called? Perusal of the internet suggests &lt;em&gt;jillass&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;janeass&lt;/em&gt;, but I haven't found what might be called an authoritative source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T23:13:39.783" Title="What is a female ass called?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15303" CreationDate="2011-03-06T10:59:08.950" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;jenny&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_%28donkey%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3593" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T10:59:08.950" />
  <row Id="15305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15300" CreationDate="2011-03-06T11:18:41.750" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For rhetorical devices (anaphora, isocolon, chiasmus, metanoia, etc.) I recommend &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_42?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&amp;amp;field-keywords=ward+farnsworth+classical+english+rhetoric&amp;amp;sprefix=ward+farnsworth+classical+english+rhetoric&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Classical English Rhetoric&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Ward Farnsworth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For other literary devices (synecdoche, alliteration, prosody, etc.) I recommend &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0199208271&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Chris Baldick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T11:18:41.750" />
  <row Id="15306" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15307" CreationDate="2011-03-06T11:38:26.157" Score="4" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;In his poem &quot;If I Were Tickled By the Rub of Love&quot;, Dylan Thomas refers to &quot;Jack of Christ&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;And what's the rub? Death's feather on the nerve?&#xA;Your mouth, my love, the thistle in the kiss?&#xA;My Jack of Christ born thorny on the tree?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I've heard &lt;em&gt;jack&lt;/em&gt; used to mean a man (&quot;every man-jack&quot;, etc) and Etymonline says it is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Used generically of men (jack-of-all-trades, 1610s), male animals (1620s, see jackass, jackdaw, etc.), and male personifications (1520s, e.g. Jack Frost).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand the line to be talking about a representation of Jesus, but I'm trying to get at how common the expression is. If it's a common substitution for Jesus Christ I think it's probably less intentionally profane than if Dylan Thomas had coined the usage here to mean just another human being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do speakers of British English use &quot;Jack of Christ&quot; as even a rough synonym for Jesus Christ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T12:01:58.720" Title="Is &quot;Jack of Christ&quot; a common Britishism for Jesus Christ?" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;euphemisms&gt;&lt;vernacular&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="15307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15306" CreationDate="2011-03-06T12:01:58.720" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems this is specific use of the term was made up Dylan Thomas specifically for the poem. A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22jack+of+christ%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;search for 'Jack of Christ'&lt;/a&gt; mostly throws up results which are a direct quotation of the poem. Personally, I have never encountered this term being used in British English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4866" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T12:01:58.720" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15308" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15309" CreationDate="2011-03-06T12:38:02.353" Score="4" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unlike my usual questions picked up from newspaper sources, this question regards literature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was asked by one of my friends who is an English enthusiast about the meaning of “speak through one’s nose full of b's and d's.” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase appears in the following sentence in the section of ‘Love and the Ridiculous’ of Agatha Christie’s &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thewinedarksea.com/weblog.php?id=D20101214&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Autobiography&lt;/a&gt;.&#xA;I checked the definition of the phrase in Merriam Webster Dictionary and Cambridge Online Dictionary in vain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can somebody explain the meaning of ‘Speak through one’s nose full of b's and d's’, specifically what does ‘b and d’ represent?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Anyone can admire somebody for being handsome or amusing or charming, but that bubble is soon pricked when a trace of ridicule comes in. I should give as my advice to any girl about to get married: &quot;Well now, just imagine he had a terrible cold in his head, speaking through his nose all full of b's and d's, sneezing, eyes watering. What would you feel about him?&quot; It's a good test, really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T15:17:46.900" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T15:17:46.900" Title="What does Agatha Christie’s line, ‘Speak through one’s nose full of b's and d's’ mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="15309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15308" CreationDate="2011-03-06T12:40:49.793" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When one has a cold, with a stopped-up nose, the letters &lt;em&gt;m&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt; (and &lt;em&gt;v&lt;/em&gt; and others) are not nasalized and so come out as &lt;em&gt;b&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;d&lt;/em&gt; or other sounds. Nasalized, non-stopped phonemes can get dropped entirely, like the &lt;em&gt;l&lt;/em&gt; in the following sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hab a co'd so I ca't talk. [I have a cold so I can't talk.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the following sentence, the &lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt; becomes a &lt;em&gt;d&lt;/em&gt; and the &lt;em&gt;m&lt;/em&gt; sounds turn into &lt;em&gt;b&lt;/em&gt; sounds:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whed are you beeting be for breakfast? [When are you meeting me for breakfast.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And so on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T12:49:51.140" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T12:49:51.140" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15303" CreationDate="2011-03-06T12:44:17.557" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;a jenny ass&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/jenny+ass&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/jenny+ass&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4832" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T12:44:17.557" />
  <row Id="15311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15290" CreationDate="2011-03-06T12:56:53.493" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also see &quot;toothbrush,&quot; &quot;orange grove,&quot; and &quot;tool box.&quot; As Alex says above, compound constructions generally agree in number, such that if one item is singular (brush, grove, box), the other will agree with it even though referring to multiple items.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T12:56:53.493" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15301" CreationDate="2011-03-06T13:19:22.913" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The formal rule is that adverbs follow verbs, so that traditionally, &quot;__ suddenly can &lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;&quot; would be considered a fault. There was quite a lengthy discussion following the popularity of the TV series &lt;em&gt;Star Trek&lt;/em&gt; because of the opening monologue's wording:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To boldly go where no man has gone&#xA;  before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This outraged many language purists who insisted that &quot;to go boldly&quot; is the only permissible form. Even today, many still adhere to the rule. Some editors maintain that there is a matter of logic at work; namely, that a subject can &quot;do&quot; a verb in some way, but that a subject cannot &quot;perform&quot; an adverb. [Edit: To clarify per a comment below, the subject of adverb ordering and logic often arises in discussions of splitting infinitives, which are usually split with adverbs.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the examples given by Henry above is incorrect: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Suddenly Spaghetti can talk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is possible only if &quot;suddenly&quot; is set off with a comma, as it is phrasal. Finally, &quot;can suddenly&quot; is idiomatic, i.e., what sounds natural to the native ear because the alveolar 'n' glides smoothly to the sibilant 's.' The reverse is awkward to the palate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastEditorUserId="5262" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T21:10:02.540" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T21:10:02.540" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15313" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15316" CreationDate="2011-03-06T13:39:48.690" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, is &quot;they gave the same rating to the movie&quot; a proper usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2582" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T00:20:42.483" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T00:20:42.483" Title="Is it correct to use &quot;giving rating&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15314" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15315" CreationDate="2011-03-06T13:46:35.833" Score="3" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;who attempted to make sense of every &lt;strong&gt;sphere of&lt;/strong&gt; social life&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T13:56:14.777" Title="Meaning of 'sphere of'" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15315" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15314" CreationDate="2011-03-06T13:50:10.667" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sphere&lt;/em&gt; here is another word for domain or or area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2&lt;/strong&gt; an area of activity, interest, or expertise : &lt;em&gt;his new wife's skill in the domestic sphere.&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  • a section of society or an aspect of life distinguished and unified by a particular characteristic : &lt;em&gt;political reforms to match those in the economic&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From the NOAD.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T13:56:14.777" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T13:56:14.777" />
  <row Id="15316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15313" CreationDate="2011-03-06T14:03:02.007" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can say of two banks that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They gave the same rates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you would be slightly more likely to say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They offered the same rates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for &quot;a giving rate&quot; that is an exceedingly odd construction. You might refer to &quot;a given rate&quot; but that would be in a different context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit (after much colloquy in the comments):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now it's clear you're talking about &lt;em&gt;ratings&lt;/em&gt; as in &quot;movie ratings&quot; I would say that the verb to use is &lt;em&gt;give&lt;/em&gt;. So it is quite all right to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They gave identical ratings to the movie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that if you use the word &lt;em&gt;same&lt;/em&gt; you might be forcing yourself to use the singular:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They gave the same rating to the movie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T14:46:52.200" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T14:46:52.200" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15317" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15320" CreationDate="2011-03-06T14:04:54.937" Score="2" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is impossible to speak knowledgeably about &lt;strong&gt;the embedded nature of law&lt;/strong&gt; in society without addressing the central notions of Karl Marx’s political theory&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T16:34:08.620" Title="Meaning of 'the embedded nature of law'" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15313" CreationDate="2011-03-06T14:47:31.483" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to me, yes it is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4924" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T14:47:31.483" />
  <row Id="15319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15317" CreationDate="2011-03-06T15:59:27.207" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best restatement I can come up with for it is &quot;the fact that law is woven into society's guts&quot;.  If this is too metaphorical to be clear, let me know and I'll generate another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T15:59:27.207" />
  <row Id="15320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15317" CreationDate="2011-03-06T16:34:08.620" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means that &quot;law is ingrained within society&quot;, ie. rules and regulations, formal or informal, would naturally develop within a community of people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5671" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T16:34:08.620" />
  <row Id="15321" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15328" CreationDate="2011-03-06T16:40:41.837" Score="28" ViewCount="1672" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently, the media made a big deal about Charlie Sheen dating a porn star. It seems that anyone who is in a porn movie is referred to as a porn star. The same is not true of anyone in a normal movie. Everyone in a normal movie isn't a movie star. Everyone in a rock band is certainly not a rock star. Why is it that porn actors are afforded such lofty descriptions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5609" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T00:03:50.970" Title="Why is anyone in a porn movie considered a porn star?" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="15322" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15324" CreationDate="2011-03-06T16:54:14.990" Score="3" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After the therapy, eight children (43%) became able to crawl/move on their back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or should I use &quot;on their backs&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Singular because each child only has one back, or plural because we're dealing with eight backs? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5792" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T17:42:11.133" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T17:42:11.133" Title="&quot;on their back&quot; or &quot;on their backs&quot;?" Tags="&lt;concord&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15321" CreationDate="2011-03-06T16:56:15.113" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you sure your claim is true in general (that all porn actors are called porn stars)? Or is it that you only hear of porn &quot;actors&quot; who &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; &quot;stars&quot; to some extent? At least in the example you gave, the label seems justified: according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bree_Olson&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia's article on the person in question&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In 2010, she was named by Maxim as one of the 12 top female stars in porn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also seems to have won a clutch of awards, which presumably not &lt;em&gt;everyone&lt;/em&gt; who has been in a porn movie has won. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(And BTW, some less-than-stellar movie actors &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; occasionally described as &quot;movie stars&quot; too.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T17:07:56.893" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T17:07:56.893" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15322" CreationDate="2011-03-06T17:14:24.123" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Plural, because we are, in fact, dealing with eight little backs. And a back is a back, no matter how small. A child has a back, but children have backs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm sure others will back me on this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T17:14:24.123" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="15325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15321" CreationDate="2011-03-06T17:17:42.690" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this about porn stars in general or Bree Olson?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bree Olson is a big name in not only in porn but in mainstream media.  Just like anyone who graduates with a high school diploma, no matter which high school, is called a high school graduate, one who participates in a porn movie is a porn actor.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5793" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T17:17:42.690" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15321" CreationDate="2011-03-06T17:21:16.863" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Traditionally, &quot;porn star&quot; is used by the media to differentiate between an actor in a &lt;em&gt;film&lt;/em&gt; and an actor in a &lt;em&gt;porn film&lt;/em&gt;.  If a porn movie was considered to be just another genre of film, such as romantic comedy or science fiction, then they would probably be referred to as actors and actresses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In order to clearly distinguish those who (for whatever reason) the media considers to be undeserving of the &lt;em&gt;lofty&lt;/em&gt; title of actor, they use the term &quot;porn star&quot; instead.  I would surmise that this was the &lt;em&gt;original&lt;/em&gt; reason for the term.  At some point the label stuck.  Regardless of its origin, I would argue that it is most definitely not an attempt to grant a higher status to actors in porn.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5644" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T17:21:16.863" />
  <row Id="15327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15321" CreationDate="2011-03-06T17:35:47.513" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you have to have a &lt;em&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/starring&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;starring&lt;/a&gt; role&quot;&lt;/em&gt; in order that you be called a star.  This is as true in pornography as it is in regular movies.  The &lt;em&gt;stars&lt;/em&gt; of a film are the leading cast members.  In pornography there tend to be only leading cast members, if you'll forgive the pun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T17:35:47.513" />
  <row Id="15328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15321" CreationDate="2011-03-06T17:45:44.590" Score="28" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;starring&lt;/em&gt; role is the most important or lead role in a dramatic production like a film or play. The simplest definition of &lt;em&gt;movie star&lt;/em&gt; is someone who has played a starring role in a movie. This often carries with it a sense of fame that comes with playing a starring role, but is not necessarily the case. The star of a little-known indie film is still a &lt;em&gt;movie star&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone plays starring roles only or usually in a particular genre of film, then that person is a star in that genre. For example, Jackie Chan is often called an &lt;em&gt;action star&lt;/em&gt;. Similarly, people who star in pornographic films are often called &lt;em&gt;porn stars&lt;/em&gt;. There aren't many supporting and extra roles in pornographic films, so most anyone who has performed in a pornographic film could legitimately be called a &lt;em&gt;porn star&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T17:45:44.590" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="15329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="619" CreationDate="2011-03-06T18:44:48.623" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;off of does sound barbarous to the speaker of British received pronounciations but it's common (in every sene of the word) in regional dialects such as Cockney.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps grammar is a tribal mark of affiliation rather like the choice of vocabulary as in for example &quot;toilet&quot; vs &quot;lavatory&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5796" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T18:44:48.623" />
  <row Id="15330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15321" CreationDate="2011-03-06T19:01:48.393" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seems that in order to earn the &quot;star&quot; label you actually have to be a star - a known name. Although I know little about pornographic films, I've heard of such persons as Marilyn Chambers and Linda Lovelace. More recently I've seen the name &quot;Jenna Jamison&quot; in print (might be a nom de guerre). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your exploits on screen have given you this sort of notoriety, then &quot;porn star&quot; sounds appropriate. One imagines that among devotees of the genre, there are undoubtedly second-tier luminaries who are commonly known and they would qualify as lesser-known &quot;stars.&quot; Below that, we're talking &quot;porn actors.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T19:01:48.393" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5712" CreationDate="2011-03-06T19:02:45.117" Score="-6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Spelt' is correct - regardless of what the dictionaries say, 'spelled' is incorrect.  Besides, spelled looks and sounds childish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unless you are a 15 year old writing something on Facebook, I would definitely use 'spelt', 'dreamt', and 'learnt' instead of 'spelled', 'dreamed', and 'learned'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5797" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T19:02:45.117" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="15332" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-06T19:14:50.773" Score="5" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do the following terms have positive, neutral or negative meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;memorable&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;impressive&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;remarkable&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are other similar terms that are used for positive, neutral and negative intention? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks and regards!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T19:22:03.387" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T05:23:04.053" Title="Terms to apply to something that leaves strong memory" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;connotation&gt;" AnswerCount="6" />
  <row Id="15333" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15336" CreationDate="2011-03-06T19:20:17.467" Score="3" ViewCount="310" Body="&lt;p&gt;The adjective ones I have heard recently are &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;forward&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;straightforward&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;forthcoming&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;frank&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if each of them has positive, negative or neutral meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are other similar terms that are used for positive, neutral and negative intention? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks and regards!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T20:46:05.650" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T11:40:38.433" Title="Words to describe someone who straightforwardly expresses their opinion" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;connotation&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15333" CreationDate="2011-03-06T20:07:26.167" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you'll find quite an interesting discussion of these and related words in the question  “&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/13405/do-you-agree-with-these-intermediate-gradations-between-frank-and-evasive&quot;&gt;Do you agree with these intermediate gradations between ‘frank’ and ‘evasive’?&lt;/a&gt;” and its answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T20:07:26.167" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15332" CreationDate="2011-03-06T20:22:54.627" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Impressive&lt;/em&gt; has a clear positive meaning (“evoking admiration”, says the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;em&gt;Memorable&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;remarkable&lt;/em&gt; are both supposedly neutral, and can be combined with negative events (e.g., “a memorable death”). For some reasons, I myself find &lt;em&gt;remarkable&lt;/em&gt; as having a slightly positive tone that &lt;em&gt;memorable&lt;/em&gt; doesn't have; others might comment in other answers or comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T20:22:54.627" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15333" CreationDate="2011-03-06T20:39:47.870" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will expound on the examples you provided and then give a few more of my own. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;forward&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: Forwardness is not usually considered a positive attribute, as someone who is [too] forward unduly volunteers their opinion or views in a rather annoying manner. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;straightforward&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: A straightfoward person does and says the right thing, regardless of the consequences. Straightforward fellows are usually considered thoughtful (and simple-minded, perhaps), but not rash and stupid.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;forthcoming&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: The adjective, &lt;em&gt;forthcoming&lt;/em&gt; is used to describe persons who willingly provide information. It is not necessarily a positive attribute, and it is sometimes associated with disloyalty.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;frank&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: A frank person &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1292717?rskey=Dq01Cm&amp;amp;result=1#m_en_us1292717&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calls a spade a spade&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. If especially harsh, such a person could be described as &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/brutal&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;brutally frank&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of the four words above, I would say &lt;em&gt;forthcoming&lt;/em&gt; does not quite belong in the group, as it more concerned with &lt;em&gt;answers&lt;/em&gt; than &lt;em&gt;opinions&lt;/em&gt;. Similar adjectives that come to mind are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1230386#m_en_us1230386&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;candid&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: A candid person speaks the truth in plain terms. This a neutral-positive attribute.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1274431#m_en_us1274431&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;outspoken&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: This is usually a positive attribute. An outspoken person may speak out in defense of the voiceless or the oppressed and against evil. Such a person may also be a &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1239921#m_en_us1239921&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;devil's advocate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; or a &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1282606#m_en_us1282606&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rabble-rouser&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. In these cases, &lt;em&gt;outspokenness&lt;/em&gt; may be regarded as highly undesirable.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1227430#m_en_us1227430&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;blunt&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: A blunt individual speaks the truth &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1246476#m_en_us1246476&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;without fear or favor&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. One usually hears the phrase, &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/put_3#put_3__3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;to put it bluntly&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. Someone who is not as blunt may opt to &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/put_3#put_3__3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;put it mildly&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, instead. Indeed, bluntly-expressed thoughts are usually unpleasant, but they tend to be spoken from the mouth of a disciplined, upright or oppressed individual.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1248588#m_en_us1248588&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;forthright&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: Forthrightness is a highly desirable quality. It applies not only to expressed opinions but also to actions and attitudes. A forthright person is honest and straightforward in his or her dealings.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1304529#m_en_us1304529&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;vituperative&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: While a vituperative person may speak the truth, their ultimate goal is to spite or to scorn. This is definitely a negative attribute. There are many other related &lt;em&gt;v-words&lt;/em&gt;, such as &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1303804#m_en_us1303804&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;venomous&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1304131#m_en_us1304131&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;vicious&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1303804#m_en_us1303804&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;vindictive&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, etc, but these have broader meanings that go beyond the mere expression of opinion.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-06T23:57:31.507" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T23:57:31.507" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15332" CreationDate="2011-03-06T20:50:47.207" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is always &lt;em&gt;unforgettable&lt;/em&gt;, which is neutral, and &lt;em&gt;momentous&lt;/em&gt;, which is usually positive. Depending on the context you might also say &lt;em&gt;lasting&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;noteworthy&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;historic&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4184" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T20:50:47.207" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2598" CreationDate="2011-03-06T20:53:57.423" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a distinction mobilized by certain philosophers like Gilles Deleuze, who uses a phrase from Bergson to define what he calls the 'virtual': he says it is &quot;real without being actual.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is admittedly a somewhat obscure or at the least fairly subtle distinction, and in common usage the difference is minimal and would relate to context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(In the case of the slogan it is almost certain they are simply referring to reality television, not reality as an ontological principle.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4184" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T20:53:57.423" />
  <row Id="15339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15332" CreationDate="2011-03-06T21:07:41.093" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All the terms mentioned so far (memorable, impressive, remarkable, unforgettable, etc.) tend to have positive connotations in the absence of any negative modifier. &lt;em&gt;Memorable&lt;/em&gt; is the most neutral of the bunch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For equivalents to &lt;em&gt;memorable&lt;/em&gt; that have a negative connotation, you may have to go a little further afield. &lt;em&gt;Traumatic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;notorious&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;infamous&lt;/em&gt; can all mean &quot;memorable in a bad way.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5788" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T21:07:41.093" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15332" CreationDate="2011-03-06T21:32:12.180" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Leaving a lasting mark/impression is more than a word, but also should be there&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T21:32:12.180" />
  <row Id="15341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15289" CreationDate="2011-03-06T21:45:57.643" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, the word integrity does not have the meaning you suggest. It is not an exact synonym for &quot;honesty&quot;, though it is related.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Honesty&lt;/em&gt; is narrower in scope, and usually refers to such things as &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/honest&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;telling the truth, not stealing and so on&lt;/a&gt;. It can describe someone's character or specific actions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Integrity&lt;/em&gt; is a more wide-ranging term that describes a person's character. Those who &lt;em&gt;have integrity&lt;/em&gt; have &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/integrity_1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;strong moral principles that they refuse to change&lt;/a&gt; (and there is an implication that those moral principles are good ones!). Part of this is likely to &lt;em&gt;include&lt;/em&gt; honesty, but can also include such qualities as loyalty to friends and family, generosity, honouring commitments, and so forth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-06T21:45:57.643" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="15342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15333" CreationDate="2011-03-07T00:08:26.000" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also heard people use &lt;em&gt;upfront&lt;/em&gt;, as a positive attribute.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5648" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T00:08:26.000" />
  <row Id="15343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2537" CreationDate="2011-03-07T00:10:42.020" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest that the term &quot;kilo&quot; is a unit of mass equal to 1kg.  Although it is derived from &quot;kilogram&quot;, it should be regarded as a unit of mass rather than as a term for a thousand of something.  Likewise &quot;meg&quot; and &quot;gig&quot;, are terms for roughly one million, and one billion bytes, respectively, as opposed to those quantities of everything else.  The term &quot;K&quot; (pronounced &quot;k&quot;) generally refers to 1,024 bytes, but may sometimes be used to refer to $1,000, or it may be used with a discrete item to indicate quantity (e.g. we need 50K fully-assembled units by next July).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T00:10:42.020" />
  <row Id="15344" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15345" CreationDate="2011-03-07T00:21:14.473" Score="3" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read this sentence and I don't understand what &quot;punch line&quot; means here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Most people recognize this Amazon:&#xA;  Jeff Bezos's hyperproficient&#xA;  Borders-killer; one of the few dot-com&#xA;  initial public offerings that didn't&#xA;  end up a &lt;strong&gt;punch line&lt;/strong&gt;; ......&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know the literal meaning of &quot;punch line&quot;. So in this sentence, does it mean that most dot-com IPO companies failed like jokes, so they &quot;end up a punch line&quot;? This explanation sounds awkward to me. Could somebody please explain the usage of &quot;punch line&quot; here? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5648" LastEditorUserId="5648" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T00:31:49.780" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T15:29:38.187" Title="What does &quot;punch line&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15344" CreationDate="2011-03-07T00:31:52.397" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Punch line&lt;/em&gt; is the final part of the joke which makes you understand the meaning of the joke and that it is a joke.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many dot-com businesses were so extremely uncommercial that looking back it is funny that people believed they might be worth investing in.  Amazon was not one of those. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T00:31:52.397" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15321" CreationDate="2011-03-07T00:34:47.963" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A star in porn movie shouldn't be called a porn star , as an action star in romantic movie is not called romantic star. So it is not right but an old and famous saying is &quot;A man is known by his company&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These things exists in other places also but such gossips and news are hot so when exaggeration meet gossips then it happens.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5803" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T00:34:47.963" />
  <row Id="15347" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15348" CreationDate="2011-03-07T00:48:45.747" Score="2" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across the phrase ‘jelling on the fly’ in today’s New York Times’ article titled, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com./2011/03/06/sports/bascketball/06knicks.%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;‘The Knicks are racing to blend talent into a team.’&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I don’t understand the meaning of ‘jell on the fly,’ I checked several online dictionaries and found only one definition for ‘on the fly’ at &lt;a href=&quot;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci212701,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;whatis.techtarget.com&lt;/a&gt; that reads:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In relation to computer technology, &quot;on the fly&quot; describes activities that develop or occur dynamically rather than as the result of something that is statically predefined. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don’t think this definition applies to my case. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can somebody teach me the exact meaning of going through ‘jelling on the fly’? The original text containing the phrase reads:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Despite an abundance of talent, the reconfigured Knicks will have to get through another week of jelling on the fly, especially on defense. But D’Antoni had already offered a reality check: He said he did not expect the Knicks to be cohesive until the N.B.A. playoffs begin next month. “It just takes a while,” he said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T02:04:18.930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T02:04:18.930" Title="What does ‘Knicks have to go through another week of “jelling on the fly”’ mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15347" CreationDate="2011-03-07T01:01:26.060" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;jelling...&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; refers to the process of the Knicks creating a cohesive team, necessitated by a great deal of recent player turnover.  This is a phrase used relatively often in sports journalism.  If a team has 'jelled', they have come together and play well as a team, rather than a collection of individuals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;... on the fly&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; refers to the fact that this process must take place &lt;em&gt;quickly&lt;/em&gt; during the most important part of the season, rather than during the off-season.  The only way for them to 'jell' is to play games.  However, these games matter in the standings, which means the process must take place quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5644" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T01:01:26.060" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15349" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-07T01:37:14.537" Score="1" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a sentence that I need to replace; one that is somewhat cliché. What would be a good sentence (Or perhaps a phrase) that could indicate change in a somewhat stale/monotonous environment?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Like a breath of fresh air.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="161" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T04:44:28.777" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T04:44:28.777" Title="Sentence to Indicate Change (That is not a cliché)" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;cliche&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15347" CreationDate="2011-03-07T01:56:29.700" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;On the fly&quot;, in this case, refers to something that must be done as part of their &quot;live&quot; process rather than part of a &quot;practice&quot; process; they can't stop and take a week or two off in order to get their team to &quot;jell&quot;, they have to come together while playing games that matter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T01:56:29.700" />
  <row Id="15351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15333" CreationDate="2011-03-07T02:16:48.997" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another word would be &quot;plainspoken&quot;, someone who expresses themselves in ordinary, easy-to-understand language rather than gussying up their elocutions with a plethora of hifalutin sesquipedalia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I should add that &quot;plainspoken&quot; is also largely synonymous with &quot;blunt&quot;; if a plainspoken person doesn't like something, he'll tend to say &quot;I don't like it&quot; rather than beating around the bush.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T02:38:30.600" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T02:38:30.600" />
  <row Id="15353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15349" CreationDate="2011-03-07T02:22:16.707" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the first place, what you have is not a sentence. It is a sentence fragment, or a phrase, punctuated like a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, you can approach this exercise two ways: either to look for another cliché or to find something original to say. If the former, there are plenty of other clichés you might try, but you would wind up in the same predicament you're in now, so why bother?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the latter, there are plenty of things you might say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was like taking a drive in brand-new car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was like a glimpse of blue sky after days of constant rain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was like an ice cold beer to a man parched from a trek through the desert.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Really, there are limitless possibilities. Use your imagination and come up with your own. You can't build your writing skills without working on them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T02:22:16.707" />
  <row Id="15355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15321" CreationDate="2011-03-07T03:06:38.693" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's surprising to me that no one has mentioned this yet, but I think a big reason this usage has become prolific stems partly from both its euphemistic sense, and the psychological power the term &lt;em&gt;star&lt;/em&gt; gives to performers in the adult industry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For newspapers and &quot;official&quot; social commentators, calling adult performers &lt;em&gt;porn stars&lt;/em&gt; allows one to be vaguely socially liberal, without necessarily delving too deeply into the sensual or shocking bits of the industry.  After all, theoretically, at least in some strands of feminism, sexual liberation and empowerment are found in the adult industry: Some feminists might say that adult work frees women from old, hoary, paternalistic traditions of sexual propriety and fidelity, and allows women not only sexual freedom, but financial freedom, in that they are explicitly paid for a traditionally unrecompensed service.  Self-actualization and individual empowerment is faddish amongst cultural taste makers in our day and age, and using &lt;em&gt;porn star&lt;/em&gt; allows lots of people to tacitly show how nonjudgmental they are.   It is but a small allowance, after all, though of course many of these same would turn white as sheets would their daughters ever come to them proposing to enter the business.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For performers in the adult business, using the word &lt;em&gt;porn star&lt;/em&gt; allows them to inject a bit of mainstreamness and glamor into a business that can be seedy at a times, where one can find desperate girls here and there, perhaps hooking for money and/or drugs, perhaps battered by their &quot;suitcase pimp&quot; boyfriend looking to break into the industry.  (Not all of them, mind you; I've happened to listen to some pornstars interviewed on the radio, and it seems a good many of them have good heads on their shoulders).  If you read into their world a little, you'll find that a big desire among both girls both in and about to go into the industry is this lust to be mainstream, among the bright lights.  Using &lt;em&gt;porn star&lt;/em&gt; to describe themselves, before actually achieving that status, gives them just a little bit more psychological agency in a demanding job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T03:39:03.723" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T03:39:03.723" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15349" CreationDate="2011-03-07T04:44:02.973" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The construction you mention seems like the tail end of a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simile&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;simile&lt;/a&gt;. Whenever you say that something was &quot;fresh like a spring rain&quot; or &quot;cold like an arctic wind&quot;, you're using a simile (although similes don't need to have the word &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; in them). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without seeing the context if the fragment, it's difficult to propose alternatives. I would, however, argue that similes themselves are overused. You can always be direct and say what exactly was changed and why it was welcome; your writing will be far more accurate as a result. Failing that, I suggest writing your own similes, making your writing fresher and more interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you specifically want to use a familiar phrase, there are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myuniversalfacts.com/2006/12/list-of-similes-common-english-similes.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lists&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix%3aEnglish_similes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;of&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/figures-similes-list.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;similes&lt;/a&gt; on the net. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T04:44:02.973" />
  <row Id="15357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15333" CreationDate="2011-03-07T05:31:46.893" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are also colloquial phrases describing such a person. The person might be called &quot;a straight-shooter&quot; or someone who &quot;tells it like it is&quot;. Both these phrases can be used positively or negatively, depending on context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5412" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T05:31:46.893" />
  <row Id="15358" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15359" CreationDate="2011-03-07T06:12:01.477" Score="2" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I came across a stackoverflow comment for a post. It goes something like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dojo has an UpgradeBar that dopes&#xA;  this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Blah Blah Blah&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and then somebody commented the post&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It dopes it really really well. Dope&#xA;  even&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know dope is to take drug and thus may be he is meaning it as &lt;em&gt;relaxed&lt;/em&gt;. Now i am a bit confused what did this guy meant. because in the end there is &quot;Dope even&quot;. did he mean it &lt;strong&gt;relaxes him&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;it sucks&lt;/strong&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;will &quot;&lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;even&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; make a context &lt;em&gt;negative&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Full Context : &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5188667/stackoverflow-welcome-bar/5197218#5197218&quot;&gt;http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5188667/stackoverflow-welcome-bar/5197218#5197218&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5775" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T11:16:15.893" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T11:16:15.893" Title="What does &quot;It dopes it really really well. Dope even&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15358" CreationDate="2011-03-07T06:19:55.137" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without seeing any further context, I have to presume that the original post was a typo of &quot;dopes&quot; for &quot;does&quot;, and the comment was simply mocking the typo.  (the &quot;dope even&quot; part is using &quot;dope&quot; in its adjectival form, meaning &quot;awesome&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: having seen the context provided, I'm quite certain that it was a typo and that the comment was poking fun at the typo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T06:46:48.357" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T06:46:48.357" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="15360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15344" CreationDate="2011-03-07T07:19:50.723" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a figure of speech called synecdoche : part of something is used to refer to the whole thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the above context, a punch line is a joke as a whole, not being the final part of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;p.s&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;It's a bad usage of synecdoche.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5725" LastEditorUserId="5725" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T15:29:38.187" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T15:29:38.187" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9434" CreationDate="2011-03-07T07:47:02.547" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The rule that applies for your two examples is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Use a comma after introductory phrases and clauses.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A simple sentence: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I swam across the river. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A simple sentence with an introductory phrase: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since it was a sunny day, I swam across the river.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The acception to this rule is: if the introductory clause or phrase is very short, you can leave the comma out--or not, it's your choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of these are okay:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On sunday I swam across the river.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On sunday, I swam across the river.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both your examples require a comma:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The monitor being ill, we'd better put the meeting off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The river having risen in the night, the crossing was impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5809" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T07:47:02.547" />
  <row Id="15362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2374" CreationDate="2011-03-07T08:37:28.557" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hunger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hunger&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;—Idiom&#xA;8.&#xA;from hunger, Slang . deplorably bad; dreadful: The styles in coats this winter are from hunger. Also, strictly from hunger. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Possibly from the Yiddish writer &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._J._Perelman&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;S. J. Perelman&lt;/a&gt; who wrote a book named &quot;Strictly from Hunger&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I will personally hazard a guess it might be a mix up &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bubbygram.com/yiddishglossary.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bubbygram.com/yiddishglossary.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Challish:&lt;/strong&gt; (khall-ish) faint, usually from hunger. &quot;I haven't eaten in hours! If that waiter doesn't bring our dinner soon, I'm going to challish!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chalushes&lt;/strong&gt; (khal-ush-ess) Nausea or a feeling of sickness. Also, nauseating. &quot;Did you see that dress she was wearing?! It was positively chalushes!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T08:37:28.557" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15363" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15365" CreationDate="2011-03-07T08:58:55.170" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are they synonymous, or not? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at &lt;em&gt;wake up&lt;/em&gt; as a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrasal_verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;phrasal verb&lt;/a&gt; it seems that the more correct way is &quot;I will wake up Joe&quot; rather than &quot;I will wake Joe up&quot;, but the second rolls better off my tongue…&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I had a look around but could not find a rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T00:20:10.683" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T00:20:10.683" Title="&quot;Wake up Joe&quot; or &quot;Wake Joe up&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15332" CreationDate="2011-03-07T09:17:14.820" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most words here have slightly (or clearly) positive connotations. For one with a clearly negative one, try &lt;strong&gt;devastating&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T09:17:14.820" />
  <row Id="15365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15363" CreationDate="2011-03-07T09:25:22.597" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either can be used in many situations, but Verb Noun Adverb is the common order for all of these.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Put the jacket on. / Put on the jacket.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pull up your pants. / Pull your pants up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But sometimes the reversal doesn't work because the preposition seems to apply to the noun rather than the verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Get your clothes on. / Get on your clothes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Work the ointment in. / Work in the lotion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second versions here, you might be telling someone to stand on top of their clothing or work while covered in lotion. Certainly it is fine to say &quot;Put on your clothes.&quot;  It all depends on the verb being used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other times it would sound odd to reverse the order because the preposition means something else depending on the order:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Get the lead out! / Get out the lead!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first means get moving more quickly; the second means to furnish forth some quantity of lead you may have.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T09:25:22.597" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15363" CreationDate="2011-03-07T09:36:03.987" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Wake up Joe&quot; and &quot;Wake Joe up&quot; are both OK, and as you say the second flows better. But if a pronoun is used then the second form is not only better, it is compulsory: &quot;Wake him up&quot; works, but &quot;*Wake up him&quot; is ungrammatical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is almost always the case when the preposition in a phrasal verb is used as an adverb rather than strictly as a preposition... e.g. here &quot;up&quot; is an adverb because it specifies the &quot;direction&quot; of the waking, rather than applying to Joe specifically...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T09:36:03.987" />
  <row Id="15367" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-07T09:57:48.017" Score="9" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference, if any, between liberty and freedom? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it convey the same meaning if &quot;Status of liberty&quot; is replaced with &quot;status of freedom&quot; ? or every occurrence of &quot;liberty&quot; in Declaration of Independence is replaced with &quot;freedom&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Doesn't liberty imply the pursuit of Happiness? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5725" LastEditorUserId="5725" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T13:03:54.133" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T06:18:49.397" Title="&quot;Liberty&quot; versus &quot;freedom&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;semantics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15368" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15371" CreationDate="2011-03-07T10:24:14.567" Score="4" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wish to know about the if any of the following sentences are incorrect:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using A and B parallel.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using A and B in parallel.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Using A and B parallelly.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I suspect most people are going to simply recommend me to use &quot;in parallel&quot; since it is the most common. However, this is a question formulated to understand the underlying English theory. Apart from that, I'm mostly interested in using that theory to determine the use of parallelly and whether or not it is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now some research on my end. I've found the use of parallelly in several dictionaries: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://machaut.uchicago.edu/?resource=Webster%27s&amp;amp;word=parallelly&amp;amp;use1913=on&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leoyan.com/century-dictionary.com/wnph-chw.php?query=parallelly&amp;amp;type=all&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Century Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along with that, [Wiktionary] is quite clear on the use of the word. Along with some rules on how to use [-ly] which do not mention that the use of a word such as parallelly may be incorrect. I don't know how Wiktionary is fact checked, so I have come here instead asking the question to professionals. (had to remove links for new user protection)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being a non-native speaker and no background in human language apart from high school (computer languages all the way) this question and the following debate interests me greatly. The answer I am looking for probably makes a distinction between variants of English. I'll flag the post which provides the most comprehensive answer as the accepted answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5813" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T11:08:35.307" Title="Correct usage of &quot;parallel&quot; versus &quot;in parallel&quot; versus &quot;parallelly&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15367" CreationDate="2011-03-07T10:34:15.990" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's yet another example of this double foundation/richness of English&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Saxon root : German Freiheit =&gt; Freedom.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Norman root : French Liberté =&gt; Liberty.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As in other occurrences of this double origin, there is a subtle distinction of freedom being more an everyday thing (because words from Saxon origin were preferred by common people) and liberty a more institutional thing (because Norman words were preferred by the ruling class).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it becomes more apparent if one says jokingly &quot;Whenever people demand Freedom, all what they can hope for is actually Liberty&quot;;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="5432" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T06:18:49.397" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T06:18:49.397" />
  <row Id="15370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15367" CreationDate="2011-03-07T10:35:32.153" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the NOAD reports &lt;em&gt;freedom&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Liberty&lt;/em&gt; means&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the power or scope to act as one pleases&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first meaning of &lt;em&gt;liberty&lt;/em&gt; makes reference to &quot;restriction imposed by authority&quot;; the second meaning makes only reference to &quot;the power to act&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Bill of Rights was intended to secure basic civil liberties.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Individuals should enjoy the liberty to pursue their own interests and preferences.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She talks of revoking some of the freedoms.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the freedom of speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T10:41:22.443" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T10:41:22.443" />
  <row Id="15371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15368" CreationDate="2011-03-07T10:40:08.747" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a question of grammar. You're looking for a word to qualify the way A and B are used, in the construct “to &lt;em&gt;verb&lt;/em&gt; A and B &lt;em&gt;qualifier&lt;/em&gt;”. This qualifier has to be an adverb (“a word or phrase that modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb or a word-group”).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, you want to express parallelism. “Parallel” itself is an adjective, as well as a noun and a verb. It is not an adverb, and as such, cannot be used in “using A and B parallel”. The natural adverb that derives from parallel is &lt;em&gt;parallelly&lt;/em&gt;; though it's not exactly very common in general usage, it does exist and is attested in multiple (though not all) dictionaries. So, “using A and B parallelly” works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding &lt;em&gt;in parallel&lt;/em&gt;, it so happens that it is a common phrase meaning “occurring at the same time and having some connection”. It may be more commonly used than parallelly, which is why it would feel very natural in your sentence, but both are correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T10:40:08.747" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15372" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-07T10:42:05.777" Score="0" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/78/when-is-it-appropriate-to-use-that-as-opposed-to-which&quot;&gt;When is it appropriate to use &amp;#39;that&amp;#39; as opposed to &amp;#39;which&amp;#39;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct (or better) and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Software which can scale up&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Software that can scale up&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3656" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T10:56:20.137" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T10:56:20.137" ClosedDate="2011-03-07T13:09:56.980" Title="&quot;Which&quot; versus &quot;that&quot;" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15368" CreationDate="2011-03-07T10:46:48.033" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your three examples are not sentences, so I will extend them with &quot;They will be ...&quot;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;They will be using A and B parallel&quot; is wrong (unless there is something called &quot;B parallel&quot;) as &lt;em&gt;parallel&lt;/em&gt; is an adjective or noun but probably needs to be an adverb in this position.  &quot;They will be using A and B parallel to each other&quot; looks slightly better.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other two are strictly correct as adverbs, though care is needed to avoid using &lt;em&gt;parallelly&lt;/em&gt; when an adjective is needed.  The much more common phrase &lt;em&gt;in parallel&lt;/em&gt;, usually following what it describes, can be used either as a adjectival phrase or as an adverbial phrase.  My guess is that &lt;em&gt;in parallel&lt;/em&gt; is more popular in part simply because it is less likely to be used wrongly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T10:46:48.033" />
  <row Id="15374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15368" CreationDate="2011-03-07T11:08:35.307" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Using A and B parallel&quot; is not correct; it should be &quot;using A and B in parallel&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;Using A and B parallely&quot; would have the same meaning of &quot;using A and B in parallel&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T11:08:35.307" />
  <row Id="15375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15333" CreationDate="2011-03-07T11:20:52.030" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=blatant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;blatant&lt;/a&gt; - &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;without any attempt at concealment; completely obvious; &quot;blatant disregard of the law&quot;; &quot;a blatant appeal to vanity&quot;; &quot;a blazing indiscretion&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T11:20:52.030" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13762" CreationDate="2011-03-07T11:45:45.853" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;herculean&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; task (only capitalized if it refers to one of the actual tasks of Hercules)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T11:45:45.853" />
  <row Id="15381" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-07T12:12:46.927" Score="3" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;English isn't my native language (Spanish is), so this question may be very basic, but it is worse not to ask.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which of these two phrases is the correct one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'm trying to &lt;em&gt;wake&lt;/em&gt; and get up from my bed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I'm trying to &lt;em&gt;wake up&lt;/em&gt; and get up from my bed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5818" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T00:18:42.273" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T00:18:42.273" Title="Correct use of &quot;wake up&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;compounds&gt;&lt;phrasal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15383" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-07T12:39:44.740" Score="0" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/9520/when-are-if-and-whether-equivalent&quot;&gt;When are &amp;ldquo;if&amp;rdquo; and &amp;ldquo;whether&amp;rdquo; equivalent?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a native speaker, therefore my question: In which cases is it preferred to use &quot;whether&quot; over &quot;if&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I often find myself writing something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This function tests if the precision is calculated correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the following correct, incorrect, acceptable, more formal?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This function tests whether the precision is calculated correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3619" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T13:01:14.667" ClosedDate="2011-03-07T13:31:53.787" Title="Correct usage of &quot;whether&quot; and &quot;if&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="15384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15381" CreationDate="2011-03-07T12:40:52.070" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either would suffice, but #2 is more natural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, most natural would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm trying to wake up and get out of bed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T12:40:52.070" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15385" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15387" CreationDate="2011-03-07T12:46:55.277" Score="2" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a synonym of &quot;factor&quot;. &quot;Factor&quot; as a cause of something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;X happened due to technical and social factors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T13:02:38.410" Title="Synonym for &quot;factor&quot;" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="15386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15363" CreationDate="2011-03-07T12:48:57.863" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest the difference is one of emphasis. In the case of &quot;wake up Joe&quot;, the implication would be &quot;&lt;em&gt;wake up&lt;/em&gt; Joe&quot;, rather than, say, put a mouse in his bed. In the other, &quot;wake Joe up&quot;, it would mean &quot;wake &lt;em&gt;Joe&lt;/em&gt; up&quot;, rather than any of the other drunks lying around on the floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="305" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T13:05:05.240" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T13:05:05.240" />
  <row Id="15387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15385" CreationDate="2011-03-07T12:57:36.013" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;X happened due to technical and social causes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;X happened due to technical and social reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;X happened due to technical and social circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am no native speaker, so maybe not all of them would be used in real life (or are correct, for that matter).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3619" LastEditorUserId="3619" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T13:02:38.410" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T13:02:38.410" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9520" CreationDate="2011-03-07T13:01:14.667" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, if you're turning a question into a noun, &lt;em&gt;whether&lt;/em&gt; tends to be preferred in formal use. So this includes your example plus, e.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The discussion was about [&lt;em&gt;whether&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  climate change was an important issue].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The issue is [&lt;em&gt;whether&lt;/em&gt; we need to act&#xA;  now].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In informal usage, &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; is also possible in these cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's important to understand that 'whether' and 'if' are not always interchangeable. The word &lt;em&gt;whether&lt;/em&gt; only has the meaning of &lt;em&gt;&quot;if ... or not&quot;&lt;/em&gt; (though you can still use the formula &lt;em&gt;whether ... or not&lt;/em&gt; for emphasis), so for example you can't use &lt;em&gt;whether&lt;/em&gt; in this case:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If/*whether you decide to come, give me a call.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another key difference is that &lt;em&gt;whether&lt;/em&gt; can introduce an infinitive, whereas &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; can't (they're different parts of speech):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They couldn't decide &lt;em&gt;whether&lt;/em&gt;/*if to come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T13:01:14.667" />
  <row Id="15389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15367" CreationDate="2011-03-07T13:10:15.093" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I encourage everyone to read the entire article on liberty in SEP.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Quote from &lt;a href=&quot;http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/liberty-positive-negative/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many authors prefer to talk of positive and negative freedom. This is only a difference of style, and the terms ‘liberty’ and ‘freedom’ can be used interchangeably. Although some attempts have been made to distinguish between liberty and freedom, these have not caught on. Neither can they be translated into other European languages, which contain only the one term, of either Latin or Germanic origin (e.g. liberté, Freiheit), where English contains both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5725" LastEditorUserId="5725" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T15:21:31.127" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T15:21:31.127" />
  <row Id="15390" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15470" CreationDate="2011-03-07T13:23:11.783" Score="3" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;X was interested in one of the most&#xA;  important challenges: the lack of&#xA;  reliability in bananas' drawings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I read somewhere that, although possible, a colon should be avoided in these situations (in an academic context).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How could I rewrite this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:29:43.897" Title="Should a colon be used in this case?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15390" CreationDate="2011-03-07T13:26:13.987" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;X was interested in one of the most important challenges&lt;b&gt;&lt;em&gt;, namely,&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/b&gt; the lack of reliability in bananas' drawings&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also use any of these in place of &lt;em&gt;namely&lt;/em&gt;: that is, that is to say, to be specific, specifically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T13:26:13.987" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15392" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15449" CreationDate="2011-03-07T14:13:27.557" Score="5" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like to use the Latin for garlic, allium, as an adjective, but can't find any examples of this being done. Is there a rule for doing this with nouns ending in -um? &quot;Alliumnal&quot; sounds good, but I suspect that's just because it sounds like &quot;autumnal.&quot; Any help much appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T00:46:18.293" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T00:46:18.293" Title="Using &quot;allium&quot; as an adjective" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;rules&gt;&lt;latin&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15381" CreationDate="2011-03-07T14:19:44.143" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It reminds me of the Bob Marley song:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You['ve] got to get up, stand up: stand up for your rights&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repeating &quot;up&quot; sounds natural to English speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But Rubusto has a better construct. In fact, an example from American popular song:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;When the Red Red Robin comes Bob Bob Bobbin' along&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Wake up, wake up you sleepy head &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Get up, get out of bed  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Cheer up, cheer up the sun is red  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Live, love, laugh and be happy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3370" LastEditorUserId="3370" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T14:24:54.013" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T14:24:54.013" />
  <row Id="15394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15392" CreationDate="2011-03-07T14:20:03.147" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Alluvium&lt;/em&gt; gives &lt;em&gt;alluvial&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;pericardium&lt;/em&gt; gives &lt;em&gt;pericardial&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;mycelium&lt;/em&gt; gives &lt;em&gt;mycelial&lt;/em&gt;, so I would go with &lt;strong&gt;allial&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T14:20:03.147" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="15395" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15397" CreationDate="2011-03-07T14:34:41.570" Score="3" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference in meaning? When should I use each one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T21:42:39.843" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:05:01.587" Title="&quot;Well-being&quot; versus &quot;happiness&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15381" CreationDate="2011-03-07T14:58:37.377" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Wake&quot; without &quot;up&quot; is possible in both transitive (&quot;wake somebody&quot;) and intransitive (&quot;I woke&quot;) senses; but it sounds rather literary: &quot;wake up&quot; is more common in speech in either sense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a third alternative, &quot;awake&quot;. It is rare in the transitive sense (&quot;I awoke them&quot;) but I think it is more common than &quot;wake&quot; when used intransitively (&quot;When I awoke, ...&quot;). But it is also much less common in speech than &quot;wake up&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T14:58:37.377" />
  <row Id="15397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15395" CreationDate="2011-03-07T15:05:53.980" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well-being represents how well someone is faring as a person.  This could be with regards to someone's health, mental health, or the environment in which a person (usually a child) lives in.  It doesn't necessarily imply that such a person would be happy, simply that they live in a state that's &quot;in their best interests.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Happiness on the contrary is that fleeting thing which people always desire but may or may not always be in their best well-being.  I hope that answers your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastEditorUserId="5735" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T13:05:01.587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:05:01.587" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9108" CreationDate="2011-03-07T15:14:10.507" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Besides the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/prerequisite&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;prerequisite&quot;&lt;/a&gt; I use &quot;blocking step&quot; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precondition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;precondition&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T15:14:10.507" />
  <row Id="15399" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15407" CreationDate="2011-03-07T15:23:18.413" Score="2" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was unable to understand the similarities and differences between &lt;em&gt;intent&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;purport&lt;/em&gt;. A description will be good to understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5366" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T20:15:20.280" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T20:24:29.087" Title="&quot;Intent&quot; and &quot;purport&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="15400" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15401" CreationDate="2011-03-07T15:29:28.443" Score="0" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4361/should-i-say-your-order-is-now-complete-or-your-order-is-now-completed&quot;&gt;Should I say &amp;ldquo;Your order is now complete&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;Your order is now completed&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is better, &quot;complete&quot; or &quot;completed&quot;?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know which sounds the most encouraging. Which of these two promotes more of an elation or satisfaction of accomplishment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I'm leaning towards &quot;completed&quot; as the &quot;d&quot; suffix bring a more substantial and abrupt ending, which to me more clearly signifies the significance of the accomplished item.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3627" LastEditorUserId="3627" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T18:01:33.913" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T19:26:04.310" ClosedDate="2011-03-07T20:40:20.777" Title="Complete or Completed" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="15401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15400" CreationDate="2011-03-07T15:32:30.390" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Complete&lt;/em&gt;, unlike &lt;em&gt;completed&lt;/em&gt;, implies something whole or full.&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Completed&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;finished, accomplished, or done.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A lot of the meaning overlaps, but I think &lt;em&gt;completed&lt;/em&gt; gives a better sense of accomplishment, though it really depends on how you're using it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastEditorUserId="3405" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T19:16:52.910" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T19:16:52.910" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15402" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15426" CreationDate="2011-03-07T15:45:08.570" Score="0" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;Coming from &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/9340/is-there-a-better-noun-form-of-unreasonable-than-unreasonableness/15379#15379&quot;&gt;my answer to question Is there a better noun form of “unreasonable” than “unreasonableness?”&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does it mean when someone calls himself &quot;non sequitur&quot;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://twylanonsequitur.blogspot.com/2010/08/i-am-non-sequitur.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;I AM NON SEQUITUR&quot; (blog)&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dhanelle.livejournal.com/12070.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;i am non-sequitur (livejournal)&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nickname &lt;a href=&quot;http://twitter.com/#!/frostbytefalls&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Non Sequitur&quot;&lt;/a&gt; on twitter.com  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jadoreanna.wordpress.com/2011/01/01/day-30/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;I don’t have a favourite colour and I love Dr. Who.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;strong&gt;I’m non sequitur&lt;/strong&gt;. I’m afraid of the future and stampedes&quot;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/enjqo/to_hell_with_both_parties_the_911_health_care/c19gffs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reddit.com:&lt;/a&gt; &quot;Hi I'm non-sequitur. I'm here to make no sense or have any relevance to this conversation&quot; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="1579" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T17:50:09.623" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T18:12:45.563" Title="What does it mean when someone calls himself &quot;non sequitur&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15403" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15405" CreationDate="2011-03-07T15:49:31.950" Score="5" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Michelson-Morley experiments weren't the failure MIT &lt;strong&gt;made them out to be&lt;/strong&gt;,  just as Cold Fusion wasn't the failure MIT made it out to be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T15:58:29.427" Title="Meaning of 'made them out to be'." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="15404" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15410" CreationDate="2011-03-07T15:57:39.333" Score="4" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just a random thought as to what the actual difference might be between the two??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T00:09:05.290" Title="What is the difference between a monologue and a soliloquy?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="15405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15403" CreationDate="2011-03-07T15:58:29.427" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means &quot;represented them as&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;MichelsonMorley experiments weren't the failure MIT [represented them as] ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &quot;make something out to be&quot; something else is to portray it in a certain light. If my comments &lt;em&gt;make you out to be a great guy&lt;/em&gt; that means I am saying good things about you. If they &lt;em&gt;make you out to be a jerk&lt;/em&gt; that means I'm not being so complimentary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T15:58:29.427" />
  <row Id="15406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15408" CreationDate="2011-03-07T15:58:34.810" Score="3" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a single word that can describe a container object as having the ability to be in a state of emptiness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first word that springs to mind is &quot;emptiable&quot;, but that implies an ability to change the state, rather than the possibility of &quot;empty&quot; being a state at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Im looking for a word that describes that possibility. What do you call something that may or may not be empty?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've been dancing around the word &quot;void&quot;, but that seems to have the same issues (see &quot;voidable&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5825" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T16:07:44.910" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T16:47:37.387" Title="Word meaning an object can be &quot;empty&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15399" CreationDate="2011-03-07T16:04:09.260" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Purport&quot; usually has a negative connotation of falsely conveying a certain meaning while &quot;Intent&quot; is more neutral. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;purport&lt;/strong&gt; of this book is to present an objective take on abortion, although in actual fact, it leans heavily on anti-abortion viewpoints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;intent&lt;/strong&gt; of this book is to present an objective take on abortion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5671" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T16:04:09.260" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15406" CreationDate="2011-03-07T16:06:31.597" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Container isn't an adjective but it describes this concept perfectly well.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T16:06:31.597" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="15409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15406" CreationDate="2011-03-07T16:11:28.580" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Decantable, depletable, or exhaustible?&#xA;Perhaps you can provide some context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5671" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T16:11:28.580" />
  <row Id="15410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15404" CreationDate="2011-03-07T16:16:14.460" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a soliloquy, the speaker isn't addressing anyone.  A monologue may be addressed to other characters or the audience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T16:16:14.460" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15402" CreationDate="2011-03-07T16:18:00.527" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're using it as a synonym for senseless or random.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T16:18:00.527" />
  <row Id="15414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15404" CreationDate="2011-03-07T17:16:29.230" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Monologue&lt;/em&gt; is a &quot;long and typically tedious speech by one person during a conversation&quot;, while a soliloquy is &quot;the act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Reference: the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T17:45:57.957" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T17:45:57.957" />
  <row Id="15415" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15567" CreationDate="2011-03-07T17:26:04.513" Score="3" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between a metonymy and a synecdoche?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5826" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T00:16:28.127" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T16:38:47.593" Title="What is the difference between a metonymy and a synecdoche?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;figures-of-speech&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15416" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-07T17:29:14.107" Score="4" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a connection betweem &quot;a parting shot at the end of a discussion&quot; and the Parthian horse archer practice of wheeling from the battle line and firing an arrow on the run?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5827" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T17:36:08.870" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T20:49:58.677" Title="&quot;Parting shot&quot; origin" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15417" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15420" CreationDate="2011-03-07T17:35:54.893" Score="0" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question is related to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/15402/what-does-it-mean-when-someone-calls-himself-non-sequitur&quot;&gt;What does it mean when someone calls himself “non sequitur”?&lt;/a&gt;   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;comments to to my answer to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/9340/is-there-a-better-noun-form-of-unreasonable-than-unreasonableness/15379#15379&quot;&gt;Is there a better noun form of “unreasonable” than “unreasonableness?”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is not &quot;unreasonable&quot; synonym to &quot;senseless&quot; and &quot;irrelevant&quot; ?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Thanks for answers. &#xA;I still did not grasp the definitions well.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the behavior of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Perelman&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Grigori Perelman&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;insistingly rejecting intrusions into his private life,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;for example, like making a show of him by awarding him a $million,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;is seen as non sequitur, unreasonable or senselesss&lt;br&gt;&#xA;in the eyes of general public and organizers of shows around mathematical sciences?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T01:35:05.023" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T01:35:05.023" Title="Aren't &quot;senseless&quot; and &quot;irrelevant&quot; synonyms of &quot;unreasonable&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15416" CreationDate="2011-03-07T17:39:00.757" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dictionaries seem to agree:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms: &quot;This idiom apparently originated as a corruption of Parthian shot&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Collins English Dictionary: &quot;Also called: Parthian shot&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dictionary.com Unabridged based on Random House: &quot;perhaps by folk etymology from Parthian shot&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/5/messages/1157.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this post on phrases.org.uk&lt;/a&gt; gives a quote from &quot;Fighting Words: From War, Rebellion, and other Combative Capers&quot;, saying &quot;Most writers believe that this expression is a distortion of 'Parthian shot,' although there is no firm evidence to support this etymology&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5676" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T17:39:00.757" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15417" CreationDate="2011-03-07T17:44:25.510" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those words are not synonyms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Unreasonable&lt;/em&gt; means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;not guided by or based on good sense&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;beyond the limits of acceptability or fairness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Senseless&lt;/em&gt; means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(referred to a person) unconscious&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;without discernible meaning or purpose&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Irrelevant&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;not connected with or relevant to something&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your requests are unreasonable.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  She has been left senseless, in the middle of the street.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  What you are saying is irrelevant; the incident would have happened even if you would have been arrived 10 minutes before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Reference: the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T18:07:43.103" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T18:07:43.103" />
  <row Id="15420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15417" CreationDate="2011-03-07T17:46:32.467" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For purposes of illustration: suppose you're having a discussion, say, about English grammar, and the other person says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&quot;I know you've brought many proofs for your opinion, and I know that my way can lead to ambiguities in writing. Still, though, I insist that you are wrong.&quot; - then he's being unreasonable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&quot;Argle-bargle-fargle!&quot; - then he's being senseless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...&quot;Look! Ponies!&quot; - then what he's saying is irrelevant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T17:46:32.467" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15415" CreationDate="2011-03-07T17:59:28.507" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Metonymy is the substitution of the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant; synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Maybe now the suits in Washington will listen. [metonymy]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I liked to watch the track. [metonymy]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Cleveland won by six runs. [synecdoche]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T17:59:28.507" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15422" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15460" CreationDate="2011-03-07T18:03:53.840" Score="5" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Woollen&quot; is an Old English word that uses the suffix &quot;-en&quot; to turn a noun into a verb. As I understand it, the use of this suffix died out in Middle English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do any more modern words use this suffix? Have people mixed and matched, for example taken a Latin word and added on OE suffix? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;En-&quot; as a prefix seems to be (Old?) French in origin, so &quot;enlighten&quot; seems to mix it up a bit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T00:15:43.027" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T00:15:43.027" Title="Use of &quot;-en&quot; suffix" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;suffix&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15416" CreationDate="2011-03-07T18:09:00.567" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Parting_shot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia says that these two terms are distinct and unrelated&lt;/a&gt;. The Corpus of Historical American English shows no references to &quot;parthian shot&quot; before 1880 but does show &quot;parting shot&quot; before that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T18:09:00.567" />
  <row Id="15424" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-07T18:10:28.130" Score="0" ViewCount="130" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm writing an essay on the misuse of grammar on the Internet and I'm looking for an example where using common abbreviations/misspellings can lead to misunderstandings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No, I too know two.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  no i 2 no 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, different words are &quot;condensed&quot; into the same abbreviation.  However, the meaning can be deduced with relative ease.  I'm looking for examples where it's a bit harder to understand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2852" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T00:11:06.893" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T00:11:06.893" ClosedDate="2011-03-08T10:45:51.897" Title="Example of ambiguity or misunderstanding due to &quot;Internet grammar&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;&lt;internet&gt;&lt;ambiguity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="15425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15422" CreationDate="2011-03-07T18:10:42.430" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/61504#eid5555124&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The OED gives a few more instances of the -en suffix in this context&lt;/a&gt;, such as &lt;em&gt;golden&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;wooden&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;earthen&lt;/em&gt;. The origin is Germanic / Old Saxon. However, as you pointed out, modern usage of the word is fairly restricted to the few examples quoted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4866" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T18:10:42.430" />
  <row Id="15426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15402" CreationDate="2011-03-07T18:12:45.563" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are trying to give you the expectation that things they say will have no connection to anything that other people are saying, nor even anything that they themselves have previously said.  If some folks are talking about their favorite cheese, Mr. Non-Sequitur will feel free to barge in and say something like &quot;I want the sun for my pet.&quot;  Which has absolutely nothing to do with cheese or anything else that anyone was saying; it's completely random and unconnected.  If someone then asks why he wants the sun for a pet, Mr. Non-Sequitur will be perfectly happy to &quot;explain&quot; by saying something like &quot;It's a good day for making snow forts in my basement.&quot;  (Which, again, is totally unrelated, random, and rather nonsensical.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T18:12:45.563" />
  <row Id="15427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15422" CreationDate="2011-03-07T18:14:53.190" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The suffix &lt;em&gt;-en&lt;/em&gt; is used to form adjectives from nouns (&lt;em&gt;earthen&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;woolen&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;golden&lt;/em&gt;), but also verbs from adjectives or nouns (&lt;em&gt;widen&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;deepen&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;loosen&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;strengthen&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;embolden&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;enliven&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The prefix is also used to form feminine nouns like &lt;em&gt;vixen&lt;/em&gt;, which has origin from the Middle English word &lt;em&gt;fixen&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T21:35:34.250" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T21:35:34.250" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13662" CreationDate="2011-03-07T18:25:52.943" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the series of primes described using the following constructs, &lt;code&gt;2 is the first prime number&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;3 is the second prime number&lt;/code&gt;, what is 5?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T18:25:52.943" />
  <row Id="15429" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15435" CreationDate="2011-03-07T18:26:15.570" Score="5" ViewCount="265" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;what is grammatically correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Special thanks &lt;strong&gt;go&lt;/strong&gt; to Tom...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Special thanks &lt;strong&gt;goes&lt;/strong&gt; to Tom...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IMHO I'd say &lt;em&gt;thanks&lt;/em&gt; is one of those plural nouns which implies it requires &lt;strong&gt;go&lt;/strong&gt; but I'm not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;//Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Btw, it's for the acknowledgements section of my thesis btw. So it should be formal English.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5829" LastEditorUserId="5829" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T20:02:05.513" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T20:02:05.513" Title="&quot;Special thanks go to&quot; or &quot;Special thanks goes to&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;concord&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15429" CreationDate="2011-03-07T18:42:05.033" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi&#xA;It will be special thanks goes to, when its a singular noun or a group. In plural, it will be ' go'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5830" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T18:42:05.033" />
  <row Id="15431" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-07T18:45:54.233" Score="3" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the name of equipment that is used in films, like when saying &quot;scene one, take two&quot;?&#xA;The equipment is usually black and white in color.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5830" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T19:04:35.533" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T19:04:35.533" Title="What is the name of equipment that is used in films, like when saying &quot;scene one, take two&quot;?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="15432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15429" CreationDate="2011-03-07T18:47:41.197" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, either of those examples could be considered grammatical, and neither sounds wrong to my ear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Formally speaking, it should be &lt;em&gt;thanks go&lt;/em&gt;, since &lt;em&gt;thanks&lt;/em&gt; is a plural noun. If in doubt, just use &lt;em&gt;thanks go&lt;/em&gt; and don't worry about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, because &lt;em&gt;thanks&lt;/em&gt; is so often used as a fixed expression, more and more people treat it as grammatically singular despite its plural form. For that reason, it's not uncommon to hear &lt;em&gt;thanks goes&lt;/em&gt;, and this usage sounds natural to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly Google shows &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=%22thanks+go%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1.9 million results for &quot;thanks go&quot;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=%22thanks+goes%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;3.5 million results for &quot;thanks goes&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, suggesting that the latter is actually more common. (But the first result for each page is actually a link to this very question in a different forum.) Salt this result liberally with the standard caveats about Google result counts being inaccurate, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T18:47:41.197" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15422" CreationDate="2011-03-07T18:49:54.073" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is only one truly modern word I know that uses the -en ending: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Embiggen&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course this word was made up for the TV show 'The Simpsons', where the motto of the town is:  &quot;A noble spirit &lt;em&gt;embiggens&lt;/em&gt; the smallest man.&quot;  In the show, a newcomer to the town scoffs at the word and the stupidity of the town's natives, but is rebuked with the response, &quot;It's a perfectly &lt;em&gt;cromulent&lt;/em&gt; word.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is notable for its consistent implementation of the -en suffix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the '70s and '80s, it was quite common for computer people to use the -en suffix to pluralize computer nouns, such as &lt;em&gt;VAX&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;box&lt;/em&gt;.  These would simply become &lt;em&gt;VAXen&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;boxen&lt;/em&gt;, respectively.  This practice borrowed the Germanic -en suffix to denote plurals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T18:49:54.073" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15431" CreationDate="2011-03-07T18:51:34.487" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clapperboard&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Clapperboard&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Other names for the clapperboard include &lt;em&gt;clapper&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;clapboard&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;slate&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;slate board&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;sync slate&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;time slate&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;sticks&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;board&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;marker&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T18:51:34.487" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15429" CreationDate="2011-03-07T19:05:08.327" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While neither version sounds incorrect, I would agree that &quot;go&quot; sounds better when no article is used: &quot;special thanks &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;go&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; to Tom.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If an indefinite article were used, &quot;goes&quot; would be correct: &quot;a special 'thanks' &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;goes&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; to Tom.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5210" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T19:05:08.327" />
  <row Id="15436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13662" CreationDate="2011-03-07T19:11:56.037" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How many prime numbers are less than five?  The answer sought will be one greater than the answer given.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T19:11:56.037" />
  <row Id="15437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15400" CreationDate="2011-03-07T19:26:04.310" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Complete&quot; indicates a thing that has been finished. &quot;Completed&quot; is a past-tense verb form, and while by itself means much the same thing as &quot;complete&quot;, it has the additional implication of something that &lt;em&gt;has been finished&lt;/em&gt;, and as a consequence, the word has additional implications of the process that completed the thing. I would go with &quot;completed&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T19:26:04.310" />
  <row Id="15438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15429" CreationDate="2011-03-07T19:28:46.857" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recommend sidestepping the issue by avoiding the &quot;go&quot; entirely:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Special thanks to Tom ... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;With special thanks to Tom ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'd like to give special thanks to Tom ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T19:28:46.857" />
  <row Id="15439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15429" CreationDate="2011-03-07T19:48:33.517" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase I would expect is &quot;thanks go to&quot;, but looking at the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American&lt;/em&gt;, I notice that &quot;thanks goes&quot; is also used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/e5HAV.png&quot; alt=&quot;CoCa chart&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T19:48:33.517" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15416" CreationDate="2011-03-07T20:14:55.413" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Sorry ’bout the wall of text, but this seems like a complicated one!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;code&gt;tl;dr&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; version: this seems like a sort of &lt;strong&gt;convergent evolution&lt;/strong&gt;, two phrases coming from different roots but ending up close enough that they effectively gravitated together and merged as a single cliché. The key point: &lt;em&gt;parting&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Parthian&lt;/em&gt; each have earlier uses, quite distinct from each other, which convincingly lead up to &lt;em&gt;parting/Parthian shot&lt;/em&gt; respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The OED cites the figurative use of &lt;em&gt;Parthian&lt;/em&gt; going back to c.1640, in the sense of fighting somewhat dishonestly, and in particular of attacking while retreating:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;…To look upon this Parthian Fight / Of Love, still flying, or in chase, / Never encountering face to face.    —E. Waller, &lt;em&gt;Phillis&lt;/em&gt;, 1640.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the association of this style with the Parthians predates the figurative use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Or like the Parthian I shall flying fight.    —Shakespeare, &lt;em&gt;Cymbeline&lt;/em&gt;, 1518.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, &lt;em&gt;parting kiss&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;parting blow&lt;/em&gt; first appear in ?1570 and 1592 respectively, the latter used much like &lt;em&gt;parting shot&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thus much I must say for a parting blow.    — R. Greene, &lt;em&gt;Quip for Vpstart Courtier&lt;/em&gt;. 1592.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similar uses of &lt;em&gt;parting&lt;/em&gt; continue through the 17th and 18th centuries; the earliest use of &lt;em&gt;Parthian&lt;/em&gt; they give that directly parallels it is in 1842:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They have probably enough dealt a Parthian shot to British interests, by setting the Nacional once more upon its legs.    — The &lt;em&gt;Times&lt;/em&gt;, April 20, 1842.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it appears that &lt;em&gt;parting blow&lt;/em&gt; was used in this sense significantly earlier; but also that &lt;em&gt;Parthian&lt;/em&gt; was acquiring these associations independently, in e.g. the &lt;em&gt;Cymbeline&lt;/em&gt; quote, well before the wording had converged enough that they would be likely to have influenced each other.  But it looks to me as though the existing &lt;em&gt;parting blow/shot/shaft/etc.&lt;/em&gt; might well have influenced the later appearances of &lt;em&gt;Parthian blow&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the OED’s etymologers themselves suggest an influence in the opposite direction, saying circumspectly (under the etymology of &lt;em&gt;parting&lt;/em&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“In &lt;em&gt;parting shot&lt;/em&gt; (see Compounds 1a) perhaps partly influenced by &lt;em&gt;Parthian shot&lt;/em&gt; at &lt;em&gt;Parthian adj. 2.&lt;/em&gt;”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Cubbi’s and Mr. S &amp;amp; N’s references show, though, it’s possible to make arguments for influences in either direction, or for none at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T20:49:58.677" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T20:49:58.677" />
  <row Id="15441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15424" CreationDate="2011-03-07T20:24:17.387" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In no particular order, here is a collection of various misspellings and misuse of acronyms that I've witness causing problems:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;POS can mean 'Point of Sale' or 'Piece of Sh++'.  If someone writes that they are developing software for a POS device, either meaning makes as much sense as the other.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Q: Why are you selling your guitars? A: I have (to/two).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;(more will be added as edits, as my memory allows...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T20:24:17.387" />
  <row Id="15442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15399" CreationDate="2011-03-07T20:24:29.087" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported from the NOAD, the meaning of the words, when used as nouns, is the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;intent: intention or purpose&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;purport: the meaning or substance of something, typically a document or speech&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;With alarm she realized his intent.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  A real intent to cut back on social programs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I do not understand the purport of your remarks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning of &lt;em&gt;purport&lt;/em&gt; as verb is &quot;appear or claim to be or do something, especially falsely&quot;, &quot;profess&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She is not the person she purports to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T20:24:29.087" />
  <row Id="15443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15404" CreationDate="2011-03-07T20:49:52.217" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nobody ever lies in a soliloquy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5175" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T20:49:52.217" />
  <row Id="15444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13662" CreationDate="2011-03-07T20:54:58.483" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On Feb. 22 at 10:06 am, user 007 posted a bounty question to the Stack Exchange network Q&amp;amp;A website &quot;English Language &amp;amp; Usage&quot; asking fellow users to form a question that would have what specific blockquoted answer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T20:54:58.483" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15395" CreationDate="2011-03-07T21:48:30.650" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Well-being&lt;/em&gt; is the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You can speak of well-being for an happy person, but a happy person can also not be healthy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T21:48:30.650" />
  <row Id="15446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15392" CreationDate="2011-03-07T21:55:41.940" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Allium&lt;/em&gt; is already used in English to mean &quot;a bulbous plant of a genus that includes the onion and its relatives&quot;. You could use &lt;em&gt;allium&lt;/em&gt; as modifier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Reference: the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T21:55:41.940" />
  <row Id="15447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15395" CreationDate="2011-03-07T21:58:58.980" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would summarize it succinctly as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'Well-being' is a state of body.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'Happiness' is a state of mind.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T21:58:58.980" />
  <row Id="15448" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16391" CreationDate="2011-03-07T22:01:53.760" Score="1" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of &quot;three sheets to the wind&quot;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T16:37:13.477" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T13:35:10.560" Title="Where does the term &quot;3 Sheets to the Wind&quot; originate from?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15392" CreationDate="2011-03-07T22:03:20.077" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alliaceous&lt;/strong&gt; is used botanically for plants of the garlic/onion family; might it fit the bill?  (It’s much more standard than &lt;em&gt;allial&lt;/em&gt;, I think, going both by dictionaries and google.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I want to go out and order something big and garlicky at a restaurant, just so I can smack my lips and say “Mmmmm!  Alliaceo-licious!”.  Or, not quite, because it would just confuse people.  But I’m enjoying the idea…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T22:03:20.077" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15451" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-07T22:15:17.460" Score="0" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are what I have heard with meaning of methods&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;mechanism&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;machinery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;manner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;way&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what their differences are. What are other similar terms? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks and regards!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastEditorUserId="683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T22:44:06.957" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T22:44:06.957" ClosedDate="2011-03-08T00:11:03.157" Title="Ways to say methods of doing things" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="15452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15448" CreationDate="2011-03-07T22:15:42.657" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sheet&lt;/em&gt; is the nautical term that refers to the rope used to secure a ship's sail.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;Three sheets to the wind&quot;, or &quot;three sheets in the wind&quot;, compare the way the sails (not anymore secured) are moved from the wind, to the way a drunk person walks on the street.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T22:15:42.657" />
  <row Id="15453" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15462" CreationDate="2011-03-07T22:19:52.277" Score="3" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to say in English that students have passed all of their exams in the shortest period, that is, the first time exams were scheduled (only the first examination term was used)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5407" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T23:10:36.603" Title="&quot;Passed all exams in the first term&quot;?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15454" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15461" CreationDate="2011-03-07T22:20:12.713" Score="7" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any logical explanation for how the phrase &lt;em&gt;making out&lt;/em&gt; came together?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that it has sexual implications (at least &lt;em&gt;kissing&lt;/em&gt;, with the intent go further), I just can't imagine its ancestry.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2466" LastEditorUserId="2466" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T08:44:20.523" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T08:44:20.523" Title="Where does &quot;to make out&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="15455" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15457" CreationDate="2011-03-07T22:21:40.703" Score="5" ViewCount="209" Body="&lt;p&gt;I overheard two scoundrels discussing one of their dates as being &quot;coyote ugly&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T22:39:27.330" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T23:22:16.447" Title="What is the origin and meaning of &quot;coyote ugly&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;metaphor&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15455" CreationDate="2011-03-07T22:28:27.870" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other than the popularization of the term from the movie of the same name, I believe it derives from the behavior of coyotes, which (among other canines), when caught in a trap will gnaw off a leg in order to escape death.  It describes a person (usually a woman) who is so undesirable that her partner (usually a guy) is willing to gnaw off the limb she is sleeping on in order to escape rather than waking her. The guy will usually find himself in this situation when, after a night of heavy drinking, he wakes up the next morning in the bed of a woman he does not remember meeting and has no desire of getting to know better. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T22:28:27.870" />
  <row Id="15457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15455" CreationDate="2011-03-07T22:28:39.960" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This comes from the term &quot;coyote date,&quot; in which an inebriated person awakens the following morning with a person of the opposite sex in bed. The protagonist's arm is pinned beneath the ugly person's body.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allegedly, a coyote, when caught in a steel-jawed trap, will gnaw off its own leg to escape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can do the math from here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T22:28:39.960" />
  <row Id="15458" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15487" CreationDate="2011-03-07T22:28:50.897" Score="8" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;When using a trademark as a verb (&quot;hoovering&quot;, &quot;xeroxing&quot;, &quot;photoshopping&quot; and &quot;googling&quot;), should it be capitalized or uncapitalized?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strictly speaking, Google and Adobe are opposed to their trademarks being used as verbs or as generic trademarks, but that's a separate topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T04:58:22.210" Title="Should capitals be used when verbing trademarks?" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;trademarks&gt;&lt;verbing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15458" CreationDate="2011-03-07T22:33:59.487" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When a trademark is used as verb, it is written in lowercase, as any other verb in English.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Adjectives derived from trademarks could be written in capital case, or in lowercase if the connection with the trademark is lost. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T22:33:59.487" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15422" CreationDate="2011-03-07T22:40:52.767" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're quite right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;-en&lt;/em&gt; as a suffix is of Saxon/German origin.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Made of&lt;/em&gt;. In German it is may be a bit oldish but still possible to encounter &quot;wollen&quot; as made of wool (&quot;aus Wolle gemacht&quot;), and quite common to hear &quot;golden&quot; (von Gold gemacht). That's for adjectives.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Plural&lt;/em&gt;.  For noon, you would have *-en&quot; as a Saxon plural oxen (German Ochsen) or children (Kindern, old-german and dutch Kinderen), bretheren (German: &quot;Brudern&quot;, old G. &quot;Bruderen&quot;).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In dialectal english you can still find &quot;Hosen&quot; (German &quot;Hosen&quot; =&gt; kind of trousers), &quot;Shoon&quot; (G: Shuen), &quot;Housen&quot; (Häusen), &quot;Treen&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Diminutive&lt;/em&gt;.  Vixen also (German Füchsin : little female of the Fuchs/Fox) is of Saxon origin but this time the &quot;-en&quot; is not the mark of plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;en-&lt;/em&gt; as a prefix this time, is of Latin origin (via French). &#xA;&lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt; would be directly Latin (sometimes both forms survive : enquiry-inquiry, incase-encase). &#xA;Strangely enough it also conveys a meaning of &quot;make&quot; as in &quot;turn into&quot; : enslave, enlarge (élargir) enrich (enrichir), enable, endear, endanger.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Some other en- prefixes can be traced back to Greek, enthusiasm, endemic, energy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I don't think there has been a lot of inbreeding between latin &quot;en-&quot; prefix and words of saxon origin.  And surely no (legitimate) -en suffix to non saxon words.  VAX (meaning Virtual Address eXtension because it was an evolution from 16bits VA space to 32bits VA space) can probably not apply to a Saxon origin ;-).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many sources: Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology - 1966 Ed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T22:40:52.767" />
  <row Id="15461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15454" CreationDate="2011-03-07T22:45:24.423" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Make out&lt;/em&gt; has been used with a sexual meaning since 1939.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The third edition of the NOAD reports the meaning of &lt;em&gt;make out&lt;/em&gt; is, informally, &quot;engage in sexual activity&quot;, &quot;make progress&quot;, and &quot;fare&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-07T23:53:13.197" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T23:53:13.197" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15453" CreationDate="2011-03-07T23:00:19.327" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I don't find the following particularly informal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They passed all their exams on the first try&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also go with one of the following if they better suit your tastes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They passed all their exams the first time they were offered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They passed all their exams during their earliest opportunities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you could turn it around:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;None of the students needed a second attempt at any of their exams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T23:00:19.327" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15453" CreationDate="2011-03-07T23:10:36.603" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Each student passed all their exams on their first attempt.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T23:10:36.603" />
  <row Id="15464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15455" CreationDate="2011-03-07T23:22:16.447" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Along with the correct explanations of 'Coyote Ugly', as already provided by &lt;em&gt;The Raven&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;morganpdx&lt;/em&gt;, the whole picture is not complete without giving the three rating levels of the unfortunate date: 'One-bagger', 'Two-bagger', and 'Coyote Ugly'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One-bagger describes someone so uncomely that they are made to wear a bag over their head so that you don't have to look at their face while copulating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two-bagger describes a person who is so much more distasteful that not only do you require them to wear a bag over their head, but you don one yourself in case the bag over their head falls off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Coyote Ugly, the worst of the three levels, has already been explained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T23:22:16.447" />
  <row Id="15465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15424" CreationDate="2011-03-07T23:28:10.487" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I once received a message from someone that used the term 'newer'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a (completely arbitrarily chosen) quote to show you how he used it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Injustice newer is a threat to justice everywhere.&#xA;  -- Martin Luther King Jr.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some reason he was surprised that I didn't understand him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4877" LastActivityDate="2011-03-07T23:28:10.487" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15321" CreationDate="2011-03-08T00:03:50.970" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The stigma associated with pornography (in that you're categorized by being in that genre much more than being in another genre) probably means it has its own terminology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T00:03:50.970" />
  <row Id="15467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15404" CreationDate="2011-03-08T00:09:05.290" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me a &lt;em&gt;soliloquy&lt;/em&gt; is a speaker's inner voice, you are hearing the speaker's innermost thoughts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;monologue&lt;/em&gt; is simply a one-sided conversation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T00:09:05.290" />
  <row Id="15468" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15469" CreationDate="2011-03-08T01:10:49.840" Score="2" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apologies if this is a duplicate, I am just curious.&#xA;Are they both valid? Which originated first?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5834" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T03:49:28.060" Title="Is it 'Close to the chest' or 'Close to the vest' ?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;saying&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="15469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15468" CreationDate="2011-03-08T01:18:05.617" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either one is fine. &lt;em&gt;Close to the vest&lt;/em&gt; has a more British feel to me, but I've heard both in the U.S.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T01:18:05.617" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15390" CreationDate="2011-03-08T01:24:39.733" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some style books advise against using a colon between two phrases that are not each an independent sentence. The same applies to semicolons. The exception is when what follows begins on a new line or is a true enumeration: then the part before the colon should still be an independent sentence, but what follows is free. That is why some recommend that your colon should be replaced with a comma: &lt;em&gt;the lack of reliability in bananas' drawings&lt;/em&gt; is not an independent sentence, but rather an apposition, which could easily be attached by a comma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree that it is somewhat more elegant to stick to this rule in ordinary circumstances. However, I don't think there is consensus about this, and you may very well find style guides that disagree; at any rate, the practice of joining non-independent sentences by a colon will most probably be acceptable to the majority of readers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T01:24:39.733" />
  <row Id="15471" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-08T01:44:50.700" Score="0" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any recommendations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: Also for non English native speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5572" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T01:44:50.700" ClosedDate="2011-03-08T10:52:07.417" Title="Books about writing better content and headlines." Tags="&lt;book-title&gt;&lt;heading&gt;" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15458" CreationDate="2011-03-08T01:46:35.177" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to disagree with @kiamlaluno. The New Oxford American Dictionary, with which I know he is familiar, gives this listing for Scotch tape:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Scotch tape&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;trademark&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;noun&lt;/em&gt; transparent adhesive tape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;verb&lt;/em&gt; ( Scotch-tape) [ trans. ]&#xA;  stick with transparent adhesive tape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it's just fine to &quot;Scotch-tape&quot; something, and if you were to write &quot;scotch-tape&quot; the brand meaning would be lost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T01:46:35.177" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15473" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15474" CreationDate="2011-03-08T01:55:09.437" Score="2" ViewCount="169" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to verb anything other than a noun?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although slightly meta, I noticed that English SE has verbing as a tag, rather than verbing-nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T01:54:46.477" Title="Is it possible to verb anything other than a noun?" Tags="&lt;verbing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="15474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15473" CreationDate="2011-03-08T02:03:26.780" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can for example verb an adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Verbing weirds language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T02:03:26.780" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15476" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-08T02:29:26.647" Score="2" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;If my formal technical writing contains a sentence like: &quot;The authors make no mention &lt;strong&gt;whatsoever&lt;/strong&gt; about...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this sentence appropriate for formal writing? Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2532" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T03:10:51.390" Title="Is &quot;whatsoever&quot; a formal word in written English?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15476" CreationDate="2011-03-08T02:34:36.643" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think in that context &lt;em&gt;whatsoever&lt;/em&gt; is unnecessary and perhaps seems slightly condescending, as though you're deriding them for not mentioning whatever it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The authors make no mention of X&lt;/em&gt; works perfectly well without the added emphasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, I wouldn't necessarily have said that &lt;em&gt;whatsoever&lt;/em&gt; is informal per se.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4877" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T02:34:36.643" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9108" CreationDate="2011-03-08T02:37:26.287" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a huge variety of &quot;stuff that needs to be done in order to do other stuff&quot;.&#xA;Some of those very specific things (which are not at all synonymous with each other):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;trailblazing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;surveying&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;researching&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;planning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;documenting&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;groundwork&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;legwork&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;prep work&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;capital acquisition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;parts acquisition&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;building a jig, building a stencil, building a template, building a skeleton&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sub-assembly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;training&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;barn-raising&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sowing the seed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;watering the seed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pruning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;setup&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;laying a foundation&quot; (Whether we pour cement to make a house foundation, or drive piles to make a foundation for a bridge across a stream, we use this phrase -- I can't recall ever hearing &quot;pouring a foundation&quot; or &quot;driving a foundation&quot;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;scaffolding&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dry run&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;spike solution&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;splitting (before burning a tree in a fireplace, it must be split into small pieces)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mostlymaths.net/2010/10/3-ways-to-sharpen-your-saw-daily.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;sharpening the saw&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While most of these words and phrases describe some specific literal task in the early stages of farming, roadwork, and building construction, many of them are also used as a metaphor for analogous tasks in other fields, or a synecdoche for all the preparatory work in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5510" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T02:37:26.287" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15476" CreationDate="2011-03-08T03:10:51.390" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Whatsoever&lt;/em&gt; is perfectly fine if used for emphasis. For example, if you were reviewing a book about desserts, you might say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The authors make no mention about ice cream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a plain statement, just reporting the facts. Nothing wrong with that. But you might want to go at the matter a little harder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The authors make no mention whatsoever about ice cream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is emphatic, emphasizing the writer's disbelief or disappointment that the authors did not mention ice cream. Probably this writer had hoped a written work about dessert would at least mention ice cream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other constructions you could use for emphasis as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The authors make no mention at all about ice cream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The authors make no mention whatever about ice cream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The authors make no mention in 547 pages about ice cream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And so on. The point is, sometimes extra words are fine to use when making a point. And, yes, I like ice cream and would be indignant if a book about dessert were to leave it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T03:10:51.390" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15468" CreationDate="2011-03-08T03:49:28.060" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always heard/used &quot;close to the vest&quot;, but apparently both are indeed common.  The Corpus of Contemporary American English gives 89 hits for &quot;close to (...) vest&quot; and 36 for &quot;close to (...) chest&quot; when used synonymously.  (There's 123 hits overall for chest, but the majority are for &quot;she held the baby close to her chest&quot; and other similar literal uses.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dictionary.com lists the origin of the phrase as mid-1900's (card-playing-based) slang, but RandomHouse's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000825&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Word Maven&lt;/a&gt; lists uses from as far back as 1922.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T03:49:28.060" />
  <row Id="15484" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-08T04:25:28.463" Score="8" ViewCount="287" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Punjab is a rich state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to use &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; before Punjab?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5839" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T09:21:58.727" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T14:25:00.120" Title="Using the definite article before a country/state name" Tags="&lt;definite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15484" CreationDate="2011-03-08T04:29:29.717" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you can, and it is correct to do so too.  Similarly with the United States of America and the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), and the Netherlands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T04:29:29.717" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15484" CreationDate="2011-03-08T04:36:35.850" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless the country is referred to with a phrase or a &quot;descriptive&quot; name, as with the 3 examples he cited, you should not use an article.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following are all wrong: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Spain is a rich country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Ireland is a rich country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Texas is a rich state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The USSR has disintegrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The British Honduras is now known as Belize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;are both correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since &quot;Punjab&quot; is not a descriptive name or the name of a region (at least, not in English), I don't believe that there should be a &quot;the&quot; before it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps someone will be able to provide a more ironclad rule for when &quot;The&quot; is appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:  As Oosterwal points out in the comments, when the name references a region or implies that the country is composed of multiple parts, using &quot;the&quot; seems to be universally appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T15:41:29.483" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T15:41:29.483" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="15487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15458" CreationDate="2011-03-08T04:43:36.127" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on popularity and usage. As brand names become more and more familiar, they evolve into regular words in the English language. A common example that comes to mind is the British English word, &lt;em&gt;sellotape&lt;/em&gt;. One would hardly, if ever, find this verb capitalized. &lt;em&gt;Google&lt;/em&gt; is still in the works; one may find that its capitalization is not consistent, hence, &lt;em&gt;googling&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Googling&lt;/em&gt;. I must add that using &lt;em&gt;g/Google&lt;/em&gt; as a verb is not yet considered formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some quick dictionary research will reveal that it is standard practice not to capitalize proprietary nouns-turned-verbs. In some cases, the capitalized equivalent is also acceptable. This is a rule that largely holds, in my opinion, for those words that still exist in the informal realm. Standardized verbs (genericized trademarks) mostly go uncapitalized, except they are not yet widely accepted. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Scotch-tape&lt;/em&gt; is a special example, and probably the only exception to the rule[s]. Although it is standard and considered formal, it retains the capital &lt;em&gt;S&lt;/em&gt;. The reason for this goes back to the origin of the &lt;em&gt;Scotch&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;Scotch tape&lt;/em&gt;. I quote from a Wikipedia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch_Tape&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Use of the term &quot;Scotch&quot; in the name has a pejorative origin. A customer complained that 3M was manufacturing its masking tape too cheaply, and told company engineer Richard Drew to, &quot;take this tape back to your stingy Scotch bosses and tell them to put more adhesive on it.‡&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;‡Von Sternberg, Bob (2005-05-04). &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-132127318.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;See more articles from Star+Tribune+(Minneapolis%2c+MN) TALE of the TAPE; 3M has been on a roll since Scotch tape was invented 75 years ago.&quot;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN).&lt;/em&gt; Retrieved 15 October 2010.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are some prominent examples (&lt;em&gt;noun :: verb&lt;/em&gt;) that have made it into the lexicon: (In indicating British or American usage, I refer primarily to the verb form.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/hoover&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hoover :: hoover&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;(largely British)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/sellotape&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sellotape :: sellotape&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;(largely British)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/sellotape&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Scotch tape :: Scotch-tape&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;(largely American; exception to rule, see above quote)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1303734#m_en_us1303734&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Velcro :: velcro&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;(largely American)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1307409#m_en_us1307409&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Xerox :: xerox&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;(largely American)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Permit me to list some informal, technical and yet-to-be-standardized or borderline examples (&lt;em&gt;noun :: verb&lt;/em&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/google&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google :: google &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; Google&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/facebook&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Facebook :: Facebook&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; facebook&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/FedEx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FedEx :: FedEx&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; Fedex &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; fedex&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/photoshop#Verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Photoshop :: photoshop&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/TeX&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TeX&lt;/a&gt; :: TeX &lt;em&gt;or (much less commonly)&lt;/em&gt; tex&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Tippex&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Tippex &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; Tipp-Ex&lt;/a&gt; :: Tippex &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; Tipp-Ex &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; tippex &lt;em&gt;(British)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/YouTube&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;YouTube :: YouTube&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; youTube &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; youtube&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Interesting notes on British/American usage:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;photocopy&lt;/em&gt; is almost like the British equivalent of &lt;em&gt;xerox&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tippex&lt;/em&gt; is the British version of America's &lt;em&gt;Wite-Out&lt;/em&gt; (or you could say it the other way round!). Too bad &lt;em&gt;Wite-Out&lt;/em&gt; can't be made into a verb (too awkward-sounding). Better to say &lt;em&gt;Wite-it-out&lt;/em&gt; than &lt;em&gt;Wite-Out it&lt;/em&gt;!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;many use &lt;em&gt;Fedex&lt;/em&gt; these days, even if they're going to &lt;em&gt;UPS or DHL it&lt;/em&gt;!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I find that &lt;em&gt;tape&lt;/em&gt; is perhaps more common than &lt;em&gt;Scotch-tape&lt;/em&gt; (too long!) in American usage. In British, though, it's almost always &lt;em&gt;sellotape&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T04:58:22.210" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T04:58:22.210" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15488" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15497" CreationDate="2011-03-08T04:46:49.467" Score="5" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of our users, Stan Rogers, mentioned there was such a distinction, I think, when he answered a question and talked about how the orthography of foreign loan-words typically changes to conform with the usual rules of English spelling. In passing he used the word &quot;rôle&quot; as an example and said something to the effect that implied that artists made a distinction between the two spellings.  Anyway, if I'm remembering the episode correctly, can someone make that distinction clear to me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T01:32:31.613" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T01:32:31.613" Title="What is the distinction between &quot;role&quot; and &quot;rôle&quot; [with a circumflex]?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15489" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15502" CreationDate="2011-03-08T04:57:19.967" Score="9" ViewCount="263" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the closing of an English L&amp;amp;U question, one of our users, Cerberus, used what I'm sure is a marvelous construction full of history, &lt;em&gt;pur sang&lt;/em&gt;, as in: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;...he is trying to argue here why it should mean something other than it does, which is argumentative pur sang.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I know &quot;sang&quot; means blood in Latin, and &quot;pur&quot; probably means &quot;in order to&quot; or something, but I don't get the feel of this phrase by breaking it down into its constituents.  What does &lt;em&gt;pur sang&lt;/em&gt; mean in this context? Is there a particularly famous literary usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T05:54:04.123" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T10:14:25.370" Title="What is the meaning of &quot;pur sang&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="15490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15473" CreationDate="2011-03-08T04:57:33.647" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Garner's Modern American Usage&lt;/em&gt; has a nice discussion of &quot;Adjectives as Verbs&quot; under the heading &lt;strong&gt;Functional Variation. E.&lt;/strong&gt; Garner warns that these transformations often have a trendy or jargonistic quality but adds, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are exceptions (greening rooftops). And to copyeditors, it is natural to talk about &lt;em&gt;lowercasing&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;uppercasing&lt;/em&gt; words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T04:57:33.647" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9163" CreationDate="2011-03-08T05:04:43.407" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tragicomic is correct that both &quot;me&quot; and &quot;story&quot; are objects of the verb &quot;told&quot; in the sentence &quot;he told me a story,&quot; but they're not the same kind of object: &quot;story&quot; is the &lt;em&gt;direct object&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;me&quot; the &lt;em&gt;indirect object&lt;/em&gt;. You can find each by asking a series of questions using already known part of the sentence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beginning with the subject and predicate, add &quot;what&quot;: He told what? The answer, a &lt;em&gt;story&lt;/em&gt;, is the &lt;em&gt;direct object&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, ask a question using the subject, predicate and direct object, and add &quot;to whom&quot; or &quot;to what&quot;: He told a story to whom? The answer to this question, &quot;me&quot;, is the &lt;em&gt;indirect object&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Applying the first question to the original sentence yields this: Behavior risk what? The answer, &quot;damaging a company’s brand and reputation&quot; is, as Tragicomic said, the direct object. Direct objects are always nouns. In this case, the phrase begins with the &quot;ing&quot; form of a verb which, when used as a noun, is a gerund. Since it's grouped with a bunch of other words, the object is a gerund phrase. Within that phrase, we can play some of the same fun games we played with the sentence as a whole, asking &quot;damaging what?&quot; to get the direct object &quot;brand, reputation&quot; of the verb damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that all this takes so long is one reason why, when I'm teaching English, I keep the grammar to a minimum. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5840" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T05:04:43.407" />
  <row Id="15492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15489" CreationDate="2011-03-08T05:20:14.223" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a French expression meaning pure-blooded (the literal translation) or thoroughbred.  In the example, he's saying that it's a quintessential example of being argumentative.  I'm not aware of a famous literary usage, but French literature is not my forte.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T05:20:14.223" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15494" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-08T05:27:21.830" Score="-1" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am writing the documentation of a software module made by my company: This module is supposed to be used by telecallers to call clients, fix appointments, refix appointments if they are unable to make their appointment, call back if not they're interested or the data we have on hand is incorrect, and ring phones [???].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Data Allocation Module is separated according to  which telecallers are allocated which clients' data; the tellecallers are groups of teams. Clients are also separated into some groups; e.g., paid and non paid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to add one add new business module. I haven't created it yet but as soon as I do I want to update the documentation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's how I started writing the documentation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;TME Module (Tele Marketing Module) In&#xA;  this Module Telecallers are assigned&#xA;  the Client Data on the basis of the&#xA;  data , telecallers call to the clients&#xA;  of data given  , and what data is&#xA;  retrived is store in this module.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;TeleCaller  Each telecaller is an&#xA;  employee having unique Code (TME&#xA;  Code).Telecallers is divided into the&#xA;  groups.TeleCaller Calls the clients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Client Clients are divided into groups&#xA;  Paid ,Non-Paids .and both these groups&#xA;  are further divided into&#xA;  subgroups.Client are the future&#xA;  becoming cutomers to whom telecaller&#xA;  calls for converting them to &#xA;  customers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could you critique this for me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(substantially edited by Billare, I may have not captured your true intent)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3052" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T18:23:20.030" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:23:20.030" ClosedDate="2011-03-08T10:42:06.573" Title=" Could you critique this documentation for me?" Tags="&lt;language-formation&gt;" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3472" CreationDate="2011-03-08T05:30:21.970" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just &quot;sleeping it over&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If an issue cannot wait, then it is some kind of repetitive formal situation for which one should prepare templates of standard polished texts  in advance for copy-pasting at time of communication (writing).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Having passed through reading out loud, printing out and being called for reading others' writings.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This simply cannot be done for most of everyday routine work.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is urgent and important, I usually translate a text into another language with electronic translator and read that text in that another language. It usually catches most of logical, syntax, lexical goofs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="3085" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T05:43:52.810" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T05:43:52.810" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15496" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-08T06:20:24.107" Score="0" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference regarding the usage of &lt;em&gt;detrimental&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;harmful&lt;/em&gt;?&#xA;I am not a native English speaker, so I don't understand the different nuance of these words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5806" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T09:29:58.563" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T09:55:20.413" Title="What is the difference between &quot;detrimental&quot; and &quot;harmful&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15488" CreationDate="2011-03-08T07:55:54.453" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language gives four definitions of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/role&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;role&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, the first of which is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;also &lt;strong&gt;rôle&lt;/strong&gt; A character or part played by a performer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;while the other three definitions (related to functions or characteristic behaviour) do not offer &lt;em&gt;rôle&lt;/em&gt;.  So for some people the circumflex indicates a particular meaning.  Not for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T07:55:54.453" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15498" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-08T08:19:12.430" Score="5" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not sure if this is the right place, but I was wondering if &quot;good for you&quot; and &quot;I am happy for you&quot; have a negative or positive connotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5368" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T01:26:14.070" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T01:26:14.070" Title="Do &quot;good for you&quot; and &quot;I am happy for you&quot; have a negative or positive connotation?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;connotation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15498" CreationDate="2011-03-08T08:35:29.210" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think they both pretty positive. I never heard people use them in a negative way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5648" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T08:35:29.210" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15498" CreationDate="2011-03-08T08:56:22.960" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;At face value, and taken literally, these are both positive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both can also be said sarcastically or with self-pity, and in that sense they could be negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T08:56:22.960" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15489" CreationDate="2011-03-08T09:01:40.300" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi there, as a French guy I suppose I can help you resolve this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Originally, &lt;em&gt;pure sang&lt;/em&gt; was an expression used to qualify horses whose parents blood had never been mixed with other species.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When used with other concepts, &quot;pure sang&quot; means full, genuine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the original quote &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;which is argumentative pur sang.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cerberus means that the attitude of the other person &lt;strong&gt;is fully, totally argumentative&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5841" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T05:55:04.373" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T05:55:04.373" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15496" CreationDate="2011-03-08T09:07:26.740" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two words have very close meaning. I would say that “detrimental” sounds slightly more conditional than “harmful”, but it might only be because it is a less common word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T09:07:26.740" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15505" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-08T09:41:31.967" Score="6" ViewCount="173" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just noticed that the word in the movie title, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pursuit_of_Happyness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Pursuit of Happyness&lt;/a&gt;, is spelled with a &lt;em&gt;y&lt;/em&gt; instead of an &lt;em&gt;i&lt;/em&gt;. Why is it spelled differently? Shouldn't it be &lt;em&gt;happiness&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4261" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T15:20:05.537" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T15:20:05.537" Title="Is it &quot;happyness&quot; or &quot;happiness&quot;?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15505" CreationDate="2011-03-08T09:48:51.767" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the article on Chris Gardner on ABC's site:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word &quot;happiness&quot; in the title is deliberately misspelled, just as it was on the wall of a day care center where Gardner once sought care for his young son, Chris Jr., during some of his worst days.&quot; Chris (Will Smith) even points out the misspelling to the Chinese care-giver that the mural decorating his son's daycare is spelled incorrectly. Chris wanted to make sure that his son was taught things the correct way, so that he could grow up to be an educated man and make something great of himself. Chris &quot;took offense&quot; to the fact that the world happiness was spelled wrong on the wall and became irritated by it. But the word comes to signify Chris' own pursuit of happiness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To quote from the movie:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And I remember thinking how did he know to put the pursuit part in there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it. No matter what. How did he know that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2003733&amp;amp;page=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2003733&amp;amp;page=1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T13:20:56.607" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:20:56.607" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15496" CreationDate="2011-03-08T09:53:11.903" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that &lt;em&gt;harmful&lt;/em&gt; can cover a far wider range of harm, whereas &lt;em&gt;detrimental&lt;/em&gt; has connotations of a minor effect that decreases the efficiency of whatever it's been applied to without stopping it from working entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5844" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T09:53:11.903" />
  <row Id="15508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15496" CreationDate="2011-03-08T09:55:20.413" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Harmful&lt;/em&gt; means (basing on what the NOAD reports) &quot;causing or likely to cause harm&quot;; &lt;em&gt;detrimental&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;tending to cause harm&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Harmful&lt;/em&gt; should be used for something that effectively (or probably) causes harm, while &lt;em&gt;detrimental&lt;/em&gt; should be used for something that frequently (or regularly) causes harm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T09:55:20.413" />
  <row Id="15510" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15513" CreationDate="2011-03-08T10:00:56.293" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;On a Tuesday morning, which of these sentences is the better way to express that I already want it to be Friday?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wish it were Friday.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I wish it was Friday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5844" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T13:42:57.480" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:42:57.480" Title="Correct usage of was/were on the object of a sentence" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;subjunctive-mood&gt;&lt;indicative-mood&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15511" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15516" CreationDate="2011-03-08T10:01:43.520" Score="2" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to write this essay and I find myself writing too many &quot;not only ... but also ...&quot; structures. Can you guys help me come up with some alternatives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, I want this kind of &lt;strong&gt;progressive&lt;/strong&gt; effect:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Doing this is not only fun, but also one of the most important activities of human beings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How about this one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is not only a teacher, but also one of the greatest educators in history.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastEditorUserId="5199" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T13:02:27.977" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:02:27.977" Title="Alternative structures for &quot;not only ... but also ...&quot;?" Tags="&lt;conjunctions&gt;&lt;phrasing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15505" CreationDate="2011-03-08T10:04:04.663" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is &lt;em&gt;happiness&lt;/em&gt;, in the same way it is &lt;em&gt;luckiness&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Happyness&lt;/em&gt; is a typo, whatever it is intentional (e.g., to make fun of somebody who wrote that word) or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T10:04:04.663" />
  <row Id="15513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15510" CreationDate="2011-03-08T10:11:34.907" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The keyword you're looking for is not “future tense”, but “subjunctive mood”. The subjunctive mood in your case is “I wish it were Friday”, which conveys this meaning fully. It is to be noted, though, that the usage of this mood is decreasing, and it can be considered correct in all but formal environments to say “I wish it was Friday”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T10:11:34.907" />
  <row Id="15514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15510" CreationDate="2011-03-08T10:11:56.250" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I wish it were Friday&quot; uses the past tense of the subjunctive mood, which is the tense used to express wishes (but it is also used for imaginary or hypothetical situations).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;I wish it was Friday&quot; is nowadays used too, probably because &quot;I wish&quot; makes already evident that the sentence is about a wish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports this notes about the subjunctive mood:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;If I were you&quot;; &quot;the report recommends that he face the tribunal&quot;; &quot;it is important that they be aware of the provisions of the act&quot;. These examples all contain a verb in the subjunctive mood. The subjunctive is used to express situations that are hypothetical or not yet realized and is typically used for what is imagined, hoped for, demanded, or expected. In English, the subjunctive mood is fairly uncommon (especially in comparison with other languages, such as Spanish), mainly because most of the functions of the subjunctive are covered by modal verbs such as &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt;. In fact, in English, the subjunctive is often indistinguishable from the ordinary indicative mood since its form in most contexts is identical. It is distinctive only in the third person singular, where the normal indicative &lt;em&gt;-s&lt;/em&gt; ending is absent (&lt;em&gt;he face&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;he faces&lt;/em&gt; in the example above), and in the verb &quot;to be&quot; (&lt;em&gt;I were&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;I was&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;they be&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;they are&lt;/em&gt; in the examples above). In modern English, the subjunctive mood still exists but is regarded in many contexts as optional. Use of the subjunctive tends to convey a more formal tone, but there are few people who would regard its absence as actually wrong. Today, it survives mostly in fixed expressions, as in &quot;be that as it may&quot;; &quot;far be it from me&quot;; &quot;as it were&quot;; &quot;lest we forget&quot;; &quot;God help you&quot;; &quot;perish the thought&quot;; and &quot;come what may&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T13:07:09.553" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:07:09.553" />
  <row Id="15515" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-08T10:23:35.690" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I am Rita's coach, is Rita my *coachee? (yikes) Is that even a word?&#xA;Would it be correct instead to say she is my ward? What about terms for people at the other end of a mentor, sponsor relationship?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="669" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T13:16:22.277" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:16:22.277" Title="Is &quot;coachee&quot; even a word?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15511" CreationDate="2011-03-08T10:23:45.163" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Doing this isn't exclusively fun, it's one of the most important activities of human beings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Doing this is not purely fun, on the contrary, it's one of the most important activities of human beings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Doing this is not wholly classified as fun, conversely it's one of the most important activities of human beings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is not a mere teacher, he is one of the greatest educators in history.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is a teacher and more, one of the greatest educators in history.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3627" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T12:49:35.607" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T12:49:35.607" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15515" CreationDate="2011-03-08T10:41:14.050" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Coachee&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Coachee&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is indeed a valid word, but often not widely used. I would suggest &lt;em&gt;pupil&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;trainee&lt;/em&gt; instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4866" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T10:41:14.050" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15518" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-08T11:07:45.820" Score="0" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1016/do-you-use-a-or-an-before-acronyms&quot;&gt;Do you use &amp;ldquo;a&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;an&amp;rdquo; before acronyms?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I'm writing about an acronym, whose first letter is pronounced as a vowel, but is a consonant, should I prefix is with an &quot;a&quot;, or an &quot;an&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google found occurences of &quot;an NSA agent&quot; and &quot;a NSA agent&quot;, although &quot;an NSA agent&quot; was much more common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5845" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T11:11:32.260" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T11:11:32.260" ClosedDate="2011-03-08T11:38:31.837" Title="Is it &quot;a NSA agent&quot; or &quot;an NSA agent&quot;" Tags="&lt;acronyms&gt;&lt;indefinite-article&gt;" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15519" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15523" CreationDate="2011-03-08T11:17:33.050" Score="2" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm making wild guesses about what the future would/will be like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is either legitimate? If so what's the differences in meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T11:31:26.703" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T12:32:33.390" Title="&quot;Will be like&quot; or &quot;would be like&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15515" CreationDate="2011-03-08T11:35:25.547" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need to qualify the terms to find suitable counterparts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are Rita's &lt;em&gt;coach&lt;/em&gt; (sports) then Rita might be a &lt;em&gt;member of your team&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are Rita's &lt;em&gt;guardian&lt;/em&gt; (parental) then Rita might be your &lt;em&gt;ward&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are Rita's &lt;em&gt;mentor&lt;/em&gt; then Rita might be your &lt;em&gt;trainee&lt;/em&gt; (in education) or &lt;em&gt;disciple&lt;/em&gt; (spiritual).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T11:35:25.547" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15519" CreationDate="2011-03-08T11:40:11.517" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The three sentences below demonstrate correct use of would/will in your situation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am making guesses about what the future will be like.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I was making guesses about what the future would be like.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am making guesses about what the present would be like if you we knew how to cure AIDS.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T11:40:11.517" />
  <row Id="15524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15511" CreationDate="2011-03-08T11:45:30.780" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Doing this is fun, but also one of the most important activities of human beings.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Doing this is fun, and one of the most important activities of human beings.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He is not just a teacher; he is one of the greatest educators in history.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He is not a mere teacher: he is one of the greatest educators in history.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Between the first two sentences I wrote there is a little difference in meaning, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T12:15:59.957" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T12:15:59.957" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15032" CreationDate="2011-03-08T12:00:39.363" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For software products...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I'll better give examples.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inside each release of SQL Server 2008 (2000 or 2005) there are editions like:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Standard Ed.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enterprise Ed.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Developer Ed.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Express Ed. (free)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which are bound to different sets of provided functionalities or features.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hoping that you've read answers to your &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/13353/are-there-any-differences-between-update-and-upgrade/13355#13355&quot;&gt;&quot;differences between “update” and “upgrade”?&quot;&lt;/a&gt;,&#xA;you may update your MS SQL Server 2005 by installing a service pack or hotfix getting after that an elevated version number (of the same edition).  Or, one can upgrade from Express Ed. 2005 to Enterprise Ed. 2005 with the same version. Or from the same version to elevated version of SQL Server 2008, really new major release.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T12:00:39.363" />
  <row Id="15526" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15531" CreationDate="2011-03-08T12:11:03.063" Score="8" ViewCount="481" Body="&lt;p&gt;The antonym of &quot;upgrade&quot; is &quot;downgrade&quot;, quite broadly used.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the antonym of &quot;update&quot;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Though, I hoped for something like &quot;un-update&quot; because reverting or uninstalling updates are much lengthier.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Update2:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;After having further answers about &quot;Restore&quot;, et al, I decided to restore the phrase from my original update. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yes, I can revert updates (uninstall&#xA;  service packs, hotfixes or restore&#xA;  the operating system to a previous&#xA;  state/image)   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T03:36:26.747" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T03:36:26.747" Title="What is antonym of &quot;update&quot;?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;antonyms&gt;&lt;technical&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15526" CreationDate="2011-03-08T12:28:44.580" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you don't update it, you leave it as it is, fail to maintain it, or simply ignore it. There is no &quot;downdate&quot; you can perform.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could, however, &quot;revert&quot; it, as we do for edits on this site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T12:28:44.580" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15526" CreationDate="2011-03-08T12:29:09.200" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you just don't update stuff, you &lt;em&gt;let it become obsolete/old/out-of-date&lt;/em&gt;, let it &lt;em&gt;age&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;olden&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;dust&lt;/em&gt;. A stronger and more colloquial expression would be, you &lt;em&gt;let it rot&lt;/em&gt;. However, the most straightforward thing to say would be, you just &lt;em&gt;don't update&lt;/em&gt; it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you actively perform the opposite of updating, you &lt;em&gt;make it old&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;revert it to an older state&lt;/em&gt;. A more eccentric word would be, you &lt;em&gt;antique&lt;/em&gt; it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T12:29:09.200" />
  <row Id="15530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15519" CreationDate="2011-03-08T12:32:33.390" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You would use &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; if you meant only that you wondered about the future in general, given no other conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would use &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; if you presented a hypothetical scenario along with your general state of wonder. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wonder what the future would be like if the Republicans were to take the 2012 presidential election.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you consider the conditional to be a &lt;em&gt;fait accompli&lt;/em&gt; you could say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wonder what the future will be like when the Republicans take the 2012 presidential election.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T12:32:33.390" />
  <row Id="15531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15526" CreationDate="2011-03-08T12:37:24.570" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you update your browser, you might want to &lt;em&gt;rollback&lt;/em&gt; the update or to &lt;em&gt;undo&lt;/em&gt; it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Mostly used in database management, I often hear/read about rollback of driver updates or program installs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T13:08:19.240" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:08:19.240" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15526" CreationDate="2011-03-08T12:39:44.180" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only antonyms reported by &lt;a href=&quot;http://thesaurus.com/browse/update&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Thesaurus.com&lt;/a&gt; are &lt;em&gt;antique&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;make old&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T12:39:44.180" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15511" CreationDate="2011-03-08T13:00:14.667" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an example of a &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/correlaconhterm.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;correlative conjunction&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A paired conjunction (such as not only . . . but also) that links balanced words, phrases, and clauses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The elements connected by correlative conjunctions are usually parallel--that is, similar in length and grammatical form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can find a link to a list of other kinds of correlative conjunctions above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And you can find how to deal with the problems these create here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/parallelism.htm#correlative&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/parallelism.htm#correlative&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:00:14.667" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15484" CreationDate="2011-03-08T13:02:22.827" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are certain countries and regions which are traditionally referred to with the definite article: anywhere where the proper name is a description (The United States, The Gold Coast, The Windward Isles), but also certain names which are not (The Ukraine, The Punjab, The Gambia, The Argentine). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some which were traditionally used this way are no longer: &quot;The Argentine&quot; is now usually replaced by &quot;Argentina&quot;; I believe that the government of Ukraine have specifically requested that their country not be referred to in English as &quot;The Ukraine&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Descriptive names where the description is merely identifying one part of a whole do not usually take &quot;the&quot;: North Korea, British Honduras, Inner Mongolia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many countries with simple names have a formal name which is a description, and these of course take &quot;the&quot;: The Republic of China, The Dominion of Canada. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of &quot;the&quot; with a country or region name is rarely optional: in nearly all cases it is fixed, depending on the country or region.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Phrases like &quot;The Spain of General Franco&quot; are entirely different: they are a construction which can be used with proper nouns in general: &quot;The John I used to know&quot;, &quot;The Liverpool he returned to&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:02:22.827" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="15535" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-08T13:07:44.023" Score="7" ViewCount="185" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have never said this.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I never said this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the usage of &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; in the first sentence justified or grammatically correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5847" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T13:28:35.340" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:36:05.107" Title="&quot;I have never said&quot; versus &quot;I never said&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="15537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15535" CreationDate="2011-03-08T13:17:09.700" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sentence 1, while not strictly incorrect, sounds strange because it's normally the way you'd say that you have no experience with something.  &quot;I have never gone fishing,&quot; for example, is the only way you can say it as &quot;I never go fishing&quot; doesn't mean you have never &lt;em&gt;once&lt;/em&gt; gone fishing but rather that it's extremely rare that you go fishing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:17:09.700" />
  <row Id="15538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15535" CreationDate="2011-03-08T13:18:47.203" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your first example sounds a little odd. You are referring to one specific instance, so it would be more natural to say &quot;I never said this.&quot; If you were referring to a number of cases, it would be natural to say &quot;I have never said anything like this,&quot; or &quot;I have never said anything of the sort.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:18:47.203" />
  <row Id="15539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15535" CreationDate="2011-03-08T13:21:03.923" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first sentence ('I have never said this') is a little unusual, but might be said to have the connotation &quot;but I might say it at some time in the future&quot;.  The second ('I never said this') is more usual and doesn't admit that possibility (though it doesn't deny it either -- that would require 'I would never say this').&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:21:03.923" />
  <row Id="15540" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15564" CreationDate="2011-03-08T13:21:32.133" Score="10" ViewCount="324" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen people on the Internet stressing a certain word using &quot;*&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I do not *like* it, I *love* it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think there is no such punctuation as &quot;*&quot;. So I'm wondering if I can use some other way to achieve the same goal in traditional English. I've tried quotation marks but then it sounds like I'm posing ironic effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I do not &quot;like&quot; it, I &quot;love&quot; it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That sentence leaves the impression that I'm loving it in a &lt;em&gt;unusual&lt;/em&gt; way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T14:49:18.450" Title="How to emphasize a word using standard punctuation system?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="15541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15535" CreationDate="2011-03-08T13:23:56.607" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes.  Consider that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have said this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I said this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;are both perfectly valid sentences.  The first is in the perfect tense, the second in the simple past.  Adding &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; doesn't change the validity of the tense forms.  As others have pointed out, choosing the perfect tense is a little unusual and has some connotations you might not want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:23:56.607" />
  <row Id="15542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15526" CreationDate="2011-03-08T13:27:32.860" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;date&quot; could be seen as an antonym for &quot;update.&quot; To date something can mean &lt;em&gt;to assign to a particular time&lt;/em&gt;. If something is dated, in this sense, it is not, or no longer, updated. Similarly, something &quot;outdated&quot; could be considered the opposite of something updated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T15:43:44.920" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T15:43:44.920" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="15543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15390" CreationDate="2011-03-08T13:29:43.897" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this is very much the right place to use a colon.  However, if you weren't comfortable with it, a dash would work well.  The dash seems to be becoming a fairly generic use everywhere punctuation mark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4335" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:29:43.897" />
  <row Id="15544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15540" CreationDate="2011-03-08T13:31:33.847" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Traditionally, emphasis has always been achieved through italics, but only if you need emphasis on a particular word rather than the entire sentence.  Most forums provide the possibility to provide italics, though lacking that, you need to surround the word with *.  Despite the fact that it is not preferable, it's perhaps the only way to emphasize without italics or bold typing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:31:33.847" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15540" CreationDate="2011-03-08T13:32:13.510" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The asterisks are used commonly on the internet in situations where the writer has no control over how the text is typeset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Traditionally, such emphasis is added by using an italic or bold face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why &quot;plaintext markup languages&quot; such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;markdown&lt;/a&gt; (which is used on the stack exchange sites) typically convert &lt;code&gt;*text*&lt;/code&gt; into &lt;em&gt;text&lt;/em&gt; (or sometimes &lt;strong&gt;text&lt;/strong&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of a traditional means of adding emphasis purely with punctuation (I imagine that if there was such a way then people would never have started using asterisks for this), though it's often possible to re-phrase things to add emphasis linguistically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4877" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:32:13.510" />
  <row Id="15546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15540" CreationDate="2011-03-08T13:35:10.527" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you are trying to do is mark speech patterns, particularly intonation patterns.  Standard English orthography doesn't do this at all, and the various attempts I've seen on and off the Internet, from italicizing to marking out with special symbols, all make the writer look like a poseur more than conveying stress information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fortunately this only really arises in blogging and diary writing when you are trying to write in a colloquial speech-like manner.  Most other occasions when emphasis matters involve direct speech, and for that purpose we pick adjectives carefully!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:35:10.527" />
  <row Id="15547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15535" CreationDate="2011-03-08T13:36:05.107" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I have never said this&quot; is in the perfect tense and implies that at no time in the past have you ever made the utterance that &quot;this&quot; refers to. You might say this in response to an accusation that's shocking to some degree: &quot;You told some of my friends that you hated me!&quot;, &quot;No, you're wrong, I have &lt;em&gt;never said that&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I never said this&quot; is in the simple past and implies that in one particular instance that is understood by the context you did not say what you're being accused of saying. &quot;Did you tell Dale that you were going to wait for me on Tuesday?&quot;, &quot;No, I never said that&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that in both constructions, it's probably more usual to use the demonstrative adjective &quot;that&quot; rather than &quot;this&quot; -- why? Because it seems to me that these phrases would most likely get used in &lt;em&gt;response&lt;/em&gt; to a particular point by someone else said previously, and so you want to refer to &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; particular point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone had a written phrase on paper, pushed it across the table to you, and then said &quot;we believe that you made this statement&quot;, then you might look at it and say &quot;No, I never said this&quot; where &quot;this&quot; indicates &quot;what's written on this paper&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4747" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:36:05.107" />
  <row Id="15548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8" CreationDate="2011-03-08T13:38:57.647" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I've&quot; seems fairly normal to me as British (or at least Scottish) English, and is completely unambiguous.  I don't this &quot;he's&quot; would ever be understood as &quot;he has&quot; rather than &quot;he is&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4335" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T13:38:57.647" />
  <row Id="15549" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15556" CreationDate="2011-03-08T14:01:51.223" Score="4" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;A thought just came in my mind: the Sun shines, but the moon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is better to use, &lt;em&gt;sunshine&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;sunlight&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can we use &quot;Moon shines&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5366" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T14:29:31.527" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T16:41:53.767" Title="&quot;Sunshine&quot; and &quot;moonlight&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15550" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15552" CreationDate="2011-03-08T14:04:24.867" Score="11" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if &quot;sequential&quot; is the right word, but what is the system for creating a sequence of numbers like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;primary (as in 1st in choice or importance)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;secondary (as in 2nd in choice or importance)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tertiary (as in 3rd in choice or importance)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;???&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;PROFIT&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be the following words after &quot;tertiary&quot; if there are any?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4279" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T16:24:52.227" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T16:24:52.227" Title="Is there a system for creating words for ordinal numbers?" Tags="&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15551" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15553" CreationDate="2011-03-08T14:05:26.993" Score="2" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;My point is whether there is such a context, in which &quot;you will show&quot; would really change the meaning if it is substituted for &quot;you will have shown&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T14:10:59.263" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T14:18:34.780" Title="In what situation &quot;you will have shown&quot; can't be substituted with &quot;you will show&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;contexts&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15550" CreationDate="2011-03-08T14:12:02.180" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;quaternary (adjective): fourth in order or rank; belonging to the fourth order.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;quinary (adjective): of or relating to the number five&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;senary (adjective, rare): relating to or based on the number six&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;septenary (adjective)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;octonary (adjective, rare)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;nonary (adjective, rare)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;denary (adjective)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(source: &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T14:12:02.180" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15551" CreationDate="2011-03-08T14:18:02.910" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After we've seen your performance, &lt;em&gt;you will have shown&lt;/em&gt; us your talent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;After we've seen your performance, &lt;em&gt;you will show&lt;/em&gt; us your talent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the first sentence implies that the &quot;showing of talent&quot; takes place as part of the performance. The second implies that it will happen after the performance. So the meanings are different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T14:18:02.910" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15551" CreationDate="2011-03-08T14:18:34.780" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;You will have shown&quot; is a phrase using the future perfect, which is normally used when describing an event in the future to show its relevance with another event in the future, or when describing an action that will take place before some specified or predictable time. The time could also be specified by a previous sentence, or clause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;By then, you will have shown what you meant to do since the beginning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T14:18:34.780" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15549" CreationDate="2011-03-08T14:21:14.670" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To shine&lt;/em&gt; has a connotation of brightness: for example, it is defined in the &lt;em&gt;NOAD&lt;/em&gt; as “to give out a bright light”. You can, however, say that the moon shines at full moon, or talk about “the shine of the moon on her face”, if you feel like emphasising the intensity of the light.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T14:21:14.670" />
  <row Id="15556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15549" CreationDate="2011-03-08T14:24:21.967" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's several thoughts that have come to mind, so here's several answers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The sun shines.  The moon shines too, albeit with reflected light.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sunshine&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;sunlight&lt;/em&gt; are synonymous, but still subtly different.  &lt;em&gt;Sunshine&lt;/em&gt; generally refers to the illumination outside on a sunny day, particularly the visible light, and has strong positive emotional connotations.  &quot;He's a regular ray of sunshine&quot; is a way of describing an infectiously happy person.  &lt;em&gt;Sunlight&lt;/em&gt; in contrast is more emotionally neutral, and refers to any light (or other EM radiation for that matter) coming from the sun.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Moonlight&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;moonshine&lt;/em&gt; are a bit more different.  &lt;em&gt;Moonlight&lt;/em&gt; is loaded with all sorts of emotional baggage: romance, mystery and madness to name but three.  &lt;em&gt;Moonshine&lt;/em&gt; on the other hand is rarely used for the light from the moon, mostly in poetic imagery.  More usually it refers to (illegal) backwoods whisky!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To expand on that last bit, since Etymonline is rather terse: objects and landscapes tend to look rather different and strange when viewed by moonlight, so moonlight itself has connotations of unreality and illusion.  There are any number of faerie stories involving gates that can only be found when the light of the full moon falls on them, fabulous treasures that turn out to be just leaves and moss in the morning light, and so on.  Moonshine whisky in that sense is pushing the notion that the illicit hooch is only as real (and hence taxable) as something seen by moonlight, i.e. not really there at all.  Likewise the things you'll see if you drink too much of it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastEditorUserId="1579" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T16:41:53.767" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T16:41:53.767" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="15557" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15559" CreationDate="2011-03-08T14:25:16.273" Score="4" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;In which context should &lt;em&gt;sang-froid&lt;/em&gt; be used?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Can you provide an example?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T15:01:38.223" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T20:09:57.537" Title="Example of sentence using &quot;sang-froid&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;loan-words&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="15558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15550" CreationDate="2011-03-08T14:25:57.020" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ordinal numbers&lt;/strong&gt; describes these sorts of sequential forms in general.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This refers to the common &lt;em&gt;first, second, third…&lt;/em&gt; as well as to the latinate &lt;em&gt;primary, secondary, tertiary&lt;/em&gt;, though, so may not be quite specific enough for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T14:25:57.020" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15557" CreationDate="2011-03-08T14:29:33.243" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is really synonymous to &lt;em&gt;composure&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;self-control&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;aplomb&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;poise&lt;/em&gt;. The &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/em&gt; has examples such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“Possessed of somewhat greater sang-froid, Jamie placed one of the bolsters strategically across his lap…”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“For a moment his face became a white mask of horror, but he soon recovered his sang-froid, and looking up at Lady Windermere, said with a forced smile…”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;“Famously nothing shocks New Yorkers, and that urban sang-froid is precisely the spirit of N.Y.C.”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems mostly used in fiction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T14:29:33.243" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15557" CreationDate="2011-03-08T14:30:35.003" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He executed the bank heist with utter &lt;em&gt;sang-froid&lt;/em&gt; — ice in his veins and no pity in his heart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T14:30:35.003" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15549" CreationDate="2011-03-08T14:34:47.280" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;moon shine&quot; would be used except that it conflicts with moonshine which is a powerful homemade whiskey.  Even if the meaning is fairly evident by the context, nobody wants to use words in poetry that might make you think of something completely unlike what you intended.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've always heard &quot;the moon beams&quot; as an equivalent to &quot;the sun shines&quot; for the moon.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T14:34:47.280" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3472" CreationDate="2011-03-08T14:44:42.057" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For anything serious, I don't merely print it out - I pick up a red pen before I read the print out. This completely transforms my persona from a mild mannered writer into a eagle-eyed, let-no-errors-pass-unseen proofreader. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T14:44:42.057" />
  <row Id="15564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15540" CreationDate="2011-03-08T14:49:18.450" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The classical punctuation to denote emphasis is the &lt;strong&gt;exclamation mark&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, that applies to the whole sentence. It is sometimes possible to draw a word to the end of a sentence to emphasize &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt; instead of the whole sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I love kittens … not!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or if the word in question is an interjection, put it between dashes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The dessert – delicious! – had just 200 calories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another alternative I have sometimes seen is putting the exclamation mark into parentheses behind the word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is the only (!) way of using emphasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in general, emphasis of single words is achieved via formatting, not punctuation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Historically, this has been italics, or, since, italics are hard to emulate in handwriting, underlining in handwritten documents. With the advent of typewriters, the underlining convention was reused but on computer terminals, underlining no longer works because you cannot shift the carriage position back in a text document (which is how underlining was achieved on typewriters).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is probably when people began to hint at emphasis by prefixing and affixing a word with underscores: &lt;code&gt;_like this_&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In newsgroups, many people switched to slashes, &lt;code&gt;/like this/&lt;/code&gt;. I have no idea where the asterisks come from though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T14:49:18.450" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15557" CreationDate="2011-03-08T15:32:27.760" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sang-froid and cold blood are what the French call &quot;faux amis&quot;.  Although it literally means &quot;cold blood&quot;, a more appropriate modern translation for &quot;garder son sang froid&quot; would be &quot;to keep one's cool&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Synonyms for &quot;sang froid&quot; would be cool and collected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He approached the job interview with&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;sang-froid&lt;/em&gt;.  He was cool, calm, and collected, as if ice-water were&#xA;  coursing through his veins.  He seemed&#xA;  to keep his heart rate in check simply&#xA;  through force of will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3328" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T15:32:27.760" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15557" CreationDate="2011-03-08T15:37:27.953" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;em&gt;Da Vinci Code&lt;/em&gt; by Dan Brown (p. 63):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The delicate art of cajoler was a lost&#xA;  skill in modern law enforcement, one&#xA;  that required exceptional poise under&#xA;  pressure. Few men possessed the&#xA;  necessary sangfroid for this kind of&#xA;  operation, but Fache seemed born for&#xA;  it. His restraint and patience&#xA;  bordered on the robotic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, &quot;sangfroid&quot; is being applied to a poised French police detective. While it has the literal meaning of &quot;having cold blood,&quot; you can pick up the sense of being emotionally constrained rather than heartless (&quot;cold blooded&quot;). (See Zoot's answer about &quot;false friends.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3306" LastEditorUserId="3306" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T16:02:54.850" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T16:02:54.850" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15415" CreationDate="2011-03-08T16:33:30.890" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In practice, there isn't much difference: you could arguably pick just one of the terms and use it to describe both types of rhetorical substitution. (I like &lt;em&gt;metonymy&lt;/em&gt;: it's easier to spell, more spelling checkers know it, and the meaning is more apparent to me: meta+name.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference, to the extent that it exists at all, is whether the attribute that is substituting for the whole is &lt;strong&gt;part of&lt;/strong&gt; the whole (&lt;em&gt;synecdoche&lt;/em&gt;), or merely &lt;strong&gt;associated with it&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;em&gt;metonymy&lt;/em&gt;). So &quot;suits&quot; instead of &quot;officials&quot; is metonymy (officials &lt;em&gt;wear&lt;/em&gt; suits, but last I checked, the clothing is not permanently attached to their skin), while &quot;hands&quot; for &quot;workmen&quot; is synecdoche.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also make a case for using &lt;em&gt;metonymy&lt;/em&gt; for any example where a smaller part or attribute substitutes for a larger part or attribute, and reserving &lt;em&gt;synecdoche&lt;/em&gt; for examples where the larger stands for the smaller, or the container for the contents. Under this interpretation, both &quot;suits&quot; and &quot;hands&quot; could be considered metonyms, and synecdoche would be something like &quot;General Motors announced cutbacks&quot; &amp;mdash; it was presumably a spokesperson who issued such a statement on behalf of the CEO or board of directors, since General Motors is not a single entity and does not possess speech capabilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T16:38:47.593" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T16:38:47.593" />
  <row Id="15568" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15570" CreationDate="2011-03-08T16:55:43.610" Score="4" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;notion&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;conception&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T18:31:23.067" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T05:28:54.983" Title="&quot;Notion&quot; and &quot;conception&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15569" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15575" CreationDate="2011-03-08T16:59:49.703" Score="2" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But I believe the theory of a creator of the universe can be explained in rational &lt;strong&gt;terms&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T01:39:01.963" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T01:39:01.963" Title="Meaning of 'terms' in 'in rational terms'." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;contexts&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="15570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15568" CreationDate="2011-03-08T17:00:12.690" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to The Free Online Dictionary, here is a comparison of synonyms of &lt;em&gt;idea&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Synonyms: idea, thought, notion, concept, conception&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These nouns refer to what is formed or represented in the mind as the product of mental activity. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Idea&lt;/strong&gt; has the widest range: &quot;Human history is in essence a history of ideas&quot; (H.G. Wells).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thought&lt;/strong&gt; is distinctively intellectual and stresses contemplation and reasoning: &lt;em&gt;&quot;Language is the dress of thought&quot;&lt;/em&gt; (Samuel Johnson).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Notion&lt;/strong&gt; often refers to a vague, general, or even fanciful idea: &lt;em&gt;&quot;She certainly has some notion of drawing&quot;&lt;/em&gt; (Rudyard Kipling).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Concept&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;conception&lt;/strong&gt; are applied to mental formulations on a broad scale: You seem to have absolutely no concept of time. &lt;em&gt;&quot;Every succeeding scientific discovery makes greater nonsense of old-time conceptions of sovereignty&quot;&lt;/em&gt; (Anthony Eden).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T17:00:12.690" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15569" CreationDate="2011-03-08T17:04:13.817" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This means that the theory of a creator of the universe can be defined in such a way that everyone can agree upon.  So 'rational terms' in this case would be those definitions that everyone can agree upon.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, whether that's true or not is completely subjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastEditorUserId="5735" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T17:14:29.467" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T17:14:29.467" />
  <row Id="15572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14901" CreationDate="2011-03-08T17:15:18.827" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Arnold Zwicky writing on the Language Log in a post called &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001762.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here Comes the Accusative&lt;/a&gt;&quot; discusses the use of accusative pronouns ('I' is nominative and 'me' is accusative):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...the basic rule for&#xA;  nominative/accusative choice in&#xA;  English is: nominative for subjects of&#xA;  finite clauses, accusative otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to this rule, the clause 'With me being one of them' is correct, even without the preposition, since 'being' is not a finite verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="860" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T17:15:18.827" />
  <row Id="15573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15484" CreationDate="2011-03-08T17:15:34.067" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;IMO, it's all about plural and singular.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could even argue that loosing the definite article is actually the last state of a normal process in the evolution of a country's name as it progresses towards unity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, in this thread &lt;strong&gt;Spain&lt;/strong&gt; is often cited as a reference of not having an associated definite article.  That's certainly true today but that was not always the case.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Back in the Roman era what we now call the Iberian Peninsula was called Hispania. There were at various times more than one Roman province therein (Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior; later Hispania Tarraconensis, Hispania Baetica, and Lusitania; and in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laterculus_Veronensis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Verona List&lt;/a&gt; a total of six &quot;Hispaniae&quot;, including part of North Africa) [Thanks to Peter Taylor for this Precision].&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Then, in the XVth century Fernando de Aragon and Isabel de Castilla were referred to as &quot;Reyes de &lt;em&gt;las Españas&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Nowadays, that it is a single entity again nobody in Spain would use &quot;Las Españas&quot; or &quot;En la España&quot; but instead &quot;En España&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Punjab, as everybody knows, being the land of 5 rivers, still conveys a sense of plural, which could justify an article.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Evolution Path&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As a rule of thumb, you could theorise that when several entities are grouped together, an implicit plural is present in the place name and that this implies an article.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;After a while, though, if there is no ambiguity (if the proper name has no other meaning), then the group type (&quot;islands&quot;, &quot;lands&quot;, &quot;united&quot;) is dropped but the article remains (at least for a while) and that is the root cause of the confusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dropped &quot;islands&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; - still with article:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The Azores, the Canaries, the Falklands, the Galapagos. However nobody dares to shorten &quot;the Virgin Islands&quot; to the &quot;Virgins&quot; because that could generate some misunderstanding ;-).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lands&lt;/strong&gt;: The Netherlands (plural because these are the lands at or below sea level): in most languages, with plural article.  But nobody says &quot;The England&quot;, &quot;The Scotland&quot; because Angles and Scots have only one land.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;One special case is Flanders (no article in English, Dutch, Spanish and German but an article in French (plural), Italian (plural) and Portuguese (singular!).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;United something&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The United States, The United Emirates.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In these case, the implicit plural demands an article.  However it is commonplace to hear &quot;In the States&quot; or &quot;In the Emirates&quot;, the entity type is dropped but the article remains.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="5432" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T14:25:00.120" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T14:25:00.120" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15569" CreationDate="2011-03-08T17:20:41.223" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This 'terms' is from the same origin as 'terminology' - i.e. the words and definitions used to describe a topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T17:20:41.223" />
  <row Id="15575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15569" CreationDate="2011-03-08T17:20:57.213" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Terms&quot; is being used here in the sense of &quot;expressions&quot; or &quot;propositions&quot;.  The writer is declaring that his theory can be expressed in such a way that it can be tested by rational argument as distinct from the usual emotional shouting-match.  This does not necessarily mean that the writer's theory is true, though from context the writer clearly believes that it is and expects that a dispassionate rational analysis of his argument will support him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T17:20:57.213" />
  <row Id="15576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15569" CreationDate="2011-03-08T17:26:56.287" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Rational terms&lt;/em&gt; is an idiomatic phrase, and breaking down idioms into their constituent parts is rarely a productive exercise. That said, &quot;terms&quot; is more or less a synonym of &quot;words&quot;, and &quot;rational&quot; can mean &quot;not confusing, logical&quot;, so in this case you can actually arrive at something resembling the actual meaning by looking at the parts: &lt;em&gt;in rational terms&lt;/em&gt; = &lt;em&gt;using logical words&lt;/em&gt; (as opposed to emotional or politically-charged words or legalese or any similar obfuscation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T17:26:56.287" />
  <row Id="15577" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-08T17:41:39.110" Score="0" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6632/where-does-the-period-go-when-using-parentheses&quot;&gt;Where does the period go when using parentheses?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen it both ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lorem ipsum (dolor sit amet.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lorem ipsum (dolor sit amet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is the appropriate punctuation? I presume other punctuations (semicolon, comma, etc.) would follow the same rule?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2178" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T17:41:39.110" ClosedDate="2011-03-08T18:03:45.037" Title="Proper parentheses/period positioning" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;parentheses&gt;&lt;period&gt;" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="15578" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15606" CreationDate="2011-03-08T18:13:22.783" Score="7" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are conflicting definitions of origin. Unclear as to whether it is derived directly from the Greek, coined by Pearson, or used and named prior to Pearson.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Refer to &quot;The History of Histograms - 1. Prehistory&quot; - Yannis Ioannidis&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The etymology of the word histogram is uncertain. Sometimes it is said to be derived from the Greek histos 'anything set upright' (as the masts of a ship, the bar of a loom, or the vertical bars of a histogram); and gramma 'drawing, record, writing'. It is also said that Karl Pearson, who introduced the term in 1895, derived the name from &quot;historical diagram&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answers.com/topic/histogram#ixzz1G2OoF7hB&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.answers.com/topic/histogram#ixzz1G2OoF7hB&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5854" LastEditorUserId="5854" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T19:24:06.920" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T17:42:54.257" Title="What is the derivation of the statistical term &quot;Histogram&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;mathematics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4510" CreationDate="2011-03-08T18:19:24.820" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is that rare case when I disagree with Microsoft in its decision &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.msdn.com/b/brada/archive/2004/07/03/172702.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Microsoft has decided to stick with &quot;cannot&quot; (dropping &quot;can not&quot;) in its docs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I understood, the answer(s) to this question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4510/why-is-cannot-spelled-as-one-word/4516#4516&quot;&gt;told about possibility of 2-word &quot;can not&quot; only&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to add on cases of &lt;strong&gt;impossibility of using one-word &quot;cannot&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/137041-could-you-proofread-these-10-short-sentences.html#post691474&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt; tells that &quot;cannot&quot; can't be used in:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cannot it be without repetitions? - incorrect  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can it not be without repetitions? - correct&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/137041-could-you-proofread-these-10-short-sentences-2.html#post694423&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;another post in the same thread&lt;/a&gt; tells:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I can't open the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;* meaning, because it is stuck&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I cannot open the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;* meaning, because it is forbidden.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I can not open the door or I can open it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;* meaning, I have a choice.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T18:19:24.820" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15578" CreationDate="2011-03-08T18:24:39.093" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that the origin of &lt;em&gt;histogram&lt;/em&gt; is late 19th century, from the Greek &lt;em&gt;ιστός&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;mast&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;web&lt;/em&gt;) plus the suffix &lt;em&gt;-gram&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T18:24:39.093" />
  <row Id="15581" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15582" CreationDate="2011-03-08T18:26:51.713" Score="2" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently I was told by a potential interviewer for a job that we would be having a &quot;high-level conversation&quot; soon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assumed at the time that she just meant a conversation with a higher-up, e.g., her boss, but suddenly am not so sure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I'm curious. Have you heard that term before, and what does it mean? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5855" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T01:48:53.263" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T01:48:53.263" Title="What is a &quot;high-level conversation&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;conversation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15581" CreationDate="2011-03-08T18:37:11.423" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A high-level conversation is one where you discuss generalities instead of focusing on details.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T18:37:11.423" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15583" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-08T18:38:04.650" Score="0" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/78/when-is-it-appropriate-to-use-that-as-opposed-to-which&quot;&gt;When is it appropriate to use &amp;#39;that&amp;#39; as opposed to &amp;#39;which&amp;#39;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a difference between these two phrases?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The bus which dropped me off&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The bus that dropped me off&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5856" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T18:48:51.693" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T18:48:51.693" ClosedDate="2011-03-08T19:08:25.440" Title="What is the difference between 'that' and 'which'?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="15584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13353" CreationDate="2011-03-08T18:40:44.413" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From most answers:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To update means to make something more&#xA;  modern or up to date; it also means to&#xA;  give to somebody the latest (or up to&#xA;  date) information. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, the most &quot;up-to-date&quot; is not synonym of &quot;modern&quot;.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One can have the most up-to-date SQL Server 2005 with all latest updates and hotfixes but it is behind, in being modern, after SQL Server 2008 (even not updated).   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example Service Pack 4 for SQL Server 4 was released on December 17, 2010, i.e. three years after release of more modern SQL Server 2008.     &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T18:40:44.413" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15585" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15586" CreationDate="2011-03-08T18:49:48.183" Score="2" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;Paradigm Shift + Thinking outside of the box = Death of a Salesman&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T13:59:19.530" Title="How/From where did the term &quot;paradigm shift&quot; originate?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="15586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15585" CreationDate="2011-03-08T19:06:17.270" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This term became current with Thomas Kuhn's &lt;em&gt;The Structure of Scientific Revolutions&lt;/em&gt; (1962): if you Google &lt;code&gt;&quot;paradigm shift was first used&quot;&lt;/code&gt;, all results confirm that it was first used in that work. He described the same concept in his earlier work &lt;em&gt;The Copernican Revolution&lt;/em&gt; (1957), but apparently he didn't use the term &lt;em&gt;paradigm shift&lt;/em&gt; there. It may have existed before Kuhn, but all sources seem to suggest that it did not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T17:37:58.463" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T17:37:58.463" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15585" CreationDate="2011-03-08T19:06:41.367" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the NOAD reports, the origin of &lt;em&gt;paradigm shift&lt;/em&gt; is 1970s; the dictionary reports the term was used in the writings of Thomas S. Kuhn.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The &lt;em&gt;Collins English Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; reports that the origin of the word is the 20th century, and that the term was coined by &quot;T.S. Kuhn (1922-1996), US philosopher of science&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As additional information, the first sentence containing &quot;paradigm shift&quot; reported from the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Historical American&lt;/em&gt; is dated 1980-1989.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/zo6YV.png&quot; alt=&quot;CoHA&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T19:33:42.643" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T19:33:42.643" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-10T17:23:37.797" CommentCount="22" />
  <row Id="15588" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15594" CreationDate="2011-03-08T19:07:02.667" Score="23" ViewCount="477" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;scientist&lt;/em&gt; comes from the Latin &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scientia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;scientia&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, but when did its usage become more prevalent than the term &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_philosophy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;natural philosopher&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T13:37:10.970" Title="When did the term &quot;scientist&quot; overtake usage of the term &quot;natural philosopher&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;philology&gt;&lt;coin&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="15589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15588" CreationDate="2011-03-08T19:11:08.743" Score="24" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.johndcook.com/blog/2011/02/16/origin-of-scientist/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; blog post (and &lt;a href=&quot;http://pballew.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-term-scientist-came-to-be.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;), William Whewell proposed the term in 1835.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Opposition continued into the late 1800s and early 1900s, but according to this Google Labs ngram, the crossing point appears to be a little after 1870:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/chart?content=scientist%2Cnatural%20philosopher&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=3&amp;amp;year_start=1800&amp;amp;year_end=1900&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="107" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T19:11:08.743" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15590" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15599" CreationDate="2011-03-08T19:19:17.547" Score="1" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, I know the definitions of each word, but, technically speaking although possible, I've yet to stumble across a word for it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A silhouette portrait can be painted or drawn - not always a force of nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="5531" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T20:24:54.250" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T21:32:38.357" ClosedDate="2011-03-08T23:03:44.860" Title="Is there a word that describes: a silhouette of a shadow?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="15591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15581" CreationDate="2011-03-08T19:19:35.457" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;High level&quot; here normally refers to the status of the participants. When you read in the paper that &quot;The US and Germany are holding high-level talks,&quot; the meaning is that these involve persons on both sides at the upper levels of government, up to and including the president, prime minister, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T19:19:35.457" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15592" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-08T19:21:41.820" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;How should wireless technology names be hyphenated and capitalized?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;a wireless g network&quot;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;a wireless-g network&quot;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;a wireless-G network&quot;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;a wireless G network&quot;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;none of the above?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does a formal rule even exist for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="94" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T19:38:57.167" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T05:11:31.797" Title="How should wireless technology names be hyphenated and capitalized?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;hyphen&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15588" CreationDate="2011-03-08T19:30:17.800" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I present a different picture:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/MLFXk.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T19:30:17.800" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15588" CreationDate="2011-03-08T19:35:04.413" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/3HxDx.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;data&lt;/a&gt; reported from the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Historical American&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;scientist&lt;/em&gt; started to be used more frequently than &lt;em&gt;natural philosopher&lt;/em&gt; between 1860 and 1869.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/3HxDx.png&quot; alt=&quot;CoHA&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The CoHA finds 538 phrases containing &lt;em&gt;scientist&lt;/em&gt; dated 1960-1969, and 589 phrases dated 2000-2009.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T13:37:10.970" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T13:37:10.970" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15592" CreationDate="2011-03-08T19:38:34.483" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you call a “g network” is a shortcut for an “802.11g network”. “Wireless” should not be capitalized, because it's a standard adjective in English, so the normal name would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;wireless 802.11g network&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or simply&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;IEEE 802.11g network&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;because “wireless” is implied by the IEEE 802.11 standards. Now, if you want to drop the 802.11 from the name, logic would dictate to keep the &lt;em&gt;g&lt;/em&gt; lowercase (and there's still no reason to hyphenate):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;wireless g network&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, if you feel this is not very readable, you can favour readability over logic, and go for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;wireless G network&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;because the G stands out more if capitalised. I see no reason to add hyphens to that, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding my personal preferences, I would not omit the 802.11 in writing, so I'd keep “wireless 802.11g network”. Orally, I would drop the 802.11, but then capitalisation is not a question anymore!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T19:38:34.483" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15592" CreationDate="2011-03-08T19:38:53.610" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's no &quot;formal rule&quot; for how to refer to any sort of technology other than to defer to however it was named by its creators.  The standard you're referring to is officially known as &lt;em&gt;802.11g&lt;/em&gt; and is defined by the IEEE.  Doing a search across their site, it appears that they use multiple variations, however:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The G is almost always capitalized&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The hyphen is normally included&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The W is usually capitalized &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in general, I would recommend &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a Wireless-G network.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edit: &lt;a href=&quot;http://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/wireless/wifi-takes-new-turn-with-wirelessg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt;'s a link showing IEEE using the Wireless-G format (see near the bottom of the article for an example that's not in the title)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T19:38:53.610" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15590" CreationDate="2011-03-08T19:51:59.770" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;penumbra,&quot; for the faint outer outline of a shadow?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T19:51:59.770" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15557" CreationDate="2011-03-08T20:09:57.537" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To my ear, sangfroid's closest synonym is cool-headedness, though unflappability comes close, too, in many contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5861" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T20:09:57.537" />
  <row Id="15599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15590" CreationDate="2011-03-08T21:07:13.290" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Uh, &lt;em&gt;outline&lt;/em&gt;? Or am I missing something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T21:07:13.290" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15585" CreationDate="2011-03-08T21:09:20.087" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, Kuhn's writings first mention the idea of paradigm shifts. Somewhere in the &lt;em&gt;Structure of Scientific Revolutions&lt;/em&gt; he thanks one of his colleagues at UCal Berkley for introducing him to Wittgenstein. He also talks explicitly about Wittgenstein in the beginning of the book--that is, later Wittgenstein. It is clear that Wittgenstein's &lt;em&gt;On Certainty&lt;/em&gt; is going in the direction of paradigm shifts--i.e. assumptions that are treated as facts. But I'd also check out Koyré's &lt;em&gt;From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe&lt;/em&gt;--I'm pretty sure Kuhn mentions Koyré in the preface to &lt;em&gt;SSR.&lt;/em&gt; Although the term paradigm shift wasn't used before Kuhn, the general idea isn't new (I'm thinking of Hume, Kant to an extent, even Protagoras--at least as presented in Plato's &lt;em&gt;Theaetetus&lt;/em&gt;). --Hope this helps. I'd definitely recommend reading some of these books esp. later Wittgenstein. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3913" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T21:09:20.087" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="15601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15590" CreationDate="2011-03-08T21:32:38.357" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't understand the distinction you're trying to make....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I make a silhouette portrait of you, I essentially trace an outline of you and fill in the middle with black.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I make a silhouette portrait of your shadow, I essentially trace an outline of your shadow and fill in the middle with black.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming that your shadow is not badly distorted in some way due to an irregular surface or a strange choice of lighting position, the two processes should result in exactly the same outcome, since your shadow's outline is identical to your own.  So there's hardly a need for a word to describe the second result, since it's the same as the first anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T21:32:38.357" />
  <row Id="15602" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15603" CreationDate="2011-03-08T21:50:17.483" Score="4" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to address people who are mathematical, logical and analytic; &lt;em&gt;left-minded&lt;/em&gt;, let's say. But I find the left- vs right-minded theory trendy and biased (just the opposite of the people I'm trying to address).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My phrase goes something like: &quot;This course is focused on left-minded individuals...&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any help would be appreciated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5863" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T01:34:36.587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T01:34:36.587" Title="What is another term for left-minded people?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15602" CreationDate="2011-03-08T21:59:36.757" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Left brained&quot; or &quot;left hemisphere dominant&quot; are the more usual ways to put it, I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to avoid the whole left/right brain thing, then taking a page from your explanatory sentence, you could say &quot;this course is geared toward logical and analytical thinkers.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T22:11:56.620" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T22:11:56.620" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3472" CreationDate="2011-03-08T23:36:55.067" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;On my school day, I was taught to proofread what I wrote reading it from the bottom to the top; in that way, I would read every single word, and what I effectively wrote (not what my mind was suggesting).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spell checkers help, but there are things they cannot detect: they cannot report you wrote &quot;I miss you, Mia&quot;, but you were supposed to write &quot;I miss you, Mary Jane&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T23:36:55.067" />
  <row Id="15606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15578" CreationDate="2011-03-08T23:37:54.067" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;em&gt;Oxford History of Statistics&lt;/em&gt;, the word &lt;strong&gt;histogram&lt;/strong&gt; was coined by Pearson, as your link also mentions. It certainly did not exist in Ancient Greek.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Oxford English Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; gives the following as its first quote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;1891&lt;/em&gt; in E. S. Pearson, &lt;em&gt;Karl Pearson&lt;/em&gt; (1938) 143: &quot;The geometrical&#xA;  representation of statistics. ... D.&#xA;  By Columns. &lt;em&gt;Histograms&lt;/em&gt;. Optical&#xA;  advantage of vertical over horizontal&#xA;  columns.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The OED also gives the same etymology as Kiamlaluno's NOAD does: from Greek ἱστός (/histos/), &lt;em&gt;mast, upright beam&lt;/em&gt;. This and the fact that Pearson himself put &quot;Histograms&quot; as his primary entry under &quot;By Columns&quot; as in the quote above make it near certain that he created this word based on the likeness of masts or beams to the columns of a histogram.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that this is not at all related to the word &lt;em&gt;history&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;em&gt;histos&lt;/em&gt; is cognate with our words &lt;em&gt;stand&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;status&lt;/em&gt; (through Latin), and &lt;em&gt;stasis&lt;/em&gt; (Greek), while &lt;em&gt;historia&lt;/em&gt; is cognate with our words &lt;em&gt;wise&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;wit&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;vision&lt;/em&gt; (through Latin), and &lt;em&gt;idea&lt;/em&gt; (Greek).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T17:42:54.257" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T17:42:54.257" />
  <row Id="15607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15585" CreationDate="2011-03-09T00:22:05.790" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;See below what Google ngrams finds. The roughness near the turn of the century seems to be the result of a bug or incorrect data, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/vuwgF.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5867" LastEditorUserId="5867" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T13:59:19.530" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T13:59:19.530" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="15608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3472" CreationDate="2011-03-09T00:41:24.277" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One trick that I use a lot (as a semi-professional copyeditor) is to move the cursor along in the text as I'm reading it. That refocuses my attention on the little details I might otherwise miss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T00:41:24.277" />
  <row Id="15609" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-09T04:34:29.530" Score="0" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1073/what-is-the-correct-possessive-for-nouns-ending-in-s&quot;&gt;What is the correct possessive for nouns ending in s?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to write this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In a singleton pattern, a class's&#xA;  constructor needs to be private&#xA;  instead of public.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it is correct to write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a classes constructor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a class' constructor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a class's constructor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a classes' constructor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T06:26:46.003" ClosedDate="2011-03-09T10:37:34.837" Title="How do you write &quot;a class's constructor&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="15610" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15625" CreationDate="2011-03-09T04:52:28.850" Score="0" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I love this song, its called &quot;Behind the Door&quot; and its by sixth Finger, I love the song, but I have no clue as to what it really means..Any input, is greatly appreciated, Thank You.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a link to the song, just in case:&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qdFrYRAdfg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qdFrYRAdfg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5871" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T06:30:48.687" Title="What does &quot;close to you Behind the Door&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;lyrics&gt;&lt;music&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="15611" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-09T04:59:12.337" Score="1" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the differences between an &quot;opposite&quot; and &quot;antonym&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:34:20.590" Title="What are differences between an &quot;opposite&quot; and &quot;antonym&quot; to a word?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="15612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15609" CreationDate="2011-03-09T04:59:12.967" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th edition&lt;/em&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6.19&lt;/strong&gt;: The possessive of singular nouns is formed by the addition of an apostrophe and an s [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few exceptions listed later on, but they do not apply to a common noun ending in s (or ss).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus I say that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a class's constructor&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T04:59:12.967" />
  <row Id="15613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15609" CreationDate="2011-03-09T05:01:39.387" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &quot;a class' constructor&quot; and &quot;a class's constructor&quot; are accepted as correct. More recent English use stylistic guides show preference for the &quot;a class's constructor&quot; use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5872" LastEditorUserId="5872" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T05:36:07.067" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T05:36:07.067" />
  <row Id="15614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15592" CreationDate="2011-03-09T05:11:31.797" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What matters is that some of these terms are trademarked, and so, must be written in the way the trademark holders require.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wi-Fi&lt;sup&gt;&amp;reg;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/a&gt; - owned by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_Alliance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wi-Fi Alliance&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bluetooth&lt;sup&gt;&amp;reg;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/a&gt; - owned by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth_Special_Interest_Group&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bluetooth Special Interest Group&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMAX&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;WiMAX&lt;sup&gt;&amp;trade;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/a&gt; - owned by the WiMAX Forum&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_Protected_Access&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wi-Fi Protected Access&lt;sup&gt;&amp;reg;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/a&gt; - owned by the Wi-Fi Alliance; also known as WPA&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZigBee&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ZigBee&lt;sup&gt;&amp;reg;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/a&gt; - owned by the ZigBee Alliance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirPort&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;AirPort&lt;sup&gt;&amp;reg;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/a&gt; - owned by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.apple.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Apple Inc.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPoAC&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;IPoAC&lt;/a&gt; - an &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Request_for_Comments&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;IETF&lt;sup&gt;&amp;reg;&lt;/sup&gt; RFC&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="513" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T05:11:31.797" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="178" CreationDate="2011-03-09T05:22:29.890" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Software - not sure about that but you could tune your accent by ear. Many American TV showns seems to use a homogomised accent, pick one and compare yourself against that. Avoid &quot;the Wire&quot; (I still need subtitles for that one) or anything with NYC gangsters. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T05:22:29.890" />
  <row Id="15616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15332" CreationDate="2011-03-09T05:23:04.053" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;never-to-be-forgotten&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ineffaceable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;indelible, indissoluble, un-removable, irrevocable, undying, imperishable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;prominent, striking, shocking, incredible, glaring&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;long-standing, durable, life-long, live-long, relenting, lingering, evergreen&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T05:23:04.053" />
  <row Id="15617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15611" CreationDate="2011-03-09T05:27:25.277" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For all practical purposes, the two are equivalent when used to describe words*.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etymologically, &quot;opposite&quot; came to us from Latin, via French, while &quot;antonym&quot; came from Greek, also via French.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Latin: &lt;em&gt;oppositus&lt;/em&gt;, or &quot;set against&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Greek: &lt;em&gt;ant- + onuma&lt;/em&gt;, or &quot;against a&#xA;  name&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*as mentioned in my comment below, if the context is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; limited to the description of words, then an antonym is a very specific type of opposite -- an opposite of another word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5873" LastEditorUserId="5873" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T07:33:59.817" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T07:33:59.817" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15568" CreationDate="2011-03-09T05:28:54.983" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One can have many notions about a single concept but a notion usually cannot be about many concepts.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T05:28:54.983" />
  <row Id="15619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15484" CreationDate="2011-03-09T05:34:00.700" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would simply have consulted with &lt;a href=&quot;http://usefulenglish.ru/grammar/part-7-articles-with-geographical-names&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Articles with Geographic Names&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3085" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T05:34:00.700" />
  <row Id="15620" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-09T05:51:53.353" Score="3" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there more idioms, sayings or phrases similar to &quot;needle in a haystack&quot; that are relevant to hidden objects, or difficult to find items? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also interested in similar nouns relevant to the somewhat oppositional concepts like &quot;needle&quot; and &quot;haystack&quot; or &quot;3-leaf clover&quot; vs. &quot;4-leaf clover&quot; where one object is significantly harder to find. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3862" LastEditorUserId="3862" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T05:59:17.420" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T13:08:43.647" Title="More idioms like &quot;needle in a haystack&quot; relevant to hidden/hard to find items?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;saying&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15620" CreationDate="2011-03-09T05:56:54.660" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Looking for a black cat in a coal cellar&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T05:56:54.660" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15620" CreationDate="2011-03-09T05:59:22.807" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A virgin in a high school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A snowball in hell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A drop in the bucket, perhaps? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5874" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T05:59:22.807" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15611" CreationDate="2011-03-09T06:03:58.167" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In what context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Opposing is to be against something. The anti-thesis, an enemy of something. Rust is opposite of steel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Antonym is just a word that is opposite of another. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5874" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T06:03:58.167" />
  <row Id="15624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15609" CreationDate="2011-03-09T06:26:46.003" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That would be &lt;em&gt;class'&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;class's&lt;/em&gt;, but I would rather change the sentence to avoid that altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, as it's a specific pattern that is applied to a specific class, it would be more correct to refer to &lt;em&gt;the pattern&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;the class&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;a pattern&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;a class&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the singleton pattern, the constructor of the class needs to be private instead of public.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the pattern is something that only is applied to a class, it can even be implied:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the singleton pattern, the constructor needs to be private instead of public.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T06:26:46.003" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15610" CreationDate="2011-03-09T06:30:48.687" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I listened to the song, and I googled the lyric, and as far as I can tell it means exactly what it says:  someone is nearby, with only a door separating them from you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T06:30:48.687" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15611" CreationDate="2011-03-09T07:08:23.333" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As of now Wikipedia is considering both the same.&#xA;That is, if you search there for &lt;code&gt;Antonym&lt;/code&gt; you will reach at a page titled &lt;code&gt;Opposite(Semantics)&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr/&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But then again, at the top of the article, Wikipedia notes that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This article needs attention from an&#xA;  expert on the subject. See the talk&#xA;  page for details. WikiProject&#xA;  Linguistics or the Linguistics Portal&#xA;  may be able to help recruit an expert.&#xA;  (November 2008)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And if you go to the talk page, you will get plenty of reasons why &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3aOpposite_%28semantics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Antonym should never have been moved to Opposite (semantics)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And that article argues that &lt;code&gt;Antonym&lt;/code&gt; is different from &lt;code&gt;Opposite&lt;/code&gt; with very valid points. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good excerpt will be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Antonym&quot; is very much a definitive&#xA;  linguistic term unlike the imprecise&#xA;  &quot;Opposite&quot; which is not saved by the&#xA;  pretentious &quot;(semantics)&quot; tag.&#xA;  &quot;Opposite&quot; can be anything, &quot;antonym&quot;&#xA;  can be only one thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4502" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T07:08:23.333" />
  <row Id="15627" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15629" CreationDate="2011-03-09T07:10:56.017" Score="2" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ozzie announced his plans to &lt;strong&gt;step down&lt;/strong&gt; from his role at Microsoft on October 18, 2010&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T14:34:21.407" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:12:33.587" Title="why use 'step down' instead of 'resign'? any difference?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;phrasal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15627" CreationDate="2011-03-09T07:18:34.757" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While both &lt;em&gt;step down&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;resign&lt;/em&gt; mean the same thing, &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0812990#m_en_gb0812990&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;step down&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is used as a phrasal verb to speak of someone resigning from an important position. Ray Ozzie held the position of chief software architect at Microsoft.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T07:18:34.757" />
  <row Id="15629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15627" CreationDate="2011-03-09T07:27:14.083" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Step down&lt;/em&gt; is just a euphemism for &lt;em&gt;resign&lt;/em&gt;.  It &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; indicate, as Tragicomic said, that the position being left was one of importance, but that need not be the case to make use of the euphemism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5873" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T07:27:14.083" />
  <row Id="15630" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15631" CreationDate="2011-03-09T08:07:10.133" Score="0" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This paper has been &lt;strong&gt;framed by&lt;/strong&gt; two seemingly recurring topics in IS research&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T08:31:30.657" Title="meaning of 'frame by'." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="15631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15630" CreationDate="2011-03-09T08:17:06.643" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's to say the paper is set &lt;em&gt;in the context&lt;/em&gt; of those two topics.  They are the background or basis for the present work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the relevant definition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;frame: a basic structure that underlies or&#xA;  supports a system, concept, or text&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5873" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T08:17:06.643" />
  <row Id="15633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15484" CreationDate="2011-03-09T08:36:19.387" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Along with the answers already here, it may be helpful to know that &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab_region&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Punjab&lt;/a&gt; is a geographical region, some of which is in India and some in Pakistan. When we speak of the region, we call it &lt;em&gt;the Punjab&lt;/em&gt;, and when we speak of the official state, it's usually just &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/custom?hl=en&amp;amp;client=pub-6238405171313215&amp;amp;cof=FORID%3A1%3BGL%3A1%3BL%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.thehindu.com%2Fhindux.gif%3BLH%3A50%3BLW%3A390%3BLBGC%3A336699%3BLC%3A%230000ff%3BVLC%3A%23663399%3BGFNT%3A%230000ff%3BGIMP%3A%230000ff%3BDIV%3A%23336699%3B&amp;amp;domains=www.hindu.com&amp;amp;ie=ISO-8859-1&amp;amp;oe=ISO-8859-1&amp;amp;q=%22punjab%22&amp;amp;btnG=Search&amp;amp;sitesearch=www.hindu.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Punjab&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (without the article). In &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.co.in/books?id=VNAMjuMw_5kC&amp;amp;pg=PA1140&amp;amp;lpg=PA1140&amp;amp;dq=%22of+the+punjab%22+%22british+history%22&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=TjWRABzVBv&amp;amp;sig=luVKnczZ4SjQ6sxP2FncI5u2jDk&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=oDt3Tb5iyOytB6709b4K&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=3&amp;amp;ved=0CCoQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22of%20the%20punjab%22%20%22british%20history%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;historical writing&lt;/a&gt; as well, the region is referred to as &lt;em&gt;the Punjab&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T08:36:19.387" />
  <row Id="15634" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-09T09:01:29.887" Score="8" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;people from China = Chinese&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;people from Japan = Japanese&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;people from Australia = Australian&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;people from Lebanon = Lebanese&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;people from Sweden = Swedish&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any rules that govern this? Like people from asian countries all end with an &quot;ese&quot; or something? Or maybe some rules within the name of the country?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2611" LastEditorUserId="5210" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T10:12:02.247" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T10:39:58.310" Title="Are there any rules governing what we call people from different countries?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;demonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="15635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15634" CreationDate="2011-03-09T09:08:54.260" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good question.  I tried thinking up some sort of guideline and found that I didn't really know myself, so I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.linglish.net/2008/10/22/so-many-nationality-suffixes/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; which does a fairly decent job at explaining it and some general rules on how to apply them.  Though, like all things in English, if you want to know with any precision how to call people from certain countries, you must memorize them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T10:39:58.310" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T10:39:58.310" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15636" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15634" CreationDate="2011-03-09T09:12:13.040" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The name of “how people from a given place are called” is &lt;strong&gt;demonym&lt;/strong&gt;. You can find more information, including examples, in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonym&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;. If you have more specific questions, please feel free to edit your original post!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T09:12:13.040" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="15637" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15643" CreationDate="2011-03-09T09:18:09.237" Score="2" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the name of this kind of act? It is commonly seen between friends. (I mean the act between two people, not necessarily 4 people like this one.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or can you describe it with a few words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/4rvB1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:19:49.763" Title="What's the name of this kind of act?" Tags="&lt;phrasing&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15620" CreationDate="2011-03-09T09:22:09.450" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have a one-word answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Waldo&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4846" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T09:22:09.450" />
  <row Id="15639" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15720" CreationDate="2011-03-09T09:42:21.297" Score="3" ViewCount="261" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He walked out, Rachel's words indelibly etched into his memory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He walked out, Rachel's words being indelibly etched into his memory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastEditorUserId="5199" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T13:18:17.250" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T07:42:03.517" Title="What's the difference between these sentences?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15640" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15654" CreationDate="2011-03-09T10:04:33.297" Score="2" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I looked up the synonym dictionary, and it told me that &quot;deprived of&quot; can be the alternative of &quot;without&quot;. So I'm wondering if this usage is right:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Deprived of his partner, he couldn't win by himself.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Life would be miserable deprived of you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He would never be able to speak deprived of this technology being discovered.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastEditorUserId="2683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T10:08:46.120" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T13:08:07.847" Title="Can &quot;deprived of&quot; be used in this way?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15641" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15644" CreationDate="2011-03-09T10:18:49.410" Score="6" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are being asked to describe a picture, what tense would you use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T13:59:20.320" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T13:59:20.320" Title="Should I use past tense when I'm asked to describe a picture?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15640" CreationDate="2011-03-09T10:25:34.710" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Deprived of&quot; generally implies that something has been taken away, whereas &quot;without&quot; can simply mean that something was missing in the first place. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Deprived of his partner, he couldn't win by himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a correct usage. It implies that he originally had a partner, but lost him and can no longer win.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The latter two examples do not work so well. When someone says &quot;Life would be miserable without you,&quot; they could be implying that life would be miserable if you left, or if they had never met you. &quot;Life would be miserable deprived of you&quot; only means that life would be miserable if you left, and sounds somewhat foreign as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5880" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T10:25:34.710" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15637" CreationDate="2011-03-09T10:31:57.387" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is normally described rather literally as &quot;putting an arm around someone's shoulder&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&#xA;Mike put his arm around Tracey's shoulder while they were watching the football game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5880" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T10:31:57.387" />
  <row Id="15644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15641" CreationDate="2011-03-09T10:34:56.447" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use the present tense to describe the picture itself. Reserve the past tense for talking about the subject if it's an old picture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Matthew Brady's pictures of the Civil War are grayed and cracked in many cases, but they depict scenes that were emblematic of their era.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See? Present tense for the picture, past tense for the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use present tense to talk about the subject matter if the picture has just been taken. It's not cut and dried when you should begin talking about the subject in the past tense, but if I just take a picture of you on my cell phone, I might say, &quot;You're not smiling enough. I'm going to take another.&quot; If it were, say, an hour old, I might say, &quot;I wish you'd been wearing your blue jacket. It would have gone great against the yellow wall. Still, I'm not going to delete the picture. It's a good record of our friendship.&quot; And so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If by pictures you mean &quot;paintings&quot; the same rules would apply, only you are less likely to talk about the subject matter in present tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T10:48:14.993" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T10:48:14.993" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="15645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15639" CreationDate="2011-03-09T10:38:11.230" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not to put too fine a point on it, but they're both rather awkward. I'd recast them this way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He walked out, leaving his books on the table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given your new information, I think you are introducing unnecessary ambiguity with the two meanings of &lt;em&gt;left&lt;/em&gt;. It's not clear who is doing the leaving of books, or if nobody is, as &lt;em&gt;left&lt;/em&gt; can be used with or without an object. After your edits I would recast the sentence a different way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He walked out; Rachel's books remained on the table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He walked out; Rachel's books stayed on the table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T12:11:50.630" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T12:11:50.630" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15641" CreationDate="2011-03-09T10:43:19.077" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;But also you may use Present Continuous :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5881" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T10:43:19.077" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15639" CreationDate="2011-03-09T11:52:11.780" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are still awkward after your edit, and Robusto's adjustment would be to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He walked out, leaving Rachel's books on the table.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other possibilities include&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He walked out; Rachel's books were left on the table. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or perhaps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He walked out, with Rachel's books (being) left on the table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T11:52:11.780" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15641" CreationDate="2011-03-09T12:43:51.843" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends, really&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;When this picture was taken, it was a grey day and had rained for 3 hours. I was completely soaked as you can see&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;On this picture you see me completely soaked after 3 hours in the rain&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T12:43:51.843" />
  <row Id="15649" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15653" CreationDate="2011-03-09T12:46:09.657" Score="4" ViewCount="118" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just, without much fore thought, used the word &quot;actioned&quot; in the following (example) context, and am now wondering if it's valid (upon a re-read I've decided I don't like the way it sounds, hence the question).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1000 emails needed some kind of action, 800 of which were &lt;strong&gt;actioned&lt;/strong&gt; by the team while the remaining 200 were escalated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can think of (what I feel is) a better word to replace &quot;actioned&quot; in this case - either &quot;processed&quot; and &quot;completed&quot; should do it - and my spell checker doesn't like &quot;actioned&quot;, so I'm wondering if the word is valid? If it is, is my above example a valid usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1384" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T21:57:08.517" Title="Is &quot;actioned&quot; a valid word?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15640" CreationDate="2011-03-09T12:46:59.970" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Deprived of his partner, he couldn't win by himself. - &lt;strong&gt;fine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Life would be miserable deprived of you. - &lt;strong&gt;without is much better&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;He would never be able to speak deprived of this technology being discovered.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;He would never be able to speak, had this technology never been discovered&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T12:46:59.970" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15649" CreationDate="2011-03-09T12:51:31.407" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English has a long history of turning nouns into verbs, but this one feels just awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest &quot;acted on&quot; instead of &quot;actioned&quot; here, or some other word or construction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could say something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1,000 emails needed some kind of action, 800 of which were tackled by the team while the remaining 200 were escalated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tackle&lt;/strong&gt; in this case means to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;make determined efforts to deal with (a problem or difficult task) : &lt;em&gt;police have launched an initiative to tackle rising crime.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking of that, you could use &quot;dealt with&quot; in place of &quot;actioned&quot; there as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T12:51:31.407" />
  <row Id="15652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15649" CreationDate="2011-03-09T13:01:04.060" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To action is also legal term - if you actioned someone, you took them to court&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I did find actioned here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/actioned&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/actioned&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;to put into effect; take action&#xA;  concerning matters decided at the&#xA;  meeting cannot be actioned until the&#xA;  following week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T13:06:31.217" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T13:06:31.217" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15649" CreationDate="2011-03-09T13:02:00.653" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This use of &quot;action&quot; as a verb is very common in business contexts, so it's very hard to argue it's &lt;em&gt;invalid&lt;/em&gt;, but as both your reaction and Robusto's indicate, many people find it awkward, jarring or just plain ugly; for this reason you may wish to avoid using it (although in an internal report in the sort of company where people talk like that, it would be entirely appropriate to do so...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other possible replacements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;taken care of&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dealt with&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;carried out&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;acted on&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;performed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T13:02:00.653" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15640" CreationDate="2011-03-09T13:08:07.847" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The examples given work better with &quot;without&quot; than &quot;deprived&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Without his partner, he couldn't win&#xA;  on his effort alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Life would be miserable without you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He would never be able to speak&#xA;  without this technology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note: for the 3rd example, it is the technology [perhaps a voice prosthesis after a laryngectomy?] that allows the person to speak, not the act of discovery of the technology)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Deprive&quot; means to take something away from. Also, it is commonly used to refer to the removal of a basic or essential need. Hence, it is often used in the following context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Deprived of sleep, he was unable to&#xA;  perform well at work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The dictator imposed unreasonable&#xA;  restrictions on his political&#xA;  opponents, and deprived them of the right&#xA;  of free speech as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Deprived of food, the child was unable&#xA;  to reach his full growth potential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Without&quot; is usually more generic in its usage, it may not always refer to the removal of a basic/ essential need:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Without the fitness he once had, he&#xA;  was unable to complete the marathon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He got wet because he was caught in&#xA;  the rain without an umbrella.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5671" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T13:08:07.847" />
  <row Id="15655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15620" CreationDate="2011-03-09T13:08:43.647" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you take &quot;hard to find&quot; as being &quot;very rare/non-existant&quot; …&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Scarce as hen's teeth.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T13:08:43.647" />
  <row Id="15656" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-09T13:56:14.397" Score="1" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can anyone recommend some of the good English grammar books available?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5887" LastEditorUserId="5887" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T14:48:37.820" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T14:48:37.820" ClosedDate="2011-03-09T14:33:47.800" Title="Which are some good English Grammar books available?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15639" CreationDate="2011-03-09T13:59:20.783" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why make it so complicated?  Write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He left Rachel's books on the table and walked out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T13:59:20.783" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15658" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15661" CreationDate="2011-03-09T14:01:38.187" Score="3" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;How are these two different?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Build [something] out&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Build [something] up&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4595" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T15:05:19.613" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:02:09.110" Title="&quot;Build out&quot; versus &quot;build up&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrasal-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15656" CreationDate="2011-03-09T14:08:13.007" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure if this is necessarily the best, but I used &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wren_&amp;amp;_Martin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wren and Martin&lt;/a&gt; in school and while it's more on the formal side, I found it really helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5254" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T14:08:13.007" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15658" CreationDate="2011-03-09T14:12:02.363" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an American, I can't say I've really ever used &quot;build something out&quot; much, though perhaps a Britain would use it more frequently and could tell you better.  If I had to guess as to its meaning, I would assume that one means to expand something perhaps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To build something up is to make something sound fantastic.  That I have used a lot more frequently than to build something out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T14:12:02.363" />
  <row Id="15661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15658" CreationDate="2011-03-09T14:23:55.517" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;in U.S. English at least, &lt;em&gt;build out&lt;/em&gt; usually refers to finishing the interior of a building or an apartment that one is renting or leasing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As part of the build-out plan, the landlord was expected to partition the west wing into 14 separate offices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &quot;build up&quot; means to make something more than what it was. It may be used in a literal sense&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You can build up your muscles by exercising with free weights.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or it may be used in a figurative sense&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Praising children helps them build up their self-esteem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T14:23:55.517" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15662" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-09T14:41:31.897" Score="2" ViewCount="30" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it considered grammatical to refer to a gerund in the subject position with the pronoun &quot;it&quot; - e.g. &quot;Visiting a dentist regularly is recommended as it can contribute to overall health&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T15:10:44.637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T15:10:44.637" Title="Referring to a gerund with a pronoun" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;gerund&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15662" CreationDate="2011-03-09T14:44:14.300" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sure. Using the pronoun &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt; there is perfectly grammatical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T14:44:14.300" />
  <row Id="15664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13662" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:03:07.603" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would phrase it as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In a list of prime numbers, in which position does 5 appear?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T15:03:07.603" />
  <row Id="15665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8131" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:09:26.253" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question -&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/15289/isnt-integrity-antonym-to-multiple-personality&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&amp;lt;- was closed, but I don't see it as a duplicate of this one at all. In the Mental Health professions, one speaks of &quot;being Integrated&quot; or &quot;well Integrated&quot;, but the term &quot;integrity&quot; itself almost invariable has no special meaning. Rather, it has the common usage that associates it with ethical or moral values. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A person could be &quot;well integrated&quot; i.e., in no way suffering from Associative Identity Disorder (the current term, not M.P.D.), and still have ethics or morals that their society would judge to be poor. So, the answer to the closed question is No, 'Integrity' is not an antonym to 'Honesty', but 'Integrated' could certainly be considered one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer to this question is that strictly speaking Integrity and Honesty are not identical, but in common usage what most other members of a society consider to be a whole, complete &quot;well adjusted&quot; person is usually one that they also consider honest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T15:09:26.253" />
  <row Id="15666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15662" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:10:24.900" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gerunds are words derived from verbs that are used as nouns; they can be used as subject of a sentence, and (as every noun) you can replace them with pronouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T15:10:24.900" />
  <row Id="15667" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15670" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:21:46.423" Score="1" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should I write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To gain insight &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; this obstacle, she will begin to analyse . . . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To gain insight &lt;strong&gt;into&lt;/strong&gt; this obstacle, she will begin to analyse . . .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google shows (much) more results for &quot;into&quot; than for &quot;on&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastEditorUserId="5342" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T15:33:32.797" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T15:56:16.360" Title="To gain insight into or on?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15668" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15676" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:22:53.643" Score="1" ViewCount="21" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Upon those who step into the &#xA;  same rivers, &lt;strong&gt;different and again different&lt;/strong&gt; waters flow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T15:37:39.440" Title="Meaning of 'different and again different'" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15669" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15672" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:24:30.600" Score="2" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose someone is using the word &quot;apology&quot; in the theological sense, i.e., a &quot;defense&quot;. I'm inclined to use the word &quot;apologia&quot; because it immediately distinguishes it from the typical meaning of &quot;apology&quot;, but I'm wondering if this is considered correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In Dr. Salien's apologia of Quebec French...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or is this better:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In Dr. Salien's apology for Quebec French...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You see the problem - Dr. Salien is &lt;em&gt;defending&lt;/em&gt; Quebec French, not saying that he is sorry for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2986" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T15:35:49.223" Title="Usage: &quot;Apologia of&quot; or &quot;Apology for&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15667" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:30:05.047" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Into&lt;/em&gt; is correct here. I don't think there's any other preposition that works, except perhaps &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;, though that's much less common. All of the Google results I see for &lt;em&gt;insight of&lt;/em&gt; have it as part of a larger phrase, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is your biggest insight (into whatever) of this year?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T15:30:05.047" />
  <row Id="15671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15667" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:31:31.043" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Into&lt;/strong&gt; is the correct preposition to use, but I think &lt;em&gt;about&lt;/em&gt; can work also: “during his study, he gained a lot of insight about the inner workings of the administration”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T15:31:31.043" />
  <row Id="15672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15669" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:34:39.117" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the case of both &lt;em&gt;apology&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;apologia&lt;/em&gt;, the preposition to use is &lt;strong&gt;for&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;apology&lt;/strong&gt;. 3. a reasoned argument or writing in justification of something, typically a theory or religious doctrine: &lt;em&gt;a specious apology for capitalism.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;apologia&lt;/strong&gt;. a formal written defense of one's opinions or conduct: &lt;em&gt;an apologia for book banning.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(from the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;). I agree that apologia has a clearer meaning if you are discussing an appropriate audience, though it might just sound pedant to the layman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T15:34:39.117" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15668" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:35:48.557" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It just means that the water is never the same, it's always different water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T15:35:48.557" />
  <row Id="15674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15669" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:35:49.223" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Apologia for&lt;/em&gt; is the correct version, but it's also rather obscure and formal. I think you'd be better off using &lt;em&gt;defense of&lt;/em&gt; or similar. (Though if you're actually talking about Québecois, perhaps the cognate with &lt;em&gt;apology&lt;/em&gt; would appease any French readers you've got, because Québec French is kinda horrid if you're used to French French.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T15:35:49.223" />
  <row Id="15675" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:37:30.937" Score="2" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm writing a report talking about how a certain technique in my field has become 'more mainstream', but that phrase looks rather wrong. Is it a valid thing to say? Can something become &quot;more mainstream&quot; or are things either mainstream, or not? If it isn't a valid thing to say, how else should I phrase it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="965" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:07:23.490" Title="Is &quot;more mainstream&quot; a valid thing to write?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15668" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:37:39.440" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a poetic and emphatic way of saying that the water flowing past &quot;those who step into the same rivers&quot; is constantly changing, with the implication that no two people will have the same experience when crossing the same river.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5153" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T15:37:39.440" />
  <row Id="15677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15675" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:44:09.560" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Though perhaps not strictly correct, &quot;more mainstream&quot; is &lt;em&gt;more acceptable&lt;/em&gt; than, for example, &quot;more perfect&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other choices might include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;technique X has become mainstream.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;technique X has become close to mainstream.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;technique X is now widely used/accepted.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T15:44:09.560" />
  <row Id="15678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15639" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:50:12.007" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second sentence is a participial phrase, but the subject of the first clause is different from the subject of the second clause (which seems to me what my grammar book describes as &lt;em&gt;dangling participial&lt;/em&gt;).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Taking the ferry across the harbor, the Statue of Liberty came into view. [dangling participial]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Taking the ferry across the harbor, I saw the Statue of Liberty come into view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The correct sentence is the one already reported by others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He walked out, leaving Rachel's books on the table.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He walked out, forgetting Rachel's books on the table.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first sentence is similar to a comma splice. To correct it, you could write it as one of the following sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He walked out; Rachel's books were left on the table.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He walked out; Rachel's books were forgot on the table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T19:06:47.763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T19:06:47.763" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15679" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:50:36.003" Score="1" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My colleagues are in the design department of a given product, and when asked to add that information to the e-mail signature, they have written:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;ProductName&lt;/em&gt;'s Design&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm objecting that the usage of the Saxon genitive there is incorrect, because the product is neither a person or animal owning anything, and Design in this context is not even a property of the product (Maybe I would admit the Saxon genitive in a context like &quot;I think &lt;em&gt;ProductName&lt;/em&gt;'s design is not fail-safe&quot;), but an activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I right? ^_^&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;update&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After reading the answers and the comments, I think the issue has been clarified a little bit. In this case &lt;em&gt;ProductName&lt;/em&gt; is acting as an adjective qualifying Design [Department], so that's the actual reason for not using the genitive case (rather than the product being a &quot;weak entity&quot; unable to possess things, that is merely an stylistic rule of thumb).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4098" LastEditorUserId="4098" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T08:57:45.560" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T08:57:45.560" Title="Saxon genitive usage question" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15667" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:56:16.360" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use &quot;insight &lt;strong&gt;into&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a minor point, I feel that using &lt;em&gt;insight&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;obstacle&lt;/em&gt; is like a mixed metaphor because, in order to climb over an obstacle I don't usually need to look inside it. I would prefer to pair some other word such as &lt;em&gt;understanding&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;obstacle&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T15:56:16.360" />
  <row Id="15681" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15707" CreationDate="2011-03-09T15:56:59.207" Score="5" ViewCount="164" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the following definition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To lower in quality or character.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Synonyms found:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;corrupt, pervert, subvert, demoralize, demoralise, debauch, debase, profane, vitiate, deprave, misdirect&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However all of those have a very &quot;intentionally evil&quot; connotation. I would say more along the lines of &quot;messed up&quot;, but it needs to portray that it's somewhat intentional, just not with the evil slant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intentionally done, but unintentionally wrong, is what I'm looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perfect Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My nick name on here is Aequitarum Custos, which is a &quot;bastardized&quot; Latin, it should have been Aequitatis Custos (the correct way to say what I wanted).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I intentionally created my nick like that, but had no intention to make it wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reason for desiring a synonym is due to the perceived obscenity of the word bastard by some people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5190" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T00:07:00.003" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T00:07:00.003" Title="A synonym for &quot;bastardized&quot; without the evil slant?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;connotation&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15681" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:01:15.130" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think &lt;strong&gt;debase&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;contaminate&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;pollute&lt;/strong&gt; necessarily express negative intent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:01:15.130" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15658" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:02:09.110" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Build out: Building horizontally&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Build up: Building vertically&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is how I would interpret it, and would use it, however rarely is &quot;build out&quot; used, and when it is, almost explicitly in the physical act of building something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Building Up can be used figuratively for improving anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5190" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:02:09.110" />
  <row Id="15684" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15688" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:02:37.143" Score="1" ViewCount="1195" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does the phrase &lt;a href=&quot;http://metrolyrics.com/down-on-me-lyrics-jeremih.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;put it down on me&quot;&lt;/a&gt; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5892" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T04:11:10.980" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T04:11:10.980" Title="What does &quot;put it down on me&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;lyrics&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15675" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:04:07.903" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it’s &lt;strong&gt;perfectly acceptable&lt;/strong&gt;! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;…and widely used by good writers, in professionally edited contexts.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch?query=%22more+mainstream%22&amp;amp;srchst=cse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Searching the NYT&lt;/a&gt;, for instance, gives 18 hits for ‘more mainstream’ in the last month alone:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Writing for a more mainstream publication with a larger circulation might have given Mr. Barrett's work more exposure…    — &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/nyregion/27barrett.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;New York Times, 25 Feb 2011&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Digressing a little: despite the ‘principled’ arguments some make against “more perfect”, “more unique”, etc., all of these can make perfect sense in the right contexts.  Very few qualities (if any) are so absolute that there aren’t situations where it makes sense to talk about things possessing more or less of them.  I defy anyone to read the beginning of the US constitution,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, …&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and argue that it’s bad writing!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:04:07.903" />
  <row Id="15686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15627" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:06:04.243" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Compared to &quot;resign&quot;, &quot;step down&quot; has a connotation of an amicable parting with the possibility of a continuing relationship. The word &quot;resign&quot; is often used when employee parts employer over some disagreement or other negative cause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I recall correctly, Bill Gates' active role at Microsoft changed several times without him severing all activity at the company. Saying he resigned might not give an accurate impression unless carefully qualified by the particular role he was relinquishing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bill Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in January 2000. He remained as chairman and created the position of chief software architect. In June 2006, Gates announced that he would be transitioning from full-time work at Microsoft to part-time work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T16:12:33.587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:12:33.587" />
  <row Id="15687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15675" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:07:23.490" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The imagery that &quot;mainstream&quot; brings to mind is that of a river with a gradation of currents - the main/fastest one in the middle, and then slowing down as you move toward either side. The closer you are to the middle, the more you're in the main stream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The point is that whether something is &lt;em&gt;mainstream&lt;/em&gt; is not a binary (either/or) question. Thus, it is entirely correct to use modifiers like &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;less&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;mainstream&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Personally, I find nothing wrong with &quot;more perfect&quot; or &quot;most unique&quot; or &quot;very pregnant&quot;, all of which I've seen denounced as redundant and/or contradictory.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:07:23.490" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15684" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:13:19.087" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That song appears to have a dual meaning of the phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;we’ll buy another round and it’s all on me&#xA;  &lt;br&gt;as long as I’m around put it down on me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Implies &quot;I'll pay for it&quot;. Put it down (Put the bill) on me (on my tab) so to speak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Have a round on the house&quot; means the bar is giving a free drink. If someone says &quot;Have a drink, it's on me&quot; is someone offering a free drink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However the song also implies a more sexual meaning as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;girl all I really want is you down on me&#xA;  &lt;br&gt;put it down on me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read more: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.killerhiphop.com/jeremih-down-on-me-lyrics-50-cent/#ixzz1G7TLDcVg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.killerhiphop.com/jeremih-down-on-me-lyrics-50-cent/#ixzz1G7TLDcVg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5190" LastEditorUserId="5190" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T16:25:55.687" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:25:55.687" />
  <row Id="15689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15681" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:14:16.557" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Adulterate&lt;/em&gt; might be useful.  It still sounds dirty, but not as evil as &lt;em&gt;contaminate&lt;/em&gt; and whatnot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By far the best term for the specific situation of your username is &lt;a href=&quot;http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CanisLatinicus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Canis Latinicus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.  A less specific and fairly neutrally descriptive term for bastardized language is simply &lt;em&gt;broken&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you'd like to &lt;a href=&quot;http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LampshadeHanging&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lampshade&lt;/a&gt; the fact that you're bowdlerizing the term &quot;bastardized&quot; in order to placate the squeamish, I would suggest &lt;em&gt;illegitimized&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T17:51:57.153" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T17:51:57.153" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15684" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:16:15.177" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It doesn't really mean much of anything by itself, but in the context of the song, it is a vague double entendre for oral sex. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:16:15.177" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="15691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15637" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:19:49.763" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A more succinct phrase would be &lt;em&gt;shoulder embrace&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:19:49.763" />
  <row Id="15692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15679" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:20:15.167" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use of the genitive for inanimate objects is not considered a fault. There are occasional suggestions that it's loose usage, but these are usually very old, prescriptive guides that do not reflect modern usage. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The car's design is woefully dated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Completely standard in all registers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:20:15.167" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15679" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:21:48.767" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once I began to study French seriously, I ceased using genitives because I felt it was inelegant and very informal. I would prefer to rewrite a sentence than to use an apostrophe. But, I agree with The Raven in that it is essentially standard, and a matter of preference. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:21:48.767" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15694" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15699" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:31:20.590" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The only objects which can constitute [the space-time framework essential to interpersonal communication] are those which &lt;strong&gt;confer upon it&lt;/strong&gt; their own fundamental characteristics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:57:59.307" Title="Meaning of 'confer upon'." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15679" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:33:32.027" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case, &quot;design&quot; is a noun, and thus &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; a property of ProductName. In general, if you can say &quot;the design of ProductName&quot;, you can also say &quot;ProductName's design&quot;. Which you pick will depend on context and personal preferences - each is equally correct, but one may sound (and indeed look) better than the other in certain circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the rules governing case are purely syntactic, and apply equally to animate and inanimate objects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5153" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:33:32.027" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15611" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:34:20.590" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;North is the opposite, but not the antonym, of south.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Antonym&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;word with opposite meaning&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Opposite and antonym are not synonymous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:34:20.590" />
  <row Id="15697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13662" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:34:42.167" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the position of &lt;i&gt;n&lt;/i&gt; in the series of prime numbers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:34:42.167" />
  <row Id="15698" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:36:30.677" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example: Do (English) first names run in cycles, are they always influenced by popularity. Who decides a name will be popular?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5854" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:58:36.760" ClosedDate="2011-03-09T17:03:14.837" Title="Are there any historical patterns for given baby names?" Tags="&lt;names&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15694" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:37:12.770" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The construction &lt;em&gt;X confers Y upon Z&lt;/em&gt; means that X causes object or person Z to have attribute Y.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your example sentence means that objects cause &quot;the space-time framework essential to interpersonal communication&quot; to share in &quot;their own fundamental characteristics&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:37:12.770" />
  <row Id="15700" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:49:04.540" Score="7" ViewCount="113" Body="&lt;p&gt;What word describes/denotes the words that precede &lt;em&gt;vision&lt;/em&gt; in the following two words: &lt;strong&gt;computer&lt;/strong&gt; vision and &lt;strong&gt;machine&lt;/strong&gt; vision?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5897" LastEditorUserId="244" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T16:47:18.717" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T16:47:18.717" Title="What is the word that denotes the words preceding these nouns?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15694" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:52:14.873" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Confer&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;to grant or bestow a title, degree, benefit, or right&quot;; &lt;em&gt;upon&lt;/em&gt; is a preposition that has the same meaning of &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt;, but it is more formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Moves were made to confer an honorary degree on her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also use it to mean &quot;to give a characteristic, feature, or quality&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Reference: the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;, third edition.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T16:57:59.307" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:57:59.307" />
  <row Id="15702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15679" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:54:30.160" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While the possessive &lt;em&gt;'s&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;whose&lt;/em&gt; can be used with inanimate objects in many cases, this does not apply to any context. The product feels a bit too much like a person or a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topic%E2%80%93comment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;topic/theme&lt;/a&gt; here if used with the possessive &lt;em&gt;'s&lt;/em&gt;; a noun adjective would seem more appropriate. I'd prefer something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Supershaver Design Department&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the name of this product is also the name of the company, as with Skype, you could do it like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Skype, Design Department&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your company is a design company and this &lt;em&gt;ProductName&lt;/em&gt; is not really the name of a product but exclusively the name of either the company or its founder, you could write it like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Killer Design&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Obama Design&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T18:08:54.873" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T18:08:54.873" />
  <row Id="15703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15700" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:57:22.003" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know it as an attributive noun, but according to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attributive_noun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; Wikipedia article, it's also called a noun adjunct or noun premodifier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:57:22.003" />
  <row Id="15704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15698" CreationDate="2011-03-09T16:58:36.760" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, there is certainly evidence of this - see for example &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.galbithink.org/names.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this paper&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Popular culture is probably the greatest influencing factor in determining which names will be popular in any year. Popstars, actors and soap characters have tended to replace influential political figures and royalty as the inspiration for parents choosing a name, but expect an upsurge in the incidences of Kate and William this year, at least in the UK!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5153" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T16:58:36.760" />
  <row Id="15705" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15708" CreationDate="2011-03-09T17:04:21.510" Score="0" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Therefore, classic ontology denies any &lt;strong&gt;full reality to change&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;which&lt;/strong&gt; is conceived as only accidental and not essential&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the above sentence, which is the object(or complement) of the 'deny'? what is the 'to change' to modify? what is the 'which' substitutes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T17:16:35.907" Title="Meaning of 'full reality to change'" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;complex-sentences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15681" CreationDate="2011-03-09T17:06:28.213" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Misuse&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;My nick name on here is Aequitarum Custos, which is a &quot;misused&quot; Latin&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5862" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T17:06:28.213" />
  <row Id="15707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15681" CreationDate="2011-03-09T17:09:04.070" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most words which are synonymous with &lt;em&gt;bastardized&lt;/em&gt; will probably have negative connotations, I would imagine.  Several that have been suggested (adulterate, debase, contaminated, pollute) all sound negative to me. The reason is that most of these things are not desirable things. Nobody wants contamination or pollution or something that's been reduced to its base form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus I'd suggest other words that don't imply so much destruction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;twisted&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;broken&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;malformed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;defective&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;unusual (as a euphemism)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T17:09:04.070" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15705" CreationDate="2011-03-09T17:16:35.907" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The object of &lt;em&gt;deny&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;any full reality&lt;/em&gt;. The word &lt;em&gt;change&lt;/em&gt; is being used as a noun, and is the object of the preposition &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;, which indicates whose claim is being denied. (Note that this in &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; an instance of the infinitive &lt;em&gt;to change&lt;/em&gt;.) So this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Classical ontology denies any full reality to change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Classical ontology denies that change is fully real.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The antecedent of the relative pronoun &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; is the noun &lt;em&gt;change&lt;/em&gt;. So the second half of the quoted sentence means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Change is conceived as only accidental and not essential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T17:16:35.907" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13662" CreationDate="2011-03-09T17:32:15.157" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the ordinal status of 5 in the set of prime numbers?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sounds a bit too mathematical, huh?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5899" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T15:20:01.547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T15:20:01.547" />
  <row Id="15712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15700" CreationDate="2011-03-09T17:42:45.890" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Computer&lt;/em&gt;, in &lt;em&gt;computer vision&lt;/em&gt;, is a modifier, which is a word (especially an adjective or noun used attributively), that restricts or adds to the sense of a head noun.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example of modifiers are &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;family&lt;/em&gt; in &quot;good family house&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T17:42:45.890" />
  <row Id="15713" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15715" CreationDate="2011-03-09T17:44:34.063" Score="5" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently came across an article printed in our school magazine, which read, &quot;I studied that a year ago&quot;. But, doesn't &quot;I studied that a year back&quot; sound better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's your say?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4924" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T18:15:38.050" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T21:30:58.883" Title="&quot;A year ago&quot; versus &quot;a year back&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15713" CreationDate="2011-03-09T17:48:19.500" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A year ago&lt;/strong&gt; would be the regular way to say it; &lt;strong&gt;a year back&lt;/strong&gt; is a colloquial way of saying the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T17:48:19.500" />
  <row Id="15715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15713" CreationDate="2011-03-09T18:04:34.143" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would think that &quot;a year ago&quot; is the phrase normally used.&#xA;Looking at the data reported by the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American&lt;/em&gt;, I can create the &lt;a href=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/VTbyC.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;following chart&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/VTbyC.png&quot; alt=&quot;CoCa results&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Year ago&quot; and &quot;years ago&quot; are the most used phrases, at least in American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at what reported by the &lt;em&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/em&gt;, I obtain the following &lt;a href=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/P8yQG.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;data&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/P8yQG.png&quot; alt=&quot;BNC result&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Year ago&quot; and &quot;years ago&quot; are still the most used phrases, compared to &quot;year back&quot; and &quot;years back&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Differently from what reported from the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;year back&quot; and &quot;years back&quot; are not used in academic contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T18:37:19.997" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T18:37:19.997" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="15716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15700" CreationDate="2011-03-09T18:07:00.447" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word I hear most is &lt;em&gt;noun adjective&lt;/em&gt;, while &lt;em&gt;attributive noun&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;noun adjunct&lt;/em&gt; sound equally appropriate and current. I have never heard &lt;em&gt;noun premodifier&lt;/em&gt;, though it sounds technically correct. I might also use &lt;em&gt;adjectival noun&lt;/em&gt; myself despite Wikipedia's reservations. A &lt;em&gt;noun adjective&lt;/em&gt; is always a &lt;em&gt;modifier&lt;/em&gt;, but not the other way a around: &lt;em&gt;modifier&lt;/em&gt; is a correct but less specific term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T18:07:00.447" />
  <row Id="15717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15681" CreationDate="2011-03-09T18:10:25.480" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might consider &lt;strong&gt;dilute&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;mitigate&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T18:10:25.480" />
  <row Id="15718" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15719" CreationDate="2011-03-09T18:16:04.417" Score="15" ViewCount="489" Body="&lt;p&gt;As from object, is there a rational reason for saying &quot;last night&quot; rather than  &quot;yesterday night&quot;, though you would say &quot;yesterday morning&quot; and &quot;yesterday afternoon&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5737" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T18:18:14.070" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T00:28:53.560" Title="Why &quot;last night&quot; and not &quot;yesterday night&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;time&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="15719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15718" CreationDate="2011-03-09T18:21:06.173" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;[Edited:] You couldn't say &lt;em&gt;last morning&lt;/em&gt; in most cases, because you might be referring to this morning if the hour of speaking is late (today's morning is the &quot;last&quot; morning then): it would be confusing if &lt;em&gt;last morning&lt;/em&gt; could be either today or yesterday. The same applies to the afternoon. But you can't go later than &quot;night&quot;: the last night that has passed (you would not use &quot;last&quot; for a period that is not over yet) is necessarily that of the day before today. This could be the reason why we use &quot;last&quot; only with &quot;night&quot;. But there might be some entirely different historical reason instead; it is impossible to say without textual research.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We could theoretically use &lt;em&gt;yesterday night&lt;/em&gt; as an alternative to &lt;em&gt;last night&lt;/em&gt;; but it would be longer, which might be why it is never used. Or it could be some other reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T00:28:53.560" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T00:28:53.560" CommentCount="13" />
  <row Id="15720" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15639" CreationDate="2011-03-09T18:29:15.680" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose we pick some slightly less awkward examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He walked out, Rachel's words indelibly etched into his memory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He walked out, Rachel's words being indelibly etched into his memory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still awkward, but I think both are grammatical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grammatically, I can't tell you anything certain, as my copy of &lt;em&gt;CGEL&lt;/em&gt; is in my other pants. So I will speculate. In both sentences, everything after the comma is a dependent clause that's a variation of &amp;ldquo;Rachel's words were indelibly etched into his memory&amp;rdquo;. The first sentence is similar to &amp;ldquo;He walked out, &lt;em&gt;his face red&lt;/em&gt;&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;&lt;em&gt;his grey eyes flashing&lt;/em&gt;&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;&lt;em&gt;the spell broken at last&lt;/em&gt;&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;&lt;em&gt;the severed limbs of his enemies scattered behind him&lt;/em&gt;&amp;rdquo;. This sort of dependent clause is definitely grammatical, but I don't know what it's called. The second sentence is just a slightly different variation of the same clause, but again, I don't know what kind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Semantically, there is just a slight difference. The first sentence only says that he walked out &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; Rachel's words etched into his memory. The second suggests that he walked out &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; her words were etched into his memory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt; &amp;ndash; Yep, they're clauses. Here, according to &lt;em&gt;CGEL&lt;/em&gt;, they're being used as supplements. That means they're not grammatically required or tightly grammatically integrated into the sentence like a subject or object. They're tacked on at the end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example 1 contains a verbless clause. A plain old subject + predicate clause with no verb can be the object of the preposition &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; (&amp;ldquo;His pants (were) around his ankles&amp;rdquo; &amp;rarr; &amp;ldquo;He was caught with &lt;em&gt;his pants around his ankles&lt;/em&gt;.&amp;rdquo;) or, sometimes, a supplement (&amp;ldquo;He stormed out, &lt;em&gt;his pants around his ankles&lt;/em&gt;.&amp;rdquo;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example 2 contains an &lt;em&gt;-ing&lt;/em&gt; clause (what &lt;em&gt;CGEL&lt;/em&gt; calls a gerund-participial clause). These are most often used in places where noun phrases could be used (&amp;ldquo;&lt;em&gt;His death&lt;/em&gt; was not part of the plan&amp;rdquo; &amp;rarr; &amp;ldquo;&lt;em&gt;John being dead&lt;/em&gt; was not part of the plan.&amp;rdquo;), and the subject of the &lt;em&gt;-ing&lt;/em&gt; clause is usually omitted (&amp;ldquo;&lt;em&gt;Being dead&lt;/em&gt; was not part of the plan.&amp;rdquo;), so your example is unusual. Still grammatical, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastEditorUserId="2249" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T07:42:03.517" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T07:42:03.517" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15721" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-09T18:44:31.450" Score="3" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;In many states I can see signs posted which state&#xA;&quot;Only Trash Litters&quot; which I certainly have no problem understanding&#xA;and which appear to be correct usage to me. &quot;Trash&quot; can be singular or plural so&#xA;I have no problem about this. If the s is dropped on &quot;litters&quot; would both be correct? Or is one use correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5905" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T19:32:25.720" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T19:32:25.720" Title="Signs in states which say &quot;Only Trash Litters&quot;" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;signage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15721" CreationDate="2011-03-09T18:54:31.713" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Trash&quot; in this instance, besides being a play on words, in one of its meanings may be construed as a collective noun. Collective nouns may use singular or plural verbs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without the use of the singular here, the double meaning wouldn't work. It would be reduced to a single-entendre.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T18:54:31.713" />
  <row Id="15723" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15724" CreationDate="2011-03-09T18:55:52.397" Score="6" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;The opposite of &quot;equal&quot; is &quot;unequal&quot;, yet there is no word &quot;unequality&quot;. Why do we use &quot;inequality&quot; instead?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T19:34:35.797" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T19:34:35.797" Title="Why &quot;unequal&quot; but &quot;inequality&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;prefixes&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15723" CreationDate="2011-03-09T19:19:24.767" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The prefixes &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;un-&lt;/em&gt; both have the effect of negating the meaning of the word. The prefix &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt; comes from Latin and almost exclusively applies to words borrowed from Latin, which in many cases were borrowed from Latin with the &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt; prefix already attached. The prefix &lt;em&gt;un-&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, is a native English prefix, and so, in general, can apply to any English adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/inequality&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; tells us that &lt;em&gt;inequality&lt;/em&gt; was borrowed from Latin (via French) with the prefix &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt; already attached, so we get the word with the prefix &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1484, &quot;difference of rank or dignity,&quot; from O.Fr. inequalité  (14c.), from M.L. inæqualitas,  from inæqualis  &quot;unequal,&quot; from in-  &quot;not&quot; + æqualis  &quot;equal&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;unequal&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, does have &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/equal&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the same Latin root of &lt;em&gt;æqualis&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, but the prefix &lt;em&gt;un-&lt;/em&gt; doesn't seem to have been applied to it until after it became an English word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There exists this phenomenon called blocking, where two seemingly equally valid ways of saying something conflict, so the existence of one &lt;em&gt;blocks&lt;/em&gt; the other. Since the word &lt;em&gt;inequality&lt;/em&gt; already existed from having been borrowed from French with the negative prefix already attached, the process to form the word &lt;em&gt;&lt;b&gt;un&lt;/b&gt;equality&lt;/em&gt; was blocked. The word &lt;em&gt;unequality&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=unequality&amp;amp;year_start=1800&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;does exist&lt;/a&gt; though, but its usage is far eclipsed by &lt;em&gt;inequality&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T19:19:24.767" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15725" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15727" CreationDate="2011-03-09T19:36:59.420" Score="5" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/15723/why-unequal-but-inequality&quot;&gt;read here&lt;/a&gt; about origins of &lt;code&gt;in&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;un&lt;/code&gt; negative prefixes. Are there any known origins of other negative prefixes such as &lt;code&gt;il&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;ir&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;dis&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;a&lt;/code&gt;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4279" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T21:05:30.320" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T21:05:30.320" Title="Origins of negative prefixes like in, un, il, ir, dis, a..." Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;prefixes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15726" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15729" CreationDate="2011-03-09T19:38:48.593" Score="3" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a common proverb that you would see pink elephants if you drink to much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular there is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJv2Mugm2RI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a quite memorable scene&lt;/a&gt; from Disney's 1941 &quot;Dumbo&quot; where Dumbo and his mouse companion receive a whole music show from pink elephants after they drank spiked water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is if this proverb was in the English language before that movie or if that movie is somewhat the source of it, it is old enough to be after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5801" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T19:52:21.897" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T22:26:46.527" Title="Pink elephants when drunk" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15725" CreationDate="2011-03-09T19:41:38.553" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The prefix &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; can be assimilated: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;il-&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; before an &lt;em&gt;l&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;im-&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; before &lt;em&gt;b&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;m&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;p&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;ir-&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; before &lt;em&gt;r&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The prefix &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;dis-&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is of Latin origin, where it had a privative, negative, or reversing force.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;a-&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is the trickier of all, because it has &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/13661/what-is-the-history-of-adding-the-a-prefix-to-form-words&quot;&gt;many origins and variants&lt;/a&gt; (I learnt a lot reading the answers to the question linked). In the sense of “not” or “without”, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;a-&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; comes from the Greek, where it had the same meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T19:41:38.553" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15728" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15734" CreationDate="2011-03-09T19:46:30.497" Score="3" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this a correct sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Have we a menu?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds a little bit strange to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1109" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T20:26:56.300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T20:26:56.300" Title="Is &quot;Have we a menu?&quot; a correct sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="15729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15726" CreationDate="2011-03-09T19:47:45.377" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeing_pink_elephants&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; about it sums it nicely: the first reference was by  Jack London in 1913, in &lt;em&gt;John Barleycorn&lt;/em&gt;. It may be derived from a 1890’s saying: &lt;em&gt;“being followed by pink giraffes”&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T19:47:45.377" />
  <row Id="15730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15718" CreationDate="2011-03-09T19:48:17.563" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Night is the time that spans over the change of days. I can refer to events that happened after midnight - indeed last night, but not yesterday. Thus, &quot;yesterday night&quot; would lead to ambiguity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5909" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T19:48:17.563" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15726" CreationDate="2011-03-09T19:50:33.397" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pink elephants&lt;/em&gt; have been used before the Disney movie.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Looking at the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Historical American&lt;/em&gt;, I find the following sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm just as cordial a friend as whiskey ever had; but my con science rebels at floodin' my vital organs with seventeen different colored wines at one meal. I've been infested with &lt;strong&gt;pink elephants&lt;/strong&gt; an' green dragons an' I never com plained none; but hang me if I can get any comfort out of a striped yellow spider ten feet high on horrid hairy legs.-- Wason, Robert Alexander (&lt;em&gt;Happy Hawkins&lt;/em&gt;, 1909).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;You'll see me! You've been usin' me and my schooner long enough, and if there's anything in this yarn of yours, it's mine. Who's this man?&quot; &quot;He's a rich man, and he'll take us,&quot; said Dinshaw. &quot;I'd believe ye sooner if ye said ye saw &lt;strong&gt;pink elephants&lt;/strong&gt;,&quot; said Jarrow. &quot;Git down to cases. What's his name? &quot; &quot;Money talks,&quot; suggested Vanderzee. &quot; Moonshine! &quot; declared Peth.-- Moore, Frederick Ferdinand (&lt;em&gt;Isle o' Dreams&lt;/em&gt;, 1913)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All I could see were strange faces bobbing around that at times looked like &lt;strong&gt;pink elephants&lt;/strong&gt; and Kodiak bears. One with the headdress of the Sisters of St. Ann seemed kindly, and I was prevailed to follow her to the hospital. She was Sister Epiphane, the trained nurse. She plastered me up with antiphlogistin mud and off I went to bed.-- Hubard, Bernard R. (&lt;em&gt;MUSH, YOU MALEMUTES!&lt;/em&gt;, 1932)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T19:50:33.397" />
  <row Id="15734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15728" CreationDate="2011-03-09T20:20:12.373" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Have we&quot; is an idiom most familiar to British English, interchangeable with &quot;do we have&quot;.  It may sound strange to some speakers, but I would not go so far as to call it incorrect, reading the &quot;do&quot; as implied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T20:20:12.373" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15735" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15736" CreationDate="2011-03-09T20:32:01.493" Score="3" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that switching pronouns when referring to the same subject mid-sentence is considered grammatically incorrect, as in,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is very easy for one to open a program in our newest operating system, all you have to do is click the corresponding icon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where the pronoun referring to the subject changes from &quot;one&quot; to &quot;you&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any situations where it is appropriate to switch? For example, should the sentence,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If it is a boy, name him Moses; if it is a girl, name her Zipporah.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;be rephrased like this or not?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If it is a boy, name it Moses; if it is a girl, name it Zipporah.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5584" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T21:48:52.690" Title="Switching pronouns mid-sentence" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15735" CreationDate="2011-03-09T20:37:26.587" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your second example definitely does not need to be rephrased, and in fact the rephrase given should be outlawed on style grounds.  Performing it would be a textbook overcorrection and overapplication of the &quot;rule&quot; about switching pronouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you require a justification, try this one: you are not actually switching pronouns at all, because a hypothetical boy-child and a hypothetical girl-child are clearly not the same entity, so you are not referring to the same subject using different pronouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That justification is really nonsense, though.  The real operating principle is that the pronoun-agreement rule exists to prevent the grammar and style of your prose from being degraded by shifts in the subject you are addressing.  Losing the spirit of the thing in an attempt to consistently apply the letter of the rule results in the failure of its original purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T20:43:25.303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T20:43:25.303" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15725" CreationDate="2011-03-09T20:38:32.507" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported from the NOAD&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;ir-&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;il-&lt;/em&gt; are variant spellings of &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt; when added to words starting, respectively, with &lt;em&gt;r&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;relevant&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;radiate&lt;/em&gt;) or &lt;em&gt;l&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;logical&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;ir&lt;/em&gt; has origin from Latin, sometimes from Old French &lt;em&gt;des-&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; has origin from&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Greek (when used in words like &lt;em&gt;atypical&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Old English, from the unstressed form of &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; (when used in words like &lt;em&gt;aspire&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ashore&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Anglo-Norman French, from Latin &lt;em&gt;ex&lt;/em&gt; (when used in words like &lt;em&gt;anew&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;abash&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A-&lt;/em&gt; can also be a variant spelling of &lt;em&gt;ad-&lt;/em&gt;, in words like &lt;em&gt;ascend&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;aspire&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;astringent&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T20:38:32.507" />
  <row Id="15738" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15740" CreationDate="2011-03-09T21:15:28.267" Score="7" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it is primarily an American phrase, used as an exclamation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Heavens to Betsy, no!  I would never do&#xA;  such a thing!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of that phrase?  Do we know who Betsy is?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T21:52:27.767" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T21:52:27.767" Title="What is the origin of the phrase &quot;Heavens to Betsy&quot;?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15713" CreationDate="2011-03-09T21:30:58.883" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I studied that a year ago&quot; sounds better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5913" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T21:30:58.883" />
  <row Id="15740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15738" CreationDate="2011-03-09T21:31:54.040" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Charles E. Funk suggests that its origins are &lt;a href=&quot;http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0060513314&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;completely unsolvable.&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am of the opinion that the phrase is pseudo-profanity derived from &quot;Hell's Bells&quot;, but there is no evidence of that, either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T21:31:54.040" />
  <row Id="15741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15735" CreationDate="2011-03-09T21:48:52.690" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your second example is fine and in fact the third would probably be considered ungrammatical by many speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember that &quot;it&quot; doesn't actually have to be referential. In your second example, the &quot;it&quot; of &quot;it's&quot; probably doesn't actually refer to the baby: it's effectivly a dummy pronoun as in &quot;It's important to take action&quot;. So there's no contradiction in having &quot;it&quot; and &quot;him/her&quot; in the same sentence: they're not coreferents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If it's &lt;strong&gt;twins&lt;/strong&gt;, call &lt;strong&gt;them&lt;/strong&gt; Mary and Josephine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If it's &lt;strong&gt;sausages&lt;/strong&gt; for dinner, make sure you get some mash to go with &lt;strong&gt;them&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T21:48:52.690" />
  <row Id="15742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15649" CreationDate="2011-03-09T21:57:08.517" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since escalating a problem is also an action, I'd hunt for&#xA;a word or phrase that describes what the team did with or about&#xA;those messages that were NOT escalated.   In the absence of a better&#xA;choice, I'd use &quot;resolved&quot;, or &quot;handled&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5915" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T21:57:08.517" />
  <row Id="15744" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15750" CreationDate="2011-03-09T22:53:27.787" Score="8" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is the phrase &quot;paint the town red&quot; used to mean go on a colossal drinking spree? Does anyone know where it came from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Green's Slang Dictionary tentatively suggests a famous toot by the Marquis of Waterford in 1837 may be the origin, but the earliest citation for the phrase given is 1884.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T05:53:15.513" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T22:42:57.867" Title="Why do we &quot;paint the town red&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15744" CreationDate="2011-03-09T22:56:15.397" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know where the meaning comes form, but it does not necessarily imply drinking. The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; has:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;paint the town (red): [informal] go out and enjoy oneself flamboyantly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T22:56:15.397" />
  <row Id="15746" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15747" CreationDate="2011-03-09T22:57:15.347" Score="0" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can someone provide a transcription for the name &quot;Kyrylo&quot; - how it will actually sound?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5576" LastEditorUserId="5644" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-09T23:36:22.373" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T23:36:22.373" Title="Pronunciation of the name &quot;Kyrylo&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;names&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15746" CreationDate="2011-03-09T23:04:19.413" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Keer-əl-oh.  (ə is the schwa, an attenuated &quot;uh&quot; sound.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T23:04:19.413" />
  <row Id="15748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15746" CreationDate="2011-03-09T23:07:58.087" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What language is your native? You know that names is specific words, that sounds as it sounds at place where it appeared. So in Ukrainian it sounds like [kirilo] and if you want just transcription а this word you can use Google translator &lt;a href=&quot;http://translate.google.com.ua/#en|ru|Kyrylo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://translate.google.com.ua/#en|ru|Kyrylo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5918" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T23:07:58.087" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15744" CreationDate="2011-03-09T23:14:59.913" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/paint-the-town-red.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;phrases.org.uk&lt;/a&gt;, the saying may be inspired by an actual historical event wherein a well-known high-born hooligan, the Marquis of Waterford, and a few of his friends literally painted several buildings red in a fit of high spirits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first recorded usage, as you say, is much later, and the full entry describes several issues with ascribing the origin directly to the Marquis' activities, as well as giving a couple other possibilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T23:14:59.913" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15744" CreationDate="2011-03-09T23:23:34.647" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't believe the Marquis of Waterford tale. I'd like to see a citation. ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the OED, the earliest recorded use is 1884, and the OED quotes the Chicago Advance (1897): `The boys painted the town [New York City] red with firecrackers [on Independence Day].'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This UK Guardian has a few more &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,,-5465,00.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;reader submitted answers&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After seeing the wrong answer was chosen, I thought I'd do a bit more research. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The the &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=W4vrN9ODINYC&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;HANDY-BOOK OF LITERARY CURIOSITIES&lt;/a&gt;, by WILLIAM S WALSH, published in 1892 clearly marks the phrase as &lt;em&gt;American slang&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/BOBFi.png&quot; alt=&quot;Handy-book snippet from Google Books&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastEditorUserId="1871" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T22:42:57.867" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T22:42:57.867" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15751" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15752" CreationDate="2011-03-09T23:35:44.717" Score="6" ViewCount="170" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to say &quot;I feel painful&quot; to mean &quot;I feel pain&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please note that I mean only those cases, in which the phrase is a complete sentence. There should be no words after the last word in each quote (like in &quot;I feel painful pulses in my head&quot;, &quot;I feel painful burning sensations in my stomach&quot;, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's correct, what is the slight difference in meaning there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2270" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T05:28:33.193" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T05:28:33.193" Title="Is it correct to say &quot;I feel painful&quot; to mean &quot;I feel pain&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15751" CreationDate="2011-03-09T23:38:06.127" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it is not correct English to say &quot;I feel painful.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can say &quot;I feel pain&quot;, or &quot;I am in pain&quot;, because 'pain' is a noun, but &quot;painful&quot; is an adjective so you would need to use it qualify something else (as in your &quot;I feel painful sensations&quot; example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3752" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T23:38:06.127" CommentCount="15" />
  <row Id="15753" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15755" CreationDate="2011-03-09T23:39:28.590" Score="7" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know what to do when a list and the clause that introduces it are reversed. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The wrinkles around his eyes, the deep lines that marked his brow, the gray streak at his temples[?] everything he saw in his reflection told the story of a long life he didn't remember living.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My first inclination was to use an em dash, but I couldn't find any specific rules concerning this particular usage. Since the list isn't an independent clause, I'm fairly certain it wouldn't be a colon; still, I can't shake the nagging feeling that there's a better way to punctuate it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd be grateful for any help you can give me!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5917" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T23:52:47.300" Title="How to punctuate a sentence that begins with a list, then explains it?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15753" CreationDate="2011-03-09T23:50:44.250" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would expect either an em-dash, a colon, or possibly a semicolon, depending on the urgency of the emotion that you wish to convey.  With no other context to guide me, I'd say that the em-dash would have a connotation of surprise at what he was seeing, the colon would be neutral, and the semicolon would be contemplative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T23:50:44.250" />
  <row Id="15755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15753" CreationDate="2011-03-09T23:52:47.300" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe colons are generally accepted with pure enumerations. An m-dash would be my first choice though, mostly because the enumeration precedes its introductory clause, as you say. I believe it would be the conventional choice; the step from enumeration to &quot;everything&quot; would be considered an anacoluthon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The wrinkles around his eyes, the deep&#xA;  lines that marked his brow, the gray&#xA;  streak at his temples—everything he&#xA;  saw in his reflection told the story&#xA;  of a long life he didn't remember&#xA;  living.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T23:52:47.300" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15756" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15766" CreationDate="2011-03-10T00:24:52.273" Score="4" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;There seems to be a fair amount of confusion surrounding the meaning of the prefix &lt;code&gt;bi&lt;/code&gt; when used with units of time measurement. Biweekly, according to dictionary.com, can mean either &quot;occurring twice weekly,&quot; or &quot;occurring once every two weeks.&quot; Falling within the same realm of confusion are bimonthly and biannually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As of late, it seems that we've begun replacing the &lt;code&gt;bi&lt;/code&gt; prefix with &lt;code&gt;semi&lt;/code&gt; when the intended meaning is &quot;occurring twice within,&quot; while continuing to use the former when the intended meaning is &quot;occurring once every other.&quot; Though this is a step in the right direction, there still seems to be confusion around proper usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whose genius idea was it to start using the &lt;code&gt;bi&lt;/code&gt; prefix to mean two very different things? If my employer told me my pay periods were bimonthly, should I assume they meant semimonthly or once every other month?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5919" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T00:50:19.333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T01:46:54.577" ClosedDate="2011-03-10T02:35:39.557" Title="Biweekly, bimonthly, semi-confused." Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;confusables&gt;&lt;prefixes&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="15758" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15760" CreationDate="2011-03-10T00:55:09.393" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does &quot;this&quot; refer to in the following quote from the Wikipedia article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_curve&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Learning Curve&lt;/a&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The learning curve can also represent at a glance the initial difficulty of learning something and, to an extent, how much there is to learn after initial familiarity. For example, the Windows program Notepad is extremely simple to learn, but offers little after this. On the other extreme is the UNIX terminal editor vi, which is difficult to learn, but offers a wide array of features to master after the user has figured out how to work it. &lt;strong&gt;It is possible for something to be easy to learn, but difficult to master or hard to learn with little beyond this.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edited to highlight the original sentence as given, to distinguish it from the context that was supplied later.&lt;/em&gt; —Robusto&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5806" LastEditorUserId="5930" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T10:35:31.257" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T10:35:31.257" Title="What does &quot;this&quot; refer to?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;structure&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15684" CreationDate="2011-03-10T01:01:36.223" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a careful reading of these particular lyrics will show that this song is about sodomy, with the &quot;it&quot; in the phrase referring to Shawty's rear end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T03:47:51.067" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T03:47:51.067" />
  <row Id="15760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15758" CreationDate="2011-03-10T01:10:00.877" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The 'this' I take to refer to 'hard to learn'.  I believe the meaning would be the same if it were reorganized as &lt;em&gt;It is possible for something to be hard to learn with little beyond this or easy to learn, but difficult to master.&lt;/em&gt;  The part &lt;em&gt;hard to learn with little beyond this&lt;/em&gt; seems to be saying that once all the effort is expended in learning the &quot;something&quot; then one has also mastered it, and there is little further expertise to be gained. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T01:10:00.877" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15758" CreationDate="2011-03-10T01:10:37.697" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like this sentence needs more context. It is possible that the demonstrative pronoun &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; may refer to something mentioned elsewhere. Otherwise, the reference is unclear in the sentence itself. The only thing I can imagine it can possibly refer to in the sentence as given is that it may refer to the state of being hard to learn as one alternative in the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make this meaning clear would require punctuating the sentence differently:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is possible for something to be easy to learn but difficult to master, or hard to learn with little beyond this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moving the comma to split the sentence before the alternative would mean that on the one hand you can have something that is easy to learn but hard to master, and on the other hand something that is hard to learn which leaves the idea of mastery entirely out of the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;easy to learn but hard to master vs. hard to lean, period&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is my best attempt to make sense of this. If you could provide more context, maybe that would shed more light on the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Now that I've seen the context that preceded the sentence, it is clear that the sentence itself is very poorly worded and thus confusing. The paragraph is much clearer and more informative without it.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T01:17:42.340" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T01:17:42.340" />
  <row Id="15762" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15758" CreationDate="2011-03-10T01:13:09.207" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt; refers back to &lt;em&gt;hard to learn.&lt;/em&gt; In other words, some things, like the game of chess, are easy to learn but can take a lifetime to become great at, whereas other things, perhaps like learning a new language, may take a long time to do but once done, are done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T01:13:09.207" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15763" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-10T01:19:01.730" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;Arrange, settle, reconcile — could these words be used before &quot;their differences&quot;? What are the differences in meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5922" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T05:49:16.847" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T05:49:16.847" Title="Arrange, settle, reconcile — could these words be used before &quot;their differences&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15756" CreationDate="2011-03-10T01:30:54.593" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at the prefixes, &lt;code&gt;bi&lt;/code&gt; means &lt;code&gt;two&lt;/code&gt;, and &lt;code&gt;semi&lt;/code&gt; means &lt;code&gt;half&lt;/code&gt;. But the question here, is does that refer to the number of occurrences in the given period, or the number of periods per occurrence? I think that's where the confusion came in, and apparently the coiners of the words were not consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5923" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T01:30:54.593" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15763" CreationDate="2011-03-10T01:43:43.083" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The object for the verb &quot;arrange&quot; is generally the intended result of the arrangement.  With this in mind, &quot;to arrange their differences&quot; doesn't make much sense, since they're trying to get rid of their differences, not create them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the other two, &quot;reconcile&quot; often has a somewhat amicable connotation, whereas &quot;settle&quot; is more neutral.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5917" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T01:43:43.083" />
  <row Id="15766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15756" CreationDate="2011-03-10T01:46:54.577" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The obvious distinction is between &lt;em&gt;biannual&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;biennial&lt;/em&gt; which although originally cognate from Latin and Italian now seem to have distinct common meanings: &lt;em&gt;twice a year&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;every two years&lt;/em&gt; respectively, even though Wiktionary discourages &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/biannual&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;biannual&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for weeks and months all you need to do is wait for two forms to arise and then wait for people to decide which is which.   &lt;em&gt;Semi-&lt;/em&gt; for &quot;half a ...&quot;, i.e. &quot;twice a ...&quot;, looks a sensible approach.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T01:46:54.577" />
  <row Id="15767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15473" CreationDate="2011-03-10T01:54:46.477" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Several adjectives for colors have been verbed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to the recent use of &lt;code&gt;greening&lt;/code&gt; (in the environmental sense), there's the &lt;code&gt;yellowing&lt;/code&gt; of paper. We also &lt;code&gt;brown&lt;/code&gt; foods, such as ground beef. Interestingly, we &lt;code&gt;blacken&lt;/code&gt; foods; we don't &lt;code&gt;black&lt;/code&gt; them. And we &lt;code&gt;whiten&lt;/code&gt; clothes and teeth. Rounding out the colors, people have &lt;code&gt;greying&lt;/code&gt; hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5923" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T01:54:46.477" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15763" CreationDate="2011-03-10T02:09:46.463" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Arrange their differences&quot; sounds like they've made point-by-point lists of what their differences are so that they can go over them.  It does not convey to me any sense that an agreement has been reached.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Reconcile their differences&quot; is an unusual phrasing but I think it works, giving the same meaning as &quot;settle&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Settle their differences&quot; is the idiomatic expression indicating that the parties have reached a mutually satisfactory agreement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The parties could also &quot;resolve their differences&quot; with the same meaning as &quot;settle&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T02:09:46.463" />
  <row Id="15769" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15770" CreationDate="2011-03-10T02:29:58.283" Score="0" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simple question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My apples and orange &lt;strong&gt;are&lt;/strong&gt; wrong&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My apples and orange &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; wrong&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a native English speaker, and I am having some trouble choosing either &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; for that kind of example....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4643" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T08:18:31.833" Title="&quot;My apples and orange are wrong&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15769" CreationDate="2011-03-10T02:35:07.270" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's hard to conceive of a situation in which apples and oranges could be &lt;em&gt;wrong&lt;/em&gt;, but let's suppose there is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming you really mean &lt;em&gt;apples&lt;/em&gt; (plural) and &lt;em&gt;orange&lt;/em&gt; (singular), the first construction is correct. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My apples and orange are wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are speaking of multiple things, and even if both were singular&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My apple and orange are wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the copula (verb of being) would still be plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T02:35:07.270" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15771" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15772" CreationDate="2011-03-10T02:58:54.897" Score="2" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my part of the world, we refer to highways without any article. So we drive on &quot;Highway 64&quot;, or &quot;Interstate 64&quot;, or &quot;I-64&quot;. But when I go to California, they say &quot;The 101&quot;. Is there any explanation for this difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5923" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T04:06:22.447" Title="US Route 101 - &quot;The 101&quot;" Tags="&lt;definite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15771" CreationDate="2011-03-10T03:29:46.537" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a regional variation. In California, where I grew up, it was &quot;take the 101 north&quot;, &quot;get on the 405&quot;, and so on. In Pennsylvania, where I now live, it's &quot;take 202 north&quot;, &quot;get on I-95&quot;, and so forth. Note that this only applies to numbered roads, really -- in both places, named roads get the article: &quot;the Schuylkill&quot;, &quot;the Hollywood freeway&quot;, &quot;the Blue Route&quot;, &quot;the Pacific Coast highway&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know where the dividing line is for the different usages, nor do I know what they do in other English-speaking countries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My husband reports that local usage in Indiana (where he lived for a time) does not use the definite article on numbered roads. Friends who lived in Florida report the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5548" LastEditorUserId="5548" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T04:02:38.803" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T04:02:38.803" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15771" CreationDate="2011-03-10T03:30:16.287" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_101&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;, this name for U.S. Route 101 is localized in southern California. Apparently this way of naming highways is a common phenomenon in &lt;a href=&quot;http://lamushcast.wikidot.com/navigation%3ala-roads&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Los Angeles&lt;/a&gt;. More common in the States are affectionate nicknames for highways without using their route numbers. Some examples from the Boston, Massachusetts area are, &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Turnpike&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Pike&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Fitzgerald_Expressway&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Artery&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; (pronounced &lt;em&gt;Ah-taree&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T03:41:24.637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T03:41:24.637" />
  <row Id="15774" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-10T03:54:24.253" Score="2" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it considered rude to answer a question with a question?  For instance: Q. Did you eat those cookies? A. Why? &#xA;Would the correct response be &quot;Yes I did (or no I did not), why do you ask?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5925" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T12:26:15.420" Title="What is the correct way to answer a general question?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15775" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15777" CreationDate="2011-03-10T03:59:19.087" Score="5" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it crack? Snap? Wh-tch? Whop-eesh?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatively, if I don't use the actual noise. Do I write: The whip rang out? Cracked? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="792" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T04:04:37.927" Title="How should I write a whip sound?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="15776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15771" CreationDate="2011-03-10T04:01:19.147" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's called &quot;the 101&quot; because that's short for &quot;the 101 Freeway&quot;, which is its real name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's how the L.A. Times &lt;a href=&quot;http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/02/101-freeway-shutdown-big-rig-driver-arrested.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;refers to it&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The driver of a big rig that slammed into the center divider of &lt;strong&gt;the 101 Freeway&lt;/strong&gt; in Studio City during rush hour Tuesday morning was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving, the California Highway Patrol said. &lt;em&gt;[Emphasis added]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, the 101 is also called the Pacific Highway in some parts of California.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T04:01:19.147" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15775" CreationDate="2011-03-10T04:04:37.927" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sound is generally referred to as the &lt;em&gt;crack of a whip&lt;/em&gt; or a &lt;em&gt;whip crack&lt;/em&gt;, and since &lt;em&gt;crack&lt;/em&gt; is already onomatopoeic, you can't go wrong with it. &lt;em&gt;Crack!&lt;/em&gt; See. That hurt a little, didn't it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T04:04:37.927" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15771" CreationDate="2011-03-10T04:06:22.447" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, this is a usage fairly local to LA.  (The other freeways get the same treatment: &quot;the 405&quot;, for instance.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T04:06:22.447" />
  <row Id="15780" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15781" CreationDate="2011-03-10T04:36:10.237" Score="18" ViewCount="1016" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;gender&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;sex&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wiktionary/en/wiki/gender&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; says that &lt;em&gt;gender&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;The mental analog of sex&lt;/em&gt; but that's too high English for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, I'm developing a web-application that stores people's profile along with a field for gender/sex. Which name would be more appropriate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;__&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;[UPDATE]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After getting these good answers, I may figure out that,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sex&lt;/em&gt; - Biological characteristics &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Gender&lt;/em&gt; - Social characteristics&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, well, for my web-application, I went with the term &lt;em&gt;sex&lt;/em&gt;, as it sounds more &lt;em&gt;scientific&lt;/em&gt; and less &lt;em&gt;political&lt;/em&gt;. P.S. Values for &lt;em&gt;sex&lt;/em&gt; are clearly defined and can be easily validated (only two values &lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/XY_sex-determination_system&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;AFAIK&lt;/a&gt;* + an optional &lt;em&gt;blank&lt;/em&gt; value). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks to all for answering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;* plus some anomalies.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5927" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T18:48:36.170" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T18:48:36.170" Title="What is the difference between &quot;gender&quot; and &quot;sex&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15780" CreationDate="2011-03-10T04:46:23.037" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.docstyles.com/apacrib.htm#Avoid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;APA style&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;gender&quot; refers to culture and should be used when referring to men and women as social groups, while &quot;sex&quot; refers to biology and should be used when biological distinctions are emphasized.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T04:46:23.037" />
  <row Id="15782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15780" CreationDate="2011-03-10T04:52:35.593" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a lot of foofarah coming from people in the GLBT communities trying to establish a difference of meaning between these two words that are, in ordinary usage, completely synonymous.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary's definition is trying to reinforce that distinction by saying, essentially, that &quot;sex&quot; is what physical parts you have, while &quot;gender&quot; is what sexual category you think you should belong to; thus allowing for males who wish they were females to claim that their sex is male but their gender is female.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your web application, you can use whichever one you feel is more appropriate.  Personally I recommend &quot;sex&quot; because it's only 3 letters long, saving you some keystrokes if you reference the field a lot.  :-) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T04:52:35.593" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15783" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15785" CreationDate="2011-03-10T05:00:21.250" Score="1" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;Joyful, happy, angry, hilarious, lovable, annoying, poignant, melancholic, depressing, cheerful, hateful, etc. All these ones are adjectives. Some of them can be applied to those objects who experience those feelings that these adjectives imply. Some of them can be applied to those objects that only cause those feelings in others. However, they are all related to feelings whether those are physical feelings (those that one's body can feel, like pain) or &quot;soulish&quot; feelings (those that are felt in one's soul, like liking or sympathy).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the question is how to name all these adjectives? Is there any term for such ones? (A term consisting of only one adjective is preferable).   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2270" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T05:48:39.247" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T05:48:39.247" Title="What adjective would best describe adjectives that are related to feelings?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="15784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15780" CreationDate="2011-03-10T05:34:05.590" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD defines &lt;em&gt;gender&lt;/em&gt; as &quot;the state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones).&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A further note in the dictionary reports that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;gender&lt;/em&gt; has been used since the 14th century primarily as a grammatical term, referring to the classes of noun in Latin, Greek, German, and other languages designated as masculine, feminine, or neuter. It has also been used since the 14th century in the sense &quot;the state of being male or female,&quot; but this did not become a common standard use until the mid 20th century. Although the words gender and sex both have the sense &quot;the state of being male or female,&quot; they are typically used in slightly different ways: &lt;em&gt;sex&lt;/em&gt; tends to refer to biological differences, while &lt;em&gt;gender&lt;/em&gt; tends to refer to cultural or social ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T05:34:05.590" />
  <row Id="15785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15783" CreationDate="2011-03-10T05:48:36.420" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;em&gt;emotive&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;emotional&lt;/em&gt;) might fit the bill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T05:48:36.420" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15786" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-10T06:32:56.147" Score="12" ViewCount="378" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of my friends argues that &lt;em&gt;princessship&lt;/em&gt; is the only word which has 3 identical letter together (&quot;s&quot;) ,but I think there is no word such as &lt;em&gt;princessship&lt;/em&gt;. Can anyone tell me whether this is a real word, and if there are any English words which have 3 letters that are the same consecutively?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2822" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T09:49:54.840" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T16:58:43.473" Title="3 letters consecutively in a word (princessship)" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15786" CreationDate="2011-03-10T07:02:46.820" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe &lt;em&gt;princessship&lt;/em&gt; is typically spelled with a hyphen &lt;em&gt;princess-ship&lt;/em&gt;, although I do remember references to it without.  However, if your friend is willing to allow &lt;em&gt;princessship&lt;/em&gt; as a word, certainly words like &lt;em&gt;dutchessship&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;governessship&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;countessship&lt;/em&gt;, etc. would also qualify.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So one way or another, you can prove your friend wrong =D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: A quick search also brings up &lt;em&gt;frillless&lt;/em&gt; which has an entry in OED&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T07:02:46.820" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15786" CreationDate="2011-03-10T07:36:43.343" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no word with three consecutive letters under the most narrow definition of &quot;real word&quot;, but there are several words of the following types:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are many acronyms/initialisms that contain triple letters, like &lt;em&gt;AAA&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;AIEEE&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;KKK&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;WWW&lt;/em&gt;, or Roman numerals like &lt;em&gt;xviii&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are place names, like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Kaaawa&lt;/em&gt;, a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%CA%BBa%CA%BBawa,_Hawaii&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;place&lt;/a&gt; in Hawaii.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch&lt;/em&gt;, a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanfairpwllgwyngyll&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;place&lt;/a&gt; in Wales.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are names of people with all sorts of unconventional spellings, like &lt;em&gt;Minnnie&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Annnora&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;Diannne&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are interjections like &lt;em&gt;mmm&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;hmmm&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;zzz&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are archaic/poetic words with elided letters, like &lt;em&gt;whenceeer&lt;/em&gt; (really, &lt;em&gt;whencee'er&lt;/em&gt; from &lt;em&gt;whenceever&lt;/em&gt;), &lt;em&gt;wheree'er&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Finally, there are words which would probably be written with a hyphen whenever used, like &lt;em&gt;frillless&lt;/em&gt; (mentioned by Dusty) which is really &lt;em&gt;frill-less&lt;/em&gt;, similarly &lt;em&gt;bulllike&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;gulllike&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;wallless&lt;/em&gt;, many words ending in &lt;em&gt;-ss-ship&lt;/em&gt; like your &lt;em&gt;princessship&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;bossship&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;goddessship&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;headmistressship&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;patronessship&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T07:36:43.343" />
  <row Id="15789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15786" CreationDate="2011-03-10T07:39:30.347" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a native speaker, but I have the impression that words with three time the same letter are either elided so that they contain two, or are spelled with an hyphen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance &lt;em&gt;cross-section&lt;/em&gt; (hyphenated) or &lt;em&gt;chaffinch&lt;/em&gt; (where the 3rd f is omitted)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5737" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T07:39:30.347" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15780" CreationDate="2011-03-10T08:03:00.693" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this context, I prefer to see the word &lt;strong&gt;gender&lt;/strong&gt; as the label with the two choices offered as alternatives, which makes the meaning quite clear.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Although both have an equivalent meaning in this context, I find &lt;strong&gt;gender&lt;/strong&gt; to be more polite as it cannot be confused with intercourse which is an alternative meaning for &lt;em&gt;sex&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;i.e. Two people would not have &lt;em&gt;gender&lt;/em&gt; with each other, but they might have &lt;em&gt;sex&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5930" LastEditorUserId="5930" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T08:43:57.367" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T08:43:57.367" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15769" CreationDate="2011-03-10T08:18:31.833" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In most cases this comparison is done in the plural on bother sides of the equation.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;i.e. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Compare apples and oranges.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This comparison is generally understood to mean that the comparison is unfair, as the two objects being compared are not similar enough.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A nice variation on this theme, that I have heard being used to accentuate the fact that dissimilar objects are being compared is:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your comparison is invalid, you might as well be comparing apples with pigs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T08:18:31.833" />
  <row Id="15792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13662" CreationDate="2011-03-10T08:28:34.040" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Q: How many prime numbers precede the number 5?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A: 2&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T08:28:34.040" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15774" CreationDate="2011-03-10T08:40:05.997" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The context of the question is all important.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In your example, I suppose a direct yes or no answer would be most polite, unless the accused eater was the rightful owner of the cookies, and may possibly have more that they are willing to share.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes a question as an answer can be a polite commiseration.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;e.g.&#xA;Q: Why is this train so slow!?&#xA;A: Why is the grass so green? Why is the sky so blue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i.e. The answer here implies that the reason for the slowness of the train is unknown at this point, and worrying about it is not going to do any good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T08:40:05.997" />
  <row Id="15794" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15821" CreationDate="2011-03-10T09:13:08.063" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is a term for &lt;em&gt;powerful, moving words&lt;/em&gt;?  &lt;em&gt;Rhetoric&lt;/em&gt; implies the opposite (“empty” rhetoric).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The nominee’s speech was filled with &lt;em&gt;XXX&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T15:40:28.947" Title="Term for “powerful, moving words”" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="15795" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15803" CreationDate="2011-03-10T09:14:28.873" Score="0" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;Past perfect serves a purpose: When describing things that happened in the past, it allows us to discuss things that happened before (i.e., in the past’s past).  However, a procession of &lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt; makes writing sound clumsy and labored, especially in a narrative.  I treat past perfect similar to constructions using &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;: Unless it changes the meaning of a sentence, toss it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A&lt;/strong&gt;: She had called me weeks earlier, and now I remembered what she had told me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;B&lt;/strong&gt;: She called me weeks earlier, and now I remembered what she told me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A&lt;/strong&gt; is strictly correct grammar, but &lt;em&gt;weeks earlier&lt;/em&gt; already implies that the phone call happened before my remembering it, so I would favor simple past tense (&lt;strong&gt;B&lt;/strong&gt;).  Am I correct, or did I go overboard in my attempt to avoid the past perfect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T10:06:26.040" Title="Eschew past perfect?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;&lt;past-perfect&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15796" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15800" CreationDate="2011-03-10T09:15:11.760" Score="1" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;How would I best describe a mode of speech that is strong and forceful, especially when voicing a complaint?  I’m looking to strengthen this sentence, ideally by getting rid of the adverb construction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She &lt;strong&gt;complained loudly&lt;/strong&gt; about the bad customer service.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T11:14:33.563" Title="Term for strong, forceful mode of speech" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="15797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15794" CreationDate="2011-03-10T09:16:06.560" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Demagoguery&quot; could apply, perhaps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4955" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T09:16:06.560" />
  <row Id="15798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15796" CreationDate="2011-03-10T09:23:03.323" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Informal: She bitched about the bad customer service&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Synonym: She bemoaned the bad customer service&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T09:28:56.830" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T09:28:56.830" />
  <row Id="15800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15796" CreationDate="2011-03-10T09:35:35.577" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps you could say &quot;She &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;railed&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; against the low quality customer service.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5210" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T09:35:35.577" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15780" CreationDate="2011-03-10T09:40:35.650" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Isn't &quot;gender&quot; referring to two separate ideas: 1. the biological one (=sex)  2. the technical term in sociology, so you can of course use it synonymously with sex?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5867" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T09:40:35.650" />
  <row Id="15802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3640" CreationDate="2011-03-10T09:43:35.273" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;French people use &quot;substract&quot; mistakingly a lot because in french, the word is &quot;soustraction&quot;, which contains the sound &quot;s&quot; inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5933" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T09:43:35.273" />
  <row Id="15803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15795" CreationDate="2011-03-10T09:50:47.910" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there is anything wrong with using the past perfect when it is needed. The first sentence is correct while the second one is confusing. It has two moments in time--&lt;em&gt;weeks earlier&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;now&lt;/em&gt;--mixed up because the same tense is being used for both of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can cut the extra &lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt; out of sentences like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They had climbed the mountain, &lt;strike&gt; had&lt;/strike&gt; planted their flag, and &lt;strike&gt;had&lt;/strike&gt; sent a message by the time I got there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastEditorUserId="2972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T10:06:26.040" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T10:06:26.040" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15795" CreationDate="2011-03-10T09:51:06.660" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is normal for informal conversation. But epistolary genre likes classic grammar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5334" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T09:51:06.660" />
  <row Id="15805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15794" CreationDate="2011-03-10T09:58:38.100" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'lively' or 'vivid' to emphasize the more positive aspects of powerful words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5867" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T09:58:38.100" />
  <row Id="15806" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15855" CreationDate="2011-03-10T10:01:15.303" Score="1" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand the meaning of &quot;if nothing else&quot; in sentence A, but couldn't understand the meaning in sentence B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A. &quot;I will go to library this afternoon &lt;strong&gt;if nothing else&lt;/strong&gt; to do.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B. &quot;Google argues that e-mail recipients have the right to view e-mail messages using the service of their choosing &#xA;and that on the Internet senders are not required to consent to automated scanning, which every e-mail provider does, &#xA;for security purposes &lt;strong&gt;if nothing else&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5806" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T14:14:45.500" Title="what does &quot;if nothing else&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15807" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15850" CreationDate="2011-03-10T10:05:10.163" Score="1" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been wondering what the origins of the verb 'to miss', as in a to have a longing for, come from. Is it anywhere similar to the origins of the verb 'to miss' as in to not hit?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5934" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T13:52:53.630" Title="What are the roots on the verb 'to miss' come from?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15808" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15822" CreationDate="2011-03-10T10:09:59.227" Score="0" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;As in Rome - To Die Among Strangers lyrics:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the whores of rome and the kings of&#xA;  france &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;have tried to brave my fire&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;now the snakes curl up, the curtains&#xA;  part &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;will you try to brave my fire?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;keep your treason brittle as glass&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;you could have been the first &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;could have been the last to brave my&#xA;  fire&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lyricsmania.com/to_die_among_strangers_lyrics_rome.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Full text&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I checked all the different meanings of brave in dictionary.com, but this sentence still hardly makes any sense to me... can only guess. Thanks in advance!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5935" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T19:36:33.780" Title="Meaning of &quot;brave my fire&quot;" Tags="&lt;translation&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="15809" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15842" CreationDate="2011-03-10T10:10:49.960" Score="1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I say &quot;Max is quite joyful right now&quot; that would mean that Max is experiencing a feeling of joy, right?&#xA;But if I say &quot;This needle is rather painful&quot; that would mean that somebody else is experiencing or could experience a feeling of pain because of that needle (not that the needle is having some pain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, in the first case the feeling is &quot;inside&quot; the thing qualified by the adjective, while in the second case the feeling is &quot;outside&quot; of the thing qualified by the adjective. Clearly, we are dealing here with two different types of how the emotive adjectives function: some of them seem to impart the feeling (emotion) to their object, while the others seem to provide their objects with an ability of causing that feeling in others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would you call the first type? How would you call the second type? Do you know any terms that would describe these two different types of adjectival qualifying? If not, how would you yourself name them.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T18:07:44.830" Title="How would you name these two different types of adjectival qualifying?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;terms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15807" CreationDate="2011-03-10T10:17:30.227" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try this &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/etymology/Miss&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/etymology/Miss&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Origins in old English&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5936" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T10:17:30.227" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15806" CreationDate="2011-03-10T10:25:35.883" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In sentence B, you can take &quot;if nothing else&quot; as meaning &quot;if for no other reason&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5153" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T10:25:35.883" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15812" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-10T10:30:37.083" Score="1" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to use the word &quot;do&quot; twice in a row?  For instance; &quot;I do do that&quot; or would you say &quot;I do that&quot;?  &quot;You do do that&quot; or &quot;You do that&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is correct, or are they both correct? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5925" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T12:54:59.530" Title="usage of the word &quot;do&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15812" CreationDate="2011-03-10T10:44:11.513" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general &quot;I do that&quot; is enough. But if you want to emphasize that you &quot;do&quot; that you can use do twice. In question the first &quot;do&quot; should be on the first place. Do you do that? That is the only right variant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5334" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T10:44:11.513" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15809" CreationDate="2011-03-10T10:53:17.747" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would call them active and passive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5334" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T10:53:17.747" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15796" CreationDate="2011-03-10T10:54:45.997" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say &quot;She &lt;em&gt;ranted&lt;/em&gt; about the bad customer service.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4866" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T10:54:45.997" />
  <row Id="15816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15808" CreationDate="2011-03-10T10:58:35.447" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is something like to keep my fire alive and burning lighter. Like to through some logs or brushwood. Of course in this case there is not real fire. But some kind of internal one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5334" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T10:58:35.447" />
  <row Id="15817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15780" CreationDate="2011-03-10T11:05:21.167" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sex&lt;/em&gt; refers to the physical sexual organ parts that a human being has. &lt;em&gt;Gender&lt;/em&gt; on the other hand refers to the sexuality that a person identifies themselves with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The choice of term used probably would not matter to a majority of the users, but it is a big deal for certain people. &lt;a href=&quot;http://transfinite.dreamwidth.org/215469.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;For instance&lt;/a&gt;, deviantART used to offer three choices on their user profile field - male, female, and 'unspecified'. They removed the last option in 2010 and it caused widespread outrage among a subset of users, with vocal calls for boycotting deviantART too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since listing a range of choices under 'gender' itself can be topic of contention (e.g., what if you 'miss out' a certain gender identity in the list?), one way some web application developers get out of this is by offering an &quot;I do not prefer to say&quot; or &quot;Unspecified&quot; option under a &lt;em&gt;sex&lt;/em&gt; field.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4866" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T11:05:21.167" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="15818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15796" CreationDate="2011-03-10T11:14:33.563" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I will throw in &lt;em&gt;bluster&lt;/em&gt; for good measure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She blustered about the bad customer service.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bluster#Verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To speak or protest loudly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bluster&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;to talk or act with noisy swaggering threats&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The American Heritage Dictionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a. To speak in a loudly arrogant or bullying manner.&#xA;  b. To brag or make loud, empty threats.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T11:14:33.563" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15819" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15878" CreationDate="2011-03-10T11:20:58.040" Score="4" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;We know there has been an influence (or attempt at influence) of Latin grammar on English, especially in the 19th century. And of course, many new words coined today in (say) the sciences draw upon Latin sources.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the opposite direction, I vaguely seem to recall reading about a movement (or several separate movements) in English that championed the use of words derived from Anglo-Saxon, eschewing words from Romance, Latin, and possibly Greek roots. For instance, as in the examples &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.langmaker.com/base.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;people&quot; would be replaced with &quot;folk&quot;, &quot;sense&quot; would be replaced with &quot;meaning&quot;, and so on. Does anyone know more details about such movements? Who were the advocates? How well did they succeed? And most importantly, are there examples of works written in (or &quot;translated&quot; into) such English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; To clarify, the question is not about a mere &lt;em&gt;preference&lt;/em&gt; for Anglo-Saxon words, which quite a few usage writers have advocated, but a near-fanatical attempt to expunge &lt;em&gt;every&lt;/em&gt; Romance word from writing. I recall reading about some outlandish words coined as part of this attempt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T14:21:38.413" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T16:29:04.107" Title="Has there been an Anglo-Saxon movement in English?" Tags="&lt;language-evolution&gt;&lt;latin&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15819" CreationDate="2011-03-10T11:32:47.530" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;After posting the question I realised I may be misremembering the following from Fowler's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aol.bartleby.com/116/101.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The King's English&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. Note that &quot;foreword&quot; is common in English now; apparently it wasn't then!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Prefer the Saxon word to the Romance&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[…] In some sense it is that: the writer whose percentage of Saxon words is high&#xA;  will generally be found to have fewer words that are out of the way, long, or&#xA;  abstract, and fewer periphrases, than another; and conversely. But if, instead&#xA;  of his Saxon percentage's being the natural and undesigned consequence of his&#xA;  brevity (and the rest), those other qualities have been attained by his&#xA;  consciously restricting himself to Saxon, his pains will have been worse than&#xA;  wasted; the taint of preciosity will be over all he has written. Observing that &lt;i&gt;translate&lt;/i&gt;&#xA;  is derived from Latin, and learning that the Elizabethans had another word for&#xA;  it, he will pull us up by &lt;i&gt;englishing&lt;/i&gt; his quotations; he will puzzle the&#xA;  general reader by introducing his book with a &lt;i&gt;foreword.&lt;/i&gt; Such freaks&#xA;  should be left to the Germans, who have by this time succeeded in expelling as&#xA;  aliens a great many words that were good enough for Goethe. And they, indeed,&#xA;  are very likely right, because their language is a thoroughbred one; ours is&#xA;  not, and can now never be, anything but a hybrid […]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;  Add to this that, even if the Saxon criterion were a safe one, more knowledge&#xA;  than most of us have is needed to apply it. Few who were not deep in philology&#xA;  would be prepared to state that no word in the following list (extracted from&#xA;  the preface to the &lt;i&gt;Oxford Dictionary)&lt;/i&gt; is English:—&lt;i&gt;battle, beast,&#xA;  beauty, beef, bill, blue, bonnet, border, boss, bound, bowl, brace, brave, bribe,&#xA;  bruise, brush, butt, button.&lt;/i&gt;&#xA;  &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  […]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  It is now perhaps clear that the Saxon oracle is not infallible; it will&#xA;  sometimes be dumb, and sometimes lie. Nevertheless, it is not without its uses&#xA;  as a test. […]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm unsure whether this was it or I remember something else, but anyway, the quote seems to be on the same topic and saying that such a movement wouldn't work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T11:32:47.530" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15794" CreationDate="2011-03-10T11:48:10.630" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Rhetoric&lt;/em&gt; most certainly does not imply the opposite of &quot;powerful, moving words&quot;! What implies the opposite, as you yourself note, is the adjective &quot;empty&quot; attached to it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As the New Oxford American Dictionary defines it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;rhetoric&lt;/strong&gt; the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, esp. the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note the words &quot;effective&quot; and &quot;persuasive&quot; in that definition. You have to add negative adjectives to the term to make it bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As Farnsworth says in the preface to his *Classical English Rhetoric&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rhetoric is a vast, old, and honorable discipline. It may be defined most broadly and simply as the use of language to persuade or otherwise affect an audience. ... It is certainly possible to write well without rhetorical figures, but most of the best writers and speakers — the ones whose work has stood up the longest — have made important use of them, and figures tend to show up often in utterances that are long remembered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would suggest not only that your premise is wrong, but that the term for powerful, moving words is, in fact, &lt;em&gt;rhetoric&lt;/em&gt;. If the word still bothers you, add a positive modifier to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The nominee's speech was filled with &lt;strong&gt;powerful rhetoric&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T11:48:10.630" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15808" CreationDate="2011-03-10T11:56:13.567" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fire is being used as a metaphor for wrath or anger I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Brave my fire in this context means tempt my anger.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put it in more colloquial terms he's saying &quot;Come on if you think you are hard enough&quot; do you dare to face my wrath.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess it could also mean passion so intense that it will burn you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's all poetic imagery really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you think about it one has to be pretty brave to stick their hand (for example) in an open flame, the flame here however is not an actual flame but it represents something else, probably some form of retribution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="963" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T11:56:13.567" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15823" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15830" CreationDate="2011-03-10T11:56:31.440" Score="3" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/78/when-is-it-appropriate-to-use-that-as-opposed-to-which&quot;&gt;When is it appropriate to use &amp;#39;that&amp;#39; as opposed to &amp;#39;which&amp;#39;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We've had an American Americanise some phrases for us (with the point of teaching children English), e.g:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;UK English: There’s a little white dog &lt;strong&gt;which&lt;/strong&gt; lives on the second floor.&#xA;US English: There’s a little white dog &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; lives on the second floor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there are three sentences which were not altered. We would rather not have a mixture of that and which to make things less confusing for the students. The sentences that were not changed were:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really like this pencil case which Rose gave me.&#xA;There’s a store near here which is open all night.&#xA;This is a really cool picture which I brought with me from Little Bridge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should these be changed to &lt;strong&gt;that&lt;/strong&gt; or should we change the other sentences back to &lt;strong&gt;which&lt;/strong&gt; that have already been translated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks, Luke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4221" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T12:51:45.423" ClosedDate="2011-03-10T13:26:10.627" Title="American English: which vs that." Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15824" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15825" CreationDate="2011-03-10T12:21:11.463" Score="5" ViewCount="278" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the person called who always thinks negative? E.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Mr. X always thinks negative.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Mr. X has negative attitude.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What we can use either? Is there any particular word for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5630" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T14:18:08.700" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T15:54:12.507" Title="Word for a person with a negative attitude" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="15825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15824" CreationDate="2011-03-10T12:23:55.577" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;pessimist&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, a person who expects the worst.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mr X is a pessimist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Contrast with &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;optimist&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is often said that while optimists are happier, pessimists are more often correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Optimists are said to live longer than pessimists, though a pessimist might say those extra few years are bound to be miserable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastEditorUserId="588" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T12:30:06.803" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T12:30:06.803" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15774" CreationDate="2011-03-10T12:26:15.420" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Answering a question with a question needn't be considered rude, and is in fact used in linguistics and philosophy to better understand the subject matter at hand. By replying, &quot;why do you ask&quot;, there can be a greater understanding between the two of you with an intent to better solve or dissolve the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5940" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T12:26:15.420" />
  <row Id="15827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15824" CreationDate="2011-03-10T12:29:49.177" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Mr X Thinks negatively' is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, 'Mr X is a pessimist' is more grammatically sound. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5940" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T12:29:49.177" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15806" CreationDate="2011-03-10T12:35:18.060" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the example you have given therefore, Google writes that which is ultimately used for security purposes, is only for security purposes. However, it makes way for the possibility that it is also used for something else. What that might be, I'm afraid I don't know!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5940" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T12:35:18.060" />
  <row Id="15829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15812" CreationDate="2011-03-10T12:39:21.353" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is the first use of the word 'do' that is incorrect in the sentence &quot;you do do that&quot;. The correct response could be that &quot;I have seen you do that&quot; or &quot;I have noticed that you do that&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5940" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T12:39:21.353" />
  <row Id="15830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15823" CreationDate="2011-03-10T12:51:45.423" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a native speaker but at school I was taught that you should use &quot;that&quot; for defining relative clauses, whereas both &quot;which&quot; and &quot;that&quot; are allowed for non-defining&#xA;relative clauses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore:&#xA;&quot;I really like this pencil case which Rose gave me.&quot;&#xA;Here, the relative clause only adds information about a pencil case that is already known&#xA;(this pencil case). In this case, as far as I know, you can also use &quot;that&quot;.&#xA;The relative pronoun cannot be omitted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I really like the pencil case that Rose gave me.&quot;&#xA;Here the relative clause defines the pencil case: I am talking about the pencil case&#xA;that Rose gave me, not about another one. In this case, it is compulsory to use &quot;that&quot;.&#xA;Alternatively, you can omit &quot;that&quot; altogether:&#xA;&quot;I really like the pencil case Rose gave me.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is at least the rules that I recall from school and I may be wrong.&#xA;I also do not know if the American and the British use differ on this since I am neither&#xA;from Great Britain nor from the United States.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5942" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T12:51:45.423" />
  <row Id="15832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15812" CreationDate="2011-03-10T12:54:59.530" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using &quot;do&quot; twice in a sentence, even in apposition, is not grammatically incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you ever do anything you would be ashamed of?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which you certainly can, then you can also say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Oh, so you &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; do things you would be ashamed of?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't do anything I am ashamed of, but sometimes I do do things I find embarrassing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that in my first example, a single &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; won't suffice. It would be awkward or at least archaic to say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you anything you would be ashamed of?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No modern-day speakers would ever say such a thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The construction even appears in the song &quot;You Do Something To Me&quot; by Cole Porter:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Do do that voodoo&#xA;that you do so well.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, for a laugh, let's close with Sting's use of multiple *do*s:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;De do do do, de da da da&#xA;that's all I want to say to you.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously that's not the same grammatical use case, but it does have a logic all its own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T12:54:59.530" />
  <row Id="15833" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-10T12:56:22.883" Score="2" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Doubly connected domain' returns more in google search, but it looks more strange for my ear. Which is the correct form according to rules so far?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5941" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T14:14:55.227" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T14:43:49.453" Title="What is better, 'double connected domain' or 'doubly connected domain'?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15834" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-10T12:59:35.683" Score="3" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you hit someone (or get hit) &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; the head (leg, arm, etc) or &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; the head?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did you hit yourself in the head?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Did you hit yourself on the head?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would other expressions be more appropriate, when the poor kid bumps his head against something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5943" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T14:11:55.543" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T17:09:40.570" Title="Hit 'in' or hit 'on' (one's head)" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15835" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15847" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:00:22.943" Score="1" ViewCount="157" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can anyone help me find a little bit more polite way to say &quot;I am pissed off at you&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know this is used to show anger or irritation, but this is bit harsh.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, do you have any other option?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5630" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T08:03:01.490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T08:03:01.490" Title="Synonym for &quot;pissed off&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="15836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15833" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:02:52.863" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doubly connected domain is the right answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5334" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T13:02:52.863" />
  <row Id="15838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15835" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:06:34.250" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm angry with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm annoyed at what you did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What you did bothered me a great deal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or any number of things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, if you &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; want to use pissed off, use &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;, for the preposition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am pissed off at you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or even just&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm pissed at you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T13:06:34.250" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="15839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15835" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:08:24.060" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I'm annoyed with you&quot;, or &quot;I'm angry&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5334" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T13:33:04.360" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T13:33:04.360" />
  <row Id="15840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15834" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:09:24.323" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can say either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hit him on the head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This implies that you hit him on the top of the head, or skull.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hit him in the head.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This implies that you hit him somewhere in the head, but not necessarily on top.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Look at the headline here which uses &quot;hit in the head&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/offbeat/justin-bieber-hit-in-the-head-with-water-bottle-20100809&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/offbeat/justin-bieber-hit-in-the-head-with-water-bottle-20100809&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T13:09:24.323" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15834" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:18:25.703" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Robusto. You ask for other ways to ask that question. I would naturally say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ohhh, did you hit your head?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without prepositions, &quot;Hit your head&quot; means roughly the same as &quot;Hit in the head&quot;. The difference is that &quot;Hit in the head&quot; means it came from external sources, like someone throwing a ball at you. &quot;Hit your head&quot; just means your head was hit, with no implication of the source / fault.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T13:18:25.703" />
  <row Id="15842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15809" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:27:36.197" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason why you may find &lt;em&gt;painful&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;joyful&lt;/em&gt; inconsistent is that the suffix &lt;em&gt;-ful&lt;/em&gt; can be used in different ways. Originally it probably meant &quot;having much x&quot;, as in &lt;em&gt;joyful&lt;/em&gt;; but it also came to mean &quot;entailing much x&quot;, and even &quot;causing much x&quot;, which isn't a large step from the middle stage. There are countless &lt;em&gt;-ful&lt;/em&gt; words with either sense, or both (cf. &lt;em&gt;doubtful&lt;/em&gt;, though the sense &quot;having doubt&quot; is now less frequent).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;[Edited:]&lt;/strong&gt; I doubt whether syntactic labels like &quot;active&quot; and &quot;passive&quot; would fit very well. Though I don't think it is a common thing to do, you could use &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thematic_relation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;semantic/thematic roles/relations&lt;/a&gt; to describe affixes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;em&gt;a joyful man&lt;/em&gt;, you could say that the suffix &lt;em&gt;-ful&lt;/em&gt; governs the noun it is attached to (value 1: &lt;em&gt;joy&lt;/em&gt;) and the noun it is an attribute to (value 2: &lt;em&gt;man&lt;/em&gt;) according to different patterns. In this case, we need to supply an implicit verb &quot;experiences&quot;: &lt;em&gt;a man who experiences joy&lt;/em&gt;. Then &lt;em&gt;man&lt;/em&gt; is the Experiencer (see the link above), and &lt;em&gt;joy&lt;/em&gt; is the Natural Cause or perhaps the Theme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;em&gt;a painful needle&lt;/em&gt;, we have an entirely different semantic relation: we need to supply a verb &quot;causes&quot;: &lt;em&gt;a needle that causes pain&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Pain&lt;/em&gt;(1) would be the Theme or Patient; &lt;em&gt;needle&lt;/em&gt;(2) would be the Natural Cause. A potential Experiencer is not expressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, my choice of verbs was somewhat arbitrary: I could instead have chosen different verbs, which would have resulted in somewhat different semantic relations. That is the problem with semantic relations: they are never exact, and always rather vague and flexible. They should not be used to construct a systematic model, but rather as an additional illustration when trying to understand language—never as proof of anything. As you saw, even with the verbs I chose there were several semantic roles that might have fitted; and those roles on Wikipedia were merely arbitrary decisions as well: you could very well make up your own roles if they would fit your models. But this is the only somewhat categorical analysis I could think of for your adjectives. &lt;strong&gt;[/Edited]&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About adjective senses in general: some adjectives attribute an emotion to the noun they belong to (&lt;em&gt;sad&lt;/em&gt;); others attribute to the noun an ability to cause an emotion in something else (&lt;em&gt;saddening&lt;/em&gt;); others again attribute something entirely different (&lt;em&gt;pointy&lt;/em&gt;); different adjectives just have different meanings, and I do not think adjectives pertaining to emotion are anything different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then there are also adjectives having more than one sense, like &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt;: &quot;[person] making decisions according to justice&quot;, &quot;[decision] made according to justice&quot;; it depends on the kind of noun it belongs to, or even the broader context, which sense we use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We may also use metaphor to change the meaning of adjectives, as of any word. In addition there is the gradual change of meaning that naturally occurs in most words over time; often this meaning gets forked, which results in two slightly different senses, as with &lt;em&gt;-ful&lt;/em&gt;. The word &lt;em&gt;flat&lt;/em&gt; normally means &quot;having a physical surface that approaches a segment of a plane&quot;; but it is also used in the sense &quot;lacking carbon-dioxide&quot; with sodas; this all becomes &quot;logical&quot; when you understand the stages lying between original and result. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T18:07:44.830" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T18:07:44.830" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="15843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15794" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:35:47.273" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Emotive? Wouldn't suit every occasion but often has the meaning required.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5945" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T13:35:47.273" />
  <row Id="15844" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15875" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:38:47.117" Score="1" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of a sentence like &quot;I pissed the wall&quot;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is there any difference with &quot;I pissed my pants&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T16:32:19.703" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T14:15:29.140" Title="What does &quot;I pissed the wall&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15844" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:39:48.930" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that it means you urinated on the wall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5334" LastEditorUserId="5334" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T16:05:22.480" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T16:05:22.480" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15846" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:43:26.423" Score="0" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/50/ivent-a-clue-if-this-is-possible-can-a-word-be-contracted-twice&quot;&gt;I&amp;#39;ven&amp;#39;t a clue if this is possible. Can a word be contracted twice?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any examples of words which are actually correct which contain two more more apostrophes or is that not allowed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm'nt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'd've&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Y'all'll&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Shouldn't've&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4284" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T13:43:26.423" ClosedDate="2011-03-10T13:46:41.127" Title="Words with two apostrophes" Tags="&lt;apostrophe&gt;" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="15847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15835" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:46:18.090" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some more possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm ticked off at you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm teed off at you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm upset with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You've really irked me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm peeved about this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T13:46:18.090" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15848" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:48:41.990" Score="1" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;I need to fill a non disclosure agreement (NDA) at the end of the file it is written:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In Witness whereof, this NDA is&#xA;  executed as of the date first above&#xA;  written:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Recipient:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Per: .... (What should I write here?)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Signature: ... (ok)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Name: ... (Is it the same as Per:?)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Title: ... (Mister,&#xA;  Miss, etc. ??? Is it correct?)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Date: ... (ok)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5946" LastEditorUserId="5946" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T13:59:22.463" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T16:52:43.363" Title="Can you help me to fill my NDA?" Tags="&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15844" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:51:02.267" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you mean &quot;I pissed it up [against] the wall&quot;? It's an idiom that roughly means to squander or waste, as in money, an opportunity, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5153" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T13:51:02.267" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15807" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:52:53.630" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you miss your mother, you do not have what you want (her). If you miss your target, you do not have what you want (a hit) either. This use of the mental conception of &quot;having something&quot; has apparently shifted a bit from &quot;keeping physically near&quot; to &quot;counting among one's successes&quot; in the case of the verb &lt;em&gt;to miss&lt;/em&gt;. You could say that &quot;having someone near&quot;, &quot;having something in possession&quot;, and &quot;having success&quot; are linked in some way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also define both senses by using a word other than &quot;having&quot;, in which case you'd need to describe some other but similar metaphoric shift in meaning; I believe this shift in &lt;em&gt;to miss&lt;/em&gt; and &quot;having&quot; is all part of a vague complex of conceptions of &quot;nearness&quot; and &quot;possession&quot; and &quot;likeness&quot; that are intimately connected in our minds. This is probably because in Prehistoric times the concepts of physical dimensions, movement, and time developed first; our patterns of thinking about those concepts we later reused for (often abstract) phenomena that are essentially different but can still be dealt with in useful ways by means of these patterns (&lt;em&gt;large chance&lt;/em&gt;: I see no &quot;large&quot; object?; &lt;em&gt;the well runs dry&lt;/em&gt;: what is it that &quot;runs&quot;?; &lt;em&gt;you have a point&lt;/em&gt;: I see nothing &quot;pointy&quot;?' etc.). See the Wikipedia article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptual_metaphor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Conceptual Metaphor&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T13:52:53.630" />
  <row Id="15851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15833" CreationDate="2011-03-10T13:56:52.303" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Doubly connected domain&lt;/strong&gt; (or &lt;strong&gt;doubly-connected&lt;/strong&gt;, with a hyphen) is the right phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two general tips, here.  Firstly, when using Google as a test for something like this, &lt;strong&gt;search with the whole phrase in quotes&lt;/strong&gt;, i.e. search for &lt;code&gt;&quot;doubly connected domain&quot;&lt;/code&gt;, not just &lt;code&gt;doubly connected domain&lt;/code&gt;.  With the quotes, google will search for the phrase as a whole — in this, it correctly shows &lt;em&gt;doubly connected domain&lt;/em&gt; as much more common than double.  Without the quotes, it just searches for pages in which the individual words all appear, not necessarily together — so it could give the wrong answer here, just because in most contexts, &lt;em&gt;double&lt;/em&gt; is more common than &lt;em&gt;doubly&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, this is a technical term.  &lt;strong&gt;For technical terms, use a technical reference&lt;/strong&gt; — check a good textbook, or a couple of academic papers, that talk about these domains, and see what they use.  It could be that, for instance, in mathematics people talk about &lt;em&gt;doubly-connected&lt;/em&gt;, but that engineers have a completely different thing called &lt;em&gt;double-connected&lt;/em&gt;.  Then, Google wouldn’t know which one you’re after, and nor would I.  Using a technical reference from your field makes sure that you’ve got the right term for the things you’re talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Oh, and a third point, a grammatical one.  &lt;em&gt;Doubly&lt;/em&gt; here is modying &lt;em&gt;connected&lt;/em&gt; — it’s telling you what kind of connectedness property the domain satisfies.  &lt;strong&gt;Since it’s modifying an adjective, it has to be an adverb&lt;/strong&gt; — i.e. &lt;em&gt;doubly&lt;/em&gt; is the right form, not &lt;em&gt;double&lt;/em&gt;.  Contrast a phrase like &lt;em&gt;compact connected domain&lt;/em&gt;, in which both &lt;em&gt;compact&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;connected&lt;/em&gt; are modifying the noun &lt;em&gt;domain&lt;/em&gt;, so are both adjectives.  This point is subsidiary to my second one, though — sometimes technical terms bend the usual conventions of grammar a bit, and in those cases, the technical usage is the one to follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T14:43:49.453" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T14:43:49.453" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15833" CreationDate="2011-03-10T14:02:14.630" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is somewhat technical mathematically, but I've tried to keep it simple - I hope the mathematicians will overlook the imprecision, and non-mathematicians will bear with the detail...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A simply-connected domain is a shape in which, if you take any two points, there will be just one path taking you from one to the other (where you consider two paths being as the same if one can be smoothly deformed into the other).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A doubly-connected domain is a shape in which there are &lt;em&gt;two&lt;/em&gt; paths between any two points, and those paths are distinct and can't be smoothly deformed into each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this latter domain is, in some sense, &quot;twice as connected&quot; as the former, and so it is called &lt;em&gt;doubly-connected&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Calling it a &quot;double connected domain&quot; would instead imply that you had two simply-connected domains, or a simply-connected domain that was in some way doubled, which is not the sense that is desired.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T14:02:14.630" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="15853" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15856" CreationDate="2011-03-10T14:09:38.700" Score="3" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one of the following two sentences is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;We are only concerned with crystal systems which &lt;em&gt;consist of&lt;/em&gt; an inversion center.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;We are only concerned with crystal systems which &lt;em&gt;consist&lt;/em&gt; an inversion center.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I really can't tell the difference. If they are both grammatically correct, which usage is more formal? (I hope I am not being too vague).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5947" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T14:22:29.777" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T14:30:03.437" Title="Correct use of &quot;consist&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15848" CreationDate="2011-03-10T14:13:19.877" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Per: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procuration&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;per procurationem&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Per: .... The person you sign for if not yourself&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Name: ... You&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Title: ... Mr.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T14:13:19.877" />
  <row Id="15855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15806" CreationDate="2011-03-10T14:14:45.500" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This usage of &quot;if nothing else&quot; is idiomatic, as D_Bye pointed out. In your example &lt;em&gt;&quot;... automated scanning, which every e-mail provider does, for security purposes if nothing else.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;, you could replace it with &quot;if for no other purpose&quot;. It means that e-mail providers feel that security purposes are enough reason for scanning e-mails: they would scan e-mails for that reason alone anyway, so it doesn't really matter whether scanning could be justified based on other reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A: Should I take some money from the&#xA;  company's cash box? Any reason not to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;B: Huh? What!? You might consider the&#xA;  possibility of getting caught, if&#xA;  nothing else [ = if you will consider nothing else].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;B means that if A won't consider other reasons, such as the moral obligation not to steal, at least she should consider that she may get caught.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T14:14:45.500" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15853" CreationDate="2011-03-10T14:17:02.867" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The verb &lt;em&gt;consist&lt;/em&gt; is never used without a preposition and it usually takes either &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt;. In your example, it should be &lt;em&gt;consist of&lt;/em&gt;. Thus, the first sentence is correct while the second is wrong. From the &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1235486#m_en_us1235486&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1 (&lt;strong&gt;consist of&lt;/strong&gt;) be composed or made up of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;(&lt;strong&gt;consist in&lt;/strong&gt;) have as an essential feature&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2  (&lt;strong&gt;consist with&lt;/strong&gt;) &lt;em&gt;archaic&lt;/em&gt; be consistent with&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should also add that it is probably not uncommon for some speakers to drop the &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; in conversation, but this should by all means be avoided in written contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T14:30:03.437" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T14:30:03.437" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15808" CreationDate="2011-03-10T14:18:07.423" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would interpret &quot;fire&quot; here in the sense of projectiles and &quot;brave&quot; in meaning 7 from dictionary.com: &quot;to meet or face courageously&quot;. A soldier who charges at an enemy who is shooting at him is braving the enemy's fire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3542" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T14:18:07.423" />
  <row Id="15858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15853" CreationDate="2011-03-10T14:24:31.990" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Consist of&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;be composed or made up of&quot;.&#xA;The NOAD reports three different meanings of &lt;em&gt;consist&lt;/em&gt;, but the verb is always used with a preposition: &lt;em&gt;consist of&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;consist in&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;consist with&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The exhibition consists of 180 drawings.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  His duties consist in taking the condition of the barometer.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The information perfectly consists with our friend's account.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I understood what you mean, I would write the sentence as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We are only concerned with crystal systems &lt;strong&gt;consisting of&lt;/strong&gt; an inversion center.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T14:24:31.990" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15859" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-10T14:50:17.710" Score="-1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;For grammar class, the teacher told us to write the possessive for each word or group of words below by using an apostrophe and an –s (´s) or an apostrophe alone (´).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Teacher      &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Teachers     &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ms. Sandoval&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adults       &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Deer             &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Man&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Country      &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Countries        &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dog&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Celia&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5952" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T13:45:13.863" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T13:45:13.863" ClosedDate="2011-03-10T15:11:14.620" Title="What is the right usage of apostrophes in the following words?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;&lt;homework&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15844" CreationDate="2011-03-10T15:03:14.143" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In biblical usage, it means that you are male.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(See 1 Samuel 25:22, 34; 1 Kings 14:10, 16:11, 21:21; 2 Kings 9:8)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5584" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T15:03:14.143" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="15862" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15865" CreationDate="2011-03-10T15:05:12.367" Score="8" ViewCount="204" Body="&lt;p&gt;We are all used to this word &lt;em&gt;safari&lt;/em&gt;. I think most people will agree that its usage is ubiquitous when referring to going for holiday (esp. overland travel in Africa).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So is this word a true English word? What are the origins?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4106" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T16:52:43.977" Title="So is 'Safari' really an English word and where did it originate from?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15862" CreationDate="2011-03-10T15:11:10.570" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The FreeOnlineDictionary reports it as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/safari&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;having an Arabic origin&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etymonline says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1890 (attested from 1860 as a foreign word), from Swahili, lit. &quot;journey, expedition,&quot; from Arabic, lit. &quot;referring to a journey,&quot; from safar &quot;journey&quot; (which itself is attested in English as a foreign word from 1858).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T15:11:10.570" />
  <row Id="15865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15862" CreationDate="2011-03-10T15:12:51.170" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whether or not it is a true English word and where it came from are two completely different questions. We borrow words from many languages, but they are still real English words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is borrowed from Swahili [safari], which was in turn borrowed from Arabic [سفاري].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has been attested in dictionaries as part of the English language since c. 1890.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5584" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T15:12:51.170" />
  <row Id="15866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15848" CreationDate="2011-03-10T15:27:23.427" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I haven't signed one of these in years, but an NDA generally requires both parties to sign it.  Ask the person who gave you the form, but to me it reads like the quoted section is meant to be filled out by the other party, who then becomes the recipient of your agreement.  If that is the correct context, I would guess that Per: refers to a document or other instrument authorizing or requiring the NDA, signature and name are those of the individual witnessing the NDA on behalf of the other party, title is that person's position in their organization, and date is, well, the date of signing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Honestly, though, stop reading this answer after &quot;who gave you the form&quot;, and I think you'll be OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4244" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T15:27:23.427" />
  <row Id="15867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17" CreationDate="2011-03-10T15:37:57.130" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12503686&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This article&lt;/a&gt; from the BBC website is interesting, even if we don't end up any closer to the true origins of the expression!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5153" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T15:37:57.130" />
  <row Id="15868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15794" CreationDate="2011-03-10T15:40:28.947" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is a term for powerful, moving words? ... The nominee’s speech was filled with XXX&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why does his speech have to be filled with something?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The obvious construction has the same length as the form you propose but says what you want using the words you used to describe what you wanted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The nominee’s speech was powerful and moving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T15:40:28.947" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15869" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15897" CreationDate="2011-03-10T15:43:59.100" Score="6" ViewCount="262" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd like some help with my CV. I want to add one sentence below my name, telling the company that I am free to relocate to any city.&#xA;I am not a native speaker and I am not sure about this. &#xA;Can anybody tell me how to say it? Which way is proper and professional?&#xA;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5957" LastEditorUserId="4924" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T17:32:11.660" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T14:20:51.997" Title="How do I say, &quot;I am willing to relocate&quot;, in my CV?" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="15870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15780" CreationDate="2011-03-10T15:50:08.727" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As mentioned before, &lt;strong&gt;sex&lt;/strong&gt; is for the genitals and &lt;strong&gt;gender&lt;/strong&gt; refer to the sexual identity. But I think that you &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; add a third option to male and female, &lt;strong&gt;other&lt;/strong&gt; since many people doesn't fill associated to this dual characterization. Also, a fourth option &lt;strong&gt;I do not prefer to say&lt;/strong&gt; may be welcomed for political correctness reasons as mentioned by @Ankur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5958" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T15:50:08.727" />
  <row Id="15871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15869" CreationDate="2011-03-10T15:56:02.700" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One sentence, two words: &quot;Will relocate.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T15:56:02.700" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15872" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15909" CreationDate="2011-03-10T16:02:43.303" Score="0" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;hey guys, i need some help, i`m writing an essay and well, im not very good at grammar, because i speak spanish.... i find all the grammar rules very hard and i want to get an A in my essay!i looked up the information on the internet but i still cant understand it 100%.... so i need help to understand in a more simple way the usage of apostrophes when a word is in plural, singular and in names! thank you very much! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5952" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T13:44:23.597" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T13:44:23.597" ClosedDate="2011-03-10T21:28:16.797" Title="Using apostrophes" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="15874" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15876" CreationDate="2011-03-10T16:16:41.880" Score="15" ViewCount="479" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have often heard people say 101, as one-zero-one, and also as one-&lt;em&gt;oh&lt;/em&gt;-one. Which is correct, and why? Does the difference between British English and American English have to do something with it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4924" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T23:08:31.270" Title="&quot;Zero&quot; versus &quot;O&quot; (Oh)" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="15875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15844" CreationDate="2011-03-10T16:22:47.320" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can see four possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It’s an idiomatic figurative usage, analogous to something like &lt;em&gt;I was shitting bricks&lt;/em&gt;.  This seems very unlikely: none of us here seem to have heard any such usage, and Google doesn’t find anything.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It’s a literal usage, meaning “I pissed on the wall” (which is how most English-speakers would say it), but is correct in this speaker’s dialect/idiolect.  This seems fairly unlikely, for the same reasons as before.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It’s not idiomatic, and is deliberate wordplay.  There are a few idioms that this is analogous to, like “to piss the bed” or “to piss one’s pants”, and the speaker might have been jokingly adapting one of these.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It’s not idiomatic, and is a speech error, intended as “I pissed on the wall”, or similar.  This seems the most likely to me — especially since if the speaker had actually just &lt;em&gt;?pissed the wall&lt;/em&gt; then he may well have been somewhat inebriated at the time…&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T16:22:47.320" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15874" CreationDate="2011-03-10T16:25:29.430" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;American speakers use zero in both conversation and writing. When reciting a string of numbers only, it is acceptable and common for an American to pronounce zero as &quot;oh&quot;. But when reciting a string that mixes characters and numbers, it becomes necessary to differentiate between &quot;oh&quot; and zero.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In British English, zero is normally used only in scientific writing. In conversation, British speakers usually say &quot;nought&quot; or &quot;oh&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T16:25:29.430" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="15877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15872" CreationDate="2011-03-10T16:25:52.913" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a broad question, but here are some tips to start with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use the correct character for apostrophe. It's the one that looks like a small vertical line: ', not a tick mark: ´ or a backtick: `.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Apostrophes are used in contractions like &lt;em&gt;it's&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;can't&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;won't&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;doesn't&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Apostrophes are used for possession: &lt;em&gt;Peter's book&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Apostrophes are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; used in plural: &lt;em&gt;books&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T16:25:52.913" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15819" CreationDate="2011-03-10T16:29:04.107" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's an article in Wikipedia about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Anglo-Saxon linguistic purism&lt;/a&gt; (also known as Anglish), which may be what you're thinking of. An example at the bottom of the page there is replacing the Greek-derived &lt;em&gt;atom&lt;/em&gt; with the Germanic &lt;em&gt;uncleft&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T16:29:04.107" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15874" CreationDate="2011-03-10T16:31:50.613" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Zero is a little bit longer to pronounce, hence the &quot;oh&quot;.  As an American speaker, I've always heard it pronounced one 'oh' one, though that doesn't make it anymore correct than one zero one or one-hundred and one even.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also tends to be a little more trendy and/or less formal to use 'oh' (Hawaii Five-Oh for example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T16:31:50.613" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15824" CreationDate="2011-03-10T16:34:02.520" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of colloquialisms and other terms that mean the same thing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Mr. X is a ...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Negative Nancy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Downer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Drag&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Debbie Downer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Naysayer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Prophet of doom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doomsayer&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Futilitarian&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T16:34:02.520" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15874" CreationDate="2011-03-10T16:34:41.123" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are correct. But, &lt;em&gt;zero&lt;/em&gt; is more formal than &lt;em&gt;oh&lt;/em&gt;. Native speakers, both Americans and Brits, tend to use either of the forms. Limit the use of &lt;em&gt;oh&lt;/em&gt; colloquially.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;Oxford English Dictionary&lt;/strong&gt; says:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;O n. (also &lt;strong&gt;oh&lt;/strong&gt;) zero (in a sequence of numerals, especially when spoken).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5959" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T16:34:41.123" />
  <row Id="15882" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15886" CreationDate="2011-03-10T16:49:32.303" Score="3" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We are a Zhongguancun-based English training school &lt;strong&gt;looking for native English speakers from the US and Canada&lt;/strong&gt;. If you are interested in this position. Please send your CV and photo to [email address]. For more info, pls check: [URL]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like a sentence element; what does it act as? Why not two sentences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T21:09:41.957" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T21:09:41.957" Title="Is this use of present participle grammatically correct?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;participle&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="15883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15848" CreationDate="2011-03-10T16:52:43.363" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;My warning and disclaimer is that I am responding in the way that I have filled out NDAs before; I am not a lawyer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are signing for yourself, as an individual, you might use&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Per: &quot;Not applicable&quot; &#xA;  Signature: ... (ok)&#xA;  Name: Your name&#xA;  Title: &quot;Individual&quot; or &quot;self&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I would not use &quot;Mr.&quot; here. Title here refers to your position in a corporation.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are signing for Art Programmer who works for Your Company, Inc, and you are the President, you might use&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Per: A. Programmer&#xA;  Signature: ... (ok)&#xA;  Name: Your name&#xA;  Title: &quot;President, Your Company Inc.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The former promises that you will not disclose the information. The latter promises that A. Programmer, who works for Your Company, will not disclose the information. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are signing as owner of an LLC, then the latter is more desirable than the former, as you would be putting the promise to perform on the LLC, not on you. (That's why you formed the LLC in the first place, right?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3306" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T16:52:43.363" />
  <row Id="15884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15862" CreationDate="2011-03-10T16:52:43.977" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that the origin of the word is late 19th century from Kiswahili, from Arabic &lt;em&gt;safara&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;to travel&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T16:52:43.977" />
  <row Id="15885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15786" CreationDate="2011-03-10T16:58:43.473" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;With bulllike determination, I looked at the scowl word list, and found 49 words meeting this criteria. I realize many of these probably aren't words at all and others are proper names, Roman numerals, or abbreviations, but scowl lists these as true words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;+------------------+&#xA;| aaa              | &#xA;| addda            | &#xA;| apppetible       | &#xA;| asssembler       | &#xA;| baccillla        | &#xA;| betweeenbrain    | &#xA;| bimilllennia     | &#xA;| blottto          | &#xA;| bonnne           | &#xA;| bonnnes          | &#xA;| bossship         | &#xA;| brrr             | &#xA;| bulllike         | &#xA;| demigoddessship  | &#xA;| dipppier         | &#xA;| dipppiest        | &#xA;| dipppy           | &#xA;| earlesss         | &#xA;| goddessship      | &#xA;| goddessship's    | &#xA;| gulllike         | &#xA;| headmistressship | &#xA;| ieee             | &#xA;| iii              | &#xA;| kkk              | &#xA;| lettterbox       | &#xA;| lettterboxes     | &#xA;| lxxx             | &#xA;| mmmm             | &#xA;| oooo             | &#xA;| outttore         | &#xA;| outttorn         | &#xA;| passsaging       | &#xA;| pasticcci        | &#xA;| patronessship    | &#xA;| syllabusss       | &#xA;| unreeel          | &#xA;| viii             | &#xA;| wallless         | &#xA;| whenceeer        | &#xA;| www              | &#xA;| xiii             | &#xA;| xviii            | &#xA;| xxiii            | &#xA;| xxviii           | &#xA;| xxx              | &#xA;| zipppier         | &#xA;| zipppiest        | &#xA;| zzz              | &#xA;+------------------+&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3065" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T16:58:43.473" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15882" CreationDate="2011-03-10T17:03:45.353" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This participial construction is 100% correct and natural. The participle is used as an attribute to the subject of the main clause, &quot;we&quot; (or &quot;a Zhongguancun-based English training school&quot;, but that doesn't matter because it results in the same meaning). It gives extra information about &quot;we&quot;, just as an adjective would. This attribute is placed after its &quot;head&quot; (the noun or pronoun it modifies) because it is a sort of apposition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T17:03:45.353" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15824" CreationDate="2011-03-10T17:05:44.710" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Alternatives for consideration:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cynic&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Defeatist&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5961" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T15:54:12.507" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T15:54:12.507" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15834" CreationDate="2011-03-10T17:09:40.570" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would always use &quot;on&quot; for a blow to a body part, &lt;em&gt;unless&lt;/em&gt; the body part I was literally referring to was an internal organ, or otherwise regarded as interior. So &quot;on the head&quot;, &quot;on the arm&quot;, &quot;on the back&quot;, but &quot;in the kidneys&quot;, &quot;in the belly&quot;, and &quot;in the crotch&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I heard &quot;hit in the head&quot; I would think first of a gunshot wound rather than a blow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T17:09:40.570" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15882" CreationDate="2011-03-10T17:20:06.767" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A participial phrase function as adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the sentence you wrote, &quot;looking for native English speakers from the US and Canada&quot; has a similar function of &quot;lying on the kitchen floor&quot; in &quot;she was annoyed by the crumpled newspapers lying on the kitchen floor.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your sentence, &quot;looking for native English speakers from the US and Canada&quot; is referring to the subject of the sentence, &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using a participial phrase is a matter of style; you could write the sentence differently. (I am reporting different ways to write the sentence, without giving any suggestions about which one is better; the sentence using the participial phrase is correct.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We are a Zhongguancun-based English training school, and we are looking for native English speakers from the US and Canada.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  We are a Zhongguancun-based English training school interested in native English speakers from the US and Canada.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  We are a Zhongguancun-based English training school; we are looking for native English speakers from the US and Canada.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T17:43:25.537" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T17:43:25.537" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15890" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15894" CreationDate="2011-03-10T17:21:29.607" Score="4" ViewCount="276" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technically a small piece of paper is worthless - having zero resale value, so why is the saying not: It is worth the paper it's printed on?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T17:34:16.140" Title="&quot;Not worth the paper it's printed on&quot; - wrong meaning?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15890" CreationDate="2011-03-10T17:24:33.683" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This usage of &quot;not&quot; includes an implied &quot;even&quot;: it's not &lt;em&gt;even&lt;/em&gt; worth as much as the paper it's printed on, i.e. it's worth less than nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T17:34:16.140" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T17:34:16.140" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="15892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15890" CreationDate="2011-03-10T17:24:37.427" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because you're trying to say precisely the opposite.  It is &lt;em&gt;so&lt;/em&gt; worthless that its worth is not even superior to that of the paper on which it is printed.  It's a little misleading to compare value, because even though you're quantifying the worth of something to something else, you're &lt;em&gt;implying&lt;/em&gt; that the worth is &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt; that much (even if it is not actually said).  An example of this would be &quot;Even though that sweater cost me 100 dollars, it was worth it.&quot;  Even though you're &lt;em&gt;saying&lt;/em&gt; it's worth 100 dollars, you're &lt;em&gt;implying&lt;/em&gt; that it is &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt; worth 100 dollars.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the opposite of saying that it is worth the paper it is printed on is saying that the worth does not &lt;em&gt;even&lt;/em&gt; exceed that of the paper it is printed on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastEditorUserId="5735" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T17:30:54.783" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T17:30:54.783" />
  <row Id="15894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15890" CreationDate="2011-03-10T17:33:49.880" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;“Not” in comparative forms typically means “less than”.  For instance,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I’m not as tall as Michael Jordan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;means “I am less tall than MJ”, rather than “I am not exactly the same height as MJ”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in this case, “it’s not worth the paper it’s printed on” (and parallel constructions like “it’s not worth waiting ten minutes for”), &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; means it’s worth even less than the paper is — and that’s already a negligible amount.  So it means something is worth a really really negligible amount — or even, as @Martha suggests, worth less than nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T17:33:49.880" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15895" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15896" CreationDate="2011-03-10T17:52:42.313" Score="7" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the only difference that in USA they write it with &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt; and in UK they write it with &lt;em&gt;c&lt;/em&gt;, or is there anything more?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5007" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T18:19:05.613" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T18:19:05.613" Title="&quot;Defense&quot; or &quot;defence&quot;" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15895" CreationDate="2011-03-10T18:06:31.473" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That is the only difference, yes. The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coha/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Historical American English&lt;/a&gt; have the following usage stats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;            BNC    COCA&#xA;&#xA;defence   11709     570&#xA;defense     207   59677&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wiktionary marks &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/defense&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;defence&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; as &lt;em&gt;Commonwealth&lt;/em&gt;, and The American Heritage Dictionary marks it as &lt;em&gt;Chiefly British&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T18:06:31.473" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15869" CreationDate="2011-03-10T18:16:42.997" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your question actually has a sentence in its body which would work: &quot;free to relocate&quot;. It's not a complete sentence but CVs often use fragments such as that for brevity. You might also say &quot;willing to relocate&quot;, etc. @Robusto's &quot;will relocate&quot; works too but it sounds to me like you are saying that you already know that you are relocating at some point in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T18:16:42.997" />
  <row Id="15898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3723" CreationDate="2011-03-10T19:01:34.313" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think fuscia -&gt; fuschia instead of fuchsia happens because Google is looking for better spelling fairly close to the misspelled word, and fuscia -&gt; fuchsia is two mistakes, according to Google's algorithm (you've dropped the h and you've swapped the s and c), whereas fuscia -&gt; fuschia is one mistake. At some point, Google may very well special-case fuchsia to fix this problem. In fact, this hypothesis is verified by experiment. If you search for &quot;fucshia,&quot; Google corrects it properly. If you search for &quot;fucsia,&quot; Google thinks you're speaking Spanish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5754" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T19:01:34.313" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15899" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15903" CreationDate="2011-03-10T19:42:38.723" Score="5" ViewCount="139" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assume someone says, &quot;When individual investors enter the market, I know it's time to get out.&quot; The speaker is making a serious statement -- yet he is an &quot;individual investor&quot; himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you call this type of statement?  It sounds like &lt;em&gt;hypocrisy&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;irony&lt;/em&gt;, but neither term is on target.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T11:15:22.813" Title="What do you call this type of statement?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15869" CreationDate="2011-03-10T19:47:22.183" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Address the issue of relocation in a cover letter, rather than your CV, and tailor the description to the particular requirement of that position. A résumé or CV is a description of your previous experience, while a cover letter is where you should promote your suitability for a particular job - including requirements like relocation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If for some reason it is absolutely impossible to provide a separate cover letter, consider adding a general Availability section with additional information such as dates you can begin working. &quot;Willing to relocate&quot; is a suitable phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5119" LastEditorUserId="5119" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T19:57:44.763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T19:57:44.763" />
  <row Id="15901" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-10T19:53:36.060" Score="0" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicates:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/427/should-you-use-who-or-that-when-talking-about-multiple-people-doing-something&quot;&gt;Should you use &amp;ldquo;who&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;that&amp;rdquo; when talking about multiple people doing something?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/56/using-who-and-whom&quot;&gt;Using &amp;ldquo;who&amp;rdquo; and &amp;ldquo;whom&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;People that use our software like it very much.&quot;&#xA;&quot;People who use our software like it very much.&quot;&#xA;&quot;People whom use our software like it very much.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The middle one seems right to me, but which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5969" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T19:53:36.060" ClosedDate="2011-03-10T20:29:06.407" Title="&quot;People that&quot; or &quot;People who&quot; or &quot;People whom&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="15902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15869" CreationDate="2011-03-10T20:00:13.247" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen &lt;em&gt;Open to relocation&lt;/em&gt; in many resumes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5254" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T20:00:13.247" />
  <row Id="15903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15899" CreationDate="2011-03-10T20:02:41.403" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps the term you are looking for is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;contradictory&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; statement. Note that Cerberus makes a useful comment below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might also consider &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;paradoxical&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5210" LastEditorUserId="5210" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T20:53:57.117" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T20:53:57.117" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15824" CreationDate="2011-03-10T20:08:46.253" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always enjoyed slang expressions like &quot;Mr Unhappy is a real &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stick_in_the_mud&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;stick in the mud&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&quot; (i.e. won't participate) and similar expressions like &lt;em&gt;curmudgeon&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;party pooper&lt;/em&gt;. They have slightly different connotations than always thinking negatively, but I think the mindset would have the be similar to support them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="618" LastEditorUserId="618" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T20:14:46.607" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T20:14:46.607" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15899" CreationDate="2011-03-10T20:35:44.997" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another possibility, if you don't like the connotations of &quot;contradictory&quot;, would be to call it a &lt;em&gt;self-negating&lt;/em&gt; statement, along the lines of Groucho Marx's &quot;I refuse to join any club that's willing to accept me as a member.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T20:35:44.997" />
  <row Id="15906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6671" CreationDate="2011-03-10T20:49:33.283" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apostrophe abuse! Those re-runs do not possess anything, and neither does that Christmas! Your friend failed English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Enjoying re-runs of Christmases past.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5971" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T20:49:33.283" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15808" CreationDate="2011-03-10T20:57:34.367" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means, more or less, to &quot;face my intensity&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5971" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T20:57:34.367" />
  <row Id="15908" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15882" CreationDate="2011-03-10T21:06:12.770" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only error in the sentence is the punctuation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you are interested in this position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is a fragment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5971" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T21:06:12.770" />
  <row Id="15909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15872" CreationDate="2011-03-10T21:14:23.387" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ana - if you are referencing a group of people who possess something, you use the apostrophe after the &quot;s&quot;. In your example, if you're referencing the office of one teacher, it would be teacher's office. If you mean a lounge that is used by many teachers, it is the teachers' lounge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that you don't need to do this if the plural form of the noun doesn't have an s. For example, if you wanted to reference a book that belongs to more than one person, since the plural form of person is people (and not &quot;persons&quot;), you write the people's book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5975" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T21:14:23.387" />
  <row Id="15910" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15912" CreationDate="2011-03-10T21:50:23.043" Score="4" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;What I want to say is to capitalize the first letter of some words, but I want to use a single verb since I need to say this many times, like &quot;*** all the words that appear in the table headers&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there such a verb?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5648" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T22:26:30.340" Title="What is the verb that means to capitalize the first letter of a word?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9638" CreationDate="2011-03-10T21:50:41.437" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those of me in the future werare frustrated with will havinged been seeing this question so many pastimeses. Please reallowed me two've preassisted you with some examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Subjective Present:&#xA;He will have spoken&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Subjective Past: &#xA;He has spoken, but don't give your him guff if that instance of him doesn't remember saying it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Objective Past Perfect Progressive:&#xA;He will have had been speaking- deal with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hope this does haved helping.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5976" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T21:50:41.437" />
  <row Id="15912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15910" CreationDate="2011-03-10T21:52:28.080" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you speak of capitalizing a word, that normally means to capitalize only the first letter.  If you were to say &quot;capitalize all the words that appear in the table headers&quot;, I believe this would get your meaning across fine (and as always in specifications, a little example goes a &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; long way).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only other likely interpretation, putting it in all caps, is not normally expressed that way; usually one would have to say &quot;put the words that appear in the table headers in all caps&quot; to communicate that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T21:52:28.080" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15808" CreationDate="2011-03-10T21:58:33.160" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Brave&quot; as a very long story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The original root is from Greek &quot;βάρβαρος&quot; (barbaros).  Βάρβαροι were the people whose languages were unintelligible.  Βάρβαροs is a famous example of Greek word of onomatopoeic origin (allegedly all you could hear was &quot;bar-bar&quot;).&#xA;There was obviously a pejorative connotation to this noon; the main meaning however, was simply &quot;foreigner&quot; (as in &quot;non-Greek&quot; of course).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Imported in Latin, the noon &quot;barbarus&quot; retained this meaning of &quot;foreigner&quot; (remarkably, Greeks were the only &quot;non barbaric&quot; foreigners ;-).  In Vulgar Latin however, the adjective, now contracted to &quot;brabus&quot; had the meaning &quot;savage&quot;, &quot;courageous&quot;, &quot;indomitable&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Studies about phonetic evolution from Vulgar Latin to Medieval Italian have well documented[1] how the plosive 'b' in intervocalic position nearly always evolved into a labiodental fricative 'v', caballum =&gt; cavallo (horse)  and how the final &quot;us&quot; evolved into &quot;o&quot; (marius =&gt; mario, marcus =&gt;marco...).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following these rules &quot;brabus&quot; evolved into &quot;bravo&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 14th century Italian, it then came to mean &quot;flamboyant&quot;, &quot;well dressed&quot;, &quot;arrogant&quot; as an adjective as well as &quot;mercenary&quot;[2] as a noon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However in modern Italian the meaning is &quot;good at things&quot; (Questo ragazzo e molto bravo in informatica). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During the Renaissance French kings were obsessed with the conquest of Italy and their armies met the Italian armies on many occasions.  When Italian soldiers were showing off in front of the enemy they companions would cheer &quot;Bravo !!!&quot; and congratulate each other.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;So that the French interpreted the &quot;Bravo&quot; interjection in many ways: &quot;noble&quot;,  &quot;courageous&quot;, &quot;handsome&quot;, &quot;arrogant&quot;.  Eventually, only the main meaning of &quot;fearless on the battlefield&quot; remained.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One way soldiers would demonstrate &quot;bravoure&quot; in front of their fellow countrymen would be to expose their bare chest to the enemy line, daring them to fire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which in my view explains the metaphor &quot;brave my fire&quot; as Peter Taylor has rightly pointed out in his answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sources: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] József Herman &quot;Le Latin Vulgaire&quot; 1967 - English Translation Roger Wright &quot;Vulgar Latin&quot; 1997.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;[2] Dictionnaire Historique de la Langue Française&quot; (Robert, 1993).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="5432" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T19:36:33.780" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T19:36:33.780" />
  <row Id="15914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15910" CreationDate="2011-03-10T22:01:03.777" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the programming community, this activity (capitalizing the first letter of every word) is known as &quot;Propercasing&quot; ... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;UPPERCASE&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;lowercase&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Propercase&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;CamelCase&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Title Case (Some Short Words Don't Qualify for Capitalization)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The name &quot;Proper Case&quot; comes from the capitalization rules for proper nouns.  See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_case&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia's article on Sentence Case&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T22:26:30.340" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T22:26:30.340" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15910" CreationDate="2011-03-10T22:02:10.860" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with chaos, but you could also say &quot;put the table headers in title case&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately that doesn't completely remove the ambiguity, since &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_case#Headings_and_publication_titles&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;styles vary&lt;/a&gt; on whether prepositions, conjunctions and so on should be capitalised. The page linked also mentions &lt;em&gt;start case&lt;/em&gt; as having the first letter of every word capitalized, but I must admit I've never seen that term (start case) used before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4877" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T22:02:10.860" />
  <row Id="15916" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15918" CreationDate="2011-03-10T22:02:30.943" Score="9" ViewCount="410" Body="&lt;p&gt;My late grandfather had several word-choice peeves for which he would gently interrupt a speaker, especially a grandchild, in order to correct. The one I remember most was his dislike for the use of &quot;hard&quot; as a synonym for &quot;difficult,&quot; as in the statement: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This homework is really hard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I read and hear &quot;hard&quot; used this way all the time and often wonder if there is something incorrect about it. Is there, or has there ever been, any basis for this quibble?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T23:59:28.453" Title="&quot;hard&quot; vs. &quot;difficult&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15916" CreationDate="2011-03-10T22:09:04.307" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have this in many languages.  I can think of at least two of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In German &quot;es ist schwer&quot; means both &quot;it's heavy&quot; and &quot;it's difficult&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In French &quot;c'est dur&quot; means both it's &quot;hard&quot; and &quot;it's difficult&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess you could conclude the Germans used to carry the stones, and the French used to carve them.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And all were complaining anyway !&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="5432" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T22:18:42.957" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T22:18:42.957" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="15918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15916" CreationDate="2011-03-10T22:21:59.850" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is nothing incorrect about &lt;em&gt;hard&lt;/em&gt; being used that way. It's just more colloquial than &lt;em&gt;difficult&lt;/em&gt;, but other than that, they are synonyms, and have been for a long time. The Oxford English Dictionary has citations going back all the way to 1340:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;a1340 HAMPOLE &lt;em&gt;Psalter&lt;/em&gt; vi. 4 Ful hard it is to be turnyd enterly til þe bryghthed and þe pees of godis lyght. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;c1440 &lt;em&gt;Promp. Parv.&lt;/em&gt; 227/1 Harde yn knowynge, or warkynge, difficilis. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;1559 W. CUNINGHAM &lt;em&gt;Cosmogr. Glasse&lt;/em&gt; 97 It is as harde, and laborus, to get the Longitude.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;1611 BIBLE &lt;em&gt;Transl. Pref.&lt;/em&gt; 2 So hard a thing it is to please all.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;... &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I actually don't have access to the OED — where I'm quoting this from is this excellent &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2385&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Language Log entry&lt;/a&gt;. Highly recommended reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-10T23:59:28.453" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T23:59:28.453" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15899" CreationDate="2011-03-10T22:53:28.597" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does the speaker consider himself an individual that is an agent for a company, not an individual-invertor. That is not a individual that is investing, but an individual that invests (over peoples money).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore: Ambiguous, thought provoking ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5978" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T11:15:22.813" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T11:15:22.813" />
  <row Id="15920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15874" CreationDate="2011-03-10T23:08:31.270" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I also use 'zero' as if I use 'oh' in a string for numbers (i.e. nine-oh-three) it can be mistaken from an eight (nine-eight-three), as there is the tendency to soften or drop the 't' from eight if it is followed by another word, especially if the following word starts with a t sound (or th, d or to a lesser case d or p)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may be simply due to my Australian accent, but I don't feel this is the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T23:08:31.270" />
  <row Id="15921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15835" CreationDate="2011-03-10T23:15:28.883" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am ... with you. Not at you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I am annoyed/ticked off/angry/pissed off with you!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am annoyed/ticked off/angry/pissed off at you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;suggests more aggression any an ambiguity as to whether the listener well be covered in urine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is better to be pissed off than to be pissed on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5978" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T23:15:28.883" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6170" CreationDate="2011-03-10T23:40:21.113" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on Martha's accepted answer, I offer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/orthography&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Orthographic&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/incredulity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Incredulity&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-10T23:40:21.113" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15923" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-10T23:54:45.190" Score="4" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wrote the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bringing an article from draft to polished publication on a scientific journal requires &lt;strong&gt;to go&lt;/strong&gt; through a process called &quot;peer reviewing&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it actually an infinitive form?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is this form stylistically readable and acceptable for medium-high level writing?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How would you rework the phrase to express the same concept in a stylistically more appropriate form? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1100" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T18:43:55.483" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T18:43:55.483" Title="Stylistic level of a phrase starting with an infinitive[?] form" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;style&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="15924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15923" CreationDate="2011-03-11T00:25:59.857" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As is, I don't think that your sentence is acceptable. If you are going to start with an active word like 'bringing', you should have the agent that is doing the bringing somewhere: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Bringing an article from draft to polished publication in a scientific journal requires that the author subject it to a process called &quot;peer reviewing.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that I would leave off the word bringing and choose a wording more like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;For an article to go from draft to polished publication in a scientific journal, it must go through a process called &quot;peer reviewing.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or even better:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;For an article to go from draft to polished publication in a scientific journal, it must go through &quot;peer review.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your other questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It is not really possible to say what 'to go' is here, but it is not used correctly in any sense. Your sentence's subject is the gerund 'bringing,' and the verb is 'requires,' but 'to go through...' is not a workable direct object.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I believe that it is not stylistically or grammatically acceptable&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5980" LastEditorUserId="5980" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T00:44:18.390" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T00:44:18.390" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15923" CreationDate="2011-03-11T00:47:44.467" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, some simple ones: it should be publication &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; a journal, not &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt;; and the process as a whole is usually called &lt;em&gt;peer review&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;peer reviewing&lt;/em&gt;.  [Edit: a third &quot;correction&quot; removed after Colin Fine convinced me it's not needed.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, the form &lt;em&gt;…requires to go through…&lt;/em&gt; is incorrect.  &lt;em&gt;Requires&lt;/em&gt; is never followed by just an infinitive in English — it can be followed by either a gerund (the necessary action), or a noun phrase plus an infinitive (the person/thing who has to do the action, plus the action):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Joining the army requires passing a physical exam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Joining the army requires you to pass a physical exam.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thirdly, as Adam points out, there’s a slight clash in your sentence between the verbs &lt;em&gt;bringing&lt;/em&gt; (whose subject is the author) and &lt;em&gt;go through&lt;/em&gt; (whose subject is the paper itself).  Given the form of the sentence — the verbs aren’t literally parallel — this isn’t quite a matter of grammar (to my ear) so much as of meaning.  Something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bringing an article from draft to polished publication in a scientific journal requires it to go through a process called “peer review”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is grammatically quite correct, parallel to eg:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sending your daughter into the army requires her to pass a physical exam. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it’s a slightly awkward phrasing, making a shift in agent that really isn’t necessary.  So in the end I’d suggest something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bringing an article from draft to polished publication in a scientific journal requires putting it through a process called “peer review”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T17:33:17.417" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T17:33:17.417" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15926" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-11T00:56:56.440" Score="4" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is correct: &quot;the importance of money for someone&quot; or &quot;the importance of money to someone&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5981" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T01:57:02.850" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T01:57:02.850" Title="&quot;Importance of ＿ to&quot; or &quot;Importance of ＿ for&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15926" CreationDate="2011-03-11T01:01:42.307" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could use either, but it's more common to use &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; in that context. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T01:01:42.307" />
  <row Id="15928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15926" CreationDate="2011-03-11T01:05:07.073" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think these two may have slightly different interpretation. The first one is about how one thinks of the importance of money in general (or in some particular context not necessarily related to that someone personally), the second one is about how money is important to someone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4760" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T01:05:07.073" />
  <row Id="15929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12845" CreationDate="2011-03-11T01:06:30.670" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The American cigarette brand, &quot;Pall Mall,&quot; is pronounced &quot;pawl mawl,&quot; and that's the name of that tune.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T01:06:30.670" />
  <row Id="15930" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15932" CreationDate="2011-03-11T01:07:52.587" Score="1" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey guys! I hope you can help.  For homework, I was asked to write an essay using some words the teacher gave in class and the last word I need to use is &lt;em&gt;country&lt;/em&gt;. Can someone please tell—does &lt;em&gt;country&lt;/em&gt; need to have an apostrophe-s at the end of the word? And is the following sentence I wrote correct? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The country's best pizza, is served at buca. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I appreciate your help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5952" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T13:43:51.990" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T13:43:51.990" Title="Using apostrophes" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;apostrophe&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15930" CreationDate="2011-03-11T01:13:16.167" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your use of the apostrophe in &quot;the country's best pizza&quot; is correct. But it is all wrong as regards punctuation and capitals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T01:13:16.167" />
  <row Id="15932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15930" CreationDate="2011-03-11T01:23:11.437" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some simple apostrophe rules&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A plural, such as &quot;Dogs&quot; to describe many Dogs, uses &lt;em&gt;no apostrophe&lt;/em&gt;. For your example, though, the word country becomes countries when describing more than one country (and ending in 'y' becomes 'ies' rule, I think)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;It's&quot; is a contraction of it is, and so uses &lt;em&gt;apostrophe s&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Harry's&quot; describes something possessed by Harry, e.g Harry's foot. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be a tricky one to remember, as it is a contraction of &quot;Harry his (foot)&quot; (a term that is never used any more in its expanded sense), and country's is also a contraction of the odd sounding &quot;country his (or hers)&quot;. As this is a contraction, we use &lt;em&gt;apostrophe s&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using this rule we see that you are correct in using &quot;country's&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Charles' describes something possessed by Charles (abbreviation used instead of Charles's) If you don't want to use  s's, then we use &lt;em&gt;s apostrophe&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Its&quot; is the exception to the possession (apostrophe s) rule, presumably as &quot;It his&quot; is a contradictory gender statement, so use &lt;em&gt;no apostrophe&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1930" LastEditorUserId="1930" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T01:47:07.687" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T01:47:07.687" />
  <row Id="15933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12845" CreationDate="2011-03-11T01:37:08.807" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a couple confusions at work here. First, there are different &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical_set&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lexical sets&lt;/a&gt;&quot; the word could fall into: TRAP, LOT, BATH, CLOTH, PALM, THOUGHT, NORTH, FORCE. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the most part, most speakers and dictionaries of English agree that &lt;em&gt;mall&lt;/em&gt; is either   pronounced with the vowel for THOUGHT or with the vowel for TRAP, the TRAP pronunciation usually only in the context of &lt;em&gt;pall-mall&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No dialect pronounces all those lexical sets with distinct vowels, but each dialect may merge them in different ways. American English generally merges TRAP-BATH, LOT-PALM, CLOTH-THOUGHT, and NORTH-FORCE. This means that Americans use the same vowel for TRAP as for BATH, the same vowel for LOT as for PALM, and the same vowel for CLOTH as for THOUGHT. British English generally merges LOT-CLOTH, BATH-PALM, THOUGHT-NORTH-FORCE, and keeping TRAP in a distinct group. Furthermore, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_low_back_vowels#Cot-caught_merger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cot-caught merger&lt;/a&gt; in some varieties of American English merge the LOT-PALM group with the CLOTH-THOUGHT group, making a single lexical set LOT-PALM-CLOTH-THOUGHT, all pronounced with the same vowel (/ɑ/)—for some speakers of American English (me included).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, a British English-speaking person would think they might hear me say &lt;em&gt;mall&lt;/em&gt; thinking it sounds like &lt;em&gt;moll&lt;/em&gt; (that is, to be in the LOT set), and that I am pronouncing it &quot;wrong&quot;, but not realize that I pronounce all LOT words with the same vowel as THOUGHT words—that is, for me the words LOT and THOUGHT rhyme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, the vowel of &lt;em&gt;mall&lt;/em&gt; should be the same as the vowel for &lt;em&gt;thought&lt;/em&gt;, however you pronounce it in your dialect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T01:37:08.807" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15934" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15949" CreationDate="2011-03-11T02:53:21.680" Score="8" ViewCount="269" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know the etymological history or the reason behind the different names that British and American speakers use to refer to the automobile's largest storage receptacle, or more plainly, the &lt;em&gt;boot&lt;/em&gt; or the &lt;em&gt;trunk&lt;/em&gt;?  Perhaps a prominent company's advertising or a prior related usage on either side of the Atlantic influenced this divergence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T13:01:26.943" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T01:39:21.143" Title="&quot;Stick it in the boot.&quot; &quot;Er, don't you mean the trunk?&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15935" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15938" CreationDate="2011-03-11T03:18:41.593" Score="5" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Everybody's got a water buffalo, yours is fast but mine is slow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;hr&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You can't say everybody's got a water buffalo! Everyone does not have a water buffalo!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This construction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Everyone does not have a water buffalo!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;really irks me, because there are people who &lt;strong&gt;do&lt;/strong&gt; have a water buffalo, and the sentence seems to imply the opposite. I would much prefer the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Not everybody has a water buffalo!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the first construction somehow grammatically defensible, or is it just used because it better parallels as a negation of the sentence, &quot;Everybody's got a water buffalo&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5584" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T03:34:16.837" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T03:44:04.350" Title="&quot;Everybody is not&quot; vs &quot;Not everybody is&quot;" Tags="&lt;negation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15935" CreationDate="2011-03-11T03:29:08.403" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, it's somewhat defensible because &quot;everyone does not have a water buffalo&quot; is not necessarily the same as &quot;no one has a water buffalo&quot;.  It can be considered as the negation of the case &quot;everyone has a water buffalo&quot;; negating that requires only that one person exist who does not have a water buffalo.  Since we seem to be dealing with some sort of poetry or lyrics anyway, I'd say that puts the expression well within the bounds of artistic license.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T03:29:08.403" />
  <row Id="15937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15935" CreationDate="2011-03-11T03:31:44.577" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is the first construction somehow grammatically defensible, or is it just used because it better parallels as a negation of the sentence, &quot;Everybody's got a water buffalo&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The latter, more or less. Think of it as though quotes were placed around &quot;everyone&quot; in the second sentence, so that it becomes a collective entity: in mathematical terms, a set. It is a true statement (or at least the assertion to be proved) that &quot;everyone&quot; (the set of all people who might own a water buffalo) is not identical to the set that includes all owners of water buffalo. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T03:31:44.577" />
  <row Id="15938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15935" CreationDate="2011-03-11T03:44:04.350" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Natural languages are not formal mathematical logic.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In formal logic, you’re absolutely right: “Everybody does not have a water buffalo” would mean that &lt;em&gt;everybody&lt;/em&gt; is sadly buffalo-less; it would not be the same as the negation of the statement “everybody has a water buffalo”, which would be “not everbody has a water buffalo”, or “somebody does not have a water buffalo”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, with natural language, the litmus test of grammaticality is something like: if, within some speech community, a construction gets used, consistently, and understood, then it’s grammatically correct, within that community.  And by that test, this usage is grammatically correct — I’ve come across it pretty widely, in speech and in writing, in the UK and US and Canada, in popular culture and academia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;…and for all that, it irks me a little too — this is a case where what’s idiomatic seems to clash particularly badly with what’s logical.  As Robusto and chaos show, one can make arguments for how it is in fact logical, but I don’t think those are what this usage comes from; I strongly suspect it’s just that one normally negates a clause by negating its main verb, and so that pattern gets used here too, even though that also slips the negation past a quantifier, which (as any fule kno) is Not Kosher.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It’s this disparity between grammar and logic that makes much legal and technical prose a minefield — but on the other hand, the plasticity of language that gives rise to this is something extremely important and valuable in itself, which one would hardly want to give up.  You can’t have your cake and eat it, I guess…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T03:44:04.350" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15934" CreationDate="2011-03-11T04:04:19.777" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What usually happens is that someone basically gets the drop on anyone else when attempting to introduce a new term. Up until that happens, the term would be basically unknown, or there would be several terms for the same thing. Then someone manages to make their preferred term widespread. For a car term like 'hood', it would likely be the result of marketing material across a wide area. Now many more people have reason to use the term and the one they're taught is that one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5356" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T04:04:19.777" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15940" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16019" CreationDate="2011-03-11T04:32:48.803" Score="9" ViewCount="567" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a single-word term that describes a personality that wants to give out too many unnecessary details in a conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;[EDIT]&lt;/strong&gt; Let me give you guys an example.&#xA;Suppose you ask your friend, at what time will he reach your place?&#xA;Instead of saying it directly, he wanders off track by regurgitating unnecessary details&#xA;like &quot;I'd be catching the bus at 10, then I'll reach place X by this time, then I'll take another bus to your place, and maybe I'll arrive by 12&quot;.&#xA;Is it circumlocution?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastEditorUserId="244" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T23:28:46.683" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T23:28:46.683" Title="Word for person who gives out too many extraneous details?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15940" CreationDate="2011-03-11T04:35:04.150" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's always the classic &lt;strong&gt;loudmouth&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;blabbermouth&lt;/strong&gt;.  You might describe such a &lt;strong&gt;blowhard&lt;/strong&gt; as having &lt;em&gt;loose lips&lt;/em&gt;, because he's always &lt;em&gt;yapping&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;strong&gt;Chatterboxes&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;gossip mongers&lt;/strong&gt; never know when to keep things discreet.  And, if such a person goes a million miles a second while he's regurgitating all the sensitive information you've ever told him, he probably deserves to be called a &lt;strong&gt;motormouth&lt;/strong&gt;.  If you want the emphasis to be on the unnecessary aspect, instead of all the details he's giving out, one might say that &lt;em&gt;gasbag&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;strong&gt;prattling&lt;/strong&gt; on and on, instead of getting straight to the point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T04:47:20.740" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T04:47:20.740" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15940" CreationDate="2011-03-11T04:42:33.190" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Overparticular&lt;/em&gt; is an apt term for this. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T04:42:33.190" />
  <row Id="15943" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15940" CreationDate="2011-03-11T05:03:14.173" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Such a person might be called &lt;em&gt;garrulous&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;prolix&lt;/em&gt;, or said to be suffering from &lt;em&gt;logorrhea&lt;/em&gt; (a personal favorite), though these are more about verbal profusity in general than excessive detail in specific.  One of the meanings of &quot;to niggle&quot; is &quot;to spend too much time and effort on inconsequential details&quot;, but you're taking your life in your hands calling anyone a &lt;em&gt;niggler&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If these unnecessary details tend to shade into the inappropriately personal, then the fairly recent coinage &lt;em&gt;oversharer&lt;/em&gt; may be called for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T05:13:14.757" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T05:13:14.757" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15944" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-11T05:13:02.153" Score="2" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want the meaning of the business jargon that says &quot;big hitter&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5989" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T12:42:21.903" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T06:25:36.113" Title="What is the meaning of the business jargon &quot;big hitter&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="15945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15944" CreationDate="2011-03-11T05:22:56.590" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I guess &quot;big hitter&quot; is &quot;a best selling product or service&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5806" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T05:22:56.590" />
  <row Id="15946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15944" CreationDate="2011-03-11T06:19:17.710" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &quot;Big Hitter&quot; is a very experienced or talented person, this is metaphor drawn from baseball.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In a difficult game, or a difficult part of a game a team will put in their big hitters, to try secure a win.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Similarly in business, if there is a risky situation the company will bring in their most talented staff to maximize the possibility of success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5930" LastEditorUserId="5930" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T06:25:36.113" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T06:25:36.113" />
  <row Id="15947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15835" CreationDate="2011-03-11T06:23:59.453" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am irritated with you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am cross with you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am mad at you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T06:23:59.453" />
  <row Id="15948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15944" CreationDate="2011-03-11T08:04:27.767" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is what the Urban Dictionary says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Big Hitter (1):&lt;/strong&gt; one who carries a lot of weight and influence in the work that he/she does. A big hitter is noted for his respect among clients and the industry that he serves. This term is often used in investment banking and sales when referring to a top money-maker or deal-closer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eg: &lt;em&gt;When the year-end numbers came in at Goldman, it was obvious that the big hitters in the healthcare M&amp;amp;A group would be well compensated.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Big Hitter (2):&lt;/strong&gt; The man, one who is a straight up &quot;playa- playa&quot;. One who cannot be touched. One who laughs inside at those who are unequal in the intellectual thought process. One who has a fat knot of cash in his pocket, or a fat accounts receivable with an extremely low day sales outstanding. One who can snap his fingers and have the world at his feet. One who can wine, dine, and 69. One who makes music that sounds like money. One who always have a big ole' stash of the best headies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eg: &lt;em&gt;Damn, Adam is really a big hitter.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4924" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T08:04:27.767" />
  <row Id="15949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15934" CreationDate="2011-03-11T08:05:17.603" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The vocabulary applied to today's cars draws a lot from the vocabulary applicable to horse-powered vehicles.  See for instance &quot;Limousine&quot;, &quot;Berline&quot; in French and other languages or &quot;Cruscotto&quot; in Italian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of the English &quot;boot&quot;, the origin is that in the 18th and 19th centuries, the coachman used to sit on a locker where he could store, among other things, his boots.  For this reason, this was termed the &quot;boot locker&quot; and after a while an additional compartment situated at the rear of the coach was used, also called for the same reason the &quot;boot&quot; (for short).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Boots of course were mandatory in those times given the state of the roads. Jane Austen alludes in several of her novels to the fact that speaking about the state of the roads was as common place in England as speaking about the weather.  For one thing, the roads have improved since Jane Austen ;-).  As for the weather...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the American &quot;trunk&quot;, well it should suffice to look at all the classic cars designed in the post WWI era, for which trunks were mounted at the rear end.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this affluent era, cars from manufacturers like Duisenberg, Cord, Buick, Lincoln were all competing for high end customers and these trunks featured many compartments for plates, whiskey flasks and all the paraphernalia needed to go for a picnic.&#xA;Some cars (mainly coupés, or &quot;roadsters&quot;) had special compartments for golf clubs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In France a similar process lead to people saying &quot;La malle arrière&quot; (as in Louis Vuitton's piece of luggage) and now &quot;le coffre&quot; (the trunk), or in Spanish &quot;el Baul&quot; which is a large piece of luggage as well (and now a more simple &quot;la maleta&quot;).  Same for Italian &quot;La baule&quot; which is both the boot or a chest (la baule da marinaio).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The fact that a trunk is a word for a large wooden chest suggests that some of them were carved out from tree-trunks as it is still sometimes found to be the case in some Asian countries were these items, lavishly decorated, are regarded as luxury items (and priced accordingly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further back in time &quot;trunk&quot; comes from Latin &lt;em&gt;truncus&lt;/em&gt;, or &quot;cut off&quot; → truncated, as the trunk does to the end of a car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T01:39:21.143" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T01:39:21.143" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15934" CreationDate="2011-03-11T08:17:49.177" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Alain has given an excellent response on the etymologies of &lt;em&gt;boot&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;trunk&lt;/em&gt;.  As to why different terms are used, it is simply due to the fact that the cultures of Britain and American having a low level of interchange in the 1780-1950 period (while each was highly interconnected within themselves).  During this period, developments called for expanded vocabularies, and the new word uses developed separately in the separate cultures.  One place this process is mentioned is in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_English#Vocabulary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt;, where it says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The rise of capitalism, the development of industry and material innovations throughout the 19th and 20th centuries were the source of a massive stock of distinctive new words, phrases and idioms. Typical examples are the vocabulary of railroading and transportation terminology, ranging from names of roads (from dirt roads and back roads to freeways and parkways) to road infrastructure (parking lot, overpass, rest area), and from automotive terminology to public transit (for example, in the sentence &quot;riding the subway downtown&quot;); such American introductions as commuter (from commutation ticket), concourse, to board (a vehicle), to park, double-park and parallel park (a car), double decker or the noun terminal have long been used in all dialects of English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T08:17:49.177" />
  <row Id="15951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15208" CreationDate="2011-03-11T09:15:06.593" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's other meanings as well...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fred has had [sexual] relations with Sally.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I hate having to invite my poor relations to parties, because they always steal the silverware.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the database sense, without being pedantic about the academically correct definitions of &quot;Relation&quot; and &quot;Relationship&quot;, especially at the physical level when we are discussing tables (not tuples) but in keeping with the English meaning ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A real (table) or derived (columns from more than one table) is a Relation  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;but most developers will cringe at, it is not commonly understood&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;therefore we commonly call them tables or derived tables  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;and therefore the Relationships can be simply Relations between tables&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;both defined (as Foreign Keys) and not (derived, as per other data values, such as related by date or time or some other value)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;personally I would capitalise the formally defined Relations and leave the derived or projected relations uncapitalised.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4666" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T09:15:06.593" />
  <row Id="15952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15940" CreationDate="2011-03-11T09:49:22.897" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/loquacious&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Loquacious&lt;/a&gt; is a nice way of saying that someone talks perhaps a bit too much.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/blabbermouth&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Blabbermouth&lt;/a&gt; is an insulting way of saying the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T09:49:22.897" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15953" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15954" CreationDate="2011-03-11T10:13:02.610" Score="7" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a scientific article, should I write &quot;3m&quot;, &quot;3 m&quot;, &quot;3 meters&quot;, or &quot;3 [meters]&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5993" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T11:42:29.320" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T08:11:44.933" Title="How to write units?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;measuring-units&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="15954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15953" CreationDate="2011-03-11T10:15:40.603" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/checklist.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This guide&lt;/a&gt; at the NIST site is a good place to start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In particular, you should write &quot;3 m&quot; as in &quot;The bar is 3 m long.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4955" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T08:11:44.933" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T08:11:44.933" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15955" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15956" CreationDate="2011-03-11T10:51:55.170" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to phrase something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We argue that introducing these concepts is likely to achieve ancillary goals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I use &lt;em&gt;auxiliary&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;ancillary&lt;/em&gt; here? Is there a difference in meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5559" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T11:50:54.337" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T11:56:04.423" Title="&quot;Auxiliary&quot; or &quot;ancillary&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15955" CreationDate="2011-03-11T11:17:35.457" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ancillary&lt;/strong&gt; carries with it the idea of support for main goals:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;providing necessary support to the primary activities or operation of an organization, institution, industry, or system : &lt;em&gt;the development of ancillary services to support its products.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Auxiliary&lt;/strong&gt; has connotations of supplementary or &quot;extra&quot; help:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;providing supplementary or additional help and support : &lt;em&gt;an auxiliary nurse | auxiliary airport staff.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[NOAD]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use whichever works best for your meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T11:17:35.457" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="15957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15953" CreationDate="2011-03-11T11:32:47.570" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The abbreviation for &lt;em&gt;meter&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;m&lt;/em&gt;; it is not written between brackets, and you need to add a space between the value and the measuring unit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The absence of brackets, and the presence of a space to separate the measuring unit from the numeric value is not limited to &lt;em&gt;meter&lt;/em&gt;, but it is common for all the measuring units.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T11:32:47.570" />
  <row Id="15958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15955" CreationDate="2011-03-11T11:56:04.423" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meaning of &lt;em&gt;ancillary&lt;/em&gt; is also &quot;additional, subsidiary&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Paragraph 19 was merely ancillary to paragraph 16.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wrote &quot;ancillary goals&quot; to mean &quot;additional goals&quot;, then &quot;ancillary goals&quot; seems fine, to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T11:56:04.423" />
  <row Id="15959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15940" CreationDate="2011-03-11T13:02:31.607" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/garrulous&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;garrulous&lt;/a&gt;. Though I'm not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5201" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T13:02:31.607" />
  <row Id="15960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15869" CreationDate="2011-03-11T13:23:14.073" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;willing to relocate&quot; - you can add this to your personal profile &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5998" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T13:23:14.073" />
  <row Id="15961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15953" CreationDate="2011-03-11T13:35:00.833" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quoting from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Si_units#Writing_unit_symbols_and_the_values_of_quantities&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The value of a quantity is written as a number followed by a space (representing a multiplication sign) and a unit symbol; e.g., &quot;2.21 kg&quot;, &quot;7.3×102&#xA;   m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;&quot;, &quot;22 K&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This rule explicitly includes the percent sign (%). Exceptions are the symbols for plane angular degrees, minutes and seconds (°, ′ and ″), which are placed immediately after the number with no intervening space.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So three meters should be written as &lt;strong&gt;3 m&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T13:35:00.833" />
  <row Id="15962" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-11T13:47:01.103" Score="0" ViewCount="14" Body="&lt;p&gt;Im looking to improve my writing , i would love to know if anyone has any tips on developing an engaging  conversational writing style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6001" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T14:09:32.983" ClosedDate="2011-03-11T14:54:20.887" Title="Could anyone point me in the direction of some resources on conversational writing" Tags="&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;conversation&gt;" AnswerCount="0" />
  <row Id="15964" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15968" CreationDate="2011-03-11T14:02:11.897" Score="5" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering about that: the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; says &lt;em&gt;to muse&lt;/em&gt; comes from the French &lt;em&gt;muser&lt;/em&gt;, which comes from the Latin &lt;em&gt;musum&lt;/em&gt;. The &lt;em&gt;Muse&lt;/em&gt; comes form the Latin &lt;em&gt;musa&lt;/em&gt;, which comes from the Greek &lt;em&gt;mousa&lt;/em&gt;. Those sound close, but my Latin is too weak (and my Greek inexistent) to tell if they were related back in the antique days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T01:31:06.910" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T01:31:06.910" Title="Do the verb &quot;muse&quot; and the noun &quot;Muse&quot; have a common etymology?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15966" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15967" CreationDate="2011-03-11T14:12:28.723" Score="4" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one is the correct use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She judged him &lt;strong&gt;wrong&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She judged him &lt;strong&gt;wrongly&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, are both correct, but have slightly different meanings?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T16:14:43.427" Title="Did she judge him &quot;wrong&quot; or &quot;wrongly&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15966" CreationDate="2011-03-11T14:14:13.480" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She judged him wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means she decided he was wrong in something he did or said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She judged him wrongly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means the error was hers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually you would express that this way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She judged him unfairly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &lt;em&gt;wrongly&lt;/em&gt; works as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T16:14:43.427" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T16:14:43.427" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15964" CreationDate="2011-03-11T14:15:14.960" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline says &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=muse&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this about that&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;muse&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;to be absorbed in thought,&quot; mid-14c., from O.Fr. muser (12c.) &quot;to ponder, loiter, waste time,&quot; lit. &quot;to stand with one's nose in the air&quot; (or, possibly, &quot;to sniff about&quot; like a dog who has lost the scent), from muse &quot;muzzle,&quot; from Gallo-Romance *musa &quot;snout,&quot; of unknown origin. Probably influenced in sense by muse (n.). Related: Mused; musing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T14:15:14.960" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15844" CreationDate="2011-03-11T14:15:29.140" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a foreign English speaker, I think the verb 'piss' can be used as a transitive verb (at least in my native language), it means piss and make something dirty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T14:15:29.140" />
  <row Id="15970" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15973" CreationDate="2011-03-11T14:19:41.727" Score="10" ViewCount="192" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He called her, emailed her, texted her, tweeted her—all to no use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Strictly speaking, I would need to write &lt;em&gt;texted her &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; tweeted her&lt;/em&gt;, but I'm omitting &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; to convey a rhythm and sense of urgency. What do you call this kind of construction, and is it accepted grammar (at least for creative writing, if not in an academic context)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T15:52:33.070" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T15:52:33.070" Title="Omitting &quot;and&quot; in a sentence" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15970" CreationDate="2011-03-11T14:25:34.233" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was taught that omitting the 'and' in such a situation was completely acceptable, especially in creative writing. The rhythm is much better without it. Leave it as is. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5980" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T14:25:34.233" />
  <row Id="15973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15970" CreationDate="2011-03-11T14:31:58.830" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a rhetorical device called &lt;strong&gt;asyndeton&lt;/strong&gt;, and you can find its definition (as well as those of other rhetorical figures) &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric.htm#Asyndeton&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Asyndeton&lt;/strong&gt; consists of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses. In a list of items, asyndeton gives the effect of unpremeditated multiplicity, of an extemporaneous rather than a labored account: &lt;em&gt;On his return he received medals, honors, treasures, titles, fame.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T14:31:58.830" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15975" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15983" CreationDate="2011-03-11T14:38:12.397" Score="2" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;abduct&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;kidnap&lt;/em&gt;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T17:29:53.480" Title="What is the difference between &quot;abduct&quot; and &quot;kidnap&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="15976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15975" CreationDate="2011-03-11T14:39:50.977" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Abduct&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;kidnap&lt;/em&gt; are synonyms. There may be legal definitions that vary, but essentially these are the same meanings and can be applied in the same way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T14:39:50.977" />
  <row Id="15977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15975" CreationDate="2011-03-11T14:42:48.883" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the main meaning, &lt;em&gt;abduct&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;kidnap&lt;/em&gt; are rigorously synonymous. In addition to that, &lt;em&gt;abduct&lt;/em&gt; also has a meaning in physiology (as in &lt;em&gt;abductor muscle&lt;/em&gt;): move a body part away from its rest position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T14:42:48.883" />
  <row Id="15978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15940" CreationDate="2011-03-11T15:10:30.170" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rambler, someone who rambles on and on&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5002" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T15:10:30.170" />
  <row Id="15979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15940" CreationDate="2011-03-11T15:28:46.223" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most people have proposed nouns, so I'll go with adjectives: &lt;strong&gt;verbose&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;voluble&lt;/strong&gt;. Less formal: &lt;strong&gt;mouthy&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;gabby&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;chatty&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T15:28:46.223" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15975" CreationDate="2011-03-11T15:42:37.807" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree largely with my colleagues that adbuct and kidnap are synonyms of each other.  However, I'd like to add that abduct is strongly associated with alien encounters (alien abductions).  I don't think I've ever heard anyone use the phrase &quot;alien kidnapping,&quot; and it sounds so odd that it makes me think of someone kidnapping an alien rather than the other way around.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T17:29:53.480" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T17:29:53.480" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="15981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15966" CreationDate="2011-03-11T15:42:52.263" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two different structures. &quot;Wrong&quot; may be either the complement of the verb (what she judged him to be) or an adverb modifying the verb (how she did the judging). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have said, &quot;wrongly&quot; can only be the adverb, but &quot;wrong&quot; can be either - though in more formal use, it would tend to be used only as the complement. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T15:42:52.263" />
  <row Id="15982" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-11T15:51:35.553" Score="9" ViewCount="136" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/15890/not-worth-the-paper-its-printed-on-wrong-meaning&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;Not worth the paper it&amp;#39;s printed on&amp;quot; - wrong meaning?&lt;/a&gt; got me thinking about what part of speech, or lexical class, the word 'worth' takes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A comment in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3052/is-it-worth-it-vs-does-it-worth-it&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;Is it worth it?&amp;quot; vs. &amp;quot;Does it worth it?&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt; advises to treat 'worth' as an adjective, but I'm not sure that's right. 'Worthy' is an adjective, but that's not the same as 'worth'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the title question you could replace 'worth' with the phrase 'of comparable value to'; what part of speech would &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; phrase be considered?  Are the word and the phrase in the same lexical class?&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just to throw another option out, after a stimulating discourse under the answer provided by @Henry:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/worth&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; mentions that used in the context of this question, 'worth' is considered an adjective, but it also notes that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The modern adjectival senses of worth compare two noun phrases, prompting some sources to classify the word as a preposition. Most, however, list it an adjective, some with notes like &quot;governing a noun with prepositional force.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also notes that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Joan Maling (1983) shows that worth is best analyzed as a preposition rather than an adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If viewed as a preposition, then it is easy to replace 'worth' with another preposition of somewhat equal meaning, such as &quot;Is this apple &lt;em&gt;about&lt;/em&gt; $3&quot;, &quot;Is this apple &lt;em&gt;under&lt;/em&gt; $3&quot;, or &quot;Is this apple &lt;em&gt;over&lt;/em&gt; $3&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adjective, infinitive, or preposition?  ...or is this a rare case of an old language usage that straddles multiple lexical classes in modern language?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastEditorUserId="3800" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T18:25:26.090" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T20:05:52.987" Title="What is the lexical class of the word 'worth' when used in a sentence like &quot;Is this apple worth $3?&quot;" Tags="&lt;part-of-speech&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15975" CreationDate="2011-03-11T15:59:25.623" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Kidnap&lt;/em&gt; does have some slight suggestion of holding for ransom or for some other advantage over a targeted third party (originally of children to get money from their parents), and after this is delivered the victim will be released. &lt;em&gt;Abduct&lt;/em&gt; is more general, and may include situations where the victims may be the targets themselves, without a third party being involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sadly, this useful distinction is often lost.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T15:59:25.623" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15982" CreationDate="2011-03-11T16:05:19.423" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this apple worth $3?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;worth&lt;/em&gt; is an adjective, while in &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please give me $3 worth of apples. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;worth&lt;/em&gt; is a noun.  There is an archaic verb, but it is no longer in use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T16:05:19.423" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="15985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12558" CreationDate="2011-03-11T17:10:33.573" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For the word 'year' to be preceded by 'an' it must sound like it's beginning with a vowel. The reason why it is a tad tricky is because of the difference in the way people pronounce it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people pronounce the word 'year' as 'ear' with 'y' silent, thereby wanting 'an' to precede and feeling discomfort with 'a'. e.g. 'It's been an _ear since we talked'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whereas others pronounce it with a 'ye' sound in the beginning. In this case one finds that using 'a' suddenly sounds more comfortable. e.g. 'It's been a 'ye'ar since we talked'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T17:10:33.573" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15986" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-11T17:55:40.937" Score="0" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6724/can-i-use-an-if-clause-without-then&quot;&gt;Can I use an &amp;ldquo;if&amp;rdquo; clause without &amp;ldquo;then&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With &lt;strong&gt;then&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;If you have multiple computers,&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;then&lt;/strong&gt; you'll have to repeat the process for each computer.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Without &lt;strong&gt;then&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;If you have multiple computers,&#xA;  you'll have to repeat the process for&#xA;  each computer.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For some cases I feel that &quot;then&quot; is mandatory, for some other cases I feel that &quot;then&quot; is superfluous. Is there a rule for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Btw, for the above example, I feel that it is superfluous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3411" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T17:55:40.937" ClosedDate="2011-03-11T18:41:06.437" Title="&quot;If this, then do that&quot; vs &quot;If this, do that&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15987" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="15992" CreationDate="2011-03-11T18:07:56.137" Score="8" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've just realized I don't understand what this phrase means. What does &quot;Gaddafi is on the wrong side of history&quot; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it mean he's about to die, or something else? Here's the relevant quotation: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, is &quot;on the wrong side of history,&quot; said U.S. president today. In a joint press conference with President of Mexico, Felipe Calderón, Obama said his country is studying &quot;a whole range of options&quot; to apply in Libya, but downplayed the possibility of military intervention, saying that &quot;what want is to have potentially the capacity to intervene quickly if the situation deteriorates&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2314" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T18:44:51.300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T21:26:07.043" Title="Meaning of the phrase &quot;the wrong side of history&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15987" CreationDate="2011-03-11T18:16:03.367" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means that the author believes that we are in the final stages of a historical trend where dictatorships are replaced by more democratic forms of government. Therefore Gaddafi's rule exists more in the past (i.e in history) than it does in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T18:16:03.367" />
  <row Id="15989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15987" CreationDate="2011-03-11T18:17:45.030" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase refers to someone who supports (or supported) a person, country, movement, etc. that when viewed from far enough in the future that it's considered &quot;history&quot; was considered to be the &quot;wrong&quot; or &quot;losing&quot; side, even though it may not have been clear that it was the &quot;wrong&quot; side at the time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, former US Senator Strom Thurmond was heavily opposed to the civil rights movement in the United States and was pro-segregation, etc.  At the time, it wasn't especially clear which way the civil rights movement would end up, nor was it as cut and dry a moral issue as it is considered now.  In the view of history, however, it's clear he was on the wrong side.  (And I should note that he admitted as such later in his career)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of Gaddafi, it means that his government will lose out and in the long run, it will be considered the &quot;wrong side&quot; of the conflict.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T18:17:45.030" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15990" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16004" CreationDate="2011-03-11T18:18:18.843" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;lignicolous&lt;/em&gt; a word used in a specific context, or is it common to say &quot;that is a lignicolous bug&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T19:41:43.910" Title="In which context is &quot;lignicolous&quot; used?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="15991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15987" CreationDate="2011-03-11T18:22:41.033" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some examples of use (from the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/em&gt;) might help underline the meaning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;only to find himself twenty-five years later on the wrong side of history, a relic overrun by his former enemy in tinted bifocals…&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;As an occupied, dispirited people who felt they were on the wrong side of history, they were fine with envisioning history's end&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;the president and vice president have [sometimes] been on different sides of an issue or the wrong side of history. As a senator, Biden voted against the Persian Gulf War in 1991&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T18:22:41.033" />
  <row Id="15992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15987" CreationDate="2011-03-11T18:24:39.680" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being on the wrong side of history means that history will judge him as the person who was &quot;in the wrong.&quot; For instance Ghaddafi will be judged by history as &quot;in the wrong&quot; for bombing his own people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T18:24:39.680" />
  <row Id="15993" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15990" CreationDate="2011-03-11T18:26:58.710" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an adjective, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-definition/lignicolous&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lignicolous&lt;/a&gt; is appropriate to describe anything growing or living on or in wood. However, I would suggest considering whether your audience has experience with that word, or handy access to a dictionary. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could just as easily say &quot;That bug lives in wood.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T18:26:58.710" />
  <row Id="15994" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16031" CreationDate="2011-03-11T18:28:54.200" Score="2" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;When was &lt;em&gt;antimatter&lt;/em&gt; first used? Who was the person that used it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T00:42:03.133" Title="When was &quot;antimatter&quot; first used?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="15995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15994" CreationDate="2011-03-11T18:29:58.710" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The history of antimatter begins in 1928 with a young physicist named Paul Dirac and a strange mathematical equation…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The equation, in some way, predicted the existence of an antiworld identical to ours but made out of antimatter. Was this possible? if so, where and how could we search for antimatter? — &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=antimatter+etymology+history&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.google.com/search?q=antimatter+etymology+history&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T20:55:23.760" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T20:55:23.760" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="15996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15994" CreationDate="2011-03-11T18:47:28.833" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks like it really started to be used in the middle of 1950s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=antimatter&amp;amp;year_start=1800&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=antimatter&amp;amp;year_start=1800&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=3&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5895" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T18:47:28.833" />
  <row Id="15997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15940" CreationDate="2011-03-11T19:05:43.163" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wtae.com/entertainment/22915676/detail.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TMIer&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Pathological TMIer has the&#xA;  tendency to blurt out far too much&#xA;  personal information that would have&#xA;  been better left unsaid. Similar to a&#xA;  Pathological Liar, they can't seem to&#xA;  keep the information inside, no matter&#xA;  how ridiculous or embarrassing it may&#xA;  sound to others. They have no shame&#xA;  regarding their blatant use of TMI&#xA;  (Too Much Information).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;quote from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Pathological%20TMIer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Urban Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T02:55:23.393" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T02:55:23.393" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="15998" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16020" CreationDate="2011-03-11T19:11:23.213" Score="11" ViewCount="271" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a term that a crazy cult member would apply to an outsider, a term that implies that such a &quot;non-believer&quot; is ignorant and of lesser worth -- ideally, something that is humorous because it is slightly ridiculous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, an Islamic radical might use &quot;filthy infidel&quot; or an over-the-top Catholic may say &quot;hell-bound heathen,&quot; but I'm looking for something that may be uttered by a member of a run-of-the-mill Kool-Aid cult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T17:28:58.837" Title="What would a cult member call a non-believer?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="15999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15998" CreationDate="2011-03-11T19:18:48.753" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nullifidian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nullifidian&lt;/a&gt;? Could be a word the cult leader decided to revive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T19:18:48.753" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16000" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-11T19:26:25.180" Score="1" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicates:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8/is-it-appropriate-to-use-short-form-of-have-ve-when-it-means-possession&quot;&gt;Is it appropriate to use short form of &amp;ldquo;have&amp;rdquo; (&amp;#39;ve) when it means possession?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7636/can-you-contract-the-main-verb-in-a-sentence&quot;&gt;Can you contract the main verb in a sentence?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;code&gt;we've&lt;/code&gt; equivalent to &lt;code&gt;we have&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some cases, they do seem to be correct, but sometimes they don't. Consider these 4 sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;We've got a problem here.&#xA;We have got a problem here.&#xA;&#xA;We've a problem here.&#xA;We have a problem here.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which of these are correct, and which are wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6009" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T19:33:37.920" ClosedDate="2011-03-11T21:02:32.800" Title="&quot;We've&quot; vs &quot;We have&quot;" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16000" CreationDate="2011-03-11T19:28:53.090" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;We've&lt;/strong&gt; is simply a contraction of &lt;em&gt;we have&lt;/em&gt;.  All your examples are correct grammatically, it's just that some sound better than others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T19:28:53.090" />
  <row Id="16002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16000" CreationDate="2011-03-11T19:33:37.920" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;British English finds it generally acceptable to contract away the main verb of the sentence, for &quot;We've a problem here.&quot;  American English does not like to do that, even though it is grammatically valid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T19:33:37.920" />
  <row Id="16003" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16156" CreationDate="2011-03-11T19:34:48.573" Score="5" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The actual term &quot;Latin America&quot; was coined in France under Napoleon III and played a role in his campaign to imply cultural kinship with France, transform France into a cultural and political leader of the area and install Maximilian as emperor of Mexico. — &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Latin_America#Origin_of_the_term_and_definition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5854" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T02:08:49.833" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T02:24:38.033" Title="Why did Napoleon III coin the term &quot;Latin America&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15990" CreationDate="2011-03-11T19:41:43.910" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/em&gt; doesn't have any match for it, nor does the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;, so it's not that common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It means &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lignicolous&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;“that lives in or on wood or wood debris”&lt;/a&gt;. It is mostly used in academic or scientific writing, so you mean learn more about its usage from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=lignicolous&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;btnG=Search&amp;amp;as_sdt=1,5&amp;amp;as_sdtp=on&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Scholar search&lt;/a&gt;. Apparently, &lt;strong&gt;it is mainly applied to fungi&lt;/strong&gt;, as in “lignicolous fungi of the forests of New Hampshire”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T19:41:43.910" />
  <row Id="16005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16003" CreationDate="2011-03-11T19:42:46.313" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason is that Latin America was formerly known as &quot;Hispanic America&quot;, thereby implicitly excluding France.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By &quot;rebranding&quot; it to &quot;Latin America&quot;, France would be allowed to claim some paternity or at least influence, this in turn would justify the Mexican adventure.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how a Habsburg such as Maximilian would qualify as &quot;Latin&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T19:42:46.313" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15998" CreationDate="2011-03-11T19:48:12.193" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I propose &lt;strong&gt;heretic&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;apostate&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;paynim&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T19:48:12.193" />
  <row Id="16007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15998" CreationDate="2011-03-11T20:13:26.977" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mundane&lt;/strong&gt; is fairly likely to see usage this way, referencing someone being concerned with &quot;matters of this world&quot; as opposed to whatever the cult is into.  A cult less into traditional dualistic slurs and more into cutesy neologisms might use &lt;strong&gt;sheeple&lt;/strong&gt;.  Cults that are about awakening the higher perceptions or psychic powers of their members may derogate non-members as &lt;strong&gt;headblind&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, of course, from &lt;em&gt;A Scanner Darkly&lt;/em&gt;, we get the immortal phrase &lt;strong&gt;albino shape-shifting lizard bitches&lt;/strong&gt;, which really cannot be applied frequently enough to describe anybody the speaker wishes to categorize as &quot;other&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T20:13:26.977" />
  <row Id="16008" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16010" CreationDate="2011-03-11T20:18:56.243" Score="2" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;Proofing a manuscript, I found this in the middle of a chase scene: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Spotting an opening, I dived into it and was horrified to find it was a dead end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is “dived” a valid past tense of the verb “dive”? I've always used “dove”, but I'm not certain what the use is in UK English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cambridge &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/dive_1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;shows “dived” as a valid past tense of “dive”&lt;/a&gt;, but which is more common? Do “dove” and “dived” have different shades of meaning, or are they used differently in different contexts? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="161" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T20:36:43.040" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T20:36:43.040" Title="UK English: Is &quot;dived&quot; a valid word?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;&lt;editing&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="16009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15998" CreationDate="2011-03-11T20:28:14.310" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Philistine&lt;/strong&gt; has that appropriate apocalyptic tenor characteristic of cult members:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Just as hath the Lord promised when He &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Samuel+8%3A1-18&amp;amp;version=KJV&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;delivered those woeful people&lt;/a&gt; unto David and his mighty men, so shalt you and your heathen ilk burn in the fiery furnaces of Hell for all eternity!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T21:51:23.600" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T21:51:23.600" />
  <row Id="16010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16008" CreationDate="2011-03-11T20:31:41.810" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dive&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; indicates that &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;dived&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is the standard British English past tense of &lt;em&gt;dive&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The past tense &lt;strong&gt;dove&lt;/strong&gt; is found chiefly in North American English, where it is used alongside the regular (and earlier) &lt;strong&gt;dived&lt;/strong&gt;, with regional variations; in British English &lt;strong&gt;dived&lt;/strong&gt; is the standard past tense, &lt;strong&gt;dove&lt;/strong&gt; existing only in some dialects. As a past participle, &lt;strong&gt;dove&lt;/strong&gt; is relatively rare. (Compare &lt;em&gt;Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;The American Heritage Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;The Cambridge Guide to English Usage&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T20:31:41.810" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15998" CreationDate="2011-03-11T20:33:44.093" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unenlightened&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unwashed/Unclean&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Uneducated&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pigs/piggies ( This was actually used by Charles Manson's cult)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T20:33:44.093" />
  <row Id="16012" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16016" CreationDate="2011-03-11T20:59:31.070" Score="2" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say I'm doing some research on (something) on Google.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do I say &quot;I'm searching on (something) on Google&quot; or &quot;I'm searching for (something) on Google&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4595" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T01:18:20.897" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T01:18:20.897" Title="&quot;Search on&quot; versus &quot;search for&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="16013" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16014" CreationDate="2011-03-11T21:02:49.883" Score="0" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of the word stamina, used in sentences like &quot;he has a lot of stamina&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T21:13:35.190" Title="What is the origin of the word &quot;stamina&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="16014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16013" CreationDate="2011-03-11T21:03:32.220" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ORIGIN late 17th cent. (in the sense [rudiments, essential elements of something]): from Latin, plural of stamen in the sense ‘threads spun by the Fates.’&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=stamina&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline confirms&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1676, &quot;rudiments or original elements of something,&quot; from L. stamina &quot;threads,&quot; pl. of stamen (gen. staminis) &quot;thread, warp&quot; (see stamen). Sense of &quot;power to resist or recover, strength, endurance&quot; first recorded 1726 (originally pl.), from earlier meaning &quot;congenital vital capacities of a person or animal,&quot; also in part from L. application to the threads spun by the Fates to determine the length and course of one's life, and partly from a fig. use of L. stamen &quot;the warp (of cloth)&quot; on the notion of the warp as the &quot;foundation&quot; of a fabric.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-11T21:13:35.190" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T21:13:35.190" />
  <row Id="16015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16012" CreationDate="2011-03-11T21:04:08.430" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're searching &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; something on Google, or you're &lt;em&gt;googling&lt;/em&gt; something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T21:04:08.430" />
  <row Id="16016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16012" CreationDate="2011-03-11T21:05:34.327" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's &lt;em&gt;search for&lt;/em&gt;. In fact, this is the first time I see &lt;em&gt;search on&lt;/em&gt; at all. And indeed, as a quick-and-dirty check, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.americancorpus.org/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/a&gt; has a measly 217 cites for &quot;search on&quot; (as opposed to 10.220 for &quot;search for&quot;). The British National Corpus has 39 and 2028 cites, respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T21:05:34.327" />
  <row Id="16017" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-11T21:13:50.300" Score="4" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider the sentence:&#xA;&quot;The boxes must be filled up to the last box&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this mean 'including' the last box or all 'but' the last box?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I ask you to start with 1 and count up to 8, you'll likely say &quot;1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, if I lay a Black, Blue, Red and Yellow marker in front of you and ask you to start with the Black marker and take the caps off up to the Yellow marker. Do you take the cap off the Yellow marker?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6013" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T04:53:04.860" Title="How do you interpret 'up to'?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16017" CreationDate="2011-03-11T21:15:41.413" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually &quot;up to&quot; means &quot;up to and including&quot;, if not further clarified.  So yes, you fill in the last box and take the cap off the yellow marker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T21:15:41.413" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15940" CreationDate="2011-03-11T21:47:09.067" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I once knew a fellow who was prone to this specific fault. He wasn't a &quot;circumlocutor,&quot; as that would mean a person who &quot;talks around&quot; a topic without coming to the point. Rather, this person would trail off into arabesques of detail that were unneeded (and unwanted). Let me give you an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I had a teacher who wore shoes like&#xA;  that - he was from Amherst, you know,&#xA;  the school in Massachusetts, and I got&#xA;  a speeding ticket there from a cop who&#xA;  had a radar gun that looked like the&#xA;  things you'd see in an RKO serial,&#xA;  like &lt;em&gt;Flash Gordon&lt;/em&gt;, and y'know I&#xA;  think we ought to have those again in&#xA;  theaters except that theaters today&#xA;  just show trailers, and do you know&#xA;  why those things are called &quot;trailers&quot;&#xA;  anyway? They don't &quot;trail&quot; anything,&#xA;  they lead it off so maybe they should&#xA;  be called &quot;headers&quot; except that a&#xA;  header is maybe something you'd see in&#xA;  soccer, which is called &quot;football&quot; in&#xA;  most countries where it's played and&#xA;  isn't that weird?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And in this, I believe that English suffers from a fault in that we do not have a precise word for a person who talks this way. We could coin &quot;digressor,&quot; perhaps. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T21:47:09.067" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15998" CreationDate="2011-03-11T22:00:50.070" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Heathens&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unbelievers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Those who choose to live in the dark&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The unwashed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The blind&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Worshipers of Mammon&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The unchosen&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The prodigals&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Strangers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Outsiders&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The apostates&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The unworthy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Servants of Baal&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;God's rebellious children&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lovers of darkness&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Children of 'The World'&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I really need to stop joining all these secret groups!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T22:00:50.070" />
  <row Id="16021" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-11T22:03:10.240" Score="0" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm not looking forward to weekend because of so much work to do already waiting for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6015" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T01:13:59.730" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T01:13:59.730" ClosedDate="2011-03-30T11:08:05.703" Title="Is this sentence correct or not?" Tags="&lt;correction&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16021" CreationDate="2011-03-11T22:11:11.180" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It would be “I'm not looking forward to &lt;strong&gt;the&lt;/strong&gt; weekend”. “work to do” is not incorrect, but it would feel more natural to just say “work”. Also, while “because of” is acceptable, its use with such a long object (“so much work…”) sounds clumsy, and I'd say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm not looking forward to the weekend, because there's so much work already waiting for me&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T22:11:11.180" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16021" CreationDate="2011-03-11T22:11:30.840" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a word, no. I'd rephrase it thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm not looking forward to the weekend because I've got so much work waiting for me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other ways to say it, but that one should suffice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T22:11:30.840" />
  <row Id="16024" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16025" CreationDate="2011-03-11T22:16:15.293" Score="2" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;I realize the &quot;never end a sentence with a preposition&quot; rule is controversial these days, but let's assume for the sake of argument that it should be followed. What is the proper construction of a sentence that has a prepositional phrase inside a prepositional phrase, such as in the title of this post?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a way to make this strictly correct, but not so cumbersome?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can make time for a phone call, or just exchange emails with whomever you want with whom to put me in contact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this simply a case where there is no way to avoid ending the sentence with a preposition (short of clobbering it with the ugly stick)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5640" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T01:11:35.613" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T01:11:35.613" Title="&quot;Exchange emails with whomever you want to put me in contact [with]&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;prepositional-phrase&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16024" CreationDate="2011-03-11T22:30:07.933" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can make time for a phone call, or&#xA;  just exchange emails with whomever&#xA;  you want me to contact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But seriously, yer killin' me with the preposition thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T22:30:07.933" />
  <row Id="16026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16024" CreationDate="2011-03-11T23:02:55.273" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ugh, if you must: “I can make time for a phone call, or exchange emails with whoever it is with whom you want to put me in contact”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I object to such unnecessary convolutions! Just say “I can make time for a phone call, or exchange emails with whoever you want to put me in contact with”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T23:02:55.273" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16027" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16028" CreationDate="2011-03-11T23:11:07.460" Score="1" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicates:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2903/how-should-trademarks-be-written&quot;&gt;How Should Trademarks be Written?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/9063/how-do-you-capitalize-a-proper-noun-such-as-iphone&quot;&gt;How do you capitalize a proper noun such as &amp;ldquo;iPhone&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many products these days have names that intentionally begin with lowercase letters.  The most common examples are of the Apple &quot;iDevice&quot; variety, but there are some others - inSSIDer is one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When beginning a sentence with these names, should the name be capitalized?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3731" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T23:30:32.237" ClosedDate="2011-03-11T23:40:24.927" Title="Capitalization of names that begin lowercased, at the beginning of a sentence" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16027" CreationDate="2011-03-11T23:30:32.237" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even if a company considers non-standard formatting of a trademark &quot;official&quot;, style guides usually suggest that the formatting be ignored. But, trademarks beginning with a one-letter lowercase prefix pronounced as a separate letter do not need to be capitalized if the second letter is capitalized. Ultimately, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia%3aManual_of_Style_%28trademarks%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia Manual of Style&lt;/a&gt; suggests rephrasing to avoid beginning sentences with such trademarks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-11T23:30:32.237" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16021" CreationDate="2011-03-12T00:08:16.930" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the other answers, I'd also like to see a comma. Not sure if this is a legal place to put it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I'm not looking forward to the weekend because of so much work to do, already waiting for me.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Better would be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I'm not looking forward to the weekend because already, there is so much work to do waiting for me.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6017" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T00:08:16.930" />
  <row Id="16030" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-12T00:35:52.447" Score="7" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for an arcane or obscure word to describe a person's daily record.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Words like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;account, agenda, appointment book,&#xA;  chronicle, diary, daily record,&#xA;  daybook, engagement book, journal,&#xA;  log, minutes, notebook, record&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;work, but are common. Do you have something more obscure?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3593" LastEditorUserId="4526" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T00:53:34.130" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T20:51:36.953" Title="Arcane/obscure word that represents a person's timeline or daily record" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15994" CreationDate="2011-03-12T00:42:03.133" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Doing a little research in Google books, Dirac in 1931 wrote &quot;We may call such a particle an anti-electron,&quot; in his paper &quot;Quantized singularities in the electromagnetic field.&quot; However, this terminology didn't go over too well (possibly because in Dirac's first interpretation of his quantum field theory this particle had had negative energy, although by 1931 he had corrected himself), and he started calling it a positron. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The prefix &quot;anti-&quot; used in this context seems to have disappeared for awhile, but reappeared in the years 1937-1939 when we see references to anti-neutrinos and anti-particles (hyphenated at first), and the terminology seems relatively common in the scientific literature by the early 1940's. The first time I can actually find the word anti-matter used in this context is in the 1948 book &lt;em&gt;Cosmic rays and nuclear physics&lt;/em&gt; by the physicist Lajos Jánossy, where Google books gives me the snippet view &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The other type of matter might be&#xA;  called the &quot;anti matter.&quot; In&#xA;  collision the two types of matter&#xA;  would annihilate each other and give&#xA;  rise to intense radiation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The context suggests that this may actually be the first use for this meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5754" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T00:42:03.133" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16030" CreationDate="2011-03-12T00:42:53.830" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any of those would be rendered more recondite were you to add the adjective &lt;em&gt;quotidian&lt;/em&gt; to them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;quotidian&lt;/strong&gt; of or occurring every day; daily : &lt;em&gt;the car sped noisily off through the quotidian traffic.&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  • ordinary or everyday, esp. when mundane : &lt;em&gt;his story is an achingly human one, mired in quotidian details.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you might refer to someone's &quot;quotidian chronicle&quot; if you wanted to be all, like, abstruse &amp;amp; stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T00:42:53.830" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16012" CreationDate="2011-03-12T00:49:49.257" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When regarding search in general, it is not uncommon to 'search on (field or criteria) to find  (desired result)'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Search on the 'Sent On' field to find email that was sent last March.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6019" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T00:49:49.257" />
  <row Id="16034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16030" CreationDate="2011-03-12T00:52:02.713" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ephemeris&lt;/em&gt; has an obsolete meaning synonymous with this, and it certainly has a solid arcane flavor to it.  Also rather lovely is &lt;em&gt;noctuary&lt;/em&gt;, which is the opposite of &quot;diary&quot;, logging what happens during the night rather than the day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T00:52:02.713" />
  <row Id="16035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15998" CreationDate="2011-03-12T00:55:24.667" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Iain Banks' novel &lt;em&gt;Whit, or, Isis among the Unsaved,&lt;/em&gt; they are called (you get one guess) &quot;the unsaved.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5754" LastEditorUserId="5754" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T01:06:36.047" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T01:06:36.047" />
  <row Id="16036" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16030" CreationDate="2011-03-12T01:07:19.500" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about the Latin &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;libellus&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is used for any &quot;little book&quot;, but specifically journals, diaries, logbooks, notebooks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T01:07:19.500" />
  <row Id="16037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15940" CreationDate="2011-03-12T01:33:13.320" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Oversharer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oversharers.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.oversharers.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=overshare&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=overshare&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T01:33:13.320" />
  <row Id="16038" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-12T01:38:51.020" Score="0" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;The pronunciation reported by the NOAD for &lt;em&gt;shepherd&lt;/em&gt; is /ˈʃɛpərd/; are there any other words where &lt;em&gt;ph&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced as in &lt;em&gt;shepherd&lt;/em&gt;, and not as in &lt;em&gt;phantom&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T02:08:06.710" Title="Words where &quot;ph&quot; is pronounced as in &quot;shepherd&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16039" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16042" CreationDate="2011-03-12T01:44:05.257" Score="3" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference between the following couples of sentences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dress as you would if you were having guests.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Dress like if you were having guests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She kissed him goodbye, as usual.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  She kissed him goodbye, like the usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sweet as she is, she doesn't pay his bills.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Sweet like she is, she doesn't pay his bills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T16:42:11.217" Title="&quot;Like&quot; versus &quot;as&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16038" CreationDate="2011-03-12T01:44:34.823" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I suppose &lt;em&gt;haphazard&lt;/em&gt; is good for starters. And there's always the old standby, &lt;em&gt;aphelion&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T01:44:34.823" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16038" CreationDate="2011-03-12T01:51:41.897" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;haphazard&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;upheave  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;uphill &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;uphold&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;upholster&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;chophouse &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;flophouse &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sheepherder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shepherdess &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hophead &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;slaphappy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;saphead&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;loophole&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and, of course, inflected forms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3593" LastEditorUserId="3593" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T02:03:17.723" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T02:03:17.723" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16042" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16039" CreationDate="2011-03-12T01:52:27.300" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As far as the first two sentences go, they mean the same things. However, a couple points of usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dress like &lt;s&gt;if&lt;/s&gt; you were having guests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If&lt;/em&gt; is not necessary in this sentence. The word &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; here means &lt;em&gt;similar&lt;/em&gt;, so it is not a conditional, but rather a comparison. The original sentence uses &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; because of &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt;—how should you dress? As someone expecting to have guests = as if you were to have guests. Also, the original sentence might be more succinctly found as &quot;Dress as if you were having guests&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She kissed him goodbye, like &lt;s&gt;the&lt;/s&gt; usual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The&lt;/em&gt; is not necessary, like the original sentence.&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;The third example, however, is different, as it uses a different meaning of &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sweet like she is, she doesn't pay his bills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This construction is not found among native English speakers, who always use the word &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt;. The reason is this: &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; expresses similarity, but in this context, &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt; expresses quantity; in other words, the sentence is saying that she is very sweet. The altered sentence, however, is meaningless.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T02:09:18.300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T02:09:18.300" />
  <row Id="16043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16038" CreationDate="2011-03-12T01:53:47.347" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Amphitheater&lt;/strong&gt;.  &lt;strong&gt;Ophthalmologist&lt;/strong&gt;.  &lt;strong&gt;Phnom Penh&lt;/strong&gt;.  (This is a common riddle question, I think I've seen it before...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T02:08:06.710" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T02:08:06.710" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="16044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15998" CreationDate="2011-03-12T01:55:43.907" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can think of &lt;em&gt;infidel&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;heathen&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;agnostic&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;apostate&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Heathen&lt;/em&gt; is a derogatory word; maybe it is the genre of words that a &quot;crazy cult member&quot; would use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T01:55:43.907" />
  <row Id="16046" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16049" CreationDate="2011-03-12T03:11:52.937" Score="6" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a word that specifically means or makes reference to a computer that was once considered a super computer in its time, but due to rapid technological advancements, is no longer considered one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: aparrently not. I say we make one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4947" LastEditorUserId="4947" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T09:12:20.397" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T09:12:20.397" Title="Once a super computer, but now no longer?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16047" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-12T03:14:54.547" Score="0" ViewCount="22" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard someone re-tell me the story by O'Henry, three conman - one with cards, one with medicine and one with stocks and bonds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know the name of it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T03:14:54.547" ClosedDate="2011-03-12T03:21:42.943" Title="What is this story by O'Henry called?" Tags="&lt;literature&gt;" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16046" CreationDate="2011-03-12T04:00:56.200" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might use &quot;antique&quot; (in the noun usage).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The implication of great age might be seen as slightly ironic, but it makes it clear that we are not talking about something current.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2851" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T04:00:56.200" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16046" CreationDate="2011-03-12T04:14:46.190" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am unaware of a specific word or phrase that indicates the aged item is specifically a now-dated computer. However, when describing something old and &quot;of another time,&quot; I often fall back on the following noun and adjective...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/relic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Relic&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; - the ENIAC is a &lt;em&gt;relic&lt;/em&gt; of supercomputers from days of vacuum-tubes and mercury-delay line memory.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/antiquated&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Antiquated&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; - at my university there sits an &lt;em&gt;antiquated&lt;/em&gt; Cray I supercomputer, which at one time was the world's fastest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T04:14:46.190" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16050" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-12T04:18:59.553" Score="1" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wanted clarification on what techniques are employed in the following quote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was benevolent and good but misery made me a fiend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this an example of high modality, antithesis - or is there something more specific?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6023" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T04:46:14.433" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T05:01:17.473" ClosedDate="2011-03-12T15:40:06.327" Title="Rhetorical devices in Frankenstein" Tags="&lt;literary-techniques&gt;" AnswerCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16046" CreationDate="2011-03-12T04:46:34.693" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could refer to &quot;legacy&quot; equipment (or code, for that matter; although legacy code most often runs on legacy equipment): a system that was generally big, powerful and impressive when purchased, which is now old and expensive to maintain, but is running some critical software or performing some critical function that for a variety of reasons the company is unwilling to move away from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T04:46:34.693" />
  <row Id="16052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16017" CreationDate="2011-03-12T04:53:04.860" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the case of the markers, I would be more inclined to take the caps off the black, blue, and red, leaving the yellow cap on, simply because it would have been more natural for you to say &quot;take the caps off&quot; or &quot;take all the caps off&quot; and I would be inclined to interpret the &quot;up to the yellow marker&quot; in a way that makes sense for you to have felt it necessary to specify it that way.  (Assuming I'm not allowed to ask for clarification, like &quot;What, you mean all of them?&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of the boxes, &quot;up to the last box&quot; can be more readily taken as an intensifier:  &quot;Fill them, (all the way) up to the last box.&quot;  So I would fill all the boxes, even though the &quot;up to&quot; phrase is rather redundant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T04:53:04.860" />
  <row Id="16053" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16056" CreationDate="2011-03-12T05:00:33.570" Score="3" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;In studying the works of John Milton in &lt;em&gt;The Riverside Milton&lt;/em&gt;, I've noticed that the footnotes repeatedly point to the OED, which cites Milton as having coined a seemingly endless number of words and phrases that are still in use today. Knowing that he was fluent in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Spanish, French and Italian, I've become extremely curious: Does anyone have a clue as to how many words/phrases Milton contributed to the English language?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6024" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T05:07:25.370" Title="How many words/phrases were coined by Milton?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="16055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16046" CreationDate="2011-03-12T05:03:25.900" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could simply call such a computer &lt;em&gt;obsolete&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;obsolete&lt;/strong&gt; no longer produced or used; out of date : &lt;em&gt;the disposal of old and obsolete machinery&lt;/em&gt; [NOAD]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T05:03:25.900" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16053" CreationDate="2011-03-12T05:07:25.370" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jan/28/britishidentity.johncrace&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This source&lt;/a&gt; claims Milton coined 630 words (to Shakespeare's 229):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;According to Gavin Alexander, lecturer in English at Cambridge university and fellow of Milton's alma mater, Christ's College, who has trawled the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) for evidence, Milton is responsible for introducing some 630 words to the English language, making him the country's greatest neologist, ahead of Ben Jonson with 558, John Donne with 342 and Shakespeare with 229. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T05:07:25.370" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1509" CreationDate="2011-03-12T05:13:24.437" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Code golf and /usr/dict/words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;perl -nle '$x=&quot;^&quot;.join(&quot;*&quot;,(&quot;a&quot;..&quot;z&quot;)).&quot;*\$&quot;;if(/$x/){print length($_),&quot; &quot;,$_}' /usr/dict/words|sort -nr|head&#xA;&#xA;8 aegilops&#xA;7 egilops&#xA;7 deglory&#xA;7 billowy&#xA;7 belloot&#xA;7 begorry&#xA;7 beefily&#xA;7 alloquy&#xA;6 knotty&#xA;6 knoppy&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3065" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T05:13:24.437" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-12T05:13:24.437" />
  <row Id="16058" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-12T05:25:03.780" Score="1" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;For those familiar with &quot;Il Penseroso&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Every time I return to this poem, I am quite stuck on lines 135-137, which read:&#xA;&quot;Of Pine, or monumental Oake, /&#xA;Where the rude Ax with heaved stroke, /&#xA;Was never heard the Nymphs to daunt.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Aside from chiasmus, are there any other rhetorical devices being employed here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6024" LastEditorUserId="6024" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T05:50:33.323" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T11:57:49.923" ClosedDate="2011-03-12T13:59:17.450" Title="Milton's use of rhetoric" Tags="&lt;literary-techniques&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="16059" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-12T05:29:25.837" Score="5" ViewCount="156" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since it's Friday and others are playing games, here's another one to take us into the weekend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyone knows about those Russian nesting dolls (called matryushka dolls, I believe). A small doll nests inside a larger, which itself is inside a larger doll, and so on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This game does the same with words. You start with a three-letter word, add a letter to make another word, and so on. Longest word wins. The catch? Each additional letter has to form a legitimate word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's one to start you off:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;bur&#xA;burr&#xA;burro&#xA;burrow&#xA;burrows&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T13:17:15.383" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T11:33:38.157" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-12T12:18:30.097" Title="Matryoshka words" Tags="&lt;community-wiki&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="16061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16059" CreationDate="2011-03-12T06:22:02.577" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;but&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;butt&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butte&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;butte&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;butter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;butterfly&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do the rules allow for jumping from butter to butterfly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T06:22:02.577" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-12T12:18:30.097" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16059" CreationDate="2011-03-12T06:26:08.580" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're willing to accept the surname &quot;Barrett&quot;, the longest I can find (with a program) is &lt;strong&gt;10 letters&lt;/strong&gt;, &quot;barretters&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;bar&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/words/barr&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barr&lt;/a&gt;: to cry as an elephant, abbreviation of &quot;barrister&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/barre#English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barre&lt;/a&gt;: (ballet) A handrail fixed to a wall used for ballet exercises.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/words/barret&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barret&lt;/a&gt;: A kind of military cap&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   Barrett: A surname (recall Elizabeth Barrett Browning)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/barrette#English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barrette&lt;/a&gt;: A clasp or clip for gathering and holding the hair.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/barretter#English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barretter&lt;/a&gt;: A ballast resistor&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/barretters#English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;barretters&lt;/a&gt;: plural form of barretter  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T06:51:03.363" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T06:51:03.363" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-12T06:51:03.363" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16063" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16067" CreationDate="2011-03-12T07:04:43.240" Score="10" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;I realize a lot of English expressions derive from sports: &quot;his presentation was a slam-dunk,&quot; &quot;she really fumbled through that,&quot; or &quot;that's pretty much par for the course.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't play golf, but I believe &quot;below par&quot; means really good.  But doesn't describing something as &quot;below par&quot; mean really &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; good?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5188" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T21:15:14.097" Title="Is &quot;below par&quot; good or bad?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;sports&gt;" AnswerCount="7" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="16064" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-12T07:12:39.473" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dear All,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just I want to know the difference between &quot;ease&quot; and &quot;easy&quot;. Please give me the examples to use these words in opted place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6027" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T14:20:40.040" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T14:20:40.040" Title="Difference between &quot;ease&quot; and &quot;easy&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16064" CreationDate="2011-03-12T07:22:26.237" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ease - basically means comfort or pleasing&#xA;Easy - refers to mostly the load of an action being performed, kind of &quot;not difficult&quot;. needs less efforts to complete it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6028" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T07:22:26.237" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16064" CreationDate="2011-03-12T08:03:19.520" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biggest difference is that &quot;ease&quot; is a noun and a verb, and &quot;easy&quot; is an adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Roughly speaking: the opposite of &lt;em&gt;difficult&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;easy&lt;/em&gt;, and the opposite of &lt;em&gt;difficulty&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;ease&lt;/em&gt; (but only in the uncountable sense - you can talk about the difficulty/ease of a task, and coming across &quot;a difficulty&quot;, but not &quot;*an ease&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To ease&lt;/em&gt; something into somewhere means to put it in slowly and gradually - the opposite of forcing it in.  Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first question is very easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I answered the first question with ease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The ease of communicating by email makes it very popular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I eased my foot into the tight-fitting shoe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T08:03:19.520" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16063" CreationDate="2011-03-12T08:18:21.457" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't believe the general use of this expression comes from the golf use - which would explain the discrepancy - though the two are closely related.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;par&lt;/em&gt; has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/par&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;many definitions&lt;/a&gt;, including &lt;em&gt;average or normal amount&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;usual/accepted standard&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore something &lt;em&gt;below par&lt;/em&gt; is below average, or below the acceptable standard - hence the usual, negative, meaning of the phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In golf a hole's &lt;em&gt;par&lt;/em&gt; is the number of strokes considered average or standard to complete it, and being &lt;em&gt;under par&lt;/em&gt; means using fewer strokes than average - which happens to be a good thing, because of how the game works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T08:18:21.457" />
  <row Id="16068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16063" CreationDate="2011-03-12T08:42:48.383" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have identified a discrepancy, but once again this is a case where the context is all important.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Given that par means average, the goal in golf is to finish using the least number of strokes, so in this case below par is a good result.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we were talking about soccer, and par was the average number of goals that a team has scored in each of their games, then below par would be a poor result and above par would be a good result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we are to generalise and assume that most people would use an ascending scoring system of measurement such as percentages where 100% represents full marks, then below par would be considered a poor result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However as discussed above golf uses an inverse scoring system where lower scores represent better performance, and therefore in this case below par is a good result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T08:42:48.383" />
  <row Id="16069" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16070" CreationDate="2011-03-12T08:46:32.320" Score="5" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where does the expression &quot;far out&quot; come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I had to phone someone so I picked on you /&#xA;  Hey, that's &lt;em&gt;far out&lt;/em&gt; so you heard him too! /&#xA;  Switch on the TV we may pick him up on channel two&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5737" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T10:12:51.593" Title="Etymology of &quot;far out&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="16070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16069" CreationDate="2011-03-12T08:56:31.533" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=far+out&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=far+out&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;far out&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;      also far-out, 1887, &quot;remote, distant;&quot; from far + out. Slang sense&#xA;  of &quot;excellent, wonderful,&quot; is from&#xA;  1954, originally in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=1404&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;jazz talk&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as in Beyond Great :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T10:12:51.593" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T10:12:51.593" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16071" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16072" CreationDate="2011-03-12T09:26:55.243" Score="4" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;As per title, what is the name of a group of dragonflies? Some friends say it is a mob, some say it is a hover. Anyone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6030" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T12:10:01.440" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T12:10:01.440" Title="What is a group of dragonflies?" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16071" CreationDate="2011-03-12T10:45:16.713" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A flight or cluster of dragonflies :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5671" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T10:45:16.713" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16063" CreationDate="2011-03-12T11:35:55.233" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Note the common expression: &quot;Par for the course.&quot; That means &quot;average,&quot; or what you would normally expect. So &quot;below par&quot; means less than what is expected, or poor, failing, disappointing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T11:35:55.233" />
  <row Id="16074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16058" CreationDate="2011-03-12T11:57:49.923" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Ax is personified (rude, daunt). But I suspect that Wai is right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T11:57:49.923" />
  <row Id="16075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16063" CreationDate="2011-03-12T12:53:59.627" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Actually, I'm more familiar with people using &quot;sub par&quot; rather than &quot;below par&quot; to describe something as less than expected, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a golfer though, being &quot;below par&quot; is definitely a good thing, although here too the more conventional term, might be &quot;under par&quot;. &quot;I am under par for the round&quot;. &quot;Tiger Woods is at 3 under&quot; (meaning 3 under par). But I suppose &quot;below&quot; is used as well, I just don't hear it as much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6034" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T13:51:20.027" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T13:51:20.027" />
  <row Id="16076" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16079" CreationDate="2011-03-12T13:18:31.407" Score="4" ViewCount="266" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.debate.org/debates/School-uniforms-ought-to-be-worn-in-primary-and-secondary-schools./1/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.debate.org/debates/School-uniforms-ought-to-be-worn-in-primary-and-secondary-schools./1/&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For many of these, the reason for wearing a uniform is clear: so that they are easily recognizable. In a hospital, for example, &lt;strong&gt;it would not do&lt;/strong&gt; to confuse the nurses with the patients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What did the author mean by &quot;it would not do&quot;? Can anyone parse this sentence please? Or is it a typo?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T14:29:37.313" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T20:22:53.443" Title="&quot;It would not do to confuse the nurses with the patients&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16076" CreationDate="2011-03-12T13:23:35.230" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means &lt;em&gt;it would be wrong&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;it would be undesirable&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T13:23:35.230" />
  <row Id="16078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16076" CreationDate="2011-03-12T13:23:48.393" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this usage, &quot;it would not do&quot; is perfectly valid and indicates that the following expression is undesirable, as in &quot;this will not do at all&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="653" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T13:23:48.393" />
  <row Id="16079" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16076" CreationDate="2011-03-12T13:24:35.507" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sentence is fine as it stands: &quot;it would not do&quot; means something like &quot;it would not be a good thing to have happen&quot; here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T13:24:35.507" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16080" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16082" CreationDate="2011-03-12T13:25:15.457" Score="5" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;Inside a piece of text, I have a word in another language. I'd like to keep it that way, and add a translator's note with the translation to English. What is the common practice of doing that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd prefer to do it inline. I'm thinking of something like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;word&lt;/em&gt; (TN: &lt;em&gt;translation of word&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I haven't seen this notation used anywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3957" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T13:45:27.927" Title="How do you mark a translator's note?" Tags="&lt;translation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16081" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16100" CreationDate="2011-03-12T13:36:41.323" Score="3" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know there are differences between American and British English in this area, so while answering, please, specify whether you speak American or British English&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T00:49:44.110" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T00:49:44.110" Title="&quot;I just ate them&quot; and &quot;I've just eaten them&quot; - What's the difference in American and in British?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;&lt;present-perfect-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16080" CreationDate="2011-03-12T13:44:42.407" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&amp;amp;tbo=1&amp;amp;q=%22translator%27s+note%22+%22tn%22&amp;amp;btnG=Search+Books&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Books search&lt;/a&gt; seems to confirm that the usual abbreviation for “translator's note” is indeed &lt;em&gt;TN&lt;/em&gt;. The first time you use it, you may do so in full, so that the abbreviation is clear later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your particular context, however, it might simply be possible to state the translation inside the parentheses. Using the German &lt;em&gt;Länder&lt;/em&gt; as an example, it might give:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many &lt;em&gt;Länder&lt;/em&gt; (“provinces”) have different regulations on the issue&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which I think is quite clear. You may even omit the quotes, I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T13:44:42.407" />
  <row Id="16083" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16080" CreationDate="2011-03-12T13:45:27.927" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;woord&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;word&quot;) ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;Wort&lt;/em&gt; (German for &quot;word&quot;) ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;mot&lt;/em&gt; (Eng. &quot;word&quot;) ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All three choices would be fine in most texts. It may depend on your audience how much explanation the translation requires, whether the language of origin should be mentioned, etc. If your audience is fairly educated, you might be better off without translations of common foreign words, as your readers will not doubt know &lt;em&gt;mot&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Wort&lt;/em&gt; and might feel patronised—though few would probably know Dutch &lt;em&gt;woord&lt;/em&gt;, unless it is obvious from context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T13:45:27.927" />
  <row Id="16085" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16063" CreationDate="2011-03-12T14:48:21.193" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that &lt;em&gt;below the par&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;under the par&lt;/em&gt;) means &quot;worse than is usual or expected&quot;, while &lt;em&gt;above the par&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;better than is usual or expected&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Par for the course&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;what is normal or expected in any given circumstances&quot;, which is the meaning of &lt;em&gt;up to par&lt;/em&gt; too (&quot;at an expected or usual level or quality&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Above the par&lt;/em&gt; doesn't mean &lt;em&gt;really good&lt;/em&gt;; it could mean &quot;above the average&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T14:48:21.193" />
  <row Id="16086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16081" CreationDate="2011-03-12T15:23:51.550" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a non-native speaker I would feel there is a different feel to the two examples&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just ate them sounds like&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I simply ate them&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a reply to&lt;br&gt;&#xA;How was it possible that all the apples disappeared?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I just ate them, that's all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;whereas the second example sounds more like a&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Did you eat the apples I left for you?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Yes, I've just eaten them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T15:23:51.550" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16081" CreationDate="2011-03-12T15:44:43.957" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I speak American English. &quot;I just ate them&quot; and &quot;I've just eaten them&quot; are not examples of different spellings in British and American English. &quot;I ate them&quot; is past tense; &quot;I have eaten them&quot; is present perfect tense; &quot;eaten&quot; is a past participle--not a verb. However, I think you're looking for something like this: &quot;I learned that&quot; (American) and &quot;I learnt that&quot; (British). &quot;The British speaker spelt it with a -t, whereas the American spelled it with an -ed.&quot; This distinction doesn't hold for all past tense/past participle forms of verbs; &quot;it fit&quot; (American) is spelled &quot;fitted&quot; in Britain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When American English adds an -ed to the verb stem to form the past tense/past participle British English adds a -t instead. When American English doesn't change the form of the verb, i.e. &quot;fit&quot; (present) vs. &quot;fit&quot; (past), British English adds an -ed to form the past tense &quot;fitted.&quot; But also, &quot;light&quot; in American English becomes &quot;lit&quot; in the past tense, whereas in British English it becomes &quot;lighted.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So anyway, I hope this is what you were asking about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3913" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T15:44:43.957" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16090" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16099" CreationDate="2011-03-12T15:58:46.470" Score="7" ViewCount="176" Body="&lt;p&gt;Let's say I am reviewing galley proofs, and the author has written some text in italics which shouldn't be. Would I write: “please typeset this word &lt;strong&gt;in roman&lt;/strong&gt;” or “please typeset this word &lt;strong&gt;upright&lt;/strong&gt;”? If both are clear and understandable, what are the differences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T22:46:11.303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T02:54:35.470" Title="What's the most appropriate name for non-italicized text: &quot;roman&quot; or &quot;upright&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;typesetting&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16039" CreationDate="2011-03-12T16:10:12.060" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Like&quot; is a preposition; &quot;as&quot; is a conjunction. So it is right to say, &quot;she kissed him goodbye, as usual.&quot; &quot;Dress as you would if you were having guests&quot; is correct, but it might sound better to say, &quot;dress as though you were having guests.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &quot;like&quot; is commonly used as a conjunction, and only grammarians will notice if you say, &quot;she kissed him goodbye, like usual.&quot; &quot;She was like my mother&quot; is correct. &quot;Like&quot; means similar to, so &quot;like usual&quot; doesn't make much sense; it signifies that she &quot;kissed him goodbye, similar to usual.&quot; But the sentence wants &quot;to indicate by comparison the way that something happens or is done&quot; (&lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3913" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T16:42:11.217" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T16:42:11.217" />
  <row Id="16092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16090" CreationDate="2011-03-12T16:19:37.273" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't work as an editor, so there may be standard terminology for this, but as an English speaker, I would say that the clearest thing to write is &quot;please don't italicize this&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The technical name for non-italic fonts is &lt;em&gt;roman&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;romanized&lt;/em&gt;, so this is probably your best choice from the options you've given.  I would avoid calling it &lt;em&gt;upright&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T16:38:15.060" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T16:38:15.060" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16059" CreationDate="2011-03-12T16:22:42.170" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cap&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cape&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;caper&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;capers: the flower buds of the caper plant&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T16:22:42.170" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-12T16:22:42.170" />
  <row Id="16094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16059" CreationDate="2011-03-12T16:27:15.753" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I managed to find only 8.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;max&#xA;maxi&#xA;maxim&#xA;maxima&#xA;maximal&#xA;maximals&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Waiting for the &quot;niners&quot; promised by ShreevatsaR !!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T16:27:15.753" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-12T16:27:15.753" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16096" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-12T16:59:54.973" Score="1" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've always known that at the end he will be the good guy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this sentence correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6015" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T17:02:34.103" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T18:59:34.167" ClosedDate="2011-03-30T11:07:51.647" Title="&quot;I've always known that at the end he will be the good guy&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16096" CreationDate="2011-03-12T17:02:45.713" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've always known that &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; the end he will be the good guy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastEditorUserId="4744" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T17:16:21.007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T17:16:21.007" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16063" CreationDate="2011-03-12T17:07:53.493" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are already several good, correct answers here, but I would like to point out one subtle distinction in my observations of idiomatic use of par, other than in golf:  I find that &lt;em&gt;par&lt;/em&gt; usually has a connotation closer to &quot;sufficient&quot; rather than &quot;expected&quot; or &quot;average&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, when someone describes something (such as a hotel room or meal) as &lt;em&gt;above par&lt;/em&gt;, they usually mean &quot;more than what was strictly required, but not necessarily outstanding&quot;.  In contrast, when someone describes something as &lt;em&gt;below par&lt;/em&gt;, it very often means &quot;that was so bad it didn't even meet the minimum requirements&quot;.  The phrases are asymmetrical in intensity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T17:07:53.493" />
  <row Id="16099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16090" CreationDate="2011-03-12T17:08:08.997" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Once again I turn to &lt;em&gt;The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th Edition&lt;/em&gt;, which states&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2.83&lt;/strong&gt;: [...] To change words typeset in an italic typeface, underline or circle the words and write &quot;rom&quot; or &quot;roman&quot; in the margin.  For longer underlined passages that are to be set in roman type (not italicized), circle the text involved and write a note to the typesetter in the margin:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;(set roman)  &amp;nbsp; [parentheses  here indicates that text is circled]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Speaking as someone who has done a little bit of proofreading work, using the word &quot;roman&quot; (in lowercase) in this context will not be confusing to anyone on the receiving end of the proofing notes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T02:54:35.470" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T02:54:35.470" />
  <row Id="16100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16081" CreationDate="2011-03-12T17:09:02.140" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is that &quot;I have just eaten them&quot; is normal in British and I think US usage, but &quot;I just ate them&quot; is not normal in British use, or at any rate wasn't until recently (except in the different sense of mplungjan's answer).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The aspectual difference between the simple past and the present perfect is that the perfect is used for past-with-present-relevance, the simple past for, well, simple past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &quot;I have eaten it&quot; has some present relevance - perhaps I can still feel the curry burning in my belly; or somebody has just discovered the cake has gone and wants to know where it is now; or I am in the (present) state of having eaten polar bear at some time in my life. &quot;I ate it&quot; is regarding the event on its own without considering any present relevance - even possibly those same acts of eating the curry, the cake and the polar bear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a similar way, some expressions of time encompass the present. &quot;Just&quot; and &quot;just now&quot; do, and so normally do &quot;today&quot; and &quot;this afternoon&quot; (assuming it is still this afternoon). &quot;Yesterday&quot;, &quot;once&quot;, and &quot;this morning&quot; (if it is no longer morning) do not. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In British usage (more than US), we don't tend to use a present-related expression of time with a simple past, or a non-present-related time with a perfect; if we do the latter, it implies that the relevant time is in fact finished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So (all judgments with regard to UK usage):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;I have just eaten it&quot; but not &quot;I just ate it&quot; (in that sense)&#xA;&quot;I saw him yesterday&quot; but not &quot;I have seen him yesterday&quot;&#xA;&quot;I have eaten polar bear&quot; and &quot;I ate polar bear once&quot;  &#xA;    but not &quot;I have eaten polar bear once&quot;*.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I have seen him  today&quot; and &quot;I saw him today&quot; are both acceptable, but have slightly different meanings: &quot;I saw him today&quot; implies that the time within which I might have seen him today is over - for example he has gone away. This is even clearer in negative and interrogative cases: &quot;Have you seen him today?&quot; implies that you might still be able to, while &quot;Did you see him today?&quot; implies that you have missed him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I say, the judgments above are for UK English: I am aware that US English is not the same in this regard, but I wouldn't like to specify exactly how.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Actually, I've realised that &quot;I have eaten polar bear once&quot; is acceptable, but with a different meaning, &quot;on exactly one occasion&quot; as opposed to &quot;at some time in the past&quot;. &quot;I ate polar bear once&quot; is ambiguous between these, but unless &quot;once&quot; is emphasised, will usually mean &quot;at some time in the past&quot;. &quot;I have eaten polar bear once&quot; can only mean &quot;on exactly one occasion&quot;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T17:09:02.140" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="16101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16076" CreationDate="2011-03-12T17:19:29.353" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is an idiom, meaning &quot;it would not be appropriate&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OED, s.v. &quot;do&quot;, v; 20.a. &quot;To ‘work’, ‘act’, operate, or turn out (in some way); to do what is wanted; to succeed, answer, or serve; to be fitting or appropriate; to suffice. that will do (that'll do): that is sufficient.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T17:19:29.353" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15998" CreationDate="2011-03-12T17:22:20.997" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think the answer is simple. The reason being a cult is a specific instance of a radical belief system.  If you want something humorous then the audience would need to be introduced to a basic understanding of their ideals. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that many belief systems/ideologies are the result of a perceived problem. For this reason although their own tenants are good, the oppositions faults are viewed vehemently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider the major political parties of your country, and insults each may have for the other. Consider the fear differing economic systems invoke in some people. The fear of different races, by racial pride groups. There are also many examples in science fiction too where one group has departed from another by some social, technological, evolutionary... well it's science fiction could be anything... the point is without understanding the differentiating factors between the two groups, insults have little meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Oh, I did think of something! If it's a run of the mill &quot;Kool-Aid cult&quot; then PEPSI DRINKERS! Or maybe &quot;Those who do not partake of the anti-freeze.&quot; I think the later would be said solemnly, like you would &quot;Poor misguided people.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6038" LastEditorUserId="6038" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T17:28:58.837" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T17:28:58.837" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="16103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16096" CreationDate="2011-03-12T17:25:33.620" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;In the end&quot; seems to be more abstract. &quot;At the end&quot; needs something that it is at the end of, i.e. &quot;his life,&quot; &quot;the world....&quot; Can you give some context? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3913" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T17:25:33.620" />
  <row Id="16104" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16149" CreationDate="2011-03-12T17:45:51.623" Score="2" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the meaning of &quot;get to do something&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I get to spend a lot of time with you and the kids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3324" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T18:12:56.973" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T01:13:26.407" Title="&quot;Get to do something&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="16105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16104" CreationDate="2011-03-12T17:49:46.683" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/get&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/get&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;21: to succeed, become enabled, or be permitted: You get to meet a lot of interesting people.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T17:49:46.683" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16096" CreationDate="2011-03-12T17:55:06.650" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For me, it can be either way&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've always known that &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt; the end he will be the good guy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've always known that &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; the end he will be the good guy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only difference I have between them is the &quot;in the end&quot; seems to connotate an end much farther away than the end in &quot;at the end.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6039" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T17:55:06.650" />
  <row Id="16107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16104" CreationDate="2011-03-12T17:57:01.453" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this context it means &lt;em&gt;have the opportunity to&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have the opportunity to spend a lot of time with you and the kids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T17:57:01.453" />
  <row Id="16108" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16110" CreationDate="2011-03-12T18:10:26.683" Score="2" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read about many times like as given below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nokia N8 Mobile &lt;strong&gt;Support&lt;/strong&gt; A 12-Megapixel Camera.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nokia N8 Mobile &lt;strong&gt;Sports&lt;/strong&gt; A 12-Megapixel Camera.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my questions are: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there any difference in the meaning of those two words here?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If yes, then when should one use &lt;em&gt;support&lt;/em&gt; and when &lt;em&gt;sports&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6040" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T18:37:38.793" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T18:37:38.793" Title="Which one to use — &quot;support&quot; or &quot;sports&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16108" CreationDate="2011-03-12T18:13:31.413" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word that works here is &quot;sports&quot; and it means the same as &quot;features&quot; would in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nokia n8 Mobile &lt;em&gt;features&lt;/em&gt; a 12-megapixel camera.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might also &lt;em&gt;support&lt;/em&gt; such a camera, but that is not the intent of the copywriter or reviewer in such a case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T18:13:31.413" />
  <row Id="16110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16108" CreationDate="2011-03-12T18:18:09.303" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first one should read &lt;em&gt;supports&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;support&lt;/em&gt;. Also, &lt;em&gt;support&lt;/em&gt; doesn't really make sense in the context you gave: when talking about devices, to &lt;em&gt;support&lt;/em&gt; means to &lt;em&gt;have the ability to use&lt;/em&gt; something with the device, but to &lt;em&gt;sport&lt;/em&gt; means simply to &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; a feature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, my netbook &lt;em&gt;sports&lt;/em&gt; (has) USB connectors, therefore it &lt;em&gt;supports&lt;/em&gt; USB devices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T18:18:09.303" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16104" CreationDate="2011-03-12T18:54:00.177" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That would simply mean that,&#xA;You are &lt;code&gt;now able&lt;/code&gt; to do it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T18:54:00.177" />
  <row Id="16112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16096" CreationDate="2011-03-12T18:59:34.167" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I always knew that, at the end, he'd turn out to be the good guy&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T18:59:34.167" />
  <row Id="16113" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16118" CreationDate="2011-03-12T19:16:21.160" Score="6" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do people really mean when they say &quot;what's not to love&quot;? Is there any context in particular to use this? Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6042" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T22:47:21.100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T22:47:21.100" Title="&quot;What's not to love?&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16076" CreationDate="2011-03-12T19:22:52.663" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sure you're familiar with that use of &quot;do&quot;, you just haven't thought about it before. Consider the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Person 1: Have you got a pencil?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Person 2: No, I got a felt-fit pen, though.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Person 1: That will do.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2468" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T20:22:53.443" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T20:22:53.443" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16115" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-12T19:49:59.647" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;What should I call someone who has a tendency towards monologues?  Would &quot;monologist&quot; be a logical neologism?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6043" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T22:05:13.603" Title="What should I call someone who has a tendency towards monologues?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;neologisms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16113" CreationDate="2011-03-12T19:50:41.360" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a way of saying &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;How can one not love ... ?&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or more precisely:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;What characteristic of ... can one dislike ?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's clearer under the form &quot;what's not to love about ...&quot;. Such as for instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;What's not to love about this kid.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="5432" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T19:58:40.360" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T19:58:40.360" />
  <row Id="16117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16115" CreationDate="2011-03-12T20:00:41.607" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;soliloquist ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually this is also a neologism.  I could not find any dictionary entry for soliloquist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the fact that it would apply to dramatic art, that's perfectly true.&#xA;That's actually the same for &quot;monologue&quot; the origin of which lies &lt;em&gt;also&lt;/em&gt; in dramatic art.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Monologue comes from the Greek&#xA;μονόλογο - μονός (alone) - λόγος&#xA;(discourse) and is a common rhetoric style in Greek dramatic art.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Soliloquy comes from Late Latin soliloquium, (solus alone + loqui to &#xA;speak) and is also common in this specifically Latin genre: satire.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is however, a slight difference between these two words.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can engage in a &lt;em&gt;monologue&lt;/em&gt; in front of somebody who will just stay silent or nod.  Greek plays monologues often addressed the audience.  But basically you&#xA;speak aloud because you intend to be listened to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &lt;em&gt;soliloquise&lt;/em&gt; is instead, just to think aloud in front of nobody.&#xA;In the case of a play, it's just a dramatic device so that the audience can share the character's thoughts (numerous examples in William Shakespeare's plays).&#xA;In real life however, it is obviously unnecessary and can therefore sometimes be considered inane.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a conclusion if your character makes a long speech in front of some auditor, then he could be called a &quot;monologist&quot; whereas if he is just thinking aloud with only his own ears around, then he should be called a &quot;soliloquist&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One last word.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I initially thought that soliloquy was also a medical term.  I could find no evidence for this.  At least in English.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It is in French though: (&quot;En médecine, on parle de soliloquie lorsqu'un individu ayant des troubles de la personnalité et du comportement se parle à lui-même&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="5432" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T22:05:13.603" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T22:05:13.603" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16113" CreationDate="2011-03-12T20:04:23.587" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a variation on the older phrase, &quot;what's not to like&quot;. The question is rhetorical, it's a different way of saying that you can't think of a reason why anybody would not love/like X; there is nothing not to love/like about it. At least that's what the literal meaning is. Nowadays, the phrase is such a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clich%C3%A9&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cliché&lt;/a&gt; that it's often used ironically, to mean the exact opposite thing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Phrase Finder provides &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/whats-not-to-like.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some background&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The earliest example of 'what's not to like?' that I've found in print is in Dorothy Kilgallen's review of the film &lt;em&gt;Charade&lt;/em&gt; in the 'Voice of Broadway' column in the New York newspaper The Dunkirk Evening Observer, September 1963:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;It has Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, Paris in living color, and a beautiful score by Henry Mancini. So what's not to like?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The 'what's not to love?' spinoff variant started in 1974, as part of Volkswagen's advertising copy for a limited edition range of Beetle models that were styled on the &lt;em&gt;Love Bug&lt;/em&gt; that featured in Disney's eponymous 1968 film. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It even has a picture of the said ad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T20:11:14.767" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T20:11:14.767" />
  <row Id="16119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16059" CreationDate="2011-03-12T20:27:07.823" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have 7:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pa&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;past&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;paste&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pastel and pastels&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T20:27:07.823" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-12T20:27:07.823" />
  <row Id="16120" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-12T20:41:50.990" Score="14" ViewCount="423" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does English have a specific word for a hole between the kitchen and the living room that is used to get food directly to the dining table?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;German has the nice &lt;em&gt;Durchreiche&lt;/em&gt;, which approximately translates to &lt;em&gt;hand-through&lt;/em&gt;. I am ideally looking for a nice translation of that word. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/pg5Ev.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;kitchen hole&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="239" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T00:51:35.547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T03:16:45.770" Title="Is there a more fancy name for a &quot;kitchen hole&quot;?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="16121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16120" CreationDate="2011-03-12T20:45:40.257" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually hear it called a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&amp;amp;q=Kitchen+Pass+Through&amp;amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&amp;amp;um=1&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;source=og&amp;amp;sa=N&amp;amp;tab=wi&amp;amp;biw=1241&amp;amp;bih=807&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kitchen pass-through&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T20:45:40.257" />
  <row Id="16123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16090" CreationDate="2011-03-12T20:55:34.597" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In typography terminology, &lt;strong&gt;roman&lt;/strong&gt; (or &lt;strong&gt;normal&lt;/strong&gt;) is the antonym of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italic_type&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;italic&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, while &lt;strong&gt;upright&lt;/strong&gt; is the antonym of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_type&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;oblique&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (aka &lt;strong&gt;slanted&lt;/strong&gt;). Oblique type and italic type are not the same, as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_type&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Wikepedia article 'Oblique type'&lt;/a&gt; explains and illustrates. Some typefaces have separate italic and oblique fonts. No typeface (AFAIK) has separate roman and upright fonts, so the choice between these words depends on which of italic or upright you wish to draw a contrast with. So if the author has inappropriately used an italic font rather than a slanted font, 'please typeset in roman' would strictly be more appropriate than 'please typeset upright'. But the typesetter will set the same type whichever you use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2673" LastEditorUserId="2673" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T21:03:23.873" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T21:03:23.873" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16120" CreationDate="2011-03-12T21:10:45.150" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is also called a  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/s/serving_hatch.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;serving hatch&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An opening in a wall at window height&#xA;  for the purpose of serving food or&#xA;  other items.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The cook passed the dishes through the serving hatch.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hatch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T03:16:45.770" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T03:16:45.770" />
  <row Id="16125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16063" CreationDate="2011-03-12T21:15:14.097" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The key to this is surely the etymology: the meaning of 'par' in golf derives from the meaning of 'par' as 'normal or expected quality, condition, or standard of something', &lt;em&gt;not the other way around&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://oed.com/view/Entry/137235&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;relevant OED entry&lt;/a&gt; gives as the earliest examples of these respective uses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1776    H. Newdigate &lt;em&gt;Let&lt;/em&gt;. in A. E. Newdigate-Newdegate &lt;em&gt;Cheverels&lt;/em&gt; (1898) i. 11 :  As to my Spirits they are rather above than &lt;strong&gt;below par&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;1887    W. Simpson &lt;em&gt;Art of Golf&lt;/em&gt; 8 : He easily recalls how often he has done each hole in &lt;strong&gt;par&lt;/strong&gt; figures.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2673" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T21:15:14.097" />
  <row Id="16126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15037" CreationDate="2011-03-12T22:35:34.110" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a reference to David Bowie's &quot;Ziggy Stardust&quot; persona, made famous by the 1970's album &quot;The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6044" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T22:35:34.110" />
  <row Id="16127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16120" CreationDate="2011-03-12T22:47:35.257" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've known it to be called a breakfast-bar.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A similar feature is a dumb-waiter, which is used to move crockery and food between different levels especially in hotels.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T22:47:35.257" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16128" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16243" CreationDate="2011-03-12T22:58:46.257" Score="10" ViewCount="305" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reading about an appeal turned down by the US Supreme Court, I see that the majority opinion on phrases such as &lt;em&gt;“in God we trust”&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;“one nation under God”&lt;/em&gt; is that they are not affirmations of faith, but &lt;em&gt;“a historic, nonreligious recognition of the faith of the nation's founders in a higher power as the source of all rights”&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a European, I have a hard time understanding this particular view, though that's very off-topic here. More on topic, this reading fueled my curiosity about the existence of other such expressions in English, be them either about God directly or religions in general. My question is: &lt;strong&gt;are there other typical sentences or mottos which, while having a religious meaning if read literally, but are commonly understood as nonreligious?&lt;/strong&gt; Maybe among States’ mottos, or those of army units’. I can't see where to start looking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing, though: I'm pretty much aware of the large number of phrases, idioms, or sayings which feature the word God and can be used almost without risk in daily language, such as “for God's sake”, “God bless”, “God forbid”, “God help”, “God willing”, etc. I'm not looking for any such idiom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T21:40:27.710" Title="Non-religious mentions of God (or religious concepts) in the American English language" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;motto&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="48" CreationDate="2011-03-12T23:04:00.853" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen (and used in one job) a recommendation to switch between &quot;his&quot; and &quot;her&quot;, switching each paragraph.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5923" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T23:04:00.853" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16130" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16131" CreationDate="2011-03-12T23:07:14.723" Score="2" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm from Pennsylvania. With the recent threat by the Westboro Baptist Church to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fox43.com/news/wpmt-westboro-protest-perry-fire-funeral,0,5116994.story&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;protest the funeral of seven children who perished in a fire&lt;/a&gt;, I've been thinking a lot about their infamous catchphrase: &quot;God Hates Fags.&quot; Religious debates aside, when did &quot;fag&quot; become an offensive word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6024" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T00:49:40.993" Title="When did &quot;fag&quot; become an offensive word?" Tags="&lt;offensive&gt;&lt;language-evolution&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16130" CreationDate="2011-03-12T23:12:36.253" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Fag&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;online etymology dictionary&lt;/a&gt; that I use,  &quot;Faggot&quot; came into usage in 1914 and &quot;fag&quot; in 1921. Prior to that definitions included a bundle of sticks for faggot and cigarette for fag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6048" LastEditorUserId="4333" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T23:28:54.610" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T23:28:54.610" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16132" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-12T23:18:05.243" Score="5" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;A phrase being used by the &quot;news&quot; media regarding the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.demingheadlight.com/ci_17592926&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;recent arrest of people in Columbus, NM&lt;/a&gt; is &quot;firearms favored by the Mexican cartels&quot;, referring to their purchase of AK47s and other semiautomatics; weapons that are in fact favored by many people who want a good weapon for a reasonable price. I'm trying to name the fallacy, and &quot;guilt by association&quot; and &quot;red herring&quot; come to mind but aren't really a good fit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've read &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4896/using-or-arguing-a-biased-opinion-as-fact&quot;&gt;this thread&lt;/a&gt;, but can't really match it to the situation. I've also looked through many of the fallacies at &lt;a&#xA;href=&quot;http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Nizkor Project&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a&#xA;href=&quot;http://www.logicalfallacies.info/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;logicalfallacies.info&lt;/a&gt; and can't see a good match. Any ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;It could be rewritten for clarity:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Person P bought weapons A and B.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;A and B are favored by the Mexican drug cartels.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Therefore, P bought the weapons with intent to distribute them to the Mexican drug cartels.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6047" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T00:25:01.303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T02:12:45.007" Title="Does this logical fallacy have a name?" Tags="&lt;logic&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="16133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16128" CreationDate="2011-03-12T23:18:17.350" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm coming up with five states that mention &quot;God&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arizona: &lt;em&gt;Ditat Deus&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;God Enriches.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Florida: &lt;em&gt;In God We Trust&lt;/em&gt; (same as the national motto).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Kentucky: &lt;em&gt;Deo Gratium Habeamus&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;Let us be grateful to God.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ohio: &lt;em&gt;With God, all things are possible.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;South Dakota: &lt;em&gt;Under God the people rule.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then there is American Samoa, a U.S. territory, whose motto is &lt;em&gt;Samoa, Muamua Le Atua&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;Samoa, let God be first.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6024" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T23:18:17.350" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16134" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16135" CreationDate="2011-03-12T23:19:11.470" Score="1" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which of these are correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In a frail voice, he said goodbye.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  With a frail voice, he said goodbye.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-12T23:30:53.857" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T23:30:53.857" Title="&quot;In a frail voice&quot; versus &quot;with a frail voice&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16134" CreationDate="2011-03-12T23:23:11.977" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is more usage than grammar; grammatically, both are correct. I'd say &quot;in a frail voice&quot; would be more common usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6047" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T23:23:11.977" />
  <row Id="16136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16134" CreationDate="2011-03-12T23:24:06.483" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are both correct.  The first means that his voice was frail when he said goodbye, while the second means that he used a frail voice to say goodbye, so essentially they mean the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T23:24:06.483" />
  <row Id="16137" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16139" CreationDate="2011-03-12T23:31:08.757" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://superuser.com/questions/256354/why-the-multiple-reboots-installing-win7&quot;&gt;Super User&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I just installed Win7 on my non-PC&#xA;  (ahem) and was struck by how many&#xA;  times the Windows installer reboots&#xA;  during installation. It even tells you&#xA;  on the screen during installation that&#xA;  the computer will reboot multiple&#xA;  times.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I know MS must have a good reason for&#xA;  this, but I'm completely baffled why&#xA;  this is necessary? Installation simply&#xA;  writes to the disk, and because the&#xA;  system has booted off the DVD, it&#xA;  already has full write access to the&#xA;  target hard drive partition. Is&#xA;  Windows in fact installing a&#xA;  preliminary disk image and then&#xA;  booting off of that instead of the DVD&#xA;  in order to speed up installation?&#xA;  (&lt;strong&gt;Though that then begs the question,&#xA;  why 2 reboots?&lt;/strong&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Edit: Changed &quot;3+ reboots&quot; to &quot;2&#xA;  reboots&quot;. It probably seemed like more&#xA;  than that because I had to do an extra&#xA;  reboot initially (back to my host OS)&#xA;  to fix the format of my partition, and&#xA;  then there were the subsequent reboots&#xA;  for windows updates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;em&gt;Emphasis added by me&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me like &quot;raises the question&quot; would fit better than &quot;begs the question&quot; in this case.  What is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6039" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T23:41:44.267" Title="&quot;Begs the question&quot; or &quot;Raises the question&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16137" CreationDate="2011-03-12T23:33:54.417" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;raises the question&quot; is correct. &quot;begs the question&quot; is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.logicalfallacies.info/presumption/begging-the-question/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;logical fallacy&lt;/a&gt; of circular reasoning.&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&quot;prompts the question&quot; might be even better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6047" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T23:33:54.417" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16137" CreationDate="2011-03-12T23:37:27.093" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;To beg the question&quot; means &quot;to raise the question&quot;, or &quot;to invite an obvious question&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;From the context of that sentence, I would think that &quot;beg the question&quot; is used with the second meaning I reported.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports the following notes about the meaning of &quot;beg the question&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The original meaning of the phrase &lt;em&gt;beg the question&lt;/em&gt; belongs to the field of logic and is a translation of the Latin term &lt;em&gt;petitio principii&lt;/em&gt;, literally meaning &quot;laying claim to a principle&quot; (that is, assuming something that ought to be proved first), as in the following sentence: &lt;em&gt;by devoting such a large part of the anti-drug budget to education, we are begging the question of its significance in the battle against drugs&lt;/em&gt;. To some traditionalists, this is still the only correct meaning. However, over the last 100 years or so, another, more general use has arisen: &quot;invite an obvious question,&quot; as in &lt;em&gt;some definitions of mental illness beg the question of what constitutes normal behavior&lt;/em&gt;. This is by far the more common use today in modern standard English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T23:37:27.093" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16137" CreationDate="2011-03-12T23:41:44.267" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;begs the question&quot; is abused in this fashion so often that it is becoming an accepted usage.  If you're a prescriptivist, it's absolutely incorrect; if you're a descriptivist, it's almost standard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T23:41:44.267" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16132" CreationDate="2011-03-12T23:43:46.890" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might be looking for &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirming_the_consequent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;affirming the consequent&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People who would illegally sell weapons to foreign drug gangs would be more likely to purchase available weapons that the gangs preferred. That does not mean that everybody who purchased weapons that the drug gangs preferred intended to sell them illegally to the gangs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it might add to a prosecution case if there was also other evidence, such as preparations to smuggle weapons across a national border.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-12T23:43:46.890" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16142" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16145" CreationDate="2011-03-12T23:44:16.053" Score="4" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I express that an explanation is clear, considering the intrinsic difficulty of the topic? I mean that the explanation might not be easy to understand, if the subject matter is intrinsically hard, but a superlatively &lt;em&gt;adjectivy&lt;/em&gt; explanation is one that is as clear as it can get. Someone who frequently produces such explanations could be said to have good teaching skills.&#xA;What's a good word to substitute for &lt;em&gt;adjectivy&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;em&gt;The word that comes to my mind is the French word “pédagogique”, which a dictionary describes as meaning roughly “as coming from a good teacher”. Unfortunately the corresponding English word has negative connotations instead.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1165" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T00:16:43.577" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T18:07:24.827" Title="How to express &quot;good teaching skills&quot;" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="16143" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15037" CreationDate="2011-03-13T00:15:00.690" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not that it matters, but what he actually said was &quot;I'm tired of pretending like I'm not bitchin', a total friggin' rockstar from Mars.&quot; He says the line at 1:27: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA4bo6_hS4g&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA4bo6_hS4g&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5256" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T00:15:00.690" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16132" CreationDate="2011-03-13T00:18:10.947" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;tarred with the same brush&quot;? It's a little awkward when applied to firearms, but I think it fits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6049" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T00:18:10.947" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16142" CreationDate="2011-03-13T00:30:21.380" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1264676#m_en_us1264676&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lucid&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is an excellent candidate; &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1277189#m_en_us1277189&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;perspicuous&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is a worthy synonym. Thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;...but a superlatively &lt;em&gt;lucid&lt;/em&gt; explanation is one that is as clear as it can get.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;...but a superlatively &lt;em&gt;perspicuous&lt;/em&gt; explanation is one that is as clear as it can get.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T00:30:21.380" />
  <row Id="16146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16132" CreationDate="2011-03-13T00:41:01.940" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with your original hypothesis of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/guilt-by-association.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;guilt by association&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3593" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T00:41:01.940" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16120" CreationDate="2011-03-13T00:41:12.707" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In French, it is known as a &lt;em&gt;passe-plat&lt;/em&gt;, which is elegant and simple. It can also be translated simply as &lt;em&gt;hatch&lt;/em&gt;, which might be better than serving hatch as any sentence employing it is likely to involve a &lt;em&gt;serving&lt;/em&gt; context which would make it redundant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6049" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T00:41:12.707" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16130" CreationDate="2011-03-13T00:49:40.993" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Fag&lt;/em&gt;, used with the meaning of &quot;a male homosexual&quot; has origin as short for &lt;em&gt;faggot&lt;/em&gt; (1920s), which has then origin from the obsolete sense of &lt;em&gt;fagot&lt;/em&gt; (contemptible woman).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Reference: the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;, third edition.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T00:49:40.993" />
  <row Id="16149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16104" CreationDate="2011-03-13T01:13:26.407" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To &quot;get to do&quot; something means that you are enabled or given the opportunity to do something. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example 1 -  A circumstance or choice enables you to do something:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why do you work at home? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;I get to spend a lot of time with you and the kids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example 2 - Being given an opportunity: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Has anything good come out of this week-long snowstorm?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;I get to spend a lot of time with you and the kids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes this phrase is used sarcastically to mean &quot;I am being forced to do something that I don't want to do&quot;. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I get to grade 40 tests this weekend!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;should be interpreted as something along the lines of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'd rather be doing something else, but I must grade 40 tests this weekend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5880" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T01:13:26.407" />
  <row Id="16150" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16151" CreationDate="2011-03-13T01:13:36.657" Score="2" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a measurable difference in meaning between the phrases &quot;to a degree&quot; and &quot;to an extent&quot; (or &quot;to some degree&quot; and &quot;to some extent&quot;)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To [some degree / some extent] that is a better solution.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To [a degree / an extent], she is correct.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just a matter of a style, or are there different connotations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5709" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T02:48:59.767" Title="&quot;to a degree&quot; vs. &quot;to an extent&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;connotation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16150" CreationDate="2011-03-13T01:25:30.077" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say: simply style, when not in a geometrical context. Similarity or difference is being metaphorically expressed as distance, whether angular or linear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6047" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T01:25:30.077" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16150" CreationDate="2011-03-13T01:56:16.527" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Extent&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;the amount to which something is or is believed to be the case,&quot; and &lt;em&gt;to a degree&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;to some extent.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no difference between the phrases, except (maybe) the position they take in a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Everyone will have to compromise to some extent.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  They altered the document to such an extent that it contained little in the way of new policy.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  To a degree, it is possible to educate oneself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T02:48:59.767" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T02:48:59.767" />
  <row Id="16153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16120" CreationDate="2011-03-13T02:08:44.260" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In restaurants, I've heard that area is referred to as the pass and that is what we call it in our house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6051" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T02:08:44.260" />
  <row Id="16154" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-13T02:09:31.300" Score="1" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is lolspeak / internet speak (such as &quot;plz send teh codez&quot;) bad English, or a different English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't really describe what'd be &quot;bad&quot;, but a lack of consistency would be an indicator it's bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastEditorUserId="1420" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T02:28:16.407" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T14:13:19.527" Title="Is lolspeak bad English, or just a different English?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;writing&gt;&lt;internet&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16132" CreationDate="2011-03-13T02:12:45.007" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;TV tropes calls it &lt;a href=&quot;http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HitlerAteSugar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Hitler ate sugar&lt;/a&gt;. It also says it's called &quot;The Association Fallacy&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T02:12:45.007" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16003" CreationDate="2011-03-13T02:24:38.033" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Latin&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;a native or inhabitant of a country whose language developed from Latin.&quot; It includes also inhabitant of countries like France, Italy, Spain.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Hispanic&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;of or relating to Spain or to Spanish-speaking countries.&quot; It can be used to refer to Spain, but not Italy or France.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Naming those lands &quot;Latin America&quot; was a reason for Napoleon III to claim possession of the lands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T02:24:38.033" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16154" CreationDate="2011-03-13T02:25:16.723" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it bad &lt;em&gt;English&lt;/em&gt;? Yes, I'd say so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it a bad language? No, not really. No more than, say, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_Latin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pig latin&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4877" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T02:25:16.723" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16158" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-13T03:00:20.050" Score="3" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless I'm using &quot;backward&quot; and &quot;backwards&quot; wrong, I can pluralize it when the subject is not plural and vice versa.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, correct me if I'm wrong:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One movie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you watch your favourite movie&#xA;  backwards, what is the plot?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More than one movie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you watch your favourite movies&#xA;  backward, what are the plots?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never stopped to think about this before and am looking for some quick enlightenment as to its validity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2426/backward-and-backwards&quot;&gt;this question based on the same words&lt;/a&gt; but believe it's a slightly different context. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="618" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T04:19:31.057" Title="Pluralization: backward and backwards in context." Tags="&lt;subject&gt;&lt;pluralization&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16158" CreationDate="2011-03-13T03:50:58.877" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's really no difference, except that certain idioms (like &lt;em&gt;bend over backwards&lt;/em&gt;) call for one or the other.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/backwards?r=75&amp;amp;src=ref&amp;amp;ch=dic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dictionary.com agrees&lt;/a&gt;.  In some areas/dialects/social groups one will be used over the other, but they're basically synonyms at this point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6054" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T03:50:58.877" />
  <row Id="16160" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16169" CreationDate="2011-03-13T04:04:35.687" Score="4" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm seeing this suffix everywhere lately. Of course, there are a number of &lt;em&gt;-esques&lt;/em&gt; that are commonly used (i.e. &lt;em&gt;Kafkaesque&lt;/em&gt;), but is there some sort of rule for determining who (or what) gets assigned which suffix? For instance, was &lt;em&gt;Orwellian&lt;/em&gt; chosen simply because someone decided it sounded better than &quot;Orwellesque&quot;? What about &quot;Kafkanian&quot;? It all seems very willy-nilly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6024" LastEditorUserId="6024" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T04:35:51.277" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T06:49:20.623" Title="What are the limits of using the suffix &quot;-esque&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;suffix&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="16161" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16168" CreationDate="2011-03-13T04:11:04.480" Score="2" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;One who creates is a creator. What is one who updates?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An updater?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;An updator?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last one seems more logical, but also wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5285" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T11:45:01.267" Title="One who creates is a creator. What is one who updates?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="16162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16158" CreationDate="2011-03-13T04:19:31.057" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;-s&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;backwards&lt;/em&gt; is not a plural suffix, but rather an adverbial suffix, originating in the adverbial use of the genitive case (the genitive case is the origin of modern possessive &lt;em&gt;'s&lt;/em&gt;). So there is no relation between &lt;em&gt;backwards&lt;/em&gt; and plural nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T04:19:31.057" />
  <row Id="16163" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16170" CreationDate="2011-03-13T04:31:32.527" Score="5" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;...and if not, where'd it go? One obvious venture is that the noun &quot;wit&quot;, in the sense of cleverness and general know-how, has an etymological affinity with the Old English &lt;em&gt;witen&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;to know&quot;, and which Merriam-Webster informs me the &quot;wit&quot; in &lt;em&gt;to wit&lt;/em&gt; is a conjugation of.  I can kinda-sorta see it, but the connection isn't very transparent to me.  However, I can certainly appeal to the learnèd scholars here! Are there any other surviving words &lt;em&gt;witen&lt;/em&gt; bears etymological affinities to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T07:15:55.940" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T20:38:11.670" Title="Is the &quot;wit&quot; in &quot;to wit&quot; the root of any other English words?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="16164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16161" CreationDate="2011-03-13T04:34:58.560" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;-er&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;-or&lt;/em&gt; are suffixes used to form nouns denoting a person, animal, or thing that performs a specified action or activity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the dictionaries I have, I don't find neither &lt;em&gt;updater&lt;/em&gt; nor &lt;em&gt;updator&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If I should choose, I would choose &lt;em&gt;updater&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T04:34:58.560" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16163" CreationDate="2011-03-13T04:44:50.473" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;wit&lt;/em&gt; is from Old English. According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=wit&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;know,&quot; O.E. witan &quot;to know,&quot; from P.Gmc. *witanan &quot;to have seen,&quot; hence &quot;to know&quot; (cf. O.S. witan, O.N. vita, O.Fris. wita, M.Du., Du. weten, O.H.G. wizzan, Ger. wissen, Goth. witan &quot;to know&quot;); see wit (n.). The phrase &lt;strong&gt;to wit&lt;/strong&gt;, almost the only surviving use of the verb, is first recorded 1570s, from earlier that is to wit (mid-14c.), probably a loan-translation of Anglo-Fr. cestasavoir, used to render L. videlicet (see viz.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T04:44:50.473" />
  <row Id="16167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16163" CreationDate="2011-03-13T05:00:34.127" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that &lt;em&gt;witan&lt;/em&gt; (another term for &lt;em&gt;witenagemot&lt;/em&gt;) derives from the Old English plural of &lt;em&gt;wita&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;wise man&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In that case, you can say there is another word that is related to the Old English &lt;em&gt;wit&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T05:00:34.127" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16161" CreationDate="2011-03-13T06:06:42.047" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=260&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dr. Goodword's Language Blog&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Generally, -or is a Latin suffix and -er is the Germanic equivalent meaning, roughly, “one who Vs”, where V represents any verb. Words borrowed directly from Latin, then, tend to end on -or: governor, calculator, arbitrator, legislator, alternator. Words of Germanic origin (English is a Germanic language) generally take -er: runner, thinker, worker, joker. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;However, two factors muddy the water.  English borrowed many words from French in the Middle Ages and the French equivalent of -or and -er, is -eur.  English generally reduced that suffix to -er, keeping it only in a few words borrowed late: amateur, restauranteur [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...] you need to know the etymologies of many of the verbs that -er and -or are added to, in order to know how to distribute them. You can be sure that verbs ending on -ize and -ify will take the suffix -er and that verbs ending on the suffix -ate will be suffixed with -or.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may note that &quot;update&quot; ends with &quot;-ate&quot;; however, it is not a &lt;em&gt;suffix&lt;/em&gt;, as it is in words like &lt;em&gt;asphyxiate&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;elongate&lt;/em&gt;.  According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/date&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;update&quot; is &quot;up-&quot; + &quot;date&quot;, and &quot;date&quot; came to English via French, and therefore according to the information above should take &quot;-er&quot; as its suffix.  (Indeed, dictionary.com lists &quot;updater&quot; in its set of related forms.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T06:06:42.047" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16160" CreationDate="2011-03-13T06:49:20.623" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From what I could infer based on the Wikitionary entries, -esque is more likely to be appended to proper nouns than -ian.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;-esque:&lt;/strong&gt; In the style or manner of, resembling; appended to nouns, especially proper nouns, and forming adjectives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From French -esque (&quot;-ish&quot;), from Italian -esco (&quot;-like&quot;), from Medieval Latin -iscus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;-ian:&lt;/strong&gt; from, related to, or like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;From Latin -ianus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also there appear to be nuances in meaning though they seem to have been dulled by conflicting contemporary usage. &lt;strong&gt;-ian&lt;/strong&gt; can be used to mean &quot;related to&quot; in addition to &quot;like&quot;, e.g. &lt;em&gt;Machiavellian&lt;/em&gt; could relate to the principles of government as expounded by Machiavelli or something befitting Machiavelli . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;-esque&lt;/strong&gt; is generally used only in the sense of being like something or befitting something, e.g. &lt;em&gt;&quot;Machiavellesque&quot;&lt;/em&gt; could describe something befitting Machiavelli, not necessarily related to his principles (although I am inclined to leave this point open for discussion).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on these arguments, I conclude that &lt;strong&gt;-ian&lt;/strong&gt; can be used in a much broader context than &lt;strong&gt;-esque&lt;/strong&gt; even when both are appended to proper nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T06:49:20.623" />
  <row Id="16170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16163" CreationDate="2011-03-13T06:57:48.843" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;witness&quot; is one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you already mentioned &quot;to wit&quot; is from an old Saxon root.  I can see some link with the German &quot;wissen&quot; (also to know), Dutch &quot;weten&quot; and (I'm told) Danish &quot;Vide&quot; .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As in many languages &quot;to see&quot; and &quot;to know&quot; are interrelated concepts.  So that &quot;to wit&quot; is not only about knowledge but witnessing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the knowledge side, it is also easy to see the link with &lt;em&gt;wise&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;witty&lt;/em&gt; and wittingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;Witan&quot; being the Anglo Saxon assembly of wise men - knowing enough to have their word in the destiny of the community.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;wittingly&quot;: knowingly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Following  mplungjan's comment, I read that the common root would be the Sanskrit &quot;veda&quot; (knowledge), which also yielded Latin &quot;videre&quot; (again &quot;see&quot; and &quot;know&quot;).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;All of these forms (including the Sanskrit) come from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_vocabulary#Mental_functions_and_states&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Proto-Indo-European word *weid-&lt;/a&gt; (credits to Kosmonaut)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="5432" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T20:38:11.670" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T20:38:11.670" CommentCount="13" />
  <row Id="16171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16163" CreationDate="2011-03-13T07:22:39.333" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Witless &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/witless&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/witless&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T07:22:39.333" />
  <row Id="16172" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16173" CreationDate="2011-03-13T07:27:48.023" Score="14" ViewCount="488" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that &quot;e.g.&quot; is always followed by a comma but &quot;i.e.&quot; is not. Why is that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5648" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T20:46:27.827" Title="Should I always use a comma after &quot;e.g.&quot; or &quot;i.e.&quot;?" Tags="&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="16173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16172" CreationDate="2011-03-13T07:34:38.670" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The distinction probably emerges from their different meanings in Latin, which grants them different usages in writing.  &lt;em&gt;E.g.&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;exempli gratia&lt;/em&gt; in Latin, &quot;for example&quot;, should be generally followed by a list of examples; thus adhering to proper English style usually requires commas to follow &lt;em&gt;e.g.&lt;/em&gt; in order to delimit the beginning of that list.  &lt;em&gt;I.e.&lt;/em&gt;, short for &lt;em&gt;id est&lt;/em&gt;, which means &quot;that is&quot; is Latin, is instead used to recapture the meaning of an antecedent clause by a rephrasing, so it is generally only followed by a clause describing a singular entity, and thus need not require a comma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T12:50:44.513" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T12:50:44.513" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16174" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-13T08:26:47.860" Score="0" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it grammatically correct to say &quot;I hope all of you will be having amazing day&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6015" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T10:22:37.863" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T08:19:40.953" ClosedDate="2011-03-30T11:05:04.520" Title="Is it grammatically correct to say &quot;I hope all of you will be having amazing day&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16174" CreationDate="2011-03-13T08:36:03.713" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are missing an article. Also the tense is not appropriate for what you are intending to convey i.e., &quot;Have a great day.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I hope all of you have an amazing day.&quot; is better sounding. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T08:36:03.713" />
  <row Id="16176" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16178" CreationDate="2011-03-13T08:42:34.663" Score="0" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those words all mean ..... WE!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T10:21:03.343" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T10:21:03.343" Title="What is the difference among &quot;human,&quot; &quot;human being&quot; and &quot;humankind&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16176" CreationDate="2011-03-13T08:57:32.887" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;human:&lt;/strong&gt; relating to a person; characteristic of humanity&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;human being:&lt;/strong&gt; an individual of the humankind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;humankind:&lt;/strong&gt; world; all of the living human inhabitants of the earth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T08:57:32.887" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16176" CreationDate="2011-03-13T10:19:29.507" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;human: a human being, especially a person as distinguished from an animal or (in science fiction) an alien&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;human being: a man, woman, or child of the species Homo sapiens, distinguished from other animals by superior mental development, power of articulate speech, and upright stance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;humankind: human beings considered collectively (used as a neutral alternative to “mankind”)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The NOAD has also these notes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Traditionally, the word &lt;em&gt;man&lt;/em&gt; has been used to refer not only to adult males but also to human beings in general, regardless of sex. There is a historical explanation for this: in Old English, the principal sense of &lt;em&gt;man&lt;/em&gt; was &quot;a human being,&quot; and the words &lt;em&gt;wer&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;wif&lt;/em&gt; were used to refer specifically to &quot;a male person&quot; and &quot;a female person,&quot; respectively. Subsequently, &lt;em&gt;man&lt;/em&gt; replaced &lt;em&gt;wer&lt;/em&gt; as the normal term for &quot;a male person,&quot; but at the same time the older sense &quot;a human being&quot; remained in use. In the second half of the 20th century, the generic use of man to refer to &quot;human beings in general&quot; (as in &lt;em&gt;reptiles were here long before man appeared on the earth&lt;/em&gt;) became problematic; the use is now often regarded as sexist or old-fashioned. In some contexts, terms such as the &lt;em&gt;human race&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;humankind&lt;/em&gt; may be used instead of &lt;em&gt;man&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;mankind&lt;/em&gt;. Certain fixed phrases and sayings, such as time and tide wait for no man can be easily rephrased (e.g., &lt;em&gt;time and tide wait for no one&lt;/em&gt;). Alternatives for other related terms exist as well: the noun &lt;em&gt;manpower&lt;/em&gt;, for example, can usually be replaced with &lt;em&gt;staff&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;crew&lt;/em&gt;, and in most cases, the verbal form &lt;em&gt;to man&lt;/em&gt; can be expressed as &lt;em&gt;to staff&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;to operate&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T10:19:29.507" />
  <row Id="16179" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-13T10:28:45.737" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to use &quot;that+subjunctive&quot; after the phrase &quot;in order&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: Nutritionist recommend that people at risk for anemia consume iron supplements in order that blood counts remain stable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1902" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T10:34:15.713" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T15:26:17.517" Title="Use of subjunctive with &quot;in order that&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;subjunctive-mood&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16180" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16182" CreationDate="2011-03-13T10:31:20.780" Score="0" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Knowledge having a &lt;strong&gt;bearing&lt;/strong&gt; on human life was placed highest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Knowledge &lt;strong&gt;about&lt;/strong&gt; human life was placed highest&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastEditorUserId="5015" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T10:36:32.397" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T10:59:59.817" Title="Meaning of &quot;bearing&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16174" CreationDate="2011-03-13T10:32:37.900" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence needs the indefinite article before &lt;em&gt;amazing day&lt;/em&gt;: I hope all of you will be having an amazing day.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The future progressive tense doesn't seem correct to me, in that sentence.&#xA;I would suggest the following alternatives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hope [all of] you will have an amazing day.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I wish [all of] you an amazing day.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I hope [all of] you have an amazing day.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I wish you [all] a nice day.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I hope you [all] have a nice day.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I hope you [all] are having a nice day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T08:19:40.953" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T08:19:40.953" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16180" CreationDate="2011-03-13T10:34:23.320" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bearing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;bearing&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;em&gt;n.&lt;/em&gt;, pl. &lt;em&gt;bearings&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. A mechanical device that supports another part and/or reduces friction.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. (nautical) The horizontal angle between the direction of an object and that of true north; &gt;subject to variation and deviation when taken by a magnetic compass&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;3. Relevance; a relationship or connection.&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;&lt;em&gt;That has no bearing on this issue.&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  4. One's posture, demeanor, or manner.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in your sentence, &lt;em&gt;bearing&lt;/em&gt; uses the third definition that is given, which I rewrite as &quot;to have a relationship or a relevance with.&quot;  That is, your sentence might be rephrased as the following: &quot;Knowledge that has to do with, or has a connection with, human life was placed highest.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T10:41:52.610" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T10:41:52.610" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16179" CreationDate="2011-03-13T10:40:01.290" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would re-write the sentence as &quot;nutritionist recommend that people at risk for anemia consume iron supplements in order that blood counts might remain stable.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In the sentence, &lt;em&gt;in order that&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;with the intention; so that.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The present of the subjunctive mood is used to express commands or requests; the past of the subjunctive mood is used to express what is imagined or wished or possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The NOAD has the following notes about the usage of the subjunctive in English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The subjunctive is used to express situations that are hypothetical or not yet realized and is typically used for what is imagined, hoped for, demanded, or expected. In English, the subjunctive mood is fairly uncommon (especially in comparison with other languages, such as Spanish), mainly because most of the functions of the subjunctive are covered by modal verbs such as &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt;. In fact, in English, the subjunctive is often indistinguishable from the ordinary indicative mood since its form in most contexts is identical. It is distinctive only in the third person singular, where the normal indicative &lt;em&gt;-s&lt;/em&gt; ending is absent (&lt;em&gt;he face&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;he faces&lt;/em&gt;), and in the verb &lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;I were&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;I was&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;they be&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;they are&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T11:07:44.953" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T11:07:44.953" />
  <row Id="16184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16179" CreationDate="2011-03-13T10:50:20.140" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would just get rid of &quot;in order&quot; (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3110/in-order-to-to-or-for&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; for instance) and say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nutritionists recommend that people at risk for anemia consume iron supplements for their blood counts to remain stable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nutritionists recommend that people at risk for anemia consume iron supplements so that their blood counts remain stable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I never heard &quot;in order that&quot; only &quot;in order to&quot;. However, I am not a native speaker so I may be wrong on that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5737" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T10:50:20.140" />
  <row Id="16185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16180" CreationDate="2011-03-13T10:59:59.817" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meaning of &lt;em&gt;bearing on&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;relation or relevance&quot; (&lt;em&gt;bearing&lt;/em&gt; is a noun).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The meaning of &lt;em&gt;about&lt;/em&gt; is (among others) &quot;on the subject of; concerning.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference between the two sentences is that in the first the knowledge is related to human life, while in the second the knowledge topic is human life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Bearing on&lt;/em&gt; is usually used in sentences such as &quot;the case has no direct bearing on the issues.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I should choose between the two sentences, I would choose the second one. Alternatively, I would rephrase the sentence, but I don't see any reason to not use &lt;em&gt;about&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T10:59:59.817" />
  <row Id="16186" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-13T11:33:26.077" Score="0" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How do I improve my English skills? Being a web developer, a good command of English is a must and I think my English skills are letting me down when it comes to job applications and trying to explain myself. I have difficulties writing out reports and reading big complicated words. I also struggle pronoucing words. I do quite a lot of reading but only online through forums, and I read a lot of &quot;Computer manuals/guides&quot;-though most of them are not difficult to follow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My school mark for English was terrible and I mostly used slang English/Afrikaans mixture. Afrikaans being a second language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6062" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T11:44:20.103" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T11:44:20.103" ClosedDate="2011-03-13T11:43:29.620" Title="How do I improve my English?" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16161" CreationDate="2011-03-13T11:45:01.267" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use &lt;strong&gt;creator&lt;/strong&gt; for the person who creates a document/post/record and &lt;strong&gt;editor&lt;/strong&gt; for someone who makes subsequent changes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T11:45:01.267" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16172" CreationDate="2011-03-13T11:48:26.713" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is not true that &lt;em&gt;i.e.&lt;/em&gt; is never followed by a comma, nor that &lt;em&gt;e.g.&lt;/em&gt; is always followed by a comma. You could also write sentences like the following.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Similar dynamics that resulted in the development of new local art forms have been documented elsewhere (e.g. Chibnik 2008).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  My walking boots are synthetic, i.e., not leather or suede.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T11:57:56.590" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T11:57:56.590" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16189" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-13T12:27:18.657" Score="-2" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;our places&quot; grammatically correct when each of us has his own place, or should it be &quot;our place&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And what if we all share a single place?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6064" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T17:18:40.803" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T17:18:40.803" Title="Should it be &quot;our places&quot; or &quot;our place&quot;? — Using plural or singular nouns with plural possessive adjectives" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16190" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16192" CreationDate="2011-03-13T12:45:06.247" Score="2" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;while an ignorant person will flounder and encounter difficulty&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T12:52:46.637" Title="What's the difference between 'ignorant' and 'silly' ?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="16191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16189" CreationDate="2011-03-13T12:51:38.133" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use &quot;our places&quot; in a variety of ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We all quickly found our places at the table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here &quot;our places&quot; refers to seating locations for a meal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We all have our places in a well-functioning society.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here it refers to function within a complex social organization.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As African-Americans during the Jim Crow era of American history, we were all expected to know our places.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here a black American speaker would be discussing discrimination and commenting on his ancestors' social status as an oppressed minority.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are more. If you provide more context, as RegDwight suggests, we may be able to provide a clearer answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, your question might be grammatically better phrased as &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Is&lt;/strong&gt; saying 'our places' grammatically incorrect?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T14:34:04.833" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T14:34:04.833" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16190" CreationDate="2011-03-13T12:52:46.637" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ignorance&lt;/em&gt; is lack of knowledge.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;lack of knowledge or information : &lt;em&gt;he acted in ignorance of basic procedures.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Silly&lt;/em&gt; is behaving in a foolish manner, or showing poor judgment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;having or showing a lack of common sense or judgment; absurd and foolish : &lt;em&gt;another of his silly jokes&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;“Don't be silly!” she said&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Both definitions from NOAD]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T12:52:46.637" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16172" CreationDate="2011-03-13T13:01:19.743" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would always place a comma after ie. and eg.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T13:01:19.743" />
  <row Id="16194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16172" CreationDate="2011-03-13T13:09:45.677" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6067" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T13:09:45.677" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15639" CreationDate="2011-03-13T14:39:02.583" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both examples are &lt;strong&gt;absolute constructions&lt;/strong&gt;. They are perfectly correct, but in most cases rather literary and old fashioned. I think Jason's explanation of what difference &lt;em&gt;being&lt;/em&gt; makes is right, though I find it hard to explain why &lt;em&gt;being&lt;/em&gt; makes a difference here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The absolute construction is like a regular, attributive participial phrase, except that the agent/subject of the participle is not a noun or pronoun from the main clause but is itself a part of the construction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Provided that she receive no visitors&lt;/strong&gt;, she will be allowed to stay at home. &lt;em&gt;(absolute construction&#xA;  with past participle)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Her mother dead&lt;/strong&gt;, there was nothing&#xA;  keeping her here. &lt;em&gt;(w. adjective)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Her father dying&lt;/strong&gt;, she felt she could&#xA;  not leave the island. &lt;em&gt;(w. present participle)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;strong&gt;attributive phrases&lt;/strong&gt;, the participle or adjective is an attribute to a head noun or pronoun outside the participial phrase (&lt;strong&gt;attribute&lt;/strong&gt; in bold, &lt;em&gt;head&lt;/em&gt; in italics):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Roughly measured&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;em&gt;the height of the table&lt;/em&gt; seemed about right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hit hard by the earthquake&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Japan&lt;/em&gt; will need time to mourn its dead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Still wet behind the ears&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt; assumed&#xA;  she would indeed show him around her&#xA;  bedroom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Giving her the ring&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt; spoke: et nunc moriere!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both attributive participial phrases and absolute constructions can be anywhere within a sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There was nothing she could do, &lt;strong&gt;her&#xA;  husband being such a jerk&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;em&gt;(abs.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The King, &lt;strong&gt;his crown (having been)&#xA;  destroyed by the assassin&lt;/strong&gt;, had lost his last shred&#xA;  of dignity. &lt;em&gt;(abs.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Nurse Ursula&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;suffering from a terrible disease&lt;/strong&gt;, still managed to&#xA;  cure all patients with her magic&#xA;  touch. &lt;em&gt;(attributive)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nurse Ursula cured &lt;em&gt;all patients&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;suffering from pneumonia&lt;/strong&gt; with her magic touch. &lt;em&gt;(attributive)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually the head of an attributive participle is the subject of the main clause; but not always, as you can see in my second &lt;em&gt;Nurse Ursula&lt;/em&gt; sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T17:26:49.653" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T17:26:49.653" />
  <row Id="16196" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-13T14:49:42.163" Score="0" ViewCount="7" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure this is the right place to ask for this. I'll be totally understanding if moderator close this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nonetheless, here is one of my recent essay. What I was trying to do is to write a passage about a certain topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently I'm a beginner in learning English (as a foreign language). So any advice, no matter it is grammatical, phraseological, structural or else, it will be highly appreciated! Please help me improve this essay to be more native-like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;TOPIC ISSUE: Even though prognostications turn out to be wrong as often as they are right, they will always have enduring power and appeal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My essay:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why Do We Need Predictions?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Making wild guesses about what the future will be like is not only fun, in fact, it is a meaningful activity that characterizes the human race. However, reading ancient “predictions” about what modern world would be like can often make you laugh into tears, partly of course since they are absurdly far from the truth, but more because these so-called prognostications are uncanny pure and naive. Nonetheless, we surprisingly discover that we’ve never stopped making predictions. Even in present time, there are still lots of people posting their guesses about the future. We even have got a category of books that focus on this kind of activity, called “fiction”. Why we keep shooting our darts even if we know they barely hit the target?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Perhaps the most natural answer is – we like to do it. We are born dreamers. To envision what the future holds is truly fascinating. This feeling may start ever since the first time your kindergarten teacher asked you the famous question: “What do you want to be?” then your imagination took off and soared into the sky. Admittedly our imagination damaged greatly after grown up, but you can’t deny that deep in your heart, you keep asking yourself these will-questions – Will I got promoted? Will my future wife be pretty? Will the world be better? It’s not easy to explain why we have this nature etched in our soul, but it is widely believe to be one of the noblest qualities that make us different from wild beasts – we have dreams, and we’re blessed to be dreamers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But we are not merely “like” dreaming, we “need” it. Prophecies bring certainty. And certainty is so very important to us that, according to psychological studies, it is nearly vital. We would be terribly anxious without knowing what’s going to happen next. Just recall the feeling when you walk in the street, then close your eyes and keep stepping forward. What that feels like? Simply put, it’s scary. We have to be aware of what is ahead to keep the minimal assurance for safety. This security-demand nature is shared by the modern human and our ancient relatives living in the caves. We crave anticipations to console us that all our endeavors and hardworking are meaningful, that we will have a future and this future will be bright and sunny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Consolations are not the only gifts predictions grant us. They also give us compasses, pointing the direction to the future. Making prognostications forces us to stop and think where we are heading to. “Imagination is more important than knowledge,” said Einstein. And he is totally right in the sense that, without thinking what the future would be like, pursuing knowledge suddenly became pointless. In fact, we explore the ocean of knowledge mainly to find the key to the Door of Future. We experiment and learn just to discover the way to a better life and brighter world. So just imagine when we lost the anticipation for the future, we would definitely lose as well the motive to fight for the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The future is turning into the present chunk by chunk. New pieces of art fantasing about future are being created every second right while you are reading this essay. And I confidently believe that we human beings will never stop talking about the future. No, the predictions are not that precise, so what? We like predictions, we have cravings for them and they are indeed benefiting us, so why stop dreaming? Still remember that song from John Lennon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You may say that I’m a dreamer / but I’m not the only one / I hope someday you will join us / and the world will live as one&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T14:49:42.163" ClosedDate="2011-03-13T14:56:28.740" Title="Can you help me improve this essay?" Tags="&lt;moderation&gt;" />
  <row Id="16197" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-13T15:05:00.203" Score="3" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know they both mean roughly &quot;example&quot;, but which one to use when?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6057" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T16:57:08.360" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T22:40:52.593" Title="What's the difference between &quot;e.g.&quot; and &quot;ex.&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;&lt;latin&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16199" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16200" CreationDate="2011-03-13T15:15:18.637" Score="1" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the etymology of this phrase and might the meaning change due to Cloud Storage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T01:31:01.750" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T01:31:01.750" Title="&quot;Get off of my Cloud&quot; - Origin/meaning &amp; will it change?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="16200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16199" CreationDate="2011-03-13T15:20:18.913" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;Get off of my cloud&quot; comes from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get_Off_of_My_Cloud&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Rolling Stones song of the same name&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Cloud Computing will not change the etymology of this phrase, because etymologies do not change; they are historical.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is possible that a new meaning for &quot;get off of my cloud&quot; could be coined with regards to cloud computing, but the phrase is not automatically affected by the existence of new meaning of the word &lt;em&gt;cloud&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T16:24:28.600" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T16:24:28.600" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="16201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16179" CreationDate="2011-03-13T15:26:17.517" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it would be more natural English to say &quot;in order for their blood counts to remain stable&quot;, or better in this case, just &quot;in order to stabalise their blood counts&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People do use &quot;in order that...&quot; with an infinitive/modal in English, but it feels a bit like a translationism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T15:26:17.517" />
  <row Id="16202" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-13T16:09:49.443" Score="0" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you please help me on constructing metaphors of the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;my muscles are aching so much that I cannot move any more&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;my sweat is like tears falling down freely&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;my senses have gone &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;cycling is a sport ....&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5805" LastEditorUserId="4333" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T00:53:31.597" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T00:53:31.597" ClosedDate="2011-03-14T00:55:02.513" Title="Constructing Metaphor" Tags="&lt;metaphor&gt;" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16203" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-13T16:25:45.690" Score="3" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;How compelled should I feel to use non-contracted forms (&lt;em&gt;do not&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; and so on) when writing in a rather formal text, say an academic paper? In one case I am afraid to seem too stilted, in the other, too casual. Are there good guidelines?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And are there differences in this regard between British and American English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(In this &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3230/difference-between-dont-and-do-not&quot;&gt;previous question&lt;/a&gt; there was not much more than &quot;Contractions are more frequent in informal than formal contexts&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4501" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T16:53:38.487" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T10:54:56.523" Title="Using contracted forms (&quot;don't&quot;, &quot;let's&quot;) in a formal text" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="16204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16203" CreationDate="2011-03-13T16:37:04.757" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try to avoid using the contracted form in formal texts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Contractions are used sparingly in formal written English. The APA style guide prefers that contractions, including Latin abbreviations, not be used in scholarly papers, and recommends that the equivalent phrase in English be written out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contraction_%28grammar%29#English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1353" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T16:37:04.757" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2253" CreationDate="2011-03-13T16:55:02.790" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here is the text&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/othello/T33.html#sd329&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/othello/T33.html#sd329&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and nicely enough here is the explanation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/othello/S33.html#reenterO&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/othello/S33.html#reenterO&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Re-enter Othello:&lt;/strong&gt; As Iago speaks of&#xA;  the corrosive effect of jealousy,&#xA;  Othello appears with such a haunted&#xA;  look on his face that Iago comments,&#xA;  &quot;I did say so. / Look where he comes!&quot;&#xA;  (3.3.329-330). Iago means that&#xA;  Othello's state is proof of what Iago&#xA;  has just been saying. It's as though&#xA;  he is inviting us admire his&#xA;  handiwork; just a glance at Othello&#xA;  should be enough to prove that the&#xA;  poison of jealousy has taken hold. As&#xA;  Othello approaches, Iago says to him,&#xA;  though not so Othello can hear, &quot;Not&#xA;  poppy, nor mandragora, / Nor all the&#xA;  drowsy syrups of the world, / Shall&#xA;  ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep&#xA;  / Which thou owedst yesterday&quot;&#xA;  (3.3.330-333). Both &quot;poppy&quot; and&#xA;  &quot;mandragora&quot; are opiates, very&#xA;  powerful sleeping potions, but even&#xA;  they won't do Othello any good. Now&#xA;  that Iago has poisoned his mind,&#xA;  Othello will never sleep again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T16:55:02.790" />
  <row Id="16208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16203" CreationDate="2011-03-13T16:55:50.357" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is frowned upon to use contractions in formal writing. However, these &quot;rules&quot; or &quot;standards&quot; are quickly becoming guidelines. Negations are also said to be avoided in formal writing. So, &quot;do not&quot; shouldn't be used at all. Of course, there are times when the negated construction doesn't have the same meaning as the positive construction, and meaning is sometimes compromised for form. The author Cormac McCarthy uses &quot;dont&quot; in his works. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good piece of writing should be clear and natural. If you find that &quot;don't&quot; is more natural than &quot;do not,&quot; use &quot;don't.&quot; Don't fall prey to traditionalists. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3913" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T16:55:50.357" />
  <row Id="16209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16197" CreationDate="2011-03-13T17:17:46.143" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well,&#xA;e.g. is short for &lt;code&gt;exempli gratia&lt;/code&gt; and stands for &lt;code&gt;&quot;for example&quot;&lt;/code&gt;&#xA;Ex, if used to mean the same is technically incorrect.&#xA;Mostly Ex. is used as a short for &lt;code&gt;Exercise&lt;/code&gt; and not &lt;code&gt;&quot;for example&quot;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastEditorUserId="5828" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T17:42:50.387" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T17:42:50.387" />
  <row Id="16210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16203" CreationDate="2011-03-13T17:24:33.050" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Contracted forms should not be used in formal reports or letters, only to be used in emails, informal writing and the spoken word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5564" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T17:24:33.050" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16211" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-13T17:34:30.047" Score="0" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for some examples of warning phrases or sentences that are from different areas (road transport, building sites, animal sanctuary etc.). For example in road transport we have &quot;Go slow&quot; or &quot;Danger zone&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2407" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T23:35:26.793" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T23:35:26.793" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-15T01:12:55.820" Title="Warning phrases or sentences" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;signage&gt;&lt;example&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16211" CreationDate="2011-03-13T17:50:54.233" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No Smoking!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One Way&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No Entry&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fasten Seatbelts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Exit Only&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slippery When Wet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thickly Settled&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Danger: Choking Hazard&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are hundreds, but those are a few.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T17:50:54.233" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-15T01:12:55.820" />
  <row Id="16213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16128" CreationDate="2011-03-13T18:07:32.853" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Einstein famously remarked, &quot;God doesn't play dice.&quot; Stephen Hawking recently said, &quot;God may play dice after all.&quot; Einstein was not religious. He once claimed that he believed in Spinoza's God&quot;; though, later in his life he was more candid about his Atheism. These uses of God are often called poetic, but also lead to misunderstandings. An American newspaper once claimed that Einstein was a believer in God. He wrote back with a scathing letter.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess many sentences in the Old and New Testaments could be taken as religious if read literally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;F'x, don't you find it odd, or off-putting, that countries like Germany are led by parties with Christian (CDU) in their names? As an American, I always wince when I see Christian Democratic Union next to Angela Merkel's name. Of course, you might say that the Republican Party is certainly more Christian than the CDU or other such parties. I might agree. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I digress. It is important to remember that &quot;in God we trust&quot; became the US motto only after the &quot;Star Spangled Banner&quot; became the National Anthem--it was taken from the last stanza. It had been &quot;E Pluribus Unum.&quot; &quot;God bless America&quot; concludes the State of the Union Address. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll try to answer your question with a question. Can you think of any saying, phrase, whatever that, while having a religious meaning if read literally, is not understood as nonreligious? This is the question. Who's understanding what? I'd assume that most mentions of God are to be understood religiously, if the speaker is religious, and poetically, if the speaker is not religious. Many people find the swear &quot;Jesus Christ&quot; offensive--I don't think Atheists do. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is also interesting to notice how people read 16th, 17th, 18th century authors and statesmen. It is odd that atheists usually read atheism into Hobbes and Hume and Christians think the atheists are reading too much into the texts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess it depends on what you mean by &quot;commonly.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3913" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T18:07:32.853" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="930" CreationDate="2011-03-13T18:14:01.473" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Courage is a virtue created by God. David slew the giant, Goliath, because he knew God was with him and would help David overcome his fear and see him through it, just as God had already shown David on two previous encounters with a lion and a bear who attacked a sheep from his father's flock. David said the same God who helped him with the lion and bear would help with Goliath. David has never been referred to as brave. Perhaps brave can be defined as courage without time to think about what danger is presented to yourself. 1st Samuel 17&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6072" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T18:14:01.473" />
  <row Id="16215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16172" CreationDate="2011-03-13T18:14:57.197" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Grammar Girl did some research and determined that five out of six style guides lean toward using a comma after both &lt;em&gt;i.e.&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;e.g.&lt;/em&gt; Here's the gist of the table she shared on her site (link below).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Chicago Manual of Style: A comma is usually used&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation: Commas are preferable/optional&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Columbia Guide to Standard American English: Editors require a comma&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The Guide to Grammar and Writing: The commas makes good sense&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lynch Guide to Grammar: Should be followed by comma&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fowler's Modern English Usage: Commas do not usually follow &lt;em&gt;i.e.&lt;/em&gt; (No comment on &lt;em&gt;e.g.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;She also gives an excellent rundown on when to use each of these abbreviations.  She suggests that you think of &lt;em&gt;i.e.&lt;/em&gt; as meaning &quot;in other words&quot; and &lt;em&gt;e.g.&lt;/em&gt; as meaning &quot;for example.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I recommend reading her whole article: &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ie-eg-oh-my.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ie-eg-oh-my.aspx&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Addition: My daughter just reminded me of an excellent and entertaining explanation of usage for &lt;em&gt;i.e.&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;e.g.&lt;/em&gt; from The Oatmeal: &lt;a href=&quot;http://theoatmeal.com/comics/ie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://theoatmeal.com/comics/ie&lt;/a&gt;.  This one I can't summarize.  You must view it in all its glory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6070" LastEditorUserId="6070" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T20:46:27.827" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T20:46:27.827" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16216" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16223" CreationDate="2011-03-13T18:56:24.440" Score="11" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a native German speaker and in German it is considered very bad style to use a word more than once in a sentence or even in close proximity. So you usually have a big list of synonyms in your head and you always cycle though these words while writing or even change complete sentences so you will not have to use the same words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always automatically assumed that this is also the case in English. Now someone told me that this is actually nothing you have to be concerned about. &#xA;(This sentence is actually a good example for this. I could have written: &quot;Now someone told me that this is actually not the case in English.&quot; but I already used &quot;the case in English&quot; in the sentence before that and such repetitions are considered to be extremely clumsy writing in German.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could someone please comment on this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1983" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T19:41:55.197" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T00:24:07.527" Title="Heavy usage of synonyms in English or not?" Tags="&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;german&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="16217" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-13T19:27:23.237" Score="6" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase: &quot;A man among men.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have been having a debate about whether this means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;unexceptional, common, like all others, ordinary&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a superior example of one in a class&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We have found examples of both uses. Does anyone know where this term originated and what it meant when first used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1014" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T02:47:16.973" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T06:43:53.320" Title="What does &quot;a man among men&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16211" CreationDate="2011-03-13T19:29:37.720" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll find a whole bunch &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warning_sign&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T19:29:37.720" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-15T01:12:55.820" />
  <row Id="16219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16217" CreationDate="2011-03-13T19:46:34.403" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I can't provide any answers as to the origin of the phrase, the meaning is closer to the latter than the former.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What the phrase is implying is that the subject possesses attributes or qualities that set them above an already superior group. For example, if the only differentiation between a Gentleman and a regular man was physical beauty (such that all gentlemen were handsomer than non-gentleman) to say someone was &quot;a man among men&quot; would imply that out of a group of handsome gentleman, who are, by our definition, already handsome, this person is so much more handsome than the rest that the other gentlemen appear plain by comparison.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a bit of a different question as to what qualities &quot;man among men&quot; is referring to as it relates to people, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6073" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T19:46:34.403" />
  <row Id="16220" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16222" CreationDate="2011-03-13T19:52:10.213" Score="6" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hypothetical example usage:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Another one bites the dust.&quot; He said as he watched another building burn to the ground.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It just means that something is destroyed.  What does biting dust have to do with destruction?  Where did that saying come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6039" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T01:22:16.490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T01:22:16.490" Title="Where did the saying &quot;Bite the dust&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16220" CreationDate="2011-03-13T20:04:31.767" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Through laden pack beasts and shifting clouds of churned earth, two travellers can be seen locked in combat.  The desert air is dry and pierced with the calls of vultures.  They have been on this road too long.  Another challenger has risen to vie for leadership of the clan, the fourth in so many days.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As before, the leader's experience and sheer force of will overwhelm the opponent.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A sharp crack to the face sends him reeling backwards, twisting, falling, face-first in the dirt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;em&gt;Another one bites the dust&lt;/em&gt;,&quot; she spits, wearied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6054" LastEditorUserId="6054" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T20:16:15.347" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T20:16:15.347" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16220" CreationDate="2011-03-13T20:12:01.667" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;To bite the dust&quot; means to die or to fail (see e.g. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bite_the_dust&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;). Picture someone falling down, wounded or dead, quite literally biting the dust (soil, ground, earth). Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=bite&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt; that the first recorded appearance of the phrase is from 1750. The Phrase Finder supplies it &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/65500.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;as follows&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The earliest citation of the 'bite the dust' version [of the earlier phrase 'lick the dust', from the Bible] is from 1750 by the Scottish author Tobias Smollett , in his Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;We made two of them bite the dust, and the others betake themselves to flight.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[Samuel Butler's 19th century translation of Homer's &lt;em&gt;The Iliad&lt;/em&gt;] contains a reference to 'bite the dust' in these lines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Grant that my sword may pierce the shirt of Hector about his heart, and that full many of his comrades may bite the dust as they fall dying round him.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whether that can be counted as an 8th century BC origin for 'bite the dust' is open to question and some would say that it was Butler's use of the phrase rather than Homer's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T20:40:43.580" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T20:40:43.580" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16216" CreationDate="2011-03-13T20:33:16.097" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I consider it a matter of good style in English to vary all aspects of composition to keep the presentation of the material fresh and interesting. That means varying sentence length, mixing active and passive voice -- in short, avoiding repetition and, with it, monotony. Obviously that applies to word choice as well. I am constantly on the hunt for synonyms. Mostly those come naturally, because I have a sizable vocabulary and English affords a writer so many ways to express the same idea. But at times it does become difficult to find suitable alternates. Even then I consider it well worth my time and effort to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only exception I make is when I want to use repetition to add rhetorical emphasis: to make a point, to make a meaning clear, to make the reader stop and pay close attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say that what has served you in German will serve you in English. And I already see evidence in your writing of the traits I describe above, which I perceive as virtues. Whoever has advised you otherwise is not doing you any favors. That is, unless that person is someone who will be reviewing your dissertation and has an obsessive fondness for needless repetition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T20:33:16.097" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16217" CreationDate="2011-03-13T20:48:36.840" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It could go either way.  &lt;strong&gt;It all depends on the context.&lt;/strong&gt;  Particularly the speaker's tone of voice.  Whether they speak  of someone/something in admiration or in disgust.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Typically, I find that this specific case (man among men) usually means the second, and when speaking of other objects (a tree among trees) it usually means the first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6039" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T20:48:36.840" />
  <row Id="16225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16197" CreationDate="2011-03-13T22:40:52.593" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Ex.&quot; is not very common, but it may be used to &lt;em&gt;refer&lt;/em&gt; to a cited example, eg &quot;See ex. 3&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;E.g.&quot; is much more common, and is used to introduce an example, or series of examples. In speech, it is usually replaced by &quot;for example&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T22:40:52.593" />
  <row Id="16226" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16231" CreationDate="2011-03-13T22:45:34.273" Score="6" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the dictionary, &quot;hang&quot; can also be used as a noun, but I don't think it is the right word to use in this scenario. Should I use &quot;hanging&quot; instead, e.g., this software bug may cause two problems to this computer, crash or hanging? It also sounds weird to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, if a verb doesn't have a direct corresponding noun, what should I do if I have to use a noun to present the same meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5648" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T23:21:10.260" Title="Which noun should I use to describe that a computer system hangs?" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16226" CreationDate="2011-03-13T22:50:05.913" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/freeze&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;freeze&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/halt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;halt&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;? As to your general question, I would look around for other word stems, or just reword. (In this particular case, I might write, &quot;the software bug might cause the computer to crash or hang&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T22:50:05.913" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16226" CreationDate="2011-03-13T22:53:09.667" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In such cases you could do the following, in order of preference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Restructure the sentence, as in &quot;this may cause your computer to hang or crash&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a noun that means something similar though slightly different.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use a gerund, as you suggested; this may be a bit awkward if you are using the verb in a marginal sense, one that is not very widely used.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your case, perhaps you could use the noun &quot;freeze&quot;, &quot;unresponsiveness&quot;, or &quot;unresponsive behaviour&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This software bug may cause two&#xA;  problems, crashes and freezing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T22:53:09.667" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16216" CreationDate="2011-03-13T22:54:28.807" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Synonyms are always a difficult topic to tackle. That is, certain words are to be used in the contexts that require them. For example, if you look up &quot;ironic&quot; in a thesaurus you get &quot;sardonic,&quot; sarcastic,&quot; &quot;wry,&quot; and so on. None of these words can be used interchangeably. However, the meaning of the sentence or phrase would likely be unaltered. The trick is to minimize using adverbs and adjectives. It is easier to find synonyms for nouns and verbs that have similar meanings--though they're often not a perfect match. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3913" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T22:54:28.807" />
  <row Id="16230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16216" CreationDate="2011-03-13T22:55:22.130" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it depends on the style of writing: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree that for most non-technical writing it's often considered poor style to repeat a word in the same sentence (other than articles, conjunctions &amp;amp; prepositions such as 'the', 'a', 'and',  'in',  'to', 'of' ...). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In technical and scientific writing, on the other hand, words often have precise technical meanings and it can be confusing or even misleading to use different words to convey precisely the same meaning. Confusing as the reader may be left puzzling over whether the different words are intended to convey slightly different meanings, and misleading if the reader understands them to have slightly different meanings when the author intended the same meaning. So in scientific and technical writing such as journal articles and instruction manuals, I'd highly recommend using the same word to convey the same meaning, even if it means repeating it within a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2673" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T22:55:22.130" />
  <row Id="16231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16226" CreationDate="2011-03-13T23:02:12.810" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say &quot;a freeze&quot;, but &quot;a hang&quot; is also perfectly acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a matter of fact the title of the wikipedia article &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeze_%28computing%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Freeze_(Computing)&quot;&lt;/a&gt;  is actually... &quot;Hang&quot; and starts like this &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;In computing, &lt;strong&gt;a hang&lt;/strong&gt; or freeze occurs&#xA;  when either a single computer program&#xA;  or the whole system ceases to respond&#xA;  to inputs.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(emphasis is mine)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I would prefer to use a &quot;hang&quot; for a server (typically in the case when a request is sent and one waits indefinitely for the answer) whereas the &quot;freeze&quot; conjures up the idea of an unresponsive GUI (when for instance moving the mouse does not move the pointer) and would therefore preferably apply to a desktop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T23:02:12.810" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16217" CreationDate="2011-03-13T23:06:53.163" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means &quot;an exemplar.&quot; One who should be emulated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T00:37:49.747" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T00:37:49.747" />
  <row Id="16233" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16236" CreationDate="2011-03-13T23:12:26.353" Score="4" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are these two phrases different in meaning? When do you use &quot;much&quot; or &quot;most&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was reading a book named &quot;The world of words&quot; where I saw this sentence &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Substitution in context will help you &lt;strong&gt;much of the time&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This was the first time I saw this expression. So I wonder if there are any differences between two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T23:33:23.130" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T17:45:01.057" Title="&quot;much of the time&quot; vs &quot;most of the time&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;common-phrase&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="16234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16226" CreationDate="2011-03-13T23:12:49.820" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In at least some technical communities, &lt;em&gt;a hang&lt;/em&gt; is perfectly standard, and probably the correct term to use.  Try googling, for example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.ca/search?q=%22fixing+a+hang%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;fixing a hang&quot;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.ca/search?q=%22server+hang%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;server hang&quot;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We will go over the basic debugging of a server hang in a future post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you don’t like that noun usage, then reworking it to use a verb is probably the best option, if there’s a reasonably non-clunky way to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I’d be rather wary of substituting other nouns (&lt;em&gt;freezes&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;crashes&lt;/em&gt;, etc.), depending of course on context.  As with all technical and semi-technical terms, there may be subtle distinctions between their precise meanings, which it’s important to respect.  I don’t know what the usage is now, but at least on Macs in the early 90’s, if I remember right, a &lt;em&gt;freeze&lt;/em&gt; and a &lt;em&gt;hang&lt;/em&gt; were two specific types of &lt;em&gt;crash&lt;/em&gt; — to a lay reader they sounded like synonyms, but when the technical details mattered, they weren’t quite interchangeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T23:21:10.260" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T23:21:10.260" />
  <row Id="16235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15080" CreationDate="2011-03-13T23:22:25.140" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Trust&lt;/strong&gt;: a group of companies that illegally work together to reduce competition and control prices. As Yitchak mentions the word gained its connotations of illegality after the US anti-trust laws targeted trusts and defined them as &quot;a conspiracy in restraint of trade.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cartel&lt;/strong&gt;: a group of people or companies who agree to sell something at a particular price.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Difference&lt;/strong&gt;: The goal of a trust is to reduce competition and eliminate competitors. But in cartel the goal is to sell at a particular price and not necessarily eliminating competition. OPEC is an example of cartel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3782" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T23:22:25.140" />
  <row Id="16236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16233" CreationDate="2011-03-13T23:26:33.943" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;[Edited: it seems we ninja'd each other.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect the author in that sentence hesitated between &lt;em&gt;often&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;most of the time&lt;/em&gt;: he wanted to indicate that it was helpful very, very often; but he didn't want to go so far as to say that it was helpful more than 50 % of the time, and so he chose a somewhat cowardly expression in between. I think he would have been better off choosing either &lt;em&gt;often&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;most of the time&lt;/em&gt;, or perhaps &lt;em&gt;very often&lt;/em&gt;, though I don't think the added intensity of &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; is really necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Most of the time&lt;/strong&gt; is an expression indicating that something happens more often than not, usually much more often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Much of the time&lt;/em&gt; would not really be a common idiomatic expression in this situation; I'd be reluctant to use it in a context of frequent events, because I can't imagine a situation where you could not substitute &lt;strong&gt;often&lt;/strong&gt;, a simpler word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are not talking about something that happens frequently, but rather about a continuous length of time, you could use &lt;strong&gt;much of the time&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Much of the time we had left together&#xA;  was spent looking for the right papers&#xA;  and documents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that a large part of this time was spent looking for papers, but &quot;large&quot; could be anything from 1 % to 99 %; if I used &lt;em&gt;most of the time&lt;/em&gt;, it would mean that more than half of the time was spent on it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T17:45:01.057" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T17:45:01.057" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16233" CreationDate="2011-03-13T23:27:24.190" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; describes the actions used within the &lt;em&gt;time&lt;/em&gt;, as in &quot;&lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt; of the time was spent washing dishes,&quot; whereas &lt;em&gt;most&lt;/em&gt; is used to describe the person speaking i.e. &quot;&lt;em&gt;most&lt;/em&gt; of the time I like to wash dishes, but today I do not want to.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, they're often interchangeable like most of the English language :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4944" LastActivityDate="2011-03-13T23:27:24.190" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16216" CreationDate="2011-03-14T00:24:07.527" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should probably avoid careless repetition when there is an equally clear and terse alternative; however, don't let monologophobia keep you up at night. There are plenty of &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/a/repetitionterm.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;examples of writing&lt;/a&gt; where repetition is used to positive effect, usually for emphasis, if not solely for art. Stating the same thing different ways probably provides a broader appeal for a larger audience (driving the point home for some while making the meaning clear for others), but a scientific audience (for one) might prefer precise terminology, even if you have to repeat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A rosa kordesii is a rosa kordesii is a rosa kordesii.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5640" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T00:24:07.527" />
  <row Id="16239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16142" CreationDate="2011-03-14T00:40:58.433" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lucid&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;perspicuous&lt;/em&gt;, as proposed by Jimi, are good matches. If you want to convey the meaning of “convincing” in addition to “teaching”, you can also go with &lt;strong&gt;cogent&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T00:40:58.433" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16240" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16241" CreationDate="2011-03-14T01:30:38.117" Score="7" ViewCount="290" Body="&lt;p&gt;People are quite stingy lately about anything with religious connotations, so I'm worried that the phrase &quot;thank God&quot; might tick some people off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;thank god&quot; acceptable? Would that offend people of monotheistic faiths? Or would &quot;thank God&quot; be acceptable to atheists/polytheists too?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2856" LastEditorUserId="6094" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T16:12:11.887" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T16:06:53.820" Title="Is &quot;Thank god&quot;, as opposed to &quot;Thank God&quot;, acceptable?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="16241" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16240" CreationDate="2011-03-14T02:07:57.440" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you worried about offending atheists/polytheists by being too monotheistic, or about offending monotheists by being blasphemous?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, I think that in most contexts, anyone offended by “thank God” would still be offended by “thank god”, and vice versa.  In informal contexts, I’d be surprised if either offended anyone; extremely devout monotheists might perhaps consider them blasphemous.  In some official contexts (if you were acting as spokesperson for a school, say), both forms could upset people who have strong feelings about separation of church and state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;“Thank goodness!”&lt;/strong&gt; is probably an unobjectionable alternative.  In case you’re not familiar with this expression, it isn’t a neologistic PC euphemism for “thank God”, it’s a common equivalent phrase which I think most native speakers would be familiar with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T02:07:57.440" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="16242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16240" CreationDate="2011-03-14T02:10:29.887" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;God&quot; is a proper noun, and for that reason should be capitalized. So the phrase &quot;Thank God&quot; is appropriate. There are so many contextual nuances that it is truly easier to adhere to that standard, unless you are trying to make a very explicit statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even with that standard, you will not please everyone, but at least you are less likely to cause confusion. For example, Christian and Islamic faiths refer to &quot;God&quot; as &quot;God&quot;. So do many Jews. However some religious Jews use the following &quot;G_d&quot; or &quot;G-d&quot; instead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one were writing for an audience with a pantheist belief system, I think it would still be correct to refer to God with a capital G, but maybe in the plural case. &quot;Thank the Gods&quot;. Whether a single or multiple instance, you are referring to deities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are worried about offending non-religious or atheist readers, do not use the expression &quot;Thank God&quot; at all. There are many alternatives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4915" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T02:10:29.887" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16128" CreationDate="2011-03-14T02:56:31.613" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Insurance companies will often not cover &quot;acts of God&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5584" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T02:56:31.613" />
  <row Id="16244" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-14T03:12:19.147" Score="2" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7986/why-should-the-first-person-pronoun-i-always-be-capitalized&quot;&gt;Why should the first person pronoun &amp;#39;I&amp;#39; always be capitalized?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realize that at one time a lot of nouns in English were capitalized, but I can't understand the pattern of those left. Is there a reason why &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; still capitalized while &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; are not? Could it have something to do with hand writing rather than the printed page?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6017" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T11:14:19.703" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T11:14:19.703" ClosedDate="2011-03-14T04:30:52.987" Title="Why is &quot;I&quot; capitalized in the English language, but not &quot;me&quot; or &quot;you&quot;?" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16244" CreationDate="2011-03-14T03:25:02.853" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Wikipedia, there is no known record of a definitive explanation from around the early period of this capitalization practice, though there is scholarly merit (and simple curiosity) to prompt the continued seeking of an explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is likely that the capitalization was prompted and spread as a result of one or more of the following (in alphabetical order):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Changes specifically in the pronunciation of letters (introduction of long vowel sounds in Middle English, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Other linguistic considerations (demarcation of a single-letter word, setting apart a pronoun which is significantly different from others in English, etc.)&#xA;problems with legibility of the minuscule &quot;i&quot;      &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sociolinguistic factors (establishment of English as the official language, solidification of English identity, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also the possibility that the first instances of capitalization may have been happenstance. Either through chance or a sense of correctness, in the practice or the delivery, the capitalization may have spread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T03:25:02.853" />
  <row Id="16247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16128" CreationDate="2011-03-14T03:30:27.280" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;so help me God&quot; is included within the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_office&quot;&gt;oath of office&lt;/a&gt; in several countries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T03:30:27.280" />
  <row Id="16248" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16251" CreationDate="2011-03-14T05:16:36.970" Score="4" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, if I want to say &quot;the performance of this bike could be affected/influenced by many things&quot;, is there difference between these two words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My gut feeling is that &quot;affect&quot; sounds better, but I cannot find evidence in dictionaries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5648" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T13:23:59.520" Title="What is the difference between &quot;affect&quot; and &quot;influence&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="16249" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-14T05:28:15.570" Score="0" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi all,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking a software for English grammar, spelling, and style checking.&#xA;Can you suggest me a suitable software for this purpose ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks &amp;amp; Regards,&#xA;Upul&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6077" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T08:28:53.853" ClosedDate="2011-03-14T11:10:57.460" Title="Grammar and Spelling Checking Software" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16248" CreationDate="2011-03-14T06:30:43.833" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Influence&lt;/em&gt; has two main connotations that &lt;em&gt;affect&lt;/em&gt; doesn't.  The first is that of relation to &lt;strong&gt;process&lt;/strong&gt; rather than &lt;strong&gt;state&lt;/strong&gt;, so that something might &lt;em&gt;affect&lt;/em&gt; a rock but rarely would circumstances arise where we could speak of that rock being &lt;em&gt;influenced&lt;/em&gt;.  The second, and weaker, connotation is of &lt;strong&gt;emotive&lt;/strong&gt; response being involved; this is probably the connotation that makes it feel less appropriate to use in reference to a bike's performance.  (We do speak of mechanistic processes being influenced, though, especially complex ones.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T06:30:43.833" />
  <row Id="16252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16217" CreationDate="2011-03-14T06:43:53.320" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Likewise, you could also use the term &lt;code&gt;&quot;First among equals&quot;&lt;/code&gt;. This one is actually a book by Jeffery Archer. A man among men, would in all probability refer to &quot;A Man&quot; characterized by special attributes and abilities not commonly observed in the general class of Homo Sapiens (referred to here as &quot;among men&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I would like to add certain quotes on the characteristics desirable in &lt;code&gt;&quot;A Man&quot;&lt;/code&gt; :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even. –Muhammad Ali&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Happy the man who, like Ulysses, has made a fine voyage, or has won the Golden Fleece, and then returns, experienced and knowledgeable, to spend the rest of his life among his family!” — Joachim du Bellay&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I have always thought that every woman should marry, and no man. — Benjamin Disraeli&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Feelings are not supposed to be logical. Dangerous is the man who has rationalized his emotions. –David Borenstein&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;To me, being an intellectual doesn’t mean knowing about intellectual issues; it means taking pleasure in them. –Chinua Achebe&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;A true man hates no one. –Napoleon Bonaparte&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;The most successful men in the end are those whose success is the result of steady accretion… It is the man who carefully advances step by step, with his mind becoming wider and wider – and progressively better able to grasp any theme or situation – persevering in what he knows to be practical, and concentrating his thought upon it, who is bound to succeed in the greatest degree. –Alexander Graham Bell&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you'd never really hear &quot;A Woman among women&quot; but Have you ever heard &lt;code&gt;&quot;A woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do&quot;&lt;/code&gt; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T06:43:53.320" />
  <row Id="16253" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16264" CreationDate="2011-03-14T07:14:13.187" Score="0" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi out there,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i am looking for a marketing claim for my yet to start software company. I am a native german. I would like to use an adoption of the well known phrase &quot;Getting Things Done&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So i came up with the idea of &quot;Getting Things Run&quot;. Is it possible to use that as a company claim? Even if it looks a little bit constructed. Or would it be better to use the grammatically more correct sounding - but not so snappy &quot;Getting Things Running&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&#xA;Tim&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6079" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T11:08:20.350" Title="Getting Things Running" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="16254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16253" CreationDate="2011-03-14T07:23:53.517" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Code that runs, gets the job done.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think it's a bad idea to use, something snazzy as the tag line.&#xA;You don't have to be abide by the rules of the grammar here, a tag line&#xA;has to attention grabbing and not necessarily an articulate piece of literature.&#xA;What say others?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T07:23:53.517" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14757" CreationDate="2011-03-14T07:25:49.637" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you compare them in both the British National Corpus and the Corpus of Contemporary American you'll find that &quot;target group&quot; is slightly more common, because it has a wider meaning, but that it is used in the relevant sense. E.g. (from COCA):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;...That's especially true of advertising directed at a particular group, such as adolescents or young-adult males - it's called 'dog-whistle' advertising because it goes out at frequencies only dogs can hear.&quot; In this case, the &quot;dogs&quot; are the commercial's &lt;strong&gt;target group&lt;/strong&gt; of young adults.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3542" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T07:25:49.637" />
  <row Id="16256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14757" CreationDate="2011-03-14T07:36:11.273" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I think target group here makes more sense, as an organization or a government is certainly not a market but it is body (or a group).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though it certainly does not go well with international (you're tempted to use the term target market here) you might want to rephrase it as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;The markets we target internationally comprise of governments, semi-private organizations and businesses.&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What say others?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T07:36:11.273" />
  <row Id="16257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16248" CreationDate="2011-03-14T07:48:20.410" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel like &quot;affected&quot; as a slightly negative connotation whereas &quot;influence&quot; can go either way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the following sentence (made up for the occasion) ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The hand of a magnet takes its&#xA;  position under the influence of the&#xA;  Earth magnetic field but it&#xA;  can also be affected by the presence &#xA;  a nearby metallic object.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... one can clearly see the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will find that affect has several other negative meanings:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;He seems to be very affected by his loss.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;He is affected by Alzheimer's Disease&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the example above &quot;influence&quot; is neutral but it can actually go either way. It can be deemed counter productive or beneficial.  However only your own judgement will tell you; depending on the nature of the influence.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;He started smoking under the influence of the other members of the band&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;The Government agreed to more ambitious goals under the influence of its 'Green' Parliament minority&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words your opinion will not be &lt;em&gt;influenced&lt;/em&gt; by the fact that &quot;influence&quot; is usually positive or usually negative ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Arguably though, &quot;influential&quot; has a slightly positive orientation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Philosophers like Voltaire were influential in the Age of Enlightenment&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T07:48:20.410" />
  <row Id="16258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16233" CreationDate="2011-03-14T08:01:49.710" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some answers have claimed that &lt;em&gt;much of the time&lt;/em&gt; is not an idiomatic phrase, and/or that it is restricted to particular meanings. However, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;amp;biw=1400&amp;amp;bih=829&amp;amp;q=%22much+of+the+time%22&amp;amp;aq=&amp;amp;aqi=&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&amp;amp;fp=dcc53ff0a833439a&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google&lt;/a&gt; claims around 171 million results for the phrase. While some of these are part of other phrases (&quot;How much of the time&quot;, &quot;so much of the time&quot;), looking at the first few pages of results suggests that &quot;much of the time&quot; is a common idiomatic phrase, and that the contexts where it can be used don't differ significantly from &quot;most of the time&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;COCA&lt;/a&gt; shows a similar picture (494 occurrences, some of which as part of other phrases, but most not - though contrasted with 3655 occurrences of &quot;most of the time&quot;). So it exists, but is much less common than &quot;most of the time&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My own experience, which seems to match the examples I've found from both sources, is that &quot;most of the time&quot;, while technically correct for anything that occurs more than 50% of the time, tends to be used for things that occur much more than 50% of the time. The phrase &quot;much of the time&quot;, then, conveys a sense of something that happens frequently, or for a significant proportion of the time, but not enough to call it &quot;most of the time&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T08:01:49.710" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16253" CreationDate="2011-03-14T08:18:21.520" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Getting things run&lt;/em&gt; may sound slightly odd to some ears, but it is grammatically correct as a phrase.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you say, &lt;em&gt;getting things done&lt;/em&gt; is fine, as is &lt;em&gt;getting things eaten&lt;/em&gt;, so using a past participle here usually works.  The problem in people's ears is that &lt;em&gt;run&lt;/em&gt; is the past particle of &lt;em&gt;run&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;getting things do&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;getting things eat&lt;/em&gt; are clearly incorrect, hence causing confusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could try the duller &lt;strong&gt;getting things to run&lt;/strong&gt;.      &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T08:18:21.520" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16261" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16262" CreationDate="2011-03-14T10:09:18.683" Score="2" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;As title goes, what is the difference anyway?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I checked grammar, promotional is the description of tool, thus promotional tool is right while the first is wrong. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is it true? why there are so many cases that those two are exchangeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How about War-mart's **legendary history** and the **legendary history of War-mart**, are they the same? &lt;/p&gt;  &#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6082" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T12:11:07.413" Title="what is the difference between promotion tool and promotional tool?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16261" CreationDate="2011-03-14T10:42:53.583" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you said the words &quot;promotion tool&quot; to a native speaker of English, that person would probably think you were talking about some kind of tool used by Human Resources to assist in bumping some one up one or more job levels. That is because promotion is a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Promotional&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, is an adjective meaning &quot;of or relating to the publicizing of a product, organization, or venture so as to increasesales or public awareness.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, it is not exactly incorrect to say &quot;promotion tool&quot; to mean &quot;promotional tool&quot; — English uses nouns as adjectives all the time. It's just that in this case &quot;promotional tool&quot; is a very common term for what it describes, and most people use it. &lt;em&gt;Promotion tool&lt;/em&gt; is seldom heard (I never heard it used till now) and sounds awkward and would certainly be confusing, as I mention above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit to address OP's 2nd question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presuming you mean &quot;Wal-Mart&quot; and not &quot;War-Mart&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How about Wal-mart's &lt;strong&gt;legendary history&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;the legendary history of Wal-mart&lt;/strong&gt;, are they the same?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are interchangeable. It depends on where you want to place the emphasis. The first places it on Wal-Mart, the second places it on the &quot;legendary history&quot; of the chain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T11:33:51.377" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T11:33:51.377" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16263" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16203" CreationDate="2011-03-14T10:54:56.523" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Contractions generally sound a little more informal than their non-contracted equivalents. However, they also sound more natural, as non-contracted forms are practically never used in speech (except e.g. for emphasis or in cases where contractions are not grammatical).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether a particular piece of writing is &quot;formal&quot; enough to warrant avoiding contractions is really quite subjective. If you look at many scholarly books and even journal articles, you will find that many (native speaking) authors actually do use contractions and their respective editors have decided that they're happy with them. I would argue that contractions are almost always possible in e-mails: if the context was &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; formal, you probably wouldn't be communicating by e-mail in the first place. But as I say, it is a subjective decision.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if you are writing in a formal context such as a journal article or a formal letter to a company and can't decide whether or not to use contractions, then I think that avoiding contractions will always be a &quot;safe&quot; decision in such formal contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T10:54:56.523" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16253" CreationDate="2011-03-14T11:08:20.350" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem with &quot;getting things run&quot; is that in combination with &quot;getting&quot;, it has a passive meaning (like &quot;this event was well run&quot;) which is used almost exclusively with the transitive sense of the verb &quot;to run&quot; in the sense of &quot;to take charge of, to organize, to plan&quot;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might be okay if you have a company that will offer administrative or organizational services for event planning, but it sounds different from the active sense of &quot;getting things running&quot; (= getting things started, moving, going). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5719" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T11:08:20.350" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16261" CreationDate="2011-03-14T12:11:07.413" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD gives this definition of &lt;em&gt;promotion&lt;/em&gt; (among others):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(often as modifier &lt;em&gt;promotions&lt;/em&gt;) the activity or business of organizing such publicity or campaigns: &lt;em&gt;she's the promotions manager for the museum&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also defines &lt;em&gt;promotional&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;of or relating to the publicizing of a product, organization, or venture so as to increase sales or public awareness: &lt;em&gt;she was on a promotional tour for her books&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would understand &lt;em&gt;promotion tool&lt;/em&gt; as referring to a tool used in the business of organizing publicity, and &lt;em&gt;promotional tool&lt;/em&gt; as a tool related to publicizing a product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T12:11:07.413" />
  <row Id="16267" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16268" CreationDate="2011-03-14T12:12:06.467" Score="1" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello All,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the heading ask itself what I am looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;e.g. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was crying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was missing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;so what should be the sentences for &lt;strong&gt;Sad&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;upset&lt;/strong&gt; in past cont.??&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why some words like above two not follows standard? Are these exceptional?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5630" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T16:11:08.023" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T16:11:08.023" Title="How can I use the verb &quot;sad&quot; in the past continuous?" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="16268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16267" CreationDate="2011-03-14T12:17:55.743" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sad&lt;/em&gt; is an adjective, so it doesn't have a past form. You'd just say: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is the verb &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sadden&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;sadden&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was saddened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Upset&lt;/em&gt; can be a verb, but it's an irregular one. Its simple past (and past participle) form is &lt;em&gt;upset&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was upset.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I was upset by the news.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The bad news upset me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that both &lt;em&gt;sadden&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;upset&lt;/em&gt; are transitive verbs. (The intransitive usage of &lt;em&gt;sadden&lt;/em&gt; is archaic.) So if you are going for past continuous, simply saying&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was upsetting.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I was saddening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;wouldn't really work — it would raise the question, &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; were you upsetting/saddening? So instead, you would have to say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was being upset (by something).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I was being saddened (by something).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T12:27:40.523" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T12:27:40.523" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16267" CreationDate="2011-03-14T12:25:27.223" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cry&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;miss&lt;/em&gt; are two verbs; that is the reason you can say &quot;I was crying&quot; or &quot;I was missing.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Upset&lt;/em&gt; is also verb, but it means &quot;to make others unhappy;&quot; if that is what you mean, then you can use the past progressive of &lt;em&gt;upset&lt;/em&gt; like you do with other verbs.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Upset&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;sad&lt;/em&gt; are two adjectives, in sentences like &quot;I am upset&quot; or &quot;I am sad.&quot; If you want to use the past progressive, the verb in those phrases is &lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt;, whose present participle is &lt;em&gt;being&lt;/em&gt;. I have never seen somebody using the past progressive in that way, though, when you can simply write those phrases with the simple past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T13:24:57.303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T13:24:57.303" />
  <row Id="16270" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16274" CreationDate="2011-03-14T12:53:02.930" Score="1" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that on Stack Exchange sites, &quot;week reputation&quot; is referring to the reputation gained from sunday to saturday (in fact, my today's reputation is different from my week's reputation, and today is monday).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember I asked to my friend, who is American, what she would consider the first day of the week, and she replied saying it is Monday. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which word (or words) can I use instead of &quot;the first day of the week?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T15:55:12.507" Title="Which word(s) can be used instead of &quot;the first day of the week?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16271" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-14T13:00:28.300" Score="2" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people always tell me to avoid using abbreviations that often used in forum talk, AKA &quot;Internet Slang&quot;, in semi formal written conversation. Of course, I would never use the phrase TTYT, TTYL, LOL, YSVW, YW in my email.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;IMHO, it is still appropriate to use abbreviation as long as it is very well known and does not contain inappropriate meaning. AFAIR, phrases like BTW, ASAP, FYI, CMIIW and &lt;em&gt;etc.&lt;/em&gt; are often appears in my email with customers. YMMV.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's your suggestion? How do you decide if particular abbreviation is appropriate or not to be used in semi formal written conversation (email) ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;TIA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3105" LastEditorUserId="3105" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T13:46:19.773" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T07:51:25.020" Title="Usage of abbreviations in semi formal written conversation" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16272" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-14T13:16:01.543" Score="0" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can you tell me when to know which EHS (which can be either of the above two definitions) definition is correct?  I read the first definition as the guidelines for the health and safety of the environment (2 things) and the second definition as guidelines for the environment, for health, and for safety (3 things).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I work in an industry where the acronym is used very often and, maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I think that there is a distinct difference in those two meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for your help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6088" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T13:33:12.177" Title="Environmental Health and Safety vs Environmental, Health, and Safety guidelines" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16248" CreationDate="2011-03-14T13:23:59.520" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Influenced&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;having the character, development, or behavior changed by something or somebody.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Affected&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;influenced or touched by an external factor.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Affected&lt;/em&gt; doesn't seem to have a negative connotation (and in most the cases it is considered synonym of &lt;em&gt;influenced&lt;/em&gt;), except in sentences like &quot;the gesture appeared both affected and stagy.&quot; In such sentences, &lt;em&gt;affected&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;artificial, pretentious, and designed to impress.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T13:23:59.520" />
  <row Id="16274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16270" CreationDate="2011-03-14T13:25:15.977" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on what you mean by &quot;week&quot; in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In America, Sunday is considered the first day of the week, and Monday is considered the first day of the &lt;em&gt;work week&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that SE sites end their week at the end of Saturday, GMT. This makes Sunday the first day of the SE week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to be safe you could just say &quot;the start of the week,&quot; but you would still have to define what you meant by &quot;week&quot;: the start of which week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T14:11:03.567" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T14:11:03.567" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16271" CreationDate="2011-03-14T13:27:09.767" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are fine in online chats and informal emails, but I would avoid them (except &lt;em&gt;etc.&lt;/em&gt;, as others note in comments) in any serious writing that was not itself a discussion of these chatty Web abbreviations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T13:27:09.767" />
  <row Id="16276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16267" CreationDate="2011-03-14T13:27:11.750" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no verb &quot;sad&quot; in English. It's an adjective. The closest you can get is &quot;feel sad&quot;, which you &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; put in the past continuous:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was feeling sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, you can write&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was feeling upset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T13:27:11.750" />
  <row Id="16277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16272" CreationDate="2011-03-14T13:30:55.113" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the name of the organization is the Environmental Health and Safety, then you would speak of &lt;em&gt;Environmental Health and Safety&lt;/em&gt; guidelines: no commas. If the name includes commas, then include them. I doubt that it includes commas.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T13:30:55.113" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16272" CreationDate="2011-03-14T13:33:12.177" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The definition with commas looks weird, because you use them to put one adjective and two nouns on the same level. If it were “Environment, Health, and Safety guidelines”, it would make more sense than “Environmental, Health, and Safety”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T13:33:12.177" />
  <row Id="16279" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-14T13:34:29.937" Score="2" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this sentence fine?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He gave his opinion on this issue. I’m more against it than for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or what else can I say expressing the same meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastEditorUserId="5199" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T13:39:49.307" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T21:24:26.613" Title="&quot;I'm more against it than for it.&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="16282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16279" CreationDate="2011-03-14T13:42:35.443" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As long as the antecedent is clear, there is no harm in substituting a pronoun for a subject. In this case it is clear that &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt; refers to &quot;his opinion&quot; on the matter. So, yes, it's fine as it stands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T13:42:35.443" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16283" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16284" CreationDate="2011-03-14T13:47:39.910" Score="1" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always used &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; as the past tense of &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Present:&lt;/strong&gt; Tomorrow, I will go to the beach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Past:&lt;/strong&gt; The following day, I would go to the beach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, in response to &lt;a href=&quot;http://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/1962/please-help-me-improve-this-sentence&quot;&gt;my question on Writers.SE&lt;/a&gt;, Robusto &lt;a href=&quot;http://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/1962/please-help-me-improve-this-sentence/1965#1965&quot;&gt;pointed out&lt;/a&gt; that my use of &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; creates an &quot;an imperfect parallelism of tenses.&quot; What does this mean, and how do I correctly treat a statement about the future that is made in the past?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I think it means that &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; could also be interpreted as a conditional, as in &quot;I would go to the beach if the weather was nice,&quot; but isn't the intent clear from the context in which the sentence appears?) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt; (in response to Robusto):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the ambiguity introduced by &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; disappear if I put my sentence in its context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It took me nearly a decade to write this script, and now I would pitch it to the top producer in Hollywood. But the following day, I got hit by a bus, and my dreams came to an abrupt end.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastEditorUserId="4744" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T14:20:57.027" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T14:20:57.027" Title="How to describe the future in the past" Tags="&lt;tense&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;&lt;future-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="16284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16283" CreationDate="2011-03-14T14:02:57.663" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The point is, in the example you gave over there:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It took me nearly a decade to write this script, and now I’d pitch it to the top producer in Hollywood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the switching of tenses makes it ambiguous. It could mean you wanted to pitch it to the top producer, or that you were going to, or that you still hadn't done it yet, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The solution I offered:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It took me nearly a decade to write this script, and now I was about to pitch it to the top producer in Hollywood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keeps both clauses in the same time frame and makes it easy to see that you are talking about a future time in relation to a past event, and that both things happened in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T14:02:57.663" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16285" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16286" CreationDate="2011-03-14T14:07:31.330" Score="5" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;This came up in an email discussion - we are arguing about the merits and demerits of a certain approach, and I mentioned what I thought was a drawback to a scheme. To that, my colleague replied : &quot;Okay, we can table this, but I just want to clarify something...&quot; after which he went on to elucidate his views....&#xA;Does that mean that the discussion is closed on this ? If so, did he mean to say &quot;I agree to what you say, but I wasn't totally wrong either&quot; or something similar, or is it the reverse ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5795" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T19:05:14.573" Title="What is the meaning of the expression &quot;We can table this&quot; ?" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;ambiguity&gt;&lt;business-language&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16285" CreationDate="2011-03-14T14:10:19.167" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To &lt;em&gt;table&lt;/em&gt; something means to postpone discussion on something. It might mean to postpone it indefinitely, but usually it just means that the discussion should be resumed at a later date.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=table&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;notes&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;table (v.) in parliamentary sense, 1718, originally &quot;to lay on the (speaker's) table for discussion,&quot; from table (n.). But in U.S. political jargon it has the sense of &quot;to postpone indefinitely&quot; (1866). Related: Tabled; tabling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That may be true for political jargon, but in every business meeting I've ever been involved with, to &quot;table&quot; something usually means the issue wasn't going to go away but that we were agreeing not to talk about it during the current meeting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T14:10:19.167" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16154" CreationDate="2011-03-14T14:13:19.527" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To the Keepers Of The Faith (whatever faith that might be) anything new is &quot;Bad&quot;. However, it clearly came into being to serve a need, just as English or any other language evolves to better meet the needs of those it serves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think the real question is Is it English, Is It a dialect of English, or is it something different enough to be considered in its own right? Other than noting that it is obviously based on English, I personally don't have the expertise to make this judgment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note that it exists for communication within a specific environment - you don't hear it on the street in face to face spoken conversation - only when the conversation is electronic. I'm not a linguist. Are there other living, natural, languages that exist only in written form? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T14:13:19.527" />
  <row Id="16288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16285" CreationDate="2011-03-14T14:22:26.137" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Colloquially, one can &lt;i&gt;table&lt;/i&gt; a suggestion for a group to decide on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(From the UK).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6090" LastEditorUserId="6090" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T19:05:14.573" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T19:05:14.573" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16289" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16291" CreationDate="2011-03-14T14:51:31.870" Score="3" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know the meaning of this phrase: One should not assume the outcome of some activity (e.g. a sports game) until it has actually finished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm curious as to whether it would more likely be used when&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the speaker refers to an assumed &lt;strong&gt;favorable&lt;/strong&gt; outcome that might turn &lt;em&gt;unfavorable&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The Giants are going to win this game, no question!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;It ain't over till the fat lady sings.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the speaker refers to an assumed &lt;strong&gt;unfavorable&lt;/strong&gt; outcome that might turn &lt;em&gt;favorable&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Might as well go home, no chance the Giants are going to win this one.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;It ain't over till the fat lady sings.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or does the phrase apply to both situations equally?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T18:28:29.843" Title="How to use &quot;It ain't over till the fat lady sings&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;&lt;proverb&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16289" CreationDate="2011-03-14T15:02:03.003" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It refers to either. The meaning of the phrase is that the outcome is still undecided, and whoever is ahead at the moment may still lose, irrespective of which team you are rooting for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T15:02:03.003" />
  <row Id="16291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16289" CreationDate="2011-03-14T15:04:55.707" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say that both of those usages are fine and that you could generalize it to &quot;an unexpected outcome might occur instead of an expected one.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also heard it used (on TV) to simply mean that the end hasn't arrived yet and you have to wait for it (before you can, for example, go home).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T15:04:55.707" />
  <row Id="16292" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16298" CreationDate="2011-03-14T15:08:13.460" Score="4" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&amp;amp;tbo=1&amp;amp;q=carcareal&amp;amp;btnG=Search+Books#hl=en&amp;amp;ds=bo&amp;amp;sugexp=ldymls&amp;amp;pq=carcareal&amp;amp;xhr=t&amp;amp;q=carcareal+harvey&amp;amp;cp=16&amp;amp;qe=Y2FyY2FyZWFsIGhhcnZleQ&amp;amp;qesig=Ug74XDeX2yWj705bUnBgrw&amp;amp;pkc=AFgZ2tlYM8rE4c7zjclw-Yj0nKgqh5-RtQzaKhmOBZlmNPa_1rhOVgGQv98iBU_TOVxM1SLikUkLZoEvSLJFmPS5yXi8oh_1yw&amp;amp;pf=p&amp;amp;sclient=psy&amp;amp;tbo=1&amp;amp;tbs=bks:1&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=carcareal+harvey&amp;amp;pbx=1&amp;amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&amp;amp;fp=fdd35f689f495207&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Enigma of Capital: And the Crises of Capitalism by David Harvey on page 240&lt;/a&gt; the author alludes to an &quot;... anti-democratic, money-saturated and carcareal drift of capitalist state policies...&quot; which, as far as I can see, is the only time the word 'carcareal' occurs in the book. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've searched Google and some on-line dictionaries but so far haven't found any definition or use of the word in a similar context that would give me a clue what it means. To me the context makes me think of the word 'carcass' and connotes morbidity and death but that's a wild guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6091" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T15:57:58.643" Title="What does the word 'carcareal' mean when referring to policies?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16293" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16301" CreationDate="2011-03-14T15:16:40.303" Score="2" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;My dictionary lists the following verbs as synonyms for &quot;include&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;activities include sports and drama incorporate, comprise, encompass, cover, embrace, involve, take in, number, contain; consist of, be made up of, be composed of; formal comprehend. antonym exclude.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;don't forget to include the cost of repairs allow for, count, take into account, take into consideration. antonym omit, leave out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I need a NOUN not a verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4988" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T15:28:02.490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T16:04:46.670" Title="Need a nominalized synonym for the word &quot;include&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16293" CreationDate="2011-03-14T15:30:21.883" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Include&quot; is a verb. Its corresponding/derived noun is &quot;inclusion&quot;. A word with similar meaning is &quot;incorporation&quot;  [ &lt;em&gt;=To unite (one thing) with something else already in existence&lt;/em&gt; ] (but it's not a synonym).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5146" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T15:31:50.553" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T15:31:50.553" />
  <row Id="16295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16292" CreationDate="2011-03-14T15:32:50.243" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's an obscure formation from the same root as &lt;em&gt;incarcerate&lt;/em&gt;, and means prison- or imprisonment-related (or, I suspect in this case, imprisonment-&lt;em&gt;oriented&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T15:32:50.243" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16292" CreationDate="2011-03-14T15:32:51.030" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure if the word is misspelled in the book or you mistyped, but I believe you are looking for &lt;strong&gt;&quot;carceral,&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; which is &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/carceral&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;defined&lt;/a&gt; as &quot;pertaining to prisons or a prison.&quot; In the limited scope of context provided, I imagine it is a semi-derogatory reference to the characteristic of 'capitalistic state policies' to simply incarcerate criminals rather than reform them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T15:32:51.030" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16270" CreationDate="2011-03-14T15:33:55.747" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rather than an alternative phrase, make it explicit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... weekly, starting each Monday ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... every week (Sunday through Saturday) ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T15:33:55.747" />
  <row Id="16298" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16292" CreationDate="2011-03-14T15:40:57.953" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Carcareal&lt;/em&gt; is almost certainly a variant of &lt;em&gt;carceral&lt;/em&gt; meaning &quot;like a prison&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both seem fairly rare, and restricted to post-modernist writers such as Michel Foucault. You will find phrases such as &quot;carcareal archipelago&quot; or &quot;carceral archipelago&quot;, which seem to mean the division of society into prisons, mental institutions and gated communities, with surveillance everywhere.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T15:40:57.953" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16289" CreationDate="2011-03-14T15:53:11.033" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;It ain't over till [or until] the fat lady sings&quot; is a colloquialism, essentially meaning that one should not assume the outcome of some activity (e.g. a sports game) until it has actually finished.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This implies it can very well be used in either of the scenarios. &#xA;On a side note do you see the resemblance with &quot;Don't count your chickens before they hatch&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T18:28:29.843" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T18:28:29.843" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16270" CreationDate="2011-03-14T15:55:12.507" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The ISO-8601 standard defines Monday as day 1 of the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So say &quot;day 1 of the week&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or &quot;day 1 of the working week&quot; if you want to ensure an american hears &quot;monday&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6093" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T15:55:12.507" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16293" CreationDate="2011-03-14T15:57:53.057" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Three nominalized synonyms or &lt;em&gt;noun synonyms&lt;/em&gt; that sprung to mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;addition&lt;/em&gt; • &lt;em&gt;addendum&lt;/em&gt; • &lt;em&gt;extra&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above examples, however, only work for the second definition of &lt;em&gt;include&lt;/em&gt; in your quote, which means &lt;em&gt;to take into account&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the first sense of the word (&lt;em&gt;to incorporate, comprise&lt;/em&gt;), you could try the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;component • constituent • element • member • unit • item • ingredient • part • activity • type&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T16:04:46.670" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T16:04:46.670" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16292" CreationDate="2011-03-14T15:57:58.643" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First I think the spelling is incorrect and the word you are looking for is carceral. &#xA;From Wiki: &#xA;A &lt;code&gt;carceral state&lt;/code&gt; is a state modelled on the idea of a prison. It employs physical boundaries in order to gain control of urban space. In the carceral state, public space is transformed into defendable space, with the installation of walls, gates, fences, surveillance cameras and security checkpoints. Such installations are meant to provide control over urban space. In these spaces, gatherings of strangers to the area are discouraged, and barricades of various forms can prevent people from entering or passing through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T15:57:58.643" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15448" CreationDate="2011-03-14T16:01:32.367" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, it means “being inebriated” or “completely drunk”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, regarding etymology, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=3%20sheets%20to%20the%20wind&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;urbandictionary.com&lt;/a&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;origin: sheets actually refer to the ropes that are used to secure a ship's sail. If the 3 ropes used were loose in the wind, the sail would flop around, causing the ship to wobble around, much like a drunk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently, variants exist, as the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; has:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;two&lt;/strong&gt; (or &lt;strong&gt;three&lt;/strong&gt;) &lt;strong&gt;sheets to the wind:&lt;/strong&gt; (informal) drunk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the etymology of &lt;em&gt;sheet&lt;/em&gt; in this meaning, &lt;em&gt;NOAD&lt;/em&gt; agains comes to the rescue: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Old English &lt;em&gt;scēata&lt;/em&gt; [lower corner of a sail] of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse &lt;em&gt;skauti&lt;/em&gt; (kerchief)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T16:01:32.367" />
  <row Id="16304" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-14T16:14:53.440" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5418/word-meaning-coincidence-of-reference-to-the-unusual&quot;&gt;Word meaning coincidence of reference to the unusual&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is that psychological bias called when you come across a particular term and then end up finding it everywhere for the next few days?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T16:14:53.440" ClosedDate="2011-03-14T16:20:39.450" Title="A single word for a psychological bias" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16279" CreationDate="2011-03-14T16:15:00.853" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say things like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On the whole, I feel that the bad outweighs the good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;While the proposal has some interesting points, it also has problems that prevent me from endorsing it in its current form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Certain things will need to be addressed before we can move forward with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are more things that I don't like about it than things that I do like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think it will do more harm than good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T21:24:26.613" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T21:24:26.613" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16306" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16307" CreationDate="2011-03-14T16:17:52.003" Score="3" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This image-stabilising system for a&#xA;  hand-held camera, developed by&#xA;  cameraman Garrett Brown in 1973,&#xA;  offers (...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;wouldn't it be more correct to write &quot;the cameraman Garrett Brown&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is omitting the &quot;the&quot; generally acceptable (outside newspaper headlines)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6095" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T16:25:06.067" Title="Use of &quot;the&quot;: which is the more correct?" Tags="&lt;definite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="16307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16306" CreationDate="2011-03-14T16:25:06.067" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is fine to omit the definite article here, and awkward to include it. The only reason to use the article would be to note that you are referring to a specific thing. In this case, since you are naming the cameraman, it is obvious that the specification has been made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, you're not really referring to &quot;cameraman&quot; at all: You are referring to Garrett Brown. &quot;Cameraman&quot; functions as an adjective in that case. And as such, you would not need to say &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; Garrett Brown unless there were other Garrett Browns who could be confused with this one, or else you wanted to call out Garrett Brown as being particularly important (for the benefit of readers who might not know how famous he was).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T16:25:06.067" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="16308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5418" CreationDate="2011-03-14T16:35:32.923" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's called the &lt;code&gt;Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon&lt;/code&gt; and Read More &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.damninteresting.com/the-baader-meinhof-phenomenon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T16:35:32.923" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8264" CreationDate="2011-03-14T17:18:56.357" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As for forming a term from it's requirements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Repititional dumbening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5670" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T17:18:56.357" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16271" CreationDate="2011-03-14T17:37:51.000" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Never use such abbreviations especially when writing to your customer, no matter how close you are with them. Apart from sounding casual, you also risk the possibility of the client inferring you're too busy (to write complete words) even for your customers. How I hate it when people sign off with a BR (=best regards, supposedly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, I think it's perfectly valid to use abbreviations that expand to nouns, such as WHO, FBI, WWW etc, and some latin derivatives such as N.B. and P.S.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5739" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T20:21:04.150" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T20:21:04.150" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16211" CreationDate="2011-03-14T17:39:00.723" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A variety of words and phrases that are usually known by most English speakers:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Hark&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take heed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Warning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Attention&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Achtung (yes, it's German, but most English speakers should be familiar with it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do not Enter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Authorized Personnel Only&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Enter at your own Risk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Caution: Wet Floor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Beware&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;No Trespassing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints (Seen in nature centers)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T17:39:00.723" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-15T01:12:55.820" />
  <row Id="16312" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16332" CreationDate="2011-03-14T17:55:14.423" Score="23" ViewCount="1158" Body="&lt;p&gt;We're told in our English classes (learning English as a foreign language) that the only possible answer to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;How do you do?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is to repeat the question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;How do you do?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(While it's perfectly OK to answer other similar questions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;How are you? / How are you doing?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Fine, thanks / etc&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, then I talk to English speakers with Skype or in chats, I tried to ask the question, but the answer was never &quot;how do you do?&quot;. It was rather &quot;fine. you?&quot; or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is right and what is a myth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5791" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T15:09:05.450" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T20:14:39.860" Title="Do you really answer &quot;How do you do?&quot; with &quot;How do you do?&quot;" Tags="&lt;greetings&gt;&lt;questions&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="7" />
  <row Id="16313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16312" CreationDate="2011-03-14T18:03:39.407" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many of my non-native-English-speaking friends have also said they were taught the same as you, but with the same principle applying to all similar greetings -- &quot;How's it going?&quot;, &quot;How are you?&quot;, et al.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that bizarre. As an American English speaker, I am always taken by surprise if someone answers my &quot;how do you do?&quot; with another &quot;how do you do?&quot;. While I don't always care much about their response, I do feel that I am actually asking a question to open up conversation via responses like, &quot;Actually I just came down with a cold,&quot; or, &quot;Great! My school application was accepted today!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with you, I expect a real response, even if it's, &quot;Fine, you?&quot; 90% of the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T18:03:39.407" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16312" CreationDate="2011-03-14T18:03:57.097" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While questions of the type you list there are frequently either partially or fully rhetorical (in that the asker doesn't actually care how you are, but rather is simply following the social convention to ask), I've never heard of any sort of rule or custom of &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; answering the question with another question.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Certainly, it's possible to simply respond with the question you were asked, especially if you're passing someone rather than actually beginning a conversation.  But I would suggest that a more standard response would be of the sort you got on chat.  A one word answer followed by asking about you as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T18:03:57.097" />
  <row Id="16315" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-14T18:07:45.767" Score="7" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;Has anyone got a nice phrase for &quot;dealing with people you wouldn't normally want to deal with but you do because they perform a function that you would not want to do or are not able to do&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have in mind the situation in the &lt;em&gt;Merchant in Venice&lt;/em&gt; where the Venetians tolerate the Jews, even though they dislike them, because they need them as moneylenders, since Christians were officially not allowed by the Church to collect interest (this despite the fact that countless Christian countries, including Venice, had commercial banks with networks operating all over Europe by the early Renaissance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5332" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T22:22:26.730" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T05:34:55.883" Title="Another phrase for &quot;dealing with people you wouldn't normally want to deal with but you do&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16312" CreationDate="2011-03-14T18:21:19.837" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no rule that says the correct answer to &quot;how do you do?&quot; is to reply back the same question.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my experience, most people would reply back with &quot;I am fine&quot; without to give any further detail, even in the case they are not actually feeling well.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have also heard people who, receiving back &quot;I am fine; and you?&quot; as answer, didn't answer back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most people would not take attention to the reply given, but replying to a question with another question could be interpreted differently from the person who first asked the question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T18:21:19.837" />
  <row Id="16317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16315" CreationDate="2011-03-14T18:27:12.547" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An &lt;strong&gt;opportunist&lt;/strong&gt; deals with people by the maxim &lt;em&gt;the end justifies the means&lt;/em&gt;: he will use people or parties as a means to whatever his goals are, sometimes disregarding ethical concerns. He may form a coalition with liberals even though he is a socialist himself, if this coalition furthers his goals in some way. You might also call him a &lt;strong&gt;Machiavellian&lt;/strong&gt;, though this implies an even more ruthless application of the maxim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also &lt;strong&gt;modus vivendi&lt;/strong&gt;: a situation in which several parties coexist more or less peacefully, not because they like each other or feel the situation is optimal, but rather because destroying the equilibrium by attacking or leaving the system would worsen their own position too much. This situation is less benign than a &lt;strong&gt;symbiosis&lt;/strong&gt;, in which both parties not only profit from each other but are usually also fully committed to each other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T23:12:14.940" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T23:12:14.940" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="16318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16312" CreationDate="2011-03-14T18:33:49.093" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe this rule only applies to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_and_non-U_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;U English&lt;/a&gt; nowadays. It was probably more widespread in the past. As far as I know, it is still de rigueur in certain circles; that is, when someone asks &lt;em&gt;how do you do&lt;/em&gt;, you say it back; but it will now rarely be asked any more, and so the occasion for saying it back won't arise either. Perhaps this shibboleth does not extend to America; I wonder how U and non-U language work there, as I am sure they must exist in some form in nearly every culture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have spoken with some foreigners here who were specifically taught U Dutch and kept wondering why most people used different words. I think language learners should at least be explained the difference before being taught one variant or the other, both of which can be equally useful—that is, if their teacher is good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T02:59:35.397" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T02:59:35.397" />
  <row Id="16319" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16320" CreationDate="2011-03-14T18:40:28.013" Score="2" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;When should &lt;em&gt;whilst&lt;/em&gt; be used instead of &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, should I use the first or the second sentence? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They don't do this whilst they do that.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  They don't do this while they do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5638" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T16:53:32.677" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T16:53:32.677" Title="What is the correct usage of &quot;while&quot; and &quot;whilst&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16319" CreationDate="2011-03-14T18:47:09.307" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe while and whilst are interchangeable, but whilst is more archaic and adds a nice flavoring to the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, &quot;whilst&quot; doesn't seem to come up so often in the middle of a sentence as you had it there, so I would use &quot;while&quot; in that case, even though both are grammatically correct. Whilst seems more apt to be put at the beginnings of sentences, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Whilst going about my merry way I chanced upon a vagabond. Taking this serendipitous opportunity to satiate my bloodlust I decapitated him with a fork.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T18:47:09.307" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16315" CreationDate="2011-03-14T18:51:20.093" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Man, i know the damn thing in Hindi but a word by word translation in English would be &quot;If need be, call an ass a Father&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T18:51:20.093" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16315" CreationDate="2011-03-14T18:52:52.793" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;begrudging toleration&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Toleration&quot; already implies that there is something negative (them being Jewish in your example) that you have to accept for whatever reason (you don't like them but the authority tells you to; you don't like them but they have something you want; &amp;amp;c.). Putting &quot;begrudging&quot; in front makes it even clearer that there is quite a negative reaction to whatever is being tolerated, so there must be a good reason for said toleration. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T18:52:52.793" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16312" CreationDate="2011-03-14T18:56:25.067" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Agree with most of the guys, yet I've heard &lt;code&gt;What's up!&lt;/code&gt; always replied with a &lt;code&gt;What's Up!&lt;/code&gt;, more like a &lt;code&gt;Hello!&lt;/code&gt; I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T18:56:25.067" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16315" CreationDate="2011-03-14T19:10:38.433" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Necessary evil&quot;&lt;/strong&gt; is a common description for unpleasant people or things that one is forced to deal with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5119" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T19:10:38.433" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16319" CreationDate="2011-03-14T19:20:03.383" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Whilst&quot; and &quot;while&quot; are interchangeable. The difference between the two is &quot;whilst&quot; is British English and &quot;while&quot; is American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5831" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T19:20:03.383" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16326" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16331" CreationDate="2011-03-14T19:21:19.903" Score="2" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;filtered&quot; seems to be much more common than &quot;filtrated&quot;. I know that these words derive from &quot;to filter&quot; and &quot;to filtrate&quot;. What is the difference in meaning between these two verbs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The context I have in mind is a mathematical one. Here the words &quot;filtration&quot; and &quot;filter&quot; have fixed and different meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, there is an invariant for certain objects which are endowed with a filtration. This invariant is called &quot;filtrated K-theory&quot; by several people. Yet, some people insist that it should be called &quot;filtered K-theory&quot; because filtrated is hardly a word or at least sounds weird and artificial. Can native speakers confirm this, or would you go for the more logical(?) &quot;filtrated&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="337" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T01:52:06.910" Title="What is the difference between &quot;filtrated&quot; and &quot;filtered&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16326" CreationDate="2011-03-14T19:47:31.277" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main meaning of &lt;em&gt;filter&lt;/em&gt; is derived from the field of chemistry: “to pass (a liquid, gas, light, or sound) through a device to remove unwanted”. It this meaning, &lt;em&gt;filtrate&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;filter&lt;/em&gt; are absolutely synonymous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In specific uses, such as “people &lt;em&gt;filtered&lt;/em&gt; out of the room” or “news began to &lt;em&gt;filter&lt;/em&gt; in from the hospital”, it sounds rather weird to use &lt;em&gt;filtrate&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, as a side node, a &lt;em&gt;filtrate&lt;/em&gt; (noun) is the name of a liquid coming out of a filter (basically, the &lt;em&gt;filtered&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;filtrated&lt;/em&gt; liquid is a &lt;em&gt;filtrate&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; OK, so there was a second question… which I don't know how to address! I'm not a native speaker, but “filtrated” doesn't sound to weird to me :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T20:17:03.123" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T20:17:03.123" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16329" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16330" CreationDate="2011-03-14T19:55:27.923" Score="2" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These are also hidden features as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this redundant? I do this a lot, where I say &quot;also&quot; followed by &quot;as well&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4947" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T16:51:41.430" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T16:51:41.430" Title="&quot;These are also hidden features as well&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="16330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16329" CreationDate="2011-03-14T19:59:19.677" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, this is redundant. Choose your favourite:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These are also hidden features.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These are hidden features as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T19:59:19.677" />
  <row Id="16331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16326" CreationDate="2011-03-14T20:03:43.343" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meanings of jargon terms often have essentially nothing to do with the meanings of the English words they're made from. Nowhere is this more the case than in mathematics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would use whichever term seems better established&amp;mdash;regardless of whether it sounds artificial to native English speakers who aren't mathematicians&amp;mdash;so as to give the reader the best possible chance to figure out what I'm talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Updated:&lt;/strong&gt; I should just answer your question. To my ear, there is a verb &lt;em&gt;filter&lt;/em&gt;, and a count noun &lt;em&gt;filter&lt;/em&gt;. There is also a non-count noun &lt;em&gt;filtration&lt;/em&gt;. (You can count coffee filters, but the filtration of water through coffee grounds isn't something you can count.) So already the mathematical use of &lt;em&gt;filtration&lt;/em&gt; as a count noun (&quot;a filtration&quot;) differs from the everyday use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am pretty sure I never heard the verb &lt;em&gt;filtrate&lt;/em&gt; used in everyday English until I started searching for such uses just now. A Google search for &lt;em&gt;filtrated&lt;/em&gt; hits mainly dictionary sites. At the moment, the first non-dictionary hit is a link to this question! I can confirm that to my ear, it's hardly a word, and it sounds weird and artificial. &lt;em&gt;Filtered&lt;/em&gt; sounds much nicer to me. It is an actual common, everyday word (and, correspondingly, gets hundreds of times as many Google hits).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastEditorUserId="2249" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T01:52:06.910" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T01:52:06.910" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16312" CreationDate="2011-03-14T20:05:11.720" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As Cerberus wrote about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_and_non-U_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;'U' English&lt;/a&gt;, replying to &quot;How do you do&quot; with &quot;How do you do&quot; used to be the case among some classes in England (at least), but it seems to be (sadly) nearly extinct. Kate Fox writes in the first chapter of &lt;em&gt;Watching the English&lt;/em&gt; (which is about talking about the weather):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We used to have another option, at least for some social situations, but the ‘How do you do?’ greeting (to which the apparently ludicrous correct response is to repeat the question back ‘How do you do?’) is now regarded by many as somewhat archaic, and is no longer the universal standard greeting. The ‘Nice day, isn’t it?’ exchange must, however, be understood in the same light, and not taken literally: ‘How do you do?’ is not a real question about health or well-being, and ‘Nice day, isn’t it?’ is not a real question about the weather.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So in this usage, &quot;How do you do?&quot; wasn't an actual question about the person: it was just a meaningless greeting, and for instance what one might say when introduced to someone (in lieu of &quot;Pleased to meet you&quot;), presumably while tipping one's hat. In reply, the other person, also wishing to make the same meaningless greeting, would say &quot;How do you do&quot;.&#xA;Note that &quot;How do you do&quot; in this usage was even spoken as a statement, not as a question (i.e., without a rising tone at the end).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These days &quot;How do you do?&quot; is more likely to be interpreted as an actual question. Interestingly, as n0nChun observes, one does sometimes hear a similar exchange these days, with &quot;What's up&quot; getting the reply &quot;What's up&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="77" LastEditorUserId="77" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T15:07:22.360" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T15:07:22.360" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="16333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8264" CreationDate="2011-03-14T20:11:11.883" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about Recursively Dumber?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5670" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T20:11:11.883" />
  <row Id="16334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16279" CreationDate="2011-03-14T20:17:38.163" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I'm more for it than against it&quot; sounds a lot better to me than the opposite. The most succinct way to say the same thing might just be simply:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He gave his opinion on this issue. I'm inclined to disagree with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(or &quot;with him&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It conveys both that you don't agree, but also that it's not a 100% disagreement, and flows more smoothly than your example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T20:17:38.163" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16326" CreationDate="2011-03-14T20:23:37.673" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your second question... by that point you're creating technical jargon, so it'll just be whatever people decide on it being. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=%22filtrated+K-theory%22#sclient=psy&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;q=%22filtrated+K-theory%22&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&amp;amp;pbx=1&amp;amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&amp;amp;fp=98286c98e5a0f890&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;filtrated K-theory&quot;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/a&gt; seems more common than &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=filtrated+K-theory#sclient=psy&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;q=%22filtered+K-theory%22&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&amp;amp;pbx=1&amp;amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&amp;amp;fp=98286c98e5a0f890&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;filtered K-theory&quot;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, according to Google, so that seems to be winning out, currently. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1606" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T20:23:37.673" />
  <row Id="16336" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-14T20:32:00.720" Score="1" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why is the phrase &quot;moral support&quot; used, when it seems like it would more accurately be &quot;morale support&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this just a misspelling that has become canon, or something else?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4256" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T16:50:02.600" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T16:50:02.600" Title="What is the origin of &quot;moral support&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="16337" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-14T20:42:03.807" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I ask my English teacher for the results of an exam?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I came up with the following text, but i'm not satisfied with the result. The more polite the better. Are the commas placed correctly? Do you write a dot after the title &quot;Ms&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear Ms XXX,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;On 12th January, I wrote the XXX exam. Consequently, I would like to ask you to provide me with my result. Thank you very much for your reply.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yours sincerely,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Name&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1806" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T00:54:34.767" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T00:54:34.767" ClosedDate="2011-03-15T11:35:55.237" Title="Asking for exam results" Tags="&lt;politeness&gt;&lt;questions&gt;" AnswerCount="0" />
  <row Id="16338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16336" CreationDate="2011-03-14T20:54:02.330" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=moral&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymology Online says&lt;/a&gt; that the original meaning of the word &quot;moral&quot; was &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;pertaining to character or temperament&quot; (good or bad) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And that this meaning is retained in the phrase &quot;moral support&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;with sense of &quot;pertaining to character as opposed to physical action.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T20:54:02.330" />
  <row Id="16339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16336" CreationDate="2011-03-14T20:54:42.313" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Moral support&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;support or help, the effect of which is psychological rather than physical.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Morale&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;the confidence, enthusiasm, and discipline of a person or group at a particular time.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Their morale was high.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Morale support&lt;/em&gt; is not a phrase I have ever heard, and it would not have the same meaning of &lt;em&gt;moral support&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T20:54:42.313" />
  <row Id="16340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16336" CreationDate="2011-03-14T20:56:28.597" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;em&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;moral&lt;/em&gt; originally meant &quot;pertaining to character as opposed to physical action.&quot;  It did not originally relate to social values or manners.  So &lt;em&gt;moral support&lt;/em&gt; means support that is intangible rather than financial, military, or other physical support.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found this through Dictionary.com: &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/moral&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/moral&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6070" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T20:56:28.597" />
  <row Id="16342" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16349" CreationDate="2011-03-14T21:13:25.713" Score="2" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where does the phrase &quot;to steal the show&quot; come from? Lately I've heard it used for a movie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T21:51:34.400" Title="&quot;To steal the show&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16343" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-14T21:14:54.607" Score="7" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between a phrase and an idiom?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T13:13:56.353" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T13:13:56.353" Title="Difference between &quot;phrase&quot; and &quot;idiom&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="16344" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-14T21:15:47.897" Score="4" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm writing about a concept that I would like to explain at three levels: high-level, medium, and very granular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fifty-thousand foot view&quot; is a common business idiom to describe the highest, most general level.  (I've also heard &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary_of_idioms_-_T&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;10K and 30K&lt;/a&gt; feet.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, what's the comparable phrase for the medium and lowest-levels of explanation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6101" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T20:59:54.133" Title="What's the antonym of &quot;fifty-thousand foot view&quot;?" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16312" CreationDate="2011-03-14T21:17:06.417" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason for the varied responses is that the question you ask is not &lt;em&gt;only&lt;/em&gt; about the English language, but it also touches on etiquette, which is more idiomatic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The short answer is: yes, the answer to &quot;How do you do?&quot; is &quot;How do you do?&quot;  It is also acceptable to reply &quot;I'm fine, and you?&quot; and similar variations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However -- and this is important to the etiquette side of things and not so much the language side -- &quot;how do you do?&quot; is actually &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; a question!  It is a greeting, similar to &quot;good morning&quot; and, hence, an appropriate reply is also &quot;good morning to you!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etiquette allows simple replies such as &quot;I'm fine, how are you?&quot; to appease the literalists who might feel off-put by a non-reply to what they mis-interpret as having asked you a question.  However, good manners also prevents one from discussing their personal troubles with every acquaintance or stranger on the street who greets them with &quot;good morning!&quot; or &quot;how do you do?&quot;  Hence, any reply in the form of an answer is &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; &quot;I'm fine&quot; (followed by &quot;and you?&quot;, as a courtesy), and never &quot;terrible!  My stomach hurts and I have a splitting headache!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, if you are talking with a friend who truly inquires about  your wellbeing, and you feel like sharing with them, by all means, do so.  My answer is not meant to prevent that, only to allow you the dignity of a polite answer for passers-by that does not require you to spill your guts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6102" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T21:17:06.417" />
  <row Id="16346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16342" CreationDate="2011-03-14T21:26:49.943" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means &lt;strong&gt;to focus&lt;/strong&gt; (or steal) &lt;strong&gt;all the attention at an event&lt;/strong&gt; (you're stealing all the attention of the show).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; says: “to attract the most attention and praise”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T21:26:49.943" />
  <row Id="16347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16343" CreationDate="2011-03-14T21:30:08.520" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A phrase is “a small group of words standing together as a conceptual unit”, while an idiom is “a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words”. So, the difference is that an idiom as an &lt;strong&gt;established meaning not directly linked to the individual words&lt;/strong&gt;. Any idiom is a phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an example, “raining cats and dogs” is both an idiom and a phrase. “A herd of cats” is a phrase but not an idiom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T22:26:23.793" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T22:26:23.793" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16344" CreationDate="2011-03-14T21:48:36.667" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;at the detail level&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;at the microscopic view&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;down in the trenches&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T21:48:36.667" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16342" CreationDate="2011-03-14T21:51:34.400" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When someone or something &lt;em&gt;steals the show&lt;/em&gt;, they are the unexpected focus of (positive) attention.  If you go to a movie starring George Clooney, but realize afterward that all the scenes with a relatively unknown actress are the ones that you enjoyed most, you could say that the actress has stolen the show; you went with the expectation of enjoying George Clooney but found yourself largely ignoring him in favor of focusing on someone else entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T21:51:34.400" />
  <row Id="16350" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-14T21:54:08.797" Score="2" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually when discussing monetary amounts, people will say &quot;That cost one hundred million dollars&quot; or &quot;one hundred million pounds&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I have also seen it written as &quot;that cost one hundred millions sterling&quot;.   Former UK PM Gordon Brown also used to say millions not million when giving his budget updates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there rules for this usage, or is it just a question of putting the plural in the right place?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4308" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T16:47:39.017" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T15:16:34.753" Title="&quot;Millions&quot; versus &quot;million&quot;" Tags="&lt;pluralization&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16344" CreationDate="2011-03-14T21:54:37.457" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The nitty gritty&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is common as well&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T21:54:37.457" />
  <row Id="16352" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-14T22:21:06.123" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;What practical use does &quot;proper etiquette&quot; have these days with regards to English language? I ask this after reading answers from &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/16312/do-you-really-answer-how-do-you-do-with-how-do-you-do&quot;&gt;do you really answer &amp;quot;how do you do?&amp;quot; with &amp;quot;how do you do?&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt; which indicate that &quot;etiquette&quot; teaches a certain usage of this greeting which is different than common usage. I did not know this rule, and never experienced it outside of non-native-English-speakers who learned it in school and weren't fluent enough to speak more colloquially.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given only this one example, it seems that etiquette is a way to boil common sense and rudimentary social skills into a set of clear, measurable, rules. However, I would guess that knowing how to behave around people in a flexible way is vastly more important than to follow a script.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my questions are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the risk of a person (me) not knowing these rules?&lt;/strong&gt; Am I being judged for breaking a rule I didn't know existed, even if my intent was clearly amicable?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How is the body of &quot;etiquette&quot; practical / valuable in general?&lt;/strong&gt; Maybe it's useful in that it's a way to give everyone a chance to succeed socially if it didn't come more naturally.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T23:44:29.090" ClosedDate="2011-03-15T01:12:14.087" Title="What is the use of etiquette today?" Tags="&lt;etiquette&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16211" CreationDate="2011-03-14T22:22:33.623" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like the signs that are ambiguious:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Slow Children &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Soft Shoulder&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="728" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T22:22:33.623" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-15T01:12:55.820" />
  <row Id="16354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16350" CreationDate="2011-03-14T22:31:26.907" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience and understanding, one should use &lt;em&gt;million&lt;/em&gt; when it is an adjective telling how many of something:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She earned 5 million dollars last year.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The city's population included 2.1 million residents.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Use &lt;em&gt;millions&lt;/em&gt; as a plural noun:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They spent millions of dollars on the project.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Millions of people showed up at the march.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I couldn't find anything supporting phrases such as &quot;one hundred millions sterling&quot; but perhaps it is a British usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6070" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T22:31:26.907" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16352" CreationDate="2011-03-14T23:12:43.957" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; defines &lt;strong&gt;etiquette&lt;/strong&gt; as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the customary code of polite behavior in society or among members of a particular profession or group&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, the most important thing to note is that etiquette is defined with respect to some group and environment. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The etiquette pertaining to state affairs or diplomatic relationships is called &lt;strong&gt;protocol&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The “minimal” etiquette, or the least common denominator, so to speak, is that which you can be expected to follow in most circumstances in a given society. It may be referred to as &lt;strong&gt;manners&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, when someone wants to teach you something about etiquette, you may not even be concerned. For example, there may be a particular etiquette for Paris’ well-off gentlemen’s clubs, but I don't care because I'm not part of the target.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding your question #1, the risk is only important if you're new to a social group. So, you might want to learn how you are expected to behave in given circumstances. For example, there may be a particular etiquette for job interviews in your field (in most places, there is in academia, for example). Thus, if applying for a job, you might want to learn its main characteristics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, if you are of good will, the question to ask yourself is: if someone may possibly judge me harshly because of a mere &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/punctilio&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;punctilio&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, is it worth me doing a lot of effort just to appease them? To me, this is the key. I memorized the traditional way to cut Brie cheese to avoid hurting my in-laws, but I might not learn all the tricks of cocktail party &lt;strong&gt;decorum&lt;/strong&gt; for a one-off occasion. (I hope these two examples make my point of view clear.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For your question #2: I am myself a conformist at heart, so I value etiquette as being one way to ease relationships in uncertain circumstances (see Cerberus’ “small ethics” comment). You are right that it can be a barrier to integration. On the other hand, etiquette can also help intermixing people of different origins. For example, in a public school, having a strong etiquette distinctive of the school helps putting all students on an equal footing (the same way uniforms can do).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OK, that was long. I tried to include some words that are close to &lt;strong&gt;etiquette&lt;/strong&gt; to bring some of the “English Language” topic back in ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-14T23:44:29.090" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T23:44:29.090" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16356" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16374" CreationDate="2011-03-14T23:14:20.583" Score="3" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I'm not mistaken, &quot;tens of&quot; means 10 to 99 and &quot;hundreds of&quot; means 100 to 999. Is this correct? I found in some dictionaries that &quot;tens of&quot; is actually not correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also found that &quot;hundreds of&quot; could also mean any arbitrary large number. So how would people usually interpret &quot;hundreds of&quot;? Based on context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my case, I want to describe numbers of some items that are usually 50-90 but sometimes could be around 100-200, but definitely not as many as 300 or so. I want to really emphasize that there are &lt;em&gt;a lot of&lt;/em&gt; these items. In this case, can I say &quot;... have tens or even hundreds of ...&quot;? Would people misinterpret what I actually want to say?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5648" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T02:04:19.333" Title="How to use &quot;tens of&quot; and &quot;hundreds of&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="16357" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-14T23:17:39.847" Score="2" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a native English speaker so I was wondering about what you think of a title like this. It sounds a bit too much to me. Calling something that's &quot;super&quot; total- What do you think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6104" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T02:01:26.397" Title="Do you consider the title &quot;Total Superleague&quot; too much?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;title&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16356" CreationDate="2011-03-14T23:21:29.610" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When describing victims of a disaster, &quot;tens of&quot; usually means less than a hundred or a bit more, and &quot;hundreds of&quot; can mean up to a thousand or a few more.  &quot;Hundreds of dead&quot; could be over a thousand, but the results are still unsure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Hundreds of&quot; and &quot;thousands of&quot; are more common than &quot;tens of&quot;, but if I heard the statement, I would expect &quot;tens of&quot; to be 30 to about 120 or so.  A more common phrase for the same general amount is &quot;dozens of&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="728" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T23:21:29.610" />
  <row Id="16359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16312" CreationDate="2011-03-14T23:25:13.160" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a native UK English speaker, I'd be very surprised to hear &quot;How do you do?&quot; used in a modern conversation in London. It's somewhat archaic. However &quot;How do you do?&quot; would be an appropriate response - the phrase should be interpreted more like &quot;hello&quot; than an actual question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;How are you doing?&quot; is now much more common, and would typically be answered with a neutral response and a similar question back - e.g. &quot;I'm fine thanks, and how are you?&quot;. I would consider it mildly impolite not to answer the question at all, but you can answer any way you like - it's meant to be taken as a genuine question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5201" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T23:25:13.160" />
  <row Id="16360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16356" CreationDate="2011-03-14T23:36:55.330" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use &lt;em&gt;hundreds of&lt;/em&gt; in sentences like the following.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It costs hundreds of dollars.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  An unknown number, probably in the hundreds, had already been lost.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Hundreds of letters poured in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the last sentence, &lt;em&gt;hundreds of&lt;/em&gt; is used to mean an unspecified large number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly, you can use &lt;em&gt;tens of&lt;/em&gt; (except in sentences like the last one).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T23:36:55.330" />
  <row Id="16361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16356" CreationDate="2011-03-14T23:37:46.030" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I understand it, the usage is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tens of&lt;/strong&gt; -- rarely used; &quot;as many as XX&quot; might be more appropriate&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hundreds of&lt;/strong&gt; -- any number from 100 - 999; &quot;more than 500&quot; might be more appropriate for numbers greater than 500&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thousands of&lt;/strong&gt; -- any number from 1,000 to 9,999&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tens of Thousands of&lt;/strong&gt; -- any number from 10,000 to 99,999&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hundreds of Thousands of&lt;/strong&gt; -- any number from 100,000 to 999,999; after 250,000, it is more appropriate to use quarter, half and three-quarter million&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6105" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T23:37:46.030" />
  <row Id="16362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16350" CreationDate="2011-03-14T23:42:31.173" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a quote &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=MpCTZQywq0YC&amp;amp;pg=PA172&amp;amp;lpg=PA172#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; from an 1896 letter, describing the results of that year's American presidential election as &quot;7 millions to 6 millions and a half.&quot; The letter was addressed to the British ambassador, so perhaps Kristina is right that it's a British usage - but the writer was an American. So this may have been an established usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-14T23:42:31.173" />
  <row Id="16363" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16369" CreationDate="2011-03-14T23:58:57.253" Score="9" ViewCount="257" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you all may have figured out, I have an affection for Britishisms and peculiar colloquiaisms of British speech. Recently, I came across an inscrutable one watching the hilarious FX show &lt;em&gt;Archer&lt;/em&gt;, and so wondered if someone knowledgeable might decipher the meaning of the phrase &quot;God and my twin vicars&quot; for me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, something that complicates this question is that &lt;em&gt;Archer&lt;/em&gt; is meant to be a humorous show, which means that proper interpretation requires taking into account prior context. The relevant context here, as far as I can discern, is that one speaker, Captain Reginald Thistleton, is supposed to be a parody of an upper-class officer, and the other speaker, Woodhouse, is a former Lawrence-of-Arabia type who fought in the War as Thistleton's protege, and is now an aged manservant flashing back to his exploits.  I've included a brief transcript for clarity; Thistleton is just emerging from his fighter plane: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;THISTLETON: I say, Woodhouse!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  WOODHOUSE: Yessir?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  THISTLETON: The Hun' did a fair job of stitching up the old kite this time, &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/14369/is-wot-wot-an-authentic-british-expression-if-its-supposed-to-be-mocking-wha&quot;&gt;what&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  WOODHOUSE: Thank God you're all right sir!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  THISTLETON: &lt;strong&gt;God and my twin vicars&lt;/strong&gt;, Woodhouse. Quart old Jerry au chandelle[??]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Old bastard went down like a quail.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  THISTLETON (&lt;em&gt;exclaims&lt;/em&gt;): You scoundrel! Is that brandy?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  WOODHOUSE (&lt;em&gt;beaming&lt;/em&gt;): Thought you'd like a pick-me-up, sir.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  THISLETON: Woodhouse! You're a rose among thorns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does it mean? Would a native British English speaker easily recognize this reference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T00:21:12.633" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T01:23:41.067" Title="What does the phrase &quot;God and my twin vicars&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16350" CreationDate="2011-03-15T00:39:59.010" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Millions&lt;/em&gt; is used in sentences like the following.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Millions of TV viewers are following our show.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I've got millions of beer bottles in my cellar.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  We make movies for the millions.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of &lt;em&gt;millions&lt;/em&gt; in these sentences is similar to the use of &lt;em&gt;hundreds&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In American English, I have never seen &lt;em&gt;millions&lt;/em&gt; in phrases like &lt;em&gt;5 millions&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;million&lt;/em&gt; is always used, in the same way &lt;em&gt;thousand&lt;/em&gt; is used in phrases like &lt;em&gt;10 thousand&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is true that &lt;em&gt;million&lt;/em&gt; can be used to mean a million dollars, but &lt;em&gt;millions&lt;/em&gt; is used in sentences like &quot;the author is set to make millions,&quot; not in sentences like &quot;the author thought to get 6 millions.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T11:00:41.527" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T11:00:41.527" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16365" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16446" CreationDate="2011-03-15T00:43:27.373" Score="5" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you can find any difference between &quot;unproductive&quot; and &quot;nonproductive,&quot; could you explain that with some illustrative sentences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5323" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T16:46:02.823" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T17:51:41.380" Title="Is there any difference between &quot;unproductive&quot; and &quot;nonproductive&quot;?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16363" CreationDate="2011-03-15T00:58:44.447" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Right, the important line is the one above it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;WOODHOUSE: Thank God you're all right sir!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;THISTLETON: God and my twin vicars, Woodhouse.  Caught old Jerry au chandelle. Old bastard went down like a quail.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Woodhouse is saying, &quot;thank God you're all right&quot;, and Thistleton is agreeing and expanding who is to be thanked.  Not just God, but his twin vicars as well.  ie. it took a lot of divine intervention to save him.  It is not a standard phrase, just one invented on the spur of the moment no doubt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having said that, responding to &quot;Thank God!&quot;, with &quot;God and ...&quot; is relatively commonplace.  Either to add something genuine, &quot;Thank God you're alive. / God and this man, he saved my life.&quot;; or to exaggerate as above.  Also used with &quot;God knows.&quot;, eg. &quot;God knows where my husband goes Friday nights. / God and Mrs Smith at number 32.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second part of that sentence will be &quot;caught old Jerry&quot;, not &lt;em&gt;quart&lt;/em&gt;.  Old Jerry being the Germans.  I do not know if you have transcribed the latter bit right, I would be expecting some state of being after that, &quot;au chandelle&quot; could mean caught them during the flight manoeuvre, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandelle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chandelle&lt;/a&gt;.  The fact he says the &quot;old bastard went down like a quail&quot;, confirms that it is referring to a take down mid-air, a quail being a tiny bird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastEditorUserId="2253" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T01:15:11.103" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T01:15:11.103" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16357" CreationDate="2011-03-15T01:03:51.370" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm afraid that's rather the point of it; naming for marketing reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's no better than &lt;strong&gt;super-duper-mega-ultra league&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just combining comparatives and superlatives to gain additional mileage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T01:03:51.370" />
  <row Id="16368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16365" CreationDate="2011-03-15T01:17:22.067" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a difference. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/unproductive&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Unproductive&lt;/a&gt; suggests something that &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; be useful produces nothing of value. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/nonproductive&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Nonproductive&lt;/a&gt; suggests that same something produces nothing useful at all.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T01:17:22.067" />
  <row Id="16369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16363" CreationDate="2011-03-15T01:23:41.067" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Vickers was a British machine gun, there were likely two mounted on Thistleton's fighter. The humour is in the confusion between the homophones Vickers and vicars in a sentence that references God.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Vickers K machine gun, known as the Vickers Gas Operated (VGO) in British service, was a rapid-firing machine gun developed and manufactured for use in aircraft by Vickers-Armstrongs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_K_machine_gun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_K_machine_gun&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1353" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T01:23:41.067" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16370" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-15T01:32:00.093" Score="0" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is Snapple Real Fact #851. Is this sentence ambiguous between&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They installed the first &lt;em&gt;ATM specifically for rollerbladers&lt;/em&gt;, and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They installed the very first ATM, coincidentally for rollerbladers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm assuming they mean the former. Does the grammar imply solely the former as well? And would a comma - &quot;the first ATM, for rollerbladers&quot; - explicitly imply the latter, or would it still be ambiguous?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2776" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T02:14:35.860" Title="&quot;Miami installed the first ATM for rollerbladers&quot;" Tags="&lt;ambiguity&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16371" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-15T01:33:18.653" Score="17" ViewCount="416" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An Englishman's way of speaking absolutely classifies him.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The moment he talks he makes some other Englishman despise him.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you spoke as she does, sir,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Instead of the way you do,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Why, you might be selling flowers, too! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are probably my two favorite lines in my &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAYUuspQ6BY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;favorite song&lt;/a&gt; of my favorite musical, &lt;em&gt;My Fair Lady&lt;/em&gt;. I have to admit I've been caught quoting them once or twice when asked by friends or family why I tend to be exacting about proper English speech. The movie made huge impression on me since I first watched it at age 6; Henry Higgins is kind of a personal hero of mine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But how true are his words to reality today&lt;/strong&gt;? Now, I've read all about Received Pronunciation, and hypercorrective hs, and they are indeed interesting topics to discuss, but I get the impression that not even the upper-class adhere to Received Pronunciation anymore, and that much effort has been invested by many British to be more colloquial in speech so as not to seem outwardly too posh or upper-class.  I get the impression that many view speech distinctions as something to be publicly denounced or abhorred.  That doesn't mean that those distinctions don't exist of course, but Received Pronunciation in particular seems to me a social distinction of a long past age, and besides there are a ton of other English accents to talk about. Discussing RP as the totality of what it is to be said on the subject also seems myopically centered on London to detriment of the rest of the UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's also important to consider that the demographics of the classes and thus the linguistic baggage different ethnic groups brought into British speech might have changed the different distinctions.   For example, I know that upper-caste Indians have become a prosperous group in the UK; have they in any way changed the markings of the upper class speech?  What about the ascendance of Jews escaping from the Holocaust, and a &quot;Yiddish&quot; manner of speaking they might have brought with them? Have wealthy and prominent Russian moguls changed speech patterns? (For example, in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1628/cheers-vs-thanks-in-england&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; the question-answerer remarks on the middle class' willingness to use &lt;em&gt;na zdrovyeh&lt;/em&gt; as a toast in place of &lt;em&gt;cheers&lt;/em&gt;; have other things changed?) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The converse probably holds too: I'd guess that immigrants from Commonwealth Carribean countries and Polish migrant workers have possibly changed distinctions on what it means to have &quot;working-class&quot; speech patterns.  What can be broadly said about all this? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TL; DR summary&lt;/strong&gt;: What examples can you offer of accents or speech differentiating social classes in the present day that doesn't discuss Received Pronunciation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="3782" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T16:20:00.903" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:20:00.903" Title="Do accents still play a role in British class distinctions to the present day? How have things changed since the 1960s and Received Pronunciation?" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;sociolinguistic&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="15" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="16372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16370" CreationDate="2011-03-15T01:38:24.533" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is an example of an ambiguous sentence. Read what Wikipedia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntactic_ambiguity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;has to say&lt;/a&gt; about semantic and syntactic ambiguity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Syntactic ambiguity is a property of sentences which may be reasonably interpreted in more than one way, or reasonably interpreted to mean more than one thing. Ambiguity may or may not involve one word having two parts of speech or homonyms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Syntactic ambiguity arises not from the range of meanings of single words, but from the relationship between the words and clauses of a sentence, and the sentence structure implied thereby. When a reader can reasonably interpret the same sentence as having more than one possible structure, the text is equivocal and meets the definition of syntactic ambiguity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In legal disputes, courts may be asked to interpret the meaning of syntactic ambiguities in statutes or contracts. In some instances, arguments asserting highly unlikely interpretations have been deemed frivolous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Read the examples as well. Some of them are hilarious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T01:38:24.533" />
  <row Id="16373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16357" CreationDate="2011-03-15T02:01:26.397" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term for this is 'hyperbole', and sports reporting is rife with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5625" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T02:01:26.397" />
  <row Id="16374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16356" CreationDate="2011-03-15T02:04:19.333" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English, one would normally say &quot;dozens of&quot; rather than &quot;tens of&quot;, so there is some overlap. I might use &quot;dozens of&quot; for an amount between 36 (a dozen, two dozen, dozens...) and 132 (a dozen less than a gross), &quot;scores of&quot; for a number between 40 and 199, and &quot;hundreds of&quot; for values greater than that. I don't think I've ever thought about the reasoning behind this; it would really depend on which number sounded better in the areas which overlap.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5450" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T02:04:19.333" />
  <row Id="16375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16370" CreationDate="2011-03-15T02:07:47.160" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence is grammatically ambiguous, but common knowledge and reasoning resolves the ambiguity with little conscious involvement. The idea that an ATM would have been invented first only with the intention of serving rollerbladers is pretty far out, and would not be brought to mind.  (Not to mention, ATMs predate rollerblades by many years.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Adding a comma after ATM would suggest a parsing which makes the &lt;em&gt;for rollerbladers&lt;/em&gt; nonessential to the core meaning, but the effect is not strong (IMO), and would probably be dismissed by most readers.  To get that idea established, against the cognitive bias for the commonplace interpretation (of &quot;first &amp;lt;&amp;#8203;ATM for rollerbladers&gt;&quot;), would probably additionally require some further marking, such as &lt;em&gt;...first ATM, for rollerbladers!&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;...first ATM, and it was for rollerbladers.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastEditorUserId="4951" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T02:14:35.860" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T02:14:35.860" />
  <row Id="16376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5902" CreationDate="2011-03-15T02:56:56.413" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Can&quot; asks the possibility, as in &quot;Can you help me?&quot;.  &quot;Would&quot; asks the person addressed if they have the will, as in &quot;Would you help me?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &quot;would&quot; or &quot;will&quot; is more polite, implying that the person addressed has a choice to act.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5625" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T02:56:56.413" />
  <row Id="16377" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16383" CreationDate="2011-03-15T03:02:57.893" Score="6" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;p&gt;I discovered on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a quiz show&lt;/a&gt; the other day that the word &quot;dog&quot; appears to have come &lt;em&gt;from nowhere&lt;/em&gt; and displaced the German word &quot;hund&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has any research revealed how it arrived in the English language?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1963" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T03:36:02.887" Title="Where does the word &quot;dog&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16377" CreationDate="2011-03-15T03:07:21.007" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the etymology of &lt;em&gt;dog&lt;/em&gt; is still unknown. The following is from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=dog&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline.com&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;O.E. &lt;em&gt;docga&lt;/em&gt;, a late, rare word used&#xA;  of a powerful breed of canine. It&#xA;  forced out O.E. &lt;em&gt;hund&lt;/em&gt; (the general&#xA;  Germanic and IE word; see &lt;em&gt;canine&lt;/em&gt;) by&#xA;  16c. and subsequently was picked up in&#xA;  many continental languages (cf. Fr.&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;dogue&lt;/em&gt; (16c.), Dan. &lt;em&gt;dogge&lt;/em&gt;), but the origin remains one of the great&#xA;  mysteries of English etymology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T03:07:21.007" />
  <row Id="16379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5418" CreationDate="2011-03-15T03:08:09.980" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others note, some call it the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.damninteresting.com/the-baader-meinhof-phenomenon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Baader-Meinhof phenomenon&lt;/a&gt; and it is somewhat close to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;synchronicity&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.  It is also related to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_position_effect#Recency_effect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;recency effect&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.  The psychological term for it seems to be the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_position_effect#Primacy_effect&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;primacy effect&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priming_%28psychology%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;priming&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T03:08:09.980" />
  <row Id="16380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16344" CreationDate="2011-03-15T03:21:54.487" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;where the pedal hits the metal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;where the metal meets the meat [&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/We_Were_Soldiers&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;... I think :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6112" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T03:21:54.487" />
  <row Id="16381" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5418" CreationDate="2011-03-15T03:35:29.307" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That would be a form of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;confirmation bias&lt;/a&gt;. &quot;Synchronicity&quot; is a pop-psychology term. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6111" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T03:35:29.307" />
  <row Id="16382" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16402" CreationDate="2011-03-15T03:35:56.393" Score="2" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for the name of an animal trained to attack, whether for defense or sport. I feel like it's on the 'tip of my tongue' but can't quite get it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Blood sport” is a bit too broad (and, in a sense, too narrow as well), and refers of course to the act and not the creature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5868" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T09:52:16.307" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T13:08:58.837" Title="What's a generic name for an attack animal?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="16383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16377" CreationDate="2011-03-15T03:36:02.887" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Wiktionary entry for &quot;docga&quot; suggests a possible origin in the root of a word originally meaning &quot;power, strength, muscle&quot; along with a diminutive suffix -ga.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It occurs to me that single-syllable words (or single syllables plus a suffix) can come about onomatopeoiacally. The root &quot;dog&quot;/&quot;doc&quot; doesn't necessarily have had to have come from &quot;somewhere&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the Wiktionary entry is correct that there is only one known attestation of &quot;docga&quot;, it is striking that it became the word that eventually ousted &quot;Hund&quot; (as the generic word). On the other hand, I guess it's possible that &quot;docga&quot; was widely used, just not in the kinds of register that tended to be written down. (It's quite common for words to shift register over the years.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T03:36:02.887" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16384" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-15T03:46:28.303" Score="1" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen people indent their poems like below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Writing on wall&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was just plane writing on wall&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  I must have taken it a serious call&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  She was on and off repeating same thing&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  There was hidden message through something&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There may be long wait&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  All dependants on fate&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  How can one think and rate?&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  It is difficult to state&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or I've seen some like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Writing on wall&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was just plane writing on wall&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  __I must have taken it a serious call&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  She was on and off repeating same thing&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  __There was hidden message through something&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There may be long wait&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  __All dependants on fate&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  How can one think and rate?&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  __It is difficult to state&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there other possibilities? When should I use which?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T03:46:28.303" ClosedDate="2011-03-15T10:56:51.510" Title="What's the indent rule of poetry?" Tags="&lt;typesetting&gt;" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="16385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16344" CreationDate="2011-03-15T04:17:53.883" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Deep Dive&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am an MBA and am well versed in business-speak :) A deep dive is when you take some extra time to explore a topic quite thoroughly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="943" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T04:17:53.883" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16312" CreationDate="2011-03-15T04:25:44.610" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another modern UK version is &quot;alright?&quot;, &quot;alright&quot;.  The reply can be a statement or the same ritual question repeated back, which is rather neat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6114" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T04:25:44.610" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16315" CreationDate="2011-03-15T04:36:49.060" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use either the word &lt;strong&gt;suffer&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;abide&lt;/strong&gt; as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;I &lt;strong&gt;suffered&lt;/strong&gt; the camels' smell because, without them, it would be a very long and lonely journey home.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;I can barely &lt;strong&gt;abide&lt;/strong&gt; the people in this party, but my girlfriend would be quite upset if I left&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5286" LastEditorUserId="5286" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T05:34:55.883" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T05:34:55.883" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16388" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-15T05:20:14.373" Score="3" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm describing a situation that happened in the past. To explain it, I want to use a description that is both true now and true when the situation happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically, I want something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She touched me where my neck met my collarbone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since my neck is &lt;em&gt;still&lt;/em&gt; attached to my collarbone (thankfully), I'm wondering if I shouldn't use the present tense here instead:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She touched me where my neck meets my collarbone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is preferable, and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5575" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T02:17:28.757" Title="Tense change: previous actions on something that's currently true" Tags="&lt;tense&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;&lt;present-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14369" CreationDate="2011-03-15T05:28:12.960" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Best of my knowledge, the &quot;wot wot&quot; verbal tic is specifically British, Georgian and definitely an upper-class marker.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, one of the most famous adept of this &quot;wot wot&quot; verbal tic, was George III (the one of the American Independence), as seen in the film &quot;The Madness of King George&quot; (recommended).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did not count them but the script puts tens of these &quot;wot wot&quot; in the mouth of actor Nigel Hawthorne.  And they seem to apply indifferently to both insignificant everyday life events and to important political matters.&#xA;This trait contributes to depicting a King in constant need of approbation from his entourage, often assailed by doubts that he is fit for the task laid on his shoulders, at times prone to hiding behind authoritarianism but actually unsure of being genuinely perceived as the first really English king of the Hanover dynasty.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Significantly enough, he is, best of my recollections, the only character in the film afflicted with this verbal tic.  This is by no means sufficient to conjecture that he might have started the trend.  However, if the film is to be trusted on the subject, he must certainly have amplified it.  Even more so considering the length of his reign (as there is apparently a rule about mad kings in both France and England that they should enjoy a long reign ;-) )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some of today's British upper-class circles, you can still hear it in the form of a single &quot;what ?&quot;, added at the end of a short colloquial sentence as a short way of asking &quot;what do you say ?&quot; in the context of an invitation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example usage would be: &quot;Let's go for a walk, what ? [what do you say]&quot; or &quot;a storm is brewing, what ? [what do you think]&quot;.  Since it is perceived as old fashioned and slightly snob, it is gently mocked in plays, shows and popular culture and has also now become a cliché.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either around the time of &quot;King George&quot; and the &quot;red coats&quot;, or may be later (but that would not be &quot;wot wot&quot; but &quot;what&quot;) this stereotype might have been extended in the United States to the whole British people (conjecture again I'm afraid).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As an aside, there are in English, many other regional verbal tics whereby people interject a word at the end of a sentence in order to ask for approbation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In Canada for instance, they say&#xA;&quot;eh?&quot; a lot.   It's like sending an&#xA;invitation for &quot;empathic&#xA;approbation&quot;, and it has also become&#xA;a stereotype. &quot;The Canucks can't&#xA;loose that one, eh?&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In Singapore it's &quot;one&quot; or &quot;lah&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;It's gonna rain again, lah.  I'd&#xA;better stay at home, one&quot;.   In this&#xA;case it means something like &quot;Don't&#xA;you think ?&quot; or close to &quot;I'm pretty&#xA;sure about that.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In the US, you can sometimes hear&#xA;some people frequently interjecting&#xA;&quot;like&quot; at the end of sentences and&#xA;even sometimes in the middle. In this&#xA;case I think the semantic need is one&#xA;similar to the more common &quot;you&#xA;know&quot;: asking for permission no to&#xA;elaborate.  I have no idea however, how it came to be &quot;like&quot;. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T10:02:42.033" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T10:02:42.033" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16388" CreationDate="2011-03-15T05:43:54.047" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you've pretty much answered your own question, really.  The present tense is preferred because it's a description of an indefinite or continuous event, rather than a single, specific, discrete occurrence.  Consider what would happen if you were writing about something in the future:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She will touch me where my neck will meet my collarbone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You're going to have a hard time enjoying that touch since apparently your neck and collarbone haven't gotten together yet.  Also it kinda sounds like your body parts are going out for a date or something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T05:43:54.047" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15448" CreationDate="2011-03-15T06:09:25.233" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The original wording of this phrase was &quot;. . . &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; the wind,&quot; as mentioned in the above-referenced &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/three-sheets-to-the-wind.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;phrases.org.uk&lt;/a&gt; entry. The entry cites Pierce Egan's character's descripton of a drunk cobbler in &lt;em&gt;Real Life in London&lt;/em&gt;, 1821,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Old Wax and Bristles is about three&#xA;  sheets in the wind,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as possibly the earliest use in print. This is reiterated by many other phrase-origin sites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also mentioned is the &quot;sliding scale&quot; of drunkeness coined by sailors whereby an inebriated person could be anywhere from one to four &quot;sheets in the wind.&quot; &#xA;I decided to take these possible variations of the phrase and plug them in to &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=two+sheets+in+the+wind&amp;amp;year_start=1800&amp;amp;year_end=2008&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google's Ngram Viewer&lt;/a&gt;. I found an earlier instance of the phrase in print. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA423&amp;amp;dq=%22two+sheets+in+the+wind%22&amp;amp;ei=W-1-TYfjDJGDtgeOtoXsCA&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;id=DSMRAAAAIAAJ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22two%20sheets%20in%20the%20wind%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Journal of Rev. Francis Asbury&lt;/a&gt;, first published in &lt;a href=&quot;http://openlibrary.org/books/OL14979713M/The_journal_of_the_Rev._Francis_Asbury_Bishop_of_the_Methodist_Episcopal_Church_from_August_7_1771_to_December_7_1815_...&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1815&lt;/a&gt;, the Methodist Episcopal itinerant preacher describes a trip through Kentucky in 1813:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The tavernkeepers were kind and&#xA;  polite, as Southern folks should be&#xA;  and as Southern folks ought not to be;&#xA;  they were sometimes two sheets in the&#xA;  wind. O, that liquid fire!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While this may not answer the ultimate question of the phrase's origin, it does show a use of the phrase several years earlier than previously reported and from an American source rather than British (although Asbury was born in England).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 3/16/11:&lt;/strong&gt; Gary Martin has now updated his &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/three-sheets-to-the-wind.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;entry&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; on this phrase at &lt;em&gt;The Phrase Finder&lt;/em&gt; to include the Asbury citation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T13:35:10.560" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T13:35:10.560" />
  <row Id="16392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16388" CreationDate="2011-03-15T06:13:43.230" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Strunk and White, in &lt;em&gt;The Elements of Style&lt;/em&gt;, encourage the following in rule 17 [&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk5.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;]:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the summary is in the present tense, antecedent action should be expressed by the perfect; if in the past, by the past perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hence, the correct form, according to a slavish interpretation, would be either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She touched me where my neck &lt;em&gt;had met&lt;/em&gt; my collarbone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She touches me where my neck &lt;em&gt;has met&lt;/em&gt; my collarbone.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I think your intuition on this is right. There is no compelling reason to construct parallel tenses here.  Simplification can get us out of this dead end:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She touched me where my scar is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But not:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She touched me where my scar was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5286" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T07:10:00.563" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T07:10:00.563" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16393" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16394" CreationDate="2011-03-15T07:18:01.697" Score="0" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have checked a dictionary, 'tron' isn't a word in English. And someone translated into my native language:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Creat: fight record&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T12:46:34.357" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T12:46:34.357" Title="How to understand this film name 'Tron: Legacy'?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16393" CreationDate="2011-03-15T07:24:45.833" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Tron is the name of an older movie, and &quot;Tron: Legacy&quot; is a sequel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While &quot;Tron&quot; is just a made-up name for the movie (it should just be transliterated into another language).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Legacy&quot; exists to show that in the sequel they're continuing the history of the old story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6119" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T07:24:45.833" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16271" CreationDate="2011-03-15T07:51:25.020" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The rule I follow with emails (which are, after all, still somewhat informal, even if you're writing to a business associate) is &quot;would my dad or grandma know what this abbreviation means?&quot;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; Thus, &lt;em&gt;etc.&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;i.e.&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;e.g.&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;P.S.&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;ASAP&lt;/em&gt; are perfectly fine; &lt;em&gt;FYI&lt;/em&gt; and perhaps &lt;em&gt;BTW&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;might&lt;/strong&gt; be ok, but use with caution (and avoid in a more formal email, e.g. to your CEO or to a brand-new customer); and the rest are probably right out. (Especially &lt;em&gt;CMIIW&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;YSVW&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;YW&lt;/em&gt;: I don't even know what those mean.&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;1 Well, ok, so I always just use &quot;dad&quot;, because my grandma never spoke a word of English, but you get what I mean.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;2 Looking forward to definitions in comments. Yeah, yeah, I could look them up, but I'm too lazy.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T07:51:25.020" />
  <row Id="16397" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16399" CreationDate="2011-03-15T09:45:16.283" Score="5" ViewCount="256" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems like a kind of house, if it is. I cannot grasp the meaning of &lt;strong&gt;watershed&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T16:44:14.090" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T16:44:14.090" Title="What's the meaning of the &quot;shed&quot; in &quot;watershed&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16397" CreationDate="2011-03-15T09:51:22.080" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Early 19th century: from &lt;em&gt;water&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;shed&lt;/em&gt; in the sense “ridge of high ground”, suggested by German *Wasserscheide¨, literally ‘water-divide’&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It says of &lt;em&gt;shed&lt;/em&gt;, in the sense “allow to fall to the ground”:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Old English &lt;em&gt;sc(e)ādan&lt;/em&gt; [separate out (one selected group), divide,] also [scatter,] of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German &lt;em&gt;scheiden&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T09:51:22.080" />
  <row Id="16399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16397" CreationDate="2011-03-15T10:06:21.600" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oxford dictionary online says&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;shed2&#xA;  …(of a tree or other plant) allow (leaves or fruit) to fall to the ground…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A watershed sheds water to either side in much the same way an umbrella or raincoat sheds water.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The British National Corpus has &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I seem to have a veritable Serpentine in my locks,&quot; said the newcomer, still &lt;strong&gt;shedding water&lt;/strong&gt; and laughing wildly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Frankenstein unbound. Aldiss, Brian.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T10:13:55.323" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T10:13:55.323" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1628" CreationDate="2011-03-15T10:50:15.603" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The advantage of using cheers both as a casual &quot;thank you&quot; and a &quot;good bye&quot; becomes obvious when shopping, as you can finish the whole process semi-politely with just one word. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to IainMH's graph, it might be worth correlating a &quot;mate/pal&quot; line. &quot;Cheers&quot; is more likely to be accompanied by these, the lower the class. Cheers mate is ubiquitous here in Sfamptn (Southampton).&#xA;This distinction of course stereotypical and luckily the class lines are blurring. Even my well educated boss uses &quot;cheers, mate&quot; a lot. Apart from that, the usage at my workplace tends to be as described for small favours, e.g. holding the door. Writing a huge chunk of code for someone else usually results in a thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a personal anecdote from my graduation: I remember the chancellor saying that he was surprised that only 11 students said &quot;cheers, mate&quot; when going for the handshake with him :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would be grateful if some could shed some light on to the differences to &quot;ta&quot; which tends to be used for small favours as well...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6122" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T10:50:15.603" />
  <row Id="16402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16382" CreationDate="2011-03-15T11:07:49.130" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;em&gt;fighting&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;em&gt;Fighting bull&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;fighting dog&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;fighting cock&lt;/em&gt; (yes, &lt;em&gt;gamecock&lt;/em&gt; might be more common, but I'm trying to make a point here). I don't see a reason why other animals trained to fight cannot be called the same, be them hamsters or narwhals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T11:07:49.130" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16403" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16404" CreationDate="2011-03-15T11:10:02.950" Score="5" ViewCount="335" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do &lt;em&gt;obliterate&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;eliminate&lt;/em&gt; have the same meaning? They are spelled very differently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T16:00:01.833" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T22:20:39.940" Title="Difference between 'obliterate' and 'eliminate'" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16403" CreationDate="2011-03-15T11:12:54.153" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Obliterate&lt;/em&gt; has the connotation of total, complete, utter destruction of a thing.  It is a very strong word.  Though it can be used figuratively, e.g., one might say &quot;I obliterated my opponent in a chess match,&quot; it has a very strong sense of connoting physical and tangible destruction.  To obliterate an object is to utterly and irrevocably remove its identity; an obliterated object can no longer rightly be described in the same sense as it previously was, in marked contrast to an eliminated object.  The punishment of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damnatio_memoriae&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;damnatio memoraie&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, that is, the effacing of all traces of some unlucky individual's name and public accomplishments from official records, and which was thought by the Romans to be one of the most severe they could mete out, is often translated from Latin to English as being &quot;obliterated&quot;, which gives yet another clue to the gravity of &lt;em&gt;obliterate&lt;/em&gt;'s connotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast, &lt;em&gt;to eliminate&lt;/em&gt; has a much more tempered connotation than &lt;em&gt;obliterate&lt;/em&gt;. It can be a very mild word meaning simply &quot;to remove,&quot; though as a result of Cold War spy-games it has also gained currency for use in a coldly euphemistic sense to mean &quot;to kill someone&quot; or to &quot;dispatch someone.&quot;  The word &lt;em&gt;elimination&lt;/em&gt; finds use in the sciences as well; for example, one of the most fundamental things one learns in an Organic Chemistry course is the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elimination_reaction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;elimination reaction&lt;/a&gt;, an apt term for the process by a which a molecule ejects or removes its one of its former constituents, its leaving group.  For a doctor who specializes in treating the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digestion&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;alimentary system&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;to eliminate&lt;/em&gt; finds use as a polite synonym for more colorful words meaning &quot;to poop&quot;; asking &quot;Do you have trouble eliminating waste?&quot; doesn't provoke the same level of embarrassment from a hypothetical patient as a result of the term's clinicality and &quot;removedness.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T22:20:39.940" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T22:20:39.940" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16403" CreationDate="2011-03-15T11:14:12.213" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To obliterate something is to destroy it completely, leaving nothing behind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To eliminate something is far less dramatic; it means to remove it from further consideration.  For example, in a knockout tournament, a losing team is eliminated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A classic example of how 'eliminate' is much less dramatic than 'obliterate' is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sherlock Holmes&lt;/a&gt;'s quote:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could not put 'obliterated' into that sentence and still have it read sensibly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastEditorUserId="2386" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T22:15:07.587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T22:15:07.587" />
  <row Id="16406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16403" CreationDate="2011-03-15T11:16:09.310" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dictionary definitions ought to make the distinction clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's my understanding of the terms&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obliterate - destroy utterly, pulverise into nothingness, remove all trace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Eliminate - destroy or (importantly) remove elsewhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can eliminate a bad smell by moving the kipper from under your sofa into the trashcan. There is no need to obliterate the fish (the process of obliteration might be counter-productive)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T11:16:09.310" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16344" CreationDate="2011-03-15T11:33:41.633" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are going to look at something in three levels of detail and you are using an aeronautic metaphor for one, you ought to do so for the other two as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fifty thousand feet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;buzzing the control tower&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;sifting the debris&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On second thoughts, I like Robusto's answer, so&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;at fifty thousand feet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in the control tower&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;from the trenches&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The key thing is to engage your imagination to make metaphors vivid and avoid cliché.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T11:40:38.413" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T11:40:38.413" />
  <row Id="16408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6599" CreationDate="2011-03-15T12:02:33.933" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In theory you might save space by keeping different spelling for homophones since you could omit some parts of the sentence that in oral form might be needed. But in practice I don't think it does save much space. And if the writing system is detailed enough (including stress and tonal differences etc.) only homophones that are truly homophones would be spelled the same, and since it works when spoken it should work just as well when written phonetically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another argument for keeping silent letters and other archaic spellings, is that keeping it would help understand the etymology, but this really only of interest for linguists (which would be able to see the relations anyway), and of no use for a novice trying to learn to read and write.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the big problems of proposing either minor or radical spelling reforms for English, is that it's no longer &quot;one&quot; language, but it still uses the same spelling (mostly) for the different flavors of English. If we tried to make it more phonetic it would end up as different languages (or at least very different dialects). I actually think that would be a good thing, if the English speaking countries could cooperate in making a phonetic spelling system for the different sounds, different English variants would still be about as mutually understandable as it is in the spoken form, although looking very different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2820" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T12:02:33.933" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16409" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16414" CreationDate="2011-03-15T12:05:47.427" Score="2" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems these words all mean you didn't pay enough attention to something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T14:01:23.300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T15:31:58.893" Title="What's the difference between &quot;overlook&quot;, &quot;ignore&quot; and &quot;neglect&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16410" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16415" CreationDate="2011-03-15T12:08:03.227" Score="5" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do we &quot;wear&quot; perfume, and not &quot;apply&quot; it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, why do we say &quot;Alice &lt;em&gt;wore&lt;/em&gt; her mother's perfume&quot;, and not &quot;Alice &lt;em&gt;applied&lt;/em&gt; her mother's perfume&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's your take on this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4924" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T16:42:34.963" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T17:55:19.457" Title="Why do we say &quot;wearing perfumes?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="16412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16382" CreationDate="2011-03-15T12:11:41.873" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sentry&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;guard&lt;/em&gt; animal are two possibilities in the defense category:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Section 1-14 – Dogs or other Animals&#xA;  Used for Sentry or Guard Duty&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Any person owning, maintaining, or&#xA;  harboring a dog or other animal for&#xA;  sentry or guard purposes must register&#xA;  said dog or other animal with the&#xA;  Animal Control Director.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A sign warning that there is a guard or&#xA;  sentry animal on the premises must be&#xA;  displayed such that persons are made&#xA;  aware of the presence of a guard or&#xA;  sentry animal before they enter the&#xA;  property. Such sign shall specify what&#xA;  type of animal the guard or sentry&#xA;  animal is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.co.franklin.nc.us/ac/ANIMAL%20CONTROL%20ORDINANCE%20rev%203.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Franklin County, NC, Animal Control Ordinance&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T12:11:41.873" />
  <row Id="16413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16397" CreationDate="2011-03-15T12:12:06.193" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;zone of earth surface funneling towards a single tributary&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6126" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T12:12:06.193" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16409" CreationDate="2011-03-15T12:17:46.873" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Overlook is normally by accident&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;I was not paying attention, so I overlooked the mistake in my spelling.&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;unless you are being nice and allow someone else's mistake on purpose&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;You are clearly sorry you are late, so I will overlook it this once&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ignore is by intent&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;I saw the spelling mistake but chose to ignore it.&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neglect can be either, but implies deterioration of the neglected and that it is something you should have done.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;I was supposed to use a spelling checker but neglected my duties&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;He was so busy on the computer all night, that he neglected his health and his family&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T15:31:58.893" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T15:31:58.893" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16410" CreationDate="2011-03-15T12:19:51.647" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My take (was a comment since I could not find sources):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since perfume engulfs you, it is worn like a cloak. So you apply some perfume to your wrist or elsewhere on your body, and from then on you wear it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T17:55:19.457" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T17:55:19.457" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16409" CreationDate="2011-03-15T12:25:06.713" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They connote different states of &lt;em&gt;culpability&lt;/em&gt; in the act of not attending to something for a given individual they're describing.  &lt;strong&gt;To overlook&lt;/strong&gt; something is to not attend to an object, by forgetting to do so for some trivial reason.  &lt;strong&gt;To ignore&lt;/strong&gt; something is to not attend to an object, and to deliberately do so for a considered reason.  &lt;strong&gt;To neglect&lt;/strong&gt; something is to not attend to an object, not only deliberately so, but immorally so, perhaps even &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tort&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;tortiously&lt;/a&gt; so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T12:31:12.107" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T12:31:12.107" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16393" CreationDate="2011-03-15T12:37:55.490" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084827/trivia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084827/trivia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;TRON is also a debugging command in&#xA;  the BASIC programming language,&#xA;  meaning &quot;TRace ON.&quot; However, Steven&#xA;  Lisberger, has stated in interviews&#xA;  that he took the name from the word&#xA;  &quot;electronic,&quot; and did not know about&#xA;  the BASIC command until later&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T12:37:55.490" />
  <row Id="16419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16397" CreationDate="2011-03-15T13:04:23.477" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's worth noting that the word watershed can also mean a critical point that marks a division or change of course. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Watershed is also the name given to the period of time in which programmes unsuitable for children can be shown on public television.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T13:04:23.477" />
  <row Id="16420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16382" CreationDate="2011-03-15T13:08:58.837" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A dog trained to attack is called an attack dog.  A dog trained for sentry duty is called a guard dog.  A dog trained for fighting is called a fighting dog.  I can't think of a single word that encompasses all of these types of training.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5964" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T13:08:58.837" />
  <row Id="16421" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16442" CreationDate="2011-03-15T13:09:13.410" Score="4" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have following situation: There is a software system for managing to-do lists for a team. If a team member sees that a coworker has too much on his list, she can decide to transfer the feature to her own list in order to help him. But if I just say &quot;The software allows users to transfer todos between lists&quot;, it sounds like they are able to push their own tasks to other's lists. I need a word for &quot;transfer&quot;, which makes clear that the new task owner has initiated the transfer, so it sounds nice. A long explanation won't do, as it is bad for marketing, it should be a single verb. Something like &quot;take over&quot;, but &quot;take over&quot; doesn't feel right to me - or is it OK? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T23:13:05.770" Title="I need a synonym for &quot;transfer&quot; which makes clear that the recipient has initiated the transfer." Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16388" CreationDate="2011-03-15T13:22:08.550" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;[I believe this question already exists somewhere else on this website, but I can't for the life of me find it.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short, though the present tense is also possible, the most natural choice would probably be the past tense:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She touched me where my neck met my collarbone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main clause happened in the past, while the subordinate clause is a timeless fact; that is, it was true in the past and it is true now. Which tense to use in the subordinate clause? General rules about the sequence of tenses shouldn't normally be involved, since it is a timeless fact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most logical choice would be to use the present simple, because that is the common choice for timeless facts in a main clause (cf. &lt;em&gt;mice like cheese, the Earth revolves around the sun, Liechtenstein borders on Austria,&lt;/em&gt; etc.). If I said &quot;Liechtenstein bordered on Austria&quot;, you might expect to hear that the borders were changed later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this is where &lt;strong&gt;assimilation&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;attraction of tenses&lt;/strong&gt; kicks in: if a certain tense is used in the main clause of a sentence, especially a past tense, most writers will have a natural inclination to use this tense throughout the sentence where possible, because it looks neater in some subconscious way. (Note that this doesn't apply so much to tenses other than the past.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, since the subordinate clause is true now and was also true in the past, the simple past tense is possible; I'd say that either tense would be all right, but the past tense looks a bit more natural, especially in speech, where this attraction usually has an even stronger infuence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fowler as edited by Burchfield agrees that this is a common phenomenon:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A certain assimilation normally takes&#xA;  place in many forms of sentence, by&#xA;  which the tense of their verbs is&#xA;  changed to the past when they are made&#xA;  into clauses dependent on another&#xA;  sentence whose verb is past, even&#xA;  though no notion of past time needs to&#xA;  be introduced into the clause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He mentions that the past tense is normal, but the present tense is also used in this type of sentence, to a somewhat more vivid effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T02:17:28.757" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T02:17:28.757" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16421" CreationDate="2011-03-15T13:26:58.050" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might consider &quot;capture&quot; or &quot;assume&quot; or &quot;acquire&quot; to mean &quot;take over&quot; something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T13:26:58.050" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16410" CreationDate="2011-03-15T13:45:32.417" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The earliest citations of &lt;em&gt;wearing&lt;/em&gt; perfume refer to &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=9wlMAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA246&amp;amp;dq=%22wear+perfume%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=t2p_TdSiBOux0QGLqbmDCQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CEAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22wear%20perfume%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;perfume boxes&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=FA8eAAAAMAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA12&amp;amp;dq=%22wear+perfume%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=t2p_TdSiBOux0QGLqbmDCQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=4&amp;amp;ved=0CE4Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22wear%20perfume%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nosegays&lt;/a&gt;--accessories that were physically worn around the neck. I can't find any history of perfume reference that confirms this, but it seems plausible that the use of &lt;em&gt;wearing&lt;/em&gt; perfume has its origins here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T16:40:22.640" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T16:40:22.640" />
  <row Id="16425" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16426" CreationDate="2011-03-15T13:52:59.460" Score="3" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm writing a program that generates playlists from a large pool of mp3 files. The program can keep track of total playing time, number of tracks and total size of the files, and can be given upper limits on each of the three.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I want to make clear in the documentation is that even though any combination of the three limits may be specified, the program will quit after any one of them is reached. Effectively, it treats them as though they were specified with the boolean &quot;OR&quot; operator. Is there a programming term to describe this? My uneducated guess would be to use &quot;the conditions are treated disjunctively&quot; i.e. the logical operation of disjunction is performed on them, but I don't know if this is accepted (or, for that matter, existing) terminology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6130" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T14:09:14.193" Title="Is there a specific term for &quot;conditions treated as though there are OR operators between them&quot;?" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16425" CreationDate="2011-03-15T13:58:11.133" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would simply write it in plain English, with &lt;strong&gt;any&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;em&gt;“the program will exit if any of the three conditions is triggered”.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T13:58:11.133" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16427" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-15T14:03:15.370" Score="5" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what is the technical term for the technique relating a physical environment to the mental state. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, I am writing about how the dim lighting and cluttered workspace of Deckard in &lt;em&gt;Blade Runner&lt;/em&gt; reflects his detached/apathetic nature etc.&#xA;What is the term used to describe this? (sort of similar to pathetic fallacy...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6023" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T14:12:02.527" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T00:26:53.227" Title="Technique relating environment and emotions/personality." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;literary-techniques&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16421" CreationDate="2011-03-15T14:04:11.010" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like &quot;assume.&quot; You might also consider &quot;undertake&quot; or &quot;appropriate.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T14:04:11.010" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16425" CreationDate="2011-03-15T14:09:14.193" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Usually the way this is written is to list the conditions that trigger an event, and add &quot;whichever comes first&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The game ends when all other players go bankrupt, one player reaches $1,000, or the time limit has been reached, whichever comes first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T14:09:14.193" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16427" CreationDate="2011-03-15T14:14:52.483" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;pathetic fallacy&lt;/em&gt; is the ascribing of human characteristics to inanimate objects: &lt;em&gt;the cruel sea&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;malign fate&lt;/em&gt;, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you are describing is simply imagery that is consonant with mood or mental state. I'm not sure there is a word for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T14:14:52.483" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16371" CreationDate="2011-03-15T15:44:04.233" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Things have certainly changed in that, for example, you find more TV presenters with regional English accents in more &quot;serious&quot; roles on national UK television. On the other hand, national news programmes still tend to be &lt;em&gt;fronted&lt;/em&gt; by presenters with what are perceived as essentially &quot;standard&quot; English accents. Perhaps tellingly, it's been for some time common for national presenters to have Scottish, Welsh or Irish accents, but not regional English accents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Figures in the public eye with notable regional accents such as John Prescott and William Hague have visibly attempted (with varying degrees of success and ridicule) to &quot;iron out&quot; (i.e. move more towards something like RP) their accent when speaking publicly. It's not clear to what degree this is conscious or subconscious, but either way, it's telling of our perception to accents that they do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that what is perceived as a &quot;standard, non-regional&quot; accent of English is almost certainly no longer RP as traditionally transcribed in EFL textbooks (assuming the principle of transcribing vowel sounds with the nearest cardinal vowel symbol). For example, the fronting of the /u/ vowel (so that it sounds closer to French &quot;i&quot; or &quot;u&quot; vowels)-- a phenomenon that is probably at least a century old-- now seems to be fairly standard, but is practically never reflected in general transcriptions in dictionaries, EFL textbooks etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth considering that the British notion of &quot;class&quot; has probably changed somewhat in the last few decades as well. We live in a world where athletes are given knighthoods and Floella Benjamin is a baroness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T15:44:04.233" />
  <row Id="16432" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-15T16:04:55.103" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;When is it appropriate to use prerequisite for instead of prerequisite to? Does it depend on context, or is it a matter of style?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I googled the two phrases and found 4.5 million hits for 'prerequisite for' and 3 million for 'prerequisite to'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2559" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T22:13:30.213" Title="Prerequisite for? Prerequisite to?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16433" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16443" CreationDate="2011-03-15T16:15:42.037" Score="1" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These series, however, are only one particularly obvious example; throughout practically the whole of chemistry, even in the various nitrogen oxides and oxygen acids of phosphorus or sulfur, one can see how &quot;quantity changes into quality&quot;, and &lt;strong&gt;this&lt;/strong&gt; allegedly confused, hazy Hegelian notion appears in &lt;strong&gt;so&lt;/strong&gt; to speak &lt;strong&gt;corporeal form&lt;/strong&gt; in things and process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What does 'corporeal form'  mean?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What do these pronouns substitute?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does &quot;quantity changes into quality&quot; only apply to physic objects?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T16:40:27.773" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T17:24:11.557" Title="What does 'corporeal form' mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16432" CreationDate="2011-03-15T16:19:27.307" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always think of the &quot;for&quot; version to mean &quot;must exist prior to event&quot; and the &quot;to&quot; as &quot;event that must occur prior to subsequent event&quot;.  By that, I mean conditions that must exist but are not events and events that proceed events, but I am not sure of the technical aspects of each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6134" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T16:19:27.307" />
  <row Id="16435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16397" CreationDate="2011-03-15T16:25:41.467" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A watershed can also be defined as a geographical area - as in &quot;The Mississippi watershed...&quot; determined by the boundary of the drainage area of a watercourse or river.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6134" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T16:25:41.467" />
  <row Id="16436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16433" CreationDate="2011-03-15T16:29:03.467" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that &quot;so to speak&quot; is the writer's way of putting quotes around the word &quot;corporeal&quot; to suggest that this should not be read as a literal meaning of the term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;and this allegedly confused, hazy Hegelian notion appears [figuratively speaking] in corporeal form in things and processes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The writer could have simply said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;and this allegedly confused, hazy Hegelian notion &lt;em&gt;takes shape&lt;/em&gt; in things and processes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A larger context for the passage might let us understand whether this is just poor writing or a witty remark of some kind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T16:29:03.467" />
  <row Id="16437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16432" CreationDate="2011-03-15T16:36:01.303" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking at the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/em&gt;, I get the &lt;a href=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/215y0.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;following data&lt;/a&gt; (the chart shows the result of the search, which include phrases using both the singular and the plural):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/215y0.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking at the sentences included in the CoCA, it doesn't seem &lt;em&gt;prerequisite&lt;/em&gt; is used with different meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Does one seem like a &lt;strong&gt;prerequisite for&lt;/strong&gt; the others?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Since primacy in undersea warfare is a &lt;strong&gt;prerequisite for&lt;/strong&gt; other naval operations, priority must be given to expanding the navy's edge […].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;According to Humboldt (Aksan, 1998), language is &lt;strong&gt;a prerequisite to&lt;/strong&gt; the materialization of thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;prerequisites of&lt;/strong&gt; these procedures are the reader's actual and fictional encyclopedias -- they are individually differentiated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thus, for Central Asia, two indispensable &lt;strong&gt;prerequisites of&lt;/strong&gt; a future democratic evolution are the avoidance of either internal or interstate wars and the continuing external pressure for reform to reinforce the efforts of domestic reformers and to achieve a more broadly based, transparent, and legitimate basis for domestic security.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;prerequisite to&lt;/strong&gt; fostering a full understanding of mentor programs is developing a definition that applies equally to the community college setting and business or pre-college programs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first &lt;strong&gt;prerequisite to&lt;/strong&gt; thinking creatively is the desire to think imaginatively and a good place to start that process is by noticing creative images in magazines, cartoons, TV and movies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T22:13:30.213" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T22:13:30.213" />
  <row Id="16438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16344" CreationDate="2011-03-15T16:42:40.657" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always think of aeronautical terms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;xx thousand foot view&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;buzzing the airfield&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;on the ground&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which are really a &quot;far view&quot;, &quot;near view&quot; and &quot;closeup&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6134" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T16:42:40.657" />
  <row Id="16439" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16440" CreationDate="2011-03-15T16:44:30.093" Score="3" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I need those reports, and I need them&#xA;  yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shouldn't it be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I needed those reports yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is this aberrant usage style simply a colloquialism?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1784" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T16:53:42.520" Title="I need &lt;something&gt; yesterday?" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="16440" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16439" CreationDate="2011-03-15T16:48:19.233" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This usage of &lt;em&gt;yesterday&lt;/em&gt; is idiomatic, it's basically a synonym for &quot;as soon as possible&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I need those reports, and I need them yesterday. ≈ I need them ASAP.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I needed those reports yesterday. ≈ There was a situation yesterday in which I actually needed them.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T16:53:42.520" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T16:53:42.520" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16441" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-15T17:05:38.110" Score="5" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my native language, portuguese, &quot;make&quot; and &quot;do&quot; can be translated into one verb &quot;fazer&quot;. When I write an English sentence I never know which one to use. So my question is regarding about when to use &quot;make&quot; versus when to use &quot;do&quot;. Can someone provide some guidance about which situations it is most appropriate to use each of them? I always get confused about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6127" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T17:51:40.037" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T17:52:48.693" Title="What is the difference between make and do verbs?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16421" CreationDate="2011-03-15T17:21:55.397" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the context that you describe, I believe you could possibly use &quot;adopt&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It conveys two desirable meanings:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adoptions are one way transfers left at the initiative of would-be adopters.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Adopters actively take responsibility for their adopted to-do list item.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T17:21:55.397" />
  <row Id="16443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16433" CreationDate="2011-03-15T17:24:11.557" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Corporeal form&lt;/strong&gt;, when used literally, means the physical existence of something.  There's the idea of &quot;you&quot; as a self-aware entity or a soul that defines how you will behave and react, which nobody can see or touch directly; and then there's your corporeal form, which is to say your actual physical body.  Similarly, there's the mathematical concept of a square, and then there's an actual square drawn on the sidewalk in chalk.  The concept of a square has no corporeal form; the drawing takes the concept and gives it a corporeal representation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;this&lt;/strong&gt; that you highlighted is referencing the phrase &quot;quantity changes into quality&quot;, and the author then further defines that phrase as being an &quot;allegedly confused, hazy Hegelian notion&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The author is basically saying that you can point to something and say &quot;at the start of this process, we have quantity.  Then things happen, and at the end of the process, we have quality.  Thus the process embodies the concept of quality changing into quantity.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T17:24:11.557" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16441" CreationDate="2011-03-15T17:34:22.000" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a hard question, and there is a lot of idiom involved. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The cases where you can be reasonably sure that &quot;make&quot; is right is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when you are creating something:&#xA;&quot;make a salad&quot;, &quot;make a home&quot;, &quot;make&#xA;a mess&quot;, &quot;make a film&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when you are causing somebody or&#xA;something to do something: &quot;make&#xA;somebody listen&quot;, &quot;make him stop&quot;,&#xA;&quot;make the book stay open&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;when you are causing somebody or something to be a certain way: &quot;make him late&quot;, &quot;made me happy&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Do&quot; &lt;em&gt;tends&lt;/em&gt; to be more general, and tends not to be used in the cases above (and is rarely used with a direct object except for a word like &quot;job&quot; or &quot;task&quot; - but see below).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Do&quot; is also used as &quot;pro-verb&quot; in questions and replies, standing for almost all verbs, including &quot;make&quot;: &quot;What did you do?&quot; &quot;I made a cake&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there are many idiomatic cases which are not obviously predictable. We &quot;do&quot; the shopping, the washing (&quot;do the laundry&quot; in the US, I believe), the dishes, the windows (i.e. clean them), our homework, our tax return; but we &quot;make&quot; the bed (i.e. arrange the bedding neatly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T17:34:22.000" />
  <row Id="16445" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16447" CreationDate="2011-03-15T17:38:32.887" Score="3" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'll go you one better, seem as you were so polite to ask me for permission.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone please explain this to me? I've never heard &quot;go you one better&quot; part. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this mean that a person will do something better than asked for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6137" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T18:36:13.930" Title="What does &quot;I'll go you one better&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16365" CreationDate="2011-03-15T17:51:41.380" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being &lt;strong&gt;unproductive&lt;/strong&gt; implies that something could have been productive but no action was taken. &lt;strong&gt;Nonproductive&lt;/strong&gt; implies that something was unsuccessfully trying to be productive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John was unproductive and sat around all day watching movies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John spent three nonproductive hours trying to write a novel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T17:51:41.380" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16445" CreationDate="2011-03-15T17:52:39.180" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a friendly colloquial expression which is used in two ways (you have correctly stated one of them in your question).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A willingness to provide something even more than requested&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;— Please could you tell me the way to the city centre?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  — I'll go you one better, and drive you there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;— Do you know in which year the Berlin wall fell?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  — I'll go you one better: I know the exact date and time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A response which is similar to but greater than a previous statement by another person&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;— My computer was running very slowly today.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  — I'll go you one better, mine stopped working entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6138" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T18:36:13.930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T18:36:13.930" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16441" CreationDate="2011-03-15T17:52:48.693" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a last resort, quick-and-dirty rule-of-thumb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use &quot;make&quot; where you could use &quot;create&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use &quot;do&quot; elsewhere.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This isn't even &lt;em&gt;close&lt;/em&gt; to a complete answer&lt;/strong&gt;, as @Colin Fine gave a more thorough answer. But in the spirit of small rules to shape your way of &quot;thinking in English&quot;, this may help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T17:52:48.693" />
  <row Id="16449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16445" CreationDate="2011-03-15T17:53:21.250" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means &quot;I will outdo you&quot; or &quot;I will go a step further than you did&quot;. It is not necessarily either favourable or unfavourable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T17:53:21.250" />
  <row Id="16450" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16458" CreationDate="2011-03-15T18:12:11.517" Score="1" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Heraclitus: everything is and is not, for everything is fluid, is constantly changing, constantly coming into being and passing away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If 'constantly' means 'no stop in every little seconds' then this is of course wrong, for example, our name may change but not change in every seconds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it means 'may stop in some times, but in a long-term view, never stop', then it's acceptable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I ask what exactly CONSTANTLY means in English. IF it means like a river flows and not stop in every seconds or it means like heartbeat, you heart beat in a lifelong time, but surely it stop beat in a little time and beat again in another seconds. &lt;strong&gt;there are one state in river and two states in heartbeat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="3780" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T05:32:00.530" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T08:28:24.597" Title="Meaning of 'constantly' in 'everything is fluid, is constantly changing...'" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16451" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-15T18:19:33.240" Score="2" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Saucy&lt;/em&gt; has a totally different meaning. When I describe food having too much sauce, I would like to use an adjective, however &lt;em&gt;salty&lt;/em&gt; is not really applicable here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="165" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T18:37:32.820" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T04:21:09.520" Title="What's the adjective form of &quot;sauce&quot; as &quot;salty&quot; is to &quot;salt&quot;?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;analogy&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16451" CreationDate="2011-03-15T18:23:29.640" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There isn't a word for that specifically.  However, in some cases you might describe something as &quot;runny&quot; if it has too much liquid and isn't solid enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are just looking for a contraction of &quot;was made with too much sauce&quot;, you could describe it as &quot;over sauced&quot; although this is not an everyday phrase (we are simply using the prefix &quot;over&quot; as it can be used with any verb) and may sound a bit pretentious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a practical point of view, within the context of food, you will be understood if you just say &quot;too saucy&quot;, although it's not dictionary-correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6138" LastEditorUserId="6138" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T18:34:47.177" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T18:34:47.177" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16450" CreationDate="2011-03-15T18:25:02.040" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What Heraclitus meant is that everything is changing always. You may not notice the change between one second and the next, but changes do happen whether you notice them or not. As &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraclitus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a passage&lt;/a&gt; in this Wikipedia article says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The philosophy of Heraclitus may be summed up in this cryptic utterance.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ποταμοῖσι τοῖσιν αὐτοῖσιν ἐμϐαίνουσιν, ἕτερα καὶ ἕτερα ὕδατα ἐπιρρεῖ.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Potamoisi toisin autoisin embainousin, hetera kai hetera hudata epirrei&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Ever-newer waters flow on those who step into the same rivers .&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's usually rendered as &quot;You can't step into the same river twice.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The modern-day quantum theory and the study of &quot;virtual particles&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_particle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;seems to bear this out&lt;/a&gt; on a sub-atomic level as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T19:24:16.883" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T19:24:16.883" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16450" CreationDate="2011-03-15T19:18:42.190" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without getting into a philosophical debate: In this context, &lt;em&gt;continually&lt;/em&gt; probably would have been a more precise word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T19:18:42.190" />
  <row Id="16456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16451" CreationDate="2011-03-15T19:23:28.240" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;over-sauced&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While the suggestion &quot;swimming in sauce&quot; as suggested by nico is the probably the most idiomatic option, it's colloquial and might not be the best choice if you were speaking, say, formally in a kitchen or in a restaurant review.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As mentioned above also, &quot;saucy&quot; is an old term meaning &quot;pert&quot; or &quot;impudent.&quot; Yet, the primary definition offered by Merriam-Websters is &quot;served with or having the consistency of sauce.&quot; So given these prior meanings, whatever solution devised will be a nonce coinage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T19:23:28.240" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16451" CreationDate="2011-03-15T19:25:17.147" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The food can be described as overflowing with sauce. If instead you say the food is saucy,&#xA;well i'd guess it would be chocolate and strawberries :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T19:25:17.147" />
  <row Id="16458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16450" CreationDate="2011-03-15T19:52:49.793" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One idea that can make the sentence more acceptable is in the understanding of &quot;everything&quot;.  If you consider the statement to be &quot;no matter what object you pick, you will find that it has changed since the last time you looked at it&quot;, then yes, you may be able to say &quot;Robusto's name has not changed since the last time&quot; or &quot;this piece of paper has all the same properties as before&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you interpret &quot;everything is always changing&quot; in the sense of &quot;you will always be able to find at least one thing that has changed since last time&quot;, then it is much more readily apparent that this is the case.  Robusto might not have changed his name, but he got a haircut, or he has different shoes on.  The paper is exactly the same, but there's a pen next to it that wasn't there before.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, it's not that every item is always different, but that some item is always different, and thus the set that contains all items is different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T19:52:49.793" />
  <row Id="16459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16451" CreationDate="2011-03-15T20:03:53.713" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure what the objection to using &lt;em&gt;saucy&lt;/em&gt; is all about. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/saucy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster says&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;saucy adj  &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1: served with or having the consistency of sauce &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2a : impertinently bold and impudent &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  b : amusingly forward and flippant : irrepressible &lt;br&gt;&#xA;  3: smart, trim &amp;lt;a saucy little hat&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The very first definition is exactly the meaning you are looking for. Sure, the word has other meanings, but most words have multiple meanings. If your food is too saucy, then just say so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T20:03:53.713" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16312" CreationDate="2011-03-15T20:14:39.860" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Myth.  In England, &quot;How do you do?&quot; although replaced mainly with the likes of &quot;Alright?&quot; and &quot;What's up?&quot; is just about surviving in some parts under the guise of &quot;'ow do?&quot;.  Like most greetings, can be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;just repeated back.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;answered with any other greeting (even &quot;How do you do?&quot;, why not!).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;answered literally.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;responded to visually (nod/smile/salute).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;be safely ignored if the asker doesn't seem to be waiting around for a reply, but consider getting your greeting in first the next time. ;-)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5278" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T20:14:39.860" />
  <row Id="16461" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16465" CreationDate="2011-03-15T20:33:43.473" Score="7" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was talking to my attorney, from the esteemed firm of Dewey, Cheetum and Howe, and he made the above remark in response to a financial statement that I had produced earlier.  What did Bernie mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T23:21:21.017" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T23:21:21.017" Title="What does &quot;that place is a real bucket shop and they tend to work only with pikers&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16462" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16468" CreationDate="2011-03-15T20:35:16.790" Score="3" ViewCount="352" Body="&lt;p&gt;My question is prompted by a question on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/45783/when-writing-specs-bdd-style-should-you-use-should-or-should-you-not/45800#45800&quot;&gt;programmers.stackexchange&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This may be a duplicate of another question here on &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4425/when-must-one-use-should-and-when-should-one-use-must&quot;&gt;english.stackechange&lt;/a&gt;, but the answers given to that question did not provide a definitive legal definition of '&lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt;' vs. '&lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt;'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It has long been my impression that 'shall', 'will', and 'must' have about the same imperative weight; that is, the phrase that follows these words is a command that is not to be questioned.  However, in my mind, 'should' falls in a category of lighter imperativeness, almost to the same level as 'may'; that is, the phrase that follows 'should' is a command that does not need to be completed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does 'should' imply an unquestionable command, as is the claim in the chosen answer on programmers.stackexchange and the second definition on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/should&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;, or is it closer in meaning to 'may'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T00:24:16.933" Title="&quot;Should&quot; vs. &quot;Shall&quot; vs. &quot;Will&quot; vs. &quot;Must&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;legal&gt;&lt;should&gt;&lt;imperative&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="16463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16344" CreationDate="2011-03-15T20:59:54.133" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are also the complementary &quot;Bird's eye view&quot; and &quot;Worm's eye view&quot;, but these may be more specific to artistic and technical projections rather than business-speak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T20:59:54.133" />
  <row Id="16464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16462" CreationDate="2011-03-15T21:06:22.870" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First of all, legalese can be a very different beast than standard English, so expecting normal rules to apply may trip you up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, and this is mostly conjecture on my part, I expect that that &quot;should&quot; in legalese is being used in its older grammatical form, as the past tense of &quot;shall&quot;, rather than as a present-tense verb of its own meaning something around &quot;ought to but need not necessarily&quot;.  In that presumed legal sense, &quot;should&quot; is clearly the equivalent of &quot;shall&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If you check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/should&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the legal section of Freedictionary.com&lt;/a&gt;, you'll see that &quot;should&quot; is redirected to &quot;shall&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T21:06:22.870" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16461" CreationDate="2011-03-15T21:16:24.807" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &quot;bucket shop&quot; is an unethical business operation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A fraudulent brokerage operation in which orders to buy and sell are accepted but no executions take place. Instead, the operators expect to profit when customers close out their positions at a loss.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A brokerage that makes trades on a client's behalf and promises a certain price. The brokerage, however, waits until a different price arises and then makes the trade, keeping the difference as profit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bucketshop.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Investopedia.com&lt;/a&gt; notes that the latter definition &quot;comes from more than 50 years ago, when bucket shops would do trades all day long, throwing the tickets into a bucket. At the end of the day they would decide which accounts to award the winning and losing trades to.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &quot;piker&quot; is a small-time player, someone who operates cheaply and takes only small risks in a very cautious manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, Bernie is saying that this place is a shady operation that caters to cheap, chintzy, risk-averse individuals and tries to continuously cheat them out of small amounts of money; they will throw in only an occasional small payoff to a customer to offset a part of the overall loss suffered, so as to keep him hooked on the possibility of getting a big payoff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T21:26:19.553" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T21:26:19.553" />
  <row Id="16466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15987" CreationDate="2011-03-15T21:26:07.043" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a direct reference to Francis Fukuyama's 'End of History' thesis. Nations not moving towards liberal capitalist democracies, 'the post-historical world', are said to be 'stuck in history'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6140" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T21:26:07.043" />
  <row Id="16467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16462" CreationDate="2011-03-15T21:29:35.087" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;'shall' does not exist in spoken AmE (we recognize it culturally (the Bible, Harry Potter), but don't use it). I can't speak for BrE.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;'will' is semantically the future modal, and only has an imperative feel pragmatically (&quot;You -will- go see your aunt when in Florida, won't you?&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;for amount of the imperative weight, the order is surely 'must', 'should', 'may'; the first is an order, the second is a good suggestion (and we'll be disappointed if you don't), and the last, well, no, it's not imperative at all, it means 'allowed to' (pragmatically could mean 'should' as in 'You may kiss the bride', really, you should).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So 'should' is definitely a very questionable command, more of a strong suggestion, and 'may' is not an imperative at all, simply an allowance (it also has a slightly related connotation of possibility).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T21:29:35.087" />
  <row Id="16468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16462" CreationDate="2011-03-15T21:30:10.953" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since it appears that you're referring to requirements analysis or contracts specifications, the governing body or contracting agency should specify what the language requirements will be.  In some instances I've been involved with, anything not specifically using &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; (which would include &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt;) is not considered to be a true requirement (that is, failure to abide by it is not ground for breach of contract).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, if you look at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;IETF Standard&lt;/a&gt; for RFC writing, they use &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;required&lt;/em&gt; to indicate a true requirement.  &lt;em&gt;Should&lt;/em&gt; is used to mean a recommendation only.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/1057/2000Style.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;IEEE's Style Guide&lt;/a&gt; has the following to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;13.1 Shall, should, may, and can&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; is used to indicate mandatory requirements strictly to be followed in order to conform to the standard and from which no deviation is permitted (shall equals is required to). The use of the word &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; is deprecated and shall not be used when stating mandatory requirements; &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; is used only to describe unavoidable situations. The use of the word &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; is deprecated and shall not be used when stating mandatory requirements; &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; is only used in statements of fact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; is used to indicate that among several possibilities one is recommended as particularly suitable, without mentioning or excluding others; or that a certain course of action is preferred but not necessarily required; or that (in the negative form) a certain course of action is deprecated but not prohibited (should equals is recommended that).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; is used to indicate a course of action permissible within the limits of the standard (may equals is permitted).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; is used for statements of possibility and capability, whether material, physical, or causal (can equals is able to).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So at least in a couple instances, you're correct that &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; is not equivalent to &lt;em&gt;shall&lt;/em&gt; as the programmers SE question suggested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastEditorUserId="2007" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T21:39:08.103" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T21:39:08.103" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16421" CreationDate="2011-03-15T23:13:05.770" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The software allows users to &lt;strong&gt;move&lt;/strong&gt; todos to their own list&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No connotations, represents what you said exactly (the pragmatics of who does what to whom, I think), all you have to do now is worry about singular 'they'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T23:13:05.770" />
  <row Id="16470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16462" CreationDate="2011-03-16T00:24:16.933" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you rightly imply, there's no absolute &quot;degree of imperativeness&quot; concensually accepted by speakers for any of these modals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where it really matters, these words should be treated as terms and defined, just like any other terms in the contract/specifications in question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two slightly anecdotal comments that I can add from my own work. Firstly, as a professional programmer, I have dealt with formal specifications from time to time, and these generally stipulate the intended meaning of &quot;shall&quot;, &quot;must&quot;, &quot;should&quot;; &quot;shall&quot; and &quot;must&quot; are typically treated as synonymous, while &quot;should&quot; is interpreted as a &quot;nice-to-have&quot; or something that &quot;must be implemented if readily possible&quot;. From that point of view, the answer to the previous question that you mention is, I think, wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also translate (among other things) contracts for a living and have consulted with lawyers/paralegals from time to time on this kind of issue. Amongst the legal proefssion, there appear to be two conventions readily used and accepted: (1) use &quot;shall&quot; for essentially any contractual future event, or (2) both &quot;will&quot; and &quot;shall&quot; can imply a contractual future event, with &quot;shall&quot; implying something more like 'will have a duty to', but with there being essentially nothing legally hinging on the choice of one or the other. In French, the language I translate from, the difference is marked by the future tense of the verb 'devoir' vs the future tense of other verbs, so I concede that part of the reason that I make a distinction is simply for &quot;translational convenience&quot;. One comment I received from a property lawyer I worked with recently was that they preferred to use &quot;shall&quot; throughout because it &quot;implied more of an obligation&quot;, but conceded that it was just a matter of preference (for the aforementioned translation reason, I was suggesting using &quot;will&quot; instead and they agreed that, legally speaking, it made no difference).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T00:24:16.933" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16472" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-16T00:59:43.793" Score="2" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm writing an essay right now and I'm deliberating whether or not I should use &lt;em&gt;Pagan gods&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;Greek gods&lt;/em&gt; (to provide variation in the essay). I've looked up the word &lt;em&gt;pagan&lt;/em&gt; in the dictionary and it mentioned it was a derogatory term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would it be acceptable to use it though in an essay or would it be inconsiderate for me to use that term?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T13:33:28.350" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T13:33:28.350" Title="Use of  'pagan' in an essay:  is it acceptable or not?" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;essay&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16472" CreationDate="2011-03-16T01:48:58.173" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pagan&lt;/em&gt; can be a derogatory term, but it depends on the audience. The word's formal meaning is simply &quot;polytheist,&quot; although in more colloquial language, it's also used to refer to someone who is immoral or hedonistic. To some people, the two meanings are synonymous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a (very) general rule, I would avoid using &lt;em&gt;pagan&lt;/em&gt; in writing aimed at a mass audience, most of whom might only be familiar with the &quot;immoral&quot; connotation and might thus misconstrue your message. But when writing for an academic or specialized audience, I would feel free to use it as a synonym to keep the piece from sounding repetitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T01:48:58.173" />
  <row Id="16474" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16475" CreationDate="2011-03-16T02:25:34.197" Score="3" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to my observation, there are at least two types of using &quot;Not that....&quot;. And my question is: what does &quot;not that&quot; mean in its second type of usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first usage, &quot;not that&quot; is followed by a structure-complete sentence or expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example 1:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've been teetering down my twittering and self editing my Facebooking lately. It's &lt;strong&gt;not that&lt;/strong&gt; I don't have the urge to write things. It's just I have to fight the urge to write really inappropriate things that maybe my old High School English teacher doesn't really need or want to know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example 2:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It’s &lt;strong&gt;not that&lt;/strong&gt; I don’t care about football. I just don’t care enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the second usage, &quot;not that&quot; is followed by an object-missing expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example 3 (from Fringe):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Olivia: Anything to do with metamorphic ability? Peter: &lt;strong&gt;Not that&lt;/strong&gt; I can tell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, &lt;em&gt;tell&lt;/em&gt; is a transitive verb and its object is missing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example 4 (from Fringe):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Olivia: Were you involved in...? Walter: &lt;strong&gt;Not that&lt;/strong&gt; I recall.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, &lt;em&gt;recall&lt;/em&gt; is a transitive verb and its object is missing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that, in the first usage, &quot;not that&quot; sort of means &quot;it doesn't mean...&quot;. But I'm not sure, in the second usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why are objects of transitive verbs missing?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What does this type of &quot;not that...&quot; sentences mean here?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6078" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T02:42:55.083" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T05:53:57.530" Title="What are the meanings of the sentences where &quot;Not that&quot; is followed by an object-missing expression?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;negation&gt;&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;&lt;transitive-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16474" CreationDate="2011-03-16T02:41:35.740" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second form is an idiomatic usage, which you can translate roughly into &quot;there's nothing that&quot;, or &quot;there's not anything that&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Olivia: Anything to do with metamorphic ability? Peter: There's not anything that I can tell&lt;/em&gt; (that has anything to do with metamorphic ability)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Olivia: Were you involved in...? Walter: There's nothing that I recall&lt;/em&gt; (about being involved in ...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is essentially a way to say &quot;I don't think so, but I could be wrong.&quot;  There is nothing that you can think of that would make you wrong, but you know there could be other factors of which you are unaware, and so you hedge your bets by saying &quot;not that I can [x]&quot; instead of just straight-out saying &quot;No.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grammatically speaking, just as one person can say &quot;where's John?&quot; and the second can say &quot;He's over there&quot; and it's understood that &quot;he&quot; refers to John even though the second person never said John, it's understood that the object of the &quot;Not that&quot; verb is whatever the questioner was asking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T03:12:44.423" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T03:12:44.423" />
  <row Id="16476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16472" CreationDate="2011-03-16T03:19:40.073" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't agree that &lt;em&gt;pagan&lt;/em&gt; has an immoral connotation, except in the minds of some religious adherents. The New Oxford American Dictionary lists the &quot;derogatory&quot; usage as a dated way of referring to a non-Christian. The main listing says&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;pagan&lt;/strong&gt; a person holding religious beliefs other than those of the main world religions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, &lt;em&gt;pagan&lt;/em&gt; is a term often used by people who believe there is a &quot;True Faith&quot; and that they follow it. It's like a religious version of &quot;foreigner&quot; spoken by someone who lives in a country that looks with distaste on outsiders. Ambrose Bierce might have described it as someone who believes the wrong mythology, had he thought to include it in his &lt;em&gt;Devil's Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Myself, I would prefer to use the adjective &lt;em&gt;Greek&lt;/em&gt; to describe Zeus, Apollo, Aphrodite and the other Olympic deities, since that is both more specific and less presumptuous. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T03:32:44.807" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T03:32:44.807" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16477" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16584" CreationDate="2011-03-16T03:21:04.253" Score="3" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;“A discussion of”, “a discussion on”, and “a discussion about”: When is each phrase used in preference to the other?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If context is important, I want to use it as a subheading on a piece of non-fiction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6145" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T14:07:59.600" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T20:16:03.323" Title="&quot;A discussion of&quot;, &quot;a discussion on&quot;, and &quot;a discussion about&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16477" CreationDate="2011-03-16T03:28:20.207" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A discussion of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;can refer to the &lt;em&gt;people&lt;/em&gt; discussing or &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; they're discussing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A discussion about&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is less ambiguous.  Here, the writer clearly means the object of the discussion (that which is being talked about).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6039" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T03:28:20.207" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16477" CreationDate="2011-03-16T03:29:26.260" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would probably lean toward &lt;em&gt;about&lt;/em&gt; as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We had a discussion about otters and other salt-water mammals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the preposition &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; there feels wrong to me. In a subheading on a paper&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A Discussion of Otters and Other Salt-Water Mammals&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;it would feel as if it was the otters who were having the discussion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T03:29:26.260" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16480" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16489" CreationDate="2011-03-16T03:43:43.750" Score="2" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct way to convert &quot;used to do&quot; into a question? Since I want to emphasize that the action is not on-going any more, so simple past tense is not a good idea here. Could I say &quot;do xxx use to do&quot; or &quot;did xxx use to do&quot;? Both sound weird to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If there is no way to do it. Do you suggest any other alternatives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5648" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T16:14:06.777" Title="What is the question form of &quot;used to do&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16480" CreationDate="2011-03-16T03:47:46.680" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's pretty simple:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What did you used to do?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What was it we used to do when Barney and his friends came over? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did you used to do anything that could get you into trouble?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did Marcia ever used to do anything so silly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T15:45:29.647" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T15:45:29.647" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="16482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16480" CreationDate="2011-03-16T03:47:51.610" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You used to visit me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did you used to visit her? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T03:47:51.610" />
  <row Id="16483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16477" CreationDate="2011-03-16T03:58:30.247" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;about&lt;/em&gt; seems to be more informal, like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Last night, we had a discussion about winemaking in the bar&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; is more likely to be used in writing, often in scientific or formal setting:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The discussion of winemaking and its role in local economy will be held in the Conference Room B, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; is somewhere in between, but closer to &quot;of&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4760" LastEditorUserId="4760" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T04:37:42.573" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T04:37:42.573" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16451" CreationDate="2011-03-16T04:21:09.520" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you insist on single word, you may try &quot;overcondimented&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &quot;drenched in sauce&quot; sounds better&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4760" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T04:21:09.520" />
  <row Id="16485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-16T04:35:40.017" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another distinction I've heard people make is that &quot;shall&quot; implies a deliberate action and &quot;will&quot; implies a result (&quot;I shall sing and the crystal will crack&quot;).  Strictly conversations, so no authorities to quote here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6149" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T04:35:40.017" />
  <row Id="16486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16477" CreationDate="2011-03-16T04:55:23.563" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suppose the answer depends on what your subject is, and what tone you're trying to set. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Discussion on&quot; can sound serious or pretentious or formal, to me, as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A discussion on the subject of&#xA;  probity, wherein we discover an&#xA;  upstanding truth&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Discussion of&quot; could describe the particulars of the event of the discussion (currently happening, perhaps having just happened), even separate from the explicit topic: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A amusing discussion of whistles,&#xA;  plastic and otherwise&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or it can refer directly to the subject at hand, a summary of what you will discuss: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A discussion of monsters, meteors, and&#xA;  meerschaum pipes&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Discussion about&quot; sounds informal.  &quot;Here's some stuff we're talking about.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A discussion about some things which&#xA;  happened in the garden that Wednesday&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T04:55:23.563" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16487" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-16T05:49:16.810" Score="1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the website &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hicalc.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.hicalc.com/&lt;/a&gt; , people are classified into two groups: &#xA;one is programmers who create programs with C# 4.0 and share with other people, the other is common users who use the programs to calculate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know how to name the &quot;other&quot; group: &quot;General user&quot;, &quot;End user&quot; or &quot;Normal user&quot;? Which one is better? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6146" LastEditorUserId="6154" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T09:22:16.210" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T15:21:41.253" Title="&quot;General user&quot;, &quot;End user&quot; or &quot;Normal user&quot;, which one is better?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16474" CreationDate="2011-03-16T05:53:57.530" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say the easiest way to handle this kind of usage is to imagine the phrase &quot;in any way&quot;, &quot;in any respect&quot;, or &quot;in any sense&quot; immediately after the &quot;not&quot;. Thus, Example 3 would read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Not in any way that I can tell/recognize/discern&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or, more fully,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It has nothing to do with metamorphic ability in any way that I can tell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which could further be paraphrased as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It has no connection that I can discern with metamorphic ability.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, the object of &lt;em&gt;tell&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;recall&lt;/em&gt; in examples 3 and 4 can be considered to be &lt;em&gt;way&lt;/em&gt;, although the &quot;real&quot; subject in example 3 is &lt;em&gt;connection&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5654" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T05:53:57.530" />
  <row Id="16489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16480" CreationDate="2011-03-16T06:09:44.437" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, most of your doubts would be retracted after reading up &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-m_used-to-do.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-m_used-to-do.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to summarize the main points from the webpage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) We use the used to do expression to talk about:&#xA; - an activity that we did regularly in the past (like a habit)&#xA; - a situation that was true in the past&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He used to watch a lot of TV.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They used to be married.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Used or use?&#xA; - when there is did in the sentence, we say use to (without d)&#xA; - when there is no did in the sentence, we say used to (with d)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Did you use to smoke?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I didn't use to go swimming.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T16:14:06.777" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T16:14:06.777" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2637" CreationDate="2011-03-16T06:32:10.860" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Bruno regarding the initial question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do notice a bit of a problem with the first negations the post offers as understood. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He knew that if he fractures his finger, not only will he not be able to compete in the water polo tournament, he will not be able to take the SAT on Monday, either.&#xA;He knew that if he fractures his finger, neither will he be able to compete in the water polo tournament, nor will he be able to take the SAT on Monday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both sentences have issues in terms of coordination of the tenses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He knew that if he fractured his finger... he WOULD not be able to... he WOULD not be able to take the SAT on Monday. Since the independent clause is coded as past tense... the future tense (will) is not a viable option grammatically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6153" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T06:32:10.860" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16480" CreationDate="2011-03-16T06:33:31.957" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could just cut out the &quot;used&quot; entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;What did you do?&quot; It sounds much more natural, than used to, despite used to technically being grammatically valid. It may not work with what you are trying to use it for, but it's another option.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3772" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T06:33:31.957" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16450" CreationDate="2011-03-16T06:42:49.917" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another thing is that FACTS are constant, and they never change, unless we find flaws in the theories that lead to those facts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By everything, here he means, life (in all forms), all the emotions, nature, space and more importantly TIME. Time flows like the river. It stops for no one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Point he might want to make is, you have to get over your past and move on. You can't crib about the past or spend your present lamenting/brooding over the past. Life moves on and so should you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope you agree with this little philosophy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T06:42:49.917" />
  <row Id="16494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16487" CreationDate="2011-03-16T06:47:58.413" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about simply &quot;User&quot; versus &quot;Programmer&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is enough to make the right distinction and you don't have to call anybody &quot;common&quot; or anything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6154" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T06:47:58.413" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16495" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-16T06:52:25.013" Score="4" ViewCount="77" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know if this sentence is correct without the preposition &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; in it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't confirm all what he said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I instead write the following sentence?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't confirm all of what he said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding usage, I did a quick check of COHA and found some examples that did not use &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't know all what she knew.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this sentence correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3733" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T13:31:15.763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T13:31:15.763" Title="&quot;I can't confirm all what he said&quot; versus &quot;I can't confirm all of what he said&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="16496" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16524" CreationDate="2011-03-16T07:02:45.157" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello, non-native speaker here and I have problems with the following sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;'My friend asks if it would not be better for you to come here.'&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the sentence mean&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;a) &lt;em&gt;'My friend thinks it would be better if you come here.'&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OR&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;b) &lt;em&gt;'My friend thinks it would be better if you not come here (and stay there).'&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And is the usage of &quot;not&quot; in the sentence correct or does it make it ambiguous?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have an argument with my girlfriend (also not a native speaker) about this, so please help me solve it. :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further info for the German-speaking crowd here: I am trying to translate the expression '&lt;em&gt;wäre es nicht besser wenn ...&lt;/em&gt;'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you for your help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5093" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T12:05:30.297" Title="Confusion about &quot;would it not be better if&quot; vs &quot;it would be better if&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16497" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16502" CreationDate="2011-03-16T08:27:18.273" Score="6" ViewCount="315" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would you normally say &quot;it's impolite [any continuation or no continuation at all]&quot; or the word &lt;em&gt;impolite&lt;/em&gt; is too formal for kids and you would rather choose to express the same thought in a different way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason I asked this question is because the other day I witnessed this scene: A mother (Asian) in a restaurant was correcting her child's behaviour saying, &quot;Don't put your feet on the couch&quot; when her child asked her why she was not allowing him to do so, she said, &quot;because it's impolite.&quot; Her friend who was sitting next to her (obviously British, judging by his accent) said, &quot;We wouldn't use the word &lt;em&gt;impolite&lt;/em&gt; when talking to children, it's too formal.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that I have heard some native English speakers (I don't remember whether they were Americans or British) use this word when talking to their children. On the other hand, that mother's friend didn't need to lie. So I decided to ask this question here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T13:21:41.497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T18:17:40.990" Title="Would you say &quot;it's impolite&quot; to your kids?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16450" CreationDate="2011-03-16T08:28:24.597" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The commonly accepted meaning of &quot;constantly&quot; in English is &quot;without variations&quot;.  So that &quot;constantly changing&quot; is a little bit of an oxymoron if you take it literally.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Keep in mind however that Ancient Greeks &lt;em&gt;positively loved&lt;/em&gt; paradoxes as mind teasers and therefore sources of endless discussions (and Heraclitus is known for having added it's fair share to the corpus of Greek paradoxes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I would actually (paradoxically ;-) classify it as a tautology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's because the definition of &quot;change&quot; implies a measure of time, but at the same time, time is measured by change.  So that stating that things change all the time is tantamount to stating that times passes by.  Which it does, of course, &quot;constantly&quot; (as in &quot;all the time&quot;, so to speak - if it stops now, you will never read this ;-).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, Heraclitus quote must actually be replaced in its context. Living at the beginning of the Greek Golden Age, Heraclitus was supposedly reacting to mainstream descriptions of the universe he deemed too static.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer the second part of your question regarding the granularity of time: heartbeat-style or continuum like, this is still under discussion today and I don't believe anybody's got a definitive answer yet.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If we are to believe scientists, time can be modelled as a continuum (albeit distorted by gravity) in Relativist Physics but not in Quantum Mechanics. &#xA;Conversely the &quot;heartbeat&quot; kind of time seems to be more appropriate for Quantum Mechanics.  My personal understanding is that this is due to the fact that Relativist Physics model certainties whereas Quantum Physics deal with probabilities.&#xA;But this is second-hand knowledge: as soon as lay people like me try to get a better understanding of these topics they hit the &quot;equation wall&quot;.  If someone can shed some light on this...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;However, in the context of everyday life in English I guess you can take the continuous model for granted (... with a high probability ;-).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T08:28:24.597" />
  <row Id="16499" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16593" CreationDate="2011-03-16T08:32:41.713" Score="5" ViewCount="162" Body="&lt;p&gt;Or in other words, can anyone make clear the etymology and the history behind the coinage of the word &lt;em&gt;trick&lt;/em&gt; in the phrase &lt;em&gt;turning tricks&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Why am I interested you may ask?  Well, &lt;em&gt;turning tricks&lt;/em&gt; is a phrase with kind of a history for me.  For a long time I didn't know what it meant -- in one embarrassing moment for a middle-school kid who once believed that &lt;em&gt;pimp&lt;/em&gt; was short for &quot;pimple&quot; -- and for even longer, after I was clued into its sexual meaning, I thought it had to do with more, uh, athletic exploits than the phrase actually implies.  You know, sort of a description of things that are sometimes jokingly said to be available in dark bars in Tijuana. So I'm determined to get to the root of this construction once and for all: why are &lt;em&gt;johns&lt;/em&gt; also known as &lt;em&gt;tricks&lt;/em&gt;, and who coined this very misleading phrase?) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T14:21:20.600" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T21:00:27.820" Title="Where did the &quot;trick&quot; in the phrase &quot;turning tricks&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="16500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16496" CreationDate="2011-03-16T08:55:52.140" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, &quot;would it not be better if&quot;, is used in the context of comparing with something implicitly.&#xA;The other something generally is the opposite of what is proposed explicitly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, it means that your friend thinks it would be better if you go to his place, rather(implicit) he coming over to your place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T08:55:52.140" />
  <row Id="16501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16497" CreationDate="2011-03-16T09:03:17.430" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say it.  I'm not an expert, but I think kids generally get the idea of oppositeness pretty well, and since one teaches them the word &quot;polite&quot; pretty early, I wouldn't hesitate to teach the prefix &quot;im&amp;mdash;&quot; and other &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; prefixes.  Although it's true that you don't hear &lt;em&gt;impolite&lt;/em&gt; often in casual speech.  One fear, of course, is that they'd start appending &quot;im&amp;mdash;&quot; to every other kind of word to negate it, but I've read that's how they naturally learn the rules of grammaticality, by broadly over-applying and then restricting to exclude irregular forms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; If you're talking about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Register_%28sociolinguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;register&lt;/a&gt;, as n0nchun apparently thinks you are, isn't that kind of a silly thing to be worried about?  I don't believe anybody would really expect a child to negotiate complex social rules that are the essence of formality; in most societies, they are given many, many years, 'till at least the age of puberty 'till they are expected to reliably chose words of the appropriate formality.  And mostly, the worry is that children up spoiled and improperly informal; I'd personally be delighted if my future kid was precocious in picking up appropriate formalities before his age.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T14:14:15.757" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T14:14:15.757" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="16502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16497" CreationDate="2011-03-16T09:04:12.097" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think impolite is the most polite word to use when you're pointing out or warning the kids against bad etiquettes or rude manners. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T09:04:12.097" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16503" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16505" CreationDate="2011-03-16T09:17:46.823" Score="0" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the English of Hindi word &lt;em&gt;Zukham&lt;/em&gt;? Is it &lt;em&gt;cold&lt;/em&gt; or something else? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I think is &lt;em&gt;cold&lt;/em&gt; is collectively used for 2-3 symptoms like: &lt;em&gt;Zukham&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Sardi lagna&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6132" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T13:06:22.400" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T13:06:22.400" ClosedDate="2011-03-16T15:10:52.993" Title="What is the English of Hindi word &quot;Zukham&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;translation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16504" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16521" CreationDate="2011-03-16T09:25:45.737" Score="4" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is either &quot;in a call&quot; or &quot;on a call&quot; incorrect usage when referring to someone attending a phone (possibly conference) call? If not, what's appropriate usage for both?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3850" LastEditorUserId="3850" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T09:34:58.867" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T09:34:58.867" Title="&quot;In a call&quot; versus &quot;on a call&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16503" CreationDate="2011-03-16T09:34:20.273" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;So are you looking for a synonyms of &quot;the common cold&quot;?  Here's a couple I can think of, though all of them but the first &lt;strong&gt;aren't technical synonyms&lt;/strong&gt;: Cold, flu, pneumonia, bronchitis, head cold, &quot;a bug&quot;, &quot;the sniffles&quot;, and &quot;strep&quot;.  I think you'd be best off just using &quot;cold&quot; though.  Flu is second best. You often hear people using the symptoms of having a cold as a synonym for the actual sickness; one might say, &quot;I have a cough,&quot; or &quot;I have a sore throat,&quot; or &quot;I have a fever.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="6132" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T11:01:29.667" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T11:01:29.667" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16506" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-16T09:35:40.710" Score="4" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am writing a new CV. I want to choose a title for a section which specifies the courses I've taken at the graduate level. Since I've attended more than one graduate programs, which one of these is preferred for the title?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Courses taken at graduate level&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Courses taken in graduate program&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6156" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T12:46:18.173" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T15:25:04.743" Title="&quot;In graduate programs&quot; versus &quot;at graduate level&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16507" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16516" CreationDate="2011-03-16T10:03:09.250" Score="5" ViewCount="151" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am very uncertain about when to use &quot;most of whom,&quot; &quot;most of who,&quot; or &quot;most of which.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please give concrete examples instead of only rules like, &quot;this is the subject, so you should...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6158" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T11:05:28.930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T12:43:11.513" Title="&quot;Most of which&quot; or &quot;most of whom&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16506" CreationDate="2011-03-16T11:08:00.613" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could just sum it up as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Post-graduate courses&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Post-graduate course work&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Post-graduate studies&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T11:08:00.613" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16511" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-16T11:12:54.977" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1047/which-is-correct-you-and-i-or-you-and-me&quot;&gt;Which is correct, &amp;ldquo;you and I&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;you and me&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was surprised to hear &quot;you and I,&quot; when I expected &quot;you and me.&quot; Are the two expressions synonyms to each other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1317" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T12:30:33.023" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T12:30:33.023" ClosedDate="2011-03-16T13:45:19.977" Title="&quot;You and I&quot; versus &quot;you and me&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="16512" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16519" CreationDate="2011-03-16T11:25:11.223" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meanings of these two words seem the same, but their spellings are very different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T13:01:10.483" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T13:01:10.483" Title="What's the difference between &quot;universality&quot; and &quot;pervasiveness&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1047" CreationDate="2011-03-16T11:27:25.023" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are synonymous but grammatically different.  They are often used interchangeably (incorrectly) by native speakers.  There is a simple way to tell which one to use, by imagining the clause without the &quot;you and&quot; part:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Example&lt;/em&gt;: You and &lt;strong&gt;(I/me?)&lt;/strong&gt; should spend more time together&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Imagine&lt;/em&gt;: &quot;Me should...&quot; (this is clearly wrong)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Imagine&lt;/em&gt;: &quot;I should...&quot; (correct!)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Answer&lt;/em&gt;: You and &lt;strong&gt;I&lt;/strong&gt; should spend more time together&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Example&lt;/em&gt;: He should have spoken to you and &lt;strong&gt;(I/me?)&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Imagine&lt;/em&gt;: &quot;He should have spoken to me&quot; (correct!)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Imagine&lt;/em&gt;: &quot;He should have spoken to I&quot; (wrong)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Answer&lt;/em&gt;: He should have spoken to you and &lt;strong&gt;me&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6138" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T11:27:25.023" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16507" CreationDate="2011-03-16T11:33:37.357" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;who/whom&lt;/em&gt; distinction is covered elsewhere (in the &quot;most of…&quot; context it's &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt;, but in modern usage &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; is often used), but this question brings up the legitimate question of distinguishing between when to use &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; and when to use &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt;.  For this, simply consider whether the collection you're describing consists of people or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There were 10 postmen, most of whom wore hats.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  There were 5 post boxes, most of which were empty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This can be confusing, because in other contexts we use &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; for people as well as inanimate objects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Which postman delivered your letter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6138" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T12:41:33.153" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T12:41:33.153" />
  <row Id="16515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16059" CreationDate="2011-03-16T11:33:38.157" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's what I have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pot &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pots&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Spots&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sports&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sprouts&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Supports&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if you're allowed to rearrange letters like I did in &lt;em&gt;Supports&lt;/em&gt;, so here's another one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pot&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Port&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1279639#m_en_us1279639&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Porte&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Porter&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Porters&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1293393#m_en_us1293393&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sporters&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T11:33:38.157" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-16T11:33:38.157" />
  <row Id="16516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16507" CreationDate="2011-03-16T11:35:29.927" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Who&quot; is a subjective pronoun. It is used in the place of a subject in a sentence or phrase. For example &quot;Who is coming to dinner?&quot; (&quot;Who&quot; is the subject.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Whom&quot; is an objective pronoun. It is used in the place of an object in a sentence or phrase. For example, &quot;With whom are you coming to dinner?&quot; (&quot;Whom&quot; is the object of the preposition, while &quot;you&quot; is the subject.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since &quot;most of &lt;strong&gt;_&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; is a prepositional phrase, the correct usage would be &quot;most of whom.&quot; The phrase &quot;most of who&quot; should probably never be used. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way to think about the difference between the subjective/objective pronouns is to revise the sentence to include a personal pronounce and see which form (&lt;em&gt;he/him&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;she/her&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;they/them&lt;/em&gt;) fit. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, take this sentence: &quot;I have twelve co-workers, most of whom are British.&quot; Could you re-write it as two sentences: &quot;I have twelve co-workers. Most of &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt; are British?&quot; Probably not! :-) You would say &quot;Most of &lt;em&gt;them&lt;/em&gt; are British,&quot; because the &quot;most of&quot; prepositional construct takes a subjective pronoun. I can't think of a case where it would take an objective pronoun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to whether you would use &quot;most of whom&quot; or &quot;most of which,&quot; both &quot;who&quot; and &quot;which&quot; are relative pronouns. &quot;Who&quot; is used to refer to people, while &quot;which&quot; is used to refer to animals and things. For example, &quot;I have twelve co-workers, most of &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; are French, and I have twelve wine bottles, most of &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; are empty.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes &quot;which&quot; might be used to refer to a group or crowd of people where individuality is less distinct. For example, &quot;The crowd, most of &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt; were local fans, cheered when the opposing pitcher got knocked unconscious by a line drive.&quot; I believe either &quot;most of whom&quot; or &quot;most of which&quot; could be used in that kind of sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4026" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T11:35:29.927" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16495" CreationDate="2011-03-16T11:40:31.163" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You need &quot;of&quot; in standard English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The monster (that) I saw in the cave&#xA;  was hideous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;That&lt;/em&gt; is a relative pronoun: it refers back to &lt;em&gt;the monster&lt;/em&gt; (the antecedent), and it introduces a subordinate clause of which it is itself the object, &lt;em&gt;that I saw in the cave&lt;/em&gt; (the relative clause). We could use &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What I saw in the cave was hideous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you see, &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; has swallowed its antecedent: the relative pronoun &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; always does that, because it always includes an antecedent. If the antecedent must be specified, &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; is impossible. Apart from that, it functions just like &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;which&lt;/em&gt;. In your &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; sentence, if I were to replace your &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; by a &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;, it would look like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't confirm all of [the things]&#xA;  that she said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was forced to supply the antecedent that was hidden within &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt;, because &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; requires an antecedent. I made something up, &lt;em&gt;these things&lt;/em&gt;. This all works fine. However, consider your sentence without &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;*I can't confirm all what he said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I replaced &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt;, I'd get:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't confirm all [the things] that&#xA;  he said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might look all right, but think about the antecedent: what is it here exactly? The problem is that the antecedent is not just &lt;em&gt;the things&lt;/em&gt;, but also &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt;: &quot;what did he say? he said all the things; what can't I confirm? I can't confirm all the things&quot;. The adjective &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; is part of the antecedent, which is why it too should disappear if you use &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't confirm what he said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is why your sentence without &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; doesn't work in standard English. There might be dialects in which this happens regularly, though. Normally it should be one of the following constructions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't confirm all he said. (&lt;em&gt;That&lt;/em&gt; is implicit.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't confirm all of what he said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't confirm what he said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T12:37:26.387" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T12:37:26.387" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16499" CreationDate="2011-03-16T11:40:53.087" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's simply derived from the meaning of 'trick' as 'mischievous or naughty act'.  So for a prostitute, 'trick' is synonymous with 'naughty act' or 'job', and 'job' is equated to 'customer'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6138" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T11:40:53.087" />
  <row Id="16519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16512" CreationDate="2011-03-16T11:45:11.553" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something is universal if it is present everywhere.  Something is pervasive if it has a tendency to spread through everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Describing something as 'universal' suggests an absoluteness to its widespread presence, as if it perhaps has always been that way, whereas describe something as 'pervasive' may refer to something that has infiltrated something else over a period of time, perhaps unexpectedly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They have completely different origins: universality comes from &quot;universe&quot; meaning &quot;all things&quot;, whereas &quot;pervasiveness&quot; comes from the verb &quot;to pervade&quot; meaning to diffuse through something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6138" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T11:45:11.553" />
  <row Id="16521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16504" CreationDate="2011-03-16T11:52:15.973" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two are used interchangeably as to be in or on a call is a fairly new expression, with some very slight contextual differences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In&quot; is more often used to describe whether someone has successfully connected (especially in conference calling): &quot;Are you in yet?&quot;.  However, it is sometimes used more generally &quot;I'm sorry, he is in a call&quot; because it sounds similar to &quot;in a meeting&quot;.  You wouldn't ask someone having technical problems &quot;are you on yet?&quot; though.  (This is a bit confusing, because we talk about logging on, but once someone has logged on, they are usually described as &quot;in&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;On&quot; is more often used to describe someone who is in the process of taking part in a call more generally.  &quot;Will you be on that call this afternoon?&quot;.  But you could equally say &quot;in&quot; here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6138" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T11:52:15.973" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1047" CreationDate="2011-03-16T12:00:57.230" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add to the previous examples by kdt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The pronoun &quot;I&quot; is in the subjective case whereas the pronoun &quot;Me&quot; is in the objective case.&#xA;So when you want to tell that you did some action then use &quot;I&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;e.g. My mother and &lt;strong&gt;I&lt;/strong&gt; went to the market.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If some action is received by you then make the use of &quot;Me&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;e.g. Vijay offered some chocolates to you and &lt;strong&gt;me&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6162" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T12:00:57.230" />
  <row Id="16524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16496" CreationDate="2011-03-16T12:05:30.297" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This happens to be an idiom which exists almost identically in German and English, and it works just the same way.  You can rearrange your friend's statement to match the German style to make it obvious:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;My friend asks if it would not be better for you to come here.&quot;  &#xA;&quot;My friend asks: would it not be better if you came here?&quot;&#xA;                 Would it not [be] better if&#xA;                 wäre  es nicht    besser wenn&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone says &quot;Would it not be better if you came here?&quot; or &quot;Wouldn't it be better if you came here?&quot; they are saying that they think it would be better, and they are asking you if you disagree.  The 'not' is a bit confusing, because it doesn't invert the meaning.  If someone says &quot;Would it be better if you came here?&quot; that means the same thing, but is a more neutral/open question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6138" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T12:05:30.297" />
  <row Id="16525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16503" CreationDate="2011-03-16T12:06:12.513" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can also use the words &lt;em&gt;Coryza&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Rhinitis&lt;/em&gt; .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6162" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T12:06:12.513" />
  <row Id="16526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16497" CreationDate="2011-03-16T12:14:22.117" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it depends on the age of the child. Very young children usually learn &quot;good&quot; and &quot;bad&quot; as modifiers to their actions, so using &quot;good manners&quot; and &quot;bad manners&quot; is more likely to resonate than a whole new structure of &quot;polite&quot; and &quot;impolite.&quot; As children mature and their vocabularies expand, the more formal words become more common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2969" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T12:14:22.117" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="16527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16499" CreationDate="2011-03-16T12:21:48.630" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=trick&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt; says &quot;trick&quot; meaning a protitute's client or the act of performing prostitution came from American slang for &quot;robbery&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Meaning &quot;prostitute's client&quot; is first attested 1915; earlier it was U.S. slang for &quot;a robbery&quot; (1865). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the late 19th and early 20th century in America, &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=6AxEiRiWMeoC&amp;amp;pg=PA203&amp;amp;lpg=PA203&amp;amp;dq=history%3a+prostitution+robbing+clients&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=DRHI1uSwhb&amp;amp;sig=NC0Li8B_wSHQ9Xt6yXVhr3SxMXw&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=9qqATdSdNpGC0QGVsbCJCQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=7&amp;amp;ved=0CEQQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;prostitutes often teamed up with thugs&lt;/a&gt; to rob their patrons. It is possibly this association that caused the commingling and later transfer of meaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T12:21:48.630" />
  <row Id="16528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16512" CreationDate="2011-03-16T12:27:54.257" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something that is universal is something affecting, or done by all people or things in the world or in a particular group. &lt;em&gt;Universality&lt;/em&gt; can also be used to mean &quot;applicability on every cases.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something that is pervasive is something spreading widely throughout an area or a group of people.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Pervasive&lt;/em&gt; is usually used for an unwelcome influence or physical effect; the other difference between &lt;em&gt;universal&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;pervasive&lt;/em&gt; is that &lt;em&gt;universal&lt;/em&gt; doesn't make any reference to how something has spread.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ageism is pervasive and entrenched in our society.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The incidents caused universal concern.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T13:00:32.217" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T13:00:32.217" />
  <row Id="16529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16427" CreationDate="2011-03-16T13:03:18.740" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking, but not sure if &lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_an_allegory&amp;amp;src=ansTT&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;allegory&lt;/a&gt; is appropriate here, as an adjective &lt;strong&gt;allegorical&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An Allegory is a form of extended&#xA;  metaphor, in which objects, persons,&#xA;  and actions in a narrative, are&#xA;  equated with the meanings that lie&#xA;  outside the narrative itself. The&#xA;  underlying meaning has moral, social,&#xA;  religious, or political significance,&#xA;  and characters are often&#xA;  personifications of abstract ideas as&#xA;  charity, greed, or envy.  Thus an&#xA;  allegory is a story with two meanings,&#xA;  a literal meaning and a symbolic&#xA;  meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1798" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T13:03:18.740" />
  <row Id="16530" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16572" CreationDate="2011-03-16T13:10:54.723" Score="1" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been reading John Donne's &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/888/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Song (Go And Catch A Falling Star)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and my query is on the usage of &lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; in the line &quot;to two or three.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yet she&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Will be False,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  ere I come, to two or three.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand this means &lt;em&gt;she will be false, before I come, &lt;strong&gt;with&lt;/strong&gt; two or three others&lt;/em&gt;, so is the usage of &quot;&lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; instead of &quot;&lt;strong&gt;with&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; common for the time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there other meanings I've not got?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1798" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T14:50:42.260" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T18:21:19.880" Title="&quot;To&quot; versus &quot;with&quot; in early English" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;early-modern-english&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16497" CreationDate="2011-03-16T13:41:03.790" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;h2&gt;Rude&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would be a better alternative than the word 'impolite'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T13:41:03.790" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16530" CreationDate="2011-03-16T13:48:38.763" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would see this as a form of counting. The first example (of a woman who is true) that could be cited is &quot;one&quot; — but Donne is claiming the woman will be false before he can get to &quot;two&quot; or &quot;three&quot;. The counting may refer to the second or third example woman, but it also may simply be a form of &quot;Before you can count to three&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T13:48:38.763" />
  <row Id="16533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16499" CreationDate="2011-03-16T13:48:44.873" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It wouldn't surprise me to find that it derived from its use in a vast family of card games, and that that preceded its use as 'a purchased sex act'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T13:48:44.873" />
  <row Id="16534" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-16T14:12:02.357" Score="0" ViewCount="6" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey Guys!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I wrote a blog post a long time back. For this post I chose a writing style very different from what I'd read or what I'd seen before. Some guys did criticize me and others did acknowledge me for the same. Now this is not a publicity stunt, but could you guys provide critical comments on my writing style and the content too?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://theobscureintellect.blogspot.com/2009/08/tete-tete.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here's&lt;/a&gt; the post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T14:12:02.357" ClosedDate="2011-03-16T14:14:30.297" Title="Critical review of blog post" Tags="&lt;style&gt;" />
  <row Id="16535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16487" CreationDate="2011-03-16T14:14:28.247" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are describing the system it would be perfectly correct to call this group 'end users', however, I agree with Ishmaeel in the case that you want to give the group a visible name then simply 'users' would be more appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5964" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T14:14:28.247" />
  <row Id="16536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16480" CreationDate="2011-03-16T14:15:43.503" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In principle, there's not much reason to think that the construction isn't perfectly regular, and you will find the following used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Didn't they &lt;strong&gt;use&lt;/strong&gt; to come here often?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But phonetically, &quot;use to&quot; and &quot;used to&quot; are practically indistinguishable and almost certainly not &lt;em&gt;reliably&lt;/em&gt; distinguishable. In practice, you will see the following more commonly written down:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Didn't they &lt;strong&gt;used&lt;/strong&gt; to come here often?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In speech, it's not really clear what percentage of people are 'really' saying &lt;strong&gt;use&lt;/strong&gt; and what percentage are saying &lt;strong&gt;used&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The following slightly archaic forms also exist:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Used they to help you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Used they not to help you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Usen't they to help you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of these, &lt;strong&gt;usen't they&lt;/strong&gt; is also used to form tags (albeit not so commonly as other forms such as &lt;strong&gt;didn't they&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;wouldn't they&lt;/strong&gt; etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T15:20:56.387" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T15:20:56.387" />
  <row Id="16537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16530" CreationDate="2011-03-16T14:16:30.450" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe Mr. Donne is saying that the lady in question will practice serial infidelity, not just with him, but with another, and another, and another.  So first she is unfaithful to Mr. Donne with Mr. Eliot (while maintaining the first relationship).  Then she is unfaithful to Mr. Eliot with Mr. Pound (while maintaining the first two relationships).  Then she is unfaithful to Mr. Pound with Mr. Ginsberg (OK, that last is a bit of a stretch, but at this point she would be maintaining the first three relationships, unfaithful to each).  Each link in the chain thinks of the lady as &quot;his&quot;, not knowing that there is both a predecessor and a successor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4244" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T14:16:30.450" />
  <row Id="16538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16506" CreationDate="2011-03-16T14:18:54.957" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;strong&gt;Courses taken at graduate level&lt;/strong&gt; is more appropriate since it will imply that you are referring to all the courses you have pursued while in graduate program(s).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, &lt;strong&gt;Courses taken in graduate program&lt;/strong&gt; would limit the clarity and one may end up assuming that you did only one graduate program.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On you can say &lt;strong&gt;Courses pursued in graduate programs&lt;/strong&gt;, but the first one seems more appropriate to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6162" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T14:18:54.957" />
  <row Id="16539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16530" CreationDate="2011-03-16T14:23:29.163" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I understand, till the time his friend writes him a letter about one true and fair lady he had met, that lady will become Untrue(False, symbolic of faith, fidelity maybe), and instead he will go on the search for another(two) and another(three) woman who'd be true woman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T14:23:29.163" />
  <row Id="16540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16480" CreationDate="2011-03-16T14:40:37.963" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What did you do previously?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4284" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T14:40:37.963" />
  <row Id="16541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16487" CreationDate="2011-03-16T14:49:41.920" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Paul, I work in the software industry and End User is a widely accepted terminology.&#xA;It describes the people who will actually be using your software to meet their ends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's fine if you want to use &quot;User&quot; but &quot;End User&quot; is perfectly acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T14:49:41.920" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16542" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16543" CreationDate="2011-03-16T14:57:37.757" Score="1" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;I used to hear this greeting several times a day when in Singapore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other English-speaking countries, is this idiomatic expression known, do people consider it funny, or just a terrible misconception of English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1487" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T19:30:22.817" Title="In which countries is that “long time no see” greeting common?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16542" CreationDate="2011-03-16T15:11:55.893" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Long time no see&quot; is used in the UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is informal. I do not know how widespread its use is but I expect people of most UK social groups and of most UK regions would recognise and understand it even if it was not a form of greeting they would use themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T16:15:12.157" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T16:15:12.157" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16542" CreationDate="2011-03-16T15:16:58.620" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Um, I'm Indian, and most of the guys of my generation here, have caught up to it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T15:16:58.620" />
  <row Id="16545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16487" CreationDate="2011-03-16T15:21:41.253" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes it's best to name the users based on the role they are performing. Programmers are users of the system too, but they are programming it. The other users are operating those programs, but &quot;operator&quot; sounds wrong to me.  In this case if there is no defining characteristic for the non-programmer users then simply calling them &quot;users&quot; is probably best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T15:21:41.253" />
  <row Id="16546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16506" CreationDate="2011-03-16T15:25:04.743" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, &quot;&lt;strong&gt;courses taken at graduate level&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; just about sounds perfect.&#xA;It also removes the need to pinpoint any specific program that was taken.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;courses taken at graduate program&quot;, on the other hand should ideally be followed by the name of the program. This should be used only in the event that you have taken multiple programs at graduate level and is redundant otherwise.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6167" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T15:25:04.743" />
  <row Id="16547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16497" CreationDate="2011-03-16T15:26:09.827" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My problem with the answer &quot;it's impolite&quot; is that it doesn't really tell the child anything. You might as well respond &quot;because I say so&quot;. (At least for me, it's always been easier to follow rules when I understood why they existed.) By all means, use that phrase, but don't stop there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main reason no to put your feet on the couch is to avoid getting the couch (and indirectly other peoples clothes) dirty. The child might argue that her/his feet are clean. Then the parent has to convince the child that if you get the habit putting your feet on the couch, you might sometimes do it when they aren't clean--so it's a bad habit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another thing which is impolite is to only provide seat that are comfortable for adults...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6168" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T15:26:09.827" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16542" CreationDate="2011-03-16T15:41:48.560" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's common in Japanese (&lt;em&gt;ohisashiburi da ne&lt;/em&gt;). Standard in US English. Most likely a feature in most languages. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In English it's also a trope, so that you can play off &quot;long time, no &lt;strong&gt;_&lt;/strong&gt; &quot; in a variety of other contexts. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T15:41:48.560" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16542" CreationDate="2011-03-16T15:51:30.810" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is common and informal in AmE. It is idiomatic (i.e. pedantically agrammatic but common enough not to sound 'off'). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have heard that it is a direct loan-translation of Mandarin 'hao jiu bu jian'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T15:51:30.810" />
  <row Id="16550" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16556" CreationDate="2011-03-16T15:53:09.090" Score="3" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;Photographers seems to love to say this. Is this still considered funny?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5937" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T16:58:09.843" Title="What do I do when I hear 'Say cheese!'?" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16551" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16568" CreationDate="2011-03-16T15:54:22.020" Score="1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As I am dubious of your authenticity here (a mailing list), I cannot spend&#xA;  any time with you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is he dubious that I'm not a real user or I'm not a expert?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastEditorUserId="5015" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T16:01:31.093" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T18:00:23.237" Title="Meaning of 'authenticity'." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16550" CreationDate="2011-03-16T15:55:15.357" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Say cheese&quot; means you have to smile wide and show your teeth for the best click.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something like &quot;:D&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastEditorUserId="161" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T16:57:16.990" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T16:57:16.990" />
  <row Id="16553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16551" CreationDate="2011-03-16T16:01:41.357" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;He is saying that he thinks that either...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(1) you are not the person that you are saying you are&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(2) what you said may be somebody else's words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T16:13:40.983" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T16:13:40.983" />
  <row Id="16554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16551" CreationDate="2011-03-16T16:01:52.917" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without any more context it is impossible to tell whether his doubt is related to your expertise. Within the scope of the quote, I would guess he doesn't think you are a registered (or otherwise vetted) user of the mailing list. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T16:01:52.917" />
  <row Id="16555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16550" CreationDate="2011-03-16T16:03:44.383" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are meant to smile. Usually only young children think this is funny.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T16:03:44.383" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16550" CreationDate="2011-03-16T16:11:46.133" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because of the way that Cheese should be pronounced, especially when it should be pronounced emphatically (the exclamation mark at the end), it should cause your cheeks to rise and your lips to part and your eyes to slightly lower on the corners. This causes your face to lighten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Additionally, it is rather an odd command, so it generally induces people to smile while opening their cheeks and exposing more of their face to the camera.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But really, just smile wide and look at the camera (and don't blink!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2161" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T16:11:46.133" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16550" CreationDate="2011-03-16T16:13:11.333" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The idea behind &quot;say cheese&quot; is not to make a joke, but to get your mouth into a position that resembles a smile. Depending on how you say them, &lt;em&gt;ee&lt;/em&gt; sounds like in &lt;em&gt;cheese&lt;/em&gt; can cause you to widen your mouth, sort of like a smile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Of course, unless you're being a wise-ass, you shouldn't actually &lt;em&gt;say&lt;/em&gt; cheese, or anything else really, when you're told to &quot;say cheese&quot;; instead, you should just smile to the best of your ability.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T16:13:11.333" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16550" CreationDate="2011-03-16T16:58:09.843" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When standing in front of a camera, Chinese people would say &quot;Chie zi!&quot;, which sounds very similar to cheese--although it actually means &quot;eggplant&quot; in Chinese. &#xA;:)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6042" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T16:58:09.843" />
  <row Id="16559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16497" CreationDate="2011-03-16T17:06:07.357" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For &quot;impolite&quot; to have any meaning to the child, the child must first understand what, &quot;polite,&quot; behavior is.  Polite behavior, however, is hardly ever advocated ahead of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is easier to correct bad things when they happen then outline all the proper activities that may be allowed to pass.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6172" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T17:06:07.357" />
  <row Id="16560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16551" CreationDate="2011-03-16T17:07:27.010" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The mailing list has an anti-spam mechanism and you are apparently not detected as a genuine user.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So here authenticity is about flesh-and-bone human vs bot rather than about expertise level.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To get help, please refer to &lt;a href=&quot;http://superuser.com/&quot;&gt;superuser&lt;/a&gt;, plenty of people will be happy to help you over there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T17:07:27.010" />
  <row Id="16561" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16562" CreationDate="2011-03-16T17:08:37.760" Score="3" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a native speaker of  English. Could anyone please tell me which sentence is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I had money, I would fly to Spain.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  If I had money, I would have flown to Spain. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3961" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T01:24:57.953" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T01:24:57.953" Title="&quot;Would fly&quot; versus &quot;would have flown&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16561" CreationDate="2011-03-16T17:12:18.993" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, both sentences are grammatical, but they mean different things. It depends on what you're trying to say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first means, that if you had money, you'd fly there now or some point in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second can mean one of two things, depending on whether &quot;had&quot; is intended to be 'hypothetical' or a genuine 'past reference': so it could mean either (a) if you had money (now), you would at some point in the past have flown there; (b) if, at some point in the past being referred to, you had had money, then at that moment or some moment thereafter, you would have flown to Spain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I say, it's not really a question of one sentence being grammatical and the other not, rather that they have different interpretations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T17:12:18.993" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16561" CreationDate="2011-03-16T17:17:32.090" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following are correct (the second one is a correction of your second possibility)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'If I had money, I would fly to Spain' (present subjunctive)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that I probably don't have money now, but in the alternate universe where I do have money, I think I want to fly there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'If I had had money, I would have flown to Spain.' (past subjunctive)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that, in the past, I probably didn't have any money, went to Spain by some other means, but in the alternate universe, the presence of extra money might have alowed me to indulge in flying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T17:17:32.090" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16504" CreationDate="2011-03-16T17:30:24.960" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;on a call&quot; can also mean making a visit, usually an official one.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5964" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T17:30:24.960" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15139" CreationDate="2011-03-16T17:33:49.563" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are examples of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphibology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;amphibology&lt;/a&gt;. To quote its Wikipedia entry:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Amphibology or amphiboly (from the&#xA;  Greek ἀμφιβολία, amphibolia) is an&#xA;  ambiguous grammatical structure in a&#xA;  sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T17:33:49.563" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16566" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15139" CreationDate="2011-03-16T17:39:04.097" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence in your title contains a classical figure of speech commonly called &lt;strong&gt;zeugma&lt;/strong&gt; (your other sentences are rather double entendre or simply ambiguous, as the others have mentioned).&#xA;See Wikipedia on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeugma&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;zeugma&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeugma#Syllepsis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;syllepsis&lt;/a&gt;; what Wikipedia calls &lt;em&gt;syllepsis&lt;/em&gt; is usually simply called &lt;em&gt;zeugma&lt;/em&gt;, as syllepsis is the most common significant application of zeugma in rhetoric and literature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Zeugma&lt;/strong&gt; (from the Greek: ζεῦγμα,&#xA;  zeûgma, meaning &quot;yoke&quot;) is a figure&#xA;  of speech describing the joining of&#xA;  two or more parts of a sentence with a&#xA;  single common verb or noun. A zeugma&#xA;  employs both ellipsis, the omission of&#xA;  words which are easily understood, and&#xA;  parallelism, the balance of several&#xA;  words or phrases. The result is a&#xA;  series of similar phrases joined or&#xA;  yoked together by a common and implied&#xA;  noun or verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Syllepsis&lt;/strong&gt;, also known as &lt;em&gt;semantic&#xA;  zeugma&lt;/em&gt;, is a particular type of zeugma&#xA;  in which the clauses disagree in&#xA;  either meaning or grammar. The&#xA;  governing word may change meaning with&#xA;  respect to the other words it&#xA;  modifies. This creates a semantic&#xA;  incongruity that is often humorous.&#xA;  Alternatively, a syllepsis may contain&#xA;  a governing word or phrase that does&#xA;  not agree grammatically with one or&#xA;  more of its distributed terms. This is&#xA;  an intentional construction in which&#xA;  rules of grammar are bent for&#xA;  stylistic effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See my answer to a similar question here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7338/books-and-other-things-with-the-same-name/7340#7340&quot;&gt;Books and other things with the same name&lt;/a&gt; .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T17:51:54.167" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T17:51:54.167" />
  <row Id="16567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16497" CreationDate="2011-03-16T17:50:58.880" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We have always spoken to our children as we would speak to each other. We rarely dumb things down but may need to explain afterward. Kids learn quickly, it's just what they do. That being said, unless you're willing to explain and rephrase after, you can just end up with a confused kid subject to an arbitrary rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T17:50:58.880" />
  <row Id="16568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16551" CreationDate="2011-03-16T18:00:23.237" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;With no further context I would say that the writer has doubts about your motivation for asking for assistance.  If he believed that your question was an &quot;authentic&quot; question, where you had a genuine curiosity and a valid need to get a good answer, he would be willing to spend his time giving you that answer.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;However, for some reason, he thinks that your motive for asking may be something else entirely:  it could be to compare the answer you get there to what you already know, or to an answer you got somewhere else, or just to see how quickly you get an answer, or some other factor; the answer itself is not what you're interested in, it's more likely that you're trying to find out something about the answering process.  Therefore, he's not willing to spend time giving you an answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T18:00:23.237" />
  <row Id="16569" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16573" CreationDate="2011-03-16T18:15:35.580" Score="3" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was driving past the village of Hampsthwaite the other day, and happened to spot the six consecutive consonants in the middle. It set me wondering whether this was the most possible, and if not, which word contains the maximum number?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T18:24:10.750" Title="What English word has the most consecutive consonants?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;orthography&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="16570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16497" CreationDate="2011-03-16T18:17:40.990" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just asked my mom, who was often complimented on how well-behaved and polite we three were. (I only tried to wrestle that gumball machine once, after all.) She says that you use the vocabulary with your children that you want them to use. You treat them the way you want them to treat others, and that includes speech. So, no, using words like polite and impolite is not &quot;too formal.&quot; It's a way of instructing them to use words like &quot;polite&quot; and &quot;impolite.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were talking to an adult, &quot;impolite&quot; is the word I would use, because I think it shows a certain amount of respect and intelligence. It's also the word I'd use with my three-year-old cousin because the meaning is appropriate, but it's more subtle than &quot;rude&quot; or &quot;bad.&quot; If I tell him he's being bad, he gets upset. He knows what that means. He wants to be a good boy, but he's three and he doesn't know all the rules, and throwing trains at cousins is FUN. When I tell him he's being impolite, he gets serious, and calms down to avoid being &quot;bad.&quot; He understands that &quot;impolite&quot; is a sort of warning while &quot;bad&quot; and &quot;rude&quot; both mean he's actually done something wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Purely anecdotal evidence, I know, but those are my personal observations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I noticed a sort-of theme in some of the answers about explaining things to children, which I agree with in principle, and my mom claims she once did as well...Until she actually tried it. She could try to explain things until she was blue in the face, and we would still just ask &quot;Why?&quot; And it seems to get worse the smarter a kid is. What do you say when a kid wants to know why the dirt from your shoes will get on the bench, or why there's dirt on your shoes at all? Are you really going to try and explain static electricity and all the other stuff involved (I admit, I don't actually know)...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I have trouble explaining why my cousin's throwing his trains at me is bad. I have no problem telling him that throwing trains, or anything, at anyone, especially me, is very bad, and he should never, ever do it. Because I said so. And so does Mommy. And Daddy. Yes, I mean it...And no, throwing AT and throwing TO are completely different. NO! if you're throwing it TO me, you have to warn me!...I know it's not as much fun, but that's just how it works. Because I said so. Trust me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T18:17:40.990" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16569" CreationDate="2011-03-16T18:20:40.500" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Foreign proper names are probably your safest bet. I always liked &lt;em&gt;Chruschtschov&lt;/em&gt; though &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikita_Khrushchev&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Khrushchev&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is the more common transliteration. Wikipedia has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_words_with_uncommon_properties#Many_consonants&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dedicated section&lt;/a&gt; that lists a few more:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Twelfthstreet&lt;/em&gt; (normally two words but sometimes written as one, as in a song title; &lt;em&gt;Eighthstreet&lt;/em&gt; is feasible by analogy), and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_Hirschsprung&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hirschsprung&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, as in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirschsprung%27s_disease&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hirschsprung's disease&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (though this is after a Danish surname). The scientific name of the white (or Tubergen) squill is &lt;em&gt;Scilla mischtschenkoana&lt;/em&gt;, and the transliterations of several Russian names, such as &lt;em&gt;Tischtschenko&lt;/em&gt;, contain the same constellation of seven consonants. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T18:20:40.500" />
  <row Id="16572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16530" CreationDate="2011-03-16T18:21:19.880" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer your question: &quot;to be false &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; somebody&quot; is perhaps not a very common expression, but it makes at least as much sense to me as &quot;to be false &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; somebody&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps more, because the &quot;to&quot; has the connotation of playing her falseness towards them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T18:21:19.880" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16573" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16569" CreationDate="2011-03-16T18:24:10.750" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Archchronicler, catchphrase, eschscholtzia, latchstring, lengthsman, and postphthisic each have six consonants in a row.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;HIRSCHSPRUNG'S (DISEASE) has seven consecutive consonants, as does SCHTSCHUROWSKIA. The shortest such word is TSKTSKS. All of these words can be found in major English dictionaries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T18:24:10.750" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16574" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16598" CreationDate="2011-03-16T19:05:47.630" Score="3" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oh, we know the standards: Jumbo Shrimp, Real Phony,Living Dead..... is &lt;em&gt;peaceful demonstration&lt;/em&gt; in the list: reasons why/not are, of course unexpectedly anticipated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T21:12:42.183" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T14:21:53.107" Title="Is 'peaceful demonstration' an oxymoron?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16574" CreationDate="2011-03-16T19:07:31.327" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why oxymoron?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;a public display of group feelings (usually of a political nature)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;can be very peaceful. People can sit totally quiet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And Shrimp: &lt;em&gt;any of various edible decapod crustaceans&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just because a person who is deemed shrimp sized is small, does not mean that a huge shrimp cannot be called jumbo...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T19:07:31.327" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14588" CreationDate="2011-03-16T19:13:00.163" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I pronounce it &quot;acker&quot;. (Silent R of course.) Simple, quick, just like how I say &quot;fack&quot; for FAQ.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6174" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T19:13:00.163" />
  <row Id="16577" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16580" CreationDate="2011-03-16T19:14:43.873" Score="0" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &quot;Damn Straight&quot; is now used as a way to emphatically agree with a statement, but where does it come from, and what did it mean originally?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2235" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T21:25:23.013" Title="Origin &amp; meaning of &quot;Damn Straight&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;history&gt;&lt;expletives&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16578" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-16T19:29:26.123" Score="3" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which words help convey the concept of &lt;em&gt;being early&lt;/em&gt;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Prompt&lt;/em&gt; is not exactly what I want, as it means &quot;on time&quot; in the context I am considering.  If spring (the season) was a spirit and arrived two weeks early this year, and was content in doing so, how could I describe the idea that spring doesn't mind its &lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__ness (quality of being early)?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2045" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T21:09:33.683" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T22:03:57.583" Title="Earliness: the quality of being early" Tags="&lt;diction&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16542" CreationDate="2011-03-16T19:30:22.817" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In common use in Ireland as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for etymology, I'll put forward that is has a comma and comes from USA and specifically from Western films, where you'd oft here an american indian would say &quot;long time, no see&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6175" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T19:30:22.817" />
  <row Id="16580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16577" CreationDate="2011-03-16T19:35:29.113" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=straight&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt; reports that &lt;em&gt;straight&lt;/em&gt; to mean &quot;true, direct, honest&quot; is from 1520s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T19:35:29.113" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="16581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16578" CreationDate="2011-03-16T19:35:57.210" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Premature&lt;/strong&gt; is a good alternative, though I'm not sure it lends itself to the noun form you desire. Consider the following phrasings:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Spring doesn't mind being premature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Spring doesn't mind arriving prematurely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: If you like the noun form, you can always use &lt;strong&gt;earliness&lt;/strong&gt; as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5119" LastEditorUserId="5119" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T19:46:12.377" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T19:46:12.377" />
  <row Id="16582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16578" CreationDate="2011-03-16T19:37:02.327" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Timeliness or prematureness are probably too vague and spurious respectively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could I suggest removing the constraint that it is __ness and suggest &quot;spring doesn't mind being an early bird,&quot; which might even have some pleasant connotations if spring is what is actually being written about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6175" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T21:10:10.607" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T21:10:10.607" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16578" CreationDate="2011-03-16T19:38:05.523" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's wrong with &lt;em&gt;earliness&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose there's also &lt;em&gt;forwardness&lt;/em&gt;, though that doesn't quite fit your example. Neither do &lt;em&gt;untimeliness&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;prematurity&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5548" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T19:38:05.523" />
  <row Id="16584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16477" CreationDate="2011-03-16T19:47:01.867" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oh lordy, another &quot;there's a difference, but I can't quite put my finger on it&quot; question. But I'm gonna try anyway. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A discussion &lt;strong&gt;about&lt;/strong&gt; a topic&lt;/em&gt; &amp;mdash; this implies that the discussion was just a conversation, really, and it might not have stayed strictly on-topic.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A discussion &lt;strong&gt;of&lt;/strong&gt; a topic&lt;/em&gt; &amp;mdash; this brings to mind a true discussion, going into all sorts of details of the topic (and only the topic).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A discussion &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; a topic&lt;/em&gt; &amp;mdash; here I picture the discussion to be somewhat one-sided, almost a lecture.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that all of these connotations are vague and amorphous, and can be overridden by customary usages, or by what &quot;sounds best&quot; in a given context. If you pressed me to suggest a single best choice, today I'd go with &quot;of&quot;. No guarantees about tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T20:16:03.323" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T20:16:03.323" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16585" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16586" CreationDate="2011-03-16T20:00:08.427" Score="6" ViewCount="143" Body="&lt;p&gt;Should I use &quot;why is this not&quot; or &quot;why is not this?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or are both correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2643" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T20:51:01.950" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T11:01:58.090" Title="&quot;Why is this not&quot; versus &quot;why is not this&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;questions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16585" CreationDate="2011-03-16T20:13:20.220" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usual order is &lt;em&gt;&quot;Why &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; this &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; [ready yet]?&quot;&lt;/em&gt; Inverting it to &lt;em&gt;&quot;Why &lt;strong&gt;is not&lt;/strong&gt; this [rose in bloom]?&quot;&lt;/em&gt; might be possible in poetry, but it sounds awkward at best in everyday usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;Note: &lt;em&gt;awkward at best&lt;/em&gt; is a euphemism for &lt;em&gt;incorrect&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: you didn't ask about it, but for completeness I thought I'd mention that &lt;em&gt;&quot;Why &lt;strong&gt;isn't&lt;/strong&gt; this [all over the internet]?&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is perfectly fine; indeed, it's probably the most common choice, despite the fact that expanding the contraction results in precisely the &lt;em&gt;why is not this&lt;/em&gt; construction criticized above. (Contractions are like that.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T21:09:11.577" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T21:09:11.577" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="16587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16585" CreationDate="2011-03-16T20:13:32.857" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't think of a rule but &quot;Why is this not a good example?&quot; sounds way better to me than &quot;Why is not this a good example?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6091" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T20:13:32.857" />
  <row Id="16588" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16592" CreationDate="2011-03-16T20:18:16.110" Score="6" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;Words like &quot;anywhere&quot; and &quot;everybody&quot; usually have a predefined or implicit context during conversations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Everybody is going out to lunch. Would you like to come too? We are willing to go anywhere - we're starving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this statement, clearly the speaker doesn't mean all people from all places and times. When the speaker says he is willing to go anywhere, this isn't to be understood as a willingness to travel to Fiji for lunch, but instead is meant to be understood within an immediate context of the surrounding area, past experience with the hearer, or something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My touch-screen in my vehicle has a similar message when it's turned off:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Touch anywhere to activate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly it doesn't mean &lt;em&gt;anywhere&lt;/em&gt; in the all-inclusive sense - touching my shoe won't turn the display on. There's an unspoken bit of information the reader is expected to understand. They would understand 'touch anywhere on this touch screen to activate this touch screen.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are these types of words called, if they even have a name?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6176" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T23:48:31.210" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T23:48:31.210" Title="Words that sound all-inclusive, but aren't necessarily all-inclusive." Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="16589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16585" CreationDate="2011-03-16T20:22:31.270" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;not&quot; should be placed as close as possible to the thing it's negating; generally directly next to it is the most appropriate spot.  Since you are not negating the entire &quot;this&quot;, whatever it is, but only some element of it, the &quot;not&quot; should go next to the element being negated:  &quot;Why is this not blue like I asked for it to be?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T20:22:31.270" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2689" CreationDate="2011-03-16T20:30:22.467" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can buy &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jstor.org/pss/455632&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a 1993 paper on this exact topic&lt;/a&gt; for $15. It argues that &amp;ldquo;if he would have&amp;rdquo; was at that time entering the mainstream. It's true that the phrase gets 185 million Google hits today. Here's one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Shaq said, if he would have not fell asleep the night biggie got hit up, maybe he could have saved his life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is definitely non-standard. It seems like it might be dialect, not a typo or a random mental slip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say we simplify these a little bit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the president asks me, I will tell him the same thing. (correct)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If the president will ask me, I will tell him the same thing. (wrong)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to me that conditionals have a slightly different grammatical &amp;ldquo;frame of reference&amp;rdquo;. In the correct sentence, even though both clauses are set at the same point in time in the same hypothetical, they have to use different auxiliary verbs to express it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Careful, it's very subtle:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If that fixes the problem, I will do it. (correct)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If that will fix the problem, I will do it. (also correct! wtf?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the two sentences have two different meanings. The &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;will fix&lt;/em&gt; is all right because it actually refers to future time, a time further in the future than the &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;I will do it&lt;/em&gt;. Similarly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If that would have fixed it, I would have done it. (correct)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To sum up: English auxiliary verbs, whaddaya gonna do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now in a content clause&amp;mdash;say, one that functions as the direct object of a verb like &lt;em&gt;ask&lt;/em&gt;&amp;mdash;the pattern &lt;em&gt;if X would have&lt;/em&gt; is fine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They asked &lt;em&gt;if I would have done the same&lt;/em&gt;. (correct)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't a conditional at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T20:30:22.467" />
  <row Id="16591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16588" CreationDate="2011-03-16T20:42:24.630" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would personally term it an &lt;em&gt;implicit specifier&lt;/em&gt; but I don't know if that's a real name for such a thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2161" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T20:42:24.630" />
  <row Id="16592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16588" CreationDate="2011-03-16T20:53:25.567" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think the ambiguity lies in the use of the words anywhere or everyone. There is simply an implied context which is left out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We are willing to eat anywhere [nearby].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Touch [the touch-sensitive part] anywhere to activate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Everyone [in the office] is going to go eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The limits on these words are always defined by the context in which they are used, and in these sentences part of the context is left out, to be inferred by the listener.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T20:53:25.567" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16499" CreationDate="2011-03-16T21:00:27.820" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a possible interpretation, for which however, I'm afraid there is actually little categorical evidence  (but considering the scarcity of etymology studies dealing with prostitution professional vocabulary, this is hardly surprising).  However if you connect the dots, it kind of makes sense.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For each dot, in the conjecture below, I will add a confidence level (abbreviated as CL), so that hopefully other contributors might fill the gaps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here it goes anyway:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It all comes from... Surprise, surprise.... French argot (slung).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;trique&quot; in popular French is a word&#xA;for a wooden stick (CL 100%). &#xA;French donkey's are sometimes&#xA;motivated using &quot;des coups de&#xA;trique&quot;.  It is believed to come&#xA;from Northern French dialectal&#xA;&quot;estrique&quot; and is akin to &quot;strike&quot; in&#xA;English, &quot;streik&quot; in German and so&#xA;on.  Also gives &quot;tricoter&quot; (to knit) in French.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;avoir la trique&quot; or &quot;triquer&quot; means&#xA;to have an erection (CL 100%).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Passing the boundary between popular&#xA;and argotic here.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;By extension &quot;triquer&quot; or &quot;trequer&quot;&#xA;means, for a man to make love, in a&#xA;careless/bestial way to his partner. &#xA;(CL 100%).    Please refer to a&#xA;famous novel named &quot;Prostitution&quot;&#xA;by Pierre Guyotat, easy to find on&#xA;the web.  Just Google for &quot;Guyotat&#xA;triquer&quot; and you should net a large&#xA;number of hits.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The verb &quot;triquer&quot; used as &quot;to have sex&#xA;with a prostitute&quot; was particularly&#xA;common in the world of French&#xA;prostitution in the previous century&#xA;at least (CL 50%).  Can't back this&#xA;from personal experience, I'm afraid&#xA;;-).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The idiomatic expression passes in the English language somehow (CL 20%).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A trick in English in the context of&#xA;prostitution has both the meaning of&#xA;a customer or the act itself.  (CL 100%).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To &quot;turn tricks&quot; is to engage in acts of prostitution with &quot;Johns&quot; or &quot;Tricks&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you see, this is a possibility but there are a few gaps which  I'm not able to feel with certainty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T21:00:27.820" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16574" CreationDate="2011-03-16T21:23:44.890" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Peaceful Demonstration&lt;/em&gt; is only an oxymoron in repressive countries, where regardless of the intent of the demonstrators, the government shows up and initiates violence.  Ordinarily[*] it is entirely possible to put your political opinions on display in a peaceful manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[*]: speaking from a modern, US-centric viewpoint; world history may make me a liar.&#xA;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T04:38:02.340" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T04:38:02.340" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16577" CreationDate="2011-03-16T21:25:23.013" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The third entry in NOAD lists the meaning of &lt;strong&gt;straight&lt;/strong&gt; as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;3 not evasive; honest : &lt;em&gt;a straight answer&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;thank you for being straight with me&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note the first example: &lt;em&gt;a straight answer&lt;/em&gt;. The comment &quot;damn straight&quot; emerges directly from this kind of construction. It is always used in response to a statement that the speaker strongly agrees with, and is an acknowledgement of the candor and frankness of the original statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there's more. It also parallels a similar possible response: &quot;Damn right&quot; (meaning &quot;You're damned right.&quot;) and means the same thing. These two are interchangeable and probably merged in meaning; one often hears &quot;You're damn[ed] straight,&quot; completing the merge. So in this sense &quot;straight&quot; and &quot;right&quot; mean pretty much the same thing. The actual meanings of &quot;straight&quot; and &quot;right&quot; are less important than the emphatic note of strong agreement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T21:25:23.013" />
  <row Id="16596" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16605" CreationDate="2011-03-16T21:33:32.943" Score="10" ViewCount="534" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am trying to complete the following sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This job requires both creativity and &lt;strong&gt;X&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where &lt;strong&gt;X&lt;/strong&gt; is a single word describing the ability to think analytically. What would the best word be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2178" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T17:19:30.853" Title="What single word describes the ability to think analytically?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="16598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16574" CreationDate="2011-03-16T21:38:12.050" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Peaceful demonstration' is &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; an oxymoron.  There is nothing inherent in the definition of 'demonstration' that suggests order or chaos--a demonstration can be either. Describing a demonstration as 'peaceful' sets that demonstration apart from one that is 'chaotic', or even 'riotous'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are a few more adjectives that are commonly associated with 'demonstration' that delineate one type of demonstration from another:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quiet&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Classroom&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ceremonial&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Religious&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Political&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Military (not the same as riotous)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ngrams.google.com produces this nice graphic demonstration that underscores my point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/18yMT.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Created a new graph that includes 'violent demonstration'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/R9GLJ.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastEditorUserId="3800" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T14:21:53.107" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T14:21:53.107" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16578" CreationDate="2011-03-16T21:49:59.873" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like &lt;em&gt;earliness&lt;/em&gt; best, but if you don't mind being a little on the fringe, you could try &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/words/prepunctuality&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;prepunctuality&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastEditorUserId="2923" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T22:03:57.583" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T22:03:57.583" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16596" CreationDate="2011-03-16T21:56:58.837" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;em&gt;thoroughness&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;rigor&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;logic&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;method&lt;/em&gt;? All describe the need for logical thinking, which is probably the main component of analytical thinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T21:56:58.837" />
  <row Id="16601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16596" CreationDate="2011-03-16T22:11:09.357" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could use &lt;em&gt;exactitude&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;thoroughness&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;precision&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;rigor&lt;/em&gt; if you mean thinking in the mathematical sense of &quot;analytical thinking&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could use &lt;em&gt;acumen&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;discernment&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;shrewdness&lt;/em&gt; if you mean &quot;analytical thinking&quot; in the sense of &quot;critical thinking&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally like shrewdness because of the connotation of &quot;good business sense&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This job requires both creativity and &lt;strong&gt;shrewdness&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5286" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T22:11:09.357" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16602" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16604" CreationDate="2011-03-16T22:12:50.943" Score="3" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't quite figure out which of the following forms is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These sorts of things are ...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  This sort of things is ...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  This sort of thing is ...&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &amp;lt; some other option &gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, what's the right choice?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6180" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T02:32:40.373" Title="What sort of thing?" Tags="&lt;pluralization&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16596" CreationDate="2011-03-16T22:14:43.783" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some offerings:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Cogitation&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Analysis&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ratiocination&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Brainwork&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T22:14:43.783" />
  <row Id="16604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16602" CreationDate="2011-03-16T22:24:48.480" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on the thing(s) in question, it's either&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This sort of thing is...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These sorts of things are...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You need (pro)noun/verb plural agreement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Samples: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yesterday I slipped on the ice.  Today I slipped on a sliver of soap.  This sort of thing is always happening to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Last week I needed stitches from a shaving accident.  Yesterday I slipped on the ice.  Today I got hit by a car.  These sorts of things are always happening to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T22:24:48.480" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="16605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16596" CreationDate="2011-03-16T22:27:30.890" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's something fancy to impress the ladies: &lt;strong&gt;perspicacity&lt;/strong&gt;.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Nathan Rothschild was a man of keen perspicacity and profited immensely from his shrewd decision to employ a courier at the Battle of Waterloo, which lead to his eventually becoming the wealthiest man in all of Britain.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/perspicacity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikitionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;perspicacity (&lt;em&gt;n.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. Acute discernment or understanding; insight.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. The human faculty or power to mentally grasp or understand clearly.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  3. (&lt;em&gt;obsolete&lt;/em&gt;) Keen eyesight.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T03:43:24.273" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T03:43:24.273" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="16606" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16614" CreationDate="2011-03-16T22:48:23.943" Score="3" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’m struggling with a conditional clause. This one is easy:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I &lt;strong&gt;were&lt;/strong&gt; you, I would do xyz ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I have these three statements:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I &lt;strong&gt;was&lt;/strong&gt; a student.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It &lt;strong&gt;was&lt;/strong&gt; my vacation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My professor &lt;strong&gt;gave&lt;/strong&gt; me this assignment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I want to turn these three into conditional clauses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I &lt;strong&gt;were&lt;/strong&gt; a student, and it &lt;strong&gt;were&lt;/strong&gt; my vacation, and my professor &lt;strong&gt;gave&lt;/strong&gt; me this assignment, I would do xyz ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Somehow, this doesn’t sound right. How do I fix it? (I want to keep the informal, conversational tone denoted by the repeated &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastEditorUserId="4744" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T22:59:31.127" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T15:37:37.207" Title="How to correctly write this conditional phrase?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;conditional-mood&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16606" CreationDate="2011-03-16T22:55:06.513" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you perhaps like the sound of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I were a student, and it were my&#xA;  vacation, and my professor had given&#xA;  me this assignment, I would do xyz ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;any better?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T22:55:06.513" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16606" CreationDate="2011-03-16T22:57:26.777" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I were a student and my professor gave me this assignment on my vacation, I would do xyz...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While it eliminates one of the &lt;i&gt;and&lt;/i&gt;s I find it easier to read.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2178" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T22:57:26.777" />
  <row Id="16610" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-17T00:22:36.743" Score="5" ViewCount="150" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've developed an Android application that is used as a Car Home replacement. One of the pieces of information that I return to the user is what I originally called &quot;altitude&quot;: the height above sea level the user is currently at while driving.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, a user sent me an email regarding my use of the word &lt;em&gt;altitude&lt;/em&gt; and recommended that I switch it to &lt;em&gt;elevation&lt;/em&gt; saying &quot;Altitude is a measurement used to show how far off the ground you are, elevation is used to show how high above sea level you are.&quot;  I started to believe that what he told me was correct, but after a search I found this &lt;a href=&quot;http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom/1996-December/019907.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;interesting comparison of the two&lt;/a&gt;. Additionally, &lt;a href=&quot;http://developer.android.com/reference/android/location/Location.html#getAltitude%28%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Android's API declares this value as &quot;altitude&quot;&lt;/a&gt; when returning it from the GPS receiver. Now I'm just confused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which word should I be using to express this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6183" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T21:47:02.003" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T21:47:02.003" Title="Which to use: &quot;altitude&quot; or &quot;elevation&quot; in regards to height above sea level?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16427" CreationDate="2011-03-17T00:26:53.227" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's all just &lt;em&gt;reflection&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;symbolism&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;metaphor&lt;/em&gt;, whatever. Volume, pitch, tempo, and other audio qualities of a soundtrack usually reflect the current focus in a movie. As do lighting, focal distance, distance, etc. on the video front.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I doubt there's a single academic noun(-phrase) with any particular currency in the world of movie critique, if that's what OP is looking for. Though doubtless there will be the equivalent for various pre-cinema art-forms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of us just say [some characteristic] of a movie &lt;em&gt;reflects&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;echoes&lt;/em&gt; [some other context, either within the movie or out in the &quot;real world&quot; of the audience].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T00:26:53.227" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16610" CreationDate="2011-03-17T00:41:41.087" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem with using &lt;em&gt;altitude&lt;/em&gt; is that it is a relative measure with a non-standard reference point.  Or as wikipedia puts it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As a general definition, altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or &quot;up&quot; direction, between a reference datum and a point or object&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you're not declaring what your reference point is (sea level, ground level, etc.) it's ambiguous at best.  Elevation tends not to have this problem, as while it's a relative measure, it's reference point is usually the Mean Sea Level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also from WP:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Although the term &lt;em&gt;altitude&lt;/em&gt; is commonly used to mean the height above sea level of a location, in geography the term &lt;em&gt;elevation&lt;/em&gt; is often preferred for this usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you'd prefer to stick with &lt;em&gt;altitude&lt;/em&gt;, you could add the modifier &lt;em&gt;True&lt;/em&gt; to indicate that you're referring to the altitude above sea level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altitude&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Altitude&lt;/a&gt; page on WP for more info.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastEditorUserId="2007" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T21:41:08.200" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T21:41:08.200" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="16613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16610" CreationDate="2011-03-17T00:42:49.427" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The altitude is the height of an object or point in relation to sea level or ground level; the elevation is the height above a given level, especially the sea level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The flight data include airspeed and altitude.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  It is a network of microclimates created by sharp differences in elevation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In astronomy, the altitude is the apparent height of a celestial object above the horizon, measured as an angle.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;em&gt;altitude&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;elevation&lt;/em&gt; can be used to mean the height of an object from the sea level, but &lt;em&gt;elevation&lt;/em&gt; is especially used to mean that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T00:42:49.427" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16606" CreationDate="2011-03-17T00:49:21.637" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you begin with a sentence in the present and you turn it into an unreal situation with an &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; clause (&quot;if x were true now, y would be true now too: but x isn't true now, and neither is y&quot;), you normally use the &lt;em&gt;past subjunctive&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am rich and I am arrogant &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;=&gt; If I&#xA;  were rich, I'd be arrogant (but I'm&#xA;  not rich, and I'm not arrogant).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you begin with a situation in the past and you turn it into an unreal situation in the past (&quot;if x had been true then, y would have been true then too: but we know x wasn't true then, and y wasn't either&quot;), you use the &lt;em&gt;past perfect subjunctive&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;would + have + past participle&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Russian communism worked and there&#xA;  were no economic problems &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;=&gt; If&#xA;  Russian communism had worked, there&#xA;  wouldn't have been economic problems&#xA;  (but it didn't work, and there were&#xA;  problems).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course other combinations are possible, but this is the basic system. If you have a two- or threefold condition, as in your example, the tenses used depend on two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is the main situation supposed to be an unreal situation in the past or in the present?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are the parts of the condition (the &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; clauses) supposed to be happening at the same time, or did one happen before the others? If they didn't happen at the same time, those that were earlier than the &quot;main&quot; situation should be put in a tense that precedes the tense of the main situation (if possible): if the main situation is an unreal situation in the present, earlier parts should be in the past perfect subjunctive.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's assume that your example is about an unreal situation in the present (&quot;if x were true now, y would be true now too&quot;). It matters then whether all three things happened at roughly the same time—in this case, in the order by which they are mentioned: first A, then B, then C—or the assignment was given before the vacation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were given this assignment before your vacation, this should be marked by putting the &quot;assignment&quot; &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; clause in the past perfect subjunctive (&quot;had given&quot;), to show that it happened before the &quot;vacation&quot; &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; clause. If your professor called you during your vacation to give you this assignment, you would simply use the past subjunctive (&quot;gave&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T01:03:55.010" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T01:03:55.010" />
  <row Id="16615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16606" CreationDate="2011-03-17T01:09:28.230" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think your version is bad, really.  I'd probably do something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I were a student and it was my&#xA;  vacation, and if it was my professor that&#xA;  had given me the assignment, I'd xyz&#xA;  the xyz.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't based on explicit rules, but on a sense of how it I could emphasize the nested conditionals as belonging within another (counterfactual?) condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T01:34:28.650" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T01:34:28.650" />
  <row Id="16616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16606" CreationDate="2011-03-17T01:51:46.813" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's an option that takes more liberties with your original clauses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;If I were a student, and my professor assigned something over break, I'd [put it off 'til the last minute and complain about it].&quot; (That's actually a true story ;_;...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You lose a little informality with the single &quot;and,&quot; but I think the other changes I made make up for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Good luck!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T01:51:46.813" />
  <row Id="16617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16596" CreationDate="2011-03-17T02:02:17.010" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Analyticality&quot; fits the bill.   (Whether or not it sounds good to many is another question.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As suggested earlier by @F'x, &quot;rigor&quot; is pretty good, and it plays off of and creates a nice tension with &quot;creativity&quot; .  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It suggests rather than capturing whole &quot;the ability to think analytically,&quot; so there is conceivably some ambiguity there.  But personally I think any ambiguity there is appropriately resolvable by anyone with creativity and the ability to think analytically. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T17:19:30.853" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T17:19:30.853" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16596" CreationDate="2011-03-17T02:20:42.477" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Logic .....no how hard was that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6186" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T02:20:42.477" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16619" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16623" CreationDate="2011-03-17T02:20:53.227" Score="10" ViewCount="298" Body="&lt;p&gt;When writing papers, I meet typos / grammatical errors in references now and then. Should I correct them, or leave them as they are?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastEditorUserId="2241" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T16:33:09.560" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T03:57:04.437" Title="Should I fix typos / grammatical errors in quotation?" Tags="&lt;quotations&gt;&lt;editing&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="16620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16602" CreationDate="2011-03-17T02:32:40.373" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both of these work and are idiomatically proper in English: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;These sorts of things are ...&#xA;This sort of thing is ...&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;This sort of things is ...&quot; doesn't follow the typical idiom.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;sort of things&quot; and &quot;sorts of thing&quot; are both unusual and probably better avoided. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @Hellion's examples show, the choice of the workable phrase will be roughly determined by the number of the things in question. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T02:32:40.373" />
  <row Id="16621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16619" CreationDate="2011-03-17T02:38:00.267" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The adverb sic—meaning &quot;intentionally so written&quot;—when added just after a quote or reprinted text indicates that the passage is just as it appears from its original source. The usual purpose is to inform readers that any errors or apparent errors in the copied material are not from transcription—i.e. that they are reproduced exactly from the original writer or printer. Sic is generally used inside square brackets, like [sic], and occasionally parentheses/brackets: (sic).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T02:38:00.267" />
  <row Id="16622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16619" CreationDate="2011-03-17T02:38:13.127" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding corrective braces can be useful for this.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of &quot;He go into the sunset&quot; you could gently correct with &quot;He [goes] into the sunset&quot; .&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Instead of &quot;I'm going to do it careful&quot; you can use &quot;I'm going to do it [carefully].&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also use &quot;[sic]&quot; if you want to leave the error present, and highlight its presence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's also common for brackets to be used to modify the tenses and pronouns of the quoted material to match the new text into which it is nested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's example involving verb tense, from the 'net: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The judge's order &quot;restrain[ed] and&#xA;  enjoin[ed] the further implementation&quot;&#xA;  of the law, including the prevention&#xA;  of Secretary of State Doug LaFollette&#xA;  (D) from publishing the act in the&#xA;  Wisconsin State Journal.&#xA;  &lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/judge-blocks-wisconsin-anti-union-law-again.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TPM&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The original had present tense, which was altered by the brackets in the second version: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I do, therefore, restrain and enjoin&#xA;  the further implementation of 2011&#xA;  Wisconsin Act 10,&quot; Sumi said,&#xA;  according to a transcript.&#xA;  &lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_f22629e6-572a-11e0-ab2f-001cc4c002e0.html?mode=story&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wisconsin State Journal&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T03:57:04.437" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T03:57:04.437" />
  <row Id="16623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16619" CreationDate="2011-03-17T02:41:41.030" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When quoting, the convention is to quote the text exactly as it appears in the source.  It is common to mark a misspelling (or other problematical word) that might be otherwise thought to be an error by you (the quoter) by following it with &quot;[sic]&quot;.  The word &lt;em&gt;sic&lt;/em&gt; (which is from Latin) means &quot;as such&quot;, that is, the apparent problem occurred in the original text.  The square brackets indicate that the text was added by the quoter. For instance,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our massage treatments help relive[sic] your pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T02:41:41.030" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16596" CreationDate="2011-03-17T03:30:50.707" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often by thinking more specifically about &lt;em&gt;what kind of&lt;/em&gt; analytic thinking you really want, you'll realize there is a better word than any of us could tell you without knowing your specific situation. (Although, &quot;perspicacity&quot; and &quot;logic&quot; are good generic suggestions.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Properly&quot;, analysis means breaking apart ideas. But due to uncareful usage, it's become synonymous with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;math&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;spreadsheets&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;computers&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;clear thinking&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and many other things. Do you really want to hire someone with the ability to break things apart? Or do you want someone smart? Oder...?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6188" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T03:30:50.707" />
  <row Id="16625" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16635" CreationDate="2011-03-17T04:11:13.593" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a bit confused in where to use &quot;Ashes&quot; and where &quot;Cinder&quot; , both the words have same meaning ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5366" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T22:23:45.927" Title="Ashes versus Cinder" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;indian-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16626" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-17T04:16:22.057" Score="0" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to know which of the following is grammatically acceptable, please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first American students' scientific conference&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The first American students scientific conference&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The first American student's scientific conference&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The first American student scientific conference&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you, Mohammad&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5161" LastEditorUserId="5737" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T10:44:03.537" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T12:53:03.147" Title="Apostrophe for noun modifiers" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16627" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16641" CreationDate="2011-03-17T04:25:57.933" Score="1" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;Being a non-native English speaker I recently discovered that for some words you don't use English pronunciation. For instance you seem to be omitting the l's when saying &lt;em&gt;tortilla&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yet this isn't always the case considering that with a comparable word &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karaoke&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;karaoke&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; you don't use the Japanese pronunciation. Are there more commonly used words that are pronounced in their native tongue that I should be aware of?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6190" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T14:19:30.300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T14:19:30.300" Title="What loan-words keep their native pronunciation?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;loan-words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="16628" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16629" CreationDate="2011-03-17T04:35:55.880" Score="3" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;The idiom &lt;em&gt;&quot;Skating on thin ice&quot;&lt;/em&gt; to express that a person is performing an action that has a great risk is commonplace. What are some good alternatives, both common and uncommon or possibly regional?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6192" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T15:03:35.770" Title="What are some alternatives to the oft used idiom &quot;Skating on thin ice&quot;?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;alternative&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="16629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16628" CreationDate="2011-03-17T04:46:26.963" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To greater or lesser degrees of risk and stupidity:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Walking on the edge&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Asking for trouble&#xA;&lt;li&gt;putting yourself at risk&#xA;&lt;li&gt;loading up the footgun&#xA;&lt;li&gt;skating down the edge of a razorblade&#xA;&lt;li&gt;pissing on the third rail&#xA;&lt;li&gt;walking/driving on the railroad tracks&#xA;&lt;li&gt;trying to shoot the moon&#xA;&lt;li&gt;jumping the Grand Canyon on a skateboard&#xA;&lt;li&gt;walking a tightrope&#xA;&lt;li&gt;operating without a net&#xA;&lt;li&gt;playing with fire&#xA;&lt;li&gt;licking a frozen flagpole&#xA;&lt;li&gt;letting the bull into the china shop&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T20:06:43.757" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T20:06:43.757" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16610" CreationDate="2011-03-17T05:16:36.340" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think either one is a completely reasonable choice when referring to a car's height above sea level.  Either will be well understood by the user.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do think there are some contexts in which one or the other is used more frequently, perhaps out of pedantry, but probably mainly out of convention.  For example, the height at which a plane is flying is almost exclusively referred to as its &lt;em&gt;altitude&lt;/em&gt;.  (And I don't believe planes fly higher over mountains to maintain a constant separation from the ground, but rather maintain a steady height above sea level.)  Ground-based heights (as for mountain peaks or cities) are often referred to as &lt;em&gt;elevations&lt;/em&gt;, though both terms are common for those cases, which is why I believe either could apply to a car.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T05:16:36.340" />
  <row Id="16631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16596" CreationDate="2011-03-17T05:29:14.613" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Thoughtfulness&quot;, though simple, is meaningful and evocative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3591" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T05:29:14.613" />
  <row Id="16632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16628" CreationDate="2011-03-17T05:30:49.013" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Walking on eggshells&quot; has a similar, but not identical, connotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6194" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T05:30:49.013" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16596" CreationDate="2011-03-17T05:37:33.957" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Smart&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[ Brevity is the soul of wit, but 30 characters is the SE minimum. ]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T05:37:33.957" />
  <row Id="16634" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16640" CreationDate="2011-03-17T05:58:06.870" Score="9" ViewCount="250" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that the word itself doesn't mean news or newspapers, but many newspapers use it in their names. Is there a historic reason? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5648" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T20:47:54.210" Title="Why do so many newspapers use the word &quot;Times&quot; in their names?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="16635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16625" CreationDate="2011-03-17T06:12:21.627" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ashes&lt;/em&gt; is the more common word, and is used in a wider variety of contexts, so most often you would want to use it.  Generally speaking, &lt;em&gt;ash&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;ashes&lt;/em&gt; refer to what remains after wood and similar materials have burned completely, typically the gray powdery material.  &lt;em&gt;Cinder&lt;/em&gt; is used for a harder discrete piece of material that may have been only been partially burned, or may even still be burning (i.e. &lt;em&gt;ember&lt;/em&gt;).  In a wood-burning locomotive, for example, one would think of the ashes as being in the bottom of the firebox, and cinders occasionally being emitted from the smokestack along with the smoke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T06:12:21.627" />
  <row Id="16636" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-17T06:18:47.207" Score="0" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a word that represents &quot;type of travel&quot; where that type is either domestic or international.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this word exist?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1963" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T11:03:42.303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T11:03:42.303" Title="Is there a word for &quot;international or domestic travel&quot;?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;hypernyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16585" CreationDate="2011-03-17T06:24:39.827" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following is coming from the perspective of a native German speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I understand English grammar, most constructions are strictly right-associative:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why (is (this flower (not (on (the table))))), but on the floor?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why (is (not (this flower (on (the table))))), but the other one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It wasn't always this way. If you look at &lt;em&gt;old&lt;/em&gt; English literature and poetry, the grammar shared a closer affinity with the German language, where the &quot;not&quot; is more flexibly positioned. (The &quot;not&quot; is left-associative in German, but not in the whole sentence.) In German, the important part of a sentence is always at the beginning, where the interrogative pronoun is placed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if the following question is asked: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Where must this stay?/ Where has this to stay?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then one might answer: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here / Not here … must this stay! / has this to stay!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This does sound OK, or at least not too odd in German, but I believe that this sounds really strange for native English speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The position of the word &quot;not&quot; can be a bit flexible in newer English language, as in the above sentence, but modern English usage allows this flexibility less.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please correct me, if I'm wrong. (Or if my English is wrong.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6191" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T11:01:58.090" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T11:01:58.090" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16610" CreationDate="2011-03-17T06:27:51.643" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is one particular difference I can pin-point and others should correct me if I'm wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whereas &#xA;&lt;em&gt;Altitude&lt;/em&gt; is the height of an object above the sea or the ground level,&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Elevation&lt;/em&gt; is the height of an object with respect to any given level, esp. sea level.&#xA;In that sense, &lt;em&gt;Elevation&lt;/em&gt; is more generic. So when you are describing a difference (gain or loss) of height, you may want to use the term &lt;em&gt;Elevation&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;Altitude&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is another flaw in using &lt;em&gt;Elevation&lt;/em&gt; , minuscule as it may be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Say you are at an altitude of 15 feet and you are not specifying the units, say &lt;code&gt;ft.&lt;/code&gt;. Now if you say the Elevation is 15, it could also mean some sort of an angle with the horizontal, as it can be interpreted as 15 &lt;em&gt;degrees&lt;/em&gt;. This by the way is another meaning of the word elevation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though chances of this happening are remote and it's possibility can be avoided in totality, yet this might be thin line of difference you are considering while selecting from the two largely interchangeable terms &lt;em&gt;Altitude&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Elevation&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T06:27:51.643" />
  <row Id="16639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16636" CreationDate="2011-03-17T06:44:52.260" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;em&gt;Travel&lt;/em&gt; is the word and &lt;em&gt;domestic&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;international&lt;/em&gt; are the types. Is the question a rhetoric? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[EDIT]: Before down-voting please realize that I might not have understood the question properly, so you could consider commenting before you down-vote.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastEditorUserId="5828" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T07:08:41.153" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T07:08:41.153" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16634" CreationDate="2011-03-17T07:10:10.143" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The name originally comes from the Brittish newspaper &lt;em&gt;The Daily Universal Register&lt;/em&gt; founded in 1785, which changed it names to &lt;em&gt;The Times&lt;/em&gt; in 1788. Since then it has lent its name to papers all over the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia: The Times&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The original meaning of &lt;em&gt;time&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;to happen&lt;/em&gt;, so &lt;em&gt;the times&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;that what has happened&lt;/em&gt;, which is a fitting name for a newspaper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_by_date&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dictionary.com: Time&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T14:14:55.077" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T14:14:55.077" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="16641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16627" CreationDate="2011-03-17T07:17:25.460" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there are hard-and-fast rules when it comes to words that have been recently assimilated into English. The pronunciation that usually sticks is a halfway house between the original foreign pronunciation and what is easy for Anglophones to actually say.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To take your two examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A word like &lt;em&gt;tortilla&lt;/em&gt; can just be pronounced as if it were an English word, &lt;em&gt;tortia&lt;/em&gt;, without any Spanish accent. But you will still find English speakers who pronounce the double l, just like the do with &lt;em&gt;paella&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Marbella&lt;/em&gt;, and also the j of &lt;em&gt;fajita&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;jalapeno&lt;/em&gt; as [dʒ], since they are unaware of the Spanish pronunciation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sounds in the Japanese word &lt;em&gt;karaoke&lt;/em&gt; are a bit more foreign. The r in there is a very different liquid to the English r, English speakers aren't used to gliding from [a] to [o], and English words seldom end with with an [e]. Hence the slightly mangled /ˌkæriːˈoʊkiː/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T07:17:25.460" />
  <row Id="16642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16626" CreationDate="2011-03-17T07:26:50.243" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first American students' scientific conference&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supporting example : &lt;code&gt;The European Students' Conference (ESC)&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first American student scientific conference&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Supporting example : &lt;code&gt;United Nations International Student Conference of Amsterdam (UNISCA)&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;are both grammatically correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T07:26:50.243" />
  <row Id="16643" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-17T07:47:08.027" Score="0" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;A booking process has cancellation option. People can cancel before 2 days from the start date of a booking. If they cancel after the start date minus 2 we charge them for late cancellation. i want to know an appropriate business word for late cancellations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6196" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T08:36:55.413" Title="cancellation after due date. what is the english word?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="16644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16626" CreationDate="2011-03-17T08:00:06.830" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first American students'&#xA;  scientific conference&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;acceptable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first American students scientific&#xA;  conference&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;not acceptable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first American student's&#xA;  scientific conference&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;not acceptable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The first American student scientific&#xA;  conference&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;acceptable (probably best)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6198" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T08:00:06.830" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16627" CreationDate="2011-03-17T08:06:27.123" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Borrowed words tend to keep their pronunciation when there's a large subpopulation that uses the original language. For example, you will tend to find Spanish/Mexican words more often pronounced natively in states and cities that have relatively large Latino populations. OTOH a word like &quot;karaoke&quot; will be Americanized because very few Americans know the original pronunciation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6198" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T08:06:27.123" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16610" CreationDate="2011-03-17T08:06:56.590" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Altitude should be used, although it is a relative term and must be qualified to be above sea level (ASL) to be an absolute. Elevation can be an angle from a specified point; an example might be a telescope where to look at a particular point, you set an angle of elevation in degrees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6199" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T08:06:56.590" />
  <row Id="16647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11661" CreationDate="2011-03-17T08:10:13.373" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If in doubt,  I just use &lt;em&gt;Yours&lt;/em&gt; and leave it at that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6199" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T08:10:13.373" />
  <row Id="16648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8194" CreationDate="2011-03-17T08:12:26.690" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was tired and i fell asleep; why is it necessary to add therefore, so or any other word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6199" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T08:12:26.690" />
  <row Id="16649" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-17T08:17:06.487" Score="4" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Polish you can use &lt;em&gt;sic&lt;/em&gt; to indicate not only erroneous spelling (uncorrected for  editorial reasons), but also to note that the sentence should be as it is when it comes to its meaning (e.g. &quot;The lecturer brought an axolotl (sic!) to the lecture.&quot;, &quot;The flight was cancelled because the pilot forgot his lucky dime (sic!).&quot;). Can you do that in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6200" LastEditorUserId="2178" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T09:46:53.520" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T09:46:53.520" Title="Can you use &quot;(sic)&quot; in other contexts?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;editing&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16650" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16652" CreationDate="2011-03-17T08:23:12.200" Score="3" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it depends on context, please provide some examples of offensive and not offensive usage ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I have in mind is to say something like &quot;The Zulu were a savage people compared to e.g. the United Kingdom&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5935" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T14:54:11.043" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T15:04:25.780" Title="Is the word &quot;savage&quot; offensive?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;offensive&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16651" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16643" CreationDate="2011-03-17T08:36:55.413" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The standard term for this in airline reservations is &quot;Late Cancellation / No Show&quot; policy. Does that work for you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1798" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T08:36:55.413" />
  <row Id="16652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16650" CreationDate="2011-03-17T09:26:13.493" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When applied to animals or natural forces, it means &lt;em&gt;fierce&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;violent&lt;/em&gt;. When applied to human beings, it means &lt;em&gt;cruel&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;aggressive&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;vicious&lt;/em&gt;. So, it is very negative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a noun, a savage means “a member of a people regarded as primitive and uncivilized”, and is thus very offensive. It is now mainly a historical term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T09:26:13.493" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16653" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16676" CreationDate="2011-03-17T09:36:08.120" Score="3" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am  making a list of movies, where should I put films that contain articles in their names? I know normally articles are ignored but in this context the naming is also part of a film's design, so should it be different?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how would you list the following from A-to-Z?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of Mice and Men&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;A Serious Man&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;The Bourne Identity&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Amelie&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Batman&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;Terminator&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5637" LastEditorUserId="5637" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T10:10:44.097" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T12:31:32.960" Title="Alphabetical listing of film names with articles" Tags="&lt;list&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16654" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-17T09:47:47.023" Score="10" ViewCount="387" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you know pangrams shorter than the traditional &lt;em&gt;‘the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’&lt;/em&gt; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1487" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T20:17:59.897" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-17T14:53:55.870" Title="Shortest pangram" Tags="&lt;games&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16655" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-17T09:50:12.460" Score="1" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1029/is-there-any-difference-between-talk-to-someone-and-talk-with-someone&quot;&gt;Is there any difference between &amp;ldquo;talk to someone&amp;rdquo; and &amp;ldquo;talk with someone&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I talked to Bob.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I talked with Bob.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="332" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T11:06:44.360" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T11:06:44.360" ClosedDate="2011-03-17T12:48:22.047" Title="&quot;talk to&quot; vs &quot;talk with&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="16656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16654" CreationDate="2011-03-17T09:53:05.157" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangram&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How quickly daft jumping zebras vex.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="332" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T09:53:05.157" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-17T14:53:55.870" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16654" CreationDate="2011-03-17T10:09:50.913" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jocks find quartz glyph, vex BMW. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(26 characters)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See more &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pangrams#Perfect_pangrams_in_English_.2826_letters.29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; on the Wikipedia page on pangrams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T14:48:45.900" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T14:48:45.900" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-17T14:53:55.870" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="16658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1029" CreationDate="2011-03-17T10:13:23.690" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From my knowledge,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;talk to&quot; is for simple talking&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;&quot;talk with&quot; is for longer discussion&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T10:13:23.690" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16659" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16660" CreationDate="2011-03-17T10:29:05.827" Score="2" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even is one of those words with lots of meanings. It can mean divisible by two or flat/level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it can be used in a sentence such as this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are you even listening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What time does the shop even close?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I realise how it makes a difference to the meaning of the sentence... but how? What does it actually mean something in this sentence? Does it &lt;em&gt;even&lt;/em&gt; mean anything?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2160" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T20:23:27.287" Title="What does 'even' mean in this context?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16659" CreationDate="2011-03-17T10:36:06.100" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Even&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; in this context is an adverb that is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;used to emphasize something surprising or extreme : &lt;em&gt;they have never even heard of the U.S.&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;they wore fur hats, even in summer&lt;/em&gt;.  [NOAD]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is merely a kind of intensifier, usually used to express the outrageousness of a thing. Now let's get down to cases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are you even listening?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The speaker doubts you are listening and is rebuking you for your inattention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What time does the shop even close?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one's a little harder, but probably someone has suggested the speaker go to this shop and the speaker doubts that it's open, or else someone has suggested that shop &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt; be closed but the speaker is emphasizing the fact that the shop in fact stays open quite late. It would depend on context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T10:41:50.073" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T10:41:50.073" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16653" CreationDate="2011-03-17T10:46:24.830" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are making alphabetical list then just make alphabetical list. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if you are making alphabetical list for users of some website, then please include the names of such movies under both the possible alphabets. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;e.g. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;The Bourne Identity&lt;/code&gt; should show up under &lt;code&gt;B&lt;/code&gt; as well as &lt;code&gt;T&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This will be good for the users as most of them (including me and google :)) don't really bother (or know in my case) about the articles. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="332" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T10:46:24.830" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16662" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16677" CreationDate="2011-03-17T10:47:11.553" Score="2" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;Viz: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/16574/is-peaceful-demonstration-an-oxymoron/16575#16575&quot;&gt;Is &amp;#39;peaceful demonstration&amp;#39; an oxymoron?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The OP suggests that &lt;em&gt;Jumbo Shrimp&lt;/em&gt; is an oxymoron because Shrimp can be used to denote a small person. My take on this is that Jumbo means large in one definition and Shrimp is a crustacean in another definition so Jumbo Shrimp is just a large version of a crustacean and does not always mean &lt;em&gt;Large Small thing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot think of another good example where a qualifier to one definition of a word is an oxymoron and to another is not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T12:27:55.830" Title="Is it an oxymoron when SOME definitions of a word with SOME qualifier sounds silly?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="16663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1029" CreationDate="2011-03-17T10:52:46.927" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd ask you to use the following distinction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;talk to&lt;/em&gt; = the simple action (as opposed to remaining silent)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;talk with&lt;/em&gt; = an extended conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T10:52:46.927" />
  <row Id="16664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16636" CreationDate="2011-03-17T10:55:05.477" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Good question, if worded a little poorly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What you're asking, I guess, is what set the words 'international' and 'domestic' belong to when referring to travel. I suppose the answer might be &lt;em&gt;destination&lt;/em&gt;, as you are either going somewhere within your home country or somewhere not in your home country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2160" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T10:55:05.477" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16665" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16666" CreationDate="2011-03-17T10:58:45.880" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;Japan steps up cooling operation. This is from BBC.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5334" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T13:39:35.263" Title="What does &quot;step up&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16665" CreationDate="2011-03-17T11:05:08.603" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this context, to work more intensely on cooling operations.  The idea is to go &quot;one step higher&quot; on the scale of effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Same idea in &quot;to crank up&quot; (intensify).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="5432" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T11:11:59.503" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T11:11:59.503" />
  <row Id="16667" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16673" CreationDate="2011-03-17T11:10:10.823" Score="4" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say that you are using some software, and it hangs. In this case, what should I say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;... when we execute this command, software X gets hanged [&lt;em&gt;or simply&lt;/em&gt; hangs].&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;... when we execute this command, software X gets hung.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From what I know (from the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hanged&lt;/em&gt;, as a past tense and a past participle of &lt;em&gt;hang&lt;/em&gt;, is used in the sense of “to put to death by hanging,” as in &lt;em&gt;Frontier courts hanged many a prisoner after a summary trial&lt;/em&gt;. A majority of the Usage Panel objects to &lt;em&gt;hung&lt;/em&gt; used in this sense. In all other senses of the word, &lt;em&gt;hung&lt;/em&gt; is the preferred form as past tense and past participle, as in &lt;em&gt;I hung my child's picture above my desk&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I'm not 100% confident on what is more appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T13:15:40.980" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T20:22:44.637" Title="What is more appropriate — &quot;hanged&quot; or &quot;hung&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;past-participle&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16668" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16672" CreationDate="2011-03-17T11:12:09.260" Score="5" ViewCount="166" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Offense&quot; vs. &quot;offence&quot;, which is more correct? If both are correct, are there differences in shades of meaning and/or usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6208" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T13:16:07.690" Title="&quot;Offense&quot; vs. &quot;offence&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="16669" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-17T11:22:52.490" Score="2" ViewCount="88" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hey guys&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What found this sentence in my programming book:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You might be better off thinking of&#xA;  the block and the method as&#xA;  coroutines, which transfer control&#xA;  back and forth between themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does be better off mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2332" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T13:23:19.693" Title="What does &quot;You might be better off thinking of something&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;programming&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16669" CreationDate="2011-03-17T11:38:08.280" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means it &quot;&lt;strong&gt;might be a better idea&lt;/strong&gt; to think of the block and the method as coroutines ..&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The writer is suggesting an alternate approach to thinking about the subject, and expressing it as if it were your choice. It's a common English idiom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T11:38:08.280" />
  <row Id="16671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16669" CreationDate="2011-03-17T11:38:55.420" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this context is means &quot;You might gain a greater advantage&quot; or &quot;You might be well-served by.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The author is encouraging you to think about the problem in the way he has described.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4026" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T11:38:55.420" />
  <row Id="16672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16668" CreationDate="2011-03-17T11:41:34.917" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no difference in meaning between &lt;em&gt;offence&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;offense&lt;/em&gt;. They're exactly the same in all their definitions. The difference is that offense is the preferred spelling in American English, while offence is preferred in British, Indian, Canadian, and Australian English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These American publications use offense:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The veteran tight end never found a home in Mike Martz’s offense and was inactive for all but five games. [Chicago Sun-Times]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If people take offense at hackneyed phrases it’s because they’re hackneyed . . . [The Atlantic]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And these non-American publications use offence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Both offences can exploit some areas that play to their strengths. [CBC]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Parents who fail to keep air guns away from their children will be fined up to £1,000 under a new offence from next month. [Telegraph]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pulpit choice gives offence [Sydney Morning Herald]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T11:41:34.917" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16667" CreationDate="2011-03-17T11:48:09.143" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hanged has the specific meaning of execution by hanging, with a rope, &quot;until dead.&quot; From NOAD:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2 ( past hanged ) [ trans. ] kill (someone) by tying a rope attached from above around the neck and removing the support from beneath (used as a form of capital punishment) : &lt;em&gt;he was hanged for murder&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;she hanged herself in her cell&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For all other purposes, use &lt;em&gt;hung&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T11:48:09.143" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16649" CreationDate="2011-03-17T12:15:54.997" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That would be an ironic extension of the regular usage of &lt;em&gt;sic&lt;/em&gt;. I'd interpret it as &quot;yes, dear reader, surprising as it may be, this is what he did&quot;. I have seen it used like this on occasion. It looks a bit silly; I'd never use it myself. There exist several little jokes that are made again and again by journalists because they feel they need to decorate their texts; I'd skip them, unless they are new or actually funny. But perhaps that is just grumpy old Cerberus whining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T13:38:51.317" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T13:38:51.317" />
  <row Id="16675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16649" CreationDate="2011-03-17T12:17:08.803" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on my experience, using sic to draw attention to unusual characteristics of a sentence would be considered unconventional in English. Also highly unconventional would be the use of an exclamation point following sic within the brackets or parenthesis. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T12:17:08.803" />
  <row Id="16676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16653" CreationDate="2011-03-17T12:24:20.627" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The article is usually placed at the end of the title, following a comma, since this makes alphabetic scanning easier.* &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Amelie&lt;br/&gt;Batman&lt;br/&gt;Bourne Identity, The&lt;br/&gt;Of Mice and Men &lt;em&gt;(Prepositions retain their original position.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Serious Man, A&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;Terminator&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (18.51, 18.53)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastEditorUserId="2972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T12:31:32.960" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T12:31:32.960" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16662" CreationDate="2011-03-17T12:27:55.830" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nowadays, the term &lt;em&gt;oxymoron&lt;/em&gt; is used less often in its literal sense and more often as the punchline to a joke. It is used to draw the humorous (and often not actually legitimate) distinction between two things. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;military intelligence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is one well-worn example people use to make fun of the military. Is it a legitimate oxymoron? Of course not. The military makes stupid decisions, to be sure, but they often make very smart ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even legitimate oxymorons rely on different senses of a word to achieve oxymoronic status:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That statement was truly false.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here &lt;em&gt;truly&lt;/em&gt; really means &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;absolutely&lt;/em&gt;; it is not used in its Boolean sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia notes this usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Although a true oxymoron is &quot;something that is surprisingly true, a paradox&quot;, modern usage has brought a common misunderstanding that oxymoron is nearly synonymous with contradiction. The introduction of this usage, the opposite of its true meaning, has been credited to William F. Buckley.[4]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other oxymorons cannot be dismissed so lightly, however. For example, the fictional creatures known as zombies are referred to as the &quot;living dead.&quot; In that case, both meanings apply equally, and a true paradox is presented. How can something be alive and dead at the same time? We have to think of a different kind of meaning for &quot;living&quot;, to be sure, but it's still pretty close to the kind of life we mean when we say something is alive (except in most cases normal, non-zombie humans have better hygiene and presumably don't want to eat your brain).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T12:27:55.830" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16654" CreationDate="2011-03-17T12:50:24.213" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is my personal favorite, although sadly weighing in at one character more than MachineCharmer's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T12:50:24.213" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-17T14:53:55.870" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16626" CreationDate="2011-03-17T12:53:03.147" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The last two sound incorrect to me, and I think that the first two are interchangeable. As your conference will need branding, I recommend option 2, which does not have the apostrophe (always an issue in logos, emails headers, etc.). Enjoy your conference!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6020" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T12:53:03.147" />
  <row Id="16680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16654" CreationDate="2011-03-17T13:12:23.880" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I recall correctly, the shortest was a newspaper headline about some vandals who wanted to carve something into a quartz column, only to find it had already been vandalized:&#xA;&quot;Quartz glyph job vex'd cwm finks&quot; - 26 letters, + apostrophe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how the cwm (coom) works into it, unless there was a valley involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2477" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T13:12:23.880" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-17T14:53:55.870" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16668" CreationDate="2011-03-17T13:16:07.690" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a difference between &quot;offense&quot; and &quot;offence&quot; in the context of sports. In the United States, &quot;offense&quot; generally means engaging an opposing team with the objective of scoring points or goals. In the same context in Britain and elsewhere, the term &quot;offence&quot; is usually taken to mean an infraction of the rules - i.e., a penalty or foul - and &quot;attack&quot; is more likely to be used where Americans would use &quot;offense&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T13:16:07.690" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16669" CreationDate="2011-03-17T13:23:19.693" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that the meaning of &quot;be better off&quot; is &quot;be in a better position, especially in financial terms.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence you wrote could be considered equivalent of the following sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It would be better to think of the block and the method as coroutines, which transfer control back and forth between themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T13:23:19.693" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16665" CreationDate="2011-03-17T13:30:16.067" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;to step something up&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;to increase the amount, speed, or intensity of something.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Police decided to step up security plans for the game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the context of the reported sentence, it means they are cooling the reactor more (to increase the amount, or intensity).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T13:39:35.263" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T13:39:35.263" />
  <row Id="16684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16667" CreationDate="2011-03-17T13:34:58.897" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use &quot;hangs&quot;.  &quot;Gets hanged&quot; is inappropriate and awkward, saying that the software has been executed by hanging, and &quot;gets hung&quot; invokes a slang expression regarding the size of sexual anatomy.  (&quot;Gets hung up&quot; would avoid this, but &quot;hangs&quot; is still better.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fun fact: being sentenced to &quot;death by hanging&quot; and &quot;to be hung by the neck until dead&quot; denote different forms of execution.  &quot;Death by hanging&quot; means to have the knot of the noose placed to the side of one's neck so that the neck is hopefully broken by the drop; being &quot;hung by the neck until dead&quot; means to have the knot placed in back of the neck so that one survives the drop and dies slowly of asphyxiation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T13:34:58.897" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16685" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16686" CreationDate="2011-03-17T13:37:49.920" Score="4" ViewCount="216" Body="&lt;p&gt;I give up dating with girls and stay in home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T05:59:49.710" Title="How to say 'give up dating with girls'" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16685" CreationDate="2011-03-17T13:39:13.617" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm going to give up on dating girls and stay home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've given up on dating girls and am staying home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T13:39:13.617" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16687" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-17T13:42:40.020" Score="2" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been using this expression all my adult life but have no idea what it means or where it originates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google searches lead me to the description of it being to do with putting your thumb on nose and wiggling four fingers. This is not an entirely satisfying conclusion to my quest. Can anyone elaborate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="336" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T14:08:54.613" Title="What is the etymology and literal meaning of 'Cock a snoot/snook' ?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16688" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16699" CreationDate="2011-03-17T13:44:09.803" Score="15" ViewCount="825" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is common in American English and culture to refer to one's lover or significant other as &quot;baby&quot; or &quot;babe&quot;, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Come on baby, light my fire! &lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I got you, I won't let go. I got you to love me so. I got you babe! &lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where does this usage come from? What's the history behind referring to one's significant other as &quot;babe&quot; or &quot;baby&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; Credit to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doors&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Doors&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; Credit to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_%26_Cher&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sonny &amp;amp; Cher&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2259" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T02:07:02.690" Title="Why do we call our lovers &quot;baby&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;endearment&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="16689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16685" CreationDate="2011-03-17T13:44:48.083" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will stop dating girls, and I will stay home.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I will stop going out with girls, and I will stay home.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I decided to stop dating girls, and stay home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T13:44:48.083" />
  <row Id="16690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16634" CreationDate="2011-03-17T13:49:28.983" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simple: Currency, and location in history, as in &quot;these are &lt;em&gt;the Times&lt;/em&gt; that try mens' souls.&quot; You want yesterday's news?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also plenty of Heralds, Bugles, and even some &quot;Cryers&quot; (as in &quot;Town-&quot;), for the obvious reason that they are &quot;announcing&quot; the latest doings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastEditorUserId="597" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T15:02:53.010" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T15:02:53.010" />
  <row Id="16691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16687" CreationDate="2011-03-17T13:49:29.190" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline has this reference:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;snoot&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;the nose,&quot; 1861, originally a Scottish variant of snout.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would lead one to believe that it means &quot;to cock one's nose&quot; at something, to affect an air (and posture) of disdain. &lt;em&gt;However&lt;/em&gt;, WorldWideWords says this is all &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-coc4.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;balderdash&lt;/a&gt;, and in discussing one of the expression's variants (&quot;cock a snook&quot;) they say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The truth is, we have no idea at all where this phrase comes from. The gesture of derision it encapsulates is that of putting one’s thumb to one’s nose and extending the fingers. Waggling them is optional but greatly improves the effectiveness of the insult. The gesture is widespread but names for it vary: cocking a snook is mainly the British name for what Americans, I think, sometimes describe as a five-fingered salute. Heaven knows what the notably blunt Australians call it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T13:49:29.190" />
  <row Id="16692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16687" CreationDate="2011-03-17T14:08:54.613" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that the phrase (chiefly British) &lt;em&gt;cock a snook&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;place one's hand so that the thumb touches one's nose and the fingers are spread out, in order to express contempt;&quot; it is also used with the meaning of &quot;openly show contempt or a lack of respect for someone or something.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He spent a lifetime cocking a snook at the art world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As per the origin, the dictionary reports it is late 18th century, but the origin is unknown.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T14:08:54.613" />
  <row Id="16693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16688" CreationDate="2011-03-17T14:13:14.307" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline says it's certainly &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=baby&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;older than rock 'n' roll&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As a term of endearment for one's lover it is attested perhaps as early as 1839, certainly by 1901; its popularity perhaps boosted by baby vamp &quot;a popular girl,&quot; student slang from c.1922. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T14:13:14.307" />
  <row Id="16694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16685" CreationDate="2011-03-17T14:18:27.477" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would probably say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have sworn off dating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am done with dating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where &quot;swearing off&quot; means &quot;to pledge, vow, or promise not to.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Giving up dating girls&quot;  does not preclude dating boys or sheep, and if you say this to your friends (the most likely) you are most certainly going to get some wise-ass like myself pointing this out to you. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not that there's anything wrong with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4552" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T14:18:27.477" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16654" CreationDate="2011-03-17T14:34:39.220" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The five boxing wizards jump quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Also 31 characters.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I used this panagram in an introduction to computer science class to test the students' understanding of arrays.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3306" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T14:34:39.220" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-17T14:53:55.870" />
  <row Id="16696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16685" CreationDate="2011-03-17T14:39:09.923" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several things to point out here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, &quot;dating &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; girls&quot; implies that you and a group of (other) girls are going around together, many of you on dates with people outside the group.  This would be somewhat unusual even if it is what you meant, and would be better explained at greater length to avoid confusion.  Assuming it isn't what you meant, you want &quot;girls&quot; to be the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_object#Types_of_object&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;direct object&lt;/a&gt; of &quot;dating&quot; to show that &quot;girls&quot; are the general class of people that you are dating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Stay &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; home&quot; is falling into a subtle trap.  Contrary to what you might expect, &quot;home&quot; is used in the way we would refer to a general location rather than a building.  You can be &quot;in&quot; (inside) a building, but usually &quot;at&quot; a location instead.  There are some exceptions to that rule, but &quot;home&quot; isn't one of them.  You have to say &quot;stay &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; home&quot; or simply &quot;stay home&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we get to the tenses.  &quot;I give up dating girls&quot; is something that happens at a point in time -- &quot;give up&quot; is in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_present_tense&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;present simple tense&lt;/a&gt;.  &quot;Stay at home&quot; is also in the present simple, but that doesn't fit with the sense of the sentence.  What you actually want to convey is that after this decision, you will stay at home instead of going out on dates in the future.  This needs a future tense to express: &quot;will stay at home.&quot;  So your sentence becomes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I give up dating girls and will stay at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the second half is in the future &lt;em&gt;relative to the first half.&lt;/em&gt;  If you made your decision some time in the past, then the second half can use any tense that implies the &quot;staying at home&quot; happened after that point.  So all of the following work, though with different shades of meaning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I gave up dating girls and stayed at home. &lt;em&gt;[Implies I don't stay at home any more]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I gave up dating girls and was staying at home. &lt;em&gt;[As above, but I stayed at home for an extended period]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I gave up dating girls and stay at home. &lt;em&gt;[Implies I stay at home now]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I gave up dating girls and am staying at home. &lt;em&gt;[Implies I will carry on staying at home into the future]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I gave up dating girls and will stay at home. &lt;em&gt;[Implies I have other things to do with my time right now]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T14:39:09.923" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16688" CreationDate="2011-03-17T14:55:14.833" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;it is not about English dude, in every language beloved ones are called baby, because we wanna protect them and give all our heart to them just like a mother gives her's to her baby.In our eyes, eventhough they look strong they are also delicate and like a baby for us.Another reason is we want to feel that our beloved one's love and emotions are pure like the mind of a baby and the heart of a child.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6214" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T14:55:14.833" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="16698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16650" CreationDate="2011-03-17T15:04:25.780" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about Rousseau's Noble Savage? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3913" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T15:04:25.780" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16699" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16688" CreationDate="2011-03-17T15:09:34.063" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a kind of a pop evo-psych explanation lurking here. Lovers are called &quot;baby,&quot; because they tend to evoke the same kind of feeling one experiences with a baby.  Babies are &quot;designed&quot; to do this; they need to excite the same passions as lovers to be taken care of, especially human babies, whose species are huge outliers in the amount of parental investment they require among the mammals.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If one wants to be cold and mechanistic, one might say that babies and lovers &lt;em&gt;exploit&lt;/em&gt; the same neurological circuits; the wires are quite literally crossed in the brain.  Because evolution most often proceeds by co-option of existing behavioral repertoires, this make sense; natural selection can only search within a small neighborhood of a population's current fitness, i.e. a small neighborhood of its members' current behaviors, within the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitness_landscape&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;fitness landscape&lt;/a&gt;.  When we underwent the transition from our ape-like ancestors, who probably lived multimale-multifemale social groups like their descendants the chimpanzees, and whose sexual competition was similarly  intense, to our derived strategy of long-term pair bonding and parental investment, it is a strong hypothesis that babies must have particularly exploited the emotional circuits that deal with pair-coupling and sexual attractiveness. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.davidbrin.com/neoteny1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; is an in-depth treatment of this hypothesis by a certain David Brin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, as both babies and lovers evoke similar feelings, it makes sense that the words associated with these feelings would be in some sense interchangeable with one another, though I wouldn't extrapolate that understanding too far.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd also venture that &quot;baby&quot; as a pet name is directed much more by men towards women than vice versa, though I have no direct evidence on this point as yet.  This is because &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoteny&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;neotenous&lt;/a&gt; features, such as large eyes, fine hair, and high voices, are important in determining women's attractiveness, as their age really matters with respect to their expected lifetime fertility, the ultimate metric that natural selection evaluates.  Notice that babies share many of these same attributes, which are lost in puberty in men through the action of the &quot;master&quot; hormone testosterone.  Men put much more of a premium on neoteny and physical attractiveness in general, so you would expect a difference in men calling their female lovers &quot;baby&quot; as compared to vice versa across cultures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T16:02:41.663" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T16:02:41.663" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16688" CreationDate="2011-03-17T15:10:47.540" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although I realise a behavioural explanation might hurt long established anthropocentric viewpoints, I believe the answer to this question is better understood if one adopts an ethological viewpoint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethology&quot;&gt;ethology&lt;/a&gt; one describes tenderness as a way of consolidating mating bonding. It is indeed a well documented pattern in many evolved animal species that individuals in a mating relationship with another individual of the same species (partners) will regularly express tenderness as a means to trigger reciprocal feelings, lower the partner's defence and ultimately enhance the chances of a successful relationship.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When in &quot;non mating mode&quot;, the standard relationship between two individuals of a given species is dominated by competition for existing resources (predation territory, food or other survival-critical resource...).  This is a situation where the relations between these two individuals can be marked by aggression and defence reflexes  (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Lorenz&quot;&gt;Konrad Lorenz&lt;/a&gt; in his book &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Aggression&quot;&gt;&quot;On Aggression&quot;&lt;/a&gt; has shown how aggression was an intra- rather than inter-species phenomenon, essentially because individuals of the same species are in the same niche).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When in &quot;mating mode&quot;, instead, mating partners must find a way to form a permanent or temporary relationship based on mutual respect and collaboration driven by common genetic (first) and survival (second) imperatives (see the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selfish_gene_theory&quot;&gt;&quot;Selfish Gene theory&quot;&lt;/a&gt; for the priorities).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In many superior primates for instance, the male will engage in gift exchanges or grooming to lower the defence barrier of the partner.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Transposed to human social behaviour, calling your partner &quot;Baby&quot; suggests &quot;I feel like protecting you&quot; (i.e. &quot;I'm not in an aggressive mood, please consider lower your defence reflexes&quot;).  If the partner accepts the implicit mating relationship, or consider it an option worth exploring, he or she will find a way to reciprocate the feeling through the emission of a comparable signal, i.e. welcoming the protection.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many other ways to express the &quot;I feel like protecting you&quot; message but since, in all species, babies are the very symbol of individuals needing protection (an obviously indispensable feeling if the genes are to be propagated to the next generations), it is one of the most efficient vector to convey this feeling.  Konrad Lorenz again has shown (in his book &quot;Studies in Animal and Human Behaviour&quot;) how mature individuals are universally responsive to baby features such as high pitch voices, roundish features and facial expressions (changing nappies is too recent in the evolution to effectively provoke that same &quot;Let me do it first feeling&quot; ;-).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="5432" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T17:01:41.533" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T17:01:41.533" />
  <row Id="16701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14890" CreationDate="2011-03-17T15:19:14.987" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say you can keep or omit the quotes for either. To me, quotes implies that you are re-telling word-for-word what was said, but leaving the quotes out implies that it doesn't really matter what the exact words were. This is why thoughts aren't usually in quotes, because many thoughts aren't formed in precise words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If in doubt, go with the rule that if it's actually spoken, use quotes, otherwise don't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5048" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T15:19:14.987" />
  <row Id="16702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16606" CreationDate="2011-03-17T15:37:37.207" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since the context is informal, maybe you don't need to be quite so thorough and explicit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would try to find a way to write something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I were you, I would...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If that happened to me, I would...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I had a professor like that, I would...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T15:37:37.207" />
  <row Id="16703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16649" CreationDate="2011-03-17T15:44:47.320" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally &quot;sic&quot; should be in square brackets, not parenthesis, as an editor's mark. Parenthesis are acceptable, but because square brackets are less often used, the intent is more clearly conveyed. Also, sic should not be italicized nor should a period be placed after it as it is not an abbreviation. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Reference&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sic is derived from a Latin adverb &lt;em&gt;sīc&lt;/em&gt; meaning &quot;so,&quot; &quot;thus,&quot; or &quot;in such a manner.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally would not use sic to indicate unusual or ironic meaning. In the case of the pilot,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The flight was canceled because the pilot forgot his lucky dime!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The exclamation point conveys the meaning clearly. It's an outcry. Compare to:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The flight was canceled because the pilot did not have her security credentials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The presence of an exclamation point on a statement conveying a usual situation would feel out of place. However, if this were being spoken by someone who was enraged by the canceled flight, the exclamation point could be added to convey emotion and frustration.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the above cases, punctuation serves to convey the intended meaning by context alone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2241" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T15:44:47.320" />
  <row Id="16704" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-17T15:45:25.873" Score="1" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does &quot;email exchange&quot; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6218" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T15:56:47.017" Title="What does &quot;email exchange&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;email&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="16705" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16710" CreationDate="2011-03-17T15:51:31.800" Score="0" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this OK?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You couldn't know how existing I know you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Minimal edit to make the question agree with the title:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You couldn't know how &lt;strong&gt;exciting&lt;/strong&gt; I know you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well. Thanks for all. &lt;br&gt;You are all so kind. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;If I get this Japanese girl, you are all my good friends!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastEditorUserId="5015" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T18:35:29.817" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T10:19:44.850" Title="How to express exciting to know a girl ?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16704" CreationDate="2011-03-17T15:56:47.017" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An &quot;email exchange&quot; or &quot;exchange of emails&quot; is a series of emails between two or more participants, each generally a response to the previous email.  With multiple participants you can get a tree of parallel responses rather than a simple linear chain, but the principle is the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T15:56:47.017" />
  <row Id="16709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16705" CreationDate="2011-03-17T16:06:32.923" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well,&#xA;it is NOT OK at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead you could use something like,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hey it's nice knowing you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You wouldn't know how excited I'm after knowing you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You don't know how wonderful it is to know you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastEditorUserId="5828" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T16:11:57.800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T16:11:57.800" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16705" CreationDate="2011-03-17T16:08:45.803" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, not to put too fine a point on it, but you should probably just say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm so excited to know you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm so excited just to know you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T16:13:46.497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T16:13:46.497" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16711" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16705" CreationDate="2011-03-17T16:25:31.280" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll never know how exciting I find you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6199" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T16:25:31.280" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16712" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16729" CreationDate="2011-03-17T16:34:45.270" Score="1" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;How should I use &quot;passive-aggressive&quot; as an adverb? My hunch is that this is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jack passive-aggressively said nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I consider incorrect:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jack passively-aggressively said nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jack passively-aggressive said nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T17:47:48.313" Title="How should I use &quot;passive-aggressive&quot; as an adverb?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="16713" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16727" CreationDate="2011-03-17T16:38:09.230" Score="5" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the writer means to say that an error message should 'appear' can he phrase the sentence as 'When user clicks the button, an error message should display' or is it more correct to say 'When user clicks the button, an error message should BE displayed'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English is not my native language and I don't know grammar much but I have a feeling that first sentence is wrong i.e. error message should display because 'display' is an action (verb) that has to be performed on an object. I've never seen the use of word display like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone please point out to an article which supports the argument that we can not say 'error message should display' and it should rather be 'should be displayed'? provided my understanding is right. Please correct me if I'm wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6220" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T17:48:12.200" Title="An error message should display or should 'be' displayed?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16714" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16717" CreationDate="2011-03-17T16:42:23.000" Score="2" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am looking for the best question phrases to make sure that everything is understood correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;– Trains to London leave on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.&lt;br /&gt;– &lt;em&gt;Do I understand correctly that&lt;/em&gt; trains to London leave daily?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does this sound nice? Would &lt;em&gt;am I not mistaken that&lt;/em&gt; do? Any other ideas?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6216" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T17:40:04.940" Title="Question phrases to make sure that everything is understood correctly" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;style&gt;&lt;questions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16705" CreationDate="2011-03-17T16:42:40.130" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rephrasing the sentence, I would say the following one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You wouldn't know how exciting is to know you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would rather replace &lt;em&gt;excited/exciting&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;very glad&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;very delighted&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;elated&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;over the moon&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;on cloud nine&lt;/em&gt; could seem exaggerations, but they are informal phrases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am very glad to know you.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I am elated to know you.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  You would not know how elated I am to know you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T18:46:41.177" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T18:46:41.177" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16714" CreationDate="2011-03-17T16:46:29.940" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't find anything wrong with the sentence you reported, except (which is not wrong) it lists all the week days when it is possible to rephrase the sentence and avoid to list them. I would simply say &quot;trains to London leaves daily,&quot; or &quot;trains leave for London everyday.&quot;; alternatively, you can say &quot;there is at least a train for London everyday.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are asking about the second sentence, I would rephrase it using one of the following sentences.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it correct to say that trains for London leave daily?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Did I understand correctly that trains leave for London everyday?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Am I wrong, or trains leave for London daily?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T17:06:06.723" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T17:06:06.723" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16714" CreationDate="2011-03-17T16:50:38.107" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Do I understand correctly that...?&quot; is perfectly grammatical, but very formal and stilted.  It will be understood, but marks you as either posh or not a native English speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Am I not mistaken that...?&quot; implies that you think you are mistaken, so I wouldn't use that in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more colloquial way to get confirmation is to assert the conclusion you want confirmed, but using a questioning intonation pattern (or a question mark in written English):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;So trains to London leave daily?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T16:50:38.107" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16718" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16722" CreationDate="2011-03-17T16:55:23.113" Score="6" ViewCount="208" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am proof-reading a short CV that details an employee's volunteer achievements. It will form part of an application for a committee position. The following sentence makes my brain itch, but I am having trouble deciding:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Why it sounds wrong (something with the tense, I think)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How it &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; be written&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am fortunate to have been named as chair of this board shortly after I joined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A little help would be appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T18:44:40.477" Title="What is wrong with this sentence, and how should I fix it?" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;tense&gt;&lt;construction&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="16719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16712" CreationDate="2011-03-17T16:57:04.790" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Correct or not (and for what it's worth I think you're right), it is pretty horrid.  I'd suggest rephrasing to use something more natural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T16:57:04.790" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16720" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16721" CreationDate="2011-03-17T17:02:59.197" Score="0" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;I mean, when I read &quot;proximate&quot; I think about &quot;proximity&quot;.. why does it refers exactly to the 3rd digit in a number?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2643" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T17:36:45.620" Title="Why &quot;proximate&quot; refers to centesimal?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16720" CreationDate="2011-03-17T17:07:23.320" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have never encountered this usage.  If it's used that way at all, it's as a form of jargon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T17:07:23.320" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16718" CreationDate="2011-03-17T17:11:27.377" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was fortunate to be named chair of this board shortly after I joined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, if you don't want to emphasize how lucky you were,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was named chair of this board shortly after I joined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T17:11:27.377" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16720" CreationDate="2011-03-17T17:11:34.740" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the meaning of &lt;em&gt;proximate&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;nearly accurate, approximate.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I can imagine that &lt;em&gt;proximate&lt;/em&gt; could be understood as &quot;accurate to the third digit,&quot; while &lt;em&gt;accurate&lt;/em&gt; could mean &quot;showing all the digit.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have never found &lt;em&gt;proximate&lt;/em&gt; to mean &quot;to the third digit,&quot; though. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T17:36:45.620" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T17:36:45.620" />
  <row Id="16724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16718" CreationDate="2011-03-17T17:34:24.277" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it is tense/aspect that you are after, then maybe:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am fortunate to have been named as chair of this board shortly after I had joined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The simple past of 'I joined' doesn't stick it in sequence very definitively (the 'shortly after' does of course).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T17:34:24.277" />
  <row Id="16725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16714" CreationDate="2011-03-17T17:37:52.283" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Am I right, that trains to London run daily?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T17:37:52.283" />
  <row Id="16726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16714" CreationDate="2011-03-17T17:40:04.940" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could also say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So in other words, trains for London leave daily?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let me make sure I've got this right: trains for London leave daily?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T17:40:04.940" />
  <row Id="16727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16713" CreationDate="2011-03-17T17:44:52.523" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reg is right that the middle construction &quot;the message should display&quot; is grammatical and would be understood; but it is not how &quot;display&quot; is usually used in English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Display&quot; is normally transitive, though the subject can be either the person or thing that causes the message to appear (&quot;the program displays a message&quot;) or the surface or medium on which the message appears (&quot;The screen was displaying a warning message&quot;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only intransitive use I can think of is the special sense of birds or animals showing some prominent feature as part of combat or mating rituals: we can say &quot;The cock displayed to the hen&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T17:44:52.523" />
  <row Id="16728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16713" CreationDate="2011-03-17T17:45:03.840" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short, you are correct.  Display is a transitive verb (it requires an object) and the object here is the error message.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The form 'an error message should be displayed' is an example of the passive voice.  It's useful here because you want the focus of the sentence on the object and the passive voice allows you to omit the subject completely, or link it with a preposition, for example 'an error message should be displayed &lt;em&gt;by the program&lt;/em&gt;' &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The active alternative would be 'the program should display an error message'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5964" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T17:45:03.840" />
  <row Id="16729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16712" CreationDate="2011-03-17T17:47:48.313" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Given that in other similar formations you only inflect the final word (nobody says something &quot;selfly-conscious&quot;, for example), I think &quot;passive-aggressively&quot; is definitely the way to go.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T17:47:48.313" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16713" CreationDate="2011-03-17T17:48:12.200" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/display&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Free Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;display&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;v.intr.&lt;/em&gt; Computer Science To provide information or graphics on a screen: a personal computer that displays and prints.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This appears to be the use case you're referring to, so I would feel no guilt about using it that way. In fact, I hear it used that way all the time in UI work: &quot;A popup dialog will display ...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T17:48:12.200" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16731" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16733" CreationDate="2011-03-17T17:51:22.630" Score="2" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for an archaic replacement for the word &lt;em&gt;girl&lt;/em&gt; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T18:06:37.700" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T13:47:10.513" Title="Girl in Archaic English" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;archaic&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16718" CreationDate="2011-03-17T17:58:00.437" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was fortunate to be named chair of the board shortly after I joined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6222" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T17:58:00.437" />
  <row Id="16733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16731" CreationDate="2011-03-17T17:58:36.350" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could call her a &lt;em&gt;maiden&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;maid&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;lass&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T17:58:36.350" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16142" CreationDate="2011-03-17T18:07:24.827" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few words that may or may not inspire:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Thorough&#xA;Clear&#xA;Simple&#xA;Complete&#xA;Exemplar&#xA;Understandable&#xA;Layman's&#xA;Masterful&#xA;Prescient&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T18:07:24.827" />
  <row Id="16735" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16736" CreationDate="2011-03-17T18:21:40.747" Score="1" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I catch a lot of grief about this from family and friends, so I figured I'd settle the score once and for all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In verbal context (though not written), I tend to use the phrase&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... yesterday night...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;rather than &lt;em&gt;last night&lt;/em&gt;. Is this grammatically correct, regardless of how uncommon it might be?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6223" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T18:38:25.690" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T06:36:43.970" Title="Is &quot;yesterday night&quot; acceptable?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="16736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16735" CreationDate="2011-03-17T18:26:01.630" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure it's incorrect strictly speaking, but it triggers some cognitive dissonance because &quot;yesterday&quot; implies &lt;em&gt;day&lt;/em&gt; rather than night. Just say &quot;last night&quot; already. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T18:26:01.630" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="16737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16735" CreationDate="2011-03-17T18:30:17.913" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, as per generally accepted English semantics, &lt;strong&gt;yesterday night&lt;/strong&gt; is not correct. &#xA;In strict grammatic sense, it may not be incorrect, but as far as usage in both verbal or written context is concerned, &lt;strong&gt;last night&lt;/strong&gt; is the only correct form &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6167" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T18:30:17.913" />
  <row Id="16738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16735" CreationDate="2011-03-17T18:32:39.773" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; grammatically correct, indeed, assuming:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You are using it as an adverbial adjunct, as in &lt;em&gt;Yesterday night I went to the movies&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;You believe the word &lt;em&gt;yesterday&lt;/em&gt; is a noun (as in &lt;em&gt;Yesterday is over.&lt;/em&gt;) functioning as an adjective (just like with &lt;em&gt;yesterday morning&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, &lt;em&gt;yesterday night&lt;/em&gt; is a valid noun phrase, however awkward. In fact, I find it pretty common! :D&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6225" LastEditorUserId="6223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T18:37:17.470" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T18:37:17.470" />
  <row Id="16739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16735" CreationDate="2011-03-17T18:32:49.633" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Last night&quot; is more specific but I don't think anyone would object to calling &quot;tonight&quot; part of &quot;today.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(At night) What did you do today?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(At night) What day is it today?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you certainly wouldn't say &quot;today night&quot; instead of &quot;tonight.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I checked my local dictionary for a definition of &quot;yesterday&quot;: &lt;code&gt;the day before today&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My guess is that &quot;day&quot; here implies a 24 hour period. That period includes a night and saying &quot;yesterday night&quot; provides an unambiguous reference to a specific time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of that being said, &quot;last night&quot; sounds better and takes less time to type and write. The only reason I can see for saying it is to bug your friends which, in my opinion, isn't good enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T18:32:49.633" />
  <row Id="16740" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16746" CreationDate="2011-03-17T18:35:13.447" Score="4" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is common to simply use 'dirty' as the adverb here, ex: He talks dirty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other resources say that the adverb is dirtily! I do not believe I've &lt;em&gt;ever&lt;/em&gt; heard this used... is it correct? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6226" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T19:23:00.943" Title="Adverbs for Dirty (Dirtily?)" Tags="&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="16741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16718" CreationDate="2011-03-17T18:35:57.487" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was fortunate to be named chair of&#xA;  this board shortly after I joined&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6167" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T18:35:57.487" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16740" CreationDate="2011-03-17T18:43:31.647" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dirtily&lt;/em&gt; is correct, but it does sound a bit clunky. A few alternative adverbs: foully, uncleanly, shamefully, basely, vulgarly, coarsely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T18:43:31.647" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16718" CreationDate="2011-03-17T18:44:40.477" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like you have &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sourcetext.com/grammarian/less-than-words-can-say/01.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the worm&lt;/a&gt;.  This sentence has an overly formal sound to it.  Try this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fortunately, I became chair of the board once I joined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6227" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T18:44:40.477" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16731" CreationDate="2011-03-17T19:12:35.693" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Gel, but it's lower class talk.  (hard G) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2477" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T19:12:35.693" />
  <row Id="16745" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16748" CreationDate="2011-03-17T19:17:37.737" Score="1" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could anyone suggest to me a good online source to help me with the concepts of English tense? I've tried searching with Google but haven't found anything. I'm looking for material which starts from the basics and gives a comprehensive review of the subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am looking to learn about the correct usage of &quot;have,&quot; &quot;has,&quot; &quot;had,&quot; &quot;do,&quot; &quot;does,&quot; &quot;have been,&quot; &quot;had been,&quot; etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6229" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T20:04:07.817" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T20:04:07.817" Title="Materials on proper use of English tense" Tags="&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16740" CreationDate="2011-03-17T19:23:00.943" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dirtily&lt;/em&gt; is the adverb while &lt;em&gt;dirty&lt;/em&gt; is used as an adjective or verb. However, &lt;em&gt;to talk dirty&lt;/em&gt; is an informal phrase and is always used this way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0228670#m_en_gb0228670&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;talk dirty&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#xA;   &lt;em&gt;informal&lt;/em&gt; talk about sex in a coarse or salacious way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume that you wouldn't want to talk about talking dirty in a formal context anyway, so &lt;em&gt;talk dirty&lt;/em&gt; should be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T19:23:00.943" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16610" CreationDate="2011-03-17T19:36:42.047" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;em&gt;altitude&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;elevation&lt;/em&gt; are measures of the height of a point relative to some datum. The differences are in how they are derived and what they are normally used for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Altitude&lt;/em&gt; is typically only used to describe the height of an aircraft in flight. It is a &lt;strong&gt;barometric&lt;/strong&gt; measurement expressed relative to the height of a runway or mean sea level in a given location or region (taking into account current local atmospheric conditions), or to an arbitrary standard datum (to eliminate the effect of localised variations in air pressure).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Elevation&lt;/em&gt; is usually used to describe the height of the ground, or a feature fixed to the ground. It is a &lt;strong&gt;geometric&lt;/strong&gt; measurement expressed relative to the mean sea level datum established for the region by the national mapping agency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would take some care to understand the meaning of a value named &lt;em&gt;altitude&lt;/em&gt; obtained from a GPS receiver. At a basic level, GPS can only tell you the receiver’s height above the WGS‑84 ellipsoid, and it cannot be assumed that the surface of the ellipsoid is the same as mean sea level in any given location. Some receivers contain look-up tables to calculate the offset between the two, given a lat/long position, which ought to be incorporated in the determination of ‘altitude’.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Whether to use &lt;em&gt;altitude&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;elevation&lt;/em&gt; for your application is largely a matter of preference, I’d say. Since a moving car is neither an aircraft in flight nor fixed to the ground, I’ve conveniently excluded it from my definitions of the two terms here. As your measurement is geometric rather than barometric, I’d lean towards &lt;em&gt;elevation&lt;/em&gt;. Alternatively, you could just keep the terminology simple (if imprecise) and call it &lt;em&gt;height&lt;/em&gt;…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2988" LastEditorUserId="2988" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T19:47:49.617" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T19:47:49.617" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16745" CreationDate="2011-03-17T19:38:47.247" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's a basic English language learning site with a nice rundown on verb tenses: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verb-tenses_sys-tenses.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verb-tenses_sys-tenses.htm&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T19:38:47.247" />
  <row Id="16749" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-17T19:58:12.957" Score="3" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I came across this little dilemma when looking up the incorrectly spelled word &quot;chequing&quot; in my web browser's dictionary (Opera). According to the different dictionaries you can select in Opera:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EN US is &quot;Checking&quot; (Which I knew)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EN GB and EN ZA is &quot;Chequeing&quot; (Which looks really strange to me)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here in Canada I've always seen and used &quot;Chequing&quot;, which I actually thought was the GB version.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example of BBC using &quot;chequeing&quot;: &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3242776.stm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3242776.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So how many versions are there!? Which is technically the right version for Canada and Great Britain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please and thank you&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5645" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T03:11:43.693" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T03:11:43.693" Title="&quot;Checking&quot; vs. &quot;chequing&quot; vs. &quot;chequeing&quot; with regards to types of bank accounts" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;&lt;spelling-checker&gt;&lt;canadian-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16750" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-17T20:16:47.217" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicates:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4187/rule-for-using-for-vs-to&quot;&gt;Rule for using &amp;ldquo;for&amp;rdquo; vs. &amp;ldquo;to&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5803/when-to-use-to-and-when-for&quot;&gt;When to use &amp;ldquo;to&amp;rdquo; and when &amp;ldquo;for&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me the hardest thing in English is preposition and i make mistakes here. Fore example i confuse: &quot;it is difficult for me&quot; and &quot;it is difficult to me&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any rule?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6231" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T09:59:13.813" ClosedDate="2011-03-18T16:05:11.283" Title="Preposition confusion" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16654" CreationDate="2011-03-17T20:17:59.897" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cheating...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to use the &lt;a href=&quot;http://wordsmith.org/anagram/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Internet Anagram Server&lt;/a&gt; to find pangrams with only 26 letters, but it says the server load is too high right now, but it did offer a link to another page with only &lt;a href=&quot;http://wordsmith.org/words/pangram.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pangrams&lt;/a&gt;.  Here is the list they provide (some already offered in other answers):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. (thirty-two letters)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz. (thirty-one)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How quickly daft jumping zebras vex. (thirty)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Quick wafting zephyrs vex bold Jim. (twenty-nine)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Waltz, nymph, for quick jigs vex Bud. (twenty-eight)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bawds jog, flick quartz, vex nymph. (twenty-seven)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Mr. Jock, TV quiz Ph.D., bags few lynx. (twenty-six!)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T20:17:59.897" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-17T20:17:59.897" />
  <row Id="16752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16667" CreationDate="2011-03-17T20:22:44.637" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this context only 'hangs' seems to be appropriate as this is the action that the software performs itself -- it's not being hung/hanged by any external force. Also, as &lt;em&gt;chaos&lt;/em&gt; mentioned, it sounds awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, if I received a report saying 'When we execute this command, software X gets hung' I'd ask for clarification -- what hung it? This form may suggest that there's another reason for it, not mentioned in the report.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6232" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T20:22:44.637" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="16753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16659" CreationDate="2011-03-17T20:23:27.287" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The excellent blog Language Log talked about this use of &quot;even&quot; a while ago: &lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2943&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;What does &quot;even&quot; even mean?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4618" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T20:23:27.287" />
  <row Id="16754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16628" CreationDate="2011-03-17T20:24:30.490" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;On thin ice&quot; can also refer to a situation out of your control. The proverbial skater didn't necessarily choose the thin ice but is nonetheless in a risky place. Alternatives to this connotation (branching a bit further away from consciously taking a risk):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Out of the frying pan, into the fire&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Doomed&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Writing on the wall&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T20:24:30.490" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-17T20:24:30.490" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7876" CreationDate="2011-03-17T20:34:41.660" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Get ready for more mixed signals. &lt;em&gt;CGEL&lt;/em&gt; gives an analysis that differs dramatically from the other answers here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It says that &lt;em&gt;yesterday&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;today&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;tonight&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;tomorrow&lt;/em&gt; are pronouns. The evidence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Like &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt;, they're deictic. Which day &lt;em&gt;yesterday&lt;/em&gt; is depends on the context of the speech act, i.e. when you say it.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unlike common nouns, they don&amp;rsquo;t take determiners. You can&amp;rsquo;t say &lt;em&gt;The yesterday was great.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unlike adverbs and prepositions, they have a possessive form. Compare: &lt;em&gt;[Usually&amp;rsquo;s / After&amp;rsquo;s / Now&amp;rsquo;s / Yesterday&amp;rsquo;s] performance was great.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(It doesn't mention Shakespeare&amp;rsquo;s &amp;ldquo;...And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death.&amp;rdquo; which shows &lt;em&gt;yesterday&lt;/em&gt; acting a lot like a noun. I suppose they&amp;rsquo;d say that&amp;rsquo;s just Shakespeare playing with words.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In a case like &quot;I have an important meeting tomorrow,&quot; it seems as if they're nouns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;CGEL&lt;/em&gt; spends several pages on &amp;ldquo;temporal location expressions&amp;rdquo;. They are sometimes but not always adverbs. Several examples are given of noun phrases that specify time: &lt;em&gt;I have an important meeting [Tuesday / tomorrow / the day after tomorrow / every day / next month / right this minute].&lt;/em&gt; That is, certain noun phrases can be tacked onto a sentence in just the same way as an adverb or a prepositional phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;But what about &quot;Yesterday afternoon?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here the pronoun &lt;em&gt;yesterday&lt;/em&gt; functions as a determiner. This is not something pronouns normally do; it's an oddball case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Determiners include the bolded expressions in &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;twelve&lt;/strong&gt; angry men&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;my&lt;/strong&gt; red tennis shoes&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt; sandwich&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;your father's&lt;/strong&gt; truck&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;three or four billion&lt;/strong&gt; dollars&lt;/em&gt;. A singular count noun generally needs a determiner in front of it if it's going to function as, say, the subject of a sentence. Compare: &lt;em&gt;[This afternoon / Yesterday afternoon / Afternoon] was great.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Apparently the days of the week can also serve as determiners this way: &lt;em&gt;Sunday afternoon&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T20:34:41.660" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16750" CreationDate="2011-03-17T20:47:12.820" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;It is &lt;em&gt;difficult to&lt;/em&gt; read in a moving vehicle, at least it is &lt;em&gt;difficult for&lt;/em&gt; me.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When preceding a verb, use &quot;difficult to&quot;. When preceding a noun, use &quot;difficult for&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6091" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T20:47:12.820" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16634" CreationDate="2011-03-17T20:47:54.210" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When in doubt about English, I like to go back to my Dutch roots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Dutch words for 'newspaper' is '&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/krant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;krant&lt;/a&gt;', which derives from the Dutch word '&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/courant#Dutch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;courant&lt;/a&gt;'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The Dutch word 'courant' can mean either newspaper or currency (money), and it derives from the French '&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/courant#French&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;courant&lt;/a&gt;', which, when used as an adjective, means current or present (time).  Another English term that derives directly from the French is '&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/au_courant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;au courant&lt;/a&gt;', which means, literally, up to date, informed on the latest developments etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This leads back to the idea of a newspaper reporting what is happening at the &lt;em&gt;current time&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Along with newspapers that use the word 'Times' in their name, you will also find many that use 'Courant'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T20:47:54.210" />
  <row Id="16758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16750" CreationDate="2011-03-17T20:49:05.783" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The prepositions &quot;to&quot; and &quot;for&quot; are often interchangeable. In this case the preference is &quot;for&quot;, and the preposition &quot;for&quot; conveys an idea of advantage/disadvantage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could say, &quot;It is difficult for me,&quot; or, &quot;It seems difficult to me.&quot;  The preposition &quot;for&quot; shows involvement, while the preposition &quot;to&quot; conveys a perception. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2917" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T20:49:05.783" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16628" CreationDate="2011-03-17T21:04:18.897" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hanging by a Thread - &#xA;Playing Russian Roulette - Kissing Charlie Sheen&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="5531" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T15:03:35.770" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T15:03:35.770" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16749" CreationDate="2011-03-17T21:48:30.463" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anglo-Norman Kings, having conquered Saxon England started collecting taxes methodically (The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Doomsday Book&quot;&lt;/a&gt; is a famous example).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For accounting, they were using a large board with rows and columns not unlike a chessboard &quot;un échiquier&quot; in French (from Persian origin imported via Latin).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The responsible for this task was therefore named &quot;Chancellor of the Exchequer&quot;. He had to verify that the numbers indeed matched expectations.  From this exercise comes the verb &quot;to check&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, the European banking system, used &quot;bills of exchanges&quot; to credit and debit accounts between branches in various cities on behalf of their customers, Lombard were famous for this (Lombard Street in London) but they were far from being the only ones.  This allowed for only paper to be transported which was both safer and easier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From 1745 onwards, the bank of England had the exclusivity of money printing &quot;au porteur&quot; (payable to the bearer).  This happened much later in the US, when the Federal Reserve was instituted.  Private banker who could therefore not emit their own banknotes any more had to resort to a different type of bill that had to be &quot;checked&quot; because they were nominative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;check&quot; then went back to France, when they imported the concept, and they spelt it &quot;cheque&quot; and sometimes &quot;checque&quot; (I spared you the accents).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word then went back again to England as &quot;cheque&quot; and only the US actually simplified it back to &quot;check&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It should therefore be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;check&quot; in the US&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;cheque&quot; in the UK, AU, ZA and Canada&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As for &quot;checking&quot; vs &quot;chequing&quot; vs &quot;chequeing&quot;, my understanding is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Checking&quot; accounts are used in the US,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;both &quot;chequing&quot; and &quot;chequeing&quot; are accepted in Canada with a marked predominance for the former although the latter is the correct original British English spelling.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Actually, in the UK you don't hold &quot;chequeing&quot; accounts, but &quot;cheque&quot; accounts, but this phrase is seldom used; &quot;current account&quot; (as opposed to savings account&quot;) is preferred.  However, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2010/08/money_and_banking&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;when the gerund is used&lt;/a&gt; it is spelt &quot;chequeing&quot; (this is disputed however, see Brian's comments below).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm told that in Australia, &quot;cheque account&quot; is used and &quot;chequeing&quot; is rare (comments below from staticsan).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another famous &quot;ping-pong&quot;-type etymology between French and English is &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;taster&quot; (to grope for testing purposes) =&gt; &quot;to taste&quot; =&gt; &quot;tester&quot; (to try) =&gt;&#xA;  &quot;to test&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="5432" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T08:20:13.103" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T08:20:13.103" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="16761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2011-03-17T21:52:13.977" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oxymoron -- usually pronounced ok-See-mawr-On with the emphasis on the second and fourth syllables (i.e. Oxy plus Moron.) One of my high school English teachers would always mispronounce the word to make it sound ever so much better: ox-Zim-a-ron with the emphasis on the second syllable. This pronunciation makes the word almost poetic and I'll use it to this day but it does very much confuse people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1253" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T21:52:13.977" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-17T21:52:13.977" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16762" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16766" CreationDate="2011-03-17T21:53:16.970" Score="7" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Why, I'd love to.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Why, of course!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I get the concept starting a sentence with a word not completely related to the overall response, but this one seems to be a particularly odd choice - is there any semantic meaning I'm missing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6239" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T01:56:34.623" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T21:23:36.297" Title="Where does the use of &quot;why&quot; as an interjection come from?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;semantics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16750" CreationDate="2011-03-17T21:56:16.177" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm also confused in many cases by how to use prepositions. I guess a good way to understand these subtle differences, as in your example, is to read more. At some point you will naturally feel the differences like native speakers do. At least that's what I'm trying to do. I don't think most native speakers actually pay attention to the explanation of these differences, they just feel it right or wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for your example, I think &quot;for&quot; sounds better. You could also add &quot;to&quot; after it, like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is difficult for me to understand&#xA;  the difference between &quot;to&quot; and &quot;for&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;to&quot; only makes sense if you say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It sounds difficult to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5803/when-to-use-to-and-when-for&quot;&gt;When to use &amp;quot;to&amp;quot; and when &amp;quot;for&amp;quot;?&lt;/a&gt; has some good tips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just my two cents. Take my suggestions cautiously, since English is my second language as well. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5648" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T21:56:16.177" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4754" CreationDate="2011-03-17T22:07:32.707" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A person with an inexplicable need to blog might also be defined as having OCD, or someone who really lacks an otherwise constructive hobby.  That said, at its core, blogging is merely writing in electronic form, so &quot;graphomaniac&quot; is a sufficiently good choice.  Logomaniac wasn't in my MW dictionary, so I won't comment on it, except to say, please, everyone, let's not coin one more internet-centric term.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6240" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T22:07:32.707" />
  <row Id="16765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16627" CreationDate="2011-03-17T22:10:08.813" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are many words that have stayed close to their original pronunciation: Wunderkind, schadenfreude, mademoiselle, sabot, ciao, pizza, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @Jim Balter mentions, foreign words are &lt;em&gt;probably&lt;/em&gt; more likely to keep their foreign pronunciation when the foreign population is of sufficient size.  I &lt;em&gt;suspect&lt;/em&gt; that along with the shear size of the foreign population, the rate at which that population assimilates the native language has an effect too.  A closed foreign community, of any size, is more likely to retain its original language longer than one that is open.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Refer also to the question &quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1431/what-words-are-commonly-mispronounced-by-literate-people-who-read-them-before-the&quot;&gt;What words are commonly mispronounced by literate people who read them before they heard them?&lt;/a&gt; &quot; to get a longer list of words where the accepted pronunciation does not necessarily match the accepted spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastEditorUserId="3800" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T13:03:01.160" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T13:03:01.160" />
  <row Id="16766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16762" CreationDate="2011-03-17T23:53:09.100" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the OED, the use of &lt;strong&gt;why&lt;/strong&gt; as an interjection dates back to the 16th century:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1519&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;Interl. Four Elem.&lt;/em&gt; Bvij, Than I&#xA;  perceyue ye wyll make gode chere. &lt;em&gt;Hu.&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  Why, what shulde I els do?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;1581&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;Confer. with Campion&lt;/em&gt; (1583) Ciij, Why,&#xA;  is not Saint Iames Epistle called the&#xA;  Catholike Epistle of Saint Iames. How&#xA;  do you then denie it to be Canonicall?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;1599&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  Shakes. &lt;em&gt;Much Ado&lt;/em&gt; iv. ii. 44 Why&#xA;  this is flat periurie, to call a&#xA;  Princes brother villaine.  &lt;em&gt;Ibid.&lt;/em&gt; v.&#xA;  iv. 73 &lt;em&gt;Bene&lt;/em&gt;. Doo not you loue me?&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;Beat&lt;/em&gt;. Why no, no more then reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The OED doesn't explain why it is used in that manner. I can only speculate. First it was just a question expressing doubt reduced to its essence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is best that we negotiate a truce&#xA;  with Spain. — Why is that so? I&#xA;  believe the Spanish armies cannot&#xA;  threaten us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They will fail in their attempt to&#xA;  conquer England. — Why? Their fleets are far superior in strength and numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This developed through rhetorical question into a mere interjection of surprise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We should present the English crown to&#xA;  the Dutch Stadtholder. — Why, William&#xA;  of Orange, you say? That would be a&#xA;  terrible idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From there its function of calling attention (if that's what it is) to a following statement developed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This Corsican might be trouble; why, I think he will conquer all of Europe in a decade.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The OED notes that it is often used this way in opposition to a vague doubt or apprehension.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T21:23:36.297" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T21:23:36.297" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16767" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-18T00:36:09.797" Score="0" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what &quot;par&quot; is commonly referred to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the exam was easier than par.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks and regards!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T10:42:07.563" Title="Meaning of &quot;par&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16768" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16775" CreationDate="2011-03-18T00:42:44.690" Score="3" ViewCount="128" Body="&lt;p&gt;A very theoretical question I came across with friends some time ago. I am not a native English speaker, so I may be misunderstanding some details, but as I understand:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Discovery relates to a concept which existed prior to ... well &quot;discovery&quot; but was unknown before the act.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Invention relates to a creation of a concept which never existed before the act&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following from this, are mathematical concepts such as sinus &quot;discovered&quot; or &quot;invented&quot;? In one sense, being a fundamental property hence could only be discovered. On the other hand, the logical metaphor was created by humans, hence invented.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is right and which one is wrong and why? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6246" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T17:36:26.587" Title="&quot;Discover&quot; or &quot;invent&quot; in mathematics context." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="16769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16767" CreationDate="2011-03-18T00:58:08.743" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=par&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline.com&lt;/a&gt; says this about &lt;em&gt;par&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1620s, &quot;equality,&quot; also &quot;value of one currency in terms of another,&quot; from L. par &quot;equal, that which is equal, equality&quot; (see pair). Meaning &quot;average or usual amount&quot; is first attested 1767. Golf usage is first attested 1898. Figurative use of par for the course is from 1928.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Par&lt;/em&gt; in the game of golf means the number of strokes it should take for the scratch (handicap = 0) golfer to complete the hole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This term has been expanded metaphorically to mean something of average difficulty. An exam that's easier than par is easier than what you would expect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T00:58:08.743" />
  <row Id="16770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16767" CreationDate="2011-03-18T00:59:18.950" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, this sense of &quot;par&quot; is typically used in the phrase &quot;par for the course&quot;, and it means &quot;expected&quot; or &quot;average&quot;. It seems to come from golf, which got it from Latin: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Par_(score)#Par&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Par_(score)#Par&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3639" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T00:59:18.950" />
  <row Id="16771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16768" CreationDate="2011-03-18T01:39:47.260" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think neither verb is entirely appropriate for mathematical concepts in ordinary English. You can't &quot;discover&quot; a square root, nor can you &quot;invent&quot; a radius: they just &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt;, I'd say. I suppose you could use these verbs, depending on context, but I suspect that it would nearly always be better to avoid the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I said &quot;Pythagoras discovered the Pythagorean theorem&quot;, that would be possible; but it'd sound a tiny bit childish, as though I weren't aware of the very problem you present here. The same applies to &quot;invent&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If you like Kant, you will probably agree that mathematical concepts are best considered models created by the mind in which we shape our sensory impressions. We have always used these models subconsciously in various ways: discovering or inventing them means just becoming aware of patterns in the ideas we have about reality.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might use &lt;em&gt;to conceive of&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Surprisingly it was Pythagoras who first conceived&#xA;  of the Pythagorean theorem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T01:39:47.260" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16768" CreationDate="2011-03-18T02:07:13.560" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An English speaker probably won't mind hearing &lt;em&gt;discover&lt;/em&gt; (or even &lt;em&gt;invent&lt;/em&gt;) in the context of mathmatics. However, if you want to be technical you could always use the mathematic term &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_proof&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;proof&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Pythagoras is credited with the Pythagorean Theorem proof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="502" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T02:07:13.560" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16773" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16774" CreationDate="2011-03-18T02:44:04.130" Score="2" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;As in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... admit they're not monks but&#xA;  employees paid to look the part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(from NGM March 2011, p. 101)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3411" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T02:49:19.277" Title="What does &quot;paid to look the part&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16773" CreationDate="2011-03-18T02:49:19.277" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are professional actors collecting a fee for playing the role of a monk, thus not genuine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5286" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T02:49:19.277" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16768" CreationDate="2011-03-18T02:49:28.547" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a very old question, even among mathematicians who are accomplished native English speakers.  There are definitely aspects of discovery as well as invention in math, and some things lend themselves more to one than the other.  For example, it is more appropriate to say that notation is invented, rather than discovered.  It's the other way for proofs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general, if you're not sure which one, it's a little safer to say &lt;em&gt;discover&lt;/em&gt;, as it is a more &quot;humble&quot; term; but in casual use, either one is usually acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2923" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T02:49:28.547" />
  <row Id="16776" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16777" CreationDate="2011-03-18T03:04:32.413" Score="3" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3418/how-do-you-handle-that-that-the-double-that-problem&quot;&gt;How do you handle &amp;ldquo;that that&amp;rdquo;? The double &amp;ldquo;that&amp;rdquo; problem&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something wrong with this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I don't think that that can be done.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It sounds odd to me. Would it be better if I'd use just one &quot;that&quot; instead of two: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I don't think that can be done.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3411" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T09:33:18.300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T15:09:38.583" ClosedDate="2011-03-19T17:27:00.167" Title="&quot;I don't think that that can be done&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16776" CreationDate="2011-03-18T03:17:03.810" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are correct, but the second is preferred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In option 1, the first &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; serves as a conjunction introducing the subordinate clause &quot;that can be done,&quot; which is the object of the verb &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt;. The second &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; is simply a pronoun substituting for the subject of the subordinate clause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Option 2 is better because (1) it avoids the awkwardness of the double &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; and (2) the sentence is still perfectly intelligible without the conjunctive &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is quite a flexible word. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastEditorUserId="6100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T15:22:09.240" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T15:22:09.240" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="16778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16768" CreationDate="2011-03-18T03:28:15.077" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1) Discovery relates to a concept which existed prior to ... well &quot;discovery&quot; but was unknown before the act.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2) Invention relates to a creation of a concept which never existed before the act&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is exactly correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both terms are used. In popular writing, they seem to be used interchangeably. My gut feeling is that no mathematician would say that either Pierre de Fermat or Andrew Wiles &lt;em&gt;invented&lt;/em&gt; Fermat's Last Theorem. Generally, I think a mathematician would seldom if ever use the word &lt;em&gt;invention&lt;/em&gt; to refer to a specific recent mathematical result (a theorem proved in a new paper).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I think mathematicians do use the adjective &lt;em&gt;inventive&lt;/em&gt; to describe specific people, approaches, techniques, papers, etc. that they find really impressive and unexpected; and I think some mathematicians use the noun &lt;em&gt;invention&lt;/em&gt; for those things. So you might hear a mathematician call Galois theory an amazing invention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a mathematician. All this is speculation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T03:28:15.077" />
  <row Id="16779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2011-03-18T04:00:11.013" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just picked up two/three new ones today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first: I read that blog Cakewrecks, having never baked a cake myself. So when I saw the word &quot;fondant,&quot; I assumed with the great knowledge gained from my three years of high school French that it was pronounced the French way, something like &quot;fund-AUN(T)&quot;...Of course, my sister's getting married and came by to make a practice wedding cake, which would be decorated with &quot;FAWND-unt.&quot;...Which inevitable led to an argument, which led to my embarrassment...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second (and third) I learned are revocable and irrevocable. Revoke is pronounced with emphasis on the second syllable, in my case as &quot;rivv-OAK.&quot; Naturally, I assumed that (ir)revocable was pronounced &quot;(EAR-)revv-OAK-ibble.&quot; It is not. It is pronounced &quot;(ear-)REVV-uck-ubble.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;....Those are going to take a while to root out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T04:00:11.013" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-18T04:00:11.013" />
  <row Id="16780" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16796" CreationDate="2011-03-18T04:14:49.847" Score="4" ViewCount="129" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I understand, &lt;em&gt;ö&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;coöperation&lt;/em&gt; is considered archaic (or is it?) and words like &lt;em&gt;résumé&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;cliché&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;naïve&lt;/em&gt; are copied directly from foreign languages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there any contemporary native (non-borrowed) English words left that contain characters with diacritics?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Update:&lt;/em&gt; Note that a word from any contemporary dialect of English would work for this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, of course, as is noted in answers below, besides borrowed foreign language words, there are English words with diacritics, that were created from non-English given names — like &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%85ngstr%C3%B6m&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ångström&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; for example. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such words, arguably, also can be considered borrowed. And, at least with &lt;em&gt;ångström&lt;/em&gt;, Wikipedia claims that version with diacritics is archaic as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Update 2:&lt;/em&gt; To clarify:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Contemporary = was a norm in XX century at least (preferably after twenties as well). When I said &quot;archaic&quot; in comments, I meant &quot;non-contemporary&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Diacritics, which appeared in anglicization of a borrowed word (i.e. foreign original does not have diacritics), is acceptable. (So, &lt;em&gt;Brontë&lt;/em&gt; surname would be good if survived into XX century.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Anyway, is there a source where I can read about the rules which guide when diacritics should appear during &quot;contemporary&quot; anglicization?)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if proper nouns are in the spirit of the question — but if you know one that fits and is not synthetic (i.e. employs &quot;metal umlauts&quot; or imitates some foreign language), please share.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1306" LastEditorUserId="1306" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T12:48:17.437" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T12:48:17.437" Title="Contemporary native English words with diacritics" Tags="&lt;diacritic&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="16781" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-18T04:17:34.423" Score="13" ViewCount="480" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between &lt;em&gt;emigrate&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;immigrate?&lt;/em&gt; They seem to have the same definitions in the dictionary but they are antonyms...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T19:07:31.790" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T19:07:31.790" Title="What's the difference in meaning between &quot;emigrate&quot; and &quot;immigrate&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="16782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16781" CreationDate="2011-03-18T04:30:47.180" Score="39" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference is fairly subtle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To &lt;em&gt;Emigrate&lt;/em&gt; is to leave one country to settle in another. (The focus is on the original country)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To &lt;em&gt;Immigrate&lt;/em&gt; is to come to a new country to live. (The focus is on the new country)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if I were born in Ireland, and then migrated to the US, all of the below would be true and grammatical:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I emigrated from Ireland.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I immigrated to the US.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Now the tricky bits)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I emigrated from Ireland to the US.  (This focuses on the leaving bit)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I immigrated to the US from Ireland. (This focuses on the arriving bit)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally, relatives in Ireland might say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dusty emigrated to the US last year. (from their perspective, I left)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While new friends in the US:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dusty immigrated to the US last year. (from their perspective, I arrived)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T04:30:47.180" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16781" CreationDate="2011-03-18T04:30:47.993" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To &lt;strong&gt;emigrate&lt;/strong&gt; is to leave here and move to another country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &lt;strong&gt;immigrate&lt;/strong&gt; is to leave another country and move to here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T04:30:47.993" />
  <row Id="16784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16781" CreationDate="2011-03-18T04:31:46.963" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Immigration and emigration have to do with humans migrating between two countries. The use depends on which country we are referring to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With respect to the US, people who leave the country are emigrants. People who move here are immigrants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6017" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T04:31:46.963" />
  <row Id="16785" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16897" CreationDate="2011-03-18T04:31:53.930" Score="6" ViewCount="260" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the back of my mind, I'm almost certain there are at least several individual English word that means to punish one's self. It doesn't have to be physical, necessarily, but it must be some kind of self-punishment. Are there such words? Clinical words are also accepted (i.e. psychological terminology).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6192" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T21:21:01.603" Title="Is there a single word that means &quot;self flagellation&quot; or &quot;self punishment&quot;?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16785" CreationDate="2011-03-18T04:40:18.850" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can only think of penance, contrition and such words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5584" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T04:40:18.850" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="16787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16649" CreationDate="2011-03-18T05:17:50.760" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have only ever seen [sic] used to indicate a very obvious problem like a misspelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact, I cannot think of any appropriate situation for it other than to indicate a misspelling in quoted text.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6247" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T05:17:50.760" />
  <row Id="16788" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16794" CreationDate="2011-03-18T05:35:26.937" Score="2" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dear All,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just I want to know the difference between the &quot;stir up&quot; and &quot;provoke&quot;, where it should be placed exactly. Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6027" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T09:28:43.217" Title="Difference between &quot;stir up&quot; and &quot;provoke&quot;" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="16789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16685" CreationDate="2011-03-18T05:59:49.710" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I won't date girls and will stay at home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6248" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T05:59:49.710" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16735" CreationDate="2011-03-18T06:11:37.243" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Its not acceptable in English. Refer this :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/26212-yesterday-night-ok.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/26212-yesterday-night-ok.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6248" LastEditorUserId="6248" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T06:36:43.970" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T06:36:43.970" />
  <row Id="16791" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16792" CreationDate="2011-03-18T06:37:22.577" Score="2" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm having trouble to decide which word order to use in this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So the question is if I am to modify the programme &lt;strong&gt;in what environment I should do it&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct or do I need to change the last part to &lt;strong&gt;in what environment should I do it&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6116" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T13:11:26.457" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T19:56:47.540" Title="Words order when asking a question in a complex sentence" Tags="&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="16792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16791" CreationDate="2011-03-18T06:43:22.260" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you just need to swap the places of &quot;I&quot; and &quot;Should&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, your sentence could be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So, the question is, if I am to modify the program, in what environment should I do it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T06:43:22.260" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16785" CreationDate="2011-03-18T07:15:50.453" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe it is too extreme but &lt;em&gt;suicide&lt;/em&gt; is also a kind of self-punishment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6116" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T07:15:50.453" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="16794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16788" CreationDate="2011-03-18T07:20:29.253" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, to &lt;em&gt;stir up&lt;/em&gt; means to instigate, or initiate or to set in motion. So a sample sentence could be &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Che stirred up a revolution against oppression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &lt;em&gt;provoke&lt;/em&gt; is to stimulate or give rise to a strong emotion or a reaction, which is typically an unwelcome one. A sample sentence could be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Che provoked the masses to set all the houses on fire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does that clear your doubts?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T07:20:29.253" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16788" CreationDate="2011-03-18T07:30:52.647" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this sense &lt;em&gt;provoke&lt;/em&gt; is about creating a reaction &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He provoked the crowd by telling them what their enemies would do&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;while &lt;em&gt;stir up&lt;/em&gt; is used to mean excite&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He stirred up the crowd by telling them how strong they were&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Stir up&lt;/em&gt; is in common English usage because of a phrase in the old Anglican collect for the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stir-up_Sunday&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;last Sunday before Advent&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where it was a translation of the Latin &lt;em&gt;excita&lt;/em&gt;. It was taken as an indicator that it was  time to make (i.e. stir up) Christmas puddings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T07:30:52.647" />
  <row Id="16796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16780" CreationDate="2011-03-18T07:47:00.043" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I regard &lt;em&gt;coöperation&lt;/em&gt; as a &lt;em&gt;New Yorker&lt;/em&gt; affectation, but it really a matter of style.  In the UK it will commonly be written &lt;em&gt;co-operation&lt;/em&gt; to match the Co-operative Retail Societies.  The real difficulty is with the four-letter version: Harvard/MIT call their shop &lt;a href=&quot;http://store.thecoop.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Coop&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the others, this is a matter of anglicisation of loanwords and changes slowly over time depending on how useful the diacritics are seen to be.  I suspect &lt;em&gt;naive&lt;/em&gt; is now more common than &lt;em&gt;naïve&lt;/em&gt;, and that the half-accented &lt;em&gt;resumé&lt;/em&gt; is now used almost as often as &lt;em&gt;résumé&lt;/em&gt;.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T07:47:00.043" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="16797" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16800" CreationDate="2011-03-18T08:22:25.363" Score="4" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;For instance is &quot;who's&quot; as correct short form of &quot;who is&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4888" LastEditorUserId="2241" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T15:17:13.243" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T15:17:13.243" Title="When is it gramatically correct to create a contraction of words followed by &quot;is&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;short-form&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16781" CreationDate="2011-03-18T08:24:14.723" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD contains the following note about &lt;em&gt;emigrate&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To emigrate is to leave a country, especially one's own, intending to remain away. To immigrate is to enter a country, intending to remain there: &lt;em&gt;my aunt emigrated from Poland and immigrated to Canada&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The OED reports that &lt;em&gt;immigrate&lt;/em&gt; is chiefly North American.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T08:24:14.723" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16797" CreationDate="2011-03-18T08:44:55.080" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Who's&lt;/em&gt; is the correct contraction of &lt;em&gt;who is&lt;/em&gt;, in the same way &lt;em&gt;let's&lt;/em&gt; is the contraction of &lt;em&gt;let us&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are no grammatical rules about not using &lt;em&gt;'s&lt;/em&gt; as a contraction of &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In some cases, there could be a confusion between &lt;em&gt;'s&lt;/em&gt; used as contraction of &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;'s&lt;/em&gt; used as possessive, but the rest of the sentence should clarify which is the exact meaning of the contraction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Geraldine's back&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Barak's thinking&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T08:44:55.080" />
  <row Id="16800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16797" CreationDate="2011-03-18T08:45:04.853" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;is&quot; can always be contracted, provided it is not stressed - though this is considered somewhat informal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in informal contexts,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fred is taller than Jim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;can be shortened to &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fred's taller than Jim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...it doesn't depend on what word comes before &quot;is&quot;. But if the &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; is emphatic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fred &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; taller than Jim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;then it would be wrong to contract that to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&amp;#42; Fred&lt;b&gt;'s&lt;/b&gt; taller than Jim.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is probably fairly obvious - if you are stressing a particular word, it doesn't pay to shorten it. But there are also other situations where the &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; has the emphasis, for instance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't know what it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;cannot be contracted to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&amp;#42; I don't know what it's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;even though&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't know what it is doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; be reduced to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't know what it's doing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T08:45:04.853" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9323" CreationDate="2011-03-18T08:59:44.660" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that the meaning of &lt;em&gt;all but&lt;/em&gt; is both &quot;very nearly&quot; and &quot;all except.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The subject was all but forgotten.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  We have support from all but one of the networks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would understand &quot;optical disc piracy in wealthy countries is all but eliminated&quot; as &quot;optical disc piracy in wealthy countries is almost eliminated.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T08:59:44.660" />
  <row Id="16802" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16806" CreationDate="2011-03-18T09:01:21.860" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;it refers to a discrete life form that has properties of mind (i.e. experience and character, &lt;strong&gt;cf.&lt;/strong&gt; sentience)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T10:49:28.500" Title="Meaning of 'cf.'" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="16803" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16808" CreationDate="2011-03-18T09:03:29.323" Score="5" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to write a tagline for my live blogging service, and this is what I've come up with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Live blogs that are a breeze to write, a pleasure to read and are actually updated in real-time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that correct grammar or should it be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Live blogs that are a breeze to write, a pleasure to read and actually updated in real-time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The completions 'a breeze to write' and 'a pleasure to read' both follow '... that are'. So why does 'are actually...' sound better to me? Doesn't that repeat the 'are'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5085" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T09:07:46.433" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T09:42:52.627" Title="Why does this sentence sound odd?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16768" CreationDate="2011-03-18T09:08:23.500" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on what you believe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A. Mathematical concepts exist.  (we find them out)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;B. Mathematical concepts don't exist. (we build them)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you believe A  then you can use &quot;discover&quot; else you can use &quot;invent&quot;.&#xA;Even if you believe A you can still use &quot;invent&quot; but that won't be consistent with your belief. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you believe that A is true then B is false for you and if you believe B is true then A is false for you. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no way to decided which one is actually true. That is why this debate can go on forever. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In real life, people don't really care which one (A,B) is true. So they are comfortable with either word. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such questions are bread and butter of philosophers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="332" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T09:08:23.500" />
  <row Id="16805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16803" CreationDate="2011-03-18T09:09:28.040" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say &quot;live blogs that are a breeze to write, a pleasure to read, and actually updated in real-time,&quot; in the same way I would say &quot;I have eaten, worked outside, and posted on a Q&amp;amp;A site all day.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T09:16:25.507" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T09:16:25.507" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16802" CreationDate="2011-03-18T09:11:55.540" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;cf., an abbreviation for the Latin word confer (the imperative singular form of &quot;conferre&quot;), literally meaning &quot;bring together&quot;, is used to refer to other material or ideas which may provide similar or different information or arguments. It is mainly used in scholarly contexts, such as in academic (mainly humanities, physics and biology) or legal texts. It is translated, and can be read aloud, as &quot;compare&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cf.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;-wikipedia&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="332" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T09:11:55.540" />
  <row Id="16807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16803" CreationDate="2011-03-18T09:13:28.407" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Live blogs that are a breeze to write and a pleasure to read &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;with the actually real-time update in the sub header&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T09:13:28.407" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16803" CreationDate="2011-03-18T09:15:29.637" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe it sounds better to you because &lt;em&gt;a pleasure to read&lt;/em&gt; parallels the structure of &lt;em&gt;a breeze to write&lt;/em&gt;, while &lt;em&gt;actually updated in real-time&lt;/em&gt; doesn't, so you subconsciously think of it as being separate from the former two. It feels a little awkward to me too, but including the &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; makes the sentence ungrammatical -- unless you move the &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; too:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Live blogs that are a breeze to write and a pleasure to read, and are actually updated in real-time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1635" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T09:15:29.637" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16802" CreationDate="2011-03-18T09:22:09.353" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports &lt;em&gt;cf.&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;compare with&quot; (used to refer a reader to another written work or another part of the same written work).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;It should not be confused with &lt;em&gt;c.f.&lt;/em&gt;, which means &quot;carried forward&quot; (used to refer to figures transferred to a new page or account).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T09:22:09.353" />
  <row Id="16810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16788" CreationDate="2011-03-18T09:28:43.217" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Provoke&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;stimulate or give rise to a reaction or emotion (typically a strong or unwelcome one) in someone,&quot; while &lt;em&gt;stir up&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;arouse strong feeling in (someone); move or excite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The decision provoked a storm of protest from civil rights organizations.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  She stirred up the sweating crowd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference is that &lt;em&gt;provoke&lt;/em&gt; is also used for an unwelcome reaction or emotion, while &lt;em&gt;stir up&lt;/em&gt; is used for a strong feeling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T09:28:43.217" />
  <row Id="16811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16803" CreationDate="2011-03-18T09:42:52.627" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why you need words like &quot;that are&quot; and  &quot;actually&quot;?. Your senetence can be simply - &quot;Live blogs are breeze to write , a pleasure to read and are realtime, too&quot;. You cant use plural and singular to describe the same thing. And the second are will be there as it is joing two sentences. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6251" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T09:42:52.627" />
  <row Id="16812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16776" CreationDate="2011-03-18T09:50:37.817" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In that sentence, &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; can be omitted, similarly to what is done in the following sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He will understand I was not joking.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Several people read the question you wrote.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I am sure you will be able to resolve the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would write the sentence avoiding to write &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; twice, but that doesn't mean it is wrong to write &quot;that that.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T15:09:38.583" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T15:09:38.583" />
  <row Id="16813" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16862" CreationDate="2011-03-18T09:56:45.610" Score="4" ViewCount="134" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually use &quot;at a company&quot; but I have encountered some articles using &lt;b&gt;in a company&lt;/b&gt;, &lt;b&gt;in XYZ firm&lt;/b&gt; or &lt;b&gt;in a organization&lt;/b&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is right? I am confused&lt;/p&gt; &#xA;" OwnerUserId="6252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T15:32:00.207" Title="Which one is right? He works at XYZ company or in XYZ company?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16813" CreationDate="2011-03-18T10:11:20.403" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For place where you are to do something typical (watch a film, study, work)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;at a company&lt;/strong&gt; is grammatically correct...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In&lt;/strong&gt; we use like : to show entrance, with month, time and so on &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you can refer this link to understand clearly..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/prepositions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/prepositions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5630" LastEditorUserId="5630" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T10:22:16.680" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T10:22:16.680" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16813" CreationDate="2011-03-18T10:15:34.193" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;I work at Avaya.&lt;/em&gt; — YEAH&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;I work for Avaya&lt;/em&gt; — YEAH&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;I'm with Avaya&lt;/em&gt; — YEAH&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;*&lt;em&gt;I work in Avaya?&lt;/em&gt; — NOPE&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;I work with Avaya&quot; is more likely to mean you aren't an employee but may be an independent contractor of some kind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks @Robusto for the insights!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T15:32:00.207" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T15:32:00.207" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="16817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16705" CreationDate="2011-03-18T10:19:44.850" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;You make me all &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/twitterpated&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;twitterpated&lt;/a&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T10:19:44.850" />
  <row Id="16818" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-18T10:38:44.297" Score="4" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some words have the same etymology, root, but mean different things, such as mysterious and mystical.  What are some other pairs (or more) that fall into this category, and what exactly is this category called?  Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6255" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T17:27:55.090" Title="Same root word but words with different meaning" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16767" CreationDate="2011-03-18T10:42:07.563" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Simply saying,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The level of the exam was below average.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T10:42:07.563" />
  <row Id="16820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16802" CreationDate="2011-03-18T10:49:28.500" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Granted, the literal translation from Latin is &quot;compare to&quot;.  In practice &lt;em&gt;cf&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;see also&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As explained by MachineCharmer, it is the abbreviation of Latin 'confer' and it is used in several languages in addition to English.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English being a conservative language has many more of these Latin abbreviations of Latin origin: cf &lt;code&gt;'i.e.', 'e.g.', 'viz', 'et al', 'ca', 'a.d.', 'vs'&lt;/code&gt;, etc... ;-) than other European languages influenced by Latin. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T10:49:28.500" />
  <row Id="16821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16781" CreationDate="2011-03-18T11:01:36.537" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, as an Indian ex-pat living and working in the UK:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're white-skinned and you move to another country you're said to have &lt;em&gt;emigrated&lt;/em&gt;. If you're not white-skinned and you move to another country you're an &lt;em&gt;immigrant&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="336" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T11:01:36.537" />
  <row Id="16822" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-18T11:12:23.550" Score="0" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a bit confused, how can I use these three words differently when their meaning is almost the same?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Extirpation&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Perdition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Smash&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5366" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T12:28:16.040" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T09:27:21.087" Title="&quot;Extirpation&quot; vs &quot;Perdition&quot; vs &quot;Smash&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16823" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16825" CreationDate="2011-03-18T11:15:58.117" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;How would you say in short that this question or point is no longer actual and you did not think about it.&#xA;Something like out of the agenda?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5334" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T19:50:56.340" Title="How would you say in short..." Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;short-form&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="16824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16785" CreationDate="2011-03-18T11:22:14.360" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Masochism?  Or masochistic tendencies?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6258" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T11:22:14.360" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16823" CreationDate="2011-03-18T11:22:35.267" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would simply say &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;“no longer on the agenda”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T11:22:35.267" />
  <row Id="16826" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16830" CreationDate="2011-03-18T11:24:59.787" Score="3" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between the religious connotations of &lt;em&gt;Perdition&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Hell&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T19:52:15.780" Title="Perdition vs Hell" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16823" CreationDate="2011-03-18T11:27:10.970" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That particular point is &lt;em&gt;Invalid&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Void&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Null&lt;/em&gt; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T11:27:10.970" />
  <row Id="16828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16822" CreationDate="2011-03-18T11:27:31.220" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meanings are certainly not the same, nor even “almost” the same. &lt;em&gt;perdition&lt;/em&gt; is the most peculiar of the three, meaning “damnation”, “hell” or “doom”. It is a name, with no corresponding verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Extirpate&lt;/em&gt; is a verb, completely synonymous with &lt;em&gt;eradicate&lt;/em&gt;; it implies complete destruction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Smash&lt;/em&gt;, like &lt;em&gt;demolish&lt;/em&gt;, implies complete wreckage, breaking into pieces, shattering (in addition to &lt;em&gt;demolish&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;smash&lt;/em&gt; has the idea of violence).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding usage, &lt;em&gt;smash&lt;/em&gt; is very widely used, though not specifically informal. The &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/em&gt; has 1972 hits, while it has 168 for &lt;em&gt;perdition&lt;/em&gt; (mainly in fiction and in academic theological works) and 59 for &lt;em&gt;extirpate&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T16:24:21.930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:24:21.930" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16785" CreationDate="2011-03-18T11:29:06.070" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'd describe a person who believes that they are in need of self-punishment as &lt;em&gt;penitent&lt;/em&gt;.  I think that's more a state of mind than an actual act of self-punishment, though.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T11:29:06.070" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16826" CreationDate="2011-03-18T11:32:43.333" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Perdition&lt;/em&gt; is the name, in Christian theology, of the state of eternal punishment. &lt;em&gt;Hell&lt;/em&gt; is the name given in many religions to a place where evil resides, and where people may be confined to after death, as a punishment for their behaviour during their life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So: &lt;em&gt;hell&lt;/em&gt; is a place, and it is a concept shared between many religions; &lt;em&gt;perdition&lt;/em&gt; is a state, and it is a specifically Christian concept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitions are those of the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;perdition&lt;/strong&gt;: (in Christian theology) a state of eternal punishment and damnation into which a sinful and unpenitent person passes after death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;hell&lt;/strong&gt;: a place regarded in various religions as a spiritual realm of evil and suffering, often traditionally depicted as a place of perpetual fire beneath the earth where the wicked are punished after death.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T19:52:15.780" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T19:52:15.780" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="16831" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-18T12:13:33.833" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4386/origin-of-different-past-tenses-for-verbs-with-the-same-endings&quot;&gt;Origin of different past tenses for verbs with the same endings?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spring has sprung, the bell we had to ring was rung, the sting was stung but when I had to ping a computer it was pinged and the thing I had to bring was brought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between a word that shifts in the past tense from &quot;ing&quot; to &quot;ung&quot; and those that shift to &quot;inged&quot; or something else? Where does it come from? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1725" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T13:24:04.403" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T13:24:04.403" ClosedDate="2011-03-18T12:40:03.427" Title="Why do some &quot;ing&quot; verbs change tense to &quot;ung&quot; while others go to &quot;inged?&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;ending&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16832" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16896" CreationDate="2011-03-18T12:14:32.553" Score="3" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a native English speaker, yet I cannot explain to a non-native speaker why I say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am interested in history.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as well as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;History is interesting to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is it &quot;is interesting&quot; when history is the subject, but not when I am?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6261" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T01:06:43.330" Title="What is the grammatical difference behind &quot;is interesting&quot; and &quot;is interested&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16832" CreationDate="2011-03-18T12:31:12.857" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is just a pure grammar. No need to be explained. Just to be remembered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5334" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T12:31:12.857" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16831" CreationDate="2011-03-18T12:40:21.350" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Changing the vowel of a verb (called &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ablaut&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ablaut&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;) used to be the most common way to put it in the past tense in prehistoric times. That is where our irregular verbs come from. In modern times, the regular way is by adding the suffix &lt;em&gt;-ed&lt;/em&gt; instead; that's why various verbs have various past forms now: we never decided to get rid of the old forms in one swoop (things are rarely &quot;decided&quot; in the natural development of language). The same applies to past participles like &quot;I sink, I have sunk&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T12:40:21.350" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16832" CreationDate="2011-03-18T12:49:32.490" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are both adjectives, but:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interesting refers to the subject.&#xA;Interested refers to the direct object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore using the wrong one would mean that 'I' am interesting, not History.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4781" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T12:49:32.490" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12845" CreationDate="2011-03-18T12:53:33.403" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In American English, it's /ˈmɑ:l/&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/mall&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/mall&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T12:53:33.403" />
  <row Id="16837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16826" CreationDate="2011-03-18T12:54:50.833" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both, Perdition and Hell are the same, but Hell seems to be a more universal place. As F'x has said its concept and name are shared between several religions, for example there is Helheim in Scandinavian mythology where a goddess (well, not actually a goddess, but to keep it simple...) named Hel lives and rules. Perdition is more specific, I think, and also it means destruction, death and downfall that is why Judas is called Son of Perdition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6116" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T12:54:50.833" />
  <row Id="16838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16791" CreationDate="2011-03-18T12:59:21.413" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have two options, a &lt;strong&gt;direct question&lt;/strong&gt; and an &lt;strong&gt;indirect question&lt;/strong&gt;. Both are correct, but they should not be mixed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So the question is: &quot;in what environment&#xA;  should I do it?&quot; (&lt;em&gt;direct&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So the question is in what environment I&#xA;  should do it. (&lt;em&gt;indirect&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;em&gt;direct question&lt;/em&gt;, you literally pose the question in the exact same words you would use if you actually asked someone the question; in direct questions, subject and finite verb are reversed so that you get &lt;code&gt;finite verb — subject&lt;/code&gt; (&quot;should I&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question mark is required; the quotation marks are not required (in your example I'd remove them); instead of the colon, you could use a comma (probably better in your example). Then you get n0nChun's version, which I agree is probably the best choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;em&gt;indirect question&lt;/em&gt;, you make the question subordinate to the main clause of the sentence, so that it isn't a literal question any more, and you use the regular order of &lt;code&gt;subject — finite verb&lt;/code&gt; (&quot;I should&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question mark should not be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T12:59:21.413" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16832" CreationDate="2011-03-18T13:01:44.173" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To expand on the other answers, there is nothing special about &lt;em&gt;interesting&lt;/em&gt; vs &lt;em&gt;interested&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am interested in X. — X is interesting to me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am excited about X. — X is exciting to me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am worried about X. — X is worrying to me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am horrified by X. — X is horrifying to me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am surprised by X. — X is surprising to me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am puzzled by X. — X is puzzling to me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am amazed by X. — X is amazing to me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And so on, and so forth. And note how saying &quot;X is interested in me&quot; would be perfectly grammatical. It just wouldn't mean the same thing as &quot;I am interested in X&quot;. But I don't see why that should be surprising. At all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T13:01:44.173" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="16840" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-18T13:12:34.890" Score="3" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the word for the mistake of placing an event or object in the wrong age or decade, such as a film star in a movie about Roman times wearing a robe made of nylon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6263" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T15:01:57.417" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T15:01:57.417" Title="Word for a time discrepancy in a story" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16840" CreationDate="2011-03-18T13:17:19.427" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word is &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/anachronism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;anachronism&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;anachronism&lt;/strong&gt; The representation of someone as existing or something as happening in other than chronological, proper, or historical order.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To use it as an adjective or adverb, use &lt;em&gt;anachronistic&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;anachronistically&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T13:17:19.427" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16840" CreationDate="2011-03-18T13:23:25.433" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you might mean anachronism.  (sp?)  I have too much cold medicine pumping through my bloodstream to know if I spelled it correctly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6264" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T13:23:25.433" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16843" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-18T13:26:14.020" Score="3" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can anyone tell me what the difference is between 'I'm cross with you' and 'I'm angry with you'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have the feeling that &lt;em&gt;being cross with someone&lt;/em&gt; (by the way, can you be cross 'at'? or is one always cross 'with'?) is more used in Britain than in the US. Is that correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6265" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T23:45:06.037" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T23:45:06.037" Title="Difference between &quot;cross with you&quot; and &quot;angry with you&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16843" CreationDate="2011-03-18T13:33:21.873" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cross&lt;/em&gt; is similar to &lt;em&gt;angry&lt;/em&gt;, only less intense. It is used to express anger at minor matters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You left the cream out all night. Now I'm cross with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She left me for another man. I was so angry with her I wanted to scream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T13:33:21.873" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16731" CreationDate="2011-03-18T13:47:10.513" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go with &lt;em&gt;damsel&lt;/em&gt;, or maybe a &lt;em&gt;wench&lt;/em&gt; (but it can also be associated with “prostitute”, so…).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T13:47:10.513" />
  <row Id="16846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16780" CreationDate="2011-03-18T13:51:49.120" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd add that you can have diacritics on words that are not loanwords, but derived after the name of a person (e.g., a scientist). For example, the unit equal to 10&lt;sup&gt;–10&lt;/sup&gt; meter is called the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;ångström&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (note the two cool diacritics), after A. J. Ångström.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T08:01:29.900" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T08:01:29.900" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16781" CreationDate="2011-03-18T13:55:35.447" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Emigrate means leaving a country, immigrate means entering a country. Like &quot;exhale&quot; versus &quot;inhale&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1420" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T13:55:35.447" />
  <row Id="16848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16843" CreationDate="2011-03-18T14:03:12.013" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be &lt;em&gt;cross&lt;/em&gt; implies &lt;em&gt;irritability&lt;/em&gt;, with a potential response that is vaguely &lt;em&gt;out of proportion&lt;/em&gt;, and surprising, given the nature of the transgression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Latin professor is a fair teacher,&#xA;  but don't cross him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=cross&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;This link&lt;/a&gt; hints at a nautical term, possibly stemming from cross-winds (?), though I am speculating on that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T14:03:12.013" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16849" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16823" CreationDate="2011-03-18T14:20:20.043" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/moot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Moot&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is another possibility.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T14:20:20.043" />
  <row Id="16850" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16865" CreationDate="2011-03-18T14:30:31.833" Score="14" ViewCount="975" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to write a letter to the editor of my local paper about their report of a man who doesn't think the rules apply to him.  Is there a word for this?  He's a bit of an egoist, demanding to speak at city council meetings after the public hearing portion of the meeting has been closed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3546" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T23:57:55.863" Title="Word for a person who doesn't think the rules apply to him" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="22" CommentCount="12" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="16851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-18T14:32:47.557" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try &lt;em&gt;self-important&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T14:32:47.557" />
  <row Id="16852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-18T14:37:14.153" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps &lt;em&gt;bumptious&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;presumptuous&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6267" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T23:56:55.147" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T23:56:55.147" />
  <row Id="16853" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-18T14:41:52.753" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Or a (self-centered) eccentric ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does &quot;eccentric&quot; really have positive connotation?   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nobody better encapsulates Google’s ambitions, its ethics, and its worldview. At the same time, Page can be &lt;strong&gt;eccentric, arrogant, and secretive&lt;/strong&gt;. Under his leadership, the company will be even harder to predict.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/03/mf_larrypage/all/1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wired&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5725" LastEditorUserId="5725" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T14:52:29.900" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T14:52:29.900" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16781" CreationDate="2011-03-18T14:42:56.097" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;e&quot; in emigrate is short for &quot;ex&quot;, which means &quot;out&quot;. You see it in words like exit (to leave), expire (out of breath &gt;&gt; out of time &gt;&gt; death), exterminate (to drive out).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;im&quot; in immigrate is a variant of &quot;in&quot;, which means in. You see it in words like internal (inside), insinuate (to curve in), input (that which is put in).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This &quot;in&quot; should not be confused with the other &quot;in&quot; which means &quot;not&quot;, used in such words as indiscriminate, incapable, and insatiable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to emigrate means to exit a location. To immigrate means to come into a location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5609" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T14:42:56.097" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-18T14:43:54.023" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This could be a possibility:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sociopath&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastEditorUserId="4929" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T14:55:47.740" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T14:55:47.740" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16856" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16875" CreationDate="2011-03-18T15:01:57.987" Score="5" ViewCount="205" Body="&lt;p&gt;It always bugged me that I do not know how to differentiate &quot;spatial&quot; from &quot;special&quot;. I would just say &quot;space&quot; to be clear when &quot;spatial&quot; is the grammatically correct choice. Are the standard pronunciations different? If not, is there a way to indicate that I am saying either of the two?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3554" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T06:42:14.087" Title="How to pronounce to differ spatial from special?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-18T15:02:36.863" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Egocentric // Egocentristic&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T11:34:49.450" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T11:34:49.450" />
  <row Id="16858" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-18T15:05:40.133" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;em&gt;Rebel&lt;/em&gt; for he resists the convention?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T15:05:40.133" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16859" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16868" CreationDate="2011-03-18T15:07:17.870" Score="1" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;Am I trying to take someones Frosted Flakes? Is this sage advice or an old wive's tale...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="5531" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T01:50:55.350" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T01:50:55.350" Title="&quot;Tiger by the tail&quot; - Meaning?/Etymology?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16860" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16856" CreationDate="2011-03-18T15:08:26.543" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Spatial - &lt;em&gt;Spay-tial&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Special - &lt;em&gt;Spe-tial&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T15:08:26.543" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="16861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16856" CreationDate="2011-03-18T15:14:57.020" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In all North American English that I'm aware of, &quot;special&quot; [/ˈspɛʃəl/] or [spesh-uhl] has an &quot;eh&quot; sound like &quot;speck&quot;, and &quot;spatial&quot; [/ˈspeɪʃəl/] has a long &quot;a&quot; sound, so it rhymes with facial, glacial, etc..  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T15:14:57.020" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16813" CreationDate="2011-03-18T15:16:18.877" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I work &lt;strong&gt;in/at/for&lt;/strong&gt; a company that makes microchips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I work &lt;strong&gt;at/for&lt;/strong&gt; Intel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I work &lt;strong&gt;in/for&lt;/strong&gt; Intel's accounting division. (&lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; sounds more natural in this case)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is virtually no difference in meaning, except that I would notice:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; tends to emphasize the relationship you have as an employee to your employer&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; / &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; are more about the physical place (this is where you go to work every day) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastEditorUserId="4744" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T15:24:11.663" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T15:24:11.663" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16859" CreationDate="2011-03-18T15:22:03.377" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a metaphor for a situation where trying to extricate yourself might be fatal. You have no option but to hang on and continue in circles - let go and the tiger will catch you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T15:22:03.377" />
  <row Id="16864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16785" CreationDate="2011-03-18T15:22:06.807" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Clinically, self-harm is grouped into different categories, but there doesn't seem to be one catch-all single-word term for it--just a collection of acronyms as outlined here from Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Self-harm (SH), also referred to as&#xA;  self-injury (SI), self-inflicted&#xA;  violence (SIV), Non-Suicidal Self&#xA;  Injury (NSSI) or self-injurious&#xA;  behaviour (SIB), refers to a spectrum&#xA;  of behaviours where demonstrable&#xA;  injury is self-inflicted. An&#xA;  example of self-harm/self-injury is&#xA;  cutting and is the second most common&#xA;  form of self-harm in the UK. The&#xA;  term self-mutilation is also sometimes&#xA;  used, although this phrase evokes&#xA;  connotations that some find worrisome,&#xA;  inaccurate, or offensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've heard people who cut themselves referred to, nonclinically, as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jimkukral.com/customer-evangelism-to-the-extreme/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;cutters&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. Of course, the more specific you get in terms of what harm is being done, the more choices there are for clinical terms describing that particular compulsion, e.g., &lt;em&gt;bulimia, anorexia&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichotillomania&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;trichotillomania&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algolagnia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;algolagnia&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, etc. Then there's the whole realm of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_modification&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;body modification&lt;/a&gt;, and a host of other specific terms like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarification&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;scarification&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T15:22:06.807" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-18T15:25:41.547" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For one-worders, I like @Robusto's &quot;self-important&quot; and @Nick's &quot;presumptuous.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll add &quot;inconsiderate,&quot; since I don't see that it's been added yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've also described people with similar tendencies as &quot;having an unjustified sense of entitlement,&quot; though I usually leave out &quot;unjustified.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;scofflaw&quot; is a fine word, but it's almost an archaic usage.  I just haven't heard it in non-facetious, non-ironic usage in USAmerican language. &#xA;&quot;bumptious&quot; falls into this category as well.  Nothing wrong with the word, but not used much.   It can be used.  Maybe you'll use it and start a trend.  Of course then it might become a cliché .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;sociopath&quot; is probably the correct diagnosis, and so has the advantage of being literally correct.  Probably a bit inflammatory (unless you mean to be inflammatory, in which case, have at it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't feel &quot;loose cannon&quot; is correct here, unless the OP has a different sense of the person in question than I'm getting.   Usually a loose cannon is someone who is institutionally entrenched and whose character is endangering either the institution or those it comes it contact with. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T17:38:18.163" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T17:38:18.163" />
  <row Id="16866" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16240" CreationDate="2011-03-18T16:06:53.820" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, if &quot;Thank God&quot; is offensive to a group or person, &quot;Thank god&quot; will be too.   Conversely, if someone is is unaffected by or indifferent to &quot;God,&quot; then &quot;god&quot; is likely to have the same non-effect. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think @PLL is right that &quot;Thank goodness&quot; is both nearly identical in meaning, and (&lt;em&gt;almost&lt;/em&gt; universally) inoffensive.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I wouldn't call it &quot;PC,&quot; though.  &quot;Politically correct&quot; is usually used by more conservative groups or individuals to refer to the verbal and institutional corrections (or hyper-corrections ) by groups perceived to be over-reacting to the possibility of offending under-represented others or favoring historical majorities.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As I say in my comment under PLL's answer, in my own usage, &quot;thank goodness&quot; has lost any connection to &quot;god&quot; or &quot;gods&quot;, and it is an purely abstract epithet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T16:06:53.820" />
  <row Id="16867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16859" CreationDate="2011-03-18T16:07:08.483" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a discussion &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/20/messages/1211.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;regarding this one here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There's a similar proverb: &quot;He who&#xA;  rides a tiger is afraid to dismount -&#xA;  Once a dangerous or troublesome&#xA;  venture is begun, the safest course is&#xA;  to carry it through to the end. 1875&#xA;  W. Scarborough 'Collection of Chinese&#xA;  Proverbs.'&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My inclination however is to disagree that &quot;tiger by the tail&quot; has the same meaning. In the proverb, getting off the tiger is dangerous (or fatal), and it's usually used when relinquishing control of something is difficult. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the phrase in question, however, the tiger is certainly capable of causing harm and holding its tail is likely to enrage it. Thus, in practice, the phrase means, &quot;trying to control X - or be in possession of X - is extremely dangerous.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant, the rescue crews are in danger because of the radiation, but the crisis will worsen if they flee; they have to stay in spite of the danger (&quot;he who rides the tiger...&quot;). However, the act of trying to control the reactors is deadly, and they have a tiger by the tail. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T16:07:08.483" />
  <row Id="16868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16859" CreationDate="2011-03-18T16:11:30.587" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's this from William Safire in &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/magazine/06ONLANGUAGE.html?_r=1&amp;amp;pagewanted=print&amp;amp;position=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The New York Times&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, writing about the phrase's origin:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;'Ch'i 'hu nan hsia pei'&lt;/em&gt; goes the&#xA;  Chinese proverb, translated in 1875 as&#xA;  'He who rides a tiger is afraid to&#xA;  dismount.' The Oxford Dictionary of&#xA;  Proverbs interprets the old Asian&#xA;  metaphor as 'Once a dangerous or&#xA;  troublesome venture is begun, the&#xA;  safest course is to carry it through&#xA;  to the end.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?pg=RA1-PA65&amp;amp;vq=tiger+by+the+tail&amp;amp;id=GyYAAAAAQAAJ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=tiger%20by%20the%20tail&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;earliest use&lt;/a&gt; of the phrase in print that I can find is from a &lt;em&gt;Journal of an Embassy from the  Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava, in the Year 1827&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Q. Did you ever hear the Burmans&#xA;  express regret for having entered into&#xA;  a war with the English ?—A. Yes, very&#xA;  often. A person from the palace told&#xA;  me, that three months after the&#xA;  arrival of the English at Rangoon, he&#xA;  heard the King say, 'He was in the&#xA;  predicament of a man who had got hold&#xA;  of a &lt;strong&gt;tiger by the tail&lt;/strong&gt;, which it was&#xA;  neither safe to hold nor let go.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(emphasis mine) which lends credence to the Chinese-origin theory. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T16:11:30.587" />
  <row Id="16869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16776" CreationDate="2011-03-18T16:20:37.230" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although &lt;em&gt;both&lt;/em&gt; are grammatically correct, the second one is quite natural. I said &lt;em&gt;natural&lt;/em&gt; because, native speakers spontaneously use the second form. In linguistics, this phenomenon is called as the &lt;em&gt;competence&lt;/em&gt; - native speakers intuitively choose the second sentence because, they know (naturally) that the first sentence would sound awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anyone using a sentence similar to the first one is undoubtedly a &lt;em&gt;non-native&lt;/em&gt; speaker! This condition will be vanished once the non-native speakers start socializing with native speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5959" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T16:20:37.230" />
  <row Id="16870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-18T16:23:06.290" Score="21" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;scofflaw : –noun&#xA;1.&#xA;a person who flouts the law, especially one who fails to pay fines owed.&#xA;2.&#xA;a person who flouts rules, conventions, or accepted practices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/scofflaw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/scofflaw&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6269" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T16:23:06.290" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16818" CreationDate="2011-03-18T16:42:28.027" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word to describe this situatino (about words) is &lt;strong&gt;cognate&lt;/strong&gt;. 'Skirt' and 'shirt' are cognate because they have a word in common etymologically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T16:42:28.027" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16818" CreationDate="2011-03-18T16:44:52.763" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are actually lots of these. They are called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublet_%28linguistics%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;doublets&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favorite example, which is not mentioned on that Wikipedia page, is the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Genre&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;gender&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;generic&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;genus&lt;/em&gt; all come from the Latin &lt;em&gt;genus&lt;/em&gt; meaning &quot;kind/class&quot; (although the word actually goes all the way back to Proto-Indo-European *gen-/*gon-/*gn- meaning &quot;produce, beget, be born&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T16:44:52.763" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-18T16:51:38.320" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;He's a &lt;em&gt;loose cannon&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;an unpredictable or uncontrolled&#xA;  person who is likely to cause&#xA;  unintentional damage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-New Oxford American&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a person whose reckless behavior&#xA;  endangers the efforts or welfare of&#xA;  others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-Dictionary.com&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(My initial answer was going to be &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/maverick&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;maverick&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, but this led me to &lt;em&gt;loose cannon&lt;/em&gt; and I liked it better.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T18:02:18.727" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T18:02:18.727" />
  <row Id="16874" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16768" CreationDate="2011-03-18T16:51:51.027" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Discover is typically used among mathematicians.  Most mathematicians are typically Platonists internally, even though the Platonist view has no real credibility among philosophers or those that study the philosophy of mathematics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since most mathematicians are atheists (based on my experience in grad school and in working as a math professor), it would be more consistent for them to speak of inventing theorems, but they just don't.  I suspect that the reason for this is that in the process of doing mathematics it is expedient to think as if this stuff is simply &lt;em&gt;out there&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4983" LastEditorUserId="4983" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T17:36:26.587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T17:36:26.587" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="16875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16856" CreationDate="2011-03-18T17:09:36.640" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The long 'a' in 'spatial' is a diphthong made by combining a short 'e', like the start of 'elephant', and a long 'e', like the start of 'eel'.  Like other diphthongs, these two sounds should meld together quickly and smoothly so that they appear as a single sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The short 'e' in 'special', is not a diphthong and sounds like the short 'e' at the beginning of 'elephant'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could make a further distinction between the two words by pronouncing the 't' in 'spatial' as an 's' sound, producing 'SPAY-seal'.  It will be understood by most people and make you sound like Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the Enterprise (Star Trek television show.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T17:09:36.640" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="16876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-18T17:20:25.520" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about just &lt;em&gt;selfish&lt;/em&gt;?  He certainly seems so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2194" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T17:20:25.520" />
  <row Id="16877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16818" CreationDate="2011-03-18T17:27:55.090" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to point out, doublets are cognates within a single language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My favorite pair is galaxy and lactose, which come from the Greek word for milk, gala. The genitive is galaktos. Apparently, Milky Way wasn't a weird choice of name at all...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T17:27:55.090" />
  <row Id="16878" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16856" CreationDate="2011-03-18T17:35:41.830" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason why &lt;em&gt;spatial&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced the way it is (/ˈspeɪʃəl/), like &lt;em&gt;space&lt;/em&gt; (/ˈspeɪs/), is probably that both come from the same root.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Medieval manuscripts (here I go again), c and t were often indistinguishable, i.e. visually identical; moreover, at some point they often came to be used interchangeably even where the letters were in fact distinguishable (though not universally so). That is probably why we use illogical c and t in some words; that is, the variation is surprising when you consider their etymology and inconsistent with similar words. &lt;em&gt;Space&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;spatial&lt;/em&gt; (Latin &lt;em&gt;spatium&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;spatialis&lt;/em&gt;), &lt;em&gt;vicious&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;vitiate&lt;/em&gt; (Latin &lt;em&gt;vitiosus&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;vitiare&lt;/em&gt;), &lt;em&gt;independence&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;independent&lt;/em&gt; (Latin &lt;em&gt;independentia&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;independent-&lt;/em&gt;), &lt;em&gt;interstice&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;interstitial&lt;/em&gt; (Latin &lt;em&gt;interstitium&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;interstitialis&lt;/em&gt;), etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that these changes probably occurred in the Latin and French words before English borrowed them. The fact that we have both t and c forms is probably partly due to the fact that we borrowed French words in several stages, between which changes from t to c and back may have occurred in French.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the Renaissance, scholars realized that all the c's in such words had actually been t's as the Romans spelled them, and they mostly succeeded in bringing Latin spelling back in line with Roman practice. But they mostly failed in reversing pronunciation. The old international overlap of c and t is probably the cause of our modern pronunciation of &lt;em&gt;-ti-&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;-ci-&lt;/em&gt; in words of Latin and French origin: we pronounce &lt;em&gt;nation&lt;/em&gt; as nay-shuhn (as though it were &lt;em&gt;nacion&lt;/em&gt;, common Medieval spelling), instead of nay-ti-uhn, which it should be if we pronounced the t in a regular way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most modern European languages pronounce this &lt;em&gt;-ti-&lt;/em&gt; in an unusual manner for similar reasons, based on Medieval Latin/French &lt;em&gt;-ci-&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Dutch &lt;em&gt;actie&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;-tie-&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced /see/ or /si/; &lt;em&gt;actief&lt;/em&gt; has /tee/ or /ti/; &lt;em&gt;natie&lt;/em&gt; has /ts/; and &lt;em&gt;nationaal&lt;/em&gt; can be either /ch/ as in English &quot;rich&quot; or (usually) /sh/ as in &quot;posh&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;German usually has /ts/ (though it is usually spelled &lt;em&gt;-zi-&lt;/em&gt; in German), which is how &lt;em&gt;-ci-&lt;/em&gt; would normally be pronounced in German. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;French &lt;em&gt;nation&lt;/em&gt; etc. usually has something like /sy/ (though spelled &lt;em&gt;-ci-&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;-c-&lt;/em&gt; in many words). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Spanish usually spells c (as in &lt;em&gt;nación&lt;/em&gt;) and pronounces it like normal &lt;em&gt;-ci-&lt;/em&gt; (voiceless dental fricative in Castilian; something closer to /s/ in most other dialects). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Italian spelling is usually highly phonetic, which is why they spell &lt;em&gt;nazionale&lt;/em&gt; and pronounce it as ordinary z, something close to /ts/ or /dz/.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T21:11:18.790" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T21:11:18.790" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16879" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16881" CreationDate="2011-03-18T17:40:51.340" Score="2" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;Feeling rather bogeyed, I'm looking for some fore-closure to this query — help!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T19:53:58.627" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T19:53:58.627" Title="Why do golfers yell: “Fore”?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16879" CreationDate="2011-03-18T17:45:50.337" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fore&quot; in this sense is the same as in a book's &quot;foreword,&quot; i.e., &quot;that which goes before.&quot; Or even, the 'fore' in &quot;before.&quot; Means &quot;those in the fore should look out - here comes a shot.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T17:45:50.337" />
  <row Id="16881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16879" CreationDate="2011-03-18T18:00:02.307" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most interesting.  I lways knew it was a traditional warning cry while golfing, but I just googled it and there is sever possible sources&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Cut paste and some editing from WIKIPEDIA]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is mentioned as early as 1881. The term means &quot;look ahead&quot;, and it is believed to come from the military &quot;beware before&quot;, which was shouted when a battery fired behind friendly troops.&#xA;- This one sounds most likely to me - it just fits with the Scots and the British history as I know it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other possible origins include the term being derived from the term &quot;fore-caddy&quot;, a caddy waiting down range from the golfer to find where the ball lands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also may have a contraction of the Gaelic cry Faugh a Ballach! (i.e. Clear the way!) which is still associated with the sport of road bowling which has features reminiscent of golf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;=When I get to work I'll try to look it up in the OED and see when it was first used in written form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4116" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T18:00:02.307" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16882" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-18T18:50:57.517" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi&#xA;I was wondering what the difference was between a sentence with have and one with do.&#xA;For example this one:&#xA;'They haven't started yet'&#xA;vs.&#xA;'They didn't start yet'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a difference? when would one use the first or the latter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6265" LastEditorUserId="1579" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T19:09:30.653" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T19:15:46.900" Title="difference between 'haven't ...yet' and 'didn't.... yet'" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16883" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16887" CreationDate="2011-03-18T19:00:40.697" Score="6" ViewCount="125" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are these the same?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The image will be sheared such that the x-axis goes through (1,1).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The image will be sheared so that the x-axis goes through (1,1).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think I have usually seen the former, I didn't even know that «so that» is allowed in English until I once saw it in a text from a (as I assume) native English speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simon&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5740" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T20:14:24.320" Title="Difference between «so that» and «such that»" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16882" CreationDate="2011-03-18T19:08:57.580" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia has &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Past_tense&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a decent article on past tenses&lt;/a&gt; that explains a lot of this.  To summarise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;They didn't start yet&quot; is the negative form of the &lt;em&gt;simple past&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;They started.&quot;  In the positive form it indicates that the activity happened at some definite known point in the past, and is over and done with now.  In the negative form this is a more nebulous idea, but in this example it would imply that &quot;they&quot; were supposed to have started at some time.  In view of that, &quot;They didn't start &lt;em&gt;yet&lt;/em&gt;&quot; sounds odd.  &quot;They didn't start&quot; is a complete idea, and &quot;yet&quot; tries to extend it in time in a way that the simple past doesn't allow for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;They haven't started yet&quot; is the negative of the &lt;em&gt;perfect tense&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;They have started.&quot;  As the article puts it, it is &quot;used for describing a past action's effect on the present.&quot;  It more or less requires that the idea gets extended in time, which &quot;yet&quot; does nicely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T19:08:57.580" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16882" CreationDate="2011-03-18T19:15:46.900" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;“…haven't…yet” implies a statement about the present, i.e. what is currently happening. “Didn't” however implies a statement about the past, i.e. what has already happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my view the “didn't” and “yet” in your second example therefore don't fit naturally together.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that there are constructions where “didn't” and “yet” would go together, for example “they didn't know yet.” The difference here is that the “yet” is implying some other past event (from the point of view of the writer) rather than something yet to happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this is clear enough!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(One comment on your question: “first” and “latter” are not naturally complementary words; I would suggest “former” for the former.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6272" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T19:15:46.900" />
  <row Id="16886" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-18T19:19:01.063" Score="4" ViewCount="206" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do we use the word &lt;em&gt;undiscovered&lt;/em&gt;? As far as I know, un&amp;ndash; and dis&amp;ndash; have the same negative meaning; why don't we just say &quot;covered&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6226" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T20:37:03.437" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T03:58:23.053" Title="Why isn't the word &quot;undiscovered&quot; a double negative?" Tags="&lt;prefixes&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16883" CreationDate="2011-03-18T19:21:35.803" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentences, while very similar, do have a subtle difference of meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Such that&quot; is a description of HOW something is to be done:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The image will be sheared such that the x-axis goes through (1,1). -&gt; The image will be sheared in such a way that the x-axis goes through (1,1).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;So that&quot; is a description of WHY something is to be done:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The image will be sheared so that the x-axis goes through (1,1) -&gt; The image will be sheared in order for the x-axis to go through (1,1).  (Or, more obviously: Because the x-axis needs to pass through (1,1), the image will be sheared appropriately.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T19:21:35.803" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16886" CreationDate="2011-03-18T19:26:57.377" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm no etymology expert, but this is an interesting question. Might it be because &lt;em&gt;covered&lt;/em&gt; suggests an intention to keep something secret, thus creating the need for an alternative word that means &quot;something we just haven't found yet but that isn't an intentional secret&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T19:26:57.377" />
  <row Id="16890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-18T19:27:01.610" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;renegade&lt;/em&gt; comes to my mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2093" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T23:57:18.407" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T23:57:18.407" />
  <row Id="16891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16886" CreationDate="2011-03-18T19:30:07.467" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because “discovered” has over time developed its a meaning independent of its roots, and is not the converse of “covered” in modern usage. (That would be “uncovered.”) We therefore use a more complex word—undiscovered—to express this concept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6272" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T19:30:07.467" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16832" CreationDate="2011-03-18T19:42:31.840" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you wanted to make yourself the object, you could also say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;History interests me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6272" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T19:42:31.840" />
  <row Id="16894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16823" CreationDate="2011-03-18T19:50:56.340" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/redundant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;redundant&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/immaterial&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;immaterial&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/irrelevant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;irrelevant&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6272" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T19:50:56.340" />
  <row Id="16895" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16791" CreationDate="2011-03-18T19:56:47.540" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest ending the sentence with “so” rather than “it”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So if I am to modify the programme, the question is: in what environment should I do &lt;strong&gt;so&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6272" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T19:56:47.540" />
  <row Id="16896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16832" CreationDate="2011-03-18T20:03:28.910" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Start with the verb form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;History shocks me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two parties to this kind of shocking event: a shock-er, the one doing the shocking (in this case, &lt;em&gt;history&lt;/em&gt;); and a shock-ee, the one being shocked (in this case, &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt;). In grammar, the first is called the &lt;strong&gt;agent&lt;/strong&gt; and the second the &lt;strong&gt;patient&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;English would be very confusing if we had no way to tell which was which! Fortunately we do. When &lt;em&gt;shock&lt;/em&gt; is used as a verb, the main hint is the word order: &lt;em&gt;John shocked Kaitlin&lt;/em&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;Kaitlin shocked John&lt;/em&gt;. The subject is the agent. The direct object is the patient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To turn a verb into an adjective, we use different suffixes that help make this distinction. The suffix &lt;em&gt;-ing&lt;/em&gt; makes an adjective (called a participle) that describes the agent: &lt;em&gt;shock&lt;/em&gt; &amp;rarr; &lt;em&gt;shocking&lt;/em&gt;, tends to shock people. The suffix &lt;em&gt;-ed&lt;/em&gt; makes an adjective (called the past participle) that describes the patient: &lt;em&gt;shock&lt;/em&gt; &amp;rarr; &lt;em&gt;shocked&lt;/em&gt;, startled or upset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Many words have irregular past participles: &lt;em&gt;break&lt;/em&gt; &amp;rarr; &lt;em&gt;broken&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;breaked&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastEditorUserId="2249" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T01:06:43.330" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T01:06:43.330" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16785" CreationDate="2011-03-18T20:04:37.550" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Ascetism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Asceticism&lt;/a&gt; is a form of self-denial, or voluntary suffering, especially as a way of life. It isn't always associated with guilt though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T20:04:37.550" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16898" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16902" CreationDate="2011-03-18T20:10:56.723" Score="3" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to say I may mislead you again:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;because of my poor English,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in a good manner&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the responsibility is mine (no need to speak out, just let she surely know this).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;i.e., I'm afraid of my poor English...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T09:04:00.737" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T09:04:00.737" Title="How to say I may mislead you again?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16883" CreationDate="2011-03-18T20:14:24.320" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say “ The image will be sheared &lt;strong&gt;such that&lt;/strong&gt; the x-axis goes through (1,1)” but, as indicated by Hellion, would keep the other construct to express some higher-level aim: “ The image will be sheared &lt;strong&gt;so that&lt;/strong&gt; it is clearer”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T20:14:24.320" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16832" CreationDate="2011-03-18T20:14:36.123" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;People are &lt;em&gt;interested&lt;/em&gt;; topics are &lt;em&gt;interesting&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T20:14:36.123" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16898" CreationDate="2011-03-18T20:15:36.470" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say &quot;I apologize for any misunderstanding. I am still learning English.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T20:15:36.470" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16898" CreationDate="2011-03-18T20:16:59.030" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to indicate all three in a single sentence, I would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I do apologise in advance if my poor English leads to any misunderstanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T20:16:59.030" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-18T20:22:36.513" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I like &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/recalcitrant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;recalcitrant&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/contumacious&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;contumacious&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, but then I'm addicted to syllables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6272" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T20:22:36.513" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16886" CreationDate="2011-03-18T20:28:37.617" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because English language can express more florid concepts than mathematics. I am sure we could design a more logical language based on signed (positive/negative) concepts and I think it may have been tried before (1984 doublethink).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I say I am tracted - by your logic that means I am focused rather than distracted. But if my point is not so much that I am focused but more that my focus has not been disturbed and I make no comment about whether I am focused or not - I could say I am undistracted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6275" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T20:28:37.617" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16898" CreationDate="2011-03-18T20:45:02.220" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An alternative to using &quot;apologize&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please excuse my English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T20:45:02.220" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16898" CreationDate="2011-03-18T21:09:13.667" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm afraid my English didn't serve me&#xA;  well.  I promise I will work hard on&#xA;  it (e.g. I will be reading EL&amp;amp;U every day). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And, for good measure, just add:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please let me know if it ever happens&#xA;  again...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One never knows...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="5432" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T17:34:10.823" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T17:34:10.823" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16785" CreationDate="2011-03-18T21:21:01.603" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Playing off of Jason Orendorff's answer, the thesaurus entry for &quot;Asceticism&quot; gives some of these similar words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Austerity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Aceration (hard word to find. From the word Acerate, meaning needle-like)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Perhaps &quot;Stoicism&quot; or &quot;Stoic&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6192" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T21:21:01.603" />
  <row Id="16909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-18T22:04:54.127" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I kind of like &quot;self-important gadfly&quot;, but that's just me. &quot;Gadfly&quot; can have positive connotations when not qualified.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3497" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T23:55:06.787" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T23:55:06.787" />
  <row Id="16910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16625" CreationDate="2011-03-18T22:23:45.927" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Hawai'i, we refer to volcanic gravel as &quot;cinder&quot; while larger rocks are referred to as &quot;clinker.&quot; &quot;Ash&quot; is used to refer to fine rock powder. &quot;Cinder cones&quot; are common features on the Big Island of Hawai'i.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6277" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T22:23:45.927" />
  <row Id="16911" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16912" CreationDate="2011-03-18T22:28:23.137" Score="2" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a part of a sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;As many of you will have seen yesterday, ...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does it mean? &quot;will&quot; and &quot;yesterday&quot; seem to be in contradiction. Is that a correct sentence? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="153" LastEditorUserId="6272" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T23:31:25.423" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T12:15:01.813" Title="... will have seen yesterday..." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="16912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16911" CreationDate="2011-03-18T23:20:07.920" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this is incorrect, but it's complicated. My best guess is that this a manager-speak corruption of a conditional perfect clause, with some inbuilt assumptions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exhibit A:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you had read the news yesterday, you would have seen…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a standard conditional perfect construction. However, I think that the speaker in your example is making a tacit assumption that everyone has read the news, and therefore drops the first part.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exhibit B:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You would have seen yesterday…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But that seems to lack conviction, so they trade up from a “would” to a “will”, and in doing so wreck the grammar of the whole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Exhibit C:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You will have seen yesterday…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(In my experience this is exactly the kind of thing that senior executives say when discussing company-wide restructures.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6272" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T23:20:07.920" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16911" CreationDate="2011-03-19T01:20:43.687" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;On the one hand, this seems to be accepted usage; I'm sure I've heard it, and it doesn't sound horrible, at least.  (Although, as maniacyak points out in his excellent answer, it is probably incorrect grammar.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, simply saying &quot;As many of you saw yesterday&quot; seems so much more obvious.  At worst, &quot;As many of you should have seen yesterday&quot; is grammatically correct and expresses the apparently intended meaning adequately.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T01:20:43.687" />
  <row Id="16914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16911" CreationDate="2011-03-19T01:34:59.107" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In short, it would probably be better to restructure the sentence. The following is how I think your sentence came to be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1.) As many of you &lt;em&gt;saw yesterday&lt;/em&gt;, she&#xA;  sucked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a simple situation, in which I describe what you saw yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2.) As many of you &lt;em&gt;have seen&lt;/em&gt;, she sucked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is a situation in the present, in which I describe what you have seen at an unspecified time in the past (hence the present perfect).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;3.) As many of you &lt;em&gt;will agree&lt;/em&gt;, she sucked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here I presume that you will agree that she sucked, if I should ask your opinion. The &quot;if I should ask your opinion&quot; is implicit. &lt;em&gt;You will agree&lt;/em&gt; could be reworded as &quot;it will turn out that you agree&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;4.) As many of you &lt;em&gt;will have seen&lt;/em&gt;, she sucked &lt;em&gt;yesterday&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now how should this be parsed? The use of &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; to indicate future probability is quite unremarkable on its own, as seen in (3.) above. It is the combination with &lt;em&gt;have seen&lt;/em&gt; that makes it complex.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I.&lt;/strong&gt;  &quot;It will probably turn out that you &lt;strong&gt;saw&lt;/strong&gt; that she sucked&quot;, or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;II.&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;it will probably turn out that you &lt;strong&gt;have seen&lt;/strong&gt; that she sucked&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, &lt;em&gt;saw&lt;/em&gt; would seem to imply that new light will be shed upon what you saw &lt;em&gt;at that moment in the past&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;have seen&lt;/em&gt; would imply that some light will be thrown upon &lt;em&gt;the current result of this seeing&lt;/em&gt; (which itself happened in the past).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have a feeling that &lt;em&gt;have seen&lt;/em&gt; would be more appropriate: I am talking about your seeing &lt;em&gt;as relevant for the present&lt;/em&gt; (hence the present perfect): you have seen that she sucked now. However, I think &lt;em&gt;saw&lt;/em&gt; is not impossible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;5.) ? As many of you &lt;em&gt;will have seen yesterday&lt;/em&gt;, she sucked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here &lt;em&gt;yesterday&lt;/em&gt;, which would normally be in the main clause as in (4.), has crept into the &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt; clause. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe this sentence is probably technically wrong, if we assume that &lt;em&gt;will have seen&lt;/em&gt; has a value similar to that of the present perfect here, as explained above, and should hence not be used with a specific time in the past. But it might then still be acceptable if we should allow that an adverb will sometimes be technically at a place in the sentence where it doesn't belong semantically, as happens often with negations and sometimes with other adverbs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, I think this sentence is dubious and had better be recast. Either &lt;em&gt;yesterday&lt;/em&gt; should be moved to the main clause where it belongs, or &lt;em&gt;will have seen&lt;/em&gt; should be replaced with &lt;em&gt;saw&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then again, there is the American habit of sometimes using the past simple where an Englishman would normally use the present perfect, as in &quot;I just finished my homework&quot;; perhaps this &lt;em&gt;will have seen&lt;/em&gt; could be defended on those grounds—but I'm not the man for that job.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T01:46:25.493" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T01:46:25.493" />
  <row Id="16915" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-19T02:39:17.820" Score="1" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to know the difference between the usage of &quot;kinds of books&quot; or &quot;kind of books&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6282" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T03:51:56.627" Title="difference between kinds of book or kinds of books" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16916" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16917" CreationDate="2011-03-19T02:57:54.070" Score="1" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;I always hate that&quot; gramatically correct? Is this a common phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You're always taking pictures of&#xA;  everything. I always hate that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T14:52:13.560" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T15:13:59.033" Title="&quot;I always hate that.&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16916" CreationDate="2011-03-19T03:31:42.423" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it means &quot;that always annoys me&quot;. It's common enough.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Verbs like &quot;like&quot;, &quot;hate&quot;, &quot;prefer&quot; are usually what are termed &lt;strong&gt;stative&lt;/strong&gt; verbs: they are usde to express a &quot;general, ongoing truth&quot; rather than something that is true at a particular, clearly-defined time. Some verbs can have stative and non-stative uses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He &lt;em&gt;speaks&lt;/em&gt; French. (Stative)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He &lt;em&gt;speaks&lt;/em&gt; at the French Assembly&#xA;  tomorrow. (Non-stative)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Verbs like &quot;hate&quot; are more readily stative. So in the following case, the first sentence seems a bit more usual than the second (to understand the simple present tense forms, we're using them as a &quot;historic present&quot; to describe actions that actually happened in the past in this case):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At four o'clock, he &lt;em&gt;decides&lt;/em&gt; to leave the office.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;?At four o'clock, he &lt;em&gt;hates&lt;/em&gt; what he is doing and decides to leave the office.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, such uses aren't &lt;em&gt;absolutely&lt;/em&gt; impossible. Many essentially stative verbs like &quot;hate&quot;, as in the last example, can be &quot;just about&quot; forced into a non-stative interpretation in the right context. And this is what we witness in &quot;I always hate it when...&quot;. Other examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How &lt;em&gt;are you liking&lt;/em&gt; your new job this time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why &lt;em&gt;are you&lt;/em&gt; so sarcastic with him every time he expreses his opinion?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He saw the bloody knife in the drawer. At that very moment he &lt;em&gt;knew&lt;/em&gt; what had happened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastEditorUserId="4941" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T15:13:59.033" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T15:13:59.033" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16918" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16915" CreationDate="2011-03-19T03:51:56.627" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Kinds of books&quot; refers to multiple kinds and multiple books. &quot;Kind of books&quot; refers to a single kind of book of which there are multiple examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T03:51:56.627" />
  <row Id="16919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16916" CreationDate="2011-03-19T04:01:33.990" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can see how &quot;always&quot; and &quot;hate&quot; may be partially redundant. &quot;Hate&quot; in the present tense can have a perpetual or longer than fleeting connotation to it (a person's hates or loves generally do not change overnight), so to an extent adding &quot;always&quot; to the statement could be redundant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast, if it were worded &quot;I have always hated that.&quot;, then the use of &quot;always&quot; with &quot;have hated&quot; has no redundancy to it, in my mind, because &quot;have hated&quot; would imply a terminus if without &quot;always&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the original statement grammatically correct? Yes. Is it common? Yes, I believe so. Is it logical or consistent in construction? Not perfectly (unless you view it simply as an expression).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5709" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T04:08:58.957" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T04:08:58.957" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-19T04:28:11.790" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What—nobody thought of &quot;pompous&quot;?  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pompous&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;From Webster&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;pompous - having or exhibiting self-importance : arrogant  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5039" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T23:57:55.863" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T23:57:55.863" />
  <row Id="16921" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-19T05:32:26.487" Score="0" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sentence is the short form of &quot;A makes B good, and C makes B good too.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, what is the short form of &quot;A makes B good, and A makes C good too?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T14:50:09.770" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T10:44:18.187" Title="&quot;A makes B good, and so does C&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="16922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16921" CreationDate="2011-03-19T05:41:17.593" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Possibly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A makes B good, as well as C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though this may be ambiguous (though it will probably be obvious from context).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe this would be better:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A makes B good, and makes C good as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps just say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A makes B and C good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4781" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T05:41:17.593" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-19T06:16:06.103" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps not a single word, but a phrase: your man is &lt;em&gt;acting with impunity&lt;/em&gt;. Quite literally; as if the laws of the meeting don't apply to him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Impunity&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;exemption or immunity from punishment&#xA;  or recrimination&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2080" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T06:16:06.103" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16911" CreationDate="2011-03-19T06:26:53.387" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not incorrect - in the future (one second from now as I complete my sentence) you will reflect on the past event. Tense wise it's logical, but it's pretty unnecessary. No meaning is lost by saying &quot;As many of you have seen yesterday,...&quot; Even changing it to &quot;As many of you saw yesterday,...&quot; doesn't mean anything different. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you say that in speech, there's nothing wrong with it - rules of grammar are more important in writing since you have more time to consider what you're going to write &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; have the opportunity to edit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6287" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T06:26:53.387" />
  <row Id="16925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16886" CreationDate="2011-03-19T06:34:33.033" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Un- and dis- don't have the same meaning. For example &lt;em&gt;uninterested&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;not interested&lt;/em&gt; while &lt;em&gt;disinterested&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;not biased&lt;/em&gt;. Dis- has a different effect on covered from un-. If something is &lt;em&gt;uncovered&lt;/em&gt; it could mean that it has never been covered or hidden. If something is &lt;em&gt;discovered&lt;/em&gt; it means that it has changed state from being &lt;em&gt;covered&lt;/em&gt; to being &lt;em&gt;uncovered&lt;/em&gt;. It would also usually be that whatever it is has been covered by ignorance - once something is known, the veil of ignorance has been lifted and the thing has been discovered. That's why you'd say undiscovered instead of hidden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6287" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T06:34:33.033" />
  <row Id="16926" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16856" CreationDate="2011-03-19T06:42:14.087" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you say &quot;special&quot; like &quot;spshl&quot; it'll sound a bit odd, but still be fairly close. The &quot;e&quot; is pronounced as a &quot;schwa&quot;, the default noun someone without a tongue would make. Spatial has to be clearly enunciated, and the &quot;a&quot; would be elongated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6287" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T06:42:14.087" />
  <row Id="16927" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-19T07:09:52.397" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about &lt;em&gt;misfit&lt;/em&gt; since you said 'rules doesn't apply to him'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1281" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T07:09:52.397" />
  <row Id="16928" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16933" CreationDate="2011-03-19T07:09:56.667" Score="0" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;not kidding&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;no kidding&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;no kidding&lt;/em&gt; valid English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4070" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T14:18:45.603" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T14:18:45.603" Title="&quot;No kidding&quot; and &quot;not kidding&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;negation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16928" CreationDate="2011-03-19T07:22:21.413" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;No kidding&quot; means &quot;I agree,&quot; while &quot;not kidding&quot; means &quot;I'm not joking.&quot; &quot;No kidding&quot; could also mean &quot;no joking allowed.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is valid English, but only in certain registers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6287" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T07:22:21.413" />
  <row Id="16930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-19T07:48:14.543" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;May be a bit extreme but: &lt;em&gt;psychopath&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;megalomaniac&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6289" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T23:54:35.587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T23:54:35.587" />
  <row Id="16931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11954" CreationDate="2011-03-19T07:51:27.847" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;ostentation - Ambitious display; pretentious parade; vain show; display intended to excite admiration or applause; A show or spectacle&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sententious - excessive moralizing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6289" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T07:51:27.847" />
  <row Id="16932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16921" CreationDate="2011-03-19T07:52:35.863" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Either A or C makes B good  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;B is good due to either A or C&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Both A and C make B good&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the last form, implies that A and C are required simultaneously to make C good.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT, post comment.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A makes B good, as does C&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5930" LastEditorUserId="5930" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T10:44:18.187" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T10:44:18.187" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16928" CreationDate="2011-03-19T08:07:23.030" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrases mean roughly the same thing in most contexts, but are used slightly differently (&lt;em&gt;not kidding&lt;/em&gt; requires mentioning &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; isn't kidding, whereas with &lt;em&gt;no kidding&lt;/em&gt; it is implicit). There are many ways these phrases can be used in colloquial English, including:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This may be hard to believe, but I'm honestly not joking&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There was a goose in our kitchen - no kidding! (&lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; I'm not kidding!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Really? You're not joking?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-There was a goose in our kitchen!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-No kidding?! (&lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; You're kidding me?!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I couldn't agree more; Yes, I know, I experienced it myself.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-It must have been hard for you to go without food for six weeks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;-No kidding! (&lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; You're not kidding!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Don't fool around&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No kidding around now please!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T08:07:23.030" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-19T08:31:39.420" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Criminal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That would seem to fit the bill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6290" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T08:31:39.420" />
  <row Id="16935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16780" CreationDate="2011-03-19T09:04:15.967" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bront%C3%AB_family#Origin_of_the_name&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Brontë&lt;/a&gt; surname?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4501" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T09:04:15.967" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16936" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16937" CreationDate="2011-03-19T09:07:12.650" Score="12" ViewCount="315" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am doing these days a lot of collaborative writing with a colleague born and raised in Russia, and now working in the US. He has a very good English and yet, as we circulated various texts, I noticed that he tends to drop the definite article, &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;, more than is acceptable. I attributed that to a trend of his native language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because I will continue working with him for some time, I hope to be aware of other such possible errors influenced by his mother tongue (especially because I'm not a native English speaker either!). So, what are common errors (or shibboleths) of native Russian speakers when they write in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:34:41.937" Title="Are there shibboleths specific to native Russian speakers?" Tags="&lt;shibboleth&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="16937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16936" CreationDate="2011-03-19T09:31:44.310" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A, an&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; are all dropped.&#xA;Using past tense with did (in my experience almost all non-native do this until they learn not to). Sometimes using she instead of he.&#xA;Word order is not as important in Russian as in English.&#xA;Missing prepositions &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Russians I have met who have large vocabularies tend to stress words with more than two syllables in an idiosyncratic manner since they likely only ever read the words.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have the same problem on rare occasions where I know a word, know how to use it but guess the pronunciation since I got it from literature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More here&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/russian.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/russian.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T09:51:15.567" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T09:51:15.567" />
  <row Id="16938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16936" CreationDate="2011-03-19T09:52:04.113" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Russian and English languages have somewhat different structure of verb tenses. For native speakers of Russian it can often be difficult to correctly use &lt;strong&gt;perfect tense forms&lt;/strong&gt; due to the influence of their mother tongue. &lt;br&gt;&#xA;The grammatical concepts behind the correct usage of English perfect tenses can be very confusing to Russian speakers, so they tend to replace it with Simple Past tense for example (in case of Present Perfect or Past Perfect), or just fail to use it appropriately.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="142" LastEditorUserId="142" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T14:10:32.247" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T14:10:32.247" />
  <row Id="16939" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16942" CreationDate="2011-03-19T10:36:28.853" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a good english synonym database available in the Internet? I imagine that it should work like a translator: you enter a word and synonyms for this word are displayed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason for asking this: I'm not a native English speaker but I have to write a lot of text in English. I noticed that I tend to use always the same expressions and I think it would be a good thing to for example not always use “that's why” but sometimes “therefore”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6292" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T11:07:51.360" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T11:22:28.697" Title="English synonym online database?" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;thesaurus&gt;&lt;online-resources&gt;&lt;resources&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16939" CreationDate="2011-03-19T11:00:49.643" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.synonym.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.synonym.com/&lt;/a&gt; - in their own words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Synonyms Thesaurus with Antonyms &amp;amp; Definitions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Synonym.com is the web's best resource&#xA;  for English synonyms, antonyms, and&#xA;  definitions. Type in a word and the&#xA;  synonym finder will come up with a&#xA;  list of synonyms. Check out the most&#xA;  popular online synonym searches to&#xA;  find the right word for any occasion.&#xA;  Use the antonym tool to find find&#xA;  antonyms and check out the definitions&#xA;  feature to read the definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T11:00:49.643" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16911" CreationDate="2011-03-19T11:06:55.783" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This use of the future perfect is a standard construction used in English to express an &lt;em&gt;assumption, expectation or presumption&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If someone asks, &quot;Where is Fred?&quot;, then I might respond:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He has gone to the bank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This would indicate that I know for certain where he has gone - perhaps he told me so. However, if he didn't say anything, but I happen to know that he usually goes to the bank on a Thursday, I might instead say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He will have gone to the bank.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The reason the tense is used in this way (to my mind, at least) is as follows: we are implying that, at the point in the future when we discover for certain where he has gone, we will discover &quot;he has gone to the bank&quot; - and hence the construction is roughly equivalent to &lt;em&gt;[When we find out where he has gone] he will have gone to the bank.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usage in the question is similar. If the speaker had said&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As many of you saw yesterday...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;that would imply that he &lt;em&gt;knows&lt;/em&gt; that the audience saw [whatever it was] yesterday - again, perhaps he spoke to the people concerned, or was there at the time. Instead, by saying&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As many of you will have seen yesterday...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;he conveys that he does not know for certain, but confidently assumes this to be the case based on habit, common sense or some such: perhaps he knows that many of the audience were in the right place at the right time to see [whatever this momentous spectacle happened to be].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; reports many examples of such use - searching for &quot;you will have *d&quot;, there are plenty of examples of the future perfect being used with this meaning, including &lt;em&gt;You will have noted/noticed&lt;/em&gt; (24), &lt;em&gt;you will have gathered/found&lt;/em&gt; (16), and plenty more with other verbs; searching with other subjects reveals many more examples, but it gets harder to filter out those that use the future perfect in this way rather than other uses. Even so, searching for &quot;will have *d&quot; and looking through the first page of results reveals that this construction is extremely common, perhaps even the most common use of the future perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I also tried checking &lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;COCA&lt;/a&gt; for US usage, to see if this is more common in the UK, but alas I was unable to due to &quot;database errors&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastEditorUserId="3405" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T12:15:01.813" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T12:15:01.813" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16939" CreationDate="2011-03-19T11:07:16.773" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Google has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?rls=en&amp;amp;q=online+synonyms&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;oe=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;many&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?rls=en&amp;amp;q=online+thesaurus&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;oe=UTF-8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;results&lt;/a&gt; for such a query, though quality sites may be buried under other sites that are better marketed (or more engaged in search engine optimisation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One main remark: what you are looking for (listings of synonyms and related words) is called a &lt;strong&gt;thesaurus&lt;/strong&gt; (plural: &lt;em&gt;thesauri&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;thesauruses&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, for the sites themselves, I myself am quite fond of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/amiable&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster thesaurus&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The French CNRS &lt;a href=&quot;http://dico.isc.cnrs.fr/dico/en/search?b=1&amp;amp;r=amiable&amp;amp;send=Look+it+up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;online synonym database&lt;/a&gt;, which is part of a larger &lt;a href=&quot;http://dico.isc.cnrs.fr/dico_html/en/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;semantic atlas&lt;/a&gt; worth exploring:&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you own a Mac computer, the Dictionary application (available for free with the operating system) includes the &lt;em&gt;Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus&lt;/em&gt;, 2nd edition. I use it extensively.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T11:22:28.697" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T11:22:28.697" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16944" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17337" CreationDate="2011-03-19T11:40:45.187" Score="2" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I rather like this construct, as exemplified by “a three-pronged approach to physical therapy” (or four-pronged, or whatever). However, I tend to use it too much, and I am wondering how I could replace it by other short constructs with the same meaning. So, I wonder:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does “a three-fold approach to…” have the same meaning? I think it does, as my dictionary says of the &lt;em&gt;-fold&lt;/em&gt; suffix: “consisting of so many parts or facets”.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you know other ways to express this in only two or three words? It being a short adjectival phrase is useful to me.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T14:37:00.487" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T14:37:00.487" Title="Alternative (short) way of saying “a three-pronged approach to X”" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16945" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16948" CreationDate="2011-03-19T11:41:07.097" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tina&lt;/strong&gt;: I had a strange dream last night.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Jack&lt;/strong&gt;: Well, dreams are always strange. I've never had an absolutely &quot;normal&quot; dream. So what did you dream about?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Tina&lt;/strong&gt;: I dreamed about a skyscraper devouring a small &quot;Starbucks&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How would you pronounce &quot;So what did you dream about?&quot; here? I am especially interested about the &lt;em&gt;did you&lt;/em&gt; part. Is it like &lt;em&gt;di you&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;d'you&lt;/em&gt; or what?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(In case my example is poor, please think of any question then that would start with &quot;So what did you…&quot;—the most important thing for me is that this question must not be simply one separate question, but should rather be a part of someone's dialogue line—it should therefore be pronounced quicker than if it were just a question on its own.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T13:35:43.423" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T15:07:10.367" Title="How do you pronounce &quot;what did you&quot; in &quot;So what did you dream about?&quot; and other simiar questions?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="6" />
  <row Id="16946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16945" CreationDate="2011-03-19T11:49:38.953" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do pronounce every syllable of it, so you would really here “did you”. I tried to look up video examples, and could find one of Sarah Palin, who I believe as a public speaker tends to eat half of her words. See 11:12 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thesarahpalinblog.com/2010/08/video-and-transcript-of-restoring-honor.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and you'll see you can hear all syllables.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T11:49:38.953" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-19T12:06:44.943" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Maverick&quot; has made it's way into popular culture as someone who thinks the rules don't apply to them. One can therefore &quot;be a Maverick&quot;, or &quot;be Maverick&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taken, obviously, from the lead character in the movie Top Gun. As in &quot;God damn it, Maverick!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6293" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T12:06:44.943" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16948" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16945" CreationDate="2011-03-19T12:10:08.553" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A native American speaker, slurring words, would have several pronunciations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So, whatcha dream about? [wutcha]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So, what'dya dream about? [wuttedya or wuddedya]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So, whadja dream about? [wudja]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So whadjoo dream about? [wudjoo]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are other minor variations, but these are the main ones you'd hear. Other dialectical variations would include replacing &quot;you&quot; with &quot;y'all&quot; [chiefly Southern] or &quot;youse&quot; or &quot;yas&quot; or &quot;yins&quot; [various] for second person plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T12:43:07.260" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T12:43:07.260" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16949" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16945" CreationDate="2011-03-19T12:10:16.483" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When spoken the &lt;em&gt;t&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt; and the &lt;em&gt;d&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;did&lt;/em&gt; can sound merged, so that it sounds more like &lt;em&gt;wha tid you&lt;/em&gt;, but other than that the words are pronounced completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to make a contraction out of it, it would be &lt;em&gt;wha'd'ya dream about&lt;/em&gt;. As this contraction could be either &lt;em&gt;what did you&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;what do you&lt;/em&gt;, the rest of the sentence (or the situation where it's used) would have to provide enough context to determine what it means.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T12:10:16.483" />
  <row Id="16950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16944" CreationDate="2011-03-19T12:18:10.433" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say a &lt;em&gt;multi&lt;/em&gt;-pronged approach. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;-fold&lt;/em&gt; suffix is reliable. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5475/how-to-form-single-double-triple-and-uni-bi-tri-words&quot;&gt;my answer&lt;/a&gt; to a different question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also refer to different &lt;em&gt;fronts&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We'll approach the therapy on three fronts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This comes from military terminology (as does &lt;em&gt;pronged&lt;/em&gt;, I believe). You can also use these words with &lt;em&gt;attack&lt;/em&gt; as the verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or you could simply use &lt;em&gt;parts&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We took a three-part approach to the patient's therapy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And finally there is &lt;em&gt;facet&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We took a multi-faceted approach to the patient's therapy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T12:18:10.433" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16951" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16953" CreationDate="2011-03-19T12:18:19.017" Score="2" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tina&lt;/strong&gt;: I had a strange dream last night.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Jack&lt;/strong&gt;: Well, dreams are always strange. I've never had an absolutely &quot;normal&quot; dream. So what did you dream about?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Tina&lt;/strong&gt;: I dreamed about a skyscraper devouring a small &quot;Starbucks&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you call a single part of a dialogue that is spoken by one person? (There are three such parts written here: The first and the last one are spoken by Tina, and the middle one is by Jack.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T13:49:16.050" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T13:49:16.050" Title="What does a dialogue consist of?  I mean, what are these constituents called?" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;word-choise&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16952" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16945" CreationDate="2011-03-19T12:19:34.460" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is actually a question about register. In my idiolect, &quot;what did you&quot; is standard in formal contexts. &quot;Whuh-ju&quot; is familiar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T12:19:34.460" />
  <row Id="16953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16951" CreationDate="2011-03-19T12:26:32.360" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In acting, these are called &lt;em&gt;lines&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;lines&lt;/strong&gt; the words of an actor's part in a play or film. [NOAD]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally these are used in plural, but can be used to refer to a single line of dialogue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T12:26:32.360" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16951" CreationDate="2011-03-19T12:29:02.867" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can say &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;lines&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, in the sense of &lt;em&gt;“the words of an actor's part in a play or film”&lt;/em&gt;. Example of use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the problem with Jack is that, in the love scene with Rob, he couldn't say &lt;em&gt;(or deliver)&lt;/em&gt; his lines with enough passion&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T12:29:02.867" />
  <row Id="16955" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16945" CreationDate="2011-03-19T12:47:32.163" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm from S.E. England. With me, the t becomes a glottal stop and the second d gets pushed back to the third syllable, equal stress on all syllables: &quot;wha' di dyou&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2819" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T12:47:32.163" />
  <row Id="16956" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16961" CreationDate="2011-03-19T12:53:43.913" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The oft-cited first sentence of this work&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why would you not just use two words, &lt;em&gt;oft cited&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T13:27:07.830" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T13:27:07.830" Title="Usage of hyphen in &quot;oft-cited&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16957" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16965" CreationDate="2011-03-19T12:59:32.457" Score="4" ViewCount="116" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those two words both seem to be about using a few words/a few steps to do something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5015" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T14:51:08.857" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T18:28:02.320" Title="Difference between “laconic” and “concise”?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16956" CreationDate="2011-03-19T13:01:02.317" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You want to distinguish between &quot;the first sentence of the work, which happens to be often cited&quot;, &quot;the sentence of the work which is often cited first&quot;, and &quot;the earliest of the many sentences of the work which are often cited&quot;.  This make clear it is the first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T13:01:02.317" />
  <row Id="16959" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16960" CreationDate="2011-03-19T13:03:28.810" Score="0" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5603/whereas-as-an-alternative-spelling-of-whereas&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Where&amp;#228;s&amp;rdquo; as an alternative spelling of &amp;ldquo;whereas&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've got an impression that there is (or was) a rule in English: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you have a rarely used word with two vowel letters in a row, corresponding to two vowel sounds in a row (as opposed to a diphthong or single vowel sound marked by two letters), you have to mark a second vowel with a trema.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: &lt;em&gt;coöperation&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As rarely used word gets more popular and recognizable, trema is dropped from the spelling. In contemporary English &lt;em&gt;cooperation&lt;/em&gt; is spelled without it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there an authoritative source on this rule?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess, any linguistics work would do, Wikipedia would not. Something that I can cite and not be laughed at.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1306" LastEditorUserId="1306" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T14:08:19.630" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T14:31:07.783" ClosedDate="2011-03-19T15:34:21.310" Title="Authoritative source on the diaeresis trema rule" Tags="&lt;rules&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16959" CreationDate="2011-03-19T13:08:43.283" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cooperation&lt;/em&gt; is not a borrowed word (which are more usually called &lt;em&gt;loanwords&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In loanwords, diaereses are just preserved as in the original language.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In word formed as “prefix + word”, where the pronunciation might be unclear, some rare styleguides insist on adding a trema to make the pronunciation clear.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is much more information about this &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5603/whereas-as-an-alternative-spelling-of-whereas&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T14:31:07.783" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T14:31:07.783" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16956" CreationDate="2011-03-19T13:09:36.590" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Oft-cited&lt;/em&gt; is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compound_modifier&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;phrasal adjective&lt;/a&gt; (a/k/a compound modifier). Because &quot;oft&quot; and &quot;cited&quot; must be interpreted together in order to precisely convey the intended meaning, the hyphen is placed between them to tie them together and prevent any mistaken interpretation of them as two separate modifiers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T13:09:36.590" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16957" CreationDate="2011-03-19T13:13:51.110" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; says, in a note entitled “The Right Word”:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you don't like to mince words, you'll make every effort to be concise in both your writing and speaking, which means to remove all superfluous details&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you're laconic, you are brief to the point of being curt, brusque, or even uncommunicative&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, being &lt;em&gt;laconic&lt;/em&gt; has a more negative connotation. &lt;em&gt;Concise&lt;/em&gt; is rather positive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T13:13:51.110" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16957" CreationDate="2011-03-19T13:18:50.390" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the difference is in connotation, and Dictionary.com's definitions seem to support this. &lt;em&gt;Concise&lt;/em&gt; uses a minimal number of words to express a comprehensive idea. It's trying to inform us without boring us. &lt;em&gt;Laconic&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, has a bit more personality and is perhaps bordering on insolence in its brevity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, when I think of &lt;em&gt;laconic&lt;/em&gt;, I see James Dean in my mind's eye. &lt;em&gt;Concise&lt;/em&gt; -- no James Dean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastEditorUserId="6100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T18:28:02.320" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T18:28:02.320" />
  <row Id="16964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16957" CreationDate="2011-03-19T13:21:18.320" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The difference between the two words has to do with their &lt;em&gt;directness&lt;/em&gt; in expressing ideas.   Someone speaking in a laconic manner speaks in riddles or aphorisms, in a very simple style, almost to the point of inscrutability.  A quintessential example everyone would be familiar with is Yoda's strange style of speaking when Luke first meets him on Dagobah:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Luke: What's in there?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Yoda: Only what you take with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously, Yoda is not directly answering the question Luke really wants answered -- he wants to know the tangible, physical contents of the cave -- but Yoda speaks &lt;em&gt;laconically&lt;/em&gt;, in a cryptic style, so as to blunt the young initiate's overeagerness to learn too much before he's ready.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone speaking &lt;em&gt;concisely&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, is trying to pack as much information as possible into his words.  This is an example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Fourier transform is a unitary change of basis for functions (or distributions) that diagonalizes all convolution operations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, the speaker summarizes a vast theory in a single sentence by using very specialist language, to directly convey a sense of the theory's generality.  In general, &lt;em&gt;laconic&lt;/em&gt; statements should not be filled with jargon or technical terms, while &lt;em&gt;concise&lt;/em&gt; statements as in the above may be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T14:48:34.470" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T14:48:34.470" />
  <row Id="16965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16957" CreationDate="2011-03-19T13:33:21.960" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Laconic&lt;/em&gt; comes from the ancient word for Sparta, Lakedaemon. The Spartans were noted for lack of verbosity, and what they did say often had a mordant humor to it, which has come to be called a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laconic_phrase&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;laconic phrase&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A laconic phrase is a very concise or terse statement, named after Laconia (a.k.a. Lacedaemon [Greek Λακεδαίμων]), a polis of ancient Greece (and region of modern Greece) surrounding the city of Sparta proper. In common usage, Sparta referred both to Lacedaemon and Sparta. Similarly, a laconism is a figure of speech in which someone uses very few words to express an idea, in keeping with the Spartan reputation for austerity. This may be used for efficiency (like in military jargon), for philosophical reasons (especially among thinkers who believe in minimalism, such as Stoics), or for better disarming a long, pompous speech (the most famous example being at the Battle of Thermopylae). Spartans were expected to be men of few words, to hold rhetoric in disdain, and to stick to the point. Loquaciousness was seen as a sign of frivolity, and totally unbecoming sensible, down-to-earth Spartan peers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, the &quot;famous example&quot; referred to is seen farther down the page:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When Leonidas was in charge of guarding the narrow mountain pass at Thermopylae with just 7,000 Greek men in order to delay the invading Persian army, Xerxes offered to spare his men if they gave up their arms. Leonidas replied &quot;Molon labe&quot; (Greek: Μολών λαβέ), which translates to &quot;Come and take them&quot;.[9] Today this is the motto of the Greek 1st Army Corps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Laconic is a synonym of concise, but with a biting quality to it. Think of Calvin Coolidge's &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Coolidge&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;response in this case:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Although Coolidge was known to be a skilled and effective public speaker, in private he was a man of few words and was therefore commonly referred to as &quot;Silent Cal.&quot; A possibly apocryphal story has it that Dorothy Parker, seated next to him at a dinner, said to him, &quot;Mr. Coolidge, I've made a bet against a fellow who said it was impossible to get more than two words out of you.&quot; His famous reply: &quot;You lose.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T14:06:47.110" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T14:06:47.110" />
  <row Id="16966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-19T13:49:21.783" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A rather common phrase known to me in the North East of England might fit the bill...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A law unto yourself /themselves /&#xA;  himself:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a person who does things differently&#xA;  and ignores the usual rules.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Example: The male&#xA;  characters in her novels are usually&#xA;  attractive, powerful, and dangerous –&#xA;  a law unto themselves.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/a+law+unto&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/a+law+unto&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4889" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T13:49:21.783" />
  <row Id="16967" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-19T13:51:22.140" Score="6" ViewCount="163" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading this documentational file of some software and note the plural spelling of this abbreviation is &lt;strong&gt;URL's&lt;/strong&gt;. Why isn't it &lt;strong&gt;URLs&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T14:13:31.550" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T00:39:29.780" Title="Why did they spell &quot;URL's?&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16967" CreationDate="2011-03-19T14:05:50.497" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The regular way to pluralize any noun is by adding just an &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;; the apostrophe should only be added to plural &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt; if the word would otherwise become unreadable or exceedingly ambiguous. A good example would be &lt;em&gt;s's&lt;/em&gt; (the plural of the letter &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;em&gt;ss&lt;/em&gt; would look like an acronym).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;strong&gt;URLs&lt;/strong&gt; would seem to be quite clear: *&lt;em&gt;URL's&lt;/em&gt; is probably a simple error made by those confusing it with the possessive &lt;em&gt;'s&lt;/em&gt;, which always has an apostrophe (a few pronouns being the exception, like &lt;em&gt;its&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;hers&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T16:51:33.643" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T16:51:33.643" />
  <row Id="16969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16967" CreationDate="2011-03-19T14:10:44.640" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would write &lt;em&gt;URLs&lt;/em&gt;, and not &lt;em&gt;URL's&lt;/em&gt;, but I can understand why somebody would write &lt;em&gt;URL's&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that &lt;em&gt;'s&lt;/em&gt; us also used to denote the plural of a letter or symbol (e.g. &lt;em&gt;T's&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;9's&lt;/em&gt;). A note about usage reports also:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are a few special instances in which it is acceptable to use an apostrophe to indicate plurals, as with letters and symbols where &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt; added without punctuation could look odd or be undecipherable (&lt;em&gt;dot your i's and cross your t's&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;he rated a string of 9.9's from the jury&lt;/em&gt;). However, when forming plurals of regular nouns it is wrong to use an apostrophe, e.g. &lt;em&gt;six pens&lt;/em&gt; not &lt;em&gt;six pen's&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A note about the usage of the apostrophe reports the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Many people are uncertain when to use an apostrophe, and this confusion is probably increased by the fact that it is often omitted in company names (e.g. &lt;em&gt;Barclays Bank&lt;/em&gt;). The apostrophe should be used when indicating possession (&lt;em&gt;Sue's cat&lt;/em&gt;) or the omission of letters or numbers (&lt;em&gt;he's gone&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;1 Jan. '09&lt;/em&gt;). It should not be used in forming the plural of ordinary words, as in &lt;em&gt;apple's&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;pear's&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;I saw two dog's&lt;/em&gt;, or in possessive pronouns such as &lt;em&gt;hers&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;yours&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;theirs&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T14:10:44.640" />
  <row Id="16970" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16921" CreationDate="2011-03-19T14:49:53.640" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A makes both B and C good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A makes either B or C good.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The latter could be used if A does not do so concurrently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T14:49:53.640" />
  <row Id="16971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16967" CreationDate="2011-03-19T14:55:04.063" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cerberus has it. URLs would be ambiguous; it could stand for, say, Uniform Resource Locator (secure). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6297" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T14:55:04.063" />
  <row Id="16972" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-19T15:05:22.880" Score="0" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;How to understand the usage of &quot;when/while doing something&quot; in grammar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am watching TV, when sitting in my&#xA;  sofa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;when&quot; and &quot;while&quot; can never be used as prep.. They are conj. instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember seeing some explanation from a English grammar book, written for people speaking another language, which basicaly said &quot;when/while doing something&quot; is just a shorthand of &quot;when/while somebody is doing something&quot;, where &quot;somebody is&quot; must appear in the main clause, otherwise this shorthand usage is not valid. For example, it is wrong to say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I watch TV, when sitting in my sofa.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;because in the main clause there is no &quot;be&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would like to see if someone can concur or refute this explanation from rigorous English grammar point of view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks and regards!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T12:53:46.353" Title="Usage of &quot;When doing something&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16945" CreationDate="2011-03-19T15:07:10.367" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some people, who don't slur their words but contract them, might say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What'd you dream about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you say it quickly and slur it a bit, the d and the y merge a bit into a j sound:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What'djoo dream about?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T15:07:10.367" />
  <row Id="16974" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-19T15:10:06.183" Score="0" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;p&gt;I saw a lot of usage of machinery, mechanism, to be used with similar meaning as techniques, ways, methods,.... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, my math teacher said the machinery in the proof of some theorem is not heavy. Mechanism is also used to describe how something works. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have actually been confused if they can mostly be exchangeable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also are there similar terms that can be used in this kind of scenario?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks and regards!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: I have asked similar questions before &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/15451/ways-to-say-methods-of-doing-things&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, but the post got closed. &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/3036/cerberus&quot;&gt;cerberus&lt;/a&gt; encouraged me to ask again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T15:54:22.820" Title="Ways to say methods of doing things" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="16975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16936" CreationDate="2011-03-19T15:17:06.947" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am from Russia and I work at an international company so my colleagues and I have to use English all the time. There are really some common errors. The most difficult for us is to use articles properly. There are nothing similar to them in our native language. That is why we often use them where they are not needed and vice versa. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second difficult part is using of prepositions. We tend to use those that we would use in  our language if they were translated. For example, instead of &lt;em&gt;at office&lt;/em&gt; we tend to say &lt;em&gt;in office&lt;/em&gt;, instead of &lt;em&gt;to London&lt;/em&gt; we often say &lt;em&gt;in London&lt;/em&gt;. There are many other examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We don't have gerund in our language, so sometimes it is difficult for us to use it properly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can not agree with mplungjan that word order is not so important. It is important in any language and in Russian you can too change the meaning of a sentence if you change word order. Not always though, but in English it does not happen every time either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a rather big problem with sequence of tenses. In our language we do not have to do it. That is why we misuse perfect tense and even past tense forms often.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are the most often encountered mistakes that I can spot when I talk to or read something from a native Russian speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6116" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T15:17:06.947" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="16976" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-19T15:18:06.453" Score="10" ViewCount="325" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since I first learned English, I have been holding this understanding that &quot;and&quot;, as a conj. but unlike &quot;but&quot;,  can only connect two clauses, not two sentences ended with periods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But recently, I have seen so many prints, either in entertainment or in academia, where &quot;And&quot; is popularly used in the beginning of a sentence. It seems like the author is trying to connect the sentence just right before and the sentence following &quot;And&quot; in some intended meaning which I don't quite get.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if I have been wrong all the time, or if there is a new trend that I fail to understand and accept? How to understand such usage of &quot;and&quot; in rigorous English grammar? If I am right, why it is used differently from &quot;but&quot; in terms of what I mentioned at the beginning of this post?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks and regards!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T16:07:23.630" Title="Usage of &quot;And&quot; in the beginning of a sentence" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16976" CreationDate="2011-03-19T15:23:02.847" Score="23" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is perfectly all right to begin a sentence with a conjunction. It is a special form of emphasis, used to elevate a clause to a position of more emphasis and importance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I hold that all beets are red. And I will stick to that belief until you show me a green beet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We were tired, hungry, and exhausted. But we were home.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can also be used as a summation of previous statements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[Blah blah blah ... fairy tale or fable ... blah blah] And that is how the elephant's nose grew into the long trunk it has today.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T15:32:04.947" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T15:32:04.947" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="16978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16972" CreationDate="2011-03-19T15:28:11.977" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your second sentence is equivalent to &lt;em&gt;“I watch TV, when I am sitting in my sofa”&lt;/em&gt;. However, it has a different meaning from another possibility: &lt;em&gt;“&lt;strong&gt;while&lt;/strong&gt; sitting in my sofe”&lt;/em&gt;. The first one implies that, when you sit in the sofa, you watch TV, while the second implies that watching TV is only one of your activities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T15:28:11.977" />
  <row Id="16979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16976" CreationDate="2011-03-19T15:37:33.117" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In these cases, &quot;and&quot; and &quot;but&quot; are grammatically the same. Their purpose is to conjoin two clauses or sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;And&quot; as a conjunction usually communicates that the following clause will agree and perhaps expand the previous one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I like pickles, and I wish everybody liked pickles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;But&quot; connotes some contrast or unexpected idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I like pickles, but I don't love them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Stylistically, it is not usually considered good practice to begin sentences with a conjunction because a sentence that would begin with &quot;and&quot; or &quot;but&quot; generally connects well enough with the previous sentence that it should connect to it rather than becoming its independent sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5584" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T15:37:33.117" />
  <row Id="16980" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16981" CreationDate="2011-03-19T15:40:21.297" Score="1" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that &quot;eke&quot; means &quot;survive&quot;. Where does it come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5731" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T15:42:19.860" Title="Origin or root of eke?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="16981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16980" CreationDate="2011-03-19T15:42:19.860" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;NOAD&lt;/em&gt; says of the origin:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Old English &lt;em&gt;ēacian&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ēcan&lt;/em&gt; (in the sense [increase]), of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse &lt;em&gt;auka&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, it means more like “use sparingly” or carefully, rather than “survive”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T15:42:19.860" />
  <row Id="16982" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5603" CreationDate="2011-03-19T15:42:24.240" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even a century ago, it seems that the diaeresis wasn't necessarily favoured. For what it's worth, in his  &quot;Modern English Usage&quot; (late 1920s), Fowler has this to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are three ways of writing cooperate (coop-, co-op-, coöp-). The diaeresis should at once be rejected as possible only in some words (those in which co- is followed by a vowel), whereas the hyphen is possible in all. Next it should be recognised that hyphens in the middle of words are no ornament, &amp;amp; admittance should be refused to all that cannot prove their usefulness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;He then goes on to give a list of a small number of words beginning with co- with his &quot;recommended&quot; spellings. In some cases he advocates a hyphen and no case does he recommend the diaeresis. He writes e.g. &lt;em&gt;coordinate&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;coopt&lt;/em&gt; with neither hyphen nor diaeresis, the argument being that they are &quot;so common or so analysable at a glance that the hyphen, though sometimes used, is entirely superfluous&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, as of 100 years ago, inasmuch as we can take Fowler's opinion as being representative of &quot;prescriptive opinion&quot; (and with the caveat that in some cases his opinion wasn't very representative), it doesn't seem as though there was much of a consensual rule in favour of the diaeresis, but possibly even the opposite.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T15:42:24.240" />
  <row Id="16983" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17034" CreationDate="2011-03-19T15:45:07.663" Score="1" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/16462/should-vs-shall-vs-will-vs-must&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Should&amp;rdquo; vs. &amp;ldquo;Shall&amp;rdquo; vs. &amp;ldquo;Will&amp;rdquo; vs. &amp;ldquo;Must&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Shall I upload the pictures?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how to start this sentence. If I offer someone to do something (like uploading pictures as in the example above, or closing the door), how do I say this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Simon&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5740" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T11:18:40.903" ClosedDate="2011-03-20T20:28:35.880" Title="«Should I» or «Shall I» or …?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="16984" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-19T15:52:18.860" Score="0" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/183/what-are-some-of-the-better-english-reference-grammars&quot;&gt;What are some of the better English reference grammars?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I grew up in a non-English speaking country. During my elementary and middle school years, I self-studied the grammar of English via various books written by the most famous experts in my country, although these were beyond what were required by my curriculum. I am not saying my English is good enough now, but the study from the old days still helps me a lot for my life in U.S. later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After coming to U.S., I have often got my mind boggled by various usages of English either in talks or in prints, which seem to be inconsistent with what I have learned before. In my guess, the reasons can be a combination of any of the following: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;what I have learned is probably&#xA;based on British English;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the usage by American is not always&#xA;rigorous, which sometimes put me&#xA;into the dilemma of which to follow;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I might need some excellent English&#xA;grammar books whose authors are&#xA;trustworthy experts who are also&#xA;native English speaker.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, my question is, as for my last point, what are your recommendations for English grammar books? I would like to read comprehensive and nice-organized books from being concise, to being detailed. I think books for middle and elementary schools are perhaps not what I am looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks and regards!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastEditorUserId="683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T16:01:51.750" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T16:10:53.213" ClosedDate="2011-03-19T17:22:13.820" Title="Recommendation for English Grammar books?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;reference-request&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="16985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16974" CreationDate="2011-03-19T15:54:22.820" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For example, my math teacher said the machinery in the proof of some theorem is not heavy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your math teacher was employing a metaphor. He was not referring to literal machinery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might be looking for one of the synonyms of &lt;em&gt;procedure&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;procedure&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;noun&lt;/em&gt; course of action, plan of action, action plan, policy, series of steps, method, system, strategy, way, approach, formula, mechanism, methodology, modus operandi, MO, technique; routine, drill, practice, operation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T15:54:22.820" />
  <row Id="16986" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16976" CreationDate="2011-03-19T16:07:23.630" Score="25" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Small children have a particular writing style that teachers often mark as wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We had a field trip. And we went to the zoo. And we saw monkeys. And they were funny. And then we went home. And the bus was noisy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nobody thinks that's a well-written story. So the teacher circles all the &quot;And&quot;s and says &quot;don't start a sentence with And&quot;. But somehow we all internalize that as a rule for all of life - which it isn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3946" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T16:07:23.630" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="183" CreationDate="2011-03-19T16:10:53.213" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wren n Martin?!!&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/FvkAL.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T16:10:53.213" />
  <row Id="16988" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16990" CreationDate="2011-03-19T16:51:22.297" Score="1" ViewCount="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, I have a database and several tables in it. One of the tables is named Clients for this example.&#xA;When I speak about a table and need to mention its name do I have to use the definite article?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Insert a record into the Clients table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Insert a record into Clients table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6116" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T17:11:17.223" Title="The definite article usage with objects that have names" Tags="&lt;articles&gt;&lt;definite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="16989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16988" CreationDate="2011-03-19T17:09:41.820" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Insert a record into the &lt;em&gt;Clients&lt;/em&gt; table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is equivalent to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Insert a record into the table named &lt;em&gt;Clients&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it was unambiguous from the context that you meant the table, you could say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Insert a record into &lt;em&gt;Clients&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T17:09:41.820" />
  <row Id="16990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16988" CreationDate="2011-03-19T17:11:17.223" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would go with either&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Insert a record into the Clients table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Insert a record into Clients.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In most of my professional writing I would prefer the first option, although the second may be better in some cases for style reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Insert a record into Clients table&quot; would not be correct, because &quot;Clients&quot; is a modifier to the subject &quot;table&quot; in this sentence, and not a proper noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3534" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T17:11:17.223" />
  <row Id="16991" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17633" CreationDate="2011-03-19T17:21:17.510" Score="0" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently a co-worker and I debated the proper use of &quot;out to lunch&quot;. The argument stemmed from conversation over the appropriate preposition to use, and became particularly heated when we tried to determine if lunch was a verb, or was short for &quot;luncheon&quot; - or some other, older word. (Yes, he referenced &quot;lunchentach&quot;.)  Convention aside, what is the proper usage of the phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T20:33:20.107" Title="Proper use of out to lunch / out for lunch / out at lunch" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="16992" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16991" CreationDate="2011-03-19T17:28:01.577" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Out to lunch&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; simply means going out (of your place of residence) for the purpose of having lunch. &#xA;Here, the word lunch is used in the verb form as opposed to its noun form which indeed is a shortened version of luncheon. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6167" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T17:28:01.577" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16993" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17026" CreationDate="2011-03-19T17:34:36.947" Score="7" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;Did it exist before The Telephone - has it always been associated with 'sales'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zakyg3thfY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;an example&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T14:12:30.430" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:12:30.430" Title="Where does the term &quot;cold calling&quot; originate from?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="16994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16993" CreationDate="2011-03-19T17:50:15.530" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.almksb.com/modules.php?name=News&amp;amp;file=print&amp;amp;sid=200&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bbc.almksb.com/modules.php?name=News&amp;amp;file=print&amp;amp;sid=200&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;cold call verb and noun (Business&#xA;  World) In marketing jargon, transitive&#xA;  verb: To make an unsolicited telephone&#xA;  call or visit to (a prospective&#xA;  customer) as a way of selling a&#xA;  product. noun: A marketing call on a&#xA;  person who has not previously&#xA;  expressed any interest in the product.&#xA;  Also as an action noun cold calling.&#xA;  Etymology: Formed by compounding: the&#xA;  call, whether by telephone or in&#xA;  person, is made cold, without any&#xA;  previous warm-up, or preparation of&#xA;  the ground. History and Usage: The&#xA;  term was first used in the early&#xA;  seventies as a more jargony equivalent&#xA;  for 'door-to-door selling' (and at&#xA;  that time cold calling was mostly done&#xA;  door-to-door); in the eighties the&#xA;  rise of telemarketing (see tele-) and&#xA;  the emphasis on 'hard sell' has meant&#xA;  a huge increase in cold calling by&#xA;  telephone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T17:50:15.530" />
  <row Id="16995" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-19T18:06:46.850" Score="0" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been at this for literally weeks. I'm trying to make up, by combining other words cleverly or even coining my own, a word to describe a service or network that links up professionals/students from all over the world together. I've tried so many things, but I think my creative juice has run out. If you have any cool suggestions, please share. I'd share what I came up with, but I dont want to expose you to my way of thinking so that you dont come up with similar results. But for example, many of them used words like link and mesh and tree. So like Meshtree would have been a decent one. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4947" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T17:55:40.667" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-20T11:10:29.863" Title="Help with finding/coining an appropriate word" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="16996" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17007" CreationDate="2011-03-19T18:22:05.867" Score="3" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found that phrase applied a lot to women but then also to men (so that's probably not [only] related to being &quot;in labour&quot;).  At first I thought it had to do with motherly/parenthood chores.  But now I understand it's also applied to various unrelated activities.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And do we know the origin of the expression ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T18:39:08.347" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T19:22:35.707" Title="What's a &quot;labour of love&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16996" CreationDate="2011-03-19T18:26:26.323" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a labor performed for the love of the work or for the target of the finished product. From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/A+labor+of+love&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TheFreeDictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a labor undertaken on account of regard for some person, or through pleasure in the work itself, without expectation of reward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some ways it's similar to the concept of &lt;em&gt;pro bono&lt;/em&gt; work (work done for free), but it normally is used to describe work someone really enjoys doing and is not compensated for. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T18:26:26.323" />
  <row Id="16998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16936" CreationDate="2011-03-19T18:41:29.337" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Aside from the items pointed above, a well-educated native russian speaker often writes (and speaks) in incredibly long, almost Hemingway-ish, compound sentences, where you can barely remember what the beginning of the sentence was about. I'm not sure if it's primarily the influence of russian prose, or something about the language itself which causes the brain to produce the long sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6299" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T18:41:29.337" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="16999" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17000" CreationDate="2011-03-19T19:14:25.010" Score="7" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a difference between a written-out fraction that serves as a noun:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He gave me &lt;em&gt;one half&lt;/em&gt; of his sandwich.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and a written-out fraction serving as an adjective:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I gave her a &lt;em&gt;one-half&lt;/em&gt; share of my cookie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I say a fraction serving as a modifier should be hyphenated as a phrasal adjective. A fraction serving as a noun should not. But everyone I work with hyphenates fractions no matter what their part of speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T20:25:33.063" Title="Fractions as phrasal (compound) adjectives" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;numbers&gt;&lt;hyphen&gt;&lt;phrasal-adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16999" CreationDate="2011-03-19T19:20:35.613" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Logical dictates, and I do, what you suggest: &lt;strong&gt;hyphenate when used adjectivally&lt;/strong&gt;. So, “he gave two thirds of his fortune to me“, but “our two-thirds majority on the board ensures a satisfying outcome”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More to the point, the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; concurs on avoiding the hyphen when used as a noun: “one half of a circle”, “a third of a mile”, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T19:20:35.613" />
  <row Id="17001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16995" CreationDate="2011-03-19T19:47:37.433" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to emphasize transfer of knowledge from established professionals to students, I would base the word on synonyms of teacher, student, or companion. So, that would give things like &lt;strong&gt;Tutor'net&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;MasterMesh&lt;/strong&gt;, etc. The synonyms you can build on are: &lt;em&gt;mentor&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;teacher&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;master&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;tutor&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;trainer&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;coach&lt;/em&gt;, …&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T19:47:37.433" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-20T11:10:29.863" />
  <row Id="17002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-19T20:16:24.713" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Insensitive? Insensible? Callous, as in &quot;callous disregard&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6300" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T21:25:51.607" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T21:25:51.607" />
  <row Id="17003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16999" CreationDate="2011-03-19T20:25:33.063" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you go to your grave you can't bring your fame and fortune with you - and the values of older generations change to reflect this, finding a stronger grip on matters that are truly important - family, health, wellbeing etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think hyphenation grammar falls into the fame and fortune bag - don't worry about it too much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a more serious note - I am all for personal styles of writing, I have a journalist friend who spells out all numbers below ten and writes numerically above - so when he says there were between seven and 12 people there I think it looks funny. I would do it differently - but that is his style and I enjoy the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it is a shame to make rules for each and every detail of language as it leaves little room for personal creativity. Imagine how difficult it would be for shakespeare to get his scripts past the hyphenation police..!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also - I think there are other considerations to take account of when writing that are more important than the dogma of grammar. For example: &quot;I gave her half of my cookie, and she gave me the half of me I never knew I was missing&quot; sounds much more romantic than &quot;I gave her a one-half share of my cookie, and she gave me an extra one-half share of me that added up to a whole share of a person when I had not realized I was only a one-half share of a person before&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6275" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T20:25:33.063" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17004" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17041" CreationDate="2011-03-19T21:40:11.427" Score="2" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;p&gt;As non-English native it took me years to grow up and understand, what meant &quot;Never Mind the Bollocks&quot; as the title of Sex Pistols album. Using &quot;bollocks&quot; as &quot;rubbish&quot;, &quot;crap&quot; or what so ever took much more. And after that i somehow automatically bound &quot;bollocks!&quot; with Sex Pistols. Suddenly i understood, that it is so just in my world. Or isn't? Is there some etymology of the idiom(?) ? How old it is in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6301" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T03:49:21.280" Title="How old is &quot;Bollocks!&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="17005" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-19T21:46:13.913" Score="3" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I'm not healthy, am I &lt;em&gt;&quot;sick&quot;&lt;/em&gt; or am I &lt;em&gt;&quot;ill&quot;&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these interchangeable, or do they merely overlap?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2466" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T08:01:05.083" Title="&quot;sick&quot; or &quot;ill&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17005" CreationDate="2011-03-19T22:22:54.870" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Normally you feel sick when you are ill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;em&gt;to be sick&lt;/em&gt; often is a synonym to throwing up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update: Both words can mean great or wild in recent (hip-hop) slang.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;That DJ has some sick skills&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T08:01:05.083" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T08:01:05.083" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17007" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16996" CreationDate="2011-03-19T22:26:01.057" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=labor%20of%20love&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Princeton's WorldNet&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;productive work performed voluntarily&#xA;  without material reward or&#xA;  compensation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.ca/search?q=define%3alabor+of+love&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google definitions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example usage:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Grandma's sweater for you was a labour&#xA;  of love, and yet you refused to wear&#xA;  it! She spent hours knitting it, and&#xA;  you threw it away like an old gym&#xA;  sock! You should be ashamed of&#xA;  yourself!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, &quot;labour of love&quot; is a selfless act.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2411" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T22:26:01.057" />
  <row Id="17008" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="619" CreationDate="2011-03-19T22:32:21.447" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, if you mean to say, &quot;off of&quot;, then you should instead say, &quot;from&quot;. For example, &quot;Take the book off of the bookcase&quot;, when, &quot;Take the book from the bookcase&quot;, is preferable.&#xA;As I understand it, the expression &quot;off of&quot;, is an Americanism, but the pseudo-antonym, &quot;on of&quot;, is rarely (if not never), found in any language as far as I am aware.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T22:32:21.447" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17004" CreationDate="2011-03-19T23:14:13.703" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollocks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; has a lot of background on the word, noting it dates in the written record back to 1382, and certainly has had the meaning &quot;nonsense&quot; at least since the nineteenth century. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T23:14:13.703" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17010" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17011" CreationDate="2011-03-19T23:17:32.197" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mindy: That clock on the wall is so strange!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Henry: What’s so strange about it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mindy: Its minute hand is moving in counterclockwise direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Henry: No, it’s moving in clockwise direction!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mindy: No, it’s moving in counterclockwise direction!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Henry: Hey, you are looking at the clock through the mirror!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the last sentence in this dialogue correct? If not, what's the best way to point to Mindy on her mistake here? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T00:26:53.827" Title="Is &quot;you are looking at the clock through the mirror&quot; correct?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17010" CreationDate="2011-03-19T23:33:46.853" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Through the mirror&lt;/em&gt; is uncommon usage, apparently in both British and American English.  Typically one would use &lt;em&gt;in the mirror&lt;/em&gt;, so &lt;em&gt;Oh! You're looking at the clock in the mirror.&lt;/em&gt; Perhaps &lt;em&gt;Oh! You're seeing the clock through the mirror&lt;/em&gt; would be be best, as &lt;em&gt;seeing... through&lt;/em&gt; is a common construct (more commonly with windows).  The verb &lt;em&gt;seeing&lt;/em&gt; emphasizes the perception, whereas &lt;em&gt;looking&lt;/em&gt; emphasizes the directing of attention.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T23:33:46.853" />
  <row Id="17012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17005" CreationDate="2011-03-20T00:22:08.903" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're generally used synonymously these days, though there was originally a distinction in meaning. &quot;Ill&quot; generically referred to being unwell, whereas &quot;sick&quot; referred to vomiting -- this still persists to some degree. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In modern times there has been (and still is to a degree) a distinction between upper-class and non-upper-class usage in British English. See the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_and_non-U_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; for example. The upper-class usage, unsurprisingly, seems to preserve the more traditional meanings of the two words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;U                         Non-U&#xA;Ill (in bed)              Sick (in bed)  &#xA;I was sick on the boat.   I was ill on the boat.  &#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, if you're curious you can take a look at the etymologies of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=sick&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;code&gt;sick&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ill&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;code&gt;ill&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. The latter originally only meant &quot;morally evil&quot;, curiously enough. This is going back to the high Middle Ages, however. Meanings have been are still in constant flux.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T00:22:08.903" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="17013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17010" CreationDate="2011-03-20T00:26:53.827" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Warning: physics ahead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The common usage reflects what's actually happening to the light rays that bounce off the object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Mirrored objects appear to be inside the mirror. Through the mirror implies the object is on the other side of the mirror and the light is passing through the mirror. Light doesn't pass through a mirror, it reflects off it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus you can see something through a window. The object is actually on the other side of the window and the light passes through the glass to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6304" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T00:26:53.827" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17014" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18" CreationDate="2011-03-20T00:31:11.167" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Canada, or at least in the part of Canada where I went to school, you can also say frosh. The singular and plural are the same. It can also be used as an adjective, as in frosh week, the first week of the term when the frosh are introduced to the school (and local pubs).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6304" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T00:31:11.167" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16967" CreationDate="2011-03-20T00:39:29.780" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;URL's&quot;(sic) is a common error -- the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/grocers_apostrophe&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;grocers' apostrophe&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the kind of thing that gets Bob riled up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bob's Quick Guide to the Apostrophe, You Idiots&lt;/a&gt; :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5510" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T00:39:29.780" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17005" CreationDate="2011-03-20T01:27:41.590" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Be aware that &lt;em&gt;sick&lt;/em&gt; has lately taken on some new freight: in current slang usages it is replacing &lt;em&gt;awesome&lt;/em&gt; as the clichéd announcement of approval.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That is just sick!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That is so sick!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;are not use to mean unwell or ill. And while you may not have any trouble distinguishing the meanings when applied via the demonstrative pronoun &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;, the word is also being applied to personal pronouns as well:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He's so sick!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;can mean the speaker is commenting about some outstanding qualities the subject has. Really.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T01:27:41.590" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="17017" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-20T03:14:40.237" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;In a list of classmates, how is the name of a married female and spouse listed?  Is the female given name or her husband's given name written first?  How is the maiden name shown?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6308" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T05:36:10.433" Title="How does one write the name of a married female and spouse in a list of classmates?" Tags="&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17004" CreationDate="2011-03-20T03:17:03.277" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Etymonline provides a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=bollocks&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;different etymology&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;bollocks&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;testicles,&quot; 1744, see &lt;em&gt;bollix&lt;/em&gt;. In British slang, as an ejaculation meaning &quot;nonsense,&quot; recorded from 1919.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T03:17:03.277" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17019" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-20T03:32:27.823" Score="1" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct word order between &lt;em&gt;have/had&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;been&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;already&lt;/em&gt; in statements like the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When the product was officially announced, I &lt;strong&gt;had already been&lt;/strong&gt; using it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When the product was officially announced, I &lt;strong&gt;had been already&lt;/strong&gt; using it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When the product was officially announced, I &lt;strong&gt;had been&lt;/strong&gt; using it &lt;strong&gt;already&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6243" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T03:43:57.387" Title="What is the correct word order between have/had, been, and already in statements" Tags="&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="17020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17019" CreationDate="2011-03-20T03:43:57.387" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the first and third would be more common, and probably the first sounds a bit more natural than the third. The middle sentence (&quot;I had been already using it...&quot;) would be fairly rare, I think, at least among UK speakers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that &quot;By the time that...&quot; would be a bit more natural than &quot;When&quot; here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T03:43:57.387" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17021" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17023" CreationDate="2011-03-20T04:09:57.810" Score="2" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Google (63 million results), it should be &quot;all of the sudden&quot;, though, 22 million results say otherwise, which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6309" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T10:10:07.980" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T10:10:07.980" Title="&quot;All of a sudden&quot; vs. &quot;all of the sudden&quot;" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17021" CreationDate="2011-03-20T04:20:20.700" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Each one of those 63 million results says that &lt;em&gt;all of the sudden&lt;/em&gt; doesn't really make any sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idiom&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All of a sudden : very quickly and unexpectedly, suddenly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A sample sentence would be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I felt a sharp pain in my side all of a sudden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T04:20:20.700" />
  <row Id="17023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17021" CreationDate="2011-03-20T04:22:34.297" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;All of &lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt; sudden&quot; is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/all%20of%20a%20sudden&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the idiom&lt;/a&gt;. I rationalize that there is no particular &lt;em&gt;sudden&lt;/em&gt;, so it has to be &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; sudden.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/sudden.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Brians Common Errors&lt;/a&gt; backs me up here, although idioms don't necessarily follow the rules of grammar anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="223" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T04:28:00.797" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T04:28:00.797" />
  <row Id="17024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17017" CreationDate="2011-03-20T04:49:08.363" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Emily Post Institute &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.emilypost.com/communication-and-technology/notes-and-letters/96-guide-to-addressing-correspondence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;recognizes the following forms&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ms. Jane Smith and Mr. John Smith&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Jane and John Smith &lt;em&gt;(informal)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Ms. Jane Johnson and Mr. John Smith&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Drs. Jane and John Smith&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that there is no informal form if the female uses her maiden name and that you should always use &lt;em&gt;Ms.&lt;/em&gt; unless you know that &lt;em&gt;Mrs.&lt;/em&gt; is preferred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, the Emily Post Institute gives no formal guidance on whether or not to use the maiden name—however, it seems from various &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.emilypost.com/communication-and-technology/social-names-and-titles/293-womens-names-and-titles&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;examples&lt;/a&gt; on their site that the husband's last name is preferred unless the wife has indicated otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T04:49:08.363" />
  <row Id="17025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17017" CreationDate="2011-03-20T05:19:06.593" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One term sometimes used is the French word &lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=nee&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;'née'&lt;/a&gt; (meaning 'born', literally, but referring to the maiden name in this context).  Hence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mrs Jane Smith (née Jones)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    Mrs Cynthia Corning (née Stratton-Longbottom)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure whether 'Mrs' or 'Ms' is preferred when the context clearly shows that the lady is married.  I'm old-fashioned enough to think it should be 'Mrs', but modern style might use 'Ms'.  The referenced URL did not place brackets around the maiden name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, in a list of classmates, the spouses would not not normally be given - the spouses were not, in general, part of the class.  However, if you are listing the people invited to an event, you can decide how to display both the names of those invited and the names that would have been known when they were in the class.  For example, you might have two columns, for example, the first listing one the 'Emily Post' approved forms, and the second listing the name that would have been used in class.  That might be too arid for the context in which the list is to be used, though.  You might list the class member's name, and then their spouse's name, if applicable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mrs Jane Smith (née Jones) and Mr John Smith&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Mr Adam O'Hare and Mrs Susan O'Hare&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn't the normal presentation, but the important information here is presumably the person who was in the class, and this shows that Jane Jones and Adam O'Hare were in the class but both are married.  It is self-consistent as presented, but you might omit the first &quot;O'Hare&quot;, I suppose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastEditorUserId="2386" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T05:36:10.433" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T05:36:10.433" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16993" CreationDate="2011-03-20T05:25:04.073" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As jargon for an unsolicited sales pitch, &lt;em&gt;cold call&lt;/em&gt;, was used &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22cold%20call%22&amp;amp;tbs=bks:1,cdr:1,cd_min:1899,cd_max:1995&amp;amp;lr=lang_en#q=%22cold+call%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;lr=lang_en&amp;amp;tbs=bks:1,lr%3alang_1en,cdr:1,cd_min:1/1/1925,cd_max:12/31/1925,sbd:1&amp;amp;source=lnt&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ei=TXyFTcDhMtG2twf18ajMBA&amp;amp;ved=0CDMQpwUoAQ&amp;amp;fp=46a6d85ea4946501&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;way before&lt;/a&gt; the 1970s. The earliest use I can find is from Volume 100 of &lt;em&gt;The American Magazine&lt;/em&gt; in 1925:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;. . . I do need insurance.' He signed up forthwith for five thousand dollars. &quot;I suppose you might call that opportunity a 'hunch.' I had no introduction to the man, no personal link of any kind. It was a &lt;strong&gt;cold call&lt;/strong&gt;, and it won. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This snippet is all I can get through Google. If anyone can access this magazine, it would be great to get more context for the quote. The term seems to have been popularized thereafter by salesmen trade publications in the later 1920s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase itself is most likely older than this. I have two other citations where the meaning of its use is not exactly clear to me. The first is from a collection of &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=wvRNAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=cold%20call&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;field notes&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;taken by British entomolgist Augustus Radcliffe Grote and published in 1877:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I also had visitors still higher up in the scale of nature. Some Indians, from the Reservation near by, paid me a &lt;strong&gt;cold call&lt;/strong&gt;. These did not come to 'sugar,' reconnoitring perhaps for whisky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems to suggest that the phrase may have formed as a variation of the phrase &lt;em&gt;pay a call&lt;/em&gt; (in use since the early 1800s and itself a variation of &lt;em&gt;pay a visit&lt;/em&gt;--in use since at least the mid-1600s). But it could also just be describing the demeanor of the Indians.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=oRkYAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=cold%20call&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;second&lt;/a&gt; is substantially earlier and is from Vol. XII of &lt;em&gt;The Oriental Herald, and Journal of General Literature&lt;/em&gt;, 1827: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The same feeling forbade to wait the result of a &lt;strong&gt;cold call&lt;/strong&gt; for Colonel J. W. Adams's services ; and the staff of the army was completed before that veteran could recal his leave of absence on account of sickness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, it is unclear what exactly is meant by &lt;em&gt;cold&lt;/em&gt; in this citation. It could mean the call was calculated and unfeeling, but it could also imply that it was unexpected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T05:25:04.073" />
  <row Id="17027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16993" CreationDate="2011-03-20T05:31:28.673" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's an interesting reference from the &lt;em&gt;A Dictionary of Accounting&lt;/em&gt; (Oxford University Press)&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;cold calling :   A method of selling a&#xA;  product or service in which a sales&#xA;  representative makes calls,&#xA;  door-to-door, by post, or by&#xA;  telephone, to people who have not&#xA;  previously shown any interest in the&#xA;  product or service. In the UK, the&#xA;  selling of investments by cold calling&#xA;  is regulated by the Financial Services&#xA;  Act 1986.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see in this example, cold-calling encompasses &quot;making a call&quot; whether by mail, door-to-door, &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; by telephone.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The usage of &quot;calling&quot; as visiting in person definitely pre-dates the usage of &quot;cold-calling&quot; as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt; 1 :  &quot;cold calling&quot;  A Dictionary of Accounting. Ed Jonathan Law and Gary Owen. Oxford University Press, 2010. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. &lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T08:21:28.980" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T08:21:28.980" />
  <row Id="17028" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17071" CreationDate="2011-03-20T05:35:11.943" Score="4" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone recently pointed out to me that most English-speakers will say &quot;I saw a big brown spider,&quot; rather than &quot;I saw a brown big spider&quot;.  However, the second sentence has the same literal meaning as the first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are there instances in which adjectives are non-commutative, so that permuting the order of the adjectives changes the literal meaning of what's being said?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5287" LastEditorUserId="5287" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T11:03:13.930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T15:26:49.893" Title="Can changing the order of adjectives alter the literal meaning of a phrase?" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17029" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17030" CreationDate="2011-03-20T05:36:39.817" Score="4" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does &quot;he has some issues to work out&quot; have some special meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it an idiom? How is its meaning different from &quot;he has some problems to solve&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T07:29:36.680" Title="Does &quot;he has some issues to work out&quot; have some special meaning?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17029" CreationDate="2011-03-20T05:41:16.303" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a particular implication of the &quot;issues&quot; or &quot;problems&quot; involved being mental or emotional ones.  It's more closely equivalent to &quot;he's a little neurotic&quot; than &quot;he has some problems to solve&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T05:41:16.303" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17028" CreationDate="2011-03-20T05:56:40.713" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, there is a &quot;natural&quot; order of adjectives, which may even be universal across languages (I seem to recall this has been discussed here before).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, it is sometimes possible to deliberately place adjectives out of order to emphasise/focus them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T05:56:40.713" />
  <row Id="17032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17028" CreationDate="2011-03-20T06:01:04.577" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meaning isn't necessarily the same. You could be looking at brown(big spider) and big(brown spider), because you could have a white(big spider) or a small(brown spider). The emphasis is different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way you're thinking of it is (big, brown,)spider or (brown, big,) spider which do end up meaning the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, yes, changing the order of adjectives can definitely change the meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6287" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T06:01:04.577" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17028" CreationDate="2011-03-20T06:23:58.910" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Emphasis and meaning (and 'literal' meaning?) can be different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's say you have some goats.  Some of them are big goats, and a minority the big goats are prickly goats -- they have wiry hair that pricks you if you touch them.  There is only one small goat, Napoleon, who is prickly.  Some of the smaller goats are neither prickly nor soft, but generally the small goats are soft-haired.   You might see a goat that is big for one of the small goats, and this is a big small goat.   This is different from a small big goat, which is smaller than the biggest big goats, but still obviously a big goat.   It might be a prickly big goat, or a small prickly goat.   It might be a small prickly goat, and a softer one of the big prickly goats, but still obviously a prickly goat, and a big goat.   Even if it is a small prickly big goat, it's still a big goat that is prickly.  A prickly small goat might not be the same as a small prickly goat.  If the small prickly goat is not Napoleon, then probably it is just a smaller big goat, i.e., a small prickly goat.   That, or someone has described a small goat as having a rebarbative personality, though not literally a wiry coat.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T07:48:50.367" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T07:48:50.367" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16983" CreationDate="2011-03-20T07:22:30.920" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll be understood either way.   It may sound a bit quaint to use &quot;shall,&quot; but it will certainly be understood.  Though it's used less often in American English, it is probably at least as clear when used in an interrogative sentence such as the one you're asking about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even more clear would be to ask, &quot;Would you like me to upload the pictures?&quot; .&#xA;Alternately, &quot;You'd like me to upload the pictures now?&quot; or a different phrase referring to a time frame.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T08:11:36.820" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T08:11:36.820" />
  <row Id="17035" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17029" CreationDate="2011-03-20T07:29:36.680" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes it is an idiom. Polite way to say he is unstable and needs to see a psychiatrist or at least get a grip :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T07:29:36.680" />
  <row Id="17036" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17061" CreationDate="2011-03-20T08:25:01.817" Score="1" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To his amazement the girl did kiss her hand and stretch it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my understanding, &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; mostly refer the object of an action. So what's the meaning of &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; in this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think, the sentence should be rewrite to something like the following sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Amazemently, the girl did kiss her hand and stretch it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T08:19:53.660" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T09:41:44.643" Title="&quot;To his amazement the girl did kiss her hand and stretch it out&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17037" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17052" CreationDate="2011-03-20T08:26:14.443" Score="0" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the most natural way to complete this question (the person asking this question wants to know the name of a place)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I keep going south from here, […]?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T08:06:14.763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T08:06:14.763" Title="&quot;Where will I be,&quot; &quot;where will I get to,&quot; &quot;what place will I reach&quot;: What's the best way to ask?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;questions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="17038" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17057" CreationDate="2011-03-20T08:32:11.640" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverbial&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; states : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In grammar an adverbial is a word (an adverb) or a group of words (an adverbial phrase or an adverbial clause) that modifies or tells us something about the sentence or the verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that an adverbial usually tells us something about the verb; I just don't know what the something about the sentence is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T21:07:26.520" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T21:07:26.520" Title="What does &quot;an adverb tells us something about the sentence&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17036" CreationDate="2011-03-20T09:07:12.533" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't find anything wrong with the first sentence, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To his amazement the girl did kiss her&#xA;  hand and stretch it out&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;here to refers to 'his amazement' which is the object. Your suggestion&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Amazemently, the girl did kiss her&#xA;  hand and stretch it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Amazingly&lt;/strong&gt; in place of amazemently (is this even a word?) will be more appropriate I believe &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6167" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T09:07:12.533" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17037" CreationDate="2011-03-20T09:07:52.003" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I keep going south from here,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;what establishment will I be at?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;what what building will I be at?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;what landmark will I arrive at?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5709" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T09:07:52.003" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17041" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17004" CreationDate="2011-03-20T09:08:11.097" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The spelling &quot;bollocks&quot; is actually rather recent, the most common spelling a couple of centuries before the mythic Sex Pistols' single was actually &quot;ballocks&quot;.  Further back in time the Old English form was &quot;bealluc&quot; (testicles) - from Old English &quot;Beallu&quot; (ball).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86lfric_of_Eynsham&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ælfric&lt;/a&gt; (a prolific writer whose works are an important source for Old English) uses the term &quot;beallucas&quot; c. 1000 (this was absolutely not vulgar at the time and he also happily uses &quot;ars&quot;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally I'm tempted to conjecture that there might also have been some Norman influence because the French version is &quot;Balloches&quot; (small balls) and it's still used very commonly in French under this form for testicles (colloquial, not vulgar).&#xA;&quot;Alors ? T'as rien dans les balloches ?&quot; (So ? Got nothing in the balls ?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, the surname &quot;Baloche&quot; (cf. the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Baloche&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;America Singer&lt;/a&gt;) is specifically &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.genealogie.com/nom-baloche/baloche.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rooted in Normandy&lt;/a&gt;.  This time there is no allusion to the testicles.  The origin instead is that &quot;Balochers&quot; were people in charge of a particular type of balance in which the weights were made of small balls.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It might well as well be the other way round however, because whereas the use of Baloche for balance is well attested in medieval French, its use (as &quot;Balloches&quot; with double 'L') for testicles seems to be a later English borrowing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd definitely be interested if some OE or OF specialist could shed more light regarding what I surmise could be mutual influence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="5432" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T03:49:21.280" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T03:49:21.280" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17042" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-20T09:22:46.150" Score="3" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know another word or way to say &lt;em&gt;double entendre&lt;/em&gt; — in the non-bawdy sense of the word — as this phrase was only invented in the latter 1600's and so not around when Shakespeare wrote his plays, specifically as ever, the &lt;em&gt;Merchant&lt;/em&gt;…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanking you in advance of your super brains whirring away.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;further explanation is required to direct your super brains in the right direction, (away from smut...good lord! the superboff don't think of smut do they?!!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;it is a straight statement... he is a good man... just one that two people take to mean two different ways is there a nice word for that when used purposefully?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5332" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T22:38:26.517" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T23:12:35.883" Title="Alternative to &quot;double entendre&quot;?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;alternative&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17028" CreationDate="2011-03-20T09:34:34.117" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may not be as drastic a change as you were hoping for, but it's at least fairly natural: sometimes the same word can serve either to describe one's &lt;em&gt;opinion&lt;/em&gt; of the noun in question (which would put the adjective first in the order), or its &lt;em&gt;purpose&lt;/em&gt; (which puts it last). Thus moving the adjective can change from one sense to the other - for example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A red ornamental vase&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is a vase whose purpose is to be ornamental (whether one's opinion is that it is decorative or not), while&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An ornamental red vase&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;says that the vase is, in fact, aesthetically pleasing, whatever its original purpose (which may be merely holding plants).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T09:34:34.117" />
  <row Id="17044" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17047" CreationDate="2011-03-20T09:49:29.627" Score="2" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is the wording on signs I've been seeing quite often recently. It seems to me quite nonsensical; if you have to push the door to open it, it isn't automatic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that the case or is there something about &lt;em&gt;automatic&lt;/em&gt; I don't understand?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T18:37:07.257" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T18:37:07.257" Title="&quot;Automatic door—push to open.&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;signage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17042" CreationDate="2011-03-20T10:09:54.750" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You mean one of  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rhetoric.byu.edu/Figures/A/adianoeta.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adianoeta&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rhetoric.byu.edu/Figures/A/allegory.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;allegory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innuendo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;innuendo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T10:09:54.750" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17028" CreationDate="2011-03-20T10:36:41.547" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As pointed out &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12843/local-crumbed-scallops-or-crumbed-local-scallops/12863#12863&quot;&gt;elsewhere&lt;/a&gt;, “'local crumbed scallops' would be already-crumbed scallops obtained locally; 'crumbed local scallops' would be scallops obtained locally and then crumbed after being obtained”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking, there is a natural &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1155/adjective-order&quot;&gt;adjective order in English&lt;/a&gt;, which is everything but commutative. And “I saw a brown big spider” strikes me as ungrammatical. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sure, as others have pointed out already, you can &lt;em&gt;make&lt;/em&gt; it grammatical by putting the stress on &lt;em&gt;brown&lt;/em&gt;, and regarding &lt;em&gt;big spider&lt;/em&gt; as a single fixed unit. But that's precisely the thing: you have to jump through hoops, and even then it means something slightly different. (Yes, as you have pointed out in a comment, in a row of spiders it might still &lt;em&gt;point out&lt;/em&gt; the exact same spider; but it is &lt;em&gt;not saying the exact same thing&lt;/em&gt; about that spider.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T14:43:06.933" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T14:43:06.933" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17044" CreationDate="2011-03-20T10:58:14.457" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I've seen this sign, it has been referring to a button on or near the door. Pressing the button causes the door to open automatically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The buttons are usually placed to ensure they can easily be pressed by wheelchair users.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T10:58:14.457" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17036" CreationDate="2011-03-20T11:07:48.057" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think saying  &lt;em&gt;to his&lt;/em&gt; is used to specify the person who is amazed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you say, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Amazingly, the girl did kiss her(or his?) hand and stretch it out&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You are never sure, to whose got amazed there. The person who is narrating the story, or the onlookers, etcetera.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where as, when you say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To his amazement ..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You mean that the guy was amazed that the girl kissed her/his hand and stretched it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T08:22:23.020" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T08:22:23.020" />
  <row Id="17049" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17042" CreationDate="2011-03-20T11:08:30.380" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Innuendo&lt;/em&gt; fits, but only in the romantic or sexual connotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4661" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T15:49:47.713" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T15:49:47.713" />
  <row Id="17050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17044" CreationDate="2011-03-20T11:10:05.923" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have that kind of door on my apparment building. Instead of having a separate button to open the door, the door itself has a sensor that notices when you start to open the door.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, actually opening the door is not automatic, but then it will automatically swing open and stay open for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can compare this to other uses of &lt;em&gt;automatic&lt;/em&gt;, where for example an automatic gun still needs a trigger, and an automatic gearbox needs to be put in drive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastEditorUserId="3365" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T11:16:44.917" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T11:16:44.917" />
  <row Id="17051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17038" CreationDate="2011-03-20T11:11:34.797" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Certainly the adverb can modify the sentence. Unfortunately the description above is rather unclear. Hopefully, though, you see from these examples that the adverb can modify the meaning of the sentence taken as a whole, rather than the verb (the &quot;hope&quot; describes the whole sentence, not the way you're seeing it!). Fortunately this construction is very easy to understand and use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T11:11:34.797" />
  <row Id="17052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17037" CreationDate="2011-03-20T11:13:44.997" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The most natural completion (in speech) would be, in my opinion&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I keep going south from here, where will I get to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I keep going south from here, where do I get to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T11:13:44.997" />
  <row Id="17053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17037" CreationDate="2011-03-20T11:16:34.070" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think both of the following are correct. Others, correct me if I'm wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I keep going South from here, what place will I reach?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I keep going South from here, where will I get to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On a sidenote, the answer to the second question may not specify a particular place. Like, the person may say, you'll get to a dead end. If you really want a particular place, I guess you should frame your questions more specifically like in (1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T11:16:34.070" />
  <row Id="17054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17037" CreationDate="2011-03-20T11:17:39.860" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/end_up&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;End up&lt;/a&gt;&quot; is natural in this context (for my American English). I would say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I keep going south from here, where will I end up?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;End up&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;does not imply anything about what type of destination it is, like whether it's a general area, a city, a building, store, neighborhood. You can &quot;end up&quot; in New York, at a grocery store, in Canada, on Elm Street, or in a bad neighborhood.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;has the connotation of arriving at the destination without first knowing what the destination is, making it fitting for this context.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;does not imply how far you will go, or that you will even know when to stop, or that you are even going to a specific place.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This puts the burden on the answerer to decide how to answer the question (as opposed to &quot;which place will I reach?&quot; which limits answers to places as @n0nChun says.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Where will I be&quot; to me seems slightly less open-ended than &quot;end up&quot;, though almost the same. I don't think I've ever heard &quot;get to&quot;, but I suspect it's regional and equivalent to &quot;end up&quot;. I don't see a fitting wiktionary definition for &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/get_to&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;get to&lt;/a&gt;&quot; though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastEditorUserId="4929" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T12:25:36.233" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T12:25:36.233" />
  <row Id="17055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16983" CreationDate="2011-03-20T11:18:40.903" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are correct, should is more polite, shall is probably, less used&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4661" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T11:18:40.903" />
  <row Id="17056" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17060" CreationDate="2011-03-20T12:21:16.510" Score="2" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;We often encounter &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt; used to mean &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt;. As we know, &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt; is not merely ambiguous; it's hexiguous or octiguous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm especially uncomfortable when I find the usage in a technical paper&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;, where precision (as I claim) trumps written or spoken style. I argue that &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt; cannot stand in for &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; in a paper as rigorous as a specification. But, as I think about it, maybe I'm acting as a mere pedant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe I should lighten up a little. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you folks think as I do? Or should I take it easy, just accept and go with it as the leaf accepts the breeze?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;As in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pwilson.net/n869-18-jan-99.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;current C-programming-language spec&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6300" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T15:45:32.803" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T15:45:32.803" Title="Can 'as' ever properly mean 'because'?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;conjunctions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17038" CreationDate="2011-03-20T12:21:24.310" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you read further down the page in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverbial&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; where you found your example, you'll find how adverbials modify sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;h3&gt;Types of adverbials that form sentence elements&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Adverbials are typically divided into four classes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;adverbial complements&lt;/strong&gt; (i.e. obligatory adverbial) are adverbials that render a sentence ungrammatical and meaningless if removed.&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;John put the flowers &lt;strong&gt;in a vase&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;adjuncts&lt;/strong&gt;: these are part of the core meaning of the sentence, but if omitted still leave a meaningful sentence.&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;John helped me &lt;strong&gt;with my homework&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;conjuncts&lt;/strong&gt;: these link two sentences together.&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;John helped so I was, &lt;strong&gt;therefore&lt;/strong&gt;, able to do my homework.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;disjuncts&lt;/strong&gt;: these make comments on the meaning of the rest of the sentence.&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;Surprisingly&lt;/strong&gt;, he passed all of his exams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T12:21:24.310" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17044" CreationDate="2011-03-20T12:26:27.900" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Automatic doors still have to be opened in the case of power outages, and having instructions for this contingency is a reasonable thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5754" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T12:26:27.900" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17056" CreationDate="2011-03-20T12:27:41.997" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt; to mean &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; is grammatical and common. From NOAD:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;as&lt;/strong&gt; 3 because; since : &lt;em&gt;I must stop now as I have to go out.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, as you noted it does introduce a level of ambiguity that may be out of place in a strict piece of technical writing. While it would still not be wrong, it may not communicate as clearly as some readers would like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are the writer, judge for yourself whether the usage is clear. If you are the reader and encounter the ambiguity, consider looking up the material in a different source.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T12:27:41.997" />
  <row Id="17060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17056" CreationDate="2011-03-20T12:36:22.240" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe using &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt; as a mere synonym of &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; is quite common, especially in prose that is intentionally formulaic rather than aimed at maximum clarity, which definitely includes many technical papers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, several style guides deplore this usage. Fowler's &lt;em&gt;Modern English Usage&lt;/em&gt; recommends that &lt;em&gt;as&lt;/em&gt; should only be so used to introduce a fact well known to the reader, as a mere reminder—not to introduce an ordinary reason or argument.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Caesar's dying words to Brutus were,&#xA;  &quot;you too, my son&quot;. For the record, he&#xA;  didn't use those exact words, as he&#xA;  didn't speak English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T12:36:22.240" />
  <row Id="17061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17036" CreationDate="2011-03-20T12:37:46.373" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sixth entry in the New Oxford American Dictionary's listing for &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;to&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;6&lt;/em&gt; governing a phrase expressing someone's reaction to something : &lt;em&gt;to her astonishment, he smiled.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; in your example is simply a marker to introduce the reaction and identify the person having the reaction: To whose amazement? To &lt;em&gt;his&lt;/em&gt; amazement. (Whoever &quot;he&quot; is.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(And as others have suggested, you really never want to use bizarre coinages like &lt;em&gt;amazemently&lt;/em&gt; in a sentence.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T12:37:46.373" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17062" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-20T12:38:44.877" Score="0" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do we utter &lt;em&gt;special&lt;/em&gt; this way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6314" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T08:07:37.617" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T08:07:37.617" ClosedDate="2011-03-20T15:14:21.427" Title="Why do we utter &quot;special&quot; this way?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;pronunciation&gt;" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17063" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17069" CreationDate="2011-03-20T12:43:06.507" Score="2" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;Who coined this phrase, and what is the meaning behind it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T07:58:38.313" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T07:58:38.313" Title="What do sales people mean by &quot;don't sell the steak, sell the sizzle?&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17064" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17067" CreationDate="2011-03-20T12:54:55.887" Score="3" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;Imagine yourself walking in the woods with children. One child is saying, &quot;there is a big hole in that tree's trunk.&quot; You answer, &quot;perhaps a/some bird lives in there.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you use &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt;? Please, elaborate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T08:01:35.907" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T08:01:35.907" Title="&quot;Perhaps, some bird lives in there&quot; or &quot;perhaps, a bird lives in there?&quot;" Tags="&lt;indefinite-article&gt;&lt;modifier&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="17065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16993" CreationDate="2011-03-20T13:01:06.707" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My understanding is that it's a &quot;cold&quot; call because often in sales, how interested a party is in the service you're selling is defined in terms of temperature: a &quot;hot&quot; prospect is interested in your product or service and may be ready to close the deal, as compared to a &quot;warm&quot; lead which could be somebody whom you have heard needs your product or services, but you haven't spoken to directly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you make a &quot;cold call&quot;, you are calling upon someone whom you have never spoken to and know little about, therefore the lead is &quot;cold&quot; -- you don't know if they will be interested or not. Hopefully (for you) the cold call will produce a warm lead, bringing you closer to a sale. But since &quot;cold calling&quot; is less likely to produce a sale than calling someone you know is interested, it's referred to as &quot;cold&quot; whereas the later is &quot;warm&quot; or &quot;hot&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interesting to see from the other answers that it does predate the telephone, but this makes since as the verb &quot;call&quot; can also mean to visit somebody in person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2259" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T13:01:06.707" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17066" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17068" CreationDate="2011-03-20T13:03:34.113" Score="1" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How long has your sister played the harp?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For almost five years.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I leave off &quot;for&quot; here or it will sound strange then?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T13:05:31.247" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T13:09:31.530" Title="Can I drop &quot;for&quot; in a short &quot;for almost 5 years&quot; answer?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="17067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17064" CreationDate="2011-03-20T13:04:39.593" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would probably use &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; in this sentence, but you could use either. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the meanings of &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;some&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;2&lt;/em&gt; used to refer to someone or something that is unknown or unspecified : &lt;em&gt;she married some newspaper magnate twice her age&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;there must be some mistake&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;he's in some kind of trouble&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to refer to &quot;some bird&quot; living in a tree trunk simply means it is an unknown or unspecified bird, if it does in fact exist. But the indefinite article accomplishes the same task, and does so with a single letter, so I would prefer it in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T13:04:39.593" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="17068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17066" CreationDate="2011-03-20T13:09:31.530" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Certainly you can leave off the &quot;for&quot; in that sentence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leaving out syntactic elements is called &lt;em&gt;ellipsis&lt;/em&gt; and is well known and understood. You're already using ellipsis by constructing the answer as a sentence fragment anyway. &quot;For almost five years&quot; is understood to mean &quot;My sister has played the harp for almost five years.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could even just say &quot;Five years&quot; and your meaning would be clear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T13:09:31.530" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17063" CreationDate="2011-03-20T13:10:30.107" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sales phrase was coined by Elmer Wheeler in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=WYYZAQAAIAAJ&amp;amp;q=%22sell+the+sizzle%22&amp;amp;dq=%22sell+the+sizzle%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=VC-GTYz5E-eU0QGqi_3kCA&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mid-1920s&lt;/a&gt;. It urged salespeople to focus on the experience around a product being sold rather than simply on the object itself. It means appealing to the senses and emotions of the buyer with the assumption that this is what motivates most people to purchase. It may be best put by Wheeler himself in this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW6HmQ1QVMw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;YouTube video&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T16:47:22.337" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T16:47:22.337" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17063" CreationDate="2011-03-20T13:14:34.363" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know who coined it, but I understand the meaning to be: don't base your pitch on the properties of the product; talk about what it can do for the client and how it will make life better for them. In other words, don't talk about how the vacuum cleaner was made in Germany and incorporates the latest technology; tell the client he'll be able to vacuum the house in half the time and he'll never have to buy a replacement bag.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6315" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T13:14:34.363" />
  <row Id="17071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17028" CreationDate="2011-03-20T13:18:39.587" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In describing books, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;my collectible first editions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would mean the earliest printing of the books, whereas &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;my first collectible editions&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would mean the books that the speaker collected the earliest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And it's not just because &quot;first edition&quot; is a technical term. &quot;My horrible first year at college&quot; is different from &quot;My first horrible year at college&quot; for the same reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5754" LastEditorUserId="5754" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T15:26:49.893" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T15:26:49.893" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17072" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17074" CreationDate="2011-03-20T14:04:33.203" Score="5" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;Currency is usually written with the type prefixed, e.g. $52.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, what is the correct way to write a currency range? For example, the inclusive range of 'between 14 and 90 dollars' could be written as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;$14-90&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;$14-$90&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;14-90$&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6318" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T07:56:33.477" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T07:56:33.477" Title="How to correctly write a range of currency" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;currency&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="17073" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17028" CreationDate="2011-03-20T14:14:20.650" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First off, an interesting aside. Someone else pondering your question led indirectly to the creation of the entire fantasy genre:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I first tried to write a story when I was about seven. It was about a dragon. I remember nothing about it except a philological fact. My mother said nothing about the dragon, but pointed out that one could not say 'a green great dragon', but had to say 'a great green dragon'. I wondered why, and still do. The fact that I remember this is possibly significant, as I do not think I ever tried to write a story again for many years, and was taken up with language.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &quot;Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer your question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are there instances in which adjectives are non-commutative, so that permuting the order of the adjectives changes the literal meaning of what's being said?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, lots. For example, consider the mathematician's definition of &quot;diameter&quot;. Suppose you have a shape -- any shape, in any number of dimensions -- and you want to find its diameter. How can we define diameter on an arbitrary shape?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's actually straightforward.  Consider every possible pair of points on the object, and consider every possible &quot;path&quot; between those two points. For each pair of points, find the shortest of those paths. The length of that path is the shortest distance between those two points. Now find the pair of points that has the &lt;strong&gt;longest shortest path&lt;/strong&gt; between them. The length of that path is the diameter. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly the &quot;longest shortest path&quot; is very different than the &quot;shortest longest path&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also my article about finding the &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericlippert/archive/2004/12/15/whidbey-island-and-bagel-mathematics.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;longest shortest shortest&lt;/a&gt; path between poppyseeds on a bagel, if this subject interests you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6319" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T14:14:20.650" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17074" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17072" CreationDate="2011-03-20T14:14:50.573" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Put the currency sign in both places:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;$14&amp;ndash;$90&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;especially because the other two risk confusing the dash with a decimal marker ($14.90).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T14:14:50.573" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17075" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17080" CreationDate="2011-03-20T14:21:57.957" Score="6" ViewCount="302" Body="&lt;p&gt;If something is quite close by, it could be described as being &lt;em&gt;a stone's throw away&lt;/em&gt;; even closer might be &lt;em&gt;a hop, skip and a jump&lt;/em&gt;. I'm interested in these &quot;units&quot; of measurement based on human action. Do you know of other similar words, phrases or idioms that &lt;strong&gt;both describe an activity and act as a kind of measurement&lt;/strong&gt;? They do not have to be limited to distance measurement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T15:32:49.320" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T04:56:08.817" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-23T23:23:59.803" Title="Are additional intriguing measurements just a stone's throw away?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;fun&gt;&lt;measuring-units&gt;" AnswerCount="14" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="17076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17042" CreationDate="2011-03-20T14:22:39.797" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want a term that Shakespeare himself (or at least his contemporaries) might have used, how about &lt;strong&gt;bawdy quips&lt;/strong&gt; or more specifically &lt;strong&gt;bawdy puns&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(And I feel sure there’s somewhere also in &lt;em&gt;Romeo and Juliet&lt;/em&gt; where this subject comes up — Mercutio and Benvolio(?) are teasing Romeo about having the hots for Juliet, and he says something like “enough with the filthy jokes, guys! my love for her is pure and special!” — but I can’t remember for the life of me remember his actual words, I’m up afraid.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T14:22:39.797" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17075" CreationDate="2011-03-20T14:29:43.533" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about &lt;em&gt;to be a heartbeat away from something&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6116" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T14:29:43.533" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-23T23:23:59.803" />
  <row Id="17078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17075" CreationDate="2011-03-20T14:40:52.740" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I Would not touch him with a &lt;strong&gt;ten foot (barge) pole&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;To come within a &lt;strong&gt;gnat's hair&lt;/strong&gt;, a &lt;strong&gt;hair's breadth&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;a &lt;strong&gt;whisker&lt;/strong&gt;  of something&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T09:13:04.463" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T09:13:04.463" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-23T23:23:59.803" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17079" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17082" CreationDate="2011-03-20T14:58:41.470" Score="3" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Russian when we want to call up a cat we say &lt;em&gt;ks-ks-ks&lt;/em&gt;. What is the usual way to call it up in English? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6116" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T19:42:30.307" Title="Calling up a cat" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17075" CreationDate="2011-03-20T15:11:58.693" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He came within spitting distance&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;It happened in the blinking of an eye&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(not human but) I'll be with you in two shakes of a lamb's tail&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T15:11:58.693" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-23T23:23:59.803" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="17081" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17093" CreationDate="2011-03-20T15:18:39.393" Score="2" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just as the title says... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T18:31:35.780" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T18:31:35.780" Title="What's the difference between 'therapy' and 'treatment'?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17079" CreationDate="2011-03-20T15:24:21.020" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A high-pitched &lt;em&gt;here kitty-kitty&lt;/em&gt; is very common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T15:35:44.507" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T15:35:44.507" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17083" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-20T15:24:50.950" Score="4" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicates:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3447/i-can-run-faster-than-1-him-2-he&quot;&gt;I can run faster than &lt;strong&gt;_&lt;/strong&gt;. (1) him (2) he?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/14294/like-i-or-like-me&quot;&gt;“like I” or “like me”?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which of these is correct and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always assumed it followed the rule of &quot;which would be correct if you inserted the verb&quot;, eg. Smarter than I am vs. Smarter than me am, in which case the former would obviously be correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But thinking more about it, I'm not sure...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6321" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T22:24:04.267" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T22:24:04.267" ClosedDate="2011-03-20T19:02:55.800" Title="&quot;Smarter than me&quot; or &quot;smarter than I&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17083" CreationDate="2011-03-20T15:52:56.440" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ah, you've stumbled onto a controversy even the experts haven't completely settled. It all depends on whether you think &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt; is a conjunction or a preposition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, remember that &quot;I&quot; is always a subject, and &quot;me&quot; is always an object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt; is a conjunction, then it's joining two complete sentences, and the &quot;am&quot; that you mention is the implied predicate of that sentence. In that case, &quot;I&quot; is the correct subject. (Except where's the comma you normally would use before an &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; that joins two sentences?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt; is a preposition, then there is a prepositional phrase, which needs an object, not a subject. In that case, &quot;me&quot; is the correct pronoun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consensus seems to be on the side of the &quot;conjunctionists&quot; -- even if common usage isn't. I always use &lt;em&gt;than&lt;/em&gt; like a conjunction in writing, but in speaking, I usually find myself using it as a preposition because it feels more natural somehow. So I guess I have a foot in both camps. ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There's an &lt;a href=&quot;http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/than-I-versus-than-me.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;excellent discussion&lt;/a&gt; of this at Grammar Girl's blog.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T15:52:56.440" CommentCount="17" />
  <row Id="17085" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-20T15:53:41.073" Score="0" ViewCount="22" Body="&lt;h3&gt;Question:&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can someone please give me a list of things to check when reviewing a document to make sure that it is &lt;strong&gt;atomic&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Atomic?&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meaning that anyone can start reading at any section in a document and not have other portions of the document be dependent on some other portion of the document. (Unless it is explicitly stated within the section they are reading, to read another section)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;(Also)&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could someone with a higher reputation than my own please tag this question with several synonyms for the definition of atomic stated above? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1988" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T15:53:41.073" ClosedDate="2011-03-20T18:36:15.910" Title="Checklist for making sure your writing is Atomic?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;&lt;technical&gt;" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17075" CreationDate="2011-03-20T16:07:19.607" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the southern US, walking distances are sometime described in &lt;em&gt;looks&lt;/em&gt;. As in &lt;em&gt;&quot;Then you go 'bout three looks down the road and you'll come to...&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you start down the road or path, you &lt;em&gt;look&lt;/em&gt; for the most distance landmark you can see, and when you get there, you &lt;em&gt;look&lt;/em&gt; again...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously the nature of the path and terrain mean that the length of a look varies a lot.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2851" LastEditorUserId="2851" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T22:38:24.283" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T22:38:24.283" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-23T23:23:59.803" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17087" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17095" CreationDate="2011-03-20T16:08:36.247" Score="4" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems colons are used more restrictively in English than in my native language (German), so I'm having a bit of trouble with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you think the use of the colon in the following sentences is good style in English, or should I better replace the colons (by semicolons)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This leads us to the main goal of this work: to define a statistical model for object recognition.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I am following my father's advice: first I look left, then right, then I cross the street.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm really using the colon here for &quot;, which is&quot;: &quot;This leads us to the main goal of this work, which is to define a statistical model for object recognition&quot; to make it more concise. Is that wrong? Are there any other good ways to make it as concise as possible and get rid of superfluous words like &quot;which is?&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6325" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T07:42:25.363" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T07:42:25.363" Title="Usage of colon in English writing" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;colon&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="17088" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17090" CreationDate="2011-03-20T16:09:28.320" Score="1" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;...which is often used when the physician does not (or cannot) perform a &lt;strong&gt;culture&lt;/strong&gt; to determine the actual bacterium.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T18:33:46.997" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T18:33:46.997" Title="What does 'culture' mean in this sentence?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="17089" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17091" CreationDate="2011-03-20T16:14:17.257" Score="4" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;I basically came these words across together in a text, and I was wondering whether or not they are pronounced the same way. 'War' is actually pronounced as 'wor', so I'm not entirely sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, when I pronounce them I do not hear a difference, but I'm not a native English speaker. Therefore, could anyone perhaps shed some light on the pronunciation, whether or not it is different?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3948" LastEditorUserId="3948" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T16:29:29.427" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T23:03:04.047" Title="Difference in pronunciation between 'warship' and 'worship'?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17088" CreationDate="2011-03-20T16:14:38.397" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Meriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the act or process of cultivating living material (as bacteria or viruses) in prepared nutrient media; also : a product of such cultivation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6116" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T16:14:38.397" />
  <row Id="17091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17089" CreationDate="2011-03-20T16:26:09.673" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sitting here saying the two words to myself and marveling that I never noticed that similarity in pronunciation before. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference is all in the &quot;or.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;em&gt;worship&lt;/em&gt;, the &quot;or&quot; is pronounced more as &quot;ur&quot; by most Americans. We say it as &quot;wurship.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Warship&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced more the way it looks: &quot;wawrship,&quot; with the mouth opening a bit wider on the &quot;a.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Accent is on the first syllable in both words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastEditorUserId="6100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T19:07:58.820" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T19:07:58.820" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17092" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17101" CreationDate="2011-03-20T16:26:39.740" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can definitely hear a distinct difference but I am not sure if it is from the long vowel or from the &quot;r&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5854" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T19:00:38.017" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T19:00:38.017" Title="What is the difference between American and British pronunciations of &quot;world&quot; and &quot;girl&quot;?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17081" CreationDate="2011-03-20T16:36:17.610" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They have a close meaning, but &quot;treatment&quot; is more about a series of drugs prescribed, while &quot;therapy&quot; is a wider term. The second encompasses other aspects of health, such as psychological or therapeutical help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T16:36:17.610" />
  <row Id="17094" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17087" CreationDate="2011-03-20T16:39:23.177" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your use of the colon in those two sentences is totally standard. It is indeed equivalent to &quot;, which is:&quot; and this is OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T16:39:23.177" />
  <row Id="17095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17087" CreationDate="2011-03-20T16:41:45.137" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe your use is fine in both instances, and your understanding of its purpose is correct. Especially in example one, I think a colon is an excellent way to point out the main goal of an academic paper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note: Some (but not all) style guides call for the clause following the colon to begin with a capital letter if it's a complete sentence (as in example two).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T16:41:45.137" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17096" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17099" CreationDate="2011-03-20T16:56:38.203" Score="2" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is a related group of drugs known as cephalosporins that exhibit a 6% &lt;strong&gt;cross&lt;/strong&gt; sensitivity reaction to penicillin allergy sufferers. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the meaning of &lt;em&gt;cross&lt;/em&gt; in this sentence?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Is &lt;em&gt;sensitivity reaction&lt;/em&gt; used to mean &lt;em&gt;allergy&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T20:18:24.020" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T20:18:24.020" Title="Meaning of &quot;cross&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17097" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8597" CreationDate="2011-03-20T16:57:21.477" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've nothing against neologisms per se, but they should certainly be avoided in contexts where your audience might not understand what you're talking about. I've never had the chance to use &lt;strong&gt;wabe&lt;/strong&gt; in a real conversation, but at least Humpty Dumpty had the good grace to tell us what he meant. So I think the guy who originally said he would &quot;do the fish&quot; was basically either careless or ignorant, and I wouldn't want him extending my linguistic repertoire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T16:57:21.477" />
  <row Id="17098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17096" CreationDate="2011-03-20T17:15:58.430" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not medically qualified, but I &lt;strong&gt;do&lt;/strong&gt; have a potentially life-threatening allergy to penicillin. Even though I've no idea what cephalosporins are, I would avoid them on the grounds that the probable meaning of &quot;cross-sensitivity&quot; is that there's a 6% chance I'd have a fatal reaction to them as well. So &quot;cross&quot; here means &quot;applicable across both contexts&quot; (i.e. - the sensitivity applies to both cephalosporins &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; penicillin, for 6% of subjects tested).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T17:15:58.430" />
  <row Id="17099" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17096" CreationDate="2011-03-20T17:16:25.107" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cross sensitivity&lt;/em&gt; is a medical term that means that if you have an allergy to some substance then you are much likely to have an allergy to similar substances. For example if you are allergic to penicillin you also may be allergic to cephalosporins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6116" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T19:28:22.657" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T19:28:22.657" />
  <row Id="17100" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17124" CreationDate="2011-03-20T17:21:54.110" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;How do you express &quot;the beginning place of love?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here, we start to love.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Here, we start out our love.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T20:16:49.277" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T12:57:14.857" Title="The beginning place of love" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17092" CreationDate="2011-03-20T17:30:41.513" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a definite difference in the /r/; see this on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rhotic and non-rhotic accents&lt;/a&gt; where rhotic accents are typical in most of America but not in England outside the south-west.  So for &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/girl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;girl&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; (/ɡɝl/ and /ɡɜːl/) and &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/world&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;world&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; (/wɝld/ and /wɜː(ɹ)ld/) the /r/ is almost not pronounced in non-rhotic accents, though the vowels are similar in both accents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T17:30:41.513" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17075" CreationDate="2011-03-20T17:53:37.543" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't fire until you can see the&#xA;  whites of their eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5754" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T17:53:37.543" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-23T23:23:59.803" />
  <row Id="17103" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17079" CreationDate="2011-03-20T18:02:41.367" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whilst it's not uncommon, I think &lt;em&gt;here kitty kitty&lt;/em&gt; is a bit twee &amp;amp; self-concious. The most common sound I hear people making is a sort of &quot;squeak&quot; produced by placing the bottom teeth loosely against top lip and drawing air inwards across the gap by moving the tongue backwards (with throat closed). I know at least a couple of people who call this non-vocalised sound a &quot;tweet&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T18:02:41.367" />
  <row Id="17104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17089" CreationDate="2011-03-20T18:04:33.883" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd more or less agree with the above answer, apart from the part about the difference between English and American pronunciations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dictionary.com has the two pronounced as /ˈwɔrˌʃɪp/ [wawr-ship] for &lt;em&gt;warship&lt;/em&gt;, and /ˈwɜrʃɪp/ [wur-ship] for &lt;em&gt;worship&lt;/em&gt;. These are about how I'd expect them to sound as a British English speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/worship&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;suggests&lt;/a&gt; \'wər-shəp\ or \'wòr-shəp\ for &lt;em&gt;worship&lt;/em&gt;. I'm not quite sure about either of those.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T18:47:50.263" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T18:47:50.263" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17089" CreationDate="2011-03-20T18:15:12.987" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Warship : wôrˌSHip ( more like Wor-Ship )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Worship: wərSHəp ( more like Wer-Ship )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T18:15:12.987" />
  <row Id="17106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17079" CreationDate="2011-03-20T18:17:38.617" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(reprise...) I know at least one person who attracts his cat by making the sound we generally write as &lt;em&gt;tsk-tsk&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;tut-tut&lt;/em&gt;. That's the clicking sound made by pressing tip of tongue to roof of mouth, then releasing it sharply to draw air inwards (again, with throat closed). Drifting slightly off-topic, I've long been fascinated by the corresponding &quot;non-vocalised&quot; sound made using the &lt;strong&gt;side&lt;/strong&gt; of the tongue, which has particularly strong associations with horses (i.e. - it means &quot;giddy-up, horse!&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T18:17:38.617" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17107" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17151" CreationDate="2011-03-20T18:40:02.467" Score="-1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;It feels wrong to me using the term &lt;em&gt;consumer&lt;/em&gt; to refer to someone buying/using anything. In my opinion, this term should only be used in the context of foodstuff consumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same is true with &lt;em&gt;media consumption&lt;/em&gt;. Apparently, some people think it is an actual technical/scientific term. Personally, I have a hard time imagining people eating movies, music, hard drives, floppy disks and media in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why do companies and governments insist on misusing the term &lt;em&gt;consumer&lt;/em&gt; (and variations) in such a potentially insulting and flawed manner?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6327" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T08:08:31.690" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T20:25:10.807" Title="Proper use of &quot;consumer&quot; and variations" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17108" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17116" CreationDate="2011-03-20T18:41:54.507" Score="4" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;On the recommendation of some regulars here, I managed to watch the movie &lt;em&gt;The Madness of King George&lt;/em&gt;  over the weekend, and found it excellent.  Anyway, one funny scene in the movie is when King George, who despite being contentedly married is quite flirtatious, remarks on the looks of one of the Queen Consort's ladies-in-waiting to the head of his attending guards:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That's Lady Penbrook. Handsome woman, what? Daughter of the Duke of Marlborough...husband's an utter rascal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the usage of &quot;handsome&quot; here archaic, or just rarely used by those in the know? If the former, when did it become so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T05:02:54.253" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T05:02:54.253" Title="Can you still call a woman &quot;handsome&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8415" CreationDate="2011-03-20T18:42:42.843" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect the common meaning of &lt;em&gt;make [no] bones [about it]&lt;/em&gt; is irrelevant here, and that he simply meant &lt;em&gt;they boiled bones&lt;/em&gt; (to make glue, for example). Having driven past many old glue factories, I can confirm they do indeed &lt;em&gt;pen and ink&lt;/em&gt; (stink).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T18:42:42.843" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17110" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-20T18:43:16.113" Score="3" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it acceptable English to use the verb &lt;em&gt;meet&lt;/em&gt; in the context of a phone call or a video conference? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To provide a bit of background, I am writing an email to a business associate overseas. There is little chance of an actual face-to-face meeting taking place anytime soon, however a phone call or a video conference would obviously work fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't want to be the one to suggest a method of communication, but would rather let the business associate decide in what way would they prefer to conduct the conversation. For this reason, I was thinking of using a neutral verb, e.g. &lt;em&gt;meet&lt;/em&gt;. Can I use a phrase such as &quot;I hope we can meet to discuss topic X in the near future&quot; in the context of a phone call or a video conference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Intuitively, I would say that this sounds a little awkward. Nevertheless, given the fact that phone conference calls are often referred to as meetings, I was thinking that this sort of usage of the word might be acceptable after all. What do you think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6328" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T20:08:34.823" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T21:12:34.613" Title="Usage of the word &quot;meet&quot; in the context of a phone call/video conference" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17111" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-20T18:47:34.697" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;There was a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.englishservice.cz/download/Postscript%20sections%20Upper%20Int.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Postscript section in my English Course-book&lt;/a&gt;, which simply teaches the colloquial English phrases as in &quot;Give me a lift&quot;, &quot;Let me have a look&quot;, &quot;There is no point&quot;, etc. But &quot;postscript&quot; won't return any relevant results in Google, so I thought there might be a better expressive/suitable term for this phrases. Is there really?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1327" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T19:06:20.150" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T19:06:20.150" Title="Any better term than &quot;Postscript&quot;?" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17110" CreationDate="2011-03-20T18:51:31.253" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have a problem with that use of meeting. If it bothers you, you could always leave it out. Your sentence would make perfect sense without it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T18:51:31.253" />
  <row Id="17113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17111" CreationDate="2011-03-20T18:54:24.657" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrases are actually titled &quot;social expressions&quot;, and that's what I would google for. I might throw in the word &quot;common&quot; for good measure, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=common+social+expressions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;search for &quot;common social expressions&quot;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;postscript&lt;/em&gt; has nothing to do with the phrases at hand. It simply means &quot;addendum to the book&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T18:54:24.657" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17079" CreationDate="2011-03-20T18:55:10.253" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Puss-puss&lt;/em&gt; (or other variations, e.g. &lt;em&gt;here puss&lt;/em&gt;, etc) is also common in some parts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T18:55:10.253" />
  <row Id="17115" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17176" CreationDate="2011-03-20T19:09:21.753" Score="1" ViewCount="104" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed a whole spate of questions here on this StackExchange using single quotes &lt;code&gt;' '&lt;/code&gt;  as a substitute for double quotes &lt;code&gt;&quot; &quot;&lt;/code&gt; , in their function of denoting words as words.  Is this usage kosher as long as one sticks to the same convention within a text?  Is there an idiosyncratic use of single quotes in this manner by an authority, like the &lt;em&gt;New Yorker&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: I probably should have added an example to make my point more clear.  Which of the following titles is better stylistically:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is 'passion' a more descriptive word to use in this sentence versus 'love'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;versus&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is &quot;passion&quot; a more descriptive word to use in this sentence versus &quot;love&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T04:59:35.520" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T04:59:35.520" Title="Can single quotes be used as double quotes for the purposes of denoting words?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;style&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17108" CreationDate="2011-03-20T19:14:15.557" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, the use of &lt;em&gt;handsome&lt;/em&gt; in that film may well be archaic or it may not. According to NOAD it currently means&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;handsome&lt;/strong&gt; (of a woman) striking and imposing in good looks rather than conventionally pretty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I think it doesn't mean is &lt;em&gt;hot&lt;/em&gt; in the sense we would use it today. The emphasis is on &lt;em&gt;striking&lt;/em&gt;: she's not conventionally pretty, but neither is she ugly. She has striking features.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is someone I think would fit the bill rather, er, handsomely:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/9NTzq.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Sigourney Weaver&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And here is someone who is more conventionally pretty:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/TNwxo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Scarlett Johansson&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But remember the worn adage about beauty being in the eye of the beholder? It's worn because it's true. There are certainly people who find Sigourney Weaver more attractive than Scarlett Johansson. And I can tell you who &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; would choose in a heartbeat if I were ever in a death match with an alien.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T19:14:15.557" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17107" CreationDate="2011-03-20T19:19:36.347" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to my New Oxford English Dictionary, &lt;em&gt;to consume&lt;/em&gt; meant &quot;to spend (money or goods)&quot; at least 100 years before it meant &quot;to eat up&quot; or &quot;to drink down.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T19:26:37.290" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T19:26:37.290" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16996" CreationDate="2011-03-20T19:22:35.707" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both answers given above regarding the meaning of &lt;em&gt;labor of love&lt;/em&gt; are correct. And @muntoo's &lt;em&gt;selfless act&lt;/em&gt; sums it up nicely in two words. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To answer the second part of your question, however, the first known use of the phrase is probably the one in the Bible, specifically the King James Version which translation dates back to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorized_King_James_Version&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1611&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and &lt;strong&gt;labour of love&lt;/strong&gt;, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Thessalonians%201:3&amp;amp;version=KJV&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1 Thessalonians 1:3&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T19:22:35.707" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17119" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-20T19:29:33.037" Score="6" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/997/what-is-the-name-of-the-first-decade-in-a-century&quot;&gt;What is the name of the first decade in a century?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When talking about decades in the 20th century, it is customary to refer to them using only the last two digits. For example, the 1990's are typically referred to by &quot;90's&quot;, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As we move into the 21st century, I've noticed that similar conventions are being applied. The first decade has been called both &quot;2000's&quot; and &quot;00's&quot;. However, while pronouncing something like &quot;90's&quot; is relatively simple, there is no clear way to pronounce &quot;00's&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;None of the possible pronounciations I've considered seem correct, so &lt;strong&gt;what is the right way to pronounce &quot;00's&quot;?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="149" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T19:29:33.037" ClosedDate="2011-03-20T20:27:54.150" Title="Pronouncing &quot;00's&quot; (as in 2000's)" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;time&gt;&lt;date&gt;&lt;common-pronunciation&gt;" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17120" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-20T19:31:29.490" Score="6" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a word to describe a scenario where two people having a conversation utter the same word/phrase together, simultaneously, and unconsciously? Something else than just a coincidence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T19:42:50.353" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T04:07:12.967" Title="&quot;Coincidence&quot; is not the only word" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17120" CreationDate="2011-03-20T19:36:37.893" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A certain stripe of person will refer to this as a &lt;em&gt;hivemind&lt;/em&gt; moment.  Others would call it a &lt;em&gt;synchronicity&lt;/em&gt;, though I'm a little dubious that the event calls for that word's vaguely mystical implications, and might prefer &lt;em&gt;synchronism&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T19:36:37.893" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17120" CreationDate="2011-03-20T19:38:02.413" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinx_%28children%27s_game%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;jinx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A common slang term used when two people say the same thing at the same time, said as a game among children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T19:47:48.973" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T19:47:48.973" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="17123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17079" CreationDate="2011-03-20T19:42:30.307" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In keeping with @Robusto's comment on opening a can of cat food, the most reliable way to get our recalcitrant kitteh to return to the house is to say the cat's name (or a familiar diminutive thereof), followed with &quot;cheese!&quot; in a high-pitched voice.  Kitties seem to love high-pitched voices mentioning food.  The &quot;cheese&quot; vocalization is in fact an offer of food -- sometimes literally a tiny piece of cheese, sometimes actual &quot;cat food&quot;.  Imagine a trained dolphin receiving a fish after performing a trick, and you will have imagined a situation which is not completely unlike this one. &#xA;This trick also works for our other cat who was not brought up with cheese as either an offer or a reward.   I think it's the high-pitched voice, with the likely reward of food that does it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T19:42:30.307" />
  <row Id="17124" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17100" CreationDate="2011-03-20T19:51:39.250" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One option is: &quot;to get (romantically) involved&quot;. &lt;strong&gt;To fall in love&lt;/strong&gt; is also a classic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T12:57:14.857" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T12:57:14.857" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17125" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17096" CreationDate="2011-03-20T19:54:06.753" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;1) Yes, the sensitivity here refers to an immunological/allergic reaction.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2) &quot;cross&quot; in this case is roughly synonymous to &quot;across the range of&quot; [similar substances],  though in this case, it is limited to a range of two. It is a subset of a wider range, so the mechanism of cross-sensitivity is the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's &lt;em&gt;The Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology&lt;/em&gt; :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;cross‐sensitivity   a state of&#xA;  immunological hypersensitivity to one&#xA;  substance produced by priming an&#xA;  animal with another substance that&#xA;  bears cross‐reacting antigen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.&lt;/em&gt; Ed Richard Cammack, Teresa Atwood, Peter Campbell, Howard Parish, Anthony Smith, Frank Vella, and John Stirling. Oxford University Press, 2008.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T19:54:06.753" />
  <row Id="17126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17120" CreationDate="2011-03-20T20:02:29.853" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;People simultaneously utter exactly the same word, phrase or exclamation especially when they are thinking [of] the same thing in exactly the same way. The best word I can think of at the moment to describe this situation is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/telepathy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;telepathy/telepathic&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. I use this word all the time to describe situations such as this, using sentences like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Wow, that was telepathic!!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Ooh, some telepathy at work!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;We got some telepathy going.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another adjective that could be used to describe this context is &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1281525#m_en_us1281525&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;psychic&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Wow, you guys said exactly the same thing at the same time! That was &lt;em&gt;soooo&lt;/em&gt; psychic!&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T20:02:29.853" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14372" CreationDate="2011-03-20T20:05:29.887" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Romanian, &quot;thank you&quot; is: &quot;mulţumesc&quot;, the literal translation of which is simply: &quot;I'm happy&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I guess &quot;I appreciate&quot; is another way of expressing that you are happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I appreciate...&quot; is in my opinion more elegant than &quot;I'm grateful&quot; because &quot;grateful&quot; is closer to &quot;I'm indebted&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'd also consider &quot;I enjoyed...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would rank things like this&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I enjoyed...&quot; which conveys a sense&#xA;community of thought and possibly a&#xA;convergence of interest.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I appreciate...&quot; which is a less strong but could be misinterpreted as a &quot;refusal&quot; (as in &quot;I appreciate the effort but...&quot;).  Consider that this phrasing is probably what you would use for instance if the offered opportunity came only as a second choice for you.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I'm grateful...&quot; could sound like as &quot;I didn't think I could make it !&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I'm indebted...&quot;.  Use this and they will slash half of your wages off.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's my 2cts of course.  I any case you've probably finished that letter by now ;-).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T20:05:29.887" />
  <row Id="17128" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17134" CreationDate="2011-03-20T20:09:13.607" Score="6" ViewCount="460" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of &quot;clubbed to death?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5279" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T07:51:02.327" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T12:17:02.630" Title="&quot;Clubbed to death&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17128" CreationDate="2011-03-20T20:12:07.220" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To &lt;em&gt;club&lt;/em&gt; something is to beat it, usually with a large blunt-force weapon (e.g. a club).  So if something is &lt;em&gt;clubbed to death&lt;/em&gt;, then it's beaten with some large weapon until it's dead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T20:12:07.220" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="17130" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17136" CreationDate="2011-03-20T20:15:08.173" Score="4" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;I already knew the expression &quot;to foot the bill,&quot; and there is also &quot;to fill the bill.&quot;  I initially though this was just a variant, but on closer examination that seems to be an altogether different idiomatic expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So what's the difference?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T07:23:32.417" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T07:23:32.417" Title="Difference between &quot;to foot the bill&quot; and &quot;to fill the bill&quot;." Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="17131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17130" CreationDate="2011-03-20T20:19:29.447" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To foot the bill&lt;/em&gt; is an expression meaning to pay for something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To fill the bill&lt;/em&gt; means that something satisfies a need or fits the desired specifications well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T20:19:29.447" />
  <row Id="17132" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17130" CreationDate="2011-03-20T20:20:11.207" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;fit (or fill) the bill:&lt;/strong&gt; be suitable for a particular purpose (&lt;em&gt;a partner is an ally or a companion, and you don't seem to fit the bill&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;foot (or pick up) the bill:&lt;/strong&gt; (informal) pay the bill, especially when the bill is considered large or unreasonable.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;form the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T20:20:11.207" />
  <row Id="17133" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17128" CreationDate="2011-03-20T20:22:23.123" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also, it could also be a pun on the standard meaning (see Dusty’s answer), but actually mean &lt;em&gt;“to party ’til you’re dead”&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T20:22:23.123" />
  <row Id="17134" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17128" CreationDate="2011-03-20T20:23:26.790" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's also a song by Rob Dugan, aka DJ Rob D, best known for the appearance of the &quot;Kurayamino mix&quot; of it on the &lt;em&gt;Matrix&lt;/em&gt; soundtrack (in the &quot;woman in the red dress&quot; scene).  In that instance, it's a double entendre between Dusty's answer and F'x's, or variants on the latter like &quot;having been immersed in the club scene until dead or wishing one were&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T20:23:26.790" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17108" CreationDate="2011-03-20T20:25:23.793" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was under the impression that &quot;handsome&quot; was reserved for older (~50+ yo) women. Perhaps used when beauty had faded but the women retained a certain je ne sais quoi. I thinking here of Glenn Close, Sigourney Weaver or Helen Mirren.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, I have not heard the term used for a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T20:25:23.793" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17130" CreationDate="2011-03-20T20:34:23.287" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To foot the bill&lt;/em&gt; is to cover the costs or expenses of something or someone. Of the meanings of the verb &lt;em&gt;foot&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;em&gt;to pay for/cover&lt;/em&gt;. Thus, expressions such as &lt;em&gt;I'll foot it&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;foot the expenses&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;foot the costs&lt;/em&gt;, etc, are also valid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;foot&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;verb (informal)&lt;/em&gt;: pay (the bill) for something, especially when the bill is considered large or unreasonable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;— &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1281525#m_en_us1281525&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;hr&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Not to worry. I'll foot the bill.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;That wedding must have cost an arm and a leg! I wonder how they managed to foot the bill.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;To fill the bill&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;to be suited/fulfill all requirements&lt;/em&gt;. (&lt;em&gt;Fit&lt;/em&gt; may be more common than &lt;em&gt;fill&lt;/em&gt; for this expression.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;fit&lt;/strong&gt; (or &lt;strong&gt;fill&lt;/strong&gt;) &lt;strong&gt;the bill&lt;/strong&gt;: be suitable for a particular purpose&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;— &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1226438?rskey=s3KjP9&amp;amp;result=2#m_en_us1226438&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;hr&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;We need someone who is aggressive, motivated and disciplined. Do you fit the bill?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He doesn't look like someone who fills the bill.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T20:34:23.287" />
  <row Id="17137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17128" CreationDate="2011-03-20T20:35:40.197" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clubbed_to_Death&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;Clubbed to Death&quot;&lt;/a&gt; is an album, a band, a film, and a song.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For the quite different phrase &quot;clubbed to death&quot;, see Dusty's answer. Of course, that could appear capitalized in a title or headline, such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703818204576206560556232614.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;this&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; where the phrase is used metaphorically and as a pun on &quot;rugby club&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6198" LastEditorUserId="2160" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T12:17:02.630" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T12:17:02.630" />
  <row Id="17138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14372" CreationDate="2011-03-20T20:49:06.130" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to @Robusto's answer, which I agree with &lt;em&gt;almost&lt;/em&gt; completely, note that there may be regional differences in how effusive (or not) you might want to be with recruiters.  It is their job, and you probably don't want to sound puppy-dog-like in your enthusiasm, but it is often generically expected to provide at least pro forma thanks (which may at least bias the recruiter towards suggesting some of the better bad jobs to you). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Definitely use at least &quot;I appreciate it,&quot; instead of just &quot;I appreciate&quot; . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few variations on &quot;thanks&quot;, from most enthusiastic to least: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;[your familiar name, or first name, nickname, etc.] &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thanks,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;[your full name] &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some other variations I consider appropriate and acceptable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thanks for your efforts    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thanks for your help    &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thanks for you time   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thanks for your assistance   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Less formal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Appreciate [it, your help, your time, etc.]&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thanks, [recruiter's name]&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compound endings. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;That's great. Thanks.   &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sounds great, thanks.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Special use, for when you've already used &quot;thanks&quot; six times:   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always appreciated, [your name] &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or more familiar, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Always appreciated, [recruiter's name]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;it&quot; or &quot;your help&quot; is implied here, though you could also explicitly add it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T21:01:26.230" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T21:01:26.230" />
  <row Id="17139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17100" CreationDate="2011-03-20T20:50:04.663" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;This is where our love began to flower.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6198" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T20:50:04.663" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17110" CreationDate="2011-03-20T21:12:34.613" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;meeting&quot; certainly can be applied to phone conversations, but &quot;meet&quot; by itself strongly implies a physical encounter; if you want to be neutral, don't use it. I would simply omit &quot;meet to&quot;, and say &quot;I hope we can discuss ... in the near future&quot; -- that is neutral.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6198" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T21:12:34.613" />
  <row Id="17141" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-20T21:31:45.007" Score="0" ViewCount="20" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have read and annotated the poem, but seem to missing the big(if there is one) pictures/themes? Specific history examples would be great.  Does any one have any ideas? Thanks!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Delivering Newspapers&#xA;&#xA;Who believes in the mask’s weeping?&#xA;who believes in the weeping nation?&#xA;the nation has lost its memory&#xA;memory goes as far as this morning&#xA;&#xA;the newspaper boy sets out in the morning&#xA;all over town the sound of a desolate trumpet&#xA;is it your bad omen or mine?&#xA;vegetables with fragile nerves&#xA;peasants plant their hands in the ground&#xA;longing for the gold of a good harvest&#xA;politicians sprinkle pepper&#xA;on their own tongues&#xA;and a stand of birches in the midst of a debate:&#xA;whether to sacrifice themselves for art or doors&#xA;&#xA;this public morning&#xA;created by a paperboy&#xA;revolution sweeps past the corner&#xA;he’s fast asleep&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://jacketmagazine.com/14/bei-dao.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://jacketmagazine.com/14/bei-dao.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6331" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T21:31:45.007" ClosedDate="2011-03-21T04:41:21.143" Title="Poem's theme connect to Mao?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;poetry&gt;" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13095" CreationDate="2011-03-20T21:38:24.620" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To take a stab at the origin part of your question, I searched for the earliest use of the phrase and found this example from a &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?printsec=frontcover&amp;amp;pg=PA109&amp;amp;id=xqdJAAAAYAAJ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=loose%20change&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;letter to the editor&lt;/a&gt; of &lt;em&gt;The Gentleman's Magazine&lt;/em&gt;, 1803:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;People of fashion&lt;/em&gt;, in particular, have a set of new words, very shining and polished in appearance, which obtain among them a large circulation, however unshapely and uncouth they may seem in the eyes of collectors, and although they are refused in all legal tenders. They are admirably adapted, however, for the traffick of certain great houses in Pall Mall and St. James's street, and from their being very widely circulated, in &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;loose change&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, by certain female Bankers and lettered Countesses, they are, in compliance with a very customary pronunciation, known by the name of BRIM-&lt;em&gt;igams&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase was in italics in the original and was part of the letter writer's fascinating peeve using an extended metaphor of banking and minting to ask the question, &quot;who has the right to coin new words and phrases?&quot; (recommended reading for EL&amp;amp;U users). Interestingly, I think the writer intended the double meaning of &lt;em&gt;loose&lt;/em&gt; in this phrase to describe both rattling coins and the moral standards of &quot;certain females.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T21:38:24.620" />
  <row Id="17143" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-20T21:44:31.307" Score="0" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;Somebody once observed two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;people often omit the relative pronoun &quot;who&quot; or &quot;whom&quot; to avoid having to worry about which is grammatically correct&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;however, in all cases where it &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; be omitted, it is &quot;whom&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But look at this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have a friend I hope will come.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would you consider this to be grammatical, and therefore a counterexample to the latter point?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6332" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T14:09:19.977" Title="Can &quot;who&quot; as a relative pronoun sometimes be omitted?" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;relative-clause&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17144" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17147" CreationDate="2011-03-20T21:53:06.370" Score="3" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found an op-ed article titled ‘Teaching to the Text’ in today’s New York Times (www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/opinion/20selsberg.) interesting as a non-native English learner. &#xA;However, I stumbled on a phrase, ‘slip someone an assignment’ as used in the following sentence, as the word, ‘slip’ appears to be used to me in very different way from I usually use - such as ‘slide a short distance accidentally’ or ‘go / put quickly’ as defined by COD. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can somebody explain me what nuance does the word ‘slip’ have in this particular sentence? Is ‘slip’ used in this way very often?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;‘I don’t expect all my graduates to go on to Twitter-based careers, but learning how to write concisely, to express one key detail succinctly and eloquently, is an incredibly useful skill, and more in tune with most students’ daily chatter, as well as the world’s conversation.’ &#xA;So a few years ago, I started &lt;em&gt;slipping&lt;/em&gt; my classes short writing assignments alongside the required papers. Once, I asked them, “Come up with two lines of copy to sell something you’re wearing now on eBay.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T22:07:12.480" Title="What is the nuance of ‘Slipping’ when you say ‘I started slipping my classes short writing assignments?’" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16128" CreationDate="2011-03-20T22:03:32.033" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you might have been misled by what the U.S. Supreme Court writes in its legal opinions (and is paid lip service generally around government circles).  The Court has to uphold the constitution, which has language prohibiting governmental involvement with religion.  The Court has mostly prevented any governmental reference to religion, but has ruled that certain cases such as you mention do not contravene the constitution because they are &quot;nonreligious&quot;.  It is not unreasonable to think that the Court come up with such rhetoric in order to do what they wanted: not prohibit use of things like “in God we trust” on money (which would raise quite a public outcry), yet still appear to be strongly upholding the constitution.  My estimate is that most Americans really think of such usages as nondenominational rather than nonreligious.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T22:03:32.033" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17144" CreationDate="2011-03-20T22:06:34.477" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meaning of &lt;em&gt;to slip&lt;/em&gt; in this example comes from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slip&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;transitive verb definition #6 in Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;to insert, place, or pass quietly or secretly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It means that the instructor was including these kinds of assignments as a subtle way to teach students how to write concisely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another, more direct, example would be to &lt;em&gt;slip&lt;/em&gt; someone a twenty dollar bill as a bribe:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I immediately got a table at the restaurant because I slipped the greeter a twenty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T22:06:34.477" />
  <row Id="17147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17144" CreationDate="2011-03-20T22:07:12.480" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The metaphorical use of 'slip' is pretty common. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can 'slip someone a mickey' (surreptitiously give them a much more inebriating drink than ordered so that they lose control (for nefarious purposes) (you can 'slip someone' any sort of intoxicating substance/drug). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can 'slip someone' some money, that is, handed them a little cash with the connotation that you're not doing it openly (not necessarily nefariously, just not in front of others  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Something can 'slip by you', if you forgot something recently.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T22:07:12.480" />
  <row Id="17149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17042" CreationDate="2011-03-20T22:20:54.017" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;too intense&quot;, as in &quot;Double entendres are two intents.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6198" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T22:20:54.017" />
  <row Id="17150" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17154" CreationDate="2011-03-20T22:30:31.247" Score="5" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’ve had this personal hypothesis in the back of my mind for many years now about the etymology of the word “broker”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have gathered a few pieces of the puzzle (many of them in French and a few of them in English) but I have no firm evidence to back it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that I've come across EL&amp;amp;U, with its high concentration of English Language enthusiasts of all horizons, I’d like to request some assistance, especially regarding the English side of the story.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Many English etymological dictionaries qualify the origin of “broker” as uncertain, and others are just content with mentioning immediate ancestors of the modern word.  But there is possibly a more captivating story to this particular word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion broker comes from brooch/broach.  Here is why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In French the word for “broche”&#xA;covers 2 English words: “brooch” (the&#xA;jewel) and “broach” (roasting spit). &#xA;In a larger sense, a “broche” is any&#xA;spiky tool used for piercing.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;One of these broaches, shaped like a&#xA;“T”, with a drill-bit like end, was&#xA;used during wine auctions to pierce&#xA;sample barrels so that potential&#xA;buyers could taste the wine and make&#xA;their best buying offer according to&#xA;the quality of the beverage.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Incidentally the French term for the&#xA;pitcher that would be placed below&#xA;the subsequently inserted tap is&#xA;“broc” &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/broc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(nb, origin :uncertain in the&#xA;wiktionary&#xA;entry)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also well documented is the fact that&#xA;the person in charge of piercing the&#xA;hole is the “brocheur” (or&#xA;“broceur”).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My conjecture is that this man was also in charge of the auction, hence the “broker”.  He would serve as a “broker” between the seller and the buyers.  Although it seems logical, I've found this explanation nowhere.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So my questions are:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Could you please provide some English words, idioms, citations or&#xA;reference that could possibly back&#xA;this conjecture?  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Or do we have an altogether&#xA;completely different etymology, I might have missed ?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's the main question.  However I have also a couple of secondary requests, that could actually help reaching a conclusion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I’ve also tried to find some genre&#xA;paintings (in the taste of&#xA;Netherlands Golden Age genre&#xA;paintings) but with no success so&#xA;far.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Also of interest would be to know&#xA;whether there were English wine&#xA;brokers (medieval England had a lot&#xA;of vineyards) or whether the&#xA;“broker” meaning was imported from&#xA;the French “brocheur”, in which case&#xA;one would have to admit that this&#xA;meaning was lost, since French eventually&#xA;borrowed the English word.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:18:32.943" Title="Etymology of the word &quot;broker&quot;." Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="17151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17107" CreationDate="2011-03-20T22:33:51.727" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is used to describe agents in a system distinct from producers or creators. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use is well-established in economics.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;consumer&lt;/em&gt;    A purchaser of goods and&#xA;  services for the personal satisfaction&#xA;  of themselves or other members of&#xA;  their households, as distinct from use&#xA;  to generate further income.&#xA;  &lt;sup&gt;A Dictionary of Economics. John Black, Nigar Hashimzade, and Gareth Myles. Oxford University Press, 2009. &lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also see&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;consumer&lt;/em&gt;    The unit of&#xA;  microeconomic analysis on the demand&#xA;  side of goods markets. Analysis of&#xA;  consumer choice is the basis for&#xA;  deriving market demand, savings&#xA;  behavior, and labor-supply decisions.&#xA;  &lt;sup&gt;  Dictionary of the Social Sciences. Craig Calhoun, ed. Oxford University Press 2002.  &lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is more from the OED, showing usage going back to John Locke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A person who uses up a commodity; a purchaser of goods or services, a&#xA;  customer. Freq. opposed to producer.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1692    J. Locke Some Considerations&#xA;  Lowering Interest 20   Money may be&#xA;  considered as in the hands of the&#xA;  Consumer, under which Name I here&#xA;  reckon the Merchant who buys the&#xA;  Commodity, when made, to export.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1725    D. Defoe Compl. Eng. Tradesman&#xA;  I. Introd. 5   By the retailer to the&#xA;  last consumer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1757    J. Harris Ess. Money &amp;amp; Coins&#xA;  37   All men are in some degree&#xA;  consumers of foreign commodities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's the &lt;em&gt;American Heritage Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;consumer&lt;/em&gt; 1. One that consumes, especially one that acquires goods or&#xA;  services for direct use or ownership&#xA;  rather than for resale or use in&#xA;  production and manufacturing.&#xA;  2. [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Merrian-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;consumer&lt;/em&gt; noun often attrib (15th century) : one that consumes: as. a :&#xA;  one that utilizes economic goods.&#xA;  [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further etymological history shows that to &quot;consume&quot; has long had usage outside of making one's food disappear.   More from the OED : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;consume&lt;/em&gt; Etymology:  &amp;lt; classical Latin consūmere to destroy, wear away,&#xA;  to kill, (in legal use) to annul,&#xA;  extinguish (a right, agreement, etc.),&#xA;  to wear down, exhaust, to eat, devour,&#xA;  to take (a medicine), to use up,&#xA;  expend, to swallow up, merge, to spend&#xA;  (money or resources), to spend (time),&#xA;  to waste, squander &amp;lt; con-con- prefix +&#xA;  sūmere to take up (see sumpsimus n.).&#xA;  Compare Anglo-Norman and Middle&#xA;  French, French consumer to destroy, to&#xA;  wear away, to exhaust (first half of&#xA;  the 12th cent. in Old French, chiefly&#xA;  with reference to passion or grief&#xA;  exhausting a person), to pine (early&#xA;  15th cent. or earlier in Anglo-Norman,&#xA;  used reflexively), to use up (food or&#xA;  drink) (first half of the 15th cent.&#xA;  or earlier in an apparently isolated&#xA;  attestation, subsequently from 1538;&#xA;  obsolete in this sense after late 18th&#xA;  cent., the usual word in this sense&#xA;  now being consommer: see discussion at&#xA;  consume v.2), to waste, squander&#xA;  (time, property, etc.) (1448), (of&#xA;  fire) to burn up, reduce to ashes&#xA;  (1546; compare Old French consumir in&#xA;  same sense (12th cent., only in&#xA;  biblical texts)),[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going back to the Latin root &lt;em&gt;consūmo&lt;/em&gt;, from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext:1999.04.0059%3aentry=consumo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; you can see the varied meanings attending its use over time.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;con-sūmo , sumpsi, sumptum, 3 ( I.&#xA;  perf. sync. consumpsti, Prop. 1, 3,&#xA;  37; inf. consumpse, Lucr. 1, 234), v.&#xA;  a., to take wholly or completely, i.&#xA;  e., I. Lit. A. In gen. (post-Aug. and&#xA;  rare): “vasti surgunt immensis&#xA;  torquibus orbes, tergaque consumunt&#xA;  pelagus,” take up, completely cover,&#xA;  Manil. 5, 584: “tela omnia solus&#xA;  pectore consumo,” Sil. 5, 640; cf.:&#xA;  “clipeo tela,” id. 10, 129: “jugulo&#xA;  ensem,” Stat. Th. 10, 813: “ferrum&#xA;  pectore,” id. ib. 12, 745; cf. id.&#xA;  Achill. 2, 205; Dig. 26, 7, 54.— B. In&#xA;  partic., of food, to eat, consume,&#xA;  devour (class.): “agri multa efferunt&#xA;  quae vel statim consumantur vel&#xA;  mandentur condita vetustati,” Cic. N.&#xA;  D. 2, 60, 151: “frumenta,” Caes. B. G.&#xA;  6, 43; cf. id. ib. 7, 17; “7, 77:&#xA;  fruges,” Hor. Ep. 1, 2, 27: “vitiatum&#xA;  (aprum),” id. S. 2, 2, 92: “angues,”&#xA;  Cic. N. D. 1, 36, 101: “draconem,”&#xA;  Suet. Tib. 72: “mensas accisis&#xA;  dapibus,” Verg. A. 7, 125 al.— II.&#xA;  Transf.&#xA;  1. In gen., to consume, devour, waste, squander, annihilate, destroy, bring&#xA;  to naught, kill.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T20:25:10.807" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T20:25:10.807" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17150" CreationDate="2011-03-20T22:37:16.767" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=broker&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;etymonline&lt;/a&gt; is not very definitive, but ascribes most likely to Old French &lt;em&gt;brochier&lt;/em&gt;. I would then assume that this comes from the same etymology as &lt;em&gt;broche&lt;/em&gt;, which is from Latin &lt;em&gt;brocchus&lt;/em&gt; (as indicated in my &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionnaire_de_la_langue_fran%C3%A7aise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Littré&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;). &lt;em&gt;Broker&lt;/em&gt; would thus share, though by different means, the etymology of &lt;em&gt;broach&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T22:37:16.767" />
  <row Id="17153" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17158" CreationDate="2011-03-20T22:52:49.677" Score="4" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I am preparing before my travel and I pack my things, how can I better describe this process in conversational speech, &quot;packing up one's things&quot; or &quot;I pack up one's things&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6334" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T07:26:15.493" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T07:26:15.493" Title="How can I describe preparing before travel?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;conversation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="17154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17150" CreationDate="2011-03-20T22:54:38.137" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking in the OED, I see support for the wine-cask-piercing tool origin, but not for the origin clearly involving one in charge of an auction.  There is a connection to wine selling, and this might be close to what you are theorizing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Etymology:  Middle English brocor,&#xA;  -our, brokour, &amp;lt; Anglo-Norman brocour (also broggour) = Old Northern French&#xA;  brokeor ( &amp;lt; Latin type *broccātōrem),&#xA;  nominative brokiere ( &amp;lt; Latin&#xA;  *broccātor) of which Godefroy has one example explained by him as ‘celui qui&#xA;  vend du vin au broc’, as to the&#xA;  precise sense of which see below. The&#xA;  Central French equivalent was&#xA;  brocheor, brochière; and the word is&#xA;  the agent noun of the Old French vb.&#xA;  brochier, Old Northern French brokier&#xA;  ( &amp;lt; Latin *broccāre) in the sense ‘to&#xA;  broach’ or ‘tap’ a cask. Brocheor,&#xA;  brokeor stand in precisely the same&#xA;  relation to the n. broche, broc, and&#xA;  the vb. brochier, brokier, as tapster&#xA;  or rather the earlier tapper stand to&#xA;  the n. tap, and vb. to tap in&#xA;  Teutonic: the brocheor, brokeor,&#xA;  brokour, or broker, was lit. a&#xA;  tapster, who retailed wine ‘from the&#xA;  tap’, and hence, by extension, any&#xA;  retail-dealer, one who bought to sell&#xA;  over again, a second-hand dealer, or&#xA;  who bought for another, hence a&#xA;  jobber, middleman, agent, etc. Compare&#xA;  sense of Latin caupo.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Romanic vb. broccare was evidently&#xA;  &amp;lt; brocco, brocca in the sense of&#xA;  ‘spike, piercing instrument’ ( &amp;lt; Latin&#xA;  broccus, brocca adj.: see broach n.1).&#xA;  But these nouns appear to have&#xA;  afterwards had their sense modified&#xA;  from the verb, so that in the Old&#xA;  French vendre à broke, or à broche, in&#xA;  modern French vendre à broc, the sense&#xA;  passed from ‘broach’, to ‘broaching,&#xA;  tapping’, and at length to ‘the&#xA;  quantity of wine drawn at a broaching&#xA;  or tapping’, and hence ‘the jug or&#xA;  vessel which held this’, as in modern&#xA;  French broc (from 5 to 10 litres).&#xA;  Anglo-Norman had also a derivative&#xA;  form abrocour, and there were&#xA;  Anglo-Latin words abrocator,&#xA;  abrocamentum; also brocarius&#xA;  ‘proxeneta, interpres et consiliarius&#xA;  contractuum’, and abrocarius.&#xA;  Brocarius appears to have been formed&#xA;  on the n. (broc(c)a, broc(c)us);&#xA;  abrocarius must have been formed on&#xA;  the apparent analogy of brocator,&#xA;  abrocator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The earliest usages have already lost any connection to wine tapping or selling. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1377    Langland &lt;em&gt;Piers Plowman&lt;/em&gt; B. v.&#xA;  130   Amonges Burgeyses haue I be&#xA;  dwellynge at Londoun, And gert&#xA;  bakbitinge be a brocoure [C. brocor]&#xA;  to blame mennes ware. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1393    Langland &lt;em&gt;Piers Plowman&lt;/em&gt; C. vii.&#xA;  95   Ȝut am ich brocor of bakbytynge ·&#xA;  and blame mennes ware.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1582    R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil &lt;em&gt;First Foure Bookes Æneis&lt;/em&gt; i. 14   For gould his&#xA;  carcasse was sold by the broker&#xA;  Achilles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T18:18:32.943" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:18:32.943" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17089" CreationDate="2011-03-20T22:54:43.550" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The 'a' in Warship is like the 'a' in Law. It is a sound that is hard for a non English speaker to pronounce, try making 'law' and 'low' sound different, they should sound very different and this is part of the same issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The 'or' in Worship is like 'err' in &quot;to err on the side of caution&quot;, or the mechanical sound that is associated with spinning, 'whirr', as in &quot;The machine whirred past&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6335" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T23:01:25.697" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T23:01:25.697" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17089" CreationDate="2011-03-20T23:03:04.047" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot hear a difference between the two at all. If I heard someone say either word out of context, I would have no idea which one they meant. (And for what it's worth, detecting audible differences comprises much of my life).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, I agree with @Kelly C Hess -- despite their similarity, I am pretty sure I have never confused them. Fortunately there are probably very few cases when it would be ambiguous in context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T23:03:04.047" />
  <row Id="17158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17153" CreationDate="2011-03-20T23:03:19.590" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're &quot;packing for the trip&quot;, &quot;packing your bags&quot;, &quot;packing your things&quot;, or &quot;getting packed&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'd better go pack for the trip.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'd better go pack my bags.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'd better go pack my things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'd better go and get packed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of those are equivalent, and common in conversational speech.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T23:03:19.590" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16991" CreationDate="2011-03-20T23:06:27.503" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here (central Scotland) we would never use &quot;Out To Lunch&quot; when talking about lunch - it tends to be used to mean that you are mental:-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could say going &quot;Out for Lunch&quot; and that would be fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T23:06:27.503" />
  <row Id="17160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17042" CreationDate="2011-03-20T23:12:35.883" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you make a statement that, by accident, can reasonably interpreted two ways, you have said something &lt;strong&gt;ambiguous&lt;/strong&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you make a statement that, by design, can reasonably interpreted two ways and it's not dirty or sexual, you've said something with a &lt;strong&gt;double meaning&lt;/strong&gt; or perhaps a &lt;strong&gt;hidden meaning&lt;/strong&gt;.  (I can't think of any single word that describes it, but if one exists I'm sure Robusto will find it for you....)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T23:12:35.883" />
  <row Id="17161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17150" CreationDate="2011-03-20T23:23:25.540" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it's probably instructive to think of the word &lt;em&gt;broach&lt;/em&gt; meaning to &quot;raise (a sensitive or difficult subject) for discussion&quot;, which is an alternate (and these days preferred) meaning of the word and therefore comes from the same etymology as that of piercing a cask to draw liquor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From NOAD:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French &lt;em&gt;brochier&lt;/em&gt;, based on Latin &lt;em&gt;brocchus&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;broccus&lt;/em&gt; ‘projecting.’ The earliest recorded sense was [prick with spurs,] part of the general meaning [pierce with something sharp,] from which sense 2 arose in late Middle English . Sense 1, a figurative use of this, dates from the late 16th cent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This feels to me like what a broker does more than tapping a keg. The sense may be more of opening, starting, raising, or getting something going instead of pricking with a tool (even though that is the inspiration). It is in the transition to the figurative usage that I think &lt;em&gt;broker&lt;/em&gt; resides. That is, if I understand your question completely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T23:23:25.540" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17162" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17164" CreationDate="2011-03-20T23:24:46.303" Score="3" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to refer to an assertion that is part of the written majority opinion in a particular case, put forth by the US Supreme Court's majority for that case. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Question spurred by my attempts to do this in a comment to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/16128/non-religious-mentions-of-god-or-religious-concepts-in-the-american-english-lan&quot;&gt;Non-religious mentions of God (or religious concepts) in the American English language&lt;/a&gt; .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How can I say this succinctly and correctly?  I'm assuming that there may be legal terminology and journalistic conventions I should be aware of. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think &quot;the Court's majority opinion's assertion&quot; is especially desirable, for instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T17:42:46.610" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T17:42:46.610" Title="Referring to &quot;the assertion made in the US Supreme Court's majority opinion&quot;" Tags="&lt;possessive&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17163" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16128" CreationDate="2011-03-20T23:26:17.257" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;We must protect the God-given rights of the individual.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She passed last year, God rest her soul.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He acted as if he was God's gift to women.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I drank too much last night and spent the morning praying to the porcelain god.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T23:26:17.257" />
  <row Id="17164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17162" CreationDate="2011-03-21T00:19:52.123" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if this exactly answers your question, but I read a lot of legalese as part of my day job, and I've never seen a reference to any court's &quot;claim.&quot; Plaintiffs and defendants make many &quot;claims,&quot; but courts' opinions contain &lt;em&gt;findings&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;conclusions&lt;/em&gt;. &quot;Claims&quot; has an aura of advocacy -- something the courts don't engage in (not officially, at least).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, depending on context, you might not need to say &quot;majority.&quot; You only need to specify if you're quoting from a dissent or a concurring opinion, or if you're contrasting the majority opinion with a dissent or a concurrence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were writing the comment you mention, I might say something like&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Court found that . . . .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't find anything grammatically wrong with your version, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T00:19:52.123" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17162" CreationDate="2011-03-21T00:22:20.873" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you find that a possessive form is clumsy, as for instance because multiple possessives would end up being used in the same sentence, you can generally rephrase the possessive structure as a prepositional phrase or similar construct.  Usually &lt;em&gt;A's B&lt;/em&gt; can be alternatively phrased as &lt;em&gt;B of A&lt;/em&gt; or perhaps as &lt;em&gt;B belonging to A&lt;/em&gt; if the idea of ownership needs to be emphasized.  So you might choose to transform one or both of the possessives in &lt;em&gt;the Court's majority opinion's claim&lt;/em&gt;; if both possessive were to be eliminated, the result might be &lt;em&gt;the claim in the majority opinion of the Court&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T00:22:20.873" />
  <row Id="17166" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7941" CreationDate="2011-03-21T00:32:30.133" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Further to Robusto's answer, I think &lt;em&gt;&quot;target&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is not only more specific but more serious in its intention as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our Q4 goal for the sales team is $12M.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compared to...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Our Q4 target for the sales team is $12M.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One might interpret the latter as a &lt;em&gt;required&lt;/em&gt; target, whereas the former may be interpreted &lt;em&gt;or used&lt;/em&gt; as a way of specifying what the sales team would &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; to achieve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As such, use of one or the other could influence the effect of its interpretation significantly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6337" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T00:32:30.133" />
  <row Id="17167" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17169" CreationDate="2011-03-21T01:49:47.207" Score="4" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is a proper reply for &lt;em&gt;excuse me&lt;/em&gt;? Like for &lt;em&gt;thank you&lt;/em&gt;, you can say &lt;em&gt;no problem&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;welcome&lt;/em&gt;. &#xA;I don't know what a proper reply for &lt;em&gt;excuse me&lt;/em&gt; would be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6340" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T07:17:47.130" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T07:17:47.130" Title="Proper answer to &quot;excuse me&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="17168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17130" CreationDate="2011-03-21T01:51:15.167" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks like lots of folks have mentioned how the two senses differ. I think it's worth pointing out that the word &quot;bill&quot; has several meanings in English, which ties into this. Consider these two meanings:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;an itemized statement of money owed&#xA;  for goods shipped or services&#xA;  rendered; &quot;he paid his bill and left&quot;;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a list of particulars (as a playbill&#xA;  or bill of fare)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the case of &quot;foot the bill&quot;, we're talking about a statement of money owed (in many cases, a literal statement on paper).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For &quot;fill the bill&quot; the meaning is more like &quot;matches this set of requirements&quot;, which relates to the second meaning of &quot;bill&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5225" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T01:51:15.167" />
  <row Id="17169" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17167" CreationDate="2011-03-21T02:11:47.800" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If someone says &quot;excuse me&quot; to get your attention, the response is &quot;I'm sorry, yes?&quot; or something to that effect. If they say &quot;excuse me&quot; because you are in their way, then the response is to move out of the way and say &quot;I'm sorry&quot; or &quot;sorry&quot;. And if they are saying &quot;excuse me&quot; in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wavsource.com/snds_2011-03-20_1268537040708074/tv/snl/martin_excuse_me.wav&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;loud, drawn-out, sarcastic way&lt;/a&gt;, the proper response is to tell them the 1980s called and they want their dated pop culture references back.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At least that's what I do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T02:11:47.800" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17167" CreationDate="2011-03-21T02:32:13.613" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's more. Such a versatile phrase!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Excuse me?&quot; as a question is a request for a repeat of what was just said. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Excuse me!&quot; can also follow audible bodily functions and should be replied to with a polite, &quot;You're excused.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Excuse me,&quot; may be said by someone getting up to go to the bathroom in a restaurant or by someone needing to suddenly leave or take a cell phone call. A head nod is an appropriate response.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T02:40:53.787" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T02:40:53.787" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17172" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17173" CreationDate="2011-03-21T03:59:19.783" Score="1" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase I read on yahoo.com is the following one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Tendulkar never scared me, says Akhtar.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The Pakistani maverick pacer said it was Adam Gilchrist and Brian Lara who &lt;strong&gt;scared the hell&lt;/strong&gt; out of him. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, I just want to know the meaning of  &quot;scared the hell out of someone.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6027" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T07:16:14.803" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T07:16:14.803" Title="Meaning of &quot;scared the hell out of someone&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="17173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17172" CreationDate="2011-03-21T04:33:20.907" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Scared the hell out of someone = Scared someone very much. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3448" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T04:33:20.907" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17174" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17226" CreationDate="2011-03-21T04:43:31.867" Score="6" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you know, we Japanese experienced tremendous disasters of Magnitude 9&#xA;earthquake accompanied by tsunami exceeding 10 meter high in northeastern regions recently.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Living in the country always under the threat of big earthquakes, we have two popular saying that come to top of mind when we talk of disaster. One is “The great (natural ) disaster comes always when you have totally forgotten it.’ The other one is (the most fearful things under the sun are) “Earthquake, Thunderbolt, Fire and Father.” – Please note that the earthquake comes first. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you have popular saying or English cliché to be likened to such expressions? &#xA;I'd like to teach them to my English enthusiast friends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T05:44:15.007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T14:05:02.380" Title="What expression do you have in English as a counterpart to Japanese saying “Earthquake, Thunderbolt, Fire and Father&quot;?" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="17175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5159" CreationDate="2011-03-21T04:45:33.150" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I too feel slightly uncomfortable with &quot;used&quot; here. The only context in which it's valid implies it's &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; a typesetting mistake (which it probably &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;). A usage which only makes sense in some unusual context is best avoided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T04:45:33.150" />
  <row Id="17176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17115" CreationDate="2011-03-21T04:46:34.713" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fowler says in the first edition of &lt;em&gt;Modern English Usage&lt;/em&gt; that there is no universal distinction between single and double inverted commas. He explains that there are two systems in use: one in which a regular quotation has single inverted commas, and a quotation within a quotation double; the other the inverse. He encourages the former system. He doesn't mention anything special about single words. In the third edition, Burchfield mentions only that the former system should be used; he doesn't mention single-word quotations as a special category either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen perhaps a few authors who would use double for real quotations and single for ironic or similar short phrases or words; however, I think this system is not widely used. In fact I'd use it in Dutch, but not in English. It could be that there is some respected newspaper or publisher who would use it too, but I can't think of any.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T04:46:34.713" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17177" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17210" CreationDate="2011-03-21T06:01:37.050" Score="14" ViewCount="338" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;The worst student&quot; is the student who is bad at things. In this case, &quot;worst&quot; simply describes the noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Following this logic, your &quot;worst enemy&quot; would be the person who is very bad at being your enemy, thus is actually your best friend. Your &quot;worst enemy&quot; is actually the enemy who is very good at being your enemy. Thus, in this context, &quot;worst&quot; acts to amplify the inherent negative intent of the noun. &quot;Worst disaster&quot; would be another example of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this just a matter of context or there some science behind the interprettation of a negative adjective applied to a negative noun?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T05:41:45.273" Title="Is my worst enemy my best friend?" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;contexts&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16371" CreationDate="2011-03-21T06:20:59.733" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Q: What is all around you that you breathe?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A: Air  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Q: What grows from your head?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A: Hair  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Q: Where does a lion live?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;A: Lair  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Put the answers together and you have a standard greeting used by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloane_Ranger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sloane Rangers&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Air hair lair&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;equates to  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Oh, Hello!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When searching for &quot;air hair lair&quot;, the results indicate that this phrase is quite well known, the results seem to almost form a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;meme&lt;/a&gt;, which most of the time are ridiculing the accent.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;This in itself indicates that posh accents are on the decline as hinted at by this &lt;a href=&quot;http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article3654489.ece&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T06:20:59.733" />
  <row Id="17181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17174" CreationDate="2011-03-21T06:36:15.963" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the blessed things about England, is that it has an extremely low incidence of natural disasters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we have a magnitude 3 earthquake, it's front page news.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So such sayings are uncommon here, doom-laden sayings tend to be about God.  In Christianity, it always seems that everything is apparently God's fault, good or bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T06:36:15.963" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="17182" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17259" CreationDate="2011-03-21T06:44:35.453" Score="3" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to say &quot;the reality of and outlook on crime in Europe&quot; without using two prepositions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I say &quot;the reality and outlook on crime in Europe?&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Can you lead me to a grammatical reference for this issue so I can read further?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T07:03:52.770" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T17:27:07.170" Title="Can I use two prepositions in this example, or is one better?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="17183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17107" CreationDate="2011-03-21T08:17:14.363" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As reported by the NOAD, &lt;em&gt;consumption&lt;/em&gt; is generally used to mean &quot;the using up of a resource.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In particular, it means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the eating, drinking, or ingesting of something&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an amount of something that is used up or ingested&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the purchase and use of goods and services by the public&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the reception of information or entertainment, especially by a mass audience&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Media consumption&lt;/em&gt; is then used with the last meaning.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Industrialized countries should reduce their energy consumption.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Liquor is sold for consumption off the premises.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  A daily consumption of 15 cigarettes causes health problems.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  This is an article for mass consumption.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  His confidential speech was not meant for public consumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T08:17:14.363" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17036" CreationDate="2011-03-21T09:41:44.643" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means the girl's action of kissing her hand and stretching it out led &lt;strong&gt;to him being amazed&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;to his amazement&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6248" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T09:41:44.643" />
  <row Id="17185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9293" CreationDate="2011-03-21T09:58:32.390" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would just add that it is common, in the UK at least, for mothers to reply with &quot;Mummy's boobs&quot; or &quot;Mummy's boobies&quot; when asked the inevitable &quot;What are those?&quot; question by their offspring.  I could not imagine a mother telling her child that they were &quot;Mummy's tits&quot;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A small point, but one that perhaps illustrates the subtle social difference between the words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="317" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T09:58:32.390" />
  <row Id="17186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17182" CreationDate="2011-03-21T10:02:20.983" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, what do we mean by &quot;outlook?&quot; Prediction? Opinion? Emotion? The word tells us very little. Better to use a word that's not so lazy, not so weasely. Also &quot;reality&quot;: why not just say or show the facts without the preamble?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, to me, the &lt;em&gt;reality&lt;/em&gt; of crime and the &lt;em&gt;&quot;outlook&quot;&lt;/em&gt; on crime are two ideas different enough that each deserves its own phrase or sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;We issued 42 speeding tickets last year&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;. We are working to cut that number by half&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-- pete&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; The reality.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; The &quot;outlook.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6300" LastEditorUserId="6300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T10:27:05.970" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T10:27:05.970" />
  <row Id="17187" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17188" CreationDate="2011-03-21T10:18:04.107" Score="1" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;I just want to know how to make these words and in which context: &lt;em&gt;simple&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;simplicity&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6027" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T02:11:50.740" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T02:11:50.740" Title="Where to use these words exactly: &quot;simple,&quot; &quot;simplicity&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17188" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17187" CreationDate="2011-03-21T10:27:32.730" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Simple&lt;/em&gt; : Adjective : Easily Understood&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For eg. take this sample sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ron presented a simple proof of Fermat's long-unproven theorem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Simplicity&lt;/em&gt; : Noun : The quality or condition of being easy to understand or do&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The simplicity of Ron's proof of Fermat's theorem is formidable&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Helps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T11:23:34.703" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T11:23:34.703" />
  <row Id="17189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17187" CreationDate="2011-03-21T10:29:44.407" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Simple&quot; is an adjective, so it is used to describe or qualify a noun or  a noun phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was a rather &lt;em&gt;simple&lt;/em&gt; task&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Simplicity&quot; is a noun itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;For the sake of &lt;em&gt;simplicity&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6116" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T10:29:44.407" />
  <row Id="17190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17174" CreationDate="2011-03-21T10:29:56.293" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two memorable hymn lines come to mind.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first is from the final verse of &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Lord_and_Father_of_Mankind&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Dear Lord and Father of Mankind&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; which asks  the &quot;still, small voice of calm&quot; (i.e. God) to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;while the second is in the final verse of &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_Father,_Strong_to_Save&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Eternal Father, Strong to Save&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; which is asking God to protect sailors &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;from rock and tempest, fire and foe&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but in both cases I expect the order to be simply for rhythm and rhyme, not importance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T10:29:56.293" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17182" CreationDate="2011-03-21T10:39:48.020" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An outlook on the reality of crime in Europe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T10:39:48.020" />
  <row Id="17192" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17214" CreationDate="2011-03-21T10:44:59.323" Score="3" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reading scientific papers, I often see at the end of them, in the biographies of the authors, some abbreviations like the following: (S’70–M’72–SM’86–F’91).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that they are correlated with graduation dates, but I did not find any good explanation. Can anybody explain me their meaning, and give a complete list of those abbreviations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4533" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T13:34:28.877" Title="Meaning of M'year, S'year etc. in academic biographies" Tags="&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="17194" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17195" CreationDate="2011-03-21T10:58:07.107" Score="2" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;randomest&quot; even a word? People do tend to use it very casually.&#xA;If &quot;randomest&quot; is a word, so should be &quot;randomer&quot;, isn't it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally think it should be &quot;more random&quot; and &quot;most random&quot;. Am I right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And what about the word &quot;lame&quot;? Does the same apply to &quot;lame&quot; too?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T16:13:42.440" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T11:56:09.060" Title="&quot;Most random&quot; vs &quot;Randomest&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17195" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17194" CreationDate="2011-03-21T11:13:23.760" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Update: answer has been reordered and extended.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;General rules&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good answer concerning general rules for comparatives and superlatives is &#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2166/more-clear-vs-clearer/2171#2171&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;More clear&amp;quot; vs &amp;quot;Clearer&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;one syllable: add suffix -est or -er.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;many syllables: use most or more.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;two syllables and ends -y: change y to -iest or -ier&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lamer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word lame has acquired new meanings in my lifetime which mean you can't use &quot;lamer&quot; to indicate the &quot;more lame&quot; without serious risk of being misunderstood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Randomer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Randomest and randomer are not words in general use. I'd not use them. I'd say &quot;most random&quot; or &quot;more random&quot; - whilst feeling uneasy about my mathematical credentials.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Context is important&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before you can decide whether it is appropriate to use &quot;random&quot;, &quot;more random&quot; or &quot;randomer&quot;, you have to consider which meaning of random you are using and how formal the context is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oxford online says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;adjective&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    1 made , done , or happening without method or conscious decision:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      &lt;em&gt;apparently random violence&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      - Statistics governed by or involving equal chances for each item:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      &lt;em&gt;a random sample of 100 households&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      - (of masonry) with stones of irregular size and shape.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    2 informal odd, unusual, or unexpected:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      &lt;em&gt;the class was hard but he was so random that it was always fun&lt;/em&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In (very) informal use, it might well be acceptable to say something like &quot;I saw the randomest thing on the way home!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In ordinary use (outside maths), people do talk about degrees of relative randomness. We often talk of  randomness as if it were a measure of disorder. So in this case we can say one thing is &lt;strong&gt;more random&lt;/strong&gt; than another (meaning less ordered, or where the order is harder to discern).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a statistician so I don't know, but I suspect in statistics, random is an absolute. This means something is either random or it is not. There shouldn't be degrees of randomness. If you are a statistician writing a statistical paper you will know whether it is ever correct to write &quot;more random&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T11:56:09.060" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T11:56:09.060" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="17197" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17198" CreationDate="2011-03-21T11:39:48.970" Score="6" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it right to use &lt;em&gt;chair&lt;/em&gt;, but not &lt;em&gt;chairman&lt;/em&gt; in this example?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He served as the Department Chair from 1995 to 1999.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6116" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T02:06:01.607" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T01:55:09.727" Title="&quot;Chair&quot; or &quot;chairman?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="17198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17197" CreationDate="2011-03-21T11:54:04.523" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Traditionally the word &quot;Chairman&quot; was used irrespective of whether the incumbent was a man or a woman. But over the last few decades many people have tried to avoid words which include the morpheme &quot;man&quot; because they are seen as excluding women. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two of the solutions which have been applied to &quot;chairman&quot; are &quot;chairperson&quot; and &quot;chair&quot;. Both are now in wide use, probably &quot;chair&quot; more commonly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are a few people who object to either of these uses: probably the only way to express it that will not upset anybody is to avoid the noun altogether:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;He chaired the Department from 1995 to 1999&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As jgbelacqua has pointed out, in the academic world the word &quot;chair&quot; existed as a post (professorship) long before the concerns I mentioned above. To refer to the holder of a chair as the Chair is simple metonymy, and well-established. This is different from outside academia, where &quot;chair&quot; did not exist in this sense, and so the use for a person came in as a neologism which some find awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T10:33:27.703" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T10:33:27.703" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="17199" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-21T12:11:52.773" Score="0" ViewCount="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;Firstly, this question looks quite abstract to understand and answer. So I will break down to chunks of question to make it clearer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We study and maintain English in different way and different situation. We don't use and learn English for everyday use like we learn to pass an exam. So how do you learn and maintain your English for everyday uses ? You can list your activities like this for easy following: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Everyday uses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Keep track of new words when I read a book or article and intend to study 3 words a day. [ Using Memory software like Anki etc ... ]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Listen to music and try to hear what they say or watch news in English [ CNN, BBC, Australia-Network, ... ] 30 minutes a day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Read out loud and sing 2 or 3 song a day.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Joining an English Speaking club&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Go out and be a guide to foreign tourists.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This list focus to any situation like: Pass TOEFL iBT exam, Everyday work [Job], Everyday uses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3180" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T12:11:52.773" ClosedDate="2011-03-21T12:16:41.460" Title="How to maintain and improve our English in a right way ?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17177" CreationDate="2011-03-21T12:20:38.137" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;science behind it&quot; is pragmatics: if you use a word like &quot;worst&quot; you've almost certainly got negative thoughts around. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In principle you might be able to concoct an example of what you're suggesting, but I haven't managed to think of a way. What you can just about do is get &quot;worst&quot; to mean &quot;least effective&quot;, as in &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;I've ranked Batman's enemies in terms of how much trouble they give him. &#xA; The Penguin does best, and Catwoman is easily the worst&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but even there you need to set up quite a lot of context to avoid &quot;worst&quot; suggesting &quot;nastiest&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[I'm not advancing the quote as an opinion, by the way: it's just an example!]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T12:20:38.137" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="17201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17174" CreationDate="2011-03-21T12:32:14.803" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I cannot think of a saying in English that invokes a father as a thing of fear. I just did a couple of searches on wikiquote, for &quot;fear father&quot;, &quot;terrible father&quot; and &quot;fearsome father&quot; and none of them came up with anything relevant. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Fathers certainly can be fearsome, and there are many examples in English literature; and there are sayings about meting out punishment to children, such as &quot;Spare the rod and spoil the child&quot;; but the figure of a father as someone to be feared does not seem to have been enshrined in any proverbs or sayings that I can think of. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T12:32:14.803" />
  <row Id="17202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7941" CreationDate="2011-03-21T12:33:12.543" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think they are not difference much in common use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Target is used to talk about short term goal. When you talk about target, you already imagine how it will done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Goal is broader and maybe you still don't know how to do it, you just know that is your goal and you will be happy if you get it done.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3180" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T12:33:12.543" />
  <row Id="17203" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17205" CreationDate="2011-03-21T12:44:39.877" Score="6" ViewCount="191" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've got a feeling it means &quot;I can prove it in a very simple and an ostensive way&quot;.&#xA;Is this so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Update:&#xA;The context.&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.laddertheory.com/commoncriticisms.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.laddertheory.com/commoncriticisms.htm&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;Search for &quot;abacus&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3072" LastEditorUserId="3072" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T13:27:04.347" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T21:16:15.227" Title="What does &quot;I can prove it on an abacus&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17177" CreationDate="2011-03-21T12:48:33.070" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Worst&quot; has a very broad meaning and in this case means something like, &quot;most negative&quot;. The meaning seems more intuitive than logical to me, just like most idioms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T12:48:33.070" />
  <row Id="17205" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17203" CreationDate="2011-03-21T12:50:32.427" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Could do with context, but when I have heard that, it is intended almost as an insult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;So simple, it can be proved using the simplest of things.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use implies one of two things usually, either a) the person who is questioning the validity should know it to be true, as it is too simple to bother proving, or b) the person stating the line is very arrogant and is showing off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T12:50:32.427" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="17206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17203" CreationDate="2011-03-21T12:51:22.037" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Absent further information, &quot;I can prove it on an abacus&quot; simply means something is arithmetically demonstrable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it is certainly not an idiom I've ever heard to describe simplicity. &quot;I can draw you a diagram&quot; and &quot;You can point to it&quot; and &quot;It ain't rocket science&quot; (or the funnier &quot;It ain't rocket surgery&quot;) are idioms that do express something that is uncomplicated and easy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T12:51:22.037" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="17207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17143" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:04:53.073" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The grammaticality of your sentence is a good example of the mess people get into when they starting thinking about grammatical case in English, and why &quot;whom&quot; gives so much trouble. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is such a rule, but it is not about whether the relative pronoun would be &quot;who&quot; or &quot;whom&quot;: it is about whether or not the NP (noun phrase) which is the antecedent of the relative clause is the subject of that clause. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;The man who came yesterday was French&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you cannot omit &quot;who&quot;, because &quot;the man&quot; is the subject of the relative clause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;The man (who(m)) I saw yesterday was French&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you can, because &quot;the man is the object of &quot;I saw&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In simple cases there is only one clause introduced by the relative, so if the antecedent is not the subject of it, it will be in the objective case, and &quot;whom&quot; is appropriate, if we use it at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;The man (whom) I saw yesterday was French&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But the given example is complex, with an embedded clause [I hope [(that) he will come], so the antecedent &quot;the man&quot; is actually the subject of the (inner) embedded clause. Thus the structure is &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;I have (a friend (who I hope (he will come)))&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where the 'he' is replaced by the 'who' (not 'whom') in the clause above, and then optionally omitted because neither it nor its containing clause is the subject of the relative clause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's worth noting that this is a case where people who do want to use &quot;whom&quot; sometimes get confused, and use &quot;whom&quot; 'incorrectly'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T14:09:19.977" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T14:09:19.977" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="17208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17174" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:07:33.743" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English, the expression &quot;[&lt;em&gt;Something happens&lt;/em&gt;] when you least expect it&quot; is common and is often completed with &quot;Disaster strikes&quot;--especially by insurance companies. So, your first saying will be familiar to westerners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as the second saying, I also could not find any English equivalent. I did find &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=wGb4zNqYj10C&amp;amp;pg=PA104&amp;amp;lpg=PA104&amp;amp;dq=sayings+about+natural+disasters&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=RB4FGy2aIi&amp;amp;sig=D6gbn3N3ReYIpE5GfahZ3O_K0JU&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=y0aHTeKrHMe3twegs9nOBA&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=6&amp;amp;ved=0CC4Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=earthquake&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this book&lt;/a&gt; on Japanese sayings that includes English equivalents when it can, but it did not provide any for this particular saying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T13:07:33.743" />
  <row Id="17209" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:13:22.100" Score="8" ViewCount="263" Body="&lt;p&gt;In multiplayer online gaming, the term &quot;Smurf&quot; (noun) is used to refer to an experienced player who creates a new account for the purposes of being matched against inexperienced players for easy wins.  Where does this usage of the word come from?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T18:12:04.590" Title="Where does the term &quot;Smurfing&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;internet&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17177" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:13:42.957" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't confuse English language with the &lt;a href=&quot;http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.negxneg.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;mathematical theory&lt;/a&gt;. The adjective &lt;em&gt;worst&lt;/em&gt; qualifies the noun &lt;em&gt;enemy&lt;/em&gt; with even more bad values. So, a worst enemy is more dangerous than a normal enemy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5959" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T13:13:42.957" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17211" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17209" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:25:28.797" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can read all about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smurfs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Smurfs&lt;/a&gt; on Wikipedia.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A characteristic of the Smurf language is the frequent use of the word &quot;smurf&quot; and its derivatives in a variety of meanings. The Smurfs replace enough nouns and verbs in everyday speech with &quot;smurf&quot; as to make their conversations barely understandable: &quot;We're going smurfing on the River Smurf today.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When used as a verb, the word &quot;Smurf&quot; typically means &quot;to make,&quot; &quot;to be,&quot; &quot;to laugh,&quot; or &quot;to do.&quot; When a word is replaced in a statement, that same replacement is made in every repetition of it, even by other Smurfs: as an example, the statement &quot;A dragon that breathes fire&quot; becomes &quot;A smurf that smurfs smurf&quot;, no matter which Smurf says it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In sum, these refer to silly cartoon creatures who are easily pwned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/nqWy3.gif&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T13:25:28.797" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17212" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17219" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:30:46.480" Score="2" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;The other day, my father and I were expecting my brothers to come home. Upon hearing a car enter the driveway, my father said, &quot;Your brothers are here.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I looked at the door, I could see that it was actually my sister who had arrived, and not my brothers, so I responded, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She's not my brothers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seemed like a very awkward construction, but I could not think of any reason that it would be ungrammatical, other than the subject being singular and the object being plural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can think of several examples of sentences where the subject and object are different in number (with an intransitive verb: obviously there is nothing wrong with a transitive verb like &quot;kick&quot; having a subject an object differing in number) that do not seem to have any grammatical awkwardness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We are a family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;His mind and body are one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;God is three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the sentence, &quot;she's not my brothers&quot; grammatically correct, and what makes it different from these other sentences?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5584" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T13:52:13.263" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T18:33:54.867" Title="Number agreement between subject and object" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;&lt;concord&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="17213" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17217" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:32:34.157" Score="5" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are those synonyms? Is one more acceptable in a certain dialect than the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I checked their definition on The Free Dictionary but it's still not clear to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6351" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T16:05:26.600" Title="Differences between &quot;technic&quot; and &quot;technique&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="17214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17192" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:34:28.877" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;By any chance are these appearing in the journals of organisations like the IEEE that have different levels of membership? The abbreviations could indicate the different level of membership an author had during different periods, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;S = student member&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;M = (full) member&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;SM = senior member&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;F = fellow&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T13:34:28.877" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17215" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17216" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:34:46.757" Score="2" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;While reading a newspaper I saw the word &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&amp;amp;safe=off&amp;amp;q=define%3anonchalance&amp;amp;btnG=Search&amp;amp;meta=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nonchalance&lt;/a&gt;, looked up in dictionary, and read it is a negative word meaning &quot;indifference; carelessness; coolness.&quot; It looks like the opposite of &lt;em&gt;chalance&lt;/em&gt;, but I was surprised to see there is no word as &lt;em&gt;chalance&lt;/em&gt;. I am wondering if: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Isn't &lt;em&gt;nonchalance&lt;/em&gt; made by adding &lt;em&gt;non&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;chalance&lt;/em&gt; similar to nonsense?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the opposite of &lt;em&gt;nonchalance&lt;/em&gt;? Can I write &lt;em&gt;nonnonchalance&lt;/em&gt; just for the fun of it? &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1597" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T01:45:46.387" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T01:45:46.387" Title="What is the origin of &quot;nonchalance?&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="17216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17215" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:38:58.983" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It comes from the French &lt;em&gt;nonchalant&lt;/em&gt;, which means indifferent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=nonchalance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;etymonline.com&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1670s, from Fr. nonchalant, prp. of nonchaloir &quot;be indifferent to, have no concern for&quot; (13c.), from non- &quot;not&quot; + chaloir &quot;have concern for,&quot; ultimately from L. calere &quot;be hot&quot; (see calorie). French chaland &quot;customer, client&quot; is of the same origin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5737" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T13:38:58.983" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="17217" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17213" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:39:18.783" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Technique&lt;/em&gt; is the standard spelling.  &lt;em&gt;Technic&lt;/em&gt; is a variant, for example used for trade names such as by &lt;a href=&quot;http://technic.lego.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lego&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.panasonic.com/consumer_electronics/technics_dj/flash.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Panasonic&lt;/a&gt; and may sometimes be pronounced with a shorter unstressed &lt;em&gt;i&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T13:39:18.783" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17209" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:45:13.947" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure I agree with &lt;strong&gt;Robusto&lt;/strong&gt;'s answer.  I think the term &lt;em&gt;smurfing&lt;/em&gt;, as applied to gaming, has more to do with the indistinguishability of the individual Smurfs.  Other than Papa Smurf, Grumpy Smurf, Brainy Smurf, and Smurfette, you can't really tell the Smurfs apart by any physical characteristic other than their names.  Mostly, they are an amorphous blob of blue bodies in white underpants. That to me suggests how the verb &lt;em&gt;smurfing&lt;/em&gt; came about: When a player goes &lt;em&gt;smurfing&lt;/em&gt; on an account, that player is purposely choosing to hide his public characteristics -- e.g., his past win-loss record, league ranking, disconnect tells, and network reputation -- for nefarious reasons, and the only thing that distinguishes him is the name he chooses to adopt.  He is faceless but for his name, just like most of the Smurfs are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.scq.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/100smurfs.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Lots of smurfs standing around&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T18:12:04.590" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T18:12:04.590" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17212" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:47:32.560" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assuming said with emphasis on &lt;em&gt;she&lt;/em&gt;, I think &quot;&lt;em&gt;She's&lt;/em&gt; not my brothers&quot; is natural enough, and it's clear what you'd say instead. Possibly it just sounds slightly awkward because there aren't so many contexts where it is pragmatically valid to talk about the equation or non-equation of one person to two people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But grammatically, the sentence is just following the usual pattern. Because English is strongly Subject-Verb-Object, with &quot;be&quot;, the element before the verb is usually treated as the subject and so this is what the verb agrees with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T13:47:32.560" />
  <row Id="17220" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17224" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:49:10.380" Score="11" ViewCount="946" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Alice: Do you want some cookies?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Bob: No thanks! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it mean that Bob doesn't want cookies but still is thankful or its just opposite of thanks? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="332" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T16:27:15.560" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T03:19:27.503" Title="What does &quot;No Thanks!&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;politeness&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="17221" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:49:31.340" Score="1" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11204/how-to-use-who-that&quot;&gt;How to use: who/that&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have seen many writers using &lt;em&gt;&quot;that&quot;&lt;/em&gt; as a pronoun in cases where &lt;em&gt;&quot;who&quot;&lt;/em&gt; should be used. For example, a book author says&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I apologize to those of you &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; are unable to obtain electronic copies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should it not be &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I apologize to those of you &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; are unable to obtain electronic copies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or is it wrong to use the latter, in the modern context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2372" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T13:51:11.477" ClosedDate="2011-03-21T15:35:33.440" Title="who vs that as a pronoun" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="17222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17221" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:51:11.477" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, why &quot;should&quot; &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; be used if English speakers often choose &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;? What's the reason behind your premise in the first place?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T13:51:11.477" />
  <row Id="17223" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17213" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:52:19.230" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Technique&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;technic&lt;/em&gt; are synonyms (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/technic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;as shown on Merriam-Webster's entry for technic&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that &lt;em&gt;technique&lt;/em&gt; is by far more used than &lt;em&gt;technic&lt;/em&gt;. Compare the number of matches found for the two words:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA)&#xA;technique = 13383&#xA;technic = 18&#xA;&#xA;British National Corpus (BNC)&#xA;technique = 4601&#xA;technic = 9&#xA;&#xA;Google&#xA;technique = 271M&#xA;technic = 14M&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the data from &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=technique%2Ctechnic&amp;amp;year_start=1900&amp;amp;year_end=2008&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Ngram Viewer&lt;/a&gt; shown below, &lt;em&gt;technic&lt;/em&gt; was more commonly used between 1900 and 1970 than it is today. As for &lt;em&gt;technique&lt;/em&gt;, usage increased since the early 1900's until now, except in the past two decades or so, in which for some reason (?) the number of occurrences decreased in comparison to other general words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/DYdnk.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T16:05:26.600" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T16:05:26.600" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="17224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17220" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:52:39.193" Score="31" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always understood this to mean &quot;no, but thanks for the offer.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying &lt;em&gt;no&lt;/em&gt; would be a little blunt, so its just a polite way of refusing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T01:52:37.567" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T01:52:37.567" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17220" CreationDate="2011-03-21T13:55:04.967" Score="22" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is mere politeness. When somebody offers you something that you do not need or want, you just say &quot;No, thanks!&quot;, thus showing that you are grateful for the offer. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6116" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T13:55:04.967" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17174" CreationDate="2011-03-21T14:05:02.380" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fortunately in the UK we dont suffer from natural disasters on the scale other countries do so expressions related to them are very uncommon and I dont think any are in popular usage all over the country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The great (natural ) disaster comes&#xA;  always when you have totally forgotten&#xA;  it.’&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;seems similar to 'Things always happen when you least expect them' although this is a rather generic expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The other one is (the most fearful&#xA;  things under the sun are) “Earthquake,&#xA;  Thunderbolt, Fire and Father.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one however doesn't seem to have an english counterpart, as the most common natural disaster in the UK is flooding or snow related in some areas maybe there are reigional expressions which resemble this but none in common usage that I can think of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T14:05:02.380" />
  <row Id="17227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5567" CreationDate="2011-03-21T14:41:07.000" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As an Australian I can say 'ta' is used extensively in Australia.  I can't comment on other explanatios as I am not a language expert. However I would like to suggest, as that many caucasian Australians are of Celtic ancestry, that the possible origin of this word is from the Irish galic word for 'yes' (tá). If you think of 'yes' in a broader context; and as and an affirmative response (i.e. Yes) to an action, it kinda makes sense. Just my thoughts, any comments on this welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6353" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T14:41:07.000" />
  <row Id="17228" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17238" CreationDate="2011-03-21T14:42:06.437" Score="6" ViewCount="146" Body="&lt;p&gt;Free your mind and your ass will follow - The Mothership has landed!! Why 'funk', of all words to describe such bootilicious music?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T12:19:15.770" Title="Where does &quot;funk&quot; and/or &quot;funky&quot; come from and why the musical reference?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17228" CreationDate="2011-03-21T14:58:38.870" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Funk&lt;/em&gt; is actually quite interesting, because it is a back formation from &lt;em&gt;funky&lt;/em&gt;, which in turn was formed from &lt;em&gt;funk&lt;/em&gt;. As in, &lt;em&gt;funk&lt;/em&gt; didn't just go from &quot;bad smell&quot; to &quot;music genre&quot; all by itself; it took a detour via the adjective form. Confusing, huh? Etymonline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=funky&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;explains it thus&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;funky&lt;/em&gt; &quot;old, musty,&quot; in reference to cheeses, then &quot;repulsive,&quot; from &lt;em&gt;funk&lt;/em&gt; [&quot;bad smell,&quot; 1620s, from dialectal Fr. &lt;em&gt;funkière&lt;/em&gt; &quot;smoke&quot;]. It began to develop an approving sense in jazz slang c.1900, probably on the notion of &quot;earthy, strong, deeply felt.&quot; &lt;em&gt;Funky&lt;/em&gt; also was used early 20c. by white writers in reference to body odor allegedly peculiar to blacks. The word reached wider popularity c.1954 [...] and in the 1960s acquired a broad slang sense of &quot;fine, stylish, excellent.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T14:58:38.870" />
  <row Id="17231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17228" CreationDate="2011-03-21T15:06:33.553" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;funky&lt;/em&gt; originally meant &lt;em&gt;pungent&lt;/em&gt; / &lt;em&gt;earthy&lt;/em&gt;, with relatively positive associations to &quot;passive&quot; qualities such as the smell of a cheese, which just sits there mouldering away. Since being co-opted into jazz slang it's acquired the more &quot;active&quot; overtones of actual movement in the sense of &lt;em&gt;lively&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;rootsy&lt;/em&gt;, etc. (funky music encourages dancing &amp;amp; foot-tapping).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T15:06:33.553" />
  <row Id="17232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17209" CreationDate="2011-03-21T15:10:50.440" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I thought it was because of the &quot;Smurf Attack&quot; where spoofed packets were used.  Therefore, spoofing, or hiding one's identity has become generally known as &quot;smurfing&quot; on-line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I have no idea how the &quot;Smurf Attack&quot; itself originally got the name...  :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3019" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T15:10:50.440" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17233" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17235" CreationDate="2011-03-21T15:19:32.940" Score="2" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is an alternative expression for : &lt;em&gt;&quot;It is easy to acknowledge accuracy to be a very important feature&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;strong&gt;Accuracy&lt;/strong&gt; should remain in the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In an academic context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T19:55:21.847" Title="Synonym for &quot;It is easy to acknowledge accuracy to be a very important feature&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17233" CreationDate="2011-03-21T15:27:07.023" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Accuracy is readily acknowledged as a salient feature (characteristic;facet).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T15:27:07.023" />
  <row Id="17235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17233" CreationDate="2011-03-21T15:28:36.567" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;easy to acknowledge&quot; could be replaced by &quot;obvious&quot;, or &quot;clear&quot;, or a similar idiom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's &lt;em&gt;clear&lt;/em&gt; that accuracy is an important feature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It &lt;em&gt;stands without reason&lt;/em&gt; that accuracy is of utmost importance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also I am not sure that &quot;accuracy&quot; should be listed as a feature for anything. Accuracy means something like &quot;without faults&quot;. Should &quot;lack of faults&quot; really be described as a feature?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T15:28:36.567" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8924" CreationDate="2011-03-21T15:29:47.503" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;em&gt;these ones&lt;/em&gt; rather than just &lt;em&gt;these&lt;/em&gt; implies there's some specific attribute applicable to each of the proffered alternatives, suggesting they've been individually checked and found to have the required attribute. So a greengrocer might refer to some specially selected apples as &lt;em&gt;these ones&lt;/em&gt; if you didn't fancy the scabby ones originally offered. But I can't see a doctor using this construct to refer to an alternative pack of pills which he presumably hasn't even opened and examined.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T15:29:47.503" />
  <row Id="17237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17233" CreationDate="2011-03-21T15:30:16.597" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Accuracy is essential.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Three words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T15:30:16.597" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17228" CreationDate="2011-03-21T15:57:17.653" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the Wikipedia &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funk#Etymology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;entry&lt;/a&gt; on &lt;em&gt;Funk&lt;/em&gt; indicates, Yale art historian &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Farris_Thompson&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Robert Farris Thompson&lt;/a&gt; has posited an African origin to the musical use of &lt;em&gt;funky&lt;/em&gt;. Here is an expanded quote from his 1984 work, &lt;em&gt;Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The slang term 'funky' in black communities originally referred to strong body odor, and not to 'funk,' meaning fear or panic. The black nuance seems to derive from the Ki-Kongo &lt;em&gt;lu-fuki&lt;/em&gt;, 'bad body odor,' and is perhaps reinforced by contact with &lt;em&gt;fumet&lt;/em&gt;, 'aroma of food and wine,' in French Louisiana. But the Ki-Kongo word is closer to the jazz word 'funky' in form and meaning, as both jazzmen and Bakongo use 'funky' and &lt;em&gt;lu-fuki&lt;/em&gt; to praise persons for the integrity of their art, for having 'worked out' to achieve their aims. In Kongo today it is possible to hear an elder lauded in this way: 'like, there is a really funky person!--my soul advances toward him to receive his blessing &lt;em&gt;(yati, nkwa lu-fuki! Ve miela miami ikwenda baki)&lt;/em&gt;  Fu-Kiau Bunseki, a leading native authority on Kongo culture, explains: 'Someone who is very old, I go sit with him, in order to feel his &lt;em&gt;lu-fuki&lt;/em&gt;, meaning, I would like to be blessed by him.' For in Kongo the smell of a hardworking elder carries luck. This Kongo sign of exertion is identified with the positive energy of a person. Hence, 'funk' in black American jazz parlance can mean earthiness, a return to fundamentals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T12:19:15.770" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T12:19:15.770" />
  <row Id="17239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17233" CreationDate="2011-03-21T16:02:22.263" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Accuracy is acknowledged as an&#xA;  essential feature&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would be a good way of writing it as I think stating it as Robusto said in the above post might be read as you asserting the fact that &quot;accuracy is essential&quot;, whereas using &quot;accuracy is acknowledged&quot; seems more like it is a fact acknowledged by a group of people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also tenfour mentioned that maybe accuracy shouldn't be described as a feature. I would argue that in some cases accuracy isn't essential, for example when gathering quantitative data rather than qualitative, it might be more important to focus on gathering large amounts of data rather than ensuring 100% accuracy on every piece of data collected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T19:55:21.847" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T19:55:21.847" />
  <row Id="17240" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17242" CreationDate="2011-03-21T16:05:45.427" Score="3" ViewCount="214" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want to say that something is trying to attain widespread use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, when I say &lt;em&gt;widespread use&lt;/em&gt;, I really want to say that it is trying to be used by a few people (not necessarily that widespread).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a word, or an expression for this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T13:51:03.063" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T13:51:03.063" Title="What's a word for &quot;widespread,&quot; but not so wide?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17241" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17244" CreationDate="2011-03-21T16:08:15.083" Score="0" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since I'm not a native English speaker and I wasn't able to find any other SE site to ask this kind of question, I hope that, maybe you could help me understand better &lt;a href=&quot;https://github.com/eloheliot/another/blob/12d0954235999b20cf06a0beb28ac134c7d78e42/COPYING&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this license&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... Permission is hereby granted, free&#xA;  of charge, to any person obtaining a&#xA;  copy of this software and associated&#xA;  documentation files (the &quot;Software&quot;),&#xA;  to deal in the Software without&#xA;  restriction, including without&#xA;  limitation the rights to use, copy,&#xA;  modify, merge, publish, distribute,&#xA;  sublicense, and/or sell copies of the&#xA;  Software, and to permit persons to&#xA;  whom the Software is furnished to do&#xA;  so, subject to the following&#xA;  conditions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The above copyright notice and this&#xA;  permission notice shall be included in&#xA;  all copies or substantial portions of&#xA;  the Software. ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it mean that I have the right to make a derived work using his 'source files' and sell copies of it, without giving these rights to the next owners ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6355" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T16:12:38.557" ClosedDate="2011-03-21T23:42:15.787" Title="Interpretation of a MIT copyright license" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;legal&gt;&lt;interpretation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17242" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17240" CreationDate="2011-03-21T16:09:41.867" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe you could use “&lt;em&gt;gaining traction&lt;/em&gt;” (which implies that it is getting more and more users, though maybe not widespread yet), or &lt;em&gt;common&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;broadly used&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;well adopted&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;em&gt;9 votes for this short answer, I feel you deserve more! So here’s some addition information:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In “gaining traction”, the word &lt;em&gt;traction&lt;/em&gt; is used figuratively, as “motive power provided for the action of drawing a thing over a surface”. In this use, it is thus synonymous with &lt;em&gt;momentum&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T20:00:29.987" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T20:00:29.987" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17240" CreationDate="2011-03-21T16:09:50.823" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;trying to attain extended popularity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;trying to augment its user base&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;trying to attain increased popularity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;trying to become a staple amongst the community&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;trying to become a household name&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T16:09:50.823" />
  <row Id="17244" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17241" CreationDate="2011-03-21T16:12:27.853" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am not a lawyer, but it seems to me that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is the sticking point here. Whatever conditions follow the colon are applicable. It sounds like you need to pass on all freedoms you inherit from the open-source product.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But talk to a lawyer about legal issues.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T16:12:27.853" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17241" CreationDate="2011-03-21T16:12:38.557" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The licence means that you can take his source files and modify / sell them in any way you like but&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The above copyright notice and this&#xA;  permission notice shall be included in&#xA;  all copies or substantial portions of&#xA;  the Software. ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;makes me think that you must also allow the same for any of the software you create using his code.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were you I would contact the author of the software / code and ask for a plain english explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T16:12:38.557" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17240" CreationDate="2011-03-21T16:19:20.720" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe Gain widespread use within a group / community? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example &quot;My website has widespread use within the UK Airsoft Community&quot;&#xA;Whist the UK Airsoft community is only a fraction of a percent of the entire population and almost everyone you ask will never have heard of the site, it is still in widespread use within the specified group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this really depends on what is being used and who is using it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T16:19:20.720" />
  <row Id="17247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="183" CreationDate="2011-03-21T16:24:15.217" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The book that taught me what little (and how little) I know about English grammar is Huddleston and Pullum's &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cambridge Grammar of the English Language&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. You can read &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cambridge.org/assets/linguistics/cgel/chap1.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chapter 1&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cambridge.org/assets/linguistics/cgel/chap2.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;chapter 2&lt;/a&gt; (PDF) free online. Those are introductory chapters. For a taste of the meat of the book, see &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7876/is-yesterday-a-noun/16755#16755&quot;&gt;this answer regarding the word &lt;em&gt;yesterday&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, which is basically just a roundup of what &lt;em&gt;CGEL&lt;/em&gt; has to say about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you like what you see there, I enthusiastically recommend buying &lt;em&gt;CGEL&lt;/em&gt;. It&amp;rsquo;s unbelievably thorough and accurate. The writing is uniformly clear and concise. Illustrative examples are everywhere. It has both a lexical index (for looking up the peculiar grammar of &lt;em&gt;enough&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;yesterday&lt;/em&gt;) and a conceptual index (for looking up terms like &lt;em&gt;gerund&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;subject-auxiliary inversion&lt;/em&gt;). It's engaging enough to browse as bedtime reading.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main drawbacks are that it costs $178 and weighs about five pounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastEditorUserId="2249" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T18:02:04.643" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T18:02:04.643" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-21T16:24:15.217" />
  <row Id="17248" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17220" CreationDate="2011-03-21T16:32:39.497" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A way of saying no that leaves open the door to future invitations of the same type, rather than a blanket refusal.  Used when one is just not interested at that particular point in time, vs. never being interested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3019" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T16:32:39.497" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17240" CreationDate="2011-03-21T16:47:50.133" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be clear, you might want to separate the thing from the producers or promoters of the thing.  It is the company behind the toothpaste that is pushing for wider adoption of the product, rather than the thing itself &quot;trying to attain widespread use&quot; . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another way to say this is a company striving for great market-share, or pushing for increased use among such-and-such demographic, for instance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If your case is less about market-share, you might use [the people behind ProjectX are trying to] increase its user base, to widen adoption, promote its use, evangelize the product[icky marketing speak], spread the word about the product, etc..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T16:47:50.133" />
  <row Id="17251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17240" CreationDate="2011-03-21T16:56:47.930" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the few people are passionate or enthusiastic, perhaps: &quot;&lt;em&gt;has reached cult status&lt;/em&gt;&quot; or &quot;&lt;em&gt;has a cult following&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T16:56:47.930" />
  <row Id="17252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17182" CreationDate="2011-03-21T16:57:14.117" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to your question is no, I'm afraid you can't do that without sounding odd.  &lt;em&gt;Reality&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;outlook&lt;/em&gt; take different following prepositions, and trying to make them use just one will at best jar.  The best rephrasing I can think of that keeps your word choice is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;...perceptions of crime in Europe, in both reality and outlook.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's not exactly wonderful though, and your original phrasing is just fine as far as I'm concerned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T16:57:14.117" />
  <row Id="17253" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17254" CreationDate="2011-03-21T16:58:15.490" Score="3" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;How did the current usage come into vogue?  Where did it originate from?  Best proctology exam description ever?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T17:03:05.000" Title="How did &quot;Tongue-in-cheek&quot; get its current meaning?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="17254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17253" CreationDate="2011-03-21T17:03:05.000" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongue-in-cheek&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; suggests two meanings for the physical action. The relevant one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The ironic usage originates with the idea of suppressed mirth — biting one's tongue to prevent an outburst of laughter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This matches with what I have always assumed was the answer: You are biting your tongue, cheek or lip to keep a straight face. The intent isn't so much to cause pain but to distract you from the joke or bluff. Another common behavior is to purse your lips when trying not to smile.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T17:03:05.000" />
  <row Id="17255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17177" CreationDate="2011-03-21T17:04:33.447" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &quot;worst&quot; also means most corrupt, bad, evil, or ill . So your worst enemy &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; be your most evil enemy. But this is untrue in many cases and here come other meanings of the word: &lt;em&gt;most unpleasant&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;most unfavorable&lt;/em&gt;. Therefore, your worst enemy even being a very good person can be the most unpleasant, unfavorable or simply the most unfriendly enemy to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6116" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T17:04:33.447" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17212" CreationDate="2011-03-21T17:21:42.947" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whilst maybe gramatically correct it does sound awkward, I would agree with Neil Coffey here in that it is probably awkward due to the issue with one person / two people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The three examples you provided are slightly different:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We are a family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The We is a group and family is a group therefore there isnt the same conflict.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;His mind and body are one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;His implies ownership, He can own more than one thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;God is three persons: the Father, the&#xA;  Son and the Holy Ghost.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It hs clearky stated that God is three persons, and in this way most people can be refered to in a similar way, someone can be both a father and son without there being any form of conflict.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think although gramatically correct there is probably a better way to respond, such as &quot;No, it's my Sister&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T17:21:42.947" />
  <row Id="17257" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17194" CreationDate="2011-03-21T17:22:12.140" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think there is another use of &quot;randomest&quot; that hasn't been mentioned.  This is the use that occurs in a sentence like &quot;the randomest thing happened to me on my way home from the mall&quot;.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe this is just a form of the superlative that is applied loosely or metaphorically.  It is a fairly common usage, though typically among younger speakers and writers.  I'm not sure whether it should go in the &quot;slang&quot; bucket, be seen as an alternate definition, or just be considered incorrect usage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, in poetic or non-technical usage, I suppose all bets are off.  &quot;Here is the most infinitely random of random numbers!&quot;  This is really just a gross exaggeration, allowed by the machinery of grammar, though perhaps logically nonsensical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree with @RedGrittyBrick that randomness in a mathematical sense seems like it ought to be used as an absolute, but also with the commenters in that it often isn't.   I can understand using &quot;more random&quot; when talking about CS, but &quot;most random&quot; or &quot;randomest&quot; in the same sense seems wrong.   When you have reached actual randomness, it doesn't accept comparative qualifications with equally(?) random randomness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T17:22:12.140" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17177" CreationDate="2011-03-21T17:24:49.683" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this is pretty simple: the many meanings of &lt;em&gt;bad&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;worst&lt;/em&gt; overwhelmingly tend toward horribleness and undesirability, not incompetence or logical negation. So given the choice between the two possible interpretations of &lt;em&gt;worst enemy&lt;/em&gt;, people will naturally choose the one where the enemy is especially horrible or undesirable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, as in &lt;em&gt;the worst dentist in the county&lt;/em&gt;, it happens that the undesirable quality is incompetence. But I can't think of an example where &lt;em&gt;bad&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;incompetent&lt;/em&gt; in a benign sense. You occasionally see something like &lt;em&gt;&amp;ldquo;Her delightfully bad singing won me over&amp;rdquo;&lt;/em&gt;, but it seems like there's some intentional irony there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastEditorUserId="2249" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T17:35:38.067" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T17:35:38.067" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17182" CreationDate="2011-03-21T17:27:07.170" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When forming a parallel construction such as this, it is important to include all the words necessary to make the parallelism work properly.  Since, as you note, &quot;outlook&quot; and &quot;reality&quot; require two different prepositions, those prepositions need to be included in the paralleled structures.&#xA;  However, the prepositions do make the sentence look at least a little bit awkward, so it is probably worth your while to search around a bit for alternative words that use matching prepositions, or to reword the sentence to eliminate the parallel construction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The reality and the perception of crime in Europe&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Crime in Europe: the reality vs. the outlook&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T17:27:07.170" />
  <row Id="17260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17177" CreationDate="2011-03-21T17:31:50.723" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with Colin Fine that this is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pragmatically&lt;/a&gt; guided; we use the negative modifier because we want to make this negative concept more negative. As it is a matter of pragmatics, the construction cannot be deconstructed on a purely semantic basis in order to justify its use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the worst &lt;em&gt;president&lt;/em&gt; will be someone who is the most inferior at being president, but the worst &lt;em&gt;dictator&lt;/em&gt; is one who will, purely logically speaking, be the &quot;best&quot; at being a dictator.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not only done in the case of &quot;worst&quot;. Another example would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He had a very &lt;strong&gt;bad&lt;/strong&gt; injury.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actually, the injury is quite &quot;good&quot; — in the sense that the injury is superior to other injuries — but an injury is a negative thing, so we use &quot;bad&quot; rather than &quot;good&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that in some dialects a person can say &quot;he got hurt real good&quot; — here the &quot;logical&quot; &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; is used, but it basically means the same thing as &quot;he got hurt real bad&quot; (with the negatively agreeing &quot;bad&quot;). Since neither use is sarcastic, if &quot;good&quot; = &quot;good&quot; and &quot;bad&quot; = &quot;bad&quot; regardless of pragmatics, then these two sentences should not mean the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T20:26:34.270" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T20:26:34.270" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17194" CreationDate="2011-03-21T17:35:48.473" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thanks jgbelacqua! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I think there is another use of&#xA;  &quot;randomest&quot; that hasn't been&#xA;  mentioned. This is the use that occurs&#xA;  in a sentence like &quot;the randomest&#xA;  thing happened to me on my way home&#xA;  from the mall&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was going to point out that one use of Randomest is that people tend to judge random events on the possibility of the event happening, for instance saying &quot;On the way home a black cat randomly crossed my path&quot; the same person could say &quot;The randomest / most random thing that ever happened to me was when I was walking home from the mall and a green and yellow cat crossed my path&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously the chances of a black cat crossing your path are significantly higher than a Green and Yellow cat, so in this way we can rank random things on their probability of happening to determine the &quot;randomest&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think randomness is a concept that some people struggle to understand, as is infinity so this is where words like randomest start.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T17:35:48.473" />
  <row Id="17262" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-21T18:10:53.313" Score="3" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine was telling me a story about one of their colleagues and they said the following sentence: &quot;Mike called himself cleaning up the lunch table, but he left spaghetti sauce streaked all over the place.&quot;  I didn't understand at the time though that this is just a way of referring to a third party doing some act that resulted in the opposite of their original intentions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question I have is regarding the use of &quot;called himself&quot; and where that comes from, the etymology, etc. etc. and if there is a place I can look to learn about this type of... strange... sentence pattern?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6361" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T20:51:27.217" Title="&quot;Called himself doing&quot;..." Tags="&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17263" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17265" CreationDate="2011-03-21T18:19:42.337" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am Hungarian, and I can completely understand the destruction-construction-deconstruction words, although Hungarians use their Hungarian form rarely. I don't know if the 'con' possesses any meaning there, please explain me the situatuon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sorry for the possibly bad English! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6360" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T18:29:01.763" Title="What is the difference between 'destruction' and 'deconstruction'?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17263" CreationDate="2011-03-21T18:27:39.673" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstruction_%28building%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;deconstruction&lt;/a&gt;: to take something apart (possible to put it back together)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;opposite of construction&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;destruction&lt;/a&gt;: to destroy something, no longer possible to put it back together&lt;br&gt;&#xA;opposite of creation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T18:27:39.673" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17263" CreationDate="2011-03-21T18:29:01.763" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Destruction&lt;/em&gt; is the act of &lt;em&gt;destroying&lt;/em&gt; something; rendering it unusable, unrepairable, broken into unusable fragments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Deconstruction&lt;/em&gt; is the act of taking something apart, down to its most basic pieces.  (A more common word would be &lt;em&gt;disassembly&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Deconstruction&quot; can also be used to refer to the theory or process behind &quot;deconstructionism&quot;, which is &quot;a philosophical theory of criticism (usually of literature or film) that seeks to expose deep-seated contradictions in a work by delving below its surface meaning&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T18:29:01.763" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17212" CreationDate="2011-03-21T18:33:54.867" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She's not my brothers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is grammatically correct if you put quotes around 'my brothers', as I have just done.  This allows 'my brothers' to be treated as a singular object even though there are more than one 'brother'.  &quot;She is not 'my brothers'.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You run into the same awkwardness when explaining that you are looking for your scissors but have only found your pencil instead. &quot;This pencil is not my scissors.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T18:33:54.867" />
  <row Id="17267" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-21T18:38:01.463" Score="13" ViewCount="941" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wrote my opinion essay using a lot of different complex grammatical structures, linking words and so on, and some of the sentences were even over 4 lines long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I was afterwards told by my English teacher that this is a bad habit, and any sentence one has to read twice to grasp is simply badly formulated. I was told to use short sentences instead, always.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, I was a bit disappointed by that, and it also seems a bit strange to me: If I'm able to formulate lengthy sentences in a good manner, why shouldn't I do so?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are complex sentences uncommon or unwanted in English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6365" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T01:15:48.720" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T12:19:33.470" ClosedDate="2011-03-23T14:49:56.107" Title="Are complex sentences uncommon or unwanted in English?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="17268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17220" CreationDate="2011-03-21T18:41:58.370" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Assuming Bob says &quot;No, Thanks!&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bob doesn't want any cookies, but he's showing that he's grateful for the offer. As opposed to just &quot;No&quot;, it's the politer way to say the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2411" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T18:41:58.370" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17262" CreationDate="2011-03-21T18:57:46.110" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't have any info on the etymology but I can cast a little extra light on the meaning, I think:  This usage of &quot;call&quot; is equivalent to &quot;claim&quot;, as in the phrase &quot;I call shotgun!&quot; which means &quot;I claim the front passenger seat&quot; (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riding_shotgun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; entry on &quot;riding shotgun&quot; for some details).  Alternatively, Mike &quot;called it for himself&quot;, in much the way that &quot;the umpire called the the match in favor of someone&quot;; he declared himself the victor in the competition of &quot;who gets to clean up the table?&quot;  Your friend's construction, &quot;called himself (the task)&quot;, is equivalent to that, although I'd say it's unusual and should probably be avoided as a colloquialism.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So your friend is saying that Mike specifically claimed the task of cleaning up the table and then did a lousy job of it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T18:57:46.110" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16649" CreationDate="2011-03-21T19:08:14.320" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have not answered before, English not being my mother tongue (while in Italian, my language, the usage of &quot;(sic)&quot; described by the OP is quite frequent, to the point that some people don't know its original use, and confuse &lt;em&gt;sic&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;sigh&lt;/em&gt;, as if the author were sighing for the blunder or funny episode he is telling).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;That said, I have just found in a text by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damon_Knight&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Damon Knight&lt;/a&gt;, who knew his English, such a use. In an article later collected in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Search_of_Wonder&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;In Search of Wonder&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; he berates several aspects of A.E. Van Vogt's style, plotting, language etc. In particular, he is describing some incongruences in Van Vogt's &lt;em&gt;The World of Null-A&lt;/em&gt;. In one of these, a gang hostile to the main character is temporarily helping him all the while, Knight writes, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;keeping him under control by means of&#xA;  a “vibrator” which changes the atomic&#xA;  structure of everything around him so&#xA;  he cannot memorize it (sic) and effect&#xA;  an escape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, apparently, Knight's use of &quot;(sic)&quot; is exactly to stress the absurdity of the situation he is relating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4501" LastEditorUserId="4501" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T21:12:01.233" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T21:12:01.233" />
  <row Id="17278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17100" CreationDate="2011-03-21T19:29:03.327" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A few options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Love at first sight&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Beginning of our relationship&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Became more than friends&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Things became serious&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This is when I knew I loved you&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Where we first met/kissed/touched&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am also fond of F'x's classic: This is where we fell in love.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T19:29:03.327" />
  <row Id="17279" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17220" CreationDate="2011-03-21T19:41:04.823" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the brief context, it is almost certainly saying &quot;No, thank you.&quot; in an informal way, since this is a discourse between two people and especially when one is offering something 'nice' to the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In general discussion, people will tend to be more explicit if the meaning is intended such as..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Yes I did such and such, no thanks to you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As has been stated already, it is basically just a polite way to decline that became shortened over the years from &quot;No, thank you&quot; to &quot;no thanks.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6370" LastEditorUserId="6370" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T03:19:27.503" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T03:19:27.503" />
  <row Id="17280" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-21T19:42:36.273" Score="2" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;p&gt;My hypothesis is that in informal writing (say something like Stack Exchange questions) &quot;it's&quot; is massively more common than &quot;its&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this true? Are there any data to support it?&#xA;Concrete percentages?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;del&gt;Is there a heuristic that a very simple program&amp;sup1; can use to detect when &quot;its&quot; would be appropriate?&lt;/del&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The purpose of this question is that it is one of the more frequently confused pairs of words. I'm designing tools for flagging potential spelling mistakes, so if one was a lot more frequent than the other and I had indicators that the piece of text was poorly spelled then it might be a valid suggestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6369" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T01:40:53.703" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T15:17:04.887" Title="&quot;It's&quot; versus &quot;its&quot; frequencies" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="13" />
  <row Id="17281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17280" CreationDate="2011-03-21T19:51:13.503" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, there is no algorithmic determination possible. For example you might think that before an adjective, there should be &lt;em&gt;it’s&lt;/em&gt;, but think of: &lt;em&gt;“it’s possible to do this”&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;“I understand its possible consequences”.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T19:51:13.503" />
  <row Id="17282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17280" CreationDate="2011-03-21T19:51:14.033" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I have no idea.  Given that &quot;its&quot; and &quot;it's&quot; have completely different meanings, I don't know what purpose such a comparison would serve.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;its&lt;/em&gt; is the possessive case of &quot;it&quot;, i.e. &quot;belonging to it.&quot;  &lt;em&gt;it's&lt;/em&gt; is a contraction of &quot;it is&quot;.  It doesn't get much simpler than that.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The zebra picked up &lt;em&gt;its&lt;/em&gt; suitcase and walked off.  &quot;&lt;em&gt;It's&lt;/em&gt; a miracle,&quot; George said.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I misunderstood the &quot;very simple program&quot; part of the question, sorry.  Unfortunately, very simple programs fare very poorly against English; it has borrowed from so many different languages that most simple heuristics will lead you wildly astray after a while.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit to match the question edit:-)  Sorry, doing it properly needs a grammar check.  See Microsoft Word for the utter howlers that result from trying to do grammar checks on the cheap!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastEditorUserId="1579" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T19:56:42.510" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T19:56:42.510" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17280" CreationDate="2011-03-21T19:54:38.493" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that It's is more frequent than Its.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's = it is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its = owned by it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two completely different words, although with similar uses&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's generally more common to speak about things using It's when describing them than its as the sentence just feels more natural, for example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's red  vs Its colour is red&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for data to support this im not sure, however when I studied Natural Language Processing it is possible to use bigram / trigram equations etc to predict a word given the word / words before it. Probably something similar would work here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T19:54:38.493" />
  <row Id="17284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14807" CreationDate="2011-03-21T19:58:15.603" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is pronounced like conk I know from living on an island that has a main export of conch and having it in almost every meal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6372" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T19:58:15.603" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17280" CreationDate="2011-03-21T19:59:45.987" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In common speech, they sound the same, so the question doesn't apply.  For common writing like SE questions, I don't know, but for more formal writing covered by the Google Books Ngram corpus, &lt;em&gt;its&lt;/em&gt; is around 8 times more common than &lt;em&gt;it's&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=its,it%27s&amp;amp;year_start=1800&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;graph&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Re a heuristic, I believe one could have a set of rules that would cover a moderate percentage of cases with medium accuracy, but not with high enough accuracy to automatically correct, or probably even to flag for human review, incorrect usages.  Deep grammatical parsing is needed to reliably evaluate the cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T19:59:45.987" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17286" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17292" CreationDate="2011-03-21T20:10:35.063" Score="0" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this sentence grammatically correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't see how he will react.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5279" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T01:35:08.697" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T01:35:08.697" Title="Is &quot;I can't see how he will react&quot; grammatically correct?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="17287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17286" CreationDate="2011-03-21T20:15:01.817" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are two ways to read this sentence: literally and figuratively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Literally:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't see how he will react.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means you are not in a position physically to note &quot;his&quot; reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Figuratively:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't see how he will react.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is using &lt;em&gt;see&lt;/em&gt; as a substitute for &lt;em&gt;foresee&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;tell&lt;/em&gt;: You can't foresee how &quot;he&quot; will react. The literal meaning of visually bearing witness is not the intention here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T20:52:42.643" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T20:52:42.643" />
  <row Id="17288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17286" CreationDate="2011-03-21T20:15:13.750" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't see what concerns you about it. I can't predict how people will judge it, but it seems fine to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T20:15:13.750" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17240" CreationDate="2011-03-21T20:20:15.760" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could also say that the thing in question is &quot;catching on&quot;, which is to say, it's in the early stages of (presumably) a lasting surge in usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T20:20:15.760" />
  <row Id="17291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17220" CreationDate="2011-03-21T20:27:35.860" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The words &lt;em&gt;no thanks&lt;/em&gt; always mean basically the same thing: &quot;no, thank you [for offering it/them to me]&quot;.  In spoken English, there can further emotional meaning conveyed by the intonation, but this is generally hard to indicate in written English.  However, the particular case of using an exclamation point and no comma (&lt;em&gt;No thanks!&lt;/em&gt;) is often used to suggest the intonation that conveys something like &quot;No, I &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; don't want it&quot;, which might be because the speaker has never liked cookies, or is valiantly trying to stay on a diet, or has diabetes and must avoid cookies, or has already declined before. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T20:27:35.860" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17286" CreationDate="2011-03-21T20:30:21.147" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be more specific you can go for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't anticipate how he will react&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is because &quot;see&quot; could be misinterpreted as the &quot;visual&quot; see.&#xA;For example: If you wish to release a panther on an unsuspecting person you might not &quot;see&quot; how they will react because you might be in another room. However I think you mean that you are unable to predict how they will react which is better described with the word: &quot;anticipate&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However if you are speaking to non-native or &quot;uneducated&quot; speakers then:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't predict how he will react&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;might be better.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6362" LastEditorUserId="6362" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T21:01:04.037" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T21:01:04.037" />
  <row Id="17293" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17295" CreationDate="2011-03-21T20:36:58.707" Score="2" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;This question appeared in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/17233/synonym-for-it-is-easy-to-acknowledge-accuracy-to-be-a-very-important-feature/&quot;&gt;previous question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Should I write &quot;&lt;strong&gt;it stands without reason&lt;/strong&gt; that accuracy is of utmost importance&quot; or &quot;&lt;strong&gt;it stands to reason&lt;/strong&gt; that accuracy is of utmost importance?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The latter is the only I can find in online dictionaries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T01:11:40.937" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T01:11:40.937" Title="&quot;It stands without reason&quot; or &quot;it stands to reason&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="17294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17262" CreationDate="2011-03-21T20:37:56.397" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Speaking as a Brit I have &lt;em&gt;never&lt;/em&gt; heard anyone use this grammatical construct. I think that it's incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be improved massively (if by &quot;call&quot; you mean &quot;took command over&quot;) if you removed the word &quot;himself&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Mike called cleaning up the&#xA;  lunch table, but he left spaghetti&#xA;  sauce streaked all over the place.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However its still a bit clunky. I still have a bit of difficulty with parsing this sentence as at the point of &quot;called&quot; one expects it to be a vocal cry as opposed to &quot;taking responsibility for&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd suggest your friend replaces it with: &quot;took charge&quot;. Resulting in a much simpler sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Mike &lt;strong&gt;took charge of&lt;/strong&gt; cleaning up the&#xA;  lunch table, but he left spaghetti&#xA;  sauce streaked all over the place.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6362" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T20:37:56.397" />
  <row Id="17295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17293" CreationDate="2011-03-21T20:39:07.967" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The common idiom is &quot;It stands to reason&quot;, meaning &quot;It makes sense&quot; or &quot;It is expected&quot;. I've never seen any other variant, and at least &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/To+stand+to+reason&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some internet resources&lt;/a&gt; show the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T20:39:07.967" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17262" CreationDate="2011-03-21T20:51:27.217" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should consider this &lt;em&gt;called himself&lt;/em&gt; phrasing nonstandard and not expect to use it, or perhaps ever hear it again.  I think it was just awkward phrasing as the words tumbled out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would interpret the meaning as parallel to &lt;em&gt;Mike thought himself cleaning up the lunch table, but...&lt;/em&gt; (which means &lt;em&gt;Mike thought he was cleaning up the lunch table, but...&lt;/em&gt;). Using the verb &lt;em&gt;called&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;thought&lt;/em&gt; suggests that Mike actually stated out loud his thought, as if a dialog like this had taken place at the scene:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Observer: What do you think you were just doing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mike: Huh? I was cleaning up the lunch table.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T20:51:27.217" />
  <row Id="17297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17220" CreationDate="2011-03-21T20:59:06.567" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;No, Thanks&quot; and &quot;No Thanks!&quot; mean different things, depending on the prosody. The stress and intonation will convey non-verbal information.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example,&#xA;no thanks (unstressed, &quot;no&quot; on a high tone and &quot;thanks&quot; on a low tone, equal duration for both words) will indicate a polite decline of the offer of cookies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;no THANKS (stress on &quot;Thanks&quot;, &quot;no&quot; on a mid tone and &quot;thanks&quot; on a high tone, &quot;thanks&quot; taking up half the duration of the &quot;no&quot;) will indicate a firm refusal, or perhaps a disdain of the offer, or perhaps an allergy to an ingredient in the cookies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Reading this dialogue from &lt;em&gt;Young Frankenstein&lt;/em&gt; will not convey the prosody, but you might get the idea, even if you have never seen the movie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Frau Blücher: Would the doctor care for a... brandy before retiring? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: No. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Frau Blücher: [suggestively] Some varm  milk... perhaps&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: No... thank you very much. No thanks. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Frau Blücher: [suggestively] Ovaltine? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: NOTHING! Thank you! I'm a little - tired! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, there's a horse whinny after &quot;Goodnight, Frau Blücher.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3306" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T20:59:06.567" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17298" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17305" CreationDate="2011-03-21T21:01:51.073" Score="2" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does &quot;help save the planet &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; your mobile phone&quot; have a different meaning or connotation &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/516/different-from-versus-different-than&quot;&gt;than&lt;/a&gt; &quot;help save the planet &lt;em&gt;using&lt;/em&gt; your mobile phone?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5559" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T01:08:45.007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T01:08:45.007" Title="&quot;Help save the planet with your mobile phone&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="17299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17298" CreationDate="2011-03-21T21:04:25.657" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Slightly. The first could be interpreted that your phone will be &quot;used up&quot; by the process or used physically (e.g. plugging the gap in the ozone layer by throwing your phone into it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second sentence does not have this implication. Ergo, I prefer the second although I'd add a word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Help save the planet &lt;strong&gt;by&lt;/strong&gt; using your mobile phone&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6362" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T21:04:25.657" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="17300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17298" CreationDate="2011-03-21T21:13:15.853" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One interpretation could be &quot;have your phone with you while you help save the planet&quot;, an implication that the phone itself is incidental to the process. This doesn't make sense, at least not the sense you wish to convey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider: &quot;Use your phone to help save the planet&quot; or similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, &quot;help save the planet&quot; is a little clumsy as it has two verbs together; consider &quot;help &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; save&quot; (i.e. use the infinitive) in future instances of this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="653" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T21:13:15.853" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17203" CreationDate="2011-03-21T21:16:15.227" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it means something that I know in any single details or assyom. So, I don't need a computer to elaborate the results, I'm so familiar with the concept that, one step at a time, I can prove it with an abacus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6378" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T21:16:15.227" />
  <row Id="17302" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17303" CreationDate="2011-03-21T21:33:21.877" Score="6" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;There seems to be some ambiguity between the &lt;em&gt;connotation&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;definition&lt;/em&gt; of a word / word group / phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The dictionary entry seems to be that a &lt;em&gt;definition&lt;/em&gt; is more of a primary description of a word whereas &lt;em&gt;connotation&lt;/em&gt; seems to be more of an alternative meaning or implication.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, despite the dictionary entry, I feel like I hear them used synonymously both on this site and in &quot;real life.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, long question short, what constitutes a &lt;em&gt;definition&lt;/em&gt; and what constitutes a &lt;em&gt;connotation&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3294" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T00:00:18.510" Title="&quot;Connotation&quot; vs. &quot;Definition&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;ambiguity&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17302" CreationDate="2011-03-21T21:38:14.443" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The dichotomy isn't between connotation and definition, it's between &lt;em&gt;connotation&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;denotation&lt;/em&gt;.  The denotation of a word is what it explicitly and directly means, while its connotation is what it implies or is associated with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T21:38:14.443" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17286" CreationDate="2011-03-21T21:42:25.953" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Visual metaphors for cognitive understanding are very common in English&quot;: in other words, we use &quot;see&quot; where we mean &quot;understand&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I see what you're saying&quot; means, &quot;I understand what you are talking about.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;We see eye to eye&quot; means, &quot;We understand each others viewpoint.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;I see where you're going&quot; means, &quot;I understand what you are implying.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2577" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T21:42:25.953" />
  <row Id="17305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17298" CreationDate="2011-03-21T21:44:37.603" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case, &quot;using&quot; can be seen as a more explicit description of what to do with the phone. &quot;Using&quot; more or less encases &quot;with&quot; but it doesn't work the other way around:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stand over there with your phone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Stand over there using your phone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the context of a phone and saving the world, the options of doing something with the phone is small and it can be implied that the intention was to use it. Other words have more options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Help save the planet with your donation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Help save the planet using your donation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Help save the planet by spending your donation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Help save the planet by giving your donation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also plenty of other things we can do that completely muck around with the implications:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Help save the planet &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt; using your mobile phone&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Help save the planet &lt;em&gt;by&lt;/em&gt; using your mobile phone&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Help save the (planet with your mobile phone)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Help save the (planet using your mobile phone)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The context makes the latter two silly but it shows the importance of choosing your words carefully:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Attack the man using your phone&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could mean all sorts of things and reminds me of the classic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fruit flies like a banana&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T21:44:37.603" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17306" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17309" CreationDate="2011-03-21T21:47:47.897" Score="1" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;trying to become a staple amongst the&#xA;  community&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T23:04:39.473" Title="What's the meaning of &quot;a staple amongst the community&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17307" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17302" CreationDate="2011-03-21T21:49:04.773" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Connotation would be an implied meaning or emotional state via context or culture as opposed to a strict dictionary definition or meaning. For example: &quot;Oh, great&quot; can have plenty of different meanings or connotations. Said sarcastically, there is an extreme negative &lt;em&gt;connotation&lt;/em&gt; along with the &lt;em&gt;meaning&lt;/em&gt; of expressing acknowledgement. Said excitedly, there is an extreme positive &lt;em&gt;connotation&lt;/em&gt; along with a very similar meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T21:49:04.773" />
  <row Id="17308" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17302" CreationDate="2011-03-21T21:50:02.980" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A definition is a literal thing. It is dry, and factual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A connotation is subtle, and contextual. The definition of connotation I like best is (unusually) from Wikipedia: &quot;Connotation is a subjective cultural and/or emotional coloration in addition to the explicit or denotative meaning of any specific word or phrase in a language&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The connotation is the emotional and cultural baggage that goes with the word. You can have a word whose literal definition is perfect for what you are trying to say, but whose connotation is extremely unfavorable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2577" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T21:50:02.980" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17306" CreationDate="2011-03-21T21:52:55.960" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something that has become both common and expected in the same sense that bread and milk are &lt;em&gt;staple&lt;/em&gt; foods:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=staple&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a necessary commodity for which demand is constant&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T21:52:55.960" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17310" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17306" CreationDate="2011-03-21T21:56:26.797" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not a very good word choice. &quot;Staple&quot; is most commonly associated with basic foodstuffs. Flour, oil, and eggs are all &quot;staples&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning of the word has stretched somewhat, so anything that is considered to be necessary, central, or key can be described as a staple, but the food connotation usually restricts the usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2577" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T21:56:26.797" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17293" CreationDate="2011-03-21T22:27:07.567" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;It stands to reason that ...&quot; Is basically a synonym for &quot;Based on the reasoning provided, ...&quot;. For example, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He treated you like dirt! It &lt;em&gt;stands to reason&lt;/em&gt; that you're having second thoughts!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;It stands without reason that ...&quot; I have always understood to mean, &quot;It needs no explanation that ...&quot;. For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It stands without reason that he should treat you like a princess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But as we have seen, this idiom doesn't appear in any significant usage on the Internet&lt;/strong&gt; so it could be a regionalism or just my own mistake. If it were my paper, I would use &quot;it needs no explanation&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastEditorUserId="4929" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T22:36:47.163" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T22:36:47.163" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="17314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17306" CreationDate="2011-03-21T23:04:39.473" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is hard to tell without context, but I think maybe there is some confusion here between the concepts of &quot;staple&quot; foods, as outlined by Satanicpuppy and Kelly C Hess, and the phrase &lt;code&gt;pillar of the community&lt;/code&gt;, which means a prominent and respected member of the community.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3752" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T23:04:39.473" />
  <row Id="17317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16995" CreationDate="2011-03-21T23:16:40.787" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;HeapTrade&lt;/strong&gt; is what you are looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6020" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T23:16:40.787" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-21T23:16:40.787" />
  <row Id="17318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16972" CreationDate="2011-03-21T23:27:34.660" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I remember seeing some explanation from a English grammar book, written for people speaking another language, which basicaly said &quot;when/while doing something&quot; is just a shorthand of &quot;when/while somebody is doing something&quot;, where &quot;somebody is&quot; must appear in the main clause, otherwise this shorthand usage is not valid. For example, it is wrong to say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;ldquo;I watch TV, when sitting in my sofa.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;because in the main clause there is no &quot;be&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This isn&amp;rsquo;t quite correct. It&amp;rsquo;s a bit better if the &lt;em&gt;somebody&lt;/em&gt; appears in the main clause. The &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; doesn&amp;rsquo;t need to appear in the main clause at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An awesome sunset is a routine occurrence when chasing across the treeless Great Plains. (almost entirely ok)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This might sound a little bit odd to some people because the &lt;em&gt;somebody&lt;/em&gt; (whoever is &lt;em&gt;chasing&lt;/em&gt;) is completely missing from the main clause. But to a lot of people it will sound just fine. In ordinary speech, almost no one would notice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;One day, while looking through his grandparents&amp;rsquo; attic, he found some old photographs. (definitely ok)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This one is impeccable. The implied subject of &lt;em&gt;looking&lt;/em&gt; is the &lt;em&gt;he&lt;/em&gt; of &lt;em&gt;he found&lt;/em&gt;. Note that *&amp;ldquo;&lt;em&gt;he was finding some old photographs&lt;/em&gt;&amp;rdquo; would be wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Traditionally, &lt;em&gt;while&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;when&lt;/em&gt; are called subordinating conjunctions. Some modern grammarians call them prepositions. Whatever you call them, they are followed by a clause: either an ordinary declarative clause (&lt;em&gt;while Kaitlin worked on her paper&lt;/em&gt;), an &lt;em&gt;-ing&lt;/em&gt; clause (&lt;em&gt;while watching TV&lt;/em&gt;), a past-participial clause (&lt;em&gt;when forced to respond&lt;/em&gt;), or a verbless clause (&lt;em&gt;while in Rome&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;while an ice cream man in Hawaii&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;when drunk&lt;/em&gt;). Except in the first case, the subject of the dependent clause has to be figured out from context, and the verb &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt; is implied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastEditorUserId="2249" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T12:53:46.353" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T12:53:46.353" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17319" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-21T23:33:31.897" Score="2" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm note sure if this is the correct place to ask this, but if I have a schematic illustration that contains numbers to enumerate interesting details. How do I refer those numbers in a text that describes this image? Is the following correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Figure 3.1 shows (...). It consists of&#xA;  a diffuser (1) that is used (...).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here point 1 would indicate the diffuser on the illustration. Are there any other ways to refer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6292" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T23:51:56.720" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T23:56:07.127" Title="How do I refer to a number in an image in a scientific paper?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="17320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16995" CreationDate="2011-03-21T23:53:59.377" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;strong&gt;Professional Network&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T23:53:59.377" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-21T23:53:59.377" />
  <row Id="17321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17319" CreationDate="2011-03-21T23:56:07.127" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This would seem the most obvious and clear way of referring to details in a picture. I can't think of any better way. I'd do it just like that (1). If you're afraid readers might confuse details with picture numbers, you could use letters (A) or Roman numerals (I) for details instead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T23:56:07.127" />
  <row Id="17322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17302" CreationDate="2011-03-22T00:00:18.510" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A more extrinsic view...a dictionary gives only a definition but rarely addresses connotation. In fact, you're lucky if you get the connotation of the definiend from the connotations and implicatures in the definition. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T00:00:18.510" />
  <row Id="17323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16995" CreationDate="2011-03-22T00:02:34.030" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What about Facebook or LinkedIn? What, those are taken already? Seriously, I'd advise against using capital letters in the middle of a word, as in LinkedIn and TomTom; it looks ugly, is contrary to all but commercialese conventions, and can be confusing: I used to think the site was called LINKEDLN. The hyphen is precisely the tool you would use to avoid confusion if necessary: Tom-Tom and Linked-In would do. Please, please don't: I don't want to have to use mid-capitals for years if your website gets millions of users and I join too. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T17:55:40.667" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T17:55:40.667" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-22T00:02:34.030" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17325" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2429" CreationDate="2011-03-22T01:28:46.263" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A native English speaker does not recognize &quot;doubt&quot; as a synonym for &quot;question&quot;. The examples given (like &lt;code&gt;Doubt about TinyMCE content css&lt;/code&gt;), no matter how prevalent, are awkward. Even if it can be justified by picking a fitting definition entry, it's not something we would ever say. We &lt;em&gt;understand&lt;/em&gt; it, but we also understand when a French person says &quot;Let me explain you something&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying &quot;question&quot; instead of &quot;doubt&quot; is a better choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T01:28:46.263" />
  <row Id="17326" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-22T01:40:07.277" Score="11" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have often struggled with sentences that contain two characters of the same gender. For example, if there are two females, Alice and Carol, then the following sentence can be confusing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Alice reminded Carol about how she helped her last week.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly, Alice is telling Carol something, but who helped whom?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;When the genders differ, the ambiguity is resolved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Alice reminded Bob about how he helped her last week.&#xA;Alice reminded Bob about how she helped him last week.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a rule that addresses this or a rule of thumb for handling it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1648" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T03:08:18.470" Title="Advice for using multiple same-gender personal pronouns in the same sentence" Tags="&lt;personal-pronouns&gt;&lt;gender&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="17327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17326" CreationDate="2011-03-22T01:56:40.490" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can add just a little context to make it clear, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Feeling indebted, Alice reminded Carol about how she helped her last week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A clumsy example, but I think that is all you can do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5964" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T01:56:40.490" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="17328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17326" CreationDate="2011-03-22T01:59:08.743" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a reader, my first choice would usually be to take whoever is subject of the main clause (Alice) to remain the subject in the following clause; but I could never be sure, and it might be ambiguous in many cases. There is no real solution. The only way out is by recasting the sentence such that the right reference will become clear from context. You will usually need to make it longer by adding more information:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Alice reminded Carol about how she helped with Carol's paperwork last week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I agree that this isn't the prettiest of sentences, as using the same name twice in a sentence is usually not done, but it might be acceptable. If the reader knows that the paperwork must be Carol's, references will be acceptably clear without &lt;em&gt;Carol's&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Carol seemed fairly happy now that she didn't have to worry about the documents any more, but she failed to mention payment. Alice reminded her about how she had helped her last week with the paperwork and requested a share of the proceeds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A sentence rarely comes without context: usually you have something to work with, and often things will naturally fall into place even with several persons of the same gender. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the problem is also very real with two or more inanimate objects; &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;, etc. can often lead to similar ambiguity:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The difference between Rome and Carthage was great; its economy also depended very much on trade, and yet its merchant class was far less powerful than one would have expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I changed the first sentence so that &lt;em&gt;Rome&lt;/em&gt; became the subject, I believe &lt;em&gt;its&lt;/em&gt; would logically point toward &lt;em&gt;Rome&lt;/em&gt; first:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rome was very different from Carthage; its economy also depended very much on trade, and yet its merchant class was far less powerful than one would have expected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T03:08:18.470" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T03:08:18.470" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17329" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-22T02:32:32.220" Score="2" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicates:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1314/user-accounts-or-users-account&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;User accounts&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;users account?&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/14115/is-it-correct-to-say-lesson-count-or-lessons-count&quot;&gt;Is it correct to say &amp;ldquo;lesson count&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;lessons count&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering wether or not I should use a plural form noun with a collection name. For example, which one is correct, bookList or booksList (obviously they are variables in a programming language)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4646" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T14:53:48.863" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T15:51:56.277" ClosedDate="2011-03-23T14:06:41.123" Title="&quot;BookList&quot; or &quot;booksList?&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17329" CreationDate="2011-03-22T02:47:40.650" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello, I'd prefer bookList. After all, nobody uses a books shelf, either, but a book shelf.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;cheers, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T02:47:40.650" />
  <row Id="17332" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17334" CreationDate="2011-03-22T03:02:23.837" Score="5" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most everyone has probably heard the phrase &quot;tall, dark, and handsome&quot; being used to describe the physical qualities of a perfect male romantic match.  Where did this phrase come from, and who, if anyone, made it popular?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T07:30:35.913" Title="What's the origin of the stock phrase &quot;tall, dark, and handsome&quot;?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="17333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17332" CreationDate="2011-03-22T03:10:47.873" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suits and Tuxedos may be the source of the &quot;dark, and handsome&quot; part. Wearing nice clothing can also make people &quot;stand taller,&quot; because they are proud of their clothing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6388" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T03:10:47.873" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17332" CreationDate="2011-03-22T03:18:55.397" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The earliest use of it in print that I can find is from &lt;em&gt;The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal&lt;/em&gt;, 1833. It is from a &quot;paper&quot; titled &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=yEAaAQAAIAAJ&amp;amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;amp;vq=tall,+dark#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=tall%20dark%20and%20handsome&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;The Story of Hester Malpas,&quot;&lt;/a&gt; by L.E.L.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hester now looked at her aunt, who was the very reverse of what she had imagined : she had always thought she would be like her father, and fancied a &lt;strong&gt;tall, dark, and handsome&lt;/strong&gt; face.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordwizard.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=7&amp;amp;t=21992&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;excellent post&lt;/a&gt; found at Wordwizard.com, and as seen in the citation above, the phrase was originally used to describe women as well as men up until the early 20th century (see EL&amp;amp;U discussion &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/17108/can-you-still-call-a-woman-handsome&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;). Also of note,  the popularity of the phrase spiked after a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/92295/Tall-Dark-and-Handsome/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;movie by the same name&lt;/a&gt; was made in 1941 starring &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesar_Romero&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Caesar Romero&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T03:48:07.197" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T03:48:07.197" />
  <row Id="17335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17329" CreationDate="2011-03-22T03:30:37.897" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use &lt;em&gt;bookList&lt;/em&gt; to store a list of individual books.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Use &lt;em&gt;booksList&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;bookListList&lt;/em&gt;) to store a list of lists of books.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T03:30:37.897" />
  <row Id="17336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17197" CreationDate="2011-03-22T03:41:38.203" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;With regard to the question, it could be right to use &lt;em&gt;chair&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;chairperson&lt;/em&gt;, or possibly both.  @Colin put it well -- you probably can't avoid upsetting someone unless you avoid the term altogether, but there will usually be a convention in place to guide you usage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, there is plenty of precedent for &lt;em&gt;chair&lt;/em&gt; by itself, so you need not feel as if you're bowing to some insidious and terrible force of political correctness. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you regard the early 19th century as the start of the age of political correctness, it's possible that you will disagree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To expand on my earlier comment (&quot;The term &lt;em&gt;Chair&lt;/em&gt; as in &lt;em&gt;Department Chair&lt;/em&gt; is not at all unusual, and has been standard in many academic departments for a long time&quot;), I thought I'd look at some historical usage of the term.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, the metonymic use of &lt;em&gt;chair&lt;/em&gt; to mean an authority is quite old.  The OED gives one of the definitions and earliest examples of this use as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[3]. a. A seat of authority, state, or dignity; a throne, bench,&#xA;  judgement-seat, etc.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1393    J.&#xA;  Gower &lt;em&gt;Confessio&lt;/em&gt; III. iv. 125   Ianus&#xA;  with double face In his chare hath&#xA;  take his place.&#xA;  b. Place or situation of authority, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1382    &lt;em&gt;Bible&lt;/em&gt; (Wycliffite, E.V.) Matt.&#xA;  xxiii. 2   Vpon the chaier of Moyses,&#xA;  scribis and Pharisees seeten.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bishops, episcopal authority:    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[4]. a. The seat of a bishop in his church;&#xA;  hence fig. episcopal dignity or&#xA;  authority. Obs. or arch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1480    Caxton &lt;em&gt;Chron. Eng.&lt;/em&gt; xl. 28&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Seynt peter preched in antyoche and&#xA;  ther he made a noble chirche in whiche&#xA;  he sate fyrste in his chaier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1591    &lt;em&gt;Troublesome Raigne Iohn&lt;/em&gt; ii.&#xA;  sig. E3,   Treads downe the Strumpets&#xA;  pride, That sits vpon the chaire of&#xA;  Babylon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's a reference to professorship:    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[6]. a. The seat from which a professor or other authorized teacher delivers&#xA;  his lectures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;c1449    R. Pecock &lt;em&gt;Repressor&lt;/em&gt; (1860)&#xA;  518   To be rad‥in the chaier of&#xA;  scolis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1691    A. Wood &lt;em&gt;Athenæ Oxon&lt;/em&gt;. II. 506&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  His prudent presiding in the&#xA;  Professors chair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Continuing -- &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;b. Hence: The office or position of a&#xA;  professor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1816    Scott &lt;em&gt;Antiquary&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  III. ii. 39   Fighting his way to a&#xA;  chair of rhetoric.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1856    R. W. Emerson &lt;em&gt;Eng. Traits&lt;/em&gt; xii.&#xA;  210   Many chairs and many fellowships&#xA;  are made beds of ease.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1875    M. Arnold &lt;em&gt;Ess. Crit.&lt;/em&gt; (ed. 3)&#xA;  Pref. p. x (note)    The author had&#xA;  still the Chair of Poetry at Oxford.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[8]. The seat, and hence the office, of the chief magistrate of a corporate&#xA;  town; mayorship. past, above, or below&#xA;  the chair [[...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1682    &lt;em&gt;Eng. Elect. Sheriffs&lt;/em&gt; 26   Some&#xA;  people‥did so industriously stickle&#xA;  for Sir John Moor's Election to the&#xA;  Chair.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1714    &lt;em&gt;London Gaz.&lt;/em&gt; No. 5261/4,   The&#xA;  Aldermen below the Chair on Horseback&#xA;  in Scarlet Gowns.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presiding Chairs!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[9]. a. The seat occupied by the&#xA;  person presiding at a meeting, from&#xA;  whence he directs its business; hence,&#xA;  the office or dignity of chairman of a&#xA;  meeting, or of the Speaker of the&#xA;  House of Commons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;In various phrases,&#xA;  as to take the chair, to assume the&#xA;  position of chairman, which in most&#xA;  cases formally opens a meeting; to put&#xA;  in the chair, to elect as chairman; in&#xA;  the chair, acting as chairman; to&#xA;  leave or vacate the chair, to cease&#xA;  acting as chairman, which marks the&#xA;  close of a meeting.&lt;/sup&gt;    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1659    T. Burton &lt;em&gt;Diary&lt;/em&gt; (1828) IV.&#xA;  462,   I move that your Speaker&#xA;  forbear the Chair.    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1702    &lt;em&gt;Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion&lt;/em&gt; I.&#xA;  iv. 233   The Committee of the Commons&#xA;  appointed Mr Pym to sit in the Chair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Chair! Chair!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;b. Often put for the occupant of the&#xA;  chair, the chairman, as invested with&#xA;  its dignity [...], e.g. in the cry&#xA;  Chair! Chair! when the authority of&#xA;  the chairman is appealed to, or not&#xA;  duly regarded; to address the chair,&#xA;  support the chair, etc. Now also used&#xA;  as an alternative for ‘chairman’ or&#xA;  ‘chairwoman’, esp. deliberately so as&#xA;  not to imply a particular sex.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1658–9    T. Burton &lt;em&gt;Diary&lt;/em&gt; 23 Mar.&#xA;  (1828) 243   The Chair behaves himself&#xA;  like a Busby amongst so many&#xA;  school-boys‥and takes a little too&#xA;  much on him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other examples of metonymy which superficially resemble referring to people as objects :  the crown, the board, the bar, the panel, the suits, the big guns, etc..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T04:02:46.927" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T04:02:46.927" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="17337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16944" CreationDate="2011-03-22T03:52:44.290" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;tripartite&quot;?  There is also &quot;bipartite&quot; for two, but it doesn't generalize to higher numbers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6390" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T03:52:44.290" />
  <row Id="17338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16886" CreationDate="2011-03-22T03:58:23.053" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In general, negative prefixes do not cancel each other like free-standing negative words do (in standard English).  &quot;Uncover&quot; means &quot;to remove the cover from something.&quot;  &quot;Un-uncover&quot; (insofar as it is a word at all) means &quot;to put the cover back on something from which the cover had been previously removed.&quot;  The simple word &quot;cover&quot; lacks the sense of putting &lt;em&gt;back&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6390" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T03:58:23.053" />
  <row Id="17339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17329" CreationDate="2011-03-22T04:11:50.020" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first thing I think of is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Booklist magazine&lt;/a&gt;, a reasonably well-known publication of the American Library Association.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd go with bookList regardless, because it's easier to say (or subvocalize).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;But I think both are reasonable forms, so if you like one or the other, go with that one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T04:11:50.020" />
  <row Id="17341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3131" CreationDate="2011-03-22T04:49:26.770" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a few of the Americans on here are in denial - like the original poster, I hear this distinction all the time. There's a pretty good summing up &lt;a href=&quot;http://spanishcow.wordpress.com/2011/03/22/bring-it/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6394" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T05:25:35.540" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T05:25:35.540" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17177" CreationDate="2011-03-22T05:41:45.273" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In another case, &quot;greatest&quot; and &quot;best&quot; are not interpreted the same  as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was my greatest enemy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is often interpreted as &quot;most challenging&quot; or the one who was my enemy the most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was my best enemy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could possibly be interpreted almost as a joke. My best enemy was an enemy I found funny. &quot;The best enemy to have.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6337" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T05:41:45.273" />
  <row Id="17343" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17329" CreationDate="2011-03-22T06:13:17.053" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;List&lt;/code&gt; implies a collection of objects, the object type in the variable name implies that each element in the collection is a single &lt;code&gt;Book&lt;/code&gt; as opposed to each element being another collection of &lt;code&gt;Books&lt;/code&gt;,  in the plural.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If the second case were true, and we were dealing with a multi dimensional array of objects, it would make more sense to use different collective noun to describe the outer collection rather than &lt;code&gt;Books&lt;/code&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;e.g.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;libraryList is a list of libraries, each library contains a bookshelfList&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bookshelfList is a list of bookshelves, each bookshelf contains a bookList&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bookList is a list of books&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T06:13:17.053" />
  <row Id="17344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16371" CreationDate="2011-03-22T07:11:57.567" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Kate Fox is an anthropologist rather than a linguist, so I'm dubious of some of her descriptions of accentual differences, but it's easier to distinguish accents than to explain them so there's still some value in quoting:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is, however, a distinction between upper-class speech and 'educated' speech -- they are not necessarily the same thing. What you may hear referred to as 'BBC English' or 'Oxford English' [i.e. R.P.] is a kind of 'educated' speech -- but it is more upper-middle than upper: it lacks the haw-haw tones, vowel swallowing and pronoun-phobia of upper-class speech, and is certainly more intelligible to the uninitiated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Watching the English&lt;/em&gt;, Kate Fox, pp74f&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And to pick up our discussion on class from the comments, because this wouldn't fit there, from p82 in the summary of the chapter on language:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The linguistic codes we have identified indicate that class in England has nothing to do with money, and very little to do with occupation. Speech is all-important. A person with an upper-class accent, using upper-class terminology, will be recognised as upper-class even if he or she is earning poverty-line wages, doing grubby menial work and living in a run-down council flat. Or even unemployed, destitute and homeless. Equally a person with working-class pronunciation, who calls his sofa a settee, and his midday meal 'dinner', will be identified as working class even if he is a multi-millionaire living in a grand country house. There are other class indicators -- such as one's taste in clothes, furniture, decoration, cars, pets, books, hobbies, food and drink -- but speech is the most immediate and the most obvious.&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  ...&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  This reliance on linguistic signals, and the irrelevance of wealth and occupation as class indicators, also reminds us that our culture is not a meritocracy. Your accent and terminology reveal the class you were born into and raised in, not anything you have achieved through your own talents or efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3542" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T07:11:57.567" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17326" CreationDate="2011-03-22T07:23:53.373" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's simple. Just find out who is the &lt;em&gt;subject&lt;/em&gt; of the sentence. In your example sentence, undoubtedly, Alice is the subject. In English grammar, only a subject can do an action. So, the sentence can be comprehended as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Alice reminded Carol about how she (Alice) helped her (Carol) last week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5959" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T07:23:53.373" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17346" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17348" CreationDate="2011-03-22T07:26:38.867" Score="1" ViewCount="142" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look at this famous phrase used by a British talkshow host when saying goodbye to his audience:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'Nice to see you, to see you nice!'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nobody in the UK (including my grandmother who was a frequent viewer) seemed to think it sounded strange...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's grammatically acceptable - due to some missing but understood elements of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you have a go at estimating what they may be? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T17:08:09.397" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T17:08:09.397" Title="&quot;Nice to see you, to see you nice!&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17332" CreationDate="2011-03-22T07:30:35.913" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably Europe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other cultures outside of Europe (with darker skin) seem to think that lighter skin is more beautiful. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T07:30:35.913" />
  <row Id="17348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17346" CreationDate="2011-03-22T08:09:29.857" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a native speaker, so I may get this completely wrong, but I would interpret it as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am happy to see you, and too see that you are well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, the second part would just be a &lt;em&gt;reinforcement&lt;/em&gt; of the first one. In particular the repetition of &quot;to see you&quot; is used as a way to strenghten the premise, and probably because&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nice to see you nice!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is probably of less effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5737" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T08:09:29.857" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17349" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-22T08:50:24.473" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;Also, why has it spawned an award for bad writing?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2326" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T14:16:04.340" ClosedDate="2011-03-22T14:57:53.503" Title="Why is &quot;It was a dark and stormy night..&quot; not a good opening?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;questions&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17350" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-22T08:51:30.400" Score="0" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some friends will come round for dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some friends will visit for dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some friends will visit me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are OK, but &quot;some friends will come round me&quot; isn't OK. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The answer is simple, but it needs some thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T14:08:51.557" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T18:43:37.200" Title="Are &quot;come round&quot; and &quot;visit&quot; interchangeable?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17350" CreationDate="2011-03-22T09:09:11.250" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The expressions doesn't have the exact same meaning always, but in this case they are interchangeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you use &lt;em&gt;visit&lt;/em&gt;, that the friends are visiting you is implied:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some friends will visit [me] for dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can replace &lt;em&gt;visit me&lt;/em&gt; with &lt;em&gt;come around&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some friends will come around.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you can't use &lt;em&gt;come around&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;visit me&lt;/em&gt; for all places:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some friends will visit me in prison.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T09:09:11.250" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17352" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17356" CreationDate="2011-03-22T09:11:43.713" Score="4" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;'She walked through the forest, and who should she see, but the Big Bad Wolf!' &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T20:51:55.100" Title="What does 'should' mean in this sentence?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="17356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17352" CreationDate="2011-03-22T09:54:36.147" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case, &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; is a way of heightening the drama of the event:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;should&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;8&lt;/em&gt; used to emphasize to a listener how striking an event is or was : &lt;em&gt;you should have seen Marge's face&lt;/em&gt;. [NOAD]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Do&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;did&lt;/em&gt; can be used in the same way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I came home early and what did I see? My wife in bed with another man!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Should&lt;/em&gt; in your sentence and &lt;em&gt;did&lt;/em&gt; in mine are used as a mild form of &lt;em&gt;erotema&lt;/em&gt;, a rhetorical device that asks a question to dramatize a certain event. It is, in fact, the most common device, otherwise known as a &quot;rhetorical question&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T20:51:55.100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T20:51:55.100" />
  <row Id="17357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17350" CreationDate="2011-03-22T10:02:01.067" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Round&lt;/em&gt; is a &quot;chiefly British&quot; [NOAD] variant of &lt;em&gt;around&lt;/em&gt;. It can be substituted freely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come, gather round me, and I'll tell you.&lt;/em&gt; — W. S. Gilbert, &quot;A Wandering Minstrel I&quot; from &lt;em&gt;The Mikado&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can see that this quote exactly parallels your &quot;Some friends will come round me,&quot; so I would say from a usage standpoint that it is acceptable, at least in British English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T10:02:01.067" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="17359" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11577" CreationDate="2011-03-22T10:13:27.497" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;The sun&quot; is it's name in English, just like &quot;Sola&quot;/&quot;Solen&quot; (definite form of &quot;sol&quot;) is its name in Norwegian. While &quot;sun&quot; may refer to the hydrogen fusion ball in the sky or it's light, just like &quot;sol&quot; does in Norwegian. A name with &quot;the&quot; or a definite article doesn't make it less a name. If a name for something is in a definite form (i.e. &quot;the&quot; in english), it usually implies it's the only one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance &quot;united states&quot; could be any union of states, while &quot;The United States&quot; is almost definitely a short form of &quot;The United States of America&quot; aka. &quot;USA&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2820" LastEditorUserId="2820" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T10:19:53.337" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T10:19:53.337" />
  <row Id="17360" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-22T10:21:13.033" Score="-3" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;An unsolved issue in linguistics is the use of double &lt;em&gt;-ing&lt;/em&gt; in a phrase. Many have tried but failed to solve the issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They state that &quot;it was continuing raining&quot; or &quot;I was walking scatching my back&quot; is unacceptable, but it is perfectly OK to say &quot;I was contemplating creating a problem.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you can solve it, you would present it as an MA thesis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T13:57:21.053" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T14:25:33.663" ClosedDate="2011-03-22T14:36:22.237" Title="Is double &quot;-ing&quot; OK?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;gerunds&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="17361" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17346" CreationDate="2011-03-22T10:22:42.070" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an example of &lt;em&gt;chiasmus&lt;/em&gt;, a rhetorical figure in which the structure of the first clause is reversed in the second clause, in an AB-BA pattern. One of the most famous examples comes from John F. Kennedy's presidential inauguration speech:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This device is powerful, as are most rhetorical devices, and one should take care in using them. Idle usage can sound silly or pompous. As Ward Farnsworth notes in his exemplary &lt;em&gt;Classical English Rhetoric&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A chiasmus that reverses the same words ... calls attention to itself strongly, and so must be used with particular care ... In the hands of a typical modern politician, [it] will sound disagreeably slick and perhaps even repulsive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is nothing ungrammatical about the usage in your example, but it sounds odd here because its power is way out of proportion to the simple and somewhat insipid greeting it's used to express.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T14:41:41.823" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T14:41:41.823" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17362" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17363" CreationDate="2011-03-22T10:26:16.183" Score="2" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Polish you can give relative directions (most often in military context) by using the clock dial analogy -- you're at the centre and each number between 1 and 12 is a direction. For example, &quot;Enemy at eight.&quot; would mean that the enemy is to the left and slightly behind you. Can you do a similar thing in English? I believe I heard something like this but Google searches turn up nothing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6400" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T11:27:35.443" Title="Describing directions using the clock face" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="17363" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17362" CreationDate="2011-03-22T10:40:17.510" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, you certainly can. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Enemy at 3 o'clock! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Usually your front is at 12 o'clock and your back is at 6 o'clock.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6116" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T10:40:17.510" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17364" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17371" CreationDate="2011-03-22T10:49:32.653" Score="0" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;Look at the following sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I had have had to have, having had have previously had, it wouldn't be so difficult. But since I have not had to have, not previously having had, it will be difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they grammatical?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Can you think how that would be represented using contractions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T17:06:48.697" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T17:06:48.697" Title="Is this grammatical?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17366" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17368" CreationDate="2011-03-22T10:54:46.173" Score="6" ViewCount="147" Body="&lt;p&gt;With the introduction of the iPad 2, I find myself hesitating when trying to refer to several of them. Is it iPads 2 or iPad 2's?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5286" LastEditorUserId="2178" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T17:25:14.273" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T18:02:59.857" Title="What is the plural form of &quot;iPad 2&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;pluralization&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17367" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17370" CreationDate="2011-03-22T11:06:39.207" Score="2" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was in a chat discussing the translation of our project and one of the developers made a joke:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You'll find that the Commonwealth&#xA;  spelling [of &quot;member&quot;] is &quot;membre&quot; :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not the first time I've heard the phrase &quot;You'll find that...&quot;. What is it supposed to mean and where does it come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6400" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T11:12:38.107" Title="&quot;You'll find that...&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="17368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17366" CreationDate="2011-03-22T11:10:51.183" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since &lt;em&gt;iPad 2&lt;/em&gt; is the brand name, the plural form would be &quot;iPad 2s&quot;. A search for &quot;iPad 2s&quot; reveals over 500 hits while &quot;iPads 2&quot; yields only 80. Normally I don't care much for Google search results as an indicator for grammar, but in this case it appears that many of the &quot;iPad 2s&quot; hits are from official vendors and reviewers. However, there is enough room for doubt that you are probably fine spelling it how you like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T13:00:46.490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T13:00:46.490" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17367" CreationDate="2011-03-22T11:12:11.557" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thats an interesting question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were to say &quot;You will find the crisps in the cupboard&quot; you would be stating a fact, or saying if you were to look you would find something to be true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would assume then that saying &quot;You'll find that....&quot; would be a shorter way of saying, if you were to check this fact you would find it to be true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T11:12:11.557" />
  <row Id="17370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17367" CreationDate="2011-03-22T11:12:38.107" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It just means that if you bother to take a closer look at something, you will see that it is the way described. It suggests that the speaker has experience of the thing mentioned, and is reporting to you from that vantage point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T11:12:38.107" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17364" CreationDate="2011-03-22T11:14:53.253" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Clearly acceptable contractions include &lt;em&gt;I'd&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;I've&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;I haven't&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;it wouldn't&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going further, &lt;em&gt;I'd've&lt;/em&gt; is common in speech and has been used in print (even though it looks 19th century to me) but cannot be used here as it is short for &lt;em&gt;I would have&lt;/em&gt; not &lt;em&gt;I had have&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think anything like &lt;em&gt;I've'd&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;I'd'd&lt;/em&gt; exist in speech or writing, so you need to stop there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T11:14:53.253" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17366" CreationDate="2011-03-22T11:21:25.577" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not Google but general intuition will make you realize that it should be &lt;code&gt;iPad 2s&lt;/code&gt; and not &lt;code&gt;iPad 2's (with the apostrophe)&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T11:21:25.577" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17362" CreationDate="2011-03-22T11:24:21.783" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes this is very common and I think a standard used by the military all over the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T11:24:21.783" />
  <row Id="17374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17362" CreationDate="2011-03-22T11:27:35.443" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What has language got to do with it? What you choose to express can be expressed in all the languages in the world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Specifically this use of giving directions is used by stargazers as well. Here, the sky is assumed to be the clock and the zenith is the center. From there on, it's easy to navigate to particular stars, constellations and other objects in a manner exactly similar to what you know, in your native place (and not language).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T11:27:35.443" />
  <row Id="17375" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17378" CreationDate="2011-03-22T12:41:27.620" Score="3" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;Quotes, sayings, aphorisms, maxims.  What's the difference between all these, especially aphorism vs. maxim?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T13:09:22.900" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T14:17:29.940" Title="What's the difference between an &quot;aphorism&quot; and a &quot;maxim&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17376" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17392" CreationDate="2011-03-22T12:46:45.830" Score="15" ViewCount="259" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a technique for dating hand-copied documents, or placing them in the correct chronological order at any rate, by analysing the mistakes in them that are inevitably made when a new copy is made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does anyone know what that is called?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Putting a search involving &quot;dating&quot; into Google generates a lot of hits but not much that is relevant.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T14:23:13.083" Title="What is the word for dating documents by the mistakes in them?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17377" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17379" CreationDate="2011-03-22T12:50:39.587" Score="0" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I realise this is an English Q&amp;amp;A site, but I was hoping someone on here might also be versed in Latin and be able to help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is for a tattoo I am getting designed. My first search turned up the result &quot;Sanguis Eternus&quot;, but I am not 100% convinced this is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone help? Cheers!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6404" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T12:59:47.240" ClosedDate="2011-03-22T13:23:21.777" Title="What is the Latin translation of &quot;Blood is eternal&quot;?" Tags="&lt;translation&gt;&lt;latin&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17378" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17375" CreationDate="2011-03-22T12:55:55.973" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An &lt;em&gt;aphorism&lt;/em&gt; is a synonym for a proverb, that's also short and to the point.  Usually, it's supposed to impart some important moral lesson.  Here's a well-known example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;maxim&lt;/em&gt; is a slogan or a personal prescription for some generality of life; importantly, it does not have the same moral connotations as an aphorism.  Maxims can be downright dangerous; consider&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Four legs good, two legs baaaddd.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;from the famous Orwell satire &lt;em&gt;Animal Farm&lt;/em&gt;, a phrase famous for connoting the kind of totalitarian mindset required for enforcing the simplistic sociology Orwell found in communism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A big difference between the two words is that &lt;em&gt;aphorisms&lt;/em&gt; need be drawn from society somehow -- they are known to people other than yourself, they are &lt;em&gt;received&lt;/em&gt; wisdom.  In contrast, one can have &lt;em&gt;personal&lt;/em&gt; maxims; it's fairly common nowadays for people to tattoo such on their bodies, things like &quot;Faith and Family&quot; in elaborate script to apparently remind them how to live.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T14:17:29.940" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T14:17:29.940" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17377" CreationDate="2011-03-22T12:59:47.240" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sanguis aeternus (est).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T12:59:47.240" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17380" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17366" CreationDate="2011-03-22T13:20:27.433" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In speech I would say &quot;iPad [tu:z]&quot;, pluralizing after the numeral. However, I find all of the possible written representations of that to be somewhat unsatisfactory, so I would reword to avoid it. Simply say &quot;iPads&quot; if the context makes it clear that you're talking about generation 2, or use a circumlocution like &quot;iPad 2 devices&quot; or &quot;iPad 2 tablets&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T13:20:27.433" />
  <row Id="17383" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17386" CreationDate="2011-03-22T13:32:07.037" Score="2" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a single word in English that means something like &quot;is-ify&quot; or &quot;to confer the property of existence&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not looking for &quot;create.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T13:45:56.380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T14:37:07.570" Title="Transitive form of &quot;to be&quot;" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17384" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17404" CreationDate="2011-03-22T13:33:59.037" Score="2" ViewCount="141" Body="&lt;p&gt;900lb Gorilla I can appreciate, but &quot;I've got a monkey on my back&quot; - two opposable thumbs down...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQAMvmi1Zwk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQAMvmi1Zwk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T06:08:47.317" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T03:04:21.690" Title="What's the origin and reasoning behind the phrase, &quot;I've got a monkey on my back&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="17385" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-22T13:37:03.680" Score="0" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12525/when-to-use-in-on-at&quot;&gt;When to use &quot;in,&quot; &quot;on,&quot; and &quot;at?&quot;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you please explain the difference between the use of &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Kindly explain it in detail with examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6409" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T16:36:39.107" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:36:39.107" ClosedDate="2011-03-22T13:43:35.673" Title="How to use &quot;in&quot; or &quot;on&quot; in English language" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17383" CreationDate="2011-03-22T13:40:16.033" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Synonyms of &lt;em&gt;create&lt;/em&gt; include &lt;em&gt;produce&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;make&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;engender&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;generate&lt;/em&gt;, … In formal writing, you might also use &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;reify&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T13:54:35.907" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T13:54:35.907" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17387" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17384" CreationDate="2011-03-22T13:44:44.890" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The original reference was to addiction, specifically to heroin, and there are several songs that use it in this way. These days people use it to refer to any compulsion or obligation, including good ones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3946" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T13:44:44.890" />
  <row Id="17388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17383" CreationDate="2011-03-22T13:47:52.763" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Embody&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;engender&lt;/em&gt; might work in a theological context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T13:47:52.763" />
  <row Id="17389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17075" CreationDate="2011-03-22T13:55:22.977" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some old machinists are fond of the phrase &quot;within a c*nt hair&quot;. (Sometimes the adjective &quot;red&quot; is added.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also &quot;near as damn&quot; (although personally I'm uncertain just how near that is...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And a difference that &quot;doesn't amount to a piss-hole in the snow&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T13:55:22.977" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-23T23:23:59.803" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17376" CreationDate="2011-03-22T14:16:38.813" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know any specific academic term for this in relation to literary texts, but much the same process is used to analyse accumulated &quot;random&quot; errors in DNA replication to establish chronology and evolutionary paths. In that context it's called the &lt;em&gt;molecular clock&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T14:16:38.813" />
  <row Id="17392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17376" CreationDate="2011-03-22T14:23:13.083" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are at least three terms that cover this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textual_criticism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Textual Criticism&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stemmatics#Stemmatics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Stemmatics&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cladistics#Application_to_other_disciplines&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cladistics&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think any of these terms are used specifically to mean 'dating documents by the mistakes [found] in them', but they are all related.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T14:23:13.083" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17383" CreationDate="2011-03-22T14:37:07.570" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Realise&quot; (though its more common meaning of &quot;come to understand&quot; may get in the way)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T14:37:07.570" />
  <row Id="17395" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-22T14:42:03.433" Score="5" ViewCount="127" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Czech, we have a special word for &quot;leaving a field (agricultural) without seeding, resting.&quot; I wonder if English has such a word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5056" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T15:03:35.920" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T15:37:16.330" Title="&quot;Leaving a field intact for a season&quot;" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17395" CreationDate="2011-03-22T14:45:45.577" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English, we speak of fields lying &lt;em&gt;fallow&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fallow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TheFreeOnlineDictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;fallow&lt;/strong&gt; Plowed but left unseeded during a growing season&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T14:45:45.577" />
  <row Id="17397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17395" CreationDate="2011-03-22T14:46:04.813" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We do have it.  The word is &lt;em&gt;fallow&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'll frequently see it used in the following phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We let the field lie fallow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another possibility is &lt;em&gt;uncultivated&lt;/em&gt; though that's probably less common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T14:46:04.813" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16995" CreationDate="2011-03-22T15:03:57.807" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ygdrassil&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yggdrasil&lt;/a&gt;&quot; is the name of the world tree in Norse mythology.  It is additionally notable for your quest because the Norse god, Odin, allowed himself to be hung from this tree and have one eye gouged out in order to receive the gift of writing (runes).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This covers at least three of your descriptions: world, tree (or network), and education (or sharing information.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T15:03:57.807" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-22T15:03:57.807" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17280" CreationDate="2011-03-22T15:05:31.673" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there a heuristic that a very simple program¹ can use to detect when &quot;its&quot; would be appropriate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, but the simpler the program, the simpler the heuristic. The simpler the heuristic, the more mistakes will be made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: From a sufficiently large body of English text, you could build a table of word-pair frequencies involving &quot;its&quot; preceded or followed by other words and &quot;it's&quot; preceded or followed by other words. Your simple program could use this to determine whether a word pair would be much more probable with &quot;its&quot; instead of &quot;it's&quot; (or vice versa). Looking up a pair of words and associated score ought to be something a simple program could do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T15:17:04.887" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T15:17:04.887" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17395" CreationDate="2011-03-22T15:09:43.650" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that &lt;em&gt;fallow&lt;/em&gt; is an adjective meaning &quot;(of farmland) plowed and harrowed but left unsown for a period in order to restore its fertility as part of a crop rotation or to avoid surplus production.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other words with a similar meaning could be &lt;em&gt;unplowed&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;unploughed&lt;/em&gt; in British English), &lt;em&gt;untilled&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;resting&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;unsown&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;bare&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T15:37:16.330" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T15:37:16.330" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17395" CreationDate="2011-03-22T15:11:13.273" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My farming in-laws, in the American mid-west, use the term &quot;set aside ground&quot; to refer to fields that are not planted, or planted with a nutrient restoring crop that is not harvested for profit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T15:11:13.273" />
  <row Id="17403" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-22T15:16:43.277" Score="-1" ViewCount="181" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are there words that have no plural counterpart, because they are, in fact plural.......Words like Rice/Scissors come to mind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="5531" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T17:33:16.700" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T18:56:20.633" ClosedDate="2011-03-25T19:00:59.600" Title="Are there nouns that are always plural - have no plural counterpart?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17384" CreationDate="2011-03-22T15:25:37.197" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Based on a first glance, it's looking like the original expression is &quot;have a monkey on the roof,&quot; meaning a mortgage, dating back to the 1800s. Later &quot;on the back&quot; forms referred to any unpleasant burden, and in the 1940s began to be applied to narcotics addiction. No citations worth posting here, so the above is speculative. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T15:25:37.197" />
  <row Id="17405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16822" CreationDate="2011-03-22T15:41:25.743" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These words have very little in common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Perdition&lt;/em&gt; comes from the Latin word for &quot;lost&quot; and usually means &quot;hell&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Extirpation&lt;/em&gt; is a form of the verb &quot;to extirpate&quot;. It literally means &quot;to uproot&quot; and is usually used to express removing all traces of something. E.g. &quot;extirpate all mentions of the executed officials name from the textbooks&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Smash&lt;/em&gt; simply means to break something into little pieces.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T12:09:16.580" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T12:09:16.580" />
  <row Id="17406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17403" CreationDate="2011-03-22T15:45:17.263" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rice&lt;/strong&gt; is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_noun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;mass noun&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, a noun that signifies unbounded amounts, such as liquid, small objects, and abstract or immeasurable concepts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strike&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rabies&lt;/strong&gt; is a plural noun that is treated as singular.&lt;/strike&gt; (Also called a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category%3aEnglish_pluralia_tantum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;plurale tantum.&lt;/a&gt;) The same as other diseases: &lt;em&gt;mumps&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;rickets&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;shingles&lt;/em&gt;; or the games &lt;em&gt;darts&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;billiards&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;dominos&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;OOPS&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Due to a comment, I did some more research and since there is no singular form to &lt;em&gt;rabies&lt;/em&gt; as it comes from the latin word &lt;em&gt;rabiēs&lt;/em&gt;, from which we get the word &lt;em&gt;rabid&lt;/em&gt;, it looks like it is also a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_noun&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;mass noun&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category%3aEnglish_pluralia_tantum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;plurale tantum&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. That final &quot;s&quot; can get confusing…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastEditorUserId="1871" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T17:29:39.953" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T17:29:39.953" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17403" CreationDate="2011-03-22T15:46:57.130" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your title asks for nouns that are always plural, but your question seems to ask for nouns that have no plural. I'll answer the latter first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Non-count nouns are very rarely used in the plural. Some examples include &lt;em&gt;butter&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;electricity&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ballet&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;indifference&lt;/em&gt;. You could say &lt;em&gt;We tested six butters to see which was best for baking&lt;/em&gt;, but this is rare, and the others couldn&amp;rsquo;t be used this way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Many proper names are rarely pluralized, just because there&amp;rsquo;s only one. But it can be done: &amp;ldquo;&lt;em&gt;The Sun is so large a million Earths could fit inside&lt;/em&gt;&amp;rdquo;; &amp;ldquo;&lt;em&gt;there are two Americas, not one&lt;/em&gt;&amp;rdquo;; &amp;ldquo;&lt;em&gt;it would take nine Chuck Norrises to bring down one Bruce&lt;/em&gt;&amp;rdquo;; &amp;ldquo;&lt;em&gt;conformable as other household Kates&lt;/em&gt;&amp;rdquo;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for nouns that are always plural, there are a few. &lt;em&gt;Scissors&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;thanks&lt;/em&gt; come to mind. You never give somebody a single thank. &lt;a href=&quot;http://forum.famouswhy.com/index.php?showtopic=3662&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Some more are listed here.&lt;/a&gt; (They missed &lt;em&gt;dregs&lt;/em&gt; though.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastEditorUserId="2249" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T18:13:34.210" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T18:13:34.210" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17329" CreationDate="2011-03-22T15:51:56.277" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why aren't you using &lt;code&gt;books&lt;/code&gt; instead of &lt;code&gt;bookList&lt;/code&gt;? If this is in an object oriented language, the variable will be declared as &lt;code&gt;List *books&lt;/code&gt; which clarifies that &lt;code&gt;books&lt;/code&gt; is a &lt;code&gt;List&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Putting the variable type in the variable is fine but it isn't needed as much as it was in the past. If you really want &quot;list&quot; in the var name somewhere I would recommend &lt;code&gt;bookList&lt;/code&gt; if it is a list of &lt;code&gt;Book&lt;/code&gt; objects (or whatever you are using for a book.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would never use &lt;code&gt;booksList&lt;/code&gt;. If you are storing lists of lists of books I would recommend finding a term other than &quot;book.&quot; Library, shelf or &lt;code&gt;bookLists&lt;/code&gt; may work. Essentially, a plural at the end of a variable flags it as a container for objects of whatever was just pluralized. &lt;code&gt;books&lt;/code&gt; is a container of &lt;code&gt;book&lt;/code&gt;. &lt;code&gt;cats&lt;/code&gt; is a bag of &lt;code&gt;cat&lt;/code&gt;. &lt;code&gt;dogLists&lt;/code&gt; is a container of &lt;code&gt;dogList&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T15:51:56.277" />
  <row Id="17409" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17431" CreationDate="2011-03-22T15:52:26.977" Score="2" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;One commonly looks at something from his own viewpoint.&#xA;Sometimes, we suggest somebody look at something from another view or in an overall view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope this could make it clearly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want some opposites of 'one-sided'. or something like this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;one side -&gt; on the other hand -&gt; all sides&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;one view -&gt; multiple view -&gt; all views &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="3780" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T17:22:40.250" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T17:42:55.077" Title="How to express &quot;to look at more or all sides&quot; and &quot;consider more or all views&quot; for a thing?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="17410" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-22T15:54:44.383" Score="1" ViewCount="101" Body="&lt;p&gt;A statement that appears true mostly because it sounds good / poetic / alliterates / rhymes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure there is such a word. I heard it a few years ago, but have since forgotten it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6412" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T17:44:40.970" Title="A word for a statement that sounds true because it sounds good" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="17411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17409" CreationDate="2011-03-22T15:57:11.900" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would choose a word like &quot;analysis&quot; and throw an adjective such as &quot;unbiased&quot; before it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This was an unbiased analysis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;His was a multifaceted viewpoint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We need an impartial outlook.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Look at this more abstractly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T17:42:55.077" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T17:42:55.077" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="17412" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-22T16:01:15.437" Score="1" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;The words &quot;stoic&quot; and &quot;stolid&quot; seem quite similar to me:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;stoic&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: seeming unaffected by pleasure or pain; impassive [&lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=stoic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cite&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;stolid&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: having or revealing little emotion or sensibility; not easily aroused or excited [&lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=stolid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cite&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When would you use one versus the other? Under what circumstances would you not use one of them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3839" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T14:11:07.763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:11:07.763" Title="Nuances between &quot;stoic&quot; and &quot;stolid&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="17413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17410" CreationDate="2011-03-22T16:01:27.577" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like something that would fall among the &lt;em&gt;logical fallacies&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps &quot;prestigious jargon&quot;: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=18556&amp;amp;pst=904731&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=18556&amp;amp;pst=904731&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or &quot;appeal to emotion&quot;: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/appeal-to-emotion.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/appeal-to-emotion.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6269" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:01:27.577" />
  <row Id="17414" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17416" CreationDate="2011-03-22T16:01:47.417" Score="3" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;Following is the stanza:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Teach us delight in simple things,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    And mirth that has no bitter springs;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    Forgiveness free of evil done,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    And Love to all men 'neath the sun! &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does second line and third line mean?&#xA;And does the last line mean love to all people who work hard under the harsh sun?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A brief explanation will suffice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(I hope that this is not a subjective question!&#xA;Also, please change the tag; my reputation is not quite enough to create new one.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3624" LastEditorUserId="3839" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T16:12:02.523" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:25:50.790" Title="Confusion about a stanza from Rudyard Kipling" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17415" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17414" CreationDate="2011-03-22T16:08:38.717" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Teach us delight in [...] mirth that has no bitter springs&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe this means &quot;Teach us to enjoy humor that is does not have a basis in (buoyed up by) cruelty or unkindness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Teach us delight in [...] forgiveness free of evil done&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that this means &quot;Teach us to forgive others even of the most trivial grievances&quot;. (I am not convinced of this, though, as I do not know why this would be suggested as either unlikely or desirable.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe the last line, &lt;em&gt;&quot;love to all men 'neath the sun&quot;&lt;/em&gt; is simply saying to love everyone, as we are all underneath the sun (even when indoors). I do not think that there is any implication that they must be outdoor laborers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3839" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:08:38.717" />
  <row Id="17416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17414" CreationDate="2011-03-22T16:09:35.113" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Bitter springs&quot; means, basically, &quot;springing from something bitter.&quot; So the second line means: may we learn to not be happy because of others' misfortunes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Forgiveness free of evil done&quot; means that we'll forgive those who wrong us, and never remember again the evil they did. (Sort of the opposite of &quot;I may forgive, but I'll never forget.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the last line, &quot;under the sun&quot; means &quot;everyone in the world&quot; - the expression is borrowed from Ecclesiastes (1:3).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:09:35.113" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17414" CreationDate="2011-03-22T16:10:21.443" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lot of poetry is will mean different things to different people.  Much of this poem is a prayer.  Here's how I interpret the lines you ask about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And Mirth that has no bitter springs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We wish for joy without accompanying pain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Forgiveness free of evil done&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Allow mankind to be able to express love and forgiveness to each other without first suffering the offenses that would need to be forgiven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And Love to all men 'neath the sun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is love for everyone, not just those that work in a field, for the sun shines on all the earth.  It's a lovely poem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6269" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:10:21.443" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17412" CreationDate="2011-03-22T16:11:22.700" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When describing people, &lt;em&gt;stoic&lt;/em&gt; has a particularly heroic connotation.  A stoic person really braves everything that man, nature, and God throws at him without complaint.  &lt;em&gt;Stolid&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, is not so: You might use it to describe someone who showcases a simple faithfulness, a &quot;friend through thick and thin,&quot; but you might also use the word to describe someone who's plodding and utterly unadaptable to change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Job, of the Book of Job, is stoic.  Watson, of Sherlock Holmes, is stolid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:11:22.700" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17410" CreationDate="2011-03-22T16:11:32.540" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Verisimilitude means &quot;the quality of sounding true.&quot; So if you wanted to be very pretentious and formal about it you could say something like &quot;verisimilitude by euphony.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(This example was recursive. :) )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:11:32.540" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17414" CreationDate="2011-03-22T16:11:56.200" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Mirth that has no bitter springs.&quot; &#xA;Teach us to delight in happiness that is not derived from others' unhappiness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Forgiveness free of evil done.&quot;&#xA;Teach us to forgive others for the evil they do, without retribution or restitution (free, not earned). Free is modifying forgiveness, so it is &quot;free forgiveness&quot;, not &quot;free of evil&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;All men 'neath the sun.&quot;&#xA;Every person on the earth - common idiom. Not relating to laborers.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2917" LastEditorUserId="2917" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T16:19:41.810" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:19:41.810" />
  <row Id="17421" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17412" CreationDate="2011-03-22T16:12:17.787" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is, of course a significant difference in the etymology of the two words, i.e. stolid &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=stolid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cite&lt;/a&gt;, which derives from a Latin word meaning foolish or stupid, and stoic &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=stoic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cite&lt;/a&gt;, which ultimately derives from the Greek for a painted porch (referring to the location where Zeno is said to have taught).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From a usage point of view, I'm of the opinion that stolid means &quot;unfeeling&quot; in the sense of lacking feeling all together (or lacking a particular sensibility), whereas stoic implies bearing up under the weight of one's emotions (the goal of Stoic practice being &lt;em&gt;apatheia&lt;/em&gt;, the cultivation of a state of being unaffected by the emotions). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6411" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:12:17.787" />
  <row Id="17422" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17427" CreationDate="2011-03-22T16:12:23.770" Score="2" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct, &quot;influence of media in our lives,&quot; or &quot;influence of media on our lives?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6409" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T16:20:33.040" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T19:32:28.153" Title="&quot;Influence of media in our lives,&quot; or &quot;influence of media on our lives?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17412" CreationDate="2011-03-22T16:12:26.687" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The part about pleasure in your definition of &lt;em&gt;stoic&lt;/em&gt; sounds weird to me, because it is one of the things that differentiate the two words for me: &lt;em&gt;stoic&lt;/em&gt; is all about withstanding pain and suffering (will and strentgh), while &lt;em&gt;stolid&lt;/em&gt; is more about minor character traits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:12:26.687" />
  <row Id="17424" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17410" CreationDate="2011-03-22T16:16:09.693" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The newish word &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truthiness&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;truthiness&quot;&lt;/a&gt; sort of applies here but focuses more on gut feelings or things that just seem true instead of a statement's visual or oral attractiveness.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:16:09.693" />
  <row Id="17426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17414" CreationDate="2011-03-22T16:25:50.790" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, the question is subjective, but only because all poetry is so it's fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are my two cents which may or may not disagree with everyone else, all defensible interpretations are valid.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Teach us delight in simple things,&quot;&#xA;Teach us to enjoy the little things in life so that we are always happy&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And mirth that has no bitter springs;&#xA;and give us the gift of being able to laugh whole-heartedly without interference from the &quot;bitter springs&quot; of grief and trouble that bubble beneath the surface&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Forgiveness free of evil done,&#xA;and forgive people freely, not bearing grudges&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And Love to all men 'neath the sun!&#xA;And love everyone on earth. As Alex pointed out, &quot;'neath the sun&quot; is borrowed from Ecclesiastes. It's a motif that appears many times throughout the book. A close reading shows that the phrase refers to the mundane, prosaic, aspects of life that people tend to view as unimportant. I think that this line means &quot;to love everyone and everything because the ordinary is also extraordinary.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:25:50.790" />
  <row Id="17427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17422" CreationDate="2011-03-22T16:39:32.050" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; are correct and used in this case.  There is no absolute rule but it seems that for some people there may be a slight distinction between &quot;influence of media &lt;em&gt;on people&lt;/em&gt;&quot; and &quot;influence of media &lt;em&gt;in things&lt;/em&gt;&quot; which would incline me toward &quot;influence of media in our lives&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can change the grammar to remove the proposition, for example &quot;how media influences our lives&quot;, providing that you are happy using a singular verb with a Latin plural noun.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:39:32.050" />
  <row Id="17428" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17429" CreationDate="2011-03-22T16:45:56.443" Score="8" ViewCount="405" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've previously (and am now embarrassed because of this) pronounced this word &quot;ahl-bite&quot; and now realize it is pronounced &quot;ahl-bee-it.&quot; Why is it pronounced like this, and not the way I previously pronounced it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1442" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:51:52.807" Title="Why is &quot;albeit&quot; pronounced the way it is?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17428" CreationDate="2011-03-22T16:50:44.377" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is a written shortening of &lt;em&gt;all be it&lt;/em&gt;, a subjunctive set phrase roughly meaning &quot;even if it is ...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:50:44.377" />
  <row Id="17430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17428" CreationDate="2011-03-22T16:51:52.807" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Albeit&lt;/em&gt; is a contraction of &lt;em&gt;all be it&lt;/em&gt;, that is, &lt;em&gt;although be it&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;although it is that&lt;/em&gt;. It has no roots in German, where &lt;em&gt;ei&lt;/em&gt; would be pronounced with an English long I sound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T16:51:52.807" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17431" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17409" CreationDate="2011-03-22T17:31:35.900" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Former American Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, once said:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. &lt;br/&gt;&#xA;  We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can express the need to look at additional 'parameters' or 'options' in many ways.  here are a few that come to mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have you explored all options?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What other input parameters does this system accept?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have you considered all the alternatives?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there any other choices?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you account for unknowns?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have you explored all avenues?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have you viewed the problem from all angles?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are there more inputs that we haven't covered yet?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Have all the terms been defined?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, take just about any verb that means 'searching', 'exploring', or 'viewing', and pair it with just about any noun that means 'option', 'path', 'route', 'input', or 'choice'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T17:31:35.900" />
  <row Id="17432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17410" CreationDate="2011-03-22T17:44:40.970" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you thinking of '&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetoric&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;rhetoric&lt;/a&gt;', or perhaps, '&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophists&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sophism&lt;/a&gt;' or '&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sophistry&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sophistry&lt;/a&gt;'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T17:44:40.970" />
  <row Id="17433" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-22T17:45:20.020" Score="4" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;bestowing anonymity&lt;/em&gt; the right way to say &quot;keeping someones identity secret?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically the author is writing about someone, a fallen dictator and his nasty goings on, without using the name of the dictator.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Could you say he is protecting himself from further repercussions? Would he be &lt;em&gt;bestowing anonymity&lt;/em&gt; or is there another (nice) way of saying it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the anonymous person would be the dictator, not the poet&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5332" LastEditorUserId="5332" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T18:47:49.987" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T11:51:22.620" Title="Is &quot;bestowing anonymity&quot; the right term or expression?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17433" CreationDate="2011-03-22T17:48:09.157" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think anonymity can be bestowed. If it is present, it may be preserved or protected. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2917" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T17:48:09.157" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17433" CreationDate="2011-03-22T17:48:48.080" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Bestowing&quot; implies giving someone something. If you are &quot;giving anonymity&quot; then this will work fine. If the person is already anonymous and you want to keep it that way, &quot;keeping&quot; or &quot;protecting&quot; anonymity may be a better choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T18:20:36.293" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T18:20:36.293" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17436" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17442" CreationDate="2011-03-22T17:49:42.150" Score="3" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct: &quot;Submit your work in time&quot; or &quot;Submit your work on time&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6409" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T01:42:04.643" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T01:42:04.643" Title="&quot;In time &quot; versus &quot;on time&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="17437" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17436" CreationDate="2011-03-22T17:55:19.960" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You would use &quot;on time&quot; to mean by a certain specific date an time. &quot;In time&quot; describes an event in which the chronology may not be that explicit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Papers are due on 11/15 by noon. All students are expected to submit their papers on time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you think we can get help on this project in time for it to be useful?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T17:55:19.960" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17364" CreationDate="2011-03-22T17:55:57.057" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This looks like a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reocities.com/oosterwal/puzzle/had.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;punctuation puzzle&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Like the puzzle in the included link, the quote in the OP's question is missing some quote marks around some key sub-phrases.  Consider the following corrections:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I had 'have had to have', having had 'have previously had', it wouldn't be so difficult. &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  But since I have 'not had to have', not previously having 'had', it will be difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The speaker is commenting on the difficulty of rephrasing something that they had written or spoken at an earlier time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T17:55:57.057" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17436" CreationDate="2011-03-22T17:57:31.657" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case, &quot;on time&quot; is the proper choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More details about the differences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;In time&quot; is used to suggest that I was able to perform an action before another event occurred:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I was able to reach you in time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference between &quot;in time&quot; and &quot;on time&quot; would be deadlines or schedules that revolve around very specific date or hour:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The train was on time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The project was completed on time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of note, the phrases can also be used in other unrelated contexts:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(in music) Step in time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dorian Gray was stuck in time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T18:15:58.983" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T18:15:58.983" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="17440" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-22T18:01:13.963" Score="2" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is correct, &quot;I worked &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; a project&quot; or &quot;I worked &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; a project?&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Should I say &quot;when I was &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt; the university I studied math&quot; or &quot;when I was &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; the university I studied math?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6415" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T18:30:19.140" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T22:20:09.907" Title="Preposition usage" Tags="&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17441" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17366" CreationDate="2011-03-22T18:02:59.857" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Or you could go for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Second edition iPads.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6362" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T18:02:59.857" />
  <row Id="17442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17436" CreationDate="2011-03-22T18:15:19.927" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;In time&quot; usually has an implicit &quot;for (some event)&quot;, whereas &quot;on time&quot; means &quot;before some deadline&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;event&quot; &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; be a deadline, but in that case &quot;on time&quot; is much more common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I got there in time for the parade&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I delivered the report in time for him to read it before the meeting&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I got to town in time (for)/(to catch) the last train&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I got there in time&quot; - meaning &quot;in time for some event which is assumed to be known&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I got there on time&quot; - meaning &quot;before the deadline&quot; - which may be known to the hearer, but does not need to be, because the phrase itself implies a deadline as opposed to some other event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T18:15:19.927" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17440" CreationDate="2011-03-22T18:18:22.287" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I worked &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; a project.  (&lt;strong&gt;In&lt;/strong&gt; sees very occasional use here, but is much less common and sounds strange to me.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When I was &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt; the university I studied math.  (&lt;strong&gt;In&lt;/strong&gt; is a bit more common in this case, but still less often seen.  However, one would say &quot;When I was &lt;strong&gt;in&lt;/strong&gt; college I studied math&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T18:18:22.287" />
  <row Id="17444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17422" CreationDate="2011-03-22T18:19:03.567" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They're both correct, with a slight distinction in meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you speak of the influence of media &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; our lives, then I feel there's an implication that the media is just one of several things influencing us.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you speak of the influence of media &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; our lives, then I expect the media to be the only influence under discussion.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know whether this distinction is specific to &quot;the media&quot;, so let me posit some new phrases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The influence of religion in modern life&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The influence of religion on modern life&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yup, the distinction's still there: to me, &quot;in&quot; implies one of many influences, while &quot;on&quot; implies a more all-encompassing influence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5548" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T18:19:03.567" />
  <row Id="17445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17433" CreationDate="2011-03-22T18:21:47.767" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally -- and in the sense that the OP asks about -- anonymity can't be &lt;em&gt;bestowed&lt;/em&gt;. It's either present or it isn't. It can, however, be &lt;em&gt;maintained&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T18:21:47.767" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17446" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-22T18:28:59.997" Score="3" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7567/situated-vs-located&quot;&gt;Situated vs Located?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I have few examples to comprehend?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6409" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T18:32:02.773" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T19:09:25.390" ClosedDate="2011-03-23T10:10:02.943" Title="I often get confused by the usage of &quot;located &quot; and &quot;situated&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="17447" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17450" CreationDate="2011-03-22T18:40:10.887" Score="1" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I want to say &quot;have the same feeling with ...&quot; or &quot;agree with ...&quot;, can I use &quot;have resonance with ...&quot;? For example, I knew a friend who doesn't own a cellphone and I found an article saying how great it is not having a cellphone. When I send this article to that friend, can I say &quot;you may have resonance with this article&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found some people use this expression, but I'm not sure it is commonly used. Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5648" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T18:51:51.190" Title="How to use &quot;have resonance with&quot;?" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="17448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17350" CreationDate="2011-03-22T18:43:37.200" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two have very similar meanings but there &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; different connotations. Someone coming &quot;around&quot; subtlety implies that they will be coming around again or have been here in the past. It also implies a much less formal happening as if there is little reason to make a fuss about the event.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The watchman will be coming around about 6.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The watchman will be visiting about 6.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to this, &quot;around&quot; or &quot;round&quot; have other meanings that separate them from &quot;visit.&quot; Robusto's example is good. Others are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The watchman will be coming around 6.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The watchman will be coming around the corner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T18:43:37.200" />
  <row Id="17449" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7567" CreationDate="2011-03-22T18:47:35.903" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two words can be used almost interchangeably. &lt;em&gt;Located&lt;/em&gt; simply refers to where something is. &lt;em&gt;Situated&lt;/em&gt; is a bit more specific and most often refers to an environment rather than just to an address.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Located&lt;/em&gt; at 101 Glory Street&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Situated&lt;/em&gt; on a tree-lined boulevard in a tony office park&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Located&lt;/em&gt; would work with the second example, but &lt;em&gt;situated&lt;/em&gt; would sound stilted in the first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T18:47:35.903" />
  <row Id="17450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17447" CreationDate="2011-03-22T18:51:51.190" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word does work in this context, although an action verb like &lt;em&gt;feel&lt;/em&gt; would probably be more effective than &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more concise option that avoids the need for &quot;have&quot; or &quot;feel&quot;: &quot;This article may resonate with you.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T18:51:51.190" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7567" CreationDate="2011-03-22T18:53:28.157" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Situated can refer to an object's orientation in addition to its location:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;His hat is situated at a 45 degree angle.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is mostly useful in sentences such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The car is precariously situated on the cliff.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that the car's orientation is precarious in addition to its location.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When an object is referred to as &quot;situated&quot; instead of &quot;located,&quot; there is a subtle implication that the location was specifically chosen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The lamp is located in the corner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The lamp is situated in the corner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, the sentence is declaring that the lamp is either (a) specifically oriented or (b) specifically located in the corner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The library is situated near the park&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The library is located near the park&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, I would guess that the author is intending to signal that the library is specifically located near the park. The sentence is not merely providing directions to the library; it is telling you that the library is &lt;em&gt;meant&lt;/em&gt; to be near the park. In other words, either the library or the park was placed there to be next to the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T18:59:00.537" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T18:59:00.537" />
  <row Id="17452" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17453" CreationDate="2011-03-22T18:59:45.797" Score="5" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I basically learnt that words that start with a 'm' or 'p' get 'im' as a negative prefix, whilst words starting with 'r' get 'ir' in such a case (irreverent, irrelevant).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I stumbled upon 'realistic'. I'm almost sure it is 'unrealistic'. A quick search on Google revealed 13 million hits for 'unrealistic'; 'irrealistic' on the contrary only results in 14.000 hits.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, is 'unrealistic' an exception to this rule?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3948" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T19:17:51.297" Title="'Irrealistic' or 'unrealistic'?" Tags="&lt;negation&gt;&lt;prefixes&gt;&lt;irregular&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="17453" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17452" CreationDate="2011-03-22T19:06:04.707" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;realistic&lt;/em&gt; is negated with the prefix &lt;em&gt;un-&lt;/em&gt;, which is not the same as &lt;em&gt;in-/im-/ir-&lt;/em&gt;, and is not subject to the rule regarding &lt;em&gt;in-/im-/ir-&lt;/em&gt;. The rule that you cited is correct, but &lt;strong&gt;only for words that take the negative prefix in-/im-/ir-&lt;/strong&gt; (e.g. &lt;em&gt;intractable, impossible, irresponsible&lt;/em&gt;). Words that are negated with &lt;em&gt;un-&lt;/em&gt; always use &lt;em&gt;un-&lt;/em&gt; (e.g. &lt;em&gt;untreatable, unbearable, unready&lt;/em&gt;), and never vary the second letter of the prefix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no general rule that will allow you to know which words take the negative prefix &lt;em&gt;un-&lt;/em&gt; and which take the negative prefix &lt;em&gt;in-&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The forms that you find on the net with the word &lt;em&gt;irrealistic&lt;/em&gt; are either mistakes by non-native speakers, people being clever with word-play, or possibly people creating derivations off of the specialized linguistic term &lt;em&gt;irrealis&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T19:17:51.297" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T19:17:51.297" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17452" CreationDate="2011-03-22T19:08:44.393" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Never heard of such a rule.  Or I may have forgotten about it.  Never been a fan of rules about language anyway: you learn the rule and the myriad of exceptions (depending on rule and language in question)-  Why not just learn the words, and be done with it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2701" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T19:08:44.393" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="17455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7567" CreationDate="2011-03-22T19:09:25.390" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is arguable that 'situated' implies a strategic or deliberate placement, while 'located' suggests something more arbitrary and relative. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T19:09:25.390" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17456" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17461" CreationDate="2011-03-22T19:10:34.250" Score="3" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;My understanding is that semicolons are used to separate independent clauses of a sentence, and also to delimit a list wherein one or more members contain a comma.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the first usage, my understanding is that an independent clause can stand on its own as a complete sentence.  Something like &quot;It's getting late; we should head home.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm having a bit of trouble squaring that with this sentence from page 1 of &lt;code&gt;Eats, Shoots &amp;amp; Leaves&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;By all means congratulate yourself&#xA;  that you are not a pedant or even a&#xA;  stickler; that you are happily&#xA;  equipped to live in a world of&#xA;  plummeting punctuation standards; but&#xA;  just don't bother to go any further.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being a mere computer nerd visiting here from Stackoverflow, I was hoping some of you English gurus could help me understand how &quot;that you are happily equipped...&quot; and &quot;but just don't bother to go any further&quot; can qualify as complete sentences.  Both, and particularly the latter seem like fragments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5244" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T04:22:45.810" Title="Understanding independent clauses" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;semicolon&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17457" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-22T19:25:18.757" Score="-1" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I would have sweet dreams, they would be about you. If my dreams ever come true, it will be with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6015" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T01:38:23.970" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T01:38:23.970" ClosedDate="2011-03-30T11:04:43.087" Title="Is this sentence correct or not?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17458" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17456" CreationDate="2011-03-22T19:27:47.740" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I remember learning about &quot;sentence design patterns&quot; in HS English.  What you're seeing may be one of those.  These designs are meant to be used when you know the rules well enough to know that you are breaking them correctly, if that makes sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, compare:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The day was gray, dreary, and sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;with&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The day was gray, dreary, sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;rule,&quot; if you will, is that you should have &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; connecting the last two items in a list, but breaking the rule adds something to the effect that the sentence has on the reader (hopefully a positive one).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1954" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T19:27:47.740" />
  <row Id="17459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17457" CreationDate="2011-03-22T19:31:53.443" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use, &quot;If I were to have ...&quot; or &quot;Were I to have...&quot; instead of the &lt;em&gt;would have&lt;/em&gt;.     The next sentence is OK as it is, but you could also consider something like &quot;If my dreams were ever to come true&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T19:31:53.443" />
  <row Id="17460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17422" CreationDate="2011-03-22T19:32:28.153" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I read the two sentences I distinguish the meanings of the two as such:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(Influence of) (media in our lives)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(Influence of media) (on our lives)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A rewording to make it more clear:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is the influence that the media in our lives has on [something].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is the influence that the media has on our lives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is not a necessary distinction, however, and you can legitimately say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is the influence that the media has in our lives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is another difference between using &quot;in&quot; and &quot;on&quot; in this context. &quot;In&quot; implies that something is happening within our lives or that something is affecting our lives from the inside. &quot;On&quot; implies a more distant, abstract influence: Something is happen &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; our lives from the outside or to our lives as a whole.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I worked in that building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I worked on that building.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T19:32:28.153" />
  <row Id="17461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17456" CreationDate="2011-03-22T19:38:56.243" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think Ms. Truss may be poking gentle fun at the reader there by pushing the boundaries of what you may perceive as correct punctuation; and hoping to get you to think about the subject a little harder. And look: it worked!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Linking to extra info located in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/16976/usage-of-and-in-the-beginning-of-a-sentence/16977#16977&quot;&gt;another answer&lt;/a&gt; at OP's request in comments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T20:33:59.463" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T20:33:59.463" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17462" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-22T19:46:26.370" Score="3" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;A couple of years ago I heard a word to describe of short and impressive sentences that are used in catalogs and websites for product descriptions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't remember that specific word. Do you have any idea?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I need it, because may be I use it instead of &lt;strong&gt;short description&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3539" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T06:09:00.187" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T12:34:09.647" Title="What do you call the impressive short sentences catalogs and magazine use to write product descriptions?" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;short-form&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17462" CreationDate="2011-03-22T19:48:56.387" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Slogan?  Sound bite?  Unique selling proposition?  Marketing tripe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Synopsis?  Summary?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1954" LastEditorUserId="1954" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T19:55:49.997" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T19:55:49.997" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17462" CreationDate="2011-03-22T19:53:36.770" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe you're looking for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Catch phrase&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T19:53:36.770" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17465" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17462" CreationDate="2011-03-22T20:04:45.450" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word you may be looking for is &lt;em&gt;byword&lt;/em&gt;, which in this context would be defined as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a word or expression summarizing a thing's characteristics or a person's principles&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1229844#m_en_us1229844&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another, slightly less formal, option is &lt;em&gt;tag line&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a catchphrase or slogan, especially as used in advertising, or the punchline of a joke &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1296768#m_en_us1296768&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T20:04:45.450" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17457" CreationDate="2011-03-22T20:09:04.850" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Constructions like “If I would have…” are not correct in English.  Instead, it should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I had sweet dreams, they would be about you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second sentence is good as it stands.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As @jgbelacqua says, the constructions “If I were to have…” and “Were I to have…” &#xA;are also correct; but they’re less common, and a little more formal; to my ear the more direct “If I had…” is more apt here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The error “If I would…” is a common one for speakers of some languages learning English; I’ve heard it particularly from Russian and Polish friends.  It’s a fairly straightforward one to diagnose: “If X would Y…” constructions like “If I would buy a car…”, “If she would drink some vodka…” are almost always incorrect in English.  Instead, these should be “If I bought a car…”, “If she drank some vodka…”.  The “would” should appear in the result, but not in the condition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If she drank some vodka, she would be happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that in non-conditional constructions, “If X would Y” can be correct; for example, when &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; functions more like &lt;em&gt;whether&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don’t know if I would ever go back to Manderley.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Caveat: this is all a slight oversimplification.  Historically, the “If &lt;em&gt;&amp;lt;noun&amp;gt;&lt;/em&gt; would &lt;em&gt;&amp;lt;verb&amp;gt;&lt;/em&gt;” form was indeed correct, and versions of it are still acceptable/idiomatic in a few circumstances, most notably in constructions like “If he would only stop talking a moment, I could answer his questions.”  But for the most part, it’s a safe rule of thumb that “If &lt;em&gt;&amp;lt;noun&amp;gt;&lt;/em&gt; would &lt;em&gt;&amp;lt;verb&amp;gt;&lt;/em&gt;” is an error for “If &lt;em&gt;&amp;lt;noun&amp;gt;&lt;/em&gt; &lt;i&gt;&amp;lt;verb&amp;gt;&lt;/i&gt;ed”. )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T20:24:11.073" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T20:24:11.073" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="17467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17462" CreationDate="2011-03-22T20:15:40.317" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator_pitch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator_pitch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An elevator pitch summary used to&#xA;  quickly and simply define a product,&#xA;  service, or organization and its value&#xA;  proposition. The name &quot;elevator&#xA;  pitch&quot; reflects the idea that it&#xA;  should be possible to deliver the&#xA;  summary in the time span of an&#xA;  elevator ride, or approximately thirty&#xA;  seconds to two minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is used as &lt;em&gt;Give me the short (and sweet) version of why I would want this&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T20:34:35.330" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T20:34:35.330" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17468" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17512" CreationDate="2011-03-22T20:25:59.097" Score="2" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;As I was reading &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/17457/is-this-sentence-correct-or-not&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, I noticed that the incorrect use of “if I would have” in the sentence somehow made me feel like the poster was Indian. I don't know exactly why, but it felt like something my former Indian colleagues could have said. So, is this particular error typical of (or quite likely to be made by) Indians, or is it just some weird feeling I'm getting for no reason?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T03:49:29.407" Title="Is “If I would have X” an Indian shibboleth?" Tags="&lt;shibboleth&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17469" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12727" CreationDate="2011-03-22T20:28:09.560" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can find plenty of other examples for such objects but most of them revolve around a character's inability to resist the object more than the object's desirability. The best example I found was the lure of immortality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as terms go, the best I could do was &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeypot_%28computing%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;honeypot&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bug_zapper&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;bug zapper&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. The latter is a perfect description of such an object but isn't very cool sounding and only really applies to things attracted to light. A more romantic twist brings us to &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limerence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;limerence&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; which is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/limerence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;defined&lt;/a&gt; as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An involuntary state of mind which seems to result from a romantic attraction for another person combined with an overwhelming, obsessive need to have one's feelings reciprocated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find the idea of focusing such an attraction on an object instead of a romantic partner useful and would be happy with a word such as &quot;limerent&quot; for the appropriate noun. Unfortunately, the desired reciprocation implied by limerence is completely irrelevant in this context so it -- although interesting -- is unable to satisfy the need.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other words that seem intwined with this concept are &lt;em&gt;paradox&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;fated&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Paradox&lt;/em&gt; because of the crazy, irrational pull of the object even after the curse is discovered. (This is one of the problems with &lt;em&gt;honeypot&lt;/em&gt;: The curse is hidden.) &lt;em&gt;Fated&lt;/em&gt; is apt due to the irresistibility of the object along with its implied horrid ending.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Two-word terms seem to be a little easier to find as you can simply prepend &lt;em&gt;cursed&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;malevolent&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;insatiable&lt;/em&gt; to words such as &lt;em&gt;lure&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;attractor&lt;/em&gt;. (Or &lt;em&gt;honeypot&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, this is a most excellent question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remembered the word &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;gambit&lt;/a&gt; which is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gambit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;defined&lt;/a&gt; as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An opening in chess, in which a minor piece (often a pawn) is sacrificed to gain an advantage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The term's usage extends to include nearly any strategy that sacrifices something to gain something else and is generally considered extremely high risk with unpredictable outcomes. This &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gambit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;usage note&lt;/a&gt; is helpful:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Critics familiar with the nature of chess gambits have sometimes maintained that the word should not be used in an extended sense except to refer to maneuvers that involve a tactical sacrifice or loss for some advantage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The note continues by reminding us that &quot;gambit&quot; is fully excepted as general ploy or maneuver. But the sacrificial aspect is what makes it useful in this context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word is, again, not a perfect match but it completely conveys the dual attraction and potential danger. It also has the advantage that people will know exactly what you are referring to if you say, &quot;Eve's gambit&quot; or &quot;the immortality gambit.&quot; You can stretch the term to refer to nearly every obvious example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Eve's gambit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the immortality gambit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the Midas gambit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the djinn or genie gambit&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T23:23:04.143" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T23:23:04.143" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8964" CreationDate="2011-03-22T20:28:43.680" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer to this is included in &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Postel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Postel&lt;/a&gt;'s Law&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;strong&gt;“be conservative in what you do, be liberal in what you accept from others”&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5731" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T09:15:03.560" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T09:15:03.560" />
  <row Id="17471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17457" CreationDate="2011-03-22T20:58:31.143" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll weigh in, since I'm apparently a passive voice Nazi: there is nothing &lt;em&gt;grammatically&lt;/em&gt; wrong with it, but in terms of style it leaves a bit to be desired. The beloved in this case is left wondering if the speaker dreams &lt;em&gt;at all&lt;/em&gt;, and if so, if the dreams are non-sweet in nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd go for something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My sweetest dreams are of you. If ever&#xA;  my dreams come true, it will be with&#xA;  you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moving the ever forward gives the second sentence a little momentum, and the shift to the active voice removes the potential ambiguity in the first sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2577" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T20:58:31.143" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17472" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7941" CreationDate="2011-03-22T21:05:39.530" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the other's answers, a helpful analogy for the differences between target and goal is found in sports. A &quot;target&quot; will be an object focused on a specific point that the athlete is aiming to hit. Success is measured in distance from that point. A &quot;goal&quot; will be a larger object such as what is used in soccer/football or hockey. Success for a goal will be anything that fits through the goal; it is either in or out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The idea here is that a personal goal is something that is not necessarily focused on a particular, measurable point. A target will be. This distinction is mostly unofficial, however, and I am sure there are plenty of exceptions to what I am positing here -- even within the world of sports.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T21:05:39.530" />
  <row Id="17473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17462" CreationDate="2011-03-22T21:27:57.367" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Blurb&quot; is the generic for this sort of item. &quot;Catch copy&quot; is also commonly used. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T21:27:57.367" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16128" CreationDate="2011-03-22T21:40:27.710" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Nearly all idioms that include religious references are meant to be understood non-religiously. This extends beyond linguistic references and includes visual depictions of someone mumbling a prayer with hands folded as a sign of utter desperation. The caricature is now simply a sign of someone giving up all hope and resigning themselves to an inescapable fate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even religious practices and rites are performed under non-religious pretenses out of respect for the believers. If I am a guest in a religious ceremony I will follow all instructions given to me out of politeness, not religious adherence. No one there who knows me would mistake my crossing myself or removing my shoes as a sign of faith.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When you ask for an example of a phrase that would be religious when understood literally but non-religious pragmatically, I answer, &quot;&lt;strong&gt;All of them.&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; Even the Holy Bible contains passages that refer to itself in a non-religious manner. Most of the book is a recording of stories and histories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A statement's religiousness can either be seen as a statement of faith on part of the speaker or as any other item of language: Something to convey meaning. If the question were reworded to ask, &quot;Is this statement attempting to convey an inherently religious meaning?&quot; it becomes slightly more interesting. I expect that this can only be answered with knowledge about the one speaking. In the case of the United States of America, &lt;em&gt;none&lt;/em&gt; of the potentially religious statements are officially religious in this sense -- they are not attempting to invoke an inherently religious meaning. If they ever did, it is no longer the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But phrasing the question this way leaves my answer intact: Any religious phrase or behavior &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; be said or performed without religious meaning. I suspect that nearly all such seemingly religious actions are nothing more than people and institutions attempting to appeal to a specific group of people who are known to grow agitated at the slightest sign of irreligious behavior. I do not take a car commercial's proclamation of &quot;God bless America!&quot; as a sign that the company believes in the Christian God any more than an atheist politely bowing a head in a funeral service implies respect for God.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, the speaker determines whether a statement contains religious meaning. The words themselves contain no such thing and any religious statement can be said in a non-religious manner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T21:40:27.710" />
  <row Id="17475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17468" CreationDate="2011-03-22T21:53:00.657" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably not. This is pretty common when expressing regret towards your past self:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If only I would have known!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If only I would have taken the bus instead of the tram...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I would have said, &quot;I love you,&quot; she would not have left me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T21:53:00.657" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17440" CreationDate="2011-03-22T22:10:50.917" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I worked on a project&quot; is correct. &lt;em&gt;In&lt;/em&gt; would be wrong in this context. One can work &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; a particular place or location (obviously), as well as a field of endeavor, a professional or academic department, or a certain artistic medium:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I now work in Jo'burg. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He works in charcoal.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;She works in transportation.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to say you studied math while a student &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; a certain university, then you should use &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt;. Thus, your correct option would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I was at the university, I studied math.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;In the university&lt;/em&gt; would only be correct when referring to the physical space that makes up the institution, e.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are there any parks in the university?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even when used correctly, &lt;em&gt;in the university&lt;/em&gt; is still quite rare. In place of the above example, one might hear instead:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Are there any parks on campus?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Are there any parks in Cambridge/Harvard/UC Berkeley/[university name]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Does the university have any parks?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T22:10:50.917" />
  <row Id="17477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17440" CreationDate="2011-03-22T22:20:09.907" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There isn't going to be a quick way to match up propositions. There are some general rules that fit a majority of the cases but the exceptions abound.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, changing prepositions around &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; have drastic effects on its meaning. Instead of trying to catch and explain all cases, I have decided to simply use your examples and explain what they mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I worked on a project&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;On&quot; is typical here and will be correct most of the time. Working on a project implies doing work related to the project and is similar to working on a house or working on a letter. You are performing an action (working) on an object (the project).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The tricky side of &quot;on&quot; comes with phrases like, &quot;I worked on a farm.&quot; Working &quot;on a farm&quot; means doing work while located on a farm instead of working on the object of a farm.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good test is to try replacing &quot;worked on&quot; with &quot;completed&quot;: &quot;I completed a project&quot; or &quot;I completed a house&quot; sound fine while &quot;I completed a farm&quot; drastically changes its meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I worked in a project&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Working &quot;in&quot; something is more akin to being located inside of the object. &quot;I worked in a building.&quot; A &quot;project&quot; can certainly contain things and so you can technically work &quot;in&quot; a project.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I was at the university I studied math&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here, &quot;at&quot; is mostly referring to your physical location. You did work while being located at the university. This generally refers to students enrolled in the university but also applies to people who were just visiting or possibly working there in a way unrelated to learning (such as the janitor.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I was in the university I studied math&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Again, &quot;in&quot; here implies being &quot;inside of&quot; or &quot;contained by&quot; the university. To say, &quot;I am in university&quot; generally means to be enrolled in one of the university's programs. Unfortunately, it can also mean being physically inside of the university buildings... so I am not helping much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The most common case is to say, &quot;When I was at...&quot; but there is a mix of things happening here. People will ask you &quot;&lt;em&gt;Where&lt;/em&gt; do you go to school?&quot; The importance seems to fall on the physical location but this usage does not cover strange exceptions such as enrolling in classes over the internet where you never move from your chair but are considered &quot;at&quot; a particular university.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In any case, I hope this helped somewhat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T22:20:09.907" />
  <row Id="17478" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-22T22:27:20.990" Score="4" ViewCount="153" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm reading &lt;a href=&quot;http://twitter.com/#!/WillyFerrell&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Will Ferrell's Twitter&lt;/a&gt; where he wrote&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Just thought a thought but the thought&#xA;  I thought wasn't the thought I thought&#xA;  I thought.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does the sentence still have the same meaning if you remove the last &quot;I thought&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this grammatical word play possible with other words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a name for this other than a play on words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1788" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T06:33:41.973" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T06:33:41.973" Title="Analyzing Will Ferrell's &quot;I Thought&quot; joke" Tags="&lt;jokes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="17479" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17486" CreationDate="2011-03-22T22:36:38.483" Score="7" ViewCount="155" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the phrase ‘Long on looks, short on spirit’ in the Washington Post article written by Ann Hornaday (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/movies/jane-eyre,1164774/critic-review.html#reviewNum1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/movies/jane-eyre,1164774/critic-review.html#reviewNum1&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does ‘&lt;em&gt;Long on looks, short on spirit&lt;/em&gt;’ mean? To me it sounds like saying ‘Have a big picture, but be realistic’, but I don’t know.  Is this a well-worn English cliché or Charlotte Bronte’s coinage?  In what occasion can I use this phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T00:56:34.170" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T01:02:52.240" Title="What does ‘Long on looks, short on spirit’ mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="17480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17478" CreationDate="2011-03-22T22:39:45.420" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you remove the last &quot;I thought&quot;, you get a contradiction in &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the thought I thought wasn't the&#xA;  thought I thought&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._D._Laing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;R D Laing&lt;/a&gt; called this sort of thing &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oikos.org/knotpageen.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Knots&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.  One example is &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is devoured by his devouring fear&#xA;  of being devoured by her devouring&#xA;  desire for him to devour her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T22:39:45.420" />
  <row Id="17481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17478" CreationDate="2011-03-22T22:45:20.910" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you remove the last 'I thought' you get a contradiction.  Consider the central phrase, &quot;The thought I thought wasn't the thought I thought.&quot;  Replacing all instances of 'thought' with a different noun and verb we get, &quot;The car I drive wasn't the car I drove.&quot;  If we put the 'I thought' back into our car/drove example we get, &quot;The car I drove wasn't the car I thought I drove.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This grammatical word play is possible with any words that have can be taken as multiple parts of speech, especially noun/verb.  An example from a book of puzzles I have asks:  &quot;Who could make the following statement? 'We eat what we can and can what we can't.'&quot;  The answer is a farmer or a fisherman.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During a meeting at the [fictional] local diet club, the chairperson exclaimed, &quot;We have to fast, FAST!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not aware of any official name for these kinds of wordplay.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T22:45:20.910" />
  <row Id="17482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17479" CreationDate="2011-03-22T22:46:14.880" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My guess is that the character in question is physically attractive, but isn't passionate enough (emotional enough, emotive enough) for the role.  Which is why the reviewer talks about missing the &quot;the spark of rebellion&quot; in the heroine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Come to think of it, the phrase could also refer to the work (or a work) as a whole.  Handsomely staged, but without a subversive spirit.   Beautiful sets and costumes, but lacking heart.  Stunning but superficial.  Or something similar to similar effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-22T23:02:41.133" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T23:02:41.133" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17483" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17494" CreationDate="2011-03-22T22:49:45.627" Score="4" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase “take it easy” has several different meanings, and it's not always easy to tell between them from context. I'm referring specifically to the standalone phrase (grammatically, an imperative), not to the use of the verbal expression in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;— I'm going on a holiday. — Take it easy for a week, you deserved it. &lt;em&gt;(the usual verbal meaning)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;— I'm leaving, bye. — Take it easy. &lt;em&gt;(≈ “have a nice time”)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;— I'm going to hit someone. — Hey, take it easy, man! &lt;em&gt;(≈ “keep your cool”)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What clues can distinguish the friendly use (have a nice time) from the reproachful use (keep calm)? Are there other meanings to consider? Are there regional variations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1165" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T00:26:20.913" Title="Meanings of “take it easy”" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="17484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17120" CreationDate="2011-03-22T22:50:52.857" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Jinx.  (It's a race to see which of the two people says &quot;jinx&quot; first after they've unintentionally but simultaneously said exactly the same thing.  The victor may add something like &quot;you owe me a Coke.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6427" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T22:50:52.857" />
  <row Id="17485" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17487" CreationDate="2011-03-22T22:53:04.277" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've finished my work.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I finished my work.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When do I use one or the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6429" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T21:40:45.020" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T21:40:45.020" Title="When do I use present perfect tense instead of the simple past?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;&lt;present-perfect-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17479" CreationDate="2011-03-22T22:55:37.943" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't say that this exact phrase is a well-worn cliche, but the format is well known.  I've also heard 'Long on style, short on substance', as well as other variations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning of each of these types of statements is to compare traits of a larger subject, especially when one trait is vastly overrepresented compared to the other, &quot;Long on [trait A], short on [trait B].&quot; (This is also true if one trait is vastly under-represented.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T22:55:37.943" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17485" CreationDate="2011-03-22T22:59:20.467" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a subtle distinction.  The present perfect describes the present ... right now, you can be described as having finished your work.  The past describes an action that took place in the past ... five minutes ago, you finished your work.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6430" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T22:59:20.467" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17436" CreationDate="2011-03-22T23:00:00.687" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems to be the prepositional phrase &lt;em&gt;for xxx&lt;/em&gt; that makes the difference. If I say,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please submit your paper in time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You may ask&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In time for what?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if I say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please submit your paper on time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You might ask&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When is it due?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5640" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T23:00:00.687" />
  <row Id="17489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17120" CreationDate="2011-03-22T23:02:40.840" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try &quot;concurrence&quot;.  Or more awkwardly, a &quot;convergence of events&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6430" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T23:02:40.840" />
  <row Id="17490" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17492" CreationDate="2011-03-22T23:30:49.007" Score="8" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;It occurred to me yesterday that taken literally, the word &quot;headlong&quot; doesn't make that much sense.  My understanding of the meaning is more along the lines of &quot;head-first&quot;, so how did that become &quot;headlong&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1267" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T00:02:44.843" Title="Where did the term 'headlong' come from?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17483" CreationDate="2011-03-22T23:37:52.403" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally I don't see any real difference in meaning between any of the examples. Like lots of informal slang, &lt;em&gt;take it easy&lt;/em&gt; can be used in many situations where you don't really want to be too specific in exactly what you say. But in the context of imminent aggressive behaviour, it's context and delivery that distinguishes between &lt;em&gt;calm down or I'll deck you!&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;please stop because you're distressing me&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-22T23:37:52.403" />
  <row Id="17492" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17490" CreationDate="2011-03-23T00:02:25.883" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;-long&lt;/em&gt; suffix is an alteration from the adverbial &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-ling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;-ling&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; suffix which means &quot;In the manner or direction indicated by the main stem.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &lt;em&gt;in the direction indicated by the head&lt;/em&gt; or more succinctly, head-first.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=headlong&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; for more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T00:02:25.883" />
  <row Id="17493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17490" CreationDate="2011-03-23T00:02:44.843" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=headlong&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;headlong&lt;/strong&gt; late 15c., from &lt;em&gt;hed&lt;/em&gt; &quot;head&quot; + suffix -ling (see grovel). Altered by folk etymology on pattern of sidelong, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, seeing &lt;em&gt;grovel&lt;/em&gt; we get:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;grovel&lt;/strong&gt; (v.) 1590s, Shakespearian back formation of groveling (M.E.), regarded as a prp. but really an adverb, from O.N. grufe &quot;prone&quot; + obsolete adverbial suffix -ling (which survives also as the -long in headlong, sidelong); first element from O.N. a grufu &quot;on proneness.&quot; Perhaps related to creep. Related: Groveled; grovelled; groveling; grovelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T00:02:44.843" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17483" CreationDate="2011-03-23T00:26:20.913" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All uses of &lt;em&gt;take it easy&lt;/em&gt; I can think of are nearly interchangeable with &lt;em&gt;relax&lt;/em&gt;.  (One wouldn't say just &quot;relax&quot; as a farewell, but in that use it's similar to &quot;stay cool&quot; or &quot;have a good [relaxed] day&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And uses where &lt;em&gt;take it easy&lt;/em&gt; is literal imperative advice are not necessarily reproachful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Augh, I'll never get all these facts straight in time for the test!  I'm going to fail, I know it!&quot;  &quot;Whoa, take it easy.  You can do this.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6432" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T00:26:20.913" />
  <row Id="17495" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-23T00:37:07.693" Score="5" ViewCount="79" Body="&lt;p&gt;I want a common &lt;em&gt;idiom&lt;/em&gt; or expression that says &quot;to give (something) veracity&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was thinking &quot;give it some salt&quot;, but that seems like its not a common expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2210" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:32:23.273" Title="Common way to say &quot;give it some veracity&quot;" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17240" CreationDate="2011-03-23T00:43:30.693" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mainstream&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;mainstream&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; would fit. Something that is mainstream is acceptable to most people, but not necessarily adopted by many. Basically something is mainstream if when its use is not considered odd, when it is not specific to a fringe group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1165" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T00:43:30.693" />
  <row Id="17497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17479" CreationDate="2011-03-23T01:02:52.240" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The article explains exactly what the title means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And it’s just that spark that’s&#xA;  fatally missing from Mia Wasikowska’s&#xA;  elegant but inert portrayal in “Jane&#xA;  Eyre,” which while qualifying as the&#xA;  most gorgeously appointed and finely&#xA;  detailed version of the novel so far,&#xA;  still lacks the element of essential&#xA;  fire to make it come fully, even&#xA;  subversively, to life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;long on [x], short on [y]&quot; construction is a fairly common trope. It means basically &quot;has plenty of [x], but not enough [y]&quot;. Thus, &quot;elegant but inert&quot; - the reviewer thought the movie was gorgeous to look at, but she thought the heroine didn't show enough of the emotions she would have liked to see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T01:02:52.240" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17478" CreationDate="2011-03-23T01:39:30.977" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best way to understand something like this is to replace each occurrence of the repeated word with either a synonym, or something that matches its part of speech:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Just &lt;em&gt;came up with&lt;/em&gt; an &lt;em&gt;idea&lt;/em&gt;, but the &lt;em&gt;idea&lt;/em&gt; I &lt;em&gt;came up with&lt;/em&gt; wasn't the &lt;em&gt;idea&lt;/em&gt; I &lt;em&gt;believed&lt;/em&gt; I &lt;em&gt;came up with&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, removing the last &quot;I thought&quot; either changes the meaning, or results in a contradiction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Just came up with an idea, but the idea I came up with wasn't the idea I believed&lt;/em&gt; &amp;ndash; inventing an idea you don't believe is quite different from misremembering what idea you invented.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Just came up with an idea, but the idea I came up with wasn't the idea I came up with&lt;/em&gt; &amp;ndash; this is a contradiction, and doesn't make a lot of sense. (Well, not that the original makes a whole lot of sense, either.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't know if there's an official term for this sort of phrase. Depending on the repeated word, it &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; be considered a &lt;strong&gt;tongue-twister&lt;/strong&gt;. For the famous &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;buffalo&lt;/a&gt; example mentioned by MrHen in the comments, Wikipedia just says it's &quot;an example of how homonyms and homophones can be used to create complicated linguistic constructs.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T01:39:30.977" />
  <row Id="17499" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17197" CreationDate="2011-03-23T01:55:09.727" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Indeed, in your example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He served as the Department Chair from 1995 to 1999.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;chair&lt;/em&gt; is correct. &lt;em&gt;Department Chair&lt;/em&gt; is a well-established idiomatic phrase, especially in academic circles in the United States. (You might find &lt;em&gt;HODs&lt;/em&gt; elsewhere.) You could also say &lt;em&gt;Chairman of the Department&lt;/em&gt; in a non-academic context. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T01:55:09.727" />
  <row Id="17500" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17509" CreationDate="2011-03-23T02:00:21.690" Score="3" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it grammatical to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;May the emotions be controlled, it is not easy to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Obviously what I want to say is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Even if the emotions may be controlled, it is not easy to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T12:37:41.580" Title="Is this the right way to express concession using inversion?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="17502" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-23T02:06:42.313" Score="5" ViewCount="291" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, a job demands a lot of effort is effort-***? Or a program costs lots of money is money-***? Or a task needs high patience is patience-***?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T22:20:28.400" Title="Is there any suffix expressing “demand a lot”?" Tags="&lt;phrasing&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17495" CreationDate="2011-03-23T02:10:54.953" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;em&gt;substantiate&lt;/em&gt;? Or some synonyms for &lt;em&gt;substantiate&lt;/em&gt; from the &lt;em&gt;Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;prove, show to be true, give&#xA;  substance to, support, uphold, bear&#xA;  out, justify, vindicate, validate,&#xA;  corroborate, verify, authenticate,&#xA;  confirm, endorse, give credence to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T18:32:23.273" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:32:23.273" />
  <row Id="17504" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17502" CreationDate="2011-03-23T02:12:02.880" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might try &quot;-intensive&quot;, at least with regards to effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6434" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T02:12:02.880" />
  <row Id="17505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17502" CreationDate="2011-03-23T02:12:35.140" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there's a single suffix that would fit the examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A job that demands a lot of effort is 'hard' or 'demanding' or 'exhausting' or ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A program that costs a lot of money is 'expensive'.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A task that requires a lot of patience is 'exasperating' or 'demanding' or ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T02:12:35.140" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17502" CreationDate="2011-03-23T02:15:54.510" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;-Intensive&lt;/em&gt; would be one of those. The pertinent definition, according to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1258496#m_en_us1258496&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries&lt;/a&gt; is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;concentrating on or making much use of a specified thing&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, &lt;em&gt;labor-intensive&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;cost-intensive&lt;/em&gt;, etc. I'm not sure this would work for &lt;em&gt;patience&lt;/em&gt;, though!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T02:15:54.510" />
  <row Id="17507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17495" CreationDate="2011-03-23T02:26:06.670" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try &lt;em&gt;lend credence to&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Her torn clothing and scratches on her arms and shoulders &lt;strong&gt;lent credence to&lt;/strong&gt; her claim of having been attacked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T02:26:06.670" />
  <row Id="17508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17495" CreationDate="2011-03-23T02:58:09.100" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;strong&gt;back it up&lt;/strong&gt;, as in &lt;em&gt;We have the numbers to back that up&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;That claim sounds awfully flimsy; you need to back it up&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T02:58:09.100" />
  <row Id="17509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17500" CreationDate="2011-03-23T03:00:21.180" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds awkward because the first part is not a complete thought (it's a modal verb introducing a subjunctive phrase), and needs to be joined to the second part somehow, for example, with &lt;em&gt;though&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Though the emotions may be controlled, it is not easy to do that.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The emotions may be controlled, but it is not easy to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a subtle difference, I think, between &lt;em&gt;the emotions&lt;/em&gt; and just &lt;em&gt;emotions&lt;/em&gt;, and in this context omitting &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; sounds a little bit better, because you're talking about emotions in general:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Though emotions may be controlled, it is not easy to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The final &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; also sounds a bit formal, or just odd. Typically we say &lt;em&gt;do that&lt;/em&gt; for emphasis, especially to express contrast between two things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't do that! Do this instead.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He told me to leave, but I didn't want to do that at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this context &lt;em&gt;do so&lt;/em&gt; may flow better, and it has the same meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Though emotions may be controlled, it is not easy to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T03:00:21.180" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17495" CreationDate="2011-03-23T03:37:42.863" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Back it up, lend credence to, corroborate, support, grant verisimilitude.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That last one isn't exactly a common idiom. I just wanted to use the same word in two english.SE answers on the same day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T03:37:42.863" />
  <row Id="17511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17500" CreationDate="2011-03-23T03:41:24.873" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;What you may be thinking of is this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should France agree to transfer&#xA;  control of the operation to NATO, this&#xA;  might improve relations with Turkey.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Had there been more frequent security&#xA;  checks in Fukushima Daiichi, the&#xA;  current crisis would have been much&#xA;  less serious, so say some foreign&#xA;  experts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'd never&#xA;  give them a single penny, even were I a rich man. &lt;em&gt;(old fashioned)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Be that as it may, this house is too expensive.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T12:37:41.580" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T12:37:41.580" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17468" CreationDate="2011-03-23T03:49:29.407" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dutchmen sometimes make the same mistake, because the construction * &lt;em&gt;he would do x, if y &lt;strong&gt;would be&lt;/strong&gt; true&lt;/em&gt; is correct in Dutch, besides &lt;em&gt;he would do x, if y &lt;strong&gt;were&lt;/strong&gt; true&lt;/em&gt;, which is also correct in Dutch. This might apply to some other European languages as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T03:49:29.407" />
  <row Id="17513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17120" CreationDate="2011-03-23T04:07:12.967" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say the two people said [the same word] &lt;em&gt;in stereo&lt;/em&gt;. Or one of the speakers could just say &lt;em&gt;Stereo!&lt;/em&gt; as noted &lt;a href=&quot;http://stereo.urbanup.com/1664478&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; from Urban Dictionary:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When two people say the same word or phrase simultaneously during a conversation (usually by coincidence), the word &quot;stereo&quot; would then be uttered immediately by one or both parties to acknowledge this phenomenon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, if both parties say &lt;em&gt;stereo&lt;/em&gt; in stereo, then one would have to say &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/17120/coincidence-is-not-the-only-word/17122#17122&quot;&gt;Jinx!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T04:07:12.967" />
  <row Id="17514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17456" CreationDate="2011-03-23T04:17:17.360" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You provide the useful rule that semicolons may be used with incomplete sentences &lt;em&gt;to delimit a list wherein one or more members contain a comma&lt;/em&gt;; but I believe the example sentence you give would be an incorrect application of this (useful) rule.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A practical extension to your rule would be to say that semicolons may be used &lt;em&gt;to delimit a list whose members would be too long to read comfortably if separated by mere commas&lt;/em&gt;; I believe this extension is also quite current.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An additional condition would be that, in most cases, there should be at least three members in the list: otherwise the sentence would be easy enough to read with a separating comma instead of a semicolon. The rule is rather meant for sentences like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Russian Revolution indirectly&#xA;  destroyed what hope Old Europe still&#xA;  had of maintaining global dominance,&#xA;  because it eventually led to the rise of the Red&#xA;  Army, which turned Europe into an&#xA;  American protectorate for most of the&#xA;  Cold War; to the focus of European&#xA;  politics on the East-West opposition&#xA;  rather than old colonial ties; to a&#xA;  massive increase in military spending,&#xA;  mostly on nuclear weapons, which&#xA;  deprived European governments of the&#xA;  means to otherwise further their&#xA;  interests; and to a world-wide arms&#xA;  race, which made quick work of what&#xA;  advantage Europe had gained in&#xA;  military technology from experience in&#xA;  both world wars.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your example does not need the rather forceful instrument of semicolons between incomplete sentences. Even my example might benefit from restructuring rather than semicolons; but at least it is clear that commas would be unacceptable here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T04:22:45.810" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T04:22:45.810" />
  <row Id="17515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17502" CreationDate="2011-03-23T04:24:42.690" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some nouns can take the suffix -some to indicate propensity or demand.  Examples include:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Bothersome&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Worrisome&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Winsome&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Troublesome&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fearsome&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Loathsome&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Lonesome&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other suffixes with a similar meaning are -ful, -ive, and -ly.  These tend to describe a property of an object more than describing a demand for something.  In the three examples given in the question, none take on any of these suffixes.  However, you could replace money--- with &lt;em&gt;costly&lt;/em&gt;, effort--- with &lt;em&gt;intensive&lt;/em&gt;, and patience--- with &lt;em&gt;peaceful&lt;/em&gt;.  These aren't exactly the same, but they're pretty close.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T04:24:42.690" />
  <row Id="17516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17495" CreationDate="2011-03-23T05:17:59.480" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Prove it.   (must put thirty characters)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6438" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T05:17:59.480" />
  <row Id="17517" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17518" CreationDate="2011-03-23T06:15:52.437" Score="3" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to say &lt;em&gt;maple tree&lt;/em&gt;, or would &lt;em&gt;maple&lt;/em&gt; be both correct and enough to mean a tree (not just its fruit)? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T09:32:19.477" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T11:46:57.223" Title="&quot;maple tree&quot; or &quot;maple&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="17518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17517" CreationDate="2011-03-23T06:23:20.377" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;maple&lt;/em&gt; is used to mean the tree. The definition given by the NOAD is &quot;a tree or shrub with lobed leaves, winged fruits, and colorful autumn foliage, grown as an ornamental or for its timber or syrupy sap.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word origin is from Old English &lt;em&gt;mapel&lt;/em&gt;, which is the first element of &lt;em&gt;mapeltrēow&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;mapulder&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;maple tree&quot;), used as an independent word from Middle English onward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T06:23:20.377" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="17519" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17532" CreationDate="2011-03-23T06:38:09.740" Score="0" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which variant is correct, &quot;the main idea was in the next: bla-bla-bla&quot; or &quot;the main idea was in next: bla-bla-bla?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1109" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T06:55:09.763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T09:04:31.650" Title="&quot;In the next&quot; or &quot;in next?&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17520" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17533" CreationDate="2011-03-23T06:43:39.753" Score="0" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are both of these sentences grammatical?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was starting raining.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He was contemplating creating a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T06:49:37.267" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T09:36:59.217" Title="Are these sentences grammatical?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="17521" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17523" CreationDate="2011-03-23T06:55:00.257" Score="4" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was saying to an American friend, &quot;I pronounce still bad,&quot; which she said is a mistake, saying it should be &lt;em&gt;poorly&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, I get that part, but when I asked if I can say &lt;em&gt;badly&lt;/em&gt;, she said I shouldn't. I asked an Englishman and he said it's perfectly fine. So is it a difference between American English and British English, or am I just not getting it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6439" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T06:58:34.143" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T14:33:20.977" Title="&quot;Badly&quot; versus &quot;poorly&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="17522" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17555" CreationDate="2011-03-23T07:05:21.383" Score="0" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;'He made them stand against the wall crying.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible for 'crying' in this example to refer to the pronoun 'them'? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T07:15:36.113" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T11:54:28.967" Title="Is it possible for 'crying' in this example to refer to 'them'?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="17523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17521" CreationDate="2011-03-23T07:14:23.570" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that the first meaning of &lt;em&gt;poorly&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;in a way or at a level that is considered inadequate,&quot; while the first meaning of &lt;em&gt;badly&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;in an unsatisfactory, inadequate, or unsuccessful way.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The NOAD has also a note about the usage of &lt;em&gt;bad&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Confusion in the use of &lt;em&gt;bad&lt;/em&gt; versus &lt;em&gt;badly&lt;/em&gt; usually has to do with verbs called copulas, such as &lt;em&gt;feel&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;seem&lt;/em&gt;. Thus, standard usage calls for &lt;em&gt;I feel bad&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;I feel badly&lt;/em&gt;. As a precise speaker or writer would explain, &lt;em&gt;I feel badly&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;I do not have a good sense of touch.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a slight difference between &lt;em&gt;poorly&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;badly&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;em&gt;Poorly&lt;/em&gt; should be used when something is considered inadequate, while &lt;em&gt;badly&lt;/em&gt; should be used to when something is inadequate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I work in a badly managed company.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  He spelt a few poorly articulated words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T07:14:23.570" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17522" CreationDate="2011-03-23T07:28:56.910" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, that is how they stood against the wall.  Or at least that's how I have learned to group the words; I can see these interpretations being valid:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;They cried when he caused them to stand against the wall.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He caused them to stand against the wall which cries.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;He cried while causing them to stand against the wall.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(First post on this SE, woohoo.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6442" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T07:28:56.910" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17525" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17556" CreationDate="2011-03-23T08:08:49.700" Score="8" ViewCount="534" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do you call a person who despite being very clever in one field, e.g. math or physics, behaves very unwisely or impractical in real life?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I know some people who are very well educated and can solve difficult scientific problems, but they seem to belong to some different society. They can easily be cheated by any fraud, they are often absentminded so they lose their belonging all the time etc.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Do you have a word for this kind of people?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6116" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T10:33:26.107" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T17:20:34.863" Title="Is there a word for &quot;clever fool?&quot;" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="12" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="17526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17525" CreationDate="2011-03-23T08:11:30.767" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;hubris&lt;/em&gt; comes to mind; you wouldn't apply it to an individual but to his/her actions. Also, it has a connotation of arrogance rather than inadvertent behaviour; I am not sure this is what you're after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1304" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T08:11:30.767" />
  <row Id="17527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17525" CreationDate="2011-03-23T08:12:03.643" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/idiot%20savant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;idiot savant&lt;/a&gt;, perhaps?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;idiot sa·vant&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt;.)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. a person affected with a mental disability (as autism or mental retardation) who exhibits exceptional skill or brilliance in some limited field (as mathematics or music)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. a person who is highly knowledgeable about one subject but knows little about anything else&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T08:12:03.643" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="17528" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-23T08:16:47.537" Score="3" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They knew what mercy is.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  They knew what mercy was.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mercy&lt;/em&gt; is something that always exists so can I say &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;  as in the above example?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T09:38:39.797" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T11:41:01.657" Title="Should I use &quot;is&quot; or &quot;was&quot; in this example?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;tense&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;&lt;present-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17529" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17525" CreationDate="2011-03-23T08:20:44.167" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would describe that type of person as having a 'lack of common sense' but I can't think of a single word to express the concept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T08:20:44.167" />
  <row Id="17530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17528" CreationDate="2011-03-23T08:22:04.150" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it sounds more correct to use the same tense as the subject - so, in this case &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;simple past&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They &lt;strong&gt;knew&lt;/strong&gt; what mercy &lt;strong&gt;was&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;simple present&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They &lt;strong&gt;know&lt;/strong&gt; what mercy &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1798" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T08:22:04.150" />
  <row Id="17531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17528" CreationDate="2011-03-23T09:01:17.193" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Mercy is something that exists always but everyone tends to understand it differently. For one person it is when you kill your wounded horse for another it is to try and heel it. It is not necessary that mercy is always the same thing even for one man. As times change, he may change his mind. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, they knew what mercy &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt; and they could not know what it would be 10 years later.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6116" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T11:41:01.657" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T11:41:01.657" />
  <row Id="17532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17519" CreationDate="2011-03-23T09:04:31.650" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without more context, or a specific use I can't think of right now, I would not say either of those. I would say: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;“the main idea was the following: …”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T09:04:31.650" />
  <row Id="17533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17520" CreationDate="2011-03-23T09:08:19.603" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are grammaticaly correct, as evidenced by the fact that you can say “it starts raining” and “he contemplates creating a problem”. The phrases you wrote are just the corresponding progressive tense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;as a matter of style&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, it is awkward to have those two &lt;em&gt;-ing&lt;/em&gt; forms one right after the other. So, people would usually write it in other ways to avoid this, including “it was starting to rain”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T09:08:19.603" />
  <row Id="17535" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17538" CreationDate="2011-03-23T09:43:01.037" Score="4" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;Today, I saw a news headline on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12828104&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;BBC News&lt;/a&gt;. It says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nuclear power is 'indispensible' says&#xA;  safety agency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as I know, the correct word should be &quot;indispensable&quot;. Is it a typo (an example that shows even BBC can make mistakes in headlines) or is this an alternative version of that adjective? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T22:32:59.187" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T22:32:59.187" Title="&quot;Indispensible&quot;: is it correct?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17536" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-23T09:44:48.823" Score="0" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1338/is-a-company-always-plural-or-are-small-companies-singular&quot;&gt;Is a company always plural, or are small companies singular?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do you say &quot;Interpol has&quot; or &quot;Interpol have?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T09:50:08.180" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T09:54:58.993" ClosedDate="2011-03-23T10:08:36.183" Title="&quot;Interpol has&quot; or &quot;Interpol have?&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;grammar-case&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="17537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17536" CreationDate="2011-03-23T09:51:39.600" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.interpol.int/Public/ICPO/default.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;INTERPOL &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; the world’s largest international police organization.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, &quot;has&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6116" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T09:51:39.600" />
  <row Id="17538" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17535" CreationDate="2011-03-23T09:52:47.243" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/em&gt; reveals some use of &lt;em&gt;indispensible&lt;/em&gt;, though it is not mentioned in any of my dictionaries. The use statistics are: 35 for &lt;em&gt;indispensible&lt;/em&gt; vs. 1887 for &lt;em&gt;indispensable&lt;/em&gt;, so it is overwhelmingly in favour of the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Google ngram confirms that this is not a particularly recent trend, and that the two words were used competitively until 1840, where usage seems to have settled on &lt;em&gt;indispensable&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/g6PDd.png&quot; alt=&quot;Google ngram&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T09:52:47.243" />
  <row Id="17539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17536" CreationDate="2011-03-23T09:54:58.993" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, regarding capitalization: though the organization itself writes INTERPOL in all caps on its website, the more logical writing is either InterPol (for International Police) or Interpol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, it is usually considered singular, as “the Interpol &lt;em&gt;organization&lt;/em&gt; is …”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T09:54:58.993" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="17540" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-23T09:56:41.460" Score="9" ViewCount="148" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the accepted guidelines for reading out numbers in English? For example, should 1351 be read out as &quot;one thousand and three hundred and fifty one&quot;, or should the &quot;and&quot;s be removed completely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastEditorUserId="127" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T16:47:57.530" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T16:47:57.530" Title="Reading out numbers in English" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;numbers&gt;&lt;reading&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17541" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-23T10:01:12.837" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A complex sentence is a combination of an independent and a dependent clause.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The following are examples of complex sentences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When we heard how much the repair would cost, we decided to get a new TV set.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  We finally decided to get a new set, although we could not really afford it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T10:06:32.037" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T10:06:32.037" />
  <row Id="17542" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-23T10:01:12.837" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="A complex sentence is a combination of an independent and a dependent clause." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T10:06:36.123" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T10:06:36.123" />
  <row Id="17543" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-23T10:01:50.027" Score="0" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any one who joins the meeting with the attendee password becomes Viewer. Viewer have no authority within the conference; their primary role is to view the presentation as well as chat amongst other participants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6444" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T10:03:53.927" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T10:04:59.713" ClosedDate="2011-03-23T10:07:43.517" Title="Is this is grammatically correct?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17544" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17548" CreationDate="2011-03-23T10:03:56.300" Score="2" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;The stack exchange question &quot;Is there any concrete-solid proofs of this space odyssey?&quot; made me want to edit it to remove the s in proofs (someone with enough flair did), however it made me wonder about the plurality of &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;proofs&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So please enlighten me about which one is  correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there any concrete-solid proof of this space odyssey?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Are there any concrete-solid proofs of this space odyssey?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the asker wants to hear about at least one proof, the first one is OK, but what is correct if he wants at least two pieces of evidence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T10:12:53.283" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T17:40:04.323" Title="&quot;Is there any proof&quot; versus &quot;are there any proofs&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="17545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17543" CreationDate="2011-03-23T10:04:59.713" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. You have to say 'becomes a viewer' and 'Viewers have no authority'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T10:04:59.713" />
  <row Id="17546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17540" CreationDate="2011-03-23T10:06:12.800" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I heard people saying &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; with hundred only. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From wikipedia I got this info &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When saying or writing out numbers,&#xA;  the British insert an &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; before the&#xA;  tens and units, as in &lt;em&gt;one hundred and&#xA;  sixty-two&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;two thousand and three&lt;/em&gt;.&#xA;  In America it is considered correct to&#xA;  drop the &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt;, as in &lt;em&gt;one hundred&#xA;  sixty-two&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;two thousand three&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So 1351 will be read out as &quot;One thousand three hundred and fifty one&quot; in British English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6444" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T15:41:34.847" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T15:41:34.847" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17547" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17544" CreationDate="2011-03-23T10:10:10.587" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Is there any proof?' sounds better, but proofs is OK because you can say 'evidences'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Present your evidences to the court.' &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T10:10:10.587" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17544" CreationDate="2011-03-23T10:21:09.317" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My grammar book (&lt;em&gt;English Grammar&lt;/em&gt;, David Daniels and Barbara Daniels) reports that the indefinite pronoun &lt;em&gt;any&lt;/em&gt; is either singular or plural.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Someone asked him for a match, but Joe didn't have any.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Do you have any tips to pass on?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I don't have any choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your example, I would use &quot;Is there any concrete-solid proof of this space odyssey?&quot; because if there isn't a single proof, then there aren't two proofs either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T10:21:09.317" />
  <row Id="17549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17544" CreationDate="2011-03-23T10:22:13.480" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you begin the sentence with the singular copula (is) you are expected to make the object agree in number. Breaking down the SO sentence to its essentials, we have:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there any proofs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is grammatically incorrect. We can make these agree in number in two ways (as your own examples do):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is there any proof?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are there any proofs?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either is correct. &quot;Proof&quot; or &quot;proofs&quot; doesn't matter as long as the number agrees with the number of the copula.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T10:22:13.480" />
  <row Id="17550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17540" CreationDate="2011-03-23T10:35:56.597" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Think of it as a list of numbers with commas between them: One thousand, three hundred, and fifty one. Also, be careful not to put a plural 's' if the number is 200 or 2000 or greater. So you must say 'two hundred / thousand'. Same rule applies to millions and billions: 'Three million / billion.' &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T10:35:56.597" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17525" CreationDate="2011-03-23T10:37:37.180" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Autistic&lt;/em&gt; could be a word I would use in such cases, but I would mean it figuratively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T10:44:07.143" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T10:44:07.143" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17521" CreationDate="2011-03-23T10:40:32.397" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word 'still' must be placed after &quot;I&quot; : I still prounounce...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it's much better to say: My pronounciation is still poor / bad. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T10:40:32.397" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17485" CreationDate="2011-03-23T10:47:04.343" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've finished makes a more important connection between the action of finishing and the situation the speaker is in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example: I've finished my work so we can now go to the park. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T10:47:04.343" />
  <row Id="17554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17544" CreationDate="2011-03-23T11:14:45.633" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Proof&quot; is usually treated as a mass noun, and so has no plural: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I have proof that ... &quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;There is no proof that ... &quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You haven't any proof that ... &quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be used as a count noun, but usually only in special senses, such as a formal (mathematical or logical) proof:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;His book contains several new proofs of these theorems&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would find it strange to read &quot;They produced several proofs of his innocence&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T11:14:45.633" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17555" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17522" CreationDate="2011-03-23T11:27:19.453" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only interpretations I find syntactically possible are &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;He made them' stand [against the wall] crying' &quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;He made them stand against [the wall' crying'] &quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(where the ticks ' indicate the items that belong together).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pragmatically, the second is unlikely, so the first one is the only realistic interpretation; but for example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;He made them stand against the wall looking battered&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is more ambiguous (though I would still go for attaching the description to &quot;them&quot; without more context), and you can probably find other examples which are even more finely balanced. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The third parse&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;He' made them stand against the wall crying' &quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find impossible unless there is a comma before &quot;crying&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T11:27:19.453" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17525" CreationDate="2011-03-23T11:46:33.290" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard people like that described as &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=book%20smart&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;book smart&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. It is sometimes used as the opposite of &lt;em&gt;street-smart&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Being able to succeed scholastically, and not necessarily in the real world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Urban Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T15:19:42.543" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T15:19:42.543" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17517" CreationDate="2011-03-23T11:46:57.223" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maple doesn't refer to the fruit (unlike say an apple tree) since the main product of the maple is the sap or products made from it. If you eat a &quot;maple tart&quot; or &quot;maple cookie&quot; it will taste (at least in theory) like the concentrated sap, not the tree itself. The adjective doesn't imply &quot;maple tree&quot;. That said, &quot;a maple&quot; is unambiguously a maple tree. Same for &quot;an elm&quot;, &quot;an oak&quot;, and other trees whose main product is not the fruit. &quot;An apple&quot; could mean an apple tree but only in highly specific contexts, eg &quot;He looked along the drive, admiring the trees - several elms, an apple, and three maples.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, for completeness, you might say &quot;a maple&quot; to mean &quot;a maple one&quot; such as &quot;what flavour donut should I get you? A maple?&quot; or &quot;We were looking at flooring options and we've settled on a nice maple.&quot; But that's the adjective at work again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3946" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T11:46:57.223" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17433" CreationDate="2011-03-23T11:51:22.620" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bestowing is giving an honor or a right. Probably you mean &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;“ensuring his/her anonymity”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6449" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T11:51:22.620" />
  <row Id="17559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17522" CreationDate="2011-03-23T11:54:28.967" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the wall doesn't cry, it must be they.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6449" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T11:54:28.967" />
  <row Id="17560" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17571" CreationDate="2011-03-23T12:37:36.570" Score="3" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was reading &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/22/budget-2011-george-osborne&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt; and I'm not sure about the meaning of this sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Despite rise in inflation and&#xA;  borrowing, chancellor to court medium&#xA;  earners in &lt;strong&gt;'steady-as-she-goes'&#xA;  financial package&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could you explain me what the author meant by &lt;em&gt;&quot;steady-as-she-goes&quot; financial package&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could it be something like &quot;a financial package that is congruent with previous economic policies&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: Is this kind of question appropriate for this site?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6451" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T12:55:36.887" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T13:07:49.050" Title="Meaning of &quot;steady-as-she-goes financial package&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17525" CreationDate="2011-03-23T12:39:03.327" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps an &lt;em&gt;intellectual&lt;/em&gt; would cover it, although this word more usually means experts in politics or economics who are likewise clueless about everyday reality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T12:39:03.327" />
  <row Id="17562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17525" CreationDate="2011-03-23T12:40:29.140" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might be looking for &lt;em&gt;sophomore&lt;/em&gt;, which (according to some sources) can be traced to the Greek words &lt;em&gt;sophos&lt;/em&gt;, meaning &quot;wise&quot;, and &lt;em&gt;moros&lt;/em&gt;, meaning &quot;fool&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6452" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T12:40:29.140" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17563" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17575" CreationDate="2011-03-23T12:42:10.870" Score="0" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;In correspondence this morning, I found myself using a very verbal construction:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your Recommendation is entirely up to you in terms of the who and why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With due respect to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/56/using-who-and-whom/83#83&quot;&gt;the he:him::who:whom rule here&lt;/a&gt;, how should I have constructed this sentence in formal, professional correspondence? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I have used &quot;who&quot; or &quot;whom&quot;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Should I have offset &quot;who&quot; and &quot;why&quot; with quotes?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there a special word for the usage of [who/why/when,etc] when they are used in this objective/subjective fashion?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T13:02:51.357" Title="How should I construct &quot;the who&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;whom&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17564" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17565" CreationDate="2011-03-23T12:42:38.093" Score="0" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;My understanding is that if the term &lt;em&gt;department&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;unit&lt;/em&gt;, etc. is omitted, the name of a company's department becomes a proper noun and hence is capitalized:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lisa works in the marketing department.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Lisa from &lt;strong&gt;Marketing&lt;/strong&gt; called. She is waiting for &lt;strong&gt;Accounting&lt;/strong&gt; to approve her project.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T12:45:41.057" Title="Capitalize names of a company's departments?" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;&lt;proper-nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17564" CreationDate="2011-03-23T12:45:41.057" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, this is common usage.&lt;a href=&quot;http://xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T12:45:41.057" />
  <row Id="17566" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17569" CreationDate="2011-03-23T12:46:33.363" Score="1" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am working on a paper, and the following phrasing was suggested:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the protein-protein interaction&#xA;  (PPI) network, nodes represent&#xA;  proteins and edges represent&#xA;  connections between them, based on&#xA;  experimental evidence. PPI networks&#xA;  are rich and complex, &lt;strong&gt;so that&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;  a mathematical model is sought to&#xA;  capture their properties and shed&#xA;  light on PPI evolution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is that a legal use of &quot;so that&quot;? How would you phrase it differently otherwise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1760" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T21:18:16.193" Title="Usage of &quot;So that&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17525" CreationDate="2011-03-23T12:48:25.143" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Such people could be said to live in an Ivory Tower&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ivory tower&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;em&gt;plural ivory towers&lt;/em&gt;)&#xA;  (&lt;em&gt;idiomatic&lt;/em&gt;) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A sheltered,&#xA;  overly-academic existence or&#xA;  perspective, implying a disconnection&#xA;  or lack of awareness of reality or&#xA;  practical considerations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Such a&#xA;  proposal looks fine from an ivory&#xA;  tower, but it could never work in real&#xA;  life.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ivory_tower&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ivory_tower&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6135" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T12:48:25.143" />
  <row Id="17568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17563" CreationDate="2011-03-23T12:48:41.413" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends whether the person (the &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt;) would be a subject or not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you mean “you can decide freely who should write it”, then it's “in terms of the who [will write it] and why”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;If you mean “you can decide whom it should be sent to”, then it's “in terms of the whom [it will be sent to] and why”&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, it's probably &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T12:48:41.413" />
  <row Id="17569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17566" CreationDate="2011-03-23T12:50:34.643" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it is a valid use of “so that”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;so that:&lt;/strong&gt; with the result that (&lt;em&gt;it was overgrown with brambles, so that I had difficulty making any&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(&lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;). Not to be confused with another use of &lt;em&gt;so that&lt;/em&gt;, namely:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;so that:&lt;/strong&gt; with the aim that; in order that (&lt;em&gt;they whisper to each other so that no one else can hear&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T12:50:34.643" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17560" CreationDate="2011-03-23T12:54:53.453" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The original expression refers to a ship (hence &lt;em&gt;she&lt;/em&gt;), and means to keep on a steady course.&#xA;A discussion thread &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/54/messages/88.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is an instruction from the captain to the helmsman of a ship, to keep the ship heading steadily on the same course regardless of gusts of wind or cross-currents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T12:54:53.453" />
  <row Id="17571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17560" CreationDate="2011-03-23T12:55:09.833" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It was originally a maritime expression, where &lt;em&gt;she&lt;/em&gt; refers to a vessel and it is an instruction to maintain the current course.  So the author is saying that with this budget, the chancellor is continuing in the same policy direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5964" LastEditorUserId="5964" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T13:07:49.050" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T13:07:49.050" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17525" CreationDate="2011-03-23T12:58:08.380" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What do you call a person who despite&#xA;  being very clever in one field, e.g.&#xA;  math or physics, behaves very unwisely&#xA;  or impractical in real life?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How many people fall for 'buy-one-get-one-free' offers (why isn't the price simply reduced) or 'super-size' deals? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I remember an old saying 'penny-wise, pound-foolish'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With tongue, embedded in cheek,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Chris&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1472" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T12:58:08.380" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17573" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17574" CreationDate="2011-03-23T13:00:57.203" Score="3" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;What's the meaning of this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Not much I can hand to you this very moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4851" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T08:57:21.720" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T08:57:21.720" Title="&quot;Not much I can hand to you this very moment&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17573" CreationDate="2011-03-23T13:02:49.160" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;not much = little&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hand to someone = give to someone&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;this very moment = right now&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, it means “there is little I can give you right now”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T13:02:49.160" />
  <row Id="17575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17563" CreationDate="2011-03-23T13:02:51.357" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It works like this. You take a phrase, like &lt;em&gt;who would be the best man for the job?&lt;/em&gt;. You reduce it to one word, &lt;em&gt;who?&lt;/em&gt;. You do the same for &lt;em&gt;when should this job be done?&lt;/em&gt;. You then use these phrases as nouns: &lt;em&gt;what matters most is the who, not the when&lt;/em&gt;. Sentences like &lt;em&gt;His no really shattered my dreams&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;I want no ifs or buts!&lt;/em&gt; are results of the same process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could choose to add quotation marks and question marks with these questions-turned-one-word-nouns, but that is usually not done. They are mostly either not marked at all, or written in &lt;em&gt;italics&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The implicit question behind this &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; is rather free: it could be &lt;em&gt;whom do you consider the best man for the job?&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;who should do it?&lt;/em&gt;. Since there is no way to tell what the implicit question was if you use only &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt;, you are theoretically free to choose &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt;, unless context forces you into assuming one implicit question or another. Conventionally most people would use the neutral form &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; in most cases, which is what I recommend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The use of &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;when&lt;/em&gt; in this fashion is informal. If you're aiming at a rather formal style, you'd better avoid such constructions. Incidentally, the current style of your quote is rather informal as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T13:02:51.357" />
  <row Id="17576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17502" CreationDate="2011-03-23T13:13:12.870" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something that absorbs a lot of a given commodity is often referred to as a sink.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A project which absorbs a lot of my time could be referred to as a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/time_sink&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;time sink&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;World of Warcraft has been referred to as a &lt;a href=&quot;http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1898980&amp;amp;cid=34472774&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;life-sink&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6135" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T13:13:12.870" />
  <row Id="17577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17573" CreationDate="2011-03-23T13:51:21.403" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A phrase like this might be used by someone who needs to give you bad news but at the same time wants to spare your feelings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When spoken, it might be said with a sympathetic expression and maybe added emphasis&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Not &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;much&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; I can hand to you &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;this moment&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...when the truth might be that there is &lt;strong&gt;nothing&lt;/strong&gt; to give you, and there might never be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T13:51:21.403" />
  <row Id="17578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17502" CreationDate="2011-03-23T14:02:33.497" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;effort intensive&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;money hungry&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;time consuming&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;resource draining&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T14:02:33.497" />
  <row Id="17579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17521" CreationDate="2011-03-23T14:33:20.977" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whether you use &quot;bad/badly&quot; vs. &quot;poor/poorly&quot;, I don't think there's much difference in this context. They both are grammatical and understandable here as &quot;I still do not pronounce well&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a trend in American English to drop 'ly' so that something that acts like an adverb instead looks like an adjective. So&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I talk bad&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is OK&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is similar to saying&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't talk too good&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where 'well' the adverb is replaced by 'good' the adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(which is classic 'ungrammatical' speech but is what people might say acceptably in a very colloquial/low register setting.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One most likely would not use 'poor' in this context because it would really stand out as weird ('poor' in this meaning of 'not good' is not particularly common in American English).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I pronounce poorly&quot;, &quot;I pronounce badly&quot;, and &quot;I pronounce bad&quot; are all fine in AmE, the last one not so much only because &quot;pronounce&quot;, as a more technical word, is of higher register than &quot;bad&quot; and so it sounds incongruous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T14:33:20.977" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17525" CreationDate="2011-03-23T14:35:36.360" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Unworldly&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;otherworldly&lt;/em&gt; are the best single words I can come up with.  There's no strong implication of expertise in a narrow field as there would be with &lt;em&gt;idiot savant&lt;/em&gt; though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T14:35:36.360" />
  <row Id="17581" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17582" CreationDate="2011-03-23T14:43:24.047" Score="3" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;While answering and commenting on &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/17433/is-bestowing-anonymity-the-right-term-or-expression&quot;&gt;another question&lt;/a&gt; I discovered that I am apparently thinking about anonymity differently than everyone else who responded. There are two questions stemming from that discussion, this is the first:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What words can fill the gap in this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[Word] is anonymous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The examples I seem to find acceptable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The writer is anonymous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The paper was anonymous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The call was anonymous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should I be saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The paper was written anonymously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The call was made anonymously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T14:56:21.310" Title="What objects can be classified as anonymous?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17581" CreationDate="2011-03-23T14:56:21.310" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All of your example sentences sound fine for me. In general, it's acceptable to refer to a piece of communication as being &lt;em&gt;anonymous&lt;/em&gt; if what you mean is that it was &lt;em&gt;created anonymously&lt;/em&gt;. This is a common idiom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this doesn't necessarily apply to all words derived from the same stem. Saying &lt;em&gt;the writer's anonymity&lt;/em&gt; sounds fine; saying &lt;em&gt;the paper's anonymity&lt;/em&gt; strikes me as questionable. Others may find it to be unobjectionable, but I am among those speakers who would balk at the construction. Thus, for maximum clarity and fluency, you may find it useful to reword things like &lt;em&gt;the paper's anonymity&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;the anonymity of the paper's author&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T14:56:21.310" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="17583" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17646" CreationDate="2011-03-23T15:34:50.810" Score="4" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;How did the word 'busted' morph into a synonym for 'caught'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Busted, down on Bourbon Street,&#xA;Set up, like a bowling pin.&#xA;Knocked down, it gets to wearin' thin&#xA;They just won't let you be....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="5531" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T17:27:04.003" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T21:09:36.063" Title="Why does &quot;I got 'busted' for smoking weed&quot; mean 'caught'?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2926" CreationDate="2011-03-23T15:43:35.020" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would subtly change the emphasis here by saying that for me, this means that it is just as important to know your opponent's strengths and weaknesses as it is your own.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5681" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T15:43:35.020" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17075" CreationDate="2011-03-23T15:46:29.430" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I don't trust him any farther than I could throw him.&lt;/em&gt; (unit of trust)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;There&amp;rsquo;s room in her bathroom to swing a cat.&lt;/em&gt; (unit of capacity)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess none of these are exactly units of measurement&amp;mdash;you don&amp;rsquo;t say things like &lt;em&gt;&amp;ldquo;It&amp;rsquo;s about seven stones&amp;rsquo; throws away&amp;rdquo;&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;&amp;ldquo;How many hops, skips, and jumps is it to the store from here?&amp;rdquo;&lt;/em&gt; They&amp;rsquo;re more like thresholds that you measure something against.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &lt;em&gt;The Joy of Lex&lt;/em&gt;, Gyles Brandreth proposed a unit of measure, the &lt;em&gt;millihelen&lt;/em&gt;, defined as the amount of beauty required to launch one ship.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastEditorUserId="2249" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T05:46:13.317" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T05:46:13.317" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-23T23:23:59.803" />
  <row Id="17586" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17535" CreationDate="2011-03-23T15:51:33.833" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;BBC does make mistakes. I wouldn't be surprised if that headline is revised in a matter of hours or days. &lt;em&gt;Indispensible&lt;/em&gt; is clearly a typo in this case, and it is not an uncommon misspelling of &lt;em&gt;indispensable&lt;/em&gt;. In my experience, it is rarely frowned upon, and I even thought it was correct until now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a similar vein, &lt;em&gt;defensable&lt;/em&gt; is also a common misspelling of &lt;em&gt;defensible&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T15:51:33.833" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17587" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17592" CreationDate="2011-03-23T16:04:14.103" Score="2" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;So, in a tournament, there are several events.  Each event has so many people sign up for it.  There is a total number of people attending the tournament, and each person can sign up for multiple events.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If Joe signs up for 2 events, and Mary signs up for 3, John signs up for 1...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are 3 people/registrants, but 6 &lt;strong&gt;somethings&lt;/strong&gt;. (2 + 3 + 1)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is that &lt;strong&gt;somethings&lt;/strong&gt;? (Does it even exist?)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Entries&quot; &lt;em&gt;just&lt;/em&gt; occurred to me as a possible answer.  I've been thinking about this all night and wonder what else is out there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5353" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T17:42:40.023" Title="Relating to tournaments.. what's that word?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="17588" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-23T16:04:46.250" Score="0" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All Things &lt;em&gt;Is/Are&lt;/em&gt; Ephemeral&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know that &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; is meant to be the verb connecting the two fragments together, but why...? (Gut instinct)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="482" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T16:35:04.060" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T16:35:04.060" Title="&quot;All Things Is/Are Ephemeral&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="17589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17588" CreationDate="2011-03-23T16:07:27.560" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because the word &quot;things&quot; is plural.  This is the phenomenon known as &lt;em&gt;case agreement&lt;/em&gt;, in its &lt;em&gt;grammatical number&lt;/em&gt; form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T16:07:27.560" />
  <row Id="17590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17588" CreationDate="2011-03-23T16:07:40.620" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The subject &quot;All things&quot; is plural, ergo the verb is plural. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The complement &quot;ephemeral&quot; is an adjective, and so does not inflect for number in English anyway; but even if it were a singular noun, as &quot;All things are a nuisance&quot;, &quot;are&quot; would still agree with &quot;all things&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T16:07:40.620" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17587" CreationDate="2011-03-23T16:09:35.577" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Entries, as you suggested? Registrations?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T16:09:35.577" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17587" CreationDate="2011-03-23T16:10:02.153" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe 'event entries'. Possibly with a hyphen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T16:10:02.153" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17583" CreationDate="2011-03-23T16:23:41.273" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would have thought that it has its origins in the law enforcement term &lt;em&gt;'[To carry out a drug] bust'&lt;/em&gt;. Although it is often used interchangeably with the term  &lt;em&gt;raid&lt;/em&gt;, I would suggest that the physical act of gaining forced entry by &lt;em&gt;&quot;&lt;strong&gt;busting&lt;/strong&gt; the door down&quot;&lt;/em&gt; led to its becoming known as such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6458" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T16:23:41.273" />
  <row Id="17595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17540" CreationDate="2011-03-23T16:31:09.117" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this depends on the number and also the situation you are reading the number in.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance a date I would read as thirteen fifty one, whereas 101 items in the basket I would read as One hundred and one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1200 might be read as either twelve hundred or  one thousand two hundred (depending on the situation and the culture as some countries use the first way and some the second).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is more common to only use and with the hundred though, 1101  = one thousand one hundred and one rather than one thousand and one hundred and one&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T16:31:09.117" />
  <row Id="17596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17583" CreationDate="2011-03-23T16:31:19.553" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=bust&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt; tends to back up MrHen's guess:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;variant of burst, 1764, Amer.Eng. The verb sense of [...] &quot;arrest&quot; is from 1953 (earlier &quot;to raid&quot; from Prohibition).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately this doesn't give us a lot of insight into how that meaning evolved, but &quot;bu[r]sting in&quot; to places where criminal activity is going on is as good a guess as any.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastEditorUserId="1579" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T16:39:31.983" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T16:39:31.983" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17597" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17566" CreationDate="2011-03-23T16:37:24.587" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would write it like this: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because PPI networks are rich and&#xA;  complex, a mathematical model is&#xA;  sought to capture their properties and&#xA;  shed light on their evolution&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Starting the initial clause this way gears people up better for the main part of the sentance. I would also avoid using 'PPI' twice in the one sentence : I'm not sure I've done this correctly however!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T16:37:24.587" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17598" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17525" CreationDate="2011-03-23T16:46:30.117" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Egghead&lt;/em&gt; has a touch of both the positive and negative connotations you&amp;rsquo;re looking for. Maybe not enough. &lt;em&gt;Dreamer&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;daydreamer&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;visionary&lt;/em&gt; are along the same lines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AbsentMindedProfessor&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;absent-minded professor&lt;/em&gt; stereotype&lt;/a&gt; you describe is more or less what people conjure up when you say &lt;em&gt;philosopher&lt;/em&gt;&amp;mdash;though of course that word denotes a particular job or field of study.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Such a person is usually &lt;em&gt;eccentric&lt;/em&gt; too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T16:46:30.117" />
  <row Id="17599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17587" CreationDate="2011-03-23T16:54:26.373" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think there's a case for &lt;strong&gt;entrants&lt;/strong&gt; here. It associates more strongly with each &lt;em&gt;event&lt;/em&gt;, rather than each &lt;em&gt;competitor&lt;/em&gt;. I accept it's a little bit odd, but I don't have a big problem with the statement &lt;em&gt;Thus there are 6 entrants, but only 3 competitors&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T16:54:26.373" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17525" CreationDate="2011-03-23T17:20:34.863" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oh! you're talking about &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professor_Calculus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Professor Calculus&lt;/a&gt; ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6465" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T17:20:34.863" />
  <row Id="17601" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-23T17:33:39.773" Score="3" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm Jonesing for a little Ganja, mon... I'm jonesing for a little soul food, brother... Where did &quot;I'm jonesing&quot; come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T18:20:32.400" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T19:21:21.723" Title="Where did &quot;I'm Jonesing&quot; get its meaning from?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="17602" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17611" CreationDate="2011-03-23T17:34:58.820" Score="2" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;L33t or its various other titles* is a derivation of English but I have no idea what term should be used to describe it. Other examples of these things would include &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/16154/is-lolspeak-bad-english-or-just-a-different-english&quot;&gt;lolspeak&lt;/a&gt; and the massive alterations involved in commonplace texting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L33t&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia suggests&lt;/a&gt; that l33t is an alternative &quot;alphabet&quot; but that only covers the letter/number conversions. &quot;Alphabet&quot; doesn't address the lingo and structure (&lt;em&gt;*cough*&lt;/em&gt;) that l33t employs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps this question is too far outside of the scope of this site. L33t itself &lt;em&gt;suggests&lt;/em&gt; a culture of its own but no one over there can agree on anything and any popular lingo today will be forgotten or replaced by tomorrow. Its worthiness is totally debatable but I still want to know what to call it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;* Included here for future searches: leet, leetspeak, l33tspeak, l33tsp34k, 1337, 13375p34k&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T18:23:00.883" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:23:00.883" Title="How are artificial constructions such as l33t classified with regards to English?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;language-evolution&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17601" CreationDate="2011-03-23T17:39:16.727" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Jones&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline suggests&lt;/a&gt; that it rose from a use of Jones as slang for heroin:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The slang sense &quot;intense desire, addiction&quot; probably arose from earlier use of Jones as a synonym for &quot;heroin,&quot; presumably from the proper name, but the connection, if any, is obscure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T19:12:57.197" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T19:12:57.197" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17544" CreationDate="2011-03-23T17:40:04.323" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're more likely to encounter the plural in formal logic, maths, etc., where a given proposition may have multiple &lt;em&gt;proofs&lt;/em&gt;. In other contexts it's more common to lump all the supporting evidence together as (singular) &lt;em&gt;proof&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T17:40:04.323" />
  <row Id="17605" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17612" CreationDate="2011-03-23T17:41:06.803" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Maybe a week, maybe a month; you will meet a tall dark stranger; the next few weeks are going to be hard on your energy levels....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the real/inferred differences between “prophecy” and “fortune telling”?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T23:27:21.753" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T23:27:21.753" Title="What is the difference between “prophecy” and “fortune telling”?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="17606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17587" CreationDate="2011-03-23T17:42:40.023" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you have a box of &lt;em&gt;match&lt;/em&gt;? Depending on the context of the tournament, &lt;strong&gt;matches&lt;/strong&gt; sounds quite alright, I think.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1486" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T17:42:40.023" />
  <row Id="17607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17566" CreationDate="2011-03-23T17:45:19.320" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that wording was used to try and emphasize the complexity, but it does read a bit strangely.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The emphasis might have been better expressed something like the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... PPI networks are rich and complex, &lt;strong&gt;so much so&lt;/strong&gt;, that a mathematical model is sought to&#xA;  capture their properties and shed light on PPI evolution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T17:45:19.320" />
  <row Id="17608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17605" CreationDate="2011-03-23T17:47:41.813" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, at its roots, the function of &lt;em&gt;prophecy&lt;/em&gt; is not about foretelling the future, really, it's about haranguing the populace about how they need to quit being drunken sluts or whatever because &lt;code&gt;$DEITY&lt;/code&gt; is getting pissed.  Originally, the stuff about the future was &lt;em&gt;warning&lt;/em&gt; people about the bad shit that was going to go down if they didn't shape up.  But, on the one hand, people never shape up, so the bad shit always went down, and on the other hand, everybody loves a good apocalypse, so over time the predictive orientation became more and more a part of the gig until prophet started meaning someone who foretells the future.  Kinda hilarious if you ask me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T17:47:41.813" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17609" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17602" CreationDate="2011-03-23T17:49:46.183" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd just say l33t is an informal dialectal transcription format, not dissimilar to txtese, chatspeak, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T17:49:46.183" />
  <row Id="17610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17540" CreationDate="2011-03-23T17:49:59.940" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The quality/fidelity of the medium should also be taken into account.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Often when reading numbers over radio or a poor quality telephone line, the numbers are read out using only their digits, and 9 is often read as &lt;em&gt;Niner&lt;/em&gt;, so that it can be more clearly distinguished apart from Five.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T17:49:59.940" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17602" CreationDate="2011-03-23T18:00:11.580" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a kind of argot, jargon, or insider's lingo. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:00:11.580" />
  <row Id="17612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17605" CreationDate="2011-03-23T18:03:49.113" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fortunetelling more strictly means perceiving someone's good or bad fortune.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your future will be happy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your future looks cloudy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A prophecy is more likely to go into much more detail:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The king will return on May 31st.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You will die before your brother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said, the two can be used interchangeably with regards to specific prophecies and fortunes told. The choice between them probably reflects a particular business, marketing or publicity strategy. A fortuneteller is more likely to give you vague but generally happy news about your love life and can be found at carnivals and gypsy conventions. Prophets are more likely to be found in religious environments that include churches and temples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This probably stems from an implication of the source of the prediction: Fortunetelling is a mystical or psychic ability while prophesies are typically considered divine knowledge imparted to a chosen few.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of note: Time travelers are warning of impending doom are generally considered to &quot;predict the future&quot; and, therefore, dodge both of the titles. When they &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; be given a title it is usually a &quot;prophet&quot; but even then it tends to be a label proffered by the stupid people of the past because they cannot understand the magic technology of time travel. &quot;Predictions&quot; or &quot;predictors&quot; also apply to pundits, investors or bookies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am also under the impression that most written predictions are considered &quot;prophesies&quot; unless being recorded as a tale of a particular fortune telling experience. This is more of a hunch than my other points, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More thoughts on the subject include the idea of a &quot;false prophet&quot; as opposed to a fortune teller merely being wrong. In terms of practical applications, most fortune tellers or prophets are deliberately vague on account of the, er, difficulty of being more accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A more abstract term for this entire discussion would be &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://mw2.m-w.com/dictionary/divinations&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;divinations&lt;/a&gt;&quot; which encompasses activities such as dowsing and tarot cards.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:03:49.113" />
  <row Id="17613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17605" CreationDate="2011-03-23T18:03:59.270" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophecy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophecy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A prophecy is a process in which one&#xA;  or more messages that have been&#xA;  communicated to a true prophet are&#xA;  then communicated to others by this&#xA;  true prophet. Such messages typically&#xA;  involve divine inspiration,&#xA;  interpretation, or revelation of&#xA;  conditioned events to come (cf. divine&#xA;  knowledge) as well as testimonies or&#xA;  repeated revelations that the world is&#xA;  divine&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortune_telling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortune_telling&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fortune-telling is the practice of&#xA;  predicting information about a&#xA;  person's life, often commercially.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The scope of fortune-telling is in&#xA;  principle identical with the practice&#xA;  of divination. The difference is that&#xA;  divination is the term used for&#xA;  predictions considered part of a&#xA;  religious ritual, invoking deities or&#xA;  spirits, while the term&#xA;  fortune-telling implies a less serious&#xA;  or formal setting, even one of popular&#xA;  culture, where belief in occult&#xA;  workings behind the prediction is less&#xA;  prominent than the concept of&#xA;  suggestion, spiritual or practical&#xA;  advisory or affirmation. Historically,&#xA;  fortune-telling grows out of&#xA;  folkloristic reception of Renaissance&#xA;  magic, specifically associated with&#xA;  gypsies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:03:59.270" />
  <row Id="17614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17602" CreationDate="2011-03-23T18:05:34.667" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It should be appropriately grouped in with simplistic encryption methodologies, along the same lines as Pig Latin. The wording is rarely dissimilar to standard English, albeit poorly written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6468" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:05:34.667" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="17615" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-23T18:06:50.440" Score="2" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;Prompted by &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/17352/what-does-should-mean-in-this-sentence&quot;&gt;what-does-should-mean-in-this-sentence&#xA;&lt;/a&gt;, instead of asking what it means, I'm interested in what part of speech it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She walked through the forest, and who&#xA;  should she see, but the Big Bad Wolf&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Should' is being used to means 'did' in this sentence, which is an unusual use for 'should'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The general form seems to me to be  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Interrogative] should [event] but&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;('But' replaceable by 'except', 'only' ....)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this a subjunctive? Is it a vestige from Old English?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T14:10:17.473" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T14:10:17.473" Title="More on 'who should she see': what part of speech is 'should' in this phrase?" Tags="&lt;part-of-speech&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17616" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17617" CreationDate="2011-03-23T18:41:56.637" Score="3" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4327/till-death-do-us-part&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;Till death do us part&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a English name of a forthcoming Chinese film. The Chinese name is “Best love”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/ohIp9.png&quot; alt=&quot;Till Death Do Us Part&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T18:45:17.497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T18:45:17.497" ClosedDate="2011-03-24T22:23:19.523" Title="What is the meaning of “till death do us part”?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17616" CreationDate="2011-03-23T18:45:51.340" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;till death do us part&quot; is a part of some traditional wedding vows.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The signifies that the married couple intend to spend the remainder of their lives together - They will be parted only by death&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=part&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;part&lt;/a&gt; - note that it is used as a verb in this instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;S: (v) &lt;strong&gt;separate, part, split&lt;/strong&gt; (go    one's own way; move apart) &lt;em&gt;&quot;The&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  friends separated after the party&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;S: (v) &lt;strong&gt;separate, part, split up, split,    break, break up&lt;/strong&gt; (discontinue&#xA;  an    association or relation; go&#xA;  different    ways) &quot;The business&#xA;  partners broke    over a tax&#xA;  question&quot;; &lt;em&gt;&quot;The couple    separated&#xA;  after 25 years of    marriage&quot;; &quot;My&#xA;  friend and I split up&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;S: (v) &lt;strong&gt;depart, part, start, start&lt;/strong&gt;    out, set forth, set off, set out,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  take off (leave) &lt;em&gt;&quot;The family took off &#xA;  for Florida&quot;&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;S: (v) &lt;strong&gt;separate, divide,    part&lt;/strong&gt; (come apart) &lt;em&gt;&quot;The two pieces    that&#xA;  we had glued separated&quot;&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;S: (v)    &lt;strong&gt;separate, disunite, divide, part&lt;/strong&gt;    (force, take, or pull&#xA;  apart) &lt;em&gt;&quot;He    separated the fighting&#xA;  children&quot;;    &quot;Moses parted the Red&#xA;  Sea&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6135" LastEditorUserId="6135" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T18:53:47.437" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:53:47.437" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17616" CreationDate="2011-03-23T18:46:24.193" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Till death do us part&quot; or &quot;Until death do us part&quot; is a common wedding vow. Its implication is that nothing other than one partner dying can end the marriage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It can be used in other contexts but it will nearly always be referring to the wedding vow; even if it was spoken outside of a marriage ceremony it will imply a long-standing alliance or partnership between two people that is expected to last for the lifetime of those involved.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:46:24.193" />
  <row Id="17619" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17622" CreationDate="2011-03-23T18:50:31.400" Score="3" ViewCount="174" Body="&lt;p&gt;They both sound right and I've found examples of both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T20:55:35.697" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:36:01.037" Title="&quot;In the nick of time&quot; or &quot;in a nick of time?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;articles&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17615" CreationDate="2011-03-23T18:58:20.837" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is used here as an auxiliary verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T18:58:20.837" />
  <row Id="17622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17619" CreationDate="2011-03-23T19:11:54.037" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely &quot;the&quot; nick of time. It is a specific thing - one chance. You don't get nicks of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3820" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T19:11:54.037" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7431" CreationDate="2011-03-23T19:38:26.377" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It&amp;rsquo;s unclear to me whether it means &amp;ldquo;work for&amp;rdquo; or &amp;ldquo;hire&amp;rdquo;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Grammatically it seems fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T19:38:26.377" />
  <row Id="17624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17075" CreationDate="2011-03-23T19:45:08.300" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't forget the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Smoot&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T19:45:08.300" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-23T23:23:59.803" />
  <row Id="17626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15154" CreationDate="2011-03-23T20:02:10.273" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Anything related to the senses, that the person you are describing to has not experienced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A good example would be explaining colour to someone who is blind or trying to describe a sunset. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Being able to explain physical feelings such as touch, to someone who has never been able to physically feel objects, imagine trying to explain something being smooth or abrasive. If the person has no frame of reference then words are just words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T20:02:10.273" />
  <row Id="17627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15154" CreationDate="2011-03-23T20:03:24.433" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Highly technical descriptions of motion or construction are theoretically &lt;em&gt;possible&lt;/em&gt; with words but it will end up feeling like you are using the wrong tool for the job. For example: Blue-prints for a warehouse or instructions on how to put together a truck engine both benefit greatly from visual aids.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With regards to the logical trick mentioned by Lee, you can easily describe an idea of an object without referring directly to the object itself. The concept of an indescribable thing is alive and well and we can freely talk about it without describing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T20:03:24.433" />
  <row Id="17628" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17635" CreationDate="2011-03-23T20:12:30.497" Score="0" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;This worker, to do all of his tasks, is fully able.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;This worker is, to do all of his tasks, fully able.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T20:17:43.080" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T20:39:16.193" Title="Which of these two sentences seems more acceptable?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17628" CreationDate="2011-03-23T20:16:09.320" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither. Try:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This worker is fully able to do all of his tasks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T20:16:09.320" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="17630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13447" CreationDate="2011-03-23T20:23:19.117" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some words that come to mind:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sultry, Sexy, Attractive, arousing, come-hither, delicious, luscious, appealing, captivating, heavenly, fetching.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T20:23:19.117" />
  <row Id="17631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17628" CreationDate="2011-03-23T20:27:16.560" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even as a response I would agree that the answer given by HaL is much more appropriate, either of the first two examples seem awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T20:27:16.560" />
  <row Id="17632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17619" CreationDate="2011-03-23T20:32:28.113" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always seen it as &quot;the nick of time&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Could you give any examples of where 'a nick of time' has been used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: After some more thought &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have always understood a nick to be a small peice of something, for example if i were to say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I took a nick out of my penknife blade&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In which case using 'a nick'  would be valid if you were to say say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is a nick in my penknife blade&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When referring to time you wouldnt be able to use 'a nick' in the same way as 'the nick' though &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastEditorUserId="6352" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T14:36:01.037" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:36:01.037" />
  <row Id="17633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16991" CreationDate="2011-03-23T20:33:20.107" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Out for lunch&quot; makes me think the person will be bringing the food back with them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John went out for lunch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John went out for sandwiches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John went out for staples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; heard the other variations and they seem to mean various things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John is out at lunch. Can I take a message?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We went out to lunch at the new burger joint.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can I take you out to lunch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have also heard the phrase used to imply someone is &quot;out to lunch&quot; or not entirely there mentally. Context seems to be the only clue that this meaning was intended:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why did he do that? Is he out to lunch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When talking to someone while eating, I find this more common:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can I call you back? I am at lunch.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T20:33:20.107" />
  <row Id="17634" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17628" CreationDate="2011-03-23T20:38:42.617" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To directly answer your question, I'd go with #2.  Making us wait for the verb makes the sentence even more awkward.  That said, HaL's is the most natural.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5353" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T20:38:42.617" />
  <row Id="17635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17628" CreationDate="2011-03-23T20:39:16.193" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you need to use one or the other for some reason unexplained (i.e. rhyme), use the former as it keeps the &quot;is fully able&quot; assembled, and better communicates that essential point; splitting the subject from 'is' seems less significant comparatively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T20:39:16.193" />
  <row Id="17636" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17745" CreationDate="2011-03-23T20:39:40.763" Score="4" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is the correct usage of the third person, plural pronoun?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is they who lied.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  It is them who lied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T20:57:07.053" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:23:51.247" Title="&quot;It is they who lied&quot; or &quot;it is them who lied?&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="17637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17636" CreationDate="2011-03-23T20:46:08.000" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's &lt;em&gt;they&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Who lied? They did. &amp;rarr; It is they who lied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: &lt;em&gt;them&lt;/em&gt; continues to sound Just Wrong&lt;sup&gt;TM&lt;/sup&gt; to me, but knowledgeable folks who I respect tell me that it is also acceptable, maybe even preferred in some contexts (e.g. spoken language). So I'm officially confused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T14:04:34.163" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:04:34.163" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17636" CreationDate="2011-03-23T20:47:08.080" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first sentence is correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It is they who lied.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;It is&quot; is always followed by the nominative case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5964" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T20:47:08.080" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17639" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17648" CreationDate="2011-03-23T20:58:51.390" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;Two related questions here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is it proper to use the construct, &quot;Administrative components are autonomous &lt;strong&gt;of/from&lt;/strong&gt; the front-end components&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If it is proper, which preposition works the best?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3454" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T02:09:42.497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T08:26:10.810" Title="What preposition should be used with &quot;autonomous&quot;:  &quot;of&quot; or &quot;from&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="17640" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17075" CreationDate="2011-03-23T20:59:30.940" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if it is quite what you have in mind, but you may be interested in the furlong/firkin/fortnight system of measurement, in which the speed of light may be rendered as 1.8 Megafurlongs per microfortnight.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More on Wikipedia: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FFF_System&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;FFF System&lt;/a&gt;; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attoparsec#Attoparsec&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Attoparsec&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T18:06:11.720" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T18:06:11.720" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-23T23:23:59.803" />
  <row Id="17641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17636" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:02:03.507" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that if the pronoun after 'It is' serves as the subject of a subordinate clause containing a relative pronoun then it is in the nominative case. For example: It is he who killed the deer. But: Who is it? It is him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T21:02:03.507" />
  <row Id="17642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17639" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:05:54.143" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would it not be better to say 'work independently of...' ? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T21:05:54.143" />
  <row Id="17643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17075" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:06:09.250" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some less common ones:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;MilliHelen (artificial, the facial beauty required to launch one ship&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More than you can shake a stick at. (unit of quantity)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Big as a house.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A buttload.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T21:06:09.250" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-23T23:23:59.803" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17566" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:06:41.367" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it reads odd too, but not because of &lt;strong&gt;so that&lt;/strong&gt;, but because of &lt;strong&gt;is sought&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would have written:  ...so that a mathematical model &lt;strong&gt;may be&lt;/strong&gt; sought to capture their properties and shed light on PPI evolution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5337" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T21:18:16.193" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T21:18:16.193" />
  <row Id="17645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17639" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:08:14.537" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Use &lt;em&gt;independent &lt;strong&gt;of&lt;/strong&gt; / &lt;strong&gt;from&lt;/strong&gt; the front-end components&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or they are &lt;em&gt;autonomous &lt;strong&gt;in respect to&lt;/strong&gt; the the front-end components&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T08:26:10.810" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T08:26:10.810" />
  <row Id="17646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17583" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:09:36.063" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Green's Slang Dictionary has &lt;em&gt;bust&lt;/em&gt; meaning a break in or a raid dating from 1865, but the earliest reference to a police raid is from 1938. Later the word came to mean any arrest or criminal charge. This usage probably derives from &lt;em&gt;burst&lt;/em&gt; meaning a burglary, which it dates from 1834.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can recall Philip K. Dick using the word &lt;em&gt;burst&lt;/em&gt; as a typically Dickian substitution for &lt;em&gt;bust&lt;/em&gt; in one of his novels (sadly I forget which one), which would have required commendable self-discipline in the days before word processors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T21:09:36.063" />
  <row Id="17647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17639" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:11:44.670" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think &lt;strong&gt;autonomous&lt;/strong&gt; can be used like this at all. You would have to say &lt;strong&gt;is autonomous relative to the front-end components&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;in relation to the front-end components&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5337" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T21:11:44.670" />
  <row Id="17648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17639" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:13:14.793" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This word is best used in an absolute sense, i.e. without specifying what the autonomous entity would depend on if it weren't autonomous. If you need a contrast, use &quot;independent of&quot; (&quot;of&quot; is better than &quot;from&quot;), as Nicholas recommends.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;autonomous&quot; comes from Greek &lt;em&gt;autos&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;own, self&quot;, and &lt;em&gt;nomos&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;law&quot;. It means &quot;having one's own laws&quot;: the fact that you cannot easily add whatever is opposed to &quot;one's own laws&quot; to this phrase may serve to illustrate why &quot;autonomous&quot; is traditionally used without modifiers, or so I believe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T21:20:27.190" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T21:20:27.190" />
  <row Id="17649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17075" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:16:07.863" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;or the RCH! &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Chzz/Red_cunt_hair&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Chzz/Red_cunt_hair&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5337" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T21:16:07.863" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-23T23:23:59.803" />
  <row Id="17650" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17775" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:18:19.423" Score="2" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;Shouldn't &lt;em&gt;Heaven&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Hell&lt;/em&gt; be capitalized, as they are the names of places?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T22:26:34.183" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T17:02:56.067" Title="Shouldn't &quot;Heaven&quot; and &quot;Hell&quot; be capitalized, as they are the names of places?" Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17651" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:30:37.103" Score="1" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I grew up learning that the comma must be placed there, but it seems like an unnecessary interruption in a phrase that isn't ever spoken that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2945" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T02:53:21.350" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T02:53:21.350" Title="Is it acceptable to drop the comma in &quot;Thanks, John&quot;?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="17652" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:33:05.213" Score="1" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does &quot;lesser&quot; as in &quot;lesser man&quot; refer only to moral strength and goodness or can it encompass physical and mental stamina?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6473" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T01:59:54.970" Title="Does &quot;lesser&quot; as in &quot;lesser man&quot; refer only to moral strength and goodness or can it encompass physical and mental stamina?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="17653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17651" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:33:44.063" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The comma appears in the written language because if you were saying it there would naturally be a short pause there; you'd say &quot;Thanks...John&quot;, rather than &quot;ThanksJohn&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T21:33:44.063" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17650" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:36:18.210" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you refer to a unique place, such as Earth, then you would capitalise it as befits a proper noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you refer to a class of places, such as the city or the country, then you would not capitalise the common noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now you might hold a view that there is one true heaven, and as such deem it unique and worthy of capitalisation. Or you might admit the possibility of many heavens and place it in the category of common nouns, not worthy of capitalisation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T21:36:18.210" />
  <row Id="17655" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17659" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:38:46.813" Score="4" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is more correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We were &lt;em&gt;burgled&lt;/em&gt; yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We were &lt;em&gt;burglarized&lt;/em&gt; yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm from the UK and never use &lt;em&gt;buglarized&lt;/em&gt; but my friend from the USA seems to think it's OK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T22:40:03.740" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T22:40:03.740" Title="Which is more correct: &quot;burgled&quot; or &quot;burglarized&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;past-participle&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17650" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:38:51.500" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ERRATUM: The comments to my answer helped to change my mind on this. I now agree that heaven and hell should always be lowercase.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe they should be capitalized when used as place names. I've noticed a tapering-off in their capitalization in my lifetime. I don't believe in either place myself, but belief doesn't enter into it, as we capitalize plenty of fictional and mythological place names -- e.g., Narnia, Vulcan, Hades.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose there is an argument that, because &lt;em&gt;Heaven&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Hell&lt;/em&gt; can't be categorized as cities, planets, countries, etc., they don't deserve to be proper nouns, but that seems to me a weak argument (especially in light of Hades, Valhalla, etc.). They are places, albeit mythological ones, and there is only one of each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some instances, &lt;em&gt;heaven&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;hell&lt;/em&gt; are used in figures of speech, such as: &quot;Thank &lt;em&gt;heaven&lt;/em&gt;.&quot; &quot;What the &lt;em&gt;hell&lt;/em&gt;?&quot; In those instances, lowercase works fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastEditorUserId="6100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T16:37:04.603" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T16:37:04.603" CommentCount="14" />
  <row Id="17657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17652" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:46:18.227" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Would be more useful to see it in a full sentence, but what seems clear is that it would refer to the particular subject of conversation (stamina, mental power, bravery, etc)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying that, I would use 'less of a man'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="6346" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T21:56:16.877" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T21:56:16.877" />
  <row Id="17658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17655" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:46:22.617" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/burgle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;burglarize&lt;/em&gt; is an acceptable US synonym to &lt;em&gt;burgle&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2178" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T21:46:22.617" />
  <row Id="17659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17655" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:48:42.690" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Either is acceptable. &lt;em&gt;Burglarized&lt;/em&gt; is much more common in the USA, although &lt;em&gt;burgled&lt;/em&gt; is less cumbersome. Dictionary.com dates both &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/burgle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;burgle&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/burglarize&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;burglarize&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; from the 1870s. &lt;em&gt;Burgle&lt;/em&gt; is a back-formation from &lt;em&gt;burglar&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T21:48:42.690" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="17660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17619" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:52:49.610" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the &quot;in the nick of time&quot; (the popular usage) is short for &quot;In the last nick of time&quot;, with nick being a unit of measure. In which case, to do something at the last possible moment would be &quot;in THE nick of time&quot; or &quot;in THE LAST nick of time&quot;, whereas to do something QUICKLY would be to do it &quot;in A nick of time&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6474" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T21:52:49.610" />
  <row Id="17661" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17664" CreationDate="2011-03-23T21:57:25.820" Score="2" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of “runneth” in &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Cup_Runneth_Over&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;My Cup Runneth Over&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T22:05:36.827" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T22:05:36.827" Title="What is the meaning of “runneth”?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;middle-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="17662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17661" CreationDate="2011-03-23T22:00:07.560" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means 'runs over' i.e overflows&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T22:00:07.560" />
  <row Id="17663" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17665" CreationDate="2011-03-23T22:01:27.107" Score="0" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does the verb “skid” take an object? So is it OK to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He skidded his car on the road.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T09:00:31.020" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T09:00:31.020" Title="Does the verb 'skid' take an object?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="17664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17661" CreationDate="2011-03-23T22:04:54.050" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;“runneth” is the Early Modern English third person singular of “run” (suffix &lt;em&gt;-th&lt;/em&gt;, written &lt;em&gt;-eth&lt;/em&gt; after consonants, and the consonant doubled). So, it would be “runs over” in Modern English, i.e. “overflows”. As noted in the link in your question, this quotation means “I have more than I need”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T22:04:54.050" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17665" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17663" CreationDate="2011-03-23T22:07:28.183" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; offers precisely that example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;skid&lt;/strong&gt; [intrans.]: (of a vehicle) slide, typically sideways or obliquely, on slippery ground or as a result of stopping or turning too quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;• [trans.] cause to skid: &lt;em&gt;he skidded his car&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So: yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T22:07:28.183" />
  <row Id="17666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-23T22:07:55.527" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't forget that 'shall' at the start of a question is used to make a suggestion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Shall we play tennis?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But 'will' at the start of a question does not have the same meaning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Will we play tennis?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T22:09:55.887" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T22:09:55.887" />
  <row Id="17667" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17502" CreationDate="2011-03-23T22:20:28.400" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use 'sapping'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;money-sapping hobby&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;time-sapping &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sapping is the action of extracting sap from a tree, so these things sap your energy, time, money, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T22:20:28.400" />
  <row Id="17668" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17676" CreationDate="2011-03-23T22:22:17.400" Score="3" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;If Alice and Bob each has a house, are these &quot;Alice and Bob's houses&quot; or &quot;Alice's and Bob's houses&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does that change anything if each of the houses belongs to both of them?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2456" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-23T22:24:34.547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T23:16:28.413" Title="What is the possessive for several names?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;possessive&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17669" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-23T22:28:47.710" Score="9" ViewCount="211" Body="&lt;p&gt;Has this ever happened to you: You write a question, include a list or two in the discussion, and then come back to edit that list because the order doesn't sound &quot;right&quot;?  Off the top of my head, I can remember it happening to me twice here on English L&amp;amp;U: I changed &lt;em&gt;God, man, and nature&lt;/em&gt; to read &lt;em&gt;man, nature, and God&lt;/em&gt; when answering one question, and the tireless &lt;strong&gt;kiamlaluno&lt;/strong&gt; edited a question of mine from &lt;em&gt;trunk...boot&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;boot...trunk&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why in fact do certain constructions of lists sound more pleasant to the ear than others?&#xA;Why can't it be &lt;em&gt;child, man, and woman&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;man, woman, and child&lt;/em&gt;?  All the principles I can think of, such as ordering by &quot;natural&quot; progression, ordering by length of word, and ordering to preserve internal rhyme, seem to have exceptions or be violated for some sayings.  Does one principle have supremacy over the other? Are there any others I'm missing?  And finally, how can we be sure what sounds pleasant isn't just historical inertia carried over from a first well-recognized coinage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T05:27:43.500" Title="What are the principles that make certain lists sound euphonious?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;style&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="17671" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17674" CreationDate="2011-03-23T22:48:12.347" Score="1" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one of these two is correct? Which one is more common? Or, if none of them is correct, how would you ask this question?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T23:08:25.520" Title="&quot;What number is our wagon?&quot; or &quot;What's our wagon number?&quot;?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="17672" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17680" CreationDate="2011-03-23T23:07:28.937" Score="3" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems that &lt;em&gt;exemption&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;exception&lt;/em&gt; have the same meaning. However, they seem to be used differently. When should we use one and not the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2216" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T00:29:18.320" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T00:29:18.320" Title="&quot;Exemption&quot; vs &quot;exception&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="17673" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17671" CreationDate="2011-03-23T23:08:20.730" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are grammatical. Possibly one is more common than the other, but they are equally unmarked for formality. Feel free to use either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T23:08:20.730" />
  <row Id="17674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17671" CreationDate="2011-03-23T23:08:25.520" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What's our wagon number?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;implies the wagon actually has a number assigned to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What number is our wagon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;includes, but is not limited to, the first possibility. One other possible scenario is a parking facility with numbered lots. Imagine a family pulls into the lot and parks right next to a wagon that looks exactly the same as theirs. On returning to the facility, the son runs to both wagons but cannot tell them apart. One is parked in Lot 47, while the other is in Lot 48. The son excitedly asks his father, &quot;Which number is our wagon, Dad?!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T23:08:25.520" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17668" CreationDate="2011-03-23T23:16:28.413" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Alice and Bob's houses&quot; implies that Alice and Bob jointly own more than one house. &quot;Alice's and Bob's houses&quot; could also imply the same thing. However, it would more commonly be taken to mean &quot;Alice's house[s] and Bob's house[s]&quot;. To remove all ambiguity and still retain a similar form to what you now have, I would suggest &quot;Alice's house and Bob's house&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T23:16:28.413" />
  <row Id="17677" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-23T23:52:47.270" Score="2" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;A fecal test cannot differentiate intestinal blood from blood from red meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-or-&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A fecal test cannot differentiate intestinal blood and blood from red meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6478" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T01:48:11.673" Title="Does one differentiate A from B, or differentiate A and B?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="17678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17677" CreationDate="2011-03-23T23:59:55.340" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both of these are correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A fecal test cannot differentiate intestinal blood &lt;strong&gt;from&lt;/strong&gt; red meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A fecal test cannot differentiate intestinal blood &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; red meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I'd say that the first is clearer and should be preferred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both of your example sentences are very unclear, though, because I'm not sure what's being differentiated here. Are we doing a three-way comparison between intestinal blood, blood, and red meat? If so, I would suggest the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A fecal test cannot differentiate between intestinal blood, blood, and red meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-23T23:59:55.340" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17677" CreationDate="2011-03-24T00:07:50.547" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As you can see from JSBangs response (which I think misinterprets what your sentence means), neither of those phrasings are clear, even though they are technically correct; they are fairly ambiguous as written.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Assuming I am parsing your sentence correctly, I would suggest that the clearest way to phrase this is as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A fecal test cannot differentiate &lt;strong&gt;between&lt;/strong&gt; intestinal blood and blood from red meat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Since &lt;em&gt;between&lt;/em&gt; implies exactly two items, a reader knows to parse the words that follow as two items and nothing more.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, one of these two might be even clearer, if the specific phrasings are acceptable:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A fecal test cannot differentiate between blood from intestines and blood from red meat.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A fecal test cannot differentiate between intestinal blood and red-meat blood.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The advantage of these latter two sentences is that the similar structure of the two compared items makes it easy to understand what you are comparing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T00:16:35.177" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T00:16:35.177" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17672" CreationDate="2011-03-24T00:21:17.577" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They do have similar meanings. They both refer to leaving out an item from a set. The difference is how they are left out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;an exemption is left out of the set by an authority or man-made rule. For example, a tax exemption, is money you received but does not have to be counted as part of our income because the tax laws explicitly say it's OK to ignore (presumably with the law created for some economic incentive purpose).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;an exception has no such man-made connotations (i.e. an exemption might be considered a kind of exception, but might be totally arbitrary). The number 2 is an exception to the idea that all prime numbers are odd (one would never use exemption in that context). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T00:21:17.577" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17619" CreationDate="2011-03-24T00:47:30.623" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect that if &lt;em&gt;&quot;in a nick of time&quot;&lt;/em&gt; was valid, it would have a different use case than &lt;em&gt;&quot;in the nick of time&quot;&lt;/em&gt; but I've never seen it used. It doesn't really sound right either, since there are no &quot;nicks&quot; of time. I know, I'm a Nick!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He finished his drink in a nick of time, so they could leave as soon as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He jumped in the nick of time to avoid the train.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6337" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T01:08:42.733" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T01:08:42.733" />
  <row Id="17682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3124" CreationDate="2011-03-24T01:07:11.627" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've never heard that rule, and I've never heard anyone follow it. There are even plenty of phrases in English that don't follow it that are part of the culture. It happens that &quot;apples and bananas&quot; is one of them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You ask &quot;bullshit or what.&quot; I can unequivocally say that it definitely isn't &quot;what.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T01:07:11.627" />
  <row Id="17683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17650" CreationDate="2011-03-24T01:20:14.473" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think either one is a proper noun unless you're talking about a particular version. Here are illustrations:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Common noun:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In any afterlife, one would expect there to be some form of heaven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The writer is clearly talking about a general concept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Proper noun:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;500 years' walk beyond the edge of the universe lies the sphere of the angels. 500 years' walk beyond that lies an altar where the archangel Michael offers up the souls of the righteous. 500 years walk beyond that lies Heaven.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The writer is clearly talking about a specific place. He's even giving directions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ambiguous:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Jesus said that people who do xyz will go to hell.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ambiguous because while it's clear from context that the writer is talking about a particular Hell, the sentence structure iself would work just as well if hell were a general abstract concept.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T01:20:14.473" />
  <row Id="17684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17669" CreationDate="2011-03-24T01:25:43.830" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is an answer to the question RegDwight linked to that may help. Poster linked to a study on the subject of euphony:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1998&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1998&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T01:25:43.830" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17685" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17669" CreationDate="2011-03-24T01:29:38.707" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks like there's a whole branch of linguistics called &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;phonology&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; that deals with these very questions. I am not qualified to speak on it, but I'm sure some regulars here are. I would just say that while historical inertia must carry a good deal of weight in these matters, I think you are right in guessing that there may be something larger going on here. There does seem to be a sort of linguistic &lt;em&gt;feng shui&lt;/em&gt; at work in our word order choices.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T01:29:38.707" />
  <row Id="17686" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17687" CreationDate="2011-03-24T01:33:17.503" Score="4" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The teams weren't fair to begin with, but Jim's injury made them &lt;em&gt;that much less fair&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last part of that sentence feels wrong to me due to the contrast of &quot;much&quot; and &quot;less&quot;. Is there perhaps a more natural sounding alternative to convey the same meaning without rephrasing the sentence entirely?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3823" LastEditorUserId="3823" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T09:04:24.357" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T09:04:24.357" Title="Is there an alternative to &quot;that much less&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17686" CreationDate="2011-03-24T01:37:29.670" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;all the more unfair&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;even worse&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;that much more unbalanced&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;more unfair still&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They still feel kind of awkward though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6269" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T01:37:29.670" />
  <row Id="17688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17686" CreationDate="2011-03-24T01:38:04.210" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The teams weren't fair to begin with, but Jim's injury made them &lt;strong&gt;still less&lt;/strong&gt; fair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or, to avoid repeating &lt;em&gt;fair&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The teams weren't equal to begin with, but Jim's injury made them still less fair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or even&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The teams weren't equal to begin with, but Jim's injury made them unfairer still.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="2303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T01:47:42.530" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T01:47:42.530" />
  <row Id="17689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17686" CreationDate="2011-03-24T01:42:20.510" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't know if this is considered rephrasing, but I think the culprit is the weak verb &quot;made&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The teams weren't fair to begin with,&#xA;  but Jim's injury exposed their&#xA;  treachery.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The teams weren't fair to begin with,&#xA;  but Jim's injury brought them to a new low.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T01:42:20.510" />
  <row Id="17690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17677" CreationDate="2011-03-24T01:48:11.673" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a slight difference in the emphasis when you use the two forms.  When differentiating intestinal blood &lt;em&gt;from&lt;/em&gt; meat blood, it seems, to me, to acknowledge that meat blood is a high probability event but possibly just an example of a false positive when it's intestinal blood you're looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the idiom, &quot;he doesn't know me from Adam,&quot; it's clear that &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; am the thing that we're talking about identifying/differentiating/distinguishing.  That's not so clear if I say, &quot;he couldn't distinguish Adam and me&quot; and I don't think it's just because it's an idiom.  I think that the first thing is what we want to identify.  The second is just an example of potential confounds. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6269" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T01:48:11.673" />
  <row Id="17691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17652" CreationDate="2011-03-24T01:59:54.970" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;NOAD gives the meanings thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;lesser&lt;/strong&gt; not so great or important as the other or the rest : &lt;em&gt;he was convicted of a lesser assault charge&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;they nest mostly in Alaska and to a lesser extent in Siberia&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;• lower in terms of rank or quality : &lt;em&gt;the lesser aristocracy&lt;/em&gt; | &lt;em&gt;you're looking down your nose at us lesser mortals&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;• used in names of animals and plants that are smaller than similar kinds, e.g., &lt;em&gt;lesser spotted woodpecker, lesser celandine&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But that doesn't tell the whole story. The term &quot;lesser&quot; may refer to someone who is not as great as another by any measure one chooses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can drink 12 beers in an hour, where a lesser man might manage only six.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Karen was no dummy, but her mother always considered her a lesser light than her sisters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sir Robert the Lesser was called that because he was nowhere near as corpulent as Sir Robert the Greater.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T01:59:54.970" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17692" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-24T02:31:39.297" Score="3" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;These two words seem to have the same translation in my native language (Cambodian). What is the major difference between these two adjectives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5814" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T03:09:24.520" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T07:48:53.410" Title="What is the difference between 'despair' and 'hopeless'?" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="17693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17692" CreationDate="2011-03-24T03:08:52.133" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hopeless&lt;/em&gt; is an adjective that means &quot;feeling or causing despair about something;&quot; &lt;em&gt;despair&lt;/em&gt; is a noun (and a verb) that means &quot;the complete loss or absence of hope.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference is that &lt;em&gt;hopeless&lt;/em&gt; is never used as noun, and &lt;em&gt;despair&lt;/em&gt; is never used as adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T03:08:52.133" />
  <row Id="17694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17692" CreationDate="2011-03-24T03:29:07.227" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lexical categories&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;One major difference is that despair is a noun or a verb and that hopeless is an adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For instance, you could say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;The situation is hopeless&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By which you would mean that there is no hope that the situation could improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And for despair you could say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;He died in despair&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here &quot;despair&quot; is a noun. Or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I shall despair of ever seeing my&#xA;  native country again&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here instead it is a verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Comparing them for good&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;If you want to compare them as nouns, then you should compare &quot;despair&quot; to &quot;hopelessness&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strength&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Although I'm not a native English speaker, I'd say that despair is stronger.  &quot;despair&quot; is slightly more emotionally charged.  You have a &quot;feeling of hopelessness&quot; but you &quot;cry in despair&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Origin&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As so often in English when you have two different words for a common thing one is from Saxon origin and the other is from Norman origin.  And as usual rather than replacing one by the other, usage has given them complementary meanings.&#xA;So your question is definitely a valid one: there are shades of meaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Hope&quot; is a word from Saxon origin (compare to German &quot;Ich hoffe dass...&quot;, I hope that...). &quot;hopeless&quot; =&gt; &quot;hoff[nungs]los&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Despair&quot; is from Old French &quot;despoir&quot; (nowadays in modern French &quot;désespoir&quot; (noun) or &quot;désespérer&quot; (verb)).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other examples&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As an opening to other similar cases also consider the following list&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Ask&quot;, English and &quot;demand&quot;&#xA;(stronger), from French.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Bit&quot; and &quot;morsel&quot; both coming from the idea of biting (mordre) but the former more general than the latter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Wish&quot; and &quot;desire&quot; (stronger).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Might&quot; and &quot;power&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Room&quot; and &quot;chamber&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Answer&quot; and &quot;respond&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Begin&quot; and &quot;commence&quot;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Taken from the second episode of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventure_of_English&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Adventure of English&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="5432" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T07:48:53.410" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T07:48:53.410" />
  <row Id="17695" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17696" CreationDate="2011-03-24T03:31:46.933" Score="3" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why do I sometimes see a backtick with a single quote `like this'? What's the name of this usage? What are some good references so I can find more information by myself?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="307" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T18:13:05.813" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T18:13:05.813" Title="Any reference on the usage of a backtick and single quotation mark like `this' ?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;quotations&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17695" CreationDate="2011-03-24T05:01:03.050" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the point of view of English usage, there is no difference other than appearance between the &quot;backtick&quot; (`) and the single quote mark (').  The characters exist in these forms because of compromises made in older computer character sets.  Preceding computers, there is a long history in printing typography of using slightly different shapes for the opening and closing single quotes.  In the more modern computer character set known as Unicode, there are new codes for these curved marks, the left (‘) and right (’) single quotes.  Because of various problems with computers, a mix of all four single quote characters may be found, but should be considered equivalent (except for their visual appearance).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T05:01:03.050" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17697" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17698" CreationDate="2011-03-24T05:03:16.213" Score="0" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have two questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is the difference between &quot;Why do not you come here?&quot; and &quot;Why do you not come here?&quot;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are both of &quot;Why do not you come here?&quot; and &quot;Why do you not come here?&quot; grammatically correct?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T10:33:23.177" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T10:33:23.177" Title="&quot;Why do not you come here?&quot; vs &quot;Why do you not come here?&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;negation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17698" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17697" CreationDate="2011-03-24T05:15:46.207" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, the order &quot;Why do not...?&quot; is no longer grammatical in contemporary English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T05:15:46.207" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17699" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17701" CreationDate="2011-03-24T05:15:52.927" Score="1" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/500/is-there-some-rule-against-ending-a-sentence-with-the-contraction-its&quot;&gt;Is there some rule against ending a sentence with the contraction &amp;ldquo;it&amp;#39;s&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is it that the following sounds incorrect:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Would she know where it's?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this sounds fine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Would she know where it is?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="605" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T06:10:59.603" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T06:10:59.603" ClosedDate="2011-03-24T10:16:38.693" Title="Using &quot;it's&quot; vs. using &quot;it is&quot; at the end of a sentence" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="17700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3230" CreationDate="2011-03-24T05:17:35.203" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;But don't you think that sometimes, &quot;don't&quot; works better than &quot;do not&quot;? &quot;Do not&quot; conveys an urgency or an order. While &quot;don't&quot; is not as pressing or commanding. For instance, I don't see your point of view.&quot; It could sound strange to force the argument by saying, &quot;I do not see your point of view.&quot; Any thoughts on this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6481" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T05:17:35.203" />
  <row Id="17701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17699" CreationDate="2011-03-24T05:19:46.490" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because you don't contract away a stressed syllable.  It's counter to the very nature of contraction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also the answer to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/500/is-there-some-rule-against-ending-a-sentence-with-the-contraction-its&quot;&gt;Is there some rule against ending a sentence with the contraction &quot;It's&quot;?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T05:19:46.490" />
  <row Id="17702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="653" CreationDate="2011-03-24T05:30:42.980" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If nothing else works, it can be beneficial to point out that none of these related possessive forms has an apostrophe:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;his&lt;br&gt;&#xA;hers&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;its&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;theirs&lt;br&gt;&#xA;yours&lt;br&gt;&#xA;ours   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If something belongs to &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;its&lt;/em&gt; form looks just like &lt;em&gt;his&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;hers&lt;/em&gt; . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it is short for &lt;em&gt;it is&lt;/em&gt;, then it's &lt;em&gt;it's&lt;/em&gt; .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T05:30:42.980" />
  <row Id="17703" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12727" CreationDate="2011-03-24T05:35:53.817" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unintended_consequence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Unintended Consequences&lt;/a&gt; can be helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5366" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T05:35:53.817" />
  <row Id="17704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17697" CreationDate="2011-03-24T05:38:29.767" Score="-3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. The sentence, &quot;Why do you not come here?&quot;, makes no sense at all. It is wrong. But the sentence, &quot;Why do not you come here?&quot;, is perfectly valid. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5959" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T05:38:29.767" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-24T06:01:43.943" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The could word show past time capacity and ability. when we talk about past time that time we can use could. for example Yesterday i could not go to collage beacuse the rain was raning very heavy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6483" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T06:01:43.943" />
  <row Id="17706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17697" CreationDate="2011-03-24T06:05:31.307" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regarding the &quot;What's the difference?&quot; question, if you correct the first sentence to &quot;why don't you come here?&quot;, then the difference is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Why don't you come here?&quot; is most often used as a suggestion.  It is equivalent to saying &quot;Please come here now.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Fred nervously took a seat on the other side of the room.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Why don't you come here?&quot; Beatrice purred, patting the loveseat beside her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Why do you not come here?&quot; is a question seeking the reason why you refuse to be someplace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Let's go in here and get something to eat,&quot; said Don.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;No, not here.  I never eat at this place anymore,&quot; said Bob.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Oh?  Why do you not come here?&quot; asked Don.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;Why don't you&quot; form can be used equivalently to the &quot;Why do you not&quot; form; the emphasis used when asking will make clear which meaning is intended.  (For the suggestion, the emphasis is on &quot;here&quot;; for the question, the stress is on &quot;come&quot; or possibly on &quot;don't&quot;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T06:05:31.307" />
  <row Id="17707" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17760" CreationDate="2011-03-24T06:37:26.000" Score="3" ViewCount="140" Body="&lt;p&gt;We use &lt;em&gt;owned&lt;/em&gt; to denote something that we possess or that belongs to someone. What can we call things that do &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; belong to someone?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[&lt;strong&gt;Editor's note&lt;/strong&gt;: I can't tell whether the asker wants a word for something that a specific person does not own, or a word for something that nobody owns.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6444" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T01:12:03.950" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T01:12:03.950" Title="Is there a word for something that does NOT belong to someone?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17708" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-24T06:51:34.460" Score="5" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is some idiom that starts out like, &quot;I'm going to start taking names and...&quot; I can't remember the rest of it. What is it and when is it used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="305" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T12:37:02.227" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:07:32.227" Title="What is this idiom: &quot;I'm going to start taking names and...&quot;?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-24T07:22:05.653" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To keep it simple, I answer you without complex grammatical terminology. There are five possible situations of using &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Ability&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In the first situation, we use &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; with a meaning of ability. For example, &quot;I think I can lift the box&quot; means that the speaker thinks that she/he is able to lift the box. The past tense form of the sentence is &quot;I thought I could lift the box&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Permission&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In the second, we use &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; with the meaning of permission. Undoubtedly, all permissions are questions. Example: &quot;Hey Jim, can I use your PC for awhile?&quot;. Use &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; for more polie forms. Example: &quot;Could you please allow me speak?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Request&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In the third case, we use it as a form of request. Example: &quot;Can you please write it for me?&quot;. Use &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; for more polite form. Example: &quot;Could you lend me $100?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Possibility&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Sometimes, &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; is also used to mark a possibility. Example: &quot;Using mobile phones while driving can cause accidents.&quot;. Use &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; if the possibility is uncertain. Example: &quot;He could arrive lately.&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5. Offer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For the situations of offering some help to someone use &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt;. Example: &quot;Can I open the bottle for you?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unlike &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt;, you can use &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; with two more occasions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. To make suggestions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Example: &quot;We could go out for awhile, if you like.&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. To express, angrily, what someone must do&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Example: &quot;You could make your voice even more louder!&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hope that this answer could help you a lot! :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5959" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T07:22:05.653" />
  <row Id="17710" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17717" CreationDate="2011-03-24T07:39:26.123" Score="6" ViewCount="210" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can use &quot;child&quot; to replace &quot;son&quot; and &quot;daughter&quot;, &quot;sibling&quot; for &quot;sister&quot; or &quot;brother&quot;, and &quot;parent&quot; for &quot;mother&quot; or &quot;father&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the unisex replacement for &quot;fiancée&quot; and &quot;fiancé&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't need it for speech, but for formal or semi-formal writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5846" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T16:19:37.943" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T00:22:11.387" Title="Gender-independent replacement for &quot;fiancée&quot; and &quot;fiancé&quot;" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;hypernyms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17711" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17714" CreationDate="2011-03-24T07:42:38.423" Score="1" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are they used in different contexts?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Those both of them use correct grammar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&amp;amp;word1=%22out+of+question%22&amp;amp;word2=%22out+of+the+question%22&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google fight&lt;/a&gt; shows that &quot;out of the question&quot; appear 10 times more often than the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6351" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T10:39:05.603" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T10:39:05.603" Title="Is it &quot;out of question&quot; or &quot;out of the question&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;definite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="17712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17708" CreationDate="2011-03-24T07:47:49.493" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are you perhaps referring to this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm going to start &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kicking%20ass%20and%20taking%20names&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;kicking ass and taking names&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T07:47:49.493" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17710" CreationDate="2011-03-24T08:06:13.893" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Betrothed&quot; can be used as a noun, but I admit it does sound a bit stuffy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="317" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T08:06:13.893" />
  <row Id="17714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17711" CreationDate="2011-03-24T08:27:53.770" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Out of THE question is the correct one in my opinion - I have never used this without the &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; but then I am not a native speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some sources mention that &quot;Out of question&quot; is an obsolete way of saying &quot;Beyond doubt&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However we have both&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;OED: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/156343?rskey=0z4jNP&amp;amp;result=2&amp;amp;isAdvanced=false#eid27463136&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Out of the question&lt;/a&gt; vs &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/133784?rskey=0z4jNP&amp;amp;result=1&amp;amp;isAdvanced=false#eid32761458&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Out of question&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.enotes.com/shakespeare-quotes/appendix-faux-out-question&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.enotes.com/shakespeare-quotes/appendix-faux-out-question&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T09:22:49.980" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T09:22:49.980" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17715" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-24T08:49:31.533" Score="-2" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this sentence correct: &lt;em&gt;“she just wanted you to reply her so much”&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6015" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T08:55:01.660" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T16:17:21.500" ClosedDate="2011-03-30T11:04:12.930" Title="Is this sentence correct?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="17717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17710" CreationDate="2011-03-24T09:12:39.937" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For formal writing, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;betrothed&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; would be my number one choice. But, as Lunatik already gave that answer, I'll provide some more: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;spouse-to-be&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (instead of the gender-specific &lt;em&gt;wife-to-be&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;husband-to-be&lt;/em&gt;), &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;future spouse&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;prospective spouse&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;intended&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (date and informal).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, it's much easier to refer to use adjectives and refer to the couple as a whole, if you can rewrite it in this way. This opens the door to: &lt;em&gt;engaged&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;affianced&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;pledged in marriage&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T14:51:36.147" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:51:36.147" />
  <row Id="17718" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17756" CreationDate="2011-03-24T09:15:29.890" Score="2" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a name for movies/stories/whatever that intend to represent the future (i.e. the year is 2100 and blah blah, like &lt;em&gt;Star Wars&lt;/em&gt; etc., actually anything that is not real and is an imagination fantasy of the future).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2212" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T21:46:23.330" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T17:08:26.170" Title="Is there a name for the genre that &quot;movies of the future&quot; fall into?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="17719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17718" CreationDate="2011-03-24T09:22:22.647" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Futuristic SciFi (Science Fiction)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastEditorUserId="212" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T09:29:40.927" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T09:29:40.927" />
  <row Id="17721" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17740" CreationDate="2011-03-24T09:34:22.077" Score="2" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;When Americans say something like, &quot;Are you mad at me?&quot;, is there any difference between that and, &quot;Are you angry at me?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To me, as a Brit, 'mad' means 'insane'. Saying, &quot;Are you mad at me?&quot; should indicate an even greater state of anger than usual, such that it actually drives the person insane.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4801" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T16:32:39.633" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T16:32:39.633" Title="US usage of 'mad'" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17721" CreationDate="2011-03-24T09:53:25.303" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say the British can use Mad as a synonym for angry - at least locally:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/112000?rskey=iPIgLa&amp;amp;result=5&amp;amp;isAdvanced=false#eid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/112000?rskey=iPIgLa&amp;amp;result=5&amp;amp;isAdvanced=false#eid&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;b. Angry, irate, cross. Also, in&#xA;  weakened sense: annoyed, exasperated&#xA;  (with †against, at, with, etc.). Now&#xA;  colloq. (chiefly N. Amer.) and Brit.&#xA;  regional.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T09:53:25.303" />
  <row Id="17723" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-24T10:05:49.823" Score="-2" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;what's the difference between SELECT IN and SELECT FROM ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6487" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T10:05:49.823" ClosedDate="2011-03-24T18:01:55.733" Title="difference between SELECT IN and SELECT FROM ?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17718" CreationDate="2011-03-24T10:19:54.497" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It all falls under the classification of &lt;em&gt;science fiction&lt;/em&gt;. Note that these &quot;future worlds&quot; may actually represent a time in the distant past as well. If you recall from the first Star Wars film (now labeled IV), the opening text crawl announced: &quot;A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away ...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T10:19:54.497" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17707" CreationDate="2011-03-24T10:22:16.703" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I understood you question correctly, you can  say &quot;not owned&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I own a bike → This bike is &lt;strong&gt;owned&lt;/strong&gt; by me. (This bike is mine.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't own a bike → This bike is &lt;strong&gt;not owned&lt;/strong&gt; by me. (This bike is not mine.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T10:22:16.703" />
  <row Id="17726" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-24T10:37:27.740" Score="1" ViewCount="31" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the meanings of 'oppress', 'repress' and 'suppress'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it matter between &lt;code&gt;Help Help! I'm being oppressed!&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;Help! Help! I'm being repressed!&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3696" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T11:04:41.860" Title="What are the meanings of 'oppress', 'repress' and 'suppress'?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="17727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17726" CreationDate="2011-03-24T11:04:41.860" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can yourself repress or suppress the urge to post here.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The government can oppress you - I feel oppress is more political, although an oppressive government can suppress your urges to rebel&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/132001?rskey=8a3MLL&amp;amp;result=2&amp;amp;isAdvanced=false#eid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oppress&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a. trans. To overcome, put down, or&#xA;  subdue; to suppress; to check or put&#xA;  an end to; (spec.) to overwhelm (a&#xA;  person) in a fight or battle. Obs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/194721?redirectedFrom=suppress#eid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Suppress&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;trans. To put down by force or authority.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  a. To cause&#xA;  (a proceeding, an activity) to cease,&#xA;  e.g. to quell (a rebellion); to put a&#xA;  stop to the use or employment of.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/163020?rskey=64m7hP&amp;amp;result=2&amp;amp;isAdvanced=false#eid&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Repress&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;trans.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  a. To put down by force, suppress (an enemy,&#xA;  lawbreaker, troublemaker, etc.); to&#xA;  reduce to subjection, subdue.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T11:04:41.860" />
  <row Id="17728" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17729" CreationDate="2011-03-24T11:50:41.167" Score="3" ViewCount="137" Body="&lt;p&gt;Inspired by &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/17708&quot;&gt;What is this idiom?&lt;/a&gt;, but that question doesn't actually ask for where the expression originated. I Googled around, but couldn't find any reliable source. Surely the expression originates in a major or cult movie or literary work of some kind or another?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5640" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:24:00.023" Title="What is the etymology of &quot;…kick ass and take names&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;literature&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17728" CreationDate="2011-03-24T12:02:02.653" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looks like it might originate from a 1970 novel by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Stone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Chuck Stone&lt;/a&gt; called &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=nT0PAAAAMAAJ&amp;amp;q=%22kick%20ass%20and%20take%20names%22&amp;amp;dq=%22kick%20ass%20and%20take%20names%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=3jOLTf61OIyEtgeewM3_DQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=2&amp;amp;ved=0CDkQ6AEwATgU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;King Strut&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;People ain't buying that shit no more. We're checking Whitey out, telling him his system is corrupt, it stinks. Black people are ready to &lt;strong&gt;kick ass and take names&lt;/strong&gt; .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Sorry. I spoke too soon. Here's a citation from five years earlier from &lt;em&gt;The Green Berets&lt;/em&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Moore&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Robin Moore&lt;/a&gt; (1965):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He's out &lt;strong&gt;kicking ass and taking names&lt;/strong&gt; everywhere. He found Ling for me and that stud is a tiger. Harvey eyed the bulge in my pack. 'Now, you piker, how about a little of that celebration?'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It appears &lt;em&gt;ass kicking&lt;/em&gt; itself dates back to the early '40s and the phrase &lt;em&gt;having as much chance as a one-legged man in a mule/butt/ass-kicking contest&lt;/em&gt;. Of course, &lt;em&gt;kick in the pants&lt;/em&gt; dates to the 1800s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T12:59:36.037" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T12:59:36.037" />
  <row Id="17730" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17736" CreationDate="2011-03-24T12:05:13.533" Score="0" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference between &lt;em&gt;automatically&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;in an automated manner&lt;/em&gt;? For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Automatically&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He's been made redundant, as all of&#xA;  his tasks are now done automatically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Automated&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He's been made redundant, as all of&#xA;  his tasks have been automated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:31:25.410" Title="&quot;Automatically&quot; vs &quot;In an automated manner&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17731" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-24T12:07:19.320" Score="4" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ok, that is a bad example :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering how should I understand the phrases like April Fool's day. It could be understood in two ways, could it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;April (Fool's day) - The day of Fool occurring in April.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;(April Fool)'s day - The day of April Fool.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How to know which one is the right one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6491" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T16:08:58.510" Title="April Fool's day = April (Fool's day) or (April Fool)'s day" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17707" CreationDate="2011-03-24T12:11:25.687" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;unowned&quot; exists, but it usually means &quot;not owned by anybody&quot; as opposed to &quot;not owned by a particular person&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &quot;This bike is unowned by me&quot; is possible, but unusual. &quot;A sale of unowned property&quot; is perhaps more likely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In some software systems, items may have owners (whatever that might mean in that system), and we could talk about an &quot;unowned item&quot; there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T12:11:25.687" />
  <row Id="17733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17731" CreationDate="2011-03-24T12:27:24.287" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's none of those, it's:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;April Fools' Day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I understand it as a day for 'April Fools' rather than 'the day of Fools that occurs in April' because there is no Fools' day in any other month.  And you can also call someone an &lt;em&gt;April Fool&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5964" LastEditorUserId="5964" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T12:33:36.423" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T12:33:36.423" />
  <row Id="17734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17731" CreationDate="2011-03-24T12:31:56.553" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you must choose between them then take the latter, &quot;(April Fool)'s day&quot;.  But in fact there is always more than one &lt;em&gt;April Fool&lt;/em&gt;, and 1st April is the day for all of them so &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools%27_Day&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;April Fools' day&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which you can parse as &quot;(April Fools)' day&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T12:31:56.553" />
  <row Id="17735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17710" CreationDate="2011-03-24T12:35:23.707" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My suggestion would be to use &lt;em&gt;fiance&lt;/em&gt; (no accent). In my experience most people aren't aware of the distinction between &lt;em&gt;fiancée&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;fiancé&lt;/em&gt;, since it isn't reflected in speech, and simply reverting to the shorter form and leaving off the accent (to confound francophones) may be sufficient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T12:35:23.707" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17730" CreationDate="2011-03-24T12:42:37.073" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are similar but sometimes distinct, as might be seen from comparing &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was brought up to say &lt;em&gt;thank you&lt;/em&gt; automatically &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;with&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He was brought up to say &lt;em&gt;thank you&lt;/em&gt; in an automated manner&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The former is about consistent courtesy.  The latter is about talking like an automaton.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the examples in your question, I might take the first example to mean the machines he used to operate do not need him any more, while the second might mean that new machines had replaced him. It depends on the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T12:42:37.073" />
  <row Id="17737" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17738" CreationDate="2011-03-24T12:50:47.183" Score="4" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Boy your loving is all I think about&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) Why not a comma after 'boy'? Is this grammar correct, because it looks like two subjects?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Why not 'love'?  What's the difference in this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T18:44:29.120" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T18:44:29.120" Title="&quot;loving&quot; vs. &quot;love&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="17738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17737" CreationDate="2011-03-24T12:52:43.247" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Since &quot;Boy&quot; is direct address, one would normally separate it from the rest with a comma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for &quot;loving&quot; vs. &quot;love&quot; ... &quot;loving&quot; implies the physical act of love much more strongly than &quot;love&quot; alone would — so it's plain to see what the speaker is after.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T12:52:43.247" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17715" CreationDate="2011-03-24T13:50:12.913" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That use of &lt;em&gt;so much&lt;/em&gt; is like &lt;em&gt;I love you so much&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;it hurt so much&lt;/em&gt;. It&amp;rsquo;s informal but totally normal, and &lt;em&gt;so much&lt;/em&gt; just means &lt;em&gt;very much&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However &lt;em&gt;reply her&lt;/em&gt; sounds wrong to me; &lt;em&gt;reply to her&lt;/em&gt; would be correct. (There are a few Google hits for &lt;em&gt;reply her&lt;/em&gt; but they seem like mistakes to me.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T13:50:12.913" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17721" CreationDate="2011-03-24T13:59:49.813" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usage of &lt;em&gt;mad&lt;/em&gt; to mean &quot;insane&quot; is considered a Briticism in America—go figure. Yet &lt;em&gt;mad&lt;/em&gt; is actually a very diverse word.  As an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mad&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;adjective&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;mad&lt;/em&gt; can mean &lt;em&gt;insane&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;furious&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;rabid&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;wild&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;frantic&lt;/em&gt;, even &lt;em&gt;hilarious&lt;/em&gt;.  The use of &lt;em&gt;mad&lt;/em&gt; to mean &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=mad&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;beside oneself with anger&quot;&lt;/a&gt; dates back to the 14th century. Rev. John Witherspoon, a Scottish-born signatory of the Declaration of Independence, dismissed that usage as an &quot;Americanism&quot; in 1781.  I guess we Americans have ourselves to blame.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T05:21:27.380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T05:21:27.380" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17741" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17743" CreationDate="2011-03-24T13:59:54.977" Score="6" ViewCount="178" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does the phrase &quot;to err on the side of ...,&quot; specifically &quot;err on the side of caution,&quot;  indicate that it is wrong to be &quot;on the side of,&quot; the object? &quot;Err&quot; makes me think of &quot;error,&quot; and is such the word in question in the phrase. Additionally, is this phrase considered an idiom?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1442" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T18:12:50.267" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:12:50.267" Title="Does &quot;to err on the side of ... &quot; indicate wrongdoing?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17741" CreationDate="2011-03-24T14:04:16.333" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, it just means that in a situation involving an unclear distinction between what may be right and what may be wrong, the speaker is going to try to choose a course that is closer to the right side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's like when surgeons cut out tumors. They cut out healthy tissue as well to leave clean &quot;margins&quot; — erring on the side of clean, in that case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:04:16.333" />
  <row Id="17743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17741" CreationDate="2011-03-24T14:05:04.803" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the phrase “to err on the side of…”, the meaning of &lt;em&gt;err&lt;/em&gt; is closer to that of the Old French &lt;em&gt;errer&lt;/em&gt;, which is “to stray”. The image implied is that, if you can't for sure walk on the right line, you might want to err on one particular side rather than the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, just to make sure I answer your actual question: no, “to err on the side of…” does not indicate wrongdoing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T16:12:33.580" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T16:12:33.580" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="17744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17708" CreationDate="2011-03-24T14:07:32.227" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a military term, specifically Navy, and the exact unit is the Navy military police, or Shore Patrol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Origin was based on shore-leave: it is the job of the SP to patrol and manage crimes and other behavioral problems of Naval personnel, preferably before they happen-- but to deal with them effectively when they do happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a fight, the SP will sequester the &quot;ringleaders&quot; and confiscate their ID cards long enough to make official note of who they are. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:07:32.227" />
  <row Id="17745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17636" CreationDate="2011-03-24T14:20:36.070" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The subordinate clause &quot;who lied&quot; is a red herring in this example.&lt;/strong&gt;  By that, I mean that &quot;who lied&quot; has no effect on the case of the main clause.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In &quot;who lied&quot;, &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; is getting nominative case.  That is why, if you make a &lt;em&gt;who/whom&lt;/em&gt; distinction, you would say: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;It is John &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; lied. (nominative)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;It is John &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; I lied to. (accusative)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; is bearing the burden of the case of the subordinate clause, which means your question is actually:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;Which is correct: 'It is they' or 'It is them'?&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or, even more to the point:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&quot;Does English use nominative case on both sides of the copula?&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For this, the answer is not completely straightforward. But here is my (hopefully objective) take:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Usage indicates that a clear majority of people prefer to use the accusative case&lt;/strong&gt; (&quot;it is them&quot;), and there is &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4556/who-wants-ice-cream/4655#4655&quot;&gt;other evidence to indicate that the accusative is the default case in English&lt;/a&gt;. If you look at speech, you will find that the preference is even clearer; in writing, the preference is not as strong but still quite clearly in favor of &quot;it is them&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There is also clear evidence that a large-enough minority prefers &quot;it is they&quot; that both are legitimate uses&lt;/strong&gt;. Certainly, both constructions are linguistically sound variants, even if the accusative is the default case. (The default case thing is more of an explanation for &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; accusative in the copula should ever happen.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There are some who believe that &quot;it is they&quot; is the objectively correct answer.&lt;/strong&gt; In an approach similar to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6904/data-is-or-data-are/6913#6913&quot;&gt;this answer about &quot;data is&quot; vs. &quot;data are&quot;&lt;/a&gt;, I would suggest that it is important to be aware of your audience and your group. Whether a construction's usage is in the minority or not, certain audiences in certain contexts expect certain language. This means that you might be judged for not using &quot;it is they&quot; in these groups. It's not really a matter of objective correctness, but rather, &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=_S4NFzRQHIQC&amp;amp;pg=PA223&amp;amp;lpg=PA223&amp;amp;dq=%22group+membership%22+linguistics&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=MvE4OsZMR4&amp;amp;sig=xMLbz-4pNIR30JSsYp9NZwXoLtU&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=YVGLTfSDA5PogQfp5vXGDQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CBgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22group%20membership%22%20linguistics&amp;amp;f=false&quot;&gt;group membership&lt;/a&gt;. Just as choosing semantically correct words and pronouncing them correctly are important in your communication, the register and language you choose to use within a group is also important. (You may choose to intentionally label yourself as an outsider, but the important thing is to be aware that you can make that choice with the words you use!)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So, the short answer is: both versions exist, so do what feels natural to you, but consider your audience expectations.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T14:23:51.247" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:23:51.247" />
  <row Id="17746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17728" CreationDate="2011-03-24T14:24:00.023" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a military term, specifically Navy, and the exact unit is the Navy military police, or Shore Patrol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Origin was based on shore-leave: it is the job of the SP to patrol and manage crimes and other behavioral problems of Naval personnel, preferably before they happen-- but to deal with them effectively when they do happen.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After a fight, the SP will sequester the &quot;ringleaders&quot; and confiscate their ID cards long enough to make official note of who they are.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:24:00.023" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10312" CreationDate="2011-03-24T14:28:21.273" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would not use a question mark; it implies impatience, frustration etc.  I would say Just a quick reminder about your &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;/strong&gt;; thank you very much.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6492" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:28:21.273" />
  <row Id="17748" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-24T14:47:38.160" Score="9" ViewCount="522" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are the metaphorical ways to say that someone has died? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example &quot;He has gone to the far country where he will be happy for ages&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;P.S. There is &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11040/what-is-a-respectful-way-to-refer-to-a-person-who-has-died&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt;, but it focuses on mentioning the person, while this question is more about mentioning the fact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="887" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T08:56:28.257" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T08:56:28.257" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-24T21:42:18.373" Title="What are the metaphorical ways to say that someone has died?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;phrasing&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="17749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17748" CreationDate="2011-03-24T14:49:58.970" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus&lt;/em&gt; has: &lt;em&gt;pass away, pass on, lose one's life, breathe one's last, meet one's end, meet one's death, lay down one's life, go the way of all flesh, go to one's last resting place, go to meet one's maker, cross the great divide, slip away, depart this life&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, it includes informal expressions: &lt;em&gt;give up the ghost, kick the bucket, croak, buy it, turn up one's toes, cash in one's chips, bite the big one, check out, buy the farm&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:49:58.970" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-24T21:42:18.373" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17707" CreationDate="2011-03-24T14:50:50.780" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Ownerless....................................&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:50:50.780" />
  <row Id="17751" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17748" CreationDate="2011-03-24T14:58:26.377" Score="26" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Courtesy of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Parrot_sketch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Monty Python&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's passed on! This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed him to the perch he would be pushing up the daisies! Its metabolical processes are of interest only to historians! It's hopped the twig! It's shuffled off this mortal coil! It's run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible! This.... is an &lt;em&gt;ex-parrot&lt;/em&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T14:58:26.377" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-24T21:42:18.373" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17707" CreationDate="2011-03-24T15:00:47.530" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For intellectual property, you can say: It is in the &lt;strong&gt;public domain&lt;/strong&gt; (not covered by copyright and hence belongs to no one)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T15:00:47.530" />
  <row Id="17753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17707" CreationDate="2011-03-24T15:02:46.983" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something can be &lt;strong&gt;unclaimed&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;abandoned&lt;/strong&gt; property.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4744" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T15:02:46.983" />
  <row Id="17754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17748" CreationDate="2011-03-24T15:03:41.380" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the novel &lt;em&gt;The Godfather&lt;/em&gt;, one of the crime families receives a fish wrapped in a slain character's bulletproof vest. The meaning is explained by another character: &quot;The fish means that Luca Brasi is sleeping on the bottom of the ocean.&quot; The meaning is both literal and allegorical. In the film, this line is changed to the more concise (and celebrated)  &quot;sleeps with the fishes.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T15:03:41.380" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-24T21:42:18.373" />
  <row Id="17755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17707" CreationDate="2011-03-24T15:08:29.080" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Humans (and animals) that do not belong to someone or something are often called &lt;strong&gt;free&lt;/strong&gt;. Objects that do not belong to anyone can also be seen as free (for the taking).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T15:08:29.080" />
  <row Id="17756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17718" CreationDate="2011-03-24T15:15:26.203" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As others have said, in the absence of any more specific definition, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;science fiction&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is the most likely answer. It deals with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the impact of imagined innovations in science or technology, often in a futuristic setting&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, depending on your point of view, Star Wars may not be a good example, as it can be classed as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_opera&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;space opera&lt;/a&gt;, which:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Space opera and science fiction are both subgenres of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculative_fiction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;speculative fiction&lt;/a&gt;, which:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;is an umbrella term encompassing the more highly imaginative fiction genres&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more information, take a look on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://scifi.stackexchange.com/&quot;&gt;Science Fiction &amp;amp; Fantasy&lt;/a&gt; Stack Overflow site.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T15:15:26.203" />
  <row Id="17757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17741" CreationDate="2011-03-24T15:18:16.670" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, the phrase is used to describe where the margin of error is placed. (Although, that might not be the exact origin of the expression.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To &lt;em&gt;err on the side of caution&lt;/em&gt; is to choose to be as cautious as to be sure to always be cautious enough, so when uncertain, rather be too much cautious than too little.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3365" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T15:18:16.670" />
  <row Id="17758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17707" CreationDate="2011-03-24T15:20:08.223" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If shared among a group, something can be considered to be &lt;em&gt;communal property&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the town, bicycles are considered&#xA;  communal property: you simply take one&#xA;  from the designated rack and leave it&#xA;  in the corresponding rack at the destination.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T15:20:08.223" />
  <row Id="17759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17748" CreationDate="2011-03-24T15:23:03.047" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's a fairly exhaustive list at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bored.com/deathslang/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.bored.com/deathslang/&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T15:23:03.047" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-24T21:42:18.373" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17760" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17707" CreationDate="2011-03-24T15:27:39.187" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;for something not owned by someone you say &quot;not his.&quot;&#xA;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The bicycle is not Joe's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For something that doesn't belong to anyone, I would use &quot;ownerless.&quot;&#xA;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The stray dog is ownerless&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T15:27:39.187" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17761" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-24T15:34:20.840" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This tag applies to questions that deal with &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_number&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;grammatical number&lt;/a&gt;; e.g. singular (&quot;he&quot;), plural (&quot;they&quot;), and in some cases, dual (&quot;both of them&quot;). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These questions also might involve &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_agreement#Number_agreement&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;number agreement&lt;/a&gt; within a sentence; e.g. singular (&quot;one car &lt;b&gt;is&lt;/b&gt; driving&quot;) and plural (&quot;two car&lt;b&gt;s are&lt;/b&gt; driving&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T15:42:58.787" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T15:42:58.787" />
  <row Id="17762" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-24T15:34:20.840" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="Singular and plural nouns, as well as number agreement between nouns and verbs (and anywhere else number agreement shows up)." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T21:56:35.693" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T21:56:35.693" />
  <row Id="17763" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-24T15:36:02.070" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Questions about the basic lexical category known as the &quot;noun&quot;. In layman's terms, a noun is commonly considered to be a &quot;person, place, or thing (including abstract concept)&quot;. Nouns can be modified by articles (&quot;a&quot;, &quot;the&quot;) or prepositions (&quot;at&quot;, &quot;in&quot;) and can be the subject or object of a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T21:58:47.750" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T21:58:47.750" />
  <row Id="17764" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-24T15:36:02.070" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="Words that refer to an entity, quality, state, action, or concept." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T21:58:47.763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T21:58:47.763" />
  <row Id="17765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17741" CreationDate="2011-03-24T15:39:31.693" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;To err on the side of caution&quot; means that if you are wrong you will at least be wrong in a cautious way. Let's say you have some chicken in your fridge. You're not sure if it's edible or not because you don't recall how long it's been there. Even though you are hungry and want to eat it, you throw it out to avoid any chance of food poisoning. Then your wife/husband/roommate gets home and says &quot;I just bought that chicken today!&quot;. Well, you erred in throwing it out, but it was through caution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically it means to act conservatively even if your actions are more conservative than they need to be. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T15:39:31.693" />
  <row Id="17766" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17772" CreationDate="2011-03-24T15:46:58.273" Score="2" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;My fish's native habitat is rice fields.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;My fish's native habitat are rice fields.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty sure the first is correct, since 'is' modifies 'habitat,' but it still sounds weird...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5353" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T18:15:31.307" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:15:31.307" Title="[Singular] Is/Are [Plural]?" Tags="&lt;verb-agreement&gt;&lt;concord&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17731" CreationDate="2011-03-24T16:08:58.510" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always taken it to mean either, which is part of the joy of the name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both &quot;[You're an] April Fool&quot; and &quot;[Happy] Fools' Day&quot; are quite acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5353" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T16:08:58.510" />
  <row Id="17768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17715" CreationDate="2011-03-24T16:17:21.500" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. &lt;em&gt;Reply&lt;/em&gt; is an intransitive verb and thus can't take the object &lt;em&gt;her&lt;/em&gt;. &quot;So much&quot; sounds wrong because it needs a transitive verb to modify.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A better way to say what the sentence appears to mean: &quot;She very much wanted you to reply to her.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T16:17:21.500" />
  <row Id="17769" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17774" CreationDate="2011-03-24T16:22:27.253" Score="1" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can someone explain the difference between &lt;em&gt;legacy&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;inheritance&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6495" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T00:26:29.323" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T00:26:29.323" Title="What is the difference between &quot;legacy&quot; and &quot;inheritance&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="17770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17769" CreationDate="2011-03-24T16:24:22.293" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are basically synonyms that have fluctuating nuances. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/legacy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/legacy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T16:24:22.293" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17651" CreationDate="2011-03-24T16:24:41.967" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is acceptable to drop the comma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Searching the following sources for &quot;Thanks [noun]&quot; (where possible), or &quot;Thanks John&quot; (where not) reveals that both are in extremely common use:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The British National Corpus&lt;/a&gt; (BNC)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;amp;source=hp&amp;amp;biw=1848&amp;amp;bih=898&amp;amp;q=%22thanks+john%22&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=g-v10&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;amp;biw=1848&amp;amp;bih=898&amp;amp;q=site%3abbc.co.uk%20%22thanks%20john%22&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The BBC website&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Note that for the BNC you can search for either &quot;thanks , [n]&quot; or &quot;thanks [n]&quot; to find the word &quot;thanks&quot; followed by a noun.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of the occurrences in the BNC appear to be in transcripts of spoken material, which one may wish to discount when considering this question, but even just looking at written material it is clear that both usages are very common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T16:24:41.967" />
  <row Id="17772" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17766" CreationDate="2011-03-24T16:25:56.770" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may sound weird, but it is still correct. Singular nouns take singular verbs. In this case, the singular noun is &lt;em&gt;habitat&lt;/em&gt;. Thus, &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; is the correct form of the verb &lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt; in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My fish's native habitat &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; rice fields.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make it sound more natural, you could reverse the order thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rice fields &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; my fish's native habitat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T16:25:56.770" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17773" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-24T16:47:53.063" Score="8" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed a pattern involving vulgarities where the previous generation's evil words become accepted as merely off-color or rude in the following generation. Is this merely each generation's small rebellion against their parents? Does society get bored with certain blacklisted words and move onto different choices?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems that some offensive or vulgar words maintain their status far longer than others while some don't last too long. Am I simply suffering from an odd form of selection bias?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other interesting observations are the choices of insults that particular communities choose to use. Online video gaming has become quite fond of &quot;rape&quot; which is probably a completely inappropriate word to trivialize as meaning pwned. That community seems particularly attracted to violent or overtly offensive terms. Is there a historic precedence for this? Are such communities related to the aforementioned shift in what is considered vulgar?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-04-01T03:47:07.297" Title="What is the historic process for converting vulgar words into simply rude words?" Tags="&lt;history&gt;&lt;language-evolution&gt;&lt;vulgar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="17774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17769" CreationDate="2011-03-24T17:00:55.693" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my mind, &quot;inheritance&quot; is almost exclusively used to deal with physical or monetary goods,  features, or character traits; you can inherit your father's estate, you can inherit your mother's good looks, you can inherit your grandfather's business sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Legacy&quot; can be used in that same sense, but it can also have a much broader sense to refer to a situation that is set up for for the benefit of the descendents:  &quot;My father's legacy was the freewheeling, open, friendly town that bears his name:  Fatherville.&quot;  Or, &quot;Our parents' legacy was not simply that they bequeathed us ten million dollars each, but that with that money in trust, we felt free to explore, experiment, and take risks that we would not have been able to, had we not had that safety net available.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Also, as pointed out in some comments, &quot;inheritance&quot; is generally from the viewpoint of the receiver, while &quot;legacy&quot; is from the viewpoint of the giver: My inheritance was my father's legacy.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T17:00:55.693" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17650" CreationDate="2011-03-24T17:02:56.067" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No less an authority than &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulton_Sheen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Fulton Sheen&lt;/a&gt; had the galleys for his latest book come back from the typesetters with &quot;Heaven&quot; and &quot;Hell&quot; knocked downed to lowercase.  He carefully re-capitalized each occurrence.  When his editor called to request an explanation, he gave what I think we can regard as the definitive answer to Nicholas's question:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because they're places. You know, like Scarsdale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T17:02:56.067" />
  <row Id="17776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="851" CreationDate="2011-03-24T17:18:33.320" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;its not about how americans or brits pronounce it, people in the west indies say cariBBEan. they live there, how can anyone argue with that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6498" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T17:18:33.320" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17777" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-24T17:36:42.680" Score="0" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does the ASL version of sign language have grammar? Is it possible to quote a Mime?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T17:36:42.680" ClosedDate="2011-03-24T17:52:12.233" Title="Does sign language (ASL) have the same grammatical rules in place as spoken language?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;language-formation&gt;" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17778" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-24T17:41:31.587" Score="2" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does &lt;em&gt;repartee&lt;/em&gt; need an accent with it in writing? Also, what does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Can you please provide an example sentence or two? I'd really appreciate it!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6500" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T18:03:43.080" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T02:18:02.200" Title="Should I write &quot;repartee&quot; with an accent?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="17779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6599" CreationDate="2011-03-24T17:43:33.910" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have sound-alike words like &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;two&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; (or even &lt;em&gt;tu&lt;/em&gt;, if you count Shakespeare's imagining of Julius Caesar's dying line). If we went to a strict phonetic spelling system, all those would be spelled the same. I think there are cases where such a thing would actually slow us down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This seems like a red herring to me, for several reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First, most of the bizarre spelling in English is not that useful for disambiguating homophones.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second, even if your point stands, does it really argue that spelling irregularity is good? Or does it argue that homophones/homographs are bad?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Third, I very seriously doubt that English homophones and homographs are really all that inconvenient in the first place. Note that &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; already has two apparently unrelated meanings: 1) the infinitive-marking &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;to err is human&lt;/em&gt;; and 2) the preposition &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;to the store&lt;/em&gt;. You used both senses in your question. How much do you think that slowed readers down? I don&amp;rsquo;t think it slowed me down at all. I seem to have disambiguated each one subconsciously and instantaneously. It is hard to imagine what could have gone smoother.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By contrast, irregular spelling is a clear and present pain in the butt. It happens that my kids are learning to spell right now, so I am biased, but I think English spelling carries a lot of historical baggage that really serves no purpose whatsoever.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A comparison. In Spanish, to pluralize a noun, you add an &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt; at the end. In English, it&amp;rsquo;s exactly the same... unless the singular ends with a consonant followed by &lt;em&gt;y&lt;/em&gt;, in which case you drop the &lt;em&gt;y&lt;/em&gt; and add &lt;em&gt;ies&lt;/em&gt;, or it ends with &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;x&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;z&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;sh&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;ch&lt;/em&gt;, in which case you add &lt;em&gt;es&lt;/em&gt; (unless the &lt;em&gt;ch&lt;/em&gt; does not actually make a sibilant sound, as in &lt;em&gt;stomach&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;loch&lt;/em&gt;, in which case just &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt; will do), or it ends with a consonant followed by &lt;em&gt;o&lt;/em&gt;, like &lt;em&gt;potato&lt;/em&gt;, in which case you also add &lt;em&gt;es&lt;/em&gt; (unless it is Italian or Spanish in origin, like &lt;em&gt;piano&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;flamingo&lt;/em&gt;, or it just happens to be one of those words like &lt;em&gt;bozo&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;banjo&lt;/em&gt;, in which case just &lt;em&gt;s&lt;/em&gt; will do), or it&amp;rsquo;s irregular, like &lt;em&gt;child&lt;/em&gt;, in which case you just have to know it. Your position, as far as I can tell, is that maybe people therefore have an easier time reading English plurals than Spanish ones. That makes no sense to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastEditorUserId="2249" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T08:34:46.740" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T08:34:46.740" />
  <row Id="17780" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-24T17:51:42.763" Score="1" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Wiktionary there is a noun &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nuisance_tax&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;nuisance tax&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. Does this suggest &lt;em&gt;nuisance&lt;/em&gt; can be an adjective? Is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="244" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T18:08:36.197" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:08:36.197" Title="Can &quot;nuisance&quot; be an adjective?" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="17781" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17778" CreationDate="2011-03-24T17:53:45.400" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Repartee&lt;/em&gt; is &amp;ldquo;conversation marked by a series of witty retorts&amp;rdquo; (&lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wiktionary/en/wiki/repartee&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word is spelled with no accents. It is apparently from the French &lt;em&gt;repartie&lt;/em&gt; (with no accent).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T17:53:45.400" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17773" CreationDate="2011-03-24T17:57:12.843" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think so. Having searched the &lt;strong&gt;Oxford English Dictionary&lt;/strong&gt; and the &lt;strong&gt;Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary&lt;/strong&gt;, I can say that there are no or very less significant English words labelled 'dated vulgar'.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, the opposite is true for some words. For example, the word &lt;em&gt;negro&lt;/em&gt; (once used normally) is now thought as offensive if it is not carefully handled. There are even more words to list, in this case, but I don't think that it'd be fair to speak off the topic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5959" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T17:57:12.843" />
  <row Id="17783" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17788" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:02:23.813" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have chosen for you from the best of our personnel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can 'from' here also mean 'some'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have chosen for you some of the best of our personnel. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="1579" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T18:06:05.210" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:08:38.250" Title="Does 'from' in this example mean 'some'?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="17784" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17780" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:02:48.790" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not really.  What you have there is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noun_adjunct&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;noun adjunct&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:02:48.790" />
  <row Id="17785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17780" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:04:27.457" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No it doesn't, unfortunately, though this is a slightly unusual usage of &quot;tax&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Normally, an &lt;em&gt;X tax&lt;/em&gt; is a &lt;em&gt;tax on X&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;income tax&lt;/em&gt; is a tax on your income, &lt;em&gt;sales tax&lt;/em&gt; is a tax on the sale being made, &lt;em&gt;window tax&lt;/em&gt; was a tax on the number of windows your house had, and so on.  In all of these cases, &lt;em&gt;X&lt;/em&gt; is of necessity a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hadn't come across the term &lt;em&gt;nuisance tax&lt;/em&gt; before and Etymonline doesn't list it, but the definition you link to suggests that it derives from the tax being a nuisance itself.  Despite the change in meaning, this is basically the same grammatical form as all the other taxes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:04:27.457" />
  <row Id="17786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17780" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:04:57.973" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Nuisance&lt;/em&gt; is not an adjective in the strictest sense.  &lt;em&gt;Nuisance tax&lt;/em&gt; is what is known as a noun compound, and the first word in that phrase is known by a variety of names.  See &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/15700/what-is-the-word-that-denotes-the-words-preceding-these-nouns/&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; that talks about the variety of names (one is  &lt;em&gt;noun adjective&lt;/em&gt;, interestingly).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other common noun compound examples are &lt;em&gt;space shuttle&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;computer programming&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:04:57.973" />
  <row Id="17787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12350" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:05:52.733" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps, &quot;I felt their embarrassment vicariously&quot;, or maybe &quot;I partook in their embarrassment vicariously&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3488" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:05:52.733" />
  <row Id="17788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17783" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:06:31.733" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, no, it doesn't &lt;em&gt;mean&lt;/em&gt; that.  You can replace &quot;from&quot; with &quot;some&quot; and get a grammatical sentence with very similar meaning, but the meaning is not identical: the sentence with &lt;em&gt;from&lt;/em&gt; means that the speaker chose &lt;em&gt;from among&lt;/em&gt; the best of the personnel, while the sentence with &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; means that &lt;em&gt;what the speaker chose&lt;/em&gt; was a selection of the best personnel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The actual results are probably not distinguishable, unless the &quot;from&quot; sentence refers to a single selected candidate, but they're saying different things; in the &quot;some&quot; version, the candidate pool is unspecified and may have included the full set of personnel, while in the &quot;from&quot; version, the candidate pool itself is restricted to the best personnel.  And, of course, &quot;some&quot; cannot properly refer to a single individual.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:06:31.733" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17783" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:08:03.867" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To be clear, &quot;from&quot; doesn't mean &quot;some&quot; but you could make two different sentences that mean roughly the same thing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've chosen some of the best ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've chosen from among the best ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:08:03.867" />
  <row Id="17790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17783" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:08:38.250" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, a single person could have been chosen which would not indicate &lt;em&gt;some&lt;/em&gt; were chosen, but that person would have been among the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:08:38.250" />
  <row Id="17791" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17799" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:12:19.920" Score="3" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the construction 'Let + subject + verb' considered as an order/imperative for the third person:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let every man count his days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;when it is intended to mean 'must'/'is ordered to'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T18:37:25.877" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T06:04:53.583" Title="Is this grammatical construction an imperative for the third person?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17792" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:16:06.297" Score="2" ViewCount="167" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why are these words spelled differently? They have the same sound at the end, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6500" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T18:57:06.577" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T21:45:58.250" Title="Why is &quot;sauté&quot; spelled with an accent and &quot;repartee&quot; not?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="17793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17792" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:26:50.567" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because &lt;em&gt;repartee&lt;/em&gt; is derived from the French &lt;em&gt;repartie&lt;/em&gt;. There is no such word as &lt;em&gt;repartée&lt;/em&gt; in French.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6287" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T04:19:51.570" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T04:19:51.570" />
  <row Id="17794" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17773" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:27:32.190" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a bit more complicated. Yes, some words get watered down in their vulgarity or strength of stigma, while others increase. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes a vulgar word gets replaced by a euphemism, but eventually the euphemism gains more and more stigma as to need euphemizing. In AmE, if one needs to ...well... I'll just pick one... urinate, you go to a particular place. The place where you go to do this is nominally the toilet, but at some point in my older relatives' past, they used to call it the commode (which I had only found out recently is nominally a piece of furniture related to the vanity (a metaphorical metonymy on its own)). But nowadays that place is just simply the bathroom, as in &quot;I have to go to the bathroom&quot;, which can be literally true since (in US home architecture anyway) almost all rooms with baths in them also have a toilet, but the phrase -means- 'I have to use the toilet'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Without checking the OED, I wouldn't be surprised if 'toilet' is the name of some furniture like 'commode' that has become a euphemism for something one urinates into.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a word becomes taboo, people still want to refer to the concept, so they come up with another label for it. As the concept itself (whatever word is attached) still remains, the new label might get similar stigmatization and become taboo itself. I'm sure there's a G. B. Shaw quote that's relevant here but I can't remember it or find it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other cultural factors come into play. For example, my grandmother used to refer to the descendants of African slaves in the US as 'colored' or 'Negro', both of which sounded slightly shocking, but quaint and old-fashioned at the same time. To us at the time the accepted term was 'black' (there's a whole literature surrounding that word). But now that is not vulgar, just out of fashion, and nowadays the term is African-American.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So some words lose their strength of taboo, others increase and need to be replaced by one with less strength.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to the particular word mentioned, 'rape', yes, I've heard of similar phenomena of weakening by repetition in that crowd. But fortunately, I really don't think it is translating to the rest of society. Relatedly, the word 'violate' I think used to mean 'rape' but has itself weakened to just mean 'has been transgressed' (argh..I looked things up...rape -used- to mean the weaker thing, simply violent seizing or carrying off, but has come to mean the even more transgressive sexual violation; but that could also be a cultural thing, that it is now considered more of a transgression now than before).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Words and concepts...so confusing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastEditorUserId="5548" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-04-01T03:47:07.297" LastActivityDate="2011-04-01T03:47:07.297" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17791" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:28:42.330" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Unless it is followed by some indication of consequence or ultimatum, I would not understand it to mean &quot;must&quot; or &quot;is ordered to.&quot; For example&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let every man count his days, lest he become too proud.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let every man count his days, for every day is a treasure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the first example, it sounds as though every man &lt;em&gt;must&lt;/em&gt; count his days, because some consequence (becoming too proud) will fall him if he doesn't. In the second, it is not an order or imperative, because there is no consequence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1442" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:28:42.330" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17791" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:30:16.277" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That's a tough one, and I think would depend on cultural background. I'd feel rather awkward saying that, but if I put my religious hat on, it seems rather like a prayer. Of course it is rather forward to be directing an imperative at a deity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6287" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:30:16.277" />
  <row Id="17797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17730" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:31:25.410" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that 'in an automated manner' is most usually used to describe a mechanical process, whereas 'automatically' is equally used for human actions and mechanical processes. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:31:25.410" />
  <row Id="17798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17773" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:34:22.013" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Vulgar doesn't in itself imply rudeness. It means the language of the common people, and naturally upper class people would be quite haughty and consider it improper, and to them improper might mean rude, but that's an issue of speaking in the wrong register.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Vulgar words no longer being considered rude would be the result of classism fading out, and much fewer people concerning themselves with register.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6287" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:34:22.013" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17791" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:40:38.813" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Let&quot; can introduce an imperative phrase, but it doesn't have to.  Third person is a red herring here; &quot;Let us go forth in peace&quot; at the end of Anglican communions has exactly the same force of command.  Exactly how strong an imperative it is depends very much on the context, though.  It's not terribly strong in either your example or mine, but &quot;Let my people go!&quot; is a different kettle of fish entirely.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I recall correctly, &quot;Let + verb&quot; is the standard way of translating subjunctive &quot;imperatives&quot; from Latin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:40:38.813" />
  <row Id="17800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17791" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:40:46.790" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that that construction does form an imperative, but it is more lax than a traditional construction. For example, consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let us rejoice!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;vs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Rejoice!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the former case, I wouldn't be worried if I decided to refrain from festivities. But in the latter case, I might be a little concerned.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I see a subtle difference between the two, but I don't know if that goes for everyone.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6434" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:40:46.790" />
  <row Id="17801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17769" CreationDate="2011-03-24T18:54:31.550" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Legacy, as it relates to inheritance, will be of broader or deeper scope. When inheritance refers to one generation's gifts to another, a legacy would refer to three or four generations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both terms can be used to denote objects other than money:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have inherited my father's eyes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Drinking is the family legacy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Either an inheritance &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt; legacy can be positive or negative. Legacy does carry a slightly more fatalistic connotation with it: The legacy will live on through the children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hellion's observation of legacy's use with regards to a specific individual is also completely valid. The word can be used to describe a legend or long-standing effect caused by one person (&quot;this is his legacy&quot;) or even a family, nation or race (&quot;this is their legacy&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T18:54:31.550" />
  <row Id="17802" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17791" CreationDate="2011-03-24T19:09:43.140" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe that is actually an example of the subjective mood, specifically the jussive subjunctive, which is a form of command.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not the same thing as the imperative, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6504" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T19:09:43.140" />
  <row Id="17803" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17818" CreationDate="2011-03-24T19:21:31.627" Score="0" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is 'expanse' an acceptable synonym for 'surface'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T21:21:12.817" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T21:21:12.817" Title="Is 'expanse' an acceptable synonym for 'surface'?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17748" CreationDate="2011-03-24T19:21:41.613" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From the movie &quot;Patch Adams&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hunter Patch Adams:  Death. To die. To&#xA;  expire. To pass on. To perish. To peg&#xA;  out. To push up daisies. To push up&#xA;  posies. To become extinct. Curtains,&#xA;  deceased, Demised, departed And&#xA;  defunct. Dead as a doornail. Dead as a&#xA;  herring. Dead as a mutton. Dead as&#xA;  nits. The last breath. Paying a debt&#xA;  to nature. The big sleep. God's way of&#xA;  saying, Slow down. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bill Davis: To check out. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hunter Patch Adams: To shuffle off&#xA;  this mortal coil. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bill Davis: To head for the happy&#xA;  hunting ground. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hunter Patch Adams: To blink for an&#xA;  exceptionally long period of time. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bill Davis: To find oneself without&#xA;  breath. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hunter Patch Adams: To be the&#xA;  incredible decaying man. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bill Davis: Worm buffet. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hunter Patch Adams: Kick the bucket. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bill Davis: Buy the farm. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hunter Patch Adams: Take the cab. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bill Davis: Cash in your chips.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hunter Patch Adams: And if we bury you&#xA;  ass up, I have got a place to park my&#xA;  bike.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1788" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T19:21:41.613" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-24T21:42:18.373" />
  <row Id="17805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17803" CreationDate="2011-03-24T19:26:44.057" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Surface&lt;/em&gt; has many (related) meanings. &lt;em&gt;Expanse&lt;/em&gt; is synonymous to &lt;em&gt;area&lt;/em&gt;, so it is also synonymous to &lt;em&gt;surface&lt;/em&gt; when the latter is used in the meaning of &lt;em&gt;surface area&lt;/em&gt;. Overall, I'd say in most contexts, &lt;em&gt;expanse&lt;/em&gt; is not an acceptable substitution for &lt;em&gt;surface&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T19:26:44.057" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17791" CreationDate="2011-03-24T19:33:00.430" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suggest it means &lt;em&gt;I suggest&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;It is a good idea&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let every man count his days&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;It is a good idea&lt;/em&gt; that every man counts his days or&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Every man should count his days&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T19:33:00.430" />
  <row Id="17807" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17816" CreationDate="2011-03-24T19:35:40.260" Score="3" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between 'roof' and 'canopy'? And would you describe the sky as the roof of the earth or the canopy of the earth? (&lt;em&gt;Sky&lt;/em&gt; meaning everything up to the ozone layer.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T01:10:49.803" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T01:10:49.803" Title="What is the difference between 'roof' and 'canopy'?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="17808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17792" CreationDate="2011-03-24T19:42:03.687" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, they don't sound the same at the end: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;sauté&lt;/em&gt; ends with the same sound as &lt;em&gt;play&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;em&gt;clay&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;foray&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ballet&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;parquet&lt;/em&gt; (for the last two: in their reference US pronunciation). &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Repartee&lt;/em&gt; rhymes with &lt;em&gt;party&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;tee&lt;/em&gt;!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Onto the reasons: &lt;em&gt;repartee&lt;/em&gt; comes from the French &lt;em&gt;repartie&lt;/em&gt; (wit), which is pronunced the same (ends like &lt;em&gt;party&lt;/em&gt;). Because it was adopted into English a long time ago (mid 17th century), its spelling has been anglicized: the accent on the &lt;em&gt;é&lt;/em&gt; was dropped, and the spelling evolved to match the pronunciation (think: &lt;em&gt;tee&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sauté&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, was adopted into English in the 19th century, and kept its original spelling. In French, it is pronunced with an open &quot;e&quot; sound at the end&lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;. The closest common sound in English is that of &lt;em&gt;play&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;clay&lt;/em&gt;, so that's how it is pronunced.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr /&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Apparently, the sound [e] doesn't exist outside of diphthongs in English. It is how they pronunce &lt;em&gt;bed&lt;/em&gt; in Australia, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;says Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;cake&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;play&lt;/em&gt; in some US dialects. It's used a lot in French (&quot;é&quot;) and Italian (“va bene!”).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T21:45:58.250" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T21:45:58.250" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17809" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-24T19:42:05.230" Score="1" ViewCount="102" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3418/how-do-you-handle-that-that-the-double-that-problem&quot;&gt;How do you handle &amp;ldquo;that that&amp;rdquo;? The double &amp;ldquo;that&amp;rdquo; problem&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to write: 'I know that that is good.' repeating the word 'that'? It is present in spoken language and the first 'that' is pronounced shorter like'thu' with a glottal stop at the end. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T09:47:47.447" ClosedDate="2011-03-25T09:46:06.153" Title="'that that' correct in writing?" Tags="&lt;grammar-checker&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="17810" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17807" CreationDate="2011-03-24T19:44:17.943" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sky (with your definition) is a thick layer, so I think neither roof nor canopy is an appropriate word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T19:44:17.943" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3418" CreationDate="2011-03-24T19:45:24.200" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's perfectly fine to write &quot;that that&quot; or to simply write &quot;that&quot;: your choice, your style, your need at the moment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T19:45:24.200" />
  <row Id="17812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3418" CreationDate="2011-03-24T19:46:41.107" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is correct. The two words are performing different functions. The first &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; is used to introduce a clause. The second &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; is used to refer to a specific thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6434" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T19:46:41.107" />
  <row Id="17813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17748" CreationDate="2011-03-24T19:47:50.923" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For some reason, the pastor at our church insists on saying that someone has &quot;graduated&quot; (to heaven). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Made for a heart-stopping moment when he made an announcement about the 7 high-school seniors that had graduated that week :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="642" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T19:47:50.923" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-24T21:42:18.373" />
  <row Id="17814" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17817" CreationDate="2011-03-24T19:51:43.027" Score="5" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I’ve just come across “n.d.” used as an abbreviation, as a bibliographic reference in an academic essay, along the lines of:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Smith (n.d.) discusses the subaquaeous pliability of rattan fibres…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is anyone familiar with this?  Unfortunately it seems rather difficult to Google for (since it’s an abbreviation for many other things as well) and checking a couple of scholarly style guides, I haven’t found it mentioned…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T20:01:36.290" Title="Abbreviation “n.d.” in citation?" Tags="&lt;abbreviations&gt;&lt;citation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="17815" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17807" CreationDate="2011-03-24T19:54:11.850" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Though both refer to some sort of surface above something, I think they are distinct in terms of structural support. That is, a roof is generally a rigid object held in place, while a canopy is looser and hangs above something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, big-tops and forests have canopies while houses and caves have roofs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6434" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T19:54:11.850" />
  <row Id="17816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17807" CreationDate="2011-03-24T19:57:11.273" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Typically, a canopy is used to provide shade while a roof offers more solid protection; canopies filter and roofs protect.  You often hear 'canopy' used to describe the sky-ward protection you experience in a forest or jungle--basically only shade and maybe a little protection from rain.  A cave would offer roof-like protection--shade, protection from rain, &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; protection from big, hard, nasty things that fall from the sky.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These pseudo definitions could be applied to earth's atmosphere in a similar way.  Ask, &quot;Does the atmosphere provide a &lt;em&gt;shade-like&lt;/em&gt; protection against things from outer space, or does it offer more solid protection?&quot;  I think for most of the big, hard, nasty things that fall from outer space that our atmosphere is only a canopy, but if you are specifically talking about types of radiation that our atmosphere completely reflects or absorbs you could claim that our atmosphere (or sky) is a roof.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T19:57:11.273" />
  <row Id="17817" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17814" CreationDate="2011-03-24T20:01:36.290" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems likely that it stands for &quot;No Date&quot;. To be sure, check the bibliography.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6434" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T20:01:36.290" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17803" CreationDate="2011-03-24T20:06:03.387" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A surface is something that can be mapped to a flat plane, like the surface of the Earth can be viewed on a paper map.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An &lt;em&gt;'expanse'&lt;/em&gt; is not limited to only two dimensions.  The 'expanse of the Sahara desert' is usually considered as a two-dimensional surface, but the 'expanse of space' is at least three dimensions and probably many more.  The 'expanse of the Pacific ocean' can refer to the surface &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;area&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; only, or it can include all the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;volume&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; of water that extends downward from the surface into the deepest trenches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T20:06:03.387" />
  <row Id="17819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17807" CreationDate="2011-03-24T20:08:17.647" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is said the Himalayas are the roof of the earth, so perhaps the sky cannot claim that title?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;would you describe the sky as the roof of the earth or the canopy of the earth. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, I would describe the sky sometimes as the roof of the earth, sometimes as the canopy of the earth. Of course I would also sometimes describe it as the X of the Y, where X and Y are any other handy words that evoke whatever quality of the sky I am trying to communicate. Playground:Gods. Scarred-battleground:Jetliners. TV-Screen:Cosmos. &lt;sub&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note to self: don't give up day job.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, to answer your question, you first have to know what it is you are trying to communicate. Most people understand the basic (above/below) relationship between sky and earth, so metaphors like roof and canopy might seem a bit, well, banal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sky meaining everything up to the ozone layer&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Metaphor is poetic, you should avoid seeming like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage#Eccentricities&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Babbage writing to Tennyson&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T20:14:55.673" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T20:14:55.673" />
  <row Id="17820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3418" CreationDate="2011-03-24T20:19:28.493" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would argue that it might very well be correct, but if it makes you uncomfortable, it may also distract your readers. You've likely seen the common example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The human brain often skips any extra&#xA;  words that appear in the the sentence&#xA;  they're reading&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same behaviour might happen with the extra &quot;that&quot; appearing in your sentence. So while it might be correct in theory, perhaps you could reword your sentence such that it becomes more readable for your audience.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4136" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T20:19:28.493" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17821" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-24T20:32:45.443" Score="2" ViewCount="158" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicates:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8545/a-total-of-10-babies-is-sleeping-v-s-a-total-of-10-babies-are-sleeping-v-s&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;A total of 10 babies is sleeping.&amp;rdquo; v.s. &amp;ldquo;A total of 10 babies are sleeping.&amp;rdquo; v.s. &amp;ldquo;Ten babies in total are sleeping.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5588/is-a-total-of-10-payments-singular-or-plural&quot;&gt;Is &amp;ldquo;a total of 10 payments&amp;rdquo; singular or plural?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A total of 315 questionnaires was received from your area, and in particular the response to Question 10 was most positive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Was / Were ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6507" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-24T22:08:12.137" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T21:23:21.153" ClosedDate="2011-03-25T11:05:32.700" Title="Is the following sentence grammatically correct? It doesn't sound right." Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;concord&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17821" CreationDate="2011-03-24T20:34:12.580" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it's &lt;strong&gt;a total (that) was received&lt;/strong&gt;, even the indefinite article asks for a singular, so &quot;a total of 315 questionnaires was received.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6509" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T20:34:12.580" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17821" CreationDate="2011-03-24T20:57:42.263" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with RiMMER: it's the singular total that the verb draws its tense from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However it still sounds awkward. How about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Three-hundred and fifteen&#xA;  questionnaires were received from your&#xA;  area, and in particular the response&#xA;  to Question 10 was most positive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2577" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T20:57:42.263" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17718" CreationDate="2011-03-24T20:58:10.737" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term '&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction_film#Future_Noir&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Future Noir&lt;/a&gt;' is used to describe movies like 'Blade Runner' and 'Twelve Monkeys'.  A subset of these films, like 'Terminator', get an additional classification of 'Techno-Noir'.  These all tend to be darkish stories set in a dystopian, often post-apocalyptic, future.  Literature, like '1984' and 'Fahrenheit 451', can fit within the &lt;em&gt;future-noir&lt;/em&gt; genre, but can't really be called 'techno-noir'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more general term '&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculative_fiction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Speculative Fiction&lt;/a&gt;' covers a wider range of genres, including super-hero fiction and horror, that aren't necessarily set in some future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Somewhere between the over-encompassing 'speculative fiction' and the narrowly focused 'future noir' and 'techno-noir' genres is '&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_history&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Future History&lt;/a&gt;'.  The 'Star Trek' franchise would fit within this genre, as there are frequent references to &lt;em&gt;their&lt;/em&gt; past, which is also &lt;em&gt;our&lt;/em&gt; future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The three links given in the previous paragraphs each have lists of other titles that fit within their respective group.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;Edit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also a genre called '&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allmovie.com/glossary/term/film+blanc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;film-blanc&lt;/a&gt;', which in contrast to 'film noir's' dark settings and dystopian story lines, offers hope and utopian story lines.  Melding the two already accepted phrases 'future noir' and 'film-blanc' I propose coining &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;'future blanc'&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; to describe films and literature that are set in a hopeful or utopian future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastEditorUserId="3800" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T17:08:26.170" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T17:08:26.170" />
  <row Id="17825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17821" CreationDate="2011-03-24T20:59:24.153" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can resolve two difficulties by rephrasing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;a total of 315 questionnaires was received.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;We received &lt;s&gt; a total of&lt;/s&gt; 315 questionnaires.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Gets rid of the awkward wording plus it gets rid of the passive voice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-- pete&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6300" LastEditorUserId="6300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T21:23:21.153" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T21:23:21.153" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17807" CreationDate="2011-03-24T21:02:17.767" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In both cases I think the words are acceptable for poetic usage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;He slept beneath the roof of the sky;&#xA;  the canopy of the stars&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The words themselves aren't &lt;em&gt;quite&lt;/em&gt; interchangeable. &quot;Canopy&quot; implies a certain level of permeability, whereas &quot;roof&quot; implies a more solid boundary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2577" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T21:02:17.767" />
  <row Id="17827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17821" CreationDate="2011-03-24T21:15:35.063" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Technically, the awkward version is correct, but it sounds funny anyway because of the proximity of &quot;questionnaires&quot; to &quot;was.&quot; In spoken English you'd probably hear &quot;were&quot; as a result.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In such cases where the &quot;correct&quot; phrasing is clumsy and awkward, revise and reword accordingly. You have some good suggestions in the answers given above, e.g., &quot;we received a total of...&quot; etc. Avoid the passive voice unless there's some compelling reason to use it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T21:15:35.063" />
  <row Id="17828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3418" CreationDate="2011-03-24T21:25:51.547" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Don't forget that that &quot;that&quot; that appears before the other &quot;that&quot; does a different job.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6511" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T09:47:47.447" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T09:47:47.447" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17791" CreationDate="2011-03-24T21:41:27.263" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I read it as an exhortation rather than as an order.  But I don't know the jussive subjunctive, so let us now go look that up...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4244" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T21:41:27.263" />
  <row Id="17830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1818" CreationDate="2011-03-24T22:04:10.633" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;First, pick your subject&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Write down some words about it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Count your syllables&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6512" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T22:04:10.633" />
  <row Id="17831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17748" CreationDate="2011-03-24T23:50:20.033" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A favorite in some parts of Canada: &quot;Had the Biscuit&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2011-03-24T23:50:20.033" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-24T23:50:20.033" />
  <row Id="17832" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17834" CreationDate="2011-03-25T00:13:00.013" Score="3" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the article of today’s New York Times praising Elisabeth Taylor’s beauty and her personal style titled &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/fashion/24LIZSTYLE.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;“An Alluring Beauty Exempt From Fashion’s Rules”&lt;/a&gt;  I found two phrases unfamiliar to me, i.e. “She was irresistible mayhem, and “I love you in 18 syllables.” quoted from Joel Rosenthal, one of the actress’s closest friend’s remarks. Could you explain what these two phrases mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“She was the only goddess I know who&#xA;  had a sense of humor and a gigantic&#xA;  heart,” said Joel Rosenthal, one of&#xA;  the top jewelers in the world, whose&#xA;  Paris-based company is called JAR.&#xA;  “She was irresistible mayhem,” he said&#xA;  by telephone from Basel, Switzerland.&#xA;  “And she was without vanity. She&#xA;  transcended whatever else she was&#xA;  doing, be it a mediocre script or a&#xA;  dress that didn’t look right. --- He&#xA;  could still hear the singing tone of&#xA;  her voice as she signed off a&#xA;  telephone conversation: “I love you,” &#xA;  he said, “in 18 syllables.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T09:16:24.417" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T09:16:24.417" Title="What does ‘Irresistible mayhem’ and “I love you in 18 syllables.” mean in describing Elisabeth Taylor’s charm?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="17834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17832" CreationDate="2011-03-25T00:28:21.450" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first phrase seems straightforward: what he means by &quot;irresistible mayhem&quot; is that she was a wild, chaotic force that was utterly captivating and impossible to draw away from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way I read the second phrase is that she sang a drawn out &quot;I love you&quot;, which could perhaps be represented as &quot;I lo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ve you&quot;. His phrasing isn't exactly standard English, though.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6434" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T00:28:21.450" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17835" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17836" CreationDate="2011-03-25T00:56:40.307" Score="4" ViewCount="96" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I drop the second &lt;em&gt;having&lt;/em&gt; in this sentence? : &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So, having looked through your posts and &lt;strong&gt;having&lt;/strong&gt; read all the materials that you referred me to, I came to the conclusion...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T01:52:05.043" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T20:53:03.287" Title="Can I drop the second &quot;having&quot; in this sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="17836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17835" CreationDate="2011-03-25T01:02:06.007" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, of course you can drop the second &quot;having&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So, having looked through your posts and read all the materials that you referred me to, I came to the conclusion...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is perfectly fine and, in fact, better than repeating the word. The first instance of &quot;having&quot; can do double duty for both phrases, and it's even what the ear expects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T01:02:06.007" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17769" CreationDate="2011-03-25T01:03:32.723" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'Legacy' specifically has the additional related meaning of 'a person admitted to a university because of the attendance of a parent at the same school' often with the implication that it was done in disregarding merit of the applicant. 'Inheritance' has no such meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T01:03:32.723" />
  <row Id="17838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12727" CreationDate="2011-03-25T01:55:19.550" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe the most common example is &quot;wife&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4136" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T01:55:19.550" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17615" CreationDate="2011-03-25T01:58:06.273" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's an alternative use of the word &quot;should&quot;. You might read &quot;Who should she see but the Big Bad Wolf&quot; as &quot;She was surprised to see the Big Bad Wolf&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5130" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T01:58:06.273" />
  <row Id="17840" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17778" CreationDate="2011-03-25T02:18:02.200" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries&lt;/a&gt;, the definition of &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1284279#m_en_us1284279&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;repartee&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; is&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;conversation or speech characterized by quick, witty comments or replies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Repartee&lt;/em&gt; is always spelled without an accent. It is pronounced &lt;em&gt;re-par-TEE&lt;/em&gt; (also, less commonly, &lt;em&gt;re-par-TAY&lt;/em&gt; in the US).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That was the best outing we've had in years! Our hosts were fabulous, the dinner was fantastic, and the ensuing &lt;em&gt;repartee&lt;/em&gt; was invigorating.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T02:18:02.200" />
  <row Id="17841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17748" CreationDate="2011-03-25T02:23:35.430" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My favorite is &quot;He is taking a dirt nap&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6517" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T02:23:35.430" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-25T02:23:35.430" />
  <row Id="17842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17384" CreationDate="2011-03-25T03:04:21.690" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the phrase predates references to a mortgage as a &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=JQUFAAAAQAAJ&amp;amp;dq=%22monkey%20on%20the%20roof%22&amp;amp;pg=PA315#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22monkey%20on%20the%20roof%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;monkey on the roof&lt;/a&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The earliest references to piggybacking monkeys involve the backs of other animals. Of these, the earliest I found were references to the cruel and ancient history of &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=0sMjAAAAMAAJ&amp;amp;dq=%22monkey%20on%20his%20back%22&amp;amp;pg=PA430#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22monkey%20on%20his%20back%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dancing bears&lt;/a&gt;, accounts of monkeys on &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=zB4JAAAAQAAJ&amp;amp;dq=%22monkey%20on%20its%20back%22&amp;amp;pg=PA279#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22monkey%20on%20its%20back%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;baited ponies&lt;/a&gt;, and on &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=_1klAAAAMAAJ&amp;amp;dq=%22monkey%20on%20its%20back%22&amp;amp;pg=RA1-PA53#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22monkey%20on%20its%20back%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;show camels&lt;/a&gt;. In 1807, sportswriter Pierce Egan wrote of a &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=5vBDAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;dq=%22Pierce%20egan%22&amp;amp;pg=PA238#v=snippet&amp;amp;q=monkey&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;monkey riding a horse&lt;/a&gt;. These seem relevant because of their proximity in time to the phrase first being used figuratively and because, in most of these anecdotes, the monkey is either frightening the animal or symbolizing its subjugation. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In 1822, Thomas Gillett published a collection of stories as &lt;em&gt;The Midland Minstrel&lt;/em&gt; that included a humorous tale called &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=ffsVAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;dq=midland%20minstrel&amp;amp;pg=PA53#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=monkey&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Devil and the Doctor&lt;/a&gt;&quot; about some students who teach their overzealous instructor a lesson by dropping a monkey on his back while he's riding his horse home one night. He's convinced the monkey is the devil and, after a mad dash through town, sees the error of his ways. This attribution of evil to the monkey is significant and evolves in later citations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The earliest figurative use of the phrase I could find dates from an 1836 publication of &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=MwwbAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA210&amp;amp;dq=%22monkey%20on%20his%20back%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=o76ITaLyGueU0QHvkYCLDg&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=5&amp;amp;ved=0CD8Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22monkey%20on%20his%20back%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Parterre of Poetry and Historical Romance&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Without question, the habit of&#xA;  precaution which prompted him to&#xA;  secure his buttons, alone prevented&#xA;  the abstraction of his pocket-book,&#xA;  and two five-pound Bank of England&#xA;  notes—an admirable piece of ingenuity,&#xA;  which has only been nullified by that&#xA;  purely legal process called docking an&#xA;  entail ! The abridged retires from&#xA;  society with a &lt;em&gt;monkey on his back&lt;/em&gt;, and&#xA;  bequeathing a cordial benediction to&#xA;  the author of this diabolical 'Essay&#xA;  on Man.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The italics were in the original, indicating, I think, the phrase was not in common use at the time. Its meaning is not entirely clear from its context of a man avoiding a pickpocket scheme at a fair. There may be a monetary debt connotation here. We do see a continuation of the monkey-as-devil theme in the use of &lt;em&gt;diabolical&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next I found what I think is the earliest printed definition of the phrase from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=690LAQAAIAAJ&amp;amp;dq=%22monkey%20on%20its%20back%22&amp;amp;pg=PA28#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22monkey%20on%20its%20back%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, 1854:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;MONKEY.   'I've put your monkey up,' is a phrase implying, I've roused your spirit, or offended you. 'I've put up your back,' is an equivalent, which see. A child is said to have the monkey on its back, when in ill humour, or out of temper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this from &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=l3MKAAAAIAAJ&amp;amp;dq=%22put%20that%20monkey%22&amp;amp;q=monkey#v=snippet&amp;amp;q=monkey&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Slang Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, 1874:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monkey&lt;/strong&gt;, spirit or ill temper; 'to get one's Monkey up,' to rouse his passion. A man is said to have his Monkey up or the Monkey on his back, when he is 'riled,' or out of temper; this is old, and was probably in allusion originally to the evil spirit which was supposed to lie always present with a man; also under similar circumstances a man is said to have his back or hump up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other literary references from the turn of the century reinforce this idea of the monkey as an evil spirit making someone do something they wouldn't otherwise, e.g, this from &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=e8YjAAAAMAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA247&amp;amp;dq=%22monkey%20on%20my%20back%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=FAeJTciuDpCEtgfQnoD4DQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CDUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22monkey%20on%20my%20back%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;A Rational Marriage&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, 1899:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Mealy, will you forgive me for that box on the ear ? It was a beastly thing of me to do ; but I felt a bit ' at bay,' my dear, which you must take on trust, because I can't explain it to you. I had the black monkey on my back ; but it's off again now, and I'm awfully sorry I avenged my own bad temper upon you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and this from &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=QH4VAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA22&amp;amp;dq=%22monkey%20on%20my%20back%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=rAKJTaGHKsautwfb5LzhDQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22monkey%20on%20my%20back%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Beauty and Nick&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, 1914:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'Why did you break it?' asked Nick.&#xA;  'Because I had a monkey on my back,' said Beauty. 'Such an evil little monkey.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are parallel meanings for the phrase during this same time period, including &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=b7IhAAAAMAAJ&amp;amp;dq=%22letter%20job%22&amp;amp;pg=PA138#v=snippet&amp;amp;q=monkey%20on&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;being upset&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=ALgtAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;q=%22monkey%20on%22&amp;amp;dq=%22monkey%20on%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=K9-LTaiROYK-tgfMrNGqDQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=10&amp;amp;ved=0CFIQ6AEwCThu&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;being in debt&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, but these usages are chiefly British.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The earliest mention of drug use I found was in a glossary from the 1938 &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=r-0tAAAAIAAJ&amp;amp;q=%22monkey%20on%20my%20back%22&amp;amp;dq=%22monkey%20on%20my%20back%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=LgyJTZO5NJSjtgfcpNznDQ&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=2&amp;amp;ved=0CDYQ6AEwAQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Monkey&lt;/strong&gt;, a habit, as in 'I have a monkey on my back.' Usually used when one is sick from lack of drugs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I believe that this slang for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroin#History&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;opiate addiction&lt;/a&gt; was a natural evolution of the phrase from its history of referring to an evil and subjugating force acting on someone beyond their control.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T03:04:21.690" />
  <row Id="17843" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17847" CreationDate="2011-03-25T04:09:24.890" Score="2" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do these two sentences imply the same action? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T04:58:27.953" Title="Does &quot;bend your knees, please&quot; have the same meaning as &quot;squat down, please&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="17844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17843" CreationDate="2011-03-25T04:32:04.020" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Squatting down generally requires you to have some part of the body which is above the knees when standing erect to be below the knees.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bending the knees, while this action can include squatting down, only requires the knees to be bent slightly. For example, some people recommend bending the knees to keep the circulation of the blood in the legs unconstricted, but this does not require squatting down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5584" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T04:49:02.993" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T04:49:02.993" />
  <row Id="17845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17843" CreationDate="2011-03-25T04:32:04.997" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first may be addressing someone in a supine or sitting position, the second only someone standing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3540" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T04:32:04.997" />
  <row Id="17846" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17848" CreationDate="2011-03-25T04:42:05.317" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;maybe it's a little long story.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  maybe it's a little longer story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T14:30:16.650" Title="Do I need to use comparative degree ?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;comparative&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17843" CreationDate="2011-03-25T04:58:27.953" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not at all!  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/Bp8aD.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Kneeling down&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Bend your knees, please!&quot; means that the speaker asks the listener to stay in a postition where one or both knees are on the ground. This position is often interpreted as an act of praying and submission (compare Romeo &amp;amp; Juliet).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/4sdMc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Squatting down&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Squat down, please!&quot; means that the speaker requests the listener to lower his/her butt to sit like a frog. This position is often interpreted as an act of performing Yoga and Quadriceps Exercises. In some of the Asian countries, there are squat toilets where a squatting down position is needed!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5959" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T04:58:27.953" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="17848" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17846" CreationDate="2011-03-25T05:17:14.360" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, first of all, the placement of &quot;story&quot; at the end of the sentence is very strange.  Either &quot;it's&quot; should be referring to the story as mentioned in a previous sentence, or you should say &quot;Maybe the story is a little long/longer&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Secondly:&#xA;&quot;Maybe the story is a little long&quot; means that you could, if you tried, shorten the story up and still cover everything you need.  (Perhaps someone said &quot;You rambled a heck of a lot in that story.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Maybe the story is a little longer&quot; means that you arrived at the apparent end of the story but you're letting the listeners know that there's actually still something to be told.  (Perhaps someone said &quot;What, that was the end??  Awwww, I wanted something more to happen.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T05:17:14.360" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17849" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17851" CreationDate="2011-03-25T05:18:10.467" Score="4" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This question is way too vague&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why not just: &quot;This question is too vague&quot;? What's the meaning of 'way' in this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T06:08:29.570" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T06:08:29.570" Title="Why use 'way' in this sentence ?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17850" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17849" CreationDate="2011-03-25T05:23:22.473" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Way is acting as an intensifier. Saying that something is &lt;em&gt;way&lt;/em&gt; too vague indicates that is more vague than if you had simply said it is too vague.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this context it is an informal synonym for much, i.e. &quot;This question is much too vague.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6434" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T05:23:22.473" />
  <row Id="17851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17849" CreationDate="2011-03-25T05:34:50.380" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In American English, &lt;em&gt;way&lt;/em&gt; is also used informally as an adverb of emphasis. Relevant definitions, according to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1305429#m_en_us1305429&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;at or to a considerable distance or extent; far (used before an adverb or preposition for emphasis): &#xA;   &lt;em&gt;his understanding of what constitutes good writing is way off target&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   &lt;em&gt;my grandchildren are way ahead of others their age&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;[as submodifier] much:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;I was cycling way too fast&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;[usually as submodifier] extremely; really (used for emphasis):&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;the guys behind the bar were way cool&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, in your example, &lt;em&gt;way&lt;/em&gt; is used to emphasize the vagueness of the question. You could just as well say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This question is &lt;em&gt;far&lt;/em&gt; too vague.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T05:34:50.380" />
  <row Id="17852" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-25T06:22:12.720" Score="1" ViewCount="90" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering about the meaning of &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am down with something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, I was wondering if people say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am up with something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, what does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks and regards!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T18:05:51.103" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T11:24:39.487" Title="&quot;I am down/up with something&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="17853" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-25T06:29:48.687" Score="7" ViewCount="195" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand what the term as it's applied to Biotechnology, Chemistry. I am not quite sure what it means when it's applied to other area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One example is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Or do you allow the specifications to grow organically by allowing all of the developers to write their own tests, and forget about having a Software Architect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which is taken from &lt;a href=&quot;http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/21291/what-is-the-role-of-a-software-architect-in-the-test-driven-development-process&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; SE Post.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does it mean to grow dynamically with changed requirements or get modified with changed requirements?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1111" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T08:30:19.817" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T17:35:02.450" Title="What does it mean to “grow organically”?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17853" CreationDate="2011-03-25T06:46:29.980" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this context, for the specifications to &lt;em&gt;grow organically&lt;/em&gt; means there is no overarching control or direction. Each developer writes their own tests, without consultation with or approval of a higher authority. Metaphorically, it evokes an image of a tree or plant which grows outward and higher from the bottom up. So the phrase describes a &quot;bottom up&quot; process, as opposed to a &quot;top down&quot; architectural or dictatorial process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you see, your final question &quot;Does it mean to grow dynamically with changed requirements or get modified with changed requirements?&quot; isn't really addressed by the phrase. It simply means there is no single authority which dictates the specifications. They will arise (grow organically) from each developer's tests.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastEditorUserId="1871" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T17:20:20.493" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T17:20:20.493" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="17855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17852" CreationDate="2011-03-25T07:09:23.323" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are &lt;em&gt;down with&lt;/em&gt; something it means that you have knowledge of something or are in agreement with it. &lt;em&gt;I'm down with science&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;I am familiar with science&quot; or &quot;science is a good thing.&quot; To be &lt;em&gt;down with something&lt;/em&gt; is a slang phrase, and not terribly common in formal speech or writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also speak of having a disease, sometimes preceded by the verb &lt;em&gt;to come&lt;/em&gt; if the sickness hasn't yet fully taken hold. eg. &lt;em&gt;I am coming down with a cold.&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;She is down with the flu.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be &lt;em&gt;up with&lt;/em&gt; something is only used in the imperitive, eg. &lt;em&gt;up with the king!&lt;/em&gt; — meaning hey, that king is pretty great. Or: &lt;em&gt;up with ice cream!&lt;/em&gt; (Yay! Ice Cream!) You would never say &lt;em&gt;I am up with something.&lt;/em&gt; That wouldn't be proper english. Although you could say &lt;em&gt;I am up to something&lt;/em&gt;, you sneaky little devil, you. (In case it's not clear, &quot;I am up to something&quot; means &quot;I have an ulterior motive I don't wish to reveal.&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you are addressing someone directly who is presently seated, you could use a command: &lt;em&gt;up with you!&lt;/em&gt; (stand up.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T07:09:23.323" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="17856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17852" CreationDate="2011-03-25T07:14:00.730" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If the 'something' is an illness or malaise, then &quot;I am down with the lurgy&quot; means that I am suffering from an illness and normally that I am in bed and hence not getting up, so staying down.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think I've ever heard anyone say &quot;I am up with something&quot;.  In a wholly different context, &quot;I am up on something&quot; means I've studied something and know something about what it is all about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2386" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T07:14:00.730" />
  <row Id="17857" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17853" CreationDate="2011-03-25T08:32:50.540" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I see a slightly different meaning than ghoppe here, which is more about steady, sustained, fixed-rate growth. The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; somewhat supports this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;organic:&lt;/strong&gt; characterized by continuous or natural development: &lt;em&gt;companies expand as much by acquisition as by organic growth&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T08:32:50.540" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17858" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17863" CreationDate="2011-03-25T09:09:59.880" Score="1" ViewCount="149" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've received an email from a colleague who is leaving the company - and it's titled &quot;comma separated&quot; along with the usual yadda-yadda&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the first time I've come across this usage of the term - is it standard ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Actual quote&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;It is never easy to say goodbye, but comma separated it is.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2688" LastEditorUserId="2688" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T07:54:53.840" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T07:54:53.840" Title="Does the term &quot;comma separated&quot; mean &quot;Goodbye&quot; in any way?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17859" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17861" CreationDate="2011-03-25T09:23:53.653" Score="6" ViewCount="248" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that in computer programming, underscores are used extensively to create names that are technically one word long but consist of several different words.  For example, C++ has &lt;code&gt;priority_queue&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;get_temporary_buffer&lt;/code&gt;.  However, this use case only exists because it's easier for software to split apart source code using whitespace as boundaries.  In fact, in every case I can think of where I've seen underscores used, the rationale has always been to simplify some automated process.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Did the underscore character exist before computers were invented?  If so, what were they used for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6523" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T09:38:55.263" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T09:38:55.263" Title="Did the underscore character exist before modern computers?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17860" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17881" CreationDate="2011-03-25T09:35:59.953" Score="6" ViewCount="218" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;bucket&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;pail&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there a distinction between the shape of a bucket and the shape of a pail?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Are buckets and pails made of different materials?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there a difference between substances carried in buckets and pails?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is there dialectal variation in the use of these words?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is one of these words old-fashioned?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When is a native English speaker more likely to use the word &lt;em&gt;bucket&lt;/em&gt;? (Please state the whereabouts of the speaker in question)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;When is a native English speaker more likely to use the word &lt;em&gt;pail&lt;/em&gt;? (Ditto)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3286" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T09:42:36.603" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T10:34:17.683" Title="What's the difference between “bucket” and “pail”?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17861" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17859" CreationDate="2011-03-25T09:38:20.290" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. &lt;strong&gt;The underscore appeared first on mechanical typewriters&lt;/strong&gt;, and was used as a combining glyph to underline text. You would type your text, then move the carriage back the beginning of the word, and type a series of underscores. It was also used to create horizontal “fill in the blank” lines, such as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&#xA;   Name: ________________&#xA;Surname: ________________&#xA;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read more on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underscore&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T09:38:20.290" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17860" CreationDate="2011-03-25T09:42:02.173" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pail&lt;/em&gt; is completely synonymous with &lt;em&gt;bucket&lt;/em&gt;, except in phrases such as &lt;em&gt;diner pail&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;slop pail&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;oyster pail&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;kick the bucket&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;bucket brigade&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;bucket seat&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;bucket hat&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T09:42:02.173" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17863" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17858" CreationDate="2011-03-25T09:42:03.640" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. Only if it is some kind of internal joke at your company. &quot;Comma separated values&quot; (CSV) is a file format.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The comma-separated values file format&#xA;  is a set of file formats used to store&#xA;  tabular data in which numbers and text&#xA;  are stored in plain textual form that&#xA;  can be read in a text editor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma-separated_values&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma-separated_values&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T09:42:03.640" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17864" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="165" CreationDate="2011-03-25T10:14:02.910" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd be more inclined to interpret &quot;for Great Good&quot; as a form of &quot;for the Greater Good&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that case it corresponds with &quot;learning Haskell is good for whole world&quot; per your suggestion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Compare to &quot;Making the world a better place, one person at a time&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5670" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T10:14:02.910" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-25T10:14:02.910" />
  <row Id="17865" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17902" CreationDate="2011-03-25T10:40:35.750" Score="3" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was just wondering if anyone could think of a single word meaning the opposite of &lt;em&gt;contains&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This bottle of beer contains alcohol whereas this one doesn't.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;This bottle of beer &lt;em&gt;doesn't contain&lt;/em&gt; alcohol whereas this one does.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, I'm looking for a single word which means &lt;em&gt;doesn't contain&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6524" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T21:14:39.297" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T21:14:39.297" Title="The opposite of &quot;contains&quot;" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17866" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17911" CreationDate="2011-03-25T10:50:35.093" Score="8" ViewCount="220" Body="&lt;p&gt;The reason I ask is that the feeling evoked by the term &lt;em&gt;badass&lt;/em&gt; feels to me like a human universal, so ought to have synonyms in any era.  Trying to confirm my hypothesis, I hunted through the Online Etymology Dictionary, where I hoped to find archaic substitutes, which unforunately did not provide me a direct history for &lt;em&gt;badass&lt;/em&gt;. Instead, it directed me toward &quot;bad + ass&quot;, which feels sort of strange to me since I'm not sure you can get the feeling of this word by breaking it down into constituents -- one needs real-life examples, really.  The &quot;bad&quot; of &lt;em&gt;badass&lt;/em&gt; seemed relevant towards the meaning, though, and here's what the Etymology Dictionary has to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[&lt;em&gt;Bad&lt;/em&gt;'s] [i]ronic use as a word of approval is said to be at least since 1890s orally, originally in Black Eng., emerging in print 1928 in a jazz context. It might have emerged from the ambivalence of expressions like bad nigger, used as a term of reproach by whites, but among blacks sometimes representing one who stood up to injustice, but in the U.S. West bad man also had a certain ambivalence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;These are the men who do most of the killing in frontier communities, yet it is a noteworthy fact that the men who are killed generally deserve their fate.&lt;/em&gt; [Farmer &amp;amp; Henley]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Right, so &lt;em&gt;bad&lt;/em&gt; and hence &lt;em&gt;badass&lt;/em&gt; is a modern term, with the former appearing no earlier than 1928, and the latter having a '70s era feel for me.  My question is, what were people using to describe badasses like &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_the_conqueror&quot;&gt;William the Conqueror&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wallace&quot;&gt;William Wallace&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Whittemore&quot;&gt;Samuel Whittemore&lt;/a&gt;in their time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T15:26:56.767" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T16:15:04.173" Title="Are there any archaic words in older strands of English that approximate the modern term &quot;badass&quot;?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="17867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17865" CreationDate="2011-03-25T10:54:30.843" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In some contexts, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;exclude&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; might work: &lt;em&gt;“the price excludes postage”&lt;/em&gt;. In general, no, I can't think of a single word meaning “does not contain”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T10:54:30.843" />
  <row Id="17868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17866" CreationDate="2011-03-25T11:06:05.970" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In certain (slightly negative contexts) &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cocksure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;cocksure&lt;/a&gt; might work - it expresses the arrogance and overconfidence implied when badass is used to indicate someone who does not care.  However, I'm not sure when this word came into existence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Its doesn't work so well when its used positively though... (I'm feeling like a badass Mr Cool today)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6206" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T11:06:05.970" />
  <row Id="17869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17866" CreationDate="2011-03-25T11:07:31.650" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When used negatively, and as a noun, I would go for &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;ruffian&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;rapscallion&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;rustler&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, or &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;reaver&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T14:46:18.863" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T14:46:18.863" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17865" CreationDate="2011-03-25T11:16:26.327" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.synonym.com/antonym/contains/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Synonym.com&lt;/a&gt; offers no antonyms for '&lt;em&gt;contains&lt;/em&gt;'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even if you could find some esoteric term, what use would if be if so few could understand it? Besides, what is wrong with '&lt;em&gt;does not contain&lt;/em&gt;'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T11:16:26.327" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17871" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17721" CreationDate="2011-03-25T11:21:39.600" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a native Brit, I frequently use &lt;em&gt;Mad&lt;/em&gt; to mean both &lt;em&gt;Angry&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Insane&lt;/em&gt;... particularly when I am at work(!). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think there is much of a trans-Atlantic distinction in meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2302" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T11:21:39.600" />
  <row Id="17872" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17791" CreationDate="2011-03-25T11:26:27.727" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a tricky one for English, but when you're translating a third person imperative from Latin or Ancient Greek, that's how we do it, so I would say that's the closest thing we have to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3876" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T11:26:27.727" />
  <row Id="17873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17866" CreationDate="2011-03-25T11:34:12.583" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would suggest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rogue (from 1560s)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rascal (from 1200s)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bruiser (from 1540s)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of the three, &lt;em&gt;bruiser&lt;/em&gt; comes closest in meaning to &lt;em&gt;badass&lt;/em&gt;, I think, as it suggests someone who is strong and capable, someone you don't want to mess with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T11:34:12.583" />
  <row Id="17874" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-25T11:37:43.110" Score="0" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have trouble understanding some parts of an English poem. &#xA;I'm not sure if this is &lt;em&gt;exactly&lt;/em&gt; a question for this site, but maybe you could help anyway? :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's the lyrics of the song &quot;The Well Below The Valley&quot;: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kinglaoghaire.com/site/lyrics/song_603.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.kinglaoghaire.com/site/lyrics/song_603.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are 2 things I don't understand about it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) What does &quot;ringing a bell&quot; mean? (last verses)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) Why is the gentlemen saying &quot;If your true love was passing by / You'd fill him a drink if he was dry&quot;?&#xA;Is he suggesting that he is her true love? But if so, why is she denying she ever had a true love? &#xA;I don't really get this line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for your help in advance!&#xA;ladybug&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6401" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T11:37:43.110" ClosedDate="2011-03-25T11:52:14.080" Title="Understanding &quot;The Well Below The Valley&quot;" Tags="&lt;poetry&gt;&lt;lyrics&gt;" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17860" CreationDate="2011-03-25T11:41:21.313" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are synonyms, but not completely interchangeable. &lt;em&gt;Bucket&lt;/em&gt; has a more extensive set of meanings, and can be used to describe&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the scoop of a dredger or grain elevator&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;the scoop attached to the front of a loader, digger or tractor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a unit of data that can be transferred from a backing store in a single operation (computing)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;slang&lt;/em&gt; the scoring of a goal in basketball&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an old boat that's in poor shape&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[NOAD]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T11:41:21.313" />
  <row Id="17877" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17880" CreationDate="2011-03-25T11:52:29.880" Score="3" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello!!!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any synonyms or alternatives for words store/storage in context of storing abstract things? for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;storage&lt;/strong&gt; of user's posts;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;to &lt;strong&gt;store&lt;/strong&gt; functions;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6493" LastEditorUserId="1304" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T12:16:13.077" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T12:16:13.077" Title="Storage for abstract things?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;dictionary&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="17878" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-25T11:54:10.863" Score="0" ViewCount="23" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi guys, i'm doing a short project on corpus collocations and i need some human (i.e. yours input)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;list 10 words that you think collocate with &quot;eliminate&quot;? (e.g. &quot;sun, wave, surf, sand, bikinis, volleyball&quot; are collocates with the word &quot;beach&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pls remember to leave your (a) age and gender (for those who think age is sensitive thing, just leave an age group that you think you belong to, 10-18, 18-25, 25-30, 30-40, &gt;50) and (b) what languages you speaks&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks all!!! this post can also be used by future researches, you never know!! once again, thanks in advance&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6525" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T11:54:10.863" ClosedDate="2011-03-25T12:06:51.383" Title="Your intuitions of Collocations of &quot;eliminate&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;words&gt;&lt;linguistics&gt;&lt;collocation&gt;" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17877" CreationDate="2011-03-25T11:56:46.650" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Save&lt;/strong&gt; the forum posts in the hard disk.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Persist&lt;/strong&gt; the user list in the&#xA;database.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Write&lt;/strong&gt; the functions to a separate&#xA;file.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="212" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T11:56:46.650" />
  <row Id="17880" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17877" CreationDate="2011-03-25T11:58:51.203" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try &lt;em&gt;space&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;repository&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;warehouse&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Stockpile&lt;/em&gt; works both as a verb and a noun, as do &lt;em&gt;hoard&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;cache&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;reserve&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T11:58:51.203" />
  <row Id="17881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17860" CreationDate="2011-03-25T12:23:35.730" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel like the word &lt;em&gt;pail&lt;/em&gt; almost always describes a metallic object, shaped in a near-cylindrical fashion. Sometimes a pail can be wooden, but rarely. &lt;em&gt;Buckets&lt;/em&gt; can be made of any old material, especially plastic, and can be shaped more strangely than pails.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition, &lt;em&gt;bucket&lt;/em&gt; has some interesting and amusing uses in slang:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In its plural form, it can be an expression of unalloyed happiness. It comes from the slang term from having just scored a field goal in basketball.  For example, if you had just won something unexpected in the mail, you might say &quot;&lt;em&gt;Buckets!&lt;/em&gt;&quot; to celebrate it, just as you might having scored playing basketball.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/8l8zP.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Internet srs bsnss&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It can describe a particularly decrepit vehicle, a &lt;em&gt;hoop-ti&lt;/em&gt;; most often applied to vans. &lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/ilWFBs.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Crappy van&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's an urban slang term for urban-style hats, typically wide-brim and loose fitting.&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/xSmNMs.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bucket hats&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's an urban slang term for expensive rims on a car.  As so memorably used by the rapper Yung Joc,&#xA;&quot;&lt;em&gt;...ride around slow so you can see the buckets on my feet [tires]...&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/ucYlZs.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;40 inch riiiimmss baby&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pail&lt;/em&gt;, sad to say, is utterly lacking in this regard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: Taking a look through Google's N-Gram viewer, it's not hard to see why:&#xA;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/7EIhe.png&quot; alt=&quot;Chart comparing bucket and pail in Google's N-Gram viewer&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This comparison of &lt;em&gt;bucket&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;pail&lt;/em&gt; from 1800 till today shows the latter's usage diverging noticeably from the former's around the era of 1940–1960, to becoming a much less popular a synonym for the former nowadays.  The chart makes a lot of sense to me, at least superficially; the 1950s–1960s was an era where college attendance and job mobility were first greatly expanded and democratized, and where a lot of young adults who might have grown up to  work on the family farm in older times instead found white-collar, professional work.  As &lt;em&gt;pail&lt;/em&gt; in literature is strongly associated in my mind with farming contexts, it makes sense to me that authors would have limited their use of &lt;em&gt;pail&lt;/em&gt; in that era given its more limited relevance towards their target audience. If a word doesn't quite have a &quot;regular&quot; currency, obviously there will be fewer opportunities for it to make its way into slang usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T10:34:17.683" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T10:34:17.683" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17882" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-25T12:52:15.720" Score="4" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The success of the Android platform is being driven by the &lt;strong&gt;sheer&lt;/strong&gt; number of hardware vendors supporting it at both the high and low ends of the market&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3780" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T15:25:53.257" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T15:25:53.257" Title="What's the meaning of 'sheer' in this context?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17883" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17860" CreationDate="2011-03-25T13:03:11.763" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In British English, &quot;pail&quot; is very little used, and I would regard it as an archaic synonym of &quot;bucket&quot; in its primary sense. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that it appears to be much more common in American English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T13:03:11.763" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17884" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17882" CreationDate="2011-03-25T13:16:43.147" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means in this case&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;sheer&lt;/strong&gt; - complete and without restriction or qualification; sometimes used informally as intensifier&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sheer&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T13:16:43.147" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17885" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17886" CreationDate="2011-03-25T13:32:23.107" Score="4" ViewCount="98" Body="&lt;p&gt;Current icky wording:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... they do best in&#xA;  temperatures between 40 and 125&#xA;  degrees F. ( 5 and 52 degrees C )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Using the &quot;degree&quot; symbol seems correct, but in a &lt;strong&gt;range&lt;/strong&gt; should it be specified for each?  Do Fahrenheit and Celsius have the same symbol?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;40º - 125º F,  5º - 52º C&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6527" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T03:38:56.837" Title="How to correctly specify a range of temperatures in both Fahrenheit and Celsius?" Tags="&lt;numbers&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="17886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17885" CreationDate="2011-03-25T13:41:57.403" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both Fahrenheit and Celsius use the same symbol, just as they both use the same word. (In contrast, the Celsius absolute counterpart, Kelvin, omits &quot;degree&quot; or the symbol entirely.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for how often to use the degree symbol, you should use it in the same places you would spell out the word &quot;degree&quot; (or &quot;degrees&quot;), i.e. immediately preceding &quot;Celsius&quot; or &quot;C&quot; or &quot;Fahrenheit&quot; or &quot;F&quot;, not following each number.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The biggest problem I see with your original wording is use of the verb &quot;do&quot;. &quot;Thrive&quot; might be a better choice. Definitely nothing wrong with the way the temperature range is expressed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3540" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T14:13:11.420" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T14:13:11.420" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="17887" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17882" CreationDate="2011-03-25T13:54:34.413" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this case it basically means &quot;large&quot; or &quot;overwhelming&quot;. The usage is somewhat idiomatic; &lt;em&gt;sheer&lt;/em&gt; is often used in the place of &quot;complete&quot; or &quot;unadulterated&quot;, and, from that correct usage it's sort of slid into an all purpose adjective to indicate scale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2577" LastEditorUserId="2577" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T14:05:28.493" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T14:05:28.493" />
  <row Id="17888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17846" CreationDate="2011-03-25T14:24:19.353" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Maybe it&amp;rsquo;s &lt;strong&gt;a little long&lt;/strong&gt; story&lt;/em&gt; (wrong)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Maybe it&amp;rsquo;s &lt;strong&gt;a little longer&lt;/strong&gt; story&lt;/em&gt; (wrong)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Those are definitely ungrammatical. &lt;em&gt;A little long&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;a little longer&lt;/em&gt; are both fine adjective phrases, but they can&amp;rsquo;t be used before a noun like that, I guess because of the determiner &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; in them. Similarly you can&amp;rsquo;t say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;It was a &lt;strong&gt;the whole night long&lt;/strong&gt; party.&lt;/em&gt; (wrong)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;It was &lt;strong&gt;a whole night long&lt;/strong&gt; party.&lt;/em&gt; (still wrong)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Anything that appears before a noun like that has to be quite simple in structure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The pond was &lt;strong&gt;only two feet deep&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/em&gt; (ok)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;It was an &lt;strong&gt;only two feet deep&lt;/strong&gt; pond.&lt;/em&gt; (wrong)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The story is &lt;strong&gt;familiar to all Russians&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/em&gt; (ok)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;It is a &lt;strong&gt;familiar to all Russians&lt;/strong&gt; story.&lt;/em&gt; (wrong)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, an adjective modified by an adverb is fine:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Maybe it&amp;rsquo;s an &lt;strong&gt;overly long&lt;/strong&gt; story.&lt;/em&gt; (ok)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Maybe it&amp;rsquo;s a &lt;strong&gt;slightly longer&lt;/strong&gt; story.&lt;/em&gt; (ok)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Maybe this is a &lt;strong&gt;totally unnecessary&lt;/strong&gt; extra example.&lt;/em&gt; (ok)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hellion is right about the difference between &lt;em&gt;long&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;longer&lt;/em&gt; here and the other possible solution:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Maybe the story is a little long.&lt;/em&gt; (ok)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Maybe the story is a little longer.&lt;/em&gt; (ok)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a matter of style, I would say &amp;ldquo;Maybe that isn&amp;rsquo;t quite the end of the story.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastEditorUserId="2249" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T14:30:16.650" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T14:30:16.650" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="17889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17721" CreationDate="2011-03-25T14:30:00.253" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You cannot call that as a nasty corruption. Because, the word &lt;em&gt;mad&lt;/em&gt;, with the meaning of &lt;em&gt;angry&lt;/em&gt;, belongs to American English. A word or phrase of one dialect may sound weird/incorrect for the other.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a matter of fact, &lt;em&gt;mad&lt;/em&gt; to mean &lt;em&gt;angry&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mad&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;still a regional word in UK&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5959" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T14:30:00.253" />
  <row Id="17890" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-25T14:34:25.390" Score="0" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe there are many folks from the US/UK and I'm wondering have you guys EVER heard adult foreigner (let's say a person who was born and lived in different country for, let's say at least 20 years) speaking English so fluently that you didn't notice he's from different place?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not asking about Scandinavians (they mostly kick ass when it comes to English) but I'm curious about Eastern Europeans mainly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm from Lithuania, have many Lithuanian/Polish friends and absolutely NONE of them sounds close to English natives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6532" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T03:38:32.863" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T03:38:32.863" ClosedDate="2011-03-25T14:37:47.890" Title="Foreigner's English pronunciation" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17891" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17721" CreationDate="2011-03-25T15:08:02.890" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To answer the question, my own American sense of 'mad' vs. 'angry' is that 'mad' is a mild form of 'anger'.  If I'm mad at someone, it's a low degree of anger, greater than 'annoyed', but less than outright 'angry'.  After 'angry', would come 'really mad'.  Then perhaps, 'livid' or 'furious'.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I also think that perhaps they carry different time frames with them.  'Mad' is more temporary and might be expected to fade sooner.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6269" LastEditorUserId="6269" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T15:26:07.913" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T15:26:07.913" />
  <row Id="17892" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17897" CreationDate="2011-03-25T15:10:11.283" Score="2" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;We all know that The Marquis de Sade popularized the term 'sadist' via &quot;120 days of Sodom&quot; and &quot;Justine&quot; - as well as being exemplified by his own devilish lifestyle. How was masochism was unveiled into the world?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T18:44:41.573" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T17:00:57.483" Title="Where does the word &quot;masochism&quot; come from, and how did it work its way into popular usage?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="17893" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17866" CreationDate="2011-03-25T15:10:48.787" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;With strong positive connotations &lt;b&gt;valorous&lt;/b&gt; might be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Focusing on the personal power of the individual &lt;b&gt;puissant&lt;/b&gt; could be used&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;With negative connotations &lt;b&gt;outlaw&lt;/b&gt; could be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Each has its own drawbacks though and non quite encapsulate the meaning&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6135" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T15:10:48.787" />
  <row Id="17894" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17892" CreationDate="2011-03-25T15:12:08.870" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Uh, yeah, it's another eponym, by way of a dude named Masoch, sometimes praised as rather an &lt;em&gt;artiste&lt;/em&gt; where de Sade is, by some accounts, fundamentally just a bully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T15:12:08.870" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17895" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-25T15:15:23.773" Score="7" ViewCount="165" Body="&lt;p&gt;Certain graduates of a class are donating money to place an ad in a booklet celebrating s school’s centennial.  Their names will be placed in the ad.  The intent of the ad (and sale of the booklet) is to raise money for the school.  We have a choice between a one page ad and a two page “centerfold” ad.  Some members of this group (and I) believe that the two page ad is somewhat ostentatious and belies the intent of the donation.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My problem is to communicate to the rest of the group using diplomatic language that the two page ad tends to be ostentatious.  Is there a better word or phrase for “somewhat ostentatious”?  Dictionary.com gives several synonyms – none of which seem to fit a convincing yet diplomatic statement.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6308" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T21:13:00.657" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T23:46:26.887" Title="Is there a better word or phrase for “somewhat ostentatious”?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17896" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17865" CreationDate="2011-03-25T15:15:59.290" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Empty&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the word often used when a container does not contain anything (the container is empty)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Contains()&lt;/em&gt; is a strange name for a function that returns a boolean (true or false), it could be short for &lt;em&gt;containsSomething&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;containsNothing&lt;/em&gt; and is therefore a little ambigous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that case you might want to try &lt;em&gt;isMissing&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;omitted&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6206" LastEditorUserId="6206" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T15:38:28.957" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T15:38:28.957" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17892" CreationDate="2011-03-25T15:16:59.270" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Masochism&lt;/em&gt; is named after &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_von_Sacher-Masoch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Leopold von Sacher-Masoch&lt;/a&gt;, and you can get all of the filthy details at that link.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T18:39:52.103" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T18:39:52.103" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17895" CreationDate="2011-03-25T15:25:38.797" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps you could use &lt;em&gt;excessive&lt;/em&gt;. The meaning could be interpreted both literally (size) and figuratively (intention) depending on how you craft your supporting statements.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T15:25:38.797" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17899" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17895" CreationDate="2011-03-25T15:27:30.840" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say &lt;em&gt;somewhat ostentatious&lt;/em&gt; is pretty diplomatic, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gauche&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Gauche&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; might be an alternative, although that implies a lacking of social grace which may or may not be what you mean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6206" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T23:46:26.887" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T23:46:26.887" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17895" CreationDate="2011-03-25T15:27:47.127" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I actually think &quot;ostentatious&quot; is fine.  It seems to to fit the case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;@HaL's 'excessive' and @Mitch's 'too much' or 'overdoing it' are probably the best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Going with the full two-page ad could be described as excessively 'self-congratulatory', but that's not a synonym. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It also appears to be a bit &lt;a href=&quot;http://m.wordnik.com/definitions/needy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;needy&lt;/a&gt;, in the sense of 'wanting or needing affection, attention, or reassurance, especially to an excessive degree.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Borderline narcissistic is pseudo-clinical, and probably not diplomatic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying that it appears slightly egocentric would be diplomatic in some circles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, people who donate money often like to be recognized, or in fact donate money in order to be recognized.  So it's hard for me to come up with a term that is too critical, given the nature of the enterprise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T17:57:56.303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T17:57:56.303" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17895" CreationDate="2011-03-25T15:32:24.843" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ostentatious&lt;/em&gt; sounds about as diplomatic as you can get in this situation while still making your point. How about avoiding the need for a specific word at all: &quot;An ad of that size seems inconsistent with our fund-raising objectives.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T15:32:24.843" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17902" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17865" CreationDate="2011-03-25T15:34:05.640" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;With regards to the programming context mentioned elsewhere, you can use terms such as &quot;absent&quot; or &quot;missing&quot; as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Assert.Absent( ... )&#xA;&#xA;Assert.Missing( ... )&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These seem highly likely to confuse whoever needs to read your code next, however, since no one will be searching for these terms. &lt;code&gt;Contains&lt;/code&gt; is an extremely well adopted term for checking containers for objects. &lt;code&gt;NotContains&lt;/code&gt; (from one of your comments) will at least match a query for &quot;Contains&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In short: The terms exist but I wouldn't use them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T15:34:05.640" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17903" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17769" CreationDate="2011-03-25T15:39:55.900" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Generally, &quot;his legacy&quot; would mean the money (or other stuff) somebody left after he died, and &quot;her inheritance&quot; would mean the money (or other stuff) she inherited after somebody else died. They are the same thing from different points of view.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5754" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T15:39:55.900" />
  <row Id="17904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17895" CreationDate="2011-03-25T15:45:14.037" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often favor the word &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/overwrought&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;overwrought&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; when I'm trying to be as diplomatic as possible about ostentatious language. Unfortunately, it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; an uncommon word and your using it, ironically, might trigger the reaction you're trying to avoid if it seems that you are trying to speak &quot;above&quot; them.  If you think they are comfortable with that level of vocabulary, you might use &quot;overwrought.&quot;  As in, &quot;Don't you think the ad a bit...what's that word...overwrought?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;overwrought (comparative more overwrought, superlative most overwrought, &lt;em&gt;adj.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. in a state of excessive nervousness, excitement, or anger; Extremely tense, anxious, or upset; filled with emotion, emotional; uneasy&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    &lt;strong&gt;2. elaborate; overdone&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Gauche&lt;/em&gt;, as given by Tom above, is also a good alternative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T15:56:41.750" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T15:56:41.750" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17905" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17961" CreationDate="2011-03-25T15:49:33.613" Score="3" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Getting off the shnide.&quot; (Obviously I'm not sure of the spelling.) It's an expression I hear almost exclusively in sports commentary to indicate a team has finally won a game after a protracted drought at the beginning of the season. (Example: &quot;The Detroit Lions started the season oh-and-six, but finally got off the schneid by beating Green Bay.&quot;) It has been popularized by Chris Berman at ESPN. He didn't invent the term (I don't think) and he is primarily where I hear it from.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; you spell it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is its origin? (I'm guessing Yiddish based on the &quot;shn&quot; combination, but I don't really know)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T09:42:27.243" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T09:42:27.243" Title="&quot;Shnide&quot;? &quot;Schneid&quot;? Which is it and what's this term's origin?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;foreign-words&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="17906" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17866" CreationDate="2011-03-25T15:50:45.260" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An obsolete term formerly used was &quot;mucker,&quot; which died out around the 1940s. But if you want to go way back, consider Homeric epithets, e.g., &quot;Odysseus, Master Craftsman,&quot; &quot;Odysseus, Expert Strategist,&quot; etc. With epithets, you can build each variant of &quot;badass&quot; ad hoc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And didn't Bugs Bunny once greet Elmer Fudd with, &quot;What's up, Nimrod?&quot; (i.e., &quot;mighty hunter&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T15:50:45.260" />
  <row Id="17907" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17909" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:03:44.927" Score="2" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm writing a recommendation for a fellow IT expert, and I want to say that this person loves to investigate the state-of-the-art technology, always checks out the most recent things on the market the minute they are released, and is always on top of what's happening in the technology world. What's the concise way of saying it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5159" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T23:49:18.447" Title="Can a person be (at the?) state-of-the-art [on/in/of] something?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="17908" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17914" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:11:47.400" Score="4" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;On an academic legal blog I visit, from time to time I see people using the word &lt;em&gt;Weltanschauung&lt;/em&gt; where I feel &lt;em&gt;worldview&lt;/em&gt; would have sufficed.  It all seems a bit ostentatious to me, as I'm pretty sure that &lt;em&gt;Weltanschauung&lt;/em&gt; had a precise academic usage before it became (fairly) common lingo.  If in fact there is a difference between the two words, can someone demonstrate that difference to me, and illustrate with a couple of sentences when one word would be a better choice than the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T18:45:13.817" Title="What's the difference between &quot;Weltanschauung&quot; and &quot;worldview&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17909" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17907" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:12:00.800" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd say something like &quot;always on the cutting edge in investigating state-of-the-art technology&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="362" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T16:12:00.800" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17865" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:14:58.773" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Void&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This beer contains alcohol, this other beer is &lt;em&gt;void of&lt;/em&gt; alcohol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T16:14:58.773" />
  <row Id="17911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17866" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:15:04.173" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the movie &lt;em&gt;Patton&lt;/em&gt;, General George Patton tells Erwin Rommel how he defeated him. &quot;Rommel, you &lt;strong&gt;magnificent bastard&lt;/strong&gt;, I read your book.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I can't tell if the usage is actually from the WWII era, but the movie came out the 1970s, and the term has pretty much the same implications as badass when it's used as a term of admiration. (See &lt;a href=&quot;http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagnificentBastard&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Magnificent Bastard&lt;/a&gt;.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, examination of Patton's &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_S._Patton&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;actual quotes&lt;/a&gt; suggests that he commonly used the term &lt;strong&gt;bastard&lt;/strong&gt;, so it's plausible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="162" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T16:15:04.173" />
  <row Id="17912" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17852" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:17:53.203" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other than a literal interpretation &lt;code&gt;I am down/up [here] with a hammer&lt;/code&gt; (and this would be rather questionable with regards to grammar), &quot;down with&quot; is slang for a handful of subtly different meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am down with [subject].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am down with [person].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am down with that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am down with [location].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More often than not, these mean &quot;I am in agreement with&quot; but the type of object matters quite a bit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am interested in and think this subject is cool.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I really like that person. (Platonically.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am ready for that / I can do that / Let's go do that&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I like this location / That location is good&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not familiar with &quot;I am up with&quot;. It would not surprise me to hear someone using it as a slang version of &quot;I am down with&quot; for emphasis. &quot;I am so down I am up.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More commonly, both phrases can be used with &quot;for&quot; in place of &quot;with&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am down for some pizza&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am up for a movie&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T16:17:53.203" />
  <row Id="17913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17908" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:22:16.803" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the difference is purely implied register: using the German term is more highbrow (though even using the term 'worldview' is already pretty intellectual).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T16:22:16.803" />
  <row Id="17914" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17908" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:28:07.237" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always understood &lt;em&gt;Weltanschauung&lt;/em&gt; as being 'a comprehensive worldview'.  &lt;em&gt;worldview&lt;/em&gt; by itself, on the other hand, I've taken as a category that is modifiable not only in the sense of 'comprehensive worldview', but as in 'limited worldview'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I have the sense that &lt;em&gt;Weltanschauung&lt;/em&gt; implies an understanding of the world, systems of humankind, or Cosmos, that is deliberately or logically understood and fully-formed, such as that underpinning an extensive philosophical system.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In practice, the shades of difference in the two terms will be dependent on the speaker or writer, with the terms becoming synonymous in cases where &lt;em&gt;worldview&lt;/em&gt; is intended to capture the comprehensive sense of the German antecedent. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Usage of &lt;em&gt;weltanschauung&lt;/em&gt; in English&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The OED has example citations from 1868.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A blog &lt;a href=&quot;http://andrewhammel.typepad.com/german_joys/2010/12/weltanschauung-in-english.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;post&lt;/a&gt; here on &quot;Weltanschauung in English says gives an interesting referenence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Google's new, fascinating Ngram tool&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=Weltanschauung&amp;amp;year_start=1500&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;shows you&lt;/a&gt; that it all started in&#xA;  1850 .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both the post and link open the &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=Weltanschauung&amp;amp;year_start=1500&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=5&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Labs Ngram viewer&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h3&gt;Examples&lt;/h3&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Weltanschauung&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;[from the &lt;em&gt;OED&lt;/em&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1868    W. James Let. in R. B. Perry Thought &amp;amp; Char. W. James (1935) I. viii. 160,   I remember your saying‥that the characteristic of the Greek ‘Weltanschauung’ was its optimism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1906    Nature 10 May 26/2   In 1863 Haeckel entered the lists as the champion of the evolutionist ‘Weltanschauung’.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1917    A. S. Pringle-Pattison Idea of God iv. 69   The intimate appreciation of living experience forms the basis of the whole Weltanschauung which he [sc. Bergson] offers us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1934    M. Bodkin Archetypal Patterns in Poetry 326   A man's philosophy‥ is his Weltanschauung—the individual vision, or perspective of reality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1952    G. Sarton Hist. Sci. I. iv. 121   The creation of that astrological Weltanschauung which dominated late ancient and medieval thought and is not yet extinct today proves the survival through the Dark Interlude of some astronomical ideas of immemorial antiquity. [OED]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;weltanschauungen&lt;/em&gt; (plural)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;[from the &lt;em&gt;OED&lt;/em&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1978    N. Jardine in C. Hookway &amp;amp; P. Pettit Action &amp;amp; Interpretation 124   Speakers of different cultures, having different Weltanschauungen, ideologies, interests, paradigms, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;worldview&lt;/em&gt;    &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Er, just substitute &quot;worldview&quot; for &quot;Weltanschauung&quot; in the sentences above.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;More examples&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I will say that their worldview is aggressively offensive and that a game that I might've tried is now something I won't consider because of their steadfast, intolerant stance. &lt;a href=&quot;http://sexyvideogameland.blogspot.com/2009/08/complex-shadow.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Michael Grove&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This difference in worldview is part of the reason that the couple fails. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scene-stealers.com/print-reviews/rom-coms-get-a-shot-in-the-arm-with-500-days-of-summer/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Eric Melin&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T18:45:13.817" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T18:45:13.817" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17915" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17908" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:28:36.410" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Weltanschauung&lt;/em&gt; is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calque&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;calque&lt;/a&gt; of &lt;em&gt;world view&lt;/em&gt;. Often, calques gain traction when translation of the word is either inelegant or does not justify the word's deeper meaning (e.g., &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeitgeist&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Zeitgeist&lt;/a&gt;).  &lt;em&gt;Weltanschauung&lt;/em&gt; appears to be an important concept in cognitive philosophy. (See this great &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/at/freud.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lecture&lt;/a&gt; by Freud.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I admit that it is probably a little pretentious to use &lt;em&gt;Weltanschauung&lt;/em&gt; outside of a philosophical context, but it could be argued that, because of its roots in cognitive philosophy, &lt;em&gt;Weltanschauung&lt;/em&gt; suggests a 'wider' notion than the term &lt;em&gt;world view&lt;/em&gt; could alone.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T13:26:29.500" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T13:26:29.500" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17916" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17895" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:28:56.740" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the even more simplistic 'too much' or 'overdoing it' would work. As in,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't you think a two page ad is a little too much?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't you think a two page ad is overdoing it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want to put in the nuance that it is somewhat narcissistic/egotistical/ostentatious/self-aggrandizing, you could say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If we're going for a two page ad, we might as well skip that and have them name a building after us.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T16:28:56.740" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17858" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:29:34.287" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps this was an attempt at a clever word play.  He is separating himself from the company and used the word 'comma' either because of the frequency it appears with 'separated', or your colleague may have also intended 'comma' to be interpreted by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/comma&quot;&gt;one of its other meanings&lt;/a&gt;.  Particularly, it may have been intended to mean 'a short pause' between two important objects--especially if your colleague was there for only a short period of time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect that it's probably the former, though, that he was announcing his separating from the company and threw in the 'comma' just because of its familiarity with 'separated'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T16:29:34.287" />
  <row Id="17918" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17939" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:32:05.927" Score="11" ViewCount="203" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some verbal/written exchanges convey almost no meaning but are part of the protocol of conversation.  For example, somebody greets you with &quot;How are you?&quot; and they're not usually not listening for actual information, just for you to say, &quot;Fine,&quot; or similar.  Or when you go through any sort of service transaction, it seems like half a dozen &quot;thank yous&quot; are exchanged between both parties.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a term or phrase describing the phrases we use for maintaining the facade of politeness?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1340" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T21:23:27.853" Title="What are exchanges like &quot;How are you,&quot; &quot;I'm fine,&quot; and &quot;See you later&quot; called?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;politeness&gt;&lt;conversation&gt;&lt;greetings&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="17919" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17918" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:32:57.680" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are called &lt;strong&gt;pleasantries.&lt;/strong&gt;  From &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pleasantries&quot;&gt;The Free Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;pleas·ant·ry (&lt;em&gt;n.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  1. A humorous remark or act; a jest.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  2. &lt;strong&gt;A polite social utterance&lt;/strong&gt;; a civility.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  3. A good-humored or playful manner in conversation or social relations.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T16:35:34.633" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T16:35:34.633" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17920" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17929" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:37:20.237" Score="5" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was watching Rocky last night and one of the lines got me thinking.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering why we use &lt;em&gt;Hell&lt;/em&gt; in sentences like &quot;&lt;strong&gt;A Hell of&lt;/strong&gt; a lot better than…,&quot; &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Hell&lt;/strong&gt;, that's the best thing that's ever happened to me&quot; and &quot;&lt;strong&gt;Hell&lt;/strong&gt;, I don't know.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first example was what got me thinking the most: &quot;&lt;strong&gt;A Hell of&lt;/strong&gt; a lot better than something.&quot; The contradiction between &lt;em&gt;Hell&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;better&lt;/em&gt; was what seemed a bit confusing to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T00:16:24.763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T00:16:24.763" Title="Why use &quot;Hell&quot; to emphasize a statement?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;emphasis&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17905" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:40:49.547" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Get off the schneid&quot; means &quot;to break a scoreless streak&quot; (a series of consecutive wins or losses). &lt;em&gt;Schneid&lt;/em&gt; possibly comes from the German/Yiddish &lt;em&gt;schneider&lt;/em&gt;, which means &quot;one who cuts cloth&quot; (i.e., a tailor).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T21:11:02.530" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T21:11:02.530" />
  <row Id="17922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17918" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:42:09.680" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It just occurred to me that &quot;formalities&quot; is what I was looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1340" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T16:42:09.680" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17923" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17905" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:43:46.660" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Schneid means &quot;to snip.&quot; I guess it means to &quot;cut&quot; the losing streak, but I'm not sure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T16:43:46.660" />
  <row Id="17924" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17920" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:46:56.703" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Bizarrely, &lt;em&gt;Hell&lt;/em&gt; was probably used to avoid using a less acceptable expletive which might have offended the film raters and reduced the number of children who watched the film.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Expletives are used in such circumstances purely for emphasis.  Originally there was a shock value, but that is now much weaker, largely due to overuse.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T16:46:56.703" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17925" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17920" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:50:12.940" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A hell of&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;one hell of&lt;/em&gt;) is used as emphasis for something very bad or great. The expression is used both in American and British English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It cost us a hell of a lot of money.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some expressions containing &lt;em&gt;hell&lt;/em&gt; don't have a bad meaning. For example, &lt;em&gt;for the hell of it&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;just for fun,&quot; and &lt;em&gt;hell for leather&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;as fast as possible.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T21:37:45.030" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T21:37:45.030" />
  <row Id="17926" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17968" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:52:03.220" Score="6" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;If one wishes to pose a series of questions in the form of a list, how would one go about punctuating that list?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I write to a colleague asking for an update on a project he is working on. I phrase my request like so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear xxx,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How are you doing with regard to:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    - Sourcing the moose hair&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   - Reticulating the splines&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   - Extolling the virtues of silk underwear&lt;br&gt;&#xA;   - Estimating the project completion time&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, should question marks be placed after each bulleted item? Or should one only be placed after the last item? If this is the case, should semi colons be placed after each item?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;E.g.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Extolling the virtues of silk underwear?  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Estimating the project completion time?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Extolling the virtues of silk underwear;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Estimating the project completion time?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3320" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T22:44:41.423" Title="How should lists of questions be punctuated?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;list&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17928" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17931" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:52:36.213" Score="-9" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference in meaning between the two - hey, here is an idea: Lets not cut/paste from Wiki/Google et al.....How about an answer that contains an actual, well thought-out, original construct.  Odds: 5-1 against&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="5531" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T17:52:24.170" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T17:52:24.170" ClosedDate="2011-03-25T18:43:14.153" Title="What is the difference in meaning between an authoritarian and a totalitarian dictatorship?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17929" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17920" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:53:44.073" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hell&lt;/em&gt; as an interjection is most likely short for &lt;em&gt;bloody hell&lt;/em&gt;. The use of &lt;em&gt;bloody&lt;/em&gt; to add emphasis to an expression is of uncertain origin. Recent research suggests that is is thought to have a connection with the 'bloods'—aristocratic rowdies who were the late 17th and early 18th century equivalents of 21st century 'Chavs' and 'Pikies.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After the mid 18th century, &lt;em&gt;bloody&lt;/em&gt; used as a swear word was regarded as unprintable, probably from the erroneous belief that it implied a blasphemous reference to the blood of Christ, or that the word was an alteration of 'by Our Lady.' &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A widespread caution to using the term &lt;em&gt;bloody&lt;/em&gt; arose, particularly in the US, and this is most likely where the use of simply &lt;em&gt;hell&lt;/em&gt; came about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T16:53:44.073" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17930" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17926" CreationDate="2011-03-25T16:57:21.043" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A list is not really a sentence, so how you have it in your original quote would be fine.  If you are looking to write out an entire sentence, you would place commas between each (being that the items are not clauses) and a question mark at the end:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How are you doing with regard to sourcing the moose hair, reticulating the splines, extolling the virtues of silk underwear, and estimating the project completion time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6534" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T16:57:21.043" />
  <row Id="17931" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17928" CreationDate="2011-03-25T17:00:09.407" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The distinction between &lt;em&gt;authoritarian&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;totalitarian&lt;/em&gt; comes in the prefix &lt;em&gt;total-&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the state has total control of every organisation then it is totalitarian; if it tolerates non-threatening organisations which obey instructions when given but otherwise act independently, then it is merely authoritarian.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T17:00:09.407" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17932" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17865" CreationDate="2011-03-25T17:23:53.330" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here are my suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This bottle of beer is &lt;strong&gt;devoid&lt;/strong&gt; of&#xA;alcohol.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;This bottle of beer is&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;alcohol-free&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5671" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T17:23:53.330" />
  <row Id="17933" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17937" CreationDate="2011-03-25T17:28:28.633" Score="2" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have always thought the word &quot;annulus&quot; to be exceptionally awkward.  I'd like to know the relation of the word &quot;annulus&quot; to the word &quot;anus&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Geometrically, an annulus is a disk with a hole in it.  The anal muscle (&quot;sphincter&quot;) has an annular shape.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I'm wondering how we got from &lt;em&gt;annulus&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;anus&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2210" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T18:41:53.707" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T18:41:53.707" Title="Derivation of &quot;anus&quot; from &quot;annulus&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="17934" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17791" CreationDate="2011-03-25T17:30:52.370" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Let&quot; can be used in the imperative mood for the following purposes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A command insisting someone allow something to happen&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let him go!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A polite way of making or responding to a suggestion&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Shall we go? ... Yes, let's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A polite way of offering help&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Here, let me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Expressing a strong desire for something to happen or be the case&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let him be all right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Expressing defiance or a challenge&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If he wants to walk out, well, let him!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Expressing an assumption upon which a theory or calculation is based&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Let A and B stand for X and Y, respectively&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These are all in imperatives, though only the first would actually be an order/command (and maybe the fifth).  The fourth would be the one you're looking for, and it is in the imperative mood (though not necessarily an order/command).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Source: New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6534" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T17:30:52.370" />
  <row Id="17935" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17853" CreationDate="2011-03-25T17:35:02.450" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here, for the specs to &lt;em&gt;grow organically&lt;/em&gt; implies that they emerge over time via implicit consensus, rather than being manufactured or prescribed beforehand. Often, this implies a grassroots structure rather than being indoctrinated by an external agent (e.g. the software architect).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T17:35:02.450" />
  <row Id="17936" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17933" CreationDate="2011-03-25T17:36:33.633" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;em&gt;anus&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;annulus&lt;/em&gt; comes from Latin, where &lt;em&gt;anus&lt;/em&gt; meant &lt;em&gt;a ring&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;annulus&lt;/em&gt; meant &lt;em&gt;a little ring&lt;/em&gt;. The Latin &lt;em&gt;annulus&lt;/em&gt; is derived from the Latin word &lt;em&gt;anus&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The origin of &lt;em&gt;anus&lt;/em&gt; is 16th century, and  the origin of &lt;em&gt;annulus&lt;/em&gt; is Middle English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T17:36:33.633" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17937" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17933" CreationDate="2011-03-25T17:37:54.337" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You have the derivation slightly backwards.  The Latin &lt;em&gt;anus&lt;/em&gt; meant &lt;em&gt;ring&lt;/em&gt; and thus also the anatomical &lt;em&gt;anus&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile &lt;em&gt;anulus&lt;/em&gt; was a Latin diminutive of &lt;em&gt;anus&lt;/em&gt;, so a &lt;em&gt;small ring&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T17:37:54.337" />
  <row Id="17938" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16030" CreationDate="2011-03-25T17:38:56.987" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;'&lt;strong&gt;Grimoire&lt;/strong&gt;' is more specifically an instruction book, particularly dark, used by alchemists or sorcerers, but could describe a diary or journal of a similarly dark person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Similarly arcane is '&lt;strong&gt;Book of Shadows&lt;/strong&gt;', as popularized by Gerald Gardner.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is also '&lt;strong&gt;apocryphon&lt;/strong&gt;', which means secret writing.  It has a strong tie to the early Christian movement, especially gnosticism.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T17:38:56.987" />
  <row Id="17939" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17918" CreationDate="2011-03-25T17:55:47.757" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an example of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/phatic&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;phatic&lt;/strong&gt; communication&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;phatic&lt;/strong&gt; [ˈfætɪk] adj (Linguistics) (of speech, esp of conversational phrases) used to establish social contact and to express sociability rather than specific meaning&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T17:55:47.757" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17940" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17933" CreationDate="2011-03-25T18:12:15.413" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=anus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/a&gt; has it &quot;from PIE base *ano- 'ring.'&quot; Interesting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T18:12:15.413" />
  <row Id="17941" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17075" CreationDate="2011-03-25T18:33:43.880" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Rhode Island, we say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Q:  &quot;How far is Providence?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A:  &quot;Oh, maybe a half-hour away,&quot; meaning a trip by car lasting thirty minutes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-- pete&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6300" LastEditorUserId="6300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T18:39:58.870" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T18:39:58.870" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-25T18:33:43.880" />
  <row Id="17942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17865" CreationDate="2011-03-25T18:39:46.913" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;lacks&quot; is the word you seek.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This beer lacks alcohol.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6534" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T18:39:46.913" />
  <row Id="17943" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17946" CreationDate="2011-03-25T18:45:30.453" Score="2" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I go to school by foot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I go to school on foot.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6409" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T23:49:56.870" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T23:49:56.870" Title="I have a confusion in the use of &quot;in&quot; and &quot;by&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17943" CreationDate="2011-03-25T18:53:05.327" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;On foot&lt;/em&gt; is the usual way to say it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T18:53:05.327" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17403" CreationDate="2011-03-25T18:56:20.633" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wish I could find a link to this actual story.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;During a web discussion of the singular 'die' vs. the plural 'dice', a woman told of her 1950s college time. It seems that three or four girls were in the room getting ready for the prom. A girl had misplaced one of her nylons. &quot;Damn!&quot; she said. &quot;Has anyone seen my other hoe?&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;:-) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-- pete, deeply sorry for the lack of attribution &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T18:56:20.633" />
  <row Id="17946" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17943" CreationDate="2011-03-25T19:00:06.710" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;By&quot; in this context normally refers to a mode of transportation whereas &quot;in&quot; or &quot;on&quot; would refer to your position whilst travelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We travel by car&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This suggests we are using a car to travel.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We travel in a car&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This implies we are inside of a car while traveling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to using &quot;on foot&quot; or &quot;by foot,&quot; either would be correct; however, a quick google search demonstrated that &quot;by foot&quot; is more commonly used (150M hits vs. 85.4M hits)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6534" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T19:00:06.710" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17947" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16850" CreationDate="2011-03-25T19:00:32.830" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps &quot;solipsist&quot; might work here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T19:00:32.830" />
  <row Id="17948" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-25T19:07:10.840" Score="0" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/17928/what-is-the-difference-in-meaning-between-an-authoritarian-and-a-totalitarian-dic&quot;&gt;What is the difference in meaning between an authoritarian and a totalitarian dictatorship?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the difference in meaning between the two?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T20:14:38.610" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T20:14:38.610" ClosedDate="2011-03-25T19:09:12.400" Title="What is the difference in the meaning between an authoritarian versus totalitarian dictatorship?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="17949" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17951" CreationDate="2011-03-25T19:10:08.670" Score="3" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;p&gt;In what contexts are those two words used?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's been a while since I've read the grammar books and I don't exactly remember the definitions of a few terms like adjective, so I would really appreciate it if the answers didn't leave it off by saying &lt;em&gt;x&lt;/em&gt; is verb and &lt;em&gt;y&lt;/em&gt; is adjective - I learn more by practical examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Please do mention similar words as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5226" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T21:08:30.863" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T21:08:30.863" Title="&quot;Advise&quot; vs &quot;advice&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;confusables&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="17950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17949" CreationDate="2011-03-25T19:14:44.207" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you advise someone you are giving them advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More specifically, advice is a noun, that is, it is the thing that is being told to the person being advised. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Advise is the verb, or action, of giving someone advice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastEditorUserId="380" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T19:22:08.973" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T19:22:08.973" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17949" CreationDate="2011-03-25T19:17:37.980" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Advise is a verb, so it is used to indicate an action. So for instance:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I advise you to do xyz&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Advice is a noun, that derives from advise. So you would use it as the subject or the object of your sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;My advice is to do xyz&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The best advice I can give you is to do xyz&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5737" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T19:17:37.980" />
  <row Id="17952" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17956" CreationDate="2011-03-25T19:19:04.873" Score="2" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;When do you use bronzed vs. brazed?  Is a bronze statue bronzed or brazed?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What would be the best word for a man that was commemorated with a bronze statue?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4983" LastEditorUserId="4983" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T19:44:28.767" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T21:48:15.803" Title="Is a statue made of bronze called bronzed or brazed?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="17953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17949" CreationDate="2011-03-25T19:19:07.153" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Advice&lt;/em&gt; is the actual content or helpful tip or whatever it was you gave the person:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Their advice was helpful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I need some advice!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Advise&lt;/em&gt; is the action of helping someone:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They advised me on writing a letter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Someone advise me!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T19:19:07.153" />
  <row Id="17954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17952" CreationDate="2011-03-25T19:30:13.100" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Bronzed&quot; means plated in bronze like bronzed baby shoes&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Brazen&quot; (which I think is the word you're looking for) is an archaic word that means made of bronze.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Brazed&quot; is the past tense of braze which is a process of joining two pieces of metal that is somewhat similar to soldering. (thanks &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/braze&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;edited for clarity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastEditorUserId="4973" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T20:42:33.943" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T20:42:33.943" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17955" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-25T19:31:49.567" Score="-5" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a past tense for the word &quot;shit&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T19:53:46.437" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T19:53:46.437" ClosedDate="2011-03-25T20:07:17.613" Title="Is there a past tense for the word &quot;shit&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;tense&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="17956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17952" CreationDate="2011-03-25T19:33:28.460" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're attempting to describe a bronze statue, then &lt;em&gt;bronze statue&lt;/em&gt; would be the best descriptor. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Brazed&lt;/em&gt; means to solder a joint. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Bronzed&lt;/em&gt; means that something is coated in bronze, not made of it. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Brazen&lt;/em&gt; means that something is made of brass, which is different than bronze.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6434" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T19:33:28.460" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17957" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17955" CreationDate="2011-03-25T19:36:49.360" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;shit |ʃɪt| (vulgar slang): verb (shitting |ʃɪdɪŋ|; past and past participle &lt;strong&gt;shitted&lt;/strong&gt; |ʃɪdɪd| or &lt;strong&gt;shit&lt;/strong&gt; |ʃɪt| or &lt;strong&gt;shat&lt;/strong&gt; |ʃæt|)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(&lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T19:36:49.360" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-25T19:57:50.153" />
  <row Id="17958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17907" CreationDate="2011-03-25T19:48:23.880" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;State of the art&lt;/em&gt; is, in my experience, only used for technology and not to express the skill or knowledge of a human being. So a weapon can be state of the art, or a computer, but not a person. I would say that your colleague is 'at the forefront of technological knowledge in the field of IT'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T23:49:18.447" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T23:49:18.447" />
  <row Id="17959" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16030" CreationDate="2011-03-25T20:51:36.953" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not a very good fit in meaning, but &lt;strong&gt;vade mecum&lt;/strong&gt; springs to mind - literally, it's Latin for &quot;go with me&quot;, and it means a little book with useful information that you carry around with you. It &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; contain a section for daily notes and such, although that is not its primary purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T20:51:36.953" />
  <row Id="17960" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17835" CreationDate="2011-03-25T20:53:03.287" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me, repeating the word 'having' would be used to emphasize the fact that all the materials were read when the only thing expected by the listener was looking through the posts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T20:53:03.287" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17905" CreationDate="2011-03-25T21:13:11.983" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Word Detective has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.word-detective.com/122099.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; to say about it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Schneid&quot; is actually short for&#xA;  &quot;schneider,&quot; a term originally used in&#xA;  the card game of gin, meaning to&#xA;  prevent an opponent from scoring any&#xA;  points. &quot;Schneider&quot; entered the&#xA;  vocabulary of gin from German&#xA;  (probably via Yiddish), where it means&#xA;  &quot;tailor.&quot; Apparently the original&#xA;  sense was that if you were&#xA;  &quot;schneidered&quot; in gin you were &quot;cut&quot;&#xA;  (as if by a tailor) from contention in&#xA;  the game.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T21:13:11.983" />
  <row Id="17962" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17918" CreationDate="2011-03-25T21:23:27.853" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depending on the extent of the conversation &quot;small talk&quot; might be applicable too. This would cover not just the formalities (which are specifically things that are necessary, not just chit-chat) but the ensuing social niceties, banter that helps to fill what would otherwise be potentially awkward silence or whatever business was to be conducted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's about five answers right there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="653" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T21:23:27.853" />
  <row Id="17963" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17791" CreationDate="2011-03-25T21:32:49.780" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Grammatically, I think &lt;em&gt;Let every man count his days&lt;/em&gt; is the same whether it is intended in the &lt;em&gt;allow&lt;/em&gt; sense or the exhorting sense. It is grammatically like &lt;em&gt;Make every man count his days&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Help every man count his days&lt;/em&gt;. Of course the meaning is very different.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main clause is imperative, and as usual with imperative clauses, its subject is omitted: &lt;em&gt;Let/Make/Help [direct object] [bare infinitive]&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So to answer your question, I wouldn't call this &amp;ldquo;an imperative for the third person&amp;rdquo; in any grammatical sense. Semantically, perhaps. Grammatically, that would mean the subject was third-person, and here there is no subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, some imperative clauses do have subjects, and the subject can be third-person:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;You stay put until the ambulance comes.&lt;/em&gt; (second-person subject)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Heaven help us all.&lt;/em&gt; (third-person subject)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Everybody chill!&lt;/em&gt; (third-person subject)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could almost interpret these as ordinary subjectless imperatives with a direct-address tacked on the front, but in that case, I would expect the direct-address comma to be almost mandatory, and instead it makes all these sentences much worse: &lt;em&gt;You, stay put. Heaven, help us all.&lt;/em&gt; The &lt;em&gt;Cambridge Grammar of the English Language&lt;/em&gt; astutely points out that &lt;em&gt;Nobody move&lt;/em&gt; is grammatical while &lt;em&gt;Nobody, move&lt;/em&gt; is nonsense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastEditorUserId="2249" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T06:04:53.583" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T06:04:53.583" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17964" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17966" CreationDate="2011-03-25T21:45:02.857" Score="8" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often hear people saying phrases of the type &quot;How are &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt; doing over here?&quot; by servers at  restaurants, for example.  Obviously they mean &quot;How are &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; (plural) doing?&quot;  Where does this type of usage of &quot;we&quot; come from?  Is this pronoun misuse a regional thing?  Has it entered mainstream American English?  Am I wrong in thinking that it is incorrect?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1340" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T01:09:50.537" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T01:09:50.537" Title="Usage of &quot;we&quot; as plural second-person" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17952" CreationDate="2011-03-25T21:48:15.803" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A bronze&lt;/em&gt; is also a noun for a statue&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;He was honoured by a life-sized bronze of himself&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T21:48:15.803" />
  <row Id="17966" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17964" CreationDate="2011-03-25T21:51:20.810" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The patronizing &quot;we&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The patronizing we is used sometimes&#xA;  in place of &quot;you&quot; to address a second&#xA;  party, hinting a facetious assurance&#xA;  that the one asked is not alone in his&#xA;  situation, that &quot;I am with you, we are&#xA;  in this together&quot;. A doctor may ask a&#xA;  patient: And how are we feeling today?&#xA;  This usage is emotionally non-neutral&#xA;  and usually bears a condescending,&#xA;  ironic, praising, or some other&#xA;  flavor, depending on intonation:&#xA;  &quot;Aren't we looking cute?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A nosism is the use of 'we' to refer to oneself.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A common example is the royal we&#xA;  (Pluralis Majestatis), which is a&#xA;  nosism employed by a person of high&#xA;  office, such as a monarch, earl or&#xA;  pope. It is also used in certain&#xA;  formal contexts by bishops and&#xA;  university rectors. The expression was&#xA;  first used in 1169 when English King&#xA;  Henry II (d. 1189), hard pressed by&#xA;  his barons over the investiture&#xA;  controversy, assumed the common theory&#xA;  of &quot;divine right of kings,&quot; that the&#xA;  monarch acted conjointly with the&#xA;  deity. Hence, he used &quot;we&quot; as &quot;God and&#xA;  I...,&quot; or so the legend goes. (See&#xA;  Rolls Series, 2.12)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T21:51:20.810" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17926" CreationDate="2011-03-25T22:07:03.767" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd do something like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear xxx,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How are you doing with regard to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;sourcing the moose hair,&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;reticulating the splines, &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;extolling the virtues of silk underwear, and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;estimating the project completion time?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically, this just takes an ordinary list, punctuated as an ordinary list would be, and adds list bullets to aid readability. If you really wanted to, you could retain the colon after &quot;with regard to&quot;, but I don't think it's necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with an ordinary list, if any of the list items contains a comma already, then replace the list-separator commas with semicolons:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How are you doing with regard to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;sourcing the moose hair, lamb tail, and armadillo feathers;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;reticulating the splines;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;extolling the virtues of silk underwear; and&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;estimating the project completion time?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T22:44:41.423" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T22:44:41.423" />
  <row Id="17969" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9536" CreationDate="2011-03-25T23:38:11.280" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Compound adjectives are usually hyphenated. Thus, in this case, you should place a hyphen between &lt;em&gt;nine&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;hour&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I arrived NYC after a nine-hour drive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reality, this hyphen is often dropped in compound adjectives involving number measurements, especially when the number is not written in words. Thus, one would be more likely to see &lt;em&gt;9 hour drive&lt;/em&gt; than &lt;em&gt;9-hour drive&lt;/em&gt;. However, it's never &lt;em&gt;9 hours drive&lt;/em&gt;. Thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I arrived NYC after a 9-hour drive.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I arrived NYC after driving for 9 hours.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I would always opt to write the number in words, for consistency's sake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T23:38:11.280" />
  <row Id="17970" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17971" CreationDate="2011-03-25T23:49:42.157" Score="3" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;My English teacher ripped our heads off if we tried to explain something that we couldn't really describe by adding &quot;something like that&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sample: &quot;This is a board game or something like that&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What are the better alternatives? &quot;Something similar&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6541" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-25T23:51:58.023" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T23:56:31.077" Title="&quot;Something like that&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17970" CreationDate="2011-03-25T23:56:31.077" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Something similar&quot; is okay, and perhaps slightly better, but I don't think the phrasing was what made your teacher mad.  Using &quot;or something similar&quot; does not explain something you couldn't really translate; it just is noise, and does not add anything.  Leave it off.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T23:56:31.077" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17972" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11997" CreationDate="2011-03-26T00:59:43.607" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another theory I have heard - probably apocryphal - is that it has to do with the two branches of the Celtic family of languages: P-celtic (i.e. Brythonic - Welsh etc.) and Q-celtic (i.e. Goideilic - Irish etc.).  It was said to date from when these were beginning to separate and you had to get the pronunciation right in each area to be understood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To be honest this sounds rather unlikely as why would it be an idiom in English - a language from a completely different family.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4335" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T00:59:43.607" />
  <row Id="17973" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17976" CreationDate="2011-03-26T01:50:49.963" Score="3" ViewCount="133" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello,&#xA;I'd like to know how the sentence &quot;That don't impress me much&quot; sounds to a native English speaker.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase is the title of a song by Shania Twain, and to my eyes it contains a clear error. It is obviously intended, and I want to know what was the effect that the author wanted to obtain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4533" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T15:57:03.910" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T15:57:03.910" Title="The grammaticality of &quot;that don't impress me much&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;lyrics&gt;&lt;conjugation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17973" CreationDate="2011-03-26T01:59:47.960" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The use of &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;doesn't&lt;/em&gt; is an error in standard English, of the sort you were probably taught. However, this sort of error is characteristic of many non-standard, rustic dialects, and country music of the sort that Shania Twain sings is known for using these dialectical features as part of the conceit of being rural, Western [1], and unpretentious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1] As in the American West, i.e. cowboys and Indians.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T01:59:47.960" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17973" CreationDate="2011-03-26T02:04:30.683" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The intentional misuse of &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; in the song title is a form of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code-switching&quot;&gt;code switching&lt;/a&gt;. The form is extremely characteristic of working-class southeastern Americans (&quot;southerners&quot;). What is most interesting about the song is that Shania Twain is Canadian - and that is where the code switching begins. It is a deliberate error made in attempt to better connect with her intended fan base - southerners. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T02:04:30.683" />
  <row Id="17977" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7059" CreationDate="2011-03-26T03:31:08.207" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In Australia, &lt;em&gt;cunt&lt;/em&gt; can be used quite freely, especially where it has replaced &lt;em&gt;mate&lt;/em&gt;. For example, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Oi cunt ows it goin.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6544" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T21:04:01.500" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T21:04:01.500" />
  <row Id="17978" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17979" CreationDate="2011-03-26T03:37:22.773" Score="3" ViewCount="47" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may seem an odd and morbid question, but I am curious about the use of relative familial titles when the family member you are referring to died prior to your birth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, say my mother has a brother named Bruce. When I am born he becomes my uncle. While we are both alive I would refer to him as Uncle Bruce. Even when he dies, I would continue to refer to him as Uncle Bruce, as in, &quot;Remember the time we went to the beach with Uncle Bruce?&quot; Moreover, I would argue this title stays even after my death. My children might say, &quot;My dad's uncle was a shoe salesman.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But how would I refer to my mother's brother Bruce if he died before I was born? I would think I would refer to him as &quot;my mother's brother.&quot; It seems odd to refer to him as my uncle because he was not alive when I was born, therefore he only attained that title posthumously.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And would it make any difference as to when my mother's brother died? Say my mother had a brother who died when he was an infant. Would he still be referred to as &quot;my uncle?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1631" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T04:06:33.057" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T05:13:44.367" Title="How are relative familial titles used for members who died prior to your birth?" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;&lt;kinship-terms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="17979" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17978" CreationDate="2011-03-26T04:14:14.113" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would ask whether you would have any issue referring to, say, your mother's grandfather as your great-grandfather, even though he may have died some years before you were born. Your mother's brother is certainly your uncle, and in my opinion it's correct to refer to him as such even if you never met him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your reluctance to use the word &quot;uncle&quot; in this case may be because it is common to think of our uncle (or aunt) as a relative perhaps second only to our parents in closeness and affection. Consider the word &quot;avuncular&quot; which means literally &quot;pertaining to an uncle&quot; but has a secondary meaning of &quot;kind, genial, benevolent&quot;. Having never met your mother's brother Bruce you might not feel comfortable referring to him as Uncle for this reason.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The issue you raise of an uncle who died in infancy is an interesting one. Again it's probably because we typically know our uncles as men of our father's age that this seems odd. If you're a &quot;Seinfeld&quot; fan you may remember a scene in which George is talking to his mother, who mentions &quot;Aunt Baby&quot;, a relative who died as an infant. This has always struck me as humorous, yet quite poignant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would say use the title &quot;Uncle&quot; freely and with the respect due to a close member of your family. My mother's brother died in a Japanese POW camp in World War II, some 25 years before I was born, yet I proudly refer to him as my Uncle Arnold.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6433" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T04:14:14.113" />
  <row Id="17980" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17978" CreationDate="2011-03-26T04:50:21.773" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about referring him as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Late Uncle Bruce&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5828" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T04:50:21.773" />
  <row Id="17981" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18004" CreationDate="2011-03-26T05:05:03.930" Score="2" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know &lt;em&gt;giving heads up&lt;/em&gt; means to inform someone, but how does that relate to the literal meaning i.e. giving heads up? What's the background? Where did it come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6220" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T18:33:32.543" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T21:02:23.900" Title="Where did the idiom &quot;giving a heads up&quot; come from?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="17982" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18031" CreationDate="2011-03-26T05:05:58.317" Score="0" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;Scenario: My friend John has a personality disorder, intensely paranoid for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can I say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There were three events last year that told me John &lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt; a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or can I say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There were threee events last year that told me John &lt;em&gt;has&lt;/em&gt; a problem. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T10:39:42.903" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T14:47:34.063" Title="'Had' or 'has' to describe a past condition which is still present?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;&lt;present-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17983" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17991" CreationDate="2011-03-26T05:09:50.540" Score="2" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am aware of the lightning rod used to protect buildings and structures. But, what does it mean to refer to a &lt;strong&gt;person&lt;/strong&gt; as a &lt;strong&gt;lightning rod&lt;/strong&gt;? Also, when is it appropriate to use and when should it be avoided?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/nyregion/04franco.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this NY Times article&lt;/a&gt; for example, which is titled &lt;em&gt;James Franco’s 2 Roles at Yale - Scholar and &lt;strong&gt;Lightning Rod&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3507" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T00:22:51.523" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T08:56:33.040" Title="When is a person called a &quot;lightning rod&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="17984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17978" CreationDate="2011-03-26T05:13:44.367" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If your father died before you were born you would still call him your father. Same for your brother or sister if they died before you were born. If they died before you were born you would never say: My mother's son / daughter. Therefore, to me the title remains even if you were not born when they died. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T05:13:44.367" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17985" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="17987" CreationDate="2011-03-26T05:33:25.247" Score="1" ViewCount="34" Body="&lt;p&gt;In relation to you not meeting me at the train station yesterday:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'I wake up early, travel all that way, wait for you in the rain, and you don't meet me!'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this not the simple present being used with a past meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T05:49:18.337" Title="Simple present used to describe past events as a list of actions?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17986" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-26T05:48:45.910" Score="1" ViewCount="84" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am trying to find a logical way to explain how/when to use &quot;done&quot; vs &quot;did&quot; and &quot;seen&quot; vs &quot;saw&quot;.  The person I'm coaching uses the terms in the following manner and I just don't want to correct him, but would also like to give him the rationale so that he understands how to use these terms in the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I done the letter and sent it on Monday&quot;.&#xA;&quot;I seen a boy running down the street&quot; or &quot;I seen that movie&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My pupil is a mature person who is generally bright, but poor usage habits are hard to break and even harder to explain!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T15:06:26.700" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T17:46:27.843" Title="&quot;Done&quot; vs. &quot;did&quot; &amp; &quot;seen&quot; vs. &quot;saw&quot;" Tags="&lt;past-tense&gt;&lt;present-tense&gt;&lt;past-perfect&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="17987" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17985" CreationDate="2011-03-26T05:49:18.337" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Essentially, yes. As in various languages, the simple present can be used to denote a &quot;past action as though unfolding before your eyes&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T05:49:18.337" />
  <row Id="17988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17983" CreationDate="2011-03-26T05:52:37.700" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It generally means that a person is perceived as combative, divisive and or an antagonist.  An irritant so to speak.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T05:52:37.700" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="17989" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17852" CreationDate="2011-03-26T06:05:03.327" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The closest match to &quot;I'm up with something&quot; is another commonly used slang term, &quot;That's what's up.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if I say &quot;I'm very excited, I got a new job today!&quot;, a friend might respond, &quot;That's what's up!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;That's what's up&quot; is a term of affirmation and encouragement.  It is relatively new but quickly growing in popularity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastEditorUserId="6547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T14:40:34.550" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T14:40:34.550" />
  <row Id="17990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17982" CreationDate="2011-03-26T06:25:36.747" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Of the two alternatives, the correct one is &lt;em&gt;There were three events last year that told me John had a problem.&lt;/em&gt;  It should not be phrased with &lt;em&gt;has&lt;/em&gt; because the verb &lt;em&gt;told&lt;/em&gt; is in the past, so it must have told you about something in the past (i.e. &lt;em&gt;John had a problem&lt;/em&gt;). It says nothing about whether the problem is or is not currently present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T06:25:36.747" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="17991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17983" CreationDate="2011-03-26T06:44:34.267" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A real lightning rod attracts lightning to it.  A person is said to be a lightning rod to suggest they attract something to them, most often criticism, controversy, or negative comments.  Usually the thing they attract is indicated in the same sentence or nearby in the context.  In the referenced NY Times article, the something is not very explicit, but they seem to be saying he naturally attracts attention to himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T08:56:33.040" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T08:56:33.040" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17992" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-26T06:49:44.757" Score="1" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5758/its-raining-what-is&quot;&gt;It&amp;#39;s raining. What is?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'It is raining.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does 'it' refer to?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I know some people might say 'the weather' but you wouldn't say: 'The weather is raining.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you would say: How's the weather? It's raining.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Bit confusing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="6346" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T07:11:58.880" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T09:58:54.310" ClosedDate="2011-03-26T10:36:12.970" Title="What does 'it' refer to in this example?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="17993" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18019" CreationDate="2011-03-26T06:56:18.280" Score="0" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;'O people!'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone give me an alternative interjection for 'O' in this example?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T12:00:06.903" Title="Is there another interjection that can be used in this example?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="17994" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5758" CreationDate="2011-03-26T07:13:04.007" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the sentence &lt;code&gt;It is raining&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/it&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt; states (In reference to &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt;): &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;used as subject of an impersonal verb&#xA;  that expresses a condition or action&#xA;  without reference to an agent &#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt; has no identifiable character in this context. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1023" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T07:13:04.007" />
  <row Id="17995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5758" CreationDate="2011-03-26T07:15:15.767" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;It&lt;/em&gt; isn't referring to anything specific. &lt;em&gt;It&lt;/em&gt;'s just a grammatical construct of English, which requires that sentences have a subject. Other languages like Latin or Japanese (known as pro-drop languages) don't require an explicit subject and omit the &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt;. You can, for example, express the same meaning simply with &quot;pluit&quot; (Latin).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6434" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T07:15:15.767" />
  <row Id="17996" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-26T07:16:07.037" Score="1" ViewCount="80" Body="&lt;p&gt;If a person is very evil some would say he is a &lt;em&gt;devil&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can anyone give me another word—&lt;em&gt;devil&lt;/em&gt; sounds a bit strange to me.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T17:42:41.920" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T18:01:12.740" Title="What is a good synonym for &quot;devil&quot;?" Tags="&lt;synonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="17997" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5758" CreationDate="2011-03-26T07:23:21.760" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;It&quot; doesn't refer to anything here. It's just a stand-in for the subject. &quot;It&quot; is the noun of the sentence, but it is not behaving as a traditional referent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Standard English syntax requires a subject and a verb in each sentence, but some ideas become bogged down by this. To say for example, &quot;The sky is raining,&quot; in English is obvious. However, English has evolved into very simple nouns and verbs (and all the rest). We don't deal in declensions anymore, and as our verb conjugation is comparatively very simple, it does sometimes lead to a few awkward structures.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Spanish, we'd just say, &quot;Está lloviendo.&quot; &lt;strong&gt;Verb&lt;/strong&gt; + &lt;strong&gt;Gerund&lt;/strong&gt;. The verb construction is third person singular and in that context just implies a state of being.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, in Latin, it would be &quot;pluit&quot;, which can mean, &quot;It rains&quot; (habitual), &quot;It is raining&quot; (current action), or &quot;It does rain&quot; (emphatic). Alas, Latin is both awesome and at the same time terribly, terribly limiting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6549" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T09:58:54.310" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T09:58:54.310" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="17999" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18001" CreationDate="2011-03-26T07:25:27.627" Score="4" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;An adjective appears to be used as a noun when denoting an animate plural and preceded by the definite article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'The successful are those who strive.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;'The foolish are those who procrastinate.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this always the case? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T11:01:10.343" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T16:09:35.473" Title="Can adjectives always be used as nouns when they denote a plural and are preceded by the definite article?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;part-of-speech&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18000" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17996" CreationDate="2011-03-26T07:26:24.600" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without knowing the context, it's hard to answer this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Menace, villain, fiend, cad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6549" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T07:26:24.600" />
  <row Id="18001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17999" CreationDate="2011-03-26T07:31:51.100" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yep. Because there is always an assumed &quot;people&quot; attached. So long as it's an adjective that can reasonably be used to describe people, you should never run into an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you ever feel uncomfortable with your construction, just substitute &quot;X people&quot; for your &quot;the X&quot; and see if your sentence still works grammatically.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6549" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T07:31:51.100" />
  <row Id="18002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17996" CreationDate="2011-03-26T07:39:08.273" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.synonym.com/synonyms/evil/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.synonym.com/synonyms/evil/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sense 1: evil (vs. good) atrocious,&#xA;  flagitious, grievous,&#xA;  monstrousbadblack, dark,&#xA;  sinistercorruptive, perversive,&#xA;  pestiferousdemonic, diabolic,&#xA;  diabolical, fiendish, hellish,&#xA;  infernal, satanic, unholydespicable,&#xA;  ugly, vile, slimy, unworthy,&#xA;  worthless, wretcheddevilish, diabolic,&#xA;  diabolical, mephistophelian,&#xA;  mephistopheleanevil-minded   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Also See:&#xA;  bad#1; immoral#1; offensive#5;&#xA;  unrighteous#1; wicked#1; wrong#2&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sense 2: evil, vicious wicked (vs.&#xA;  virtuous) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sense 3: malefic,&#xA;  malevolent, malign, evil maleficent&#xA;  (vs. beneficent)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T07:39:08.273" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17986" CreationDate="2011-03-26T07:42:02.610" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oh, boy. I suggest some good old-fashioned tree diagrams! Depending on how excited this fellow is to learn, there are some excellent user-friendly English linguistics texts around. That'll help with the function of modals.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Irregular verbs are irregular. Compiling a list of irregular verbs and explaining that verbs that are used more often tend to break the standard rules more will help with a basic understanding of why the rules don't apply across the board.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Does he do this in 3rd person as well? &quot;He seen it&quot; &quot;He gone there&quot; &quot;He done it.&quot; One of my uncles speaks in this dialect and he only seems to do it in first person. If your acquaintance is the same way, perhaps relating 3rd person to 1st person will help.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6549" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T07:42:02.610" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17981" CreationDate="2011-03-26T08:20:47.577" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It was first used as an &lt;strong&gt;interjection&lt;/strong&gt; in the &lt;strong&gt;19th century&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;em&gt;“They marched, and I amongst them, to face the enemy – heads up – step firm – thus it was – quick time – march!”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, at the &lt;strong&gt;beginning of the 20th century&lt;/strong&gt;, it began to be used &lt;strong&gt;adjectivally&lt;/strong&gt;, as in: &lt;em&gt;“He was always right on the job, and looking ‘heads up’.”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, around &lt;strong&gt;1980&lt;/strong&gt;, it became a &lt;strong&gt;noun&lt;/strong&gt;, probably through shortening of phrases like “heads-up alert” into “heads-up”: &lt;em&gt;“It is regarded as being a heads-up on a sale.”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;Source and references: the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/04/heads-up.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Grammarphobia blog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T08:20:47.577" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17996" CreationDate="2011-03-26T08:25:54.983" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Without more context, I quite like &lt;strong&gt;brute&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;beast&lt;/strong&gt;; you can also go with &#xA;monster*, &lt;em&gt;varmint&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;fiend&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you want to convey the meaning of mischievous, yet somewhat likeable, you could go with&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;rascal&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;em&gt;rogue&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;imp&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;scamp&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T08:25:54.983" />
  <row Id="18006" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18010" CreationDate="2011-03-26T09:19:41.007" Score="4" ViewCount="94" Body="&lt;p&gt;The New York Times’ &lt;a href=&quot;http://theater.nytimes.com/2011/03/26/theater/reviews/macbeth-opens-at-the-duke-on-42nd-street-review.html?nl=todaysheadlines&amp;amp;emc=tha28&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Theater Review of ‘Macbeth’&lt;/a&gt;, being performed by John Douglas Thompson at the Duke on 42nd Street, starts with the headline, “The deed is done, the doers undone.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does this line mean? Does it mean that players performed their role, but just in mediocre way? Is Ben Bradley, the writer, being critical about their performance? Just for a taste, the beginning part of this article reads:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;See that big guy over there? Almost Herculean, isn’t he, with his sinewy arms and swelling chest, the kind of man you can easily imagine as a master of war and of women. But look again, closely. There’s doubt in his face, too, as if he were not always sure of what he’s doing or even who he is. I bet you this Hercules could crack. You sure wouldn’t want to fight him, but then you wouldn’t want him on your team, either.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T09:55:54.953" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T00:21:21.103" Title="What does &quot;the deed is done, the doers undone&quot; in a headline mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18007" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18017" CreationDate="2011-03-26T09:58:25.913" Score="4" ViewCount="44" Body="&lt;p&gt;Scenario:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Someone steals a pen and is asked: 'Did you steal the pen?'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They reply: 'No'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is said to them: 'You are a liar.' Does this nominative sentence not suggest that they are a liar as a habit or that lying is more of a permanent characteristic of their personality more than a verbal sentence such as: 'You have lied.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, based on that, would it be wrong to describe a person using a nominative sentence when a person does not possess a certain attribute as a permanent feature?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So if somebody did something foolish, which was not their habit, and it was said to them: 'You are a fool.' it would not be as reflective of the situation as using a verbal sentence such as: 'You have been foolish.' or are the two interchangeable? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="3405" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T11:37:48.533" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T14:35:31.187" Title="Does a nominative sentence suggest that a characteristic is more of a permanent feature?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18008" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-26T10:19:55.807" Score="2" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usage &lt;em&gt;how much ever&lt;/em&gt;, is it correct? Thanks.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6551" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T17:56:32.780" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T17:56:32.780" Title="Usage of &quot;how ever much&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18006" CreationDate="2011-03-26T10:45:24.380" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a reference to lines in the play &lt;em&gt;Macbeth&lt;/em&gt;, in which &quot;the deed&quot; refers to Macbeth's murder of the king, Duncan.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The three witches in the opening scene mention that they will meet again &quot;after the deed is done.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Later, after prodding by his wife, Macbeth does murder Duncan and emerges from the chamber saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for &quot;the doers undone&quot; ... here is a spoiler alert. Don't read on if you intend to see the play and don't know the ending.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Macbeth and Lady Macbeth pay for their crimes in the harshest possible manner.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T10:45:24.380" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18006" CreationDate="2011-03-26T10:45:42.943" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, the headline does not refer to the thespian abilities of the actors. Ben Bradley gave a favourable review to the play.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;The deed is done, the doers undone &quot;&lt;/strong&gt; &#xA;alludes to the story of Macbeth; that both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth plotted and committed murders (the deed is done), and subsequently became mentally tormented by their evil deeds (the doers undone).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Besides alluding to the play in his headline, Bradley also brings other references from the play in his review. For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This “Macbeth” banks the sound and fury that lies within the play and its&#xA;  title character.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The above is a direct reference to the famous verse from Macbeth:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Out, out, brief candle!&#xA;  Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player&#xA;  that struts and frets his hour upon the stage&#xA;  and then is heard no more: it is a tale&#xA;  told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,&#xA;  signifying nothing.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5671" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T00:21:21.103" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T00:21:21.103" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18007" CreationDate="2011-03-26T10:52:02.487" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the context of that one exchange, the declaration &quot;You are a liar!&quot; simply refers to the act of stealing the pen and lying about it. If one wanted to make an unambiguous statement that the person habitually lies, that would have to be made explicit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It isn't necessary to limit the scope of the declaration by saying &quot;You have lied&quot; — and even though that is arguably a gentler way of making the accusation, it doesn't necessarily limit the scope of it either. &quot;You have lied&quot; probably refers to a single instance, but may also be used to cover multiple instances of lying. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you really want to limit the scope, refer to the lie, not the liar. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That is a lie.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now we are dealing with one lie and, by implication, one liar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T10:52:02.487" />
  <row Id="18012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18008" CreationDate="2011-03-26T10:53:55.760" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't think of a use for &quot;how much ever&quot; in any unstrained construction. What I would use is &quot;however much&quot; (note that &quot;however&quot; is one word).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;However much you may wish to win the lottery, your odds of actually doing so are vanishingly small.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T10:53:55.760" />
  <row Id="18013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17983" CreationDate="2011-03-26T11:04:36.500" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Used in this sense it means a person is a &lt;em&gt;cynosure&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;cynosure&lt;/strong&gt; a person or thing that is the center of attention or admiration&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The term &quot;lightning rod&quot; can also refer to a person or thing attracts hostile attention: &quot;When he was president of Harvard University, Larry Summers was a lightning rod for feminist criticisms after baldly announcing that women weren't as good as men at the sciences.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T11:04:36.500" />
  <row Id="18014" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-26T11:10:19.257" Score="2" ViewCount="69" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often hear the term &quot;you bet!&quot;. What does it mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6552" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T11:17:27.863" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T11:51:48.240" Title="What is the meaning of “you bet!”?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18014" CreationDate="2011-03-26T11:15:14.650" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means that some is sure of what they say, that they are (figuratively) ready to bet on it. The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; has:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;you bet:&lt;/strong&gt; (informal) you may be sure; certainly: &lt;em&gt;“Would you like this piece of pie?” — “You bet!”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3405" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T11:22:30.070" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T11:22:30.070" />
  <row Id="18016" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17983" CreationDate="2011-03-26T11:19:56.613" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A lightning rod is someone who attracts a lot of criticism, in particular in order to shield other people (like a literal lightning rod diverts lightning harmlessly into the ground). It is thus related in meaning with &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;scapegoat&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, i.e. someone who is blamed for the mistakes of others.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T11:19:56.613" />
  <row Id="18017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18007" CreationDate="2011-03-26T11:47:23.403" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. Saying &quot;You are a liar&quot; &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; have the implication that the lying is habitual - that it's one of their enduring characteristics - though it would not necessarily always be understood that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the exchange in the question, to make the accusation that the person is lying in this instance (&lt;em&gt;without&lt;/em&gt; implying that they make a habit of lying), it would be better to say &quot;You are lying!&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying &quot;You have lied&quot;, though correct, would be wrong in this situation, because it implies &quot;There was at least one (unspecified) time in the past when you lied&quot; - but here the time is known, and it's close enough to the present to use the present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T11:47:23.403" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18014" CreationDate="2011-03-26T11:51:48.240" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Informally, it means enthusiastic agreement with a premise or question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you think you can find a home for&#xA;  this puppy? -- You bet!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T11:51:48.240" />
  <row Id="18019" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17993" CreationDate="2011-03-26T12:00:06.903" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on the context... what sort of situation is it for?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If it's to get the attention of a crowd, then maybe:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hey, people!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or, more politely&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Excuse me, people!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would do the trick. If, on the other hand, it's the start of some sort of formal address, then maybe&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear people,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would be the way to start (although perhaps &quot;Ladies and Gentlemen&quot; would be more conventional).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T12:00:06.903" />
  <row Id="18020" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18021" CreationDate="2011-03-26T12:02:18.837" Score="2" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm always uncertain whether or not I should use &quot;the&quot; and &quot;that&quot; in the following cases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is no guarantee &lt;strong&gt;(that)&lt;/strong&gt; measurement values are the cause of . . .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Which will lead to &lt;strong&gt;(the)&lt;/strong&gt; correct evaluation of the measure . . . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes or no?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T00:05:16.893" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T00:05:16.893" Title="Should &quot;that&quot; and &quot;the&quot; be used in these situations?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18020" CreationDate="2011-03-26T12:03:59.833" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You only need the demonstrative pronoun or the definite article in cases where meaning is unclear or you want to provide extra emphasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T12:03:59.833" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="18022" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18033" CreationDate="2011-03-26T12:22:40.297" Score="4" ViewCount="297" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am writing about a survey I wrote to evaluate the usability of a program. When describing the methodology of the survey, I refer to the person conducting the survey as the investigator. What should I call the other person?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The investigator gave the [?] a tour of the functions of the application.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5641" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T21:05:30.197" Title="What do I call a person who is participating in a survey?" Tags="&lt;nomenclature&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18024" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18022" CreationDate="2011-03-26T12:26:48.037" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You would call that person a &lt;em&gt;participant&lt;/em&gt; in the survey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T12:26:48.037" />
  <row Id="18025" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18026" CreationDate="2011-03-26T12:41:14.547" Score="2" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am writing a scientific paper and want to dedicate it to my former supervisor who passed away recently. The standard practice in this case is to write the dedication phrase just below the title of the paper. What I am not sure as I am a non-native speaker is the exact wording. It would be terrible if I write something offensive or inappropriate out of my ignorance. I have the following suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;To the memory of ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dedicated to the bright memory of ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Dedicated to the memory of ...&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My questions are&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is option 1 ok without the word &quot;dedicated&quot;?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is the word &quot;bright&quot; fine here? I like this choice, but my worry is that it might be reserved for the people who were very close to him, or &quot;bright&quot; would imply some strange meaning that I am unaware of.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What would you write?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3554" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T14:56:13.213" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T14:56:13.213" Title="What's the proper way to dedicate a paper with a &quot;to the memory of&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18025" CreationDate="2011-03-26T12:50:04.163" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Omitting “dedicated” as in “To the memory of …” is accepted usage, attested for example by a &lt;a href=&quot;http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&amp;amp;q=%22to%20the%20memory%20of%22&amp;amp;btnG=Search&amp;amp;as_sdt=0,5&amp;amp;as_ylo=&amp;amp;as_vis=0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google Scholar&lt;/a&gt; search.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;On using “bright”, it depends strongly on your relationship with the deceased. If unsure, it may be best to proceed cautiously: people grieving undergo a lot of stress, and can have harsh and somewhat unpredictable reaction. The question to ask yourself is: by leaving it out, do you feel that your homage is lessened?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unless I knew him and knew what he felt like, in a very public place like a scholarly publication, I would go for something traditional. But then, I'm not the most demonstrative kind of chap.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T12:50:04.163" />
  <row Id="18027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18025" CreationDate="2011-03-26T12:58:53.967" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would recommend going with something simple:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In memory of [name].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which NOAD lists as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;in memory of&lt;/strong&gt; intended to remind people of, esp. to honor a dead person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That you are writing a dedication is understood, and does not need to be explicit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T12:58:53.967" />
  <row Id="18028" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17986" CreationDate="2011-03-26T13:54:40.720" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me like the person you are coaching is a native speaker of English but just uses slightly different patterns. At that point it is really not a matter of -correcting- grammar, just getting the speaker to join you in your dialect. What I am saying is that some kinds of bad grammar are actually good consistent grammar of a slightly different dialect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If that is the case, then there are more complicated social/personality issues. In the usual second-language-learning situation, it is mostly obvious to the student the pragmatics of what is 'right' and 'wrong'. In the dialect situation (at least in English) everybody thinks they are right and then it's a matter of power (actually that may be the case for anything!). So if you want to sidestep those issues it may be useful to present it to the person you're coaching as &quot;think of it as a separate language and you just have to use the arbitrary rule to sound like 'my' kind of speakers&quot;. That is, make the language difference obvious as an arbitrary choice (it is), and emphasize that you're teaching rules of your own different language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T13:54:40.720" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18029" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18007" CreationDate="2011-03-26T14:35:31.187" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This bodes the question of whether one lies because he is a liar or one is a liar because he lies.  &quot;You are a liar,&quot; used to refer to his character whereas, &quot;you are lying&quot; (or &quot;you have lied,&quot; if referring to an instant in the past), would refer only his actions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These days, however, in our culture of ever-growing exaggeration, the meaning of, &quot;you are a liar&quot; (or simply, &quot;Liar!&quot;), has been diminished to, &quot;you are lying&quot; (or as we have seen, &quot;that is a lie&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6534" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T14:35:31.187" />
  <row Id="18030" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17669" CreationDate="2011-03-26T14:44:16.077" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;We &lt;em&gt;usually&lt;/em&gt; put the most important item first in a list (if Eve had had a mother, she'd surely have refered to the first couple as &lt;strong&gt;Eve and Adam&lt;/strong&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The main exception to the general rule is in &quot;list of three&quot; elements (as used in rhetoric and &quot;persuasive&quot; speech), where the &lt;em&gt;last&lt;/em&gt; item is the one intended to have most force (and hopefully, give the politician his standing ovation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To a lesser extent, euphony, repetition of what others say, blind chance, etc., may all affect the eventual sequence uttered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T14:44:16.077" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17982" CreationDate="2011-03-26T14:47:34.063" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree with mgkrebbs in the case of storytelling.  In conversation, however, if I say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There were three events last year that told me John &lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt; a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am implying that he had a problem last year but that the problem is no longer present.  If I say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There were three events last year that told me John &lt;em&gt;has&lt;/em&gt; a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am implying that the problem existed last year and continues into the present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Might I also suggest the following (assuming the problem still exists):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Three events last year told me John has a problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6534" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T14:47:34.063" />
  <row Id="18032" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17075" CreationDate="2011-03-26T14:56:48.270" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I trust her as far as I can throw her. (unit of measure for trust)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I trust him as far as I can see him.  (unit of measure for trust)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The university is right in my backyard. (unit of measure for distance)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T14:56:48.270" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-26T14:56:48.270" />
  <row Id="18033" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18022" CreationDate="2011-03-26T15:02:51.280" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect &lt;em&gt;participant&lt;/em&gt; may be more common, particularly when pluralised, but that may simply be because it's a more common word applicable in many other contexts. For a single individual in this context, &lt;em&gt;respondent&lt;/em&gt; seems more precise to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T15:02:51.280" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18034" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-26T15:08:25.910" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Questions concerning a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words. Example of idioms are &quot;rain cats and dogs&quot; and &quot;see the light.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T17:22:09.777" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T17:22:09.777" />
  <row Id="18035" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-26T15:08:25.910" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="A group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T21:44:05.750" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T21:44:05.750" />
  <row Id="18036" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18057" CreationDate="2011-03-26T15:09:18.267" Score="1" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can I say, &quot;Your example was quite graphical&quot;? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A person wrote an answer to me on StackOverflow and provided a very good example with pictures. Saying &quot;your example was good&quot; or &quot;nice&quot; or &quot;clear&quot; seems to me to be too general. On the other hand, I've searched and didn't find any case of &quot;graphical example&quot; on Google. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T17:13:48.310" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T17:45:05.057" Title="Can I say, &quot;Your example was quite graphical&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18037" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-26T15:11:03.413" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Punctuation is the marks, such as period, comma, and parentheses, used in writing to separate sentences and their elements and to clarify meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T17:22:41.057" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T17:22:41.057" />
  <row Id="18038" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-26T15:11:03.413" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="Standard marks in written language, such as the period/full stop, comma, dash, and parentheses, that separate structural units and perform other roles that clarify the meaning." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T21:54:06.707" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T21:54:06.707" />
  <row Id="18039" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18045" CreationDate="2011-03-26T15:16:15.707" Score="3" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference? Why would you say &lt;em&gt;authors guild&lt;/em&gt; and not &lt;em&gt;authors association&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T15:29:08.647" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T15:32:45.883" Title="&quot;Guild&quot; versus &quot;association&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18040" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-26T15:17:46.217" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Nomenclature&lt;/em&gt; is the term used for the devising or choosing of names for things, especially in a science or other discipline. it is also used to mean the body or system of such names in a particular field (e.g. the nomenclature of chemical compounds).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T17:22:33.303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T17:22:33.303" />
  <row Id="18041" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-26T15:17:46.217" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="Questions concerning the devising or choosing of names for things." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T17:22:30.947" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T17:22:30.947" />
  <row Id="18042" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18058" CreationDate="2011-03-26T15:17:48.887" Score="2" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Islamic law is the result of an&#xA;  examination, from a religious angle,&#xA;  of legal subject matter that was far&#xA;  from uniform, comprising &lt;em&gt;as it did&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  the various components of the laws of&#xA;  pre-Islamic Arabia and numerous legal&#xA;  elements taken over from the non-Arab&#xA;  peoples of the conquered territories.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3324" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T15:35:40.937" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T17:36:16.120" Title="What's the meaning of &quot;as it did&quot; in this sentence?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18043" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18280" CreationDate="2011-03-26T15:24:52.253" Score="3" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;The following is from &lt;em&gt;My Fair Lady&lt;/em&gt;, where Eliza Doolittle's father, a man of working-class origins, is about to make his appearance. Prof. Higgins and Col. Pickering, our primary interlocutors in this dialogue, sense that Alfred Doolittle is after money for their use of Eliza to settle their little sociolinguistic experiment.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;HIGGINS [&lt;em&gt;promptly&lt;/em&gt;] Send the blackguard up.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  MRS. PEARCE. Oh, very well, sir. [She goes out].&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  PICKERING. He may not be a blackguard, Higgins.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  HIGGINS. Nonsense. Of course he's a blackguard.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  PICKERING. Whether he is or not, I'm afraid we shall have some trouble with him.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the etymology of this word? &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blackguard&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikitionary&lt;/a&gt;, usually extremely handy, informs me that it comes from &quot;black + guard&quot;, which is just too thin gruel for my taste.  I mean, duh!  The question is why are those terms combined to apply to &quot;scoundrels&quot; and &quot;unprincipled persons&quot;, as Wikitionary defines it. Can some make the history more detailed for me? Also, would one find this word current in British English, and does it always have a &quot;chummy&quot; or &quot;lighthearted&quot; quality as used in the quotation above?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T21:03:08.473" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T15:50:50.343" Title="What is the etymology of &quot;blackguard&quot;? Does this British-sounding word have subtleties in its use?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18039" CreationDate="2011-03-26T15:27:33.420" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Guild&lt;/em&gt; is the word used for &quot;an association of people for mutual aid or the pursuit of a common goal.&quot; It is then a word that has a more specific meaning than &lt;em&gt;association&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other meanings of &lt;em&gt;guild&lt;/em&gt; are &quot;a medieval association of craftsmen or merchants, often having considerable power&quot; and (in ecology) &quot;a group of species that have similar requirements and play a similar role within a community.&quot; (Both of them don't apply in the specific case.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T15:27:33.420" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18045" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18039" CreationDate="2011-03-26T15:32:45.883" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Obviously &quot;correct&quot; usage is whatever [the group in question's] founders originally decided to call themselves (there are also &lt;em&gt;Federations&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Fellowships&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Societies&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Unions&lt;/em&gt;, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Guild&lt;/em&gt; has a somewhat archaic flavour, but a newly-formed group might choose it simply to imply a long and distinguished history. It also has stronger overtones of the members being [traditional] craftsmen with tradeable skills and/or products.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Association&lt;/em&gt; may imply a looser (often predominantly commercial) relationship between members.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T15:32:45.883" />
  <row Id="18046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18042" CreationDate="2011-03-26T15:39:24.930" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;comprising as it did&lt;/em&gt; is simply a stylistic variation on &lt;em&gt;as [since, because] it comprised&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T15:39:24.930" />
  <row Id="18047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18036" CreationDate="2011-03-26T15:41:30.717" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. The correct form is &quot;your example was quite graphic&quot;. You'll find plenty of Google hits for &quot;&lt;strong&gt;graphic example&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T15:41:30.717" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18043" CreationDate="2011-03-26T15:42:41.347" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;from &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ORIGIN early 16th cent. (originally as two words): from black + guard . The term originally denoted a body of attendants or servants, esp. the menials who had charge of kitchen utensils, but the exact significance of the epithet [black] is uncertain. The sense [scoundrel, villain] dates from the mid 18th cent., and was formerly considered highly offensive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6534" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T15:42:41.347" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18049" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18052" CreationDate="2011-03-26T15:47:38.457" Score="3" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please suggest the word which means &quot;understandable by specific group&quot;. I just forgot that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="530" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T00:13:49.617" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T00:13:49.617" Title="What is the word for &quot;understandable by specific group&quot;?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18051" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18036" CreationDate="2011-03-26T15:54:01.383" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You say you don't want to say &quot;good&quot; because it's not specific enough. So, be more specific and say what you mean. But, I think you're trying to go for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your example was enlightening.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T15:54:01.383" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18049" CreationDate="2011-03-26T16:00:39.100" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are lots of words covering the general concept, but they're usually used by people who are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; members of the &quot;specific group&quot;, so they tend to be pejorative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Esoteric&lt;/strong&gt; strikes me as somewhat less value-laden than most.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T16:00:39.100" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17999" CreationDate="2011-03-26T16:09:35.473" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, you cannot always assume that.  For instance, adjectives ending with -y or -ish usually cannot be pluralized and used as nouns.  The adjective 'watery' cannot be turned into 'wateries'.  These exceptions are probably because the adjective is already created from a noun and most of these cannot be further altered and turned back into a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T16:09:35.473" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18049" CreationDate="2011-03-26T16:12:53.303" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While not a direct answer to your question, the term &lt;strong&gt;jargon&lt;/strong&gt; refers to language (words and phrases) that are common in one specific group but not used that way outside the group. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in medical jargon, a heart attack is called a myocardial infarction. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="162" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T16:12:53.303" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18049" CreationDate="2011-03-26T16:55:44.563" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An &quot;in-joke&quot; is a term used describe an event that is humourous only to a small group of insiders to whom the full history leading up to the event is known, thereby allowing them to find humour in the situation that would otherwise to an outsider not appear to be humourous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T16:55:44.563" />
  <row Id="18056" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18043" CreationDate="2011-03-26T17:04:57.400" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The OED says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;blackguard,&lt;/strong&gt; n. and a.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [lit. Black Guard, concerning the original application of which there is some doubt. It is possible that senses 1 and 2 began independently of each other; or the one may have originated in a play upon the other, black being taken with a different sense; it would be difficult to assign priority to either. It is even possible that there may have been a guard of soldiers at Westminster called the Black Guard, or that, as some suggest, the attendants or torch-bearers at a funeral, or the link-boys of the streets, may have had this name.]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;[cut]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  †&lt;strong&gt;1&lt;/strong&gt;. The lowest menials of a royal or noble household, who had charge of pots and pans and other kitchen utensils, and rode in the wagons conveying these during journeys from one residence to another; the scullions and kitchen-knaves. &lt;em&gt;Obs.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  †&lt;strong&gt;2&lt;/strong&gt;. A guard of attendants, black in person, dress, or character; a following of ‘black’ villains. Obs. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5737" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T17:04:57.400" />
  <row Id="18057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18036" CreationDate="2011-03-26T17:33:21.320" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The example in question was &lt;em&gt;well illustrated&lt;/em&gt;. This adjectives makes it clear that graphics were used to enhance the example. You could also use &lt;em&gt;visual&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Illuminating&lt;/em&gt; is also a good word to use, although it does not necessarily imply the presence of graphics in the example; it only means the example was lucid and enlightening. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Several options:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your example was well illustrated and quite illuminating.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your example was lucid and well illustrated.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Your example was quite visual.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="5548" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T17:45:05.057" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T17:45:05.057" />
  <row Id="18058" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18042" CreationDate="2011-03-26T17:36:16.120" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The common phrase &quot;as it did&quot; is another way of saying &quot;as was the case&quot;; it is a reinforcement of an assertion. It is somewhat redundant, but used for emphasis.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider these two sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Victorian Britain was truly an empire, ruling &lt;em&gt;as it did&lt;/em&gt; over huge portions of the entire world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Victorian Britain was truly an empire, ruling over huge portions of the entire world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you can see, &quot;as it did&quot; adds little to the sentence. With no help from those three words, the reader understands perfectly well that the writer is claiming Britain ruled over much of the world during the Victorian era. All that the extra words add to the sentence are a rhythmic variation and a confident tone. To include them or not is a matter of style.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T17:36:16.120" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18059" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18065" CreationDate="2011-03-26T17:42:18.827" Score="2" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &lt;em&gt;&quot;if and only if&quot;&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;code&gt;iff&lt;/code&gt;) is commonly used in the field of mathematics (&lt;code&gt;⇔&lt;/code&gt;) and computer programming, as a conditional expression in classical (Boolean) logic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Within that scope, it might not mean the same as a simple &lt;em&gt;&quot;if:&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If it rains, I will get wet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I will get wet if it rains, but, there are numerous ways to get wet.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will get wet, if and only if it rains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Only rain, exclusively, can make me wet.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do these distinctions apply in this way (example above), outside of the aforementioned domain?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5263" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T00:14:34.640" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T00:14:34.640" Title="Usage of &quot;if and only if&quot; as a nontechnical term" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;logic&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18022" CreationDate="2011-03-26T17:44:23.823" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For completeness: Google gives some hits for &lt;em&gt;surveyee&lt;/em&gt;, e.g. on &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/surveyee&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wiktionary&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But I do think &lt;em&gt;participant&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;respondent&lt;/em&gt; as suggested in other answers goes better with &lt;em&gt;investigator&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6556" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T17:44:23.823" />
  <row Id="18061" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17986" CreationDate="2011-03-26T17:46:27.843" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hi&#xA;Done is the present perfect tense for the verb to do. Thus, 'I have done the essay', when 'have' is the auxiliary verb. 'Did' is the past tense. Thus, 'I did the essay'. Same with 'seen' and 'saw'. In brief, the present perfect tense is used to describe an action accomplished in the past that continues to the present. It can be used in a very nuanced way. The use of the past tense firmly establishes the action in the past, whereas the present perfect relates it to the present in some way.&#xA;I hope this helps.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6557" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T17:46:27.843" />
  <row Id="18062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18022" CreationDate="2011-03-26T17:49:20.993" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps &lt;em&gt;participant&lt;/em&gt;, omitting &lt;em&gt;in the survey&lt;/em&gt; if the context allows...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The investigator gave the participant a tour&#xA;  of the functions of the application.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4534" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T17:49:20.993" />
  <row Id="18063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18059" CreationDate="2011-03-26T17:51:14.393" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it does work (though it sounds a little technical) in common language because by saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will get wet if and only if it rains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;you are saying both&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will get wet if it rains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(meaning that if it rains there is no chance I will not be wet) and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I will get wet only if it rains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(there is no way I will get wet unless it rains).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6534" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T17:51:14.393" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18064" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18022" CreationDate="2011-03-26T17:57:10.447" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have some experience in the surveying industry and we call them respondents.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="766" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T17:57:10.447" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18059" CreationDate="2011-03-26T17:58:28.310" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you say &quot;if and only if&quot; in regular conversation, you are taking the mathematical construction and applying it to a general life situation.  So you can say &quot;I will get wet if and only if it rains&quot; and mean that:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If it is raining, I am wet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;AND:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If I am wet, it is raining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(If either condition is met, the other is also met.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T17:58:28.310" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17996" CreationDate="2011-03-26T18:01:12.740" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Personally, I'm partial to the term &quot;hellion&quot;, but &quot;troublemaker&quot;, &quot;nogoodnik&quot;, &quot;problem child&quot;, &quot;rabble-rouser&quot;, &quot;incendiary&quot;, and many other words already given are all good words.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T18:01:12.740" />
  <row Id="18067" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-26T18:04:54.943" Score="2" ViewCount="131" Body="&lt;p&gt;Back in grammar, one of the many rules we were given was to always avoid &quot;get,&quot; &quot;got,&quot; or &quot;gotten&quot; due to their ambiguity and tendency toward poor grammar as in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What happened to your arm?  It &lt;em&gt;got broke.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;rather than&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What happened to you arm?  It &lt;em&gt;was broken.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I &lt;em&gt;got&lt;/em&gt; a ticket.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;rather than&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; a ticket. or I &lt;em&gt;purchased&lt;/em&gt; a ticket.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there still a respectable place for this abundantly overused verb (such as the passive mood, which, while generally to be avoided, can be used to convey an otherwise unobtainable feel in phrase)?  Or is it ever condemned to literal taboo?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6534" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T21:04:16.697" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T21:04:16.697" Title="Is it always bad to use &quot;get&quot; or &quot;got&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;writing-style&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18068" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18076" CreationDate="2011-03-26T18:14:27.880" Score="2" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fill in the blank with appropriate preposition and give a reason:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the time &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;____&lt;/strong&gt; your watch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6409" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T19:05:55.513" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T19:05:55.513" Title="What is the proper preposition for this question?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="18069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18068" CreationDate="2011-03-26T18:18:02.370" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You want &quot;&lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt;.&quot;  As in, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the time on your watch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T18:18:02.370" />
  <row Id="18070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18068" CreationDate="2011-03-26T18:19:57.240" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the time &lt;em&gt;according to&lt;/em&gt; your watch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That implies that you suspect that watch may disagree with someone else's (either because it is wrong, or the other watch is).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T18:19:57.240" />
  <row Id="18071" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18068" CreationDate="2011-03-26T18:21:44.367" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Depends on what you are trying to say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the time &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; your watch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would be the same as asking, &quot;what time do you have?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the time &lt;em&gt;by&lt;/em&gt; your watch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would, while sounding a little awkward, be specifying that I seek the time according to &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; watch rather than someone else's.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the time &lt;em&gt;of&lt;/em&gt; your watch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would, while also sounding awkward, be asking when the watch was made.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I expect you want the first one, though I might suggest you rephrase saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What time does your watch have?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6534" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T18:21:44.367" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18072" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18068" CreationDate="2011-03-26T18:22:37.860" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, the technically correct answer is &quot;on,&quot; but the question itself is not idiomatic English. That is, you'd never see it in print or hear it spoken by a native speaker. More common would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What time is it?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What time does your watch say?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you have the time?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Can you tell me what time it is?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What time does your watch have?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T18:22:37.860" />
  <row Id="18073" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-26T18:26:48.260" Score="7" ViewCount="123" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may say &quot;node rhymes with toad&quot;, or &quot;the words load and toad rhyme&quot;, but what about the relation of rhyming?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The relation between &quot;node&quot; and &quot;load&quot; is purely &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; - they just sound similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;rhymic&quot; fails all spell checks. I went with &quot;rhythmic&quot;, but I don't think it's quite right...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="220" LastEditorUserId="220" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T18:32:05.633" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T00:53:16.137" Title="What is a word for words that rhyme or sound similar?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;rhymes&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="18074" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18078" CreationDate="2011-03-26T18:40:43.017" Score="4" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;Please explain to me the meaning of the phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Two weeks ago tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems to be in the past (&lt;em&gt;ago&lt;/em&gt;) but with a link to the future (&lt;em&gt;tomorrow&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="635" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T01:06:29.213" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T10:06:02.957" Title="What is the meaning of the phrase: &quot;N weeks ago tomorrow&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18075" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18022" CreationDate="2011-03-26T18:41:59.427" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Someone who participates of anything is a &lt;em&gt;participant&lt;/em&gt;. Someone who is using an application is a &lt;em&gt;user&lt;/em&gt;. Someone being investigated is a &lt;em&gt;suspect&lt;/em&gt;. Someone being surveyed can also be a &lt;em&gt;respondent&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in the instance, I would just say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The survey &lt;strong&gt;person&lt;/strong&gt; conducted the &lt;strong&gt;participant&lt;/strong&gt; through an application's function tour.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4241" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T18:41:59.427" />
  <row Id="18076" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18068" CreationDate="2011-03-26T18:42:29.340" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best and most correct choice for the blank is the prepositional phrase, &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1219567#m_en_us1219567&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;according to&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the time &lt;em&gt;according to&lt;/em&gt; your watch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The New Oxford American Dictionary defines &lt;em&gt;according to&lt;/em&gt; as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;as stated by or in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you only had one-word prepositions to choose from, then &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1273365?rskey=5dhKub&amp;amp;result=3#m_en_us1273365&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;on&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; would be your next best option, although I would not consider it as formal:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the time &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; your watch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, using &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; is a loose way of saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What time has your watch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also use &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1229806#m_en_us1229806&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;by&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, although this usage is not common in this context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is the time &lt;em&gt;by&lt;/em&gt; your watch?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One of the definitions of &lt;em&gt;by&lt;/em&gt;, as given by the New Oxford American Dictionary, is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;concerning; according to&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T18:42:29.340" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="18077" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18074" CreationDate="2011-03-26T18:44:34.280" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It means that as of tomorrow, it will have been two weeks from the date in question. In other words, it means two weeks ago minus one day (the difference between today and tomorrow).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T18:44:34.280" />
  <row Id="18078" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18074" CreationDate="2011-03-26T18:44:34.190" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's the same as saying:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Tomorrow, it will have been two weeks since [something transpired]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So whatever he is talking about happened 13 days ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6534" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T18:44:34.190" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18079" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18349" CreationDate="2011-03-26T18:52:00.860" Score="2" ViewCount="135" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Fu&lt;/em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ck&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Shi&lt;/em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;t&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Bi&lt;/em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;tch&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;C&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;un&lt;/em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;t&lt;/strong&gt;. I remember reading somewhere -- a very long time ago -- that these &quot;hard&quot; sounds are virtually necessary in profanities. The explanation I roughly remember is that because these &quot;hard sounds&quot; are unmistakable, that is, because  there is no half-hearting them in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;phonation&lt;/a&gt;, that lends to them to use in words that one wants to be unmistakable in intent, e.g, in profanities where one wants to intensify a phrase or rile someone up.   I remember these being called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fricatives&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;fricatives&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately I'm not a linguist, not even a fair amateur one, and when I went to check Wikipedia for the definition of &lt;em&gt;fricative&lt;/em&gt;, I really couldn't make heads or tails of the lingo.  I have no idea what those weird letters or the adjective &quot;voiceless&quot; mean.  Moreover, I think I'm just plain wrong about those sounds being &lt;em&gt;fricatives&lt;/em&gt; -- the examples I found on that page don't seem correspond very well to the hard sounds I mentioned above. My memory about what I read is obviously horribly dashed. Am I in fact correct in observing that profanities tend to have &quot;hard&quot; sound somehow, and if so, could someone give me a name for them so I can go about content I know something really cool?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T12:57:27.843" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T17:19:02.520" Title="Is there a name for the kind of sounds commonly found in profanities?" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;&lt;linguistics&gt;&lt;vulgar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="18080" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18073" CreationDate="2011-03-26T19:02:38.577" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're trying to use &lt;em&gt;rhyme&lt;/em&gt; as an &lt;strong&gt;adjective&lt;/strong&gt;. There is no such variation and I can't really think of (or find) any synonymous that can be used as such. So, just reconstruct your phrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The relation between &quot;node&quot; and &quot;load&quot; is pure rhyme - they just sound similar.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&quot;node&quot; and &quot;load&quot; sound alike.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;em&gt;rhythmic&lt;/em&gt; comes from &lt;em&gt;rhythm&lt;/em&gt;, which is the speed of a beat, also called &lt;em&gt;tempo&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The way I see it, English is simplistic and very logical. There isn't a word for each situation. Instead, we combine words or construct phrases in other manners. And that's just fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4241" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T19:02:38.577" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18081" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18082" CreationDate="2011-03-26T19:06:32.780" Score="3" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The boys are about to reach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The boys are about to arrive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When should I use &lt;em&gt;reach&lt;/em&gt; and when should I use &lt;em&gt;arrive&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6409" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T19:16:28.907" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T19:16:28.907" Title="Which one is correct? (Usage of &quot;reach&quot; vs. &quot;arrive&quot;)" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18082" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18081" CreationDate="2011-03-26T19:10:24.963" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reach is transitive when referring to a destination, meaning it needs a direct object.  So you want to say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The boys are about to &lt;em&gt;arrive&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, you could say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The boys are about to &lt;em&gt;reach their destination&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6534" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T19:10:24.963" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18083" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18375" CreationDate="2011-03-26T19:19:22.833" Score="6" ViewCount="115" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was looking at &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/q/17428/4765&quot;&gt;this question&lt;/a&gt; about the word &lt;em&gt;albeit&lt;/em&gt; and it got me thinking... what is the most compound, non-hyphenated, real word in English?  Strictly speaking, albeit might not be counted as a compound word because all dropped a letter, however there are other example - for instance &lt;em&gt;nonetheless&lt;/em&gt;.  Is three sub-words the limit, or can someone think of a compound word that has more sub-words?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Note, I excluded hyphenated compound words because you can make whole sentences into words if you go that route.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4765" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T19:33:57.740" Title="Compound words: what real compound word is composed of most words?" Tags="&lt;compounds&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18084" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18073" CreationDate="2011-03-26T19:20:10.720" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you're looking for &lt;em&gt;phonetic&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Of or relating to the sounds of speech.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As in:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The relation between &quot;node&quot; and &quot;load&quot; is purely phonetic - they just sound similar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5286" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T19:20:10.720" />
  <row Id="18085" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18088" CreationDate="2011-03-26T19:33:31.043" Score="9" ViewCount="751" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Jealousy&quot; contains most of the vowels but lacks 'i'. Is there a word in the English language that contains every vowel (and preferably 'y')?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6534" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T19:36:39.620" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T09:32:34.163" Title="Is there a word that contains all the vowels?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="18086" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18083" CreationDate="2011-03-26T19:36:40.293" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antidisestablishmentarianism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Antidisestablishmentarianism&lt;/a&gt; is the longest one I've heard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;anti-dis-establish-ment-arian-ism&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6534" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T19:36:40.293" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18087" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18085" CreationDate="2011-03-26T19:37:30.773" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, one such word is &lt;em&gt;precariously&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2683" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T19:37:30.773" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18088" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18085" CreationDate="2011-03-26T19:39:56.843" Score="23" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I totally rule at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kongregate.com/games/gabob/clockwords-prelude&quot;&gt;Clockwords&lt;/a&gt; by using &lt;em&gt;sequoia&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;facetiously&lt;/em&gt;. But Wikipedia has many, many more:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words_in_English_containing_all_the_vowels&quot;&gt;List of words in English containing all the vowels&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_words_with_uncommon_properties#Containing_all_the_vowels&quot;&gt;English words with uncommon properties: Containing all the vowels&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A few fun facts from the latter:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;Iouea&lt;/em&gt;, a genus of sea sponges, contains all five regular vowels and no other letters. [...] There are many words that feature all five regular vowels occurring only once in alphabetical order, the most common being &lt;em&gt;abstemious&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;facetious&lt;/em&gt;. [...] Considering &lt;em&gt;y&lt;/em&gt; as a vowel, the suffix &lt;em&gt;-ly&lt;/em&gt; can be added to a number of these words; thus the shortest word containing six unique vowels in alphabetical order is &lt;em&gt;aeriously&lt;/em&gt;, with nine letters (OED)[.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T19:39:56.843" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18089" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18074" CreationDate="2011-03-26T19:47:29.380" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is part of a far wider form of contraction of future date indirect references, or past references from future dates.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Two weeks ago tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is as said above, two weeks ago, from tomorrow.  Removing ago, gives a future, and more common, rendering.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Two weeks tomorrow&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is two weeks from tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is most commonly used with days of the week.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Tuesday week&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A week from the next Tuesday.  Confusingly, this is also used identically to mean the previous Tuesday if going backwards, so one week before the previous Tuesday.  Forward is much more common, and if it is backwards, knowledge of that will either be via context, or use of &lt;em&gt;ago&lt;/em&gt; within it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So you can have conversations along the following lines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alan:&lt;/strong&gt; Have you seen Catherine recently?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Brad:&lt;/strong&gt; Last I saw her, &lt;em&gt;Sunday week&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alan:&lt;/strong&gt; Well it'll've been &lt;em&gt;two weeks ago tomorrow&lt;/em&gt; for me, you seeing her again soon?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Brad:&lt;/strong&gt; Supposed to be seeing her &lt;em&gt;Friday week&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2253" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T19:47:29.380" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18090" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18073" CreationDate="2011-03-26T20:59:08.733" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a noun &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assonance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;assonance&lt;/a&gt; meaning that they sound similar, have similar vowel sounds. This exends to more than just rhyming though - starting with the same sound instead of ending with it could count as assonance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3946" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T20:59:08.733" />
  <row Id="18091" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17981" CreationDate="2011-03-26T21:02:23.900" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Imagine your buddy is next to you and he is reading a book, or looking at something in his hands, or in some other way looking anywhere other than straight ahead. You see trouble coming and you say &quot;heads up!&quot; meaning hey, attention, look ahead! That is the literal meaning of giving someone a heads-up. Over time it's gained a metaphorical one that applies to emails telling someone what's going on, phone calls, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3946" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T21:02:23.900" />
  <row Id="18092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14260" CreationDate="2011-03-26T21:05:53.957" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was just busy explaining the idiom to a Polish friend and decided to check the origin. None that I found online satisfied, but I would take a guess here and say that it comes from the act of skydiving where you freefall as much as possible and then pull the parachute ring to bring you up. It makes sense if you think about the meaning of the idiom involving risk and success.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6563" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T21:05:53.957" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18093" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18022" CreationDate="2011-03-26T21:08:21.290" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Most of the answers have decided on &lt;em&gt;participant&lt;/em&gt;, which I think is the most appropriate, ne can also use &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;'respondent'&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.combase.ca/resources/glossary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Respondent: Refers to the selected&#xA;  person in the household who will&#xA;  answer the questionnaire.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6562" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T21:08:21.290" />
  <row Id="18095" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-26T21:45:52.613" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T21:45:52.613" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T21:45:52.613" />
  <row Id="18096" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-26T21:45:52.613" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="A series of sounds that symbolize and communicate a meaning, usually without being divisible into smaller units that can be used independently." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T21:45:52.613" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T21:45:52.613" />
  <row Id="18098" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18085" CreationDate="2011-03-26T22:05:33.517" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wrote this simple Python script to analyze the official Scrabble dictionary for words that contain each of the vowels and the letter 'y', as you requested:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;vowels = set('aeiouy')&#xA;with open('TWL06.txt') as file:&#xA;    for line in file:&#xA;        word = line.strip().lower()&#xA;        letters = set(word)&#xA;        if vowels &amp;lt;= letters:&#xA;            print word&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The result is below, sorted alphabetically (156 words).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did the same thing, but omitted 'y'. You can see those results (1905 words) here: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.michaelfogleman.com/static/files/vowels.txt&quot;&gt;http://www.michaelfogleman.com/static/files/vowels.txt&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;abstemiously&#xA;actinomycetous&#xA;adventitiously&#xA;aeronautically&#xA;ambidextrously&#xA;aneuploidy&#xA;antiregulatory&#xA;audiometry&#xA;authoritatively&#xA;autoeciously&#xA;autotetraploidy&#xA;autotypies&#xA;basidiomycetous&#xA;bimolecularly&#xA;buoyancies&#xA;cleistogamously&#xA;coeducationally&#xA;coequality&#xA;coevolutionary&#xA;communicatively&#xA;conceptuality&#xA;consequentially&#xA;consuetudinary&#xA;corynebacterium&#xA;coulometrically&#xA;countercyclical&#xA;counterrallying&#xA;cyanobacterium&#xA;cytomegalovirus&#xA;daguerreotypies&#xA;daguerreotyping&#xA;daguerreotypist&#xA;delusionary&#xA;denunciatory&#xA;devolutionary&#xA;documentarily&#xA;educationally&#xA;efficaciously&#xA;elocutionary&#xA;encouragingly&#xA;equationally&#xA;equilibratory&#xA;equivocality&#xA;equivocally&#xA;eudiometrically&#xA;eugeosynclinal&#xA;eukaryotic&#xA;eulogistically&#xA;euphonically&#xA;euphorically&#xA;evolutionarily&#xA;evolutionary&#xA;exclusionary&#xA;facetiously&#xA;gelatinously&#xA;genitourinary&#xA;gesticulatory&#xA;grandiloquently&#xA;gregariously&#xA;hellaciously&#xA;heterosexuality&#xA;homosexuality&#xA;hyaluronidase&#xA;hyaluronidases&#xA;hypercautious&#xA;hyperfastidious&#xA;hyperfunctional&#xA;ichthyofaunae&#xA;immunoassayable&#xA;immunotherapy&#xA;importunately&#xA;incommensurably&#xA;inefficaciously&#xA;instantaneously&#xA;insubordinately&#xA;insurrectionary&#xA;intravenously&#xA;magniloquently&#xA;mendaciously&#xA;miscellaneously&#xA;monumentality&#xA;mouthwateringly&#xA;mycobacterium&#xA;nefariously&#xA;neurofibrillary&#xA;neurogenically&#xA;neurologically&#xA;neuropathically&#xA;neuropsychiatry&#xA;neuroradiology&#xA;neurotically&#xA;oleaginously&#xA;ostentatiously&#xA;outwearying&#xA;overmaturity&#xA;oxyuriases&#xA;paramyxoviruses&#xA;perspicaciously&#xA;pertinaciously&#xA;phenylketonuria&#xA;phenylthiourea&#xA;phenylthioureas&#xA;pneumatolytic&#xA;polybutadiene&#xA;polybutadienes&#xA;praseodymium&#xA;praseodymiums&#xA;precariously&#xA;precautionary&#xA;psychosexuality&#xA;questionably&#xA;questionary&#xA;radiolucency&#xA;renunciatory&#xA;revolutionarily&#xA;revolutionary&#xA;sacrilegiously&#xA;semidocumentary&#xA;sequaciously&#xA;simultaneously&#xA;subordinately&#xA;subventionary&#xA;subversionary&#xA;successionally&#xA;sulfinpyrazone&#xA;sulfinpyrazones&#xA;superloyalist&#xA;superloyalists&#xA;supermajority&#xA;supernormality&#xA;supersonically&#xA;tautonymies&#xA;temerariously&#xA;tenaciously&#xA;turbomachinery&#xA;uncomplimentary&#xA;uncongeniality&#xA;uncopyrightable&#xA;unemotionally&#xA;unemployability&#xA;unequivocably&#xA;unequivocally&#xA;unexceptionably&#xA;unextraordinary&#xA;uninformatively&#xA;unintentionally&#xA;unquestionably&#xA;unreasoningly&#xA;unrecognizably&#xA;unrevolutionary&#xA;ventriloquially&#xA;veraciously&#xA;vexatiously&#xA;vituperatory&#xA;volumetrically&#xA;voyeuristically&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6568" LastEditorUserId="6568" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T22:11:10.907" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T22:11:10.907" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="18099" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-26T22:15:11.920" Score="0" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3127/when-to-use-instead-of-and&quot;&gt;When to use &amp;amp; instead of &amp;ldquo;and&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why sometimes I can see in sentences (in some captions, for example) using &quot;&amp;amp;&quot; instead of &quot;and&quot;? When &quot;&amp;amp;&quot; should be used and what specific in this usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5576" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T22:15:11.920" ClosedDate="2011-03-26T22:19:03.637" Title="Using &quot;&amp;&quot; instead of &quot;and&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="18101" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18079" CreationDate="2011-03-26T22:36:48.640" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have heard of these referred to as &lt;strong&gt;mono-syllabic grunt words.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6570" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T22:36:48.640" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18102" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-26T22:36:56.890" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T22:36:56.890" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T22:36:56.890" />
  <row Id="18103" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-26T22:36:56.890" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="Words that mean the same or almost the same thing as other words" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="39" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-26T22:36:56.890" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T22:36:56.890" />
  <row Id="18104" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18079" CreationDate="2011-03-26T22:42:38.990" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the idea that profanities necessarily have stops ('hard' sounding letters) is unfounded. But to check for a given language you'd have to have a list of profanities, a list of all words, a list of stops in that language. And then you'd have to check that there are absolutely no profanities made of sounds none of which are stops, -and- that the percentage of stops in the profanities are significantly more than in words in the rest of the language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T22:42:38.990" />
  <row Id="18105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1029" CreationDate="2011-03-26T23:15:05.410" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello,&#xA;If I say 'may I talk to Ana?. It means a one way conversation will take place... me talking and Ana listening…&#xA;but when I say 'may I talk with Ana?. It means there will be a sharing of opinions between me and Ana&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2- Re: Difference between &quot;Talk To&quot; and &quot;Talk with&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, I almost always say that I'm talking &quot;to&quot; someone, when in reality, I'm talking &quot;with&quot;. For me, to talk &quot;with&quot; someone means that you are both equally engaged in conversation; to talk &quot;to&quot; someone implies that you are talking &quot;at&quot; them--that you occupy the higher ground of the conversation. However, as I said, in common speech, you will usually hear the preposition &quot;to&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3- One expert explains this way: &#xA;(l) Talk with = two people speak with each other on an equal basis.  For example: May I speak/talk with you about a problem I'm having? (2) Talk to = one person does most of the talking. Example: The president will speak to the nation tonight.  Example: Oh, you say my son caused some problems?  I shall talk to him tonight = I shall give him orders to behave himself.  If you said, &quot;I shall speak with him,&quot; it might = he and I shall talk so that I can hear his side of the issue&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6572" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T23:15:05.410" />
  <row Id="18106" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18067" CreationDate="2011-03-26T23:26:12.713" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Short Answer: No, &quot;get&quot; is not always bad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Longer Answer:&#xA;&quot;get&quot; and its derivatives have many meanings and uses. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first example you give &quot;I got broke&quot; is not considered standard, but it's what lots of people say (that is, if your lawyer uses it, it'd be pretty weird unless your lawyer was from the deep South and they were talking about a kettle and not some law).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it is an acceptable past passive in certain dialects/registers ('good ol' boy' talk), but not mainstream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I got a ticket.&quot; is mainstream, but not as formal sounding as &quot;I bought a ticket.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, 'get' for received, is certainly very standard and respectable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just for perspective, I have heard that in British English, 'gotten' actually sounds a bit more formal than 'got'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastEditorUserId="4972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T02:43:45.567" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T02:43:45.567" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18107" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18109" CreationDate="2011-03-27T00:17:11.030" Score="3" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &quot;Did you find?&quot; and &quot;Have you found?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When should I use the first sentence, and when the second one?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6493" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T00:48:37.027" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T00:48:37.027" Title="&quot;Did you find&quot; versus &quot;have you found&quot;" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18108" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3131" CreationDate="2011-03-27T00:24:50.847" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm an American, and I do know the difference between &quot;bring&quot; and &quot;take.&quot;  However, I do frequently hear others using &quot;bring&quot; instead of &quot;take.&quot; It gets on my nerves!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6575" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T00:24:50.847" />
  <row Id="18109" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18107" CreationDate="2011-03-27T00:36:05.197" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Did you find&lt;/em&gt; is the simple past and indicates that you are no longer looking for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Have you found&lt;/em&gt; is the present perfect and indicates a link with the present, specifically, that you could still be looking for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T00:36:05.197" />
  <row Id="18110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18073" CreationDate="2011-03-27T00:45:26.187" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Not sure if it fits here, but another word is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homophone&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Homophone&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning. The words may be spelled the same, such as rose (flower) and rose (past tense of &quot;rise&quot;), or differently, such as carat, caret, and carrot, or to, two, and too&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are also &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homonyms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Homonyms&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a homonym is, in the strict sense, one of a group of words that share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings [...]&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Fluke can mean:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  A fish, and a flatworm.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The end parts of an anchor.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  The fins on a whale's tail.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  A stroke of luck.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2341" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T00:45:26.187" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18111" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18115" CreationDate="2011-03-27T00:52:01.483" Score="3" ViewCount="74" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Someone appeared to help me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I get it right, this sentence can either mean:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;It seems like someone was helping me.&quot; (&lt;em&gt;seems like&lt;/em&gt; = &lt;em&gt;appear to&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Someone showed up to help me.&quot; (&lt;em&gt;show up&lt;/em&gt; = &lt;em&gt;appear&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6509" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T01:04:45.970" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T02:32:30.187" Title="Does this sentence have two meanings?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18112" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17885" CreationDate="2011-03-27T00:52:22.003" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When using the degree symbol in expressing a range of temperatures in Celsius or Fahrenheit, both numbers in the range can have the symbol, thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Water is as a liquid within the 32º – 212º F range • Last week's temperature range was 25º – 32º C. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In most scientific contexts, the degree Celsius (ºC) and the degree Fahrenheit (ºF) are units in their own right. Thus, I could rewrite the above examples thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Water is as a liquid within the 32 – 212 ºF range • Last week's temperature range was 25 – 32 ºC. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, we only say &lt;em&gt;degree&lt;/em&gt; after the both numbers in the range. Hence, when &lt;em&gt;degree&lt;/em&gt; is written in words, it comes only after the range. I must mention, though, that this is strictly in a range defined with &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;. If &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; is used, then, strictly speaking, &lt;em&gt;degree&lt;/em&gt; should be written after each number. Usually, &lt;em&gt;Fahrenheit&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Celsius&lt;/em&gt; are usually written out in full in this case, for consistency's sake. Thus, to use your first example, here are different ways you could write this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;... they do best in temperatures between 40 degrees and 125 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees and 52 degrees Celsius).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;... they do best in temperatures between 40º and 125º Fahrenheit (5º and 52º Celsius).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;... they do best in temperatures within 40 to 125 degrees Fahrenheit (5 to 52 degrees Celsius).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;... they do best in temperatures from 40 degrees to 125 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees to 52 degrees Celsius).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;... they do best in temperatures from 40º to 125º Fahrenheit (5º to 52º Celsius).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Truth be told, authors abide by various conventions in different contexts. I will illustrate the possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 – 100 ºC  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 ºC – 100 ºC  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 – 100 (º C)  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 – 100 (º Celsius)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 to 100 degrees C&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 to 100 degrees Celsius&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 degrees and 100 degrees C&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20 degrees and 100 degrees Celsius&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20º and/to 100º C&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20º and/to 100º Celsius&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20º – 100º C&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20º C – 100º C&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;20º – 100º Celsius&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, the degree symbol is the same, whether you are on the Celsius or Fahrenheit scale. In fact, there is no other degree symbol. So, there is no choice. For the Kelvin scale, the degree symbol is never used (although some erroneously do so). Hence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;293 to 373 K • 293 to 373 kelvin • 293 – 373 K • between 293 K and 373 K, etc&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T00:52:22.003" />
  <row Id="18113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18073" CreationDate="2011-03-27T00:53:16.137" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'd go with &lt;em&gt;aural&lt;/em&gt;: Pertaining to the sense of hearing, or the way something sounds.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The relationship between &lt;em&gt;node&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;load&lt;/em&gt; is purely aural; they rhyme, but they share no etymology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T00:53:16.137" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18111" CreationDate="2011-03-27T00:55:52.530" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. This is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambiguity#Linguistic_forms&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;lexical ambiguity&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In related news, &quot;Time flies like an arrow&quot; has &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_flies_like_an_arrow&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;seven possible meanings&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T01:15:19.900" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T01:15:19.900" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-27T00:55:52.530" />
  <row Id="18115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18111" CreationDate="2011-03-27T00:59:08.263" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are right. The only thing I'd like to add is that, in case it means &quot;someone seems to be helping me&quot;, you'd use the continuous form &quot;be helping&quot; in most contexts, not the simple infinitive &quot;help&quot;, because it is about someone who is busy helping you now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T00:59:08.263" />
  <row Id="18116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17885" CreationDate="2011-03-27T01:00:27.553" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In order to eliminate the awkwardness of the parenthetical, I'd recommend either:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They do best in temperatures from 40º - 125º F (5º - 52º C).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They do best in temperatures between 40º and 125º F (between 5º and 52º C).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm hard-pressed to explain why the &quot;between&quot; needs to be repeated inside the parentheses, but to me it looks very awkward without it and quite reasonable with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T01:00:27.553" />
  <row Id="18117" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-27T01:12:43.437" Score="1" ViewCount="37" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ah! woe is me, woe, woe is me!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      Alack and well-a-day!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      For pity, sir, find out that bee&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      Which bore my love away.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'll seek him in your bonnet brave,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      I'll seek him in your eyes;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      Nay, now I think they've made his grave&lt;br&gt;&#xA;      I' th' bed of strawberries.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5937" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T01:16:20.967" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T01:16:20.967" ClosedDate="2011-03-27T01:32:38.707" Title="How is &quot;bee in your bonnet&quot; alluded to in this passage?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;poetry&gt;" />
  <row Id="18118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18067" CreationDate="2011-03-27T01:48:52.803" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wow! The admonition &quot;don't use got&quot; has gotten a lot broader than I remember it being. When I was young, what overly-picky grammarians complained about was using &quot;got&quot; to mean &quot;possess&quot; rather than &quot;acquire&quot; or &quot;become&quot;.  This seems to have been a feature of colloquial American speech for quite a while &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I've got a mule; her name is Sal. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;15 miles on the Erie Canal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(song from 1905) but it has generally been regarded as an incorrect usage.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Because of this, the grammar police now seem to discourage all uses of the word &quot;get&quot;. There was a children's book I read to my daughter when she was young where the copy-editor seems to have replaced &quot;wouldn't you like to get one&quot; with &quot;wouldn't you like to have one&quot;, which would be fine except (1) that particular use of the word get was perfectly correct and (2) the line no longer rhymed with &quot;pet one&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would recommend (a) not using &quot;got&quot; to mean &quot;possess&quot; in formal speech and (b) otherwise ignoring the grammar police. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5754" LastEditorUserId="5754" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T03:02:15.497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T03:02:15.497" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18119" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18111" CreationDate="2011-03-27T02:32:30.187" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You're right. It's an amibiguous sentence, though entirely correct. This is what technical editors call &quot;bad communication.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T02:32:30.187" />
  <row Id="18120" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17885" CreationDate="2011-03-27T03:38:56.837" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I prefer (and have seen it this way in most of my engineering textbooks):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(...) they do best in temperatures from 40°F to 125°F (5°C to 52°C).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From my physics textbook, &lt;em&gt;Physics for Scientists and Engineers&lt;/em&gt; by Serway and Jewett:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Explain how its energy output in one such time interval compares with the energy required to make a pot of tea by warming 0.800 kg of water from 20.0°C to 100°C.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;em&gt;Molecular Thermodynamics of Fluid-Phase Equilibria&lt;/em&gt; (the first result for &quot;thermodynamics&quot; on safaribooksonline.com):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If mercury were heated from 0°C to 1°C in a constant-volume system, (...)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3294" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T03:38:56.837" />
  <row Id="18122" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-27T04:23:03.383" Score="2" ViewCount="105" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this valid?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Treat others with the same respect you’d want them to treat you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd normally phrase this as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Treat others with the same respect you'd want them to treat you with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, alternately:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Treat others with the same respect with which you'd want them to treat you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the abbreviated version correct? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6579" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T06:17:15.797" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T15:54:13.277" Title="Valid or not: &quot;Treat others with the same respect you’d want them to treat you&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18123" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18122" CreationDate="2011-03-27T04:39:23.313" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dropping the second &quot;with&quot; leaves me feeling that the sentence is incomplete; the structure of the sentence does not imply the preposition, and the verb &quot;treat&quot; can be used with other prepositions.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I expect that your slightly-foreshortened version would be readily understood, I don't think it's good form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T04:39:23.313" />
  <row Id="18124" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-27T05:15:25.040" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A compound sentence is a sentence that contains at least two independent clauses. The clauses are joined by any of the following: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a coordinating-conjunction (such as &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a correlative conjunction (such as &lt;em&gt;either ... or&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;both ... and&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a semicolon functioning as a conjunction&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a semicolon followed by a conjunctive adverb (such as &lt;em&gt;therefore&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;in addition&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A common error is to use a comma to separate the clauses—this is known as a comma splice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;This tag wiki is a derivative work of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compound_sentence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article of the same name&lt;/a&gt;, licensed under CC-BY-SA.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T05:15:54.280" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T05:15:54.280" />
  <row Id="18125" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-27T05:15:25.040" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="A compound sentence is a sentence that contains at least two independent clauses. The clauses are joined by any of the following: a coordinating conjunction, a correlative conjunction, a semicolon functioning as a conjunction, or a semicolon followed by a conjunctive adverb. " OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T05:16:06.167" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T05:16:06.167" />
  <row Id="18126" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-27T05:32:23.870" Score="4" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yesterday as we were sitting in traffic, my husband said he would have gone &quot;around the horn&quot; had he known traffic was so bad, meaning to take a longer way.  What is the derivation of this phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6478" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T12:53:35.413" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T17:38:43.957" Title="What's the origin of the phrase &quot;around the horn&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="18127" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-27T05:33:49.823" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adjectives are words or phrases naming an attribute, added to or grammatically related to a noun to modify or describe it.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Examples of adjectives are &lt;em&gt;beautiful&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;nice&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;colorful&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T11:00:57.627" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T11:00:57.627" />
  <row Id="18128" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-27T05:33:49.823" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="Adjectives are words or phrases naming an attribute, added to or grammatically related to a noun to modify or describe it." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T11:01:11.293" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T11:01:11.293" />
  <row Id="18129" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-27T05:54:58.610" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The comma (&lt;code&gt;,&lt;/code&gt;) is a punctuation character that is placed on the baseline and looks similar to a single quotation mark. If following a word, it is placed immediately afterwords, but a space follows it if it is followed by another word. If used to set off a word or phrase (see below), it is omitted if it would be either the first or last character of a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the English language, it is used for the following purposes:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;separating clauses—if separating two independent clauses, the comma must be followed by a conjunction.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;between items in a list—&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/412/comma-before-last-item-in-a-list&quot;&gt;except possibly between the last two items&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;setting off conjunctive adverbs&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;setting off parenthetical phrases&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;between adjectives that equally modify the noun—the general test is whether the meaning is changed if the order of the adjectives were reversed—if it wouldn't, then the comma must be used&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;before quotes where the quote is the object of the verb&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;between the day and the year in a date, if the date is typeset as in American English (such as January 1, 2000)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;setting off the larger region area in a geographic place (such as a city with a country name—the country name is set between commas)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;between every three digits in large numbers &lt;em&gt;(NB: usually five or more digits)&lt;/em&gt; starting from the rightmost end of the number in American English—alternate punctuation is used outside of the Americas&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;after the last name of a person if it is immediately followed by the first name of that person&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;indicating a location where a verb has been removed—this is usually used in writing where two or more independent clauses are written so as to have parallel structure—the verb can be replaced after its first use&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;setting off a noun or pronoun that interrupts the flow of the sentence and speaks directly to a reader&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T06:03:16.547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T06:03:16.547" />
  <row Id="18130" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-27T05:54:58.610" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="The comma (&quot;,&quot;) is a punctuation character that is placed on the baseline and looks similar to a single quotation mark. In the English language, it is used for many purposes, including, but not limited to, the following: separating clauses, enumerating items in a list, setting off conjunctive adverbs, setting off parenthetical phrases, and between certain adjectives." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T06:03:20.697" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T06:03:20.697" />
  <row Id="18131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18126" CreationDate="2011-03-27T05:58:08.000" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It originally referred to sailing around Cape Horn (at the southern tip of South America), which was a long and dangerous journey.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;strong&gt;The Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;In the days of the tall ships any sailor who had sailed around Cape Horn was entitled to spit to windward; otherwise, it was a serious infraction of nautical rules of conduct. Thus, the permissible practice of spitting to windward was called 'round the horn.' Cape Horn isn't so named because it is shaped like a horn. Captain Schouten, the Dutch navigator who first rounded it in 1616, named it after Hoorn, his birthplace in northern Holland.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T05:58:08.000" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18132" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18135" CreationDate="2011-03-27T06:13:35.597" Score="2" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have noticed that many terms in software come from American English, as the US was responsible for much software engineering terminology. I want to know how Britishers use these terms in these specific contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt; How do Brits say &quot;refactoring code&quot; (which means to decompose code into more easily workable parts)? Do they say &quot;refactorizing&quot;? Americans use &lt;i&gt; factor &lt;/i&gt; as a verb; Britishers don't.&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Do Brits say &quot;Database indices&quot; instead of &quot;Database indexes&quot;?&#xA;&lt;li&gt; Is this correct British English: &quot;We attended the entertainment &lt;i&gt; programme &lt;/i&gt; after we corrected issues with our software &lt;i&gt;program &lt;/i&gt; ?&quot; &#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6582" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T21:02:10.580" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T21:02:10.580" Title="How are certain technical words used in British English?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18134" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18137" CreationDate="2011-03-27T07:10:25.923" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across the phrase, “shooting trout in a demitasse cup” in the New York Times’ columnist, Maureen Dawd’s article titled &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/opinion/27dowd.html?hp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Coffee Cups in Hell&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. Incidentally, I as a non-native English speaker often feel her writing style studded with novel and cool phrases difficult to comprehend. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though I guess this phrase means ‘100% certain' (Please correct me if I wrong), is this an established expression? I wonder if she deliberately used this phrase in association with Mormons’ shunning caffeine. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase is used in the following context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They (Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Robert Lopez) pushed the limits at Comedy Central when they put the Prophet Muhammad in a bear suit. But as Terry Teachout wrote in The Wall Street Journal: “Making fun of Mormons in front of a Broadway crowd is like “shooting trout in a demitasse cup.” ... If the title of this show were ‘The Quran,’ it wouldn’t have opened.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T07:38:19.737" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T07:39:16.227" Title="What does “shooting trout in a demitasse cup” mean?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="18135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18132" CreationDate="2011-03-27T07:19:10.220" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Britons say &lt;em&gt;refactoring code&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;refactorising code&lt;/em&gt; and certainly not &lt;em&gt;refactorizing code&lt;/em&gt;, to the extent they say such a phrase at all. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Both are used.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The entertainment programme&quot; is slightly unusual as a phrase in this context; the issue is not with &lt;em&gt;program(me)&lt;/em&gt;. The following is certainly correct: &quot;I have written a computer program to suggest a schedule of television programmes to record&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T07:19:10.220" />
  <row Id="18136" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9480" CreationDate="2011-03-27T07:21:36.247" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would consider the use of 'very' as shown in these examples to be superfluous and redundant.  Certainly the use of 'very almost' together not only sounds wrong but is grammatically incorrect.  In the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary which I use for my students, various examples are given; one has to be extremely careful in the use of 'very' and one should note that 'very' should not be used with adjectives and adverbs that alrady have an extreme meaning although 'very' can be used to emphasise superlative adjectives however, the inclusion of 'much' or 'very much' would be preferable.  This perhaps is where the confusion lies. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6584" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T07:21:36.247" />
  <row Id="18137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18134" CreationDate="2011-03-27T07:30:17.200" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It comes from &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_fish_in_a_barrel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;“shooting fish in a barrel”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, which means “extremely easy”, as it is supposedly hard to miss a target in this restricted space. So, your expression is not an established idiom, but is built from this rather common phrase by replacing the barrel with the much smaller &lt;em&gt;demitasse&lt;/em&gt; (which is a small coffee cup). So it is built to mean “even easier than shooting fish in a barrel”, with an added &lt;em&gt;coffee&lt;/em&gt; connotation as you noted in your question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;As an aside, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBusters&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Mythbusters&lt;/a&gt; have tested and validated the easiness of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd-MpXCMcIs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;shooting fish in a a barrel&lt;/a&gt;. As another aside, French has a related idiom to mean “miss something trivial” which is “to miss an elephant in a corridor”.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T07:39:16.227" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T07:39:16.227" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18138" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-27T08:51:16.927" Score="1" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;In his 1991 book, historian J.B. Russel writes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;with extraordinary few exceptions no educated person ... believed that the earth was flat&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should &lt;em&gt;extraordinary&lt;/em&gt; be an adverb, or could this sentence be interpreted as if there are few exceptions, and those are extraordinary?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4727" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T12:30:13.083" Title="Could &quot;extraordinary few exceptions&quot; be correct?" Tags="&lt;adverbs&gt;&lt;interpretation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18085" CreationDate="2011-03-27T09:32:34.163" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a word that contains all vowels and the letter Y? Unquestionably.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6474" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T09:32:34.163" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="9986" CreationDate="2011-03-27T09:37:28.603" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many English speakers, especially in North America, do not prefer using the passive style. I do not why? In my language, I am a native speaker of Arabic, we use less passives. Never the less, whether in English or Arabic or any other language, I do not think we should be prespective about this structure. Just let's use when we feel it is appropriate. I am a student of Engineering and I am writing my project soon. I sked many graduates students about the use of passive, they said it is a must in our field. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6589" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T09:37:28.603" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18138" CreationDate="2011-03-27T09:40:32.893" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This seems like an error to me: it should either be&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;With extraordinarily few exceptions...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or, with the alternative interpretation that you suggest (that those exceptions that there are are extraordinary):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;With few, extraordinary, exceptions...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T09:40:32.893" />
  <row Id="18143" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-27T09:49:25.943" Score="0" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a student in Engineering. I have a problem with using the modal auxiliaries, can explain to me how to use them. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6589" LastEditorUserId="3405" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T12:12:05.933" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T12:12:05.933" ClosedDate="2011-03-27T12:29:29.003" Title="The use of modal auxiliaries in Science writing, Engineering." Tags="&lt;auxiliary-verbs&gt;" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18144" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18149" CreationDate="2011-03-27T09:50:51.463" Score="1" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often get confused about which one to use: &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;into&lt;/em&gt;? Kindly tell me what the difference is between the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6409" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T00:16:32.777" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T00:16:32.777" Title="Difference between &quot;in&quot; and &quot;into&quot;" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18145" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18074" CreationDate="2011-03-27T10:06:02.957" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;N weeks ago tomorrow&quot; refers to a time that is &amp;lt;&amp;lt; N * 7 &gt;&gt; days prior to tomorrow (and necessarily, &amp;lt;&amp;lt; (N * 7) - 1 &gt;&gt; days prior to the day on which the phrase was uttered or written).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In reply to &quot;Orbling&quot; and &quot;Peter Shor&quot; (because I do not yet authority to leave comments on this StackExchange site):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In spoken American English, &quot;Sunday week&quot; and &quot;Friday week&quot; as demonstrated by Orbling may be expressed as &quot;Sunday a week&quot; and &quot;Friday a week&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The past-indicating version can be interpreted as&quot;Sunday a week ago&quot;, and the future-indicating version as either &quot;Sunday a week from now&quot; or &quot;Sunday in a week&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6590" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T10:06:02.957" />
  <row Id="18146" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18156" CreationDate="2011-03-27T10:42:16.007" Score="2" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;The two senses of this word seem very different.  One sense is just another way to say &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt;, and the other is an adjective describing the state of being divided into different portions. I can't see immediately how they are related.  How did the antecedents of this word evolve?  What is the etymology?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T12:09:00.723" Title="How does the &quot;partial&quot; in &quot;I'm partial to&quot; relate to the &quot;partial&quot; in &quot;partial fraction&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1029" CreationDate="2011-03-27T10:48:39.237" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In American English, &quot;talk to&quot; and &quot;talk with&quot; are essentially the same, but can carry additional implications depending on context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Talk to&quot; is frequently used to start an instruction for obtaining information from a specific person or group, as in this exchange: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[inquiry] &quot;Where can I find Sarah McLeod?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[response] &quot;Talk to the clerk at the second desk.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Talk to&quot; can imply a circumstance where the listeners do not have the opportunity or permission to respond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Talk to&quot; can be synonymous with &quot;instruct&quot;, &quot;lecture&quot; (especially when correcting someone's past behaviour), &quot;console&quot; (verb form), &quot;guide&quot; (verb form), or &quot;teach&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Talk with&quot; generally implies an exchange of ideas, such as in equal conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Talk with&quot; can be used euphemistically instead of &quot;talk to&quot; if the speaker wants to imply an equal exchange where there was none.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some Americans demonstrate a preference for &quot;talk to&quot; when describing what they are currently doing, especially if they are doing it via a medium such as telephone or internet (&quot;I'm talking to Sarah.&quot;), but are more selective about the propositional sense &quot;(&quot;I'll talk [to|with] Sarah.&quot;). Perhaps &quot;talk to&quot; is slightly more intelligible when unceremoniously bellowed down a flight of stairs toward a parent or while trying to be heard over construction noise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6590" LastEditorUserId="6590" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T04:47:41.370" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T04:47:41.370" />
  <row Id="18148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18146" CreationDate="2011-03-27T10:50:08.480" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These are two different meanings of the same word:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;partial&lt;/strong&gt; |ˈpär sh əl| &lt;em&gt;adjective&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1 existing only in part; incomplete : &lt;em&gt;a question to which we have only partial answers&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2 favoring one side in a dispute above the other; biased : &lt;em&gt;the paper gave a distorted and very partial view of the situation&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That's from NOAD. Their example sentence in the second meaning I don't think is unambiguous enough, so I would rewrite it as: &lt;em&gt;the paper gave a distorted view of the situation, one that was partial to the incumbent mayor's party&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastEditorUserId="3405" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T12:09:00.723" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T12:09:00.723" />
  <row Id="18149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18144" CreationDate="2011-03-27T10:57:14.557" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Broadly speaking, &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; refers to something that already exists inside something, while &lt;em&gt;into&lt;/em&gt; implies motion from outside to inside.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dexter was in the room at the time of the murder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dexter went into the room shortly before the murder.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People often use &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; instead of &lt;em&gt;into&lt;/em&gt;, especially if &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; is preceded by an adverb:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Max went down in the mine with the rest of the crew.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is an informal usage, but you will hear it a lot. Nevertheless, if you follow the general rule listed in my first sentence, you should be able to understand the difference and make yourself understood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T10:57:14.557" />
  <row Id="18150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17852" CreationDate="2011-03-27T11:24:39.487" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;=====  &quot;Up with&quot; =====&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I'm up with James.&quot; --&gt; &quot;I'm here with James.&quot; (where the current value of 'here' is any place that can be perceived by the listener as either 'upwards' or 'uptown', relative to the listener's current location)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I'm up with the dawn.&quot; --&gt; &quot;I'm risen from bed at the same time the dawn occurs.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Up with you!&quot; --&gt; archaic form, similar to &quot;Get up!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6590" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T11:24:39.487" />
  <row Id="18151" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18197" CreationDate="2011-03-27T11:26:07.737" Score="0" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm building a forum where people can ask questions and get replies. Those questions and replies can get votes but no one can be targeted as best answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the right way of saying that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This forum is a free 'voting discussion' or 'voted discussion' site?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4070" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T17:12:57.133" Title="Should I say this forum is a free 'voting discussion' or 'voted discussion' site?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18152" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18230" CreationDate="2011-03-27T11:36:06.337" Score="3" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;By happenstance, I stumbled upon the words &lt;em&gt;cha&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;char&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;chai&lt;/em&gt; in the dictionary today, all defined as meaning &lt;em&gt;tea&lt;/em&gt; in informal British English. I lived and worked in London for some time, but never heard it used, so I am wondering: &lt;strong&gt;is it specific to certain dialects? Or is it dated?&lt;/strong&gt; The &lt;em&gt;Oxford English Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; doesn't mention anything like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T12:24:53.410" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T22:26:17.723" Title="British usage of “cha”, “char” or “chai” to mean “tea”" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;british-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18153" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-27T11:37:26.243" Score="30" ViewCount="1213" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the legal term &quot;null and void,&quot; what is the difference between &lt;em&gt;null&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;void&lt;/em&gt;?  Why not just use one of the two terms?  And can either term be used without the other?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6523" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T08:55:05.073" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T01:13:52.610" Title="What's the difference between &quot;null&quot; and &quot;void&quot; in legal language?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;legal&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" />
  <row Id="18154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18152" CreationDate="2011-03-27T11:47:00.553" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Chai, or its variants, are terms borrowed from Indian languages/dialects, chai meaning &quot;tea&quot;. &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masala_chai&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; tells: (Hindi: चाय cāy, Persian: چای, Urdu: چاۓ , cāy, Marathi: चहा cahā, Gujarati ચા chā, Bengali: চা cha)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The OED says that &lt;em&gt;chai&lt;/em&gt; is generally used as shorthand for &lt;em&gt;Masala chai&lt;/em&gt;, literally &lt;em&gt;spiced tea&lt;/em&gt;, a tea made by brewing tea with a mix of spices in milk. Often you will also hear it called &lt;em&gt;chai tea&lt;/em&gt; which, I guess, is a bit redundant... or, especially in the US, &lt;em&gt;chai latte&lt;/em&gt; (see definition below), which is, again, redundant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;chai&lt;/strong&gt; Mil. slang.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (tʃaɪ)&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Any of various specific preparations of tea (typically associated with countries or regions where chai is the generic word for tea). Now esp. = masala chai n. at masala n. Compounds.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;chai latte&lt;/strong&gt; n. orig. N. Amer. a hot drink similar to masala chai, made with spiced tea (or a commercially produced concentrate) and steamed milk. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the regionality of the term, I can't help. I heard it commonly when I was living in NZ, don't know how widespread is in the UK or USA.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5737" LastEditorUserId="5737" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T14:50:49.607" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T14:50:49.607" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18155" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18153" CreationDate="2011-03-27T11:55:43.560" Score="21" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In law, &lt;em&gt;void&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;null&lt;/em&gt; both mean invalid; not legally binding. “Null and void”, though tautological, is an established expression meaning the same as &lt;em&gt;null&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;void&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T11:55:43.560" />
  <row Id="18156" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18146" CreationDate="2011-03-27T12:00:39.937" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;, both come form the late Latin &lt;em&gt;partialis&lt;/em&gt; (part), but through different Old French words: from &lt;em&gt;partiel&lt;/em&gt; in the meaning of “incomplete”, and from &lt;em&gt;parcial&lt;/em&gt; in the meaning of &lt;em&gt;biased&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=partial&quot;&gt;Etymonline&lt;/a&gt; does not corroborate this, but it indicates that the meaning of “incomplete” emerged later than the meaning of “biased”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T12:00:39.937" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18157" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18152" CreationDate="2011-03-27T12:16:18.510" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may be useful to examine the derivation of the word &lt;em&gt;tea&lt;/em&gt; itself. According to Etymonline.com:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;tea&lt;/strong&gt; 1650s, earlier &lt;em&gt;chaa&lt;/em&gt; (1590s, from Port. &lt;em&gt;cha&lt;/em&gt;), from Malay &lt;em&gt;teh&lt;/em&gt; and directly from Chinese (Amoy dialect) &lt;em&gt;t'e&lt;/em&gt;, in Mandarin &lt;em&gt;ch'a&lt;/em&gt;. The distribution of the different forms of the word reflects the spread of use of the beverage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Regarding the &quot;distribution of the different forms&quot; I can add this data point: In Japanese the word for tea is &lt;em&gt;cha&lt;/em&gt; (茶), usually rendered politely in conversation as お茶 (&lt;em&gt;o-cha&lt;/em&gt;, or &quot;honorable&quot; tea). This was &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%8C%B6&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;obviously borrowed&lt;/a&gt; from the Hanzi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T12:16:18.510" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18158" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-27T12:18:19.913" Score="3" ViewCount="78" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a certain size for each of these terms?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2611" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T17:07:31.597" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T20:23:04.850" Title="Difference between &quot;town&quot;, &quot;city&quot; and &quot;metropolis&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;nouns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="18159" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18138" CreationDate="2011-03-27T12:30:13.083" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, it could be a typo on the part of the author or publisher, or it could be deliberate use of an adjective where an adverb should go. But don't forget that &lt;em&gt;few&lt;/em&gt; can be a pronoun as well as an adjective:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Few would argue that the world is flat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this sentence &lt;em&gt;few&lt;/em&gt; is definitely functioning as a pronoun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be in this sense that the author is consciously or unconsciously using it. Which leads me to believe that this may not be an error but a stylistic choice. I also think it could mean what you think it means in your second interpretation: there are few exceptions and they are extraordinary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T12:30:13.083" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18158" CreationDate="2011-03-27T12:34:51.107" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Here's the order as described by the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;hamlet&lt;/strong&gt;: a small settlement, &lt;em&gt;generally one smaller than a village&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;village&lt;/strong&gt;: a group of houses and associated buildings, &lt;em&gt;larger than a hamlet and smaller than a town&lt;/em&gt;, situated in a rural area&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;town&lt;/strong&gt;: an urban area that has a name, defined boundaries, and local government, and that is &lt;em&gt;larger than a village and generally smaller than a city&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;city&lt;/strong&gt;:  a large town&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;metropolis&lt;/strong&gt;: the capital or chief city of a country or region, or: a very large and densely populated industrial and commercial city&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T12:34:51.107" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18153" CreationDate="2011-03-27T12:51:31.523" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is common in legal terminology to throw in extra words in an attempt to cover as many cases as possible. For example, you always hear &lt;em&gt;heirs and assigns&lt;/em&gt; in contracts concerning real estate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;An occupancy agreement must provide that it's binding on heirs, assigns, executors, administrators, and successors.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is the legalese way of making sure all bases are covered. By saying &lt;em&gt;null and void&lt;/em&gt; the originators of the usage were no doubt attempting to forestall any argument that &lt;em&gt;null&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;void&lt;/em&gt; taken singly did not mean invalid in quite the right way, or was insufficient by itself to mean that, and that therefore a case could be made that a contract was still in effect. A lot of litigation is predicated on arguing very fine points, and these include the meaning of words that may seem obvious to you and me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T12:51:31.523" />
  <row Id="18162" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18153" CreationDate="2011-03-27T12:51:52.980" Score="25" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;F'x's answer is completely correct with regards to the usage of the legal term &quot;null and void&quot;: Both refer to the same meaning of invalidity. As best as I can tell, &quot;void&quot; is the most appropriate of the two to use if you want to trim your word count.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For everything else, however, the terms do have different meanings. Null means &quot;empty&quot; or &quot;insignificant&quot; and is used a placeholder for &quot;nothing.&quot; It holds a special meaning for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_set&quot;&gt;set notation&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null#In_computing&quot;&gt;programming&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A void can mean an emptiness or chasm (&quot;Don't step into the void.&quot;) and has been used to describe the bleakness of outer space. It presents the idea of emptiness in the form of what happens when you dig out a hole: The hole's substance is now a &quot;void.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The difference between null and void as term for nothing stems from their place in physical space. A void is nothing but takes up space; null is nothing at all. In other words, you could measure a void but null offers nothing to measure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Void &lt;em&gt;also&lt;/em&gt; means canceled or deleted and, again, programming has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Void_type&quot;&gt;special meaning for the term void&lt;/a&gt;. Here are a handful of usages for both terms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(mathematics) The empty set is always a null set but a null set is not necessarily the empty set.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(programming) The program is choking on a null pointer exception.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This deal has rendered our profits null.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He is void of remorse.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This check is void.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This offer is void where prohibited.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They were lost to the void.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The planet was replaced with void.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(programming) This function returns &lt;code&gt;void&lt;/code&gt;. / This is a &lt;code&gt;void&lt;/code&gt; function.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarize: The legal term of &quot;null and void&quot; means the same as &quot;void.&quot; The two words have plenty of varied uses in other fields with extremely subtle differences that are important to the members of those fields. Browsing the Wikipedia disambgiuation pages for &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null&quot;&gt;null&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Void&quot;&gt;void&lt;/a&gt; is a good way to spot the number of differences between the words.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T17:54:51.347" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T17:54:51.347" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="18163" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-27T12:57:17.237" Score="3" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meaning I want to show with this phrase is that you do something more times and it produces better results. Is &quot;the more often — the better&quot; correct? Or maybe there are any set expressions instead of this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6594" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T22:16:18.127" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T22:16:18.127" Title="&quot;The more often — the better.&quot; Is it possible to say that?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18164" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18163" CreationDate="2011-03-27T13:01:37.200" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is how I would stylize it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;You should do this -- the more often, the better.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other phrases that mean similar things:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You should do this as often as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The more you do this, the better the results.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Results scale with use -- the more, the better&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T13:01:37.200" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18163" CreationDate="2011-03-27T13:03:36.090" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, “the more often, the better” is correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T13:03:36.090" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18167" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18122" CreationDate="2011-03-27T13:17:32.537" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm for the last alternative, even though it doesn't roll off the tongue. I would also consider a reword like &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you want others to treat you with&#xA;  respect, treat them with the same&#xA;  respect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or the more famous shorter version of the original, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Treat others as you would have them&#xA;  treat you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6596" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T13:17:32.537" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18168" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18184" CreationDate="2011-03-27T13:38:49.063" Score="1" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the movie &quot;Meet the Fockers&quot; does the word &quot;Focker&quot; sound really different from the four-letter word? I don't hear any difference. Do all the actors pronounce this word really differently from native American English speakers?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T22:57:42.053" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T23:14:27.490" Title="In the movie &quot;Meet the Fockers&quot; does the word &quot;Focker&quot; really sound different?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18169" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18180" CreationDate="2011-03-27T13:41:17.470" Score="5" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I accidentally pushed a chair and it fell down on the floor (it is no longer in the upright position), can I say &quot;I (have) dropped the chair&quot; or I should use another verb for that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T14:35:59.177" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T08:24:51.617" Title="Can I say &quot;I (have) dropped the chair&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18170" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18169" CreationDate="2011-03-27T13:42:41.697" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No. A better statement is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I (accidentally) pushed/knocked the chair &lt;em&gt;over&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you were carrying the chair from one end of the room to the other, and dropped it, you could use your statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T08:24:51.617" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T08:24:51.617" />
  <row Id="18171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18169" CreationDate="2011-03-27T13:51:35.510" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The normal way to express this is to use the expression &lt;em&gt;tip over&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;When I leaned over too far backwards, I tipped the chair over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The chair has a shaky leg, so be careful you don't tip it over.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T13:51:35.510" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18172" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-27T13:51:59.947" Score="4" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to say that &quot;someone does something as he or she can&quot; to express that he or she is doing it with full enthusiasm or is this just badly translated German?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: Unusual language wouldn't be a problem in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6598" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T15:01:53.983" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T08:42:09.893" Title="Is it possible to say &quot;as you can&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18173" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18178" CreationDate="2011-03-27T13:53:01.817" Score="3" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Starting from this date all such files will be stored in folder B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it possible to re-phrase this sentence without changing its meaning in such a way that it would start from &quot;Starting from this date the storing of all such files will ...&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T20:58:13.517" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T00:38:48.860" Title="Can you rephrase this sentence (about storing files)?" Tags="&lt;word-order&gt;&lt;phrasing&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18172" CreationDate="2011-03-27T13:57:40.927" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usual form is: &quot;Doing X as best he or she can.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T13:57:40.927" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18169" CreationDate="2011-03-27T14:01:15.533" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The problem with &lt;em&gt;drop&lt;/em&gt; here is that it implies you were holding it up in the first place and your action/inaction led to its falling to the floor. If you were involved in knocking over something which was free-standing in the first place, you can't use &lt;em&gt;drop&lt;/em&gt; in a meaningful way (unless you had already pushed it halfway and were holding it up to prevent it falling completely).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="653" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T00:15:04.713" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T00:15:04.713" />
  <row Id="18176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18173" CreationDate="2011-03-27T14:01:39.947" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;IMO, a native English speaker would say &quot;Beginning on [give the actual date, not &quot;this date&quot;], the system will store all such files in Folder B.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-- pete&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T14:01:39.947" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="18177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18173" CreationDate="2011-03-27T14:10:09.193" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Starting from this date all such files will be stored in folder B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is nothing wrong with this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Beginning on this date all such files will be stored in folder B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nothing wrong with this one either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, I would probably phrase the sentence this way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;As of this date all such files will be stored in folder B.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T14:10:09.193" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18173" CreationDate="2011-03-27T14:12:43.090" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is certainly possible. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Starting from this date the storing of all such files will be in folder B.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;Starting from this date the storing of all such files will be relegated to folder B.&quot;&#xA;&quot;Starting from this date the storing of all such files will be specified for folder B.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, all of these are awkward and less understandable than the original phrase. It changes the voice from active to passive, by making the verb &quot;stored&quot; into a gerund noun &quot;storing&quot;. (Not it's not actually passive voice, but it's certainly a more passive phrasing.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="162" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T15:06:08.830" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T15:06:08.830" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18179" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18168" CreationDate="2011-03-27T14:14:30.373" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In American English, the second letter of the &lt;em&gt;four-letter word&lt;/em&gt; is pronounced /ə/, while in &lt;em&gt;focker&lt;/em&gt; the second letter is pronounced /ɑ/ (as in &lt;em&gt;bock&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In British English, the pronunciation of those vowels is, respectively, /ʌ/ (as in &lt;em&gt;cup&lt;/em&gt;) and /ɒ/ (as in &lt;em&gt;hockey&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other words with a similar difference are &lt;em&gt;muck&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;mock&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;duck&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;dock&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ruck&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;rock&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;buck&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;bock&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[Reference: the &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt;.]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T23:14:27.490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T23:14:27.490" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="18180" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18169" CreationDate="2011-03-27T14:22:20.760" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are several verbs you can use to describe the action that was performed:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tip over&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;push over&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;knock over&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;knock down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;push down&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;capsize (metaphorically)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;roll over&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;fell (archaic, usually used with trees or foes)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Drop would only be accurate if it was held up and it fell down (as opposed to being up*right* and falling over).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T14:22:20.760" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18181" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18168" CreationDate="2011-03-27T14:25:07.293" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One of the running gags in those movies is the homonym of Focker and fucker. If it was pronounced differently, that joke wouldn't be possible. I don't know about the pronunciation of Focker in other languages, but according to normal English rules it shouldn't be pronounced that way. I suspect it was spelled that way because it's either a real surname, or else they couldn't find a better spelling for their homonym.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T14:25:07.293" />
  <row Id="18182" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18173" CreationDate="2011-03-27T14:25:21.740" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; possible without creating an ugly or ungrammatical sentence. The subject of the utterance is &lt;strong&gt;the storing&lt;/strong&gt;, which must be modified by an adjectival phrase meaning &lt;em&gt;will be performed using folder B for storage&lt;/em&gt;. Not easy to do without repeating oneself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The original sentence is brief and precise. The only improvement I can see is that I personally would change &lt;em&gt;Starting&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;As&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;will be&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt;. Where there's no loss of clarity or accuracy, short words are always preferable - particularly in technical manuals &amp;amp; user guides.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think this problem arises because logically the &lt;em&gt;real&lt;/em&gt; subject of the utterance should be &lt;em&gt;all such files&lt;/em&gt;, for which the attribute being specified is where they are stored. Introducing &lt;em&gt;the storage&lt;/em&gt; (I don't like &lt;em&gt;storing&lt;/em&gt; at all here) as an intermediate noun phrase simply makes the whole thing semantically and grammatically convoluted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastEditorUserId="2637" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T14:34:23.903" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T14:34:23.903" />
  <row Id="18183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5930" CreationDate="2011-03-27T14:38:56.040" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To add more nuance (and confirm what's already been said) to the difference, I find (in AmE):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;you can say 'a forest' (in general), or 'the forest' (a particular one), and 'the woods' (the one that you're walking through), but it would seem strange to refer to an collection of trees as 'a woods' (because of number agreement) or 'a wood' (because that would refer to a particular piece of lumber.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'forests' are bigger than 'woods'. But a small collection of trees is not necessarily 'the woods'. Something smaller (without specifying actual size) would be called '&lt;strong&gt;a stand of trees&lt;/strong&gt;'. (i.e. if you can go into the collection and not see the end of the trees, then you're not in a stand of trees)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;'forest' has a slightly more official, formal feel to it than 'woods'.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T14:38:56.040" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18184" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18168" CreationDate="2011-03-27T14:57:49.713" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Although virtually no UK speakers would accept &lt;em&gt;fock&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;fuck&lt;/em&gt; as homophones, I'm sure many (but by no means all) Americans would.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the UK, notherners usually say &lt;em&gt;fook&lt;/em&gt;. In the south &lt;em&gt;fuck&lt;/em&gt; is standard, but it's not uncommon to hear &lt;em&gt;fark&lt;/em&gt; (often with exaggerated enunciation).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's often claimed that the Irish say &lt;em&gt;feck&lt;/em&gt;, but I personally think this is just a euphemistic neologism coined by the writers of the sitcom &lt;strong&gt;Father Ted&lt;/strong&gt; to avoid falling foul of BBC rules limiting the number of times &lt;em&gt;fuck&lt;/em&gt; can be used without being censored.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T17:04:56.140" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T17:04:56.140" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18185" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18163" CreationDate="2011-03-27T15:04:32.763" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A common expression suitable here is &lt;em&gt;practice makes perfect&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The more [often], the better&lt;/em&gt; and other variants just sound like bad translations to me. They distractingly call to mind &lt;em&gt;the more the merrier&lt;/em&gt;, which obviously isn't what's meant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T15:04:32.763" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18158" CreationDate="2011-03-27T15:05:35.173" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As to specific thresholds, no, just that they are relative (according to F'x's list). Such terms are naturally (i.e. in common usage) vague.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only way any specific threshold can be made is by explicit authorities, set either by population size, area, and by some legal or authoritative fiat (a local government says place 'X' is a town, or, my grandmother always used to call this a village. THat is, in my part of the world, a particular place called a town might have much smaller population/area than a village in yours for very arbitrary reasons.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T15:05:35.173" />
  <row Id="18187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12727" CreationDate="2011-03-27T15:06:21.150" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;After looking at all the answers that have been given so far, I think the answer to your question is &quot;no&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could call it an &quot;idol's eye,&quot; since there are multiple stories about cursed gemstones that have been stolen from an idol's eye (Wilkie Collins' &lt;em&gt;The Moonstone&lt;/em&gt;, and looking at &lt;a href=&quot;http://cultured-diamond.blogspot.com/2010/04/15-most-famous-blue-diamonds-of-all.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this webpage&lt;/a&gt;, it seems that this story is also told about the Hope Diamond, the Idol's Eye Diamond, the Orlov Diamond, and the Koh-i-Noor Diamond -- although in Indian legends, the Koh-i-Noor was stolen from the god Krishna).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5754" LastEditorUserId="5754" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T13:40:31.710" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T13:40:31.710" />
  <row Id="18188" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-27T15:16:05.837" Score="0" ViewCount="5" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would like to use a program for personal computer (Windows) to prepare for &lt;em&gt;First Cetificate in English&lt;/em&gt;. What's the best program out there? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6601" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T15:16:05.837" ClosedDate="2011-03-27T15:21:59.697" Title="Best PC program to prepare for FCE" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;" />
  <row Id="18189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18153" CreationDate="2011-03-27T15:24:06.437" Score="27" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't remember how I learned this, and I can't find a reference just now, but the peculiar custom of redundancy in our legal documents dates back to medieval England. The Norman conquest of 1066 put a French-speaking king and nobility in charge of an English-speaking people. The English courts at the time were extremely sensitive to detail and would throw out a petition for something as minor as a misspelling, so getting every detail right was crucial. Thus, lawyers developed a habit of incorporating English synonyms for key French words (or it might have been the reverse; memory fails me on that detail). This is how we get phrases like &lt;em&gt;null and void&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;cease and desist&lt;/em&gt;. Since American law (except in the state of Louisiana) is based on English common law, the U.S. inherited this custom. Over time, I suspect the legal professional largely forgot exactly why it was building all this redundancy into its documents and &quot;decided&quot; it was as a general matter of belt-and-suspenders caution.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT:&lt;/strong&gt; I finally found a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_English#Style&quot;&gt;reference&lt;/a&gt; of sorts at Wikipedia:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;David Crystal (2004) explains a stylistic influence upon English legal language. During the Medieval period lawyers used a mixture of Latin, French and English. To avoid ambiguity lawyers often offered pairs of words from different languages. Sometimes there was little ambiguity to resolve and the pairs merely gave greater emphasis, becoming a stylistic habit. This is a feature of legal style that continues to the present day. Examples of mixed language doublets are: &quot;breaking and entering&quot; (English/French), &quot;fit and proper&quot; (English/French), &quot;lands and tenements&quot; (English/French), &quot;will and testament&quot; (English/Latin). Examples of English-only doublets are: &quot;let and hindrance&quot;, &quot;have and hold.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastEditorUserId="6100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T02:41:52.060" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T02:41:52.060" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="18190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18172" CreationDate="2011-03-27T15:28:35.013" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another common form is &lt;em&gt;doing X as &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; he or she can&lt;/em&gt;. This changes the meaning of the phrase depending on the context, but usually implies &lt;em&gt;with enthusiasm.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T15:28:35.013" />
  <row Id="18191" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18122" CreationDate="2011-03-27T15:54:13.277" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can’t “treat you respect.” I can treat you &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; respect, treat you respectfully, or show you respect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(mplungian, it is not a coincidence that this awful sentence appears [hopefully fixed, by now] in the FAQ. I was unable to convince Jeff Atwood that it was wrong.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6580" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T15:54:13.277" />
  <row Id="18192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18172" CreationDate="2011-03-27T16:27:59.917" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could say that someone has:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;set their mind to it&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;thrown themselves into it&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;gone after it:&lt;/em&gt; given it their full focus and attention&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;put their back into it&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;given it their all:&lt;/em&gt; gone at it with their best efforts&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;done it as only he/she can:&lt;/em&gt; performed the task with a particular, identifiable style&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;gotten into it:&lt;/em&gt; displayed more and more interest/enthusiasm/obsession about the task as the work progressed&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T16:27:59.917" />
  <row Id="18193" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3448" CreationDate="2011-03-27T16:41:46.447" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Is language change inevitable, and how fast?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Yes, it's inevitable. In terms of actual 'core vocabulary' drift, I believe it is possible to derive an approximate &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottochronology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;glottochronological&lt;/a&gt; rate of change, which seems to have historically been at about 20% per century.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, there is roughly a one-in-five probability that a core vocabulary word or phrase will have &quot;mutated&quot; on us in a hundred years. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To my understanding, it's a little more difficult to measure adherence to grammatical standards over time. My sense is that these rules too are fluid on larger timescales like centuries and millenia, but that their evolution is somehow different than the particular 'words' that they structure.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Much more &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Thousand_Plateaus&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;speculatively&lt;/a&gt; speaking: It is likely that people are always and perhaps without knowing it creating new words and phrases, but also and more slowly wrestling against a 'spirit of gravity' embodied in linguistic axioms. We fight against this 'master of the earth' by bringing to light new movements and becomings that aren't diagrammable in the form of a tree (certain poems, for instance); in other words, beneath the flow of words, there is a long war against the 'tyranny of heaven'.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am even tempted to claim that grammaticality is already a politics of subjectivity, and that by confronting the arborescent 'stasis' of a language composed of subjects and objects, we assent to the 'real' language, which flows in all directions at once, spreading like a patch of oil, like life itself which also brings furious celerities to bear against gravity.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4184" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T16:41:46.447" />
  <row Id="18194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18151" CreationDate="2011-03-27T17:03:06.477" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Maybe a little more descriptive with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A vote-based discussion site&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or even more so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A voting-enhanced discussion site&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6534" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T17:03:06.477" />
  <row Id="18195" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-27T17:05:46.450" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;Words can change meaning over time. A good example of this would be 'gay' which has changed from meaning 'merry' to 'homosexual'. Over the past decade, it has also taken on pejorative connotations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How often do words change meaning then revert back to their original meaning? Is this a one-way street?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2657" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T18:14:17.680" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T18:14:17.680" Title="How often do words change meaning then revert back to their original meaning?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="18196" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18198" CreationDate="2011-03-27T17:09:52.323" Score="3" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;These two attitudes are no more&#xA;  contradictory than those two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which of the following interpretations is right (or give me a better one if possible):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Relatively, these two attitudes are not more contradictory than those two; however, it is unknown, from the statement, how contradictory those two are or whether those two are contradictory at all.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Those two attitudes are not contradictory, and these two are not either; it is not about the comparison between the contradiction of these two and that of those two.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3324" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T21:39:23.370" Title="The meaning of &quot;no more … than&quot;" Tags="&lt;comparative&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18197" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18151" CreationDate="2011-03-27T17:12:57.133" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even though they're called &quot;votes&quot;, I think a better term to use when describing them and the process behind them would be &quot;ratings&quot;.  Stack Exchange, Slashdot, and other sites like them are &quot;forums with member-driven usefulness ratings.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T17:12:57.133" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18198" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18196" CreationDate="2011-03-27T17:20:58.770" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;“A is no more difficult than B” means literally that both are of a similar level of difficulty, &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; in most cases it also implies that neither is very difficult. So, it's rather 1, but with implications of 2.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3405" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T19:38:59.557" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T19:38:59.557" />
  <row Id="18199" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18212" CreationDate="2011-03-27T17:32:08.230" Score="1" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example, if I want to pause in speech, which way is better:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I {a very long adverb phrase} realized | that English is so&#xA;  useful but not easy to master.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I {a very long adverb phrase} realized that | English is so&#xA;  useful but not easy to master.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3324" LastEditorUserId="3324" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T04:54:50.103" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T04:54:50.103" Title="Should I pause before or after the &quot;that&quot; of an object clause?" Tags="&lt;speech&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18200" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18126" CreationDate="2011-03-27T17:38:43.957" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Around the Horn&quot; has always referred to Cape Horn, but it's only since the existence of the Panama Canal that it has been &quot;the longer way&quot;. With modern ships it's not the danger it was in the days of sail, but it would still be a very expensive detour in many cases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T17:38:43.957" />
  <row Id="18201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18199" CreationDate="2011-03-27T17:40:43.560" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no need for a pause in that sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T17:40:43.560" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18202" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18195" CreationDate="2011-03-27T17:41:13.110" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The precise meaning of many if not most words changes over time, for various reasons. There's a slight tendency &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; to revert to an earlier meaning simply because that would imply the direct negation of whatever caused the original change.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The example &lt;em&gt;gay&lt;/em&gt; was originally coined &lt;em&gt;within&lt;/em&gt; the homosexual community, so obviously it didn't originally have pejorative associations. They just arose naturally when the new meaning became more widespread, because the general population still includes some homophobes. Younger speakers tend to be less homophobic, and many now use &lt;em&gt;gay&lt;/em&gt; as a general-purpose insult without necessarily even thinking about sexual orientation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T17:41:13.110" />
  <row Id="18203" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18199" CreationDate="2011-03-27T17:41:39.897" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In speech, I would generally say &lt;em&gt;neither&lt;/em&gt; as long as you're using &quot;that&quot;. In normal speech I don't think there would be an appreciable pause neither before nor after the word &quot;that&quot; in such a construction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you omit the word &quot;that&quot;, then it would be appropriate to pause (briefly) in the place where the word was omitted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T17:41:39.897" />
  <row Id="18204" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18199" CreationDate="2011-03-27T17:42:11.363" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No; if you pause, you should have a comma. However, a comma would not be appropriate in this sentence, as it would be dividing the verb and the object unnecessarily. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I realized, that....&quot; -- awkward &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I realized that, English...&quot; again, awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3141" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T17:42:11.363" />
  <row Id="18205" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-27T17:46:34.323" Score="-2" ViewCount="95" Body="&lt;p&gt;Recently OED accepted OMG, FYI, LOL, &amp;lt;3.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this appropriate? Are these words &lt;em&gt;truly&lt;/em&gt; correct English and can now be used in works that are considered official English, and not slang?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3141" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T19:36:35.573" ClosedDate="2011-03-27T21:36:32.010" Title="Should the OED have accepted &quot;LOL,&quot; &quot;&lt;3.&quot; etc.?" Tags="&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18205" CreationDate="2011-03-27T18:07:24.550" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That something is in the dictionary doesn't make it &quot;correct&quot; or &quot;official&quot; English. Consider &lt;em&gt;ain't,&lt;/em&gt; which you can find in any dictionary, but which you still shouldn't use in, for example, a business letter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dictionaries (nowadays, anyway) are &lt;em&gt;descriptive&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;prescriptive&lt;/em&gt;; they tell you how the language is currently used, not how it should be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T18:07:24.550" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18207" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18205" CreationDate="2011-03-27T18:10:54.580" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I do not believe the point of the Oxford English Dictionary is to document correct or official English. The listed words are being used often enough to cause people who have not heard them to look them up in a dictionary. The OED would be failing at its job if it was unable to provide them with a useful definition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T18:10:54.580" />
  <row Id="18208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18172" CreationDate="2011-03-27T18:11:11.270" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;As you can&quot; &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; a legitimate phrase but it doesn't generally mean &quot;with enthusiasm.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Please send me those reports as you can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I do not know how pervasive this usage is, but its meaning is, &quot;do this task when you are able&quot; or &quot;when you get some free time, do this task.&quot; You could reword it as, &quot;&lt;em&gt;when&lt;/em&gt; you can.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The more likely usage would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I eat healthy as I can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This could be reworded as, &quot;I do this whenever I can.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other phrases that match the particular words &quot;as I can&quot; will be comparative:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I sleep as soundly as I can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I exercise as often as I can&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last example again is meant to convey frequency, much like &quot;I eat healthy as I can.&quot; I suspect that the latter example is a butchering of &quot;as often as I can&quot; and suggest explicitly using &quot;as often.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I cannot think of a specific usage using &quot;can&quot; to suggest someone is doing a task with great enthusiasm. The other suggestions in the answers offer good alternatives with slightly different connotations. More typically, people will use a phrase such as what Hellion listed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The short answer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;As you can&quot; does not imply enthusiasm.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;As you can&quot; &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; a valid use&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;As you can&quot; is most likely to imply frequency or timing&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;As you can&quot; is typically used in the form &quot;as [adverb] as you can&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T18:11:11.270" />
  <row Id="18209" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18132" CreationDate="2011-03-27T19:06:24.157" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;1, factor is a verb as a specific maths term in BE. BE tends to avoid &quot;izing&quot; endings - like AE burglarize.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2, Indices is correct if you are writing a textbooks, but indexes is used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3, Program = software, Programme = TV. No good reason, it's just one of those things&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6336" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T19:06:24.157" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18210" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18022" CreationDate="2011-03-27T19:12:27.753" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It used to be a survey assistant who held the pole but with the advent of robotic total stations a lot of it is now a one-man job so the surveyor does everything.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6336" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T19:12:27.753" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18212" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18199" CreationDate="2011-03-27T19:38:07.327" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Many other people have answered, there is no &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; to pause in that sentence, either before or after the word &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;, and they are correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, you may of course &lt;em&gt;want&lt;/em&gt; to pause in that sentence - perhaps for emphasis, or to catch your breath, or simply to let your listener catch up...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In that case, you should pause &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; the &quot;that&quot;: the word &quot;that&quot; introducing a subordinate clause belongs with the clause it introduces:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I recently realized | that English is so useful but not easy to master.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Putting the pause after &quot;that&quot; would sound a little strange (though often people do pause at that point, usually when they're trying to think of what to say next :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastEditorUserId="3405" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T20:02:04.503" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T20:02:04.503" />
  <row Id="18213" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18199" CreationDate="2011-03-27T19:40:15.033" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;English conjunctions are associated with what follows them. If you're going to pause next to such words as &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;or&lt;/em&gt;, you should pause before rather than after. That said, as other answers mention, there is no real need for a pause in this sentence, except perhaps if you were speaking slowly and thoughtfully.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T19:40:15.033" />
  <row Id="18214" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-27T19:50:59.443" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A sentence is a set of words that is complete in itself, typically containing a subject and predicate, conveying a statement, question, exclamation, or command, and consisting of a main clause and sometimes one or more subordinate clauses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T22:53:50.700" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T22:53:50.700" />
  <row Id="18215" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-27T19:50:59.443" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="A sentence is a set of words that is complete in itself, typically containing a subject and predicate." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T22:53:55.083" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T22:53:55.083" />
  <row Id="18216" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-27T19:52:22.737" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T19:52:22.737" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T19:52:22.737" />
  <row Id="18217" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-27T19:52:22.737" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="Topics related to differences between two words, or how those words are used." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T22:53:04.910" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T22:53:04.910" />
  <row Id="18218" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-27T19:55:00.143" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An expression is a word or phrase, especially an idiomatic one, used to convey an idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We have an expression, &quot;You don't get owt for nowt.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T23:12:30.837" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T23:12:30.837" />
  <row Id="18220" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-27T19:57:26.260" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Merriam-Webster: &quot;a word...typically serving as a modifier of a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a preposition, a phrase, a clause, or a sentence, expressing some relation of manner or quality, place, time, degree, number, cause, opposition, affirmation, or denial, and...also serving to connect and to express comment on clause content.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T22:49:51.340" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T22:49:51.340" />
  <row Id="18221" PostTypeId="3" CreationDate="2011-03-27T19:57:26.260" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="A word that modifies an adjective, adverb, phrase, sentence, etc. expressing some relation of manner or quality (among others)." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T22:51:26.253" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T22:51:26.253" />
  <row Id="18222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18158" CreationDate="2011-03-27T20:04:49.077" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Historically in the UK.  A village had a church, a hamlet didn't, a town had a market and a city had to have a cathedral.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now it's decided by various local authorities so there were some new cities created recently, while there are places with a population of only a few 1000 (village size) which are cities because they were important in the middle ages.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Metropolis isn't really used in the UK - except for London, hence Metropolitan police (London's police) or the Metropolitan line (tube)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6336" LastEditorUserId="6336" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T20:23:04.850" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T20:23:04.850" />
  <row Id="18223" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18225" CreationDate="2011-03-27T20:36:47.540" Score="2" ViewCount="27" Body="&lt;p&gt;Consider&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(…) and they were getting stronger &lt;strong&gt;with/for&lt;/strong&gt; every day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What's the difference/the correct one to use?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3664" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T21:15:15.113" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T21:15:15.113" Title="&quot;For every day&quot; vs. &quot;with every day&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18223" CreationDate="2011-03-27T20:42:17.067" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The correct word here is &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt;. I would not use &lt;em&gt;every&lt;/em&gt; with it, however, but would phrase it like this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They were getting stronger with each passing day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If use of &quot;every day&quot; is important to you, you could phrase it this way, without any preposition:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They were getting stronger every day.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T20:42:17.067" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18223" CreationDate="2011-03-27T20:46:23.677" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(…) and they were getting stronger &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; every day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;With&lt;/em&gt; is correct here because it indicates the &quot;getting stronger&quot; and the &quot;every day&quot; are occurring simultaneously, or &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; each other. &lt;em&gt;For&lt;/em&gt; is incorrect here because it would indicate that whoever/whatever is getting stronger is doing for the purpose of &quot;every day,&quot; which is nonsensical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, the preposition could be dropped altogether with no loss of meaning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(…) and they were getting stronger every day&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T20:46:23.677" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18226" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18228" CreationDate="2011-03-27T21:24:41.227" Score="1" ViewCount="65" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can &lt;em&gt;itch&lt;/em&gt; be used as a transitive verb? In other words, can you &lt;em&gt;itch an itch&lt;/em&gt; as you would &lt;em&gt;scratch an itch&lt;/em&gt;? Dictionaries differ, with the bigger hitters saying no. Are they bearing the proper standard or just playing it conservative?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T03:57:58.750" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T03:57:58.750" Title="Can “itch” be a transitive verb, i.e., can an itch be itched?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18227" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18226" CreationDate="2011-03-27T21:29:35.043" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, even if you use &lt;em&gt;itch&lt;/em&gt; as a transitive verb, as the &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/itch&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; allows, it means “to cause to itch” or “to vex, to irritate”. So, you don't &lt;em&gt;itch an itch&lt;/em&gt; as you would &lt;em&gt;scratch it&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;em&gt;itch&lt;/em&gt;, in that sense, is not synonymous with &lt;em&gt;scratch&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T21:29:35.043" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18228" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18226" CreationDate="2011-03-27T21:30:39.350" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll have to explain what you mean by &quot;proper standard&quot; — but, no, what the &quot;bigger hitters&quot; (again, what are these?) are doing is waiting until a usage is far-reaching enough for them to bother to document it. I guess that's what you'd call playing it conservative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, what one does to an itch is scratch it. Something can &lt;em&gt;itch&lt;/em&gt; (intransitive) all by itself, or be &lt;em&gt;itchy&lt;/em&gt;, but &lt;em&gt;itching&lt;/em&gt; an itch feels like a bizarre usage to me. I'd be curious to know what dictionaries endorse that use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;NOAD, for example, lists only an intransitive form:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;itch&lt;/strong&gt; verb [intrans.] be the site of or cause an itch : &lt;em&gt;the bite itched like crazy&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T21:30:39.350" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18196" CreationDate="2011-03-27T21:39:23.370" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;That phrasing 'X is no more Y than Z' often comes in the context of Z already being not very Y, so X is as or maybe less Y than Z. So the implication is -usually- X is not very Y but context may also allow X to be pretty Y but just not as Y as Z. Plug in for variables where needed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T21:39:23.370" />
  <row Id="18230" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18152" CreationDate="2011-03-27T22:26:17.723" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Char&quot; is an old British English (in fact I would say English English) slang term for &quot;tea&quot;. I don't think it is heard particularly often, but you might see or hear the phrase &quot;cup of char and a wad&quot; (meaning &quot;cup of tea and a slice of cake&quot;) in a WWII context for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I seem to recall that Reggie Perrin used this expression in David Nobbs' novel 'The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin' back in the 1970s, but even then the café waitress didn't understand it and he had to translate. So I think it is a fairly rare beast, and probably often used (as in Reggie's case) to sound deliberately working class or for humourous effect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3752" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T22:26:17.723" />
  <row Id="18231" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18168" CreationDate="2011-03-27T22:51:00.607" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The surname &quot;Fokker/Focker&quot; is Dutch in origin. It is a real surname that real people have. It is pronounced /fɒkər/ in English. In these movies the name is not pronounced the same as &quot;fucker&quot; (/fʌkər/). Robert DeNiro and Ben Stiller are both native speakers of New York English and they most certainly distinguish the /ɒ/ (as in &quot;cot&quot;) and /ʌ/ (as in &quot;cut&quot;) sounds. If you thought it was pronounced the same, you simply mis-heard.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the original movie in the series, &lt;em&gt;Meet the Parents&lt;/em&gt;, there was a joke that main character's true name was &quot;Gaylord Focker&quot;, which amounts to little more than a throwaway homophobic schoolyard joke based on the similarity (but not identicality) in pronunciation of the name &quot;Focker&quot; and the word &quot;fucker&quot;. In the sequels &lt;em&gt;Meet the Fockers&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Little Fockers&lt;/em&gt; the joke was mined for more cheap laughs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's a joke because they sound &lt;em&gt;very similar&lt;/em&gt; not because they sound &lt;em&gt;the same&lt;/em&gt;. It's a pretty lame joke as it is, but if they were pronounced &lt;em&gt;exactly the same&lt;/em&gt; it wouldn't be a joke at all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T22:51:00.607" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18232" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-27T22:56:17.140" Score="3" ViewCount="89" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can someone suggest a single word for &quot;village of dreams&quot; in any language except the word &quot;leonesse&quot; as it has connotation of a place known for wines.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6612" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T22:59:33.753" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T14:11:02.330" Title="Single word for &quot;village of dreams&quot;?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18233" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18232" CreationDate="2011-03-27T22:58:18.960" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &quot;avalon&quot;? It's taken to mean something like that in English literature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4973" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T00:08:53.673" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T00:08:53.673" />
  <row Id="18234" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18232" CreationDate="2011-03-27T23:08:19.827" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Utopia&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T23:08:19.827" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18232" CreationDate="2011-03-27T23:10:15.667" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Camelot, El Dorado, Shangri-La, Bali Hai and Brigadoon are some well-known mythical perfect places....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T00:19:52.353" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T00:19:52.353" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18236" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-27T23:11:55.563" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;When using the word &quot;department&quot; after the name of a department, does one capitalize it?  For example, &quot;Advertising Department?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6613" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-27T23:53:34.920" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T23:53:34.920" Title="To capitalize &quot;department&quot; or not." Tags="&lt;capitalization&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="18237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18153" CreationDate="2011-03-27T23:13:44.377" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Curious to learn more about Ms. Hess' answer, I undertook a little more research* today...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The history begins, as with so many curiosities in the English language, with the Norman invasion in 1066.  At that time, English was the language of the ordinary people, and the law. At first, William the Conqueror interfered little  with use of English in official documents, primarily to bolster his claim to the throne, as it was before his reign strongly associated with the crown and kingly continuity. As time went on, however, and as more and more Normans gained positions of prominence in the English court, and were elevated to the nobility, French came to be the &lt;em&gt;spoken&lt;/em&gt; language of the upper-class, and Latin, the imported &lt;em&gt;written&lt;/em&gt; language of the learned, eventually came to completely replace Old English in legal documents.    This continued for some 250 odd years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By 1275, we find the first statutes written in French, and by 1310 French had overtaken Latin as the language of law.  Well, not exactly overtaken; important Latin legal terms, &lt;strong&gt;terms of art&lt;/strong&gt;, were being sprinkled in French language, where needed.  We have inherited these terms up to the present day; this is where our civil law gets important concepts like &lt;em&gt;mens rea&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;habeaus corpus&lt;/em&gt;, writs of &lt;em&gt;mandamus&lt;/em&gt;, and a million other terms.  Still, Law French was the language that lawyers communicated with each other in, and lawyers continued to develop their the profession with it, creating ever new terms of art when trying, pleading, and judging cases. Things continued in this way for a 100 more years.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Curiously, just as French was just reaching its supremacy as official written language of the Law, it was dying out as a spoken language among the nobility.  Increasingly, they were speaking a bastardized pidgin of English and French called Anglo-Norman, and by 1400, Anglo-Norman had nearly died out even amongst the royal household in favor of English.  Henry V broke things off completely with his Norman heritage after famously going to war with France in the Hundreds Years' War.  English, with modifications, had now become the language of &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; the English people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Well, mostly.  Law French was still the obscure, technical language of the legal profession, and it was contributing many terms of art of its own, particularly in property law: this is where property law jargon like &lt;em&gt;estoppel&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;estate&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;esquire&lt;/em&gt; come from.  However, even the lawyers eventually lost control of a tongue they didn't speak, and legalese became a complex argot of Law Latin and Law French terms swimming in a sea of ordinary English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A conundrum. By 1362, we have evidence that the courts were becoming recognizant of this troublesome state of affairs, as a Statute of Pleading was enacted &quot;condemning French as 'much unknown in said Realm'&quot; and requiring that &quot;all pleas be 'pleaded, shewed, defended, answered, and debated, and judged in the English tongue.'&quot;  Ironically enough, the Statute itself was written in Law French, and it was not till 200 years later, when the vocabulary of Law French had shrunk to about 1000 words, that English became the dominant language of the law.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Still, all those terms of art couldn't be simply abandoned.   So lawyers of the day simply did the next best thing: they imported synonyms acknowledged as &quot;English&quot; to accompany those technical terms, to give the &quot;synonyms&quot; independent legal weight in documents, and eventually, the combination of the two became phrases with inertia of their own. Such as:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;breaking&lt;/em&gt; and entering&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;fit&lt;/em&gt; and proper&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; and testament&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;free&lt;/em&gt; and clear&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;acknowledge&lt;/em&gt; and confess&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;law&lt;/em&gt; and order&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;to have&lt;/em&gt; and to hold  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(English terms are italicized.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;But Billare!&quot; &quot;Isn't your answer supposed to be talking about &lt;em&gt;null&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;void&lt;/em&gt;?&quot; &quot;And, if I'm not mistaken, doesn't &lt;em&gt;null&lt;/em&gt; come from the Latin &lt;em&gt;nullus&lt;/em&gt;, meaning 'not any, none,' and doesn't &lt;em&gt;void&lt;/em&gt; come from the Latin &lt;em&gt;vocivus&lt;/em&gt;, meaning 'unoccupied, vacant'&quot;? &quot;Where's the Old English term there?!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ah, yes.  The punchline. &lt;em&gt;Null and void&lt;/em&gt; became a phrase of their own because the two synonyms from Latin were imported at different times into &quot;ordinary&quot; English. I quote from David Melinkoff's &lt;em&gt;The Language of Law&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Early in the reign of Elizabeth I, &lt;em&gt;null&lt;/em&gt; – with a long life as a negative in law French and in Latin – became an English synonym for the law's use of &lt;em&gt;void&lt;/em&gt;.  Another hundred years, and null and void were a team, null taking the place of other explanatory nothingness (no value, no effect) that had often accompanied void.  The combination stuck despite frowns in and out of the law. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it follows the same rule.  &lt;em&gt;Null and void&lt;/em&gt; is a semantically redundant phrase because it was formed as a compromised term of art, and has continued in this way for a long, long time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;*: All acknowledgments and quotes go to &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=WdO9wBNPgMUC&amp;amp;lpg=PP1&amp;amp;dq=legal%20language&amp;amp;pg=PP1#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot;&gt;this most excellent book&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Legal Language&lt;/em&gt;, by a certain Peter Tiersma, where I found basically most of this research.  Do read it if you're interested in more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T01:13:52.610" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T01:13:52.610" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5993" CreationDate="2011-03-27T23:26:10.217" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For what it's worth, both &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.luxottica.it/en/careers/global_recruiting/global_recruiting_retail/lenscrafters/index.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;LensCrafters&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jcpenneyoptical.com/storelocator.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;JC Penney Optical&lt;/a&gt; call their retail locations &quot;optical stores&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T23:26:10.217" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18236" CreationDate="2011-03-27T23:30:47.030" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When using the word 'department' (or 'group', 'committee', and the like) as part of a recognized name it would be capitalized:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bill recently joined the Advertising Department.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If using 'department' not as part of a specific name it would be lower case:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We had a party to welcome Bill to the&#xA;  department.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As a further note, you could also drop the 'Department' and re-write the first sentence as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bill recently moved to Advertising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But if using 'advertising' not as the name of a specific department, but rather as a field of expertise, you would write:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bill works in advertising.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6433" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T23:30:47.030" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18240" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18232" CreationDate="2011-03-27T23:55:29.880" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;em&gt;dreamland&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;wonderland&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;fantasyland&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-27T23:55:29.880" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18242" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18243" CreationDate="2011-03-28T01:30:55.430" Score="1" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are they the same, meaning &lt;em&gt;to make people feel emotional&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6042" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T01:37:24.113" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T13:13:15.270" Title="&quot;Tug at your heart&quot; or &quot;tug at your heart strings&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18242" CreationDate="2011-03-28T01:40:40.397" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The standard phrase or idiom is &lt;em&gt;tug at one's heartstrings&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;one's heartstrings&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  used in reference to one's deepest feelings of love or compassion:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;the kitten's pitiful little squeak &lt;strong&gt;tugged at her heartstrings&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1254038#m_en_us1254038&quot;&gt;NOAD&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, NOAD defines &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1300870#m_en_us1300870&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;tug&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;pull (something) hard or suddenly&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, when something tugs at (pulls at) your heartstrings, it deeply affects your feelings in some way (a prick, a pang, etc).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T01:49:23.337" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T01:49:23.337" />
  <row Id="18244" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18245" CreationDate="2011-03-28T02:31:03.193" Score="2" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am watching the excellent documentary &quot;Nobelity&quot; by Turk Pipkin:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobelity&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobelity&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turk_Pipkin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turk_Pipkin&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;4 minutes into the movie, there is a bit that I don't understand.  Here is the transcript:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;Do you ever get the feeling that everything really is broken?&#xA;That no matter who you are or where you come from,&#xA;the world is somehow divided into us and them.&#xA;Here I am, Turk Pipkin, shooting my film &quot;Nobelity&quot; at a Shiah festival in Kolkata.&#xA;I was warned not to say that I am an American&#xA;But it's not like they couldn't tell.&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;My camera man said I looked like a human cue tip.&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt; &#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The picture shows Turk Pipkin, a very tall caucasian man with pale skin and white hair, holding his camera and surrounded by short Indians with dark skin and dark hair.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I understand that the cameraman wanted to say that he stood out in the crowd, but I don't understand the expression &quot;human cue tip&quot;. At least that's what it sounds like: I am not sure I transcribed properly.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you explain this expression and the metaphor?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[Edit:]&#xA;Oops, the movie is actually &quot;One Peace at a time&quot;, another of Pipkin's movies:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Peace_at_a_Time&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Peace_at_a_Time&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I got confused because he refers to his earlier movie in the quote.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for the answers. They make sense. I didn't know the brand &quot;Q-tip&quot;. What's the word for brand names that are used as common nouns in every day language?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="509" LastEditorUserId="509" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T03:02:54.773" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T03:08:38.777" Title="A &quot;human cue tip&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;expressions&gt;&lt;metaphor&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18245" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18244" CreationDate="2011-03-28T02:37:48.570" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe you are thinking of Q-tip. The passage means the guy was tall and very white by comparison with his companions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/uClAm.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can read all about it:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_swab&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_swab&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T02:37:48.570" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18246" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18244" CreationDate="2011-03-28T02:38:21.720" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cue tip&lt;/em&gt; is a misspelling of &lt;em&gt;Q-tip&lt;/em&gt;, a popular brand of cotton swabs/buds in the United States. Here, &lt;em&gt;Q-tip&lt;/em&gt; is as a metaphor for Pipkin's height† and whiteness, both of which stand out in sharp contrast to the physical features of the Indians surrounding him.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;em&gt;Credit for the &quot;height&quot; aspect of this metaphor goes to &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/18244/a-human-cue-tip/18245#18245&quot;&gt;Robusto's answer&lt;/a&gt;. Included it here in the spirit of completeness.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T03:08:38.777" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T03:08:38.777" />
  <row Id="18247" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="12727" CreationDate="2011-03-28T03:10:14.720" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Black Pearl&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Forbidden Fruit / Golden Apple&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6474" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T03:10:14.720" />
  <row Id="18248" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18249" CreationDate="2011-03-28T05:08:07.877" Score="8" ViewCount="795" Body="&lt;p&gt;Isn’t earthquake a noun and the preceding word an adjective? Isn’t “Japanese” the adjectival form of “Japan”?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6580" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T14:16:01.730" Title="Why do we say “Japan earthquake” and not “Japanese earthquake”?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18248" CreationDate="2011-03-28T05:12:51.203" Score="25" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because when we describe the earthquake we are talking about its location. Plus, earthquakes don't themselves, by their nature, have a connection with a specific nationality—they are not like Japanese food, clothes, tea, that are specific to the Japanese people. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T09:46:27.623" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T09:46:27.623" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18250" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18248" CreationDate="2011-03-28T05:13:23.387" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suppose because it is referring to a place as in &quot;an Atlantic storm&quot; whereas to say a &quot;Japanese earthquake&quot; would imply there was something Japanese in its nature.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6336" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T09:45:24.393" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T09:45:24.393" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18251" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18083" CreationDate="2011-03-28T05:34:14.293" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/handcraftsmanship&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Handcraftsmanship&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(if you're ok with suffixes like this)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T05:34:14.293" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="18252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18248" CreationDate="2011-03-28T06:06:11.923" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure there is necessarily a rule for this type of situation - that is, when to use the name of the country and when to use the adjectival form. I think in many cases it's decided almost unconsciously based on what rolls off the tongue the easiest. The 'n' at the end of 'Japan' flows nicely into the vowel at the start of 'earthquake'. On the other hand, if an earthquake occurred in India it would feel odd to say &quot;the India earthquake&quot; - we may be more inclined to say &quot;the Indian earthquake&quot;. English is riddled with these kinds of inconsistencies as we all know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6433" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T06:06:11.923" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18253" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18264" CreationDate="2011-03-28T06:18:33.120" Score="4" ViewCount="154" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's quite typical to see &quot;Help wanted&quot; signs in cases some business has an open position. That can be some temporary position or even a permanent one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is it called &quot;help&quot;? Why not &quot;we're hiring&quot; or something? I mean, &quot;help&quot; usually means some unpaid activity—why is this word used when referring to a job?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="623" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T12:03:41.437" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T13:19:28.743" Title="Why is &quot;help wanted&quot; phrasing used in job ads?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;signage&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18254" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18256" CreationDate="2011-03-28T07:13:16.137" Score="0" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;John is working now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the verb 'is' in this example an auxiliary verb?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T12:07:33.087" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T14:28:58.880" Title="Is &quot;is&quot; an auxiliary verb?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;auxiliary-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="18255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18253" CreationDate="2011-03-28T07:18:21.593" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because it is a headline and so follows the style of what you might find in newspapers. Headlines are most frequently made short for example. 'Jackson dead' or 'cure found' and don't usually come as full sentences. As for the use of the word 'help' then help can be paid for. You could say to a private investigator 'I need you to help me in finding my lost brother.' but you would have to pay for the service. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T07:18:21.593" />
  <row Id="18256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18254" CreationDate="2011-03-28T07:31:51.530" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auxiliary_verb#Progressive_aspect&quot;&gt;described in Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The auxiliary verb &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt; is used with a&#xA;  present participle to form the&#xA;  progressive aspect; for example, &quot;I am&#xA;  riding my bicycle&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T07:31:51.530" />
  <row Id="18258" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18253" CreationDate="2011-03-28T08:21:03.123" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In these cases, I believe &lt;em&gt;help&lt;/em&gt; refers to a person. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/help&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Definition&lt;/a&gt; below&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A person employed to help, especially&#xA;  a farm worker or domestic servant.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is equivalent to &quot;Secretary Wanted&quot; or &quot;Driver Wanted&quot; or {insert any other role}.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1798" LastEditorUserId="1798" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T13:19:28.743" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T13:19:28.743" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="18259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18253" CreationDate="2011-03-28T08:39:39.607" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Help&lt;/em&gt; among the more common meanings is also an archaic way of saying &quot;paid assitance.&quot;  Though we don't use it anymore to mean paid assitance, the expression &quot;Help wanted&quot; stuck.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example is the expression &quot;It's hard to find good help these days...&quot;  Though the expression is commonly used, &lt;em&gt;help&lt;/em&gt; also in this case derives from an archaic usage for &quot;paid assistance.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T08:39:39.607" />
  <row Id="18260" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18172" CreationDate="2011-03-28T08:42:09.893" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You may also say &quot;to do the best&quot; - &quot;he does his best&quot; for an instance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T08:42:09.893" />
  <row Id="18261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18253" CreationDate="2011-03-28T08:51:35.250" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking it's a short for &quot;hired help&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5670" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T08:51:35.250" />
  <row Id="18262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16822" CreationDate="2011-03-28T09:27:21.087" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Extirpation as answered by many comes from the verb extripate to mean root out completely.&#xA;The synonym closest is  to eradicate. In fact the root of the word extirpate is sometimes said to come from eradicate itself. Extirpate is usually associated with social ills and stuffs like extirpate untouchability, extirpate anti-semitism, extirpate plague etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Smash has got more to do with collision. Like two cars smashed etc. It may not result in eradication of the two cars&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Perdition comes from a root meaning destruction. The closest meaning would be Hell.&#xA;You can say  the road to perdition, suffer in perdition etc..&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6620" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T09:27:21.087" />
  <row Id="18264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18253" CreationDate="2011-03-28T09:42:55.253" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an interesting question because under an apparently mundane topic it actually touches upon fundamental characteristics of flexible workforce countries such as for instance the US, Australia and to a lesser degree the UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &quot;help&quot; is actually a deliberate choice because it suggests that the helper will voluntarily step forward and is implicitly willingly bringing in some added value.  A popular cliché for this kind of ad is that of a teenage helper working part-time in a Midwest hardware shop.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is no commitment either on the duration of the job from the employer's side.  It's just help; and it implicitly stops when it is not needed any more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you go back a few centuries ago when there were very few large companies and the vast majority of jobs on the market were proposed by farmers or small rural businesses, that makes perfect sense and can thus be interpreted in the context of the natural application of the law of demand and offer to the job marketplace.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now that the contribution of medium to large size companies to employment is more significant, stable jobs are more dominant. As a result, the corresponding offers are thus more frequently formulated using the &quot;hiring&quot; word than the &quot;help wanted&quot; expression.  Compare for instance the &quot;position available&quot; and &quot;help wanted&quot; phrases.  The former does indeed look more stable than the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A side conclusion is that, the &quot;help wanted&quot; sign being phrased by the job offerer reflects his own rationale and interest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In contrast, it is also probably easy to explain why job requesters don't phrase their request in such terms as &quot;good salary for life wanted&quot;.  If that formula would work, you'd probably see more of these ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Conversely you have &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.islandreefjob.com/&quot;&gt;very few of &quot;best job in the world&quot; offers&lt;/a&gt;.  Although they seem to be quite successful ;-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T09:42:55.253" />
  <row Id="18265" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18306" CreationDate="2011-03-28T09:53:32.383" Score="2" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm using a Likert scale that has 5 possible items:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;++&lt;/em&gt; for &quot;I strongly agree&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;+&lt;/em&gt; for &quot;I agree&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;+/-&lt;/em&gt; for &quot;I'm indifferent&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;-&lt;/em&gt; for &quot;I disagree&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;--&lt;/em&gt; for &quot;I strongly disagree&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now I think that &quot;I'm indifferent&quot; for the item in the middle isn't really the term that should be used, but I can't think of any better term. Any helps there?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6292" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T16:49:20.433" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T19:57:53.000" Title="How might I name the items of a Likert scale?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18265" CreationDate="2011-03-28T10:13:44.103" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I neither agree nor disagree&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T10:13:44.103" />
  <row Id="18267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18265" CreationDate="2011-03-28T10:14:08.347" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It really depends on the context.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;You could also say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I have no preference&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;I'm undecided&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Though in general, I would use what you already have.  What are you doing a survey on exactly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T10:14:08.347" />
  <row Id="18268" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18300" CreationDate="2011-03-28T10:23:59.960" Score="3" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always see signs such as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Men at work&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Children at play&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering why we use &quot;at&quot; in this way. Is it just a formal way of saying &lt;em&gt;Men Working&lt;/em&gt; / &lt;em&gt;Children Playing&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Saying &quot;At Lunch&quot; seems sensible, yet even so I would only use this if I were out of the office etc, I wouldnt say &quot;I'm at lunch&quot; if I weren't changing location. If I were to say &quot;I'm &lt;em&gt;At Work&lt;/em&gt;&quot; I would use this to inform someone I am at my workplace, not that I am actually working, and no one I know would say their children are &quot;At Play&quot; rather than &quot;Playing&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;At&lt;/em&gt; to me has always seemed more a word used with a location rather than an action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T12:02:02.437" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T14:18:17.897" Title="Why use &quot;at&quot; in this way?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;signage&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18269" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18265" CreationDate="2011-03-28T10:25:22.317" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try &quot;I'm ambivalent&quot; in the middle slot:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ambivalent&lt;/strong&gt; having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone [NOAD]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T10:25:22.317" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18268" CreationDate="2011-03-28T10:34:46.997" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, 'at' can mean doing something. For example: 'Did you do your homework?' reply: 'Yes, I was at it all night.' Did you fix the car?' reply: 'Yes, I've been at it all morning.'meaning doing it all night / all morning. So your examples above mean 'Men doing work.' or 'Children doing the activity of play.' &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T10:34:46.997" />
  <row Id="18271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18268" CreationDate="2011-03-28T10:42:24.807" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's the same usage of 'at' that you see in the expression &quot;Have &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; it&quot;.  It's a way of indicating not a place but a state typically revolving around an activity.  Normally when you indicate a state, you simply use a form of to be with that state (I'm sleepy for example), however whenever you &lt;em&gt;cannot&lt;/em&gt; indicate your state in such a fashion for risking to have other meanings, you typically see at used (for example, you can't say &quot;I'm work&quot;, but rather &quot;I'm at work.&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5735" LastEditorUserId="5735" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T10:47:57.317" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T10:47:57.317" />
  <row Id="18272" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18276" CreationDate="2011-03-28T11:10:13.370" Score="3" ViewCount="196" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which phrase is correct: &quot;Nice to hearing from you again&quot; or &quot;nice to hearing you again?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1109" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T16:54:21.053" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T16:54:21.053" Title="Which of the following phrases is correct?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18273" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18289" CreationDate="2011-03-28T11:11:51.130" Score="2" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;I suspect whether my question is worth asking or being answered every time I’m posting a question, and ask myself, “Doesn’t it look too naive or primitive question?” However, I keep posting questions encouraged by old Japanese saying, “Kikuwa ittoki-no haji, Kikanuwa matudai-no haji” meaning, “To ask a question is a shame of a moment. Not to ask the question is a shame (regret) that lasts for your whole (eternal) life.” &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Confucius said, &quot;It's not a problem that you don't know. It's the problem that you don't know what you don't know.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By following this maxim, I think I’m able to build knowledge of English expressions. &#xA;I’m curious to know whether you have an English counterpart to “To ask a question is a shame of a moment. Not to ask the question is a shame for whole your life”, or any proverb encouraging questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T11:59:40.270" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T14:01:35.670" Title="Do you have English counterpart to “To ask a question is a shame of a moment. Not to ask the question is a shame for whole life”?" Tags="&lt;expressions&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18272" CreationDate="2011-03-28T11:18:01.227" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In English we would say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nice to be hearing from you again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note the &quot;be&quot; in there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T11:18:01.227" />
  <row Id="18275" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18282" CreationDate="2011-03-28T11:20:47.877" Score="2" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to use &quot;were&quot; or &quot;was&quot; in the following?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;whenever either of two somethings [were/was] applied [...]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T14:17:56.077" Title="Either of two [subject]s was/were?" Tags="&lt;grammatical-number&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18272" CreationDate="2011-03-28T11:21:24.663" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither. Correct is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nice to hear from you again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are two things to notice here:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The present participle of the verb (ending in &lt;em&gt;-ing&lt;/em&gt;) should not be preceded by the infinitive marker &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;, and after the infinitive marker &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; you should always use the base form of the verb. So it should always be &lt;em&gt;Nice &lt;strong&gt;to hear&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and never &lt;em&gt;Nice &lt;strong&gt;to hearing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, there is a difference between &lt;em&gt;to hear&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;to hear from&lt;/em&gt;. The verb &lt;em&gt;to hear&lt;/em&gt; just means that you can literally hear and understand what the other person is saying. The phrase &lt;em&gt;to hear from&lt;/em&gt; means to start or renew a social relationship with someone. In this case, you're trying to say that it was nice to speak with someone again, and you're not focusing on the physical act of hearing, so you want to say &quot;Nice to hear from you&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T11:21:24.663" CommentCount="12" />
  <row Id="18277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18273" CreationDate="2011-03-28T11:28:11.667" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think we have an exact equivalent to that expression--at least not one that I can think of at the moment. We do, however, have a saying that focuses on the teacher's role in such an exchange:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that if you simply &lt;em&gt;give&lt;/em&gt; someone exactly what they're looking for, you will have solved their immediate problem but won't help them solve similar problems next time. On the other hand, if you show them how to find such things for themselves, they'll be able to continue solving their problems in th efuture.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T11:28:11.667" />
  <row Id="18278" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18324" CreationDate="2011-03-28T11:31:09.670" Score="3" ViewCount="175" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is a section on my site, where users can submit content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure how to call it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are three cases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1) user can submit own content, so he could be an author&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2) user can submit thirdparty content, so he is just a submitter&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;3) user can submit both his and third-party content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;First case - call him an author or contributor, that's ok.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Second case - submitter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do I call a person in the third case? In this case he could either an author or a submitter or both. Is there some middle word, that can describe both ways?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there some better word, similar to the meaning of submitter?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="352" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T15:18:22.447" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T16:39:35.283" Title="What do I call a person who submits content?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18279" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T11:39:24.793" Score="3" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both nearly mean &lt;em&gt;to criticise&lt;/em&gt;. So, what is the difference in usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6620" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T16:57:28.837" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T16:57:28.837" Title="What is the difference in meaning and usage between &quot;excoriate&quot; and &quot;execrate&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18043" CreationDate="2011-03-28T11:49:01.713" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An intriguing question.  I've spent some time researching this etymology in dictionaries as well as the scanned documents available at Google Books and there are apparently a number of competing explanations to the origin of this expression.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The one I believe makes more sense, and also the most often quoted, including by nico and the OED, is that in the times when this word started being recorded, courts were frequently on the move, going from one palace to the next and as a consequence large convoys were organised typically opened by heralds, followed by armed guards protecting high profile personalities and ending with a long line of logistics wagons.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often found along the phrase &quot;King kitchen&quot;, this group of followers were in charge of carrying the coal, the pots and kettles and various items of furniture.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By contrast to the lavish livery of the official guard at the head of the convoy, this rag-tag troop at its tail, composed of people having probably a less demanding idea of their appearance would have ironically been called the black guard.  Indeed the &quot;rag-tag&quot; expression itself appears to emerge at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The kind of characters attracted by these living conditions, in which honesty was probably not a competitive advantage, was such that the term soon became a synonym for both menial jobs and low morale.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some documents I've read on Google Books (looking for &quot;black guard&quot;, with quotes) show that there are some records of large scale exactions ascribed to this &quot;black guard&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Where it becomes interesting is that the French word &quot;blague&quot; seems to come from this alternative and secondary &quot;blaggard&quot; spelling.  Today, a &quot;blague&quot; is a joke or a prank.  When it appears in France in the 18th century, it has the meaning of a lie.  It has kept this meaning in the &quot;sans blague&quot; phrase which emphasises that the related claim is no lie (&quot;no kidding&quot;).  TBC I guess.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T11:49:01.713" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18281" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18278" CreationDate="2011-03-28T11:54:31.287" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps a suitable word would be &quot;contributor&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6474" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T11:54:31.287" />
  <row Id="18282" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18275" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:00:17.273" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;it's contentious, but I would lean towards &quot;was&quot;, since it is acting up the individual &quot;either&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6474" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:00:17.273" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18272" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:06:11.590" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you want to use &lt;em&gt;hearing&lt;/em&gt;, then say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nice hearing from you again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is quite common in email, phone conversation, or regular talk.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise, say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nice to hear from you again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You could also say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Nice to hear your voice again.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:06:11.590" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18279" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:08:41.070" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The only difference I can find is that &lt;em&gt;excoriate&lt;/em&gt; is reported by the NOAD as formal word, while &lt;em&gt;execrate&lt;/em&gt; is not reported to be formal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As per the meaning, &lt;em&gt;execrate&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;feel or express great loathing for;&quot; the fact I feel an intense dislike doesn't mean I am criticizing somebody.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:08:41.070" />
  <row Id="18285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18248" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:23:40.423" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Fewer syllables = Catchier headlines, once one media outlet has started using it everyone else jumps on the bandwagon and it becomes a meme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="963" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:23:40.423" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18268" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:30:43.210" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;At&lt;/em&gt; is also used to denote the time spent by someone attending an educational institution, a workplace, their home, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We all need to get involved in fighting crime whether it's at work, at home, or at school.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:30:43.210" />
  <row Id="18287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18279" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:32:20.543" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Execrate&lt;/em&gt; was more widely used a century ago that &lt;em&gt;excoriate&lt;/em&gt;, now it's the other order (though both are little used). Google ngram results (which are confirmed by the Corpus of Contemporary American English):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/zxnMo.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;(blue: excoriate; red: execrate; green: excoriaged; yellow: execrated)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:32:20.543" />
  <row Id="18288" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18273" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:32:38.327" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the closest equivalent &lt;em&gt;in meaning&lt;/em&gt; would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There are no dumb questions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;There is no such thing as a dumb question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I think it's meaning you're after here, not rhetorical structure, correct? (The structure of your example, by the way, is called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/isocolon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;isocolon&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:32:38.327" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18289" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18273" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:35:13.803" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I usually hear (and say):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The only stupid question is one not asked.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T14:01:35.670" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T14:01:35.670" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18275" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:35:51.617" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It should be &quot;either of [...] was,&quot; in the same way it is &quot;they have a mortgage that will be repaid if either of them dies.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning of &lt;em&gt;either&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;one or the other of two people or things.&quot; It is then referring to a single person/thing, and the verb should be singular.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T14:17:56.077" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T14:17:56.077" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18248" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:37:36.750" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that it is referring to a place rather than being of a type or nationality.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the earthquake was in America it could be an earthquake in America.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's not possible to say America earthquake because there's 2 vowels so putting the country after the noun works well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course that is if emphasis or beauty of the title is not taken into account.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The decision to use one rather than the other is not rational.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6621" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:37:36.750" />
  <row Id="18292" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:40:23.003" Score="1" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;p&gt;So if someone posts a message, and someone responds to it, we call that a 'reply'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, I am struggling to think of a good phrase for the situation where you have the reply, and you want to see what it is a reply to? What would we call the entity that it is a reply to? &quot;See message&quot; doesn't seem to semantically capture it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;e.g. something like &quot;antecedent&quot;, but that seems overly wordy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="940" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:46:29.600" Title="What is the counterpart to 'reply'?" Tags="&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18293" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17485" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:43:05.937" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When there is a mention of time use the simple past, e.g: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I arrived to the library 20 minutes ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But when time is absent from a sentence, use the present perfect, because it's meant to focus on the action, not the time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6623" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T17:04:03.057" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T17:04:03.057" />
  <row Id="18294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7374" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:45:20.573" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always recommend Taboo! (doesn't have to be the official version) as a language learning tool. The game is about communicating a word without using certain related words, so the skills it develops in thinking of ways to communicate it are useful when you're in a conversation and your vocabulary comes up short of something you want to describe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3542" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:45:20.573" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-28T12:45:20.573" />
  <row Id="18295" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:45:28.307" Score="0" ViewCount="17" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which verb should I use here?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He opened the stove and the fire from the stove [engulfed/jumped on/covered/devoured] him. &quot;Help! Help!&quot; - he shouted at once. &quot;I'm on fire!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T12:59:55.287" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:59:55.287" ClosedDate="2011-03-28T13:08:33.813" Title="&quot;...and the fire from the stove engulfed him&quot; or &quot;jumped on him&quot; or &quot;covered him&quot; or &quot;devoured him&quot; or what?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18296" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18292" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:46:29.600" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's usually called the &lt;strong&gt;parent message&lt;/strong&gt;, using an analogy between a discussion thread and genealogic tree. At least in technical or scientific circles, this is well understood.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also call it &lt;em&gt;your original message&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;your initial message&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;your query&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;your request&lt;/em&gt; (if appropriate).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:46:29.600" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13600" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:47:34.543" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's called &quot;Saxon genitive&quot;; the general rule is that you use it after people/animals/things and never with adjectives or with personal pronouns (you'd never say &quot;this is he's car&quot;, since &quot;&lt;strong&gt;he's&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;&lt;em&gt;he is&lt;/em&gt;&quot;. Even if in this case there is the exception with the possessive pronouns his, hers, etc.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not a native english speaker but in that case I'd never use it since this &quot;Pendleton, et al. (2002)&quot; is not a person, or some clear and single entity.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd say that &quot;The research of Pendleton et al. (2002) implies that…&quot; like someone else told you is good. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6550" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:47:34.543" />
  <row Id="18299" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18279" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:50:08.523" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The underlying meaning of excoriate is &lt;em&gt;to flay the skin off&lt;/em&gt;, and execrate means &lt;em&gt;to curse&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Both words are used somewhat figuratively in the sense of &lt;em&gt;criticise very harshly&lt;/em&gt;, and both are quite uncommon - so much so that probably this figurative sense probably accounts for most occurences of each.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The words look and sound similar, are both used with exactly the same figurative sense, and are both relatively unfamiliar to even fluent speakers. If you intended to use &lt;em&gt;one&lt;/em&gt;, but forgot the exact word, it's pretty much a 50% chance you'd end up coming across the &lt;em&gt;other&lt;/em&gt; word first by looking things up.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which wouldn't matter - everyone else is doing the same thing, so in the end we may as well say the two words are exact equivalents in this sense. People here may laboriously set out supposed differences here, but they won't have normally been significant to a speaker actually choosing which of the two words to use.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:50:08.523" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18268" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:51:33.360" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer is &quot;because that is how we use it&quot;. It sounds circular, but constructions like these are arbitrary.  It seems that your main difficulty with this construction comes with the assumption you make in your last sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;At&lt;/em&gt; to me has always seemed more a word used with a location rather than an action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other uses of &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; that are not locative: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;I am mad at you. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;He was at peace with his decision.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The effort was amateur at best.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;See you at 5 o'clock. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are actually lots and lots of non-locative uses for &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt;. From these examples, I am sure you can think of many more.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Maybe we should actually ask why &lt;em&gt;at&lt;/em&gt; is ever used as a locative, since we have &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;by&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;? :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:51:33.360" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18301" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17462" CreationDate="2011-03-28T12:54:00.137" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Motto&lt;/strong&gt; is what you are looking for:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a sentence, phrase, or word inscribed on something as appropriate to or indicative of its character or use&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6623" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T08:16:27.130" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T08:16:27.130" />
  <row Id="18303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18242" CreationDate="2011-03-28T13:13:15.270" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Tug (or 'pull') at one's heartstrings&quot; is an established idiom. &quot;Tug at one's heart&quot;, is not, though it is a perfectly valid expression, with the right meaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Your question is slightly ambiguous, because of the word &quot;make&quot;: to be clear, it is the thing that elicits compassion (which might be a person, an action, or an event) which &quot;tugs at your heartstrings&quot;. You wouldn't use it of the person who was doing an action, unless they elicited compassion in themselves. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Heartstrings&quot; is pretty well obsolete, apart from this expression (the OED has no examples since 1896, though the entry was updated in 1989). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T13:13:15.270" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18304" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18314" CreationDate="2011-03-28T13:13:26.080" Score="9" ViewCount="307" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello everyone,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as I'm far from being good English speaker, I use to watch series to improve my skills. I'm fan of various genres, from Star Trek to How I Met Your Mother and I can say until now, I felt &quot;aligned&quot; with it, meaning I knew why such and such grammar was used, when it was slang, shorter form etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Just recently I've picked up Dexter, nice one btw, and I can't stop wondering. People there (actors) speak completely different than what I was used to listen to. I don't mean accent or pronunciation (although I can see differences here, too) like in thread &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2056/why-are-movies-so-hard-to-understand-and-what-can-you-do-about-it&quot;&gt;Why are movies so hard to understand (and what can you do about it)?&lt;/a&gt; but more like the actual (lack of) grammar.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, people many times skip words (&quot;[are] You [willing to] be there?&quot; or &quot;See [you] tomorrow?&quot;) and what was most surprising for me, they rarely use past and future tenses. So instead of let's say &quot;You have had a fight?&quot; actor just asks &quot;You fighting?&quot; or instead of &quot;Have you you told her that?&quot; just &quot;You tell her?&quot; or similar (yes, it's often combined with mentioned skipping of some words).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So my question is, is it really some kind of Miami slang (with influence of immigrants from Cuba who don't speak so well English) or it's just the series or it's just me being completely wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4035" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T17:12:40.103" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T20:03:17.053" Title="Do people in Miami really talk like they do in the television series &quot;Dexter&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;dialects&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5993" CreationDate="2011-03-28T13:17:47.607" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the U.S., you should call it an &quot;optical shop&quot; (1.27 million google hits), which I believe is the most common term in American English for it. &quot;Optical store&quot; only gets 1/5 of the hits, although as nohat points out, this is what both LensCrafters and J.C. Penney call their optical shops. I &lt;em&gt;think&lt;/em&gt; they're trying to make their locations sound a little fancier. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In Britain, as many people have pointed out, it's an &quot;optician's&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5754" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T13:17:47.607" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18265" CreationDate="2011-03-28T13:18:44.180" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could use the word &lt;strong&gt;neutral&lt;/strong&gt;, but that would require rewording the other options to take out the actor and focus on the opinion:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Strongly agree&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Agree&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Neutral&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Disagree&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Strongly disagree&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've seen this formulation often on forms. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="162" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T13:18:44.180" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18308" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T13:21:12.250" Score="3" ViewCount="48" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does the verb &quot;provide&quot; always have to be used with &quot;with&quot;? For example,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can you provide me &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; some good&#xA;  examples?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can you provide me some good&#xA;  examples?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Can you provide some good&#xA;  examples?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose it's a transitive verb, isn't it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, is the following type of usage correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You should provide food for your dog&#xA;  before you go on vacation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you could give me some good examples regarding &quot;provide&quot; with different types of usage, I'd appreciate that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="127" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T13:56:42.763" Title="Usage of the verb &quot;provide&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="18309" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18308" CreationDate="2011-03-28T13:24:43.030" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Provide can be either transitive or intransitive&lt;br&gt;&#xA;All of your sentences above appear correct (as provide can take both a direct and an indirect object, and the &quot;with&quot; may be implied, as in your 2nd sentence).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;1 [ trans. ] make available for use; supply : these clubs provide a much appreciated service for this area.&#xA;  • ( provide someone with) equip or supply someone with (something useful or necessary) : we were provided with a map of the area.&#xA;  • present or yield (something useful) : neither will provide answers to these problems.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;2 [ intrans. ] ( provide for) make adequate preparation for (a possible event) : new qualifications must provide for changes in technology.&#xA;  • supply sufficient money to ensure the maintenance of (someone) : Emma was handsomely provided for in Frank's will.&#xA;  • (of a law) enable or allow (something to be done).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;3 [with clause ] stipulate in a will or other legal document : the order should be varied to provide that there would be no contact with the father.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;4 ( provide someone to) historical Christian Church appoint an incumbent to (a benefice).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;source: NOAD&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6534" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T13:24:43.030" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18310" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T13:35:29.633" Score="5" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am a native speaker of Portuguese, and in latin languages there are two verbs representing &quot;to be&quot;, one which is a permanent state of being (&quot;esse&quot;) and another that is a transient state of being (&quot;stare&quot;). My question is, what is the best way to convey this difference when there is a single verb available?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6626" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T13:43:25.760" Title="&quot;To be&quot; differences with other languages" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18308" CreationDate="2011-03-28T13:40:31.260" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Regarding historical usage, it seems that “provide with” started to be used around 1750. A couple of Google ngram searches provided for the date it started being used. I was tipped off by the fact that, while King James’ Bible (1611) doesn't use it as a transitive verb, newer translations do.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T13:40:31.260" />
  <row Id="18312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18308" CreationDate="2011-03-28T13:43:18.247" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other uses of Provide could be: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I told my girlfriend I could provide for her.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I can provide for you.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Can you provide an answer?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T13:56:42.763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T13:56:42.763" />
  <row Id="18313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18310" CreationDate="2011-03-28T13:43:25.760" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is no general way to convey this difference in English, and English speakers often find the difference between &lt;em&gt;esse/stare&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;ser/estar&lt;/em&gt; in Spanish) to be very difficult to master for this reason. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When it's very important to make this distinction, you can add an adverb like &quot;permanently&quot; or &quot;for now&quot; to clarify things. Most of the time, though, just use &lt;em&gt;to be&lt;/em&gt; and ignore the difference that would exist in Portuguese.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T13:43:25.760" />
  <row Id="18314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18304" CreationDate="2011-03-28T13:56:13.570" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds to me like people are just leaving out words, as opposed to completely violating the grammar. This often happens in conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;You fighting?&quot; -&gt; &quot;Are you fighting?&quot; (as in a continuous disagreement instead of a momentary battle)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;You tell her?&quot; -&gt; &quot;Did you tell her?&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;You be there?&quot; -&gt; &quot;Will you be there?&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems like people are just leaving out the helping verbs. It's certainly not &lt;em&gt;proper&lt;/em&gt; but it's acceptable in casual conversation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for whether or not Miamians speak this way, I can't say, but I'd guess lots of native English speakers will speak this way from time to time. I'm in Canada and I would not find any of this speech surprising or difficult.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T13:56:13.570" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18315" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18317" CreationDate="2011-03-28T14:00:46.943" Score="2" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;Merriam-Webster defines &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/systemize&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;systemize&quot;&lt;/a&gt; as an alternate spelling of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/systematize&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&quot;systematize.&quot;&lt;/a&gt; Is there any reason to choose one over the the other (besides &quot;systematize&quot; sounding a little weird to my ears)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I did notice that the spell checker in my browser is marking &quot;systemize&quot; as incorrect, though Word says it's fine (U.S. English).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6629" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T14:58:59.380" Title="&quot;systematize&quot; vs. &quot;systemize&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18316" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T14:04:08.540" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am in the process of translating Sister Sledge's &quot;B.Y.O.B&quot; song into Russian. Could you please help me to grasp the meaning of the &quot;Man of the room&quot; idiom used in this song? Thanks&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6628" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T19:08:31.703" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T19:08:31.703" Title="What does &quot;Man of the room&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;lyrics&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18317" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18315" CreationDate="2011-03-28T14:05:03.027" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;systemize&quot; is uncommon enough to lead you to prefer &quot;systematize&quot; — and &quot;just sounds weird&quot; is often a good enough reason all by itself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T14:05:03.027" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18318" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18279" CreationDate="2011-03-28T14:06:01.823" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;excoriate - you're yelling directly at someone&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;execrate - you're yelling about them (but not necessarily to their face)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T14:06:01.823" />
  <row Id="18319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18315" CreationDate="2011-03-28T14:09:29.780" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports &lt;em&gt;systemize&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;another term for systematize.&quot; That is all the description given by the NOAD; I guess that means &lt;em&gt;systemize&lt;/em&gt; is not so often used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T14:58:59.380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T14:58:59.380" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18232" CreationDate="2011-03-28T14:11:02.330" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about '&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dreamsville&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;'?  Henry Mancini wrote a song about that place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T14:11:02.330" />
  <row Id="18321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18278" CreationDate="2011-03-28T14:15:28.410" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think &quot;contributor&quot; would serve to cover all cases.  It does not necessarily imply that the contribution is original.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4244" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T14:15:28.410" />
  <row Id="18322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18268" CreationDate="2011-03-28T14:18:17.897" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In cases like this, I hear &quot;at&quot; as a synonym for &quot;engaged in&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4244" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T14:18:17.897" />
  <row Id="18323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18254" CreationDate="2011-03-28T14:28:58.880" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;An auxiliary verb is a verb used in forming the tenses, moods, and voices of other verbs.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In English, such verbs are &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T14:28:58.880" />
  <row Id="18324" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18278" CreationDate="2011-03-28T14:35:58.020" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you're just looking for a word to indicate where on the site people can submit content, &lt;em&gt;submit here&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;submissions&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;contribute here&lt;/em&gt; all work. If you really need to define the different types of contributors, it could get confusing. Even is someone is the author of their content, they are still submitting it. &lt;em&gt;Submitter&lt;/em&gt;, while technically correct, brings to mind someone who is in submission to something or someone. This site uses &lt;strong&gt;user&lt;/strong&gt; to name participants. Perhaps the types of submissions could be categorized (color-coded?) in some way without needing to come up with different names for those generating the content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T14:35:58.020" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18325" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18326" CreationDate="2011-03-28T14:37:51.730" Score="3" ViewCount="217" Body="&lt;p&gt;What does it mean in the following example and in general: &quot;Well, the statistically significant streak of weirdos is annoying then.  Touché on the logic part.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T15:43:48.820" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T16:01:50.310" Title="What does &quot;touché&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18325" CreationDate="2011-03-28T14:42:41.027" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;touché&lt;/em&gt; is often used in popular culture and general conversation — for example, in an argument or debate — to commend someone on a clever response or counter point to an argument. In fencing, &lt;em&gt;touché&lt;/em&gt;, the French word for &quot;touched&quot;, is used to acknowledge a hit, called out by the fencer who is hit.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch%C3%A9&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastEditorUserId="5894" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T14:52:18.073" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T14:52:18.073" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18325" CreationDate="2011-03-28T14:43:55.213" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The word touché is also often used in&#xA;  popular culture and general&#xA;  conversation — for example, in an&#xA;  argument or debate — to commend&#xA;  someone on a clever response or&#xA;  counter point to an argument.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch%C3%A9&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;from Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would add: not only is the word used to &lt;em&gt;commend&lt;/em&gt; someone, but also to &lt;em&gt;concede&lt;/em&gt; the point.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2497" LastEditorUserId="2497" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T16:01:50.310" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T16:01:50.310" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18328" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T14:48:42.337" Score="1" ViewCount="97" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is the phrase &quot;move over&quot; an official English idiom known worldwide? I would like to know:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it an &lt;em&gt;official&lt;/em&gt; English idiom (not slang or colloquial)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Is it known outside of the US (e.g. in the UK, Australia, India)?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Does it have any multiple meanings? Does it have any ambiguousness?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;How likely it is for a non-native English speaker to know what this idiom means?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is its official meaning? (is it &quot;make way&quot; or &quot;move aside&quot;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can it mean &quot;move toward&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2135" LastEditorUserId="3217" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T15:16:03.020" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T15:16:03.020" Title="Is the phrase &quot;move over&quot; an official English idiom? And if so, is it only in American English?" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18328" CreationDate="2011-03-28T14:57:12.953" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Move over&quot; is probably short for &quot;move over there.&quot; Its shortened meaning is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Move.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Get out of the way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Take a few steps to the side.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not sure how I would classify it as Official or not but the phrase is immediately understood by every culture I interact with in the United States.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any ambiguities in the term would be cleared up by the emotional tint used when speaking. &quot;Move &lt;em&gt;over&lt;/em&gt;!&quot; implies a frustration that someone is standing where you need to be or view or go. &quot;Please move over a bit&quot; is instructing you were you should probably be standing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As with most phrases involving two words, you will also find it buried in other sentences without the specific meanings or connotations of the phrase itself:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I want this moved over there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He moved over the river.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The latter is more common as &quot;he moved across the river&quot; but you will hear &quot;over&quot; from a few people.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T14:57:12.953" />
  <row Id="18330" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T14:59:16.863" Score="3" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'll try to give some specific examples, as this one is rather difficult to explain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example 1: Imagine you have been attending a kindergarten in Canada. Now you are 30 years old, so you won't go to kindergarten again, but I want to ask you whether you would be happier today, if you were attending a US kindergarten in the past. Would it be like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you like to have been attending a US kindergarten?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Example 2: You have been brought up by a stepfather. Now you are an adult, so nobody is, nor will be bringing you up anymore. But yet, I want to ask, whether you would be happier, if it were your real father who brought you up. Would it be like this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you like to have been brought up by your real father?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alternatives, or how are they different?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you have wanted to attend a US kindergarten?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you have wanted to be attending a US kindergarten?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you have wanted to be brought up by your real father?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6509" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T16:53:11.193" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T16:53:11.193" Title="How can I phrase a question about a theoretical event in the past, which cannot happen anymore?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;past-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="18331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18328" CreationDate="2011-03-28T15:03:38.910" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is this &lt;em&gt;&quot;Official&quot;&lt;/em&gt; of which you speak?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Yes.  It's a perfectly common phrase in the UK, with variants such as &quot;Budge over&quot; or &quot;Shift over&quot; having the same meaning.  I can't speak for other countries, but I have no reason to suspect that it's limited to the US and the UK.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Not really, no.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;As per 2, I'd expect most native English speakers to recognise it, though I could be wrong.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Again, what do you mean by &lt;em&gt;&quot;official&quot;&lt;/em&gt;?  The English language doesn't have a governing body in the way that the Académie française tries to be for French.  Dictionaries follow usage rather than defining it.  I understand &quot;Move over&quot; as meaning &quot;Move aside,&quot; such as to make space on a sofa or give the speaker access to a computer keyboard.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Move over&quot; on its own doesn't imply motion towards anything, just (short) motion away.  You could say &quot;Move over &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; [somewhere],&quot; but that's a different construction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T15:03:38.910" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18332" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T15:04:56.567" Score="1" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;In other cases, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idol_series#Idol_around_the_world&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a [country] Idol show&lt;/a&gt; titles use the demonym: &lt;em&gt;American Idol&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Malaysian Idol&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Indonesian Idol&lt;/em&gt;. Why is this show called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_Idol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Singapore Idol&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;Singaporean Idol&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6634" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T21:54:12.143" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T21:54:12.143" Title="Why is this show called &quot;Singapore Idol&quot;, not &quot;Singaporean Idol&quot;?" Tags="&lt;demonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18333" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18332" CreationDate="2011-03-28T15:10:42.917" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Probably because “Singaporean Idol” is quite a mouthful! Shorter titles are more impressive, easier to communicate. I'm sure they run it by many communication experts…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T15:10:42.917" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18328" CreationDate="2011-03-28T15:11:32.353" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Move over&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;move aside&lt;/em&gt;) is a phrasal verb that means &quot;adjust one's position to make room for someone else.&quot; It is used in both British English, and American English. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People who don't speak English as first language should not have any problems to understand the phrase, if they understand what &lt;em&gt;move&lt;/em&gt; means. In some other languages it is not necessary to add &lt;em&gt;over&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;move&lt;/em&gt; to suggest to make room for another person.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Move over&lt;/em&gt; is not slang phrase.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In American English, &lt;em&gt;move over&lt;/em&gt; could also have two additional meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to stop doing something in order to let someone else do it&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;to start to do something in a different way&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;She moved over to let me pass.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  They seem to expect older musicians to move over so that the younger ones can get a chance.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Most companies moved over to direct payments years ago.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T15:11:32.353" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18330" CreationDate="2011-03-28T15:12:12.623" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would phrase these using the word &lt;em&gt;rather&lt;/em&gt; with the present perfect tense:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you rather have attended a US kindergarten?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you rather have been brought up by your real father?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also phrase these with &lt;em&gt;like to&lt;/em&gt;, though the sentence becomes somewhat more convoluted:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I would like to have learned a foreign language when I was young.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T15:12:12.623" />
  <row Id="18336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18316" CreationDate="2011-03-28T15:14:15.613" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Man of the&quot; is used to describe the most important man or the man in control of whatever the object is. &quot;Man of the house&quot; is the most common phrase; &quot;man of the room&quot; would be a variant. It describes someone who is probably known by most of the people in the room or is the one person who could be labeled as the most powerful; richest; etc. Without more context from the song it will be hard to pin down the precise meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other uses you may hear (with mixed acceptance):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Man of the barbecue&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Man of the remote&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Man of the year&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Man&quot; is, of course, just one word that could be used:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Woman of the remote&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Person of the year&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dog of the house&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase is extremely flexible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T15:14:15.613" />
  <row Id="18337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18330" CreationDate="2011-03-28T15:15:22.090" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Examples 1 and 2 both correctly accomplish what you want them to. In example 1, you could be slightly more concise by rephrasing it as &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you like to have &lt;em&gt;attended&lt;/em&gt; a US kindergarten?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The alternatives all ask the same slightly different question. Whereas examples 1 and 2 ask the person whether he, &lt;strong&gt;in the present moment&lt;/strong&gt;, thinks he would have been better off had his childhood been different, the alternatives ask the person whether he, &lt;strong&gt;when he was a child&lt;/strong&gt;, would have preferred those different situations. The key difference between examples 1 and 2 on the one hand, and the alternatives on the other, is the use of the present tense &lt;em&gt;like&lt;/em&gt; and the past tense &lt;em&gt;wanted&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T15:15:22.090" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18330" CreationDate="2011-03-28T15:20:40.157" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could phrase the first condition something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you think that you would be happier now if you had attended kindergarten in the US?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...and the second like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you be happier now if you had been raised by your real father?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you be happier now if you were raised by your real father?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All five of the examples in the question are grammatically correct, although some are a bit confusing, but there are shades of differences in their meanings.  For instance,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Would you like to have been attending a US kindergarten?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is different than &lt;code&gt;Would you like to have attended a US kindergarten?&lt;/code&gt;  The former goes back to the past and asks the question as if the past were now the present.  The latter asks, from the present, with a view to the past.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T15:20:40.157" />
  <row Id="18339" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18316" CreationDate="2011-03-28T15:26:57.167" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I listened to the song &lt;a href=&quot;http://mp3bear.com/sister-sledge-byob-bring-your-own-baby&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. I think the line you are referring to is &quot;You've been hitting on every man &lt;em&gt;in&lt;/em&gt; the room.&quot; at 00:20. In other words, the woman the song is addressed to has shown up at a B.Y.O.B. (bring your own baby) party without a date and is trying to steal someone else's man.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T15:26:57.167" />
  <row Id="18340" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T15:41:49.133" Score="2" ViewCount="93" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do we say it this way because of some connection with French and the &quot;ne...pas,&quot; &quot;ne...ni&quot; constructions?  I'm thinking that it might be a direct importation from Old French by the Normans, or perhaps this duality is a general feature of PIE languages?  If anyone can clue me in I'd be grateful.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T16:07:12.577" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T20:56:02.783" Title="Why is it &quot;either...or&quot; and &quot;neither...nor&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18340" CreationDate="2011-03-28T15:46:37.150" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;from old English of &quot;not whether&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;ORIGIN Middle English : alteration (by association with either) of Old English &lt;em&gt;nawther&lt;/em&gt;, contraction of &lt;em&gt;nāhwæther&lt;/em&gt; (from &lt;em&gt;nā&lt;/em&gt; [no] + &lt;em&gt;hwæther&lt;/em&gt; [whether])&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;from NOAD&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6534" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T15:46:37.150" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18343" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18346" CreationDate="2011-03-28T15:49:57.287" Score="0" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;Does there exist a single word that more or less means &quot;as its name would suggest?&quot; For example, is there a word that appropriately might replace the bolded portion of this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Computer Science, &lt;strong&gt;as its name would suggest&lt;/strong&gt;, is the science of computation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something perhaps in the vein of the following?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Computer Science, &lt;strong&gt;unsurprisingly&lt;/strong&gt;, is the science of computation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4012" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T15:55:00.993" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T16:20:50.043" Title="Is there a word that means &quot;as its name would suggest?&quot;" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18043" CreationDate="2011-03-28T15:50:50.343" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I always thought it was spelled &quot;blaggard&quot;. I guess blackguard is an alternative spelling. Anyway, the word blaggard in BrE refers to a person who has behaved dishonorably towards a woman. It almost never has a chummy connotation. It is often used by gentleman who feel they have to defend the honor of some lady. e.g. Jane: he touched me! Gentleman: That blaggard! Bring him here, I'll skin him alive!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4860" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T15:50:50.343" />
  <row Id="18345" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18328" CreationDate="2011-03-28T16:03:14.607" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wouldn't say &lt;em&gt;move over&lt;/em&gt; is actually slang or colloquial. But it's normally used as a curt injunction to someone to get out of your way (or line of sight), which in effect makes it somewhat rude, and &quot;slangy&quot; by association.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Step aside, please [sir]&lt;/em&gt; is preferrable if you want to be firm without giving offense. Certainly that's what I'd expect from, say, a policeman speaking to a member of the public in relevant circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T16:03:14.607" />
  <row Id="18346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18343" CreationDate="2011-03-28T16:04:57.967" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The discipline 'Computer Science',&#xA;  fittingly, is the science of&#xA;  computation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The discipline 'Computer Science' is&#xA;  aptly named; it is the science of&#xA;  computation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Informally, I see increasing usage of &quot;well&quot; as an obvious connotation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Computer Science is, well, the science&#xA;  of computation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T16:04:57.967" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="13874" CreationDate="2011-03-28T16:12:27.580" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=0KpbAAAAQAAJ&amp;amp;dq=%22rubbed%20the%20wrong%20way%22&amp;amp;pg=PA107#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22rubbed%20the%20wrong%20way%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; early reference to cats:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Very probably,&quot; said Henry, smiling at poor Charles's credulity, &quot;for nothing is more likely to resemble a cat than one of its own species; and I know, that when a cat's back is rubbed the wrong way, sparks, which are electric sparks, may be seen in the dark.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;em&gt;Aunt Mary's Tales&lt;/em&gt;, 1819&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but I found &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=2wUuAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA163#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=rubbed&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; earlier description of a plant:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;triflorus&lt;/em&gt;.  Panicle spreading: spikelets about 3-flowered. &#xA;             Germany. Denmark. &lt;em&gt;Flor. Dan. t.&lt;/em&gt; 440? &#xA;                &lt;em&gt;Leaves&lt;/em&gt; a little rough when rubbed the wrong way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;em&gt;A General System of Nature&lt;/em&gt;, 1806&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T16:12:27.580" />
  <row Id="18348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18343" CreationDate="2011-03-28T16:20:50.043" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the short answer is &lt;em&gt;No&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The long answer (as its name would suggest) is that there are lots of words and phrases which in context mean &lt;em&gt;as [that name] would suggest&lt;/em&gt;. Such as &lt;em&gt;obviously&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;self-evidently&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;as you can guess&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;unsurprisingly&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But &lt;em&gt;as you might expect&lt;/em&gt;, none of them are really necessary, since you're already assuming the hearer knows what you're saying anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T16:20:50.043" />
  <row Id="18349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18079" CreationDate="2011-03-28T16:33:09.080" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The segments you have highlighted in those words are voiceless stops (or plosives), along with one voiceless affricate (&quot;ch&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In deciding whether it is significant that these words have these types of consonants in them, one should consider how common voiceless stops are in words in general. I don't know of any sources offhand that can tell you that, but /p,t,k/ are very common consonant sounds in English.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Another thing one must be able to account for are the profanities that do not have a single voiceless stop or afficate: e.g. &lt;em&gt;ass&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;douche&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;damn&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;hell&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;bugger&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;boobs&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;asshole&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;douchenozzle&lt;/em&gt;, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;But above all, I think the following is extremely important to note: when I say &lt;em&gt;fuck&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;shit&lt;/em&gt;, I often reduce the [k] sound to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottal_stop&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;glottal stop&lt;/a&gt; or an unreleased stop [k̚ ], and I almost always reduce the [t] sound to a glottal stop. (The same is true with &lt;em&gt;cunt&lt;/em&gt;, but I feel uncomfortable telling people I &quot;say&quot; that word :)  The glottal stop is basically the sudden absence of sound — it is the sound that occurs at the beginning of each syllable in &quot;uh-oh&quot; /ʔʌʔoʊ/. In any case, this is very normal and very common in American English — to the extent that one would generally consider a fully articulated stop in these words to be hyperarticulation. Why would we do this if a major driving force behind the structure of profanities is the very harsh and salient sound of voiceless stops and affricates? The glottal stop is possibly the least salient phoneme in English.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All that said, there could be something psychological going on, and something inherent about those sounds, but at the moment, it sounds like a coincidence to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="449" LastEditorUserId="449" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T17:19:02.520" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T17:19:02.520" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18350" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T16:37:04.983" Score="4" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is more appropriate: &quot;So&quot; or &quot;As&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6478" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T21:52:41.303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T17:46:32.553" Title="Which is correct: &quot;So far as I know&quot; or &quot;As far as I know&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18351" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18354" CreationDate="2011-03-28T16:39:09.170" Score="2" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;Receipt?  Receiving?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to come up with a name for &quot;the acceptance of a delivery.&quot;  I'd like to be able to say &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Ten deliveries were made but there are only five [fill_in_the_blank_here] on record.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6636" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T18:47:30.370" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T18:47:30.370" Title="Noun for &quot;receive&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18278" CreationDate="2011-03-28T16:39:35.283" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A user who &lt;em&gt;provides&lt;/em&gt; content can also be termed a &lt;em&gt;provider&lt;/em&gt;, although that can come across as too technical.  Also the verb form for something like a button is a bit awkward: &quot;Click here to Provide&quot; or &quot;Provide Content Here.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5973" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T16:39:35.283" />
  <row Id="18353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18351" CreationDate="2011-03-28T16:44:19.673" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word you are looking for is &lt;em&gt;Received&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;as in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ten deliveries were made but according to our records only five were received&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2022" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T06:22:03.267" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T06:22:03.267" />
  <row Id="18354" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18351" CreationDate="2011-03-28T16:45:44.977" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Receipt&lt;/em&gt; works.   As in, &quot;receipt of the items has been acknowledged.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Receipt \Re*ceipt&quot;\ (r[-e]*s[=e]t&quot;),&#xA;  n. [OE. receite, OF.&#xA;       recete, recepte, F. recette, fr. L. recipere, receptum, to&#xA;       receive. See {Receive}.]&#xA;       1. The act of receiving; reception. &quot;At the receipt of your&#xA;          letter.&quot; --Shak.&#xA;          [1913 Webster]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Likely variations for your case would include&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Ten deliveries were made but there are only five &lt;em&gt;received items&lt;/em&gt; on record.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Ten deliveries were made but the records show only five items were received.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T16:45:44.977" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18355" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18358" CreationDate="2011-03-28T16:52:57.950" Score="6" ViewCount="180" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a past tense of the verb &quot;to wing,&quot; meaning to make up on the fly?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Inspired by a &lt;a href=&quot;http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2011/03/soup-black-bean-hot.html&quot;&gt;blog post of Wil Wheaton&lt;/a&gt;, quoted partially below.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Is it from a recipe, or are you&#xA;  winging it?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I've made so many different recipes&#xA;  from so many different places, I just&#xA;  looked through the pantry and&#xA;  refrigerator and wung it.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We looked at each other. &quot;Wung it?&quot; I&#xA;  said. &quot;I think I mean I am winging it.&#xA;  What's the past-tense of winging it?&#xA;  Wang it? Winged it?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I don't know, but it's not 'wung&#xA;  it,'&quot; she said. I couldn't argue with&#xA;  her.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T16:59:54.113" Title="Past tense of &quot;to wing&quot;?" Tags="&lt;past-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="18356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18350" CreationDate="2011-03-28T16:53:57.517" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;As far as I know&quot; is the idiomatic expression I'm familiar with.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;as far as&lt;/strong&gt; conj. To the degree or extent that: &lt;em&gt;They returned at nine, as&#xA;  far as we know&lt;/em&gt;. Usage Note: As far as&#xA;  the Usage Panel is concerned, &lt;em&gt;as far&#xA;  as&lt;/em&gt; had better be followed by both a&#xA;  subject and a form of &lt;em&gt;go&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;be&#xA;  concerned&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;As far as&lt;/em&gt; is sometimes used&#xA;  as a preposition meaning &quot;as for&quot; or&#xA;  &quot;regarding,&quot; especially in speech, but&#xA;  a large majority of the Panel frowns&#xA;  upon this usage. Eighty percent find&#xA;  the &lt;em&gt;as far as&lt;/em&gt; construction in this&#xA;  sentence unacceptable: &lt;em&gt;As far as&#xA;  something to do on the weekend, we&#xA;  didn't even have miniature golf.&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  Eighty-four percent reject the&#xA;  sentence &lt;em&gt;The Yankees are still very&#xA;  much alive, as far as the divisional&#xA;  race.&lt;/em&gt; Further, 89 percent object to &lt;em&gt;as&#xA;  far as&lt;/em&gt; when followed by a noun clause,&#xA;  as in &lt;em&gt;As far as how Koresh got shot,&#xA;  we don't know yet.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;[The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009]&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the same source &quot;so far as&quot; is a variation of &quot;insofar as&quot; :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;so far as&lt;/strong&gt; conj. Insofar as: &lt;em&gt;So far as&#xA;  I am concerned, the project is over.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T18:41:27.380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T18:41:27.380" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18351" CreationDate="2011-03-28T16:55:17.563" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think you said it already: &quot;deliveries&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T16:55:17.563" />
  <row Id="18358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18355" CreationDate="2011-03-28T16:59:54.113" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I winged it&quot; is correct. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The phrase comes from &quot;theatrical slang sense of an actor learning his lines in the wings before going onstage, or else not learning them at all and being fed by a prompter in the wings&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://on.oceg.org/hRqPUt&quot;&gt;http://on.oceg.org/hRqPUt&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6638" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T16:59:54.113" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18304" CreationDate="2011-03-28T17:09:26.600" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In common speech, American English speakers take a lot of shortcuts. The best example I can think of is &quot;I don't know&quot; which becomes &quot;I dunno&quot;, reducing to &quot;Iuhno&quot; and finally the &lt;em&gt;mouth fully closed&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;mmmmm&quot;. We all understand it as &quot;I don't know&quot; just based on the pitch variation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Non-native ears are certainly not conditioned to catch all of these dropped syllables, so your interpretations may or may not be correct about what they're really saying. Practice, practice, practice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T17:09:26.600" />
  <row Id="18361" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T17:35:01.820" Score="3" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might say that writing found in literature is &lt;em&gt;literary&lt;/em&gt;, language like that found in poetry is &lt;em&gt;poetic&lt;/em&gt; .&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What do you call writing found in essays, or writing like that found in essays?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;(Not considering &lt;em&gt;prosaic&lt;/em&gt;, to head off certain humorous tangents.) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there something better than &lt;em&gt;essayistic&lt;/em&gt; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A short phrase, if appropriate, would also be acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In addition to pieces of writing originating from or destined for an academic group, here are a couple of items that appear to fall into the same category: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/errol-morris/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Errol Morris's blog in the &lt;em&gt;New York Times&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;One of many 'essays' by Paul Graham: Makers/Managers Schedules &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.paulgraham.com/essay.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Paul Graham: The Age of the Essay&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T18:24:47.417" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T21:26:27.450" Title="What's an adjective to describe the type of writing found in essays?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18361" CreationDate="2011-03-28T17:35:58.137" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The word here is &lt;em&gt;academic&lt;/em&gt; writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T17:35:58.137" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18363" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18365" CreationDate="2011-03-28T17:36:03.457" Score="1" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Either Sat or Sunday, depending on a availability of the seat . &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to say that I will return home depending if a seat on the airplane will be available. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1446" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T19:42:25.673" Title="What is a better/correct way to rephrase this sentence on availability" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18364" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18361" CreationDate="2011-03-28T17:40:26.740" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've seen &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expository_writing&quot;&gt;expository&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T17:40:26.740" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18365" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18363" CreationDate="2011-03-28T17:43:56.277" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just &lt;em&gt;depending on seat availability&lt;/em&gt; does fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;btw - don't say &quot;if a seat on the airplane &lt;em&gt;will be&lt;/em&gt; available&quot;. Say &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;, even though we're talking about the future. I can't explain exactly why this is so - it just &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T17:43:56.277" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18366" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18367" CreationDate="2011-03-28T17:46:46.553" Score="0" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know that is written WWI, but when I am speaking should I say &quot;World War One&quot; or &quot;World War First&quot; or &quot;First World War&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5573" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T21:49:19.183" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T22:21:08.527" Title="How to say &quot;WWI&quot; when speaking" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;abbreviations&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18366" CreationDate="2011-03-28T17:48:04.073" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always heard people referring to it either as &quot;World War One&quot; or &quot;the first World War&quot;. I guess the second is slightly more &quot;formal&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5737" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T17:48:04.073" />
  <row Id="18368" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="14437" CreationDate="2011-03-28T17:51:13.923" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always taken it to mean a pause that engenders an expectation (&quot;pregnant&quot; = &quot;expecting&quot;) for the listener. This as opposed to a pause to let the listener reflect on what was just said, a pause for the speaker to catch his breath, a pause for the speaker to find the right words, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It could be used in telling a joke, making a sales pitch, storytelling, or as a form of emphasis that can only be described as &lt;strong&gt;legen...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(wait for it)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;...dary!!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4411" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T17:51:13.923" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18361" CreationDate="2011-03-28T17:51:34.733" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard it described simply as &lt;strong&gt;long-form writing&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T21:26:27.450" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T21:26:27.450" />
  <row Id="18370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18366" CreationDate="2011-03-28T17:59:52.463" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;WWI&lt;/em&gt; is an abbreviation for &quot;World War One.&quot;  You could alternatively say &quot;the First World War&quot; or &quot;The Great War&quot; (though that has been rare since WWII), but I would normally expect to see either of those versions written out in full.  If the text says &quot;WWI&quot;, reading out &quot;the First World War&quot; would not be reading what was written, though it might be a perfectly reasonable thing to do depending on the circumstances.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastEditorUserId="1579" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T22:21:08.527" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T22:21:08.527" />
  <row Id="18371" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T18:07:59.197" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just now, I wanted to ask a question that was something like, &quot;Can I get a thorough list of all the parts of speech that a sentence can be broken down into?&quot; But then a nagging voice appeared in my head and said, &#xA;&quot;Of course you can! You certainly have the capability -- but that's not what you want, is it.&quot; &quot;You're asking for help, so use &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My question is: Should I invariably trust that voice, instilled in students by grammar school teachers everywhere? What do serious linguists and language enthusiasts think about the &quot;Can I&quot;/&quot;May I&quot; distinction?  Would they agree, or is it fair to say that using &quot;can&quot; there has become proper idiomatic English? I ask because I couldn't really think of a quick way to rephrase that sentence using &quot;may&quot;, and began to wonder whether it was just another one of those kludgy myths megalomaniac teachers enforce on their students...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T23:31:42.493" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T00:21:52.650" Title="Do serious grammarians endorse the &quot;Can I&quot;/&quot;May I&quot; distinction?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="18372" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18366" CreationDate="2011-03-28T18:11:33.203" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;World War II is almost always said &quot;World War Two&quot;, so by convention, World War I follows: &quot;World War One&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;As an interesting aside, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; notes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The terms World War I and First World War both became standard (in the United States and Britain respectively) beginning in about 1940 to 1942; prior to that, it was most commonly called The Great War.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T18:11:33.203" />
  <row Id="18373" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18366" CreationDate="2011-03-28T18:15:54.840" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The three ways to refer to WWI are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;World War One&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The First World War&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The Great War&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;World War One&quot; is easily the most common. The second is complete misnomer considering the world wars that happened before World War I. The Great War is what WWI was referred to before WWII.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest using &quot;World War One&quot; unless you want to show off your history skills by referring to &quot;The Great War.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T19:00:26.440" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T19:00:26.440" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="18374" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18371" CreationDate="2011-03-28T18:21:24.760" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think a serious descriptive grammarian would tell you what you already know: &lt;em&gt;can I&lt;/em&gt; is more common and &lt;em&gt;may I&lt;/em&gt; indicates more formal style, but in this kind of context they mean exactly the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However that does not tell you which one you &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; use. For that, ask a writer whose style you&amp;rsquo;d like to emulate; consult a usage guide; or stop worrying about it. :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T18:21:24.760" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18375" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18083" CreationDate="2011-03-28T18:47:12.680" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/18350/which-is-correct-so-far-as-i-know-or-as-far-as-i-know&quot;&gt;Which is correct: &amp;quot;So far as I know&amp;quot;? or &amp;quot;As far as I know&amp;quot;?&lt;/a&gt;, I offer: &lt;strong&gt;Insofar&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;Edit - This question has been puzzling me for a while. I feel like there &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; be an English word that is itself made up from two compound words, but I cannot think what it might be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the mean time, here are some more offerings of words that are made up of three or more sub-words that are considered standard English or have entered the common vernacular (all words pass the stackexchange spellchecker):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whatchamacallit (What-you-may-call-it)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thingamajig&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Thingamabob&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Plainclothesman&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Nevertheless&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Notwithstanding&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Theretofore&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Newspaperman&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Whatsoever, Whosoever, Wheresoever, Howsoever&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Insomuch (to go with 'insofar', mentioned above)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastEditorUserId="3800" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T19:33:57.740" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T19:33:57.740" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18366" CreationDate="2011-03-28T18:51:23.637" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have not heard &quot;The Great War&quot; outside of historical fiction. I have heard &quot;the first world war,&quot; but not nearly as often as &quot;World War One.&quot; In fact, I hear people say &quot;double-u double-u one&quot; about as often as &quot;the first world war,&quot; if not in the same conversation/paper.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T18:51:23.637" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18351" CreationDate="2011-03-28T18:56:15.940" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Receptions&lt;/em&gt; could carry this meaning here,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;noun&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;1&lt;/strong&gt; the action or process of receiving something sent, given , or inflicted&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;em&gt;~NOAD&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and deliveries are often received at a &lt;em&gt;reception desk&lt;/em&gt;, or simply at &lt;em&gt;Receptions&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T18:56:15.940" />
  <row Id="18378" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T19:08:24.190" Score="1" ViewCount="26" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3368/a-an-preceding-a-parenthetical-statement&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;a/an&amp;rdquo; preceding a parenthetical statement&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were to use a (normal) parenthetical statement, the article would not cause problems. If I were to use a (unusual) parenthetical statement, the article seems incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;How should I proceed? Is one of these options correct:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is a (unusual) statement&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is an (unusual) statement&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is a(n unusual) statement&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The last seems most appropriate to me but I suspect that is due to me and not the appropriateness of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T21:18:49.027" ClosedDate="2011-03-28T23:49:27.177" Title="How do I handle articles with parenthetical statements?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;articles&gt;&lt;syntax&gt;&lt;parentheses&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17601" CreationDate="2011-03-28T19:21:21.723" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; has “Origin 1960’s: said to come &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;from Jones Alley, in Manhattan&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, associated with drug addicts.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/jones-vs-great-jones-which-street-came-first/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Some online sources&lt;/a&gt; dispute the claim and attribute it to Great Jones Street.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T19:21:21.723" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18380" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18384" CreationDate="2011-03-28T19:38:36.783" Score="1" ViewCount="58" Body="&lt;p&gt;This may be related to a general grammar rule, but which of these is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wonder if Steve Jobs will be giving the keynote speech at WWDC this year?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wonder if Steve Jobs will be giving the keynote speech at WWDC this year.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My hunch tells me the question mark is incorrect, but I find myself instinctively wanting to add it. Is there a rule about this type of situation?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4012" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T20:08:32.833" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T20:08:32.833" Title="Should sentences like &quot;I wonder...&quot; end with a question mark?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;&lt;question-mark&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18381" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18385" CreationDate="2011-03-28T19:41:51.423" Score="1" ViewCount="62" Body="&lt;p&gt;My company is creating a website and we want to say that uploading of pornographic, violent, and hateful content is prohibited. Some people at the company think these exact words are too direct, so we want to replace them with a euphemism. Does &quot;&lt;strong&gt;adult content&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; or &quot;&lt;strong&gt;mature content&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; encompass porn, violence, and hate? Personally, when I think of adult or mature, I only think of porn. I think it's because American culture these days has played down the effect of violence and hate. It's okay for kids to watch Iron Man beat up other people, but not okay for them to watch Playboy. So in effect, you don't need to be adult or mature to watch violent and hateful content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6643" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T20:21:28.533" Title="Euphemisms for pornography, violence, and hate" Tags="&lt;politeness&gt;&lt;euphemisms&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18363" CreationDate="2011-03-28T19:42:25.673" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your original sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Either Sat or Sunday, depending on a availability of the seat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;would be correct if you use the definite article before 'availability' and the indefinite article before 'seat'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Either Saturday or Sunday, depending on &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; availability of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; seat. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T19:42:25.673" />
  <row Id="18383" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18380" CreationDate="2011-03-28T19:44:56.730" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you are asking a question, then yes. If you are simply telling people what you are wondering about than it isn't a question and it should not have a question mark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some examples to help clarify:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I often wonder about the future.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wonder what is for breakfast.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wonder... who is that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;People will often &lt;em&gt;say&lt;/em&gt; phrases like these as asking a question but its usage can be considered awkward for written English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am curious about your name?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;That is pie?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And you are?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The question marks here are more flagging the intonation we use in everyday speech. You can also use an elipsis:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;And you are...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Your name is...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On tests you will see a blank line:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The answer is &lt;code&gt;_____________&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But for &quot;I wonder...&quot; I would stick to a period/full stop. When you say it out loud, feel free to say it much like you ask a question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T19:44:56.730" />
  <row Id="18384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18380" CreationDate="2011-03-28T19:47:17.970" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your hunch is correct. Bryan Garner writes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Writers sometimes err by putting a question mark after an indirect question, especially one beginning with &lt;em&gt;I wonder&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;em&gt;Garner's Modern American Usage&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T19:47:17.970" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18385" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18381" CreationDate="2011-03-28T19:47:54.057" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I vote for specificity so that users know exactly what is prohibited and you aren't passing value judgments on anything -- unless the site's mission is passing value judgments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On second thought, &quot;hateful&quot; denotes a value judgment, but I guess it's hard to avoid that if you want to be clear about what is and isn't allowed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Indecent or objectionable&lt;/em&gt; is a possibility, but it leaves the door open to whatever interpretation a user decides to make.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastEditorUserId="6100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T20:21:28.533" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T20:21:28.533" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18386" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18411" CreationDate="2011-03-28T19:49:56.167" Score="3" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not sure if I can generalize this type of construct, but is there a grammar term for single words surrounded by commas? Consider the following examples:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Let's assume you are given a length of time, &lt;strong&gt;say&lt;/strong&gt;, 10 minutes.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Tristan was, &lt;strong&gt;unsurprisingly&lt;/strong&gt;, late to the meeting.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;The plain-looking building was, &lt;strong&gt;well&lt;/strong&gt;, plain.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are these known as appositives?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4012" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T22:44:18.547" Title="What is it called when a single word is offset by commas?" Tags="&lt;comma&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="18387" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18395" CreationDate="2011-03-28T19:51:06.227" Score="0" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I did a Google search on the the sentence, &quot;We grew warmer and warmer,&quot; and it only came up with a few hits, not even one page worth. So is this grammatically incorrect? Is there a better way to put this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T01:19:53.087" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T01:19:53.087" Title="Is the sentence, &quot;We grew warmer and warmer,&quot; grammatical?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18388" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18265" CreationDate="2011-03-28T19:57:53.000" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have seen &quot;No Opinion&quot; used on occasion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5699" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T19:57:53.000" />
  <row Id="18389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18386" CreationDate="2011-03-28T20:01:05.897" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's called a &lt;em&gt;parenthesis&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parenthesis_%28rhetoric%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; about it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5737" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T20:01:05.897" />
  <row Id="18390" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T20:02:25.203" Score="3" ViewCount="50" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question &quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/18355/past-tense-of-to-wing&quot;&gt;Past tense of &amp;quot;to wing&amp;quot;?&lt;/a&gt; &quot; got me thinking about terms we use in the English language that derive from &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;parts of an animal&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, especially verbs or verb phrases, like 'wing it' or 'hoof it'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are many noun and adjective phrases that use animal parts, like 'on the horns of a dilemma', so I'm more curious about verbs and verb phrases, but all entries are welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(-1 to anyone who proffers 'udder despair'!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T21:13:08.013" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-29T11:28:29.067" Title="Animalisms... What other terms derive from parts of an animal, like 'wing it', or 'hoof it'?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;&lt;animal&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18381" CreationDate="2011-03-28T20:04:40.163" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I assume this isn't a legal declaration? If you can use an informal, assertive tone, I would consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No &lt;em&gt;mean-spirited&lt;/em&gt; content, please.&#xA;  It's bad karma. Be nice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or possibly:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;No nasty content, please....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2497" LastEditorUserId="2497" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T20:17:17.110" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T20:17:17.110" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18392" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18381" CreationDate="2011-03-28T20:14:36.723" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some terms that come to mind that would encompass this are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Questionable content&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Controversial content&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inciteful &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Provocative (although this sometimes means 'though provoking')&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Inflammatory &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Unprofessional&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Demeaning&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T20:14:36.723" />
  <row Id="18393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18381" CreationDate="2011-03-28T20:15:49.093" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;“Explicit, inappropriate, and offensive content” probably covers all your meanings but is kind of vague. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T20:15:49.093" />
  <row Id="18394" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18361" CreationDate="2011-03-28T20:17:23.717" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best term I've come across is &lt;em&gt;discursive&lt;/em&gt; writing. &lt;em&gt;Discursive&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;relating to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/discourse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;discourse&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, which in turn is defined as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a speech or piece of writing about a particular, usually serious, subject.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T20:17:23.717" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18395" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18387" CreationDate="2011-03-28T20:23:42.683" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase works absolutely fine in the context you describe.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T20:23:42.683" />
  <row Id="18396" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18409" CreationDate="2011-03-28T20:44:05.473" Score="6" ViewCount="378" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do I really need to write my email this way?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hi John,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[My Message here]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Regards, Jane&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The email header already includes the &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;from&lt;/em&gt;. The recipient should not be confused by who the email is directed at (himself) and who it's coming from if the greeting and salutation are missing. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some people might say the greeting and salutation are there for politeness. Is this really true? Will you be offended if they're left out? As a website user interface designer, I was always taught by the great usability experts (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sensible.com/&quot;&gt;Steve Krug&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.useit.com/jakob/&quot;&gt;Jacob Nielson&lt;/a&gt;) that writing more than you need is disrespectful of a website user's time. To me, leaving out the greeting and salutation makes the email easier to read.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6643" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T13:10:21.023" Title="Are greetings and salutations redundant in an e-mail?" Tags="&lt;email&gt;&lt;politeness&gt;&lt;greetings&gt;&lt;salutation&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="18397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18390" CreationDate="2011-03-28T20:44:09.827" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A detective may tail a suspect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4244" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T20:44:09.827" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-29T11:28:29.067" />
  <row Id="18398" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18403" CreationDate="2011-03-28T20:46:56.147" Score="2" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can &quot;grew warmer&quot; be used as a replacement for &quot;became warmer&quot; anywhere? I've started to think of the phrase &quot;grew warmer&quot; and it seems kind of strange. Things can become warm, but it sounds strange to say that some things grow warm. Like for an inanimate object that doesn't grow, how is it ok to say that it grows warm? Can someone explain this?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T21:23:20.613" Title="&quot;grew warmer&quot; vs. &quot;became warmer&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18396" CreationDate="2011-03-28T20:47:25.267" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, you don't.  It does project a somewhat greater politeness, but not to the extent that anybody should be offended by its absence.  It also projects a significantly greater old-fashionedness.  Use it if you have a specific motivation to, leave it out otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T20:47:25.267" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18400" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2495" CreationDate="2011-03-28T20:48:19.103" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this context it means &quot;to go further than the subject matter or title suggests&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Building a web form requires that you&#xA;  do ABC, but having learnt those skills&#xA;  you could employ them to do XYZ which&#xA;  has nothing to do with building web&#xA;  forms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6645" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T20:48:19.103" />
  <row Id="18401" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18398" CreationDate="2011-03-28T20:52:56.650" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Grew&quot; is perfectly fine here; it is simply metaphorical. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the kettle was boiling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is perfectly fine. For the kettle to grow warm is also fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastEditorUserId="4972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T21:23:20.613" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T21:23:20.613" />
  <row Id="18402" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18410" CreationDate="2011-03-28T20:55:12.023" Score="2" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to use the word &lt;em&gt;aforementioned&lt;/em&gt; in an open-ended chatting context in which the conversation backtracks, such that the item that was mentioned before (as in, earlier in time) in the conversation actually appears undermentioned in the view?  This might also occur in a conversation about a collaborative document that is being discussed within the document. If this is not correct usage, what would be correct? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3287" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T21:39:06.767" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T21:39:06.767" Title="Use of the word &quot;aforementioned&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18403" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18398" CreationDate="2011-03-28T21:00:50.097" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both &lt;em&gt;grew&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;became&lt;/em&gt; are perfectly acceptable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/grow&quot;&gt;Grew&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, as the past tense of &lt;em&gt;grow&lt;/em&gt;, may be defined as: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To expand; gain; to increase by amount or degree.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/become&quot;&gt;became&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, as the past tense of &lt;em&gt;become&lt;/em&gt;, may be defined as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To grow or come to be.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Grew&lt;/em&gt; may simply be considered the more figurative of the two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T21:00:50.097" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18402" CreationDate="2011-03-28T21:01:25.317" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could reference the time of the message being referred to -- assuming everyone in the conversation sees the same time stamp.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T21:01:25.317" />
  <row Id="18405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18396" CreationDate="2011-03-28T21:03:41.543" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is cultural, either large scale or very small scale. Which is to say, it depends. Your mom might be offended if you don't have a salutation specific to her. Your boss may wonder who it is from. Your coworker might be offended by any kind of salutation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I find that a salutation is useful in its redundancy; if it's missing at the end, my eye has to travel all over the page before I find the 'from' address (which may need to be interpreted before I realize exactly who sent it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the answer is, depending on the context, do what everybody else does, or people will think you are weird.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I personally find greetings empty (except it proves that they know my name), but I like a nominal salutation (literally, just the name) so that I know how to address them in the future (either in email or in person). I find &quot;Cheers,&quot;, &quot;Regards&quot;, whatever, also empty bacause I want to read them literally, and there's very little there that -is- literal.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T21:03:41.543" />
  <row Id="18406" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18022" CreationDate="2011-03-28T21:05:30.197" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Other popular terms for a person who fills out a survey:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;individual, person, member of that demographic group, member of the population, respondent, writer, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you choose a certain category of people to take your survey (rather than a randomly selected people in your city), then you might use terms that apply to that category:&#xA;computer user, Mac user, iPhone user, Android user, guitarist, grandmother, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5510" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T21:05:30.197" />
  <row Id="18407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18390" CreationDate="2011-03-28T21:06:13.557" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some of these are pushing the definition, I'm sure, but...&#xA;You can:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;hightail it out of here.&#xA;&lt;li&gt;beef something up (or have a beef with someone).&#xA;&lt;li&gt;nose around.&#xA;&lt;li&gt;feather your nest.&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shank a ball.&#xA;&lt;li&gt;paw someone.&#xA;&lt;li&gt;go into hock.&#xA;&lt;li&gt;ham it up.&#xA;&lt;li&gt;keep abreast of something.&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastEditorUserId="2490" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T21:13:08.013" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T21:13:08.013" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-29T11:28:29.067" />
  <row Id="18408" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18378" CreationDate="2011-03-28T21:18:49.027" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This seems to be a more than and includes the question &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3368/a-an-preceding-a-parenthetical-statement&quot;&gt;&quot;a/an&quot; preceding a parenthetical statement&lt;/a&gt;. That was more about pronunciation, this is about orthography. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Often when I read a statement with parentheses, I will do two (mental) readings, one with the contents, one without. So in a logical sense, your third choice is the most appropriate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it just looks really bizarre, more bizarre than the second choice. So go with the second. The first is wrong because you do need to pronounce the 'n'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T21:18:49.027" />
  <row Id="18409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18396" CreationDate="2011-03-28T21:24:52.643" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some sensitivity to age and formality is needed to answer this question. A formal note does not change in structure because it's being sent via email. There's nothing special or magical about email that gives one permission to be forward, rude, or insulting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When writing to older persons, persons in authority, superiors, et al, I recommend a salutation and a complimentary close. These are not &quot;wastes of time&quot; by any means - they serve very specific functions if you are skilled in their use. Both the opening and the close allow you to frame your relationship with the recipient. For example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Melissa:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hi Melissa:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Dear Melissa:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These all have a different feel and express a different kind of tone. Paired with the proper close, you have no need for silly emoticons and winkies and such.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, younger people will find these things to be quite strange and confusing. In sending email to anyone 25 and younger, I'd recommend being extremely curt and you might even be pushing the envelope by using punctuation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T21:24:52.643" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="18410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18402" CreationDate="2011-03-28T21:31:42.110" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes&lt;/strong&gt;, it’s perfectly accurate.  The &lt;em&gt;afore&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;aforementioned&lt;/em&gt; is a comparison of time, not in location, so there’s no problem.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, depending on context, it might or might not be advisable.  Writing about &lt;em&gt;the aforementioned bananas&lt;/em&gt; will confuse a reader if they haven’t already (and quite recently) read the mention of bananas that you’re referring to.  So if you expect some participants to read your new mention of bananas before the original mention, then I’d suggest you avoid using &lt;em&gt;aforementioned&lt;/em&gt;, even if it is technically accurate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you expect everybody to have read the original mention shortly before reading your new one, though, then &lt;em&gt;the aforementioned bananas&lt;/em&gt; could a very helpful and eloquent way to jog their memories and clarify your reference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T21:31:42.110" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18411" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18386" CreationDate="2011-03-28T21:45:40.167" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that one of the meaning of &lt;em&gt;parenthesis&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;a word or phrase inserted as an explanation or afterthought into a passage which is grammatically complete without it, in writing usually marked off by brackets, dashes, or commas.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same dictionary reports that the meaning of &lt;em&gt;apposition&lt;/em&gt; (to which I am redirected when I look for the grammatical meaning of &lt;em&gt;appositive&lt;/em&gt;) is &quot;a relationship between two or more words or phrases in which the two units are grammatically parallel and have the same referent (e.g. &lt;em&gt;my friend Sue&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;the first US president, George Washington&lt;/em&gt;).&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems the right term is &lt;em&gt;parenthesis&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T22:44:18.547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T22:44:18.547" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18412" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T21:58:56.883" Score="3" ViewCount="59" Body="&lt;p&gt;When someone says &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... &lt;code&gt;X&lt;/code&gt; which is to say &lt;code&gt;Y&lt;/code&gt; ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is there an implication that &lt;code&gt;X&lt;/code&gt; is mistaken or false?  In this construction is &lt;code&gt;Y&lt;/code&gt; generally the opposite of &lt;code&gt;X&lt;/code&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=%22which%20is%20to%20say%22%20site%3anytimes.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;random examples from the NY Times&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;When you are unemployed, &lt;em&gt;which is to&#xA;  say&lt;/em&gt; when you are underfed, harassed,&#xA;  bored and miserable&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/magazine/31wwln-ethicist-t.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;But corruption levels are around the global average, &lt;em&gt;which is to say&lt;/em&gt;, corruption is rife&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/opinion/06brooks.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;There are journalists who cover the world of ideas, &lt;em&gt;which is to say&lt;/em&gt; they report on the lives and work of people who have them&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/02/07/reviews/990207.07talbott.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;source&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="16" LastEditorUserId="16" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T22:32:28.430" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T22:32:28.430" Title="What is meant by the phrase &quot;which is to say&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;common-phrase&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18412" CreationDate="2011-03-28T22:03:08.037" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It can mean that X is a euphemism (or similar) for Y. They don't necessarily have to be opposites.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: and indeed, looking at all of your examples, I'd say they fit that pattern. &quot;Unemployed,&quot; for example, sounds (as bad as it is) much better than &quot;underfed, harassed, bored and miserable.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastEditorUserId="3006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T22:13:35.067" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T22:13:35.067" />
  <row Id="18414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18366" CreationDate="2011-03-28T22:07:01.547" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Looking for what the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American&lt;/em&gt; reports, I get the &lt;a href=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/Fj3QB.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;following data&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/Fj3QB.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T22:07:01.547" />
  <row Id="18415" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T22:23:15.530" Score="1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was wondering what each &quot;miss&quot; means in&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I always miss you, so I miss you, so I&#xA;  miss you, so I miss you so much now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The only two meanings I know for &quot;miss&quot; are: the one as in &quot;miss a chance&quot; and the one as &quot;think about&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, someone on the internet said that each had a different meaning:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I always avoid you, so I miss you,&#xA;  and finally I lost you, so I miss you&#xA;  so much now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;where the first &quot;miss&quot; meant &quot;don't encounter&quot;, and the second &quot;miss&quot; meant &quot;think about&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this explanation correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="683" LastEditorUserId="683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T23:41:47.527" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T14:18:28.227" Title="Meaning of &quot;miss&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18412" CreationDate="2011-03-28T22:23:26.607" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In earnest writing, the phrase can be used so that Y clarifies X. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it is a typical witticism (as in your examples) where Y is a cynical statement about X, almost treating X as a setup premise for the humor in Y. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T22:23:26.607" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18417" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18415" CreationDate="2011-03-28T22:41:53.210" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All the &lt;em&gt;misses&lt;/em&gt; mean the same thing, &quot;to regret the absence of&quot;.  It sounds like a (very repetitive) line from a song.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T22:41:53.210" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18418" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18415" CreationDate="2011-03-28T22:42:10.873" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Updated to reflect the updated question ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;These could all have the same meaning, which is &quot;to feel the absence of,&quot; but you can also &quot;miss someone&quot; in the sense that you &quot;miss&quot; a target -- &quot;to fail to hit the mark,&quot; which would suggest that you nearly did encounter the person but ultimately did not encounter them. You can also &quot;miss someone&quot; in the same way that you'd &quot;miss&quot; an appointment, by failing to attend. Not sure about the full etymology but you can miss a meeting (or a day of work) by just not getting out of bed. That is to say that you can be said to have missed an event that you made no effort to attend or that you didn't learn about until after the fact. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So &quot;I always miss you&quot; could mean that, like Mister Hooper and Snuffalufagus, you keep turning up just minutes after I've given up waiting for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Don't leave before 4:15! I will try to leave by 3 but but my boss keeps me late so I don't get the right bus and I always miss you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or it could mean that I never stop longing for you or I'm continually aware of your absence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hi honey, I'm home! Did you miss me?&lt;/em&gt; / &lt;em&gt;I always miss you!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So this whole line could be saying &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I always arrive just after you've&#xA;  left, so I don't get to see you, so I&#xA;  long for you. I'm longing for you&#xA;  now.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or it could be saying &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I am always longing for you, which&#xA;  causes me to be so distracted that I&#xA;  don't arrive in time to see you, which&#xA;  results in me longing for you more. I&#xA;  very aware of your absence right now.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See also: &lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wiktionary/en/wiki/miss#Verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wiktionary/en/wiki/miss#Verb&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6647" LastEditorUserId="6647" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T14:18:28.227" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T14:18:28.227" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18419" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T22:54:46.173" Score="1" ViewCount="53" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am rather useless at writing formal English and sometimes find that I can come across informal with my choice of words. So I wondered what common words and phrases should be avoided when writing an essay. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6648" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T02:32:39.390" ClosedDate="2011-03-29T07:56:39.690" Title="Common words to avoid when writing formally" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;formality&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18421" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18422" CreationDate="2011-03-28T23:13:17.443" Score="2" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm a Spanish native speaker. I'm learning English and I want to know the difference between using &quot;in the way&quot; and &quot;on the way&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to know the real meaning of both phrases.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: Sorry for my bad English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6649" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T19:04:27.560" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T19:04:27.560" Title="What's the difference between using &quot;in the way&quot; and &quot;on the way&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="18422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18421" CreationDate="2011-03-28T23:16:14.307" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;In the way&quot; means that something is an obstacle. For example, &quot;I can't move my car because that truck is in the way&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;On the way&quot; means that something, or someone, is in the process of reaching a goal, or a destination. For example, &quot;I called her to let her know I was on my way to Madrid&quot;. Another: &quot;After the initial meeting, I told the boss that we are on the way to meeting the first deadline&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T23:16:14.307" />
  <row Id="18423" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18427" CreationDate="2011-03-28T23:21:29.140" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;p&gt;I found the phrase “serve up red meat to the crowd” in the following sentence of Washington Post's article titled “Michele Bachmann steals the show in Iowa”: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Michele Bachmann &lt;em&gt;served up red meat&lt;/em&gt; to the crowd at the Iowa conservative principles conference Saturday, slamming President Barack Obama as a Jimmy Carter retread, dissing the Mitch Daniels &quot;truce&quot; call for social issues, and saying she wants a &quot;waiver&quot; from the last two years of White House leadership.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And I saw &lt;em&gt;“serve red meat speeches&quot;&lt;/em&gt; for breakfast in the following sentence of an article in the Buzz (http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/content/gop-candidates-serve-red-meat-breakfast)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At the Brokaw-McDougall House in Tallahassee early this morning, Republican candidates &lt;em&gt;served red meat speeches&lt;/em&gt; for breakfast at the kick off for the whistle stop tour through North Florida.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does “serve red meat” mean exactly? Obviously it’s not ‘meat that is dark brown in color when being cooked” as defined by COD. Is this day-to-day usage or political jargon? What is the origin of this phrase? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T04:55:17.350" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T04:55:17.350" Title="What does “Serve red meat to the crowd&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="18424" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T23:21:49.917" Score="3" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm writing a response essay to Medieval Women's Visionary writings that possess power. In this essay I'm supposed to explain how two writers, that I've picked to write about, possess or don't possess power through their writing (we're using Cixous and Foucault as reference for definition of power). I seem to find myself using the the phrase &quot;the reader&quot; a lot to express how a reader is being written to or directed in the writings by the visionaries. Does anyone have any suggestions for avoiding this trap, which probably hurts my argument?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5191" LastEditorUserId="5191" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T00:48:50.323" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T19:27:59.170" Title="Avoiding the use of &quot;the reader&quot;?" Tags="&lt;gender&gt;&lt;object&gt;&lt;essay&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="18425" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18396" CreationDate="2011-03-28T23:23:33.120" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As the others have said, this depends very much on the people you are communicating with. I'd say, better safe than sorry: as a rule, it is best to include greetings and a closing line with your name in your e-mails, unless you're absolutely sure the recipient will not appreciate them. In informal e-mails to friends, just Hi + Recipient and Sender is enough:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Hi John-John,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;content&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Tom-Tom&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It takes an infinitesimal amount of time, and it looks neater. You show the other that you appreciate his sense of style enough to make a minimal effort. The same applies to rereading your e-mail to check for errors: I nearly always do that, though some errors always slip through regardless. Oh, and using correct grammar, style, and punctuation is always a good idea, as it makes your e-mail easier and more pleasant to read.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm talking about the first e-mail in a conversation here: if you send a short reply to an informal e-mail after a short interval of time, say after day or two, the initial greetings in the first message of the &quot;conversation&quot; should still count.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Most of my friends, my colleagues, and I, who are mostly in our twenties, always use greetings and closing lines in regular e-mails, especially if they are group e-mails, requests, or longer e-mails. Even so, if I omitted greeting or closing line, no eyebrows would be raised; but it would be assumed that I was writing in haste. And a quick reply to someone you see often will usually not have greetings or closing lines. A one-line e-mail out of nowhere with a request comes across as a little rude to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were about to date someone and I got an e-mail with stupid errors in it and bad style, this would tell me something about the other person's other habits, even though the errors themselves are not important. Call me a snob, but it would be a slight turn-off, requiring compensation. Similarly I will have slightly more faith in someone's competence in business and academia if he is able to communicate with impeccable style and punctilio. It probably won't be a deal-breaker, but every small effort helps. That said, a lack of greetings and closing lines is absolutely not on the same scale as errors in grammar and punctuation: in informal e-mails, it isn't terribly important. But why not do it? It takes only a second or two.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3036" LastEditorUserId="3036" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T02:13:40.110" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T02:13:40.110" />
  <row Id="18426" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T23:27:39.683" Score="4" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;My ODEs textbook uses both &lt;em&gt;graph&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;plot&lt;/em&gt; but I can't figure out how it chooses one over the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;from the book:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Sketch the graph of the solution in the x&lt;sub&gt;1&lt;/sub&gt;x&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;-plane for t ≥ 0.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;    (this one was referring to a continuous function)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;also from the book:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Plots of the solution and a tangent line approximation for the initial value problem (11).&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  (this one referring to a continuous solution) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a formal, to some degree, distinction between the two terms?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;When do I call it a &lt;em&gt;plot&lt;/em&gt; and when do I call it a &lt;em&gt;graph&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3294" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T12:40:01.497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T12:40:01.497" Title="When should I use &quot;graph&quot; vs. &quot;plot&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;mathematics&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="13" />
  <row Id="18427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18423" CreationDate="2011-03-28T23:28:59.973" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This expression is meant to conjure up the idea of a bloodthirsty pack of carnivores (here the audience of a speech).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The orator takes a fast track to popularity by throwing to the crowd the victim they expect.  For instance he might vilify a personality or a piece of legislation he knows they dislike particularly. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="5432" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-28T23:47:54.043" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T23:47:54.043" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18371" CreationDate="2011-03-28T23:41:53.123" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not a grammarian, let alone a &lt;em&gt;serious&lt;/em&gt; one, but I'd like to make a case for both words being synonymous in that context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Let's look at the following phrase in which a student asks a teacher for permission to go to the bathroom:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[1]  May I go to the bathroom?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  [2]  Can I go to the bathroom?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sentence [1] is pretty self-explanatory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sentence [2], though, could be interpreted as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[2-alt]  Can I, with your permission, go to the bathroom?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sentence [2-alt] uses the definition of &quot;can&quot; that means to &quot;be able to.&quot;  The student is asking if he or she is able to go to the bathroom.  (if he or she does not have permission, then he or she is not able to go.)  The &quot;with your permission&quot; part was &lt;em&gt;understood&lt;/em&gt;, if you will.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3294" LastEditorUserId="3294" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T00:21:52.650" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T00:21:52.650" />
  <row Id="18429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18415" CreationDate="2011-03-28T23:42:04.213" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think someone is trying way too hard to make a joke. &lt;em&gt;I missed you&lt;/em&gt; can indeed have two very different meanings: &lt;em&gt;I regretted your absence&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;I missed you yesterday; the party just wasn't the same without you&quot;), or &lt;em&gt;I failed to hit/find you&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;I missed you; my arrow landed 5 inches to the left&quot;). However, the second meaning doesn't really work in the present tense. Thus, your quote just comes out nonsensical and repetitive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;explanation&quot; you found is a bit forced. I can sort of see their aim, but I'm afraid they've missed the mark.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T23:42:04.213" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18415" CreationDate="2011-03-28T23:43:15.343" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My understanding&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I always miss you, so I miss you, so I&#xA;  miss you, so I miss you so much now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I always miss you&quot;. I'm always late when I date you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;so I miss you&quot;. So you're gone.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;so I miss you&quot;.  You're my goal and I can't reach that goal.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;so I miss you so much now.&quot; The more this happens the more I feel your absence.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T23:43:15.343" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18431" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-28T23:47:58.347" Score="10" ViewCount="279" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apparently the word &quot;nightmare&quot; has only been used in the sense of &quot;bad dream&quot; since c. 1829.  Before then the term referred to the agent causing the dreams&amp;mdash;a &lt;em&gt;mare&lt;/em&gt; &amp;lt; &lt;em&gt;mera&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;mære&lt;/em&gt; 'goblin, incubus'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What word or phrase was used earlier?  I'm interested, in particular, in the meaning &quot;bad dream&quot; as opposed to &quot;creature causing bad dreams&quot; or &quot;medical condition; &lt;em&gt;pavor nocturnus&lt;/em&gt;&quot;.  I'm interested in all time periods: Anglo-Saxon/Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, and (modern) Modern English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h1&gt;Progress&lt;/h1&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Anglo-Saxon&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I found &lt;em&gt;swefnes wóma&lt;/em&gt; 'sleep-noise' as a possibility.  OEME defines this as &quot;dream-tumult, vision&quot;, and I can find a few uses in the corpus.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Alain Pannetier suggests &lt;em&gt;wódan dreáme&lt;/em&gt;, though this seems to have the primary or exclusive sense of &quot;fit of madness&quot;. &lt;em&gt;Dreám/dreáme&lt;/em&gt; seems to mean 'song, music' rather than 'dream'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Middle English&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/med/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;MED&lt;/a&gt; has:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;dwelsinge&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;drēming/drēm/dream/dremme&lt;/em&gt;: Apparently not attested with the meaning &quot;dream&quot; but more like &quot;vision&quot; (in sleep); included nightmare-type visions or dreams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;night frai/night drede&lt;/em&gt; 'night fear'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;incubus&lt;/em&gt;: Alain Pannetier suggests this was used from the 18th century on, though this suggests (to me) the agency rather than the condition.  It seems to have been used as far back as 1561 in the sense of &quot;night terror&quot;, not quite the sense I hoped for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;slēp&lt;/em&gt;: Typically meaning &quot;sleep&quot; but also meaning &quot;dream, nightmare&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;bicche doughter&lt;/em&gt;: Apparently used to refer to a nightmare by at least one source.  The modern reflex is obvious, and suggests that this was never its primary meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ephialtes/ephialtes the more&lt;/em&gt;: oosterwal suggests the former and the dictionary mentions the latter.  Seems to primarily refer to the cause rather than the condition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;h2&gt;Modern English&lt;/h2&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rhodri suggests &lt;em&gt;ill dreams&lt;/em&gt; for mid-19th century.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course from the early 19th century on &lt;em&gt;nightmare&lt;/em&gt; became common and soon pushed all others out of use except for poetic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5868" LastEditorUserId="5868" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T16:19:55.930" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T16:19:55.930" Title="What were nightmares called before &quot;nightmare&quot; was used in that sense?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;history&gt;&lt;early-modern-english&gt;&lt;old-english&gt;&lt;middle-english&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18431" CreationDate="2011-03-29T00:18:50.453" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Oh my giddy aunt! I think we can safely assume that the phenomenon under discussion predates language itself. So maybe the protohumans just called it &lt;em&gt;Ugh&lt;/em&gt; (along with everything else, obviously).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T00:18:50.453" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18431" CreationDate="2011-03-29T00:35:32.083" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One possibility could be &quot;wodan dreame&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Before getting to this point I'd like to add that whereas the spelling &quot;nightmare&quot; is indeed recent (see the corresponding &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=nightmare&amp;amp;year_start=1500&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google ngram&lt;/a&gt;), more archaic spellings are reported in the OED; viz &quot;niȝt-mare&quot; (1290), &quot;nytmare&quot; (1340) and &quot;Nyghte Mare&quot; (1440).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Leaving aside older spelling of &quot;nightmare&quot;, I also came across an article on &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=gHB3ch_AqKAC&amp;amp;lpg=PP1&amp;amp;pg=PA157#v=onepage&amp;amp;q&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google books&lt;/a&gt; suggesting that when preceded by &quot;wod&quot; or &quot;wodan&quot;, then the dream turned out to be a nightmare... &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is in line with Wodan's main domains of death, war and afterlife.  The article oldest quote is circa 890 and there are also quotes from Ælfric of Eynsham.  Unfortunately the pages after 161 are not available from Google books.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Then, starting with the 18th century the Latin world &quot;incubus&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=incubus&amp;amp;year_start=1500&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;was in use&lt;/a&gt;.  But that's not Old English any more I'm afraid.  It's still used in Italian (under the form incubo) actually.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="5432" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T16:08:48.747" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T16:08:48.747" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="18435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="570" CreationDate="2011-03-29T01:04:30.983" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;(Feel free to delete this if people feel it's inappropriate, it's included purely for linguistic reasons - no offense intended.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The UK charity for people with cerebral palsy was known as the &quot;Spastic Society&quot; - this resulted in a lot of cruel children in the 70s and 80s referring to their less adroit friends as &quot;spastics&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The charity finally decided that they had enough and renamed themselves as &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.scope.org.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;SCOPE&lt;/a&gt;&quot; - apparently children now greet failed sporting achievements with &quot;you scope!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6336" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T01:04:30.983" />
  <row Id="18436" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18426" CreationDate="2011-03-29T01:33:36.253" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As per @Alain Pannetier's advice, I'm making my comment into an answer. (To lazy to rephrase now, but I'll most likely try to make it pretty and more answer-y later.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...In all of my math classes (I'm a math major), we talk about plotting points, but we graph functions. You can plot specific points in the graph of a function, but you don't just plot a function. Generally, plot, as a noun, refers to a set of points that may or may not be connected by a line, but that cannot be represented as a function. I don't know if there's some technical ground behind this, but if there is, one of us is being confused...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, in short, &quot;plot&quot; is used for a finite set of points, while a &quot;graph&quot; is used for a function comprised of infinite points.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="23" LastEditorUserId="23" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T02:37:52.913" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T02:37:52.913" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18437" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18438" CreationDate="2011-03-29T01:44:49.870" Score="-3" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is that sentence grammatically correct? What do you think of it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T03:16:51.537" ClosedDate="2011-03-30T10:58:31.593" Title="&quot;I can't do those kinds of things anymore now.&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18438" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18437" CreationDate="2011-03-29T01:54:34.837" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adding &quot;now&quot; is redundant. The adverb, &quot;anymore&quot;, alone implies the fact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is, however, important to consider the context.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't do those kinds of things anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Means that the person &lt;em&gt;could&lt;/em&gt; do those things but for some reason cannot anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't do those kinds of things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This implies the person could never do those things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I can't do those kinds of things now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This use is more ambiguous. &lt;em&gt;&quot;now&quot;&lt;/em&gt; could either mean, &lt;em&gt;at this very moment&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;temporarily&lt;/em&gt;, or it could imply something similar to &lt;em&gt;&quot;anymore&quot;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6337" LastEditorUserId="6337" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T03:16:51.537" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T03:16:51.537" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18248" CreationDate="2011-03-29T02:07:07.213" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because the earthquake is not 'manufactured' by the Japanese as in Japanese Sushi.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6653" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T02:07:07.213" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18441" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18450" CreationDate="2011-03-29T02:36:31.137" Score="1" ViewCount="40" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can &quot;at this late hour&quot; be used to mean, &quot;it's too late&quot;, even though it's not said in reference to time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T03:26:55.430" Title="&quot;At this late hour&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18441" CreationDate="2011-03-29T02:46:07.950" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. The phrase can be used with respect to a looming deadline.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, imagine an election scheduled in 2 weeks time:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;At this late hour, it seems crazy for&#xA;  the candidate to change his stance on&#xA;  the tax increase, but the polling indicates&#xA;  drastic measures are necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T02:46:07.950" />
  <row Id="18443" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18445" CreationDate="2011-03-29T02:49:56.757" Score="0" ViewCount="35" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this a common phrase? A google search found only 6 pages using this exact phrase. What do you think of this phrase?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What about &quot;time solves everything?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="5877" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T03:15:57.220" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T03:30:37.907" Title="&quot;Time settles everything&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;common-phrase&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18444" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-29T02:51:43.057" Score="1" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this sentence OK? Is the &quot;now&quot; at the end of the sentence redundant?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T04:44:15.863" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T04:44:15.863" Title="&quot;It's too late for me to do that now.&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18445" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18443" CreationDate="2011-03-29T02:55:58.523" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not so common that I've ever heard it before, but on the other hand its meaning seems clear enough; I certainly wouldn't be shy about using it if the situation seemed to call for it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T02:55:58.523" />
  <row Id="18446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18444" CreationDate="2011-03-29T03:07:10.857" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;It's too late now&quot; is a common idiom meaning that the opportunity to do something has passed, presumably never to return.  You could reasonably argue that &quot;It's too late&quot; (without the 'now') means that it is too late in the day to start something, but the task could be attempted if you start at an earlier hour on the next day, although context would definitely matter in the determination of meanings.  (Alternatively, you could say &quot;it's too late right now&quot;, which you would generally follow up with &quot;come back tomorrow around 10:00&quot; or some such rescheduling effort.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I would say that if your intention is to say that you can no longer perform the task at all, the sentence is fine as it stands.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T03:07:10.857" />
  <row Id="18447" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18443" CreationDate="2011-03-29T03:11:22.947" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Time heals everything&quot; - or originally &quot;Time heals all wounds&quot; (chaucer) is probably more common&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6336" LastEditorUserId="6336" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T03:30:37.907" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T03:30:37.907" />
  <row Id="18448" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-29T03:14:28.827" Score="0" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm trying to write something sort of poetic sounding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Instead of memories let's discover the&#xA;  present that we wanted to search for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking that maybe I should write the word &quot;moment&quot; after &quot;present&quot; to make it unambiguous. I would rather not though, because I don't want to limit the meaning of &quot;present&quot; to &quot;this moment.&quot; I would like to leave it open so that it can mean &quot;this day&quot; or &quot;this time.&quot; But then if I don't add the word &quot;moment&quot;, I think that this might bring up images of searching for presents during Christmas, and I don't want that to happen. What do you think?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T04:01:57.033" ClosedDate="2011-03-29T08:37:35.463" Title="Is this sentence ambiguous?" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;ambiguity&gt;&lt;poetry&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18449" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-29T03:24:40.657" Score="1" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've been censured for calling the nuclear plant incident in Japan a &quot;nuclear accident&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've never exclusively reserved the word accident only for those things which evolve from or are precipitated by human error, but it appears that others feel it should only be used in connection with human error.  Dictionaries seem to suggest I'm ok, but I may have to bend to peer pressure.  Partly it seems to stem from this particular usage in connection with anti-nuclear groups.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Has the connotation shifted away from merely unforeseen and undesirable events?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If so, what is a better word to use?  I'm shying away from problem and incident as they seem inadequate, and disaster as it seems to inflate things beyond what is necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3452" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T03:47:32.430" Title="Must an &quot;accident&quot; evolve from human error?" Tags="&lt;nouns&gt;&lt;connotation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18441" CreationDate="2011-03-29T03:26:55.430" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While it's possible, I think it still does imply some level of uncertainty as to whether &quot;it's too late&quot; or not. I suppose context would change it's meaning as well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Michael Easter's quote, for example, &lt;em&gt;does&lt;/em&gt; afford some uncertainty as to whether &lt;em&gt;it's too late&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As far as my experience goes, I've mainly heard it used in either a situation of uncertainty, as above, or a situation where one does not want to do something &quot;at this late hour&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Consider this:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You want to write your briefing at this late hour? Get some rest, Major.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You'll never be able to rewire the circuit at this late hour. You'll have to drop out of the competition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One is suggesting it's too late &quot;in the game&quot; to do something, and the other is merely suggesting it's the wrong time to be doing something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6337" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T03:26:55.430" />
  <row Id="18451" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18449" CreationDate="2011-03-29T03:29:26.847" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There was just a news story that hospital emergency rooms in the UK were no longer allowed to put &quot;accident&quot; on a report - everything must have a cause, and presumably somebody at fault - implying that an accident is an event with no human cause. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ironically since the ER in the UK is most commonly called accident and emergency.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6336" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T03:29:26.847" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18452" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18449" CreationDate="2011-03-29T03:47:32.430" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Accidents arise from chance, but I think there is also some element of human error necessarily involved in an accident. For example, you may have been in a car accident because of chance (a deer running across the road) and human error (not being attentive enough, failing to stop in time).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This also applies in the case of the Japanese nuclear incident/accident/situation. The situation was primarily caused by chance (a tsunami), but also by human error (failing to plan for flooding of the building and general power outage).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6434" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T03:47:32.430" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18454" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18521" CreationDate="2011-03-29T04:04:56.350" Score="5" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;Growing up in Australia (and with an English mother) we would say &quot;I hate it when &quot; It seems, based on TV and movies, that in the USA it's more common to say &quot;I hate when &quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The two phrases mean the same thing, but the word &quot;hate&quot; is used slightly differently; one seems directed (they hate the bad thing) where the other describes the emotion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is one more correct, or is it just a case of common usage?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it related that I find the phrase &quot;write me&quot; or &quot;I'll write you&quot; odd? We tend to say &quot;write to me&quot; or &quot;I'll write to you&quot;. Though we do say &quot;[phone|email|text] me&quot; not  &quot;[phone|email|text] to me&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6656" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T16:15:59.120" Title="&quot;I hate when...&quot; vs &quot;I hate it when...&quot;" Tags="&lt;american-english&gt;&lt;australian-english&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18454" CreationDate="2011-03-29T04:40:32.633" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think American english misses out the 'it'/'to' - British English (and probably Australian and Canadian) include it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suppose that since phone/email/text were more common in America first that has become the standard without us noticing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6336" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T04:40:32.633" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18456" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18483" CreationDate="2011-03-29T04:58:46.567" Score="3" ViewCount="66" Body="&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How do I install this software?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;How can I install this software?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are they both right/appropriate?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T09:41:28.113" Title="Difference between “How do I ...” and “How can I ...”" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18457" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18456" CreationDate="2011-03-29T05:06:16.703" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They both are right.&#xA;How do I install would mean that you being sure of installing the software you require steps to install it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In How can I install, 'can' is a modal verb. Here apart from the above meaning , it can also mean the different ways/possibilities in which you can install your software&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6620" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T05:06:16.703" />
  <row Id="18458" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-29T05:08:27.823" Score="3" ViewCount="92" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this phrase wrong? Shouldn't it be, &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;they know &lt;em&gt;naught&lt;/em&gt; of what they speak?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T14:20:49.023" Title="&quot;They know not of what they speak.&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;saying&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="18460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18396" CreationDate="2011-03-29T05:18:38.650" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not necessary to include salutations when you have ongoing communications with someone.  In fact I think it can get a little old.  Otherwise I think it's important to start with minimally &quot;Name,&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Jimmy,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Please forward those reports right away.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am certainly one to get straight to the point so as not to take up anyone's time (although, despite doing this out of courtesy I find it is often viewed as uncharismatic and gets poor results and builds poor relationships).  However, I think &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; first acknowledging your recipient can make you appear arrogant, selfish, and overbearing.  It says &quot;you're not important enough for me to care about or consider, I just need you to serve me by responding to this email.&quot;  Just my thoughts, but then again I'm not under 25 either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have said it depends on context and your recipient.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6660" LastEditorUserId="6660" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T05:43:37.280" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T05:43:37.280" />
  <row Id="18461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18458" CreationDate="2011-03-29T05:23:45.283" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Despite the word order being unusual by today's standard, the phrase is grammatically correct.  To convert it to a more modern variant, move the &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; ahead of the verb (which requires adding &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; as well) and if you like, move the preposition to the end:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They don't know what they speak of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'll note the usage of &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; after the verb is not uncommon in old phrases.  E.g.:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Judge not, lest ye be judged&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T05:23:45.283" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18458" CreationDate="2011-03-29T05:25:51.127" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that 'know not' means 'do not know' and 'naught' means 'nothing'. So it would be like saying 'They do not know / they know nothing.' &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T05:25:51.127" />
  <row Id="18463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18454" CreationDate="2011-03-29T06:26:49.113" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always worked under the assumption that, in both cases, the hate was direction towards the situation. &quot;I hate when blah happens&quot;, or &quot;I hate it [it being the situation being described] when blah happens&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Upon contemplation, however, &quot;I hate when&quot; is describing a cource of action, the same  has &quot;I cry when&quot; or &quot;I laugh when&quot;, whereas &quot;I hate it when&quot; describes a transition in emotional state.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6474" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T06:26:49.113" />
  <row Id="18464" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18467" CreationDate="2011-03-29T06:52:21.443" Score="9" ViewCount="124" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are these adjectives interchangeable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I always hear: 'An Arab man.' but never 'An Arabic man.' and I always hear 'Arabic coffee' but never hear 'Arab coffee.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T20:40:35.517" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T05:29:55.950" Title="&quot;Arab&quot; or &quot;Arabic&quot; or &quot;Arabian&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18465" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18466" CreationDate="2011-03-29T07:06:20.813" Score="4" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I want the user to revert their operation of selecting an item, should I say: &quot;Unselect the option&quot; or &quot;Deselect the option&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6220" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T20:40:47.480" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T20:40:47.480" Title="&quot;Unselect&quot; or &quot;Deselect&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18465" CreationDate="2011-03-29T07:19:52.530" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dictionaries (Merriam-Webster and New Oxford American Dictionary) have &lt;strong&gt;deselect&lt;/strong&gt; but not &lt;em&gt;unselect&lt;/em&gt;. The NOAD defines &lt;em&gt;deselect&lt;/em&gt; as “turn off (a selected feature) on a list of options on a computer menu”, which is what you want.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Unselected&lt;/em&gt;, on the other hand, is used to qualify something that has not been selected, not something that was selected and isn't anymore.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T07:19:52.530" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18464" CreationDate="2011-03-29T07:33:43.373" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As adjectives, the New Oxford American Dictionary defines &lt;em&gt;Arabic&lt;/em&gt; a related to the language or the literature, while &lt;em&gt;Arab&lt;/em&gt; is the more generic term (“of or relating to Arabia and the people of Arabia”) and &lt;em&gt;Arabian&lt;/em&gt; is a historical variant of &lt;em&gt;Arab&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some dictionaries (including &lt;a href=&quot;http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=arabic&quot;&gt;WordNet&lt;/a&gt;) report a wider meaning of &lt;em&gt;Arabic&lt;/em&gt; as being roughly synonymous with &lt;em&gt;Arab&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Arabian&lt;/em&gt;. In some established expressions, like “arabic coffee”, &lt;em&gt;arabic&lt;/em&gt; is favoured. Note, however, that usage favours “arab cuisine”, for example!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T07:33:43.373" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="18468" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18471" CreationDate="2011-03-29T07:58:42.177" Score="22" ViewCount="1001" Body="&lt;p&gt;From which language has English borrowed the most words?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T00:20:47.807" Title="From which language has English borrowed the most words?" Tags="&lt;foreign-words&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="5" />
  <row Id="18469" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-29T08:30:27.357" Score="0" ViewCount="46" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/16542/in-which-countries-is-that-long-time-no-see-greeting-common&quot;&gt;In which countries is that “long time no see” greeting common?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;We always hear the expression 'Long time no see.' but is it grammatical? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T09:16:13.857" ClosedDate="2011-03-29T09:15:35.173" Title="'Long time no see.' Grammatical?" Tags="&lt;grammar-checker&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="18470" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-29T08:32:10.337" Score="0" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;The related question is asked &lt;a href=&quot;http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5456474/whats-the-english-words-for-pan-domain-name&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, and I cannot figure out it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3812" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T10:49:31.143" Title="What is the exact term for resolving all sub-domains (*.stackexchange.com) to www.stackexchange.com" Tags="&lt;terminology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18468" CreationDate="2011-03-29T08:36:53.717" Score="30" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I initially thought it was French, but actually it's a draw between French and Latin.  There have been many studies on this topic, which came up as you would expect, with different percentages, but the conclusion remains the same.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There is a paragraph about this topic in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language#Word_origins&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt;, and another &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_English_loanwords_by_country_or_language_of_origin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dedicated Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; that lists English loanwords by country and language of origin.  One interesting conclusion in the first article is that if you consider only very common words, the Anglo-Saxon proportion is more important, which is a clear indication of English's Germanic substrate. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You know, if you had asked the question a couple of centuries ago, it would have been French alone.  The reason why Latin has caught up is because many scientific and medical terms are coined after Latin.  Remarkably, the second largest contribution of Latin is actually the result of the introduction of Christianity from the 7th Century onwards and the Roman occupation comes only in third place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The French influence really began with the Norman invasion of 1066; but that was only a start, as it was followed by a continuous influx of French immigrants in England throughout the Middle Ages and even after.  Indeed, a few of the early Norman kings rarely set foot in their English kingdom and couldn't speak English.  Saxon English nearly became an underground language.  However, many of these immigrants came without women, and once they'd intermarried with the locals, after a few generations their descendants could not speak French any more.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All considered, this was only too fair because the Norman people were actually of Scandinavian origin and they had made French their language for the same reason: Norman armies had landed on French coasts with very few women.  The date of the establishment of the French Dukedom of Normandy is 911.  Compare this to 1066.  A mere 155 years had turned the North men into the Normans.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other notable contributions to English are Celtic (see below), Old Norse (due to the Viking invasions), Greek, Dutch (with William and Mary and the Dutch wars) and a variety of other languages especially from the former colonies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Language origin specialists theorise that the proportion of loanwords in a language is a function of both the length of exposure to and the social status of the borrowed language.  For this reason, there are comparatively very few Celtic words -- &lt;em&gt;whiskey&lt;/em&gt; being one of the most prominent ones ;-)  One clue to this apparent oddity is the double meaning of &lt;em&gt;Wilisc&lt;/em&gt; in OE, the Saxon word for Celt (=&gt; Welsh): it means both &quot;foreigner&quot; and &quot;slave&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="5432" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T00:20:47.807" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T00:20:47.807" CommentCount="17" />
  <row Id="18472" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18478" CreationDate="2011-03-29T08:40:05.370" Score="4" ViewCount="161" Body="&lt;p&gt;Can anyone give me a single word describing a person that is equal to somebody in status but an opponent to them at the same time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T01:16:50.750" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T03:10:04.213" Title="What is a single word describing a person who opposes another, yet is of equal status to them?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18473" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18470" CreationDate="2011-03-29T09:03:35.303" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you mean redirecting all subdomains to the main domain? A &lt;strong&gt;domain bin&lt;/strong&gt; ?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6509" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T09:03:35.303" />
  <row Id="18474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18469" CreationDate="2011-03-29T09:16:13.857" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Long time no see&quot; is an English expression used as a greeting by people who have not seen each other for a while. It is vested in an unconventional grammatical garb, and is an imitation of broken or pidgin English. The phrase is considered a multiword expression that cannot be explained by the usual rules of English grammar due to the irregular syntax.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;~ &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_time_no_see&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_time_no_see&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6509" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T09:16:13.857" />
  <row Id="18475" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17462" CreationDate="2011-03-29T09:20:16.897" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Marketing material that directs attention to inconsequential trivia might be called &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;fluff&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Material that grossly exaggerates product quality might be called &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;hyperbole&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Material that boasts of subjective, unproven, and untested claims might be called &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;puffery&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Material that falsely discredits competing products might be called &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;libel&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Material that sounds meaningful but actually isn't might be called &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;weasel words&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/strong&gt;: I was going to add some positive terms, but I couldn't find any.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastEditorUserId="588" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T12:34:09.647" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T12:34:09.647" />
  <row Id="18476" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18481" CreationDate="2011-03-29T09:20:17.010" Score="4" ViewCount="334" Body="&lt;p&gt;I hear all the time that one word is for males and the other is for females but I'm skeptical...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2160" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T12:27:02.053" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T16:09:24.443" Title="What's the difference between &quot;blond&quot; and &quot;blonde&quot;?" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;gender&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="18477" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18458" CreationDate="2011-03-29T09:20:34.617" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have to disagree with Dusty's previous explanation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The original phrase, &lt;strong&gt;“they know not of what they speak,”&lt;/strong&gt; is correct, but the explanation is different. Correctly rephrased, it means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They do not know anything about (the thing) they are talking about.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Dusty's rephrase says, &lt;strong&gt;they don't know what they speak of&lt;/strong&gt; and this, naturally, implies something very different. It may mean, for example, that they are drunk and have no idea whatsoever that they are even talking :)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the original phrase, the speaker (described in the phrase), is fully confident and aware of what they are speaing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6509" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T09:20:34.617" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18478" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18472" CreationDate="2011-03-29T09:20:53.093" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Rival&quot; seems like a fitting choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6032" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T09:20:53.093" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18479" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18485" CreationDate="2011-03-29T09:24:58.580" Score="4" ViewCount="82" Body="&lt;p&gt;I live in the south west of England and there are many villages and roads that feature the word &quot;Clyst&quot;. For example, Broadclyst, Clyst St Mary, Clyst Honiton and so on. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does clyst mean, and where does it come from?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1995" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T12:28:19.340" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T12:28:19.340" Title="What does &quot;Clyst&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;definition&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18472" CreationDate="2011-03-29T09:26:38.860" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Counterpart might be one, depends on the usage though&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6352" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T09:26:38.860" />
  <row Id="18481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18476" CreationDate="2011-03-29T09:37:36.200" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The usage note under &lt;strong&gt;blond&lt;/strong&gt; in the NOAD entry is explicit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The spellings &lt;strong&gt;blonde&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;blond&lt;/strong&gt; correspond to the feminine and masculine forms in French. Although the distinction is usually retained in Britain, American usage since the 1970s has generally preferred the gender-neutral &lt;strong&gt;blond&lt;/strong&gt;. The adjective &lt;strong&gt;blonde&lt;/strong&gt; may still refer to a woman’s (but not a man’s) hair color, though use of the noun risks offense ( : &lt;em&gt;See that blonde over there?&lt;/em&gt;): the offense arises from the fact that the color of hair is not the person. The adjective applied to inanimate objects (wood, beer) is typically spelled &lt;strong&gt;blond&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T09:37:36.200" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="18482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18472" CreationDate="2011-03-29T09:38:49.383" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Moriarty was Sherlock Holmes' &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;arch-enemy&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Superman's &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;nemesis&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; was Lex Luthor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T09:38:49.383" />
  <row Id="18483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18456" CreationDate="2011-03-29T09:41:28.113" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes. They are both right, but may differ in meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;em&gt;Cambridge Grammar of the English Language&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;    &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Will&lt;/strong&gt; you go with them?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;    &lt;li&gt;*&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Want&lt;/strong&gt; you to go with them?&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;    (* indicates that the sentence is ungrammatical.)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;    &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Thus auxiliary verbs can &amp;hellip; invert with the subject to form interrogatives, but lexical verbs cannot. To correct 2 we need to insert the dummy (semantically empty) auxiliary &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Do&lt;/strong&gt; you want to go with them?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In the given sentences we have what, for argument&amp;rsquo;s sake, we&amp;rsquo;ll say the &amp;lsquo;uninverted&amp;rsquo; form is &amp;lsquo;[This is] how I install this software.&amp;rsquo; &lt;em&gt;Do&lt;/em&gt; is just the dummy auxiliary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;How&lt;/em&gt; is an adjunct that questions, among other things, manner, means and instrument.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A: &lt;em&gt;How did they perform?&lt;/em&gt; B: &lt;em&gt;Extremely well.&lt;/em&gt; [manner]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A: &lt;em&gt;How did you manage to get in?&lt;/em&gt; B: &lt;em&gt;By breaking the door open.&lt;/em&gt; [means]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;A: &lt;em&gt;How are you supposed to eat it?&lt;/em&gt; B: &lt;em&gt;With chopsticks.&lt;/em&gt; [instrument]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; is questioning the means of installation: &amp;lsquo;By what means do/can I install this software?&amp;rsquo; (The question could also be one of instrument, i.e. &amp;lsquo;A: What do/can I install this software with? B: With this CD-ROM.&amp;rsquo;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Having dealt briefly with &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt;, I would say the first question could be rephrased &amp;lsquo;By what means do I install the software?&amp;rsquo; to which the answer could be &amp;lsquo;You install the software by &amp;hellip;&amp;rsquo;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Can&lt;/em&gt; is, as Neeth correctly pointed out, a modal verb. &lt;em&gt;Can&lt;/em&gt; can express a range of different meanings, including &amp;lsquo;dynamic possibility&amp;rsquo; (as listed in &lt;em&gt;CGEL&lt;/em&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is reasonable or acceptable (&lt;em&gt;You &lt;strong&gt;can&lt;/strong&gt; always say you&amp;rsquo;re too busy.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;What is circumstantially possible (&lt;em&gt;Water &lt;strong&gt;can&lt;/strong&gt; still get in.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Ability (&lt;em&gt;She &lt;strong&gt;can&lt;/strong&gt; run the marathon in under three hours.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The questioner may be asking, &amp;lsquo;By what means is it reasonable/acceptable for me to install this software?&amp;rsquo; or &amp;lsquo;By what means is it possible for me to install this software?&amp;rsquo; or &amp;lsquo;By what means am I able to install this software?&amp;rsquo; Context will give the actual question being asked. For example, a teacher might ask a class, &amp;lsquo;By what means is it possible for me to install this software?&amp;rsquo; in order to get the students&amp;rsquo; knowledge of all possible installation methods.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, I would say in the first the questioner just wants to know how to install the software (maybe the easiest method, maybe the best method, maybe any method) but in the second, the questioner may want to know the reasonable/acceptable means, all the possible means or the means he is able to use (context will indicate which).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, in informal English (especially in speech), there may be no distinction. If it&amp;rsquo;s in conversation, just tell the questioner how to install the software.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T09:41:28.113" />
  <row Id="18484" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18479" CreationDate="2011-03-29T09:45:41.607" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyst_St_Mary&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answers.com/topic/broad-clyst&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names&lt;/a&gt; agree that it's a Celtic word, but disagree about its meaning (&quot;clear stream&quot; vs &quot;sea inlet&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T09:45:41.607" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18485" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18479" CreationDate="2011-03-29T09:46:48.250" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Clyst is the name of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Clyst&quot;&gt;river&lt;/a&gt; and all the localities you cite are on its banks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Presumably all the Clyst St xxx are named after the saints to whom the various churches were dedicated.  The villages being named after the churches.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Broadclyst is when the valley or the river itself broadens downstream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clyst is probably a Celtic name (the Devon shire is named after the Celtic Devon tribe that was living there before the Roman conquest), just like Avon or Thames.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other Celtic words that made it into the English toponymy are &quot;crag&quot;, meaning &quot;rock&quot;, &quot;coombe&quot;, meaning &quot;deep valley&quot; (also in French), &quot;tor&quot; meaning &quot;peak&quot;, &quot;car-&quot; (remember Harold's Carlisles) meaning &quot;a fortified place&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T09:46:48.250" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18486" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18476" CreationDate="2011-03-29T09:54:25.833" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Blonde/blond&lt;/em&gt; is an example of English retaining a written French gender distinction which is not pronounced in English (though they can be distinguished in oral French).  Another is &lt;em&gt;fiancée/fiancé&lt;/em&gt; (which also sound the same in French).  So in the following, the spelling is correct even if the sentiment may not be.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A blonde, a brunette and a redhead&#xA;  walked into a bar.  The barman said,&#xA;  &quot;Is this a joke?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastEditorUserId="303" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T10:55:35.160" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T10:55:35.160" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18487" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18470" CreationDate="2011-03-29T10:43:47.343" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is called a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcard_DNS_record&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DNS wildcard&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;As an aside (it's off-topic here): The standards are defined in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rfc-archive.org/getrfc.php?rfc=4592&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;RFC 4592&lt;/a&gt;. See also &lt;a href=&quot;http://serverfault.com/questions/215042/dns-wildcard-vs-cname-subdomains&quot;&gt;http://serverfault.com/questions/215042/dns-wildcard-vs-cname-subdomains&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastEditorUserId="2614" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T10:49:31.143" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T10:49:31.143" />
  <row Id="18488" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18539" CreationDate="2011-03-29T11:03:22.907" Score="5" ViewCount="279" Body="&lt;p&gt;Say there's a small animal hidden among bushes and it causes the branches (if they can be called that) of the bushes to shake/move slightly. Now the sound of this could probably be described using &lt;code&gt;rustling&lt;/code&gt;, but what word would use to describe the visual shaking/movement of the bushes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4866" LastEditorUserId="4866" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T18:18:48.640" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T15:18:03.097" Title="What word would you use for movement of bushes?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="6" />
  <row Id="18489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18488" CreationDate="2011-03-29T11:22:26.717" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/rustling&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this link&lt;/a&gt;, you have it backwards: &lt;code&gt;rustling&lt;/code&gt; refers to the movement, and the sound is thus implied. Personally I associate the word so strongly with both the movement and the sound that I would use it for either meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, stick with &lt;code&gt;rustling&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To add to the other answers, a simple accurate word: &lt;code&gt;Shaking&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastEditorUserId="4929" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T19:40:56.230" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T19:40:56.230" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18490" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18472" CreationDate="2011-03-29T11:31:15.163" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Your opposite number&quot; is sometimes used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4955" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T11:31:15.163" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18488" CreationDate="2011-03-29T11:33:58.050" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Suppose the small animal happens to be a tortoise, the bushes might slowly flex as the tortoise lumbers between them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now suppose the animal is Tasmanian Devil, the bushes might flap violently as the Devil rushes through.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If a breeze is blowing the bushes might rustle. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T11:33:58.050" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18492" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-29T12:07:52.103" Score="3" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that &lt;em&gt;''&lt;/em&gt; (two single quotation marks) is a symbol used to mean &lt;em&gt;ditto&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When is it used? Should it be used to replace the same word that appears in the same position but in the previous line?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I always thought it could be a dog.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  I then discovered it is all but a ''.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T12:44:51.573" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T12:44:51.573" Title="Usage of '' to mean &quot;ditto&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18493" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18492" CreationDate="2011-03-29T12:10:24.210" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ditto_mark&quot;&gt;ditto mark&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is a typographic symbol that should be confined to lists, and works best when a non-proportional or monospaced font is used, else it may not appear in the right place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T12:10:24.210" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18472" CreationDate="2011-03-29T12:12:14.257" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Antithesis&quot;.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;In the Neil Gaiman series Sandman, the term Corinthian is used, referring to an Roman poem wherein the Corinthians were shown to be the Dark Mirrors of the protagonists. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6474" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T12:12:14.257" />
  <row Id="18495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18476" CreationDate="2011-03-29T12:12:41.197" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;About the British usage of the words, I have found the following note, in the &lt;em&gt;Oxford Dictionary of English 3rd edition&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The alternative spellings blonde and blond correspond to the feminine and masculine forms in French, but in English the distinction is not always made, as English does not have such distinctions of grammatical gender. Thus, &lt;em&gt;blond woman&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;blonde woman&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;blond man&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;blonde man&lt;/em&gt; are all used. The word is more commonly used of women, though, and in the noun the spelling is typically &lt;em&gt;blonde&lt;/em&gt;. In American usage the usual spelling is &lt;em&gt;blond&lt;/em&gt; for both adjective and noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The NOAD has a note that says what already reported by @Robusto in his answer.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T16:09:24.443" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T16:09:24.443" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="5392" CreationDate="2011-03-29T12:12:59.747" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Surely vs doesn't require the full stop? Like Jas or Mrs? But not Capt.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6668" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T12:12:59.747" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18472" CreationDate="2011-03-29T12:13:27.623" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Bizarro&quot; can also be used, though it assumes a certain amount of comic-savvy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6474" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T12:13:27.623" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8835" CreationDate="2011-03-29T12:30:23.733" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't accept passive-aggressive as an answer (though I've not down-voted) because it does &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; mean &quot;indirect complaints&quot; (the behaviour you describe) but rather it means &lt;em&gt;passive negativity, sometimes obstructionism&lt;/em&gt;, which is something else altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suggest this behaviour is better described as &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;needling&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, where the aunt is goading and  provocative.  Needling is an informal word, but a good fit for this situation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastEditorUserId="588" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T12:53:51.043" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T12:53:51.043" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18499" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18500" CreationDate="2011-03-29T12:41:02.810" Score="7" ViewCount="126" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the origin of confirmative phrase &quot;of course&quot;? I assume it has something to do with sailing maybe?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4279" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T12:49:20.373" Title="Origin of &quot;of course&quot;?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18500" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18499" CreationDate="2011-03-29T12:46:21.350" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Seems you are right&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=course&quot;&gt;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=course&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Phrase of course is attested from&#xA;  1540s; lit. &quot;of the ordinary course;&quot;&#xA;  earlier in same sense was bi cours&#xA;  (c.1300).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T12:46:21.350" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18501" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18499" CreationDate="2011-03-29T12:49:20.373" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The NOAD reports that the origin of &lt;em&gt;course&lt;/em&gt; is Middle English: from Old French &lt;em&gt;cours&lt;/em&gt;, from Latin &lt;em&gt;cursus&lt;/em&gt;, from &lt;em&gt;curs-&lt;/em&gt; (run), from the verb &lt;em&gt;currere&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T12:49:20.373" />
  <row Id="18502" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18396" CreationDate="2011-03-29T13:10:21.023" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In my experience, email can be used in one of two ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sending letters in electronic form.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Sending asynchronous, quick communications - similar to Skype or text messaging.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you're sending a letter in electronic form - then as another answer stated, it should be no different from a letter you would write and send through snail mail.  However if you're sending an email that took you 1 minute to write and it's part of a string of short communications between you and the others you are mailing to, then drop the formalities - it's all about getting your point efficiently across to the other people.  In the latter case I usually drop the &quot;Dear Dr. Whoosiwhatsits III&quot; and I just have my say and then sign it with my initials - JB&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;JB&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4765" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T13:10:21.023" />
  <row Id="18503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18472" CreationDate="2011-03-29T13:32:14.380" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I agree &lt;em&gt;rival&lt;/em&gt; is good - better than &lt;em&gt;counterpart&lt;/em&gt;, which doesn't necessarily imply opposition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think &lt;em&gt;adversary&lt;/em&gt; also fits the bill, and perhaps carries more overtones of actual equality. A &lt;em&gt;rival&lt;/em&gt; may simply be an opponent who's strong enough to compete at all, but if you have an &lt;em&gt;adversary&lt;/em&gt; you know you're in for a tough fight where the outcome isn't at all certain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T13:32:14.380" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18504" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-29T14:05:04.747" Score="0" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The medium of instruction was English for all the subjects except for Arabic language, French and Islamic studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is this sentence correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6671" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T14:10:31.833" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T18:58:20.593" Title="Is this sentence grammatically correct?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11378" CreationDate="2011-03-29T14:06:48.090" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You've answered your own question: the dictionary says either &quot;baht&quot; or &quot;bahts&quot; works, but it gives a slight preference to &quot;baht&quot;.  Whichever you choose, be consistent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T14:06:48.090" />
  <row Id="18506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18488" CreationDate="2011-03-29T14:11:33.463" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quivering&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; title=&quot;quivering&quot;&gt;quivering&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2477" LastEditorUserId="2477" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T15:24:42.947" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T15:24:42.947" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18248" CreationDate="2011-03-29T14:16:01.730" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think we would also say &quot;Haiti earthquake&quot; as opposed to &quot;Haitian earthquake.&quot;  It is the place, not the people, which is addressed, and therefore does not use the adjective form for the people.  English is one of those rare languages with multiple adjective forms.  Consider, for example, the difference between &quot;butter fingers&quot; and &quot;buttered popcorn.&quot;  Or perhaps, &quot;China town&quot; versus &quot;Chinese restaurant.&quot;  We use the noun form for one meaning, and the adjective form for another.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this case, the place is significant.  If the earthquake happened in Spain, it would the Spain earthquake, not the Spanish earthquake, nor the Spaniard earthquake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6673" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T14:16:01.730" />
  <row Id="18508" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18504" CreationDate="2011-03-29T14:16:07.867" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes.  It's a little awkward in the way that the subjects are listed, and there are a few words I would omit, but its grammar is fine.  I would personally have written it as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The medium of instruction was English for all subjects except Islamic studies, Arabic and French.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...but that's just my personal preferences.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;May I ask what was making you suspicious?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T14:16:07.867" />
  <row Id="18509" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18517" CreationDate="2011-03-29T14:17:05.667" Score="0" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;In older variations of English in history, how much evidence of written language samples are needed to  accurately define the grammar and usage of that period?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, if we want to define how English was in the year 500 CE, how much evidence in the form of parchments and samples must we have and analyze? Is there an official figure or standard?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T15:58:06.353" Title="In older variations of English in history, how much evidence of written language samples are needed to define the grammar and usage of that period?" Tags="&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="18510" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="570" CreationDate="2011-03-29T14:17:54.990" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this, as in many things, I prefer to go the route of metaphor, however twisted: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You have less sense than the Good Lord gave a common cabbage.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;No more brains than a squashed frog.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Compares unfavorably to the competence of a trained monkey.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Sorry, delete that - I was just having a brain fart.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Must have slept in the day God was handing out brains...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;If stupidity was money, Bill Gates would have nuthin' on you...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fewer brain cells than an Amoeba.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Going for Gold in the stupidity Olympics...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Can't count beyond 10 without taking off his shoes...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;...etc...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Oops! I see that the original question was looking for politeness or &quot;less offensiveness&quot;. Well, presumably we're talking with friends who know when our tongue is in our cheek...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="597" LastEditorUserId="597" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T13:55:39.660" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T13:55:39.660" />
  <row Id="18511" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18458" CreationDate="2011-03-29T14:20:49.023" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Naught&quot; is possible there, but it is not necessary to emend it: as others have said &quot;they know not&quot; is perfectly good English up to a couple of hundred years ago, and still not quite dead. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Historically, &quot;not&quot; actually does come from &quot;naught&quot;. The sequence (in Old English, but using modern forms of words) goes  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;They ne know&quot; -&gt; &quot;they ne know naught&quot; -&gt; &quot;they ne know not&quot; -&gt; &quot;they know not&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and then in Modern English &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;They do not know&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jespersen%27s_Cycle&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jespersen%27s_Cycle&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T14:20:49.023" />
  <row Id="18512" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18464" CreationDate="2011-03-29T14:26:09.783" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would use &quot;Arabic&quot; of the language and literature, and &quot;Arab&quot; otherwise. I wouldn't use &quot;Arabian&quot; except perhaps referring to the the country &quot;Saudi Arabia&quot; - but I would more likely say &quot;Saudi&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would however use &quot;Arabian&quot; in set historical phrases like The Arabian Nights. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T14:26:09.783" />
  <row Id="18513" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18504" CreationDate="2011-03-29T14:26:25.850" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would prefer &lt;em&gt;language&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;medium&lt;/em&gt; - partly because &lt;em&gt;medium&lt;/em&gt; sounds a bit &quot;technical&quot; here, and partly because I think the word associates more with &lt;em&gt;physical&lt;/em&gt; information transport technologies (radio, newspapers, etc.) rather than the particular symbolic encoding system (language).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I assume there are actually &lt;em&gt;three&lt;/em&gt; exceptions, so there should be a comma after &quot;French&quot;. Without that &quot;French and Islamic studies&quot; would be a single subject, excluded along with &quot;Arabic language&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; may be just about grammatically valid, but it's much better omitted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; is a bit more valid, but again, I'd discard it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus &lt;em&gt;my&lt;/em&gt; correct version is...&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;The language of instruction was English for all subjects except Arabic language, French, and Islamic studies&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T14:26:25.850" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18464" CreationDate="2011-03-29T14:28:05.153" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These words are not interchangeable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Arab&lt;/strong&gt;: relates to the people, places and culture of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_world&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;the Arab world&lt;/a&gt;. Examples include: &lt;em&gt;Arab cuisine&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;the Arab League&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Arabs in the Diaspora&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Arab influence in Western Music&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Arabic&lt;/strong&gt;: specifically relates to the written and spoken language of the Arab world. Examples: &lt;em&gt;Arabic literature&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Arabic influences in English&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;dialects of Arabic&lt;/em&gt;, etc. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Arabian&lt;/strong&gt;: historic or literary in its relation to people or things of the Arab world. Examples: &lt;em&gt;the Arabian nights&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;under the Arabian moonlight&lt;/em&gt;. A note on usage from &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1222644#m_en_us1222644&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;NOAD&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Arab&lt;/strong&gt; is now generally used in reference to people; the use of &lt;strong&gt;Arabian&lt;/strong&gt; in this sense is historical&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Current usage of the word, however, is found in these examples: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabian_Peninsula&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Arabian Peninsula&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabian_sea&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Arabian Sea&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabian_horse&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Arabian [horse]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. Also, the demonym for Saudi Arabia is either &lt;em&gt;Saudi&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Saudi Arabian&lt;/em&gt;, not &lt;em&gt;Arabian&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I initially thought &lt;em&gt;Arabic coffee&lt;/em&gt; did not exist. &lt;em&gt;Coffee arabica&lt;/em&gt; or arabica coffee is a major commercial species grown in &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3aCarte_Coffea_robusta_arabic-2.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;East Africa and Latin America&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ehow.com/about_5348083_types-arabica-coffee-beans.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;originated in Ethiopia and Yemen&lt;/a&gt;). Ironically, the Arab world is not a major producer of the commodity. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nationalgeographic.com/coffee/map.html#3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yemen is the only notable Arab nation that grows coffee (the arabica variety), but it is not a major producer.&lt;/a&gt; However, it seems &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_coffee&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Arabic coffee&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is a special exception to the rule. Credit goes to fellow user, &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/users/6647/amanda&quot;&gt;Amanda&lt;/a&gt;, for enlightening me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T05:29:55.950" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T05:29:55.950" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="18515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18504" CreationDate="2011-03-29T14:28:13.760" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This sentence is definitely unclear. Part of the issue here is that &quot;medium of instruction&quot; is an odd way to describe the language in which courses are taught.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;All subjects are taught in English, with the exception of Islamic studies, Arabic and French.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The absence of a &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/412/comma-before-last-item-in-a-list&quot;&gt;serial comma&lt;/a&gt; here also adds some confusion. It isn't clear whether there are two or three courses. You could be referring to three courses:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Arabic Language&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;French  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Islamic Studies&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In which case it is awkward that you choose to add &quot;Language&quot; to Arabic but not French (Is the French class on a subject other than language? How does it differ?) On the other hand, you could mean just two classes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Arabic Language&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;French and Islamic Studies &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Not sure what a course in &quot;French and Islamic Studies&quot; would cover, perhaps  the intersection of French culture and Islamic cultures? Nonetheless, you can allay some potential confusion by modifying French (&quot;French language&quot;) or rephrasing the sentence so it is more clear. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6647" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T14:28:13.760" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18516" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18465" CreationDate="2011-03-29T14:34:30.570" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Until quite recently, the &quot;un-&quot; prefix for verbs was pretty much limited to what Whorf called the &quot;cryptotype&quot; of verbs to do with fastening, wrapping, enclosing: &quot;unlock, unwind, unwrap, unstrap, unfasten, untie, unlatch, unroll&quot; - there were a very few exceptions like &quot;unsay&quot; (which is highly literary). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In recent years, particularly in IT, there are far more, and the prefix has become somewhat productive. Perhaps this is because so much is virtual in the computer world, so that many more operations can be reversed than in the physical world.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So while the dictionaries may only list &quot;deselect&quot;, &quot;unselect&quot; is certainly in use, and I would have no qualms about using it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The adjectival prefix &quot;un-&quot; is a different matter, and has long been very widely applicable. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T14:34:30.570" />
  <row Id="18517" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18509" CreationDate="2011-03-29T14:47:04.917" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The short answer is that there are so little available sources that you would need all you can find.  In addition, the corpus has already been gathered and is readily available.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, one of the most complete corpus of Old English sources is the one gathered by the University of Toronto to elaborate their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.doe.utoronto.ca/index.html&quot;&gt;Dictionary of Old English&lt;/a&gt;.  This dictionary is still a work in progress and they have only reached the letter 'G'.  It is online and the corpus is also available online or on a CD.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From their own web site, they claim to have gathered a comprehensive corpus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The DOE is based on a computerized&#xA;  Corpus comprising at least one copy of&#xA;  each text surviving in Old English.&#xA;  The total size is not quite five times&#xA;  the collected works of Shakespeare.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Considering the scarcity of sources, this is a remarkable achievement (consider for instance that the story of &quot;Beowulf&quot; is only known from a single, half burnt and incomplete manuscript).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for year 500 AD, there are simply no sources (except some runic carvings) and the words are reconstructed.  The oldest sources are dated ca 650.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T14:47:04.917" />
  <row Id="18518" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-29T14:52:46.500" Score="0" ViewCount="119" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Knowledge for pursuit of truth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is the above a correct sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6671" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T18:50:04.047" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T19:47:34.277" Title="Is this a correct sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18454" CreationDate="2011-03-29T14:55:57.567" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this is more a matter of mumbling or the 't' of 'hate' swallowing the 'it',  than leaving 'it' out explicitly. I (AmE) don't not hear 'it' ('it' may not be articulated well enough to produce a change in the airwaves reaching the ear), but it sounds like it is there.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If an AmE speaker said 'I hate when...' clearly and distinctly, it would sound really wrong to me ('hate' doesn't feel intransitive at all).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastEditorUserId="4972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T16:15:59.120" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T16:15:59.120" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18520" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18518" CreationDate="2011-03-29T15:11:57.170" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Knowledge for pursuit of truth&quot; has three nouns and two prepositions, but no explicit or implicit verb.  It may be a phrase or motto, but under most criteria it is not a complete sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T15:11:57.170" />
  <row Id="18521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18454" CreationDate="2011-03-29T15:20:14.873" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I hate it when he does that.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I hate when he does that.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is very common (22.8 million Google hits for &amp;ldquo;I hate when&amp;rdquo; this morning). It is informal and maybe not completely standard English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you note, whether &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt; is present or dropped does not affect the meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The verb &lt;em&gt;hate&lt;/em&gt; in this case is still transitive. The phrase &lt;em&gt;when he does that&lt;/em&gt; serves as the direct object of &lt;em&gt;hate&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This quirk isn&amp;rsquo;t specific to the verb &lt;em&gt;hate&lt;/em&gt;. There are 21.4 million hits for &amp;ldquo;I love when&amp;rdquo;, and I found these too:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Like any small boy, he &lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Life_Among_the_Savages&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;resents when&lt;/a&gt; his mother shows him too much affection in public...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;While it’s great to see any old horror movie projected in glorious 35mm, I really &lt;a href=&quot;http://horror-movie-a-day.blogspot.com/2010/11/humongous.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;dig when&lt;/a&gt; it’s a movie that’s never been released on DVD.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/pages/I-like-when-my-scissors-glide-through-the-paper-so-I-dont-have-to-cut/208577450228&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;like when&lt;/a&gt; my scissors glide through the paper so I don't have to cut.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is it related that I find the phrase &quot;write me&quot; or &quot;I'll write you&quot; odd?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;No, this is standard, and it seems more verb-specific to me than the &lt;em&gt;I hate when&lt;/em&gt; construction. &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1307274&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Oxford Dictionaries Online&lt;/a&gt; gives this example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mother wrote me and told me about poor Simon's death.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There might be many other verbs that do this. The one that comes to mind right now is &lt;em&gt;tell&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;She told me a long story.&lt;/em&gt; (recipient is indirect object; story is direct object)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;She told a long story.&lt;/em&gt; (story is direct object; recipient omitted)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;She told me.&lt;/em&gt; (recipient is direct object; story omitted)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Clearly many verbs that can take an indirect object don&amp;rsquo;t work this way (&lt;em&gt;give&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;get&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;read&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;hand&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;bake&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastEditorUserId="2249" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T15:57:56.213" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T15:57:56.213" />
  <row Id="18522" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18454" CreationDate="2011-03-29T15:51:41.113" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;I hate when&quot; and &quot;I hate it when&quot; mean the same thing. Hate is a transitive verb in pretty much all scenarios, so in both cases the hate is directed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The objective of the speaker is to say what he or she hates, not that he or she hates (see how when there is no object the sentence sounds unfinished?).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6677" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T15:51:41.113" />
  <row Id="18523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18509" CreationDate="2011-03-29T15:58:06.353" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Another problem is that before widespread printing the language, grammar and spelling changed from region to region and person to person. Except perhaps in copying Gospels spelling doesn't seem to have mattered much to anyone&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6336" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T15:58:06.353" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18340" CreationDate="2011-03-29T17:26:27.403" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not quite sure what you're asking. Is it why we have negative-polarity terms for both arms of the conjunction? If so, that is something that many languages have, and certainly strikes me as natural, since both are negated. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Further, many (most?) languages allow you to insert as many negative words into a sentence as seems desirable: it's just English that has in the last few centuries acquired a bizarre rule that limits them. (Though in fact &quot;I haven't got any&quot; still has the negative-polarity &quot;any&quot;, it's just not overtly negative). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T17:26:27.403" />
  <row Id="18525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18431" CreationDate="2011-03-29T18:02:35.163" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As another contender for what nightmares were called before it got its current meaning I proffer:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ephialtes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ephialtes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline's entry for ephialtes says&lt;/a&gt;:  &lt;em&gt;&quot;nightmare or demon that causes nightmares, c.1600, from Gk. Ephialtes, name of a demon supposed to cause nightmares; the ancient explanation is that it was from ephallesthai &quot;to leap upon,&quot; but OED finds &quot;considerable&quot; phonological difficulties with this.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This entry leaves some ambiguity whether or not 'ephialtes' was used to describe a bad dream or was specifically the name the demon believed to be responsible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definitions/EPHIALTES?cx=partner-pub-0939450753529744%3av0qd01-tdlq&amp;amp;cof=FORID:9&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=EPHIALTES&amp;amp;sa=Search#922&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Websters Online dictionary&lt;/a&gt; has information from the 1913 and 1828 editions.  From the 1913 edition we read: &lt;em&gt;&quot;1. The nightmare.  Date 'Ephialtes' was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;  From the 1828 edition we get: &lt;em&gt;&quot;[Noun] The night-mar.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By using the definite articles before 'nightmare' and 'nightmar', Webster's Dictionary implies that 'Ephialtes' refers to a specific thing, namely the demon believed to cause bad dreams.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=qbF44AEMGdcC&amp;amp;pg=PA357&amp;amp;lpg=PA357&amp;amp;dq=ephialtes%20dream&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=DWSSFwkapT&amp;amp;sig=6OrF0bre1ERO6uFuwc4kmiQnjP8&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=8wySTd7vCInh0gHrmN27Dg&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=6&amp;amp;ved=0CDEQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=ephialtes%20dream&amp;amp;f=false&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;A Dictionary of Hallucinations&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, by Jan Dirk Blom, has considerably more information about terms used to describe nightmares and other human perceptions; excerpts of some entries are provided. On page 128 we find a definition for '&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Daymare&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;':  &lt;em&gt;&quot;Daymare-Also known as 'ephialtes vigilantium'.  The term daymare is indebted to the Old English noun mare, which means hag or goblin.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The definitions of '&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;mar&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;' and '&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;mare&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;' (male and female love-phantom) are found on page 317. Both of these entries reference a book by William Heinrich Roscher (1845-1923) entitled, &lt;em&gt;&quot;Ephialtes, A pathological-mythological treatise on the nightmare in classical antiquity.&quot;&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Finally, on page 357, there is an extended entry for '&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Nightmare&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;':  &lt;em&gt;&quot;Nightmare-Also known as 'ephialtes nocturnus', dream anxiety attack, REM anxiety dream, REM-nightmare, and D-nightmare... ...In 1830 the Scottish physician Robert MacNish (1802-1837) qualified the nightmare as follows: 'Nightmare may be defined [as] a painful dream, accompanied with difficult respiratory action, and a torpor in the powers of volition... The affection, the Ephialtes of the Greeks, and Incubus of the Romans, is one of the most distressing to which human nature is subject.' &quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From these entries, it appears that 'ephialtes' is used in a clinical sense, where it is differentiated between 'ephialtes vigilantium' and 'ephialtes nocturnus'.  Also, there is evidence that 'nightmare' was used in a clinical sense; it does not say if 'nightmare' was used informally to describe a bad dream.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=nightmare&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymonline's entry for nightmare&lt;/a&gt; says: &lt;em&gt;&quot;late 13c., 'an evil female spirit afflicting sleepers with a feeling of suffocation,' compounded from night + mare 'goblin that causes nightmares, incubus,'...  ...&lt;strong&gt;Meaning shifted mid-16c. from the incubus to the suffocating sensation it causes&lt;/strong&gt;. Sense of &quot;any bad dream&quot; first recorded 1829; that of &quot;very distressing experience&quot; is from 1831.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;  [emphasis mine]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although, as the original question reports, the first recorded use of 'nightmare' for 'any bad dream' was in 1829, the meaning shifted in the mid 1500s from the Incubus to the distress 'it caused'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From ngrams.googlelabs.com we can compare the usage of 'ephialtes' with 'nightmar' between 1800 and 2000:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/xwqPG.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is clear from the following two images that 'nightmare' is, and has been, in much wider use than 'ephialtes' and 'nightmar':&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/9CPwB.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/Nqblc.png&quot; alt=&quot;enter image description here&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastEditorUserId="3800" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T12:54:30.290" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T12:54:30.290" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18526" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18488" CreationDate="2011-03-29T18:29:48.933" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think it is hard to beat rustling but consider &lt;em&gt;swaying&lt;/em&gt; or, more poetically, &lt;em&gt;shivering&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T18:29:48.933" />
  <row Id="18527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18518" CreationDate="2011-03-29T18:49:27.027" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not a &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1289107#m_en_us1289107&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sentence&lt;/a&gt;; it is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1277767#m_en_us1277767&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;phrase&lt;/a&gt;. However, it is perfectly correct as a motto, as many mottos are not sentences.† Examples: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;E pluribus unum&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;For God, for country, and for Yale&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A time to make friends&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;†Certainly, there are mottos that make complete sentences, e.g. &lt;em&gt;In God we trust&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Die Luft der Freiheit weht&lt;/em&gt;, etc.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T18:49:27.027" />
  <row Id="18528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18504" CreationDate="2011-03-29T18:58:20.593" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; is not needed. If &lt;em&gt;Arabic Language&lt;/em&gt; is the official name of the subject, then &lt;em&gt;Language&lt;/em&gt; should be capitalized. If not, then &lt;em&gt;Arabic&lt;/em&gt; should suffice. It also makes for consistency, since you do not have &lt;em&gt;French Language&lt;/em&gt;. Moreover, &lt;em&gt;Arabic&lt;/em&gt;, as a noun, &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; the language. Finally, &lt;em&gt;Studies&lt;/em&gt; should also be capitalized, as it is part of the proper noun. Thus, a better construction would be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The medium of instruction was English for all the subjects except Arabic, French and Islamic Studies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T18:58:20.593" />
  <row Id="18529" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-29T19:12:58.880" Score="0" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;Where can I find some www test with script checking for use of english?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;omit www.examenglish.com please.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3748" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T20:08:25.390" ClosedDate="2011-03-29T20:16:17.077" Title="FCE use of english part 2 - where to find" Tags="&lt;test&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18531" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-29T19:47:31.160" Score="4" ViewCount="45" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm thinking of something like &quot;surfeitous&quot;, but obviously that's not a word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="151" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T22:51:14.340" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T22:51:14.340" Title="Does &quot;surfeit&quot; have an adjective counterpart?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18532" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18518" CreationDate="2011-03-29T19:47:34.277" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Even as a phrase this doesn't work. By that I mean it has a foreign sound to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you wanted to make it sound like native English, I can suggest two alternatives:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Knowledge in pursuit of truth&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Knowledge for the pursuit of truth&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T19:47:34.277" />
  <row Id="18533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18531" CreationDate="2011-03-29T19:48:34.900" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You could try &lt;strong&gt;overabundant&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;overindulgent&lt;/strong&gt;, depending on how you mean surfeit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T19:48:34.900" />
  <row Id="18534" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18531" CreationDate="2011-03-29T19:58:08.110" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Excessive, intemperate, superfluous.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T19:58:08.110" />
  <row Id="18535" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18529" CreationDate="2011-03-29T20:08:25.390" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm pretty confident that no such site exists, since it would require a program that could read and understand English with the same reliability as a native English speaker and tag errors. Such capabilities are far beyond the current cutting edge in computer language understanding.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Better find a native speaker to check your site for you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T20:08:25.390" />
  <row Id="18536" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17669" CreationDate="2011-03-29T20:17:32.283" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the primary principle guiding our list-making probably comes from the meanings of the words: as in your example &quot;man, nature and God,&quot; we put them in an order that makes sense somehow (size, importance, etc.).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;After that, I think meter, rhyme and alliteration factor into our ordering. It would be interesting to look at well-established lists and determine what meter they use and whether dactyls are more common than trochees (Adam and Eve vs. Eve and Adam) and so forth.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, previously established list orders will trump others, so that's why certain lists will sound &quot;wrong.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6677" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T20:17:32.283" />
  <row Id="18537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="10656" CreationDate="2011-03-29T20:32:17.787" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Margin&quot; is synonymous with &quot;profit&quot; in this sentence. &quot;Monetize&quot; is basically converting a hard asset to a liquid (cash) asset.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Basically: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;We don't turn our assets into cash&#xA;  well, so we don't make the profits&#xA;  that we have budgeted for ourselves.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2577" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T20:32:17.787" />
  <row Id="18538" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-29T20:32:50.203" Score="0" ViewCount="55" Body="&lt;p&gt;How can I improve my written English? Should I read more fiction, as I find it difficult to word things when writing? Should I write more pieces, as, since I did my English GCSE (2 years ago), I find myself not writing to the high standard that I used to for my coursework? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6684" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T23:07:12.017" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T08:42:54.190" ClosedDate="2011-03-30T00:03:17.253" Title="Improving Written English" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="18539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18488" CreationDate="2011-03-29T20:34:08.983" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/dictionary?langpair=en%7Cen&amp;amp;q=trembling&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;aq=f&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Trembling&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3044" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T20:34:08.983" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18540" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18544" CreationDate="2011-03-29T20:35:33.410" Score="6" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;What do lengths of time with the &quot;bi&quot; prefix mean&quot;? I have understood &lt;em&gt;bicentennial&lt;/em&gt; as once every two hundred years, but &lt;em&gt;biannual&lt;/em&gt; as meaning twice a year. Do &lt;em&gt;biweekly&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;bimonthly&lt;/em&gt; mean &lt;em&gt;twice a week&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;month&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;once every two weeks&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;months&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If this prefix is not used consistently, is there any rationale as to why it isn't?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5584" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T22:49:34.030" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T03:03:58.557" Title="&quot;Biweekly&quot;, &quot;bimonthly&quot;, &quot;biannual&quot;, and &quot;bicentennial&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;prefixes&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4079" CreationDate="2011-03-29T20:37:13.897" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Reading is always useful: the more you submerge yourself in the literary vernacular, the more idiomatically correct your writing will become.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you feel motivated to write, I'd feel free to do so, but you'll probably see more linguistic benefit if you write in an environment where others are able to read and critique your work (and you can read and critique theirs as well, which is always a good learning experience).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2577" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T20:37:13.897" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-30T08:45:42.770" />
  <row Id="18542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18540" CreationDate="2011-03-29T20:40:48.243" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;biweekly = every two weeks&lt;br&gt;&#xA;bimonthly = every two months&lt;br&gt;&#xA;biennially = every two years&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;semiweekly = twice a week&lt;br&gt;&#xA;semimonthly = twice a month&lt;br&gt;&#xA;semiannually = twice a year&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T20:40:48.243" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18543" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-29T20:42:27.043" Score="1" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you'll arrive until nine o'clock, they will not have left yet. (May I use &quot;will&quot; 2 times in one sentence?)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;By the time the sun will rise tomorrow morning, we'll have already been flying for two hours above the Atlantic Ocean.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;In July it would be a year since I lived in this town.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6685" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T01:14:19.300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T15:33:22.053" ClosedDate="2011-03-30T01:55:32.910" Title="Are there any errors in these three sentences?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;tense&gt;&lt;auxiliary-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18540" CreationDate="2011-03-29T20:46:39.583" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Bi-&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;usually&lt;/strong&gt; means &quot;every two&quot; (as in &quot;every two [weeks/months/years, etc.].&quot; But it can also mean &quot;twice every [week/month/year, etc.].&quot; The avoid confusion, I save &lt;em&gt;bi&lt;/em&gt; for &quot;every two&quot; and use &lt;em&gt;semi-&lt;/em&gt; to mean &quot;twice every.&quot; I wish everyone did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T20:46:39.583" />
  <row Id="18545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18543" CreationDate="2011-03-29T20:55:06.390" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can use will twice in a sentence but it isn't always necessary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;1a) If you'll arrive &lt;strong&gt;before&lt;/strong&gt; nine o'clock, they will not have left yet.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1b) If you'll arrive before nine o'clock, &lt;strong&gt;they'll not&lt;/strong&gt; have left yet.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;1c) If &lt;strong&gt;you arrive&lt;/strong&gt; before nine o'clock, they'll not have left yet.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The last is more natural sounding to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;2a) By the time the sun will rise tomorrow morning, we'll have already been flying for two hours&lt;br&gt;&#xA;2b) By the time the &lt;strong&gt;sun rises&lt;/strong&gt; tomorrow morning, we'll have already been flying for two hours&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Ditto.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Would is conditional, you need to state the condition.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3a) In July it would be a year since I lived in this town &lt;strong&gt;if ...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Otherwise you can be definite&lt;br&gt;&#xA;3b) In July it &lt;strong&gt;will&lt;/strong&gt; be a year since I lived in this town.   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2614" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T20:55:06.390" />
  <row Id="18546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18340" CreationDate="2011-03-29T20:56:02.783" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some hold that &quot;neither this nor that&quot; is in error and that the locution should be &quot;neither this or that&quot; because &quot;neither&quot; refers to &quot;this&quot; and &quot;that&quot; both; and that &quot;neither this nor that&quot; is a double negative making &quot;that&quot; be true: &quot;not this but that.&quot; Just sayin'.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-- p   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T20:56:02.783" />
  <row Id="18547" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18552" CreationDate="2011-03-29T20:56:35.923" Score="2" ViewCount="57" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have this expression (I know it seems to not make sense):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Groceries being usually presented without the corresponding &quot;belt&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, I want to explain what &quot;belt&quot; is. I'm thinking of these two forms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... without the corresponding &quot;belt&quot;, that is, without an adequate price tag that users are able to see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... without the corresponding &quot;belt&quot;. By &quot;belt&quot; we mean ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What alternative expressions could I use to disambiguate my use of &quot;belt&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5342" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T22:14:56.743" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T22:14:56.743" Title="Alternative expressions to explain jargon in a sentence?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="18548" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4079" CreationDate="2011-03-29T20:58:33.333" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Rewriting is essential. There's a whole different mental process in creating something and editing it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6686" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T20:58:33.333" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-30T08:46:02.190" />
  <row Id="18549" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4079" CreationDate="2011-03-29T21:01:35.710" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Playing word games&lt;/strong&gt; can improve your vocabulary and teach you plenty of prefixes and suffixes. Boggle, Scrabble and &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7374/simple-yet-interesting-english-game-for-class&quot;&gt;numerous&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3489/educational-word-games&quot;&gt;other&lt;/a&gt; games give you exposure to plenty of words that will hopefully trigger some curiosity about meanings and formations. The more you know about words themselves the easier it is to find synonyms and antonyms which can lead to more interesting sentences and paragraphs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T08:42:54.190" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T08:42:54.190" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-30T08:46:09.727" />
  <row Id="18550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18547" CreationDate="2011-03-29T21:06:06.353" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think the third version is fine. It might be improved by delaying the presentation and definition of the jargon word until after the reader has absorbed the main message of the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;. . . without an adequate price tag, which we call a &quot;belt.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Since you've indicated you need to present &quot;belt&quot; first, how about:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Groceries should bear a &quot;belt,&quot; or adequate price tag, but they are usually presented without one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastEditorUserId="6100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T22:11:34.703" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T22:11:34.703" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18547" CreationDate="2011-03-29T21:07:32.773" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can introduce &quot;belt&quot; after the description:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Groceries being usually presented without an adequate price tag (or &quot;belt&quot;) that users are able to see.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are few other quirks in the sentence that I am assuming are there intentionally. Namely, the entire thing is a sentence fragment. Without knowing more about the subject and context I would reword it as such:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Groceries are typically presented without a corresponding price tag (or &quot;belt&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T21:07:32.773" />
  <row Id="18552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18547" CreationDate="2011-03-29T21:08:25.320" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Those are both pretty good: unfortunately, there aren't a lot of good ways to define industry specific terms in the text, so if you have to use the term, you're going to have to define it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I like the second one better. Put a period, then define belt (You might say, &quot;Belt is an industry term meaning blah blah blah&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One thing I will say, &quot;being usually presented&quot; should be taken out and shot. Is there a reason you can't just say &quot;are presented&quot; or &quot;are usually presented&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2577" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T21:08:25.320" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18553" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18424" CreationDate="2011-03-29T21:14:50.583" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Often &quot;we&quot; or &quot;one&quot; is used to name &quot;the reader,&quot; I believe. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But would it not be stronger and more forthright to defenestrate &quot;the reader&quot; / &quot;we&quot; / &quot;one&quot; and the rest of that amorphous crew and use &quot;I&quot; throughout? &quot;The reader&quot; seems a kind of camouflage or escape hatch for the  essayist.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-- p   &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T21:14:50.583" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4931" CreationDate="2011-03-29T21:28:42.413" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Or &quot;Use the calendar icons to select a time range.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-- pete&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T21:28:42.413" />
  <row Id="18555" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18565" CreationDate="2011-03-29T21:52:39.263" Score="0" ViewCount="28" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Those things are always put away in my&#xA;  pocket.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Those things are always tucked away in&#xA;  my pocket.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Do these mean the same thing? The first sentence makes me think of the action of putting something away, but the second sentence makes me think that the action has already been done, and those things are already in the pocket.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T00:05:11.737" Title="&quot;put away in my pocket&quot; vs. &quot;tucked away in my pocket&quot;" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18556" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18559" CreationDate="2011-03-29T21:57:56.633" Score="0" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2459/awkward-sounding-but-grammatically-correct-sentences&quot;&gt;Awkward sounding but grammatically correct sentences?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My friend told me about the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Buffalo sentence&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo&#xA;  buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is a grammatically valid sentence in the English language, used as an example of how homonyms and homophones can be used to create complicated linguistic constructs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if there are other examples of this type of sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6032" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T01:11:55.777" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T14:06:48.103" ClosedDate="2011-03-30T14:33:09.237" Title="Are there other repeated single word sentences like the Buffalo sentence?" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18557" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18561" CreationDate="2011-03-29T22:04:22.963" Score="0" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am trying with a situation which is not getting better as it proceeds and all going out of my hand because of my wrong practice. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6687" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T22:32:00.877" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T22:55:06.300" ClosedDate="2011-03-30T11:22:29.077" Title="Is my English usage correct in this sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;present-tense&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18555" CreationDate="2011-03-29T22:05:03.947" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both sentences mean the same thing. Like &lt;em&gt;tucked&lt;/em&gt; in your second example, &lt;em&gt;put&lt;/em&gt; in your first example would usually be construed as an adjective meaning &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webstercollegiate.com/dictionary/put?show=2&amp;amp;t=1301436072&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;being in place&lt;/a&gt;,&quot; as in &quot;stay &lt;em&gt;put&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T22:05:03.947" />
  <row Id="18559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18556" CreationDate="2011-03-29T22:06:22.867" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The article you linked has a few other examples of such sentences. As it says, &quot;Any word that is both an animate plural noun and a transitive verb will work.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6686" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T22:06:22.867" />
  <row Id="18560" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18557" CreationDate="2011-03-29T22:09:38.573" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your sentence is quite awkward and difficult to understand. I think you're trying to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm trying to correct my mistakes, but things are getting out of hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T22:09:38.573" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18557" CreationDate="2011-03-29T22:37:28.357" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps something like: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm trying my best in a very difficult situation, which is even tougher than it might seem because my inexperience has led to occasional mistakes that I now have to try to fix.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T22:37:28.357" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18562" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18557" CreationDate="2011-03-29T22:45:38.570" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am trying to deal with an increasingly difficult situation which is made even worse by my lack of experience in this area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6688" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-29T22:55:06.300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T22:55:06.300" />
  <row Id="18563" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18564" CreationDate="2011-03-29T23:40:26.530" Score="2" ViewCount="87" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/now/sean-penn-and-scarlett-johansson-attend-reese-witherspoons-wedding-together/65&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; I read this text:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Scarlett Johansson and Sean Penn&#xA;  turned heads when they showed up&#xA;  together at Reese Witherspoon's&#xA;  wedding. The 26-year-old actress took&#xA;  50-year-old Penn, who is 24 years her&#xA;  senior, as her date to the&#xA;  star-studded nuptials. Plus, Lady Gaga&#xA;  sets a new Twitter record, and &lt;strong&gt;life's&#xA;  a beach&lt;/strong&gt; for David Beckham and Sofia&#xA;  Vergara as they shoot a Diet Pepsi&#xA;  commercial.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does &quot;life's a beach&quot; mean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2270" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T00:09:10.840" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T00:09:10.840" Title="What does &quot;life's a beach&quot; mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18564" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18563" CreationDate="2011-03-29T23:45:13.030" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a riff on the phrase &quot;life's a bitch&quot; (meaning life can be difficult and unpleasant) which turns it around into a positive. &quot;Life's a beach&quot; means that, at that moment at least, life was nothing but wonderful for David Beckham and Sofia Vergara. Think about beaches: sun, sand, water, beautiful people in bathing suits ... you get the idea.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-29T23:45:13.030" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18555" CreationDate="2011-03-30T00:05:11.737" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both sentences mean much the same thing, but have slightly different connotations.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&lt;em&gt;Tucked away&lt;/em&gt; sounds like the items have been hidden, and perhaps are small and fit snugly into their current location.  &lt;em&gt;Put away&lt;/em&gt; is more general and suggests that items have been placed into their normal storage location (which might not be hidden from view).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T00:05:11.737" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18566" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-30T00:29:40.793" Score="0" ViewCount="67" Body="&lt;p&gt;Some coworkers have suggested me to teach them English. Our native language is Spanish, but between us I am the one with more knowledge of English language. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I don't pretend to become English teacher in 21 days, and they know that having me just talking to them some phrases is good enough, I think it would be better if I can get some teaching/learning material to have a better structure. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any online resource that you know of, and that we can use for our purposes?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6689" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T09:28:57.427" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T16:20:45.670" Title="Resources to teach English" Tags="&lt;learning&gt;&lt;teaching-aid&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18543" CreationDate="2011-03-30T00:49:22.427" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Corrections:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you'll arrive before nine o'clock, they will not have left yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, just change &lt;em&gt;until&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt;. But, to be more idiomatic, omit the first &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you arrive before nine o'clock, they will not have left yet.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;By the time the sun will rise tomorrow morning, we'll have already been flying for two hours above the Atlantic Ocean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That one is correct as is. Again, to be more idiomatic, switch the first verb to present:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;By the time the sun rises tomorrow morning, we'll have already been flying for two hours above the Atlantic Ocean.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In July it would be a year since I lived in this town.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Correct only if you're in a subjunctive paragraph:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I wish I had moved out of here last July. Then, in July, it would be a year since I lived in this town.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Although even in that case I &lt;strong&gt;think&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;would have lived&lt;/em&gt; is better than &lt;em&gt;lived&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Otherwise:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In July it will have been a year since I will have lived in this town.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Or, informally:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In July it will have been a year since I lived in this town.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Would&lt;/em&gt; also works in past tense:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Last June I was thinking that in July it would be year since I had lived in this town.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastEditorUserId="3461" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T15:33:22.053" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T15:33:22.053" />
  <row Id="18568" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18661" CreationDate="2011-03-30T00:54:06.373" Score="12" ViewCount="212" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm reading some Sherlock Holmes stories (don't judge - it's good vacation reading) and Conan Doyle has Holmes saying things like &quot;Sorry to knock you up, Watson...&quot; which I'm finding very... odd.  From the context I'm gathering that it means &quot;wake up,&quot; but my head immediately goes to the modern American meaning of &quot;impregnate.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;knock up&quot; ever used with this meaning anymore?  And if not, did it disappear around the time that the pregnancy meaning became common, or did it vanish on its own?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T20:29:12.157" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T20:29:12.157" Title="&quot;Knocked up&quot; to mean &quot;woken up&quot;" Tags="&lt;british-english&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18569" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18568" CreationDate="2011-03-30T00:59:03.343" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Knock up&lt;/em&gt; is 1660s in sense of &quot;arouse by knocking at the door;&quot; however it is little used in this sense in Amer.Eng., where the phrase means &quot;get a woman pregnant&quot; (1813)....&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&amp;mdash;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=knock&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Online Etymology Dictionary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I guess it's a safe bet that, by the early-mid-1800s, &lt;em&gt;knock up&lt;/em&gt; lacked the &quot;wake up&quot; meaning in the States. Google Books and the BYU corpora are your friends, though, if you want to look for specific dates of usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/18661&quot;&gt;Another answer&lt;/a&gt;, q.v., has examined Google Books, with the result that my guessed safe bet was a bad guess after all.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastEditorUserId="3461" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T04:53:30.613" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T04:53:30.613" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="18570" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18566" CreationDate="2011-03-30T01:23:48.120" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemocha.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Livemocha&lt;/a&gt; seems to be pretty good. It's totally web based. There is a free version and then you can pay to have a better version. It is great for beginners, but I'm not sure how well it is for intermediate learners.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T01:23:48.120" />
  <row Id="18571" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18572" CreationDate="2011-03-30T01:36:04.153" Score="7" ViewCount="293" Body="&lt;p&gt;Are these two totally synonymous? Can one be used in place of the other anywhere? Are there any differences in nuance, or anything at all?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T05:49:13.700" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T05:49:13.700" Title="&quot;Even though&quot; vs. &quot;even if&quot;" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
  <row Id="18572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18571" CreationDate="2011-03-30T01:59:48.353" Score="22" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;These two are not equivalent. &lt;em&gt;Even though&lt;/em&gt; is used to introduce a condition which currently is true, while &lt;em&gt;even if&lt;/em&gt; introduces a hypothetical condition that is not yet true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm going to the park &lt;em&gt;even though&lt;/em&gt; it's raining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that it's raining right now, but I'm going to the park anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I'm going to the park &lt;em&gt;even if&lt;/em&gt; it's raining.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means that it's not yet raining, but I will go to the park even if it starts to rain. Note that in this case the present progressive &lt;em&gt;I'm going&lt;/em&gt; actually indicates a near future action.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T01:59:48.353" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18573" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-30T02:11:16.070" Score="2" ViewCount="112" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the movie's Wikipedia article, there is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3aAffiche_Internationale_juane_The_King%27s_Speech.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;a French poster of the movie&lt;/a&gt;, which says &quot;Le Discours d'un Roi&quot;. This is interesting to me because the French title uses the indefinite article &quot;un&quot; to refer to the king, which in my view makes more sense because he's just a king and from the title alone it's not obvious which king we are talking about. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is it more appropriate that the English title use the definite article? Is it because the king is British?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1199" LastEditorUserId="549" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T23:12:04.627" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T23:12:04.627" Title="Why is it &quot;The King's Speech&quot; but &quot;Le Discours d'un Roi&quot;?" Tags="&lt;definite-article&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="18574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18568" CreationDate="2011-03-30T02:13:14.993" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a difference between American and British English. In England if you knock someone up you get them out of bed. In America you usually have to get them &lt;em&gt;into&lt;/em&gt; bed to knock them up (unless you're both in high school, in which case you will have to tilt the seat back in your parents' car). And by &quot;them&quot; I mean women only, because it's still the case that only women can get pregnant. But you can knock up anybody you want in Britain — how awesome is that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T02:13:14.993" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="18575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18540" CreationDate="2011-03-30T03:03:58.557" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meanings of the prefix &lt;em&gt;bi&lt;/em&gt; are:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;occurring twice in every one: &lt;em&gt;biannual&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;bimonthly&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;occurring once in every two: &lt;em&gt;bicentennial&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;biennial&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;lasting for two: &lt;em&gt;biennial&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;biennium&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T03:03:58.557" />
  <row Id="18576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18472" CreationDate="2011-03-30T03:10:04.213" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/archrival&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Archrival&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is a particularly apt description for this sort of person. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/competitor?show=0&amp;amp;t=1301454274&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Competitor&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; comes a close second in my book.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T03:10:04.213" />
  <row Id="18577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2011-03-30T03:19:48.330" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Albeit&lt;/strong&gt; - pronounced &quot;ahl-bee-it&quot;, and not &quot;ahl-bite&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1442" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T03:19:48.330" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-30T03:19:48.330" />
  <row Id="18578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18573" CreationDate="2011-03-30T03:39:04.407" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It may well be, as you said, because the movie is about the British king.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In English usage (on both sides of the Atlantic), &quot;the Queen&quot; - without further specification - is commonly understood to refer to Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, the only monarch of an English-speaking country.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So for the timeframe in which the movie is set, &quot;the King&quot; would probably indeed be understood the same way. By contrast, in French &quot;le Roi&quot; would probably require some kind of modifier.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T03:39:04.407" CommentCount="11" />
  <row Id="18579" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-30T04:28:01.477" Score="3" ViewCount="120" Body="&lt;p&gt;I recently saw the character '‽' (the interrobang, a mashing of '!' and '?') in &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1431/what-words-are-commonly-mispronounced-by-literate-people-who-read-them-before-the/3953#3953&quot;&gt;an answer's comment&lt;/a&gt; and it got me thinking about another character I've seen recently: the &lt;a href=&quot;http://02d9656.netsoljsp.com/SarcMark/modules/user/commonfiles/loadhome.do&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;sarcmark&lt;/a&gt;. In my estimation neither are 'official' punctuation characters; nevertheless the former must be part of Unicode for it to be used in my browser so easily.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;At what point is the creation of punctuation appropriate? Is it a matter of popularity, or is necessity the mother of invention?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2178" LastEditorUserId="2178" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T18:42:28.103" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T09:52:02.727" Title="When is creating punctuation appropriate?" Tags="&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18573" CreationDate="2011-03-30T04:32:59.897" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Specifically in Britain, at least, the convention of &quot;The King's something or other&quot;, has a very long tradition.  Any number of things of all sorts are attributed in this way.  For instance, The King's Men, the acting company to which Shakespeare belonged.  Other examples, include, The King's Regiment, The King's School, and The King's Breakfast, to name just a few.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Interestingly enough, despite the above, the Film is actually based on a play call A King's Speech, so what the hell do I know.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6686" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T04:32:59.897" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18579" CreationDate="2011-03-30T04:53:05.120" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's a matter of use. If no one uses it, no matter how popular it is, it doesn't really exist &quot;officially&quot; (for what that term is worth, which is practically nothing). Of course, necessity implies use, so that will also result in &quot;official&quot; punctuation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Note that the &quot;creation of punctuation&quot; is substantially different from &quot;official punctuation characters&quot;—the creation has technically already happened, since it's been used at least once by the person who came up with it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T04:53:05.120" />
  <row Id="18582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17075" CreationDate="2011-03-30T04:56:08.817" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Before you can say Jack Robinson.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Serious as a heart attack.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the skin of your teeth (or seat of your pants).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6686" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T04:56:08.817" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-30T04:56:08.817" />
  <row Id="18583" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18589" CreationDate="2011-03-30T05:21:55.750" Score="2" ViewCount="54" Body="&lt;p&gt;Apologies for the horrible title.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I'm invited to an event and I bring a plus one, they're are my guest and I am a guest of the event's host. But what am I to my guest?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've tinkered with 'invitee' or 'attendee' and even had 'host' suggested to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Are any of these on the right track? If not, what are my options?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6693" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T05:50:39.613" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T06:41:17.687" Title="What are the correct titles for the attendee/guest relationship?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18584" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18579" CreationDate="2011-03-30T05:24:48.573" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Wikipedia has a decent write-up on the meaning and origins of the interrobang: &lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Interrobang&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Interrobang&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's basically just a shorthand for the punctuation at the end of surprised or excited questions like &quot;Really?!&quot;. Since it is much easier to just type &quot;?!&quot; instead, &quot;‽&quot; doesn't really see a lot of use in typical writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As to when new punctuation is created, it is really a matter of both necessity and popularity. The interrobang is generally less convenient and less comprehensible than the &quot;?!&quot; it aims to replace, so I'd class it as a failed attempt to create new punctuation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another example I encountered recently is the use of square brackets instead of normal parentheses to get around the problem of ending a parenthetical comment with a smiley. Neither (Unbalanced :) nor (Also unbalanced :)) look right, so [Better :)] may be a possible replacement. Only time will tell if that catches on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5592" LastEditorUserId="5592" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T05:00:41.223" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T05:00:41.223" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18585" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17669" CreationDate="2011-03-30T05:27:43.500" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;All language rules are descriptive rather than prescriptive, so something &quot;sounding right&quot; is the better measure of how things are ordered than some artificial hierarchy imposed upon it.  That being said, what sounds right to one group of people might jar the ear of another.  Given enough time, this is how different dialects and ultimately different languages appear.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I have a thermos bottle with cream of&#xA;  tomato soup,&quot; she said. &quot;And a&#xA;  lobster-salad sandwich on thin slices&#xA;  of white bread. I have celery, carrot&#xA;  sticks, and black olives, and a little&#xA;  cardboard shaker of salt for the&#xA;  celery. And two plums and a tiny&#xA;  basket of cherries. And vanilla&#xA;  pudding with chocolate sprinkles and a&#xA;  spoon to eat it with.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6686" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T05:27:43.500" />
  <row Id="18586" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-30T05:32:06.147" Score="3" ViewCount="100" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is old England responsible for creating the /f/ sound from &lt;em&gt;ph&lt;/em&gt;, as in &lt;em&gt;Philip&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Pharoah&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Physics&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Sophia&lt;/em&gt;, etc?  Many European countries keep the &lt;em&gt;f&lt;/em&gt; for all of their /f/-sounding letters, as in &lt;em&gt;Sofia&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Stefan&lt;/em&gt;, for example.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6697" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T05:43:31.273" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T13:08:34.343" Title="&quot;Ph&quot; for the /f/ sound; Is Old England responsible for this swap?" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18587" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18586" CreationDate="2011-03-30T06:10:11.077" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Romans.  They translated Greek phi (φ) as &quot;ph&quot; and pronounced it closer to &quot;p&quot; than &quot;f&quot;.  Native Latin words were spelled with the &quot;f&quot;.  Ironically, a lot of Latin p-words became f-words (e.g., &lt;em&gt;pedis&lt;/em&gt; became &quot;foot&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4040" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T06:10:11.077" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18588" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18590" CreationDate="2011-03-30T06:12:40.480" Score="1" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why can't I say, &quot;I have a brown hair,&quot; to describe the colour of my hair? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T16:28:49.420" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T16:28:49.420" Title="Why can't I say &quot;I have a brown hair&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;pluralization&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18583" CreationDate="2011-03-30T06:15:07.013" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there is a term for the relationship you are asking about.  If the original invitee's guest is a (potential future, not necessarily actual) romantic partner, then (in America, at least) the guest would be the invitee's &lt;em&gt;date&lt;/em&gt;, and the term could be used in the inverse direction as well.  This is only loosely tied to the fact of the original's host's invitation.  But of course the guest might be a person to which &lt;em&gt;date&lt;/em&gt; would be inappropriate, and then no term seems any where near right.  If queried about it, a person would probably say something about being invited by the original invitee, being with them, etc, and would not try to name a particular role they fit into. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4951" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T06:15:07.013" />
  <row Id="18590" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18588" CreationDate="2011-03-30T06:33:32.977" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When describing the hair on one's head, the noun &lt;em&gt;hair&lt;/em&gt; takes on a collective sense, i.e. &lt;em&gt;hair&lt;/em&gt; is treated as uncountable. Thus, the correct way to describe your hair (presumably that on your head) color is:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have brown hair.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, &lt;em&gt;hair&lt;/em&gt; is also a countable noun, e.g. &quot;Who knows the number of hairs on their head?&quot; Hence,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have a brown hair&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is also perfectly valid, but it would usually imply that that particular brown hair is special—perhaps one in a billion black hairs, or something of the sort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T06:33:32.977" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="18591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18583" CreationDate="2011-03-30T06:41:17.687" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If I were the person who invited you plus one person of your choice, I would consider both you and your &quot;plus-one&quot; to be my guests, making no distinction between you.  You could consider your plus-one to be your &quot;companion&quot; or &quot;friend&quot;; or &quot;wife&quot;, &quot;spousal unit&quot;, &quot;significant other&quot;, &quot;roommate&quot;, &quot;old college buddy&quot;, etc. as whatever normal relationship there is between you calls for.  As mgkrebbs says, I don't believe that there is any specific term extant for the situation described.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T06:41:17.687" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18592" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18594" CreationDate="2011-03-30T06:46:29.080" Score="3" ViewCount="73" Body="&lt;p&gt;Scenario: 'Are you stressed by his threat?' Answer: 'I'm not that concerned.'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the grammatical function of 'that' in this sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T07:34:43.003" Title="What is the grammatical function of 'that' in this sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18593" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18595" CreationDate="2011-03-30T07:13:05.797" Score="2" ViewCount="108" Body="&lt;p&gt;Assume we want to ask somebody to choose between two options. Each option is a phrase like &quot;stay home&quot; or &quot;come with me&quot;. What is the correct form of asking such questions? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Do you want to stay home or come with me?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Do you want to stay home or do you want to come with me?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;Do you want to stay home or you want to come with me?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Any better form? What if there are more than two options?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6156" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T19:10:31.603" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T19:10:31.603" Title="Asking somebody to select between two or more options" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;sentence-patterns&gt;&lt;questions&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="18594" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18592" CreationDate="2011-03-30T07:34:43.003" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Adverb. It means &quot;very&quot; and applies to &lt;em&gt;concerned&lt;/em&gt;. The sentence means the same as &lt;em&gt;I'm not very concerned&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T07:34:43.003" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18593" CreationDate="2011-03-30T07:37:58.090" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;1 or 2 is fine (but use &lt;em&gt;at home&lt;/em&gt; or even &lt;em&gt;home&lt;/em&gt; rather than &lt;em&gt;in home&lt;/em&gt;); 3 is not. (However, in informal speech, the instances of &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; are often dropped from 1 or 2.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For more than two options, the same applies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you want to stay home, come with me, or go to town?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Do you want to stay home, do you want to come with me, or do you want to go to town?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, with more options, 2 is very wordy, so 1 will be more common.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastEditorUserId="3461" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T14:48:40.113" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T14:48:40.113" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18593" CreationDate="2011-03-30T07:42:34.500" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can choose between:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do you want to stay at home, or come with me?&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Do you want to stay at home, or do you want to come with me?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T09:26:20.830" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T09:26:20.830" />
  <row Id="18597" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18675" CreationDate="2011-03-30T08:06:43.207" Score="3" ViewCount="114" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Exceed&lt;/em&gt; is commonly used, but when I found myself wanting to use the opposite I couldn't really find a single word that would do it. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;fall short of&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;inadequate&lt;/em&gt; are a little off.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;What is about &lt;em&gt;deceed&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="248" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T09:24:46.430" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T18:22:40.147" Title="What would be an appropriate opposite of &quot;exceed&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18598" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18600" CreationDate="2011-03-30T08:45:58.743" Score="2" ViewCount="60" Body="&lt;p&gt;Scenario: A gang from the west of the USA wants to kill gang members from the east of the USA. The gang from the west meet a gang member from the east and ask:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'Where are you from?'&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The gang member from the east replies:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'From the west.' &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But he intends to mean 'the western world' so he said something intending a different meaning than that of the meaning in the minds of those he was addressing, thus fooling them, and saving himself.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there a term for this type of linguistic/semantic strategy?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Note: no offense to people from the USA - thanks&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6346" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T14:23:52.613" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T14:23:52.613" Title="What is a single word describing this type of statement?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="18599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18597" CreationDate="2011-03-30T08:48:20.083" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Hello, &#xA;maybe this is one of the cases where the context helps a bit to choose the correct expression. In evaluations it often says &quot;below expectation / meets expectation / exceeds expectation (choose one)&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In a sentence, I'd be inclined to use&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Tom has exceeded our expectations, but&#xA;  Jim has fallen behind&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;cheers,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6385" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T08:48:20.083" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18600" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18598" CreationDate="2011-03-30T09:03:31.357" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;When an answer can be interpreted different ways, especially with intent to deceive, it's an &lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/equivocal&quot;&gt;equivocal&lt;/a&gt; answer, and the act of answering this way is &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivocation&quot;&gt;equivocation&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T09:03:31.357" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18601" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-30T09:30:37.737" Score="9" ViewCount="168" Body="&lt;p&gt;I had a hard time phrasing the actual question title—hopefully this doesn't mean it's too subjective—, but I'm curious about why positive (or negative) statements can be terminated by negative (or positive) questions:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;ul&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;You &lt;strong&gt;do&lt;/strong&gt; like apples, &lt;strong&gt;don't&lt;/strong&gt; you?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;We &lt;strong&gt;can't&lt;/strong&gt; all be rich, &lt;strong&gt;can&lt;/strong&gt; we?&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why is it (arguably) common to turn a general statement into a question like this when the intent remains the same? Is this a common use of a rhetorical question? If so, what is afforded by not simply making a statement without turning it into a question?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4012" LastEditorUserId="4012" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T00:14:56.447" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T01:12:04.727" Title="Why can positive statements end with a negative question and vice versa?" Tags="&lt;questions&gt;" AnswerCount="6" />
  <row Id="18602" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-30T09:43:47.560" Score="0" ViewCount="41" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/15001/it-isnt-versus-its-not&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;It isn&amp;#39;t&amp;rdquo; versus &amp;ldquo;it&amp;#39;s not&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference in meaning, or supposed impression when hearing it? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1199" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T09:58:55.790" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T10:08:59.157" ClosedDate="2011-03-30T10:23:12.000" Title="&quot;It isn't&quot; versus &quot;it's not&quot;" Tags="&lt;differences&gt;&lt;contractions&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="0" />
  <row Id="18603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15001" CreationDate="2011-03-30T09:50:22.760" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They are identical, even in connotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6474" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T10:08:59.157" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T10:08:59.157" />
  <row Id="18604" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18601" CreationDate="2011-03-30T10:06:12.497" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is offering your conversational partner(s) a chance to contradict your current opinion. A (somewhat) polite version of &quot;Prove me wrong&quot; / &quot;Am I right?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6474" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T10:06:12.497" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18601" CreationDate="2011-03-30T10:06:50.453" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You do like apples, don't you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The sentence is used to ask somebody confirmation of the fact he/she likes apples. Who is speaking/writing thinks the other person like apples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the context, the usage of such sentences could have different meanings.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You aren't guilty, are you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Who is asking is not really sure the other person is not guilty, but he takes the assumption he is not.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You know who I am, don't you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Who is speaking is reminding to the other person who he is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T10:06:50.453" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1431" CreationDate="2011-03-30T11:06:44.730" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;harbinger&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You'd think it to be &quot;har-BING-er&quot; when it's actually &quot;HAR-bin-jer&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;infamous&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Always read &quot;in-FAME-us&quot; when it's &quot;IN-fah-mus&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;facetious&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looks like &quot;FA-cet-us&quot; when it's &quot;fah-SEE-shus&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6534" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T11:06:44.730" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-30T11:06:44.730" />
  <row Id="18607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18601" CreationDate="2011-03-30T11:07:09.183" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The question tag comes in two flavors, contradictory and affirmative.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You like movies, don't you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You like movies, do you?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The first is contradictory, asking for information to be polite (in case you were about to show a movie and wanted to make sure your friend wouldn't object) or because you assumed something and wanted to make sure your impression was correct.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second is affirmative, but is also checking. The speaker has some evidence that the friend likes movies, and is asking for affirmation to confirm the supposition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both cases, the question tag is an invitation to confirm or deny an impression or assumption.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T11:07:09.183" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18579" CreationDate="2011-03-30T11:07:13.397" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;According to Wikipedia, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony_punctuation&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;irony punctation&lt;/a&gt; have been proposed since the 16th century under the form ⸮, a​ reversed question mark, so the (trademarked) sarcmark is barely a new concept. However, like the more recent interrobang, this usage did not catch up and there is no standard irony mark for common latin script-based languages (irony punctuation exists in other writing systems)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, I have seen in different contexts the following marks used for irony in a more or less standard way :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;[!]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;[sic], or [sic !] (in French, I don't know if it is the use in english)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;:-) (and these &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoticons&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;emoticons&lt;/a&gt; being sometimes replaced by in-text graphics or plain-text characters (☺ or some newly encoded unicode 6.0 characters &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1F600.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(pdf code chart)&lt;/a&gt; )&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;...&quot; : the &quot;unforgettable&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scare_quotes#Negative&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;scare quotes&lt;/a&gt; (and various “typograhic” 'variations' like ‘these’ and others.) This usage is to my knowledge, the only punctuation sign having escaped the written medium, with the “wonderful” &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_quotes&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;air quotes&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;in a similar way, I've seen italics used for the same purpose.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;About the interrobang, I have little to add to @ncoghlan answer, except that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shadycharacters.co.uk/2011/03/can-you-help-trace-these-graphic-designers/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;two articles on the interrobang&lt;/a&gt; should be soon available on the excellent &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shadycharacters.co.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Shady Characters blog&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit 1 to add&lt;/strong&gt; : scare quotes.&#xA;&lt;strong&gt;Edit 2 to add&lt;/strong&gt; : italics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2456" LastEditorUserId="2456" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T09:52:02.727" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T09:52:02.727" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="18609" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18626" CreationDate="2011-03-30T11:13:53.010" Score="7" ViewCount="312" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe it is incorrect and instead either the present continuous&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am sitting&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or the predicate adjective&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am seated&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;should be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I hear this quite often, however, and ultimately usage overrules formality.  Does anybody know where this originated or how to describe it grammatically?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5964" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T10:36:12.020" Title="Is &quot;I am sat&quot; bad English?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15001" CreationDate="2011-03-30T11:18:48.157" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say that the only difference is that you can put emphasis on the word 'not' in the latter example (when spoken)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's NOT good...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be more difficult to emphasise the word &quot;isn't&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6706" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T11:18:48.157" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18611" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18609" CreationDate="2011-03-30T11:35:07.837" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It appears that, though extremely awkward, it would be correct, as &lt;em&gt;sat&lt;/em&gt; is the past part of sit.  Seat is a similar verb that means &quot;to sit down.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Side note: &lt;em&gt;sit&lt;/em&gt; may be transitive or intransitive, but &lt;em&gt;seat&lt;/em&gt; is always transitive and must take a direct object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6534" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T11:35:07.837" />
  <row Id="18612" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18593" CreationDate="2011-03-30T11:36:00.217" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is an interesting question, because the answer seems to be more pragmatic than grammatical. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As others have said, you can coordinate the object of the verb &quot;want&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Do you want [[to stay at home] or [to come with me]]?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or you can coordinate the whole VP (verb phrase):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;[[Do you want to stay at home] or [do you want to come with me]]?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But there are two other levels at which you might try to coordinate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Do you [[want to stay at home] or [want to come with me]]?&#xA;Do [[you want to stay at home] or [you want to come with me]]?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and these are not acceptable (at least, the last isn't: the previous one might just be). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But this is not a grammatical restriction: if you make the alternatives more different, they are fine in my estimation:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Do you [[want to stay at home] or [prefer to come with me]]?&#xA;Do [[you want to stay at home] or [both of you want to come with me]]?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T11:36:00.217" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="18613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18609" CreationDate="2011-03-30T11:46:27.580" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would accept all of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat sits on the mat &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat is sitting on the mat &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat sat on the mat &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat has sat on the mat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat was sitting on the mat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;but also the transitive or passive forms of &lt;em&gt;seat&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;sit&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She seats the cat on the mat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She sits the cat on the mat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She seated the cat on the mat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She sat the cat on the mat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She has seated the cat on the mat &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She has sat the cat on the mat&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat was seated on the mat by her &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat was sat on the mat by her &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat has been seated on the mat &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat has been sat on the mat &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat was seated on the mat &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat is seated on the mat &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That only leaves&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat was sat on the mat &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The cat is sat on the mat &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which I find difficult to reject, though here &lt;em&gt;sat&lt;/em&gt; has a passive tone to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T11:46:27.580" />
  <row Id="18614" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18609" CreationDate="2011-03-30T11:51:03.007" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Colloquially, &quot;I am sat here&quot; or &quot;I am sat there&quot; carries with it a sense that someone has done it to you. As in the construct &quot;She sat me down and told me ...&quot;. It's typically used when telling a story or complaining. You wouldn't use it for a circumstance like being at your desk working or at home watching TV under normal conditions. You might use it for being in a doctor's waiting room, or outside the principals office. I suppose if you felt trapped at work (or even at home) and strongly wanted to be somewhere else, you might: &quot;She's in the hospital, and I'm sat here with nothing to do, but no way to get to her and keep her company.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3946" LastEditorUserId="3946" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T12:03:44.703" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T12:03:44.703" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="18615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18609" CreationDate="2011-03-30T11:57:09.310" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Forms like &quot;I am sat here&quot; and &quot;they were stood there&quot; are common in certain dialects of English (such as Yorkshire, where I live), but are not regarded as standard English, which prefers &quot;I am sitting here&quot; and &quot;they were standing there&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;They are examples of stative verbs, which in many languages have a different grammar from other verbs, but exactly how the form arises I don't know. [Edit: also, they &lt;em&gt;don't&lt;/em&gt; pattern with the class of verbs usually called &quot;stative&quot; in English, in that they do have continuous forms: &quot;I am sitting&quot; etc.]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T10:36:12.020" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T10:36:12.020" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18616" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18556" CreationDate="2011-03-30T11:57:38.557" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Try this one. Who polices the police? Police police police police. Who polices the police police? Police police police police police police. Etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3946" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T11:57:38.557" />
  <row Id="18617" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18689" CreationDate="2011-03-30T12:07:31.563" Score="11" ViewCount="452" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whenever I see a sentence starting with &quot;especially,&quot; I always get the impression that this is not grammatically correct. From example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The high water-salt ratio will not be good for you. Especially if you are dehydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel like the two sentences should be united with punctuation, not divided.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Am I mistaken?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3711" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T14:21:33.100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T21:47:52.220" Title="Is it acceptable to use &quot;especially&quot; at the beginning of a sentence?" Tags="&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;punctuation&gt;" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
  <row Id="18618" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18593" CreationDate="2011-03-30T12:16:58.107" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;1 and 2 are fine, and as mentioned, 2 is a bit wordy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also consider something along the lines of &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are you coming with me or staying home?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or the extremely informal&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Are you coming or staying?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2477" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T12:16:58.107" />
  <row Id="18620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18617" CreationDate="2011-03-30T12:23:37.530" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's not really acceptable.  Especially not in formal writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T12:23:37.530" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18621" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18622" CreationDate="2011-03-30T12:29:22.353" Score="0" ViewCount="81" Body="&lt;p&gt;I can't get this right, but I'm not sure which is the correct statement:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We do not tolerate against pornography images.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or is it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We do not tolerate with pornography images.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which is the correct way of not agreeing with pornography images?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6707" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T12:36:00.443" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T12:36:00.443" Title="Which is the correct statement &quot;tolerate against&quot; or &quot;tolerate with&quot;?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammaticality&gt;&lt;prepositions&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18621" CreationDate="2011-03-30T12:33:30.617" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither. &lt;em&gt;To tolerate&lt;/em&gt; is a transitive verb and doesn't require any prepositional complement. So you just say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We do not tolerate pornographic images.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also note that using the adjective &lt;em&gt;pornographic&lt;/em&gt; is better than the noun &lt;em&gt;pornography&lt;/em&gt; in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T12:33:30.617" />
  <row Id="18623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18617" CreationDate="2011-03-30T12:33:32.863" Score="24" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Your instincts are on the money.  The basic form of the sentence should be:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;action/conclusion[,]&lt;/em&gt; [especially] if &lt;em&gt;condition&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That said, this is one of those rules that you can break if you do so knowingly.  Splitting the sentence in two before &quot;especially&quot; adds extra emphasis (as in @Ed Guiness's answer).  As with most stylistic rule-breaking, you should do it sparingly; over-frequent emphasis loses its effect and makes you look like a twit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T12:33:32.863" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18621" CreationDate="2011-03-30T12:33:37.213" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Skip the preposition altogether.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We do not tolerate pornographic images.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tolerate&lt;/em&gt; takes a direct object without any assistance from prepositions.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T12:33:37.213" />
  <row Id="18626" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18609" CreationDate="2011-03-30T12:46:19.127" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[1] i. &lt;em&gt;&lt;sup&gt;?&lt;/sup&gt;I am sat&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  ii. &lt;em&gt;I am sitting&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  iii. &lt;em&gt;I am seated&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;(? denotes questionable grammaticality)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In [1ii], the &lt;strong&gt;gerund-participle&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;sitting&lt;/em&gt; is just a simple verb -- indicating that the subject is sitting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In [1iii] we have the &lt;strong&gt;past participle&lt;/strong&gt; used in what &lt;em&gt;The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language&lt;/em&gt; calls the &lt;strong&gt;ascriptive&lt;/strong&gt; use of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (a kind of &lt;strong&gt;copular clause&lt;/strong&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[1i] sounds wrong. Is it wrong? No. It's just not standard usage.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;In the ascriptive use, PC [predicative complement] denotes a property and characteristically has the form of AdjP or &amp;hellip; NP.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is, an ascriptive copular clause takes the form &lt;em&gt;NP + &lt;strong&gt;be&lt;/strong&gt; + AdjP&lt;/em&gt; (or &lt;em&gt;+ NP&lt;/em&gt;, but we definitely don&amp;rsquo;t have an NP here). A verb can be inflected to be used as an adjective by using the gerund-participle form or the past participle form. &lt;em&gt;Sat&lt;/em&gt; is the past participle of &lt;em&gt;sit&lt;/em&gt; and thus, unless I&amp;rsquo;m missing something, [1i] must be grammatical.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This, of course, does not apply when the preterite and past participle are not syncretised.&#xA;Consider the following:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[2] *&lt;em&gt;I am want&lt;/em&gt; [preterite]&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;ii. &lt;em&gt;I am wanting&lt;/em&gt; [gerund-participle]&lt;br /&gt;&#xA;iii. &lt;em&gt;I am wanted&lt;/em&gt; [past participle]&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;[2i] is ungrammatical, while [2ii] and [2iii] are fine.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In summary, &lt;em&gt;I am sat&lt;/em&gt; is an example of the ascriptive use of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastEditorUserId="1065" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T13:16:52.220" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T13:16:52.220" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="18627" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18628" CreationDate="2011-03-30T13:04:07.193" Score="4" ViewCount="111" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between &lt;em&gt;fine&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt;? Please suggest the proper usage. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6708" LastEditorUserId="223" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T15:22:05.607" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T15:22:05.607" Title="What is the difference between &quot;fine&quot; and &quot;good&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18627" CreationDate="2011-03-30T13:05:53.627" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something that is &lt;em&gt;fine&lt;/em&gt; is better than something that is merely &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;fine&lt;/strong&gt; 1. Of superior quality, skill, or appearance: &lt;em&gt;a fine day&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;a fine writer&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;good&lt;/strong&gt; 1. Being positive or desirable in nature; not bad or poor: &lt;em&gt;a good experience&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;good news from the hospital&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As you see, &lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt; can simply mean &quot;not bad&quot;; but &lt;em&gt;fine&lt;/em&gt; means superior, excellent.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See definitions &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fine&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/good&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T13:05:53.627" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18586" CreationDate="2011-03-30T13:08:34.343" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Old English is definitely not responsible for this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All of the words that you mentioned are Greek in origin, and they all contained the Greek letter φ (phi). In Classical Greek this was pronounced as an aspirated [pʰ], which the Latins wrote as &lt;em&gt;ph&lt;/em&gt; when they borrowed the words from Greek. Later this sound changed into an [f] in both Greek and Latin, and was passed as such into French, and then into English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Once the idea that &lt;em&gt;ph&lt;/em&gt; was pronounced [f] was established, it spread to a few other areas, as well. Borrowings from Hebrew and other Semitic languages sometimes use &lt;em&gt;ph&lt;/em&gt;, especially since the Hebrew letter פ can be [p] or [f] depending on context. Vietnamese regularly uses &lt;em&gt;ph&lt;/em&gt; for [f], in this case because the modern Vietnamese orthography was designed by the French.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T13:08:34.343" />
  <row Id="18630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18627" CreationDate="2011-03-30T13:12:32.770" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Robusto's answer is correct when they are being used attributively, to describe something in particular. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in idiomatic usage on their own, there is really nothing to choose between them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;That's fine&quot; means the same as &quot;That's good&quot; or &quot;That's OK&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Fine&quot; also has a subsidiary meaning of &quot;healthy, well&quot;, so &quot;I feel fine&quot; is appropriate when somebody has expressed a concern about your health. &quot;I feel good&quot; would not be idiomatic there, at least in the UK.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T13:12:32.770" CommentCount="7" />
  <row Id="18631" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-30T13:15:42.987" Score="1" ViewCount="42" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3368/a-an-preceding-a-parenthetical-statement&quot;&gt;&amp;ldquo;a/an&amp;rdquo; preceding a parenthetical statement&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This question is a little hard to summarize in the title.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I sometimes like to use parentheses to add additional (but nonessential) details to a sentence - like I did just there. My criteria for such use is usually that the sentence could be read with the text in the parentheses, or excluding the text, and each would be an equally valid and grammatically correct statement.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So I am curious: in a case where the parenthesis is preceded by the word 'a', and the word in parenthesis begins with a vowel (or unsounded h) that would require it to be changed to 'an', what is the correct statement?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In addition to these three journal articles containing background information, I have included &lt;strong&gt;a (anecdotal) reference&lt;/strong&gt; describing this proposed cure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;In addition to these three journal articles containing background information, I have included &lt;strong&gt;an (anecdotal) reference&lt;/strong&gt; describing this proposed cure.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I feel as though if I use the word 'an' it draws too much attention to the word anectodal, and I might as well just remove the parentheses. I'm just trying to slip the word in there to cover my ass if someone says &quot;That's not a valid reference - it's just an anectote.&quot; If you are curious about the context: the anecdotal reference is included because it describes the process in greater detail than is captured by my summary.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Feel free to comment on the validity of my use of parentheses while you're at it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6052" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T13:15:42.987" ClosedDate="2011-03-30T13:55:00.313" Title="Should one use 'a' or 'an' when the following word is in parentheses?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;articles&gt;&lt;parentheses&gt;&lt;phonics&gt;" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18617" CreationDate="2011-03-30T14:01:20.043" Score="22" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; use words like 'especially' or 'because' at the beginning of the sentence &lt;em&gt;as long as you provide a supporting clause after it.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Because&lt;/strong&gt; my dog had fleas, &lt;em&gt;I had to make him sleep outside.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Especially&lt;/strong&gt; when the weather report predicts rain, &lt;em&gt;you should have an umbrella in your car.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In both of these examples you could change the order of the clauses so that 'because' and 'especially' appear in the middle of the sentence, following the comma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T14:01:20.043" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18633" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18556" CreationDate="2011-03-30T14:06:48.103" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You'll probably want to put some punctuation in these:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wouldn't the sentence &quot;I want to put a hyphen between the words Fish and and and and and Chips in my 'Fish and Chips' sign&quot; have been clearer if quotation marks had been placed before Fish, and between Fish and and, and and and and, and and and and, and and and and, and and and and, and and and Chips, as well as after Chips?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T14:06:48.103" />
  <row Id="18634" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-30T14:10:14.763" Score="4" ViewCount="121" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am answering an online English grammar test and encountered the following question&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Where was Jack yesterday? —I don't know. He &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;__&lt;em&gt;_&lt;/em&gt;____&lt;/strong&gt; seeing the doctor.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;My answer is: &lt;em&gt;might has been&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;Correct Answer is: &lt;em&gt;might have been&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Why not &lt;em&gt;might has been&lt;/em&gt;? &lt;em&gt;He&lt;/em&gt; is singular? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6709" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T14:16:21.683" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T15:05:07.500" Title="&quot;has been&quot; vs &quot;have been&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;concord&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18635" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18641" CreationDate="2011-03-30T14:18:24.857" Score="4" ViewCount="99" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It was very disturbing to learn that Google will not open source Android 3.0 &lt;strong&gt;in timely fashion&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the meaning of &lt;em&gt;in timely fashion&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T19:04:19.127" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T19:04:19.127" Title="What is the meaning of the phrase ‘in timely fashion’?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18636" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-30T14:19:22.577" Score="4" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm doing some editing and one sentence I'm navigating says &quot;You can configure how the thing appears.&quot; (That's a paraphrase.) I think it is wrong because &quot;configure&quot; is a transitive verb and needs a direct object. &quot;How&quot; is not an object.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not entirely sure that that's the clearest explanation of why this construction is wrong, however.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6647" LastEditorUserId="6647" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T11:54:51.743" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T11:54:51.743" Title="What is wrong with phrasing like &quot;configure how&quot;?" Tags="&lt;sentence&gt;&lt;transitive-verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18637" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18636" CreationDate="2011-03-30T14:20:16.737" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase seems fine to me. The object is &quot;how it appears&quot;, not &quot;how&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T14:20:16.737" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="18638" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18634" CreationDate="2011-03-30T14:22:29.690" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because the verb is &quot;might&quot;. After the first verb you use the infinitive, for example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He &lt;em&gt;has&lt;/em&gt; something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He might &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; something.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The same rule applies when using &quot;have&quot; to indicate past tense. I will &lt;strong&gt;bold&lt;/strong&gt; the conjugated verbs in the following examples. The following verbs are in infinitive forms.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He &lt;strong&gt;has&lt;/strong&gt; been sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He &lt;strong&gt;might&lt;/strong&gt; have been sick.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4929" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T14:22:29.690" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18634" CreationDate="2011-03-30T14:22:53.683" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Might&lt;/em&gt; is an auxiliary (modal) verb (it's actually the past tense of &lt;em&gt;may&lt;/em&gt;), and those always require the following verb to be in infinitive form. Other examples of this are &lt;em&gt;can/could&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;shall/should&lt;/em&gt;. (Which is why the (in)famous &quot;I can has cheezburger&quot; strikes us as ungrammatical: the correct form would be &quot;I can have...&quot; &amp;ndash; or actually, since it's a question, &quot;Can I have...&quot;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T15:05:07.500" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T15:05:07.500" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="18641" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18635" CreationDate="2011-03-30T14:31:04.450" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase &lt;em&gt;in timely fashion&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;em&gt;quickly&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;promptly&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;within a reasonable time frame&lt;/em&gt;. One might also hear &lt;em&gt;in a timely manner&lt;/em&gt;, which has the same meaning.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For further reference, here are the relevant definitions of &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1298904#m_en_us1298904&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;timely&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1246345#m_en_us1246345&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;fashion&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; according to NOAD:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;timely&lt;/strong&gt; done or occurring at a favorable or useful time; opportune&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;fashion&lt;/strong&gt; a manner of doing something&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T14:39:31.353" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T14:39:31.353" />
  <row Id="18642" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18636" CreationDate="2011-03-30T14:35:21.307" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think the construction is invalid but imo it does not read well.  I would prefer something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You can configure the thing's appearance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5964" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T14:35:21.307" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18635" CreationDate="2011-03-30T14:37:13.817" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, it means &quot;quickly enough&quot; or &quot;on time&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/timely&quot;&gt;timely&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: 1. coming early or at the right time; &#xA;  2: appropriate or adapted to the times or the occasion&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fashion&quot;&gt;fashion&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;: 2b. mode of action or operation&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;Note that I usually hear/see this phrase with an article:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You need to pay your bills &lt;strong&gt;in &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; timely fashion&lt;/strong&gt; if you want your credit score to improve.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Omitting the article makes it sound a little awkward, but not necessarily incorrect.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T14:37:13.817" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18644" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18597" CreationDate="2011-03-30T14:46:56.557" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;Underwhelm&lt;/code&gt; is one of my favorites as it is so thoroughly an antonym of overwhelm, which could take the place of exceeded expectations. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you need to use &quot;expectations&quot; I would have to default to longer expressions like &quot;did not satisfy&quot;, &quot;fell short&quot;. Exceed, coming from excess, has no direct-sounding antonym that carries its connotation that feels natural to me. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T14:46:56.557" />
  <row Id="18645" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15001" CreationDate="2011-03-30T15:03:36.723" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biggest difference between the two is how many syllables it takes to say them:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;It*is*n't&lt;/code&gt; vs &lt;code&gt;Its*not&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This obviously matters a whole lot for rhythm and rhyme.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes (though rarely) it is worth avoiding the harsh 's' sound from &lt;em&gt;it's not&lt;/em&gt; due to microphones' tendency to accentuate the &lt;code&gt;sssss&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But in terms of meaning there is no significant difference. Using &quot;it is not&quot; would sound a tad more formal due to the lack of contractions and the overt effort required to say it that way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T15:03:36.723" />
  <row Id="18646" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16350" CreationDate="2011-03-30T15:16:34.753" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder whether &lt;em&gt;millions sterling&lt;/em&gt; derives from a misunderstanding of &lt;em&gt;sterling&lt;/em&gt; in &lt;em&gt;pounds sterling&lt;/em&gt; as a postpositive adjective.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T15:16:34.753" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18488" CreationDate="2011-03-30T15:18:03.097" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Thinking of the rigidity of bushes I would fall on &lt;code&gt;shudder&lt;/code&gt;; it fits well with the shape of the object. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Shudder also implies a geometric uneasiness, and pins and needles. A part of your question (the movement/sound of a leaf) is answered by &lt;code&gt;rustling&lt;/code&gt;; &lt;code&gt;shudder&lt;/code&gt;  is complementary as it pushes further into the character of bushes or shrubbery, and moves away from trees and more pliant plants.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T15:18:03.097" />
  <row Id="18648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="4828" CreationDate="2011-03-30T15:23:16.573" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The answer, that you should use a comma in this sentence, comes from the use of &quot;if.&quot;  In fact, with the use of &quot;if&quot; you don't even need &quot;then.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;If you can read this, you might want to answer this question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The comma here is required, and correct, because of the dependent clause &quot;If you can read this.&quot;  The word &quot;then&quot; is an adverb that just happens to appear after the comma that was triggered by the use of &quot;If.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Now, if you did not have a dependent clause triggering the need for a comma, you would &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; insert a comma before &quot;then.&quot; For example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I picked up my paycheck then paid my bills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is why many people almost instinctively add &quot;and&quot; before &quot;then&quot; to allow the use of a comma between two independent clauses. For example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I picked up my paycheck, and then I started to pay my bills.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6711" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T15:37:13.440" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T15:37:13.440" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18649" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18650" CreationDate="2011-03-30T15:30:10.653" Score="6" ViewCount="225" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the phrase or word for person that are very faithful in their place of worship (the pejorative usually applies to persons who are showy to the point of hypocrisy), but that are anything but during the rest of the week?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I recall there are some pretty derogatory ways of putting it (from both faith/less camps); I am looking for a relatively less mean, faith neutral pejorative (i.e. not some incendiary atheist phrase). The words that are somewhat forming in my head are something like &quot;Sunday Christian&quot; or &quot;Someddays Faithful&quot; or something like that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T22:14:29.797" Title="What is the pejorative for people who only practice their faith while at the place of worship?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;pejorative&gt;" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18650" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18649" CreationDate="2011-03-30T15:36:52.600" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Among Catholics, there is the pejorative &lt;strong&gt;Cafeteria Catholic&lt;/strong&gt; for those who selectively pick and choose which tenets of the faith they obey in their daily lives.  Someone who attends Mass and says the catechisms on Sunday, yet still supports abortion rights and eats meat on Lent, is considered a hypocrite in the sense you offer by some other Catholics.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;em&gt;Sunday Christian&lt;/em&gt; seems to be pretty official; as proof, there's even a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Christian&quot;&gt;Wikipedia article&lt;/a&gt; on the subject.  The article offers other synonyms such as &lt;em&gt;Sunday-morning Christian&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Once-a-weeker&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Chreasters&lt;/em&gt; (coined of &lt;em&gt;Christmas&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Easter&lt;/em&gt; [&lt;em&gt;Christians&lt;/em&gt;]),  &lt;em&gt;Twice-a-years&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Submarine Christians&lt;/em&gt; (so-called because they only surface a few times every year.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T16:07:01.373" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T16:07:01.373" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18649" CreationDate="2011-03-30T15:42:06.907" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Christian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sunday Christian&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cafeteria_Catholicism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cafeteria Catholic&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, there is also: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapsed_Catholic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Lapsed Catholic&lt;/a&gt; - &quot;a person who has ceased practicing the Catholic faith, in the sense of attending Mass, but who may still identify as a Catholic.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Mormon&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Cultural Mormon&lt;/a&gt; - &quot;Mormons who no longer believe some (or many) of the doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but who self-identify as Mormon.&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanistic_Judaism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Humanistic Judaism&lt;/a&gt; - &quot;a pluralistic movement that emphasizes Jewish culture and Jewish history — rather than belief in God — as the sources of Jewish identity.&quot;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The latter three may not directly apply to your question, as these individuals likely refrain from attending worship services entirely, but due the fact that they still may identify with their religion outside of its place of worship, I feel they are worth noting.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastEditorUserId="5894" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T15:48:42.067" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T15:48:42.067" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18653" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18597" CreationDate="2011-03-30T16:24:01.887" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you wanted to be glib and Jim was know to be underwhelming, you could say that Jim &lt;em&gt;met&lt;/em&gt; your expectations. To be followed up with, &lt;em&gt;and that is why we have decided to terminate his service with our company&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6686" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T16:24:01.887" />
  <row Id="18654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18649" CreationDate="2011-03-30T16:30:00.183" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pharisee&lt;/em&gt; or calling someone &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pharisaical&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;pharisaical&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, while having Judeo-Christian roots, has come to have this faith-neutral connotation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T16:30:00.183" />
  <row Id="18655" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18649" CreationDate="2011-03-30T16:36:42.657" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The term &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;functional atheist&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; comes to mind as someone who professes faith but does not practice it, or practices something contrary to their profession. In lieu of it being an incendiary phrase the connotation is one of sober evaluation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Of course, one could just as easily be a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;functional Republican&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;functional WoW fanboy&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;... you get the idea.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2178" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T16:36:42.657" />
  <row Id="18656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18597" CreationDate="2011-03-30T16:45:42.737" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might go with &quot;underperformed&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2490" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T16:45:42.737" />
  <row Id="18657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18649" CreationDate="2011-03-30T16:48:59.587" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For another religion specific one, there's the term &quot;high-holidays Jew&quot;, similar in meaning to the various ones about Christians who only show up for Christmas and Easter: Jews who only get involved in the religion during the high holidays, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1812" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T16:48:59.587" />
  <row Id="18658" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18424" CreationDate="2011-03-30T16:51:37.397" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Something you can do to trim the number of uses is to simply dictate what the author was saying or doing:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Foucault said [x].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This means [x].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This passage is read as [x].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The power of this passage reflects [x].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In other words, instead of saying, &quot;Foucault was expressing power to the reader&quot; just say, &quot;Foucault expressed power.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The reader&quot; is typically implied by context and can often sound more passive than simply declaring what is happening. Removing &quot;the reader&quot; refocuses your statement on the author, the author's intent, and the writings or passages themselves.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That being said &amp;mdash; and as others have pointed out &amp;mdash; there is nothing inherently wrong with referring to the readers. It is good to trim a few of them out if you are feeling that it has been overused. What I have suggested is simply one way to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You also have a great advantage in the sense that you have a teacher who can simply tell you what to do. Part of their job is to explicitly tell you how to write these essays and any personal preference they have should be immediately reflected in any essay you turn in to them. Simply ask after class or during office hours. If the class has a TA, they are also a good candidate for input.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T17:24:24.090" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T17:24:24.090" />
  <row Id="18659" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18649" CreationDate="2011-03-30T16:52:55.980" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If you'd like to go the literary route, &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1297179#m_en_us1297179&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tartuffe&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1276416#m_en_us1276416&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pecksniffian&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; are two possibilities.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T16:52:55.980" />
  <row Id="18660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18424" CreationDate="2011-03-30T16:57:21.093" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It sounds as if you are also going to end up using the passive voice (&quot;how a reader is being written to or directed in the writings&quot;). Recasting the sentences using active voice might help you find the right object for each verb. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6683" LastEditorUserId="6683" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T19:27:59.170" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T19:27:59.170" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18568" CreationDate="2011-03-30T17:01:36.737" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/&quot;&gt;Google &lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt;-grams viewer&lt;/a&gt; suggests that the “impregnate” sense became dominant in the US around the 1940’s, but that in British English, other meanings were more common until at least the 1990’s.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This is based on comparing the relative frequencies of &lt;code&gt;knocked her up&lt;/code&gt; vs. &lt;code&gt;knocked him up&lt;/code&gt;.  It seems reasonable to conclude that when the “impregnate” meaning becomes dominant, &lt;code&gt;knocked her up&lt;/code&gt; should become much more frequent than &lt;code&gt;knocked him up&lt;/code&gt;.  The results for this in the “American English” corpus show this shift happening between the ’30s and ’60s, since which time &lt;code&gt;knocked him up&lt;/code&gt; has been much less common:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/T9us2.png&quot; alt=&quot;“knocked him up” vs. “knocked her up”, American English, 1800–2000&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(The predominance of &lt;code&gt;knocked him up&lt;/code&gt; in earlier years presumably just due to the preponderance of male characters in general.)  As one would expect, the British English corpus shows a very different pattern, with no such notable switch:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/4JlZZ.png&quot; alt=&quot;“knocked him up” vs. “knocked her up”, American English, 1800–2000&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks like &lt;code&gt;knocked her up&lt;/code&gt; may have been becoming predominant in British English in the ’90s, but this is such a small interval of the data that I’m not sure how much significance one can attach to it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T17:08:02.940" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T17:08:02.940" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18617" CreationDate="2011-03-30T17:08:15.377" Score="-2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Especially is a word, and like any other word can be used in a variety of contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6034" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T17:08:15.377" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18636" CreationDate="2011-03-30T17:13:06.743" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A straightforward adjustment might read:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You can configure &lt;em&gt;the manner in which&lt;/em&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This substitution of &quot;how&quot; treats &quot;configure&quot; as a transitive verb but will allow the remaining construction intact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T17:13:06.743" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18664" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18617" CreationDate="2011-03-30T17:19:37.067" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I feel that the example passage is grammatically no worse than:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The high water-salt ratio will not be good for you. If you are dehydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;which is already of debatable grammaticality because, as in the original passage, the second 'sentence' is an isolated subordinate clause, which is not really a sentence. @oosterwal gave an example which uses a full sentence, which sounds less awkward.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, don't forget that 'especially' can modify an adjective, in such constructions as:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Especially large trucks must stay in the right lane.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6715" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T17:19:37.067" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18665" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18668" CreationDate="2011-03-30T17:26:32.543" Score="5" ViewCount="61" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is this a double negation? Is it still grammatically correct? If not, what is a better form?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He cannot go outside (legally, not physically), because he is under house arrest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning is that he is limited from going outside in a legal sense, but not in a physical sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1442" LastEditorUserId="1442" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T20:15:31.573" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T01:32:37.357" Title="Parenthetical double negation?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;negation&gt;&lt;double-negation&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18617" CreationDate="2011-03-30T17:29:42.153" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;A sentence is supposed to stand alone grammatically. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Especially if you are dehydrated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;That is a fragment, pure and simple.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm not even convinced that @Tcovo is correct.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Especially dehydrated hikers should stay away from foods with a high salt content.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sentence could mean &quot;dehydrated hikers in particular will need to heed this advice&quot; or &quot;hikers who are unusually dehydrated will need to heed this advice.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Especially large trucks must stay in the right lane.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This sentence could refer to trucks that are unusually large or special behavior required of all large trucks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6647" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T17:29:42.153" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18667" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-30T17:29:45.497" Score="5" ViewCount="103" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've always been curious about that one and I've come across  many contending theories for the etymology of &lt;em&gt;nitty-gritty&lt;/em&gt;.  English is quite fond of these &lt;em&gt;reduplicative compounds&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to know whether some consensus has been achieved in this area.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt;&#xA;Billare's answer is seducing, especially considering that reduplicative compounds are often used for sexual matters (hanky-panky springs to mind). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="5432" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T09:47:06.833" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T09:47:06.833" Title="Etymology of reduplicative compound &quot;nitty-gritty&quot;" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;american-english&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18668" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18665" CreationDate="2011-03-30T17:31:31.830" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The sentence reads correctly, but a bit clumsily because legally and physically are not bound. By that I mean, the negation makes sense, but I have trouble immediately understanding what you're referring to with &quot;legally, not physically.&quot; You might consider:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He cannot go outside (legally &lt;em&gt;speaking&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;but&lt;/em&gt; not physically), because he is on house arrest.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="549" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T17:31:31.830" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18669" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17695" CreationDate="2011-03-30T17:31:42.997" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Basically, as answered by @mgkrebbs, quotations like 'this' or `this' are faulty typographic usage introduced with limited character sets, first with 19th century typewriters then with digital character encoding. The proper (Unicode) characters are ‘these’. The same happens with apostrophe and primes (for feet and inches). One should type&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;“Alice's friend told me ‘My son is 6′3″ tall.’”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;instead of&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;Alice's friend told me 'My son is 6'3&quot; tall.'&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it's easier said than done. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For reference about these various &quot;apostrophes&quot; I've found the following documents :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;The official version : &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode6.0.0/&quot;&gt;The Unicode standard 6.0.0&lt;/a&gt; (the last version as of today), more specifically the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode6.0.0/ch06.pdf&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;chapter 6 Writing systems and punctuation&lt;/em&gt; (pdf)&lt;/a&gt; sections &lt;em&gt;Language-Based Usage of Quotation Marks&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Apostrophe&lt;/em&gt; p188-191 (12-14 of the pdf)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A paper by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Everson&quot;&gt;Michael Everson&lt;/a&gt; written in 1999, &lt;em&gt;On the apostrophe and quotation mark, with a note on Egyptian transliteration characters&lt;/em&gt;, submitted as working group document &lt;a href=&quot;http://anubis.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/n2043.pdf&quot;&gt;N2043&lt;/a&gt; to the Unicode consortium. &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/quotes.html&quot;&gt;webpage&lt;/a&gt; by Markus Kuhn, written roughly simultaneously in 1999 which explicitly discourages quotations `like this', with explanation on how and why these quotation appeared. Both Markus and Michael were involved in a thread on Unicode mailing list in 1999 about this problem, hence the two simultaneous paper.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Languagegeek also has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.languagegeek.com/typography/apostrophes.html&quot;&gt;a nice write-up&lt;/a&gt; on various apostrophes and quotation marks in the context of native English and American languages like Hawai‘ian.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of course, all this is mainly on English. Digressing further away from your question, you have other interesting things like the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlapanec_language&quot;&gt;Mè'phàà language&lt;/a&gt; of Mexico, which uses the straight quote as a  &lt;a href=&quot;http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/N3216.pdf&quot;&gt;casing letter (pdf)&lt;/a&gt;, with both a lower case ꞌ and an upper case Ꞌ version, both added in Unicode 5.1.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2456" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T18:12:28.823" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T18:12:28.823" />
  <row Id="18670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18667" CreationDate="2011-03-30T17:42:40.570" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/nitty-gritty.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/nitty-gritty.html&lt;/a&gt; is normally a fairly good source&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6336" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T17:42:40.570" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18665" CreationDate="2011-03-30T18:01:41.310" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Because the term &lt;em&gt;house arrest&lt;/em&gt; already provides a great deal of context, it probably isn't even necessary to include the word &lt;em&gt;physically&lt;/em&gt;. Perhaps try rephrasing with something like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Legally, he is not permitted to go outside because he is on house arrest.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T18:01:41.310" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18673" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18674" CreationDate="2011-03-30T18:14:07.877" Score="1" ViewCount="33" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am building an interface for making connections between items.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When viewing a particular item, the user has the possibility of connecting it to other existing items, by selecting them from a list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which expression is better? Is &quot;add connection&quot; even correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5512" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T18:27:00.627" Title="&quot;Add connections&quot; or &quot;Create connections&quot;?" Tags="&lt;expression-choice&gt;" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18674" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18673" CreationDate="2011-03-30T18:17:53.490" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;For regular usage, either expression would work. However, &lt;em&gt;create connection&lt;/em&gt; implies that the connection has not yet been made, while &lt;em&gt;add connection&lt;/em&gt; implies that the connection exists and that it is simply being added to a list.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given what little I know of your situation, I'd say that &lt;em&gt;create connection&lt;/em&gt; is more appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6434" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T18:17:53.490" />
  <row Id="18675" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18597" CreationDate="2011-03-30T18:22:40.147" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are a handful of options depending on context:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They have exceeded expectations&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They have missed expectations&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;They have eluded expectations&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You have exceeded the limit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You are under the limit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You are beneath the limit&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Profits exceed costs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Costs exceed profits&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Profits are below costs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Profits did not meet costs&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T18:22:40.147" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18673" CreationDate="2011-03-30T18:27:00.627" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think that both options are fine.  You might even consider using &lt;em&gt;connect&lt;/em&gt; as a verb :  &lt;em&gt;connect item&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;connect items&lt;/em&gt;, for instance. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think that &lt;em&gt;add connection&lt;/em&gt; has the advantage of being shorter.  (Of course, even shorter would be, &lt;em&gt;add link&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;create link&lt;/em&gt;, or something similar.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Create connection&lt;/em&gt; has the advantage (or disadvantage) of implying that connections are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; generic, latent items that just need to be activated.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T18:27:00.627" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18677" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18601" CreationDate="2011-03-30T18:39:58.717" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Sometimes its a simple way to formulate a yes/no question: Yes, or no? I see it as related to the practice in Romance languages of adding ¿no? to the end of a statement to make a question.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the answer is already assumed, though, its more of a rhetorical device known as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aporia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;aporia&lt;/a&gt;. Its a technique often used in examination of witnesses by lawyers in court. ie. &quot;You were there when the crime was committed, weren't you?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6718" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T18:39:58.717" />
  <row Id="18678" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="531" CreationDate="2011-03-30T19:22:30.890" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From a more functional standpoint:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If the context is right , I will follow Occam's razor and achieve the same result but with economy.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in the context of &quot;Who do you think you are!&quot;, a single exclamation mark is not only safe and correct, but still as punchy. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would agree that ?! isn't standard English, and I'd see it as frivolous in formal writing anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Remember not to overuse exclamation marks, too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: If you still feel that adding an exclamation point for a question doesn't seem right, I feel that this work best for one-word sentences like &quot;What!&quot; and etc. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6720" LastEditorUserId="6720" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T19:43:04.680" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T19:43:04.680" />
  <row Id="18679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18617" CreationDate="2011-03-30T19:29:29.670" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Especially makes sense at the beginning of a sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;^I've found another case where it is acceptable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2803" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T19:29:29.670" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18680" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18682" CreationDate="2011-03-30T19:45:06.940" Score="3" ViewCount="138" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which one is correct?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I am working almost two months at this project&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;or &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;I have worked  almost two months at this project&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I want to give this meaning: &lt;em&gt;I'm still working on it.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5279" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T23:47:59.763" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T23:47:59.763" Title="&quot;I am working&quot; or &quot;I have worked almost two months at this project&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="18681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18680" CreationDate="2011-03-30T19:52:22.083" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The second of your sentences would be the most correct, but might I suggest some modifications: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You would most likely want to say &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt; this project&lt;/em&gt;. (I can think of only a few instances where one could argue to use &lt;strong&gt;at&lt;/strong&gt; in place of &lt;strong&gt;on&lt;/strong&gt;, but they are not very common.) You may also want to move the phrase &lt;em&gt;on this project&lt;/em&gt; to indicate a relationship with the verb &lt;em&gt;worked&lt;/em&gt;. Finally, to demonstrate that you are still working on it, you could add &lt;em&gt;so far&lt;/em&gt;, which leaves us with:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;So far, I have worked on this project for almost two months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T19:52:22.083" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18682" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18680" CreationDate="2011-03-30T19:53:40.193" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first sentence is incorrect; it follows a form found in some European languages (German springs to mind), but not English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would suggest:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have been working for almost two months on this project&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't believe that there is any implication of completion in this construction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5360" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T19:53:40.193" />
  <row Id="18683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18680" CreationDate="2011-03-30T19:55:40.227" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The first one sounds like something my mother would say. Her grasp of English grammar is faulty at best.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The second one is grammatical, but to indicate that you're still at it, you need &quot;have been working&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have been working for almost two months on this project.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I just noticed that I automatically corrected &quot;at&quot; to &quot;on&quot;. Your choice is not incorrect, but it's more typical to speak of &quot;working &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; a project.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5548" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T19:55:40.227" />
  <row Id="18684" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18680" CreationDate="2011-03-30T19:56:12.453" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I have been working on this project for almost two months.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_verbs#Present_perfect_progressive&quot;&gt;present perfect continuous&lt;/a&gt;, which is used for unbroken action in the past which continues right up to the present.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5964" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T19:56:12.453" />
  <row Id="18685" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-30T20:08:34.470" Score="5" ViewCount="107" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You cannot eat your cake and have it, too,&quot; meaning you can have it or you can eat it, but once it's gone there's no cake left to eat.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;You cannot have your cake and eat it, too&quot;, meaning, as I understand it, you actually own the cake, so you can eat it if you want to.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A brief Google search suggests the second option is common usage (though I would argue misusage.)  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6478" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T23:39:54.917" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T23:39:54.917" Title="Having or eating one's cake" Tags="&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;word-order&gt;" AnswerCount="5" />
  <row Id="18686" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18685" CreationDate="2011-03-30T20:14:00.380" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are correct; the second (way more common and methinks more euphonious) option has exactly the same meaning as the first, being that you cannot &lt;em&gt;own&lt;/em&gt; the cake and get any &lt;em&gt;use&lt;/em&gt; out of it as well. It's the same with money, for instance. The only thing that bothers &lt;em&gt;me&lt;/em&gt; about this phrase is that it can be ambiguous to put &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;cake&lt;/em&gt; so close together, since colloquially &lt;em&gt;have cake&lt;/em&gt; is synonymous with &lt;em&gt;eat cake&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T20:14:00.380" />
  <row Id="18687" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18685" CreationDate="2011-03-30T20:15:22.200" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The irony of the idiom is that one would expect to be able to eat the cake that he or she owned. In that case, possession of the cake would logically come before usage of the cake: &lt;em&gt;You cannot have your cake and eat it, too.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Some other interesting observations:  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Paul Brians, Professor of English at Washington State University, points out that perhaps a more logical or easier to understand version of this saying is: “You can’t eat your cake and have it too”. Professor Brians writes that a common source of confusion about this idiom stems from the verb to have which in this case indicates that once eaten, keeping possession of the cake is no longer possible, seeing that it is in your stomach (and no longer exists as a cake). Alternatively, the two verbs can be understood to represent a sequence of actions, so one can indeed &quot;have&quot; one's cake and then &quot;eat&quot; it. Consequently, the literal meaning of the reversed idiom doesn't match the metaphorical meaning. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Have_one%27s_cake_and_eat_it_too&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastEditorUserId="5894" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T20:20:28.747" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T20:20:28.747" />
  <row Id="18688" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18685" CreationDate="2011-03-30T20:15:56.550" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You cannot have your cake and eat it, too&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;means that you cannot &lt;em&gt;keep&lt;/em&gt; your cake if you eat it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;PS: on a partially related note, the Italian version of this saying states that &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You cannot have a full barrel and a drunken wife!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5737" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T20:15:56.550" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18689" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18617" CreationDate="2011-03-30T20:20:04.910" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is not acceptable in formal or academic writing.  (Typically.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There are exceptions.  @oosterwal, @tcovo, and @wooble give good examples of perfectly valid constructions starting with &lt;em&gt;especially&lt;/em&gt; (or in wooble's case, starting with &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example with &lt;em&gt;because&lt;/em&gt; :&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Because of the necessity of&#xA;  lowering their their baskets to the&#xA;  cave floor daily, the Pitifoo began to&#xA;  develop ingenious mechanisms to deploy&#xA;  the baskets with greater speed and less effort.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An example with &lt;em&gt;especially&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Especially during the depression in&#xA;  the seventeenth century, when money&#xA;  was scarce in many countries,&#xA;  transactions frequently reverted to&#xA;  payments in kind. &lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=gBw9AAAAIAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA105&amp;amp;dq=%22especially%20during%20the%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=lJeTTZ-zHJHjtgf6m7Bt&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=10&amp;amp;ved=0CFgQ6AEwCTgy#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22especially%20during%20the%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot;&gt;The Cambridge economic history of Europe&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;   edited by Sir John Harold Clapham, Eileen Power, Michael Moïssey Postan, Edwin Ernest Rich&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Especially during the years of&#xA;  conflict between these powers, 264-248&#xA;  B.C., the Jews must have suffered&#xA;  severely.&#xA;  &lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.com/books?id=CdkUAAAAYAAJ&amp;amp;pg=PA301&amp;amp;dq=%22especially%20during%20the%22&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;ei=5JSTTfTOH86ltwfAnpQV&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=2&amp;amp;ved=0CDAQ6AEwATgU#v=onepage&amp;amp;q=%22especially%20during%20the%22&amp;amp;f=false&quot;&gt;An Introduction to the Old Testament: Chronologically Arranged&lt;/a&gt;&#xA;   By Harlan Creelman &lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's probably acceptable in email correspondence at work, but you have to be aware of the informal tone it gives.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes deliberate informality can be a good thing, as it gives or creates the sense of or the illusion of a closer relationship.  It is more casual as well as being more informal, and this relaxation of 'formal' rules can give the correspondence the same relaxed feel.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'But wait,' I hear you saying, 'aren't you just deliberately and strategically making a mistake if you use it like that? ' &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Especially if you use it like that?&quot; I ask. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;'No,' you say, 'you're just mocking me.  I mean that it &lt;em&gt;isn't&lt;/em&gt; just an ugly cousin of the correct sentence structure, which you can choose to use as you please.  It's actually broken.  It's a solecism.&quot; &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Absolutely not,&quot; I insist. &quot;Definitely not.&quot;  I shake my virtual head. &quot;The machinery of language is far more flexible than you think. The rules are beaten into your noggin so that you know how sentences function.  One you know these rules and how they operate, the actual syntactic and semantic mechanisms you use to communicate your thoughts can twist, bend, and stretch to fit the shape of current circumstance.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;Among friends, it's fine, as long as one of you isn't a grammar absolutist.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's certainly an acceptable formation in fiction writing, as it mirrors the actual practice that occurs in spoken English.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4912" LastEditorUserId="4912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T21:00:32.147" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T21:00:32.147" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18690" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18685" CreationDate="2011-03-30T20:22:32.070" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is absolutely no difference in meaning between the two orderings:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You cannot have your cake and eat it, too&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You cannot eat your cake and have it, too&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The meaning is simply that the cake cannot be both eaten &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; saved for later. The two options are mutually exclusive.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Neither are misworded, misordered or misused.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T20:22:32.070" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18691" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18685" CreationDate="2011-03-30T20:25:18.403" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The phrase can be used with either order; it doesn't change the meaning, namely that once you've chewed and digested the cake, it has ceased to exist in any meaningful fashion, so you no longer have (as in &lt;em&gt;own&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;possess&lt;/em&gt;) it. The ambiguity of the word &quot;have&quot; (which can also mean &quot;eat&quot;) just adds a twist of humor of the &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/14949/what-is-this-an-example-of-she-looks-as-though-shes-been-poured-into-her-cloth/14950#14950&quot;&gt;I shot an elephant in my pajamas&lt;/a&gt;&quot; kind.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T20:25:18.403" />
  <row Id="18692" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-30T21:40:24.450" Score="4" ViewCount="132" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note&lt;/strong&gt;: The original title of this question was&lt;/em&gt; &quot;Why is 'exply' not a word?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While considering the words &lt;em&gt;implicit&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;implicate&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;imply&lt;/em&gt;, it struck me that I can't think of an equivalent to &lt;em&gt;imply&lt;/em&gt; for the word &lt;em&gt;explicit&lt;/em&gt; (specifically one with the same Latin root).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://thesaurus.com/browse/explain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;explain&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; the equivalent? It &lt;strike&gt;has&lt;/strike&gt; &lt;em&gt;seems to have&lt;/em&gt;* the same Latin root, but doesn't have the full connotation of intentionally making something &lt;em&gt;explicit&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;* (&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; Thanks, Jason and &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/18692/what-is-the-explicit-equivalent-of-imply/18701#18701&quot;&gt;e.James&lt;/a&gt;, for the clarification on this&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="602" LastEditorUserId="602" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T04:53:10.997" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T22:53:54.603" Title="What is the &quot;explicit&quot; equivalent of &quot;imply&quot;?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;synonyms&gt;&lt;antonyms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="18693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18617" CreationDate="2011-03-30T21:47:52.220" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I disagree with other posters here &amp;ndash; I think the example given is grammatical. It may not be formal or good style, but it is grammatical. The second sentence under consideration (&lt;em&gt;Especially if you are dehydrated.&lt;/em&gt;) could merely be &lt;em&gt;This is especially true if you are dehydrated&lt;/em&gt; condensed for ease of utterance.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T21:47:52.220" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18667" CreationDate="2011-03-30T22:03:17.460" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Alain, as you have done me so much service with your etymologies, I simply must do you one ;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Nitty-gritty&lt;/em&gt; comes by way of African-American culture, southern and south-western African-American culture to be exact,&#xA;and the word was attested orally as early as the 1920s.  Let me quote from a paper, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jstor.org/pss/3087921&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Real&#xA;Nitty Gritty&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by a W. R. Higginbotham and J.A., from whence nearly all my information comes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The  earliest  uses  of  nitty-gritty are  in  registers  characteristic of  black America,  and&#xA;  they  continue: jazz  music and  musicians (1961, 1963a, 1965, 1966a,  1969c,  1971c), civil rights&#xA;  and black power  (1963b, c, 1966d,1967c, d, 1968a, b, 1970d), and as an ingredient in that elusive&#xA;  quality that  pervades and identifies all things black-soul (1966a, b,  1967b, 1969b, d). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;The citations are left in without a bibliography, so that you may see the date of first attestation.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From African-American culture, it then apparently passed into the lingo of college students at about&#xA;the time of the 1960s, by way of popular music, and was probably helped in its adoption by the&#xA;general countercultural mood of that era. (Remember this was the era of &quot;the [Civil Rights]&#xA;struggle&quot;; knowing the obscure argot of an oppressed people would have likely seemed appealingly&#xA;dangerous and sexy to college students.)  From there, it spread into the general culture via writers and&#xA;high-circulation periodicals, such as &lt;em&gt;The New York Times&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Newsweek&lt;/em&gt;.  One song written in&#xA;1963, by a Licoln Chase, titled simply &lt;em&gt;The Nitty Gritty&lt;/em&gt;, appears to have been especially&#xA;influential in the uptake of the word.  I reproduce the first few lines:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Some folks know about it, some don't.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Some will learn to shout it, some won't.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  But soon or later, baby, here's a ditty,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Say you're gonna have to get right down to the real NITTY GRITTY.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Let's get right down to the real NITTY GRITTY,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  now one, two NITTY GRITTY,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  now yeah, boom NITTY GRITTY,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  now ooooh-iee. Right down to the real NITTY GRITTY!&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  Oooh-oooh! Oooh-oooh!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;More from the paper:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The  word  seems to  have  been  first used  as  a  noun (1961-63);  and,  although it  passed&#xA;  easily and early in its recorded history into  adjectival use (1964b,  1966d,  1967c, d,  1968a,&#xA;  1969e,  f,  1971a,  1973c), it  has  remained predominantly a  noun.  Indeed,  by far the most&#xA;  frequent collocation of the term is some form of the expression &lt;em&gt;get right down to the real&#xA;  nitty-gritty&lt;/em&gt;, which, in  one  variant  or  another,  accounts  for about  half of  the  total&#xA;  number  of citations.  That  phrase also  accounts  for  the  earliest uses.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But you're probably wondering how this phrasing &lt;em&gt;get down to the nitty gritty&lt;/em&gt; was coined&#xA;originally. Well, here's where it gets disgusting.  In fairness, there is actually some disagreement&#xA;about the following explanation in the paper -- Higginbotham promotes the idea in the beginning,&#xA;while J.A. argues against it -- but it is easily the most intriguing one I found therein, so I must&#xA;reproduce it. Apparently, the &quot;nitty&quot; in &lt;em&gt;nitty gritty&lt;/em&gt; refers to &lt;em&gt;actual nits&lt;/em&gt;, as in lice, and the&#xA;&lt;em&gt;gritty&lt;/em&gt; was initially a reference to ground &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hominy&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;hominy&lt;/a&gt;, and then&#xA;became a reference the grinding action one uses to reproduce the staple. Of course, that in turn was easily&#xA;sexualized in meaning so that &lt;em&gt;gritty&lt;/em&gt; also came to describe the grinding action of raw, bestial&#xA;intercourse.  Thus, &lt;em&gt;getting down to the nitty-gritty&lt;/em&gt; means getting down so deep in a woman that&#xA;one feels everything of her movements, and I do mean everything.  The paper gives this joke to illustrate:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Both  black men  at  Amarillo insisted  to  me  that  nitty gritty sprang from what they described&#xA;  as  an  old,  black,  nearly  pointless joke that  goes:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A man  having intercourse with a smart-alecky girl took  an  unusually  long stroke, making her jump.&#xA;   Thinking  he  had impressed her, he  asked, &quot;Did I  hit it,  honey?&quot;  &quot;Yeah,&quot;  she  said.  &quot;Wrong&#xA;  way.  You  hit  the  real nitty gritty.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Wow! Amazing language, our English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T02:12:03.000" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T02:12:03.000" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18695" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18692" CreationDate="2011-03-30T22:12:20.407" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There are not nearly as many occurences where &lt;em&gt;exply&lt;/em&gt; would be useful as there are with &lt;em&gt;imply&lt;/em&gt;, because you need to clarify what you imply much more than you need to clarify what you exply, so it is less likely to be coined in a language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5584" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T22:12:20.407" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18601" CreationDate="2011-03-30T22:13:44.600" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;it is reverse psychology to make the person yu are talking to say what you want even if he/she isnt thinking this way.&#xA;It is a proved &quot;how to make people say &quot;yes&quot;&quot; technique.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6214" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T22:13:44.600" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18697" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18649" CreationDate="2011-03-30T22:14:29.797" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Whited sepulchres. This is what they are called in that noted work of fiction &quot; The Bible&quot;, King James' Version.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6725" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T22:14:29.797" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18699" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18700" CreationDate="2011-03-30T22:23:53.307" Score="7" ViewCount="152" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm unfamiliar with how one approaches the declension of proper nouns, especially as it pertains to presidents, e.g., Jeffersonian. I suspect it's kind of a black art. I need to do this with Coolidge and have no idea where to start. What would be an acceptable form? Coolidgean?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1722" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T23:16:31.847" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T13:26:39.207" Title="How do I perform presidential proper noun declension?" Tags="&lt;proper-nouns&gt;&lt;conjugation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18700" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18699" CreationDate="2011-03-30T22:50:59.710" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coolidgean&quot;&gt;Coolidgean&lt;/a&gt; is in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, so even though it sounds really weird to me, I expect it's the most acceptable form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5754" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T22:50:59.710" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18692" CreationDate="2011-03-30T23:23:18.420" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;While I agree with MrHen in the general case, I do feel that this particular question has merit. The answer comes down to the order in which these words evolved, and the nature of their Latin roots. Language is not an exact science (far, far from it).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The short answer is that the word &lt;em&gt;exply&lt;/em&gt; (or, rather, the &lt;em&gt;meaning&lt;/em&gt; that it would convey) already exists in the word &lt;em&gt;explain&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;im&quot; words in your list -- &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/imply&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;imply&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/implicate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;implicate&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/implicit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;implicit&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; -- all evolved from the Latin &lt;em&gt;implicare&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;im-&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;plicare&lt;/em&gt;) which means &quot;to in-fold&quot; or &quot;involve&quot;. The word &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/explicit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;explicit&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; has similar roots: it is based on the Latin &lt;em&gt;explicitus&lt;/em&gt; (meaning &quot;disentangled&quot; or &quot;easy&quot;), past participle of &lt;em&gt;explicare&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;ex-&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;plicare&lt;/em&gt;) which means &quot;to out-fold or &quot;unfold&quot;, making it the reverse of &lt;em&gt;implicare&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/explain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;explain&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, however, has its roots in the Latin &lt;em&gt;explanare&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;ex-&lt;/em&gt; + &lt;em&gt;planare&lt;/em&gt;), which means &quot;to flatten out&quot;, or &quot;make level&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Based on these origins, there was really only one choice for the concept of &lt;em&gt;implicate&lt;/em&gt;, since it literally meant &lt;em&gt;to fold in on itself&lt;/em&gt;. For the opposing concept, there were two choices: &lt;em&gt;explicate&lt;/em&gt; (to unfold), or &lt;em&gt;explain&lt;/em&gt; (to make flat). Note that these words are still valid synonyms in English. From this position it seems obvious why the word &lt;em&gt;exply&lt;/em&gt; never appeared: at the time when &lt;em&gt;imply&lt;/em&gt; was evolving from its Latin origins in &lt;em&gt;implicate&lt;/em&gt;, the word &lt;em&gt;explain&lt;/em&gt; already existed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To summarize, picture the words evolving in parallel (from left to right) as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;plicare + in -&amp;gt; implicare -&amp;gt; implicate -&amp;gt; imply&#xA;        + ex -&amp;gt; explicare -&amp;gt; explicate&#xA;planare + ex -&amp;gt; explanare -&amp;gt; explain&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Given that &lt;em&gt;exply&lt;/em&gt; would have the same meaning as &lt;em&gt;explain&lt;/em&gt;, there was simply no need for it to enter into the language.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (in response to the modified question, and some comments):&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;explain&lt;/em&gt; the equivalent? It has the same Latin root, but doesn't have the full connotation of intentionally making something explicit.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I would argue that the word &lt;em&gt;explain&lt;/em&gt; does imply a direct intention to make something explicit. A person seldom (if ever) explains something without intending to make it very clear to their audience. Also, it does have a different Latin root. See above!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastEditorUserId="1009" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T22:53:54.603" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T22:53:54.603" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18692" CreationDate="2011-03-30T23:30:47.830" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meaning of &lt;em&gt;exply&lt;/em&gt; is already rendered with the verb &lt;em&gt;state&lt;/em&gt; (&quot;express something definitely or clearly in speech or writing&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T23:30:47.830" />
  <row Id="18703" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-30T23:40:06.563" Score="4" ViewCount="76" Body="&lt;p&gt;I've heard that a verb usually follows the 'infinitive' but how does one define an 'infinitive'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6726" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-30T23:44:49.353" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T09:39:23.707" Title="What is an &quot;infinitive&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18703" CreationDate="2011-03-30T23:55:51.737" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The infinitive is the basic or root verb form, uninflected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, in &quot;to work&quot; the infinitive is &quot;work&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We didn't come here to have fun, we came here to work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other forms are derived from the infinitive:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I worked.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He works.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You'll usually find me working.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-30T23:55:51.737" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18705" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18703" CreationDate="2011-03-31T00:01:46.973" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language&lt;/em&gt; defines an infinitive thus:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Those with a plain form are infinitival, and are subdivided into &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;-infinitivals and bare infinitivals depending on the presence or absence of the VP [verb phrase] subordinator &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;ol&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;It was Kim's idea &lt;strong&gt;to invite them all&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. [&lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt;-infinitival]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;She helped them &lt;strong&gt;prepare their defence&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. [bare infinitival]&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;  &lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1065" LastEditorUserId="1065" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T00:13:00.503" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T00:13:00.503" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18706" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18699" CreationDate="2011-03-31T00:10:25.393" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Washingtonian Adamsonian  Jeffersonian&#xA;Madisonian    Monrovian   Jacksonian&#xA;Burenian      Harrisonian Tylerian&#xA;Polkian       Taylorian   Filmorian&#xA;Pierceian     Buchananian Lincolnian&#xA;Johnsonian    Grantonian  Hayesian&#xA;Garfieldian   Arthurian   Clevelandian&#xA;Harrisonian   McKinleyan  Rooseveltian&#xA;Howardian     Wilsonian   Hardingian&#xA;Coolidgean    Hooverian   Trumanian&#xA;Eisenhoweran (can't find a cite for this, but maybe &quot;Ikeian&quot;?)&#xA;Kennedian     Nixonian    Fordian&#xA;Carterian     Reaganian   Bushonian&#xA;Clintonian    Obamaian&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Of the above, some do not have common adjectival forms. The &quot;Clintonian Doctrine&quot; was standard, but then see the &quot;Bush Doctrine.&quot; I would suggest the same for Eisenhower. Any of these that do not seem happy in the adjectival could probably be replaced with the name plainly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5262" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T13:26:39.207" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T13:26:39.207" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="18707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18703" CreationDate="2011-03-31T00:50:22.923" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You might see the infinitive is the form of the verb that has most of the following features:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it is the form that does not carry any of the inflections that essentially any &quot;productive&quot; verb can carry that restrict the interpretation of that verb;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it is the form that can be the complement of a modal auxiliary;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;it is the form that may be specified by a special selection of prepositions (sometimes called &quot;pre-infinitival prepositions&quot;: &quot;to&quot; in English, &quot;zu&quot; in German, &quot;de&quot; in French etc).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beware of just saying that the infinitive is the form &quot;without inflection&quot;, because some languages have specific endings/inflections that are actually &lt;em&gt;added&lt;/em&gt; to the root to specify &quot;infinitive&quot;, and infinitives may allow certain modifications e.g. to mark perfective aspect in Slavic languages, to mark reflection/voice in various European languages. They're the form &quot;without inflection&quot; so long as you understand &quot;inflection&quot; in a particular way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T00:50:22.923" />
  <row Id="18708" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18601" CreationDate="2011-03-31T01:12:04.727" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As a rhetorical device, I argue that it is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leading_question&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;leading question&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;... a leading question is a question&#xA;  that suggests the answer or contains&#xA;  the information the examiner is&#xA;  looking for.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In law, a leading question should be avoided. I don't think that is necessarily true in informal (or even formal?) writing.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2497" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T01:12:04.727" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18709" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15167" CreationDate="2011-03-31T01:15:19.073" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To my mind, I'm not really sure, suggests that the speaker might not be certain of something, but they have some supporting evidence to think so.  For example: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Why did he leave?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I don't really know. However, I&#xA;  suspect it had something to do with&#xA;  the waffles.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Rather than hedging on the side of not knowing something, it can be hedging in the other direction.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6686" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T01:15:19.073" />
  <row Id="18710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18665" CreationDate="2011-03-31T01:32:37.357" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In legalese typically &lt;em&gt;shall not&lt;/em&gt; is used.  It avoids the ambiguity of the word can.  &lt;em&gt;May not&lt;/em&gt; would also seem to be appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6686" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T01:32:37.357" />
  <row Id="18711" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T01:54:44.817" Score="1" ViewCount="91" Body="&lt;p&gt;I was taught since kindergarten that &quot;ain't&quot; isn't a proper English word.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering, who determines which words are acceptable and which words are not? Do words ever go from &quot;improper&quot; to acceptable? What are some examples and what caused the change?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6032" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T08:07:03.597" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T11:32:30.177" Title="Who/What decides if a word is &quot;proper&quot; English?" Tags="&lt;contractions&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;&lt;rules&gt;&lt;correction&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" />
  <row Id="18712" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16688" CreationDate="2011-03-31T02:07:02.690" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's really just a general term of endearment that some (not most) people use. It's slightly more likely to be restricted to just &quot;the significant other&quot; than &lt;em&gt;Pet&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Love&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Dear&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Honey&lt;/em&gt;, etc. Plus &lt;em&gt;Baby&lt;/em&gt; seems to have more staying power than most - it's been around a long time, but it doesn't really sound archaic (just twee, to me at least).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Young people in the UK (particularly females) use &lt;em&gt;babes&lt;/em&gt; as a singular pronoun when talking to just about anyone (but again, particularly to females).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T02:07:02.690" />
  <row Id="18713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18711" CreationDate="2011-03-31T02:27:11.667" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Putting aside &quot;dead&quot; languages such as Latin, all others do actually evolve. At any given time a broad swathe of words / constructs fall somewhere between the two extremes of &quot;definitely bad English&quot; on one side, and &quot;well-formed and appropriate&quot; on the other.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;An element may drift out or into of that middle band to or from either extreme, possibly repeatedly. Normally, no individual or organisation exerts much influence on most of this drift.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To put it briefly, nobody determines what's acceptable. But whatever most of us endorse individually gradually tends to become the publicised &quot;standard&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastEditorUserId="2637" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T03:10:20.147" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T03:10:20.147" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18714" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18719" CreationDate="2011-03-31T02:38:09.787" Score="5" ViewCount="171" Body="&lt;p&gt;This has always confused me. I've always spelled it &quot;moustache&quot;, but my browser's spell checker claims the correct spelling is &quot;mustache&quot;. From what I've seen around the Internet, people seem to use both.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the proper spelling? Are both acceptable?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6729" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:01:43.247" Title="Spelling of &quot;moustache&quot;" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18714" CreationDate="2011-03-31T02:42:06.727" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Moustache&lt;/em&gt; is a variant, possibly on its way out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But don't be intimidated by the squiggly lines in your browser's text fields. If you know a word is spelled right, go ahead and use it. Most of the time when I can't decide on a spelling it's a variant anyway. Browsers just aren't that smart.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T02:42:06.727" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18716" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T02:56:27.300" Score="-1" ViewCount="63" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The social advertisement can motivate people to adopt a behavior to improve their lives and also a life fellow citizens, communities and society.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6015" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-04-01T03:20:03.720" LastActivityDate="2011-04-01T03:20:03.720" ClosedDate="2011-03-31T08:53:45.197" Title="Can you look at this sentence? Is OK?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;sentence&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18714" CreationDate="2011-03-31T03:09:03.623" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Both spellings are correct.&lt;/strong&gt;  Which is more standard will depend where you are.  &lt;em&gt;Mustache&lt;/em&gt; is somewhat more common in American English, and has been since the 1940’s.  &lt;em&gt;Moustache&lt;/em&gt; is older (being the original French spelling, from which the English word is derived) and still much more common in British English, to the extent that &lt;em&gt;mustache&lt;/em&gt; may be seen as an Americanism; but &lt;em&gt;mustache&lt;/em&gt; is now gaining some ground in Britain too.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Sources: &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=moustache%2Cmustache&amp;amp;year_start=1800&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=5&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot;&gt;Google &lt;em&gt;N&lt;/em&gt;-grams viewer&lt;/a&gt; for usage, and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oed.com&quot;&gt;OED&lt;/a&gt; for etymology.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T03:09:03.623" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18718" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T03:12:09.410" Score="5" ViewCount="109" Body="&lt;p&gt;Luckily the forum is using Georgia typeface, so both can be easily shown below:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; vs &lt;strong&gt;a&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T22:05:55.133" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T22:05:55.133" ClosedDate="2011-03-31T21:02:24.413" Title="Why there's a difference between the two common appearances of the letter “a”?" Tags="&lt;typesetting&gt;&lt;typography&gt;" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18719" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18714" CreationDate="2011-03-31T03:13:21.310" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This seems like a good one for &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Ngram&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It looks like in British English &lt;em&gt;moustache&lt;/em&gt; has always been the preferred spelling.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/U2c84.png&quot; alt=&quot;&amp;quot;moustache&amp;quot; vs. &amp;quot;mustache,&amp;quot; British English, 1800-2008&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In American English, it's been more of a battle with &lt;em&gt;mustache&lt;/em&gt; now in the lead.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/Dy68K.png&quot; alt=&quot;&amp;quot;moustache&amp;quot; vs. &amp;quot;mustache,&amp;quot; American English, 1800-2008&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So here's a combined view. Both are contenders in the English-speaking world, but clear preferences exist on opposite sides of the pond.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/JpCRu.png&quot; alt=&quot;&amp;quot;moustache&amp;quot; vs. &amp;quot;mustache&amp;quot;, English corpus, 1800-2008&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(Have to wonder if the peaks and valleys correspond to mustaches going in and out of vogue.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5822" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T14:01:43.247" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:01:43.247" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18720" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18723" CreationDate="2011-03-31T03:34:29.717" Score="2" ViewCount="43" Body="&lt;p&gt;I came across the expression, “People talk about the baggage,” and “[Presidential] candidates have lots of baggage” in Jay Bookman’s article titled “Gingrich, Palin have no shot at being GOP presidential nominee” at &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2010/12/28/gingrich-palin-have-no-shot-at-being-gop-presidential-nominee/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ajc.com&lt;/a&gt;. (Dec. 28. 2010). &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What does &lt;em&gt;baggage&lt;/em&gt; mean here? Is it political agenda or a promise? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;By the way, we say “大風呂敷を広げる&quot; or &quot;spread a big Furoshiki&quot; (A large square cloth for wrapping and carrying a bundle) in Japanese when referring to a politician who makes an empty promise to voters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The part in question goes as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Bill Kristol, the Fox News analyst and&#xA;  Weekly Standard editor, made a couple&#xA;  of predictions on Fox News Sunday&#xA;  about the GOP presidential race: “I&#xA;  think Newt Gingrich is underestimated.&#xA;  Newt is going to run and Newt will be&#xA;  formidable. People can talk about the&#xA;  baggage, but lots of candidates have&#xA;  had lots of baggage, and people think&#xA;  they’re the right guy for the job, he&#xA;  could do better — and I do think —&#xA;  than people expect.”&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3119" LastEditorUserId="5822" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T04:22:08.240" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T04:22:08.240" Title="What do “[People] talk about the baggage,” and “[Candidates] have lots of baggage” mean?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="18721" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18718" CreationDate="2011-03-31T03:36:42.520" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, I suppose you can pretty much get your answer by considering how you managed to generate the two different forms in your post - &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;normally occurs in italic fonts&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, whereas a is more normal in standard print fonts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The italic form is just easier to use in handwriting, I guess. Similar flourishes and such occur in the &quot;print&quot; form for other letters - many fonts have a particularly ornate lower-case &lt;strong&gt;g&lt;/strong&gt; that you normally wouldn't try to reproduce by hand.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T03:36:42.520" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18722" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18711" CreationDate="2011-03-31T03:56:17.473" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The evolution of a language is the result of human interaction and socio-cultural changes over time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pop culture of various generations play on the kind of language we use. The people of the 1900s would not have envisioned 'google' would become a standard word, although having one function: an action of searching up on google.com. Such is the proliferation of the Google phenomenon within our generation's culture that is clearly shown by this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It's like an internet meme; change starts in a small way in small communities, and spreads to others who have not heard of it, through word of mouth, or by themselves experiencing it. Through that way, it spreads and once it really catches on, it becomes a viral phenomenon. So, like English, not only just words, but how a word is pronounced, are not decided by a few professors in a secluded enclave somewhere on this earth. Collectively, the entire English-speaking world (or in other words, all of us!) decide the rules. If a way of doing things catch on, they eventually become the convention, and if we feel that a certain way we have been doing things for a very long time is not in need for change, then they remain the way it is.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6720" LastEditorUserId="6720" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T11:32:30.177" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T11:32:30.177" />
  <row Id="18723" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18720" CreationDate="2011-03-31T03:56:30.750" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Baggage&lt;/strong&gt; means things that hinder one's progress/ development. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is commonly used as &quot;&lt;strong&gt;emotional baggage&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;:&#xA;She had so much emotional baggage from her previous 8-year long relationship that she was unable to commit to her current boyfriend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In your context, &quot;&lt;strong&gt;baggage&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; is used to refer to moral indiscretions/ misdeeds. For Newt Gingrich, it refers to his extra-marital affairs.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5671" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T03:56:30.750" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18724" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T04:08:49.120" Score="2" ViewCount="36" Body="&lt;p&gt;I wonder if there is any difference in using &lt;em&gt;approve (of)&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;assent&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;consent&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;grant&lt;/em&gt; as verbs. Can anyone help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6730" LastEditorUserId="6732" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T10:07:09.687" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T11:35:28.223" Title="&quot;Approve (of),&quot; &quot;assent,&quot; &quot;consent,&quot; and &quot;grant&quot;" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18725" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18724" CreationDate="2011-03-31T04:30:33.263" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Consent&quot; and &quot;grant&quot; mean that you allow someone to do something, while &quot;approve (of)&quot; and &quot;assent&quot; just mean that you like or agree with what someone is most likely going to do anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Personally, I've never even heard of &quot;assent&quot; before though, and &quot;grant&quot; seems a little more...ceremonious?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1325" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T04:30:33.263" />
  <row Id="18726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18716" CreationDate="2011-03-31T04:35:16.097" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The biggest problem in it is that &lt;em&gt;a life fellow citizens...&lt;/em&gt; doesn't make sense. Perhaps you meant to say, &lt;em&gt;the lives of fellow citizens...&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even with that, though, the sentence sounds kind of stilted to my ear. I might rephrase a bit:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Social advertisements can motivate&#xA;  people to adopt behaviors that will&#xA;  improve their lives as well as the&#xA;  lives of their fellow citizens. In&#xA;  turn, this will help their communities&#xA;  and society in general.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T04:35:16.097" />
  <row Id="18727" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18711" CreationDate="2011-03-31T04:48:55.130" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Democracy - it becomes correct through use.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;&quot;To boldly go&quot; is wrong if you believe latin word order should apply to English but is now much more common and popular than &quot;To go boldly&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I suspect &quot;To be or not to be&quot; was once frowned on&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6336" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T04:48:55.130" />
  <row Id="18728" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18763" CreationDate="2011-03-31T05:27:05.933" Score="2" ViewCount="75" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;People say things like ‘all publicity is good publicity’ but that isn't always true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Should &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; in the sentence above be replaced with &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt;? It's sort of ambiguous as to what &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; is referring to, isn't it? I meant &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; to be referring to what's in the quotes, but couldn't someone also interpret it as referring to the whole clause before it? Would it be any better to use &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Also, besides the aforementioned ambiguity, is there anything else wrong with that sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5877" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T13:48:53.303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T13:48:53.303" Title="Should &quot;that&quot; or &quot;it&quot; be used in this sentence?" Tags="&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;ambiguity&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="18729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18711" CreationDate="2011-03-31T05:29:17.470" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Well, stop and think about it for a minute: who &lt;em&gt;would&lt;/em&gt; determine which words are acceptable and what would be the magical property of that person that meant that they were the &quot;acceptable&quot; person to determine such things?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If you actually probe your kindergarten teacher further about what intrinsically makes such-and-such a word intrinsically &quot;unacceptable&quot;, I suspect they won't actually have a rational answer: it's probably their personal opinion, or possibly they've just &quot;read it somewhere&quot; etc (&quot;Well, we were always taught that...&quot;).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Nonetheless, it's an interesting phenomenon that people seem to &lt;em&gt;expect&lt;/em&gt; there to be some kind of authority or &quot;right&quot; answer. We've all been in the Scrabble game where your opponent has to look up a word that they use on a daily basis just to &quot;check that it's a real word&quot;, as though the editor of the CA-CF section of their Collins dictionary had been bestowed with God's mobile number and was thus able to give &quot;the&quot; answer that no other human being was able to give.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The extreme of this is when dictionary definitions are used to settle legal disputes. One major computer hardware manufacturer, for example, quotes in its contract with developers the definition of &quot;pornography&quot; given by Webster's dictionary, implicitly bestowing upon that particular dictionary's editors some kind of legal authority to give &quot;the&quot; definition-- it would be interesting to know where the drafters of the contract believe that authority to actually stem from...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4941" LastEditorUserId="4941" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T05:35:42.787" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T05:35:42.787" />
  <row Id="18730" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18728" CreationDate="2011-03-31T05:51:13.767" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In that sentence, &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; would be understood to be referring to the quote.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To make &quot;isn't always true&quot; refer to the full clause, you should write &quot;it isn't always true that people say things like &lt;em&gt;all publicity is good publicity&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T05:51:13.767" />
  <row Id="18731" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18732" CreationDate="2011-03-31T06:18:28.857" Score="4" ViewCount="233" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is it correct to say, &quot;I lost my bus,&quot; when you miss a bus? I have seen it commonly used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3083" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T08:09:58.183" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T17:27:57.917" Title="Is &quot;I lost my bus&quot; correct usage?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="4" />
  <row Id="18732" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18731" CreationDate="2011-03-31T06:32:56.243" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Certainly not in American English. I've never seen it when reading British books, either; in fact, I don't recall seeing or hearing it in my life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If I were to hear it, I'd assume &lt;em&gt;lost&lt;/em&gt; meant &quot;misplaced&quot; and were meant as a joke.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, the questioner's profile says he's Indian, and I don't know Indian English at all. Perhaps this is common there, though &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22lost+his|my+bus%22+site%3A.in&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Google&lt;/a&gt; seems to imply otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3461" LastEditorUserId="3461" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T14:54:01.873" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:54:01.873" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18731" CreationDate="2011-03-31T06:41:36.637" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can lose something if you once possessed it. You can lose your mind, your marbles, and your keys, but most ordinary people will never lose their bus or their plane.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T06:41:36.637" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18734" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18731" CreationDate="2011-03-31T06:58:24.203" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's probably a recent phenomenon and I believe a literal translation of the Spanish &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He perdido [el avión, el bus...].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5432" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T17:27:57.917" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T17:27:57.917" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18735" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18731" CreationDate="2011-03-31T07:08:16.800" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It is more appropriate to use &quot;missed my bus&quot;. I've never heard people say &quot;I lost my bus&quot; to imply the meaning you are referring to. I think it can be used in situations when a bus once owned is destroyed, but that is rare. &#xA;I fancy that this sentence is from a story where the speaker runs some transport agency and the bus service he/she had run earlier is terminated or is out of his/her control :) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6732" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T07:08:16.800" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18736" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18711" CreationDate="2011-03-31T08:07:13.080" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The French have their &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acad%C3%A9mie_fran%C3%A7aise&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Académie française&lt;/a&gt;, but there is no equivalent for English.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Instead of an institution, we adopt and adapt words when they are deemed to be sufficiently common.  Who deems them so?  Well, for one, the Oxford English Dictionary, who claim to be the definitive record of the English language.  They recently added OMG and LOL.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T08:07:13.080" />
  <row Id="18737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18703" CreationDate="2011-03-31T09:20:29.930" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Verbs are used various different ways:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We &lt;strong&gt;invite&lt;/strong&gt; friends over every night. It &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt; fun. (present tense)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We &lt;strong&gt;invited&lt;/strong&gt; Kaitlin. She &lt;strong&gt;was&lt;/strong&gt; busy though. (past tense)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We are &lt;strong&gt;inviting&lt;/strong&gt; someone new. He likes &lt;strong&gt;being&lt;/strong&gt; the center of attention. (&lt;em&gt;-ing&lt;/em&gt; form)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The infinitive is another way to use a verb. In English, the easiest ways to identify the infinitive are&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the word &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; usually comes before the verb phrase;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;the verb does not take a suffix &lt;em&gt;-s&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;-ed&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;-ing&lt;/em&gt;, and in particular, the word &lt;em&gt;be&lt;/em&gt; can be used as the verb, rather than &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;was&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;being&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;We don&amp;rsquo;t want to &lt;strong&gt;invite&lt;/strong&gt; him. He likes to &lt;strong&gt;be&lt;/strong&gt; the center of attention. (infinitive)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The infinitive can't be the main verb of a sentence. It often comes after another verb, like &lt;em&gt;want&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;likes&lt;/em&gt; above. But not always:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To &lt;strong&gt;invite&lt;/strong&gt; her would be a mistake. (infinitive as subject)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;This is another way to &lt;strong&gt;use&lt;/strong&gt; the infinitive. (infinitive after &lt;em&gt;way&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The infinitive appears without &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; in a few places, particularly after the modal auxiliary verbs &lt;em&gt;can/could/may/might/will/would/shall/should/must&lt;/em&gt; and after a few other verbs like &lt;em&gt;help&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;He can &lt;strong&gt;be&lt;/strong&gt; the center of attention if that&amp;rsquo;s what he wants. (infinitive after &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Help me &lt;strong&gt;invite&lt;/strong&gt; all these people to our party. (infinitive after &lt;em&gt;help&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2249" LastEditorUserId="2249" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T09:39:23.707" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T09:39:23.707" />
  <row Id="18738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18728" CreationDate="2011-03-31T09:27:57.867" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In the sentence, &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; refers to the quote and there is nothing wrong with the sentence. The meaning remains the same, even if &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt; replaces &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But,&#xA;&lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt; as in the sentence as said said by kiamlaluno, implies that people saying such things isn't always true which totally differs from the intended meaning of the sentence.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6732" LastEditorUserId="6732" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T09:34:12.760" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T09:34:12.760" />
  <row Id="18739" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T09:55:40.137" Score="0" ViewCount="38" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1082/what-is-the-pronunciation-of-the&quot;&gt;What is the pronunciation of &amp;ldquo;the&amp;rdquo;?&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Hello,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I've noticed that the word &quot;The&quot; is not always pronounced in the same way depending on the sound of the next word. I think it may be like the word a/an:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;an for words starting with a &quot;vowel sound&quot;: e.g. owl, honest person&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;a for words starting with a &quot;consonant sound&quot;: e.g. dog, user&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any rule for this? What would be the exact sound for each case (please give a similar word with the same sound to have an idea)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6733" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T09:55:40.137" ClosedDate="2011-03-31T10:08:17.177" Title="Pronuntiation of word &quot;THE&quot;" Tags="&lt;pronunciation&gt;&lt;definite-article&gt;&lt;common-pronunciation&gt;" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18740" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T10:33:20.617" Score="2" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there an umbrella term for things like:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wall clock&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;wall-mounted TV&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;tapestry&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for a single, or at most two words for naming a concept in a programming project.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5461" LastEditorUserId="300" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T11:45:49.807" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T12:34:38.247" Title="&quot;Things which are hung/mounted on wall&quot; in a single word?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;&lt;hypernyms&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18741" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18740" CreationDate="2011-03-31T10:36:10.300" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The best option I can think of is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;wall ornament&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, but I don't think it really applies to tapestry unless it's an extraordinary tapestry…&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T10:36:10.300" />
  <row Id="18742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18740" CreationDate="2011-03-31T10:37:52.673" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &quot;Hanging&quot; not sufficient?&#xA;Or perhaps &quot;Adornment&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6474" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T10:37:52.673" />
  <row Id="18743" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18744" CreationDate="2011-03-31T10:44:55.333" Score="2" ViewCount="86" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Software programmers are &lt;strong&gt;gearing up&lt;/strong&gt; to build applications for the newest version of Windows Phone 7.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems the 'gear up' in here means 'ready'. So why not use 'ready' and  what's the difference with 'ready'?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="508" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T12:33:28.813" Title="Difference between 'gear up' and 'ready'." Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;words&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18744" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18743" CreationDate="2011-03-31T10:50:39.310" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, &lt;em&gt;gear up&lt;/em&gt; is synonymous with &lt;em&gt;ready&lt;/em&gt;. But then, &lt;em&gt;ready&lt;/em&gt; is also synonymous with &lt;em&gt;prepare&lt;/em&gt;… “Gear up” has some implications that you will be readying your equipment (your gear), though it can also be used figuratively.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;All in all, I don't see a big difference between these uses of &lt;em&gt;gear up&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;ready&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;prepare&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T10:50:39.310" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18711" CreationDate="2011-03-31T10:57:10.677" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;As to your last question: yes, many words go from slang or dialect to become standard, and some go the other way. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Addison&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Joseph Addison&lt;/a&gt;Addison famously railed against the slang word &quot;mob&quot; in 1711, but it has since become standard. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W_S_Gilbert&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;W S Gilbert&lt;/a&gt; (of Gilbert and Sullivan), writing in the 1880's, put &quot;he don't&quot; in the mouths of upper-class characters.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T10:57:10.677" />
  <row Id="18746" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18748" CreationDate="2011-03-31T11:09:10.820" Score="1" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;p&gt;I have come across few sentences with the phrase 'aside from' where I felt 'besides' would have been a good choice.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is there any difference in the usage of the two or can both be used interchangeably?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6732" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T13:47:03.943" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T13:47:03.943" Title="'Aside from' Vs 'Besides'" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;differences&gt;" AnswerCount="1" />
  <row Id="18747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18724" CreationDate="2011-03-31T11:28:45.360" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&quot;Consent&quot; and &quot;assent&quot; are almost synonymous, and mean &quot;allow&quot; or &quot;give permission for&quot;. They generally have to take a noun object, not a clause: &quot;They consented to his doing it&quot;, not *&quot;They consented that he could do it&quot;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Assent&quot; is perhaps more formal in this sense; but in literary use &quot;assent&quot; can also mean &quot;say yes&quot;, without necessarily implying permission.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Grant&quot; also gives permission, but you have to say what permission, or access, or rights are being given. You can't say *&quot;They granted him to do it&quot; or *&quot;They granted him that he could to it&quot;, it has to be &quot;They granted him permission to do it&quot; or the like.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Approve&quot; has two different meanings. Without &quot;of&quot;, it means &quot;give permission for&quot;: &quot;They approved his plan&quot;, &quot;They approved his going ahead with it&quot;. It can't usually take a clausal object, so not *&quot;They approved that he did it&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Approve of&quot; means &quot;like&quot; or &quot;agree with&quot;, but has no implication of giving permission, or of the authority to give permission.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T11:35:28.223" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T11:35:28.223" />
  <row Id="18748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18746" CreationDate="2011-03-31T11:37:00.423" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/besides&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;besides&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;em&gt;additionally&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/aside&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;aside [from]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;em&gt;excluding&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2022" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T13:11:40.793" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T13:11:40.793" />
  <row Id="18749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18743" CreationDate="2011-03-31T11:42:44.443" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Readying is to be used in place of 'gearing up' as per your question, and the sentence will be &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Software programmers are readying to&#xA;  build applications for the newest&#xA;  version of Windows Phone 7.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't find it alright and with a little help from OED, I'd like to explain.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;From OED:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;verb (readies, readying, readied) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[with object]    prepare for an action or purpose:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;the spare transformer was readied for shipment &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;[with object and infinitive] :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;she readied herself to speak first&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So, as I see it, the word ready can be used as a verb only in the above two cases and in the sentence you quoted, ready can replace &lt;em&gt;gearing up&lt;/em&gt; if it takes &lt;em&gt;'themselves'&lt;/em&gt; as object. Then the sentence will be,&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Software programmers are readying themselves to build applications for the newest version of Windows Phone 7.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, I think usage of &lt;em&gt;gearing up&lt;/em&gt; here will be more positive and beautiful. Choice of words plays a very important role in conveying the meaning to the readers as well as capturing their minds. &lt;em&gt;Gearing up&lt;/em&gt; is an apt choice here.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6732" LastEditorUserId="6732" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T12:26:22.457" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T12:26:22.457" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18743" CreationDate="2011-03-31T11:45:46.163" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;No, they are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; synonymous. If programmers are &lt;em&gt;gearing up&lt;/em&gt; to do this, it means they are actively working on preparations. If they're &lt;em&gt;ready&lt;/em&gt;, they may simply be sitting around waiting for a beta release of WP7. Being ready is not the same as making ready.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T11:45:46.163" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18751" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T11:47:45.227" Score="3" ViewCount="71" Body="&lt;p&gt;When I explain something to my friend and I want to make sure they got what I said, what should I say?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Do you understand?&quot;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Did you understand?&quot;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;Have you understood?&quot;  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;etc.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T13:02:48.477" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T13:02:48.477" Title="&quot;understand&quot; or &quot;understood&quot;?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;tense&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18752" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18751" CreationDate="2011-03-31T11:54:37.960" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any of these. Colloquially, the question is most commonly &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Understand?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and the reply&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Understood.&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You can also ask&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;Understood?&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;and this has a slightly different connotation from &quot;Understand?&quot;, but I'm struggling to work out what the difference is. I'll come back and edit this if I work it out.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T11:54:37.960" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18751" CreationDate="2011-03-31T12:11:30.550" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Any of the examples you provided would work, but note that they could appear condescending depending on the context - like you were speaking to your friend as if you were expecting him not to understand at all. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Something more informal and deferential, at least in the United States, would be &lt;em&gt;did you get all of that?&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;can I make anything more clear&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T12:11:30.550" CommentCount="8" />
  <row Id="18754" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18743" CreationDate="2011-03-31T12:18:06.193" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gearing+up&quot;&gt;Gearing up&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; means &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;getting&lt;/strong&gt; ready&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To get ready for a coming action or event&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastEditorUserId="5894" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T12:23:20.997" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T12:23:20.997" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18743" CreationDate="2011-03-31T12:23:50.710" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In addition to the other answers, I perceive &quot;gear up&quot; to also imply a certain level of excitement, so that the programmers are also excited about the project.  Compare the sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Software programmers are gearing up to build applications for the newest version of Windows Phone 7.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;with&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Software programmers are preparing to build applications for the newest version of Windows Phone 7.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6734" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T12:23:50.710" />
  <row Id="18756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18743" CreationDate="2011-03-31T12:33:28.813" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using &quot;ready&quot; as an intransitive verb sounds awkward to me: &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;programmers are readying &lt;em&gt;themselves&lt;/em&gt; to...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;sounds ok, but&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;programmers are readying to...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;does not. In addition, &quot;gearing up&quot; is computer lingo, along with &quot;spooling up&quot;, &quot;spinning up&quot;, &quot;firing up&quot;, ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6683" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T12:33:28.813" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18757" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18740" CreationDate="2011-03-31T12:34:38.247" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;em&gt;wall-mountables&lt;/em&gt;? Yes I know it's not really a noun but sometimes it's OK to use an invented word in programming, right?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5964" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T12:34:38.247" />
  <row Id="18758" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T12:41:01.283" Score="0" ViewCount="32" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/48/gender-neutral-pronoun&quot;&gt;Gender neutral pronoun&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A learner, when study alone, will usually encounter a confusing situation where he knows he's having a problem, yet he doesn't fully aware of where his problem really lies.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It would be really awkward and verbose if I replace each male pronoun with &quot;he or she/his or her&quot;. So in this kind of situation, how can I make the sentence less of sexism?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T13:40:25.510" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T13:40:25.510" ClosedDate="2011-03-31T12:51:03.477" Title="How can I avoid using the masculine pronoun?" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;pronouns&gt;&lt;gender&gt;" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18759" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T12:51:07.003" Score="0" ViewCount="68" Body="&lt;p&gt;The suggestions it gave were &quot;realise&quot; and &quot;analyse&quot;, so I went to the COCA (The Corpus of Contemporary American English), and it turned out that what I've spelled was most commonly spelled, and what FF suggested, well, I might just say they were the rare cases. Why is that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5199" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T13:49:44.647" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T13:49:44.647" ClosedDate="2011-03-31T20:37:14.160" Title="Why does my Firefox spell checker marked &quot;realize&quot; and &quot;analyze&quot; as misspelled?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18762" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T13:23:05.933" Score="0" ViewCount="20" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Possible Duplicate:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/259/improve-vocabulary&quot;&gt;Improve vocabulary&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;hi..&#xA;i am a 20 year old indian..&#xA;i really need to improve my english (vocabulary).. i tried reading novel but for every second word i need to look up in the dictionary. it really takes away the fun of reaing.&#xA;so kindly suggest me some way to improve my english., with my interest not dying.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6166" LastEditorUserId="6166" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T13:31:44.677" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T13:31:44.677" ClosedDate="2011-03-31T13:40:27.350" Title="improving english" Tags="&lt;indian-english&gt;" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18763" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18728" CreationDate="2011-03-31T13:28:06.597" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Using either &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; (or even &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt;) is perfectly fine in this context. Personally I would go for &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt; since it seems to flow more smoothly, but that is merely a matter of taste.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The word &lt;em&gt;that&lt;/em&gt; can certainly sometimes refer to the previous clause:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;People are mean to me and that's a fact.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, &lt;em&gt;it&lt;/em&gt; can often be used in a similar way:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;People are mean to me and it makes me sad.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, it's not ambiguous in the case in the question, largely because if you meant that the &lt;em&gt;whole&lt;/em&gt; phrase wasn't true (as opposed to just the quote), you wouldn't say it in the first place (or would negate it): it would be contradictory and confusing - so listeners will assume you intend the meaning that isn't contradictory!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A case where there &lt;em&gt;can be&lt;/em&gt; ambiguity, however, is if the second clause is positive:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;50% of people say other people are mean to me, and that's definitely true.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In this example it's not clear whether the &quot;definitely true&quot; applies to what people are saying, or the fact that 50% of people say it. If it's important to resolve the ambiguity, it's best to rephrase:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It's definitely true that 50% of people say ...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;50% of people say ..., and they are definitely right.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T13:28:06.597" />
  <row Id="18764" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18768" CreationDate="2011-03-31T13:31:07.297" Score="13" ViewCount="518" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm looking for an adjective that describes a living being as having very long ears (rabbit, donkey, etc.) preferably ending in &quot;-uous&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4279" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T13:41:23.483" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T23:32:40.680" Title="What's a word that suggests having very long ears?" Tags="&lt;single-word-requests&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18764" CreationDate="2011-03-31T13:34:20.820" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Huh, you might say the animals have &lt;strong&gt;pendulous&lt;/strong&gt; ears.  That emphasizes the weight of the ears, as well as suggesting they hang in a droopy fashion.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/Lu7ADl.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Two super cute bunnies in a basket&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T13:46:07.923" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T13:46:07.923" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18764" CreationDate="2011-03-31T13:35:19.730" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You should probably just go with &quot;long-eared&quot; — I don't think there are any specific terms meaning that, except possibly scientific ones with Latin roots.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T13:35:19.730" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="18767" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8909" CreationDate="2011-03-31T14:17:14.407" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Just to make explicit what I think the misunderstanding is with the sentence:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;A sick child throws a much bigger wrench into the machinery of a factory or retail or service worker's life.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It is removing redundancy; there are three kinds of workers lives referred to here: &quot;factory&quot;, &quot;retail&quot; and &quot;service&quot;, so the repetition is elided. The compact sentence is made more confusing by the slight pun of &quot;throwing a wrench into&quot; someone's life especially when they work in a factory.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:17:14.407" />
  <row Id="18768" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18764" CreationDate="2011-03-31T14:28:11.087" Score="24" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I believe you're looking for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordnik.com/words/macrotous&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;macrotous&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4526" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:28:11.087" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18769" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T14:29:37.777" Score="1" ViewCount="83" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why are &quot;done me wrong&quot; and &quot;did me service&quot; established phrases instead of the more standard &quot;He wronged me&quot; and &quot;He serviced [helped] me&quot;?  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EDIT&lt;/strong&gt;: I just realized whatever connection I saw with French was spurious.   The curious thing is why &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; takes the object &quot;me&quot; here, which PLL has amply answered.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T19:55:03.870" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T20:48:40.100" Title="The grammatical strangeness of &quot;done me wrong&quot; and &quot;did me service&quot;" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;history&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="16936" CreationDate="2011-03-31T14:34:41.937" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;One thing that nobody seemed to mention is punctuation. It is of paramount importance in Russian, because it brings intonation across.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here is a famous example from an old Soviet cartoon that is based on a tale by hans Christian Andersen in which a little princess is asked to sign a decree on execution.&#xA;Pay attention to the location of the comma.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Казнить, нельзя помиловать!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Execute this person! Cannot pardon him!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Казнить нельзя, помиловать!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This means :&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Do not execute this person! Pardon him!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I guess you could argue that you can do the same in English like so:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Execute cannot, pardon! vs Execute, cannot pardon!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;And this would make sense to an attentive English speaker, but punctuation tends to be not emphasized as much as spelling, as a result it will most likely be ignored or at the very least be ambiguous. I was just trying to illustrate the point that the punctuation is so important that they made a cartoon for little children about it :-)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In fact it's so important that in Russia, Russian Language teachers usually give 2  grades for some written assignments: one for grammar and the other one for punctuation ( it wasn't uncommon for me to get 5/3 ( or A/C in American equivalent) (I'm not a bad speller, but sometimes I can't get those punctuations signs right even if my life depended on it :-) )&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To relate to this question thou: you will notice that Russian speakers that finished at least 9 classes or high school in Russia will tend to use a lot more of , ; : &quot;  etc to bring extra nuances across, especially in run on sentences cause it's ingrained in the way language is taught. I see it with my Dad a lot. I've lived in US for more than a decade now myself and I still tend to put commas in front of &quot;that&quot; in the middle of the sentence. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6747" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:34:41.937" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18769" CreationDate="2011-03-31T14:38:15.863" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;He done me wrong&lt;/em&gt; uses a non-standard dialectal form (proper would be &lt;em&gt;He has done me wrong&lt;/em&gt;), which I expect makes it more memorable. It brings to mind gangsters or cowboys, the kinds of tough bastards who will make hell for people who done them wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;As for the second, &lt;em&gt;He did me [a] service&lt;/em&gt; avoids the unfortunate colloquial meaning of &lt;em&gt;He serviced me&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Beyond that, I think we have to ascribe both of them to the inscrutability of idiom.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:38:15.863" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18772" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T14:40:44.987" Score="11" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I often see constructions like this one:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I look forward to hearing from you soon.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seems a little strange to me. In my mind it would look better using the infinitive form &quot;to hear&quot;. I don't know if it has something with the verbals... Anyway, what I want to know is which form is correct and why?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5339" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T14:44:52.180" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T15:10:46.480" Title="&quot;To hear&quot; or &quot;to hearing&quot;?" Tags="&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18773" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18772" CreationDate="2011-03-31T14:44:14.190" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is not an infinitive. &quot;Hearing from you soon&quot; is a gerund, which functions as a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I look forward to [hearing from you soon].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is the same kind of construction as&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I look forward to [my vacation].&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:44:14.190" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18774" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18772" CreationDate="2011-03-31T14:45:00.413" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If it were an infinitive, you'd be correct - it would have to be &quot;to hear.&quot; But in this sentence, &lt;em&gt;to&lt;/em&gt; isn't functioning as part of an infinitive, but simply as a preposition. That has to be followed by a noun or a nominal phrase, and &quot;hearing&quot; is a noun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3006" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:45:00.413" />
  <row Id="18775" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18772" CreationDate="2011-03-31T14:49:50.333" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Grammatically speaking, a thing being looked forward to (&lt;em&gt;hearing&lt;/em&gt; in this case) should be a noun. Parse it here as &lt;em&gt;the experience of hearing&lt;/em&gt; if that makes any more sense to you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But even though it's a stock phrase in business letters, it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; a somewhat odd choice of words for its normal context, where invariably the anticipated event will be &lt;em&gt;reading&lt;/em&gt;, rather than &lt;em&gt;hearing&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T15:10:46.480" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T15:10:46.480" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18776" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6700" CreationDate="2011-03-31T14:56:32.343" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm sure I've heard &lt;em&gt;gives out&lt;/em&gt; said of a young woman with the same meaning as &lt;em&gt;puts out&lt;/em&gt;. Meaning &lt;em&gt;is liberal with her sexual favours&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T14:56:32.343" />
  <row Id="18777" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18780" CreationDate="2011-03-31T15:21:03.660" Score="1" ViewCount="70" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand that &quot;who&quot; is for the subject and &quot;whom&quot; is for the object. However, sometimes they are used as the only word in a sentence. For example:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Person 1: Yeah, he ate the entire cake.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Person 2: Who(m)?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Which form is correct?  I can see it being short for both &quot;Who is the person who ate the cake?&quot; and &quot;Whom are you talking about?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2852" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T16:08:38.283" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T16:08:38.283" Title="Should I use &quot;who&quot; or &quot;whom&quot; as the only word in a sentence?" Tags="&lt;word-choice&gt;&lt;object&gt;&lt;subject&gt;&lt;whom&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18769" CreationDate="2011-03-31T15:24:49.907" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The main issue here is the form &lt;em&gt;to do someone wrong&lt;/em&gt;, and so on.  Grammatically, this is a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ditransitive_verb&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ditransitive&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; construction: the verb takes two direct objects.  Ditransitivity is more common with verbs such as &lt;em&gt;give&lt;/em&gt;: “she gave me five dollars”, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Ditransitive &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; is certainly of quite limited use, but it’s hard to narrow down to just a few idioms.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=%22did%20me%20a%22&amp;amp;tbs=bks:1,cdr:1,cd_min:1894,cd_max:1904&amp;amp;lr=lang_en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Searching Google Books&lt;/a&gt; for &lt;code&gt;did me a&lt;/code&gt; reveals many more examples of the construction than I’d thought of at first; but it does seem that it’s no longer forming new examples — in a quick flick-through, I didn’t find any new ones in the 20th century that hadn’t already appeared in the 19th, and some of the older ones seem a bit archaic now. But you can do someone at least:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;good&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;harm&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;justice&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;an injustice&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;a favour&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;a (dis)service&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;a great honour&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;wrong&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;a mischief&lt;/em&gt; (arch./dial.?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;an injury&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;a good turn&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;a pleasure&lt;/em&gt; (arch.?)&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;obeisance&lt;/em&gt; (arch.?)…&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Edit:&lt;/strong&gt; quotations in the OED show that this usage dates back at least to 10th century Old English (i.e. as far back as it traces the etymology), and was formerly used with some more words still:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;It brussed his body, &amp;amp; dyd him greate payne.    —&lt;em&gt;Bible (Coverdale)&lt;/em&gt;, 2 Macc. ix. 7, 1535&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;To doo her ayde ayenst her enemyes.    —Caxton, tr. R. Le Fèvre, &lt;em&gt;Hist. Jason&lt;/em&gt;, 1477&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There’s a second issue that’s slightly muddying the waters: the &lt;em&gt;he done&lt;/em&gt; in for instance &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Frankie_and_Johnnie&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;“He was my man, an’ he done me wrong.”&lt;/a&gt;  This is an essentially independent issue: it’s just a non-standard past tense of &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt;, incorrect in standard English but natural in some dialects.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T20:48:40.100" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T20:48:40.100" />
  <row Id="18779" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18777" CreationDate="2011-03-31T15:27:51.737" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Who&lt;/em&gt; is correct. In reality, &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; is largely obsolete, and shouldn't be used in isolation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See this question for a general discussion of &lt;em&gt;who/whom&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/56/using-who-and-whom&quot;&gt;Using &amp;quot;who&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;whom&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. As shown there, it's rarely actually necessary to use &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt;, and in the case of a one-word answer you should always fall back on &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T15:27:51.737" />
  <row Id="18780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18777" CreationDate="2011-03-31T15:30:51.913" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;In this example, it should definitely be &lt;strong&gt;who&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;A single word question like that is typically seen, grammatically, as an ellipsis for a full-sentence version, as you say.  But elided words/phrases are almost always things which have already just been said, so following “He ate the entire cake,” the natural ellipsis would be “Who [ate the entire cake]?”, not “Whom [are you talking about]?”.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Even in cases where it would make formal sense, though, “Whom?” is rarely used alone:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The tiger ate him up entirely!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Who?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;“Whom did the tiger eat?” or “Ate whom?” sound fine to my ear (as do their equivalents with “who”), but “Whom?” alone sounds quite stiltedly pedantic.  As &lt;a href=&quot;http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/56/using-who-and-whom/94#94&quot;&gt;ShreevatsaR has described very well&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;whom&lt;/em&gt; is — while not obsolete yet — certainly of limited use, and when in doubt, &lt;em&gt;who&lt;/em&gt; is pretty much always an acceptable alternative nowadays, and is often more idiomatic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastEditorUserId="2587" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T15:38:41.673" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T15:38:41.673" />
  <row Id="18781" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T15:35:24.540" Score="0" ViewCount="72" Body="&lt;p&gt;Which of the following has the closest meaning to &quot;This makes no sense&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I do not understand this&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;This has no meaning&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update&lt;/strong&gt; I will try to explain: My friend has proposed a solution to some problem. I believe that his solution will not help. Is it possible to answer him with &quot;This makes no sense&quot;? Is that a correct usage of the phrase? &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="51" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T19:39:30.607" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T21:27:43.510" Title="Meaning of &quot;makes no sense&quot;" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;phrases&gt;&lt;idioms&gt;" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18781" CreationDate="2011-03-31T15:40:55.797" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I would say the second, although &quot;meaningless&quot; is better&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&quot;It's meaningless to talk about conditions inside the black hole event horizon&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6336" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T15:40:55.797" />
  <row Id="18783" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15982" CreationDate="2011-03-31T15:42:41.680" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This isn't entirely an answer but I couldn't express all of this in a comment. Messing around with the word and phrase seems to show a handful of similar sentences:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this apple worth $3?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this apple worth an orange?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this $3 worth $4&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this apple worth an orange?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this apple [the same as] an orange?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this apple [prettier than] an orange?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this apple [tastier than] an orange?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this $3 worth $4?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this $3 [more than] $4?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this $3 [at least] $4?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this $3 [exactly] $4?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;hr&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I am not a terminology expert, but it seems that whatever you call the phrase &quot;more than&quot; would be what you are looking for. Namely, &quot;worth&quot; is short for &quot;worth at least&quot; and can quickly be replaced by any other comparator. Most of them seem to have &quot;than&quot; included.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this worth that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this more than that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this larger than that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other words that provide similar functions without a &quot;than&quot;:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this over that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this too that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Is this barely that?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Food for thought. Hopefully this triggers a better answer from someone more versed in the terminology.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6006" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T16:26:43.360" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T16:26:43.360" CommentCount="0" />
  <row Id="18784" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T15:43:52.300" Score="4" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;What are some of the most common idioms and phrases of speech in the 20's? Specifically what are a couple different terms for bars (I already know speakeasies)? What were taxi's and cab drivers known as? How brutal were racial slurs at the time?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6749" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T17:48:59.810" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T20:17:29.460" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-31T20:19:47.367" Title="20's Slang and idioms" Tags="&lt;idioms&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;list&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18784" CreationDate="2011-03-31T15:46:10.630" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think this would be too long a question to answer.&#xA;The 20s may well be the age that slang caught on, radio was becoming popular, new forms of music brought new terms and young people were more important as a group - although I suspect that people have said this about every decade since the neolithic.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href=&quot;http://local.aaca.org/bntc/slang/slang.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://local.aaca.org/bntc/slang/slang.htm&lt;/a&gt; for a list. You have to take the dating with a pinch of salt, some much older terms may have been first recorded in print in the 20s because of wider newspaper circulation or some much later terms could have been back dated to the 20s because they seemed to have a link with Jazz or prohibition.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;See the question on nitty-gritty for examples of words that were apparently common in the 20s but not recorded in print until the 60s, especially terms used by groups that didn't own newspaper chains.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6336" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T15:46:10.630" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-31T20:19:47.367" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18781" CreationDate="2011-03-31T15:53:28.523" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;I don't understand this.&quot;  is stating your opinion that in you in particular cannot get any sense out of 'this' (others might).&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&quot;This has no meaning.&quot; is stating your opinion that in general no one can make sense of 'this'.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So the sentence &quot;This makes no sense.&quot; is closer to the second one.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T15:53:28.523" />
  <row Id="18787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18781" CreationDate="2011-03-31T16:12:18.953" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Neither.  &quot;This makes no sense&quot; means that the speaker cannot construct a rational argument as to why the particular situation (whatever &quot;this&quot; is) should be true or reasonable, and in particular contends that it is false or unreasonable.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;We'll go tomorrow.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&quot;That makes no sense; the shop is closed tomorrow!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;ETA: this is quite a strong statement, so you had better be able to back it up if you don't want to cause offense!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1579" LastEditorUserId="1579" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T16:49:56.673" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T16:49:56.673" />
  <row Id="18788" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18781" CreationDate="2011-03-31T16:12:51.090" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;To me, &quot;makes no sense&quot; also says that a conclusion doesn't follow from its arguments.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ol&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Some women are named Helen.  &lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;She is a woman.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;Therefore, her name is Helen.&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ol&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It makes no sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6300" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T20:20:11.173" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T20:20:11.173" />
  <row Id="18789" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18566" CreationDate="2011-03-31T16:20:45.670" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Do you have English-language films on television? With sub-titles? It might help to watch some of them together.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For me, it's the &lt;em&gt;spoken&lt;/em&gt; language that's most difficult to apprehend.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;-- pete &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T16:20:45.670" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18790" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T16:29:37.080" Score="2" ViewCount="122" Body="&lt;p&gt;A friend told me that the English word &quot;queue&quot;  is the only word whose pronunciation remains the same when the last four letters are removed.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I tried to think of others, but just couldn't.  However, I don't feel this is true!  (Just like when someone says the only word without rhymes is &quot;orange&quot;.  There are a multitude of examples, such as &lt;em&gt;silver&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;olive&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;purple&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;month&lt;/em&gt;, etc...!!)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I was wondering if anyone can help?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;EDIT:  I am going to broaden things to allow more possibilities.  The shortened version does not have to be an English word.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;For example, &lt;strong&gt;thorough&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;thoro&lt;/strong&gt; I feel are close enough to count as removing three letters.  Also, things like &lt;strong&gt;though&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;tho&lt;/strong&gt; definitely count!  (this is the best example so far by my standards) &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6751" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T21:27:35.460" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T21:27:35.460" Title="The word &quot;queue&quot;" Tags="&lt;words&gt;&lt;word-games&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="14" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18791" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T16:41:51.887" Score="0" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;This is a question about officialness of spellings in contrast to that of words. To set up, I coming from the point of view that spellings are things that are written, and words are things that are spoken. And there is description (what people tend to express) and prescription (what some authority rules should be express). Spoken things have their rules specified by prescription: &quot;Do not use 'ain't', use 'is not.&quot;, or description: &quot;In this community, 'ain't' is a perfectly natural and understandable thing to say, but sounds wrong in an academic setting.&quot; And the descriptive version is more encompassing of the general situation (prescription works for an understood specified context).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What I'm wondering is how to judge spelling, like &quot;What is a correct spelling for 'all right'? Is 'alright' OK?&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(the two are pronounced the same, it's just a variance of spelling)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Pedantically, 'all right' is correct, and 'alright' is wrong, but the second is very widespread. Historically (just for perspective), I'm sure 'already' started out as 'all ready'. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But, to me, spelling is -totally- prescriptive. It's an explicit cultural artifact. It is a matter of encoding where exactness is a virtue and change in spelling is a formal error. There's no English academy for spoken words, but there isn't one for spelling either.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;But it just doesn't feel right to allow spelling the same leeway that we give spoken things.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I'm asking this ('Are there official spellings at all?') because I doubt it.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;To clarify, I'm not asking whether 'alright' is a correct spelling, I'm asking if one can say in English prescriptively that some spellings, even though they are variations, are wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastEditorUserId="4972" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T17:05:08.787" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T17:05:08.787" Title="Spellings, words, what is 'official'?" Tags="&lt;spelling&gt;&lt;descriptivism&gt;&lt;correction&gt;" CommentCount="10" />
  <row Id="18792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18790" CreationDate="2011-03-31T16:45:55.157" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;This has only 2 letters removed, but 'ok' and 'okay' fit the rest of the qualifications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="728" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T16:45:55.157" />
  <row Id="18793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18790" CreationDate="2011-03-31T16:47:50.787" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I think your friend is probably correct. &lt;em&gt;Queue&lt;/em&gt; is an example of a word that is pronounced the same way as the name of its initial letter, and while there are other examples of that, none of them are 5 letters long.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;B&lt;/strong&gt; - be, bee&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;G&lt;/strong&gt; - gee&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;J&lt;/strong&gt; - jay&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;K&lt;/strong&gt; - 'kay&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;P&lt;/strong&gt; - pee&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;T&lt;/strong&gt; - tea, tee&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;The other possibility would be words which have a bunch of silent letters, &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; an alternate spelling without those letters, but I can't think of any with 4 silent letters that happen to occur at the end. (For example, you can remove one letter from &lt;em&gt;colour&lt;/em&gt; without changing its pronunciation.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: there's &lt;em&gt;through&lt;/em&gt; - &lt;em&gt;thru&lt;/em&gt;, but that removes the last two letters plus one from the middle; and &lt;em&gt;though&lt;/em&gt; - &lt;em&gt;tho&lt;/em&gt;, which removes three letters (and ends up with a spelling that is only acceptable in limited contexts).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1547" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T17:00:18.030" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T17:00:18.030" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18794" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18795" CreationDate="2011-03-31T16:48:07.337" Score="13" ViewCount="312" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a fancy name for these letters that &quot;hang low&quot;?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5099" LastEditorUserId="6006" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T22:10:58.953" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T22:10:58.953" Title="Is there a special name for letters that &quot;cross the line&quot; when written in lowercase (g, j, p, q, y)?" Tags="&lt;writing&gt;&lt;technical&gt;&lt;orthography&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18795" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18794" CreationDate="2011-03-31T16:50:25.447" Score="28" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, they're called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/descender&quot;&gt;descenders&lt;/a&gt;, a term which also refers to the part of the letter that dips below the line.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3405" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T16:50:25.447" CommentCount="5" />
  <row Id="18796" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18794" CreationDate="2011-03-31T16:51:14.760" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;They &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; descenders. I don't think the letters themselves have a name.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Edit: I stand corrected.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;a. The part of the lowercase letters, such as g, p, and q, that extends below the other lowercase letters.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  b. &lt;strong&gt;A letter with such a part.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/descender&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.thefreedictionary.com/descender&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1506" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T16:51:14.760" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18797" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T16:54:32.177" Score="0" ViewCount="64" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand the literal meaning of uxorious, but does it have sexual implications?  That is, does it just mean that one is excessively devoted to one's wife, or does it imply excessive sexual interest in her?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;For example, Lord Byron wrote&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The same things change their names at such a rate;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  For instance—passion in a lover's glorious,&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  But in a husband is pronounced uxorious.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;There it seems to carry a possibly sexual tone, but I've seen other cases where it doesn't.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3974" LastEditorUserId="3974" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T20:25:20.683" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T20:25:20.683" Title="Does 'uxorious' have sexual connotations?" Tags="&lt;connotation&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18798" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18797" CreationDate="2011-03-31T17:13:32.793" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think there are any sexual connotations to the word. But it does invariably imply a degree of condemnation. An uxorious man isn't just &lt;em&gt;very&lt;/em&gt; devoted to his wife, which might be said approvingly. It means (in the opinion of the speaker, at least) that he's &lt;em&gt;excessively&lt;/em&gt; devoted.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T17:13:32.793" />
  <row Id="18799" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T17:18:26.947" Score="2" ViewCount="39" Body="&lt;p&gt;When you are looking at a task remaining, it seems right to me to say, &quot;what needs to be done&quot; in the simple present tense.&lt;br&gt;&#xA;I have seen some people write &quot;what is needed to be done.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;While I don't know what is wrong in the second sentence, it doesn't seem alright.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Can you tell me  why is it wrong?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="717" LastEditorUserId="252" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T17:37:22.267" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T18:05:35.293" Title="&quot;What needs to be done&quot; vs &quot;What is needed to be done&quot;" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;tense&gt;&lt;colloquial&gt;" AnswerCount="2" />
  <row Id="18800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18797" CreationDate="2011-03-31T17:35:41.893" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The meaning reported by the NOAD for &lt;em&gt;uxorious&lt;/em&gt; is &quot;having or showing an excessive or submissive fondness for one's wife.&quot; The definition for &lt;em&gt;fondness&lt;/em&gt; is then &quot;affection or liking for someone or something.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I don't think anybody would use &lt;em&gt;fondness&lt;/em&gt; with sexual implications.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T17:35:41.893" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18764" CreationDate="2011-03-31T17:35:46.010" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hyperotic&lt;/strong&gt; could be construed to mean &quot;over-eared&quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/otic?show=0&amp;amp;t=1301592528&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;(otic)&lt;/a&gt;, though the folks at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Hyperotic&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Urban Dictionary have other ideas about the definition.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6752" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T17:35:46.010" />
  <row Id="18802" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18804" CreationDate="2011-03-31T17:46:30.523" Score="2" ViewCount="51" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am still taking fun of it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;correct usage? I want to mean that it is still funny to me.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5279" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T17:55:48.253" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T17:55:48.253" Title="Is &quot;I am still taking fun of it&quot; correct usage?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="18803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18350" CreationDate="2011-03-31T17:46:32.553" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both are equally valid because &lt;em&gt;as far as&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;so far as&lt;/em&gt; have exactly the same meaning in this context. However, &lt;em&gt;so far as&lt;/em&gt; may be considered slightly less formal, as it short for &lt;em&gt;in so far as&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;as far as&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  to the extent that:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;as far as I am concerned, it is no big deal&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;(in) so far as&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  to the extent that:&lt;br&gt;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;it was a windless storm so far as blizzards go&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;  &#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1246250#m_en_us1246250&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;&lt;sub&gt;NOAD&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;You will likely often hear &lt;em&gt;so far as I know&lt;/em&gt; in casual conversation. However, you will probably only see &lt;em&gt;as far as I know&lt;/em&gt; in written/formal contexts. For the extremely formal, &lt;em&gt;in so far as I/we know&lt;/em&gt; would not be out of place.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T17:46:32.553" />
  <row Id="18804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18802" CreationDate="2011-03-31T17:51:45.083" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am still taking fun of it&lt;/em&gt; is fairly non-sensical. Try &lt;em&gt;I still find it funny&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;it's still funny to me&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T17:51:45.083" />
  <row Id="18806" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18802" CreationDate="2011-03-31T17:52:51.290" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Definitely not standard, and I've never even come across this as a non-standard form. &lt;em&gt;I am still amused by it&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;I still find it funny&lt;/em&gt; are valid ways of expressing this.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T17:52:51.290" />
  <row Id="18807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18802" CreationDate="2011-03-31T17:54:17.290" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am still taking fun of it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;is incorrect usage, as the phrase &lt;em&gt;take fun of&lt;/em&gt; does not exist in standard English. Perhaps, you want to say&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am still making fun of it&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Make fun of&lt;/em&gt; is a standard phrase which means:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;tease, laugh at, or joke about (someone) in a mocking or unkind way. &lt;sup&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1249505#m_en_us1249505&quot;&gt;NOAD&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;However, this may not be quite you mean. In that case, you could simply say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;I am still finding it funny / I still find it funny&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I should add that &lt;em&gt;I am still finding it funny&lt;/em&gt; is a construction a native speaker would likely never or rarely use. Thus, &lt;em&gt;I still find it funny&lt;/em&gt; is the way to go in this case.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2705" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T17:54:17.290" />
  <row Id="18808" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18799" CreationDate="2011-03-31T17:59:21.927" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There is slight difference in meaning between the two sentences. &quot;What needs to be done&quot; indicates a list of items which must be completed, but does not necessarily indicate that the bigger project will be done when those tasks are complete. &quot;What is needed to be done&quot;, on the other hand can imply that when the list is complete, the project &lt;em&gt;will&lt;/em&gt; be done. In effect, the first sentence says &quot;we must do these things&quot;, and the second says &quot;when we do these things, we will be done&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;In either case, the second sentence is a bit ambiguous. I would use &quot;what needs to be done&quot; for the first case (when you simply have a list of tasks that must be completed). If the intent is to describe &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; of the outstanding tasks for a given project (the second case), I would use a more explicit sentence such as: &quot;everything that needs to be done&quot; or &quot;things that must be done in order to finish this project&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1009" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T17:59:21.927" />
  <row Id="18809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18799" CreationDate="2011-03-31T18:05:35.293" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;What is needed to be done&lt;/em&gt; is incorrect because &lt;em&gt;needed&lt;/em&gt; is the simple &lt;strong&gt;past&lt;/strong&gt; tense and past participle of &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;What needs to be done&lt;/em&gt; is correct because &lt;em&gt;needs&lt;/em&gt; is the third-person singular simple &lt;strong&gt;present&lt;/strong&gt; indicative form of &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T18:05:35.293" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18810" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T18:22:01.107" Score="5" ViewCount="117" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the etymology of the word &lt;em&gt;beaver&lt;/em&gt; as it relates to a woman's vagina?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastEditorUserId="48" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T18:57:27.547" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T20:55:45.300" Title="How did the word &quot;beaver&quot; come to be associated with vagina?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;slang&gt;" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
  <row Id="18811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18764" CreationDate="2011-03-31T18:22:48.987" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;There's always &quot;asinine&quot;.  Although that does imply dim-witted, as well as visually reminiscent of a donkey, which is maybe more of an implication than you wanted!&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2181" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T18:22:48.987" />
  <row Id="18812" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18810" CreationDate="2011-03-31T18:25:49.590" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=beaver&amp;amp;searchmode=none&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Etymology Online&lt;/a&gt; offers that beaver in the gynecological sense is British slang dating from 1927, transferred from earlier meaning &quot;a bearded man&quot; (1910), or from the appearance of split beaver pelts.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T18:25:49.590" />
  <row Id="18813" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18810" CreationDate="2011-03-31T18:31:02.380" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It's almost certainly just the hairiness of both. Probably originally more associated with pubic hair anyway, which is why you now find &lt;em&gt;split beaver&lt;/em&gt; used at an even lower level.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T18:31:02.380" />
  <row Id="18814" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T18:45:38.317" Score="1" ViewCount="56" Body="&lt;p&gt;It seems as if a shift occurred and the descriptive &quot;Oriental&quot; was replaced by &quot;Asian&quot; as the accepted term in polite society - what caused this shift?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5531" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T20:06:36.713" Title="Why did the descriptive, &quot;Orientals&quot;, undergo melioration into a pejorative?" Tags="&lt;meaning&gt;&lt;sociolinguistic&gt;" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18815" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-03-31T18:46:27.517" Score="4" ViewCount="49" Body="&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Making adult decisions are/is really not fun.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;What is the proper answer and why?  My gut says &quot;is&quot; but I can't explain why.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6755" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T22:52:04.130" LastActivityDate="2011-04-01T00:29:06.073" Title="Help with verbs: &quot;is&quot; or &quot;are&quot;?" Tags="&lt;grammar&gt;&lt;verbs&gt;" AnswerCount="3" />
  <row Id="18816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18815" CreationDate="2011-03-31T18:48:36.193" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Making adult decisions&lt;/strong&gt; is a gerund, i.e. a noun, and is the subject of the sentence. It is singular, so the singular copula is appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2303" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T18:48:36.193" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18817" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18819" CreationDate="2011-03-31T18:52:24.547" Score="6" ViewCount="110" Body="&lt;p&gt;Is there a feminine form of the word &quot;bastard&quot;? Traditionally, it seems it's ever only applied to male children.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2577" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T19:35:31.103" Title="On the specifics of illegitimate children" Tags="&lt;vocabulary&gt;&lt;slang&gt;&lt;gender&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18815" CreationDate="2011-03-31T18:52:51.077" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You are probably confused by &lt;em&gt;adult decisions&lt;/em&gt;, which is plural. But that is irrelevant, as it is not the subject of the sentence. It would be if the sentence were&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Adult decisions are really not fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then, the plural &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; would be appropriate. However, in the sentence&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;Making adult decisions is really not fun.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;the subject is &quot;making adult decisions&quot;. The head of that phrase, &lt;em&gt;making&lt;/em&gt;, is singular. Thus, the phrase as a whole is singular. Thus, &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; is correct (and &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; would be ungrammatical).&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="300" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T18:52:51.077" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18817" CreationDate="2011-03-31T19:04:42.680" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Talking about the archaic use of &lt;em&gt;bastard&lt;/em&gt; to mean “illegitimate child”, it is not specifically masculine. One can talk about a “bastard daugther” just as much as one can talk of a “bastard son” or “bastard child”, as &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=bastard%20child,bastard%20son,bastard%20daughter&amp;amp;year_start=1800&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot;&gt;Google ngram&lt;/a&gt; shows. Well, not as much, because lineage or legitimacy is not nearly as important for daughters as it is for sons, but still, such usage is attested.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastEditorUserId="3479" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T19:17:01.360" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T19:17:01.360" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18820" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18814" CreationDate="2011-03-31T19:07:31.913" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;New Oxford American Dictionary&lt;/em&gt; says on this topic:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;USAGE: The term Oriental, denoting a person from the Far East, is regarded as offensive by many Asians, esp. Asian Americans. It has many associations with European imperialism in Asia. Therefore, it has an out-of-date feel and tends to be associated with a rather offensive stereotype of the people and their customs as inscrutable and exotic. Asian and more specific terms such as East Asian, Chinese, and Japanese are preferred.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think it's simply that &lt;em&gt;Oriental&lt;/em&gt; implies a Europe-centric view of the world, which is linked to colonialism and imperialism. Thus, it was rejected by the nations it was applied to.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T19:07:31.913" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="3008" CreationDate="2011-03-31T19:33:14.217" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The Praxis II exam is used in many states, as is the original Praxis exam. The word praxis is used by English speaking academics, sometimes even spoken aloud by them.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6756" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T19:33:14.217" />
  <row Id="18822" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18781" CreationDate="2011-03-31T19:33:50.103" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Why not just say &quot;I don't think your solution will help&quot; or &quot;I don't think your solution will work&quot;? &quot;This makes no sense&quot; makes it seem like the solution has no sense in it. Unless your friend has no sense, I'm sure his solution has at least some sense in it. He certainly thinks it does so saying it makes no sense will probably be taken personally.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6757" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T19:33:50.103" />
  <row Id="18823" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18817" CreationDate="2011-03-31T19:35:31.103" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The human rights organization &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bastards.org/FAQ.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Bastard Nation&lt;/a&gt; suggests the term has always been gender neutral. Certainly a bastard child could be male or female. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5894" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T19:35:31.103" />
  <row Id="18824" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18827" CreationDate="2011-03-31T19:39:49.500" Score="2" ViewCount="85" Body="&lt;p&gt;My nine year old son fought hard on this and is taking a stand on spelling &lt;em&gt;bluish&lt;/em&gt; as &lt;em&gt;blueish&lt;/em&gt;.  I'm certain his teacher will mark it as a spelling error in his writing... Several dictionaries have indicated both spellings are acceptable. A character in his story says &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;What is that blueish white piece of&#xA;  ice floating in the freezing cold&#xA;  Antarctic waters?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6758" LastEditorUserId="1547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T19:43:10.587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T21:06:11.810" Title="Why are 'blueish' and 'bluish' both considered correct spellings?" Tags="&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;spelling&gt;" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18825" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18824" CreationDate="2011-03-31T19:44:49.870" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It looks like &lt;em&gt;blueish&lt;/em&gt; is an &lt;a href=&quot;http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=blueish,bluish&amp;amp;year_start=1800&amp;amp;year_end=2000&amp;amp;corpus=0&amp;amp;smoothing=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;outdated&lt;/a&gt; spelling so I would advise him to spell it the same way as everyone else.  It's surely not worth the trouble is it?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5964" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T19:44:49.870" />
  <row Id="18826" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18828" CreationDate="2011-03-31T19:52:12.640" Score="7" ViewCount="106" Body="&lt;p&gt;I know it's currently more of a slang to attach and use it as normalish (see what I did here?) suffix, but still — was there any evolution for this? Also — maybe it had some special meaning?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4279" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-04-01T00:18:49.707" LastActivityDate="2011-04-01T00:18:49.707" Title="How did &quot;-ish&quot; suffix come to denote the approximate meaning of the word it is attached to?" Tags="&lt;etymology&gt;&lt;adjectives&gt;&lt;suffix&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18827" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18824" CreationDate="2011-03-31T19:57:06.863" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Both the NOAD and the OED define &lt;em&gt;blueish&lt;/em&gt; simply as &quot;spelling variant of &lt;em&gt;bluish&lt;/em&gt;.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Looking for both the words in the &lt;em&gt;Corpus of Contemporary American English&lt;/em&gt;, there are 7 sentences containing &lt;em&gt;blueish&lt;/em&gt; and 559 sentences containing &lt;em&gt;bluish&lt;/em&gt;; for the &lt;em&gt;British National Corpus&lt;/em&gt;, the numbers of the sentences are respectively 4 and 55. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T19:57:06.863" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18826" CreationDate="2011-03-31T19:59:55.480" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The suffix &lt;em&gt;-ish&lt;/em&gt; comes from Old English &lt;em&gt;-isc&lt;/em&gt; and is a diminutive. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;So it means the word is lessened in intensity. Normalish (while not a proper word) means a bit normal. Yellowish means the thing is a bit yellow. Smallish means something is small, but not overly so.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="1871" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T19:59:55.480" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18814" CreationDate="2011-03-31T20:05:40.937" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I understand why the term &lt;em&gt;Oriental&lt;/em&gt; is derogatory, but my family, who are Japanese-American, have always used the term to differentiate Japanese, Chinese, and Korean cultures, which share some common cultural threads, from other Asian cultures.  For example, people from Indian are Asian, but their culture is very different from Japan, China, and Korea.  Has anyone else used the term &lt;em&gt;Oriental&lt;/em&gt; as such?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6760" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T20:05:40.937" CommentCount="9" />
  <row Id="18830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15982" CreationDate="2011-03-31T20:05:52.987" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I am going to go out on a limb and call it a preposition, based on the fact that it cannot stand alone as an adjective. That is, I cannot think of a way to say something is &quot;worth&quot;, without the word being followed by some object. &quot;Worthy&quot; works in that way, but not &quot;worth&quot;. I am guessing, though, that someone will have counterexample of &quot;worth&quot; working without an object and/or other adjectives that do not stand alone. &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6683" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T20:05:52.987" />
  <row Id="18831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18814" CreationDate="2011-03-31T20:06:36.713" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Perhaps it was caused by Edward Said's book &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientalism_%28book%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Orientalism&lt;/a&gt;.  I don't know when exactly the shift occurred as the term seems to have been out of favour for quite some time.  Although, according to wikipedia, the US Senate only decided it was inappropriate for official use in 2002.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="5964" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T20:06:36.713" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18826" CreationDate="2011-03-31T20:07:38.357" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;The suffix &lt;em&gt;-ish&lt;/em&gt;, when attached to adjectives, means &lt;em&gt;somewhat&lt;/em&gt;; for example, &lt;em&gt;yellowish&lt;/em&gt; means &quot;somewhat yellow.&quot;&lt;br&gt;&#xA;The suffix is used to mean &lt;em&gt;somewhat&lt;/em&gt; also with words with which it should probably not be used.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="252" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T20:07:38.357" />
  <row Id="18833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18784" CreationDate="2011-03-31T20:17:29.460" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;From &lt;a href=&quot;http://home.earthlink.net/~dlarkins/slang-pg.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;The Internet Guide to Jazz-Aged Slang&lt;/a&gt; come the following copacetic words and phrases:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Places to drink:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;barrell house: illegal distillery&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;drum: speakeasy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;gin mill: a seller of hard liquor; a cheap speakeasy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;joint: establishment&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;juice joint: a speakeasy&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;shine box: a bar or club for black patrons&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;speakeasy: a bar selling illeagal liquor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Other drinking terms:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;ul&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;belt: a drink of liquor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bent: drunk&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;bootleg: illegal liquor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;busthead: homemade liquor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;coffin varnish: bootleg liquor, often poisonous&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;dead soldier: an empty beer bottle&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;horse linament: bootleg liquor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;jorum of skee: a drink of hard liquor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;on a toot: a drinking binge&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;rotgut: bootleg liquor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;snort: a drink of liquor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;strike-me-dead: bootleg liquor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;li&gt;white lightning: bootleg liquor&lt;/li&gt;&#xA;&lt;/ul&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="3800" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T20:17:29.460" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-31T20:19:47.367" />
  <row Id="18834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18824" CreationDate="2011-03-31T20:27:36.817" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I'm not convinced there's a strong case for saying &lt;em&gt;blueish&lt;/em&gt; is outdated or to be avoided for some other reason. It's just the less common of two variants, but personally I don't really have a preference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I think an even more finally-balanced example is &lt;em&gt;clueing&lt;/em&gt; / &lt;em&gt;cluing&lt;/em&gt;, which occurs frequently in crossword-related writing. In that particular case I slightly favour including the &lt;strong&gt;e&lt;/strong&gt;, though I certainly wouldn't take issue with it either way.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2637" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T20:27:36.817" CommentCount="3" />
  <row Id="18835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18790" CreationDate="2011-03-31T20:35:02.743" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;If proper names are allowed, then there are some good (3-letter-removal) examples among place-names with the suffix variously spelled &lt;em&gt;borough&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;boro&lt;/em&gt;.   There are, for instance, many &lt;strong&gt;Scarborough&lt;/strong&gt;’s and at least one &lt;strong&gt;Scarboro&lt;/strong&gt;; several &lt;strong&gt;Westborough&lt;/strong&gt;’s and also several &lt;strong&gt;Westboro&lt;/strong&gt;’s; and so on.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;(In the UK, &lt;em&gt;-borough&lt;/em&gt; names are also often abbreviated to &lt;em&gt;-boro&lt;/em&gt; on road signs.)&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;If we look at removing interior letters as well, then &lt;strong&gt;Leicester&lt;/strong&gt; vs. &lt;strong&gt;Lester&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;Gloucester&lt;/strong&gt; vs. &lt;strong&gt;Gloster&lt;/strong&gt; are also examples.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="2587" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T20:35:02.743" />
  <row Id="18836" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18824" CreationDate="2011-03-31T20:39:24.237" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;I don't think it's correct to say that both are correct spellings.  After looking through N-gram data, and&#xA;querying the venerable Fowler &amp;amp; Crystal's &lt;em&gt;A dictionary of modern English usage&lt;/em&gt;, I find that &lt;em&gt;bluish&lt;/em&gt; is clearly the preferred form.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here's what Fowler &amp;amp; Crystal have to say:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The only satisfactory rule, exceptions to which are very few, is this: If the suffix begins with a&#xA;  consonant, the mute e is retained; if the suffix begins with a vowel, the mute e is dropped. &#xA;  Applying this [ ], we get (with the wrong results in italics, as a basis for exceptions): stalish;&#xA;  loving; milage; livable; stirving; excitable; timous; movable; likely; dotard; judgement; hinging;&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;singing&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;gaugable&lt;/em&gt;; laughable, noticeable; mousy; changing; &lt;em&gt;hiing&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;gluy&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;em&gt;duely&lt;/em&gt;; bluish; &lt;em&gt;wholely&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Another grammar book, &lt;em&gt;A Survey of English spelling&lt;/em&gt; by a Edward Carney, explains the reasoning behind the rule:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;The {-e} has to be kept  when it is a marker of the pronunciation of the previous consonant as in&#xA;  &lt;em&gt;gaugeable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;manageable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;noticeable&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;traceable&lt;/em&gt;.  A spelling *{noticable} would invite   {c} =&#xA;  /k/ before the  as in &lt;em&gt;practicable&lt;/em&gt;. So, &lt;em&gt;singeing&lt;/em&gt; with /ndʒ/ is kept different from &lt;em&gt;singing&lt;/em&gt;&#xA;  with /ŋ/.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Thus, the implication is that as there would be no ambiguity between the pronunciations of &lt;em&gt;blueish&lt;/em&gt; and&#xA;&lt;em&gt;bluish&lt;/em&gt;, the preferred spelling is the latter.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Here are the Google n-grams for usage; first for American English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/xvVbc.png&quot; alt=&quot;Google Ngram1&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Next, British English:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i.imgur.com/69Ccm.png&quot; alt=&quot;Google N-grambluish and blueish for British English&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;It seemed that &lt;em&gt;blueish&lt;/em&gt; did seem to enjoy some popularity as the preferred form for some years in both&#xA;America and Britain; peculiarly, between the years of 1786  - 1792 in Britain, and in 1788 - 1792 in America, Google Books shows that &lt;em&gt;blueish&lt;/em&gt; enjoyed the advantage, being particularly applied to describe the color of&#xA;dyes and minerals.  (Here are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;amp;tbs=bks%3A1%2Ccdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A1788%2Ccd_max%3A1790&amp;amp;q=%22blueish%22&amp;amp;aq=f&amp;amp;aqi=m1&amp;amp;aql=&amp;amp;oq=&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;some citations from 1788 -&#xA;1791&lt;/a&gt;.)  The nascent field of chemistry seems to  have preferred the odd spelling for some reason or the other.&#xA;But as you can see, despite that brief respite, since then &lt;em&gt;bluish&lt;/em&gt; has reassumed its dominant position.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4763" LastEditorUserId="4763" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-31T21:06:11.810" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T21:06:11.810" CommentCount="1" />
  <row Id="18837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18810" CreationDate="2011-03-31T20:55:45.300" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Green's Dictionary of Slang concurs with HaL's answer, and in addition offers a limerick, which it dates from 1927...&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;There was a young lady named Eva&#xA;Who went to the ball as Godiva,&#xA;But a change in the lights,&#xA;Showed a tear in her tights,&#xA;And a low fellow present yelled &quot;Beaver&quot;&#xA;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="305" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T20:55:45.300" CommentCount="2" />
  <row Id="18838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18781" CreationDate="2011-03-31T21:27:43.510" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;It depends on what you think of his solution. Let's say the car won't start.  Your friend suggests you get jumper cables because he thinks the battery is bad.  You don't think that is the problem, but it is not a completely unreasonable idea.  I would not use &quot;that makes no sense&quot;.  If your friend suggested changing the tires because the car wouldn't start, then using &quot;that makes no sense&quot; would, well, make sense.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6764" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T21:27:43.510" />
  <row Id="18839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6752" CreationDate="2011-03-31T21:37:24.360" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Cheese and rice.  Got all muddy.  Got damp like a stone on the beach.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6764" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T21:37:24.360" />
  <row Id="18840" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="18842" CreationDate="2011-03-31T22:08:43.550" Score="2" ViewCount="52" Body="&lt;p&gt;What is the correct use of the word &lt;em&gt;dry&lt;/em&gt; in the following sentence?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;You said that very dryly.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Is &lt;em&gt;dryly&lt;/em&gt; correct in this context?&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6766" LastEditorUserId="2705" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-04-01T00:17:23.213" LastActivityDate="2011-04-01T00:17:23.213" Title="The word ‘dry’ as an adverb" Tags="&lt;usage&gt;&lt;adverbs&gt;" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="6" />
  <row Id="18841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18840" CreationDate="2011-03-31T22:15:57.327" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Yes, that is correct. 'Dryly' is the adverbial form of the adjective 'dry', and the adverb is called for in this case, since it modifies the verb.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="4972" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T22:15:57.327" />
  <row Id="18842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18840" CreationDate="2011-03-31T22:16:55.307" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;My Dictionary says:&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;blockquote&gt;&#xA;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;dryly&lt;/strong&gt; |ˈdrīlē| (&lt;em&gt;also drily&lt;/em&gt;)&#xA;  adverb &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;1&lt;/strong&gt; in a matter-of-fact or ironically humorous way : &lt;em&gt;“How very observant,” he said &lt;strong&gt;dryly&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&#xA;  &lt;strong&gt;2&lt;/strong&gt; in a dry way or condition : &lt;em&gt;Evans swallowed &lt;strong&gt;dryly&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;I also found it can be a synonym of &quot;being cold&quot; and not just &quot;ironic&quot; and &quot;sarcastic&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6550" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T22:16:55.307" />
  <row Id="18843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="7374" CreationDate="2011-03-31T22:24:05.097" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;Dictionary is a fun game -- you can buy it, or just play it with paper, pens, and a dictionary.  You need at least 3 or 4 people, up to as many as you wish.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;One person picks a word out of the dictionary that no-one else knows.  Each person writes down the word on their paper.  The person who has the dictionary writes down the meaning, everyone else makes up a definition.  All had their papers to the person who picked the word.  That person shuffles the papers and reads each definition out loud. Each person chooses what they think is the correct definition.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;When all have made their choice, the person who picked the word gives the correct definition.  He or she gets 1 point for everyone who did not select the correct definition.  Anyone else who had a definition that was selected as correct gets a point for each person who chose it.  And everyone who selected the correct definition gets a point.  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;Then the dictionary is passed to the next person, and another round is started.  The game is over when all have had a chance to pick a word (because you tend to get more points when you pick the word).  The person with the most points wins.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;This encourages trying to make up definitions that sound real, or making definitions that are funny (no points, but lots of laughs).  &lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="728" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T22:24:05.097" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-03-31T22:24:05.097" />
  <row Id="18844" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18764" CreationDate="2011-03-31T23:32:40.680" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;How about &lt;strong&gt;Vulpine&lt;/strong&gt; - of or relating to a fox. &quot;He had vulpine ears&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6479" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T23:32:40.680" />
  <row Id="18845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15081" CreationDate="2011-03-31T23:39:36.937" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="&lt;p&gt;You can’t base anything off of anything. Something is always based on something else.&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;&#xA;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/based.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/based.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xA;" OwnerUserId="6769" LastActivityDate="2011-03-31T23:39:36.937" CommentCount="1" />
</posts>